text:
Ten years ago, a hundred thousand Catholics gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Pope John Paul II had died.
Pope Benedict inauguration 2005 vs Pope Francis inauguration 2013: pic.twitter.com/nAWQzciKNH
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) September 26, 2014
The first image shows the Catholic community mourning. If you look closer, you can see a man in the middle with a smartphone and a few screens glowing.
The second image shows the same place, eight years later. This time, the Catholic community came to witness the inauguration of Pope Francis.
While two very different events (mourning versus celebration), the difference is compelling.
As guest speaker Laura Ramos, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research Inc., explained on our recent webinar:
“You can see that there is a dramatic change in the way that people are experiencing this momentous occasion. Technology has become not only an important part of capturing but also of sharing the experience.”
(By the way, I borrowed the example above from her presentation during our master class in employee advocacy. You can watch full webinar here.)
The social employee: an untapped strategy
This idea of the connected digital customer has become a business truism. Organizations have built social media strategies to speak better to digital customers.
But most social strategies miss one of the best ways to connect with customers and expand their social reach: their employees.
As Laura put it on the webinar, “digitally empowered customers create a new area of competitive advantage. But they are also one of the biggest threats to disrupting your business.”
“Enterprises need to reinvent themselves to understand and improve customer experiences. Making sure your employees are part of creating that experience is key.”
Why employees are key to reaching consumers
Consumers want to hear from your employees. Not supporting and encouraging your employees to share company content misses one of the biggest opportunities in social media.
In both B2B and B2C, what peers say on social channels is more important than what your brand posts on official channels.
For example, a global study by Edelman found that employees are trusted more than CEOs, well-known personalities, elected officials, and celebrities.
The study found that 72 percent of the general public trust social media content shared by friends and family.
In Forrester’s North American Consumer Technographics Online Benchmark Study (April 2014), 67 percent of consumers looked first to brand and product recommendations from friends and family.
Similarly, a Forrester report on the impact of user generated content found that only 19 percent of consumers turned to posts by companies or brands to aid in their purchase decisions.
Forrester Research’s September 2015 report “Advocate Marketing Creates B2B Customer Relationships That Last a Lifetime” found that B2B buyers turn to their peers in the first stages of buying technology products and services.
B2B buyers relied on peers more than tech vendor websites, search engines, and even tech analysts in the early, discovery stage of the purchase process.
Employees want to share your organization’s content
Customers want to hear from your employees as ambassadors for your brand.
But are employees willing to share your organization’s content with their personal networks?
Weber Shandwick, a global PR firm in partnership with KRC Research, conducted a global study of 2,300 employees at organizations with more than 500 employees.
They found an interesting disconnect. 33 percent of employees post messages, pictures, or videos in social media without any encouragement from their employer.
Organizations aren’t doing enough to harness this passion.
As Weber Shandwick’s study found, fewer than 17 percent of employees were satisfied with the frequency of communication from senior management.
Only 45 percent of employees have a clear understanding of what they should and should not do on social channels when it comes to company-related topics.
“To get more returns out of the content you have on hand, most marketers need to put a system in place to feed socially-interesting content to employees to track how they engage with it and share it with their network,” Laura advised on our recent webinar.
How to build your employee advocacy strategy
In our webinar “Extend Your Reach with Employee Advocacy,” you’ll learn how to start including employees in your social media strategy.
Guest speaker Laura Ramos, Forrester Research’s Vice President and Principal Analyst, delivered an amazing presentation on how organizations can extend their social reach with passionate employee advocates.
You’ll also gain an employee advocacy strategy template from Susan Perry, Director of Enterprise Product Marketing at Hootsuite.
And Matt Switzer, VP of Partnerships and Corporate Development, reveals how Hootsuite Amplify is helping organizations such as the University of Michigan extend their social reach.
Watch the webinar to find out:
- Why employee advocacy can significantly boost your organization’s social reach
- How to keep your employees connected and engaged with the 20-30-50 rule
- A sneak-peak of Hootsuite’s Amplify, our new employee advocacy solution


text:
Apple has been testing iOS 9.3 since January 2011. Previously Apple has released iOS 9.2 for testing to the developers and public beta testers. Now Apple is releasing seventh beta of iOS 9.3 to the developers and public beta testers for testing. iOS 9.3 is available as OTA through Apple developer center.
iOS 9.3 includes new features like Night Shift Mode which can help user to viewing better on iPhone, iPad in night. Apple introduced iPad education program, in that program they includes multi-user login.
Apple news App also includes new features like more recommendation, faster update landscape view on iPhone. Apple news also support in-line video. Health including Apple watch style “activity” view.
Apple iOS 9.3 also support multiple Apple watch support. There are new Quick Actions for Weather, Settings, Compass, Health, App Store, and iTunes Store. This will be last version of testing, after that Apple will be planning to release iOS 9.3 to public.

domain: news


text:
Apple is offering its employees free genetic testing for diseases, courtesy of a deal with California genomic testing lab Color Genomics.
Cupertino offers these tests through AC Wellness, the company’s employee health clinics. The hope is that genetic testing could help employees understand potential health problems they face — and take steps to reduce risk.
A report for CNBC notes that:
“By offering cutting-edge medical treatments like genetic testing, AC Wellness can help Apple recruit and retain talented employees. In addition, although AC Wellness is technically a separate company from Apple, medical experts have speculated that it could help Apple quietly test new products or ideas without risking leaks. So the group’s partnership with Color could indicate Apple’s broader interest in the space.”
Color Genomics tests cover gene mutations known to be associated with cancer and cardiovascular disease. It also includes ancestry information. Unlike publicly available competitors such as Ancestry and 23andMe, Color’s tests are not available to just anyone who wants them. To receive them, members of Apple’s AC Wellness staff must recommend employees take the test.
It’s not clear exactly who qualifies for Apple’s free testing. CNBC suggests that it is Apple’s Silicon Valley employees. I’m not sure how many of these perks extend to contractors, Apple Store employees, or the like.
Apple offers genetic tests as a perk
Other tech companies such as Amazon already offer health clinics. For instance, Amazon Care is available to employees based at Amazon’s HQ in Seattle. It has not revealed if it offers genetic testing as part of this.
This is the first time I’ve heard about Apple offering this kind of testing for employees. It doesn’t surprise me, though. Apple has been pushing into health and wellness for a while now. Much of this has been consumer-facing, such as the EKG heart reader on the Apple Watch. CEO Tim Cook even said he thinks health care might wind up being Apple’s lasting legacy.
Combine that with Silicon Valley companies’ tendency to offer lavish perks (one of the reasons Apple is frequently listed as a top employer), and this makes a whole lot of sense. Apple’s other perks include good pay and discounted or free tech products.
Update: One excellent Twitter user points out that Color is using a domain name that was bought by Apple back in 2012. Originally it was used by a video sharing app. At some point it was transferred over to Color Genomics. That suggests that this relationship, at least to some extent, has existed for a while.


text:
Delivering hope to New Mexicans during a pandemic: Food box drop comes to Las Cruces
LAS CRUCES - On Saturday, residents of Doña Ana County were blessed with pre-reserved care packages of food and essential items delivered all the way from Albuquerque.
The local donation of 350 boxes is part of the combined, personal philanthropic efforts by New Mexico State Auditor Brian Colón and Albuquerque business owner Erin Chisolm. The donations are not affiliated with the Auditor's Office in any way.
"For me — as someone who grew up in a situation where we often needed food boxes from the community for survival — it was very easy for me to want to help families who are in need during the COVID-19 pandemic," Colón told the Sun-News.
For 10 years, Colón called Las Cruces home. And, with close ties to the community, he didn't want to forget the southern part of the state in his distribution efforts.
Keep up with all our local reporting. Sign up for a subscription to the Sun-News.
For the past several weeks, Colón, Chisolm and about 20 volunteers have been handing out the care packages across the state and in hard-hit indigenous communities. After Saturday's distribution event in Las Cruces this weekend, they have passed out a total of 3,000 packages.
For Colón and Chisolm, the effort is about restoring hope to the statewide community.
"These boxes are not just filled with food, they're filled with love and hope," Colón said in an interview with the Sun-News.
Colón said even though people are isolated due to the pandemic, they shouldn't feel like they're alone. He described the experience as amazing, and said that he's even seen grown men who have needed the help cry.
"It's been amazing. I'm 50 years old and it's not often you see grown men cry," he said. "But when they have the humility to seek help, it comes. And I think it's because we're restoring people's hope in humanity — and that's a special, special thing," he said.
Initially, Colón said they were planning on distributing about 240 care packages to Doña Ana County. But within two hours of posting about the food drive, they received reservations for all of those boxes. So they increased the amount they were going to donate to 350 boxes.
"We had to cap it at 350," he said, because they didn't have the resources at the time to fulfill any more orders.
Each care package includes frozen food, rice, beans, pasta and essential household items. General Mills donated 40,000 granola bars to the campaign, so every box includes the popular snack food.
Adrian Esquivel and his son Elijah waited in line Saturday to receive the care package after Elijah's teacher signed them up.
- Food news: Bags of beans, chile to be given away; pantries need donations, volunteers
- Here are the free meal distribution sites for LCPS, FYI and Roadrunner Food Bank
- Coronavirus response: Game II giving away free box of potatoes Tuesday in Las Cruces
"Instead of food, now I can spend that money to pay a bill. I don't have to make that decision whether to buy something I need to eat or shampoo," Esquivel said. "I think it's awesome that it's available, I just wish there was a normal that we could go back to."
Jennifer Schell and her friend Sylvia Burns heard about the food box drop by word of mouth and signed up right away.
"It helps the community because some of the stores can't get toiletries and all that fast enough as people are taking it, so this helps a lot," Schell said.
In order to donate to participate in the #BriansAngels and #TeamChisolm project, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/teamchisolm-amp-briansangels-deliver-food-amp-hope. So far, the two have put about $30,000 of their own money into the campaign, Colón said.
Bethany Freudenthal can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org, 575-541-5449 or @bethanyfreuden1 on Twitter.


text:
Andres Magnusson, the head of the Icelandic Confederation of Trade and Services, says that redundancies and recession would be the result of increasing Value Added Tax on certain goods and services, as recommended by the International Monetary Fund.
A report by the IMF recommends that Iceland change its VAT system to a single rate for all goods, which would mean significant tax increases on food and other reduced-rate goods. The change could bring an extra ISK 22 billion (USD 175.3 million) to the state coffers.
Magnusson criticises the plan harshly, saying it would hit households hard in the current economic climate. He also pointed to the Federation’s previous claims that increased alcohol tax would not increase government tax revenues from the sale of alcohol. This in fact turned out to be the case, with consumers instead buying cheaper brands, brewing their own wine and beer, or simply buying less alcohol, RUV reports.
He also warned that if the higher VAT is charged, shops may be forced to react to falling revenues by increasing profit margins, thereby pushing prices even higher.
The IMF recommendation comes after the Icelandic government asked the Fund to analyse the country’s tax system and find good ways to increase overall tax takings. The IMF report states that the Icelandic tax system is generally good, but that flat rate VAT and changes to the capital gains tax might be advisable. The government has not disclosed how likely or unlikely it is to follow the IMF’s recommendations.


text:
BATON ROUGE, La. (press release) – The Louisiana Office of Tourism is heading to California this week to meet with some of the top global tourism marketers at the 2019 North American Journeys’ Receptive Tour Operator (NAJ RTO) Summit West in Los Angeles on Feb. 13-14.
“Receptive Tour Operators, or RTOs, are the cornerstone of tourism businesses that help us promote our state to global markets including China, Europe, Latin America and Australia,” said Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser. “Tourists from other countries stay longer and spend more money compared to domestic visitors, so it’s a natural fit to send our marketing team to these tourism summits.”
A Receptive Tour Operator (RTO) is a U.S.-based company working as a liaison and booking agent in an international market. The RTO provides the link between a foreign travel agency selling a tour package to Louisiana and all the elements or stops on that tour in our state. The NAJ RTO summits offer productive meetings with foreign tour operators with U.S.-based Receptive Tour Operators.
“The NAJ RTO summits serve Louisiana tourism efforts efficiently. The shows are productive and you meet one-on-one with product managers who actually decide the product to market in Louisiana,” said Assistant Secretary Doug Bourgeois.
“Louisiana has a one of a kind experience to offer visitors. We need to continue putting our best foot forward and making sure people around the world know Louisiana is ready to help them pass a good time,” said Lt. Gov. Nungesser.
The NAJ RTO Summit West in Los Angeles attracts more than 100 receptive tour operators, 40 percent of which are Chinese RTOs. It’s now NAJ’s largest RTO event. Other NAJ RTO Summits will be held in April in New York City and in October in Orlando, FL.


text:
My spin: The Register is reporting that Sony this week unveiled a new low-end PDA, the CliÈ PEG-TJ27, set to ship alongside the high-end TH55 and mid-range TJ37 devices it announced earlier this month.
The device had been expected, but caused some surprise when it did not form part of last week’s Japanese launch. However, the TJ27 finally arrived yesterday when all three CliÈs made their US debut.
Many of Sony’s products are more expensive offerings, but offering a low priced model will enable a new segment of customers to use Sony products that they may not have used before.
Latest posts by Ramon Ray (see all)
- Wix Launches Simple Marketing Automation for Growing Businesses – Wix Ascend - December 11, 2018
- You’ve Been Fired. How To Start Your Own Business - December 3, 2018
- Make Better Presentation Slides With This New Tool. Ramon Reviews Beautiful.ai - November 27, 2018


text:
Early adopters of Google’s new flagship phone, the Galaxy Nexus, were a little concerned when Adobe Flash didn’t come pre-loaded on the device, and was nowhere to be found in the Android Market. With the recent announcement that Adobe was walking away from mobile Flash, many users expected this to be the abrupt end of the line. Now Adobe has explained its position in a more nuanced way than before, and users won’t be left out in the cold just yet.
In the case of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a version of Adobe Flash Player will be developed, and should be in the Android Market before the end of the year. However, this is the last major update the software will get. Adobe is super-serious this time. Really. Whatever the next major release of Android is, there will be no Flash Player plug-in.
If Google’s release cycle hold up, that means that users have roughly one year until phones start shipping that are incompatible with mobile Flash content. Do you think HTML5 will rule the web in time?


text:
Cloud service provider Dropbox, Inc. (NASDAQ: DBX) reported lower adjusted earnings first quarter of 2023, despite an increase in revenues.
First-quarter earnings, excluding special items, decreased to $0.42 per share from $0.38 per share in the corresponding period of last year. On a reported basis, the net profit was $69 million or $0.20 per share, compared to $79.7 million or $0.21 per share in the first quarter of 2022.
Revenues increased 9% annually to $611.1 million. The top line benefited from a 5% increase in the number of paying users to 17.9 million.
“While the economic backdrop remains tough for our existing businesses, the AI era of computing has arrived and we see a huge opportunity to apply AI/ML to our products to transform knowledge work. I’m committed to ensuring Dropbox is at the forefront of this era and excited to bring more AI-powered products to market for our customers,” said Dropbox’s CEO Drew Houston.
Stocks you may like:
Nike, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) on Thursday reported results for the first three months of fiscal 2024, reporting a modest rise in revenues. The sneaker giant reported net income of $1.45
Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) were down 4% on Thursday after the company delivered mixed results for the fourth quarter of 2023 and provided full-year guidance that came below
CarMax, Inc. (NYSE: KMX) reported second quarter 2024 earnings results today. Net revenues were $7.1 billion, down 13.1% compared to the same period a year ago. Net earnings declined 5.8%


text:
The most influential Megatrends set to shape the world through 2030, identified by Euromonitor International, help businesses better anticipate market developments and lead change for their industries.Learn More
As 2014 comes to an end, we look back at some of our key insights this year. 2014 was a year when the global economy strengthened but at a disappointing pace. Some of the world’s largest economies disappointed or even fell back into recession – including Brazil and Italy – but others, notably the UK and India, outperformed expectations. Consumers are expected to have spent US$43.7 trillion globally in 2014, 64% of which was on non-essentials such as leisure and recreation and communications. The number of households surpassed 2.0 billion for the first time and China overtook the USA to become the world’s largest economy in PPP terms.
The 2014 consumer was a paradoxical one. Interested in an even smarter smartphone at the same time as achieving a better work/life balance and loving brands that appeal to their ideals. For some, sugar became the new tobacco – a toxic health risk. We also saw increasing interest in wearable technology, the rise and rise of the phablet – which merges the functions of a smartphone and tablet – and increasingly blurred lines between e-commerce and physical retailing. A broadening of the trend for customisation and personalisation was also evident.
As 2014 draws to an end, our thoughts turn to the top consumer trends for 2015 and global economic prospects for the year. Consumer trends to be explored in 2015 include wired and well: connected health, Influencers and buying convenience. The global economy looks set to strengthen in 2015 but risks are not insignificant – including the spectre of deflation, geopolitical instability and the weak oil price. The US economy should be a key driver of global growth but other important markets are mired in difficulties including Japan and the eurozone.


text:
The new three-camera array on the back of the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max really got Twitter cooking.
It didn’t take long after today’s “By Innovation Only” event for internet jokers to hit us with their best stovetop memes. But the laughs don’t stop there. Apple fans and haters alike saw everything from electric razors to Pokémon characters in the new iPhone design. Check out some of the best cheap shots taken at Apple’s iconic new design.
Actually, the iPhone 11 Pro camera bump served as something of a Rorschach test. Something about that instantly recognizable three-camera array triggered an explosion of memes.
Of course, the meme-makers had a bit of advance warning. So many leaks and rumors about the iPhone 11 Pro Max flooded the internet that we pretty much knew going into today’s keynote how the design would look.
iPhone 11 Pro camera memes
Still, you’ve got to admire the enthusiasm with which Twitter users took to making fun of that big camera bump. You know, the one that capture the images that enable the iPhone 11 Pro camera to perform astonishing feats of “computational photography mad science.”
Cooking with iPhone 11 Pro
— BlackBallPen (@dinanodamano) September 10, 2019
— olishaan (@olishaan) September 10, 2019
Cutting it close
— Doc Akan™ (@doctor_of_naija) September 10, 2019
— mari (@hsbmarina) September 10, 2019
— ᴍᴏʜᴀᴍᴍᴇᴅ (@m_alftini) September 10, 2019
— shepherd the loner (@Shehriful) September 10, 2019
The Mac Pro treatment
— Mr. Sharma (@gaurav_social) September 10, 2019
Vintage camera gear
— Abrar Ahmed (@abrar2794) September 10, 2019
What do you see?
I remember when I saw the first iPhone 11 Pro design leaks, which basically nailed the design. To me, the big camera bump looked ungainly and unattractive. Now I guess I’ve grown accustomed to it. The design looks OK — but the new photographic firepower sounds amazing.
So, what does the iPhone 11 Pro camera bump look like to you? With prices starting at $999, the latest “pro” iPhones surely won’t be an impulse buy for most people. Still, the advanced camera features might prove enough of a draw to get shutterbugs


text:
Defined as time spent on the internet at the expense of occupational, social and relationship activities, becoming an internet addict is increasingly common.
Research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York showed that after treatment with the antidepressant escitalopram, internet use had dropped from an average of 36.8 hours a week to 16.5 hours. However, the same results were achieved with a placebo.
Confused Apple customers are finding coins in their MacBooks.
High levels of iron help prevent hearing loss, a study has claimed.
A software engineer has constructed a fingernail-sized engine made of paper and it totally works!
Conspiracy theorists claim that there is a mysterious alien based pyramid in the Antarctic.
Toblerone design shape change angers some loyal chocolate lovers in the UK.0 comments
Britain to experience up to 120 days of snow in coldest conditions in years.
More than 40 perfectly preserved ancient shipwrecks accidentally discovered at the bottom of the Black Sea.
x Share us on Facebook


text:
PBC Boxing joining Amazon 2024 story revealed by key insiders near to the situation, following the closing of Showtime Boxing. With boxing bigger than ever in the post Mayweather era, Paramount Networks pulled the plug on Showtime Boxing earlier this month. Over the last year, there had been rumors of Netflix and Amazon looking to step into the ring and battle the UFC. Some were even fearful that DAZN would get the PBC, which has been home to Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.
Now, reports have begun to leak that Amazon Prime Video will be the home for PBC Boxing, beginning in January 2024. With big names like Deontay Wilder, Canelo Alvarez, Terence Crawford, Errol Spence Jr. and Gervonta Davis awaiting their next fights, Amazon will be looking to expand boxing bigger than ever. Likely, this means that fans will no longer have to wait years upon years for the bouts we’ve wanted.
Yes, Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua will be forced to happen, with Amazon dumping much money into the PBC. Look for concrete details to emerge about the entire deal in the coming weeks.
‼ Al Haymon's PBC are reportedly now “very, very close” to a boxing broadcast deal with Amazon Prime after Showtime announced that they are set to leave the sport at the end of this year. [According to @ArielHelwani]
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) November 27, 2023


text:
The eurozone has officially slipped into recession after EU figures showed that the economy shrank by 0.2% in the third quarter.
This follows a 0.2% contraction in the 15-nation area in the previous quarter from April to June, reported BBC.
Two quarters of negative growth define a technical recession.
The news was widely anticipated and follows data showing that Germany and Italy, two of the biggest eurozone economies, are already in recession.
The BBC correspondent in Germany, Steve Rosenberg, said the figures were not a surprise.
"The Germans had their gloomy economic news [on Thursday] and as Germany is the dynamo of the European economy, when there are problems there, it drags the rest of the region down with it," he said.
On Thursday, figures showed the German economy, one of the world's largest, had shrunk 0.5% in the third quarter, following a 0.4% drop in the second quarter.
Spain's economy also shrank in the third quarter, the first such drop since 1993. Analysts are now convinced that a slump in household spending and a property crisis are likely to push the Spanish economy into recession as well next quarter.
The UK is expected to join the roll call of European countries in recession with a bleak Bank of England forecast suggesting that Britain is already there.
France is not faring too much better, but its economy did manage to expand in the third quarter much to the surprise of most analysts.
Official data showed that the French economy grew by 0.1% in the June to September period.
But analysts forecast worse to come for the countries in the region that use the euro.
With inflationary risks retreating, many expect further aggressive cuts in interest rates from the European Central Bank, with some predicting they could go as low as 2% - the same level they stood when the eurozone was formed in 1999.
"Looking ahead, we can expect further quarters of negative GDP growth, until the third quarter of 2009, simply because so far we have not had in the GDP figures the full impact of the credit market crisis," said Gilles Moec, senior economist, Bank of America.
"We also haven't yet seen the full impact of unemployment on consumer spending," he added, forecasting the eurozone region to shrink by 1% next year.
The member states of the eurozone are France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Irish Republic, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Malta, Greece, Austria, Finland and Cyprus.


text:
This post originally appeared on Scene Asia.
A year after landing in Hong Kong, China’s top two art auction houses are getting bolder and bigger.
This weekend Poly Auction and China Guardian are holding their largest sales in their short history in Hong Kong, the only city in which they operate in outside of mainland China.
The competition is stiff. The firms are not only battling head-to-head for business at the same time, but they are also going up against Sotheby’s, which today begins a five-day bumper sale to mark its 40 years of operation in Asia.
More In Auctions
- Christie's Sells Modigliani Painting to Chinese Collectors for $170.4 Million
- Southern Song Dynasty-Era Vase Sells for $14.7 Million in Hong Kong
- Chinese Painter Whose $4 Million Work Was Accidentally Thrown Out Says He's Not Bitter
- From Fakes to Fine Art: Taobao Leaps Into the Auction Scene
- Chinese Auction House on the Block
- What Chinese Auction-Goers Are Buying
The timing is deliberate. Sotheby’s typically schedules its fall sales over the mainland Chinese holiday season known as “Golden Week,” which follows National Day on Oct. 1. The holiday is a popular time for wealthy mainland tourists to visit Hong Kong, and the Chinese auction houses are hoping to also ride on the incoming wave of deep-pocketed buyers.
“Timing is important, and this is the time all the collectors gather,” said Hu Yanyan, Hong Kong president of Guardian, which last year held its fall sales in the city at the same time as Sotheby’s.
The Chinese auction houses view Hong Kong as a gateway to the international market and strategically important for their growth.
“In Beijing, we follow the economy, and that’s been on a downward trend for us. But in Hong Kong, we’re growing and getting bigger,” said Zhao Xu, executive director of Poly in Beijing.
Now, the Chinese firms are expanding their offerings and flexing their organizational muscles. Poly is holding a three-day sale at Hong Kong’s Grand Hyatt hotel, with around 2,000 items valued at $89.7 million. Last year, it offered 409 lots and generated $66.8 million over two days.
Guardian, in its two-day sale at the Island Shangri-La hotel, will offer around 600 lots worth an estimated $14.3 million. Last year it offered 358 lots and achieved $23.9 million in its one-day sale.
All the items at the two firms’ Hong Kong sales have been sourced from outside of China, with many of the works coming from the U.S.
Poly, in particular, is aggressive in pursuing consignments in the U.S. among the overseas Chinese population, regularly touring California and New York and advertising in local Chinese media to encourage people to part with their treasures.
Until last year, Hong Kong was dominated by the world’s two largest auction houses, Christie’s and Sotheby’s. But last fall, China’s top two firms – Poly and Guardian, ranked third and fourth globally – entered Hong Kong for the first time.
What sells well in Beijing isn’t necessarily what sells in Hong Kong, the Chinese firms have learned. Poly said its top category in Hong Kong is modern and contemporary art, followed by ceramics, jewels and traditional Chinese paintings. In Beijing, the categories rank in the opposite order.
More In Hong Kong
- Disconnect: Traders Wait, and Wait, for Shenzhen Trading Link
- Quiet Racing in Noisy City: Formula E Comes to Hong Kong
- Despite Recent Tensions, Chinese Olympians Welcomed in Hong Kong
- Hong Kong's New Brew Scene: A Barrel of Challenges
- Luxury's Pain as Others Gain in Hong Kong and China
- Why This Summer Hasn't Been the Splashiest for Hong Kong's Swimmers
Guardian’s Ms. Hu said “tastes are different” between the two markets. Hong Kong is much more receptive to contemporary art because “it’s a much more international market,” and the firm will be selling contemporary Chinese oil paintings in the city for the first time. Still, Ms. Hu said about 80% of its buyers at its Hong Kong sales are from mainland China.
Meanwhile in China, both Sotheby’s and Christie’s are invading Poly’s and Guardian’s home turf. Last month, Christie’s held its first sale in Shanghai, while Sotheby’s has held two small sales in Beijing in its joint venture with local partner Gehua.
Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s are forbidden by the Chinese government from trading “cultural relics,” a fact that blocks them from selling traditional Chinese paintings and antiques – the two highest-selling categories for mainland Chinese auction firms.
“I don’t see them as competition,” said Poly’s Mr. Zhao, referring to Christie’s and Sotheby’s. “The regulation won’t change anytime soon. It’s a measure to protect local industry.”
–Jason Chow. Follow him on Twitter @jjasonchow


text:
Tag Archives : Suzuki GSX-R150
Suzuki GSX-R150 is the most powerful 150 cc production motorcycle. Unveiled last month, Suzuki now has announced that the Suzuki GSX-R150 has a power output.
Likely to be exclusive to Indonesia. Suzuki Motorcycles Indonesia has unveiled its latest edition to the growing GSX family – the Suzuki GSX-R150 and the Suzuki.


text:
Soon identical update should be out for the flagship models including Galaxy S8, S8 Plus and Note 8. Samsung is likely expecting that users on 2-year contracts around the world will be ready and eager to upgrade to the bezel-less Infinity Display.
The next deployment will commence for the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus on March 19.
Service security mobile device update for March includes nine fixes critical vulnerabilities found in the Android operating system in addition to the countless less serious.
The good folks over at iFixit have been ripping apart a Samsung Galaxy S9 and a Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, revealing a few hidden secrets about the brand new flagship phones. This might come as a surprise to some, given that recent reports have already been the bringer of bad news, suggesting underwhelming pre-sale numbers in several key markets.
Samsung Galaxy J8 Plus Leaked in GeekBench Report — Trending
Welcome to the Sunday Giveaway, the place where we giveaway a new Android phone each and every Sunday. The variable aperture feature is also made possible by a relatively simple combination of two rotating, ring-like blades, compared to "standard camera lenses", which typically use "at least five aperture blades" to support many f-stop adjustments.
Samsung devices that weren't mentioned may not be scheduled to receive Oreo at all, while the suggested timelines may also change without prior notice.
Now, after nearly 8 months, Google has finally rolled out the Google Lens feature to the first batch of devices. Let us know if you have Lens in Assistant on your phone.


text:
How many have you built?
Last month, Nintendo ran its last Ninji Speedrun event for Super Mario Maker 2. It officially marked the end of its ongoing support for the game.
Despite this, it seems the community of Super Mario Maker 2 is still busy constructing courses – with a post on Nintendo’s Japanese webpage revealing players have now created more than 26 million courses since the game was released on the Switch in 2019.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com


text:
Author Salman Rushdie waged a brief battle with Facebook on Nov. 14 when the social network disputed his identity, shut down his account and then changed his profile name to Ahmed Rushdie, the name on his passport, according to the New York Times.
Rushdie vented on Twitter, which is not as finicky about authentic identities, and Facebook eventually caved in and allowed him to use the name Salman Rushdie again.
This is not as big a story at the moment, perhaps, as a nighttime police raid on a certain Downtown New York protesters’ encampment, but the question of online identity is only going to get trickier as Facebook and Twitter square off for dominance, and brands try to determine where to invest their resources. Facebook is betting its business on authentic identities, which enables individuals and brands to have some modicum of control over their messages, and offers advertisers and Facebook’s partners some real-world user data.
Facebook’s insistence on real identities could tilt everything in Twitter’s favor, especially if the Occupy movement escalates and begins to have cultural effects beyond its adherents. This growing, homegrown political movement will be focusing more and more on Twitter, which allows for the use of pseudonyms. It’s looking like Twitter will be shedding its news feed patina, and will become in the coming election year the kind of open town hall that Facebook will only be able to envy.
And where the people go, the brands follow.


text:
Australia to Focus on South Africa for Latest Model
This is a press release...
Ford's Pretoria plant will build the five-door and four-door Focus for local sale and export to Australia.
Combining the best of German engineering and European styling with exemplary driving dynamics, the new Focus will go on sale in Australia during 2005.
"Sourcing the new Focus from our regional partners has allowed us to be near the front of the queue to receive this exciting new model," said Ford Australia President, Tom Gorman.
"Ford South Africa has worked very closely with the global Focus development team and has demonstrated its ability to consistently achieve the stringent quality, cost and delivery targets established by the well recognised European Focus team.
"Since its European launch in 1998, the current Focus has been one of the most successful products in Ford's 100 year history. It has consistently ranked amongst the world's best-selling cars and has won Car of the Year Awards in both Europe and North America.
"The new Focus will deliver even more - providing improvements in power, quality, craftsmanship, packaging and refinement," said Gorman.
Sourcing from South Africa is part of a manufacturing strategy that reflects Ford's commitment to the Asia-Pacific region.
The Asia-Pacific and Africa region is projected to contribute 65% of global auto industry growth through to the end of the decade, of which 80% of all growth in the region will come from China, ASEAN and India.
"With volumes approaching the markets of North America and Western Europe, Ford's Asia Pacific and Africa regions are now being treated as a single entity and will benefit from the installation of the latest plant technology and economies of scale in manufacturing," said Ford Motor Company Vice President of Ford Asia Pacific and Africa, Mark Schulz.
"This is an important first step in creating a model for future growth and investment.
"Over the next 10 years there will be an additional 9 million units that are there for the taking. Ford intends to go after our fair share. We are confident that the new Focus will help us achieve our ambitious targets, within the core mid-size passenger car segment. The new Focus is the most sophisticated Focus ever and will go on sale throughout the region over the coming year."


text:
In the latest Google’s October event 2016, they have announced the new OS “Andromeda” which has the capability of overtaking different OS offered by companies like Apple and Microsoft. It is assumed to be the lone platforms where users can access Google through Laptops, tablets and phones.
This OS is a combination of Android and Chrome OS and will be available on Google Laptops and smartphones which was never seen earlier. This OS is hardware based and will be maintained by Google. As reported in the event it is mainly focused on hardware and smooth compatibility across the Google’s ecosystem. Dennis Jones, CEO of payments technology company Judopay, said this release of OS will have a huge impact on “Digital World”.
Google may allow Android devices to become desktop PCs with full multi-window functionality.
“Handoff” feature for apps was introduced by Apple which was supported by developers- enabling to work on the device and with less effort would be taken up on another device like you will be work on the Mac papers.For Example, you want work on the same document which was leftover in your place, from this feature now you will able continue working on it on your iPhone.there are some limitations for this you need to have the separate desktop app and users would not be allowed to access the complete app library purchased.
“'Continuum ” a feature is similar to Andromeda is being added by Microsoft that allows the OS to dynamically adapt to the device it is running on-this new feature was released recently was enabled for Windows 10 Mobile devices to be located in a dock and utilised like a desktop PC. As a user without any effort, we want to switch the work from smartphones to bigger devices like laptops to do some activity on the relevant hardware, but all these experiences can be with any effort can be reflected on all your devices .


text:
Chinese suppliers reduced the volumes of export billet and increased the prices, in the wake of strong domestic demand
This has driven prices for non-China-origin material in the region upward.
Metal Bulletin’s price assessment for billet imports in Southeast Asia was $440-450 per tonne cfr for the week ending Monday July 10, up by $10-15 per tonne from $430-435 per tonne cfr
in the previous seven days.
Buying activity was mainly concentrated in the Philippines last week.
A cargo of Vietnamese billet was heard sold in the country at $440 per tonne...


text:
The Belgian reading association BOEK set a new world record for the longest book domino chain.
They did this to celebrate books and promote reading, the 614 meter or 670 yard long trail took just six minutes to run its course. And this tale had a happy ending … festive fireworks.
They spent a whole night setting up 4,845 books in a 600-metre domino chain before knocking them all down.
two hours to set up, six minutes to be all knocked down.
The previous winners, from South Africa, held the title for a chain that had 2,850 books in it.
They celebrated their achievement with fireworks (warning: watching this part of the video might be too exciting for dull men):


text:
Even surrounded by the visual overload that is Times Square on New Year’s Eve, the Ball is hard to miss. Yes folks, not only is it big — 12 feet in diameter and weighing 11,875 pounds — it’s also very, very bright. Now, thanks to Philips, the supplier of its lights, you also know exactly how many […]
Top 10: Most popular ecoINSITE posts of 2010
It’s that time. Before we welcome a brand new year, here are 2010’s most popular posts according to you! 1. Stats of the Day: BP Oil Spill Google Results Back in June, I ran a little experiment. In terms of Google search results, how did BP’s recent oil spill compare against the previous top environmental […]
Green gift guide 2010: Five last-minute green gadget ideas
In case you haven’t noticed, the clock is ticking on getting your 2010 holiday shopping done. Here are some great last-minute gift ideas that are still in stock (at least of this writing) and are sure to delight the green geek in your life. Curl up with a good e-book this Christmas: Amazon Kindle Smaller, […]
Rise of the solar-powered gadgets: Is the Energizer Bunny facing joblessness?
Solar-powered devices are nothing new, but they typically reside in the lonely fringes of the gadgetsphere (Yay for made-up words!). Admit it. Given the choice of a sleek iPhone or a Samsung E1107, which would you choose? Lately, however, some electronics makers have been making a concerted push to move beyond niche status and bring […]
Philips: LED lighting market to reach 5 percent in 2010
Sure, five percent of the global lighting market might not seem like a lot, but when you consider that LEDs only snagged just 2 percent of the market in 2009, it’s a sign of healthy growth. And it’s only going to grow bigger from there. According to this DigiTimes report, Philips expects LED lighting to […]
Philips Lumileds: 1 billion LUXEON LEDs shipped
Philips Lumileds — the San Jose, Calif.-based company LED lighting company owned by Philips– today announced a big milestone. The company shipped its one billionth LUXEON LED last quarter. LUXEON LEDs, like the Rebel ES pictured above that generates more than 300 lumens of white light, can be found in cars, consumer electronics and general […]
Philips LivingColors Hits the U.S.
Last year around this time, I bemoaned the lack of availability in these parts. Soon after, Philips PR told me to wait until Q3 2009, but the summer came and went without the color-changing goodness. It may have taken…


text:
FIFA World will feature the FIFA HD console gameplay, FIFA Ultimate Team and Seasons, and over 30 officially licensed leagues, including the Russian Football Premier League, and more than 600 clubs—including 19 officially licensed football clubs from Brazil.
FIFA World will be available free to soccer fans and gamers in Brazil and Russia with a broadband internet connection and an average spec laptop computer or desktop personal computer. The new game will be built around FIFA Ultimate Team, the most popular game mode within EA Sports FIFA that reflects the best recent real-world performances of the world’s best players. In Ultimate Team, fans have the freedom to build their own unique squads to play their own style of soccer, re-shaping their teams based on the real-world performances of their favorite players.
“By bringing the FIFA franchise to the PC platform as a free-to-play game, we give millions of new fans their chance to experience the authentic FIFA experience, with award-winning gameplay and licensed leagues,” said Producer Alex Grimbley. “At the same time, existing FIFA fans now have a new way to enjoy the game they already love, with fresh daily content and the ability to play on almost any PC.”
With over 16,000 players and 600 clubs from over 30 officially licensed leagues, fans have access to their favorite footballers as they compete in both online and single player modes. Now FIFA World is available in English, German, French, Russian, Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish and Turkish.
“After four Closed Beta sessions and a limited Open Beta, where we saw over 1.5 million fans register to play, we’re very excited to now open the game to football fans from all over the world,” said Producer Alex Grimbley. “This is a great opportunity for fans to influence the development of our new game, and the feedback we’ve gotten so far has been absolutely instrumental in shaping our features and services.”
To complement Seasons, a game mode that allows fans to compete for promotion through 10 divisions, a number of new features have been added through the Limited Open Beta. Accomplishments is designed specifically for FIFA World to reward fans for completing dynamic tasks, based on scenarios from the real world football. In Tournaments, fans challenge AI-controlled clubs and National Teams to progress through a bracket on their way to lifting the cup and earning rewards. Match Invites give fans an opportunity to challenge their friends online for the ultimate bragging rights.
The Social Hub is the center of FIFA World where fans can share, like and comment on game content with their friends. With new content such as Featured Tournaments and Limited Time Accomplishments updated throughout each week, and a real time Transfer Market where fans can manage their in-game items, FIFA World is truly a live game. Built to be enjoyed on average spec laptop computer or desktop personal computers, fans with a broadband internet connection can now play a fun, free, and authentic football game.
Fans can start building their clubs in FIFA World for free by registering here.
More articles about FIFA World


text:
game news A month after changing its name, Square Enix Montreal (Hitman, Lara Croft) closes its doors and goes to work on an Xbox game
In recent months, there have been many changes (often synonymous with acquisitions) in the video game industry. After Microsoft acquired Activision-Blizzard for $68.7 billion, the Embracer Group, the giant that owns THQ Nordic, bought Western studios from Square Enix. Today, Square Enix Montreal – which has just changed its name – is closing its doors.
Square Enix Montreal Nest Plus!
For a modest sum of $300 million, Embracer Group acquired all of Square Enix’s western studios, namely Eidos Montreal and Sherbrooke (The former godAnd the Guardians of the Galaxy), Crystal Dynamics (Tomb rider marvel avengers) and others Square Enix Montrealauthor of several mobile game series such as GO . killer and others Lara Croft GO. Today, it is clear that it is this last studio that interests us, since this studio, After changing its name just a month ago to Onoma, it just closed its doors…
The bad news was actually announced just a few minutes ago by Phil Rogers, Director of CDE Entertainment, an Embracer Group company:
We see growth opportunities centered around leading franchises and our AAA games. The closure of QA and Studio Onoma is a difficult decision that we made with great care and attention. We thank all team members very much for their contributions over the years and hope to find suitable placements for as many as possible. Phil Rogers, Director of CDE Entertainment
If the shutdown appears to be putting a total of 200 employees on the sidelines, we know many of them will quickly find work, The majority of employees will be redirected towards Eidos Montreal (which is located a few meters from Onoma). We learn that they will put their talents to good use in two cult series. In fact, they will remarkably work on the series The former godwhich will delight fans, but also – and most surprisingly – work myth. Indeed, the Montreal studio will help Microsoft teams prepare a long-awaited game.
News: Embracer Onoma, formerly Square Enix Montreal, which announced its new name just 3 weeks ago, shuts down. also:
– Some Onoma staff will move to Eidos Montreal
– Eidos has canceled an unannounced game
– Eidos works with Xbox on games like Fable
– Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 1, 2022
Embracer Onoma, formerly Square Enix Montreal, which announced its new name just 3 weeks ago, closed. Moreover :
- Some Onoma employees will move to Eidos Montreal
- Eidos canceled an unannounced match
- Eidos works with Xbox in games like Fable
Eidos, also affected?
This isn’t the only hype on the part of Square Enix’s former western development studios, because at the same time we’re learning that This restructuring also takes the opportunity to scrap a game from Eidos in a step.
However, there is no need to worry, as it is an undisclosed game that, according to various sources shared by journalist Jason Schreyer, was heavily inspired by the Stranger Things saga, the Duffer Brothers series that aired on Netflix.
Finally, the journalist from Bloomer adds that in addition to Deus Ex, thisEidos Montreal will also be working on a brand new license. Unfortunately, the latter was not disclosed. So he will have to be patient.
#month #changing #Square #Enix #Montreal #Hitman #Lara #Croft #closing #doors #working #Xbox #game


text:
To use all functions of this page, please activate cookies in your browser.
With an accout for my.chemeurope.com you can always see everything at a glance – and you can configure your own website and individual newsletter.
- My watch list
- My saved searches
- My saved topics
- My newsletter
424 Current news of Lanxessrss
|You can refine your search further. Select from the filter options on the left to narrow down your results.|
Sales in the first quarter increase by 43.7 percent to EUR 2.432 billion
In a challenging environment, specialty chemicals company LANXESS made a strong start to the year 2022. It confirmed the preliminary figures for the first quarter released on April 19. LANXESS is also confident going into the second quarter, in which the Group expects EBITDA pre exceptionals of ...
Sales up 23.8 percent year-on-year at EUR 7.557 billion
LANXESS closed fiscal year 2021 successfully. Despite immense increases in energy, raw material and freight costs, the specialty chemicals company significantly improved its sales and earnings. Group sales amounted to EUR 7.557 billion in 2021, up 23.8 percent on the previous year’s figure of EUR ...
LANXESS safeguards opportunities in the attractive lithium market
LANXESS and Standard Lithium have signed an agreement setting forth the path forward for their lithium project. After 20 months of testing on the basis of a pilot plant Standard Lithium will now in a next step, conduct a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study in order to evaluate the potential ...
There are several personnel changes at the specialty chemicals company LANXESS: Martin Saewe (55) will become the new head of the Group’s initiative for e-mobility and circular economy on April 1, 2022. Saewe is currently head of the Lubricants Additives Business (LAB) business unit. Martin Saewe ...
Development of new generation of sustainable preservatives
Specialty chemicals company LANXESS and Matrìca, a joint venture between Versalis (Eni) and Novamont, have partnered to produce sustainable biocide preservatives from renewable raw materials. Starting in January 2022, the Matrìca plant at Porto Torres (Sardinia, Italy) will supply LANXESS with ...
Long-term trend towards more disinfection
LANXESS is expanding its production capacity for the active ingredient Preventol CMK (chlorocresol) at the Krefeld-Uerdingen, Germany, site by around 50 percent in response to the continuing strong demand for disinfectants and industrial preservation. The specialty chemicals company has invested ...
Investment of EUR 30 million on strong market demand
LANXESS will expand its production network in China: The specialty chemicals company will build a second compounding line for Durethan- and Pocan-branded high-tech engineering plastics at its manufacturing site in Changzhou. An important investment of around EUR 30 million will increase the ...
Sales up 33.5 percent year-on-year at EUR 1.951 billion
Specialty chemicals company LANXESS holds its own also in a challenging environment: Despite a sharp rise in raw material, energy and freight costs, EBITDA pre exceptionals in the third quarter of 2021 increased by 44.0 percent to EUR 278 million, against EUR 193 million in the prior-year ...
Specialty chemicals company LANXESS and energy company bp are entering into a strategic partnership for the use of sustainable raw materials in high-tech plastics production. bp will supply sustainably produced cyclohexane to the LANXESS’ production site in Antwerp, Belgium, starting in the ...
Strengthening the specialty chemicals portfolio: expansion of the growth areas disinfection, personal care and material protection
LANXESS is taking another big step on its growth course: the specialty chemicals company intends to take over the microbial control business of the U.S. group International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF). Both companies signed a corresponding agreement on August 23, 2021. IFF Microbial Control ...


text:
At its core, every business exists to eliminate a pain point for a consumer. That could mean anything from offering an entirely new product, to offering something faster, cheaper, or otherwise better than competitors.
For retail, companies largely compete on price. That’s allowed big-box stores to thrive, particularly as consumers are looking for one-stop shopping. But one retailer has fared even better than competitors thanks to a more unique business model offering great customer service.
That company is Costco (COST), which charges customers a membership fee.
In exchange, members get access to quantity discounts for a number of products, as well as services ranging from air conditioning units, to caskets, and more infamously, a $1.50 hot dog special at their food court.
Since going public in 1985, Costco has been a massive winner for investors, and looks set to continue delivering great returns.
For instance, earnings are up 19%, even as consumers have been scaling back buying physical goods and spending more on services.
Action to take: Costco shares are worth owning as a long-term holding. Investors may want to build a partial stake now, and look to add to that position in a bear market when shares take a hit.
Costco pays a 0.6% dividend yield, and periodically pays out special dividends that can greatly increase that overall cash payout.
For traders, the September $800 calls, last trading for about $20.05, could see mid-double-digit returns on a further rally.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.


text:
Sourceforge.net has some great new categories for its Awards, with an open way of selecting the participants.
See all the nominees for Game of the Year and every other category here.
Twenty-five years after President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, AT&T called on developers to use existing technology to create solutions for people with disabilities.
Brendan Eich, who left the Firefox maker during a firestorm over his anti-gay-marriage views, says his new startup's software will make the Internet faster, safer and better in ways today's Net powers won't pursue.
MIT and Northeastern teams will compete to make NASA's 6-foot-tall humanoid robot, also called R5, more useful for space exploration.
Here's everything that's being added, changed and tweaked in patch 1.08.
Two do-it-yourself security brands duke it out for ultimate supremacy in the CNET Smart Home. Find out if there's a clear winner or if both systems fall short.
The service lets passengers find cheap rides from one city to another in 19 countries. But Brazil, not the US, is next on the company's expansion list, CEO Frédéric Mazzella says.
Smart thermostats are one of the more competitive niches in the smart home. Here's how we narrowed down our choices.
In honor of Amazon's Emmy wins for its original series "Transparent," a Prime membership will cost new subscribers just $67. But the deal is good only for this Friday.


text:
Ulbricht, 31, was found guilty on all charges relating to his connection with the Silk Road market, which was the world’s most popular online drug store, functioning on the deep web. He was sentence... Read More
The Bit-x website features a user-friendly interface and minimalistic design. The login procedure is hassle-free and only requires the account mobile number.
Name: Alex Shultz, Bit-x CEO
BIT-x.... Read More
Bitcoin Press Release: MBit casino launches a lucrative VIP program and expands its offerings for Bitcoin gamers worldwide.Already one of the biggest Bitcoin casinos in the world, mBit has announced i... Read More
January 29, 2015
Toronto – Decentral.tv is excited to announce that it has entered into a partnership to become the exclusive video content provider for BTC Media LLC, the world’s largest Bitco... Read More
NASHVILLE, TN—BTC Media LLC, parent company of financial technology magazine yBitcoin and its website www.ybitcoin.com, has as of January 21, 2015 completed the purchase of Bitcoin Magazine from... Read More
Investor Interest in Bitcoin Grows Despite Hardfork Debate and Falling Price
Despite a recent drop in the price of bitcoin and the debate circulating the potential hardfork, interest in the currency is continuing to grow.
On March 10, the Securities and Exchange Commission’
Bitcoin Wallet Provider Armory: We ‘Do Not Support Any Controversial Hard Forks’
Open source Bitcoin wallet provider Armory has joined businesses officially supporting Bitcoin Core over Bitcoin Unlimited. In a post on Sunday, lead developer Andrew Chow said that while Armory “w
To Apply for Alaska Bitcoin Licence, Fork Over Your Fingerprints
Cryptocurrencies are in a gray zone when it comes to legislation in many parts of the world. In the United States, the situation can vary from state to state. Last year, North Carolina managed to
Bitcoin P2P Trading on LocalBitcoins Hits Global All-Time High
Bitcoin trading volumes on peer-to-peer marketplace LocalBitcoins continues to thrive despite turbulent volatile times for the cryptocurrency’s value.
Last week, the marketplace witnessed a record


text:
BUSINESSDESK: New Zealand shares fell, led by Trade Me, after the auction site told shareholders dividends and earnings would meet its prospectus targets, disappointing some traders who had hoped for an upgrade at the annual meeting.
Jeweller Michael Hill International led advancing stocks.
The NZX 50 Index fell 10.013 points, or 0.3%, to 3941.28. Within the index, 22 stocks fell, 14 rose and 14 were unchanged. Turnover was $87.7 million.
The decline extends the drop in the benchmark index from the highest levels in almost five years last week. Trade Me declined 4.7% to $4.24 after saying a pickup in the economy had not eventuated as had been hoped at the time of last year's initial public offering.
"It ran up very strongly into the AGM," says Greg Easton, an adviser at Craigs Investment Partners. People had hoped "for a pleasant surprise that beat expectations". Even though the shares got punished, most trading today was done at higher prices than the close.
Kathmandu, the outdoor equipment chain, fell 2.2% to $1.80 and Warehouse Group fell 1.5% to $3.20.
Fletcher Building declined 2% to $6.92, falling below $7 for the first time this month. The company said today it will apportion its steel business within two other divisions – concrete and building products – in the face of tough trading.
Yesterday, the company was included in a government review of costs in the building industry.
Among smaller caps, Kirkcaldie & Stains fell 9.2% to $2.95, a day after it jumped 25% on the sale of its office and retail tower in Wellington's CBD.
The retailer said today that it made a bigger annual loss on a deteriorating performance from its unprofitable retail unit.
The company made a loss of $773,000 in the 12 months ended August 31 as its margins shrank.
Telecom rose 1.7% to $2.42 as it announced the departure of group human resources director Jan O'Neill as the latest senior executive to leave the company.
Abano Healthcare, which invests in specialist health clinics, gained 0.2% to $5.75 after saying first-half sales rose as much as 5%, though profit may be similar to the same period last year amid little growth in New Zealand and a downturn in Australia.
NZ Oil & Gas rose 1.2% to 86 cents after saying it has some $162 million available to acquire reserves.
PGG Wrightson was unchanged at 35 cents after Agria won an extension on money it had borrowed to fund its controlling stake in New Zealand's largest rural services company.
This article is tagged with the following keywords. Find out more about MyNBR Tags
- Fuel crisis latest – pipe repair progress as government loosens rules for fuel trucks
- Horizon poll: how voters rate National vs Labour on 17 major issues
- Air NZ restricts ticket sales as Auckland fuel shortage bites
- MARKET CLOSE: NZ shares up, but Air NZ drops as more flights cancelled
- Jacinda targets and tempts youth vote at Victoria campus
Most listened to
- Takeover bidder chief executive Alastair McGregor sells its competing vision for NZOG
- Airways executive Tim Boyle discusses fuel saving measures
- Labour leader Jacinda Ardern appeals to youth, who have enrolled in lower numbers for this election
- Synlait managing director John Penno on his company's strategy and outlook
- Horizon manager Grant McInman on the issue where voters trust National and where they prefer Labour
- NBR Radio: best of the week ended September 15, with Grant Walker


text:
- Created: Wednesday, 21 April 2021 04:53
The previously unknown new cryptocurrency Chia suddenly burst into the information space through all channels, because of which we are all promised the same shortage of SSD and HDD drives as with video cards. The Chia project is led by Bram Cohen, the creator of another cryptocurrency Bittorrent (BTT), which has also been widely rumored recently due to the sharp rise in its value on cryptocurrency exchanges. In this article, we will try to figure out what technological innovations this cryptocurrency gives and why all SSDs and HDDs will disappear from sale.
- Created: Thursday, 15 April 2021 05:51
Bitcoin cryptocurrency is not just a new electronic money, but a whole technology for the secure transfer of value between people without the participation of banks, states or other intermediaries. Bitcoin became the first to use blockchain technology, in which mining or mining of cryptocurrency using computers has become one of the main elements of reliable cryptocurrency transfer, which is now trusted not only by crypto enthusiasts, but also by well-known banks and funds from all over the world. And the states using these developments are now designing new digital national currencies. But compared to national currencies, everyone can mine or mine bitcoin. What you need for this and how to start mining bitcoin, read further in our article.
- Created: Tuesday, 13 April 2021 04:38
In February, Nvidia announced the launch of a line of specialized video cards for mining called Nvidia CMP. This line of mining devices includes 4 models: CMP 30HX, CMP 40HX, CMP 50HX and CMP 90HX. Two months later, the first and simplest model of a video card for mining Nvidia CMP 30HX appeared in stores.The first video card in the CMP line was a model from vendor Gigabyte called CMP 30HX D6 6G with a declared hashrate on the Ethash algorithm of 26MH / s, which corresponds to Geforce GTX 1660 Super video cards and GTX 1660 Ti.
- Created: Thursday, 01 April 2021 04:14
At the beginning of 2021, the world was again covered by a wave of interest in cryptocurrencies, blockchain, smart contracts and NFT tokens. If with the first terms, everyone who has already dealt with cryptocurrencies before is already more or less familiar, then NFT or non-fungible token has become super popular only now, although the first projects using NFT appeared back in 2017. Today, you can hear about NFT from well-known international news , from well-known media personalities, from corporations, from bloggers on youtube, and even from an artist or musician you know. But what it is and what it is for, and even more so how to use it, today we will try to figure it out.
- Created: Wednesday, 24 March 2021 05:31
Due to the high profitability of mining on video cards in all stores and around the world, it is now impossible to buy a video card at the recommended price. even at several times overstated prices, video cards of medium and high performance are sold out in a matter of moments. It is guaranteed that now you can buy a video card only from dealers at an even higher price. Today we will try to evaluate the payback of video cards at several times inflated prices for use in cryptocurrency mining and will help you with the decision to purchase equipment for cryptocurrency mining in the spring of 2021. As a bonus, you will also find out how many times the price of video cards has risen relative to their normal price.
- Created: Monday, 22 March 2021 04:52
Those who actively use decentralized finance, such as exchanging assets on DeFi exchanges, using liquidity pools, farming and staking their assets, are likely to face such a problem as reporting on all transactions and calculating the profitability of their transactions. When you have only a few such operations, it will not be difficult to remember them, and if you make dozens of exchanges a day while also actively using staking and farming, then using the Zapper.fi service will greatly facilitate your life. Zapper.fi is an aggregator of various DeFi services plus it is a convenient financial tool for the history and analysis of all your assets and transactions using DeFi tools.
- Created: Thursday, 18 March 2021 01:36
Cryptocurrency mining in 2021 brings good profit to the owners of even one mid-level video card 5 years ago, so if you have a home gaming computer with an AMD Radeon RX 470, Nvidia GTX 1060 video card, then you can easily earn about 7000 per month using your computer. rubles or 100USD. In this case, electricity costs will amount to only 5USD at an electricity price of 0.05 USD/Kilowatt. For owners of more powerful and modern video cards, mining income will be even higher. For example, the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT video card will earn you twice as much - 200 USD per month. If you think that mining is difficult, then with the help of our guide, you will connect your home computer to the mining of Ethereum cryptocurrency in 5 minutes and start making money on it.
- Created: Tuesday, 16 March 2021 06:30
Bitcoin’s price has been rising incredibly and continues to trend upward. Many people may think that if they cannot buy a Bitcoin mining machine, they miss out on a huge opportunity to generate profit.
The first test in the mining of the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT video card on the Ethash and KawPow algorithms
- Created: Monday, 15 March 2021 01:04
Even before the start of sales of the Radeon RX 67000 XT video card (March 18, 2021), the first tests of this video card in cryptocurrency mining have already appeared on the Internet. As expected, the video card was checked for the issued hash rate using the Ethash algorithm (Ethereum cryptocurrency) and the KawPow algorithm (RavenCoin cryptocurrency). Both of these algorithms are sensitive to the memory subsystem of video cards. The Radeon RX 6700 XT has a 192-bit memory bus instead of the 256-bit one in the previous model Radeon RX 5700 XT, therefore the new product showed not the most impressive results in the mining of these cryptocurrencies.
- Created: Wednesday, 10 March 2021 04:26
The renewed interest in cryptocurrencies in 2021 pushed Bitcoin prices back to new heights, which in turn influenced the mining income of this cryptocurrency. Bitcoin miners again began to buy out-of-date ASIC miners Antminer S9 2016, because even they have begun to bring relatively good profit compared to the fact that a few months ago they did not even recoup the cost of electricity. And this is not to mention the more modern ASIC models SHA-256, which are several times more powerful and energy efficient than the S9. Next, we will consider all the currently relevant ASIC miners for mining bitcoin in 2021, which you can purchase. Next, we will compare the hashrate, power consumption and income of SHA-256 ASIC miners, so that you can better navigate the models and firms of manufacturers of various ASICs.
- Created: Saturday, 06 March 2021 01:20
Binance, after launching its Ethereum pool in November 2020, has already accumulated 4.9Th/s of capacity and 36,700 workers. Which allowed us to take the 12th place in terms of power among the largest Ethereum mining pools. Such a quick start was possible not only due to the well-known name, but also due to the lowest commission of 0.5% (1-2% for other large pools), due to daily payments regardless of the amount of extracted ether, and many other convenient functions for working with cryptocurrency, available to all users of Binance services.
From March 5, 2021, the Ethereum Binance pool is changing its reward system from FPPS to PPS +. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a change, read on.


text:
Uncharted 4 Steelbook Edition Revealed By Amazon Germany
Uncharted 4 A Thief's End is one of the biggest PlayStation 4 exclusive titles releasing in the first few months of 2016. Sony and Naughty Dog know this all too well and they are trying to capitalize on this with two different special editions including a variety of extra goodies. These two Uncharted 4 Special Editions aren't enough, apparently, as a third one has been revealed earlier today by Amazon Germany.
The popular online retailer has revealed the Uncharted 4 Steelbook Edition a few hours ago. This special edition of the Naughty Dog developed game isn't going to be as rich as the Special and Libertalia editions, as it will only include a copy of the game and a special steelbook that's different from the one offered with the other Uncharted 4 special editions.
Last week it's been a bad one for Uncharted fans eagerly anticipating Uncharted 4. On a post on the official PlayStation Blog, Creative Director Neil Druckmann and Game Director Bruce Straley revealed that the team requires a bit more time to finish the game so that it meets their standards and vision and the game will now launch during April and not during March as previously confirmed. While it's disappointing that we will have to wait one more month to play the game, it's good to know that the team is doing everything it can to release the best possible game.
Let’s start with the good news: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is wrapping up production and is shaping up to be the proper send off for Nathan Drake that we’ve promised you. The bad news is that we need a bit more time to finish the game so that it meets our standards and vision. Let’s cut to the chase, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has a new release date in North America of April 26, 2016.
Uncharted 4 will release on April 26th in North America, April 27th in Europe and April 29th in the United Kingdom. The game was originally scheduled for a March 18th release.


text:
A store will be set up in the casino’s ballroom and will feature USA-made guitars from Gibson, G&L, ESP, MusicMan and others.
G&L Guitars is making 20 Detroit Muscle Series custom guitars for the event.
Guitar pedals, amps and accessories will be available in the store all week with reps from Gibson, G&L and Orange hosting workshops.
Store hours are 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. Wednesday, August 5 through Saturday, August 8, 2015.
Circus Circus is also hosting live music outside at a stage on Virginia Street between 5th and 6th streets.
This Is Reno is your source for award-winning independent, online Reno news and events since 2009. We are locally owned and operated.


text:
Brace for an increase in interest rates.
That was the message Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell gave to Americans Friday.
"While higher interest rates, slower growth and softer labor market conditions will bring down inflation, they will also bring some pain to households and businesses," Powell said. "These are the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation."
His remarks in Jackson Hole, Wyoming came shortly after a federal index called the PCE report was released. It shows inflation at 6.3% in July, down from 6.8% in June. But, that progress isn't enough for the Fed.
"While the lower inflation readings for July are certainly welcome, a single month's improvement falls far short of what the committee will need to see before we are confident that inflation is moving down," Powell said.
The PCE report, which is the Fed's preferred inflation measure, came two weeks after the consumer price index showed inflation down, too. But both are still far from the Fed's 2% target rate.
In September, Fed officials will meet again and are likely to announce another rate hike in an effort to cool the demand for goods and services and keep bringing prices down.


text:
Nike India fires 20% of its staff as part of global restructuring
As part of its global restructuring process, US-based sportswear major Nike has fired 20 per cent of its employees in India while others have been given the option of joining its operations in Southeast Asia.
According to a report in The Times of India, the company has found operating in India difficult and had closed 35 per cent of its outlets in India.
"In June, we announced that as part of Nike's move to align the company against the Consumer Direct Offence, a strategy that allows us to serve our consumers faster and more personally, there would be workforce reductions, and that has been the case in India. Our headquarters in India remain in Bangalore with two other offices in Delhi and Mumbai," the report quoted a Nike India spokesperson as saying.
The company's revenue in FY 16 fell to Rs 764 crore from Rs 803 crore in FY 15.


text:
On August 29, according to a report in the "steam newspaper" magazine, following yoel, north Carolina attorney general josh stein filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against eight independent snoop dog dab rig
companies, claiming that they "target children illegally" and that they can buy dabrig products without proof of proper age.
Stein said at a media conference with reporters on Tuesday that the complaints included BeardVapp, Directe, ElectricLotus, ElectricTobacconist, Eon Smoke, JuiceMan, TintdBrew and VapeCo.
There is an epidemic between high school and high school students in North Carolina and the United States, "he said." As the attorney general of North Carolina, I refuse to stand idly by because dab rig
has attracted thousands of children to use their products.
Anti-tobacco propaganda groups welcomed this. According to an article in cnn.com, the non-profit smokeless children's game sent Stan "thank you" for his "leadership role in solving the youth dab rig epidemic".
A dab rig spokesman said the lawsuit was unnecessary punishment.
If these companies do illegally sell dab rig case to minors, they should be prosecuted, but the attorney general's press release did not mention the details. On the contrary, the attorney general's strategy seems to be to use the power of the state and the prospect of the June 7 bill to force small businesses to sign unbalanced reconciliation agreements. Gregory Conley, president of the non-profit organization American Democratic Association, said in an email on Tuesday.
Gregory Conley added: "Although we strongly support efforts to reduce the use of these products by minors, including common sense marketing restrictions on taste names and descriptors, we cannot deprive adult smokers of the right to enjoy taste-reducing products.
It is reported that JoshStein filed a similar lawsuit against JuulLabs, the leading high end dab rigs
manufacturer, in May this year, claiming that the company sold its products to children. Part of the discussion on the lawsuit is still "in progress."
The lawsuit is the first time the United States has targeted JuulLabs for allegedly marketing teenagers.


text:
Ethical Fashion Forum announces Innovation Awards 2011
by Deborah Miarkowska
APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR THE INNOVATION AWARDS 2011: THE SUSTAINABLE FASHION DESIGN COMPETITION.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS 17TH JUNE 2011
Are you a fashion designer or business owner striving to work to high ethical and eco standards?
Winners are selected for awards on the basis of outstanding design and product quality, as well as innovation in relation to social and environmental sustainability.
Winners are showcased at international trade shows and benefit from widespread promotion.
INNOVATION 2011: THE PRIZES
For 2011 we continue our partnership with PURE LONDON, the UK’s leading trade fashion event.
We also launch for the first time an INNOVATION USA category in partnership with Nolcha Fashion Week: New York 2011.
Winners benefit from a stand at either Pure London or Nolcha Fashion Week, as well as promotion to the EFF’s huge network of press and buyers through all of our media channels.
INNOVATION UK winners benefit for the first time from a professional photo-shoot of their collection courtesy of Green Lens Studios
APPLY NOW OR FIND OUT MORE HERE
“This has been an amazing projection of progress; Pure has opened up a whole world of buyers I would never have met otherwise” Mia Nisbet, MIA, INNOVATION Award winner
“VOGUE.COM is committed to supporting the INNOVATION project and its goals and the team is proud to be involved.” Dolly Jones, Editor, Vogue.com


text:
There’s been a few stories on the web recently about newspaper industry revenue, including online. This Phil Rosenthal piece sums up the situation best.
Here’s the math problem confronting newspapers:
If online advertising goes up 31.5 percent in 2006 while print advertising falls 1.7 percent, is it a good year?
The answer: Almost.
…. The $637 million increase from the Internet couldn’t offset the $797 million decrease on the print side, which left a $160 million shortfall in 2006.


text:
The Gujarat High Court has ruled that the notification demanding IGST on ocean freight is ultra vires. In all the writ-applications, the writ-applicants have challenged the levy of the IGST on the estimated component of the Ocean Freight paid for the transportation of the goods by the foreign seller as sought to be levied and collected from the writ-applicants as the importer of the goods.
The Central Government has introduced the Notification No.8 of 2017 – Integrated Tax (Rate) dated 28th June 2017, wherein vide Entry No.9, the Central Government has notified that the IGST at the rate of 5% will be leviable on the service of transport of goods in a vessel including the services provided or agreed to be provided by a person located in a non-taxable territory to a person located in a non-taxable territory by way of transportation of goods by a vessel from a place outside India upto the customs stations of clearance in India.
The Central Government, thereafter, issued the Notification No.10 of 2017 – Integrated Tax (Rate) dated 28th June 2017, by which the Central Government has notified that for the said category of service provided at Serial No.10 to the said Notification, the importer as defined in clause 2(26) of the Customs Act located in the taxable territory shall be the recipient of service.
The Court observed that, “It is a settled principle of law that if a delegated legislation goes beyond the power conferred by the statute, such delegated legislation has to be declared ultra vires. The delegated legislation derives power from the parent statute and not without it. The delegated legislation is to supplant the statute and not to supplement it”.
The Court also ruled that, “notifications levying tax on supply of service of transportation of goods by a person in a non-taxable territory to a person in a non-taxable territory from a place outside India upto the customs station of clearance in India and making the petitioner i.e. the importer, liable for paying such tax, are ultra vires the provisions of the IGST Act”.
“The supply of service of transportation of goods by a person in non-taxable territory to another person in a non-taxable territory from a place outside India up to the customs station of clearance in India is neither an inter-state supply nor an intra-state supply. Thus, no tax can be levied and collected from the writ-applicant”, the Court also said.
The Gujarat High Court also said that, “in a case of CIF contract, the contract for transportation is entered into by the seller, i.e. the foreign exporter, and not the buyer, i.e. the importer, and the importer is not the recipient of the service of transportation of the goods, hence no tax is leviable under the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2007, on the ocean freight for the services provided by a person located in a non-taxable territory by way of transportation of goods by a vessel from a place outside India up to the customs station of clearance in India and the levy and collection of tax of such ocean freight under the impugned Notifications is not permissible in law”.
Reach us at https://taxmantra.com/compliance-retainer-india or Call/WA us at +91-9230033070 for any support/query/feedback.


text:
China is one of global luxury cosmetics business Estee Lauder’s strongest markets, with net sales up 14 per cent last quarter and most of the company’s brands showing double digit growth.
Besides the brand which bears its company name, Estee Lauder owns Clinique, MAC, Jo Malone and Bobbi Brown, (one of whose Hong Kong stores is pictured above).
Total China sales rose in “the high double digits” according to Estee Lauder’s quarterly results. While skin care products dominated Chinese sales, make-up products are growing in popularity.
Hong Kong sales, in contrast, were down due to the much documented changing demographics of mainland Chinese visiting the territory and last year’s Occupy Central protests.
Mainland China growth was especially strong for Clinique and through all channels including Sephora, department stores and monobrand shops. Online sales doubled.
“We believe that China could [account for] 20 per cent of our business in the long term,” CEO and President Fabrizio Freda said in an earnings conference call, a transcript of which is provided online by TheStreet.
“We are the beginning of the journey in China where we are very well advanced in the US.”
Online, Estee Lauder has six brand websites in China and four shopfronts on Tmall.
“Estee Lauder is the number one prestige beauty brand on Tmall and we are excited that La Mer became our fourth brand on the platform a few weeks ago,” added president of ELC online, Dennis McEniry.
“All four of our brands on Tmall are greatly exceeding our expectations, and we plan to launch additional brands there in the near future.
“We’re pleased with the growth in China. We’re going to more than double our business this year,” said McEniry.
Globally, and across all channels, Estee Lauder’s net sales rose eight per cent on a constant currency basis, exceeding the company’s expectations by more than one per cent.
Entering the final quarter of the current financial year, the company expects sales to increase by between six and seven per cent for the full year.


text:
In fact, Honda's largest hybrid vehicle currently on sale is the small Honda Civic, and according to Masaaki Kato, president of Honda R&D, we are unlikely to see any large hybrids from the Japanese manufacturer. Instead, Honda plans on launching a raft of small hybrid cars in the coming years, beginning with a hybrid smaller than the Civic next year, a small, sports hybrid called the CR-Z following soon after that - and by 2012 even the diminutive Honda Fit will have a hybrid engine under the hood, which should make it ultra-efficient.
The reason for the focus on small cars is due to their suitability for city driving, which often involves stop-start traffic. According to Kato, these are the best conditions for hybrids as the batteries can power the car much of the time without having to call on the gasoline engine. By creating ultra-efficient city cars, Honda is hoping to capture new car buyers and city dwellers who may find larger hybrids such as the Toyota Prius too big for their purposes, or still not frugal enough for their wallet.
The next Honda hybrid, a dedicated model designed specifically for the task, like Toyota's Prius, will make its debut this October at the Paris Motor Show. Honda's cost-cutting measures in the next-gen hybrid drivetrain and optimized materials and design are intended to make the new hybrid a very affordable vehicle, which the company hopes will help it achieve substantial market penetration and win sales back from long-time leader Toyota.


text:
Apple should take notice of the partnership announced today at the Baselworld watch and jewelry conference, because Google has put together partners that could build a watch that even iPhone customers would want.
One can't dispute that Apple will sell a lot of watches. Just take a look at investment bankers UBS and Bernstein's forecasts. But if this Android Wear partnership is effective, it might be hard for Apple to achieve its optimistic forecasts.
Each partner has unique skills, where the whole of the partnership is greater than the sum of the parts. Individually, one could argue that these three have better software engineering, better hardware engineering, and better design.
Google is ahead of Apple with Android Wear, a more extensive smartwatch app development platform. Android Wear developers benefit from Android's long open source, Linux, and Unix legacy. Culturally, open source developers want to improve software development for the next programmer and want to share their experience. This is why Apple chose BSD Unix for the Mac, and why developers often choose Macs.
Wear developers also benefit from Google and the developer community's experience understanding what a glanceable app is, and how to make it useful to the wearer. In New Jersey, parlance building glanceable apps says easy does hard.
Intel missed the mobile processor market, but the company likely isn't sad about that. Intel is angry, and like an enormous and cunning leviathan lying in wait under the tiny wearables market, it is prepared to use its enormous size and technical resources to win emerging new businesses like wearables.
Intel succeeds using a reference design business model. It engages its engineers with companies building new products, and sometimes Intel will even build its own products to understand the problem its customers are trying to solve with its semiconductor components. Once the design challenges are solved, Intel produces references designs for systems that use its semiconductor components. The company won the PC market and almost put AMD out of business with better reference designs and field engineers that helped customers get products to work and often better technology in its microprocessors and other silicon components.
If Intel could do this again with a watch reference design, the company would pose a significant threat to Apple's proprietary watch architecture. Intel won't keep its breakthrough reference designs to itself, but it will pollinate it to everyone who wants to increase the number of competitors and decrease prices.
TAG Heuer has designed watches for 150 years. That kind of experience can't be recreated in a lab in a few months or years, even with all of Apple's money. If TAG Heuer can bring its design skills to bear on not just how the smartwatch looks but how one is used, it could contribute to the yet-to-be-discovered killer wearable app, packaged more beautifully than the Apple Watch.
Better software, better and cheaper hardware, and a more useful and elegant design could depress the high side of Apple Watch forecasts.


text:
The company sold encrypted BlackBerry devices that were used by criminal organizations around the world, including the Sinaloa drug cartel
Last march, specialists in digital forensics reported that the FBI had arrested the CEO of Phantom Secure, a company that sold encrypted phones and allegedly provided them to high-profile criminal organizations, including the drug cartel in Sinaloa. Vincent Ramos, CEO of the company, pleaded guilty to running a criminal enterprise that facilitated drug trafficking, specifically through the sale of such devices.
This is the most recent legal battle on the subject, where law enforcement agencies say they are unable from accessing criminal communications due to encryption and other security measures. This has also been a heavy blow to an industry that has operated for years relatively openly.
“In his plea, Ramos admitted that he and his accomplices facilitated the distribution of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine to several places around the world, including the United States, Australia, Mexico, Canada, and parts of Europe, supplying drug traffickers encrypted communication devices developed by Phantom Secure, designed to hinder law enforcement”, is read in a press release from the US Attorney’s Office.
Ramos has accepted a seize of $80M USD, as well as renouncing tens of millions of dollars in other assets, such as cryptocurrencies and bank accounts, luxury cars, various properties and gold coins.
According to experts in digital forensics, Phantom Secure acquired BlackBerry devices, which were later loaded with the software known as Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) to send encrypted messages, and could also remotely wipe information of seized phones. The company also removed the microphone, camera and GPS features from the phones, as well as routing messages through servers abroad, according to the criminal complaint against Ramos and his accomplices.
Phantom Secure had customers all over the world. A source familiar with the encrypted phone industry mentions that Phantom sold devices in Mexico, Cuba and Venezuela, as well as for the Hell Angels gang.
In the complaint, the prosecutors claimed that this company was not an incidental part of the drug trade, but that Phantom deliberately and explicitly facilitated this criminal activity. The US and Canadian police worked together to secure the detention of Ramos, placing undercover agents who collected information against him.
US Attorney Adam Braverman said in a press release that “the Phantom Secure encrypted communication service was designed with a purpose: to provide drug traffickers and other violent criminals with a safe way to openly communicate about their criminal activities without fear of being detected by the police authorities”.
According to experts in digital forensics from the International Institute of Cyber Security, the company was dismantled after the investigation and Vincent Ramos now faces a long sentence in Prison. “The United States will investigate and prosecute anyone who provides support, in any form, to criminal organizations”, the US Attorney said.
Working as a cyber security solutions architect, Alisa focuses on application and network security. Before joining us she held a cyber security researcher positions within a variety of cyber security start-ups. She also experience in different industry domains like finance, healthcare and consumer products.


text:
Rumor has it on the Internet that eBay is trying to sell Skype to none other than Google -- even though the service proved to be quite a cash cow in 2008. With eBay reporting a downfall in revenue and Google still going strong, this rumor might actually have some substance.
Net Phone Zone
Data traffic to mobile phones jumped 463 percent in November compared to the same month last year, according to the latest State of the Mobile Web report from Opera Software.
Freshtel Holdings Limited [ASX: FRE] subsidiary Tesco Teleecoms has launched a new converged technology internet telephony service.
The encryption of Skype VoIP phone calls might not be as secure as you think.
New exploits against VoIP continue to emerge, but experts say these demonstrations reveal the need for vigilant security and are not fatal flaws to the technology.
As technology and communications begin to converge, the focus is increasingly placed upon multifunction devices, such as the modern smartphone.
With more bandwidth and endless multimedia possibilities, 3G mobile phones are leaving 2G in the dust.
Skype has made available a test version of its latest upgrade, Skype 4.0, which the eBay unit calls its biggest and most ambitious release in its almost five-year history.
A common compression technique can make internet telephone calls significantly more susceptible to bugging, according to recent research from Johns Hopkins University.
A new online services directory, dubbed FreeConnect, launched last week, claiming to be Australia's first online VoIP directory service.
With a partnership between Black Star TV and South Korean company 2ii Tech, Ghana has become home to the first service in West Africa for mobile-phone-enabled TV content viewing. Employing Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (T-DMB) technology, the new service allows users to view movies, sports, music videos, 24-hour news and current affairs.
Polycom and Telstra have entered a co-branding agreement for Telstra's IP Telephony (TIPT) service.
EBay-owned Skype has released into open beta testing a client for mobile phones that supports phone calls, chat and other features of the popular VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) application.
Sony BMG said Tuesday it will offer content when Nokia launches its Comes With Music program in the second half of 2008.
Skype has announced a flat rate for international calls, further showing how difficult it is to make money from telephony, according to analysts.
Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Huawei P9 review: lifting photography to another level... sometimes.
- 2 Sony Xperia Z5 Premium review: Is the world ready for a 4K phone?
- 3 D-Link Taipan AC3200 Ultra tri-band modem-router review
- 4 Dell XPS 13 (2016) review: Making the very best Ultrabook
- 5 Microsoft Surface Book review: The verdict on Microsoft's first notebook
Join the PC World newsletter!
Best Deals on PC World
Latest News Articles
- Midweek Rumor: Google To Buy Skype
- Mobile Web use hits an upward curve at last
- Freshtel subsidiary launches WiFi mobile telephony service
- Skype won't say if it decrypts VoIP calls
- Skype trots out beta of major redesign
GGG Evaluation Team
First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.
- CCBusiness AnalystVIC
- CCSenior Business AnalystVIC
- CCImplementation ManagerNSW
- CCBusiness Analyst - TravelNSW
- CCSolution Analyst - CloudVIC
- CCRelease & Configuration Manager | Defence intelligence application | NV1 clearedACT
- FTLead Tableau Reporting ConsultantNSW
- CCDevOps /Systems AdministratorQLD
- CCPMO ManagerVIC
- CCSystems Administrator with developer skills | Defence intelligence | NV2 clearedACT
- CCSales Specialist - DigitalNSW
- FTTechnical Support - ImplementationsVIC
- FTNV2 Defence Project Manager | Canberra | Major exciting White Paper projectsACT
- CCProject Analyst/ CoordinatorVIC
- CCContract Junior Programmer (JAVA / SQL) 160621/JP/224Asia
- CCSr Business Analyst FI/CO, ERP, Procurement, Payroll, HR, SAPNSW
- FTSolution Architect - Data/ InformationVIC
- FTSenior Manager Practice LeadNSW
- FTAndroid Technical Lead (Work From Home 2-3 Days)NSW
- CCApplication Support Analyst and Database AdministratorVIC
- CCBusiness Analyst, InsuranceNSW
- CCProject Manager | Experimental military technology | NV1ACT
- CCTenable Security - Technical ConsultantVIC
- CCContract Programmer (JAVA/SQL) 160621/P/866Asia
- CCProject ManagerNSW