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The Smoke Clears At MarlboroLaura Zinn
Ralph Lauren, watch out. Philip Morris Cos. is staking a claim for Marlboro in the urban-cowboy fashion landscape. Sometime this spring, Philip Morris USA, the company's $12 billion tobacco division, will roll out the Marlboro Country Store, a mail-order promotion that will enable smokers to exchange their empty Marlboro packs for Western wear such as boots, cowboy hats, belt buckles, denim shirts, and leather jackets, discreetly stenciled with the Marlboro brand logo.
Some deal, right? But it's even better for Philip Morris. The campaign is expected to build the company's data base of smokers and turn millions of Americans into walking Marlboro ads.
Whoa, there. Aren't brands supposed to be dead? That was the conventional wisdom in the wake of "Marlboro Friday" last Apr. 2. Then, Philip Morris announced it was slashing the price of Marlboros by 40 per pack to stanch the brand's market-share deterioration. Philip Morris' stock sank 14 points and pulled down the stocks of other consumer-goods companies. It became the biggest marketing story of 1993--a symbol of the vulnerability of big brands in the price-conscious, value-minded '90s. By yearend, analysts estimate, the strategy had cut Philip Morris' domestic tobacco unit's earnings by $2.3 billion, to $2.84 billion.
But nine months later, it's clear that as a market-share gambit, the price-cutting maneuver worked. Marlboro's share of the $47 billion U.S. cigarette market, which fell to 20% before Marlboro Friday, has rebounded to 25%--higher than it has been since 1989 (chart). The stock, which cratered at 45, has crept back up to around 57.
Now, Philip Morris is embarking on Phase Two. Philip Morris executives declined to comment. But tobacco analysts, consultants, distributors, and sources familiar with the company say that Philip Morris is preparing a methodical offensive to secure the competitive gains it has made. It is stepping up consumer promotions such as Marlboro Country Store. It is working on a series of new products, including a shorter cigarette, dubbed the Marlboro Express, for time-pressed smokers. And observers also expect Philip Morris, which raised its cigarette prices by 4 per pack in November, to continue nudging up prices.
If Philip Morris can pull it off, Marlboro's managers will have proven that they can keep their brand strong--and begin to command premium prices once again--even in an era when consumer loyalty is waning. "I would not want to gloss over the degree of pain that it has taken to get here," says Marc Cohen, a tobacco analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. "But I think we're at a stage where Philip Morris can begin to build its brands again."
The architect of the plan is James J. Morgan, who took over as senior vice-president for marketing at Philip Morris USA in April after a three-year stint as vice-president for marketing planning at the parent company. A strong performance could catapult Morgan into position to succeed William I. Campbell as chief executive of Philip Morris USA. "From what we hear, Jim Morgan is really calling the shots over there," says Gary Black, a tobacco analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
He'll have to make those shots count, because he's fighting with less ammo. Thanks to the earnings drop, Black estimates, Morgan's $1.1 billion 1994 promotional budget is $500 million lower than last year's total. The $400 million advertising budget is flat, Black says. It's a marked change from the 1980s, when price hikes funded seemingly bottomless marketing war chests. "Philip Morris raised prices on Marlboro twice a year for 10 years, and those easy profits were able to mask their marketing inefficiencies," says Murray Hillman, president of the Strategy Workshop, a New York consulting firm.
A lot is riding on Marlboro's ability to do more with less. The brand accounted for 60% of Philip Morris USA's sales and 75% of its operating income in 1993. Largely because of Marlboro Friday, analysts estimate the parent company's worldwide operating income slipped to $9.3 billion in 1993 from $11 billion in 1992. In November, Philip Morris Cos. announced plans to eliminate 8% of its work force--roughly 14,000 people--close 40 plants, and take a $457 million charge against earnings. And the pain isn't over: Domestic tobacco's operating income may fall 31% in the first quarter of 1994, says Black. But unit volume should be up 10%, and he expects earnings to start to recover in the second quarter.
ROLL 'EM. Morgan's strategy is to win consumers' loyalty with promotions such as Country Store while using new products to respond to the industry's new challenges. In anticipation of the Clinton Administration's plans to raise excise taxes by up to 75 per pack in 1995, Philip Morris has considered roll-your-own cigarettes in the U.S.--because loose tobacco and rolling paper are taxed at a lower rate than cigarettes. Philip Morris already markets such a product in Germany. It also has studied selling cigarettes loose in a carton, which could cut the price of a carton by roughly 60 .
Marlboro Express, the shorter smoke, would be about 15 millimeters shorter than a conventional 85-millimeter-long cigarette. A Philip Morris insider says the company has been considering this demi-cigarette as an option for people who must take quick smoking breaks while at work. The idea is to reduce the size of the cigarette but deliver the same amount of nicotine and tar. "Express is supposed to be a fast smoke so you can get a quick fix," says Rob Huberman, general manager at Starkman Distributors in Atlantic City, N.J.
Philip Morris won't comment on the status of Express, but an executive familiar with the project says advertising for Express has been created. One ad depicts a horse running across the plains, conjuring up the Pony Express. Will Express make it to market? It's not a sure thing. Launching a new product could interfere with the existing Marlboro line's momentum. Still, "the advertising means it's a high priority," says the executive. Consultants believe smokers would be receptive. "How many times have I seen people in their office lobbies exhausting their cardiovascular systems trying to down a cigarette between breaks?" asks Jeffrey Hill, a managing director at Meridian Consulting Group in Westport, Conn.
Just as Express would offer smokers the same nicotine fix in a smaller package, Marlboro's brand managers are viewing promotions as a way to get more bang from a smaller marketing budget. Country Store is slated to replace the Marlboro Adventure Team, which began in October, 1992, and ends in February. Adventure Team, a $200 million direct-mail and ad effort, worked much like a catalog: Smokers saved up empty Marlboro packs, sent them to Philip Morris, and received free merchandise from a Marlboro catalog. For 130 packs, for instance, smokers could get a Weber charcoal grill. The program gave Philip Morris a data base of more than 2 million smokers.
Marlboro isn't the only smoke to benefit from Philip Morris' faith in premium brands. More advertising and promotions are also expected for Virginia Slims at the expense of Basic, Philip Morris' high-riding discount cigarette. Much of Basic's $10 million ad budget will be shifted to Virginia Slims, says one insider. The reasoning: Premium-priced cigarettes, which start at $1.90 per pack, are three times as profitable as discount smokes, at around $1.35.
CAREER MOVES. In another move to shift smokers into premium-priced cigarettes, Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. this month cut in half the 60 per carton they give tobacco wholesalers to push discount brands. And smokers barely seemed to notice when Philip Morris and its rivals raised prices by 4 per pack in November. A year ago, premium-priced cigarettes accounted for 61% of the domestic market; Black expects that figure to stand at 66% by the end of the first quarter. Analysts and tobacco distributors believe another price hike is imminent. That would bolster Philip Morris' earnings. The trick is to raise prices without undermining the company's efforts to position its cigarettes as good value--and without triggering a price war.
Morgan's career could depend on the outcome. At Philip Morris' Dec. 16 holiday party at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Michael H. Miles, Philip Morris' somber CEO, milled around, chatting amiably about the company's tobacco business. "He's normally not very personable," says one partygoer. "But he was very congenial, telling people how happy he was with Marlboro's increased share in convenience stores. It was his way of saying that even though he's a food guy, he's watching tobacco." It's a good bet Miles is watching Morgan pretty carefully, too.
PRICING Philip Morris uses price as an aggressive marketing tactic. Last spring's 40 -per-pack cut grabbed consumers' attention, narrowed the gap with discount brands, and squeezed rivals. Step Two: The company is expected to nudge prices back up quietly this spring.
PROMOTION Relying less on broadbrush image ads. "Continuity" programs such as the Marlboro Adventure Team and the upcoming Country Store campaign--with their offers of Marlboro merchandise--build consumer loyalty and data bases.
NEW PRODUCTS The shorter Express, aimed at the time-pressed and price-conscious, is being considered. Other options: cartons of loose cigarettes and roll-your-own smokes.


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The Division Heartland has been leaked on Ubisoft's very own digital store. It contains screenshots as well as detailed information about the game. Eager gamers were quick to look up the new listing and discovered unknown information waiting for them.
The Division Heartland leak on Twitter
The Division Heartland is now available on the Ubisoft Store marked as "Coming Soon" #thedivisionheartland #thedivision #comingsoon #f2p @TheDivisionGame https://t.co/pydu6vY2mn pic.twitter.com/tuBbNpcdK
Unknown1Z1 (@Unknown1Z1) on September 4, 2022
Unknown1Z1 was able to access the leaked information and uploaded the video recording to Twitter.
The product description contains many details about the game, which has a release date of Coming Soon. Here's everything that was revealed.
The Division Heartland is a free-to-play survival-action multiplayer shooter set in small-town Middle America.
Fight together in 45-player PvEvP Storm Operations against a group of dangerous Rogue agents and an aggressive faction known as the Vultures, all while surviving a deadly virus.
In Excursion Operations, you must complete PvE missions, gather gear, activate alerts, and prepare the battlefield.
Each match, you play as one of six agents, choosing between three classes, all of whom have their advantages and abilities.
The information published on the website has since been withdrawn. It's possible that it was posted sooner than planned ahead of a scheduled reveal coinciding with the Ubisoft Forward event on September 10.
While avid fans of The Division will appreciate this first glimpse into the standalone free-to-play game, Ubisoft certainly won't be happy with the seemingly accidental leak.
Expect to hear more about The Division Heartland during Ubisoft Forward later this week.
Randy Pitchford, the Gearbox CEO, wants you to buy his ugly shirts for charity. Konami might debut a new Suikoden game during the Tokyo Game Show. Here are a few PS4 and PS5 games set to launch in September 2022.

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In Apple-using families, Little Jimmy can no longer rack up $500 worth of in-app purchases in Candy Crush Saga without Mom and Dad’s consent, thanks to Family Sharing, a new feature for iOS 8 and OSX Yosemite.
Family Sharing is Apple’s solution to a host of issues that have bothered families for a long time, and it was likely prompted by the $32 million refund the company was forced to pay earlier this year to people who didn't authorize purchases made by their connected group members. In plain terms, Family Sharing allows up to six family members to join a group and share content across all devices. The key to the whole plan is that the group can associate only one credit card for all members.
Here’s how it works: Each member can have his or her own unique Apple ID, which makes tracking purchases very easy. One of the IDs, let’s say Mom’s, can be designated as the administrator account by selecting “Ask to Buy.” That means Mom has control over who can make purchases from their device. A notification will pop up on her phone detailing who wants to purchase what, how much it costs, and if that’s okay. It also means that moms and dads have control over the content their children see.
Purchased content (most, not all) can now be shared between devices as well, which means no more buying the same content for different devices. Now, everyone can play Monument Valley on his or her own iPad and iPhone.
Family Sharing also allows group members to share their location. So Dad can see where Suzy, who just got her license, is going, or if little Jimmy has misplaced his iPhone, Dad can use Find My iPhone to locate the iPhone and make it play a sound.
Another Family Sharing feature is the shared calendar, which will show events created on the calendar of all devices. Now, both parents will know about that upcoming PTA meeting, or if one spouse is especially forgetful, when their anniversary is and where date night will be.
But all of these features can be turned on and off, so individuals who don’t want to be tracked can opt out. Also, Family Sharing doesn’t create profiles on specific devices like a family iPad. It’s still business as usual for Apple, which means one user per device.


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Do you love food, beer and wine? Do you want to support one of Parkside’s graduate programs? Come join the Graduate Business School Alumni Association on Friday, April 17 from 7-10 p.m. at Casa Capri by eating, drinking and being merry. Robert Mitchell gave us all the details!
The event that takes place on Friday is entitled “Grill Meet” and is going to be held in the banquet room of Casa Capri. They will be serving a variety of different food including multiple different meats from salmon to beef tenderloin, grilled mussels and oysters, as well as finger foods and desserts. There will be beer featured from Rustic Road Brewery, which in itself is a selling point, and a range of wines for the tasting.
Robert Mitchell is an active member of the local Kenosha restaurant and bar scene. He runs an online blog entitled “Cork Meets Fork” in which he reviews restaurants, gives suggestions for food and wine pairings and shares recipes. He has been in the food industry for over thirty years, starting out in Boston before moving back to the Chicago area. He currently helps Wine Knot and Rustic Road Brewery with their liquor and wine selections along with special events for these two businesses in the downtown Kenosha area.
Mitchell also organizes for wine tasting trips and tours, and is currently preparing for a trip to France to give people a taste of all that their vineyards have to offer. He has teamed up with the Parkside Graduate Business School Alumni Association for a few years now, and this will be his fourth event that he helped organize for the university. Mitchell became involved when one of the founders of the organization, Jeremy Covey, motivated him to participate. The money that will be raised by tickets for the event will go towards scholarships for Parkside graduate students in the field of business.
Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 at the door on the day of the event. There will be raffles with multiple different prizes, including a night at Grand Geneva resort, grilling tools and, of course, wine! One lucky scholarship winner will be announced during the event. So come on out and support your school and your fellow Parkside Rangers! Tickets can be purchased by calling (262) 331-4140 or by logging onto gbsaa.org.
Article by Krista Skweres


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THE first clues to the design of the next Hyundai i30 mid-sized model have been revealed by the Korean car maker prior to the car's debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
New-look bumpers and LED headlights are the most striking differences on the latest i30 which is due for release later in the year.
Hyundai has put out a teaser image of a sporty N Line version of the new i30 which also reveal a new grille with a mesh design and overall the car has a wider look.
The company says other changes include a new rear bumper, rear lights and alloy wheel designs in 16-inch, 17-inch and 18-inch styles.
The interior design has also been enhanced, with a new digital instrument cluster and a larger 10.25-inch display among other upgrades.
With the new i30 Hyundai will launch an N Line version of its i30 estate, meaning the company's sporty trim level will be available on all i30 body types for the first time.


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Japanese video game company Gungho Online Entertainment made roughly $4.5 million revenue per day during the first nine months of 2014.
As translated by industry consultant Serkan Toto, GungHo announced today that
it has made $1.22 billion in revenue this year, up 14.3 percent year-over-year, and operating profits of $680 million, up 7.2 percent.
Mega hit Puzzle & Dragons
is still providing a good portion of that cashflow, thanks in part to the relaunched Puzzle & Dragons W
The company also revealed that it has acquired a 70 percent majority stake in mobile social game network PlayPhone, a U.S. outfit that was founded back in 2003.
This is yet another move by GungHo is break into the U.S. -- just yesterday the company said that it will publish the next title from U.S. studio 17-BIT


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Worldwide Developers Conference 2016 (or WWDC 2016 or WWDC16) was a computer conference that was hosted by Apple Inc. for its developers at the Moscone Center's West Hall in San Francisco, California. It was Apple's 27th annual Worldwide Developers Conference, held from June 13 to 17, 2016.
The announcements made during the event included renaming OS X to macOS, the new version named macOS Sierra, as well as updates to iOS 10, watchOS 3, and tvOS 10. Apple proclaimed that the keynote would be the largest ever for developers; this became the reality when they allowed third-party developers to extend the functionality in Messages, Apple Maps, and Siri. Cisco Systems and Apple announced a partnership at the 2016 WWDC. Cisco APIs, accessed through Cisco DevNet, were to have greater interoperability with Apple iOS and APIs.
No new hardware was introduced. Apple released the Home App that works with HomeKit as a control center for all third-party applications which provide functions for the home. Also, Swift Playgrounds was announced as an iPad exclusive app that helps younger people learn to code with Apple's programming language Swift.
Good Charlotte held a live musical performance at the WWDC 2016 Bash at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.
- These are Apple's big announcements from WWDC 2016 by Joseph Keller, iMore. 2016-06-13.
- Apple and Cisco DevNet: What's in it for Developers communities.cisco.com (2016-06-13). Retrieved on February 10, 2017.
- Mayo, Benjamin (2016-06-13). Apple announces Swift Playgrounds for iPad at WWDC, public release in fall.
- Swift Playgrounds - Apple Developer.
- Swift Playgrounds - Preview (en-US).


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The iPhone 15 Pro Max is one of Apple’s most highly anticipated releases this year. Here’s a look at the expected features, tech specs, design changes, pricing and release date for Apple’s flagship iPhone in 2023 – according to the latest exclusive details from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
What is expected iphone pro max applegurmanbloomberg ?
Each September, Apple unveils its latest and greatest iPhones. 2023 is shaping up to be a major upgrade year, especially for the higher-end iPhone 15 Pro Max model.
Renowned Apple insider Mark Gurman has revealed exclusive details on the iPhone 15 Pro Max in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg. Gurman’s reports offer the most comprehensive look at expected iphone pro max applegurmanbloomberg for the device based on discussions with anonymous Apple sources.
Here’s a breakdown of the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s expected features, tech specs, design, pricing and release date according to the most credible rumors from Gurman and other top Apple analysts.
Expected Release Date
In typical Apple fashion, the iPhone 15 lineup should be unveiled in September 2023. The iPhone 15 Pro Max release date will likely fall in late September 2023.
Apple has held a September iPhone event for over a decade. The company occasionally staggers the release dates for standard and Pro models. But the iPhone 15 Pro Max will surely arrive before the vital holiday shopping season.
Expected Design Changes
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is expected to be a similar size to its predecessor, with a 6.7-inch display. But Gurman says the industrial design will see some tweaks.
The Pro Max is likely to adopt solid-state volume and power buttons akin to the iPhone 7. This would allow for a sleeker profile. The phone may also ditch the prominent camera bump on the rear for a flush camera array.
A periscope lens could enable increased optical zoom capabilities. Other potential design changes include a curved rear display edges and titanium alloy chassis.
Expected Display Features
The iPhone 15 Pro Max display will offer key improvements while remaining 6.7 inches. Gurman reports the device will have thinner bezels and rounded display corners.
Apple is also said to be developing next-gen OLED panels that are brighter and more power efficient. An always-on display that shows widgets and notifications when locked could arrive. The ProMotion adaptive refresh rate will improve to go as low as 1Hz.
Under-Display Touch ID is also rumored based on Apple patents, but is unlikely for the 2023 model.
Expected Camera Upgrades
The iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature significant camera system upgrades for both hardware and software.
A periscope telephoto lens could enable 5x or 6x optical zoom, on par with Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra. Apple is also said to be working on next-gen image sensors with higher resolution and improved low-light capture.
New Sony camera sensors in the iPhone 15 Pro Max are expected to boost photon capture for markedly better night mode photos. Apple’s camera software and image processing chips will see substantial improvements as well.
Portrait mode on the front TrueDepth camera should improve. Apple may also expand ProRes video capture features.
Expected Processor and Performance Gains
The iPhone 15 Pro Max will boast Apple’s next A-series mobile chip, likely called the A17 Bionic. It will leverage TSMC’s cutting-edge 3nm manufacturing node and introduce performance and efficiency gains.
Gurman says the A17 will have significant GPU improvements. CPU speeds may increase slightly. But the shift to a newer 3nm process is the bigger deal and will enable considerable gains in power efficiency.
RAM is expected to remain 6GB for Pro models. Storage tiers will likely cap out at 2TB again. But increased internal storage capacity is possible. Performance will see a healthy bump as on all new iPhone releases.
Expected iOS 17 Features
The iPhone 15 Pro Max will ship with iOS 17 out of the box. Apple’s yearly iOS update typically brings new features, UI changes, and security improvements.
Potential iOS 17 features include increased multitasking capabilities via a redesigned app grid or “shelf”, live activities integration, and expanded health tracking. Improved software optimization will ensure fluid performance on the A17 chip.
Gurman also reports Apple is readying its long-rumored AR/VR headset for 2023. This advanced device would showcase the company’s strengths in augmented reality and provide a glimpse at the iPhone’s future. iOS 17 may introduce early integration with the headset.
Other Expected Features and Specs
Here’s a quick rundown of other expected features for the iPhone 15 Pro Max based on credible rumors:
- Faster WiFi 6E connectivity
- Potential satellite emergency messaging capabilities
- Improved haptics and force touch sensitivity
- Upgraded Ultra Wideband (UWB) support with spatial awareness
- Thunderbolt data transfer support via USB-C port
- Bluetooth 5.3
- eSIM only models possible (no physical SIM card slot)
The iPhone 15 Pro Max isn’t expected to be completely portless. But the USB-C port mandated in the EU will replace Lightning. Fast charging up to 30W may be offered. 5G will be further improved by the next Qualcomm X70 modem.
Battery life is set to see a bump thanks to more efficient OLED panels and Apple’s A17 chip. MagSafe and wireless charging support will carry over from previous models.
Pricing and Storage The iPhone 15 Pro Max will be a premium flagship priced starting between $1099 and $1199 for the base model with 128GB storage. Higher storage tiers will cost more, with the max 1TB or 2TB configuration potentially exceeding $1600.
Trade-in offers and carrier installment plans will help ease the pricing pain. But the Pro Max remains Apple’s most expensive and feature-packed iPhone. For those seeking more budget models, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will start around $799 and $899 respectively.
While official details remain scarce, Gurman’s reports provide the best look yet at expected iphone pro max applegurmanbloomberg. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is primed to bring substantial upgrades across the board from the display to cameras to performance.
An improved telephoto lens, 120Hz always-on display, A17 Bionic chip, and iOS 17 will combine to make the iPhone 15 Pro Max a formidable flagship worthy of its price tag. Stay tuned for more leaks as Apple’s September 2023 event approaches. So expected iphone pro max applegurmanbloomberg means Expected Features and Release Date for Apple’s 2023 iPhone 15 Pro Max .


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Despite having only relatively recently splashed out over a billion dollars on the original developer of webOS, Palm, HP has now decided to scrap production of all devices sporting the certainly capable, but slow selling mobile operating system.
The news certainly came as a surprise to us, but what’s even harder to believe is that this was all news to the in-house developers as well, when the press release was sent out into the wild.
It wasn’t that long ago, just back in February in fact, that we were hearing of the weird and wonderful long-term plans that HP had for webOS, which included installing it on printers, as well as the recently released TouchPad tablet and Veer smartphone, and the announcement of this discontinuation comes just a single day after the release of the flagship smartphone, the Pre 3.
You may have caught my recent article expressing my thoughts on the future direction of webOS, and how the still struggling ecosystem could potentially be headed for big things should the OS receive the intended publicity of being somehow adapted and integrated with Windows on HP PC’s. But now the future is not so clear for HP, and whilst webOS is clearly not going to feature in it, the questions have to be asked what they are going to do with this extraordinary mobile division they recently acquired in the form of Palm. Could Windows Phone be the next stepping stone, or perhaps the widely favoured Android platform that’s obviously free to license. There are many possibilities, but surely it would be a backward step to simply back out of the mobile industry, when it’s clearly only just beginning to flourish.
However, the shortcomings of webOS were there for all to see. Despite the TouchPad actually qualifying as my second favourite tablet device, behind the iPad, the sales just didn’t stack up, and after a series of sizeable price drops over in the US, the liquidation has led to a number of outlets almost giving them away at a meagre $99. Surely a must buy if you’re in the area, despite the apparent lack of support the device will be getting in the future.
So once again, we’re back to a pair of players in the tablet market, just Apple and Google, but what if this signals the intention of HP to get behind Microsoft and their plans for the Windows ecosystem? Coming next year, we will have Windows 8 tablets, we assume, and with HP being the largest vendor of PCs in the world, surely there would be no better company for Microsoft to get into bed with when they’re trying to break into an extremely tough market dominated by Apple. And with Nokia backing the smartphone division of Microsoft in Windows Phone, they have an army of hugely reputable manufacturers in their corner for the seemingly unwinnable war with the Cupertino giants, who recently became the most valuable company on the planet.
So, as always let us know your thoughts on the webOS situation, and your take on where they should go from here, in the comments section below. Alternatively, you can also get in touch on Twitter @ZathUK.


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Apple acknowledged display defects in some models of the iPhone 12 series and started an investigation, the US IT media McRumers reported on the 18th (local time). According to a document delivered by Apple to an authorized service provider, Apple is aware of flickering screens and changes in green and gray display colors reported on… Continue reading IPhone 12′ defect controversy… ‘Screen’ followed by’touch’ defects
Reports on the Galaxy S20 FE touchscreen issue were revealed shortly after Samsung launched its budget flagship product. Users have complained about the 6.5 inch touch screen not responding or reading input incorrectly. This resulted in jittery scrolling, animation lag, ghost touch, and frustrating lag when zooming using pinch. Samsung has since released two firmware… Continue reading The biggest problem with the Galaxy S20 FE has yet to be resolved
An OLED display applied with 10Hz~120Hz variable refresh rate technology was first mounted on the’Galaxy Note 20 Ultra’. ‘Adaptive Frequency’, a low-power OLED technology developed by Samsung Display, is characterized by lowering the panel drive power by up to 22% compared to existing smartphones in everyday use environments. For example, in a 5G environment, it… Continue reading 10Hz~120Hz variable refresh rate display’Galaxy Note 20 Ultra’ for the first time
ASUS ROG Phone 3 , the latest gaming smartphone officially announced by ASUS the other day . It will be released for the first time with the upgraded version of Snapdragon 865, Snapdragon 865+, but this ROG Phone 3, the maximum refresh rate of the display is 144 Hz is one of the sales. However,… Continue reading ASUS ROG Phone 3 has a hidden mode that enables 160Hz display
Green algae occurs after unlocking on some iPhone 11 series displays, according to foreign media such as McLumus. Affected users report that green algae occurs immediately after unlocking the iPhone and returns normally after about 3 seconds. It is reported that the same problem occurs in the dark mode. According to posts posted on forums… Continue reading Some’iPhone 11′ series, green algae occure after unlocking
Samsung’s latest flagship, the Galaxy S20 series . The S20 has already been released in Japan, and the S20 + is scheduled to be released this month, but this series is also the first Galaxy model to support the 120Hz refresh rate. The display resolution of the same series is 3200 x 1440 WQHD +… Continue reading The reason why the Galaxy S20 series does not support 2K / 120Hz display, no update is available
Epic Games has released the latest update to the Fortnite iOS version. This version allows the latest iPad Pro to display at 120FPS, making the image smoother than ever. Those who have played Fortnite in the 60FPS screen mode before, when playing 120FPS will find that it is much smoother. But if adjusting the display… Continue reading New Fortnite iOS Update Shows Up to 120 FPS on iPad Pro
What is SAMOLED?Samsung Galaxy S smartphones generally have best-in-class screens, making them perfect for everything from watching movies to editing Instagram posts, and the upcoming Galaxy S11 might look better. Display technology. This news comes from LetsGoDigital in a document filed by Samsung in early November 2019, found the name ‘SAMOLED’ trademark, a technology site… Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S11 has a new screen technology, but is there a visible difference?


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US Corn Conditions Drop Slightly
Jun 26, 2018
US Corn Conditions Drop Slightly, Soybeans Unchanged
The USDA’s Crop Progress report has dropped Corn G/E rating by 1% to 77%. Colorado and Minnesota saw the biggest G/E drops with -6% and -4% respectively. Corn was 67% G/E this time last year. Soybean conditions were unchanged at 73% G/E. This rating is 7% better than last year and 5% better than the 5-year average as the entire Midwest has seen good moisture and temperatures this growing season. Spring wheat dropped 1% to 77% G/E, up from last year’s 40% G/E when much of the Northern Plains was severely drought stressed.
Mixed Messages From The White House Regarding Chinese Foreign Investment
Reports from the WSJ early yesterday morning suggested that firms with at least 25% Chinese ownership would be prevented from buying US companies that possess “industrially significant technology”. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tweeted that these reports were “false- fake news”, stating that this investment blocking is not specific to China. Mnuchin is much more dovish on the trade war with China. The Trump Administration is set to make more announcements regarding investment restrictions this Friday.
China Removes Tariffs On Livestock Feed Of Asian Origin To Meet Their Demand For Soybeans
Import tariffs on soybeans, soymeal, rapeseed, and fishmeal will be removed July 1 as China seeks alternatives to US Soybeans. The countries exempted are Bangladesh, Laos, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and India, all of which are rather small producers. Last year, India grew 11 MMT of beans but only exported 269,000 MT and exported none of the 7 MMT of rapeseed grown in the same crop year. This follows yesterday’s news that China has approved imports of French beef, which were previously banned due to concerns of mad cow disease which hasn’t been an issue in Europe for nearly 20 years. China is the world’s #2 importer of beef, importing nearly $3.3 billion worth in 2017.
Agroconsult Reduces Their Brazilian Second Crop Estimate Following Crop Tour
Agroconsult, a private Brazilian consulting firm, cut their safrinha corn crop estimate down by 1.8 to 55.2 MMT, citing planting delays back in February and drought stress. They made no changes to their export estimate at 28 MMT, despite skyrocketing freight costs following the trucker protests back in May. Grain handlers at Brazilian ports have halted farmer purchases due to these rising transportation costs.
The risk of trading futures, hedging, and speculating can be substantial. FBN BR LLC (NFA ID: 0508695)


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Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) is an icon in the media world, with a powerful portfolio of media properties. And yet the stock is trading down around 60% from its 2021 peak. What’s going on? The answer is that new business opportunities aren’t doing well enough to offset declines in the company’s older businesses. It’s a big problem.
Characters like Mickey Mouse, Captain America, and Luke Skywalker are recognized around the world. For a certain type of consumer, they might even evoke a little more emotional excitement than you might expect for what are basically just fictional beings. But that’s the power of the media properties Disney owns, and those three names are just a tiny fraction of the company’s collection.
Over the long term, the company’s media properties will likely retain a massive amount of value and see strong demand among consumers for the content the company has created and continues to create with them. That’s the good news, and it’s one of the core reasons why an investor would want to step in to buy Disney despite a massive share price decline. However, there’s more to the media giant than just these intellectual assets.
For example, the company operates some of the largest and most successful amusement parks in the world. It operates a cruise line as well. The company’s iconic media properties are used to get consumers into those parks and onto those ships. In addition, the company distributes its own productions through multiple television networks it operates and direct to consumers via streaming services it owns. There are troubling trends in these two businesses.
Streaming, or “direct to consumer” as Disney calls it, is a relatively new business. The company has spent heavily to build this business line up after industry leaders like Netflix and Amazon started to draw consumers away from more traditional forms of entertainment distribution, like television and cable. There has been something of an arms race, as new content was used to get consumers to subscribe to streaming services amid an increasing number of options.
Disney and its collection of iconic media properties did fairly well competing with the early movers. However, the cost of creating content has been a huge headwind. For example, Disney lost around $500 million in the fiscal third quarter of 2023 in its direct-to-consumer business. Content creation costs were a big part of that. To be fair, that’s an over 50% improvement versus the same quarter of 2022. So the company is slowly moving toward profitability.
The problem is that streaming platforms are pulling revenue away from the more traditional ways consumers consume media, specifically cable and broadcast television. The company’s linear networks, which is where TV and cable live, posted operating income of roughly $1.9 billion in the third quarter. While that’s a big number, it was down 23% year over year. So this business is in a steep descent.
Since the shift on the consumer side is from cable/television to streaming, Disney’s new business obviously isn’t profitable enough to offset the declines in its old business. And, even if the company is able to get the direct-to-consumer business into the black, it will only offset a small portion of the hit from the faltering linear networks division, which is a much larger profit source.
So things are bad now, but better still won’t necessarily be a good outcome for Disney. And there’s no easy solution because what’s really taking place is a massive change in consumer habits.
The unfortunate fact is that, at this point, Disney has to go down the path it is going down if it wants to remain relevant. That’s bad news for the company and shareholders. Yes, Disney’s media assets remain highly attractive, but it is still struggling to adapt to the rapid shifts taking place in consumer behavior.
There are no easy answers. And that’s one of the most important stories that investors need to be paying attention to as they examine Disney’s financial results.
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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.com, Netflix, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Malacca, Malaysia, 2013-10-25 — /travelprnews.com/ — Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) attended the third edition of World Tourism Conference, an event jointly organized by World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Government of Malaysia in Malacca, Malaysia from 21-23 October 2013.
The theme of World Tourism Conference 2013 is “Global Tourism: Game Changers and Pace Setters”. The opening ceremony was officiated by Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Tan Sri Dato’ Haji Muhyiddin Bin Mohd Yassin; Minister of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia, YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Abdul Aziz and the representative of Secretary General of UNWTO, Zoltan Somogyi, etc. MGTO Deputy Director Manuel Pires and Head of Communication and External Relations Department, Kathy Iong attended the opening ceremony and a series of panel discussions.
World Tourism Conference serves as an exchange platform for UNWTO members. Various tourism ministers, officials and industry delegates came from worldwide to join the event. The conference hosted 13 panel discussions in 4 key areas. The sessions not only elaborated successful stories of different travel destinations and tourism organizations but also welcomed attendees to express their own perspectives. Official delegates and industry partners from different destinations also shared their tourism planning, development and marketing strategies with each other during panel discussions. The 4 key areas for discussion include Beyond Mass Tourism, Innovative Marketing, New Directions for Tourism Product Development as well as Tourism Debate: Boon or Bane of the Tourism Sector.


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The Wii has become the modders' platform of choice in the current console generation, and we've already seen some pretty rad creations hit the net. Today pics of another pretty sweet Wii mod are going around, and this time it's one you can actually buy for yourself.
Morpheon Mods has pledged 15% of the proceeds gained from the sale of its tight Super Mario Galaxy Wii mod, which is currently up for auction on eBay. The designers behind the project invested some serious effort, painting the Wii in 21-steps of airbrushing and wiring a lighting system with 60-LEDs connected by nearly 30-feet of wires and controlled by 5-circuit boards. Pressing buttons on the Wii even triggers sound effects, like the exit-warp-pipe sound when Eject is pressed.
The bid currently stands at $610 with four days left. We're just bummed it's too late to try to use it as a tax deduction.


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Michael Kalmanovitch of Earth’s General Store is sponsoring this session on Monday, January 14th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. It will feature a conversation, and a demonstration, around the used of fermented foods from kefir to sauerkraut. Fermented foods are good for the body, and the planet, and they are also delicious. The workshop costs $25 and you have to purchase your spot online, in advance, via Event Brite.
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A government proposal to reduce privacy regulations on telecom carriers has met with resistance from the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN).
As part of a package of deregulatory measures earmarked for the government’s second ‘repeal day’ slated for September or October, the Department of Communications has proposed removing privacy rules found in Part 13 of the Telecommunications Act.
The government had reasoned that the new Privacy Act, covering all industries, has rendered the telco-specific privacy rules in the Telecommunications Act unnecessary.
“Repealing Part 13 would remove compliance and record-keeping obligations on industry, while the Privacy Act would maintain strong consumer protections,” the department said.
However, ACCAN said in its submission to the proposal that the Privacy Act has a smaller scope than Part 13 and telecom consumers would be less protected if Part 13 was simply repealed. ACCAN said it would support a repeal only after key provisions of Part 13 are added to the Privacy Act.
“There may be overlaps and duplication of regulation where rationalisation would benefit all Stakeholders,” ACCAN wrote. “However, the review is complex, and must include an evaluation of the effectiveness of the new Act in order to result in no overall diminution of privacy protections for the Australian community.
“Abolishing Part 13 of the Telecommunications Act and incorporating an industry-specific section in the Privacy Act would ensure other important differences between the two Acts are not lost, while at the same time producing one coherent reference point for telecommunication service providers.”
ACCAN gave several examples of areas where the Privacy Act provides weaker protections for telecom customers than the Part 13 rules.
“The Privacy Act covers personal information, it does not cover statistical data or metadata,” ACCAN wrote. “There is evidence that metadata can be highly intrusive, and reveal a significant amount of information about a person’s identity.”
Also, the Privacy Act applies to entities but not to employees, and only indirectly to contractors, ACCAN said. “By contrast, Part 13 applies directly to all organisations and individuals handling telecommunications information, so [it] has a broader scope.”
And while Part 13 applies to all telecom providers, the Privacy Act would not cover telcos with less than $3 million in turnover, it said.
ACCAN disagrees with Optus objections
ACCAN supported a proposal to remove a requirement under Part 17 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 for telcos delivering standard (non-cellular) telephone services to allow customers to select different providers for long distance and international calls, and calls from fixed services to mobile phones.
The Department of Communications had proposed limiting this requirement to services delivered over the legacy copper network.
Optus had objected to the proposal, saying in its submission that pre-selection will remain important as long as Telstra is the only telco with national infrastructure to deliver fixed telephone services.
However, ACCAN said the pre-selection rules is no longer important for consumers.
“This requirement assisted in the introduction of competition in telecommunications and according to ACMA reports, is now rarely used by consumers,” ACCAN said.
“We understand that this represents substantial future savings to industry as it avoids having to configure pre-selection to an NBN environment.”
While pre-selection is not appropriate in an NBN world, a small percentage of business customers still rely on it and so it should remain for switched telephone services delivered by copper, ACCAN noted.
ACCAN also disagreed with Optus’s objections to a proposal that would end a requirement on Telstra to report annually on its obligation to deliver services to regional areas.
“The consumer impact of removing the local presence plan requirement is low. However, it is vitally important for regional, rural and remote Australia that the requirement for Telstra to have a local presence be maintained,” ACCAN said.
Farmers fight revamped Customer Service Guarantee
The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) said in its submission that the government has overstated the level of competition in rural areas in making a proposal to overhaul the Customer Service Guarantee, a mechanism that sets maximum timeframes carriers must meet when connecting telephone services, repairing faults and keeping appointments with customers.
The Department of Communications said in its proposal that the current CSG is burdensome to telcos. Instead, it proposed a “more market-based instrument”.
“The claims made regarding the level of competition in rural areas do not seem to reflect the reality of farmers’ experiences, where the market in many areas is limited to a single provider,” said the NFF.
“It is therefore essential that the telecommunications market be supported with measures to ensure competition, simply so that customers in rural and remote Australia can be ensured of access to telecommunications services. Within this context, the CSG is an important mechanism for ensuring telecommunications services are repaired and delivered within reasonable timeframes.”
Citing similar competition concerns, the NFF also appeared hesitant for the government to repeal retail price controls (RPCs) applying to Telstra.
The NFF said it understands that removal of RPCs in international markets has not led to increased prices in rural areas.
“However, with the lack of competition currently in the market, the NFF is still keen to ensure that farmers and rural businesses are not overcharged for their telecommunication services,” it wrote.
“Therefore, if RPCs were to be removed, the NFF would be keen to ensure that there is still an ability for government to intervene – for example, the relevant Federal Minister retaining power to rule a determination – if it was found that rural and remote customers were experiencing unreasonable price increases.”
The full text of the government proposals and stakeholder responses are available to read on the Department of Communications website.


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Salon Grafix has announced the relaunch of the cult-favorite Professional hair spray.
Hair care brand Salon Grafix has officially announced the launch of its new Play It Big!, a collection of hair products.
Lornamead has launched its new Finesse Color Lock styling products. Finesse Color Lock styling products contain a patented polymer system with water-resistant, film-forming properties.
Whether it’s creating beachy waves, sexy curls or modern ponytails, women aren’t shying away from styling their best fashion accessory: hair.


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Retail News Breaks Archives
Walgreens continues same-store sales gains
April 5th, 2011
DEERFIELD, Ill. – Surging front-end sales again helped lift monthly same-store sales at Walgreen Co., which in March continued a rising trend that began in the fall.
Walgreens on Tuesday said comparable-store sales (excluding Duane Reade) climbed 3% in March, virtually matching the 3.1% same-store increase in February. The drug store chain had turned in a strong 6.1% comparable-store gain in January that extended an upward trend including increases of 2.8% in December and 3.2% in November following a 1.3% decline in October.
Despite the negative impact of this year's later Easter, which falls on April 24 versus April 4 last year, front-end same-store sales rose 1.6% in March, according to Walgreens. Customer traffic in comparable stores and basket size both edged up 0.8%.
Comparable-pharmacy sales were up 3.7%, reflecting a negative impact of 2.3 percentage points from generic drug introductions in the last 12 months, the company said. Meanwhile, prescriptions filled at comparable stores increased 3.5% in March, in spite of a 0.9 percentage point negative impact from calendar day shifts.
Overall sales in March advanced 7.6% year over year to $6.28 billion from $5.83 billion. Walgreens said Duane Reade stores contributed 2.8 percentage points to the total revenue increase for the month.
Total front-end sales gained 8.4% in March, including 4.7 percentage points from Duane Reade stores, while pharmacy revenue was up 7.3% during the month.
William Blair & Co. analyst Mark Miller said Walgreens' 3% same-store sales increase in March topped his firm's 2.3% forecast as well as the 1.8% consensus estimate among industry analysts.
"All of the comp upside occurred within the front end, as Walgreens' same-store front-end sales rose 1.6%, above our [forecast] and the consensus estimate for roughly flat comps," Miller wrote in a research note released Tuesday. "On a two-year stacked basis, March's front-end comp of 3.8% accelerated from February's 3.2%, despite the detrimental calendar shift. Adjusting for the adverse Easter shift — which we estimate at 300 to 400 basis points — March's underlying front-end comp increased roughly 5%."
Miller said the introduction of beer and wine added 75 basis points to Walgreens' front-end same-store sales in March. He added that vitamins were "a solid performer in March" for the chain, while photo remained the retailer's weakest-performing department.
"Pharmacy comps rose 3.7%, in line with our 3.5% forecast but ahead of the 2.6% consensus," he stated. "Adding back 90 basis points for an adverse calendar shift, Walgreens' pharmacy comps increased 4.6%, slightly above the prior three-month trend."
Walgreens reported that for the calendar year to date through March, its sales came in at $17.98 billion, up 9.1% versus a year earlier. Fiscal 2011 year-to-date revenue, covering seven months, gained 7.5% to $42.12 billion.
During March, Walgreens opened 12 stores, including three relocations, and acquired one store and closed two. As of March 31, the retailer operated 7,697 drug stores, 472 more than a year ago, including 285 stores acquired over the past year.


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The world is a computer, filled with an incredible amount of data. By 2020, the average person will generate 1.5GB of data a day, a smart home 50GB and a smart city, a whopping 250 petabytes of data per day. This data presents an enormous opportunity for developers — giving them a seat of power, while also giving them tremendous responsibility. That’s why this morning at Build, we don’t take our jobs lightly in helping to equip these developers with the tools and guidance to change the world. On stage in Seattle, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is describing this new world view, fueled by AI that can power better health care, relieve challenges around basic human needs and create a society that’s more inclusive and accessible.
Helping create a better, safer, more just world is a responsibility we take seriously at Microsoft. We’ve always been committed to the ethical creation and use of technology. As AI increasingly becomes part of our lives, Microsoft’s commitment to advancing human good has never been stronger. Today, we’re announcing AI for Accessibility, a new $25 million, five-year program aimed at harnessing the power of AI to amplify human capability for the more than one billion people around the world with disabilities. AI for Accessibility is a call to action for developers, NGOs, academics, researchers and inventors to accelerate their work for people with disabilities, focusing on three areas: employment, human connection and modern life. It includes grants, technology and AI expertise to accelerate the development of accessible and intelligent AI solutions and builds on recent advancements in Azure Cognitive Services to help developers create intelligent apps that can empower people with hearing, vision and other disabilities. Real-time speech-to-text transcription, visual recognition services and predictive text functionality that suggests words as people type are just a few examples. We’ve seen this impact through the launch of Seeing AI and alt-text which empowers people who are blind or low vision; as well as Helpicto, which helps people with autism.
If AI is the heart of how we can advance society, the intelligent cloud and the intelligent edge are the backbone. In the next 10 years, billions of everyday devices will be connected — smart devices that can see, listen, reason, predict and more, without a 24/7 dependence on the cloud. This is the intelligent edge, and it is the interface between the computer and the real world. The edge takes AI and cloud together to collect and make sense of new information, especially in scenarios that are too dangerous for humans or require new approaches to solve, whether they be on the factory floor or in the operating room.
Today we’re giving developers the tools and guidance to build these possibilities. For example, we’re making it easier to build apps at the edge by open sourcing the Azure IoT Edge Runtime, allowing customers to modify the runtime and customize applications at the edge. We’re giving developers Custom Vision — the first Azure Cognitive Service available for the edge — to build applications that use powerful AI algorithms that interpret, listen, speak and see for edge devices. And we are partnering across both DJI and Qualcomm. Microsoft and DJI, the world’s largest drone company, will collaborate to develop commercial drone solutions so that developers in key vertical segments such as agriculture, construction and public safety can build life-changing solutions, like applications that can help farmers produce more crops. With Qualcomm Technologies Inc., we announced a joint effort to create a vision AI dev kit running Azure IoT Edge, for camera-based IoT solutions. The camera can power advanced Azure services like machine learning and cognitive services that can be downloaded from Azure and run locally on the edge. Other advancements include a preview of Project Brainwave, an architecture for deep neural net processing, that is now available on Azure and on the edge. Project Brainwave makes Azure the fastest cloud to run real-time AI today.
We are also releasing new Azure Cognitive Services updates such as a unified Speech service that makes it easier for developers to add speech recognition, text-to-speech, customized voice models and translation to their applications. In addition, we’re making Azure the best place to develop conversational AI experiences integrated with any agent. New updates to Bot Framework, combined with our new Cognitive Services updates, will power the next generation of conversational bots, enabling richer dialogs and full personality and voice customization to match a company’s brand identity.
It was eight years ago when we shipped Kinect, which was the first AI device with speech, gaze and vision. We then took that technology forward with Microsoft HoloLens. We’ve seen developers build transformative solutions across a multitude of industries, from security to manufacturing to health care and more. As sensor technology has evolved, we see incredible possibilities for combining these sensors with the power of Azure AI services such as machine learning, Cognitive Services and IoT Edge.
Today we are excited to announce a new initiative, Project Kinect for Azure — a package of sensors from Microsoft that contains our unmatched time-of-flight depth camera, with onboard compute, in a small, power-efficient form factor — designed for AI on the edge. Project Kinect for Azure brings together this leading hardware technology with Azure AI to empower developers with new scenarios for working with ambient intelligence.
Similarly, our Speech Devices software development kit announced today delivers superior audio processing from multi-channel sources for more accurate speech recognition, including noise cancellation, far-field voice and more. With this SDK, developers can build for a variety of voice-enabled scenarios like drive-thru ordering systems, in-car or in-home assistants, smart speakers and other digital assistants.
This new age of technology is also fueled by mixed reality, which is opening up new possibilities in the workplace. Today we announced two new apps that will help empower firstline workers, the first workers to interface with customers and triage problems: Microsoft Remote Assist and Microsoft Layout. Microsoft Remote Assist enables remote collaboration via hands-free video calling, letting firstline workers share what they see with any expert on Microsoft Teams, while staying hands on to solve problems and complete tasks together. In a similar vein, Microsoft Layout lets workers design spaces in context with mixed reality, using 3D models for creating room layouts with holograms.
Whether creating a more inclusive and accessible world, solving problems that plague humanity or helping improve the way we work and live, developers are playing a leading role. As new ideas and solutions with AI and intelligent edge emerge, Microsoft will continue to advocate for developers and give them the tools and cloud services that make it possible to build these new solutions to solve real problems. From the top down, we are a developer-led company that continues to invest in coders and give them free rein to solve problems.
Learn more about how we’re empowering developers to build for this future today using Azure and M365, via blog posts from Executive Vice President of Cloud + AI Scott Guthrie and Corporate Vice President of Windows Joe Belfiore.
The post Advancing the future of society with AI and the intelligent edge appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.
I’m thrilled to share that we plan to deliver the Microsoft Cloud from our first datacenter locations in Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, and we’ll expand the cloud options for customers in Germany. I’m also excited to reveal that the Microsoft Cloud in France is officially open with the general availability of Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Office 365 today, and Dynamics 365 will follow in early 2019.
By delivering the comprehensive, intelligent Microsoft Cloud – comprising Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics 365 – from datacenters in a given geography, we offer scalable, available and resilient cloud services for companies and organizations while meeting data residency, security and compliance needs. Microsoft has deep expertise protecting data and empowering customers around the globe to meet extensive security and privacy requirements, including offering the broadest set of compliance certifications and attestations in the industry.
We’re deepening our investment in the Middle East with these first cloud regions, which will be in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. We have long-standing expertise and deep local relationships in the Middle East. We strive to combine that knowledge with our cloud services to help public and private institutions scale to meet the tremendous economic growth and technological innovation in the country and across the region.
In Europe, we’re continuing to expand our substantial cloud footprint in response to customer demand and to address the needs of some of the world’s leading industries and organizations. Our engagement with financial institutions and regulators in Switzerland over the past several years has led to a deeper understanding of the market and the opportunity for locally delivered, trusted enterprise cloud services to meet their unique requirements. We intend to be the first global cloud operator to introduce cloud regions in Switzerland, which will be in the cantons of Geneva and Zurich. We are also expanding the cloud service options available with the addition of new cloud regions in Germany. This new cloud offering will complement the options currently available for customers today. The two new regions will provide enterprise-grade reliability, performance and business continuity combined with data residency within Germany and connectivity to Microsoft’s global public cloud network.
In France, the Microsoft Cloud is now open to thousands of customers, partners and ISVs with today’s general availability of both Azure and Office 365. With this milestone, Microsoft is empowering organizations like Naval Energies — a global player in renewable marine energies; Astrimmo — a leading provider of housing services in France; and Ercom — a French company specializing in cybersecurity, with greater scalability, agility and the opportunity to develop new cloud-based solutions. Also starting March 14, existing Office 365 customers from France and French territories will be able to opt-in to be moved to the local cloud regions in France.
Microsoft has a long history of collaborating with customers to navigate evolving business needs and has developed strategies to help customers prepare for the new European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We’re invested to make the Microsoft Cloud GDPR compliant when the regulation becomes effective on May 25, 2018, delivering innovation that accelerates GDPR compliance, and building a community of experts to help customers along their full GDPR journey.
Over the last three years, we’ve more than doubled the number of Azure regions available. As of today, Azure has more regions than any other cloud provider. We’ve announced a goal to be in 50 regions across the globe, including plans for 12 new regions.
Office 365 and Dynamics 365 also continue to expand the data residency options for customers with 17 geographies announced. The two products are the only productivity and business application platforms that can offer in-geo data residency across such a broad set of locations. Each datacenter geography, or geo, delivers a consistent experience, backed by robust policies, controls and systems to help keep data safe and help comply with local and regional regulations.
You can learn more about our transformative cloud solutions at Microsoft Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics 365, or follow these links to learn more about today’s announcements in France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
We’re excited to announce Microsoft for Startups, a new program that delivers access to technology, go-to-market and community benefits that helps startups grow their customer and revenue base. We are committing $500 million over the next two years to offer joint sales engagements with startups, along with access to our technology, and new community spaces that promote collaboration across local and global ecosystems. Startups are an indisputable innovation engine, and Microsoft is partnering with founders and investors to help propel their growth.
Grow with unparalleled access to customers. Microsoft for Startups takes a unique approach to connect qualified startups with new customers and channel partners. Microsoft has over 40,000 sales representatives and hundreds of thousands of partners whose goal is to drive adoption of Microsoft cloud solutions into companies of all sizes and industries worldwide. The program provides dedicated resources to prepare startup marketing and sales teams to effectively sell their cloud solutions to enterprise organizations in partnership with Microsoft’s global sales organization and partner ecosystem.
Build on a trusted cloud that scales with you. The program provides startups with up to $120,000 in free Azure credits, enterprise grade technical support and development tools – supporting the languages of their choice, such as Node.js, Java and .NET. In addition, qualified startups also get access to productivity and business applications, including Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Connect to the right resources at the right time. Microsoft for Startups helps startups at every stage in ecosystems around the world:
Startups inspire us by pushing the envelope of the possible and building products that improve our personal and professional lives. Microsoft is excited to partner with startups to empower every person and organization on the planet.
To learn more, please visit Microsoft Startups.
The post Grow, build and connect with Microsoft for Startups appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.
In today’s Microsoft second quarter earnings call, CEO Satya Nadella showcased how customers are using our technology to create digital business solutions. The 56 percent year-over-year growth in commercial cloud revenue — with broad-based growth across geographic markets and industry segments — is fueled by customer and partner success.
Just this week, we announced news with Publicis Groupe, Columbia Sportswear and PTC. Communications and advertising giant Publicis Groupe is building its new AI-powered platform, Marcel, on Microsoft Azure and Office 365 to empower its 80,000 employees worldwide. Columbia Sportswear, innovator in active outdoor apparel, announced its choice of Dynamics 365 and Azure to its enhance worldwide consumer experience. Plus, PTC, a leader in product lifecycle management solutions that include Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality and 3D computer-aided design for the industrial sector, has selected Azure as its preferred cloud platform.
Below are more customer highlights from this quarter.
In the industrial sector, United Technologies Corp. (UTC) builds and services millions of products, from elevators in some of the world’s tallest buildings to aerospace equipment. UTC is using Dynamics 365 and Azure to help its massive field organization better predict and respond to customer needs. Chevron announced Azure as its primary cloud for intelligent, digitized oil fields in order to increase revenues, reduce costs and improve the safety and reliability of operations.
Consumer product companies are innovating with the Microsoft cloud, too. Kohler has built a legacy of blending home comfort and style through innovation. This year marks Kohler’s entrance into the connected home market with a new line of kitchen and bathroom products, Kohler Konnect. For example, with Azure IoT, Kohler Konnect products respond to voice and in-app commands to manage bath temperature or start a shower.
In real estate, CBRE entered the smart building market with a customizable, connected workplace solution to give property investors and occupants a single, seamless access point to building amenities and services. Powered by Azure IoT, the CBRE 360 mobile apps will allow users to locate colleagues and navigate the workplace, reserve workspaces, and access food and beverage services, as well as basic building and high-end concierge services.
In retail, national grocery chain Kroger is leveraging Azure to power its EDGE (Enhanced Display for Grocery Environment) solution — a grocery-store shelf with digital screen displays showing prices, nutritional information and more. The system manages high volumes of data, better connects store management and customers and ensures stock does not run low. Home-improvement company Lowe’s worked with Fellow Robots to deploy autonomous LoweBots to assist with inventory data and shelf intelligence. As the LoweBot scans inventory on the shelves, Azure helps Lowe’s keep constant tabs on inventory and frees store employees to assist customers. Merkal Calzados, Spain’s leading retailer of affordable footwear, has chosen Dynamics 365 for retail, finance, operations, and customer service to transform how it selects and sources product, improve marketing and accelerate omnichannel growth.
One of the world’s largest casual dining companies, Bloomin’ Brands, Inc., chose Azure to help its digital transformation across approximately 97,000 team members and almost 1,500 restaurants. The parent company of Outback Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill, Carrabba’s and Fleming’s Steakhouse, Bloomin’ Brands is using Azure advanced analytics, machine learning and Power BI to enable guest engagement and convenience through mobile apps, websites and e-commerce, including the customer loyalty program.
In the healthcare sector, UMB Healthcare Services, a division of UMB Bank, continues to improve its health savings account (HSA) solution, powered on Azure, by creating a seamless customer experience for 1.2 million HSA accounts. For example, ReceiptVault allows HSA owners to safely manage their health care receipts in one place, which is an important tax requirement.
Aurora Health Care operates 15 hospitals, more than 150 clinics and 70 pharmacies throughout eastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, Premera Blue Cross is the largest health plan in the Pacific Northwest, and UPMC is one of the largest integrated health care delivery networks in the U.S. These partners are working with us on a new AI-powered health bot project, currently in private preview. Powered by Cognitive Services and enriched with medical content, the bots give customers self-service access to their health-related questions and information.
In the government space, Kansas City’s Azure-powered solution from Opti improves water quality and saves local citizens and companies money. The solution uses a wide range of data to control rainwater entry into the sewer system and could reduce the overall cost of the program by almost a billion dollars over 25 years.
In the world of payment technology, Mastercard selected Microsoft 365 to support a modern workplace that empowers its employees’ teamwork and innovation. One of the largest companies in the payments space, Mastercard connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories to achieve their vision of a world beyond cash. The company is also leveraging Azure for apps, including Masterpass, a digital mobile wallet and rewards program application.
In the auto industry, Volkswagen Group Digital is piloting new forms of workplaces. The company recently deployed Surface Books, Surface Pros, Surface Studios and Surface Hubs in its 10X service design lab and Future Centers, and to run its collaboration application, DEON. DB Schenker, a division of Deutsche Bahn AG, focuses on logistics across air, land, sea freight as well as contracts logistics. The company turned to Windows 10 to help safeguard its business with intelligent, built-in security and to empower the productivity of its global, mobile workforce.
Across the globe, industry leaders are choosing Microsoft to power their business strategies and new products, or support culture change. I am constantly inspired by our customers’ and partners’ digital ambitions and innovation, and I am eager to continue partnering with them on their digital journey.
Today, I am pleased to welcome PlayFab to the Microsoft family. PlayFab is a complete backend platform provider of services to build, launch and grow cloud-connected games. PlayFab’s tools are designed to be used by game developers across all platforms (mobile, PC and console). This acquisition extends the investments and work we’ve done on Microsoft Azure to provide a world-class cloud platform for the gaming industry.
As Satya Nadella noted in our annual shareholders meeting, “We’re mobilizing to pursue our extensive opportunity in a 100-plus-billion gaming market. This means broadening our approach to how we think about gaming end to end, about starting with games and how they’re creating and distributed, and how they’re played and viewed.”
Over 1 billion people play games, fueling a thriving industry whose ecosystem is evolving and growing quickly. Many industries are moving to the intelligent cloud, and this trend is true in gaming as well. This means an increasing number of developers are looking to create connected games for mobile, PC and console devices that have a significant emphasis on post-launch operations. However, the cost and complexity of achieving this through custom-built, server-side tools and technologies is high, and PlayFab offers developers a compelling model that scales naturally with their games’ players.
PlayFab’s backend services reduce the barriers to launch for game developers, offering both large and small studios cost-effective development solutions that scale with their games and help them engage, retain and monetize players. PlayFab enables developers to use the intelligent cloud to build and operate games, analyze gaming data and improve overall gaming experiences.
The PlayFab platform is a natural complement to Azure for gaming (Visit azure.com/gaming for more info). Azure, with locations in 42 regions worldwide, provides world-class server infrastructure, allowing creators to focus on building great games with best-available global reach. For gamers, this leads to a higher, faster degree of innovation and better experiences.
Incorporating PlayFab’s experience, growing network of game developers and powerful gaming-as-a-service platform into our product offering is an important step forward for gaming at Microsoft. PlayFab has served more than 700 million gamers and is currently powering more than 1,200 games with companies like Disney, Rovio and Atari. Its gaming platform powers some of the most prominent titles in the industry, such as “Idle Miner Tycoon,” “Angry Birds: Seasons” and “Roller Coaster Tycoon Touch.”
Together, Azure and PlayFab will further unlock the power of the intelligent cloud for the gaming industry, enabling game developers and delighting gamers around the world.
For more information on PlayFab, you can find a blog post from James Gwertzman, CEO and co-founder, here.
The post Microsoft acquires PlayFab, accelerating game development innovation in the cloud appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.
The cloud is providing the foundation for the digital economy, changing how organizations produce, market and monetize their products and services. Whether it’s building animations and special effects for the next blockbuster movie or discovering new treatments for life-threatening diseases, the need for high-performance storage and the flexibility to store and process data where it makes the most sense for the business is critically important.
Over the years, Microsoft has made a number of investments to provide our customers with the most flexible, secure and scalable storage solutions in the marketplace. Today, I am pleased to share that Microsoft has signed an agreement to acquire Avere Systems, a leading provider of high-performance NFS and SMB file-based storage for Linux and Windows clients running in cloud, hybrid and on-premises environments.
Avere uses an innovative combination of file system and caching technologies to support the performance requirements for customers who run large-scale compute workloads. In the media and entertainment industry, Avere has worked with global brands including Sony Pictures Imageworks, animation studio Illumination Mac Guff and Moving Picture Company (MPC) to decrease production time and lower costs in a world where innovation and time to market is more critical than ever.
High performance computing needs however do not stop there. Customers in life sciences, education, oil and gas, financial services, manufacturing and more are increasingly looking for these types of solutions to help transform their businesses. The Library of Congress, Johns Hopkins University and Teradyne, a developer and supplier of automatic test equipment for the semiconductor industry, are great examples where Avere has helped scale datacenter performance and capacity, and optimize infrastructure placement.
By bringing together Avere’s storage expertise with the power of Microsoft’s cloud, customers will benefit from industry-leading innovations that enable the largest, most complex high-performance workloads to run in Microsoft Azure. We are excited to welcome Avere to Microsoft, and look forward to the impact their technology and the team will have on Azure and the customer experience.
You can also read a blog post from Ronald Bianchini Jr., president and CEO of Avere Systems, here.
Today, Microsoft announced its first quarter earnings. One big takeaway is that we exceeded our goal to meet a $20 billion in commercial cloud annualized revenue run rate. This exciting milestone represents our continued delivery of new cloud technologies and our customers’ digital innovation. Across major industries — from finance and energy sector to retail and professional sports — organizations are betting on Microsoft to help them transform their customers’ experiences, employee productivity, operations and products. In fact, 96 percent of Fortune 500 companies have at least one of our cloud offerings, and 90 percent have at least two. I will share some of the product news and customer stories.
Last quarter, we shipped a range of cloud infrastructure and applications to give customers the foundation for new digital services. Our hybrid cloud solution, Azure Stack, is now available through hardware partners to help companies realize the benefits of an “intelligent cloud, intelligent edge.” We also introduced Azure Confidential Computing, an industry-first advancement in cloud security. Our differentiated hybrid cloud approach addresses the real-world needs of customers and is a key reason they are choosing to partner with Microsoft.
During the same period, Bank of America selected Azure for its tech infrastructure modernization and business transformation, including a goal to deliver 80 percent of its workloads in the cloud in the next few years. Also in financial services, TD Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation are using Azure and its data services to improve customer experiences. And the largest security technology company, Symantec, runs Norton security on Azure to help protect 50 million people, a key part of its hybrid cloud strategy.
From oil and gas to healthcare, industry leaders are choosing Azure. BP chose Azure to power its proprietary data lake to make better business decisions. Schlumberger’s new DrillPlan digital well construction solution relies on Azure and the Azure Stack, as well as Office 365 and Microsoft Teams. And, Halliburton’s DecisionSpace 365 digitizes the oil field with IoT on Azure. This week, we announced an alliance with PAREXEL, a leading biopharmaceutical services organization, to drive transformation in the life sciences industry powered by Azure technology. Together we’re aiming to accelerate the drug development process, reducing the time it takes to bring therapies to market and into the hands of patients.
Microsoft continues to invest in data and AI solutions that help customers convert raw information into insights and intelligent services. The new generation of Azure Machine Learning makes it easy to develop, experiment and deploy AI models on any data, at any scale. The new SQL Server 2017 is a hybrid cloud database for a company’s most important apps, with built-in AI and world-class security.
Steelcase is using Azure IoT to develop Steelcase Workplace Advisor and the Steelcase Personal Assistant app, which help organizations create workplaces that respond to the needs of people while also optimizing real estate investments. Online fashion retailer ASOS is using our global database service, Azure CosmosDB, to better serve 15 million active customers with relevant product recommendations as it introduces 5,000 new products every week. Progressive, one of the largest auto and homeowner insurance carriers, is using Microsoft AI to build its Flo Chatbot and transform the insurance quoting process. And Huawei is delivering real-time translation on the new Mate 10 series device using Microsoft Translator running on our Cognitive Services.
We are infusing AI into all our products, and this last quarter we announced Dynamics 365 AI solutions —part of our focus on business applications that modernize work processes. The first solution, already in use at HP Inc., includes an intelligent virtual agent for customer care and service. And across the board, customers of all stripes are adopting Dynamics 365 to reinvent how they do business, from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to the Seattle Seahawks. Our hometown football team is all in with Microsoft’s Cloud, Dynamics 365 and devices throughout its organization.
Fostering the modern workplace is a top priority as well. We want to empower everyone to be more creative and collaborative with Office 365, Windows 10 and security technology. In the first quarter, we advanced this effort with the introduction of Microsoft 365 F1 for the world’s 2 billion first-line workers, as well as Microsoft 365 Education, including Minecraft, for students and teachers.
From retail to automotive, we’re seeing companies leverage the power of our cloud to help their workforce collaborate. Lowe’s, a FORTUNE® 50 home improvement company, is creating a modern workplace for 260,000 employees and more personalized service in 2,200 stores, providing anytime access to productivity tools from any device, including Surface Hubs. Devon Energy, a Fortune 500 oil and natural gas exploration and production company, uses Microsoft 365 to connect field employees with engineers and petrochemical professionals a thousand miles away.
The Coca-Cola Co., the world’s largest beverage company, has selected and will deploy Windows 10 to be the foundation to safeguard its business with intelligent security built-in to modernize end user IT management processes to reduce cost, and to empower and unlock the creativity of its global workforce. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is deploying Windows 10 as the foundation of its modern IT workplace. The move will help empower their employees, improve efficiency and modernize end-user technology management tools and processes. Ford designers are using mixed reality to blend 3D holograms digitally with both clay models and physical production vehicles, allowing them to experiment and iterate on design much more quickly.
I am inspired every day by how our customers are embracing digital transformation to create lasting value. At Microsoft, nothing is more important than the success of their transformation, which is why we are committed to partnering at every step of their digital journey.
The post The story behind Microsoft’s earnings: Our customers’ digital innovation in the cloud appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.


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Latest News on Baidu
Showing of 0 - 10 from 125 results
Baidu - Total results - 125
Apr 24, 2018
Chinese tech giants including Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are under fire for posting sexist job adsJob ads posted by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Baidu Inc and Tencent Holdings Ltd were among those that deterred female applicants or objectified women.
Apr 18, 2018
Alibaba Group confirms it is working on fully autonomous, artificial intelligence-enabled self-driving technologyAlibaba has conducted regular road tests of its self-driving vehicles and the company was looking to hire an additional 50 experts to boost the technology.
Apr 03, 2018
China: A look behind the wallChina is a 'wall-building country': It built the Great Wall to keep enemies away. In recent times, it built its 'firewall' to ban world-conquering companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter. There are numerous such ‘walls’ — real and virtual — all over China, but you rarely get to see them.
Mar 28, 2018
NVIDIA unveils a simulator that leverages cloud computing power to test autonomous vehiclesNvidia has said that using simulation, some 300,000 miles (483,000 km) can be driven in five hours.
Jan 31, 2018
Google Brain co-founder Andrew Ng raises $175 million to invest in AI startupsAndrew Ng said he plans to draw on his experience at Baidu where he led the artificial intelligence team to develop a range of new business lines.
Jan 09, 2018
China shut down as many as 128,000 websites which it claimed to contain 'obscene and harmful information' in 2017: ReportChina has been tightening controls over internet content as part of efforts to maintain “social stability”.
Jan 04, 2018
Baidu's self-driving open platform Apollo to use Blackberry's QNX OSBlackBerry, which has developed software QNX Hypervisor 2.0, said Baidu will use its software for its self-driving open platform, Apollo.
Jan 02, 2018
WeChat messaging app denies storing users' chat history in response to allegations by prominent businessman"WeChat does not store any users' chat history. That is only stored in users' mobiles, computers, and other terminals," WeChat said
Dec 18, 2017
China is allowing road tests for self-driving vehicles to bring artificial intelligence and mobility togetherThe regulation came after Baidu boss Robin Li test drove the company's self-driving vehicle on Beijing's open roads in July.
Nov 15, 2017
Google to be the default search provider for Firefox on desktop and mobile in US and few other countriesYahoo and Google aim to recoup placement fees by selling ads alongside search results and collecting valuable user data.


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|The prices of fly ash bricks are likely to increase by 20-25 paise per brick because of the hike in cement prices.|
|"Each fly ash brick used to cost Rs 1.50-Rs 2.00 a year ago. But the manufacturers were forced to raise its price to Rs 2-Rs 3 each recently. In view of rising cement prices, it has again become inevitable to increase fly ash brick prices," N Kalidas, president, Fly Ash Building Material Manufacturers Association (FABMAS), and director, Institute of Solid Waste Research and Ecological Balance (INSWAREB), told Business Standard.|
|Andhra Pradesh alone contributes about 40 per cent of six billion fly ash bricks being manufactured by 3000 small and tiny industries in the country. There are 1200-1300 small-scale units producing 2.4-2.5 billion bricks in the state.|
|Kalidas said if the Centre allowed corporate and mid-corporate companies to manufacture fly ash bricks, the prices would come down.|
|According to him, India generates about 150 million tonnes of fly ash every year. But only about 30 million tonnes are being utilised in the manufacture of building materials such as brick and blocks, while 120 million tonnes are going untapped.|
Indian services growth eased off the accelerator last month as new orders failed to keep up with January's blistering pace, a business survey showed ...
Move follows conciliatory meeting called by the Chief Labour Commissioner


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YOU can now learn how to make KFC’s famous fried chicken as the fast food giant is opening up its kitchens to the public for one day only.
A third of all branches across the UK will let customers behind the counters to see exactly how their favourite guilty pleasure is made.
KFC Customers can try their hands at frying and grilling chicken in KFC kitchens
Fans who buy tickets for the Open Kitchen event on Saturday, March 30 will get the chance to watch how the fast food is made everyday.
They’ll also learn how to bread chicken by hand, fry it until its crispy and build their own KFC burger using industrial sized sauce dispensers – before tucking into it.
But if you’re hoping you’ll learn the secret blend of 11 herbs and spices, you’ll be disappointed.
Even though customers will be making their chicken creations with the famous blend, it will be pre-made and the recipe won’t be revealed, KFC confirmed to The Sun.
KFC This could be you – you’ll learn how KFC workers build a KFC burger with an industrial sized mayonnaise dispenser
Most KFC workers don’t even know exactly what’s in the mix as it’s locked away in a secret vault and handed out on a need-to-know basis – even though a descendant leaked what could be the recipe three years ago.
Three hundred out of 900 UK restaurants are taking part in the one-day Open Kitchen event, and you can see where your nearest participating branch will be on the chain’s ticket website.
Sadly, you have to pay £5 to go behind the scenes and only 3,000 tickets are available – which works out at 10 tickets per store.
You’ll get a lot for your fiver though.
KFC Customers will get to coat their chicken in the secret blend of KFC spices – but won’t learn what’s in the mix
KFC You’ll get to make your own creations before eating them
As well as making and eating your own KFC custom burger, customers will also be given a piece of Original Recipe chicken, fries, drink, and a side worth £6.59.
Participants will also be handed a limited-edition KFC apron and hat, as well as some vouchers for future KFC freebies.
They tickets will be snapped up on a first-come, first-serve basis so you will have to be quick if you want to take part.
The profits from the ticket sales will be donated to KFC’s charity, the KFC Foundation, which helps local charities who support young people.
It’s not the first time KFC has opened up its kitchens.
KFC and Pizza Hut have made a popcorn chicken and gravy pizza – The Gravy Supreme
It ran a similar event back in 2017, when only 100 branches took part.
Tickets sold out in less than 30 minutes last time.
Rob Swain, chief operations officer at KFC UK & Ireland, said: “We want to welcome everyone in to give them the chance to see what makes [our chicken] so finger lickin’ good, and invite them to try keeping pace with our amazing team members.
“We can’t wait to show the nation how it’s done.”
EGG-CITING Find hidden double yolk egg in Haribo Starmix packs and you could win a holiday SAFETY WARNING Argos recalls pillow and coffee maker over fears they are unsafe for users DO NOT TURN ON B&Q recalls shower heads over fears they could scald you while washing BEEFED UP Burger King adds Black Angus burger to the menu – and it’s beefier than ever BLOOMING GREAT Mother’s Day gifts 2019 – Here’s how to save £15 off flowers this month CHEAP AS CHOC Here’s how to get £10 worth of Cadbury chocolate in time for Easter
You can find your nearest KFC branch using its online store finder tool.
We’ve revealed ten ways you can save money at the fried chicken chain.
It’s not just KFC where you can blag some freebies – Greggs and GBK offer goodies when you sign up to their apps too.
There are even more ways to get free food at other fast food chains – check out our guide.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Money team? Email us at email@example.com


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Town warns tiger on loose near Disneyland Paris, passers-by should stay away or be in a car
Talk about a special delivery. Sixty food banks in needy Prince George's County neighborhoods are getting free twice-a-month deliveries of fresh fruit and vegetables thanks to a local foundation.
Leather jacket tagged by Basquiat, other 1980s celebrities fetches $9,100 at NYC auction
Try these delicious and affordable recipes for potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie.
Target buys Pittsburgh technology firm promising 'Amazon-like' shopping experience in stores
Catnip for feline fans: New Northern California cafe offers coffee, cookies and cat cuddling
Agency: Pilot of crashed spaceship didn't know co-pilot unlocked brake; announcement required
NY woman celebrates 100th birthday with parachute jump; took 1st jump at 90
G-20 leaders converge on Australian city once derided as seedy over-sized county town
You may think you're being clean when you go through your morning routine, but your grooming habits may be a breeding ground for bacteria.
Md. inmates prepping 350 turkeys for charity Thanksgiving dinner in Baltimore
Warhol's portraits of Elvis and Brando, de Kooning sculpture highlight New York art auction
Two big retailers have released their Black Friday catalogs online, so you can do some browsing before you head out.
In Mexico, violent protests over missing college students scaring off tourists from Acapulco
Supreme Court clears way for gay marriage in Kansas; judge strikes down ban in South Carolina
Former Olympic swimmer Amy Van Dyken-Rouen is named grand marshal of the Fiesta Bowl parade
Glenn Close savors 'challenging' Broadway return in Edward Albee's 'A Delicate Balance'
Parents of surviving preemie twin wed in neonatal ICU at Fort Worth hospital
Jets safety Jaiquawn Jarrett goes from role player to playmaker in biggest game of NFL career
Hilary Swank co-hosts star-studded Thanksgiving TV special to help rescue dogs find homes
Hi: 42 °F | Lo: 31 °F


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Apr 05, 2013 at 20:22 | Source: Moneycontrol.com
Apr 01, 2012 at 08:51 | Source: Moneycontrol.com
Banks are eying to buy stakes in the National Payment Corporation of India, the nodal agency for the first-ever indigenous payment gateway RuPay, which charges less to banks as compared to two others: Visa and MasterCard. Currently, five more banks (both public and private sectors) are looking to take ownership in the NPCI.
Mar 31, 2012 at 15:49 | Source: Moneycontrol.com
Mar 28, 2012 at 14:28 | Source: Moneycontrol.com
Mar 23, 2012 at 13:55 | Source:
Aug 22, 2011 at 17:54 | Source: PTI
News across the web »
MUMBAI: The RuPay Card, India's only homegrown plastic money solution, will be crossing the last hurdle in its push to be present on all the e-payment gateways by getting accepted in the e-commerce s...
May 07, 2013 at 06:17 | Source: Economic Times
Kochi, April 19: Federal Bank has joined the Rupay League of India’s own domestic payment network. N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus of Infosys Ltd, unveiled the bank’s Rupay Brand ...
Apr 19, 2013 at 23:46 | Source: The Hindu BusinessLine
The desi version of card payment platform RuPay is moving to the next level. Come April, the cardholders can make transactions even online too, marking the next step for an offering rolled out by the ...
Mar 29, 2013 at 04:31 | Source: DNA India
New Delhi, Sept 15: Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) on Saturday became the first bank to offer ‘RuPay Kisan Card’ with ‘Aadhaar’ authentication. The Aadhaar number (unique ide...
Sep 15, 2012 at 23:41 | Source: The Hindu BusinessLine
Mumbai, Aug 24: To encourage the setting up of Point of Sale (PoS) terminals at merchant establishments, the National Payments Corporation of India has revised the interchange and switching fee for P...
Aug 24, 2012 at 21:52 | Source: The Hindu BusinessLine
Interact & exchange stock tips & market info »
10.21 AM Apr 26th 2012