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Chinese language smartphone big Xiaomi may make its debut within the U.S. as quickly as this 12 months, based on its CEO.
Lei Jun, the serial entrepreneur who leads the cellphone maker, told the Wall Street Journal that the corporate — which is being linked with an IPO this 12 months — plans to lastly start promoting telephones Stateside inside the subsequent twelve months.
“We’ve at all times been contemplating getting into the U.S. market. We plan to start out getting into the market by finish 2018, or by early 2019,” Lei informed the paper on the sidelines of the annual session of China’s legislature.
The feedback are the clearest indication to this point of Xiaomi’s intention to compete within the North American market.
The corporate began out in China, and it has expanded its gross sales into Asia, Africa and components of Europe. Its growth into India, the place it recently beat Samsung to the top sales spot, has been its most profitable abroad foray. Xiaomi overcame a sales dip in 2016, when Lei Jun himself admitted that it had grown too quick, to take pleasure in a return to success in 2017.
That’s given the corporate the second to go public, and Xiaomi is reported to be an IPO within the second half of this 12 months that might worth it at as a lot as $100 billion. All with out ever touching the U.S. market.
Xiaomi began selling accessories in America and other Western markets a few years ago, however up to now it hasn’t launched its telephones, that are famous for providing high-performance at only a fraction of the price of flagship gadgets from Apple, Samsung and others. Its top-selling Redmi vary, for instance, begins at round $150 and embody phablet variations, whereas the higher-end Mi household is priced upwards of $300.
Whereas it targeted on inexpensive worth factors, Xiaomi is one of a handful of phone companies that offers a custom chipset for extra energy and a greater expertise.
TechCrunch understands that Xiaomi has invested significantly in constructing a patent struggle chest — together with high-profile offers with Microsoft and Nokia — to make sure that it’s prepared for the U.S. from a authorized perspective. The sale of its equipment has additionally allowed it to start brokering partnerships with retailers, however it’s not clear what progress it has made with carriers, who signify a essential distribution associate for OEMs trying to attain excessive volumes within the U.S..


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Delta Capital, the Russian private equity firm which manages the US government-backed US Russia Investment Fund, is to launch its first private equity fund targeting private investors. Delta Russia Fund LP will look to raise around $100m with a first close scheduled for the end of 2002.
Following Delta’s original strategy, the new fund will focus on early-stage and start-up investments in financial services, telecommunications media and technology (TMT) and consumer products and logistics. Since 1995 Delta has invested around $200m in these sectors, typically making investments of between $5m and $10m. Investments by the firm include backing the Spar supermarket chain’s move into the Russian market and the creation of retail and consumer bank Delta, part of the firm’s broad financial services investment programme.
Delta CEO and president David Jones believes that the time is right to be launching a new Russian fund despite a degree of apprehension among investors. “Although Russia has a certain image problem to overcome, it is a fact that the country has a far greater upside than any of its Eastern European peers, given the size of the market and the depth of its natural resources.” Almost by way of laying down the gauntlet to those uncertain of Russia’s potential, the firm is targeting an IRR of around 30 per cent, ten per cent above the global average.
The primary reason for Jones’ optimism stems from the Russia’s improved economic performance since the economic crisis of 1998. “The early years (1995-1998) proved quite difficult for the fund. It was a time when resilience counted for more than quality,” says Jones. “Since 1999, our role has been to transform our portfolio companies into quality operations and we have achieved this in a growing Russian economy.”
Delta has already achieved a number of successful exits on its investments, most recently the sale to Nestlé of mineral water producer Saint Springs, into which it made an initial $3m investment. “The increased demand for product choice among consumers has brought in a lot of interest from multinationals looking to get a toehold in the Russian market. Rather than risk setting up their own operations, the larger companies are often inclined to acquire small, established companies.”
Jones also believes that there is a growing opportunity to exit investments through sales to Russian trade buyers.
A rising number of fund managers are targeting, and reaping the rewards of, investment in Russia. Baring Private Equity Partners is currently investing its second $205m Russian fund, with managers at BPEP describing it as one of their most successful funds. The firm plans to launch a new Russian fund within the next 18 months.
Delta says it has already received enquiries for its new fund from international institutions as well as high net worth individuals across Europe. The firm is planning to hold a final close for the fund some time in 2003.

domain: news


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The Sony Hackers Are Now Threatening Employees And Their Families
An email from the "Guardians of Peace" showed up in some Sony employees' inboxes. It ends: "your family will be in danger."
This afternoon, nearly two weeks after Sony Pictures Entertainment was hit with a devastating data breach, a number of Sony employees received an email from a party claiming to be the hackers. Several employees received the email to their main inboxes from an individual purporting to be the head of "G O P" or the "Guardians of Peace" (the group that claimed credit for the hack).
The email said that, "removing Sony Pictures on earth is a very tiny work for our group which is a worldwide organization" and continued, threatening that if Sony employees don't "sign [their] name to object the false of the company" then "your family will be in danger."
A Sony staffer who asked not to identified shared the full email with BuzzFeed News
Several thousand current and former employees have had personal and professional information leaked, including salaries, bonuses, social security numbers, as well as some passwords for professional services, and even health insurance information. Ben Bergman, a reporter for the radio station KPCC, also reported that Sony employees received the email and that phones at Sony had also been hacked.
Many suspect that North Korea had a role in the hack. Included in the hacked documents was an itemized budget for The Interview, a comedy coming out on December 25th about an attempted assassination of North Korean president Kim Jong Un. Several full length Sony feature films, including Annie (which is yet to be released) were also distributed online and are available on file sharing networks.
When reached for comment, a Sony spokesperson told BuzzFeed News: "We understand that some of our employees have received an email claiming to be from GOP. We are aware of the situation and are working with law enforcement."
Here is the full email
Subject: Notice to all the employees of Sony Pictures
I am the head of G O P who made you worry.
Removing Sony Pictures on earth is a very tiny work for our group which
is a worldwide organization.
And what we have done so far is only a small part of our further plan.
It's your false if you think this crisis will be over after some time.
All hope will leave you and Sony Pictures will collapse.
This situation is only due to Sony Pictures.
Sony Pictures is responsible for whatever the result is.
Sony Pictures clings to what is good to nobody from the beginning.
It's silly to expect in Sony Pictures to take off us.
Sony Pictures makes only useless efforts.
One beside you can be our member.
Our supporters take their action at any place of the world.
Many things beyond imagination will happen at many places of the world.
Our agents find themselves act in necessary places.
Please sign your name to object the false of the company at the email
address below if you don't want to suffer damage.
If you don't, not only you but your family will be in danger.
Nobody can prevent us, but the only way is to follow our demand.
If you want to prevent us, make your company behave wisely.


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BlackBerry Ltd (BBRY): The Big Question Investors Should Ask
BlackBerry Limited (NASDAQ: BBRY) shares tumbled over 16 percent on Monday after the struggling smartphone maker announced it is abandoning a plan to sell it......
JAKARTA/TORONTO - BlackBerry Ltd launched a low-cost touchscreen device in Jakarta, the Z3, as the embattled smartphone maker looks to revive sales in emerging markets like Indonesia where its once-fervent following has shrivelled. The...
Canoe 2014-05-13"If this device allows them to grow again, even if it's just small, steady growth, that's a success in itself. That says there is still room for BlackBerry in Indonesia,"
Toronto: Rumours of a strong Apple-backed effort to take over BlackBerry Ltd’s patents seem to have crashed after reports claimed that the trouble Canadian firm’s board has...Deccan Chronicle 2013-11-10
Research In Motion (RIM) is going all out in search of that ever eluding customer attention, two mega launches in quick succession in Blackberry Z10 and now the Blackberry...Yahoo Daily News 2013-03-12
The erstwhile go-to handsets for corporate world, Research In Motion’s (RIM) revolutionary offering Blackberry, ran into troubled waters over the past few years. Facing...Yahoo Daily News 2013-02-28
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BARCELONA, Spain — BlackBerry will release a low-cost phone in Indonesia in April and plans a broader release of a phone that restores a beloved row of control keys with a track pad. The Indonesia phone, the Z3, will sell for less than $200 without subsidies, the company said Tuesday. It will later expand to other markets in southeast Asia. BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen said a...Boston Herald 2014-02-25
BlackBerry shares surged Tuesday on a report that its largest shareholder is looking to take the company private and on speculation about how much the company could fetch. THE SPARK: The struggling smartphone maker said Monday it will consider selling itself. The long-awaited debut of its new phones this year has failed to turn around the struggling smartphone maker. Canada's...Boston Herald 2013-08-13
Shares of BlackBerry Ltd. rose more than 4 percent Monday on a report that the company is in sale talks with a handful of companies. Reuters reported Friday that the struggling smartphone maker was holding discussions with Cisco, Google and SAP about a possible sale of all or part of itself. It cited "several sources close to the matter" that it did not identify. According to...Boston Herald 2013-10-07
(Source: BlackBerry Ltd ) BlackBerry and Samsung Partner to Provide End-To-End Security for Android Nov 13, 2014 Waterloo, ON- BlackBerry Limited (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB), a global leader in mobile communications, today announced a strategic partnership with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. to provide a highly secure mobility solution for Android™. As a result, early next year,...noodls 2014-11-13
LONDON, October 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Investor-Edge.com has issued free earnings coverage on BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ: BBRY). The company reported its financial results for Q2 FY15 (period ended August 30, 2014) on September 26, 2014. Click on www.investor-edge.com/FreeReports to read our free earnings coverage on BlackBerry Ltd. During Q2 FY15, BlackBerry Ltd's GAAP loss per...PR Newswire 2014-10-01
Google is bringing its digital wallet to the iPhone in its latest attempt to upstage Apple on its own popular device. Thursday’s release of the Google Wallet app represents a challenge to the Passbook program that Apple has built into the iPhone’s operating system. Continue reading. On Wednesday, the Google Inc.-owned Motorola Mobility revealed it would be establishing a new...Crunch 2013-09-26
BlackBerry Ltd. (BBRY) is linking up with Samsung Electronics Co. to market the companies’ phone-management services and compete against an alliance of International Business Machines Corp. and Apple Inc. BlackBerry is holding an event today where it’s introducing its new business enterprise server, the software businesses use to manage devices and communicate securely....Bloomberg 2014-11-13
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BlackBerry Limited, formerly known as Research In Motion Limited (RIM), is a Canadian telecommunication and wireless equipment company best known to the general public as the developer of the BlackBerry brand of smartphones and tablets, but also well known worldwide as a provider of secure & high reliability software for industrial applications and Mobile Device Management (MDM). BlackBerry's software and hardware products are used worldwide by various government's agencies and by car makers and industrial plants throughout the world, much of this activity being unseen by the public. The company is headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by Mike Lazaridis, who served as its co-CEO along with Jim Balsillie until January 22, 2012. In November 2013, John S. Chen took over as CEO. His strategy is to subcontract manufacturing to Foxconn, and to focus on software technology.
Originally a dominant innovative company in the smartphone market for business and government usage, with 43% US market share in 2010, the company's dominance in the US smartphone market has in recent years declined precipitously, in part because of intense competition from Google's Android and Apple's iPhone. Due to such competition, the company's share in the US personal consumer market was reduced to 3.8% in 2013. In markets other than the US personal consumer market BlackBerry's products have fared better. On September 23, 2013 the company signed a letter of intent to be acquired for US$4.7 billion, or US$9 per share, by a consortium led by Fairfax Financial which has announced its intentions to take the company private. On November 4, 2013 the deal was scrapped in favor of a US$1 billion cash injection which, according to one analyst, represented the level of confidence BlackBerry's largest shareholder has in the company. The majority of BlackBerry's remaining value lies in innovation, one aspect being its patent portfolio, which has been valued at between US$2 billion and $3 billion.
RIM's early development was financed by Canadian institutional and venture capital investors in 1995 through a private placement in the privately held company. Working Ventures Canadian Fund Inc. led the first venture round with a C$5,000,000 investment with the proceeds being used to complete the development of RIM's two-way paging system hardware and software. A total of C$30,000,000 in pre-IPO financing was raised by the company prior to its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in January 1998 under the symbol RIM.
The company worked with RAM Mobile Data and Ericsson to turn the Ericsson-developed Mobitex wireless data network into a two-way paging and wireless e-mail network. Pivotal in this development was the release of the Inter@ctive Pager 950, which started shipping in August 1998. About the size of a bar of soap, this device competed against the SkyTel two-way paging network developed by Motorola.
In 1999, RIM introduced the BlackBerry 850 pager. Named in reference to the resemblance of its keyboard's keys to the druplets of the blackberry fruit, the device could receive push email from a Microsoft Exchange Server using its complementary server software, BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES). The introduction of the BlackBerry set the stage for future enterprise-oriented products from the company, such as the BlackBerry 957 in April 2000, the first BlackBerry smartphone. The BlackBerry OS platform and BES continued to increase in functionalitywhile the incorporation of encryption and S/MIME support helped BlackBerry devices gain increased usage by governments and businesses.
The arrival of the first Apple iPhone in 2007 caused much fanfare and speculation that the BlackBerry might have its first serious competition. Boasting a powerful mobile browser, a new touch screen interface, strong multimedia capabilities and (later) a bundled application storefront with many mobile apps, the iPhone was referred to as a "BlackBerry Killer" by some in the media. The introduction of Apple's iPhone on the AT&T network in the fall of 2007 in the United States prompted RIM to produce its first touchscreen smartphone for the competing Verizon network in 2008 the BlackBerry Storm. The Storm sold well but suffered from mixed to poor reviews and poor customer satisfaction. The iPhone initially lagged behind the BlackBerry in both shipments and active users, due to RIM's head start and larger carrier distribution network. In the United States, the BlackBerry user base peaked at approximately 21 million users in the fall of 2010. That quarter, the company's global subscriber base stood at 36 million users. As the iPhone and Google Android accelerated growth in the United States, the BlackBerry began to turn to other smartphone platforms. Nonetheless, the BlackBerry line as a whole continued to enjoy success, spurned on by strong international growth. As of December 1, 2012, the company had 79 million BlackBerry users globally with only 9 million remaining in the United States.
Even as the company continued to grow worldwide, investors and media became increasingly alarmed about the company's ability to compete with devices from rival mobile operating systems iOS and Android. Analysts were also worried about the strategic direction of the co-CEOs' management structure. In June 2014, CNN released an article citing BlackBerry as one of six endangered US brands.
Following numerous attempts to upgrade their existing Java platform, the company made numerous acquisitions to help it create a new, more powerful BlackBerry platform, centered around its recently acquired real-time operating system QNX. In March 2011, Research In Motion Ltd.’s then-co-CEO Jim Balsillie suggested during a conference call that the "launch of some powerful new BlackBerrys" (eventually released as BlackBerry 10) would be in early 2012. However analysts were "worried that promoting the mysterious, supposedly game-changing devices too early might hurt sales of existing BlackBerrys" (similar to the Osbourne effect). The initial launch date was seen in retrospect as too ambitious, and hurt the company's credibility at a time when its existing aging products steadily lost market share.
On September 27, 2010, RIM announced the long-rumoured BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, the first product running on the new QNX platform known as BlackBerry Tablet OS. The BlackBerry PlayBook was officially released to US and Canadian consumers on April 19, 2011. The PlayBook was criticized for being rushed to market in an incomplete state and sold poorly. Following the shipments of 900,000 tablets during its first three quarters on market, slow sales and inventory pileups prompted the company to reduce prices and to write down the inventory value by $485 million.
The first three models of the iPhone (introduced in 2007) generally lagged behind the BlackBerry in sales, as RIM had major advantages in carrier and enterprise support, however Apple continued gaining market share. In October 2008, Apple briefly passed RIM in quarterly sales when they announced they had sold 6.9 million iPhones to the 6.1 million sold by RIM, comparing partially overlapping quarters between the companies. Though Apple's iPhone sales declined to 4.3 million in the subsequent quarter and RIM's increased to 7.8 million, for some investors this indicated a sign of weakness. Apple's iPhone began to sell more phones quarterly than the BlackBerry in 2010, brought on by the release of the iPhone 4.
In the United States, the BlackBerry hit its peak in September 2010, when almost 22 million users, or 37% of the 58.7 million American smartphone users at the time, were using a BlackBerry. BlackBerry then began to decline in use in the United States, with Apple's installed base in the United States finally passing BlackBerry in April 2011. Sales of the iPhone continued to accelerate, as did the Smartphone market, while the BlackBerry began to lose users continuously in the United States. By January 2013, only 7.63 million (5.9%) of the 129.40 million smartphone users in the United States were on a BlackBerry compared to 48.91 million (37.8%) on an iPhone.
Shortly afterwards, in October 2011, RIM unveiled BBX, a new platform for future BlackBerry smartphones that would be based on the same QNX-based platform as the PlayBook. However, due to an accusation of trademark infringement regarding the name BBX, the platform was renamed BlackBerry 10. The task proved to be daunting, with the company delaying the launch in December 2011 to some time in 2012. On January 22, 2012, Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie resigned as the CEOs of the company, handing the reins over to executive Thorsten Heins. On March 29, 2012, the company reported its first net loss in years. Heins set about the task of restructuring the company, including announcing plans to lay off 5,000 employees, replacing numerous executives, and delaying the new QNX-based operating system for phones ("BlackBerry 10") a second time into January 2013.
After much criticism and numerous delays, RIM officially launched BlackBerry 10 and two new smartphones based off the platform, the BlackBerry Z10 and Q10, on January 30, 2013. The BlackBerry Z10, the first BlackBerry smartphone running BlackBerry 10, debuted worldwide in January 2013, going on sale immediately in the UK with other countries following. A marked departure from previous BlackBerry phones, the Z10 featured a fully touch-based design, a dual-core processor, and a high-definition display. BlackBerry 10 had 70,000 applications available at launch, which the company expected would rise to 100,000 by the time the device made its debut in the United States. In support of the launch, the company aired its first Super Bowl television advertisement in the U.S. and Canada during Super Bowl XLVII. In discussing the decision to create a proprietary operating system instead of adopting an off-the-shelf platform such as Android, Heins noted, "If you look at other suppliers' ability to differentiate, there's very little wiggle room. We looked at it seriouslybut if you understand what the promise of BlackBerry is to its user base it's all about getting stuff done. Games, media, we have to be good at it but we have to support those guys who are ahead of the game. Very little time to consume and enjoy contentif you stay true to that purpose you have to build on that basis. And if we want to serve that segment we can't do it on a me-too approach." Chief Operating Officer Kristian Tear remarked "We want to regain our position as the number one in the world", while Chief Marketing Officer Frank Boulben proclaimed "It could be the greatest comeback in tech history. The carriers are behind us. They don't want a duopoly" (referring to Apple and Samsung).
During the BlackBerry 10 launch event, the company also announced that it would change its public brand from Research In Motion to BlackBerry. The name change was made to "put the BlackBerry brand at the centre" of the company's diverse brands, and because customers in some markets "already know the company as BlackBerry". While a shareholder vote on an official name change to BlackBerry Limited will be held at its next annual general meeting, its ticker symbols on the TSX and NASDAQ changed to BB and BBRY respectively on February 4, 2013.
On August 12, 2013, the company announced that it was open to being purchased and stated in an official news release to Canada’s securities administrators:
The company’s board of directors has formed a special committee to explore strategic alternatives to enhance value and increase scale in order to accelerate BlackBerry 10 deployment. These alternatives could include, among others, possible joint ventures, strategic partnerships or alliances, a sale of the Company or other possible transactions.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s CEO Mark Wiseman stated that he would consider investing in BlackBerry if the company became private. Also on August 12, 2013, foremost shareholder Prem Watsa resigned from BlackBerry's board.
On September 20, 2013, the company announced it would lay off 4,500 staff, and take a CAD$1 billion operating loss. Three days later, the company announced that it had signed a letter of Intent to be acquired by a Consortium led by Prem Watsa owned Fairfax Financial Holdings for a $9 per share deal. However the company would remain open to alternative offers till November 4, 2013. Watsa also confirmed the deal. In the event, Watsa's group decided to finance CAD$1bn instead of a takeover, and installed John Chen as CEO to replace the laid-off Heins.
As of September 29, 2013, the company operates a direct sales model for customers in the United States, whereby unlocked Q10 and Z10 smartphones are sold directly from the BlackBerry website. On October 15, 2013, the company published an open letter in 30 publications in nine countries to reassure customers that BlackBerry continues as a reputable and reliable brand. Anthony Michael Sabino, St. John’s University business professor, stated in the Washington Post: "This is BlackBerry’s last ditch attempt to simply survive in the face of crushing competition in a market it essentially invented."
In May 2014, the low-cost Z3 BlackBerry was introduced onto the Indonesian market, where the brand had been particularly popular. The budget handset was produced in partnership with Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group, which handled the design and distribution of the product. A New York Times analysis stated that the model was an attempt by BlackBerry CEO and Chairman John S. Chen to generate revenue while he tried "to shift the organization’s focus to services and software." An analyst with London's ABI Research explained to the New York Times: "John Chen is just sustaining the handset business as he sorts out the way ahead." As part of the localization effort for the promotion of the Z3, the handset's back panel was engraved with the word "Jakarta", but skepticism still emerged, as the handset was still more than twice as expensive as Android models in Indonesia at the time of release.
The company issued its results for the first quarter of the 2015 fiscal year in a news release on June 19, 2014 and presented a more stable company with greater potential for profitability in the future. Chen stated: "This is, of course, the very beginning of our task and we hope that we will be able to report better results going forward ... We feel pretty good about where we are." The Quartz publication reported that stock was up by 30 percent, compared to the same period in the previous year, while Chen expressed enthusiasm for the release of two new handsets, both with keyboards and touch screens, in the second half of 2014. Chen did not provide sales figures for the Z3 phone in Indonesia, but revealed that "demand is strong".
In the fourth quarter of fiscal year ended March 3, 2012, RIM shipped 11.1 million BlackBerry smartphones, down 21 percent from the previous quarter and it was the first decline in the quarter covering Christmas since 2006. For its fourth quarter, RIM announced a net loss of US$125 million (the last loss before this occurred in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2005). RIM's loss of market share accelerated in 2011 due to the rapidly growing sales of Samsung and HTC Android handsets; RIM's annual market share in the USA dropped to just 3 percent, from 9 percent.
In the quarter ended June 28, 2012, RIM announced that the number of BlackBerry subscribers had reached 78 million globally. Furthermore, RIM reported its first quarter revenue for the 2013 fiscal year, showing that the company incurred a GAAP net loss of US$518 million for the quarter, and announced a plan to implement a US$1 billion cost-saving initiative. The company also announced the delay of the new BlackBerry 10 OS until the first quarter of 2013.
After the release of the Apple iPhone 5 in September 2012, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins announced that the number of global users was up to 80 million, which sparked a 7% jump in shares. On December 2, 2012, the company reported a decline in revenue of 5% from the previous quarter and 47% from the same period the previous year. The company reported a GAAP profit of US$14 million (adjusted net loss of US$115 million), which was an improvement over previous quarters. The company also grew its cash reserves to US$2.9 billion, a total that was eventually increased to nearly US$600 million in the quarter. The global subscriber base of BlackBerry users declined slightly for the first time to 79 million, after peaking at an all-time high of 80 million the previous quarter.
In September 2013, the company announced that its growing BBM instant messaging service will be available for Android and iPhone devices. BlackBerry stated that the service has 60 million monthly active customers who send and receive more than 10 billion messages a day. The "BBM Channels" enhancement is expected in late 2013, whereby conversations are facilitated between users and communities, based on factors such as common interests, brands, and celebrities.
On September 28, 2013, media reports confirmed that BlackBerry lost US$1.049 billion during the second fiscal quarter of 2013. In the wake of the loss, Heins stated: "“We are very disappointed with our operational and financial results this quarter and have announced a series of major changes to address the competitive hardware environment and our cost structure."
Between 2010 and 2013, the stock price of the company dropped by 87 percent due to the widespread popularity of the iPhone. Goldman Sachs estimated that, in June 2014, BlackBerry accounted for 1 percent share of smartphone sales, compared to a peak of around 20 percent in 2009.
With the release of its financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2015 in June 2014, Chen presented a more stable company that had incurred a lower amount of loss than previous quarters. The New York Times described a "a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss", based on the June 19, 2014 news release:
Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2015 was $966 million, down $10 million or 1% from $976 million in the previous quarter ... During the first quarter, the Company recognized hardware revenue on approximately 1.6 million BlackBerry smartphones compared to approximately 1.3 million BlackBerry smartphones in the previous quarter.
Ian Austin of the New York Times provided further clarity on BlackBerry's news release: "Accounting adjustments enabled BlackBerry to report a $23 million, or 4 cents a share, profit for its last quarter. Without those noncash charges, however, the company lost $60 million, or 11 cents a share, during the period." Following the news release, Chen stated that BlackBerry is comfortable with its position, and it is understood that his plan for the company mainly involves businesses and governments, rather than consumers.
|! Fiscal Year||! Sales ($ millions)||! Operating Income ($ millions)||! Net Income ($ millions)||! Active BlackBerry Subscribers|
On June 30, 2011, an investor push for the company to split its dual-CEO structure was unexpectedly withdrawn after an agreement was made with RIM. RIM announced that after discussions between the two groups, Northwest & Ethical Investments would withdraw its shareholder proposal before RIM's annual meeting.
On January 22, 2012, RIM announced that its CEOs Balsillie and Lazaridis had stepped down from their positions. They were replaced by Thorsten Heins. Heins hired investment banks RBC Capital Markets and JP Morgan to seek out potential buyers interested in RIM, while also redoubling efforts on releasing BlackBerry 10.
On March 29, 2012, RIM announced a strategic review of its future business strategy that included a plan to refocus on the enterprise business and leverage on its leading position in the enterprise space. Heins noted, "We believe that BlackBerry cannot succeed if we tried to be everybody's darling and all things to all people. Therefore, we plan to build on our strength." Balsillie resigned from the board of directors in March 2012, while Lazaridis remained on the board as vice chairman.
Following the assumption of role as CEO, Heins made substantial changes to the company's leadership team. Changes included the departures of Chief Technology Officer David Yacht; Chief Operating Officer Jim Rowan; Senior Vice President of Software Alan Brenner; Chief Legal Officer, Karima Bawa; and Chief Information Officer Robin Bienfait.
Following the leadership changes, Heins hired Kristian Tear to assume the role of Chief Operating Officer, Frank Boulben to fill the Chief Marketing Officer role and appointed Dan Dodge, the CEO of QNX, to take over as Chief Technology Officer. On July 28, 2012, Steven E. Zipperstein was appointed as the new Vice President and Chief Legal Officer.
On March 28, 2013, Lazardis relinquished his position as vice chairman and announced his resignation from the board of directors. Later in the year, Heins was replaced by John S. Chen, who assumed the CEO role in the first week of November. Chen's compensation package mainly consists of BlackBerry shares—a total of 13 million—and he will be entitled to the entire amount of shares after he has served the company for five years. Heins received an exit package of $22 million.
In July 2011, the company cut 2,000 jobs, the biggest lay-off in its history and the first major layoff since November 12, 2002 when the company laid off 10% of its workforce (200 employees). The lay-off reduced the workforce by around 11%, from 19,000 employees to 17,000.
On June 28, 2012, the company announced a planned workforce reduction of 5,000 by the end of its fiscal 2013, as part of a $1 billion cost savings initiative.
On July 25, 2013, 250 employees from BlackBerry's research and development department and new product testing were laid off. The layoffs were part of the turnaround efforts.
On September 20, 2013, BlackBerry confirmed that the company will have a massive layoff of 4,500 employees by the end of 2013. This would be approximately 40 percent of the company's workforce.
Shares price fell further on July 16, closing at $7.09 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the lowest level since September 8, 2003, after a jury in California said RIM must pay $147.2 million as a result of a patent infringement judgement that was subsequently overturned.
On November 22, 2012, shares of RIM/BlackBerry surged 18%, the largest gain of the stock in over three years. This was due to National Bank of Canada analyst Kris Thompson's announcement that the new BB10 devices were expected to sell better than anticipated; along with raising the target stock price.
On June 28, 2013, after BlackBerry announced net losses of approximately $84 million, its shares plunged 28%.
The company tried to enhance the aging platform with a better web browser, faster performance, a bundled application store and various touch screen enhancements, but ultimately decided to build a new platform with QNX at its core. While most other operating systems are monolithic - the malfunction of one area would cause the whole system to crash – QNX is more stable because it uses independent building blocks or "kernels", preventing a domino effect if one kernel breaks. RIM's final major OS release before the release of BlackBerry 10, was BlackBerry 7, which was often criticized as dated and referred to as a temporary stopgap.
On March 3, 2006, RIM announced that it had settled its BlackBerry patent dispute with NTP. Under the terms of the settlement, RIM agreed to pay NTP US$612.5 million in a "full and final settlement of all claims." In a statement, RIM said that "all terms of the agreement have been finalized and the litigation against RIM has been dismissed by a court order this afternoon. The agreement eliminates the need for any further court proceedings or decisions relating to damages or injunctive relief."
The Certicom intellectual property portfolio includes over 350 patents and patents pending worldwide that cover key aspects of elliptic curve cryptography (ECC): software optimizations, efficient hardware implementations, methods to enhance the security, and various cryptographic protocols.
The National Security Agency (NSA) has licensed 26 of Certicom's ECC patents as a way of clearing the way for the implementation of elliptic curves to protect US and allied government information.
On January 23, 2009, VeriSign entered into an agreement to acquire Certicom. Research In Motion put in a counter-offer, which was deemed superior. VeriSign did not match this offer, and so Certicom announced an agreement to be acquired by RIM. Upon the completion of this transaction, Certicom became a wholly owned subsidiary of RIM, and was de-listed from the Toronto Stock Exchange on March 25, 2009.
In January 2009, Canadian regulators stated that they were seeking a record penalty of $80 million USD from the top two executives, Co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis. Furthermore, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has pushed for Balsillie to pay the bulk of any penalty and relinquish his seat on RIM's board of directors for a period of time.
On February 5, 2009, several executives and directors of Research In Motion agreed to pay the penalties to settle an investigation into the backdating of stock options. The Ontario Securities Commission approved the arrangement in a closed-door meeting.
Under the terms of a settlement agreement with the OSC, RIM co-chief executive officers Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, as well as chief operating officer Dennis Kavelman, will jointly pay a total of C$68-million to RIM to reimburse the company for losses from the backdating and for the costs of a long internal investigation. The three are also required to pay C$9-million to the OSC.
Initially, Balsillie had stepped down from RIM's board of directors on a temporarily for a year and remained in his executive role. Balsille left the Board in January 2012 and stepped down from his executive role in March 2012.
RIM performed badly in the Products category, only scoring points for the energy efficiency of its products as it reports that its BlackBerry charger gets the European Commission IPP 4-star rating. Meanwhile on Sustainable Operations the company scored well for its stance on conflict minerals and received points for its Paper Procurement Policy and its mail-back programme for e-waste. Nevertheless, RIM was given no points for the management of GHG emissions from its supply chain.
Further reading }}
Category:Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Category:1984 establishments in Ontario Category:Companies established in 1984 Category:Companies listed on NASDAQ Category:Electronics companies of Canada Category:Mobile phone manufacturers Category:Canadian brands Category:S&P/TSX 60 Index Category:S&P/TSX Composite Index


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Mozambique’s $128-billion Gas Project could be a Lifeline for SA Stainless
The largest project ever undertaken in Africa, the US$128-Billion Mozambique LNG Gas Project which shifted into higher gear earlier this month, holds excellent potential for local stainless steel supply and may be the lifeline that South Africa’s beleaguered stainless steel sector has been searching for
Economic Policy Dialogue African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)
Sassda recently attended the dti’s Economic Policy Dialogue on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which aims at providing a single continental market for goods and services, with free movement of people and investments. Its goal is to boost Intra-Africa trade from an existing level of about 13% to 25% or more over the next decade, thus contributing to economic growth and attracting investments from both within Africa and the world.
Lets’s Talk about Tariffs…
When it comes to the minefield of trade tariffs, Sassda is not a policy creator or implementer but rather acts as an invaluable facilitator based on its strong relationships with the relevant government bodies, to ensure all our members’ interests are equitably represented in an independent and objective manner. Tariffs expert and Sassda Market Intelligence Specialist Lesley Squires explains how this complex relationship works.
Sassda Launches New Look Advanced Course
In keeping with our mission to take our education and training courses to the next level, in line with our new look 2020 membership structure, Sassda has launched a revamped 3-day Stainless Steel Advanced course
Sassda’s Input for Steel Master Plan to Ebrahim Patel
In an effort to fulfil our purpose statement, and with the current lack of projects within South Africa, we have been actively working with Trade Export South Africa and subsequently the Trade Invest Africa units of the dti to facilitate trade between South Africa and other countries on the African Continent. Our particular focus is Africa as the nature of our members’ products tend to be large and therefore logistical costs hamper a lot of exports to the rest of the world.
The Global and Local Stainless Steel Primary Product Market
Sassda is fighting for the survival of the Southern African stainless steel sector as the industry grapples with one of the toughest times in its history. A key part of our work is providing exclusive, in-depth insight and analysis to ensure our members are equipped with the key information they need to go into the market and win!
Stainless Steel forges Ahead
Sassda looks to grow the local stainless steel market
Despite having been buffeted by a variety of economic headwinds in the past year, the South African stainless steel industry remains hopeful especially in light of the release of the long-awaited Mining Charter
The 4th Industrial Revolution is here - are you ready?
With 400 000 manufacturing jobs lost since 2008, elevated labour costs and a 3% drop from 15% to 12% in the manufacturing industry’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the period, the potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) to revolutionise the output of local manufacturers has never been more significant to the long-term sustainability of this ‘engine room’ of South Africa’s economy


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New food labelling laws could mean consumers are given less information about products, it was reported on Thursday.
The Daily Dispatch said labelling legislation was now so strict that it was cheaper for companies not to volunteer a breakdown of nutritional information. Food scientist Nigel Sunley told the Eastern Cape newspaper that the nutritional aspect of the new food laws had “backfired”.
"The department of health didn't think carefully about the implications of the wording," he said. Dietician Jane Badham said the health minister had spoken about clamping down on the amount of salt in food but it was not mandatory to disclose how much salt was on food.
Any food packaging designed after March 1 will be designed to reflect the new regulations.
(Sapa, March 2012)
Food labelling legislation


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Turnaround from Insomniac Games. The studio announces that it will finally be possible to transfer the Spider-Man PS4 savegame to Spider-Man PS5. Players can find their progress on the new Sony console.
In a tweet from Insomniac Games it says:
We heard you. In an upcoming update for Spider-Man PS4, we’ll be adding the ability to export your storage to Spider-Man Remastered. This update will also add the three new combinations from the remastered version to the PS4 game. We hope to bring this update to you on Thanksgiving.
For your information: Thanksgiving takes place on the 4th Thursday of November each year in the US. In 2020, Thanksgiving will fall on November 26th. Players who want to transfer their save from Spider-Man PS4 to Spider-Man PS5 don’t have to wait long. As a reminder, the PS5 will be available for purchase on November 19th. Spider-Man will be one of the games to launch.
This language change from Insomniac Games definitely puts players at ease. Last September, the studio announced that a backup transfer from Spider-Man PS4 to Spider-Man PS5 was not planned. At this point, players expected to have to start over. Ultimately, this will not be the case … except for those who really want it.


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Block.one, a blockchain software firm whose long-time backers conists of billionaires Peter Thiel, Alan Howard and Louis Bacon, is starting a crypto exchange that wants to merge attributes of traditional exchanges with the benefits of decentralized finance. Bullish, as the exchange will be known, is being capitalized by Block.one with about $10 billion in digital assets and cash. That seeding for Bullish Global includes 164,000 Bitcoins valued at around $9.7 billion, $100 million in cash and 20 million EOS tokens, which power Block.one transactions. A funding round raised another $300 million, Block.one said in a statement Tuesday.
The exchange wants to leverage existing blockchain technology with the decentralized architecture of DeFi that has grown in amicability for maximizing yield-generating strategies. The announcement follows Coinbase Global Inc.’s debut last month on the Nasdaq, which initially valued the largest U.S. crypto exchange at more than $100 billion.
It also seems to be a significant phase to rebuilding Block.one’s EOSIO technology, which has encoutered headwinds since it ran the world’s biggest ICO that reticular $4 billion in 2018. While some of the money has been used to make the EOSblockchain, much of it was simply invested in assets such as government bonds.
Furthermore, EOS has lately seen decreasing developer interest , according to a record from Electric Capital, a venture company that invests in crypto startups.
Other distinguished investors are taking part in the funding round include Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li, German promoter and investor Christian Angermayer, Michael Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital, and Nomura Holdings.
Bullish will offer institutional and retail investors market making, lending and portfolio chairman services without use of brokeres like banks.
“The exchange is reckoned to propose institutions and individuals better and safer availability to the latest cryptocurrency investment strategies,” Block.one Chief Executive Officer Brendan Blumer said.


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SHEEX, a leader in direct response and retail bedding, had been running TV spots with a competitive agency for over a year when their campaign began to stall. They sought MDG’s help.
With a Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) 60% under goal, low revenue, limited dayparts, and zero diversification across their station mix, SHEEX needed to quickly find new revenue streams, broaden their audience segments and increase retail foot traffic.
Before they switched agencies, 85% of SHEEX’s media budget had been focused on three news channels — regardless of demographics and performance. As the previous campaign only ran on these large news stations, most of their budget had gone towards late-night and overnight rotations.
Within weeks, MDG increased SHEEX’s performing station list by 138%. We researched, recommended, tested and scaled a new audience, introducing female-skewing stations with 95% success. We diversified their daypart mix to include daytime, early morning, late fringe and prime spots across 35 new networks.
With these optimizations, SHEEX saw its ROAS improve by 200%. Overall revenue increased by 40% in just 12 weeks. Additionally, retail foot traffic increased 44%, the first increase in over ten months.


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As the OAP evolves, it’s imperative we work together
The UK Government’s Online Advertising Programme is taking a targeted approach to tackling key areas of risk and has formalised industry collaboration via a new task force, signalling a positive step for the industry.
Last year I wrote a piece for The Media Leader calling on our industry to engage with the Online Advertising Programme to help shape the future of digital advertising regulation. My message was simple — if your business invests in or relies on digital marketing in any way, the OAP will impact you. At that point, we didn’t know much about how it would develop, but we did know that change was almost guaranteed. It would have been highly unlikely for the Government to launch such an all-encompassing and comprehensive regulatory review only to turn around and say, “as you were”.
But instead of seeing the OAP as a threat, we urged all parts of the supply chain to see it as an opportunity to create positive change and bolster the framework of industry-led regulation that responsible companies have invested significant amounts of time and resources in. At the IAB, our consultation response was rooted in demonstrating how self-regulation is delivering and we argued that the OAP should take a targeted approach to focus on the highest risk areas — particularly where illegal actors are involved.
The Government has now released its response to the consultation, giving us a clearer indication of how the next phase will develop. Here’s what we know.
A new Taskforce to formalise industry collaboration
The question I’m getting asked most at the moment is “so the OAP… is it good or bad for our industry?” As ever, it’s not that binary but in its simplest form the Government’s response to the OAP consultation is positive for two reasons: it formalises joint working between Government and the industry via a new Taskforce; and it is taking a targeted approach to address key areas of risk rather than a blanket approach that disregards what is already in place.
This is significant because it was by no means guaranteed that the Government would recognise the value and efficacy of industry-led regulation in protecting consumers and businesses (which, let’s face it, often gets interpreted as businesses setting their own rules — which is far from the case) or that it would seek to work with industry directly.
The minister-led Taskforce the Government has set up — which IAB UK is part of — aims to explore non-legislative action to address illegal harms arising from online advertising and increase the protection of children. It will look at how to improve the evidence base around illegal harms and draw on “existing innovative industry-sourced solutions, driving adoption and continued improvements.” This is the first time that the Government has formalised working with industry in this way, and our hope is that it will result in effective, proportionate and digital-first solutions that can evolve in line with our fast-moving industry.
Legislation is still on the table
However, this is only one half of the story, with new legislation also being proposed. While the Taskforce will be exploring the potential of non-legislative options, policy makers will also be putting together a package of legislative reforms that will then be open to wider consultation.
Here is where it gets a bit more complex. We agree that industry should be doing everything it can to detect and disrupt illegal ads — but effectively dealing with the bad actors behind those ads is not something that can be achieved by further regulating businesses that are already doing the right thing. To crack down on illegal advertising, the Government needs to ensure it delivers on the other side of the equation by enforcing the current laws against criminals who exploit digital advertising and consumers for their own gain.
If new legislation is introduced, it should be justified by the evidence available and the case needs to be made that it is the right solution for the issue. The Government acknowledges that more work is needed to understand the scale and impact of illegal harms and how industry-led regulation can address them — but by simultaneously announcing that it is developing legislative proposals, it appears to be pre-empting the outcome of that process.
The work begins now
Up until this point, our focus has been on supporting the Government’s review so that it is informed as possible about our industry and its existing regulatory framework. But that was just the start of the process and the work we collectively do now will define the evolution of digital advertising regulation and the future of the businesses that rely on it. The Government has stated that a key objective of the OAP “is to support innovation in the sector, so that it can maintain and build on the key role it plays at the centre of our digital economy and creative industries”. We fully support that aim and hope that the creation of the Taskforce sets a new precedent for Government/industry collaboration.
As the next phase of the OAP develops, our message to IAB members and the wider industry is that now is the time to take action. Our joint focus should be on demonstrating how we can address the issues raised via collaboration and innovation. Your input will be essential to producing effective solutions and we’ll be working with our members over the coming months to ensure we step up to the challenge.
Christie Dennehy-Neil is head of Policy & Regulatory Affairs at IAB UK


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Chef/Owner, Shota Nakajima of Northwest Kaiseki restaurant, Naka, has added three, prominent industry professionals. Dustin Haarstad, formerly of Canon and CEO and Founder of Blind Tiger Cocktail Co. leading the cocktail team that includes Ryan Lobe from Rumba and Sean Dumke of Knee High Stocking Co. and Witness.
The talented team will be tackling the entire spectrum of spirits, but with a definite focus toward Japanese whisky (many of which are not available in the U.S.), single malts, Japanese highball options, and some molecular “culinary cocktails” that will be both “strange and engaging” and only available in limited quantity. In addition, Dustin has found a resource for an uncommon Japanese beer called Echigo, alongside a dedicated tap in the bar from local Seattle favorite, Holy Mountain Brewing Co.
later this fall the team will be offering tableside cocktail service, which will include hand carved ice balls and diamonds, along with high end Japanese whisky.


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There was no special treatment for these special sisters who were taken off to the meat market this week, more than two years after their surprise triple arrival on a Yinnar property.
The Express first met the triplets before Valentines Day 2013 when delighted beef farmer Zarko Spehar said the three calves were “thriving and wreaking havoc” in their new home.
In a last minute photo opportunity before the heifers were loaded onto a livestock truck destined for the Koonwarra market, the somewhat larger two year-olds were still roughhousing in loading pens like true siblings.
“It’s sad to see them go, especially for my wife who’s a bit upset. But what can you do? You can’t marry them,” Mr Spehar said.
With beef market prices holding strong, Mr Spehar said the sale of the triplets would contribute to his best season in 30 years on his 300-acre property.
“It’s a good market to be selling into, so I think I can’t go wrong this time. I’ve already sold probably 80 head so far this year, and there’s another 18 heifers in this delivery,” Mr Spehar said.
“I’m enjoying this season, but it’s anyone’s guess how long it will last.”


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Puerto de Indias capitalises on UK’s thirst for pink gin
Spanish brand Puerto de Indias is investing £2 million (US$2.6m) in the UK this year as it launches its pink gin into the market.
Puerto de Indias Strawberry Gin claims to have started the pink gin trend
Seville-based Puerto de Indias is working with distribution partner Indie Brands to launch its Puerto de Indias Strawberry Gin in the UK.
As part of its £2m investment, Puerto de Indias will launch a six-figure marketing campaign, which features the phrase ‘It’s not pink, it’s Puerto’.
According to IWSR 2018 statistics cited by the brand, Puerto de Indias is the first and best-selling strawberry gin in the world. The gin, which launched in 2013 in Spain, is “credited with the proliferation of pink gins”.
Six million bottles of the gin was sold in 2018 in Spain, where the brand is the fourth best-selling gin.
Bottled at 37.5% abv, Puerto de Indias Strawberry Gin is made with fresh strawberries grown locally in Seville. Its suggested serve is over ice with fresh strawberry slices and a wedge of lime, topped with tonic water.
The distillery, based in Carmona, Seville, dates back to 1880 and claims to be one of the oldest in Andalusia. Its gin range also includes Puerto de Indias Pure Black Edition and Puerto de Indias Classic Gin.
Sales of flavoured gin in the UK were driven by pink variants last year and are expected to grow further in 2019, according to the Wine & Spirit Trade Association.
Margaux Maupate, brand manager for Puerto de Indias, said: “Strawberry gin is a growing trend on the continent, and it is set to take the UK by storm with the rise of pink gins in 2018.
“In the UK alone, flavoured gin drove more than half the growth in the market last year and of that growth, 75% was the result of sales of pink gins.
“We are passionate about our gin and we’ve seen that there is a huge market for strawberry gin variants.
“We have a rich heritage and marry traditional customs of distillation with modern techniques to craft our drinks, and this passion for what we do really shows in the finished product.”
Puerto de Indias Strawberry Gin is available in a 700ml bottle at an RRP of £27 (US$35.30).
In February last year, private investment firm HIG Capital acquired a majority stake in Puerto de Indias Group.
The ‘millennial pink’ trend seems to be here to stay – check out our pick of the top 10 captivating pink spirits.


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U.S. Subcompact Car Market Share Fell by Half Since 2016; Subcompact Crossover Segment Tripled Since 2013
No Yaris. No Fiesta. No Sonic. No Mazda2. No Fit.
America’s subcompact car segment is decimated. According to Tyson Jominy, the vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power, 40 percent of last year’s subcompact sales are gone. Jominy doesn’t mean “fewer sales.” He means that the nameplates responsible for 40 percent of the sales are gone.
And is it any wonder? As recently as 2014, subcompact cars produced 3.8 percent of all U.S. auto sales. Collectively, the few remaining subcompact cars now account for just 1.4 percent of the American light vehicle market.
At the current rate of decline, fewer than 1 percent of the vehicles sold in America in 2022 will be subcompact cars. But we all know the current rate of decline is hardly an accurate harbinger. If subcompacts own 1 percent of the market in 2021, we’d be surprised.
Subcompact crossovers are hardly the only factors at play in the decline of subcompact cars. True, there’s an industry-wide shift from passenger cars to SUVs and crossovers, whether it’s Camry-to-RAV4, 3 Series-to-X3, or Impreza-to-Crosstrek. But beyond prevailing winds, subcompact cars also painted themselves into a corner.
Take fuel economy as an example. The most efficient Honda Fit and the most efficient Honda Civic will both cost $75 to run, the EPA says. What about actual payments? According to Toyota.com, leasing the least costly automatic-shift 2020 Corolla Hatchback will cost a grand total of $73 more less per month than the least costly 2020 Yaris Hatchback.
In other words, subcompact cars are typically less refined than compact cars. They’re usually slower. They’re rarely as nicely equipped. To counteract their demerits, subcompact cars offer the unique privilege of draining bank accounts at a more rapid rate.
Oh, the joy of tight turning circles.
Regardless of their own inadequacies, subcompact cars were selling at reasonable levels. Between 2012 and 2016, there were nearly 600,000 annual subcompact car sales in America, on average. 2015, however, represented a major swing in the market. It was the first time subcompact crossovers sold in greater numbers than subcompact cars. And there was no going back. Subcompact crossover market share (not including the Rogue Sport that Nissan folds into total Rogue volume) will soon be twice as strong as it was in 2015; subcompact cars will soon generate less than one-third the share they produced in 2015.
The shock-to-the-system of a pandemic-altered first-half did the dwindling subcompact car market no favors in early 2020. The ensuing incentives, such as interest rate drops that obviously lend far more favor to more costly products, have done virtually nothing to spur sales of America’s smallest cars. As auto sales fell 24 percent overall in 2020’s first six months, subcompact cars were down 51 percent, greater than twice the rate of decline.
Subcompact crossovers, meanwhile, lost only 7 percent of their volume while the overall market tumbled at more than three times the rate.
The die is cast.
[Images: Nissan, Hyundai]
More by Timothy Cain
Latest Car ReviewsRead more
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- Dartdude They need to rebrand the models, The standard model should be Wagoneer and long version should be Grand Wagoneer. There should offer the Ram Rev powertrain in these
- Irvingklaws Seems more like they're adopting Honda styling queues. Now if they would just adopt their reliability...
- FreedMike "Obsidian Edition."Oooooh, obsidian is really, really hard stuff.
- John The awesome Infiniti G series saved this company 20 years ago, but they are right back on track to obsolescence. (yawn)
- Teddyc73 White with black wheels, I'm so sick of. Or dull grey and black wheels. Just stop.


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Jersey wholesale milk price to rise by 3p a litre
The wholesale price of milk is to rise next month by 3p a litre to help farmers, according to Jersey Dairy.
The dairy said the island's farmers had been struggling with rising production costs.
Only cows' milk produced in Jersey can be sold in the island and the average price of a litre is currently £1.09.
Jersey Dairy says the 3p per litre will be given directly to farmers to help them cover the increasing costs around producing milk.
The price rise will be effective from 4 November.
Farmers say they have been struggling to afford to feed their herds after a wet winter, cold late spring and hot summer, forcing them to import more animal feed.
The dairy said it would also give farmers an extra 2p per litre from the extra revenue generated by increased export sales.
The company announced a deal in June to export products, including UHT milk, to China through Shanghai and Hong Kong distributors.
Jersey Diary says the wholesale price of milk has risen by 18% in 11 years, less than half the UK rate.


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Since taking the helm from Steve Jobs, the quiet Alabamian has carefully fostered a new Apple. The company is less focused on innovation, and more consumed with profitability.
That is not necessarily a bad thing, but is a warning sign for investors.
The warning comes from Cook's reliance on financial engineering to keep the profit train at Apple on track. In the past, I have written about the share buybacks. These purchases, a financial engineering technique, have contributed mightily to Apple's near-$1 trillion valuation.
Critics argue that money would have been better spent on research and development. While Samsung (SSNLF) is building foldable devices, screens with embedded fingerprint sensors and 5G handsets, Cupertino is focused on color variants of their family of iPhones. It is depressing, given the history of the company.
Sadly, the master plan under Cook is now in full view. Apple will continue to raise prices to offset falling unit sales growth. The brand is moving upscale. The calculus is they can sell enough expensive iPhones, iPads and Macs to offset the coming free fall in unit sales.
There is risk with this strategy. In a world where populist sentiment is growing, smartphones that routinely cost as much as a used Toyota have the potential to become elitist symbols. This will likely lead to a backlash.
The news on Monday was the first of what I believe will be many negative corporate announcements. Specifically, Lumentum (LITE) - Get Report , an Apple supplier of the sensors needed to build Face ID unlock, slashed its sales forecast. The culprit is weak demand at a major customer, wink, wink.
Everyone knows that customer is Apple. And since all of the iPhones now come with Face ID unlock, there is nowhere to hide. iPhones are clearly not selling as well as they have in the past. Unit names are now an alphabet soup of X's and R's and S's, showing that its vaunted marketing department has lost control of the message.
What could be the reason? I wonder. Maybe it's the fact that the "budget" iPhone now costs $750. A souped-up top-of-the-line device will cost $1,500. It's crazy.
And the strategy is not confined to iPhones. Last week, Cook revealed next generation iPads, MacBooks and Macs. Everything got a price bump. Customers are balking, obviously.
I doubt they are leaving the Apple ecosystem. It's still far too tough to give up Facetime and other Apple perks. Patrons are probably deciding their old device is good enough for their needs.
Apple is a hardware maker that dreams of being a services company such as Netflix (NFLX) - Get Report or Disney (DIS) - Get Report and receiving the higher price/earnings multiple that those companies get. So far Mr. Market is saying it doesn't believe that Apple can pull that off, and is punishing its ambition, as well it should. Apple has always been terrible at services.
The stock closed a blink above its rising 200-day moving average on Monday. The stock could test that level, $191, during upcoming sessions. Buyers will probably step up at that level, but if they don't -- watch out below.
To learn more about my recommendations at the crossroads of communications and technology, check out my daily newsletter Strategic Advantage.
To learn about my practical research in the short-term timing of market indexes and commodities, check out my daily newsletter Invariant Futures.
The author has no positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this article.


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The numbers are striking: 47% of San Francisco restaurant owners laid off all of their employees during shelter-in-place. And among the 73% of restaurants open for takeout, 60% are losing money by doing so.
Those statistics come from a survey of 216 San Francisco restaurant owners — representing 419 locations — conducted by the Golden Gate Restaurant Association. The survey results, obtained exclusively by The Chronicle, reveal the challenges restaurateurs are facing during shelter-in-place as well as their reopening prospects.
Association Executive Director Laurie Thomas has estimated that half of San Francisco restaurants could permanently close because of the coronavirus. While certainly not optimistic, the survey results don’t seem as dire — at least for the very near future. Just 9% of respondents believed they’d permanently close their restaurants before the end of shelter-in-place, and 64% planned to reopen regardless of any capacity restrictions.
Still, Thomas admits it’s an imperfect survey, covering less than 10% of the city’s restaurants. The association pushed it out widely, so it’s possible some restaurant owners from nearby cities such as Oakland answered it as well. And while the association had it translated into Spanish, Chinese and Filipino languages, nearly all of the responses came back in English.
Thomas was most surprised to see 65% of respondents received federal Paycheck Protection Program loans, because anecdotally, it seemed as though few local restaurants got them. That led her to wonder if the survey respondents represented the most well connected and tech-savvy of the city’s restaurant owners.
“That’s my angst,” she said. “If I could have everyone answer the survey, I think we’d see it skewed toward what we are expecting, which is a higher percentage of failure.”
The results come just days after Gov. Gavin Newsom released guidelines for reopening restaurants in California — a 12-page document that detailed sanitation, mask and physical distancing requirements. Counties can add more restrictions on top of those guidelines, and many chefs assume Bay Area officials will make stricter guidelines. An overwhelming majority of the association’s survey respondents said they were OK having their employees use masks and gloves, though just 43% were willing to install plastic shields within their restaurants, which is one of the state recommendations.
A big question on operators’ minds is whether diners will even want to come into their restaurants as shelter-in-place restrictions lift. They have good reason to be concerned, according to a poll conducted by The Chronicle. Out of more than 6,300 votes, about 30% said they’d be sticking to takeout and delivery options for the foreseeable future. Just 25% were comfortable returning to restaurants limited to half capacity.
That’s troubling for the industry, as 87% of the association’s survey respondents said they can’t survive on just takeout and delivery. Of the restaurants still open, 62% are making less than half the revenue they brought in before the shutdown.
Those numbers sound right to Pete Sittnick, a managing partner of San Francisco restaurants Waterbar and Epic Steak, who said restaurants have too many fixed costs like rent for a takeout-only model to make sense. Waterbar and Epic have stayed closed during shelter-in-place, which Sittnick said was the best move for their large restaurants.
“You still have to have the lights on, you still have to have the kitchen equipment fired up, and that basically means your utility bill is going to be the same as if you were open for dine-in business,” he said, adding that labor would also be costly. “It would still take a core group of people — 10 or 20 — just to get the restaurant to a point where it could do business.”
One of the biggest determinations of restaurants’ survival is rent. While more than half of respondents got some lease payments deferred, just 28% were offered discounted rent while 41% received no relief from landlords.
David Nayfeld, who owns San Francisco restaurants Che Fico and Che Fico Alimentari with Matt Brewer, said restaurant operators must be responsible for building strong relationships with trustworthy landlords — but government officials should also step in when necessary to protect small businesses from “bad actor landlords.”
“Without some legislative support from San Francisco or the state, it’s going to drive a lot of businesses out. It’ll probably create a lot more vacancies and a lot more blight,” Brewer said.
Many survey respondents said deferred rent isn’t helpful when their incomes have dropped so dramatically. They want the city to make some temporary relief efforts permanent, such as its initiative to put a 15% cap on third-party delivery commissions. They worry about the cost of buying so much protective equipment and whether they’ll even be able to get the masks, sanitizer and disinfectant wipes they’d need. And liability is a huge concern — 79% reported being worried about getting sued by customers or employees if they catch the coronavirus and track it back to the restaurant.
Based on the survey results, the association plans to advocate for more financial aid options — 68% said they need less than $100,000 to reopen their restaurants — as well as clear reopening guidelines, help buying protective equipment and the ability to use public outdoor space to boost their seating capacities. The latter already has support from some city leaders.
But perhaps most of all, restaurant owners want to know what to expect — and soon.
“We have two or three meetings a week ... and we have five plans,” Nayfeld said. “One of those plans is just don’t open.”
Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: email@example.com Twitter: @janellebitker


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Candy Lab, a high-tech startup company with operations in El Paso and San Diego, is going to the prestigious Demo event in Silicon Valley this fall.
Demo Fall 2012 is a private event that puts promising high-tech startups in front of venture capitalists and high-tech industry leaders, said Andrew Couch, president and chief executive officer for Candy Lab.
"Think (television show) 'Shark Tank' but on a global scale," said Couch, a transplanted San Diegan now living in El Paso.
Couch and his company have tested their Cachetown app in El Paso and will formally launch it Oct. 1-3 at Demo in San Jose, Calif.
The app is a high-tech scavenger hunt game that can be used by businesses as a promotional tool, Couch said. For players, it's a fun game that can be played on their mobile phones.
While at Demo, Couch said, he is hoping to find $1.5 million in funding for his company and different partners to help his business grow. His plan is to locate his corporate headquarters in El Paso and begin to hire El Pasoans to work in its sales and technology departments, he said.
About 19,000 companies applied to launch at Demo this fall, Couch said. About 70 were accepted, and of those, 20 got full scholarships and 10 got partial scholarships, he added.
Candy Lab received a partial scholarship worth about $14,000 to participate this year. Couch's company will end up paying about $4,000 for its Demo entry fee.
"And we wouldn't be able to do this without it (the scholarship help)," Couch said.
Cachetown was used at Balloon Fest and Street Fest this year as a scavenger hunt and prize giveaway game by radio station KLAQ-FM (95.5) and its partners.
More recently, it was used by a partnership among the El Paso New Car Dealer Association, GECU and UTEP Athletics for a monthlong scavenger hunt. Three participants were then selected for a field goal kicking contest at halftime of the Oklahoma-UTEP football game and had a chance to win a new car.
The Cachetown app uses what is called augmented reality technology. Images are assigned to particular locations around a city using a Global Positioning System, and you can see those images through your phone. Similar technology has been used in Europe for several years but is new to the United States, Couch said.
John Luciano, president of the El Paso New Car Dealer Association, said that the technology and scavenger hunt game "got us in front of tens of thousands of people."
"It was an honor for our 27 dealer franchises to be part of the first use of this technology in the USA," Luciano wrote in a statement.
Couch's connection to El Paso came almost by accident. He met El Paso native Bea Lich at a New Year Eve's party last year in San Diego, while she was visiting. They fell in love, and he soon moved to El Paso.
But his decision to move his company to El Paso was purely a business decision, he said.
"El Paso has been so forward-thinking and has embraced me as a new entrepreneur and this new technology," Couch said. "That's the reason I was able to bring my business to El Paso."
Couch is a former Army sergeant who deployed to Kosovo as a peacekeeper and to Afghanistan where he saw combat duty.
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Job listings on Apple’s website suggest that the company plans to open a new store in Coquitlam Centre, a mall in the suburbs about half an hour outside of Vancouver. If true, this would be the fifth Apple store in the Vancouver area.
According to AppleInsider, the Coquitlam Apple store could open as soon as September. It would be the easternmost store Apple has launched in Vancouver and would serve a wide variety of outskirt suburbs. However, it’s currently unclear which store will give way to it.


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‘We become minimizing our personal in-home setting up try to crucial needs’
Display this history
Display All discussing alternatives for: Verizon is actually canceling household websites installs via pandemic
Example by Alex Castro / The Edge
Verizon is canceling arranged engagements for web setting up and fixing, as indicated by some visitors as well as 2 Verge correspondents with persistent internet factors. Buying one likely leaves Fios website subscribers without bound online at once any time they’re probable depending on it for succeed as well as view good friends inside COVID-19 epidemic.
“We is lessening our personal in-home installment strive to critical will have to always keep all of our staff members and people safe and to lessen the scatter of COVID-19,” Verizon says in a support report.
“To limit the scatter of COVID-19 and maintain all of our employees and visitors safer, the audience is generating every make an attempt to play succeed without starting residences or small enterprises and are generally limiting in-home installs to surgical emergencies and critical installations,” Verizon conveys to The edge in a statement. Self-install choices are likewise readily available for “qualified solution purchases,” the company put.
However, Verizon actually altered finnish in help file sometime on Tuesday early morning, as mentioned in businesses Insider. Earlier, the web page announced that “our specialists will not be able to penetrate the household or businesses to install unique solutions or to manage revive function.”
Here’s the previous terminology, from a model of the webpage archived on saturday:
Through COVID-19, the audience is getting precautions maintain all of our people and buyers risk-free. Today, all of our specialists will be unable to penetrate your household or businesses to install brand-new business or even do service operate. Qualified requirements are going to be presented self-install selection, otherwise may continue with placing your order for a technician-required installs and it’ll get conducted for potential consultation priority. You’ll see notification to select an installation go out if we resume process.
Consumers on Twitter report that their unique installations visits happen canceled. One believed the other day that his own application meeting got terminated for web which he required for class. In a reply, Verizon believed their “technicians will be unable to get in your property to set up newer solutions or carry out restoration work.”
As a consequence of COVID-19, we’ve been getting steps keeping the staff and customers secure. Right now, the specialists will not be able to type in the household to install new services or would cure perform.
Previous correct, Verizon assured a client that mentioned his or her installs session got terminated that “qualified requirements will be provided self-install suggestions” and that he would obtain “future session priority” if he or she opted for installment by a technician.
Certified requests shall be supplied self-install alternatives, or maybe you may move with positioning the order for a technician-required setting up and it will generally be presented for upcoming consultation top priority. You might acquire notification select an installation big date when we resume operations^CKM
Some Twitter and youtube owners state that Verizon try advising them that a specialist might hit their unique websites in November, but Verizon explained in answer one of those consumers that the November go steady try “incorrect” as well as being “simply a placeholder for customers locally.”
Jass, that information is wrong. That go out is only a placeholder can be in your community. We shall contact an individual as soon as we receive clearance to produce a youthful date. Thank you. ^HEN
Verizon’s brand-new insurance in addition have affected correspondents here at The limit. Discipline reporter Loren Grush has actuallyn’t received online from Verizon since April 1st. A specialist hit her condominium that time to research, but they claimed an engineering technician were required to consider the difficulty and potentially does a repair. The design technician’s appointment was actually arranged for the other day, however never ever turned up. Verizon informed Grush there’s a whole new protocol implemented on April 6th that suggested technicians could no more come right into them house.
“I tried phoning these days but primarily was assured ‘engineering will call you,’” Grush believed in a Slack information. “We need to wait a little for them to contact us, and because this brand new tip is within environment, I’m perhaps not totally upbeat.”
At the same time, Grush along with her hubby happen forced to rely upon her cell phone hotspots for websites, that they requirement for the company’s perform now. She states she around struck their cellular reports limit, while their wife wanted to pay out to increase a higher reports hat. “I’m nervous [that] even as we smack the hats, the web would be useless,” claimed Grush.
Makena Kelly, a policy reporter within Verge, is going through complications with her Fios online since April first. A technician is arranged to confirm the problem on April 4th, but the internet came home, rel= »nofollow »>besthookupwebsites.net/nl/loveandseek-overzicht so Verizon terminated the visit, she believed in a Slack information. The world-wide-web went out once more eventually that time, and Kelly has actuallyn’t managed to reschedule an appointment.
To help you associates mend issues that don’t demand a specialist to visit physically, Verizon says to The border which it’s piloting “a virtual assistant techie tool which allows all of our subject professionals to interact with customers via realtime, entertaining videos cam.” The firm hasn’t taken care of immediately issues from The edge exactly how large that pilot was or with regards to might roll out extra broadly.


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Beauty science is BOGUS: Just 14% of claims made by cosmetics firms are acceptable, say researchers
- Researchers at Valdosta State University, Georgia and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, studied beauty adverts in seven women's magazines
- Categorised claims into: 'outright lie', 'omission', 'vague' and 'acceptable'
- Found just 14 per cent of all the claims made were 'acceptable'
- Almost a quarter of claims made in wrinkle adverts were dubbed lies
'Here comes the science bit' must be one of the most memorable catch phrases in a beauty advert.
But just 14 per cent of scientific claims made in make-up and skincare advertisements have been deemed 'acceptable' by a panel of experts.
The study also uncovered lies about wrinkle creams and revealed that consumers are already sceptical of many products masquerading as miracles in jars.
Researchers have found that that just 14 per cent of scientific claims made in make-up and skincare advertisements are deemed 'acceptable' by a panel of experts. A stock image is shown
Marketing experts at Valdosta State University in Georgia and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, studied how much truth lies in glossy beauty adverts in women's magazines such as Vogue and Elle.
They looked at 289 full-page make-up, skincare, fragrance, hair and nail adverts from April 2013 issues of seven fashion titles.
They divided the claims made in the adverts into different categories, including endorsement claims, such as 'recommended by dermatologists' and scientific claims, such as 'clinically proven'.
Three female judges then sorted these claims into four categories of truth, from: 'outright lie', 'omission' and 'vague' to 'acceptable'.
The results showed that 'more cosmetics claims were classified as deceptive than were deemed as acceptable,' the study authors write.
They found that just 18 per cent of all the claims made were 'acceptable,' with only 14 per cent of scientific claims found to reach this level, AlphaGalileo reported.
|Superiority claim||Focuses on the superior nature of the product||'Our award-winning product.'|
|'This is the best lotion in the world.'|
|Scientific claim||Emphasises the results of clinical evaluation, scientific process or product formula||'Clinical proven.'|
|'Inspired by groundbreaking DNA research.'|
|'100% fragrance free'|
|Stand-alone performance claim||Focuses on performance without evidence||'Your skin feels softer.'|
|'Looks more radiant.'|
|'12-hour makeup to instantly cover flaws.'|
|Endorsement claim||Uses endorsers in claims||'Dermatologists recommend ingredient that treats and helps prevent breakouts.'|
|Environmental claim||Associated with environmentally-friendly attributes a product possesses||'No animal testing.'|
|Subjective claim||Expresses fanciful or exaggerated statements of the type no reasonable person would take literally||'All you need for all day confidence.'|
|'Make visibly clearer skin a way of life.'|
|'Time is on your side.'|
Marketing experts at Valdosta State University in Georgia and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, studied how much truth lies in glossy adverts in women's magazines such as Vogue and Elle. A stock image is shown
'Scientific claims tended to be classified as vague or as omitting important information,' the research says.
The study, published in the 'Journal of Global Fashion Marketing: Bridging Fashion and Marketing', reported three quarters of claims made in wrinkle adverts were less than acceptable, with 23 per cent deemed to be an 'outright lie'.
It says that most superiority claims, such as 'our award winning product' were found to be false, while performance claims, such as 'your skin feels softer' tended to be vague.
'In addition, most of the endorsement claims were deemed to be acceptable and most of the subjective claims were classified as vague or false,' the marketing experts write.
|Vague/Ambitious||The claim is overly vague or ambitious. It contains a phrase or statement that is too broad to have a clear meaning||'Inspired by science'|
|Omission||The claim omits important information necessary to evaluate its truthfulness or reasonableness||'The product is clinically tested.' This omits information on how and where the product was tested.|
|False/Outright lie||The claim is inaccurate or a fabrication||'This product brings miracles to your skin.'|
|Acceptable||The claim is classified as being acceptable|
Examples of subjective claims listed in the study, include: 'All you need for all day confidence and 'make visibly clearer skin a way of life'.
The researchers write: '…cosmetics companies may be relying on other forms of claims that may also result in the development of false beliefs about assumed brand/product superiority: that is, "scientific", "performance" and/or "subjective" claims may be serving in the same manner as a more traditional puffing statement…'
The experts found that consumers are already sceptical of product claims.
The researchers believe that 'unacceptable' claims made in beauty adverts are failing because they are too vague and because consumers recognise that important information is missing, or that claims lack convincing evidence.
'Specifically, cosmetics claims are considered unacceptable because of a lack of concrete evidence to support the claim as well as the uncertainties attributable to, or affiliated with, the claim itself,' they write.
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Julie Benz gets “red carpet ready” courtesy of Jonathan Antin at the new Jonathan and George Salon in Beverly Hills.
Ever wondered where Julie Benz landed after she wound up murdered on DEXTER? Julie Benz leads SyFy’s brand new drama, DEFIANCE,premiering April 15th alongside Grant Bowler.
In anticipation of her latest role, Julie has been attended numerous red carpet events including the Golden Globes last weekend that was abuzz over her latest role.
During the weekend preparation, she visited the Jonathan and George Salon in Beverly Hills to try out a brand new red carpet look. Love the romantic, “Old Hollywood” glam style she is sporting courtesy of the very talented Jonathan Antin!
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Villa Maria has announced the launch of its newly-refurbished cellar door, now called Tasting Room, at its Manukau Estate in Auckland.
Open now to visitors, the new layout at the winery is a flexible space created to deliver a more dynamic tasting wine experience.
Villa Maria’s Head of marketing and communications, Sarah Szegota, says the Villa Maria team is delighted to be reopening and inviting visitors back into the vineyard.
“Our new approach with the Tasting Room reflects the company’s forward-looking ethos and entrepreneurial spirit as we continuously look to evolve our offering,” she says.
“As a local, family-owned business, our priority has always been to invest in our people and the environment.
“We hope to inspire our visitors – friends and family from near and far – to be a part of this journey and we’ve designed the Tasting Room with that in mind – it’s a place to relax, unwind, learn about wine and create good times, and we can’t wait to welcome people through the doors.”
Villa Maria has partnered with Collective Hospitality to deliver an innovative menu of small plates and platters to accompany the wines on offer.
“The menu has been crafted to enhance our guests’ experience and hero the quality of the wines,” says Szegota.
Villa Maria’s Hawke’s Bay cellar door and events venue – formerly known as Te Awa – is now named Villa Maria Gimblett Gravels and has also been refreshed with a new layout, wine offering and menu.
The redesign of the venue also sees the introduction of the new Esk Valley Lounge, providing a separate space to showcase Esk Valley and for consumers to meet winemaker Gordon Russell and learn about Esk Valley wine.
Villa Maria Estate’s Auckland Tasting Room is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am – 7pm, with reservations recommended.
Hawke’s Bay locals and visitors can take a seat at Villa Maria Gimblett Gravels and the Esk Valley Lounge from 13 October.
For more information, click here.
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At a time when vegetarians and environmentalists are urging consumers to reduce the animal protein they buy and consume, others say that protein, including animal protein, is nutrient-dense and has positive health benefits.
Donald K. Layman, professor emeritus, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, cites a national nutrition policy that works as "fear of fat" which encourages removing fat from the diet. "We're losing muscle mass and protein mass. We have too little protein," he said in a phone interview in March. Earlier he was a speaker at the Ohio Beef Council-sponsored program for dietitians in Columbus. Protein is needed for bone structure and diseases of bones are age-related. The basic structure of bone is a matrix of protein with deposits of minerals.
A diet with a moderate amount of protein improves weight management and heart health. Two recently published research studies - the March edition of the Journal of Nutrition and the January edition of Nutrition & Metabolism - concluded that overweight/obese adults can lose weight and decrease their risk factors for metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes by following a moderate carbohydrate, moderate protein diet. Those on the moderate protein diet reduced their body fat and improved blood lipid levels (decreased triglycerides and increased HDL, the beneficial cholesterol).
He defines a moderate protein diet as 100 to 130 grams of protein per day. The average adult woman has 65 to 75 grams protein per day, he said.
Consuming high-quality protein can help people increase a feeling of fullness and energy and maintain lean tissue, which leads to improved weight management and heart health, according to Shalene McNeill, executive director of nutrition research for National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
Mr. Layman says that saturated fat in fried food, candy bars, fats, and pastries rather than in meats, are the culprit in raising LDLs (the bad cholesterol). "The biggest impact on blood lipids is your weight," he said.
As people figure out the best diet for weight loss, many believe that saturated fat and cholesterol are the only issues. "We've tried that for 35 years. The longer we use that philosophy, the fatter we get," he said, noting that processed carbohydrates cause people to overeat. "We consume too many desserts and candy bars."
There also is increasing discussion of sarcopenia, the loss of lean muscle mass with age. Dietary protein can stimulate muscle protein synthesis and reduce muscle loss as individuals age. The optimal amount of protein that should be consumed to protect baby boomers from sarcopenic muscle loss is about four ounces (or 25 to 30 grams high-quality protein, or 10 grams essential amino acids per meal). High-quality protein can be found in beef, pork, eggs, fish, poultry, and dairy products.
It has been reported that adolescent and older females do not consume enough protein and very few are consuming the recommendations of the USDA's food guide MyPyramid.
According to Ronald Zernicke, the University of Michigan's director of Bone & Joint Injury Prevention & Rehabilitation Center, protein is essential for developing and maintaining healthy skeletal tissue. Carbonated beverages and sugar-filled sports drinks can decrease bone mineral density. Protein is extremely important for proper bone growth, especially in young athletes and physically active growing children. Athletes should be consuming at least 1,200 to 1,500 mg of calcium a day by way of low-fat, low-sodium dairy products, vegetables, greens, or supplements.


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Here’s our recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web.
From Marketing Land:
- Google rolls out ‘interpreter mode’ for Home and smart displays
Feb 14, 2019 by Greg Sterling
Users invoke the feature in one of several ways and it keeps going until you verbally turn it off.
- Brightcove to buy video ad tech platform Ooyala for $15 million
Feb 14, 2019 by Amy Gesenhues
Brightcove CEO says the deal will immediately grow the company’s global workforce and accelerate its ability to deliver deeper support for customers.
- Skimlinks launches automated affiliate links for AMP
Feb 13, 2019 by Barry Levine
The UK-based firm says this is the first such automated solution for affiliate links on AMP pages.


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Deloitte announced the launch of Smart Factory Fabric, a pre-configured suite of a cloud-based Internet of Things (IoT) applications designed to accelerate smart factory transformations for companies with manufacturing operations. Powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT, Deloitte designed and built a suite of cloud applications and integrated services to deliver smart factory capabilities to industrial enterprises. The Smart Factory Fabric suite of services helps companies improve their operational performance and reduce costs by increasing visibility, optimizing production, improving quality, and minimizing unplanned downtime associated with running a smart factory.
Smart Factory Fabric is designed for companies with manufacturing operations; sample industry sectors include aerospace and defense; industrial products; pharmaceutical and medical devices; automotive; government; high tech; oil, gas and chemicals; and power and utilities.
“For companies with complex manufacturing operations, implementing a smart factory solution at an industrial scale can be daunting, but imperative for those who wish to remain competitive today. That’s why we’ve worked with AWS on a smart factory offering,” said Andy Daecher, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and Deloitte Digital IoT U.S. practice lead. “Smart Factory Fabric pairs Deloitte’s experience in business strategy, operations, industrial products, and technology engineering with AWS cloud and IoT services, including its global reach, to deliver a scalable, configurable smart factory that’s tailored to a manufacturer’s unique needs.”
“Services like AWS IoT Greengrass, AWS IoT Analytics, and AWS IoT Events are designed to offer increased machine connectivity, real-time streaming data ingestion, and analytics to drive automation throughout the shop floor. This will advance manufacturing operations and fulfill a vision of a truly integrated, digital smart factory,” said Dirk Didascalou, vice president, AWS IoT, Amazon Web Services, Inc. “We are delighted to be working with Deloitte to focus on optimizing our customers’ factory operations and the infrastructure needed to make it happen.”