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Many users install operating systems using a CD/DVD drive rather than through other installation mediums. This is because optical discs for various operating systems are readily available in the market.
There are several ways you can customize your Mac desktop. Getting new icons for your apps and folders is one way to do so.
Mozilla is busy this week with a couple of new agreements and updates. The web browsing giant just created a new search engine agreement with Internet giant, Google. Mozilla also created a new update for its desktop browser, and a new and improved look for Android tablets. The new update is calling for better, faster […]
The holidays can be one of the roughest times for bloggers. On one hand, individuals look forward to the tips for blogging as a way of getting through the holidays. On the other hand, we benefit from the tips ourselves when we celebrate with our family and friends. Today, we will talk about how to […]
The art of blogging is possibly the coolest thing in the world. With the expansion of social media, having a popular blog where thousands of reader listen to and share what you have to say can open A LOT of doors and bringing many rewards.
Ever since the unveiling of the Windows 8 developer’s preview, there has been a lot of talk about the utility of the Metro UI. While the Metro UI was already among the hot topics, even before the release of the developer’s preview, the discussion got more intense when the pre-beta version of Windows 8 was […]


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Publisher Electronic Arts believes that subscription-based video games will continue to exist even as more and more MMOs make the move towards the free-to-play model.
Frank Gibeau, who is the president of the EA Labels division
, has told Kotaku that, “I think subscription is just one way delivering content. In the case of Battlefield Premium, we have a million-and-a-half subscribers and that’s moving along nicely. At the same time, other types of products like Star Wars are probably better positioned around having a free-to-play model.”
He added, “With Star Wars, you have a broad-based IP that pulls the widest possible audience, we can bring in a large number of people. I think we’ve been fairly upfront with the fact that we course-corrected on Star Wars because we felt like we were fighting too many headwinds in the marketplace and it needed to be repositioned to fall with what customers were telling us.”
Gibeau made it clear that for Star Wars: The Old Republic
gamers could still pay a monthly subscription as long as they wanted to get access to more options for their account and more Cartel Coins, which they could spend on their characters.
Recently, the executive caused some consternation among players when he revealed that his company was no longer developing titles that focused just on single player.
Star Wars: The Old Republic was launched at the end of 2011 and the game failed to get the audience that developer BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts aimed for, with a sharp decline seen from March on.
The two companies say that they have long-term plans for the MMO and will continue to add both new planets and new options for characters via a variety of content packages.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is set to make the switch to free-to-play during November of this year.

domain: news


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Business Travel Tech Talk London, 16 October,
Business Travel Awards Europe, 30 October, JW
3rd Annual Business Travel Intelligence Summit
Corporate travel rewards specialist Rocketrip has signed up a range of new customers including several clients listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
New York-based Rocketrip sets a real-time budget for trips, known as a “budget to beat” and then rewards employees with cash or other incentives if they beat this figure.
The company has started working with music platform Pandora Media, healthcare firm Mckesson Corp and logistics company Prologis.
Diana Scott, chief human resources officer at Prologis, said: “Rocketrip helps us to save on travel costs and accommodate our employees’ needs for flexibility and choice.
“Their employee-centric solution fits seamlessly into our existing workflow and gives our teams the tools to make more informed, cost-conscious spending decisions.”
Rocketrip says that it has helped its clients to save an average of US$222 per trip or 21 per cent against “budgeted” costs this year.
Dan Ruch, CEO at Rocketrip, said: “We’re thrilled that some of the biggest companies in the world are quickly realizing the benefits of taking a human-centric approach to cost management.
“By improving an outdated corporate process, our technology has inspired some extraordinary behaviour that allows for an adaptive, more autonomous workplace culture.”


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**This is a guest post written by SoSo Aung. It shows great insight into how fast Myanmar is growing and developing.**
A few years ago, Myanmar could not even be seen on the E-commerce map due to the lack of infrastructure and awareness. In the current age, a number of reasons and situations have fueled the rise of the E-Commerce industry in the country. Now, a rising number of people opt to buy online rather than going to the stores. Along with this and the new era of digital technology has made many brick and mortar stores along with many startups jump on the bandwagon of E-Commerce.
What is E-Commerce?
E-commerce is considered to be a platform where buyers and sellers can interact for different products. The seller posts and ad on the platform and the buyers respond to it. Many of them provide online payment facilities via credit cards or bank transfers and many opt to go with the cash on delivery system. Many marketplaces in Myanmar use this for their payment system.
Trends in Myanmar and the growth of E-Commerce
There are many reasons that can be attributed to the growth of the E-Commerce industry in Myanmar. Many of these include friendly government policies, reforms regarding the political, social and economic scenario coupled with a huge wave of economic development.
If we look at it closely, there are basically two reasons why the growth has increased to an astounding amount. The first one is the youth population of the country. According to Tech in Asia, there are around 51 million in this age bracket and who are constantly in search of new technology to use. They have made a radical change from using modest phones to jumping on to tablets and smartphones in a time span of months. Along with this, comes the idea of having online businesses which are on the rise. The second reason is the internet penetration rate. According to Myanmar Guardian, this rate was 10% in the year of 2012 – 2013 and it is expected to reach 80% by the end of 2016. If we look at these figures, we can safely that Myanmar is and will be a home ground to many E-commerce ventures.
Future Prospects of E-Commerce in the country
When it comes to the future, the first thing that needs to be done is changing the habits and the mindset of the people in the country. The very important thing here is to gain the trust of the people of the country to grow the number of online shoppers. This can be done by proving good quality products in a timely and effective manner. Not only will this increase the number but it will boost loyalty levels as well.
The trends and the current situation has shown that the youth is ready and accepting the online shopping trend but along with this, there should be more emphasis laid upon the senior citizens of the country. Some of them do see the benefit of sitting at home and ordering what they like.
There needs to be a greater amount of awareness to increase the rates of shoppers. Moreover, two of the Telecom giants namely Telenor and Ooredoo have established themselves in the country. This will give a rise to the current infrastructure of the country and increase the facilities available.
Overall, the E-Commerce trend is here to stay and by the looks of it, Myanmar will soon become one of the most dominant areas when it comes to this industry.


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TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- ING Groep, ING, +0.41% the Amsterdam financial-services major, swung to a first-quarter net loss from a year-earlier profit but noted that results improved from the fourth quarter as pretax impairments and other special items dropped significantly from the previous quarter. ING reported a net loss of 793 million euros, or 0.39 euro a share, compared with net income of 1.54 billion euros, or 0.74 euro, in the year-earlier quarter. A survey of analysts by Dow Jones Newswires produced a consensus estimate of a net loss of 553 million euros. On an underlying basis, the net loss was 305 million euros against net income of 1.57 billion euros. Comparing the first quarter with fourth-quarter 2008, ING narrowed its loss on an underlying basis to 305 million euros from 3.07 billion euros. Pretax impairments and other special items in the first quarter were 1.71 billion euros. All six of its businesses posted improved results on a pretax underlying basis, ING reported. Operating expenses fell 3.5% from first-quarter 2008 and more than 13% from fourth-quarter 2008. Of the 7,000 job cuts ING announced in January, it had made 5,380 by the end of March, the company said.
ING posts 1st-quarter loss, improves sequentially


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Allergan Plc reported quarterly earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street estimates, as higher demand for Botox and eye treatment Restasis helped offset declines in its older drugs, and the company forecast 2017 revenue above expectations.
The beat was also driven by demand for its constipation medicine Linzess that more than made up for declining sales of older drugs, such as its Alzheimer’s dementia treatment Namenda and Asacol for ulcerative colitis, reports Reuters.
Chief Executive Brent Saunders, one of the industry’s most active dealmakers, took the blame for the company’s third-quarter profit miss, citing unanticipated declines in sales of Allergan’s older medicines.
The Allergan logo is seen in this photo illustration in Singapore
Allergan, which in September pledged to limit drug price increases to 10 percent, said it had raised the price of certain U.S. branded products by 6.7 percent, on average, effective January.
Net price increases on its U.S. products averaged 4.8 percent in 2016, the company said. Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders narrowed to $70.2 million, or 20 cents per share, in the fourth-quarter ended Dec. 31, from $700.5 million, or $1.78 per share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned $3.90 per share, handily beating the average estimate by 14 cents.
The Dublin-based company also forecast on Wednesday adjusted earnings in the range of $15.80 per share to $16.30 per share on revenue of $15.50 billion to $15.80 billion for 2017. Analysts on average were expecting a profit of $16.01 per share and revenue of $15.37 billion.
Allergan said last month it expected to achieve double-digit adjusted earnings growth and mid-single-digit net revenue percentage growth in 2017, a forecast it called “realistic”. The company’s stock inched about 1 percent to $235.61 in light premarket trading on Wednesday.


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Early last week, Banky W had come out to announce that his wedding cards are not on sale and that the public should be aware of fraudsters.
Apparently, both love birds had carried out the traditional rites and it has been the trend of the day.
It was a star studded wedding with the entertainment industry’s giants in attendance.
Nollywood, comedians, musician and others were duly represented at the wedding. The likes of Bovi, Basket Mouth, Kemi Adetiba, Tunde Demuren, Chigul, Lynxx, Juliet Ibrahim, M.I Abaga,Dotun Kayode, Toolz, Tolu Oniru, Linda Ejiofor, Sola Sobowale, just to mention a few
However, fans are still asking, where is Wizkid, since it is a known fact that Banky W was his boss and pal during his reign at EME Records.
You would also recall that Banky, had recently gone through a skin surgery which was successful.
See photos below;


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The 45-ton 45142 boom truck has a 142-foot, five-section telescopic boom.
The next generation of JLG Compact Crawler Booms, X500AJ and X600AJ, have 500 pounds of unrestricted capacity throughout the working envelope, says the company, allowing operators to reach more and increase productivity.
According to JLG Industries, an Oshkosh Corporation company, the new 1850SJ Ultra Boom is “the world’s largest self-propelled boom lift, providing nearly 3 million cubic feet of reachable space.
New from Manitowoc at CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2014 are the 330-ton MLC300 and 650-ton MLC650 crawler cranes that feature Manitowoc’s Variable Position Counterweight (VPC) system.
A range of products for concrete finishing includes vibration, levelling, finishing and cutting tools.


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You might have one of the world's most lusted after supercars - but you've still got to follow the rules of the road ...http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/bugatti-veyron-slapped-parking-fine-6322184
Bugatti's boss Wolfgang Dürheimer said the brand has no plans to build SUVs or four-door sedans in the future. In an interview with Car&Driver ,... ...http://www.automnews.com/?p=270490
The surging prominence of SUVs worldwide have prompted elite automakers likes Bentley and Rolls Royce to come up with high riding products but... ...http://www.rushlane.com/bugatti-suv-sedan-ruled-out-chiron-top-speed-12159272.html
While Ferraris and Lamborghinis may jostle for space on the walls of teenage boys' bedrooms across the world, there are some other, more stunning... ...http://m.indiatimes.com/lifestyle/technology/11-supercars-youve-never-heard-of-that-will-feed-your-need-for-speed-244290.html
⌖ 10 Photos A- A+ Even with all the daily-driving limitations that come with the extreme track-savvy setup of the Porsche 911 GT3 RS,... ...http://www.automnews.com/?p=269971
It is correct and real as properly to...
We all have a thought of appropriate...


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Will legal action change Google auto-complete?
Google could be forced to change the algorithm it uses to generate auto-complete suggestions when users start typing search queries after it faced a defamation suit.
It emerged this week that the Ballymascanlon Hotel in Ireland has taken legal action because "Ballymascanlon Hotel receivership" pops up in the list of suggested searches when you get as far as "ballymas".
Understandably, the owners are concerned that with so many web journeys starting with a Google search, potential customers could be put off, particularly as the hotel specialises in hosting weddings.
This is not the first time Google has faced legal action over its auto-complete tool, with previous cases having been fought in France and Italy.
Google's stock response is that auto-complete works on popularity, so it is driven by user behaviour. If "Ballymascanlon Hotel receivership" is a suggested search, lots of people must be running that search (well, they certainly are now).
It is likely that other factors (personal search history, location etc) contribute alongside simply the number of searches (more how auto-complete works here). Google is also thought to have taken action in the past to filter out illegal or offensive searches.
So far, no special adjustments have been made in the Ballymascanlon Hotel. The offending term still pops up as a suggested search and all the media and blog coverage (while sympathetic to the hotel's difficulties) is adding to the problem by encouraging yet more people to run the search.
As it is an algorithm, auto-complete is not immune to the sort of gaming tactics that give SEO a bad name. This is a great article about manipulating the auto-complete function from just a few months ago.
With this in mind, an interesting angle to the story popped up on Google's Webmaster Central forum, with one helpful user spotting a dodgy-looking site that appeared to have been set up for the very purpose of promoting the receivership term.
It is understood that the owners of the Ballymascanlon Hotel tried various avenues in their attempts to get the suggestion list changed and that legal action was a last resort. They're probably wondering now if they may have been better-off trying to manipulate the suggestions themselves.
If you're feeling cynical and wondering if a bigger brand might have had more luck getting corrective action, type "Google is" into the search box and check out the list of suggestions.


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ReputationChanger Acquires Brand.com
Reputation Changer, a provider of online reputation management and brand control services, has acquired Brand.com in a six-figure deal. Exact financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Following the acquisition, Reputation Changer will change its name toBrand.com.
Brand.com safeguards online reputations by clearing negative content, optimizing positive search engine results, and monitoring reputation across Google, Bing, Yahoo, and more than 400 social media Web sites. Its patent-pending Command Center enables clients to monitor social media, moderate reviews, and manage content across multiple digital assets, providing full-spectrum control over a brand’s online dialogues.
"A world-class online reputation has become the most important facet of a respected and recognized brand," said Michael Zammuto, president of Brand.com, in a statemement. "With the acquisition of Brand.com, we are communicating to businesses and individuals worldwide that our mission is to protect their brands across the entire digital landscape."
"The Internet is still a Wild West when it comes to accurate content, transparency, and brand confusion," Zammuto added. "Companies and individuals needlessly suffer when trolls post defamatory comments, and clients can unfairly suffer when their name or brand is mixed up with others that have received negative attention. We give brands real peace of mind, and that is why there is no better name for our service than Brand.com."


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Hanger Orthopedic revenue jumps 14 percent
- Staff Austin Business Journal
Hanger Orthopedic Group Inc. reported $15.4 million net income on $234.8 million revenue during the recent quarter, up from a $9.8 million profit on $205.8 million net sales during the same three months last year.
The orthotic and prosthetic services and products provider (NYSE: HGR), which moved its headquarters to Austin last August, earned 46 cents per basic share in the period ended June 30, up from 30 cents last year.
The earnings release attributed most of the sales increase to the company buying Accelerated Care Plus. The company announced the $155 million deal last October.
Click here for the entire earnings report.
Hanger owns and operates 675 patient care centers in 45 states and the District of Columbia, with more than 3,800 employees, including more than 1,100 practitioners.
The company's shares were trading down 2.75 percent at market close on Wednesday, or at about $22.60 each. They have sold at a high $28.47 and low $13.01 in the past 52 weeks.
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Le label ‘Handmande in Luang Prabang’ dope les entreprises d’artisanat (en)
It was to the sound of a traditional Laotian drum that the handicraft label ‘Handmade in Luang Prabang’ was launched on December 11, 2012 in a ceremony that was part of the Luang Prabang Handicraft Festival.
An initiative of the Luang Prabang Handicraft Association (LPHA), the label was supported by the regional government and by the International Trade Centre (ITC), which provided the initial budget and know-how in the framework of the ‘Enhancing Sustainable Tourism, Clean Production and Export Capacity in Lao People’s Democratic Republic’ project. Funded by Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the project falls under the UN Chief Executives Board Inter-Agency Cluster on Trade and Productive Capacity, a mechanism that brings together five UN agencies including ITC.
‘The sustained development of Lao PDR’s handicraft sector supports rural family livelihoods as many depend on artisanal production to supplement farming incomes,’ said Govind Venuprasad, Senior Trade Promotion Officer at the ITC. ‘Through the launch of the label, we see an effective marketing tool that will provide a unique identity to locally produced handicrafts.’
Progress was remarkably rapid. ITC’s first consultation took place in February 2012. In June 2012, ITC organized a study tour to Siem Reap in Cambodia, where a similar label had been introduced. There, the Siem Reap Handicraft Association and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) offered to share their know-how with their colleagues from Luang Prabang and ITC.
Back in Luang Prabang, all preparations – from the development of an overall concept to the production of material, were completed within 10 months – demonstrating the commitment of all parties and the effectiveness of cross-border and inter-agency cooperation.
‘A large group of artisans, traders, the Provincial Government Departments, the Lao PDR Ministry of Industry and Commerce, worked tirelessly to transform this label from concept to reality,’ said Mr Venuprasad.
One of Lao’s major tourist destinations, Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that welcomes more than 300,000 tourists each year. Central to the country’s socio-economic development, tourism contributes to the Government’s efforts to reduce poverty and improve the living standards of Lao people. Nationwide, tourism jobs make up 5% of the workforce.
Although it is estimated that tourists spend USD 7-10 million each year on gifts and souvenir articles, most of the souvenirs that are sold in Luang Prabang are imported. This despite the fact that local producers, many of whom are women, offer a broad variety of goods, such as cotton and silk crafts, Hmong embroidery, clothes and bags, bamboo baskets, pottery, gold and silver jewellery, lacquer ware, handmade paper, wood carvings, paintings and musical instruments.
ITC will continue to track the market introduction of the label and to provide further support to LPHA for consolidating the label scheme until 2014. Preliminary results suggest that the label has boosted business and income for about 1,500 handicraft producers in Luang Prabang province, as well as for more than 300 hundred traders selling these crafts.
The label effect
In fact, a first impact assessment survey conducted in April 2013 showed that 70% of traders using the label said they were able to get a higher price for labelled products. Moreover, 97% of traders who bought the labels were repeat buyers, a positive indicator of the sustainability of the handicraft label. The effectiveness of the label can be gauged by another revelation from the ITC’s survey: 70% of tourists who recognized the label said it had influenced their decision to buy local goods.


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The Youxian High-Tech Industrial Park in Mianyang, Sichuan province is home to more than 100 high-tech enterprises. [Photo provided to Asia Pacific Daily]
A total of 12 companies in Youxian district in the city of Mianyang participated in the ongoing ninth China (Mianyang) Science and Technology City International High-Tech Expo in Mianyang, Sichuan province.
The four-day event, focusing on technological innovation, is sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Sichuan Provincial Government and is regularly held in Mianyang every year.
More than 500 companies and organizations from 14 countries around the world participated in this year's event, exhibiting around 2,200 items through online and offline platforms.
Companies in Youxian district have brought over 60 high-tech products to the expo involving high-end equipment manufacturing, new materials, energy conservation, and environmental protection.
Staff members work at the workshop of Sichuan EM Technology Co Ltd, a professional global material manufacturer based in Mianyang, Sichuan province. [Photo provided to Asia Pacific Daily]
Sichuan EM Technology Co Ltd, a professional global material manufacturer, exhibited its optical polyester film products at the expo. The products, manufactured with industry-leading technology, have excellent optical, mechanical, and electrical properties.
Sichuan Xingshifa Door and Window Co Ltd exhibited its self-developed infrared smart temperature measuring door, which can meet the body temperature detection needs of shopping malls, parks, schools, and other places with high traffic.
The device can accurately measure the temperatures of hundreds of people simultaneously. If somebody with an abnormal body temperature is found, it will automatically raise the alarm and store thermal images and real-life images.
Sichuan Kaiyuan Chuangyi Biological Technology Co Ltd exhibited its biodegradable bag products, which are made of pure polylactic acid extracted from corn and are non-toxic and suitable for packaging all kinds of food.
The bags are green and environmentally friendly and can be completely degraded into carbon dioxide and water after being discarded.


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ANNOUNCED AS TEMPORARYNo
Export licensing requirement
In December 2013, the Chinese government published a catalogue of goods classified as 'dual-use', meaning that such items are deemed able to be used for both civilian and military purposes.
Besides several removals from the list, one item was added to the list of exported goods, meaning that it would newly require a dual-use licence before export.
The list was made public in the Chinese Ministry of Commerce's December 2013 release of the yearly catalogue.
⚑ Please report this page in case you detect an inaccuracy in its content.


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Downdraft from overseas markets and mixed earnings news sent stock futures to some significant premarket losses on Wednesday.
XAutoplay: On | OffDow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 all cut 0.5% below fair value. Small caps fell harder, with Russell 2000 futures trading down 0.7%.
Markets in China and Japan tumbled in a broad sell off Wednesday, with Hong Kong’s Hang index down 1% and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 faltering 1.6%, pointing the Nikkei toward its first weekly loss since the first week of September. The benchmark gained 23.1% from Sept. 8 through a intraday high on Tuesday.
The selling carried over into European trade, where Frankfurt’s DAX dived 1.2%, while the CAC-40 in Paris slumped 0.6% and London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.5% near midday.
Blackstone Group (BX) President and Chief Executive Hamilton James told Politico that stocks have built in some expectation for tax cuts included in the federal tax reform package heading toward a vote in the House on Thursday. But he called a potential failure of the effort a “modest negative” for the market: “I don’t think it’s a huge driver for the market. I don’t think the market is going to tank by any means,” he said.
Target Tumbles, FoxConn Bites Apple; Sorl Auto, Cargurus Soar
Target tanked 5% after reporting a smaller-than-expected third-quarter earnings decline and revenue growth in line with analyst forecasts. But management warned of a “highly competitive” holiday season. Shares ended up 15% from a June low, attempting to climb out of an 18-month consolidation.
Apple (AAPL)dipped 0.5%, possibly due partly to quarterly results reported in China Wednesday by Hon Hai Precision, also knwon as FoxConn, which assembles Apple’s iPhones and other products. Hon Hai earnings fell 39%, almost to half of analyst expectations, largely owing to iPhone X production problems.
Sorl Auto Parts (SORL) rocketed 46% higher after reporting a 159% earnings gain and a 59% advance in revenue for its third quarter. The move follows Tuesday’s 16% gain by rival Advanced Auto Parts (AAP), following its Q3 results.
Car lot operator Cargurus (CARG) drove ahead 12% in premarket trade after reporting a 56% sales gain and EPS of two cents in its third quarter, and raising its fourth-quarter revenue guidance above consensus views. The new issue ended Tuesday 86% above its October 12 IPO price.
IBD 50 stock YY (YY) swung up nearly 3%, receiving an upgrade to buy, from hold, from Jefferies after reporting a healthy third-quarter beat late Tuesday. The stock is pulled back in a test of support at its 10-week moving average, and in the fifth week of a shallow consolidation.
Consumer Prices, Empire State Survey, Weekly Oil Supplies
October consumer price data from the Labor Department, and the New York Federal Reserve’s Empire State Manufacturing Survey are both due out at 8:30 a.m. ET, along with October retail sales numbers from the Commerce Department.
September business inventories estimates from the Commerce department arrive at 10 a.m. ET, followed by the Energy Information Administration’s weekly oil stockpiles report at 10:30 a.m. ET.


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“Apple will switch to an all-glass casing for next year’s entire iPhone lineup in order to support wireless charging, with Pegatron being the exclusive supplier of the wireless charger,” Tim Hardwick reports for MacRumors. “That’s according to the latest research note by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.”
“According to Kuo, the transition from metal to glass casing is key if Apple is to introduce a wireless charging feature in the 2017 iPhone,” Hardwick reports. “While patented engineering solutions do exist for wirelessly charging devices with metal cases, issues with wireless frequency tolerances for metal alloys can limit the speed at which charging takes place. On top of that, it is widely believed that Jony Ive has wanted to introduce an iPhone that looks like a single sheet of glass for several years.”
Hardwick reports, “Kuo remains uncertain whether a wireless charger will be bundled with all new iPhones, but expects at least some models to [get the capability] next year, with wider availability by 2018.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Is this “glass” as in Gorilla glass or is it bulk metallic glass (Liquidmetal) or both?
The timeframe would be right for Apple to begin using Liquidmetal in earnest.
I estimate that Apple will likely spend on the order of $300 million to $500 million — and three to five years — to mature the technology before it can used in large scale. — Dr. Atakan Peker, one of the Caltech researchers who invented Liquidmetal, May 2012
Two major ‘iPhone 8’ leaks reveal groundbreaking new features – November 23, 2016
Evidence suggests Apple is working on the biggest mobile game-changer since the original iPhone – November 8, 2016
Apple possibly working with Energous on extended range wireless charging for future iPhones – February 5, 2016
Apple developing cutting-edge long-range wirelessly-charged iPhones and iPads – January 29, 2016
iPhone 7 and the potential for wireless charging – January 19, 2016
Apple will drop headphone jack to make the iPhone 7 super slim, source confirms; wireless charging and waterproof, too – January 7, 2016
Apple looks to patent inductive charging system that could power an Apple Pencil or even a future kitchen appliance – January 7, 2016
Apple files 5th wireless inductive charging patent application since Late September – November 5, 2015\
Apple patent application reveals iPhone inductive charging sans extra hardware – October 8, 2015
Patent application reveals Apple working on wireless charging systems focused on rapid power delivery – August 27, 2015
Apple invents inductive charging interfaces for mobile devices – April 2, 2015


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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Wireless handset maker Nokia is hoping to speed the process of product innovation through a new research and development effort launched in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Nokia and MIT officially opened a new joint research facility in MITs Kendall Square neighborhood here April 20, telling media and analysts gathered for the event that the facilitys existence will greatly improve the two organizations ability to share breakthroughs in wireless technology.
The research center will specifically tap into work being conducted at MITs CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory).
While Nokia has teamed with MIT for research efforts since as far back as the early 1980s, officials said the opening of the Cambridge research center will allow for the sort of daily interaction necessary to move development efforts forward at a rapid pace, and push some of those technologies into Nokias products sooner.
“Were moving from a world where we look at the device as a phone into a world where we view devices as mobile gateways,” said Dr. Bob Iannucci, head of Nokia Research Center, the companys primary R&D arm.
“This is one of the most exciting areas for innovation and new technologies, but it represents its own world of challenges; we want to create real information gateways that move information from the desktop into the pocket.”
MIT officials said that working more closely with Nokia will help its own researchers remain at the top of their field and keep projects focused on the types of applications that customers will truly demand.
“We must understand what the issues are at companies like this or we will become irrelevant,” said Prof. Rodney Brooks, director of CSAIL.
“I think weve had good results working together so far, but were really only starting to understand the issues.”
Among the specific projects the companies have already teamed around are efforts aimed at developing new ways to securely connect various devices to each other over the Internet, building new operating system-level technologies aimed at securing data on mobile handsets, and creating more energy-efficient device hardware components.
One of the projects, dubbed SwapMe, is attempting to build a development platform for so-called Semantic Web applications which could someday allow devices to access Web-based information based more on users preferences and the context of the information they are seeking than on traditional data indexes.
The Semantic Web is a project being spearheaded within CSAIL by Dr. Timothy Berners-Lee, who is credited with launching the worlds first Web client in 1990. Berners-Lee, who is a chairman at CSAIL, is listed as one of the contributors to SwapMe.
Another effort, labeled as project Simone, is mean to address new ways for interacting with devices using speech. Such applications will prove useful in programming the devices of the future in addition to providing opportunities for a large number of new location-based, search and vertical handset applications, researchers said.
“There hasnt been a lot of work completed in the area of bringing natural language search together with GPS, but its not hard to imagine the benefits of a system that answers questions such as where am I?,” said Boris Katz, a principal research scientist at CSAIL. “We want natural language recognition to be a first class citizen on the device.”
Nokia and MIT didnt discuss how much money it plans to invest in the Cambridge research center, and Iannucci said that Nokia is viewing the effort as a resource for launching other new projects with additional partners.
While not officially involved in the effort yet, he pointed to existing collaboration between CSAIL and chip maker Texas Instruments that he said could complement some of the research being driven by Nokia.
The partners said they plan to make much of the work they are doing together public via research papers and other resources, but have made no promise of sharing their work with any specific standards bodies.
MIT officials pointed out, however, that Berners-Lee remains director of the powerful World Wide Web Consortium and said some research could be shared with other researchers via that connection.
Industry analysts attending the event said that the new cooperation between MIT and Nokia should help give the handset maker a leg up in developing new technologies, but customers will drive what types of applications handset manufacturers pursue first, said David Linsalata, analyst with Framingham, Mass.-based IDC. He also said he believes that MITs experts will help push much of their work into the public domain.
“A lot of what is eventually taken up out of these sorts of efforts is whats needed and driven by customers more than anything else,” Linsalata said. “MIT has said their goal is to publish a lot of this work and get it out into the open, so I think that will happen.”
“The difference is that Nokia will know about the innovations sooner, understand the work better, and have an opportunity to move things into manufacturing faster,” he said.
Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, reviews and analysis on mobile and wireless computing.


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A team of researchers from the University of Michigan discovered that hundreds of applications in Google Play Store have a security hole that could potentially allow hackers to steal data from and even implant malware on millions of Android smartphones.
The University of Michigan team says that the actual issue lies within apps that create open ports — a known problem with computers — on smartphones.
So, this issue has nothing to do with your device's operating system or the handset; instead, the origin of this so-called backdoor is due to insecure coding practices by various app developers.
The team used its custom tool to scan over 100,000 Android applications and found 410 potentially vulnerable applications — many of which have been downloaded between 10 and 50 Million times and at least one app comes pre-installed on Android smartphones.
Here I need you to stop and first let's understand exactly what ports do and what are the related threats.
Ports can be either physical or electronic in nature. Physical ports are connection points on your smartphones and computers, such as a USB port used to transfer data between devices.
Electronic ports are those invisible doors that an application or a service use to communicate with other devices or services. For example, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service by default opens port 21 to transfer files, and you need port 80 opened in order to connect to the Internet.
In other words, every application installed on a device opens an unused port (1-to-65535), can be referred as a virtual door, to communicate for the exchange of data between devices, be it a smartphone, server, personal computer, or an Internet-connected smart appliance.
Over the years, more and more applications in the market function over the Internet or network, but at the same time, these applications and ports opened by them can be a weak link in your system, which could allow a hacker to breach or take control of your device without your knowledge.
Peace Of Mind Isn’t Priceless.
The Hacking News


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Community Reward Scheme
Tuesday 18th April 2017
Family Support Link staff attended a celebration event at Olympic Way and Redwell Co-op stores in Wellingborough on a rather windy day as part of a celebration event to thank the Co-op staff and customers for raising £7,170.89 as part of the Co-op members 1% community reward scheme.
A huge thank you from everyone at Family Support Link. The money will be put to very good use.


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Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai told a US congressional panel on Tuesday that the Alphabet Inc unit currently has "no plans" to launch a search engine in China but did not rule out a future launch.
Pichai, who testified before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, had told U.S. lawmakers in a letter in August that providing such a search engine would give "broad benefits" to China but that it was unclear whether Google could launch the service there.
Pichai told the committee he would be "fully transparent" with policymakers if the company brings search products to China.
"Right now, there are no plans to launch search in China," Pichai testified. "Getting access to information is an important human right, so we always are compelled across the world to try hard to provide that information."
Lawmakers and hundreds of Google employees have raised concerns that Google would comply with China's internet censorship and surveillance policies if it re-enters the Chinese search engine market.


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Apple has sued Nokia in the U.K. over nine patents, in a continuation of the legal battle that has raged between the two companies in the U.S. over the last year.
According to a statement from Nokia today, "Apple's action is an unsurprising development, which seems designed to put pressure on the ongoing dialogue between both companies." It is not yet clear which patents are the subject of the suit.
Nokia was the first aggressor in the legal war, having sued Apple over the iPhone manufacturer's use of GSM, 3G, and Wi-Fi patents in October 2009. Since then, Apple has countersued, a Delaware court has put both lawsuits on hold, and Nokia has expanded its original suit to include the iPad.
Read more of "Apple brings Nokia patent battle to U.K. courts" at ZDNet UK.
All the latest Apple news, featuring developments on the iPhone, iPad, Macbooks, OS X and much more.
May 26The iPhone 8 could unlock when you press the screen
May 25The first iPhone 8 dummy hands-on is FIRE!
May 25Apple reveals belief in reincarnation
May 25Trump's iPhone reportedly has just one app: Twitter


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Anyone who’s undergone a major decluttering project in their home knows that clothes are often a big thing that gets thrown out the door. A lot of clothing gets donated, but even then, millions of tons of waste are generated each year from old clothes.
That’s where Alina Bassi steps in. Her company, Kledierly, can recycle old clothes and other textile waste and turn them into new, durable materials. Her goal? To replace oil-based plastics with her company’s products. She has quite a bit of experience turning waste into new products - she’s a veteran of two companies, Bio-Bean and Kaffeform, that took old coffee grounds and turned them into new products.
Bassi is just one of the standouts in this year's Forbes Europe 30 Under 30 Manufacturing & Industry list, which features young people who are working on projects ranging from modular housing to biomaterials to highway wind turbines.
Like Bassi, several members of the list this year are focused on producing more sustainable products. There’s Dimitrios Terzis, whose company MeduSoil is producing sustainable materials for construction that can resist erosion and other natural hazards. And Ellenor McIntosh, whose company Twipes produces wet wipes that degrade very quickly once they’ve been flushed, helping to prevent the formation of “fatbergs” in sewer systems that can cost millions to remove.
Sustainable energy production is also an area where under 30 listmakers are doing remarkable things. For example, Nolan Gray’s company, SVEA Solar, which supplies solar-generated power and also manufactures solar panels, batteries and more. It’s recently partnered with Ikea to expand its business. There’s also Kerem Deveci and Sarp Papatya, whose company DeveciTech is building wind turbines that can be placed in highway medians, generating electricity from the moving air formed by passing cars.
In addition to moving sustainability forward, Under 30s on this list are also making manufacturing more efficient. Take Martin Vares, whose company Fractory enables companies to upload CAD files to its platform and get an instant manufacturing quote from its list of pre-vetted partners. Then there’s Matthias Auf der Mauer and Maximilian von Düring, whose company AiSight uses sensors and machine learning to catch issues with machinery early, making maintenance easier and reducing repair time and cost.
It’s not just traditional industry that’s getting a makeover from these Under 30 listmakers - construction companies are being pushed forward, too. Take Joseph Daniels, whose company Project Etopia builds large-scale, eco-friendly housing developments. Then there’s Umar Ahmed, whose company XYZ Reality produces an augmented reality device that lets construction workers use 3D-holograms instead of 2D-blueprints to guide the construction process, speeding schedules and reducing errors.
That’s just a small sampling of the innovative young minds on this year’s list. For the complete list of the Manufacturing & Industry 30 Under 30 Europe, check out the full list here.
The Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe Industry list was created using nominations from a variety of sources. The judges for this category were Michael Sorkin, Cofounder of iGo3D; François Chopard, CEO of Starburst Aerospace; and Lidiya Dervisheva, Partner at Next47. Thanks to all of them and to everyone who nominated candidates.


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In the 1998 movie You’ve Got Mail, Tom Hanks plays the owner of a big-box bookstore, threatening to put Meg Ryan’s indie book seller out of business. At the time, book behemoths like Borders and Barnes & Noble were seen as the enemy of the littles—and perhaps of reading more broadly. But a lot has changed. Borders went under a decade ago, whereas Barnes & Noble instead has emerged as essential for readers and an unlikely ally to independent bookstores today. Its role is unique, in that its demands require publishers to continue investing in physical products for physical stores. It also gives readers easy and wide access to new titles. These two benefits are critical in the face of disruption by online retail (read: Amazon!). Accordingly, even if it may seem surprising, Barnes & Noble is thriving in the face of the pandemic years and the constant threat from Amazon. Book sales shot up by an unprecedented amount during the pandemic, which meant good numbers for Barnes & Noble. Furthermore, after James Daunt became the company’s chief executive in 2018, he empowered store managers to make more independent decisions tailored to local conditions, like how many copies of a certain book to order and which books to promote. Despite these positive assessments though, industry analysts remain cautious. As the pandemic ebbs, tougher days may lie ahead for books sellers, in part because people who are no longer forced to remain sheltering home might read less, but also due to the same challenges that are pressing every industry today, like rising costs and supply chain disarray. Even if overall book sales are unlikely to grow though, customer traffic may increase in brick-and-mortar bookstores. So even in this strange economic time—with one more nod to You’ve Got Mail—all the bookstores are not becoming Baby Gaps just yet.
Source: Elizabeth A. Harris, “How Barnes & Noble Went from Villain to Hero,” The New York Times, April 15, 2022; Yuki Noguchi, “Why Borders Failed While Barnes & Noble Survived,” NPR, July 19, 2011; Lisa Fickenscher, “The Pandemic Has Sparked a Book Craze—And Barnes & Noble Is Cashing In,” New York Post, September 19, 2021; Jim Milliot, “Print Sales Likely to Fall in 2022,” Publishers Weekly, January 28, 2022


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The latest rumour regarding OnePlus’ upcoming smartphone, the OnePlus 6, is that the China-based company might unveil the device as early as March 2018.
In addition, the phone may support an under-display fingerprint sensor, an upcoming technology which allows smartphone manufacturers to hide the fingerprint sensor beneath the display for the purpose of more screen real estate.
Reports from GizmoChina state that the China-based company is aiming to unveil the OnePlus 6 in mid-March and release the device at the end of the month. The phone is expected to feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 chipset, unveiled earlier this month, though the OnePlus 5 will not be the first device with the processor.
Currently, the OnePlus 5T’s fingerprint sensor is placed on the rear of the device, but rumours suggest the in-display fingerprint sensor will return to the front with the OnePlus 6.
Though it won’t be OnePlus’ device, it’s expected that Synaptics will show off its under-display fingerprint sensor functioning on a smartphone produced by one of the top five smartphone manufacturers.


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Recruitment 2019: Looking for new job, appraisal in New Year? Here's what you may get
Recruitment 2019: As technology continues to replace many traditional jobs, 2018 has been a transition year for the employment space.
Recruitment 2019: As technology continues to replace many traditional jobs, 2018 has been a transition year for the employment space. Hiring for several entry-level jobs were hit in this year, while the average salary hikes remained static in a range of 8-10 per cent. Here's what you can expect in 2019
Recruitment 2019: 10 lakh jobs expected!
Recruitment 2019: Cautious approach
Recruitment 2019: Employers will expectedly keep a cautious approach at least in the first half of 2019 due to evolving political uncertainties relating to national elections, even as employment generation will be a key poll plank for all political parties.The industries that are directly correlated to government schemes for infrastructure, roads, highways and airports may proceed cautiously till at least May 2019, by when the new government is expected to be in place. Other sectors, whose products and services are dependent on local consumption and exports, are expected to go ahead with expansion and recruitment plans. Image source: Pixabay
Biggest job-makers in 2018
According to HR service provider Randstad India chief Paul Dupuis, IT industry turned the corner this year in terms of hiring after two years of tepid job creation, helped by improved availability of skilled talent in new-age technology areas and big ticket investments in the e-commerce sector. Other sectors that showed improvement this year include infrastructure, manufacturing, retail and FMCG, while the job scene for banking, financial services and telecom appeared difficult. Image source: Pixabay
Recruitment 2019: Maximum job growth in these sectors
Banking, financial services, retail, logistics, IT/ITES, e-commerce, start-ups, consumer goods, infrastructure and healthcare will see the maximum growth in 2019, said Rituparna Chakraborty, President of Indian Staffing Federation. Retail would capitalise on increased consumer spending in non-metro and smaller cities, which in turn would drive employment growth. Image source: Pixabay
Recruitment 2019: Expected appraisals/salary hike in 2019
Sameer Nagpal, Director of Employability Solutions at Aon CoCubes, said salary hikes in India are stabilising around the 9-10 per cent, which is the highest in the Asia Pacific region. As per Aon's latest survey, despite improvement in macroeconomic forecasts, the salary increments for 2018 stood at 9.5 per cent, while, the projections for 2019 are at around 9.6 per cent.
Sunil Goel, MD of leading executive search organisation GlobalHunt, "For people who are already employed, average salary hike can range anything between 10-12 per cent, wherein top performers may get 15-20 per cent and average performers can expect 5-8 per cent. But, for many specific skills, people may end up getting hike of 30-50 per cent," said. Image source: Pixabay


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As streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video have swiftly transformed the entertainment business, NYU Law graduates are at the forefront of a changing Hollywood.
BY RACHEL BURNS
ILLUSTRATIONS BY RYAN GARCIA
During her 1L year at NYU Law, Lisa Marie Boykin ’95 attended a Spike Lee book signing. “I had always loved entertainment, loved television, loved movies. Never really knew exactly what entertainment lawyers did,” Boykin says. “I don’t know why I asked Spike Lee this, but I said, ‘You know, I’m interested in entertainment law, do you have any suggestions?’ And he immediately said, ‘Call my lawyer,’ and he gave me her phone number on the spot.”
Spike Lee’s lawyer, Lisa Davis ’85, a partner in the entertainment group at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, gave Boykin some classic and well-tested advice: Do well at the Law School, spend some time at a law firm, and then go in-house at a studio. That’s the path that Boykin took, first working as an associate at the law firm now known as Milbank, then moving to PBS as a senior business affairs attorney, and taking positions at Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Disney, and the production company Annapurna Pictures.
Last year Boykin joined Netflix as senior counsel of business and legal affairs for original series, in part because of the company’s reputation as “market disrupters,” Boykin says. Netflix is radically remaking the industry in which she built her career, and that’s fine with her.
“Twenty years ago, there was a Blockbuster on every corner,” Boykin recalls. “If you wanted to watch a movie, you went and got the video. When Netflix came along, you pay a flat fee, you watch as many movies as you want to.... That was so revolutionary.” In just a couple of decades, she says, her employer has become “a main powerhouse in the industry, rivaling studios that have been around for 100 years, shaking up Hollywood, shaking up the way that we enjoy content, the way that the Academy honors movies.”
Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video have revolutionized viewing habits in the United States and across the globe. Viewers can stream just about everything they can find on network and cable television. While Amazon rarely releases viewership data, in 2017 Reuters reported that Amazon Prime Video had 26 million US video viewers. In 2018, Hulu boasted that its viewers streamed more than 26 million hours per day on its platforms, and as of May 2019, the company had 28 million US subscribers. Netflix, as of April 2019, had 60 million US subscribers and nearly 150 million subscribers worldwide.
Robyn Aronson ’00, who had worked in a variety of jobs in Hollywood before she entered NYU Law, followed a career trajectory similar to Boykin’s after graduation: Clifford Chance, Davis Wright Tremaine, Viacom, and NBCUniversal. Then she jumped to Netflix, and now Hulu, where she is an attorney in Hulu Originals’ business and legal affairs department.
Aronson loved the start-up energy that she found at both streaming companies. At Netflix, Aronson says, she discovered “a convergence of a Silicon Valley mentality and the Hollywood mentality.” Likewise, she says, Hulu “is very much in a growth mode, figuring out what its place is in the media ecosystem.
“That sort of exploration is something that a lot of people find appealing about going to a streaming service, especially in the early days,” Aronson says.
Not surprisingly, legacy media companies are now hoping to cash in on the streaming market, too. In November, Disney will introduce its own streaming service, Disney+, which will offer the company’s animated and live-action classics as well as original series. Warner Brothers is creating its own streaming service as well—and tech companies are also getting in on the action, with Apple set to launch a streaming service this fall.
NYU Law graduates have long been a strong presence at most of Hollywood’s biggest law firms, agencies, and studios, while streaming as a business only dates back a little more than a decade. Netflix introduced its streaming platform in 2007. Hulu and Amazon Video on Demand followed in 2008. As streaming companies have become an increasingly important force in Hollywood, attracting entertainment law–minded alumnae like Boykin and Aronson, graduates of NYU Law also are making deals with those companies on behalf of actors, writers, and directors, and, in some cases, even producing the films and television series being streamed.
Kevin Morris ’88, managing partner of entertainment law firm Morris Yorn, got a head start. A deal he crafted a decade before the advent of streaming proved to be enormously beneficial to his clients as new technologies developed. Representing Matt Stone and Trey Parker, co-creators of South Park, Morris struck a deal with Comedy Central in 1997 that gave Parker and Stone 50 percent of all non-TV revenue from the show—including digital marketing profits. Initially, this meant revenue from South Park paraphernalia sales. But streaming put a new spin on digital marketing. In 2007, when Comedy Central launched a site to host South Park clips, episodes, and games, Morris negotiated a deal for Stone and Parker that included a guaranteed fee of $75 million from Comedy Central, in addition to 50 percent of online revenue from the show.
“And we just put the whole library of South Park online, which no one had ever done before,” Morris explains. The deal continued to pay off: in 2009 Netflix bought the rights to host South Park’s back catalog on its streaming service, and then in 2014, Hulu out-bid Netflix for exclusive streaming rights within the United States—although, Morris notes, Netflix still retains international streaming rights.
By 2010 the streaming deals were getting more complex. That year, Marci Wiseman ’89, then senior vice president of business affairs at AMC Networks, made the studio’s first major deal with Netflix—the first exclusive output deal between Netflix and a content studio. “Netflix had a very small number of employees back then, and we did a very big, historic deal with them,” she says, noting that the agreement included the network’s most popular show, The Walking Dead, as well as content from all five platforms at AMC Networks: AMC, IFC, WE tv, BBC America, and Sundance TV. “Then we made a subsequent deal for the AMC content four years later with Hulu.”
Now, as co-president of Blumhouse Television, Wiseman oversees the studio’s television series, of which there are 11 currently in production. Half of those series, Wiseman says, are for streaming services, including Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, and the forthcoming Warner Media platform.
As the streaming business has matured, more nontraditional content producers have found an outlet in the industry, too. In 2018 Matthew Johnson ’93, a partner at entertainment law firm Ziffren Brittenham, appeared on the Hollywood Reporter’s list of top dealmakers due to a streaming deal that made waves in both Los Angeles and Washington, DC: Barack and Michelle Obama’s multiyear production deal with Netflix.
“After the Obamas left the White House, it was very important they continue to have a platform to impact the conversation in a positive way. And there’s no better way to reach millions of people than through compelling stories,” Johnson says. “Netflix offered a platform that was unique in terms of the areas they covered.” Projects in the works include a documentary on the origin of the disability rights movement; a film adaption of the Pulitzer Prize–winning book Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, and a scripted series based on the New York Times “Overlooked” obituaries of individuals whose deaths were not originally reported in the newspaper.
As streaming has found a global audience, Netflix has been particularly focused on creating international content. “Netflix customizes content throughout the world, to cater to local interests and tastes, and to bring content to people that resonates,” says Boykin. As a result, more and more Netflix productions have been filming internationally—creating more opportunities for lawyers to work on cross-border productions.
“We have a series in India for Netflix India, which we make in the local language, that is based on Indian mythology,” says Blumhouse Television’s Wiseman. “Netflix makes a lot of local language content that they then release globally, and we work with local production companies and local creators. We develop the projects in English, and then we bring on Hindi writers, and they convert the projects. Then we shoot them all in India. We had a series last year that premiered called Ghoul. It was very successful, both in India and around the world.”
Prior to her role at Hulu, Aronson was the in-house lawyer working on Netflix’s documentary White Helmets, a short feature about volunteers in Syria who risked their lives to try to find survivors at bombing sites. It was Netflix’s first Oscar-winning film. Aronson says that she felt it was “genuinely important work. It was shining a light on folks and an aspect of the story that I think were otherwise forgotten. And then just from a purely legal point of view, trying to work out how to safely and legally [film] in Syria was an interesting challenge.”
Dean Garfield ’94—Matthew Johnson’s roommate at NYU Law—recently joined Netflix as head of global public policy. Having previously served as president and CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), vice president of legal affairs at the Recording Industry Association of America, and vice president of legal affairs of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Garfield sees his job at Netflix as a culmination of the many hats he has worn over the course of his career. He is working at the intersection of culture and business, while also dealing with some of the same issues faced by the tech companies who comprise the ITI: questions of information security, privacy, and intellectual property and copyright, which change from country to country.
“A lot of what I’m thinking about is, how do we make sure that for any law that’s passed or being implemented, there’s an understanding of what Netflix delivers in that country?” Garfield says. He offers an example: when countries within the EU are adopting EU regulations on issues such as copyright, “there’s still a lot of latitude for the policy makers to have discretion in how those laws get applied,” he says. “We want to make sure they understand the steps we’re taking to otherwise ensure that the purpose of the law is met.”
Pirates in the Stream
Intellectual property protections have become even more important as a host of illegal video-streaming websites have emerged. Entertainment companies and their lawyers have had to change anti-piracy tactics.
“As technologies evolve for the entertainment space, one of the key components is enforcement—making sure that we have a safe ecosystem in which people are playing by the rules,” says Monica Pa Moye ’02, principal counsel of the Walt Disney Company. Moye works on enforcement efforts targeting large-scale, for-profit theft of creative content by pirate websites and services.
Moye often collaborates with the MPAA and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a coalition of companies that includes Amazon, HBO, Hulu, NBCUniversal, and Netflix in addition to Disney, to crack down on online piracy. Often in concert with the MPAA, ACE, or in a coalition of copyright holders, Moye has worked on successful copyright litigation against entities such as TickBox, VidAngel, and Megaupload. “In coordination with the MPAA, I manage copyright litigations in the United States and abroad, including cases in the highest courts in other countries, and the Court of Justice of the European Union,” Moye says.
In American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc., a coalition of broadcast companies sued a business that retransmitted streams of broadcast television programs. In her role at Disney, Moye managed the litigation, which was decided by the US Supreme Court in 2014. Ruling against Aereo, the court affirmed that the live retransmission of over-the-air television content over the internet constituted an unauthorized public performance under the Copyright Act. (Professor of Clinical Law Jason Schultz and the Technology Law and Policy Clinic filed an amicus brief in the case in support of Aereo.)
More recently, on June 17, 2019, Moye managed litigation on behalf of Disney against an illegal movie streaming service, called VidAngel, which resulted in a $62.4 million jury verdict. The jury found that, in decrypting Blu-ray and DVD discs, VidAngel acted willfully in engaging in copyright infringement and circumvention of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Moye suggests that the proliferation of content available on legal platforms reduces piracy. “The goal of my work is to promote a dynamic, safe, and legal marketplace for creative content. As you make content more available online, that addresses the need for piracy,” she says. “But strong enforcement measures are required to protect consumers against the risks associated with using illegal piracy devices or illegal streaming applications and services.”
The Land of Opportunity
All that content needs to come from somewhere. Streaming has changed where the opportunities are, says Johnson. “You have the traditional networks and studios, you have all the cable companies, and now you have all the streaming companies. There’s a great opportunity for creators.”
That’s good news not just for artists making their way in the industry, but for the agencies and lawyers who advise them. “Our job is to represent people who create content,” says Rick Levy ’92, founding partner, managing member, and general counsel at ICM Partners, one of the industry’s largest talent agencies. “Whether they’re creating content for things that are showing up in the movie theater, on broadcast network TV, or cable, pay cable, or over streaming is less relevant in the sense that we still represent the best-in-class artists and creators.”
“Streamers have—at least theoretically—infinite slots to put programming on,” Wiseman says. She adds: “There’s certainly more production of original content than ever before. That trend has been in operation probably for the better part of the last seven years or so.” In 2018, according to a report by FX Networks, there were nearly 500 scripted television series—32 percent of which were produced by online platforms.
Streaming has also created opportunities for Law School alumni working in entertainment in areas including sports, music, and technology. For example, Jim DeLorenzo ’99 is the head of sports for Amazon Video Channels; Donald Zakarin ’75, a partner at Pryor Cashman, has represented music publishers in negotiating higher rates from Spotify and Apple Music; and Alex Simon ’01 is the vice president for business and legal affairs at the streaming technology company Roku.
But there are some caveats. “The audience is fragmented, and will continue to be fragmented,” Wiseman says of the film and television landscape, leading to different economic incentives for content makers.
Levy notes that while network television series traditionally have 22 to 24 episodes per season, many streaming services are producing shows with as few as 10 episodes per season. And streaming services have less incentive to keep renewing the series they produce, he adds.
“Even a very successful show, these streaming services don’t keep on for as many seasons as the others, because all they’re interested in is launching new subscribers, or keeping their subscriber base, as opposed to continuing on with ratings and getting people to tune into a particular time slot. As a result, you’re not seeing the really successful shows go eight years, 10 years, 12 years,” says Levy. “That’s shifted the business model for the talent, and it’s shifted the business model for the agents that represent them.”
Kevin Morris of Morris Yorn cautions that it would be a mistake to rule out the significance of broadcast networks and basic cable in the economy of contemporary Hollywood. “Basic cable still has 90 million subscribers in the US paying $110 per month, and 550 million subscribers worldwide,” Morris says. “So my contrarian thought is that...no matter how successful streaming has been, to say cable is over or anything like that is still a massive [misunderstanding].
“People are also just watching TV more,” he adds. “The average viewing time with the advent of streaming has just increased.”
For the moment, that means that there is a need for lawyers to represent the interests of traditional media enterprises as well as new streaming players—which means there are plenty of openings for lawyers interested in entering the entertainment industry.
“Just in the last six months, we announced the promotion of six or seven young business and legal affairs executives at [ICM],” says Levy. In the past, he adds, “maybe one or two jobs got created each year—at the most—in business and legal affairs. But we’re recognizing that there are a lot more opportunities, and a need for young business affairs executives and lawyers.”
For NYU Law graduates eager to dive into the world of streaming content, that’s an invitation.
Posted September 4, 2019


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The average British worker spends as many as 120 hours per year using their smartphones in the workplace, according to research.
Research carried out by gadgets and technology etailer, LaptopsDirect.co.uk, has revealed more than three quarters 84% admit to using their smartphones during working hours.
78% regularly respond to text messages during working hours, and 59% regularly take personal phone calls whilst working.
52% admit to answering instant messages via platforms such as Whatsapp and Facebook, whilst 9% have sent a Snapchat from their workplace.
44% of respondents said their workplace permitted reasonable use of smartphones.
More than a third (38%) regularly check their social media accounts while in the workplace.
Those working in marketing were the worst culprits, with 98% admitting to peeking at smartphones, followed by those working in information and communications (96%).
Mark Kelly, marketing manager at LaptopsDirect.co.uk, said: “It’s no surprise that we are addicted to our smartphones however overuse during working hours can add up, leaving a serious shortfall in productivity. Although companies monitor and prohibit the use of social media during the working day, the research shows that there is still a large amount of people continuing to use their device.
“Use of smartphones and social media in the workplace can lead to hundreds of thousands of hours in lost productivity per year, which could cost UK companies millions of pounds.”
14% have been told off for using smartphones at work, while just 4% have been disciplined for use of their own tech during work time.
Laptops Direct is the UK’s largest online laptop specialist, selling a wide range
of new and refurbished laptops from leading brands, as well as a wide range of other lifestyle gadgets.
For more information, visit http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk
The Top 10 Business Sectors Who Use Smartphones
1. Marketing – 98%
2. Information and communications – 96%
3. Creative and photographic – 92%
4. Professional service (law, accountancy) – 86%
5. Trades (construction, plumbing) – 78%
6. Manufacturing – 74%
7. Retail – 64%
8. Transportation – 48%
9. Education – 44%
10. Healthcare – 23%
"Use of smartphones and social media in the workplace can lead to hundreds of thousands of hours in lost productivity per year"
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Tension prevailed at a hotel in Guwahati city after a customer found dead lizard his rice thali that he ordered on Monday night.
The incident took place at Maa Kali Hotel in Paltan Bazar area where the customer, who came from Silchar, visited the hotel to have dinner.
Several customers were having their meal at the hotel when the customer found a lizard in his rice thali resulting in a brawl between him and the staff members.
Meanwhile, the customer lodged a complaint at Paltan Bazar Police Station against the hotel for violating hygiene standards and compromising public health.
Speaking to Pratidin Time, the customer said, “I went to Maa Kali Hotel to have dinner. I purchased a rice thali that included rice, daal and sabji and extra fish curry. Moments after I started to eat, I found the dead lizard among the cooked rice. I clicked the image of the lizard and called the hotel owner who denied the allegation saying it might be the sabji and not lizard. I asked him to take a closer look. Later, the owner, manager and staff members slowly tried to flee the spot and close the shop but I prevented them from doing so as we wanted to take action against the hotel.”
“We then informed the Paltan Bazar Police about the matter who arrived at the scene thereafter,” he added.
Another customer said, “I ordered a chicken curry from which we got a foul smell. The chicken curry made me and a few other customers who ordered the same to vomit.”
This has raised concerns among the citizens questioning the hygiene standards maintained by these hotels where several people who travel prefer to eat.


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In case you hadn’t heard, or hadn’t assumed, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game sucks and its sales suck too. Much like any good game developer who has a flop game that was supposed to be a major seller, Ubisoft has begun to march in the excuses. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot laid them out in a recent company conference call. It turns out that it’s the movie’s fault (came out at the wrong time), the holiday’s fault (missed the holiday sales window) and release schedule’s fault (couldn’t hold on to post-holiday sales), but it is not because the game sucked.
“We knew we were taking [some risk],” Guillemot said. “The fact that the movie was coming in December was a potential problem, and it did result in a problem.” Ubi thought the game might continue to sell well in the new year but it followed the traditional post-holiday declining sales curve.
“It will be difficult in the future to buy rights to a movie that comes in December, because it’s too risky, and it cannot [capture] Christmas season [sales],” he added. “It doesn’t work as well for a video game company.”
Guillernot went on to say that the short development cycle on tie-in games was also to blame for the overall quality of the game and that Ubisoft would be doing far less movie tie-ins and focusing more on putting out high-quality offerings of its established franchises.
What is so great about all of this is that it completely and totally contradicts every word that came out of Ubisoft’s mouth at E3 last year. Avatar was a centerpiece of their press conference, with James Cameron rambling on about it for more than 30 minutes and the devs discussing how they had had unparalleled access to the film and plenty of time to work on the game. They even discussed how major movie tie-in games were a big part of Ubisoft’s future plans in becoming a multimedia giant. Ubi claims that the poor sales of Avatar were not that bad, but if that is the case why does it sound like the company has completely changed their business plans based around the sales of this game?


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Seven’s boss has said the network will further dominate TV in 2016 as it harnesses live TV on any device, brings every event from the 2016 Rio Olympics and even a new drama about the life of Ian “Molly” Meldrum, partnerships with social media platforms and “embraces” disruption.
Network Seven has announced it will live stream all its channels across mobile devices from Melbourne Cup Day, incorporating a further push into the programmatic market.
At the network’s presentation this morning, the New Fronts, CEO Tim Worner acknowledged the fact customers have been moving away from just watching linear TV.
However, he added: “Wherever our viewers go, we will be waiting for them . . . we’re embracing disruption as an enabler.”
Worner, along with chief revenue officer Kurt Burnette, announced the Seven app Plus7 will live stream the network’s channels across all mobile devices.
“When Seven and Yahoo7 launch live-streaming, it will be the most powerful pre-roll in the country,” said Burnette.
“The reason we did that again,” he continued, “consumers told us that they want connection to premium content, anywhere, anytime.
“Marketers, they wanted those consumers engaged, they wanted them targeted and measured.
“And when Seven Live Streaming joins our content delivery ecosystem of broadcast, social and catch-up, we’re going to have it all.”
The live-streaming service will include the ads associated with the shows and a dominant pre-roll ad. Thanks to its programmatic capabilities, which pre-roll will depend on the individual watching.
Burnette was also rather excited to announce a new measurement system with audience measurement company OzTam, launching early November. It’s called Video Player Measurement.
“Meaning we’ll be able to do just that,” said Burnette. “Combine the numbers of TV viewing across TV, mobile, tablet and desktop to give a true, multiscreen view of what is happening across every single device.
“TV, the most powerful marketing weapon in the country, just moved out of home and went mobile.”
And in an effort to push more into the programmatic market, Adam Elliot, network director of sales, told the room full of media people they are launching 7Screens, a trading arrangement that means advertisers will be able to trade on customers, not just demographic.
Showcasing to the audience the various devices the network can live-stream from, and the various different customers that may be watching, Elliot demonstrated how each customer would see a different ad dependent on their interests and likelihood to purchase the product being advertised.
Other notable developments at the New Fronts this morning was the launch of a heap of new shows, both drama and reality, as well as the coverage on the Rio Olympic and Paralympics games.
Unsurprisingly, one of the massive reality shows for Seven, My Kitchen Rules, is set to make another appearance, with the trailer this morning teasing a new female judge.
A documentary style drama show will put Molly Meldrum in the spotlight, alongside a new drama starring Jessica Mauboy, called The Secret Daughter.


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Posted on February 19 2015 by Nathanial Rumphol-Janc
Update: According to Satoru Iwata during and investors Q and A meeting, shipments of the New Nintendo 3DS XL and amiibo are indeed being affected by the strike happening on the West Coast, although software is not affected since it is light enough that it is flown in.
For those unaware, currently the west coast of the United States is enduring a major labor strike at its ports. What this means is that trade good supplies slow to a crawl, as a labor strike causes shipments to sit idle, waiting for something to happen. This has been going on for months, where the ports were operating at 30% capacity – meaning roughly 70% of the staff were on strike. This past weekend, 100% of the staff went on strike, as the folks who own and run the harbor ports and shipping refused to pay holiday wages for working through Presidents’ Day. It’s unclear if the strike is still at 100% capacity, but the strike itself is ongoing with no end foreseeable in sight.
We naturally do not know what harbors and/or ports Nintendo’s shipments come from, but most products made in Asia (China specifically, but most Asian countries) come through the West Coast ports, as it is the shortest shipping route to the United states. Once it gets here, it is generally hauled to a warehouse and split up into air and ground shipments across the country. The problem here is that no one is unloading these shipments and bringing them to the warehouses. The ports are jam packed, and some shipping boats are just sitting in the ocean, waiting.
Assuming Nintendo’s shipments come through the West Coast, this potentially explains the supply issues we’ve been seeing for the past few months. Were you upset at Nintendo for making the Majora’s Mask New Nintendo 3DS XL hard to get? It might not have actually been their fault at all. They might have thousands of them just sitting on a ship in the ocean. Hate how long it takes for amiibo to get resupplied? Again, they might just be sitting around, waiting for the strike to end. On one hand, as a fellow consumer, you just want these employees to get back to work. On the other hand, we should also want to make sure they are being treated fairly.
I don’t know enough behind the reasons for the strike to really give any useful insight, and it should be noted that the connection of the supply issues to the west coast strike is just educated guessing, initially suggested by Kotaku. We have no real evidence, because we don’t work at Nintendo and know where their shipments go – but it makes logical sense that they use the same route the rest of the world does that makes products in Asia. Still, it’s an interesting note. Just don’t be shocked if those consoles or even Limited Edition Majora’s Mask 3D units start popping up at stores this summer.


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A Rising Tide of Craft Beer
With all the frothy excitement swirling around the country’s brewing landscape these days, it can be easy to forget that not very long ago, good beer didn’t have it so good.
Just 30-some-odd years back American beer teetered on the edge of becoming simply a fizzy yellow commodity, treated like so much industrial cotton or corn. And even now, with the beer renaissance in full bloom, there’s still plenty of work to be done.
Just ask beer lovers in the nation’s capital. Since the Old Dominion Brewing Company was sold and moved to Delaware in 2009, the Washington, D.C., area has been lacking even a single production brewery. Georgia beer drinkers can empathize with the hard times, having fought to lift a 6 percent A.B.V. cap in 2004. But in D.C. and down South, a new day is dawning, as The Beer Connoisseur witnessed first-hand late last year when it celebrated its first anniversary at parties near Washington and in Atlanta. The events gave the magazine an opportunity to highlight gains that good beer has made in the cities as of late by introducing some craft brewing newcomers.
The first of the two celebrations (shown above) was held at the popular new Mad Fox Brewing Company in Falls Church, Va., an airy space whose entrance is crowned by a cluster of gleaming stainless steel 30-barrel fermenters. Opened last summer by Bill Madden, an icon of the local brewing scene, and Rick Garvin, an expert homebrewer and one of the magazine’s master beer judges, the brewpub has fast gained a loyal following thanks to its range of world-class beers and locally sourced gourmet cuisine.
Madden is a product of the University of California, Davis’s renowned brewing school, having graduated in 1995. With the ink on his Master Brewer diploma still wet, he headed across the country to work for Washington’s Capitol City Brewing Company, which he helped grow from a single brewpub to the five now spread around the area. More recently, he put his expertise to work opening brewpubs for the Founders Restaurant and Brewing Company and Vintage 50 Restaurant and Brew Lounge chains. With Mad Fox, Madden finally has a brewhouse to call his own. “I’m still walking in a dream,” he says. “This is really fantastic.”
There’s plenty of that heady excitement to go around in Washington these days. “We’re just happy that we were one of the first on this next wave that’s coming through the D.C. metropolitan area,” Madden says, referring to the more than half dozen new breweries already up and running or steadily working toward mashing in.
The newcomers include D.C. Brau, Chocolate City Brewing Company, 3 Stars Brewing and Baying Hound Aleworks, who were all on hand that day to take part in The Beer Connoisseur’s anniversary party. Others working to bring local beer back to Washington include Washingtonian’s Brewing Company, Port City Brewing Company, Black Squirrel Brewing and the long-planned Lost Rhino Brewing, whose owners/brewers, Matt Hagerman and Favio Garcia, met while working at Old Dominion and later, after the brewery was sold, managed to purchase its custom brewhouse. “Now we’re getting closer to actually putting it together,” Garcia said late last year.
Lost Rhino will be in an Ashburn, Va., warehouse just about a mile and a half from Old Dominion’s former home. It is shooting to begin selling beer this spring and hopes to have a restaurant in place around the end of the year. By now, though, Garcia knows that timelines can be as unstable as a vial of yeast.
“Last year about this time we were supposed to have beer in the spring, so who knows?” he says.
D.C. Brau, founded by Washington-area natives Brandon Skall and Jeff Hancock, is also pushing to start filling its tanks soon, hoping to begin selling by late March or early April. Its space, a warehouse in northeast D.C. that was once used to store newspapers awaiting delivery, is ready and waiting for a 15-barrel brewhouse to arrive from China. Skall, who formerly worked in wine distribution, and Hancock, a brewer who honed his skills locally and in Michigan, spent months rehabbing the old warehouse themselves. They plan to start with a crisp American-style pale ale called the Public, which will be sold in cans, as well as a Belgian-style pale, the Citizen, and an IPA, the Corruption.
Not far from D.C. Brau in an old stonecutting mill is the home of Chocolate City Brewing, named for the Washington-centric Parliament album. Founders Ben Matz and Jay Irizarry started brewing together in 2007, and now their “pipe dream,” as Matz – who worked with Hancock of D.C. Brau at Flying Dog in Frederick, Md. – calls the ambitious plan, is well on its way to fruition. They’ll start, hopefully by no later than May, says Matz, with a big yet balanced IPA and then move on to a pre-Prohibition pilsner and an ESB.
Surprisingly, Matz and Irizarry found out about the other area breweries-to-be only somewhat recently. “Strangely enough,” he says, “the brewery fairy came down one day and said, ‘You should open a brewery, and you should open a brewery, and you should open a brewery.’
“I’m glad we’re not the only ones,” he adds. “The brewing world is very collaborative.”
Plans for 3 Stars Brewing, also nearby in the District, are a bit further behind some of its burgeoning brethren, but Mike McGarvey is confident that there’s plenty of room for him and his brewing partner, Dave Coleman, to grab a share of the growing market. “I’ve seen the interest in craft here exploding in the last couple of years,” says McGarvey. They’re shooting for a late summer launch, and in the meantime are perfecting recipes in a “homebrew lab” at his house.
The only new local brewery actually selling beer when the Mad Fox party took place was Baying Hound Aleworks, a nano-brewery started by Paul Rinehart in a 1,350-square-foot, Rockville, Md., warehouse. “It’s homebrewing on a larger scale,” says Rinehart of the tiny operation, which kicked off last fall and now includes help from a co-brewer, Lindsay Miller. Baying hound bottles all their beers – just a pale ale and a porter for now – by hand using a bottling system intended for wine, but the painstakingly small-scale setup does have its advantages, Rinehart says. By avoiding a large initial brewhouse investment, the brewery has able to “travel down the proof of concept idea.
“If two barrels works well I can easily expand to four because the equipment is not expensive.”
Cabot Boyd of Washingtonian’s Brewing Company has also gone the D.I.Y. route. His Fort Washington, Md., nano-brewery takes up a Quonset hut and turns out just one ale, a Belgian-style tripel. Monumental Tripel, as its called, ages for four months before it hits shelves, which Boyd says results in a handcrafted, “homebrew at the grocery store” character. He expects his first bottles to go on sale before long.
Add all this up and you have a beer scene in bloom like never before. What exactly led to such rapid growth?
“D.C. is a very expensive place to do business,” says Garvin of Mad Fox. When the economic downturn arrived, he says, it dropped real estate prices by roughly 25 percent in the area, presenting a completely new opportunity to upstart brewers. Now, beer lovers all around the capital are poised to savor the rewards of that silver lining for years to come.
A FEW NIGHTS AFTER the Mad Fox party, more than 200 beer lovers crammed into the new Deckard’s American Tavern in Midtown Atlanta to keep the anniversary celebration rolling. Samples of brews from The Beer Connoisseur’s first-annual Beers of the Year list – including Avery Out of Bounds stout, Hanssens Oude Kriek and Lagunitas Hop Stoopid – were poured as the crowd noshed dishes from the restaurant’s New England-inspired menu.
Georgia’s beer scene has come a long way since the days when the hard ABV cap stifled imperial stouts and left Belgians stuck at the state line, but with the population of the Atlanta metro area swelling to about 5.5 million, it’s clear that the supply of local beer from SweetWater, Terrapin and Atlanta Brewing Company is hardly meeting demand. Recently, a few new brewers have answered the craft call, and a couple of those were featured that night at the anniversary party.
Jailhouse Brewing takes its name from the 1920s brick hooskow in Hampton, Ga., about 30 miles south of Atlanta, that houses it. Started by longtime homebrewer Glenn Golden, the brewery sold its first kegs in late 2009 and currently turns out a wheat, an IPA and a roasty, coffee-ish stout on a 15-barrel system. Getting Jailhouse up and running presented challenges that clearly illustrate why it is now only the fourth production brewery in the state.
“The licensing process is nightmarish,” Golden says. “We literally waited eight months for our license,” during which time, Golden says, he was forced to take a leap of faith and move ahead with setting up the brewery. But along with those challenges comes a great deal of potential.
“There’s a lot of opportunity here,” he says. “It’s allowed us to get our name out there without having to compete aggressively with 10 other breweries of our size, or what have you.”
Another option is contract brewing, which was how Terrapin Beer Co. went about laying a foundation for its wild popularity years before building its own brewery in Athens, Ga. Wild Heaven Craft Beers is also heading down that road, making a name for itself with bold ales like a Belgian golden called Invocation and an imperial brown dubbed Ode to Mercy that are currently brewed at Greenville, South Carolina’s Thomas Creek Brewery. Wild Heaven’s founder, Nick Purdy, who also started the music magazine Paste, attributes the company’s early success to its ambitious brews, whose recipes were developed by Eric Johnson, the owner of Athens’s popular Trappeze Pub.
“Wild Heaven does not exist to put out Wild Heaven Pale,” says Purdy. “The world does not need us to do that.”
Recently Purdy signed a lease on a warehouse in the Atlanta area that should be turning out Wild Heaven beers by the middle of next year.
O’Dempsey’s, another new brewer going the contract route, went in a different direction at its outset, producing an easy drinking Irish red ale, and has since added an American-style IPA. Its founder, Randy Dempsey, says he eventually plans to add a big Russian imperial stout. The beers are brewed at Atlanta Brewing Company, Georgia’s oldest brewery, and Dempsey has jumped in to help Atlanta Brewing and others officially form the nonprofit Georgia Craft Brewers Guild to advocate on behalf of the state’s brewers. It’s a long overdue move, he says.
Dempsey calls dealing with some of the state liquor control board’s many restrictions “the frightening side” of the brewing business. “It’s almost paralyzing,” he says. “Like ‘What can I and what can’t I do?”
Bob Sandage, who is opening a brewpub in a historic mansion near downtown Atlanta called the Wrecking Bar, also knows from experience what Georgia brewers are up against. “I usually joke around to some of my friends, saying ‘Georgia’s just come out of Prohibition,’” since 2004, says Sandage, the president of Final Gravity, a large local homebrew club.
Despite the recent mini-boom, “there’s a long way to go here in Georgia,” he adds. But from the looks of things, it’s only a matter of time until Georgia reaches the craft beer Promised Land.
-- By Nick Kaye
(Top two photos by Charles C. Cook.)


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Rising optimism. Lingering fear and pessimism. Growing focus on workers not dollars.
Those are the high-level takeaways from a quick scan of recent small business surveys.
One year ago, most of the United States was well into lockdown. School had moved online. Offices had closed. Many retail stores were shut down. Only “essential” businesses were allowed to operate. As is well known by now, small businesses were hit especially hard by all this. By the end of April 2020, 22% of small businesses that had existed in February 2020 had disappeared. Those business losses were uneven across demographic groups.
This column provides the next in a series of occasional updates on how small businesses are faring—and how they say they’re feeling about their prospects. New data and analysis also provide more detail on the impact of the pandemic on small businesses.
In mid-February 2021, nearly half (45.6%) of small businesses surveyed in the Census Bureau’s Small Business Pulse Survey said they expected resumption of “normal” operations to take longer than six months. By mid-April, that figure had fallen to 36.8%.
This is an enormous improvement, from the largest sample of small businesses, in their economic outlook. The improvement is particularly impressive when you consider that, from August 2020 to early 2021, the pessimistic share had not fallen below 44%.
Increasing optimism is also found in results from a Goldman Sachs survey in mid-April of participants in its 10,000 Small Businesses program. There, 89% of small businesses were confident their business would survive. Similarly, in a report on the latest survey by the National Federation of Independent Business of its members, overall optimism and near-term sales expectations had risen compared to February. The NFIB “optimism index” is at its highest reading since November. The Small Business Index produced by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and MetLife, released in mid-March, also showed improvement from the end of 2020.
Lingering Fear and Pessimism
Nevertheless, many small businesses appear reluctant to completely shake off concerns about the pandemic and its continuing impact. The headline summary of the Goldman Sachs survey, for example, reads “Doors Opening But Not In The Clear.” Likewise, the US Chamber-MetLife headline is, “small businesses’ health improves as economic concerns linger.”
In the Goldman Sachs survey, despite high levels of overall optimism, just 26% of small businesses were confident they could maintain payroll in the absence of additional government relief. Many face imminent exhaustion of funds from their Paycheck Protection Program loans.
The NFIB survey, despite improvement in the outlook for general businesses conditions, still shows a negative reading overall. More small businesses expect a worsening economy than an improving one—the overall outlook is still net negative and has been for four consecutive months.
Workers Not Dollars
It’s also clear from the surveys that workforce concerns might be part of what’s weighing on the confidence of business owners. In early January, 24% of small businesses in the Census survey said identifying and hiring new employees was their top need. By mid-April, that had risen to 32%. In the meantime, the share saying that additional financial assistance was their top need fell from 33.5% to 17.5% over that same period.
Hiring expectations in the U.S. Chamber-MetLife index rose compared to Q4 2020. And the share of small businesses telling the Census Bureau they increased employment rose five percentage points from January to April. (It remains small, rising from 3.4% to 8.5%.)
Finding workers, however, appears to the obstacle. The NFIB survey shows 42% of small business owners with job openings they can’t fill. That’s a record high.
Quantifying the Impact
One last note. While there have been various analyses and estimates of the economic hit that small businesses took during the pandemic, a new Federal Reserve report and QuickBooks survey contain some of the most detailed findings so far.
The new Fed report is an analysis of business owners of color, based on the Small Business Credit Survey that was fielded in Q3 2020. It sheds more light on just how disproportionate the impact of Covid-19 has been. Firms owned by people of color “reported more significant negative effects on business revenue, employment, and operations.” Despite rapid growth in business ownership by people of color before the pandemic, they entered the crisis in a generally disadvantageous position based on sales, employment, and credit access.
The QuickBooks survey was accompanied by analysis of small business bank accounts. This offers a look at ground-level impact. They found, for example, that as of March 2021 annual revenues for bowling alleys have fallen by $250,000 per business compared to pre-pandemic levels. That’s a 33 percent decline on average. For just the businesses in the QuickBooks sample, revenues fell by $4.6 billion in just one month, April 2020.
This sharp contraction has been followed by “sustained recovery” in many sectors: “for many small businesses, the recovery began almost immediately,” the report states. Monthly revenue growth has been particularly rapid since the beginning of this year. Monthly revenues in the seven hardest-hit industries had fully recovered, or close to it, by March 2021: hotels & lodging, museums and attractions, and movies were above pre-pandemic levels by March 2021.
Still, according to the Fed SBCS data (again, gathered several months before the QuickBooks data), business owners of color hold generally more pessimistic outlooks about the economy and their firms. As PPP is exhausted and policymakers look forward, they should take heart in the growing optimism among small businesses—yet remember that many still struggle.