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With U.S. markets at all-time highs, it may behoove investors to diversify their portfolios with some international stocks. Developing nations tend to have higher economic growth than more developed nations, but they also come with various risks, especially those pertaining to local politics and the movements of currencies.
However, if you can latch onto a winning growth company within the developing world, there's the potential for massive gains. Today, the Wall Street analysts that cover the U.S.-listed stocks of international tech companies MercadoLibre (MELI 4.71%), JD.com (JD 0.19%), and OneConnect Financial Technology (OCFT -4.44%) see much more upside to their share prices.
MercadoLibre: Implied upside of 32%
Latin American e-commerce and fintech pioneer MercadoLibre has seen its stock decline some 26% from recent February highs. Of course, it's not alone. Many high-growth stocks that aren't profitable today have taken it on the chin in recent months, as investors have feared the prospect of inflation leading to higher interest rates, which tends to hurt growth stock valuations.
Yet, if you thought U.S. e-commerce stocks posted strong results during the pandemic, MercadoLibre takes it up another notch. Last quarter, unique users grew 61.6%, items sold grew 110.2%, and gross merchandise volume surged 114.3% in local currencies (77.4% in USD). Not to be outdone, MercadoLibre's MercadoPago payments platform saw its total payment volume surge 129.2%, while the company also expanded its consumer credit portfolio and wealth management business.
MercadoLibre is still in heavy-investment growth mode, as it builds out the capital-intensive infrastructure to deliver more of the goods it sells on its platform. While that did hit gross margins, operating margins actually swung from a 5% loss a year ago to positive 7% margin in Q1. Importantly, with increased scale, MercadoLibre achieved positive contribution margins from all its geographies in Q1, a change from the prior year when its Mexico and other smaller country contribution margins were negative.
While the threat of inflation and an economic reopening may have dampened investor appetite for MercadoLibre, analysts disagree, with the average price target among 22 analysts of $1,951.40, about 32% above current levels. Seem far-fetched? It may not be, since that target is still slightly below the all-time highs set back in February.
JD.com: Implied upside of 41%
E-commerce companies, of course, received a boost not just in Latin America but all over the world. And nowhere is the e-commerce scene more vibrant than in China, where e-commerce penetration has surged from just 6.2% of Chinese retail in 2012 to 24.9% in 2020. The pandemic only accelerated what was already a robust industry, and JD.com, one of the three major Chinese e-commerce platforms, benefited along with it.
Unlike its competitors, JD has undertaken the capital-intensive strategy of building out its own first-party logistics platform, and therefore has lower margins than peers at the moment. JD's shares are down about 32% from their February highs, due to some of the same concerns as MercadoLibre, but with the added overhang of China's anti-monopoly crackdown, which is targeting internet commerce platforms for malign behavior.
While JD has been slapped with several small fines by the regulator, the company may actually benefit from the crackdown on a relative basis. That's because the government's action may restrict rival Alibaba more than JD. Alibaba has, in the past, forced brands to sell exclusively on its leading platform, a practice now under scrutiny from Chinese regulators. If Alibaba is forced to end the practice, JD's challenger platform would gain in relative strength.
In any case, JD has continued to post strong earnings results, with annual active customers up 29% last quarter, revenues up an even higher 39%, and trailing-12-month free cash flow up 86% year-over-year. The third-party logistics platform grew at an even higher rate of 64%, showing investors that JD's past heavy investments in its countrywide logistics platform are paying off in real ancillary revenues.
With a more even playing field with Alibaba, strong performance through the pandemic, and an innovative culture constantly growing new products and services, analysts think the hate has gone too far. The average price target among JD's 39 analysts is $102.52, 41% higher than today's share price.
OneConnect Financial Technology: Implied upside of 99%
Finally, a smaller international stock that could be on the way to bigger things is OneConnect Financial Technology. OneConnect was developed within China's largest insurer Ping An Insurance, before being spun off as an independent company and going public on the U.S. market in December 2019. Though only a $4.5 billion company, OneConnect has big dreams of becoming the technology foundation behind the digitization of financial services in China and East Asia.
Last quarter, revenue grew 41%, which seems solid, but is actually underestimating the company's growth. OneConnect is actually phasing out its low-margin business origination services, and that segment's revenue actually fell 34.4% last quarter. Origination services was the largest segment in the year-ago quarter, so this is a significant headwind.
However, OneConnect grew its other more promising segments, including risk management technology services, which grew 21%, and operational support services, which includes AI customer services or roadside insurance claims assistance, by 29.1%. However, the big driver of last quarter's growth was the new OneConnect financial cloud services, which grew from nothing to RMB180.5 million, good for 22% of revenue.
Not only is OneConnect not very profitable, it's printing some hefty operating losses of RMB346 million ($54 million) just last quarter alone. That was an improvement over the year-ago quarter, but those losses may still be a bit too high for investors in a higher-rate environment.
Still, the seven Wall Street analysts that track OneConnect think the stock's progress on its cloud buildout is underrated. Their average price target is $22.60, about 99% higher than OneConnect's beaten-down share price, yet still below the stock's all-time highs.


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Emerging economy opportunities numerous, says Transperfect boss
Travolution Business Breakfast: There’s more to international growth than Brics and Figs
Travel firms must take a more strategic approach to internationalisation if they are to maximise the opportunity, a Travolution Business Breakfast was told last week.
The event, hosted by Google, heard from Joel Brandon-Bravo, vice president of travel at sponsor Transperfect, who headed up Travelzoo at UK managing director for 10 years from 2008.
He said firms often focus on the high profile Bric (Brazil, Russia, India, China) markets as potential high growth opportunities.
Or they opt for the US or Australia because of the shared langue, or target based on proximity focusing on the ‘Figs’ countries – France, Italy, Germany and Spain.
But he said opportunities to take advantage of emerging economies are numerous.
“Of the estimated $30 trillion in middle class consumption growth between 2015 and 2030 only $1 trillion is expected to come from western economies. Most of the rest is going to come from Asia.
“Twenty years ago, people spoke about the Bric countries as the future powerhouse economies but if you look at the total travel market in Brazil and Russia it has pretty much flatlined in that period.
“India has more than doubled, but for China it more than quadrupled and it is now twice the size of the other three countries combined. In terms of percentage growth, as well as China, you’ve got the Middle East, Thailand and Mexico.
“Yes, these percentage growths are from a low base, but even if you look at the absolute figures from Visa, by 2025 the emerging markets will be larger in absolute terms than the developed markets of the world.
“So, who are they? The ten biggest are Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey. Not a single one of those countries has English. Even in South Africa it’s actually only 9% there that speak English as their first language.”
Brandon-Bravo said not only has there been massive change and growth in terms of where travellers come from there’s also been huge growth in the amount of content that’s being created by both individual and travel brands trying attract, engage and convert customers.
“In addition to the amount of content being created, there’s been a proliferation in the number of channels that companies are having to maintain in terms of where people get their inspiration, how people want to book and then communicate that brand and have their customer service to be fulfilled.
“So, we have changes in the demographic of who is travelling, change in the amount of content, proliferation in channels and what you actually want to do is mange all that content in all languages in all channels at the touch of a button.
“Quite often companies think we will go into America or Australia because they speak English there and it’ll be easier. Well, just because it’s easy doesn’t mean it’s the smart thing to do. Actually, language may be the least of your problems.”
Transperfect has researched what influences overseas opportunities, finding the key factors are GDP per capita, mobile adoption rates, importance of inbound tourism to that country and how politically stable is that country.
Brandon-Bravo said: “You’ve got to think about the product to market fit. You don’t just need to look at what the opportunity is, but you need to also look at what the competitive landscape is like.
“What I have seen a lot of OTAs do in the UK do is test the market by using things like TripAdvisor and Trivago Express to test their hotels in all the markets without having to build websites.
“They can see what’s the cost of traffic, what’s the cost of conversion and then use that to be smart about which products and which markets they want to go in. I think that’s a very sensible strategy.”
Brandon-Bravo explained why he thought it was important for firms to grow and why internationalisation is important.
“One thing I did learn at Travelzoo was that the companies that managed to do the most volumes got the best rates and the companies that got the best rates were then able to drive the volume.
“So those companies that had that scale created this reinforcing virtuous circle. In order to drive scale there are limitations with the UK audience so the best way is by going international.
“My tip would be to take a strategic approach to the market, to the product market fit, to the language approach, to how you approach the technology and finally how you go to market.”
Gallery: Business Breakfast: Growth, Digital Skills and Internationalisation

domain: news


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Apple launched the first-generation iPhone 15 years ago, and there was no copy and paste function at that time. Now, former Apple software engineer and designer, Ken Kocienda has revealed the specifics. Kocienda joined Apple in 2001 and is one of the key engineers behind the iPhone. Prior to developing the iPhone, Kocienda worked on the original team for the Safari browser, which made him instrumental in the development of the first-generation iPhone.
Kocienda’s explanation for why the first-generation iPhone didn’t have a copy-and-paste feature was simple: there was no time for development. According to him, the team was busy developing the iPhone’s virtual keyboard and its autocorrection system. After the launch of the first iPhone, Kocienda and his team finally decided to develop a copy and paste option, but it still took a while to finally land.
Gizchina News of the week
Copying and pasting – a very important feature
Kocienda said he came up with the idea of a “text magnifying glass” that lets users know exactly where they’re pointing their text cursor. This feature is crucial for copying and pasting. However, even with the classic virtual magnifying glass, the cursor would still move between characters. This mostly happens when the user takes their finger off the screen due to natural jitter. Thus, at the time, the feature was unreliable.
For this purpose, Kocienda has developed a “touch history” for text editing only. After the finger leaves the screen, the system automatically detects the position of the user’s finger within milliseconds of the last touch, allowing the cursor to stay where the user really wants it. Another interesting detail of the iPhone’s text input system is that all styled text was originally based on WebKit. This means that when an app uses a custom font, it basically displays a tiny web page to render the text. When text is not in edit mode, they display a static image of its content.
The copy and paste function was introduced in 2009 as a new feature of iPhone OS 3.0 and is preinstalled on the iPhone 3GS by default. Apple even created a TV ad at the time to highlight the new feature.


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If you are looking for an answer to the question What is Artificial Intelligence? and you only have a minute, then here's the definition the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence offers on its home page: "the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines."
However, if you are fortunate enough to have more than a minute, then please get ready to embark upon an exciting journey exploring AI (but beware, it could last a lifetime) …
Elon Musk has spent $72 million on homes in California. His most recent mansion was more than $24 million. Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk presents the new Roadster electric sports vehicle to the media on Nov. 16, 2017 at the electric car maker's Los Angeles design center. Tesla has installed a new compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk that would reward him handsomely if he can build the electric vehicle automaker into "one of the most valuable companies in the world." The plan -- delivered with Tesla's characteristic rhetorical flair for bucking corporate conventions -- would provide tens of billions in compensation to Musk if the company achieves its financial goals.
Apple developers debuted their new home device which features Siri and Apple Music at the WWDC Conference in San Francisco, California. The HomePod speaker is photographed in a a showroom during an announcement of new products at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference Monday, June 5, 2017, in San Jose, Calif. Apple's rival to the Amazon Echo and Google Home is finally ready to make its debut. The tech giant announced Tuesday it will launch its $349 HomePod speaker on February 9. Preorders for the device kick off January 26. The wireless speaker is considered Apple's contender in the surging smart speaker market, already dominated by Amazon with its popular line of Echo devices, along with Google Home.
As connected devices become prevalent in our homes and workplaces, the technology to create and support a connected car ecosystem becomes ever more advanced. In fact, according to one forecast, there will be more than 380 million connected cars on the road by 2021, which, if correct, would fundamentally change the way we all live, work and drive. With the connected car having been identified as the fastest-growing technological device after the smartphone and tablet, we can only begin to imagine the range of capabilities we can come to expect in the space over the coming decade. However, what we can be sure of is that when connected cars become a regular feature in our garages and on our roads, the experience of driving and being driven for the next generation of car users is going to be a very different one to what we're used to now. Although there are numerous perceived benefits for car companies in terms of data acquisition, targeted marketing, and a range of new personalised in-car apps, products and services to offer customers, what exactly are the direct benefits to drivers and passengers in this connected automotive future?
There was an error emailing this page. Amazon's Echo Spot brings you all the features of its Echo, with a screen for displaying weather forecasts, news updates, sports scores, song lyrics and much more. All you need to do is ask Alexa. It fits comfortably on a nightstand and works well as an alarm clock and bedside calendar as well. Watch videos, call your friends, control your smarthome -- new features are added all the time.
A field of study that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. Despite this common claim, anyone who has worked in the field knows that designing effective machine learning systems is a tedious endeavor, and typically requires considerable experience with machine learning algorithms, expert knowledge of the problem domain, and brute force search to accomplish. Thus, contrary to what machine learning enthusiasts would have us believe, machine learning still requires a considerable amount of explicit programming. In this article, we're going to go over three aspects of machine learning pipeline design that tend to be tedious but nonetheless important. After that, we're going to step through a demo for a tool that intelligently automates the process of machine learning pipeline design, so we can spend our time working on the more interesting aspects of data science.
In 2018, you'd be forgiven for assuming that any sensitive app encrypts its connection from your phone to the cloud, so that the stranger two tables away at the coffee shop can't pull your secrets off the local Wi-Fi. That goes double for apps as personal as online dating services. But if you assumed that basic privacy protection for the world's most popular dating app, you'd be mistaken: As one application security company has found, Tinder's mobile apps still lack the standard encryption necessary to keep your photos, swipes, and matches hidden from snoops. On Tuesday, researchers at Tel Aviv-based app security firm Checkmarx demonstrated that Tinder still lacks basic HTTPS encryption for photos. Just by being on the same Wi-Fi network as any user of Tinder's iOS or Android app, the researchers could see any photo the user did, or even inject their own images into his or her photo stream.
If you, like many others, are wondering how artificial intelligence (AI) will change your daily life, envision this: Inside your home, items will become self-aware of their own lifespan and will autonomously order better, cheaper replacements that arrive exactly before their depletion. From lights that reorder themselves to appliances that are smarter and understand your needs and lifestyle, AI will integrate seamlessly into your home. At the office, your traditional pre-commuting headaches will vanish. Predictive models will observe your calendar and morning rituals to prepare you for your day. Your AI "companion" will order your favorite vehicle experience, which will wait for you without intervention and will quickly route you to your intended destination.
Apple will release its brand new HomePod in just a couple of weeks, it has announced. The smart speaker will go on sale on 9 February. Pre-orders will open this Friday, 26 January, it said in a statement. The 7-inch speaker will cost £319 in the UK, as well as similar prices in the US and Australia when it goes on sale at the end of this week. It will go on sale in France and Germany in spring, Apple said – voice assistants often roll out slower than other products, since they rely on having local data and languages.
The paradox with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is that despite (or because of) the hype, it's still hard to find practitioners who understand how to use those approaches. Perhaps the best way to characterize the AI paradox is "so near yet so far." AI is tantalizingly accessible for a variety of reasons. The next wave of IT innovation will be powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning. We look at the ways companies can take advantage of it and how to get started.


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Reform of Section 75 credit card protection mooted as more caught out by loophole
A loophole in Section 75 consumer credit card protection could be reviewed in the next Parliament
24 May 2017
Revealed: Section 75 credit card protection may fail due to payment processing loophole - shoppers beware
Shoppers who pay with a credit card for Section 75 protection need to be aware of a processing loophole
25 April 2017
Craft Channel customers left reeling over missing orders – your rights
Orders from the shopping channel have failed to arrive amid a change of ownership, with viewers feeling strung along
6 February 2017
SavviBuy customers stunned as firm fails to deliver Christmas presents, then tells them: 'Ask your bank for a refund'
Online retailer SavviBuy has told customers that it lacks the resources to process refunds quickly
29 December 2016
Monarch ditches credit card booking fees
Three weeks after Virgin Atlantic ended its 1.5% charge on flights, Monarch says it will scrap its 3% fee
9 December 2016
Couple wins full refund for Lowcostholidays trip PLUS the extra £300 it cost to rebook
Trevor and Alison Bennett wrote to us about their 'staggering' refund after returning from a dream trip to Dubai
21 October 2016
You CAN claim a refund from your credit card company for Hotpoint tumble dryers, Ombudsman rules
A faulty Hotpoint tumble dryer owner refused a refund by his credit card firm Nationwide has had the decision overturned
4 October 2016
Monarch granted last-minute ATOL licence extension
Airline Monarch has extended its ATOL licence after securing
30 September 2016
'You're fobbing us off' – Barclays customers complain over Lowcostholidays reclaim service
Hundreds who lost money have reclaimed from their card providers – but some Barclays customers say they're still waiting
30 August 2016
'I reclaimed £1,300 after Lowcostholidays collapsed, so thanks MSE!' – users share their success stories
More than 130 holidaymakers with the defunct travel firm have told us they got their money back using our tips
26 August 2016
16 June 2021
Martin's Mortgage Alert
'Rates have dropped below 1% - check NOW'
First Direct boosts its FREE CASH to £125
It's top for service too
Cheapest broadband in a year
'£13/mth' from BT's Plusnet
Martin: 'Stop over worrying about your credit score'
It's not actually a real thing
New. 12 Spotify tips to pay less
And play more
30% off entire McDonald's menu
TWO prescription sunnies £22
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For all the latest deals, guides and loopholes simply sign up today - it’s spam free!
15 June 2021Thousands of Triodos savers will be asked to switch to managing accounts online-only going forward. The so-called "ethical" financial provider is rolling out the move over the next few years, although vulnerable customers and those who can't access services digitally should get in touch as exemptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
15 June 2021If you're worried about work during the coronavirus crisis, this guide looks at your rights if you're self employed, including what help's there for limited company directors.
15 June 2021The Prime Minister has unveiled sweeping restrictions on public movement to tackle the spread of coronavirus. This has had a huge impact on daily life, affecting everything from weddings and train travel to music events and sport. To help, we're working flat out to answer your questions on these topics and more
Lockdown easing in England delayed by four weeks - your refund rights for group holidays, events and more14 June 2021The easing of most lockdown rules in England has been delayed until 19 July amid concern about rising coronavirus cases, though limits on guest numbers at weddings will be lifted on 21 June. We've the latest below on the lockdown rules, plus your rights to a refund for holidays and events which may be cancelled in the wake of today's announcement.
14 June 2021Including can you reschedule, what do insurers cover and will you get a refund?
Martin Lewis: Why you shouldn't worry too much about your credit score – it’s not actually a real thing14 June 2021When it comes to finances, numbers are key – whether it's what you earn, your credit card balance or the interest rate on your mortgage, small changes can add up to a big difference. Yet there's one number you shouldn't pay too much attention to – your credit score.
18 May 2021If you started university between 1998 and 2012, or since then in Scotland and Northern Ireland, you'll have a Plan 1 student loan. While much is written about whether those with savings should overpay the current English Plan 2 student loans, there's little out there about Plan 1. I wanted to change that, so here's a video explaining how to decide...
Clever ways to calculate your finances


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The best-known feature of Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) automobiles is their Autopilot capability.
Teslas capable of fully driving themselves today, but the company promises all cars sold have the hardware needed for Full Self Driving, or FSD, and the automaker plans to achieve its goals with over-the-air software updates.
Tesla's Newest Software: Tesla's latest vehicle update — 2020.24.6.1 — has the automaker's updated FSD ability.
Earlier this year, TESLA upgraded all vehicles to stop at intersections, stop signs and stop lights.
The caveat to this feature: cars would even slow to a stop at green lights, unless the driver confirmed it was safe for the car to continue through the green light.
In the latest update, Tesla's vehicles can now proceed through a green light without driver confirmation, assuming there is a lead car that shows the Tesla it is safe to go through the green light.
Without a lead car, the Tesla behaves as it did before, slowing as it approaches the green light, until the driver confirms with either the accelerator or drive stalk that it is safe to proceed.
Tesla's Full Self-Driving Pricing: Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the price of Full Self Driving will increase from $7,000 to $8,000 July 1 as the FSD feature gains new abilities and becomes more competent.
Tesla is not able to recognize the full revenue from FSD sales. When a customer purchases FSD, only half of the money is recognized as revenue, while the rest is deferred as new FSD features are rolled out.
Once all features have been released to customers, Tesla can recognize 100% of revenue from FSD sales.
TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares were trading 6.41% higher at $1,074 at the time of publication Tuesday.
Photo courtesy of Tesla.


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When the 77th annual Academy Awards were presented last night, there was no category for best product placement in a film. But a monthlong series that begins on Friday on the Turner Classic Movies cable television network suggests there perhaps ought to be for the 78th.
They've chased each other around the world, had their faces plastered on the sides of buses and sniped at each other through surrogates, all in service of their respective evening news broadcasts. One even had his name displayed on a banner that was towed by a small plane, beach-resort style, over the rooftops of Manhattan last week to promote a prime-time documentary about U.F.O.'s. Now, like combatants in an initial round of presidential primaries, Brian Williams, who replaced Tom Brokaw as anchor of "NBC Nightly News" on Dec. 2, and Peter Jennings, the veteran anchor of "World News Tonight" on …
PepsiCo has introduced voluntary restrictions on its advertising to children, in response to increasing obesity in the US and western Europe, the Financial Times reported. In its online edition the newspaper said the company, which makes Pepsi-Cola and Doritos chips, has also cut the portion sizes of its products sold in US schools.
Although theAcademy Awards ad inventory sold out early at record-breaking prices, marketers' creative materials were tightly policed for potentially controversial content before last evening's Oscars broadcast.
Now they tell us. Some of Dan Rather's best-known CBS colleagues say they don't watch the embattled anchor's "CBS Nightly News." "He's not as easy to watch as [Peter] Jennings or [Tom] Brokaw," said "60 Minutes" correspondent Mike Wallace in this week's The New Yorker magazine.
As sponsors prepare for the 77th annual Academy Awards, to be broadcast on Sunday by ABC, they wonder whether these facts may add up to fewer viewers than usual:The show has an untested first-time host, the comedian Chris Rock. The five nominees for best picture combined have sold far fewer tickets than the 2003 winner, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." Hooray for Hollywood? It may be more like oh, no for Madison Avenue.
Capital One has launched an agency review to consolidate its online advertising. A spokeswoman for the company confirmed that agencies have been invited to pitch for the consolidated online media-buying and -planning efforts.
The Oscars are where the beautiful people walk the red carpet on the most glamorous night on TV. But almost unbelievably, beauty advertisers have been missing in action from the big event for five years. Now, L'Oreal will be taking aim at female consumers with seven TV commercials during ABC's Sunday telecast of the 77th Annual Academy Awards. L'Oreal's ads will star Andie MacDowell, Natalie Imbruglia, Heather Locklear, Milla Jovovich and Kyan Douglas from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Featured in all the ads will be the world's biggest beauty company's theme: "Because I'm Worth It."
Clear Channel Communications Inc. on Friday reported a loss of $4.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2004, all of it due to an accounting change to comply with federal regulations. Excluding the charge, Clear Channel's earnings were $214.3 million, or 37 cents per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2004, up 14.5 percent from the $187.2 million, or 30 cents per share, earned in the same quarter in 2003.
For those who have been waiting for Hanes to revive "Just wait'll we get our Hanes on you," the wait is over - kinda sorta. In a campaign scheduled to begin on Monday, which is being billed as the largest in years for the Hanes apparel brand, the "Just wait'll" theme, so successful in the 1990's, returns with a bit of tailoring as "Look who we've got our Hanes on now."


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Google came up with new device, Tech Gaint said that on Thursday they are launching a radio-style, on demand audio news feed which will be integrated in the smart speakers and it is personalized to the users with AI features.
To deliver this radio user experience Google said that they have partnered with many news organizations, so that all the news feed related to any niche will be covered.
The product manager of Google Liz Gannes said that Google has designed this feature in terms of playlist to get best user experience. The interface will be having brief about top stories related to different topics and longer content so that you can get in detail stories.
Google Assistant, the AI program developed by the company, will manage the feed, allowing users to skip a story, go back or stop.
Google said that, the audio news feature will be only available for the limited number of users in United States as of now.
This new project of Google will deliver best user experience interms of audio so that old generation radio news will be still alive, and most of them still prefer hearing news rather reading. Hopefully users like this audio news feature.
- Google Feed is now Google Discover after rebranding-So what is it?
- Youtube Picture in picture mode will be soon available for all Android Users
- Google announced that soon Google hangouts will be shutdown on 2020
- Google Develops Smart Anti-Fat Shoes
- Soon you will be to use Amazon Alexa with you Dish Set-Top box


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The British wine world has been hit by the collapse of a company that sold new vintages to customers who were eager to stockpile wine as part of a long-term investment.
Cellaret, based off Gray's Inn Road near the wealth of the City of London, was placed in liquidation this week after a meeting of creditors. It is not known how many, if any, investors have been left without wine they ordered through the company.
There was no answer from Cellaret's phone yesterday nor from the email address listed on its website which advertised fine wine from around the world.
The collapse is the latest warning signal to investors in fine wines. Cellaret is the third British wine business to go under in little more than a year, following the demise of Mayfair Cellars and the international wine exchange uvine.com.
Cellaret sold cases of 12 bottles from the leading French producing areas of Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhone and Champagne, as well as wine from Italy, Spain and the New World.
Vintage champagne, such as a case of 1979 Krug, attracted a price tag of up to £2,500 and the rarest Bordeaux £4,150.
A statement on Cellaret's website told potential customers it had secured £650,000 worth of equity funding followed by a further £4m over the next two years.
But the directors of the company decided to call in the liquidators on Tuesday after problems with the business, which also supplied wine to restaurants.
A spokeswoman for insolvency experts the MacDonald Partnership confirmed the company had been placed in liquidation. It is expected that its stock of wine will be sold off in an attempt to repay its creditors.
Cellaret specialised in selling wine from France to investors hoping to bag a vintage at reasonable prices before the wine matures. It offered scores of cases from such grand vineyards as Chateaux Latour and Lafite, with prices ranging from little more than £100 to thousands of pounds a case, as well as fortified wines.
At the beginning of 2006, Cellaret bought two other companies, the Wine Portfolio and Wine Direct. One creditor, who was owed a significant sum, said that recent fundraising had not been enough to save the business.
The creditor said: "Those people that have invested in new wine in bond, their wine is there. They should have a certificate and they own the wine.
"If anyone was caught up in the unhappy week [last week] before this happened, I don't know what will happen to them."
Cellaret's collapse underlines the importance of treading warily whenever you are investing in fine wines, which ostensibly offer high returns, especially for en primeur cases which can appreciate rapidly.
In April last year, Mayfair Cellars called in the receivers after £1m worth of prestigious clarets and Burgundies went missing from its vaults.
Uvine, which acted as a middleman for wine buyers and sellers, also collapsed with losses of £10m last September.Reuse content


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TikTok users had no permission to upload their content to Zynn nor did they themselves.
Here in the News category, we are regularly sharing the tech news to keep you updated with the latest tech trends.
In the wake of the Corona crisis, the video conferencing service Zoom surprisingly became the best-known online network. Facebook is now catching up and brings its own Messenger Rooms service. Video conferences of up to 50 participants can be carried out there. The application has been available to all users worldwide since May 14th.


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GAMING VIDEOS ARE BECOMING MORE POPULAR WITH WOMEN: Globally, more than 20 of the top 100 channels on YouTube by subscribers are gaming-related, according to YouTube's latest research, with the top channel, PewDiePie, clocking in with over 32 million subscribers.
While gaming has traditionally been associated with men, women are spending more time than ever playing video games and consuming digital video game content.
- "Viewership among women has doubled year over year, and women over the age of 25 are the fastest-growing demographic for gaming content," Google's pop culture and gaming lead Gautam Ramdurai writes on Google's blog. Once women tune into gaming content, they also give it more attention than men. Women spend more time watching a given gaming related video on average than men do.
- In terms of playing video games, women are near parity with men. Women now make up 48% of the video game players in the US, according to the gaming industry group Entertainment Software Association. In 2010, this number was 40%. The number of women over 18 who play video games regularly now makes up 36% of gamers — nearly double the number of boys under the age of 18, who make up 17%.
Advertisers should pay attention to this trend and think about using this format to engage with female audiences. Progressive did so last year, for instance. The insurance company partnered with TreSensa to create an HTML5 running game featuring Progressive's signature character "Flo."
FACEBOOK ACQUIRES VOICE RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY STARTUP: Facebook acquired 18-month-old startup Wit.ai on Monday for an undisclosed sum. Wit.ai helps developers build voice recognition functions into their apps, and Facebook will most likely use the acquisition for a couple of different purposes.
- Facebook is already working on a voice-to-text function for its Messenger app, according to TechCrunch. Eventually, Facebook may want to build its mobile apps so that they can be controlled entirely by voice command.
- In addition, Facebook is likely to use the Wit.ai platform as a way to attract more developers into its app ecosystem. To date, 6,000 developers already use Wit.ai's free API platform. By gaining access to more developers and their apps, Facebook could acquire more login and behavioral information, connecting more dots around what people are doing on mobile outside of Facebook. Eventually this is likely to translate into more ad revenue, as Facebook encourages developers to use mobile app install ads and other ad products. Twitter is similarly wooing developers onto its platform to expand reach and ad revenue potential, as we have reported.
STAT OF THE DAY — GROWTH OF MESSAGING AND SOCIAL APP USAGE SLOWED IN 2014: In 2013, the number of social and messaging app sessions grew 203% year-over-year, according to data from Flurry, which aggregates trends from both the iOS App Store and Google Play. Last year, the growth rate nearly halved to 103% (see chart, below). The apps which saw the most growth last year were lifestyle and shopping, and productivity apps. For more on this trend, read our full analysis>>
VERIZON CEO SQUASHES AOL ACQUISITION RUMOR: Lowell McAdam, Verizon's chairman and CEO, told investors at the Citi Media Conference on Tuesday that his company was not in talks to acquire AOL, a widely discussed story published by Bloomberg on Monday. The strategy would have enabled Verizon to tap into AOL's successful programmatic business, particularly in online video.
There is potential for partnership, but McAdam said he doesn't foresee his company "owning a lot of content." McAdam did reiterate Verizon's intention to offer a mobile-first video service that could debut in the second half of this year, according to Re/code. "We will be an aggregator and a distributor for most of that content," he said.
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The robotics sector is littered with predictions that haven’t materialized: flying cars, autonomous transportation, and household robots that offer domestic help all have been greatly delayed. In agriculture, technology introductions have sputtered for numerous reasons: A prolonged global recession dating back to 2008 slowed investment, lack of interoperability standards created disparate ecosystems, and products focused too much on the technology instead of addressing real-world grower problems and workflows.
But those dynamics are changing for the better, and real change is starting to creep into the market as leading companies are on the cusp of changing the trajectory of innovation and adoption.
Here’s why: Partnerships and collaboration among leading companies are accelerating innovation and speed to market. Start-up culture historically has been a lonely endeavor as inventor companies cautiously guard proprietary advancements amid competition from inside and outside of agriculture. But that is changing for a couple reasons, primarily because technical and operational challenges are too complex for any one company to create a complete platform. Robotics, which implies autonomy, require sophisticated mechanization and software. Mechanization requires a supply chain, and software requires interfaces for interoperability. Many companies have tried to create a ground-up platform internally, but the complexity has rendered this approach unfeasible.
It shows a great deal of business maturation for start-ups to seek partnerships and joint ventures to accelerate product lifecycles and commercialization, and that business maturity will help garner more investment
MORE BY DAVID FRABOTTA
FIRA, the International Forum of Agricultural Robotics, has been the conference and exhibition for emerging technologies that showcase the development of robotics technologies around the world. Its most recent event, now in its fourth year, welcomed more than 800 attendees from 42 countries to Toulouse, France, in December. FIRA is now organized by the Global Organization For Agricultural Robotics (GOFAR), an independent, nonprofit created in 2019 to promote agriculture robotics.
The founding company behind FIRA and now GOFAR is Naio Technologies, makers of autonomous weeding robots with a global development and expansion plan. Naio secured $15.5 million in Series A funding in January, a whopping sum for EU venture capital standards. The company’s last round of financing was for about $3.5 million in 2015, so this new cash infusion will help the company accelerate mass production, a step in commercialization that has been exceedingly slow for autonomous farm machines thus far. Naio’s Dino platform has significant upside and potential in operations of various sizes.
Other highlights include:
- Spoutnic NAV robots by Tibot Technologies limit the drudgery of work for the poultry farmers while improving the profitability of their farm and stimulating animal welfare.
- Faromatics’ ChickenBoy, the worldwide first ceiling-suspended robot that monitors animal welfare and helps increase farm productivity.
- E-tract by Rhoban System is an autonomous electric tractor that can operate with Tract’elec, thus providing a smooth transition from today’s conventional tractor to the autonomous robot of tomorrow.
- VitiBot’s Bakus robot for vineyards expands its range of electric and connected tools. Currently being tested with the Champagne Committee, the contained sprayer and recycling system are in development.
- Sitia’s Trektor for viticulture is the first versatile and hybrid agricultural robot in France. Its design allows, with the same product, to address different markets of viticulture, market-gardening, open-field vegetable crop, and arboriculture.
- Sentinal by Dussau Distribution is the first bedding robot with Artificial Intelligence. Its functions make it the eyes and arms of the farmer who remains the only decisionmaker.
The two-day conference featured 30 speakers that discussed robotic innovations for specialty crops, broad-area crops, indoor cultivation, animal production, pest detection, ethics in robotics, and the supply channel.


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Opting out of marijuana sales would be a wasted opportunity
For local town and village officials wringing their hands, trying to decide whether to opt out of issuing licenses for marijuana sales and on-site consumption in their municipalities, we have three words.
Take the money.
It’s not dirty money. As of March 31, recreational marijuana is now legal in New York state for people 21 years or older, just like other vices such as alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, which are sold in a variety of locations throughout our communities. Marijuana would only be sold at licensed dispensaries.
There will be a 13% tax on sales of marijuana products — giving a 3% cut to municipalities and 1% to counties. That money could be useful when times are tough. And let’s face it, when it comes to funding local government, times are always tough.
We understand that for many elected officials, this decision has become a moral one. Most of those serving were raised in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s — some in the ’90s. We were told that drugs — especially the “gateway drug” of marijuana — were bad. “Just say no,” former first lady Nancy Reagan said during the nation’s War on Drugs. Many upstanding citizens bought into the message. That’s what we taught our kids and grandkids.
But now, government officials are saying marijuana is OK? Not just for medicinal purposes, but for recreation? It sounds ludicrous, but that’s exactly what they’re now saying.
New York was the 15th state to legalize recreational marijuana. The first was Washington state on Dec. 6, 2012, followed by Colorado four days later. Other states followed: Alaska, Oregon, California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Maine, Vermont, Michigan, Illinois, Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and New York. That doesn’t include Washington, D.C. and the U.S. territories of Northern Mariana Islands and Guam. The states of New Mexico and Virginia will follow by July 1.
In January 2014, Colorado became the first state to sell recreational marijuana products, with total sales to date of $10,333,435,545 as of the end of February, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue. The sales in 2020 were $2,191,091,679. The total tax revenue collected in Colorado since 2014 was $1,698,853,703, as of the end of March.
Let’s look at the decision facing town and village officials. To opt-in, they do nothing. To opt-out, they pass a local law saying so by Dec. 31. They may believe it’s a moral choice, but we think it’s really a business decision.
What will happen if the village of Lake Placid or the towns of North Elba, Jay, Keene or Wilmington opt out of issuing marijuana sales licenses? No sales = no tax revenue. Furthermore, as a tourist destination, with people visiting from around the globe, an opt-out means it will be more difficult for visitors to find marijuana while they’re on vacation. And that’s inconvenient for our guests, not to mention our local citizens and taxpayers. They’ll have to travel to get their weed, and that’s not very hospitable.
That doesn’t mean we allow marijuana use in public places. Go ahead, pass a law prohibiting marijuana smoking in public places, just like the open-container law for alcoholic beverages. That makes total sense, and it continues to give our region a family-friendly atmosphere.
But don’t think that banning marijuana sales is a win for morality. State legislators in Albany and Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the moral decision for the rest of us when they legalized recreational marijuana use. Even if an opt-out law is adopted, it’s still legal to use it. And, just like making your own beer or wine at home, it will still be legal to grow a certain number of cannabis plants at home.
In the long run, when we’re all gone, the younger generations would most likely reverse any opt-out laws in the state anyway. After all, this is the new normal. They’ll never hear the “Just say no” slogan. They’ll never know about Nancy Reagan. They’ll just be asking why some old-timers decided not to take the money.


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Africa’s journey to market integration has begun in earnest with the commencement of trading under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on 1st January, Secretary General Wamkele Mene has said.
Speaking during a virtual press conference, Mr Mene dismissed talks that the AfCFTA arrangement was being rushed, saying there’s no trade agreement where all members were ready at the same time.
Countries like Ghana and South Africa were in fact prepared with the required customs infrastructure to ensure commercially meaningful trading started, he said, adding that Ghana had, on 4th January, already officially recognised the first consignment of goods to be exported under the AfCFTA, an event other countries would be replicating soon to mark the milestone.
“The most important point that I want to emphasize is that Africa is now trading under new rules, new preferences, because we want to build a single integrated market on the African continent. It may take some time before each of us sees the direct benefit. We are not going to be deterred by our critics who say they don’t see evidence that trading has actually started,” Mr Mene argued.
According to him, market integration is not an event but a process that takes time, pointing out that it took the European Union almost 60 years to achieve its current depth of integration.
“I have never heard of a trade agreement where all countries were ready on Day One; I don’t know it. Africa’s market integration would take some time but you have to start somewhere,” he said.
The AfCFTA provides the opportunity for Africa to create the world’s largest free trade area, with the potential to unite more than 1.2 billion people, in a $2.5 trillion economic bloc and usher in a new era of development. It also has the potential to generate a range of benefits through supporting trade creation, structural transformation, productive employment and poverty reduction.
Learn More: UNECA


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From the Amazon, Indigenous People Offer New Compass to Navigate Climate Change
November 9, 2021
Indigenous Peoples protest at the ‘Luta Pela Vida’ (struggle for life) protest, in August 2021, in Brasilia, Brazil. Photo by Vanessa Andreotti
PWIAS Interim Director, Vanessa Andreotti and 2021 Wall Scholar Dallas Hunt along with UBC professors Cash Ahenakew, Sharon Stein, and Will Valley recently published a piece in The Conversation about addressing global challenges by reorienting ourselves away from reproducing harm and toward fostering more generative possibilities for co-existence.
Chief Ninawa Huni Kui and the Last Warning Education Campaign
The article references an the Last Warning education campaign about deforestation and Indigenous rights in Brazil that was launched last summer in collaboration with Amazon rainforest and Indigenous rights in Brazil that was launched last summer in collaboration with the Huni Kui Indigenous People’s Federation in the Amazon.
One of the flagships of the campaign is the children’s book “A forest called Amazon” authored by Chief Ninawa Huni Kui and produced with the support of the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures arts/research collective at UBC. The book is available to download for free. Another educational resource available is the “Pledge of Generations“, which invites new commitments across generations to face global challenges with deeper levels of responsibility. A knowledge mobilization video with 15 Canada Research Chairs in related areas has also been collaboratively created to highlight the importance of the Amazon region for the regulation of global water cycles and carbon filtration and the urgency of making Indigenous rights central to the climate agenda. The video and a featured article emphasize that more deforestation will push the Amazon beyond a tipping point, turning it from a rainforest into a savanna. The Amazon will go from being a vital carbon sink that helps us slow down climate change to a dangerous carbon source that will accelerate the heating of the planet.
Chief Ninawa Huni Kui, spokesperson for nearly 17,000 Indigenous people in 104 villages across 12 Indigenous territories in the Amazon, joins PWIAS as a visiting scholar in November 2021 where he will be working with the Wall Scholars and other collaborators to address the many complex systems at play in the cancelation of Indigenous rights in Brazil, the destruction of the Amazon forest.
The next phase of the Last Warning campaign will be launched during an extended visit to UBC in 2022.


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Cipla Quality Chemicals Industries Limited (CIPLA.ug) HY2022 Interim Report
It is more than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted our lives and tested us in many ways. Management and staff continue to work with passion to deliver lifesaving medicines to patients. The support from the health workers and our customers during the pandemic is greatly appreciated.
Update on key priority areas
The private market business segment that commenced last year continued to deliver encouraging growth and margins. The product offering in this segment is being expanded to respond to Ugandan patients’ demands in line with our purpose of ‘Caring for Life’. Expansion into new markets continued. We received new orders for DRC which will be serviced in Q3 FY22. Furthermore, we received approval of our first line treatment, TLD, in Kenya.As published earlier, the Board of Directors approved an entry into the oncology space in response to the growing demand for cancer and sickle cell anemia medicines in Uganda.
The Company will construct a new factory focused on oncology products targeting both the Uganda and African markets. Management is progressing with the relevant activities aimed at having the facility commissioned.
Despite the increased pension costs and market development costs after entry into the private market space, management are pleased to report the return to profitability and the significant improvement in performance compared to H1 FY21


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ALPHA PRO TECH UPDATES STATUS OF ORDERS OF THE COMPANY’S PROPRIETARY N-95 FACE MASK IN RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
NOGALES, Ariz., Feb. 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alpha Pro Tech, Ltd. (NYSE American: APT), a leading manufacturer of products designed to protect people, products and
environments, including disposable protective apparel and building products, today announced an update to the status of orders booked for APT’s proprietary N-95 Particulate Respirator face mask. As
previously reported, over the last month, APT has ramped up production of the company’s N-95 face mask, which is manufactured by APT in the United States with material sourced domestically, in
response to a significant increase in customer demand resulting from the outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19).
APT has now booked approximately $14.1 million in orders for the company’s N-95 face mask since January 27, 2020, an increase of $3.6 million from the $10.4 million reported as of February 13, 2020, and demand for the product remains strong. As a result of the ramp up in production, the company now expects to fulfill approximately $4.0 million of the currently booked orders in the first quarter of 2020. During the second quarter of 2020, APT expects to fulfill the remainder of the $14.1 million in currently booked orders. Furthermore, APT also expects to fulfill anticipated additional new purchase orders during the second quarter. The company’s current ramp up plan is expected to be achieved by early May, which will enable the company to continue to fulfill current and expected future orders.
The Alpha Pro Tech N-95 Particulate Respirator face mask’s unique flat-fold design features a Positive Facial Lock (PFL) and meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) recommended protection levels for many airborne contaminants. The N-95 face mask filters at least 95% of airborne particles. The integrated Magic Arch technology creates a comfortable breathing chamber within the N-95 face mask by holding it away from the wearer’s nose and mouth.
For more information on Alpha Pro Tech and the company’s NIOSH-approved N-95 Particulate Respirator face mask and other personal protective equipment products, visit Alpha Pro Tech’s website at www.alphaprotech.com.
About Alpha Pro Tech, Ltd.
Alpha Pro Tech, Ltd. is the parent company of Alpha Pro Tech, Inc. and Alpha ProTech Engineered Products, Inc. Alpha Pro Tech, Inc. develops, manufactures and markets innovative disposable and limited-use protective apparel products for the industrial, clean room, medical and dental markets. Alpha ProTech Engineered Products, Inc. manufactures and markets a line of construction weatherization products, including building wrap and roof underlayment. The Company has manufacturing facilities in Salt Lake City, Utah; Nogales, Arizona; Valdosta, Georgia; and a joint venture in India. For more information and copies of all news releases and financials, visit Alpha Pro Tech’s website at http://www.alphaprotech.com.


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Executive director of the Global Dairy Platform, Donald Moore, recently told an Australian audience that the biggest future threat to the world dairy industry could be synthetic milk.
VICTORIA'S dairy industry has scale and history, but Tasmania has new irrigation water and new investment - which is why a Westpac-sponsored group of innovative Victorian farmers recently travelled across Bass Strait.
THE Australian dairy export index fell at the end of the first week of 2017 after four consecutive weekly rises, due to weaker WMP prices and a stronger Australian dollar.
THE FIRST new dairy farm to open in the Huon Valley in more than 50 years aims to prove that small, organic farms can be financially sustainable by thinking outside the square.
MURRAY Goulburn has announced Cameron Smith will temporarily step into the role of Executive General Manager, Supplier Relations that will soon be vacated by Robert Poole.
IT started with a Lest We Forget message for Armistice on November 11 but northern Vic dairy farmers Leanne and Robert Pickles are now sharing the Christmas message on hay bales at their property between Mitiam and Pyramid Hill.
FOURTH generation dairy farmer Alexandra Mulcahy has been selected as one of nine Rural Finance scholarship winners for 2016.
DAIRY Australia (DA) has defended itself against claims it is Victorian centric and failing to meet its obligation to represent the national industry.
AFTER four successive price increases, global dairy prices dipped slightly in Global Dairy Trade auction overnight.
ARE you feeling lucky, champ? No?
I am. There are glimpses of light at the end of a two-year tunnel.
ADVOCACY group Dairy Connect has called on Australia’s major supermarket chains to ‘follow the leader’ and delete $1 a litre fresh milk from their retail offering.


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Manhattan Beach Outdoor Dining Can Begin FridayJan 27, 2021 08:44AM ● By Jeanne Fratello
The outdoor dining deck at Fishbar in Manhattan Beach. Photo via Fishbar.
Manhattan Beach restaurants will be allowed to reopen outdoor dining as early as Friday, ending a COVID-19 shutdown of in-person dining that has lasted since before Thanksgiving.
The reopening was prompted by the lifting of statewide stay-at-home orders by California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday, as well as a Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) announcement that in-person dining could resume on Friday.
The city of Manhattan Beach had briefly considering reopening its "parklets" (outdoor dining decks in which people could eat takeout food) this week in the middle of the week following Newsom's announcement. However, when LACDPH announced the return of in-person dining on Friday, the city opted to wait until Friday when restaurants could fully open with outdoor service.
"The city has scrapped the plan to reopen parklets in favor of waiting on newly-allowed outdoor dining to begin on Friday," said Manhattan Beach Mayor Suzanne Hadley. "Restaurants then do not have to pivot twice in a week with new rules and regulations."
Although the restaurant reopenings have drawn the most attention, other business sectors have been affected by this week's announcements as well. The LACDPH announced on Monday that the following are now open or allowed:
- Private gatherings outdoors up to 3 households and up to a total of 15 people
- Museums, zoos, aquariums outdoor operations at 50% occupancy
- Cardrooms outdoor operations at 50% occupancy
- Miniature golf, go karts, batting cages outdoor operations at 50% occupancy
- Outdoor recreational activities
- Hotels & motels for tourism and individual travel
- Fitness facilities with outdoor operations
- Personal care services indoors at 25% capacity
- Indoor mall, shopping center, lower-risk retail at 25% indoor capacity; food courts and common areas remain closed
Restaurant Closings Controversial From the Start
Restaurants have gone through a variety of ups and downs since the beginning of the pandemic. When Manhattan Beach restaurants began opening in June after initial closures, they received approval from the city to expand outdoor eating areas. Those outdoor spaces became even more important when indoor dining shut down in July. As further restrictions began to limit restaurants' business, the city agreed to to further expand street dining areas in the public right-of-way.
But perhaps the biggest outcry came just before Thanksgiving, when L.A. County Public Health ordered the suspension of all in-person dining, including outdoor dining due to a spike in COVID-19 cases, rendering the newly constructed outdoor dining areas useless.
Restaurant owners and Manhattan Beach leaders spoke out immediately, with then-mayor Richard Montgomery authoring a letter to LADPH. "Over 59 businesses in Manhattan Beach and 209 in the South Bay have signed the 'Safe in the South Bay' commitment, pledging to adhere to and implement the latest safety guidelines and best practices to combat COVID-19, consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health," wrote Montgomery. "We understand the need to find the right path to reducing exposure and that difficult sacrifices must be made, but let's not put this on the backs of our restaurants, breweries, wineries, and bars that have gone to great lengths to show compliance and remain open."
In early December, Manhattan Beach decided to reopen the dining decks as "parklets" to allow open seating for anyone who ordered takeout or who needed a place to sit while shopping.
However, that decision ran afoul of LACDPH officials, who asked the city to shut them down. And as people flocked to the outdoor seating - while cases continued to rise - the city shut down the parklets in early January.
At the time, Manhattan Beach Councilmember Steve Napolitano said that the city had become "a victim of its own success," having drawn diners from all over who were drinking, eating, and lingering maskless in groups. Napolitano added that he thought the real answer was to go back to outdoor dining, which is much more strictly regulated and controlled.
As of Friday, restaurants will once again be able to operate outdoor dining, with all required precautionary measures in place.


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Terex invests in electric PTO specialist
01 February 2022
Terex announced it has made an investment in Viatec, Inc., a South Carolina-based manufacturer of plug-and-play electric power take-off (PTO) systems that support electrification of utility fleets.
Terex did not disclose the specifics of its investment, but said it is the lead investor in the Series B investment round along with other participants including Duke Energy. In conjunction with its investment, a Terex representative will fill one of five seats on Viatec’s board.
Terex Utilities has actively worked with Viatec since 2019, focusing on plug-in PTO solutions for the electric utility industry. Terex offers flagship product, the SmartPTO, on a variety of its Utilities products. SmartPTO is a lithium-ion battery-based, universal PTO that eliminates the need to idle utility trucks, which reduces noise and carbon emissions, lowers operating costs and extends the life of utility equipment by reducing engine operating hours.
“Viatec has developed an electrification solution for utility customers that is highly effective and easy to use,” said John L. Garrison, Jr., Terex Corp. chairman and chief executive officer. “Our investment in Viatec will enable the company to scale production and make its offering more widely available to electric utility and other customers.”
“We are excited to take our company capabilities to the next level,” said Mark Ferri, Viatec’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We look forward to our continued partnership with Terex and appreciate the company’s investment.”


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ProgrammableWeb tracks the latest API news to keep you on top of the API economy
Searching: No Search Term , Filtered By Category: "News Services", Category: "Email", Category: "Financial"
A new initiative from the U.K. Treasury aims to move toward an open banking API standardization for the industry.
Mobio releases SailMail, a flagship consumer of the Strutta Promotions API made to integrate with MailChimp email marketing services.
Banks are one of the industries facing the greatest level of disruption at present. Global financial advisory firm PayX believes the best way to respond is to embrace APIs.
Message Systems has just launched SparkPost, an email infrastructure-as-a-service platform that features a suite of SMTP and REST APIs.


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Rising cost of living
Posted on Saturday, 10.02.10
The rising cost of living in Cuba
Recent cuts in government subsidies are an implicit admission that the cradle-to-grave safety net is no longer viable. Result: life is more expensive.
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
Until Sept. 1, Lara, a retired Havana teacher, boosted her meager pension by reselling the four cigarette packs she bought each month with her government-subsidized ration card.
Lara, 73 and a non-smoker, bought them for 11 pesos and sold them on the street for 31, a 20-peso bump to her 260-peso retirement income — roughly $10.83 a month.
“It was a pittance, but critical to surviving,” she said. “But now they’ve removed the cigarettes from the ration card. What am I do? Go hungry! You can’t live in Cuba on 260 pesos.”
As Cuban ruler Raúl Castro slashes state subsidies to overcome an abysmal economic crisis, he’s making daily life more expensive — and implicitly accepting that the country’s cradle-to-grave social safety net is no longer assured.
Castro declared last year that the revolution’s promise of egalitarianism is no longer sustainable, conceding that Cuba will see growing differences between the haves and have-nots.
“Raúl is dismantling parts of the social safety net, and the social stratification based on income and the expansion of inequality will grow,” said Mario Gonzalez-Corzo, an economist at Lehman College in New York City who studies Cuba.
HIT HARD: RETIREES
Cuba’s recent announcement that it will cut 500,000 public jobs — and hopes to shift them to the now tiny private sector — sparked fears that tens of thousands will wind up jobless.
But cutbacks in state subsidies over the past year — especially in the rations cards that provide limited but deeply discounted supplies of food and a few other items to Cuba’s 11.2 million people — already have increased the cost of living.
Hit especially hard have been retirees, the disabled, widows and others who live on fixed incomes, and the 40 percent of Cubans who don’t receive remittances from relatives abroad and must rely on salaries that officially average a mere $20 per month.
“This is seriously complicating the survival of the Cuban family, which is already very difficult,” said Darsi Ferrer, a Havana dissident who has studied the impact of the vanishing state subsidies.
Except for the health and education systems — still free yet increasingly tattered — Castro has cut subsidies steeply in many sectors to jumpstart an economy thrown into a tailspin by declining export and tourism income and a dearth of external finances.
The government closed thousands of workplace canteens that provided free lunches to 250,000 employees, paying them an estra stipend instead. Its inspectors also cracked down on fraudulent claims for the extra benefits granted to some Cubans, such as those with ailments that require increased food rations.
In the central city of Santa Clara, inspectors earlier this year shut off 4,700 of the 7,000 people who were receiving the special assistance, said Oscar Espinosa Chepe, a dissident Havana economist.
THE RATION CARDS
The government also cut subsidies to its “popular camping” sites — where Cubans vacation at rock-bottom prices for tents or simple cabins, usually near beaches.
But the biggest impact came from the shrinkage of the food and personal hygiene items provided through the ration card, a 50-year-old system that Fidel Castro repeatedly praised as the best way to equitably distribute the country’s resources. Raúl Castro officially succeeded his brother in 2008.
Government officials concede it covers only half of a person’s monthly food consumption, but most Cubans say it covers no more than one third. The rest must be bought, at much higher prices, at farmers’ markets or the illegal black market.
In an island where the average monthly wage stands at 429 pesos and the average pension at 262 pesos — about $20 and $10.50, respectively — the rations’ cuts have been hard felt.
“The ration card was barely enough to live on if I had a glass of sugared water for breakfast and a piece of bread for lunch … “If they keep cutting it, I’m going to starve to death,” Lara said by phone from Havana. She asked that she not be further identified to avert government retaliation.
In the past year, potatoes and peas were taken off the card and their prices soared — potatoes from about 30 cents to about two pesos a pound, and peas from 10-20 cents to 3.50 pesos per pound. Cigarettes, allocated to all those 54 and older, were removed from the card on Sept. 1.
AWASH IN RUMORS
Rationed coffee went from 10 cents per four-ounce packet to five pesos for an equal weight of allegedly more concentrated beans. The ration for beans was cut by one third, and for salt by nearly half. And last week the government hiked gasoline prices by between 10 and 18 percent.
On the farmers’ markets, where prices are set by supply and demand, a pound of pork costs 25 pesos, one avocado 10 pesos, a mango 10 pesos, a pound of onions 20 pesos and a liter of cooking oil 35 pesos. Those five items alone would cost a week’s wage for the average worker.
“Salaries are already low and prices are already high, so the cut in the ration cards is falling hardest on the sectors with the lowest income — pensioners, those without outside assistance, those with the lowest incomes,” said Espinosa Chepe.
Havana residents said the capital is now awash in rumors that the government will cut coffee, eggs, pasta and personal hygiene items from the ration card next year, and that the three-ounce bread roll now sold daily on the ration card for five cents will rocket to 80 cents.
A lengthy editorial in the Communist Party’s Granma newspaper last October called for abolishing the ration card for all but the neediest.
Adding to the concerns was the announcement of the 500,000 layoffs — 10 percent of the government’s five million workers in a country with a mere 600,000 private sector jobs.
Several Cubans who are still working despite reaching retirement age have been told they will likely be forced to take retirement, said a Havana retiree who requested anonymity to avert government reprisals.
And the 10,000 retired teachers who returned to work two years ago, to take advantages of incentives offered by the government to ease a teacher shortage, now fear they also will be laid off, the retiree added.
Some government academic centers are disappearing almost overnight, he added, and retirees who staff most of Havana’s news stands have been told they will have to leave to make way for younger workers reassigned from other government jobs.
More than 150 of the 231 lowly paid chauffeurs assigned to the government-owned Gaviota hotel chain will be dismissed, independent journalist Carlos Rios Otero reported last week.
Espinosa Chepe noted that the layoffs come at a time when some Cubans are making a relatively good living by stealing from the government or working for foreign companies or as middlemen in the farmers’ markets.
“This is not an economy that is easy to explain,” he said. “People don’t even ask what’s the salary when they look for a job. What interests them is what’s there, what can be sold on the side.”
“There are two Cubas now,” he added. “There are a lot people earning a lot of money and a lot of others sinking. We are seeing enormous social differences, and each day they will be worse.”


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SAGINAW, MI — Black Friday is gone; Cyber Monday is over, but that doesn't mean your holiday shopping is complete.
Whether you are looking for the perfect gift for a loved one or you just want to take a break from shopping for others to pamper yourself, the 21st annual Hollyday Fair at Saginaw's Andersen Enrichment Center, 120 Ezra Rust, provides the perfect venue.
A total of 20 vendors will partake in the event from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4, selling ornaments, scarves, children's books, candy and more.
A silent auction also takes place, with tickets to events at the Temple Theatre and The Dow Event Center and an overnight stay at Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort among the items up for bid.
The Savoy will cater a luncheon from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., serving up a chicken salad sandwich, chicken noodle soup or chili and a cookie for $6.


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CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, Nov. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Lynden International, a full-service freight forwarding and logistics company, has relocated and expanded its Puerto Rico facilities and operations from Guaynabo to Carolina. The new location features a 2,000-square-foot office and a 35,000-square-foot state-of-the-art warehouse with nine dock doors to receive customers’ freight. Lynden also expanded its office and warehouse staff.
“This expansion allows us to provide an enhanced level of service to our growing client base. We are now closer to the airport in a dedicated business district with a gated facility and a 24-hour security guard. This adds an extra measure of safety and peace of mind for our customers,” says Lynden’s Puerto Rico District Manager Juancarlos Cruz. “Our expanded warehouse gives customers more options for storage, warehouse management and 3PL business. We also added eight 24-foot trucks and two reefers to better serve our customers’ needs on the island.”
The new Lynden office is located at Martin Gonzalez Industrial Park, Lot 3, Building 2 in Carolina, Puerto Rico. The phone number remains the same: (787) 277-0777.
Lynden International is one of the Lynden family of companies, whose combined capabilities include: worldwide air and ocean forwarding, third-party logistics (3PL), trade show shipping, truckload and less-than-truckload transportation, scheduled and charter barges, intermodal bulk chemical hauls, scheduled and chartered Hercules L-382 cargo aircraft and multi-modal logistics.
Contact: Dorene Kolb, Director, Sales and Marketing Support with Lynden International, +1-206-777-4650, email@example.com
SOURCE Lynden International


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How the unpatented research of a brilliant food sciences professor may have helped make the fast-food icon possible.
Earlier this week, Fred Turner, the influential former McDonald's CEO who helped turn his company into the globally loved, burger-flipping colossus it is today, died at the age of 80. We can thank Turner for such fast food icons as the Egg McMuffin, the drive-through window, and the Happy Meal. But for those of us who happen to care about patent law, there's one part of his legacy that's particularly fascinating: the Chicken McNugget.
Until fairly recently, it was conventional wisdom that McDonald's had invented the entire devilishly addictive concept of the chicken nugget in the late 1970's as American diners began cutting down on the red meat — and hence, hamburgers — in their diets and started turning to poultry. But a few weeks back, Maryn McKenna published a wonderful piece of corrective history in Slate that traced the origin of the spongy fried chicken chunks back to the work of Cornell food sciences professor Robert Baker. Baker was brilliant researcher devoted to expanding the then-paltry market for chicken and egg products, engineering technically advanced recipes for hot dogs, canned hash, frozen meatloaf, and other gustatory marvels in his university lab. In the early 1960s, he perfected a process for boneless fried "chicken sticks." Here's McKenna's description:
Baker's prototype nugget, developed with student Joseph Marshall, mastered two food-engineering challenges: keeping ground meat together without putting a skin around it, and keeping batter attached to the meat despite the shrinkage caused by freezing and the explosive heat of frying. They solved the first problem by grinding raw chicken with salt and vinegar to draw out moisture, and then adding a binder of powdered milk and pulverized grains. They solved the second by shaping the sticks, freezing them, coating them in an eggy batter and cornflake crumbs, and then freezing them a second time to -10 degrees. With trial and error, the sticks stayed intact. Baker, Marshall, and three other colleagues came up with an attractive box, designed a dummy label, and made enough of the sticks to sell them for 26 weeks in five local supermarkets. In the first 6 weeks, they sold 200 boxes per week.
Were Baker working today, you could be sure that he would have had a patent application submitted well before the first box was shipped. But the professor never really attempted to cash in on his discoveries. Instead, he published his research in regular bulletins that he then sent out to hundreds of companies around the country. As McKenna notes, Baker also moonlighted as a corporate consultant, and his grad students students spread his know-how as they landed jobs throughout the food industry.
The idea for chicken nugget seems to have re-emerged independently at McDonald's, after Executive Chef Rene Arend decided to chop up and batter fry some chicken breasts in the company's test kitchen. But when the chain approached a pair of food production companies to help them mass produce the treats, it's possible (though not absolutely confirmable) that they were using some of the techniques Baker pioneered. And since he never patented his process, the professor never saw a cent, even as McDonald's earned millions after introducing the McNugget nationally in 1983.
Here's what makes the story particularly interesting from an IP perspective: It's good fodder for an argument whether you're for strong patent laws or against them. Even though he had the resources of an Ivy League university behind him, Baker is the pretty much the prototypical small-time innovator whose work made money for everyone who touched it, except himself. It's the sort of nightmare scenario that the pro-patent lobby loves to trot out in response to the idea that we should loosen IP protections.


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The Commerce Commission is investigating whether merger rules have been broken in the creation of the new pay TV service Igloo.
The company, a joint venture between Sky Television and TVNZ, is due to start transmission in June with 11 channels.
The Commission says that, following complaints, it is investigating whether the partners have complied with Section 47 of the Commerce Act which prohibits the acquisition of a business or shares if it lessens competition in the market.
Igloo expects to attract 7000 users in the June financial year and 50,000 the year after.
Sky has invested $12.75 million and TVNZ $12.25 million.
Analysts have heralded Igloo as long overdue, offering an affordable product to households that don't want a monthly premium pay TV subscription.
Deal likely to go through - Forsyth Barr
Investment specialist Forsyth Barr says TVNZ and Sky Television's joint ownership of Igloo, will enhance and not hinder competition.
Head of research Rob Mercer says the 11 channels to be offered by Igloo in June, will expand the broadcast market and competition for viewers.
Mr Mercer says he believes the Commerce Commission will approve the ownership structure of Igloo as it will find the service is positive for consumers.
He says the Commerce Commission would have to decide that TVNZ's 49% ownership of Igloo would lead to substantially lessening competition.
Mr Mercer says he doesn't believe that's possible given that it expands competition.
He says competition is already expanding through Apple TV, Google and the telco companies looking at ways they can start to provide services through ultra-fast broadband in the future.
Mr Mercer says there is nothing to stop anyone else producing a competing service that blends a pay TV model with Freeview.


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U.S. stocks joined a worldwide selloff at Friday's open, with the Dow down about 400 points, as a wave of anxiety about a global recession sent investors heading for the exits.
A Japanese woman could face a prison sentence after killing off her virtual husband in a computer game.
The 43-year-old became so angry about a sudden "divorce" from her online husband in the interactive Maple Story game that she logged on with his password and deleted his digital persona.
DirectoryFriendly.com is a general web directory. Our site provides resource and information in arts and humanities, business, economy, vacation and travel, careers, education, home, family and much more.
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The humble book is being replaced by the laptop in lavatories across the UK, according to the internet service provider Plusnet. Its research revealed that one in ten broadband users have surfed the web while sat on the loo.
Police say a Connecticut man playing police officer picked the wrong person to pull over.
Israel Gomez was arrested Tuesday after pulling over an off-duty Hartford police lieutenant.
The figures suggest families are cutting back on meat and other expensive products in the wake of the financial downturn.
Retailers have been complaining for some time that shoppers have been ditching expensive brands in favour of cheaper products.
For some reason, Congressman Price believes it is a good idea to spend billions of dollars a year to enforce drug use and possession laws against individuals, spend billions more incarcerating them and subjecting them to the adverse physical and psychological effects of incarceration, and then spend even more money to “re-adjust” them.
We just got done going on his and hers online shopping sprees at Neiman Marcus' website, where we each managed, after an undisclosed number of hours, to spend $75,062*, the precise amount that Palin et al. spent there.


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EuroBLECH Digital Innovation Summit to take place in October 2020
Mack Brooks Exhibitions has today announced the postponement of EuroBLECH, which was
scheduled to take place at the Hanover Exhibition Grounds in Germany from 27 to 30
October 2020. The new dates for the next EuroBLECH, 26th International Sheet Metal
Working Technology Exhibition, are 9 -12 March 2021. This decision was taken after
extensive conversations with all exhibitors and partners over recent weeks and months who
have expressed their preference not to hold the show in October, in light of the ongoing
Covid-19 crisis. Uncertainties around travel restrictions in order to maintain the truly
international character of the EuroBLECH event were also a concern to many participants.
Speaking about the announcement, Nicola Hamann, Managing Director of Mack Brooks
Exhibitions said: “The past months have been challenging, in particular for the sheet metal
working industry and its related industry sectors. We have seen a decrease in orders of
capital goods and many companies are telling us about their challenges in dealing with the
impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although we have recently received authority approval for
our Safety and Security concept to hold EuroBLECH in October this year, we have decided
to postpone EuroBLECH to Spring 2021”.
As part of a recent series of industry surveys, the participants of EuroBLECH indicated their
requirement to network and conduct business in order to pave the way for the recovery of
the industry following the Covid-19 pandemic. EuroBLECH will therefore offer a virtual hub
for the global sheet metal working industry in October: “Following feedback from our
exhibitors and visitors indicating the need to participate in an event, even if not in a physical
form, we will organise a Digital Innovation Summit taking place from 27 to 30 October, our
planned event slot. This Digital Innovation Summit will provide our exhibitors with a platform
to demonstrate their latest machines and solutions and arrange virtual meetings with
international visitors. We believe it is our duty to assist the industry through these
extraordinary times by offering a market place this year as a platform for innovations and a
starting point for the recovery of the industry”, continued Nicola Hamann.
The EuroBLECH Team will communicate closely with customers and partners over the
coming weeks and months and thank their exhibitors, partners, suppliers and visitors for
their support during this challenging time. Further information on the Digital Innovation
Summit containing details on the Online Presentation Theatre for exhibitors, video on
demand options and matchmaking facilities, will be available shortly.
Every two years, the world’s largest sheet metal working technology exhibition attracts top
industry professionals from all over the world. The show targets specialists at all
management levels in small and medium-sized companies as well as large enterprises from
all key industry sectors. Featuring an enormous amount of live machine demonstrations,
EuroBLECH is renowned with international sheet metal working professionals as the most
important event to find smart solutions and the right machines, equipment and materials for
their companies. A total of 56,307 international trade visitors attended the previous show.
For updates and further information, please visit the event website:


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Egypt's central bank sold $38.4 million to banks in a foreign exchange auction on Monday, with the cut-off price unchanged at LE6.972 to the dollar for the second auction in a row.
Currency dealers say the government may be reluctant to allow the pound to weaken below the psychologically important mark of 7.00 to the dollar.
On the black market, one dealer was offering on Monday to buy dollars for LE7.36 and to sell dollars at LE7.40.
The central bank introduced the auctions at the end of December to help stave off a currency crisis and thwart a run on the pound. Since then, the currency has lost 11 percent of its value on the official market.


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For their biggest event of the year, the Maruqette branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) is inviting everyone to rekindle their love for reading at their annual book sale for the next three days.
The organization has been taking city-wide donations for many days prior to the event, and have a wide variety books ready for the event, said AAUW Co-Vice President Taylor Susa.
The book sale goes from 5 to 9 p.m. today, April 25; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, April 26 and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 27. The event is located at First Presbyterian Church on 120 N. Front St.
The book sale has been an end-of-April-event for many years, Susa said. On Monday, April 22, a group of volunteers came together to sort the large number of books and have a potluck, she added.
“It seems simple because it’s just books, but in this era we’re learning that books have a lot more value to them than what they used to,” Susa said.
In a time were everyone’s faces are in their phones, the book sale means more now than it ever did, Susa added. People in years past have formed lines outside to make sure they’re the first to catch the good books, she said. It’s exciting to look through used books to find author’s signatures and notes, Susa added.
“People will be there for an hour or so just sifting through books and looking for what they want to read,” Susa said.
All the money made from the book sale goes to local scholarship funds for girls, Susa said.
“Not only can you get your nose in a book and looking at an actual story, but you also know especially with this event that there’s going to be a story with the money that you’re giving,” Susa said. “The money that we’re making is also creating a story in someone else’s life, and I think that’s an important thing to look at.”


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Why did Broadview accept ADT's proposal?
YARMOUTH—Why’d they do it? Why did the “golden boy of alarm company operations,” as Imperial Capital managing director Jeff Kessler called Broadview Security, agree to be acquired by industry giant ADT?
It’s well known that ADT has had its eye on Broadview, but Broadview’s spurned ADT for more than 20 years. Why say yes now?
Kessler, who’s followed the company since 1983, said Broadview is the best-run alarm company in the industry, but its high-growth years are likely behind it. “It continues to be the gold standard of operations … but, it’s highly possible that they were facing some headwinds,” he said.
What kind of headwinds? Competition may be afoot from companies that can offer more services, faster, at a lower creation-multiple, but for the same monthly monitoring fee. Kessler said that Broadview’s cost to create an account is around $1,300 to $1,400, and its attrition rate is very low, around six to eight percent, he said. However, “there are companies out there whose attrition rate is higher, but the creation cost is $700, $800, $900, and they can add in new next-generation services … wireless, two-way voice, interactive services, as well as wired technology.” These companies can get the same $30 to $40 in RMR just as easily, he said.
These companies are also adept at lower-cost marketing; Internet marketing, for example. Once you have an established marketing methodology, as Broadview does with its TV campaigns, for example, “it’s hard to shift that big ship around.”
While their attrition rate may be much higher than Broadview’s, competing firms “can afford to lose more customers when the cost to create a customer is one-half to two-thirds lower.” That’s not to say that Broadview was floundering in any way, Kessler emphasized. They could continue to have steady growth for many years to come, he said.
Asked about the creation multiple at ADT, Kessler said it’s “fair to say it’s above $1,000, but lower than Broadview’s.”
And what about next-generation interactive services for ADT and Broadview? Tyco CEO Ed Breen addressed this question during a Jan. 19 investor call. He noted that ADT is in beta mode with its interactive services offerings now and will roll it out in the second half of the year.
Broadview's finally been wooed by ADT, but Brink’s Home Security may resurface in the industry in another two years. “Brink’s Armored Security has the right to the name when the non-compete agreement ends,” Kessler said. “There may be another Brink’s some day.”


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Kathy Browning goes for a world-record bake sale Saturday in New Smyrna Beach.
The figures are not in yet but Kathy Browning, a freelance writer and food blogger, hopes to break a Guinness World Record from her bake sale Saturday, but more important, raise about $26,000 for pediatric cancer research. The New Smyrna Beach sale, held on Canal Street in conjunction with the monthly Canal Street Cruise classic car show, would need to sell more than 9,654 baked goods, the record set by the "Great American Bake Sale" at Grand Central Station in New York City on March 29, 2011. Food Network personality Sandra Lee organized the event that raised more than $25,000 for the Food Bank of New York. The money raised by the New Smyrna Beach bake sale will go to Cookies for Kids Cancer, a nonprofit group that raises money for pediatric cancer research.


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The global logistics robot market is expected to register a CAGR of 21.3% growth in terms of value to reach USD 18.58 billion by 2026, up from USD 15.28 billion in 2019, according to the latest study by Reports and Data.
The trigger for this growth is the rapid growth of the e-commerce sector, primarily driven by advancement in internet penetration and a rising preference for online shopping. For e-commerce firms, the challenge is continuously improving the packaging quality and meeting timely delivery to get a competitive edge over brick and mortar retail stores. Factors including demand for flexibility, more stock-keeping units (SKUs), and rapid returns processing drive the need for logistics automation in e-commerce.
The last few years have witnessed increased adoption of logistics robots to automate the storage and movement of goods as they pass through the supply chain. These robots are often used in warehouses and storage facilities to organize and transport products, but they may also be deployed in applications.
“Logistics robots are flexible and easy to incorporate owing to their ability to work safely along with human workers while upholding high levels of autonomy. Stringent safety norms and regulations are pushing firms to employ robots for dangerous and hazardous atmospheres,” says the study. It adds that the demand for automation across enterprises, especially in manufacturing firms and defence and military fields, is proliferating. Enterprises are leveraging next-gen technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to save time, reduce cost and deliver exceptional quality products.
The study cautions that high investment in R&D and a high initial cost of logistics robots may create hindrances in the market’s growth in the forecast period.


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Sword Of The Necromancer Pushed Back To 2021 To Avoid “Craziness” Of Next-Gen Launch Window
Sword of the Necromancer, which started out as a Kickstarter project, will now launch a month later than planned.
According to game developers JanduSoft S.L and Grimorio of Games, the monster summoning action-RPG will arrive on 28th January 2021 for the Nintendo Switch and multiple other platforms.
This extra time will apparently allow the developers to add a final layer of polish – bringing the game to its “ideal” state, and means it can also avoid the “craziness” of the next generation console launch window.
“As much as we want to get Sword of the Necromancer into the hands of the players, it is more important that the game meets our vision first. Releasing in January 2021, allows us to refine the game experience further and also avoid the craziness of the next-gen consoles launch window. Rest assured that the final product will be worth the wait.”
The developers have also released a second video diary about the creation of this upcoming dungeon-crawler action-RPG featuring roguelike elements. Take a look below:
It’s not the first time we’ve heard about smaller-sized games wanting to avoid the release of bigger systems or titles. Earlier this month, the developer of the ’90s style FPS Dusk said they were hoping to launch their own game on the Switch around 10th December, but wasn’t so sure now that CD Projekt Red’s game Cyberpunk 2077 had been pushed back to the same date.
Do you blame this team of developers behind Sword of the Necromancer for wanting to avoid the next-gen launch window? Are you gald to hear it’s getting some extra polish? Share your own thoughts down below.


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If we were to go through the sales numbers of the last 18 months, it is fairly evident that there is an insatiable appetite for voice devices in the global market. The use of these digital voice assistants and conversational AI coupled with the advancements in AI and the overall underlying technology shows that voice first devices are poised to transform commerce and marketing within every industry. It truly is surprising how technology is so dynamically transforming one sector after another with revolutionary innovations. After the early rattle of IoT (Internet of Things), AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality) and Cloud computing, now we have the digital voice assistant technology to look forward to. However, the concept of voice-based services extends far beyond just personalized assistance to touch the banking sector at large.
Microsoft may have missed out on mobile but CEO Satya Nadella says his company won't make the same mistake with augmented reality and virtual reality. Speaking Monday at the opening dinner for the Wall Street Street Journal's WSJD Live conference, Microsoft's top executive said there was "no question" the company had missed its opportunity when it come to mobile. SEE ALSO: Microsoft made speech recognition software that's as accurate as humans "We clearly missed the mobile phone, there's no question," Nadella said. "Our goal now is to make sure we grow new categories." Chief among those new categories are augmented and virtual reality, both of which the CEO says he sees as big opportunities for future growth.
Did you think we were done with tech events and you could just cruise on until Black Friday and the holidays? On Wednesday, Oct. 26, Microsoft is holding a big product announcement in New York City. Ahead of the big day, here's the cornucopia of hardware and software spanning new Surface devices, Windows 10, Hololens and maybe Xbox that we're expecting to hear about. SEE ALSO: Microsoft made speech recognition software that's as accurate as humans Looking back, Microsoft really delivered big time last year. Mostly a hardware showcase, CEO Satya Nadella and co. announced the Surface Pro 4, Microsoft Band 2, Lumia 950 and 950 XL Windows 10 Mobile phones, and the surprise Surface Book.
ROOBO, a fast-growing hardware and AI startup headquartered in Beijing, today unveiled a prototype of its newest product, a "pet robot" called Domgy. For the unfamiliar, ROOBO is the company behind Pudding, a voice-controlled, educational robot for kids. Pudding is used to teach kids vocabulary, geography, jokes and more. The company also makes the Idealens virtual reality headset, Skyseries drone and Runbone earbuds. Since its founding in 2014, ROOBO has grown to 300 employees, with 7 worldwide offices, including one in Seattle.