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The Big Wrestling Thread!
Xbox One Preview Program
Latest News (Dell)
Show Software News
Alienware exec believes Steam Machines will give Linux gaming a 30 fold boost
Wireless laptop charging just took a giant step forward
Alienware's Steam Machine will be its least profitable PC system
Microsoft and OEMs offer Windows 8.1 devices to U.S. schools starting under $300
Xbox aspect of Dell's Microsoft patent agreement explained
Microsoft and Dell sign cross-patent license agreement
Dell's Venue 8 Pro cools down with new BIOS
Dell charging £16 to customers who opt for Firefox installs on new PCs
Microsoft reportedly has plans to help launch cheap Windows 8 tablets in India
Dell releases its 'Project Ophelia' mini-PC as the Wyse Cloud Connect
Microsoft gets cozy with ARM once again, this time on the server side
Alienware now says its Steam Machine can be upgraded but it won't be easy
Alienware to release new Steam Machine models every year, but no upgrade options
Steam now has over 75 million accounts; Alienware to launch Steam Machine in September
TechSpot: Dell UltraSharp 32 UP3214Q 4K monitor review
CES 2014 brings 4K PC monitor prices down to as low as $699
Dell goes back to its startup roots with new advertisement
Microsoft Stores to sell Dell Venue 8 Pro for $99 on Monday
Neowin's favorite Black Friday 2013 tech and software sales
Amazon starts Black Friday 2013 early with $229 Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet
Dell Venue 8 Pro: Eight inches of 8.1 for under £250
Dell finally puts Yoga-like XPS 11 notebook-tablet hybrid on sale
Dell officially turns into a private company again Wednesday
Microsoft: 'Not accurate' to say all Windows 8 apps run on Xbox One
Did Dell just confirm that all Windows 8 apps can run on Xbox One?
IDC and Gartner: Q3 2013 PC shipments not as bad as predicted, but still bad
Dell gets on the 'Ditch Windows XP' bandwagon with new video
Is Dell not out of the Windows RT business after all?
Dell drops Windows RT, only Microsoft remains selling the OS
Dell to release $349 Inspiron 11 Windows 8.1 touchscreen laptop
Dell shareholders approve plan to take the company private with Microsoft's help
Dell announces Venue Tablet with Windows 8.1
Carl Icahn ends Dell takeover bid; plan to take company private moves forward
Report: Dell working on 8-inch Windows 8.1 tablet for enterprise
Southern Illinois University picks Dell Windows 8 tablets over iPad for new freshman
Dell posts Q2 earnings, sees 72% decline in profits
Neowin's Guide to 2013 Back To School PC Sales - Part 1
Michael Dell improves his offer again to take Dell private
Dell's mini computer ships to beta testers, challenging Chromecast
Michael Dell wants to stay with Dell even if buyout fails
Michael Dell improves offer slightly to take Dell private
Dell delays shareholder vote on going private until July 24th
New Windows 8 Dell tablet TV ad plays baseball with iPad and wins
Dell has sold 'hundreds of thousands' of Windows 8/RT tablets; could make wearable PCs
E3 2013: Alienware reveals new line of laptops
Dell makes improvements on XPS 12 and XPS 27 Windows 8 PCs
Alienware teases June 10th product reveals
Dell's Alienware X51 PC updated with Intel Haswell CPUs and more
Dell reveals plans for XPS 11 Windows 8 notebook-tablet hybrid
Razer CEO: 'I don't hate on Windows 8'; is 'super disappointed' with Dell and HP
What does Alienware have planned for E3 2013?
Dell's Project Ophelia could be in your pocket in July
Dell: Our corporate customers are still upgrading to Windows 7
Dell cuts price of Windows RT XPS 10 tablet to $300
Carl Icahn would like to merge HP and Dell; thinks PC industry is 'going downhill'
Cloud computing: Airbus to offer Dell PCs for pilots on A320 jets
Windows RT-based Dell XPS 10 adds AT&T LTE option
Is the best Windows laptop a MacBook Pro 13?
Blackstone Group pulls Dell buyout offer; cites drop in PC sales
Dell XPS 18 mega-tablet available for preorder today
Dell exec: Windows RT demand is slow but future RT devices still planned
The upcoming PCs that could help boost Windows 8
Dell's Alienware X51 gaming PC can now have Ubuntu OS installed
Dell could launch larger Windows 8 tablets later in 2013
Windows RT tablets get price cuts, except for Surface RT
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Apple has just released iOS 5, the newest version of its mobile OS, to the public.
The updated OS is now available for download through iTunes 10.5. Apple announced iOS 5 in June at its Worldwide Developers Conference. The new OS includes a slew of new features including deep Twitter integration, a revamped notification system, an updated camera app, a revamped version of Safari and more.
iOS 5 also includes iCloud, Apple's service for accessing and syncing photos, music, emails and other media through the cloud.
In addition to iOS 5, Apple has released a new version of Mac OS X Lion that includes support for iCloud.

domain: news


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Jason Mendenhall, executive vice president for cloud at Switch Communications, the collocation provider that operates the "ginormous" SuperNap data center in Las Vegas, says that Amazon Web Services is not growing at the expense of the enterprise market – quite the opposite. During this week’s Wikibon Peer Incite event, he discussed how the public cloud giant is disrupting the industry by pressuring the competition to differentiate. Mendenhall tells Wikibon’s Dave Vellante that “there is not going to be one cloud to rule them all”. Amazon is gaining a lot of traction in the enterprise, but many analysts believe that one size... more »
Gary Orenstein, senior vice president of products for Fusion-io, took some time off this week to chat with SiliconAngle founding CEO John Furrier and Wikibon’s Dave Vellante. The trio discussed flash, Big Data, and software-led infrastructure. Orenstein, a Cube alumnus, starts the discussion by providing an overview of the solid-state market. He explains how flash evolved from a niche market to a rapidly growing vertical buzzing with activity, and adds that the industry has reached a tipping point. Furrier picks up from Orenstein left off and brings up the topic of hyperscale. He details how enterprises are adopting scale-out, commodity infrastructure to eliminate... more »
In today’s NewsDesk roundup: There's a new, rugged Samsung Galaxy S4 in the works; Nokia’s Asha 210 attempts to dethrone BlackBerry in the QWERTY category; Huawei dropping out of the US mobile market; NYT videos no longer part of paywall; BitTorrent releases cloud-less storage app; Senate puts CISPA on hold; Netflix’s new Family Plan; iPad users get Fiber app; and iPad sales helped Apple earn profits. Rugged Samsung Galaxy S4 in the works The next iteration of the Samsung Galaxy S4 may already be on the way. A ruggedized S4 will be released in the coming months. The new variant would be... more »
Michael Dell's quest to buyback his company continues with recent developments regarding private equity firms and their unwillingness to participate in a process called "go-shopping." Go-shopping is a period after a deal is announced in which the target company, in this case Dell, shops around to see if there are any other bidders. Go-shops were first used in private equity buyouts that demanded exclusive negotiations. The board agrees to the exclusivity, but with the caveat that it gets a period of time when alternative bids can be solicited. This step assures the board that the company will be sold to the... more »
As the initial CIO skepticism about cloud services fades and ITOs start looking for the advantages of cloud, writes Scott Lowe in his latest Wikibon Alert, “The CIO and the Cloud: Embrace, Extend, Innovate”, they should consider Big Data Analytics as an early use case. However, they should be careful about “platform sprawl”, the 21st century equivalent of “server sprawl”, and apply strong governance practices from the start. In an Alert inspired by the April 23 Peer Incite discussion on the impact of cloud services in general and Amazon specifically on the IT organization, Lowe writes that CIOs have no lack... more »
VMware posted its first-quarter earnings, which showed a 9.3 percent decline despite realignment charges. Though its services revenue and core earnings improved, shares fell 6.8 percent to $70.80 after hours, as the company lowered its full-year revenue guidance and offered weak estimates for the second quarter. Joining Kristin Feledy to provide his Breaking Analysis in this morning’s NewsDesk is Wikibon Senior Analyst Stu Miniman. Miniman explains that though VMware is still profitable, because it is restructuring, it lowered future estimates, which is never perceived well by investors. But it should be noted that cutting down estimates was due to the fact that... more »
The Samsung Galaxy S4 received so much attention when it was unveiled mostly because of its Jedi-like gesture-control features. The question now is, is the device living up to the hype? It's all an illusion . First off, Samsung dropped the use of Roman numerals, so instead of finding ‘SIV’ at the back, there’s an ‘S4’ printed on the back cover. The S4 looks a lot like the SIII. Some say it’s a bad thing, but others see this as another opportunity for Samsung to capitalize on the success of the SIII. “At first the "inspired by nature" motif made sense with the rounded appearance... more »
Enterprise developers and data scientists often build small proofs-of-concept for Big Data analysis projects, involving relatively small subsets of enterprise data, on public cloud platforms. But when those pan out, the development team builds the production-level system in-house. That makes sense when most or all of the data is generated in-house, but it may be adding unnecessary cost when large amounts of third-party data that originates in the Cloud is merged with corporate data, writes Jeff Kelly in his latest Wikibon Peer Incite. In an analysis that comes out of the April 23 Peer Incite Meeting on the impact of cloud... more »
Wednesday, David Marcus, president of EBay Inc.'s PayPal unit, spoke to a Bloomberg interviewer on camera about mobile payment security and during the discussion commented—albeit briefly—on the position of the virtual currency Bitcoin. In the discussion, he mentioned his own fascination with the currency and that his company is “thinking about it” when it comes to including the currency on their rolls. You can watch the video over at Bloomberg, but here’s the salient section (from about 2:55): So I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at it, and it’s truly fascinating actually: the way that the currency’s been designed, and... more »
In the wake of the popularity of Raspberry Pi, here comes the yet-another-incarnation of the cheap single-board machine. The BeagleBone Black. Priced at $45, the BeagleBone Black competes directly with the Raspberry Pi. Though several new features and enhancements have been introduced in the new BeagleBone Black, the favorable element remains its price. The company has reduced the price to almost half as compared to previously $89 single board computer (SBC) makes the BeagleBone cheaper than most Arduino boards and marginally above the $25-$35 Raspberry Pi. Coming on the technical specifications, The BeagleBone Black's single-core processor grows up from the predecessor’s 720MHz... more »


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Facebook’s US$19 billion purchase of mobile-messaging service WhatsApp appears to have buoyed the value of BlackBerry Messenger — and by extension, BlackBerry.
BlackBerry shares went up nearly 10 percent in after-hours trading because, in the words of Reuters, Facebook’s purchase “put a rough valuation metric around the smartphone maker’s own BlackBerry Messaging service,” also known as “BBM.”
WhatsApp came to the party after BBM but flew past its predecessor, which had long refused to open itself up on other platforms. WhatsApp has an estimated user base of 450 million — BBM is at about 80 million — and is compatible with iOS and Android, as well as devices powered by Windows and BlackBerry.
Before the announcement of the WhatsApp deal, financial services outfit Raymond James on Tuesday valued BBM at $240 million, or $3 per user. WhatsApp, however, sold at an amount worth roughly $42 per user, thus making BBM more attractive. Ergo, BBM looks better now than it did Tuesday.
Europe to Hunt for Exoplanets
The European Space Agency has hatched plans to send a planet-finding satellite outside our solar system by 2024.
The mission, dubbed “PLATO,” for “PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations” of stars — will launch a satellite equipped with 34 telescopes and cameras that will be used to scour 1 million nearby stars for signs of orbiting planets.
The goal is to determine the mass and composition of what exoplanets — that is, planets that are outside our solar system. The ESA said that the mission will target planets that are at least Earth-sized and where water could exist.
[Source: The Associated Press]
Apple’s China Fortunes Looking Up a Tad
Apple’s continued focus on China helped the U.S. tech giant claim a 7 percent share of the world’s largest smartphone market in the fourth quarter, up from 6 percent in the third, according to research firm IDC.
The fourth quarter was the first full quarter during which Apple’s iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c were available in China. The cheaper 5c — at least cheap for Apple — was seen by some as a stab at the Chinese market, where Apple’s prices are particularly prohibitive, given average salaries.
Despite the uptick, however, Apple is still but the fifth-largest smartphone vendor in China. Samsung is No. 1 (19 percent share), followed by Lenovo (13 percent), China-based Coolpad (11 percent) and Huawei (10 percent).
Apple could be in for another bump thanks to its deal with China Mobile, the nation’s biggest carrier — like, 760-million-subscribers big — which recently began selling iPhones.
[Source: The Wall Street Journal]
Russian Search Giant Wants Slice of Google’s Smartphone Dominance
Yandex, Russia’s largest search engine, struck a deal with Microsoft to make Yandex’s search engine the default app on Windows Phones sold in Russia.
Yandex announced that smartphone makers Huawei and Explay will pre-install Yandex’s search, browsing, maps and music services on their devices.
Android phone sales surpassed 14 million units last year in Russia, so Yandex’s maneuvering is thought to be an attempt to keep up with Google. Android currently controls about 80 percent of the country’s smartphone markets, according to IDC, while for conventional Web searches, Yandex holds a 62 percent-to-27 percent edge over Google.
Kim Dotcom to Appeal Ruling
If there is an over/under on how long Kim Dotcom’s legal drama will continue, just take the over.
The Megaupload founder said he will appeal a court ruling this week that deemed the raid on his home legal. A court previously had ruled the operation illegal because of invalid warrants, but those warrants, used in the January 2012 raid, are now apparently good enough.
Dotcom faces extradition to the U.S., where authorities consider him one of history’s great copyright villains.
[Source: The Guardian]


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Search Results for 3DS — 77 articles
KONAMI extends UEFA Champions League agreement
Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH has announced it has extended its exclusive agreement with UEFA for the use of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League competitions in its Pro Evolution Soccer series.
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. 2 HITS GAME STORE IN LONDON
17th August 2012 – Coin Rush! Nintendo is today announcing an exclusive gaming event on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th August at GAME, Oxford Street to celebrate the launch of New Super Mario Bros.
Don’t go Sauron these Lego Lord of the Rings images
Comic-Con in San Diego is furnishing us with quite a few videogaming bits and pieces, including these new screenshots of Lego Lord of the Rings.
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy [Review] – Roleplay the beat
Well, this is certainly one of the more bizarre games I’ve reviewed in a while.
Religion just got crazier in the worst videogame trailer of all time
Following yesterday’s post of the Senran Kagura Burst trailer – one of the best trailers ever, complete with giant boobs and machine gun dongs on girls – it got me thinking to what the worst videogame trailer out there might possibly be.
The crazy Tokyo Jungle tops Japanese chart
The bizarre Tokyo Jungle has topped Japanese charts on its first week on release, shifting 110,309 units.
Nintendo E3 2012 Press Conference round-up
Arguably, it was Nintendo’s E3 2012 press conference that was most anticipated, given that they were the only platform holder showing off unreleased new hardware.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 dated and renamed
Luigi’s Mansion 2 has been given a release window and a new name.
Scribblenauts Unlimited brings new multiplayer mode
5th Cell has revealed Scribblenauts Unlimited for the Wii U and 3DS platforms, featuring (in a first for the series) a multiplayer mode.
The one brick: Lego Lord of the Rings confirmed [Video]
It had already been strongly hinted at by some Lego toy packaging, but now we have confirmation; Lego Lord of the Rings will be coming to multiple platforms this autumn.
Kojima is terrible at making games, says… a nobody
Tyrone Rodriguez is apparently a man looking for some more publicity and, having formerly worked at IGN, he knows how to get it… hence the following story.
UFC Undisputed 3 tops UK chart
UFC Undisputed 3 has made it to the top of the UK all-format charts in its first week on general release.
This Week’s Releases [16/01/12]
This week’s new videogame landscape is hardly one to get too excited about.
A full list of 2011′s best-selling games
The UKIE has released full details regarding the top-selling games of 2011 in the UK.
This Week’s Releases [09/01/12]
This week’s game releases throughout Europe and North America, with only one retail release set to debut (according to retailers’ lineups).
Horror game Amy will launch on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network over the next couple of days (look for our review soon), as will the helicopter-remake Choplifter HD.
The Wrath of Lamb will be The Binding of Isaac’s only expansion
The Binding of Isaac is getting an expansion pack – it will be named ‘The Wrath of Lamb’, it will set you back $3 and it’s due on the next “2-4 months.” That’s all according to the game’s designer Edmund McMillen.
Lego Batman 2 coming this summer [Official]
We already knew of its existence, but now it’s finally been made official.
2011′s total UK videogame/hardware sales amounted £2.520 billion
The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) has released overall sales figures for 2011.


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Last year, Apple Store workers in Towson, Maryland, broke new ground when they announced they were forming a union in pursuit of better rights and conditions. The group has spent months negotiating with the company about the new terms, but discussions seem to have taken an unfortunate turn. ACORE has released a new statement, criticizing Apple for poor bargaining habits and negotiating in bad faith.
ACORE shared its new statement in a thread of tweets earlier today. After months of negotiations, ACORE claims that Apple sent the group a counteroffer that essentially exemplified bad faith bargaining.
With the statement from ACORE, we’ll be watching closely to see if there is any response from Apple. In other union news, employees at SEGA of America won a vote this week to form the gaming industry’s largest union.
Donovan Erskine posted a new article, Apple (AAPL) workers accuse management of 'surface bargaining' done in bad faith
Go ACORE. I hope some good comes of this.


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Here we gathered the best and the worst performers of the week and the most volatile pairs .
Evergreen buck goes down ahead of major GDP reports
On Friday, the evergreen buck went down in Asia due to the fact that financial markets are waiting for the major first-quarter GDP data due later in the day.
Estimating the purchasing potential of the US dollar versus its main peers the USD index sank by 0.1% coming up with an outcome of 97.873.
The US Department of Labor informed that initial jobless claims went up by up to 37,000 to a seasonally updated 230,000 by April 21, confounding experts’ estimate for a leap to 199,000.
On Wednesday, the Commerce Department told that core durable goods orders headed north by 0.4% in March, beating analysts’ forecasts for a 0.2% jump.
Without airplanes, non-defense capital goods orders ascended by 1.3% in March, which is above hopes for a 0.1% ascend.
In addition to this, the currency pair USD/CNY headed south by nearly 0.1% coming up with a reading of 6.7346.
Market participants closely watch Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech to be delivered at the Belt as well as Road Forum on Friday. The statesman is expected to tack about China’s exchange rate level.
China is going to ensure its national currency stay within rational range, although wouldn’t pursue Yuan depreciation, which harms others.
Eventually, the currency pair USD/JPY stood still, showing 111.61.
On Thursday, the Bank of Japan told it’s about to keep interest rates low enough until 2020. Moreover, the major monetary stimulus settings weren’t changed.
Japan’s major financial institution noted that it won’t meet its 2% inflation goal for the next three years.
Besides this, the currency pair EUR/USD rallied by up to 0.1% hitting 1.1134.
The currency pairs AUD/USD and NZD/UDS shot up by respectively 0.1% and 0.2%.
The European Central Bank will meet today to discuss the current monetary policy and the fate of the quantitative easing program
Canada will publish the headline and core retail sales on January 24 at 15:30 MT time.
Canada will publish its monthly GDP growth rate at 15:30 MT on January 31.
The famous pharma giant Pfizer is going to release its earnings report on January 28 at 17:00 MT time.
The Bank of England’s interest rate announcement and monetary report will be out at 14:00 MT on January 30.


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Durban - The South African Rugby Union (SARU) today unveiled the official free Springbok smartphone app for android.
The simply-titled Springbok app is the first mobile product devoted solely to our rugby heroes, and is available for free on all Android smartphone and tablet devices immediately.
An IOS version will be made available next week.
To download the app, CLICK HERE.
The application aims to put key information and entertaining content directly into the hands of supporters at the push of a button.
“The mobile phone landscape has changed significantly in the past couple of years and we at SARU realise the importance of keeping up with technology,” said SARU CEO Jurie Roux.
“We already have a very well-established website, mobisite, Twitter, Facebook and other social media channels as well as a digital magazine, and the development of the smartphone app is the logical next step in putting our supporters in direct touch with the Springboks and South African rugby.
“Apart from regular features such as news, fixtures, results, logs and player profiles, the app will also have exclusive content generated from within the Bok camp and other national teams, with the aim of bringing the fan closer to the team.”
The app has been released to coincide with the start of the Castle Lager Incoming Series.
The visually striking, but easy-to-navigate app allows users to instantly access all the latest match updates as well as navigate a timeline that provides every major event in every Springbok test dating all the way back to 1891.
The App has been developed in partnership with SARU by Durban-based technology company, immedia.


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As long as consumers continue to crave electronics and designers continue to dream big, high-tech companies will have their hands full as innovation keeps accelerating at a startling pace.
What was considered futuristic a decade ago is fast becoming standard. In the automotive world, self-parking technology is no longer seen as anything other than ordinary, for instance, and driverless cars are no longer limited to James Bond movies.
The smart car is only getting smarter. Today's car of the future drives itself using software, cameras, and a scanning laser to detect turns. Software plots a route through Google maps, which helps the car reach its destination. It's aware of speed limits and traffic patterns and known obstacles. (See: Get Used to it: The 'Smart' Car Will Get Smarter.)
Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) last year began showing off its driverless car on the streets of California and racked up more than 100,000 miles in just months. Google says the car is not intended to replace drivers, but rather help them. It may seem like an unusual project for Google, but the concept could have major benefits in the long term, especially for people who cannot physically drive themselves, such as the elderly or the disabled.
Google has also initiated a race into space where teams of engineers have been asked to design software that will take passengers on commercial flights into orbit. Think about the type of vehicles the concept will spur in the future. The Jetsons no longer seems like a cartoon.
And if that wasn't enough, Google and the X Prize Foundation last year initiated a $30 million competition for the first privately-funded team to send a robot to the moon; travel 500 meters; and transmit video, images, and data back to Earth. The teams were picked last month.
Another company draws its innovative dreams in glass. Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW)’s company video touting the wonders and possibilities of glass has gone viral on YouTube, getting 8 million views in just one month.
In the video, a commuter holds her smartphone, equipped with near field communication (NFC) technology, up to a map and, just like that, is able to download the directions she needs. Corning informed me via tweet that "No specific company products are represented in #Corning's video, but @Microsoft is working with multi-touch technology."
If Corning's vision for glass is realized, the electronics industry will need to support a plethora of new components and wireless innovations in cars, homes, office buildings, and more.
Another vision for the future is to serve up coupons to consumers' mobile devices, based on their location. This would allow the consumer to walk into the physical retail store and show the electronic coupon to the merchant. Or, a consumer finds a product equipped with an NFC chip in the store; the phone reads the chip and produces the coupon on the mobile device. The merchant then scans the coupon with a special reader when the consumer checks out.
Of course, it will cost hardware manufacturers thousands of dollars to create these platforms, and it will cost retail companies millions of dollars to install the point-of-sale (PoS) software and cash machines.
Visions are nice, but what will it take to make them a reality? And do high-tech and electronics companies have the resources?
You know, it wouldn't take that much effort to improve our youngsters' education. The technology is available. The data is in abundance. Teachers are better trained now than they were in the past. So what's missing? Application. Memorization was never a great way to truly learn something. No. The ability to learn and truly duplicate information is based entirely on how one handles three primary barriers to study: 1. misunderstood words, symbols or phrases; 2. steep gradients 2. lack of mass.
The next time you see a student (or even a co-worker at a conference) look sleepy or yawn, you can bet they've just passed a word (spoken or read) they don't truly understand. That will block or dilute any further understanding of the topic. Oh, you'll get denial, but if you persist and go back w/ your student to the last moment they felt bright on the data, you'll find they've passed over something they didn't really get or perhaps dubbed in a definition that may be partly right. Clear the word up thoroughly and you'll see an alert individual again.
If teachers and educators thought and operated with this, they'd have a remarkable upswing in grades and scores.
eemom, you have raised a very valid issue here. For ages , our education system is lagging behind all the innovations coming into our day-to-day use. Even the computer courses in todays colleges (except for a few reputed institutes) teach some age old computer languages which are no more used on any of the computers . As you have rightly mentioned, the education sector has to wake up to the availability of the latest technology which can make the education a more rich experince which every kid would love to have, away from those age old techniques relying mainly on memorising things by heart. The true education comes by experimenting and experinecing the things and that freedom to do the same is available with todays advanced technology.
All these innovations are absolutely wonderful and they provide a great view into what our future will hold. The big disconnect in my mind is when do today's capabilities as well as tomorrow's advances get integrated into our education system. Maybe some schools are more advanced than others but I see kids relying on technology without understanding its negatives as well as its positives. I see kids (by kids, I mean middle school and high school) learn through the same old tired techniques of rote memorization, quizes, tests, projects that do not aim to educate, etc. Some school make use of smart boards and virtual learning, but not enough is being done to advance our education system to where our technology is today.
Mobile technology has been encumbered by the lingering limitations in signal reception. Modern society heretofore has been accustomed to robust communication schemes where a message, once sent, always found its receiver. Now a relatively large percentage of communications are marred by connection failures, making mission-critical usage of mobile technology a dicey proposition.
I really like your idea, we all want everything to happen without lifting a pin. Healthcare industry is huge and the use of electronic devices are advancing everyday. I works in the clinical diagnostic areas and the work had been simplified by the use of technological devices. You can easily diagnose diseases with no stress. There are so many growth opportunities in the use of technolgical devices in the healthcare fields. I am hoping that a time is coming when the inventors will have a second look on how to develop a world-wide healthcare innovations that will be accepted like internet and cell phones.
NFC is exciting technology for sure. But the bigger question is this technology safe enough ? The more the mobile phone is used for payments (as a “wallet in your phone”) the more it becomes a target for attackers. NFC is easily susceptible for phishing, fuzzing, and spoofing attacks. I hope these obstacles are overcome soon so that this technology can be used by the masses.
As far medical science and healthcare is concerned, continuous innovation is happening there also but it is not under the limelight. Slowly the general public is becoming aware of the newer techniques used in surgery, diagnosis, patient information management and healthcare record keeping. The use of Electronics, computers, new sensors and communications is ever increasing in this area also. Harward business review of 2010 (blogs.hbr.org/innovations-in-health-care ) has pointed out 10 areas of inovation in healthcare - Robotic surgery, Tailor made medicine based upon the patients genetic profile are two things that are worth mentioning from this report. The remote diagnosis of patients in far away hospitals by expert doctors , using robotic cameras and associated sensors is helping in dianosing the patients by expert doctors without the need to travel and be physically present. All these kind innovations are possible because of the advancements in Electronis, Computing technologies and communications. Such innovations are not just for fun or leisure but many times they are saving the precious human lives. Tomorrow's smart phones are likely to be equipped with sensors to measure persons vital health parameters -pulse rate, blood pressure and blood sugar levels and automatically send this info to their family doctors based upon which the doctors could prescribe the right medicine by SMS . Well the list is endless...
Hello prabhakar_deosthali, thank you for taking the time to post. Yes, I agree, many of the innovations today occur in automotive and mobile because that's where the money is headed, but healthcare offers incredible possibilities. Can you point us to any of those innovations to which you refer? I remember years ago Intel built a medicine cabinet and sensor network to help remind those stricken with Alzheimer to take their medications or remind them of other routine things that many of us take for granted as everyday actions.
EBN Dialogue enables and encourages you to participate in live chats with notable leaders and luminaries. Not only editors and journalists, but the entire EBN community is able to comment and ask questions. Listed below are upcoming and archived chats.
Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
While no one really can accurately predict the future, we can take guidance from another Drucker saying which is the best way to predict the future is to create it.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.


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Retailer Myer has announced half-year profits of $62.2 million, a drop of 23.1 per cent on the same period last year.
The store projected an even more disappointing full year profit of between $75 and $80 million, saying it expects costs to increase by $15 million over the second half.
The department store made no attempt to talk up the disappointing results, saying: “Trading conditions during the second quarter were challenging, only improving in late December.
“The stocktake sale was ahead of last year on a total and comparable store sales basis, however this was not sufficient to make up for the shortfall in sales earlier in the half.
“The highly competitive environment, together will the overall effect of a weaker Australian dollar, contributed to a deterioration in the gross profit margin of 24 basis points.”
In talking down the current retail environment, it could be preparing the way for a number of store closures, something Citigroup analysts predicted yesterday. It has already cancelled plans to open a new store in Sydney.
While Myer chief executive Richard Umbers did not discuss the subject of store closures, he did say the store was planning major changes, including a move towards “omni-channel” retailing.
“There is strong evidence that department stores can transform and be inspirational to customers. Our international peers have responded to disruption by leading in omni-channel, by reinventing the in-store experience, overhauling the range, and by differentiating through innovation.
“Our new strategy to bring the love of shopping to life will be guided by a clear vision and a plan to win back market share, to respond faster to change and deliver a sustainable recovery in earnings,” he said.
Myer shareholders will receive a dividend of 7 cents per share.


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The P.E.I. Women’s Institute provincial board will be hosting “An Island Buffet” with Margaret Prouse on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
Prouse will be presenting an evening of cooking demonstrations featuring Island-grown produce, meat, dairy products and eggs in dishes for weekday meals and special occasions. Prouse will offer tips for simplifying and streamlining food preparation.
Those participating will have the opportunity to taste samples and take home recipes.
Prouse, a home economist and food writer, has written From My Kitchen weekly for The Guardian for more than 25 years, as well as presented cooking demonstrations in communities across P.E.I.
The evening will begin at 7 p.m. at the Farm Centre, 420 University Ave., Charlottetown.
Registration deadline is Friday, Oct. 4. Tickets are $10 and are available online through www.eventbrite.ca using “An Island Buffet with Margaret Prouse: WI Cooking School”. They are also available in person at the WI office, 40 Enman Cres., Charlottetown.
For more information, call the WI office at 902-368-4860 or email email@example.com.


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Kevin Waltermire is applying for dispensary licenses in Michigan and Ohio.
Item 9 Labs Corp., the parent company of cannabis retail brand Unity Rd., has announced that entrepreneur Kevin Waltermire has signed a multi-unit agreement to bring three Unity Rd. locations to key markets across the U.S.
Waltermire is seeking immediate entrance into the market and so has purchased an existing dispensary that he will convert into a Unity Rd. store. He has also applied for dispensary licenses in Michigan and Ohio.
He’s no stranger to the benefits of the Unity Rd. model, as Waltermire was the brand’s director of business development from October 2018 to March 2020.
“Regardless of your professional background, opening a dispensary is an incredibly complicated and lengthy process,” explained Waltermire. “The Unity Rd. franchise opportunity is the best way to eliminate a lot of the hurdles and ensure compliance and seamless operations. Their team is going to make it so much easier for myself and many others to enter this fast-growing industry.”
To date, Unity Rd. has signed multiple agreements with 14 entrepreneurial groups across the U.S., ranging from $1m to $2.5m in total investment fees. Growth within the cannabis industry is expected to be big this year, with projections putting the value of the market at $24bn by the end of 2021.
“Franchising allows those who may not have the knowledge or access to necessary resources to have a viable opportunity to flourish,” said Unity Rd. chief franchise officer, Mike Weinberger.
“In my nearly two decades in franchising, I’ve never seen an industry quite like this [cannabis] that could benefit so much from the franchise business model. Beyond helping industry newcomers and existing operators find success, franchising is also helping standardize the cannabis industry.”
“Having worked in the industry with product brands and dispensaries, I’m very aware of the supply chain issues many dispensary owners run into – I’ve seen it play out right here in Denver. So, when I heard the news of the acquisition and learned how Item 9 Labs would alleviate those pain points, I was sold,” added Waltermire.


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where is the fucking lie?
the accuracy of this tweet.
that is such a lie, you are putting all whites in one group because of a few dumbasses.
this was not about white people? lmaoooo not everything is about ya’ll. stop it.
…besides blasian is the mixed bitch look everyone seems so obsessed with. Not black and white.
Literally no one said anything about white people until someone desperately reaching for “reverse racism” started crying about it lol
Who said anything about white people? Lol
The Beatles overrated and got they music from black people
And Elvis was an unoriginal and mocked James Brown.
And Marilyn Monroe’s whole persona was a copy of Dorothy Dandridge and other black women
Elvis stole from my Great Grand Uncle Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup
I don’t get these posts that go like “part of me wants to be a hot girl at the bar and the other part of me wants to read and sip tea in a bookstore”
like you can wear red lipstick and a leather jacket and sip tea and dance in the rain and go to the gym and curl up in bed and get turnt the fuck up and go to church
you can literally have it all sis
the world is yours
This is the most inspiring thing I have ever read
I’m stuck between wanting:
1. A long lasting relationship with my soulmate who supports me and protects me and is my partner and we are completely bad ass together and in love
2. Wanting to have casual sex…
But are you paying attention to what’s going on??? My heart is so heavy….. so heavy…
An attorney for the family of John Crawford III, the man fatally shot by police in an Ohio Walmart store, says surveillance video contradicts the police department’s version of events. Officers say Crawford refused to drop the pellet gun he was holding, but the video allegedly shows them gunning him down “on sight.”
Crawford, 22, was shopping at the Beavercreek, Ohio store on Aug. 5 whenpolice responded to another customer’s report that Crawford was carrying an AR-15 rifle. He was actually holding a pellet air rifle he had just picked up from a shelf in the store’s toy department.
Attorney Michael Wright says he viewed surveillance video that shows Crawford was facing away from the cops and talking to his girlfriend on the phone when police spotted him, and didn’t have the toy gun raised. Hetold WDTN Crawford probably didn’t see or hear the officers before he was shot.
"John was doing nothing wrong in Walmart, nothing more, nothing less than shopping,"Wright said, according to Reuters.
#johncrawford #rip #justice #dontshoot


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India's fuel sales see a dip in April as second Covid-19 wave grips country
- Petrol sales in April were 6.3 per cent lower than March 2021 while diesel sales were down 1.7 per cent from the previous month.
The fuel sales in the country have pummelled in April as the second wave of coronavirus has led to local restrictions, limiting the use of vehicles and the fuel demand in the country.
The overall fuel demand in the country is down by about 7 per cent at the end of April from pre-Covid level of April 2019, Arun Singh, Director for Marketing and Refineries at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), was quoted as saying by PTI.
Also check these Vehicles
Sales of petrol fell to 2.14 million tonnes in April, the lowest since August, as per the preliminary data of state-owned fuel retailers. Petrol sales in April were 6.3 per cent lower than March 2021 and 4.1 per cent lower than April of 2019. Sale of diesel fell to 5.9 million tonnes in April 2021, down 1.7 per cent from the previous month and 9.9 per cent from April of 2019.
The date comparison has been done with the figures of April 2019 and not April 2020 because in the year-ago period, the country was under the world's severest lockdowns which bough to halt almost all economic activities. In April 2020, the country's fuel sales had halved and thus comparing last month's sale to April of 2020 will not be a correct interpretation. In the period being talked about, sale of petrol was 872,000 tonnes while that of diesel was 2.84 million tonnes.
The hit to the fuel sales come when the state retailers had start seeing a demand rebound. "We were near pre-Covid level in March 2021, but new restrictions due to the second Covid-19 wave has temporarily reduced demand, equivalent to about 10 per cent of March 2021 demand for both personal mobility and industrial goods movement," Singh said.
The demand is expected to pick up again in June, when the second wave of coronavirus is expected to weaken. Though the fuels sales could have been worse in April, elections in some states meant increased use of vehicles for campaigning. In May, fuel demand is expected to slump further due to various local restrictions in place to restrict the spread of the coronavirus.


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Unless you have been living under a rock, you probably have heard that marijuana is legal for recreational use in Colorado. There are restrictions on where and how much marijuana you can possess, but the first sales of legal marijuana on Wednesday marked a monumental [...]
Not sure if you ever noticed, but the Gmail.com login screen features a phone with the time set to 4:20 (we didn’t notice this until our buddies at HailMaryJane.com pointed this out). It’s pretty funny: Google, a multi-billion dollar company, features a 4:20 reference on [...]
If you are going to be at The 710 Cup this weekend in Denver, you probably want to check out the official schedule. The event is going to be full of glass, dabs, and music.
FindTheBest.com is a comparison engine that lets you compare a bunch of different products to find the best, and they have an awesome way to compare vaporizers. Users can sort through 51 different vaporizers by price, warranty, and warm up time. Then users can filter [...]
Much like 4/20, 7/10 is quickly becoming the official day to celebrate cannabis concentrates made from hash oils (710 upside-down is OIL). To celebrate the day, the peeps at Grassroots California and Hitman Glass have teamed up to throw The 710 Cup July 12-14. The [...]
Marijuana has always been popular, but it is quickly becoming more socially acceptable for people to come out of the “marijuana closet” and admit they smoke marijuana. Now, the ridiculousness of marijuana laws are finally coming to light and the idea of legalizing marijuana is [...]
A Colorado law requiring marijuana magazines to be sold behind counters like pornography has been abandoned before it even takes effect. On Monday, State lawyers asked a federal judge to order a permanent injunction on a recently enacted law. The law required magazines about pot [...]
These days more and more people are openly admitting that they enjoy the recreational use of marijuana. Whether it be school teachers, government officials or even law enforcement officers admitting to using marijuana, but a soccer mom of operating a multi-million dollar marijuana grow operation [...]


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News : Complex Customer Problems and Lack of Support Challenge Contact Centre Employees
London, UK, Nov, 2017 -- While customer experience continues to be the top priority for businesses, a new report, "The Health of the Contact Centre: Agent Well-Being in a Customer-Centric Era," reveals that 56 percent of contact centre employees cite complex customer problems as their top challenge. A full 60 percent admit their company has left them ill-equipped to handle these problems, leaving agents stressed and unengaged.
Commissioned by Calabrio, a provider of customer engagement and analytics software, the study surveyed more than 1,000 contact centre employees in the UK and US to uncover the true health of today’s contact centres, including agent confidence in the ability to be successful in their jobs, the challenges they face and how technology will dictate the future of the contact centre.
2018 Top Ranking Performers Present:
CONTACT CENTER & CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
BERLIN - ORLANDO - MACAOFIND OUT MORE!
Empowering contact centre employees is more critical than ever as 32 percent of respondents believe that customer problems will only become increasingly difficult over the next two years, and 45 percent worry customers will expect even more from companies.
The well-being of contact centre employees continues to decline and, if not addressed, it can ultimately affect their ability to deliver the desired customer experience. A quarter (25 percent) of respondents say they feel stressed multiple times a week, and more than half (52 percent) agree that their company isn’t doing enough to prevent teams from feeling burned out.
Kris McKenzie, EMEA General Manager at Calabrio said, "Brands are battling it out to deliver the right customer experience to get ahead of the competition and drive market share. What is clear, however, is if they do not rethink the contact centre strategy, they’re putting the entire customer experience at risk. As a cornerstone of the customer experience, brands need to implement the right technology in their contact centre but more importantly they need to focus on the people. In doing so, contact centre staff become empowered to quickly make informed decisions and deliver on the experience that customers have come to expect."
Posted by Veronica Silva Cusi, news correspondent
Today's Tip of the Day - Front Line Input
More Editorial From Calabrio
Calabrio is revolutionizing the way enterprises engage their customers with Calabrio ONE, a unified workforce optimization (WFO) suite—including call recording, quality management, workforce management, voice-of-the-customer analytics, and advanced reporting—that records, captures and analyzes customer interactions to provide a single view of the customer, and improve the overall agent and customer experience.
Published: Monday, November 27, 2017
Genesys® powers 25 billion of the world’s best customer experiences each year. Our success comes from connecting employee and customer conversations on any channel, every day. Over 10,000 companies in...
eGain customer engagement solutions power digital transformation for leading brands. Our top-rated cloud applications for social, mobile, web, and contact centers help clients deliver connected custom...
Aspect Software contact center and workforce optimization solutions engage consumers, empower agents, improve quality, and lower the cost of delivering remarkable experiences. Our cloud, private cloud...
NICE (NASDAQ: NICE), is a worldwide provider of intent-based solutions that capture and analyze interactions and transactions, realize intent, and extract and leverage insights to deliver impact in re...


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Gathering Clouds and Growing Turbulence
By Phillip M. Perry
The economy will slow perceptively in 2023. Less robust activity in sectors such as housing, retailing and manufacturing will put downward pressure on growth and contribute to a deceleration in profits. Companies can prepare for a tougher environment by tracking cash flow closely, investing selectively and hiring prudently.
Businesses are preparing for a more challenging operating environment in 2023. After two years of frenetic commercial activity fueled by a post-pandemic recovery, strengthening headwinds will tap the brakes on a robust economy. Among the culprits: rising inflation, higher interest rates, a softening housing market, continuing supply chain disruptions, declining capital investments and escalating costs for wages and energy.
The loss of some helpful economic initiatives is only adding to the downward pressure. “Government stimulus packages, ultra-low interest rates and strong money supply creation had been helping to compel business activity until mid-2022,” says Anirban Basu, Chairman and CEO of Sage Policy Group (www.sagepolicy.com). “All those fundamentals have been inverted.”
Economists are adjusting their forecasts to reflect the new normal. “We project real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will increase by 1.4% in 2023,” says Bernard Yaros Jr., Assistant Director and Economist at Moody’s Analytics (www.economy.com). “The expectation for 2022 is 1.6%. Both figures represent much slower activity than the 5.7% increase of 2021.” (GDP, the total of the nation’s goods and services, is the most commonly accepted measure of economic growth. “Real” GDP adjusts for inflation.)
All of the above conditions should have a depressing effect on corporate profits, projected by Moody’s Analytics to increase at a 5.2% clip in 2023. That represents a decline from the 7.9% figure anticipated for 2022. Both estimates are much lower than the 25% increase of 2021.
Reports from the field reflect early glimmers of a less robust business environment. “In the first half of 2022 many of our members were still experiencing high demand,” says Tom Palisin, Executive Director of The Manufacturers’ Association, a York, Pa., based regional organization with more than 390 member companies (www.mascpa.org). “But as the year progressed there was a significant slowdown caused by the labor shortage, inflationary issues and global events.”
With its diverse membership in food processing, defense, fabrication and machinery building, Palisin’s association is something of a proxy for all American industry. The good news is that a strong employment environment at the association’s members — as well as at companies elsewhere in the nation — is helping alleviate the negative impact of the economy’s headwinds. Moody’s Analytics expects a continuation of that favorable condition, forecasting an unemployment rate of 4.1% by the end of 2023. That’s not much higher than the 3.7% rate of late 2022. (Many economists peg an unemployment rate of between 3.5% and 4.5% as the “sweet spot” that balances the risks of wage escalation and economic recession).
On the downside, low unemployment usually increases business costs by forcing employers to boost wages to attract scarce workers. Today is no exception. “Our organization surveys members annually on their baseline entry-level hourly wage figure,” says Palisin. “Increases typically run around 2.5% to 3%, but the figure was 8% in 2022.” While Moody’s Analytics forecasts a continuation of labor cost increases, they should moderate to 3.5% in 2023, down from their current 5%. Even so, those increases are expected to affect business profitability.
The tight labor market hits business profitability not only in the form of higher wages but also in a scarcity of the very workers needed to produce goods and services. “Employers will be very focused on labor availability in 2023 as Baby Boomers continue to retire and the supply of immigrant labor has yet to fully recover from severe pandemic-related disruptions,” says Yaros. “Despite a slowing economy, layoffs are low, indicating that businesses are holding onto labor in a reaction to the hiring difficulties they encountered during the pandemic.”
When will workforce availability increase? Not anytime soon, say observers. “The labor market is going to be tight for years to come,” says Bill Conerly, Principal of his own consulting firm in Lake Oswego, Oregon (www.conerlyconsulting.com). “The decade from 2020 to 2030 is expected to have the lowest growth of working age population since the Civil War. One reason is the retirement of the Baby Boomers; another is the low rate of immigration over the last few years.”
Palisin agrees that a labor shortage is going to be a long-term condition and says his members are making moves to lessen the effect. “Employers are trying to be creative in the way they keep and retain workers not only by offering higher salary rates but also by extending benefits and encouraging work flexibility. They are also investing more in automation for labor-intensive tasks.”
If high employment levels can stress the bottom lines of many employers, they can also fill workers’ pockets with spendable cash and flush consumers can help drive a robust retail sector, an important slice of the economic pie. “Wage rates, as measured by the Employment Cost Index (ECI), remain very high by the standards of the last couple of decades,” says Scott Hoyt, Senior Director of Consumer Economics for Moody’s Analytics (www.economy.com).
Even so, activity is decelerating at the nation’s stores. “2023 is likely to be a challenging year for retail, with growth only at 2.8%,” says Hoyt. The projected growth is well below the sector’s historic 4.3% average as well as the 8.3% increase expected when 2022 numbers are finally tallied. The recent trend is well below 2021 when a 17.5% increase was fueled by a consumer shift away from services and toward goods.
A slowing economy is contributing to retail’s deceleration, as is a penchant for post-pandemic consumers to shell out less cash on merchandise and more on services such as hotels, travel and restaurants. Any softening of inflation from recent highs should also depress results since retail activity is measured in nominal terms.
Supply Chain Disruptions
Higher wages and scarce workers are not the only forces depressing business profits. Another major factor is a rise in interest rates — the Fed’s favorite tool for fighting inflation. “The purpose of increasing interest rates is to drive down demand,” says Palisin. “So, our members are expecting to see a decrease in new orders that will impact the overall economy. Also, many of our companies have lines of credit that rely on floating interest rates. Rising rates will take a hit to the bottom line as companies decide whether to utilize those lines to support their cash flow and investments.”
Adding further downward pressure are disruptions in the delivery of goods that continue to plague companies large and small. “Supply chain problems have improved over the past year, but there hasn’t been the significant resolution we had hoped for,” says Palisin. “Random shortages in materials and deliveries are still plaguing our members and that’s leading to backlogging of orders; companies just can’t get the materials or parts.”
The Russia-Ukraine war has worsened the situation, notes Palisin. “The war has created an energy crunch and a disruption in raw materials from that region that have trickled through the economy to exacerbate the supply chain issues.” Companies are responding by moving to reduce their reliance on China, he adds. “They’re sourcing from additional countries to reduce disruptions.”
Housing, a key driver of the economy, has also entered a period of correction. “The underlying dynamics of the housing market are changing as lower affordability spurred by higher prices and mortgage rates is starting to significantly weigh on demand,” says Yaros.
Limited affordability is discouraging consumers from signing on the bottom line. Median prices for existing single-family homes are expected to increase by 11.5% when 2022 figures are finally tallied. That comes off a strong 18% increase in 2021. Any relief will only come in 2023 when prices should decline by 2.6%. While affordability has sunk to its lowest level since late 2007, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate is within striking distance of its highest level in over a decade, leading to a decline in purchase applications.
A tight housing supply is only adding to upward pricing pressure. The inventory of for-sale homes remains historically low and new ones will be scarce on the ground. “We expect housing starts to fall by 1.8% and 2% in 2022 and 2023 respectively,” says Yaros. “This compares with a 15.1% increase in 2021.”
There’s only so much the industry can do to bolster the housing supply — one big reason being the above-mentioned labor shortage. “The unemployment rate for experienced construction workers is about as low as it’s ever been,” said Yaros. “Capacity limits have delayed housing completions and contributed to a record number of housing units in the pipeline.”
One bright spot in the housing picture: mortgage credit quality has never been better. “The percent of loans delinquent and in foreclosure is at a record low,” says Yaros. “This goes to the stellar underwriting standards since the financial crisis and borrowers’ credit scores are much higher.” While lending standards for mortgage loans are now tightening, the credit spigot is unlikely to seize up as it did during the financial crisis of 2008.
Given the above concerns, it’s little wonder corporate confidence is taking a hit. As the calendar turns to a new year, companies are responding to soaring interest rates and inflation by scaling back the capital investments that help fuel the economy. “Up until the second half of 2022 most companies were taking advantage of low rates to plan ahead for equipment purchases and expansion opportunities,” says Palisin. “Now, though, many are taking second looks at anything planned for 2023.”
Businesses are also taking steps to increase their liquidity to cushion against tough times. “We are all going to need to watch our cash flow,” says Palisin. “Most of our members anticipate a slowdown in orders; and as a result, they are holding off on some future investments and pulling back in hiring.”
Uncertainty is the name of the game, and that makes planning difficult. “We are faced with a kind of a two-sided coin,” says Palisin. “The positive side represents strong current orders and a continuing need for more workers; while the negative side represents inflationary pressures and global headwinds.”
Which side of the coin will show its face in 2023? Economists advise watching a few key indicators. “In the early part of the year companies should keep an eye on what is happening with the cost of money,” says Basu of Sage Policy Group. “Inflation is the driver of near-and-medium term economic outlooks.” A second vital element, he says, is the employment picture. “Employers should watch for any emerging weakness in the labor market.” Finally, what about consumers? “Any softening of spending would point to a looming recession.”
This article appears in the January/February 2023 edition of Brushware. View the full digital edition of the issue. Image by istockphoto.com/urbancow.


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The development comes amid visa changes proposed by the United States that might impact movement of Indian professionals there.
“Mexico follows a rule that foreign firms can employ ten per cent of total highly skilled staff from abroad and the rest of the employees with similar skills have to be locals. However, Mexico is changing rules which will enable foreign firms to employ a higher proportion of highly skilled workforce if they are employing a large number of employees,” Pria told ET in an exclusive interaction.
“This could benefit Indian software giants and other business enterprises which are seeking to expand footprint not only in Mexico but also in USA, Central America and Latin America. Mexico is always open for foreign talent.”
Mexico is relaxing its rules at a time when there is growing uncertainty over proposed visa changes by the US for foreign workforce including Indians who travel on H-1B visas.
Mexico has created 30 IT clusters that house 1,500 companies including foreign enterprises, said Pria, according to whom the software industry in Mexico is expected to grow seven per cent between 2015 and 2019. Mexico has the third highest number of IT professionals in the world after India and Philippines. “This creates a win-win situation for both India and Mexico. In 2016 Mexico surpassed Brazil as India’s number one trade partner for Latin America,” said the ambassador, who has been spearheading the move to enhance India’s footprint in Mexico and vice versa.
Referring to Mexico’s special trade arrangements with 45 countries in North, Central and South America, Pria said that this presents a huge opportunity to Indian enterprises wherein Mexico could become the hub for India in that vast region. “Besides software, Mexico presents a unique opportunity for India’s worldclass pharmaceutical companies. Mexico has a universal healthcare system,” she said.
The ambassador said the entire South America and even large parts of the US accept Mexican certificates for pharmaceutical products. “One Indian pharmaceutical firm has already started taking advantage of Mexico’s FTA (free trade agreement) with Germany and this makes it easier for the enterprise to export to Germany from Mexico than even India,” she said.
About 60,000 Indians travelled to Mexico in 2016 and while 10 per cent travelled there on Mexican visas a significant number among the rest travelled via the US.
Pria said she is not unduly worried that stricter US visa rules may spell a decrease in Indians travelling to Mexico on US visa.
She said that a convenient way to travel to Mexico is via several European nations if the US route gets difficult for Indians on direct Mexican visas. “Mexico is similar to India in many ways – both are vibrant, colourful and lively. These attributes are making Mexico a popular destination for Mexico among Indians.”
Indian investments in Mexico are estimated at several hundred million US dollars.
Many Indian companies in IT, pharmaceutical and automotive sectors have invested in facilities and plants in Mexico, taking advantage of its strategic location, large market and investment friendly policies.
ETPrime stories of the day
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Hello Hello. I’m back! Welcome to the week from sunny Los Angeles. While traveling through California, I disconnected from the Internet, saw Michael Keaton at a restaurant in Santa Barbara at a furniture store, and of course ended up in multiple conversations about Joe Rogan. Exactly the R&R I needed :~). Anyway, I’m glad to be back with you and the podcast news. Let’s get into it.
Hot Pod Summit returns on February 24 to kick off On Air Fest. Hot Pod Summit is the invite-only industry conference for those building the future of the audio industry. It will be the start of On Air Fest, the most important cultural festival in the audio industry, with Jad Abumrad, Chuck D, Dr. Jane Goodall and more. Buy your tickets here.
If you are interested in applying for an invitation to the Summit, please let us know by filling out our raffle form here. You can also indicate whether you want to be eligible for financial support. Be sure to provide your name before the raffle closes on Tuesday, February 2.
Amazon buys exclusive advertising sales and distribution rights for: My favorite murder and just the right media
It was only a matter of time. Yesterday, Amazon announced the purchase of the exclusive rights to the sale and distribution of advertisements from Exactly Right Media’s current and future podcasts, including My favorite murder. This means My favorite murder, which is one of the top 10 most popular podcasts according to Edison Research, will be available a week early and ad-free on Amazon Music, through its Unlimited and Prime plans as well as Wondery Plus. It will then come to all other platforms. No terms were disclosed, including when episodes would run or how long the deal terms would be in effect.
Still, the deal is very similar to that of SmartLessthat Amazon acquired last year for up to $80 million, per Bloomberg. In that case, it also obtained both the sales rights and the exclusivity for a week. (UnJu Paik and Lex Friedman brokered the deal on behalf of Wondery and Amazon Music; Oren Rosenbaum at UTA and Ben Jaffe at Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard did for Exactly Right Media.)
Two things stand out to me here: One is the week-long time frame, especially compared to Spotify, which signed deals with call her daddy and armchair expert for the past year and immediately shuffled behind the wall of the platform. I thought there would be totally exclusive deals this year – why limit an audience when ad sales are the endgame – and this deal, coupled with SmartLess, seems to suggest Amazon agrees. It may get its desired return within those seven days, with diehard fans downloading the apps to get ahead, while the rest of the audience continues to consume and generate ad revenue elsewhere.
Spotify and Amazon, of course, have different incentives, which play into their different approaches. Amazon would rather you listen to Amazon Music or Wondery Plus, but the company can thrive without you. However, Spotify needs you to listen on its platform. The app currently runs almost its entire business, which is via subscriptions, while the touted podcast ad technology, Streaming Ad Insertion, relies on a listener being on the app so it can target ads appropriately. The show deals are designed to let you in on his world while bolstering his advertising business at the same time. I just wonder if having them completely behind a wall eventually gains new listeners or, if my Joe Rogan story was any indication, just results in losing them.
The second thing to note is that with this deal, eight of the 10 most popular podcasts from Q3 last year have now been acquired, licensed, or were already operating under a major media organization. The last ones standing are Pod Save America and This American life – both of which are part of companies born through the success of individual shows. It seems like a good guess that one of them could be next.
I’ll keep thinking about this deal, but if you have any thoughts, get in touch.
Speaking of Amazon’s advertising ambitions….
Amazon wants more brands to advertise on its platform
Insider published a story yesterday about Amazon’s broader advertising ambitions, which mostly involve trying to get more brand marketing on its platform.
From the piece: “Amazon wants to attract companies such as movie studios or insurance companies that don’t sell on Amazon, but are critical to the growth of its advertising business, which brought in $23 billion in the first three quarters of last year – an increase of $13. 5 billion over the same period in 2020.” The story also mentions a product that allows advertisers to see who clicked on their ads and bought things.
The company is seemingly pitching advertisers primarily to its video products, which include Twitch, Fire TV, and IMDb TV. Podcasting isn’t covered in the story, but I have to imagine that the company’s purchase of Art19 has something to do with generating more ad revenue. And with Spotify and others pushing interactive podcast ads, I can only see Amazon considering it too, especially if it means selling more stuff, which podcasts are really good at.
Spotify is reportedly the best music streaming app
This isn’t entirely related to the podcast world, but we care about the platforms and who’s on top, so: A new report from Midia Research, a media and entertainment-focused research and analytics firm, suggests Spotify is the most popular music streaming app with a market share of 31 percent. Apple Music is in second place with 15 percent and Amazon Music and Tencent Music are in third place with 13 percent each. Also interesting here is Midia’s comment that Spotify’s market share fell from 33 percent in Q2 2020 to 31 percent in Q2 2021, with growth being outpaced by both Amazon and YouTube Music, with the latter increasing by more. grew by more than 50 percent compared to a year earlier.
And wouldn’t you know, YouTube Music is apparently starting to give podcasts too. hmm…
Bill Simmons gets a YouTube channel?
In a strangely worded press release on Spotify property the bell, does the company say Bill Simmons now has a YouTube channel, but has apparently been around for over a year? In either case, a new promo push is taking place, with Simmons saying clips from the show will appear on YouTube, as well as the entirety of the Book of Basketball 2.0. Normally I wouldn’t say much about something that isn’t completely new, but the marketing interests me because of Spotify’s specific push to turn its app into a video podcast destination. The promo video for this YouTube page doesn’t even mention Spotify. Hey. Lots of mixed messages for me here but my best guess would be someone in the bell thinks viral YouTube clips make sense for marketing – a play of Joe Rogan’s own strategy – and gets on with it.
And now a few movement-related bits.
Laura Mayer Leaves Three Uncanny Four to Start Her Own Business
Laura Mayer leaves Three Uncanny Four, the company she helped create along with Adam Davidson and Sony Music, to start a new venture. She tweeted the news last week, saying: “I’ve been working at Big Podcasting for a long time. I’ve enjoyed making many shows within large companies. Now I’ve decided it’s time to become independent. My podcast development studio has one employee – and that’s me.” The new company is called LRM Works.
Davidson left the company last February, and Mayer’s departure seemingly coincides with the finale of one of the network’s biggest shows – Bad Blood: The Final Chapter. It’s unclear who will take over from Three Uncanny Four, but a Sony spokesperson says in a comment that it will “become part of our Global Podcast Division”.
Mike Pesca Relaunches The core and his own website
Mike Pesca is back to podcasting after his ouster from Slate. It has been relaunched The core, the show he previously made with the network, along with a personal website. It comes with a political take, according to the section on: “Mike’s unique and pragmatic, centrist stance gives listeners an alternative to the polarizing commentary found almost everywhere else.”
A trailer for the relaunched show also teases discussions about the idea of condemnation in politics and no ‘ideology’ [to] remain undisputed.” Anyway, for those in need of a reminder, Pesca and Slate broke up after the host said using the n-word might be acceptable in certain contexts.
Libsyn hires John Gibbons, former CEO of Pocket Casts
John Gibbons, who served as CEO of Pocket Casts last year during Automattic’s acquisition of the platform, is joining Libsyn. He will be the president and chief product officer at the hosting company and will assist in its “market expansion strategy.”
That’s all I have for you right now, but I’ll be back Thursday with more for paying subscribers, and Aria has you covered on Friday. Bye!


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PRESS RELEASE – 26 SEPTEMBER 2022
Will hotter summers mean less demand for Spanish timeshare holidays?
UK temperatures are rising. Blue skies and summer sunshine are becoming more and more reliable and many Brits are choosing to holiday on and around their own islands. At the same time summers in the Mediterranean are heating up to uncomfortable levels.
We ask: Will Spanish timeshare ownerships become defunct?
Hot weather records are being broken almost on a weekly basis all over Europe. For those of us in northern climes, the transition to what was traditionally ‘Med weather’ can seem welcome in the short to medium term. Spain on the other hand is now regularly reaching temperatures previously associated with the Middle East, and becoming too hot even for the locals.
Summer 2022 in Spain has been the hottest for decades and the discomfort for tourists has been exacerbated by a widely decried government decree forbidding businesses from setting air conditioning at less than 27 degrees Celsius.
Brits choosing to stay local
For Brits the reported perfect summer’s day temperature is 21 degrees. Reliable weather makes many of us want to stay and enjoy all that Britain has to offer. “Our islands are so varied,” says Barry, a 53 year old office worker from Yorkshire. “I believe our beaches, scenery, history, and culture rival anywhere in the world. It was only ever the weather that made me fly to Spain. We’ll be holidaying in Britain now, as long as we can count on decent weather.”
Owners committed to Spain
Around 600,000 British families holiday through timeshare memberships, and well over half of those own at a home resort in Spain. These owners have little choice but to return to that home resort every year, for the remainder of their contract. In some cases this means for ever.
“Being trapped in a timeshare membership means that timeshare owners in Spain don’t have the flexibility to make their preferred choices,” says Andrew Cooper, CEO of European Consumer Claims. “While the vacation landscape has changed, the structure of timeshare memberships has not adapted with it.”
What can be done?
There is hope for Brits looking to slip the clutches of avaricious timeshare companies. “Despite the best efforts of the resorts to make their contracts inescapable, an expert claim and relinquishment firm can usually find a route to freedom,” says Cooper. “Every case is different and it is important to have your individual case assessed by an expert.


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Hostage situation at lingerie store ends peacefully
Fayetteville police said a man, walked into the business with what appeared to be a bomb and took a female store clerk hostage.Posted — Updated
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Fayetteville police are investigating a hostage situation that occurred Monday afternoon inside a local lingerie store.
The situation ended peacefully after a little more than an hour, and no one was injured, although circumstances about the case were still unclear.
Fayetteville police responded to a report of robbery in progress at Priscilla's at 3800 Sycamore Dairy Road at about 12:41 p.m.
Police Lt. David Sportsman said a man, whose name was not immediately available, walked into the business with what appeared to be a bomb, allowed two customers to leave and a female store manager hostage.
Sportsman did not give any information about a motive or why the alleged perpetrator targeted the store.
Investigators were talking with the store manager, perpetrator and were urging the customers to contact them regarding the situation.
Officers evacuated nearby businesses, and roads surrounding the store were blocked off for hours as members of the county's bomb squad swept the store as a precaution.
Authorities did not find an explosive device.
Sportsman said the man also demanded to speak to Lt. Charles Disponzio, the head of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office's homicide unit. Sportsman said investigators believe Disponzio is a mutual acquaintance of the man.
Disponzio did respond to the scene, but the man surrendered before he could talk to him.
Authorities urge anyone with information about the case to contact the Fayetteville Police Department at 910-433-1856.
Copyright 2023 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Samsung announced the Gear S last week, but today the company finally gave us a closer look at its latest Tizen-powered smartwatch. We got a chance to try out the curved 3G smartwatch for ourselves.
Visually, the Gear S is basically a stretched out version of the Gear Fit, offering double the screen space found on the smaller fitness tracker. The display still looks great, but now it’s actually big enough to run full apps. Samsung notes that it already has more than 1,000 applications available to download, though that still may not be enough to convince us to pick up the Tizen-powered device.
The big screen also means it’s even bulkier than Samsung’s earlier wearable devices, and the bands the company is offering to go with the Gear S are way too wide and heavy to look very good on your wrist. You can also remove the display from its wristband pretty easily—like on the Gear Fit—but Samsung admits that it still hasn’t seen much interest from third-party companies looking to create new accessories for either curved AMOLED wearable.
The other big thing the Gear S has going for a built-in 3G connection, meaning you can access the Internet even if your smartphone is out of range. If you’d rather leave your phone at home, the Gear S could be a good option in some cases, but it’s not exactly self-sufficient. You still can’t download new apps without first reaching for a larger synced device, so you might want to think twice before heading out with just your smartwatch to keep you company.
The software isn’t much of a step up from what we’ve seen before, and Samsung told us it’s more of an evolution than a revolution. Tizen definitely looks better on a bigger screen, but it’s still somewhat tricky to navigate. Most of the time you’ll be swiping side-to-side between apps, or down from the top of the screen to jump back when you hit a dead end.
On the plus side, the Gear S is water resistant and can even connect to Wi-Fi so you won’t always have to rely on its 3G connection. It also packs a 1GHz dual-core processor, 4GB of built-in storage, 512MB of RAM and a 300mAh battery. Samsung even threw in a heart rate monitor, S Voice controls and a power saving mode, though like we said the final product didn’t exactly blow us away.
We’ll be taking a closer look at the Gear S and everything else Samsung announced in the very near future, so stay tuned as we dive into the company’s newest product lineup.


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Ignored for decades after the breeding program shut down, several recently rediscovered Canadian apricots show promise for growers looking for large, flavorful fruit to revitalize the market.
“The stage two trees were planted over 20 years ago, and they kind of just sat around until the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre took over management of the genetics in 2014,” said Michael Kauzlaric, Vineland’s technology scout and grower outreach coordinator. “People just ate the fruit but didn’t evaluate them.”
A few years ago, when researchers decided to evaluate the apricots, they found some strong performance when it came to fruit quality, high tolerance to bacterial spot, and a nice spread of harvest dates in the trees bred by the now-defunct Agriculture and AgriFood Canada Harrow breeding program. So Vineland launched a new effort to find the best selections for Ontario’s growers and the global market.
“Some of these Vineland apricots get to 20 or 21 Brix. That’s something that gets your attention,” said Kevin Brandt of Brandt’s Fruit Trees, which is working with the Vineland Centre to test and commercialize new varieties of stone fruit and pears in the U.S. “They’ve got good texture, they are juicy, not mealy and they have a good flavor.”
At Brandt’s trial orchard in Wapato, Washington, about 15 Vineland varieties have been planted as part of an apricot variety trial, with about 50 selections from other breeding programs. This will be the third year for harvest, and Brandt said that based on their criteria, a couple of Vineland selections really stand out.
“First thing first, they have to size,” Brandt said. Then, timing is key, as growers need a steady pace of harvests. “After that, it’s all flavor.”
Ontario growers have their first chance to plant some of the most promising new selections this year, but only growers within the region’s plum pox quarantine can plant now.
The selections are currently undergoing the clean plant process, and there should be certified budwood for growers outside the quarantine soon, Kauzlaric said.
“We’re hoping to spread more budwood to the U.S. and get trees in the ground by 2020” for larger-scale trials, he said. “By 2025, we hope to have the trees in the marketplace.”
There’s a lot to learn between now and then. After this year’s harvest, Brandt expects to have enough data to recommend some of the top selections to apricot growers in different regions who want to try out test blocks. They also plan to do packing tests with those partners to ensure the fruit is commercially viable.
“Our main focus is to help commercialize the selections and to get them to the nurseries that do apricots, so they can produce them for the industry and everybody wins,” Brandt said. “I personally feel that if we’ve got winners out here, they’ll be winners out East, too, because they’ve already got that disease resistance in their program.”
In Ontario, the fruit doesn’t reach the same high Brix as in hot, sunny Central Washington, Kauzlaric said, but they do produce fruit with good flavor and size, with an attractive red blush.
The bacterial spot resistance is important, but bloom timing and frost susceptibility could decide which selections thrive in Ontario.
It’s sort of surprising to see these promising new apricots come from Canada, Brandt said, as the country is not normally known for producing the early-season stone fruit.
There’s probably only 100 to 200 acres of apricots in Canada, Kauzlaric said, and the lack of local industry is part of the reason these strong selections were ignored for so long.
But in microclimates where growers can avoid frost damage, interest in apricots is growing due to high prices. According to the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers’ annual report, growers received $3,399 a ton for apricots last year, compared to $2,000 to $2,600 for plums and $1,500 a ton for peaches.
“There’s close to a 40 percent upside to apricots, but of course, they have more challenges in growing,” Kauzlaric said. “The industry is investing in wind machines to mitigate spring frost risk. A lot of the marketers are starting to try to create branding around local apricots.”
In the Western U.S., the time may be right for new apricot options as well, Brandt said. The industry wants replacements for mainstays like Perfection and Rival, he said, and improved fruit quality for fresh market sales.
Most of Washington’s 1,200 acres of apricots go to the fresh market, while canned and dried apricots comprise more than half of California’s 8,500 remaining acres.
“Even in California, where they have a lot of apricots, these can compete,” Brandt said. “The key is to get people to like apricots again.”
These apricots are especially sweet
There’s also excitement about the potential of several super sweet white-fleshed apricots developed by the stone fruit breeding program at France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA).
“They really taste different,” said Lynnell Brandt, president of Brandt’s Fruit Trees. “If you got one of these white-fleshed ones, you wouldn’t even know it’s an apricot, they taste that distinctive.”
That could present a unique marketing opportunity for the fruit, which is striking in both appearance and flavor, he said.
White apricots can reach up to 24 Brix but were initially considered unattractively pale by the breeders, who told Good Fruit Grower in 2008 that they were designing crosses to bring the super-sweet flavor into colored varieties.
The latest selections in the trial now have a bicolor blush and white flesh but retain the unique flavor that Brandt thinks could bring new enthusiasm to the apricot market. •
—by Kate Prengaman
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Dubai South Records Key Achievements During 2021
Dubai South, the largest single-urban master development focusing on aviation, logistics and real estate, ended 2021 on a high note by recording several outstanding achievements across its different divisions.
The total number of companies that are now operating out of Dubai South reached 4,600, attracting more than 700 new companies. Moreover, the total number of people working out of Dubai South reached to 20,848 individuals by end of 2021.
It was also a successful year for the Logistics District at Dubai South, as the first phase of EZDubai infrastructure, already completed, amounting to 50% of the total area of the district.
Moreover, the district cooling services are already operational which will help maintain a sustainable e-commerce zone and reduce carbon emissions.
EZDubai e-commerce zone succeeded in attracting several companies to the e-commerce hub, such as noon which announced its expansion with the opening of its customer fulfilment facility to expand upon its operations and continuous drive for growth.
As a result of the surge in demand for last-mile facilities across the region, Dubai South also managed to attract Uda Express, one of the largest express companies in China, Emirates Post, which opened its second-largest sorting and delivery centre in the UAE, as well as, FedEx Express, the world’s largest express transportation company, which will also build its new regional hub for the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and Africa (MEISA) region at the Logistics District.
DHL will launch its first Mobile Middle East and Africa Innovation Center at the Logistics District with the aim of solving complex logistics challenges, learning about the latest trends in logistics, and to network with industry innovators across the MEA region.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Aerospace Hub has rounded up the year by launching several unique projects. One such project is Dubai Helipark, its helicopter centre and the largest of its kind, accommodating eight helicopters to facilitate transport between business centres and tourist destinations.
Phase one is now operational, and the second phase will be completed later this year.
The Dubai Free Port, the first Super Vault in the region, was also announced and will be used by VIP travellers and HNWIs seeking to store fine artworks and precious physical assets in secure facilities within a custom-bonded area.
MBRAH also launched its Line Maintenance Units, which hosts seven international aviation players. Also, during Dubai Airshow 2021, an agreement with Comlux was signed to develop a hangar facility at MBRAH.
In his comments, HE Khalifa Al Zaffin, Executive Chairman of Dubai Aviation Corporation and Dubai South, said: “We are pleased with the overall performance of Dubai South and its districts throughout the past year, especially as we achieved growth despite the general impact of COVID-19 on the business landscape.
"This is attributed to the unrivalled support of the government and its initiatives to boost the emirate’s economy and to our well-thought-of plans and strategies to ensure that we increase investments across several industries in Dubai.”
Dubai South was launched as a Dubai Government project in 2006, representing an emerging 145 square-kilometre, master-planned city based on the happiness of the individual.
The city is identified as Dubai’s flagship urban project and is designed to create 500,000 jobs in an integrated, economic environment that supports all types of businesses and industries.


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- Rockstar is introducing its first global marketing platform since getting acquired by PepsiCo last year, according to a news release. Called "Life is Your Stage," the effort celebrates the hustle mentality of Rockstar's target audience.
- The energy drink brand developed three short films that depict various people on the daily grind, including an amateur rapper trying to make hits in her bedroom, an office worker pushing for a promotion and a hardcore gamer who plays hourslong sessions. Rockstar has also formed a Rockstar Energy Hustle Collective of influencers to create and amplify related content throughout the year.
- PepsiCo's internal Global Design team earlier this year reworked Rockstar's visual identity and packaging. An international marketing push behind the refresh comes as PepsiCo plans to more than double Rockstar's geographical footprint over the next three years.
Rockstar is making a bigger splash with its marketing this year through an extensive global campaign, its first since getting acquired by PepsiCo for $3.85 billion in 2020. "Life is Your Stage" appeals to a range of go-getter consumers who need fuel to realize their goals, whether those be in the office, gaming space or in terms of creative output.
The three hero films will live on YouTube, but Rockstar is also curating the videos for localized audiences. The brand produced more than 70 variants of the shorts, as well as other content tailored to more than 30 markets. Ads will appear across out-of-home, digital, social media and in-store channels, according to the release.
Other PepsiCo brands have adopted a similar approach, prioritizing a high volume of content that can reach a wide audience while preserving relevance. Promoting its Zero Sugar cola, Pepsi recently debuted a campaign on TV, digital and radio that leverages data-driven insights and voice-over to customize more than 70 pieces of creative. "Zero Sugar, Zero Compromise" is targeted at men in their 30s and 40s who are making the switch to sugar-free soda and have little free time to relax.
Meanwhile, PepsiCo has reimagined the look of Rockstar to usher in a new era of ownership for the energy drink brand founded in 2001. A redesign spearheaded by the food and beverage giant's in-house team includes a modernized version of Rockstar's star logo as well as an "elevated" color palette of metallic gold and black across the brand's portfolio. PepsiCo has previously teased the overhaul, including through a Super Bowl ad — Rockstar's first — earlier this year. The TV spot starred Grammy-nominated rapper Lil Baby.
PepsiCo is aggressively capitalizing on the demand for "functional beverages" that provide some health benefit or utility to consumers, with the Rockstar deal a piece of that strategy. Late last year, the company also introduced a relaxation drink called Driftwell that intends to combat feelings of stress. A recent campaign promoted Driftwell through animated ads that depict unhealthy habits, such as copious screen time before bed, as monsters that Driftwell can help conquer.


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The YouTube TV team took to Twitter yesterday to announce that the service now works with 5.1 surround sound on Apple TVs and Amazon Fire TVs. Users will now be able to experience a home theater-like environment with the new upgrade. Only few YouTube TV shows support the surround sound format, but it’s free for all subscribers and available on all devices. Keep in mind that 5.1 audio requires the most recent update of the YouTube TV app.
If you go to the player’s settings and choose “More,” then the bug symbol, and finally the Codecs section, you’ll see a list of the files that can play with 5.1 surround sound. If 5.1 sound is supported, you’ll see “AC-3 / EAC-3” in the list of codecs.
In a tweet, YouTube TV said that the new audio feature is currently only accessible on computers and mobile devices but that the company is trying to make it available on gaming consoles as well.
Three months after introducing surround sound for Google TV, Android TV, and Roku devices, YouTube TV has received a fresh upgrade. As far back as last year, Google has been promising 5.1 surround sound for YouTube TV. The audio functionality has already been made available on Samsung, LG, and Vizio smart TVs, in addition to Chromecast.


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Dagenham street left without post for a week
- Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
A businesswoman says she fears losing her customers after her street didn’t receive post for a week.
Baby clothes maker Tenicia Walsh lives in Stanton Court, in St Marks Place, Dagenham, and relies on the postal service for both materials and delivering her products to clients up and down the country.
But with no deliveries to homes in her road during the week beginning October 10, the mum-of-two fears that her company could bear the brunt.
“It’s really affected my business,” said the 27-year-old. “It’s the only way I can get everything in that I need.
“[Going without] a week’s worth of materials has put me back about four days which is really bad because clients will be getting their orders late.
“I’ll then get feedback and my business will suffer for something that isn’t my fault.”
Neighbour Jeff Young, 50, says he regularly receives letters intended for the blocks of flats across the road and very rarely gets deliveries on a Saturday.
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“It seems like the postal workers don’t always look at the full address and just the numbers because I’m forever getting stuff that’s intended for the flats,” the security worker said.
“Some of it has been personal stuff too so it’s bad that it’s happening so regularly.”
Although a 30-year-old neighbour admits she had not noticed any issues previously, the week without post frustrated her.
“Normally the post is really good, the normal guy is brilliant, we can’t fault him,” she said.
“But we were expecting things that week and it just didn’t turn up.”
A spokeswoman for Royal Mail apologised to customers and said lessons have been learnt.
“We have reviewed deliveries to Stanton Court in St Marks Place, which has a timed entry system, to ensure the postman who delivers to those residents can access the building every day,” she said.
“We have also put a note on the delivery frame for those addresses to remind anyone covering this delivery about access to these addresses.
“If anyone has any queries about their mail, they should contact our customer service team on 03457 740 740 or via our website – royalmail.com.”
Were you affected? Email email@example.com or call 020 8477 3824.