Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the “Kyliest” of them all?

Teenage girls usually get angry when another girl wears their same clothes and sometimes even when someone in their class has their same name, as they don’t feel as special or as unique. However, these types of fights have been blown out of proportion with the feud between Kylie Minogue and Kylie Jenner. For those of you who don’t know them, Kylie Minogue is an Australian singer, songwriter, actress, author and entrepreneur who was born in Melbourne in 1968 and Kylie Jenner, on the other hand, is a 19- year old American television personality, socialite, model and businesswomen member of the famous Kardashian family. Although these two have little in common, it has been the only thing that they have the same the source of their legal troubles, as they both wanted to trademark their first name for their business endeavours.

When Kylie J created and released her cosmetics line in 2014, she decided to name it KYLIE after herself and, in order to prevent people from stealing her idea and image, she tried to register “KYLIE” at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), for “advertising services” and “endorsement services”. However, Kylie M opposed this as she had already trademarked her name before. As Kylie M argued, she had trademarks for that name in a wide variety of products such as perfumes, jewellery, songs, books and even has her own webpage www.kylie.com so she stated that allowing Kylie J’s trademark could be confusing and tarnishing to Kylie M’s reputation as she had been using it since the 1980s. Furthermore, Kylie M’s lawyers filed documents describing the Keeping up with the Kardashians star as a “secondary reality television personality” who had been critised for “photo exhibitionism and controversial posts” and recently over false marketing as many customers have spotted that her new lip kits are old ones called differently and charged at a higher price, whereas Kylie M was described an “internationally renowned performing artist, humanitarian and breast cancer activist”.

Despite the harsh words, since the legal action started, the case has been suspended twice already, which seemed to imply there was an understanding and that there would be a solution. However, this has not been the case with both Kylies still fighting for their name. Although neither one of the Kylies nor their respective teams have said anything, Kylie M has finally come up on top as the USPTO has sided with her and she will continue to use Kylie for her business and recording projects. Nevertheless, Kylie J has appealed against this sentence so the incident isn’t entirely closed yet. Thus, we will have to stay tuned to see what the final verdict is.

If Kylie J’s appeal is cancelled she might have to take away her name from all of her cosmetic products, especially taking into account that the trademark for her using her full name “KYLIE JENNER” was also denied. This makes the situation tricky for Kylie J and hopefully she will be able to solve it quickly and without this much drama. In the meantime, Kylie Minogue 1- Kylie Jenner 0.

Sources

http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=86810719&pty=EXA&eno=1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35689207/its-kylie-minogue-versus-kylie-jenner-in-a-battle-for-who-owns-their-name

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/35689207/its-kylie-minogue-versus-kylie-jenner-in-a-battle-for-who-owns-their-name

Spanish sources:

http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/02/06/estilo/1486406095_136245.html

http://www.glamour.es/celebrities/noticias/articulos/kylie-jenner-polemica-labiales-ediciones-limitadas-engano/25902

 

 

 

World’s first 3D printed laptop

In other blog posts I had already spoken about the amazing products created by 3D printers such as houses, toys and many other things. However, today I am going to tall you about the world’s first 3D-printed laptop, Pi-Top.

Pi-Top is a special laptop, which has not only been created by a 3D printer. What makes Pi-Top even more special is that it also integrates Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design with the 3D printing, a combination that endows you with the prerequisite know-how to create your own hardware product, according to its creators. The main aim of the project is to make “hardware as accessible as software,” so the developers behind this 3D-printed laptop want to make their product as beginner-friendly as possible. With that in mind, the creators (a group of student engineers from various UK universities) have ensured that anybody can make the kit in an evening. Creativity is also key to the product as Pi-Top aims to provide a platform on which you can hone your computing skills and learn to code your own hardware. What’s more, as learning through gaming has become a big thing these days, Pi-Top wants its consumers to take part in that trend and become a key player in this market.

While the Pi-Top boasts versatility through its customisable design, whereby you can 3D-print your own 5″ x 5″ case, the product’s not just about the appearance. The makers want you to “learn how to make and control home automation devices, robots, and consumer electronics,” and they’ve also toured the UK, imparting their technological skills to UK pupils. As a result, the product is not only aesthetically pleasing but it also is used as part of a learning experience.

For the skeptics that thought 3D printers were useless, the Pi-Top is the perfect example of a product that makes the usefulness of the printers increase to a great extent. This is because, everything you need to build your 3D-printable laptop, except for the printer itself, comes in a pack currently on sale for £180. The Pi-Top pack includes a customisable template for the 3D printer, so you can print your laptop in any colour or even have your name embossed on the shell. It also contains a screen and a “Raspberry Pi” – a desktop tower the size of a credit card – that needs to be slotted into the shell to form the final laptop.

The Pi-Top has all the functions of a normal laptop, but its inventors hope it will be used to teach children to become more computer literate by learning how to dismantle and reassemble it. The laptop, which officially launches in May, is available to buy on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo which enables thousands of people to pledge seed capital to a new idea rather than relying on a loan. What do you think about this product? I couldn’t be more excited as I would love to see what the future of 3D printed products hold!

To learn more about the product click on this link to watch the creators talk about their new product: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/technology-video/11219930/Introducing-Pi-Top-the-worlds-first-3D-printed-laptop.html

Women in engineering

As it was Women’s International Day yesterday, in today’s post I’m going to cover how the UK government is trying to promote the development of women so that they can access industries which are dominated by men, such as engineering.

The UK government has announced two new employer-led pilot projects that will open up new routes into engineering for women and increase their potential to advance in engineering careers. These two projects will be run by British-based global engineering consultancies WS Atkins and Hyder Consulting. The plan is to create new skills programmes for new and former women engineers and improve the representation of women in their UK workforces. Therefore the joint government and employer funding will help women develop their skills and will help them get into more engineering jobs.

Skills Minister Nick Boles said: “With UK manufacturing on the up and major upgrades to our transport links and infrastructure underway, there’s been no better time to enter an engineering career. To keep the UK at the forefront of engineering innovation we need the skills of the whole population, and that is why it is vital to capitalise on the contribution of women to the sector. I’m delighted to see WS Atkins and Hyder Consulting lead by example, and urge other employers to do the same.”

The two companies were chosen from a competitive tender under the government’s Employer Ownership of Skills Fund, which provides a fast and simple grant offer for businesses. Both companies have established plans to help the women. WS Atkins will support the training of 100 women to level 3 qualifications to aid their return to engineering after a break in their careers and Hyder Consultancy will support the training of 80 female engineers up to level 4 (degree equivalent) standards to help them advance their careers. Professor Dr Uwe Krueger, chief executive officer of Atkins, said: “Women, in particular, are hugely underrepresented in the design and engineering sector so initiatives which help inspire, attract and retain talented people or to assist them progress in their careers will make a real and tangible difference. “We know that returning to work after maternity leave or moving to flexible working to accommodate a young family can be a struggle, and by investing in this programme we will make it easier for parents to manage their work life balance and therefore continue their career development.”

This is very good news for women development as it will help women break the gender stereotypes in male-dominated industries. It is still important to promote the empowerment of women in all sectors and there should be more campaigns like this one to help women have better opportunities to work in whatever they want and to start leading. Emma Watson provides the perfect example to explain that women should be able to choose their career path as she told one of her fans to become an engineer via Twitter even if her dad didn’t want her to. You can read the whole story here.

I believe everyone should work together for the development of women so that women have better opportunities and can be equal to men in all jobs. What do you think about this? Follow the story: https://www.trainingjournal.com/articles/news/government-joins-forces-industry-get-more-women-engineering#.VPs12p1bM9c.twitter

Aston Martin targets new and female buyers

The recent recession has also affected luxury car makers. The UK company Aston Martin has been facing lower sales and declining profits for almost a decade. (Read more about them by clicking on the link). Aston Martin sales have fallen to about 4,000 from 7,300 in under a decade and as a result, the company has been trying to diversify. Aston Martin plans to broaden its range of cars to attract more female buyers as well as younger drivers in order to improve their profitability. The company is planning to introduce a new range of sportscars, a four-seater and a small SUV are in the pipeline as the UK company tries to reverse falling sales in the face of stiff competition from larger premium carmakers.

The company’s cars may be synonymous with James Bond, but the brand is a favourite among middle-aged sportscar enthusiasts. Mr Palmer, recruited last year from Nissan to draw up a new strategy for loss-making Aston Martin, said he wants to make the company “relevant to a customer who would never before have considered buying an Aston Martin”. The new range includes the car DBX, the new ladies’ car. The DBX will be the carmaker’s first all-electric, four-wheel drive vehicle. Mr Palmer said that when Aston’s design team set to work on the new DBX they had in mind a customer who was a young and rich lady. The interior of the car is different from any other model and also, it is more ergonomic. What’s more, the designers have called the car “Charlotte”. Despite this, men would also be targeted to buy the car however it is aiming the car at women to reach to a new market. The carmaker also showcased its long-awaited Vulcan, a racetrack-only car that will cost more than £1.5m. Mr Palmer said only 24 Vulcans would be made and so this would be a unique car that plans to increase the company’s profitability.

Mr Palmer’s plans are ambitious, as he hopes to take sales of the core sportscar models back up to about 7,000 and increase sales in new markets. However, he said sales would be capped at this level to retain Aston Martin’s exclusivity. Many companies have had a very bad press when trying to target an exclusively female audience. Do you think Aston Martin will be successful?

Follow the story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31727799 and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31710283 

“Charlotte” model

New Aston Martin Vulcan

Reshoring

A recent report, written by Lloyds Bank, suggested that there will be 50,000 manufacturing jobs created in the UK manufacturing sector over the next two years as a consequence of manufacturing being moved back to this country. This estimate is echoed by the accountants, PWC, that suggested that 100,000 to 200,000 additional jobs will be created over the next decade and that annual national output will be enhanced by £6-12 billion at today’s prices by the mid-2020’s. PWC also suggest that although the focus will be on the manufacturing sector, the process of “reshoring” will also impact upon the service sector too.

In previous decades, there has been a movement of manufacturing from high cost bases, such as the United Kingdom, to lower cost bases in developing and emerging markets overseas. This trend has begun to be reversed in the last three years. One in six British companies has “reshored” some of its manufacturing in the last three years.

So, what is causing this movement of manufacturing back to the United Kingdom?

One reason is that firms increasingly want to concentrate on quality – something that the trained UK workforce can provide. There is also a concern about the reliability of transport links and the speed of delivery. One company surveyed by Lloyds Bank was Jaguar Land Rover, which has already returned 20% of its manufacturing to the UK. The company plans to continue this process so that 30% of its production will be back in the UK within the next two years.

Another reason for rebasing manufacturing at home is the reduction in the cost disparity between the high cost developed nations and the lower cost developing and emerging markets. For example, the reduction in energy prices across Europe and in the United States, driven by the falling price of oil and the increased supply of shale gas in the States, has reduced costs of production. This has been coupled by an increase in costs of production in overseas markets in recent years. An example of this is wage growth in nations such as China, where annual wage inflation has been in the region of 15% until 2014. However, the wage gap is still significant, with manufacturing wage costs per hour being 15 times as high in Western Europe compared to China.

A report by the Warwick Business School in October 2014 also suggested that additional reasons for reshoring business activity back to the UK included rising productivity growth within the UK workforce and a more advantageous business culture. The latest labour productivity figures were released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Christmas Eve, suggesting that UK workers increased their output per hour by 0.6% in the period from July to September 2014.

The Case of the Left Shark

Katy Perry’s Halftime Show for the 49th Super Bowl about a week ago was one of the most watched events in Internet’s history. Katy Perry is known for being an incredible performer and the show wowed the whole audience. However, there was one detain in her appearance that captured more detail than her: the left shark. As most of you probably know, her show included two dancing sharks and the one on the left missed a few steps and this error made her performance become even more popular and go viral. From then on, this left shark has become famous and many businesses have tried to use this figure to bring some profits.

One website, Shapeways.com has indeed exploited the left shark. This is because, the website had been selling Mr Sosa design of the model using a 3D printer. The design was selling for $24.99 and indeed it had been a popular item. However, Katy Perry’s laywers found out and the website has been ordered to remove the design. In a letter, the lawyers said Perry had not consented to the use of the shark, which was being sold through Shapeways.com.

Over recent years, 3D printing is becoming an increasing headache for companies trying to protect their intellectual property. This has been because, falling costs of 3D printers, coupled with a growing community of model designers, means many small products can be made to a relatively high quality and sold easily so it is very difficult for lawyers to find it and so, the company and designers make a huge profit.

Intellectual property lawyer Dai Davis told the BBC he expects disputes like this to become more common, and that industry must adapt to facilitate demand. “In the same way copyright is difficult to protect in music because of the way the internet has allowed piracy sites, in the same way you already have lots of sites popping up which will increasingly allow unlawful copies of design rights [for objects].” He suggested that companies would perhaps be wiser to offer their own official 3D-printed designs, rather than putting effort into removing designs by others.

On the left, Fernando Sosa’s model of Left Shark, which attracted the attention of Katy Perry’s lawyers

The Coca-Cola Milk

Over recent years, the large businesses in the US are starting to diversify their production to avoid dependence on one company and one product in order to maximise their profits after the economic recession. Fairlife, which Coca–Cola formed in partnership with dairy cooperative Select Milk Producers in 2012, says its milk goes through a filtration process that’s akin to the way skim milk is made. Filters are used to separate the various components in milk. Then, more of the favorable components are added, while the less desirable ones are kept out.The result is a drink that Fairlife says is lactose free and has 50 percent more protein, 30 percent more calcium and 50 percent less sugar than regular milk.

Why did Coca-Cola expand to this market?

The main reason why Coca-Cola expanded into this new market was because of the poor financial performance of the company. Coca- Cola has decided to expand into this new business as in 2014 it registered a 2% fall in revenues and yearly profits fell by 8%. The national rollout of Fairlife over the next several weeks marks Coca–Cola’s entry into the milk case in the U.S., and is one way the world’s biggest beverage maker is diversifying its offerings as Americans continue turning away from soft drinks. Coca-Cola is turning away from soda as people increasingly seek out some type of functional boost from their foods and drinks, whether it’s more fiber, antioxidants or protein. With this strategy, Coca-Cola has plans to save 300 million until 2020 to pay its debt and rising costs as in January 1.800 employees had to be fired around the world.

Distribution of the milk is said to begin next month in the US, as the Coca-Cola milk will enter supermarket shelves as a part the Minute Maid Company. Consumers will be able to choose between 4 products and the price range will be between $3.98 $4.20.

What will results be?

Some experts continue to be confident about Coca-Cola, as they believe that this large company will be able to diversify and be successful with their milk due to its influential contacts in the beverage industry. However, others are not entirely convinced and believe this new project will not succeed because it will probably take time for customers to build brand loyalty and because in recent years, sales of milk like the sale of coke has reduced globally.

In conclusion, I believe that although there is a greater demand for protein-based products, the milk industry has lots of brand loyalty and, even if they are able to sell, it will take a very long time for Coca-Cola to succeed and have an important market share as it did for its soda products.

What do you think will be the future for Coca-Cola’s new product? Would you buy and drink Fairlife milk?

Tobacco companies break the law

Increasingly, there has been a number of cases across the globe where tobacco have used their power and influence and have tried to find loopholes in the law in order to increase the consumption of their deadly products.

On the 25^th of this month, a French anti-smoking association accused makers of Marlboro, Camel, Lucky Strike and Gauloise cigarettes of colluding to limit prices so smokers wouldn’t cut their consumption. According to the association, the companies were expecting sales to drop and were planning this agreement in order to set up a fixed price and boost sales. According to Yves Martinet, president of the National Committee Against Tobacco, the companies agreed to “work as a cartel, (and) they were trying to do all what they could so that prices rose in a moderate manner to ensure consumption wouldn’t fall”. Usually, it is illegal to collectively regulate prices as individual tobacco manufacturers control the pricing of cigarettes and the French state intervenes imposing taxes. Therefore, according to legal status colluding is illegal. As a result, the French anti-smoking association has presented these facts to the French court and the verdict will come out next year.

France has not been the only country where powerful tobacco companies have tried to find loopholes to rules in order to increase the consumption of cigarettes. British American Tobacco (BAT), for example, experienced a similar situation in Africa whereby they still continued to advertise their products in three different countries despite the government regulations against the promotion of their products.

In Malawi, Nigeria and Mauritius – countries where the number of smoking-related deaths is expected to double in the next 20 years, the sale of cigarettes has increased significantly over the last years. This is partially because BAT has been recently targeting 8-15 year olds in order to make up for the decline of smoking in other countries. Despite the fact that the company reports state the company would not to advertise to teenagers and an advertising ban on cigarettes in Mauritius, BAT paints newsagent shops, dishes out funky leaflets in schools and publicly celebrates the 45th anniversary of its arrival in the country, all tricked out in the crucial brand colours. In Nigeria and Malawi they hold branded music festivals and run competitions offering prizes seemingly designed to attract the teenage demographic. Also, BAT allows and encourages the “single stick sales” (sale of individual cigarettes), as often the price of a cigarette will be cheaper than food such as cookies.

Reports, especially one carried out by Duncan Bannatyne, show that the tactics seem to be working. In Mauritius, half of the 11- to 14-year-olds at the school he visits smoke and the cardiac centre in the country was overwhelmed by patients suffering from smoking-related diseases. Furthermore, in all 3 countries 80% of the children recognised tobacco brands and companies, suggesting that the strategies are actually working and that BAT is making £2.9bn in profit partially by selling the cigarettes to teenagers in emerging markets.

I believe these different companies should stop trying to prioritise profits over healthcare of their consumers; especially the children and they should develop a better CSR strategy.

What do you think about these stories? Should companies prioritise profits over the wellbeing of their customers? What are the solutions for this problem?

The payment gap

In today’s post I’m going to cover one of the external influences to a business: the legal environment. Asda, the UK’s second largest retailer, is facing a mass legal action by women who work in their stores. The women claim they are not paid the same as male workers in the distribution warehouses despite their jobs being of equivalent value.

The legal firm managing the case, Leigh Day, has carried out 19,000 enquiries to current and former Asda staff in relation to the group legal action in order to know about the working conditions and pay. From all the enquiries, in more than half of them women provided evidence about their pay that suggested they were being paid less than their male co-workers. Lauren Loughheed, the solicitor with Leigh Day who is leading the case, said that the pay difference between shop and warehouse workers and male and female workers could be as much as £4 an hour. As a result, more than 1,000 employment tribunal claims have already been lodged and Leigh Day is demanding equal pay for all Asda employees across warehouses, stores and all Asda centres to ensure equality. On the other hand, Asda says it has strong policies on treating its entire staff equally and that there is no wage gap differences amongst its employees.

If Asda was found to be guilty, this could lead to some very high payouts to the women, a heavy fine to the company as well as Asda having to change their recruitment and pay policies. The cases, which are likely to be heard next year, go to the heart of the problem of equal pay.

Equal Pay Act that granted equal payment to all employees was passed in the UK and in many other countries in the 1970s. Despite this, there have been many cases of women who complain about the wage differences. The most recent example occurred in Canada where women working at Castlegar Pulp Mills, a Canadian manufacturing company argue that despite performing identical duties as the men, they were paid $35,000 less per year at the mill operated by Zellstoff Celgar Ltd. Other examples of similar cases can be found in many other countries such as the US, Czech Republic and Sweden. As a result, these cases indicate that the has not been effective as there are still women who believe they are treated unfairly and that they are paid less than men.

The graph below shows the OECD payment gap that indicates that all over the world there are cases of women being paid less than men as in many countries there are statistics showing that due to discrimination the gender pay gap is still a reality.

I believe governments and companies should be treating everyone equally and implementing more laws and controls to ensure everyone has equal chances and equal pay to reduce discrimination against women and all employees so everyone in the society could be equal.

What do you think about the gender pay gap and what are the possible measures to solve this situation?

R.I.P Barbie

Who hasn’t heard about Barbie and Ken? In same way or another, it might be fair to say that most people have played or have come across one of the toys designed by Mattel. Since their creation in 1959 Barbie dolls have been very popular and many generations of children have been seen playing with the toy. However, could the manufacturing of this popular doll stop?

History of Barbie Manufacturing

Before the ‘Made in China’ was placed in Barbie’s back the toy was manufactured in many different places such as Hong Kong, Philippines and some even made in Malaysia or Thailand. Recently, all dolls are manufactured in China and are manufactured in the same way. In this video you will be able to see how different dolls (including Barbie) are manufactured and how technology has aided their production.

Recent news

Although the toy is still widely used after more than 50 years (giving use a real life example of a successful product development), Barbie dolls could actually be experiencing one of their worst trading moments in history. In 2009, Barbie accounted for more than 25% of the US market for dolls and accessories, but this figure fell to 19.6% in 2013. Further financial difficulties occurred last year as during the 2014-2015 Christmas season, (a trading period crucial for any toy company), sales fell by 6% and Mattel shares fell 11% in New York. Furthermore, full-year net profits for the world’s biggest toy company also slid more than $400m to $498.9m. Mattel said that a strong US dollar hurt sales, which fell to $1.99bn in the quarter to December 31 and were down 7% to just over $6bn for 2014. However, experts suggest that the increase in competition is what has caused the financial difficulties.

The popularity of Barbie has faded in the past three years as girls opt for dolls based on characters from the Disney animated films such as Frozen, or gadgets such as tablet computers or other dolls such as Bratz and Monster High. Furthermore, the many campaigns against the unrealistic measurements of the Barbie and the introduction of the Lammily Doll, the first fashion doll made according to typical human body proportions has hurt the sales of Barbie.

Future

The first person to be fired due to the poor financial results was Mr. Stockton, who had been chief executive since January 2012. Mr. Sinclair is his replacement and with him Barbie hopes to improve its trading figures and continue to be the market leader for dolls. In the near future, analysis suggests Barbie dolls will continue to be manufactured and sold and that Mattel will continue to employ 30,000 people worldwide, as many analysts believe that Barbie’s financial problems are only a short-term. This news is certainly relieving as it would be a shame to lose such an emblematic figure and also the shutdown of this company would not be beneficial for the business world.