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Random acts of weirdness
The corker was the announcement that the normally well-disciplined eBay is shelling out $2.6 billion to $4 billion for Skype, a nifty online phone service that produced $60 million in sales in the last 12 months. On the high end, the transaction is valued at 666 times sales, the devil's own PIN.
Even after CEO Meg Whitman explained the tenuous rationale for the deal, it is unclear how Skype will help eBay sell more Beanie Babies.
The idea, she says, is that eBay will encourage visitors to sign up for Skype and then click a "Skype Me" button so they can speak directly to merchants selling stuff on eBay. Meg believes this will help eBay build a business brokering real estate, autos and other high-end products.
Assuming, arguendo, that this actually could help sell more Hummers or McMansions, why not create an 800-number using the standard phone system? For one thing, everyone already has a phone and knows how to use it. For another, eBay could test the idea before deciding whether to spend $2.6 billion to $4 billion to see if it works.
If the phone idea clicked, eBay wouldn't have to buy Skype. If it didn't, which it won't, then Meg could spend the $2.6 billion to $4 billion on a more worthy cause.
Over at Google, where there must be an equal or greater amount of hubris in the water supply, somebody hatched the idea of buying ads in magazines and then reselling bits of the pages to the merchants who pay 7 cents a click for Ad Words.
This piddling effort somehow is supposed to help Google diversify its $4.5 billion in sales. But I don't get it.
The good news is that this soon-to-be-proven-futile exercise will cost Google far less than the $2.6 million to $4 million that eBay is paying for Skype.
The problem with the eBay and Google projects is they illogically overreach the demonstrated capabilities of the companies and the scope of their brands.
The irony is that eBay and Google have tons of opportunity to build value by partnering with people who urgently need the know-how they can provide.
Specifically, eBay and Google ought to be working with print publishers and broadcasters to create rich online auction and advertising environments that will extend their reach and revenue. Although this will build audience and sales along the way for the legacy media companies, that's OK. The old-line companies represent no real competition to the online upstarts.
Not only would the partnerships create more business for everyone without cannibalizing anyone's existing sales and share, but it also would deter eBay and Google from making costly and embarrassing digressions into markets where they don't belong.
Until cooler and wiser heads prevail, however, it looks like hype, as in Skype, will carry the day.


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On e-payment, Hong Kong must catch up with rest of the world
The mainland has moved rapidly towards a cashless society, as have other places in Asia and the world, yet we are stuck with the Octopus card
Urbanised centres across the mainland have gone cashless. Hong Kong is still talking about getting there. This is one of many hi-tech areas and high value-added supply chains where the city is being left behind.
Consider this. Mainland news media have reported that beggars in Beijing and Jinan, in Shandong, have been using printouts of QR codes to enable people to donate money via such payment apps as Alipay and WeChat Wallet. Even beggars are using e-payment!
Mainland businesses large and small have been quick to embrace the mobile internet. Chinese urbanites don’t carry much cash around these days. Instead, they pay for everything with apps on their smartphones. Vegetable sellers in wet markets have electronic payment readers. That should give some idea why BAT, the trio of internet giants – Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent – were all founded on the mainland and not in Hong Kong.
When the Octopus card was introduced in Hong Kong 20 years ago, it was a world-beating payment platform. But it has only recently enabled so-called p2p, or person to person payment.
According to a survey of six Asian cities on e-payments, eight out of 10 Hong Kong people think we are lagging behind.
The study by an affiliated branch of the Junior Chamber International Hong Kong ranked the prevalence of e-payments on a scale from one to 10. Singaporeans gave the highest score (7.5), followed by Zhongshan (6.9), Hong Kong (6.4), Taiwan (6.4), Macau (6.3) and finally Japan (5.8).
The case of Japan is perhaps not so surprising because this hi-tech powerhouse is quaint in many ways – many Japanese and companies in the country still prefer to use faxes to send each other documents.
Singapore has long had what is called the “Contactless e-Purse Application Standard”, which allows different debit or stored value cards to be used on the same e-reader.
The Internet Professional Association has suggested we follow Singapore’s example. People prefer a single-payment platform for convenience. Why not just use a single standard for scanning, say, Electronic Payment Services, Autotoll and Octopus cards? Why not put all those payment methods or apps on your smartphone, and/or bank-issued ATM debit card and credit card?
With a relatively low-cost investment, at least compared to its many mega-infrastructure projects, the government could pay for the development of hardware for easy electronic transactions that would directly benefit consumers and promote businesses.

domain: news


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A Google search for Katherine Heigl returns 49,400,000 results in 0.27 seconds.
Katherine Heigl has been criticised by the British journalist turned chat show host Piers Morgan for suing pharmacy Duane Reade for $6 million after it tweeted out a picture of the actress leaving the store.
Katherine Heigl Is Suing Duane Reade For $6 Million
The 'Knocked Up' star was snapped leaving a New York branch of the drug store last month, carrying several shopping bags. The photograph was used on the store's Facebook and Twitter page, along with the caption: "Love a quick #DuaneReade run? Even @KatieHeigl can't resist shopping #NYC's favorite drugstore." Heigl is seeking $6 million in compensation.
Morgan linked to the Daily Mail's report on the lawsuit on Thursday, tweeting, "Hi @DuaneReade - unlike @KatieHeigl , I am very happy to be photographed coming out of your excellent stores. And feel free to tweet it."
"One of the most ridiculous lawsuits in showbusiness history. Get over yourself Ms Heigl," he added.
The lawsuit describes Heigl as a "highly successful television and motion picture actress, producer and celebrity" despite the fact that she hasn't had a hit movie or show since 2010. Bizarrely, it adds: "Plaintiff continues to be in high demand in the entertainment industry.a recent search for "Katherine Heigl" on the Google search engine returned over 3.2 million results." It also cites Heigl's 754,000 Twitter followers.
The lawsuit adds that Heigl is "highly selective and well compensated" when she chooses to endorse a product or service, adding, "she did not authorize the store to use her name, picture or image."
"Duane Reade is liable for not less than $6 million in compensatory and punitive or treble damages," it adds.


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By now, many people are familiar with smartphones, but despite the advancements made on our mobile cellular handsets, few of those innovations have made it back to the landline. Archos is hoping to change some of that as it readies the Archos 35 home smartphone, a cordless home handset that comes with a large touchscreen and the Android operating system. Based on appearances, the Archos 35 home smartphone looks like your standard run of the mill smartphone placed in a charging dock.
According to company, the Archos 35 is part DECT handset and part Android tablet. The phone runs on Android 2.2 Froyo and comes with a 3.5-inch touchscreen display. It can connect to the Internet via WiFi.
Unfortunately, though, the touchscreen is not very high resolution, clocking in at just 272 X 480 pixels. Namer and number caller ID will be displayed when there is an incoming call. The phone also comes with 8 GB of internal storage, a micro SDHC expansion card slot, and has a camera for web video calling.
Though not yet available for purchase, the unit is expected to retail for $160. It had recently garnered FCC approval.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.


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The new year is only a week old, but a copyright lawsuit for the ages is already taking shape.
On Tuesday, Sonos, the home speaker specialists, sued Google in two U.S. federal court systems seeking damages and a ban on the sale of Google’s speakers, smartphones and other tech in the U.S., claiming Google stole its smart speaker plans and flooded the market with cheaper models.
The suit has its origins in 2013, when Google agreed to build its digital music service, Google Play Music, to work seamlessly with Sonos’ home sound systems. As part of that trusting relationship, Sonos handed over the keys to its technology.
Google was a software company, a search engine giant. What could go wrong?
This is where everything goes sour, say the Sonos team behind the suit.
In 2015, Google rolled out its own range of smart speakers under the now-discontinued Chromecast Audio line. Today, the Silicone Valley tech titan sits in third place in the global smart speaker market with its range of Google Home products, behind only Amazon and China’s Baidu.
According to analysis published by Canalys, Google shifted an estimated 4.3 million Home devices in the second quarter last year, for a 16.7% share of a multi-billion-dollar – and growing – global market.
Now, Sonos is crying foul and its execs admit naivety, if not a blunder, in a complaint which spans nearly 100 pages and accuses the tech giant of infringing multiple patents.
The company says it’s losing out, big time, with its smart speakers which sell only a fraction of the cheaper Google products.
“Google is an important partner with whom we have collaborated successfully for years, including bringing the Google Assistant to the Sonos platform last year,” comments Sonos CEO Patrick Spence in a statement sent to Billboard.
However, he adds, “Google has been blatantly and knowingly copying our patented technology in creating its audio products.
Despite our repeated & extensive efforts over the last few years, Google has not shown any willingness to work with us on a mutually beneficial solution. We’re left with no choice but to litigate in the interest of protecting our inventions, our customers, and the spirit of innovation that’s defined Sonos from the beginning.”
In its suit, filed in U.S. District Court in California, Sonos claims it warned Google of patent infringements on several occasions in 2016, 2018 and as recently as 2019, by which time its reps had identified roughly 100 patents that had been violated.
A Google spokesman told the New York Times that both companies had discussed their IP for years and “we are disappointed that Sonos brought these lawsuits instead of continuing negotiations in good faith.” Also, the spokesman added, “We dispute these claims and will defend them vigorously.”
Sonos’ Spence and his top brass will get a chance to testify at an open hearing scheduled for Jan. 17 with House antitrust leaders.
The session will be the fifth hearing of the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust investigation into tech giants, including Facebook and Google.
Australians love their smart speakers.
According to research published by Edison, smart speaker adoption a year ago reached almost 30% (or 5.7 million) of Australia’s adult population, compared to about 26% in the U.S.
Google Home was the first entrant in the smart speaker industry in these parts, arriving in the summer 2017. That advantage helped it to a commanding 68 per cent market share in January 2019.


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No matter where you look these days, it seems like you encounter lackluster customer service. But a legendary Condé Nast exec is having none of it when it comes to his staff.
Currently, Bill Wackermann is the vice president and publishing director at Condé’s Traveler brand, and The New York Times reports that the boss is sending his business team to the best hotels in Manhattan: the Carlyle, the Four Seasons, the Peninsula, and the Waldorf-Astoria. But these stays aren’t the rewards for jobs well done or even advertorial assignments – far from it. They’re training sessions on-the-floor, in-the-laundry-room looks at luxury customer service.
Download a FREE copy of 7 Ways to Monetize your Portal Audience, and discover how today's top publishers are generating revenue through memberships, events, clubs, sponsorships, and more.
“We need to learn better service,” Wackermann told the Times. “We have got to get back to that human touch to understand because that is what really is the key to driving success. … We should and will mirror ourselves around how other luxury brands comport themselves.”
Though the Times reports that Traveler’s ad buys are up 11% under Wackermann’s leadership, he’s hoping the hotel “internships” will further boost the magazine’s sales and marketing.


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How COVID-19 May Have Positive Impacts on the World of Business
The COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down in March of 2020 and it has pretty much been a wild ride ever since. However, with vaccines now being distributed, hope is on the horizon. Lots of people are looking forward to getting back to a routine that resembles something close to what life looked like before the pandemic, lockdowns, and mask mandates. Of course, there’s always a silver lining in everything and COVID-19 may have lasting impacts on the world of business that remain far beyond the virus.
Throughout 2020 and into the new year, businesses, employees, and consumers have shown how resilient they can be. People adapted to new ways of working, working from home, and juggling work with parenting kids learning remotely. Humans are nothing if not resourceful and adaptable. COVID-19 may have been devastating, but out of all the doom and gloom there will be some positives for business to focus on.
Transition to Remote or Flexible Work
Many businesses and their staff had to quickly pack up their essential office items and head home as the pandemic first got underway. What was supposed to be a few weeks of working from home has turned into months. And, for many businesses, may become permanent. Some of the world’s leading companies including Square, Shopify, and Slack have already announced a permanent work from home model. Plus, it appears employees prefer working from home with 60% surveyed saying they want to work from home even after the pandemic.
There are obvious benefits to working from home. Shorter commute times, money saved on commuting expenses, more time with family, more time to sleep in; they are all important benefits for employees. From a business standpoint, moving forward, remote work or flexible work models may become a hiring advantage. Plus, there is the possibility to downsize physical locations and save money on property costs.
Of course, remote work has its own quirks. Employees need to be enabled with the tools to continue doing their jobs effectively. This includes high-definition webcams, quality speakers or headphones, and second monitors. For much of 2020, businesses and employees were simply getting by with what they had. Now it’s time to really consider remote work and the investment needed to ensure the experience is professional and productive.
Expanded Lines of Communication
Communication changed a lot thanks to COVID-19. The days of the office water cooler chat have been replaced with Zoom meetings, digital messaging, and other creative methods of connecting remotely. While many people will always yearn for a face-to-face connection, businesses have seen that both employees and customers are willing and able to adapt to more digital communication methods. While the traditional meetings will return in some form after the pandemic, the versatility and efficiency of digital communication is something that all successful businesses will leverage.
Digital communication does pose its own challenges, though. Luckily the tech is there to help support small businesses as they transition. VOIP (voice over internet protocol) is a great way to untether from the office landline and allow employees to continue making and taking calls from home. Plus, with VOIP, employees can use smartphone apps or software on their devices to stay connected wherever they are. This allows them to take their office line with them on sales calls, to conferences, or wherever they may end up working post-pandemic.
Even in the office, digital communication is going to take the lead. With digital whiteboards, meetings and conferences will feel more like the sleek video conferences people have become accustom to. Customers have been changing the way they shop and interact with businesses throughout the pandemic and businesses need to be prepared to meet customers where they’re at and not where things were pre-pandemic.
Emphasis and Investment in Security
Cybersecurity has been an ongoing concern as the world becomes more connected. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed how unprepared some people, businesses, and governments are for modern cyberattacks. Experts were tracking 4000 cyber attacks per day in 2020. This ultimately leads to billions of dollars lost and untold amounts of personal data exposed. But, just like with a pandemic, there is a silver lining. Cybersecurity, which has flown under the radar for far too long, is a hot topic now.
Whether it’s Zoombombing, clever phishing attacks, new malware, or some other type of security threat; 2020 has made the world acutely aware of what hackers are capable of. Now, with digital work becoming more common and employees moving to remote work, investing in cybersecurity is a timely and important cause for small businesses all the way up to the largest enterprises. Making these investments now will set up smart businesses to better take on the rapid digitization of industries around the world.
Prepare for the Future
Business may never be the same after the COVID-19 pandemic. To help prepare for the future with products, software, security, and advice; contact the small business experts at James Imaging Systems today.


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GentingBet has streamlined its sportsbook service after launching a new user interface across the brand’s web and mobile platforms.
By revamping its sportsbook under the new brand headline ‘Betting Just Got Better’, mobile users will gain access to an ‘improved navigation system’, allowing players to identify new betting markets.
Billy Cook, Head of Sportsbook, said: “We’ve been working on this new update for quite some time now and we’re excited to share this with our players. We initially worked on mobile first but we’re pleased to share this streamlined and conventional re-design with both mobile and web users for much-improved navigation and ease of use.”
In September 2019, GentingBet named Guillem Balague as the operator’s newest football Ambassador for the 2019/20 season.
Under the agreement, Balague provides GentingBet customers with expert insight into the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A, Champions League and other competitions.
Balague, who is a respected football author and journalist, has over two decades worth of experience covering football for European media outlets. As part of his role, Balague agreed to appear in weekly video previews that are published both on the gaming operator’s blog and social media channels.
In the past couple of months, GentingBet announced that it has been added to the Oddschecker grid and launched a brand new television advertising campaign just last month.


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The Readius isn't the newspaper of the future after all
Back in February 2007 I wrote about Polymer Vision's Readius asking: is this the newspaper of the future? Well, the future has thought about it a bit and decided that no, it isn't. This Is Hampshire reports that Polymer Vision has been closed by its Dutch parent company.
It's a shame. Fifty people have lost their jobs and the Readius, a neat rollable e-paper screen that fitted into a 3G-enabled mobile handset, is no more.
The company blames the recession so it's possible that the technology will be sold on to another company. However, it's equally possible that the device has missed its chance. In 2007 I wrote: "It took four years from the production of the first digital audio player, in 1997, to the first iPod, which kicked off the growth of the digital music market."
Well, Apple may have transformed this market too without even playing. The iPhone has, I think, made the concept of mobile phone e-paper obsolete.
Nevertheless, I still see some uses for e-paper, particularly for books. Amazon's Kindle will, it seems, finally come to the UK this year. However, the company will have to clean up its act on the DRM front. They upset users in the US last week by withdrawing two titles and deleting them from the Kindles of customers who had already bought them. Nobody was told this was going to happen. Some customers were part way through the books, others lost the notes they had made.
In a piece of you-couldn't-make-it-up irony, the two titles deleted were George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm. Digital rights still have a long way to go.
EU's new copyright leader doesn't believe private copying should exist
April 5th, 2011 10:19
Amazon's music locker offers only what customers expect – but labels still complain
March 30th, 2011 12:43
iPhone 5 'won't launch this summer'
March 29th, 2011 16:39
SXSW 2011: Jane McGonigal on the beneficial effects of video games
March 13th, 2011 15:11
Ronald Reagan is the father of Foursquare, says tech publisher
March 11th, 2011 21:30


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Bluetooth is one of the most popular short-range wireless communications technologies in use today and is built into many types of devices, from phones, smartwatches and TVs to medical equipment and car infotainment systems. Many of those devices are now at risk of being hacked due to critical flaws found in the Bluetooth implementations of the operating systems they use.
Over the past several months, a team of researchers from IoT security firm Armis have been working with Google, Microsoft, Apple and Linux developers, to silently coordinate the release of patches for eight serious vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to completely take over Bluetooth-enabled devices or to hijack their Internet traffic.
The flaws found by Armis are particularly dangerous because they can be exploited over the air without any type of authentication or device pairing. Simply having Bluetooth enabled on a device is enough to make it vulnerable if patches for these issues are not installed.
The attacks can be fully automated and they don’t require any user interaction, as attackers can force vulnerable devices to open Bluetooth connections. In one scenario, the flaws can be used to build a worm-like attack where one compromised device automatically infects others when they come in its Bluetooth range. This can lead to the creation of massive botnets.
The Armis researchers have dubbed this new attack vector BlueBorne and they estimate that it affects over 5.3 billion devices. Furthermore, based on their discussions with vendors, they believe that 40% of the impacted devices will never be patched, either because they’re old and won’t receive firmware updates at all or because updating them is too complicated and users won’t bother.
The vulnerabilities are not located in the Bluetooth protocol itself, but in the individual Bluetooth implementations — or stacks — that are present in Android, Windows, Linux and iOS. Because of this, it doesn’t matter what version of the Bluetooth protocol a device supports — they’re all affected, with the exception of those that support only Bluetooth Low Energy, also known as Bluetooth Smart.
The Armis team first stumbled across one of the flaws during their regular work on the company’s security product, which helps organizations identify rogue or compromised IoT devices on their networks. The team then checked the similar code in other Bluetooth stacks and found additional vulnerabilities.
Four of the eight vulnerabilities were found in Android’s Bluetooth implementation, two in Linux, one in iOS and one in Windows. Their impact varies based on operating system.
“I think this is really just the tip of the iceberg as far as vulnerabilities in Bluetooth implementations go,” the Armis researchers said. “We feel that there are potentially other stacks affected by similar issues, but future research needs to be done to determine this.”
The vulnerability that affects the Bluetooth stack in Windows Vista and later does not lead to remote code execution but allows hackers to launch man-in-the-middle traffic interception attacks. Attackers can remotely force vulnerable Windows computers to set up a malicious Bluetooth-based network interface and route all of their communications through it. In this way, attackers can get all of a victim’s Internet traffic over Bluetooth.
Microsoft released security updates to address this vulnerability on supported Windows versions in July and customers who installed those updates are protected against this attack.
“We updated to protect customers as soon as possible, but as a responsible industry partner, we withheld disclosure until other vendors could develop and release updates,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
An almost identical man-in-the-middle issue was found in the Android Bluetooth stack. However, Android’s implementation also has an information leak flaw and two remote code execution vulnerabilities.
Attackers can exploit the information leak problem in order to extract sensitive information from the device memory, information that can then help them exploit the remote code execution vulnerabilities and take complete control of the targeted devices. According to the Armis team, this attack would be completely invisible to the user.
“We have released security updates for these issues, and will continue working with other affected platforms across the industry to develop protections that help keep users safe,” Google said in an emailed statement.
Google releases security fixes for its Pixel and Nexus devices every month and also contributes those patches to the Android Open Source Project. Device manufacturers that are in the Android partner program receive security patches a month or more before they’re made public, to give them enough time to integrate them in their own Android-based firmware.
Even so, there are millions of Android devices out there that have long reached end of support and will not get these patches. Those devices will remain vulnerable to these Bluetooth attacks indefinitely.
Please be sure to update all of your devices with the newest firmware or patches.


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BMW is reviewing its estimated £16m account, which is currently held by Vizeum. The marque is already reviewing its UK advertising, digital and direct marketing agency requirements and has appointed the AAR to handle the media review, at the conclusion of the advertising pitch.
BMW’s creative pitch is currently down to four agencies – Karmarama, The Brooklyn Brothers, Engine and VCCP. The marque is looking for its agency to help to promote its sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games.
Meanwhile, Porsche is to review its £50m international media planning and buying account, in an attempt to consolidate the business on a global basis.
Volkswagen has recently completed an agreement to take a 49.9% stake in Porsche AG, clearing the way for the two brands to merge and former an integrated company http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/volkswagen-takes-49-stake-in-porsche/3007606.article.


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US stocks closed sharply higher yesterday following a speech from Chinese President Xi that eased trade concerns. The S&P 500 traded 1.7% higher with gains broad based across sectors.
Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed plans to further open up the country’s economy, with measures including lowering import tariffs on autos, enforcing legal intellectual property of foreign groups and reducing duties on other consumer products.
Energy stocks were among the best performers Tuesday, tracking oil prices strong 3.5% gain.
US consumer price inflation data is likely to be the main area of focus for markets today. The minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting are also set to be released.
European equities also received a boost from easing trade concerns. The Euro Stoxx 50 index gained 0.7%, the German DAX index rose 1.1% and the French CAC settled 0.8% higher.
Basic Resources companies, who have sizeable exposure to Chinese demand, were also among the best performers in Europe, rising 3%.
Asian equities were more mixed overnight following strong gains in the previous session. Japanese stocks fell 0.5% while Chinese equities settled higher.


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According to new research from The Aberdeen Group, companies are switching to email marketing to drive business growth. 78% of respondents said that email marketing would be the main strategy to generate leads in 2011.
Growth in marketing channels is the biggest challenge
Most respondents said that they had fewer resources available given the difficult business climate. However, there have never been so many marketing channels available to choose from following the explosion in social media marketing in 2010. 60% of all respondents said that the increase in marketing channels represents the biggest single challenge.
Why the move to email marketing?
Advanced email marketing can deliver impressive results using personalised communications to prospects and customers that leverage customer data and behaviour. In addition, email marketing is cost effective and 37% say ‘lower marketing costs’ is one of their top goals.
83% of companies say they will leverage email marketing as a core tool in the marketing mix compared with 54% for social media and 15% for mobile.
Source: Aberdeen Group


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5 things we know about the deadly Buffalo shooting
BUFFALO, N.Y. (*5*)– The metropolis of Buffalo is mourning after a devastating deadly shooting at a grocery store Saturday afternoon.
Here are 5 things we know:
- The shooting happened round 2:30 p.m. Saturday at a Tops Friendly Markets grocery store on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo. The grocery store is in a predominately Black neighborhood, a number of miles from downtown Buffalo. The surrounding space is primarily residential, with a Family Dollar retailer and fireplace station close to the retailer.
- A complete of 13 folks had been shot. Ten victims died at the scene, and three victims sustained accidents that aren’t believed to be life-threatening. Four of the shooting victims had been retailer staff, together with a retired Buffalo police officer who was employed as a safety guard. The remainder of the victims had been clients. Eleven of the victims are African American and two are white.
- The suspect, a white male, was taken into custody at the scene of the shooting. He has been recognized as 18-year-old Payton S. Gendron, of Conklin, New York. Officials say Gendron traveled for “hours” to hold out the assault. Gendron has been arraigned on one depend of homicide and was remanded with out bail.
- Gendron was allegedly closely armed and sporting physique armor and tactical gear, together with a helmet with a digital camera that he used to live-stream the shooting. In a press release, the streaming platform Twitch mentioned partially, “Twitch has a zero-tolerance policy against violence of any kind and works swiftly to respond to all incidents. The user has been indefinitely suspended from our service, and we are taking all appropriate action, including monitoring for any accounts rebroadcasting this content.”
- The FBI is investigating the shooting as a hate crime and radically motivated violent extremism. At a press convention Saturday night, Gov. Kathy Hochul referred to as the suspect “a white supremacist who has engaged in an act of terrorism and will be prosecuted as such.”


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[NEWS IN FOCUS] Battery makers invest in materials
LG Energy Solution, a wholly owned subsidiary of LG Chem, said Tuesday it bought 7.5 percent of Australia-based battery materials company Queensland Pacific Metals (QPM), which produces nickel and cobalt. It will pay 12 billion won ($10.7 million).
QPM, founded in 2007, is constructing a battery materials factory in Queensland through a 100 percent-owned subsidiary, Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub. The factory is expected to produce nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate from the latter half of 2023.
QPM will supply LG Energy Solution with 7,000 tons of nickel and 700 tons of cobalt annually for 10 years from the end of 2023.
“The latest deal will help LG Energy Solution preemptively secure core battery materials amid growth in the electric vehicle battery market,” LG Energy Solution said in a statement Tuesday.
Electric vehicle (EV) batteries have four core components: cathodes, anodes, electrolytes and separators.
Cathodes account for 40 percent of a battery's cost and their quality plays an important role in the quality of the battery. Nickel, cobalt and manganese are core materials in cathodes.
Demand for EV batteries is expected to grow by more than 60-fold in the next 30 years, according to market tracker Statista.
LG Chem invested 40 billion won in Chinese copper foil manufacturer Jiujiang DeFu Technology in May to ensure supplies of the core material in anodes for its battery-making subsidiary LG Energy Solution.
Early this year, SK Innovation agreed to form a joint venture with Chinese battery maker EVE Energy and battery materials company BTR to produce cathodes. The cathodes factory is expected to have annual production capacity of 50,000 tons, although the investment size wasn’t disclosed.
It is also relying on its subsidiary SK ie technology for supplies of separators. SK ie technology, which went public recently, decided to make a 1.1 trillion won investment to expand its separator factory in Poland. Separators account for 20 percent of a battery's cost.
Samsung SDI is also working on partnerships with materials manufacturers.
Last year, it formed a joint venture called EcoPro EM with Korean cathode producer EcoPro BM. Samsung SDI will invest 48 billion won and own 40 percent of the joint venture. EcoPro BM will invest 72 billion won and own 60 percent. The new company is building a cathode factory in Pohang, North Gyeongsang, which will start mass production next year.
Samsung SDI reportedly wants to make 50 of its own cathodes for EV batteries by 2023, up from the current 20 percent.
"Korea's EV battery industry relies heavily on imports when it comes to battery materials," said Park Chul-wan, an automotive engineering professor at Seojeong University.
"Securing stable supplies through joint ventures and other partnerships would be necessary to handle rising demand for EV batteries and control costs."
BY JIN EUN-SOO [firstname.lastname@example.org]


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Indonesia is considering a reduction in transshipment charges.
Port of Tanjung Pelepas
21 Sep 2016
Indonesia is mulling the introduction of 24-hour operations and fast-tracking a plan to double the number of bonded logistics centers in the country to reduce cargo dwell times at its major ports.
02 Jul 2016
The port of Tanjung Pelepas is planning billions of investments to aid in its quest to become a premiere Southeast Asia transshipment hub.
11 May 2016
APM Terminals announced Wednesday it will provide container weighing services at 29 locations across its global network to ensure a smooth transition to an international regulation that comes into force on July 1.
25 Nov 2015
The World Bank is assisting Malaysia to develop a national port strategy to better position its ports sector as a critical facilitator of economic growth.
16 Dec 2014
Malaysia’s port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) passed the 8 million 20-foot container mark at the beginning of December, although with less than a month left and volumes slowing down, the 2014 throughput target of 9 million TEUs looks well out of reach.


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We Are Social’s Monday Mashup #648
X confirms launch of two new subscription tiers
X has officially launched two new tiers for its subscription offering. The new Premium+ tier costs $16 per month and offers the “largest reply boost” and removes ads from the For You and Following feeds. The tier also comes with revenue-sharing, along with access to other creator tools. The second tier is called “Basic” and costs $3 per month, with features including the ability to edit posts and longer text and videos posts. It also offers a “small reply boost.” The new tiers join the standard X Premium tier, which costs $8 per month and gives users a blue checkmark, prioritised ranking in replies, bookmark folders, longer posts, and more.
TikTok is testing 15-minute video uploads
TikTok is testing the ability for users to upload 15-minute videos in select regions with a limited group of users. The new option increases the video upload limit on the app from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. According to a screenshot from social media consultant Matt Navarra, users can upload longer videos to the platform from both the TikTok app and on desktop. The expanded video length will give creators even more time and flexibility when sharing content, and put it in more direct competition with YouTube.
Instagram head says Threads API is in the works
Instagram head Adam Mosseri said today that a Threads API is in the works, giving developers a chance to create different apps and experiences around Threads. Mosseri said “We’re working on it. My concern is that it’ll mean a lot more publisher content and not much more creator content, but it still seems like something we need to get done.”
TikTok sells event tickets to users for first time
After launching its subscription-only music streaming service a few months ago, TikTok has announced its first live global music event, “In The Mix,” marking the first time the company will sell event tickets to its users. TikTok has partnered with ticketing technology company Tickets.com to help with ticket sales for its event, which will be available through TikTok’s new website, TikTokInTheMix.com. The TikTok Live event will stream globally and feature artists Cardi B, Niall Horan, Charlie Puth and Anitta, as well as rising talents Isabel LaRosa, Kali, LU KALA and Sam Barber from the TikTok Elevate emerging artist programme. It will also include various activities inspired by trending videos on TikTok’s For You feed.
The latest influencer marketing news
Puma has hired A$AP Rocky as creative director of its Formula 1 partnership. The move follows the German brand’s new landmark licensing deal with the sport, which will see them make exclusive apparel, footwear and merch.
Neymar Jr. has gone topless for SKIMS, as Kim Kardashian brings in the Brazilian soccer player to help launch her brand’s new menswear line.
Gen Z and millennials shop on Facebook but consult YouTube for product reviews and information, at least according to influencer-marketing platform Traackr’s 2024 Influencer Marketing Impact Report. When looking at responses by generation, Gen Z was more likely to rank TikTok as number one.
The YouTube duo Sam and Colby, renowned for their ghost-hunting adventures, teamed up with Cinemark to document their week-long stay at the infamous Old Arnold Estate, the inspiration behind the Conjuring films. They premiered the first episode of their spine-tingling experience. The 168 theaters screening the first episode of their spine-tingling experience were completely sold out over this past weekend.
In other news
X is planning on taking on newswire services with a new product, XWire. X owner Elon Musk has said that X posts that are corrected by Community Notes, the platform’s crowd-sourced fact-checking system, will become “ineligible for revenue share”.


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Electric Mercedes-Benz C-Class Prototype Hits the Road in Germany
By Jordan Mulach
The highly anticipated release of the first electric version of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan is on the horizon, with testing already underway in Germany. The electric C-Class is expected to hit the market in 2025, but for now, it will be sold alongside its gasoline-powered counterpart.
Despite being heavily camouflaged, the electric car prototype closely resembles the classic C-Class sedan in size and proportions, appearing larger than the new CLA sedan, which is set to debut next year with both gasoline and electric options. The electric C-Class will adopt a different powertrain compared to the current petrol model, similar to the approach taken with Mercedes-Benz’s electric versions of the E-Class (EQE) and S-Class (EQS) models.
The design of the battery-powered sedan is expected to draw inspiration from the Mercedes-Benz Conceptual CLA class, which was unveiled in September as a preview of the new CLA. It is also expected to bear similarities to the current EQE and EQS sedans. Both the gasoline and electric versions of the C-Class may share the Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture (MMA) platform, which is designed primarily for electric vehicles but can also accommodate gasoline and diesel applications.
Given that the current gasoline C-Class was not introduced until 2021 on a different platform, it is likely that the traditional model and its electric counterpart will be sold separately. This sets Mercedes-Benz apart from its German rival, BMW, which currently produces electric variants of its 5 Series (i5) and 7 Series (i7) on the same platform as the petrol and diesel versions.
Looking towards the future, Mercedes-Benz has announced plans to transition to electric power exclusively in select markets by 2030. This raises questions about whether the C-Class sedan will receive another generation with a gasoline-powered engine. Additionally, it is expected that an electric version of the Mercedes-AMG C63 high-performance sedan, set to debut by 2030, will replace the current model that has deviated from its traditional V8 roots in favor of a turbocharged four-cylinder engine and a plug-in hybrid system.
The electric C-Class prototype is a significant step forward for Mercedes-Benz as it continues to expand its electric vehicle lineup. With the growing demand for electric vehicles worldwide and increasing pressure to reduce emissions, the addition of an electric C-Class will offer consumers a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional gasoline vehicles.
As the automotive industry embraces the shift towards electrification, Mercedes-Benz’s foray into electric vehicles signals the brand’s commitment to innovation and sustainability. The launch of the electric C-Class marks an exciting new chapter for the luxury automaker as it continues to lead the way in electric vehicle technology.
About the Author:
Jordan Mulach was born in Canberra/Ngunnawal and currently resides in Brisbane/Turrbal. Jordan joined the Drive team in 2022 and has previously worked for Auto Action, MotorsportM8, The Supercars Collective and TouringCarTimes, WhichCar, Wheels, Motor and Street Machine. Jordan describes himself as an iRacing addict and can be found on weekends behind the wheel of his Octavia RS or cursing at his ZH Fairlane. Connect with Jordan on Twitter: @JordanFW07. Read more about Jordan Mulach.


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With just one tap, users can launch Opera Maxs
Facebook web app and have the benefits of a VPN connection, data saving sessions and other settings all auto-configured to get them going and saving on Facebook data usage.
's privacy mode will not only reveal which apps are high privacy risks, but can help in blocking these trackers.
First We downloaded the following apps - Opera Max
, Netflix and My Data Manager.
Compression technology is the key to migrating the next billion mobile internet users to the smartphones, and solutions like Opera Max
directly help users deal with the challenging mobile infrastructure and expensive data packages, he added.
According to Opera, the Opera Max
app will help save about 50% of that data consumption.
Lossev adds, We keep fine tuning the streaming-audio-optimization technology in Opera Max
, so people can save more data while enjoying good audio quality.
with App Pass is particularly suited for developing markets, where operators can use it to encourage mobile data usage among subscribers who ve been put off by the cost of mobile data, as well as by a confusing user experience.
and Opera s Rocket Optimizer solutions for mobile video are server-centered applications supporting users mobile internet browsing and video streaming activity.
In addition, users of Fly's Android devices are now able to make their mobile-data plans last up to 50% longer with the data-savings app Opera Max
, which also comes preinstalled.
MediaTek and Opera Software have announced that a data-savings app for Android phones, Opera Max
, will be integrated with the former's LTE System on a Chip (SoC).
The most popular Opera app for Android phones is the Opera Mini browser, followed by the Opera for Android browser and Opera Max
. Opera Mini compresses webpages to as little as 10% of their original size, getting users their content faster.
Leading Vietnamese smartphone brand Mobiistar will preinstall Opera Max
on selected phone models, in a partnership that marks the debut of Opera Software s compression app in Vietnam.


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Small businesses looked to freeze recruitment and relocate abroad following Brexit
Following the EU referendum result last week, which saw the majority of the UK electorate vote to leave the EU, chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne attempted to reassure business owners in a speech.
He said: “To companies large and small I would say this: the British economy is fundamentally strong, we are highly competitive and we are open for business.”
But business organisation the Institute of Directors (IOD) surveyed 1000 of its members following Brexit, and 24% said they were planning to freeze recruitment, 5% said they would have to make redundancies and 2% said they were considering moving business outside of the UK.
IOD director general Simon Walker said: “A majority of business leaders think the vote for Brexit is bad for them, and as a result plans for investment and hiring are being put on hold or scaled back.”
Designers spoke about how Brexit would affect their industry
52% of the UK electorate voted to leave the EU last week in a landmark political event for the nation. Last week, we spoke to a series of designers, creative organisations and design business professionals about what this could mean for small businesses and the creative industries.
Unsurprisingly, the majority of designers appear to be pro-EU – our Design Week poll showed 70% of those surveyed were in favour of staying within the EU.
Concerns cited were about restrictions on talent sourcing from other countries, copyright and registration laws, and eligibility for EU funding.
However, other designers said that leaving could also provide more freedom over budgets for small businesses, with reductions in “red tape”.
MPs prepared to debate the exclusion of arts subjects from the EBacc curriculum
On 4 July, there will be a Parliamentary debate about the EBacc curriculum, which is to be made compulsory for GCSE students from September.
The EBacc – English Baccalaureate – is comprised of English, maths, science, a language and a humanity, and excludes creative and art subjects.
More than 100,000 people signed a petition to reject the qualification’s format, with the petition stating that the exclusion of subjects such as art, music and drama was “limiting, short sighted and cruel”.
Last week, a survey was also taken by design graduates taking part in degree show New Designers, which showed that 85% of those surveyed studied an arts or design subject at GCSE. 49% also said they would not be pursuing a career in the industries if they had not taken an arts subject for GCSE.
Design Council appointed a new chairman
This week, the organisation announced it had appointed Terry Tyrrell as its chairman.
Tyrrell will join from his current role as chairman at Brand Union, the WPP-owned design consultancy he co-founded in 1976.
He takes over from Martin Temple, who has been in the chairman role at the Design Council for five years, and is moving on to a new role as chairman at the Health and Safety Executive Board (HSE).
Tyrrell said: “Our aim, as we move forward under a new strategic plan, is to ensure that design receives the recognition it deserves.”
The Kindle updated its page layouts to read more like a real book
This week, Amazon announced it had redesigned its e-reader Kindle, with a “thinner, lighter” design, twice as much memory space and built-in Bluetooth audio support to help visually impaired users.
Alongside this, the e-reader also incorporates two new typefaces, Bookerly and Ember, created by type foundry Dalton Maag.
The typeface changes come alongside layout changes that imitate a paperback’s style, such as improved text justification, drop caps, kerning and image positioning.
Type expert Erik Spiekerman said that while the Bookerly typeface is “lovely and appropriate”, it is “nothing new for book designers”.
He said: “A page on a Kindle has finally almost achieved the look we’ve had in books for 500 years – but it still runs out of batteries, cannot be read in bright light and won’t survive a fall.”


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If you’ve ever looked across the Pacific with envy at the US and its Netflix service, which offers unlimited movie rentals for a small monthly subscription, you might want to get a PS3. Sony has announced that later this year, the PS3 will be getting a similar service, courtesy of Aussie movie rental company Quickflix.
While no pricing or exact release time frame was confirmed, the fact that Sony has hit back in the console IPTV wars with a strong movie rental subscription service is great news for PS3 owners. The service will work by paying a regular monthly subscription to access unlimited movie downloads from Quickflix.
The Quickflix movie streaming service on PlayStation 3 will provide unlimited viewing of movies from a constantly changing catalogue, complementing its online DVD and Blu-Ray rental by mail service which provides unlimited rentals each month from Australia’s largest movie and TV series library that features more than 50,000 titles.
Exactly what studios will be available via the service, or whether new releases will be available, or how many movies will be available at launch are all still unknown. But the fact that the service is coming is great news for Playstation owners.


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To make sure that their service is used safely—along with publishing its own set of safety guidelines—the app has two separate communities, one for those aged 13-17 years; and one for those 18 and above.“On a platform that has facilitated over 11 billion connections, we have the responsibility of constantly assessing our different user experiences,” Tinder’s VP of communications, Rosette Pambakian, said in a statement emailed to CNBC.
The goal could be a 10-minute blackout, an attack on our national security, a stock trading glitch or the theft of millions of dollars worth of intellectual property. CNBC's "Code Wars", hosted by Melissa Lee, takes you onto the frontlines of the war on cyber.
The FBI has recently made cyber crime a number one priority, one that costs the U. January 2012In the world of consumer electronics, Best Buy is often considered the 'last man standing' - a title both flattering and daunting.
October 2010The Remington 700 is one the world's most popular firearms.
Remington insists its gun is safe -- but allegations and lawsuits point to a trail of death, serious injury, and thousands of complaints.
Several dating brands belonging to Match Group—Tinder’s parent company—already enforce an adults-only restriction, including Ok Cupid and
Ahead of this change, the company has made clear in its terms and conditions, that any user “must be at least 13 years of age to access and use” the app.
July 2009In this CNBC Original, Carl Quintanilla reveals how products reach Oprah, the people behind the brands she highlights; and just how successful she makes them.
See the explosive effects of her influence and how her impact on business is worth billions.
Did this iconic American company go too far in protecting its signature product?


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Tag: PlayStation Anthology
News PlayStation Anthology Is an Ode to an Iconic Brand
Crowdfunding open now
PlayStation recently reached the point where it tipped into nostalgic territory. The brand has been at the top of its game for over 20 years now, and there are many, many people – this author included – who have been there from the very beginning. The PlayStation Anthology, a 440-page tome to one of gaming's greatest...


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It is no secret to many that music artist Kanye West is no stranger to fashion, and now he will be showing his new collection during Paris Fashion Week later this week, according to the Elle Magazine.
West will be showcasing his work towards the end of fashion week, on October 1, and many are looking forward to it, according to the news source.
It has been reported that the theme of West’s show will involve samurais with sport garments and luxury fabrics with Japanese style embroidery. He has teamed up with fashion designer Katie Eary, and the two have been working on the collection for the past four months. Eary told the media outlet that she truly enjoys working with him and that she likes his style and designs.
Those who are interested in starting a career in fashion design may want to know what the salary will be like after they graduate from their design programs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual median salary was approximately $61,000 in 2008 for professionals in this field.


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PROPOSALS to introduce late night shopping in Daventry have mainly met with resistance from traders.
In its latest newsletter the Daventry Business Partnership (DBP) has suggested reintroducing late night shopping once a week. It comes after footfall counters found that more people are in the town centre between 6pm and 7pm than between 9am and 10am.
But despite that some shopkeepers don’t believe staying open later will bring any benefits to their businesses.
Peter Phillips, who has been running Edison Electrical on the High Street for 38 years, said: “We tried it some years ago when Daventry was about five times busier and it didn’t work then.
“I wouldn’t dismiss it but if we opened late it would mean extra overheads and no guarantee of more customers.”
Gemma Powell, who owns Orange Blossom Florist on the High Street, added: “It probably wouldn’t work for me. I already have evening appointments but if the shop was open I don’t think there would be much walk-in trade.
“I would think about it if other shops were doing it but I’ve noticed it starts to get a lot quieter after 4pm.”
Peter McDonald, who owns PJ Pets in Bowen Square, also said trade is a lot quieter later in the afternoon.
He added: “I used to work a bit later and in my experience as soon as it gets to 5pm it’s pointless staying open.
“I may stay open a bit later at Christmas time but throughout the rest of the year it’s not worth it.”
But Evergreen Art Cafe boss Simon Williams believes it could boost trade.
He said: “Anything to generate some interest in the town is great. We are coming up to the Christmas period and if we were open until say 8pm one night it would make sense.”
Peter Harper, who owns a number of businesses on Sheaf Street, added: “In principle I’m all for it but it needs to be done properly. There needs to be a common thread running through the town.”
DBP manager Sally Halson said: “There are no definite plans for late night opening in Daventry. At this stage we are simply asking the local business community the question.”


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Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) has been a staple event for the company since since the turn of the 21st century. The first ever WWDC was held in 1983, but it wasn’t until 2002 that Apple started using the conference as a major launchpad for new products. Since then, Steve Jobs and Co. have unveiled products like the Power Mac G5, Mac Pro, iPhone, and plenty of software. Because WWDC has always been a developer-focused conference, Apple uses the event to announce new apps, OS X versions, major iOS updates, etc. For an Apple fan, it doesn’t get much better than WWDC.
With WWDC 2012 set to kick off on Monday, June 11th, we decided to take a look back at the big announcements Apple made at WWDC over the past decade.
Mac OS X 10.2, QuickTime 6, and “Rendezvous” (now called “Bonjour”) were announced. A mock funeral was held for Mac OS 9, signaling that Apple was officially dropping support to fully focus on OS X.
The Power Mac G5 was announced. Apple previewed Mac OS X Panther, moved Safari out of beta with version 1.0, and introduced “iApps” (now called the “iLife” suite). WWDC attendees were given the first ever iSight camera and other goodies.
Highlighting the connection between Pixar and Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Apple gave an advanced screening of Finding Nemo.
WWDC attendance started rising significantly with a 17% increase over the year before. The first Apple Cinema Displays were introduced in 20-inch and 30-inch widescreen models. Steve Jobs demoed podcast support in iTunes, and Apple previewed Mac OS X Tiger for developers.
To top the conference off, Apple shuttled attendees from the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California to Apple HQ in Cupertino where the band Jimmy Eat World gave a free concert.
Steve Jobs made the huge announcement that Apple would move away from the x86 platform and partner with Intel. Wolfram Research gave an onstage talk about porting their Mathematica software to Mac OS X on the Intel platform. There were 3,800 attendees from 45 different countries at the conference, which was a slight jump from 3,500 attendees in 2004.
Like the previous year, Apple shuttled developers to the HQ in Cupertino for a concert given by the band The Wallflowers.
The Power Mac G5 was replaced by the all-new Mac Pro, and the transition marked the death of the last PowerPC Mac. Unveiled by Steve Jobs, the first Mac Pro featured 2.66 GHz dual core Xeon “Woodcrest” processors by Intel, 1GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and a 256 MB video card. A new Xserve running dual-core Xeons was also announced.
Apple announced 10 improvements it was bringing to Mac OS X with Leopard, including full 64-bit app support, Boot Camp, Time Machine, Core Animation, Spaces, and more. Continuing the tradition of the “beer bash,” Apple shuttled attendees from San Francisco to Cupertino for a party led by DJ BT.
There were 4,200 attendees from 48 countries.
Although Steve Jobs announced the first iPhone in January at Macworld, WWDC 2007 was where the release date for the new smartphone was announced. Apple talked about third-party web app support for the iPhone’s Safari browser, which indicated to developers that an official SDK was not in the immediate pipeline. It wasn’t until the following year that Apple announced the App Store.
WWDC 2007 had a very anti-Microsoft theme, including the hilarious Mac vs. PC ad that opened the conference by knocking on the failure of Windows Vista and the Zune. A complete beta version of Mac OS X Leopard was released, although the public release was pushed back to October. The Safari web browser was brought over to Windows, and EA announced that it was bringing a host of new games to the Mac platform.
Over 5,000 developers attended the conference.
The App Store arrived with iOS 2.0 and an official SDK. Companies like Sega and eBay showed off their native iPhone apps, and the mobile app industry was officially jumpstarted. The iPhone 3G was also announced with faster 3G data connectivity. AT&T began to subsidize the smartphone, meaning that the 3G was available for $200 with a two-year contract.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard was previewed, and .Mac was rebranded to MobileMe. For the first time in history, the conference was completely sold out.
Steve Jobs wasn’t able to attend the conference due to his medical leave of absence, so Apple’s head of marketing, Phil Schiller, hosted the public keynote. Following the release of the unibody MacBook Pro in late 2008, Schiller announced a spec upgrade for the 15-inch and 17-inch models. The 13-inch MacBook was updated with better specs and called a “Pro.” The MacBook Air lineup also received a spec upgrade. Apple also previewed Mac OS X Snow Leopard, an evolutionary continuation of Leopard.
Promising to be twice as fast, the iPhone 3GS was announced as the successor to the 3G. iOS 3.0, which brought copy and paste, Spotlight, and MMS, was also unveiled. Tickets sold out two months before the conference began.
Following the lost iPhone 4 prototype debacle, Steve Jobs unveiled the fourth-generation smartphone at WWDC. With over 100 new features, a Retina display, and a completely new design, the iPhone 4 was the biggest Apple smartphone release ever. Apple renamed “iPhone OS” to “iOS” alongside version 4.0, and a number of new apps were announced, including FaceTime and iMovie for iPhone.
Tickets for the conference sold out 8 days after becoming available.
Marking Steve Jobs’s last public keynote, Apple unveiled Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5, iCloud, and iTunes Match. Tickets sold out within 12 hours.
Tickets for this year’s WWDC sold out in under 2 hours, and Monday’s keynote is expected to feature several huge announcements, including iOS 6 and new MacBook Pros. Read Cult of Mac’s what to expect from WWDC 2012 feature for more.


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According to a GSM Association spokesman quoted on the BBC Online website today, “The mobile phone is the only viable technology that can bridge the digital divide”. This is quite a bold statement in a debate which has been running for a fair old time. It goes along the lines that by putting something digital – a mobile phone in this case – into the hands of the worlds poor you can economically empower them, among other things. If it were only this simple.
It goes without saying that the mobile phone is revolutionising the way Africans talk to each other. Often described as a “leapfrogging technology” the mobile is bringing communications to areas which have never seen, and in many cases would never be likely to see, traditional landlines. And once these phones are unleashed on a population it’s true that quite amazing things happen. Budding entrepreneurs quickly spring up providing battery charging services, others sell carry cases, chunks of call time, car chargers, replacement covers and top-up cards (a huge percentage of third world customers use the ‘Pay-as-you-go’ service due to a lack of credit history, a bank account or even an address). One of the more remarkable examples of entrepreneurship is the building of tall wooden towers which users climb, for a fee of course, before making their call in areas with a bad signal. Who’d have thought of that?
During field-based research for a report I co-authored a couple of years ago, we called this “organic growth”, the secondary effect of the mobile revolution. At that time the knock-on effect of providing mobile coverage to a population wasn’t really appreciated, but sometime later Vodafone showed they had their eye on the ball when they published a comprehensive study of the socio-economic impact of mobile phones. It’s well worth a look.
As far as economic empowerment goes, it is true that some will benefit. But many others will be left behind. Being able to send a text or make a phone call alone isn’t going to drag everyone out of poverty. The mobile phone as a political empowerment tool though? Well, that’s another matter. Voting in elections with your mobile? Being done. Spreading a political message? Being done. Campaigning? Being done. Political activism? Being done. Quite clearly the more phones out there equals more opportunity.
It’s perhaps no coincidence that many developing countries are struggling with the democratic model, and perhaps no coincidence that in a fair few dictatorial regimes reign ‘supreme’. (Is Thabo Mbeki the only African leader not trying to change his country’s Constitution to stand for a third term?!). In places where free speech can land you in a whole load of trouble, mobile technology can give people a voice (or text, as the case may be). And an anonymous one at that. And this should not be underestimated.
The GSM Association can certainly do their bit. But let’s not get carried away. Unleashing 12 million $30 handsets into developing countries may grab the headlines, but a handset alone isn’t going to solve the complex problems that many of these people face on a daily basis.


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|By Joe Ruck||
|December 11, 2008 11:50 AM EST||
Enterprise software is under attack. Traditional infrastructure players like BEA are seeing their core products replaced with free open source projects, while traditional application vendors like Oracle/Siebel are being displaced by SaaS. But is this a slugfest with only one winner? Will SaaS and open source ultimately turn against each other for dominance of the software business model - WWF Smack Down style - where the once united tag team, after conquering their opponent, starts to fight between themselves? Actually I think not. Just as I don't see traditional enterprise software disappearing completely, I believe both SaaS and open source are naturally suited to different parts of the market and in fact will coexist quite naturally.
One of the more intriguing aspects about open source is the huge variation in capabilities. As an example, consider the Apache web server. With dominant market share, the consensus engineering opinion seems to be it's the best web server on the market, regardless of cost. At the opposite extreme you have something like OpenOffice, a replacement for MS Office. Despite the huge latent demand for a free office suite, OpenOffice still has not hit its stride, even after many years. While OpenOffice does have some ardent fans, I believe that most business users would agree that OpenOffice cannot be used as a replacement for MS Office in its current state.
Open source infrastructure software is, generally speaking, a viable substitute to its commercial counterparts. The infrastructure category includes Web servers like Apache, application servers like JBOSS/Tomcat, and databases like PostgreSQL. There are plenty of distinctions to be made within that category. For example, some might argue that Apache is better than MS IIS, JBOSS is about the same as BEA WebLogic or IBM WebSphere, and perhaps PostgreSQL is not quite as good as Oracle or IBM DB2. But despite those subtle differences all would be considered roughly equivalent to their commercial counterparts.
Contrast this with open source application software. There are many open source content management systems (e.g., Alfresco), CRM systems (e.g., SugarCRM), ERP systems (Compiere), and many others. None of these has matched the same level of success as their commercial counterparts. OpenOffice is a good example. Office functionality is arguably the most important single business application, and superficially, at least, OpenOffice appears to tick all the boxes. However, there are some issues that are sufficient to prevent broader adoption. First, given that 99% of all office docs in existence today are MS format, being able to handle these is a sine qua non. Unfortunately, importing a formatted document or presentation into OpenOffice usually requires a round of repositioning and font resizing to make it look right. The amount of time that takes quickly nullifies any MS Office license fee saving (and for many, that's a sunk cost anyway). Second, with no proper anti-aliasing on drawn objects, presentations in particular look poor with jagged edges in comparison to MS Office. For the same reason it makes sense for sales departments to spend more on a brighter projector to use with their customers; no one is going to present a chart with jagged edges, when with MS office they can have smooth lines.
|[email protected] 11/09/08 10:19:01 PM EST|
Interesting article from a oracle ERP developers point of view I note that you could decide to write a saas application with open source technology eg Linux operating system, Postgresql database and a scripting langauge rendering html pages. The weak point is still the same and that is creating a business application that is developed to a point that can be resold on economies of scale, enough for the reseller to make money through licences, training or consulting. I think the interesting thing about what oracle is up to with fusion is that they are trying to tie togeather disparate applications with soa principles, which is almost like saying we cant build the perfect application so we will give you the tools to build your own. I think with the saas model this is not possible and that while they are reducing the cost of physically owning an application, they are unable to follow the roll your own approach of soa so will have to be content with supplying the segment of the market that wants an off the shelf product. In addition I think it is interesting to note that it is possible to follow the soa approach using open source technologies.
|RNHurt 10/30/08 07:29:28 AM EDT|
I think there is an additional category to consider: appliance based computing. KangarooBox, and others, are taking the best of Open Source and SaaS and combining them into something even better. The great SaaS weakness is availability, and that is solved with an appliance on your local network.
The world's leading Cloud event, Cloud Expo has launched Microservices Journal on the SYS-CON.com portal, featuring over 19,000 original articles, news stories, features, and blog entries. DevOps Journal is focused on this critical enterprise IT topic in the world of cloud computing. Microservices Journal offers top articles, news stories, and blog posts from the world's well-known experts and guarantees better exposure for its authors than any other publication. Follow new article posts on Twitter at @MicroservicesE
Mar. 31, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,540
SYS-CON Events announced today that Litmus Automation will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Litmus Automation’s vision is to provide a solution for companies that are in a rush to embrace the disruptive Internet of Things technology and leverage it for real business challenges. Litmus Automation simplifies the complexity of connected devices applications with Loop, a secure and scalable cloud platform.
Mar. 31, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 502
Internet of Things (IoT) will be a hybrid ecosystem of diverse devices and sensors collaborating with operational and enterprise systems to create the next big application. In their session at @ThingsExpo, Bramh Gupta, founder and CEO of robomq.io, and Fred Yatzeck, principal architect leading product development at robomq.io, will discuss how choosing the right middleware and integration strategy from the get-go will enable IoT solution developers to adapt and grow with the industry, while at the same time reduce Time to Market (TTM) by using plug and play capabilities offered by a robust I...
Mar. 31, 2015 11:46 AM EDT Reads: 368
SYS-CON Events announced today the IoT Bootcamp – Jumpstart Your IoT Strategy, being held June 9–10, 2015, in conjunction with 16th Cloud Expo and Internet of @ThingsExpo at the Javits Center in New York City. This is your chance to jumpstart your IoT strategy. Combined with real-world scenarios and use cases, the IoT Bootcamp is not just based on presentations but includes hands-on demos and walkthroughs. We will introduce you to a variety of Do-It-Yourself IoT platforms including Arduino, Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, Spark and Intel Edison. You will also get an overview of cloud technologies s...
Mar. 31, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,205
Containers and microservices have become topics of intense interest throughout the cloud developer and enterprise IT communities. Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 16th Cloud Expo at the Javits Center in New York June 9-11 will find fresh new content in a new track called PaaS | Containers & Microservices Containers are not being considered for the first time by the cloud community, but a current era of re-consideration has pushed them to the top of the cloud agenda. With the launch of Docker's initial release in March of 2013, interest was revved up several notches. Then late last...
Mar. 31, 2015 09:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,287
The WebRTC Summit 2014 New York, to be held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York, NY, announces that its Call for Papers is open. Topics include all aspects of improving IT delivery by eliminating waste through automated business models leveraging cloud technologies. WebRTC Summit is co-located with 16th International Cloud Expo, @ThingsExpo, Big Data Expo, and DevOps Summit.
Mar. 31, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,687
SOA Software has changed its name to Akana. With roots in Web Services and SOA Governance, Akana has established itself as a leader in API Management and is expanding into cloud integration as an alternative to the traditional heavyweight enterprise service bus (ESB). The company recently announced that it achieved more than 90% year-over-year growth. As Akana, the company now addresses the evolution and diversification of SOA, unifying security, management, and DevOps across SOA, APIs, microservices, and more.
Mar. 31, 2015 08:30 AM EDT Reads: 2,102
Wearable technology was dominant at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) , and MWC was no exception to this trend. New versions of favorites, such as the Samsung Gear (three new products were released: the Gear 2, the Gear 2 Neo and the Gear Fit), shared the limelight with new wearables like Pebble Time Steel (the new premium version of the company’s previously released smartwatch) and the LG Watch Urbane. The most dramatic difference at MWC was an emphasis on presenting wearables as fashion accessories and moving away from the original clunky technology associated with t...
Mar. 31, 2015 03:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,550
SYS-CON Events announced today that robomq.io will exhibit at SYS-CON's @ThingsExpo, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. robomq.io is an interoperable and composable platform that connects any device to any application. It helps systems integrators and the solution providers build new and innovative products and service for industries requiring monitoring or intelligence from devices and sensors.
Mar. 30, 2015 06:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,571
The list of ‘new paradigm’ technologies that now surrounds us appears to be at an all time high. From cloud computing and Big Data analytics to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and the Internet of Things (IoT), today we have to deal with what the industry likes to call ‘paradigm shifts’ at every level of IT. This is disruption; of course, we understand that – change is almost always disruptive.
Mar. 30, 2015 04:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,182
SYS-CON Events announced today that Solgenia will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Solgenia is the global market leader in Cloud Collaboration and Cloud Infrastructure software solutions. Designed to “Bridge the Gap” between Personal and Professional Social, Mobile and Cloud user experiences, our solutions help large and medium-sized organizations dr...
Mar. 30, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,966
SYS-CON Events announced today that SafeLogic has been named “Bag Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo® New York, which will take place June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. SafeLogic provides security products for applications in mobile and server/appliance environments. SafeLogic’s flagship product CryptoComply is a FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic engine designed to secure data on servers, workstations, appliances, mobile devices, and in the Cloud.
Mar. 30, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,544
After making a doctor’s appointment via your mobile device, you receive a calendar invite. The day of your appointment, you get a reminder with the doctor’s location and contact information. As you enter the doctor’s exam room, the medical team is equipped with the latest tablet containing your medical history – he or she makes real time updates to your medical file. At the end of your visit, you receive an electronic prescription to your preferred pharmacy and can schedule your next appointment.
Mar. 30, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 935
GENBAND has announced that SageNet is leveraging the Nuvia platform to deliver Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) to its large base of retail and enterprise customers. Nuvia’s cloud-based solution provides SageNet’s customers with a full suite of business communications and collaboration tools. Two large national SageNet retail customers have recently signed up to deploy the Nuvia platform and the company will continue to sell the service to new and existing customers. Nuvia’s capabilities include HD voice, video, multimedia messaging, mobility, conferencing, Web collaboration, deskt...
Mar. 30, 2015 01:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,523
SYS-CON Media announced today that @WebRTCSummit Blog, the largest WebRTC resource in the world, has been launched. @WebRTCSummit Blog offers top articles, news stories, and blog posts from the world's well-known experts and guarantees better exposure for its authors than any other publication. @WebRTCSummit Blog can be bookmarked ▸ Here @WebRTCSummit conference site can be bookmarked ▸ Here
Mar. 29, 2015 10:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,863
SYS-CON Events announced today that Cisco, the worldwide leader in IT that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, has been named “Gold Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Cisco makes amazing things happen by connecting the unconnected. Cisco has shaped the future of the Internet by becoming the worldwide leader in transforming how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Cisco and our partners are building the platform for the Internet of Everything by connecting the...
Mar. 29, 2015 07:00 PM EDT Reads: 5,281
Temasys has announced senior management additions to its team. Joining are David Holloway as Vice President of Commercial and Nadine Yap as Vice President of Product. Over the past 12 months Temasys has doubled in size as it adds new customers and expands the development of its Skylink platform. Skylink leads the charge to move WebRTC, traditionally seen as a desktop, browser based technology, to become a ubiquitous web communications technology on web and mobile, as well as Internet of Things compatible devices.
Mar. 29, 2015 06:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,886
Docker is an excellent platform for organizations interested in running microservices. It offers portability and consistency between development and production environments, quick provisioning times, and a simple way to isolate services. In his session at DevOps Summit at 16th Cloud Expo, Shannon Williams, co-founder of Rancher Labs, will walk through these and other benefits of using Docker to run microservices, and provide an overview of RancherOS, a minimalist distribution of Linux designed expressly to run Docker. He will also discuss Rancher, an orchestration and service discovery platf...
Mar. 29, 2015 04:15 PM EDT Reads: 2,469
SYS-CON Events announced today that Vitria Technology, Inc. will exhibit at SYS-CON’s @ThingsExpo, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Vitria will showcase the company’s new IoT Analytics Platform through live demonstrations at booth #330. Vitria’s IoT Analytics Platform, fully integrated and powered by an operational intelligence engine, enables customers to rapidly build and operationalize advanced analytics to deliver timely business outcomes for use cases across the industrial, enterprise, and consumer segments.
Mar. 29, 2015 03:30 PM EDT Reads: 2,229
SYS-CON Events announced today that Liaison Technologies, a leading provider of data management and integration cloud services and solutions, has been named "Silver Sponsor" of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York, NY. Liaison Technologies is a recognized market leader in providing cloud-enabled data integration and data management solutions to break down complex information barriers, enabling enterprises to make smarter decisions, faster.
Mar. 29, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 3,512


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New triple vinyl release to commemorate 40th anniversary of The Number Of The Beast...
"Scream for me, Wacken!“
Brand new CD coming September 16th
The show had to be cancelled for the safety of the fans, band, crews and all concerned
Tickets go onsale 28th April.
Lithuania May 31 and Latvia June 2 - tickets on sale now
Tickets are on sale now
May 29th in Kyiv and June 1st in Moscow


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mens designer cufflinks – Approximately 3/4″ x 5/8″, Plated base metal with enamel, Round logo swivel closure, Officially licensed by Lucasfilm LTD.,
The advance shipments could lead to an uptick in warehousing costs, cutting into companies’ profit margins, said Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation in Washington. If retail sales were to soften, retailers could be stuck with excess inventory. Data from the U.S. Commerce Department for December showed retail sales posting their biggest drop in more than nine years and warehouse inventories increasing by the most in more than five years mens designer cufflinks.
Department stores such as Macy’s Inc have already been grappling with inventory issues, said Simeon Siegel, senior equity analyst at Nomura Instinet in New York. Macy’s shares plunged 17.7 percent on Jan. 10 when the retailer cut its fiscal 2018 forecast and have not recovered those losses despite rising last week after the company announced a restructuring. In its earnings conference call last Wednesday, TJX Companies Inc hinted at the potential for an uptick in discounted goods, saying that disruptions resulting from changes in shipments and production could lead to opportunities for the company mens designer cufflinks.
The shift in production away from China could also lead to price increases as demand grows for factories in countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, said Rick Helfenbein, president of the American Apparel and Footwear Association in Washington. In December, Calvin Klein parent company PVH Corp warned of such an adverse impact during an earnings conference call mens designer cufflinks. “When you get that bump, factories will raise the prices,” Helfenbein said. “It’s going to happen throughout the supply chain.”..
Likewise, shoe company Crocs Inc stated in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Thursday that “it may be time-consuming and expensive for us to alter our business operations in order to adapt to or comply with any such changes.”. Such risks could catch equity investors off guard, market watchers said, given the sanguine outlook on trade. “They’ve priced in a trade deal,” said Alicia Levine, chief strategist at BNY Mellon Investment Management in New York mens designer cufflinks. “All the risks are to the downside now.”..
(Reuters) – Activist investor Barington Capital on Tuesday urged L Brands to separate its Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works businesses, in an effort to turn around the struggling consumer brands owner. Barington urged the company to retain advisers and explore either a spin off of the underperforming Victoria’s Secret brand or take the much financially stronger Bath & Body Works public mens designer cufflinks. The hedge fund also suggested that the role of chairman and chief executive officer be held by separate individuals, an increasingly popular demand by activist investors who feel it would help companies run better..


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WB Games officially announced MultiVersus in November last year, but updates on the game have been rather scant since then- which, in turn, means there hasn’t been much gameplay footage released for the free-to-play crossover platform fighter either. That no longer seems to be the case though. WB Games recently held a closed play test for MultiVersus, and following that, nearly five minutes of gameplay footage have leaked.
The footage, which you can watch here, shows several stages and fighters. It’s not the cleanest, but it’s more than what’s available officially out there, providing a proper uninterrupted look at what the game will look like in action.
This isn’t the first leak we’ve seen for MultiVersus as a result of its recent play test either. Recently, dataminers also found voice lines in the game’s files that strongly hint at several characters being included in the roster that haven’t yet been officially confirmed. Read more on that through here.
MultiVersus is due out sometime this year for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. No specific release date has yet been announced.
Share Your Thoughts Below (Always follow our comments policy!)


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Detroit Zoo Discounts
To all MichBusiness Associates:
We are excited to announce that MichBusiness has joined the Detroit Zoo’s TICKETS & MORE Online Discount program!
You may now buy specially priced tickets for the Detroit Zoo over the Internet with the added convenience of printing your tickets and then presenting them at the Zoo entrance.Please log in to access Perk
We hope you and your family enjoy the Detroit Zoo this season!


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Porsche is having a good sales year in the US, with 25,129 vehicles delivered year-to-date coming off the automaker's best July sales ever. That's a 31-percent increase over the same period last year (19,253 deliveries). With year-to-date Panamera sales a surprising 36 percent lower than last year, what possibly could be driving Porsche's sales surge? If you answered Cayman and Boxster sales, you're right. But dealerships are noticing another factor: more women are coming in to buy Porsches, CNB
Maria Sharapova as Porsche Brand Ambassador
- Michael Harley
- Apr 23, 2013
Russian-born tennis superstar Maria Sharapova has just inked a three-year deal with Porsche to be its brand ambassador, a position that will put her on a global campaign for the German automaker. The 26-year-old athlete isn't new to the role – she previously signed a similar three-year deal with Land Rover in 2006.
- Volvo shoots for self-drivers by 2021
- Jeep spends $1 billion on factories
- Find Parts & Accessories for your vehicle!
- Obama rolls out new EV plan
- Infiniti dealers ranked best, Tesla worst
- Compare Volvo XC90 and Lincoln MKX


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Webscape: Map shows which shops accept Bitcoin
Digital currency Bitcoin has had a turbulent ride this year - but if it is going to survive the one thing we really need to know is where we can use it. In her weekly review of websites and apps, Click's Kate Russell takes a look at Coin Map from the Open Street Map project which allows users and shop owners to add venues to a map online which shows where the currency can be traded.
Also, a focus on football including breaking news and expert analysis of the upcoming 2014 Fifa World Cup, a new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game and a new gallery of images from Nasa.
06 Jun 2014


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An element of the Terzo Millennio that may not take a generation to develop could be the car's "Piloted Driving" systems. Together MIT and Lamborghini have developed supercapacitors for power. Lamborghini and MIT even said they are also looking into using the car's carbon fiber body as an energy storage medium.
Each of the Terzo Millennio's wheels will incorporate an integrated electric engine, which the company says will give it four-wheel torque control and high reversibility.
Lamborghini sees the Terzo Millenio concept as '"a box" to pack their new technology, which would help them compete in the up-and-coming world of hybrid electric supercars.
One year after inking a partnership deal, Lamborghini and the MIT-Italy Program celebrate the first steps in an ongoing project "that intends to write an important page in the future of super sports cars", Lambo CEO Stefano Domenicali said in a statement.
"It will be a big task", he told reporters at the Terzo Millennio launch. This is mostly due to the fact that all four electric engines are placed inside the wheels, liberating space for designers to make the vehicle more aerodynamic. The design is brutally purposeful, similar in a way to the Aston Martin Valkyrie where non-essential space isn't covered up with body panels, but rather exposed.
With NZ offer rejected, Manus refugees doubt USA resettlement prospects
They include Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, Afghans, Iranians, Sri Lankans and other nationalities, and are nearly entirely men. Service providers and contractors have left the island, according to Australian media reports.
John Wall Says Wizards 'Smell Blood' In Matchup With Cavaliers
They did a good job coming in defensively and we put them on their best two players so really pleased with the young group. Miles, who had flu symptoms, so he might return Sunday to lead the second unit as he has done so well this season.
Broadcom offers $103 billion for Qualcomm in chip megadeal
The deal represents a 28% premium to Qualcomm's share price prior to rumors of the deal which sent the stocks higher last week. The proposed offer is the largest deal ever in the tech industry, The Associated Press reports.
The technological aspects of the new concept have been based on five factors including; energy storage systems, innovative materials, propulsion system, visionary design, and emotion.
Built in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Terzo Millennio is being used to explore the potential for supercapacitators to replace battery power for electric vehicles, as the former has been found to store more power and degrade significantly less after being recharged than Lithium-ion batteries. However, the joint plan is apparently for the carbon panels to also act as an accumulator for energy storage. With electric motors housed in each of the four wheels, designers were freed up to work with far more of a blank canvas than would be possible with a conventional powertrain.
Lamborghini is the process of tinkering with some wild technology too. As Lamborghini points out, this tech allows for confidently using carbonfibre for "high-fatigue" parts, meaning weight savings in regions usually reserved for heavier, more durable materials. The "self-healing" is done by detecting cracks and damages in the carbon structure, which once detected is repaired by "heal chemistries" in the body.
In other word's, the car's own body is the battery, which in theory sounds somewhat unsafe.


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A Lakeland mother and her daughter were arrested Tuesday and charged with retail theft, a third-degree felony, for stealing a Cyclone vacuum cleaner from a Wal-Mart store at U.S. 92 West in Auburndale, an Auburndale police report said.
The vacuum cleaner is worth about $500.
The mother picked up the vacuum cleaner and the two proceeded to walk through the store and past the cash registers. The daughter began talking with the store greeter and dropped something on the ground to distract him as her mother walked toward the front doors. There she was met by the store’s loss prevention officer, the report said.
According to the report, the mother has three prior convictions for larceny. After their arrests, the daughter was also found to be in possession of cannabis, the report said.


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This time it actually happened.
The Marcus Dairy Bar Restaurant in Danbury, Conn., the New York area’s most iconic gathering spot for motorcyclists, shut down on Sunday afternoon, years after rumors of its demise first circulated.
Known variously as “the Dairy” or simply “Marcus” by tens of thousands of bikers who incorporated it into their Sunday morning rides, the restaurant was in operation since 1947 and a motorcyclist destination since the late ’70s.
When I started riding there in the early ‘80s on a junky Honda Hawk, the place’s appeal quickly became clear to me. Since Marcus sat at the juncture of Route 84 and Route 7, just about anyone in your crew could get there from anywhere in the New York area within about an hour.
Once there, you could grab a quick breakfast, eyeball hundreds of other bikes parked in the lot and head off on some of the region’s most scenic roads.
At the occasional “Super Sunday” events, motorcycle vendors would turn Marcus into a miniature version of the famed rallies at Laconia, N.H. or Sturgis, S.D., where you could enter your bike in a contest, fawn over a vintage Indian motorcycle, shop for leather or watch the customers of the piercing specialist dig fingernails into the technician’s chair.
That great location, of course, is also responsible for the Dairy’s demise. Sean Marcus, the Dairy’s director of operations, said the property was simply too valuable to devote to a low-cost restaurant.
In 2008, Mr. Marcus said the family had lined up tenants for a shopping center they had intended to build on the site. Dairy Bar patrons steeled themselves for its closure, but the recession scared off prospective tenants and bought the bikers a two-year reprieve.
This time, it was for real. In a telephone interview, Mr. Marcus declined to identify the business that would anchor the new shopping center, but he said it was highly unlikely it would offer its parking lot up to thousands of loitering bikers every weekend.
“The Dairy Bar became such a community, and now I don’t know where they go,” Mr. Marcus said. “I guess it’s called progress. But there’s a price for it.”
“I wish we could find a way to incorporate that crowd into another location,” he added. “It’d give me a place to ride on Sundays, too. I’m in the same boat as everybody else.”
Riders with a deep sense of nostalgia, heated grips and metal-studded tires can make one last ride at 1 p.m. on Feb. 27 for the public auction of the Dairy Bar’s fixtures and equipment.
Days later, the wrecking ball comes, and Sean Marcus joins the area’s masses as just another rider without a place to go.


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Two comparison websites have become the latest to sign up to the groundbreaking good practice standards pioneered by the Legal Services Consumer Panel.
Homebuyer Conveyancing and Access Solicitor are only the sixth and seventh websites to have self-assessed themselves as compliant with the standards.
These deal with issues such as accessibility, accuracy of information, and use of personal information.
The panel does not assess or monitor compliance itself, relying on consumers to alert it to any breaches of the standards.
The sites join Contact Law, Really Moving, Checkaprofessional, Solicitor.info and Compare Legal Costs as having self-assessed their compliance.
Duncan Pattinson, director of We Help You Too, which manages Homebuyer Conveyancing, said: “In business the only way to stay ahead is to continuously improve. We Help You Too has developed a conveyancing website that encourages client feedback. This provides a customer experience that simplifies what is seen by many to be complicated.
“The initiative set by the Legal Services Consumer Panel to push for self-regulation is welcome and worthwhile since it is these process standards that are often neglected by many. Promoting best practice and pushing for transparency in conveyacing quotes paves the way for consumers to make an informed choice.”
Warren Smith, founder and chief executive of Access Solicitor, said: “Client needs should be at the heart of legal services delivery and comparison websites will become an increasingly important part of that. Access Solicitor is pleased to subscribe to and support the best practice standards.”
Panel chair Elisabeth Davies added: “We are very pleased these websites have recognised the value of our standards, which help make sure consumers are treated fairly. Consumers lack confidence when using legal services, so comparison websites in this sector need to pay special attention to building public trust.”
Last month, the approved regulators agreed to publish a basic set of core regulatory information in a reusable format, which the panel said will help ‘choice tools’ like comparison sites obtain the information they need to enter the market.
Ms Davies said: “It’s really positive that tangible progress is now being made on opening up access to the professional registers. In time this will allow people choosing lawyers to benefit from the electronic market place as they already do in vast numbers when buying goods and services in other markets.”