Amazon Collaborates With Morrisons To Supply Fresh Food Items

Amazon's deal with the British supermarket chain, Morrisons, bothers Ocado.

Amazon has entered the British fresh food market. A wholesale supply agreement is signed by the online ecommerce company with UK supermarket Morrisons that will add to the American organization’s food offering in the country with frozen and fresh items.

The fourth largest supermarket in Britain, Morrisons stated on February 29, 2016 that the agreement would allow a large number of Morrisons products to be offered to Amazon Pantry and Prime Now customers in the upcoming months. These include frozen, fresh and others. In 2015, Amazon Pantry was launched in UK, which escalated rivalry with four huge supermarkets, but did not provide fresh food items.

According to BBC reports, Morrisons and Ocado have signed a 25-year contract, the companies to run the online delivery facility of the supermarket. The contract will warn the huge online grocery sellers that the Seattle-based organization wants to earn money from British online grocery market.

Amazon Pantry is comparatively a small fresh food delivery service provider, but this partnership with the British organization provides a much stronger footprint to Amazon. Morrisons, which entered the online delivery industry late, can’t lose much from the agreement as it has only captured 3% of the market, but will threaten leading supermarket, Tesco.

The newly signed contract would also provide Morrisons a significant new channel to facilitate its food business. It will further sour the relations between Ocado and the Bradford-based company.

CEO of Morrisons, Davis Potts, is not happy with the agreement signed by Dalton Phillips who previously used to serve at his position because the network of Ocado does not serve important areas like the heartland of the supermarket, Scotland and the North of England.

Ocado is comforted by Morrisons decision to use the capacity of its new “fulfillment center" in Erith, located in Southeast London. Morrisons is trying to catch up with Amazon, after waiting up till January 2014, the organization was able to offer an entire online buying service. David is continuously focusing on the core business of the company – supermarkets – to revive the fortunes of the supermarket chain, but said on February 26, 2016 that the partnership with the e-commerce company was an "opportunity to build a broader business”. He said, “Today's agreement is built on Morrisons unique strengths as a food maker.”

Morrisons suggests the measure was taken as a part of its six priorities to ensure that its supermarket chains become strong again while establishing an extensive business complimenting their current supermarket chains. 

GoPro Inc. Another Hopeless Case?

The action camera maker needs to up its game if it wants to ever reach its IPO share price ever again.

It has been a while since the shareholders of GoPro Inc. have been on the sidelines just observing their investing just fall. In a year’s time the stock of the action camera maker has dropped by as much as 73% which has caused much annoyance amongst the investors. Additionally, ever since the start of the New Year, the stock has plummeted roughly by 33%. The terrible start to the year signifies that the current year is not going to be much different from the one that just ended.

GoPro Inc.’s stock has performance has deteriorated with time; it has fallen down to $12 mark from $65 per share at which it was being traded back in August 2015. It’s all time high share price was reported to be $90 denoting a staggering by 86%. The latest earnings report shared by the action camera maker did more damage to the stock than good as it further provided weak guidance for the upcoming quarters as well, worsening the situation and causing increased frustration amongst the shareholders.

As per the guidance for the upcoming quarters provided by the company, the management is expected the revenue to range somewhere between $160 and $180 million; while the Street consensus came down to $298 million evidently the expectation of the company is below the analyst’s estimation. The possibility of the stock to drop further is high as the launch of its first ever drone, Karma and Hero 5 is still months away.

GoPro plans to make the launch of Karma and Hero 5 grand as it’s hoping for things to turn around after these products hit the market however it still cannot be said whether the launch of these devices could make a significant difference. Coming out of the hot water that the organization has gotten itself into is going to be a tough job; if the products do not turn out to be exciting and innovative, they might just lead to yet another catastrophe.

Hero 4 turned out to be a major failure in the action camera maker industry as it failed to attract consumers due to lack of exciting features and easy to use system, if the novel devices fail to live up to the expectations of the company’s customers, it is safe to say that there won’t be going back to what the company once used to be. However, the camera manufacturer has stated that it is working on learning from its previous mistakes and will try to avoid them as much as they can.

The biggest mistake it made with Hero 4 was that it did not market the product towards the right audience hence making many believe that it is catered towards a niche and high end market because the price tag on the product was quite high as well. Mass marketing the product which is not for everyone can be a problem for GoPro and chances are not many people will be looking to buying the drone as well – because what will normal people do with it?

The chief executive officer, Nick Woodman is hoping that the launch of the new devices will turn days around for the stock and stop the stock decline. Despite the fact that it has been efficacious in creating a brand name which numerous companies have failed to do so in years, it is failing in other aspects of creating brand equity.

It had planned to venture into other possible domains and its first step towards it is launching its first ever drone – additionally, it is also making an entrance in the Virtual Reality (VR) market. 

Apple Encryption Supported By Facebook CEO Against USA Government

CEO Mark Zuckberg supports opponents of the US court order regarding the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter.

Apple’s battle with the FBI regarding the iPhone of a San Bernardino killer has intensified on a daily basis. The American consumer electronics manufacturer isn’t alone in its fight. Today, CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg supported Apple at the event ‘Mobile World Congress’ held in Spain.

“We’re sympathetic with Apple on this one. We believe in encryption,” he stated while being interviewed on stage by senior writer of WIRED, Jessi Hempel.

Although Mark noted that the social network organization is glad about collaboration with the American government to fight against terrorism, he told weakening the users’ security is not the way to act in this manner.

Mark is not the only tech leader to support Apple. On February 17, 2016, Google CEO Sundar Pichai also supported it in his tweets after CEO Tim Cook posted an explanation for negating the request of the government.

“We build secure products to keep your information safe and we give law enforcement access to data based on valid legal orders,” Sundar tweeted. Sundar was referring to the particular order issued by the court on February 16, 2016 by a federal judge.

The magistrate did not ordered Apple to unlock the smartphone – which the organization is not able to do – but rather for writing a special software program, a crippled version of operating system that would eliminate specific safety protections, which were part of the phone software to safeguard customer data.

On that note, Mark took the side of Apple which is opposing the court order. He said that it does not differ from the controversial backdoor which the FBI is compelling the company to make a part of their software – except in this situation, it is an after-market backdoor to be selectively used on smartphones investigated by the government.

The judge gave five days to Apple to officially respond to her ruling, but before the company could act in this manner, the US government filed a second appeal asking the court not to wait for 5 days but instead, force it to act according to the order now.

Tim emailed Apple workers this morning that the case is regarding much more than a single investigation or a single phone. RT reported that computer programming specialist, John McAfee, spoke to RT in an interview that the FBI would need to gun every Apple programmer’s head to attain what they are interested in getting, and that everyone who has understood the matter supports Apple. 

IBM Acquires Truven Health Analytics To Enhance Watson Health

Truven Health Analytics is acquired by IBM from Veritas Capital to improve Watson Health by integrating an extensive  consumer based database.

IBM has purchased yet another business to improve its artificial intelligence system ‘Watson Health’. It announced plans to purchase Truven Health Analytics from investment company ‘Veritas Capital’ for an amount of $2.6 billion. The deal would probably close by the end of 2016.

After the disclosure of the news, the stock of the cloud-computing giant rallied by more than 5% in the trading session held on February 19, 2016. Truven is a leading analytics and cloud based medical data services provider with a significant consumer base of more than 8500 clients comprising of hospitals, government agencies, and insurance service providers. In addition, its rich cloud-based data set comprising of various types of outcomes, quality, cost and claims will probably be amongst the valuable assets of the New York based company.

After acquiring the organization, the dataset of IBM will have details from patients totaling over 300 million. This is the fourth organization acquired by IBM to improve the abilities of Watson Health Cloud. Previously it purchased Merge Healthcare, Phytel and Explorys. The four acquisitions have accounted for approximately $4 billion investment by the company.

IBM has been making significant efforts for advancing Watson, which is part of its $8 billion analytics business. An extensive consumer-based database would be integrated by Watson Health Cloud with advanced cognitive solutions for aiding the development of medical solutions using the Watson generated insights.

Furthermore, the company is making efforts for shifting in the medical sector towards value-based care from volume-based care. The value-based model is leveraging analytics and data to attain a deeper insight into the treatment’s specific components for getting a desired result in the late future.

The acquired organization would doubtlessly be adding to the efforts of the organization for driving growth in the late future. Watson is one of the significant initiatives for IBM as it shifts towards a provider of cognitive solutions from a software company.

The acquisition of Truven by IBM is the biggest deal the organization has signed in the three years after Gini Rometty became its CEO. During the course of her tenure, the Corporation has been focusing on investing money in the tech and data industries to help enhance its services and products related to the medical industry, especially Watson Health.

Watson is equipped with the capacity to analyze, interpret and even predict patterns in different types of data. It is viewed to be significant efforts of IBM for bouncing back from its recently suffered declines for the previous 3 years and 9 months. 

Tesla Reinforces Hiring Spree In Africa

Tesla Motors has posted jobs for Africa to explore opportunities in the deprived region.

Tesla Motors is rapidly recruiting employees in the African region as it extends its power storage division. The all-electric powered vehicle manufacturer, which introduced a line up of battery products in 2015, is recruiting an analyst, two sales managers, training specialist and an applications engineer for its South Africa office, the postings on its career site revealed.

Two weeks ago, there was not a single job posted for the continent or country. In April, CEO Elon Musk launched two battery products in a splashy event. He stated those devices would let utilities, businesses, and house owners manage backup energy, store power, and finally enable zero-emission electricity generation.

Power Pack is a scalable power storage device for heavy utility and industrial applications and Tesla Powerwall is a lithium-ion battery developed for storing electricity at residences. The move of Tesla into the African country was expected for a few months, although adequate details have not been disclosed.

The automaker recently appointed Evan Rice to serve it as a regional business development manager for the continuation of team building and introduction of Tesla Energy. Evans is a former CEO of Greencape.

Non-profit organization ‘Greencape’ is supporting green economy’s development in the South African Western Cape region. The electric vehicle maker will not disclose any more details regarding its plans. The job postings are suggesting that the company is focusing on its commercial product development. The applications engineer, analyst, and a sales manager would be hired for the commercial Power Pack device.

One of the sales managers is for Tesla Powerwall. The training specialist would be employed in both areas. Tesla’s entrance into African region is purely focusing on not all of its electric cars, power storage and this is making sense. In Africa, the larger opportunity is in power sector with a growth in the demand and unreliable power grid responsible for regular blackouts and not delivering Model S sedans.

CEO of General Electric Jeff Immelt  referred to Africa as a frontier to continue growth opportunities because of its natural resources and increasing demand for power. In 2014, $2 billion were pledged by GE in energy development across the continent to expand and enhance reliability, affordability, and access to core infrastructure.

Whereas most of the growth is concentrated in cities of Africa, opportunities are also there in the rural areas of the region, where now energy grid is non-existent or lacking. Well-known investors like founder of AOL ‘Steve Case’ and ‘Richard Branson’ of Virgin are supporting start-ups selling solar panels to off-grid consumers in East Asia, Africa, and India. Huge solar power companies have developed units focusing on rural consumers in the same sectors, Katie Fehrenbacher of Fortune has reported. 

Ford Equips Fusion V-6 2017 With Pothole Detection Technology

The 2017 Fusion V-6 sport can detect potholes and take measures for drivers accordingly.

Ford equips its new 2017 Fusion V-6 with its pothole-detection feature. The American automaker’s huge Ford Expedition SUV and Lincoln luxury vehicles are also equipped with the same feature.

The computer of the car, in which this detection system is installed, detects when it runs over a pothole, and then adjusts the shock absorbers instantly to ensure that the tire does not fall in the depression. It is working in such a good manner that the Michigan-based company can show how the vehicle can be driven over a pothole without breaking ping-pong balls inside it.

Spokesman of Ford, Aaron Miller, said the pothole protection technology will be a standard feature of the vehicle. The automaker cited AAA as stating potholes are responsible for damages costing $300 per car and $3 billion every year. The technology works by using a dozen of high-resolution sensors.

In every two milliseconds, the computer could adjust suspension dampers. It starts to operate at the soonest as the vehicle encounters the pothole’s lid – stiffening the shock absorbing system to ensure that the vehicle’s front wheel does not drop inside the hole.

Since car’s front wheel has already responded, computer now knows that its rear wheel has prepared for also encountering the pothole. The system was developed at a pothole filled test center in Belgium. There are surfaces in the center with a 1.2-mile stretch, which have been developed to replicate some of the world’s worst roads.

Fusion V-6 Sport, which would be available in showrooms in the coming summer, is well known midsize sedan’s performance version. A 2.7-liter twin turbocharged V-6 EcoBoost engine is installed in the car to power. This engine produces 325 horsepower.

According to Digital trends, Ford has claimed if the computers of Fusion detect a pothole, they will actually use the hardest setting that would in turn ensure that the wheel does not fall into the pothole to the extent it would have fallen in case of a soft setting. Ford also claimed that engineers put their spines at risk while driving vehicles over “countless” potholes for tuning the software.

In other news, MSNBC has reported that Ford would no longer remain a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), joining the list of a number of huge companies that have left it. It has not discussed the reasons behind its decision to part ways with the lobbying organization. Six months ago, Google announced to distance away from ALEC.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Reported Lesser-Than-Expected Earnings For The Fourth Quarter

The retailer's stock decline as it announced lesser than expected earnings financial results for the fourth quarter, fiscal year 2016.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported its fourth quarter earnings for fiscal year 2016 on Thursday. The 4QFY16 reported lesser than expected earnings for the quarter along with disappointing guidance for the upcoming quarter. After the report was announced, during the pre-market trading, the stock of the retailer plunged by 4.5%.

For the quarter, the retail corporation reported consolidated revenue of $129.7 billion; in comparison to the same quarter last year, it indicated a decline of 2.2% as the revenue reported back then was $131.billion. The profit during the quarter dropped by at least 8% due to which the company decided to lower its sales forecast for the current year. During the call, the retail giant also reported that it is planning on shutting down over 200 of its stores all across the globe.

The Bentonville based retailer has been trying far too long to gain back its share in the market which is increasingly dominated by the e-commerce giant Amazon. For the quarter, the sales growth grew by 8% as well mainly because the company maintained its focus on targeting online as well as mobile customers. But in the last twelve months, the sales growth has just been declining, despite that the fact that the retailer has been heavily investing in the business.

However in comparison to the first quarter of fiscal year 2016, the sales rose by as much as 26% in the fourth quarter while during the first quarter the sales rose by 15%. Diluted Earnings per share reported for the quarter were $1.43 with a net profit of $4.57 billion. In comparison to the same quarter last year, there has been a decline in the net profit as well, as the net profit initially was $4.96 billion, amounting to $1.53 per share.

In the retailer’s defense, the disappointing earnings reported was mainly due to the heavy investment the company made during the previous year in worker’s wages and renovating its stores. Additionally, Wal-Mart stores have also been hurt because of the stronger US dollar. Amazon and other online retailers are taking up too much of the market share and online customers – the largest retailer in the world is facing too many issues due to that as well. At this point there are more online shoppers than brick-to-mortar due to which the dominance is being threatened.

For the current quarter, (1QFY17) the company has forecasted an SSC increment of 0.5% and expects to achieve EPS of $4.00 to $4.30 per share which also indicates a decline of over 6% to 12% on an year over year basis. An annual cash dividend of $2 has been approved by the board of the company on the common stock; during the previous year the dividend was at $1.96 per share so it has increased by 2%.

Wal-Mart stock is being traded at a share price of $64.09 indicating a decline of 3.06% from its previous trading session. The price to earnings ratio presently is at $13.74 with earnings per share of $4.66. The market cap of the retailer is $205.86 billion.

Google Expands Itself To Grocery Delivery Industry

Google started to penetrate into the perishable delivery industry in a less risky manner.

Google is extending its own same day delivery facility to fresh grocery items, the most recent example of the company’s increasing push into the daily lives of consumers.

The search giant stated it would start delivering meat, produce, eggs, and other perishable products on February 17, 2016 in different areas of Los Angeles and San Francisco. This service will be provided under Google Express, which collaborates with retailers in some American cities for delivering products to buyers within hours after the order is placed.

Like most recent initiatives of Google that include speedy internet facility and Internet-connected thermostats, delivery of food sometimes is trickier. Delivery of fresh food especially is a well-stocked service that has been able to earn few profits.

Rivals include Safeway, Fresh Direct LLC, Instacart and Amazon but they, along with others, have not been able to easily earn money, in part due to historically low profitability of around 2% on sales of grocery items and high costs of delivery. In the previous year, when internet facility used to be slower, Webvan Group burned $800 million before it filed a bankruptcy in 2001 and ceased its operations.

While Fresh Direct and Amazon maintain costly refrigerated warehouses located near cities, the Mountain View based company said it would directly deliver from its current retail partners, which would avoid the risks of inventory ownership such as food spoilage. In the Californian city San Francisco, the mapping service provider will deliver goods of Smart & Final Stores, Whole Foods Market and Costco Wholesale Corporation.

Google said it is changing its existing delivery operation for accommodating fresh grocery items, like cutting down the delivery window of customers from 4 hours to 2 hours. It is also raising its minimum size of an order pertaining to fresh grocery items to $15 from $35.

For members of Google Express – the cost of annual membership is $95 – cost of delivering fresh-food will be $3 per order, compared with zero charges for delivering non-perishable goods. Non-members of Express would pay $5.

Google Express has recently suffered from some problems. Since November 2014, two officials have left it and the company closed two warehouses in San Francisco in 2015, including one where employees had tried to unionize.

Google has expanded Express to the entire California and Midwest’s most regions. It also said the elimination of warehouses has played a role in helping it to deliver fresh food items and expedited the facility. 

Temasek Sold Stake in Alibaba Group

Singaporean state owned company Temasek has spun off Alibaba's shares and bought JD.com's shares

Alibaba Group Holding competitor,Temasek Holdings has taken an edge over it by reducing its stake in the Chinese e-Commerce giant in the final quarter while purchasing stakes in other China based online company. including Alibaba's biggest rival, JD.com.

On Tuesday, the Singaporean government owned Investment Company filed to the US Securities and Exchanges Commission that it sold ADR of total 548,769 in Alibaba which left it with 47.5 million.

The value of the stake rose to $3.86 billion from $2.83 billion as the stakes increased by 38% in the course of time. Amongst the new acquisitions of Temasek were ADRs totaling at 8.2 million at China based online travel service provider Tuniu Corporation and ADRs totaling at 6.1 million in Chinese online trading company Jingdong Mall.

The adjustments are reflecting an extension of bet of Temasek on the tech sector of China and industries providing services to a rising middle class. The Singaporean organization initially invested in the Hangzhou based company in the financial year ending March 2011, purchasing $36 million (S$50 million) of its China registered stock

Data gathered by Bloomberg has revealed that the Revenue of JD.com has increased by 52% on an yearly basis in the quarter ending September, while the top line expansion of Alibaba was at 32%. Summit Research Partners LLC’s analyst Henry Guo is expecting rising pricing rivalry between the enterprises which would help Alibaba taken an enhanced position as it’s profit margin is higher. A buy recommendation has been given by Henry on Alibaba.

Contrary to that, Henry has given a hold receommendation on Jingdong Mall. Temasek’s stake increased its shares by 1.4 million in the pharmaceutical manufacturer Gilead Sciences and acquired therapeutic enzyme product manufacturer BioMartin Pharmaceutical’s shares totaling at 888,845 shares, the filing has revealed

The investment organization cut down its shares in  the healthcare company Quintiles Transnational Holdings from shares totaling at 4.1 million to shares totaling at 639,172 shares, a filing has revealed. The stakes decreased by 1.3% in the final quarter after they doubled since their listing in May 2013.

In September, the price of Alibaba’s shares decreased from a record making position of $119.15 to $57.39. The enterprise founded by entrepreneur Jack Ma succeeded in raising $25 billion in the course of its US initial public offering held in Sept, 2014, spinning stake at an average price of $68.

After the initial investment of Temasek in Alibaba, the company followed by buying more stakes from workers of Alibaba and increased its stake again 4 years ago when the largest Chinese online trading company rebought its stock from the search company Yahoo and spun off some of the shares to its current shareholders.

Temasek is currently holding ADRs that have got converted from its shares registered in China.

Google Starts Testing Helium Balloon Powered Internet Service In Sri Lanka

Google has taken an initiative to provide internet service to millions of Sri Lankan users.

Google started testing its balloon-powered high-speed internet facility in Sri Lanka before completing its planned joint project with the Sri Lankan government. One of three balloons used in the tests entered the airspace of the country on Monday after its introduction in the South American region, stated a government official, Muhunthan Canagey.

Project Loon aims to play a significant role to connect remote areas to the web and has been tested in Indonesia and Australia. Muhuthan said a team of the search giant would reach Sri Lanka soon to conduct efficiency test, flight controls, and other technicalities.

The government of Sri Lanka announced previously in February it would attain a 25% share in the joint project with the search engine developer to offer a helium-filled balloon-powered fast internet facility. Capital is not invested by Sri Lanka but stake would be attained by it in the venture for the allocation of spectrum.

Existing telephone service providers would be provided an opportunity to attain one tenth of the joint project, access higher speeds and enhance their existing service’s quality once the balloon venture is running up. It is promising to extend cheaper rates and coverage for data facilities.

After reaching the stratosphere, balloons will reach heights twice than that of commercial aircrafts and the naked eye will not be able to view them easily. Their lifespan will be around 180 days, but they can be recycled, according to the officials of Sri Lankan Government participating in the project.

Official figures show that there are fixed line internet users totaling at 630,000 and mobile internet connections totaling at 3.3 million among over 20 million Sri Lankan population. In 1989, Sri Lanka has turned into the first South Asian country to launch cellphones. In 2004, it becomes the first country to launch 3G network and first in South Asia to introduce a 4G network two years ago.

Google previously found it difficult to discover a balloon design that is durable and inexpensive at the same time to not only float but also navigate to travel through the stratosphere. There are round and shiny balloons that look like huge pillows, but finally, Google discovered a design capable of being manufactured cheaply and still navigate in a precise manner.

Head of X unit at Alphabet, Astro Teller, told that in 2015, balloon travelled across the globe 19 times in 187 days. The next measure will see how these work to provide real internet facility to users.