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Many speculated on Solana's death following the collapse of the FTX exchange. This, however, was an exaggeration. Certainly, the pre-existing relationship with FTX caused the ecosystem to suffer following the collapse, but Solana has demonstrated that it is not a puppet in the hands of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
"Despite the recent price increase that appears to have been driven by speculation, the fundamental ecosystem remains quite strong," said Tom Dunleavy, senior research analyst at data company Messari.
Coin98 Insight spoke with Austin Federa, Head of Strategy at Solana Foundation, about the ecosystem development plan as well as upcoming trends in DeFi at the recent Solana Hacker House event in Ho Chi Minh City. The Spotlight is a Coin98 Insights exclusive interview series with industry builders on hot market topics.
Solana and FTX are not as close as people think
- Greetings, Austin. A lot of people in Vietnam, and maybe even in other countries, want to know: How did Solana overcome the post-FTX crisis?
Austin: The FTX crash has less of an impact on Solana than you might think.
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) did help the network out in the beginning. Additionally, the FTX group's introduction of Serum, the world's first blockchain-based centralized limit order book, was a fantastic advancement in the industry. The last major construction on Solana, however, may have been this. They changed their strategy after that and began engaging in political maneuvering in the nation's capital.
We haven't had much of a working relationship with them in the year or so since then. People mistakenly believe that SBF and Solana are affiliated because SBF was instrumental in bringing Solana to the attention of the crypto community. The reality is a little different. FTX favored Aptos and Polygon over Solana when allocating capital.
Simply pointing out that the FTX collapse has made the ecosystem more decentralized and populated by validators. This demonstrates that FTX plays no significant role in the evolution of the network. In terms of the day-to-day functioning of the network, they were not crucial to the success of Solana.
- So, in the aftermath of the demise of FTX and other major players, what positive signals are Solana and the market as a whole receiving?
Austin: We have just come through a fairly tumultuous period, both last year and at the start of this year, with many losses, particularly in the community. But the best part is that they have worked well together. We now have more validators than we did at the start of the year, or even in November 2022.
Furthermore, the energy of the meetings - Solana's annual conference held every year - is extremely potent. Over 1500 people attended the recent Hacker House event in Turkey. And over 1,000 people registered for this event in Ho Chi Minh City, and we were thrilled to see so many people excited about building projects on Solana like this.
- The million-dollar question for any blockchain venture is how Solana plans to attract so many users?
Austin: Many people are actively pursuing large-scale collaborations, such as attracting Instagram content creators or prominent Web 2.0 firms. Statistically speaking, I believe that the vast majority of these endeavors fail.
In reality, blockchain's actual user base cannot be developed in Web 2. DeFi groups, similar to NFT projects with much smaller communities, are not a website to connect to the blockchain. However, the Web 2 business model relies on having as many users and data points as possible in order to make a profit.
Web3 takes a new approach, and as a result, its layout looks very different. One of the benefits of Web 3 is that it makes it possible to build a protocol with tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of users. Compared to Ethereum, Uniswap has a relatively small user base, but it is a wildly successful protocol.
According to Solana, the goal isn't to bring in just a few massive communities, like everyone on Twitter. Our main goal is to aid and fund the growth of 10,000 smaller projects. They're the ones making something that will actually appeal to a certain group.
Then they will know what it's like to use Solana. They may go further and try out Orca and DeFi, or they may visit for an NFT project and end up testing out some of the other network-based features.
The concept seems to me to be very similar to that of constructing a city. When one person is in charge of a city's layout, it rarely turns out better than when everyone pitches in.
- So, how does Solana Mobile fit into this 'user city-building' strategy?
Austin: Most of the world accesses the internet via mobile phones. For example, I have a laptop, desktop, and smart TV, but I spend the majority of my time on my phone. This is especially true in developing markets, where the majority of people, for example, do not own computers but do own mobile phones.
Blockchain is currently restricted to desktop computers. It's locked in Chrome with a small extension in the corner. So we want to incorporate blockchain into existing Android apps. And we believe that Solana Mobile, an open-source software stack, is the best way to accomplish this.
Certainly, selling 100 million phones is not our goal. Of course, that would be fantastic, but the main goal is to show Google, Samsung, and all other phone companies that Web3 is something they should incorporate into their phones.
Just like NFC (often used in phone payment services), or the camera, or any other feature that we now consider indispensable for phones. They began as oddities that only appeared on one or two phones. Foldable phones, for example, were once thought to be a strange idea, but now everyone is working on them.
As a result, we hope that developers worldwide will embrace Solana's mobile stack and incorporate it into their phone lines. If you are an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), for example, you can add this stack to your Android phone.
The real game has begun. We are not selling phones; rather, we are creating an appealing platform for other manufacturers to take advantage of, potentially driving other phone companies out of the game.
“The service must be easy enough for your mother to use”
- There is talk of a new kind of "superchain" appearing in the market right now. Will Solana ride this tide or zero in on one chain at a time?
Austin: Sharding, as we call it, is a technique used by most other chains to speed up their technology. Ultimately, a Layer-2 is a sharding environment in which the transaction and network state load is moved to another location to improve network performance.
The fundamental principle, however, has always been to construct the quickest network possible and to function in a global network state. Ethereum is the global state as it stands right now, and trust between programs is established through their composability. However, this fundamental composability in the ecosystem is broken the moment you introduce sharding, Layer-2, a subnet, or anything similar.
However, this does not mean that efforts to create DeFi on other chains will be abandoned. The trust assumptions you make will be very different, making it much more challenging when they do.
Solana is currently the quickest blockchain on the road to creating a global network infrastructure. This is a significant benefit, in my opinion, because most recently introduced supply chains focus on improving just one or two areas. Solana's philosophy, meanwhile, is that if we can become the best blockchain environment for the common purpose, we'll be the place where programmers want to come and build.
You can see that Solana has the highest developer growth rate by looking at the Electric Capital report from last December. When it comes to the total number of developers, the ecosystem is in second place. Wow, that's incredible.
- What future opportunities can Solana capitalize on, given its current advantages? And what market trends can we anticipate in the near future?
Austin: DeFi is currently struggling on all fronts. If you examine the TVL of all the major chains, you will notice that it is decreasing, as will the number of users. However, this is not surprising in light of rising interest rates and the perception that DeFi opportunities are riskier.
DeFi may be less risky, especially in light of recent bank failures in the United States. When compared, it is evident that DeFi is extremely resilient.
As a result, the greatest opportunity lies in the development of more complex DeFi products on Solana, as everything can currently be completed very cheaply and rapidly.
In terms of the number of games being developed on the network, the gaming industry on Solana is a tremendous success. I believe Solana is the blockchain with the most game projects at present. It is very encouraging.
However, I am particularly excited about the concept of a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DeFIN), also known as token incentivized physical infrastructure. This is the underlying concept behind Helium, Hivemapper, wireless networks, and other technologies that encourage people to build infrastructure in their homes.
The idea is that people would install small mobile phone antennas in their homes, resulting in a competitive network with large service providers.
- Can housewives, for example, use this service and install antennas inside their homes, as you suggested?
Austin: Obviously. Simply place the device against a window or the side of your house. If you live in an apartment building, you can place it on a balcony or similar area and point it towards a busy area with a lot of people passing by. The device is then connected to your home internet network, and you earn tokens by providing data to people passing by.
For example, my phone has two SIM cards, one of which is on the Helium network. When I pass by a Helium access point (hotspot), my phone will connect to it and pay a fee to use the Helium network's data. Currently, network speed is not as good as that of traditional network service providers, but we will get there eventually.
When you look at current network service providers, you can see how large they are and how much money they make from user fees each month. Meanwhile, Helium charges less than half the price of these companies in the United States. So it will be very interesting to see how far this technology can advance in the near future.


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By Christine Joyce S. Castañeda
SOFTENING MERCHANDISE TRADE in November put an end to the country’s five straight months of export growth and pulled import growth down to single-digit level, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday.
Preliminary data from the PSA showed merchandise exports declining 0.3% to $5.569 billion in November, a reversal from growth rates of 5.5% in October and 14.2% in November 2017.
Meanwhile, import payments rose 6.8% year-on-year to $9.469 billion in November, easing from increases of 21.4% in October and 20.1% in November 2017.
These data brought the country’s trade deficit to $3.901 billion, wider than the $3.280-billion gap recorded a year ago.
The November turnout in exports capped five straight months of increases in 2018. Similarly, that month’s import growth figure ended seven consecutive months of double-digit increases in 2018.
To date, merchandise exports contracted by 0.9% to $62.767 billion against the two-percent target of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) for full-year 2018.
On the other hand, import of goods grew 15.8% to $100.455 billion versus the DBCC’s nine percent projection for the year.
Cumulatively, the country’s trade balance posted a $37.687-billion deficit, much bigger than the $23.408-billion shortfall in 2017’s comparable eleven months.
Purchases of mineral fuels, lubricant and related materials (up 34.1% year on year to $1.207 billion); raw materials and intermediate goods (6.7% to $3.654 billion) and capital goods (4.9% to $3.016 billion) continued to grow in November.
On the other hand, imports of consumer goods declined 3.8% to $1.548 billion, weighing on total imports for the month.
Meanwhile, declines in outbound sales of mineral products (-34.4% to $244.902 million), petroleum products (-16.6% to $36.906 million) and forest products (-13.3% to $25.560 million) dragged the country’s overall export sector down despite growth in manufactured goods (one percent to $4.677 billion) and agro-based products (12.5% to $427.628 million).
In an e-mail, Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa, senior economist at ING Bank N.V. Manila, pointed to the contraction in imports of consumer goods, which dropped 3.8% in November to $1.548 billion from $1.608 billion in the same month in 2017.
“Imports posted the slowest pace of growth since March mainly because of base effects and as inbound shipments for cars posted a hefty drop of 28.1% as [the fourth quarter of 2017] saw a car buying spree ahead of the TRAIN law implementation,” the economist said, referring to Republic Act No. 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act that cut personal income tax rates but imposed additional taxes for cars among other goods when the law took effect a year ago.
Electronic products, which make up more than half of the country’s exports, was down 1.6% in November year-on-year albeit registering a 4.6% growth to $34.872 billion year to date in 2018. Semiconductors, which accounted for a chunk of electronic products, likewise dipped by 2.5% to $2.364 billion.
“All other export sectors managed to post a 1.6% expansion, but this was not able to offset the slump in its mainstay electronics sector,” ING’s Mr. Mapa said.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia was quoted in a statement by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) as saying that “[a] widening current account balance due to rising capital goods imports and anemic exports growth is a cause for concern.”
“The widening gap emphasizes the need to reform legislation to allow foreign investments in firms catering to the domestic market, in addition to expanding their exporting activities,” said Mr. Pernia, who heads NEDA as director-general.
Amid this “capital-intensive growth,” wide trade deficits “will likely be the norm in the medium term,” said ING’s Mr. Mapa.
Asked about the effect of November trade results on last quarter’s economic performance, Mr. Mapa said in a separate e-mail to BusinessWorld: “Although this will have less of a drag on the overall net exports account, the details point to weaker capital formation numbers as passenger cars and capital machinery saw either contraction or slower growth.”
“We see this as an additional drag on [fourth-quarter] 2018 growth with our forecast looking to slip below six percent,” he added.
“Exports will likely struggle again as we continue to have all our bets on the electronics sector, which could face a tough year should global demand slip.”
For Michael L. Ricafort, economist at the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., exports could recover this year on the back of a lower base in 2018, adding that some Philippine exporters “could become alternative sources in the global supply chain brought about by the higher tariffs imposed on Chinese exports to the US and on US exports to China.”
However, Mr. Ricafort cautioned on “offsetting risk factors” like the prolonged US-China trade war and the partial US government shutdown that may lead to slower US and global economic growth.
Nevertheless, he noted that “there is still a good chance” of the country’s trade deficit to be narrower in the coming months after hitting record-high level in October last year.
The United States was the Philippines’ top export market in November with a 16% share at $893.20 million, followed by Japan’s 14.7% ($819.07 million) and Hong Kong’s 13.1% ($729.01 million).
On the other hand, China was the Philippines’ top source of imports with an 18.7% share ($1.766 billion), followed by Korea’s 10.9% ($1.03 billion) and Japan’s 9.5% ($903.28 million).
By Christine Joyce S. Castañeda

domain: news


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app testing on device
app testing on device news search results
Developer news items we found relating to app testing on device
New app rendering tool lands from Applitools
Thursday, March 5, 2020 by Brittany Hainzinger
Applitools Announces General Availability of Ultrafast Grid - the Fastest, Most Reliable and Cost-Effective Cross Browser Testing Platform Available Today
More than 50 Global Fortune 500 Applitools customers are already executing tests up to 70x faster on Chrome, Safari, Edge and Internet Explorer
Applitools, the leading provider of Visual AI for intelligent funct...


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Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], October 7 (ANI): Shopkeepers in Bengaluru are struggling to sell their puja items as their businesses are badly hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The novel coronavirus has caused small and medium scaled businesses to suffer due to the lockdown. Sales are down as most of the temples remain closed and people perform puja at home. Also, people prefer to buy items online as it is safer with door-to-door delivery and one doesn't have to risk going outside," Srinivas Prasad, a local shopkeeper from Bengaluru, told ANI on Tuesday.
He also said that one needs to adapt as businessmen to fit in the new normal as the lockdown has already caused a "lot of loss".
Another shopkeeper, Nagaraja, said, "There are bank loans, shop's rent and school fees for kids to be paid but the lockdown has completely shut our business in the last three months. This is a difficult situation for medium scale business owners. From earning Rs 25,000-30,000 per day we have come to earn below Rs 10,000."
He added, "This is our only means of livelihood, and let's hope things get better as and when the impact of COVID019 lessens."
There are 9,19,023 active cases of COVID-19 in India currently and 1,03,569 fatalities due to the virus have been recorded so far, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). (ANI)


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Walmart U.S. Chief Marketing Officer Barbara Messing is stepping down as of Aug. 30 to return to the San Francisco Bay area. Some of her duties will be handled temporarily by former Target and DreamWorks chief marketer Michael Francis, according to an internal memo.
Messing “has decided to leave Walmart and return to the Bay Area with her family,” according to the memo from Walmart Chief Customer Officer Janey Whiteside, to whom Messing has reported and who joined the giant retailer at the same time as Whiteside just over a year ago. Whiteside credited Messing with “memorable and effective creative campaigns that reached our customers in new and unexpected ways.”
Francis, the former Target CMO and DreamWorks chief brand officer and JC Penney president, who has consulted for Walmart since late 2015, “has agreed to join us full time to guide the Retail Marketing team,” Whiteside said. But Walmart is searching for a new chief marketing officer and a new direct report – a senior vice president of Retail Marketing to lead a newly created team under the CMO.
Messing, previously CMO for TripAdvisor, was based at Walmart’s primary U.S. headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, while Whiteside, a former American Express marketer, is based at the retailer’s Hoboken, New Jersey, e-commerce offices. Whiteside reports jointly to Walmart U.S. CEO Greg Foran and Walmart U.S. E-Commerce CEO Marc Lore.
The shakeup comes despite strong results for the retailer of late, with last quarter’s U.S. same-store sales up 2.8 percent and e-commerce sales up 37 percent, topping expectations. Walmart has had 20 consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth and outgrown Amazon in U.S. e-commerce -- albeit from a considerably smaller base -- in recent years.


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Bug bounty programs are paying more than ever, but they’re still absent from most of the world’s top 2,000 public companies, according to a new report Tuesday from HackerOne.
The San Francisco-based company, which sells its own bug bounty platform, says 94 percent of companies on the Forbes Global 2000 have no discernible way to receive reports about vulnerabilities in their networks.
That number is unchanged from HackerOne’s 2015 security report.
The companies that do have bug bounty programs, however, are willing to pay more for vulnerability disclosures, HackerOne says. The average bounty on the company’s platform had grown 16 percent in two years to a current average of $1,923.
The security report notes that in addition to the Department of Defense, the Food and Drug Administration, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology and Federal Trade Commission have invested in bug bounty programs.
Bug bounty programs date back at least 34 years to 1983 when Hunter & Ready, an early Silicon Valley pioneer, offered cars in exchange for bug reports. Every hacker ended up taking the $1,000 cash offer instead of the car.
— Alex Rice (@senorarroz) October 3, 2016


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It’s Saturday. There’s loads of tiny stuff to fill the empty spaces inside your brain below.
- You, the gamer, can vote on who gets to be the cover boy for NCAA Football 12. Exciting, isn’t it?
- Modern Warfare 2 is getting a patch to help curb cheating on PS3 March 8. Xbox 360 gets it soon. Thanks, Ripten.
- Dead Nation is getting a patch on March 7 that adds online co-op Voice Chat, Checkpoint saves, copy saves, and further surprises.
- Angry Birds is coming to Facebook, and if you “like” the official page, you will get exclusive updates on its progress.
- Yakuza 4’s quiz games will not be included in the English version due to the text being in Japanese, and the soundtrack intro will not be the same due to licensing issues. Hostesses will be in it though, so rest easy.
- Rock Band 3 is getting a nice helping of Depeche Mode next week. Yummy. There’s also a track from Death Cab for Cutie coming as well.
- There’s a Fight Night Champion video interview with Anthony Mundine and Billy The Kid Dib over on Gamespot.
- Steam has a weekend sale going on. You can get a Ubisoft four-pack featuring: Assassin’s Creed: Director’s Cut Edition, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Far Cry 2: Fortune’s Edition, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for $12.99. That’s a savings of 81 percent.
- Dengeki Online has new shots from Night of the Sacrifice posted. Go have a look.
- THQ was at GDC, and held a round table talk on its gaming plans for 2011, and discussed its new identity a bit. Thanks, GamePro.
- The University of Southern California has been named the top school for those wanting to major in gaming goodness.
- Starpoint Gemini, the RPG tactical sim set in space, will be released on March 25. It’s gone gold, and a developer interview is available for download on GamersHell.
- Elite Beat Agents developer iNiS held a meeting with publishers behind closed doors at GDC this week, according to Siliconera. What does it have up its sleeve? Time will tell, we suppose.
- Hideki Konno gave a presentation on 3DS development at GDC this week. During which, Gamasutra said he explained “why he was put in charge of a hardware project.”
- EvilAvatar has posted a Clone Trooper trailer for LEGO Star Wars III. Watch it.
- Like PopCap games? Want all of them? Well, for $99.95 you can have all 51 of ’em for your very own.
- As promised last month, Sega Dreamcast games are now available on Steam. Each will run you $8.99 or you can bundle all four for $29.99. Thanks, BigDownload.
- Excalibur Publishing and 1C Company have announced Theater of War 3: Korea. Read the press release over on EvilAvatar.
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here.


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Women show how 'the girlfriend effect' is having an impact on their partners
| Last updated
Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@yzelleduran
Everyone wants to look good for their partners, right?
Well, it turns out that men regularly up their game when it comes to style, skincare and overall appearance once they get into a relationship.
Women are taking to taking to social media to talk about the phenomenon — dubbed the 'girlfriend effect' — and share the impact it has had on their partners.
One TikTok video, shared by @yzelleduran about her husband, has received more than 3.3 million views on the platform.
In the video, Yzelle shares multiple clips of her husband prior to their relationship and it's safe to say he's not exactly looking his best.
Viewers are then shown what Yzelle's husband looks like now, with pictures showing him in a series influencer-esq poses following his style overall.
She cheekily captioned the clip: “The ‘girlfriend effect’ is so real cause look at my husband.”
And it’s not just women who are feeling the ‘girlfriend effect’.
Another TikToker @gabesco gained an insane 20.6 million views on a similar video he posted about how much his appearance had improved thanks to his girlfriend.
Prior to meeting his partner, he dressed in white khakis and thrifted women's blouses and crop tops and blue jeans.
And AG (after girlfriend), he ditched those outfits for puffer jackets and a sweatshirt, as well as a brand new hairstyle.
However, the 'girlfriend effect' can definitely have its downsides.
Some TikTokers have expressed concerns about how the trend potentially rids men of their personal style and clothes that make them happy.
In one video, @velvteenrabbit explained that women unintentionally risked ‘overhauling their boyfriends and completely redesigning them.’
They explained: "If this woman is helping him find a more tasteful way of executing his personal style, that's one thing. But a lot of women are not doing that.
"They are just purely telling their boyfriends what to wear and getting rid of any sort of personal style that these boys have accumulated for themselves."
While it's great to share style tips and advice with your other half, you're risking taking away what makes them.. well them! And you could also face the risk of upsetting them, depending on how you choose to share your thoughts.
As one user commented on Yzelle’s video: “The girlfriend effect only works if the guy wants it to.”
At the other end of the spectrum, women are also taking to TikTok to talk about the 'boyfriend air,' a rather depressing counter trend which shows them getting more and more dishevelled as they spend more time with their other half and less time on self-care.


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The social network platform has made an important step by purchasing TheFind, a Mountain View shopping site. Facebook intends to include selling products in its services by using TheFind`s shopping search engine.
It is an action that follows the 11 year old company`s attempts to benefit from search and e-commerce, which are one of the best services for making money.
Facebook has announced the deal on Friday, but the company refused to make public the price for which they bought TheFind. It is not the first initiative to get search and shopping available on Facebook, but until now, their attempts failed and haven`t been as practical as the platform`s most important feature: connecting people by letting them share posts and photos.
Improving the digital advertising business of Facebook was the target that both parts of the deal stated they intend to reach. Facebook is a big name in this industry, with 12.6 billion dollars in ad sales reported for 2014.
“Together, we believe we can make the Facebook ads experience even more relevant and better for consumers,”
the company said, referring to their newest acquisition. TheFind also made a similar comment. They stated that the technology they have developed is to be integrated into the social network “to make the ads you see on Facebook every day better and more relevant to you.”.
″We are now starting our next chapter by combining forces with Facebook to do even more for consumers. Facebook’s resources and platform give us the opportunity to scale our expertise in product sourcing to the over 1 billion people that use the platform.″
TheFind team wrote on its homepage.
TheFind, which was launched in 2006, thanked the users for loyalty and for a fun journey. For nearly 10 years, the company has provided search and shopping services, by allowing the users to see offers from various marketers and helping them choose the best bid. Some of the people who worked for TheFind will now become Facebook employees.
“Key members of our team are joining the company and will be working hard to integrate our technology to make the ads you see on Facebook every day better and more relevant to you,”,
the company stated.
Facebook has intended to become an important player in search several times, and they had both discouraging and positive results. The company enthusiastically launched Graph Search in 2013. But the search engine did not meet the expectations. Mark Zuckerberg admitted that in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, within which he stated that Graph Search works well less than 50 per cent of the time.
The list of Facebook`s failed attempts to enter search and e-commerce business continues. In 2012, the company was refused when they asked important retailers to sell their products on Facebook. Also, Facebook Gifts was shut down in 2014, even if its launch made a lot of fuss. However, it turned out to be unproductive.
Since last year`s July, Facebook has started to test a Buy button, which allows users to purchase goods immediately. TheFind`s technology represents a plus, once integrated into Facebook it will add more options to this service.
On the other hand, Google has offered search and e-commerce services for a long time. They have launched Google shopping in 2012, a rebranding of the initial service. It featured results from retailers who paid to be included on Google`s list.
Image Source: Android Authority
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Obsidian Gallery is now open in Historic Depot
October 6, 2011
By Teya Vitu
Obsidian Gallery opened Oct. 1 in the Historic Depot, 400 N. Toole Ave., after owner Monica Prillaman moved the contemporary craft and fine arts gallery from St. Philip’s Plaza.
“I love everything about Downtown,” Prillaman said. “There’s people all over the place, all the time.”
The depot architecture itself, with its half-moon windows, is as much a part of the gallery as the art and interior improvements Prillaman added to the 2,200-squar-foot space. Obsidian had been at St. Philip’s Plaza for all its 25 years and for the four years Prillaman has owned the gallery.
But, for the first time, Prillaman could set up a gallery precisely as she wanted.
“We were able to put the track lighting where we wanted. We did the improvements ourselves,” Prillaman said. “This allowed us to design the space to the maximum benefit for us.”
Even before moving Downtown, Prillaman joined the Central Tucson Gallery Association. Unlike the typical mall or strip mall with non-competition covenants, Downtown gallery owners warmly welcomed Obsidian.
“We got a very nice reception from all the galleries,” Prillaman said.
Obsidian Gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, but Prillaman is a quick study in realizing you have to take advantage of events just outside your door even if they fall outside the set hours.
Prillaman plans to have Obsidian open for Meet Me at Maynards and 2nd Saturdays.
“My feeling is we need to be flexible,” said Prillaman, who was one of the few St. Philip’s merchants to open for the farmers market on Sunday.
Monica and her son, James, the gallery’s curator and himself an artist, have added fine art to a gallery that focused entirely on contemporary crafts before Monica bought the gallery.
“The gallery has turned over its collector base,” Monica said. “We’re seeking younger collectors. We’re really going after the late 30s or even younger.”
“People in the 20s and 30s just don’t come to St. Philip’s. They just don’t,” continued James. “I continually hear about young people going to art openings. They just happen to be Downtown.”
Obsidian’s re-opening exhibition features ceramic sculptures by sculptors from around the country, nearly all of them new to Obsidian. They include Wesley Anderegg, Merry Arttoones, Jill Marleah Bell, Heidi Preuss Grew, Marina Kuchinski and Max Lehman.
The Prillaman mother-and-son team added fine art, specifically paintings, to what had been just a contemporary craft gallery before their arrival. They continue with crafts, such as hand-made jewelry from silver and gold; fibers made into silk scarves or wall treatments; art made of glass, metal and clay, and ceramic scultuptures
“We show art from all those mediums,” Monica Prillaman said. “That’s what sets us apart from a lot of art galleries.”
Prillaman scouted throughout Downtown for a space.
“We needed a more finished space,” she said. “The Depot is a more finished space. Exposed brick walls is not Obsidian’s look.”
Obsidian will be in the one-story portion, to the left of the Depot’s main structure. Prillaman is looking forward to settling in Downtown.
“I think the location is fabulous,” she said. “We’re near lots of great restaurants, two steps from Maynards, near The Hub. It’s down the street from other galleries. We also have street recognition. My son has been trying to get me to move Downtown for two years.”


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Dossier: The Architecture of Global Trade in 2016
This article summarises the global trade of tomato products in 2016. For recent information, you can also access the latest articles published in the news section, using the search facility here . You can also contact us if you want specific information on a product or a country.
Vous pouvez lire cet article en français ici
Worldwide trade absorbed less raw materials in 2016
At the risk of stating the obvious, the slowdown in the growth rate of consumption has once again been confirmed by 2016 results for global trade. The volumes shipped around the world dropped slightly last year, leading to a tighter situation for outlets and adding to the tensions observed in terms of competition between the main processing countries attempting to market their processed products. This further contraction complicates the strategy of companies who can no longer count on constantly positive and regular growth in the worldwide markets to provide the impetus for their business. This is likely to lead to an increase in the intensity of competition, particularly in areas where the market is still growing.
In 2016, accumulated volumes of tomato products exported at the worldwide level amounted to the equivalent of slightly more than 25.25 million metric tonnes (mT) of raw materials – approximately 66% of the volumes processed during the year, but more importantly, 0.7% (175 000 mT farm weight equivalent) less than in 2015. Whether it is a technical adjustment or an effect of carryover stocks, this variation is not sufficiently significant to be interpreted as a slowdown in operations, all the more so for the fact that these volumes indicate a 2% progression compared to the average of the three previous years (2013-2015). Yet this result is part of a wider set of dynamics that indicates a slower growth rate for worldwide consumption in recent years, as we have already stated.
It is a fact that the volumes traded each year increased at an average rate of 6.5% until 2011, climbing over fourteen years from less than 10 million mT to close on 24 million mT. Six years ago, this relatively dynamic period gave way to a new phase in worldwide trade, featuring a much slower annual growth rate of about 1.2% per year. Altogether, this shift in dynamics and the effects of the excessive production of 2009 can be considered as one of the causes of the difficulties faced by the industry over the past eight years, a period during which it has never completely and definitively recovered from a situation of crisis.
2016 results also confirm another global trend, whereby the trade in the more elaborate products (ketchup, sauces, etc.) has built up an increasing importance compared to the two other categories, specifically at the expense of canned tomato sales. Without being spectacular, the growth of the ketchup & sauces category is undeniable, taking this family of products to approximately 15% of worldwide trade over the past three years, against approximately 12% at the end of the 90s. The canned tomato sector, which accounted for 12% of worldwide trade twenty years ago (expressed in farm weight equivalent), only accounted for slightly more than 8% of volumes in recent years (see the infographics presented at the end of this article).
Finally, 2016 confirmed the increasing dependence of outlet countries on supplier countries and the growing importance of developing export activities for the world's main tomato processing industries. Independently from the mechanical effects linked to the drop in processed volumes last year, 2016 can clearly be seen as a continuation of the dynamics recorded in previous years, with a constantly growing proportion of processed volumes being absorbed by export operations. Last year, more than two thirds of the tonnage – 25.2 million mT in farm weight equivalent out of the 38 million mT processed – were absorbed by international shipments overall. In 2012, the worldwide trade in tomato products absorbed 69% of the processed volumes, accounting for only 57% five years before that, 52% in 2002 and a mere 44% of worldwide activity in 1997.
Paste: regional dynamics are highly contrasted
The virtual stability of the volumes traded around the world actually hides a wide diversity of regional dynamics, which seemed to be more marked in 2016 than they were previously. The overall annual result – approximately 3.3 million tonnes of finished products – only increased by slightly more than 93 000 mT (3%) compared to 2015, but this modest progression hides some wide variations for a number of markets. Paste purchases by countries of West Africa, the Far East, the Arab Peninsula, southern Africa and Turkey – to only mention the main ones – recorded notable decreases in 2016. In the cases of the Arab Peninsula (-11%) and Turkey (-69%), these drops occurred after sharp increases in 2015, so they can be considered as mere operational adjustments. However, in the cases of the Far East, Russia, Iran, southern Africa and West Africa, these decreases confirm a contraction of operations that is part of a wider set of dynamics, which could become a concern for their main supplier regions.
Altogether, these decreases, which also involve a number of other regions, amount to more than 134 000 mT of finished products. Fortunately, these drops were compensated by developments that altogether amounted to almost 209 000 mT of products last year. The most noticeable of these (in excess of 5 000 mT) include the volumes shipped to Mediterranean Africa (+52%), Iraq (+35%), the European Union (more specifically the EU15, +3%), as well as countries of Andean America (+63%), Central Asia (+33%) and Central America (+12%).
As announced in our previous commentaries (see our article in the February 2017 issue), the Chinese industry came in last this past season, having dropped more than 6% and close on 63 000 mT compared to its export results for 2015. Despite a very aggressive commercial policy, and due to its much greater vulnerability because of the worldwide reach of its export activity, China bore the brunt in 2016 of the decreases recorded for West Africa (one of its most favored outlets, with Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gambia), for southern Africa (Congo, Angola), for Turkey, for Iran... More worrying, important drops have also impacted the flow of Chinese paste to countries of the EU15 (Italy, France, UK) and Mediterranean Africa (Algeria). However, Chinese products have been able to benefit from the development of purchases recorded in Andean America (Argentina), and have been the only ones to record a significant increase in East Africa (Sudan).
US processors are less vulnerable than their Chinese counterparts, but have nonetheless been facing commercial difficulties since 2014/2015. They did however manage to limit, to an extent, the impact of the stronger US dollar on foreign sales and to contain the erosion of their outlets. US exports, mainly Californian, shrunk 3% (-12 600 mT) compared to 2015 results. The strong reduction of Turkish purchases can largely account for this, along with decreases recorded for sales to countries of the Far East (South Korea, Japan and the Philippines). Conversely, US performances recorded a sharp improvement for a restricted number of European destinations (Italy, +51 000 mT), Mediterranean Africa (Morocco, Israel), West Africa (Ghana, Ivory Coast), and Central America (Columbia, Panama).
Although recorded results for 2016 in Greece were slightly lower than previous years, the country's exports (46 000 mT) confirmed the slowdown in foreign business observed over the past ten years, possibly as far back as the beginning of the 2000s. Although this drop is minimal (approximately 8 800 mT of products), it actually weighs quite heavily (-16%) on volumes that in any case only amounted to approximately 55 000 mT in 2015. Unlike the situation of Chinese or American operators, this drop can be attributed to a generalized slowdown rather than to failures linked to circumstances in particular regions. As it turns out, it is on the European market (EU28) that the Greek industry lost most ground last year (-5 900 mT of products), as well as on the markets of Saudi Arabia and Sudan.
Unlike industries whose export operations may have been penalized by links to the US dollar, several major players of the international processing tomato sector ended 2016 with particularly positive results sheets. All of them did not evaluate their trade in euros, but many of those that did feature in the worldwide TOP13 ranking of paste exporting countries.
The first of these is Italy, whose paste exports underwent a notable recovery after ten years of relative stagnation. Last year, 727 000 mT of Italian paste were shipped abroad, which is 11% more than in 2015 and 10% more than the average of the period covering 2006-2015 (662 000 mT). Even more so than their Californian counterparts, Italian operators were able to benefit from the notable increase in purchases within the EU15 (Germany, UK, France, Belgium) and in Mediterranean Africa (Libya), without being overly affected by the protectionist decisions implemented in West Africa (Nigeria, etc.), nor by the notable slump in Far-Eastern purchases. On the other hand, Italian paste has known limited success in southern Africa, probably due to the weakening of the South African rand (see also our report in the May 2017 issue of Tomato News).
As for the Spanish industry, which has increasingly affirmed itself as a direct challenger to the Italian industry within Europe, 2016 can be considered as a kind of "blank year". Within a few dozen tonnes, the latest result (287 900 mT of finished products) almost exactly repeats the result of 2015 (288 200 mT). The biggest variations did not exceed 4 000 mT and were recorded for Japanese sales (up by 3 700 mT) and Turkish sales (down by 3 200 mT).
At the European level, Spanish companies were not able to benefit from the recovery of purchases (+33 600 mT) to the same extent as their competitors in Italy, California and Portugal, nor were they able to fill the positions left vacant by Chinese or Chilean competitors. Exports only progressed in a limited number of countries (Germany, Sweden and, to a lesser extent, Italy and Portugal). Results lower than those of the previous year were recorded in the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom and several other destination countries.
Along with neighboring Spain, as well as Chile, Germany, the Netherlands, etc., Portugal is one of the countries whose performances varied very little between 2015 and 2016. The modest progression (7 800 mT, 3%) – in harmony with the worldwide trend for 2016 – of the fifth biggest worldwide exporter of tomato paste was mainly driven by the growth in European purchases, most noticeably from the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Spain. On the other hand, Portuguese business suffered from sudden adjustments in Saudi imports and, to a lesser extent, from the drop in sales to Senegal and Japan.
2016 will remain, for reasons detailed in our article published last January, a year of major development for the Iranian industry. Export volumes increased in a particularly exceptional fashion (+38%!) compared to results in 2015, driven by the two biggest progressions observed in recent years – from Iraq (+29 600 mT) and Afghanistan (+18 900 mT). Iranian results were impacted however by adjustments carried out in 2016 by the United Arab Emirates, whose purchases sharply increased in 2015, and by Russia, whose purchases have tended to drop over the past three years.
For obvious geographical reasons, Turkey is, along with Iran, the only country to have benefited from notable increases in Iraqi purchases in 2016. This destination as well as a number of North-African trade outlets like Syria and Libya account for most of the 24 000 mT (+20%) increase that Turkish operators achieved compared to 2015 results.
Country-specific and region-specific results are presented in the infographics at the end of this article.
Canned tomatoes: big disparities between markets, majorly disproportionate supplier zones
This worldwide export category, which last year mobilized tonnage that was only half the size of our industry's main category, recorded growth from 2015 to 2016 that was slightly more marked than paste. Export volumes (1.65 million mT of finished products) recorded a progression of 65 600 mT (+4%) compared to 2015, right in line with developments recorded over the past two decades.
Three main regions absorbed the largest part – close on 80% – of the volumes shipped in 2016, in a pattern that virtually repeated the dynamics of previous years. The EU alone absorbed more than 1.015 million mT of finished products, which is more than 63% of the quantities exported around the world. The United States and the Far East (mainly Japan) respectively purchased close on 200 000 mT (12%) and close on 138 000 mT (9%) of canned tomatoes last year, ahead of secondary markets like the non-EC countries of Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. This last region (Australia) is, along with Central America (Venezuela), the only region to have recorded a significant decrease in its purchases last year, while the three main regions along with Andean America and Mediterranean Africa increased the volume of their purchases.
The markets of the EU were once again the central focus of business last year, and except for a few minimal variations in quantities delivered to Japan and the USA, they accounted for most of the increases and decreases that significantly affected operations in the different competing countries. In fact, these markets understandably allowed Italy (undeniably the world's n°1 leader for this sector) to record the best performance of the year, with a 48 000 mT increase in its exports. US operators lost a few market shares in the EU, as did their Spanish counterparts. But EU markets also allowed Portuguese and Dutch foreign sales to record modest but real progressions (+3 100 and +4 700 mT), confirming the growth already recorded in 2015.
The EU accounted for 63% of the total annual variation in the worldwide trade of canned tomatoes in 2016. The same variations in volumes were also a feature of supplier regions, in a context that is almost devoid of competition: the quantities exported by Italy were 10 times higher than the second biggest player in the field, Spain, whose operations were twice as voluminous as those of the United States and almost four times higher than the world's 4th biggest operator, Greece.
Overall, 2016 actually accentuated the polarization of this category: despite the overt efforts of the Spanish industry to develop its foreign business in this sector, 2016 saw a 12 000 mT drop in canned tomato exports from Spain, the second consecutive disappointing result after the decrease of almost 16 000 mT recorded in 2015. This is no doubt one of the effects of the efforts invested by Italian industry leaders to recover control of the worldwide markets rather than a real counter-performance of the Spanish industry. The cause of the Spanish fallback is to be found in the decrease of the volumes shipped notably to France, Sweden, the United Kingdom and... Italy, all of which are destinations where Italian operators recorded particularly satisfying results last year.
Any remaining notable considerations boil down to the effects of variations in the volumes supplied by the different regions on Italian results: the increases recorded for imports to Andean America, the EU, NAFTA countries and Mediterranean Africa, as well as the decreases recorded for Australia and Venezuela, virtually only had an impact on the foreign sales of Italy, which they mirrored fairly closely.
In the final count – at the risk of a fairly simplistic statement – worldwide exports of canned tomatoes increased by 65 560 mT last year, of which 65 540 mT were achieved by the eight leading countries of the category, including 63 190 mT attributable to the Italian industry alone.
Ketchup and tomato sauces: stability and competition
1.33 million tonnes of products: this is the total volume of tomato sauces & ketchup exported around the world in 2016, slightly down (-33 000 mT, -2%) on 2015 results, but sharply up (+5%) compared to the average of the three previous years. The coherence of the progressions recorded in recent years for just about all of the main consumption regions is most likely indicative of a simple adjustment after four years of strong growth rather than of a significant shift in supply habits.
Indeed, an overall investigation of trade patterns reveals very few decisive variations – either positive or negative – over the past two years. In most cases, the volumes supplied increased moderately (less than 1 500 mT), and only four regions (NAFTA, southern Africa, the Emirates and West Africa) recorded more notable growth results (without however exceeding 6 800 mT, even for the best performance). The worldwide sauces & ketchup market is globally stable, with regional product flows that only recorded one single significant variation last year – a drop in supply shipments to the EU15 (-57 600 mT of products) – more specifically involving British imports (-31 900 mT, -19%), Dutch imports -6 200 mT, -14%), German imports (-4 200 mT, -4%), but also imports to Finland, France, Belgium, etc.
Although most of the decreases recorded in the EU15 can be interpreted as adjustment measures after six years of sustained growth (average annual rate of 3.6%), the drastic drop in the United Kingdom's sauce purchases is in sharp contrast with the variations recorded in neighboring countries. The quantities of sauces & ketchup delivered last year – slightly less than 139 000 mT of products – recorded a 19% drop against 2015 results, but were also 10% lower (approximately 15 500 mT) than the average flow of the three previous years.
It is likely that the slump in the pound against the euro, observed between December 2015 and October 2016 and the general context created by the decision to leave the EU have played a role in the reduction of the supply flow to the United Kingdom. The impact on European companies active on the British market can already be measured, and could be further aggravated in coming years. For the time being, the only industries whose export results for sauces & ketchup were adversely affected in 2016 are in the Netherlands (-30 200 mT), Germany (-2 150 mT), Spain (-4 700 mT) and Poland (-10 700 mT). All of these industries have suffered from the brunt of the British collapse, whereas growth achieved by the tomato industries in the US (10 700 mT), in Italy (4 900 mT), in China (7 200 mT) and in Mexico (3 400 mT) is based on the development of outlets in Mexico, the UAE, Poland, Benin and Ghana, and the USA.
Some complementary data
Imputation of quantities traded on total export flows and total import flows, by exporting country and by importing region.
Proportionally to the volumes of raw materials absorbed by exports of industrially processed products, the paste category developed until 2011, at the expense of the other two main categories of processed tomato products. Since then, more elaborate products like sauces & ketchup have progressed noticeably, at the expense of the paste and canned tomato product categories.
Tomato paste: Evolution of the market shares of worldwide tomato paste exchanges for the thirteen main processing industries
Synthetic presentations of 2016 exports of tomato paste, for the thirteen main processing countries towards the 26 different consumption regions. Stated figures account for more than 96% of worldwide trade for the year.
Canned tomatoes: Table of variations recorded for each of the eight main exporting countries for the canned tomato category to each of the 26 destination regions: most of the changes occurred in the European consumption region and concerned export volumes shipped by Italian operators.
Ketchup & tomato sauces: Synthetic presentation of 2016 exports of sauces & ketchup, from the 18 main processing countries to the 26 different consumption regions. Stated figures account for more than 90% of worldwide trade for the year.
Evolution of the market shares of worldwide sauces & ketchup exchanges for the eighteen main processing industries.
Map of the regions:


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Florida Gov. DeSantis seeks tax relief in proposed $114B budget and last year's $20B surplus
Last year the state surplus was over $20 billion, and DeSantis stated that this money needs to go back to the people.
(The Center Square) — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a news conference in Tallahassee Wednesday to discuss his "Framework for Freedom" budget.
DeSantis’ proposed $114.8 billion budget contains some tax relief measures as the economy in the Sunshine State has performed far better than other states. Last year the state surplus was over $20 billion, and DeSantis stated that this money needs to go back to the people.
"Where you have a growing state where there’s infrastructure needs, you don’t want to just have all this money just sitting there because that’s telling me that you’re not doing as good a job as you need to be doing, returning money back to the people with tax relief." DeSantis said.
Several tax relief initiatives have already started as of Jan. 1 after a December special session gave $500 million to Floridians in toll relief, saving some hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in a year.
"We’re going to continue to lead on fiscal responsibility and make sure that our state is not drowning in debt," DeSantis said.
DeSantis unveiled a long list of other essential items that will become permanently tax free including diapers and baby products like wipes, food, clothing, cribs and strollers.
Pet owners will no longer pay tax for over the counter pet medications, as DeSantis pointed out, "they’re parts of our family too, and these are things that you need to do."
This also includes no taxes for pet food.
Household items under $25 will be getting a one-year tax-free holiday, from everything from trash bags to detergents.
All dental hygiene products are tax free, and this also includes toiletries.
Parents of school children will also benefit from the massive $1.5 billion relief package as children’s books, toys and equipment will now be tax free and when it comes time to purchase new school stationary, there will be a continuation of the already existing 14-day tax holiday to purchase these items.
Disaster preparation will continue with a two-week sales tax holiday for all approved merchandise and DeSantis added that the budget will also cover funds specifically set aside for any future disasters.
Teachers will be offered pay increases to retain and recruit more staff, with $1 billion allocated for that purpose.
Law enforcement agencies such as the Highway Patrol and Fish and Wildlife are likewise going to get pay increases to help recruit and retain staff. There are bonuses of up to $5,000 for new hires included in the governor's budget.
Over $330 million will be allocated to health services for women and children, including enhanced services for pregnant women and postpartum.
Around $9 million has been allocated for Alzheimer’s research and services and DeSantis also added that $20 million will be for fighting the fentanyl crisis.
Rural communities are also getting a boost with increased infrastructure such as high speed internet access.


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War in Ukraine could halve 2022 global trade growth: WTO
Russia’s war in Ukraine could almost halve world trade growth this year and drag down global GDP growth too, the World Trade Organization projected Monday.
ussia’s war in Ukraine could almost halve world trade growth this year and drag down global GDP growth too, the World Trade Organization projected Monday.
The WTO said that the Russian invasion had not only created a humanitarian crisis of “immense proportions” but had also dealt a “severe blow” to the global economy.
It also said that in the longer term, the conflict could even spark a disintegration of the global economy into separate blocs.
The Geneva-based global trade body issued its first analysis of the impact of the war ahead of its annual world trade forecast report on Tuesday.
It said that while the shares of Russia and Ukraine in overall world trade and output are relatively small, they are important suppliers of essential products, notably food and energy.
“Using a global economic simulation model, the secretariat projects that the crisis could lower global GDP growth by 0.7 to 1.3 percentage points, bringing growth to somewhere between 3.1 percent and 3.7 percent for 2022,” the WTO said.
“The model also projects that global trade growth this year could be cut almost in half from the 4.7 percent the WTO forecasted last October to between 2.4 percent and three percent.”
– Europe, Africa, Middle East impact –
ussia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and the war is grinding toward its seventh week.
The WTO said that some regions would be more strongly affected by the war than others.
Europe is the main destination for both Russian and Ukrainian exports and therefore is likely to experience the heaviest economic impact, the organisation said.
educed shipments of grains and other foodstuffs will boost the prices of agricultural goods, with negative consequences for food security in poorer regions, it added.
Africa and the Middle East are the most vulnerable, as they import more than 50 percent of their cereal needs from Ukraine and/or Russia.
The WTO said some sub-Saharan countries were facing the possibility of price hikes of up to 50 to 85 percent for wheat due to the war’s impact on grain shipments.
“The brunt of the suffering and destruction are being felt by the people of Ukraine themselves but the costs, in terms of reduced trade and output, are likely to be felt by people around the world through higher food and energy prices and reduced availability of goods exported by Russia and Ukraine,” the WTO study said.
“Poorer countries are at high risk from the war, since they tend to spend a larger fraction of their incomes on food compared to richer countries.
“This could impact political stability.”
– International trade ‘decoupling’ –
The WTO said one longer-term risk from the war is that it could trigger a disintegration of the global economy into separate blocs.
It said sanctions could cause major economies to move toward “decoupling” based on geopolitical considerations, with the goal of achieving greater self-sufficiency in production and trade.
Even if no formal blocs emerge, private actors might decide to minimise risk by reorientating supply chains.
The WTO warned that the income losses from such a development “would be severe, especially for emerging and developing economies”.
“At a global level, it could reduce GDP in the long run by about five percent, notably by restricting competition and stifling innovation,” it said, cautioning that the GDP decline could be even more severe.


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The biggest disruption to Coast's booming resort industry
IT'S been one of the biggest disruptors and also one of the biggest assistants to the thriving Sunshine Coast tourism market.
The rise of share accommodation and short-stay apps like Airbnb and Stayz has helped open up the region to people who otherwise mightn't visit.
Noosa real estate agent Tom Offermann has spoken previously of the impact it has had on the northern tourism market, saying nearly all of the sector's growth in the past two years had been accounted for by Airbnb and Stayz.
With limited numbers in traditional accommodation houses, Mr Offermann said the opening up of the region via more efficient use of private properties had been positive for both home owners and visitors.
A Deloitte Access Economics report assessing the impact on Airbnb in Australia showed how effective the market disruptor had been.
The report found Airbnb guests contributed $1.6 billion to Australia's gross domestic product in 2015-16, through more than 800,000 stays booked nationally.
Three-quarters of Airbnb properties in major markets were located outside of traditional tourist areas while in Queensland, the report found Airbnb tourism expenditure contributed $160.5 million directly to the state's economy, sustaining more than 2100 full-time equivalent jobs.
That's not to say accommodation houses aren't doing their jobs either, with massive visitation numbers being recorded in the region testament to the work being done.
Visit Sunshine Coast CEO Simon Latchford said our figures were at the top of the tree.
"Sunshine Coast visitor numbers are showing No. 1 for growth,'' Mr Latchford said.
"We even beat the Gold Coast for that.
"The only two to beat us are Sydney and Melbourne.''
How do you select your accommodation for holidays?
This poll ended on 08 April 2017.
We like to look around and pick a resort or hotel.
Airbnb and Stayz all the way.
We prefer to camp or caravan.
This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.
Mr Latchford acknowledged the Sunshine Coast was building mainly residential apartments and more could be done to accommodate visitors.
"We are in such a good position with natural and man-made attractions.
"Are our man-made attractions comparable to Disneyland? Of course not.
"It's the authentic, personal. Australia Zoo, the Ginger Factory .. those are extremely personal experiences."
He said the region's strength was its natural assets, and the spotlight was being well and truly thrust upon those.
"The secret is we have an extraordinary collection of natural attractions. The Today Show is here again on Friday," Mr Latchford said.
"We have natural amphitheatres dating back millions of years, clean rivers where you can catch a fish and eat it. Some of the world's best prawns are at Mooloolaba.
"We can offer a whole range of options, from a romantic stay at Montville to a self-contained unit for a family on the beach."


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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Activision Inc. shares closed down more than 8% Thursday after the video game publisher issued a revenue and profit warning it blamed on high marketing costs and weaker-than-expected sales of some key game titles
While Activision did not quantify the miss, the firm said earnings for the third quarter ending in December would be "significantly lower" than the 52 cents a share it forecast last month on expected revenue of $790 million.
Santa Monica-based Activision said the shortfall is partially due to U.S. and European sales in October and November that were weak despite heavy marketing spending to promote its game slate for the key holiday season.
During the quarter, Activision had expected two internally-developed titles: "True Crime: New York City" and "GUN," to be warmly received by consumers. Prior to the games' November releases, Activision Chief Executive Robert Kotick had expressed optimism that the two games would eventually sell over a million copies each.
However, the games got off to a slower-than-expected start, according to game market researcher NPD Group, which said retailers in November sold approximately 225,000 copies of "GUN" and approximately 77,000 copies of "True Crime."
Activision was hoping strong earnings in the current quarter would provide the bulk of its profits as the window contained a full slate of eight titles for retail, including "Tony Hawk's American Wasteland," and the action game "Call of Duty 2" for the new Xbox 360 console.
The company also said its fourth quarter earnings would be below expectations because of lower-than-expected sales of older games.
In November, Activision expected earnings of 5 cents a share on sales of $226 million for the fiscal fourth quarter. For the full fiscal year, Activision has said earnings would be 52 cents a share with revenue coming in at $1.48 billion. See full story.
The lowered forecast prompted analysts to lower their third quarter and fiscal year numbers substantially.
Among those cutting estimates, a Wedbush Morgan analyst with a buy rating now sees fiscal 2006 revenue and earnings of $1.33 billion and 30 cents, respectively, versus previous estimates of $1.48 billion and 53 cents.
A Credit Suisse First Boston analyst lowered third quarter revenue projections to $686 million from $791 million and slashed earnings to 26 cents a share from previous projections of 53 cents.
Looking forward, P.J. McNealy of American Technology Research expects Activision will cut its sales and marketing spending for the March quarter in conjunction with expected price cuts across the board early in January.
On Wednesday Michael Griffith, CEO of the company's publishing unit, said in a statement: "we still expect to generate significant revenues; however, we are disappointed that our earnings performance will come in substantially below our previous outlook."
According to NPD data, Activision's November sales were up 54% from last year, with a market share of 14%, as "Call of Duty 2" was the number one selling game for Xbox 360 and the number three selling game overall.
Within the entertainment software industry, November sales were down 18%, according to NPD Funworld.


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One of the best features on most Apple laptops is MagSafe, a proprietary charger that uses magnets to insure that if you trip over your power cable it safely detaches, preventing your laptop from crashing to the ground.
Apple's never made a magnetic iPhone connector, but according to a patent published on Tuesday, it has clearly considered the idea.
The new invention, "stackable magnetically-retained connector interface," appears to describe an expansion to the new "Smart Connector" used on iPad Pros to connect a keyboard, as 9to5Mac points out. The patent describes a system in which several different plugs could be stacked on one smart connector, held together by magnets.
Images in the patent depict connectors that look like a MagSafe laptop charger, a Lightning cable, and an Apple Watch charger.
The system looks like this:
The patent abstract describes the system as:
A stackable connector interface with magnetic retention for electronic devices and accessories can allow power and data to be transferred between one or more stacked connectors.
Existing MagSafe connectors cannot transfer data. But the patent for this Smart Connector Magsafe says that it will be able to transfer both data and power.
Apple originally filed for the patent in September, 2014.
It's interesting to note that Apple's most recent MacBook redesign, the MacBook released in early 2015, ditched the Magsafe connector for a universal USB-C charging cord. But this most recent patent suggests that Apple's beloved Magsafe technology might make a return on the iPad.
Of course, Apple patents stuff all the time — 53 new Apple patents were published today alone — and there's no guarantee that patents will ever become real features or products.
But if you like the idea of a MagSafe phone charger, you can take a look at how Apple imagines that could work in the patent images below.


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Apple has released its watchOS 2 operating system for the Apple Watch a week after discovering a bug in the software that delayed its availability.
A spokesperson for the Cupertino technology company declined to say what glitch prompted Apple to postpone the software’s release.
The watchOS 2 offers more watch faces, new forms of customization and apps that should perform better because developers can now write apps that take advantage of the watch’s features, including its heart rate sensor, accelerometer and microphone.
Updates to the software will let Apple Watch wearers respond to email from their wrists, add up to 12 friends to their circles of contacts and make payments with the Discover card through Apple Pay.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.


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Masks Required to Shop at Foodland
Foodland has new requirements for customers who wish to shop at its Big Island locations.
The grocery store will be requiring everyone who enters its stores to wear masks starting on Monday, April 13. In addition, customers may bring only one additional person inside the store with them to shop. Groups of more than two will be prohibited.
Foodland stores are also monitoring and limiting the number of customers shopping inside the store at one time — limits are determined by the square footage of each store — and are asking customers to practice social distancing, maintaining a space of six feet between each other while shopping.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to keep our customers and employees safe during this crisis,” said Jenai S. Wall, Foodland Chairman and CEO. “Our employees play an important role in providing our community the food they need. We want to keep them healthy and ensure our customers feel safe and comfortable in our stores.”
“We understand that some of these changes in behavior will be adjustments, and we thank everyone in advance for their cooperation and understanding.”
Foodland is working to expand its Foodland To You online shopping and pickup or delivery service. In addition, Foodland will be launching another online shopping and pickup service in efforts to have this service available at more stores.
Kūpuna Shopping Hours continues on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., allowing only seniors 60 years pf age and older to shop with an accompanying caregiver or assisting family member.
Foodland Super Market, Ltd., has 32 Foodland, Sack N Save and Foodland Farms stores statewide and approximately 2,500 employees. To see Foodland’s coronavirus updates, visit Foodland.com.


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- 94% of consumers report concern with the cost of food inflation
- Food inflation is high, still up an average of 20% from 2019
- 86% of meals are sourced from home and 14% from food service as of the close of 2022, still up from the pre-pandemic 84% home/16% food service split
While food inflation is still high (up an average of 20% from 2019), it isn’t translating to consumers eating less, but rather more and more are continuing to trade down and buy more private label products to keep their costs down, according to a new report from Circana.
Consumers, especially those at poverty levels, have been hit especially hard by inflation this past year. In March, the federal government eliminated extra Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits nationwide, a benefit that had been left over from increased pandemic assistance.
In April, households sourcing meals from food banks then increased by 15% vs. the prior year, according to the Census Bureau.
New data also indicates that one-in-five consumers say they are now starting to pay for groceries in installments or payment plans in order to be able to afford essentials.
Still, the Circana report shows that over the past year, 86% of meals were sourced from home and 14% from food service, which is still up from the pre-pandemic 84% home/16% food service split. Additionally, the data says that meals at home are less expensive, with food service meals costing more than four times what at-home meals do.
While it may look like declining volume sales might mean less consumption, the report shows that consumers are not eating less. And the volume shift is not a one-for-one exchange between retail and food service. While retail unit volumes are declining, they remain higher than pre-pandemic, and food service volume is increasing due to pockets of robust growth, while other areas lag behind.
Instead, the report findings show that 31% of shoppers are switching to a lower-cost brand more often, with shoppers additionally looking for more coupons (either paper or online), more often.
Along the same lines, FMI just released its private label spending report which contains similar results, with some 96% of grocery shoppers purchase store brands at least occasionally; 46% purchase private brands most or all of the time; and an overwhelming 90% of shoppers said they are likely to continue buying private brands.
The Circana report also showed that consumers are looking for more sales (53%) followed by cutting back on non-essentials (46%). In addition, they are more focused on less waste; 41% are more conscious of using fresh foods before they go bad, and an additional 39% use leftovers more.
Despite lower unit sales, the average U.S. household makes +10 more trips annually to retail for food and beverage than two years ago, but again total basket spend is down at only +0.5% vs. July 2022.


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March 16, 2021
To celebrate six decades of the Ken doll, Mattel has teamed up with fashion brand Berluti to create three one-of-a-kind versions of the doll.
According to Robb Report, "each of them is dressed in miniature versions of the Parisian menswear brand's recent clothing collaboration with artist Brian Rochefort. On humans and the dolls, the clothes span tailoring, sportswear, sneakers and accessories—there's even a tiny version of the brand's signature leather Nino pouch."
The trio is joined by a Berluti buggy version, initially created in partnership with Mattel brand Hot Wheels.
"During such a restrictive time, it felt joyful and liberating going into fantasy mode to create all these products and this storytelling," says Kris Van Assche, artistic director, Berluti said in a statement. "Ultimately, it all goes back to the idea of dreaming."
Also, two human-sized products are available: A t-shirt and a scaled-up version of the Nino pouch, both with the Berluti and Ken logo. Both pieces are available on Berluti.com and in Berluti stores in the U.S., China, Japan, and France.
The three dolls will be auctioned in May to benefit the Make-a-Wish foundation.
Read more about:Mattel
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Through its print edition, website, daily e-newsletter and event publications, License Global reaches more than 150,000 executives and professionals in all major markets. The magazine also serves as the official publication for the sector’s trade events, which include Licensing Expo, Brand Licensing Europe, Licensing Expo Japan, Licensing Expo Shanghai and the Licensing Leadership Summit.
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Once again, Google is showing us the future of the Internet. Today it seems that Google has bought JotSpot. This is a “wiki” gadget – essentially it allows your visitors to create your web site. It’s used by many big players on the Internet. For instance, Ebay uses JotSpot to allow Ebayers to contribute articles on how to make money online, get the best prices in auctions and so on.
Google’s purchase of JotSpot shows the way Google is thinking. They have already bought YouTube, the social video service. Now with JotSpot, it shows that Google clearly believes the future of the Internet is in user-created content.
That has significant implications for businesses, particularly large firms. Once everyone gets used to the idea of user-created content they will expect every web site to have such capabilities. That means corporations will need to open up their web site to creation of content by their customers. Within a couple of years the days of companies being in control of their online content will be disappearing rapidly. Businesses need to start thinking now about how they will manage their organisations in the era of customer controlled marketing, for instance.


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UK meat-free business Quorn Foods has linked up with Carbon Trust on a carbon footprint initiative.
The company said Carbon Trust-certified data for more than 60% of its top-selling products will be put on its website from today (9 January) with a plan to roll that out onto product packaging throughout 2020.
The meat-free pioneer, owned by Philippines-based noodle maker Monde Nissin, said the move is part of a new campaign to help consumers take a “step in the right direction” when it comes to sustainable food choices, in the fight against climate change.
The business, based in England’s North Yorkshire region, is calling on other food brands to follow suit, pointing out that more than half of all UK consumers are now reducing their meat consumption while awareness about the environmental consequences of people’s dietary choices is at its highest ever level.
Alex Glen, the company’s marketing director, said: “With over a quarter of global emissions coming from food, this is the decade that we need to enable people to focus on how food choices impact climate change.
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“We have been proudly delivering healthy protein for a healthy planet for over 30 years and are delighted to be helping our customers, whom we know are actively trying to find ways to reduce their impact on the planet, with the introduction of our carbon footprint information.”
Quorn claims it is the first meat-free food manufacturer in the world to publish the carbon footprint information for its key products, through third-party accreditation by the Carbon Trust.
Hugh Jones, managing director for the Carbon Trust, said: “We are really excited to be working with Quorn to certify their product carbon footprint data and help improve communication to its customers. It’s really important that consumers have robust information to help inform their purchases and we’re pleased to be able to work with Quorn on this.”


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Dave Matthews' winery, Dreaming Tree Wines, has suspended tastings until further notice as wildfires ravage Northern California.
According to The Blast, a rep for the rockstar's winery confirmed they have shut their doors at "tasting rooms in Napa Valley and Sonoma."
At least eleven people have died after multiple fires broke out across California this week.
Dreaming Tree Wines plans to assess the situation after ensuring the safety of local employees with evacuations.
The Blast reports neighboring Francis Ford Coppola Winery also shut its doors until further notice.


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|Regular C8 Corvette|
Chevrolet's upcoming 2022 Corvette Z06 has been spied in a video, showing its exhaust and engine sounds. It looks like someone caught the folks at Chevrolet testing a possible Z06 variant of the latest Corvette. It’s hard to say if the model testing will get the Z06 badging, but it sounds like it’s getting a derivative of the 5.5-liter flat-plane-crank V8.
Comparing the engine note to the cross-plane-crank-equipped LT2-powered 'Vette, there is a noticeable difference in exhaust note, furthering the assumption there is a flat-plane crank stuffed in the V8.


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The EUROCOM Tornado F7W workstation laptop has been announced and the hardware inside is very impressive, to say the least. The laptop is powered by an Intel i9-9900K along with the Nvidia Quadro P5200 graphics card. That is a lot of power in a laptop form factor.
The 2018 Retina MacBook Air was announced a while back and here we have some numbers that show how well it performs as compared to the previous model. Geekbench tests show that the Retina MacBook Air with Core i5 processor was able to score about 4200 points in
The new A12X Bionic chip that Apple has developed is not only the fastest chip that Apple has brought to market but it is also able to beat rival laptops. This is very impressive keeping in mind that the 2018 iPad Pro is a tablet rather than
The recent Apple event lacked updates for the MacBook Pro but Apple has silently announced that the 15-inch MacBook Pro is indeed getting a significant boost in performance. The upcoming MacBook Pro models will come with AMD Vega graphics and this upgrade will boost graphics performance by
The 2018 Apple MacBook Air has just been announced with the Retina Display. It’s not as cheap as we expected to be, though! Here’s everything you need to know about the New MacBook Air that Apple just announced. The 2018 Apple MacBook Air comes with plenty of


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License plate readers have been used by the police for years to collect information about millions of people, be it criminal investigation, racial profiles or illegal extortion. Now Rekor Systems wants to put this technology in the hands of your neighbors.
On Thursday, the company launched Watchman, an automatic license plate reading technology that can be installed on any computer, The recorder software known as OpenALPR can then analyze streaming videos and find license plates recorded in a recording. The product has been publicly available since 2015. However, this is the first time that Rekor is marketing specifically to individual home owners and not to companies.
To attract on-site residents, it offers a sharp drop in prices – from $ 50 a month charged by companies and law enforcement agencies to $ 5 a month, less than the price of a newspaper subscription.
Watchman uses a whitelist / blacklist system that allows customers to record license plates for cars that are approved to be near their homes, or to warn them when a vehicle is marked as a potential threat nearby.
According to Rekor Systems, which is already working with police authorities across the country, the home version will work just as well as professional versions of the technology.
"It's as effective and just like our law enforcement version," said Robert Berman, Rekor's CEO. "This is the same product that we use with our customers."
With the launch of Rekor, data protection advocates fear that these automatic license plate readers, also known as ALPRs, could be installed in front of every home to create a network for the police that strengthens their own surveillance technology, which often has to go through the city Hall for approval.
"They essentially get a huge network of ALPRs that they can use for any purpose they want – and in return, citizens can't say what technology their police are using, because technically it is the consumer’s decision to install and that Grant access, "said Matthew Guariglia, a political analyst with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
It is comparable to the situation with which it has developed, The company, which is owned by Amazon, has worked with hundreds of US law enforcement agencies to accelerate the rollout of cameras, which in turn can provide video footage to the police.
ALPRs are powerful technology. They are most commonly used by law enforcement agencies to identify and track cars that move around a city. However, they are also used by take-back companies and landlords.
Think of this as facial recognition for license plates – cameras that are trained to search for alphanumeric codes on cars. When a car is discovered, the system logs the time and location, as well as other information associated with the vehicle. When connected in a network, ALPRs can essentially keep track of where a car has been all day at a given time.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Agency uses ALPR technology to track and locate immigrants during investigations. The system has access to more than 5 billion location data collected from readers in parking lots, on streets and at toll stations.
ALPR technology has increasingly found its way into the hands of the average person. The Los Angeles Times reported that parts of the city, as well as communities in 30 states, pay up to $ 2,000 per camera to Flock Safety, a company that offers license plate readers to track every car that drives through a quarter.
Rekor has now made it so cheap that any homeowner can buy it.
"We decided to launch a product that was more affordable for the home," said Berman. "If you have a second home, you may want to know if there are people on your property. It's not a bad thing."
Track your neighbors
Watchman customers log number plates in a list. The system sends notifications every time the car is intercepted with this license plate on the camera. In a promotional video for Watchman, Rekor said it could prevent package thieves from marking their cars.
Berman said that the system does not constantly monitor passing cars. Only OpenALPR premium customers who pay $ 50 a month instead of $ 5 can mark any car that is not on the customer list.
Even if the Home Edition does not record every car that drives past, Berman has admitted that a committed person can use the Rekor technology to identify the number plates of all the cars that drive past. This person had to watch hours of footage, pause, write the number down, and then register it with Watchman every time a car drove past. Berman doesn't think this scenario is likely.
"If someone wants to make an effort, I think anything is possible," he said. "I just don't think anyone will do that."
While Berman said that Watchman's ALPR was as effective as law enforcement spending, he found significant differences between the two versions. The police have access to names, addresses and locations when using license plate readers, but not the average person.
A private user can only get the license plates and a warning each time they are recognized, Berman said. But that would also be enough for data protection reasons, said the EFF-Guariglia.
"Even with just one ALPR in front of your house, it is enough to learn something about people – to see their movement patterns as they come down your street, at what time, with which cars they drive – that is information that can be used to infer incredibly personal things about a person, "said Guariglia. "This is particularly problematic if your ALPR covers a street that leads to the parking lot of a law firm or psychiatric facility."
A driver also has no say if he is registered by a license plate reader or if he knows that his vehicle is being followed.
The explosion of Internet-connected cameras in household products like Amazon's Ring and Google's Nest Cam, which are installed on the doorstep and take a look at the world, enabled Watchman, Berman said.
Adding his company's license plate reading software to these devices seemed a logical next step, Berman said. Watchman's pricing is lower than that of a Netflix subscription, and the company aims to use this technology in as many households as possible.
"We have always feared this with the spread of these private surveillance systems," said Albert Fox Cahn, managing director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. "Once you've installed the hardware, it's becoming so cheap and easy to add more and more invasive and dystopian technologies."
License plate readers were a data protection problem even if they were only in the hands of law enforcement agencies because the technology allowed constant tracking of public spaces.
In the premium version of OpenALPR, the police can access the license plate reader data if customers choose to do so, Berman said.
He also pointed out that police could use ALPRs from people's homes for investigations, for example to ask private individuals to include a specific license plate number on their watchlist and to provide officials with all available data.
"This is probably something the police could and would probably want to do," said Berman. "The homeowners may want the police to do this. It's between the police and their community."
Berman does not see his company's ALPR as a surveillance tool, although the technology has been used in the past to track and locate people. Its customers have used license plate readers for car washes and parking lots and are considering using them for the autothrus so that fast food chains can remember recurring customers.
With Watchman, he imagined ALPRs as a practical tool that can be integrated into smart home technologies such as Google Nest and Amazon Echo. For example, he suggested that the cameras could pick up your license plate when you get home and set the thermostat automatically.
While offering ALPR owners all of these amenities for the convenience of their own homes, privacy advocates are warning that expanding this technology will have a frightening effect beyond the owner's front door.
"If we create this vehicle tracking panopticon, you will be able to track innocent people in public," said Cahn of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. "It is a long time since our judicial systems caught up and realized that people who use these AI systems in public spaces rob countless viewers of their privacy."


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- July 3, 2018
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Please find the exchange rates listed at the bottom of the article, the rates are for indication purposes only, for a live quote please contact us.
After yesterday’s UK June manufacturing PMI which was surprisingly on the upside (relative to market expectations), we expected a similar positive surprise in the construction report today, with a forecast of 53.0 from 52.5 in May, the figure released earlier came in at 53.1 beating the forecast of 52.5
Th rest of today’s data and events may cause only a ripple, as markets continue to focus on the bigger picture, including prospects for stock markets which have been under pressure of late, and await more important releases later in the week, including the US labour market report on Friday.
Eurozone producer price and retail sales figures are unlikely to excite markets too much, although we do see downside risks to the latter following the sharp fall in the German figures last week. We forecast a fall in Eurozone retail sales of -0.5%, compared with the consensus forecast for a marginal rise of 0.1%.
German Chancellor Merkel has managed to come to an agreement with Seehofer, the leader of the CSU party, over immigration issues. While the EUR reacted positively to this it has been only a mild move within its current range.


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Millennials, Amazon Prime Members to Drive CE/Smart-Home Purchases this Holiday
Parks Associates research indicates video doorbells will be more popular than voice-control products this 2017 holiday, and that millennials and Amazon Prime members will be key purchasers of CE and smart-home devices.
Voice-control systems such as Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomePod will be popular smart-home purchases this 2017 holiday season ... but not as popular as video doorbells.
IoT research firm Parks Associates says 9% of U.S. broadband households report "high intentions" to purchase a voice-enabled system over the holidays, compared to 14% who plan to buy a smart doorbell.
The popularity of Wi-Fi doorbells could put the category on pace to drive "similar adoption levels of smart thermostats and connected lighting products," says Parks SVP Elizabeth Parks.
As for voice control, "Many of the shoppers planning to give a smart speaker with personal assistant as a gift already have one, which indicates positive user experiences,” says Jennifer Kent, director, Research Quality & Product Development for Parks Associates. “Voice has become a strong differentiator in creating a compelling user experience, and it is driving wider adoption.”
Video doorbell purchasing intentions roughly match those of smart thermostats, smart lighting, and smart watches, but all of these categories will lose out to smart phones, 4K TVs and fitness trackers.
Not surprisingly, millennials will drive a significant chunk of the CE purchases this year, with 46% reporting high intentions to buy at least one device, and 36% planning to give one as a gift. That propensity compares to about 33% of broadband households overall that plan CE purchases this season.
“Consumer marketing strategies and technology evangelism by Amazon and Google have created attention for smart home and connected CE devices," Parks says, "creating an opportunity for a big jump in these products this holiday season."
The research firm also notes a strong correlation between high CE purchase intentions and Amazon Prime membership. Some 40% of Amazon Prime members are very likely to buy at least one CE or smart home device this holiday shopping season
"While consumer intentions aren’t always realized," Parks cautions, "these findings give a good indication of the coming impact of the holiday purchase season.”
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Julie Jacobson is founding editor of CE Pro, the leading media brand for the home-technology channel. She has covered the smart-home industry since 1994, long before there was much of an Internet, let alone an Internet of things. Currently she studies, speaks, writes and rabble-rouses in the areas of home automation, security, networked A/V, wellness-related technology, biophilic design, and the business of home technology. Julie majored in Economics at the University of Michigan, spent a year abroad at Cambridge University, and earned an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a recipient of the annual CTA TechHome Leadership Award, and a CEDIA Fellows honoree. A washed-up Ultimate Frisbee player, Julie currently resides in San Antonio, Texas and sometimes St. Paul, Minn. Follow on Twitter: @juliejacobson Email Julie at firstname.lastname@example.org
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AI Assisted Learning
MyBrian provides users with a uniquely innovative way of mining the internet to support their aspirations. With a plethora of information available to us through the internet Brian puts users in control by keeping them organised and motivated to learn new skills or strengthening existing knowledge.
Using AI mixed with cognitive science the app uses digital nudging techniques at predefined times to keep the user on track.
Brian allows you to make notes and organise links to articles, blogs and videos on your chosen subject by collating them onto a board. The user has full control over reminders and nudges.
Future features - community sharing, expert knowledge boards, desktop version.
Articles about AI Assisted Learning:
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Honda will unveil its Urban SUV concept car at the Detroit motor show that will become a new baby SUV. Seen here in images leaked on the internet ahead of its premiere, the production version of the Urban SUV Concept is expected to go on sale within the next three years.
The new car, which is widely tipped to be based on the Honda Jazz, will rival the Nissan Juke and Vauxhall Mokka. It is likely to be spun off the new Honda Jazz platform, which is due in the next two years, and with which the firm is targeting sales of up to 400,000 units a year in America and Europe.
Unlike with previous generations of the car, Honda is giving its global regions freedom to develop the Jazz to suit local tastes. The European version is expected to be built at the firm's base in Swindon.
The baby SUV is a key part of Honda president Takanobu Ito's ambitious plans to double global sales to six million cars a year by 2017.