... increase CAFE at 5% annually for cars and 3.5% for light trucks through 2021, with an overall target of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. The current timeline is 35mpg CAFE by 2016.

Speaking at the White House ceremony, President Obama said: "This agreement on fuel standards represents the single most important step we've ever taken as a nation to reduce our dependence on foreign oil ... so as we look to close the deficit, this agreement is a reminder of why it's so important that we have a balanced approach.

"We've got to make serious spending cuts while still investing in our future; while still investing in education and research and technology like clean energy, which are so important for our economy." 

Also present at the event to signify support for the initiative were the Big Kahunas of the US auto industry: Dan Akerson, ceo of General Motors; Alan Mulally, president/ceo of Ford; James E Lentz III, president and managing officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA and John Krafcik, who heads Hyundai Motor America.

The White House, Big Busineess USA and Joe Public are apparently of like mind with regard to the need to reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil. 

A poll for the Pew Clean Energy Program taken between July 8 and 12, found that 91% of Americans believe dependence on foreign oil is a "very serious" or "somewhat serious" threat to US security, and those opinions pretty much cut across ideological lines.

Eighty-two percent of respondents said they support 56 mpg by 2025, with 68% saying they favor it strongly. The polls showed that "overwhelming majorities" in every demographic subgroup support increased fuel efficiency to 56 mpg, including 70% of Republicans, 87% of Democrats and 88% of independents. The 'pro' vote also cut across geographical regions.

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... with plans to install 800 electric vehicle [EV] charging stations across the country by the end of this year -- a move that will make it the nation's largest such facility.

What's more, there is ample room for growth, with 8,169 Walgreens locations across all fifty states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Installations have already begun at more than sixty locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and Chicago.

Business Wire reports that the Walgreens charging stations will feature either a high-speed direct current charger that can add 30 miles of range in as little as ten minutes of charging time, or a Level 2 charger that can add up to 25 miles of range per hour of charge.

According to Mark Wagner, Walgreens president of community management and operations: "Consumer interest and enthusiasm has been incredible and we're excited to provide locations to charge up in neighborhoods across the country.

"As more Americans embrace environmentally sustainable technologies, our convenient locations make us uniquely positioned to help address the concern around accessibility or 'range confidence."

How long, wonders MarketingTomorrow, before Walmart, Costco, Home Depot and other US retail giants follow suit?

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... such major retailers as Whole Foods, Dunkin’ Donuts, Virgin America, and Sports Authority. 

Unlike Groupon or LivingSocial, these AmEx deals don’t require anyone to pre-purchase anything or present any coupons to merchants.

One of the biggest challenges for the daily deals industry is to accurately measure how many offers are actually redeemed at thousands of different participating businesses.

Which is where the Facebook-Amex alliance scores heavily, given the latter's extant worldwide payment network. All people have to do is buy the deal item with their AmEx card and they will be credited the deal amount.

The Facebook twist is that the deals you see are influenced by what you and your friends “like” on the web using the Facebook 'like' button.

Although many of the deals at launch are with national brands, AmEx is also leveraging its relationships with smaller local merchants. It is a launching a program called Go Social that enables merchants to manage deals across both Facebook and Foursquare, with other social networks to be added in the future.

Business owners will be able to create their own coupon-less deals in a self-serve manner, ie triggered whenever someone with a linked account buys a deal item.

Self-serve has been a challenge so far with local merchants, but AmEx can market to them through its existing channels.  

Go Social will also allow merchants to put their locations on social networks like Facebook and Foursquare, and track their deal campaigns across those networks. Since AmEx has all the payment information, it can track deal redemption with relative ease.

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... separate nutritional standards for each of ten product categories, taking effect no later than December 31, 2013.

Which in real terms means that after that date member companies will not advertise to children any foods that do not meet the CFBAI criteria. 

The ten product categories are: juices; dairy products; grains, fruits and vegetable products; soups and meal sauces; seeds, nuts, nut butters and spreads; meat, fish and poultry products; mixed dishes; main dishes and entrees; small meals; and meals. Each category has its own set of criteria, such as:

• Juices. For juices, no added sugars are permitted, and the serving must contain no more than 160 calories.
   
• Dairy. This category includes products such as milk and yogurt. For ready to drink flavored milk, an 8 fluid ounce portion is limited to 24 grams (g) of total sugars. For yogurt products, a 6 ounce portion is limited to 170 calories and 23 grams of total sugars. These sugars criteria include both naturally-occurring and sugars added for flavoring.
   
• Grains, fruits and vegetable products (and items not in other categories). This category includes products such as cereals, crackers and cereal bars. Foods with ≤ 150 calories, such as most children’s breakfast cereals, must contain no more than 1.5 g of saturated fat, 290 milligrams (mg) of sodium and 10 g of sugar (products with > 150−200 calories get proportionately higher limits). Foods in this category also must provide ≥ ½ serving of foods to encourage (fruits, vegetables, non- or low-fat dairy, and whole grains) or ≥ 10% of the Daily Value of an essential nutrient.
   
• Seeds, nuts, nut butters and spreads. Foods in this category, which includes peanut butters, must have no more than 220 calories, 3.5 g of saturated fat, 240 mg of sodium and 4 g of sugar per 2 tablespoons. Foods in this category also must provide at least one ounce of protein equivalent.
   
• Main dishes and entrees. Foods in this category, such as canned pastas, must have no more than 350 calories, 10 percent calories from saturated fat, 600 mg of sodium and 15 g of sugar per serving. Foods in this category also must provide either ≥ 1 serving of foods to encourage or ≥ ½ serving of foods to encourage and ≥ 10% of the Daily Value of two essential nutrients.

The new rules are based on "food science" and US dietary guidelines, and "fill in gaps" in its current system by establishing category-specific limits for calories, saturated fat, transfat, sodium and total sugars. Plus requirements for "nutrition components to encourage."

The new rules also eliminate companies' ability to define products as acceptable for advertising based solely on a product's meeting a "reduced" claim ("25% less sodium") or being marketed in portion-controlled packages (eg: "100-calorie").

According to CFBAI vp/director Elaine Kolish, the new criteria "represent a huge step forward, further strengthening" major food/beverage companies' voluntary efforts to improve the nutrition of the foods they advertise to kids.

The standards are designed to include "challenging yet feasible" goals, and to take into account "the real-world difficulties of changing recipes of well-known foods," as well as to encourage development of new products with less sodium, saturated fat, sugar and calories, CFBAI says.

The standards also "recognize the inherent differences in food categories and their roles in the diet."

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... "What is happening here is we are redefining the way all of us work together. We love the notion of partnering with entertainment and content providers and have them think about how to make content social from the start."

Ogilvy & Mather ceo Miles Young was thankfully more down-to-earth: "We used to be agents. Then we weren't sure what we were, as people were terrified by the digital disruption. Now, I believe we are publishers."

Mr Young was referring, of course, to the way in which tech firms, entertainment companies, designers, copy writers and ad executives now work together to find new ways of capturing consumers' fickle attention.

Despite the current explosive political situation in the Middle East and accelerating fears of a double-dip global recession, ad markets are booming again.

Says Andy Fennell, cmo at alcohol giant Diageo: "In the old days [circa 2008-09], we tried to squeeze [advertising] costs as much as we could. Now we are considerably increasing spending on content, particularly in the last year."

But what has driven advertiser's demand for higher quality content. According to Fennell: "People have a lower attention span."

And finally folks ... for afficionados of C-Suite sagacity, Time Warner chairman/ceo Jeff Bewkes offered this pearl of wisdom to the elite of of global media and marketing: "Advertisers have got to make cleverer ads, you have to learn from the creative industry."

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... notably the extreme pressure on NBCU executives to live up to their repeated assurance to investors that they're interested only in sports deals that rain dollars.

NBCU's bill will be divided into four parts. According to the IOC, the broadcast behemoth will pay $775 million for 2014, $1.226 billion for 2016, $963 million for 2018 and $1.418 billion for 2020.

NBC lost $223 million on the 2010 Vancouver Games and is projecting a $250 million loss for London next year. The broadcaster's bill averages roughly the same on a per Games basis as the $2 billion it paid for the 2010 and 2012 Games, for which it projects losses in the region of $500 million.

The locations of the 2018 and 2020 Games have yet to be selected. South Korea is currently the leading contender for the 2018 Games, which - due to the international time variance - would mean few, if any, live events during US prime-time.

Meanwhile, Rome is the only major city that has expressed interest in the 2020 Games.

Strangely, however, these seemingly bleak forecasts (extracted from NewsCorp's Wall Street Journal) did not deter NewsCorp's Fox Network from making its unsuccessful bid for the Olympic broadcast rights. Do the grapes on Clan Murdoch's vine have a sour taste?

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... a massive database of 800,000-plus US citizens who sample a range of products specified by BizzAgent, which they are invited to write about (or not) as they wish on Facebook and Twitter. Canny BzzAgent pays nary a single cent to its army of volunteers [possibly a world record in the realm of consumer exploitation?].

BzzAgent ceo Dave Balter will report to Simon Hay, head of Tesco's customer-loyalty and database marketing arm Dunnhumby. The UK-based company provides services for several US multinationals, among them Procter and Gamble, Coca-Cola and Kroger.

Although remaining a separate business, BzzAgent will work closely with Dunnhumby to expand its base of consumer volunteers via its huge database of household and consumer information. BzzAgent's sixty full-time employees will be staying with the company.

Tesco's acquisition is a 'me too' move, following in the wake of WalMart which last month paid a cool $300m for Kosmix, a tech-firm that describes its activities as "teasing Patterns from data, with applications to search, social media, and advertising.

Or, in plain English: analysing social-media content into categories.

[Hans Christian Anderson explored a similar concept back in 1837. He branded it: The Emperor's New Clothes!]

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... "Chrome is venturing into a new model of computing that I don't think was possible previously even a few years ago," preached the co-founder. [Mr Brin's enthusiam for his latest baby appears to have overwritten his memory by expunging recall of longstanding and successful cloud services such as Evernote!]

Chromebook, Brin evangelized, will do away with the need to store files, folders, images, music, movies, documents, spreadsheets etc on individual computers or company servers. Instead these vital personal and commercial records will be stored on what Google refers to as a "stateless" machine.

This will enable users to access their data via any machine anywhere with an internet connection.

After the keynote presentation given by Chrome's svp Sundar Pichai, he and other Googlistas conducted a question and answer session with journalists.

Brin said from a technology point of view, the time for "an easier way to compute" is now. But Wired Magazine's Steven Levy, the author of a new book on Google titled In The Plex, begged to differ, opining that the full embrace of this brave new world was ten years away.

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... the largest ever in Microsoft's packed portfolio of acquisitions. The AdAge duo also see the move as the outpaced giant's belated response to the cloud-based web services that define tomorrow's digital economy.

An economy in which Steve Ballmer's global Gargantua is currently something of a Little League player, outpaced and out-gunned by Google, Facebook and Apple. All of which could be set to change -- rapidly -- according to Lee and Learmonth who predict five likely outcomes for Microsoft's prodigious punt:

1. Prevents Skype from Falling into the Hands of Facebook or Google
   Ballmer want to keep Skype out of the hands of rival Google and Facebook. He not only paid $8.5 billion in cash for Skype but also took on its long-term debt of $686 million.
   
   While both Google and Facebook had expressed interest in Skype, it made less sense for Google, which already has a voice-over-internet product, called Google Voice. Facebook, however, has already disrupted email with its messaging system and could have significantly upended digital communication altogether if it had acquired Skype.
   
   Microsoft has lost ground in cloud-based services, and despite Skype's singular design, it gives the software giant a foothold in this space. As of June of last year, Skype was seeing an average of 124 million monthly users, 8.1 million of whom pay for a upgraded version of the service that allows them to call landlines or mobile phones from their computer.
    
2. A Buttress for Windows Phone
   Skype could bolster Windows Phone, which seriously lags behind Google's Android and Apple's iPhone. Even after a big-budget launch last year2, Windows Phone hasn't been able to pick off US smartphone market share from Apple or Google, according to Comscore estimates.
   
   However, integrating Skype into Windows Phone beyond what's already possible in Skype's mobile apps could help lure video chat loyalists to Windows Phone. One major drawback, however, is that Skype is already available on iPhone and Android phones through apps for voice calls, video and instant messaging.
   
   It's unclear if those apps on competitive platforms will continue to exist after the deal closes. Regardless, bringing Skype front-and-center on Windows Phone as Apple has with FaceTime -- one-touch video calls between iPhones and iPads with front-facing cameras -- could be a draw for the millions of Skype fans already familiar with the service.
    
3. Enhancement of Existing Product Range
   Microsoft can take advantage of Skype's pro-class software by incorporating it into Microsoft Office to allow for video conferencing. Moreover, it brings tech/marketing knowhow via Skype CEO Tony Bates, a former senior honcho at Cisco, which has a video conferencing business.
    
4. Grow X-Box
   Like other console makers, Microsoft has been trying to lure in more families into its customer base with sports- and music-oriented games and with its new add-on device Kinect, a motion controller that reads people's body movements.
   
   Skype, which is popular with families -- and especially grandparents and their grandchildren -- could turn X-box into a family video phone. For the moment, X-box is still a sought-after device among the hardcore gamer set.
    
5. Click-to-call on Bing
   One of Skype's lesser-known revenue lines is its click-to-call ads that appear within search results. In partnership with call advertising firm Marchex, the company converted clickable Skype phone numbers of businesses into ads.
   
   The businesses pay based on the number of calls they receive through Skype, and can set a monthly budget based on the number of calls they would like to pay for.
   
   While search-leader Google has driven much of these click-to-call ads, Microsoft could offer merchants a better deal for ads appearing within Bing search results, or could offer consumers more robust features within Bing results such as a click-to-call window appearing next to each entry.

Moreover, SFgate.com's Matt Roscoff posits that a major driving force behind the deal is Microsoft's ambition to sell IP-based communication systems to replace outmoded PBX phone systems -- a market with an eventual estimated annual worth of $5 to $12 billion annually.

If Skype helps Microsoft capture even a relatively small part of this market -- say $2 billion a year -- then its $8.5 billion Skype purchase price looks pretty cheap.

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.

... India will have 180 million to 200 million internet users by 2015, or 18% national penetration. Online purchases are expected to rise to $5 billion in 2012 from $1.4 billion last year—a minuscule slice of the $350 billion Indian retail sector.

Meantime, reports The Wall Street Journal: "A host of Indian internet companies are emerging to offer their take on services that proved big hits in the US and elsewhere. Already there are Amazon, Groupon or Expedia wannabes, all with the goal of capitalizing on Indians' growing interest in buying things online."

Recent Indian start-ups, include online bookseller Flipkart.com, electronics retailer LetsBuy.com, and discount site SnapDeal.com. All are growing quickly and attracting financing from big-name Silicon Valley venture investors like Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners.

Internet penetration in India is finally showing signs of picking up. The country had 71 million internet users as of 2009, the latest data available, representing just 5% of its population. But current estimates put the figure in a range of 80 million to 100 million, and analysts say usage will get a big boost as cellular operators start to launch third-generation broadband networks.

According to the WSJ, there are at least half a dozen major group-buying and coupon sites inspired by US models such as Groupon.

SnapDeal.com, founded last year by local Wharton School graduate Kunal Bahl, offers discounts in 45 Indian cities on everything from high-end fragrances to spa visits, earning 30% commissions on sales. There are more than enough upper-middle class users to support growth in coming years, Bahl says, even outside the biggest metro areas.

"The amount of wealth in the second-tier and third-tier Indian cities is absolutely mind-boggling," he said.

Factual data only is sourced from the original attributed article. The data is then enhanced by additional research and comment.