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NVIDIA has announced the launch of GeForce GTX 550 Ti GPUs in India. The GeForce GTX 550 Ti graphics cards are the latest Fermi line consumer GPUs from NVIDIA, which are designed to deliver superior performance for PC gaming at a affordable price of Just Rs. 9,490. Price Wise, it looks worth buy. The GeForce 550 Ti GPUs delivers powerful DirectX 11 performance and takes mainstream PC gaming to New level while requiring minimal power.
“The GTX 550 Ti paired with our 3D Vision technology provides gamers with an amazing low-cost platform that delivers an awesome immersive experience,” says Drew Henry, general manager of GeForce GPU business at NVIDIA. “As the leader in PC gaming hardware, we are excited about the future of PC gaming and how we can make those experiences as immersive as possible.
NVIDIA’s all recent GPUs are DX11 capable and this one is also delivers the fastest performance for DX11 games. The company claimed in a press release that its GTX 550 Ti is upto 50 percent faster than its competitors in the DX11 Games, and upto 38 percent faster than traditional DX9 and DX10 games. The GeForce 550 Ti is equipped with NVIDIA SLI technology, which is a multi-GPU platfrom helping PC Gamers to increase their PC Gaming Performance.
The NVIDIA GeForce 550 Ti is now available at retails Price of around Rs. 9,490 across India. It is available in various branding including, ASUS, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Inno3D, KFA2, Leadtek, MSI, Palit, Point of View, PNY, Sparkle, and Zotac. Go ahead and pick one for you, if you want a good graphics card at a affordable price.
Category: Graphics Cards


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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Most of aesthetician Sigrid Yorke’s clients are women, but 25-year-old Joshua West recently came to her office at Faces Plastic Surgery in Chapel Hill to get a full facial.
“When I shave, my skin gets really sensitive,” West said.
West is one of many men in recent years who is focusing on skin care.
West’s skin breaks out, which could hurt his chances for an entertainment career.
“Appearance is important. … I think a lot of guys let their manhood get in the way of getting a facial,” West said.
To help ease the sensitivity West experiences when he shaves, Yorke suggested changing from foam to cream.
“It's very popular to use shaving cream as opposed to foam because they're a little bit thicker so they do create a barrier between the blade and the skin,” Yorke said.
Yorke suggests blades instead of electric razors for men. She said men should throw away blades away after three or four uses. She also suggests dipping or spraying the blade in alcohol when it isn’t being used to keep bacteria from collecting on it.
She also suggests not leaving the shaving blade in the shower, where it could collect soap and bacteria that, in turn, could cause skin irritation.
Yorke used a foaming gel cleanser on West’s face. A good scrub lifts dead skin cells, brightening the complexion.
“In that stage, I felt like my skin was just opened up and started breathing, you know?” West said.
A spray toner with essential oils helps nourish the skin and is better than after-shaves that contain alcohol.
A facial massage with nutrient cream wraps up the process.
West has included some of the facial treatments in his morning skin-care ritual.
Yorke said a morning skin care routine for some men may even include makeup.
“I think that it's becoming a lot more common for men to start using tinted moisturizers to give themselves a little bit of color,” Yorke said.
Over time, West said, he has noticed a healthier difference in his skin.
“There's a lot more confidence about me as well, too,” he said.

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It was perhaps only a matter of time before House of Fraser’s ownership was thrown into question yet again. The department store seems to have spent a large part of the last three decades either being bought, sold, or haggled over, and the last two years have been no different, with the chain under something of cloud since falling into the hands of a little-known Chinese outfit two-and-a-half years ago.
The UK high street has of course always been a place that has attracted foreign investors. In the past couple of decades, buyers from just about every corner of the globe have hoovered up large swathes of retail: Boots is part of Walgreens; Harrods is in the hands of the Qataris; New Look and Virgin Active are under South African control; and the Body Shop was folded into French cosmetics giant L’Oreal a decade ago.
Many smaller names such as Waterstones, Cath Kidston, and Lloyds pharmacies are under the control of more obscure overseas outfits, yet Sanpower’s takeover of House of Fraser must rank among the most unlikely alliances ever seen, even for a retailer with a history as colourful as House of Fraser.
If there’s one name that encapsulates the appetite of foreign investors when it comes to the UK high street, it is the 165-year old department store chain founded as a single drapers shop in Glasgow. Somehow, despite never quite managing to sit along alongside Harrods, John Lewis or even Marks & Spencer as the most illustrious names in retail, it has caught the imagination of a colourful cast of characters over the decades.
At its mid-1980s zenith, the retailer was at the centre of a fierce takeover battle between British businessman Tiny Rowland and Egyptian tycoon Mohamed Al-Fayed; a fight that remains one of the most bitter and personal the City has ever seen. Yet, as its star has waned, the chain’s suitors have become increasingly obscure.
An uninspiring stint on the stockmarket during the Nineties was followed by an even more unhappy period under the control of a consortium of investors including Iceland’s Baugur, HBOS, and entrepreneurs Sir Tom Hunter and Kevin Stanford, which seemed to view it as little more than a money-making vehicle.
However, even that couldn’t quite match where the retailer found itself in 2014 when China’s Sanpower came knocking. Led by Yuan Yafei, an energetic, cigar-chomping billionaire, Sanpower is a sizeable player in China but was practically unheard of in Europe. Yuan paid £480m for the business but, once again, its ownership remained a mess, with Mike Ashley swooping in at the last minute to snap up an 11pc stake. Now, House of Fraser’s future is again under question, after some hedge funds began buying up its debts.
When distressed debt investors start hoovering up a company’s debt, its usually the trigger for another bruising battle for control, something the retailer could probably do without after such a protracted period of uncertainty. The chain was crying out for investment after a decade with its Icelandic owners, but despite Sanpower promising to pump in some much-needed capital to put it on a more even footing, Yuan’s promised investment failed to materialise. Instead, funds have come in the form of a £300m refinancing last year, including £175m worth of bonds sold on the Luxembourg stock exchange.
However, now is not the best time to be a department store. Sales and profits are under pressure from the seemingly inexorable rise of internet shopping and fickle consumer spending. Costs are also spiralling. With the outlook pretty grim, and no sign of much-needed capital from Sanpower, the value of House of Fraser’s bonds has fallen sharply, ending last week at about 83p in the pound and providing an opportunity for so-called distressed debts funds to move in.
In most circumstances, this turn of events should be deeply worrying for the owners of the company being targeted. What usually follows next is a tried and tested tactic where the hedge funds join forces and try to wrest control from the current owners. Some City sources believe House of Fraser will eventually be forced to merge with arch-rival Debenhams, which is arguably more troubled.
Hedge funds have seized control of a long list of UK companies in this way, including Fitness First, Travelodge, Biffa and Yell, while hire purchase giant Brighthouse is about to face a similar assault. However, on this occasion, I’m not convinced that is exactly what is going on here.
Firstly, I think the hedge funds in question are simply trying to make a quick buck from the trade, rather than prepare for any hostile move. One way of viewing the move is that they believe House of Fraser will eventually be turned around, in which case its bonds should regain value, creating a quick profit for those holding them. If they do, then I doubt Yuan would roll over easily.
Buying a UK household name was a massive statement for the tycoon, even if House of Fraser is still struggling. There are doubts about how deep its owners pockets are, but faced with losing control, I suspect he could find the funds, pump in some extra equity and hold any predators at bay. For once, the department store chain looks like it may avoid changing hands.


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IRNA – Professional book fairs play a vital role in publishing, their most important role is to promote cultural exchange as they allow publishers, agents, distributors and retailers to meet and do business.
32nd edition of Tehran International Book Fair (TIBF) kicked off on April 23, at the center of Tehran with the presence of Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Chinese Minister of Culture as well as the cultural representatives of this country.
2,400 domestic publishers with 3,000 book titles and about 800 foreign publishers with 137,000 titles will showcase their latest publications in this edition of the fair.
According to Cultural Affairs Deputy of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohsen Javadi, “strengthening publishing industry, boosting international relations and also improving cultural diplomacy in the presence of China as the guest of honor are among the approaches taken in 32nd Tehran International Book Fair (TIBF).”
Elsewhere in his remarks, Deputy Culture Minister referred to strengthening international relations and cultural diplomacy which is on the agenda of the fair:“The participation of China as the guest of honor in this year’s event proves that culture can confront and nullify imposed sanctions.
In an era where most business is conducted electronically, questions are being asked about the value of book fairs and their future role.
A book fair is also an exhibition, publishing companies as well as firms from the wider publishing industry (eg distributors, technology companies) use fairs as a showcase for their brand and as a shop window for their products and services.
Book fairs serve an important educational purpose for book trade professionals, making them aware of key trends through seminars, panel discussions and presentations, Book fairs also offer a range of events designed to facilitate networking.
‘Digital innovation delivers great cross industry opportunity and we have taken great strides in boosting interaction and education at the Fair with other aligned creative industries’ Tiziana Buccico, deputy representative of Brioschi Editore in an interview with IRNA.
‘It is also true to say that every development within the book fair is introduced with a clear remit of putting the book industry and its business imperatives at the centre of what we do’, she added.
“We are proud of the presence of chinese researcher and writers in Iran, ”Cao Wenxuan, children’s book writer in an interview with IRNA said.
Referring to long-standing cultural and economic relations between two countries, Wenxuan said adopting China as the guest of honor indicates the depth of interests between two counties.


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Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd has announced its sales numbers for the month of July 2021. The Activa-maker sold a total of 3,85,533 units last month. The said number includes domestic sales of 3,40,133 units while the remaining 45,400 units accounted for exports. Honda 2Wheelers India said in a press release that it has contributed over 1 lakh incremental units to the industry on the back of an increase in demand for two-wheelers in July 2021. Having said that, HMSI registered a 66% M-o-M (Month-on-Month) growth over June 2021 during which it sold a total of 2,34,029 units out of which 2,12,446 bikes and scooters were sold in the domestic market while 21,583 units stood for exports.
Watch Video | Honda CB500X vs Benelli TRK 502 Comparison Review:
Now comparing the figures on a Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) basis, HMSI sold 3,09,332 two-wheelers in July 2020 in the domestic market while exporting 12,251 units during the same month. That said, with a total of 3,21,583 unit sales in July 2020, the company has reported a sales growth of 20 percent in July 2021. Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Director, Sales & Marketing, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. said gradually ramping up production while monitoring the market situation, the company’s sale momentum continues to accelerate with July month reaching closer to 4 lakh unit mark.
He further stated that with the majority of Honda’s dealer network resuming operations across India, a sharp surge in enquiries for scooters followed by bikes is being witnessed. Guleria also said that backed by a good monsoon, increasing preference for personal mobility & upcoming festival season, the company expects faster recovery for the market. In other news, Honda has further expanded its BigWing network in India. The company recently inaugurated BigWing Topline outlet in Chennai. The said showrooms will retail all of Honda’s premium big bikes. Moreover, the company opened a new BigWing outlet in Chandigarh that is exclusively for the mid-size motorcycle segment.
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- Articles tagged "ntt docomo"
As we bring our CommunicAsia 2011 coverage to an end, here's an overview of what we saw and thought of the annual infocomm trade event that showcased the best in mobile technology over the past three days.
Japan has some of the coolest mobile phones and services in the world, so it's no surprise that NTT Docomo is always high on our visit list. This year, we're looking at a possible global NFC standard, AR games and a prototype multi-band amp.
We check out some of the cool stuff and key highlights from the annual communications and broadcast trade show event, CommunicAsia and BroadcastAsia 2010.
- ADATA launches new M.2 version of its Premier SP550 mainstream SSD
- Google to release its own handset by the end of the year
- iPhone 7 may come in space black to match the Apple Watch
- Samsung may adopt iPhone-styled home button for better fingerprint recognition
- These could be the specs of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7
- The latest Tough camera from Olympus is a 4K action camera that goes everywhere with you. *Updated with price*
- Mota’s new JetJat Ultra is a pocket-sized drone with professional features
- Will Samsung release an Olympic edition of the Galaxy S7 Edge?


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Airbnb is being sued for ignoring racial discrimination by hosts
Airbnb is facing a lawsuit from a 25-year-old black man from Washington, D.C. who believes the company ignored his requests to correct the racist practices of one of its hosts.
George Selden, who's planning on making the lawsuit into a class action suit, made three profiles on the site. His personal account with his photo was declined by the host he requested to book with - and after declining Selden, the host kept the dates available for other guests.
Selden then made two fake profiles posing as white men, which were unconditionally accepted. He said the host lied by saying the fake users were the first to inquire about the place.
Selden told a local NBC station that he questioned the host after being ignored. The host then allegedly replied, "It's a disappointment people like you always victimize yourselves solely on the basis of skin color."
Airbnb does seem to be making an effort to stop its racist users from ruining the experience. On May 11, David King III, Airbnb's director of Diversity and Belonging, said that the company is continuously booting off users reported for discriminating based on race, sexual orientation, or other factors. The company also says it's looking into incorporating machine learning to help enforce its anti-discrimination policies.
"While we do not comment on pending litigation, we strongly believe that racial discrimination is unacceptable and it flies in the face of our mission to bring people together," Airbnb spokesman Nick Pappas said in a statement to CNN.
Black Airbnb guests have been sharing stories about their difficulties finding accommodations on the rental lodging website for awhile now.
NPR then asked other Twitter users to describe their experiences using the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack and received an outpouring of tweets. Some of the experiences people started sharing were harrowing, like the time one user said he actually had the cops called on him when the neighbor mistook him for a burglar.
Yo! The Air B&B we're staying at is so nice, the neighbors thought we were robbing the place & called the cops! ?? pic.twitter.com/XUQjuyCXMO- THE DOPEGOD (@STEFisDOPE) October 9, 2015
Other instances were less overt, like when this person said he was rejected from a listing, but the host didn't block off the dates.
There were also claims of outright rejections from homeowners with no explanation.
In the original NPR story, Crittenden said this was exactly what happened to her when she shortened her first name from "Quirtina" to "Tina" and inserted a picture of a landscape as her picture.
"The most common response I got [from other black Airbnb users on Twitter] was, 'Oh yeah, that's why I don't use my photo.' Like duh. Like I was the late one," Crittenden told NPR.
According to a study from the Harvard Business School, guests with "distinctly African-American names" were 16% more likely to be rejected by prospective hosts than guests with distinctly white names.
The prejudicial trend makes an appearance on other location-based services too. Uber drivers, for instance, have been shown to pick up riders in the whiter areas of DC more regularly - though to their credit, Uber drivers have also been picking up the slack left over from racist taxi drivers in what may or may not be a sincere social marketing ploy.
And yet, there's a common thread linking these two cases together: access to real names and real profile photos.
Airbnb has a strict requirement for all guest profiles in that they must include a real name and an appropriate profile photo before making their first reservation. Competitor sites, like VRBO and HomeAway, only require a first and last name and a reason for booking to send in a reservation.
While that in itself won't necessarily make the sites racism-proof, it might be harder to racially profile if you're given less information about someone's identity.
Unfortunately, Airbnb says that's not happening. King told Vox that the site has no plans on removing profile photos, citing safety and security concerns.
King also said in a response to an open letter from NYC public advocate Laetitia James, "We welcome the opportunity to work with anyone that can help us reduce potential discrimination in the Airbnb community."
- Best floodlights for outdoors in India
- CCI approves HDFC Bank's acquisition of 4.99% stake in HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company
- Best front lights for bicycles in India
- Best document scanners for office and home use in India
- BCCI announces two new IPL teams — Check out the owners of Lucknow and Ahmedabad franchises


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Krebs on Security, a security news and investigation site, is reporting that both VISA and MasterCard are warning banks of a security breach at a U.S. credit card processor. The breach is said to be ‘massive’ with as many as 10 million card numbers possibly compromised.
The alerts began going out late last week, but the actual security breach happened between January 21 and February 25 of this year. Banks were told that “full Track 1 and Track 2 data was taken,” which is enough information to counterfeit new credit cards.
Only MasterCard is speaking out so far. “As a result, we have alerted payment card issuers regarding certain MasterCard accounts that are potentially at risk,” the company said to NewsCore, according to the New York Post.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a MasterCard spokesperson said, “MasterCard’s own systems have not been compromised in any manner.”
VISA has not issued any statements, and there is no word yet on which card processor was compromised. Krebs stated that banks are analyzing transaction data to determine any commonalities in purchased made on the compromised cards.
From the Krebs article:
Sources at two different major financial institutions said the transactions that most of the cards they analyzed seem to have in common are that they were used in parking garages in and around the New York City area.
It’s not clear how many cards were breached in the processor attack, but a sampling from one corner of the industry provides some perspective. On Wednesday, PSCU — a provider of online financial services to credit unions — said it alerted 482 credit unions that appear to have had cards impacted by the breach, and that a total of 56,455 member VISA and MasterCard accounts were compromised. PSCU said fraudulent activity had been detected on a relatively small number of those cards — 876 accounts — and that the activity was geographically dispersed.
Yesterday I shared an infographic on the largest hacking scandals in the past decade. Financial institutions must be hoping this latest one is dealt with swiftly and with a minimum of disruption to the financial industry.
(via Krebs on Security)


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Beijing-based bicycle-sharing company Bluegogo has announced its imminent bankruptcy. The news was followed by shock and anger from users of the blue bikes, who were suddenly unable to retrieve their deposits. Thus an important question in China’s bike-sharing boom was raised: how can these companies repay their customers?
As the third-largest bike-sharing company in China, Bluegogo was once worth RMB925 million (USD140 million) and had a fleet of 600,000 bikes. The service reportedly had anywhere from 11 to 20 million users, each of whom was required to put down a RMB99 deposit to register.
But after just one year in operation, Bluegogo now reportedly owes more than RMB200 million to employees and technicians, as well as an additional, unknown sum of users’ deposit money.
Although the bike-sharing service had been experiencing financial issues since June, news broke on November 15, when numerous media outlets reported that Bluegogo was not only facing bankruptcy but that its CEO, Li Gang, had been missing in action for months and employees had stopped being paid.
READ MORE: Are Mobike and Ofo Merging?
On November 16, Li published an open letter in which he apologized for the company’s actions and announced that Bluegogo had been handed over to Sichuan-based Biker. In the letter, Li promised to pay employees “as soon as possible” and refund user deposits once “technical integration” is completed.
Bluegogo isn’t the first shared bike company to abruptly shut down for financial reasons – though it is certainly one of the biggest. Among this year’s bike-sharing casualties are Chongqing-based Wukong, Beijing-based companies 3vBike and Coolqi, and most recently, Guangzhou-based Xiaoming and Wuhan's government-backed bike-rental service.
The trend has forced authorities to address the issue of consumer protection regarding bike sharing in China. In August, new regulations were issued requiring companies to place deposits in separate bank accounts, presumably so they don’t (mis)use the money.
According to Tech in Asia, Ofo stores all client deposits in CITIC Bank, and Mobike puts deposits in a separate account at China Merchants Bank. However, many shared bike companies only partially implement this strategy, and some ignore it altogether.
No one knows how Bluegogo handled deposits. But the fact that the deposits are not immediately being refunded is cause for concern. According to China Plus, the vice-CEO of Bluegogo was quoted in February as saying the company did use some deposit money for business operations.
Coolqi is another failed shared bike company that was suspected of questionable financial practices. Once the third largest of its kind in China, with 1.5 million users and 1.4 million bikes, the company came under intense scrutiny after their CEO was dismissed in September. Like Bluegogo, the company suddenly ceased refunding its hefty RMB298-per-person deposits.
On November 20, Coolqi made the controversial announcement that it would no longer issue deposit refunds in Beijing. Instead, all users must physically turn up at the company’s offices in Chengdu to retrieve their money.
The Ministry of Transport and authorities from the People's Bank of China and the National Reform and Development Commission met last month to discuss bike-sharing deposits. Though whether stricter rules and regulations will be put in place as a result is yet to be seen.


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J.C. Penney’s chapter already had severe implications for American malls and employees, as the corporate ready to shut as many as 250 areas and began liquidations at greater than 100 shops this summer time. Smaller mall retailers typically have so-called co-tenancy clauses of their leases, which permit them to pay lowered lease and even break their leases if two or extra anchor shops — like Sears, Macy’s and J.C. Penney — depart a location.
Many malls have already misplaced one or two malls lately and are prone to wrestle to seek out potential replacements because the pandemic persists. On the identical time, chains like Victoria’s Secret and Hole are on the lookout for methods to chop again on the variety of their shops.
J.C. Penney, which in its heyday operated greater than 1,500 shops, was lengthy seen as a budget-friendly vacation spot for Individuals looking for dependable dwelling furnishings and attire. However the retailer has been on a downward slope for years. It confronted rising competitors from rivals like Kohl’s and Macy’s, e-commerce took off, and it struggled to draw youthful shoppers to its midtier mall areas.
Its decline was tremendously accelerated up to now decade by the involvement of William A. Ackman, a hedge fund supervisor, and Ron Johnson, a former retail chief at Apple, whose turnaround try grew to become one of many most disastrous retail makeovers in latest historical past. Mr. Ackman, who purchased a significant stake in J.C. Penney in 2010 and later joined its board, recruited Mr. Johnson, who sought to rework the shops into collections of boutiques, group up with high-end designers and banish coupons and promotions in favor of on a regular basis low costs.
Mr. Johnson’s efforts in the end alienated J.C. Penney’s core prospects and led to gross sales and site visitors declines — the retailer erased roughly $4.three billion in gross sales, or 25 % of its income, in a single 12 months. Mr. Johnson was ousted after 17 months in April 2013, however J.C. Penney has continued to wrestle and cycled by means of executives.
The corporate traces its roots to Kemmerer, Wyo., the place James Money Penney Jr. invested in a dry-goods retailer known as the Golden Rule, which was later renamed J.C. Penney. Mr. Penney, who died in 1971, remained dedicated to the notion of the Golden Rule in how the corporate handled its employees, sharing its income with workers from its early days.


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April 8, 2022
Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
Good morning! Do you miss roaming a convention center with a tech conference badge? Or the summer camp vibe of reuniting with industry peers you haven’t seen in years? Well, the virtual events necessitated by the pandemic appear to be sticking around. So is the in-person tech event a thing of the past? I'm Allison Levitsky, and I once worked as a Frida Kahlo impersonator at SFMOMA.
The pandemic’s darkest days have passed and in-person gatherings are back, but the virtual events that emerged during the pandemic have staying power. Some of tech’s biggest conferences are hanging on to a hybrid element — if not remaining entirely online.
We’re fully into year three of the pandemic, and Big Tech’s conferences are still mostly virtual. The events once packed thousands of attendees into large convention centers in exotic locales like San Jose and Las Vegas, but this week, Apple announced that its annual developers conference would once again be an online event, and Facebook parent company Meta is also putting its annual developers event on pause.
Other companies are going all-in on hybrid conferences. This combines the benefits of in-person gatherings — networking, more immersive experiences, a captive audience — with the wider audience and deeper focus of online sessions.
In-person networking is a big part of the appeal of conferences. But apparently, that’s not deterring tech companies from making their developer conferences virtual.
We’ll have to see whether Apple takes the wraps off its latest iPhone with a splashy IRL event this September. Either way, the more technical tech conferences are likely to stay at least partially, if not mostly, online — or maybe in, IDK, the metaverse?
How is tech setting and measuring climate goals?
Net zero. Carbon offsets. Scope 3 emissions. These are just some of the terms you’ll find in Big Tech’s climate plans. Understanding what they actually mean is vital to ensuring the industry is meeting its goals. Join us at 10 a.m. PT April 19, where Protocol's Brian Kahn will talk with some of the people responsible for setting those goals and experts who are monitoring them to find out what tech companies are really doing. RSVP here.
DuckDuckGo has an all-in-one privacy solution aimed at simplifying online privacy protection. DuckDuckGo’s app can be used as an everyday browser with private search, tracker blocking, encryption, and now email protection built-in. It’s the free, easy button for online privacy.
Tesla shareholder Ron Baron doesn’t think Elon Musk’s Twitter buy is a big deal:
Microsoft’s Satya Nadella told workers to stop sending those late-night emails:
Janet Yellen said crypto regulation should be “tech neutral”:
Daversa Partners’ Frank Cumella said companies should create strong ties with their executive search firm:
Bolt Financial bought Wyre Payments, a blockchain-based payments provider, for about $1.5 billion, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
Coinbase is on a hiring spree in India. The company plans to triple its employee count in the country to 1,000, and half of the new hires will be engineers.
Discovery’s new post-WarnerMedia merger leaders are in place. Jean-Briac Perrette will lead its streaming businesses; Bruce Campbell will serve as chief revenue and strategy officer; and Kathleen Finch is the new chair and chief content officer.
Skand Gupta is the new head of Engineering at Cadre. Gupta has worked in senior engineering roles at companies like Better.com and Dropbox.Katie Markov is Avochato’s first COO. She was previously the company's VP of Operations.
Elon Musk finally visited the White House. He met with Biden officials alongside other auto industry leaders to discuss topics like charging networks and EVs.
Amazon will appeal its unionization defeat, which last week saw workers in New York vote to establish the company’s first U.S. union. Hardly surprising.
Riot Games is the latest to drop its vaccine requirementand ask workers to come back to the office. Sources told Vice the change has upset employees, some of whom have left.
Twitter Employees aren't happywith Elon Musk being on the company's board, so much so that the company plans to host a town hall on the matter, according to The Washington Post.
Activision Blizzard’s quality assurance testers are now full-time workersafter months of activism from some employees. The workers now have full-time contracts and a raise.
Twitter is testing a tool that would let users unmention themselves from conversations on the web.
Epic and Lego want to make the metaverse better for kids. Their plans to work together are vague, but they’re aiming to prioritize kids’ well-being and protect their privacy.
SpaceX can’t expand in Boca Chica, Texas, for now because it never provided documentation on how its growth would affect surrounding ecology and wildlife.Apple’s own apps are rarely the most popular in a given category, Apple-funded researchers found. Their paper comes as Apple fights against regulators around the world who are sympathetic to the notion that rivals like Spotify get anticompetitive treatment on iOS.
Famous women including Gwyneth Paltrow and Reese Witherspoon are getting in on the crypto craze. Given that men have invested more in crypto than women, that leadership push from women celebrities should be seen as a good thing. But it’s … not really?
Women celebrities’ interest in NFTs sounds a lot like the girlboss philosophy, which refers to a 2010s trend in which women leaders broke into male-dominated fields, but in a self-serving way. The charge looks like women are successfully breaking the glass ceiling, but at the expense of marginalized women. The ongoing hype around NFTs could play out in the same way, the Washington Post reports, but time will tell.
Tracking is a comprehensive problem — over 80% of websites, apps and emails contain third-party trackers. Because of that, people need a multi-pronged privacy solution. DuckDuckGo’s all-in-one privacy app can be used as an everyday browser with multiple features built-in, including private search, tracker blocking, encryption, and email protection.
Thoughts, questions, tips? Send them to firstname.lastname@example.org, or our tips line, email@example.com. Enjoy your day, see you Sunday.


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By Rick Carew and Juro Osawa
China’s homegrown competitor to Uber Technologies Inc. is adding to its war chest.
Didi Kuaidi Joint Co. is planning to raise around $1 billion from investors on terms that would value the Chinese car-hailing company at more than $20 billion, according to people familiar with the situation.
Didi Kuaidi’s new fundraising would bring in more cash for its escalating battle with Uber’s Chinese affiliate, UberChina. Both companies, backed local partners and investors with deep pockets, are expanding aggressively across China, handing out subsidies to attract drivers and riders to their competing services.
Didi Kuaidi dominates the country’s taxi-hailing market, and has a larger share than UberChina in the private-car-hailing segment, though the two companies disagree on the exact figures.
The latest fundraising efforts show that Chinese technology startups in market-leading positions, such as Didi Kuaidi, are continuing to find a warm reception from investors, despite a cooling environment for startup funding. Venture capitalists are pursuing fewer deals and are becoming reluctant to put money into companies with less-certain prospects. China’s slowing economic growth and stock-market turmoil are feeding fears that smaller startups could go bust.
Didi Kuaidi’s new round of fundraising comes after the company raised $3 billion from investors in September at a valuation of $16 billion. UberChina raised $1.2 billion last year at a valuation of more than $8 billion.
Didi Kuaidi, which was formed by the merger of two rival taxi-hailing apps a year ago, has expanded its private-car services to compete more directly against Uber, while adding other services such as buses and chauffeurs who drive customers’ own vehicles. As of January Didi Kuaidi was operating in more than 400 cities in China.
China’s biggest Internet companies have taken sides in the battle for the country’s ride-hailing market. Didi Kuaidi’s investors include social-networking company Tencent Holdings Ltd. and online shopping giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., while UberChina’s investors include Baidu Inc., China’s biggest search provider.
Didi Kuaidi has been working closely with Tencent, which operates the popular WeChat messaging application, which has about 650 million monthly active users. WeChat comes with a ride-hailing button that directs users to Didi Kuaidi’s service. Users can pay for rides with WeChat’s own mobile-payment service.
Alipay, the country’s most popular online-payments platform, owned by an affiliate of Alibaba, works with both Didi Kuaidi and UberChina.
Didi Kuaidi is also backed by sovereign-wealth fund China Investment Corp., with $740 billion in assets, and the venture-capital arm of Chinese financial conglomerate Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. UberChina is backed by major Chinese insurers China Life Insurance (Group) Co. and China Taiping Insurance Holdings Co.
Write to Rick Carew at email@example.com and Juro Osawa at firstname.lastname@example.org


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If you want to be exempt from Illinois' new sales tax exemption when trading in a vehicle, buy a truck.
Illinois will now no longer give a full exemption on the trade-in value of a car. Instead, Illinois’ sales tax will apply to any trade-in vehicle worth more than $10,000. That means trading in a $30,000 car for one worth $60,000 will cost the customer an extra $1,200 in additional sales taxes.
Illinois Department of Revenue spokesman Sam Salustro said the new tax won’t affect most trade-ins.
“A majority of trade-ins are valued under $10,000,” he said. “This should not affect the majority of people.”
The sales tax will also apply to RVs, ATVs and boats valued at more than $10,000. State officials expect the new tax to bring in $60 million annually.
Exemptions include one of the more popular forms of transportation in rural Illinois.
“There’s a broad amount of exemptions,” Salustro said. “For example, pickup trucks or other hauling vehicles.”
Trading in a car in another state won't exempt the purchase from Illinois' sales taxes because the taxes are levied based on the registration address.


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News App Development is captivating the larger media players in recent times and evolving as an exceptional business model as there is a significant surge in the usage of news app. You could say it’s because of “COVID19”, but the fact is corona is one of the reasons for this growth and not the only reason. With the advent of smartphones, a larger community of sharing news have driven to mobile platforms via applications. This shift over turned several media’s players to create a news app.
Meanwhile this incredible conception also didn’t fail to attract the entrepreneurs who seek for emerging business concept. Whatever you may be, either you are a media player or else an entrepreneur striving to exploit this idea to make millions, this article about newspaper app development, will solve all your queries & helps you to set path towards greater success in the media industry.
At the early stage of 2020, people across the globe relied on news mediums like never before to get updates about the critical situation of COVID19. Since then, its growth has been immense as users are turning their smartphones to consume news.
To get more clear, go through some statistical stuff
Obviously these numbers will make you to recognize the need for news app development and the demand for news apps in world market.
News app development is the process of developing mobile apps that provides instant world updates to its users at their fingertips.
News Apps can be divided into two major categories
News aggregator app collects news from various mediums and provides it the users in a sorted manner. These apps gathers the data about what is occurring in a city, country or even worldwide.
Apps for News Portal
Large scale media players who are existing in this industry will have their own news to cover the mobile audience. In order to survive in the industry, being available in multi platforms(mobile apps) is the only possible way to gain worldwide users.
Whether you create a news aggregator app or normal news app for a single publication, you can gain several benefits. Explore some below
Delivers Superior User Experience
With a news app, you can deliver the best user experience to your readers. Moreover, you can track your user’s data and find out their interest and can provide their needed one. By following this strategy you can gain more audience and it is also possible to retain the existing users.
Ease to Engage with Audience
By going with news app development, it is possible to engage with your audience at anywhere anytime using push notification. Well, push notification is the most important factor for mobile apps as it highly benefits in engaging with users. By making updates to your users about breaking news & essential stories in your app, you can engage with your target audience 24/7.
A news and magazine app provides you several opportunities to gain revenue. Go through it below
In this method, you could allow the users to use your news app at free of cost and can charge your users to access some specific features like watching videos, removing ads, live telecast or whatever as per your wish.
Well most of the apps functions under this concept these days. In this model, you can generate revenue by showing ads to your users. Several popular news apps like BBC, Buzzfeed and Flipboard follow this strategy.
In subscription, news apps can be accessed only after paying. Loyal customers who want to access your premium content will pay and access it.
Well this is the rarest model in which users can donate for the welfare of the app if they wish. Here you can ask donations to your readers to support your news and magazine application.
A successful news app requires a variety of features. Well features is the most important factor for an app’s success. Here we have listed out some must have features for news app.
In order to create a successful news app, you should follow the below steps
Make sure the type of your app
Finalize that you are going a launch a single publication news app or an aggregator. Or else you can invent your own app idea apart from these two
Fix your competitor
Going blind into the industry with just an idea may slow down your growth. So it is better to choose a successful news app in the industry and analyze it and try to provide better solutions apart from them.
List out your technical specification
Before getting into your news app development, it is better to list out your technical specification & requirements(features, target audience, etc). A specification will provide detailed information about your app which will be beneficial to turn your app idea into real.
Find out your right Partner to Convert your Idea
Once after finalizing all your ideas about your app, you need to approach a reputed mobile app development company like MacAndro who has the ability to make your idea into reality. By choosing an Indian app developer like MacAndro, you can cherish the quality app development with minimal cost.
Moreover, some may feel it is difficult to draft a specification for their app on their own. For those, MacAndro assists to draw their detailed specification by providing various support.
Well the cost for newspaper app development depends upon various factors like features, specifications, platform and much more. For instance, you can develop your news app in either Android or iOS or can build a hybrid app which supports both platform. For these, the cost may differ.
News app with essential features come with less cost and the app that is integrated with unique features and technologies may be higher. Moreover, it is better to approach a Indian mobile app development company like MacAndro rather than other countries, as Indian developers charge less than other countries which will reduce your news application development cost greatly.
Being an expertise in news app development, we are reputed and recognized in developing news applications with unique features and functionalities beyond the user’s requirements. In order to know the exact price for your news app development, better get connect with our experts.
Apart from the essential features, we at MacAndro provide some unique features to make you stand out from your competitors and make your app successful. Some of them are listed below
We provide our news app with personalized features in which users can get news feed from their preferred location and niche.
To engage your users even without a network, we offer a feature which provides news feed and allows your users to read news in offline mode.
Multi Language Support
We provide multi language support to your app and so your users can read their news in their preferred language.
We provide in-app payment options for your news app and so your reader who looks to access your premium content can make their payments within your app.
Social Media Sharing
This feature allows your reader to share news to social mediums which in turn creates branding for your app and also improves your user engagement.
Online news industry is evolving faster with the assistance of emerging technologies. With the lightning speed of technological advancement, users prefer instant news updates at their fingertips which creates a huge demand for news application. Even though there are several news apps in the market, the demand for it has never gone down. There won’t be a day without news and so there won’t be a day without demand for news app. So going with news app development will never let you financially down.
Here is the step by step guide to build a news app
Yes, Ofcourse. Usage of news apps raised greatly. Moreover, about 40% of users are preferring paid news application. So developing news app is much beneficial in terms of earning.
Well for developing a news app may starts from $30,000 and upwards. The cost depends on the complexity of your app and the features you require to add in it.
There are several opportunities to gain revenue in news app. Go through the revenue models


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The EU and India agreed on a number of trade and investment policy cooperation topics for the next twelve months during their inaugural Trade and Technology Council meeting in Brussels on Tuesday. They are also aiming to conclude a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the semiconductors sector by September …
Comment: The trade policy of Emergency Europe
Emergency Europe, a term forged during the eurozone crisis reached the EU’s trade policy during the pandemic. There are now-established patterns for many areas of trade policy affected by global and regional turmoil. Let’s brace for a more unpredictable EU.
UK and Switzerland launch negotiations to move beyond EU-inherited trade deal
The UK has announced the launch of negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement with Switzerland. The new FTA is intended to update and replace the current bilateral trade arrangements. These involve an incomplete rollover of the EU’s matrix of trade deal with the Alpine state. To a greater extent …
Week Ahead: G7, EU India TTC, EU Mercosur, WTO meeting
A week of big manoeuvring lies ahead. By Rob Francis, Chris Horseman and Iana Dreyer.
Week in Brussels: China and sovereignty on Europe Day, hazardous chemicals
Europe is becoming a new geopolitical battleground in the US China rivalry. Is it mere coincidence that China’s foreign minister Qin Gang was touring the European Union as the EU celebrated ‘Europe Day’ on Tuesday?
Week in London: Windsor Framework rollout, scaling back the bonfire of EU laws
The history of the UK’s exit from the EU has been littered with ‘cliff-edge’ deadlines of various types. Some of these have just about been met, while others have been dramatically pushed back at the last minute.
Perspectives: Friend-shoring is no substitute for having global trade rules
There is talk of a new ‘Washington consensus’ on trade as spelled out in a recent speech by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. This Washington view partly overlaps with the EU’s new approach to trade policy. But their new position of domestic industry above anything else will not deliver …
THINK TANK: WTO reform, EU data flows, Turkish elections and the customs union
After a few weeks of being fairly quiet, think tanks doing things on trade policy have been churning out reports again – long or short – on some big-ticket items: WTO reform, EU data flows and EU Turkey relations.
Members call for fresh thinking on WTO’s negotiating function
The WTO would function better if it could become more flexible in drawing on cross-cutting expertise both from within the organisation and from external stakeholders. This was one of a range of messages floated at this week’s meeting of the WTO’s general council, as discussions picked up speed on how …
Week in Brussels: Trusted trader scheme audit, IRA
This week’s trade highlight in Brussels was a decision to introduce a temporary import safeguard on certain agricultural goods from Ukraine in five countries and until June – and a further decision to liberalise fruit and vegetables trade for Moldova. All this was capped by European Commission executive vice president …


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La web sobre noticias y análisis de suplementos, salud y nutrición Nutraingredients.com publicó un artículo con muchas entrevistas a personalidades releventas en el ramo, entre ellas, Silvia Bañares.
“The establishment of global requirements would satisfy the triumvirate of authorities, consumers and, industry and will certainly lead to quality products, better consumer satisfaction, and health and well-being,” IPA executive director, George Paraskevakos told NutraIngredients.
Spain’s recent decision to use EU mutual recognition principles to allow the term ‘probiotic’ on-product despite an EU ban on probiotics as an unauthorised health claim, has provoked law experts to question how much longer the EU ban can last.
Barcelona-based EU food law specialist, Silvia Bañares, said the European Commission would have to deal with a situation where three states: Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic were now openly defying the official EU position.
“It is really uncertain what could happen next or in the far future,” she told us. “Currently there are at least three countries admitting the ‘probiotic’ term; that means other EU member states might deal with the mutual recognition principle as well. Sooner or later this issue must be assessed by EU institutions to achieve a common position.”
Paraskevakos agreed Spain’s probiotic labelling liberation was unlikely to end with Spain.
“In choosing the EU mutual regulation principal as to why they allowed this probiotic labelling, it can and probably will open doors for other EU countries to follow suit,” he said. “Can we possibly use the adage dominos waiting to fall? This approach of harmonisation would benefit everyone in Europe.”
The principle of mutual recognition states that a product legally available in one member state should be available in all 27 member states.
Spain’s Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) ruled that since the common EU market was awash with products bearing ‘probiotic’ labelling in the online space, in infant formulas and follow-on formulas, and in countries like the Czech Republic and Italy, the market was thus not harmonised.


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iOS 17.3.1 Is Released With A Patch For Additional Problems Including Duplicate And Overlapping Text
iOS 17.3.1, a point release upgrade for iOS 17.3, was made available by Apple on Thursday. The update contains bug fixes, one of which addresses the situation where “text may unexpectedly duplicate or overlap while typing,” according to the release notes. Earlier this week, Macworld observed the upgrade being tested.
“This update has no published CVE entries,” which indicates that it does not include security fixes for vulnerabilities reported in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database, according to the Apple security releases website. Following a report earlier this week indicating that Apple was working on the upgrade, iOS 17.3.1 was released.
Additionally, Apple is developing iOS 17.4, which will include significant updates to the App Store for users in the European Union in addition to new emoji and other features. We anticipate receiving the update in late February or early March. Apple also published watchOS 10.3.1 with unidentified “improvements and bug fixes” and macOS Sonoma 14.3.1 with the same update.
How to Set Up iOS 17.3.1
You’ll receive an alert from your iPhone about the update and a prompt to install it. The installation can be completed by following these steps:
- Go to Settings.
- Press General.
- Select Software Update.
- The update should now be visible; select Download and Install (or Install Now if your iPhone has already downloaded it).
- After the installer downloads and installs, your iPhone will restart and you’ll need to enter your passcode.


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Emerjildo Chavez effortlessly navigates his way down the steep, muddy slope of his small farm, pointing with pride to the crop that feeds his family of five. Around here Chavez is known as a "cocalero" -- a coca farmer.
"The coca leaf is very important to us," Chavez said in Spanish. "We get three crops a year, and from that we get enough to get by."
The family lives on the proceeds -- about $1,000 a year -- putting it well below the poverty line, by any standard.
Yet to survive, Chavez, his wife and their three young children walk more than an hour each day from their dirt-floored, two-room house in a nearby village to the tiny two-acre hillside plot where they work from sunrise to sunset. It is grueling work. The bending and digging are hard on the back. Picking the rough leaves tears the flesh of their hands.
Chavez said he has no choice, and that he is upholding a long and honored tradition of the indigenous people of this region. "We chew coca," Chavez said. "It comes to us from our ancestors, from our grandparents. It is ancient. This is a culture for us."
Indeed, everywhere you go in Bolivia you see indigenous people chewing coca much as Americans chew gum or drink coffee. The leaf is said to help combat hunger, fatigue and altitude in this mountainous country that has cities sitting 3 miles above sea level.
But for the United States and many other countries, coca is seen as a scourge. The leaves that Chavez and tens of thousands of other cocaleros here so revere are the basis of cocaine. In 1961, the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs listed the coca leaf alongside cocaine, heroin and opium as a Schedule I narcotic. The U.N. wanted to abolish the coca plant by 1987. Which is why the United States has spent billions of dollars trying to wipe out the coca crop in Bolivia, Colombia and other countries in the Andean region.
Here in Bolivia, the United States was having remarkable success. By 2002, it was estimated that the crop was down to just 15,000 acres. But poor coca farmers who lost their livelihood through aggressive eradication efforts fought back in December 2005.
At the ballot box.
They helped elect Evo Morales as president of Bolivia. Morales is a former coca grower and former head of the coca growers' union.
He promised to promote the coca crop, and he's doing just that.
"To speak politically of zero coca," Morales told ABC News in an interview at the Presidential Palace in La Paz, "is as if to speak of the extermination of the natives."
Since he was elected, coca production has more than quadrupled in Bolivia to an estimated 70,000 acres. (Officially the Bolivian government sanctions 30,000 acres of coca farming in the country, although this week Morales announced he would raise that ceiling to 49,000 acres.)
But Morales insists his policy is "Coca Yes, Cocaine No!" He wants to "industrialize" the coca leaf, promoting its medicinal and culinary value. He wants the world to learn to love the coca leaf.
Nowhere is that more on display than at the annual Coca Fair in the city of Cochabamba, where a dazzling array of coca-based products are on display: breads, pastas, chocolates, tea, medicines, even a coca shampoo. In these forms, coca is little more than a stimulant, like caffeine. It takes a complicated chemical process to turn it into cocaine.
Behind one of the booths sits anthropology professor Silvia Rivera Cusiqanqui, from the University of La Paz. She has written extensively on the role of coca in Bolivian culture. Her books are on display and for sale at the Coca Fair.
When she is asked about the worldwide perception that coca is the same as cocaine, she gets agitated. "You are wrong," she said. "This has such big medicinal value, and it's absolutely unfair and it's a campaign -- a dirty war -- against coca."
Bolivia's president agrees. "The is an unfair penalization of the coca leaf," Morales said. "We know scientifically that the coca leaf does not harm human beings."
This week in response to a U.N. report that criticized Bolivia's coca policy, Morales announced plans to spend $300,000 to develop legal markets for coca.
The United States has tried to entice coca farmers to abandon their crop and replace it with more conventional plants: coffee, bananas, for example. Representatives of U.S. AID took ABC News to a coffee farm that has imported high-quality coffee trees from Colombia -- with U.S. help -- and is now producing a profitable organic coffee bean that is sold in specialty stores in North America.
Coffee is far easier to grow but the family we met, with 50 acres, said it would be impossible to survive on coffee with the 2 acres that Emerjildo Chavez works with is family of five.
A single coffee crop brings in about as much as a single coca crop.
"There is a huge difference," Chavez said, "because coffee can only be harvested once a year, where coca may be harvested three or four times annually."
Chavez hopes the Bolivian president can convince the world that not all coca is bad. But that is a tall order.
"I don't believe the rest of the world will take a new look at coca as product," said Philip Goldberg, U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, "I think what we need to do is to control coca and try to reduce cocaine manufacture. Whether we like it or not, the majority of coca that is grown in Bolivia and in other countries goes to the illicit, illegal manufacture of drugs."
Emerjildo Chavez sees it very differently. "Coca is a gift for us," he said. "I'm proud of our president for standing up to the United States."


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Senate Appropriators Call For Botanical Identity Testing Guidance
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
A Senate FDA appropriation report says the guidance would enhance the agency’s ability to inspect and assess industry practices for manufacturing botanical dietary supplements. A National Center for Natural Products Research official says most botanical ingredients lack standard identity tests.
You may also be interested in...
FDA’s warning letters to 10 marketers of DMAA-containing products might have a silver lining for the supplement industry as they suggest the agency may be flexible on its controversial interpretation of some provisions in the new dietary ingredient notification requirement.
The letter from the office of caucus co-chair Rep. Burton says the House members contacted FDA following the agency’s “dismissal” of a Senate request to withdraw or revise the NDI draft guidance. Rep. Ron Paul, a candidate for the GOP nomination for president, also signed the letter.
Complaints against GNC Holdings Inc., manufacturer Cellucor Sports Nutrition and Woodbolt Distribution and against USPLabs rely on DOD’s decision to ban sales of the product at military exchanges and moves by Canadian regulators to support their arguments.


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The inserts will feature a table of contents, a toll-free number to encourage reporting of adverse drug events, the initial date of FDA product approval, and a section called “Highlights” that will summarize some of the most important drug information including benefits, risks, and usage.
New evidence related to the drugs will be updated and available online free of cost to healthcare professionals and consumers at http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov.
Dr. Dominick Trombetta, assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA, says that consumers and doctors may benefit from the new rules because drug information will be more user-friendly, consequently minimizing adverse drug reactions and medication errors. “Research has demonstrated that providing a prioritization of prescribing information can possible reduce medication related problems,” he says.
Dr. Trombetta believes this is a positive step in improving medication use, but has concerns about the current label changes that will make it more difficult to sue drug manufacturers over product liability. “FDA’s response to drug manufacturer’s concerns over increased liability was to include wording that would exempt them from state product liability,” a decision that Trombetta anticipates will be challenged in court.
The adequacy of information provided in the information sheets to healthcare professionals and to patients has recently been a source of class-action lawsuits over drugs such as Vioxx, Bextra, and Propulsid, making drug manufacturers reluctant to make changes to the information they provide. “The FDA’s response to manufacturer’s concerns was to include wording that would exempt them from state product liability,” says Dr. Trombetta.
Though Dr. Trombetta believes the FDA’s new rules are a positive step in improving medication use if fully utilized, he calls the limitations on product liability “extremely disturbing.”


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Facebook Home made a big splash late last month, but early indications show that users are [url=http://www.dazeinfo.com/2013/04/25/facebook-home-looses-ground-thanks-to-user-experience-study/]far from considering[/url] this a “revolution” despite smartphone users around the world [url=http://www.androidauthority.com/smartphone-users-spend-time-gaming-183698/]spending 18% of their time[/url] on Facebook.
Looking at the stats, we note that since launch on Google Play, the Facebook Home app has been downloaded more than half a million times and reviewed more than 15,000 times (and counting). So how many of these people are really satisfied? Looking at the reviews, Facebook Home has an average rating of 2.2 out of five. Most criticism focused on poor battery life and impact on mobile data allowances. These issues may or may not be fixed with the first update slated for the second week of May.
Many reviews focus on Facebook Home’s intrusiveness which subsumes everything under the Facebook name, taking over the entire phone, including existing apps, widgets and home screen. It’s basically 24/7 Facebook coverage which for many users is too much. For many others however, it has its appeal.
On the plus side, once the application is downloaded and installed, the home screen is quite similar to the Facebook News Feed and all status updates, messages, links and images are displayed in a stream format, which are easy to navigate and use. What’s more, Facebook Home incorporates Chat Heads, a function that can be used to answer messages without closing a running application.
Ostensibly it doesn’t impinge on app usage, but considering almost 80% of user activity on smartphones is on apps, the effect of Facebook Home is potentially huge. Just think about the power of local search and the amount of companies that have developed a mobile app to showcase their services to consumers. Facebook Home could be the vehicle these companies use in place of native apps to drive traffic to their websites.
How to install Facebook Home
Installing Facebook Home is easy if you have a compatible device (Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy Note II, HTC One X, HTC One X+ plus HTC First). Just go to [url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.home]Google Play[/url] and download the app.
If you want to try it out using another Android smartphone or tablet you can use a modified version of Facebook Home published by XDA Developers by following these steps:
- Uninstall all Facebook apps from your device (including Page Manager)
- Download the unofficial version of [url=http://d-h.st/qOz]Facebook Home[/url] and [url=http://d-h.st/8jn]Facebook Messenger[/url] then extract the .rar files
- Install the official Facebook app plus the Facebook Messenger app
- Enable Facebook Home under the Facebook app settings and reboot the device
The Cover Feed
Once downloaded, Facebook Home literally takes control of your device. Your home screen becomes a slideshow of your friends’ photos and updates. By tapping and swiping you can share, like, or reply to your friends on Facebook.
Everything you find on Facebook you get with Home, just in an even more shareable and omnipresent way, like a radio playing constantly in the background when you’re cleaning your apartment. Any Android notifications come via Facebook Home’s cover feed.
The Home Screen
To communicate with friends, just tap on your face on the screen and swipe it left to open Facebook Messenger. Swipe it right to open other apps or use the smartphone normally without the Home overlay.
At the moment, all photos are cropped to fit the smartphone screen so unless they actually fit the screen, you’ll need to scroll around to view the whole image, which slows down navigation.
The Chat Heads feature shows all Facebook messages from your friends. You can reply to them even if you’re using a different application or even taking a photo. This is probably the best feature of Home and the fact that it can be downloaded even if you’re not using Home comes closest to multitasking.
One of the big concerns on Facebook Home is privacy. Facebook has lowered the default privacy settings so even if your phone is locked, people can easily see your feed from the social network.
By default, you don’t need a password to interact with Facebook Home, so users that are uncomfortable with that will have to change their settings manually.
Different users, different behaviours
One recent [url=http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/28/tech/mobile/survey-phones-facebook]survey[/url] shows that users check the social network 14 times a day. So there are a lot of people whose Internet interactions are almost entirely around Facebook. For this group of people, Facebook Home is a natural evolution of their web experience.
For others, Facebook Home may be too invasive, as it takes over their online life putting Facebook activities to the fore.
[b][i][End of part 1. Next up in part 2: Facebook vs Android and Google – Who wins][/i][/b]


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Category Archives: Food Sourcing
The Birmingham NEC played host to the latest BBC Good Food Show Winter from 28 November to 1 December 2019. Hugely popular and one of the most attended shows at the venue, the show was a triumph for exhibitors and visitors.
As usual, the Good Food Show presented a huge range of activities, from the Big Kitchen and Festive Kitchen to the BBC Good Food Stage and BBC Good Food Workshop. Visitors enjoyed the Travelsphere presents: A Taste of Italy & Croatia; CAMRA’s Great British Beer Experience and La Cuisine de Maille Tasting Theatre. While the new QVC Kitchen, featured host Katy Pullinger demonstrating top tips and hacks for mastering Christmas Day lunch. Real inspiration for perfecting the ultimate seasonal desserts and party food.
Food demonstrations from the country’s favourite chefs took place every day. These featured Rosie Birkett, Tom Kerridge, Rick Stein, Michel Roux Jr, Nadiya Hussain, the Hairy Bikers, Ainsley Harriot and Mary Berry.
There were many innovative products showcased at the show, with Symphonia Gin making a big noise. Scientist Dr Ulrich Dyer distils his award winning gin in his County Tyrone distillery. The winner of the Irish Gin of the Year 2019 title, Symphonia No 1 Dry Gin was also awarded a silver medal in the prestigious International Wine and Spirits Competition awards and got two stars in the Great Taste Awards.
Staying with the Emerald Isle, Irish Black Butter has also received a number of awards and went down a treat at the Good Food Show. Irish Black Butter was thought up by Alastair Bell. He comes from Portrush and put together the innovative use of Armagh Bramley apples, cider, brandy and spices. Vegan and vegetarian friendly, the product is also free from dairy and wheat. The new Irish Black Butter Peanut Spread is a brand new product featuring peanuts.
The Pished Fish booze infused smoked salmon selection was chosen as one of the Food Champions at the show. Described as a “fillet of salmon that has been cured with high quality alcohol and botanicals and smoked in small batches over wood” the company offers the most diverse range of flavours. These range from Aquavit cured smoked Scottish salmon with beetroot, star anise and juniper berries to Augustus Gloop smoked salmon cured with blueberries and raspberry vodka. There is also one called the Designated Driver, with no booze, just cherry and juniper wood smoke
For those visitors who like their food spicy, Mr Vikki’s passion for Indian food and culture has over thirty products. While the company has won over 110 awards. From XXX Hot Chilli Jam to garlic pickle and Hell Hot Habanero and King Naga; Mr Vikkis also presents a Scotch Bonnet Fudge, not for the faint-hearted.
The BBC Good Food Show Winter yet again raised interesting ideas. It will return to the same venue in the summer.
There is a school of thought that advocates eating seasonal produce , this is an interesting dietary and ecological idea. As it reconnects us with food and the land and alerts us to the reality that different crops such as pumpkins, are produced at different times of the year.
It also cuts down on the carbon footprint of importing and transportation. So for us in the UK, this represents a viable option.
We live in a temperate climate but with the assistance of technology; we can grow many exotic crops in the UK which would otherwise perish in the climate.
It’s easy to follow this in summer as we can feast on a wide range of fruits and vegetables. We can literally eat the rainbow with a broad spectrum of colourful fruit and vegetables as possible. Think strawberries, tomatoes, radishes, blueberries, summer leafy salads; but as we enter autumn, much of the more delicate foodstuffs start to disappear. This is when the roots come into their own, with carrots, beetroot, potatoes, swede and parsnips; as well as the leafy brassicas such as Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and kale.
Going Back to Our Roots
And that brings us to pumpkins! It’s very nearly pumpkin time and luckily for those planning to spend hours of frustration carving a hideous and unrecognisable face out of a solid block of fruit for Halloween, the fruit is now well and truly in season!
Although the UK doesn’t have as much history with pumpkins as in the Americas, where pumpkins actually originated over 9,000 years ago, there is no doubt about the value of the fruit. In fact, worldwide, the production of pumpkins exceeds 27 million tonnes, with China and India the main producers.
Pumpkins are part of the squash family. When cooked, the whole pumpkin is edible from the skin to the pulp and seeds. The nutritional value is undisputed; a great source of potassium and beta-carotene, and containing minerals including calcium and magnesium, as well as vitamins E, C and some B vitamins.
Another root vegetable that has accelerated in UK popularity in recent years is the sweet potato. This is also about to come into season. With a creamy texture and sweet-spicy flavour, this food has become the norm on menus to replace the humble chip. And its nutritional value is also high, as it is rich in fibre, vitamins A, C and B6, and an excellent source of carbohydrates. There are two varieties and the orange-fleshed one is also rich in beta-carotene.
Other fruits and vegetables reaching their peak in autumn include apples, aubergines, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cranberries, dates, figs, turnips and marrow.
Pronounce It Keen-wah
October is harvest time for quinoa! Quinoa is fast becoming a staple food among vegans and vegetarians for its incredible health benefits. This is a bead-shaped grain with a slightly bitter flavour and firm texture, and unlike wheat or rice, quinoa is a complete protein.
It contains all nine of the essential amino acids and has been recognised by the United Nations as a supercrop for its health benefits from dietary fibre, phosphorus, magnesium and iron. It is also gluten-free. Initially grown in the Andes in South America, it was known for thousands of years as the ‘mother grain’. High in anti-inflammatory phytonutrients, it is potentially beneficial for human health in the prevention and treatment of disease.
All of the above-mentioned foods are now grown successfully in the UK. Once considered exotic and relatively rare, they are now acceptable commonplace foods. At the risk of mentioning the B word, who knows how self sufficient we will need to be in future? The rewards of a seasonal food supply are exciting, especially with the contemporary emphasis on health and environmental benefits. After all, variety is the spice of life!
There’s been constant activity in the global media over the past few years regarding climate change and the effect that it is having on the food we eat. We may be in danger of losing some of the food we are familiar with; due predominantly to the changes that are taking place in our climate.
This year, the British brassica has been affected by unusually heavy summer rains bringing flooding to the UK’s main growing region for cauliflowers, Lincolnshire. Elsewhere, the record-breaking heat-wave wilted fields of cauliflowers across the whole of Europe. This left a shortage in not only cauliflowers, but also cabbages, broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
America’s organic apples, mostly grown in Washington State, are also in trouble. As is coffee, with at least three-fifths of current coffee species facing extinction, according to a recent study. More worryingly is the decline in wheat crops, a staple global food which is sensitive to temperature changes. Places like India could see a reduction in wheat harvests of between 6% and 23% by 2050.
Even the humble sushi roll is under threat. Japanese farmers are blaming warmer, cleaner seas for a decline in nori seaweed production. The nori production fell to its lowest level in 2018 since 1972, pushing up prices and decimating supply.
The 2019 maple syrup harvest has also been affected. According to The New York Times, 2012 saw production of maple falling by 12.5% overall due to an unusually warm spring. This impacts negatively on syrup production because the process depends on specific temperature conditions.
More recently, in 2018, production of maple syrup fell by 21.7% throughout Canada. The culprit was Canada’s warm weather during the winter with later than normal snow. Sugar content is determined by the previous year’s carbohydrate stores with sap flow depending on the freeze-thaw cycle.
The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers has even had to tap into its strategic reserves this year to avoid any shortages or price spikes for maple syrup. Quebec has put in place additional harvest areas to meet with high demands, and they are now being used widely.
From High to Low
In Vermont in America, sugar maple harvest has witnessed a renaissance in the 21st century following decades of decline. The revival comes as many Americans are turning their backs on refined sugars for natural products such as maple syrup, agaves and honey. Production of maple is now one of Vermont’s pre-eminent industries. In 2018, the value of Vermont’s maple syrup production exceeded $54.3M. This accounted for 38% of the maple syrup produced nationwide.
Producers are doing what they can to avoid any shortages; such as collecting the sap later in the season and introducing technological advancements. These cut down on traditional collection using buckets and replace it with miles of vacuum pump-operated tubing.
As Keith Thompson of the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation says: “It’s not just about keeping the individual trees healthy, it’s about keeping the entire forest healthy.”
The maple syrup industry is currently keeping abreast of the problem. It’s initiating solutions to combat the inevitable changes in climate. It urges other industries to follow suit in order for our favourite foods to remain available. At AC Services, we thoroughly commend that approach.
In a week that saw the highest temperatures ever recorded in July not only in the UK but in other parts of Europe, talk has turned to peanuts and other crops that might be at risk.
Global peanuts consumption has grown at the rate of 2.53% and expected to grow further during 2019-2024. China and India are the largest consumer and exporters of peanuts in the world, accounting for more than 36% of the global consumption.
But according to reports, peanuts might be extinct by 2030. The reason is that peanuts are considered “fairly fussy plants”, and need five months of consistent warm weather, along with 20 to 40 inches of rain. If there is not enough rain, the pods won’t germinate. If there is too much rain, the plants will wilt making the peanuts inedible. We know from America’s peanut production that droughts and heat waves can destroy entire peanut crops. With the weather getting record-breakingly warmer, this is a worry.
Last week, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands recorded their highest ever temperatures. Several cities in France broke previous temperature records with Bordeaux and Paris exceeding 40 degrees. Here’s the science: the latest heatwave has been caused by an omega block which is a high-pressure pattern that blocks and diverts the jet stream, allowing a mass of hot air to flow up from northern Africa and the Iberian peninsula.
All of this climate change is putting crops at risk in harvest yields worldwide. It’s not just the heat however, crops are affected by unusually cold nights, weeks with no rainfall and storm-driven precipitation. All of which account for up to 49% of yield losses for maize, rice, spring wheat and soy beans.
Extensive studies have been carried out in Europe, the US and Africa to measure the cost to the grains, pulses and tubers that feed 7.7 billion people. These now have the aim of isolating the factors within climate change that might affect harvests.
Researchers have found that the maize yield in Africa is in a dire situation. Africa’s share of global maize production is not large, but the largest part of that production goes to human consumption. When compared to just 3% in North America, it is clear why maize is critical here for food security. Consider also that in the UK and Europe, maize is a key foodstock for cows, milk and beef and so indirectly human consumption.
Crops at Risk
The climate is crucial to most growth with food items such as avocados and chickpeas needing an awful lot of water to be produced. 72 gallons in fact to make just one pound of avocados. More than 80% of America’s avocados are grown in California, where there’s a drought. Similarly, chickpeas need almost the same amount of water. Global production of these legumes has gone down 40-50% due to worldwide droughts.
And what about coffee? The unimaginable could happen. Most coffee comes from Arabica beans, which grow best between 64 F and 70 F. If the temperature rises above that, the plants ripen too quickly, which affects the quality of the yield.
The bottom line is that climate change is happening and will affect the food we grow and eat. The extremes of British weather over the last week emphasises our vulnerability and allows us to reflect.


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When is an “auction record” not really an auction record?
That’s a question that may be raised regarding a wobbly Twombly benchmark set at Sotheby’s last November. In her Bloomberg report on that auction house’s $242.19-million evening Contemporary sale last week, Katya Kazakina unpacked the back story for this untitled Christopher Wool, for which the bidding inched up to $12.2 million, against a presale estimate of $14-18 million. (Final price for the Wool, with buyer’s premium: $13.9 million.)
Here’s Katya’s jaw-dropper:
“Chameleon” was one of four lots at Sotheby’s consigned by Daniel Sundheim, the chief investment officer at Viking Global Investors. They were part of a swap to pay for a $70.5 million Cy Twombly painting that he bought in November.
Sotheby’s offered Sundheim a guarantee for seven swapped works (three of which went up for sale in London in February). Sotheby’s outsourced some of the risk on Wednesday by locking in bidders for the four works.
I sent a list of questions to Sotheby’s about this unorthodox payment arrangement. Specifically, I asked if there were any inaccuracies in the Bloomberg passage quoted above.
Through its press spokesperson, Sotheby’s twice answered: “We have no comment.”
But in her report of a month ago—Why Auction Houses are Giving Away Millions—Katya explained how the Twombly “record” was engineered:
The star of the evening, Twombly’s “Untitled,” was vulnerable because it didn’t have a bidder lined up. So Sotheby’s cut a deal with Sundheim, …a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art. According to people familiar with the deal and a financial filing with New York State, the house let the collector largely pay for the Twombly with a pledge to consign seven other works with a combined estimated value of $50 million to $75 million. Sandy Heller, a prominent art adviser, was still negotiating for Sundheim as the auction began.
Sotheby’s guaranteed Sundheim minimum prices for the art—a move that leaves the house on the hook if prices fall short. Four of Sundheim’s pieces, among them a Warhol and a Basquiat, are going up for auction in May [as happened last week].
The Twombly not only set a record for the artist, but was also “the top lot sold at Sotheby’s worldwide in 2015,” according to the auction house’s press release.
Here’s that Twombly, as installed in Sotheby’s presale exhibition last November:
Bidding on this blackboard painting had stalled at $62.75 million, against a hammer-price estimate “in excess of $60 million.” My tweeted comment then was:
$70.5m with buyer’s fees makes the Twombly a new auction record for the artist. No fireworks, but gets the job done.
— Lee Rosenbaum (@CultureGrrl) November 12, 2015
This “record” gives me traumatic flashbacks to two other famous “records” that weren’t as bullish as they at first seemed:
–Australian financier Alan Bond set an auction record for any painting with his controversial $53.9-million purchase in 1987 of van Gogh‘s “Irises.” It later came to light that Sotheby’s itself had loaned Bond about half of the purchase price, with “Irises” as collateral. That painting is now securely ensconced at the Getty Museum.
—Art dealer Shigeki Kameyama of the Mountain Tortoise Company, Tokyo, set an auction record for any work of contemporary art in 1989 when he bought de Kooning‘s “Interchange” at Sotheby’s for $20.7 million. Unable to pay that amount, he ultimately consigned other works to Sotheby’s to defray the debt. That de Kooning was recently purchased from David Geffen by hedge-fund mogul Kenneth Griffin, who loaned it to the Art Institute of Chicago.
We don’t know if the unorthodox arrangement with Sundheim was a one-off, or part of a new Sotheby’s strategy for bolstering bidding. Time (and Katya) may tell.
What we do know is that the Wool selling last week for $13.9 million, reportedly as part of the Sundheim “swap,” was purchased by this season’s binge-bidder, Yusaku Maezawa, the 40-year-old founder of a Japanese fashion website. It was one of six lots in that sale for which Sotheby’s secured an irrevocable bid after the catalogue was printed. (Those IBs were announced at the sale.)
In her October 1989 NY Times article about Alan Bond’s iris crisis, Rita Reif noted that the van Gogh’s so-called “record” price had “fueled an atmosphere of euphoria in the art market. The price became the benchmark most often cited as proof that art was a commodity that had weathered the economic crisis.” Similarly, last November’s Twombly “record” set a benchmark for that artist and may have propped up shaky confidence in art’s touted attractiveness as an “asset class.”
At a time when auction houses say they are offering fewer guarantees to consignors, an art swap in lieu of cash payment may be another way of boosting prices—one that, unlike guarantees or irrevocable bids, is not publicly disclosed in the sales catalogue.
As I’ve repeatedly written (most recently here), all the convoluted side deals that pump up prices make today’s auctions a far cry from the classic IRS definition of “fair market value”—“the price that would be agreed on between a willing buyer and a willing seller, with neither being required to act and both having reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts [emphasis added].”
How many participants in today’s pre-engineered auctions actually have “reasonable knowledge” of the complex machinations underlying these sales, so that they possess the “relevant facts” in weighing how much they should bid? And how can they be confident that auctions provide a level playing field for buyers, when a potential bidder may have cut a secret non-cash deal with the auction house to facilitate his purchase?


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From catwalk to cakewalk: Moscow Fashion Week takes tasty turn
Moscow Fashion Week had foodies and fashionistas alike drooling on Saturday as models took to the catwalk in a show that combined fashion with elaborate culinary creations.
Naomi Campbell on diversity in fashion
Naomi Campbell, one of fashion's most recognizable faces, spoke with Reuters about how racial diversity in fashion has improved in recent years, but the industry must not treat it like a catwalk trend.
Fashion collections: see now, buy when?
High fashion has always shied away from high-street style fast fashion, but that's all set to change. Fashion lovers have traditionally had to wait up to six months to buy their favourite designs from catwalk shows.


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MUMBAI: On a day when two thirds of banking in India had ground to a halt, ICICI Bank sought to demonstrate its branch of the future a fully electronic branch which has a 100% self-service approach. With over one third of its customer transactions taking place online, the bank expects this new initiative to migrate more branch customers online through round-the-clock electronic branches.
The bank is also arming field officers with electronic tablets, which will besides taking the front office to the doorstep will also be used for 'scanning' account opening documents. Doorstep banking will also be facilitated by mobile point of sales terminals. ""The electronic branches are not glorified ATMs, they have a wide range of features and customer experience which is not there in an ATM centre"" said Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO ICICI Bank. For instance depositors can generate print out of their bank statements in A4 sheets. They can deposit upto Rs 1 lakh in 200 currency notes at a time and get instant credit for it. Accountholders can also speak to a customer service executive albeit through video chat.
Incidentally, finance minister P Chidambaram after meeting bank chairmen last week had directed them to deploy cash deposit machines and increase doorstep banking in order to reduce cash in the system and grow bank deposits. According to Ms Kochhar the pace of acceptance of online banking has taken even believers by surprise. But even as it is looking at migrating customers to online through 'electronic banking' the bank is spreading its bets by launching with tab banking. "There is a clear shift in the way people access the internet from the desktop to handheld devices. The rate of growth of mobile internet is 100%" she said.
All leading banks have applications that bring features of desktop based internet banking to smart phones. ICICI Bank, however, would be using handhelds to speed up savings deposit acquisition. For instance sales staff will photograph the depositor, his address and identity proof, a signature sample and upload them to the bank's server. This will greatly speed up account opening, officials said. ICICI Bank is not the first to have a cash deposit machine and neither this is the first time that a bank is using mobile POS terminals. However, this is the first effort to have a 24X7 electronic branch aimed at migrating branch customers to self service platforms.


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South African Probe into Chicken Dumping29 October 2013
SOUTH AFRICA - South Africa’s European trading partners — Germany, the Netherlands and the UK — are being probed by the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) for alleged dumping of frozen bone-in chicken portions.
According to BusinessDay, the investigation follows the recent increase of import duties on five categories of imported chicken products. The new tariffs have already been introduced, but did not apply to imports from the European Union (EU), with which South Africa has a trade and co-operation agreement.
The South African Poultry Association has, however, brought an application against European poultry producers and exporters, claiming they are dumping their products in the South African Customs Union (Sacu) countries.
XA International Trade Advisors director Donald MacKay said on Monday that it seemed as if the association was determined to close the market for chicken imports.
"Importers have become quite fatigued by the frequency of the applications, but will go to battle again. They expected the application, but exporters are a bit more surprised and quite concerned."
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies last month defended the overall average tariff increase of 8.75 percentage points on chicken imports, and said they did not constitute "protectionism".
Itac accepted the association’s latest application on the grounds that there was prima facie evidence of dumping by the European countries that caused producers in Sacu material injury.
"The applicant submitted sufficient evidence and established a prima facie case to enable the commission to arrive at a reasonable conclusion that an investigation should be initiated on the basis of dumping, material injury, threat of material injury and causality," Itac said in the Government Gazette on Friday.
The association constitutes about 72 per cent of Sacu’s frozen bone-in chicken portion production.
The application is supported by Grain SA, the Animal Feed Manufacturers Association, Namib Poultry Industries, Swazi Poultry Processors, the Botswana Poultry Association and the Basotho Poultry Farmers Association.
The commission received "injury information" from producers Afgri, County Fair, Early Bird (Olifantsfontein), Early Bird (Standerton), Rainbow Chicken, Sovereign Foods and Supreme Poultry.
According to the information, there has been a decline in the producers’ return on investment and they have experienced negative net cash flows, negative effects on capacity utilisation, a decline in profits, an increase in inventory and a decrease in productivity.
Association of Meat Importers and Exporters CEO David Wolpert said on Monday it was not surprised by the application. "We have been expecting this for some time and we will respond as soon as we have scrutinised the documents. We are of the opinion there is no dumping taking place from Europe."
Mr Wolpert said he had been to Europe recently and had met with the European Poultry Association, which would also be responding to the latest investigation.
TheMeatSite News Desk


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Taking vitamin D supplements could help to ease the painful symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), according to a new study by UK researchers.
Little is known about why and how IBS develops, although it is known that diet and stress can make symptoms worse, noted the researchers, who also highlighted that it accounted for 10% of GP visits.
“The study provides an insight into the condition and, importantly, a new way to try to manage it”
They added that low vitamin D status had already been associated with the risk of colorectal cancer and has been implicated in inflammatory bowel disease.
The researchers, from Sheffield University, reviewed and integrated all available research on vitamin D and IBS, which included four observational studies and three intervention studies.
All of the observational studies reported that a substantial proportion of the IBS population was vitamin D deficient, regardless of ethnicity. Meanwhile, two intervention studies reported improvement in IBS symptom severity scores and quality of life with vitamin D supplementation.
As a result of their analysis, the researchers said their findings suggested supplements may help to ease symptoms, which can include abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhoea and constipation.
“The available evidence suggests that low vitamin D status is common among the IBS population and merits assessment and rectification for general health reasons alone,” stated the study authors.
“An inverse correlation between serum vitamin D and IBS symptom severity is suggested and vitamin D interventions may benefit symptoms,” they said in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
However, they highlighted that the available data used in their review did not currently provide “strong, generalisable evidence” and called for more larger trials to “establish a case for therapeutic application of vitamin D in IBS”.
”There is no single known cause and likewise no single known cure”
Lead study author Dr Bernard Corfe said: “The study provides an insight into the condition and, importantly, a new way to try to manage it.
“It is evident from the findings that all people with IBS should have their vitamin D levels tested and a large majority of them would benefit from supplements,” he said.
He added: “IBS is a poorly understood condition which impacts severely on the quality of life of sufferers. There is no single known cause and likewise no single known cure.”


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Chinese venture capital firm Ganesh Ventures is all set to make an aggressive entry into India with its recent announcement to invest $250 Mn in startups in the country.
Set up by Jessica Wong (former founding partner, Cyber Carrier, a Hong Kong-based VC), the fund aims to invest this amount in Indian startups across sectors like TMT, consumer products, fintech, and healthtech over the next three to five years.
Ganesh Ventures has done the first close of the fund at $30 Mn, with investors from Europe, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China backing it.
The VC firm has signed on Landmark Capital and Jack Ma’s ambitious eWTP Ecosystem Fund, led by Yongfu Yu. The eWTP (Electronic World Trade Platform) Ecosystem Fund is a brainchild of Jack Ma in a bid to boost cross-border ecommerce. Ganesh Ventures will be eWTP’s strategic investment partner in India, a key market in its comprehensive international plan.
Ganesh Ventures seeks to build a strong network of Indian entrepreneurs and Chinese investors and entrepreneurs.
“What makes Ganesh Ventures unique, is its partnership approach — not only will the fund invest its own capital in Indian startups, but open the gateway to other investors for larger follow-on capital raises. The total investment corpus of Ganesh Ventures’ partners is estimated to be in excess of a billion dollars,” said the VC firm in a media statement.
Ganesh Ventures: First Close of $30 Mn Fund For India
Ganesh Ventures plans to set up offices in Gurugram, Bengaluru, Hong Kong and Beijing and intends to finalise about six deals this year.
Jessica Wong, managing partner of Ganesh Ventures, said, “We want to engage not just at the early stage but also at the growth stage. We’ve been testing the waters in India for some time and have gained a valuable understanding of the market. The success we have achieved so far with our partners and portfolio strengthens our confidence to engage with more stakeholders and enhance our portfolio.”
As Inc42 reported, Ganesh Ventures made its first investment in India with IndiaLends. With ticket sizes spanning $500K-$5 Mn, Ganesh Ventures seeks to connect Indian entrepreneurs with the Chinese startup ecosystem and stakeholders to tap into cross-border resources, exchange learnings, and achieve market synergies.
It has received commitments from institutional investors in Europe and Southeast Asia as well for its entire corpus.
eWTP, an anchor investor in Ganesh Ventures, was launched in May as a $600 Mn cross-border fund to drive strategic investments to help companies accelerate their international expansions and to support technology innovations.
Backed by Alibaba Group and its subsidiary Ant Financial, the company is helmed by Yu Yongfu, former chairman of Alibaba’s Digital Entertainment Group.
Alibaba, along with its payments affiliate Ant Financial, owns a 40% stake in Paytm’s parent company One97 Communications. Bengaluru-based BigBasket raised $300 Mn Series E funding in a round led by Chinese conglomerate Alibaba in February this year.
Future Retail said Alibaba has pumped in close to $2 Bn into half a dozen Indian companies in the last three years. It has invested $200 Mn in food delivery app Zomato, $33.8 Mn in logistics startups XpressBees, and $150 Mn in ecommerce firm Snapdeal, among others. The Chinese behemoth is also in talks to acquire a stake in content aggregator DailyHunt.
Alibaba’s revenue stood at $9.9 Bn in the 2018 March quarter, an increase of 61% year-over-year, reported TechCrunch.
The Alibaba Group already has several investments in India and is increasing its presence here. The Indian startup ecosystem is now ready to witness the next bets of the group with Ganesh Ventures.