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With its layaway program proving to be popular among Sears and Kmart customers for back-to-school, Sears Holding Corp. has launched a new program designed for cost-conscious consumers looking to manage their holiday shopping.
Sears recently introduced Sears and Kmart Christmas Club gift cards, which allow consumers to save ahead for their holiday purchases at Sears and Kmart stores or online at either merchant’s Web site.
Consumers who sign up before October 31 can earn up to a 3% reward, up to a maximum of $100, based on the stored value on their cards as of November 14 — the last day funds can be added to the cards.
Cards can be activated with as little as $5, and funds can be added at any Kmart or Sears location, as well as online at the stores’ Web sites. There are no fees associated with the Christmas Club card.
Sears is planning a multichannel promotion for the cards. The offering will be promoted in 15-second spots on network and cable TV; online with banner ads that drive users to the Christmas Club microsite for either brand; and through e-mail, circulars and point-of-sale signage.
The Christmas Club program “has such a simple customer proposition – save now for the holidays,” that Sears will focus a significant amount of its marketing around it, said Tom Aiello, VP of PR at Sears. “Consumers don’t want to sacrifice on gift giving this year, but they are concerned about how they are going to save money,” he continued.
Sears is already seeing a strong response to another program designed for cost-conscious consumers. Last year, Sears reintroduced a layaway program, which had always been at Kmart.
Layaway “has been so strongly received by customers for back-to-school and we feel that this is going to carry over into holiday,” said Aiello.
In a recent survey commissioned by Sears and Kmart, 58% of American consumers said they are more concerned about how they are going to pay for their holiday shopping this year compared to last year. In addition, 56% said they plan to save money for the winter holidays this year, with 32% saying they have already started saving for the holidays and another 38% saying they plan to start saving soon. In addition, 57% said they will be spending less on gifts, 53% will be shopping at more affordable stores and 49% will be planning and setting a shopping budget ahead of time.
The online survey was conducted by Kelton Research from August 3 to 7.


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It’s a holiday shortened week, but there was a lot of data on tap today. Consumer confidence came in much lower than expected at 49.3 versus expectations of 57. This decline represents the schism between the green shoots theorists and the real economy. Consumers simply aren’t recovering as high gas prices persist, wage deflation sets in and job losses mount.
Meanwhile, the last week of June showed some retail sales strength. The ICSC retail sales figure came in at 1.6% week over week and 0.6% year over year. Unfortunately, the month of June was a disaster so it’s too little too late. The report said:
“This late June spark was a welcome sign for the industry and the economy, however, for the month as a whole, June sales continue to track for a ‘tough’ month with the early part of the month weighing heavy on its performance.”
The Redbook data is also showing trouble on the consumer sales side after another 4%+ reading this week.
Things continue to moderate on the housing front. The Case/Shiller 10 index showed a slightly lower reading of 150.34. This is an 18% decline from last year’s prices. Although the price declines are moderating it’s still difficult to twist this in a positive light. An 18% year over year decline in the consumer’s largest asset is extremely bad no matter how many green shoots you might be seeing.
The Chicago PMI came in essentially in-line at 39.9 and the market barely budged. This is yet another very weak reading, but widely expected after the recent ISM numbers. All in all, I’d say the data bodes poorly for anyone who still believes in a v-shaped recovery.
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.

domain: news


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Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg announced during Facebook’s second-quarter earnings call Wednesday that the social network now has more than 1.5 million active advertisers, as well as more than 30 million active small and midsized businesses, with 19 million of those active on mobile.
Sandberg used Chumbak, a company based in India, as an example during her opening remarks Wednesday, saying:
Just a few weeks ago, I was in India, and I hosted our first India SMB roundtable. One of the entrepreneurs I met, Vivek Prabhakar, built his house just a few years ago to raise the money to start his and his wife’s dream business, Chumbak, a company that makes India Inspired products. Facebook is Chumbak’s leading marketing channel, and it is responsible for 35 percent of online revenue and 38 percent of its website traffic. Its Facebook ads deliver a five times return on advertising spend, and this has helped company grow to more than 150 employees in three offices.
We have more than 30 million active small business pages, and over 19 million of these are active on mobile. We think we have a big opportunity to help SMBs like Chumbak grow their businesses, and I’m pleased to announce today that we have over 1.5 million active advertisers. We’re also ramping up our engagement with this community. In the U.S., we’re hosting Facebook Fit workshops in cities like New York, Chicago and Miami to help small businesses. And we’re doing this globally, including forming our first European SMB cap.
Sandberg didn’t limit her comments to SMBs, addressing larger advertisers later in her remarks:
We’re also making great strides in our work with our larger brands to increasingly recognize how our scale, targeting and measurement capabilities can drive great results. For example, Procter & Gamble and Gillette worked with us and agencies IVS and MediaCom to launch its Vector III razor to men in India. 80 percent of the 100 million Facebook users in India are on mobile, and a majority of these are using feature phones. This was our first feature-phone-only Facebook campaign. It reached 60 percent of Gillette’s target audience and generated significant lift in both message and ad recall.
We also remain committed to investing in product development to drive higher returns for all of our marketers. Our custom audiences capabilities, which enable better targeting, are been adopted quickly and are now being used by 91 of the Ad Age 100. Earlier this year, we launched website custom audiences, which enabled marketers to target recent visitors to their websites. This is like targeting, but it’s even more effective because it works across both Web and mobile. We’re pleased with the early reaction from marketers.
Readers: What do you think of Facebook’s progress on the advertising front thus far in 2014?


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If the popularity of platforms like Instagram and Periscope are any indication, imagery and videos matter quite a bit to people. And if you’re in the business of creating and choosing the most inspiring images and video for a commercial purpose, then when it comes to stock photos and video, the specific type of asset matters. Based on an examination of downloads and uploads from global contributors as well as keyword searches, the team over at Adobe Stock took a look at the visual trends likely to become the most impactful in 2016.
Among the processes involved in selecting the right stock image is the importance of maintaining a contemporary and modern aesthetic, says Scott Braut, who is the head of content at Adobe. This means that features such as cool tech and new “hipster” aesthetics should lead the way in visual trends in the new year.
Imagery that encompasses youth-oriented tech culture, virtual reality headsets, and hoverboards are critical in conveying a cool image. Similarly, new aesthetics like those accompanying the “hipster” persona, and currently extending to such things as bow ties and handlebar mustaches, will continue to be popular visuals used by both old and new brands.
Beyond the aesthetic and persona-related aspects of stock imagery, the devices we use to create or produce these images are just as important in this year’s visual trends. For example, according to Adobe Stock data, perspective portraits are taking the already popular “selfie” to another level.
Color consistency is also expected to be an important aspect of the visual trends of 2016, with Pantone’s Rose Quartz and Serenity expected to be among the most popular colors. While, generally, brands select color schemes, this year the focus could land more on how we use colors rather than the color itself. However, there are claims that white might actually end up becoming the color of the year, as opposed to 2015’s red, as predicted by Behance.
Other trends on the horizon include high-impact aerial, similar to last year’s trend to take pictures from unique perspectives such as hanging from a cliff. As the price of drones continues to decrease they will become mainstream tools of photography, and we can expect to see more stock images from views we haven’t been able to utilize until now.
And similar to a 2015 trend favoring the use of socially relevant images, the use of stock images to incorporate current affairs should factor as one of the trends to look forward to in 2016.
In short, we can expect to see much more creative efforts in not just the imagery itself, but in how stock photos and videos are created in order to keep brands modern and up to date.
- Android 13 is here, and you can download it on your Pixel phone right now
- Meta wants you to use its creepy Portal as a secondary monitor
- Facebook Messenger finally starts testing end-to-end encryption for all chats
- Twitter profiles for businesses just got way more useful
- Dell could be working on the same charging tech Apple has been developing


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Co-op is launching a vegan-friendly version of this nostalgic product made with vegan Lincolnshire sausages.
Many Brits will be well acquainted with Heinz’s canned baked beans with mini-sausages, but, according to Plant Based News, the Co-op is launching a vegan-friendly version of this nostalgic product made with vegan Lincolnshire sausages.
The beans and sausages have been made in collaboration with wholefoods co-operative Suma Wholefoods, whose products are mainly sold in health food shops across the country, and vegan food producer VBites, who are owned by Heather Mills.
The can is filled with six delicious meat-free Lincolnshire style sausages with baked beans in a rich tomato sauce with herbs and spices and is great on toast or with a baked potato.
In a statement sent to Plant Based News, VBites owner and entrepreneur Heather Mills told the media outlet she was excited to launch the product saying: “As a kid from a working-class family we loved sausage and beans but only had enough money to buy in a tin. One of my fantasies was to have vegan sausages and beans, and we at VBites and Suma are doing that now with our canned product. In addition, we have also created meatballs with bolognese sauce in a tin.
“Both products are great when I’m on the road – as I can even eat them cold out the can. They are both available in natural health food stores and Co-op is launching the sausage and beans as well.”
Suma recently teamed up with VBites to create a variation on this classic kitchen cupboard favourite, canned beans and mini VBites burgers.
Follow Vegan Food & Living on Facebook to keep up to date with the latest news, recipes and product launches from the vegan community.
Image credit: Suma/VBites


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Intel Corp. (INTC) CEO Brian Krzanich resigned today from his executive position and his role on the board of directors in the wake of a “past consensual relationship” with an employee, the company said in an unexpected press release today.
Intel says Krzanich, 58, violated the company’s policy regarding “non-fraternization.” CFO Robert Swan will serve as interim CEO as Intel searches for Krzanich’s replacement. Swan, who has served as CFO since October 2016, will manage operations in close collaboration with Intel’s executive leaders.
“An ongoing investigation by internal and external counsel has confirmed a violation of Intel’s non-fraternization policy, which applies to all managers,” Intel said in the release. “Given the expectation that all employees will respect Intel’s values and adhere to the company’s code of conduct, the board has accepted Mr. Krzanich’s resignation.”
Intel Policy Violated
Intel said it was only recently made aware of Krzanich’s controversial relationship. Per company policy, Intel managers cannot have a relationship of any kind with employees who answer to them. His relationship reportedly has already ended and occurred “some time back,” according to unnamed sources cited by CNBC.
“We are confident in Bob Swan’s ability to lead the company as we conduct a robust search for our next CEO. Bob has been instrumental to the development and execution of Intel’s strategy, and we know the company will continue to smoothly execute. We appreciate Brian’s many contributions to Intel,” Intel Chair Andy Bryant said in a statement.
Intel’s New Guidance
Separately, Intel increased its guidance for the second quarter, saying it expects earnings of 99 cents per share and $16.9 billion in revenue, up from 85 cents per share and $16.3 billion in revenue.
“With accelerating data-centric revenue, the company is off to an excellent start in the first half of the year and expects 2018 to be another record year,” the company said. Intel’s second-quarter results are expected July 28.
Shares were down 1.25% early in Thursday’s session. (See also: Intel’s Soaring Stock is Due for a 10% Pullback.)


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Optimizations for DX12 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
AMD has released its newest Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.9.1 drivers which bring optimizations for the newly released DirectX 12 patch for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided as well as a new DOTA 2 Crossfire profile and few minor fixes.
Negotiations are under way
The former maker of expensive printer ink HPE is in talks with buyout firm Thoma Bravo to flog its software arm.
Improved management tools
Nvidia has updated its Grid software platform with deeper performance profiling and analytics tools for planning, deployment, and support of virtual GPU users.
Support for new graphics cards and couple of fixes
AMD has released its fresh Radeon Software Crimson Edition 16.8.1 drivers which bring support for the recently released Radeon RX 470 and Radeon RX 460 graphics cards as well as a new Crossfire profile and some fixes.
Brings new features and more color options
G.Skill has released a major software update for its Ripjaws KM780 and KM780R RGB series mechanical gaming keyboards which bring plenty of new features including more color customization options.
Virtual reality pioneer Oculus has woken up to the fact that installing DRM on its headsets is about as crazy as having making punters wait for months for their pre-orders to be delivered.
Five years after buying it
Chipzilla has run out of ideas about what it is going to do with it its security business and is apparently planning to flog it off.
Opened up the kernel for inspection
With its release of iOS 10 Apple appears to have forgotten to encrypt the kernel, leaving security researchers baffled and virus writers rubbing their paws with glee.
$2 billion price tag
Grey box-shifter Michael Dell is about to flog his software division to buyout firm Francisco and the private equity arm of activist hedge fund Elliott Management.


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Hero Traveler founder and CEO Joseph Anthony saw an opportunity to develop the first travel-focused social media application and website.
Airbnb is breaking into the travel market as the company just hired the founding head of Virgin America Fred Reid as global head of transportation.
Grab added Netflix-like video-on-demand service HOOQ into its core ride-hailing app. The company, which is valued at USD 11 billion and raising a USD 5 billion round, already offers a range…
For TripClub CEO and founder Menchie Dizon, women deserve to have both worlds so she created a program that will enable women to work and take care of their personal affairs. As a woman, she…
SafeCharge has partnered with Kiwi.com to help the Czech OTA accept a larger range of traditional and alternative payment methods including 150 local payment schemes. Kiwi.com…
This week we saw numerous travel tech start-ups receive millions of funding from different funding rounds. Start-ups rely on investments to foster growth.
Finding a job has never been this easy for both job seekers and employers. Singapore-based GrabJobs is making a fuss in the recruitment scene with their interview chatbot technology.
Indonesian unicorn Go-Jek has opened its app to passengers in Singapore after it hits a roadblock in the Philippines.
Abhas Desai, co-founder of Taxidio Travel India— a DIY travel planner shares his thoughts on travel startups in India and what's in store for them in 2019.
Mergers, acquisitions, and billion-dollar funding rounds — so much have happened in 2018 and so I’ve thought of compiling them into one bite-sized piece.
75% of Millennials rely on Wikipedia or Google as their source of information, but these are not designed for sightseeing. So how does one filter the information especially while in a new…
A report has surfaced that the Indonesian travel tech unicorn Traveloka has long acquired some of its rivals in Southeast Asia through a Singapore-based shell company named Jet Tech…
Dubbed as the most-anticipated IPO filing, Uber and Lyft generated excitement among investors with their news about going public.
G Adventures, a small group adventure travel operator offering more than 700 tours in 100 countries, announced the acquisition of UK-based youth travel specialist, TruTravels.
Personalisation is key in the hospitality sector and we are increasingly seeing new tech developments facilitate the service-heavy industry and how.


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News & People
Research from Sodexo suggests the link between food waste and carbon emissions is still not understood – indicating a radical,
Design & Display
Investment in Black Friday digital advertising soars as companies battle sluggish economies. Businesses are confident consumer spending habits will rise
Technology & Software
From ‘The Growing Importance of External Data in the Retail and E-Commerce Industry’ white paper Retail and e-commerce companies in
Businesses and customers gradually went digital as lockdowns became the new reality, offering and obtaining more products and services online,
Are there ways to bridge the gap between online and offline retail? Historically, retail has shifted from offline to online.


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Invite back to Today in Application, the once a week TechCrunch collection that summarizes the most up to date in mobile OS information, mobile applications and also the total application economic situation.
The application market remains to expand, with a document variety of downloads and also customer costs throughout both the iphone and also Google Play shops integrated in 2021, according to the most up to date year-end records. Application Annie states worldwide costs throughout iphone and also Google Play depends on $135 billion in 2021, which number will likely be greater when its yearly record, consisting of third-party application shops in China, is launched following year. Customers likewise downloaded and install 10 billion even more applications this year than in 2020, getting to almost 140 billion in brand-new installs, it discovered.
Applications aren’t simply a method to pass still hrs — they’re likewise an industry. In 2019, mobile-first business had a consolidated $544 billion assessment, 6.5x more than those without a mobile emphasis. In 2020, capitalists put $73 billion in resources right into mobile business — a number that was up 27% year-over-year.
Today in Application provides a method to stay on top of this fast-moving market in one location with the most up to date from the globe of applications, consisting of information, updates, start-up financings, mergings and also purchases, and also far more.
Do you desire Today in Application in your inbox every Saturday? Subscribe below: techcrunch.com/newsletters
WWDC 2022 Sneak Peek
It’s that time once again. Google I/O has actually reoccured, which indicates it’s currently WWDC period. Apple’s huge designer meeting is back this year as a crossbreed occasion with welcomes sent out to some programmers (and also press), and also a keynote that broadcasts Monday, June 6 at 10 a.m. PT. Amidst the opportunity of brand-new Macs (or perhaps even the reported AR headset?), application programmers are most curious about the coming updates to Apple’s growth systems and also what’s in advance for its mobile os, consisting of the huge brand-new launch of iphone 16.
Many thanks to leakages mostly from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, iphone 16 — code-named “Sydney” — can be a relatively huge upgrade. Reported modifications consist of an upgraded lockscreen that includes the Today Sight widgets, maybe — even more realty for application programmers to record customers’ interest — along with the opportunity that an apple iphone 14/iOS 16 combination will certainly consist of an always-on screen. Various other updates can see first-party applications like Messages and also Wellness obtaining updates, the previous with improvements to its audio functions, the leakages declare.
Somewhere Else, we’re anticipating multitasking enhancements for iPadOS, plus updates to macOS, watchOS and also tvOS, consisting of various other first-party application updates (Setups, Mail, Safari, Podcasts and also Notes, possibly), brand-new watch encounters and also much more.
If Apple intended to shock us, it can reveal the reported homeOS or its smartglasses, however, for the moment being, we’re not banking on those launches.
Daily downloads to get to top of the Application Shop have actually raised 37% considering that 2019
Brand-new evaluation suggests it’s obtained more difficult to obtain an application to the top of the Application Shop, in regards to downloads, over the previous numerous years. According to brand-new information from application knowledge company Sensing unit Tower, the variety of downloads required for an application to get into the No. 1 setting on Apple’s apple iphone Application Shop in the U.S. has actually climbed up by 37% considering that 2019. Especially, it approximates an application currently calls for roughly 156,000 downloads on a provided day to strike the leading area on the U.S. Application Shop, up from 114,000 everyday downloads back in 2019.
On the other hand, Android applications just require 56,000 everyday downloads, below 83,000 in 2019.
Obviously, programmers understand that downloads alone don’t relocate an application to the top of the graphes. It’s just one of numerous variables that Apple’s ranking formula thinks about for handling its Leading Graphes. Still, it’s a fascinating statistics to track as it does issue — and also Sensing unit Tower has actually done the job to evaluate the typical required per market, by groups, and also also amongst choose markets. You can review our review below.
- Apple upgraded its Apple Programmer Application ahead of WWDC. The application will certainly permit programmers to search the WWDC tab to view the full routine of daily’s session video clips, along with accessibility Digital Lounge tasks and also the Coding and also Style Obstacles. The application likewise currently sustains SharePlay so programmers can view video clips along with coworkers or pals.
- Apple likewise released a brand-new web page, Beyond WWDC, committed to noting a variety of various other occasions and also celebrations associated with WWDC, a number of which are funded by or led by designer companies.
- Ahead of following week’s disclose of iphone 16, Apple launched the most up to date iphone 15.6 beta 2, along with the 2nd designer betas for iPadOS 15.6, tvOS 15.6 and also watchOS 8.7. Especially, the upgrade dealt with the insect that saw the Apple Songs application pressing various other applications out of the apple iphone’s dock.
- Mixpanel kept in mind that Apple’s iphone 15 is currently mounted on 85% of energetic apples iphone as we head towards the disclose of iphone 16.
- Apple included an option of its WWDC22 Swift Pupil Obstacle Victors, which this year overall 350 pupils from 40 nations and also areas. Amongst the applications that Apple highlighted were Ivy, an application for garden enthusiasts; an application that educates mouth-to-mouth resuscitation; and also an application that allows individuals experiment with various pronouns utilizing example messages.
- Google claimed Android customers will certainly quickly have the ability to use their Play Things to in-app acquisitions for applications released on Google Play. The factors will certainly be readily available right in the check out circulation.
- Google introduced the General Schedule (GA) of Application Activities utilizing shortcuts.xml, component of the Android faster ways structure. By utilizing the Shortcuts API, programmers can include a layer of voice communication to their applications, by utilizing the Android tooling, system and also functions they currently understand, Google claimed.
- Google’s newest Android upgrade consisted of brand-new Gboard sticker labels, 1,600 Emoji Cooking area combinations, brand-new Play Things functions and also availability application enhancements. Most significantly, the firm is bringing customized message sticker labels to all Android gadgets, after initial introducing them on Pixel phones in March.
- A variety of South Oriental application programmers and also material service providers upped their paid registration and also service charge on Google’s Play market because of the 15-30% compensations currently called for complying with Google’s plan modifications that compel applications to utilize its first-party payments and also settlements system. While South Oriental legislation allows application programmers to make use of a third-party repayment alternative, this just lowers Google’s compensation by 4% — which’s not nearly enough, programmers think.
- Google is claimed to be closing down Android Automobile for phone displays, according to messages customers are seeing in the application.
- Amazon.com included an invite-only purchasing alternative to its internet site and also application made to restrict robots’ capacity to rack up high-demand, low-supply items. The system releases in the U.S. with the PS 5 and also Xbox Collection X console preorders.
- Kohl’s is the most up to date merchant to join for Apple’s Organization Conversation, which permits consumers to speak with live conversation customer care representatives via Apple’s Messages application.
- SEC filings suggested financial application Varo, the initial U.S. neobank to obtain a financial institution charter, had $263 million equity, an $84 million shed price and also 98% of its revenue originated from interchange and also costs, according to an evaluation by Fintech Organization Weekly. The record recommended Varo can be out of cash by year-end if it doesn’t reduce prices and also elevate even more resources.
- Visa and also East Africa’s most significant telecommunications, Safaricom, the driver of the M-Pesa mobile cash item, released an online card that will certainly permit M-Pesa customers to make electronic settlements worldwide.
- Square claimed it would certainly present assistance for Apple’s brand-new Faucet to Pay on apple iphone function inside its Square Factor of Sale application later on this year, and also it released a Very early Gain access to Program for choose sellers.
- Coinbase claimed it will certainly expand its working with freeze for “as long as this macro setting calls for” and also claimed it would certainly likewise retract a variety of approved deals.
- Instagram released brownish-yellow Notifies on its application to use its large customer base to aid discover absent youngsters. The alert will certainly show up if you’re in the marked search location and also will certainly consist of details regarding the missing out on youngster, consisting of a picture, summary, place of the kidnapping and also various other information.
- Twitter is claimed to be reorganizing to concentrate on customer development and also customization, which is influencing staffing for various other functions like Areas, e-newsletters and also Neighborhoods, Bloomberg claimed.
- After 14 years, Meta introduced COO Sheryl Sandberg is leaving the firm. The resignation complies with records that the director made use of Meta’s sources for individual rate of interests, like wedding event preparation, and also made use of Facebook sources to push Daily Mail to eliminate a tale regarding then-boyfriend Activision Snowstorm chief executive officer Bobby Kotick.
- Meta introduced a collection of updates and also brand-new functions for its Reels items throughout both Facebook and also Instagram, consisting of a Noise Sync function on Facebook Reels and also assistance for longer Instagram Reels of as much as 90 secs, as opposed to one minute. It likewise turned out much more innovative devices, consisting of bringing Instagram’s Tale sticker labels to Reels.
- Snapchat released a brand-new “Shared Stories” function that makes it simpler for customers to work together and also share memories. It likewise partnered with dining establishment evaluation internet site The Infatuation to aid customers to discover neighborhood consumes on its Break Map.
- The Uvalde shooter made use of the Gen Z social application Yubo to fulfill individuals that he would certainly after that adhere to on Instagram and also with whom he went over purchasing a weapon secretive conversations, The Washington Message reported. Yubo furthermore introduced brand-new age approximating functions to different minors from grownups on its application.
- Twitter claimed it’s closing down TweetDeck for Mac, the social networks control panel application focused on power customers that wish to watch several columns within a solitary display. The application will certainly sunset on July 1 after which customers will certainly be guided to the internet variation, which is being upgraded.
- TikTok is examining a brand-new function, “clear setting,” that enables a distraction-free scrolling experience on the application. The function remains in restricted screening with choose customers and also eliminates all mess on-screen, like subtitles and also switches.
- Tumblr turned out a method to present ad-free surfing to pals at a price of $4.99/mo or $39.99/year. It likewise presented a method to switch off the capacity for customers to restrict reblogs on their messages.
- Dissonance claimed it will certainly provide voice networks their very own text-based chatroom where customers can share web links and also various other messages without needing to transport jump. The function will certainly present throughout systems by June 29.
- Get-together application IRL is giving up 25% of its group, or around 25 individuals, pointing out market characteristics. The cut happens a year after the start-up landed a $170 million SoftBank-led Collection C and also got to unicorn condition.
Messaging & Calling
- Google introduced strategies to incorporate its Google Duo and also Google Meet calling applications right into a solitary application that utilizes Duo’s technology as the structure yet leverages the Google Meet branding. The Duo application will certainly obtain every one of Meet’s functions, consisting of set up conferences, yet customers will certainly likewise have the ability to make use of the brand-new application for impromptu calls. Google had actually formerly sunset Duo’s chat-based sibling application Allo in advance of this action.
- The Jonas Brothers-backed start-up Scriber discards a standalone application to link followers with unique celeb web content over SMS updates to their favored messaging application. The Jonas Brothers bill $4.99/mo for their follower registration yet strategy to contribute half the revenues to charity.
Streaming & Amusement
- YouTube introduced its mobile application can currently sync to your television without utilizing spreading, for a “2nd display’ experience.” The application will certainly rather ask customers if they wish to sync to their television, which will certainly after that permit the customers to connect with the video clip, by taste, commenting and also sustaining the developer, along with store the items being included.
- Google released the Google television for iphone application after relocating the Movies and also television area from the Play Shop to the Google television application. The brand-new application changes the Play Movies & television application for iphone and also allows television audiences utilize their phone as a push-button control.
- A leading streaming solution in China, iQiyi, bulk had by Baidu, reported its initial quarterly earnings of $26.7 million in Q1 2022, after investing cuts.
- Apple is currently infusing first-party advertisements for its very own radio reveals within the costs Apple Songs solution, to the temper of some customers.
- Spotify dealt with a streaming blackout on Monday and also Tuesday when podcasts on Spotify-owned Loudspeaker were inaccessible for greater than 8 hrs from Monday evening via very early Tuesday early morning because of an ended SSL certification.
- Singapore-based TIYA, a Clubhouse-like social sound networking system, released a Spotify assimilation that allows its customers pay attention to songs and also podcasts with pals. The application is a subsidiary of Chinese application manufacturer LIZHI.
- TikTok is introducing an online registration funny collection in collaboration with social networks partnership firm Pearpop and also developer Jericho Mencke. Episodes of the program, “Searching for Jericho,” will certainly broadcast two times a week in June on TikTok LIVE, with 8 30-minute episodes in total amount. It will certainly set you back $4.99 to view the collection.
- Google introduced the return of the Indie Video game Accelerator program for 2022. It claimed chosen video game workshops from 78 qualified nations will certainly be welcomed to participate in the 10-week velocity program beginning in September 2022 as the Accelerator Course of 2022. The program consists of a collection of on the internet courses, talks and also video game growth workshops. Develoeprs likewise obtain the opportunity to fulfill and also get in touch with others from worldwide.
- Impressive Gamings is organizing its initial significant in-person affordable Fortnite occasion considering that the Fortnite Globe Mug in 2019. The upcoming FNCS Invitational 2022 will certainly happen November 12-13 at the Raleigh Convention Facility and also will certainly include a $1 million reward swimming pool.
- Popular iphone mobile video games from Ustwo, the designer behind Monolith Valley, will certainly involve the computer with a launch on Vapor on July 12.
Traveling & Transport
- The globe’s 2nd most often downloaded and install ride-hailing application after Uber, inDriver, was profiled by Relax of Globe today. The Siberia-based application, which allows motorists bargain over rates, struck unicorn condition in 2015 with an evaluation of $1.23 billion. It currently offers 42 nations worldwide.
Information & Analysis
- Amazon.com got rid of in-app buy from its Kindle and also Amazon.com Songs applications for Android, along with straight audiobook buy from its Distinct application for Android, complying with Google Play’s plan modification that compels programmers to utilize its very own first-party invoicing and also settlements solution.
- Substack’s newest updates consisted of the capacity to install TikToks right into messages, a brand-new responses area at the end of messages, a brand-new account area that reveals your current sort and also numerous updates to its mobile application. For the last, visitors can currently transform the typeface, message dimension and also history shade to improve their analysis experience, along with for far better breaking down and also threading of remarks.
- Apple Maps started examining its even more-detailed maps in more nations consisting of France, Monaco and also New Zealand. Individuals in these locations detected upgraded maps with far better makes of 3D things, like the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame Basilica and also Mont Saint-Michel in France.
Safety & Personal Privacy
- Canada’s personal privacy regulatory authority discovered that coffee bar chain Tim Hortons had actually unlawfully accumulated client place information via its mobile application without appropriate customer approval. An examination discovered the application was tracking consumers’ areas also when it was not being used.
💰 Indian brief video clip application ShareChat’s moms and dad firm Mohalla Technology increased almost $300 million from Google, Times Team and also Temasek Holdings at an about $5 billion assessment, according to Reuters resources. Google had actually formerly backed competing short-form video clip application Josh.
💰 Indonesian distribution application Astro, which provides 15-minute grocery store distribution, increased $60 million in a Collection B led by Accel, Citius and also Tiger Global, bringing its overall raising to day to $90 million. The application provides distribution within a series of 2-3 kilometres via a network of dark shops and also runs around 50 areas throughout Greater Jakarta.
💰 LA-based metaverse start-up TRIPP increased $11.2 million in a Collection A extension led by gaming-focused investment company BITKRAFT, and also obtained world-building system Eden. TRIPP’s vision for the metaverse consists of AR smartglasses, virtual reality headsets along with mobile phone applications, as it anticipates AR, virtual reality and also mobile to inevitably assemble.
💰 Latin American neighborhood on-demand distribution and also transport incredibly application Yummy increased $47 million in brand-new financing led by Anthos Resources. The application provides distribution of things, ridesharing and also grocery store distribution in much less than 20 mins, and also the acquisition of experiences like performances and also showing off occasions.
💰 Sanlo, a San Francisco-based fintech start-up that provides little to medium-sized video game and also application business accessibility to devices to handle their financial resources and also resources to sustain their development, increased $10 million in Collection A financing led by Konvoy.
💰 Super, an Indonesian social business application that concentrates on villages and also backwoods, increased $70 million in Collection C financing led by NEA, bringing its overall financing to $106 million. The start-up intends to utilize its financing to broaden right into Kalimantan, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluka and also Papua over the following couple of years.
💰 Train, a start-up using a control panel for structure, releasing and also keeping an eye on applications and also solutions, increased $20 million in Collection A financing led by Redpoint Ventures.
💰 Poparazzi, the anti-Instagram social application that struck the top of the Application Shop in 2015, introduced its Benchmark-led Collection A round, reported in 2015 yet not validated by the firm previously. The firm claimed it increased $15 million in financing, a little bit under the $20 million being reported.
🤝 Pinterest obtained the AI-powered buying solution for style referred to as The Yes, started by ecommerce expert and also previous Stitch Repair COO Julie Bornstein and also technological founder, Amit Aggarwal. Offer terms were not divulged. The solution will certainly be made use of to aid Pinterest individualize the buying experience on its system.


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It seems OnePlus is planning to go back to its roots after six years – ‘quality products at a cheaper price’. However, this doesn’t end here as Pete Lau, founder, and CEO of OnePlus also hinted about expanding company’s portfolio beyond smartphones at a recent interview with Fastcompany.
According to Pete Lau, OnePlus wants to get back to making more affordable smartphones simultaneously expanding into new categories. This doesn’t mean OnePlus will stop making a higher-end model though.
While he didn’t confirm any information on any products, he (along with OnePlus) hopes to bring low-priced smartphones in India and other markets including North America and Europe. This should be the rumored OnePlus Z.
As a part of a bigger plan, Pete Lau said that the ultimate goal is to sell a lot of phones with lower price tags and spin them into an ecosystem of connected devices.
“What we’re seeing is that with current products, there’s still a demand from a large consumer base for a more suitable price that enables more consumers to be able to access OnePlus products,” Lau says in an interview. “That’s a really important insight, and it’s something that we’re taking into very serious consideration.”
Taking a cue from Apple, OnePlus hopes to create a common ecosystem across devices. “We indeed have come from background and roots as a hardware company, but from what we see looking forward, building an ecosystem is a forward trend,” Lau says.
On top of that, OnePlus for the first time revealed the investor name -Oplus. Furthermore, OnePlus also clarified that Oplus is a private investor group and has no direct affiliation with BBK.”
“OnePlus is still a young brand,” Lau says. “We are a company that’s constantly considering, evaluating, iterating, working on our strategy, continuing to improve our strategy to really be focused on creating a long-term, sustainable success.”


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Interest in electric cars is growing, partly in response to rising petrol prices – they are currently sitting at a decade-high national average of $1.59 per litre.
Australian petrol prices could continue to rise, with fears tensions between the US and Saudi Arabia will hike up the value of oil.
Australian motorists are suffering the biggest annual increase in petrol prices in 9.5 years as global factors combine to slug drivers at the bowser.
Petrol price hikes are adding to concerns the economy is not delivering for average workers.
Woolworths says the sale of its 527 petrol stations and convenience stores and 16 development sites to BP for $1.8 billion will no longer go ahead.
The Turnbull government has announced a review into Australia's fuel security.
Caltex Australia says it will spend up to $120 million buying out its franchisees after a 18.5 per cent rise in full-year replacement cost operating profit.
At its lowest, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) plunged 1,175 points or 4.6 percent.


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The new name for Trisent’s unique self-writing diary, Orla, was revealed at EIE 2017 in Edinburgh on 11th May 2017. Trisent also announced that a Beta version of the diary app would be available through the Orla Beta Programme.
Engage Invest Exploit (EIE) is the premier technology investor showcase conference featuring Scotland´s most promising high growth companies. Trisent was selected as one of these premier companies invited to pitch to over 700 delegates including 200 investors. Trisent used this opportunity to reveal Orla – the world’s first self-writing diary and in addition to revealing the new name, the Orla Beta Programme was also announced and the first 100 Beta users have been pre-selected. After the platform has been stress tested with the first 100 users, more users will be added to the programme.
Orla has been under development by Trisent since September 2016 and an early prototype diary app was rapidly developed. That prototype was called Codi (derived from contextual diary) and was released to 15 alpha testers just before Christmas 2016 and the test ran until the end of February. The feedback from these tests were used to define the specification for Orla which has now been released as an early Beta.
There is more to Orla than the phone app, it requires a complex cloud server system to process and store the diary data. Smart algorithms are run on the server system rather than by the phone meaning that the processing algorithms can be continuously improved during the Beta programme without the need to upgrade to a new version of the Orla app.
There will be continuous improvements made and user feedback will be regularly sought throughout the programme until the performance of the product is considered suitable for general release. It is currently available in the UK for iPhone only. It will work in other countries without any need for modifications but is only supported in the UK initially. Versions for other phone platforms including Android will be developed although they will not appear this year.


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The Portuguese technology will be installed at Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park, one of the most recent innovation centres in the United Arab Emirates, according to a statement issued by the company.
The deal follows solutions tested and applied at Dubai’s World Trade Center and its main shopping centre, Dubai Mall. In Dubai the company also has a deal to supply the VIDA Residence hotel.
The prevention solutions were tested over two months at the hotel, culminating in the trial period in the agreement with the Portuguese company.
The Portuguese company has created a system with an integrated “one-stop” solution, based on touchless technology for the control of inputs from consumers and employees.
The solution is equipped with a wide range of security procedures, such as temperature gauging and mask use, also allowing traceability and a personalized management of access management and control, through facial recognition.
Available in different supports, ranging from tunnels to gantry cranes and adaptable to the various access systems already in existence, it can be personalised with the identity of client brands, as PLM Global already did with reference brands such as Microsoft, Alibaba Group, Nestlé, Lenovo, Canon and Panasonic, among others.
According to the company’s source, business in Dubai under the ‘Prevention’ brand name comes after other contracts in the UK and the Netherlands with companies such as Twin Technology and ST World respectively.
After the internationalisation of its Covid-19 prevention solutions, PLM will also focus on the domestic market, with solutions aimed at both the institutional market and the private sector.


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General Motors today released new images of the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Concept giving it the official name of “50th Anniversary Corvette Stingray Concept.”
In a short press release, GM said that the “Corvette Stingray Concept represents both the iconic legacy and an exciting future for Corvette.”
“The Corvette Stingray Concept was developed as an internal design challenge to combine classic Corvette cues with surprisingly high-tech features, modern materials, and a striking new appearance. The car is well-appointed with a clamshell hood, scissor-style doors, ergonomic seats, rear-view camera with night vision enhancement, and a high performance hybrid drive. Interactive touch controls allow the driver to customize the power and efficiency of his or her ride and share it with friends via the in-car camera system and advanced telemetrics.”
Earlier this year, Tom Stephen, GM”s vice chairman of global product development, said that GM may consider offering a hybrid powertrain for the Corvette. To boost fuel-economy GM plans to reduce the weight of the Corvette, offer low resistance tires and an engine with direct injection, variable valve timing and cylinder deactivation.
50th Anniversary Corvette Stingray Concept:
– By: Omar Rana


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Artificial intelligence is reinventing the retail landscape. From using computer vision to customize promotions in real time to applying machine learning for inventory management, retailers can harness AI to connect with their customers and operate more efficiently
You might use AI in CRM software to automate marketing activities, or predictive analytics to identify which customers are likely to buy certain products. The cloud enables AI workloads that require volumes of data from many different sources to be stored and processed. Some examples of cloud retail workloads are demand forecasting machine learning and online product recommendations
There are countless benefits that can be credited to artificial intelligence in retail business such as captivating customers, synchronizing offline and online retails, empowering flexible logistics network and many more.
Read More about How AI is changing Retail?
#AI #ML #Retail #Probyto #ProbytoAI
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Mangalore: The Konkan Railway has started providing electronically generated vouchers to passengers on purchase of food and snack items in trains.
The newly introduced system would ensure that the food items were charged by the caterer as per the approved rates of Konkan Railway, thereby bringing in more transparency, a Railway release said.
Konkan Railway had already introduced the service in Mandovi Express and Konkankanya Express trains on its route. The service would be tried out first in Air Conditioned coaches of the two trains and later extended to other coaches and other trains depending upon its success, it said.
The hand-held compact and rugged Electronic Voucher Distribution machine, which has large memory, will print a system generated bill which will be given to the passengers on purchase of any food item. The bill will have the name of the caterer and date and time of purchase.
The service had been introduced by Konkan Railway as its constant endeavour to provide value-added services to its passengers, the release said.


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Hyderabad based Indian mobile manufacturer Celkon has recently launched their latest smartphone in the Indian market. Apparently, the new smartphone falls in the company's Campus series and comes with a Campus A63 name.
Currently, the Indian smartphone market is witnessing an outburst of the budget friendly handsets. Moreover, the advent of Celkon Campus A63 again can added a itself in the same price range category.
Like the recent handset like Zync Cloud Z401 and Nokia Asha 501 and others, Campus A63 also comes at a price of Rs. 4,499 and will be available in the market beginning today itself.
Talking about the specs, Celkon Campus A63 comes with the trending 4-inch display offering a resolution of 480x800 pixels. The handset is powered by a dual-core processor clocked to 1.2GHz and there is a presence of 256MB RAM as well. Impressively, it runs on the on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
While others are coming with a bit older versions. The budget device comes packed with a 3.2MP rear camera along with the front facing VGA camera.
Apart from being a dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) supported smartphone like other domestic devices, it also supports a regular connectivity options like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS, but lack 3G support.
Further, Celkon Campus A63 houses 512MB internal storage capacity which is again expandable up to 32GB via microSD card.
At the end, the handset is powered by a 1500 mAh battery. The company has also included a free back cover in the box with every phone.
The story of Celkon doesn't end here but the manufacturer is also expected to launch more devices like A60, A20 and A10 add to its Campus series in the coming weeks.
Moreover, the competition will not be easy and Celkon Campus A63 will have to face the aggressive challenges from fellow domestic players.


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ALSO READTaxmen launch prosecution in tax evasion cases in TN CBI arrests income tax officer for bribery I-T unearths Rs 65 cr black money in human hairs export China will temporarily exempt foreign firms from provisional income tax for reinvested profit No income tax exemption to cooperative banks: Jaitley
There are major litigations on account of margins that the contract manufacturer should have earned by transfer pricing cell of income tax department. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has notified the Safe Harbour rule covering sector like IT/ITES, KPO and auto component manufacturers prescribing desirable margins to avoid litigations under transfer pricing regulations. Considering that weighted deductions and tax holidays are being phased out, MTaI recommended that the corporate tax rates should also be reduced for large companies in line with the government's objective to widen the tax base and make these companies globally competitive. MTaI also raised concerns over high custom duties on medical devices. There was a significant increase ranging 50-60 per cent on medical devices. This has adversely impacted costs for these products in India where the government agenda is to provide low cost healthcare available to masses. This is especially important in view of the fact that a significant 67-70 per cent of healthcare spends is through private spending and there exists a wide gap in local manufacturing of high quality medical devices. The association has also urged the government to reduce Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) rate to 15 per cent.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)


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In this edition of the Aventus update, you get an update of the recent Aventus x fruitlab partnership that brings 10m transactions + 500,000 more each month to AvN, press coverage, and more
You’ll also find:
- An update about how Aventus Network is moving into the NFT space to level it up with layer-2 scaling
- A technical update on AvN NFT functionality
- The third video from the new bi-weekly AMA series with CCO Anna Frankowska
- News that the next AMA video goes live on Friday with Aventus CTPO Andrey Brozhko
- Aventus Network transaction updates from Block Explorer
Let’s get straight to it…
Aventus x fruitlab partnership that brings 10m transactions + 500,000 more
With over 625,000 registered players in over 90 countries, and 100,000 monthly active users, fruitlab is an established and growing platform on web and app for the world’s gaming community.
The Aventus blockchain solution will securely and cost-effectively execute all fruitlab token transactions, bringing rewards for Aventus Network validators and a scalable, long-term framework for fruitlab’s community.
fruitlab is addressing the issues faced by gamers want to earn revenue on their gaming content by introducing its own token — PIPs.
Available today, PIPs are tokens for gamers that provide a secure method for creators to monetise content posted on fruitlab and for PIPs to be used to compete against each other for value.
The partnership with Aventus Network will see PIPs tokenised on blockchain to ensure the long-term scalability, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of fruitlab.
In excess of 500,000 PIP transactions per month are generated on fruitlab today. Once PIPs are tokenised, these transactions and associated fees will be processed via the Aventus Network.
A minimum of ten million historic PIP transactions will be onboarded. These transactions significantly increase the scale of the Aventus Network and therefore the potential value of staking as a validator for Aventus Token (AVT) holders.*
Following the initial onboarding process, fruitlab and Aventus Network will establish a system whereby content uploaded to the platform can be represented as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
These will form a secondary market in which creators will be able to sell NFTs to other community members. Creators, or individuals who have purchased fruitlab NFTs, can then be credited with PIP tokens from fruitlab’s community when the content is viewed.
You can read the full press release at https://medium.com/aventus/gaming-social-network-fruitlab-selects-aventus-networks-blockchain-technology-to-process-fruitlab-602c5ddd50fc.
Press coverage from the fruitlab partnership
Press coverage for the Aventus x fruitlab partnership has been picked up by 100s of websites across the world including the following:
And many more, with potential interviews lined up with leading news organisations.
An update about how Aventus Network is moving into the NFT space to level it up with layer-2 scaling
The sales volume of NFTs has skyrocketed to $2.5 billion in the first half of 2021.
Artists, celebrities and organisations like Twitter, CNN and the US Space Force have jumped onto the trend. According to DappRadar, which tracks data on NFT sales platforms that are based on blockchain networks like Ethereum, noted the explosion in growth, particularly over the last 12 months.
Worryingly, however, Ethereum’s scaling issues may be a detrimental factor in the fast-growing NFT market.
Aventus Network is the next-generation solution that addresses Ethereum’s scaling issues while honouring Ethereum’s commitment to decentralisation.
How Aventus Network Levels Up NFTs
The mushrooming popularity of NFTs and the influx of collectors have led to congestion on the Ethereum network, resulting in impractically expensive fees for simple transactions. Aventus Network adopts layer 2 solutions to take a much-needed load off the Ethereum network, drastically improving scalability.
Improvement on Scalability and NFT User Experience
The Aventus Network (AvN) can theoretically scale to 2,000 transactions per second. This is 133 times more than Ethereum.Besides, the AvN will process a token transfer within 0.13 seconds. This is 100 times faster than the Ethereum blockchain. The instant resolution dramatically improves the experience for NFT trading. It also removes scalability-related constraints on developers when building services.
Almost Gasless NFT Transactions
The average transaction cost on the Aventus Network will begin at just $0.01 (paid in AVT) and decrease over time. This is 99% cheaper than the average Ethereum transaction fee over the past year.
Environmentally Friendly NFT Trading
The security of proof of work blockchains requires a lot of computations. Put it simply, they use a lot of electricity. Conversely, layer 2 solution Aventus Network spends much less energy to ensure the sustainability of NFT transactions.
The NFT market is booming like never before. Most NFT applications are built on the Ethereum network but it is the victim of its own success. Particularly, high gas fees and poor user experiences limit mainstream adoption.
With Aventus Network, a layer 2 solution that solves the bottlenecks of Ethereum, it will however pave the way for NFT mainstream adoption.
One day, you may see every item on the street have a digital twin in the blockchain world.
Aventus is ready to capitalise on the NFT revolution, and there will be lots of exciting news flow to that affect coming soon.
You can read our latest NFT blog in full here.
A technical update on AvN NFT functionality
To coincide with the AvN’s interest in NFTs, the tech team has begun preparations for introducing NFT functionality to the AvN mainnet, which requires a forkless upgrade.
This follows the introduction of NFT functionality on the Aventus testnet, which has already been tested and completed.
The work of introducing it to the mainnet centres around stress testing, key management, and payment integration.
- Stress testing: with respect to high volume transactions and a wide array of attack scenarios.
- Key management: The back-end automated creation of AvN keys for successful NFT bidders.
- Payment integration: FIAT functionality and new request from the current client, EOS
In terms of AvN fixes, there was a bug fix on the public AvN testnet.
The tech team noticed the summary was blocked. A new summary with an ID that had previously been accepted was being proposed for addition, and because the blockchain checks refused the repeated addition, summaries were stuck at that point, while block production continued.
Summaries are the proofs from the AvN that are sent to Ethereum to record that transactions that occurred within the summary period, were vetted and approved.
This has now been fixed.
The third video from the new bi-weekly AMA series with CCO Anna Frankowska
Aventus CCO, Anna Frankowska, took the reigns of the last AMA answering question from more of a commercial perspective.
Anna is a Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe Technology award winning entrepreneur, Economist by education with a diploma from University College London, and Investment Banker (RBS) by training with CFA Level 1 and FCA & PRA certifications.
Anna specialises in commercial strategy, partnerships and scaling products having successfully led companies in fintech, blockchain and entertainment industries.
She is also a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and sits on the advisory Board of The Oxford Guild Society.
Anna is responsible for Aventus commercial partnerships.
In the video she covers questions ranging from how $AVT can compete with stable coins and how Ethereum’s move from PoW to PoS affects Aventus, and much more.
News that the next AMA video goes live on Friday with Aventus CTPO Andrey Brozhko at 5pm UTC, 6pm UK, 7pm CEST
Where the first AMAs were hosted by CEO Alan Vey, and the last AMA was hosted by CCO Anna Frankowska, this week we are introducing you to Chief Technology & Product Officer, Andrey Brozhko.
Andrey has over 20 years of experience leading product and software engineering efforts, primarily in distributed systems and security applications, spanning large multinational companies and startups in Fintech, Blockchain and Cloud industries. Ex-R3 and Oracle, he is a graduate of Warwick University and holds an MBA and MSc software engineering degrees.
You can see a selection of the question Andrey will be answering from a tech perspective below.
Tune in on Friday at 5pm UTC (6pm UK, 7pm CEST) in the official Aventus Telegram group to watch.
Aventus Network transaction updates from Block Explorer
To date, the Aventus Network has processed 7.338m Total Transactions, with 655.5k of those coming in the past 30 days.
As a result, in the past 30 days, AVT stakers have earned a total of 9,311k AVT — a number that will continue to rise with new announcements.
The staking program is now more than 80% full and will close to new stakers at 100%.
To register for round two of the AvN Validator Registration Program, visit https://www.aventus.io/ecosystem/.
Again, to register for the Validator Program visit https://www.aventus.io/ecosystem/.


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A chief iPhone and Apple Watch product design executive was reported to be leaving the company soon. Now, a new Bloomberg report claims that the executive is heading to Jony Ive’s design firm to develop AI-first products for OpenAI.
According to the report, Vice President of Product Design Tang Tan will join LoveFrom, a design consultancy firm founded by Apple’s ex-chief of design Jony Ive following his departure from the company in 2019. Tan will reportedly lead hardware engineering work on a secretive artificial intelligence hardware product in collaboration with OpenAI, with the latter providing “software underpinnings” for the device.
Tan was responsible for the product design of the Apple Watch and iPhone, with his responsibilities extending to accessories and acoustics design including AirPods. Tan’s exit will significantly impact Apple’s internal setup, termed a significant setback by insiders affecting the hardware engineering division. His team played a pivotal role in designing key features and engineering strategies for various Apple products. Tan was recognized within Apple for making crucial decisions that led to the triumph of products like AirPods and Apple Watch.
While OpenAI’s device remains in the early stages, some concepts call for a smart home product. It’s still unclear whether this is the direction that OpenAI will pursue, or whether a more personal device like Humane’s Ai Pin is also in the works.
The report also details an apparent veteran talent “exodus” within Apple, with as many as 14 industrial designers who previously worked under Ive departing the company since 2019. Only six designers from the Ive era still work at Apple, the report adds, with more than 20 ex-Apple employees in total now working at LoveFrom. Many heavyweight designers who worked on the iPhone and recently left Apple include Patrick Coffman, Colin Burns, and Shota Aoyagi.


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California-based food company Back to the Roots has raised $5 million in seed funding. Investors included return backers Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS and John Foraker, founder of Annie’s. According to the company, it will leave the funding round open for 30 days for accredited investors led by Agency of Trillions to participate via the crowdfunding platform CircleUp.
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA (PRWEB) JANUARY 29, 2016
Back to the Roots®, a California company pioneering the way people reconnect with food, announced today that it has completed a strategic seed financing round, totaling $5 million. It will also be leaving the round open for investment for thirty days by accredited investors through a crowdfunding campaign on CircleUp led by Agency of Trillions. Previous investors, Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS, John Foraker, founder of Annie’s, and Nicolas Jammet, co-founder of Sweetgreen, also joining the round.
In a rare mix of private and public equity funding, $3 million of the round is being raised through the San Francisco-based technology company, CircleUp, which has quickly become a leader in the equity-based crowdfunding scene over the past year. “As we looked to raise this seed round, it was clear that we wanted to take a similar approach, and it has been so exciting to be able to bring this opportunity back to our passionate community.” said co-founder, Nikhil Arora.
This is the first official round Back to the Roots has raised. It previously raised a $2 million convertible note in June 2015, but prior to that, had bootstrapped the company, using business plan competition prize money, Kickstarter, and bank loans. In fact, its initial funding was just a $5,000 grant, which came from UC Berkeley, the cofounders’ alma mater, over five years ago.
With the new funding, Back to the Roots has plans for major growth. 2015 already saw it increase from three to eighteen total products, expand from Ready to Grow to Ready to Eat lines, with its new, award-winning 100% stoneground breakfast cereals and Organic Breakfast Toppers, and sign an exclusive national partnership with Sodexo to launch in K-12 schools.
The funding will be used to accelerate product development (10 new products in the pipeline for 2016), expand distribution into retailers and schools, and build the team at its Oakland headquarters. “We see an exciting opportunity to ‘Undo Food™’, and continue to create a food company for this next generation that goes beyond natural/organic and focuses on radical transparency, sustainability, and great design. We want to bring the same level of trust that families feel when they grow their own food, directly to the grocery aisle and ready to eat food,” said co-founder, Alejandro Velez.
About Back to the Roots
Back to the Roots is a food company on a mission to Undo Food™ and reconnect families back to where it comes from through fun, innovative, and delicious Ready to Grow and Ready to Eat products. It was founded in 2009 by then college seniors, Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora, after they discovered how to grow organic, gourmet mushrooms on recycled coffee grounds. Since then, Back to the Roots has evolved from urban mushroom farming into a thriving business that has received national acclaim and accolades. Back to the Roots currently sells its products in over 14,000 stores worldwide, including Whole Foods Market, Target, Costco, The Home Depot, Nordstrom, Petco, Cost Plus World Market, Loblaw, Giant Eagle, Wegmans, The Fresh Market, Crate & Barrel, Urban Outfitters, Safeway, Kroger, and Amazon. Nikhil and Alejandro have been honored with several awards recognizing their efforts, including BusinessWeek’s “Top 25 Entrepreneurs under 25,” Inc.’s “30 Under 30,” Inc. 500, Forbes’ “30 Under 30,” and CNN’s “10 Next Entrepreneurs to Watch.” In addition, Back to the Roots was named a 2013 Martha Stewart Top Ten American Made honoree and recognized by President Obama as Champions of Change.
CircleUp is an online marketplace for private investing. It provides accredited investors free access to direct investments in high-growth consumer product and retail private companies that were previously difficult to identify and access. For retail and consumer product entrepreneurs, it offers an efficient way to access a network of sophisticated investors as well as value added partners.
Agency of Trillions
Agency of Trillions, a MAYA Company, is a social innovation and creative agency. Funded by Peter Guber and Tony Robbins, Agency of Trillions works with brands and start-ups committed to integrating Made Media™ and collaborative innovation into their core businesses.


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Second, the Trump campaign’s high expectations were fueled by an organized online prank on TikTok, which aimed to get tens of thousands to register for the rally without ever intending to show up.
TikTok is a short-form video app that’s become hugely popular among teenagers. But more important for its impact on American politics, TikTok is owned by a Chinese internet company called ByteDance. The company is facing a national security review in the United States over evidence the app sends data to China, according to the New York Times.
Technology analyst Ben Thompson explained on his Dithering podcast that the mysterious algorithm TikTok uses to promote videos is a “black box,” meaning it’s not really known how posts are deemed popular so they are shown to more users. If the TikTok algorithm is open to manipulation by the Chinese government, it’s entirely possible there was nothing organic about the effort to encourage fake registrations to the Trump rally.


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The global ice cream market generated revenues of US$143 billion in 2015, representing a CAGR of 3.6 percent between 2011 and 2015.
The global dinner ready-to-eat foods market is forecast to grow steadily at a CAGR of above six percent by 2021, according to Technavio.
China’s infant formula market is the biggest in the world. Sigalit Zchut, clinical marketing manager, infant nutrition, Infat-Advanced Lipids, explores its extraordinary growth.
Though it’s still an emerging regional segment market, it has been experiencing a rush in popularity in countries such as China and India which in turn will help the market to grow, reported Research and Markets.
A Transparency Market Research report, titled “Condiments Sauces Market - Asia Pacific Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2014 - 2020,” has stated that the Asia Pacific condiment sauces market will see a growth of 5.85 percent CAGR from 2014 to 2020 to register a rise valued at US$8,629.7 million by 2020.
According to a new market report that looked at the trends of the green packaging market from 2015 to 2021, the market for green packaging is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.2 percent between 2015 and 2021. The report from Transparency Market Research pins the overall value of the global green packaging at US$132.4 billion in 2014. It is expected to reach US$203.1 billion by end 2021.
The global halal food market has witnessed sustained growth in recent years, with increasing demand from the growing Muslim population, as well as other communities looking for healthy options. What are the key drivers for the market and what market opportunities would it bring? By Faisal Ghaus, VP, TechNavio Research
Half of today's consumers (51%) say that they eat snacks at least twice a day, an increase from 48% in 2012.


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Agspring has announced the creation of a new, evolutionary subsidiary, Agforce Logistics.
Agforce will employ discrete teams of veteran agricultural-trade-flow experts to efficiently manage commodities anywhere from the point of origin through downstream processing and consumption.
Agforce seeks to bring resourceful logistical alternatives to niche commodity market suppliers and end users. The organization will operate as an asset-light, midstream business utilizing logistics industry best practices to solve the unique challenges of crops with domestic origination and/or consumption.
“Agricultural trade flows continue to grow and change dynamically across the globe,” said Brad Clark, president of Agspring. “We believe the time is right for strategic teams that can leverage best practices, such as third and fourth-party logistics, to meet the evolving needs of growers, aggregators and downstream processors.”
Agforce will benefit from the financial, technology and corporate shared-service resources that currently serve other operating companies in the Agspring network. The organization will emphasize entrepreneurism and a client-centric culture driven by subject matter experts passionate about the markets they serve.
Agspring maintains decentralized operations and puts in place leadership teams who desire to grow into new markets including grains and oilseeds, livestock feed ingredients, and consumer food ingredients.


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We have seen the Huawei Mate 9 quite a bit in a variety of leaks, but today makers the first time we get to see it in two versions. It’s shown as the regular Mate 9 and then the Mate 9 Pro, with curved screen edges, courtesy of Evan Blass.
Search Results for "Huawei Mate 9"
Huawei Mate 9 is possibly the last big flagship to launch this year, aside from the Xiaomi Mi Note 2. Also, like it, the device comes with a dual camera at the back and apparently with a dual curved screen version. Evan Blass has managed to get hold of some
Huawei Mate 9 has just received a series of 3D renders and a video based on the latest leaks from the web. Those were created by Techconfigurations and feature a “blinding gold” color choice. Strangely the Huawei Mate 9 was not launched at IFA 2016 today, in spite of the
Huawei’s designs haven’t exactly been superb over the past years, unless you count the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus, that are really well done, but the Mate series could’ve been more inspired. Anyway, Huawei Mate 9 just leaked in renders and since concept phone designers have been out for the
While everybody and their mother is chatting about the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, the other big launch for the remainder of the year is definitely the Huawei Mate 30 Pro. We’ve seen it rendered before, but today it comes back in style, filled to the brim with fresh specs. This
It’s probably the third time we get to see clear renders of the upcoming flagship Huawei P9, but this time they really feel finalized. Created by Techconfigurations, they include the famous dual camera and some influences from previous Huawei models.
Huawei had a big event this week, one meant to unveil HarmonyOS, but also a few hardware products like the Huawei Watch 3 and new MatePad tablets. Aside from those we also got a confirmation for the Huawei P50 name and also we got to see bits and pieces of
Huawei is off to a new start on June 2nd, when it’s going to unveil new hardware products the final version of its HarmonyOS platform. That’s also the date when the Huawei MatePad Pro 2 debuts, together with the Huawei Watch 3 and Watch 3 Pro. Today we came across
Dates keep flying around these days, concerning future Huawei events. There’s the date June 17th thrown around for the unveiling of the Huawei P50 series and also June 2nd for new MatePad models. We’re hearing some accessories may also come out on May 19th. Before that happens we get to
We’ve seen the Huawei P50 already and also the Huawei P50 Pro in renders, with a figure 8 shaped camera. Now it’s time for the Huawei P50 Pro+ to leak out in a bunch of renders, which reveal a gigantic Penta camera and also very narrow bezels. Leakster HoiIndi has


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Bullhorn Growth Surges in 1H 2012
Bullhorn, the global leader in online recruiting software, announced a series of milestone achievements for the first half of 2012 – including strong new bookings growth, new product innovations, and customer wins – at its sold-out user conference last week, Bullhorn Live.
Bullhorn’s new bookings increased 66% in Q1 2012 compared to 2011 while new ATS/CRM seat growth was up 69% over the previous year’s period. The company added more than 3,500 new ATS/CRM seats from 380 new customers during the first half of 2012, including Sodexo Australia, GMR Marketing, Bond Street, Vision IT, and Maplesoft. Combined with continued rapid growth of Bullhorn Reach, the company’s pioneering social recruiting product, Bullhorn broke through the 100,000 user mark. Now, more than 12,000 companies in 126 countries rely on Bullhorn to hire the best talent using the company’s flagship ATS/CRM platform and Bullhorn Reach.
Bullhorn Reach has experienced unprecedented growth in the first year since its commercial release. With more than 82,000 recruiters as registered users, Bullhorn Reach is now the standard in social recruiting platforms. In the past three months Bullhorn signed new agreements with clients including Brooksource, FGP International, TrueBridge, and KBW for Bullhorn’s enterprise-scale social recruiting product, Bullhorn Reach Team. In addition to growing recruiter usage, job seeker traffic to the social recruiting platform is up over 700% with 1.1 million unique monthly visitors.
Additionally, the company recently announced a host of new product innovations, including:
- A new set of interactive standard reports and role-based dashboards for fast, easy access to key business metrics and better decision-making across the organization
- Powerful analytical tools from InsightSquared to surgically address data quality issues, forecast future bookings and revenue, integrate additional recruiting data from phone and billing systems and more
- An all-new version of Bullhorn Mobile that enabling recruiters, account managers and executives on the go to browse lists of candidates, jobs, and contacts, add jobs, and view reports
- Tighter integration of Bullhorn Reach with the Bullhorn ATS/CRM that streamlines the social sharing of jobs, automates the parsing of applicants from social media, and tracks social recruiting ROI
Hundreds of Recruiters at Bullhorn Live
The Bullhorn Live User’s Conference attracted more than 300 staffing and recruiting professionals from 104 companies for two full days of expert presentations, breakout sessions, face-to-face product demonstrations and networking events – all focused on helping recruiting professionals generate greater revenues in 2012.
In the month leading up to the event, customers were invited to test their knowledge of the Bullhorn applicant tracking system
for a chance to win prizes and participate in the first-ever Bullhorn Live game show. The top five scorers – Brian Roach of Design Group Staffing; Spencer Hellman of JOCO; Russ Danford of MATRIX Resources; Kyle Ketcham of Randstad Technologies; and Doug Feltman of 24 Seven Inc. – went head-to-head on stage, answering questions on the ATS, Bullhorn history, and even music from the 1970s.
Bullhorn CEO and co-founder Art Papas presented the keynote address on Monday, June 18 th, discussing the state of the domestic job market and the future of the staffing industry. “The last time we held Bullhorn Live was in 2009, at the depth of the Great Recession. We’ve been hard at work since then, bringing major innovations to the industry. It’s incredible to see the payoff. Our clients are thriving and Bullhorn has been a beneficiary of their success.”
Bullhorn® creates software and services that improve the way employees and employers come together. For over ten years our innovations have powered the recruiting and staffing operations of fast-growing start-ups up through the world’s largest employment brands. Headquartered in Boston, with offices in London and Sydney, Bullhorn’s recruitment CRM
and social recruiting
products serve more than 100,000 customers across 126 countries.


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Stop & Shop plans to extend its 10% pay increase for hourly store associates to July 4.
The Ahold Delhaize USA grocery chain announced the move Thursday with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). The “appreciation pay” was first instituted by Stop & Shop on March 20 and then extended through the end of May as the coronavirus crisis continued.
“With incredible dedication, teamwork and care for our customers, Stop & Shop associates are continuing to make extraordinary contributions throughout this situation,” Stop & Shop President Gordon Reid said in a statement. “The Stop & Shop team continues to play a vital role in serving the needs of our local communities and ensuring that our neighbors have uninterrupted access to the food they need. We are deeply thankful for this tremendous work.”
The pay hike recognizes associates’ efforts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and covers about 56,000 workers in more than 400 stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. New associates hired before May 30 also will receive the increase, Stop & Shop said, added that it has hired and trained more than 8,000 new hourly workers since mid-March.
Stop & Shop, too, said it will continue to offer flexible hours for associates and up to two weeks of additional paid sick leave for employees required to quarantine by government authorities or the company.
“Thanks to hardworking UFCW members at Stop & Shop in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, families across the region continue to have the food and groceries they need during this pandemic,” UFCW International President Marc Perrone stated. “Working together with Stop & Shop, we are proud to announce the extension of this pay increase for these essential workers keeping our communities strong. Every supermarket company must follow the lead of Stop & Shop and step up to provide our country’s grocery workers with the good pay and the benefits and protections they need.”
In late April, Stop & Shop said it joined an effort by UFCW to get federal and state governments to classify grocery workers as “extended first responders” or “emergency personnel” during the pandemic so they could be prioritized for testing and personal protective equipment (PPE). Albertsons Cos. and The Kroger Co. also have partnered with UFCW in the first responder status campaign. Earlier this month, UFCW also called on executives of leading grocery retailers to extend COVID-19 emergency pay, noting that grocery workers continue to face potential exposure to the virus.
Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop said its coronavirus safety measures for employees and customers include additional cleaning and sanitation, PPE for associates, protective plexiglass shields at checkout, store capacity limits, one-way aisles and in-store signage to promote social distancing. Customers age 60 and older and people at a higher risk for the virus also have reserved shopping time from 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. daily.


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The Art for Justice Fund is helping create the template for leverage art to advance social change. The New York Times explained how the Art for Justice Fund’s work is paving the way for other investors:
Mr. Beard, who focuses on art lending at U.S. Trust, said there had been an uptick in using art to fund other philanthropic endeavors. He cited Agnes Gund’s sale of a $150 million Roy Lichtenstein painting to start a criminal justice fund, called Art for Justice. Others, he said, are borrowing against their art to make traditional grants to organizations.
And traditional art funding — through philanthropy and private buyers — has worked well, Mr. Beard said.
“We’re trying to create a new channel of investment capital,” said Sam Marks, executive director of the New York office of Local Initiatives Support Corporation.
“Does our art system need impact investing?” he said. “We already have this very dynamic art model that goes out in the world. That may be why we’ve seen a failure to launch with impact investing in the arts.”
But groups like Upstart Co-Lab and LISC are looking to invest in a broadly defined creative economy, which can include traditional arts organizations like La MaMa but also small manufacturing companies that make high-end cabinetry and retail displays.


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US Unlikely to Avoid Severe Recession if Fed Hikes Interest Rates Too Quickly to Cool Inflation
02:42 GMT 02.07.2022 (Updated: 13:36 GMT 06.08.2022)
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - A severe US recession might be unavoidable if the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates too quickly in its bid to cool demand and tame record high inflation, economic analysts told Sputnik.
A key Federal Reserve model this week signaled the US economic recession is already here, after projecting the second consecutive quarter of negative growth. The unofficial forecast generated by the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow model on Thursday put 2Q GDP growth at -1%, which comes after a first quarter that saw -1.6% growth.
The central bank has said it will continue with rate hikes until inflation, running at 40-year highs of more than 8% per year, returns to its target of 2% per year. On Friday, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said US interest rates need to double by year-end for the central bank to have a fair shot at neutralizing inflation.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell earlier this week said, although possible, it would be challenging for the US economy to achieve a "soft landing" - that is, avoiding a recession in the wake of the central bank’s rate adjustments.
"We won't be able to avoid a 'hard landing' with a serious recession… [and] the quicker we try to cool down inflation to the 2% target, the more likely the recession will be severe," retired Brown University Assistant Professor of Economics Barry Friedman told Sputnik.
Friedman said there was a risk in aggressively attempting to get beyond stagflation (a combination of weak growth and high inflation).
"They may hate stagflation, but a sudden sharp recession is an awful risk of a snowballing movement that takes difficult political compromises to turn around, and who is going to compromise these days?" Friedman said.
All Signs Flashing
Some experts believe the situation is even worse than the stagflation of the 1970s and early 1980s, when inflation peaked at 13.5% and then-Fed chair Paul Volcker raised interest rates to over 20%, which triggered a 16-month recession.
"Contrary to the major media talking about stagflation it will be dragflation," Trends Journal Publisher Gerald Celente told Sputnik. "Economies won't stagnate as inflation rises: It will be declining gross domestic products and rising inflation."
Levy Economics Institute of Bard College Research Associate Marshall Auerback said all signs clearly indicated that an economic decline was inevitable.
"I would argue that we're already in recession, and it will get worse," Auerback told Sputnik. "Consumer confidence is hitting record lows even below what we had in the early 1980s during the era of Volcker's interest rate hikes."
He also noted that a Bloomberg Agricultural Spot Index fell 12% in June while almost all other major industrial commodity prices such as steel and fertilizers have fallen.
"What is striking is how across the board these price declines are. Almost no commodity prices have risen since interim peaks in May or June," he said.
Auerback also pointed to the decline in the US Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which fell again in June, the second month in a row. Expectations, he added, have fallen into a zone associated with recessions in the past.
Retail sales too were now already plunging across the United States and Europe, Auerback observed.
"This rapid inventory build coupled with widespread business concerns about excessive inventories for several months now suggests this build in inventories has been involuntary," Auerback said. "In other words, firms have experienced an unexpected shortfall in consumer purchases."


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Samsung has been knocking it out of the park with their smartphones lately, especially so with the flagship models; the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Note 10. While many will be patiently waiting for the upcoming Samsung S11 for sure, you’d be remiss to not take a look at Samsung’s mid-range offerings, especially those that are coming out next year.
Samsung’s A-series of mid range smartphones is getting two new additions, that being the A71 and A91. These new phones were first reported by Dutch website Galaxy Club. This is a follow-up to the already released A10s, A30s, and A50s, though these two new phones look to be quite the powerhouse as the A71 and A91 will come with the all new Android 10 OS right out of the box.
The Galaxy A71 is said to be powered by a new Exynos 9630 SoC processor, with a quad rear camera setup and a 48-megapixel main sensor, a 12-megapixel wide-angle sensor, a 12-megapixel telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom, and a Time of Flight (ToF) fourth sensor. The Samsung Galaxy A91 will feature a 6.7-inch display with a punch-hole design, with the selfie camera sitting in the centre like the Galaxy Note 10. Just like the upcoming Realme XT, the A91 will have a 108-megapixel main sensor, a 16-megapixel wide-angle sensor, a 12-megapixel telephoto sensor with 5x optical zoom, and a ToF sensor.
Reports are saying that the A71 and A91 will be coming to us sometime in Spring 2020, around March or April. Presumably, these new phones will be coming either at the same time as the Galaxy S11 or right after.


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10:14 | 15/06/2015 Trade
The country's fruit and vegetable exports reached US$629 million in the first five months of this year, soaring 17.8 per cent in turnover compared to the same period last year.
Vietnamese fruit and vegetables are exported to over 40 countries and territories. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Hue
The country exported nearly 900,000 tonnes of fruit in the past five months, with dragon fruit taking the lead with 350,000 tonnes, followed by watermelons (250,000 tonnes), longans (110,000 tonnes) and bananas (30,000 tonnes).
Vietnamese fruit and vegetables are exported to over 40 countries and territories.
The ten leading markets are mainland China, Japan, the US, Russia, Taiwan, South Korea, Indonesia, Netherlands, Thailand and Singapore.
The country's exports have enjoyed strong growth in the past five years, with an average rate of 26.5 per cent a year, from $439 million in 2009 to $1.49 billion in 2014.
However, fruit exports to high-value markets such as Japan, the EU, the US and Australia remain low.
Exports to China, the country's key market, are mainly through unofficial channels. Chinese partners often have provincial border-gate trade policies along with unstable trading, which leads to unusual risks to Viet Nam's exports.
Dinh Van Huong, chairman of the Viet Nam Fruit and Vegetables Association, told Thoi bao kinh te Viet Nam (Viet Nam Economic Times) that Vietnamese fruit and vegetables met quality standards, but lacked a recognised brand.
It would be difficult for fruit that do not have registered trademarks, brand names and geographic indications to access markets and shopping centres in foreign countries, he explained.
Products are consumed mainly by overseas Vietnamese or bought by foreign partners who import and pack them using advanced technology, Huong said.
There are over 100 fruit and vegetable processing companies operating on an industrial scale nationwide, and their production capacity is up to 300,000 tonnes per year.
However, a small number of them have licences to export to foreign countries. Enterprises mainly buy fruit from farmers and sell to foreign dealers, and have no strategy to access foreign markets.
Nguyen Xuan Hong, head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)'s Plant Protection Department, said the country lacked experience in opening export markets.
To boost fruit and vegetable exports, Viet Nam needed to make big changes from production to commerce, Hong suggested. In production, the country needed to expand plantations that applied the Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) standards to satisfy choosy markets. Trade promotions and marketing should also be adapted, he added./.


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Melbourne fintech company Credit Clear, which automates the process of requesting payments from customers, has raised $8.5 million in funding from investors including Regal Funds Management.
IODM is a new cloud-based solution that aims to, much like the simple name suggests, provide businesses with a new debt management solution to help lessen worries about cash flow.
Having seen the problems unpaid invoices can cause for smaller businesses, Metcalf last year decided to create an app to help empower the other end of the market to save and collect debt themselves.
Today Australian fintech startup Invoice2go launches new mobile payments feature as it enters into a new growth phase. The new feature will help Australian business owners across all industries receive payments faster.
The number of Australian businesses using factoring finance has risen to its highest level in five years, showing the growing popularity of debtor finance in the Australian market place, according to Bibby Financial Services, one of the world’s leading global debtor finance specialists.
Leading small business accounting software provider Xero continues to change the accounting game with the addition of online invoicing.
Over the last 6 years the company has been building accounting on the web. This has been a major investment, to build a full accounting system that connects small business owners to their accountants, bookkeepers, banks and other business solutions. Over 111,000 businesses now run on Xero.


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53 pc Indians Buy Their Smartphones Online: Deloitte
Deloitte finds out in a study, titled ‘Global Mobile Consumer Survey 2016’ that 53 percent of Indians bought their smartphones online while 39 percent of smartphone owners still bought their phones in-store.
The study further elaborates that for most smartphone owners in India, the reliance on WiFi has reduced considerably because of higher penetration of mobile data. 4G adoption is expected to grow strongly over the next year to become the predominant data network. About 45 per cent of the respondents said that they would subscribe to 4G or LTE in the next 12 months.
The research analyses the mobile usage habits of over 2000 Indian consumers as part of a global survey of 53,000 respondents across five continents and 31 countries. India data comprises of representatives from eight urban cities with internet access and adults aging between 18 and 54.
For most smartphone owners, checking their phones is among the first and last things they do in a day. 61 per cent of respondents look at their devices in less than 5 minutes after waking up. The number swells to 88 per cent comprising of people who take less than 30 minutes and 96 per cent of the respondents take about less than an hour to peep into their handsets. Interestingly, 74 per cent respondents look into their mobile phones about 15 minutes before preparing to sleep.
The study noted that the penetration of smartphones has surpassed laptops. Moreover, interest of people in buying tablets has softened as compared to previous two years.
“This study reveals that smartphone usage has increased considerably. It has been identified as a disruptor in many common daily activities,” says Neeraj Jain, Partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP.
The usage frequency has also increased for most data communications services. Instant messaging (74 per cent), social network (64 per cent) and email (63 per cent) saw the highest growth in usage frequency.
Needless to say, eCommerce websites and mobile phone shops are the top choices for online and in-store smartphone purchases respectively. Further, the consumer survey reflects that the better part of smartphone users wields their devices to check bank balances (54 per cent), pay utility bills (54 per cent) and services bill (53 per cent) the most. This is followed by transferring money within the country (38 per cent) and abroad (31 per cent).
However, when it comes to using phone for making in-store payments, it is the fear about security and lack of understanding of potential benefits that prove to be the key barriers.
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