text:
NBN Co has stated it will invest in capacity upgrades to handle more users on its fixed wireless network.
NBN Co says it has seen an increase in NBN 50 subscriptions after it lowered its wholesale costs for the second-fastest NBN speed tier in late 2017.
On the retail side of things, Telstra has updated its NBN plans to feature NBN 50 as the standard speed on all plans costing $80 or more per month. Previously Telstra’s minimum speed was NBN 25 and users can now experience a ‘typical evening speed’ of about 40Mbps between 7pm and 11pm.
NBN Co’s Gavin Williams said in a blog post that the company has seen a significant spike in the amount of data being consumed in recent months.
“Due to an increase in this demand, we will further invest in an upgrade program to expand the capacity of our wireless towers,” Mr Williams said.
The fixed wireless network primarily services regional and rural areas – areas that Mr Williams said are seeing some of the greatest increase in internet demands, especially in peak times.
“This is often referred to as the ‘Netflix effect’ where many households sit down together after dinner to stream their favourite show,” Mr Williams said.
nbn will boost capacity on our Fixed Wireless network, taking another step towards delivering on our commitment to customer experience. Read more: https://t.co/EYH8NYrwjy #nbn pic.twitter.com/DXBTL4YyxR
— nbn™ Australia (@NBN_Australia) February 19, 2018
Who is going to benefit?
So who is going to get the upgrade? Previously NBN Co has stated that any towers delivering end-user peak speeds of 6Mbps or worse will be looked into first. In mid-February, NBN Co announced some of these areas would be:
- Marian North, QLD
- Howard Springs, Bees Creek & Humpty Doo, NT
- Clunes North, VIC
- Woolgoolga & Millthorpe, NSW
- Worrolong, SA
These areas currently fall under the threshold of 6Mbps peak download speeds, and is measured by average throughput of all end users using a particular fixed wireless cell.
In the retail space, it isn’t clear whether providers will follow Telstra and lower NBN 50 costs or not. In any case, watch this space, especially if you’re a regional or rural customer using fixed wireless NBN.


text:
Govt and industry put together an event to push engineering exports to the other North American giant.
Spooked by the ongoing slump in America and the continuing fiscal crises in euro zone countries, the Indian engineering sector is discovering Canada. The country also happens to be, after Friday, the only one in the western hemisphere with a triple-A credit rating from Standard & Poor’s.
Officials of EEPC India, formerly called the Engineering Export Promotion Council, are currently in Canada, preparing for a big push this year of Indian engineering goods and services to this country’s market.
From October 17 to 20, Toronto will host The India Show, an initiative by the commerce ministry to promote Brand India globally. The event will be the Indian engineering industry’s first expo in Canada. It will be part of the Canadian Manufacturing Technology Show, where India is this year’s ‘Strategic International Partner’. CMTS, billed as Canada’s “ultimate manufacturing event”, is held once every two years.
About 120 Indian engineering companies will participate. While major groups like Tatas, Reliance and Essar are expected, the effort will be to help EEPC’s small and medium enterprise members to reach out to potential partners and buyers.
A recent survey by the organisers of CMTS found nearly 60 per cent of Canadian manufacturing companies planned to increase their spending on machinery and equipment this year, while about 30 per cent expect to maintain spending at last year’s level.
At under $5 billion a year, annual trade between India and Canada is negligible compared to India’s trade with other partners such as America or China, worth $50-60 billion, respectively. But India and Canada have set a target of tripling bilateral trade by 2015, and India is on Canada’s list of 13 priority markets.
That’s where this sector comes in, said Aman Chadha, chairman of EEPC India, to Business Standard here. Engineering makes up a quarter of all exports from India, earning $60 billion of India’s total exports of $240 billion last year. But even after a 30 per cent growth, India’s engineering exports to Canada last year only amounted to $367 million.
This, Chadha pointed out, accounted for a mere quarter per cent of Canada’s engineering imports, and left huge room for growth. He said Indian exporters had failed to focus on Canada so far, with 40 per cent of their goods directed to the US and the European Union.
Those exports are expected to take a big hit in the near future. Chadha says exports to the US have been hit drastically of late and exporters expect a further tapering in orders as America’s focus shifts from stimulus efforts to spending cuts. The steady fall of the US dollar against the Indian rupee has also added to exporters’ woes. On the other hand, the strength of the Canadian dollar – it is now stronger than the US dollar – is attractive to Indian exporters. However, the challenges to boosting trade go beyond introducing Indian companies to Canadian buyers. While the distance between India and Canada is comparable to that between India and the US, there is less freight traffic to Canada, making shipments more difficult and costlier.
The India Show will showcase the country’s traditional strengths in the steel, automobile, auto components and electrical goods sectors. EEPC officials say they also want to promote India as a source for engineering services, research and development and engineering process outsourcing. Says Chadha, “If you want one million buckets, don’t come to India, go to China. But come to us for high-quality, low-volume products.” This will be the second India Show organised by EEPC India, after the first such event held in Turkey this January. There will also be a cultural element to the show in Toronto, with Indian arts and cuisine on display. Also on show will be a Tata Nano, which according to Chadha, is likely to be a big draw.
EEPC says previous efforts to open new markets have paid off, with engineering exports to Latin America and Africa doubling in the past couple of years. Chadha predicts the effect of The India Show in Toronto will be visible in two years.

domain: news


text:
LONDON (CBS.MW) -- U.K.-based tour operator First Choice Holidays uk:fcd said Wednesday that its U.K. companies had nearly 1,200 customers in the areas of South East Asia that were hit by tidal waves on Dec. 26, 2004. The percentage of bookings that are affected by the event, in the context of the Group's total annual bookings, is very small and is not expected to have a material impact on the current year's financial performance, First Choice said. The company has accounted for all but six customers from its U.K. operations.
Have breaking news sent to your inbox. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Bulletin emails. Sign up here.


text:
Welcome to this week’s edition of Techcast! We’re talking about what Samsung could be releasing on March 1, HTC’s weird rap diss video on its rivals, and the Raspberry Pi 2 supports Windows! As well – in a surprise – Chris has some nice words about Microsoft. I know, what a shock.
Join Terence Huynh and Chris Southcott for (something here). Be sure to subscribe to our podcast by using the links below. Let us know what you think of the new podcast by tweeting @techgeekcomau or commenting below.
Expect Samsung’s next flagship Galaxy phone on March 1st
HTC’s First Smartwatch To Launch Alongside The One M9 In March
HTC Made A Rap Video To Diss Apple And Samsung, And It’s The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Seen
Raspberry Pi 2 is faster, better and will run Windows 10
Apple testing mysterious camera-equipped vehicles in the Bay Area
Microsoft Office touch apps now available on Windows 10 Technical Preview
Microsoft reportedly buys Sunrise, the best calendar app for iPhone and Android
Twitter CEO: ‘We suck at dealing with abuse’
Twitter and Google reportedly just made a big deal to put tweets in search results
Google Glass’ new boss wants to redesign the headset ‘from scratch’
Apple Watch will be released in April, according to CEO Tim Cook
PlayStation, meet Spotify – PlayStation.Blog.Europe


text:
The new car buying guide will help customers compare different types of new cars to figure out which ones are right for them.
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) March 07, 2014
CarHistory.us.org announced today that they are about to launch a new car buying guide for 2014 the company said yesterday.
“Many of our returning customers are now thinking about making the move from a used car to owning a new car,” a CarHistory.us.org spokesman said. “We want to help them with that. So we did the research into the new cars available this year, and are going to share our results with people.”
The new car buying guide will help customers compare different types of new cars to figure out which ones are right for them, he said.
“There is no one right car for everyone,” he said. “We all have different needs and expectations. This guide will walk someone through the process of deciding which new car they really need.”
The CarHistory.us.org guide will also teach people how to negotiate the best price on a new car, he said.
“Knowing how new car dealers operate can save thousands of dollars on the price of the car,” he said. “But most people don't know how to negotiate, or how much room there is to move a price down. We'll show them the insider secrets and the best ways to get the best value.”
The guide was put together with the help of the CarHistory.us.org staff and experts in the automotive industry, he said.
CarHistory.us.org, an online source for public records, takes pride in providing the most comprehensive vehicle history reports in North America. With hundreds of users daily, motor vehicle report availability and customer service are top priorities for CarHistory.us.org. Visit CarHistory.us.org today to chat with a live representative, call 1-855-482-6465, or email Manager(at)CarHistory(dot)us(dot)org with any questions or concerns.


text:
As the first containers of Vietnam's lychees have been shipped to the US and Australia, the country will continue expanding fruit exports to other markets, such as the EU.
|Farmers in Tan Yen district, Bac Giang province harvest lychees (Photo: VNA)|
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh made this statement at a press meeting in Hanoi on June 1.
Anh noted that it almost took five to eight years to bring fruits and vegetable to world markets. Lychee took 14 years to penetrate the two countries, which have strict quality requirements.
"Vietnam's markets will require further efforts from the country's exporters to build their image and promote marketing activities," he said, adding that the first cargo has also proved the efforts of businesses to seek markets, as well as their struggle to enhance product quality.
However, he said the main lychee consumption of around 200,000 tonnes this year would still rely on the local market and export to China which accounted for 60 percent of the total.
The deputy minister forecast that this year's consumption will be similar or slightly higher than that of last year.
"One of the difficult tasks is to improve the quality of our lychee so that they can surpass certain technical barriers in developed countries," he noted.
The ministry will continue taking measures to encourage lychee consumption by connecting purchasing enterprises with farmers.
Recently, the ministry tied up with northern Lang Son province to build a 143-ha transit area with a total investment of VND986 billion to ease the accumulation of agricultural products at border gates. The area is also expected to improve the export of agricultural products, especially seasonal items.


text:
Updated: Sep 01, 2022 17:22 IST
Washington [US], September 1 (ANI): US technology firm Nvidia has said that the Biden administration has imposed restrictions on the sale of a number of high-tech computer chips to Russia and China as they can be used for military purposes.
“On August 26, 2022, the U.S . government, or USG, informed NVIDIA Corporation, or the Company, that the USG has imposed a new license requirement, effective immediately, for any future export to China (including Hong Kong) and Russia of the Company’s A100 and forthcoming H100 integrated circuits,” the company said in a statement that was published by the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.
The company said the license is required to export and support technologies, thereby eliminating the risk that these technologies could be used for military purposes.
The statement noted that the company may request a license for a potential customer, but does not guarantee that the government will issue a license.
“The new license requirement may impact the Company’s ability to complete its development of H100 in a timely manner or support existing customers of A100 and may require the Company to transition certain operations out of China. The Company is engaged with the USG and is seeking exemptions for the Company’s internal development and support activities,” the statement said, adding that the measure affects USD 400 million in the company’s revenues in the third fiscal quarter.
The high-tech products of another US company, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), are also under restrictions, according to The New York Times.
Last week, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order to implement the USD 280 billion CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. This includes more than USD 52 billion in subsidies for US semiconductor manufacturers in an effort to counter China’s growing technological clout.
China has opposed the new US chip law that aims to support the local producers of semiconductors. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin last month said that the new Chips and Science Act adopted by the US will disrupt global supply chains and hamper international trade.
“The United States stated that the act aims to increase the competitiveness of US technologies and the semiconductor production, however, this act provides huge subsidies to US enterprises producing chips and introduces a differentiated policy of industry support, some provisions of which, among other things, restrict the normal investment and trade and economic activities of relevant Chinese enterprises, as well as normal scientific and technical cooperation between China and the US,” Wang said at a briefing. (ANI)


text:
National Post for iOS Gets Redesign, Adds More Content and Push Notifications
Postmedia’s National Post app for iPhone and iPad has been redesigned, to bring “a richer and more vibrant experience of our news content.”
The update adds a new simple look and feel to the app, adds more content including added multimedia, plus various levels of news from world, national to regional. Reading the news in the app is a continuous flow thanks to its ‘unlimited scroll’ design.
The app also now has push notifications for breaking news, and will ask users to allow them once you open the app. The app’s settings allows you to change font sizes from three choices. There is an in-app purchase of $9.99 per month which offers unlimited access, as early reviews in iTunes say there are 10 free articles before the paywall appears, in this new pay-per-use model.
Click here to download National Post for iOS in the App Store. Let us know what you think of this new design.


text:
Eurogamer reports that actor Jerry Lambert has settled a lawsuit with Sony over his part in a Bridgestone ad where he played an engineer playing a Wii video game. In 2012 Sony sued Bridgestone and the actor because they claimed that Lambert's engineer character in the ad was too much like its popular fictitious PS3 spokesperson Kevin Butler.
Bridgestone denied the claim, saying that Lambert's character didn't even have a speaking role in the ad.
Sony's claimed that Lambert began working for Bridgestone in February of 2012 while still under contract with Sony. Lambert's contract with Sony was set to end in August of 2012. The ad appeared three days after his contract expired, but his contract had a no-compete clause the forbade him from promoting game systems that are in direct competition with its platforms.
While Sony's conflict with Bridgestone continues, it looks like Lambert has waved the white flag and settled, according to information unearthed by Media Post. As part of his settlement with Sony, Lambert agrees that his appearance in the Bridgestone ad caused confusion with some consumers, and that he violated the no-compete clause in his contract. Lambert has agreed to not appear in any advertising related to video games for two years – unless Sony approves it in advance…


text:
A day after reporting adulteration in the honey sold by major brands in the country, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Thursday said any claim by these companies of meeting all Indian standards "holds limited value" and was "jugglery" of language.
The CSE was responding to statements by Dabur and Patanjali claiming that the honey sold by them meets all domestic testing standards.
"That is what we have been saying -- that the business of adulteration is sophisticated. The Indian labs testing for parameters set by the FSSAI could not detect this evolved adulteration," the environment watchdog said.
"We have also noted that Dabur is constantly changing the language on its claims regarding NMR tests. In earlier advertisements, it has said 'NMR tested, pure honey'; as of today -- after the release of the CSE investigation -- Dabur is claiming 'source NMR tested'," said CSE director general Sunita Narain.
"Is this jugglery another attempt to confuse the consumer?" she asked.
The Centre for Science and Environment had on Wednesday claimed that honey sold by several major brands in India has been found to be adulterated with sugar syrup.
In a study conducted by it, the CSE's food researchers selected 13 top and smaller brands of processed and raw honey being sold in the country to check their purity. They found 77 per cent of the samples adulterated with the addition of sugar syrup.
Out of the 22 samples checked, only five passed all the tests. The CSE also specified the names of the brands.
Dabur and Patanjali were among those that failed the NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) test.
Both companies have questioned the not-for-profit environment organisation's claims that the varieties of honey sold by them are adulterated with sugar syrup, alleging that the study seems to be motivated and aimed at maligning their brands.
The two companies also clarified that their products meet all Indian standards.
The CSE, in a statement, responded to the claims made by Dabur and Patanjali said, "Any claim of meeting all Indian standards actually holds limited value".
"We stand by our findings. Our findings have revealed that 10 out of 13 brands have failed all tests of purity. Most of these are big brands, including Dabur. This is not only about Dabur. In fact, we have talked about how smaller brands are also adulterated," the environment watchdog said.
The CSE further said Dabur's claim about compliance with Indian laws comes as "no surprise".
"The fact that samples deliberately adulterated by us by up to 50 per cent of syrups passed all Indian tests is a robust proof of this (sophisticated adulteration). So, any claim of meeting all Indian standards actually holds limited value," it said.
The CSE further said the NMR test report available on Dabur's website and shared with the media in support of the company's statement is a report of the Bruker equipment/machine for NMR profiling.
On allegations of Patanjali that the move is to promote the German technology, the CSE said NMR test is being used in different parts of the world for the same reason and even the Indian government has mandated it since August 2020 for honey meant to be exported.
"So, it could be important to include such advanced testing in government testing system that can help the enforcement agencies to know if the honey sold to consumers is adulterated or not. It can also help the agencies know which companies are selling adulterated honey, which is a crime, and take required punitive action against the defaulters," the CSE said.
"In fact, we have emphasised that NMR should not be made mandatory because it will likely help for a limited time -- the business of adulteration is so sophisticated that very soon there would be syrups which can bypass the NMR test as well," it said.
Patanjali Ayurved's Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna had on Wednesday said, "It seems to be a plot to defame Indian natural honey industry and manufacturers in a bid to promote processed honey".
He further alleged that the study was a "gameplan to replace lakhs of rural farmers and honey growers including Khadi & Village commission channel with processed/ artificial/ value-added honey makers".


text:
Thinking about the industries where artificial intelligence has played a relevant role in the last years, we tend to think about finance, manufacturing and transport. Another area that artificial intelligence has impacted significantly too is customer service, with the leading online retailers implementing automated tools to make their customer support faster and more efficient.
However, physical retailers (bricks and mortars) haven’t really considered the artificial intelligence as a powerful tool for their business. The classic perception of digital innovation is seen as tools focused on e-commerce that don’t really apply for physical retailers. As a result of this, many bricks and mortars retailers are not adopting this technology fast enough, which makes them lose the race in gaining new customers. Benefits of the artificial intelligence and retail technology are real. Some examples are the multiple tools that provide data automation, customer knowledge, real-time capability to react against competitors, and these are just few examples of it.
Michael Stone, Director of Products at Invigor, analyses the benefits that artificial intelligence (AI) brings to retailers in today’s market in the article published by Flarrio.com, a leading website in Asutralia about the emerging tech in the market. Read full article here.


text:
Listen this article
The figure of the family and motherhood have taken over the fashion campaigns
Family and motherhood have become a symbol of success and the image of fashion. Although it is not something new, we have seen many campaigns this year of collections of high design firms carried out by entire families.
Leer en español: Entérate del boom de la familia en la moda
It is not a surprise that the world of style and dress is governed by the law of inheritance and lineage, after all, most well-known design houses are called with a surname: that of their creator. On this trend, the expert Laia Cenea writes for Harper's Bazaar: "The case is to give importance to the lineage, whatever it may be, as a formula for success. Something that was clear from the very beginning of the Italian Dolce & Gabanna, although they were highly criticized for their extreme defense of the most conservative paradigm [...] A concept previously explored by firms such as Fendi, Karl Lagerfeld imagined Baptiste Giabiconi as patriarch of a perfect imaginary family in the fall-winter 2011 campaign".
So this is not a new trend, because the figure of the family has always been in the fashion industry. The difference now, besides that the family institution has changed and now it is about more modern families or even parodies of the family figure, is that the family is not already imagined.
For no one it is a secret that there are now clans that lead the industry and the ones who star in many of these campaigns. The second generation of the models of the 90s is already here and they are conquering the world of modeling. Here we present some of the most important.
The Kardashian-Jenner clan
This is the most obvious family on our list. This clan, which became famous for its series of television reality shows, has taken, in part, the fashion industry. This year the matriarch of the clan, Kris Jenner, participated with her daughter Kim Kardashian and her granddaughter North West in the celebration of the 10 years of the #MeAndMyPeekaboo campaign of the Fendi brand, which celebrates motherhood in the world of fashion.
This is not the only campaign in which the Kardashians have made a collaboration. In August of this year, the Kardashian-Jenner sisters participated in the #MyCalvins campaign of the Calvin Klein brand. At the time of the photo shoot, one of them, Klhoé, was eight and a half months pregnant, so the campaign was also a celebration of motherhood and family.
The Gerber Crawford family
Cindy Crawford dominated the world of modeling in the 90s. She is a professional model that is already part of the classics of modeling and a generation that broke paradigms. Her children are now also entering the world of modeling and are climbing with great speed.
Her daughter, Kaia, has just won the Model of the Year award at the Fashion Awards for her multiplicity of campaigns and shows in which she participated this year. Her brother Presley is also entering the world of fashion and modeling. That is why they were chosen to star in this August the campaign of Calvin Klein Jeans, in which both models.
The Hadid sisters
Well, it's not just the Hadid sisters anymore. The matriarch of this clan is Yolanda Hadid, who is a well-known model and television personality who starred in the program The Real Housewifes of Beverly Hills.
Her daughters Gigi and Bella are now ruling the world of modeling. Gigi and Bella have separate careers and they are the face of different signatures. However, they have collaborated especially on the catwalk.
This year, for example, they shared the stage at the SavagexFenty fashion show in New York fashion week. Their greatest collaboration, without a doubt, this year was the tribute to Beetlejuice organized by Vogue magazine, in which they recreated a family scene and in which their mother, Yolanda, and her brother, Anwar, also participated.
The Beckham family
The football star David Beckham now moves more in the fashion circuit always hand in hand with his wife, Victoria, who after taking a musical career with the Spice Girls, decided to devote himself completely to this industry.
Both have clothing brands together and separately and now their children are also venturing IGNORE INTO modeling and even behind the scenes. The largest of them, Brooklyn, was signed by his mother as a photographer to promote her latest collaboration with Reebook.
Undoubtedly, these clans show that we can mix family with business.
LatinAmerican Post | Juliana Rodríguez
Translated from "Entérate del boom de la familia en la moda"


text:
The United States can give Huawei another 90 days
Move allows Chinese company to roll out phone updates
Huawei company logo is depicted at Shenzhen International Airport in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, July 22 (Reuters photo)
SINGAPORE / WASHINGTON: The U.S. Commerce Department is expected to extend a deferral given to Huawei Technologies that will allow the Chinese company to buy supplies from U.S. companies so it can serve existing customers, two sources familiar with the situation said.
The "temporary general license" will be extended to Huawei for 90 days, the sources said.
Trading initially allowed Huawei to buy some US-made goods in May shortly after blacklisting the company in a move that would minimize disruption to its customers, many of whom operate networks in rural America.
An expansion will renew an agreement due to expire on August 19, continuing the Chinese company's ability to maintain existing telecommunications networks and provide software updates for Huawei handsets.
The situation around the license, which has become a major bargaining chip for the United States in its trade talks with China, remains fluid, and the decision to continue Huawei deferral may change before the deadline on Monday, the sources said.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to discuss Huawei in a call this weekend, one of the sources said.
Huawei did not have an immediate comment. China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a fax comment.
When the Commerce Department blocked Huawei from buying U.S. goods earlier this year, it was seen as a major escalation in the trade war between the world's top two economies.
The US government black Huawei on black, claiming the Chinese company is involved in activities that run counter to national security or foreign policy interests.
As an example, the blacklisting order cited a criminal case pending against the company in federal court over allegations Huawei violated U.S. sanctions on Iran. Huawei has pleaded guilty to the case.
The executive order noted that the indictment also accused Huawei of "misleading and obstructive actions."
At the same time, the United States says Huawei & # 39; s smartphones and networking equipment could be used by China to spy on Americans, accusations the company has repeatedly denied.
The world's largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer is still prohibited from purchasing US parts and components to manufacture new products without additional special licenses.
Many Huawei vendors have requested the special licenses to sell to the company. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told reporters late last month that he had received more than 50 applications and that he expected to receive more.
Out of the $ 70 billion that Huawei spent to buy components in 2018, about $ 11 billion for US companies, including Qualcomm, Intel and Micron Technology.
The Commerce Department declined to comment late on Friday, citing Mr. Ross comments on CNBC television earlier this week, stating that the existing licenses were in effect until Monday.
When asked if they would be extended, he said, "Monday I will be happy to update you."


text:
Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed’s editors. Purchases you make through our links may earn us a commission.
Cologne, Germany, September 27, 2006 – The American digital market is "more mature" than Europe, according to InfoTrends representatives at a Photokina InfoBriefing today. In a review of U.S. and global digital trends, InfoTrends stated the U.S. market is faring well, but predicted it to peak this year.
Last year, 84 million digital cameras were shipped around the world. In 2010, InfoTrends predicts 106 million digital cameras to be shipped. Along with the increasing number of people who buy digital cameras, more of those customers are repeat purchasers. Forty-four percent of U.S. digital camera owners are repeat buyers, according to InfoTrends.
"A few years down the line, there will be few first time buyers," said InfoTrends Associate Director Mette Eriksen of Digital Photography and Trends Europe.
With a roughly nine year mass production history, according to InfoTrends director Ed Lee, digital cameras have newer, better features that appeal to consumers that are already owners. Those who buy again typically wait about two years before upgrading, said Lee.
The new hot item is the DSLR, according to Lee. The DSLR is expanding its markets across the U.S. Once only "reachable to advanced hobbyists," said Lee, DSLRs now appear in other consumer groups. The DSLR, once thought of as an affluent man’s camera, has reached lower-income female consumers. Women are increasingly becoming buyers of digital technology for the household, according to Lee. "The woman is the family memory keeper, the soccer mom," said Lee.
The percentage of DSLR owners, however, differs between U.S. and European camera owners. Out of all the digital camera categories, DSLRs ranked as the least frequently purchased digital camera in Europe, following point-and-shoots, camera phones, film SLRs, and film point-and-shoots. In the U.S., however, DSLRs ranked second as the most frequently bought camera, following point-and-shoots. The purchasing differences indicate that Europeans tend to think of DSLRs as tools for a select few, while in the U.S., DSLRs reach a wider spectrum of customers, according to Eriksen.
In addition, European repeat buyers tended to be hobbyists, while Americans took more point-and-shooters with snapshot photography. In the U.S., nearly 100 percent of repeat digital camera purchasers bought point-and-shoots compared to Europe’s 80 percent who bought point-and-shoots.
Overall, Americans also use their cameras twice as much as Europeans, with only eight percent of Europeans using their cameras everyday compared to 15 percent of Americans using their cameras daily.
With twice the amount of exposures, Americans, not surprisingly, print more often than Europeans. In Europe, users print 12.5 images on average per month while Americans print 20 pictures, a 62 percent difference in printing habits.
InfoTrends predicts that North American digital cameras sales will peak this year. Though, falling sales will decline gradually over the next few years, said InfoTrends director Ed Lee. On the other hand, markets in Latin America and Asia will see substantial growth, particularly in China.
In regard to industry manufacturers, the business model includes various partnerships among competitors, said Lee, with relationships between Pentax and Samsung, Sony and Konica Minolta, and Leica and Panasonic. With four or five major competitors, according to Lee, "There’s not enough room for more.'


text:
- Jio marks the first investment from Google's India Digitisation Fund of $10 billion
- Google picks 7.73% stake in Jio Platforms for $4.5 billion
- Signs commercial agreement to jointly develop an entry-level optimised android OS smartphones
At the company's annual general meeting, Reliance industries chairman Mukesh Ambani announced a 7.7 per cent stake sale for Rs 33,737 crore to Google. This marks the first investment by Google from the $10 billion or Rs 75,000 crore commitment through India Digitisation Fund announced just a couple of days ago. According to the announcement by both the companies, Jio Platforms and Google have entered into a commercial agreement to jointly develop entry level affordable 4G or 5G smartphones with optimised Android operating system and the Play Store. The company further said Google and Jio will be partnering to build an Android-based smartphone operating system. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, said, "We welcome Google onboard and are excited about our partnership for what it can deliver to Indians, from universalising Internet usage to deepening the new digital economy and providing a prime mover to India's economic growth. Together, we hope to play a strong facilitative role in the transformative journey of building a new, Digital India."
Google said it intends to work with Jio and other leaders in the local ecosystem drawing each other's strength to ensure that smartphones, together with the apps and services in the Play Store, reach many more Indians across the country. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said, "Getting technology into the hands of more people is a big part of Google's mission to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through this partnership with Jio Platforms we see the chance to have an even greater impact than either company could have alone."
With the current investment from Google, Jio Platforms has raised nearly 1.5 lakh crore in the last three months including 9.9 per cent stake sale to Facebook for Rs 43,574 crore announced in April this year. This is perhaps the first time American tech rivals Facebook and Google will be seen coming to the table as investors in a single company, with data being the premium. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the company's Q1 earnings call hailed the move and said that it would serve small businesses and enable commerce there over the long-term in a country that has the largest Facebook and WhatsApp communities in the world. "By bringing together JioMart, which is Jio's small business initiative to connect millions of shops across India with WhatsApp, we think that we're going to able to create a much better shopping and commerce experience," he said. With approximately $5.7 billion in investment, Faceook's early focus area as a part of this investment is to give micro, small and medium businesses access to digital tools that empower them and help them grow and expand their business while also connecting with their customers.


text:
Lenovo takes third place in Indian smart phone market
Published on: 3rd Feb 2016
Note -- this news article is more than a year old.
The Indian smart phone market saw a healthy double digit percentage increase in shipments year on year, despite sequential declines from some significant players. Samsung extended its lead at the top of the market, with its devices accounting for around a quarter of the Indian smart phone market.
Micromax held second place, with annual shipments falling by more than 20%, primarily due to inventory build-up in its distribution network. Lenovo and Motorola's combined shipments were just short of 3 million units, up almost 60% year on year, moving them past Intex to take third place in the market.
Along with Micromax, prominent local players Intex, Karbonn and Lava all suffered sequential declines in shipments.
'Local players are finding it tough to compete with global vendors on product quality, making it hard for them to push products into higher price bands,' said Canalys Mobility Analyst Rushabh Doshi. 'In addition, Chinese vendors, such as Vivo and Xiaomi, continue to make inroads with low-cost LTE smart phones. The growing importance of online retail has lowered barriers to entry, enabling vendors to grow quickly without having to invest time and resources in building a complex sales channel. Chinese vendors are instead investing heavily in marketing, building brand recognition and cementing their place in the market.'


text:
Venezuela losing $164M/year in oil trade with China
By Aleksander Boyd
London 22.08.06 | In an attempt to further cement relations and replace the USA as Venezuela's oil main consumer with China, Hugo Chavez is due to arrive today in that country where he will sign a number of trade agreements aimed at boosting PDVSA's decreasing output. Venezuelan officials have stated that the country currently sells 150.000 BPD to China, figure which will be increased to 200.000 BPD by year end.
Venezuela, or rather Hugo Chavez, has accepted a $3 discount per barrel of oil it exports to China. This is caused by longer shipping times and increased insurance payments according to analysts.
What the discount means in real terms is that Hugo Chavez political antagonism vis-a-vis Venezuela's natural market, read the USA, is actually costing us $164 million a year in lost profit and the figure will surge to a whopping $219 million should current plans of increasing sales to 200.000 BPD to China materialize.
The losses could have provided, if common sense and national interests prevailed in the caudillo's deranged head, roughly 63.270 Venezuelans with a yearly income equivalent to the lowest salary, which stands presently at £216/month.
To consciously sacrifice profits for political reasons in detriment to Venezuela and its citizens amounts to treason. Perhaps Manuel Rosales, or his advisers, would like to pick up on that.
send this article to a friend >>


text:
It's funny how obituaries tend towards revisionist history.
Take the notices surrounding Friday's announcement that
They make it sound as if Excite@Home ever had a chance.
No one doubts that Excite@Home was famous, but it was famous for its stock price, not its business acumen. In the froth of the late-1990s bull market, shares in At Home soared upwards, peaking at a split-adjusted $100 towards the end of 1999.* The company created hundreds, if not thousands, of paper millionaires despite mounting losses (the company would lose around $7.4 billion in 2000) and a staggering debt load (it enters bankruptcy protection with $1.1 billion in debt and only $150 million in cash).
Excite@Home was formed in early 1999 as a $6.7 billion merger between an also-ran Internet portal,
It was a flawed idea, but one that resonated with the times nonetheless and sucked in major cable companies, including
At the time no one seemed to notice--or more to the point, care--that Excite's content was at best mediocre and that At Home's touted broadband delivery would require billions in infrastructure investment.
Similar logic lay behind the announcement back in January of 2000 that
Yet, as interesting as all this may be, it would equal little more than a lesson in mass delusions if it weren't for the fact that history seems to be repeating itself.
On Monday, after a four-month delay, Japan's
But the service is expensive (the high-end phones alone cost up to $600) and there is little proof that there is much demand for watching videos on a cell phone, even in gadget-crazy Japan. And NTT DoCoMo spent billions to upgrade its infrastructure to handle the high-speed wireless connections.
Is 3G another Excite@Home, a much-hyped impossibly expensive service that no one wants? Probably. If so, NTT DoCoMo is not alone in its troubles. More than $100 billion has been spent on 3G licenses worldwide, and telecoms are due to roll out the service across other parts of Asia and Europe over the next 24 months.
History may repeat itself, but investors should be smart enough to learn its lessons.
* A previous version of this story incorrectly stated At Home's peak stock price.
Every day this week, Forbes.com is presenting its special report on 3G. Come back for stories explaining how 3G works, when consumers around the world can expect the service and a hard look at the prospects of the companies involved.


text:
Quibi, a mobile-only subscription video service that launched April 6 in the US and Canada, is yet another streaming service launching in a sea of new streaming services. But this one, at least, is a little different. An ambitious, risky, big-budget bet on mobile video, Quibi is staking $1.75 billion to make ultraexpensive, star-studded, short-form videos designed to be watched on a phone.
To lure people in, Quibi offered a 90-day free trial. That offer was set to expire Thursday, but as of early Friday, it's still available for new subscribers signing up in the app and it's still advertised on Quibi's website. Once Quibi's 90-day free trial offer ends, the free trial period for new members will narrow to two weeks.
To drum up people's interest in signing up while they still qualify for the 90-day trial, Quibi posted the first episodes of three of its series — Most Dangerous Game, The Stranger and Dummy — free to watch on YouTube. (CNET's story has links to watch the full episodes.)
By putting full episodes outside its app for the first time, Quibi is aiming to get more people interested in the service with the extended free period. While it may seem like a money-losing strategy, streaming services like Netflix and Spotify uniformly report that the longer a person uses the service, the less likely they are to quit it. So far, Quibi reportedly has more than 1 million registered users out of 3.1 million app downloads.
The full episodes on YouTube also give viewers the first chance to watch Quibi's big-budget programming on TVs for the first time. YouTube has apps for television streaming across a wide variety of devices and smart TVs.
Quibi would be a risky bet even in normal times. But it's also launching in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus, which causes the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, has upended the status quo around the world, locking down whole cities, states and countries, overwhelming health care systems and shutting down entire industries. Hollywood is no exception: Movie theaters are shuttered, film and television productions are on hold and big-budget films are delayed months.
People can watch Quibi at home, sure, but Quibi's bet on exclusively mobile, short-form video was based on the premise that people would gobble up these "quick bite" episodes while on the go. But coronavirus has locked millions of people inside their homes, stifling how often people are out and about.
Quibi leaders say they believe people still need short breaks for entertainment. Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was the head of Disney's movie division in the '80s and '90s and co-founded Dreamworks Animation, initially said the coronavirus' effect on people's viewing habits wouldn't necessarily be an advantage or a disadvantage for Quibi. It's just different.
"If all of our users are saying, 'We really want to be able to watch this content on our big screen,' then we'll develop the capability to do that," Whitman said in an interview four days before launch. She also said Quibi is willing to release episodes in a bingeable bunch all at once like Netflix, if that's what best suits the needs of subscribers. (Quibi releases new episodes of each series every weekday.)
Now, nearly a month since launch, some of those changes are becoming reality. Quibi will start adding support to cast from mobile phones to TVs in May.
"The challenge was greater than I thought, than Meg thought, when we made the decision" to press forward with Quibi's launch in the pandemic, Katzenberg said this week in an interview.
CNET Daily News
Stay in the know. Get the latest tech stories from CNET News every weekday.
Quibi is also ramping up in the middle of a wave of new streaming services, as tech and media giants all rush to be the one shaping the future of video. That means Quibi will be competing for your subscription dollars against heavy-duty upstarts like Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, Peacock and HBO Max, as well as established players like Netflix. And of course, Quibi faces a Goliath in YouTube, the pioneer of online short video that draws in more than 2 billion viewers every month.
Still, Quibi believes its unconventional strategy — very expensive, star-packed programming released in 10-minute-or-less episodes that you can watch only on mobile devices like your phone — will hit a sweet spot. It has the backing of all the major Hollywood studios and a seemingly endless litany of film, TV, music and sports stars making shows. It's also brought T-Mobile on board to offer free subscriptions to some wireless customers.
Quibi has recruited a who's who of stars to work on its programming, including Chrissy Teigen, Lebron James, Dwayne Johnson, Reese Witherspoon, Chance the Rapper, Kevin Hart, Jennifer Lopez, Idris Elba, Zac Efron, Tina Fey, Liam Hemsworth and husband-and-wife combo Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner (but on different shows), along with a bazillion others. It's also lured in big-name filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Antoine Fuqua, Catherine Hardwicke and Ridley Scott to make series. Whitman has said Quibi has enough content built up to last until late November, despite the virus shutting down TV and movie productions worldwide.
So is Quibi worth your time and money? Read below for what we know so far, but basically: With a 90-day free trial still up for grabs, you can try it for months to see for yourself.
OK, WTF is a quibi?
Quibi with a capital "Q" refers to the service, and all-lower-case quibi is the word the company invented for its short-form episodes, which all run about 10 minutes or less.
It's a mashup of the words "quick bites," since the videos are supposed to be bite-size morsels of video.
But don't pronounce the end of quibi like the beginning of "bites." If you can rhyme the word "alibi" with "quibi," you're pronouncing this made-up word totally wrong. You're supposed to pronounce the end of quibi with a long e, like the end of "wasabi." Obviously.
More on streaming:
- How to choose which TV streaming service is best for you
- Netflix alternatives: The 10 best free movie streaming services
- Best live TV streaming service for cord-cutters in 2020
When is the release date?
Quibi launched April 6 in the US and Canada.
Quibi hasn't publicized its specific international expansion plans, but said some other countries will be able to get Quibi's ad-free US version if it's available in their app store, without giving specifics. So if you live outside the US and Canada, check your Google Play Store and Apple App Store for the Quibi app to see what comes up.
However, Quibi's leaders have said that Quibi was designed from the beginning to be a global service, with global rights to stream its shows. The company just hasn't provided any timelines for when international expansion will happen.
How much does Quibi cost?
Quibi's cheapest tier is $5 a month and includes advertising. Its ad-free tier is $8 a month. Quibi doesn't offer annual subscriptions.
Quibi offered 90-day free trials for people who sign up anytime in April. As of early May, that deal was still available. It can save you as much as $24. You can unlock the trial by downloading the app from the Quibi website and signing up for the service before its May 1 deadline.
Starting May 1, Quibi's free trial was set to narrow to two weeks.
To compare costs, Netflix — the world's dominant subscription video service, which never has ads — offers its cheapest subscription at $9 a month in the US, one dollar more. Disney Plus costs $7 a month in the US without any advertising, a buck cheaper.
And YouTube, of course, is free with ads.
In testing the Quibi app under embargo before launch, commercials were all so-called pre-roll ads — those that play before the show starts. And they were relatively brief. Quibi has said that the service will have about two and a half minutes of ads per hour.
And T-Mobile is offering a free subscription to Quibi's ad-supported tier to wireless customers who have two or more lines on a post-paid plan, in a deal called Quibi on Us. After a year of free Quibi, qualifying customers need to choose between whether Netflix or Quibi is included free with their wireless plan — you can't get both comped. (The Netflix deal is worth $9 a month, compared with Quibi's monthly value at $5.)
T-Mobile said that you have to sign up by July 7 to get the deal and that it applies to people with two or more voice lines at standard rates on Magenta and One plans with taxes and fees included — along with discounted First Responder, Military and Magenta Plus 55 plans. Small business customers with up to 12 lines also qualify.
What devices can stream Quibi?
Disappointed you can't watch this on TVs? CEO Whitman said Quibi was accelerating it work to let subscribers cast the service to televisions because so many people are stuck at home in the pandemic. That supports should be available to some members starting in May. But casting isn't as user-friendly as dedicated apps for devices like Roku or Apple TV, which are popular ways people stream to TVs. Before launch, Whitman said the company would be willing to widen its device support to bigger screens like TVs based on data once subscribers can start actually using the service.
What product features does the service include?
Quibi is loudly touting its mobile viewing technology called Turnstyle. It lets a program dynamically react when viewers flip between portrait or landscape mode. That means that no matter how you're holding your mobile device, the video will take up the full screen, rather than minimizing to a small section. For most shows on Quibi, that means the program was shot and edited to crop well when you flip to portrait, the most natural way to hold a phone screen.
But some programs are using Turnstyle in clever ways: A thriller series called Nest shows the filmed action of the story when you look at it in landscape — but when you rotate into portrait, you can see what's happening on the character's device while the story is playing out. So as a character watches the camera feed of her smart doorbell through her phone, you can choose to either watch the actress reacting to the footage as she sits on the couch, or you can watch what she's seeing on her phone in real time.
Beyond Turnstyle, here are some of Quibi's more routine product details:
- Quibi's highest image resolution is 1080p, so it lacks it Ultra HD or high-dynamic range formats that are very important for content you'd be watching on a television. Like most streaming services, Quibi has a ladder of lower resolutions that dynamically change to reflect whatever bitrate your device can handle.
- Quibi is meant as a personal service, so it doesn't allow a single account to have different profiles for different viewers.
- As such, Quibi also limits every account to one simultaneous stream. That's the same as Netflix's $9 basic account, but other services like Disney Plus allow as many as four people to be streaming from one $7-a-month account at the same time.
- Quibi has unlimited downloads to watch anything on the service offline.
How is Quibi releasing its shows?
Quibi has said it will have more than 50 titles available at launch. Every Quibi series will release new episodes every weekday until that series is complete — and some ongoing daily shows have episodes drop on the weekend too. CEO Whitman has said that Quibi won't be rigid about this release strategy, either. If subscribers demonstrate an appetite to binge, Quibi would be willing to drop full seasons at once, similar to Netflix.
Quibi has three categories of programming: Movies in Chapters, Unscripted and Docs and Daily Essentials. At launch, Quibi will have the first three episodes of its Movies in Chapters and Unscripted/Docs series available for mini-binges. Across these three categories, Quibi has said it will be releasing more than three hours of new programming every day.
Brand new series debut on Quibi every Monday. In the first year, Quibi will have 175 original shows, totaling about 8,500 episodes.
Of its three categories, Movies in Chapters are the service's scripted shows, typically big-budget projects with big-name talent to match. These are programs like Survive, a drama about a suicidal woman who finds a new will to live after surviving a plane crash, starring Game of Thrones' Sophie Turner. Another one is Most Dangerous Game, a thriller reimagining the classic short story starring The Hunger Games' Liam Hemsworth.
Quibi is making 35 of these Movies in Chapters this year, and the company has said it will release one new episode of Movies in Chapter daily on the service.
Unscripted and Docs are Quibi programming that are, well, unscripted shows and documentary series. It covers a range of reality-style shows; game shows and competitions; talk shows; food, travel and culture docs; and a variety of other genres.
Quibi has said it will release five episodes in the Unscripted and Docs category every day.
Finally, the company will be dropping 25 so-called Daily Essentials every weekday. They focus on news and information, as well as lifestyle programming like a daily horoscope, a recap of the previous night's late night shows and meditation videos. These are also shorter than Quibi's other kinds of programming; Daily Essentials are five to six minutes. The company has partnered with the likes of NBC News, the BBC, TMZ, Telemundo, Polygon and the Weather Channel to make Daily Essentials, as well as developing some originally.
Daily Essentials will have new episodes at least every weekday. Some titles release more than one episode daily, like an NBC News snippets that land twice daily; and other titles will drop new episodes on weekends too.


text:
The British Fashion Council (BFC) has called for a People’s Vote on Brexit after the government failed to agree on a deal for their withdrawal from the European Union.
The BFC released an official statement after British Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a staggering defeat at the House of Commons, where her Brexit agreement was voted down by 432 votes to 202.
“As the British Fashion Council, we cannot emphasise strongly enough that a no-deal Brexit is a scenario that should be avoided at all costs,” the BFC said. “The ongoing uncertainty and confusion that a no deal creates will have a negative impact on our industry, where investment is already impacted from the uncertainty being faced. A no-deal situation will result in no transition period, and with an industry that is predominantly small-medium enterprises, we would struggle to cope with the trade realities that it would bring.”
The BFC previously took a survey in 2016 of UK designer businesses, where they asked would their preference be to Remain or Leave the EU. The response was overwhelmingly to Remain, with 90% of designers wanting to stay in the EU.
Theresa May now faces a vote of no-confidence in the British parliament, and the future of Brexit (whether a deal will be agreed upon, whether there will be no-deal, or possibly a People’s Vote) is increasingly unclear. The BFC have said that the uncertainty has lead them to campaign for a People’s Vote, “to minimize the impact to industry based on there being no valid deal on the table.”
Featured image: Katharine Hamnett’s London Fashion Week AW18 show, via Instagram


text:
|By PR Newswire||
|December 11, 2012 11:10 AM EST||
YONKERS, N.Y., Dec. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This past year was a standout for shopping websites and apps. The January 2013 issue of ShopSmart magazine, from the publisher of Consumer Reports, highlights 2012's best sites and free apps that can save shoppers time and money.
"We've combed through countless shopping sites and apps to find the very best ones to help shoppers save even more in the new year," said Lisa Lee Freeman, editor-in-chief of ShopSmart.
Here's a selection of super sites that make shopping fun and easy – and can help shoppers find cool stuff to buy:
- CouponBlender.com highlights the best deals from dozens of coupon sites.
- HandBagHeaven.com features beautiful bags at deep discounts; free shipping for purchases over $50.
- MyGroceryDeals.com allows shoppers to enter their grocery list in the Quick Shop tool to see where the stuff is on sale; the list can also be sent to a phone.
- TechBargains.com is a great resource for deals on electronics and gift cards.
- TheBudgetBabe.com helps shoppers locate hot celeb styles for less.
Shopping apps are also a great resource for discounts and more – here are some of ShopSmart's favorites from the past year:
- CardStar consolidates users store loyalty cards into one app and helps get in-store discounts when presented at checkout. Works on: Android, Apple, BlackBerry and Windows.
- Grocery Smarts Coupon Shopper matches store circulars with manufacturer coupons so users can see where they can save the most. Works on: Android.
- RetailMeNot has gone mobile. Users can score coupon codes when shopping on their phone. Works on: Apple.
- ShopKick can earn users points (called kicks) just for entering participating locations then cash them in for free merchandise or meals. Link a credit card and score even more perks. Works on: Android and Apple.
- Walgreens is the best overall drugstore app for managing a family's healthcare. Users can refill prescriptions, set reminders to take medications, and access coupons and offers right from their phone. Works on: Android, Apple, and BlackBerry.
For the full list of shopping sites and apps, check out the January 2013 issue of ShopSmart, on newsstands now. The report also features a roundup of the best money-saving tricks and six shopping don'ts.
About Consumer Reports:
Consumer Reports is the world's largest independent product-testing organization. Using its more than 50 labs, auto test center, and survey research center, the nonprofit rates thousands of products and services annually. Founded in 1936, Consumer Reports has over 8 million subscribers to its magazine, website, and other publications. Its advocacy division, Consumers Union, works for health reform, food and product safety, financial reform, and other consumer issues in Washington, D.C., the states, and in the marketplace.
About ShopSmart magazine:
Launched in Fall 2006 by Consumer Reports, ShopSmart draws upon the publication's celebrated tradition of accepting no advertisements and providing unbiased product reviews. ShopSmart features product reviews, shopping tips on how to get the most out of products and "best of the best" lists. It's ideal for busy shoppers who place a premium on time. ShopSmart has a newsstand price of $4.99 and is available nationwide at major retailers including Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, Borders, Kroger, Safeway and Publix. ShopSmart is available by subscription at www.ShopSmartmag.org.
ShopSmart is available 10 times a year. Subscribe at www.ShopSmartmag.org.
The IoT is changing the way enterprises conduct business. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Eric Hoffman, Vice President at EastBanc Technologies, discuss how businesses can gain an edge over competitors by empowering consumers to take control through IoT. We'll cite examples such as a Washington, D.C.-based sports club that leveraged IoT and the cloud to develop a comprehensive booking system. He'll also highlight how IoT can revitalize and restore outdated business models, making them profitable...
May. 30, 2016 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 3,067
SYS-CON Events announced today that MangoApps will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. MangoApps provides modern company intranets and team collaboration software, allowing workers to stay connected and productive from anywhere in the world and from any device. For more information, please visit https://www.mangoapps.com/.
May. 30, 2016 01:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,132
SYS-CON Events announced today the How to Create Angular 2 Clients for the Cloud Workshop, being held June 7, 2016, in conjunction with 18th Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo, at the Javits Center in New York, NY. Angular 2 is a complete re-write of the popular framework AngularJS. Programming in Angular 2 is greatly simplified. Now it’s a component-based well-performing framework. The immersive one-day workshop led by Yakov Fain, a Java Champion and a co-founder of the IT consultancy Farata Systems and...
May. 30, 2016 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 4,116
What a difference a year makes. Organizations aren’t just talking about IoT possibilities, it is now baked into their core business strategy. With IoT, billions of devices generating data from different companies on different networks around the globe need to interact. From efficiency to better customer insights to completely new business models, IoT will turn traditional business models upside down. In the new customer-centric age, the key to success is delivering critical services and apps wit...
May. 30, 2016 11:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,349
Join us at Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo 2016 – June 7-9 at the Javits Center in New York City and November 1-3 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA – and deliver your unique message in a way that is striking and unforgettable by taking advantage of SYS-CON's unmatched high-impact, result-driven event / media packages.
May. 30, 2016 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,581
In his keynote at 18th Cloud Expo, Andrew Keys, Co-Founder of ConsenSys Enterprise, will provide an overview of the evolution of the Internet and the Database and the future of their combination – the Blockchain. Andrew Keys is Co-Founder of ConsenSys Enterprise. He comes to ConsenSys Enterprise with capital markets, technology and entrepreneurial experience. Previously, he worked for UBS investment bank in equities analysis. Later, he was responsible for the creation and distribution of life ...
May. 30, 2016 10:45 AM EDT Reads: 2,069
SYS-CON Events announced today that BMC Software has been named "Siver Sponsor" of SYS-CON's 18th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7-9, 2015 at the Javits Center in New York, New York. BMC is a global leader in innovative software solutions that help businesses transform into digital enterprises for the ultimate competitive advantage. BMC Digital Enterprise Management is a set of innovative IT solutions designed to make digital business fast, seamless, and optimized from mainframe to mo...
May. 30, 2016 09:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,391
SYS-CON Events announced today that MobiDev will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. MobiDev is a software company that develops and delivers turn-key mobile apps, websites, web services, and complex software systems for startups and enterprises. Since 2009 it has grown from a small group of passionate engineers and business managers to a full-scale mobile software company with over 200 develope...
May. 30, 2016 09:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,840
As cloud and storage projections continue to rise, the number of organizations moving to the cloud is escalating and it is clear cloud storage is here to stay. However, is it secure? Data is the lifeblood for government entities, countries, cloud service providers and enterprises alike and losing or exposing that data can have disastrous results. There are new concepts for data storage on the horizon that will deliver secure solutions for storing and moving sensitive data around the world. ...
May. 30, 2016 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,455
SoftLayer operates a global cloud infrastructure platform built for Internet scale. With a global footprint of data centers and network points of presence, SoftLayer provides infrastructure as a service to leading-edge customers ranging from Web startups to global enterprises. SoftLayer's modular architecture, full-featured API, and sophisticated automation provide unparalleled performance and control. Its flexible unified platform seamlessly spans physical and virtual devices linked via a world...
May. 30, 2016 08:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,400
SYS-CON Events announced today that ContentMX, the marketing technology and services company with a singular mission to increase engagement and drive more conversations for enterprise, channel and SMB technology marketers, has been named “Sponsor & Exhibitor Lounge Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York. “CloudExpo is a great opportunity to start a conversation with new prospects, but what happens after the...
May. 30, 2016 07:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,423
Companies can harness IoT and predictive analytics to sustain business continuity; predict and manage site performance during emergencies; minimize expensive reactive maintenance; and forecast equipment and maintenance budgets and expenditures. Providing cost-effective, uninterrupted service is challenging, particularly for organizations with geographically dispersed operations.
May. 30, 2016 07:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,278
The IoTs will challenge the status quo of how IT and development organizations operate. Or will it? Certainly the fog layer of IoT requires special insights about data ontology, security and transactional integrity. But the developmental challenges are the same: People, Process and Platform. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Craig Sproule, CEO of Metavine, will demonstrate how to move beyond today's coding paradigm and share the must-have mindsets for removing complexity from the development proc...
May. 30, 2016 06:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,019
SYS-CON Events announced today TechTarget has been named “Media Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7–9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. TechTarget is the Web’s leading destination for serious technology buyers researching and making enterprise technology decisions. Its extensive global networ...
May. 30, 2016 05:30 AM EDT Reads: 3,315
SYS-CON Events announced today that Commvault, a global leader in enterprise data protection and information management, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7–9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Commvault is a leading provider of data protection and information management...
May. 30, 2016 04:45 AM EDT Reads: 3,344
The essence of data analysis involves setting up data pipelines that consist of several operations that are chained together – starting from data collection, data quality checks, data integration, data analysis and data visualization (including the setting up of interaction paths in that visualization). In our opinion, the challenges stem from the technology diversity at each stage of the data pipeline as well as the lack of process around the analysis.
May. 30, 2016 03:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,549
Designing IoT applications is complex, but deploying them in a scalable fashion is even more complex. A scalable, API first IaaS cloud is a good start, but in order to understand the various components specific to deploying IoT applications, one needs to understand the architecture of these applications and figure out how to scale these components independently. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Nara Rajagopalan is CEO of Accelerite, will discuss the fundamental architecture of IoT applications, ...
May. 30, 2016 03:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,406
A strange thing is happening along the way to the Internet of Things, namely far too many devices to work with and manage. It has become clear that we'll need much higher efficiency user experiences that can allow us to more easily and scalably work with the thousands of devices that will soon be in each of our lives. Enter the conversational interface revolution, combining bots we can literally talk with, gesture to, and even direct with our thoughts, with embedded artificial intelligence, wh...
May. 30, 2016 03:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,101
SYS-CON Events announced today that Tintri Inc., a leading producer of VM-aware storage (VAS) for virtualization and cloud environments, will exhibit at the 18th International CloudExpo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York, and the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
May. 30, 2016 02:45 AM EDT Reads: 2,550
SYS-CON Events announced today that Alert Logic, Inc., the leading provider of Security-as-a-Service solutions for the cloud, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Alert Logic, Inc., provides Security-as-a-Service for on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures, delivering deep security insight and continuous protection for customers at a lower cost than traditional security solutions. Ful...
May. 30, 2016 02:15 AM EDT Reads: 3,039


text:
Adept Technology are marking their 30th year in business and took FoodProductionDaily.com through the timeline of their robots working with food products.
Fraunhofer is to introduce ways of recycling composite plastic materials using its CreaSolv process.
In the wake of contaminated lunches killing 23 children in India, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization is calling for countries to step up efforts to ban use of...
Grupo Bimbo will pump 20 million pesos ($1.5m) into a new eco-friendly distribution center in Mexico City as part of its drive towards a fully sustainable supply chain.
Dessicare Inc has launched Cargo Dry Plus, a device that helps protect food products and packaging during shipment and storage.
Poor recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) quality is limiting its use in new food and beverage packaging, according to Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
Consumer packaged goods giant Unilever has honored CHEP USA, an Atlanta-based pallet pooling outfit, with its 2013 Winning Through Business Integration award.
Star Refrigeration is poised to bring its eco-friendly low-ammonia chillers and freezers to US food firms.
Chilean Atlantic salmon production is expected to increase by more than 20% in 2013, but its growth will fall due to challenges in production, sanitation and finance.
Plastics Recyclers Europe has warned that polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and trays must be recycled separately due to potential contamination.
Lizard Monitoring showcased its affordable remote temperature monitoring technology in its IFT 2013 booth (4576).
An industry consortium has joined forces with the European Commission to form a partnership worth €3.8bn to accelerate the deployment of biobased products.
Unilever has launched a Green Express train, replacing 3,500 delivery trucks in Italy and saving 6% costs per year.
Frito-Lay has made green plans to shift 20% of its fleet from diesel fuel to compressed natural gas (CNG) as part of its bigger environmental commitments.
Actor Brian Blessed, known for his booming voice, will speak at this year’s British Plastics Federation (BPF) annual dinner on October 11.
A European Food Network set up by 12 freight operatives to transport food consignments in the non-frozen sector plans to add more partners offering transnational logistics.
Only 1% of people don’t throw berries away according to a UK poll which found more than 50% of consumers are resigned to high levels of food waste.
In this special guest article, UPM Raflatac explains to FoodProductionDaily.com all about shadow print, which is an inseparable part of the self-adhesive labelstock and the finished label.
BASF, Sonoco and Ahlstrom have all announced price increases in the last week to recover outgoing expenses.
Manufacturers across Europe are being asked to take part in pioneering research into consumers’ response to Retail Ready Packaging (RRP).
A mobile app featuring a manufacturing robot has been launched as part of the food and drink industry’s careers campaign.
Pacepacker Services has expanded its product portfolio to include Festo’s range of Mechatronics pick and place systems.
The “chasing arrows” symbol around the numbers which defines the resin used in a products packaging are to be dropped in favour of an equilateral triangle.
A group of European research organisations have stressed the importance of food safety by identifying knowledge gaps and areas which require more focus in response to concerns that the issue...
ToolsGroup offers software designed to help food and beverage processing firms improve supply-chain and sales/operations planning.


text:
A new Uber trial designed to reward its Auckland drivers for their time spent in traffic has been criticised for causing financial stress.
From 23 July to 16 September, Auckland Uber drivers will earn a higher rate per minute but a lower rate per kilometre. The new rate structure is an attempt to "reward driver-partners" for short-distance trips that take a long time during traffic and congestion, says Uber.
- Uber loses NZ$1.55 billion in the first three months of 2019
- Uber gives Australian drivers surprise $15k bonus
- Uber on track to lose NZ$6 billion this year
The time rate has increased from $0.30 to $0.42 - but the distance rate has been cut by almost 15 percent, from $1.35 to $1.16 per kilometre.
Not all Uber drivers are satisfied with this new pricing, the changes coming a mere week after they were informed of the trial.
"It's a rip-off," says one Auckland-based driver, who has worked for the company for three years. He wishes to remain anonymous.
"Now drivers have to make their money during peak hours - but for a lot of drivers, peak hours aren't worth it. There's just too much traffic. So, what about the drivers who are working during the day?"
The driver claims a number of workers are already feeling the financial impact of the reduced distance rate.
"We're hurting already... fares have definitely dropped," he told Newshub.
"This trial benefits the customers but not the drivers."
His frustration comes as the new rate structure, designed to "help create more consistent earnings from trip to trip", means drivers who prefer off-peak work may suffer significant cuts to their usual earnings.
"Being stuck in traffic during short trips has been highlighted as a major pain point. This is an attempt to rebalance the earnings split between time and distance," a spokesperson for Uber told Newshub.
"The trial is designed to reward driver-partners for their time on the road, not just the distance they travel. We encourage driver-partners to give us feedback."
Before the new rates, a 5am weekday 26km trip from Ponsonby to the airport, averaging 24 minutes, cost customers $44.02. Now, it's costing $41.97. If it's a return trip, the fare is cut by over $4.
On their website, Uber claims "this is not a fare cut" but admits "per-trip earnings may vary slightly... the new rates should help you earn more for trips where you are stuck in traffic."
"How is this going to help us? Uber is exploiting drivers. They are trying to save money at the expense of their partners," says the driver.
The man also believes the trial was implemented to create more competitive ride prices - particularly as the ride-share company Ola increases in popularity.
"Their opposition is starting to have an impact. Over half the rides are Ola now," he says.
Instead, the driver suggests Uber leaves the per-kilometre rate and increases the wait-time charge.
"That would be an honourable thing to do for their drivers," he says.
An Uber spokesperson told Newshub that the data will be reviewed at the end of the trial to see if the changes have been beneficial for their driver-partners.
For drivers who operate outside of peak travel times, the new pricing does indicate that bigger trips will result in big cuts over time.


text: The bangs were just the beginning. Less than a week after dancing on late-night television, First Lady Michelle Obama is in the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal — the preferred daily of people who hate her husband — writing on her pet topic, childhood obesity. In this latest installment of the Let’s Move campaign media blitz, the First Lady thanks Big Business for proving that profits can be made off carrots and other nontoxic food. She praises Walmart and Walgreens in particular, for bringing fresh produce into underserved communities. She also points out that corporations shoulder much of the $190 billion Americans spend annually to treat obesity-related diseases, a line which probably got a big smiley-face sticker from Journal owner Rupert Murdoch. He memorably does not like obese people much. At any rate, second-term Michelle is already way fun.


text:
Since he moved to Los Angeles from London, Peter Dundas’ feet have hardly touched the ground. The designer dressed Mary J. Blige for her performance during the Super Bowl halftime show, and launched the brand’s first NFT, based on his Super Bowl designs.
Dundas is also planning a fall 2022 fashion show in the metaverse at the end of March, and spectators will be able to try his designs on their avatars. “We’ll be able to speak to a whole new generation, with great visibility and opportunity for communication,” the designer said during a Zoom call.
For fall, Dundas said he was inspired by his recent work for Blige, and was thinking a lot about the importance of movement, stretch and comfort on stage. For Blige, he made clothing with “jointed embroideries that could move, and bend,” and made sure she could change looks quickly and easily backstage.
“There’s stretch in almost every fabric we developed this season,” said Dundas, pointing to creations such as a deep purple satin jacquard suit with lacing details and strong shoulders and a series of sizzling little dresses in stretch charmeuse, leather, velvet jersey and knit.
A camisole top and skirt ensemble was held together by delicate crystal rings, while a slipdress had open, jointed seams fastened with little buttons. Dundas said it could be rolled up in a suitcase, and then unrolled, at a moment’s notice.
A star of the collection was a purple mohair coat, modeled on the big terrycloth bathrobe that Blige was wearing backstage — comfort dressing at its best.


text:
Joining its FIFA and Madden counterparts over at EA Sports, the long-running NHL video game [...]
Toronto Maple Leafs star Austin Matthews will be on the cover of NHL 22, which may come as a surprise to some fans, considering he was on the cover of NHL 20 just a couple of years ago. But Matthews' abilities on the ice have set him apart, and he'll once again be front-and-center for the new game.
NHL 22 is going to be released on October 15th, around the same time that other games in the series have been made available in their respective years. The new edition will be launched on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox One X|S at the same time.
"I'm thrilled to be working with EA Sports again and returning to the ice in NHL 22," Matthews said in a statement. "This year, Superstar X-Factors bring a whole new level of elite competition and strategy to the game, and you'll be able to unleash my 'Shock and Awe' ability for exciting shots at the net.
In addition to utilizing the Frostbite engine, which will make the game look and feel better than ever (especially when combined with next-gen technology), NHL 22 will be debuting the Superstar X-Factors feature, a game-changing system that helps make each of the sport's biggest stars feel unique on the ice.
"Developing NHL 22 with the Frostbite engine is letting us truly bring the series into the next generation," said Clement Kwong, Producer at EA Vancouver. "The visual upgrade is impressive on its own, but the Frostbite engine is also giving us the power to create a lot of realism that you'll really notice once you play."


text:
Welcome back to The exchanger, where we look at the hottest fintech news from the previous week. If you’d like to receive The Interchange straight to your inbox every Sunday, visit here register! This week we look at the AI aspirations of spend management companies and the recent growth of a UK fintech.
The ambitions of AI
There was a time when it was joked that every company would become a fintech. But now we have to ask ourselves, will every fintech become an AI company?
This week we reported New Ramp integration with Copilot, Microsoft’s brand of generative AI technologies. The expense management company said that now Microsoft Teams users can use natural language to access Ramp’s intelligent AI assistant from their workspace.
Of course, Ramp is not the first, nor the only, expense management company to leverage AI. Brex in September launched Brex Assistant, a flagship product of Brex AI. In addition to automating the collection of spending information, Brex Assistant can also answer questions that employees traditionally ask their finance teams, such as how much they are allowed to spend per day at an off-site location.
Brex co-CEO and co-founder Henrique Dubugras told TechCrunch+ that he believes “this is just the beginning of AI’s impact on redesigning the experience from the ground up.” employees and users.
Earlier this year, Navan claimed to be the first travel agency to integrate OpenAI and ChatGPT APIs through its infrastructure and product range.
The company said it uses generative AI technology to write, test and fix code with the aim of increasing operational efficiency and reducing overhead. Additionally, through Ava, Navan’s virtual assistant, travel managers are able to personalize recommendations and increase traveler engagement, executives say.
The question, however, is whether leveraging AI not only improves customer experience, but also improves companies’ bottom lines. It’s a valid question, especially considering reports that Brex has seen slower growth (by just 1%, according to the Information) in the third trimester compared to the second.
Although Brex declined to confirm The Information’s report that it reported annualized revenue of $283 million in the third quarter, up from $279 million in the second quarter and annualized revenue of a little less than 200 million dollars, this information must be taken with a grain of salt. Brex likely saw an event-related revenue surge following the Silicon Valley Bank crisis in March. So the fact that its growth slowed in the third quarter seems less dramatic than if a major event that gave it a big surge in activity did not occur. Revenues are still up from last year and, according to the company, so are profits.
A spokesperson told me: “Looking at our year-over-year growth tells a very different story and shows how favorably Brex compares in this market. Year to date, three of Brex’s main revenue drivers (card revenue, deposit spread revenue and Empower revenue) are experiencing significant growth and we have seen growth of over 80%. gross margin over one year. Empower, the company’s software product, has seen revenue growth of nearly 50% this year, according to Brex.
The company, which was last valued at $12 billion, declined to comment on the timing of its IPO, which was rumored to take place sometime in 2025.
In August, Ramp raised $300 million in a funding round co-led by existing backer Thrive Capital and new investor Sands Capital, at a post-money valuation of $5.8 billion. At the time, the company announced that it had surpassed $300 million in annualized revenue.
In addition to competing with each other, these companies compete with traditional vendors like Concur and Expensify. So it’s no surprise that they’re all leveraging AI to win over customers and make their operations more efficient. -Mary Ann
PS You can listen to Alex Wilhelm and I go deeper on the subject in the latest episode of Equity here:
An update on Wise
I recently spoke with Wise Harsh Sinha, CTO and interim CEO, when he was in town for the grand opening of the British company’s new Austin office. In case you haven’t heard, Wise, known for facilitating cross-border payments, is doing pretty well these days. It recently announced that its revenue increased 22% year over year during its fiscal second quarter, to approximately $314.7 million. It also saw revenue rise 51% year-over-year to around $420 million. The company has more than 5,000 employees worldwide, including 180 in Austin, where it is looking to increase its workforce by 50% over the next 12 months.
With 16 million customers, Wise has been profitable since 2017, well before its 2021 IPO, according to Sinha.
Interestingly, Sinha believes that part of the company’s success is that it “never gave away its product for free.”
“We think charging for your product is something you should do, even if it costs $1,” he told TechCrunch.
Sinha also explained how Wise has grown over time by moving beyond facilitating cross-border transactions to giving users the ability to hold/spend/send funds across the world.
“You can now hold 50 different currencies at Wise, and it basically works as an account product,” Sinha said. “You can pay your salary into it; you can pay your bills there, you can make direct debits. And basically the proposition is for anyone living in multiple currencies and having an international lifestyle.
He also praised the speed of Wise’s offer.
“An example of how we move money around the world: you can make a transfer from us to Australia, and it will arrive in the recipient’s account in less than 20 seconds. I challenge you to do that with ACH today,” Sinha said. “And we did this by building a network that connects directly to local payment systems around the world. And 57% of our payments now on the network are instantaneous, in less than 20 seconds. -Mary Ann
Journalist Manish Singh tells us about the Indian central bank’s decision to implement several measures to slow the growth of consumer spending. The new measures concern unsecured personal loans, credit cards, durable consumer loans granted by banks and non-bank financial companies. This comes as industry analysts report that 39% of retail loans issued in fiscal 2023 went to borrowers who already had five or more active loans. Manish writes that this squeeze will affect startups specializing in lending. He spoke with a fintech founder who said it would reduce growth “a little bit.” Learn more.
Journalist Tage Kene-Okafor writes about Payroll Stack laying off 33 employees across Europe and Dubai as the African payments company shifts its focus to its home continent. Tage reports that the company maintains a presence in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa and is now engaging in private beta testing in Ivory Coast, Egypt and Rwanda as part of its expansion efforts. Learn more.
Editor Frédéric Lardinois broke down the term “FinOps” in an article this week in which tech giants including AWS, Microsoft, Google and Oracle come together to make cloud spending more transparent. This is because each SaaS platform has its own definitions and how they do this. Enter the FinOps Foundation, a movement to create a better framework for how cloud spending is tracked and reported. Learn more.
Editor Sarah Perez is covered Venmo’is a new feature that allows users to split expenses between groups. What’s cool is that for groups, like individual clubs, community organizations, and even roommates, you can get rid of the spreadsheets you’re currently using and track everything via Venmo. Everyone in the group can also manage expenses, so one person isn’t stuck with this role. Sarah points out that this new feature is likely to “cannibalize the user base of single-use apps aimed at organizing group spending, like Split.” Learn more.
TC’s Tage Kene-Okafor reports that Cash Shredder recently announced an enhanced strategic partnership with Visa to drive growth and financial inclusion on the African continent. Having had an established partnership with Visa since 2021 for card issuance, this expanded agreement will allow Chipper to utilize Visa’s extensive experience and investments in more areas of its business, such as licensing and product marketing . “We are delighted to announce our expanded collaboration with Chipper Cash. This strengthens our support for the growing demand for digital financial services in Africa and drives significant impact across the continent,” said Meagan Rabe, Senior Director of Fintech for Visa Sub-Saharan Africa. “We look forward to continuing our work with Chipper Cash to redefine and push the boundaries of financial accessibility and convenience.” » This announcement comes just two months after Chipper announced the launch of Chipper ID, the AI-powered verification and onboarding tool designed specifically for the African continent. Read previous coverage on Chipper Cash here.
Other articles we read:
Businesses love rewards credit cards. This startup makes their launch easier (Discover TechCrunch previous cover of Imprint’s $38 million funding round.)
Americans are being ‘ripped off’ by big banks, says Robinhood CEO. This comes as Robinhood once again increases its Robinhood Gold rate to 5% APY on uninvested cash.
Financing and Mergers and Acquisitions
As seen on TechCrunch:
Defacto: the French fintech raises an extension of financing from Citi Ventures (Learn the origin story of Defacto and more in Previous TechCrunch coverage.)


text:
Yu Televentures which has launched a series of Smartphones earlier in the country is going to launch a new device on 8th of September. YU Televentures is a brand partly owned by Micromax Mobile which was founded in 2014 as a joint venture of Cyanogen Inc & Micromax Informatics Ltd. The first device launched by this online-centric brand is Yureka which was running on CyanogenMod following which they announced the Yureka Plus.
The brand also had launched their recent device which is Yuphoria which came with a better Camera & processor. The important point to make a note is that this brand is launching products which are not in anyway related to Micromax Smartphones & are focused on user feedback, online exclusive & very well priced. We have received an Invite for their new device launch which is happening on 8th as mentioned below.
According to a few hints on the Social Media where Rahul Sharma, the founder of Yu Televentures has tweeted we are sure that this is going to be Snapdeal exclusive launch & not Amazon exclusive which was the tie-up for their earlier products. Followed is the tweet about the same.
— Rahul Sharma (@rahulsharma) September 2, 2015
We will be at the launch event & will be reporting on what’s getting launched by this brand. Stay tuned & comment below on the guesses you have about the new device.


text:
According to news from the Ministry of Commerce website on July 19, the Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao stated at the promotion meeting of cultivating international consumption center cities held by the Ministry of Commerce that, with the approval of the State Council, it will take the lead in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin, and Chongqing. Carry out the cultivation and construction of an international consumption center city. The Ministry of Commerce will, in accordance with the deployment of the State Council, in conjunction with relevant departments, issue an overall plan for cultivation and construction, and establish an inter-ministerial joint conference mechanism for cultivation and construction. The five cultivated cities must earnestly fulfill the main responsibility of cultivation and construction, strengthen organization and leadership, prepare implementation plans with high standards, improve policies and measures, and conduct publicity and guidance to ensure that all tasks of cultivation and construction are effective.
Wang Wentao emphasized that cultivating an international consumption center city is a major strategic deployment made by the Party Central Committee and the State Council. It is a clear requirement put forward by the Fifth Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee of the Party to build a new development pattern for services, promote high-quality economic development, and better meet The need for a good life for the people is of great significance. Cultivating an international consumption center city must accurately grasp the basic principles of government guidance, market operation, problem orientation, highlighting characteristics, scientific layout, gradual progress, and six key tasks. It is necessary to focus on “international”, extensively gather global high-quality market players and high-quality goods and services, accelerate the cultivation of local brands, and strive to build a gathering place that integrates global consumer resources. It is necessary to closely follow “consumption”, promote the construction of business districts with high standards, lead the consumption trend, strengthen market supervision services, and strive to create a new highland for consumption upgrades. It is necessary to highlight the “center”, continuously strengthen the role of agglomeration, radiation and leading role, and form the center of global consumer agglomeration and regional linkage development.
(Source: China Securities Journal·China Securities Network)
Article source: China Securities Journal·China Securities Network
Editor in charge: DF070
Original title: Ministry of Commerce: Will issue an overall plan for cultivating and building an international consumption center city
Solemnly declare: The purpose of this information released by Oriental Fortune.com is to spread more information and has nothing to do with this stand.
Scan the QR code to follow
Oriental Wealth Official Website WeChat


text:
Ok, well Target is apparently being forced to respond to the deflationary supernova that is this guy…
Because just a little over a week after Amazon made good on its promise/threat to cut prices at Whole Foods, Target says in a blog post that it’s lowering prices on thousands of items.
- TARGET SAYS IT’S LOWERED PRICE ON THOUSANDS OF ITEMS: BLOG POST
And the reaction was immediate, with shares diving to day lows and Wal-Mart falling in sympathy:
The shares will probably rebound by the end of the day, but the message here is clear.
Notably, this made an already bad day for Kroger worse. The shares were already lower by some 7% after inline results were apparently overshadowed by talk of consolidation and news the company will not be providing longer-term guidance.
Sorry Fed, it looks like structural deflation has become… well… structural.


text:
Malaysia and Bosnia eyeing up Free Trade Agreement
Bosnia and Herzegovina is looking to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with Malaysia will in the next three years.
The country’s Ambassador to Malaysia, Emir Hadzikadunic, said the FTA had been in the works for a while, he said, “There has been no concrete discussion as yet on the FTA and we hope to start negotiations and establish this arrangement soon. We are not satisfied with the existing economic relations between both countries as there is a lot more potential for economic collaboration. Our business ties can be improved and we are working on this,”
He also highlighted the fact that there were several bilateral agreements between both the countries, namely agreements on protecting foreign investors and some taxation agreements.
Malaysia External Trade Development Corp chief executive officer Datuk Dzulkifli Mahmud said bilateral trade between Malaysia and Bosnia and Herzegovina was likely to grow between 5 and 10 percent this year. Malaysia’s trade with Bosnia and Herzegovina is based on electronics products, processed food, rubber and scientific equipment. Imports included chemicals and chemicals, wood products, textiles, apparel and footwear.
SOURCE: [The Star]
- Axiata starts initiative to help COVID-19 affected SMEsLeadership & Strategy
- Why Grab is investing $500mn in VietnamLeadership & Strategy
- Grab partners with Maybank to bring GrabPay to MalaysiaTechnology
- Peer-to-peer lending platform Funding Societies raises $25mn led by SoftbankCorporate Finance