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Here comes the taxman. Are you ready for this?
Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) chief Kim Henares has her sights on Uber, Grab and other app-based transport network companies (TNCs).
According to the BIR commissioner, their agency is closely coordinating with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to track tax payments of these TNCs and their partner operators and drivers.
In recent days, Grab and Uber were given accreditation by the LTFRB. Grab was the first one to secure their accreditation while Uber just secured theirs recently, beating the deadline set by LTFRB.
Henares said the BIR may soon release a new regulation if the need arise which will cover vehicle drivers of Uber, Grab and other TNCs. She also mentioned that UBER, Grab, other TNCs, and their partners are all businesses which have taxes due that must be settled according to law. Yes, we as partners are now a business entity, specifically a sole proprietorship. Remember we registered for a business name with DTI? and signed the Motion for Provisional Authority Terms and Conditions?
“Like any businesses, they are covered by the laws of taxation on entities engaged in business—from registration to issuance of receipts, to filing and payment of taxes,” Henares said. “They are engaged in the provision of services and are covered by all the provisions of the Tax Code for business engaged in the provision of services.”
With the legalization of the app-based transport services, comes the requirements and policies of the government, as well as the collection of taxes. Partners and Drivers must now comply to these requirements set by the government, or suffer grave penalties and fines. A few days ago, LTFRB said that they will impose fines of P200,000 to those drivers caught operating without accreditation.
We are reminded of a classic joke that “licensing” or any other regulation, is what it’s called when a government “takes away your right to do something and then sells it back to you.”
So what’s next for Uber, Grab and their partners? On to the next chapter!
Watch out for our series of articles here in Uber MNL Tips regarding the matter.
Also, you can LIKE us on Facebook to get the latest updates.
This made me rethink of buying a car for uber use.
Admin, can you please post a tax calculator, or a guide for sole proprietorship?
Thanks in advance
Yep. We’ll release the article soon. Watch out for it 😉
id wait for the said tax calculator article you’ll be coming out with soon. as the saying goes,
“in life there are only two things which are sure….one is DEATH and the other one…TAXES.”
Good one! HHahaha
I am also looking forward to the tax calc. you will be releasing.
More power! 🙂
Will do. We’re focusing first on the LTFRB regulation transition. 🙂
Since partner Operator will now pay income tax, percentage/VAT for their pay out from Uber, how about the income of the driver?
Let us say for example the driver receives 40% share. If the driver will not issue Official Receipts in favor of the Operator, the operator cannot claim as expenses his driver’s fee, worse, the operator shall be taxed for the share of the driver.
Does Uber requires the accredited driver to have their own BIR accredited official receipts?
You can structure the business in the way that the driver can be contractual (no need for taxes or contribution) OR as a regular employee (taxed, with contributions). It actually depends how you structure it and what the recommendation of the accountant will be 😉
Drivers/employees do not issue ORs. Taxes are withheld from their income.
that will be the predicament of every operator. If the driver would be considered either as contractual or regular employee, either way, the operator is obliged to withhold tax (expanded) and remit the same to the BIR, this is will be mandatory since the operator will claim the driver’s fee as expenses, otherwise, risk the possibility that the BIR will ran after the operator for the disallowance of expense or failure to remit taxes. right? correct me if im wrong.
It would be different if the driver will share for the payment of all taxes, i.e percentage/vat and income tax. In this case, it will appear that the operator and driver are partners, and they share the profit. Pero I doubt kung may papayag na driver na kaltasan sila ng tax ng operator as share nila sa percentage tax at quarterly/annual income tax. do drivers agree with this? kinalkaltasan tlaga sila ng tax nioperator?
I doubt din if may driver na papayag na mag issue sila ng official receipt nila everytime they receive their full 40% share, and bahala na sila sa sarili nilang tax. But i think this is a better solution.
Employees don’t issue ORs. It depends how you will structure your business. You can declare your drivers as regular or contractual employees. Kindly watch out for our series of articles about TNVS taxes
You can also read our article on this:
Are you still going to have an article about BIR tax computation?
Thanks a lot! 🙂
ive already submitted the tnvs documents last week and now i received a text message from UBER stating that they did not received anything from me.
Kindly clarify with Uber at
hi admin. I’ve been using Uber for a month already and charge it for business related transpo expense. Since the official receipt being sent to my email does not meet Official Receipt requirement as per BIR, we are not allowed to use it for company reimbursement. Are you going to issue an OR the soonest? We want to use Uber but the downside of this is the official receipt. Thank you.
As per Uber. it’s the partners & drivers who should issue you the O.R. not Uber. However, most drivers don’t issue receipts yet.
Does engaging with Uber guarantees income for fulltime? Can someone give me an idea? Thanks!
Uber rides may soon become less convenient for the public as tax authorities plan to require the issuance of receipts—a rule ignored by many taxi operators.
Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Deputy Commissioner Nelson Aspe said new guidelines would be issued to spell out the tax responsibilities of all parties in the Uber system.
Apart from the issuance of receipts, the BIR said it expected owners of cars used for Uber rides to file tax returns. Uber drivers who don’t own the cars they use will also be considered employees, hence appropriate taxes should be withheld from their salaries.
Uber rides will also be subjected to value-added tax (VAT), which will add 12 percent to total costs. Aspe said the BIR would charge it retroactively.
“All of these taxes are in the present law,” Aspe told reporters at the sidelines of a financial services forum hosted by accounting firm Punongbayan & Araullo. “We’re telling everyone what the law provides… It’s just a reiteration of what they should pay.”
Uber drivers who own the cars they use would have to issue receipts as self-employed individuals, like doctors and lawyers. Uber drivers who work for car owners, meanwhile, should issue receipts on behalf of their employers.
Aspe said BIR would dig through information from credit card companies, which are required to make regular reports to the government on all transactions. This will ensure that the tax liabilities of drivers, owners and Uber itself are computed accurately. Uber passengers are charged online using their credit card information.
The same rules will apply to other ride-sharing services like GrabTaxi, which offers a similar service called GrabCar, the revenue official added. Unlike Uber, however, GrabTaxi’s business is entirely cash-based, which, according to Aspe, is more difficult to track.
The guidelines on Uber rides, which Aspe said would not create new rules but define how existing laws should be applied, would be issued before the end of the year.
The requirement for receipts is the latest legal hoop faced by Uber and other ride-sharing service providers. Earlier this year, the Philippines became the first country in the world to issue formal regulations for ride-sharing services, which allow passengers to book rides using smart phone apps.
Uber vehicle owners and drivers were required to get licenses from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), much like regular taxis. Uber’s accreditation as a Transport Network Company was approved in August.
Thanks for sharing. For more info: http://ubermanilatips.com/ltfrb-accreditation-what-it-really-means-for-us-partners-peers-and-drivers/
How can I get the official receipt from my latest trip? Thanks.


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REGULAR readers of the Bulletin will be all too aware of the furore car hire companies have caused amongst many visitors to the island over the past 18 months and yesterday, the British Vehicle Renting and Leasing Association (BVRLA) issued a warning to holiday makers to book their rental vehicles early because there is going to be another shortage of cars this Easter and Summer.
The reduction in fleets because of the recession has not only led to a lack of vehicles but also an increase in prices, according to many of our angry readers, and visitors can expect a similar scenario this year.
The BVRLA yesterday advised customers requiring a rental car during the busy Easter and Summer Holiday periods need to book in advance to avoid disappointment.
The hire car shortage experienced last summer is likely to be repeated this year, particularly in tourist hot spots and at airports. Rental companies have reduced their fleet sizes since the recession hit and have fewer vehicles with which to meet any bottlenecks in demand.
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Electric vehicles are on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada this year, but it's not just about cars and trucks that we see on major roadways. The farming equipment industry is moving into the space.
John Deere is revealing multiple major pieces of farm equipment that will be powered by electricity, and the company's CEO says even though farmers make up a small percentage of the total population, advances in agriculture are essential to food production for everyone.
John May, the CEO of John Deere said to a crowd at CES 2023, “Why should you care about farmers when they represent less than 2% of the U.S. population?”
“You will not find two industries that have a larger impact on our world, and all of us, than agriculture, and construction,” May said.
As TechCrunch reported, John Deere's ExactShot sensor and robotics-based fertilizer application system would help increase the speed of repetitive tasks making the process more efficient, according to the company.
And the idea is also to have less waste while farming, leading to a more sustainable agriculture industry.
John Deere also presented a new excavator that is powered by a Kreisel battery and would reduce emissions and noise while farming.
May said at a keynote address, “You might want to think of them as robots that precisely execute jobs.”
“They’re real and are being used on farms today. If this sounds like a lot of technology, it is," he said.


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Indian company Reliance Industries’ retail unit Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) is reportedly planning to invest in warehouse robotics company Addverb Technologies.
RRVL will acquire a minority stake in Addverb Technologies in a deal valued at approximately $40.1m (Rs3bn), Mint reported citing two people familiar with the development.
Founded in 2016, Addverb Technologies uses robotics and automation to enhance space utilisation in warehouses and factories.
The company serves various industries including e-commerce, retail, grocery, fashion, among others.
Addverb Technologies and RRVL did not respond when requested for comments.
If materialised, the deal will value Addverb Technologies at $212.7m – $222.1m (Rs15.9bn – Rs16.6bn), the two people added.
It comes after Moneycontrol reported in June that the company held talks with institutional investors to raise $80-120m.
Addverb Technologies, which counts Flipkart, Amazon, ITC and Coca-Cola as its customers, reported $14.7m (Rs1.1bn) in net sales in the year ended March 2020.
The news for investment comes a year after RRVL secured nearly $6.4bn in funding from various investors including Silver Lake Partners, KKR, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and others.
During last month, Reliance acquired retail lingerie units under the ‘Amante’ brand from Sri Lanka-based MAS Holdings’ division MAS Brands, for an undisclosed amount.
In October this year, the company, through its retail unit, bought a 52% interest in Ritu Kumar, India’s fashion house.
In the same month, it also acquired certain stake in the desi couture label of Manish Malhotra.
This month, Addverb Technologies launched its multi-carton picking mobile robot ‘Veloce’ at the India Warehousing Show (IWS).


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Harley helps put electric motorcycles in spotlight
Maggie McNally-Bradshaw and her
husband Curt Bradshaw pose with their Zero electric motorcycles on
Tuesday, June 24, 2014, in Princetown, N.Y. Startups like Zero, Brammo
and Mission are making state-of-the-art electric motorcycles on the West
Coast. Harley-Davidson’s unveiling of its prototype electric motorcycle
LiveWire is likely to give a boost to smaller companies already
producing plug-in bikes.


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John Carmack, id Software’s veteran co-founder, has admitted that he’s pretty impressed with the PlayStation 4. Speaking as part of another enormous three-hour keynote at QuakeCon, the Wolfenstein 3D programmer praised the impending console – and suggested that the Japanese giant has done a stellar job of learning from the mistakes that it made with the PlayStation 3.
"It's no secret that in the previous generation I favoured the Xbox 360 over the PS3," he said. "While there are certain things that Sony did well for a game developer, the 360 was a nicer platform to work on. [But] Sony has made large strides. Its development tools came out of the gate much, much better than they ever have. [And] it’s made some somewhat-more gamer-focused decisions in its strategies and architectures."
However, the veteran was unwilling to pick a side in the battle between the PS4 and the Xbox One. “Everyone would like me to come out with some A over B comparison about the two platforms, and, to be completely honest, I haven't done really rigorous benchmarking on them, so even if I didn't have NDA protection, I couldn't give you a really completely honest answer,” he explained. “But they are very close, they're both very good.”
While Carmack was generally optimistic regarding the two new consoles, though, he was keen to point out one facet of the next generation that's already grinding his gears. “It appals me that we still have people targeting 30 frames-per-second,” he sighed. “It was hard to hit 60 frames-per-second on the current generation. There are scars in the code base and on the developers that let us make it to the quality and performance level that we did. But we've got a lot more power now [...] and I think that it would just be much better for people to concentrate on smoother gameplay experiences.”
Carmack has always been a big proponent of 60 frames-per-second, famously pushing the PS3 to its absolute limits in order to maintain the refresh rate in flawed first-person shooter RAGE. Much to the developer's frustration, though, many of the PS4’s launch titles currently run at 30Hz, including DriveClub, Killzone: Shadow Fall, and Knack. Evolution Studios has said that it’s targeting a faster framerate for the former, but it’s not making any promises. Do you agree with Carmack, and feel that developers need to step up their efforts? Let us know in the comments section below.


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Biden’s Economic Team Emphasizes Workers as Its Focus
Wally Adeyemo, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for deputy Treasury secretary.Credit…Alex Wong/Getty Images
- 1 Team Biden’s assertion of intent
- 2 Fresh from promoting itself, Kind buys one other
- 3 “We are positively not going to launch a hostile takeover. If any person mentioned it could be a good suggestion to merge with Tesla, we might have this dialog.”
- 4 Cocoa instances increase bitter questions
Team Biden’s assertion of intent
When the president-elect launched his proposed financial group, he summarized their imaginative and prescient: “Given a good shot and equal probability, there’s nothing past the capability of the American individuals.” As phrase has leaked of his nominees, their backgrounds recommended that the incoming administration’s focus can be on employees and revenue inequality. Yesterday, they backed this up in their very own phrases.
“We had been raised to respect the dignity of labor,” Vice President-elect Kamala Harris mentioned. Then, Mr. Biden’s financial mind belief emphasised their private experiences with the plight of employees, positive to be a significant theme within the administration’s early days:
Growing up in “working-class Brooklyn” ceaselessly marked the Treasury secretary nominee Janet Yellen, who pledged to run “an establishment that wakes up each morning interested by” individuals’s jobs, paychecks, struggles, hopes and dignity.
The deputy Treasury secretary choose, Wally Adeyemo, mentioned his immigrant dad and mom instilled in him a way of accountability to “the nation that gave us so many alternatives.” He promised to work “to make sure that everybody has the honest probability they deserve.”
“Budgets will not be abstractions,” proclaimed Neera Tanden, potential director of the Office of Management and Budget. “I’m right here at this time due to social applications. Because of budgetary decisions.”
Cecilia Rouse, the nominee for chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, mentioned spike in unemployment whereas she was in faculty made it “not possible to separate what we had been studying within the classroom from what I knew was occurring in cities throughout the nation,” leaving her “drawn to review the labor market in all of its dimensions.”
The different appointees for the C.E.A. highlighted reminiscences of parental unemployment and the significance of unions. “Security, union advantages, a spot within the neighborhood, a spot within the center class” is what a job at Boeing meant to Heather Boushey’s father. Jared Bernstein mentioned his mom’s proudest second wasn’t when he received a Ph.D. however when he received a union card.
Behind the rhetoric, securing support for employees shall be troublesome, if the lengthy partisan standoff over financial stimulus package deal is any indication. When he takes workplace, Mr. Biden will attempt to steadiness Republican accusations of a socialist takeover with criticism from progressive Democrats that he’s embracing capitalism too intently. That debate is neatly captured by the nomination of Ms. Tanden, who faces a tricky affirmation battle with critics on each the precise and the left.
A variation on “America First.” Mr. Biden instructed The Times’s Tom Friedman, “I wish to be sure that we’re going to battle like hell by investing in America first.” Although this echoes President Trump’s coverage branding, in Mr. Biden’s case it means large authorities funding in analysis into vitality, biotech and A.I., in addition to infrastructure. At the identical time, his international coverage instincts have traces of his predecessor’s anti-globalization stance: There’s a recognition that Americans more and more really feel “the positive aspects from globalization and our financial system wanted to be shared extra broadly,” Nathan Sheets, an Obama-era Treasury Department official, instructed The Wall Street Journal.
This would possibly result in tensions inside his group. Mr. Biden instructed Tom that he wouldn’t instantly carry the 25 % tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed on Chinese items. Ms. Yellen has been brazenly skeptical of tariffs.
HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING
Britain approves Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. The nation turned the primary within the West to authorize a coronavirus vaccine. (Russia and China didn’t look ahead to large-scale trials.) Britain will start vaccinations subsequent week, beginning in nursing properties.
Centrist senators current a compromise stimulus plan. A bipartisan group unveiled a $908 billion package deal to interrupt the political logjam. But Senate Republicans are engaged on a much smaller proposal that’s unlikely to win Democratic assist, whereas Democratic leaders are pushing for extra spending.
SmoothBank reportedly winds down its inventory choices commerce. The Japanese tech investor is letting choices expire — principally by the tip of the month — after buyers complained about its dangerous multibillion-dollar technique, Bloomberg stories. SmoothBank will retain inventory investments in Big Tech firms like Amazon and Facebook.
Salesforce clinches a $27.7 billion deal for Slack. The acquisition, Salesforce’s greatest, is the most recent in a wave of office software program takeovers. But Salesforce buyers could also be sad with the hefty deal premium: Its shares are down in premarket buying and selling. (Slack’s are up almost 50 % since stories of the deal emerged.)
President Trump threatens protection money to assault a tech authorized defend. In two tweets, Mr. Trump mentioned he would veto a $1 trillion funding invoice except Congress eradicated Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects on-line platforms from authorized legal responsibility for content material posted by customers.
Fresh from promoting itself, Kind buys one other
Just weeks after agreeing to be acquired by Mars, the snack maker Kind will announce at this time a deal to purchase a like-minded meals firm, Nature’s Bakery, for what sources say is round $400 million. Kind’s technique is to show itself right into a “well being and wellness platform,” amassing a variety of merchandise it makes or acquires. That plan was in place when Mars was solely a minority investor, and “our companions at Mars needs us to proceed,” the Kind founder and govt chairman Daniel Lubetzky instructed DealBook.
A household affair. Nature’s Bakery was based in 2011 by the father-and-son group of Dave and Sam Marson. The firm, which bought a minority stake to non-public fairness agency VMG Partners in 2016, now presents “plant-based, nut-free and dairy-free” merchandise in retailers like Costco and Target. Nature’s Bakery will preserve its provide chain separate from Kind’s, to make sure its merchandise keep nut-free.
Preserving the tradition. The Nature’s Bakery deal, and Kind’s takeover earlier than it, are the most recent in a string of acquisitions by large meals manufacturers of smaller, upstart rivals with cultures which can be onerous to duplicate at massive companies. These massive acquirers have sought to keep away from previous stumbles in comparable offers, after they swallowed manufacturers complete or confused customers by pumping out new iterations of area of interest merchandise too rapidly. That has meant creating stand-alone items to handle youthful, hipper manufacturers: Hershey, for instance, runs a number of by means of Amplify Snack Brands, the father or mother of SkinnyPop, which it acquired in 2018.
Kind, which can function independently inside Mars, plans a hands-off administration method with Nature’s Bakery, whereas nonetheless providing the advantages of the worldwide distribution would possibly of the maker of M&M’s and Snickers. “We wish to create a tradition the place we actually empower our companions for them to determine what’s greatest for his or her manufacturers,” Mr. Lubetzky mentioned.
“We are positively not going to launch a hostile takeover. If any person mentioned it could be a good suggestion to merge with Tesla, we might have this dialog.”
— Tesla and SpaceX C.E.O. Elon Musk, in an interview after accepting a lifetime achievement award from Axel Springer.
Cocoa instances increase bitter questions
Could an American company abet little one slavery by doing enterprise with suspect suppliers overseas, and will or not it’s held liable if it does? Those had been among the many thorny questions raised yesterday at a Supreme Court listening to on instances in opposition to Cargill and Nestlé U.S.A. introduced by Malians who had been pressured into little one slavery on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast.
“Many of your arguments result in outcomes which can be fairly onerous to take,” Justice Samuel Alito mentioned after the businesses’ lawyer argued that, beneath the Alien Tort Statute, they’ll’t be held responsible for human rights violations based mostly on enterprise relationships with farmers overseas. The justice questioned how far that argument went, asking if it prolonged to a enterprise that “surreptitiously hires brokers” to kidnap and enslave kids, guaranteeing “discount costs” on cocoa or espresso. But permitting such fits isn’t simple, both.
“They know that’s the place a budget beans come from,” the Malians’ counsel argued. He mentioned that the firms arrange a provide chain recognized to be tainted by human rights violations, whereas different firms sourced responsibly and paid extra. Justice Stephen Breyer responded to the allegation philosophically, saying that it described companies that function “blinking” or with “open eyes.” Speaking over the lawyer’s protestations, the justice questioned who ought to be liable for stopping this type of factor.
It is without doubt one of the large questions of the period. Governments, firms, buyers and consumers more and more agonize in regards to the tasks and relationships created by consumption. Notably, The Cocoa Barometer, a report by N.G.O.s and commerce unions launched yesterday, equipped one doable reply, calling on governments of main consuming nations to move legal guidelines that maintain firms accountable for human rights abuses of their provide chains.
THE SPEED READ
Airbnb is looking for a valuation of almost $35 billion in its I.P.O. (NYT)
The on-line well being care arm of JD.com raised $three.5 billion in its Hong Kong I.P.O. (Bloomberg)
A bipartisan fee mentioned that Congress ought to give the Federal Trade Commission extra energy over mergers involving international patrons. (WSJ)
Politics and coverage
Geoffrey Berman, the previous U.S. lawyer for Manhattan fired by President Trump in June, will be part of the regulation agency Fried Frank as the top of its white-collar protection follow. (NYT)
President Trump has thought of pre-emptive pardons for 3 of his kids, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Rudy Giuliani. Separately, the Justice Department is investigating a possible bribery scheme involving pardon seekers. (NYT)
The European Central Bank’s high economist reportedly known as banks and buyers after coverage conferences to supply clarifications, breaking with custom. (WSJ)
Amazon is becoming a member of a broad shift away from Intel’s laptop chips. (NYT)
Hewlett Packard Enterprise is shifting its headquarters to Houston, the most recent Silicon Valley firm to decenter from California. (CNBC)
Best of the remainder
More than 40 American company giants — together with Amazon, Citigroup and Ford — are urging Congress to assist President-elect Joe Biden’s plan for the U.S. rejoin the Paris local weather accord. (WSJ)
“Reinventing Workers for the Post-Covid Economy” (NYT)
The arc of ladies’s work apparel throughout the pandemic: from blazers to “coatigans.” (NYT)
We’d like your suggestions! Please electronic mail ideas and options to [email protected]


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ADOTAS – When GM announced it intended to pull its $10 million Facebook advertising budget, industry experts and total novices alike sputtered in disbelief. Sure, there’s no consensus about how to measure ROI in social media. Sure, Facebook’s display ads just look clunky when we even look at the right column of the page while we’re on the network, and there’s much debate over the ultimate value of the kind of word-of-mouth marketing sponsored stories allow. Sure, not every company knows how to make content that users can and easily share and want to share. But more often than not, people tended to agree that Facebook’s marketing potential was worth playing with, and the idea of GM’s pulling out altogether was a mark of colossally not getting it. How could a brand so prominent, and so eager to polish its image, fail to see the merits of advertising on Facebook?
As it turns out, the automaker did recognize the merits. In fact, it wanted to advertise more — to advertise to a degree Facebook didn’t even want. As AdAge reported yesterday, GM didn’t want sponsored posts or standard Facebook display ads. GM wanted to run a page takeover. And that’s just not Facebook’s style.
Around the time GM announced it was pulling its ad dollars from Facebook, some speculated that the relatively small percentage of ad spending at stake — GM spent a total of $1.8 billion on advertising last year — suggested there was some kind of subtext to its statement. With the news in mind about what reportedly went on backstage between the two companies in discussing marketing strategies, that seems to explain a few things. Then again, arguably, it still shows GM is missing part of the point — once a person logs into Facebook, the thing that keeps him or her logged in is the act of sharing content, and that’s a kind of interaction you don’t get, on that scale, anywhere else on the internet. And if a brand is not interested in taking part in that kind of dialogue… well, maybe it’s simply in the wrong place.


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In a recent development in the automotive world, both Mercedes-Benz and NIO have publicly denied reports of potential partnership talks, casting doubt on the prospect of the two industry giants joining forces.
Reports had suggested that Mercedes-Benz, under the leadership of CEO Ola Kallenius, and NIO, led by founder and CEO William Li, had engaged in discussions about a possible collaboration earlier this year. The speculated agreement would have seen Mercedes-Benz making an investment in NIO, in exchange for access to the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer's key technologies.
However, sources familiar with the matter indicate that these discussions had not progressed to the stage where the value of the investment or the specific technologies to be shared were on the table.
When pressed for comments regarding the rumored partnership, Mercedes-Benz maintained that it currently had no plans for collaboration with NIO. A spokesperson for the company noted, “Ola Kallenius is in an ongoing regular dialogue with various industry leaders and peers, including William Li.” In a similar vein, a representative from NIO dismissed the reports, labeling them as “untrue.”
Had this partnership materialized, it had the potential to be a significant move for both companies. Mercedes-Benz would have gained a foothold in China's burgeoning electric vehicle market, while aiding NIO's expansion into European and other international markets.
However, the proposed partnership faced opposition from within Mercedes' own ranks. Reports suggest that the company's R&D and strategy teams were skeptical about the alliance, fearing it could tarnish the brand's image. Shareholders were also reportedly concerned about the potential impact on the company.
While the denial of partnership talks may come as a surprise, the automotive industry has seen similar collaborations in recent times. In July, Audi announced its partnership with SAIC, with plans to launch new electric vehicles in China, sharing a platform with IM Motors. Additionally, China's Leapmotor has been exploring potential deals with other major automakers, including VW's Jetta brand and Stellantis.
As the electric vehicle market continues to evolve, the question of potential collaborations between established automakers and emerging players remains a topic of great interest and speculation. However, for now, Mercedes-Benz and NIO have distanced themselves from such discussions, leaving the automotive world to ponder the possibilities that may have been.


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Respawn Entertainment wants to keep focused on growing the surprise hit 'Apex Legends.' To do so, they will follow a detailed schedule that involves delaying other games currently in development such as 'Titanfall.'
Video Games April 30, 2019
'Anthem' players aren't pleased with the new 1.1.0 update. While BioWare added features such as a new Stronghold called Sunken Cell, it didn't quite deliver on its promise for its Act 1 roadmap.
Video Games April 24, 2019
Respawn Entertainment has banned more than 355,000 'Apex Legends' cheaters on the PC. It's also planning a lot of countermeasures against cheating, including a new report function.
Video Games March 12, 2019
According to 'Anthem' players, the game is shutting down their PS4 or PS4 Pro. To make things worse, one user even says that it bricks their console.
Video Games March 4, 2019
Respawn Entertainment has said that it wants 'Apex Legends' to be a '10-year game.' In other words, the developers are determined to continue supporting the battle royale shooter as long as there are players interested in it.
Video Games February 10, 2019
The new NVIDIA RTX 2060 GPU delivers exceptional performance on modern video games. Its Turing's RT Cores and Tensor Cores enables PC gamers to run 'Battlefield V' with ray tracing at 60 frames per second.
Computers January 7, 2019
EA Games quietly blocked an entire country from accessing Origin games, but it made a mistake. In a bid to comply with U.S. embargo and sanction laws, EA banned Myanmar without checking whether the embargo still applies.
Video Games October 30, 2016
'Battlefield 1' finally reached open beta stage and first person shooter fans worldwide were ready for the gory experience of World War 1. However, it seems that EA’s servers were ill prepared for the deluge of enthusiasm.
Video Games September 1, 2016
Samsung is gearing up to be a serious competitor in the gaming monitors scene. Pushing forward with its latest curved monitors, the tech hardware company recently partnered with EA Games to establish a strong foothold in the gaming industry.
Computers June 15, 2016
EA's game store Origin has started a Spring Forward Sale where it has deeply discounted several popular PC game titles such as 'FIFA 16,' 'SIMS 4' and more.
Video Games April 3, 2016
John Boyega, who played Finn in the recent 'Force Awakens' movie, has some opinions about 'Battlefront' gameplay.
Geek March 3, 2016
How better to spend a vacation but in front of the Xbox One, sampling from 14 best-selling games published by EA? For a full week, members of Xbox Live Gold will get to play with EA Access Vault’s titles for free.
Video Games January 16, 2016
In the previous years, EA faced rumors that it is paying YouTubers to get positive reviews for its games. Now, with the release of 'Star Wars: Battlefront,' the game developer is caught with its pants down again after a celebrity trashed the company for wanting to pay him to say nice things about the game.
Video Games November 23, 2015
EA Games and Dice just dropped the first trailer supporting 'The Battle of Jakku' expansion pack for 'Star Wars Battlefront.' This huge, cinematic environment plays a major part in the upcoming movie 'The Force Awakens.'
Geek November 3, 2015
Once upon a time, we were going to get a hardcore, M-rated Darth Maul video game. And then it was canceled. Now the developer wants to get it going again.
Geek October 26, 2015
'Star Wars Battlefront' is nearly here. Before you finally get to pilot a legendary craft in the game like Slave I or the Millennium Falcon, there's something you should know.
Geek October 23, 2015
An action-packed title from Electronic Arts is in the works, and the video game developer is pulling all the stops to make it happen. EA Executive Vice President Patrick Soderlund plans to expand the studio's market.
Video Games October 19, 2015
Allegations of a security breach within EA surfaced after an anonymous user uploaded hundreds of accounts, which includes usernames and password, along with listings for popular titles, such as 'Star Wars Battlefront' And 'Mass Effect.' EA denies the issue.
Video Games October 18, 2015
‘Mirror’s Edge Catalyst’ not only opens up the world for the player to explore, but its tight control mechanics and rhythmic flow make it one of the most impressive looking games in recent memory.
Geek October 14, 2015
EA Games launched its first 'Need for Speed' game on both Android and iOS, offering eager players the popular franchise beyond the console and PC platforms. Here's what you need to know about the racing mobile app.
Video Games October 2, 2015
California prepares to host more science fiction-themed amusement parks, and an attraction based on 'Mass Effect' is scheduled for 2016. EA, BioWare and Great America are teaming up to give fans breathtaking 4D experiences from the space trilogy.
Video Games October 1, 2015
Clear out your hard drive and make sure you have plenty of bandwidth. The 'Star Wars Battlefront' open beta is coming, and it's going to be huge. Literally.
Geek October 1, 2015
'Star Wars Battlefront' gamers, relax. Sure, we're still not getting server browsers, but DICE has made it clear that we are definitely getting dedicated servers.
Geek September 21, 2015
Gamers who buy 'Star Wars Battlefront' will get a level that depicts the mysterious Battle of Jakku. What happened during this fight that crashed a Star Destroyer? We have the first details.
Geek August 27, 2015
EA's annual football franchise is back with a host of tweaks, improvements and new features. However, not all of them are welcome additions to the gridiron.
Geek August 26, 2015
Electronic Arts is currently looking into bringing all its cool Xbox 360 titles to the EA Access vault via backwards compatibility. This could make the service even more desirable.
Movies/TV Shows August 11, 2015
The game's not out for another three months, but there's one thing that's already very apparent. When playing 'Star Wars Battlefront,' don't ever try to take on Darth Vader.
Geek August 7, 2015
EA Games CEO Andrew Wilson has announced that three new franchises will be released in 2016, as well as a new 'Battlefield' game.
Geek July 31, 2015
This has been a long time coming. EA Games reports that for the first time ever, its digital game downloads have outsold standard disc-based game sales.
Geek July 31, 2015
Mass Effect fans, today is a milestone day. The fourth game in the series is called 'Mass Effect: Andromeda,' and we know when you'll get to play it. Feast your eyes on this dazzling trailer, too.
Geek June 15, 2015
You're going to play 'Star Wars: Battlefront.' We know it, you know it. Want to be outfitted with the best blaster pistol in the galaxy? Han Solo's trusty sidearm (and a few other items) come with the Deluxe Edition of the game.
Geek June 11, 2015
After a long drought of information, EA Games and DICE are finally ready to unveil the next 'Mirror's Edge' game. It's called 'Mirror's Edge: Catalyst,' and we're going to find out more at E3.
Geek June 9, 2015
The storied racing franchise 'Need for Speed' is returning this fall with a complete reboot. Here are the first details and your first look at what it'll be like.
Geek May 21, 2015
Here we go, gamers. 'Star Wars: Battlefront' is coming this November, and here's your first real look at it in action. Don't blink, or you'll miss one gasp-worthy moment after another.
Geek April 17, 2015
'Dragon Age: Inquisition' is free to play for Xbox Live Gold members on the Xbox One for only six hours from March 10 to 16. We doubt six hours is enough time to get players interested in purchasing the game.
Geek March 13, 2015
When-oh-when are we going to get to see some footage from the new 'Star Wars: Battlefront' game, already? EA Games' Peter Moore just showed it off to some GameStop bigwigs. Maybe he'll let us see, too.
Geek March 4, 2015
A new 'Star Wars: Battlefront' game is finally coming, after years of waiting. The big question on our minds: Will it include content from 'The Force Awakens'? A new report claims to have the answer.
Movies/TV Shows February 12, 2015
'Star Wars: Battlefront' fans, rejoice! The wait for a new game just got a little shorter. EA Games has announced that the new, next-gen entry in the series will be ready in time for Christmas 2015.
Geek October 29, 2014
Security firm Netcraft has reported that hackers compromised one of EA Game's servers to host a phishing site that showed a fake Apple login screen. The site worked by posing as a legitimate login screen to trick visitors into submitting their Apple ID and password.
Business Tech March 20, 2014
Feature | Culture


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7 Things You Need to Know About Facebook Instant Articles
Facebook Instant Articles are here, and it feels like a cross between Christmas and a funeral in the media world. Christmas because everyone gets to write a navel-gazing hot take on what this means for the future of the fourth estate; a funeral because many, including some New York Times newsroom vets, are declaring this the time of death for media as we know it.
Let’s cut through the hot takes and break it all down. Here are seven things you need to know about Instant Articles:
1. Nine major American and British publishers are the first guinea pigs, meaning that we have a ready made title for when this story when it gets made into a bad movie: The Facebook 9.
Here they are, organized in a handy graphic, courtesy of Facebook. Americans on top, Europeans on bottom, like in an especially crass cartoon in a 4th of July issue of The New Yorker.
What stands out is the diversity of these brands—the Times, BuzzFeed, and National Geographic have been mentioned in the same sentence more often the past three days than in the previous decade. Nonetheless, it’s easy to see why taking advantage of this opportunity appealed to each one.
2. Facebook made an offer that publishers couldn’t refuse.
This sounds like a cliché, but Facebook made it pretty impossible to say no by making concessions that assuaged just about every concern a publisher could have.
Ad revenue? Facebook is giving publishers 100 percent of the ad revenue if the publisher sells the ads, and is taking only a 30 percent cut if the ads are sold through the Facebook network.
Content exclusivity? Publishers are in complete control of Instant Articles they post, which can also run on the publisher’s own site without issue. In essence, publishers can use Facebook Instant Articles as an alternative platform to deliver a superior experience for their readers coming from Facebook—all without sacrificing ad revenue.
Visibility? C’mon. If you saw how Facebook juiced autoplay videos when they first rolled out, you know that the network will give Instant Articles the royal treatment in the EdgeRank algorithm.
Technical glitches? While article links to publishers’ mobile sites take an average of eight seconds to load, Instant Articles reportedly load much quicker. And the hype videos for Instant Articles make the medium look absolutely gorgeous.
In world where the average attention span is down to eight seconds, faster loading times (up to 10x as fast, according to Facebook) are huge. The agreement probably won’t stay so peachy forever, but it’s easy to see why these publishers jumped on board.
3. Seriously, Instant Articles are freaking gorgeous, and potentially a game-changing mobile reading experience.
Yesterday, Facebook released its hype video for Instant Articles, filled with dramatic music straight out of a Silicon Valley spoof. But wow—they look amazing. Instant Articles come with a suite of easy-to-use multimedia features that we’ve come to associate with premium, expensive longform projects: cinemagraph covers that are like something out of Harry Potter, autoplay videos that load seamlessly with the text, interactive maps that give you a helicopter view of key points in a story, rich photos that you can explore deeper with a tilt or pinch of the phone, the ability to share or comment specific parts of the article, and audio captions that let you hear the voice of the author as you read.
“This is a living page. This is a living, breathing article that is beyond just words,” said Shezad Morani, creative director for NBCNews.com and aspiring mad scientist.
“Being able to watch a video seamlessly—I think it’s actually really refined here and a beautiful experience,” added Summer Anne Burton, editorial director for BuzzFeed Distributed, as the music crescendos.
“It’s really going to solve the problem we’ve had with bringing pictures that work really well in the magazine environment to the phone,” explained John Bennett, editor-in-chief and co-president of The Atlantic.
4. The first Instant Articles are only available on mobile, but they live up to the hype.
Consider me impressed. The first Instant Articles—which you can find on the publishers’ individual pages or on the “Instant Articles” page in the Facebook app—all use Facebook’s technology in inventive ways that suit each publisher’s specific needs:
BuzzFeed’s cover art for “13 Steps to Instantly Improve Your Day” features a sloth climbing on a jungle gym and the goofiest cat you’ve ever seen while instructing you to swipe, scroll, and tilt to interact with videos and pictures of cute animals and newlyweds that’ll put you in a good mood.
The Atlantic‘s first piece, “For the Execution of Clayton Locket,” features a terrifying cinemagraph of a dripping syringe, priming you for a terrifying report on the complications of lethal injection.
National Geographic‘s inaugural effort, “Quest for a Superbee,” is filled with immersive cinemagraphs, videos, photos, and audio narration, creating possibly the most stunning mobile reading experience I’ve ever experienced.
And lastly, leveraging its excellent video team, The New York Times makes great use of autoplay videos to break “A Life in Motion, Stopped Cold,” into five parts.
These first articles are sick and crush everyone’s expectations.
5. Instant Articles will roll out slowly, at least at first.
While the group of publishers with access to Instant Articles is expected to expand quickly, according to the Times, don’t expect the floodgates to open completely. There’s a reason Facebook began the partnership with major news orgs that’ll take advantage of the technology in smart ways–they want the initial rollout to impress. And publishers seem to be keen to publish just a few pieces per week at first.
6. And brands looking to get involved will likely have to start with native advertising.
I don’t see Facebook opening up Instant Articles to brands anytime soon. After all, one of the big selling points here for publishers has to be the ease in creating premium native ad experiences for brands with a built-in distribution mechanism. Instant Article native ads double as an exclusive ad product for these publishers right now, and Facebook wants to keep them happy. They’re likely not going to turn around and give this technology to Uniliver or Virgin Atlantic tomorrow.
“Facebook really understood what would be important to us,” said BuzzFeed president Greg Coleman. “So instead of acting like someone who would dictate, they came to us and asked us what would be great for BuzzFeed.” For example, Coleman said, Facebook will allow BuzzFeed to upload its “sponsored posts” — BuzzFeed stories it creates on behalf of advertisers — into its “Instant Articles” format, and treat it just like any other story from any other publisher.
Also, click here to read 3 ways Facebook Instant Articles will be big for brands in the times to come.
7. But the Trojan Horse potential here is still huge.
Right now, Facebook is playing the part of the good Samaritan as much as possible. “We’re starting with something that we think is going to work for some publishers for some articles and for some business models,” Chris Cox, Facebook’s chief product officer, told the Times. “We’re not trying to go, like, suck in and devour everything.”
But consider this: The Times now receives 14 to 16 percent of its traffic from Facebook, which has doubled from a year ago. If Instant Articles live up to their potential, that figure could skyrocket—eviscerating the Times‘ leverage as it becomes more dependent on the social giant. Very quickly, the terms of engagement could change.
But as of right now, this looks like a great deal for publishers. This isn’t just a Trojan horse; this is a Trojan horse draped in gold chains and being ridden by Beyoncé. Even if you can see the outline of the hatch on the wooden belly, it’s hard not to open the gates.
Comic by Martin Kozlowski
Image by Jeff Chiu


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In a move that could benefit African American-owned radio companies, General Motors has pledged to spend more ad dollars on Black-owned media outlets. The largest American automaker said last week it would allocate 4% of its U.S. advertising budget to Black-owned media companies by next year and double the outlay to 8% by 2025.
The announcement follows pressure by Byron Allen and other Black media moguls who placed full page ads in the Detroit Free Press, the Wall Street Journal and other publications claiming that GM ignored Black-owned media outlets. Allen, owner of 16 broadcast affiliated TV stations, eight cable networks including The Weather Channel and a syndicated production company, earlier sent letters of intent to GM, McDonald’s and other major advertising brands, threatening legal action if they don’t shift at least 2% of their ad budgets to Black-owned media.
The newspaper ad that ran in the Detroit Free Press took the form of an open letter to GM CEO Mary Barra. It claimed the auto giant spends less than 0.5% of its advertising in Black-owned media, even though “African-Americans make up approximately 14% of the population in America and we spend billions buying your vehicles.”
But GM disputed the 0.5% figure putting the current number at 2%, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal. “We are disappointed that Mr. Allen and his fellow signatories resorted to additional paid media advertising to advance a narrative of factual inaccuracies and character assault against our CEO,” GM said.
In a response, Allen said the executives who signed the open letter asked GM for the percentage and the company wouldn’t provide it. “Our best estimate was 0.5%,” he said in an interview.
GM said it would hold a series of meetings with Black-owned media companies during the next few weeks.
After receiving Allen’s original letter, GM responded with a statement in mid-March. “We continue to develop and advance initiatives like the Chevrolet 'Real Talk, Real Change' platform and support projects like 'More than That with Gia Peppers,' where we’ve partnered with the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters on a content series for Black American listeners produced and distributed by underrepresented businesses,” the statement read. “In this same spirit, we will continue to have an open dialogue with Mr. Allen."
Announced in February, the nine-episode audio series “More Than That with Gia Peppers” was developed in collaboration with the ad agency Dentsu and One Solution, the branded solution division of Urban One. The result was a series of 20-minute shows focused on wellness, entertainment and wealth that aired across radio stations owned by Urban One, as well as Spotset Radio Network and American Urban Radio Networks. Each also airs one- or two minute “micro-episodes” to drive tune-in. After each episode airs on radio on Saturdays and Sundays, it is then made available as a podcast.
Allen’s pressure and GM’s pledge come as some agencies and brands are stepping up their efforts to invest in Black-owned media after years of underinvesting in the space. “We began to see more interest in our African American audience, and a shift in major marketers’ mindset towards that audience, with the Black Lives Matter movement and the murder of George Floyd,” Andy Anderson, President of Sales at AURN, told Inside Radio in late January. “Corporate America began to understand the racial injustices and systemic racism African Americans faced in this country, not just in the streets but in all aspects of society, including education, housing, healthcare and corporate representation.”
While there is heightened interest among brands in reaching the 28.9 million African Americans that listen to radio each week, execs say it is only a step toward bringing parity for Black stations.


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According to a press release through the intertubes this morning, Nintendo Australia is claiming 500,000 sales of their Wii console in the territory, officially making the Wii the fastest selling home console to sell through 500,000 units in Australia.
The figures were supplied by independent market research company GfK Australia, confirming that 84 weeks since it launched, Wii has sold more than 500,000 units, making it the fastest selling home console to reach this milestone. Previously, the console that held this record reached it in 107 weeks, which makes Wii 23 weeks faster.
Wii launched in December 2006 in Australia.
The week commencing 6 July was the highest individual week of sell through for Nintendo DS hardware in Australia, with more than 49,000 units sold. This is the largest single week sell through ever, for any console in Australia.
Nintendo DS currently has an install base of more than 1.2 million units, which demonstrates that Nintendo DS continues to be the popular choice for all consumers.


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16 May 2013 10:37 [Source: ICIS news]
TOKYO (ICIS)--Ube Industries is targeting to grow its operating profit by 84% over three years to more than yen (Y) 55bn ($537m) by end-March 2016, the Japanese chemical producer said on Thursday.
The company expects its capital expenditures to total Y140bn over the three-year period, and will prioritize investments in strategic growth businesses such as nylon resins, caprolactam and synthetic rubber businesses, Ube said in a statement.
Under its new management plan, Ube Industries intends to reposition its caprolactam business as a cost-competitive business that supplies a stable source of nylon feedstocks to its customers, the company said.
Towards this end, Ube will terminate caprolactam production at its Sakai factory by the end of March 2014, and will comprehensively restructure costs at the remaining plants including supply chains for feedstock procurement, the producer said.
For the nylon business, the company plans to create added value and expand the business, Ube said.
Ube Industries has plans to increase the ratio of specialty products in its synthetic rubber business to meet steadily growing demand while pursuing further overseas expansion projects following the establishment of the joint venture in Malaysia, Ube added.
By end-March 2012, the company expects an operating profit of Y80bn, it said.
($1 = Y102.34)
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Asian Chemical Connections


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Tarsier Studios’ PS3 exclusive, Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic will be available to download from PSN on March 5th.
That’s according to a Sony Denmark release schedule obtained by VG247 earlier today.
RDKF: FoP was first announced at last year’s E3.
By Mike Bowden
Sometimes we include links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here.


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Washington state issued its first license to produce and process recreational marijuana this week. The grower who received the license says he expects to have marijuana plants ready to harvest within two months, Reuters reports.
The Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) issued the license to Sean Green, who will operate his business under the trade name Kouchlock Productions, the board said in a statement. Green already grows and sells medical marijuana. He has 5,000 square feet of cultivation space, but the new license will allow him to have 21,000 square feet to cultivate recreational-use marijuana.
In November 2012, Colorado and Washington state voted to legalize small amounts of marijuana for recreational use for anyone at least 21 years old. While marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the Justice Department has announced it will allow Colorado and Washington to regulate sales of the drug. The department will focus enforcement on criminal charges in specific areas, such as distribution to minors.
Legal sales of recreational marijuana began in Colorado in early January. Forty stores around the state are now selling recreational marijuana. Colorado already had a system in place for licensing medical marijuana suppliers, the article notes. Those suppliers became the first group of outlets permitted to sell recreational marijuana.
While medical marijuana was already legal in Washington, the state did not have a system to formally regulate its supply and distribution. The WSLCB said it is currently processing more than 2,800 producer license applications.
Read More »


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PROUD TO BE CLEAR
Following the presentation to the European Commission of a joint inter-sectorial framework on ingredients listing and nutrition information
Brussels 14 March 2018. Alcoholic beverage sectors presented this week to the EU Health Commissioner a joint framework to voluntarily list ingredients and nutrition information, hereby opening a crucial phase: implementation by all sectors, not just the brewers.
EU Commissioner for Health & Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis welcomed the fact that the sectors had respected the deadline set by the European Commission for submitting a joint self-regulatory framework on the provision of nutrition information and ingredients listing.
The meeting was also an opportunity for the individual beer, cider, spirits and wine sectors to unveil both to the Commissioner and to each other, their individual annexes explaining how each sector would be moving forward with implementation.
Following the publication of the sector annexes, Pierre-Olivier Bergeron stated: “Brewers are responsible for their own implementation annex and will pursue their work and keep the Commission updated on progress. We fully agree with key stakeholders such as The European Consumer Organisation and the European Alcohol Policy Alliance that any attempt by any sector to dismantle or even dilute the fundamentals of Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 that govern legal, meaningful, fair and satisfactory information to consumers will not be acceptable.”
The Brewers of Europe had already presented the beer commitment to Commissioner Andriukaitis on 28 February, with the Commissioner stating: “I appreciate the rigour and ambition with which The Brewers of Europe and the beer sector have been committed to providing information to consumers. I can only encourage the brewers to continue the good work and to keep me informed on progress.” The Commissioner stated this week that the Commission would carefully analyse both the joint proposal and the individual sector annexes before taking a decision on whether the alcoholic drinks sectors had replied satisfactorily to the Commission’s request to “respond to consumers’ expectations and present within a year of adoption of this report a self-regulatory proposal that would cover the entire sector of alcoholic beverages”.
Note to editors: Launched in the European Parliament in 2012, the European Beer Pledge is a voluntary initiative by brewers across Europe to support EU Member States under the European Union’s Alcohol and Health Forum. The Brewers of Europe, a founding member of the Forum, committed Europe’s brewers to taking concerted and measurable action under three areas of activity, with the first pillar being to increase consumer knowledge of beer and its responsible consumption. In March 2015, The Brewers of Europe announced in Brussels a major voluntary move from brewers across Europe to list ingredients and nutrition information, in line with the legal requirements for all non-alcoholic drinks, including non-alcoholic beer. Read more here.


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One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm has invested $8.95 Mn (approx Rs 61 Cr) into its wholly subsidiary Paytm Entertainment, as per by more than 50% as per company’s filings with Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Paytm Entertainment, the entertainment arm of Paytm deals in ticket booking for movies and other channels has increased its online penetration in India by more than 50%, as claimed by the company.
It is interesting to note that Paytm Entertainment has collaboration with SPI Cinemas which is the owner of landmark companies such as Sathyam Cinemas, Le Rêve, The Cinema, in Chennai, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.
The digital arm of Paytm had entred ticketing segment back in March 2016 in partnership with PVR and today it has its business operations running across 660 cities.
Over the past few years, Paytm has been working in different segments simultaneously to push its market penetration, and its entertainment venture is one such segment that has shown significant growth.
Paytm Entertainment which is largely present in tier 2 cities and beyond competes directly with BookMyshow among other players.
Moreover, a recent report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Indian media industry is expected to grow by double its size to $123 Bn by 2022, recording 11-12% CAGR between 2016 and 2022.


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India is considered one of the potential superpowers of the world. … Before it can be considered a superpower, the country must overcome many economic, social, and political problems and it also needs to be as influential on the international stage when compared to the United States, China and the former Soviet Union.
Is it possible for India to become a superpower?
India’s PPP is expected to reach $43 trillion and surpass the US by 2050 making it the second-largest economy in the world after China. … From a booming high-tech sector to elite educational institutes, India has the potential to become a superpower with rapid digitalisation.
Can India become a superpower by 2050?
Padhi said, “India has the traits of becoming an economic super power by 2050, since it has the young population. India will have 700 million young workers in the next 30 years in the global economy.” “India is the largest democracy that promotes friendship and creativity.
Will India become the most powerful country?
By 2050, India is projected to be the world’s second-largest economy (overtaking the United States) and will account for 15% of the world’s total GDP. The positive outcomes of that growth have already started to make an impact for residents.
Can India become a superpower by 2025?
WHAT KIND OF SUPERPOWER? If India can sustain annual GDP growth of 9-10 percent over the next 15 years, by 2025 it will likely overtake Japan and be the world’s third-largest economy after China and the United States. … In short, how India becomes a superpower will predefine its structure, mindset and behavior.
Is India a powerful country?
China and Russia are the second and third most powerful countries. Next on the list are India, France, and Germany.
The most powerful countries in the world, 2021.
How India can beat China?
India can beat China in low-cost manufacturing if policies allow: Bhargava. India has the capability to become a lower cost producer than China if the industry and the government work together, Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R.C. … “The more the industry can sell, the more jobs will be created in the economy,” he said.
Which country has best future?
The 2021 rankings placed Singapore in fourth ahead of South Korea; while the United States ranked sixth, and Australia seventh.
World’s Most Forward-Thinking Countries, 2021.
Who will be next superpower?
For example, the United States, the largest economy in the world, has a GDP of about $20.5 trillion. The term “global superpowers” first appeared after World War II, applying to the United States and the Soviet Union.
World Superpowers 2021.
|Wallis And Futuna||11,094|
What India gave to world?
20 Important Gifts India Gave The World
- India gave the world its first university – Takshashila University. …
- India gave the world the numeral, Zero. …
- The game of C hess originated in India. …
- Indians were the first ones to use and invent buttons. …
- Shampoo originated from India. …
- India gave the c ure for Leprosy.
What is India’s world rank?
|List||INDIA Ranking/Total Countries||Notes|
|GDP growth rate||37 / 179||2018-19 – 5.024%|
|Nominal GDP||6 / 185||2021 – US$3.050 trillion|
|GDP (PPP)||3 / 189||2021 – US$10.207 trillion|
|Per capita GDP (nominal)||145 / 189||2021 – US$2,191|
Who will be the superpower in 2050?
1. China. What is this? And, to one’s surprise, China will be the most powerful economy in the world in 2050.
What is the future of India in 2025?
The life expectancy at birth will rise from 60 years in 2000 to only 67 years in 2025 for males, and for females, it will rise from 62 years in 2000 to 71 years in 2025. India will have a population of 1403 million by 2025.


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Lamborghini won’t rush a pure electric supercar to market as it doesn’t believe the current battery technology is adequate.
Speaking at the Automotive News Europe Congress this week, Lamborghini Chief Technical Officer Maurizio Reggiani said that no battery currently exists that could fulfill its expectations for a supercar. The Italian automaker says that it would only produce an EV if it could exceed 186 mph and complete three laps of the Nurburgring without the power dipping off or the battery going flat.
“Our target is to deliver a super sports car, and these specifications don’t exist with a battery package in terms of energy and power,” Reggiani said.
The automaker revealed its future vision for an EV supercar late last year with the Terzo Millenio concept (above). The concept introduced new battery technology theories, such as a carbon fiber nanotube body that doubled as the vehicle’s battery pack and supercapacitors that could easily capture and release energy as needed. It was developed in part with MIT and is part of a larger partnership with the university that Lamborghini hopes will result in a battery that meets or exceeds its expectations. Until that happens, Lamborghini won’t be wasting its time and resources on a pure EV.
Battery tech isn’t the only thing holding an electric Lamborghini back. Sound is another major factor, Lamborghini says, and it’s easy to see why. The company is known for its screaming V12s and V10s and it’s just not ready to trade its signature internal combustion engine soundtrack in for silence. Its customers probably aren’t, either, so its decision not to rush an EV supercar to market should sit just fine with its fans.
That doesn’t mean Lamborghini is shunning electricity entirely, though. The automaker is expected to roll out a plug-in hybrid version of its new Urus SUV sometime this year. The plug-in SUV will likely feature a 4.0-liter V8 and electric motor making a minimum of 680 hp and 626 lb-ft of torque – the same setup that appears in the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid. The automaker is also expected to roll out plug-in versions of its mid-engine supercars as well, but it’s not yet clear when they may arrive.
No rush, Lamborghini. You do you, and car enthusiasts will continue to love you for it.
[Source: Automotive News Europe]
Discuss this story on our Lamborghini Forum.


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New Delhi: Expanding its foothold in the 4G mobile phones, Panasonic India Pvt Ltd, a leader in innovation and technology, today unveiled its unibody sleek design smartphone– P77 . P77 is priced at Rs.6990, and will go on sale in India from 20th September’16. The new smartphone comes with 4G and VoLTE support and will be made available in grey and white colour variants.
Featuring a sleek design, the new P77 dual sim has a 5-inch HD display with 720 x 1280 pixel resolution. Powering the handset is a 1 GHz Quad-core Processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. It has 8GB of internal storage which can be further expanded up to 32GB via microSD card.
The smartphone runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop OS. It features 8MP rear camera with LED flash and a 2MP front-facing camera for selfies. Connectivity options include 4G, LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. It is backed by a 2000mAh Lithium Polymer Battery.
Commenting on the launch, Mr. Pankaj Rana, Business Head – Mobility Division, Panasonic India, said, “We continue to focus on all the segments of mobile phones with different price points and value proposition. We are pleased to offer the new P77 with 4G VoLTE technology to our Indian customers at an affordable price of Rs. 6990. With this device, we reassure our commitment to offer better design & quality products to our valued customers.”
He added, “With the new launches, we are looking to gain more than 200% percent growth over corresponding period last year. This year the company expects Rs 600 crore INR sales this festive season. by aggressively expanding distribution network and launching more phone models.”
The phone supports 4G VoLTE, dual SIM with 4G/3G and 2G configuration, Wi-Fi Hot Spot, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth and Global Positioning System (A-GPS). Moreover, it supports FM allowing you to listen to music wherever you go and also comes with a protective screen guard as a free accessory.
The P77 will be available on all Panasonic outlets across the country.
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Cryptocurrency has been around since 2009 when bitcoin was first open-sourced. A recent rally in the price of bitcoin got us wondering if there has been a similar surge in developer interest in bitcoin. This article uses our directory data to look at the growth of APIs in this space.
Coinbase announced the launch of Rosetta. Rosetta is an open source specification and set of associated tools that helps developers integrate blockchain into the applications and systems. Since its founding, Coinbase has preached the need for openness, and Rosetta is the next logical step.
Bits of Gold is a leading cryptocurrency exchange in Israel. Although cryptocurrency adoption in Israel continues to lag behind the rest of the world, Bits of Gold believes that an API that allows customers to pay in cryptocurrency and merchants to receive the value in dollars or Shekels will help.


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"It's not our job to cover politics, purely," ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro said.
Microsoft has released Windows 10 build 17741 from the RS5 branch. The changes include a desktop pin for the Your Phone app.
At the same time, the University of Akron will open world's largest student e-sports space.
Judge in Manafort fraud and tax case says threats led to his protection by U.S. Marshals.
Amazon working on DVR that competes with TiVo, and would allow streaming to its Fire devices and smartphones.
GUEST: Many parents are concerned with their child’s seemingly obsessive video game play. Fortnite, the most recent gaming phenomenon, has taken the world by storm and has parents asking whether th...


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The NVIDIA RTX 3050 for desktops is coming soon but will come in two distinct flavors.
VideoCardz reports that the upcoming entry-level/mid-range Turing graphics cards will be coming in two variants: a 4GB and an 8GB model, as per renowned industry leaker @kopite7kimi.
Here is the tweet, which apparently reveals the actual die numbers that will be used for each model:
As you can see, the 8GB version will feature a GA106-150 die, while the 4GB version will have the GA106-140 die. If you're well-aware of NVIDIA's products, you'll recognize that the GA106 die is the same one you can find in the RTX 3060 non-Ti and the mobile RTX 3050 Ti in laptops.
With this information, one can assume that the NVIDIA RTX 3050 desktop cards will be far below the performance of the RTX 3070 (which features a GA107 die).
Both cards will also come with a relatively slow 128-bit memory bus (a tell-tale sign of an entry-level product) and are reportedly scheduled to be launched by January 2022.
However, this information is far different from what kopite7kimi shared in the past. Back in November 2020, the leaker alleged that the desktop 3050 would have a GA107-300 die.
Nevertheless, the rumored entry-level Turing card will likely go head-to-head in the market with Intel's upcoming ARC graphics cards.
According to Tom's Guide, a desktop version of the 3050 would likely come out during the same time period as Intel's Alchemist GPUs-all of which will reportedly start with lower-end SKUs before moving on to higher-end ones.
This is already far different from NVIDIA and AMD's usual strategy over the past few years, which saw the companies release high-end parts before low-end ones.
As you should know by now, there's a global GPU shortage going on. That's old news already. So, would an 8GB and 4GB RTX 3050 even make it to the hands of actual gamers, instead of scalpers and miners?
According to NVIDIA, the answer is yes. Company chief financial officer Colette Kress made this rather bold statement at the UBS Global TMT Virtual Conference, which was held last December 6th. There, Kress claimed that Team Green is "doing everything it can to procure supply," something they plan to do until Q4 2022.
Kress further stated that while demand remains high (and still outweighs global supply), channel inventories are reported as "very lean."
But a lot of people are still not confident enough with this proclamation. That's because even after over a year of being on the market, the RTX 3000 series is still largely out of stock and out of reach for most in terms of street pricing.
A quick look at current eBay prices says it all. Almost every single RTX 3000 card is overpriced to oblivion. Markups range from two to even three times the graphics cards' original MSRPs, and that's because of one thing: there's not enough to go around despite high demand.
Only time will tell if these planned desktop RTX 3050s will hold out in terms of supply.


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New York authorities have confiscated over $1 billion worth of counterfeit designer goods, marking the largest seizure in US history, BBC reported.
Approximately 219,000 fake luxury items, including handbags and shoes, were taken from a Manhattan storage locker. Two men, Adama Sow and Abdulai Jalloh, have been charged with trafficking these goods and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. The US Attorney’s Office revealed that the duo operated large-scale counterfeit operations from January to October of the current year. Photos depict rooms filled with knock-off products, with an estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price exceeding $1 billion.
Law enforcement seized over 83,000 counterfeit items from Adama Sow’s premises, valued at over $502 million, while Abdulai Jalloh’s location yielded over 50,000 counterfeit items worth more than $237 million. This bust follows a previous NYPD operation in September, where $35 million worth of counterfeit goods was seized, and 18 individuals were arrested in Lower Manhattan, a known hub for counterfeit goods vendors. New York Police Commissioner Edward A Caban emphasized that counterfeit trafficking harms legitimate businesses, governments, and consumers.


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A new wave of depreciation of the ruble led to an increase in prices for household appliances and electronics. Depending on the type of device, prices have risen in the range of 4 to 10%. In addition to the ruble exchange rate, limited supply and shortages in some categories of goods put pressure on prices, market participants interviewed by Kommersant say.
The rise in prices affects any equipment with imported components - or if it is, in principle, imported from abroad. For example, the Chinese equipment Hisense has officially increased in price by 8% since April 12, as the company officially announced. The Gorenje brand, which is part of it, notified counterparties that the prices for the equipment of the line will increase by 5%. The companies attribute the need to raise prices to "a significant increase in the cost of raw materials." Chinese Midea (brands Midea, Toshiba and Comfee) is taking similar measures.
Oleksiy Pogudalov, commercial director of Holodilnik.ru, said he was familiar with letters from Chinese companies, and noted that he received similar notifications about a year ago against the backdrop of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. He explains that the real reason for the rise in prices is the collapse of the ruble: all transactions with suppliers and counterparties are still concluded in "hard currency" - dollars and euros, so the rise in prices cannot be avoided. According to his estimates, selling prices for goods will rise within the same limits as purchase prices, that is, within 10%. Representatives of the F + tech-Marvel Group of Companies note that since the beginning of the year, prices have already grown by 10%, and the main reason is the collapse of the ruble.
“Now this is the only factor that affects the market, there have been no logistical and regulatory changes,” says a representative of F + tech-Marvel, noting that stores with large stocks of goods in warehouses can afford to keep prices down for some time.
True, the price increase “within 10%” declared by market representatives is not found in popular networks - it is much higher, the newspaper notes. For example, the Samsung TV in the M.Video network increased in price from 64.9 thousand rubles and a discount of 5 thousand rubles to 74.9 thousand, the Realme TV from 23.9 thousand rubles to 26.9 thousand, and the Gorenje refrigerator — from 41.9 thousand to 53.9 thousand. The company explained to the publication that this is “not a price increase, but the completion of promotions.”
Anton Guskov, representative of the association of trading companies and manufacturers of electrical household and computer equipment RATEK (includes the M.Video-Eldorado, DNS, Samsung, etc. groups of companies), notes that further price prospects will directly depend on the dynamics of the ruble exchange rate. If the foreign currency continues to rise, then consumers should expect further price increases, a decline can only be expected if the Russian currency strengthens for a long time.
The Russian ruble experienced another wave of decline, which lasted about three months. If in mid-January the US dollar could be bought for 67-68 rubles, then at the moment the exchange rate exceeds 81 rubles. The Russian currency sank by 20%. Other currencies also showed dynamics: the euro rose from 73 rubles to 90, and the Chinese yuan - from 9.9 rubles to 11.8.


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Here are the latest news and press releases about The Clan Hotel, Singapore.
22 February 2021
The newest hotel in the heart of Singapore’s city-centre is now open for bookings.Learn More
16 October 2019
Slated to launch in Q2 2020, The Clan Hotel’s first property in Singapore is a modern luxury hotel with a nostalgic story to tell.Learn More
Sign up for an extra 15% off your stay.


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Health-conscious consumers have been waiting for their day to reach a critical mass, and their wait may be over: For the first time in the history of recorded pre-packaged loaf sales, wheat bread has out-performed white in the U.S. Bestselling breads like Nature’s Own, Nature’s Pride and Arnold stuck to certain trends that helped them bolster up healthiness: a steady promotion of the bread’s “whole grain” or “natural” quality and visible grains on the product.
Health advocates may be cheering the win, but the move towards healthier consumption has been slowly gaining speed this year. Hostess, for example, saw the writing on the wall when it had its Wonder Bread brand relaunch the iconic “good ball players” marketing campaign this year with a healthy twist to fit modern consumers. After all, with everyone making so much of a big deal about the health benefits of wheat, it can be easy to forget that the fiber content, vitamin D and calcium in Wonder Bread’s “Smartwhite” bread means it’s actually good for you!
Here’s a teenage girl doing that pose that teenage girls often do, according to Hostess:
The latest data shows Hostess’ Wonder bread sales are down 5 percent to $220 million for the year.
Why wheat is winning
Wheat bread and white bread both come into the world as innocent wheat berries containing the nutrient-rich outer layers known as the bran, the innermost area or germ, and the endosperm in between:
Once processing comes into play, nutritional innocence can be lost: Wheat bread producers keep all nutrients intact, while those out for white bread only use the endosperm. The end result: white bread ends up losing a ton of fiber and other essentials. Even when white bread is enriched (like Wonder Bread), the refining of the flour drains the food of the most nutritious parts of the grain.
Wheat may be riding a sales high, but white is still ahead in volume. And both are subject to the impact of a global rise in wheat prices due to Russia’s supply shortage.
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FreightCar America Inc. (NASDAQ: RAIL) stock gained by 12.06% at last close contrary to which the RAIL stock price has been seen declining by 1.99% in the after-hours trading session given no recent update available. FreightCar America deals with railroad freight car manufacturing and also provides railcar components and rents freight cars through its FreightCar America Leasing Company subsidiary.
Recent Past Development
Q1 Financial Results
FreightCar America has announced its first-quarter 2021 financial results on May 17, 2021. Given below is the summary:
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- For the first quarter of 2021, consolidated revenues were $32.4 million, relative to $60.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 and $5.2 million in the first quarter of 2020. In the first quarter of 2021, RAIL has delivered 309 railcars, compared to 477 railcars in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 11 railcars in the first quarter of 2020.
- The first quarter of 2021 had a combined operating loss of $14.0 million, relative to a loss of $9.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 and a loss of $17.1 million in Q1 2020.
- The Q1 of 2021 had a net loss of $38.4 million, or $1.92 per share, relative to $14.6 million, or $0.87 per share, in the Q4 of 2020 and $17.2 million, or $1.29 per share, in the Q1 of 2020.
- For the first quarter of 2021, the adjusted EBITDA loss was $1.3 million. The fourth quarter of 2020 had a positive Adjusted EBITDA of $1.7 million, while the first quarter had an Adjusted EBITDA loss of $12.9 million.
Jim Meyer, President, and CEO of FreightCar America stated:
FreightCar America is already reaping the advantages of relocating their manufacturing operations to Castaos, as evidenced by increased year-over-year results and a second quarter of good gross margin. RAIL is also seeing signs of increased momentum throughout the end markets they serve. The RAIL management believes that this momentum will carry over to FreightCar’s business, with sales enquiries and new order activity exceeding their expectations. As a result, they’ve increased their 2021 delivery forecast to between 1,600 and 1,750 railcars, up from their previous estimate of 1,400 to 1,600 railcars. RAIL is ecstatic with what they’ve done at FreightCar in the last 6–12 months, and they believe the leverage they’ve gained from their recent operations and cost structure will help them thrive in a strengthening market.


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Lone Star Overnight Announces Expansion Plans for 5 States Parcel delivery company to launch service in Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, […]
Lone Star Overnight Bucks Trend, Begins Delivery of Vaping Products in Texas Leading Southwest parcel delivery company offers services industry […]
LSO Announces Saturday Parcel Delivery Service Saturday is now a normal residential delivery day in advance of peak season 2021 […]
Lone Star Overnight (LSO) Sold to WeDo Logistics Regional parcel delivery fueled by e-commerce growth continues to skyrocket PRESS RELEASE UPDATED: […]
LSO / Lone Star Overnight Announces Annual General Rate Increase (GRI), Effective Jan. 1, 2021 LSO / Lone Star Overnight, […]
Lone Star Overnight Continues to Consistently Exceed 98% On-Time Service Reliability as E-Commerce Package Volumes Surge During COVID-19 LSO/Lone Star […]
BRINGG, LSO’s new phone enabled delivery technology, ensures the safety of both delivery drivers and customers when a signature is required on a package.
LSO has just given customers one more good reason to choose us for your specialized shipping needs. Once again,LSO is doing what it does best… offering customers a brand new service that goes over and above what other logistics carriers like UPS and FedEx are willing to do.
Once the buying decision is made, consumers want fast and accurate delivery.
Ecommerce has revolutionized the business of shipping and receiving. Today, customers expect everything faster. Choosing your shipping partner is incredibly important, because research shows that the delivery experience that the customer has actually affects how they feel about your brand.


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Bang Bang Games selects Yggdrasil’s YG Masters Program
13 July 2020
(PRESS RELEASE) -- The emerging games studio Bang Bang Games is the latest partner to join Yggdrasil’s YG Masters program, selecting the GATI technology as a key enabler for its global market and business strategy.
Yggdrasil’s rapidly growing YG Masters program enables best in class independent studios to design, develop and distribute content using Yggdrasil’s proven technology and global distribution network.
Bang Bang will have access to GATI, Yggdrasil’s preconfigured, regulation-ready development toolkit, which enables studios and game developers to use a standardized technology solution to design and distribute games anywhere in the world. This means YG Masters partners can crucially accelerate global reach and find new ways to increase revenues, all using one standardized interface.
Bang Bang was founded earlier this year by a team with a wealth of experience behind them. The studio aims to produce games with mechanics that are easy to understand but hard to put down. By joining the YG Masters program, Bang Bang will be able to focus on delivering premium games, while Yggdrasil provides support around compliance, distribution, and commercialization.
Stuart McCarthy, Head of Partner Strategy and Sourcing at Yggdrasil, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Bang Bang Games to the YG Masters family. We have been keeping an eye on Bang Bang for some time now and have been impressed with the team and the game mechanics they are developing. It’s going to be very exciting to see the Bang Bang team carve their place in the industry using our unique GATI technology as a go-to market, and business strategy enabler.”
Frank McPolin, Managing Director of Bang Bang Games, said: “Yggdrasil is at the forefront of innovation, and we are very excited to enter into this partnership which will allow us to accelerate our global portfolio reach using Yggdrasil’s standardized GATI technology as key enabler.
“We have been big fans of Yggdrasil for many years, and knowing that prominent, high caliber studios are already part of the YG Masters program, puts us in great company. We are confident we can bring something different to the Yggdrasil distribution network and can’t wait to start showing the world what we’re made of!”


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Instant Offices Articles
Why workplace diversity is still a challenge today
The drive for businesses to make positive changes around inclusion and diversity in the workplace is now more important than it ever was before. To encourage businesses to take stand against discrimination and drive forward a progressive future, global workplace providers, Instant Offices have gathered and analysed data into what diversity and inclusion looks like around the world.
The rise of smart cities around the world
As cities around the world are set to transform into ‘smart cities’, John Williams, Head of Marketing at Instant Offices, looks into what smart workplace trends are emerging from these innovation hubs. The National League of Cities (NLC) has analysed how technological advances in smart cities could potentially impact jobs and skills, showing which jobs that are set to grow between now and 2026 are most likely to be automated.
AI in 2019: Is the future chat bots?
From devices in our homes, such as Google Home and Amazon Echo, to mobile apps like Cortana, AI has already made its way into our daily lives. The workplace is no exception and AI has already helped businesses make better use of data and streamline processes. While AI can make our lives easier, John Williams, Head of Marketing at Instant Offices predicts we are bound to encounter it more in the future, and it may impact jobs.
AI in Business: 2019 Trends and Predictions
AI is already being implemented in businesses around the world, and while worries persist over whether robots will be taking over the workplace, some are predicting that it will actually improve and even create jobs in the future. From devices in our homes to mobile apps, AI has already made its way into our daily lives. The workplace is no exception and AI has already helped businesses make better use of data and streamline processes.


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Reduce petrol price pain with these fuel-efficient driving hacks
Spend less time and money at the bowser with these top tips for fuel-efficient driving.
With recent drone strikes on Saudi Arabian oil facilities reportedly disrupting about half the kingdom’s oil supply – or about five per cent of the global oil supply – there are fears that fuel prices in coming weeks could spike by 10 cents a litre or as much as 20 cents a litre.
In practical terms, an increase from $1.20 to $1.60 such as Melbourne experienced in October 2018 – when the price for 91 RON, or standard unleaded petrol, spiked to $1.67 per litre – would mean the owner of a mid-size car or SUV with a 60-litre tank could be shelling out as much as an extra $24 per fill. If you travel 500 to 600 kilometres weekly, you might need to find an additional $1250 a year.
But there are some significant, sustainable measures you can take to rein in your fuel bill. The type of car you drive, the time of day you commute, your driving style, and when and where you fuel up all may have a significant effect.


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Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry announced that it will replace Intel and AMD chips with domestically-produced micro processor Baikal in a project worth dozens of millions of dollars,.
The Baikal micro processor will be designed by a unit of T-Platforms, a producer of supercomputers, next year, with support from state defence conglomerate Rostec and co-financing by state-run technological giant Rosnano.
The first products will be Baikal M and M/S chips, designed on the basis of 64-bit nucleus Cortex A-57 made by UK company ARM, with frequency of 2GHz for personal computers and micro servers.
The Baikal chips will be installed on computers of government bodies and in state-run firms, which purchase some 700,000 personal computers annually worth $500 million and 300,000 servers worth $800 million. The total volume of the market amounts to about five million devices worth $3.5 billion.
Russia has been unhappy with Intel and AMD since the US government’s spying programme was revealed and routers from Cisco were found to have been intercepted and installed with bugs.
The US tech industry is terrified that the other governments will follow suit in response to American spying programmes.


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Five PS4 Games We Can’t Wait For in 2017
Game of the year lists are rolling in but it’s already time to start thinking about what we’re most looking forward to in 2017. Last year saw new entries in some of the biggest franchises in gaming and this year looks to be no different. With so many great games on the horizon, it’s easier to break it down by console so we’re just focusing on the PS4 for this post. These are a few of the games that we can’t wait to get our hands on in 2017.
Several of 2017’s biggest games are actually holdovers from 2016. Among them is Persona 5, which is already out in Japan. The game was initially due out in the West in November 2016, but multiple delays in localization pushed the date all the way back to this April. The early videos look terrific and Persona 5 is promising to be one of the best RPGs of the year. It has been eight years in the making and promises to be the biggest entry in the series yet.
Mass Effect: Andromeda
Fans have been eagerly looking forward to a new game in this franchise since the release of Mass Effect 3 in 2012, and now we’re only a few months away from saving the galaxy once again. Andromeda is the latest entry in the popular sci-fi RPG series from BioWare, but this game boasts a new adventure in an unexplored galaxy featuring heroes and alien races we’ve never seen before. The release date was recently announced, and Mass Effect: Andromeda will be available March 21, 2017 in North America (and internationally on March 23).
It’s been a while since there’s been a truly great Spider-Man game, and the upcoming title from Insomniac could be what we’ve been waiting for. There was a movie tie-in for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014, but since then fans of the web-slinger have had limited options. One of the few Spider-Man games you could find in recent years came in the form of an online slot reel included next to a number of online games based on popular comics. The slot is a fun distraction that lets players test their luck with the wall-crawler and even features a bonus round where you track down Venom, but it’s a far cry from the big game we’ve all wanted. Insomniac’s open-world action game will feature a brand-new story and a detailed version of New York City for fans to explore. There’s still no confirmed release date, but Spider-Man is expected some time toward the end of the year.
Horizon Zero Dawn
We’ve been looking forward to this one for a while, and the title from Guerrilla Games will finally be here at the end of February. The action role-playing game from the makers of the Killzone series takes players to an open-world, post-apocalyptic landscape overrun by robot beasts. You’ll be forced to hunt and hack your way through the world while fighting for survival, and early looks have been positively gorgeous. It’s also supposed to be designed to take full advantage of the extra power of the PS4 Pro. Horizon Zero Dawn is due out February 28 in the U.S. and March 1 in Europe.
2016 was the first year since 2009 that we didn’t see the release of a major Assassin’s Creed game. There are no promises that we’ll actually get a new game in 2017, but early reports are looking good. The latest game in Ubisoft’s flagship series is rumored to take gamers back to ancient Egypt. It will be easily the farthest the game has gone back in time, and we can’t wait to see the end result for this title. At the very least, it should help us take our minds off the disappointing movie.


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Samsung and Huawei were competing to be the first company to launch a smartphone that left out the notch and included a punch hole display to place its selfie camera. The surprise was that one hour before the launch of the Samsung Galaxy A8s, we saw the arrival of the Honor View 20 teased.
The Honor View 10 has become the first smartphone with a punch hole in its screen. It has been shown off before the Galaxy A8s and the Huawei Nova 4. This must’ve come as a surprise to many, but the good news doesn’t stop there. This new device will come with a 48MP rear camera and a 4.5mm hole in its display to place the selfie camera. It will also include Huawei’s Kirin 980 processor and a new feature called Link Turbo that will allow simultaneous downloading using Wi-Fi and 4G. The device will be properly launched on December 26 in Beijing. It will then arrive in Europe and more countries by the end of January 2019.