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Touch the Soil News #786 (Feature photos CC SA 2.0 and CCA 2.0 Chatam House)
Memphis Meats, not a household word by any means, is a leader in developing meat by growing out animal cells in a laboratory setting. The company has produced cellular meat in the categories of beef, chicken and duck. The cells are grown in tanks that are supplied with oxygen, sugar and other nutrients.
Memphis Meats is making news in that it has received venture capital funding from, among others, Bill Gates and Richard Branson – high profile billionaires in our modern world. While a much smaller player, investments were also made by Kimball Musk, the brother of billionaire Elon Musk of Tesla Motors.
Memphis Meats wants to change the way meat gets to your plate – since meat production is so resource intensive and environmentally taxing. Making meat without animals is new to the world and the San Francisco based enterprise feels it is making breakthroughs and that commercial applications are imminent.
For a world that spends about $1 trillion on meat each year, Memphis Meats is certainly not without a potential market.


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A new token-based ecosystem will enable sub-Saharan farmers to deploy the profits from the sale of their surplus crops in the wider economy.
Block Commodities and GMEX Group subsidiary Financial & Commodities Ecosystema have announced a strategic partnership with OST, the blockchain toolkit for business. The system will reward farmers in the FACES (Feed Africa Commodities Eco-System) with tokens powered by OST technology and the OST token.
Block Commodities and FinComEco are endeavouring to build an ecosystem of e-commerce partners featuring local vendors and service providers as well as medical and educational institutions, where the FACES tokens can be redeemed.
The OST utility token enables any website, app, or marketplace to easily launch a branded token and integrate it into their business.
Block Commodities’ executive chairman Chris Cleverly says: “The sub-Saharan region tends to have fewer fungible currencies but higher interest rates, which outside agencies base on perceptions of Africa rather than its realities. This, with the region’s need for secure relationships to thrive, as well as its recent history of rapid technology take-up, means that Africa is likely to see the fastest blockchain growth.”
Hirander Misra, chairman of GMEX Group and CEO of FinComEco, comments: “The utility OST tokens enable consumer transactions to become part of the FinComEco and Block Commodities supply to demand value chain, which helps facilitate a sustainable and increasing improvement in the sophistication and living standards of smallholder farmers and their families across Sub-Saharan Africa.
“This enables the ‘unbanked’ not only to gain access to these services but also facilitates increasing consumer demand as incomes rise across a whole range of goods and services. This, in turn, leads to financial inclusivity and has a positive social impact.”
OST founder and CEO Jason Goldberg adds: “OST enables any company or project to deploy branded cryptocurrency tokens backed by the market value of OST, on scalable utility block chains. We are thrilled to partner with GMEX Group, Block Commodities, and FincomEco to blockchain enable the African agricultural market.”

domain: news


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What are the potential long-term economic and business effects of the massive protests sweeping Hong Kong?
Both the NFL and its adversaries pointed to the low number of blacked-out games as a reason the FCC should rule in their favor in a dispute over a regulation giving the league the power to punish fans for staying home
The U.S. has precisely the kind of robust infrastructure missing in West African countries struggling to contain the outbreak
Microsoft has given in to critics and brought back the traditional start menu that consumers will recognize from Windows 7
Gross’s success also coincided with one of the best times in history to be a bond investor
Inspired by sculptor Richard Serra, a New Jersey management consultant makes equipment that doesn't dictate how kids play
There are already kimchi and yogurt doughnuts available abroad, but Dunkin' Donuts' top chef sees fermentation coming to the U.S. menu in sandwiches
Not every undergrad can afford to volunteer in Guatemala over the summer. Does recruiting global citizens diminish diversity at the bank?
Governor Jerry Brown vetoes a union-backed California bill to give franchisees more rights in fights with corporate partners
Called the father of modern video games, Miyamoto, 57, continues to affect the industry, decades after he created such popular games as Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, and The Legend of Zelda. The head of Nintendo's game design department has brainstormed new ideas for the DS, Wii, and Wii Fit, keeping consoles in today's living rooms and selling millions of new games. While rivals have borrowed ideas from Nintendo, Miyamoto says he stays ahead of the curve by asking executives and his design team, "What can we do that really nobody else can?"


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Chinese investors are attracted to US stock markets by their reputation as breeding grounds for high-tech superstars, and also by the nation’s prolonged bull market, according to a first-time survey by a group of Chinese financial technology and information companies. The US has long been a preferred listing ground for many of China’s high-tech startups, partly due to difficulties those companies faced listing at home in the past, according to Caixin. With the exception of social networking giant Tencent, all of China’s major internet players are listed in New York City, including leaders Alibaba, Baidu, JD.com and NetEase. Those big names are some of the most popular picks for the estimated more than one million Chinese investors who now buy US stocks, according to the survey. When asked what stocks they were most likely to buy in the next year, the most popular pick was Alibaba, which attracted 56% of respondents. Alibaba rival JD.com was the second-most popular with 29%.
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Update: Console is back in stock at Gamestops website. It looks like stock may not be that limited after all.
This might be surprising news but the Xbox One Titanfall bundles are getting sold out. Currently, the bundle is sold out at Gamestop’s website and if you check near you, many retail stores are also out of stock.(at least in my area).
Continue reading (Update) Titanfall Xbox One Bundles Are Selling Out
Amazon Fire TV will cost $99 and it is available to buy RIGHT NOW. The Fire TV controller is sold separately and will cost your $40. Continue reading Amazon Fire TV Officially Announced
Above is a screencap of the current best-sellers chart at Gamestop.com. As you can see the PS4 currently has 4 bundles in the top 5. Coming in at #1 is the PS4/PS Plus/inFamous bundle. At #2 is the PS4/PS Plus bundle and at #3 its the PS4/COD/Plus bundle. Titanfall’s Collector’s Edition comes in at #4 and then the basic PS4 system comes in at #5.
Continue reading PS4 Dominates Gamestop’s Best Sellers Chart
Following the incredible success of the PS4 and Xbox One, its no surprise that Amazon wants a piece of the pie. Rumors have been going around that Amazon is making a game console of its own. It will most likely be based on Android and the Kindle Fire’s OS. Continue reading Amazon Console Set To Be Revealed Later This Week
Phil Spencer has been promoted as head of Xbox. He will be in charge of Xbox, Xbox Live, Xbox Music/Video and Microsoft Game Studios. This is coming off the launch of the Xbox One last November. The Xbox One has continued to fall behind the PS4 in sales with the latest offical figures putting the PS4 at 6.2 Million sold and 3.9 Million Xbox Ones shipped. Continue reading Xbox Gets A New Boss
The latest UK Charts are in. inFamous: Second Son enjoys its second week at #1. Ground Zeroes managed to hold on to the #2 spot while Titanfall had to settle for 3rd place. Continue reading inFamous: Second Son Continues To Dominate UK Charts


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Microsoft acquires Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax for US$7.5 billion
In a move that has taken the gaming industry by surprise, Microsoft has just acquired ZeniMax, the parent company of several well-renowned publishers like Bethesda, id Software, and more. According to a blog post by Bethesda, Microsoft has reportedly paid US$7.5 billion for the acquisition.
Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda means that it now practically owns a plethora of classic franchises such as Doom, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, and Quake. The transfer of ownership shouldn't affect the present and future availability of existing and upcoming titles on other platforms. However, Microsoft could use this opportunity to develop some Xbox exclusives in the future. Interestingly enough, Jason Schreier says that Microsoft is working on two timed PlayStation 5 exclusives.
Fans will be pleased to know that Microsoft will be adding select Bethesda titles to Xbox Game Pass soon, presumably before the Xbox Series X drops. The additional titles should incentivize confused buyers towards Team Microsoft. A lot of the PlayStation 5's appeal came from its vast range of exclusives. With Bethesda under Microsoft's wing, Sony will have to do a lot more to remain competitive.


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As video game sales continue to rise each passing year so does the rate of piracy. Unsurprisingly, it is a problem that developers and publishers have tried to combat to no real effect. No matter what kind of DRM scheme is developed hackers have been able to circumvent them all in due time. Of course one would think that developers and publishers would stop wasting time, money, and resources developing ineffective DRMs since the only people being inconvenienced are the honest consumers.
Yet the honest consumers are, potentially, hurting the video game industry as well.
Like the video game industry the used video game market has grown. Their policy of buying back used games, and reselling them for a profit, has been highly successful. However the problem is that while these used game businesses make money, by buying and reselling the games, the developers and publishers of the games themselves are not seeing a single cent of those sales.
So the question to ask is which is worse for the video game industry: piracy or the used video game market?
Interestingly enough Mike West, one of the lead Fable III designers, is of the opinion that the used video game industry is worse:
"Piracy these days on PC is probably less problematic than second-hand sales on the Xbox. I've been working on PC games for many years and piracy is always a problem. There are a lot of honest people out there as well, and if they like your game they'll buy it. The pirates, whatever you do on whatever system, they will crack it. It might take no time... I think the longest it's taken to happen is two days. Someone will crack it somewhere and there's not much you can do about it.
It's just a depressing situation we're in that people don't think it's worth spending money on computer games. What they're doing is making sure there are fewer games coming out in the future and more people out of work, which is a terrible thing. Unless you sit down and meet a pirate face to face and have a conversation about what it does, I don't think anything will stop them.
For us it's probably a no-lose even with piracy as it is," shrugged West. "But, as I say, second-hand sales cost us more in the long-run than piracy these days."
An interesting outlook to be sure and one that, in my opinion, has some validity. However video game rentals would need to be added alongside the used video game market. Neither business gives the developers a share of the sales.
Yet the video game industry themselves make it so that many gamers have no other recourse but to rent games or buy used video games. With video game prices being $60 a game, on consoles and some PC titles, that is asking quite a bit from the consumer. Add to that the increasing number of triple A titles each passing year and, sooner or later, a gamer will find themselves purchasing used games in order to play them all or catch up with the newest games.
Suffice to say, though, that this is an interesting question to answer. While a pirate is just downloading the game for his or herself, a used video game could change hands multiple times thus denying the developer/publisher several potential sales of their IP. Another way to look at this is that there are the pirates who pay nothing for the game while people, who buy used games, are helping a business grow. A business, I might add, that helps to create jobs. Yet while the growth of the used video game industry helps to stimulate the economy they are, in the end, also hurting the developers/publishers just like piracy.
But what do you think about this? Do they both hurt the video game industry in their own way? And, if so, then which do you think is worse: piracy or the used video game market?


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Woman Angry at Trump 2020 Flag Outside Pizzeria Tells Owner She’ll Put Him Out of Business. But Her Plan Backfires Bigly.
This Was Weird: It Appears Joe Biden’s Wire Slipped Out from Under His Jacket During Presidential Debate
‘Very Ashamed’: Married Politician Kisses GF’s Newly Enhanced Breast During Livestream, Resigns
Trump Challenges Biden To ‘Name One’ Law Enforcement Group That Supports Him – Met with Total Silence
CNN Panel Melts Down Post-Debate: ‘That Was A S*** Show,’ ‘Horrific,’ ‘Hot Mess,’ President Hit ‘New Low’
Guy Caligiuri — owner of Patio Pizza in St. James, New York — said a woman came into his Long Island shop last Friday to pick up an order and got angry after noticing his Trump 2020 flag flying outside.
Caligiuri added that she even threatened to make Patio Pizza the next victim of cancel culture.
“She didn’t like it. She said you just lost a customer and I’m an administrator of a social mom’s local page and I’m going to post this on and I’m going to put you out of business,” Caligiuri told News12 Long Island.
Calgiuri told Fox Business host Stuart Varney that he’s “been in business for 43 years, and I’ve seen a lot,” so he “just took it in stride… I just ignored it, basically.”
But sure enough, the woman made good on her promise and “posted nasty things about me online and was asking the community to boycott Patio Pizza,” Caligiuri told the network.
And we’ve seen how such scenarios go, haven’t we? The social media mob gets outraged and delivers immense online pressure, and before you know it, the victim apologizes profusely — or even closes up shop for good.
But as it turns out, the last laugh was on Long Island Karen.
Caligiuri told Fox Business that the following morning Patio Pizza was inundated with customers from all over who also declared their support for President Donald Trump, as well as the pizzeria.
“They supported our president,” he noted to Varney. “They support the flag that I had hanging in the back of my store.”
But that was just for starters.
Big help from on high
After the interview with Varney aired, Fox Business said Trump gave some Twitter love to Caligiuri and Patio Pizza:
Support Patio Pizza and its wonderful owner, Guy Caligiuri, in St. James, Long Island (N.Y.). Great Pizza!!! @Varneyco
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2020
“Support Patio Pizza and its wonderful owner, Guy Caligiuri, in St. James, Long Island (N.Y.). Great Pizza!!!” Trump wrote.
After that tweet, Caligiuri said his business switched into an even higher gear.
“The phones have been ringing off the hook, they haven’t stopped … I mean it’s really humbling, it’s amazing,” he told News12, adding that calls of support have come from as far away as Australia.
“I think he’s a fantastic president, I think he’s done a great job, and I think it’s my right to support him and to show my support of him,” Caligiuri told Fox Business.


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Bank of Montreal Can Buys New Stake in Skechers USA Inc. (SKX)
Bank of Montreal Can bought a new stake in shares of Skechers USA Inc. (NYSE:SKX) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 496,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,762,000. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.32% of Skechers USA at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Creative Planning raised its position in Skechers USA by 40.7% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 2,335 shares during the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Skechers USA by 68.8% in the second quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,193 shares of the company’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 3,340 shares in the last quarter. Independent Portfolio Consultants Inc. raised its stake in Skechers USA by 20.7% in the second quarter. Independent Portfolio Consultants Inc. now owns 8,390 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,000 after buying an additional 1,440 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Skechers USA during the first quarter worth approximately $253,000. Finally, Regent Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Skechers USA by 29.4% in the second quarter. Regent Investment Management LLC now owns 8,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. 65.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Skechers USA Inc. (NYSE:SKX) traded up 4.52% during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $22.90. The stock had a trading volume of 3,755,624 shares. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $23.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.14. Skechers USA Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.90 and a 1-year high of $49.28. The stock has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a PE ratio of 13.23 and a beta of 0.32.
Skechers USA (NYSE:SKX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 21st. The company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $877.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $892.06 million. Skechers USA had a return on equity of 20.20% and a net margin of 7.79%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Skechers USA Inc. will post $1.80 earnings per share for the current year.
A number of research firms have recently commented on SKX. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Skechers USA in a research report on Tuesday, July 19th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered Skechers USA from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 22nd. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Zacks Investment Research raised Skechers USA from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 18th. Susquehanna began coverage on Skechers USA in a research report on Friday, August 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $27.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Argus lowered Skechers USA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $30.37.
In other news, General Counsel Phillip Paccione sold 1,389 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.12, for a total value of $33,502.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 90,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,181,533.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 21.73% of the company’s stock.
Skechers USA Company Profile
Skechers U.SA, Inc is a designer and marketer of Skechers-branded lifestyle footwear for men, women and children, and performance footwear for men and women under the Skechers GO brand name. The Company operates through three segments: domestic wholesale sales, international wholesale sales, and retail sales, which includes e-commerce sales.
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Pavilion-published children's illustrator Millie Marotta has launched an initiative to get the nation colouring while supporting the NHS.
Literary agent Simon Trewin has partnered with Writing.ie – a resource site for unpublished authors – to launch a weekly one-hour show on Facebook Live. ... Read more
Penguin Random House UK c.e.o. Tom Weldon says the company is actively seeking ways of helping struggling booksellers during the coronavirus lockdown.... Read more
Little, Brown has launched a personalised book recommendation service on its social media channels.
Avon is putting on a virtual festival to showcase its authors during the Covid-19 crackdown.
A social media campaign launched by HQ Stories to get people sharing their "shelfies" proved a huge social media hit in the UK and beyond... Read more
Début author Holly Jackson is up against heavyweight names, including Malorie Blackman and Frances Hardinge, on the shortlist for the YA Book Prize 2020.... Read more
Laura Cumming, Max Porter and Lucy Ellmann have been longlisted for this year's £10,000 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, rewarding fiction, non-fiction or poetry–which... Read more
BBC Arts has launched Culture in Quarantine, a virtual arts festival “rooted in the experience of national lockdown”, with highlights including "The Big Book Weekend",... Read more
Body positivity campaigner and influencer Megan Crabbe and the inaugural Children’s Laureate Wales, Eloise Williams, are among the judges for the 2020 YA Book Prize,... Read more
The Women's Prize for Fiction award ceremony has been postponed until September because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Greg Orme's The Human Edge (Pearson Business) has been named book of the year at the Business Book Awards.
The Publishers Association has unveiled a brand and website redesign, including a new logo, icon and colour scheme that have been chosen "to reflect the creativity and dynamism... Read more
Quarto has posted a trading update for its 2019 results, saying it expects revenues to slip 9% to $135.8m (2018: $149.3m) but will be returning a profit of $2.9m. ... Read more
Arts Council England (ACE) has announced a £160m emergency funding package to help artists and art organisations cope with the coronavirus crisis.
Issue No 5879
Friday, March 27 2020
Back issuesavailable here


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On a day when Sony settled yet another legal proceeding against it over the rootkit fiasco, the Canadian Music Creators Coalition are making news. The organization unveiled a new website and called attention to Canada's record setting year in digital sales last year, picking up on the fact that Canadian […]
Post Tagged with: "sony rootkit"
Sony Settles with State A.G.s
The EFF has the details on Sony's rootkit settlement with state A.G.'s that has led to the company paying more money and facing more restrictions for its use of DRM.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada on TPMs
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has released a new fact sheet on TPMs. While explicitly not taking a position on TPMs, DRM or fair use, the Commissioner does identify some concerns with the privacy impact of the technology. In fact, the Commissioner opens the discussion by noting that: The use […]
Quebec Court Approves Sony Rootkit Settlement
Another Canadian court has approved the Sony rootkit class action settlement. The Quebec Superior Court granted its approval earlier this week.
Sony Hit With Privacy and Consumer Protection Complaints
As Sony seeks court approval of its class action settlement today (word is that the judge took note of the objections to the settlement and asked the parties to go back and try to address the concerns, likely leading to some modest amendments), CIPPIC has filed an avalanche of complaints […]


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Interpublic Group of Cos. Chairman-CEO Michael Roth wasn’t shy in criticizing the competition, while discussing why his holding company has been lately outperforming some of the others in the “big six," at the UBS Global TMT Conference in New York on Monday.
Roth said IPG’s recent success (he claims the holding company is winning more business than it is losing) can be attributed to its “open architecture” business model that allows its various different agencies to work together on clients’ businesses while preserving their individual brands. He said IPG is increasingly bringing creative, media and other capabilities into the same room for clients, and that the company can “move agencies in and out to meet the needs of the clients.”
“Some of our competitors are putting all their offerings together,” Roth said, alluding to WPP’s and Publicis Groupe’s recent consolidations. “We believe in the brands we have.”
Roth also took a jab at Publicis when discussing IPG’s integration of Acxiom’s Marketing Solutions business, which it acquired for $2.3 billion in 2018. (IPG has since launched a new marketing intelligence unit called Kinesso, which works across its network of agencies to strengthen the impact of traditional and addressable media through the use of Acxiom’s data.)
“In respect to Acxiom, we’re pretty much done [integrating it],” Roth said. “If you look at some of our competitors, they’re still integrating companies that they bought five years ago, and now they have new ones.”
The comment was a not-so-veiled dig at Publicis. The French holding company has been widely criticized for its ineffectiveness to integrate Sapient, the digital network it bought for $3.7 billion in 2014—especially now in light of its recent $4.4 billion purchase of data-marketing conglomerate Epsilon.
To add insult to injury, Roth also pointed to IPG’s recent organic growth numbers, which he called “impressive” given that the company faced “4.8 percent of headwinds" in the U.S. in the third quarter. In October, despite those headwinds, IPG reported organic growth of 3.5 percent for the first nine months of 2019, and estimated that figure to be “at the high-end” of 2 percent to 3 percent for the full year.
Publicis, on the other hand, has been struggling to post organic growth (the company forecasts it will decline 2.5 percent in the full 2019 year). In a recent internal memo, Publicis Groupe Chairman-CEO Arthur Sadoun told employees that achieving organic growth in 2020 “is in the hands of everyone, and we’re expecting everyone to deliver.” WPP, which has also struggled in this area, returned to organic growth of 1.8 percent in the recent third quarter reported in October.
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated that IPG faced 4.8 percent of headwinds this year; that was actually in the third quarter. It also stated that the company reported 3.5 percent organic growth in the first half of the year; that should have read versus the first nine months of 2019.


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Trade facilitator witnesses five per cent growth in online transactions in 2015
Dubai Trade, the single window for trade and logistics in Dubai and the UAE, witnessed a five per cent growth in online transactions in 2015 and also welcomed 16,800 new companies last year.
The cross-border trade facilitator revealed substantial growth in the number of companies registered and the value of transactions carried out in 2015.
There were 113,354 companies registered with Dubai Trade, with over 19.5 million transactions during the year, up five per cent on 2014. Dubai Trade’s secured ePayment gateway ‘Rosoom’ recorded 1.1 million transactions amounting to Dh1.2 billon.
Rosoom has adopted the second generation of the e-dirham system as an additional payment mode.
Through its portal, Dubai Trade offers access to more than 820 integrated electronic services covering a range of services from manifest and cargo handling through to invoicing and payments for different users, including traders, shipping lines, forwarding agents, hauliers and free zone licencees.
Jamal Majid bin Thaniah, chairman of Dubai Trade, said: “We have adopted the most innovative technologies to stay ahead in the world of trade and be ready for any new challenge. Our courses and programmes have also encouraged the sharing of expertise, reinforcing Dubai’s position as a vital trade hub and business leaders.”
Dubai Trade provides training programmes to support the trade and logistics community as well as portal users. In 2015, 132 e-Services training sessions were carried out for 1,532 candidates. More than 260 individuals were also officially certified by attending the certified trade and logistics professional programme.
The year also witnessed the launch of the certified customs broker, a professional course that provides an insight into customs laws and regulations in the region. Five sessions have been held with 65 graduates.
Eng Mahmood Al Bastaki, CEO of Dubai Trade, said: “We encourage people to develop their capabilities and come up with creative ways of reaching our goals. We believe employee engagement can contribute to our success. Dubai Trade is a role model and has expanded to new markets by replicating our services in Algeria. We will soon unveil an electronic trade window that integrates all DP World subcontinent terminals in India.”
Upgrades to other services are also being developed. The land transportation management system will be offered soon for freight forwarders and shipping lines to match cargo transportation requirements and maximise truck availability. A new warehouse booking system providing an on-demand warehousing platform connecting companies that need warehouse space with warehouse operators is also in the pipeline.


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The N1 Mini is rumored to be the next mid-range smartphone from Chinese manufacturer Oppo featuring Google’s Android OS. Unlike Oppo N1, the mini version will pack a 5-inch display with the resolution of 1280 x 1080 pixels. It will be powered by an 8 core processor and 2GB RAM. For multimedia, the N1 Mini will pack a 13 Mega Pixel Rotating camera at back capable of shooting Full HD videos. In addition to that it will come with a powerful 2140mAh battery. The N1 Mini will come in two different variants depending on the connectivity – LTE and non-LTE. Rest of the specifications are unknown but Oppo is expected to launch N1 Mini by the end of Q2 2014. Stay tuned for more updates.
Update : According to Oppo’s official Sina Weibo post, the next mid-range smartphone N1 Mini will get an official launch on May 30th 2014.
Update : Oppo N1 Mini Images Leaked Ahead Of Launch


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ECB acts to boost struggling Eurozone. Goldman Sachs rolls out ETFs focused on AI. E-commerce firms set to form a lobby group. Chinese exports tumbled over 20% in February.
India seeks to keep Iran oil purchases at 300,000 bpd in extended waiver. Exports from China tumbled over 20% in February.
Pretty Please: India is seeking an extension on waiver of US sanctions on oil imports from Iran as it looks to maintain the current import level of 300,000 barrel per day limit. The waiver is set to expire on May 4.
Background: India’s request comes at a time of heightened political tension between the two countries, aggravated by the termination of India’s membership from the preferential trade program by the Trump administration.
Recap: The US had re-imposed sanctions against Iran last November in a dispute over Tehran's nuclear and missile ambitions. It had however granted waiver's to Iran's biggest oil customers - China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy and Greece, allowing them to continue limited imports.
Sharp Fall: Export from China tumbled 20.7% vs previous year on the back of fears of global economic slowdown. Imports too dropped 5.2%.
The trade balance narrowed to $4bn vs $39bn in January. Trade surplus with the US also dipped sharply to $15bn vs $27bn a month earlier.
ECB acts to boost struggling Eurozone. Goldman Sachs rolls out ETFs focused on AI.
Back to Life: The ECB has rolled out a round of fresh stimulus, offering banks cheap loans in an attempt to revive the economy. The unexpected move came as the Central Bank made sharp cuts to its forecasts for both growth and inflation this year.
Holding Steady: ECB, acting less than three months after it phased out a $2.9tr bond-buying program, said it would hold interest rates at their current levels at least through the end of this year, longer than what it had previously signaled.
The announcement sent the Euro down by 0.6% against the Dollar and 0.1% against the Pound.
Rise of Machines: Goldman Sachs launched five new ETF funds that rely on indexes built with Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Goldman has teamed up with Motif Investing to identify companies that will drive growth.
Not the First: Goldman’s foray into computer-driven ETFs is the latest sign of Wall Street’s increased reliance on sophisticated automation. Two years ago, BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager by assets, announced that it would overhaul its actively managed equities business to rely more on robots than humans.
Dunzo in final stages to close c. $20m funding round. Coverfox in talks to raise $50m in Series D funding. Zoho acquires ePoise.
Close Enough: Bengaluru-based hyperlocal startup Dunzo is in final stages of closing its $15-$20m funding round. Existent investor Google is likely to participate in the round along with a new strategic investor.
The news comes at a time when competition in the hyperlocal delivery space has intensified. Swiggy, which forayed into the on-demand hyperlocal space with the launch of Swiggy Stores is expected to be a major contender. The deal would give Dunzo enough resources to compete with the food delivery giant.
AI Assistant: Dunzo leverages AI to provide vendors for shipping of packages, buying products, repairing stuff, and home services. Users can also get their personal tasks done through the app, which includes paying bills, getting car services, repairing amongst others.
D Company: Online insurance platform Coverfox in discussions with investors from China, the US and the UK to raise c. $50-60m in Series D funding round.
Glitterbug Technologies, which runs Coverfox, has appointed the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to identify investors. If the deal goes through, it will value the venture at $150-200mn.
Old Friends: SAIF Partners, Catamaran Ventures and Accel Partners, who had earlier invested in the company, are also expected to participate in the new round.
First Buy: Homegrown tech firm Zoho has bought Bengaluru-based hiring automation startup ePoise Systems for an undisclosed sum in its first-ever acquisition.
Digital Interview: ePoise offers an automated hiring software product targeted at mass recruiting companies.
Max group's Analjit Singh likely to sell assets to repay loans. Jet’s lessor may redeploy its planes if restructuring fails this month.
Settling Scores: Max group promoter Analjit Singh is looking to sell assets to repay loans raised through the pledging of promoter shares.
Singh is planning to sell a minority stake in Max Financial Services (MFSL), the holding company of Max Life, as well as some real estate assets. Singh will sell 5% of his 12% stake in the entity formed after the merger of KKR-backed Radiant Life Care and Max Healthcare.
Giving it Back: So far the promoters have pledged c. 76% of their stake in MFSL and c. 74% in Max India (MIL), the holding company of its healthcare, health insurance and senior living businesses, to the lenders.
Grounded: Jet Airways has grounded three more aircrafts bringing the total number of grounded aircrafts to 28. The grounded aircrafts were leased to Jet by FLY Leasing and were grounded on the back of outstanding payments. The lender has stated that it intends to reacquire the planes and redeploy them elsewhere if the airline cannot gain approvals for a restructuring plan this month.
Under the Scanner: The ED is investigating Philip Morris and its Indian partner Godfrey Phillips for alleged violation of FDI laws in India. The agency has been looking into both the companies and the scope of the investigation is allegedly much broader than the foreign investment law violations highlighted.
Since Forever: Philip Morris has for years paid manufacturing costs to Godfrey Phillips to make its Marlboro cigarettes, circumventing a nine-year-old government ban on foreign direct investment in the industry.
E-commerce firms set to form a lobby group. RIL plans expansion into fashion store business.
Union: Around 10-11 e-commerce companies, including Snapdeal and ShopClues, are planning to form a lobby group – one where the majority shareholding would be Indian and would represent the interest of Indian e-commerce companies.
The “E-commerce Council of India” will focus on topics including policy advocacy, exchange of best practices and a general engagement platform for the e-commerce companies in India.
Big Dreams: Reliance Industries is planning to grow the number of low-cost Reliance Trends fashion stores across India to 2,500 from 557 over the next five years with the aim to integrate them with its online business.
Taking Advantage: The move comes as the recently released FDI in ecommerce policy and draft ecommerce policy has pushed foreign-owned retail giants like Amazon and Flipkart to realign their operations in the country.
Growth Capital: Ecommerce and consumer internet companies raised over $7bn in private equity and venture capital funding in 2018.
A majority of the funding went towards building supply chain, expanding into new segments, acquisition/consolidation, and bringing innovative product offerings. Read more on this here.
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Leaked proposals from the European Union show plans for a new set of rules for the digital currency and other digital assets, in a move that could reshape the industry across the bloc.
The draft Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) legislation will operate in a similar way to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) for securities, providing legal certainty for digital assets like digital currencies, stablecoins and security tokens.
The proposed law will see digital currency regulated in a similar way as other regulated financial instruments, effectively equalizing the legal framework for digital assets.
Siân Jones, senior partner at XReg Consulting, was quoted by CoinDesk saying the definitions of tokens in the proposals would classify stablecoins as asset-reference tokens, rather than e-money tokens, specifically targeting them for regulation within the scope of the new measures.
“Those stablecoins that rely on a basket of currencies or are based by reference to other assets, whether that’s another crypto or other kinds of assets, they will be classed as asset-reference tokens,” he said, according to the report. “Essentially, the subgroup that behaves like e-money will be sucked into the existing e-money framework, while those that are asset-referenced have a load of extra rules on top of the base rules. So clearly, this is targeting stablecoins and particularly global stablecoins.”
According to Jones, the increased regulatory clarity inferred from the draft proposals will make digital assets more attractive to institutional investors.
“By making crypto just like everything else in the traditional world, you make it easier for the traditional world to accept it. I would probably say from the draft that it will favor the banks and traditional investment firms. The incumbents will have an advantage in a number of respects, which I’m sure is not the intention, but that will be the short- to medium-term impact.”
“In a sense, crypto has benefited for much of the last decade from being largely in a grey area. But now you have a very clear set of rules – and you are either in or outside it.”
New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeek’s Bitcoin for Beginners section, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoin—as originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamoto—and blockchain.


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Mobile World Congress 2024: Xiaomi SU7, AI progress and Android evolves
Better known for smartphones and smart home ecosystems, Xiaomi has taken an undeniably bold leap of faith by investing heavily on a powerful electric vehicle, the SU7 sedan
The name may suggest it is a showcase of smartphones, but the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona has broadened scope to include a lot more. On the agenda this time are broad themes, including smartphone photography tech, wearables, generative AI, as well as the intersection of mobility with technology and a powerful new EV. Let’s snapshot some important developments.
New phones, beyond phones
If the potential of a partnership is a barometer, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra (priced at €1,499, or around ₹1.3 lakh) is primed to set a new benchmark in smartphone photography. It’s been tuned by German photography giants, Leica The camera system builds on a 1-inch sensor and Leica’s Vario-Summilux lens, with four AI imaging models to fine-tune results. A flagship with Qualcomm’s most powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, driving a new and streamlined HyperOS software. There is no confirmation when this phone will make it to India.
For now, Xiaomi 14 is ready to go on sale in India, holding the flagship mantle. It has a Leica tuned three camera setup each 50-megapixels, a telephoto lens and a 1-inch sensor. We expect this to arrive in India for less than ₹75,000.
There were some cool, albeit limited appeal devices on show too. HMD Global, have made a Barbie flip phone. No pricing, no specs, though we know for sure the partnership is with toymakers Mattel. And also, a second coming for Barbie is unlikely. Here’s one for battery guzzlers – Energizer’s Hard Case P28K is an Android phone with a 28,000mAh capacity battery, which should last a week on a single charge. Samsung is shifting focus to a new form factor for health tracking – a smart ring, called Galaxy Ring.
Generative AI on your devices
For generative AI in phones and PCs, the next frontier is on-device AI processing, rather than the cloud. Qualcomm’s AI Hub for developers unlocks pre-optimized AI models, including for Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for smartphones and Snapdragon X Elite for PCs. This library has more than 75 popular AI and generative AI models, including Whisper, ControlNet, Stable Diffusion, and Baichuan 7B.
Qualcomm AI Research showcased the world’s first on-device use of a 7+ billion parameter large language model (LMM) that can accept text and audio inputs to generate multi-turn conversations. There’s a similar experiment with a Large Language and Vision Assistant (LLaVA) also with more than 7 billion parameters for Android devices.
MediaTek has put final touches to its first on-device generative AI video diffusion, powered only by its flagship 5G mobile processor, Dimensity 9300. It incorporates what they claim is the world’s first hardware-based Generative AI Engine with secure and personalized AI suggestions, whilst being capable of bandwidth reduction, low-rank adaptation (LoRA) Fusion, and up to 8 times faster generative AI performance. Expect more AI phones and AI PCs this year.
Android’s evolving on phone and car
Google wasn’t ready to be outdone in the AI stakes. They have announced a new set of features for Android. These include access to the Gemini AI chatbot within Google’s own Messages app, generating audible AI generated captions for images on screen, enhanced screen reader support for the Lens functionality in Maps and handwritten annotations in Google Docs. Most of this functionality rolls out globally, over the next few days.
With SU7, Xiaomi’s mobility play
Better known for smartphones and smart home ecosystems, Xiaomi has taken an undeniably bold leap of faith by investing heavily on a powerful electric vehicle, the SU7 sedan. Its R&D team is 3400-member strong and 10 billion CNY invested to develop in-house core tech including HyperEngine electric motors that can do up to 35,000 rpm (or revolutions per minute), a highly efficient battery, die-cast rear floor that has 840 less welding joints and Xiaomi Pilot Autonomous Driving, at play. Xiaomi stresses, mobility is a crucial part of its unified software platform.
Smarter cars, around the bend
Chip makers are helping rapidly develop smarter cars. MediaTek and infotainment solutions company Access Twine4Car are working on an interactive multi-screen entertainment solution. MediaTek’s Dimensity Auto smart cockpit and infotainment platforms is at the core, and can deliver concurrent video playbacks, advanced 3D graphics and generative AI.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Auto connectivity platform is adding QCA6797AQ to its arsenal, which becomes the automotive industry’s first Wi-Fi 7 access point solution. Use cases envisioned are faster updates for experiences including in-depth 3D maps, cloud services and media streaming.
Closing the loop is your Android phone. The next set of Android Auto updates, rolling out now, adds an ability for AI to summarise long text messages. It will also suggest relevant replies or actions, based on context of a message, such as sharing your estimated time of arrival with map location, or making a call.
Stay informed on Business News, TCS Q4 Results Live along with Gold Rates Today, India News and other related updates on Hindustan Times Website and APPs


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Wallets and credit cards may soon become a thing of the past. They will be replaced by microchips embedded in mobile phones, watches or other portable devices.
Peter Evers Australian Central's chief executive believes that cash will be replaced for most transactions in five to seven years. He stated that cash will disappear and there will be other forms of carrying cash, stored value in your phone or some other object. It will transfer automatically.
In Hong Kong and Singapore, the low-value transactions have already disappeared and you can't go anywhere, even on public transport, without pre-purchasing a card.
Mr. Evers stated that he thought the Australian Payments Systems Board was very much on top of it and was trying to move things that way, but hadn't publicly put things in place just yet.
Chris Ward Banksa's general manager for strategy and operations felt that Australia would follow the offshore lead, with small cash transactions disappearing first. People wanting to purchase an item from the deli with cash will no longer be able to do so; they will have to buy it with their chip.
John Oliver state manager of the Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank SA/NT said that it would be easier for retailers to use electronic transactions rather than manual cash transactions.
Greg Connor Savings and Loans chief executive felt that the concept of the wallet would go. Currently we have a wallet or a purse; shortly it will be a chip in your phone or your watch or something like that as your access.
Mr. Evers also stated that credit cards were also on the way out.
People will still be able to have access to credit, only it will be there through the mobile phone. The card was only there as means of identification, and that there could be another way of proving identity. Revolving credit will still be available.


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Financial services are on IT's cutting edge.
Articles about Banking
As Australia’s big four banks race for dominance in the mobile commerce stakes, ANZ has revealed that its goMoney mobile-to-mobile payments platform has hit AU$100 billion in transactions to date.
As Qantas looks down the barrel of an AU$2.8 billion loss for the financial year ending June 2014, the airline is hoping to see cash savings of AU$200 million by the end of FY15 with efficiency enhancements driven by new technology.
The world's largest commercial bank has deployed IBM's Mainframe Active Active technology.
New York-based Moven has always seen itself as a disruptor of banking, but now it's partnering with them.
Customers armed with an iPhone 5S will be able to log into St George's internet banking app with just a fingerprint when iOS8 arrives.
IT Manager's Tool Kit V3 and Essential IT Forms is a compilation of two of TechRepublic's most popular downloads. IT Manager's Tool Kit V3: Another popular TechRepublic CD back in electronic...
Bank extends its long-term service and technology relationship with IBM to accelerate the roll-out of new digital products and services.
Australians will not see Google Wallet officially arriving in the country any time soon, with Google ANZ managing director dismissing the plan in favour of "more exciting things".
A Forrester report has highlighted that CIOs need to drive a collaborative approach to their digital strategy.
Westpac plans to target travelling customers next month when it releases new features to its mobile banking app.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has seen its cash profit for 2014 grow 12 percent to a record AU$8.68b with internet banking now handling 47 percent of the bank's transactions.
NAB is taking a flexible approach to its internet banking platform, with the company’s head of digital and online channels David Broeren outlining an elastic, non-integrated environment pipeline for the bank’s online transaction environments.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank spent AU$70 million on IT during the 2014 financial year, mainly on software maintenance and on the bank's new website.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) will acquire a 10 percent stake for 333 million euros (US$445.06 million) in the German incubator, in a deal aimed at driving development in mobile and online payment tools.
Ahead of the launch of its new online banking platform in October, Westpac New Zealand will release an augmented reality mobile banking app in September.


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Consumer prices rose 1.2 percent in September, equivalent to an annual rate of 14.8 percent, the Labor Department reported yesterday.
September marked the third consecutive month of large price increases, despite the economy's drift into recession. The consumer price index for September was 279.3, which means goods and services that cost $100 in 1967 cost $279.30 last month.
Separately, the government reported that prices in the Washington area rose 1.8 percent during August and September, a rate of inflation equal to the rise for the previous four months. Details on Page D9.
September's price increases occurred throughout the national economy, although food and housing costs continued to lead the rise. On Wall Street, stock prices fell sharply yesterday, a decline analysts attributed partly to the new consumer price figures. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrial stocks declined 10.28 to 837.99.
Housing costs across the nation jumped by 1.3 percent in September, as mortgage interest rates last month climbed to an average of just under 18 percent. Sharp rises in most grocery store food prices were offset partially by cheaper poultry and fresh vegetables, leaving an overall rise in food and beverage prices of 1 percent.
Transportation costs rose 1.2 percent while other goods and services, including higher charges for school tuition and supplies, soared by 1.8 percent.
Murray L. Weidenbaum, chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, said last month's consumer price index "emphasizes that inflation continues to be a serious problem."
But Weidenbaum said the September figures are somewhat distorted by the treatment of housing, which tends to overstate changes in mortgage interest rates. Weidenbaum said that "over the last several months, the CPI has been heavily influenced by increases in home financing costs and their disproportionate weighting in the overall index."
"Recent developments," such as the beginnings of a decline in interest rates, "suggest that this source of upward pressure should be considerably less of an influence over the next several months," Weidenbaum added.
He pointed out that despite recent big rises in consumer prices, "the underlying rate of inflation remains below double digits." A figure that illustrates economy-wide price changes, called the gross national product (GNP) deflator, was released last week showing inflation at an annual rate of 9.4 percent in the third quarter of this year. Producer (wholesale) prices also have shown only moderate increases recently.
Both the CPI and the GNP deflator have clearly taken a turn for the worse in recent months, however. Between March and June this year the deflator rose at an annual rate of only 6.4 percent while the CPI increase was 7.4 percent. In the three months to September, however, the deflator was up by 9.4 percent, but the CPI leaped by 13.5 percent at an annual rate.
As an indication of how the treatment of housing has exaggerated the ordinary CPI, an experimental consumer price index that treats housing differently showed a price rise of 9.2 percent in the year to September, compared with the 11 percent recorded by the ordinary CPI.
Last month's jump in prices helped to lower real earnings for the nation's workers. Inflation-adjusted spendable earnings dropped by 1.9 percent in September after showing no change in August and falling by 0.6 percent in July.
Economists warned earlier this year that some of the early price improvement was due to temporary factors, such as unusually stable food prices and a drop in oil prices. Further gains would be much harder to win and would depend heavily on the big labor contracts to be negotiated next year, they said.
The administration has said that its policy of encouraging tight money, cutting the federal budget and encouraging deregulation will combat inflation. Other analysts believe that wages, which determine the underlying level of inflation, may not respond to this, and that the administration's anti-inflation policy may boil down to a prolonged period of relatively high unemployment and sluggish economy.


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Russia: Ministry of Agriculture called alternative suppliers of foreign products to the country
The Ministry of Agriculture of Russia prepared the list of alternative suppliers of import food products to fill the gap, caused by the sanctions of products, declared Nikolai Fedorov, Minister of Agriculture, on August 7.
According to him, the supplies of meat from the European Union, the USA and Canada can be replaced by the supplies from Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Belarus. The work in the reporting direction has already started, the Ministry already accredited more than 40 new companies in Brazil.
The Ministry of Agriculture plans to replace the shortfall in supply of cheese, butter and dry milk with the products from South America and New Zealand.
You should be authorized to post comment
Import limitations by Turkey to reduce the exports of Russian grains in March - Rusagrotrans
Russia: Ministry of Agriculture completed grain purchasing interventions
In January-February, Russia increased agricultural production - Rosstat
Problems with the supply of Russian wheat to Turkey have political nature - market participants
Turkish importers paused purchases of agricultural products from Russia
March 21, 17:05
Russia: in the third week of March, Krasnodar Krai seaports exported nearly 0.4 mln tonnes of grains
March 21, 14:40
Russia planted spring crops throughout over 0.5 mln ha - Ministry of Agriculture
March 21, 11:15


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The days of renting a movie have ended
THE wave of video stores closing around the nation has finally hit Roma, with OgilV Entertainment closing its doors.
The official last day to rent a video in Roma was Sunday.
The video store has remained in Roma for more than 20 years, with Terry and Shenen Ogilvie taking it over and keeping it alive for the past three.
OgilV Entertainment owner Terry Ogilvie said it was devastating making the decision to close.
“We’re definitely sad to hang up the boots,” he said.
“It was a very hard decision for us to make but you can’t fight today’s technology and unfortunately we’ve had to close another thing we love doing.
“Everyone is downloading and streaming these days and video shops are a thing of the past so it was just due to lack of rentals and with the progress of today’s technology we had to make the decision to shut the doors.
OgilV Entertainment is shut.


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We have talked about Fusion Garage’s Grid 10 before. The company makes some tablets that look interesting, but have been hampered by pricing that was more than many were willing to pay. The company has announced that it is cutting $200 off the starting price of the Grid 10 tablet. We talked about the Grid 10 tablet back in August. The tablet uses an OS called Grid that is based on Android.
The tablet had been targeting a launch date of September 15, but the tablet will now have a bit of a delay in shipping with the ship date pushed back to October 1. A few extra weeks insn’t too bad considering the price cut. Previously the 16GB WiFi only tablet was $499 with a version featuring 3G and WiFi at $599.
The price as of today is $299 for the WiFi version and $399 for the WiFi and 3G version. Fusion Garage told Engadget that it has always intended to launch the tablets at the current prices. According to the company, negotiations with an ODM left them unable to tout the lower prices until now. Will you try the Grid 10 at the lower prices?


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Pentax Optio WG-2 - Another Waterproof Compact
To become available soon
By PF Staff in Pentax Rumors on Feb 3, 2012
A new Pentax Optio WG-2 has just been posted by Adorama and is available for pre-order. This is the third new camera from Pentax in under a week- they are on a roll! Also, it seems that Pentax may have decided to finally adapt a consistent naming scheme!
The following specifications are currently known:
- 16 megapixel sensor
- New shooting modes (same as the Optio VS20)
- 3 colors: red, white, black
- GPS option
- $349 MSRP with no GPS, $399 with GPS
The actual price will likely fall steeply after the camera starts shipping.
Update: the listing has since been taken down, which confirms our suspicions that this camera is real.
While this looks like an unintentional leak on the part of Adorama, the chances that the the "2" in "WG-2" is a type are quite slim, as the WG-1 has already been discontinued, and the waterproof compact lineup represents a key part of Pentax's "outdoor" camera offering.
We are looking forward to seeing an official announcement of this camera within the coming days!
More from the Pentax Forums Homepage
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- Pentax K-3 Mark III Continuous Autofocus...
- April "Urban Landscape" Contest...
- U.S. Pentax Deal Roundup: May 12, 2022
- Win a SMC Pentax DA 21mm: Special Photo Contest
- Ricoh WG-6 Firmware Update Adds Webcam...


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Compromise on Trade Rules Introduced; WTO Hopes for Deal after Failed Negotiations
Byline: Jeffrey Sparshott, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The World Trade Organization, with time running out, tried to revive troubled negotiations yesterday with a new compromise outline for global trade rules.
"We still have some way to go before reaching consensus on the text overall, but with hard work and good will, this should be possible," Shotaro Oshima, chairman of the WTO's governing council, and Supachai Panitchpakdi, WTO director-general, said in a letter to the body's 147 member countries.
An agreement that substantially lowers trade barriers for industrial and agricultural goods would boost world economies by $520 billion and lift about 144 million people out of poverty in the next 12 years, according to a study by the World Bank.
But talks collapsed in September when nations fought over rules that would force poor countries to rewrite some laws, such as government contracting regulations and rules on monopolies, and rich countries to abandon some lavish agricultural subsidies.
The breakup was a spectacular failure that pitted developing countries, led by Brazil and India, against the United States, European Union and other wealthier economies.
Many of the same trade ministers who fought to a standstill during the September talks in Cancun, Mexico, will reconvene later this month in Geneva. The meeting is seen as a last attempt to patch together a general agreement that, although it leaves many questions unresolved, at least would allow negotiations to continue.
The end-of-month meeting is likely to be the last high-level gathering before U. …


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The oldest and probably the most famous French daily paper L`Figaro has recently published an article about six attractive destinations on the Mediterranean worth visiting during the winter months but which have not yet been `discovered`.
CroMedicor.com is central place that brings together full range of the Croatian health tourism market. Health tourism is a form of world's tourism with most rapidly developing and, unlike other varieties of tourism, it is possible to perform all 365 days in a year.
Croatian users have recognized the benefits of treatment contracting through CroMedicor platform! The proof is one of the first successfully completed treatments of our customers in the Polyclinic Medikol.
In Opatija, last weekend, 20 and 21 November 2010. held 5.Međunarodni wellness and fitness fair "WELLNESS NEWS". The fair was held at Imperial Hotel in Opatija, and gathered 20-odd exhibitors from both the wellness industry and manufacturers of equipment for wellness and fitness center.


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TECHNOLOGY developed by an innovative Coventry company could help thousands of small and medium-sized firms slash their overheads.
Netplan Internet Solutions, in Siskin Parkway East, at Middlemarch Business Park, has used broadband technology to create Netplan Telecom – a business telephone system that uses the internet to send and receive telephone calls as an alternative to traditional systems.
The technology – Voice Over Internet Protocol telephony – is the fastest growing type of business telephone system worldwide and works directly through a businesses’ broadband connection.
A typical broadband connection allows up to six calls to be made simultaneously and, depending on their existing tariff, experts at Netplan said businesses could save up to 50 per cent on their phone bills by using the system.
The system is hosted by Netplan and also eliminates the need for businesses to install thousands of pounds worth of hardware.
The Coventry company simply configures the phones for its clients who can effectively ‘plug and play’.
Matthew Brennan, business development manager at Netplan, said: “Broadband has just celebrated its tenth anniversary.
For us it has opened up a raft of possibilities in telephony with our VOIP system.
“Netplan Telecom is a great system and we’ve already attracted about 20 re-sellers who are saying there’s nothing else like this on the market.”


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Honor Smart TV: The Gadget of Future
Honor will launch a new smart TV in the future. Honor’s intention to make a Smart TV was confirmed by President Honor George Zhao recently.
A collaborative effort to bring innovation
According to George Zhao, Honor doesn’t just want to release a standard, run-of-the-mill smart TV. The Chinese company wants to be true innovators and revolutionize the smart TV market.
To achieve their aspirations to revolutionize the smart TV market, they partnered with JingDong China. Honor calls the project as ‘Smart Screen TV’ as the device is a combination of smart TV and the internet.
Both Chinese Honor and JingDong regard it as the future of television. It appears that they are optimistic about the future of Smart TV market.
Honor Smart TV, how revolutionary will it be?
According to Gizmo China, Tuesday (07/16/2019), from George Zhao’s announcement, Honor TV will be very integrated with other smart devices. He claimed, Honor wanted the television to be a complete information center.
If the previous claim can be trusted, it is very likely that Honor TV will be coming soon. This device is likely to be announced along with other new devices such as Honor 9X and Magicbook.


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Hyundai Glovis Bags $1.3bln Contract
Hyundai Glovis, a logistics company headquartered in Seoul and part of the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group, has secured 1.42 trillion won (US$1.3 billion) in orders to ship vehicles, said a report in RTT News. The auto freight unit of South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group quoted as saying that the orders are to ship vehicles built by Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. The report said that, under the two separate deals, Hyundai Glovis said it is set to ship Hyundai and Kia cars to the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia until December 2019.
Imabari to Acquire Minaminippon Shipbuilding
Imabari Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. has reached an initial agreement to acquire compatriot Japanese shipbuilder Minaminippon Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. The takeover, which remains subject to further discussions before the deal is concluded, would take effect April 1, 2018. Minaminippon’s present shareholders include Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (25 percent) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (24 percent).
Hutchison Ports Acquires 50% Stake in TMA
Hong Kong's Hutchison Ports has acquired a 50% shareholding in Amsterdam-headquartered terminal and logistics operator TMA Logistics. TMA has a variety of general cargo terminal operations together with warehousing, shipping, logistics and project cargo activities at three sites in Amsterdam and one in Antwerp as well as at Hutchison Ports Amsterdam (former known as Amsterdam Container Terminal). Commenting on the acquisition, Clemence Cheng, Executive Director, Hutchison Ports…
Yang Ming Announces Subsidiary in Thailand
Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation will establish a subsidiary in Thailand - Yang Ming Line (Thailand) Co., Ltd. The new company will provide all services starting 1st January 2018. Mr. Derek Chen is officially appointed as its President. Thailand is located in a strategical position in the middle of Southeast Asia with strong links to neighboring countries, whose economy has been growing steadily over the years. It is expected to see more rapid expansion of the market in the near future.
DHL Expects Immunity in Price Fixing Investigation
Deutsche Post expects its DHL forwarding business to be granted immunity from prosecution and fines by Singapore antitrust authorities, who are investigating 11 companies for alleged price fixing, the German logistics company said. The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) said this month it was investigating 11 freight forwarding companies, including Deutsche Post unit DHL Global Forwarding, for alleged price-fixing of air freight forwarding services. Deutsche Post told Reuters last week that the probe related to pricing and surcharges in the forwarding industry from 2002 to 2007. Forwarders buy cargo space from airlines, shippers and truckers and bundle shipments for customers, such as carmakers, high-tech firms and agriculture firms.
Sinotrans, Rickmers-Linie Strengthen Ties
Sinotrans Ltd. and Rickmers-Linie GmbH & Cie. KG are going to strengthen their co-operation in the business field of worldwide transportation and logistics services of containers, break-bulk, project cargo and heavy lifts. The co-operation will include shipping agency business, domestic transportation and logistics services within the People’s Republic of China as well as container slot charter activities related to the Rickmers-Linie liner services network, with emphasis on all traffic into and from the People’s republic of China. For the port of Qingdao, an agency contract has been signed already and Sinotrans begun acting for and on behalf of Rickmers-Linie since 1 June 2003.
COSCOL Wins Kazakhstani Heavy Lift Shipping Contract
COSCO Shipping Co. Ltd. (COSCOL) said it has been awarded a transportation and logistics contract signed by representatives of all parties on September 27, 2016 in Astana, Kazakhstan. Part of the work under the contract will be subcontracted to COSCOL’s Korean Partners, namely Dongbang Transport Logistics Co., Ltd., Hanjin Transportation Co., Ltd., CJ Korea Express and Chung Yang Shipping Co., Ltd. COSCO will be responsible for transporting modules weighing up to 1,800 tons from fabrication yards in Korea and Europe to the transshipment bases in the Black and Baltic seas.
New CEO, Co-CEO to Lead MHI Vestas Offshore Wind
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Vestas Wind Systems (Vestas) have appointed Philippe Kavafyan to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Lars Bondo Krogsgaard to Co-Chief Executive Officer (Co-CEO) of MHI Vestas Offshore Wind. The appointments will take effect on 1 April, 2018, and are made in accordance with the joint venture agreement's principle of changing its leadership every four years. Under the leadership of out-going CEO Jens Tommerup and Co-CEO Tetsushi Mizuno, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind has established itself as a leading player in offshore…
Greencarrier Rebrands Subsidiary, Scandinavian Shipping & Logistics
Scandinavian Shipping & Logistics AS is changing its name to Greencarrier Shipping & Logistics AS with effect from 2, September 2013. Greencarrier Group, one of the Nordic region’s largest privately-owned transport companies, acquired Scandinavian Shipping & Logistics in 2011 as part of its long- term strategy to expand its services, both in the region and globally. Øyvind Lygre, CEO of Greencarrier Shipping & Logistics AS, says most of the companies in the group are already branded ‘Greencarrier’.
Green Signal for Sinotrans-China Merchants Merger
China's cabinet on Tuesday (Dec 29) approved a deal that fuses two of the country's biggest state-owned transport and logistics firms, reports Reuters. China's cabinet has approved China Merchants Group's acquisition of Sinotrans & CSC Holdings Co, the state asset regulator said on Tuesday. Previously directly supervised by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), Sinotrans & CSC Holdings is the biggest integrated logistics service provider with total asset of well over 100 billion yuan (16 billion U.S. dollars).
Top 20 Cruise Ports: Apply Now
The January/February 2018 edition of Maritime Logistics Professional will focus on today’s cruise shipping trends, how cruise lines are achieving a greener signature, and many other aspects of the global cruise markets. Additionally, MLPro will feature the World’s Top 20 Cruise Ports. To enter your port, apply at https://cruiseports.maritimeprofessional.com/. Contact MLPro editor Joseph Keefe with questions at 704.661.8475 or at keefe@marinelink. This edition will also feature bonus distribution at Seatrade Cruise Shipping in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Enter your port now.
New Platform for Managing Liquid Terminal Product Movements
Oceaneering International, Inc. announced that its TerminalSmart platform can now be used to manage all liquid terminal product movements across the entire facility from the dock to tanks and pipelines. Proven at the dock where it has been used by major oil and gas companies and liquid storage terminals to significantly improve efficiency during a period of unprecedented growth in vessel transportation traffic, the platform now serves as the hub for all terminal logistics, from facilitating key performance indicators (KPIs) to warning users about scheduling conflicts.
CSSC Launches New Marine Service Business
China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) said it has formally launched a new business CSSC Marine Service Co., Ltd, to coincide with the inauguration of its new logistics center within the Yangshang free trade zone, Shanghai. The inauguration was marked with a ceremony on June 30, 2017, attended by more than 150 industry representatives from ship owning, managing and operating companies, along with key cooperation partners ABB, MAN PrimServ and WinGD. Able to accommodate more than 20,000 kinds of original small parts including fuel injection equipment, piston rings, pipes, flaps and valves, and large parts such as cylinder liners, covers and piston crowns. The third party operated center forms phase one of an overall project for CSSC Marine Service Co., Ltd.
T. Parker Host Snaps up CWT Talent
Virginia-based stevedoring and shipping terminal operator T. Parker Host on Friday said it had hired all the staff from CWT Commodities' U.S. team as part of its drive into metals logistics and warehousing. The team of under ten people has joined Host to form Host Logistics, LLC, based in New York, to run warehousing and stevedoring operations. CWT Commodities USA is a unit of Singaporean logistics firm CWT Ltd. Anton Posner, former president of CWT Commodities USA, will be executive vice president, while Margo Brock, vice president at CWT, will be senior vice president, Host said in a statement. CWT Commodities USA was set up almost seven years ago as part of CWT's expansion of its London Metal Exchange warehousing and logistics business.
Murmansk's VI International Conference - "Logistics in Arctic"
April 12 in Murmansk held VI international conference on "Logistics in Arctic". The conference was organized by the Association of contractors of the Arctic "Murmanshelf" projects with the support of the Government of the Murmansk region. Co-organizers: Ministry of Transport and Roads of the Murmansk region, the Ministry of Industry and Enterprise Development of the Murmansk region and Ministry of Economic Development of the Murmansk region, the press service of the region. The event registered more than 100 participants from Russia, Finland, Norway, Korea and China.
Dorian LPG MoU with HNA Logistics
Dorian LPG Ltd. a leading owner and manager of modern VLGC's (very large gas carriers), today announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU"), with HNA Logistics Group Co., Ltd. to explore opportunities in the liquefied petroleum gas logistics market. John Hadjipateras, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer commented, "We are very pleased to form a strategic relationship with HNA Logistics. Their unique presence in the Chinese market creates opportunities to develop energy related transportation, finance, infrastructure and distribution.
Port and Coastal Logistics Groups Announce Partnership
Alliance extends geographic reach for both companies and completes Port Logistics Group's national footprint. Port Logistics Group, the nation's leading provider of gateway logistics services, and Coastal Logistics Group, Inc. (CLG), a leading Southeast logistics provider, today announced a partnership that extends geographic reach and service offerings for both companies. The partnership will allow the companies to offer complete logistics solutions at all major U.S. import and export gateways.
Port Logistics Companies Form Strategic Partnership
Port Logistics Group, a provider of gateway logistics services, and Coastal Logistics Group Inc. (CLG), a Southeast logistics provider, have announced a partnership that extends geographic reach and service offerings for both companies. The partnership will allow the companies to offer complete logistics solutions at all major U.S. import and export gateways. Port Logistics Group and its partners operate more than 4 million square feet of warehouse space in and around the ports of New York/New Jersey, LA/Long Beach, and Seattle. Coastal Logistics Group, Inc. serves the Southeast gateway through locations in Savannah, Norfolk and Memphis.
DP World Santos Appoints Dallas Hampton as New CEO
The Brazilian terminal DP World Santos will now be run by the new CEO Dallas Hampton, , an Australian executive with degrees in Business Administration, Logistics and Occupational Safety and with vast experience in the ports and logistics sectors. The modern private port terminals, situated on the left bank of the Port of Santos, announced that Ernst Schulze, who served as Chief Executive Officer for nearly six years, is stepping down to assume another opportunity at the DP World group.
FMC Collects $1,227,500 in Penalties from NVOCC's
Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Mario Cordero announced that the Commission has completed compromise agreements recovering a total of $1,227,500 in civil penalties. The agreements were reached with seven non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOCCs) and one vessel-operating common carrier (VOCC). The agreed penalties resulted from investigations conducted by the Commission’s Area Representatives in New York and Seattle, and headquarters staff in Washington D.C. The parties settled and agreed to penalties, but did not admit to violations of the Shipping Act or the Commission’s regulations.
Navios Logistics Offers Cash Tender, Consent Solicitation
Navios South American Logistics Inc. announced today that it and Navios Logistics Finance (U.S.) Inc., its wholly-owned finance subsidiary, have commenced a cash tender offer for any and all of their outstanding 9 1/4% senior notes due 2019 and a consent solicitation to eliminate or modify most of the restrictive covenants and certain events of default and make other changes to provisions contained in the indenture governing the 2019 notes. The offer is scheduled to expire at midnight, New York City time, on May 5, 2014, unless extended or earlier terminated by the co-issuers.
The World's Top 20 Cruise Ports
Calling all cruise ports! Maritime Logistics Professional are compiling the world’s Top 20 Cruise Ports - and we want to hear why your port should be considered. Just answer a few simple questions and you will be on your way to being featured in the next edition of Maritime Logistics Professional. The winners will be published in the January with distribution at Seatrade Cruise Global in Fort Lauderdale. Enter your port today! To enter visit: https://goo.gl/tSzHN6
New Leadership for NASSTRAC
NASSTRAC announced new leadership for 2005-2007 at the association's recent fall conference at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel in Baltimore, Md. This newly elected group of executives will give strategic direction and input that supports NASSTRAC in providing professional development, networking, advocacy and provider relationships to its membership. President: Gail Rutkowski, Director-Transportation Services, AIMS Logistics 1st Vice President: Shawn O'Sullivan, Manager- Transportation Services, Pfizer, Inc. 2nd Vice President: Eric Morley, Director of Logistics, Best Buy Company, Inc. Secretary: Susan Konopack, Transportation Analyst, Johnson & Johnson Sales & Logistics Co.


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Israeli duo found guilty of large NFT tax evasion scheme worth $2.2M Dorian Batycka · 20 mins ago · 2 min read
The two were said to have made money from a sale of an NFT based on a 3D scan of the Western Wall, on of Jerusalem’s holiest sites.
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate
The Israel Tax Authority in Jerusalem is investigating two NFT creators for possible tax evasion.
The suspects, Avraham Cohen from Jerusalem and Antony Polak from Har Adar, allegedly did not report earnings of approximately 8 million Israeli New Shekel (NIS) from the sale of an NFT based on a 3D scan of the Western Wall, per The Jerusalem Post.
The suspects sold their NFTs through their website, holyrocknft.com. According to the investigation, the suspects sold 1,700 works since 2021 and obtained 620 Ethereum in payment, which was equivalent to approximately NIS 8 million at the time of the transactions. However, the suspects did not report these earnings as business earnings.
The suspects were released under restrictive conditions, including surrendering their digital wallets where the Ethereum is stored. The investigation is ongoing, and the suspects are awaiting further legal proceedings, The Jerusalem Post reported.
NFTs, crypto and taxes in Israel
- Capital gains in Israel are taxed at 25%.
- However, if it’s considered a business expense, the tax rate can be up to 53%.
- When cryptocurrencies are converted to traditional currency, the difference in the amounts (paid and purchased) is used for tax purposes.
This is not the first instance of NFT creators being investigated for tax evasion in Israel. Ben Benhorin, a graphic designer from Tel Aviv who creates and sells NFT art on the Opensea International platform under the brand name WUWA, was recently arrested for not reporting his revenues totaling approximately NIS 3 million from his sales. The suspect also did not report the conversion of 30 Ethereum-type digital currencies that he received as payments.
During the investigation, it was found that the suspect did not report any income from sales on the platform in his annual report to the tax authorities in 2021. The suspect allegedly converted some of the cryptocurrency he received for the sale of the NFT into other currencies using the Uniswap platform, which he did not report to the tax authority. Such actions are considered taxable sales.
Recent NFT Stories
Two individuals have been found guilty of an elaborate and multi-million dollar non-fungible token (NFT) tax evasion scheme in Israel.
Eyal Shalom and Yosef Azran were convicted at the Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday. The pair’s thievery was said to total approximately $2.2 million USD.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital assets secured with blockchain technology that are unique, tokenized variations of digital artwork or assets. NFTs are generally regarded as highly valuable and liquid, which makes them attractive assets to manipulate.
The two defendants were accused of taking part in a series of creative schemes to avoid payment of taxes on NFTs, with the two defendants being found guilty of intentional trading that was motivated by tax evasion.
Prosecutors stated that the pair evaded taxes by creating various layers of virtual wallets and transferring NFTs between them to create the impression of a lower value. This was done with the hope of reducing the taxable value of the income generated by the transactions.
After the conviction, prosecutors stated the following: “The law enforcement system needs to strongly fight tax evasion, and this case is an example of the system’s ability to fight those who wish to exploit the taxation system”.
The punishment for convictions of large-scale tax frauds in Israel can range from community service to up to three years in prison. It is currently unclear what the operational consequence will be for the convicted duo.


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Posted: Oct 12, 2012 3:04 PM by Kelly Orsini, NBC News
Updated: Oct 12, 2012 3:16 PM
Beer consumption in the U.S. has fallen for the third straight year.
That's according to the lobbying group "The Beer Institute," which says consumption has fallen by as much as 11 percent in some states since 2008.
Despite the drop, Americans still have a taste for the foamy beverage drinking some 6.3 billion gallons last year alone.
That turns out to be just over 28 gallons a year for every American of legal age.
The states with the lowest and highest per-capita consumption, Utah and New Hampshire.
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If you spot walnut-sized lumps in your Christmas tree you need to throw it out immediately
19 December 2019, 14:31 | Updated: 19 December 2019, 14:36
The mysterious lumps popping up on some trees could mean you end up with some uninvited guests this Christmas.
People are being warned against mysterious walnut sized lumps that have been spotted on some Christmas trees this year.
They may look innocent, or even like part of the tree but in truth they are actually insect eggs.
So if you opt for a real tree over a fake one, it's worth giving it a once over before bringing it into your home or even buying it.
The lumps resemble pine cones, are walnuts sized and contain up to hundreds of praying mantis eggs.
The revelation came to light when a post by Facebook user Daniel Reed from Pennsylvania went viral after he raised the alarm.
He said: "If you happen to see a walnut sized/shaped egg mass, on your Christmas tree, don’t fret, clip the branch and put it in your garden. These are 100-200 preying mantis eggs!"
"We had two egg masses on our tree this year. Don’t bring them inside they will hatch and starve!"
If you happen to see a walnut sized/shaped egg mass, on your Christmas tree, don’t fret, clip the branch and put it in...Posted by Daniel Reed on Sunday, 10 December 2017
Although the thought of a preying mantis invasion is enough to make some want to totally throw their tree out, Daniel pointed out that you can simply clip the affected branch.
Comments flooded the Facbook post with many tagging their other halves asking them to look out for the suspicious lumps and others claiming this is one of the reasons they decided to get a plastic tree.
Make sure you check your tree ASAP!


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At Myntra, the proportion of male shoppers is larger than that of women and the same is reflected in revenue contribution.
The launch of Amazon Pantry comes at a time when the FMCG business at Amazon India has emerged amongst the top five categories by sales.
Rejecting the complaint, Competition Commission of India also said it appears allegations are regarding abuse of collective/ group dominance.
Terming as "incorrect and speculative" reports of Reliance shutting down jewellery business, the spokesperson said the company has opened seven new stores in recent times.
India announced a new set of guidelines that allowed 100% FDI in e-commerce 'marketplace' — defined as a digital platform that acts as a facilitator between buyer and seller.
Reliance Retail, the retail arm of Reliance Industries, has shut around 10 Reliance Jewels stores, including some of its flagship outlets such as the one near Antilia.
Longchamp owns more than 300 exclusive stores globally and retails from another 1,500 points of sale and has a workforce of around 3,000.
People in the know said Bally is in talks with Reliance Brands, which retails other luxury brands like Ermenegildo Zegna and Brooks Brothers in India.
Online retailer plans to focus on larger brands with higher traction after pruning 10% of its fashion labels; more delisting expected is in future.
Sharad Venkta further said: "We are looking at positioning change with new brand by opening smaller stores in metro cities and in premiums shopping malls."


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Retailers - and Wall Street - believe in the Easter Bunny
Stocks were up in early trading — after a miserable run last week — because retail and food service sales increased 1.1 percent in March compared with February, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The $434 billion total was 3.8 percent higher than March 2013.
“Consumers released some pent-up demand in March after two consecutive months of harsh winter weather that not only hampered employment opportunities but also retail sales," said Jack Kleinhenz, chief economist for the National Retail Federation. "We remain optimistic that retail sales will continue their positive march this spring.”
Retailers also expect a bounce from Easter. NRF estimates consumers will spend nearly $16 billion this Easter holiday on clothing, candy, gifts, etc. — an average of $137.46 per consumer.
Really? That's a lot of chocolate bunnies.
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The coronavirus health pandemic has become a major problem worldwide and it hindered several events and expos from moving forward. We’ve seen the likes of E3 2020 get cancelled to companies taking on the ability to share their latest announcement online. While the online alternative has proved to be a viable option to get content unveiled to the masses in an entertaining way, we’re not going to receive an online reveal treatment from Sega.
If you’ve been following Sonic the Hedgehog franchise then you may be aware that the beloved IP was about to receive a new announcement. SXSW was planned to have a panel where Sega would unveil something related to the Sonic the Hedgehog IP but as you may already know, SXSW was cancelled due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic. This may have reached fans who expected Sega to still showcase what they had planned to announce online, but a new tweet from the official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account has confirmed that the news has been delayed.
According to the tweet, the team behind the announcement has decided to hold out and make sure that their team is safe before they are willing to showcase the SXSW content. We’re still uncertain just what the news was set to be. While some fans may have guessed it would have been a new video game, really it could have been anything such as a new television series or a comic book.
Really, we won’t know that Sega had planned until they are ready to share and it looks like we’ll get updated on Twitter on when that date will end up being.


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Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad is a free-to-play mobile game. There will be no new content for the game going forward, according to a post on the official website of the game. On October 4th, 2021, the game’s server would be shut down.
It’s a good sign that Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad dropped support as early as a year after it was released. While it hasn’t directly mentioned it in the post, it’s most definitely low player counts, which is why it has its reasons. It was not an easy decision, but after considering multiple options with our teams, we came to the conclusion that it was no longer sustainable.
There is a new free-to-play game set in the Tom Clancy universe, xDefiant. Hyper Scape, a free-to-play battle Royale, failed to gain traction in the genre. The Division Heartland is one of the free-to-play live-service ventures that the company is interested in pursuing.


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Last year, Apple rolled out a set of onerous guidelines that required streaming game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass to package each available title as a separate app in the iOS App Store. At the time, Microsoft said this solution “remains a bad experience for customers. Gamers want to jump directly into a game from their curated catalog within one app, just like they do with movies or songs, and not be forced to download over 100 apps to play individual games from the cloud.”
However, new emails revealed as part of the Epic v. Apple trial (and unearthed by The Verge) show how seriously Microsoft was considering working within these guidelines. The emails show that Microsoft engaged Apple in detailed negotiations about how individual xCloud streaming apps could work as a technical matter and even dangled the possibility of streaming “exclusive AAA titles” from outside of Game Pass to help broker a compromise position.
Splitting the baby
In the emails, sent between February and April of 2020, Microsoft Xbox head of business development Lori Wright laid out some concerns about the idea of packaging each Xbox streaming game as an individual iOS app. For users, such a system would lead to cluttered home screens and the potential for “orphaned” app icons when games were removed from Game Pass, Wright wrote. For Microsoft and Apple, the system would also lead to lots of extra overhead in terms of app store metadata management and app review time, she wrote.
More significantly, though, packaging each streaming game as its own app would require sending out countless app updates whenever the core “streaming stack” was updated. “As we’ve run our Preview testing with hundreds of thousands of customers, our data shows that large parts of the audience play upwards of 10+ titles per month, or over 100 in the course of a year,” Wright wrote. “When we update all of the binaries at the same time, this will result in huge batches of app updates.”
To get around this problem, Wright proposed a “middle ground” option where individual streaming game apps “would effectively be a ‘shortcut’ or ‘bookmark’ to the streaming application.” The idea, as Wright laid it out, would be to have a single Xbox “streaming stack” app weighing in at roughly 150MB, alongside individual 30MB “shortcut” downloads for each available game, which would then launch inside the main xCloud streaming app.
This would be a major improvement over a system in which each Game Pass title needed to be its own 150MB download with a full copy of the streaming stack included, Wright wrote. Under this compromise system, users would “get smaller game downloads, each game will have to be installed only once, and it never requires an update for changes to the streaming stack. It also creates one single network connection per device instead of a network connection per app.”
Did someone say exclusives?
Wright’s emails also refer to discussions about “bringing Xbox exclusive games, specifically those not in Game Pass, to iOS” by allowing users to either purchase or rent streaming versions that could run on iOS. Wright sold this to Apple as “an incredibly exciting opportunity for iOS users to get access to these exclusive AAA titles in addition to the Game Pass games.” But such a setup would require splitting the core streaming tech as a separate app “to deliver the right experience,” Wright wrote.
Speaking to The Verge, Xbox Cloud Gaming CVP Kareem Choudhry said that “our proposal for bringing games through individual apps was designed to comply with App Store policies… Forcing each game to include our streaming tech stack proved to be unrealistic from a support and engineering perspective and would create an incredibly negative experience for customers.”
The Verge also cited potential Apple complaints about in-app purchases available through Game Pass games and technical issues with how Apple would take its share of any such purchases. But Choudry said those concerns were not central to scuttling the partnership, saying, “We currently provide Xbox Cloud Gaming through a singular Xbox Game Pass app in the Google Play Store without IAP enabled… and we would do the same through the App Store if allowed.”
Eventually, all these negotiations became moot, of course, and Microsoft simply rolled out iOS Game Pass streaming as a web app earlier this year to get around the issue. But these new internal emails show just how seriously Microsoft was taking the possibility of jumping through Apple’s hoops to get its streaming games listed on the App Store’s important digital real estate.


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Did You Know that over half of U.S. travelers plan to stay in a vacation rental this year? That's nearly five times more than just six years ago according to a survey by TripAdvisor. Vacation rentals are not just for families anymore says the Vacation Rental Management Association. They are becoming increasingly popular with business travelers looking for greater convenience, comfort and/or cheaper alternatives to hotels. And vacation rentals are also booming in markets where large events are taking place and hotels are overwhelmed by demand.
Want to take a vacation without shelling out for accommodations and have the creature comforts of home? A house swap or exchange may be for you. It's a growing trend worldwide. HomeExchange, the leading home exchange service, reports that 13 percent more of its members home exchanged during the 2013 summer as compared to the previous one. The most popular swap destinations? The U.S., France, Spain, Italy, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia and Denmark.
Or are you looking to put your spare bedroom or basement apartment to use? Listing them on sites like Airbnb, Couchsurfing or Roomorama could earn you some cash. Does it matter where you live? Airbnb says that while large U.S. cities are still major markets, fewer than a quarter of its listing are in the USA – and 57 percent of these listings were for an entire apartment, home or rental unit, which include everything from Airstreams to houseboats.
Eighty-nine percent of U.S. respondents in a recent TripAdvisor survey plan to take a leisure summer trip this year - chances are good they'll be renting, swapping or sharing when they get there.
Read other Did You Know? posts in our series to celebrate National Homeownership Month.
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