Timing & trends

New York to London in 3.5

Posted by Chris Isidore

on Friday, 4 June 2021 6:17

New York (CNN Business)United Airlines announced a deal to buy 15 supersonic jets, planning to carry passengers on the ultra-fast planes by 2029.

If the airline can follow through with its plan, these would be the first commercial supersonic flights since the grounding of the Concorde jet in 2003. The economics of that fuel-guzzling supersonic jet and restrictions on flying it over land at speeds that would produce a sonic boom doomed the Concorde. Airlines had to try to fill the plane with passengers willing to pay a substantial premium over a first-class ticket on traditional aircraft.
United is buying the supersonic jet from Boom Supersonic, a privately held upstart aircraft maker based in Denver. The plane, dubbed the “Overture,” is slated to be completed by 2025, start test flights by 2026 and carry passengers by 2029. United has agreed to buy 15 of the jets, with options for 35 more.
The plane is slated to fly at Mach 1.7, or roughly twice as fast as today’s commercial jets. It will be able to fly from United’s hub in Newark, New Jersey, to London in just three-and-a-half hours. It could make the Newark to Frankfurt trip in four hours and San Francisco to Tokyo in just six hours.

Free Guns Are Now a COVID-Vaccine Incentive in the US

Posted by Trone Dowd

on Thursday, 3 June 2021 6:51

 

Get a shot for a chance to fire a shot—from a brand-new rifle. That’s how West Virginia is trying to boost its lagging vaccination numbers before the start of the summer.

Anyone who gets at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine will be able to enter to win one of 10 custom-made rifles and shotguns and a range of other prizes in a drawing on June 20, which is Father’s Day.

“This is for all people that have been vaccinated: If you got vaccinated back in the end of December or the beginning of January, absolutely you are eligible,” Republican Gov. Jim Justice said during his COVID-19 response press briefing Tuesday morning. “Save a life and change your life. The more we can get vaccinated, the faster we’ll get to saving all kinds of additional lives and saving lots of money for the state of West Virginia.”

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You Know We’ve Turned A Corner When…….

Posted by Jeff Wells

on Wednesday, 2 June 2021 6:52

Costco is bringing full in-store sampling back

Dive Brief:
  • Costco is bringing back its full sampling program and adding back in-store food court seating at all of its stores, Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Thursday.
  • Sampling, which will include prepared items once again, will return to stores in waves over the next few weeks and will incorporate safety precautions like plexiglass barriers and smaller batches. Food courts, which have been running takeout-only service and a limited menu, will offer more menu items along with seating at half capacity. Galanti said Costco aims to have both services fully operating by the end of June.
  • The fuller return of sampling and food courts underscores how rising vaccinations are helping consumers and retailers return to normal operations as summer approaches.

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Digital Advertising Comes of Age

Posted by Jon Hopkins, Proactive Investors

on Monday, 31 May 2021 14:07

Digital advertising generated an estimated US$273.29 billion in media advertising spending in 2018 and is expected to grow to $393 billion in 2021.

Google, Facebook, Amazon, and other large internet companies have capitalized on the value of their highly-trafficked sites by selling space to advertise goods and services. They have also developed elaborate platforms and programs to sell this advertising space.

Companies moving into the digital advertising arena have seen exceptional growth, but they have also had to deal with new technologies and the impact of changes to privacy policies by some of these big players. As a result, an AdTech market has emerged for software tools to help advertisers run online advertising campaigns on these sites, optimize advertising spending and improve the results of their campaigns.

CLICK HERE for the Proactive interview with Adcore chief executive officer Omri Brill. Israel-based Adcore Inc. (TSX:ADCO) (FRA:ADQ), provides search engine marketing software solutions and services via automation and machine learning technologies.

Using machine learning artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Adcore’s cloud-based suite of software-as-a-service (SaaS) products provides digital advertisers with smart algorithm powered automation tools, reporting, and analytics in order to help them improve online advertising effectiveness, maximize their return on advertising investment and scale-up their digital campaigns.

Rolls-Royce will now build you any car you want, but it will cost millions

Posted by Peter Valdes-Dapena

on Friday, 28 May 2021 6:49

(CNN)If you have the money — and if Rolls-Royce executives like your idea — the British ultra-luxury carmaker will build you the car of your dreams.

Rolls-Royce now joins a number of other ultra-luxury carmakers, including Bentley and Porsche, that will work with a limited number of wealthy clients to build very expensive customized cars. (Both Bentley and Porsche are owned by the Volkswagen Group, while Rolls-Royce is owned by BMW.)
On Thursday, Rolls-Royce revealed a new program called Rolls-Royce Coachbuild. This department will work with individual clients to help design and build cars specifically for them.
The luxury automaker will work on just one of these cars every couple of years, Rolls-Royce executives said. While Rolls-Royce would not say how much the cars will cost, it seems clear they will cost many millions of dollars.
“Rolls-Royce Coachbuild clients are intimately and personally involved at each step of the creative and engineering process,” said Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös.
Porsche calls its custom car department Sonderwunsch, or “Special Wish” in German. The program, which had previously existed from Porsche’s earliest days up until the 1980s, has just recently been restarted. Now Porsche is offering to do fully customized new cars, as well as custom models based on classic Porsches, such as the 356 and early 911s.
Porsche’s program had been responsible for introducing such innovations as the rear window wiper, as well as Porsche’s first in-car radio on the Porsche 356 sports car.
“Listening to our customers was always an innovation source for our company,” said Christian Heck, head of product management for the Porsche program.
Last year, Bentley unveiled the Bacalar, an entirely roofless car, of which 12 will be made, at a cost of $2 million each. In revealing that car, Bentley also announced its own return to “coachbuilding.”