By Justin Honaman - 01/02/2020

I don’t know about you, but as our team spent time in stores, at social events, in restaurants, attending industry events, and more during Q4 2019, the overall “vibe” was positive – in fact, very positive. The consumer feels good. The consumer is eating out. Shopping. Traveling. Investing. Smiling. Spending. Unemployment is low. Inflation is low. Trade agreements with China (and others) seem to be heading in a positive direction. The stock market is up (way up). There are many jobs – new and different kinds of jobs – in the market. Exciting, and yet this makes me wary given the last time it all felt “this good.”

Retailers have come a long way – no longer is it “all about Amazon” and in fact, many traditional brick and mortar retailers have made great strides in providing an “Amazon-like” shopping experience online, offering fast/free shipping to home or store, enabling pickup in store, and smoothing out what had been a disjointed channel connectivity problem in the past (many retailers developed their online channel separate from their store channel – different systems, data, platforms, etc.).

We did lose many retail stores in 2019, including Sears, Kmart, Payless Shoesource, Barneys, Party City, Gymboree, Dress Barn, Fred’s, Shopko, Charming Charlie, Avenue, LifeWay Christian Resources, A.C. Moore, and Charlotte Russe to name a few. Note that not all are out of business, but at a minimum, they significantly decreased their real estate footprint or number of doors. It has become such a common occurrence that to most – even those serving the industry – it’s no longer a shock or surprise for the next “formerly top-performing retailer” to announce store closings. What is interesting is that despite this trend, more and more commercial real estate is popping up with retail square footage availability – outdoor walking malls, new office buildings with first-floor retail, trendy/niche /high-end grocery, etc. This will be interesting to watch as more and more consumers shop online vs. walking the traditional (or non-traditional) malls and if the overall market cools and consumers pull back on spending.

What about trends in tech? Let’s start with data security. According to Business Insider, since the start of 2018, at least 19 retailers and consumer companies were hacked and likely had information stolen from them. Many of these breaches were caused by flaws in payment systems that were taken advantage of by hackers. Furthermore, according to a study by KPMG, 19% of consumers said they would completely stop shopping at a retailer after a breach, and 33% said they would take a break from shopping there for an extended period. Cyber security and privacy continues to be a focus for investment from a systems perspective.

And, in the world of data and analytics, the retail industry continues to move into artificial intelligence, machine learning, and intelligent automation (including robotic process automation (RPA)) solutions and capabilities in an effort to make better use of operational data and more flexible cloud platforms.

This year is poised to be an eventful one for retail. Below are a few key retail technology trends that will be of importance in 2020.

WHAT IS TIMELY…VS TIMELESS

I was recently in a meeting with one of our business leaders to discuss a revised organizational vision document. Clarity in vision is important to us (as it should be for any business) and we were working to ensure alignment of the statement and supporting capabilities. In discussing the content, he was quick to highlight elements of the vision that were timely (important now / next 6-8 months) vs. timeless (important for long-term competitive and comparative advantage). It seemed like a simple statement, but resonated with me; I had never thought about content through this lens.

Timely. What are today’s priorities given shifts in consumer preference, technology available now, competitive pressures around business process, projects that “must” be done to meet a defined measure. Investing to keep up/stay even. Response to competitive threat.

Timeless.  New ways of working that once implemented, become part of the ongoing fabric of running the operation. New solutions that modernize how we do business and enable long-term value creation. New organizational staffing models centered on staff needs for the next 1-3 years – not just this performance year. Flexible investment models that enable movement with the market – or with consumer preference changes. Innovation integration – not just a separate group that works on the “new cool” stuff.

As retail looks to pivot, it will be important to consider what investments in people, process, data, technology and partners is timely; and what is timeless? Are you investing to keep up, or for an expected future? This thinking will be a challenge for some organizations, and eagerly accepted and pursued by others – and thus differentiation in the market.

EXPLORING NEW TECH

Data / Analytics. Timeless. Still hot and will always be a priority as businesses find new and different ways to leverage their data. For retail, the analytics and data upside is in demand forecasting and supply chain planning. In addition, better inventory visibility through a combination of data and systems as well as sensors to monitor in-stock/out-of-stock (on shelf, in warehouse, in transit) will continue to enable flexible transformation. Analytics becomes part of the fabric of the organization – this skill set now and, in the future, will be “part” of every team – not its own disparate team. For retailers with scale, a centralized data science/data discovery/decision science team could be useful in fueling reporting, BI and analytics methods in the business.

Edge Analytics. Timeless. IoT solutions rely on centralized, platform-based solutions to collect, store, and analyze sensor data from devices. Platform solutions built on a cloud-centric paradigm require reliable, low-latency, high-bandwidth network connectivity and this is a challenge for businesses with assets in geographic locations that lack strong, reliable network connectivity. This is a bigger challenge when large data volumes must also be shared. For edge analytics, a central cloud-based platform is critical to manage and develop the analytics applications and models based on populations of devices, which when deployed at the edge are customized for the specific instance and scenario. Edge analytics allows for the ability to run a variety of machine learning, predictive and prescriptive models that require a more powerful compute environment. As retailers work to manage data-driven decisions across channels, numerous disparate and global locations, edge analytics is a near-term real opportunity.

Blockchain. Not timely or timeless…yet. As we covered last year, we’ve been hearing the Blockchain buzz for several years and in retail, it is not a reality (yet). One of the reasons why Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are getting such buzz is because they offer an opportunity to bypass “expensive” forms of payment for something much cheaper – if crypto-currencies can keep their transactions “cheap”. There is the potential for significant demand for crypto-currencies from a consumer perspective, but right now it’s a pretty complex process to set up a digital wallet, gain access to a crypto-currency exchange, and start buying up coins. And, the security of some of these crypto-currency markets is not assured. In retail, there is future potential to leverage for trade promotion management/trade spend, product sourcing, warranty tracking of goods, and product raw material track and trace. Expect the big consultant and tech partners to continue to explore and evolve viable applications for the industry.

Microservices Architecture. Timeless. According to a MITSloan Management survey in conjunction with Accenture Research, 67% of C-level executives would like to replace all of their core legacy systems. And in retail, we know this is not possible for a variety of reasons (cost, linkage to multiple back-office systems, expertise in doing the work, potential downtime/outage, etc.). There is an option to “modernize” the old legacy systems while investing new dollars in cloud capabilities. One enabler to that is a microservices architecture. The microservice software architecture allows a system to be divided into a number of smaller, individual and independent services. Each service is flexible, robust, composable and complete. They run as autonomous processes and communicate with one another through APIs. Microservices creates a scalable, flexible, and resilient IT architecture that allows both modern and legacy applications to work side by side. Each microservice can be implemented in a different programming language on a different platform. Almost any infrastructure can run in a container which holds services encapsulated for operation. Since these containers can be operated in parallel, the existing infrastructure is easier to maintain. As retailers look to modernize, microservices will be an important element to new IT architecture.

AI.  Timeless. Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined as smart machines that extend human capabilities by sensing, comprehending, acting, and learning, allowing people to achieve much more. Consumers now routinely use AI-driven technology from phones to cars and all in between – and comfortable sharing data to realize an AI-driven personalized experience. Retail will see a continued shift in approaches to developing products and services as emotional intelligence (EQ) becomes a critical AI differentiator. AI is central to understanding the needs and desires of different consumers, personalizing services, and driving demand. As we discussed last year, personalization will continue to be a priority for retailers – this is especially important online and will also enable new collaboration between retailer and CG manufacturer (in customizing products).

Cyber Security. Timeless. The rapid expansion of emerging technologies that enable new capabilities and provide on-demand services is adding to the security risks that threaten retailers’ businesses. Rapid business expansion can mean retail organizations struggle to identify who has responsibility for an individual process when it is threatened. As attack surfaces continue to widen across systems, devices, people, partners and infrastructure, it’s evident that embracing technology as a key driver of growth can amplify opportunities for complex cyber-attacks. As we saw this year, retail business and security leaders are increasingly focused on interlocking security strategy and cyber defense capabilities to strengthen business resilience and brand trust that are so essential in today’s retail environment. Retailers must establish comprehensive threat protection that takes into account customers, employees, contractors, vendors, applications and systems. Think beyond the perimeter firewall to secure cloud, mobile, and IoT operations and data wherever it resides.

THE CHIEF “DIGITAL-ANALYTICS-DATA-INFORMATION-TECHNOLOGY-TRANSFORMATION” OFFICER EVOLVES

Timely. When “Big Data” was all the buzz, we suddenly had a new role develop within many organizations – the chief analytics officer and/or the chief data officer. As big data came and went, cloud platforms evolved and became mainstream, and analytics has become part of the fabric of most major business groups – and not just a shared services team (or COE) – so have these specialized roles. As many entry-level roles now require some aspect of data engineering, light analytics, and ability to use data to find insights, most organizations no longer have a need for a chief analytics officer as analytics is now part of day-to-day business. The chief data officer role continues to be maintained by many organizations as the proliferation of ERP’s, dis-aggregation of data sets, and general spaghetti-mess that is most major retailers’ and consumer goods companies’ back office (largely as a result of growth through acquisition, silo’d IT management, operating company models, new data sources, etc) means someone needs to have a big picture view of what’s where and how it can be leveraged!

What about digital? And the chief digital officer? How do you define “digital” anyway? Digital at some major consulting firms is defined as everything from analytics to Salesforce to CRM to architecture to quantum. In retail, there is digital marketing. Digital customer experience. (Digital) loyalty platforms. Digital CRM platforms. Digital supply chains. Digital in-store experiences. Digital communications. Digital systems architecture. Digital POS. Digital, digital, digital. It means different things and everything. So how can one person be the chief digital officer? And how does this differ from the chief technology officer (CTO) or chief information officer (CIO)? The reality is that every aspect of the business is infused with (or will be infused with) some aspect of “digital.” And in the next 12-18 months, digital transformation will be overused and eventually not used as the business will just focus on “transformation.” Just like “big data,” “digital” will just be part of how we do business and the next to-be-named transformation will arrive.

AMAZON DELIVERY NOW

Timely. As I outlined in 2019, I live in Atlanta and we have a small place out I-20 at Lake Oconee which is about 90 minutes East of Atlanta. I have noticed over the last two years that every time I drive out to the lake, I see tractor trailers heading West – each with three brand new Amazon delivery vans onboard.

In August of this year, FedEx pulled the plug on Amazon deliveries, effectively ending domestic ties with the largest U.S. retailer. Fedex said that the company would not renew its ground delivery contract with Amazon when it expires at the end of August and would focus on business from other retailers.

Amazon is effectively building a more efficient and scalable delivery platform (fleet, network, growth model) and is a major disruptor to both Fedex and UPS. Just as Amazon disrupted the retail industry, the same is happening in the freight/shipping business. The challenge these big companies face is similar to the infrastructure, technology, innovation-mindset, operating model/overhead challenge faced by retailers vs. Amazon retail. Add to this that Amazon owns more than half of the cloud (Infrastructure-As-A-Service) market, and you have a nimble, innovative, well-funded, owns-the-top-data-platform competitor with a new delivery franchise model.

Amazon could very quickly move into warehousing and fulfillment of inventory for major brands, which they already do today for smaller brands with Fulfillment by Amazon and larger consumer goods brands in the CG warehouses. Amazon becomes the one-stop back-office supply chain solution allowing retailers to focus on front-office, consumer engagement, and brand-building.

BUZZWORD BINGO FOR 2020

Each year, we highlight the “hot” buzzwords across the technology and consulting-vendor-partner-sphere. The words that are intended to imply value – or something worth buying – and most of the time, this is in fact the case! Here are a few trending buzzwords to add to your “Bingo” card for 2020. Carry this around with you at GroceryShop, ShopTalk, NRF, Oracle, SAP, SAS, Microsoft, and JDA retail events. And of course, the Cathy Hotka dinners – as always, you will absolutely have many Bingos!

Digital transformation, AI and machine learning (which are still seemingly always used together), intelligence automation, RPA, microservices, personalization, Shoptalk/GroceryShop, consumer experience, customer journey mapping, data breach, blockchain, Amazon, drones.

Bingo! (READ MORE)

TechStartups Team POSTED ON JANUARY 2, 2020

Germany’s Bosch to offer lower-cost sensors for self-driving cars. German automotive supplier Robert Bosch announced Thursday it has developed a sensor that lets cars “see” a three-dimensional view of the road, aiming to lower the cost of technology that could speed the development of self-driving vehicles. The company said its internally-developed LIDAR sensor will cover both long and close ranges on highways and in the city and will work in conjunction with the company’s camera and radar technologies. As of now, Bosch did not provide a timeline, pricing or technology details for its LIDAR, but a spokesman said the company is working on making the sensors “production ready” and the focus will be on “affordable mass market” technology.

Trifo unveils Lucy, a robot vacuum; also raises $15 million. Trifo, a full stack AI home robot startup, today announced the launch of Lucy, a smart home superhero, outfitted with an AI-powered brain that enables the robot to protect its home with advanced surveillance technology and also clean the home with one of the most powerful vacuums available. Trifo also announced Series B funding of $15 million, raising total funding of $26 million to date. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Trifo is a full stack AI home robot company. Focusing on indoor home environments, Trifo creates end-to-end integrated hardware/software systems with sensing, perception and decision-making capabilities. These robots help people live better lives by perceiving physics, geometry and semantics of home environments, communicating with humans in a natural way and continuously learning new skills with advanced AI technologies.

Microsoft finished its best year in a decade. 2019 was the best year for Microsoft. It’s been six years since Satya Nadella became Microsoft’s CEO. Under his leadership, the tech giant had its best since 2009. In 2019, the company won a major government contract and saw companies adopting its latest technology. 9 percent of its total revenue also came from its gaming business– Xbox One consoles. Microsoft was also a major contributor to the S&P 500′s rise, second only to Apple. It contributed about 7% of the index’s gains in 2019. As the company closed 2019, it announced plans to stop supporting Windows 7.

Bike sharing startup Mobike loses more than 200,000 dockless bikes to theft and vandalism in 2019. Mobike, a Chinese bike sharing startup which later rebranded as Meituan Bike, announced it lost more than 200,000 bikes to theft and vandalism in 2019. In a blog post published last Friday, Mobike said more than 200,000 of its rent-by-app bicycles were lost to theft or vandalism in 2019. The company also thanked its users for chipping in and reporting stolen and damaged bikes, adding that it received reports from over 189,000 users. Founded on January 27, 2015 by Davis Wang Xiao Feng, Hu Wei Wei, and Xia Yi Ping, Mobike develops mobile apps for users to find and use bicycles to travel anywhere. The startup had raised $600 million in Series E funding led by Tencent, bringing the firm’s fundraising in 2017 alone to nearly US$1 billion in June 2017.

Google AI Beats Doctors at Breast Cancer Detection—Spots Breast Cancer Missed by Human Eyes. DeepMind, a UK-based artificial intelligence startup purchased by Google in 2014, said it has developed an artificial-intelligence system that can match or outperform radiologists at detecting breast cancer. In some cases, however, doctors still beat the machines. Before now, DeepMind reported it developed similar AI systems for lung cancer, eye disease and kidney injury. In collaboration with colleagues at DeepMind, Cancer Research UK Imperial Centre, Northwestern University and Royal Surrey County Hospital, the developed an AI model which can identify breast cancer from scans with fewer false positives or false negatives (when cancer is present but isn’t detected) than experts. Their model caught cancers that were originally missed and reduced false-positive cancer flags for patients who didn’t actually have cancer, according to a post published today In a post published by Shravya Shetty, M.S., Technical Lead, Google Health and Dr. Daniel Tse, Product Manager, Google Health.

EUV is going to be a game changer for the next generation chip manufacturing. The microchip manufacturing process started way back in 1977. The current process of chip manufacturing is based on ‘photolithography’, which is process of using light to transfer geometric patterns onto silicon, which are then engraved into the metal. However, with advances in technology, extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) could revolutionize chip manufacturing to usher a new era of will have next-generation chip with better speed and energy efficiency. EUV manufacturing still uses the same principles of photolithography, but instead, it uses light at an extremely small wavelength. The EUV process also involves liquid metal and high energy plasma. (READ MORE)

All good supercars must-have performance credentials, and so it’s hardly surprising that manufacturers have long had the bright idea to produce examples focused solely on eye-watering speed and spine-warping handling, with no compromises.

Not only are these cars not able to go to the shops, but for the most part, they can’t race either as they are built beyond the realms of any rulebook. These are the best track day indulgences for the world’s elite speed freaks…

McLaren-Mercedes SLR 722 GT

The SLR was closer to a grand tourer than a supercar at first, but the hardcore 722 version helped the car on its way to the apex of performance.

McLaren-Mercedes SLR 722 GT

Then came the GT, a trackday car with an exclusive race series for its owners. The project was ultimately quite a short-lived endeavour, arriving just as the late-2000s financial crisis hit everyone’s pockets. However, the car – a 670bhp, 1,390kg brute – made a lasting impact on its drivers, even if it didn’t stay in the spotlight for long.

Ferrari FXX K

The FXX K, otherwise known as the ‘oh bother’, is the melting pot between Ferrari’s storied past and the changes it will make in the future. The legendary Ferrari V12 is combined with an F1-style electric motor system for a grand total of 1,036bhp.

Ferrari FXX K

It will hit 60mph from a standstill in two and a half seconds, and go on to trouble the 220mph barrier. However, this car is not a drag racer by any means; it was built for the challenges of world-class racing circuits, and that is where the 40 ultra-rich owners get to access the cars through Ferrari’s special XX trackday programme.

Pagani Zonda R

Pagani Zonda R

Not so long ago, a 6 minute 47 second lap time at the Nürburgring was unattainable for any car accessible to the public, regardless of their wealth. It was that very lap time that was a key selling point for Pagani’s Zonda R in 2009, however.

The Zonda R shared very little with the car it took its name from; it was a pure-bred track weapon and something of a testbed for the Huayra that came in 2011. Just 15 examples of this track-day special made it off the production line.

McLaren P1 GTR

If you’ve ever seen McLaren’s base in Woking, you’ll know exactly what to expect from a track car project where its engineers have been able to let their hair down. In short, it’s clinical.

McLaren P1 GTR

McLaren’s signature 3.8-litre engine and carbon tub are exploited to their fullest in the P1 GTR, with a power figure pushing 1,000bhp and race car levels of downforce.

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento

The Sesto Elemento – or ‘sixth element’ in English – is essentially a Gallardo on a diet that picked up a seriously bad attitude somewhere around the 100th salad.

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento

Debuted at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, this car isn’t as racing-inspired as its other track-only counterparts, from a visual perspective. However, with a 562bhp engine borrowed from the Gallardo Superleggera, and a weight of 999kg, it’s no slouch. It’s rare, too - just 20 were built, and they’re worth a pretty penny today. (READ MORE)

By Cally Russell Dec 30, 2019, 12:44pm Contributor Retail - I write about Europe’s retail industry and all things tech startup.

You would find it hard to find anyone that would argue that 2019 was a great year for the retail industry as a whole. This year we saw companies such as Forever 21 and Barneys undertake bankruptcy proceedings in the US and in the UK Jack Wills and Karen Millen were snapped up just before they went into administration by bigger groups. In the end according to Coresight Research, 9,300 stories will have closed their doors in 2019 in the US alone.

It’s not all doom and gloom though, some companies saw fantastic performance in 2019 - wither they’re emerging brands like AllBirds and Boohoo Group or global giants like Zara and Amazon.

To avoid a repeat of the retail disasters of 2019, what can others learn from these businesses to kick start growth in 2020 and beyond?

Stock Management: The starting point for success in retail is the right product, for the right customer at the right time - good stock management! Sadly though for many retail companies in 2019 stock management wasn’t the basis for success, but rather the basis of failure. (READ MORE)

By Sanchita Dash

Over the decade, India startups have grown and how.  Not only did they bring in innovative ideas and disruptive many sectors from retail to transport, they also changed the way angel investors and VCs view Indian entrepreneurs. (READ MORE)

By Ann-Marie Alcántara

Learn from today's most disruptive and legendary brands. Secure your pass for the Challenger Brands Summit, a Brandweek Event, Mar. 4-5 in NYC. Learn more.

With store closures, one-day shipping wars between Amazon and Walmart, the ongoing tariff debacle with the U.S. and China and multiple CEO shakeups, 2019 was yet another volatile year for the retail industry.

Click here to read more.

The industry saw some gains as well, with numerous acquisitions of digitally native brands and more store openings such as in the Hudson Yards mall development.

Let’s look back at 2019 to see some of the biggest news that defined the past year.

Some of the biggest store openings

While plenty of store closures happened this year—9,302 as of December 13, 2019—new developments opened big doors. Hudson Yards in New York flashed its seven-story mall dubbed “The Shops at Hudson Yards” in March, with legacy retailers such as Neiman Marcus finally arriving in the Big Apple. Other notable openings included Nordstrom’s homecoming to New York in October, with 320,000 square feet devoted to its usual offerings, tailoring services and direct-to-consumer brands. The long-awaited (and ill-fated) American Dream mall also opened that month, with its first retail outpost finally opening for business on December 16.

Other digitally native retailers are expanding footprints as well, with Glossier testing out numerous pop-ups across the country and the pond, Everlane opening stores in Williamsburg and Los Angeles, and Neighborhood Goods landing its second store in New York’s Chelsea Market. Per Coresight Research, 4,392 stores have opened up this year so far—more than this time in 2018.

M&A is still strong and well

Plenty of surprise—and welcome—acquisitions occurred this year. One of the biggest deals included LVMH acquiring Tiffany & Co. for $16.2 billion in November.

In the beauty industry, Shiseido acquired Drunk Elephant, a cult favorite skincare brand, for $845 million in October. Unilever bought Tatcha for a reported $500 million.

Over in the digitally native brand space, Wacoal Industries bought lingerie brand Lively for $85 million. In November, PayPal shocked the industry by acquiring popular shopping coupon and rebate extension Honey Science Corporation for $4 billion. Meanwhile, clothing subscription brand Le Tote acquired Lord & Taylor for $100 million and brought back the famed store to New York for a short pop-up.

Other industries saw shakeups as well, with McDonald’s acquiring Dynamic Yield to help with the QSR giant’s ongoing digital transformation. Google, long struggling with its own wearable ambitions, bought Fitbit for $2.1 billion in November. Google wasn’t the only tech giant in the M&A game. In March, Amazon acquired WiFi router company Eero with the terms of the deal undisclosed.

Shopify continues to dominate

It was yet another big year for the ecommerce platform, with Shopify reaching 1 million merchants in late November. At the company’s annual developer conference in June, the platform furthered its plans to become more than just an ecommerce platform with the rollout of the Shopify Fulfillment Network (SFN). Not only is the fulfillment network a move to compete with Amazon, but it provides another channel for businesses to ship orders—without the dangers of working with Amazon as a 3PL. Also that month, Shopify announced Shopify Email, its own email service provider to compete with the likes of Mailchimp and offer merchants a customizable solution to ramp up its email marketing.

One-Day shipping wars

Amazon remains the thread that unites all retailers, whether it’s out of fear and competition or a necessary evil to work with. In April, Amazon announced Amazon Prime Members now get one-day free shipping, as opposed to two-day shipping. Walmart, not to be left behind, announced free next-day shipping in May—without any membership fee. It’s the ongoing war between the two retailers, competing on every front from ecommerce, to third-party marketplaces to grocery. While one-day shipping will end up costing Amazon $4 to $5 billion to implement, analysts points to numerous Amazon investments in first and last-mile delivery they say will ultimately pay off as it stops outsourcing of its logistics to other parties.

Other similar trends, such as buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) is on the rise, with players like the Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Target seeing it pickup. According to Adobe Analytics, BOPIS grew 40.9% year-over-year during Cyber Weekend and Monday, with 20% of consumers more likely to buy something with a retailer that enables BOPIS. (READ MORE)

7/2/2019 by Michael Saponara

Fat Joe, Dre, Lil Wayne - Pullin (Official Video)

Fat Joe has been a fixture in hip-hop for more than two decades now. With Hpnotiq boasting a similar cachet on the liquor side in the 21st century, it was a no-brainer for Joey Crack to team up with the brand as their new creative director and face of the OG Campaign.

"Fat Joe is the OG. I've stayed relevant and it's the same thing for Hpnotiq," the Bronx native tells Billboard of his relationship with the brand that dates back to 2002. "They haven't died down. A lot of trendy stuff comes and goes, but Hpnotiq is here to stay. I'm one of the original guys to have campaigns with them back then. It was a no brainer to do the OG campaign and come full-circle."

With Joe at the helm, Hpnotiq allowed him to dabble on the creative side and star in a couple funny commercials, one of which, can be seen below. "We had some dry humor in there making fun of all these stereotypes," he explains. "It's some Jim Carey type of shit. It came out fire."

READ MORE

Fat Joe, Remy Ma & French Montana Sued Over 'All The Way Up': Report

Musically, the 48-year-old remains busy, as the Terror Squad boss says he's "never worked harder on an album" than his upcoming LP with Dre, Family Ties. "It usually takes me a month or two to work on an album, but we've been getting this together for over a year. If we don't deliver a classic, I failed," he states.

The "What's Luv" rapper kicked off the album's rollout last week (June 27) with the explosive "Pullin" featuring an assist from Lil Wayne, who Fat Joe has known since before iPhones were invented. "Wayne went bonkers on that track like he always does," Joe said of his "Make It Rain" collaborator. "I'm a huge Lil Wayne fan, so any time I get to work with him is great. He's one of the realest people I've ever met in hip-hop. He's loyal, and I love him for that. It's an honor to be Lil Wayne's friend. If you ever get to know him, you're blessed."

On Tuesday (July 2), Fat Joe unveils the Eif Rivera-directed "Pullin" visual, which was shot in Miami and premieres with Billboard.

Give the supernova clip along with the aforementioned Hpnotiq commercial a look below, where Joe says the trio was on "some Marvin the Martian" vibes. (READ MORE)

•  EMAIL ME

December 11, 2019 12:39 PM

General Motors leaving the Plastics Industry Association never should have happened. ("GM leaves plastics association, making fourth big exit this year," Nov. 11, Page 3.) GM joining PIA never should have happened in the first place. Nor should have the other three big brands that already exited this year.

How and when the brands were recruited would expose a revealing set of discussions. The association's mission statement assures prospective members: "We work to change the public's perceptions about plastics." Does anyone working in the industry even remotely think that any brands give one hoot about creating growth for the industry? When plastic products get banned, taxed or otherwise penalized, a brand — every brand — will simply switch to glass, aluminum, paper or some other previously disrupted material.

Who, then, and how, then, did the brands get sucked into becoming members of the association? My educated guess is the staff invited them by pushing a rationale that the brands would help, if not be essential, in fostering business growth for the industry by helping fight the mushrooming worldwide animus against things plastic.

My additional educated guess — having seen this with some other associations — is the brands saw this as a wonderful opportunity for them to get their noses under the tent and influence the association for the benefit of the brands, not to create new plastics industry business growth. When that proved fruitless, if not backfire harmfully to the brands, it was logically time for brands to bail out.
(READ MORE)

WENTZVILLE, Mo. – WEBWIRE – Friday, December 13, 2019

General Motors announced today plans to invest $1.5 billion to bring its next generation of midsize pickup trucks to market. GM’s Wentzville truck plant will receive $1 billion of this investment to upgrade the facility in preparation for the new products. This investment is expected to retain about 4,000 good-paying U.S. manufacturing jobs at the Wentzville site.  Specific information related to GM’s next generation of mid-size trucks is not being released at this time.

The Wentzville plant’s paint shop, body shop and general assembly areas will receive upgrades, including new machines, conveyors, controls and tooling.

“Through this investment, General Motors is making a firm commitment to the State of Missouri, the City of Wentzville and the GM Wentzville team,” said Mark Reuss, GM president. “This is part of our comprehensive strategy to invest in growth areas and strengthen our U.S. manufacturing base. GM sells more pickups than any other automaker and we have aggressive plans to build on our strengths.”

Since reintroducing the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon in 2013, GM has sold more than 700,000 midsize pickups in the U.S. The Colorado and Canyon have helped cement GM as the U.S. industry’s most successful pickup truck company for four consecutive years. From 2013 through Q3 2019, GM has sold 600,000 more pickups than any other competitor in the U.S.

GM has invested heavily in midsize trucks in recent years by bringing more product features to market, including new diesel and gas engines, new transmissions and special edition models, like the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 and Bison, as well as the GMC Canyon AT4 available next year.

GM’s Wentzville assembly plant opened in 1983. The plant operates on three shifts of production and currently employs about 4,000 hourly and 330 salaried employees. Wentzville builds the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups and Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans. Hourly employees are represented by UAW Local 2250. (READ MORE)

By GRAHAM KOZAK  December 12, 2019 02:14 PM

Despite its central driving position and naturally aspirated V12, Gordon Murray's upcoming supercar, the T.50, is not meant to be a McLaren F1 reprise.

Rather, in attempting to create his ultimate vision of the supercar, Murray has drawn on everything he has learned in his long and varied career— which means, yes, plenty of references to the first road-going McLaren, but also bits and pieces pulled from his work in Formula 1 and his ongoing focus on composite construction. It's meant to be one for the ages; Murray previously said that he conceives of it as the "last, and the greatest, ‘analog’ supercar ever built.” No shortage of ambition there.

And from the way it has been conceived and engineered to its stated performance specs (or notable lack thereof), it also seems like a deliberate response to the tech-forward, metrics-obsessed machines currently at the top of the supercar and hypercar heap. This is looking like it could be the supercar antithesis of the maximalist Bugatti Chiron. We’re excited. (READ MORE)