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18 FEBRUARY 2010 LEAMINGTON SPA, UK Blitz Games Studios has today announced that its industry-leading middleware, BlitzTech, now includes support for the next generation portable entertainment system (codename: NGP) from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE). After working closely with SCE for many months, Blitz Games Studios is now keen to work with any developers wishing to develop on the platform, which is due for release in late 2011.
Cross platform development is one of the core strengths of BlitzTech and the addition of NGP supports part of a strategy to broaden support across multiple portable and connected platforms. The same comprehensive BlitzTech development tools proven on PlayStation®3 allow developers to fully exploit the power and architecture of NGP to bring high end console quality gaming to a portable platform for the first time using an engine specially optimised for the hardware.
“We’re incredibly excited to be working on SCE’s latest platform,” says Blitz Games Studios’ CTO, Andrew Oliver. “During the time we’ve been working with NGP we’ve been consistently impressed by the potential of the device and are pleased to be able to add it to the growing list of platforms supported by BlitzTech. We look forward to taking it forward ourselves as well as with other developers.”
For BlitzTech licensing enquiries or GDC appointments please contact Richard Hackett, Studio Technical Director at firstname.lastname@example.org.
For all media enquiries please contact Natalie Griffith, Blitz Games Studios' Head of PR and Marketing at email@example.com.
With unrivalled flexibility the BlitzTech games development engine and toolset middleware has powered over 25 titles, totalling over 70 releases covering multiple platforms, including PlayStation®3 from SCE, Microsoft Xbox 360® and Wii™ from Nintendo and now supporting NGP, Apple iOS as well as other emerging gaming platformsThe technology provides the competitive advantage to deliver quality titles capitalising on strong cross platform support and a highly streamlined development pipeline. Blitz Games Studios provides dedicated technical support for BlitzTech. www.BlitzTech.com
About Blitz Games Studios:
Blitz Games Studios is based in Leamington Spa and was founded by industry veterans Philip and Andrew Oliver. It now has more than 220 staff and its six divisions encompass mature titles (Volatile Games), Serious Games (TruSim), family titles (Blitz Games), licensable middleware (BlitzTech), downloadable games (Blitz Arcade) and its education division (Blitz Academy). www.BlitzGamesStudios.com


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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ¿ Tandy Brands Accessories Inc., which makes accessories such as wallets and belts, said Monday it has amended its line of credit with Comerica Bank. The Arlington, Texas-based company said the new agreement provides financing of up to $27.5 million, with a term of 18 months, running through April 2011. The interest rate is about 1 percent below the previous line of credit, the company said. The new financing will help the company meet its near-term seasonal cash requirements and provide long-term stability, said CEO Rod McGeachy. "Finalizing this long-term financing is an important achievement as we continue to stabilize our operating platform and markedly improve our financial position, cash cycle and liquidity," he said. The improved terms signals the financial community's trust in company management and acknowledges Tandy's improved financial and operating performance, he said. In August, the company reported a narrower fourth-quarter loss of $2.5 million, or 36 cents per share, compared with a loss of $4.7 million, or 67 cents per share, the year before. Its annual loss narrowed to $15.1 million, or $2.18 per share, compared with a loss of $49.3 million for the fiscal year 2008 year. Revenue fell 14 percent.
Tandy said its corporate reorganization implemented in January and a new management team helped improve performance. The reorganization included cutting salaried staff by 17 percent and discontinuing some businesses. The changes were expected to save $3 million a year. Shares of Tandy Brands rose 14 cents, or 4 percent, to $3.64. They have traded between $1.25 and $4.85 in the past year.

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Tesla Motors Inc., on a roll this past year with its highly praised Model S electric vehicle, faces its hardest challenge is yet to come: achieving CEO Elon Musk's bold goal of increasing the company's estimated 2013 U.S. volume of 20,000 units to 250,000 -- and to 500,000 globally -- by the end of the decade.
In an exclusive interview with Automotive News, Musk candidly acknowledged the challenges facing Tesla, saying, "We have a lot of work to do."
Automotive News on Monday will publish an in-depth analysis of the challenges facing Tesla. To grow to its hoped-for volumes when its $35,000 Gen III cars arrive in a few years, it must transform from an automotive boutique to a volume automaker.
It will have to:
- Convince mainstream shoppers to trust electric-car technology.
- Finance a vehicle platform housing several variants.
- Expand its sales and service capacity vastly.
- Scale up its manufacturing output by a factor of 20.
"That's a lot different than what he (Musk) is doing in niche volumes right now," says a veteran executive for Detroit 3 and Japanese automakers.
Top executives who talked to Automotive News expressed concern that the automaker's ambitions may overreach its abilities.
"To go from 2,000 to 20,000 units is already pretty impressive," said one executive at a German brand. "We are clearly seeing high professionalism behind it. It's a nice product. It's a nice story.
"Now the question is how strong do you need to be to continue telling that story, to move from 20,000 to 200,000?"
For the full story, go to www.autonews.com on Monday.


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The adult globe has gotten some bad news yet once more. Simply months after Tumblr applied a blanket ban on adult content, another hentai that is popular web site Hentai Haven (HH) has closed down.
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just just What exactly occurred?
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After the event that is unfortunate men and women have been speculating with various theories brought forth. Most are claiming an interference that is russian are seeing the shutdown as an effort because of the Russian government to stop folks from accessing adult content. Pornhub statistics suggest that Russia is amongst the biggest customers of hentai porn. But, there's been no statement that is official Moscow, yet our company is not expecting one either.
Another description may be the tightening regulations regarding porn content.


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By Luke Tugby2018-06-22T06:29:00
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has hailed the Government for finally “providing clarity and certainty” for the 170,000 EU nationals working in retail.
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The 94-year-old construction and farm machinery maker has been on a tear. Total revenue for fiscal 2018 came in at $54.7 billion, a 20% increase from the year before. Profits, meanwhile, skyrocketed, rising more than 700% to $6.15 billion (this was partly driven by lower tax expense and decreased restructuring costs). Caterpillar saw growth across several product lines. But company does have some potential weak spots moving forward, including flattening demand in the Chinese market after two years of growth.
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News about Caterpillar
A government newspaper targeted Apple earlier this month.
The deals could be valued as much as $250 billion, though many are non-binding. Here's the list.
3D Robotic's construction software for drones now works with DJI drones.
It's a good day for the world's largest construction and mining equipment maker.


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Somerset, England—Mulberry Group reported today its first-half profits slumped 30%, after higher costs related to its continued expansion efforts offset a slight rise in sales.
Net profit reached 5.1 million pounds (about $8.3 million) for the six months to Sept. 30, down from 7.3 million pounds in the same period of last year
Operating expenses increased 13.7% to 42.2 million pounds from 37.1 million pounds in the previous year, related to new directly-operated stores and additional employee costs.
The company said sales grew 2% to 78.1 million pounds from 76.5 million pounds last year, despite what it described as a “tough economic climate.” Retail revenue grew 6% to 49.5 million pounds, while like-for-like sales were up 4%.
‘Cautious’ Wholesale Ordering
International revenue jumped 29% to 6.3 million pounds to 4.9 million pounds, reflecting an improvement in North America and continued growth in Europe.
Wholesale revenue was down 5% to 28.6 million pounds, due to cautious ordering by European and Asian distributors, which Conlumino analyst Anusha Couttigane warned is “something Mulberry will need to rectify as it pursues plans for international expansion”.
The company completed the construction of its new Somerset factory, which is already in production and is expected to be at full capacity by mid-2014.
Mulberry said it continues with international expansion efforts and is on track to open 15 new stores by the end of the full year. The brand has also secured a location for a flagship store in Paris, which is expected to open in 2014/2015.
Couttigane added: “While this continues to be a challenging year for Mulberry, its latest results are promising, indicating that the designer handbag label still represents a hugely lucrative business.”
During the nine weeks to Nov. 30, the luxury brand saw retail revenue climb 3%, while international retail revenue surged 49%.
For commercial purposes, extract supplements can be obtained from the fruit of the pericarp. Garcinia cambogia reviews is performed by a physician Chen and Oz to prove that it is an herb for weight loss, a lot of research has been done. Studies, Garcinia cambogia extract supplementation decreases the weight of the body fat accumulation, was shown to have a positive effect on prevention. We are important substances such as cholesterol (LDL), reduces the serum leptin and triglycerides. In addition, it will increase the level of serotonin and cholesterol (HDL). The study also, Garcinia cambogia extract supplements, has proven that there are no significant adverse effects on many of the eight weeks, such as its use.


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Mac Deus Ex has released a Deus Ex Multiplayer Map Pack, which contains 16 multiplayer maps for the Mac version of Deus Ex. The pack, which is fully compatible with GameRanger, includes both maps extracted from the single player game in addition to original maps created by third-party designers.
Joe Dury let us know that Fox Interactive\'s Kyle Peschel has made a post in IMG\'s forums concerning the status of Aliens vs. Predator: Gold Edition for the Mac. \"I would love to give you all details about the status of the project, and what we are doing, and a release date. (Yes, I swear the game will come out soon, we won\'t can it.) But, unfortunately I am under NDA not to talk.\"
Evening console news: Nintendo has elected to skip the ECTS trade show in London this year, instead hosting its own pre-show event called The Nintendo Show to showcase its upcoming GameCube game console; Bizarre Creations\' secret title for the X-Box is a street racing game largely based on Metropolis Street Racer for the Dreamcast; and Microsoft has declined to comment on the Merrill Lynch report earlier this week projecting that Microsoft would lose $2 billion over five years before breaking even on its X-Box game console, saying that the report was based on assumptions that were the brokerage\'s own.
PlayerPRO 5.8 has been released both in freeware and commercial versions. The new version features a new envelopes function, improved sound quality, is for PowerPC-only, and offers other changes and additions. PlayerPRO is an audio editor/player that supports dozens of formats. The commercial version costs $69.
REALbasic 3.1b1 finalizes Mac OS X and Carbon functionality and contains several fixes to the programming environment for Mac OS/Mac OS X.
IMG has published an interview with Apple\'s Clent Richardson, Director of Worldwide Developer Relations, on the company\'s strategy towards games and how it feels it is doing in that market. \"Apple recognizes the importance of gaming to the Mac platform,\" says Richardson, \"and is constantly striving to ensure the hottest gaming titles are available for Mac users.\"
A brief interview with Bioware\'s Aidan Scanlan, a designer on Neverwinter Nights, has been published at Lost Universe. Aidan comments on the game\'s multiplayer capabilities and what it will offer to RPG gamers. \"The first and foremost way to play a multiplayer game,\" said Scanlan, \"is to form an adventuring party and play through an adventure. The other ways are as limitless as your imagination. Modules involving arena combat, dungeon races, castle stormings, and capture the flag are only the beginning.\"
iEntertainment has posted a new screenshot from the Mac version of WarBirds III, its upcoming combat flight sim, which is expected to go into private beta testing next week. The game requires a Power Mac with at least 64 MB RAM and an ATI Rage 128 is the minimum graphics card.
Targetware has released a new movie featuring in-game action of its upcoming massive multiplayer online flight sim combat game, Target Korea. The movie, produced and directed by Keith \'Wicked\' Harrison with original music score by Mike \'Mach-1\' Smith and Rick Calderone, is about 90 seconds and shows \"close-ups of both the F86f-30 Sabre and Mig 15bis engaged in aerial combat high over the Korean peninsula.\"
Westlake Interactive President and programmer Mark Adams responded to a Usenet query today, noting that the Deus Ex patch released yesterday includes a workaround for eliminating the graphical glicth experienced by many ATI Radeon owners in Unreal Tournament and games using the Unreal Tournament engine. \"I found a workaround (with some help from ATI),\" said Adams. \"I\'ll roll it into UT and Rune at some point as well.\"
Afternoon console news: Konami is gearing up to take Tony Hawk head on with its ESPN X Games Skateboarding for the Playstation 2; The 3DO Company has released the first details on its upcoming air combat game for the Playstation 2, World Destruction League: WarJetz; Eidos Interactive has cancelled the Dreamcast version of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2, although it is still planned for release on the Playstation 2; and Alone in the Dark 4: The New Nightmare is set to be released for the Dreamcast and Playstation this summer.
Apple Select and Premier developers are reporting receiving a (final) Release Candidate of OS X, along with a Developer Tools Release Candidate, although Apple announced that it went \'GM\' only days ago: \"I\'m in the middle of installing it on my TiBook. I do think this is version 4K83, as I had to interrupt an install (it was going very slow, telling me it would take 2 hours and 26 minutes to install on my machine) and one of the temporary install folders that made it onto the drive was labeled \'83temp\' or something similar...\"
MacSpeech has released four new ScriptPaks for the MS Office 2001 suite, which it says will sell for $15 to $20 each or in a bundle for $40. The ScriptPacks collectively have over 200 commands, offering voice control of Office 2001. For a limited time, MacSpeech will be including all four Office 2001 ScriptPaks with every purchase of its $140 iListen program (without headset).
games.macnn.com has published its latest Covert Gaming Corner featuring an interview with Blizzard Entertainment\'s Brian \'Doc\' Love on the upcoming expansion set, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction.
Richard Bannister\'s video game music player, Audio Overload 1.2, adds the ability to adjust the output volume, an option to adjust the delay between songs, and support for playing Atari XL/XE \".SAP\" files and Atari ST \".SNDH\" files.
Today\'s Covert Gaming Corner features an interview with Blizzard Entertainment\'s Brian \'Doc\' Love, covering Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, the expansion set for Diablo II set to release on the Mac this summer.
Audio Overload 1.2 is a new version of Richard Bannister\'s game music player for the Mac. The new version adds the ability to adjust output volume, the ability to adjust the delay between songs, support for some ATARI files and a few miscellaneous bug fixes.
The Parsec screenshot of the month for March shows \"two ships fighting in the near vicinity of a planet with rings.\" The team working on the persistent online space combat game excuses their lack of updates in February by noting work on the game\'s engine internals.
Daily Radar\'s first look at World War II Online covers the features of the massive multiplayer online war combat game in addition to offering more than a dozen scerenshots and the game\'s trailer.
Morning console news: A poll conducted by PC Data suggests that online gaming is still in its infancy with much more growth and demand in the area, but admits that the results of the poll are skewed in light of it being conducted via e-mail; Take Two Interactive has begun development on a title for next-generation consoles based on MTV\'s Celebrity Deathmatch; and Interactive Imagination has shipped Magi-Nation, a role-playing game for the Game Boy Color.
Yesterday we published a review of Simon the Sorcerer II, a newly released adventure game featuring a sorcerer on a mission to return to his own dimension; Aspyr Media released the Deus Ex Multiplayer Patch featuring altered skill, augmentation and inventory implementations in both deathmatch and team deathmatch; Westlake Interactive announced that Tony Hawk\'s Pro Skater 2 for the Mac has entered beta testing and is on track to go golden master in a few weeks; and Blizzard Entertainment announced that it had closed a loophole that allowed some players to duplicate Diablo II items on Battle.net.
Adobe has re-posted its Photoshop 6.0.1 update, after making the file briefly available two weeks ago. Customers who downloaded the previous update, which was pulled for unknown reasons, must reinstall Photoshop 6 to apply the new updater. Photoshop 6.0.1 includes a number of fixes and feature enhancements that are documented on the page.
Mac OS X will include the final version of QuickTime 5, according to a c|net article that quotes Apple VP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller. The article also notes that Apple plans to offer bother iTunes and iMovies for OS X, although neither will be included in the box. DVD support, as noted previously, will not be included, nor will iDVD.
Morning tech news: an internernational team has announced plans to clone a human; Intel issued an earning\'s warning last night that has sparked a tech sell off, sending the Nasdaq down as much as 100 points in morning trading; hackers in Russia have infiltrated more than 40 US e-commerce sites, obtaining credit card and other personal information; and Handspring and Palm are both set to unveil new, high-end PDAs later this month.
Interface guru Jef Raskin has been added as a keynote speaker for MacHack, the annual developer conference which takes place June 21-23, 2001, in Dearborn, Michigan. Other speakers for the keynote panel include Andy Hertzfeld, Caroline Rose, Guy \"Bud\" Tribble and Bruce Horn--all of whom are \"members of the early Macintosh engineering team and promise a keynote full of reminiscences of computing by-gones as well as a unique look at the future as envisioned by people who continue to lead the computer industry.\"
Aaron Bratcher\'s db Reports 2.3.1 is a maintenance update to the database tool for viewing data, improving reliability of mySQL connections and bringing other changes.
After inadvertantly being made available on its ftp servers, Adobe has finally updated its Website with information on the Photoshop 6.01 update, although the included download links are not yet functional. The update is available on CD-ROM for $20 by calling Adobe Customer Service at 1-800-492-3623.
Steven Massey\'s StevePerfect 5 is an update to his SimpleText utility replacement that offers additional support for themes, Internet access, WorldScript, and playback of MP3, QuickTime audio and movie files, MPEGs and VCDs, and live internet media content. Version 5 includes a interface and toolbar, find & replace features, an integrated email client, and picture viewer functions.
Qualcomm\'s latest Eudora 5.1b2 makes several OS X-specific updates to the developmental version of its popular email client and also adds Keychain support for SSL certificates. Specific changes are outlined in the release notes.
Apple will be holding a press event announcing the rollout on March 21st at the company\'s Cupertino headquarters, according to wired.com and other sources. Apple is also advertising a number of \"Apple In-Store Events\" across the US showcasing Mac OS X as well iTunes and iMusic for OS X.
According to a note from the ADA (an ad hoc group of disgruntled French Apple distributors), Apple France director Patrick Benkemoun has been replaced by Jean-Rene Cazenueve as director of distribution. The group hopes that Benkemoun\'s sudden departure will help solve what the group sees as serious distribution problems in France, including the mixing of \"consumer\" and \"professional\" lines among different tiers of resellers, and stock problems including the lack of any Titanium Powerbooks in the country, more than more than two months after their introduction.
Apple will be participating at National School Boards Association (NSBA) Annual Meeting, where Madeleine Albright will keynote the General Session on Saturday, March 24 at 11:00 am. The NSBA conference, which attracts school board members and superintendents nationwide, will take place at the San Diego Convention Center. Apple will have its iBook Wireless Mobile Lab and will a also be sponsoring an iBook Loaner Program as well as email stations for attendees.
Yesterday we noted a new $3,000 G4/733 Power Mac configuration and Iomega\'s 100MB PocketZip announcement. We also posted reviews of Apple\'s Pro Speakers/iSub/SoundSticks and Simon the Sorcerer II.
Now AAPL Stock: The symbol you provided ("AAPL") doesn't appear to be registered
Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit
Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj
Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket
The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]
Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera
Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94
Apple employees testing wheelchair features
New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa
SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards
SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If
Apple's third-quarter results due July 26
Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm
Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users
Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE


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Expect a whole lot of mixing next month when the Festival of Curiosity takes off in Dublin. The four-day extravaganza of science, tech, art and general curiosity will feature events around the city centre and the focus is on the old, the new and people having fun and learning together.
Now in its fifth year, the popular festival broadly divides events into a family programme of playful days and an evening programme of curious nights tailored for adults, including a “Block Party” where grown-ups get to play with Lego and bubbles.
“The general flavour this year is a mix of new and old, light and shadow and exploring together,” says Festival of Curiosity co-founder and creative director Ellen Byrne.
This July will see a big focus at the festival on fashion, and particularly what can happen when fashion meets technology, according to Byrne.
"This year we launched Curiosity Studio, supported by Science Foundation Ireland, which is a year-round design research and residency programme. The 2017 call is specifically for fashion designers to explore the future of fashion and technology, and the designers are working with scientists and engineers, learning how to solder and how to make conductive fabrics. They are having a great time," she says.
Fashion and engineering
“The results will be on show at an evening event that explores runway fashion with a focus on light and illumination. We have so much talent here in Ireland in terms of fashion design and engineering, so we want to see what will happen when their expertise is pooled.”
The Festival of Curiosity will also offer plenty of scope for mixing up sound and vision, Byrne adds, including an evening of mixing music samples at Science Gallery Dublin's Sound Check exhibition, and other events involving virtual reality and film screenings.
You can sign up for a night tour of the Natural History Museum (or “the Dead Zoo” as it is fondly known) and there are even “secret cycles” where groups hop on bikes and pedal off to a mystery location. “You will be advised what to wear and what to bring, but you won’t know where you are going and what you are doing until you are brought there,” says Byrne. “It’s a curious adventure.”
Byrne and co-founder Vince McCarthy are keen that festival participants get involved together wherever they can, particularly at family events such as the Curiosity Carnival at Smock Alley Theatre, the Curiosity Picnic at Wood Quay, a city-wide treasure trail and a series of talks by explorers.
Make your own record player
“We want to see grandparents and grandchildren learning and working on things together, and there will be inclusive workshops where you can make your own record player and learn how to make sounds in movies,” says Byrne.
A regular favourite at the festival is Dublin Maker, on July 22nd, which is “a celebration of the inventors of Ireland”, according to co-founder Dr David McKeown. “We have coaxed Ireland’s best amateur engineers out of their garden sheds to join the spare-bedroom woodturners, home brewers, crafters and everything in between to turn Merrion Square into an eclectic tented village of creativity,” he says. “There is something for all ages and definitely something you haven’t seen before.”
The Festival of Curiosity runs from July 20th-23rd. For more details about events and to pre-book tickets where required, keep an eye on festivalofcuriosity.ie where the programme and ticket booking will be live in the coming days.


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Cable broadband shines in Virgin Media Q2
50Mbit/s by the end of the year
Virgin Media's recent move to push broadband to the centre of its offering is paying off. The firm announced strong underlying profits today and said it expects its forthcoming 50Mbit/s network upgrade to further distinguish it as a premium/expensive ISP.
Some 19,500 net customers left the firm in the three months to 30 June, but cable broadband subscriptions were up 54,000 on the previous quarter. It now has 3,836,100 total cable and ADSL broadband customers.
Discounting depreciation, amortisation and a one-off charge related to the Virgin Mobile acquisition, underlying operating profit hit £333m, up six per cent and beating expectations. Total revenues actually slid slightly from £995 million a year ago to £990.5m, but VM said efficiency savings improved margins.
Overall churn fell to 1.3 per cent from 1.8 per cent from the same period a year ago, despite price increases and in line with VM's previously announced strategy of hanging on to big spending punters.
CEO Neil Berkett said: "The second half of this year will mark a major milestone as we roll out our unrivalled 50Mb broadband service. We believe this superfast service, combined with our leading video-on-demand product, will prove extremely attractive to existing and new customers."
He might have a point. The number of customers subscribing to the top tier broadband package was up 82 per cent on a year ago. More than 9 per cent of it broadband customers take the current to tier 20Mbit/s service.
Berkett also said that talks with Sky to deliver its basic channels package to cable TV subcribers, were ongoing but so far unsuccessful. Sky withdrew the channels during a public spat over pricing last year that hit VM subscriber numbers hard.
The full report is here (pdf) ®


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China to boycott Apple if US bans WeChat
Published: 10:18 PM, 28 August 2020
If the United States bans WeChat, then the Chinese consumers could boycott Apple, warned China’s foreign ministry spokesman on Friday.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced a ban on WeChat and TikTok from mid-September, accusing them of threatening the country’s national security.
However, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian tweeted that “If WeChat is banned, then there will be no reason why China’s people shall keep iPhone and apple products.”
He already said on Thursday that many Chinese people are saying they may stop using iPhones if WeChat is banned in the US.
Meanwhile, China’s social media users on Friday responded with mixed feelings to Zhao’s warning on Twitter, which is blocked in China but accessible through virtual private network software.
“I use Apple, but I also love my country,” one user tweeted, adding, “It’s not a conflict.”
WeChat, popular in China as ‘Weixin’, has more than 1.2 billion active users globally.
On the other hand, Apple doing business on eight percent of China’s smartphone market in the second quarter of 2020, according to Counterpoint Research, which is far behind than Huawei.


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After a prolonged stretch of tough economic conditions, it seems to be a consensus that bright days of business are just around the corner.
That positivity filled the Georgia Mountains Center on Thursday as more than 70 businesses packed the building to display their services to the community for the annual Buy Local Business Expo, as well as to interact with other business owners.
"I think the outlook is pretty good," said Jody Spain, co-owner of Cotton Eyed Joe's, a custom printing and embroidery business in Gainesville. "We have weathered through some tough times, but we're solid, we're here. We have business and we're expanding."
Whether discussing strategy or having conversations about the economic outlook, business leaders had one thing on the mind: expanding their own businesses and commerce in Hall County.
The expo featured well-known businesses such as McDonald's, as well as up and coming businesses such as Turbo Truck Center.
The full-service tractor-trailer facility in Gainesville has been operating for about six years, but tire sales representative Chris Smith said, "... A lot of people don't even know we exist."
But every year since being in business, Turbo Truck Center has grown. The company expects that trend to continue as the economy continues to climb out of the gutter.
"It's going to grow and it's not going to go away," said sales representative Robbin Dorminey of the company's future.
Other growing companies also displayed their products and services at the expo. If there's an industry for it, most likely a business to represent it was in attendance.
"We came here because we thought we would get some good local exposure," said Larry Becker of Montara Farm of Clermont, a business that hosts team-building retreats, as well as providing a wedding venue.
"Overall, I think that there are a lot of companies, including ours, that many people don't know about because we don't necessarily have the advertising dollars that some other places have and this is a very reasonable way to get your name out," he added.
As a business looking to gain more exposure, Becker said all signs point to expansion of economic conditions in the county and therefore increased revenues for the private estate.
"I think this county is already showing some rebound from the recession," he said. "All of us that are doing business in this county will do well because we will all be able to feed off each other."
Becker said reaching out to other businesses in the county leads to increased commerce. By doing business with other companies in the county, Becker hopes those businesses will return the favor.
In order to gain the desired exposure, businesses relied on consumers to attend the expo as well.
Hugh Bond of Gainesville found the expo to be an opportunity to stay informed of the latest businesses in the county. He also said he believed business is on the upswing and that he purchased products in the county as much as possible.
"Hopefully things are picking up a little bit — slowly, but sure," he said. "We try to buy local whenever we can because we live in this community and try to keep the money here."
Business leaders from the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce expect 2012 to be a big year for county commerce and that begins with persuading residents to make purchases within the county.
"I think, if nothing else, it will give us community awareness to let people know we're here ... and we have good quality people in this area," said Spain.
"There's no need to go online or outside the area. We have good folks here that can do quality work," he added.
One of the largest sectors affected by the downturn was the building industry. Businesses relying on a steady flow of building were also affected.
While some businesses stayed afloat, they did not experience the success they previously had, but that could be changing, said Kenny Reichman of King Green, a lawn care and termite and pest control company.
"It's been a tough economy for everybody, but we're still hanging in there and we're growing a little bit," Reichman said. "It used to be houses going up was a big angle for us to grow. That went away, but now they're starting to do a little bit more and we are encouraged by that."


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One of the largest U.S. child product manufacturers must pay $10 million to settle claims that it did not act quickly enough to pull dangerous child safety seats from shelves once it knew they were defective.
At issue was a faulty buckle installed on some 4 million child car seats manufactured by Graco.
Previously, the company insisted the only problem with the buckle was the result of small children spilling drinks or food on them. But this so-called “contamination causation” was written off as an excuse by federal regulators, who noted even if it was true, it was clearly foreseeable.
The buckle reportedly seized up in some cases after a crash, and parents and emergency responders reported having to cut the straps in order to free children. This led to an increased risk of injury and, reportedly in at least one case, a fatality when a child could not be freed fast enough from a burning vehicle.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration insisted the company issue a recall in January 2014. However, the company refused. It did ultimately give in a month later, amid heightened pressure.
A federal investigation was then launched to determine whether the company should have initiated action on the problem sooner. As it turns out, parents were contacting the company as early as 2009 about the defective buckles. But rather than take these claims seriously, regulators report, the firm simply instructed parents on how best to clean the buckles. It insisted there was no safety problem.
Even after the company issued a recall for some 4.2 million toddler seats in February 2014, federal regulator shot back, asking why the firm didn’t include infant car seats with the same type of buckle. Further, officials accused the firm of “soft-pedaling” the recall by issuing statements to consumers that included misleading and incomplete information.
Finally, the company issued a second recall for infant car seats – nearly 2 million of them – last July.
Federal law compels manufacturers to notify regulators of safety problems within five days. A company must also in that time lay out a plan for a recall, or else face a civil fine.
Violations of this provision carry a maximum $35 million fine.
In this case, the actual fine is only $3 million, while the remaining $7 million is earmarked for the furtherance of internal safety development programs. Those programs have to involve improving the current product registration and notification program, so parents can more easily and quickly be informed if they have a defective child seat.
Secretary for the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a statement saying parents need to be able to trust their children are safe and that, when there is a problem, manufacturers will act fast to notify them and address the problem.
Meanwhile, federal regulators themselves have come under fire for seemingly giving break after break to auto manufacturers that drag their feet in notifying consumers of defective vehicles – sometimes for years. From faulty airbags to defective ignition switches and sticky gas pedals – 2014 had the most vehicle recalls of any year in history.
If you have been injured in an accident, contact the Hollander Law Firm at (888) 751-7770 for a free and confidential consultation. There is no fee unless we win.
Graco to Pay $10 Million for Delay in Recall of Defective Child Seats, March 20, 2015, By Christopher Jensen, The New York Times
More Blog Entries:
Florida v Dorsett – Hit-Run Legal Standard Toughens, March 10, 2015, Palm Beach Defective Product Lawyer Blog


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|October 19th, 2018||Bitcoin in the doldrums, can't shake $6500 range - MarketWatch|
Bitcoin, the world's largest digital currency, was last changing hands at $6,632.87, down 0.2% since Thursday's level at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the Kraken exchange. After rising more than 10% earlier in the week, bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.25% has gone back ...
|October 19th, 2018||Bitcoin Hedge Fund and CEO Slapped With $2.5 Million Penalty for Ponzi Scheme - Cointelegraph|
GBI is a New York-based corporation and denominated Bitcoin (BTC) hedge fund incorporated in 2014. As stated on the company's website, by 2015 it had 85 customers and 2,367 BTC under management. The order is the continuation of the initial anti-fraud ...
|October 19th, 2018||Bitcoin price SLUMP continues as traders SPOOKED by HACKING and money-laundering fears - Express.co.uk|
Bitcoin's surge in popularity and the appearance of more than 1,600 other digital coins or token have attracted an abundance of hackers into the digital currency market, the report stated. Dave Jevans, chief executive officer of CipherTrace, told ...
|October 18th, 2018||Bitcoin And Blockchain Jobs In The US Are Surging - Forbes|
The U.S. jobs boom, which saw a record 7.14 million unfilled positions in August — coupled with last year's bitcoin mania — has resulted in a 300% increase in the number of jobs related to bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain over the last 12 ...and more »
|October 18th, 2018||'It's only a matter of time' until bitcoin breaks out, analyst says - MarketWatch|
But one analyst said bitcoin's lull may be coming to an end. “It's only a matter of time now,” said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro, speaking about a potential breakout for bitcoin. “Of course, the flat-line pattern could easily remain ...
|October 18th, 2018||Crypto M&A is on a tear as deal-makers see opportunity in bitcoin's price slump - CNBC|
Deal-makers seem to be anything but deterred by bitcoin's price pain this year — they're actually using it as an excuse to go bargain hunting. Despite the ongoing bear market in the sector, merger and acquisition activity by cryptocurrency companies ...and more »
|October 17th, 2018||China is a threat to the Bitcoin network says new report|
|October 16th, 2018||Bitcoin Cash Price Analysis: Bitmain IPO speculation runs out of steam|
|October 15th, 2018||BNC Weekly Bitcoin Blockchain Statistics 15th October 2018|
|October 12th, 2018||How ‘Forward Blocks’ could help scale Bitcoin|
|October 8th, 2018||BNC Weekly Bitcoin Blockchain Statistics 8th October 2018|
|October 2nd, 2018||Bitcoin Price Analysis - Large move soon|


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Delhi: India’s smartphone market will end the year 2021 with a low single-digit annual growth as per IDC data.
As per IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker data, India’s smartphone market recorded a 12% year-over-year (YoY) decline in 3Q21 (Jul-Sep). Around 48 million smartphone units were shipped in 3Q21, which are lesser compared to four consecutive quarters of growth.
Component shortages and an unusually high 3Q20 comparison base (whereas this year’s post-lockdown demand was addressed by July) resulted in lesser shipments. Compared to 3Q19, 3Q21 grew by 3% as channels stocked up for the Diwali quarter amid the supply shortages.
“The first nine months of the year (Jan-Sep’21) already shipped 120 million units, with first half of 2021 clocking 42% YoY growth. Due to supply challenges, 4Q21 is expected to see a decline, resulting in annual shipments below 160 million in 2021,” said Navkendar Singh, Research Director, Client Devices & IPDS – IDC India.
“The first half of 2022 will remain challenging, with some easing out expected in the latter half of 2022. Vendors/channels will keep an eye on the over-stocking situation in case demand stays limited due to the price hikes by the suppliers and vendors,” added Singh.
Key market trends for 3Q21 included:
- Online channels clocked a record high 52% share, although with a 5% YoY shipment volume decline. eTailer sales festivals (The Big Billion Days on Flipkart and Amazon Great India festival) started in early October, even before the Navratri festival this year, continuing until Diwali. Offline channels registered an 18% YoY shipment decline. IDC expects online shipments to surpass offline shipments in 2021.
- India was the third-largest 5G smartphone market globally with 7% of worldwide 5G shipments, shipping 10 million units at an ASP of $401 in 3Q21. From Jan-Sep’21, 17 million 5G smartphones were shipped to India and are expected to be under 30 million for 2021. The OnePlus Nord CE, iPhone 12, and Galaxy A22 were the most popular 5G models in 3Q21.
- Overall ASPs peaked at $196, driven by price hikes and a greater 5G contribution. The sub $200 segments dropped by 24%, while $200+ smartphones grew by 56%, signalling a shift to higher price buckets, driven primarily by supply.
“IDC believes that a growing dependency on smartphones triggered by remote work and learning, as well as a subsequent requirement for better quality hardware is pushing consumers to spend more. With continued chip shortages and logistics costs, brands are also compelled to expand upwards in terms of price points across channels,” said Upasana Joshi, Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India.
Top 5 Smartphone vendor highlights in India’s smartphone market
Xiaomi continued to lead but shipments declined by 17% YoY. Poco, Xiaomi’s sub-brand exclusive to the online channel, witnessed high 65% YoY growth. 72% of Xiaomi’s shipments were concentrated in the online channel, with its market share there dropping to 32%. The Redmi 9A/9 Power/9/Note10s were the major volume drivers along with the Poco M3 and Poco C3.
Samsung, at the second slot, registered the highest YoY decline amongst the top 5 vendors at -33% in 3Q21. With a key focus on the Galaxy M and F series, 49% of its shipments were sold online, allowing the vendor to take 16% of all online shipments. However, offline models like the Galaxy A22/A12 accounted for 23% of the vendor’s overall shipments. The opening quarter for the Galaxy Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 witnessed a demand surge but had supply constraints. Samsung stood at a leadership position within the 5G segment with its new model offerings.
vivo was at the third position, with a 13% YoY shipment decline. It continued to cement its offline presence with a 30% share of that segment. Also, it strengthened its portfolio in the $200-300 segment with its V and iQOO series as well as its marketing campaigns for the X series.
realme at the fourth slot had the best performance of the top 5 vendors with a 5% YoY decline. In the online space, it continued to be at second slot ahead of Samsung with a high 22% share. However, within the 5G segment, it slipped to the third slot. The C11 (2021) and realme 8 (which includes both the 4G/5G models) were the highest shipped devices.
OPPO, at the fifth slot, witnessed a 16% YoY decline in 3Q21. However, in the $300-500 segment, OPPO rose to the second slot with an 18% share, driven by high shipments for the Reno 6 series. Also, it slipped to the third slot in the offline channel with a 17% share there.


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WAIMEA — The Fresh Shave, a handcrafted shave ice company based out of a vintage camper trailer on the South Shore of Kauai, announced the grand opening of their second location on island.
The Fresh Shave has joined Porky’s in their newly renovated building to bring high-quality craft food with an island twist to the Westside
The Fresh Shave now serves their fresh take on Hawaii’s most famous treat in the heart of Waimea, at the intersection of Waimea Road and Panaka Road.
“We are so excited to be a part of Porky’s vision and to bring our all natural shave ice to the Westside,” said Priscilla Soule, president.
The Fresh Shave strives to use organic ingredients and local, farm-fresh produce in all of their products. Their business model emphasizes sustainability and says “no” to single-use plastics.
“We’ve worked so hard to offer shave ice that’s free of high fructose corn syrup and artificial coloring,” Soule said.
“It feels awesome to say that we can do this while using earth-friendly cups and utensils.”
The Fresh Shave is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.


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In Three Years, World’s Biggest mPayment Market Will Be…
A new research study suggests China will be the world’s largest market for mobile payments in the year 2015.
A study from Kapronasia expects Chinese mobile payment volume to double each year between 2012 and 2015, ending up at $84 billion.
In 2010, a KPMG study estimated that 77 percent of Chinese consumers used their phones to complete financial transactions, Finextra says.
Please send all press releases and story ideas to Ben Carsley at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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TÜV SÜD Safety Gauge conclusions
Achieving a real competitive advantage through product safety
The global footwear industry produces billions of pairs of shoes each year, ranging from functional work boots to designer high heels. This high level of output poses considerable product safety challenges for manufacturers and retailers, given seasonal changes in consumer tastes and complex government regulations for quality, safety and durability. At the same time, increasingly concerned consumers have greater access to product safety information than ever before.
These latest research findings point to a clear disconnect between the footwear industry and consumers when it comes to interest in product safety issues. Businesses assume that there is a lack of interest in above-average product safety among consumers. However, a significant proportion of consumers stated that they rank product safety labels very highly in their purchasing criteria, are more likely to buy brands that indicate their safety commitment and are even willing to pay a premium for products that achieve exemplary safety standards.
This gap presents an opportunity for footwear businesses to differentiate their brand and influence purchase behaviour by investing in improved product safety, for example, through material and chemical testing. In addition, businesses can also invest in product safety labels, such as the TÜV SÜD Footwear Mark, that clearly demonstrate their commitment to superior product safety. These investments in enhancing product safety should not only improve consumer wellbeing but also drive greater commercial success.


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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook fired a shot across the bow of other major technology companies that profit from data collected from their users as he defended consumer privacy and encryption.
While he did not name Google, Facebook and Twitter specifically, there was little doubt who he was criticizing in a speech as he was being honored by the Electronic Privacy Information Center last week. He also took on Washington politicians' efforts to remove encryption tools from technology products as having a "chilling effect" on First Amendment rights, TechCrunch reported.
Some observers, like CNBC's Jim Cramer, saw this as a thinly veiled promotion of Apple Pay, and Cook was addressing retailers by stating that Apple "doesn't want your data."
"[This may be] a pitch to Target and Wal-Mart, saying 'we will not take your data if you use Apple Pay,'" Cramer said. "This is Tim Cook not just taking aim at his competitors, but saying [companies] should adopt Apple Pay."
The speech was delivered remotely. "I'm speaking to you from Silicon Valley, where some of the most prominent and successful companies have built their businesses by lulling their customers into complacency about their personal information. They're gobbling up everything they can learn about you and trying to monetize it. We think that's wrong. And it's not the kind of company that Apple wants to be," Cook said, according to TechCrunch.
Talking more specifically about user privacy, he said, "We don't think you should ever have to trade it for a service you think is free but actually comes at a very high cost. This is especially true now that we're storing data about our health, our finances and our homes on our devices."
Apple designs its products to "collect the minimum amount of data necessary to create great experiences," Cook said.
Customers should be in control of their own information. "You might like these so-called free services, but we don't think they're worth having your email, your search history and now even your family photos data mined and sold off for God knows what advertising purpose. And we think someday, customers will see this for what it is."
Cook has previously taken the same position, like at President Obama's Summit on Cybersecurity earlier this year, an event not attended by several other prominent technology CEOs.
He also spoke about the government's efforts to access the keys to private encryption. "Some in Washington are hoping to undermine the ability of ordinary citizens to encrypt their data," Cook said. "We think this is incredibly dangerous. We've been offering encryption tools in our products for years, and we're going to stay on that path."
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been waging a war on "pervasive encryption," claiming it is an enabler of terrorism. "If you put a key under the mat for the cops, a burglar can find it, too. Criminals are using every technology tool at their disposal to hack into people's accounts. If they know there's a key hidden somewhere, they won't stop until they find it," Cook said.
"Removing encryption tools from our products altogether, as some in Washington would like us to do, would only hurt law-abiding citizens who rely on us to protect their data. The bad guys will still encrypt; it's easy to do and readily available," he said.
"We want to build products that keep people's information safe."
At summit, President orders cybersecurity efforts, PCI applauds
Apple Pay on a roll, signs Best Buy, Discover
Kroger buys dunnhumbyUSA assets, launches new data company
Where have all the hackers gone?


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Apple had some exciting news last year as they released their new programming language, Swift. After using it to build apps for a few months, we’re convinced it’s the best option for building, powerful, full-featured and beautiful apps.
Here’s why Swift is better than what came before:
It’s a new standard
Previously, developers would write apps in the Objective-C language. It gets the job done, but the language is about 30 years old, which means it’s probably not the freshest option for writing powerful apps for the latest devices.
Swift is only a few months old but it’s already positioned itself as the best option for writing apps not just for iPhone and iPad, but for Mac OS, tvOS and even watchOS for Apple Watches.
Apple boasts that the new language is more concise, and we’ve found that to be the case. You can replace several lines of Objective-C with just a few expressions in Swift. That makes it quicker to write, and quicker to execute when the program runs. Swift lives up to its name!
It’s easy to make mistakes when coding. Sometimes these mistakes can lead to simple bugs, but sometimes it can be more severe as apps leak people’s data or break devices.
Swift comes with error detection and failsafes to make show-stopping bugs much less likely.
Almost best of all, Swift makes it easy to see the effect of your code as you go along. With another window side-by-side with the code, you can see how your changes take effect in the final product. Very cool.
It took a long time for Apple to get around to launching a language specially optimised towards building modern apps, but now it’s here we’re enjoying using it. ELS has got several apps already completed using Swift, and we look forward to using it for many more in future!


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The decline of trout aquaculture in the United Kingdom is in stark contrast to the growth of the country’s booming salmon sector and could disappear entirely within the next 20 years if it doesn’t reinvent itself, suggests research conducted by Dimitar Taskov from the Institute of Aquaculture at the University of Stirling.
By far the biggest cause of trout’s demise is the shrinking consumer demand for its main product – wh… Read More
Comprising a market of some 500 million consumers spending EUR 55 billion (USD 64.5 billion) on seafood, the European Union continues to be the world’s biggest market for fishery and aquaculture products. But more money is being spent on less fish, which presents a real opportunity for aquaculture to make significant market inroads, believes Chiara Bacci, policy officer in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Maritime Aff… Read More
The EU produced 50,637 metric tons (MT) of organic seafood in 2015, representing almost 4 percent of the bloc’s total aquaculture production, finds a study compiled by the European Commission’s European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA).
EUMOFA’s “EU Organic Aquaculture” report finds that the main species produced under organic standards are salmon (16,000 MT), mussels (20,000 MT), ca… Read More
Significantly greater volumes of mackerel caught by the U.K. pelagic fleet went to Nigeria last year, with the importing country also paying much more for the fish than in 2015.
According to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) finalized seafood trade statistics for 2016, Nigeria imported more than 12,685 metric tons (MT) of U.K.-landed mackerel worth over GBP 10.7 million (USD 14.4 million, EUR 12 million) last year, representing year… Read More
The British public has been eating out more often and spending more money over the past 12 months, with a significant upturn seen in seafood sales, finds the latest foodservice quarterly report prepared by the NPD Group Inc. on behalf of the U.K. Seafish Authority.
According to the new analysis, the total out of home (OOH) spend on all meals for the 12 months that ended June 2017 exceeded GBP 54.4 billion (USD 69.6 billion, EUR 59.1 billion… Read More
First-sales prices of cuttlefish in Europe have ranged from around EUR 2 (USD 2.34) to more than EUR 10 (USD 11.71) per kg over the past three years, depending on the market that these cephalopods are being sold in. The highest prices are historically achieved in Italy and Portugal, but growing consumer demand for the product in the EU’s northern member states and a recent contraction of supply are also affecting the trade.
Cuttlefish price… Read More
This year’s Easter fortnight, 8-22 April, saw sales of fresh fish in U.K. retail reach their highest level in three years, amounting to 6,051 metric tons (MT), which was 3.2 percent or 188 MT more than in 2015 and up slightly compared to last year, said the U.K. Seafish Authority.
According to Seafish’s latest grocery data, more people ate fish during the two-week Easter period than they did in the previous fortnight, with an in… Read More
The EU increased its mussel production by more than 20,000 metric tons (MT) in 2015 to reach a level of 544,629 MT, making it the world’s second most important producer of the bivalves behind China, confirmed the latest statistics on the trade compiled by the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA).
Despite this growth and accounting for 27 percent of the global supply, the EU-28 had a mussel trade … Read More
The value achieved by seafood sales in U.K. retail grew in the first-quarter of this year but the rate of growth has been slowing since January, while the volume and number of units sold have both declined this year, said the U.K. Seafish Authority.
These trends are evidenced in Seafish’s latest grocery data, which finds sales of seafood in retail (not including discount grocers) for in-home consumption exceeded GBP 3.1 billion (USD 3… Read More
Exports of U.K. food and drink totaled GBP 4.9 billion (USD 6.3 billion, EUR 5.6 billion) in the first-quarter of this year, an increase of 8.3 percent year-on-year, and represented the largest Q1 exports value on record, according to new figures published by the Food & Drink Federation (FDF) trade association.
The United Kingdom’s top three export products remain whisky, salmon and chocolate, with exports of salmon seeing the largest v… Read More


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Malicious code discovered on the website of a large European ticket re-sale company
Malicious code discovered on the website of a large European ticket re-sale company Football fans should be careful when buying tickets for the forthcoming Euro 2008 championships online following the discovery of malicious code on the website of a large European ticket re-sale company. The site in question has a high search engine ranking and a presence among sponsored links, indicating that the hackers may have a huge pool of potential victims.According to SophosLabs™, visitors attempting to purchase tickets through the site will be exposed to the malicious script which is embedded in some of the webpages. This malware then attempts to download further attacks from another remote website. Sophos experts advise computer users to be on their guard and ensure their IT security solutions and fully up to date. "This is not the first time that hackers have attempted to capitalize on sporting events, and unfortunately in the run up to the competition this summer, we"re likely to see more sites like this being hacked, as well as other scams preying on football fans" fervour," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "Fans keen to get tickets to a game need to make sure they don"t get carried away in the excitement and score an own goal before kick off. It"s essential that all computer users ensure their security settings are up to date and able to defend against these threats."Bill Beverley, Security Technology Manager, F5 Networks, commented: “The Euro 2008 site breach highlights the severity of increasingly frequent website hacks. This targeted attack is one of many peppering the Internet landscape. With hackers now trawling for loopholes to exploit, security needs to be of the highest standard to protect not only the end user but the reputation of the site owner. "Anti-virus solutions provide a certain degree of protection for the end-user, however, data needs to be secured centrally with a controlled lock and key. Site administrators for the Euro 2008 site would not have been faced with the embarrassment they are currently enduring if they had necessary precautions in place. Protection at the application layer is something which is easily overlooked and must be enforced, as well as making sure web servers are correctly configured to stop invalid database calls being made and preventing file uploads from the site."As attacks begin to intensify when hackers target large, lucrative events, such as Euro 2008 and undoubtingly Beijing 2008, consumers are no doubt going to become less trusting with providing their credit card details, impacting immensely on buyers" habits and therefore the success of events" organisers and ticketing companies."


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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, January 30, 2017
Contact: Violet Cavendish
Bill details and statements below from Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr., Sen. William C. Smith Jr., Del. David Moon, and Del. Mary Washington
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — State lawmakers rolled out legislation Monday that would regulate and tax cannabis similarly to alcohol in Maryland. Senate and House bill sponsors discussed the details of the proposal at a news conference in the Lowe House of Delegates Office Building.
The proposal consists of two bills — a regulation bill and a tax bill — that will each be filed in the Senate and the House. The regulation bill, sponsored by Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery) and Del. Curt Anderson (D-Baltimore City), would make possession and home cultivation of limited amounts of cannabis legal for adults 21 years of age and older. It would remain illegal to consume cannabis in public or drive under the influence. Prior convictions for adults 21 and older possessing or growing amounts of cannabis made lawful by the bill would be expunged.
The bill would also create a structure for licensing and regulating a limited number of cannabis retail stores, product manufacturers, testing facilities, cultivation facilities, and craft cultivators (that would grow smaller amounts of cannabis to sell only to cultivation facilities and product manufacturers). The Comptroller of Maryland would be responsible for issuing licenses and creating rules, and the Department of Agriculture would be responsible for licensing and regulating the cultivation of industrial hemp. Cities and towns would have the authority to limit the location and number of cannabis establishments within their jurisdictions, as well as ban certain types of businesses.
The tax bill, sponsored by Madaleno in the Senate and Del. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City) in the House, would create a structure for taxing cannabis and allocating the revenue. It would initially enact an excise tax of $30 per ounce, which would generally be paid by cultivators, and a 9% sales tax on retail cannabis sales, which is the same as the sales tax rate on alcohol. Cannabis tax revenue would be used to cover the cost of administering the program, and then the remaining revenue would be allocated as follows: 50% for the community schools program; 25% for substance abuse treatment and prevention; 15% for workforce development programs; and 10% for combating impaired driving through public education and additional law enforcement training.
The legislation addresses concerns that have been raised about the licensing process for medical cannabis businesses. Specifically, it provides opportunities for small businesses, ensures the licensing process is subject to the Minority Business Enterprise Program, and requires outreach to diverse communities to ensure they are aware of new business opportunities. It also contains strong provisions aimed at protecting public health and safety, such as mandatory product testing and labeling; restrictions on advertising and marketing; and rules limiting edible products to a single serving of THC and requiring opaque, child-resistant packaging. Neither of the bills would affect the rights of patients under Maryland’s existing medical cannabis program, and taxes would only be applied to nonmedical cannabis.
Sixty-four percent of likely Maryland voters support making cannabis legal for adults, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll conducted in September 2016.
Statement from Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr., vice-chair of the Senate Budget and Tax Committee and sponsor of the regulation and tax bills:
“This legislation will effectively end the failed policy of cannabis prohibition in Maryland and replace it with a much more sensible system. It establishes a thoughtful regulatory scheme and tax structure based on best practices and lessons learned from other states. Colorado and other states are raising millions of dollars in new revenue each month and creating thousands of good jobs. Maryland is not only missing out on the benefits, but enduring the many problems associated with prohibition.”
Statement from Sen. William C. Smith, primary co-sponsor of the regulation bill in the Senate:
“African Americans are far more likely to be the subject of marijuana enforcement than other Marylanders. Decriminalization reduces the number of Marylanders who are branded criminals, but it does not change the fact that marijuana laws are not enforced equally, and that people of color are disproportionately punished. Decriminalization also does nothing to stop the public safety issues that arise when a lucrative market is driven underground. It’s time to put marijuana sales behind the counter, and to let adults make their own decisions about using a substance that is safer than alcohol.”
Statement from Del. Mary Washington, sponsor of the tax bill in the House:
“Tax revenue from cannabis sales will generate much-needed funds for our state. Our tax bill will allocate half of the revenues from cannabis taxes to the community schools program, which benefits high-poverty schools across Maryland. It will also provide funding for treatment services that are needed to address our state’s battle with opioid addiction.”
Statement from Del. Moon, a co-sponsor of the regulation and tax bills:
“A strong and growing majority of Marylanders support ending cannabis prohibition. Rather than lagging behind our constituents, we need to get behind them and pass this legislation this year. Several states are now effectively regulating and taxing cannabis, and it is time for Maryland to join them.”
# # #
The Maryland Cannabis Policy Coalition is a coalition of citizens and organizations committed to ending the failed policy of cannabis prohibition and replacing it with a system in which cannabis is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol. For more information, visit http://www.
Founded in 1995, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is the nation’s leading cannabis policy reform organization. MPP has played a central role in passing dozens of cannabis policy reforms in states across the country, including 10 successful cannabis legalization campaigns, and also works to advance federal reforms.


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Doha, 11 February 2016 – QNB, the Leading Financial Institution in the Middle East and North Africa, in collaboration with MasterCard, the official sponsor of the UEFA Champions League since 1994, have launched a campaign giving cardholders the opportunity to watch UEFA Champions League Final Milan 2016 live at the San Siro stadium in Milan, in addition to an exclusive shopping experience accompanied by a dedicated shopping assistant at Milan’s finest stores. Tickets are courtesy of MasterCard, an official sponsor of the UEFA Champions League.
The campaign, which starts on 14th of February and ends on 10th of April 2016, gives QNB MasterCard® credit cardholders the opportunity to earn one entry into the draw for every QAR 800 spent locally and three entries for the equivalent spent abroad. The minimum amount does not include cash advances, donations, fees and charges, or erroneous transactions.
Raghav Prasad, General Manager for Gulf Countries, MasterCard commented: “At MasterCard, we are committed to rewarding loyal cardholders by offering the chance to win truly priceless experiences. Using a MasterCard® credit card is a fast, convenient and secure way to make everyday purchases and is now even more rewarding.”
QNB’s launch of this campaign demonstrates the bank’s desire to give customers unique experiences that will always be remembered. The new campaign is combining the love for football, as UEFA Champions League is among the most widely watched sporting events, as well as the unique opportunity of a private shopping experience in one of the fashion capitals of the world.
QNB Group’s presence through its subsidiaries and associate companies extends to more than 27 countries across three continents providing a comprehensive range of advanced products and services. The total number of employees is more than 15,200 operating through more than 635 locations, with an ATM network of more than 1,390 machines.


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Samsung is trying to avoid the manufacturing problems that caused it last year to lose over two million Galaxy S3 sales. Will Samsung succeed where Apple and HTC have failed?
As I write these words, thousands of people in Korea are working hard to build the Galaxy S4. How many? Only Samsung knows, but last year, Sebastian Anthony from Extreme Tech estimated the workforce necessary to manufacture the Galaxy S3 at about 75,000 people. This year, the number is likely to be higher, simply because Samsung needs to build more Galaxy S4 units.
We seldom think about the amount of work, both intellectual and physical, that goes into a device like the Galaxy S4. The logistic effort alone is tremendous, not to mention the extremely laborious task of securing enough components to build millions of smartphones, under strict deadlines and across world-spanning supply chains.
Manufacturing problems tend to cascade. If you don’t have the camera sensors, you obviously won’t be able to assemble a phone. Just ask HTC.
When the back plate is the culprit, you can get away with just a relatively small delay. That happened last year, when Samsung brass made the last minute decision to ditch the original Pebble Blue back plates of the Galaxy S3, which were deemed unsatisfactory due to issues with their glazed finish. Still, the hitch cost Samsung two million lost sales and a botched global launch.
This year, Samsung is trying to avoid similar problems, and according to analysts quoted by Reuters, the Korean company has been implementing backup plans.
Analyst Lee Seung-woo, working for IBK Securities, said that for now, everything seems to go according to plan. However, there’s little margin for error, with crucial components like the screen, processor, and even the case being of “particular concern”:
“Handset cases again appear to be in tight supply, and Samsung may use two different processors to maximize battery efficiency through the right combination of chips for different network conditions to yield the best performance,” Noh said.
Samsung is said to be gearing up to deliver 10 million Galaxy S4 units in the first month of availability, with lifetime sales estimated at a lofty 100 million units. I expect to see a tightly coordinated global release for the Galaxy S4. Just like last year, it’s probable that markets in Asia and Europe will get it first, followed by North America.
In the past two years, Samsung has accumulated a lot of experience in staging and conducting big product launches, and not only in terms of manufacturing. Samsung now has far more negotiation power when it comes to carriers, a superior brand, and the marketing budget required to make the Galaxy S4 ubiquitous.
It remains to be seen whether the rollout will go as planned, or the Galaxy S4 will suffer delays as it happened with the iPhone 5, or it’s happening right now with the HTC One.
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I hope that they make the 64GB version.. That’s all
GS4 > One
Hello Yungqb7 from the future, nice to meet I heard you’ve tested the SG4 and you’ve compared truroughly in every category
Damn… it seems that I have blown my cover
I’d love them to kick off with 32GB on board and in a bold move have the 2nd version feature 128GB. It means for a little more you get a LOT MORE so you won’t be just content with 32GB, which is already quite good.
How many people really want a five inch phone?
Well… I have a Galaxy Note 2 which is half an inch bigger than what your asking so… i guess im one of those people who likes oversized phones. Im never getting a phone that is smaller than my current phone.
not me, I prefer 4 inch compact phone.
Already failed with rubbish build and cheap plastic. Looks ugly and too similar to S3. It’s not Octa core as only 4 cores work anyone time! Been hyped too much!
HTC One or XPERIA Z!
hey what’s goin on?!?! this is really strange! Phonearena is a very apple based site whose two out of three articles are about iPhone! Yet they’re very excited about GS4 but in androidauthority most of what you post is against it!!!(failure? disappointment??)
I adore the S3 & would love a chance to win an S4. I just bought the Samsung Tablet 2.1. So yeh to Samsunfs products. May u win the lawsuit brought by Apple!


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On the far north-west coast of Scotland, a small whisky distillery is doing things a little differently.
Founder Annabel Thomas says that Nc’nean, which started in 2017, is the country’s first fully organic distillery. The business is based on the Drimnin estate near the Isle of Mull, where the former Bain consultant is hoping to shake up the traditional image of Scotch with a more experimental and sustainable approach.
Nc’nean’s ethos is to appeal to a younger and diverse consumer base who are less inclined to drink neat spirits. Ms Thomas believes many people reject Scotch in favour of bourbon or Irish whiskey because it is more acceptable to mix the latter spirits with other ingredients to make cocktails. She aims to show you can drink Scotch in different ways, as well as trying to shift public perceptions. “If you look at the Instagram profile of traditional whiskies, it’s just old men,” Ms Thomas says.
Her parents bought the Drimnin estate in 2002 as a retirement project — Ms Thomas grew up in Essex, but spent many holidays in Scotland — and there was talk among the family about starting a distillery. In 2012, Ms Thomas, 36, who was by then at a career crossroads and wondering whether to leave consultancy, took a few distillery tours. She found they all highlighted tradition: “This is the way it has always been done”. By the fifth distillery, she says, “I could have done the tour myself”.
Scotland has more than 130 malt and grain distilleries and Ms Thomas decided she could take advantage of the wider boom in craft gins, beer and wine, by applying a sustainable approach to whisky making.
The Scotch industry contributes £5.5bn to the UK economy, but many Scottish distilleries are owned by global drinks groups such as Diageo and Pernod Ricard. This provides consistent quality but, Ms Thomas argues, at the cost of innovation.
Nc’nean can try things out, for example by experimenting with different yeasts, which are used to make a “wash” — a kind of strong beer — which is then distilled twice and put into casks to age. As defined in Scotland, it becomes whisky after three years and one day.
Ms Thomas left Bain in 2013 to work on the distillery full time. She had the site but raising the money and converting the farm buildings was challenging — and so is her commute, as she is based in London where she lives with her husband and young daughter.
Just as Nc’nean was about to undertake its first distilling in 2017, its master distiller Jim Swan died suddenly. Replacing him will be tricky, Ms Thomas says. “It will be difficult to find someone who has the experience and is not just going to make a traditional whisky.”
Building a distillery, and running it for three years before making any revenue is not an easy sell to investors. Ms Thomas was surprised by the resistance from angel investors, a group she had thought would be interested in start-ups such as Nc’nean.
The first round of funds was raised through family and friends via the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme. It offers tax incentives to investors and is limited to £150,000. This funded the architectural and engineering development.
It then took until July 2015 to raise the rest: about £5m in equity, £2m of debt and a £600,000 grant from the EU via the Scottish government.
It was a test of mental endurance. “We couldn’t say this is our prototype whisky, because we didn’t have a distillery to make it in, let alone have had three years to mature it,” Ms Thomas says. What was really needed was a cornerstone investor. Luckily, one was found through a “really random” old work connection of Ms Thomas’s father.
Once the money was secured, building began. The remote location meant builders had to be housed and fed for at least a year and it was difficult to retain site managers, “so there was no continuity,” she adds.
The installation of the biomass boiler added a new dimension to logistics management. Made in Germany, it was transported across Europe and at Fort William transferred on to a smaller lorry. A vehicle escort was needed to guide it through its last leg along Drimnin’s country lanes. To add to the headache, a crane also had to be transported to the distillery.
Revenues come from pre-selling casks at prices starting from £3,000. Nc’nean has more than 1,500 casks — a mix of red wine, sherry and bourbon barrels — ageing in its warehouses.
So far £360,000 of whisky has been sold to buyers all over the world ahead of its release in 2020. Ms Thomas says the Germans and Dutch, in particular, have whisky clubs which often buy a cask to share among members.
Nc’nean’s “experimenting” has also come up with an innovative product — its Botanical Spirit. It is unaged whisky spirit redistilled with botanicals, including sorrel and heather, made by west-coast gin distillery Beinn an Tuirc. Ms Thomas says it turned out to be useful practice for building the brand and learning how to get a product to market.
Advice for entrepreneurs
When setting up a business, Ms Thomas believes the important thing is to ask yourself the “why” question. “If you don’t have a clear and differentiated ‘why’, you’re probably not going to have a very good business.”
You also need to know if you can persevere, and she suggests talking privately to other entrepreneurs. Founders, she adds, “don’t often tell you about the hard stuff”. Entrepreneurs need to be prepared to deal with uncertainty and a constant low-level stress. Ms Thomas may no longer deal with the high-pressure periods that came with working at Bain, but “you become symbiotic with the business, and for people who like to separate work and play, it becomes almost impossible,” she says.
The next five years will be critical for her business. This month the distillery launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £1m and reached its target within days. Once the whisky is launched in the UK next year, the plan is to go into Europe — France is Scotch’s second biggest market by value.
Ms Thomas spends every third week in Scotland. Balancing the demands of working between Scotland and London means she has to plan travel and meetings far in advance.
“I’m not going to lie, it is not exactly easy,” she says.


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Back in November,
Huawei liquidated its Honor sub-brand to a consortium for a bit greater than $15 billion. Because
Huawei no loner has anything to do with Honor, the last disappears cuffed by the limitations bothered Huawei by the UNITED STATE Commerce Division. As an independent company, Honor no more needs to obtain a certification to do company with UNITED STATE companies of software and hardware consisting of Google.. Honor will certainly not be called for to obtain a certificate to purchase chips created by global shops making use of American technology.
Huawei’s smart device firm is other than sale claims business’s owner as well as likewise Chief Executive Officer Ren Zhengfei
Last month, there was guesswork that Huawei was preparing another hit bargain. Reportedly, Huawei was speaking about
the sale of its front jogger “Friend” as well as likewise P” clever tool lines with an added consortium that obviously included sponsors as well as reps backed by the Shanghai federal government. Since that report at first was distributed at the end of January, there have in fact been nothing else documents relating to such a sale. As well as recently, the
South China Early early morning Message spoke with Huawei owner as well as likewise Chief Executive Officer Ren Zhengfei that claims that Huawei has no approaches to provide its smart device firm. The director declares that Huawei will absolutely never ever market its customer device that includes smart devices.
Huawei will certainly not market its clever tool solution states founder as well as Chief Executive Officer Ren Zhengfei
Ren is asking U.S. President Joe Biden to have a far more open plan in the direction of Chinese business than his forerunner did. Under Donald Trump, the U.S. thought about Chinese business like Huawei, ZTE, ByteDance, SMIC, as well as likewise others to be nationwide defense dangers leading the UNITED STATE to impose many constraints on these business. Zhengfei dispersed his speak about Tuesday throughout a roundtable conference in Taiyuan.
Ren asserted, “Our company does not have the energy to be involved in this political whirlpool. We make every effort to make good products. We really hope that the United States government can have an extra open plan for the advantage of American companies as well as the growth of the US economy.” The director issues whether America’s assents versus Huawei in fact advantages UNITED STATE customers. “Will the US clog today result in unexpected effects?,” he asked.
While Huawei has actually been amongst the leading 3 smart phone makers over the last number of years, the UNITED STATE constraints versus it as well as likewise the sale of its Honor sub-brand is anticipated to decrease the firm to 7th this year. The manufacturer continues to be the world’s leading distributor of networking tools although that the UNITED STATE lobbied its allies not to utilize the outfit’s telecommunication parts for their 5G networks.
Up previously, it does not resemble though the Biden management has strategies to eliminate the constraints bothered Huawei. The new head of state’s prospect for Commerce Assistant, Gina Raimondo, asserted lately that she saw “no reason” why the UNITED STATE should certainly remove Huawei from the entity listing. Even Huawei’s Zhengfei does not prepare for that to take place whenever promptly. Huawei’s Chief Executive Officer declares that it will certainly be “very tough to eliminate Huawei from the entity list.” The guy that co-founded Huawei occurs to declare that when it entails his company’s elimination from the entity list, “I will certainly not state it is difficult, yet it is extremely hard, so essentially, we do not have that expectation. We simply want to work hard, as well as we have lots of cash as well as can employ a lot of scientists.”
Zhengfei claims that Huawei is open to sharing its 5G technology with the U.S. “We have said before that our 5G innovation can be moved in its totality.” He occurs to state That consists of not simply the lawful civil liberties to development nevertheless likewise resource programs in addition to source codes. If the United States requires our chip technology, we can relocate. Our words are real [but] no company has in fact pertained to exercise with us until now.”


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Oppo A5 With 6.2-inch 19:9 Display, Dual Camera Launched For Rs. 14990
Oppo has launched a new smartphone Oppo A5 with notch and full screen display. This phone was launched in China avast month. It features textured glass back and display notch. The phone is priced at Rs. 14990 and it is now available from offline stores across the country.
Oppo A5 features a 6.2-inch HD+ Display with 19:9 aspect ratio and a display notch. It runs on ColorOS 5.1 based on Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box. The phone is powered by 1.8GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor with Adreno 506 GPU and 4GB of RAM. The phone as 64GB of onboard storage with option to expand storage up to 256GB.
The phone has a dual camera that includes 13-megapixel primary sensor along with an f/2.2 aperture and a 2-megapixel secondary sensor with an f/2.4 aperture. It also has LED flash on the back. The front side features an 8 megapixels front camera with f/2.2 aperture. The front camera also features Oppo’s Beauty Technology 2.0 that is capable of recognising 296 facial points.
It comes with 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.2, GPS/ A-GPS and Micro-USB connectivity options. The phone also packs 4230 mAh battery that promises to offer up to 14 hours of video playback, and 11 hours of gaming playback.
Dimensions measure 156.2 x 75.6 x 8.2 mm and it weighs 168 grams. It comes in Blue and Rose Gold colour options.
At this price, this phone will be competing with phones like Honor 9N, Nokia 6.1 Plus, Moto G6, Zenfone Max Pro M1 and Redmi Note 5 Pro. But Asus and Xiaomi phones have tough availability and Honor is just available online. So primary competitors are Moto G6 and Nokia 6.1.


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In late September Nelson Peltz met the chief executive of Unilever, Alan Jope, for breakfast at Claridge’s. Peltz had organized the meeting to lobby against the recent announcement that Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s brand would stop selling ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories – an apparent protest against Israeli settlements. Peltz told Jope his opinion: no company has any place making these kinds of political statements.
This remains the only conversation the two men have had – so far. Last weekend it emerged that Trian Partners, the $ 8.5bn activist fund that Peltz co-founded in 2005, had quietly built up a stake in Unilever, the consumer goods company best known for products such as Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise.
Until then the only Peltz in the UK headlines this year was Nicola Peltz – one of Nelson’s 10 children – who is marrying Brooklyn Beckham this spring. But news of Trian’s stake changed all that, sending Unilever’s share price soaring over 7 per cent, leaving the company rushing out their plans to ax 1,500 management roles, and propelling the 79-year-old billionaire into the spotlight.
Known for his turnrounds at big consumer goods companies like Snapple, Heinz and Procter & Gamble, Peltz is expected to attempt a similar feat at underperforming Unilever. The shareholder tide may be on his side. The company faces simmering investor discontent after its failed £ 50bn takeover of GSK’s consumer health division. Terry Smith, a top shareholder, has accused Unilever of burning its sustainability credentials at the expense of making money.
Peltz has “a piratical charm and a velvet glove”, says Roger Carr, who was chair of Cadbury when the activist successfully campaigned to split its drinks business from confectionery. “But do not mistake the iron fist. He is relentless in pursuit of his own objective, which is value creation. ”
“He always prefers to win you over through his enthusiasm and optimism,” says one friend. “But as any true east New York kid, he will not shy away from a fight if it is the only way forward.”
Peltz grew up in Brooklyn and later dropped out of Wharton business school because he was bored. He gained early experience working as a delivery truck driver for his family’s wholesale frozen food distribution business. The job was intended to be a stop-gap before he became a ski instructor but Peltz stayed for 15 years.
“He understands companies in a way that I find most activists do not,” says one executive who has worked with him. His experience taught Peltz one crucial lesson: ‘sales up, expenses down’, a mantra emblazoned on the mugs in Trian’s offices. “He’s a thoughtful investor and has good operating chops,” says Bill Ackman, founder of activist investor Pershing Square.
In 1983 Peltz and his business partner, Peter May, bought a stake in Triangle Industries and built it into the largest packaging company in the world. Together with Peltz’s son-in-law, Ed Garden, they founded Trian in 2005.
Soon afterwards, they launched a corporate battle to shake up Heinz. Initially Peltz locked horns with chief executive William Johnson, who claimed he “does not understand our business” and warned that if he got “on the board, you’re going to have a destabilizing situation.” But Peltz went on to win two board seats and play a key role. “He was very informed, highly-focused and an engaged director,” Johnson later said.
A similar situation played out at P&G, where Peltz built up a $ 3bn stake and won a board seat by a 0.0016 per cent margin. Those who have worked both with and against Peltz say that, unlike other legendary activists, he rolls up his sleeves and sticks around. “Nelson is actually helpful,” says a person close to P & G’s board. “The key to his success is that he thinks very much operationally, rather than just some sort of McKinsey guy who wants to split the company.”
Peltz lives on a sprawling waterfront estate in Palm Beach, where he is a neighbor of Donald Trump. A one-time confidant of the former president, Peltz has recently distanced himself from Trump, telling CNBC he believed the Capitol Hill riot permanently tarnished his legacy, and that he was “sorry” he voted for him.
The activist investor’s notable failures include General Electric, the US conglomerate where Trian revealed a $ 2.5bn stake in October 2015. Initially Jeff Immelt, the chief executive, welcomed his arrival. But a year later, when GE performance was lagging, Peltz’s tone shifted. Immelt wrote in his 2021 memoir that Peltz told him: “Jeff, I want you to know I love you like a son in a lot of ways, and I would never do anything to harm you, but we’re at a point where we need to make a change. ”
Peltz, for his part, told CNBC in 2019 that Trian sold about a third of his position in GE for a profit but made a “big mistake” in not completely offloading the entire stake. Trian still owns around 4m shares in GE, worth about $ 360m today.
Unilever has not commented on Trian’s arrival and Peltz also remains tight-lipped. But investors are looking to the P&G playbook, where Peltz battled to simplify its bloated corporate structure. The group’s total return to shareholders grew 99 per cent during his board stint.
“Nelson Peltz’s style is to engage with management to trigger change rather than to stand on the sidelines and be disruptive,” says Carr. “Although clearly his very presence is disturbing.”


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Ford Motor Company expects to deliver a record 2015 pre-tax profit and to continue its momentum in 2016 with equal or better results.
Jaguar Land Rover looks set to announce a further £500m investment in a new production facility in the West Midlands.
PPG Industries, through its subsiduairy, PPG Comex, has opened its 4,000th paint and coatings store.
The Bicester-based provider of advanced surface coating technology, Hardide Coatings, Inc. has announced the opening of its new Virginia production facility.
BMW unveiled its mirror-less i8 concept car during this week’s CES 2016 held in Las Vegas.
Jonny Williamson takes a tour of Festo’s ultra-modern technology plant in Ostfildern-Scharnhausen (just outside Stuttgart, Germany), a site heralded as the forefront of automation for the future.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has announced that it has begun testing an "all-new aluminium space-frame architecture" set to underpin all of the manufacturer's future vehicles.
At CES 2016, Intel yesterday showcased the vast power of technology to deliver new insight for athletes and sports enthusiasts alike.
Honda Aircraft Company last month began deliveries of its HondaJet – what the company says is ‘the world’s most advanced light jet’.
Human casino dealers could become a thing of the past if robots like ‘Min’ take over the dealing duties at the worlds gambling hotspots.