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The organization has launched a campaign, #Fromagissons, to encourage consumption of traditional French cheeses.
CNIEL said that in the first few weeks of lockdown, sales of ‘regular’ dairy products rose dramatically, especially liquid milk, butter and cream and cheese.
However, the organization said, this has led to an increase of sales of basic products while other categories, such as traditional cheeses, have seen a reduction in turnover of up to 60%. CNIEL said consumers are buying basics and not allowing themselves the pleasures of more indulgent foods, many of which are perishable.
While dairies that produce food for mass distribution are running at full speed to meet a surge in demand, smaller companies have been affected by a reduction in sales to restaurants and a drop in exports. They are also being affected by the loss of foodservice, and the closure of markets where cheesemakers would traditionally sell their products.
CNIEL said that it is particularly concerned about the many PDO and PGI cheeses the country produces, and wants to maintain the image of the nation as a country of 1,000 cheeses.
Last month, Sodiaal, the leading French dairy cooperative, called on distributors to promote the diversity of French cheese in their stores.
Sodiaal said without help, some products, which have seen sales drop from 25% to 80%, may not survive the crisis.


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THIS YEAR has been a troubled one for the UK car market in more ways than one, but a single issue surpassed plummeting demand for diesel and uncertainty over Brexit to wreak havoc on an unprecedented scale: the Covid-19 coronavirus.
Even the pandemic couldn’t hold back some major vehicle introductions in 2020. Model launches have ranged from the exotic, such as the Ferrari Roma and McLaren Elva, through to volume offerings including the eighth-generation VW Golf and the all-new Ford Puma. There’s even (finally) a new, not-so-utilitarian Land Rover Defender.
Between these petrol, diesel and electric vehicles, there has been a new model to fit almost any budget or lifestyle.
However, while at the end of 2019 the promise of these new vehicle launches appeared to herald a bumper year for the country’s new vehicle market, all of that was put on the back burner with the rapid spread of the coronavirus around the world.
Car sales hit by the pandemic
By March, hospital admissions and deaths related to the disease made for grim reading. To stem the spread of the virus the first national lockdown was put in place.
With the mandatory closure of every outlet other than essential retail, the car market went into a precipitous decline. In April, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reported year-on-year new vehicle sales had dropped by a whopping 97.3%.
Coming out of that first lockdown, new car sales for the year were tracking 48.5% lower than the same period in 2019. This equated to 240,000 fewer private deals and an estimated net VAT loss of £1.1bn. In June alone new car registrations fell by 34.9%.
By late October, new car sales had made a strong recovery. But this was dealing from a very low base and the 1.38m units sold across the country still represented a year-on-year decline of 31%.
In early November the country was plunged into a second national lockdown to help curb the spread of the virus. But while this resulted in the sale of petrol and diesel models taking another nosedive (39.9% and 59.8% respectively for the month), battery electric (BEV), hybrid (HEV), mild hybrid (MEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) models were up 73.3%.
Our view of cars has changed since Covid-19
Clearly, the coronavirus lockdowns have resulted in fundamental changes to the way we live and work. But while many people still have no choice but to travel to their workplace, many others have been logging on from home for most of the year.
With no commute, there has been a significant drop in total miles driven. With the total range of EVs curving upwards and the declining curve of miles driven, the two arcs have ended up meeting in a customer-friendly sweet spot.
In addition to this change in our working lives, the pandemic has served to polarise the view on our national health, including the quality of our air. While there are environmental concerns related to the production of electric vehicles, particularly the batteries, there’s no other choice which will have such a direct impact on reducing local, transport-related pollution output.
With no commute, there has been a significant drop in total miles driven
This also works on a collective level; the Ultra Low Emissions Zone in London, where older petrol and diesel models face an additional charge for driving into the city centre, has resulted in a 36% drop in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) measurements. It’s worth noting that most electrified vehicles are exempt from the ULEZ charge, while full EVs and PHEVs currently fall outside both the ULEZ and the congestion zone charges.
Car dealers adapt for the 2020 downturn
We’ve all been affected by the coronavirus lockdowns brought in across the country this year but while we’re looking at the UK car market, spare a thought for car dealers. Whether you love them or loathe them, dealers are an intrinsic part of the automotive landscape and few other businesses have been hit quite so hard by the pandemic.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT had this to say: “With £1.3bn worth of new car revenue lost in November  alone, the importance of showroom trading to the UK economy is evident and we must ensure they remain open in any future Covid restrictions.”
Like almost all other retail outlets, dealerships were closed during the first national lockdown. With no buyers permitted to enter showrooms, there was confusion even surrounding whether the dealers were permitted to fulfil click-and-collect purchases made online, with the vehicle handover being the major point of contention.
The SMMT estimates that the sector could lose a further one in six workers due to the combined effects of Covid and Brexit
Speaking with Driving.co.uk, John Kirwan, editor of MotorTrader magazine, said: “Dealers were hit hard in the first lockdown when new car sales went into freefall. But they responded quickly by improving the way they interact with customers, making better use of call centres and digital tools to keep in touch with customers.
“PSA Retail, for example, overhauled its call centre and increased staffing levels to ensure they were keeping in touch with customers.”
Like many other business sectors, more car dealers have adapted by adopting online solutions.
Kirwan added: “The biggest change in the market was the acceleration of digital and a greater customer acceptance to buying new and used cars online. By the time of the second lockdown in England, the fall in sales in November was 27%, much lower than in April, down 97%.
“The majority of dealers had enrolled on click and collect, were accustomed to the new social distancing in place and were also offering more transactions online.”
With the introduction of new, more stringent Tier 4 lockdowns across much of south-east England, dealer showrooms are again closed. But with improved vehicle details available online, buyers can still choose their new car or van online and make payment before completing the transaction via click and collect. The same holds true in Wales under the country’s latest lockdown. In Northern Ireland all sales will cease, as even picking up a vehicle will not be allowed.
How UK car makers took a hit in 2020
Dealers mark the point at which a vehicle is handed over to consumers. At the other end of that line is the assembly plant, where the cars that end up in the showroom are welded, glued and otherwise put together.
The Covid-19 pandemic has had an equally disastrous effect on car factory operations. By June, year-on-year finished vehicle output across the UK had dropped by 48% in response to falling demand. Over the first six months of 2020, UK-based car manufacturers produced just 56,000 units, the lowest output since 1954, as factories were forced to close.
Production did ramp up over the summer in response to the opening of the national market but according to the SMMT, nine out of ten of vehicles assembled in the UK were produced for export markets, most of which had reopened earlier than the UK.
A case in point was Honda. Like all other car makers, the Japanese company saw a significant drop in UK sales over the first lockdown, although by mid-summer sales had rebounded to where they were 1,000 cars ahead of revised sales forecasts.
Over the first six months, UK-based car manufacturers produced just 56,000 units, the lowest output since 1954
In addition to declining sales, the coronavirus pandemic has had a direct impact on workers at the plant. According to a Honda spokesperson, the company implemented “a significant number of safety measures to mitigate risks and provide a Covid-secure site”.
While specific numbers were not available, the Honda official stated that the company had “utilised the government furlough scheme during the first phase of lockdown” as production was scaled back.
The automotive industry in the UK directly and indirectly (across the part supplier network) supports an estimated 820,000 jobs. By June, more than 6,000 redundancies had already been announced. With total output over 2020 expected to fall around 32% to about 880,000 units, the SMMT estimates that the sector could lose a further one in six workers due to the combined effects of Covid and Brexit.
Better times ahead for the UK car industry
Although Covid-19 has wreaked havoc this year across the UK automotive industry, there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel. As vaccines start to be rolled out across the country, it can be hoped that both factories and dealerships can get back to the business of making and selling cars.
As SMMT boss Mike Hawes noted: “With a vaccine now approved, the business and consumer confidence on which this sector depends can only improve, giving the industry more optimism for the turn of the year.”
There are a series of noteworthy models due out in the coming year. Looking at hatchbacks, the all-new Citroën C4 will launch in January 2021, followed later in the year by the next Skoda Fabia. A new version of the Vauxhall Mokka crossover is also expected in early 2021, while a replacement for the popular Nissan Qashqai, featuring styling cues from the recently-revised Juke, can be expected in the summer.
There will also be a raft of new electric models, including the Audi Q4 E-tron and BMW i4. In addition, Ford will introduce the Mustang Mach-E, while Seat is expected to launch its El-Born, based on the Volkswagen ID.3.
There’s even hope that a new motor show, IAA Cars, will be held in Munich towards the end of 2021. After the Geneva motor show was cancelled in early 2020, this would be the first major European car expo since the Frankfurt IAA in 2019. There were reports that Geneva itself would attempt a comeback, for press only, but the new strain of Covid-19 may have blown that idea out of the water.
While there are other political and economic factors which could still cause upheaval across the UK vehicle market, the hope is that, with the rollout of a vaccine, at least the effects of the pandemic will, at some point in the near future, be consigned to the history books and we can get back to trying the new offerings from car makers under more normal conditions.

domain: news


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Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Sixty tax law professors and economists filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court Monday urging the Justices to overrule the Dormant Commerce Clause holding of Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992), which bars states from enforcing sales taxes against retailers who lack a "physical presence" in the state. From the brief:
In Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, the Court emphasized that its dormant Commerce Clause analysis was based on “structural concerns about the effect of state regulation on the national economy.” 504 U.S. 298, 312 (1992). The Court was especially concerned about the effect of taxation on the mail-order industry, and it believed that maintaining the physical presence rule would “foster investment by businesses and individuals.” Id. at 315-18. It also believed that its rule would reduce compliance costs for businesses and individuals engaged in commerce across state lines. See id. at 313 n.6. For those reasons, the Court reaffirmed the physical presence rule first announced in National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Department of Revenue of Illinois, 386 U.S. 753 (1967).
March 6, 2018 in Ari Glogower, Daniel Hemel, David Gamage, David Herzig, Erin Scharff, New Cases, Orly Mazur, Sloan Speck, Tax Profs | Permalink
| Comments (3)


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Google is conducting consumer research out in the real world to determine if everyday consumers are interested in purchasing Google Glasses. A research team is now setting up enclosed booths at street fairs in the San Francisco Bay Area to present Google Glasses to fair attendees and collect feedback.
The company drummed up a ton of attention when it teased the product in a teaser video back in April, but enthusiasm for new products from online communities doesn’t necessarily equate to average tech buyers actually buying them. Will smartphone users clamor for glasses that capture photos from a first-person perspective and act as a head-up display? That’s what Google’s trying to find out well before the product hits store shelves.
Above is a photo of the Google Research booth at the Union Street fair in San Francisco. I found the Google booth to be out of place amongst the other booths, most of which were selling handicrafts and food. I asked a Google employee what the booth was all about and she said they had something to show people that hadn’t been released yet. I asked to see it, but was told I couldn’t see it unless I “qualified.”
Outside the booth is a table where research candidates are screened with a survey. The Google Docs survey, which can be completed on either a Google-supplied MacBook Pro or Vizio Android tablet, is designed to identify physically active smartphone users that are parents and at least somewhat interested in new technology products. The survey is also used to screen for those who actively use social media.
The screening survey includes the following questions (paraphrased), with multiple choice answers in most cases.
- Are you interested in wearable fitness gadgets such as Nike Fuelband, Jawbone Up, etc?
- Do you have 200+ Facebook or Google plus followers?
- Do you play sports or participate in outdoor activities at less twice per week?
- Are you a parent?
- How old are you?
- Technology pattern, multiple choice:
- Early adopter?
- First to buy tech?
- Moderately interested in new technology
- Not really interested in technology
- What kind of phone do you use ?
- Windows Phone
I completed the survey and was told I qualified for the research. I have a feeling that I’m just the kind of consumer they’re looking for considering how the questions were set up and hearing a few others grumble about how they didn’t qualify.I’m a 30-something dad that is into new technology, active on social networks and spends time outdoors. Unfortunately, I Google employees told me I’d have to come back another day since the demo and survey take 20 to 25 minutes and they were booked until the end of the day.
I chatted briefly with a couple of survey participants who were milling around. They told me Google made them agree not to talk about the survey or what they saw, but the product “lets people see stuff and take photos like…in a really cool way.”
This kind of consumer research shows that Google is very serious about making Google Glasses a living, breathing product. The above video is Google’s official introduction of its glasses concept. Some have criticized the video of setting impossibly high expectations for the product.
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Get revved up for the 13th annual Classic Corvettes on the Circle this Saturday. More than 200 classic cars will be on display in the middle of St. Armands Circle, representing all sorts of styles from 1953 till today. The show kicks off at 10 a.m., and winners will be announced at 3 p.m.
Classic Corvettes on the Circle: 10 a.m. Sat., May 5; St. Armands Circle, Sarasota; free.


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Many people think eating raw vegetables is healthier because it is more rich in nutrients than cooked or heated vegetables. Is that right?
According to some nutritionists, not all vegetables are more nutrient rich when not cooked. There are some vegetables that are even healthier when cooked, such as tomatoes, spinach, carrots, asparagus, and mushrooms.
Nutritionist and senior lecturer at Applied Physiology, Birmingham City University Mel Wakeman revealed, the heated tomatoes can make lycopene levels in it increased.
According to Wakeman, lycopene is believed to be heart healthy and has been shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Meanwhile, cooked spinach is rich in oxalates that bind minerals to spinach such as iron and calcium.
Then cooked carrots are rich in carotenoids and cooked asparagus is known to increase the content of polyphenols. According to Wakeman, both have antioxidant properties that can reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.
Wakeman explained, heating can actually help release binding minerals to be absorbed by the body and increase the content of phytochemicals that are beneficial to health. However, Wakeman suggested that the vegetables are not heated for too long.
“Microwaves will be steaming often helps to maintain the nutritional content of vegetables, not boiling. Eat a mixture of raw and cooked carrots as well. “Wakeman said.
The same thing is also said by Rui Hai Liu, a professor in the department of food science at Cornell University.
“Many say the food that cooked food has lower nutritional value than fresh produce, but that’s not always true,” says Rui who studies how heat affects food.


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A Google Developers video made for Android Wear has been revealed this week, the newest and probably last to be released before Google I/O 2014. This video asks the question – what couldn’t we do on the smartphone that we can now do on the wrist? Placing icons on a smartwatch, for example, is not the solution Google is looking for.
Built around “micro-interactions” that allow the user to save time, the Android Wear universe – from Google’s perspective – must be quicker to use than pulling a smartphone from a pocket. In this way, Google suggests that the wearable universe is not meant to replace the smartphone or tablet directly, but to create an entirely different set of values in a new device ecosystem.
One key element Google speaks of with regard to Android Wear is talking. All officially licensed Google Wear devices will need to be able to receive voice commands via a microphone. It’s apparent that “OK Google” will be the center point of all Android Wear devices.
Another key element in Android Wear devices officially licensed by Google is the wearable’s ability to talk back to the user. Android Wear devices must also have a built-in speaker to do this, creating a spoken-aloud relationship between wearable and user.
Android Wear devices will also display notifications from your phone automatically. No work is necessary on the part of developers – this will work automatically, right out of the box.
It’s quite likely the SDK (software development kit) collection for Android Wear will be revealed during Google I/O 2014. Developers, start your engines.


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Welcome to Campaign US live coverage of CannesMon dieu! It's June already, and that means it's time once again for the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. Campaign US will be there, along with our colleagues from the UK, India and Southeast Asia. Whether you're schmoozing at The Carlton, gawking at the Palais, stumbling at the Gutter Bar or stuck in your cubicle, you can follow all the action — and reaction — right here. Amusez-vous!
Watch: Every Grand Prix winner from Cannes Lions 2015
Campaign has rounded up the Grand Prix winners from last week's Cannes International Festival of Creativity
Let's keep Cannes relevant by expanding the creative circle
Framestore's president of integrated advertising says there's plenty of room for technologists
Sorrell on mega-media reviews: 'We can't remember anything like this'
WPP's CEO contemplates the scope of churn among brands
Geometry Dubai hands over Cannes Grand Prix amid controversy
The agency was accused of taking credit for the work of Singapore agency Arcade
Why ad tech deserves its place at Cannes
VivaKi's president of global clients responds to complaints that technology companies will ruin creativity
What happens when the machines awake?
Microsoft engineer discusses implications of technological singularity
Cheil's Wain Choi on Samsung's human connection
The VP and executive global creative director explains its biggest client's move from functional product advertising to "launching people"
Aston Martin appoints WPP to global marketing account
Next year, WPP will develop a "full suite of marketing activities" for Aston Martin and its luxury saloon car brand Lagonda
Using YouTube to counter ISIS
Google is asking brands to help provide a counter-narrative to the terror group's media savvy
Gerry Graf on Cannes, killing rats and Liam Neeson
Barton F Graf 9000's founder sizes up his agency's growth and its competitive position
Cannes 2015: Around the sessions
Wednesday's speakers included Will.i.am vs. Martin Sorrell, David Guetta and Maurice Lévy, Dr. Phil, and Bonin Bough.
Cannes 2015: View from the UK
After slowly finding its feet following economic upheaval and digital migration, the UK industry is on track to reclaim its place at the center of the world's advertising stage
Cannes 2015: 6 consumer trends in the UK you may not know about
Campaign's global editor-in-chief explains the outlook for advertising in the UK
Why brands should buddy up with Snapchat
Tash Whitmey, CEO of Havas Helia, argues it is time for brands to make friends with Snapchat
Cannes 2015: 6 consumer trends in Turkey you may not know about
Campaign Turkey's editor-in-chief discusses the advertising world in the gateway to Asia
Cannes 2015: View from Turkey
By focusing on creative effectiveness -- and with a little help from 2Pac -- agencies have responded positively to tepid advertising spend over the past 12 months
Cannes 2015: Around the sessions
Wednesday's speakers included Kim Kardashian, Yannick Bolloré, Keith Weed, John Hegarty and Wendy Clark
Cannes 2015 show diary: Making modern marketing magic happen
The winner of Campaign US' "Fearless Thinker" contest urges agencies to support tech talent that supplies the "how" behind the "what"
Steve Jobs' marketing maven on smashing the silicon ceiling
Andy Cunningham shares experiences and frustration from working with the tech icon
Mondelez's Bonin Bough on data, creativity and making new 'unicorns'
CPG giant's media and ecommerce officer shares his advice on how to think like a start-up and avoid the programmatic wind tunnel
Cannes 2015: Facebook's mobile, emerging market push explained
The social network giant believes feature phones are "dream phones" when it comes to reaching emerging market consumers
Cannes 2015: View from the Middle East
In a region destabilized by political turmoil, but where friction and tension can be inspirational, the advertising community is continuing to make people take notice
Cannes 2015: 6 consumer trends in the Middle East you may not know about
A contributing editor to Campaign Middle East surveys the complex advertising landscape of the region
Cannes 2015 show diary: 'Creativity needs you'
The winner of Campaign US' "Fearless Thinker" contest makes new acquaintances and sizes up Lions winners
Cannes 2015: Around the sessions
Speakers at the big advertising show discussed agencies' algorithmic futures, wooing Millennials, Airbnb vs. Coke, traveling ideas, "lightning" on Twitter and more
Cannes 2015: Video roundup
Some of the best interviews from Campaign's coverage of Cannes Lions
WPP, Daily Mail and SnapChat launch Truffle Pig
WPP CEO Martin Sorrell said the digital content agency will start in the US
Tim Berners-Lee: AI will run corporations
Speaking at Cannes, the web's creator predicted a future where artificial intelligence drives business decisions
Lars Ulrich: Metallica turns down 19 out of every 20 approaches from brands
It's pretty straightforward: Is it someone you want to get in bed with or not? Mostly it's not"
Cannes 2015: View from Asia
Campaign Asia-Pacific's executive editor on the role of creativity in Asian advertising
Cannes 2015: 6 consumer trends in Asia you may not know about
While campaigns brought to life through emerging technologies are becoming more prevalent in the region, those that embrace simplicity continue to resonate best
Croisette kings on creativity: Yannick Bolloré
Havas' chairman and CEO talks about his network's partnership with brands
Croisette kings on creativity: John Wren
Omnicom's CEO looks at the ingredient that still thwarts algorithms
Croisette kings on creativity: Jerry Buhlmann
Dentsu Aegis' CEO on "innovating the way brands are built"
Cannes 2015 show diary: Data is the new black
The winner of Campaign US' "Fearless Thinker" contest considers the koan, "Data: as familiar as air and water"
Cannes 2015: Marilyn Manson says he wants to appeal to new fans
When it comes to personal branding, he said, celebrity culture has made it easy to "empty the bucket of mystery"
Croisette kings on creativity: Maurice Lévy
Publicis Groupe's CEO praises the creativity of his pen
Croisette kings on creativity: Michael Roth
Interpublic's chairman and CEO looks beyond the old-school "creative" department
'Brands shouldn't act as a buddy on social media' says Snapchat's Evan Spiegel
Some rules for the road on social media from Silicon Valley
Croisette kings on creativity: Sir Martin Sorrell
WPP's CEO confesses his affection for creative departments
Human resourceful: 180LA slips recruitment ad into Cannes Lion lineup
Agency creates web film to hire a "badass creative director"
Poll: What are we really celebrating at Cannes this week?
What's the big deal about Cannes Lions anyway?
Why Heineken embraces creativity
The brewer has been named Creative Marketer of the Year at Cannes for a second time. Kate Magee examines the creative methodology behind its success and some of the ads this approach has spawned
Cannes 2015: View from India
Not all the campaigns making a splash in India will trouble the international awards juries, but they are at least indicative of a wind of change blowing through the nation
Cannes 2015: 6 consumer trends in India you may not know about
Campaign India's managing editor looks at social media activism, local brands, mobile and more
Cannes 2015 show diary: First impressions
The winner of Campaign US' "Fearless Thinker" contest offers his first views of Cannes
Cannes 2015: Day 1 roundup
From the Campaign family: The Chinese future of social media; Kim Kardashian's brand assets; transparency, privacy and Tinder; and brand lessons from "The Walking Dead."
The Glass Lion vs. gender stereotypes
Is the latest Cannes category just another cash grab, or a sign of social progress?
Cannes Lions: the runners and riders
Leo Burnett's worldwide CCO handicaps the competitors
My Cannes predictions: Strong human insight
J. Walter Thompson's worldwide CCO is rooting for work with the power to move people
My Cannes prediction: Simple ideas that solve big problems
A year for celebrating work at the intersection of storytelling and technology
Learn more about China from digital pioneers Tencent
Partner content: Go to SY Lau's keynote speech at Cannes
My Cannes prediction: The Palais vs. the Gutter Bar
Have fun, but please remember to pick up your delegate pass
At Cannes, let's celebrate the value of creative ideas
If you're spending more time trying to win a Lion than creating work that sells, you're doing it wrong
My Cannes prediction: Awarding bravery
The courage to lead rather than follow is a virtue the industry must reward
Tham Khai Meng's Cannes predictions for Asia-Pacific
Ogilvy's worldwide CCO picks his favorite ads from the region
My Cannes prediction: A union of science and art
Let's stop competing for attention and budget, and start working together to create transcendent campaigns
Cannes Lions' feminist agenda: We need a culture change shaped by marketing
Lions Festivals' brand strategy director says a celebration of creativity should embrace diversity
My Cannes prediction: Predictability
72andSunny partner and ECD says "Like a Girl," "The Other Side" and "Penguin" will continue their awards season sweep right down The Croisette
Watch: Campaign's Cannes Survival Guide
All the advice you need before you hit the Cannes Lions: Don't book meetings before 11am, and avoid the Gutter Bar at all costs ...
Cannes Lions: Why bother?
Saatchi & Saatchi's worldwide CEO says the annual festival is about much more than lunches and celebrities
Social media shaming: Why brands should care
The bloodsport of public shaming has flourished behind smartphone and computer screens, with significant implications for brands
Poll: Which US ads will win big at Cannes this year?
Pick your favorite contender at this month's Cannes Lions
Introducing Campaign US' Cannes contest winner: Fitz Maro
The 360i innovation strategist talks technology and the promise of "remix and collaboration culture" in advertising
Cannes Lions: Same script, different cast
Omnicom's SVP and chief diversity officer and ADCOLOR's founder addresses Campaign US' competitive call for new ideas at Cannes Lions
Cannes contestants: Advice from DDB Worldwide
Chief Creative Office Amir Kassaei offers three new ideas for Cannes Lions -- share yours for a trip to the south of France
Unilever, Cannes Lions track industry-changing startups
The "Foundry 50 at Cannes" is intended to find new companies "innovating to help brands better connect, engage and relate with people"
Adfest 2015: 'Pattaya makes Cannes' Gutter Bar seem like it's for kids'
The 17th installment of the Asia-Pacific awards festival offers breathing room for the region's most creative work
New Cannes Lions award tackles gender bias
The Glass Lion: The Lion for Change will be overseen by Cindy Gallop and backed by Sheryl Sandberg's LeanIn.org
Underperformers on staff? Send them to Cannes
With help from McCann London, Cannes Lions launches a humorous campaign target ad agency stereotypes


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Atlanta, Georgia, is so much more than just another southern city to pick up sweet tea and politely “bless someone’s heart.”
Home to companies like CNN and Coca Cola, Atlanta has made a name for itself in a variety of industries. Some may also know Atlanta for its hip hop music scene, as it’s home to artists like Lil’ Jon, Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris.
As Atlanta continues to expand, so do the businesses that flock to the area or choose it as a starting point for their tech startup. Since 2010, Atlanta’s total amount of tech jobs has increased by 46.7 percent, and Forbes ranks it at number three on its list of the next tech meccas. In this week’s Tech Center tracker, Gururaj Rao, CEO of nuVizz, a logistics tracking and supply chain management software company, spoke with PYMNTS about how Atlanta is shaping up to be the next hot tech center.
Before we jump into the post, here are a few quick facts about Atlanta and its tech scene:
Here is an excerpt of the conversation:
PYMNTS: Can you describe your personal and/or professional experience with the tech community in Atlanta?
GR: In the last 20 years, I have seen Atlanta consolidate its position as a hub for some of the largest and most innovative companies in the world, while setting itself up as a center of [the] startup ecosystem. The combination of old school business expertise combined with … [an] innovative startup community makes Atlanta a unique place.
PYMNTS: What do you think makes Atlanta (or Georgia as a whole) an attractive location for both entrepreneurs and investors? Is there anything people may find surprising about operating a business there?
GR: For entrepreneurs, Georgia provides a wealth of expertise in a number of industry verticals, such as logistics, FinTech and healthcare IT. The affordability of resources and cost of doing business is definitely a huge plus for companies. One unique aspect of startups in Georgia is that a number of them are started by industry veterans who have [learned] the ropes working with some of the most admired companies, and most of them are built on sound business principles … not merely chasing the elusive unicorn success. It makes these companies very attractive to the investment community.
PYMNTS: What are some of the challenges facing startups in Atlanta? Are there any initiatives to help address those barriers?
GR: Atlanta has grown into a vibrant city from a sleeping and mainly suburban metro. But, as the startup ecosystem started to blossom, the supporting infrastructure has failed to keep up with it. Real estate and transportation are two key areas of concern. The region also needs better ways to attract new talent and investment.
PYMNTS: How has Atlanta’s startup changed in recent years, and what do you think has sparked this transformation?
GR: The transformation in Atlanta’s startup ecosystem can be attributed to:
PYMNTS: Which sectors of the technology landscape are thriving in Atlanta? How do you see these industries evolving in the coming years?
GR: Atlanta is becoming a major hub for startups in all verticals. But some of the dominant sectors are logistics, FinTech and healthcare. Atlanta has a unique advantage in these sectors, as the ecosystem is supported by a number of leading companies with abundance of expertise. The entrepreneurs are well supported by not only technology talent but also a much-needed business expertise to build a successful company.


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On the latest episode of Head2Head, our colleagues over at Motor Trend pit the newest Ford Mustang against the all-new, much-hyped 2013 Subaru BRZ.
Read This Article
The 2013 Subaru Legacy and Subaru Outback (a Legacy wagon on stilts) are supposed to debut at next month's New York International Auto Show.
Subaru's award-winning safety technology has gotten even better
Subaru has announced that, instead of building a bigger production facility, it will be staying in the current one it uses in Lafayette, Ind.


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MasterCard's 4th quarter profit climbs 3 per cent, but adjusted results miss expectations
PURCHASE, N.Y. - MasterCard Inc.'s fourth-quarter earnings climbed 3 per cent as rising payment volume countered a jump in expenses, but the results fell short of financial analysts' expectations.
That sent shares in the Purchase, N.Y., payment networks company down 5 per cent in morning trading Friday.
MasterCard said net income grew to $623 million, or 52 cents per share, in the three months that ended Dec. 31. That compares with $605 million, or 49 cents per share, a year earlier.
Earnings in the most recent quarter totalled 57 cents per share, not counting a litigation-related charge.
Revenue climbed 12 per cent to $2.13 billion, as consumers hit stores for holiday shopping.
Analysts anticipated adjusted earnings of 60 cents per share on $2.14 billion in revenue.
MasterCard said its revenue climbed partly because of a 13 per cent increase in processed transactions to 10.4 billion and a 14 per cent increase in gross dollar volume.
But that was partly offset by an increase in rebates and incentives that the company offered in conjunction with renewed deals signed during the quarter.
Operating expenses, which included a $95 million provision for a litigation settlement, rose 21 per cent to $1.21 billion.
Analysts were not anticipating the increase in operating expenses and rebates and incentives, which led to the disparity in the consensus earnings forecast and MasterCard's results.
Still, the growth in rebates and incentives is likely a positive for MasterCard's longer-term growth prospects, Barclays analyst Darrin Peller wrote in a research note.
MasterCard does business all over the world, and its results are a window into how people are spending at all different income levels.
U.S. consumer spending grew during the October-December quarter at the fastest pace in three years.
The Commerce Department Friday that consumer spending rose a solid 0.4 per cent in December after rising 0.6 per cent in November, the best gain in five months.
MasterCard rival Visa Inc., along with card issuers American Express Co. and Discover Financial Services, reported higher card spending during the holiday season.
Shares in MasterCard slid $3.97, or 5 per cent, to $75.79 in morning trading. The stock is down more than 9 per cent so far this year.
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|QHR Technologies Inc||1.23||+0.01|
|Anavex Life Sciences||0.185||0.00|
|Copper Mountain Mining||2.51||-0.01|
|Sunrise Resources Ltd||0.065||+0.045|
|Mission Ready Services||0.335||-0.005|
Part 2 of 2 to read Part 1, click here. 5. Dial down your vacations. New York is out. Maybe Buffalo. For West coast, maybe Seattle instead of Hawaii. Use sites like Airbnb (aribnb.ca) to find ch...
Niche food producer “Sweets from the Earth” thrives using innovation, uniqueness and an unwavering focus on quality. A neighbour’s stew turned Ilana Kadonoff off meat at the age of s...
Recently I had the privilege of working alongside André Voskuil, a local guru in the world of Alternative Financing. André has quite the reputation in the world of direct investments as ...


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The LeBron James Vogue magazine cover may or may not have been racist. That’s debatable.
What’s not open for debate is that the controversial cover did NOT help newstand sales. The twenty-three cent pizza promotion may have been a BIG hit, but the final sales figures are in and the April issue of Vogue featuring James on the cover was a bust. It sold just over 300,000 copies.
That’s the second worst selling April edition of Vogue this decade. It’s also the second lowest selling edition of the fashion magazine this year.


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Progress Partners launches $10M venture fund
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High-tech investment bank Progress Partners is spinning out a $10 million venture investing fund, called Progress Ventures, to be overseen by its two senior managing directors, Nick MacShane and Sam Thompson. The boutique bank’s fund, backed by bankers in the firm and external private investors, will focus mostly on seed investments in ad tech companies, MacShane said.
MacShane talked about the new fund with Mass High Tech after MHT broke the news of the fund’s first deal, last week – a $1.8 million round to back five-year-old Gather Inc. in a massive pivot toward branded content and demand forecasting. He said Gather’s new direction came from The Procter & Gamble Company’s (NYSE: PG) Pampers brand, which is the new Gather Inc. service’s first customer. Gather CEO Tom Gerace told MHT Wednesday the company plans successive years of 300-percent revenue growth in 2010 and 2011 with its new approach.
“We do want to make early-stage investments, but we also see situations – special circumstances like with Gather, which has raised a lot of money before, but is doing an internal round,” MacShane said. “We’re working with them to help them raise a next round of capital, and we have visibility into how receptive the market is to them. We anticipated an internal round at favorable pricing and then the ability to raise their next round as an up round.”
Progress Partners handles fundraising and M&A advisory for media and advertising technology startups. Its clients have included New York ad tech firm Tremor Media, which earlier this month announced its merger with Boston competitor ScanScout.
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Eveready weighs recharge options
Read more below
- Published 14.03.05
|Eveready officials Subir Chaki (left) and Saurav Z. Medhi in Calcutta on Monday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury|
Calcutta, March 14: Eveready Industries India Limited (EIIL) may enter into a joint venture with GP Batteries International of Hong Kong to manufacture rechargeable batteries.
At present, EIIL is importing rechargeable batteries from the Hong Kong-based company and marketing them in India.
EIIL director Aniruddha Roy said, ?We are open to the idea of floating a joint venture with our importer once we taste success in the rechargeable battery business.?
However, he refused to name their importer as the confidentiality clause does not allow EIIL to do so.
GP Batteries International is engaged in developing, manufacturing and marketing batteries and battery-related products.
Since its establishment under the Gold Peak Group in Hong Kong, GP Batteries has rapidly expanded to become one of the world?s major suppliers of primary and rechargeable batteries. Today, the GP Batteries group is the largest consumer battery manufacturer in China.
GP Batteries? major production facilities are located in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and Denmark. These are supported by marketing and trading offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Poland, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Sweden, the UK, Canada and the US.
EIIL has tied up with GP Batteries to launch the advanced form of rechargeable battery to brace itself for growing demand in the country as well as to take on cheap imports from China.
EIIL today announced the launch of nickel metal hydride (NIMH)), an advanced form of rechargeable battery, which is claimed to be three times more powerful than the normal rechargeable nickel cadmium (NICD) batteries.
Announcing the launch, the company?s rechargeable business senior executive Saurav Z. Medhi said it was aimed at capturing the rapidly growing rechargeable battery market following the growing usage of electronics gadgets.
EIIL will import the battery as well as the charger from GP Batteries. Eveready Recharge 2100 series batteries will be initially available in a pack of two AA or pencil batteries at Rs 250. Eveready recharge 2100 series combo-pack of a charger and four AA batteries will be available for Rs 950.
EIIL controls 40-45 per cent of the 7-million unit rechargeable battery market and the company is confident of further increasing its share with the launch of the product.
Subir Chaki, vice-president (manufacturing), said Eveready was the only organised player in this segment and competition was mainly from cheap Chinese imports.
This type of rechargeable battery provided the longest operating time and was best suited for new-age high-power drain electronic devices like digital cameras, portable CD/DVD/MP3 players and electronic toys.
The BM Khaitan-controlled Eveready, which has dominated the Indian market since 1905, already controls 46.5 per cent of the carbon zinc battery segment and 85 per cent of the torch and flashlight segment.


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Young cattle producers at the MLA's Youth Forum in Capella displayed a bright outlook for the beef industry and this will be on show again at the Beef Australia 2012 Milk Tooth Muster Forum.
The Beef Australia 2012 committee of Suncorp Bank Milk Tooth Muster volunteers is preparing a great seminar program specifically for 18-35 year olds.
The Suncorp Bank Milk Tooth Muster committee is a dedicated network of young beef industry ambassadors who promote Beef Australia 2012 directly to this segment of the industry.
The 2012 Suncorp Bank Milk Tooth Muster committee is comprised of a board-nominated chairperson, Jess Martin, and young beef industry leaders from the public and private sectors: Natalie Quinn, Angus Street, Elisha Seekamp, Rebecca Gowen, Ian McConnel and Olivia Raeburn and Alison McIntosh.
The Suncorp Bank Milk Tooth Muster seminar and networking breakfast will be held on Friday, 11 May 2012. Tickets will go on sale in February.
“Never before has the Australian beef industry been confronted by so many opportunities and challenges at the same time – it’s vital that tomorrow’s producers understand how to manage the risks and capitalise on the opportunities to propel our industry forward. As the 2012 Beef Australia expo youth ambassadors, we aim to engage, inspire and educate our industry peers regarding key issues that we, as next generation producers, are facing as we begin to take the reins as future industry decision makers.” – Jess Martin, 2012 Suncorp Bank Milk Tooth Muster Committee Chair.


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Selling this gaming router due to change of circumstances.. Was brought in July 2019 from Very.. Opened up over the weekend to set it up forgotten I had it to be honest was due to have my front room Extended why the delay is setting it up.. but loft is now getting done first so item has not even been turned on yet took pics and put back in box. Had a little. Accident with one the anttanas must of been lose wire has come out and little clip will need gluing. Price adjusted for the antanna
An underlying flaw in Intel chipsets, which was originally disclosed in May of 2019, was recently discovered by Positive Technologies to be far worse than previously reported.
Researchers from the vulnerability management vendor discovered a bug in the read-only memory of the Intel Converged Security and Management Engine (CSME) could allow threat actors to compromise platform encryption keys and steal sensitive information. The Intel CSME vulnerability, known as CVE-2019-0090, is present in both the hardware and the firmware of the boot ROM and affects all chips other than Intel’s 10th-generation “Ice Point” processors.
“We started researching the Intel CSME IOMMU [input-output memory management unit] in 2018,” Mark Ermolov, lead specialist of OS and hardware security at Positive Technologies, said via email. “We’ve been interested in that topic especially because we’ve known that Intel CSME shares its static operative memory with the host (main CPU) on some platforms. Studying the IOMMU mechanisms, we were very surprised that two main mechanisms of CSME and IOMMU are turned off by default. Next, we started researching Intel CSME boot ROM’s firmware to ascertain when CSME turns on the IOMMU mechanists and we found that there is a very big bug: the IOMMU is activated too late after x86 paging structures were created and initialized, a problem we found in October.”
“Intel CSME is responsible for initial authentication of Intel-based systems by loading and verifying all other firmware for modern problems,” Ermolov said. “It is the cryptographic basis for hardware security technologies developed by Intel and used everywhere, such as DRM, fTPM [firmware Trusted Platform Module] and Intel Identity protection. The main concern is that, because this vulnerability allows a compromise at the hardware level, it destroys the chain of trust for the platform as a whole.”
Although Intel has issued patches and mitigations that complicate the attack, Positive Technologies said fully patching the flaw is impossible because firmware updates can’t fully address all of the vectors.
“In the CVE-2019-0090 patch, Intel blocked ISH [Integrated Sensors Hub], so now it can’t issue DMA transactions to CSME. But we’re convinced there are other exploitation vectors and they will be found soon. To exploit a system that has not patched for CVE-2019-0090, an attacker doesn’t need to be very sophisticated,” Ermolov said.
In addition, Positive Technologies said extracting the chipset key is impossible to detect.
“The chipset key being leaked can’t be detected by CSME or by the main OS,” Ermolov said. “You’re already in danger, but you don’t know it. The attack (by DMA) also doesn’t leave any footprint. When an attacker uses the key to compromise the machine’s identity, this might be detected by you and you only, but only after it’s happened when it is too late.”
Once they’ve breached the system, threat actors can exploit this vulnerability in several ways, according to Positive Technologies.
“With the chipset key, attackers can pass off an attacker computer as the victims’ computer. They can gain remote certification into companies to access digital content usually under license (such as videos or films from companies like Netflix),” the company said via email. “They can steal temporary passwords to embezzle money. They can pose as a legitimate point-of-sale payment terminal to charge funds to their own accounts. Abusing this vulnerability, criminals can even spy on companies for industrial espionage or steal sensitive data from customers.”
Positive Technologies recommended disabling Intel CSME-based encryption or completely replacing CPUs with the latest generation of Intel chips.
This is the second vulnerability disclosed regarding Intel chips since January, when computer science researchers discovered a speculative execution attack that leaks data from an assortment of Intel processors released before the fourth quarter of 2018.
Selling my Razer Blade Stealth Early 2019 MX150 version with 16Gb RAM and 256Gb SSD. Totally and truly immaculate condition and only used like a dozen times properly. Never left the house.
Comes complete with box and all accessories even the USB C is unused. Also including the original shipping packaging which i will use to ship out Brought directly from Razer UK in late June 2019 and will have warranty until then. Will put the laptop back to factory.
Will send using Royal Mail Special insured to the value. Can chuck in a basic case that i purchased with it , albeit it is slightly too big for this slim laptop.
Will post pictures of the unit when i get home.
Any questions , let me know.
Looking for £900 inclusive of Royal Mail delivery method mentioned above. Or if your local , i will personally deliver it to you.
Analysts reported this month that the global PC market did something in 2019 it had not accomplished in seven years: It grew.
The figures differ as to how much — IDC reported a 2.7% year-over-year growth in global shipments, while Gartner cited a 0.6% increase — but experts agree that the Windows 7 sunset helped to prompt a hardware refresh for the enterprise. Per Gartner, Lenovo, HP and Dell shipped the most PCs in 2019, seeing growth of 8%, 3% and 5%, respectively.
Whether the boost in growth will be a one-year blip is debatable, but there is consensus that, for the enterprise at least, the PC is here to stay.
Windows 7 sunset gives PCs a boost
Linn Huang, research vice president at IDC, attributed the increase to a confluence of factors. Companies found themselves in a unique position of having to migrate to a new OS amid the growing tensions of a trade war with China, where PC components are commonly manufactured.
Huang also mentioned shortages and tariff issues may have affected the market as well. Intel faced CPU supply issues that eased during the course of 2019 and, in December, President Trump tweeted that “penalty tariffs” would “not be charged,” thanks to a new agreement with China.
Mikako Kitagawa, senior principal analyst at Gartner, said the shipment boost was not because of any renewed interest in using the PC, but almost solely because of the Windows 7 sunset, which occurred Jan. 14.
Forrester Research analyst Andrew Hewitt acknowledged the effect of the Windows 7 sunset, but said it was only part of the story.
“I also believe that the PC is becoming more important as organizations try to improve employee experience,” he said. “We know from research that if people can’t make progress every day at work, they’re vulnerable to burnout and can contribute to higher attrition. The PC sits at the heart of productivity, so organizations see it as an important driver of [employee experience].”
Yev Pusin, director of strategy at data storage firm Backblaze, said the business’ clients — especially on the enterprise side — indeed had a need for something that could contribute more to productivity than a smartphone or tablet.
“I think a lot more folks … realized that, for the multi-tasking and flexibility they want, they need an actual computer — a Mac or PC,” he said.
Will PC market growth continue?
Kitagawa expects to see shipments dip in 2020 and 2021 due to a weak consumer market, as the smartphone has largely subsumed the PC’s role in daily life. Smartphones have made inroads in the enterprise as well, especially among younger workers.
“People used to carry a laptop or tablet to do work. Now, smartphone screens are bigger, so they are able to handle some tasks as well,” she said. “On the mentality side, many young people feel their smartphone is their primary work device.”
This is not to say that the PC will be disappearing from the workspace anytime soon.
“It’s not the case that the PC is going away,” Kitagawa said. “The PC is a very important business tool.”
Huang likewise expected a decline of PC sales in the next couple of years but said a shift in the market might accompany that trend.
“Consumers and commercial users alike are demanding better and better with each generation,” he said. “Consequently, we expect to ship fewer PCs [in] 2020 and beyond, but the market will continue to churn toward more premium ends.”
Pusin said he did see a continued appetite for PCs in the future but agreed that customers interested in buying computers might focus on the higher end of performance.
According to Hewitt, the PC will retain its central place in the business world, although the form factor may differ.
“Our research actually shows that 30% of the most important factors for improving employee experience are technology-related, and the PC is a big part of that,” he said.
Data storage vendors received $2.1 billion in private funding in 2019, according to SearchStorage.com analysis of data from websites that track venture funding. Not surprisingly, startups in cloud backup, data management and ultrafast scale-out flash continue to attract the greater interest from private investors.
Six private data storage vendors closed funding rounds over more than $100 million in 2019, all in the backup/cloud sector. It’s a stretch to call most of these startups — all but one of the companies have been selling products for years.
A few vendors with disruptive storage hardware also got decent chunks of money to build out arrays and storage systems, although these rounds were much smaller than the data protection vendors received.
According to a recent report by PwC/ CB Insights MoneyTree, 213 U.S.-based companies closed funding rounds of at least $100 million last year. The report pegged overall funding for U.S. companies at nearly $108 billion, down 9% year on year but well above the $79 billion total from 2017.
Despite talk of a slowing global economy, data growth is expected to accelerate for years to come. And as companies mine new intelligence from older data, data centers need more storage and better management than ever. The funding is flowing more to vendors that manage that data than to systems that store it.
“Investors don’t lead innovation; they follow innovation. They see a hot area that looks like it’s taking off, and that’s when they pour money into it,” said Marc Staimer, president of Dragon Slayer Consulting in Beaverton, Ore.
Here is a glance at the largest funding rounds by storage companies in 2019, starting with software vendors:
Kaseya Limited, $500 million: Investment firm TPG will help Kaseya further diversify the IT services it can offer to manage cloud providers. Kaseya has expanded into backup in recent years, adding web-monitoring software ID Agent last year. That deal followed earlier pickups of Cloud Spanning Apps and Unitrends.
Veeam Software, $500 million: Veeam pioneered backup of virtual machines and serves many Fortune 500 companies. Insight Partners invested half of a billion dollars in Veeam in January 2019, and followed up by buying Veeam outright in January 2020 for a $5 billion valuation. That may lead to an IPO. Veeam headquarters are shifting to the U.S. from Switzerland, and Insight plans to focus on landing more U.S. customers.
Rubrik, $261 million: The converged storage vendor has amassed $553 million since launching in 2014. The latest round of Bain Capital investment reportedly pushed Rubrik’s valuation north of $3 billion. Flush with investment, Rubrik said it’s not for sale — but is shopping to acquire hot technologies, including AI, data analytics and machine learning.
Clumio, $175 million: Sutter Hill Ventures provided $40 million in April, on top of an $11 million 2017 round. It then came back for another $135 million bite in November, joined by Altimeter Capital. Clumio is using the money to add cybersecurity to its backup as a service in Amazon Web Services.
Acronis, $147 million: Acronis was founded in 2003, so it’s halfway into its second decade. But the veteran data storage vendor has a new focus of backup blended with cybersecurity and privacy, similar to Clumio. The Goldman Sachs-led funding helped Acronis acquire 5nine to manage data across hybrid Microsoft clouds.
Druva, $130 million: Viking Global Investors led a six-participant round that brought Druva money to expand its AWS-native backup and disaster recovery beyond North America to international markets. Druva since has added low-cost tiering to Amazon Glacier, and CEO Jaspreet Singh has hinted Druva may pursue an IPO.
Data storage startups in hardware
Innovations in storage hardware underscore the ascendance of flash in enterprise data centers. Although fewer in number, the following storage startups are advancing fabrics-connected devices for high-performance workloads.
Over time, these data storage startups may mature to be able to deliver hardware that blends low latency, high IOPS and manageable cost, emerging as competitors to leading array vendors. For now, these products will have limited market to companies that needs petabytes (PB) (or more) of storage, but the technologies bear watching due to their speed, density and performance potential.
Lightbits Labs, $50 million: The Israel-based startup created the SuperSSD array for NVMe flash. The Lightbits software stack converts generic in-the-box TCP/IP into a switched Ethernet fabric, presenting all storage as a single giant SSD. SuperSSD starts at 64 PB before data reduction. Dell EMC led Lightbits’ funding, with contributions from Cisco and Micron Technology.
Vast Data, $40 million: Vast’s Universal Storage platform is not for everyone. Minimum configuration starts at 1 PB. Storage class memory and low-cost NAND are combined for unified block, file and object storage. Norwest Venture Partners led the round, with participation from Dell Technologies Capital and Goldman Sachs.
Honorable mentions in hardware include Pavilion Data Systems and Liqid. Pavilion is one of the last remaining NVMe all-flash startups, picking up $25 million in a round led by Taiwania Capital and RPS Ventures to flesh out its Hyperparallel Flash Array.
Liqid is trying to break into composable infrastructure, a term coined by Hewlett Packard Enterprise to signify the ability for data centers to temporarily lease capacity and hardware by the rack. Panorama Point Partners provided $28 million to help the startup flesh out its Liqid CI software platform.
2019 MacBook Pro 13″ – Silver, 128GB SSD, 8GB RAM For sale is a 2019 MacBook Pro 13″ laptop. It is the base specification and was bought only two weeks ago from Currys PC World near Birmingham (see attached receipt). Please note: Despite only having made 1 sale on AVForums, this sale was very…
In this infographic, we present a timeline of significant service disruptions in 2019 for Box vs. Dropbox.
Cloud storage providers Box and Dropbox self-report service disruptions throughout each year. In 2019, Dropbox posted publicly about eight incidents; Box listed more than 50. But the numbers don’t necessarily provide an apples-to-apples comparison, because each company gets to choose which incidents to disclose.
This infographic includes significant incidents that prevented users from accessing Box or Dropbox in 2019, or at least from uploading and downloading documents. It excludes outages that appeared to last 10 minutes or fewer, as well as incidents labeled as having only “minor” or “medium” impact.
Most of the enterprise storage-related mergers and acquisitions that happened or closed in 2019 had a cloud twist.
Take IBM’s $34 billion blockbuster acquisition of Red Hat. That was about “resetting the hybrid cloud landscape” with access to the “world’s largest open source community,” IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said in October 2018 of the proposed deal. The acquisition closed in July 2019.
Although storage was hardly the impetus for the acquisition, IBM now has Red Hat’s open source-based storage portfolio. That includes the Gluster file system, Ceph multiprotocol software-defined storage and OpenShift Container Storage and Hyperconverged Infrastructure products that are well suited to cloud use.
OpenText’s $1.45 billion purchase of cloud-based data protection, disaster recovery (DR) and endpoint security provider Carbonite in November heads the list of 2019 backup acquisitions. The Waterloo, Canada-based information management vendor completed the acquisition on Dec. 24.
Earlier in the year, Carbonite factored into another one of the biggest 2019 storage-related mergers and acquisitions. The Boston-based provider bought cybersecurity firm Webroot for $618.5 million to address ransomware threats and bolster endpoint protection.
Cloud providers’ mergers and acquisitions
Public cloud providers AWS and Google each acquired multiple startups specializing in data storage or migration. Amazon purchased Israel-based startup CloudEndure, an AWS Advanced Technology Partner, to expand its capabilities in application workload and data migration, backup and DR. CloudEndure’s key technologies include continuous data replication to speed DR in the cloud.
AWS scooped up another Israeli startup, NVMe flash specialist E8 Storage, over the summer. E8’s arrays feature NVMe solid-state drives (SSDs) to target analytics and other data-intensive workloads requiring low latency. The startup’s technology includes an NVMe-over-TCP implementation integrated into the operating system. E8 also sold its software for use with various industry-standard servers.
Google also bought a pair of Israeli startups in 2019. In July, Google fortified its enterprise-class file storage with the acquisition of Elastifile. Google previously collaborated with the startup on a managed file storage service that Elastifile CEO Erwan Menard said would provide higher performance, greater scale-out capacity and more enterprise-grade features than Google’s Cloud Filestore. Google said engineers would integrate the Elastifile and Cloud Filestore technology.
Earlier in 2019, Google picked up Alooma for its enterprise data migration capabilities. The transaction happened less than a year after Google added Velostrata, another Israeli startup that specializes in cloud migration. Alooma’s tool focuses on shifting data from databases and enterprise applications to a single data warehouse, whereas Velostrata can move entire VM-based databases and applications to the cloud.
HPE buys MapR, Cray
Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s August purchase of struggling Hadoop distributor MapR included a cloud angle. HPE said MapR’s enterprise-grade file system and cloud storage services would complement its BlueData container platform it acquired in November 2019. HPE said the combination will enable users to combine artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and analytics data pipelines across on-premises, hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
HPE’s biggest 2019 transaction with a storage component was its $1.4 billion acquisition of supercomputing heavyweight Cray. HPE identified high-performance computing (HPC) as a key component of its strategic direction to target organizations that run AI, machine learning and big data analytics workloads.
Flash-related mergers and acquisitions
Flash played a key role in several 2019 storage-related mergers and acquisitions. Pure Storage bought Swedish file software startup Compuverde for $48 million in April to turn its flagship FlashArray into a unified storage system. Pure said the unified FlashArray would target workloads such as enterprise file sharing, databases over the NFS and SMB file protocols, and VMware over NFS.
Compuverde was Pure’s second acquisition since August 2018, when the flash pioneer bought data deduplication software startup StorReduce. Pure integrated the StorReduce technology into its GPU-based FlashBlade, which targets AI, machine learning, analytics and HPC workloads.
DataDirect Networks (DDN) continued its storage expansion with the September acquisition of Western Digital’s IntelliFlash business unit. The IntelliFlash purchase adds NVMe- and SAS-based flash hardware and accompanying software. Western Digital, a leading disk and solid-state drive (SSD) vendor, said it no longer plans to sell storage systems.
Although DDN’s roots are in storage for HPC environments, the vendor has been broadening its portfolio through acquisition. DDN bought Nexenta in May for its software-defined, hardware-agnostic file, block and object services. In September 2018, DDN completed its $60 million purchase of hybrid flash array vendor Tintri, less than three months after buying Intel’s Lustre File System business.
In mid-2019, StorCentric tacked on sagging NVMe flash system startup Vexata and small and midsize business (SMB) backup software provider Retrospect a week apart. Formed in August 2018, StorCentric is also the parent company of Drobo and Nexsan. Drobo, Nexsan, Retrospect and Vexata operate as separate divisions under StorCentric. Drobo sells direct-attached NAS and iSCSI SAN systems for SMBs, while Nexsan focuses on block and unified storage and secure archiving.
In August, Toshiba Memory (now known as Kioxia) announced plans to acquire the flash-based SSD business of Taiwan-based Lite-On Technology for $165 million. Acting president and CEO Nobuo Hayasaka said the Lite-On technology would help the company “to meet the projected growth in demand for SSDs in PCs and data centers being driven by the increased use of cloud services.”
Also in August, Virtual Instruments completed its purchase of Metricly, which was formerly called Netuitive. In October, Virtual Instruments changed its name to Virtana and introduced a new SaaS-based CloudWisdom monitoring and cost analysis tool that uses the Metricly technology.
Backup mergers and acquisitions
Data protection vendors kept busy on the mergers and acquisitions front in 2019.
OpenText’s $1.45 billion deal for Carbonite in November was the largest data protection transaction and followed months of rumors about a possible sale. Carbonite’s subscription-based cloud backup protects servers, endpoints and SaaS applications for businesses and consumers.
In September, Commvault spent $225 million on software-defined storage startup Hedvig to converge primary and secondary storage and address the problem of data fragmentation. Hedvig’s scale-out Distributed Storage Platform runs on commodity servers and supports provisioning and management of block, file and object storage across private and public clouds. Commvault plans a phased rollout of the Hedvig software on its HyperScale data protection appliance, with full integration in mid-2021.
Veritas Technologies strengthened its storage analytics and monitoring capabilities through its March acquisition of Aptare. Aptare’s IT Analytics suite includes storage, backup, capacity, fabric, replication and virtualization management components, in addition to file analytics. Aptare IT Analytics will complement the popular Veritas NetBackup and Backup Exec data protection products and InfoScale storage management software.
Other data protection-related mergers and acquisitions in 2019 included:
Cohesity’s May purchase of Imanis Data to enable customers to back up and recover Hadoop and NoSQL workloads and distributed databases, such as MongoDB, Cassandra, Cloudera and Couchbase DB.
Druva’s July acquisition of CloudLanes, a hybrid cloud data protection and migration startup, to let customers securely ingest data from on-premises systems, move it to the cloud and restore it locally.
Acronis’ December buy of Microsoft Hyper-V and Azure cloud management and security provider 5nine to complement its cyber protection capabilities. Acronis plans to integrate 5nine’s technology into its Cyber Platform and offer new services.
Cisco finished 2019 with a blitz of announcements that recast the company’s service provider business. Instead of providing just integrated hardware and software, Cisco became a supplier of components for open gear.
Cisco enters the new decade with rearchitected silicon tailored for white box routers favored by cloud providers and other organizations with hyperscale data centers. To add punch to its new Silicon One chipset, Cisco plans to offer high-speed integrated optics from Acacia Communications. Cisco expects to complete its $2.6 billion acquisition of Acacia in 2020.
Cisco is aiming its silicon-optics combo at Broadcom. The chipmaker has been the only significant silicon supplier for white box routers and switches built on specifications from the Open Compute Project. The specialty hardware has become the standard within the mega-scale data centers of cloud providers like AWS, Google and Microsoft; and internet companies like Facebook.
Chris AntlitzPrincipal analyst, Technology Business Research Inc.
“I think the Silicon One announcement was a watershed moment,” said Chris Antlitz, principal analyst at Technology Business Research Inc. (TBR).
Cisco designed Silicon One so white box manufacturers could program the hardware platform for any router type. Gear makers like Accton Technology Corporation, Edgecore Networks and Foxconn Technology Group will be able to use the chip in core, aggregation and access routers. Eventually, they could also use it in switches.
Cisco 2020: Silicon One in the 5G market
Cisco is attacking the cloud provider market by addressing its hunger for higher bandwidth and lower latency. At the same time, the vendor will offer its new technology to communication service providers. Their desire for speed and higher performance will grow over the next couple of years as they rearchitect their data centers to deliver 5G wireless services to businesses.
For the 5G market, Cisco could combine Silicon One with low-latency network interface cards from Exablaze, which Cisco plans to acquire by the end of April 2020. The combination could produce exceptionally fast switches and routers to compete with other telco suppliers, including Ericsson, Juniper Networks, Nokia and Huawei. Startups are also targeting the market with innovative routing architectures.
“Such a move could give Cisco an edge,” said Tom Nolle, president of networking consultancy CIMI Corp., in a recent blog. “If you combine a low-latency network card with the low-latency Silicon One chip, you might have a whole new class of network device.”
Cisco 2020: Trouble with the enterprise
Cisco will launch its repositioned service provider business, while contending with the broader problem of declining revenues. Cisco could have difficulty reversing that trend, while also addressing customer unhappiness with the high price of its next-generation networking architecture for enterprise data centers.
“I do think 2020 is likely to be an especially challenging year for Cisco,” said John Burke, an analyst at Nemertes Research. “The cost of getting new goodies is far too high.”
Burke said he had spoken to several people in the last few months who had dropped Cisco gear from their networks to avoid the expense. At the same time, companies have reported using open source network automation tools in place of Cisco software to lower costs.
Cisco software deemed especially expensive include its Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) and DNA Center, Burke said. ACI and DNA Center are at the heart of Cisco’s modernized approach to the data center and campus network, respectively.
Both offer significant improvements over Cisco’s older network architectures. But they require businesses to purchase new Cisco hardware and retrain IT staff.
John Mulhall, an independent contractor with 20 years of networking experience, said any new generation of Cisco technology requires extra cost analyses to justify the price.
“As time goes on, a lot of IT shops are going to be a little bit reluctant to just go the standard Cisco route,” he said. “There’s too much competition out there.”
Cisco SD-WAN gets dinged
Besides getting criticized for high prices, Cisco also took a hit in 2019 for the checkered performance of its Viptela software-defined WAN, a centerpiece for connecting campus employees to SaaS and cloud-based applications. In November, Gartner reported that Viptela running on Cisco’s IOS-XE platform had “stability and scaling issues.”
Also, customers who had bought Cisco’s ISR routers during the last few years reported the hardware didn’t have enough throughput to support Viptela, Gartner said.
The problems convinced the analyst firm to drop Cisco from the “leaders” ranking of Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant for WAN Edge Infrastructure.
Gartner and some industry analysts also knocked Cisco for selling two SD-WAN products — Viptela and Meraki — with separate sales teams and distinct management and hardware platforms.
The approach has made it difficult for customers and resellers to choose the product that best suits their needs, analysts said. Other vendors use a single SD-WAN to address all uses.
“Cisco’s SD-WAN is truly a mixed bag,” said Roy Chua, principal analyst at AvidThink. “In the end, the strategy will need to be clearer.”
Antlitz of TBR was more sanguine about Cisco’s SD-WAN prospects. “We see no reason to believe that Cisco will lose its status as a top-tier SD-WAN provider.”
2019 MacBook Pro 13″ – Silver, 128GB SSD, 8GB RAM For sale is a 2019 MacBook Pro 13″ laptop. It is the base specification and was bought only two weeks ago from Currys PC World near Birmingham (see attached receipt). Please note: Despite only having made 1 sale on AVForums, this sale was very…


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Kolcraft Releases Information to Help Parents Be More Eco-Friendly in Celebration of Earth Day
April 20, 2013 (PRLEAP.COM) Business NewsABERDEEN, NC - Kolcraft, a leader in manufacturing innovative baby products, has revealed its list of the top five ways parents can be more eco-conscious in their daily lives. The company, which is known for its selection of outstanding products, including crib mattresses, bassinets, carriers and strollers, debuted its environmentally-friendly tips for parents in a new blog, posted on the company's site at www.kolcraft.com/blog/5-easy-ways-parents-can-be-more-eco-friendly/.
The blog was released in conjunction with the approach of Earth Day, which takes place on April 22.
Each of the tips was designed specifically with parents in mind, and goes against the notion that it takes a great deal of time and money to take steps to be more environmentally-friendly in one's everyday life. Kolcraft designs baby product solutions with the goal of making parents lives easier and more efficient, and the company maintained these goals with the creation of its newest blog.
"It's important that parents take the time to understand how they can reduce their carbon footprint, without taking time out of their busy schedules," said Michelle Halm, Marketing & Communications Manager. "Often, you'll see lists of tips to become greener, but they seem to require lots of time or money, and those are both things that a lot of parents can't spare, so we wanted our tips to be geared towards parents who want to make a difference with very little effort or resources."
The tips included on the Kolcraft list are not only great to have a greener lifestyle, but they're also ways to benefit children, such as running errands on foot, with baby in a stroller, or growing a vegetable garden.
"We wanted our environmental tips to not only benefit mom and dad, but also to benefit their little ones in the process, which is what makes them quite a bit different than other environmental tips provided," said Colleen Fahey, Digital Media Specialist.
Kolcraft designs and manufactures a range of baby products with the most innovative and functional designs. All products are created with the highest level of quality in mind. Additionally, the company's site offers a blog, and other useful resources for parents, including articles and buying guides.
Kolcraft is a family owned and operated business that has been providing customers with excellent baby products of all types for over 65 years. The company understands the importance of a combination of dependability and superb customer service. To contact Kolcraft visit their website at kolcraft.com or by phone at 910.944.9345.


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$HOG said it has reached a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the sale of one aftermarket tuning product used to calibrate motorcycles intended for off-road and closed-course competition. As part of the settlement agreement, the company will no longer sell its competition-only tuner in the U.S.
$NFLX a monster move, going up. Expect making some money on Monday.
$AMD down more than 6% even after posting above consensus third quarter results.
$MCD stock rose more than 2% after it posted better than expected 3Q16 results, driven by global same-store sales growth. Meanwhile, earnings and revenue were lower than last year, hurt by refranchising efforts.


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‘Barbarella’ TV Series Remake Lands on Amazon
It's been about a year since we've heard from the proposed 'Barbarella' TV series under ‘Skyfall‘ writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, but at long last the project may have finally gotten off the ground. New reports have emerged that an adaptation of the iconic 1968 Jane Fonda character will land at Amazon Studios on a fast track toward pilot production.
Courtesy of Deadline, the new 'Barbarella' originally tasked director and executive producer Nicolas Refn to develop a new TV series around the character, which was originally created by Jean-Claude Forest and made famous in the 1968 film of the same name, though Refn will likely executive produce the series instead of direct. The search is underway for a showrunner to Purvis and Wade's script in anticipation of a pilot pickup.
Gaumont International's ('Hannibal,' 'Hemlock Grove') Martha De Laurentiis, Julien Forest and Jean-Marc Lofficier have also been announced as co-executive producers. “I’m extremely excited that Neal and Robert have signed on to develop and write ‘Barbarella’ with me,” said Refn of the original announcement. “I’m certain that the combination of our creative forces will produce a show that is as enthralling as it is sexy.”
Amazon has had a notably hard time getting its original series the same attention as, say, competing streaming service Netflix receives, but what say you? Will 'Barbarella' be the first heavenly body Amazon sends into orbit? Watch the original trailer below, and give us your take in the comments!


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Published in Mobiles
Google Voice heads to smart phone
Andriod and Blackberry users rejoice
Google Voice is about to be jacked under the bonnet of Android and Blackberry smartphones.
Vincent Paquet, senior product manager for Google Voice and a co-founder of GrandCentral, the product currently known as Google Voice said the software will be available today. It will let users assign a single number to ring their home, work, and cell phones, and also get voice mail messages as text transcriptions.
Google Voice users will be able to make calls from their smartphones with their Google Voice numbers displayed on the other end of the call. Transcribed voice mail will appear inside the dedicated application rather than having to use their phone's browser to see that text. Google has not got it running on an iPhone yet. Apple is apparently working with Google to make it so.
Google Voice uses the existing network to place calls so instead of call time it costs you data time. Android users will be able to find the app in the Android Market or on Google's mobile site, but BlackBerry users will have to download the app from Google rather than from the BlackBerry App World.


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Network18 has announced the appointment of Rohit Chadda as its Group Chief Strategy Officer for Network18 Digital. Chadda joins from Zee Group where he was the CEO-Digital Publishing for over four years.
In his new role, Chadda will drive important business and strategic projects, growth, new initiatives around product, content, audience and video across the network and new business / product development for the digital business. He will work closely with the leadership team to sharpen the strategy and deployment for scaling the business and operations and will report to Puneet Singhvi, President and CEO, Network18 Digital.
Chadda said, “I am elated to be a part of Network18, a platform renowned to thrive in excellence. I am excited to join the remarkable team and execute on all the exciting upcoming initiatives. The future is here and untapped – I am looking forward to creating value for the network and its portfolio of companies.”
Chadda has experience across technology, ecommerce, fintech, OTT and media and entertainment. He co-founded two start-ups - Foodpanda (bought out by Delivery Hero) and PayLo (acquired by Immortal Technologies). He has also been an investment banker with Merrill Lynch.
Chadda is an MBA from IIM Calcutta and a Computer Engineer from Delhi College of Engineering.


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All Posts Tagged Tag: ‘social networks’
It appears that Twitter may have a significant redesign in the works. It has been discovered that Twitter’s Creative Director, Doug Bowman has posted a partial screenshot.
Bowman’s exact comment on the screenshot is, "Working on what may end up a significant redesign. Not final yet. What we can show without giving away the farm."
Pete Warden, a former software engineer at Apple, who is now working on his own start-up, posted an interesting story about how Facebook threatened to sue him for crawling the social network. I reached out to both Warden and Facebook for more details, but so far have only received response from Facebook, who calls the incident as "violation of our terms."
What’s the next big thing in social media? Is it Google Buzz? Is it Chat Roulette? Is it Foursquare? Is it Gowalla? Is it something you won’t hear about until tomorrow, next week, or next year? While it is certainly a good idea to be aware of trends, it’s also important for businesses not to get to fixated on them, and go rushing into things that may or may not make sense for them.
Shiny Object Syndrome
Twitter is testing a new home page, aimed at showing more of the information that "flows through Twitter."
"This builds on a series of changes starting last year when we redesigned the homepage to make search and trending topics more visible and easily accessible to everyone," says Twitter Designer Doug Bowman. "With that version, we brought the power of search.twitter.com to the homepage and let people explore the value of Twitter without an account."
Cliqset shared some pretty interesting news with WebProNews today. They say that for the first time ever, the users of two independent, public web entities are able to communicate with each other, without being on the same service as the person they are communicating with. Cliqset and Status.net have accomplished this using Salmon, but this isn’t just big news for these two services. It’s big news for the open web.
In case you were wondering, Twitter is not killing blogging. No matter how many times this is said, there is still this notion out there that blogs aren’t needed when you can simply express what you’re feeling to the audience who is interested through Twitter (or Facebook or other social networks). The fact of the matter is, yes – you can do this with Twitter or Facebook, but blogs exist just the same, and the blogs and social networks frequently complement one another.
When Twitter users go to post a new tweet, they have in the past used a button that says "update" (at least from Twitter.com…that varies when you get into all the different apps Twitter users use). Now, that button says "Tweet".
Update: I finally got word back from Facebook, who confirmed that the feature is indeed only a test. "The "Promote" feature is just a test and is unrelated to our Promotions Guidelines," the company says. They did not give any specifics about a possible full launch.
Google announced via Twitter this week, that public status updates from Facebook are now included in the search engine’s real-time search feature. That means the largest social network in the world is getting play in Google’s real-time search alongside Twitter, MySpace, and others, and these real-time results are often featured prominently on the first page of search results for the hottest queries.
Twitter engineer Alex Payne tweeted over the weekend, "If you had some of the nifty site features that we Twitter employees have, you might not want to use a desktop client. (You will soon.)" Some took that to mean that Twitter was working on some new features for its own site, that would essentially render some popular third-party clients all but obsolete. The question is whether this is a legitimate concern for developers, or it has just been blown out of proportion. It could possibly be a combination of the two.
Our Twellow team has been working hard on getting Twellow set up to use Twitter’s OAuth system, and that support is now available on Twellow.com.
"The Twellow OAuth upgrade is a major improvement for Twellow users," Twellow’s Lead Developer Matthew Daines says. "Not only is it much more secure, but it also increases the amount of interaction users can have with the Twitter universe from Twellow."
Twitter is testing an ad platform, which is expected to be released next month, possibly at the South By Southwest event in Austin. Though the timing of the release has not been confirmed, Twitter’s head of product management and monetization, Anamitra Banerji, told MediaPost that they "are working on an ad platform, but it’s only in the test phase."
There has been a bit of discussion throughout the Blogosphere that MySpace is changing its direction, trying to differentiate itself from other social networks like Facebook. They reportedly have a new product strategy called "Discover and be Discovered", which would include a feature simply called "Discovery."
Not many details are known about MySpace’s forthcoming new direction, but the company gave WebProNews the following statement on the subject:
Facebook wants to keep users on Facebook. So far, they are doing a pretty good job of that. More and more people are spending more of their online time on Facebook, not to mention, spending more time connected to the web in general (at least partially due to rising use of smartphones).
How much time do you spend on Facebook in a month? A week? Let us know.
Update: Fousquare has issued a respons to the attention PleaseRobMe has brought to potential privacy issues associated with location sharing. What it boils down to is that Foursquare "takes privacy seriously" and it’s "really a bigger question about the pros and cons of location sharing in general". Read the company’s entire response here.
Facebook has responded to a news feed issue that users have been experiencing and bellyaching about. On its Facebook Page, the company posted:
"We’ve heard from many of you who are seeing a delay in your News Feed posts. We’ve fixed this issue and you should see your News Feeds gradually return to normal. Thanks for your feedback."
Google often takes a lot of flack for not being incredibly successful with its social media efforts. Most recently, Caroline McCarthy and Tom Krazit tackled this subject in a CNET article claiming that "Google struggles with social skills." I would not go so far as to say that I completely disagree with them. They make plenty of factual points that are simply undeniable. Orkut hasn’t set the world afire. Jaiku and Dodgeball didn’t work out.
It’s been a pretty big week for Facebook. Not only is there a lot of talk about Facebook’s potential for becoming the top news source on the web, but the company celebrated its sixth birthday, is passing the 400 million user mark, and began rolling out some new design changes. In addition, the company is said to be rewriting its messaging feature and preparing to launch a webmail product, but first things first.
Update 2: Facebook has responded to the privacy concerns with the dashboards: "To ensure that the dashboards meet user and developer expectations for a trustworthy experience, we’re giving developers the ability to hide their applications in the Friends’ Recent Activity, Friends’ Applications, and Friends’ Games sections of the dashboards.
Twitter has introduced a new feature for Twitter.com called Hovercards. These are simply little windows that pop up when you hover over any name on your timeline.
It’s important to note that a lot of people use Twitter through different applications and never even see Twitter’s actual site. It is nice to see that Twitter recognizes that people do still use Twitter.com.
Hovercards display information like name, profile pic, location, whether or not you follow them, verified user info, etc.
Every month, WebProNews has been looking at Twitter’s growth in terms of new user registration and number of Tweets. In January, we looked at December’s numbers which showed an increase in tweeting frequency, as Twitter surpassed a billion tweets in a month.
In January, total tweets sent were the largest on record. However, they increased at 6.34% over December, which is the second lowest increase for the last twelve months. Only August saw a lower rate at -6.2%.
For a week or so, some Twitter users have been seeing a new feature called Local Trends. This feature shows users things that are being heavily talked about at the city and state levels. Twitter has now announced that the feature is live for all users.
Back in the summer MySpace launched its own email service called MySpace Mail. The company has now announced that it has surpassed 15 million accounts for that service.
"Adoption by our users has experienced phenomenal growth, well exceeding initial expectations," says MySpace’s Rajit Marwah. "At launch we set a goal of 10 million accounts created within a year – we knew we were on to something when we surpassed this goal in less than a quarter."
We knew it was coming. It was only a matter of when. Back in November, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told a crowd at a conference in Malaysia that the current suggested users list would be going away, and that it would be replaced by something "more programmatically chosen, something that actually delivers more relevant suggestions." Twitter has now announced the reality of that new kind of suggested users list.
Today Facebook announced that it is giving users the option to receive updates from Facebook applications in their email. This would work similar to how email notifications do, but don’t worry, you have to opt in for developers to be able to email you. According to Facebook, they will not be able to access your email address without your consent.
Over the past year or so, Facebook has made a number of moves, which bring more Twitter-like functionality to the social network. Some question why Facebook would want to become more like Twitter given that it is much more dominant in the social media space, but Facebook sees the growing-popularity of Twitter, and likely wants to make sure it offers everything users want, to keep them around for the long haul.
Over the past year or more, you have probably heard your fair share of people telling you that you need to use Twitter if you hope to have business success. It’s true that there are a great many opportunities and potential benefits to using the service, but do you have to use it? Well, that depends.
Is Twitter Necessary? Tell us what you think.
Today Facebook launched a feature that some would consider long overdue. They now let you reply to comments via email. In other words, when you get an email notification alerting you that someone has left a comment on one of your status updates, you can simply type your reply in the email and hit send, rather than having to leave your inbox, go to Facebook and respond there.
Each month we’ve been looking at Twitter’s growth in terms of new user registration and number of Tweets. Last month we saw a decline in the number of new Twitterers in November continuing a trend that began in July.
In December, however, new Twitter user registrations leveled out. Number of tweets grew significantly, and the number of tweets from new users grew as well, possibly indicating that people aren’t just signing up for Twitter and not using it.
Just as many of us get back to work after the holidays, Twitter has some new people starting work with the company altogether. Twitter reportedly has ten new people (most starting today), and some of them have interesting backgrounds, which could have interesting implications for the company’s future.
Twitter launched Fabric, its mobile platform for app developers, last year. It’s comprised of three modular kits that address stability, distribution, revenue, and identity. One of those, which addresses distribution, is Twitter Kit. At launch it included native tweet embeds, a tweet composer, and Sign …
Square announced that 100 local business owners in the U.S. are getting its new reader, which enables them to accept chip cards and mobile payments like Apple Pay. According to the company, these businesses are the first set of local businesses to have access to …
A couple years ago, Google launched a tool for comparing car insurance in Europe, and finally launched it in the U.S. earlier this year. At an AdWords event in May, the company announced the expansion of this feature to mortgages in the U.S. under the …
We’re now days away from Black Friday, and everyone is sharing stats related to the holiday shopping season. We just looked at Pinterest’s holiday shopping pin stats. Now we turn our attention to a Google infographic about how to prepare an AdSense site and ads …


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McDonald’s franchise owner expands Scottish empire
A Dundee-based McDonald’s franchise business is fattening up after securing a seven-figure funding deal.
Elm Restaurants, which is owned by franchise entrepreneur Nick McPartland, has purchased the fast food giant’s outlet in Forfar from McDonald’s using a loan from HSBC UK. It follows a strong performance for the site and an increase in staff from 96 to 135 over the last six months.
Elm also owns and operates a McDonald’s restaurant in Arbroath, and has used funding to add a double drive-thru lane and 75 new indoor and outdoor seats to the location.
McPartland said: “We were thrilled to be able to purchase our new Forfar restaurant and HSBC UK’s support has been critical to enabling us to do this and improve the customer experience across all of our locations.”
Elm Restaurants now employs 500 people across four 24-hour McDonald’s restaurants, in Arbroath, Dundee, Forfar and Monifieith.
Susan Rowand, head of business banking in Scotland, HSBC UK, said: “Nick is an experienced franchise entrepreneur who has a clear understanding of his customers and how best to serve the communities where he operates. We’re pleased to support ambitious Scottish businesses and look forward to seeing continued growth for Nick and his team.”


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Back to school doesn’t just mean students are hitting the books again — they’re also hitting the mall, looking for an updated wardrobe filled with the latest jeans, shoes and shirts.
And stash the tee shirts with the “silly girl humor,” recommends off-price fashion website Ideeli, echoing First Insight’s findings that the “statement tops” aren’t a top pick anymore.
Clothing purchases helped boost July’s better-than-expected retail sales numbers, out last Tuesday, and teen shoppers — and their parents — are helping lead the charge.
“Teens are spending,” says retail analyst Jennifer Black, adding that it’s because they like to regularly update their outfits.
“Teens don’t make investments in clothing,” says Black, of Jennifer Black & Associates in Lake Oswego, Ore. “They’re more apt to move on to the next trend.”
Often, a new teen trend is the opposite of the one that preceded it.
“Everything is a reaction to the last thing that’s cool,” says Greg Selkoe, founder of the clothing and accessories website Karmaloop, which caters to fashion-forward young people.
The current coolest purchases: Click below to find out
the original article from USA Today , written by Jayne O'Donnell and Hadley Malcolm


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Kerala Farmers Sell Free Milk In Protest Against Milma Procurement Cut
Dairy farmers in Kerala's Malabar region are distributing milk for free as protest after the Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Milma) reduced procurement by 40%. As per Milma, the COVID-19 lockdown has shut many restaurants and commercial establishments, causing a dip in demand. However, the dairy-dependent farmers protested Milma's decision, citing a loss of Rs 1.25 crore. Reportedly, Milma collected 7.5 lakh litres of milk every day before the reduction.