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This year, we celebrate the 100thanniversary of the ratification of the 19thamendment to the Constitution, which granted American women the right to vote. Just this month, the House of Representatives voted to remove the deadline on ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, which would allow for ratification by more states.
Originally proposed in 1972, the amendment requires ratification by 38 states to become part of the Constitution. In January of this year, Virginia became the 38thstate, but five other states have rescinded their ratifications and the bill faces significant hurdles in the Senate and the White House.
Women have battled centuries of bias and stereotypes to make great strides in society and the workplace, but still face significant obstacles as entrepreneurs. According to the 2019 State of Women-Owned Businessesreport from American Express, the number of women-owned businesses increased 21 percent to nearly 13 million from 2014 to 2019, more than double the 9 percent growth rate of all businesses.
Part-time entrepreneurship, or “sidepreneurship,” increased 39 percent. The problem is, many women start businesses out of necessity because they can’t find quality employment. This is also called survival or emergency entrepreneurship. Many women just want more flexibility and start businesses to take control over when and where they work. However, women who start businesses because they identify opportunities in the market are more likely to be successful.
Although women own 42 percent of all businesses, women-owned businesses averaged earnings of $142,900 in 2019, compared to $474,900 for all privately held businesses. Employment numbers are down as these businesses seek to delay hiring as long as possible.
The biggest challenge for women entrepreneurs is typically access to capital. Women often struggle to find investors because they’re not taken as seriously as men. In fact, National Women’s Business Council research has shown men, on average, start businesses with nearly twice as much capital as women ($135,000 to $75,000). This is despite the fact that women are more likely to see a need in the market and start a new business that offers a new and innovative way to solve a problem.
There are several steps women entrepreneurs can take to maximize the success of their business ventures. The first is to take full advantage of the resources available for women business owners. Connect with a Small Business Administration Women’s Business Center and your local SCORE chapter. Look for programs within your local chamber of commerce. Find a coach or advisor who is right for you and your business. Scour the Internet for educational resources. Become educated in financial issues and use software to manage your finances.
These resources will help you develop the systems and processes for operations, marketing, sales and finances that allow you to manage and track your business efficiently. Without the right systems in place, business owners tend to work endless hours without seeing any growth. On the other hand, if you see a rapid increase in sales, you need these systems in place to ensure that you are able serve new customers and support the growth you seek.
Finally, don’t try to do everything yourself. Women are often hesitant to delegate because they want work to be done perfectly, even when they’re stretched too thin. If your business is limited to the number of tasks you can complete yourself, growth will be severely capped.
According to the American Express report, the potential of women entrepreneurs for spurring economic growth hasn’t been fully realized. By overcoming longstanding obstacles, implementing the right tools, and developing the right strategy, women entrepreneurs can launch successful businesses, build wealth and inspire the next generation of women leaders.


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Google's YouTube Shorts is probably in the "best position to be as successful as a competitor" to TikTok, experts say. They add that while short-form video is still in its nascent stages and it seems that TikTok is in the lead, a time will come where the market matures and there will be "ample room for two major players."
YouTube introduced Shorts in March to more countries as a new feature within YouTube. The platform initially launched in India in the fall of 2020, where TikTok is banned. Shorts is featured via a tab on the YouTube mobile app, which can be accessed on some of the best Android devices.
Similar to TikTok, Shorts showcases an endless stream of videos that are less than a minute long. According to Bloomberg, Shorts has been kept inside its main service but plans to release custom features that will make it easier for users to edit and post videos.
Ramona Pringle, a tech expert and associate professor at Toronto's Ryerson University, said in an interview that because YouTube already has figured out video content, the transition to include short-form video will be natural.
"I think out of all the platforms that are out there, (YouTube Shorts) is probably in the best position to be successful as a competitor to TikTok," she said. "YouTube doesn't need to be TikTok because YouTube is YouTube, and it's not like Facebook trying to figure out how to stay fresh."
Like Pringle, Matt Navarra, a social media consultant based in the U.K., said in an interview that Shorts is a logical extension and evolution of YouTube given the rise of TikTok. But unlike TikTok, Shorts has a few features that it can take advantage of.
"It has the benefit that it's starting out from a position of having an extensive library of content, which TikTok didn't have the luxury of initially," he said. "It also has greater scope for people to be able to remix and (do) duets and create stuff from scratch, as well as from existing materials. YouTube's experience in terms of licensing and access to partnerships with the music industry will also help."
Instagram Reels' failure sets Shorts up for success
In August 2020, Facebook's Instagram launched Reels in an effort to keep people off TikTok during a time that TikTok was facing scrutiny in the U.S. Former President Donald Trump's administration was considering a ban on TikTok and "other Chinese social media apps" that were considered to be "untrusted" and a threat to national security.
Like TikTok, Reels lets people create short-form videos, and at the time of its launch, TikTok accused the platform of copying its format and that it was causing hurdles in its path to success.
Instagram's product director Robby Stein told The Verge at the time that TikTok deserves "a ton of credit for popularizing formats in this space," but that "no two products are exactly alike, and ours are not either."
Navarra, however, noted that Reels struggles the most because of its associations with Facebook, "which people have tons of strong feelings about."
"I think Instagram is a quite bloated app. And there's a lot going on in the app in terms of different formats with IGTV, Reels, the feed, Stories, shopping, and everything else that's there. There's quite a lot going on, and it's sometimes hard to kind of get discovered," he said.
Carmi Levy, a technology analyst, said in an interview that while Reels was designed to give Facebook a viable shot at recapturing the attention of "younger, hipper TikTokkers, it has failed to gain any significant amount of traction."
Levy said that the "stage is set" for Shorts to be more aggressive in "digging a stronger foundation for its short-form video strategy than Facebook has managed to date." He also said, "the relative fizzle of Reels leaves more room for Shorts to go head-to-head with TikTok."
Changes are coming to video on Instagram 📺
At Instagram we’re always trying to build new features that help you get the most out of your experience. Right now we’re focused on four key areas: Creators, Video, Shopping and Messaging. pic.twitter.com/ezFp4hfDpfChanges are coming to video on Instagram 📺
At Instagram we’re always trying to build new features that help you get the most out of your experience. Right now we’re focused on four key areas: Creators, Video, Shopping and Messaging. pic.twitter.com/ezFp4hfDpf— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) June 30, 2021June 30, 2021
In June, Instagram's head Adam Mosseri posted a video detailing Instagram's future, which will focus on building up its video strengths and helping creators monetize their video, which is increasingly important to the service's future. "We're... going to be experimenting with how to embrace video more broadly — fullscreen, immersive, entertaining, mobile-first video," he said in the post, acknowledging that TikTok has changed how people consume video on their phones, and Instagram, like YouTube, has no choice but to follow suit.
Shorts shows early positive growth in TikTok banned countries
Navarra said that Shorts is also likely to do exceptionally well in countries where apps like TikTok have been banned, like in India. The country issued the ban in June 2020, along with several other China-based apps. India's Ministry of Electronics and Information said at the time that the apps were "engaged in activities, which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity in India, defence of India, security of state and public order."
But where TikTok is banned and Shorts succeeds, Navarra added that anything can happen, and similar restrictions could adversely affect Shorts as well if it ever happened.
"It's too early to say whether YouTube will overtake and be a bigger and better thing than TikTok is. I think TikTok will continue to be the dominant short-form video platform," Navarra said.
Levy agreed with Navarra in an interview that early numbers in India showed the growing popularity of Shorts in levels of engagement and net growth in both creators and consumers.
He said that many content creators, in particular, reported experiencing significantly faster audience and follower growth on Shorts than they did on TikTok, and as a result, those creators have decided to move their entire production over to Shorts.
Despite the impending success Shorts will likely have, TikTok still takes the market share on popularity and the number of users. According to stats from App Annie Intelligence, in 2020, TikTok overtook Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp in the average number of hours spent.
What sets Shorts apart from TikTok is the "resolve of its parent company, Alphabet," which owns Google, Levy says.
Google recently announced it's committing at least $100 million to entice influencers and creators to create and share their content on Shorts. And while TikTok also has offered creators financial incentives to create content for the platform, Levy says that Google has "deep enough pockets that it can spend indefinitely if that's what it takes to gain an advantage."
Navarra added that in many cases, it might even be easier for a creator to switch over to Shorts if they already have YouTube because it's a "platform they've already used or they could do it in conjunction with their long-form content."
YouTube's algorithm is vastly different than TikTok's
Shorts' challenge will also be matching up to TikTok's algorithm, Levy says. TikTok has, what he calls the "secret sauce," in figuring out meteoric growth to date, and that lies in its recommendation engine.
And while it is powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, similar to what YouTube has, TikTok's version represents "the secret, core technology that sets it apart from all others," he says. Unlike YouTube's algorithm, TikTok's algorithm has been optimized since day one for short-form videos, Levy noted.
"YouTube's split legacy means much of its infrastructure - including its recommendation capabilities - may not be fully aligned with the needs and wants of the short-form video audience," he said, despite YouTube's claims of a more catered algorithm.
Pringle noted it isn't necessarily a good thing to have an extremely deep and catered algorithm.
"If you only watch coffee videos and you're only (getting) coffee videos, how do you even know that anything is out there in the ecosystem? Because on some other platform, you saw someone share something that you thought was funny or sensational. So you want to check that out, and all of a sudden the bubble of things that you encounter grows," she said.
And while YouTube's legacy algorithmic system will help with presenting the right type of content for a user, "not everybody is locked in all of the time," nor does it help new users, Navarra said.
"Also, TikTok's algorithm is famous for very quickly, like incredibly quickly, learning new users' preferences and interests, likes and habits from them watching a very small number of videos," he said. "So I don't know there's much competitive advantage for YouTube with its existing algorithm."
Shorts or TikTok? You can have them both
Similar to having a Twitter and a Facebook account, Pringle said that it's not about having one over another and that many users will likely have both.
"It's not uncommon that people would go to both platforms," she said. "YouTube will never be TikTok because YouTube is more than TikTok. It has longer-form content, and you would go to TikTok, I think in some ways, the same way that an average Twitter user would go to Twitter even if they had Facebook."
Levy said that because the short-form video market is still in its "nascent stages, and represents a market still figuring out what it wants to be when it grows up," it's normal to have more than one player trying to rush into the space.
"By the time the market matures a bit, expect it to look radically different, with features, capabilities, and even cultures we can't even predict by assessing today's market," he said. "By then, the playground will be even larger as new revenue models become entrenched, which further cements the likelihood that there will be ample room for two major players, if not more."
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Shruti Shekar is Android Central's managing editor. She was born in India, brought up in Singapore, but now lives in Toronto and couldn't be happier. She started her journalism career as a political reporter in Ottawa, Canada's capital, and then made her foray into tech journalism at MobileSyrup and most recently at Yahoo Finance Canada. When work isn't on her mind, she loves working out, reading thrillers, watching the Raptors, and planning what she's going to eat the next day.

domain: news


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Lila, 19, stars in Calvin Klein's Fall 2022 campaign, which launched this week and celebrates the brand's latest underwear and loungewear collection.
In the campaign's images, the teenager is seen posing in several classic pieces, including a black tank top and jeans that show off the waistband of her CK logo underwear and another in a sheer black button-down layered top over a bra paired with black jeans.
The shoot is captioned: "A nod to the stripped-back images the brand is known for, capturing each talent's true confidence."
Lila joins the likes of actors Chloë Sevigny, Susan Sarandon and Dominic Fike in the campaign that was captured by British photographer Alasdair McLellan.
Lila took to Instagram to share the news of her new collaboration writing: “So grateful to be a part of the new @calvinklein campaign by @alasdairmclellan.”
Earlier this week, Moss, 48, who famously first modelled for Calvin Klein by posing topless in baggy jeans, told Vogue: “Fabien (Baron) said you should go and meet Calvin.
“So I went to the office and he booked me for this campaign CK Jeans.
“He wanted to put me under contract and that was a big thing, to be a model and have a contract.
“So funny, because Paul Cavaco said, 'Kate just take it, you're so short you're never going to work that much anyway.'”
Kate Moss has a long association with Calvin Klein, becoming the face of the label’s Obsession perfume campaign in 1993.
As one of the world's most successful models, she has helped her daughter achieve some of fashion's biggest milestones.
Lila will appear in the new Pirelli calendar that the supermodel first graced 28 years ago.
The aspiring model fronts Italian tyre manufacturer’s 2023 offering, named Love Letters to the Muse, alongside a string of top models including Karlie Kloss, Bella Hadid, Adut Akech, Emily Ratajkowski and Cara Delevingne.
Lila first started modelling at age 15 and made her catwalk debut at Miu Miu’s SS21 show.
She also appeared on her first Vogue cover earlier this year, and walked with her mother at Fendi’s show in Paris in 2021.
She recently told Vogue that her mother, who also began modelling at age 14, tried to dissuade her from starting a modelling career.
She said: “My mum always put me off [modelling]. She was always like, 'If you wanna do it, you can, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”


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HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) – Next month, downtown Hattiesburg will add some flavor with its food truck event.
The second annual “Food Trucks in February” event will kick off on Feb. 4. Not only will the event include several vendors, but a slate of musical performers also is on the schedule.
Organizers say the idea was inspired by a lack of local events once COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.
“This was created so that people in the Pine Belt, not just the Hub City, can get out and have a good time on the weekends,” said Domonic Hardy, owner of the Southern Wangz food truck.
“There’s not a lot to do in February, and we want to put out a good product and also give people an avenue just to have a good time. Our motto is ‘Good food, good times.’”
Town Square Park will host the event every Saturday of the month, beginning at 11 a.m.
Read the original article here.
Copyright 2023 WDAM. All rights reserved.


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Colfax attracts everyone, but it takes a certain type of character to call it home.
During the upcoming year, Myxed Up Creations will be celebrating 30 years of Myxed Up Creations on Colfax Ave. To mark the occasion, Myxed Up founder Phil Guerin recently sat down with Westword Denver cannabis editor Thomas Mitchell to talk about 30 years on Colfax, and among other things, Denver's current marijuana and cannabis landscape. Guerin talks about all of the change he's seen since opening the shop in 1992, and many of the ways that the cannabis industry has changed (and stayed the same).
Phil started off by selling hand-made fimo clay mushrooms at events like the Taste of Colorado, but quickly realized that glassware and smoking accessories presented a more compelling career path. "Turning from mushroom purveyor to head shop owner, he began selling pieces at Myxed Up on Colfax in the early ’90s, and he hasn't looked back."
Check out the full article and interview with Myxed Up founder Phil Guerin on the Westword website.
The reality is that there is no way that we would have lasted 30 years on Colfax without our amazing customers. Colfax is the place that we call home, and we don't ever want to leave. Like Phil says, "It was always my desire to stay here. I love that street."


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OnePlus 11R will receive Android updates for up to four years
OnePlus announced late last year that it would implement changes to its software update rules. Due to these changes, OnePlus 11 is the first phone of the Chinese brand to receive four new versions of the Android operating system.
Based on the writing GizmochinaThe policy of releasing four operating system updates will also be applied to OnePlus 11R. According to OnePlus, this new phone will also receive security updates for up to five years.
OnePlus 11R will be launched with OxygenOS 13 user interface based on Android 13 and according to OnePlus, it will receive Android 17 operating system.
Unveiled last week, the OnePlus 11R has a triple camera, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, 100W charging, and a 6.74-inch 120Hz OLED display.


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Nokia Makes HERE Sale to Audi, BMW, Daimler Official
Aug 3, 2015, 7:27 AM by Eric M. Zeman
Nokia today formally announced the sale of its HERE Maps business unit to a consortium of three German auto makers. Audi, BMW, and Daimler have agreed to buy HERE Maps for $3 billion. Nokia has been shopping the business unit since April, soon after it announced plans to acquire Alcatel-Lucent. The three car makers will act as investors in HERE, as well as customers of the mapping business and suppliers of data. Nokia said HERE-branded mobile apps will continue to be available to Android, iOS, and Windows devices. Nokia expects to complete the sale during the first half of 2016. Once finalized, Nokia will have two business units: its telecommunications equipment unit and its technology unit.
Feb 9, 2022
Samsung today announced its lineup of flagship phones for 2022: the Galaxy S22 series. The top-end S22 Ultra sees the biggest changes as it essentially absorbs Samsung's Note series with an integrated S Pen stylus and a more Note-like shape and design, instead of the Contour Cut design of the other models.
Sep 16, 2021
Verizon today launched the TCL Flip Pro for prepaid customers. The same phone launched recently on US Cellular as the TCL Flip , and earlier this week as the Alcatel Go Flip 4 on T-Mobile.
Sep 23, 2021
Google today announced a new version of Android Auto with several new features, as well as a revamp of how Driving Mode works in Android. The new version of Android Auto adds the voice command "Hey Google, pay for gas", which will make it faster and easier to pay for gas "at over 32,500 gas stations across the U.S.
Oct 19, 2021
Google released details of the new Pixel 6 series phones that the company has been teasing for months. The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are both high-end phones with a striking new two-tone design and the company's own Tensor chip instead of a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip.


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Stocks declined again last week as investors worried about slowing economic growth, inflation, and rising interest rates. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 fell by 3%, although a late rally kept the S&P 500 just above bear market territory, defined as a 20% drop from the previous high point.
Several big companies will update investors on their 2022 growth trends, so let's look at a few highlights, from Zoom Video Communications (ZM -1.44%), Ulta Beauty (ULTA 0.70%), and Best Buy (BBY 0.50%).
1. Zoom's engagement
Zoom was one of Wall Street's favorite stocks in the earlier phases of the pandemic, but that optimism has faded in 2022. Investors are worried that the video communication specialist, which enjoyed fantastic growth as people sought digital meetings because of COVID-19, won't have a second act for growth ahead.
Zoom's Monday earnings announcement might clarify that outlook. Heading into the report, most investors are expecting sales gains to slow to 10% this year from 55% in 2021. That deceleration should show up in changes to Zoom's customer base, particularly for smaller businesses.
The company could still have a bright future as it capitalizes on the shift toward hybrid work. But that expansion path is likely to include a growth hangover at least through the rest of 2022.
2. Ulta Beauty's customer traffic
Investors have high expectations heading into Ulta Beauty's earnings report on Thursday. The beauty products retailer entered the first quarter with strong momentum, and management raised its 2022 outlook following solid demand trends through late January.
A lot has changed in the months that followed, though, including soaring inflation and slowing economic growth. We'll learn this week whether Ulta navigated through those challenges and continued posting a healthy balance between rising customer traffic and increased average spending per visit.
Most investors are expecting Ulta to boost sales at a solid clip in 2022 as profitability falls slightly but stays well ahead of the 8% rate the company saw before the pandemic. Staying on that impressive growth path should help the stock continue beating the market from here.
3. Best Buy's outlook
Following soaring demand for consumer tech in 2021, Best Buy is bracing for a year (or more) of slower growth ahead. That weakening selling environment should be clear from the retailer's Tuesday morning earnings report, which is expected to include falling sales and earnings.
Best Buy is still in a far stronger position than it was before the pandemic, and a continued flood of tech launches over the next few quarters should help it return to growth following the first-quarter decline. It is going up against an unusually strong year-ago period, after all, when financial stimulus and an intense focus on home technology devices boosted sales.
Executives are likely to project modest annual sales declines for the current fiscal year. But the big question heading into Tuesday's report is whether management still sees a gradual return to steady sales growth and increasing profitability in the years that follow.


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Cecilia Wu, vice president of global insights, is a Chinese immigrant, mother and integral part of the team shaping retail, pharmacy and healthcare at WBA.
WBA was recognized for its commitment to reimagining the healthcare experience and innovative efforts towards achieving this goal.
Using donated and recycled makeup from Boots UK, Planet Friendly Paint empowered the artwork behind WBA’s 2022 ESG Report.
Now in 700 stores, Recycle at Boots gives customers an easy way to make the sustainable choice.
WBA continues to lead in its commitment to reducing the use of single-use plastics.
This pharmacist turned operations leader shares his career journey and celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month in the U.S. with some Puerto Rican flair.
DEERFIELD, Ill. – Aug. 27, 2021 – Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA) today announced three key executive leadership positions, as Danielle Gray was appointed Executive Vice President and...
Lauren Brindley, group vice president of beauty and personal care for Walgreens, discusses changing U.S. trends during COVID and new consumer priorities she thinks are here to stay.
Company leaders showcase depth and breadth of industry expertise at NRF Retail Converge with featured sessions across healthcare, IT and the impact of COVID-19 on women in the workplace. By Steve...
For the fourth year in a row, Boots UK continues to be a first-choice beauty destination at The Sunday Times Style Beauty Awards.


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WASHINGTON D.C. (WJZ) -- Starbucks announced it started delivering its products in different parts of the country, including Washington D.C.
The company said it partnered with Uber Eats to make the deliveries possible. The Starbucks Delivers program began in San Francisco Monday. According to it's website, Starbucks will start delivering from select stores in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., in the coming weeks.
Starbucks had delivered in Miami since the fall of 2018. The company said it saw a strong demand for the service and positive feedback from customers, leading it to expand the program.
Its website stated that customers will be able to order from the mobile app and receive their items within 30 minutes. Delivery orders will come with an initial $2.49 booking fee.
for more features.


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Meta Verified ⇥ facebook.com
Good morning and new product announcement: this week we’re starting to roll out Meta Verified — a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support. This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services. Meta Verified starts at $11.99 / month on web or $14.99 / month on iOS. We’ll be rolling out in Australia and New Zealand this week and more countries soon.
I reposted that in full because Facebook’s temperamental login wall may prevent you from seeing it, as it has for me for most of Zuckerberg’s posts.
This product was announced early on a Sunday morning, a few hours after Matt Navarra published screenshots. Perhaps Navarra forced Meta to tip its hand earlier than it expected.
I have many questions, though there is one thing I would like to highlight off the top: like Twitter Blue, Meta Verified costs more on iOS — $15 per month, compared to $12 if you subscribe on the web.1 This — alongside YouTube Premium — seems to me like high-profile highlighting of App Store commissions.
I do not know if many people are eager to pay $180 per year — it sounds more appealing to organizations — but that is not the point. ↥


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Americans will rejoice tomorrow as they celebrate National Dessert Day on social media, wherever they can get their hands on sweet treats, and elsewhere.
According to the National Day Calendar, the first desserts required minimal effort or preparation since ancient cultures were more focused on the nutrition in foods to survive. That has evolved over centuries to the point that they are more focused on indulgence. Over the years, desserts have changed from natural candies and nuts to complex souffles and multi-layered cakes.
The day is an excellent opportunity for retail bakeries to promote some of their most popular products. You’d be hard pressed to find many people who dislike desserts, and most people need very little arm-twisting to indulge.
Social media outlets such as Facebook and Instagram make for excellent instant communication, especially when it comes to one-day events. National Dessert Day can be promoted in so many different ways through social media, and you can get creative by advertising special in-store offers or contests.
Desserts have changed so much over time, and they continue to evolve constantly as those who comprise the food industry look to get a leg up on their competitors. Our sister magazine, Food Business News, covers dessert trends and they’ve discovered some very interesting tastes to watch for in the coming months.
For instance, bacon has shown up 137% more on dessert menus over the past four years, according to a new report from Datassential. Other savory flavors such as pretzel (110%) and spicy (38%) are becoming incredibly popular.
Many consumers are snacking on desserts in between meals, so food service establishments are looking to make products that are smaller and easier to eat on-the-go. This includes frozen items, cookies, cake pops, and hybrid desserts like the aforementioned cronut.
However you wish to celebrate, National Dessert Day should be a great day for bakeries and customers alike all across the country.


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- Panasonic Energy will supply EV maker Lucid with lithium-ion batteries as part of a new multi-year sourcing agreement, the companies announced Dec. 13.
- The battery maker will produce some of the materials at an existing facility in Japan, as well as from its upcoming facility in De Soto, Kansas.
- The deal and sourcing plan is part of Panasonic's bid to capture more of the U.S. battery market share. The company broke ground on its Kansas facility last month, with mass production expected to begin in March 2025.
Lucid has upped its production capacity in recent months, churning out a record quarterly production of 2,282 vehicles in Q3 with a weekly capacity of 300 units, CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson said on a recent earnings call. The EV maker remains on track to produce 6,000 to 7,000 vehicles this year, and is preparing to begin production on its new SUV model in 2024.
For Panasonic, the deal follows efforts to secure raw mineral supply lines in recent months to then boost battery production capacity. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with Canada-based Nouveau Monde Graphite in October to procure graphite used in lithium-ion batteries.
"With the increased electrification of the automotive market, partnerships with technology-leading EV manufacturers such as Lucid are critical to our mission," Kazuo Tadanobu, president and CEO of Panasonic Energy, said in the Dec. 13 release. "This partnership will help us drive growth of the lithium-ion battery industry and accelerate the world towards a net-zero emissions future."
Other automakers are also pressing ahead with new sourcing partnerships to shore up their critical mineral and battery supply. Over the summer, GM announced a spate of new sourcing partnerships, including a deal with chemical manufacturer Livent for the supply of lithium.


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Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Kia and Hyundai are recalling more than 625,000 vehicles for different problems, federal officials said.
The largest of the recalls involves the Kia Soul, in which nearly 379,000 2012 to 2016 model year vehicles are being recalled over high exhaust gas temperatures that can cause damage to the catalytic converter and cause "abnormal engine combustion."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration acknowledged recalls of two other Kia vehicles. About 95,000 Sedonas from 2015-2018 have a possible faulty occupant detection system wiring harness. The third involves 32,000 Sportage models from 2011-2012 due to oil pan leaks.
Hyundai told the NHTSA its recall involves 120,000 Tucson vehicles from 2011-2013 and possible engine oil pan leakage.
Last October, the nonprofit group Center for Auto Safety demanded that Hyundai and Kia recall 2.9 million cars and SUVs, citing hundreds of consumer complaints saying the vehicles caught fire.
The group said the automakers should recall all 2011-2014 Sorento, Optima, Sonata and Santa Fe models, along with 2010-2015 Souls. The group examined more than 220 fire complaints.
Both automakers are already involved in recalls from last year after airbag failures caused four deaths in multiple crashes. Four involved 2011 Hyundai Sonatas and two affected 2012-2013 Kia Fortes.


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Would You Really Want to Wear the iWatch?iWatch. That device, the reports say, is being handled by a team of more than 100 people charged with getting the company’s wearable tech to the marketplace.
As with other Apple rumors, the iWatch is exciting the company’s fans. Surely Apple has something great up its sleeve with the watch, those fans might say. Others are already predicting that they’ll buy one and wear it each day, and before long, just about everyone else will, too. The iWatch has somehow joined the pantheon of Apple greats, like the iPod and iPhone, before it’s even launched.
[Image concept by ADR Studio]
But perhaps we need to come back down to reality. Apple’s iWatch idea is probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a long time. And I, for one, wouldn’t be caught in public wearing the company’s watch.
Now, I’m sure there are many people who will respond to this column by saying that many industry observers believe that wearable technology is the future. And I can’t disagree with that. But is a watch really the product to deliver the next giant leap in technology?
The beauty of Apple products is that they can be used anywhere a person goes. The iPhone is a work and home device. The same can be said for the iPod and iPad. Macs have even found a way to bridge the gap between consumers and enterprise users.
But a watch is a different story altogether. I’ve yet to find a tech-lover’s watch that actually looks good on the wrist. More importantly, it fails to deliver the kind of end-to-end solution that Apple’s many other products might.
For example, would you really wear the iWatch to work? Sure, it’ll help you keep the time and maybe check your e-mails, but you already have an iPhone and iPad for that. And if you’re in a client-facing business, would a big, bulky Apple watch really send the right message? Perhaps. But it depends on the industry. I don’t necessarily see financial-industry bigshots putting down their Rolex for an Apple iWatch.
To me, the iWatch sounds like a gimmick. It’s something that I could see someone wear while on a run or perhaps working around the house. But to wear it as the central part of an outfit each day doesn’t quite add up.
Of course, the technology industry is littered with people like me who have doubted Apple’s ability to score big and succeed. But I think the iWatch is an attempt by Apple to bite off more than it can chew. I get the smartphone, the tablet, the music player, and the television idea. But I don’t get the company’s reported desire to make a push for timepieces.
I’m impressed by Apple’s ability to make smart decisions year in, year out. But if the iWatch launches sometime this year, I couldn’t help but wonder if the best ideas have already been revealed.


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Electronic Arts and Koei Tecmo surprised gamers yesterday by announcing what sounds like a new Monster Hunter-style IP. But that’s not all, companies are also jumping on the Japan setup bandwagon. All we’ve been told so far is that it will be “the next great hunting game” set in fantasy feudal Japan, providing a “true AAA experience.”
Will the hunting game from EA and Koei Temco be a new rival to Monster Hunter?
Details about the mystery game are scant and the only artwork we’ve seen is the header image above. But that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating that EA and Koei Tecmo are working on a new Monster Hunter-esque IP given the worldwide success of the Capcom series. Add to that the idea of a fantasy setting created by none other than Koei Temco’s Omega Force team, which has successful franchises like Dynasty Warriors in its portfolio, and fans might be right here.
In its press release, EA said that after the success of its EA Originals games like Knockout City and It Takes Two, it is “thrilled” to partner with Omega Force on the hunting game. However, this time around, EA is going for a AAA collaboration rather than standalone hits.
“It’s an honor to partner with EA Originals and be supported by a team with such an incredible track record of launching innovative new games,” said Koei Tecmo Executive Vice President Yosuke Hayashi. “Aggregating Electronic Arts’ global resources with our own will help us introduce a new type of hunting game to a global audience of gamers and expand our reach into global markets. I am really looking forward to the day when gamers all over the world can play this new game.”
EA Partners General Manager Jeff Gamon has said that the “innovative new adventure” will be shown later this month.


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America’s Ayatollah? How #DonaldTrump’s foreign policy rhetoric sounds
The things that Donald Trump says to rouse the masses are reminiscent of the some of the stuff that comes out of Tehran.
“Great Satan.” (Mexico or China, depending on which is the bigger irritant at the time)
“Little Satan.” (Mexico or China, depending on which is the bigger irritant at the time)
“Death to …” (fill in country of your choice)
“We will destroy the aggressive and criminal …”(fill in country of your choice)
Like Iran’s Ayatollahs, Mr Trump offers stark, simple, plug-in statements that allow people to get behind whatever he’s saying, irrespective of the facts.
What are the facts?
Bad blood with Mexico is a really bad idea for the US especially as Mexico buys more American goods than China and Japan combined.
Slapping a huge 45 per cent import tax on Chinese products would be laughed out of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Upon which of course, Mr Trump can start to call the WTO the Great Satan and threaten to pull out of it.
And all those American factory-workers who’d been laid off because Mexico had imposed punitive import quotas on US goods could be put back to work making munitions. A President Trump could declare war on Mexico.
No one ever said Ayatollahs are good at foreign policy.


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- Shoppers are buying cheaper, private-label products more amid record inflation.
- It's become a trend during periods of economic downturn, like the 2008 recession.
- Retailers with a strong roster of private-label brands, like Walmart and Target, are set to benefit.
In grocery and big-box stores across the country, shoppers have a decision to make: Stick to the brands they know and love, or switch to the store's brand and save?
In the face of record inflation, shoppers are increasingly choosing the latter.
The rising cost of everything from gas to food has forced many consumers to think twice about name-brand items and opt for stores' private-label products instead — meaning, products from brands owned by those same grocery or big-box retailers. This switch has happened during other periods of economic downturn, and it's a boon for retailers like Walmart and Target, who have a strong roster of private-label brands.
At Walmart, which operates over 3,500 grocery locations nationwide, rising costs are shifting the way customers shop. The company said during its first-quarter earnings call in May that customers are buying more private-label products as they feel "inflation pressures."
"We do see some switching, which would include switching specifically from brands to private brands," John Furner, CEO of Walmart US, said during the call. "We see categories like deli, lunch meat, bacon, dairy, where we see customers trading."
Target places a slightly different emphasis on its private-label brands: They're designed to "drive trips to Target, not simply to provide another option when guests are already in a store," Christina Hennington, Target's chief growth officer, said during the company's first-quarter earnings call in May.
Still, Target is likely benefiting from inflation, given that its in-house brands, much like Walmart's, tend to be cheaper than products with better name recognition.
"I think it's important as we think about consumers looking for value, the strength of the owned brands in food and beverage: Good & Gather and Favorite Day," CFO Michael Fiddelke said during the call. "The guest response we've seen to those two owned brands has just been incredible."
Private-label products have grown so much that big brands are starting to take notice. Clorox executives noted private-label growth during the company's most recent earnings call, while Procter & Gamble said it will start making more "overt" claims about the quality of its Dawn dish soap, presumably over private-label products.
But at Walmart, the company's own Great Value dish soap costs $2.28. Dawn's dish soap, though slightly larger in volume, costs $2.94.
'It just has to be cheaper'
This type of shopping behavior — switching from name brands to private labels — happened during another period of economic uncertainty: the 2008 recession.
Between 2008 and 2009, shoppers started spending less on dining out, skipped manicures and hair appointments, bought smaller amounts of items, and, notably, switched to private-label goods, according to data from IRI, a market-research firm that tracks data in the consumer packaged-goods industry.
Now, similar patterns are repeating themselves. In March, as gas prices started to rise and consumers started to feel the strain on their finances, private-label purchases started to climb compared with 2020 and 2021. At grocery stores, shoppers started buying more off-brand baby formula, oil, butter, and milk — when it came to "non-edible" items, gloves, foil, and toilet paper became popular private-label purchases, according to IRI data.
But it's not a given that shoppers will always trade down to private-label when times are tough — there are a few factors that get customers to make the switch, according to Sucharita Kodali, a retail analyst at Forrester.
"Consumers don't really have an issue with it if the packaging looks nice and the pricing is the right pricing and the quality of the merchandise is good," Kodali told Insider.
But at the end of the day, it does need to provide meaningful cost savings to the consumer.
"There's no formula that says, 'if it's 10 to 20% cheaper ...', it just has to be cheaper," Kodali said. "It's not the difference between something being $9.95 and $9.99. That's not going to make a difference. But in some categories, if there's a dollar difference, that's substantial."


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NewsBytes Briefing: Epic's Unreal Engine gets legal protection, and more
Since last night, the case between Apple and Epic Games has progressed. They faced-off in an online hearing and explained their respective sides to the judge, who issued a temporary restraining order to protect Epic's Unreal Engine, but not Fortnite - which is already banned by Apple. Under the ruling, Apple cannot terminate Epic's developer accounts or restrict Unreal Engine Here are more updates.
Unity filed to go public
As Epic fought to keep Unreal Engine alive, its biggest rival Unity, the maker of the Unity Game Engine, filed to go public. Though Epic has been aggressive against Unity, numbers suggest that the latter has been leading the game. In 2019, it powered more than half of the top games on Android, iOS, PC, and consoles.
TikTok sued Trump administration
TikTok on Monday sued the Trump administration for banning transactions with its parent company ByteDance. It alleged that the executive order imposing the ban violates due process protections of the Fifth Amendment, breaches the scope of sanctions' rules, and offers no evidence proving that TikTok is a national security threat. "The executive order is not rooted in bonafide national security concerns," the complaint emphasized.
Triller, TikTok's rival, partnered with Reliance's JioSaavn
Triller, TikTok's biggest rival in the US, announced a partnership with Reliance Industries' music app JioSaavn. As part of the deal, JioSaavn will show Triller videos "front and center" and also provide a prominent button to let Indians create short Triller videos. The move comes as several firms, including Facebook and Times Internet, continue to race to take now-banned TikTok's spot in India.
Other important updates to note
Among other things, Apple teased a new retail store - Marina Bay Sands in Singapore - that looks like a giant orb floating on the water. In another news, Zoom deployed a fix to get its service up and running after a 3-hour-long outage, while TikTok faced a lawsuit from Vietnamese technology firm VNG over copyright infringement in connection to music use.
Finally, some COVID-19 updates
India on Monday reported a little under 60,000 coronavirus infections, taking the nationwide tally to 31.64 lakh. The death toll rose to 58,565 with over 800 new fatalities. As for vaccine development, America's top infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci warned against fast-tracked approvals of COVID-19 vaccines, while WHO emphasized the importance of providing first shots to at-risk groups like healthcare workers, senior citizens.Share this timeline


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Private banks serving the ultra-rich don’t extend their services to the merely affluent – but that’s now changing, thanks to the lure of the Chinese market and the opportunities to use technology to scale what until now has been considered a strictly personal business.
UBS Wealth Management has launched WE.UBS, a digital wealth platform in mainland China catering to the mass affluent, supported by its technology partner, Tencent.
“UBS focuses on the ultra-high-net-worth, but we saw in China an opportunity to go after the middle class,” said Andy Ho, general manager of UBS Fund Distribution (Shenzhen) Company, aka UBS FS.
UBS Group maintains a universal banking business in Switzerland, and a mid-market wealth business in the United States. Everywhere else its private banking activities only serve very wealthy people and family offices.
The China opportunity
Mainland China’s super-rich are the biggest source of private-banking assets in the region, and one of the most important pools in the world. But global private banks can only cater to these clients’ offshore assets, booking them in Hong Kong, Singapore, or beyond.
The domestic pool of wealth is becoming cumulatively too big to ignore, however. A Morgan Stanley research note from October 2021 noted:
“Per capita income totaled $195 in 1980, $959 in 2000 and $10,500 in 2020. It’s now on track to reach $20,000 by 2030, well above the World Bank’s $12,690 threshold for ‘high income’ economies.”
Morgan Stanley estimated by 2030 mainland Chinese households represent an addressable market of Rmb170 trillion ($24 trillion), out of potential household financial assets of Rmb434 trillion. If international private banks actually see that money, it would triple their revenues in Asia-Pacific, with as much as $2 trillion booked offshore.
But the greatest spoils will be managed domestically.
Fund management companies
One way to tap this growing wealth is to have an asset-management business. PwC, in a May 2021 research paper, noted China is already the world’s fifth-largest market for mutual funds, with total assets of about $2.4 trillion, with the private funds industry managing an additional $2.5 trillion.
Foreigners have been involved in the local funds industry since the first local mutual-fund companies were licensed in 2000, many as Sino-foreign joint ventures. China has allowed foreigners to wholly own a funds business since 2020.
- Read more:
- HSBC goes digital to bring advice to private banking
- This is how UBS uses alternative data
- For private bankers, digital yes, crypto no
Fund-management companies can sell to retail, which accounts for most assets. Many foreigners also have licenses for private funds, which have more flexible investment options but can only be sold to people with at least Rmb3 million worth of investible assets, or to institutions.
Fund management is a fragmented business, however. And while some of these firms are large, they don’t sell a lot of premium products. Chinese retail investors don’t buy equity funds. Only about 4 percent of retail funds are purely equity products.
WMPs and shadow banking
Another aspect of this fragmentation is that fund houses have to oversee a dizzying number of products. Whereas a US or European asset manager have evergreen core products, business in China constantly evolves around new product launches, which is expensive to administrate.
For example, in the first half of 2021, the industry issued 25,500 new wealth-management products, according to Lawrence Au, a Hong Kong-based consultant (and former APAC head of BNP Paribas Securities Services). More than half were short-term deposit-like products, he said in a LinkedIn article on October 13, 2021.
These wealth-management products (WMPs) are already big business: as of 2021, outstanding assets was Rmb25.8 trillion ($4 trillion), according to the China Banking Wealth Management Registration and Depository Center, an arm of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.
But they exist this way because they are part of China’s shadow banking system. WMPs issued by the big state-owned banks account for the largest product segment.
For many years they were sold with an implicit guarantee of the principle. Retail investors assumed the government would make them whole. Most of the debts in these funds represented local government borrowings tied to real-estate developments – risky assets that governments were eager to pass on to investors.
Banks were happy to participate because it moved risky loans off their balance sheets. This is why the largest banks’ wealth-management departments offer hundreds of fixed-income funds: in ICBC’s case, it has 668 such fixed-income funds available to retail investors as of March 2021, according to website Caixin Global.
Cleaning up wealth management
The central government has long been aware of the systemic risk of the shadow banks. It doesn’t want to see retail investors pour money into high-risk WMPs, especially not when state banks guarantee money back.
In 2018 Beijing passed new rules to ban banks from making such promises. It also set deadlines by which WMPs must be valued based on their net assets, although enforcement has been spotty.
Banks have adjusted their product mix. They are reducing sales of shadow-banking WMPs and selling more standard funds of government bonds, corporate bonds, asset-backed securities, and exchange-traded products.
But they remain focused almost entirely on the fixed-income world, instead of domestic equities or international securities.
The granting of wealth-management licenses to foreign banks is part of Beijing’s strategy to shore up the sector, clean out risky habits, and raise standards.
Enter foreign banks
UBS FS in Shenzhen was the second foreigner allowed to wholly own a funds distribution business. (The first was the local subsidiary of Intesa Sanpaolo of Italy) and the first foreigner to go live.
(Chinese licensing is complicated. UBS (China) Limited, established in 2012, can provide wealth-management services.)
But WE.UBS, as the China digital wealth business is called, does not have the field to itself.
A handful of foreigners were allowed to enter wealth-management joint ventures, including Amundi (with Bank of China) and BlackRock and Temasek (in a three-party venture with China Construction Bank).
Foreign lenders are also moving into digital wealth management. HSBC launched a digital account service in 2020 for retail and private-bank investors. Standard Chartered Bank did too and plans to launch a brokerage firm for top-tier clients. They also offer a broad suite of standard banking products.
Fintech companies are active too, with wealthtech companies offering mobile-friendly platforms using big-data analytics to personalize investment solutions. Some of these are focused on the mass market, such as Ant Financial and Tencent, but some like Lufax, an arm of Ping An Group, aim at the higher end of the market. OneConnect, a Ping An vendor, sells wealth-management-as-a-service solutions to other fintechs and banks.
The biggest users of digital technology are the banks themselves. Most of these are targeting the mass retail market, including the big state banks as well as purely digital banks (Tencent’s WeBank, Alibaba’s MYbank, Baidu’s AiBank) and the digital arms of private commercial banks, such as China CITIC Bank and China Merchants Bank.
China Merchants Bank offers Machine Gene Investment, a robo-advisory for mobile users that uses big data to combine a financial advisory experience with machine-learning algorithms.
The dominant quartet of state-owned banks – ICBC, Construction Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, and Bank of China – dominate the industry. KPMG, in a 2021 report of Asian digital wealth management, says they are rapidly digitalizing, using artificial intelligence, robo-advisory services, and tech-enabled personalization.
“As a result,” KPMG said, “domestic banks are placed further ahead of their foreign peers when it comes to providing digital wealth-management services to customers. However…foreign wealth managers are also entering the market.”
The WE.UBS playbook
This is the environment in which WE.UBS is launching. It has several advantages.
First, it is a pure play in digital wealth management, aimed at the higher end. It won’t need to compete with the likes of ICBC or Ant for most business. It’s not chasing the mass retail customers of HSBC, Citi or Standard Chartered.
Second, it has a clean slate. No dodgy WMPs.
Third, by targeting the rising affluent, it can differentiate its product offering, with a greater focus on equities and on foreign investments. Its three asset-management partners all have international exposures under China’s Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor scheme. UBS is also making a bet on integration between Hong Kong and Guangdong Province – the Greater Bay Area.
“The GBA is fast-growing, has a relatively young population, and is more integrated with Hong Kong’s Wealth Management Connect project,” said UBS FS’s Andy Ho.
WE.UBS launched at the start of November with a specific target of partner company clients and employees. It won’t be doing the usual advertizing to attract retail investors. Instead it will canvas UBS corporate clients in desirable industries, including tech, to sign up their employees.
For now, UBS FS only has a license to sell mutual funds. It has applied for a license to provide investment advice. Until that comes through, the digital platform is more “DIY”. In addition to providing research and ideas, though, it also gives them the UBS chief investment officer’s house view.
WE.UBS will allow users to compare their own portfolio to what the CIO would recommend, including how the firm would rebalance portfolios and allocate assets. The idea is to teach people the benefits of a diversified portfolio with a longer-term outlook.
But the real benefit will come with a license to provide advice, which will allow UBS to offer financial planning.
WE.UBS is targeted at people with the equivalent of $150,000 to $1 million in liquid, investible assets. UBS FS will also work with employees in promising companies that may not be there yet but who are likely to become prosperous.
Partnering with Tencent
For now, there’s no relationship manager – that will require an advisory license. Information sharing and execution is digital. But the firm will maintain a call center and, for the upper tier, access to product specialists. It will run in-person educational events.
The firm is also developing an app to provide advice once it has the regulatory go-ahead.
Tencent is WE.UBS’s technology partner, along with another Tencent vendor, Shenzhen Kingdom Technology, which provides systems to many Chinese financial institutions.
Andy Ho says there is no relationship to the series of “We”-labeled businesses in the Tencent empire. WeBank acts as WE.UBS’s settlement bank, but there is no co-branding. And WE.UBS does not have a business account on Tencent’s ubiquitous social messaging app, WeChat. It will have to convince users to download the WE.UBS app from the Apple store.
WE.UBS is kicking off with mutual funds managed by UBS SDIC Fund Management, Invesco Great Wall Fund Management, and HSBC Jintrust Fund Management.


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Data Sheet: Uber Loses London, Apple iPhone 8 Lags Sales, HPE Cuts Jobs
Greetings from San Francisco, where Thursday night I helped host a 100-strong delegation from Guangzhou, China. We gathered for dinner at the plush St. Regis Hotel with Silicon Valley’s best and brightest to discuss Chinese innovation.
Those last two words until recently might have constituted what I learned in elementary school to be an oxymoron. No longer. Chinese companies, in their well-capitalized, rapidly growing, and surprisingly lightly regulated markets, have become global innovation leaders.
Michal Lev-Ram has a fine write-up of the night’s proceedings here. Investors Ying Wang and Hans Tung as well as McKinsey thinker Jonathan Woetzel wowed the crowd with examples of how the Chinese already are leading the way in areas like payments, insurance, healthcare, and e-commerce. The unanswered question is whether Chinese companies can export their success, the way a generation of commercially imperialistic U.S. goliaths like Coca-Cola, IBM, and McDonald’s did in previous generations. If I had to guess, the answer is yes.
Economist, policymaker, and academic Laura Tyson sounded a refreshing note of caution. China’s successes have taken place in an asymmetric fashion, Tyson noted in after-dinner comments, whereby China has repeatedly enjoyed open access to markets like the U.S. while closing its own for key sectors. This was the conclusion of an Obama-era commission on which she served. The current administration in Washington will only form harsher assessments.
U.S.-China commerce will be the most important business story of the next decade. And it certainly will be the biggest story at Fortune the first week of December, when we convene two major conferences in Guangzhou: Brainstorm Tech International and the Fortune Global Forum.
Have a great weekend.


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- Bud Light continues to charge forward with the #UpForWhatever campaign be offering "12-ounces of inspiration" in each beer bottle with new labels.
- The beer brand is printing over 100 different phrases on bottles like "perfect beer for when you're eating breakfast meats outside of breakfast hours."
- The #UpForWhatever campaign also includes a TV spots that will run during college bowl games and the NFL playoff.
Bud Light seems to be going on the marketing offensive to combat the popularity of smaller name craft beers. Ad Age reports that an A-B InBev spokesperson said that it will focus on "more quality messaging" in 2015. By focusing on the idea that Bud Light equals "spontaneous fun," the beer hopes to turn the tide away from craft beer. This will be a trend to watch for 2015.


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Mac mini makeover considered likely for Macworld
A new source claims that Apple's long-overdue revision of the Mac mini will make its appearance at Macworld Expo early next month.
The rumor is accompanied by little else besides a speculative wish list based on Apple's recent trends in design and components, such as a unibody design and newer Core 2 Duo processors.
Still, the report corroborates things that AppleInsider has privately heard about the matter. It also supports a number of outside claims that an update is approaching; of these, a reported Apple executive care rep's advice to be patient has been the strongest sign of an impending upgrade.
What any new Mac mini would include is still uncertain, though two months ago Macminicolo asserted that it had validated as many as three new features that would make their way into the new system.
Of these, the most feasible were the switch to Mini DisplayPort — a move Apple has publicly promised for all of its Macs — and the ability of the mainboard chipset to address more than 3GB of RAM, which is currently limited by the Mac mini's roughly two year old hardware.
The more aggressive claim instead suggested Apple would attempt to please business and server operators by letting buyers replace the optical drive with a second hard drive that could increase the total storage for the computer.
Whether any of this occurs is still up in the air, as Apple has yet to commit to a Steve Jobs keynote at Macworld despite the event being just three weeks away.


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IBM Open-Sources Power ISA, Shares CPU, OpenCAPI Reference Designs
IBM has open sourced its Power instruction set, delivered a softcore implementation of the architecture, and turned over its OpenCAPI and OMI specifications to the Linux Foundation.
AMD Reports Q2 2019 Market Share as Intel Sticks to Its Guns on Pricing
AMD's market share figures for Q2 2019 are in. Intel, thus far, is keeping its prices steady, even in the face of increased competition.
Epic Win: AMD's 64-core 7nm Epyc CPUs Leave Xeon Lying in the Dirt
Normally you have to pay to see a beat-down like this.
Intel's Cascade Lake With DL Boost Goes Head to Head with Nvidia's Titan RTX in AI Tests
Intel's new DL Boost capabilities for improving AI workload execution take on Nvidia's RTX Titan.
AMD's Entire Epyc 'Rome' Product Stack Just Leaked
AMD's entire 7nm server lineup may have just accidentally leaked. Whoops.
Intel, Qualcomm, Broadcom, and Xilinx All Move to Cut Off Huawei
Google isn't the only company cutting ties with Huawei. Intel, Qualcomm, Xilinx, and Broadcom are doing so as well, at least for now.
Super Micro Will Move Server Production Out of China
Server manufacturer Super Micro has been on the defensive since last year when a bombshell report from Bloomberg claimed the company's hardware had been compromised by Chinese spies. While those charges remain unsubstantiated, the company has announced that it will move production out of China to assuage concerns from its customers.
By Ryan Whitwam
Optane DC Persistent Memory Offers Up to 512GB Per DIMM
Optane DC PM (Persistent Memory) offers a dramatic increase in total RAM capacity for servers, possibly boosting performance and allowing for new approaches to in-memory databases.


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Hirst: It’s Time to Let Zombie Companies Go
Your Real Vision Daily Briefing for April 30, 2020
Real Vision’s Managing Editor Ed Harrison sits down with Roger Hirst to discuss what’s going on in markets today.
- The last day of a month often sees big moves like equities selling off and more bond purchases, but this is normal rebalancing.
- Savings rates are shooting up, which shows that the velocity of the fiscal stimulus is very low as consumers prioritize debt repayment and savings over spending.
- Corporate bailouts are perpetuating the model of supporting zombie companies and penalizing more productive ones that aren’t so close to bankruptcy, which will negatively affect the vitality of the economy.
GET REAL VISION'S FREE DAILY BRIEFING DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX EVERY DAY AFTER MARKETS CLOSE
Get the latest information as we analyze the next phase of our new global economy and discuss what we think is to come.
The first and last day of the month often see the biggest moves in markets, but Roger Hirst told Real Vision’s Daily Briefing today that investors should take these days with a grain of salt, as the moves represent normal rebalancing.
Hirst said one of his biggest questions going into the new month is whether we will see the market roll over after hitting the 62% retracement mark, as historical models suggest, or whether the Fed’s massive liquidity injection will continue to take us to the upside.
In the real economy, where the Fed’s stimulus money has yet to really penetrate, dismal economic data is driving downward momentum and the velocity of stimulus funds is very low, as people choose to pay down debt and add to their savings rather than go out and spend.
Hirst said that while the consumer has tenaciously held in during other financial downturns, this time, it is the consumer who has been hit the hardest.
“Unless the consumer bounces back to exactly where they were, we’re going to see a slowdown in the largest part of most developed economies,” he said.
Another threat to the long-term vitality of the economy is corporate bailouts, which in the US and Europe are effectively rescuing low-efficiency companies on the verge of bankruptcy and penalizing more productive, better run businesses.
Hirst said that it is time to stop perpetuating the model of supporting zombie companies and let companies that have been a drag on productivity go.


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[More] on social media and QR codes in Kenyan print advertising.
No. I am not going to preach on how social media is going into overdrive in Kenya – you already know that, or you should know that already? In addition, as in my recent post on QR codes coming into print advertising in Kenya, I do not intend to go
[Business Daily Article] Mobile Advertising needs apps to grow.
This is an article from today’s edition of the Business Daily Newspaper in which I was quoted and Dealfish also got good mention. The article by Frankline Sunday talks about the importance of local mobile applications in Kenya for mobile (web) advertising to really take off. In effect, local publishers
It’s time to get serious about digital marketing measurement in Africa.
If your marketing online in Africa, chances are you could be seriously getting ripped off. I am talking about brands and businesses that are spending serious cash on digital marketing with a myriad of online publishers. The reality is that in many cases, the places where they are marketing are


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|If startups in India are the harbingers of change, then the payments industry has a gut punch coming its way. I was speaking to the co-founder of a payments startup called BharatPe, which caters to merchants. What he said will make the collective hair of payments companies stand. “I want to make MDR on *all* payments zero,” said Ashneer Grover. MDR, or merchant discount rate, is the most contentious three-letter abbreviation in the payments world. It is the charge that merchants bear when you swipe a credit card (2%) or debit card (1%). Merchants pay this charge to the banks, which maintain the payment infrastructure. And Grover now does not want to collect any charge on any payments among the merchants he works with. The Indian government set these charges. Earlier this year, the finance ministry decided to make MDR zero on mobile-based payments (UPI) and Rupay-based debit cards to drive cashless transactions. It saw a furore among payments companies and every other entity in the space. The payments body, National Payments Corporation of India (which runs UPI and Rupay), the State Bank of India, and other banks opposed it. The banks even tried asking for an annual compensation of Rs 2,000 crore (US$262 million) from the finance ministry to foot the losses. The government said, ‘no’. Global payments technology company Visa, too, criticised the move.|
|If there is going to be no skin in the game for anybody to deploy these terminals, and roll them out geographically in tier-III and IV cities, it’s like saying voice is free and data is free, but without the supporting infrastructure,” said T R Ramachandran, group country manager India and South Asia. “Why would a bank go and deploy these machines (POS) or do KYC? To stick a QR code (at merchant points), it costs money and somebody’s got to pay for it…I’m a firm believer in low economics but no economics student can believe in no economics.” VISA criticizes government’s zero Merchant Discount Rates move, The Economic Times|
|And now, Grover’s move could give ideas to a government that needs the support of over 50 million traders in India who are economically hit. A move like this will certainly make merchants rejoice, but it will bring the payments roof down. When the government brought MDR down to zero on UPI and Rupay, the NPCI was the one taking the revenue hit. But if Grover’s move finds takers in the government, the entire raison d’etre for Visa and its rival Mastercard will be lost. They, along with banks and other payments companies, could lose their revenue source. Grover’s logic is that payments are anyway commoditised and there is little money to be made. So might as well just do the inevitable and take all the payments fees down to zero. Companies will be forced to scramble for other revenue sources. Meanwhile, BharatPe will also need a new business model. Grover says he will absorb the MDR hit, but on the condition that merchants agree to keep the money that they were supposed to earn with BharatPe for 15 days in an escrow account. This way, the company would earn interest on that float money, which will make for revenue. In case the merchants want the money immediately, they can pay 1% (which is the average MDR fee anyway) and access it, he says. He hopes to take this to 1,000 merchants in Bengaluru and Delhi by the end of this month, and is supplying them with entirely new point of sale machines. Other payments companies can only hope the government is not watching any of this.|
|To fight China, India turns inward and backward|
Last week, 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives after a brutal hand-to-hand fight (involving wooden staves and nail-studded clubs) with Chinese soldiers at a disputed Himalayan border.
While jingoistic media coverage of various border conflicts has carefully nurtured anti-China sentiment over the last year, the horrific death of 20 soldiers is a catalysing event. While, at number four, India is just behind China in the world’s military rankings, the two armies are vastly different in size, equipment and budgets. China’s military budget is nearly five times India’s. The two are also nuclear powers. Military revenge is, thus, out of the question.
As a result of which, India is contemplating economic revenge. A wave of anti-China sentiment is being directed at Chinese imports, Chinese companies, Chinese capital, and, most ridiculously, Chinese food.
Like most countries around the world, India too did not choose Chinese imports or products for their nationality. Instead, it chose them for their global competitiveness. A Business Standard article estimated that it’s often up to 30% cheaper to import from China, over other countries.
The same logic applies while banning Chinese products, too. You may think you’re rejecting them over their nationality, but in reality you’re rejecting their global competitiveness. The tab for the higher costs (10%? 20%? 30%?) will be picked up by India’s economy and its consumers.
Decoupling from a global economic engine like China is fraught with risk. For India, because its exports account for just 3% of China’s. In Business Standard, China expert Ravi Bhoothalingam says that such a decoupling makes no sense for India. “Some industrialists might gain (emphasis added), but investment, public welfare and growth will suffer,” he says in his column.
Business Standard’s editor, TN Ninan, is even clearer. He says India risks shooting itself in the foot.
|And what if China hits back? India’s imports from China are equal to about a fifth of total Indian manufacturing. If Chinese products have no ready substitutes domestically, the risk is of disruption along the supply chain. In the case of some products (like strategic materials) where it has market dominance, China could even deny sales to India as it did once with Japan during a dispute over some islands off the Chinese coast. At the least, sourcing from alternative suppliers would be at a much higher cost. Advice for shoot-from-the-hip nationalists: Take aim before firing, Business Standard|
|Ninan, too, like Bhoothalingam, warns of special interests using the current anti-China sentiment to gain market share and profits, even as India’s economy pays the higher costs, and its manufacturing sector loses global competitiveness. “The lessons learnt on the way to 1991 have been forgotten,” says Ninan.|
What happened in 1991? Well, it’s better to ask what happened before 1991. The “License Raj” did.
|Hospital redesign — from hacks to wholesome|
Savio By now, all of us have read or seen how stadiums, markets, convention centres, and other spaces were transformed into emergency medical centres. While this was necessary and had its role in helping fight the coronavirus, it has also shone a light on just how ill-equipped hospitals were to handle a pandemic. In fact, modern hospital architecture—empty white walls, bare floors, clean metal fixtures—is a carryover from the designs of the early 20th century, when tuberculosis was a pressing health concern. Covid-19 is demanding an overhaul.
|Unlike the airy, pristine emptiness of modernism, the space needed for quarantine is primarily defensive, with taped lines and plexiglass walls segmenting the outside world into zones of socially distanced safety. How the Coronavirus Will Reshape Architecture, New Yorker|
|Nonprofit architecture firm MASS Design Group looked into how The Mount Sinai Hospital, at the epicentre of the pandemic in New York City, adapted. Their conclusion: hospitals are not designed for pandemic surge.|
|Changes were ultimately bounded by inherited and inflexible infrastructure. Within adult ICU units, it was not possible to integrate antechambers due to the spatial constraints of the floorplan, as well as the need to maintain direct visibility and access to patient rooms for high-level nursing care. Shifting IVs and monitors outside the patient room was necessary, but created more congestion in the corridors. And while the HEPA filtration fixtures were necessary, they took up an immense amount of space within patient rooms and were loud, constraining staff movement, communication, and workflows. Redesigning Hospital Spaces on the Fly to Protect Healthcare Workers, MASS Design|
|Some of the “design hacks” noted by MASS Design|
|The hospitals of the future will have to be flexible, as well as scalable. Flexible to convert hospital rooms to critical care or isolation, and scalable in terms of increasing the bed capacity.|
|Multi-story car parks can replace the traditional car parks above the ground with an underground entrance for an ambulance which would create an easy passage for emergency patients. The elevators could be used to take doctors and patients above ground to the pavilion structures. The above-ground structures will be a collection of separate structures that are connected through the underground level and occasional sky-bridge. These buildings can house patients wards, administrative buildings that are not linked to medical treatment. In a crisis like this, it can become isolation wards for the staff. Rethinking Hospitals for a Pandemic Prone World, The Blue Circle|
|But, are there incentives for hospitals to do so?|
|For example, hospitals have traditionally measured their success in terms of bed occupancy. Consequently, their design features many private rooms and little space for walking. But current medical thinking holds that for a great many patients and conditions, getting up and around is essential for recovery. The traditional hospitals are delivering health care, but not necessarily health, which should be the ultimate objective. How the Architecture of Hospitals Affects Health Outcomes, HBR|
|The rapid spread of the virus has made people wary of visiting hospitals for regular tests and surgeries. The number of surgeries and OPDs (outpatient departments) have reduced, leading to lost revenue. Change rarely comes without incentive. The question is: Is Covid-19 incentive enough?|
|Heartbroken and hungry|
Jum The pandemic has worsened the plight of domestic workers in Hong Kong. Imagine leaving your family to take care of someone else’s in a foreign land because there are no jobs for you in your country. Then, when you get there, you end up starving in a crowded quarantine facility that raises the risk of you catching the fatal virus. That’s the situation many domestic workers arriving in Hong Kong at this time are finding themselves in, according to migrant worker groups. Workers were reported to have been left by employers to fend for themselves while in 14-day quarantine. Some have been eating noodles for days or, in the case of Muslims, food that’s disallowed by their religion. Some were even fired for exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms even though they didn’t test positive. This could push domestic workers further into debt. Most of them often borrow money to pay for recruitment costs just so they could land a job.
|Domestic workers are being placed in a vulnerable situation–put under quarantine and not paid. Many don’t want to complain… they don’t want to be terminated and some are not aware of their rights. Sringatin, chairwoman of Indonesian Migrant Workers Union, to South China Morning Post|
|These cases worry the unions as thousands of other migrants, mainly Filipinos and Indonesians, are expected to land in the city in the coming months. They’re urging the Hong Kong government to make sure domestic workers are given proper accommodation, food allowance, and other safety nets during quarantine. It’s unclear what action the government has planned, but unions hope it’s more than a simple reminder to employers to “comply with their obligations under the standard employment contract.” After all, there’s more than enough reasons for the government to care. Not only do migrant domestic workers help increase Hong Kong households’ income by relieving families of daytime responsibilities, but research shows they make a major contribution to the economy (US$12.6 billion spending in 2018 alone) as well.|
|Sound of silence|
Savio For some, the protracted absence of vibrant sounds of a normal society—traffic, markets, industries, sirens, etc—may be an uncomfortable reminder of their inactivity and lack of income. But the silence has created an extraordinary opportunity for scientists to conduct studies on topics ranging from acoustics to atmospheric science to ecology.
|Take the UK-wide scheme called The Quiet Project, which enlisted a network of acoustic engineers and researchers to map out changes to the ambient soundscape during lockdown. It has been building up a database of sound measurements that should act as an invaluable resource for understanding our acoustic environment: how sound correlates with economic activity, say, and how it affects wellbeing. […] This acoustic information could be useful for planners – for example, for cost-benefit analyses of how designated “tranquil areas” in cities can be preserved from development, or to plan for potential changes in the future. It should help to make better predictions of what things would be like if all vehicles were electric, say – which is possible in 10 years’ time. “You could quantify what you’d get to acoustically,” said Dance, “and put a value on it – which is a factor in the economic costs of making that change.” Why lockdown silence was golden for science, The Guardian|
|Education vs technology Olina In a previous edition, we wrote about how the Indian state of Karnataka banned online classes for all students up to grade 5. The government says it was concerned about the quality of online classes and the extended “screen time” for kids. Concerned parents came out swinging with a social media campaign, #righttolearn. While quality is an arguable metric, an opponent of the ban decided to take on the issue of screen time in a rather creative way. No matter what side of the debate you’re on, this is an interesting POV about the future of online learning.|


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The 2011 Nigerian UK Based Achievers Awards was hosted in the
Drum Center, Birmingham United Kingdom by comedian Alariwo Of
We caught up with Jazz aka Lanre Aluko-Olokun who gave and
outstanding performance for the night taking home the award for the
best up-coming artist category out of 11 nominees he dedicated
the award to his late dad-living legend Isaac Aluko-Olokun.
Jazz explained that in 2012 his EP 'Mr. Jazz’ (Up Close & Personal)-
with singles such as 'Losing Weight' & 'Damaged' currently rocking the
airways- would be out as well as a new fashion line featuring his 2011 spring/
summer collection. He has revealed his plans to launch
a new collection in 2012 this collection-under Lorenzo Duffle Bag
designs-promises to be colorful with a touch of glam and
elegance. Lanre loves to make use of African print fabrics (Ankara) and poses
a hand in which he makes them look unique and high fashion everytime.
Personally I adore the the ankara dresses, jackets and accessories
such as belt, bowtie, waist coat just to mention a few. This new
collection is something to watch out for!


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Huawei finds new way to bring home the bacon amid smartphone slump
It’s been a challenging time for Huawei, but it appears the company has found another way to fill its trough moving forward.
The company is experiencing a slump in smartphone sales, unaided by a ban on using Google services, while its mobile infrastructure business has been undermined by suspicions over its involvement with the Chinese government.
Now the mobile giant is turning its attention to pig farming. No really. Huawei is using its facial recognition technology in order to help farmers identify individual pigs. The company’s machine vision division will use other tech to monitor the animals’ weight, diet and vital stats.
In a statement to the BBC, the company said: “The pig farming is yet another example of how we try to revitalise some traditional industries with ICT (Information and Communications Technology) technologies to create more value for the industries in the 5G era.”
Huawei is also working on technology for coal mines. It says the tech will contribute to “fewer workers, greater safety, and higher efficiency.” Miners will be able to wear suits and ties to work, rather than spending their lives down the pit, according to the plans.
Related: Best mobile phones
The company’s smartphone sales fell 42% during the last three months of 2020, as the sanctions continue to cut into the attractiveness of phones like the Mate 40 Pro, despite offering “some of the best hardware we’ve ever seen.”
Our reviewer concluded the phone was a powerhouse for those who prefer to avoid Google or don’t mind a little side loading action. However, for everyone else, “the Google-shaped potholes that become apparent across a typical day and the high price will likely result in one too many compromises to take the plunge.”
Huawei’s chief executive Ren Zhengfei says the US sanctions are unlikely to be lifted any time soon, which means no Google apps on Huawei phones. He said last month: “We can still survive even without relying on phone sales.”


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U.K. financial regulators are proposing rules on stablecoins. Financial services and markets bill will be presented to parliament.
The Bank of England’s deputy governor Jon Cunliffe said earlier that stablecoin framework may come before the August summer break before broader crypto market regulations.
Recently, Tether, the developer of the largest stablecoin USDT announced launching a British pound-pegged stablecoin, GBP₮. According to a report by Reuters, UK finance minister Nadhim Zahawi said at the City of London's annual Mansion House dinner that due to regulations, consumers will remain protected. The legislation will ensure that scam victims can get compensation, and they will also act to protect access to cash for the people relying on it.


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Late last week, Albertsons made headlines as its C-suite leaders changed. Christine (Chris) Rupp revealed she will be leaving her position as the grocer’s Chief Customer and Digital Officer and has joined Victoria’s Secret & Co. (VS&Co) as its Chief Customer Officer.
“When I joined Albertson’s in December of 2019, I was excited about the prospect of making it easier to shop for fresh food. Little did I know that I would only have a short time to ramp up before the Pandemic hit—and it was no longer a matter of convenience, it was critical to give people more access - safely,” Rupp wrote in a LinkedIn post. “A couple of years later, we have delivered so many great experiences to our customers, I couldn’t be more proud. So it is time for me to move on to the next adventure.”
As the Albertsons Chief Customer and Digital Officer, Rupp was responsible for dramatically expanding the loyal customer base and e-commerce distribution while improving the speed and cost of delivery. Prior to joining the grocer, Rupp spent time at Microsoft and Amazon, where she led Fulfillment by Amazon and launched Amazon Prime Day.
This announcement comes after VS&Co announced a reorganization of its leadership. The clothing retailer will be rolling out a new corporate leadership structure designed to enable the execution of its strategy and fuel long-term growth goals.
Rupp is a renowned digital leader in the retail space, and she will be continuing to build on her 30-year career. According to the release, Rupp’s deep data and e-commerce expertise will become essential as she will be in charge of creating a seamless store and digital commerce business globally for VS&Co. Additionally, she will be accountable for sales and profitability across both channels.
Congratulations to Chris Rupp as she begins her next chapter!


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New Delhi, Dec 13 (UNI) India must take lead in sunrise sectors, such as battery storage, clean mobility, green hydrogen, artificial intelligence (AI) and semi-conductors as they will drive the world going forward, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said.
Delivering Defence Estates Day Lecture, 2021, the NITI Aayog CEO called for tapping growth in sunrise sectors as countries like Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China did, when they grew at very high pace over the 2-3 decades period.
“There are sunrise areas of growth and there will be disruptions in these sectors,” he noted.
Kant emphasized on the need for going all-out in clean mobility and cited the example of American electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla.
He stated that Tesla’s (market) valuation is almost US$ 2.5-3 trillion which is at par with GDP of a country like India. Moreover, valuation of one company making only electric vehicles is more than 11 car companies such as General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Honda.
“The world is at cusp of huge mobility revolution which will be shared, connected and zero emission. This revolution would be driven by huge amount of technological evolutions in the areas of mobility,” said the NITI CEO.
He said that semi-conductors and display manufacturing units are another area which will bring massive growth opportunities.
Kant noted that over the last five years, the domestic production of electronic goods in India has grown at a CAGR of 18 per cent plus and India’s share in global electronics market has tripled in that time.
“Today, every modern Indian has at least 2-3 connected devices — smart phones, laptop, smart TVs, smart watches. But we have become importer of all these products simply because we don’t have strength in semi-conductor,” he said.
“Therefore India needs to become a Champion in these areas. It’s important that there is critical realization that as demand grows in India we must start manufacturing some of these,” he added.
The senior bureaucrat noted that with recent technological disruption, battery storage is great opportunity in sustainable development in the country.
While refusing to comment on the proposed regulatory framework for crypto currencies, the NITI CEO said there should be pro-innovation bias in the regulations.
“There are two issues. One is crypto as a currency and crypto as an asset class etc. All this is subject to great discussion in the government right now and we are all party to that very huge amount of inputs that have been given for policy making. And it is going before the Cabinet so it will not be appropriate for me to comment at this stage,” he said.
“Technology is always ahead of regulation. It will be very important that regulation must keep pace with technology and there must be a pro-innovation bias. If we don’t have pro-innovation bias in a regulatory framework then it will be very difficult for India to move ahead,” he further said.
UNI NK ING
Credit: Source link


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According to a recent study, Apple iPhone owners are 167 times more at risk of being hacked, as smartphone hacking via third-party bugs has increased. The tech experts at UK-based phone case company Case24.com gathered the data by analysing monthly Google search volumes to see how many British people are looking to find information on how to hack different apps or smartphone brands.
The total search volume for iPhones was 10,040 in Britain -- significantly higher than Samsung that came in second place with 700 searches.
"LG, Nokia and Sony were the phones that hackers were least interested in, generating under 100 searches a month for each individual brand," reports goodtoknow.co.uk.
Sony was at the bottom with just 50 searches. In another finding, the tech experts came to know that 12,310 British people are interested in finding out how to hack someone's Instagram account.
Snapchat was second and WhatsApp third. Apps that posed a lower risk of being hacked were Facebook (1,120), Amazon (1,070) and Netflix (750).
"Instagram account is 16 times more likely to be hacked than your Netflix account," the study said.
The study, however, did not highlight specific risk factors and vulnerabilities.
Apple in August fixed an "unpatched" bug in the latest iOS update that had left its most up-to-date iPhones vulnerable to hacking risk.
The update introduced a fix for a vulnerability in which, according to Apple, "a malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges".
A security researcher that goes by the name of "Pwn20wnd" published a jailbreak for the earlier iOS 12.4 updates. Jailbreaking an iPhone lets people customise their iOS devices and run unsupported apps. Apple never allows unsupported apps on its iOS platform, which makes its devices extra secure.


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Self-driving cars are all very well and good, if you ignore the fact that they can’t spot potholes or drive in the rain. Today, though, an even more satisfyingly futuristic prototype was unveiled at a conference in Vienna: a flying car.
The “Aeromobil 3.0” is the size of a saloon car, can fit in a normal parking space and fuels up at normal petrol stations. It also features fold-away wings and would draw a few glances on the school run.
Here’s a rousing video showing the car taking off and landing (includes appropriately grandiose music):
Watch as the plucky Aeromobil gleefully flies past a sad, landlocked plane:
Unfortunately, the car won’t allow you to fly your way out of traffic jams, as takeoff and landing require a 50 metre strip of grass. As a result, owners may also need to invest in their own private field to avoid pissing off local farmers.
The prototype had its first test flight last week. Today, the car’s creators told the Pioneers conference in Vienna that, once on the market, the car could “change personal transport on a global scale”, and could be particularly useful in developing countries with weaker road infrastructure.
However, Stefan Vadocz, one of the designers, told the New York Times back in August that the car will be sold as a “superluxury vehicle” for “a few hundred thousand euros”. Not quite personal transport for the masses, then.This article is from the CityMetric archive: some formatting and images may not be present.


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LOS ANGELES, April 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- "AMD Presents The PC Gaming Show Powered by PC Gamer," the second annual event for developers, publishers, hardware companies, press and fans, will take place at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles on Monday, June 13 at 12 noon PDT. Presented by AMD, organized by PC Gamer, and streamed live in partnership with Twitch, the show will once again unite and energize the PC gaming community with exclusive news, fresh reveals and perspective from some of the most respected names in the industry. Sponsors and participants from last year's inaugural PC Gaming Show included game developers and industry titans like, ArenaNet, Blizzard, Cloud Imperium, Creative Assembly, Microsoft and Nexon.
For more information and to register for press access, please visit: www.PCGamingShow.com and follow #pcgamingshow.
With the success of last year's inaugural show, which boasted 30 on-stage guests and over one million live viewers, the 2016 PC Gaming Show promises an exciting lineup of announcements and participants. PC gaming continues to be the most powerful and affordable platform for gamers - and with innovation in virtual reality and esports, it's soon to reach more people than ever before. The PC Gaming Show celebrates the PC community that's always been, and the PC community that's on the horizon.
"AMD is once again proud to shine the spotlight on the games, tech and people behind PC gaming that make such a thriving and impassioned community possible," said Gerald Youngblood, Director of Worldwide Channel Marketing & Communications. "AMD's focus is creating the best experience for PC gamers and the PC Gaming Show at E3 is the perfect avenue for the fans and gamers to get the news that matters to them, first."
Organized by PC Gamer, with support from Presenting Partner, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD), the second annual PC Gaming Show will see participation from a range of game developers, including Bohemia Interactive, SEGA and Tripwire Interactive, among many others to be announced soon.
"We created the PC Gaming Show last year because E3 lacked an event designed to celebrate the amazing experiences possible on the platform we love," said Tim Clark, Global Editor-in-Chief, PC Gamer. "We're thrilled to be coming back this year, with a refined format and even more cool stuff to showcase."
About PC Gamer
PC Gamer is the global authority on PC games. For more than 20 years, it has delivered unrivaled coverage, in print and online, of every aspect of PC gaming. Our team of experts brings readers trusted reviews, component testing, strange new mods, under-the-radar indie projects and breaking news around-the-clock from all over the world.
SOURCE PC Gamer


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NCT DREAM are officially ‘triple million-seller’ for the second time in one year.
NCT DREAM’s second full-length album, Glitch Mode, and its repackaged version Beatbox have sold a cumulative 3.61 million copies, setting the group’s own best record and proving once again NCT DREAM increasing popularity and power in the music landscape.
Glitch Mode, released on March 28, sold 2.09 million copies within a week of the release and made the group a ‘double million-seller’ in the shortest time; the repackage Beatbox, released on May 30, sold 1.52 million copies, breaking their own record sales.
This is the second time in a row that NCT DREAM has become a ‘triple million-seller’ as last year, the group’s first full-length album Hot Sauce – released in May – and its repackaged album Hello Future – released in June – sold over 3 million copies combined.
Moreover, despite some of the members testing positive for COVID during Beatbox promotion week, NCT DREAM has continued to cement their popularity with Beatbox by topping Korean album and streaming charts, winning five music shows (Show Champion, M Countdown, Music Bank, Show! Music Core and Inkigayo), topping the top 100 Japanese line music charts, China QQ digital album sales and music video charts, and Singapore and Malaysia’s KBOX Korean single charts. In addition, after its release Beatbox debuted at No.3 on the Worldwide iTunes Album chart and No.14 on the European iTunes Album Chart. It also hit No.1 on the iTunes Top Albums chart in 11 countries and debuted on the US iTunes Top Albums chart at No.10.
To further prove NCT DREAM’s music growth, the second full-length album, Glitch Mode, has been selected by TIME Magazine as one of the best K-Pop albums of 2022 so far.
NCT DREAM will start their Beatbox extended promo this week and perform at ‘The 28th SBS Dream Concert’ on June 18th in Seoul.


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Destiny: The Taken King revealed in new E3 trailer
During Sony's PlayStation E3 2015 press conference, a video trailer revealed the new subclasses, new gear/weapons, and the new enemies/locations in Destiny's new expansion, The Taken King.
New Baddies, New Gear, New Supers
The trailer revealed the new enemies, the Taken, which are corrupted minions of Oryx's army. These new enemies are not what players had envisioned but are a great take on old enemies as they are rejuvenated in a new light or darkness in this sense. The new subclasses for the 3 races were also revealed. Watching the new supers in action shows just how much power are behind these attacks.
Oryx, the father of Crota and the Taken King, debuted in the trailer as a three-eyed demon. Oryx is the new raid boss for the new raid to be released with the expansion. Bungie has not at this time confirmed the new locations shown, but it does look like some encounters are in space, Mars, and on a new planet.
The Taken King is set for release September 15th, 2015.