Economist, Apr 11, 2015

choi

(1) Commercial drones | Up; A Chinese firm has taken the lead in a promising market.
www.economist.com/news/business/ ... promising-market-up
("Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) * * * is thought to have made around $500m in revenues in 2014 (the company declines to confirm this), and it may be on track to become the first maker of consumer drones to reach a billion dollars in annual sales. * * * It [DJI] scorns the idea that the defence giants who make drones for America’s armed forces will eventually muscle in on its business: yes, they are technologically advanced, says DJI’s Andy Pan, but 'they take five to six years to introduce a new model whereas we take five to six months' ”)

choi

(2) Drug dealing | The Net Closes; The web’s two largest drug markets go down, panicking dealers and buyers.
www.economist.com/news/business/ ... d-buyers-net-closes

Quote:

"The illegal-drugs trade, worth perhaps $300 billion a year, has been creeping onto the web. Like other online retailers, drug dealers can undercut the high street by spending less on maintaining a physical presence and employing salesmen. Consumers like the convenience and safety of shopping from home, and online product reviews are especially useful when buying potentially deadly substances. Bitcoin, a near-untraceable digital currency, covers their tracks. One in seven American drug users have ordered a fix online, according to one survey.

"On March 18th [] Evolution Marketplace, the Amazon of the dark web, vanished in a puff of pixels. * * * A few days later, users reported that Agora, the next-biggest drug-peddling site, was inaccessible. * * * After a wobbly Easter weekend, Agora is back, for now.

choi

(3) Ageing consumers | Chasing the Grey Yen. Japanese firms have wisdom to hand down about selling to the elderly.
www.economist.com/news/business/ ... ly-chasing-grey-yen

Note:
(a) "Aeon, a giant retailer and shopping-centre operator, has a 'Grand Generation' strategy, which ranges from providing one-stop medical clinics on the premises to making in-store signs easier to read."

ÆON (company)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ÆON_(company)
(b) "Fujitsu 富士通, an electronics firm, has sold 20m of its “Raku Raku” mobile phones, with larger buttons and simplified functions, and is now introducing them into Europe."
(i) Japanese English dictionary
rakuraku 楽楽; 楽々 【らくらく】 (adv): "comfortably; easily"  <ぼくは手が足の指に楽々とどくよ。 I can easily touch my toes?"
(ii) The "raku" is the Chinese pronunciation of kanji 楽.