Starbucks Sales Lag Behind Estimates on U.S. Breakfast Battle - Bloomberg

Starbucks Sales Lag Behind Estimates on U.S. Breakfast Battle - Bloomberg: "Starbucks has been introducing new food and drinks to draw diners later in the day while competitors are pushing more breakfast fare. McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) is advertising white-chocolate lattes and has been giving away free coffees, while Dunkin’ Donuts recently brought back its spicy smoked-sausage sandwich. Starbucks, which also has been strengthening its mobile application, yesterday said it would add delivery in “select markets” in the second half of 2015.

“The environment is getting competitive,” said Asit Sharma, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based analyst at the Motley Fool, who recommends buying the shares. Still, “they’ve got a long lead in mobile -- any of their competitors now to catch up is going to require a lot of capital investments.”

Same-store sales in Starbucks’ Americas region gained 5 percent in the quarter, trailing the average estimate for a 6.2 percent increase, according to Consensus Metrix."



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Apple warns it may have to pay Irish back-tax

Apple warns it may have to pay Irish back-tax: "Apple has warned shareholders it may have to pay a material amount of back-tax to Ireland if the European Commission’s inquiry into its arrangements in the Republic finds they constituted state aid.
The company has further warned shareholders that a ruling against Ireland could mean the company would have to pay more tax on its profits in future years.
It is normal for public companies in the US to warn shareholders of so-called “risk factors” that could have a material effect on their results.
No figures for the possible size of any such repercussions are given. However the latest annual return for Apple, filed recently with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC, makes clear the enormous role played by Ireland in the multinational’s global structures."



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Germany issues warning over ‘patent boxes’ tax subsidy

Germany issues warning over ‘patent boxes’ tax subsidy: "Germany has warned that corporate tax subsidy arrangements known as “patent boxes” are acceptable in the European Union only as a reward for research and investment by companies in member states, not as a new tax-avoidance tool.
It comes as the Minister for Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said US multinationals plan to advise the Government on what should be in the proposed “knowledge box” tax scheme.
Speaking on a five-day US trade mission, Mr Bruton said he had received “very positive feedback” on the budgetary changes in meetings with US companies in Boston on Monday and the Washington DC area yesterday."



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Global warming has doubled risk of harsh winters in Eurasia, research finds | Environment | The Guardian

Global warming has doubled risk of harsh winters in Eurasia, research finds | Environment | The Guardian: "The risk of severe winters in Europe and northern Asia has been doubled by global warming, according to new research. The counter-intuitive finding is the result of climate change melting the Arctic ice cap and causing new wind patterns that push freezing air and snow southwards.

Severe winters over the last decade have been associated with those years in which the melting of Arctic sea ice was greatest. But the new work is the most comprehensive computer modelling study to date and indicates the frozen winters are being caused by climate change, not simply by natural variations in weather.

“The origin of frequent Eurasian severe winters is global warming,” said Prof Masato Mori, at the University of Tokyo, who led the new research. Climate change is heating the Arctic much faster than lower latitudes and the discovery that the chances of severe winters has already doubled shows that the impacts of global warming are not only a future threat. Melting Arctic ice has also been implicated in recent wet summers in the UK."



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GMO wheat mishaps foster skepticism of USDA

GMO wheat mishaps foster skepticism of USDA: "WASHINGTON — The discovery of another unapproved variety of genetically modified wheat in Montana has increased pressure to tighten the regulation of biotech crops, a change that could cause havoc for farmers in Iowa and across the U.S. eager to get their hands on the newest varieties.

The popular crops are staunchly defended by farmers who depend on genetically altered seeds to provide them with higher yields, better-quality products, and lower consumption of chemicals to rebuff attacks from weeds or insects. The result is a boon to their bottom line.

The United States is by far the world's largest grower of biotech crops, planting 173 million acres in 2013 — almost 4% of all biotech acreage globally. In Iowa, 95% of all corn planted this year came from genetically engineered seeds.

But food and environmental groups are skeptical about the safety of these crops in everyday foods and in the environment in which they grow. The discovery of unapproved wheat has renewed calls for regulators to adopt a slower, more stringent approval process."



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The last of a dining breed

The last of a dining breed: "Whenever office-bound workers drag themselves away from the desk for midday food these days, it’s likely to be eaten on the run. As for the long, boozy lunch – once a staple of the journalistic profession, among others – that’s dead. Even if people do make it to a restaurant, the meal will usually be both abstemious and short.
It’s an international trend, begun by latter-day puritans in the US but now spreading everywhere in the western world. Even Paris has succumbed. Although apparently some people do still eat in the daytime there, I’m told that many Parisian waiters don’t even bother offering them the wine menu any more. Quelle horreur.
My colleague on Monday couldn’t drink, as it happened, because he was driving. So to take the bad look off it, I had a single glass for us both. And over this we marvelled, not for the first time, at the prandial feats of our predecessors.
Journalism has a rich folklore relating the heroics of former editors and reporters who spent half-days over lunch, draining cellars, and still managed to get back to the office (often armed with indiscretions leaked by inebriated guests) in sufficient shape to get a newspaper out."



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Urban light pollution: why we're all living with permanent 'mini jetlag' | Cities | The Guardian

Urban light pollution: why we're all living with permanent 'mini jetlag' | Cities | The Guardian: "Astronomer Dr Jason Pun of the Hong Kong University department of physics has been studying light pollution for nearly a decade. He says people often ask him if he’s crazy. “‘Hong Kong is supposed to be bright,’ they say. ‘Why are you even talking about light being some kind of pollution?’”

This is a city that is famous for its nightscape: neon signs advertising market stalls, pawn shops and steakhouses; illuminated skyscrapers; swanky malls that stay open – and stay lit – well into the night. “When I walk at night around some of these commercial centres, it’s so bright you almost want to wear your sunglasses,” Pun says.

Indeed, in our collective imaginations, cities are meant to be bright. But as studies begin to show that too much light can be detrimental to health, and fewer of us are able to see the stars when we look up, are cities getting too bright for our own good?

Hong Kong isn’t alone in celebrating light. Paris is still known as the City of Light; only slightly less glamorous Blackpool relies for tourism on its annual illuminations, when more than 1 million bulbs light a distance of 10km."



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Rubber bandits

Rubber bandits: "Word of the tyre-based landscaping quickly reached the ears of street urchins from a neighbouring suburb who had a plan of their own – for a giant Halloween bonfire up at the back of St James’s Hospital somewhere. So even though the tyres were behind security fencing, there followed nightly attempts to liberate them, some successful.
This looked like one of the successes. And as two tyres were wheeled past the pub, the men in the doorway looked on, more or less amused. “Where’s the guards?” asked somebody. “Out fitting water meters,” quipped another.
But in general, the onlookers were indulgent. “We did worse ourselves,” said one. “We did of course,” said another. And with that, they were off on down Memory Lane, while the tyres headed up Bow Lane, in the opposite direction.
There’s a certain phrase that, in my opinion, is vastly overused these days in the context of corporate plans. Even so, in this case, it would have been fully justified, both for the landscapers and the pyromaniacs.
In fact, if the bonfire planners were in the habit of issuing press releases, they would surely have predicted the “roll-out” of all the remaining tractor tyres by October 31st. But a bit like Irish water, which had a similar deadline, they ran into logistical difficulties."



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The Guardian overtakes New York Times in comScore traffic figures | Media | theguardian.com

The Guardian overtakes New York Times in comScore traffic figures | Media | theguardian.com: "The Guardian has passed the New York Times to become the world’s second most popular English-language newspaper website, according to the latest monthly traffic figures from comScore.

Last month theguardian.com website network recorded 42.6 million worldwide unique visitors, a 12.3% month-on-month increase, according to the latest comScore report on desktop web usage. The New York Times drew 41.6 million worldwide unique visitors, up 8% month on month.

The Guardian ranks 5th biggest in comScore’s newspaper category, behind the Daily Mail’s Mail Online, which drew 55.8 million worldwide unique users last month.

The top three slots are taken by Chinese newspaper websites: Xinhua News Agency (90.2 million uniques), People’s Daily Online (89.1 million) and China Daily Sites (56.4 million)."



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The Guardian overtakes New York Times in comScore traffic figures | Media | theguardian.com

The Guardian overtakes New York Times in comScore traffic figures | Media | theguardian.com: "The Guardian has passed the New York Times to become the world’s second most popular English-language newspaper website, according to the latest monthly traffic figures from comScore.

Last month theguardian.com website network recorded 42.6 million worldwide unique visitors, a 12.3% month-on-month increase, according to the latest comScore report on desktop web usage. The New York Times drew 41.6 million worldwide unique visitors, up 8% month on month.

The Guardian ranks 5th biggest in comScore’s newspaper category, behind the Daily Mail’s Mail Online, which drew 55.8 million worldwide unique users last month.

The top three slots are taken by Chinese newspaper websites: Xinhua News Agency (90.2 million uniques), People’s Daily Online (89.1 million) and China Daily Sites (56.4 million)."



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From Apple to Wal-Mart, Companies Make Bets on Climate Change - Bloomberg

From Apple to Wal-Mart, Companies Make Bets on Climate Change - Bloomberg: "CDP grades companies based on how aggressively they are setting and meeting carbon goals, and on how forthcoming they are about this work. CDP started with a pool of about 2,000 companies that shared information about their climate-related work earlier this year. The 187 companies that received an "A" from group this year made the index. They include some of the world’s leading brands — Apple, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BMW, CVS Health, Google, Northrop Grumman, Samsung, Unilever.

At least part of the strong performance of the CDP carbon index can be attributed to its heavy concentration of tech and financial stocks, sectors that grew faster than average in the last five years. Businesses in those industries have embraced pollution cuts much faster than their counterparts in industries where burning fossil fuels is more central to the core business. The energy sector, for example, "has very few companies" -- five -- "that are able to meet the leadership criteria" laid out by CDP this year, according to the report.

"Energy companies struggle to really put themselves on a path of a low-carbon transition," says Paul Simpson, CDP's chief executive. "Their core business is very carbon-intensive."

The results challenge the still-pervasive assumption that climate-friendly business is automatically bad business. "The A List" study complements a library of research into the benefits to businesses and investors of considering environmental and other sustainability criteria when setting strategy. There's some evidence of a “halo effect” associated with do-gooder companies on low-carbon diets. More likely, the CDP results are a case of already-successful companies taking on climate change, not climate change activities per se categorically pushing stocks higher somehow.

If nothing else, CDP’s new report is a reminder that rational executives atop leading companies are embracing the changes that are already underway in consumer sentiment, regulation and the climate itself."



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UN Messenger of Peace Donates Millions Towards Ocean Conservation—Leonardo DiCaprio : ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE : The Science Times

UN Messenger of Peace Donates Millions Towards Ocean Conservation—Leonardo DiCaprio : ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE : The Science Times: "Looking to support marine conservation projects worldwide, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation announced last week that in hopes of helping to establish marine protected areas in the Pacific Islands and the Arctic, as well as strictly enforcing fishing regulations and aiding in the protection of threatened shark populations, they were awarding a $2 million grant to the Oceans 5 international funders' collaborative responsible for a large portion of the world's marine conservation projects.

"The sad truth is that less than two percent of our oceans are fully protected. We need to change that now" DiCaprio says. "My foundation supports Oceans 5 projects that are directly improving ocean health by stopping overfishing and creating marine reserves."

And while his foundation has helped fund many worthwhile causes since its inception in 1998, DiCaprio's newest grant may not only help protect the oceans, but also help him keep a promise to the United Nations. As the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that nearly 71 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans' waters, marine ecosystems play a large role in many of the Earth's systems including weather and variable climate. And in helping save the oceans and their many species, DiCaprio may just have a hand in helping to bring about a climate change of his own."



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New IR-reflecting magnetic mirror developed by scientists | General News

New IR-reflecting magnetic mirror developed by scientists | General News: "The development of a new magnetic mirror that can reflect infrared light is being celebrated by the scientists responsible for its construction.



The new mirror uses not-metallic metamaterials to reflect IR light, which exists at wavelengths too long to be seen be the naked eye unaided. The scientists used a series of ultra-small scale magnetic reflectors and placed nanoscale antennas on key points of these mirrors, which aided in focusing electromagnetic radiation. The creation of the new magnetic mirror could have serious implications in how to develop new types of optoelectronic devices like lasers, solar sells and chemical sensors, researchers say in the academic paper that publicized their findings."



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Coffee jackpot? Starbucks offering drinks for life

Coffee jackpot? Starbucks offering drinks for life: "Best holiday gift ever?

Starbucks is offering drinks for life to 10 customers.

Technically, the offer is not "for life" but for a free drink or food item every day for 30 years.

Customers become eligible for the giveaway by using a Starbucks Card or by paying through a mobile device.

The contest is a way for the company to promote its new order and pay ahead mobile program, which is scheduled to launch by the end of next year. Starbucks is offering the program early -- before the end of this year -- in Portland.

"This is the first time we ever offered customers something of this magnitude," said Sharon Rothstein, Starbucks executive vice president, in a statement regarding the Starbucks for Life offer."



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Apple Looks for Big Screen Boost as IPhone 6 Hits China - Bloomberg

Apple Looks for Big Screen Boost as IPhone 6 Hits China - Bloomberg: "Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s large screen iPhone 6 Plus is finally available in the world’s biggest smartphone market and Chinese consumers don’t have to resort to smugglers.

The new device went on sale today in China, almost a month after their global debut. The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 starts at 5,288 yuan ($863) through Apple’s China outlets which compares with $649 for the same model without a contract on its U.S. website.

Strong demand, especially for the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, saw Chinese consumers pay black market vendors almost double the Hong Kong price for phones brought illegally across the border after its global release. While the debut comes as China’s wireless carriers cut subsidies on devices, the new Apple phones will outsell previous models, said Bryan Wang, China country manager for Forrester Research."



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Whole Foods begins rating program - HT Health

Whole Foods begins rating program - HT Health: "Whole Foods Market on Wednesday began a ratings program for fruits, vegetables and flowers aimed at giving consumers more information about pesticide and water use, the treatment of farm workers and waste management, and other issues surrounding the food they eat.

The upscale grocery chain will rate the produce of suppliers electing to participate in the program, Responsibly Grown, as "€œgood,"€ "€œbetter,"€ or "€œbest,"€ depending on, for example, how they handle plastic waste in their operations and whether they provide conservation areas to foster bees, butterflies and other pollinators.


This September 2014 photo provided by Whole Foods shows an example of the company's "responsibly grown" labeling system on Washington organic gala apples. Whole Foods on Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014 plans to start rolling out the system that ranks fruits and vegetables as "good," ''better" or "best" based on the supplier's farming practices. (AP Photo/Whole Foods, Ha Lam)

"€œThis is the latest example of our commitment to transparency and sustainable agriculture," said Matt Rogers, who handles standards and sourcing at Whole Foods. He said the company hoped the scoring system would encourage farmers to address the impact of agriculture on human health and the environment."



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Everything Vedic in ‘Vedic Maths’ - The Hindu

Everything Vedic in ‘Vedic Maths’ - The Hindu: "Vedic Maths is concerned with a universal structure of Maths revealed through a personal approach to problem-solving and other fields of human activity. It is described by a small collection of aphorisms called sutras. Sutras express naturally occurring mental processes by which mathematical problems can be solved with the least effort. Vedic Maths does not advocate the sole use of blanket methods through which students can reduce problems to merely mechanical responses to given stimuli. Instead, it encourages an intelligent and holistic approach — one that engenders reason and develops strategic thinking. There are blanket methods as well as special case methods. If you find that a problem can be solved by an easier or different method from what is commonly taught, then that is used as a valid method, even if the problem is solved just by inspection. The sutras describe such principles and methods.

For example, if you want to add 324 and 199, an easy approach is to add 200 instead of 199 to 324 and take off one, resulting in 523. This is a naturally occurring mental method and uses the fact that 199 is deficient from 200 by one. Such special cases are not normally taught but most people will naturally adopt them by understanding numbers. This comes under the pithy sutra, deficiency. This example shows that there are often simple methods which follow the path of least action and reflects Sir Isaac Newton’s observation, “Nature abhors the pomp of superfluous causes.”"



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Budget to end ‘double Irish’ tax scheme

Budget to end ‘double Irish’ tax scheme: "eneficiaries of the “double Irish” include major technology groups such as Google and a number of large pharmaceutical firms. The scheme, which plays on the difference between Irish law and that in offshore jurisdictions such as the Bahamas, enables firms here to pay very low tax on profit.
The development follows pressure on the Government from Britain, Germany, France, Washington-based politicians, the European Commission and the OECD. Global leaders gave the OECD a mandate last year to develop a plan to tackle “base erosion and profit-shifting” schemes.
The Dutch authorities responded to the first phase of the OECD plan last month by saying they would not move unilaterally to overhaul their business tax regime.
However, the Government will argue today a pre-emptive manoeuvre to scrap the “double Irish” gives it the power to set its own terms. It discussed a four-year “transition” last week, and moves to opt for closure over six years follow concerns raised by pharmaceutical firms the original timeline was too tight."



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An apology from Australia to the rest of the world is now warranted | Josh Bornstein | Comment is free | theguardian.com

An apology from Australia to the rest of the world is now warranted | Josh Bornstein | Comment is free | theguardian.com: "This is how the New York Times responded to the scrapping of the carbon price scheme:

At a time when president Obama is seeking emissions limits on new and existing power plants, and when many scientists are arguing for major reductions in fossil-fuel use by 2050 to keep global warming within manageable limits, Australia – among the world’s highest emitters per capita of carbon dioxide – has chosen to become an outlier.

Slate went further, condemning the “rapacious policies of the current government”. In an article headed The Saudi Arabia of the South Pacific, it told its readers how Australia became the dirtiest polluter in the developed world. Strictly speaking, both publications are wrong. Australia is not alone; it constitutes one half of the Canada-Australia axis of carbon.

Not too put too fine a point on it, since the election of the Abbott government in September 2013, Australian politics has become fruitier than a tarte tatin. Nuttier than a pecan pie. It feels as if the Enlightenment never reached these shores. And climate policy is but one victim of the malaise.

An explanation to the world, if not an apology, is warranted."



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Germany on defensive as criticism of economic course mounts

Germany on defensive as criticism of economic course mounts: "German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble put on a brave face at the end of IMF meetings in Washington this weekend, dismissing suggestions Berlin had come under pressure to shift its economic course as “spin doctoring”.
However the reality is that Germany has not looked this isolated over its policy prescriptions for Europe since the height of the euro zone financial crisis two years ago.
In Washington Mr Schauble endured lectures from longtime critics such as Larry Summers, the former US treasury secretary.
In an unusually frank panel discussion he accused Germany of leading Europe down a path of Japanese-style deflation with a misguided focus on budget consolidation.
Traditional allies
He also had to listen to advice from traditional allies such as Finland’s Jyrki Katainen, a future vice-president of the European Commission, who warned that Germany could not remain strong forever if it failed to invest more in its own infrastructure and education system."



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Who cares about normal women’s work-life balance? | Barbara Ellen | Comment is free | The Observer

Who cares about normal women’s work-life balance? | Barbara Ellen | Comment is free | The Observer: "A study from the Centre for Diet and Activity Researches (Cedar) at the University of Cambridge, looking at the years 2002 -2012, says that healthy foods now cost three times more than unhealthy alternatives, and that more could be done about this disparity when making health policy decisions.

This corroborates what is already widely known – that, say, fast food burgers are often cheaper to buy than ingredients for home cooked meals. While there is growing interest in low-cost healthy recipes, factor in time and exhaustion for many homemakers, and the quick, cheap option is all too easy to understand.

Nor does it end there. Poor diet is just as swiftly becoming a key social signifier in terms of dumping people on the rungs below “normal” society. In the same way that free school meals used to be, but now involving the whole family group.

Meanwhile, the University of Cardiff angered students by placing an “anti-homeless cage” outside one of its campus buildings, where homeless people had taken to sleeping near warm air vents. The university spoke of potential safety issues regarding gases for anyone blocking the grilles.

However, many students were outraged by the cage, which works in the same manner as studs or spikes, making it impossible for homeless people to bed down for the night – the same kind of thing that happened outside the Regent Street branch of Tesco earlier this year."



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Who cares about normal women’s work-life balance? | Barbara Ellen | Comment is free | The Observer

Who cares about normal women’s work-life balance? | Barbara Ellen | Comment is free | The Observer: "This is where what one might term the “she-taming” begins. This is a process by which a garlanded female becomes not only feminised, but also “exonerated” by her innate domesticity. The subtext is: “Show us your human side, you smug, over-achieving cow. Dole out some baloney about forgetting the dry cleaning or missing the school play and we’ll contextualise and forgive your triumphs.” Thus the pressure is on for the successful woman to avoid alienating not only men, but other females as well.

Then again, is this happening as much as we think it is? This seems to me to not only concern gender imbalance, but also imbalance among different classes of women. While the likes of Rhimes are pelted with work-life balance questions, other women, who don’t have her career or power, are all but ignored, even though, unlike Rhimes, who presumably (and with no judgment) has staff, these are women (maybe time-poor as she is, but also cash-strapped on top) for whom work-life balance is a real and pressing issue.

Therefore, while Rhimes may feel that she is asked these sort of questions so frequently that it verges on sexist, other more ordinary women may feel they are not asked enough (if ever). They feel (correctly) that unless they are, say, Rhimes or Sheryl Sandberg, no one cares how they manage, or if they don’t. Why should Rhimes care about any of this? Men are not generally called upon to fret their little hearts out about less successful men. The short answer is that she needn’t."



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Gujarat refuses GM field trials of food crops - The Hindu

Gujarat refuses GM field trials of food crops - The Hindu: "Even as the Union Ministry of Environment seems to be in favour of experimenting with genetically modified (GM) crops, the Gujarat government has firmly indicated that it will not approve of field trials of GM food crops in the State.

In a letter dated September 30 to Kapil Shah of the Baroda-based NGO Jatan, , a section officer of the Gujarat agriculture and cooperation department has said that after due consideration of various representations, the government had decided not to grant a no objection certificate (NOC) for field trials of GM food crops.

The NOC from the State is a statutory requirement for conducting open air field trials. However, it will approve field trials for non- GM food crops, Mr. Shah said.

Mr. Shah told The Hindu on Thursday that after a spate of campaigns and representations to the Chief Minister and other authorities, he had written a letter to the government on September 11 demanding to know what steps were taken on the issue of GM crops. This clarification was in response to that. His efforts and those of other groups have resulted in the Chief Minister appointing a committee to formulate a policy for organic farming in the State.

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) on July 18 had recommended 13 cases of GM crops for confined field trials subject to NOC from the State government."



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Gartner's Top 10 Predictions

Gartner's Top 10 Predictions: "he Top 10 Predictions are organized into three categories:

Machines are taking a more-active role in enhancing human endeavors:

By 2018, digital business will require 50 percent less business process workers and 500 percent more key digital business jobs, compared with traditional models.
Near-Term Flag: By year-end 2016, 50 percent of digital transformation initiatives will be unmanageable due to lack of portfolio management skills, leading to a measurable negative lost market share.

By 2017, a significant disruptive digital business will be launched that was conceived by a computer algorithm.
Near-Term Flag: Through 2015, the most highly valued initial public offerings (IPOs) will involve companies that combine digital markets with physical logistics to challenge pure physical legacy business ecosystems.


By 2018, the total cost of ownership for business operations will be reduced by 30 percent through smart machines and industrialized services.
Near-Term Flag: By 2015, there will be more than 40 vendors with commercially available managed services offerings leveraging smart machines and industrialized services.

By 2020, developed world life expectancy will increase by 0.5 years due to widespread adoption of wireless health monitoring technology.
Near-Term Flag: By 2017, costs for diabetic care are reduced by 10 percent through the use of smartphones.

Digitalized things are making assisted economic decisions:

By year-end 2016, more than $2 billion in online shopping will be performed exclusively by mobile digital assistants.
Near-Term Flag: By year-end 2015, mobile digital assistants will have taken on tactical mundane processes such as filling out names, addresses and credit card information.

By 2017, U.S. customers’ mobile engagement behavior will drive mobile commerce revenue in the U.S. to 50 percent of U.S. digital commerce revenue.
Near-Term Flag: A renewed interest in mobile payment will arise in 2015, together with a significant increase in mobile commerce (due in part to the introduction of Apple Pay and similar efforts by competitors, such as Google increasing efforts to drive adoption of its NFC-enabled Google Wallet).

Renovating the customer experience is a digital priority:


By 2017, 70 percent of successful digital business models will rely on deliberately unstable processes designed to shift as customer needs shift.
Near-Term Flag: By the end of 2015, five percent of global organizations will design “supermaneuverable” processes that provide competitive advantage.

By 2017, 50 percent of consumer product investments will be redirected to customer experience innovations.
Near-Term Flag: By 2015, more than half of traditional consumer products will have native digital extensions.

By 2017, nearly 20 percent of durable goods e-tailers will use 3D printing (3DP) to create personalized product offerings.
Near-Term Flag: By 2015, more than 90 percent of durable goods e-tailers will actively seek external partnerships to support the new “personalized” product business models.

By 2020, retail businesses that utilize targeted messaging in combination with internal positioning systems (IPS) will see a five percent increase in sales.
Near-Term Flag: By 2016, there will be an increase in the number of offers from retailers focused on customer location and the length of time in store."



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Wal-Mart Cutting Health Benefits to Some Part-Time Employees - Bloomberg

Wal-Mart Cutting Health Benefits to Some Part-Time Employees - Bloomberg: "Wal-Mart will no longer provide health coverage to employees who work less than 30 hours a week, according to a statement today on its website. The change is in line with moves by fellow retailers, including Target Corp. (TGT), Home Depot Inc. (HD) and Walgreen Co. (WAG), the company said.

“We don’t make these decisions lightly, and the fact remains that our plans exceed those of our peers in the retail industry,” Sally Welborn, senior vice president of global benefits, said on the company’s blog.

The U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, doesn’t require companies to cover part-time workers, and offering them health plans may disqualify those people from subsidies in government-run insurance exchanges that opened last year. The coverage provided by the law softens the blow of companies eliminating benefits, said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a Washington-based group representing health-care consumers."



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Why we get a better cup in Ireland than all the tea in China

Why we get a better cup in Ireland than all the tea in China: "his is the single most important reason Irish people drink what is frequently described as the highest-quality tea in the world. When Tea Importers Ltd was established, it insisted Irish tea makers dealt directly with producers in countries of origin. So Irish tea merchants started travelling, and quickly they found that darker teas from east Africa – as opposed to the lighter Indian and Sri Lankan leaves popular in England – went down a treat here.
Relationships were established in Kenya and other east African countries, which allowed Ireland to secure the pick of the crops grown there. Initially backed by government financial guarantees, Tea Importers Ltd became a stand-alone commercial entity in the late 1950s and offered credit facilities to its members, which led to it being granted a banking licence in the 1960s. It renamed itself the Irish Bank of Commerce in the early 1970s, and six years later it morphed into the Anglo Irish Bank Corporation."



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The Conservatives' real deficit problem is a lack of shame | Business | The Observer

The Conservatives' real deficit problem is a lack of shame | Business | The Observer: "Cabinet ministers evoke a wide variety of judgments, but I cannot recall anything quite so caustic as that of the celebrated journalist Bernard Levin, on the foreign secretary, Selwyn Lloyd, in 1959. In a review in the Spectator of a book about the early 19th century statesman Lord Castlereagh, Levin wrote: "The real mystery, in fact, is not why Castlereagh cut his throat, but why Mr Selwyn Lloyd has not." Not long after that, Lloyd was elevated to the chancellorship by Harold Macmillan.

My dissatisfaction with the chancellorship of George Osborne has not diminished with time, but even I should find it a little extreme to suggest that he fall on his sword. Nor do I think any longer that that great fan of Macmillan, David Cameron, should sack him. No, I think Osborne should remain in place until he faces the verdict of the electorate: a verdict that ought to be damning.

It is laughable that Osborne should, apparently, have chosen to fight the Labour party on the issue that they are not being as tough on "the deficit" as he is. For a start, he has always been obsessed with the wrong deficit. The principal macroeconomic problem facing the British economy is the size of its balance of payments deficit. The budget deficit, so far from being a problem, was from 2010 onwards part of the solution: it stopped the rot when the economy was in a nosedive in 2009. That it is still with us, albeit at a lower level, is due to the failure of Osborne's strategy, which was to eliminate the deficit within this parliament – something, mercifully, he is nowhere near to achieving."



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Marriott Fined $600,000 for Blocking Its Customers’ Wi-Fi - Bloomberg

Marriott Fined $600,000 for Blocking Its Customers’ Wi-Fi - Bloomberg: "Marriott International Inc. (MAR) was fined $600,000 by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for blocking hotel customers from connecting to the Internet on personal Wi-Fi networks in order to force them to pay for the hotel’s network.

Marriott employees blocked mobile “hotspots” at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, while at the same time charging consumers, small businesses and exhibitors as much as $1,000 per device to access Marriott’s Wi-Fi network, the FCC said in a statement today.

“Consumers who purchase cellular data plans should be able to use them without fear that their personal Internet connection will be blocked by their hotel or conference center,” FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said in the statement."



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Shelf-diagnosis

Shelf-diagnosis: "Emin would hardly qualify, therefore, for inclusion in a slim volume I received recently, entitled Lunacy and the Arrangement of Books. It was sent by “Irishman, Exile, and Bookseller” Brian Walsh. But it was written by another book-dealer, an American, Terry Belanger. And it is, in essence, a short history of the methodologies by which noted bibliophiles have arranged their collections.
Not all were lunatics, despite the title. Take Alistair Cooke, of Alistair Cooke’s America fame. It seems only right that, according to Belanger, his New York apartment had a floor-to-ceiling collection on his favourite subject, arranged geographically.
The books about New England were in the upper right corner; California was lower left; etc. No doubt there was some spatial revisionism in between – the corn-belt states hardly took up much room in these United Shelves of America, whereas Massachusetts must have been vast. But the arrangement was sensible."



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Poor John, has to be satisfied with just $16.5 MIllion, after a PAY CUT

After Missing Targets, Cisco Cuts John Chambers Pay To $16.5 Million - Yahoo Finance:



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