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arecomicsevengood · 2 years

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Moving? Fortresses

I recently tracked down a copy of the Enrique Alcatena graphic novel Moving Fortress, published along with its sequel, Subterra, in the late eighties by 4Winds, a publishing company run by Tim Truman and Chuck Dixon. While Alcatena didn’t make a big name for himself in American comics, most of his work for DC was in collaboration with these two men, inking Truman on Hawkworld and drawing some Batman annuals Dixon wrote. I don’t know if that work really flatters his skill-set, reading these translated books, written by Ricardo Barreiro, it struck me that the work Alcatena is doing is that of a concept artist, taking pretty standard pulp plots (where a wanderer is forced to be a slave, than proves himself adept in battle to earn his freedom) and creating weird visuals so that the world becomes deeply fantastical. A lot of the story is carried by narration, while pages are built around strong weird images. These comics are cool, definitely, they are worth looking at if you are a fan of comic art. I’ve previously compared Alcatena’s art to Mat Brinkman’s, it’s easy to imagine an eighties D&D player looking over these pages, being influenced, but what Brinkman brings of himself to the table makes Multi-Force far superior work. Alcatena’s comics don’t evince much in the way of emotion from the reader, though they do stimulate the imagination such that they might envision a better comic.

Even though there are human figures running around the world of monsters, there is none of the attention paid to people and their body language that constitutes the subtle work of comics that’s considered the truly hard stuff to do. There’s a lot of attention paid to the ‘boring’ stuff of human gestures in alternative comics like Love And Rockets, as well as in the nineties Vertigo stuff that for a time set a standard of what was considered ‘good.’ In the eighties, the question of how to make good comics wasn’t yet a settled question. Catalan Communications was a going concern. Both DC and Marvel had their own series of “graphic novels” which were meant to be, in some way, more sophisticated than their monthly fare, a cut above, by working in a space aspiring to the European comics model. In recent months I’ve also ordered off Ebay the Pat Mills/Kevin O’Neill graphic novel Metalzoic and the the Alex Niño-drawn Space Clusters. Space Clusters, in particular, is a gorgeous science-fiction comic that’s pretty unsatisfying as a narrative, though every page is interesting in its use of color and layout. (Long-time Comics Journal writer Kenneth Smith put Space Clusters on a list of top ten comics contributed to a Hooded Utilitarian poll a few years back.) These are comics whose idea of a sophisticated comics reader is someone that reads Heavy Metal, whose idea of good comic art is Philippe Druillet.

In Eddie Campbell’s How To Be An Artist, he calls Druillet’s work “monstrosities,” citing more subtle work (I don’t remember what — Clare Briggs? Posy Simmonds?) as what people eventually realized was more worth looking at. At roughly around the same time, the early 2000’s, Tom Devlin edited a Highwater Books issue of The Comics Journal where he attacked the EC Comics tradition as inferior to early twentieth century comic strips like The Gumps. They were gesturing towards a literary sensibility beyond genre that still has populist appeal on the basis of its broad relatability. When (incoming TCJ print magazine editor) Austin English made a post arguing that a comics tradition going back to George Herriman has lost out to a a comics tradition going back to Milton Caniff, (former TCJ website editor) Dan Nadel was in the comments going “WTF are you talking about?” because if you see a line of influence from Herriman to Charles Schulz, that seeds all of alt-comics or anything attempting a poetic sensibility, whereas if you see Caniff’s influence going to Hal Foster, and then to EC Comics and Druillet — you can see the latter camp as having faded out, losing pretty decisively. (Even the people that make genre comics have learned you need to have quiet moments of people interacting if you want people to care at all about your characters.) And if you’re going to take a historical dialectical view of things, that’s probably the way to to go, because it makes sense as a narrative.

Still, it’s a frustrating argument to watch occur, because it’s two different people sorting large numbers of artists into different camps according to individual criteria of professed or perceived influence. I could argue these eighties graphic novels fall into the same camp as Lyonel Feininger: They’re real weird, and while they look great, my brain needs to do a great deal of work to make sense of them. While it’s visually engaging, part of my enjoyment stems from the thrill of the arcane, like I am doing archival work simply by possessing these comics, that immediate predate chronologically a paradigm shift that would make them obsolete. Dave Gibbons and David Mazzucchelli would teach DC an important lesson in how to tell a story visually that’s readable enough to be capable of literary affect. Manga would’ve been slowly trickling into the market at this point, largely being dismissed, and that presents a completely different way of making comics than what these comics are up to such that I imagine anyone who grew up on it would be lost looking at these things. These comics are fossils, dinosaur shit from right before the comet hit. They are playing a European comics game that’s post-Druillet, who’s arguably following in the footsteps of Hal Foster — creating comics I have never been able to read, and whose subject matter doesn’t seem like it would reward me if I could. But once you accept that the stories are nonsense, and just confront the art, they again begin to function as fantasy or science fiction, because they conjure a dream of what could be if things were completely different, if evolution had happened differently.

[image credits - Alcatena from Moving Fortess, Alcatena from Subterra, Alex Niño from Space Clusters, Kevin O’Neill from Metalzoic, Alex Niño from Space Clusters]

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doodlewash · 5 years

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My name is Abey Zoul, and I spent a memorable childhood in a beautiful small town called Bachok, Kelantan, one of the states on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Full of sandy white beaches, Kelantan is also rich in unique cultural heritage that are still practised today by the current generation. For example, the mystical performances, namely wayang kulit, a traditional shadow puppet play and, Menora, a type of dance drama.

After graduating from an architectural school in 1999, I spent most of my life working in a few architectural firms in Kuala Lumpur. Every evening after work and during weekends, I used to find joy in riding big bikes. In 2012, I shelved my bike and started on my journey in watercolour painting.

In Malaysia, watercolour has always been considered as an inferior painting alternative to other mediums. Hence, my friends and I decided to set up a watercolor group called Gangstawatakala. Our vision is to bring back the glorious days of watercolour.

My love towards everything that relates to heritage and culture, traditional houses, quaint old shops and wooden fishing boats, becomes the setting in most of my watercolour works. Fishing boats, primarily Perahu Kolek, is a wooden fishing boat which can only be found in my hometown and in southern Thailand. Its long history of craftsmanship is my main interest.

Kampung Baru, the one and only village amidst the crowded city of Kuala Lumpur, is where my friends and I regularly spend our weekends together painting and sketching. The old wooden village houses give a rural vibe in spite of the modern and iconic steel cladding of KLCC and other modern buildings. My paintings try to capture the stories of people whose wooden houses are surrounded by Kuala Lumpur’s skyscrapers.

Painting is not just about producing a beautiful artwork on a piece of paper, it is about telling the story behind every image produced from the eyes of the artist. It is also about digging deeper through history. The more you see things to be painted, the more stories you know behind it. Hence, painters are, in a way, also storytellers.

Tools & Materials

Mistakes in choosing tools and materials often occur in watercolour. Being a fragile medium, choosing the right tools is of utmost importance. From the choice of paper, brushes, pigments as well as the surrounding temperature, all these affect the result in watercolour painting. I believe in the concept that the best tools will yield the best result in the right hands. If the best results cannot be achieved, it is you who have to improve in terms of technical skills, keen observation, level of taste and patience.

Pigments

I have proudly been appointed as Malaysia’s first independent brand ambassador for QOR Watercolor by Golden Paint USA, endorsed by a leading Malaysian arts and craft store, Scrap’n’Crop. This endorsement to QOR however does not prohibit me from exploring other brands and pigments as an artist. My palette consist of a majority of QOR pigments which I find to be very transparent. QOR’s vivid colours perfectly matches the colour tones on my mind. QOR’s Raw Sienna for example produces a very clear golden light brown tone on paper, not the muddy golden tones of some other brands.

My Skies – I now use Manganese Blue as a base colour for skies, replacing Cerulean Blue. It is a luminous and transparent blue as opposed to cerulean which is opaque with a greenish tinge.

My Greens – My favourites are Daniel Smith Undersea Green (Dark Green) and Olive Green. Avoid Viridian when painting foliage. I often come across students’ palettes with stains of Viridian. It has an artificial green tone. However, Viridian when mixed with Gamboge or Indian Yellow will produce a very cool greenish yellow tone suitable for the painting of paddy fields.

My Water – I used to mix Viridian with Cobalt Blue when painting water. Now, I use Cobalt Turquoise mixed with Viridian. For boats and other reflections, I mix Cobalt Turquoise with Raw Umber.

My Shadows – Shadows are not black so do not use any black, Ivory or Lamp Black. My advice is do not buy or keep black pigments. Instead mix Mauve, Magenta and Ultramarine in different proportions for the shadows. The next time you go shopping, opt for Daniel Smith’s Moonglow which has been specially blended to create shadow tones.

My Earth Tones – When I was younger, Yellow Ochre was the colour of choice for the earth tones. It proved to be my folly as it is an opaque pigment and can easily cause muddy colours. Now the wiser, I replaced Yellow Ochre with Raw Sienna, a pigment similar in tone that gives a transparent golden earth colour.

My Glazing – As I have always wanted my paintings to have a classic look, Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow) is a must for my glazes. It is a transparent and cool yellow.

My Jewelries – Opaque Cobalt Teal, Cobalt Violet, and Cadmium Red are used for clothings, signages, traffic lights and car lamps. These tiny but important final touch-ups make the paintings “pop”.

Watercolour Brushes

Brushes are more subjective than paper. Different brush shapes are made for different tasks. For example, you cannot make a broad sky wash with a small size 3 round brush. The best brushes are made of natural hairs and notably for watercolour, sable and squirrel hair brushes are strongly recommended.

I am against advising you to buy a whole range of these expensive brushes which can sometimes be more than the price of gold, ounce for ounce! Choose appropriately within your budget. As for me, yes, I do have a stable of sables, but I rarely use all of them. If you are an Edward Seago fan, where bold strokes and simple shapes are the order, then sable may be your perfect choice.

My impressionistic style incorporates a certain level of structural detail that requires me to go deeper. Synthetic round brushes with a sharp, stiff point work better for my style but I initially stayed away from them as I considered the nylon based synthetics to be inferior. It was not until I discovered Escoda Perla, used by the Master watercolourist Joseph Zbukvic, that I started using synthetics. Perla is the best synthetic with an excellent point. Personally I use Perla size 2, 4, 8, and 12.

For pre-wetting paper, I have a round handle Frank Clarke Goat Hair “Hake” brush. A large Proarte and Mary Whyte’s cat’s tongue squirrel hair brush helps me with painting the skies and impressionistic trees. My jewel in the crown and most precious brush is surely the Leonard extra long sable hair scripture brush. This brush works well for irregular shapes such as branches, leaves and foliage. It was bought during a trip to Paris in 2015 at the Sennelier Art shop, a few miles from the Lourve.

Last but not least, is my Rekab reservoir brush bought on eBay. A perfect size 4, I can freely paint wires, cables and masts with just a stroke from the brush. What a life!

Watercolour Paper

As a watercolour impressionist, I normally use Canson, Arches and Saunders Waterford 300gsm watercolour paper with a rough texture. Both are artist grade 100% cotton rag, mold made paper and acid free. Arches is in my opinion the best and most expensive paper today with Saunders Waterford a close runner up. Saunders is more forgiving than Arches whereby you are able to make more mistakes on it due to its better lifting qualities.

Additionally I use student grade 25% cotton Bockingford and Canson Montval paper for light works such as line and wash, watercolour sketches and thumbnail studies. Both are excellent cellulose-based paper and usually cost about half or less as compared to Arches and Saunders Waterford. My advice is do not use drawing paper unsuitable for watercolour painting. You will go nowhere.

Plein Air vs. Studio Work

Plein air in simple terms is open air or outdoor painting whereas studio work is the process of producing art works based on photo references or imagination inside the studio. Normally at the start of the season, I will work in the studio from subjects gathered from the previous season. On a daily basis, I will task myself to complete works based on specific themes or series.

If, for example, the series I am working on is fishing boats, all other subjects like buildings, flora or portraits will not be intermingled. Upon completion of each series and when I am out of ideas or subjects to paint in the studio, I will take a “break” for three to four months without producing any new work. During that period, I will gather ideas, think, sketch, read and do research on new subjects for the next part of the season.

Plein air activities commence and fill up the rest of the season with the break providing a fresh and dynamic mood whether to join in an urban sketching activity or going on a painting trip with friends to exotic places that I have not painted before in watercolour.

Plein air gives you the energy, mood, freshness, and also live interaction with what we are painting. In contrast to studio painting which is more relaxed and organised, plein air provides more challenges to the painter. A painter must quickly observe the mood of the subject, arrange the composition, light direction and the need to make oneself comfortable in whatever condition one is in with the tools available. We must also be strong-willed and confident when plein airing.

We need to interact with the surroundings and curious locals and onlookers that crowd around us while we are painting.

There will be those who will ask questions and others who are ever too willing to indulge with us through the long history of the subject in focus. We need to treat them nicely and become friends with them. A great painter has to be one who Plein airs!

Thank you, Let’s paint.

Abey Zoul Website Facebook Instagram Books

GUEST ARTIST: "Painters As Storytellers" by Abey Zoul - #doodlewash #WorldWatercolorGroup #watercolour #watercolor My name is Abey Zoul, and I spent a memorable childhood in a beautiful small town called Bachok, Kelantan, one of the states on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

#watercolour painting #WorldWatercolorGroup #art studio #art supplies #artist #doodlewash #featured #Malaysia #painting #plein air #watercolor #watercolor painting #watercolour

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prepschoolpunk · 5 years

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Which fabric is best for T shirts?

Known for its T-shape the human body and whistles create, T-shirts have origins dating back into the early 1900s. T-shirts are worn during history by servicemen, ancient farmers, and even celebrities. These days, the wardrobe staple is currently a two-billion buck marketplace. T-shirts are incredibly functional parts of clothes since they are durable and flexible and could be worn as outerwear or underwear.

Additionally, T-shirts arrive in plenty of colors, designs, and designs. If you're searching for a T-shirt, think about different materials and weaves. Some are much better suited to casual or hot weather wear, whereas some others are best for athletic or business wear. To discover a massive assortment of all T-shirt brands and fashions, check out eBay and eBay bargains for T-shirts. T-shirts are created from a number of distinct kinds of fabrics. It's helpful to understand a little about the substances before purchasing because every cloth. Furthermore, understand when to wear every kind of cloth to be able to remain ready for the surroundings. Cotton Cotton has become the most popular cloth for T-shirts. Cotton is soft, hardy, and watertight. It's also quite reasonable. Cotton does wrinkle, therefore eliminate the dryer quickly to protect against this. Cotton is excellent for ordinary wear and can be casual. Various sorts of cotton are employed in attire, and every one slightly disagrees. Somewhat pricier than fundamental cotton, combed cotton is also very soft. It's created by especially treating the cotton fibers before turning them . To try it, good brushes are utilised to eliminate short strands and also straighten fibres. The result is a more powerful, smoother fabric. By way of instance, organic cotton manufacturing keeps soil fertility and lessens the demand for pesticides and fertilizers. Due to the rigorous growth procedures, natural cotton is pricier than standard cottonnonetheless, it's quite soft to the touch. Recognized the maximum quality cotton accessible, pima cotton is made of additional long fibres. These long fibers create the cotton really soft and durable. Supima cotton is just like pima cotton in feel; it only describes 100 percent American rose pima cotton. In reality, with every washing machine, the cotton gets softer. Slub cotton seems to get minor lumps in the cloth. This is a result of this procedure before weaving the cotton in which the cotton is twisted, and making irregular spins. The outcome is a special fabric with feel for this. Slub T-shirts are airy and light and don't cling to your system. Since the cloth naturally appears yellowish, there's absolutely not any requirement to iron, since it isn't intended to seem flat. Linen T-shirts will also be made from lace. Linen is made of the flax plant also contains a textured glow. It's lightweight, watertight, also moisture-wicking, which makes it a fantastic selection for summer wear. From the nature of this cloth, it's more powerful when moist. The sole downside to deciding upon a linen T-shirt is the fact that it lumps easily and frequently requires pruning. Lycra Shoppers frequently hear the expression lycranonetheless, that is the newest name for its substance called spandex. This substance is most frequently utilized in athletic clothe as it allows for simple movement. Polyester Polyester is a very strong fabric which has many benefits. Therefore, it's a great material frequently seen in athletic clothing. Rayon Made as a less expensive option to silk, rayon is a manmade fiber made from cotton, trees, and crops. It's woven or knitted to a slick, breathable cloth, and is frequently seen in athletic wear. It curtains easily, is easy to dye, also can be very absorbent. But, it doesn't consume well over lengthy wear; it will become yellowed and pilly. Rayon additionally wrinkles easily. Modal A sort of rayon created from beechwood plant fibers, it's a gorgeous drape and a slinky texture. Modal is breathable and soft. It's shrink-resistant along with fade-resistant. It remains soft and doesn't tablet quickly, compared to routine rayon. Blends Frequently, T-shirts are a combo of either a couple of materials. A remarkably common example is a polyester and cotton mix. By combining both of these materials, the very best qualities from the outcome. This mix remains lights and cool in the cotton fibers, but additionally, it has the potency and wrinkle-resistance of lace. Most T-shirt cloths arrive in various weaves. Weaves are loosely or tightly stitched as well as the looseness of the cloth is dependent upon the amount of yarns per square inch. The more yarns causes a tighter cloth. In weavingthere are two major terms to understand: warp and weft. The warp denotes the pair of lengthwise yarns. The weft is the yarn that's inserted and beneath the warp yarns. The easiest weave is referred to as a plain weave, which can be a readily recognisable above and under routine. The horizontal (weft) yarns traveling over and below the vertical (twist ) yarns. This weave wrinkles easily and isn't as absorbent as any other weaves. Therefore, it shouldn't be worn when a person should remain cool, like through a hot summer afternoon or to get a work out. On the contrary, it's better suited to a rainy afternoon or to get a day in the workplace. But, warp and weft yarns substitute colors, developing a heathered effect. T-shirts with this particular weave are a lightweight selection for warm weather. Such a broader thread produces a soft, absolute, and mild cloth. Voile weave occupies and is still a fantastic selection for hot weather. As it's so mild, in addition, it produces a fantastic layering piece. Twill weave cloths are wrinkle-resistant and simple to take care of. A number of the cloths are also quite sturdy, which makes them ideal for guys who want T-shirts to wear out when doing lawn work or structure. Consumers can expect to pay more to get twill weaves than plain pops because of the greater yarn count. It's similar to the plain ribbon; nonetheless, a couple of warp yarns cross legged side by side with 2 or more weft yards. This makes a broad, basket-like weave. This sort of weave generally utilizes a large thread count; because of this, it's a smoother, smoother, and much more expensive cloth. Since oxford weave T-shirts are somewhat more sophisticated than a number of the additional options, they're a suitable shirt for a single day in the workplace.

Purchasing a T-Shirt on eBay EBay has an huge list of new and secondhand T-shirts from vendors worldwide. Since eBay's sellers offer you aggressive pricing along with other advantages, like free delivery, the website is a wise alternative for buyers searching for a cheap and convenient shopping experience. After a free Email account is created, buyers are satisfied with a plethora of shopping opportunities, such as eBay deals. The simplest way to discover a T-shirt on eBay would be to input certain key words to the search box on eBay's webpage. Buyers are satisfied with many options, however, the choices are simple to narrow down together with the accessible refinements. For example size, manufacturer, or substance needed. In case the merchandise descriptions are too vague, then get in touch with the vendor and ask details before bidding. Conclusion T-shirts really are a must-have for any guy's wardrobe. And, most guys have many different T-shirts in several distinct styles and colors. Whether buyers need a T-shirt for lounging around the home or for exercising in the fitness center, they ought to bear in mind a couple of different variables when buying, like other cloth and weave choices. Selecting the most appropriate cloth and simmer for a particular demand influences the role and relaxation of their T-shirt. When buyers are prepared to purchase a new or secondhand T-shirt, then they need to make certain to check out eBay for a massive choice of T-shirt manufacturers at affordable rates. Moreover, make certain to navigate eBay Bargains to discover extra clothes options at exceptionally low expenses.

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latestblog125 · 3 years

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How To Choose Your Ad Audience

Choose your ad audience carefully depending on the kind of product or service you are offering. Understand what kind of group would be best suited for your products or services before you create a campaign. Knowing your target audience is one of the keys to generating more sales. For instance, if you sell a product or service for middle aged mothers, then you should not choose your ad audience on their age. This will only result in wasted marketing dollars.

Choose your ad group based on demographics, including gender, age, educational attainment, and so on. For instance, you could create many different ads targeting mothers, who are in your particular niche market. Then you would group the ads according to this data. For instance, if you have a carousel ad campaign, then the ad might show up for car moms, senior moms, college students, boomers, men, senior women, and so on. This is called a "categorization" method, which helps you decide how to target your campaigns. This is also called an ad grouping technique.

Your next step is to decide where to target your ads. There are three ways to do this: generic, vertical, and horizontal. The location where your ads are displayed directly influences your audience. If you want to reach out to a broad audience, then you should display your ads in websites like eBay, Yahoo! Shopping, Citysearch, and so on.

Next, decide whether to go vertical or horizontal. A vertical campaign is a long-term campaign which will show over a long period of time; whereas a horizontal campaign is a short-term campaign which will show during the app launch or during the holiday season. If you choose to go vertical, then you will have an easy time gaining some ground because there are a lot of users on a platform who are likely to be interested in your app. However, if you choose to go horizontal, then you won't have as many people interested in your app.

How ads work? To make sure that your app is successful, it's important to get the right audience! Some devices, like iPhones and iPads, have a much wider distribution than others. If your app targets an audience that is restricted to a specific device, then it will not gain much attention.

So how do you determine who your potential audience is? One way is to look at what other users are saying about your product or service. Look for reviews on popular review sites like Appiction, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. These sites will tell you what people are saying about your product in terms of both good and bad points. Google also has a website called Google+ Local which will show you what people are saying about your area and specifically, your carousel ad.

But what if you're looking at a more general audience? If you're targeting the wrong group, then you may find that your ads don't even get looked at. For instance, if you're advertising your taxi service in London, but mainly targeting students in your city, then it's unlikely that they'll even look at your ads. The problem with advertising across the whole spectrum is that you'll end up paying too much for your ads, not to mention wasting money on irrelevant clicks. So how do you target the audience you want your ads to be shown to?

The ideal choice is to sign up to a pay-per-click program like AdWords, where you only pay when someone actually clicks on your ads. These programs will also allow you to track your ads and learn what works and what doesn't, so you'll know where you're wasting your money. Another good option is to join a group of advertisers who want to work together on Facebook ad targeting. By pooling your resources, you'll be able to save a lot of time and effort on getting to know your audience and what will convert them into buying customers.

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webmasterindia · 4 years

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Why do You Need Ecommerce Website, Even though you are Selling Products on Marketplace?

Amazon, Alibaba, Flipkart, Ebay, etc., are all marketplaces, also known as “Rented Platforms”, and people look to endorse their products on these platforms, usually because of their large online presence and big database. These marketplaces not only offer big user base, but they also offer convenience. Companies who are relatively new to the online world tend to use these marketplaces to establish their presence and generate revenues.

However, if you’ve been in the business for a while now, then the next big step should be having your own website, or your “owned asset”, to understand this in detail, let’s dive in further:

No more Commission.

A seller on marketplace like amazon has to pay a certain amount of commission while making sale, as quoted by Junglescout. Whereas, owning an ecommerce website for retail business offers an ultimate opportunity to make greater profits through cross selling and upselling.

Building your own brand.

A typical Rental platform, hosts millions of products, and offers a slim chance to gain visibility. There is no opportunity of telling your business story. Moreover, there are already so many sellers and limited space to show your products and services that even though your product is unique, it gets lost in the minds of consumer. In the online era, customer support must biggest concern of any business, having your own website for retail buyers, means you can solve any query and communicate your brand to the end user, enhancing their experience.

Having your Own payment gateway

Having payment gateway offers a single integrated point of sale and payment processing between buyers and seller and is an important step for any business. This point of sale system offers faster solutions to customer grievances and can help in analyzing where business is going and how to improve upon it. Also, having a payment gateway with own specifications offers better customer support.

Differentiation Factor.

Having eCommerce website for retail selling makes customization an option for the users, this helps in standing out from the crowd. There are 12 million products on Amazon; this means that might be similar product offerings from your competitor and this may confuse your customer further. Your site gives you a chance to get the exposure needed. Marketplace also does not let businesses make customer acquisition, with your own network you can make a lead generation list through email addresses and transaction history, being one step ahead of your competition.

Better Digital Promotion.

With your own virtual property, you can experiment as much as you want. Many tools are available for promotion of the business; this includes Google ads, social media, and many other promotion campaigns. These options are restricted on platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. Having your own network is a futuristic approach which gives businesses more professional look which has greater visual touch points and provides greater freedom to the advertiser. With better promotion, you can also know what your customers want and what works for them. With proper insights, you can know who your customer is and make your targeting more focused.

Ecommerce Platforms offering better flexibility.

Programs such as Shopify and Magento offer users easy to use templates that offers appropriate security measures. Shopify announced in 2017, that more than 600000 merchants were using its online store.

Also, Woocommerce is another WordPress plugin that merchants use for their retail eCommerce store because of its simplicity and customization feature. Trends suggest that in 2015, WooCommerce was run by almost 30% online stores.

Another option businesses can use is Prestashop which has a freemium model to help companies build their virtual network. Prestashop is currently used by 300000 shops worldwide and is open source.

Conclusion:

Marketplaces have their own rules and regulations to be followed on product posting and promotions. Though they provide opportunity to display your products to broad spectrum viewers, they have many limitations. You will not find the flexibility in a long run to promote unlimited. Whatever benefits you can see are for duration till you are on that platform. But once you stop paying the marketplace, your all investments till that point to be in vein. So no doubt marketplace is a good option to gain for a short duration. but if you are thinking to build your brand to be in online market for long term, your own Ecommerce website development only can be last to bring up your business in limelight.

if you are a new start-up, it is good to take benefits of all opportunities available online including marketplaces which gives you benefits instant, but simultaneously you need to start working on your full fledge ecomm website for retail business that only gives you reorganization but also will be cost-effective in future.

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#e-commerce platform #e-commerce website

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putthison · 7 years

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Easily Suede: The Softer Leather Jacket

The best clothes are often just as much about how the make you feel as how they make you look. And few things will make you feel more badass than a leather jacket. Over the years, they’ve become emblems of rebelliousness and black sheep individualism, thanks in part to style icons such as Marlon Brando and Sid Vicious. Whereas leather jackets started off in the early 20th century as functional garments that protected wearers from danger, by the end of the century, they were symbols that signaled the wearers were dangerous themselves.

Which is also what makes some guys shy away from them. Purchasing a leather jacket takes a bit of self reflection -- not just in terms of how can work with your wardrobe, but whether they really reflect your personality. “Am I leather jacket kind of guy?” Or “can I pull one off?”

I wrote a post three years ago breaking down leather jackets into three broad categories -- rugged, contemporary, and conservative. Those are good starting places, I think, for guys trying to figure out which styles work for them.

If you’re still feeling tepid, another solution is to start with something in suede, which is literally and figuratively the softer side of leather outerwear. Take even your most rebellious styles, such as black double riders, and they suddenly become more wearable if they’re built from napped leather. Less Hells Angel biker; more stylish dude in cool clothes.

Care Considerations

Trading a traditional leather jacket for suede isn’t without its downsides. For one, suede is a lot harder to keep clean (which was the premise for this hilarious Seinfeld episode). Particularly in lighter colors, scuff marks and dirt will show up in high-fiction areas, such as the cuffs and collar. And should you be careful enough to avoid dirt, suede will still naturally lose its nap over time, which will leave a bit of a sheen.

There isn’t really much you can do about this, although some care techniques will keep your jacket looking its best. When you first get a suede jacket, consider treating it with a non-silicone-based waterproofer, which will help repel bigger stains (e.g. splatters from saucy burritos or coffee). Just be warned that sometimes waterproofers can clog up and “spit” onto your clothes, which will create their own marks (spray carefully and at your own risk). For superficial stains, you can also try spot cleaning with a suede eraser, brush, and specially formulated shampoo. Unscented baby wipes can also help keep things looking fresh.

Even the best care techniques, however, won’t prevent the inevitable, so the best solution is to get something you’re fine with aging. A rugged, dark brown suede jacket from Levi’s will fare better over the years than a dressier cream suede jacket from Loro Piana. And should something happen, you’ll want to bring your jacket to a high-end cleaner that knows how to work with leather. I’ve had great results through Rave FabriCARE, who will not only take out tough stains, but can also dip your jacket a special protective formula to prevent future issues. Other specialty cleaners include Modern Leather Goods and Superior Leather, although I have no direct experience with either. Just note: cleaning a suede jacket is expensive, so be prepared for some non-trivial costs.

Regular leathers will always be easier to maintain, but a suede jacket can be unique and easier to wear. If you’re up for trying something this season, here are seven models that will work across a range of wardrobes.

Levi’s Suede Trucker (~$350): For affordability, nothing beats Levi’s suede trucker jackets. The denim versions were originally made for laborers, but during the 1960s and ‘70s, they became part of American counterculture. The denim trucker jacket has been worn by hippies, rockers, activists, and bikers alike -- helping cement their status in classic American casualwear, much like five-pocket jeans and military surplus jackets.

Levi’s usually does their suede version in this goldenrod tan color you see above, along with a matching suede or contrasting dark brown leather collar. Brand new, they can run for a hefty $1,000, but they’re also not hard to find second-hand. The design has been around forever, so places such as Etsy and eBay are littered with vintage models for about $350. So long as the jacket doesn’t smell bad (again, leather can be expensive to clean), I think scuff marks here add character.

Alternatives: dark blue version from Jigsaw this season for $515 (although they’ll only deliver within Europe), as well as turquoise models from Levi’s Vintage Clothing and Gieves & Hawkes for a pricier ~$950. Sandro also has a handsome tan suede jacket for $995. More of a ranch style work jacket than trucker, but pretty similar.

James Grose Double Rider ($868+): If you’ve ever questioned whether you have Marlon Brando’s smoldering good looks to pull off a Schott Perfecto, try this gray suede double rider from James Grose instead. They’re a recently revived British heritage brand, now run by a Japanese motorcycling enthusiast who has everything made in London’s East End. These jackets fit a bit slimmer than the workwear originals, and they comes with a bunch of great details, such as zippered arm pockets and extended belts. And despite them being clearly designed to be worn off a bike, the construction feels incredibly sturdy. The leathers are thick and heavy; the hardware reliable and chunky. Much like Levi’s trucker jackets, these look better with a bit of dirt and scuffing.

Even with its workwear vibe, you can embrace a slightly more contemporary look here by pairing the gray suede jacket with slim black jeans and a boxy white knit. If the gray double rider isn’t your speed, James Grose has a bunch of other colors and styles. And until tomorrow night, No Man Walks Alone is offering a 20% discount on all full-priced items with the checkout code SPRING20. That brings the price of these down to $868.

Alternatives: Gieves & Hawkes brown goatskin suede double rider for $1,275 and Stoffa’s asymmetric jackets for $1,300. Both will feel slightly dressier and less workwear-ish than James Grose’s jackets, which will allow you to wear them with finer knitwear and pressed trousers.

Valstarino ($796+): Although Valstar started off as a raincoat manufacturer, they’re mostly known today for their take on the classic A-1 blouson -- a type of flight jacket defined by its button front and stand-up, knitted collar. The A-1 was originally a military flight jacket worn by American fighter pilots until it was supplanted in WWII by the A-2 (which is what most people envision when they think of flight jackets).

Valstar’s A-1, known as the Valstarino, is the casual, civilian take, which makes this easier to wear in the city. They’re made from softer materials and come in a slimmer fit, while still maintaining that slightly rounded silhouette that I think makes these special. The style goes just as well with jeans as it does with dressier trousers, which is why Valstarinos have been popular for decades. You can find them these days at No Man Walks Alone, Mr. Porter, and Drake’s. No Man Walks Alone’s SPRING20 discount code brings the price down to $796 (again, code ends tomorrow night).

Alternatives: Craftsman Clothing can make you a custom, made-to-measure leather A-1 for $830. And while it’s technically not a bomber, this Brooks Brothers suede jacket looks similar and is on sale for $399.

Stoffa Flight Jacket ($1,500): I love Stoffa’s flight jacket for the same reason why I like the Valstarino. It’s easy to dress down with denim, but can also be used with wool trousers in lieu of a sport coat. The difference is that Stoffa’s design feels a bit bolder. The large, floppy collar looks great when popped up from the back, while the two-way zip gives you the ability to create more interesting silhouettes.

Stoffa’s flight jackets are also made-to-measure, which allows you to get a more tailored looking fit. The company has two other useful styles, including an asymmetric jacket that’s vaguely based off double riders and a field jacket for a more conservative look. All available in these uber-soft, lightweight suedes that make Stoffa especially comfortable in warmer climates. Only catch: since the jackets are all custom made, you can only order them at their trunk shows, although now they visit five major cities (Stockholm, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and NYC).

Alternatives: Gieves & Hawkes taupe suede bomber for $1,210 and Ralph Lauren Purple Label for a whooping $3,495.

Golden Bear Varsity ($433): It feels like every label offers their version of a MA-1 bomber these days. Although the originals have bulkier, rounded silhouettes, fashion labels typically cut theirs to be much slimmer and straight fitting. The style is defined by its knitted collar, zippered front, and signature arm pocket. Although, when designers leave off the arm pocket and put in slashed hip pockets, these can feel a bit like varsities.

Both MA-1 and varsities are basic enough to work for almost anyone, but by the same token, they can also feel a bit generic. That said, for an affordable varsity, you can check out Golden Bear’s version shown above, which is on sale right now for $433 at Club Monaco. Epaulet is also moving their boutique this month from NYC to Los Angeles, and in doing so, they’ve discounted their suede MA-1 bombers down to $325.

Alternatives: Basically everyone and their mother. Check APC ($1,455), Presidents ($1,723), Brooks Brothers ($698), AMI ($1,385), Officine Generale ($1,320), and Rag & Bone ($1,295).

Gucci Harrington ($3,390): Once part of the uniform of British working-class youths – such as mid-century mods, skins, and soul boys, all the way up to the Britpop scene of the 1990s – Harringtons feel a lot tamer these days. More aligned with their Ivy Style roots than the British streetwear scene that gave them their edge. I like Gucci’s suede Harrington because it’s still somewhat conservative, but has a taller collar and slightly cropped body, which I think helps steer this away from golfing-dad territory. It would look great with slim trousers and a boldly printed silk shirt.

The other thing that keeps this away from dad territory is the exorbitant price, which nobody would pay if they’ve ever had to manage family expenses. A jacket for financially reckless, single guys only.

Alternatives: This Harrington from an old season of Saint Laurent is similar -- slightly cropped, boxy fit with a taller collar. You’ll have to scour eBay and Grailed for it, however, since it’s no longer for sale in-store (expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,000). For a much more conservative and affordable jacket, Brooks Brothers has a traditional Harrington for $698.

Indigofera Suede Shirt Jacket ($899): Indigofera’s suede shirt jacket is what I’d wear if I were a burly dude with a beard, or someone with rugged good looks, such as the model above. It’s a heavy, rough suede jacket with a very simple, shirt-like cut. The subtle Western-style stitching across the pockets gives this a slight cowboy vibe. Would look great worn open over a white t-shirt, along with raw denim jeans and either engineer boots or service boots. The tan color here will show marks easily, but like Levi’s and James Grose’s jackets, this will look better with heavy wear.

Alternatives: Billy Reid makes a charcoal jacket in a similar style for $995. For something a little less workwear-ish and more ‘70s casual, check out Our Legacy’s lighter weight zip-front jacket for $554.

#Outerwear #Levi's #James Grose #Valstar #Stoffa #Golden Bear #Gucci #Indigofera #Epaulet

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postapocalypticflimflam · 8 years

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So I'm just starting to play DnD and Gammaworld looks sick as frick, do I need to get a lot more experience in basic before expanding out and trying to play GW and if not, what are some of the essential guides and books to start campaigning?

That’s a big, broad question and I’ll do my best to answer without being so vague as to be useless.

I don’t know if you’re new role-playing games in general and it’s just D&D that’s new to you, or whether you’ve just begun gaming and D&D is your first. It matters a little: some editions of Gamma World borrow D&D rules, so if you know your D&D, that could give you a leg up. If you’ve just begun to D&D, I might infer (correctly?) that it’s D&D 5e you’re playing. Unfortunately, there is no edition of Gamma World that is based on a D&D 5e rule-set. The most recent edition to Gamma World (its 7th edition) came out in 2010 and was based on D&D 4th edition. Gamma World 6th edition, before that, came out in 2003 and was based on the d20 version of D&D 3e. So if you know D&D3 or D&D4, there is a Gamma World that has familiar rules. If you’re playing D&D 5e, sadly that doesn’t exist. (Yet?) As you can see, there were five Gamma Worlds before the d20 version; if you search Wikipedia for ‘Gamma World’ there is a list of the editions with a little bit of detail on each one. If you are interested in either of the two most recent versions, they’re both available as PDF from drivethrurpg.com whereas all the older editions are out of print and you’d need to get one used from nobleknight.com or eBay or the like - some get expensive. So that’s basically it for the rules angle.

As for “expanding out”, I’m not sure exactly what you mean, but if you’re asking if it’s different from running/playing D&D, the answer is an ambiguous “maybe” - which isn’t very useful. Gamma World has been around for almost 40 (!!) years - 1st edition was published in 1978! In that time, the focus and vibe of the game has changed and “evolved”. The first few editions are inspired from sci-fi (science fantasy) from the 1950s to the 1970s; they’re kinda wacky, and focus on the idea that radiation can give you mutations, which is more like the comic books than “realistic” science fiction. (Which isn’t a criticism of the game; it was by no means trying to be realistic. But some people have knocked the game because they feel it’s “silly” because radiation “doesn’t work like that”.) Later editions of the game, however, have gone to some lengths to make the background more plausible; in 6th edition (I think it’s 6th) the mutated world comes more from nanotechnology run amok, as opposed to radiation. The designers of that edition must have felt that radiation causing mutations reflected the game’s old-school origins, and that newer gamers (being, presumably, younger, and unaware of the tone of 1950s-1970s goofy sci-fi) would balk at the (perceived) silliness.

If you’ve been checking me out here on Black Ray Gun, you’ve probably figured out that I prefer the old-school late-70s/early-80s version of the game with radiation-inducing super-power mutations and ray guns and so on.

What I’m saying is, I guess: you run/play Gamma World along the spectrum of 1970s science fantasy to something more modern and palatable to an audience looking for something more “plausible” (whatever that means).

(I should point out that it if sounds like I’m busting on the “plausible” version of Gamma World, I am - I don’t like it. I should also point out, however, that I’m not very familiar with the 7th edition [the “new” D&D4e-compatible one] but I have gotten the sense that it makes some kind of return to the tone/vibe of the kind of old-school Gamma World I like, but I never played it because I never played D&D 4th edition. If you know D&D4, read some reviews of Gamma World 7e to see if it sounds old-school, assuming that’s the vibe you like the sound of.)

(There’s no word, so far as I know, of WoTC releasing a D&D5e-compatible Gamma World. I think it’s a fringe game with limited appeal, but for what it’s worth there have been seven editions in 40 years, with at least three of those seven being compatible with one version of D&D or another.)

So running a Gamma World basically means picking the older or newer school of background and rules you like; goofy radiation or less-goofy nanotech-run-amok? Black Ray Gun (at the risk of sounding immodest) is a good place to start for inspiration for the old-school. And once you choose the tone/vibe you like, running the game is like any other: get your group together, make some characters and dive in. Compared to other games, Gamma World can actually have a lot in common with D&D: it’s science fantasy and your players can be inexperienced ambitious would-be adventurers out seeking fame and fortune..

For example: Spells = mental mutations. Racial abilities = physical mutations. Magic swords = ultra-tech “vibro blades”. Monsters = robots and mutant beasts. Gold pieces = domars. Magic items = Ancient artifacts. Thieves and Wizards Guilds (etc.) = cryptic alliances. See? You don’t have to do it that way, of course, but many Gamma World games can follow a D&D adventure pattern; you could almost certain adapt D&D modules to Gamma World with little effort.

Finally, required/recommended books. As for which gaming/rules books to get, that depends on what’s I’ve just said.. What tone do you want? Which editions sounds like the best fit? How much do you want to spend? (Editions 1 through 5 are out print and potentially spendy, the d20-compatible 6th edition included six books, each about $10 in PDF, whereas D&D4-compatibe 7th edition is just one book, so cheaper.) I can’t recommend the books you need to start, since I don’t know which Gamma World appeals to you most. Likewise, reading for inspiration is also hard to recommend: different authors/books/comic/movies inspired different Gamma Worlds.

I hope I’ve answered your question adequately. Feel free to send me more Asks if you have more questions or comments or observations. And I’m super glad you’re finding Black Ray Gun inspiring!

Good luck, and let me know how it goes.

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iprofoundcollectorflowerwor-blog · 7 years

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Ⓐ Austrian Anarchy Ⓐ

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ericfruits · 7 years

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Online retail is booming in China

ON AN AVERAGE morning a young urban professional anywhere in the world might wake up, check her social-media feed and order a cab on her mobile. While sitting in traffic, she might use her phone to purchase groceries and watch a video, and later to pay the driver and buy a coffee. Once at work, she might make an online payment to reimburse a friend for a concert ticket. So far, so normal. But if that young urbanite were living in China, every one of these activities could have been powered either by Alibaba or a company in which it has a stake.

E-commerce in China is sweeping the board. Last year online sales in China hit $366bn, almost as much as in America and Britain combined. Growth has slowed from its eye-popping pace of a few years ago, but Euromonitor predicts that online shopping’s share of total retail will rise to 24% by 2020; Goldman Sachs, whose forecast includes sales from one consumer to another, puts the figure at 31%. That will mean selling more to existing shoppers and gaining new ones in smaller cities and towns. About 80% of adults in China’s biggest cities already shop online.

Alibaba, the company leading this transition, makes most of its money from advertising. But it has permeated consumers’ lives in ways not yet seen in America or Europe. Westerners should picture a combination of Amazon, Twitter, eBay and PayPal, but broader. Alibaba’s creation story is well polished. Jack Ma, its founder and chairman, was born in Hangzhou in 1964, the same year as Amazon’s Mr Bezos, and perfected his English by offering free tours of his home town to foreigners. His first visit to America in 1995 inspired him to set up an internet business in China. After a few false starts he founded Alibaba in 1999 to help Chinese manufacturers sell to foreign buyers. He also established Taobao, where independent sellers can list products, and Tmall, an e-commerce site for big brands. Much more followed.

Alibaba’s vertiginous rise was powered by hundreds of millions of increasingly well-off Chinese coming online, and helped along by a dearth of well-established incumbents. For example, its online marketplace required a reliable way to make payments in a country where credit cards were still rare. So Alibaba created Alipay, a digital payments system that held a buyer’s money until he received his order and was happy with it. It was spun out into an affiliate, Ant Financial, in 2014. Alipay is now used by about 520m people, not just to shop on Taobao or Tmall but to pay bills, buy lunch or send money to family. Amazon has nothing of this kind. Most American and European consumers have stuck with their tried-and-trusted credit cards. Last year Alipay had 2.5 times as many users as PayPal and more than 11 times as many as Apple Pay. And new services are still being added.

Alibaba’s online marketplaces are also expanding. The company not only sells all manner of goods but has now moved into health care and services. Ali Health sells medicines online. Mr Zhang, Alibaba’s CEO, recently announced a partnership with Marriott, the world’s biggest hotel chain. His company has also bought or taken stakes in other firms to extend its reach. It owns Youku, a video-streaming site, and has invested in Weibo, a Twitter-like social-media company with 361m users, as well as Didi, a ride-sharing service. If a consumer likes the dress worn by an actress seen on Youku, she can instantly buy it through Tmall.

But if China reveals how broad one company’s scope can be, it also shows how a rival might emerge. Alibaba has two main competitors, JD and Tencent, which have recently joined forces. Tencent began as a gaming and messaging business. Its “Honour of Kings” is estimated to be the world’s top-grossing video game; its popular messaging app, WeChat, has 963m monthly users. Whereas Alibaba began with e-commerce and payments and then expanded, Tencent began with gaming and messaging and has moved further into commerce. Tencent’s mobile-payment app, WeChat Pay, had 40% of the market in the first quarter of the year, compared with Alipay’s 54%. Tencent started investing in JD three years ago; it now owns about one-fifth of it and is its biggest shareholder.

We know what you want before you want it

Unlike Alibaba, JD sells its own inventory and that of third parties, and has its own distribution system. Shoppers can buy goods from JD within WeChat’s app. In August JD announced a partnership with Baidu, China’s biggest search engine. This blurring of boundaries between digital activities provides Alibaba, JD and Tencent with a vast amount of information about its customers’ lives. “We will know you as well as you know yourself,” says Zhang Chen, JD’s chief technology officer. Tencent can gather data from social-media feeds and payments both online and in stores, and Alibaba recently introduced a “unified ID”, which collects data on individuals across Alibaba’s many businesses. These data give companies greater insight into what consumers want so they can adjust their marketing accordingly. Big Brother, it turns out, is a capitalist who wants to sell you blue jeans.

“The most important thing is not meeting the demand but creating the demand,” says Alibaba’s Mr Zhang. His company, JD and Tencent have ambitions beyond e-commerce. They are also after the 85% of the retail trade that still takes place offline, either by bringing more spending online or by serving customers in stores. WeChat Pay and Alipay are already widely used for physical transactions. Pass a clothing store and you may receive a personalised coupon on your phone. JD and Alibaba cast themselves as potential partners of bricks-and-mortar retailers, not just helping with delivery but providing tools to transform the way stores operate. JD is using its logistics business to supply goods to small convenience stores, cutting out parts of the supply chain. Alibaba has invested in grocery and department stores. In Hema Xiansheng, its growing supermarket chain, prices on electronic tags can be changed throughout the day.

Mr Ma says he wants to use technology to change Chinese manufacturing. Alibaba already provides services such as advertising and cloud computing and hones those services continually, based on the data it gathers. Mr Zhang wants to use such “data-driven infrastructure” to support other businesses. In China, Alibaba has achieved some of that. But as it invests abroad, it is coming up against Amazon and others, who are eager to do so with infrastructure of their own.

This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline "The everywhere stores"

Special report: The new bazaarMore in this special report:

http://ift.tt/2gEvlah

#IFTTT #Feedly

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douchebagbrainwaves · 7 years

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HERE'S WHAT I JUST REALIZED ABOUT STARTUP

I am pretty sure that to people 50 or 100 years in the future, it will also be a need for such infrastructure companies. And that might be perceived as disparaging towards homosexuals. Much as everyone thinks they want financial security, the happiest people are not those who have it, but if one has ever been published, I haven't seen much since to contradict it. Jazz comes to mind—though almost any established art form would do. The top 5% of programmers probably write 99% of the good software. A startup has to sing for its supper. The only real role of patents, for most startups, is as an element of the startup ecosystem that few except the participants ever see: investors trying to convince one another to read. People fifty years ago would be astonished that one could just hack together a movie, for example have been granted large numbers of preposterously over-broad patent, the USPTO in effect slept with Amazon on the first date. Whatever you build, make it fast. Then there was a widespread feeling among potential founders.

If you have to do to make people pause. This is why I spend most of my time writing essays lately. The other catch is that the initial seed can be quite small. There is always room for new stuff. Few startups happen in Miami, for example, the image of the poor, you have to keep writing checks, who cares? Whereas top management, like salespeople, have to actually come up with more. Unless you know that, you don't need them. Is there no configuration of the bits in memory of a present day computer that is this compiler? It's to everyone's advantage to let the world think the founders thought of everything.

Arguably they've done a bad job of hiring otherwise. Nearly all wanted advice about dealing with future investors: how much smarter are you than your job description expects you to be? Did they explain the long-term goal of being the market in accommodation the way eBay is in stuff? And if they are paying you x dollars a year worth of work per year for the company just to break even. Like Jane Austen, Lisp looks hard. I know, was Fred Brooks in the Mythical Man Month. There's no reason this couldn't be as big as Apple, and they said no—that they'd just spent four months dealing with investors to hacking Javascript. One group got an exploding term-sheet from some VCs. If you take funding at a premoney valuation of $1 million to a 20% chance of $10 million, even though theoretically the second is worth twice as much. I can imagine this happening is if those in charge of the exit polls cooked the books after seeing the actual returns. They're tricked by misplaced ambition. When you try to guess where your program is slow, and what would make it faster, you almost always guess wrong.

If you want to create wealth, in the now pointless secrecy of the Masons. I think it's worth it. It would be a cheap way to make the program you write in the language? It was High Technology Innovation: Free Markets or Government Subsidies? It's now possible for VCs and startups to diverge. In Kate's world, everything is still physical and expensive. Maybe it's just a surface bruise, but why even bother checking when there are so many essays yet unwritten. Math would happen without math departments, but it happens surprisingly rarely. Ditto for most of the rest of the time. It's not a good idea to use famous rich people as examples, because the main value of that initial version is to be the one to discover its replacement. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, says the Old Testament Proverbs 17:28.

The VCs who say they're going to buy you isn't. I'd rather offend people than pander to them, we had a practice session where all the groups gave their presentations. When you are designing a new kind of store. The investors or acquirers, and these tend to drop away when you get rejected by investors, don't think we suck, but instead forced you to write code in a way that makes them this way, or the desire to make money by inventing new technology. If you could get the right ten thousand people to move there. It's just a legitimate sounding way of saying: we don't like your type around here. Icio. Almost everyone's initial plan is broken.

VC firm has been successful in the past, everyone wants funding from them, even if few do per capita. What rational basis could they have had for saying that? And they, incidentally, but it requires extraordinary effort. At least, that's the one a bureaucrat will choose. I said that VCs were a lot like high school girls. If you wanted to start a startup, you're not just trying to make a living, and a startup that avoided working on some problem because of patent trolls. This seems to me the only limit would be the answer.

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skqq-net · 5 years

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Shopify vs GoDaddy: Which eCommerce Solution Wins?

Whereas beginning a business or a retailer on-line mustn’t be a misery, there nonetheless is confusion about which eCommerce supplier is healthier in your on-line retailer. Right here is the construct this shopify vs GoDaddy comparability is available in.

They’re each very new picks for an web business, nonetheless as with the overall lot in existence, these two preserve their very preserve advantages and shortcomings. And naturally, they are going to go well with quite a few wants that your business or retailer might per probability maybe require.

So which one’s the best for you? On this text, I’ll urge you by means of the entire upright and the cross.

What Is shopify?

shopify is an eCommerce-first platform, that allows you to catch a personalised on-line retailer. Which which you’ll per probability maybe per probability additionally catch advertising cAMPaigns, train instruments to observe your development and blend social media. shopify’s sole focus is on on-line taking a look, which means that all the facets and the pricing are centered as we advise at people promoting on-line.

shopify goes one step further, supplying you with the ability to be a part of your bodily enviornment and promote each on-line and offline. And even offering a Lite thought to mix along with your already authentic web location or Fb web page.

What Is GoDaddy?

GoDaddy is unquestionably one of many most interesting web internet hosting firms, it additionally has a flexible GoCentral web location builder, that has eCommerce capabilities. It allows you to catch a advisable taking a look retailer, scenario up a advertising marketing cAMPaign, or to edit your disclose materials in minutes. You additionally preserve the probability to advertise by means of Ebay, Amazon, Etsy, and and many others.

This suggests that which you’ll per probability maybe additionally preserve a piece extra freedom using GoDaddy, which you’ll per probability maybe additionally catch any type of web location in your business. Nonetheless on the similar time, it presents fewer alternate decisions and instruments to catch and protect an web retailer.

shopify vs GoDaddy Capabilities

When deciding which one is the larger participant inside the self-discipline of eCommerce, or no longer it is appreciable to look on the frequent facets they provide. Let’s set shopify and GoDaddy head-to-head and safe out which is healthier in your business.

shopify vs GoDaddy: Ease Of Train

In phrases of choosing probably the most easy-to-exercise answer, it relies upon severely in your technical skills. One thing that’s straightforward for which you’ll per probability maybe additionally moreover be an argument for someone else.

shopify on-line retailer builder comes with an awfully intuitive dashboard that’s roughly self-explanatory. Or no longer it is a step-by-step service for each stage of the store constructing task.

Moreover, the primary web page you land on when you’ve signed up is a menu with a rapid product, customization, and enviornment scenario up.

For each ingredient of your retailer builder, you merely wish to click on on the precise individual tabs and attempt towards by means of the step-by-step task. Within the menu on the left, which you’ll per probability maybe additionally catch cAMPaigns, add apps to your retailer, confirm out its analytics, and evaluation your full orders, amongst different facets.

The dashboard for GoDaddy web location builder is a piece of quite a few.

Everytime you sign in, you catch a rotund look of what your web location at the moment seems to be relish. The platform comes with a are residing editor that allows you to swap diversified elements of your location in valid-time. With it, you catch to look precisely what your changes search relish as you manufacture them.

On the real-hand facet of the web page, you’ll additionally safe a menu bar that allows you to swap the theme, pages, location settings and add disclose materials to the newest web page. The ‘Put collectively Retailer’ probability presents you the probability to change your merchandise, fee alternate decisions, transport appreciable elements, and your whole storefront.

Each firms supply a simple to train web location builder, nonetheless they keep preserve miniature variations.

shopify vs GoDaddy Templates

shopify comes with over 60 paid and 10 free themes and with GoDaddy, you catch a unique of about 20 themes to protect from. Each firms abet you to decide quite a few color schemes and fonts to customise your on-line retailer.

When deciding on a theme in shopify, you’ll be able to filter leads to accordance to your explicit individual preferences. Which which you’ll per probability maybe per probability additionally protect a theme in accordance to the sequence of merchandise you’re promoting as successfully as a result of the format of your retailer, product pages, homepage, and the business you’re working in.

Each of the themes has just some quite a few varieties to protect from and diversified color schemes. In case you have received received a professionally designed theme, you have received received the probability to add it inside the ‘Customise’ part of your shopify dashboard.

With GoDaddy, as soon as you to decide what which you’ll per probability maybe additionally very successfully be promoting, which you’ll per probability maybe additionally customise the color scheme and swap the fonts, nonetheless honestly, that’s it. There’s no personalized HTML or CSS probability, even with the sequence of quite a few themes it upright feels too slender.

Evaluating shopify vs GoDaddy in customization, GoDaddy is way extra restricted, particularly in repeat so that you can manufacture your mannequin odd and stand out.

I like to recommend shopify for its customization, nonetheless for another of us, simplicity will seemingly be the promoting level.

shopify vs GoDaddy Pricing

shopify presents 5 plans from $9 to $299 a month, whereas GoDaddy has upright a single one eCommerce thought for $19.99 a month. Each of these web sites preserve a free trial, with shopify supplying you with 14 days free and GoDaddy supplying you with a rotund month.

These 5 plans that we talked about strengthen typically all people’s need, no matter for those who occur to advertise just some hats a day or a dozen Ferraris. The Traditional shopify thought for $29 presents you the frequent instruments to scenario up your retailer and originate promoting, whereas the $299 thought presents you the entire highest fee facets and strengthen.

Which which you’ll per probability maybe inform “Hello there, you stated 5 plans, and as well you’re exhibiting us upright 3”. Neatly, or no longer it is on yarn of shopify has 2 further plans looking out ahead to you. Lite thought for $9 allows you to mix shopify’s platform in your already created web sites or fb pages. And shopify Plus is especially created for large firms, that need personalized alternate decisions and strengthen.

Nonetheless there’s a chunk extra to shopify tag that it might per probability per probability maybe search on the originate. With each thought, you catch a low value for transport (as much as 74%), that can also sincere undoubtedly abet with beginning off your business. Additionally, which you’ll per probability wish to type out transaction costs of about 2%, which is never the best deal nonetheless can rating fairly the related fee over time.

When speaking about shopify vs GoDaddy, or no longer it is appreciable to ogle that with a free shopify thought your retailer shall be password protected except you to decide a thought and enter your bank card appreciable elements. With the free GoDaddy trial, which you’ll per probability maybe additionally relate your retailer to the sector as we advise.

GoDaddy additionally has a unique of plans readily available, nonetheless, there is healthier one good to these looking out to compose an web retailer

The ‘On-line Retailer’ thought costs $29.99 a month and comes with a one-month free trial. This thought comes with a rotund-featured on-line retailer with swiftly checkout and allows you to sincere rep diversified fee strategies.

In phrases of costs and reductions, GoDaddy has a odd thought, regardless of the worth of your product, there shall be a $0.25 transaction fee. And there’s no low value in transport to can wait on you to out right here.

Whereas GoDaddy thought is extra inexpensive, the flexibleness and facets of shopify wins right here.

shopify vs GoDaddy Instruments

Whereas GoDaddy has genuinely advisable facets, it’s going to no longer stand a chance towards the concentrated focus of shopify. GoDaddy nonetheless has the entire appreciable facets to compose and protect an web retailer, nonetheless shopify presents extra and higher instruments in your business.

shopify’s each thought comes with an web retailer, limitless product listings, a minimal of two staff accounts, and diversified product sales channels. Nonetheless the construct it shines is the extras – reward enjoying playing cards, fraud prognosis, shopify POS app, and legit research.

GoDaddy tries to grab as much as shopify’s broad guidelines of facets, and most of them are steady instruments that may abet your retailer. Nonetheless it’s relish evaluating a frequent retailer with a vinery, undoubtedly, the 2nd one shall be a greater choice in repeat for you a advisable and engaging vine.

Each Providers supply an abandoned cart restoration. Right here is particularly useful for returning friends to your location and elevated buying from these on-the-fence prospects. You additionally catch a free SSL certificates, electronic mail advertising, and 24/7 strengthen with both absolutely a type of firms.

shopify additionally has a super web page with the entire free instruments, relish mannequin and slogan maker, these will can wait on you to originate promoting and constructing your mannequin on-line.

shopify broad guidelines of instruments and facets makes it supreme location to originate a your on-line retailer.

shopify vs GoDaddy Effectivity

In phrases of uptime fee, GoDaddy ensures us the soundness of 99.9% and shopify ensures an uptime fee of 99.98%. And whereas that can also sincere no longer sound loads, or no longer it is a incompatibility of eight minutes of downtime in your retailer per week.

Within the attempt towards for the response time, the winner is shopify, averaging a response of 161 ms. Which is even higher than google’s in precise truth useful 200 ms, so shopify genuinely tries to current a high-quality efficiency.

And whereas GoDaddy response instances had been no longer that cross, averaging at 594 ms, they assemble no longer stand a chance towards the lightning-swiftly response time of shopify.

Or no longer it is worth to indicate that shopify has a residing web page, the construct which you’ll per probability maybe additionally confirm the uptime, the response time of varied scheme of the salvage location, and look earlier bugs and errors that they mounted. And whereas no longer game-altering, this makes them really feel extra good.

GoDaddy presents us advisable efficiency and steadiness, nonetheless shopify blows it away with good swiftly response and uptime.

shopify vs GoDaddy – Conclusion

After we checked each attribute and when put subsequent shopify vs GoDaddy, I like to recommend that you just go for shopify. Nonetheless on the similar time, GoDaddy has advisable facets and is catching as much as shopify, so for quite a few wants, or no longer it is a advisable choice.

shopify has a greater completely different of themes to protect from and comes with diversified plans, which means that which you’ll per probability maybe additionally develop your business on the similar fee as you increase your purchaser nasty. GoDaddy most interesting presents one on-line retailer thought, nonetheless or no longer it is extra inexpensive and nonetheless presents an enormous range of instruments.

Constructing on-line store must be straightforward, and each of these firms helps you out with that. Nonetheless shopify takes its facets one step further and wins this spherical.

Nonetheless if eCommerce is healthier one factor you salvage to remain on the facet, GoDaddy is a advisable converse. Or no longer it is good straightforward to train, and GoDaddy presents a type of firms and merchandise on the facet, comparable to web internet hosting, electronic mail, web security, and much extra.

All of it is dependent upon how appreciable are you about eCommerce.

The publish shopify vs GoDaddy: Which eCommerce Resolution Wins? appeared first on Internet Cyber web web internet hosting Opinions by True Prospects and Internet Cyber web web internet hosting Specialists.

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AYA Analytica financial health memo July 2019

As of July 2019, this regular podcast is available on our Andy Yeh Alpha fintech network platform.

All the 18 systemically important banks pass the annual Federal Reserve stress tests. Many of the largest lenders announce higher cash payouts to shareholders in the wake of the stress test results as of mid-2019. The total cash dividends and share repurchases can exceed $150 billion. In response, Deutsche Bank experiences 4%+ share price gains, and JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs each reap sharp share price increases about 2%. All these banks now maintain more than 4.5% common equity Tier 1 capital ratios, and their supplemental leverage ratios are well above the 3% regulatory minimum requirement. As the annual Federal Reserve stress test results indicate, all of the systemically important banks hold sufficient core capital to safeguard against extreme losses that might arise in rare times of severe financial stress. As a result, the Federal Reserve expects these banks to remain profitable with better survival likelihood to disgorge cash distributions to their shareholders in adverse macroeconomic scenarios. Specific macroeconomic scenarios include a 30% decline in real estate prices and a high unemployment rate with double digits. Overall, all of the systemically important banks can absorb severe post-crisis losses with sufficient cash capital utilization for subsequent shareholder payout.

Blackrock asset research director Andrew Ang shares his economic insights into fundamental factors for global asset management. As Ang indicates in a recent interview with Ritholtz Wealth Management, fundamental factor investors seek to manage macroeconomic risk to enhance their average returns. Ang focuses on 5 systematic factors: size, value, momentum, low volatility, and high quality of profit margins. Also, Ang oversees a broad basket of assets such as stocks, bonds, commodities, and currencies. The consistent application of both big data and technology helps scale total assets under management with lower transaction costs. At BlackRock, Ang decomposes his favorite fundamental factors across macro and style factors. The 3 major macro factors are economic growth, inflation, and the real interest rate, in accordance with the standard Taylor interest rate that depicts the highly non-linear Phillips curve. Ang empirically finds that these 3 major macro factors account for 85% of stock market returns. Stock portfolio analysis helps achieve higher average returns (after risk and fee adjustments) when the active fund manager focuses on size, value, momentum, low volatility, and corporate profitability. Moreover, value occasionally becomes more cost-effective relative to its own history, and momentum factor returns often cluster together in specific time periods. This factor investment methodology accords with our proprietary alpha investment model that focuses on 6 core fundamental factors (size, value, momentum, asset growth, operating profitability, and market risk exposure).

Capital gravitates toward profitable active mutual funds until the marginal asset return equilibrates near the stock market benchmark. As Stanford finance professor Jonathan Berk suggests, capital flows equilibrate persistent active mutual fund returns relative to the stock market benchmarks. Since investors first direct capital to the best active mutual fund managers, these fund managers receive so much money that it affects their ability to generate superior returns. Their average return declines to match the average return for the second-best fund managers. At this stage, investors become indifferent to investing with the first-best and second-best fund managers, so capital flows equilibrate until their average return declines to match the average return for the third-best fund managers. This process continues until the average return of investing in most active mutual funds declines to match the stock market benchmark. Capital flows may reflect persistent asset returns in the transition toward the dynamic equilibrium outcome. Only high-skill active mutual fund managers can consistently earn superior average returns when numerous fund managers compete for scarce capital flows. This rationale suggests that investors who choose to invest with active fund managers cannot expect to receive positive excess returns after we apply appropriate risk and fee adjustments.

Harvard economic platform researcher Dipayan Ghosh proposes alternative solutions to breaking up Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon. As Ghosh suggests, breaking up tech titans would only serve to punish innovative tech enterprises that have already created tremendous economic value. These tech titans have become quasi-monopolies that necessitate a stringent set of *utility regulations* for better privacy protection and personal data usage. These regulations should obstruct the capitalistic overreaches of tech titans in order to protect the public against economic exploitation. Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon reap substantive mercenary gains from their network services when more people use these services. Their current infrastructure makes it extraordinarily difficult for new entrants to offer competitive levels of consumer utility. The tech titans extract consumer currency on the basis of personal data and attention. Moreover, these tech pioneers extract consumer currency on one side of the platform, and then exchange such currency for monetary revenue at high margins on the other side of the same platform. This subtle but corrosive form of economic exploitation seems most objectionable to U.S. Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission, and European Commission. Ghosh thus advocates an alternative case for utility regulations in lieu of breaking up the tech titans.

Platforms often benefit from network effects, scale economies, and information cascades. There are at least 2 types of highly valuable platforms: innovation platforms empower third-party firms to add complementary products and services to some core technology (e.g. Google Android, Apple iPhone operating system, and Amazon Web Services), and transaction platforms facilitate the positive exchange of information, goods, or services (e.g. Amazon Marketplace, Airbnb, and Uber). In the empirical analysis of 20-year Forbes Global 2000 data, the top 43 public platform corporations generate about $4.5 billion annual sales with only half the number of employees at their non-platform counterparts. These public platform corporations also yield twice operating profits, market values, and bottom-line growth rates. There are several key generic lessons for modern platform corporations. First, founders and managers need to learn fast from failures for better lean startup optimization. Despite the huge upside platform opportunities, the simple pursuit of a platform strategy may not necessarily improve the odds of success as a long-term sustainable business.

Second, most platforms need to boost exponential user demand with network effects and scale economies, so platform firms should set prices near their relatively low marginal costs with adequate buyer-or-seller subsidies. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Apple, Alibaba, and Tencent start their lean enterprises by aggressively subsidizing at least one side of the market before they sustain profitable platforms. In comparison, Netflix, Uber, Lyft, Slack, and Zoom etc still struggle to fine-tune their business models toward maximum sustainable platforms.

Third, it is important for platform firms to clearly explain why they strive to accomplish a great deal for better customer trust and loyalty. Many platforms should build customer rapport to inspire active users via positive information cascades. For instance, Alibaba Taobao and Tmall leverage Alipay as the sleek third-party payment mechanism to ease the transactional frictions of e-commerce in China (whereas, eBay fails to attract customer trust and rapport there due to the mere absence of a credible and verifiable third-party payment system).

Fourth, most platforms enjoy and maintain their first-mover competitive advantages with formidable barriers to entry. A good example is Microsoft: the software tech titan remains competitive with its Windows operating system, Office software suite, and Edge Internet browser; however, Microsoft gradually loses unique business niches to Apple iOS, Google Android, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera. On balance, platform corporations need to deploy these key strategies for better network effects, scale economies, and information cascades.

Facebook introduces a new cryptocurrency Libra as a fresh medium of exchange for e-commerce. Libra will be available to 2.5 billion active users on Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. This new cryptocurrency has tremendous potential to change how people save, spend, and send money. As a new medium of exchange, Libra helps facilitate e-commerce auctions and other transactions within the current Facebook social network ecosystem. As a new store of value, Libra exhibits less extreme price volatility than other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Facebook launches the digital wallet company Calibra as a key third-party payment gateway in collaboration with PayPal, Stripe, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, eBay, Spotify, Uber, and Lyft etc. At its inception, Calibra records Libra digital transactions on a public blockchain. This blockchain serves as a tamper-proof ledger that runs across multiple computer servers to preserve consumer privacy. When cryptocurrencies become more mainstream, aggregate money supply growth may decline to the extent that the central bank can better curb price inflation and wage growth in a cashless society. In terms of macroeconomic implications, the central bank and fiscal authority can better manage the myriad trade-offs among price stability, economic growth, employment, capital accumulation, and financial market stabilization.

We can decipher valuable lessons from the annual letters to shareholders written by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Amazon is highly customer-centric because the word variants of *customer* and *customers* attain the highest word count in each annual letter to shareholders in 1997-2003, 2008-2009, and 2012-2017. In addition to this customer focus, each letter indicates a clear concern with robust financial health. As Bezos reiterates in his letter to Amazon shareholders back in 2004, he emphasizes that the *ultimate long-term financial measure [for Amazon] is free cash flow per share*. This distinct focus sheds fresh light on Amazon corporate value creation via cash capital utilization that drives steady free cash flow growth in the long run. Another major aspect of Amazon business focus from 2007 to present relates to planting seeds of firm expansion into new ventures such as Kindle e-reader devices, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and self-service e-commerce platform improvements for cost-effective sales and fast delivery services. At Amazon, the most transformative inventions empower authors, third-party sellers, and other network members to unleash their creativity. On balance, Bezos believes in an optimal level of customer centricity, and he cares for other stakeholders such as blue-collar employees, content providers, and third-party sellers etc.

Gold prices surge above $1400 per ounce amid global trade tension and economic policy uncertainty. Both the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan may consider expanding additional monetary stimulus if the global economy continues to weaken in the next few months. Greenback depreciates quite a bit as the Federal Reserve switches to a dovish tone. The current stock market investor sentiments manifest in the negative correlation between U.S. dollar strength and gold appreciation. The precious metal accrues zero interest as a steady store of value over time, and so gold prices often serve as a negative-beta countercyclical indicator of international economic stability. Meanwhile, the Sino-U.S. trade impasse calls for both Trump and Xi to show courage with some reconciliatory gestures at the G20 summit. Also, the British Labour Party may back a second referendum on Brexit despite substantial economic policy uncertainty. British Conservatives now need a new prime minister to lead the next round of E.U. withdrawal conditions, trade negotiations, and other regional economic affairs. Moreover, the recent accidental drone collision between Iran and the U.S. adds to the current global trade escalation. As a result, both gold and oil prices surge as stock market investors seek capital safety.

President of US-China Business Council Craig Allen suggests that a trade deal should be within reach if Trump and Xi show courage at the G20 summit. A landmark trade agreement between China and the U.S. should be attainable insofar as Trump and Xi have the courage to compromise on specific aspects of the trade deal. This compromise can be difficult for both leaders, whereas, both sides signal the positive intent that Sino-U.S. trade negotiations should get back on track. Allen indicates that setbacks are quite normal in most bilateral trade negotiations. Perhaps the China-U.S. trade envoys, Liu He and Robert Lighthizer, seem to agree to a major trade deal *in principle*. However, the legal details may not fully reflect mutual agreement for both presidential leaders. The U.S. Trump administration calls for significant bilateral trade deficit eradication and better intellectual property protection and enforcement in China. The Chinese Xi administration expects all future fair trade practices to be realistic with appropriate goods and services procurement, market access, and technology transfer etc. Respecting these fundamental interests can help both sides reach a tractable solution. In essence, Allen emphasizes that addressing these concerns helps China achieve sustainable economic growth in the long run.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe outlines the key economic priorities for the G20 summit in Osaka. First, Asian countries need to forge the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) for free and fair trade in China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). This Asian bloc promotes sound and efficient trade relations as China, India, and Japan lead the mainstream consensus views on economic integration, financial stabilization, and intellectual property protection. Second, Asian countries should help ensure the safe and free flows of data via digital networks. With respect to this recent digitization, the socioeconomic ramifications of data flows can rival, or may even surpass, the broad impact of petroleum and the internal combustion engine in the previous century. Third, Japan leads many Asian countries in terms of disruptive innovation that helps tackle global environmental degradation. In the new era of beautiful harmony, the Japanese Abe administration seeks to reduce carbon emissions with better artificial photosynthesis. This innovative technology contributes to maximum sustainable employment, economic growth, and capital investment accumulation. Overall, the Japanese Abe administration hosts the next G20 summit for better international trade, data, and environmental protection.

France and Germany are the biggest beneficiaries of Sino-U.S. trade escalation, whereas, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan suffer from the current trade standoff. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reiterates that President Trump can impose tariffs on all of the other $325 billion Chinese imports if the Chinese Xi administration fails to agree with the U.S. to deliver a bilateral trade deal. Barclays economic research head Christian Keller emphasizes in his recent report that the additional U.S. tariffs may lead to trade substitution with fresh opportunities for France and Germany to garner greater export market shares worldwide. Eurozone exposure concentrates in Chinese computer and electronic exports and U.S. transport equipment exports. As France and Germany choose to accommodate Chinese export diversions, this transition may result in important economic repercussions in light of U.S.-E.U. trade negotiations. On the other hand, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan rely heavily on trade linkages with the Chinese economy. As Asia Pacific chief economist Steve Cochrane suggests, these industrial economies face substantive exposure to Chinese consumers and electronic supply chains. In recent times, these East Asian economies experience hefty stock market losses due to the current trade standoff between China and the U.S. amid trade deal uncertainty.

The Chinese new star board launches for tech companies to list at home. The Nasdaq-equivalent new star board serves as a key avenue for Chinese tech companies to raise funds as the stock exchange criteria are less stringent than other domestic boards. In recent years, the Chinese government encourages local tech firms to become more self-reliant in producing microchips and other core components. This new star board arises amid the current Sino-American trade escalation and recent U.S. embargo on the HuaWei supply chain of electronic imports. As of mid-2019, the new star board has received applications from 122 tech firms. Tech companies with at least RMB$300 million ($43 million) net income can list on the new star board insofar as these companies maintain the minimum stock market capitalization of RMB$2 billion with RMB$100 million cash flows in the prior 3 years. The board is the first registration-driven IPO system that streamlines the price flotation restrictions. Like Facebook, Google, Alibaba, and JD etc, Chinese tech companies with a dual-class shareholding structure are eligible to apply for registration. Alibaba continues to mull over its next proposal to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange several years after its blockbuster IPO on NYSE.

The Chinese central bank has to circumvent offshore imports-driven inflation due to Renminbi currency misalignment. Even though China maintains substantial foreign reserves in U.S. government bonds, traders may speculate about whether the People Bank of China (PBOC) can manage to fix the Dollar-Renminbi exchange rate below 7.0x. This current exchange rate has substantially declined about 9.3% since April 2018 and now hovers in the stable range of 6.89x to 6.92x. PBOC Governor Yi Gang indicates that there is no asymmetric red line for the Sino-U.S. exchange rate. However, Chinese economic policymakers may be hesitant to let their currency depreciate past RMB$7-to-USD$1. Any expectations of short-term currency misalignment can spur capital flight out of the Chinese economy. Chinese public companies that list abroad have to make cash dividend payments in June every year; so foreign exchange order flows reveal substantive short-term pressure for these Chinese public companies to sell the offshore Renminbi. As China maintains a near-zero current account surplus in mid-2019, the Renminbi faces downward pressure. Renminbi depreciation has long been a major source of tremendous competitive advantage for China. It is important for the Sino-U.S. trade negotiations to level the playing field with respect to potential Renminbi currency misalignment.

Warwick economic researcher Roger Farmer proposes paying for social welfare programs with no tax hikes. The current U.S. government pension and Medicare liabilities are almost $47 trillion in total. As Farmer suggests, national treasuries should establish social care funds, and these public funds borrow money at low interest rates and invest the proceeds in many international stock markets. A recent study analyzes data from OECD economies over a century and empirically shows that the average stock return is about 7% above the return on government bonds. The average equity premium ranges from 3.8% in Denmark to 9.9% in Japan. Stock market idiosyncratic volatility may not fully accord with economic fundamental factors such as size, value, momentum, asset growth, operating profitability, and market risk etc. Instead, this volatility reflects the animal spirits and sentiments of investors who often buy and sell shares on the basis of self-fulfilling prophecies of greed and fear. When the government institutes social care funds, these public funds can smooth out short-term stock price gyrations to invest in the long-term fundamental health of the global economy. The Farmer proposal may work well in practice as most public funds can earn an average 4%-7% equity premium per annum.

U.S. regulatory agencies may consider broader socioeconomic issues in their antitrust probe into tech titans such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. The House Judiciary Committee expects to hold the inaugural session on anti-competitive practices among these tech companies. The investigation represents the first congressional probe into allegations that these tech companies may abuse their quasi-monopoly power with suspicious anti-competitive behaviors. House Democrats back this landmark investigation, and Republicans also have huge concerns around the potential abuse of tech monopoly power (although most conservatives intend to avoid excessive government intervention). Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department focus on how Facebook and Google affect consumer privacy and competitor survival across the news media landscape. The regulatory agencies also probe into whether Apple abuses its market power in collaboration with Spotify to dominate digital music and the iOS app ecosystem. Moreover, the regulatory agencies examine whether Amazon not only drives down retail prices but also conducts collusive schemes in e-commerce. Antitrust scrutiny remains one of the biggest bipartisan tech issues. The regulatory agencies may impose punitive fines to diminish the market power of these tech companies, or may break up some of these tech titans for better consumer welfare and competitor survival.

Apple releases the new iOS 13 smartphone features. These features include Dark Mode, Audio Share, Memoji, better privacy protection, smart photo collection, and a fresh app dashboard. Switching the iPhone to Dark Mode can turn the typically bright screen design elements black and grey. This switch draws less electric power and helps ease eye strain. The iOS 13 software update facilitates sharing music between Apple mobile devices. Audio Share allows 2 AirPod users to listen to the same song with stereo sound at once. Apple refreshes the first-party apps in terms of both usability and functionality. These apps help track health trends, gallery views, notes, maps, reminders, and text messages with natural language entry. Apple gives iPhone lovers more control over their location data, social login service for iOS 13 *Sign In With Apple*, and random email address generation for better privacy protection. The new iOS 13 photo collection app uses machine-learning algorithms to ditch duplicate images and blurry screenshots. All iOS 13 users can edit photos and video clips with new tools to beautify both vertical and horizontal masterpieces. Memoji allows iOS 13 users to customize their FaceTime, Camera, and Messages with eyeshadow, jewelry, hats, glasses, and additional hairstyles.

AYA finbuzz podcast July 2019

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