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Controlant, a leader in real-time supply chain monitoring and visibility technologies for heavily regulated industries, such as pharmaceuticals & life sciences and food & beverage sectors, today announced it is providing monitoring and Supply Chain Visibility services to Pfizer, in relation to the delivery of Pfizer’s mRNA-based Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine’s global distribution.
“We selected Controlant’s innovative technology and platform to track and monitor the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines during shipment, from origin sites to their arrival at government preferred channel and designated vaccination locations,” said Tanya Alcorn, Vice President, Biopharma Global Supply Chain for Pfizer. “Controlant’s reusable, real-time data loggers and visibility and analysis platform integrates Pfizer’s existing control tower technologies to help manage temperature proactively, identify and react expeditiously to any events that can impact the supply chain, all while automating quality and logistics processes.”
In addition to the visibility and monitoring solutions that Controlant is providing to Pfizer for mRNA-based Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine distribution supply chain, the company is also working directly with the U.S. Government and health officials, such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and stakeholders in Operation Warp Speed, to provide on-site monitoring at U.S. Government-preferred designated vaccination locations to help seamlessly ensure continuity during hand-off, actionable communication, and visibility, throughout the entirety of the U.S. supply chain journey of the vaccines.
“Controlant has amassed a depth of expertise in vaccine supply chain operations, and we are happy to have the opportunity to apply our solutions to the entirety of the mRNA-based Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine supply chain, through our direct work with Pfizer and government stakeholders,” said Gisli Herjolfsson, Co-founder and CEO of Controlant. “We have built and continue to build products and services to prepare for and meet the changing demands of the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries, including real-time and automated solutions while helping brands, manufacturers, and logistics providers in these market segments ensure and maintain regulatory compliance and product integrity.”
Controlant’s 24/7 visibility and monitoring solutions fundamentally change the temperature-controlled supply chain from a reactive operational function to a proactive function, providing stakeholders across a product’s supply chain with an array of solutions to help prevent supply chain-related product loss, tampering, and spoilage, while increasing responsiveness and resilience.
Controlant IoT devices, packed with the vaccines, capture environmental information, including time, temperature, and light events, and send the information, in real-time, to Controlant’s proprietary cloud-enabled software and analytics platform, where designated stakeholders can view and receive alerts and react to live temperature and location data on demand.
Controlant currently monitors shipments of pharmaceuticals & life sciences and food & beverage products to over 115 countries worldwide.
To learn more and get news updates about Controlant, follow us on Twitter @controlant and LinkedIn in/controlant.
Controlant is a leader in real-time supply chain monitoring and visibility for heavily regulated industries, such as pharmaceuticals & life sciences and food & beverage sectors. Controlant’s mission is to deliver value across the end-to-end supply chain by dramatically increasing the visibility of product flow and quality while minimizing waste and increasing responsiveness through a completely new category of automated Cold Chain as a Service® solutions. Using Controlant’s IoT, cloud-enabled advanced analytics, API connectivity, and cost-reducing operational services, customers are achieving an annualized ROI and, in many cases, millions of dollars in savings, reducing material losses, and enhancing the reliability of their operations. Controlant is empowering Fortune 500 and world-leading enterprises, as well as their supply chain stakeholders, to achieve greater efficiency by automating their business processes and optimizing communication through technology.
Chief Marketing Officer
+354 690 5192


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Sony is working with the Arbor Day Foundation to make a particularly meaningful program for the game Horizon Forbidden West.
Horizon Forbidden West is coming out in just a few days and gamers are definitely excited for all the sizzling reviews of the game that have recently come out. While those reviews alone are enough to give gamers a reason to buy the game as soon as it’s released, Sony has delivered another meaningful event for environmentally conscious gamers. .
Announced via the PlayStation website and a teaser trailer on YouTube, Sony has partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation to work on three reforestation projects across the United States. However, to do this will require the help of gamers to contribute by playing the game Horizon Forbidden West and achieve a specific achievement.
For each player who unlocks the “Reaching the Daunt” achievement, Sony will plant a tree in the Douglas County Forest in Wisconsin, Sheep Fire Private Lands in Lassen County, California, where a devastating fire in 2020 burned nearly 30,000. acres of land and forest, and Torreya State Park in Liberty County, Florida. The plan is that the program will be implemented until all three projects are completed with an estimated requirement to plant 288,000 trees or until March 25.
Since Horizon Forbidden West releases on February 18th, players only have a month to meet the 288,000 tree maximum and that’s a lot, but Sony seems to be extremely confident that the game play will be successful in terms of sales. Aside from rave reviews, it’s also the long-awaited sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, a title popular enough to ship 7.6 million copies in its first year of release. Sony and developer Guerrilla Games recently revealed that as of November 2021 they have sold over 20 million copies of the game on PlayStation 4 and PC.
Sony has yet to explain how players get the “Reaching the Daunt” achievement, possibly to prevent spoilers. However, according to Push Square, this achievement will be extremely easy to unlock as it is part of the main storyline and can be obtained after about 90 minutes of gameplay. Since there will be plenty of players unlocking this achievement anyway, even without knowing anything about the program, Sony has essentially made its goal of planting 288,000 trees possible. a lot of.
As for why Sony is doing this, besides charity, it’s also because the inspiration for the game’s journey is about saving the environment. A mysterious plague is infecting the land where Aloy lives, so Aloy will have to set out for Forbidden West to find the source and hopefully stop the plague. Gamers who play the game will also join that journey and become environmental contributors when the game launches.
See also: Cyberpunk 2077 shows off gameplay on PS5 and Xbox Series X

domain: news


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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed a rule that could drastically lower overdraft charges at the nation’s largest banks. If approved, many bank customers could see their overdraft fees drop from about $35 to as little as $3. The agency estimates the new rule could save households up to $3.5 billion annually. Banking trade groups have decried the proposed rule changes.
Biden Administration Proposes New Rules to Lower Bank Overdraft Fees
HeadlineJan 18, 2024


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The Dutch may be known for their cheese but their consumption of milk and most other dairy products is going down steadily, broadcaster NOS reported on Wednesday.
Between 2016 and 2019, supermarket sales of milk fell by 6%, of buttermilk by almost 8% and ready-made milk puddings by as much as 25%, NOS said, quoting figures from market research group IRI.
Bas Roelofs, in charge of the Dutch market at dairy giant FrieslandCampina, told NOS radio that the ‘enormous’ choice consumers have in terms of drinks is one reason for the switch.
Health concerns about added sugar in puddings is another issue, he said. ‘We are busy reducing the amount of sugars in our products,’ he told the broadcaster.
Some of the slack has been picked up by a switch to plant and nut-based milks, which still only account for 1-2% of the market, Wageningen University researcher Stacy Pyett told NOS.
Nevertheless, the Dutch still eat one third more protein than they need on a daily basis, and animal protein is damaging to the environment, she said.
Belgian company Alpro is one of the main beneficiaries of the switch, and said sales are rising by tens of millions of euros in the Netherlands every year.
‘In the early days, in the 1980s, our products were mainly bought by people who were lactose-intolerant, but those days are over,’ spokeswoman Jasmien de Gussem told NOS.
The company now says 33% of Dutch households have a plant-based dairy product in the fridge.
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‘Tis the season! No, we don’t mean the holiday season. We mean the season for big brands to start looking ahead to 2017. Starbucks has done just that at their Biennial Investor Conference, where they showcased some upcoming offerings that they’ll roll out in the new year.
For starters, January will bring the launch of the new Cascara Latte for a limited time. The beverage is made with the fruity outer skin of the coffee cherry and spices up the classic Starbucks espresso with notes of dark brown sugar and maple. They’ll also relaunch the Smoked Butterscotch Latte for a limited run, which first made an appearance earlier this year.
On the breakfast front, the coffee titans are catering to the health food crowd with their Sous Vide Egg Bites, which offer a wheat-free, low calorie, high protein convenient alternative to their existing breakfast sandwiches. Later on in the spring, they also plan to serve up their first Certified Gluten-Free Breakfast Sandwich.
While they don’t exclusively offer breakfast-style food options, Starbucks isn’t exactly known for their lunch offerings. However, early 2017 might change that, as they plan to dish out organic soups and expand their Bistro Box selections while also introducing more grab-and-go lunch options.
The biggest expansion for the powerhouse brand, however, involves an invasion into the grocery aisles. Bottled Starbucks Cold Brew Cocoa, Honey with Cream and individually bottled Teavana Craft Iced Teas will all be popping up in select markets this coming spring. Flavors of these craft iced teas include Pineapple Berry Blue Herbal Tea, Peach Green Tea, Mango Black Tea and Passion Tango Herbal Tea.
Even a brand as big and successful as Starbucks has to change it up once in a while to keep their customers interested, and we’d say they are doing just that with these new, delicious sounding 2017 offerings.


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It looks like Intel wants a piece of the 3D printing industry, as today it has been announced that they have invested into 3D model marketplace CGTrader.
CGTrader is a marketplace for 3D models, that can be used for computer graphics or 3D printing. They allow designers to share their 3D designs, as well as sell them. Also the website provides options for customers to hire designers for custom jobs. Founded in 2011 by 3D designer, and now CEO Marius Kalytis, it has quickly become one of the most popular places for buying and selling 3D designs.
“We started last year with around 1,000 users and 8,000 3D models,” explained Kalytis. “More than 30,000 professional 3D designers joined CGTrader over 2013 alone. [Our] digital library of 3D models grew more than five times – and reached 45,000 models in the end of 2013. And this is not going to stop, of course!”
It is not known how much capital has been raised in this round of funding, but joining Intel Capital, was also existing investor Practica Capital.
“We have been impressed by the team’s ability to efficiently attract 3D content to CGTrader and rapidly grow the community of talented 3D designers. 3D printing technology will redefine multiple industries, and CGTrader’s team uniquely understands the process of creating and distributing digital 3D content.” – says Petras Miciunas, partner at Practica Capital”
There are several large websites around the internet that allow for designers to sell 3D printed items of their designs, or even give them away for free. However, there really are not any popular sites that allow designers to sell their un-printed designs. Popular website, Thingiverse allows designers to post their designs for others to download free of charge, while another website, Shapeways allows designers to sell 3D printed versions of their designs.
CGTrader, however allows designers to sell or give away just the design, so that individuals that have 3D printers at home can print these out themselves.
“While there are a number of websites that offer free 3D model downloads for 3D printing, we believe that talented content creators need a platform where they could showcase and monetize their work and trade high-quality digital 3D content. As [the] 3D printing market expands, the demand for 3D models will grow enormously and CGTrader will be placed perfectly to provide 3D content and 3D modelling skills for the world’s needs,” said Marius Kalytis.
It is unknown if this will be the final round of investment, or if there will be future rounds. However, this does go to show that there is a strong interest in 3D design marketplaces, that will surely continue to grow along with the 3D printing industry.
Intel Capital is a division of Intel Corporation that invests across a broad spectrum of technology innovation. They encourage the technologies of tomorrow and focus on helping entrepreneurs scale from start-up to global corporations. In 2012 alone, they made 150 separate investments for a total of $352 million.
This will surely give CGTrader a huge jump-start in becoming the largest 3D model marketplace on the net.
What do you think about this investment? Discuss this article at 3DPrintBoard.
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This article is more than 1 year old
BT providing free meals to coax its healthy customer support staff back into office as calls rocket amid pandemic
We need to get people's nans on WhatsApp
BT has begun asking contact centre employees to return to work as it grapples with an increasing number of customer calls resulting from the UK-wide lockdown.
Marc Allera, CEO of BT's consumer branch, tweeted:
We're doing all we can @bt_uk, @EE and @Plusnethelp to keep serving our customers and keep our people safe at this difficult time.— Marc Allera (@MarcAllera) March 27, 2020
This is why we’re asking our people to come into our contact centres, if they’re healthy and able – so our customers can get the help they need. 1/5 pic.twitter.com/xcr8O775UV
An image attached to Allera's tweet outlined the precautionary measures BT has taken to protect employees by enforcing social distancing and increasing the amount of clearing.
BT has also said it will provide employees with free meals and continue paying those that are forced to self-isolate in order to protect themselves and others.
Contact centre staff across the BT, EE and Plusnet brands are regarded as key workers due to their role in ensuring the continuing functionality of the telecommunications sector. Across the board, calls to BT's support lines have grown 16 per cent.
Calls to the firm's various sales line have increased by 27 per cent -one factor is the growth in customers moving from "dumb" feature phones to smartphones in order to use WhatsApp and other messaging platforms. BT said that its PAYG phone lines have received 70 per cent more traffic in this past week.
It also noted that one in 10 EE customers are requesting second lines, presumably for other members of their household. Calls to EE's home broadband sales team are up 30 per cent, while for BT they've grown 45 per cent.
It's a touch ironic that BT doesn't have remote-working facilities in place for its contact centre workers given the deluge of Zoom calls it's currently facilitating, although that is not particularly surprising.
As anyone who has worked in corporate IT knows, building and deploying the infrastructure required to support remote working is an expensive, time-consuming process – particularly when you're working at the kind of scale as the BT Group, which has over 17,500 contact centre employees across the UK and Ireland.
This comes after rival Virgin Media announced it would hire an additional 500 UK contact centre staff to try to compensate for the abrupt closure of call centres in India and the Philippines.
The FT stated interviews would take place over video calls, and prospective candidates would have to work on site at Virgin Media's existing call centres in Teesside, Sheffield, Greater Manchester and Birmingham.
The Register has asked BT to comment. If we hear back, we'll update this story. ®


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Hilton Worldwide is launching a new lifestyle brand called Canopy by Hilton.
The brand's first 11 properties will be in London, Portland, Miami, Washington DC, San Diego, Nashville, Savannah, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Oklahoma City and Ithaca.
Canopy by Hilton hotels will be located in both new-build and conversion properties. The first hotels are expected to open next year.
Hilton revealed that the brand has been developed with four key elements in mind — great neighbourhoods, comfort and design, more included value and a "positively yours" culture. Each hotel will utilise local design and food and drink.
Christopher J Nassetta, president and CEO of Hilton Worldwide, said: "Built on extensive market research, our highly-anticipated Canopy by Hilton brand delivers a fresh approach to hospitality and the guest experience.
"We saw an opportunity to not only enter the lifestyle space by developing a new brand, but also to redefine this category by creating a more accessible lifestyle brand.
"We identified the need to take the emphasis off of capital-intensive design and deliver exactly what the target consumer desires: an energising, comfortable stay with more included value."
Canopy by Hilton is Hilton Worldwide's 12th brand. Its announcement comes four months after Hilton Worldwide revealed its Curio brand (see news, June 2).


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DAYTON, Ohio -- A market research firm predicts that spending on Mother's Day will rise 3 percent nationwide, reaching $18.1 billion, as consumers benefit from an improving economy to pamper their mothers, wives, sisters and friends with children.
The average household will spend a projected $156.60 on Mother's Day-related purchases, according to IBISWorld, a Los Angeles-based industry and market research firm. Jewelry, dining out at restaurants and flowers will remain the most popular gifts, although gift certificates and electronics will gain traction among time-crunched shoppers looking to buy gifts online or at the last minute, IBISWorld officials said in a news release.
Spending on jewelry, flowers, and restaurant visits is expected to account for nearly half of all purchases this Mother's Day, while sales of greeting cards are expected to drop slightly as consumers turn increasingly to e-cards, email and social networks to send holiday messages.
Mother's Day is the second-highest-grossing holiday after Christmas, IBISWorld officials said.
Local entrepreneur finalist for big award
BRADENTON -- It Works! Global founder Mark Pentecost is one of this year's finalists for Ernst & Young's Florida entrepreneur of the year award.
Pentecost is one of 17 nominees for the award from South Florida. Finalists for the award have collectively grown their workforces by 19 percent and revenue by 32 percent between 2011 and 2013.
Pentecost received notice this week that he is in the running for the award, which will be given out on June 12. It Works! public relations coordinator Kate Martin said the nomination is "definitely an honor" for Pentecost. She said he shares the honor with the company's 86 employees.
"Mark is all about the team," Martin said.
Pentecost founded It Works! in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 2001. The direct marketing company registered $456 million in sales last year.
The company is moving from its current headquarters in Bradenton to a newly remodeled building in Palmetto on May 17.
Banks helps stuff food bank pantry
MANATEE COUNTY -- Fifth Third Bank partnered with The Salvation Army to collect non-perishable food items at its financial centers in Manatee County through the annual "Feeding our Communities" food drive.
Fifth Third Bank collected 6,640 pounds of food exceeding its goal of 5,300 pounds. The food collected throughout the drive equals 26,560 meals for families in seven counties.
"Feeding our Communities" is a component of Fifth Third Day (May 3), an annual event when the bank celebrates its heritage by giving back to the community. Fifth Third Bank's partnership with The Salvation Army works to address the effects of critical issues such as hunger and homelessness.
-- Herald staff and wire reports


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On budget day, you said Nokia may increase mobile phone prices. What have you decided?
They have gone up this morning (Monday). In the phones that are imported from outside the country, prices have gone up by 3.5% to 4% and the phones that are manufactured in India, they have gone up by 1% to 1.5%. So, if you’re buying a Rs 10,000 phone, price is up by Rs 350. All others have done it and Nokia has just did so.
Consumers say your faith in Symbian is failing and Microsoft OS will be in very soon, then why the launch the E7 on Symbian and at a very steep price?
It's a damn good phone at that price point. It’s not that we have less faith in Symbian but its time to move on to new operating system, or OS. We have announced a new strategy and said we're partnering with Microsoft Windows Phone OS. Somewhere in the next 12 months you will see a phone from that system. But the Symbian will remain for the next 150 million units that we intend to sell globally. There will be a transition period, which is true for any business.
We will phase out Symbian in about two years. We’re enhancing a number of features in the series 40 phones (non-Symbian). While one part of our strategy is Windows Microsoft, the second part is connecting the next billion to the Internet and India would be a very big market for that. So we will have significant innovations in browser and form factor among other new things, because in India people will connect to the Internet more on the mobile phone than on the personal computer.
Nokia N8, C6-01, and C7-00 are currently on Symbian. Why would anyone buy these phones when new platform will outdate them?
That’s a very narrow way to look at it because at the end of the day people buy phones because of a number of things – form factor, looks, battery life, application etc. The Symbian OS is a great product and its not that people will say there’s something wrong with it so they wont use it and that’s the reason why it (Symbian) will continue.
Even previous launches in the same E series has failed to create any buzz in India. When it comes to a perception of a business phone, Nokia is not the first choice for customers. So, is Nokia reduced to being present in all segments, but not first choice in any? Also, are you reduced to being a volume player, but not the preferred choice for business and high-end phones.
I wouldn’t say that. We’d be the best choice in almost every segment on many factors. Nokia brand continues to be extremely strong and relevant in every segment. At the entry level and even at the top end we have the majority of the market. Nokia is a full line player. I don’t think we have a danger, as perceived by some. In this business you always have to out-compete, out-perform the competition and not rest on your laurels because what you do well today is not relevant for next year. You have to constantly reinvent yourself because the pace of change is very quick. I wouldn’t say we’re reduced to being a volume player - 63% of the smartphones sold in India carry the Symbian platform.
Of the 150 million Symbian phones to be sold globally, how many do you expect to sell in India?
The smartphone market in India is less than a million units a year right now and is expected to go to 4 million units by 2014, according to industry. So, you’re talking of a market that is doubling every year of which we have a very big share. According to Canalys, Symbian smartphones led the market in 2010 with 63% volume share. RIM was at 17% and Apple at 0.3%.
The fact that Chinese players are not paying taxes, have low-end or unreliable products – are these excuse for your falling market share?
I think we have a gap in our portfolio, which is the lack of a dual-sim product. We have everything else. As long as there is a tariff arbitrage between players there will be a need for a dual-sim phone, despite mobile number portability. I wouldn’t say its late to bring a dual-sim in the market but what’s more important is that what innovation will Nokia bring to the dual-sim.
How will Nokia reduce its time of concept-to-product from the current six months, to deal with competition?
That’s a fair challenge. Overall, cycle times in this industry have been very quick and now they’re getting shorter and shorter. Understanding the consumers’ needs and adding features accordingly will be difficult for smaller players. While nimbleness is valued by a small player who can benefit from it in the short-term, but in the longer term the fundamental investment in R&D will always pay for the bigger player.
Nokia spend's the largest on R&D. Yet, it hasn't been able to come out with a killer-phone to tackle iphone and now ipad. Nokia also seems to be introducing products later than competition. Comment.
Overtime, since Nokia has become a digital organization in 1991, people have said that we lack this or that. But Nokia has fine-tuned its offerings to be more competitive than before. Overall, I think cycle-times need to quicken up across the industry and it will happen. For Nokia, it is doable. I am not the right person to say by when will this happen but the cycle-times for the industry will have to reduce from the current 2-3 years to 1 or 1.5 years.
When will Nokia introduce its smartphones under $50 in India?
The definition of a smartphones is changing as consumer needs are changing. We already have a number of high-end feature phones under $75 that are loaded with features - we call them allrounders. A number of high-end features such as wide-screen, browsing, 32 GB space and video are democratized in the under-$50 phones. We have 25-30 models in this category and going forward we would want to have a good portfolio of say around 40-50 models.
How much does Ovi Life Tools add to overall revenues? How do you intend to grow this contribution?
Ovi Life Tools is part of the phone and we share half the revenue with the operator. There are millions of consumers of Ovi Life Tools because they see a huge value in agriculture, education and entertainment. Going forward, we will have services based on healthcare and wellness for these consumers. We would want most of the series 30 and 40 phone users to use these tools significantly. For eg, repurchase rates for these services are very high
What is the response to Nokia E7's pre-sales?
Sales have been good. We’ve announced the best-buy price of Rs 29,999 last Friday, people are happy with this phone.
- Front Page
- Pure Politics
- Bottom Line
- Deep Dive
- PM Vows Strict Action; Death Toll Climbs to 288
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government will ensure that “strictest punishment” is given to those responsible for the worst train accident in the country in decades, which claimed at least 288 lives and injured more than 1,099 people when Coromandel Express derailed on Friday night and its bogeys lying on two adjacent tracks led to collision with two other trains.Railways Sets up Panel to Probe Crash; Modi, Vaishnaw Visit Site
The Centre has initiated an investigation into the train accident in Odisha that claimed over 288 lives. Indian Railways has set up a high-level committee to look into the cause of the mishap involving Bengaluru-Howrah Yesvantpur Express, Coromandel Express and a goods train at Bahanaga Bazar Station in Balasore district.On Day 1, World Bank Chief Sets Development & Climate as Priorities
The World Bank’s new president Ajay Banga on Friday asked the lender’s 16,000 staff to “double down” on development and climate efforts as he seeks to accelerate the bank’s evolution to tackle the most pressing global problems.
Read More News on
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Under the lens
Shake things up! Supreme Court’s Adani panel wants sweeping reforms in Sebi’s functioning
9 mins read
How last-mile tech is automating logistics operations, and what it means for supply-chain managers
9 mins read
11 mins read


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PHILADELPHIA - The European Commission has cleared the way for the merger that will create the largest packaging company in the world. On Nov. 14, the EC approved the acquisition of Paris-based CarnaudMetalbox by Crown Cork and Seal Co. Inc. of Philadelphia. Both firms have annual sales of nearly $5 billion, and make metal and plastic packaging, including PET soft drink bottles.
The commission reviewed the plans to resolve anti-competitive concerns over aerosol cans made by both. As a result of negotiations with the commission, after the merger is completed, the resulting company will sell en bloc several of its aerosol plants.
Crown Cork's shareholders will vote on the merger plan Dec. 19.


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Zoom! Mopeds are taking over Charlotte!
I remember when I was in high school, my family couldn’t afford to get me a car to use, so we talked about getting me a moped to drive around town. As a stuck up little high-schooler, I thought that was so embarrassing, but now looking back… HOW COOL WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN?! I would have loved to have been “Moped girl.”
As Charlotte grows and it becomes harder and harder to find parking, and get around easily, many people are looking for alternatives to cars. Lots of people use the scooters to get around town easily, but there seems to be a new trend growing; mopeds!
According to WCNC, moped sales are way up! They talked to Mike Hutchins, who is the owner of Mike’s Auto Sales, and he said his scooter sales are up 400% from last year and they are selling fast.
Inflation is causing people to be more cautious about big purchases, so car sales have actually gone down in the last year. But moped sales are doing the opposite!
While I personally haven’t noticed an increase in mopeds on the road yet in Charlotte, I do believe that people are buying more of them. Cars are so expensive, and with Charlotte having so many back roads to get through the city on, I think a moped would be perfect, and a much more cost friendly option.
The only thing I would be worried about is the drivers in Charlotte. I barely trust them in my car, let alone on a moped! Stay safe out there, and happy riding!


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Kylie Jenner has been accused of being “unsanitary” after her recent visit to the Kylie Cosmetics lab.
The 24-year-old shared a carousel of behind-the-scenes lab photos to Instagram on Wednesday.
The mom-of-two captioned the post: “in the lab creating new magic for you guys 💕 better than ever.”
Kylie looked as glamorous as ever, as she donned a white lab coat.
However, her fans quickly pointed out her “unsanitary” lack of a hair mask, face mask, and gloves while checking up on her makeup products.
One Instagram user commented, “I just see so many lab rules not being followed,” as another said, “Going to find hair in the make up.”
A third wrote, “No gloves ? No hair net ?,” as a fourth agreed, “Where’s your gloves though ????”
A fifth said, “What kind of professional lab can u enter without hygiene security clothes??? 🤪🤪🤪 NONE.”
Kylie first founded Kylie Cosmetics in 2014, and the company began retailing their famous lip kits in 2015.
The 24-year-old has since launched collections her each of her sisters Kourtney, Kim, Khloe and Kendall, and her mom Kris.


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On a Thursday in April, the 200-foot tall LED display located at One Times Square displayed a large-scale slogan that read: “We Make Tomorrow.” The business behind the advertisement was Zymergen, a California synthetic biology firm that had just been made to the public market with a value of $3 billion. The three founders of the company -three – Josh Hoffman, Zach Serber, and Jed Dean — appeared on the panel, smiling beneath their masks, decorated with their green Zymergen logo.
The company has attracted over $1 billion of venture capital funding from companies like SoftBank and Baillie Gifford and was able to sell the investors its moonshot concept of creating products typically comprised of petrochemicals, including an optical film for smartphones to mosquito repellent and mosquito repellant, in a way that is more sustainable for the planet. Through “partnering together with Nature,” according to the prospectus of Zymergen, it will engineer microbes that can be fermented into these products, just as yeast is fermented to make beer or bread. Since the beginning of time, companies specializing in synthetic biology have been working in the outskirts of science, claiming that the technology to program cells would transform the world just as the computer revolution has. Zymergen’s April IPO, together with Ginkgo Bioworks’ more significant offering within five months — represented a pivotal moment for the emerging field.
In just four months, Zymergen released a dramatic announcement. It stated that it would generate zero dollars in revenues from its products in 2021. It also noted that it was expecting “product revenues to be insignificant” in 2022, too. In the S-1 offer document, the company stated that it was in the process of evaluating its first product, an optical film for folding LED screens. It also said it had several customers and anticipated revenue in the second quarter of 2021. The company also stated that it had ten more products in the pipeline, with the next due to launch in 2022. In its statement from August Zymergen acknowledged that the optic film was experiencing “technical difficulties” and that its launch was delayed. Hoffman was the company’s 50-year-old CEO, was gone. Jay Flatley, the 68-year-old former head of the genome-sequencing giant Illumina, who was elected the chairman of Zymergen just before its public listing, was appointed the interim CEO.
Zymergen’s stock plunged 69% the following day, taking away almost $2.5 billion of market value. It was a shock for a business that had already raised over one billion dollars of venture capital and $530 million more during its initial public offering. Lawyers are suing shareholders on behalf, and regulators are reported to be looking into the company.
However, according to sources from former employees as well as industry insiders, there were warning signs at Zymergen prior to the crisis in August.
The prospectus stated that its 2020 revenues were only $13 million, and its net losses for 2018 were $262 million. It also said that it was struggling to make Hyaline biologically and that its U.S. contract manufacturer would eventually require replacement. According to an ex-higher-level employee of Zymergen, Hoffman used exaggerated financial data and presented overly optimistic predictions about Zymergen’s capabilities both internally and externally. The former employee who has a stake in the company recalls Hoffman’s reaction when confronted over this conduct: “Never underestimate the power of the fool.”
In an environment of abounding liquidity, companies are taking their businesses to market earlier and at more attractive valuations, particularly in highly demanding areas such as life sciences and technology. For instance, last year, 44 tech IPOs went public at an average price/sales ratio of 13 to the historical average of six since 1980 as per data collected by Jay Ritter, a academician at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business. This year, these figures have only risen by 90 tech companies going public with a median ratio of fifteen. This is one of the few times considering the height of the Internet bubble that this metric has been in double figures. In September, Ginkgo went public through SPAC in a $17 billion deal that valued Ginkgo more than 100 times, trailing 12-month revenue.
“You see these bubbles on markets,” declares Sri Kosaraju, the chief executive officer of the synthetic biology company Inscripta who was previously in charge of J.P. Morgan’s Healthcare Capital Markets practice, and was co-lead of its technology practice. “There’s lots of cash floating around but no place to put it. There is room for innovation in technology and life sciences, and that’s where the money is going, so that’s why you’ll find these rising valuations.” It’s become so crazy that instead of considering trailing revenues or even estimates for next year for valuation, researchers from the sell-side “are currently calculating three- or four-year-forward revenue multiples to justify the valuation,” he says. “I’ve never seen valuations as high as these before.”
When companies with a lot of attention like WeWork or Theranos fall apart, founders of the companies usually assume the blame. For venture-backed companies, there’s a lot of guilt to share. Investors like SoftBank let founders start their businesses and then transfer their investment to the public via IPOs. Underwriters, as well, such as Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan in the case of Zymergen could be failing to perform the necessary due diligence (Goldman Sachs didn’t respond to a request for comments as did a representative for J.P. Morgan declined to respond). Additionally, the directors of venture-backed businesses must make sure that their company’s projections and filings are correct and reliable, according to John C. Coffee, Jr., a professor of law at Columbia University.
“In the process of doing the paper-work for the IPO typically, you’d get a significant amount of due diligence conducted by everyone at the legal firms of the company as well as the underwriters. They have not seem to be aware of this issue in any way.” Coffee says. “We could have another example of highly skilled people who aren’t vetting an upcoming company and instead of trusting on the founders’ charming story.”
In the cutting-edge field of synthetic biology to autonomous vehicles and space exploration, the art of separating promising companies from hype or fraud can be a difficult task. These organizations could create the next generation of life-changing technologies. However, the process usually lasts for years, and many businesses will be unsuccessful in the process. In the case of Zymergen’s public listing, it was a further problem the synthetic biology field is so fresh that stock analysts who cover these companies are usually experts in chemical manufacturing where the methods of scale-up and manufacturing are different from those in “synbio” or biotech experts that focus on drugs, which face various marketing and regulatory concerns. According to Pinnacle Associates portfolio manager Randy Baron who has invested in the synthetic biology company Amyris but avoided Zymergen and Amyris, says: “Zymergen is a flashing signal for anyone who thinks you can avoid the pain of a decade.”
Zymergen hasn’t made any public comments on the situation since Hoffman quit in August, except the course of a conference call with investors, during the time that Flatley the acting CEO, acknowledged the importance of concerns regarding the company’s credibility. “I would like to state the obvious truth that we’re taking this matter seriously,” Flatley said during the conference call, stating that the firm had established an oversight committee to oversee the strategic direction of the company and had plans to conduct a thorough review with the assistance of advisors outside the company. “We’re determined to restore trust in both the leadership team as well as the business. We recognize this will not happen few weeks or months but will require consistent quarter-after-quarter execution against a credible plan.” Zymergen has declined to respond to detailed queries to Forbes, but said in a statement that the remains “as confident as ever regarding our platform and ability to bring new solutions to the market” noting “our science and technology are solid.” Zymergen’s board members have either refused to respond to media inquiries or forward requests to the company and so did SoftBank and the majority of its investors. Hoffman hasn’t responded to requests for comment on social media, and his lawyer has declined to provide him with remarks. Serber, as well as Dean, have not yet responded to inquiries for comment. For clarification. Investment management firm Baillie Gifford was the lead investor in the July 2020 round of funding in Zymergen reported that the firm is in good hands “The company has taken swift action by appointing Jay Flatley as interim CEO,” Tom Slater, who is a Baillie Gifford Partner, wrote in an email sent to Forbes. “We have worked closely with Jay as he served as chief executive officer of Illumina and are extremely juttingof his achievements and are looking further working with him and Zymergen’s new leadership team.” Zymergen.”
Zymergen’s Hoffman was a former McKinsey analyst and banker for Rothschild. He first met Serber and Dean when he was working at Amyris, one of the first synthetic biology companies, and where they served as executives. The trio joined forces in 2013 to create Zymergen, which Hoffman founded as its CEO, Serber, 46, as chief scientist, and Dean 43, who is the vice engineer president. The company was named Zymergen to represent a mashup of the words Zymurgy (the investigation of fermentation) and genomics, merge and locating it at Emeryville, California, a hub for biotech startups.
In the past, they were betting on the potential of biology to produce eco-friendly products for industrial use like cellphones. They may not have realized the difficulties in developing products for this market, according to Tom Baruch, a long-time investor in the area of synthetic biology via Baruch Future Ventures. Baruch Future Ventures. “Industrial customers are extremely fickle,” Baruch says. “Anybody that has been in the field of materials selling electronics is aware of how difficult it can be.”
The issues began to surface before that company’s IPO. At an all-hands conference at the beginning of 2018, Hoffman was on stage to give the status report to his employees of around 500. The company had just purchased Radiant Genomics, a genomic database company, following more than a year of courtship.
Based on the information provided by the previous Zymergen employee, the co-founders of the two Radiant co-founders -Jeff Kim and Oliver Liu Jeff Kim and Oliver Liu agreed to acquire the company after seeing Zymergen’s internal pipeline, which included the projected size of contracts worth billions in 2021. In the year before the acquisition, Radiant posted revenue of just less than $10 million, as per the employee who was made acquainted with the two companies’ financial statements as part of the process of due diligence. Before the transaction was concluded, Radiant was told that Zymergen was poised to record triple that amount in 2017. The employee claims. Liu did not respond to requests for comments, or Kim did not respond to requests for comments.
The affable Hoffman delivered his address at the event and shared Zymergen’s employees Zymergen’s annual revenue of less than $10 million. “Wait for a second,” the former employee recalls thinking. “That’s Radiant’s figures. It’s exact Radiant’s figures — which told me that Zymergen was a non-profit company.”
Despite the absence of income generated by its operations, Zymergen continued to raise funds to expand. In less than a year following it completed the Radiant deal was completed, Zymergen successfully courted the Vision Fund at SoftBank, the Japanese technology investment fund managed by billionaire Masayoshi Son. The firm, which is famous for placing huge bets in Silicon Valley companies, led an investment round of $400 million at Zymergen in December of 2018. While the investment was modest relative to that of the Japanese business’s previous $4.4 billion stakes in WeWork, the round almost tripled the venture-backed value of Zymergen at 340 to $900 million. The cost of the investment is only $5.56 per share per Pitchbook, which is $16.68 following the reverse split this year of 3:1, which puts it in a position to earn a profit at the $31 price per share. The company still holds its stake. However, after the split, the investment has fallen into a state of disarray. A spokesperson from SoftBank and Travis Murdoch, director at SoftBank and a member of Zymergen’s board of directors, did not want to comment on the deal.
In April, Zymergen announced a multi-year collaboration with Japanese company Sumitomo Chemical to develop new materials used in the consumer electronics industry. In the fall of 2019, it signed a lease for 305,000 square feet in Emeryville that was previously a Novartis lab. The expansion was just one part of a plan to increase the number of laboratory and office space square feet in Zymergen’s portfolio. There are 1200 more jobs in the pipeline, according to a report published in SiliconValley.com . Zymergen also set up a design software wing in Seattle. Zymergen also established a design software department in Seattle and hired about 250 computer engineers.
In April of 2020, the company announced Hyaline which Zymergen declared in its prospectus, an opportunity worth $1 billion. With the outbreak disrupting supply chains worldwide, Zymergen was forced to lay off approximately 10 to 15 percent of their employees one month later as per ex- Zymergen employees who were fired in the course of. “Layoffs have begun,” read a Glassdoor review written in May of 2020. “Just another startup that has been spending more than they put into.” However, despite the issues that have been brewing, the investment management firm Baillie Gifford was the leader of a financing round that brought in 350 million dollars for Zymergen in July last year.
Hoffman and his co-workers began to prepare for Zymergen’s IPO in the autumn of 2020. Zymergen was burning through cash at over $250 million per year the same way it was the year prior as per its IPO document and offering document. Hyaline was bringing just $13 million in income in 2020 through R&D services agreements or collaboration arrangements. If Zymergen continues to be burning cash, Baillie Gifford-led funding was likely to be gone by year’s end in 2021. “If we do not fund capital or sign these agreements when necessary, we may need to delay, cut back or cease the development, launch, or commercialization of any of our products and other strategic initiatives,” Zymergen warned when it filed its preliminary IPO application.
The global head of HSBC’s chemical research Sriharsha Pappu (who started covering the company with “hold” and has since lowered it at “reduce”) inquired of Zymergen executives the reason for making an IPO “they stated that they considered that the IPO opportunity was there for companies that were not yet profitable like theirs and that it would be an inexpensive source of capital which is the reason they chose to proceed with the IPO,” Pappu told Forbesby in an email. On April 20, 2021, the Zymergen IPO raised $530 million in IPO, greater than 200 times the 2020 revenue.
CEO Hoffman has set a positive tone regarding the company’s business operations during an interview at the time of the IPO’s day in Forbes, claiming that the market potential for its initial ten products in the fields of electronics and personal care and agricultural was $1.2 trillion. “I’m not saying we’re going offer $1.2 trillion, and let’s just not make this too crazy, but it’s a commonplace across different product classes,” he said.
“When you come across these Silicon”Silicon Valley businesses, you’ll find people who are promotional and [Hoffman] came off as being a bit promotional,” said Les Funtleyder, the portfolio manager for healthcare as well as a partner of E Squared Capital, who ended up not taking a stake in Zymergen and taking part with it in the IPO. Zymergen’s business model swayed him away from Funtleyder. “We were unsure of the way they would earn money,” he says. “We were able to see that the valuation was, to our eyes, very high, but there were no tangible outcomes.”
It was also reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission had issues, too, as previously reported by Forbes. Correspondence with the SEC revealed that the regulators were unsure of Zymergen’s plans for increasing revenues and profits, as well as its financial health as well as its outstanding debt including a credit facility of 100 million dollars prior to the IPO. The SEC also asked the company to not compare its products with Kevlar, which is a durable and heat-resistant fabric made by the chemical giant DuPont which is found for bulletproof jackets, tire, and many other things “as it is not believed to be an appropriate comparability,” according to a letter from Katherine Bagley at the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. It is SEC did not respond to this story or confirm or deny it is currently investigating Zymergen.
Alongside the leadership of the interim CEO Flatley, a well-known biotech executive who helped build Illumina to $1.3 million in sales in 2000 to a $2.2 billion sequencing company in 2015. Zymergen also has plenty of cash — totaling $578 million, including the proceeds from its IPO on June 30. Cathie Wood’s Ark Investments, which already held shares of Zymergen, purchased more following the company’s collapse, buoying the company’s shares. The Ark Genomic Revolution ETF now has 3.7 percent of Zymergen’s stock, as per Morningstar. Its shares have risen by nearly 40% from their previous lowest of $8 and are currently $11.23. Wood hasn’t responded to inquiries for comments.
Zymergen’s management has announced it will have to reduce expenses, and analysts expect considerable reductions in staff, possibly 50 percent or more. According to its most recent quarterly data, the company’s September quarter saw Zymergen cut 120 of its employees. By June 2021, Zymergen had accumulated total losses of $959 million.
What Hoffman stated to Forbesin the course of an interview in the year 2000 may be much more pertinent to his previous company now: “The idea of using biology to make industrial products/services has been around for a long time as a wish. If you’re not able to achieve it at the scale of a factory, it’s a concept with great appeal. However, it’s not likely to be a reality.”


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11 Jan PROVE It Act: Q&A on Advancing Clean Energy in Energy and Environment
The PROVE IT Act, led by Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND), would “prove” that U.S. industry produces cleaner products than our foreign competitors.
What does the bill do?
The PROVE IT Act directs the Department of Energy (DOE), in coordination with the National Labs, to conduct a study to compare the greenhouse gas emissions intensity of certain covered products produced in the United States to the emissions of those same goods produced in certain foreign countries, like China.
Why is the bill needed? And how does it help U.S. manufacturers?
Starting in 2026, the European Union (EU) will impose a carbon tax on certain imported goods. The United Kingdom (UK) will follow the EU a year later. Independent studies indicate that U.S. production is more than 40% more carbon efficient than the world average. But, without an official federal dataset proving this efficiency, American producers will be subjected to EU and UK calculations, which can be designed to favor their industries over U.S. industry. This bill gives U.S. officials the ability to defend and promote U.S. commercial interests when foreign governments move to impose import taxes on the U.S. that are based on inaccurate data.


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Cadbury clinches Australian deal
Drinks and snacks giant Cadbury Schweppes has clinched a deal which will see it bottle up Pepsi, 7 UP and Mountain Dew drinks in Australia. The group said it had reached an agreement with Australian beer giant Lion Nathan and US drinks firm Pepsi Cola to buy the two groups' Australian bottling joint venture company.
Following the deal, Cadbury will be the exclusive bottler for Pepsi Cola brands in Australia, which will be combined with Cadbury's own Schweppes, Sunkist, Dr Pepper and Oasis brands.
John Sunderland, chief executive of Cadbury said the deal would enable the Australian division to 'compete more effectively in the Australian soft drinks market and become a more efficient and profitable business'.
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More companies than ever before are realising the benefits of cloud computing.
Both small and larger organisations are beginning to see that storing data through this method is a great way of becoming more efficient, particularly at a time when making savings is a must for enterprises.
And now, a new report has revealed the increasing use of mobile devices like media tablets and smartphones is driving up adoption of this kind of technology.
The 2013 State of the Cloud Report, which was conducted by the CDW, found that about 75 per cent of respondents believe gadgets are influencing how firms take advantage of the platform.
Some 68 per cent of those questioned by analysts said organisations have opted to adopt cloud computing to acknowledge requests for flexible working and other benefits from members of staff.
On top of this, 39 per cent of respondents said their businesses are currently implementing cloud solutions, which highlighted an 11 per cent increase from the figure recorded in 2011.
In addition, 60 per cent of the 1,242 IT practitioners asked believe use of cloud services in their non-working life has influenced their recommendations to adopt the technology in their workplace.
Commenting on the findings, Stephen Braat – CDW general manager for cloud solutions – said the ongoing rise of the platform by businesses does not come as a surprise thanks to the increasing use of mobile devices.
He went on to note that employees’ preference to use mobile applications have brought some benefits including the improved ability to innovate, as well as enhanced efficiency, cost savings and flexible employee mobility.
It just goes to show how respondents believe the main driving forces behind wide adoption of cloud computing are cost factors such as software management charges, labour prices, software licensing fees and real estate expenditure.
Posted by the Secret Businessman


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Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s light-weight release of Windows 10 for low-power, connected devices has been launched. Windows 10 IoT Core is not a desktop operating system that runs applications such as Office, Photoshop or others. But it could drive home automation systems, robots and other things that may or may not have a display.
According to Steve Teixeira, Internet of Things, Microsoft, Windows 10 IoT core is tailored for small, embedded machines that may or may not contain screens. He added that it works with a host of open source languages as well as Visual Studio.
Currently, Microsoft has made available Windows 10 IoT core for two devices – the MinnowBoard Max and the Raspberry Pi 2. Both are low-power, tiny single-board computers. However, the MinnowBoard Max comes with an Intel chip whereas the Raspberry Pi 2 incorporates an ARM-based processor. These boards are targeted at educators, hobbyists and developers among others. By focusing on them, Microsoft is seeking to motivate people to develop useful things with Windows 10 IoT Core.
In its announcement, Microsoft showcased home automation systems, robots, robotic hockey table and a system that runs an LED via an Arduino along with a Windows Phone app.
In future, we could be looking at commercial products driven by Microsoft’s latest version of Windows. There exist point-of-sales machines, ATMs and a host of other specialized gadgets that run older embedded software or Windows CE. Windows 10 IoT Core could be the next evolutionary step of that technology. It could be tailored more for appliances at home than for commercial products.
Microsoft has been giving out preview builds of the operating system in the recent past. However the official release incorporates Bluetooth as well as Wi-Fi support, enhanced GPIO performance in the Raspberry Pi, fresh Universal Windows Platform APIs, and other neat features.
Remember this is not stuff that gives you a full-scale Windows desktop effect on a Raspberry Pi 2 device. Windows shell doesn’t exist here. However, programmers can build apps having a graphical user interface or not having it at all.
Sources: liliputing.com, betanews


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Price comparison firm PriceRunner, which is set to be taken over by Swedish fintech Klarna, said it was suing Alphabet-owned Google this morning for around 2.1 billion euros (1, £8 billion), after accusing the search engine of manipulating search results.
The lawsuit is accompanied by a wave of lawsuits against Google in recent years. In November, the tech giant lost an appeal against a €2.42bn (£2.04bn) fine it received in 2017, which found that using its own comparison shopping service gave it an unfair advantage over its smaller European rivals.
PriceRunner’s lawsuit seeks to make Google pay compensation for the company’s lost profits in the UK since 2008, and in Sweden and Denmark since 2013.
“They are still abusing the market to a very large extent and have changed almost nothing,” managing director Mikael Lindahl of Sweden’s PriceRunner told Reuters.
He added that the company was ready to fight for many years, securing tens of millions of euros in external funding to push the case forward.
A Google spokesperson has previously said it will defend itself in court against the claims.
Just last week, Alphabet defied analyst expectations for quarterly revenue, hitting $75.33bn (£55.69bn). The results are largely due to the large online ad spend of many companies in the run up to Christmas. Alphabet generates more revenue from online advertisements than any other company.


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New bill could bring big changes to bourbon tourism
LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - In 2015, nearly one million people came to Kentucky for its bourbon tourism industry, according to the Kentucky Distillers' Association. It says each tourists spends an average of $1,000 during their visit.
"The Kentucky bourbon trail has a significant impact," Kentucky Distillers' Association President Eric Gregory said.
Senate Bill 11 could send those numbers even higher.
"We're very proud of what bourbon tourism has done for the Commonwealth and this is another tool to grow it," Gregory said. "Kentucky's alcohol laws, especially their alcohol tourism laws, are outdated and most of them are stuck in prohibition."
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It's a longer bill that includes changes to wine and microbreweries - and not every distillery is on board. The two most debated changes would allow distillery visitors to buy nine liters of alcohol instead of three and sample 1.75 ounces per distillery instead of 1.00.
Sazerac, which owns Buffalo Trace, Pappy Van Winkle and many others is against the bill.
"We appreciate what they're trying to do for tourism," Jason Underwood, a lobbyist for Sazerac, said. "We just think there's been a bit of overreach."
He said allowing more sales at distilleries could upset retailers.
"We need retail partners to sell our products," Underwood said. "We like the customer, whether they buy our product or not, we think they should experiment."
Gregory said distillers don't take business from retail stores.
"We have a completely different customer base than our retailers," Gregory said. "In fact, most of our distilleries price their bottles 10 to 20 percent higher so they don't compete with them."
Gregory also said the change from 1.00 to 1.75 ounces is small, but Underwood argued it could add up if people visit multiple distilleries.
"We're concerned about misuse of product, drunk driving," Underwood said. "Even though it's a distillery, we try to keep a family atmosphere and people don't need to be drinking that much."
After easily passing the Senate, its fate is now in the Democrat-controlled House.
"We think it's got a good chance at passage this year," Gregory said. "People understand that bourbon means jobs."
"Any bill in Kentucky with the word alcohol attached is difficult to pass in both chambers," Underwood said.
The bill also bans powdered alcohol even though it's not in Kentucky yet. Both Underwood and Gregory support that part of the bill, saying that
it could lead to underage consumption or over-intoxication.
For other alcohols in the state, Micro-breweries could double the amount of barrels they're allowed to produce, up to 50,000. Wineries could also double what they produce, up to 100,000 gallons.
Copyright 2016 WAVE 3 News. All rights reserved.


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Nissan today announced it will share part of its electrified powertrain design and development operations with JATCO Ltd, one of its affiliates. Nissan has positioned electrification at the core of its business strategy, and the move will enable Nissan to strengthen its engineering capabilities to meet the growing demand for electrified powertrains.
In November 2021, Nissan announced Nissan Ambition 2030, its long-term vision. The vision includes plans to introduce 23 new electrified models — including 15 EVs by fiscal year 2030 — aiming for an electrified model mix of more than 50% globally.
Takashi Hata, senior vice president of the Affiliated Company Administration Department and Global Asset Management said, “Making electrified powertrains lighter and more efficient is an essential part of our electrification strategy, and we greatly look forward to JATCO’s contribution. Nissan and JATCO will continue to strengthen cooperation.”


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‘Premium Friday’ Introduced in Japan
Written by BCCJ
February 24, 2017
The Japan Times reports:
The Premium Friday campaign was launched today by the government and business lobby Keidanren, and calls on workers to leave the office at around 3 p.m. on the last Friday of each month.
Aimed at boosting consumption and curbing long working hours, businesses are hoping to cash in on the move, offering a variety of new services and products.
With high expectations that a longer weekend will encourage people to travel and enjoy their free time more, airlines, restaurants, and retailers are promoting special offers and hoping for better business.
“We hope this will encourage people to leave the office earlier,” said an ANA spokeswoman. “Participation by the government and companies is needed to push forward reforms (in the working culture).”
Mizuho Research Institute estimates that the initiative could have an economic impact of about ¥500 billion to ¥600 billion if more firms joined the campaign. If not, the business impact is likely to hover around ¥200 billion to ¥300 billion, it said, adding that the travel and restaurant industries are most likely to benefit from Premium Friday.
According to the government-affiliated Premium Friday Campaign Council, 76.4 percent of some 1,600 firms and organizations were willing to join the move. As of Wednesday, 2,342 had applied to use the official logo promoting the campaign, it said.
But a survey conducted by market research firm Intage Inc. showed that only 2.5 percent of the respondents said their company will be introducing Premium Friday in February. Economists are also skeptical of the rosy picture the government and businesses are trying to paint.
Takayuki Miyajima, a senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute, said despite the number of companies that have signed up, a vast majority are taking a wait-and-see approach to how Premium Friday unfolds.
Economic commentator Hajime Yamazaki argued the initative would simply result in a change in consumer spending habits instead of boosting the economy: “If people start spending money on Fridays, they’ll stop using it on other days,” he said.
Yamazaki warned that the campaign could also result in an additional burden on employees on other days of the week, adding that stricter regulations capping working hours should be introduced at the same time. Other labour reforms that should be adopted include enabling employers to dismiss workers, and to allow workers to earn money on the side to ensure a productive and balanced approach to work, Yamazaki said.
If Japan is really serious about reinvigorating the economy, the best way is to delay the consumption tax hike to 10 percent slated for October 2019, he said.
Source: The Japan Times Online, 23 February 2017


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Nylon filament yarn (NFY) prices were down in June 2019 due to insipid demand and increased supply. The average run rate in nylon yarn market was stable at 70%, as a few suppliers cut their run rates. In China, semi-dull FDY70D/24F prices fell US cents 24 a kg from previous month while FDY40D were down US cents 26 a kg.
Nylon or polyamide chip prices in June moved down in tandem with weak CPL cost this month. In China, offers for nylon chip were assessed down amid dull downstream buying interest and weakening of the market sentiment. Downstream yarn producers had cut their production which resulted into lower chip demand. Offers for Taiwan-origin chips fell 12.3% from the previous month. In China, bright conventional spinning nylon-6 chips were down 5.8% from May while semi-dull chips fell 9.1% on the month.
Nylon intermediate, caprolactum (CPL) prices in Asia were assessed down this month despite increasing prices in the benzene markets during the month. In China, CPL prices declined amid dull market sentiment and limited demand this month. The average plant run rates were down at 76.7% in the month. Asian caprolactam spot prices were down 15.3% from the previous month. Sinopec had nominated its June contract price at US$1,810 a ton.
Nylon feedstock, benzene prices in Asian markets were bullish in June despite low energy prices and limited trading activity. In the US, spot benzene prices moved up sharply this month on the back of tight supply. In Europe, benzene prices plunged as supply will remain long for the remainder of 2019 and into 2020. Asian marker, FOB Korea rose 0.8% in June while US spot prices were up 16.9%. European spot fell 3.8% on the month.
Acrylic staple fibre (ASF) prices in June declined in China, stable in India, and jumped in Pakistan during the month. In China, ASF offers reacted to the recent fall in the raw material ACN cost and fell sharply this month. In China, offers for cotton-type staple fell US cents 3 a kg and medium-length staple was down US cents 3 a kg. Indian offers for ASF were up US cents 19 on the month. In Pakistan, 1.2D ASF prices fell US cents 11 a kg on the month.
Acrylic intermediate material, acrylonitrile (ACN) prices in Asian markets declined for four consecutive weeks this month despite firmer propylene. In Europe, acrylonitrile prices fell as buyers had lower requirements due to dynamics and seasonality. In the US, acrylonitrile prices declined amid sluggish downstream demand. European prices fell 2.4% while US export assessments were down 1.6% on the month. Asian marker, the CFR Far East Asia fell 6.3% on the month.
Acrylic feedstock, propylene prices in Asia rose in June as it was predicted that the supply is likely to tighten in the fourth quarter of 2019. In the US, spot propylene prices edged down this month as trading activity was limited. In Europe, propylene markets saw a downtrend this month as supply was well-balanced with a loosening of inventories seen in the markets. Asian marker, FOB Korea was up 2% from May, and CFR China rose 2.5% from the previous month. In Europe, CG propylene moved down 4.1% while spot polymer-grade propylene prices in the US fell 14.2%.


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US car giant General Motors (GM) is taking a stake in a British technology startup as it prepares for a driverless future.
The deal, which values Chester-based Wejo at $275m (£213m), includes a $25m cash injection into the connected cars firm.
It also gives Wejo access to data from around 12m GM cars, valued at more than $70m, Sky News reported, citing sources.
Last year Wejo made its first acquisition, buying Silicon Valley startup Carjojo.
Since its start in 2014 Wejo has gathered data from 78bn miles of journeys from 7m vehicles.
The company’s tracking system is used in cars from 190 countries around the world. It employs over 150 people and has offices in the US and Manchester.
Wejo hopes its data can promote safety by predicting collisions.
“The value of this data to industries like traffic and mapping, urban mobility, insurance, parking and geolocation is potentially enormous,” one insider told Sky News.


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A local West Michigan apple house designed their corn maze to honor America and remember the anniversary of 9/11.
Many businesses and organizations are paying tribute to the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and this year Robinette's Apple House & Winery announced that their corn maze design will be in memory of that anniversary.
The Corn Maze will open after Labor Day. Hours will be 10:00 a.m. with the last entry at 5:00 p.m.
The 6.5 corn maze will be open through the end of October but if the weather cooperates they sometimes extend it into early November.
Maze tickets are $8 per person. Children from 0-2 get free entry into the maze. Tickets for groups of 15 or more are $7 per person.
No pets are allowed in the maze.
Tickets are available at the maze entrance, the Red Barn or the Activity Ticket Booth on weekends.


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startup look Improving the industry’s outdated infrastructure is definitely welcome in areas such as financial services and healthcare. But why would a company build infrastructure for an industry that seems to have had its heyday and survived it in record time?
That was my question when I saw the news about Futureverse’s recent $54 million Series A round. The startup is a platform of 11 companies, from game studios and entities enabling Web3 payments to blockchain startups providing tools for brands and builders to more easily create content for the metaverse.
something is missing Are we all tired of hearing about the Metaverse against our will? Don’t we realize that people don’t want their social and work lives to be like Second Life?
Aaron McDonald, co-founder and CEO of Futureverse, told TechCrunch+ that some of the loudest voices in the category have made it seem like the metaverse is not his idea, but a thing: virtual worlds, technologies that can create virtual worlds, again It powers many other things.
For McDonald’s, it’s not as similar to how we think about the Internet today as it was when the term was first coined.It is no longer a thing, but rather case Enhance your applications and websites. In line with that philosophy, the Futureverse defines the metaverse as a collection of interoperable applications built on user data.
Fundamentally, Futureverse aims to help build a more inclusive experience where users won’t be aware that it’s running on a blockchain or utilizing NFTs, McDonald said.
One example is the game Futureverse launched with FIFA for the Women’s World Cup. A user guides a team of automated players in an immersive world, unaware of the fact that it runs on Web3 and utilizes NFTs. So for most users, it’s just a game.


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As Canadians locked their doors to avoid the freezing temperatures this winter, many settled back and watched the action unfold in China. But, at times, it was difficult to tell the bigger story. Was it which athletes made the podium, how many times Xi Jinping cozied up to Vladimir Putin, or was it the growing number of reports explaining the slowing Chinese economy?
For a number of years, investors have been told they are underweight China. The country is, undoubtedly, the growth success story of the past few decades and, measured in U.S. dollars, its economy is 30 times larger than 30 years ago. Recently, its initial response to the pandemic appeared effect with strict lockdowns and an adherence to conventional monetary policy, while the West was forced to unleash record-breaking stimulus packages.
Yet, in recent times, cracks have appeared. China has struggled to maintain the pace of its exports as the U.S. trade war, COVID-19 and now inflation take their toll. It also has a debt problem, highlighted by the plight of property developer Evergrande. The combined effect means China is heading for a slowdown, with the IMF projecting that its economic growth will be 4.8% in 2022, compared to 8.1% in 2021.
The country’s new era of consumerism and expanding middle class has eased the burden on its traditional growth model of exports and industry, infrastructure and real estate investment. It was never going to replace it overnight – a balance was needed, but this has proved hard to achieve. A major reason is the excessive debt in the property sector and many fear that if the bubble does burst, it could spark a prolonged downturn that not only harms China but damages the global economy.
To that end, the government has been pressuring major companies to reduce their debts, while also restricting borrowing and cracking down on informal lending. By showing its willingness to let Evergrande default, it sent a chilling warning to borrowers.
So, on one hand, China wants to encourage business and spending yet, paradoxically, its interventionist approach is stifling. Are entrepreneurs and innovators encouraged by the crackdown on e-commerce giants like Alibaba (an investor favourite), for example?
The case of Jack Ma, Alibaba’s rags-to-riches founder, is symbolic of the recent battle between public and private power as Beijing bares its teeth to rein in the country’s tech titans. In 2015, Ma pressured regulators to retract a critical report on his company, while five years later he spoke out against China’s state-owned banks. Regulators swiftly questioned Ma, halted the IPO of Alibaba subsidiary Ant Group, and humiliated the wealthy entrepreneur. He has barely been seen in public since.
Other firms, like tech behemoth Tencent, food delivery app Meituan and ride-hailing app Didi, have also had their wings clipped by anti-monopoly regulators – somewhat ironically, it could be argued, given the one-party system – cooling investment, innovation and economic growth. Xi Jinping wants “common prosperity” and to close the wealth gap, and this hardline approach looks set to continue. In August, China unveiled a five-year plan, which included tighter control over the economy and areas of importance, like national security, technology, culture, and education.
Despite this internal crackdown, China still wants a seat at the global trade table. Its Belt and Road Initiative, for example, aims to drive infrastructure development around the world in exchange for closer ties with Beijing. There is an internal ideological battle going on. How does it foster business relationships with the like of the U.S. and Russia en route to becoming the world’s biggest economy, while maintaining tight control of its economy and people?
In terms of reputation, China has human rights questions to answer. Its totalitarian government is notoriously ruthless and, typically, not open to negotiation. Look at their treatment of Uighurs or opposition supporters in Hong Kong.
Yet, the West is also partly responsible for being guided by lazy Cold War narratives, and the media’s depiction of the country is often influenced by dated perspectives. Tyler Mordy, CEO and CIO of renowned macro investor Forstrong Global, believes that, from an investment perspective, trying to draw a line between China and America is a waste of time. His thesis is that the two countries are so tightly stitched together that economic decoupling is impossible.
He explained: “There is a level of what we call conscious decoupling happening in terms of their differing ideologies and systems, but the fact remains that it's in everyone's best interest to try mutually beneficial economic approaches first.”
Reason for investor optimism
Some investors will admit they can’t digest the prospect of ploughing capital into China and, by turn, its communist rule, however much the country has leaned into consumerism in recent times. Others take a more dispassionate position. The “regulatory reckoning” of 2021 hit share prices, with the MSCI China Index declining 19.1%, but China bulls see the clouds parting.
With the shock of the crackdown now over, there is potentially a clearer road ahead for the country’s leading e-commerce and tech companies. The fresh clarity could be a tailwind and a chance to reset compelling growth stories. In addition, by virtue of being ahead of Western central banks in tightening monetary policy, and unburdened by huge stimulus programs, China has room to support economic demand moving forward.
The other aspect is a human one. China, in a predictable but arguably effect move, has a zero-tolerance policy towards its COVID-19 lockdowns and health rules. This was a major factor behind its subdued consumer spending numbers. We’ve been here before, of course, but could the pandemic be finally heading to its end game? If you believe it is, then freer movement is likely to result in freer spending.
All this points to long-term attractive upside, with volatility an investment opportunity rather than a signal to run for the hills. There are always risks, of course, no more so than in the government’s ability to make quick and unsettling regulatory decisions. COVID-19 variants are still hovering, the property sector’s debt problems are far from solved, and geopolitical risks – whether it’s with the U.S. or Taiwan – persist.
But “regulatory reckonings” are a common part of Chinese business life – and they are also usually followed by sharp market rebounds. There has been a bear market in 17 out of the past 20 years in China; 2021 was not unusual.
Where are the opportunities?
While it may feel counterintuitive given how e-commerce and tech giants like Tencent, JD.com and Alibaba were affected by Beijing, they remain successful businesses, with potentially calmer waters ahead. JD.com has, arguably, shown more backbone than its rivals. While its earnings fell 2% last quarter, sales grew 32% to US$33.9 billion, beating expectations.
Search engine Baid, video sharing site Bilibili and mobile gaming giant NetEase are three more examples of aggressively expanding companies, even if the latter was the subject of negative press attention recently after the death of an employee, reportedly from overworking. As ever with China, ethical issues are never too far away.
Flying under the radar are sectors supported by the government, such as semiconductors, green technologies and consumer brands. Given the staging of the Winter Olympics, for example, sportswear makers ANTA Sports Products and Li Ning will be expecting a bump in profile.
Another area that risks being overshadowed by Tesla is Chinese electric car manufacturing. Li Auto, which bounced back from a seventh-month low in January, trades in the U.S., is a direct competitor to Tesla and has enjoyed sales growth with its hybrid model, the Li One SUV. BYD Co., meanwhile, is the biggest pure play Chinese EV maker, of which Warren Buffett is a long-time investor. Incidentally, BTD Semiconductor recently won regulatory approval for an IPO listing.
These names are merely one tip of what some could argue is an obvious iceberg. But the point is that being underweight the largest equity market outside the U.S. and world’s second-largest economy is a portfolio risk in itself – and there are an increasing number of funds and ETFs that seek to capitalize on this growth opportunity. If you’re willing to tolerate deep ideological differences, and navigate regulatory shocks, there are rich opportunities in this emerging market leader.


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Get Ready for SOCAP16: Apply for SOCAP Open and Entrepreneur Scholarship Program
Though spring has barely taken hold (at least here in Michigan), SOCAP, the world’s largest conference on social enterprise and impact investing, is already gearing up for its fall 2016 event.
SOCAP16 will take place Sept. 13-16 at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, CA, and NextBillion will serve as a media partner at the conference. In the meantime, SOCAP is accepting applications for two important elements of the event:
To advance the conversation around diverse social innovation issues, SOCAP Open allows the public to submit ideas for sessions at the conference, and to vote for them online. Proposals will be reviewed by SOCAP’s advisory panel of experts and voted on by the general public, with selected session organizers presenting their ideas at SOCAP16. The submission process began May 4, and you can submit your ideas through May 31. If your session is selected, you’ll receive a complimentary ticket to the event.
But how can you decide on an idea to submit? According to SOCAP organizers, “proposals should be aligned with the primary interests and passions of the SOCAP community, including the SOCAP16 conference themes.” However, ideas that fall outside of these conference themes (but that are relevant to other areas of social innovation) will still be considered. To help you craft a successful proposal, SOCAP has provided the SOCAP Open FAQ and Tips to Crafting a Winning SOCAP Open Idea. You can submit your proposal here.
SOCAP Open 2016 dates:
- May 4: SOCAP Open is live (submissions welcome)
- May 31: Final day to submit an idea to SOCAP Open
- June 16: Commenting and voting period ends
- June 16 – 28: Judging panel and final selection by SOCAP16 Content Team
- June 29: Winning sessions announced to session organizers
SOCAP16 Social Entrepreneur Scholarships
Social entrepreneurs are the heart of SOCAP, and the conference aims to support them in several ways. One is by offering scholarships to 150 outstanding entrepreneurs, allowing them to attend SOCAP16 free of charge and to participate in additional programming and development opportunities. These scholarships have been offered since the first SOCAP, with recipients representing a wide variety of sectors and business models. At last year’s conference, for instance, these entrepreneurs came from more than 35 different countries.
SOCAP16 Entrepreneur Scholarship Program recipients will receive the following:
- Free SOCAP16 full conference pass (valued at $1,495)
- Impact Accelerator @SOCAP – tailored entrepreneur programming pre-conference
- Hostel accommodations for the duration of the conference
- Recognition and high visibility in the SOCAP program
- Dedicated mentorship from notable impact leaders
Early Registration Discount
Beyond that, it’s not too early to register to attend SOCAP16. In fact, the sooner you register, the lower the price, as “Spring Fling” prices are in effect until June 1, offering $500 off the full price of admission. The price will increase incrementally between now and the conference, going up on June 1st, July 2nd, July 30th, and September 1st. But regardless of when you register, NextBillion readers can get $200 off the current ticket cost by entering this discount code: MP_NextBillion.
We’ll be featuring other SOCAP news and updates in the coming months, as NextBillion and the broader social business community prepare for this essential event.
Date: Sept. 13-16
Location: Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
SOCAP16 site: http://socap16.socialcapitalmarkets.net/
- Social Enterprise


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Himax Technologies (NASDAQ: HIMX) stock has been in steady decline since the fall and continues to hit fresh lows. The culprit has basically been growth expectations drying up in the near term as augmented reality and virtual reality projects keep getting pushed back. However, after 50% declines, shares are starting to look like a value.
Data by YCharts.
What the numbers say
During the third quarter, reported Nov. 10, the most recently reported quarter, Himax's total revenue increased 8.5% from the second quarter and 31.7% from the same period the previous year. The strong gains were attributed to ongoing strength across the board. An initial report on the fourth quarter has revenue at $203.4 million, in-line with previous guidance. Himax is scheduled to report earnings Feb. 16.
The panel driver business has been strong, especially from Himax's Chinese clients. 4K TV demand has been picking up, as has been new smartphone demand in Asia. Small-display driver sales were helped by the auto industry and continue to be avibrant area of growth.
Chart by author. Data source: Himax Technologies 2016 third-quarter earnings report.
These types of business results arenot congruous with the stock chart shown earlier. So what happened?
Part of the problem has been that profits backtracked progress made throughout the year, coming in at $13.6 million versus $19.8 million in the previous quarter. Management chalked most of that up to a $9.2 million bonus that is paid to employees every year in the third quarter. Adding that back in, the bottom line expanded 15% sequentially and is a far cry from the net loss the same time last year.
Management also just announced that margins decreased again during the fourth quarter and that investors should expect a 19.1% figure when the full report comes out rather than "slightly down" from the third quarter's 25.6%, as had previously been expected. The drop was due to a loss taken on inventory. If excluded, gross margin would have come in at 25%, according to the company.
Investors have apparently opted to ignore business results and instead focus on the near-termoutlook for the business, despite the long-term positives Himax has going for it.
The revised outlook going forward
Himax is facing some near-term headwinds to business after strong gains over the last few quarters. Revenue and gross marginsfor the fourth quarter were reported to havefallen sequentially, but on a year-over-year basis things are still looking up.
Data by YCharts.
As a result, profit as measured by earnings per share is nowanticipated coming in at $0.026 per share. While this is below the $0.036 from the fourth quarter last year, it would still bring full-year profitability up to $0.296 versus $0.146 for 2015.
The primary cause for share prices dropping seems to be Himax's augmented and virtual reality business, which falls under the non-driver business segment. After multiple quarters of double-digit growth, Himax sees that area declining 20% sequentially during the first quarter of 2017 and remaining soft for possibly a few more quarters into the new fiscal year.
Himax's leading customer for augmented reality (read Microsoft with its HoloLens project) asked to reduce shipments for the tech powering the device to a minimum. The new focus is on developing new tech for the next-gen device. So while the project hasn't been axed, investors shouldn't expect much from the emerging non-driver segment as a transition period is now underway.
Image source: Microsoft.
The good news is that Himax is reporting having more clients than ever in the AR/VR department. While these projects are not yet yielding much in the way of results, management feels that it is paving the way for growth down the road.
Another plus is that the company remains a leader in the smartphone and tablet display industry, as well as in displays for 4K TVs. Orders are already being received in Korea for the new 8K TV drivers the company has developed, providing video quality another four times better than the still-new 4K TVs.
Things to consider
It's possible that political concerns have also taken a toll on the stock, as uncertainty over the Trump administration's new policies wear on the Taiwan-based chipmaker. Even facing business and political headwinds, though, Himax remains on track to significantly beat last year's performance and is poised to enjoy further growth from its lineup of emerging chip technology.
The pullback in share price over the last few months is way overdone. Rather than facing cataclysmic issues as stock performance would indicate, Himax remains an exciting technology company and is worth a look after the unfair treatment it has received.
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The annual rate of inflation slowed to 7.7% in January, according to an initial estimate by the Central Statistics Office.
This compares to an annual rate of 8.2% in December.
This measure of inflation is the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), which allows for comparisons across the EU.
Eurostat’s estimate of inflation across EU member states will be published tomorrow. The detailed Consumer Price Index (CPI) for inflation in Ireland will be published later in February.
In December, both the HICP and the CPI showed the same annual inflation rate of 8.2% in Ireland.
According to the CSO, energy prices fell by 0.1% in January but they are still up 33.1% compared to January 2022.
When energy prices are stripped out, the HICP was 5.2% in January.


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Samsung Electronics announced it shipped 36,000 5G base stations to the US and Korea in 2018.
The development assumes importance because Huawei, the largest telecom network maker, is unable to sell its networking products in the US. US President Donald Trump on Thursday called on US telecom companies to boost their work to build 5G wireless communications networks.
Huawei has lost considerable 5G base station business to Samsung last year. Verizon and rival AT&T will use Samsung and Ericsson base stations. AT&T will also be using Nokia 5G base stations. T-Mobile selected Ericsson and Nokia for 5G push.
South Korea’s three mobile carriers have already selected Samsung, Ericsson and Nokia as 5G infrastructure suppliers, with LG Uplus also sourcing equipment from Huawei. They launched 5G for business used in December 2018 and will offer 5G mobile for retail users this year.
Samsung said it completed the development of its 5G mmWave chipsets supporting 28GHz and 39GHz bands.
Samsung said its new RFICs and DAFE ASICs – the core components in the 5G chipset – enable about 25 percent reduction in size, weight and power consumption for 5G base stations. 5G base stations using these new chipsets are more efficient in operation and roll-out.
Paul Kyungwhoon Cheun, head of Networks Business at Samsung, said: “Samsung will continue to accelerate 5G commercialization.”
5G base stations use almost one thousand antenna elements and several RFICs to utilize the mmWave spectrum to achieve ultra-fast data speeds. The adoption of RFICs plays a crucial role in supporting the reduction in size and power consumption of base stations.
Samsung’s new RFICs using 28nm CMOS semiconductor technology operate on bandwidths up to 1.4GHz, compared to 800MHz for previous RFICs. Samsung reduced the size of RFIC by 36 percent and enhanced performance by decreasing the noise level and improving the linearity characteristics of the RF power amplifier.
Samsung has developed RFIC solutions for 28GHz and 39GHz and plans to commercialize additional RFICs for 24GHz and 47GHz this year.
Samsung has also developed its own DAFE as an ASIC, low in power consumption and small in size. The company said developing an ASIC allows for the reduction in size and power consumption of 5G base stations. Without investing in ASICs, the DAFE would be too big and power insufficient to meet the product needs of carriers.
“Samsung is building on its 5G leadership with its innovative solutions including low-power RFICs and DAFE ASICs to pioneer a new era of digital transformation,” said Jaeho Jeon, head of R&D, Networks Business at Samsung Electronics.
Earlier, Samsung announced a 5G NR data connection using 400MHz of bandwidth in the 28GHz spectrum, offering throughput of more than 1.7 Gbps.
The data connection in association with Qualcomm and Verizon demonstrated the delivery of 5G speeds to a smartphone form-factor mobile test device. The 5G test used Samsung’s 5G NR and 4G LTE equipment to deliver 5G NR data transmission using Verizon’s 28 GHz spectrum.
Ed Chan, chief technology architect for Verizon, said: “This is a demonstration of real 5G speed achieved through commercial grade Samsung network equipment and a Qualcomm chipset.”
Meanwhile, Anritsu, a testing solutions company, announced the submission of the industry’s first Protocol Conformance test in the Sub-6 GHz Frequency Range 1 (FR1) to 3GPP RAN5 working group for approval.
The test has been verified with the Exynos Modem 5100 5G NR modem developed by Samsung’s System LSI Business on the Anritsu ME7834NR Protocol Conformance test system.
Samsung announced its partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to offer solutions for virtual radio access networks (vRAN) and for 5G core networks to telecom operators
The 5G vRAN solution be leveraging Samsung’s vRAN software solutions and the new HPE Edgeline EL8000 Converged Edge System, Phil Davis, president Hybrid IT, chief sales officer of HPE, said.
HPE and Samsung will also deliver joint 5G core solutions. The initial offering will include Samsung Packet Core software products and selected HPE 5G core network function (NF) software products, to streamline the transition to 5G and address periods of overlap of 5G with 4G and 3G.


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Nalanda Learning Systems, an edtech startup that operates ‘Little Laureates’ pre-schools across eastern India, plans to use the funds received from Aavishkaar Capital to expand operations nationally, CEO Tamal Mukherjee says.
Kolkata: Edtech startup Nalanda Learning Systems has raised Rs 40 crore from Aavishkaar Capital to expand operations nationally, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
The startup owns the ‘Little Laureates’ brand, under which it runs pre-schools across eastern India.
“We have raised Rs 40 crore from Aavishkaar Capital to fund our drive to expand nationally using digital content,” said Tamal Mukherjee, the CEO of Nalanda Learning Systems. “The pandemic has res ..
According to Mukherjee, Nalanda intends to not only ensure sustained learning and development outcomes for children, but also enable the pre-schooling industry to revive and upskill, and provide comprehensive, contemporary and early learning programmes.
“We are extremely excited to continue partnering with Nalanda as it expands its high-quality pedagogy across India through its digital platform,” Ajay Maniar, partner at Aavishkaar Capital, said. “The Nalanda team has shown great dexterity in reimagining the pre-schooling business and have been able to translate their high-quality pedagogy into a highly impactful business proposition for pre-school owners, teachers and parents,” he said.