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The tablet supposedly will have a folding screen Help 13-inch, and is scheduled to be available in the markets during the first half of next year.
According to reports coming from South Korea, the Department of the screens in the LG works in conjunction with Lenovo to produce a tablet with a foldable area 13-inch, where LG will split the screen in when will Lenovo manufactures the device.
Convey site ETNews sources described the battle that the two companies have signed a non-disclosure agreement was the project formally, with LG Display to provide OLED screens folding to Lenovo to put the device through the first half of 2019.
While appeared over the past few months a lot of reports that talk about the intention of Samsung, Huawei and Microsoft to ask smart phones folding, this report from LG and Lenovo is the first of its kind especially to talk here about the tablet space by 13-inch folding from the Middle, not a smart phone it’s 8 inches max.
What do you think of this idea? Do you expect the success of this kind of tablets? We shared your perspective in the comments.
The Post report: LG and Lenovo working on a tablet with a foldable has been published first in are.


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Marks & Spencer criticises government decision on new Marble Arch store
Marks & Spencer has criticised the decision by Secretary of State Michael Gove to hold a public enquiry on the proposed redevelopment of its Marble Arch store on London’s Oxford Street.
The retailer had been hoping to demolish the art deco site and replace it with a larger 10-story retail and office block. The plans had already received the support of Westminster Council.
Following the decision, Sacha Berendji, group property, store development and technology director at M&S, said: “After two years of working with Westminster City Council, the GLA and the local business and resident community which has supported the development at every stage, we are bewildered and disappointed at Michael Gove’s baseless decision to call in the proposed redevelopment of our Marble Arch site.
“The Secretary of State has blocked the only retail-led regeneration in the whole of Oxford Street in a building which was refused listed status due to its low design quality and, while safe, cannot be modernised through refitting as its three separate buildings containing asbestos. Twenty percent of units on Oxford Street lay vacant and the Secretary of State appears to prefer a proliferation of stores hawking counterfeit goods to a gold-standard retail-led regeneration of the nation’s favourite high street.”
M&S said the new building would offer significant sustainability advantages over a refurbishment and, on completion, would be be amongst the top 10% performing buildings in London.
Berendji added: “All the while this political grandstanding goes on we cannot get on with creating a better place to shop for our customers, a better place to work for our colleagues, and a better public realm for the community in a store that would use less than a quarter of the energy required by the existing buildings.
“For a government purportedly focussed on the levelling up agenda, calling in this significant investment in one of our most iconic shopping locations will have a chilling affect for regeneration programmes across the country at a time when many town centres are being left behind and the property market is ever more precarious.”
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Apple’s recently introduced audio streaming system AirPlay could become a top 10 consumer electronic product, research group iSuppli suggests.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs showed AirPlay at an event on 1 September. AirPlay can stream audio wireless or over Ethernet to third-party speaker docks, A/V receivers and speakers.
It goes beyond transmitting video from the iPad to the AppleTV and iSuppli reckons it can span across the entire audio industry.
Apple established a partnership with BridgeCo to implement AirPlay. BridgeCo is supported by a growing ecosystem of design partners, allowing rapid incorporation of AirPlay into numerous consumer electronic products.
“AirPlay represents another effort by Apple to stake a leadership position in the burgeoning connected home market,” said Jordan Selburn, lead analyst of consumer electronics for iSuppli.
“The technology leverages Apple’s dominant position in the MP3/PMP player market.
“With AirPlay, the iPad, iPod and iPhone can be the servers for a home filled with music — and music distribution via iTunes,” said Selburn.
iSuppli believes that networked audio is gaining momentum and internet radio is increasing demand for audio that can be accessed seamlessly around the home.
This seamlessness is somewhat of an issue, however, which iSuppli believes AirPlay can fix.
“Addressing the seamless connection of audio is the area where AirPlay has the potential to be a truly disruptive force in the market, potentially turning it into a top 10 consumer electronics segment with unit volumes perhaps even comparable to televisions,” Selburn said.


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By Joann Santiago
Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the government’s bid to tap the tourism sector as a major growth driver of the economy will receive a boost through further cooperation with China.
He said Chinese tourists numbers to over 60 million globally to date and this is projected to reach about 100 million by 2015.
“We’d like to have cooperation in tourism. We’d like to get a good share of that 100 million tourists coming out of China to go to the Philippines,” he said.
Purisima disclosed that Chinese tourists are in the second spot among foreign visitors of the Philippines as of last January behind Korea surpassing those from other neighbouring countries.
“This augers well for Philippine tourism,” he stressed.
The Finance chief also said a major hotel group from China has partnered with a local company to put up about 28 hotels around the country.


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The tuition industry here is a multi-million-dollar one. This is evident when you see more tuition centres and education providers taking up retail space in malls.
So is the shopping centre in danger of becoming one giant tuition centre?
A check of 73 malls across Singapore showed that most of them have at least one education centre located in their premises.
Some of them have as many as 17 education centres. Most of these malls are in the heartland or the outskirts of town.
Some shopping centres are starting to restrict the number of education centres while some have welcomed them.
WE CAN'T TAKE MORE
The United Square mall says its quota for education centres has been met. Located in Thomson Road, it positioned itself as a "kids' learning mall" more than 10 years ago.
Today, it is home to 12 education centres, including big names like The Learning Lab, Lorna Whiston Study Centre and Hua Language Centre. Mr Hauw Kheng Lip, deputy general manager (marketing), UOL Group Limited, which owns the mall, told The New Paper: "We continue to receive a healthy stream of inquiries from education/ enrichment centres although our quota for education/enrichment centres currently has already been met." The Grandstand mall at Turf Club


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It’s the summer season in Pakistan and clothing brands have launched their lawn collection. Each one is coming with creative advertisements to promote their products. Sometimes, the brands also send across a specific message through their ads. These messages can either be inspirational or can go absolutely wrong on so many levels. One such ad surfaced on social media that appeared to be promoting inclusive transport in Pakistan. The company’s name is Generation and it is a popular luxury brand for traditional women clothing. In the ad, some women appeared to be joyfully riding a bicycle in traditional summer lawn clothing. Cycling is the most common sport in summer but in Pakistan it is not very popular due to improper infrastructure. One cannot assume if the Generation lawn ad promotes cycling while leaving few questions unanswered.
How Can Generation Lawn Ad Promote Inclusive Transport?
Most of the population in Pakistan faces involuntary transport disadvantages that adds to the already growing social inequity. Some countries have developed the proper traffic management system while others remained extremely behind such as Pakistan. It may have welcomed a variety of vehicles but failed to create a viable infrastructure that could preserve the environment from these machines.
Even the generation lawn ad failed to address this issue in a message that seemed to promoting cycling. The ad showed a scenic location where there was no traffic but a bunch of girls riding a bicycle in Generations’ collection of new summer lawn. The ad highlighted the clothing designs perfectly but failed to address the issue of cycling in Pakistan.
The women cyclists seem to be riding on an empty road in a prairie and boreal area, which does not imply inclusive transport. It also did not seem that the brand wanted to promote the solution for transport disadvantages in Pakistan. Alternatively, it could have shown a busy road, which would have been the accurate representation of diverse Pakistani traffic.
Growing Advocacy For Cycling In Pakistan
The reality of traffic in Pakistan is largely different from the location in the advertisement. The reason why Pakistan needs cycling is to reduce man-made carbon footprint on Earth. The air pollution from various type of vehicles continue to damage the conservative environment of Pakistan. Yet, there is a little action for providing suitable infrastructure for riding bikes instead of just focusing on heavy traffic. Engine-based vehicles continue to grow while light transport faces increasing disadvantages. Moreover, the pollution not only rests with air, water, soil, or noise, it also includes the character of people. Some are judgmental and offensive towards women drivers while others derail those on cycle. Generation lawn ad did a good job of combing these two elements and showing women cyclists. It just did not get the message across except the brand’s fresh summer lawn collection.
Its discrimination for a particular group of people, who are left out of transport planning based on their gender or social standing. Despite what the ad infers, the Pakistani transport system is less inclusive when it come to considering all social classes and genders.
Purpose Of Promotion By Luxury Brands
The idea to promote cycling in the urban setting is a great way to spread awareness about environment friendly modes of transport. In addition, it can be inclusive at the same time to close the transport disadvantages of industrialization. In that sense, the brand has failed to encourage the use of cycle as a green and healthy way of transport for both the environment and the person. It is just like other luxury clothing brands who have made similar mistake of ignoring detail in their ads.
Last year another luxury brand made an ad where teachers dressed in branded lawn were teaching in government schools. It is also far from reality as people criticized it for not being inclusive of all social classes. Salaries are relatively less in government schools, which is why it was hard for the public to accept that ad as serious. Same is the case with generation lawn ad.


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Campeonato Brasileiro Série A champions for two of the last three seasons (2016 and 2018) Palmeiras dropped their 2019 home and away kits from new technical sponsor PUMA to kick off the new year.
PUMA Brasil launched the new Palmeiras kits via a video called “Verde é a cor da inveja” (Green is the color of envy) featuring rapper Rincon Sapiência and other Palmeiras players like Simoninha, Jayme Matarazzo, Gui Araújo, Maju Mazalli and Luana Maluf.
The PUMA campaign was created to celebrate one of the club’s greatest characteristics: the passion of its fans and players. The concept of the film underscores the pride of the Palmeiras fan who, according to PUMA’s vision, is a family with unique characteristics, extremely engaged, and which wants a club that is increasingly successful.
PUMA says that the campaign marks a new era, where the green color no longer symbolizes hope and arouses the feeling of envy in rivals. “The entire PUMA and Palmeiras partnership launch campaign was designed to underscore the team’s pride in the color green, which is almost the property of Palmeiras,” says Fabio Kadow, Marketing Director of PUMA Brasil.
“It’s the beginning of a new moment. We entered into this partnership with a club that is a multi-champion, with a rich history and also shows itself as a team of the future, with modernity and professionalism.”
The Palmeiras 2019 PUMA home and away kits will be worn for the first time by the club’s Under-20 team during this month’s Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior. The move is in recognition of the success that Palmeiras youth sides have had in recent times.
The Palmeiras men’s senior team will debut their 2019 home uniform on January 13th duirung a friendly honoring former Verdão (Big Green), Brazil, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich player Zé Roberto.


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According to the information, Huawei has recently disclosed an invention patent for ” a method for calling a vehicle, the smart card, and a device “, the publication number is CN112997126A, and the application date is December 2020.
The patent abstract shows that the embodiments of this application can be applied to smart cars and smart connected cars. Through the solution provided by this application, the user can call the vehicle through body movements, improve the user’s experience of using the vehicle, and avoid opening the door forcefully in a narrow space, causing the door to collide with the surrounding wall/vehicle when it is opened, thereby avoiding the problem bring property damage and other problems.
Huawei is currently vigorously researching and developing car-machine systems and has applied for a number of smart car-related patents, such as “traffic light detection methods and devices”, “safe speed determination methods”, and “wireless charging parking spaces.
Huawei’s HarmonyOS-A smart cockpit operating system will be installed in vehicles this year. Based on the HarmonyOS car-machine system, Huawei has launched in-depth cooperation with more than 80 hardware and software partners.


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Meritor has expanded its aftermarket distribution center in Edmonton, Alberta.
Meritor says the 35,000-sq.-ft. center now stocks a full line of Meritor and Euclid drivetrain and undercarriage products, and expects the center to improve service and delivery time to its western Canada customers. Doug Jamieson, site manager, says the expanded product availability could reduce lead times by as much as 70 percent for some products.
“Our expanded center in Edmonton enables us to consolidate and expedite a customer’s order for Meritor and Euclid parts into one shipment for faster delivery,” says Jamieson.
Customers in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan were previously served through Meritor’s Brampton, Ontario, distribution center.
The expanded Edmonton facility also is said to complement Meritor Logistics, the company’s new third-party multiple logistic services. Meritor says it launched this aftermarket-based, third-party multiple logistics service to improve distribution activities, packaging capabilities and remanufacturing techniques within a given country or an entire continent.


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In the early 1980s, Indian IT service companies helped start the first technology revolution in India by providing IT services to companies in the United States and other parts of the world. Over the years many IT companies established offices in India including Cisco which is in its 20th year in the country, beginning a significant collaboration between the technology industry in India and the US. Today the Indian IT services industry is a $118 billion industry and India is home to 5,000-plus companies and 750-plus MNCs, according to Nasscom. It’s a momentous occasion to have Prime Minister Modi host President Obama as the chief guest at our 66th Republic Day parade, underlining a defining partnership between two great democracies and two of the largest economies in the world.
India and the United States can strongly benefit from a growing partnership in trade and investments. Be it IT-enabled services from Indian companies that support some of the biggest companies in the US to products from India that are used in US industries such as healthcare, there is an increasing flow of Indian goods and services to the US. Some of India’s biggest industries use US goods and services from India’s railways to its financial institutions.
Over the last 30 years, India’s first technology revolution has been a tremendous success. Three million direct jobs and 9.5 million indirect jobs have been created in India through this technology revolution and a wave of entrepreneurialism has been unleashed. India is now home to the world’s third largest startup ecosystem. In 2014 India received the third highest venture capital funding among countries and Bengaluru was fifth in cities globally that received the most funding.
The US technology industry, in particular, Silicon Valley continues to have a deep relationship with India. Just like with companies in the US, technology is providing millions of entrepreneurs and thousands of companies in India with opportunities to address unmet needs and overcome problems. Think about the millions of man-hours saved with close to half of all reserved train tickets booked online. Look at how companies like Flipkart are bringing modern retail to smaller cities in the country by creating reliable supply chains and innovative payment models.
In 1995 less than 1% of the world’s population was connected on the Internet. Today 40% of the world is connected and India is adding an average of 5 million Internet users a month. We believe that we have the opportunity for a second technology revolution in India. Through the government’s Digital India programme, infrastructure will be offered as a utility to every citizen, governance and services will be on demand and citizens will be digitally empowered.
India is home to the world’s largest talent pool: 4.7 million graduates and postgraduates according to Nasscom. Imagine what happens when entrepreneurs and companies start to better address unmet needs and challenges in the country. There is a huge opportunity for India and the US to partner as companies embrace the Internet of Everything, cloud computing and mobile services to digitise industries and help enable a Digital India.
India has a huge opportunity to create innovative solutions for a Digital India that could be adopted globally. Think about India’s famous jugaad culture of working that has increasingly become a part of management thinking and innovation through which problems are solved. Last week the Oxford Dictionary announced that it had added the word, ‘Jugaad’ to the English language capturing the essence of creativity and innovation that Indians can bring to solve problems.
Over the next 30 years we’ll see everything become connected—people, process, data and things. We will see companies digitise and the country digitise: street lights, parking spaces, kiosks, sensor-based water defences and smart energy grid services. The Digital India vision holds the potential for a second technology revolution in India where everything—and everyone—can be connected.
As Prime Minister Modi and President Obama said in an open editorial piece last year, the promise of a better tomorrow is the central premise of the defining partnership, between India and the US, for the 21st century.
By Dinesh Malkani
The author is president, Cisco India & SAARC


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Here are the encryption stories that we’re looking at this week. In this edition, read about encryption challenges for IoT, European Union backlash against backdoors and the ripple effect of the ShadowHammer attack.
Imagine buying a home-security camera with the capability to punch through firewalls and share your data with millions of other connected devices, peer-to-peer. Imagine your baby monitor connected to a worldwide network of other shared devices all homing in to the same Chinese based manufacturing mothership. Imagine the outdated code is replete with stale vulnerabilities that expose it to remote compromise from any P2-peer that can connect.
For a nominal fee, you can buy an unencrypted IoT device requiring zero authentication and fully functional with the scan of a barcode. The only thing more ear-catching than that is finding out how many have already been sold. Read the full article.
The Right to Remain Private: Europe Resists Encryption Backdoors
Taking a page from Australia’s book, the FBI is pushing to have near-unlimited access to consumer and corporate encrypted communications, chasing cybercrime down its own dark alleys. “It can’t be a sustainable end state for there to be an entirely unfettered space that’s utterly beyond law enforcement for criminals to hide,” argues FBI director Christopher Wray at RSA last month. While intended to shine a light, privacy advocates fear government mandated encryption backdoors will backfire, becoming state-sanctioned snooping on one of the last free frontiers of privately-encoded messaging.
Kaspersky confirmed that at least six other firms fell victim to what is now seen as a trojan attack. ShadowHammer struck a blow to ASUS earlier this year as the malware took down its systems from the inside, hidden in its machines in a wide-sweeping supply-chain attack. While unfortunate, the fact that several Asian gaming corporations got similarly “pwned” adds some consolation to the Taiwanese electronics giant.


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Kraft Heinz Co. shares fell 14.5% in early Thursday trading after the food company released preliminary first-half results, indicating a steep earnings decline and more than $1.2 billion in impairment charges.
The company also announced that it would not meet the deadline for filing its 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
For the second quarter, the company had EPS of 37 cents, down from 62 cents a year ago. Adjusted EPS came to 78 cents, ahead of the current FactSet consensus of 75 cents. Sales fell to $6.406 billion from $6.690 billion, below the $6.564 billion FactSet consensus.
“The level of decline we experienced in the first half of this year is nothing we should find acceptable moving forward,” said Kraft Heinz Chief Executive Miguel Patricio in a statement. Patricio stepped into the CEO role on July 1, succeeding Bernardo Hees.
In February, Kraft Heinz shares plummeted to a record low after the company announced that it had received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission about its accounting policies, reported dismal fourth-quarter earnings, slashed its dividend, and took a $15.4 billion impairment charge related to the valuation of a number of businesses, including the Kraft and Oscar Meyer brands.
The impairment charge was one of the largest in history.
Kraft Heinz announced on May 6 that it will restate its financial statements in its 2016 and 2017 annual reports, and for each quarterly period for the first nine months of 2019. Last month, the company filed its annual report, with Alex Behring, the company’s board chairman, saying the company was “returning to a path of normalization.”
This morning, the news was far from normal. The company said in an 8-K filing that a preliminary first-quarter financial statement includes an estimated $620 million non-cash impairment loss in sales general and administrative expenses (SG&A) related to the EMEA East, Brazil and Latin America Exports reporting units. Changes in management structure and revised expectations for the coming year were among the factors that led to the “triggering event.”
The second quarter includes non-cash impairment losses of $124 million for SG&A related to goodwill, and non-cash impairment losses of about $474 million related to “indefinite-lived intangible assets” related to six brands including Miracle Whip, Velveeta and Lunchables.
“These amounts reflect our best estimate of the losses at this time; however, we continue to evaluate the amount of the impairments and execute and test certain internal controls associated with the assessment,” the filing said.
Kraft Heinz stock, which was down nearly 11% in afternoon trading, is down more than 54.4% for the last year while the S&P 500 index


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Do you speak human?
The Spark12th May 2017
The Spark newsletter is our fortnightly roundup of the latest innovation trends. To sign-up, click the register link in the footer of this page.
At the beginning of this month, Swedish furniture company IKEA took its first steps into the Artificial Intelligence (AI) space by launching its ‘Do you speak human’ campaign. IKEA’s innovation lab, Space10, embarked on research asking consumers what purpose they think AI has in the home. Questions included “should AI fulfil your needs before you ask?” and “what gender should your AI be?”. The overall results proved that consumers want AI to be in tune with all their wants and desires, as well as reflecting their values and reacting to emotion.
The aim is to decipher how society views AI before the company undertakes further moves to immerse themselves in the ever growing market. With a recent report in The Harvard Business Review stating that 64% of people said they are happy to trade privacy for personalisation, is IKEA on to a winner by gathering data about what consumers want to get out of AI?
By looking at the concerns and considerations of potential consumers, the company can ensure they create products that suit the needs of individual customers and enhance their day-to-day lives. The thing with AI is the more information you can feed it, the smarter it becomes. Although the research has been described as light-hearted, it still signals that AI is coming and brands need to respect that there are tremendous possibilities in the sector, to create better experiences for customers through personalisation and rich data – understanding who the customer is and what they need.
The company already sells furniture with built in wireless charging and has tapped into augmented reality to allow customers to preview its furniture, so personalised AI may not be too far away.


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In an unusual move, Ford Motor Co. is phasing out its current 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine after just four model years.
Ford said today it is replacing the engine with a new 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder early next year beginning with the redesigned 2015 Edge. The current engine, which debuted in the 2011 Edge, will be gradually replaced in other vehicles.
The last engine in a Ford vehicle with such a short life was the 3.9-liter V-8 in the retro-styled 2002-05 Thunderbird.
Most engines have a life span of at least 10 years.
Scott Makowski, chief engineer for Ford’s large inline four-cylinder engines, said rapid improvements in engine technology led to the demise of the current 2.0, which has the highest production of Ford’s EcoBoost engine family.
The current 2.0 is offered in at least a dozen vehicles globally, such as Fusion, Focus ST, Edge, Escape, Explorer, Taurus, Lincoln MKZ and MKC in the North America, the Ford Falcon in Australia, and European cars such as the Mondeo and S-Max people mover.
The new 2.0 shares almost no parts with the current engine. It will deliver a better combination of fuel economy and power, Makowski said.
EcoBoost engines -- which feature direct fuel injection, turbocharging and variable cam timing -- have been criticized for delivering either power or fuel economy, but not both, in larger vehicles such as the Explorer and Edge.


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- Market Loop
- Daily business and finance update 5th January 2024
Daily business and finance update 5th January 2024
BT overcharging claims
Good morning. Today we're talking about allegations of BT overcharging, Big Tech’s big earnings and a Chinese property giant in trouble.
BT overcharging claims
Over 3m BT customers, many from elderly and low-income households, are seeking up to £400 each in a £1.3bn class action lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that the telecoms giant, overcharged them for landline services. Spearheaded by a former Ofcom executive, the lawsuit accuses BT of exploiting its market dominance to impose "excessive" charges on landline users. This follows a 2017 Ofcom investigation that concluded people relying solely on landlines received "poor value for money.” If successful, the lawsuit could result in significant payouts for affected customers and potentially force BT to reform its pricing practices. The company denies the allegations, claiming their bills are accurate and compliant.
Tech firms surge
Apple, Amazon and Meta released their latest financials with all three beating analyst revenue expectations. Amazon posted a huge $170bn revenue for the last three months of 2023. The news came after the ecommerce giant abandoned a planned $1.4bn acquisition of the robot vacuum cleaner company iRobot amid European opposition to the deal. Meta announced it will pay out its first-ever dividend to shareholders, sending its valuation past $1.2tr. Apple reported a revenue increase for the first time in a year and launched the Vision Pro mixed-reality device. Apple, however, also revealed a 13% sales decline in China amid local competition with Huawei.
Property giant collapses
China’s Evergrande, which owes $300bn, has been ordered to wind-up by a Hong Kong court. The debt-burdened real estate firm, which defaulted in 2021, has become a symbol of the property bust in China, which has so many homes sitting vacant that an ex-official admitted even its population of 1.4bn could not fill them. Now, investors around the world will be watching the liquidation process to see how foreign investors fare as a test of how China’s system treats international businesses. Trading in Evergrande shares was suspended after the stock tumbled 21%.
Happy birthday: Facebook turns 20, how the social media giant changed the world.
Cutting back: PayPal says it will cut another 2,500 jobs, or 9% of its global workforce, a year after making a similar move.
Retail revival: The co-founder and boss of Superdry is hoping to buy back the struggling fashion brand as it considers store closures after a slump in sales.
Number of the Day
The value of the Tesla boss Elon Musk’s compensation package that has been rejected by a judge.
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Protesters gathered at the turn off to Walmart from Hwy. 1 in south Iowa City yesterday. They held signs to passing motorists and got many approving thumbs up and honks. One young man told one protester to go back to Russia. He was informed Russia does not allow protests.
They began with an informational protest in front of the store. Police then had them move. When they stood near the car wash on the same lot, the owner of the car wash had the police move them. The protesters then positioned themselves at the entrance and the police sat in a squad car in the Walmart parking lot.
Thank you to those who joined in to make the Black Friday protest against Walmart’s wage and benefit policy a success. Remember that Walmart is using multiple government tax breaks and using government subsidies to keep their workers going. In other words we are paying Walmart a lot of money to come in and drive our small businesses out.
Walmart is plenty rich enough to pay their workers living wages and decent benefits.


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The month of July has not been kind to Apple. First the Cupertino-base electronic giant reported a revenue of $35.02 billion dollars and net income of $8.82 billion dollars for the fiscal third quarter of 2012, numbers that were well beyond the same period last year. Yet, they both failed to meet stock analysts’ lofty expectation. Then, its chief rival Samsung announced a record fiscal quarter of $41.79 billion dollars, with a vast majority of profit coming from its smartphone sales, not to mention its new Galaxy S III Android phone broke the 10 million units mark in global sales. Perhaps these are the reasons behind Apple’s decision for a major product announcement on Wednesday, September 12th, nearly a month earlier than the last major product release. While no one can be sure about the exact nature of the event. Given the momentum over leaked images and technical specification over the last few months, its almost for certain the event will be about the new iPhone.
Images via: Martin Hajek


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(VitalNews.org) – A Justice Department lawyer pressed an executive for Google during a trial this week about the search engine’s alleged techniques for pushing up advertising prices unfairly.
In a landmark antitrust trial in the nation’s capital, the United States is suing Google on accusations of creating a monopoly on searching the internet and advertising. While testifying on Wednesday, an executive for Google, Adam Juda, said that the company employs a specific formula to decide the auction winners for ad space.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) accused the company of manipulating auctions online using formulas that favor Google’s bottom line. Online auctions are a multibillion-dollar industry that the tech company dominates. DOJ attorney David Dahlquist pressed Juda by asking him if he agreed with statements made in a document prepared by Google for the European Union. The document stated that Google can “directly affect pricing” by tuning its “auction mechanisms.” Juda replied that he disagreed.
Dahlquist then asked if “tuning” could impact ad pricing, which Juda confirmed. The Google executive started his testimony on Tuesday, which continued into the following day. He said one thing the company can tune is a formula that determines an ad’s long-term value based on a given bid, how many people might click it, the ad’s quality, and the website the ad leads to.
Jada was then asked if Google made any changes to the sales in any way that could raise how much is made per click, which Jada said sounds accurate. One of Google’s lawyers then asked him if any methods existed for his ad quality-control team to unilaterally raise prices. Juda replied, “No.”
Advertisers and website developers have long criticized Google for lacking transparency about how ad space is auctioned off, and many have accused the company of siphoning off massive amounts of revenue. Before hearing testimony on advertising, the case reviewed Google’s multi-billion dollar effort to make sure their search engine is the default application on smartphones and mobile devices.
Copyright 2023, VitalNews.org


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Sunset Park small businesses are negatively impacted by new COVID-19 regulation
In trying to save lives, new COVID-19 regulations are hurting many Brooklyn residents’ livelihoods.
The new restrictions enforced in areas where COVID-19 has seen an uptick is costing business owners, especially in Sunset Park.
Sunset Park is in an orange zone meaning nonessential businesses have had to close once again.
However, even the businesses that can open, like restaurants, are being affected.
“It's going to be devastating. People cannot eat outside in the winter, so we're trying to do the best we could to cover outside to have space but in this way we're not going to survive,” says Jose Diaz, restaurant owner.
Restaurants in orange zones can't offer indoor dining like eateries in other parts of the city and personal care services are completely closed.
David Estrada with the Sunset Park BID says there needs to be a better solution other than shutting down small businesses.
“If they operate with social distancing and proper cleaning protocols are not the source of increased COVID and so the city should adjust accordingly because these guys are going to go out of business,” says Estrada.
He tells News 12 for many businesses owners, English isn't there first language and the rapid changes in restrictions have left many confused.
“I had to personally go to over 30 personal care businesses up and down this avenue and tell them for the very first time that they'd heard it that they needed to lock their doors,” says Estrada.
He says the new rules are hurting businesses struggling to pay their rent and keep their employees.
He recommends seeking help through the BID or organizations like the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.
Estrada says he's afraid many small businesses will never reopen if their forced to stay closed for much longer.


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This is BMW's revised 7 Series, which is expected to go on sale in late 2008 or early 2009.
Caught by our photographer undergoing testing in southern France, it is clear that the car borrows heavily on the 6 Series' styling.
Sources say that BMW is eager to make the new car more understated than the current model, emphasising the elegance of the car with an unfussy design.
Inside, the car is expected to feature an updated version of BMW's iDrive, which controls the car's navigation and entertainment functions. The system has caused controversy since it was launched because many owners find it too complicated to use.
Unconfirmed rumours also suggest the car will have an eight-speed automatic gearbox in order to maximise fuel efficiency.


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Car companies betting big on small cars to drive sales in small towns, villages
So, why are Indian auto companies going all out on entry-level cars? Well, there is definite reason.
According to Gaurav Vangaal, senior analyst for forecasting at IHS Markit, India is set to surpass Japan to become the largest market for the entry or A segment cars, accounting for 30 per cent of global production.
But at just 17.3 per cent of market share, hatchbacks have long lost their dominance in India’s car market. So, why the flurry of new small cars? Because carmakers are planning to ride to Bharat, and sell entry level cars — the sub- Rs 6 lakh category — to millions of Indians outside Tier 1 and 2 cities where per capita auto ownership is still vanishingly small. And where the fact that India’s small cars are among the cheapest in the world will be a big marketing plus.
Hyundai is relying on Young Key Koo to do the Santro encore. Two decades ago, he was Hyundai’s local sales head, and the tallboy, as Santro was known as, drove right into Maruti Suzuki’s then monopoly in the small car segment. He’s now the chaebol’s MD, and he knows it’s a tough act to follow.
Eon, Hyundai’s last attempt to crack the entry car segment, had failed to excite the market. As Young says, “The industry has seen a paradigm shift with rising competition and market fragmentation… from a seller’s market it’s become a buyer’s one.”
The trick for the new small cars will be to find and persuade the new buyers. The typical city car buyer has moved on. Carmakers like Ford, GM, Toyota, VW and Honda have attempted to offer an entry car, but failed and decided to either exit the space, or positioned their offerings at higher prices, thereby fetching low returns on the products.
Nano from Tata Motors was seen as a game changer, but it failed on quality and brand perception as “cheap”. Datsun Go and Redi-Go. Or from Renault’s Kwid, that created but couldn’t sustain consumer interest.
Some of these failures were due to change in consumer behaviour and spending power. Easy access to finance, rising disposable incomes and more choices in higher priced segments meant many first-time car buyers skipped the entry car option and move straight to a premium hatchback, sedan or even lower priced options in SUVs.
More than 50 per cent of Hyundai Elite i20 or Maruti Suzuki Swift or Baleno are the first-time car buyers. Even for mid-size segment cars like the Honda City or Hyundai Creta, almost one-fifth of their buyers are first timers.
Plus used car market has made the transition into a bigger car easier, says Avik Chattopadhyay of Expereal. And of course, shared mobility platforms like Uber and Ola impacted the second car buying decision in families.
So, therefore entry level cars have to target Bharat. Data is clear on this. Top 10 cities have remained flat in the entry car segment over the last few years, the next 10 cities have grown by 4 per cent , whereas the next 20 cities have seen a growth of 5-6 per cent .
For Bharat, distribution is the key. Maruti Suzuki dominates the mini car segment because of its reach and penetration, and the lack of that Renault’s efforts to sustain the sales momentum for Kwid.
No wonder Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava said that entry level cars would never go away. His company has nearly 80 per cent of the market. In the last decade, Maruti Suzuki’s network has covered 350,000 of India’s 640,000 villages. From a sales contribution of 4 per cent of total vehicle sales in 2007-08, the rural sales today account for almost a third of company’s total sales.
Mayank Pareek, president at the passenger vehicle division at Tata Motors, says the entry level car will remain critical for the company’s future, even as price points move up.
“That is the first interaction a customer has with a brand and you don’t want to let go of him or her once he or she is in touch with the brand,” he added.
Alluding to Renault Kwid’s falling volumes, VG Ramakrishanan, MD at consultancy firm Avanteum Advisors says, it just not about products, you need a complete package in terms of distribution reach, economies of scale and low cost of ownership to succeed.
Not surprising that there is a renewed push from Renault on expanding into new markets to get incremental sales.
Rakesh Srivastava, former director of Hyundai says only a few manufactures have the capability to produce such cars that meet emission, safety and technology standards and that is purely due to the economies of scale they enjoy, the rest will always struggle.
Vehicle makers say the mini-car or entry segment has become more of a hinterland play. If the top10 cities have remained flat in the entry car segment over the last few years, the next 10 cities have grown by 4%, whereas the next 20 cities have seen a growth of 5-6% underlining where the growth pockets are.
The biggest backbone for Maruti Suzuki’s mini-car segment dominance has been its reach and penetration and these are precise reasons which have hurt Renault to sustain the sales momentum for Kwid.
According to industry sources, less than 20% of cars are sold in major metropolitan cities are entry cars. It is the smaller towns and villages, where there is still traction for entry cars, hence Maruti continues to get that traction.
Car makers expect strong demand from semi urban and rural parts of the country with the first-time buyers, switching from two-wheeler to four-wheeler. These first time car buyers contribute approx. 48% to the overall industry and 70% in the entry level segments.
“The demand from Tier 3 markets constitutes to around 32% of the overall industry and hence will be the key driver of growth for this segment , said Koo of Hyundai.
“The entry car buyer is risk averse especially in the interiors and hence Nano failed to excite them. They want a sense of assurance on service and cost of running,” said an executive requesting anonymity
Jagdish Khattar, former managing director of Maruti Suzuki says priority and focus by manufacturer also makes a difference.
“When running at full capacity, Maruti would prefer manufacturing a Swift or a Baleno which have a huge waiting period; as here the dealer gets a commission and doesn’t need to give a discount. And in the case of say an Alto the dealer and the manufacturer gives a discount for every sale,” he added.


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Mercedes-AMG is celebrating its second straight Formula One World Championship with a special edition hot hatch based on the A45 AMG.
The Mercedes-AMG Petronas 2015 World Champion Edition is available in three shades of gray or silver offset by teal and black accents inspired by the Silver Arrows livery. The aero kit is also upgraded with a new front splitter and rear roof spoiler. Inside, it comes standard with sports seats in leather and microfiber, and both Mercedes‘ Night and Dynamic Plus packages are standard. There’s also special trim and and badging, and it all runs on unique 19-inch wheels.
The 2.0-liter turbo four carries over with 381 horsepower, as introduced in the recently upgraded A45. That’s more muscle than even the Focus RS, but unlike the Ford, this Mercedes isn’t offered stateside. Here we have to suffice with the GLA45 crossover and CLA45 sedan, which pack the same engine, but different body styles.
The 65,402.40-euro ($69,216.34) asking price may seem like a lot for an A-Class, but it’s considerably more accessible than the special-edition SL63 roadsters with which the German team celebrated last year. This is the second year running that Mercedes took both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships in F1, with Lewis Hamilton re-crowned champion and Nico Rosberg coming in second. Out of 18 rounds already held, Mercedes won 15, with one race still to go. If it wins this weekend in Abu Dhabi, it will match its run from last year, when it took 16 out of 19 grand prix victories.


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In the next few days an important event for Volkswagen, the presentation of a new generation of Volkswagen Tiguan will occur. They’ll be busy days, many innovations that will be present at the Frankfurt Motor Show. To be heating up the atmosphere, Volkswagen just anticipate this of image new 2016 Volkswagen Tiguan off the production line, conveniently covered by a tarp. We know that aesthetically not going to experience a radical change from the Tiguan we knew so far, but that the changes expected definitely be more important than those who appreciate its façade.
The new Volkswagen Tiguan premiere platform, the famous MQB that came into use with the latest generation of the Volkswagen Golf. We know that will be quite lighter, discussing some unofficially it could save up to 100 kilograms. We know it could grow slightly, it will be more practical, modern and efficient, rather than obvious progress on a generational change like this. And we know that enjoy a seven-seat version , with a third row of seats. Another important step forward for this model.
Before the presentation and we have seen some pictures of the new Volkswagen Tiguan 2016 , much clearer, luckily, that the output of the first unit of Wolfsburg and covered by a tarp. Carscoop gave us some first spy pictures of the new Tiguan hunted during the filming of a promotional video for his debut.


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Revisions to the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards took effect June 17 with several major changes for California employers, including the requirement to make COVID-19 testing available at no cost during paid time to employees in qualifying situations.
Support the CDA Foundation while snagging your favorite deals on Amazon Prime Day, June 21-22, by shopping through AmazonSmile. Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible purchases to the CDA Foundation at no extra cost.
CDA members are asking how the state’s reopening will apply to dental practices. Get answers to questions about physical distancing, patient screening, the use of face coverings and other requirements that will continue in health care settings after June 15.
As California moves forward with reopening the economy and lifting the statewide mask mandate for fully vaccinated individuals on June 15, dental practice owners should be prepared to communicate to patients that face coverings will still be required in the dental office.


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Centrica and E.ON sign deals, pledging to increase adoption of carbon-saving technology
Two of the UK's biggest energy companies, British Gas and E.ON, have expressed increased interest in combined heat and power (CHP) generators, signing deals designed to accelerate widespread adoption of...
Current plans fall short of 2030 targets, official European Commission assessment warns
The breadth of SDG8's pursuit of sustainable economic growth presents businesses with a major challenge
Swiss carbon capture pioneers launch online shop where individuals can buy carbon dioxide removal service to offset emissions
The way to deliver a just transition to net zero is through public borrowing, argues Dr Matthew Lockwood of the University of Sussex


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Narrow your search
Hacktivist group says 14GB of data includes evidence that Bank of America engaged in an effort to "spy and collect information on private citizens."
Bank of America's service lets vendors use smartphones to swipe customers' credit cards. BofA is charging vendors 2.7 percent per purchase, just a hair below Square's rate.
Customers of HSBC, Bank of America, and Washington Mutual suffer highest rates of identity theft in the banking industry, according to report by a UC Berkeley Law School researcher.
Some loathe Google's test to see whether it's better to hide the gory details of Web addresses by default. But that move could actually be a sensible shift.
The company says the committee will "carefully evaluate" the proposal to see if it's a superior offer to the one delivered by Japan-based SoftBank.
The fake Google+ page puts the bank in a bad light and raises questions about Google's controls for creating G+ business pages.
If it seems like you're seeing more mobile payment options around town, you're not imagining things. Mobile devices from Square and Intuit are more prevalent than ever.
Let's just say that opinion on the streaming-video provider is all over the map. Today, shares fell after an analyst downgrade and concerns over Amazon's spending on video -- a sharp reversal from last week.
Professional-networking company, which will begin trading tomorrow on the New York Stock Exchange, will have a $4.5 billion valuation.
The largest bank in the United States has officially ignored the second most popular Web browser--until recently.


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Technology giant Google’s payment app ‘Tez’ which was launched in India on Monday faced(more than two, but not a lot of) issues on the first day of its launch. The app which was rated 3.2 by users on its review page, had problems like login issues and (checking for truth/proving true)phone numbers. Users also claimed that they couldn’t link their bank accounts with the app.
The payment app will use NPCI’s (National Payments Corporation of India) Unified Payments Interface (UPI), allowing users to make payments, and send or receive money. The app is currently available only on Google Play Store and iOS App Store.
The UPI platform allows Tez users to make payments directly from one bank account to another across 55 banks.
Under the app’s ‘upcoming features’ are payments through debit and credit cards, and reminders for recurring bills such as DTH. Contemporaries include the BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app as well as Flipkart’s payment service PhonePe.
The app, built specifically for India, requires users to have an Indian bank account, and local phone number. The app offers language support for English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu.
Speaking at the event, Caesar Sengupta, Vice President, Next Billion Users, was reported to have said,…


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Today is Black Friday and retail stores aren’t the only ones offering massive discounts for you to get your holiday shopping started with a bang– app developers are also using this as an excuse to offer deals on iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps.
I wanted to highlight a few of these sales for you but first, here a few links for you to check out now and bookmark since they can be used at any time to find the biggest deals–when developers lose their minds and make their paid apps completely free:
You just bookmarked those links, right? Also, don’t forget about our Wish List feature so you can mark those apps you want to buy when they go on sale. Our Wish List feature can automatically notify you by email when this happens (or you can get a push notification through our official AppShopper app for iPhone and iPad).
Navigation apps are often the most expensive ones in the App Store because of the map data they requires (getting and updating map data for the millions of miles of roads in countries around the world is not a cheap endeavor) but many of the big name brands in this category have reduced app prices this weekend. TomTom has knocked $20 off of many of its offerings and Garmin/Navigon has gone big by knocking 50% off its iPhone apps for today only.
Here are links where you can find all apps for each respective developer in a single list so you can more easily find the location you need:
If you’ll be documenting your holiday adventures with friends and family photographically, there is no shortage of camera apps for the iPhone and iPad and several popular ones are on sale today and this weekend. Hipstamatic is now 50% off, and both Blux Camera and ProCamera are currently down to $.99 from their regular price of $2.99,
While any time off from work you have during the holidays will probably be spent with friends and family, you’ll probably have some time to kill (or need to escape from said friends and family) here and there and games are a perfect way to while away those minutes. Chair Entertainment has reduced the prices of both Infinity Blade and Infinity Blade II by 50% while Electronic Arts has knocked down a boatload of its games to just $.99 (click here for a full list of all of EA’s offerings).
For an extensive list of sales going on now among the biggest iOS game developers, see this article over at TouchArcade.
We hope you’re recovering well from any tryptophan-induced lethargy triggered by Thanksgiving turkey consumption and that any holiday shopping you’re doing this weekend is safe and filled with the best bargains!


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Navarre car show adds craft fair
The 15th annual Navarre Car, Truck & Bike Show is expanding this year to include, shall we say, a softer side.
“This year we have added a craft Fair to give the event a more family fun flavor,” said James Seever, who is coordinating the show for the Pirates on the Panhandle. “This not only gives those who aren't that crazy about cars — which is hard to believe — something to do while the motor-heads pour over the displays, but also helps to support local businesses.”
The show is set for Navarre High School from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. Food is being offered by the Knights of Columbus, and a DJ will provide entertainment.
“Since it is an annual event, we have many folks that return year after year, so the show continues to grow,” Seever said. “The (car, truck and bike) show brings in vehicles from all over the Northwest Florida and Alabama areas, and is open to all types from street rods to antiques to custom cars, as well as motorcycles and trucks of all styles.”
The show includes 35 classes for cars and trucks, including many for classic show cars like Mustangs, Corvettes and Camaros, along with classes for certain production years. It also includes two classes for motorcycles, foreign and domestic.
There are also five “best of” trophies.
“More than 100 vehicles are expected to attend,” Seever said. “Vehicles are professionally judged in five categories, with trophies awarded to the first and second places. Special awards are given to the best exterior, best interior, best chassis, best engine and, of course, best of show.”
A good crowd of crafters is expected, as well.
“We are expecting upwards of 30 vendors,” he said. “Currently, we have have booths selling everything from jewelry and clothes to makeup and massage therapy. All are welcome, and we believe this will also become a popular annual event.”
Preregistration for the vehicle show is $25. Onsite registration is $30.
Craft vendors pay $30 for a 10-foot square booth area.
Judging for the vehicle show starts at 12:30 p.m. with awards presented at 4 p.m.
The show is sponsored by the Navarre Area Board of Realtors, Preston Hood Chevrolet and others. A portion of proceeds from the show go to Navarre High School sports programs and charities supported by the Pirates on the Panhandle social club.
Over the years, the event has raised more than $11,000 for charity. Seever expects to raise about $1,000 this year.
Want to go?
• WHAT: 15th annual Navarre Car, Truck & Bike Show and Craft Fair.
• WHEN: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
• WHERE: Navarre High School, 8600 High School Blvd., Navarre.
• ADMISSION: Free.
• DETAILS: www.navarrecarandbikeshow.com.


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[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/03/23/what-gotham-knights-delay-might-mean-for-rocksteadys-suicide-squad-unlocked-487″] One of 2021’s ..
WB Games Montreal has revealed that, while Gotham Knights will have a similar feel to the Batman Arkham games, the combat has been “entirely redesigned” ..
WB Games Montréal has explained a little more about the different combat styles of its four heroes, Red Hood, Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl.In a previous interview ..
Gotham Knights, WB Games Montreal’s game set in a brand new Batman game universe, came with a nicely explanatory gameplay trailer – but we still had a lot of questions ..
Special guest “Lord Cognito” from the Iron Lords Podcast joins us to discuss our reactions to the DC FanDome reveals of Gotham Knights and Rocksteady’s ..
WB Games Montreal says it chose to have Gotham Knights begin with a dead Batman in order to take away “any certainty, any feeling of safety” in its world.Speaking ..
After years of teases, rumors, and speculation, Batman: Arkham Origins studio WB Games Montreal has finally revealed its next game — and, unsurprisingly, the dark ..
WB announced Gotham Knights, the new Batman game from Batman: Arkham Origins dev WB Games Montreal, and promised a new take on the Batman universe, as players won’t ..
At DC FanDome, WB Montreal showed off the first gameplay footage from its newly revealed Gotham Knights focusing on Batgirl taking on Mister Freeze. Here’s ..


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Royston Gateway: Aldi and M&S Foodhall could open next year
- Credit: Archant
The development of Aldi and an M&S Foodhall in Royston could be completed next year.
Planning permission was granted by North Herts District Council for the development between York Way and the A505 at the end of September 2017, and the view of the building work now in progress can be seen along the A505 between the McDonald’s and Tesco roundabouts.
An Aldi spokeswoman said: “Construction work at our new Royston store is progressing well. We hope to open the store next year and will keep the community updated on developments.”
And a spokeswoman for M&S said: “We’re looking forward to bringing a new Marks & Spencer Foodhall to Royston and we will update the community as plans for the store progress.”
The 30-acre site was originally given planning permission for one food store in 2014 part of the multi-million pound Royston Gateway project.
When revised planning permission was granted for the two stores last year, district councillor David Barnard, then chairman of NHDC’s planning control committee, said: “The proposal for the Royston Gateway offers significant benefits for the residents of Royston and the users of its industrial area.
“Not only does it represent a significant investment for Royston, it is a diversified retail offering which is well supported by Royston Town Council and the residents of Royston.”
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Plans state that M&S and Aldi stores would share 170 parking bays, including 10 spaces for Blue Badge holders, and the medium-sized M&S Foodhall would also incorporate a customer café.
There will also be new junction for the A505 and a new link road to Orchard Road Industrial Estate.


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Tejaswini Pandit has been winning hearts with her acting skills since her first film Aga Bai Arrecha. Apart from being a part of some hit films, Tejaswini Pandit also owns her own clothing line along with a friend Abhidnya Bhave called "Tejadnya". Tejaswini Pandit is pretty active on social media and is known to put her fun and bubbly side out. Recently though, the actor wrote an open criticism letter to all the brands and designers who have been copying the designs of her brand and have been selling it at cheaper rates.
Taking up the issue to Instagram, Tejaswini Pandit shared a bunch of her designs and wrote a long caption along with it. She wrote that as a proud owner of a brand who is always striving to give its customers unique ideas for being associated with a fashion brand, it breaks her heart to see her designs being copied.
She added that they work on these designs for weeks, months or maybe years and when others copy it left right and centre, it makes her furious. Tejaswini Pandit further wrote that designing is not as easy as taking a screenshot of the uniqueness of a brand and selling it at a cheaper rate with cheaper quality of clothes.
She also wrote that there is no harm to be inspired by their brand, but copying and pasting the same design under a page proves people are spineless and shameless. She also reminded people that copying their designs and selling it at cheaper rates it utter exploitation.
Further addressing her fans and followers, she said that she had remained silent for a long time and had ignored things, but people took more advantage of it. She urged people to report all designs on such pages and also asked them not to fall for cheaper clothes. She also added that cheaper rates mean cheap fabric and cheap finishing.
On the work front, Tejaswini Pandit was last seen in the web series Samantar, along with actor Swwapnil Joshi. The series released on MX player and received many praises for her performance.
Get the latest entertainment news from India & around the world. Now follow your favourite television celebs and telly updates. Republic World is your one-stop destination for trending Bollywood news. Tune in today to stay updated with all the latest news and headlines from the world of entertainment.


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Telegram is rolling out a new update for iOS
Telegram is launching its new update for iOS on the occasion of New Year.
In this update, Telegram has launched many new features like drawing and text tools.
Today we are going to talk about the new update of Telegram for iOS.
In this update, hidden media when sharing images, zero storage usage tweaks have been improved.
Apart from this, replace profile photos for contacts, new / more interactive emoji, and more have also been added.
Also, its media editor has been completely redesigned.
Telegram has launched this update on the Apple Store.
The complete details of this new update of Telegram have been mentioned on the Apple Store.


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Emails reveal Apple's desperation to prevent Netflix ditching in-app purchases
It is well known that Apple charges a 30 percent commission on in-app purchases (IAP) per its App Store policy. Now, within the Epic Games-Apple lawsuit documentation, 9to5Mac spotted interesting internal Apple emails showing that the company was trying hard to convince Netflix to not abandon IAPs. Although Netflix eventually removed IAPs, the emails show that Apple isn't impartial to all developers.
In December 2018, Netflix had stopped allowing new users to sign up for a subscription using its app for iPhones. 9to5Mac reports that the recently-revealed internal email thread began in February 2018 when Apple learned that Netflix planned to conduct an A/B test regarding the use of the App Store's IAP system. The email thread reportedly ran until April 2018.
In the opening email, Apple's director of App Store business management Carson Oliver wrote that a higher than usual number of people using the company's IAP system were ending their Netflix subscriptions than on other platforms. In the email, Oliver also warned Apple might take "punitive measures" responding to Netflix's A/B test such as "pulling all global featuring during the test period".
After Netflix proceeded with the test, Apple drafted a presentation in July 2018 to convince the streaming giant to continue with Apple's IAPs. The presentation attempted to justify Apple's commission by highlighting things the Cupertino-based company was doing for Netflix at the time. These efforts included offering subscriber discounts and letting Netflix choose the shows and movies Apple writes about in the App Store.
Apple highlighted that it promoted Netflix in the App Store's editorial section, featured more of its content than any other partner which boosted app downloads by around seven percent. In the same presentation, Apple reportedly devoted a section to "pie in the sky ideas" that hadn't been approved. It suggested using a part of the subscription fees for App Store advertising.
Apple went on to float other ideas such as email campaigns promoting Netflix, bundling Netflix with other Apple services (well before Apple TV Plus launched or the Apple One bundle was announced). These proposals illustrate that Apple was willing to bend the rules for Netflix to retain a large share of revenue it generated for Apple.
Although details quantifying Apple's efforts were redacted from the documents seen by 9to5Mac, it highlights Apple's hypocrisy. On one hand, Apple refused to budge when Epic Games alleged "monopolistic and anti-competitive" practices. But on the other hand, it went out of its way to convince Netflix. Nevertheless, Netflix stopped using Apple's IAPs. Its user count surged by 15.8 million in 2020.


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Hamlet Laundry acquired London’s largest laundry and Dry cleaning Facility during the economic recovery of the London consumer market
While many industries are suffering during the epidemic, the online economy has experienced dramatic growth since the beginning of 2020. When people keeping stay at home because of COVID-19, online services have been used by more and more customers covering all ages in London.
The founder of Hamlet Laundry, MM HASAN said, “Hamlet Laundry and Local Laundry service providers in London had reached the agreement before the epidemic. The outbreak of COVID-19 accelerated our pace to restructure the whole industry while the increasing domestic demands also accelerated the strategic upgrading of Hamlet Laundry.”
The online laundry market remains a blue ocean area and obviously Hamlet Laundry seized the timing to make the right move. Hamlet Laundry has provided professional online washing and disinfection services for more than 1.5 million families with a remarkable growth performance since the outbreak of COVID-19. The average daily active users of Hamlet Laundry App increased by 200% compared with the same period of last year with a continuous upward trend. Also, core technology like AI algorithm used to optimise user experience and customise service by analysing diversified big data from user consumer behaviour, helps Hamlet Laundry maintain its competitiveness.
There are more than 400 thousand laundry shops in greater London and most of them are operated by very traditional business mode with small production unit behind the front desk. The old way makes the business owners run the business inefficiently with high cost burden, unable to guarantee high quality of the service and also take great risks of potential pollution to the local communities. This acquisition will make Hamlet Laundry fundamentally lead small laundry business owners to update their business model with empowerment by information system and centralised supply chain, and eventually to resolve those risky issues.
The epidemic will enhance public awareness of health and personal hygiene, which will advance customer’s preferences on professional washing and disinfection of clothing.


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Sales slump for Bonmarche amid 'challenging' market
Womenswear retailer Bonmarche has reported a slump in annual sales following a difficult start to the new year, and warned it expects further challenges in the months ahead.
In a trading update, Bonmarche said total sales in the 53 weeks to April 1 slumped 0.5%, while like-for-like store sales took a 4.3% plunge, as trading conditions worsened after a Christmas boost.
Even when accounting for a 2.2% rise in online transactions, total like-for-like sales were still down 3.8% over the period.
Chief executive Helen Connolly said: "As anticipated, trading conditions post-Christmas continued to be challenging, but this was accounted for when we issued the revised profit guidance last September, and therefore the final result for the year is in line with our expectations.
"Store like-for like sales were negative in January but stronger during February and March, and we also saw the resumption of growth in online sales following improvements made to our online offering."
The company's board has nudged up its expectations for full-year pre-tax profit excluding exceptional items, saying it will be "slightly above the mid-point" between £5 million and £7 million.
However, Ms Connolly, who took up her role at Bonmarche last year, warned the retailer was preparing for further hurdles in the year ahead.
Ms Connolly said: "Whilst we expect the apparel market to remain challenging during the coming financial year, we are actively taking measures to improve our proposition to customers.
"We remain confident that Bonmarche remains unique in its ability to serve the needs of its target market and that the successful implementation of our plan will allow us to deliver growth in full year 2018, despite the challenging market."
Retailers are expected to struggle over the next few years, as inflation, sparked by the post-Brexit vote collapse of the pound, starts to weigh on household spending.
The Bank of England expects inflation to reach 2.7% by the end of 2017, before peaking at 2.8% in the first half of 2018 and easing to 2.4% by 2019.
Bonmarche, which has 327 stores and concessions across the UK, is set to publish its full-year results on June 19.
Mark Photiades, director of equity research covering the general retail sector at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, said Bonmarche is "making good progress" despite recent challenges.
"Today's update shows that trading has improved over the final quarter and FY17 results are likely to be slightly ahead of market expectations.
"The last 18 months have been challenging for Bonmarche with profitability suffering significantly.
"However, the new CEO is making good progress on sourcing efficiency, improving the quality of the ranges and obtaining the best terms with suppliers.
"Retail disciplines are also in the process of being strengthened and brand awareness is increasing helped by the Bonus Club loyalty scheme."


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Weak iPhone 4 Reception? Papermaster off Apple’s team
Rumors are swirling around the unexpected departure of Mark Papermaster, Apple’s Senior VP of Devices Hardware Engineering.
An IBM stalwart before moving to Apple, Papermaster worked in the company from 1998-2008 where he served as Vice President of the blade server division. His controversial exit from IBM became the subject of a court case which was ruled on the scope and validity of the ‘non-compete’ clause in his employment contract with IBM.
Papermaster is believed to have lost the confidence of Steve Jobs himself. Insider sources claim his departure was due to a “broader cultural incompatibility” due to a marked difference in Apple’s hands-on management approach versus delegation. However, tech writer John Gruber who claims to have heard it from insider sources at Apple, hints strongly that indeed, the iPhone 4 may have been the reason Papermaster was fired. Whether or not the iPhone 4’s antenna fiasco is the proximate cause for his departure has yet to be confirmed.
In the wake of Papermaster’s departure, Senior Vice President for Mac Hardware Engineering Bob Mansfield now juggles two responsibilities – Mac and Apple devices hardware engineer. He is now the senior vice president of Mac and Devices Hardware Engineering at Apple.[via Electronista]


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The future of retail is here today in Phoenix!
This morning, the Standard AI team celebrated the grand opening of our latest autonomous store in partnership with Circle K. This isn’t a test store or a proof of concept location—it’s an example of cutting-edge AI and computer-vision technology being deployed at a neighborhood convenience store.
Shopping at Circle K is easy with EasyWay. Customers walk in, shop as normal, and tap the Circle K Innovation app at Standard AI’s tablet-based stations when they’re ready to leave. Receipts are sent to their phones within minutes. This new method of shopping not only enhances the customer experience, but it also enables employees to step away from the checkout counter and focus on customer service, managing the store, and more.
You can experience the future of retail for yourself at 4939 East Ray Road. In the meantime, here’s a few highlights: Real retail, right now. Retrofitting a neighborhood convenience store is a more advanced application of autonomous retail than a micro market or purpose-built test store. They’re busy, packed full of merchandise, and they weren’t built specifically for autonomous retail. Fortunately, transforming everyday environments into exceptional experiences is our specialty.
Latest and greatest cameras. Autonomous retail shouldn’t come at the cost of aesthetics. Nobody wants a ceiling full of awkward, dangling cameras. Standard AI’s newest series of cameras blend seamlessly into the store environment and rarely stand out to customers. Due to the strength of our AI-based computer vision platform, we also achieve a lower camera density than is typical of other autonomous stores.
No gates, no problems, Convenience stores are busy, dynamic environments that serve everyone. Rather than relying on restrictive gates that introduce friction and lower foot traffic, the Standard AI platform ensures stores remain open and inviting to all.
Shelf sensors? Don't need them. This store is merchandised exactly as it was before Standard AI retrofitted it. Rather than relying on costly, cumbersome shelf sensors that force a “vending machine” experience upon retailers and customers, our computer vision-only platform accepts stores the way they are.
Receipts in minutes, not hours. Time to receipt (TTR) is an indicator of the amount of automation built into autonomous retail platforms, and Standard AI is proud to offer the quickest TTR of any computer vision-only platform. Rather than waiting hours, shoppers on our platform receive their receipts in minutes.
Experience the future of retail for yourself next time you’re in Phoenix. Contact us at email@example.com to learn more, or join the autonomous retail revolution at careers.standard.ai.
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Hannaford Bros. relies on its people to keep it on the cutting edge of supermarket retailing
Beth Newlands Campbell, executive vice president at Hannaford Bros., was recently digging through some meeting notes from the early leadership of the 125-year-old company.
What she found, she said, was that while the company's convoluted history threaded its way through wholesaling, various retail-ownership structures and multiple acquisitions, many of its core values remained intact.
“What was really neat to find — all in handwritten words — were that some of the things that are part of our culture now were part of the company's values back in 1883,” she said in an interview with SN this month. “Some of the words and terms we use today are different — the words ‘corporate social responsibility’ weren't specifically used in 1883, but there was a lot about providing a safe work environment, with reasonable hours, and starting to be one of the first companies in the Northeast to provide benefits, even way back then.
“There were words about being a good neighbor, about being dedicated to customer service, integrity, valuing our associates and community involvement,” she added. “We started out as a produce wholesaler — so what we do has changed over the years, but who we are has not changed.”
Now wholly owned by Belgium-based Delhaize Group, Hannaford operates 165 stores in New England and eastern New York.
The chain's focus on staffing — starting at the hiring level and continuing through its training and development programs — has long helped distinguish Hannaford as one of the more innovative and progressive supermarket operators in the country.
“They have recruited the best and brightest from food-industry teaching colleges and universities in the U.S. — most notably Cornell, Harvard and St. Joseph's University,” said Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director, Strategic Research Group, New York. “And they have really developed the best technology tools for management, both in store operations and departmental operations, and in corporate.
“Hannaford's management talent, along with Kroger's, has arguably been consistently the best in the industry,” he said. “In addition to the best financial and buying and consumer management, they were also the fiercest fighters of Wal-Mart — Hannaford really pioneered promotional everyday low pricing. Hannaford Bros. prevailed when many competitors either contracted or perished.”
Hannaford's deep-rooted, aggressive approach to supply chain efficiency has kept it on the leading edge of the industry, enabling it to price competitively with a mix of promotions and EDLP, yet still provide a high level of in-store experience.
Its recent innovations have included private-label lines like Inspirations and the Guiding Stars nutritional rating system, which just last week was rolled out throughout its sister chain, Food Lion, and is now being offered to other retailers.
“There's a real institutional focus on innovation — much like Wawa and Wegmans — but Hannaford's is institutionalized even more,” Flickinger said.
Patrick Roquas, an analyst who follows Delhaize at Amsterdam-based Rabobank, told SN that Hannaford's success has been “partly driven by a consistent focus on creating customer value on the one hand, as well as a structural focus on supply chain efficiency.”
Although many observers were incredulous when Delhaize announced its plans to buy Hannaford Bros. for $3.6 billion in 1999, Flickinger noted that the company bought much more than just a network of supermarkets — it acquired a wealth of supermarket savvy that it was able to leverage throughout the company.
“The institutional intelligence that Delhaize bought in the Hannaford acquisition really revolutionized Delhaize as a retailer, and took it from a company that was surviving to a company that was really thriving,” he said.
Rick Anicetti, the current chief executive officer of Food Lion, was a former Hannaford executive, as was Shelley Broader, who oversaw the conversion of Delhaize's moribund Kash n' Karry chain in Florida to the Sweetbay format. Mike Vail, the current president of Sweetbay, also is a Hannaford veteran.
Recruiting for the Future
At the heart of Hannaford's penchant for talent development is its Retail Management Training program, through which it seeks to select the best candidates for future leadership positions at the chain. Newlands Campbell estimated that Hannaford interviews a few hundred students per year for the program and hires about 12-15, most of whom begin as assistant store managers. She herself began her career at Hannaford Bros. through the Retail Management Training program 21 years ago as a graduate of Cornell University's food management curriculum.
Participants spend a year working in various departments within the store, learning operations on the ground level.
“Really what we are trying to do is hire senior management,” Newlands Campbell explained. “The next CEO of the company will probably come out of that program, or the next vice president of marketing.”
Rather than looking for industry-specific skills in hiring and developing its people, Hannaford Bros. focuses on qualities like intelligence and aptitude for learning, she explained.
“I think we have a healthy mix of promoting from within, and also instilling talents from new people,” she said. “I think one of the things that makes us unique in the industry is that you don't have to go through the same series of jobs the way that a lot of people move up in retail. We are looking for people who are very intelligent, who are good at communicating, good at leading people, and people who can learn. There isn't just one way to get promoted — there are a lot of different career paths. So you don't always get the same kind of people who are moving up in leadership positions. That's one of the reasons we have a diverse group of leadership at Hannaford.”
Flickinger explained that Hannaford benefits from its practice of making its recruits gain real experience at the store level.
“The difference is that unlike some of their multi-regional competitors, they don't take graduates who are one or two years out of Harvard or out of business school and make them an officer in the company after a quick tour of 10 departments,” he said. “Hannaford took people and made them run the night crew, they made them run profitable stores, and then districts and regions, before they even had a shot at being promoted to a regional manager or had any hope of being a vice president.”
Newlands Campbell said working at the store level helps executives gain a true appreciation for the business.
“It's like going back to school for another year — basically, you learn from the ground up,” she said. “What you get is an appreciation for the person who does a certain job all day long. You realize that the man or woman who frosts cakes all day long is incredibly talented, and you learn how to manage and lead and work with someone who works the night shift, for example.”
The company also has a District Manager Training program, which develops store managers and assistant store managers.
Newlands Campbell said Hannaford has been seeing a lot more personnel crossing back and forth between retail operations and corporate positions.
“At some companies there can be big walls between corporate and retail, but it's not that way at Hannaford,” she said. “We really appreciate someone coming in from the stores who can speak the language and can appreciate things as simple as how to send a memo to a deli manager that gets their attention, for example.”
Increasingly, Hannaford has been enjoying cross-Atlantic knowledge transfer with Delhaize's European operations as well, Newlands Campbell pointed out.
Among Hannaford's most recent innovations is its new experimental store in Dover, N.H., about 50 miles from the company's Scarborough, Maine, headquarters. Although Hannaford has not released many details about the test, Newlands Campbell said the chain is staging a host of experiments in merchandising, checkout and back-of the-house operations at the store.
The 35,000-square-foot location has been remerchandised, with some products grouped together by type, for example, and with deli meats and cheeses as a focal point in the center of the store.
Among the goals in opening the store was to preserve the breadth of the chain's offerings at its larger stores — it also operates 47,000- and 56,000-square-foot supermarkets. To achieve that goal, the chain is testing new product groupings and seeking to eliminate redundancies that arise from merchandising the same products in multiple places within the stores.
“It's about trying to get the variety of a larger store into a smaller store,” Newlands Campbell said, noting that the store also includes a distinct decor package.
She said it takes a while for customers to get used to the new product groupings, but they do eventually see the logic of it.
In a conference call with analysts last December, Ron Hodge, CEO of Hannaford Bros., said the company also reduced the size of the back-room area of the store, added more product per square foot and deployed higher shelving.
“We see this store as very experimental, but we do have high hopes,” Hodge said. “It's very revolutionary. We think it will be a while before we understand all the ramifications, but it may have some long-term profit possibilities for us.”
Newlands Campbell echoed that assessment, describing the location as being a research and development laboratory for the chain.
“One of the things that's been a core value at Hannaford is innovation, and that's what that store is all about,” she said. “Some of the things we are doing there are going to work really well, and are going to apply to 164 other stores; some of them are not — it's R&D.”
One of the more innovative features of the store is the experimental checkout system, designed to accommodate large orders. Customers can choose to simply hand off their carts to the checkout staff, and then go get their cars, pick up their bagged groceries and pay at a drive-up window.
“If service to you means you want to check out your own groceries, we have that,” Newlands Campbell said. “If service to you means, ‘Here's my cart of groceries — I'm going to take my kids out to the car, and let you put it through the lane,’ then you just hand off your cart so you don't have to stand in line.
“The customers that use it love it, and the ones that don't still acknowledge that it's there if they want it,” she said.
Newlands Campbell said rethinking in-store service played a big role in developing the store.
For example, the store eschews Hannaford's traditional service seafood section in favor of an extensive prepackaged selection.
“There's a whole experiment with how we're running the store from the back-end side that is evolving,” she said. “We're looking at what in our mind are some very innovative ways to look at retail payroll for the back end, particularly with fresh.”
She declined to elaborate on specifics of the test, noting only that the store has revamped some traditional job functions.
Perhaps the most telling aspect of the experimental store is the way Hannaford undertook its development, Newlands Campbell explained.
“It was about identifying a couple of very capable leaders, having them look not just inside the industry but outside the industry as well, and then just letting them do it,” she said. “Then we went deep within our company for ideas, and then put a bubble around them to protect them, and not put them through a big approval process.”
The company's extensive research department uses a variety of tools to communicate with consumers, including an online panel that can generate feedback on ideas within about 48 hours.
“We try to stay in touch with what consumers want today, but also look for emerging trends — consumers might not be talking about something that may not exist yet, but there are ways to get at that with research,” she said.
“I think our gut feeling is important, but the science is very important as well — there's an art and science involved.”
As the chain celebrates its 125th anniversary this year, it is hosting a series of barbecues for its 27,000-plus employees and their families throughout its operating area.
“We're putting the emphasis on our associates with this ‘celebration tour,’” Newlands Campbell explained. “We have live music, and people can bring their families. That's a core piece of what Hannaford has been — it's about product and people. So our people are having fun, and we are getting an opportunity to say thank you.”


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While electric vehicles are undoubtedly better for the environment compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, this may not be the same case when it comes to consumers. Because a new report from Consumer Reports says EVs are significantly less reliable than ICE cars.
The report collects data from 330,000 vehicles from models between 2000 and 2023, as well as the occasional 2024 model, and looks at various problem areas, including minor issues such as squeaky brakes and larger problems such as transmission, engine or EV battery problems. The findings state that ICE cars have 17 problem zones, while EVs have only 12 (hybrids have 19 and plug-in hybrids have 20), and yet EVs show a huge 79% increase in problems compared to ICE cars. Plug-in hybrids go a step further by reportedly having 146% more problems. However, it must be said that non-plug-in hybrids have an issue rate 26% lower than ICE cars, so it’s not all bad for the future of automation.
The report even scores a variety of vehicles out of 100 based on owner satisfaction, track testing and safety information, and the predicted reliability of the various manufacturers may surprise you, because while Chrysler is last with a score of 18, Mercedes-Benz comes in second to last with a meager score of 23. The highest rated manufacturer is Lexus at 79, followed by Toyota at 76, with Mini in third place with 71.
Does your experience with cars match the report’s findings?


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Dr. Gary Richter featured in the following Project CBD article.
Medical Marijuana for Animals: A Call for Standards
Pet doctors launch Veterinary Cannabis Society
By Bill Weinberg
Among the ambiguous areas in the state medical marijuana laws from coast to coast is the status of cannabis and its derivatives as veterinary medications. Now, a new non-profit has been launched to advocate for legal standards and clarity on the question.
The Veterinary Cannabis Society (VCS) defines its mission as “to create lasting solutions that ensure the safe use of cannabis in pets through education, advocacy, and promoting product standards.”
Dr. Gary Richter of Holistic Veterinary Care in Oakland, Calif., is vice president and co-founder of VCS. He describes his practice, which he began in 1998, as “integrative medicine” — incorporating both the conventional Western model but also “alternative” treatments such as acupuncture, chiropractic, and herbal applications.


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On average, there are more than 25,000 hits on our city website. And, in looking at those numbers more closely, we found that over a quarter of those hits were from a mobile device. That is 1 in every 4 people!
Based on industry studies, mobile devices have surpassed PC’s as the primary means of accessing the internet. In fact, over 80% of all smartphone users spend their time using apps as a way to get information at their finger tips. From social networking to Traffic Alerts, there is an app for just about everything. And now, as we continue to seek innovative ways to connect with our community, there is an app for that too!
The Rochester Hills App will make it more convenient for the city to connect with our residents and for our residents to stay connected with us! The app will feature everything from news and events to allowing users to report a concern instantly.


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Old school brew making a comeback
POSTED: 2:23 PM PDT August 15, 2015
BEND, Ore. – The 2015 Bend Brewfest features 71 different breweries. Two of those are “meaderies” that will be on Cider Row at Les Schwab Amphitheater.
“Mead is actually the oldest known fermented substance on the planet,” the vice president of sales at Stung Fermented, Jack Newkirk, said Friday.
Mead gives festival attendees an alternative to beer.
“There are a lot of questions about mead that people have when they come up,” Newkirk said.
Stung Fermented started in 2013 and joined the market in May of this year. The Portland-based company is still small with only six people working at the northeast Portland operation.
“Right now, there are fewer than 300 commercial meaderies in the United States,” Newkirk said. “We have more breweries than that in just the state of Oregon.”
Stung Fermented’s chief fermentation officer saw a market for mead 20 years ago when he first started working on his recipe.
“I started thinking and thinking about it and ultimately we decided to stop thinking about it and start doing it,” CFO Brooks Cooper said. “We think there is a great opportunity to introduce (mead to) the traditional beer drinker.”
Mead is fermented sugar from honey, which is also gluten-free — an ever-growing growing market.
“It’s an Oregon company, the mead is made by Oregonians, in Oregon, it’s an Oregon product and we’re very proud of that,” Newkirk said.


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Grocery firm Milkbasket is planning to bring in private labels across categories such as dairy, bakery and fresh produce and expects about 40 per cent of its revenue to come from such products by the end of the year.
Anant Goel, Co-Founder and CEO, Milkbasket, said, “We have been experimenting with private labels for a year across categories like eggs, pulses, whole spices and dry fruits. We are now looking at creating five separate brand lines for dairy, bakeries, food, non-food and fresh produce.”
"Private labels are already contributing 20-22 per cent of revenues and we expect to double this, get to about 40 per cent by the end of the year," he said.
Goel said the company has achieved an overall gross margin of 20 per cent for the business.
Milkbasket is operating in cities such as Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Noida, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.