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Caught in the dark: What Sandy can teach you about preparedness
Tim Pedersen of Emergency Essentials, a Utah-based preparedness retailer, recommended the same basic supplies for Utahns, focusing especially on light sources. Pedersen warned that power outages like the ones plaguing the East Coast threaten comfort and security, especially as the days get shorter.
"Psychologically, it's interesting that lighting tends to be a big one," he said. "Come 6 p.m., things just suddenly become uncertain. You can't see things very well … that's disorienting and also troubling."
Pedersen estimated that based on what he hears from customers, only about half of Utahns would be ready if a disaster struck today. While most would be able to survive in their homes for several days based on what they already have, he worries that many wouldn't have supplies ready in the event of an evacuation.
Means for communication and news can play a vital role in emergency situations, with social media taking a prominent role as Sandy unfolded. Mashable reported Tuesday that "We are safe" became the top Facebook status during the storm.
Pedersen recommends portable battery packs and solar charging units, which are smaller than generators and don't emit fumes, to charge mobile devices during an emergency.
Goal Zero, a Utah company, sells chargers and battery packs designed for personal electronics online and at several outdoor retailers with prices starting at about $130 for small kits. They can be used to recharge cell phones or other electronic devices.
While power companies make restoring power a top priority following an emergency in order to facilitate relief efforts, Dougherty said Utahns caught in an earthquake or a large storm could be without electricity for a week or more.
Generators can be used to power larger appliances like a refrigerator if families are able to invest in them and take safety concerns into account, Dougherty said. A variety of generators are available, ranging from portable models to built-in units that can power a house.
"A generator is an engine," he said. "You want to think about where that generator lives and where you store the fuel."
Something as simple as a hand-crank radio with the ability to charge a cellphone could be an option for someone with fewer power needs, Dougherty said.
Preparedness checklists and information are available at bereadyutah.gov.
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Condé Nast has reunited its Wired Magazine and Wired News online properties, buying back the online property for $25 million from Lycos after eight years of separation.
Wired News went to Lycos as part of a deal for Wired Digital in June 1999, which included Wired News, Hotbot, Hotwired and Webmonkey. Lycos will keep those other properties, while Wired News will be continue at www.wired.com under Condé Nast’s Web division, CondéNet.
“This is really a dream come true for us,” Steve Newhouse, chairman of the Advance.net Web division of Advance Publications, the parent company of Condé Nast Publications, told ClickZ. “It’s certainly wonderful to put the Wired brand back together under the same roof, but we’re also getting a great business in Wired News, which has a foundation of tremendous engagement, a sense of community, a large audience and a great brand. And it has all that at a moment when it really hasn’t been invested in under Lycos.”
Kourosh Karimkhany, a former editor and business manager at Wired News, was named general manager of the Wired News Internet business. Karimkhany was most recently director of business development at CondéNet.
Wired News has been run by about a dozen staffers located in the same office as Wired Magazine, and has run Wired Magazine content online as part of a contractual agreement. The site has also been through some rough times recently, including several rounds of layoffs, so the move is not unexpected.
In February, it sold its Quote.com financial portal to IDC for $30 million. Most recently, Lycos has made moves to become a broadband entertainment portal.
At the same time, Condé Nast is making an online push with its considerable offline media properties. In April, the company launched Brides.com, a portal combining content from three of its print magazines with exclusive online content. It also runs portals for food (Epicurious.com), travel (Concierge.com) and fashion (Style.com), all of which include some content from its offline properties.
Style.com is home to Vogue and W magazines, and Men.style.com is home to GQ and Details. Concierge houses Condé Nast Traveler, while Epicurious features content from Bon Appetit, Gourmet, House & Garden, and Self.

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As consumer behavior continues to change and online shopping further disrupts the sector, retailers must look to streamline their real estate presence.
Retailer Hudson’s Bay Company recently entered a global, multi-faceted strategic relationship with communal workspace network WeWork in which it will sell off some its property. The partnership is one of many similar strategies in which luxury retailers are scaling back their bricks-and-mortar presence.
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“HBC and WeWork have been working together to reimagine retail environments for current and future generations,” said Richard Baker, HBC’s Governor, Executive Chairman and interim CEO. “This is a transformative partnership that rethinks how retailers create exciting environments and leverage less productive space, while substantially improving the value proposition.”
Image credit: Saks Fifth Avenue - Saks Fifth Avenue's window displays for 2017's Glam Gardens: The Grand Garden Party.
One investor as part of the HBC has been pushing to scale back its retail real estate holdings. The investor believes it is too much space. The investor has been exemplifying the Sax Fifth Avenue flagship store as a case of too excess space.
However, it is the Lord & Taylor store of which HBC is in the process of selling off entirely to the communal workspace WeWork, due to its underperformance compared to Saks.
Land & Buildings recently released a statement urging Hudson Bay to make better decisions as its real estate is valued three times greater than the current share price.
Macy’s Bloomingdale’s has also shut down many stores and is scaling back its bricks-and-mortar real estate.
Smaller may be better in terms of bricks-and-mortar performance with even beauty retail giant Sephora opening a smaller boutique. The small store concept will fit in better with local markets, with one being opened in Boston.
Image credit: Sephora - The Sephora Studio.
The Neiman Marcus flagship store being constructed in Midtown in New York is also being scaled back. The store originally set to be 250,000 square feet is said to be reduced by 70,000 square feet as its investors worry about drawing in foot traffic.
Amazon and online shopping experiences continue to threaten bricks-and-mortar, with the number of store closings in the first half of this year outnumbering all of those that closed last year.
Many retailers are relying on discounts instead of sporadically offering them throughout the year for holidays and events to help attract shoppers in today’s tumultuous retail environment. However, ecommerce is continuing to move forward with sales in the first quarter increasing by 15 percent year-over-year.
Despite China’s continued position as the top spender for luxury goods, brands should consider scaling back their store footprint in the market, according to a new report from Boston Consulting Group.
Interested in learning more about Retail and how it affects your brand?
In the changing luxury market, the retail expansion that drove 60 percent of the growth in previous years will be replaced by organic growth, which will now account for 70 percent of the market’s development. With consumers slowing their purchases of hard luxury in favor of experiences, BCG advises a revamped bricks-and-mortar strategy that optimizes efficiency of square footage.
“Immediately upon closing, these transactions are expected to significantly strengthen HBC’s balance sheet, enhance our liquidity, and advance our core strategies by monetizing the Lord & Taylor Fifth Avenue building and increasing the productivity of key locations, which taken together, is expected to enable us to drive ongoing value creation,” Mr. Baker said.
Cover image credit: Lord & Taylor. Image: Lord & Taylor Fifth Avenue building.
Article originally published on Luxury Daily. Republished with permission.


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CHAMPION OF THE DAY
Tourism total output
$9.4 billion in 2017
Six percent growth expected this year
The contribution of travel and tourism to GDP was $9.4 billion last year, representing 18 percent of GDP, of which $7 billion were generated from foreign visitors, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).
The total amount includes direct contributions represented by subsectors such as hotels, travel agents, airlines and other passenger transportation, and other indirect contributions from investment and the supply chain.
The direct contribution of travel and tourism to GDP last year was $3.3 billion. The sector’s turnover remained stable last year after an eight percent drop in 2016.
WTTC expects travel and tourism’s direct contribution to GDP to grow by 6.2 percent in 2018, reaching $3.5 billion.
Jean Abboud, Chairman of the Syndicate of Travel and Tourism agencies, said: “This summer is promising. The political relations with the Gulf governments indicate that these countries will remove the travel ban and Gulf tourists will come back.” He said that previously, there were communications from Gulf governments to the travel agencies, which banned their citizen’s from booking tickets directly to Lebanon.
Abboud said: “The total results of the previous year were below our expectations. The activity was good in the first nine months, but it deteriorated in the last three months.”
Travel and tourism directly supports 131,500 jobs, accounting for 6.4 percent of total employment. The total contribution (direct and indirect) of travel and tourism supported 365,500 jobs.
The leisure segment generated 92 percent of the direct contribution of travel and tourism last year, compared with eight percent for spending on business travel.
According to the WTTC, travel and tourism attracted capital investment of around $1.4 billion last year.
Reported by Rania Ghanem
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Google's latest offering aims to compete with Evernote.
Google has launched the note-taking app Keep for Android and the web.
Keep will allow users to take and store notes on Google's cloud storage platform. The app aims to compete with similar services from firms such as Evernote. Google's latest feature comes following a brief pre-launch gaffe which unveiled Keep early.
"With Keep you can quickly jot ideas down when you think of them and even include checklists and photos to keep track of what's important to you," wrote Google software engineer Katherine Kuan in a blog post.
"Your notes are safely stored in Google Drive and synced to all your devices so you can always have them at hand."
Google's note-taking app allows for users to create notes via text, photos and voice memos. Keep saves created notes in Google's Drive, allowing them to be viewed across Google platforms.
Notes created by Keep can be colour-coded and prioritised based on importance. Google reports that Android users can also create Keep widgets on the OS to allow for quick access to notes.
Google's latest offering will look to compete with the similarly themed note-taking app Evernote. Released in 2010, Evernote is a note-taking app that is available across iOS, Windows Phone, the web and Android platforms.
The announcement for Keep comes following an accidental unveiling of the app earlier this month. Keep's app was briefly available on the web before quickly being taken down by Google.
Google's latest offering is released following the recent shutdown of its Google Reader service. The search giant's RSS reader was taken offline by the firm early this month. The Google Reader dismissal came with a public outcry by the service's fans.
The Keep app is currently available for download in the Google Play store. Android users running Android 4.0 or higher can use the app. Users on the web can also use the app by going to the Keep web page.
This article was originally published on V3.
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Latest WalkieTicket News
Apr 24, 2015
Follow @horwitzjosh KKBox , the Taipei-based music streaming firm, announced it has invested in WalkieTicket , a ticket vending startup from the same city. The terms and size of the investment aren’t disclosed, but the deal will make KKBox WalkieTicket’s largest institutional shareholder. Taiwan Family Mart, the domestic branch of the Japanese convenience store chain, also contributed to the round. Founded in 2010 by CEO Jay Wang, WalkieTicket works with local vendors to sell tickets for concerts and events. Users can purchase tickets directly through WalkieTickets’ website and apps, or through one of several third parties – most notably FamilyMart. The convenience store chain, which has over 2,900 outlets in Taiwan , sells a variety of goods and services through its FamiPort digital vending machines . KKBox’s own ticket-vending service KKTix launched in early 2014 , months after Spotify hit the island for the first time. As BusinessNext reports , the investment will see a complete merging of KKTix and WalkieTicket’s teams and technology. Users who head to WalkieTicket’s website will soon be redirected to KKTix.com The collaboration will see each party compensate for the other’s gaps. KKBox can help drive ticket sales through traffic on its music streaming app, while WalkieTicket, which is older than KKTix, can share its tight network of vendors. In addition, KKBox can draw from its data of user listening habits to recommend upcoming events. KKBox launched in 2005 as an Asian answer to iTunes, wherein users subscribed to unlimited music streams as an alternative to paid downloads or piracy. The company currently charges a monthly fee of NT$149 (about US$5) for access to its library, and is accessible in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand. It has over five million paying subscribers as of 2014, and raised US$104 in a funding round led by Singapore’s GIC last August. No all-you-can-eat free tier exists, but the company has said it will launch one soon . Spotify’s expansion into Asia in late 2013 led many Taiwanese to question the future KKBox. Co-founder Chris Lin told Tech in Asia last year that its long-standing relationships with long-tail labels in Asia would help it retain its users. Even so, the company continues to stay nimble. Besides launching KKTix and acquiring WalkieTicket, the company also invested in Paganini+ , a real-time bidding platform. That purchase will likely help pay the bills for a soon-to-launch free tier – a must-have in the age of Spotify and YouTube. KKTix isn’t the only high-profile ticket vending service in Taiwan. Accuvalley’s Accupass , modeled after Eventbrite, closed a series A round last year, making it one of the island’s best-funded startups. The company serves Taiwan and mainland China under two different names and business models. Editing by Michael Tegos, top image by DSLRNovice Read More
WalkieTicket Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Where is WalkieTicket's headquarters?
WalkieTicket's headquarters is located at Taipei.
What is WalkieTicket's latest funding round?
WalkieTicket's latest funding round is Corporate Minority.
Who are the investors of WalkieTicket?
Investors of WalkieTicket include KKBox.


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A Gucci sign is seen outside a shop in Paris, France, December 18, 2017. (REUTERS/File Photo/Charles Platiau)
The Gucci fashion house reported sales that slowed but still beat estimates, cushioning owner Kering’s landing after several years of soaring growth.
The Italian brand’s expansion was led by the Asia-Pacific region, making it the latest luxury label to show that Chinese consumers are still splashing out amid a deepening trade war with the US and protests in the Hong Kong shopping hub.
Gucci’s missed sales in Hong Kong were “in large part made up for” by other markets, Chief Financial Officer Jean-Marc Duplaix said on a call.
The brand’s sales rose 11 percent on a comparable basis in the third quarter. While that’s about 2 percentage points above analysts’ estimate, it’s down sharply from the 30 percent or more at which the label had been expanding over the past two years.
Earlier on Thursday, rival Hermes reported 15 percent quarterly growth excluding currency shifts. LVMH’s fashion and leather business previously posted a 19 percent gain for the latest period.
Despite the strength in China, Kering also faces questions over its U.S. business, which unexpectedly shrank during the second quarter. There was no improvement there in the latest three months, Duplaix said, and a turnaround will take time to bear fruit.
“Tourism is down,” he said, and “consumer sentiment is deteriorating.”
The Paris-based company is still looking for another brand to take up the slack as Gucci slows from its breakneck pace. Saint Laurent’s growth fell short of expectations in the latest quarter.
The smaller Bottega Veneta label, which had stagnated, is improving faster than expected after Kering ramped up investments in it. The company plastered trams and subway stations with ads to promote the brand’s revamped look from a young designer, Daniel Lee, hired last year from the ranks of LVMH’s Celine.
Kering reported sales after markets closed. The shares are up about 15 percent this year.
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LONDON (CBS.MW) -- Retailer Next surged after posting impressive Christmas season sales Tuesday, but the broader London market fell for the first time in 12 sessions, with pharmaceuticals leading the downturn.
The British pound continued its record-setting advance vs. the U.S. dollar, rising 0.9 percent to $1.8228, moving even higher against the dollar than the euro has in recent days. See currencies.
The FTSE 100 index (1805550) eased 0.2 percent to 4,505 and European markets also were lower. See European markets.
U.S. markets were mixed, with blue chips lower after mixed economic data but the tech-heavy Nasdaq higher. See market snapshot.
Next (NXT) gained over 10 percent after it said full year profits will be above internal forecasts, as full price sales during the Christmas week were well above expectations.
It said full year pre-tax profit will be at least 340 million pounds compared to 301 million. Like-for-like sales in the 304 stores that have been trading continuously for at least one year were 2.8 percent up compared to last year in the period from August 4 to December 24.
"We believe this performance is outstanding in the context of a very problematic market, and believe it is further convincing evidence that the Next brand is far from mature," said Citigroup Smith Barney analyst Charles Nichols.
The view that Next's performance does not translate to the wider industry was reflected in stock performance. French Connection (FCCN) eased 0.2 percent while Marks & Spencer's (MKS), which reportedly has lost market share in clothing sales, dipped 2 percent.
Also in the retail sector, the Confederation of British Industry said that retail sales for the first three weeks of December were sharply higher than in the same period in 2002.
Drug makers GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
The strong dollar had an impact on engineers GKN (GKN) and Tomkins (TOMK), which both fell over 3 percent.
Bunzl (BNZL), a packaging group that derives most of its revenue from the U.S., dropped 1.7 percent.
British Airways (BAY)


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Generation Next Blog
← The positive internet-incentive strategies, serious games, online education & learning • How the internet killed porn →
Facebook considers targeting under 13s
Faced with slowing growth in its advertising business, Facebook is considering throwing open its social network to children, in the hope that their parents will pay for games and other content on the site.
The plan is also designed to limit the company’s legal risk over the already-widespread use of the site by minors, millions of whom might be on Facebook after lying about their age.


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A new report from Jon Peddie Research (JPR) shows massive year-over-year growth across the PC market, but it comes with a warning. The report asserts that the massive demand for computing products will taper off, and overreactions from semiconductor suppliers could leave the market with a lot of chips without a home.
The pandemic brought huge demand for computers — in particular, laptops. The report shows a 49% increase in laptop sales year-to-year, which is the greatest single-year growth on record. In Q1 2021 alone, there were more than 89 million notebook shipments, which is an all-time high. To address this demand, semiconductor executives like Intel’s Pat Gelsinger have promised to ramp up production over the next few years, but Jon Peddie, President of JPR, says that’s a risky proposition.
“The risk is that semiconductor suppliers will be lured into over-reaction and believe that suddenly 100s of millions of new users have appeared and the demand will stay high,” Peddie wrote. “That’s not only not realistic, it’s also not true — where are they coming from — not this planet?”
The impact of this overcompensation isn’t just spare chips on hand. It could indicate an impending market crash. Semiconductor manufacturer TSMC, as well as Nvidia, AMD, and MediaTek, have hit all-time high stock prices throughout 2020 and 2021. Intel has seen huge growth, too, though its current stock spike is still slightly below a boost it saw in 2000.
Market analysts say these stocks are vastly overvalued at the moment, and a big reason why is cryptocurrency mining. Crypto mining has made companies like Nvidia very profitable during 2020. We’ve been here before. In 2014 and 2018, the GPU market experienced crashes after the value of Bitcoin tapered off. This naturally impacted the stock market, and Nvidia saw more than a 50% dip in its stock value.
The difference this time is scale. In 2018, Nvidia dropped from a share price of around $280 to a low of $130. Only a few years later, Nvidia’s stock is trading for as much as $700. Similarly, TSMC was trading at around $45 in March 2020. Now, the stock trades closer to $120.
We may have been here with cryptocurrency demand, but we haven’t been here with cryptocurrency demand compounded by a pandemic. JPR noted a 38.74% increase year-over-year in the GPU market, which is likely explained by increased cryptocurrency mining demand. When you combine that with the never-before-seen growth of the laptop market, the risk of overcompensation starts to become clear.
Given how clearly profitable the increased demand has made chip suppliers, we probably won’t see a light-touch approach when it comes to chip supply. It’s important to rebuild supply chains, but a large drop-off in demand could spell disaster for the semiconductor industry.
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- Don’t buy a cheap GPU in 2024


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As Nintendo announced, the mobile platformer “Super Mario Run” was downloaded nearly 150 million times. However, Nintendo points out that the responsible persons are still not satisfied with the generated sales.
In the course of the day, the first details of Nintendo’s performance in the past financial year (April 1, 2016 – March 31, 2017) were sifting through.
Among other things, the Japanese traditional company announced that the Switch platform, which was released in early March, was a successful launch and has already been delivered 2.7 million times. Also on the commercial development of the in-house mobile titles, Nintendo entered, highlighting above all the platformer “Super Mario Run”.
Super Mario Run: Downloaded almost 150 million times
As Tatsumi Kimishima, President of Nintendo, confirmed in a brief statement, “Super Mario Run” is rapidly approaching the next milestone and has been downloaded nearly 150 million times worldwide.
However, Nintendo has continued to struggle with the problem that the majority of the players are satisfied with the free trial version and has little interest in purchasing the approximately ten euro expensive full version. Without mentioning a handful of figures, Kimishima states that “Fire Emblem Heroes” does not even take a tenth of the downloads of “Super Mario Run”.
Despite all this, Nintendo’s “Fire Emblem Heroes” and the underlying Free2Play concept have generated more sales than “Super Mario Run”.


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American Girl + Xbox Collab To Celebrate Girls In Gaming
America Girl and Xbox are rolling out a set to celebrate girls in gaming
If you have a daughter who is a big fan of playing video games (and loves dolls), we have exciting news. American Girl is collaborating with XBox to celebrate girls in gaming and the set they’re rolling out will be a huge hit with girls who enjoy video games.
“American Girl and Xbox are teaming up to break down the outdated notion of what a “gamer” looks like—more than 214 million people in the US play video games and more women are gaming than ever before (41%),” a press release from American Girl reads. To that end, the company is debuting a new gaming set and outfit to fit their dolls on June 10.
The adorable set includes an 18” doll scaled version of the Xbox Series X console, two Xbox game discs, a headset, two Xbox Wireless Controllers, a faux cell phone, a pretend Xbox Game Pass card, an American Girl branded chair, water bottle, candy box, fidget spinner and sticker sheet to customize the Xbox Series X console and a 30-day Xbox Game Pass Ultimate code.
The gamer girl outfit features a red hooded sweatshirt with an Xbox Wireless Controller graphic on the front, black denim jeans, and canvas sneakers to fit an 18” American Girl doll.
American Girl has countless sets for just about every interest a child could possibly have. Seeing them continue to grow and adapt to what modern kiddos are into is pretty exciting for us moms who grew up playing with the dolls too. And AG definitely still sees us Millennial mommas based on their recent announcement that they’re bringing back the original six dolls we all know and love. Samantha Parkington, Kirsten Larson, Molly McIntire, Felicity Merriman, Addy Walker and Josefina Montoya are currently available for purchase.
The gaming set and outfit will all be available in the U.S. and Canada (AmericanGirl.com, 12 American Girl stores in the U.S. and at Indigo, a bookstore chain in Canada).


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The European Commission, the body that polices EU law, has made its position clear on the abuse of LVCR in the Channel Islands in a letter to RAVAS.
Referring to a recent meeting with UK Officials the Commission states that the UK Authorities “are aware of the problems that LVCR is creating and are firmly committed to putting an end to them” . The letter goes on to hint at the arrival of “further and more far reaching changes than those already implemented by the Budget Act”.
In the 2011 Budget George Osborne announced that LVCR would be reduced to £15 from all destinations into the UK but it is now clear that further restrictive measures are imminent. Whilst it is not certain what these will be, it is likely that a range of goods will be removed from LVCR altogether either by derogation from the relief entirely or under Article 22 of the LVCR directive 83/81 which allows member states to “exclude goods which have been imported on mail order from the exemption” . In theory this could be applied purely to The Channel Islands in order to combat the ongoing abuse and to prevent LVCR being used for tax avoidance, but it could also be applied to any other offshore location from which LVCR abuse is taking place.
The Commission close their letter by reiterating that they will consider formal infringement procedures against the UK if the measures introduced by the UK Authorities are not sufficient to deal with the abuse of LVCR.
It is now clear that the LVCR offshore fulfilment industry is an abuse of EU law and one that will soon be history. Millions of pounds in VAT currently lost to the UK taxpayer will now be saved and UK businesses struggling to compete with VAT free mail order prices on the home market, will at last be free to compete on a level playing field again.
RAVAS Spokesperson Richard Allen sums up the EU’s decision :
“ It’s very simple really. EU law states that member states must ensure that LVCR is not used for tax avoidance. The UK has clearly failed to do that. The idea that LVCR was designed to provide companies with a means of selling goods, that were intended for consumption in the UK, VAT free in the UK is and always has been, a myth “


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Waze adds Audible integration on Android and iOS devices
Today, Waze announced that Audible has joined its Audio Player Program, thus allowing drivers to listen to their favorite audiobooks, podcasts, as well as more than 600,000 Audible Originals. Audible members can start listening on Waze by opening the app and tapping the music note icon to select Audible as their audio player.
Currently, Waze offers integration with multiple streaming services, including Spotify, YouTube Music, iHeartRadio, and Amazon Music. You'll just have to select whichever audio player you prefer if you're subscribed to more than one streaming service.


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Dakar 18 will receive its first ever piece of DLC later this year with the addition of the Dakar Series: Desafío Ruta 40 rally.
The new rally, set across five new countryside stages in Argentina, adds over 12,000km² to Dakar 18’s huge open world which will soon boast a total size of over 30,000km². The DLC includes brand new road books which are once again based on the original road books given to drivers during the real-world event.
You can view the upcoming DLC in the trailer below.
Developer Bigmoon Entertainment has stated the DLC “will be free for all owners of Dakar 18 for a limited amount of time“, no actual release date has been given at this time.
Paulo J. Gomes CEO of Bigmoon Entertainment states:
“Not only do we want to offer more content to our fans and fans of the Dakar franchise, but we also want to take this chance to honor all competitors facing the multiple harsh challenges of the Dakar Rallies every year, in particular to the heroes who didn’t have the chance to reach the finish line.”


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Most recently Fallon served as the U.S. vice president of retail marketing and development at Ludorum. Prior to Ludorum, Fallon worked for Peanuts Worldwide, formerly United Media.
"Fallon brings a diverse background and proven track record in sales, retail and brand development to Big Tent Entertainment,” says Collins. "We are very happy to have Fallon join our team as we embark on rapid global expansion."
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Tag Archives: Snapchat
The messaging app just unveiled its new Cat Lenses feature. Cat Lenses allows you to put filters on your cat, which was previously reserved only for human faces, of course. You can even include yourself in the photo and use matching filters on both you and your cat. Snapchat announced the update on Twitter with the caption, “Lenses. For cool cats and their cool cats Try them meow.”
The update builds on the object recognition software added to the app last year, according to TechCrunch. That technology allowed you to identify or bring up a sales page for an object.
Cat Lenses are just the latest of Snapchat’s seemingly unending ideas. Earlier this week, Snap said it would bring original programming to its signature app including scripted shows and docuseries.
Her whole message ran just 18 words, and that includes “sooo” and “ugh.” It all ads up to more than $ 72 million lost, for each word she wrote.
sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me… ugh this is so sad.
— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) February 21, 2018
So, was it simply a tweet? Is Jenner just throwing in with the 1.2 million people who signed a petition objecting to Snapchat’s recent redesign?
Or is there something else going on?
I don’t have any inside information, but the timing of the tweet–the exact timing–makes me raise an eyebrow.
Here’s the background. Jenner is a social media influencer of the first order, making between $ 250,000 and $ 500,000 per post, according to one estimate.
That’s more money for a single post that almost everyone who reads this article makes in a year. Big-time influencer money.
Pretty impressive performance for a woman who won’t even be able to drink legally in the United States until August 10 of this year. But Jenner is a Kardashian (half-sister of Kourtney, Kim and Khloé Kardashian).
Whatever else anyone may say, the Kardashians are brilliant marketers. I’m not exactly their demo, but I have to respect something about what they’ve managed to build.
And, whatever else they do, they don’t do things like this without thinking it through.
So, three things.
First, the change in Snap’s design potentially impacts the degree to which Jenner–heck, any of the Kardashians–can make money on the platform. Those 1.2 million Snapchat users who signed the petition? They’re her audience.
If there’s a change, of course she’d make noise. Double irony points for doing so on Twitter.
Second, the timing of the tweet: 4:50 p.m. Eastern time–less than an hour after the U.S. markets closed.
Recently, I wrote about how Mark Zuckerberg’s post in January about changing how Facebook’s news feed works sent his company’s stock into a tumble, and devaluing his own stake by $ 3 billion. Next time he posted, he did it outside trading hours.
So, by posting just outside trading hours, it’s almost as if Jenner knew she could impact Snap’s share price–but didn’t want to overwhelm it.
I don’t have any inside information. It’s just a hunch, but it feels like a a warning shot: Hey Snap, pay attention to what I can do if I want to!
But, it also feels like it’s not intended as a fatal blow. In fact, KJ did tweet again, reminding Snap that it was her “first love.”
Sure enough, the stock price rebounded later Thursday, too. All’s well that ends well, right?
At least until the next tweet.
still love you tho snap … my first love
— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) February 21, 2018
When Google launched its Pixel 2 flagship smartphone last year, it included something of a surprise: A co-processor called Pixel Visual Core, the company’s first homegrown, consumer-facing piece of silicon. And while that feels like a momentous foray, the co-processor has lain dormant for months. Monday, Pixel Visual Core goes to work.
As it turns out—and as Google had nodded at previously—the hidden chip inside every Pixel serves a narrow but critical purpose. It will use its eight custom cores, its ability to crunch 3 trillion operations per second, all in the service of making your photos look better. Specifically, the photos you take through third-party apps like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Snapchat.
Those are the three partners at the Pixel Visual Core switch-flipping; since it’s open to all developers, more will presumably follow. They’ll all gain the powers to produce Google’s HDR+ images, photos that rely on a series of post-processing tricks to make images shot with the Pixel appear more balanced and lifelike. Photos taken with the Pixel Camera app have already benefited from HDR+ powers since launch—that’s one reason Pixel 2 earned the highest marks yet given to a smartphone by industry-standard photo-rater DxOMark. But Pixel Visual Core will extend the feature to the streams, feeds, and snaps of Pixel owners as well, after an update that will roll out early this week.
To understand why Google would devote its first homemade smartphone processor to a relatively narrow function—not just photography, but HDR+ specifically—it helps to understand the importance of HDR+ to the Pixel’s photo prowess. For starters, it’s not the HDR you’re used to.
“HDR+ actually works shockingly differently,” says Isaac Reynolds, project manager for Pixel Camera. Where HDR essentially tries to combine three or so simultaneous exposures for the best result, HDR+ takes up to 10 identical underexposed shots. “We take them all and chop them into little bits, and line them on top of one another, and average the image together,” says Reynolds, who ticks off the reduction in noise and color quality as just two of the benefits.
That’s not just hype, or at least not entirely. HDR+ really does have tangible benefits—especially in Google’s implementation.
“HDR+ technology is a very good technology for noise and data preservation. This removes the noise in the picture,” says Hervé Macudzinski, manager of DxOMark.com. “That enables Google to provide a nice picture with low level noise high level detail.”
You can see an example of what that means in the below before-and-after shots, with the usual caveat that Google provided them, and your own experience may vary.
The various benefits of HDR+ are also more or less pronounced depending on the conditions of the shot you’re taking. It helps especially bringing clarity to low-light images, or to give an assist if you for some reason take a portrait with the sun at someone’s back.
Google’s not the only company capable of this particular trick, but its execution clearly stands apart.
“The HDR+ is very impressive because they did something very efficient,” says Macudzinski. “If you want to do that, it’s going to be optimized and very powerful.”
Pixel Visual Core will also power two related photographic enhancements; RAISR, a technique to sharpen zoomed-in shots, and Zero Shutter Lag, which is exactly what it sounds like.
Until now, these optimizations have been off limits for third-party developers. Photos taken within the Instagram app, for instance, look a bit muddled compared to those taken with the Pixel’s native camera app. Which is where Pixel Visual Core comes in.
Sharing the Wealth
The primary benefit of the Pixel Visual Core, now that it’s on? You still won’t even notice it, says Ofer Shacham, the chip’s engineering manager.
“If we look at HDR+ as a key benchmark for us, it gives us the ability to run five times faster than anything else in existence, while consuming about 1/10th of the energy of the battery. We can put it under the hood,” says Schacham. “We basically hide it. That’s what enables every developer to use it, while not consuming energy from the battery, and even better, reducing the energy consumption from the battery while those applications take pictures.”
That also hints at why Google decided to go it alone with Pixel Visual Core, rather than rely on the powerful Snapdragon 835 processor that handles the bulk of the Pixel 2’s computational needs. The Pixel Visual Core offers not just customization, but flexibility.
“Google in a sense is a software and algorithm company,” says Schacham. “We want something that allows us to rapidly innovate, rapidly change the algorithm, rapidly improve it.”
To that end, the Pixel Visual Core is also programmable. That means while it works primarily in service of HDR+ today, it could go toward making other applications zip in the future, a possibility that Schacham acknowledges, while declining to go into detail on what sorts of use cases Google envisions.
More broadly, though, the Pixel Visual Core represents Google’s first foray into an increasingly common trend of smartphone manufacturers rolling their own silicon, giving itself tighter control over its product and weaning itself off of chip giant Qualcomm.
“I think it’s significant in that, first off, Google is an advertising company, who is also an operating system provider, and they are going more deeply vertical in what they’re doing by adding semiconductor features to enhance the experience,” says Patrick Moorhead, president of Moor Insights & Strategies. “Any time somebody in software gets into hardware, interesting things happen—as in interesting really good, or interesting really bad.”
It would also make sense, Moorhead says, for Google to extend its processor plans beyond Pixel Visual Core. Microsoft uses a custom system-on-a-chip for the Xbox. Apple’s A series SoC has contributed greatly to the iPhone’s dominance. And with Google having poached a key Apple chip designer last summer, it seems unlikely that an HDR+ coprocessor is the end of the line.
For now, though, Pixel 2 owners can look forward to adding an HDR+ veneer to their social media pics—while waiting Google’s broader ambitions to come more fully into focus.
(Reuters) – China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd has bought a 12 percent stake in Snapchat parent Snap Inc, a regulatory filing showed on Wednesday.
Snap said Tencent acquired 145.8 million shares of its non-voting Class A common stock through open market purchases this month. bit.ly/2zqvybE
Snap had about 1.2 billion shares outstanding.
Reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar


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When it comes to collaborations, beauty mogul Kim Kardashian West prefers to make it a family affair. After collaborating with her mother Kris Jenner, Kim teamed up with her sisters, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian for a bomb collection. Along with a stunning photoshoot, Kim dropped a major announcement of collaborating with Kourt and Khloe for KKW Fragrance’s latest collection.
Called Diamonds II, the three perfumes come in a different jewel tone representing symbolic meaning to each sister.
Available in ruby, emerald and sapphire, these fragrances are rich, sultry and sensual that would make you reel in the feels! While Kim’s floral emerald musk symbolizes prosperity, Kourtney’s floral ruby represents passion and loyalty. Khloe’s sapphire signifies peace and positivity.
These new set of fragrances would be available on Friday, 09.18 at 12PM PT at KKWFRAGRANCE.COM.
Well, we can’t wait for these BOMBS to drop in the market. What about you?


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Maruti Suzuki India is trading higher by 3% at Rs 1,141, extending its about 4% rally in past two days after the country's largest car maker said it will invest Rs 4,000 crore to set up a new production facility in Gujarat by 2015-16.
“The company has on Saturday signed State Support Agreement (SSA) with the Government of Gujarat for purchase of land near Mehsana to set up an all new manufacturing facility", Maruti Suzuki India said in a filing.
“The overall capacity in the first phase will be 250,000 units. This new facility will take Maruti Suzuki’s combined manufacturing capacity to 2 million units by 2015-16,” it added.
Meanwhile, according to media reports the company has cut some production of its petrol cars and focusing on boosting output of diesel cars. The demand for petrol cars are comes down due to a sharp rise in fuel prices.
The stock opened at Rs 1,109 and hit a high of Rs 1,142 on the BSE. A combined 713,519 shares have changed hands on the counter so far on both the exchanges.


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The Delhi government may return to the old liquor policy after facing a lot of flak from the Opposition, a media report said.
The old excise policy will be reimplemented in the national capital on August 31. According to a PTI report on Thursday, the Delhi government is likely to operate as many as 500 liquor vends from September 1. The move comes amid the absence of no private players in the retail sale of alcohol, officials told the news agency.
A meeting was held on Thursday and a sub-committee of the Delhi govt gave a report stating, “that the four undertakings — Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC), Delhi State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Stores (DCCWS) and Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation (DSCSC) — will set up these vends by the end of this month.”
The report further added that another 200 vends will be added by the end of the year and out of these 700 outlets, each corporation will run five premium vends to sell high-end brands. Out of these five liquor vends, two are expected to open up by month end, while the other three will be opened up by end of 2022.
While DTTDC will run its stores in 1-9 zones, DSIIDC will run stores in 10-18 zones, DCCWS in 19-24 and DSCSC in 25-30. The DTTDC will be responsible for the airport zone, and DSIIDC will be responsible for managing areas under Delhi Cantonment and New Delhi Municipal Council.
According to the report presented by the sub-committee, DTTDC and DSIIDC are expected to open as many as 150 liquor vends each by month end, whereas, DCCWS and DSCSC will open 100 stores. By December 31, 2022, DTTDC and DSIIDC will add 60 more stores, and DCCWS and DSCSC will add 40 more fresh outlets each.
In the old excise regime that was in place until November 17 2021, the four corporations ran 475 liquor vends.


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China Telecom announced its MVNO partnership with Everything Everywhere in January.
The first Chinese-owned MVNO to be operated outside China has been launched by China Telecom and Everything Everywhere.
China Telecom’s MNVO (mobile virtual network operator) runs on Everything Everywhere’s UK network and is tailored specifically to Chinese people living in and visiting the UK.
China Telecom (Europe) MD Yan Ou said: ‘We are very excited to launch the CTExcelbiz brand into the UK, and offer the Chinese population here services that have not been available to them before. With Transatel’s help, we have been able to get up and running very quickly, and we look forward to expanding our international relationship with Everything Everywhere to launch in other European markets over the coming months.”
“With increasing numbers of Chinese visitors to the UK, we will be rolling out innovative and targeted mobile services to our customers,” said Yan Ou, Managing Director of China Telecom in Europe.
“These will include the provision of a local Chinese number for friends and family to call; a chat application for customers to share content with each other; and an information service hotline in Chinese targeted at travellers to the UK, to name just a few.”
Everything Everywhere VP of wholesale and M2M Marc Overton said: ‘We’re delighted that CTExcelbiz has been readied for launch in just a few months. China Telecom Europe has some exciting plans for this brand, and Everything Everywhere will ensure they have all the tools they need to provide their customers with the outstanding voice and mobile data capabilities you would expect from the UK’s largest mobile communications company.’


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Correction: This article originally stated that Stadia users would not be able to play games they had purchased if those games were removed from sale – this is incorrect. The article has been updated accordingly.
To say the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 has been a mess would be a gross understatement. In a week that has involved gamers returning their PS4 and Xbox One copies of the game in droves, and CD Projekt Red falsely guaranteeing refunds to said gamers, the dream of diving into Night City with previous gen hardware has crashed and burned. And yet, the experience of players on Google Stadia couldn’t be more removed from this week’s antics.
When it became apparent that gamers and critics wouldn’t have a proper look at Cyberpunk 2077 on older consoles until launch day, my gut warned me to avoid these copies like the plague. At the same time however, I don’t have a gaming PC with hardware powerful enough to run a game like Cyberpunk, leaving me with just one option: Google Stadia.
Until now, I’ve held out a healthy dose of scepticism towards Stadia and cloud gaming in general. After all, Google has a history of shutting down numerous services over the years (RIP Google Play Music), so there’s still an inherent risk with investing wholeheartedly in the Stadia concept. While these feelings haven’t been completely diminished, I do feel that Stadia has mounted a case for why it’s a valuable service in the frenetic launch of Cyberpunk 2077.
The benefits here have been two-fold. Firstly – and most importantly – the Stadia version of Cyberpunk is far more stable than its console counterpart. With the exception of a few floating objects and some ventriloquist-style dialogue, the experience has been largely fine, without any of the game-breaking bugs and PS1 Hagrid graphics currently plaguing console gamers.
Secondly, once midnight hit on December 10, I was able to bypass any downloads and dive straight into the game – something that infuriated the PC gamers on the team as they sat staring as a slow-moving progress bar. In this regard, I’d argue that Stadia offers one of the best ways to play Cyberpunk right now, and the opportunity to do so has only expanded with the recent rollout of Stadia to iPhone and iPad devices.
Any issues that I faced were largely down to my internet connection, but moments of lag or freezing can largely be bypassed if you have a high-speed connection available. Although it is worth noting that in order to play a title like Cyberpunk in 4K, you must also be a paying member of Stadia Pro, otherwise it’s good old fashioned 1080p for you.
Related: Cyberpunk 2077 Music Guide
While this week could have been a home-run for Stadia’s marketing, it’s worth pointing out that the service went offline not once, but twice in the span of just a few days. Admittedly, this is a rare occurrence for Stadia (and the majority of Google’s services for that matter), but it did remind me that cloud gaming is not a fool-proof system.
For an avid gamer, there’s nothing worse than clocking off at the end of a long day, only to find that your sole means of playing a game is unavailable due to some unforeseen technical issue. For that reason, I could never imagine having a set-up that didn’t include at least one console for gaming offline, but for power-hungry titles like Cyberpunk, Stadia may have found its best use-case yet.


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For nearly every area of Thrive Market's business, additions to its online catalog of products are based on listening to customer feedback, said Jeremiah McElwee, chief merchandising officer at Thrive Market.
Roughly two years ago, the direct-to-consumer online retailer launched its sustainable seafood program, which ensures all of its products are sustainably caught and meet GAP (good agricultural practices) standards. Thrive Market also has a sustainable meat program which includes grass-feed beef products sourced from Argentina where cows can roam outdoors for 365 days a year and a pasture chicken program for its poultry products.
Its frozen meat and seafood line was a success with its customer base of 500,000+ members who started requesting more easy-to-prep meal solutions using frozen ingredients.
"The momentum of that really carried into our next step into frozen which has been frozen meals," said McElwee. "They didn’t want another meal kit that some of our other competitors were putting forward, they really wanted that heat-and-eat solution."
Last month, Thrive Market launched a line of paleo and plant-based frozen meals made from its premium proteins, organic and non-GMO ingredients, and free from preservatives and other additives. Its launch also coincided with the online retailer's long-term partner, Primal Kitchen's extension into frozen meals, whose products are also sold on Thrive Market's site.
It's foray into the frozen meals set is just the beginning, added McElwee, who said Thrive Market will continue to expand its frozen food offerings.
"We’re not done. We’re going to keep launching new meals into the category. We have some exciting partnerships coming this fall," he said.
Frozen food signifies fresh to consumers
"Even prior to COVID [the frozen food category] was growing double digits," McElwee said.
According to a report by the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), mid-March sales of frozen food products surged 94% compared to the same period in 2019. Even as sales declined after the initial panic shopping and freezer loading, frozen food sales still remained elevated at 30% to 35% in April compared to the same month the year prior, reported AFFI.
The perception of frozen food has also changed (for the better) with the advent of more advanced flash-freezing technologies -- which freeze food products on the spot sealing in freshness and nutrient quality-- and faster, more responsive supply chain models in which products reach consumers in shorter time frames.
"People are realizing that freezing products on the spot is a great way to preserve nutrient integrity and keep the freshness in the product," said McElwee.
"Because we’re direct to consumer, we don’t have warehouses where products are sitting on the shelf for months on end. We’re literally building to order versus a traditional frozen environment where products can sit at a distributor," explained McEwlee.
"You just don’t know much time has elapsed whereas in our environment we’re literally making them to order."
Supply chain hiccups
It's been over three months since most of the country went into varying degrees of quarantine and even as states reopen up their economies and consumers can return to restaurants and other foodservice outlets, Thrive Market is still feeling the impact of social distancing and shelter-in-place orders.
"We’ve seen a dramatic uptick in sales volume and we really haven’t seen much of a drop off at all," McElwee said. Operating as a direct-to-consumer business in the midst of global pandemic hasn't been without evolving supply chain challenges, which the retailer has done its best to navigate and mitigate to ensure it's getting products to consumers, many of whom are located in parts of the country where access to organic, non-GMO, and sustainable products is more scarce.
"The challenge has been throughout the supply chain have been there have been some pretty major blockages," said McElwee. "We’re still seeing hiccups [for example from overseas partners such as its Italian pasta program in which many shipments have been delayed due to port closures]."
However, as the company works through the kinks, McElwee said the business is getting back to some normalcy.
"We’re in pretty good shape right now – we’re running between 85% and 90% in-stocks across the network."
WEBINAR: Unlocking Innovation: Preventive health, wellness, and nutrition (self-care in focus)Hear more insights from Jeremiah McElwee into how consumers are thinking about health and wellness in the second webinar in FoodNavigator-USA's global Unlocking Innovation webinar series on July 23, which also features experts from IRI, ADM and Beneo.
Signing up gives you access to all of the webinars (when you get the confirmation email, select those you are interested in and add them to your calendar.) Register HERE.
The US-focused events are:
- June 29: Navigating the new normal: NPD and the evolving consumer landscape
- July 23: Preventive health, wellness and nutrition (self-care in focus)
- July 30: Startups, new business development, and funding
- August 6: Sustainability in focus: From environmentally-friendly packaging to responsible ingredients sourcing


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Epic Games may be adding another Warzone and Apex Legends-like feature to Fortnite soon in the form of a sliding mechanic, according to a new Fortnite leak.
Fans of Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Warzone have been pleading with game developers to take inspiration from one another and incorporate new features into their respective games for a long time.
While each of the standout battle royales is distinct in its own way, those decisions have resulted in the adaptation of features such as respawning mechanics, loot vaults, and vehicles for the three games in question.
Epic Games appears to be set to bring a movement mechanic that both Warzone and Apex use as the various developers continue to innovate and take their respective games to the next level.
As reported by HYPEX, the Fortnite developers are working on a new movement type called Sliding.
“When you slide, it will increase your FOV by 15 and make your camera shake, with a 2 second cooldown,” HYPEX wrote. “I have no idea when it will be released or if it will be an item!”
While details about the change are scarce, many players have already noted how divisive the sliding movement has been in Warzone, and it can also be used in Apex Legends from time to time.
However, with a rumored Fortnite cooldown in place, some of the disadvantages may be mitigated. You wouldn’t be able to snake around like CoD players do in gunfights to gain an advantage.
If it’s an item, it could simply be a gimmick, like the ice blocks from previous Fortnite seasons, which provided a movement boost but weren’t game-breaking.
It remains to be seen which direction Epic will take with things, but it will certainly be interesting.


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At the Google I/O conference earlier this year, Google revealed that the Android Market would come to the Google TV set-top platform. Some evidence of the Honeycomb-based Google TV refresh surfaced in June when screenshots from developer hardware were leaked. Google TV development is now being opened to a broader audience.
In a post on the official Google TV blog, the search giant has announced the availability of a Google TV add-on for the Android SDK. The add-on is an early preview that will give third-party developers an opportunity to start porting their applications to Google TV.
The SDK add-on will currently only work on Linux desktop systems because it relies on Linux's native KVM virtualization system to provide a Google TV emulator. Google says that other environments will be supported in the future. Unlike the conventional phone and tablet versions of Android, which are largely designed to run on ARM devices, the Google TV reference hardware uses x86 hardware. The architecture difference might account for the lack of support in Android's traditional emulator.
We are planning to put the SDK add-on to the test later this week so we can report some hands-on findings. We suspect that the KVM-based emulator will offer better performance than the conventional Honeycomb emulator that Google's SDK currently provides for tablet development.
In addition to the SDK add-on, Google has also published a detailed user interface design guideline document that offers insight into best practices for building a 10-foot interface that will work will on Google TV hardware. The document addresses a wide range of issues, including D-pad navigation and television color variance.
The first iteration of Google TV flopped in the market and didn't see much consumer adoption. Introducing support for third-party applications could make Google TV significantly more compelling to consumers. The ability to trivially run applications like Plex could make Google TV a lot more useful. It's also worth noting that Android's recently added support for game controllers and other similar input devices could make Google TV hardware serve as a casual gaming console.


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TORONTO, ON – Molson Coors has announced that one of its most popular premium brands will soon be available in Canada, albeit under a slightly different name.
Blue Moon, the Belgian-style wheat ale developed by brewmaster Keith Villa at the Coors Sandlot Brewery 20 years ago, will be known as Belgian Moon when it makes its debut in Canada next month.
“Blue Moon was inspired by the flavourful Belgian Wits of Belgium, but created with a twist, including using Valencia orange peel, instead of the traditional tart Curaçao orange peel, for a subtle sweetness and with oats added for a creamy, inviting finish,” says Villa in a press release announcing the launch. “As a brewmaster and beer lover, I am passionate about exploring and sharing new beer tastes and am excited to help bring this beer to Canadian drinkers.”
Belgian Moon will be available on draught at licensed establishments across Canada starting August 15th, with a retail roll-out to follow next January.


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NEW DELHI: Chinese handset maker OnePlus has announced a limited period discount of Rs 2,000 on its flagship killer smartphone, OnePlus One.
The 64 GB variant of OnePlus One now costs Rs 19,998 and is available for purchase on e-commerce market place Amazon.co.in. The offer is valid only for June 18th, the company said.
OnePlus had announced an industry-first ‘extended warranty’ service for its smartphone users in India.As part of this initiative, all service related issues till date and henceforth pending for more than 15 working days at service centres will automatically get a 3 months extended warranty.
The company has also launched a Bamboo StyleSwap Cover for the device which costs Rs 1,499 on Amazon.
Xiaomi has also announced a permanent price cut for its Xiaomi Mi 4 64GB model. The device is currently retailing at Rs. 19,999, down from the Rs. 23,999 launch price. The move is also timed around the price cut of the Mi 4 16GB variant, which is now Rs. 5,000 cheaper than its launch price of Rs. 19,999.


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COLOMBO, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Over 260,000 Chinese tourists travelled in Sri Lanka in 2018, and the government hopes to attract a higher number this year, Sri Lanka's Tourism Ministry said here on Thursday.
According to official statistics, 18,283 Chinese tourists visited the island country in December alone, with the entire year recording 265,965 Chinese arrivals.
"This year we want to attract a higher number of tourists especially from China and India. We hope to launch mega publicity campaigns in some key cities in these two countries," Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said.
According to a statement released from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) last week, Sri Lanka received 2.3 million tourists last year, with December recording the highest number of arrivals with over 250,000 tourists.
China, India, Britain and Germany continued to be the leading markets in 2018 while a significant growth was also seen from Australia.
The Sri Lankan government has set a target to attract 3 million tourists with an earning of 4 billion US dollars this year.


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Daily Current Affairs 8 February 2023 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.
NOTE: To read complete Current Affairs, subscribe to our plan. All important news are not covered here.
India signs MoU with Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle Joint Business Council to promote adoption of energy efficiency
The three days Working group meeting of G20 on energy transition concluded in Bengaluru.
- On the sidelines, India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle Joint Business Council (IMT-GT JBC), Malaysia to further promote the adoption of energy efficiency and sustainable practices in the region.
- Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Power, signed the (MoU) with the IMT-GT JBC Malaysia coinciding with the India Energy Week celebrations. The next meeting of the working group will be held in Gujarat.
BANKING & FINANCE
PhonePe launches cross-border UPI payments service
PhonePe said it has launched a service that will allow the fintech firm’s Indian users traveling abroad to pay foreign merchants using Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
- ‘UPI international’ supports merchant outlets in UAE, Singapore, Nepal and Bhutan that have a local QR (quick response) code. Users will be able to make direct payments in a foreign currency from their Indian bank, like they do with international debit cards.
- Walmart-backed PhonePe said it is the first Indian fintech app to launch the service.
Airtel Payments Banks launches BizKhata for Small Businesses & Merchant Partners
Airtel Payments Bank announced the availability of its current account, BizKhata, which offers small businesses and business partners across the nation fast activation and limitless transactions.
- Because they cannot maintain the minimum amount required for business accounts, many small business owners continue to use savings accounts for business-related expenses. This makes it difficult to distinguish between personal and corporate dealings.
- Zero Minimum Balance – There is no requirement for a minimum balance on the account.
- Secure and efficient Payment digitization: Through IMPS, UPI, NEFT, and IFT, business owners can receive and send online payments to any bank in India.
- The account also includes a QR code that may be used to accept payments from any UPI app.
- Day-end balances over INR 200,000 will automatically be swept out to a current account with the partner bank under the auto sweep-out feature.
- The user can return the sweep sum to the business account with a single click.
- Transaction history may be downloaded with only one click, allowing business owners to easily reconcile transactions.
Edelweiss General Insurance rebrands itself as Zuno GI
Edelweiss General Insurance has rebranded itself as Zuno General Insurance Limited (Zuno GI), which, it says, is a new age digital insurer with an aspiration to reimagine and redefine Insurance to make it easy, friendly, and transparent.
- The name and identity represents the young, innovative, approachable, digital native and upbeat personality of the brand and resonates with the Millennial and GenZ audience.
- The company has also launched a consumer study titled ‘Usage Based Insurance: Decoding Awareness, Perception and Behaviour’. The study was done to understand Millennial and GenZ’s awareness, understanding and consideration for UBI.
Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal announces retirement from all forms of cricket
Veteran Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
- Prior to the 2023 edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), he spoke to the reporters and said that it’s time for the youngsters to take charge.
- Akmal was earlier named as the batting consultant for the Peshawar Zalmi, led by Babar Azam, for the upcoming edition of the PSL. The 41-year-old said that he is keener on taking up managerial roles with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
K Satyanarayana Raju appointed as new MD & CEO of Canara Bank
The Union Government has appointed K Satyanarayana Raju as its Managing Director and CEO of Canara Bank, with immediate effect.
- He will be replacing L V Prabhakar who demitted office on December 31, 2022. He joined the erstwhile Vijaya Bank in 1988, and rose to the level of chief general manager in Bank of Baroda. His experience has led to digital transformation of banking products and services.
LeBron James becomes NBA’s all-time leading scorer
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, setting the new mark with a fadeaway jumpshot late in the third quarter of a home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
- ‘King James’, who entered the game needing 36 points to break Abdul-Jabbar’s record of 38,387, sent the sold-out crowd into a frenzy when the ball splashed through the net, raising his arms in triumph as his team mates embraced him.
Natasha Perianayagam named in ‘world’s brightest’ students list
Indian-American schoolgirl Natasha Perianayagam was named in the “world’s brightest” students list for the second consecutive year by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins Center For Talented Youth, based on the results of above-grade-level tests of over 15,000 students across 76 countries.
- Perianayagam, 13, is a student at Florence M Gaudineer Middle School, in New Jersey.She also took the Johns Hopkins Center For Talented Youth (CTY) test in Spring 2021, when she was a Grade 5 student.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Chinese tech giant Baidu enters AI chatbot race with ERNIE Bot
The Chinese tech giant Baidu announced that it is developing an AI bot as the program ChatGPT increasingly gains popularity.
- Baidu said that it is creating an AI chatbot project called ERNIE Bot, which was first proposed as a language model in 2019.
- The program was capable of understanding 96 languages as of January 2021, according to a timeline of milestones for ERNIE included in the post.
Jupiter beats Saturn to become the planet with most moons: 92
Astronomers discovered 12 additional moons of Jupiter, raising its total number of known natural satellites to 92. The gas giant now holds the record for the most known moons of any planet in the solar system—for the time being, at least.
- The orbits of the moons, which are unnamed, have been published in the circulars of the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, which keeps records of all the small bodies discovered in the Solar System.
- The observations were led by astronomer Scott Sheppard of Carnegie Institution for Science, who has spearheaded the discoveries after accidentally discovering a plethora of previously unknown Jovian moons during a hunt for the mysterious hypothetical Planet Nine in the outer Solar System.


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EYEAFRICA TV: Brussels, Belgium: There is still serious divergence between the European Union and the UK despite agreements on some cases, said EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier after the first round of UK-EU trade talks ended on Thursday.
The trade talks began on Monday in Brussels, Belgium. Barnier, who is responsible for “Brexit” affairs, said Thursday that the atmosphere of the negotiations was constructive, and the two sides reached an agreement on some issues, but there is still huge divergence on a level playing field, the trade agreement itself, and several other issues including fisheries.
In the UK-Europe trade negotiations, the EU hopes to reach a unified package agreement, including fishery and other fields. The British side argued that there should be multiple separate agreements based on industries and issues.
In terms of fisheries, Britain believes that fishery goods should be part of a free trade agreement and states that territorial waters are part of the sovereignty of the country, which must be defended. The EU hopes that after the transition period ends, the current status of EU vessels freely entering and fishing in British waters will be maintained.
Britain formally withdrew from the EU on Jan 31, and then entered a transitional period. UK’s trade with the EU will maintain its present status till the end of this year. The two sides hope to reach an agreement on future cooperation in the fields of trade and security before the end of the transition period.
It is reported that the next round of negotiations between the two sides will be held in London in late March.


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NUTRITION EXPERTS: (left to right) Enid Hohn, Patrice Barber, Wynelle Stein, Michael Halter, Mike Buzalka.
USC's Patrice Barber emphasized the nutrition education mission of foodservice operations.
Healthy Customers and Healthy Profitswas the theme of a one-day event in Anaheim on March 22, produced jointly by FM, its sister publication, Restaurant Hospitality magazine, and the Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBHF). Held in advance of the Natural Products Expo West, which kicked off the next day at the Anaheim Convention Center, the FM/RH conference featured a slate of industry experts who discussed various aspects of healthy menu design as it relates to customer acceptance and revenue generation.
Following a series of presentations from the likes of Boston Market founder George Naddaff, author and Healthy Dining Program founder Anita Jones-Mueller, consultant Dr. Elizabeth Sloan and the PBHF's Elizabeth Pivonka and Linda Brugler, the final session was an operator panel chaired by FM Executive Features Editor Mike Buzalka including representatives from four different kinds of operations in the commercial and noncommerical foodservice sectors.
The panelists included:
- Patrice Barber, nutritionist for Trojan Hospitality, the in-house dining operation at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles;
- Enid Hohn, director of child nutrition services at Vista (CA) USD, a district with nearly 30,000 students;
Wynelle Stein, co-owner of the renowned vegetarian/natural foods Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, NY; and
- Michael Halter, managing partner of Lucia's Restaurant, an upscale Italian-themed eatery in Pacific Palisades, CA.
In her presentation, Barber discussed the growing demand on USC's campus for healthier dining options alongside traditional college favorites like burgers and pizza. Making USC's challenge even more daunting is the diverse and sophisticated student body, which expects high quality, authentic dishes representing various ethnic culinary traditions. Barber also emphasized the educational responsibility of Trojan Hospitality in conveying a healthy eating message, including proper nutrition habits, to students both in formal educational materials and in the menu mix.
Hohn emphasized the strategies she and her department have been pursuing in making healthier food options available to the children in her district, which sits in Southern California between Los Angeles and San Diego. Of particular interest is the district's vending program, which she manages and through which she has been able to offer healthier snack and beverage options for several years. She also plans to use the program to introduce vended reimbursable school lunch meals that could take the pressure off the serving lines and offer students a convenient alternative.
Stein projected Moosewood's wellknown commitment to healthy, natural eating, especially as it relates to the expectations of today's customers. A co-author of nine Moosewood Collective cookbooks, Stein brought both a culinary and marketing perspective to her comments about the need for both the industry and the public to embrace the principles of healthy eating.
Halter, a veteran restaurateur who grew up in the business, was if anything even more passionate about the need to menu healthful alternatives as a responsibility the foodservice industry has to its customers. He emphasized how at Lucia's he practices what he preaches, with high-quality ingredients— many locally sourced—menued in portions that encourage diners to savor their food rather than simply ingest it.
In earlier presentations, healthy dining was approached from various angles. Naddaff provided realworld examples from his long career as to why he believes healthier foods are the wave of the future, while Sloan, a former editor-in-chief of McCall's magazine and director of the Good Housekeeping Institute, reviewed overall foodservice trends as they relate to healthy eating.
Pivoka's presentation focused on consumer perceptions about healthful diets, and Brugler augmented that discussion with a presentation about successful nutrition marketing strategies. Finally, Jones-Mueller unveiled a new national Healthy Dining marketing campaign that in collaboration with the federal Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the National Restaurant Association, will promote restaurants that offer more healthful menu selections.


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June 20-22, 2011 Travel Summit to be held in Pasadena
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A team of nationally renowned travel and business industry speakers will headline the California Travel Industry Association’s (CalTIA) 29th Annual ‘California Travel Summit‘, June 20-22, 2011 in Pasadena, California.
Themed “Think, Adapt, Thrive … Keeping it Relevant,” the summit is expected to attract over 600 travel, tourism and hospitality professionals and state legislative officials from California and neighboring states. Online registration is now live at www.caltia.org with special early bird fees for CalTIA Members and discount pricing for CalTIA Non-Members, and students and educators.
While attendees can look forward to newly expanded workshops and educational sessions, the summit’s major draw will be its dynamic mix of high profile keynote speakers, which to date include:
- AEG President & CEO Tim Leiweke, a world-leading presenter of sports and entertainment programming;
- U.S. Travel Association President/CEO Roger Dow, heading the national organization representing the $770 billion U.S. travel and tourism industry;
- California Travel & Tourism Commission President & CEO Carolyn Beteta, offering attendees current trends in “Brand Enrichment”;
- Tourism Economics Managing Director Adam Sacks, analytical consultant for the tourism sector;
- Robyn Benincasa, a nationally acclaimed motivational/inspirational speaker.
New features at the 2011 Summit will include ‘The CalTIA Legislative Awards’, honoring California lawmakers who have supported travel and tourism; expanded learning and education tracks; and new scheduled opportunities for heightened networking.
The California Travel Summit (formerly California Conference on Tourism) has gained industry-wide recognition as one of the State of California‘s most significant opportunities for travel and tourism professionals to share and improve individual knowledge, refine business relationships and add a voice to ongoing political discussions. Participants are offered a host of professional development sessions aimed at raising awareness of legislative issues and industry trends, developing marketing strategies and improving business practices.
CalTIA is the unified voice for the California travel industry’s political concerns. By advocating directly to the state legislature, the Governor’s office, local and federal officials, businesses, and the public, CalTIA addresses issues that affect the state’s tourism industry. CalTIA also aggressively seeks to ensure continued funding for the California Travel and Tourism Commission (CTTC).


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Prosus is in talks to increase its stake in iFood, Latin America’s biggest food delivery start-up, amid a wave of consolidation in the industry, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Browsing: Just Eat
Takeaway.com is set to declare final victory in the five-month takeover battle for UK food-delivery company Just Eat, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Just Eat chose a revised offer by Takeaway.com to merge and spurned a final all-cash bid by Naspers spin-off Prosus, which appears all but set to lose the drawn-out fight to claim ownership of the British food delivery firm.
Takeaway.com raised its bid for Just Eat just minutes after Naspers spin-off Prosus upped its offer, intensifying a battle for ownership of the UK food delivery firm.
Naspers spin-off Prosus has raised its bid for UK food delivery firm Just Eat as it tries to win over investors and beat out an offer from rival Takeaway.com.
Naspers unlocked about R150-billion of value for shareholders through the separate listing of its Internet businesses, and with that done is now focusing on bulking up in online food deliveries.
Takeaway.com CEO Jitse Groen said it doesn’t make sense to overpay in its bid to gain control of rival Just Eat as it battles Naspers Internet spin-off Prosus, which officially filed its hostile offer for Just Eat on Monday.


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Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Last week, while working on a feature story, I was lucky enough to be in Brewster when the Gebbers Cattle outlet store was open.
I’d heard about the store, but never seemed to be in town during business hours (they are only open Wednesday and Fridays from 2-6 p...
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In the workshop AIKS vowed to import the model of cooperatives of Kerala in this region to ensure that the small apple growers are benefited and aren’t invisiblized by the corporates engaged in the apple trade. They have decided to submit a charter of demands to the Union Government and undertake struggles till realisation of the demands which include declaration of Rs 2500 crore package to enhance per hectare productivity of apples.
“We have decided to form an 11 member committee of apple growers from J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand who will take up the day to day issues of the farmers on ground,” said Hanan Mollah, general secretary of AIKS. The AIKS said that they are now focussing on issues crop wise across the country and apple remains the backbone of the economy in Kashmir Valley. “Out of the total Rs 14400 crore value of apple in market only Rs 4300 crore reaches to the actual grower and more than Rs 10,000 crore is taken by the corporates, businessmen and middlemen. This has to be changed and formation of small cooperatives can help us to counter this,” said Mollah.
Former legislator and CPI(M) leader Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami, urged the AIKS members from Kerela to help build a ‘Kerala type’ model of cooperatives in northern region of the country. “Collective cooperative farming will bring bargaining power and facilitate pooling of resources…such real-time experiments only can resist the present exploitation of large trade capitalists and their intermediaries. This will help in uniting the agrarian classes against corporate exploitation,” read the resolution of the farmer leaders.
Apple provides livelihood to around nine lakh households in India mainly from Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. J&K produces 77 percent of apple fruit across India followed by 19 percent from Himachal Pradesh and around 2.5 percent from Uttrakhand. The participants in the workshop stated that the Government of India had allowed import of apples to facilitate corporate control over wholesale as well as retail markets.
“Corporates make huge profits through multi- national trade manipulations. For example, Afghanistan does not have even one lakh metric ton of Apple production, however six lakh MT of Apple was imported by our country from Afghanistan in the recent period. Such trade manipulations by the corporate are allowed by the Union Government to crash the sales price for the farmers,” read the resolution.
These farmer leaders decided to reach out to all the apple farmers, spread across 20 districts across the country, within a stipulated time frame. They said this is the first step towards building a vibrant peasant movement based on the crop specific issues in this sector as part of the peasant movement against corporatization of agriculture.
“This government is worried about corporate giants like Adani but growers are suffering and nobody cares about them. Even pesticides are ruining our crops. I suggest that the government should establish a laboratory in every block to ensure the quality of pesticides,” said Tarigami.
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- PM Vows Strict Action; Death Toll Climbs to 288
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government will ensure that “strictest punishment” is given to those responsible for the worst train accident in the country in decades, which claimed at least 288 lives and injured more than 1,099 people when Coromandel Express derailed on Friday night and its bogeys lying on two adjacent tracks led to collision with two other trains.Railways Sets up Panel to Probe Crash; Modi, Vaishnaw Visit Site
The Centre has initiated an investigation into the train accident in Odisha that claimed over 288 lives. Indian Railways has set up a high-level committee to look into the cause of the mishap involving Bengaluru-Howrah Yesvantpur Express, Coromandel Express and a goods train at Bahanaga Bazar Station in Balasore district.On Day 1, World Bank Chief Sets Development & Climate as Priorities
The World Bank’s new president Ajay Banga on Friday asked the lender’s 16,000 staff to “double down” on development and climate efforts as he seeks to accelerate the bank’s evolution to tackle the most pressing global problems.
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text: Grab, the Singapore-based on-demand services firm, on Wednesday announced that Toyota Motor would invest US$1 billion into the company as a lead investor in its current fundraising round. Under the agreement, the Japanese carmaker will collaborate with Grab in areas such as connected cars and other mobility solutions. The investment is the largest ever of its kind by an carmaker into the ride-hailing industry, according to Grab. In Singapore, a preview of the clash to come between Grab and Go-jek The investment comes as carmakers continue to pour money into ride-hailing services around the world, to help facilitate market share expansion by selling cars to ride-hailing firms or cooperate on connected car solutions as the future of mobility appears to shift away from private car ownership. The fresh funds will allow Grab to further expand services such as its food delivery service GrabFood and mobile payments GrabPay to more countries across the region. From its beginnings as a taxi-booking app – its original name is GrabTaxi – the company is morphing into an online platform for connecting users and offline services, and is venturing into financial services and venture capital. “As a global leader in the automotive industry, Toyota’s investment in Grab is based on their conviction in our leadership in driving the adoption of new mobility solutions and expanding O2O mobile services, such as GrabFood and GrabPay, in the region,” Ming Maa, president of Grab, said in the release. Ma estimated that Grab will reach over US$1 billion in revenue this year, as its users exceed 100 million in the region. Grab will also work with Toyota on connected car services such as user-based insurance, financing programmes and predictive maintenance features for Grab’s drivers. As part of the deal, a Toyota executive will be appointed to Grab’s board of directors and another Toyota employee will be seconded to Grab as an executive officer. Grab’s ‘pay it forward’ moment takes a page from mentor Softbank ” Going forward, together with Grab, we will develop services that are more attractive, safe and secure for our customers in Southeast Asia”, Shigeki Tomoyama, Toyota executive vice-president, said in the release. Currently, Grab counts carmakers Toyota, Honda and Hyundai among its investors, as well as Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing. Grab recently took over Uber’s Southeast Asia operations after years of competition, and is currently going head-to-head in Indonesia with rival Go-jek. Go-jek is expected to expand its operations outside Indonesia this year in countries such as Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. This is not Toyota’s first foray into ride-hailing. The carmaker first invested an undisclosed amount in Grab in August last year, after it invested in US-based Uber in 2016 in a partnership for a financing programme that allowed Uber drivers to lease vehicles from Toyota and drive for Uber to cover the payments. Go-jek: from 20 bikes to US$2.5b – and an e-money revolution Toyota is also not the only carmaker eyeing the rapidly growing ride-hailing space. In 2016, General Motors invested US$500 million in Lyft, and Volkswagen also poured US$300 million into Israeli taxi app Gett in the same year. Other carmakers such as Daimler, BMW and Ford have dabbled in investing and developing their own ride-hailing services.


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The long in the tooth HTC HD2 is one of those aging handsets that keeps getting new life breathed into it via hackers and developers. Released originally as a Microsoft Windows Mobile device, the HTC HD2 was considered a stop gap for HTC and Microsoft in a bid to stay competitive with the iPhone as it included specs like a capacitive touchscreen ahead of the launch of Windows Phone 7. The device is currently now capable of running Microsoft’s latest tablet OS in the form of the Windows RT operating system, making it a phablet of sorts.
The hack was posted on pocketnow.
It’s unclear what the purpose of putting Windows RT on the HTC HD2’s aging hardware would be, but Windows RT owners who look at users of the Android-powered Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note II with envy no longer have to be jealous as the HTC HD2 effectively becomes the smallest Windows RT tablet or phablet to date.
For those with an HTC HD2 still laying around, let us know how Windows RT fares on a device that’s smaller than Microsoft’s Surface RT hardware. Of course, at that point, wouldn’t it be easier to just hack on Windows Phone 8 or get a device with Windows Phone 8 pre-loaded that’s really catered to the smaller smartphone screen?
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Matsushita Electric (Panasonic) has today announced the LUMIX line of digital cameras which make use of Leica Optics. The DMC-LC5 is a 'prosumer' four megapixel digital cameras with a 3x Leica optical zoom lens with full manual control. The DMC-F7 is a compact two megapixel digital camera with a 2x Leica optical zoom lens. Both cameras utilize MMC (SD) storage cards and are powered by proprietary Lithium-Ion rechargeable batteries. Both cameras will be available in both black or silver finishes.
Matsushita Electric (Panasonic) Introduces "LUMIX",
a New Line of Digital Still Cameras with Leica Optics
OSAKA, Japan -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., best known for its Panasonic brand of consumer electronics and digital communications products, today announced the introduction of "LUMIX", its newest line of digital still cameras (DSCs), which have been developed by integrating the world-renowned optical technology of Leica Camera AG of Solms, Germany with the advanced digital AV (audio video) technology of Panasonic. The DMC-F7 and high-end DMC-LC5 DSCs will be launched in the Japanese market on October 27, 2001. Both cameras will be sold at open prices. The new LUMIX line of cameras will also be on display at the Panasonic booth at World PC Expo 2001, to be held from September 19 to 22 at the Makuhari Messe (Nippon Convention Center) in Chiba, east of Tokyo.
Matsushita and Leica recently announced business collaboration in the field of DSCs and these two models are the first fruits of their collaboration. The high-end model, DMC-LC5, has a built-in 3x zoom lens, effective 3.9 mega-pixels (total 4.0-megapixel CCD), and 2.5-inch TFT liquid crystal display with 200,000-pixels, all enhancing ease of use and visibility. The DMC-LC5 also incorporates both manual exposure and manual focus capability, enabling camera enthusiasts to use it as an authentic DSC to fully utilize their shooting techniques. The other model, DMC-F7, has a built-in 2x zoom lens, effective 2.0 mega-pixels (total 2.1-megapixel CCD) and 1.5-inch TFT liquid crystal display. As light as 150 g (without batteries and SD memory cards) in a stylish aluminum alloy body, the DMC-F7 is still able to incorporate a special editing mode that can print the dates as well as transform captured images into black and white, sepia, or negative colors.
The market for DSCs is growing rapidly, with a forecast of approximately 20 million units sold worldwide this year. Market needs are advancing toward DSCs that offer the high image quality of silver halide film cameras plus the ability to interface with digital-networking appliances.
With this background in mind, the new DSC lineup incorporates the LEICA DC VARIO-SUMMICRON Lens (DMC-LC5) as well as the LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT Lens (DMC-F7). Moreover, Matsushita's digital technology enables very short stand-by times and shutter time lag, making possible rapid burst shooting even for the highest quality images.
The burst shooting function is especially notable. The high-end DMC-LC5 has the ability to shoot a maximum of 8 frames at a rate of 4 frames per second in maximum picture resolution. The DMC-F7 can shoot a maximum of 5 frames at a rate of 4 frames per second in maximum picture resolution. These are high levels in the industry in their class. These functions enable these DSCs to be used in innovative ways that have been difficult to achieve even with analog cameras.
Both models offer greatly expanded networking capabilities as well. In addition to offering a conventional network connection via PCs, they can also be networked with such SD-card capable appliances as PDAs, mobile handsets, digital TV receivers, video printers, and other equipment by using SD Memory Cards.
With these two new DSC models, offering both high image quality and networking ability, Matsushita intends to extensively promote its DSCs in the market.
Matsushita, Leica Unveil Digital Cameras
TOKYO (Reuters) - Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd, the world's biggest consumer electronics maker, on Monday unveiled a new series of digital cameras developed with lens maker Leica Camera AG
Matsushita, known for its Panasonic and National brands and a leading making of video cameras, is a latecomer to the fast-growing digital camera market but has set an ambitious target of capturing a 10 percent global market share by 2003.
The first offerings of Panasonic's Lumix line of digital cameras -- a four-million pixel model expected to sell for about 90,000 yen ($765) and a compact, two-million pixel model at 50,000 yen -- will go on sale in Japan on October 27.
Roll-outs in the U.S. and European markets are scheduled for next spring, said Kazuo Toda, a Matsushita senior managing director.
He acknowledged his company was late in targeting a move into digital cameras, where arch-rival Sony Corp (news - web sites) holds the top global share.
Like Sony, however, Matsushita and other consumer electronics makers are increasingly focused on developing networked products: personal computers, televisions, audio players, cameras and other gadgets that can share data with each other.
"We weren't seeing it as such a big market, but with networks steadily developing, the digital still camera is becoming a major source of information input,'' Toda said after a news conference. "It's no longer negligible.''
The company predicted the world digital camera market would grow to 18.5 million units this year from last year's 11 million, although Toda said the forecast may have to be pared back given recent weakness in the global economy and the likely effects of last week's terror attacks on U.S. targets.
Despite Matsushita's late arrival to the market, which is now dominated by camera and consumer electronics powerhouses such as Sony, Olympus Optical Co Ltd, Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd, and Eastman Kodak Co, Toda was optimistic the 10 percent market share target could be attained.
"If we can put out good products and create a following for them, I think it's achievable,'' he said.
Matsushita's shares ended Monday trade down 5.13 percent at 1,443 yen, in line with the benchmark Nikkei average's 5.04 percent drop as the market nervously awaited the reopening of U.S. share trade later in the day for the first time since last week's attacks.
But Matsushita outperformed a more than eight percent drop in the shares of Sony and other big Japanese manufacturers that are heavily exposed to the U.S. market and the effects of the dollar's recent slide.
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|Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100 Digital Camera, 12.8MP, 3.0-Inch Display, 24-75mm Leica DC Vario-Summilux f/1.7-2.8 Lens, 4K Ultra HD Video, HDMI/USB, Wi-Fi, NFC - International Version||$565.00|