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Blackmagic Design recently released updates to their video editing software, Resolve 18.5, and their Pocket cameras. In this video, Bob from Blackmagic discusses the new tools and features that content creators and marketers need to know about.
Split audio editing has been added to the cut page of Resolve, and icons have been rearranged for better ergonomics. The edit page now allows the user to highlight audio and transcribe it, generating audio-to-text and subtitles. The Blackmagic neural engine powers this feature, and it also includes a relight feature that allows users to add light to a scene while 3D mapping it to ensure natural positioning.
Other updates include new node nesting and universal scene descriptor support in Fairlight and Fusion, respectively. The Blackmagic Pocket cameras now allow shooting vertically, with files automatically flagged as vertical when brought into Resolve.
The company also released a new optical low-pass filter (OLPF) model for its 12K camera. High-resolution footage captured with this camera has been used by content creators for virtual production, VFX plates, and documentary-style footage stabilization.
Blackmagic has added a new product to its cloud storage line, CloudDock2 and CloudDock4, with two or four 10 gigabit ethernet ports for high bandwidth transfers. Additionally, a new ENG kit has been added to the URSA Broadcast model, providing a cover for shooting in the rain, wireless transmitter, and SSD drive mounts.
Finally, the video discusses how Blackmagic has added direct live streaming to its switchers using ATEM streaming bridges. This feature allows users to stream directly from a camera to an ATEM switcher over the internet with full camera control.
Overall, Blackmagic Design‘s latest updates and tools offer content creators and marketers an opportunity to streamline their workflows, improve the quality of their videos, and take advantage of new technologies.


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Voting begins for Cool Camping in the 2020 British Travel Awards
For the second year running, Cool Camping has been nominated as ‘Best Camping Holiday Company’ in the prestigious British Travel Awards, with voting now open to the Great British public.
As the largest travel awards programme in the UK, the British Travel Awards are widely considered the benchmark for excellence in the travel industry, with over 750,000 public votes each year. Last year the public backed Cool Camping to win the category of 'Best Camping Holiday Company' and this year we're urging our customers to support us once again.
The nomination comes off the back of a busy year at Cool Camping basecamp, as we've worked with campers and campsite owners alike to help tens and thousands of you book holidays in the great outdoors. From supporting independent businesses after a difficult spring to guaranteeing flexible bookings with our Coronavirus Booking Guarantee, we've worked hard to provide not only the best camping experiences but the best online booking experience too.
It's been quite the climb since the company was first born after an idyllic weekend camping in Wales in 2005. After 15 years, Cool Camping has blossomed from a publishing business selling best-selling guidebooks, to a hugely popular bookings service where customers can find, review and book their stay at the coolest campsites in the UK and Europe. We remain a small, independent brand, with fewer than 20 members of staff who each liaise personally with all campsite owners to ensure we offer the very best locations, as well as offering an award-winning service to our customers.
"We'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who voted for us last year," Jonathan Knight, Cool Camping founder and chief camper commented. "We were extremely grateful for the recognition we received and we'd love to get people's support again this year. 2020 has been a challenging one but, along the way, it's also seen us expand our collection, support more independent businesses and improve our services even further, ultimately helping even more people find the holiday that's right for them."
Voting for the British Travel Awards runs until 22nd November.
So why vote for Cool Camping?
- Championing smaller independent camping and glamping sites in the UK, France and Europe.
- An eye for the quirky, eco-friendly and unique, alongside firm family favourites.
- Trusted for well over a decade by our loyal customers.
- Supporting campers through the coronavirus pandemic, with our Coronavirus Booking Guarantee.
- A Best Price Promise, ensuring you won't find a better price for your holiday elsewhere.
- No added fees, hidden costs or administration charges.
- Instant booking confirmation messages.
- Award-winning customer service.
7th September 2020

domain: news


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Speaking in a report on CNET, Intel’s director of gaming platform office Randy Stude said games companies are slowly increasing their handle on multi-threaded applications to run on PCs and consoles that pack in multiple processors.
"I’d say we’re at a ‘C-plus’ right now," he said. "When the first dual-core chips came out (in 2005), we were at a D-minus."
The multicore chips Intel and AMD have made for home PCs and IBM and Toshiba have made for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 respectively have famously demanded developers start multi-threaded programming. Tools companies, middleware technology and the chip makers and format-holder themselves have made some efforts to lighten the burden this presents – with some PC game makers releasing patches or optimising their games for at least dual-core systems from the off.
Intel says that developers will have to get used to the world of parallel programming, given that soon all home PCs available to consumers will come with a mutlicore processors as standard – and in time the tricky endeavour will become less problematic.
Said Stude: "The learning curve is becoming less and less to get threading work done."


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One-third of Brits want to start up their own business, according to new research, which is the equivalent to around 17.7 million people.
The study conducted to launch the fifth Nectar Business Small Business Awards found that many of these people are using their evenings and weekends to get their start-up company going.
It found that two-thirds of those working nine-to-five jobs intend to put in a whole extra working day (eight hours) a week beyond their full-time occupation into getting the ball rolling with their business.
Entrepreneurs are driven to start up their own company for a variety of reasons but the overriding one is to make their own money, cited by 47 per cent of respondents to the survey. The power to be their own boss came in close behind (46 per cent), while taking on new challenges (26 per cent) and creating a family business (18 per cent) were also motivations.
The survey found that the most popular startup ideas are for jewellery and craft stores, and restaurants and cafes, with only 16 per cent of people wanting to stay within their current employment sector. Unsurprisingly, 45 per cent of people want to be paid to undertake their passions, ensuring they can make a living from their personal interests.
London and the south-east boasts the biggest concentration of would-be small business owners, standing at 30 per cent.
“This research is really encouraging and shows that Brits are more determined than ever to reach their business potential – even giving up their precious spare time to do so,” said Karren Brady, judge at the Nectar Business Small Business Awards and star of BBC One’s The Apprentice.
“The UK has grown some of the greatest entrepreneurs in the world; it really is the land of ingenuity and I’m proud to be able to celebrate this with the Nectar Business Small Business Awards.”


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Google made its commitment to RCS (Rich Communications Services) clear last year when the company acquired Jibe, but now things are getting even more serious. The GSM Association today announced that it, more than 15 global mobile operators around the world, and Google, have finally struck a deal to actually make bring RCS to widespread adoption. And Google says that an Android RCS client is in the works, being made in collaboration with several Android OEMs and the aforementioned mobile operators…
Slack, the workplace communication service that has taken the corporate communications space by storm, has released what is says is a “better, faster, and all around Android-ier” Slack app for Android, rewritten from the ground up. The biggest changes to come with this new version are a faster user experience for navigating around the app and the introduction of new user interface elements which follow the Material Design guidelines set forth by Google.
We expect SMS integration will only be available on Android as iOS doesn’t allow the necessary hooks to pull off the feature, which makes the platform that much more appealing for fans of the Hangouts service.
Google has updated its Android Translate app with a new Phrasebook feature to store some translated phrases that users want to keep quickly accessible. Phrasebook can easily sync via your Google Account’s login credentials.
When you’re traveling in another country, you want quick access to your favorite translated phrases—whether it’s “Where can I find a museum?” or “Do you know where the bathroom is?” Google Translate lets you save these translations in your Phrasebook, but you still could not easily access them on the go from your phone or tablet. Starting today, you can automatically sync the phrases in your Phrasebook to your Android device using the Google Translate mobile app, so you can carry your most useful phrases with you wherever you go.
Additionally, Google has added support for 16 new languages for camera-input translations.
Last but not least, this latest release of Google Translate for Android sees a significant improvement to the camera-input feature. You can now use camera-input to find translations in 16 additional languages: Bulgarian, Catalan, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Croatian, Hungarian, Indonesian, Icelandic, Lithuanian, Latvian, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, and Swedish.


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Buyers expecting it to be nimble like Iron Man might be settling with the Hulk
01 Mar 2020 7:08 PM
Tata leads with 30 brands featured; Godrej 11; Amul, Reliance, LG & have 9 each
28 Feb 2020 9:38 AM
The South Korean tech giant has also announced exciting deals and offers.
28 Feb 2020 6:26 AM
#MegaMonster M31 comes with a 64MP Quad camera, 6000mAh battery & 16.21 cm (6.4”) Super Amoled Display.
25 Feb 2020 2:33 PM
Galaxy A71 is packed with 64MP quad camera, Infinity-O display and cool and intelligent ‘Make for India’ innovations.
24 Feb 2020 4:50 PM
Galaxy Z Flip features an Infinity Flex Display along with a hideaway hinge that folds into a stylish and compact form factor.
20 Feb 2020 5:26 PM
They are available on Flipkart along with some interesting offers.
20 Feb 2020 7:47 AM
Samsung launches its most premium smartphone in A Series with Galaxy A71.
19 Feb 2020 1:32 PM
Samsung launches 'iOS compatible' Galaxy Buds+.
17 Feb 2020 6:48 AM
Galaxy S20 Ultra comes with industry first Space Zoom technology capable of 100X zoom, 108 MP camera and more.
15 Feb 2020 11:49 AM
Six-year partnership between McAfee and Samsung continues to keep consumers protected online.
13 Feb 2020 2:05 PM
When folded, the Galaxy Z Flip is a stylish and compact palm-sized device.
12 Feb 2020 7:20 AM
The Galaxy S series make the way we share and connect richer and more dynamic than ever before.
12 Feb 2020 7:15 AM
The Galaxy Z Flip features an innovative freestop folding system that enables the device to stay open at a range of angles.
12 Feb 2020 7:08 AM
Check out this infographic for more information on the enhanced Galaxy Buds+.
12 Feb 2020 7:02 AM
Samsung’s first foldable glass display, combined with a unique UX, offers a whole new mobile experience.
12 Feb 2020 6:54 AM
The Samsung Galaxy S20 series is Samsung’s first, full 5G flagship lineup, featuring unprecedented 5G and AI camera technologies.
12 Feb 2020 6:45 AM
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite comes with the best bits of the flagship model and excludes certain aspects that won’t be missed.
11 Feb 2020 8:15 PM
The images show off a tall foldable device with a 22:9 aspect ratio in its unfolded form.
10 Feb 2020 6:31 AM
Galaxy S10 Lite comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB internal memory for great multitasking experience.
04 Feb 2020 12:49 PM


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Amazon Chief Govt Andy Jassy will be a part of tech executives at a White Home assembly with President Joe Biden on Wednesday to debate efforts by personal firms to enhance cybersecurity, a supply aware of the matter informed Reuters.
The supply requested to not be recognized as the data was not public.
Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner and Microsoft Chief Govt Satya Nadella can even attend the White Home cybersecurity occasion, Bloomberg Information reported on Monday, citing sources.
The chief executives of different giant tech firms, banks, power firms, and water utilities, together with Alphabet’s Google, Worldwide Enterprise Machines, Southern, and JPMorgan Chase have additionally been invited, Bloomberg stated.
Apple, IBM, Microsoft, and JPMorgan didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark outdoors common working hours. Google didn’t touch upon who would attend and referred to the White Home for extra particulars past final month’s announcement.
In July, US President Joe Biden signed a nationwide safety memorandum, launching a brand new public-private initiative that creates “efficiency controls” for cybersecurity at America’s most important firms, together with water therapy and electrical energy vegetation. The announcement got here after a number of high-profile cyberattacks this 12 months crippled American firms and authorities businesses, together with a ransomware incident which disrupted gasoline provides.
© Thomson Reuters 2021
Are the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 nonetheless made for fans — or are they ok for everybody? We mentioned this on Orbital, the Devices 360 podcast. Orbital is on the market on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.


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Group Out of Community Center ( www.OutofTownBlog.com)– Time to prepare and also obtain dive-ready as the Division of Tourist (DOT) phases the Philippine International Dive Exposition (PHIDEX), the nation’s biggest system for the diving neighborhood, from August 19 to 21, 2022 at the SMX Convention Facility in Pasay, Manila.
PHIDEX’s 3rd version looks for to proceed the story of preservation, neighborhood, and also merging within the diving neighborhood with the style “Back right into heaven: One with the Sea”.
The exposition will certainly additionally display the Philippines’ preparedness to invite dive visitors from throughout the world, collecting regional and also worldwide dive sector professionals, dive excursion drivers, and also companion dive companies to share their suggestions and also experiences.
” The entrance of worldwide vacationers is a welcome growth that will certainly cause development in the traveling and also tourist industry, remediation of tasks, and also the generation of much-needed profits for tourism-related business and also neighborhoods. We are hopeful that these financial advantages will certainly additionally encompass dive locations around the nation. The nation stays a leading dive location, which visitors throughout the globe aspire to see after a long haul of 2 years,” stated Tourist Growth Undersecretary Woodrow C. Maquiling, Jr.
” The DOT intends to motivate scuba divers to exercise sustainability whenever they dive to maintain the nation’s seas. Lasting diving techniques are a significant component of the reason the nation’s dive locations remain to run regardless of difficulties brought by the pandemic,” Undersecretary Maquiling included.
PHIDEX is the only dive program in the globe that integrates in one occasion a Dive Traveling Exchange (TRAVEX), a business-to-business (B2B) conference program for regional and also worldwide dive drivers, dive seminars, s and also workshops, and also orientation trips to the leading and also arising Philippine dive locations. Event cubicles will certainly display dive hotels and also facilities in various locations and also premier dive equipment and also tools.
Via seminars, individuals will certainly additionally have an opportunity to discover brand-new dive locations created throughout the pandemic, item updates from crucial dive locations, along with updated undersea digital photography equipment displays. International dive drivers will certainly additionally reach evaluate and also analyze leading and also arising dive locations such as Anilao, Bohol, Camiguin, Coron, Dumaguete, Malapascua, Moalboal, and also Puerto Galera, Southern Leyte, and also Ticao Island with orientation trips.
At the very least 100 regional and also worldwide dive customers and also media from the Philippines, United States, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Korea, Japan, Thailand, and also Singapore, are anticipated to go to the exposition. At the same time, tasks such as Dive TRAVEX and also Dive Seminar will certainly come online for individuals incapable to go to as a result of worldwide boundary limitations.
Enrollment as customer and also profession site visitors and also exhibit cubicle appointments will certainly open up on June 24, 2022, withhttps://register.phidex.asia/ For additional information pertaining to the PHIDEX tasks, comply with Dive Philippines on Facebook and also Instagram or email the PHIDEX Organizing Board at [email protected]


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Leftists love to piss on you, then tell you its raining. Well, just don’t drink their “rain”.
In yet another media gloss over, fake news outlets regale us with retail shopping numbers. One report reads:
Holiday retail sales across the US surged to their biggest yearly increase in 17 years — despite recent disruptions from the Omicron outbreak and persistent supply-chain snags that have dogged retailers.
Sound like Joe Biden rescued Christmas, right? NOT!
The article continues,
Shoppers scooped up clothing, jewelry and electronics despite surging prices in all three categories, driving up sales between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24 by 8.5% compared with 2020, according to the MasterCard SpendingPulse survey. They were up 10.7% versus the pre-pandemic 2019 holiday season.
People soaked up products due to the lack of products. And boy did people pay dearly for these products.
That 8.5% and 10.7% were consumed by Bidenflation like Java the Hut popping a tic-tac.
Still, we get the Leftist version, as the article suggest other reasons for the numbers:
While a strong job market and rising wages fueled the jump, some experts said surging inflation — which has jacked up prices on jewelry, apparel and electronics in addition to gas and groceries — also helped goose the figures. The MasterCard survey includes online spending and restaurant purchases, but excludes autos and gasoline.
Gotta love the spin. “Helped goose the figures”.
The only reason why the figures rose is due to the “goosed” figures on every product out there.
Put another way, do you remember the days when retailers enticed you to their stores due to sales? Now, their inducement is “You better get here quickly, before we sell out at ridiculously high prices!”
But what cracks me up most is the idea of a “surge” in online sales. Given that the country remains mostly locked down, one would expect a surge. But that didn’t happen, as the article suggests:
Online sales were up 11% from a year ago and 61% from 2019, before the pandemic sent shoppers hunkering down at home en masse, according to the survey. This holiday season, e-commerce made up 20.9% of total retail sales, up from 20.6% in 2020 and 14.6 % in 2019.
With the lockdowns and fearmongering, one would think online sales would have increased at least 20%+ during the scamdemic. But let’s look at the numbers.
Biden’s online sales gained 0.3% over last year. That’s less than a 2% gain. An order of magnitude off Trump’s gains year over year during his entire presidency.
I remind you: this was during an almost nationwide lockdown that included people buying groceries and ordering takeout online.
And what of the “smash and grab” shoppers wo pocket s small fortune
This performance is pathetic from any point of view. Yet the Biden administration acts as if Biden saved Christmas. Using that logic, the president saved Christmas after he stole it and torched it.
But Biden does come baring gifts. He gave America a NEW mandate. An INFLATION MANDATE!
Because whether you like it or not, prices on everything Americans buy went up astronomically. And these clowns in DC brag about these numbers.


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China has announced a US$60 billion list of US goods including coffee, honey and industrial chemicals for retaliation if Washington goes ahead with its latest tariff threat.
The Finance Ministry accused the Trump administration of damaging the global economy after it proposed increasing duties on US$200 billion of Chinese goods in the second round of a dispute over technology.
"China is forced to take countermeasures," a ministry statement said. It said the retaliatory duties of 25 percent, 20 percent, 10 percent or 5 percent on 5207 products will be imposed "if the US side persists in putting its tariff measures into effect".
Washington imposed 25 percent duties on US$34 billion of Chinese goods on July 6 in response to complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology.
Beijing retaliated by imposing similar charges on the same amount of US products.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders countered by telling reporters today that "instead of retaliating, China should address longstanding concerns about its unfair trading practices".
Earlier Friday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman called on Washington to "come to its senses" and settle the dispute.
Chinese leaders have offered to narrow their politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States by purchasing more American goods. But they have rejected changing technology development plans they see as a path to prosperity and global influence.
The escalating dispute, with no settlement in sight, has fuelled fears it might chill global trade and economic growth.
Today's threat targeting a smaller amount of US goods reflects the fact that Beijing is running out of products for retaliation due to its lopsided trade balance with the United States.
China's imports from the United States last year totalled US$153.9 billion. After the earlier action against US$34 billion of US goods, that left about US$120 billion available for retaliation.
The highest penalties in today's list would be imposed on honey, vegetables, mushrooms and chemicals, targeting farming and mining areas that supported President Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
The list included products as varied as snow blowers and 3D printers, suggesting Chinese authorities were struggling to find enough imports their own economy can do without.
Beijing's earlier round of tariffs appeared designed to minimise the impact on the Chinese economy by targeting soybeans, whiskey and other goods available from Brazil, Australia and other suppliers.
Trump earlier proposed 10 percent tariffs on an additional US$200 billion of Chinese imports. He told trade officials this week to consider raising that to 25 percent.


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A bill would provide a reprieve from federal antitrust laws, allowing news publishers to collectively bargain with tech companies about how their content is used — and what share of ad dollars they’ll receive.
(TNS) — News industry officials, including Atlanta Journal-Constitution Editor Kevin Riley, testified Tuesday on Capitol Hill in favor of legislation they say would help recover advertising revenue lost in recent years to tech behemoths such as Google and Facebook.
The group urged lawmakers on a House antitrust subcommittee to pass the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act. The bipartisan bill would provide a four-year reprieve from federal antitrust laws, allowing print and digital publishers to collectively bargain with tech companies about how their content is used — and what share of ad dollars they’ll receive.
The head of the News Media Alliance, a trade association representing more than 2,000 newspapers and online outlets including the AJC, said Facebook and Google exert an “extreme level of control” over news outlets and that Congress needs to step in.
“These tech giants use secret, unpredictable algorithms to determine how and even whether content is delivered to readers,” David Chavern told a packed hearing room. “They scrape news organizations’ content and use it to their own ends, without permission or remuneration for the companies that generated the content in the first place.”
Google and Facebook together rake in nearly three-quarters of online ad revenue, according to a recent study from the research group Pivotal.
Federal antitrust laws bar news organizations from banding together to negotiate more favorable terms from social media and search sites. And individual news outlets are deterred from acting alone, according to Chavern’s group, because large tech companies could tank a new organization’s traffic by demoting or excluding its stories from searches.
The bill’s proponents say it could help turn the tide for an industry that’s been harmed over the past two decades by declining print subscriptions and ad revenue streams that have dried up and increasingly headed online.
As tech sites’ share of advertising revenue has grown — Google’s skyrocketed from $3.8 billion in 2005 to $52.4 billion in 2017, according to the Pew Research Center — U.S. newspapers have watched their’s nosedive from more than $49 billion to $16.5 billion during the same 12-year period.
Riley highlighted some of the newspaper’s most high-impact work over the past several years, including its coverage of the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal and a national investigation of doctors and sex abuse, which was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.
“If others repackage our journalism and make money off it, yet none of that money makes its way back to the local paper, then it makes breaking that next story or exposing the next scandal more challenging,” Riley stated in his written testimony. “If that cycle continues indefinitely, quality local journalism will slowly wither and eventually cease to exist.”
A trade group representing Facebook and Google said the bill would harm consumers, raise prices and slow innovation by allowing competing news organizations to “collude” with one another.
Matt Schruers, the vice president of law and policy for the Computer and Communications Industry Association, said tech companies have helped news sites grow their digital audiences to the tune of 10 billion viewers a month.
“Many publishers have embraced the internet using technology to better engage their audiences,” Schruers said.
Other critics have said the burden is on news organizations to find ways to adjust to the new online landscape.
The bill has attracted support from conservatives and liberals alike as Congress has increasingly set its sights on the business practices of Silicon Valley tech companies. U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, is a co-sponsor of the measure with Rhode Island Democratic U.S. Rep. David Cicilline.
“It does not propose any new regulatory structures. It does not threaten to break up any company,” said Collins, whose northeast Georgia district is ranked among the country’s most conservative. “It does promise to simply and effectively solve a problem.”
A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate and is being backed by presidential contender Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Louisiana Republican John Kennedy.
©2019 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Ga.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


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Hardee´s, the fast food chain, has announced it will become Australia’s biggest fast food restaurant by 2019.
The chain is planning to expand its Australian headquarters from its current location in Melbourne to its new $150 million headquarters in Sydney.
Hardee`s Australia plans to expand the number of stores to 40 by 2019, and will add another 50 stores to its existing footprint in New South Wales and Victoria.
The company has invested $3 billion in Australia to develop and open its Australian operations, and has announced a total of 12 new restaurants.
Hardeys Australia has also added an additional 300 restaurants in New Zealand and South Africa.
The company plans to open its first new Australian location in 2021.
Hardee`’s Australia is also planning to open a second Australian franchise in Melbourne in 2021, and to expand in New York and Los Angeles.
The Australian company has also said it will be expanding its franchise operations to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the United States.
A spokesperson for Hardees said it is working to deliver its first overseas expansion by 2019 with plans to add further Australian restaurants.
The Hardee family, which owns the Hardee Co and owns Hardee Grocer, has been working with the Government of Australia, the Commonwealth and other Commonwealth governments on the expansion plan.


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The newly unveiled Redmi S2 is the first Xiaomi phone from the new Redmi Selfie series of smartphones. In the near future, the company may release more of selfie-centric phones to rival with Oppo and Vivo phones that have multiple selfie-focused smartphones. Today, Meizu’s Senior VP Li Nan has released a new image on his Weibo. The image is a portrait shot of a woman with impressive blurring effect on the background. Through the Weibo post that accompanies the image, Li Nan has claimed that the photo was shot using a new Blue Charm product that carries an affordable pricing. The right-corner of the image has the watermark that reads “Shot on 6T” which suggests that the new device could be Blue Charm 6T (Meizu 6T). The Meizu M6T could be an upcoming selfie-focused phone from the company that will arriving be rival with Redmi S2 and selfie phones from Oppo and Vivo.
In the recent past, a Meizu device with model number M811Q was approved by TENAA aka the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It is now being speculated that the M811Q could very well end up as the Meizu 6T. The TENAA listing has already revealed the entire specs of the 6T smartphone.
TENAA has revealed that M811Q features a 5.7-inch display that supports HD+ resolution of 720 x 1440 pixels. It is driven by an octa-core processor that clocks at 1.5 GHz. The highest configuration model has 64 GB of storage and 4 GB of RAM. Its other variants include 32 GB storage + 3 GB RAM and 16 GB storage + 2 GB RAM. The M811Q is fueled by 3,230mAh battery. For photography, it houses a dual camera setup that includes a 13-megapixel primary sensor and 2-megapixel secondary sensor. For snapping selfies, it is fitted with 8-megapixel frontal camera. These specs of the M811Q suggest that it will could be a very good rival for the Xiaomi Redmi S2.
As far as the price tag of the upcoming Meizu M6T is concerned, Li Nan had recently claimed that the cost of the new Blue Charm product is equivalent to the pricing of a hard disk. The modest specs of the M811Q indicates that it will be arriving with a pricing of around 1,000 Yuan (~$156).


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China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) fined five community group-buying online platforms on Wednesday citing improper price competition practices, a move that shows the country's strengthening supervision of emerging online businesses and efforts to deter technology giants from becoming monopolistic in their businesses.
The regulator imposed the "maximum fine" of 1.5 million yuan ($230,000) each on four companies: Didi-owned Chengxin Youxuan, Duo Duo Maicai under Pinduoduo, Meituan Select, and Nicetuan, which is backed by Alibaba.
Wuhan-based Shixianghui, which counts Tencent among its investors, was slapped with a fine of 500,000 yuan.
Responding to the penalty, Duo Duo Maicai told the Global Times on Wednesday the company attached great importance to the case and will rectify relevant problems actively in line with the requirements of the regulatory body.
Chengxin Youxuan and Meituan Select also promised to carry out rectifications.
Selling groceries online with big discounts, these community group-buying companies have gone viral with young urbanities who seldom go shopping at the groceries or supermarkets.
According to an explanation by the SAMR on Wednesday, the companies used unfair means to squeeze groceries. By utilizing their financial and data advantage, the platforms upset the market by offering below-cost prices, which threatened survival of groceries.
By competing for market share with unreasonably low prices, these platforms can achieve explosive growth. There is a tendency for big online platforms to "spend huge amounts of money to grab market share through monopoly." Such unfair competition is to hurt the legal rights and interests of vast consumers, according to the regulator.
The five platforms, backed by Chinese online giants such as Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan, may allow the "business titans to grow even bigger" while endanger others' survival, analysts said.
Unethical practices by the titans are especially rife, because these companies tend to seek a "network effect" by leveraging their dominance on the market, Tian Yun, vice director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
"Earlier, these giants decimated many small businesses in traditional sectors with their deep pockets," Tian said. "Without intervention from market regulators, there is no chance of survival for small businesses, and free market competition will be destroyed, leaving consumers vulnerable to monopoly."
According to the SAMR, improper price practices by the giants seriously disrupt market order, because it is normal to see price gouging acts by the platforms. Some platforms draw consumers by manipulating prices.
Due to their negative impact on competition and flagrant violation of laws, the top market regulator made the decision to impose tough penalties of 6.5 million yuan in total on the five companies.
Starting from mid-December last year, the SAMR started to investigate these platforms, anticipating that tough penalties on them would deter other latecomers.
"The monopoly in the fresh produce market is especially harmful, because it has a close bearing to people's livelihood. That is why the punishment is tougher than expected," Chen Danzhou, a deputy professor specialized in market regulation and monopoly practices at the Beijing Institute of Technology, told the Global Times.
According to Chen, the practices used by the five companies, including price gouging and offering large discounts, are prohibited by China's anti-monopoly law. The companies were penalized under the price laws instead of those covering monopoly practices, because they have yet to reach the market size of a monopoly.
China faces inadequate regulation when it comes to platform economy, and many of their practices that infringe on free competition are hard to define and regulate under current laws, Chen added.
"China's Price Law was last updated in 1997 and can be outdated when used to regulate new internet companies," Chen noted.
"Newer laws, such as the Anti-unfair Competition Law and the Anti-monopoly Law, are also unable to properly define and confine the behavior of internet companies."
China has been strengthening supervision over its online tech giants, which contribute greatly to the country's booming emerging economy and enjoy high global rankings in the technology sector. However, some of those giants have established a dominant position that would disturb the normal market order and harm consumers' rights.
Some said that it's high time for China's regulators to push for legal updates to better accommodate the new online economy. In early February, the SAMR released the latest guidelines for regulating the new economy entities.


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We’re deep into earnings season and there’s one company that everyone will be watching this week.
Apple will announce its Q3 earnings after the market closes today, and there could be a mixed bag.
Revenue fell at the tech giant in the first two quarters of this fiscal year, and the firm was hit with a profits warning from Tim Cook at the start of the year. However, guidance for Q3 was better than expected, but even so, we could see a few surprises.
“What we know: It’s tough in China, iPhone sales are not what they were, Services growth is strong,” said Neil Wilson, Chief Markets Analyst at MARKETS.COM.
“What we don’t know: if things have improved in China as was hinted at in the Q2 release and what the outlook for the rest of the year looks like. Q3 is always a bit dull, so as is often the case, the guidance for the rest of the year is key.”
In the Q2 report, Apple did report in-line earnings and upbeat guidance for the next quarter, despite ups and downs.
Guidance for the fiscal third quarter of $52.5bn-$54.5bn was particularly impressive, and well ahead of forecasts.
Despite providing a boost to the tech sector with excellent overall results, iPhone revenue dropped 17 per cent to $31.1 billion. Sales in Greater China were down 22 per cent from the year previous, but the report showed an improvement as sales picked up as the quarter progressed.
Overall revenues were down 5 per cent, in line with consensus. EPS came in at $2.46.
Services were a success for Apple as services revenues climbed to an all-time high of $11.45bn, up 16 per cent from the year ago period. This is no surprise as the tech giant has focussed much of its attention (and investment) away from products towards services and software.
“Of course, this is very strong,” Wilson said. “But we did note at the time some mild concern that the growth rate is slowing from the fiery levels we saw last year when we got +30 per cent prints.”
What to expect
Today’s report will include earnings for Q3, but also the outlook for the September and December quarters. This guidance will be particularly interesting given the worries about the iPhone. Consumers are becoming slower to ditch their current model for a new handset, a fact Time Cook admitted himself following the Q2 report. And this slowing is likely to be further impacted by the guidance for the 5G refresh.
Apple’s recent acquisition of Intel’s smartphone modem business for $1bn is allowing them to move forward with their plans for 5G. However, 5G is not expected until 2020 meaning that the new iPhone 11 model due in the next few months will likely only have small tweaks – something consumers are unlikely to be willing to sacrifice their current handset for.
It’s quite likely, therefore, that consumers will wait for the release of the 5G models next year, putting further pressure on iPhone sales.
In terms of what to expect about services, Wilson said: “Not only are we looking at the absolute growth rate here, but also the impact on margins for the company as a whole and the shift in the balance. Apple Services margins came in at 63.8 per cent in Q2. For the group, management guided gross margin to be between 37 per cent and 38 per cent.
“However, Services makes up about 20 per cent of Apple’s revenue, up from 16 per cent a year before – at what point can Apple start to guide its margins higher? This could be an area for an upside surprise, if not now then perhaps heading into the year-end. A slowing in the Services growth rate from the 16 per cent in Q2 would be a concern.”
Apple launched a load of new services in March, so we’ll be on the lookout for news about them – News Plus, Apple Arcade, and Apple TV Plus. After the Q2 report, Cook was keen to stress that the company has serious ambitions for these new ventures and insisted that they are not. The Q3 report should provide some early indicators on how these have performed.
Finally, we’ll also be looking for any insight into how Apple thinks the ongoing trade war with China will pan out. Cook had been more positive in Q2, but the White House has insisted that there will be no tariff relief for Apple products made in China. And, the third quarter report could include scope for further acquisitions, if the recent Intel deal is anything to go by.
In terms of estimates, Wilson said: “Consensus estimates forecast revenues to remain flat year-on-year in Q3 at $53.4bn, with EPS seen at $2.10 against $2.34 a year before.”
A closer look at share price
The profits warning at the start of the year saw Apple shares take a hammering, but shares have rallied close to 50 per cent since then.
“Breakout to $211 and beyond? Bulls looking for a break north of $211 but this could offer resistance. Sustained rally beyond $211 starts to bring all-time highs in view again. If there’s disappointment, the support trend line comes in around $185.”


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Commerce today is more accessible than ever. With online marketplaces, individuals and companies can trade transnationally with fewer hurdles and with more purchase data than they’re willing to digest. Even with behemoths like Amazon and eBay at the center of it all, surrounding them are constellations of smaller, original and specific online stores finding success.
What’s powering digital marketplaces are the great equalizers for sellers who play ball — global internet access, broadband ubiquity, and a simple purchase experience. It’s a fascinating time, but there are challenges.
A shifting political climate underpinned by protectionism, fading trade agreements, and imposing tariffs have threatened global commerce. While nations such as China are embracing their power as a global trade powerhouse, the United States is shifting towards an isolationist role. These issues were on the table at the World Economic Forum 2017 Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, last January, where Tradeshift also held an event.
In the present day climate, we chose to explore how businesses can weather the storm of disruption spawned by the globalization of technology. A new report by expert and Director of Solutions Marketing at Tradeshift, Vishal Patel, titled, The Rapidly Changing Face of Global Commerce in a Digital World, picks up the topic for a thorough analysis.
Get your copy of The Rapidly Changing Face of Global Commerce in a Digital World
The report details the longstanding history of trade and commerce. After all, civilization was built upon our ability to transact with one another. See how far commerce has come, and more importantly, where B2B commerce is headed. The future of commerce is connected, highly personalized, and comparatively easy to enter. For new startups, adopting this model has proven to be simple. The same cannot be said for many incumbents, and it could cause their decline.
Consider the ‘death of retail.’ Shoppers no longer want to meander through a mall and sift through choices. Instead, they opt for e-commerce for same-day delivery of almost anything for the lowest price. Hence, innovation and investment have flooded the e-commerce realm in search of consumers willing to spend. This digital marketplace experience is now creeping into the B2B space. If history is any indicator, digitally connected early adopters will likely emerge victorious.
The report details how this can play out, where in the world we are seeing rapid progress, and the coming age of inclusive commerce.


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FEB 26, 2020 | EUROPEAN UNION
‘Prepare for All Eventualities’ on UK-EU Data Transfers, EDPS Says
Euractiv, February 26, 2020
By Samuel Stolton
Thomas Boué, director-general for Europe Policy at BSA, the software trade association, told EURACTIV that “over the next 10 months, it will be critical to build on the existing convergence of rules, including on privacy and trade, to enshrine a strong and comprehensive framework for EU-UK data transfers.”
BSA | The Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the leading advocate for the global software industry before governments and in the international marketplace. Its members are among the world’s most innovative companies, creating software solutions that help businesses of all sizes in every part of the economy to modernize and grow.
With headquarters in Washington, DC, and operations in more than 30 countries, BSA pioneers compliance programs that promote legal software use and advocates for public policies that foster technology innovation and drive growth in the digital economy.


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UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a 50% discount in business rates for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors for the next year, with claims of up to a maximum of £110,000 available. The move is being heralded as a much welcome massive boost to the industry.
The government is introducing a new temporary business rates relief in England for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties for 2022-23, amounting to almost £1.7 billion. More than 90% of retail, hospitality and leisure businesses will be eligible to receive at least 50% off their business rates bills in 2022-23.
The government is also introducing a 100% improvement relief for business rates. This will provide 12 months relief from higher bills for occupiers where eligible improvements to an existing property increase the rateable value. The government will be consulting with industry experts on how best to implement this relief, which will take effect in 2023 and be reviewed 5 years later- in 2028.
Outlined in its Budget documents, the Government said: “Reform of business rates will make the system fairer, more responsive and more supportive of investment. The proposals set out will collectively reduce the burden of business rates in England by over £7 billion over the next five years.”
“The commercial property market should welcome the Chancellor’s comments relating to business rates announced in today’s Autumn Budget. Most retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses are still fighting hard to get back on an even keel following the Covid-19 pandemic and so the certainty of continued business rates relief for these sectors is a great help.
“This will aid those business owners and investors looking to prepare their properties for sale and give purchasers the confidence to progress with acquisitions. The introduction of three yearly business rate revaluation in 2023 will help to flatten the peaks and troughs that the previous valuation time scale created.
“The business rates exemptions for green property improvements will benefit and enhance the quality of business property stock at a time where the environmental benefits of a premises are seen as crucial to their sustainability by much of the financial industry,” said Mike Hughes, NAEA Propertymark commercial board member, adding:
“Finding a way to taper the benefits of all these announcements following 2023 may be difficult, but the Chancellor has given us hope for the growth in the commercial property market with this budget.”


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Food News: Taste of Belgium closes at North Market, 4th & State debuts Downtown
This weekend, the owners of Eden Burger are continuing the soft launch for their new plant-based café, called 4th & State, located at, yes, the corner of Fourth and State streets Downtown. The café offers a small selection of breakfast items, as well as salads, veggie bowls, sandwiches and flatbreads. The soft opening takes place Dec. 21 and 22 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with plans to add dinner hours at a later date.
The North Market’s decade-old Belgium waffle vendor has closed. According to Columbus Underground, the North Market Development Authority did not renew Taste of Belgium’s lease. On its Facebook page, Taste of Belgium announced intentions to reopen elsewhere in Columbus. In the meantime, waffles are still available to order online at authenticwaffle.com.
Double Barrel Kitchen & Bar, a new spot for burgers, wings, bourbon and live music, debuted this week at 6445 N. Hamilton Rd. near Westerville. Founders Steve Cohee, Todd Taylor and John Votino also own the Tex-Mex eatery Adobe Gila’s. Double Barrel’s grand opening party kicks off at 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 19, featuring live music from the Jack.
A new Chinese restaurant called K House is now serving lunch and dinner at 5230 Bethel Center Mall, formerly Hong Kong Express.


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Tag : income
Amazon sales rocketSubscription
Amazon’s sales grew by 34% year on year to $43.7bn (£33bn) in the third quarter, as it reported turnover from physical stores for the first time.
UK retailers to lag behind EU next yearSubscription
UK retailers’ earnings growth potential will be lower than that of their continental peers in 2018 in the wake of Brexit uncertainty, according to Moody’s.


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World hunger is the result of greed
An article I read recently noted that many people are suffering from chronic hunger around the world. Global food prices are at their highest since the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation started monitoring them in 1990.
Basic food items such as cooking oils, rice and corn cost more than they did before. This has seriously affected poor households. In addition, many developing countries have stopped subsidising farmers or being involved in food marketing, storage, transportation or credit provision. As a result, more and more poor farmers are finding it difficult to provide sufficient food for their families. Meanwhile, rich countries continue to subsidise and protect local farmers, undermining food production in developing countries.
The world is unfair. Yet food, a basic necessity for life, should not be the plaything of unjust market forces. Well-to-do people today have more food than ever before, yet the poor often go hungry.
Yuki Yek Nim-ching, Kit Sam Lam Bing Yim Secondary School
From the Editor
Thank you for your letter, Yuki. Hunger has always been a global problem and it is one that many people are working to solve. Many of the issues surrounding world hunger are out of our realm. We can't do anything about wild weather or crazy government laws or rich people gambling with food prices. All we can do is not be part of the problem.
The wastage of food in developed countries is truly frightening. For example, a goat that is slaughtered by a poor family in Africa will be completely eaten from snout to tail, as the saying goes.
Yet, in the West, people just want to eat choice steaks. By doing so, they create a demand for high-end steaks. That means the rest of the animal is often wasted, even though it could feed whole families.
Thankfully in Hong Kong, people still eat tripe, tendons, brains and lungs. But it won't be too long before that changes. We need to make a conscious effort not to waste food.


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Statistics Faroe Islands has just conducted the five biannual surveys gathering the views of households and the four industrial sectors on the current and expected economic condition. These five surveys make up the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI).
Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak two years ago, the ESI was in a stabile position before dropping dramatically from 32 to minus 16 in the surveys of the summer 2020, which marked the biggest decline since the surveys were first conducted in 2006. Since then, the ESI has steadily risen for each survey and is now at 29, which is roughly the same in comparison with the figure before the pandemic.
The economic sentiment indicator is an arithmetic mean of the confidence indicators extracted from the separate conducted surveys. The latest survey results show that the confidence indicator for the ‘services’ and ‘construction’ industrial sectors saw the biggest increase, while a smaller increase is recorded for the industrial sectores ‘primary sector and industry’ and ‘retail trade’. The confidence indicator for households is 5 compared to 10 in the summer of 2021.
The services sector industrial sector
The ‘services’ industrial sector, which includes restaurants, hotels and road hauliers, was hit hard by the effects of Covid-19.
After the pandemic hit two years ago, the confidence indicator for ‘services’ dropped by 66 points in the first half of 2020, which is the biggest decrease between back-to-back surveys since 2006. The confidence indicator then increased somewhat in the following two surveys. In the latest survey, the confidence indicator for ‘services’ was at 57, compared to 9 in the summer of 2021. The latest survey shows that businesses in this group are more optimistic on average about the past year than in the previous three surveys. Asked about expectations for demand for staff in the coming year, a growing number of businesses estimate that the demand for staff will increase. Further information.
The Primary sector and industry
Fish exporters make up a significant portion of the ’primary sector and industry’ sector.
International fish markets suffered greatly from Covid-19 restrictions, which led to a relatively big drop in exports and overstocked warehouses. As a result, the confidence indicator plummetet as rapidly as ever before since 2006, as was the case for confidence in the ‘services’ industrial sector. The trend has since reversed, now more or less equalling the confidence indicator level from before the pandemic, surpassing the long-term average. As was the case in the last survey in the summer of 2021, in the latest survey a small majority of businesses within this sector are optimistic, estimating that as of now orders from abroad are more numerous than usual. An even larger majority of businesses than in the previous survey estimate that stock of finished products is too small. A relatively large majority of businesses also estimate that orders for the coming year are larger than usual. Asked how much guaranteed work is anticipated by number of months, the answer was 6 months, which is close to the long-term average in this industrial sector. Further information
Following a stable period from 2014 to 2017 in which the confidence indicator remained relatively high, optimism in the ‘construction’ sector dropped from 2018 to the summer of 2020.
In contrast to the ‘primary sector and industry’ and ‘services’ industrial sectors, the confidence indicator for ‘construction’ began declining relatively early, and prior to the Covid-19 outbreak. However, the three most recent surveys have seen a return to a growth in confidence. The average estimate among construction businesses is that for the coming 13 months guaranteed work is expected. This is an increase of two months on the two previous surveys. Further information.
From a long-term perspective, the confidence indicator for the ‘retail trade’ industrial sector has been gradually decreasing since 2016, scoring below average in the previous four surveys.
During the pandemic, however, the confidence indicator for ‘retail trade’ has not declined at the same rate in comparison with the other three industrial sectors. Since 2006 it has been estimated by a majority of retail businesses that warehouse are are either adequately stocked or overstocked, as opposed to understocked. 16% of the retail businesses included in the latest survey estimate that warehouses are currently understocked, which is the highest percentage since 2006. In terms of expectations for sales in the coming year, the responses yielded a net figure of 19, which is just below the total average since 2006. Zero retail businesses expected a decreasing demand for staff in the coming year, corresponding to to a net figure of 32, which is more or less unchanged compared to the survey in the summer of 2021, and above the long-term average. Further information.
The confidence indicator for households is down by five points, from 10 to 5, since the summer of 2021. However, it remains above the long-term average, as was the case in the two previous surveys.
In terms of the condition of the Faroese economy in the past year, the net figure of the confidence trend for households has been gradually decreasing since the summer of 2019. In terms of the outlook on household economies, the net figure remains more or less unchainged and close to the long-term average. Households noted an average estimate that the Faroese economy will remain in a similar condition as today during the next 12 months, though the net figure in the summer of 2021 was at a more optimistic 8. In the previous six surveys, an increasing portion of households stated that they have plans for home improvements in the coming year. The net figure for this question was 19, which is the highest rate since 2006. Further information.


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Voorhees store sells winning Jersey Cash 5 ticket
VOORHEES – Store owner Sanjay Zaveri celebrated Friday after learning he sold a winning Jersey Cash 5 ticket Thursday worth $298,416.
Lottery officials announced a local woman bought five tickets at Zaveri’s Burnt Mill News store Thursday; Zaveri said three were her own numbers and two QuickPicks. One of the woman’s QuickPicks had the winning numbers: 6, 10, 18, 29 and 30.
Zaveri said the unidentified woman has been coming into his store for the past two years. “She’s a real nice lady. I’m happy for her.”
The store owner will collect $2,000 from the New Jersey Lottery Commission for selling the winning ticket. “After taxes that will be about $1,200,” he said.
“Hey, that’s $1,200 I didn’t have yesterday.”
It’s not the first time Zaveri has sold a big winner: “I used to work with my sister at her store in Philly. I sold one that won $582,000 and another that was worth $300,000.”


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Business sales in Orange County staged a modest rally in 2011, compared with the previous two years, but were far below pre-recession activity, according to data from BizBen.com, a website that specializes in the sale of California businesses.
For the 12 months, 1,308 Orange County businesses were sold, up 8.5 percent from 2010. That’s less than half the 3,118 sales in 2007. And, sales also dropped on a monthly basis in December, when 97 businesses were sold, almost 12 percent fewer than the same period of 2010.
Among Orange County cities, Anaheim had the most business sales in 2011 with 157. Other cities with significant sales include:
Garden Grove, 112
Santa Ana, 94
Huntington Beach, 90
The percentage change doesn’t always mean much. For example, Laguna Niguel’s 100 percent increase merely represents two more business transactions than in 2010. The city-by-city performance is much better than in 2007, when 26 cities had fewer businesses sold.
Orange County is not alone in its improvement of business sales. With the exception of San Bernardino County, business sales in surrounding counties also increased in 2011. They declined 4.6 percent statewide. These modest results reflect an economy that is still weak.
Los Angeles County accounted for 27 percent of California’s business sales, but the county’s sales are still a third less than they were three years ago, according to BizBen records.


text: There’s no doubt that the mobile phone industry is one of the most successful ones out there. And in the past few years, it had an amazing rise in growth. Almost everyone on this planet owns a smartphone, and that alone is enough to show you how significantly important they have become in our everyday lives. It wasn’t too long ago when people couldn’t even imagine having a wireless telephone that can be brought with them anywhere they go. technology Fast forward a few years, and we have these ultimately smart devices that help us in our everyday tasks and take more realistic pictures than the one we can see with our own eyes. What we think of as “The Future” will come much sooner than we think. And that’s why we created this article for you. Today we’re covering the future of the phone industry and what to expect in the next couple of years.


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Android’s founder Andy Rubin gave a glimpse of a Motorola tablet device running Honeycomb (Android 3.0 or is it 2.4 now?) at the D:Dive Into Mobile event earlier this month and rumours staring flying that Motorola will be joining in the tablet race in 2011, well with this video it’s pretty safe to say that the rumours have some substance in them.
Ahead of the Consumer Electronic Show happening January 2011, Motorola has released a teaser video to clue viewers in on what to expect and it looks like the US company is looking to make some serious impact calling the iPad a “giant iPhone” and that the Android OS that’s running the Samsung Galaxy Tab is “for a phone“.
Towards the end, the video clues us in on what OS the Motorola tablet will be running and it looks like Honeycomb.
No other details was revealed in the video but sources are saying that the Motorola tablet could very well have the following specs but of course all this is not confirmed. All we are sure off is that a Motorola tablet is coming and it is coming very soon.
- 7-inch and 10-inch versions
- 32GB storage
- NVIDIA Tegra 2 T20 dual-core processor
- 1280×800 resolution
- 5MP camera on the back, 2MP on the front.
- HDMI out
- Versions for UMTS, CDMA and LTE (all bases covered!)
So the stage is set for 2011 to be the year of the table with the upcoming iPad 2 getting ready to compete with the like of RIM’s PlayBook, a revised Samsung Galaxy Tab and this newcomer from Motorola. We can’t wait for the year to end!
Head on to after the jump for the Motorola tablet teaser video — “Tablet Evolution”


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The XFL season is off to a great start. Ratings are up, the action is much better than it was back in 2001, and already several cities want to know how they can get a team if and when the XFL expands this summer.
Now the question we all knew would come up – will there be an XFL video game?
XFL video game coming?
Rumors of an XFL video game hitting the market started well before the league began the 2020 campaign.
When the XFL took to social media to ask fans what they thought a video game for the XFL would need to pique gamers’ interest, the response was overwhelming.
It only makes sense. Sports fans who love video games would welcome an XFL game with open arms.
While the Madden series of NFL games are always a hit, and Doug Flutie’s Max Football brought a different variety of teams and leagues, an XFL video game would seemingly fit right in.
No word has been officially made on if the XFL will be entering the video game market, but rumors began swirling again following a mockup XFL cover released by the popular @videogames IG page.
Here's a mock XFL 2K20 video game cover that recently surfaced online. Word is the league is in talks to have a game created with 2K rumored as the "frontrunner" to create it. #XFL2020 (S/O @videogames IG) pic.twitter.com/d8opM9hYfj
— XFL Football Fans (@XFLFootballFans) February 17, 2020
They say you have to strike while the iron is hot, so if a game was to be created it could be relatively soon. Rumors already suggest that 2K is in talks as the “frontrunner” to make the game. 2K is the company behind the popular NBA 2K and WWE 2K sports game franchises.
According to a Sports Gamer Online report last month, 2K would not comment on the rumors when contacted, though.
XFL cover athlete possibilities
If an XFL game hits the market in 2021 or 2022, who would be an early choice as the cover athlete?
Since we are only two games into the inaugural season of the XFL 2.0 reboot, opinions on a cover athlete vary considerably.
Right off the top, you have to look at two players who are more than deserving of the honor – quarterbacks PJ Walker and Cardale Jones.
Jones has done a great job in his first two starts for the DC Defenders.
In two games, Jones has thrown for 511 yards and four touchdowns while Houston’s Walker has thrown for 442 yards and seven touchdowns.
Other players that would get early consideration for an XFL cover could be wideouts Nelson Spruce (Los Angeles) and Rashad Ross of the DC Defenders.
While rumors are out there, and with the XFL planting the seed months before the season began by asking questions of what fans would love to see in an XFL video game, the earliest a game could probably hit the market would be in 2022.
However, the way Vince McMahon operates, one could be in the works already. You just never know.


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BSkyB – James Murdoch’s master plan comes closer to fruition
Today's announcement that BSkyB has made a £4.9bn bid to buy Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia from 21st Century Fox is, on the surface, a straightforward play by a British pay-tv business to become a European giant.
Jeremy Darroch, BSkyB's chief executive, wants to run a business whose interests do not stop at the Channel. The deal would open up the German, Austrian and Italian pay-tv markets which are not as well developed as the UK's.
As BSkyB reaches 11.5 million customers in Britain and Ireland, the room for endless subscription growth is slowing.
New products such as Sky Store (a download DVD service) and Now (the availability of Sky services without a long term subscription) do provide some opportunities for growth.
But they are probably not game changers.
This deal is.
If successful, BSkyB would go from being a UK and Ireland based business with £7bn in revenues to a business with 20 million customers and revenues of over £11bn.
Investors will have to digest the impact of the issuing of shares (which they will buy) and the increase in debt BSkyB plans to finance the deal.
The business's credit rating is likely to be downgraded as its debt increases.
One of those investors in BSkyB is of course 21st Century Fox itself, which owns 39% of the company.
So, in part, the Murdoch empire is paying itself to finance the deal.
And that leaves the bigger question - what is the ultimate goal?
James Murdoch is the chief operating officer of Fox. He was also once the chairman of BSkyB when News Corporation tried to buy the whole of the business in 2010.
That deal floundered in 2011 over media plurality issues and the fact that part of the News Corporation empire - the newspapers - was embroiled in phone hacking allegations.
James Murdoch quit as BSkyB chairman.
But he is still on the board. As is Chase Carey, to all intents and purposes Rupert Murdoch's deputy. Both men retain a high-level interest in the fortunes of the business.
James Murdoch launched the bid for BSkyB as a way of creating a vehicle for an assault on Europe.
This could well be a similar project, just via a different route.
Mr Murdoch's quotes today - welcoming the BSkyB offer - are worth digesting.
"We have always believed that a combination of the European Skys would create enormous benefits for the combined business and for our shareholders," he said.
"Ultimately, a pan-European Sky is good for customers, who will benefit from the accelerated technological innovation and enhanced customer experience made possible by a fully integrated business."
"We look forward to participating in Sky's exciting next chapter under the leadership of Jeremy Darroch."
That next exciting chapter, say senior observers of the situation, could be for Fox to buy the 61% of BSkyB it does not already own.
Such a move would be a few years away, if it ever happened.
There is still the small matter of Rupert Murdoch's desire to buy the American entertainment behemoth Time Warner for $80bn. That deal will take some doing, and the cash raised by the offer from BSkyB will be welcome.
But do not bet against James Murdoch fulfilling his ultimate ambition of leading a pan-European pay-tv business.
Those close to him say that despite the defeat in 2010 and 2011, that ambition still burns brightly.


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This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
One of the most anticipated games for next year is the follow up to The Last of Us, and though everyone was expecting Part II to come out in February, Naughty Dog has made the hard decision to push back the game to May 2020.
Writing on the Playstation Blog, game director Neil Druckmann has announced that The Last of Us Part II is now set for a release on May 29, 2020. He writes:
“However, it was during the last few weeks, as we were closing out sections of the game, that we realized we simply didn’t have enough time to bring the entire game up to a level of polish we would call Naughty Dog quality. At this point we were faced with two options: compromise parts of the game or get more time. We went with the latter, and this new release date allows us to finish everything to our level of satisfaction while also reducing stress on the team.”
While some fans may be bummed that the game has been delayed, I think it’s for the best. I would rather wait longer for a completed game then get something unfinished on time. Besides, after all the news of game companies abusing employees with “crunch culture”, it’s good that Naughty Dog has its workers’ wellbeing in mind when it comes to the making of this game.
Despite the delay, fans can actually play The Last of Us Remastered which is now being offered for free on the Playstation Network. It’s a game that came out in 2013, but it’s sure to keep everyone hyped until the release of the sequel.
Catch The Last of Us Part II when it comes out May 29, 2020.


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Cutting the cord isn't always a straightforward process. Here's what you need to know.
What's a 3DS without the 3D? Your answer: Nintendo's budget-minded non-foldable new handheld coming in October.
The Xpression has a slider design in red, a full keyboard, a touch screen, and basic features for $49 with service.
Though the Lumia 920 was the headliner at Nokia World, the 820 comes with enough exciting pizazz as a standalone device.
Pricing not available
On the red carpet in San Francisco on Wednesday, the actor accidentally reveals a sizable spoiler for how Tyrion Lannister will fare in Season 5 of "Game of Thrones."
With its delayed touch screen and sluggish processor, the Hotshot's smartphone-esque look is a detriment. It's better to commit to a full-on feature phone or a smartphone instead of a device that overlaps the two.
With new technologies and standards well on their way, TV color realism will significantly improve for the first time since the dawn off color TV. Behold, the technicolored future.
The Samsung Repp offers a decent set of features for the free price, but it's worth shopping around for other U.S. Cellular deals.
We're on the cusp of a revolution in TV color. Whether via DCI P3 or Rec. 2020, richer, more lifelike colors are coming soon to content and TV screens near you. Here's what you need to know.
Sporty and spacious, Kia's newest concept for the 2015 Geneva auto show is exactly what's said on the tin.


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Faster and cheaper commercialisation of semiconductor technologies will be achieved with the launch of four new labs in Singapore.
That is the opinion of Professor Dim-Lee Kwong, executive director of the Institute of Microelectronics (IME), who said: "These collaborations will encourage semiconductor R&D that is relevant for industry, and provide solutions for a rapidly evolving global electronics market." IME is a research institute within the Singapore government's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). The four labs, which will come at a cost of around S$200m (£95m), are a joint venture between IME and ten industry partners: Applied Materials, Dai Nippon Printing, DISCO, KLA-Tencor, Mentor Graphics, Nikon, Panasonic Factory Solutions Asia Pacific, PINK, Tokyo Electron Ltd. and Tokyo Ohka Kogyo. Professor Kwong continued: "Through this integrated platform, our partners can leverage A*STAR IME's technologies and expertise to develop innovative technologies and products to address challenges in the semiconductor industry." The four joint labs in lithography, wafer level packaging (WLP), metrology and assembly, will provide an integrated platform for semiconductor R&D, starting with patterning, further development of 3D Integrated Circuits (IC), quality control, and finally, the assembly and high-volume manufacturing of chips. Dr. Gishi Chung, senior vice president at Tokyo Electron, one of the industrial partners in the project, said: "It is increasingly important to make innovation by collaborating with consortia, academia and industry. Cost-effective technology, past and future industry demand, is always created by innovation. This collaborative platform with A*STAR IME will play a key role to make both innovation and the global ecosystem."


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Google Wallet may not have been the hit Google had hoped, but according to a news report, the Silicon Valley giant may try to breath new life into its mobile payments business by tackling not just the digital billfold, but the digital cash register as well.
[company]Google[/company] has been testing new retail point-of-sale software that works on Android or device or integrates with a store’s existing payment processing system, according to a new report from The Information. The service is called Plaso – pronounced “Play-So” – and it allows customers to pay for goods and services by giving their initials to the sales clerk at the register, The Information’s unnamed sources said.
If that sounds like the failed Square Wallet, you’re right. Plaso appears to be using Bluetooth beacon technology to detect Google’s digital payments apps on smartphones physically in the store or near check out. Like Square…
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Little Caesar’s Pizza served up cheesy smiles to dozens of kids in the Shawnee neighborhood through the Love Kitchen.
What’s essentially a big-rig pizza kitchen on wheels stopped at the Shawnee Boys and Girls Club to feed everyone for free. The event happens a couple of times a year.
“It’s something the kids really look forward to,” Kolby Atkinson with BGC said. “They come outside and see the big ‘ol Little Caesar’s truck and they know they’re getting pizza for the day. So it just gets them amped up and excited.”
Little Caesar’s said delivering the pies makes them excited too, especially when they see how happy it makes the kids.
“When you do something good for somebody and you don’t need nothing in return, it just makes you feel good about yourself knowing that I did something good today,” Anthony Easton with the Love Kitchen said.
The Love Kitchen was set to make three additional stops in Louisville throughout the week, hoping to serve 1,500 people.
There are currently two trucks in operation that travel across the United States, serving communities 365 days a year. More than three million people have been served, thus far.
More information on the Love Kitchen can be found here.


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WellDoc to hit $50M funding mark with latest round
Baltimore health care WellDoc plans to ring up $20 million in new funding.
WellDoc, which develops tools to help patients manage their diabetes, expects to close on the round shortly, co-founder Ryan Sysko said Friday. The latest round will put their total funding at around the $50 million mark.
WellDoc has already raised $30 million from angel investors since Sysko and his sister, Dr. Suzanne Sysko Clough, an endocrinologist, launched the company in March 2005.
And according to WellDoc’s Dec. 9 Form D filing the company is looking to raise an additional $20 million.
Ryan Sysko would not talk in detail about the funding raise.
Sysko said the $20 million in funding will be used to commercialize its BlueStar diabetes management tool, including sales and marketing. The company plans to hire additional sales and marketing people who would largely be based in Baltimore.
He declined to say who will be investing in the company.
WellDoc has close to 100 people between facilities in Baltimore and Bangalore, India.
The privately held company had about $10 million in revenue in 2012. Sysko told the Baltimore Business Journal in June that the company expects 2013 revenue to be double that figure. He declined to provide an updated revenue projection Friday.
Gary Haber covers Banking, Finance, Insurance, Law
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UK pays most for SIM free smartphones in Europe
We’re generally used to seeing prices of tech being lower in other countries, such as the US, and have to allow for ‘Brit Tax’ but, in a new study released today, consumers in the UK are suffering with the highest cost of SIM-free handsets in Europe when it comes to the top smartphones.
In an analysis of the prices of the most popular smartphone models across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland, the average price was €305.19, whereas in the UK, the average price is €323.28. It is in Italy where consumers are getting the best deal, with the average cost at just €285.98.
On the back of these findings, and coupled with the current strength of the Pound over the Euro, consumers looking to purchase a smartphone in the UK might do well to cast their net further afield in search of retailers who ship from Europe.
The study can be read in full here.


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Bonial.se brings retail circular to life for Swedish consumers with location-based mobile app and website, addressing shift in media consumption from print to digital / Sweden as a strategic market for Bonial.com Group / Bonial.com Group now in nine countries
The Bonial.com Group (www.bonial.com), the leading international provider of digital circular advertising and part of German media corporate Axel Springer SE, announced today its expansion to Sweden with the launch of Bonial.se (www.bonial.se).
Bonial.se provides a mobile app and website that gives Swedish consumers a digital alternative to print circulars. The digitized format pulls local retail circulars based on the user’s location, allowing shoppers to simply select, search, browse and share the circulars they find interesting.
Aiming to top retailers from across the country, Bonial.se replicates the print circular experience in a digital format, while providing new functionality that can’t be incorporated into print. Shoppers can page through the digital version as they normally would, but they also can search by product or brand to locate local store sale items, create shopping lists, create alerts for items, share deals with friends on social media, and even view videos or other product information.
For retailers, Bonial.se provides new opportunities to reach circular readers who are migrating from print to digital, as well as a new generation of shoppers who are more likely to shop using their mobile devices or tablets.
“Currently we are reaching 20 million users globally with our apps repeatedly ranking #1 in international app stores. We have proven to be a must-have for both retailers and consumers in our other markets where we are already working for most of the leading retail chains, being market leader in nearly all important retail markets. We’re excited to now bring this technology to Sweden,“ says Christian Gaiser, CEO and founder of the Bonial.com Group.
Bonial.se will be managed by the team of Ofertia.com which was acquired by the Bonial.com Group in April 2015.
Sweden as a strategic market for Bonial.com Group’s business model
The Bonial.com Group is currently present in eight countries with kaufDA in Germany, Retale in the U.S, Bonial in France, Ofertia in Spain, Mexico, Chile and Colombia and Guiato in Brazil. The group has chosen Sweden as the ninth country due to the strong level of digital media usage, combined with the high volume of paper brochures sent per household.
According to the first Pan-European Door Drop Census, (published by the European Letterbox Marketing Association, ELMA), Sweden distributes up to 3.5 billion brochures per year for a total population of only 10 million people. The study also exposes a ranking where Sweden is the seventh country in terms of paper brochure distribution with 19 brochures per household per week. The European average is 12 brochures per household per week, so Sweden distributes up to 7 more than the European average.
This data is paired with the huge Internet and smartphone penetration in Sweden. The majority of the Swedish population uses the Internet for frequently researching or purchasing online. According to the World Bank, Sweden has an Internet penetration of 94.8 %, while the penetration of smartphone devices is approximately 82 %, even higher than in the U.S., which are around 52 %.
With the launch of its services in Sweden, the Bonial.com Group strengthens its leadership position in the European market.
About Bonial.com Group
The Bonial.com Group belongs to Axel Springer SE, the leading digital publisher in Europe, and has been offering professional solutions for high street retail in the area of location-based services since the start-up of kaufDA in 2008 and as an innovation engine defines the future of digital circular advertising. In only six years the group was able to become an internationally leading network for location-based brochure advertising. Today the Bonial.com Group reaches consumers on nine markets around the world with its mobile apps and websites: USA, Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Chile. In Germany the brands kaufDA and MeinProspekt with to date more than 12 billion visited circular pages and 11 million users per month make up the largest consumer reach combination in their sector. The German founder Christian Gaiser is at the head of the Bonial.com Group as CEO.


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Lenovo is set to deliver three new smartphones to the Nigerian market. According to the company, it will launch the P70, S90 and S60 in Nigeria.
According to Lenovo, the Lenovo P70 has a 4000mAh battery, which has a batery life of up to three days. The P70 also features a 5-inch display with HD resolution at 720×1280 pixels.
According to Lenovo, the device also features a 1.7 GHz quad-core processor, Mediatek MT6752 64-bit chip, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal memory, expandable up to 32 GB via microSD card.
The Lenovo S90 comes with a 8 megapixel front-facing camera and front LED flash. The Lenovo S60 is set to showcases the fun and social sides of the smartphone user.
According to Techcabal, Shashank Sharma, Executive Director of Mobile Business Group at Lenovo, Middle East and Africa affirmed Nigeria as one of its principal destination for investment.
“In the past one year, Lenovo has made strong progress with its Nigerian consumers. We consider the region as a principal destination for investment, even as we continue to record robust growth in sales. Sustaining a solid in-country presence is very important to us from both social and economic standpoints. We will continue to expand our business and invest heavily in this market.” said Sharma.


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BANGKOK, 17 April 2019 (NNT) -The Ministry of Commerce accelerates the organization of activities to drive exports. Today, STYLE Bangkok kicked off at BITEC Bang Na. The fair comprises three events which feature lifestyle products to meet the demands of buyers in all product groups.
Business operators from over 70 countries are attending the event.
The fair comprises three events: the Bangkok International Fashion Fair and Bangkok International Leather Fair (BIFF & BIL); the Bangkok International Gift Fair and Bangkok International Houseware Fair (BIG+BIH) and the Thailand International Furniture Fair (TIFF).
The event is being attended by manufacturers and exporters of lifestyle products from all over the country to exhibit their products. There are also products from over 900 companies in other countries including China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and the CLMV countries spread across 1,700 sales booths.
There are also interesting lifestyle product exhibitions, such as the New Entrepreneurs’ Product Exhibition Zone, the Zone for over 100 SME Operators, a zone which introduces the use of various materials to create lifestyle products, the provincial offices of commerce product zone and the Geographical Indication (GI) product zone.
Mr. Bunyarit Kalayanamit, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, today expressed his confidence that the lifestyle product group is still an important export product of Thailand due to its continual expansion.
The event is aimed at being an important international trade fair for the region and to position Thailand as a center for the production and export of lifestyle products. Since the event is host to over 70 exporting countries, this is an opportunity for entrepreneurs and exporters of Thai lifestyle products to expand their businesses into foreign markets.
STYLE Bangkok is open for business negotiations from today until April 19 and will be open to the general public on April 20 and 21 at Hall 98-104, BITEC Bang Na.


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Wide area network (WAN) optimisation specialist Riverbed Technology has released a new version of its RiOS operating system.
RiOS functions as the software platform for all of the company's WAN optimisation appliances, and allows customers to manage WANs and optimise bandwidth use.
Joe Ghory, senior product marketing manager at Riverbed, told V3.co.uk that the new version will function up to twice as fast as the previous one.
Integration and improvement with private cloud applications has been a top priority for the new RiOS build, the firm said.
Ghory said that the operating system is designed to optimise enterprise communication and collaboration platforms such as Microsoft's SharePoint and Exchange platforms and IBM's Lotus software.
Riverbed is also aiming to optimise performance for network appliances, such as EMC's storage platforms and Cisco's MDS gateway systems.
"What we are doing is giving organisations the opportunity to overcome the hurdles and challenges they face in their own datacentres as well as those they face in these other spaces," said Ghory.
"They can make decisions based on what makes the most sense strategically, and not have concerns about performance."
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Monday, December 04, 2006, 07:00 am PT (10:00 am ET)
Digg founder spills beans on Apple iPhone?In the latest episode of his weekly podcast, Digg founder Kevin Rose claims some knowledge of Apple Computer's initial iPhone product.
According to Rose, the extremely compact device will work with both CDMA and GSM networks, making it compatible with all of the most popular wireless carriers, such as Verizon, Sprint, Cingular and T-Mobile.
Apple is also doing "some unique things" with the device, he said, like building in two separate batteries — one for the music player portion and the other for the actual phone.
Rose, who has provided accurate information on Apple products in the past, added that Apple is likely to introduce two models of the phone: a $249 4GB model and a $449 8GB model.
It should be noted that his past predictions on Apple products have come within hours, not months, of the formal introduction for those products.
Still, Rose appeared high in his convictions, even adding that a touch-screen may also be in the cards for the face of the device.
A copy of this week's Diggnation podcast is available here.
On Topic: General
- Judge voices concern over Apple's $450M e-book settlement, says may hurt consumers
- Apple concept would automatically enable iOS 'Do Not Disturb' mode during exercise
- Apple to open 12th Chinese retail store in Wuxi's Center 66 mall next week
- Apple's e-wallet could debut as soon as this fall, possibly with 'iPhone 6'
- Apple hit with class action lawsuit over alleged labor violations, more than 20K plaintiffs involved


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Electric vehicle technology company and platform provider REE Automotive has offered two updates to its progress in the commercial EV segment. First, REE has proven its cloud-based robotic assembly approach and is on schedule to implement it in the UK followed by the US. Additionally, REE has teased its first commercial EV developed alongside JB Poindexter subsidiary, EAVX. REE Automotive and EAVX’s walk-in van prototype will begin customer evaluations this summer.
REE Automotive Stories May 17
REE Automotive Stories January 5
At CES 2022, REE Automotive announced the start of trials of its all-new EV platform specifically designed for commercial delivery vehicles and walk-in vans called the P7. According to REE, this new entirely flat platform was designed based on specifications from one of the world’s largest delivery companies.
REE Automotive Stories December 15, 2021
EV startup REE Automotive announced a strategic agreement with Hitachi America Ltd. to help accelerate commercial fleet EV adoption. Together, the companies plan to co-create a scalable platform that can offer both Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) and Analytics-as-a-Service (AaaS) to support a new generation of connected commercial EVs.
REE Automotive Stories July 23, 2021
Zero-emission technology company REE Automotive has named Austin, Texas, the new home to its US headquarters. The Israel-based e-mobility company now looks to capitalize on a growing market in North America by opening an HQ in The Lone Star State, alongside an Integration Center for the assembly and testing of its proprietary technologies.
REE Automotive Stories April 27, 2021
REE Automotive and Hino Motors, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Group, announced a business alliance to design and produce solutions in “next-generation commercial mobility.” The alliance will combine Hino’s experience as a commercial vehicle manufacturer with REE’s proprietary REEcorner technologies. The result should be a unique modular platform capable of serving a multitude of various purposes.
REE Automotive Stories April 12, 2021
REE Automotive has announced a “strategic collaboration” with Magna International, which will allow both companies to explore the possibilities of fully modular electric vehicles (MEVs) and bring them to market. According to a press release, these MEVs will be based around the REEcorner technology and will don a “Powered by REE” brand.
REE Automotive Stories March 16, 2021
Israeli EV startup REE Automotive, just unveiled its new approach to drive components and platforms. Named REEcorners, these proprietary systems fuse all of the vital parts of an EV together between the chassis and wheel. Combined with its modular EV platforms, REE Automotive sees its technology as a cornerstone for the future of electrified mobility.


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Kourtney Kardashian Barker, known for her love of Halloween, paid homage to her sister Kim Kardashian by recreating her iconic 2013 Met Gala look. Kourtney shared photos on Instagram dressed in the same dress Kim wore when she was pregnant with North West. The dress, designed by Riccardo Tisci, featured a floral printed jersey with grommet details, a turtleneck, and matching gloves and shoes.
Kim also praised her sister's costume choice on her Instagram Story. Earlier in October, Kourtney had shared spooky season snaps, expressing her excitement for Halloween. She announced that she was "ready for" the month and shared images of herself in a sleeveless floral print monochrome dress surrounded by white Halloween pumpkins. Kourtney surprised her husband, Travis Barker, by decorating their home for Halloween in September. She created a spooky dining area with skeletons, skulls, and stuffed crows. Kourtney's Halloween celebrations continue to be a highlight every year.


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Samsung has apparently confirmed a 10.1-inch tablet version of its Galaxy Note pen-enabled smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, with an S-Pen developer event to be held at MWC 2012 (2012 Conference and Exhibition at Mobile World Congress), which will begin Monday, 27 February and will conclude Thursday, 1 March 2012.
A Samsung Galaxy Commercial video which is now no longer available officially but still visible in Google’s cache also proves the possibility of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. The advert “will show a Galaxy Note 10.1 used for education, financial planning, and art” while the actor would play the role of a “teen student” that “uses his Galaxy Note 10.1 to record, take pictures, edit” and more.
It is not surprised that Samsung is going to extend S-Pen functionality beyond the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note. An S-PenSDK already released allows developers to create their own apps which use the more accurate input option, and Samsung has been releasing software tailored to the stylus through its own on-device app store.
As to the specs of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, there have been quite few reports and features leaked. We don’t expect the new device to have phone capabilities and will basically be Samsung’s first 10” Android tablet with full stylus “S-Pen” capabilities. We are also hopeful this will come with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich but cannot confirm that at this time. Praying it will not run on Gingerbread.
PS: The news that the Samsung GalaxyS lll would not make a show on MWC 2012 has been confirmed. About the detailed release date of Samsung Galaxy S lll, there have been rumors which indicate that Samsung would be going to release the successor of Galaxy S ll before the second half of this year, which may mean pre-June, just head-to-head with the long expected iPhone5.


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Staying at the forefront in supply chain requires a willingness to make big changes, and so levying risk is an inherent factor for success. Target lost nearly $1 billion moving into Canada last year, and Boeing and Airbus have shifted toward lightweight materials to build their new aircraft, causing delays. Maija Palmer analyzes what she sees as the past, present, and future of supply chain tech innovation.
In the last five to ten years, RFID was the hot new thing, especially with Walmart mandating its use. But Palmer does not anticipate it becoming as prevalent as was originally anticipated. At present, automation software and collaboration platforms to increase efficiency are the big trend. And in the future, 3D printing could be a game changer, when consumers and businesses are able to purchase software that allows them to print a given part that they need on demand. For more, you can read Palmer’s full article here: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/322d7b4c-4f99-11e4-908e-00144feab7de.html#axzz3GsNjJp8s


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If you can’t afford to tip your server, should you eat out? That is the question one viral TikTok of a low tip is asking.
The video making its rounds on TikTok shows a receipt from an Applebee’s in Staten Island, New York.
The bill totaled out at $73.45 but the server was left with a $6.33 tip. But here’s the thing: The service wasn’t bad.
The customer left a note saying “You [were] great. Holidays are just rough right now,” with an arrow pointing down to the tip.
A little over $13 would be the standard 18% for a bill like this.
The video was posted by TikTok user @kingj023241 but the receipt says the actual server’s name is Dana G.
While the TikTok video is starting to pick up momentum with views, it’s the comment section where it is really starting to heat up.
“Y’all really telling on yourselves in the comments,” one user wrote on the video. “Don’t go out to eat if you can’t afford to tip. There’s no argument you can make to justify it.”
“If money was that tight, why go spend almost $80 on a meal?,” another person asked.
But others were quick to back up the customer.
One woman wrote, “They wanted to take their family somewhere nice and at least they tipped.” Her comment got almost 700 likes.
Others said this video is pointing the blame at the wrong person and instead the server should be upset at the company she works for.
“Why not call out the establishment that doesn’t pay y’all guys instead of calling out a family that wanted a night out,” one person wrote.
Another suggests, “Ban tipping. Force the restaurants to pay servers living wages.”
An interesting idea in a time that the restaurant industry is being hit so hard by labor shortages. We learned in September with the National Restaurant Association’s State of the Industry Mid-Year Update, three out of every four restaurant owners say employee hiring and retention as their greatest difficulty.
Low wages and long hours certainly have something to do with that.
“Customers pay the business. Businesses pay the employees. Not customers pay both,” one commenter added.
We’ve reached out to @kingj023241 via TikTok comment.
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