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Banking Circle, a financial infrastructure developer, has been awarded a banking license from Luxembourg’s financial regulator. Established in 2013, Banking Circle serves as an alternative to the high-cost traditional banking network. The company’s services aim to provide greater financial utility, allowing Fintech firms to gain access to real-time payments without making large investments into upgrading their own internal systems.
Monese, a digital banking app for expats, is expecting to turn 30 employees into paper millionaires after its next fundraise, which will reportedly value the company at £1bn. In an interview with Sifted, chief executive Norris Koppel declined to comment on the alleged valuation but said that Monese’s staff equity scheme had already minted over 20 paper millionaires — with several more expected at the next round.
International investment firm Target Global has launched its €120 million Early Stage Fund II, to continue its support of early stage tech companies across Europe and Israel. The focus of the new fund will be on leading and co-leading Seed and Series A rounds.
From the 9th to the 13th March 2020, Manchester will be hosting Digital City Festival, a celebration of the booming digital economy in the North and beyond, and an opportunity for globally focused organisations to connect, innovate and collaborate.
larna’s push for hyper-growth landed it in the red for the first time in its history according to the company’s 2019 annual report, published on Wednesday
It’s been a tough 24 months for Revolut since its last funding round in 2018, here’s what happened. News that Revolut has landed a whopping $500m in additional funding will hardly surprise those who’ve followed the twists and turns of the digital banking group’s latest raise.
Senior level bankers and Fintechs from all over the world will come together from 21 – 23 April in Berlin for Efma’s Bank + Fintech conference. Successful partnerships between financial institutions and Fintechs will be on full display. Banks such as BNP Paribas, ING, Danske Bank, Société Générale, and BBVA will showcase how they have collaborated with Fintechs in order to meet the challenges of the new world of banking. Among the many Fintechs present will be Endor, Max, Mitto, Offr, and Personetics.
Allowance goes digital. Venmo has been noticed prototyping a brand new function that will enable grownup customers to create a debit card related to their account for his or her teenage youngsters.
Monzo continues to disrupt the banking industry as it takes on credit giants with its new in-app credit checks for customers.
Cobee, a Spanish fintech startup that has developed an employee benefit management app and accompanying card, has closed €2.1 million in “pre-Series A” funding.
Global investors poured money into the UK’s fintech sector last year, almost doubling the amount invested here between 2018 and 2019 — despite the rest of the world suffering a slight downturn in funding.
Intuit Inc. is nearing a deal to buy personal-finance portal Credit Karma Inc. for about $7 billion in cash and stock, in a move that would push the bookkeeping-software giant further into consumer finance, according to people familiar with the matter.
Cashplus, the leading UK challenger to banks, has launched a UK-first payment tracking for its SME credit card products.
Reuters Events today announced the globally recognised funds that will share how they factoring ESG into their investment strategies at this year’s ESG Investments Europe Summit.
Leading digital international money transfer company WorldRemit announces today a partnership with Varo Money, the leading fintech in digital banking in the U.S. The partnership will enable Varo customers direct access in the Varo app to the WorldRemit service, making it easy for Varo customers to send money abroad directly from their mobile phones.
As cybercrime continues to evolve and expand, a startup that is building a business focused on endpoint security has raised a big round of funding. SentinelOne has picked up $200 million, a Series E round of funding that it says catapults its valuation to $1.1 billion.
Weavr.io, the open collaboration platform that makes designing, building and taking a brand new payment service live in weeks, today announced that it has closed its seed funding round totalling £500,000.
London venture capital giant Atomico has today revealed the close of its fifth fund, aimed at young European tech startups, at $820m (£630.2m).
Just over two in five (44%) UK adults will have a digital-only bank account in five years, equivalent to 23.2 million Brits, according to a study. Currently, almost a quarter (23%), about 12 million, Brits have a digital-only bank account, a survey of 2,000 Brits by finance comparison website finder found. A further fifth (21%) of Brits plan to get one in the next five years, with two-thirds (65%) of those planning to do so over the next year.
According to recent report by Forward, China is currently the largest consumer in the global face recognition device market, thanks to its booming facial payment sector


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Earlier today we posted an article which stated that sources were suggesting a Gears of War 3 release date, It has now been around 15 months since the release of Gears of War 2 on the Xbox 360, therefore you would think that Gears of War 3 release information would be known by now, however all we have to go on are rumors.
The latest rumors suggest that Gears of War 3 will launch on the Xbox 360 in April 2011, this news originally emerged on Edge, apparently sources have also suggested that a trailer will be launched on April 8th (2009 I guess).
Edge’s source suggests that Microsoft and Epic Games do not want their game to clash with Halo: Reach or Project Natal, perhaps we will see Gears of War 3 revealed at E3 2010, however it seems strange that a “trusted US publishing source” has revealed this, however this source is not named.
Do you think that reporters should report news without naming their ‘reliable source’?
*Identifying Monetised Links - outgoing links that we monetise are marked with an '*' symbol, or (AD). Also, prices and information correct at publish time and date.

domain: news


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the second PIC International conferenceto be held at the Sheraton Airport Hotel in Brussels grows to a new auditorium featuringspeakers across the entire value chain of the photonic integrated circuits industry.
Conference delegates will hear almost 40 talks that have been divided into five core themes impacting the PIC community. Talk sessions range from supporting data centre growth and exploring new markets such as fibre sensing & life sciences to optimising PIC design, manufacturing & packaging, PIC platforms and leveraging PICS in long-haul & metro networks. Each theme includes a keynote presentation, plus presentations from leading market analysts
“As well as many great presentations to look forward to, from the likes of Intel, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, IBM the European Space Agency and Huawei, there will be many companies to talk to at the exhibition,” comments James Tyrrell, Conference Programme Manager and Editor of PIC Magazine. “Those conversations could be very valuable, as they could lead to opportunities to meet other key players across the entire value chain of the photonics integrated circuits industry.”
As Conference Chair Michael Lebby notes: “The timing could not be better – the PIC movement is accelerating into new and innovative products, and the technology infrastructure to support PIC design, modeling, fabrication, testing, and qualification is being built-out quickly and efficiently. The 2nd PIC conference brings together the best companies and senior engineers and decision makers of this PIC movement that looks to grow significantly in numbers, interest, and impact over the first conference in 2016.”
Another highlight of PIC International will be the inaugural PIC Awards ceremony at the end of Day One. This will serve to recognise and highlight key industry achievements in advancing photonic integration through platform development, manufacturing, design, packaging and device characterisation.
For more information visit: http//www.picinternational.net


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The crypto space giant, Coinbase Global Inc, announced the integration of additional payment methods available to its customers today. Per the announcement, the trading platform now enables iOS users to purchase Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin or any other supported crypto asset using Apple Pay. According to sources, Coinbase may also release Google Pay integrations very soon.
Furthermore, the exchange has explained that consumers who have MasterCard or Visa debit cards linked to their Apple Pay accounts can instantly sell as much as $100,000 assets per transaction 24/7.
Coinbase Addresses Withdrawal Issues
Coinbase is on track to expand its Apple Pay Services for iPhone users worldwide. While the exchange already enabled consumers with a Coinbase Debit Card to purchase cryptocurrency via Apple Pay since June 2021, the functionality is now extended to all the MasterCard or Visa Debit card holders. Apple Pay support will enable the consumers from registered bank accounts to trade crypto at Coinbase.
The exchange also addressed issues concerning withdrawals. At present, the transactions from Coinbase to bank accounts take five-six days to complete.
The system deploys ‘Automated Clearing House transfers’, i.e. Electronic money transfer between banks, which holds an identity of being too lengthy. However, the new system will deploy Real-Time Payments (RTP), enabling customers to instantly cash out a maximum amount of $100,000 at once, with no limit to the number of cashouts. Although these services remain limited to 20 countries at present.
Coinbase is not the only one striving to expand its services, the exchange Gemini has already enabled consumers to purchase crypto assets via Apple and Google Pay earlier in April this year.
Coinbase Roundup: CEO Brian Armstrong Speaks about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill
Coinbase launched its IPO and went public back in April 2021. The firm hit a massive $103 Billion valuation during its first day of trading. Notably, today’s average trading volume was reported to be nearly $6 Million.
The exchange has always aimed for growth, and enabling consumers to purchase via Apple Pay is perhaps a new move to expand the customer base and attract more retail investors. Beyond the core of service enhancements, the company’s CEO Brian Armstrong is also a top voice in shaping events in the digital currency ecosystem. In a recent tweet, he opposed the bipartisan infrastructure bill saying that the new bill imposes “unprecedented reporting requirements.”
6/ The infrastructure bill also imposes sweeping and unprecedented reporting requirements that will force exchanges like Coinbase and others to surveil its customer’s transactions in a way that is more intrusive than the rest of traditional finance (Link: https://t.co/erninsSl0L)
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) August 4, 2021
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Seeking out great stocks to buy is essential, but many would say it’s even more important to know which stocks to steer clear of. A losing stock can eat away at your precious long-term returns. So, figuring out which stocks to trim or get rid of is essential for proper portfolio maintenance.
Even the best gardens need pruning, and our team has spotted a few stocks that seem like prime candidates for selling or avoiding. Continue reading to find out which three stocks our team is staying away from this week.
DUMP THESE STOCKS NOW!
Get the facts for yourself and be one of the first to learn more about the four stocks you should buy right now… as well as the 25 companies you should sell immediately.[Full Story…]
Investors got a look at the stark reality for big-box retailers this week, and it’s not pretty. Off-price apparel and home fashion chain Ross Stores (ROST) tops our list of stocks to avoid after missing the mark for Q1 results and providing bleak adjustments to their 2022 outlook.
Ross reported Thursday that it earned $0.97 per share from revenue of $4.33 billion, where analysts were looking for EPS of $1 and $4.53 billion in revenue. The company’s results were primarily impacted by the tough year-over-year comparisons, owing to last year’s government stimulus and pent-up consumer demand from the easing of COVID-led restrictions. Also, results were affected by the inflationary pressures on consumers resulting from the Russia-Ukraine war. First-quarter operating margin of 10.8% was down from 14.2% in 2021, reflecting the deleveraging effect of the 7% same-store sales decline.
Barbara Rentler, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are disappointed with our lower-than-expected first-quarter results. Following a stronger-than-planned start early in the period, sales underperformed over the balance of the quarter. We knew fiscal 2022 would be a difficult year to predict, especially the first half when we were facing last year’s record levels of government stimulus, and significant customer pent-up demand as COVID restrictions eased. The external environment has also proven extremely challenging as the Russia-Ukraine conflict has exacerbated inflationary pressures on the consumer not seen in 40 years.”
It could be several quarters before the tides start to shift for Ross and other discount retailers. Recent data has shown that lower-income consumers are feeling the pinch from inflation more intensely than any other group. With their primary demographic spending less, management cautiously adjusted the company’s forecast accordingly.
Looking ahead, Ms. Rentler commented, “Given our first-quarter results and today’s increasingly uncertain macro-economic and geopolitical environment, we believe it is prudent to adopt a more conservative outlook for the balance of the year. We are now forecasting same-store sales for the 13 weeks ending July 30, 2022, to decrease 4% to 6% on top of a very strong 15% gain in the prior-year period, with earnings per share projected to be $0.99 to $1.07 versus $1.39 in last year’s second quarter. For the 52 weeks ending January 28, 2023, we now forecast comparable store sales to decline 2% to 4% versus a 13% gain in fiscal 2021. Earnings per share for fiscal 2022 are projected to be $4.34 to $4.58 compared to $4.87 in the prior year.”
Telsey Advisory analyst Dana Telsey was one of several analysts to edit their recommendations for ROST after the call, citing execution missteps and macro headwinds for the downgrade. The company continues to face challenges across the supply chain while inflationary pressures weigh on both the company and the consumer leading to a more conservative outlook. Incremental near-term pressure is likely as Ross looks to work through elevated inventory levels. We’re keeping our distance in the meantime.
Connecticut Woman Gets “Revenge” After Losing Nearly 50% of Her 401(k)
In a story that’s drawn national attention, a Roxbury, Connecticut woman is seeking “revenge” against Wall Street… And so far – it’s working. [Full Story Here…]
Food delivery leader and pandemic darling DoorDash (DASH) was one of the big winners in the shift to stay-at-home culture. Between 2019 and 2021, DASH revenue increased by 451%, from $885 million to $4.88 billion. But now that the economic reopening is complete, DoorDash’s revenue increases are grinding to a halt. Between the third and fourth quarters of 2021, it experienced growth of just 1.9%.
DASH’s revenue came in at $1.30 billion for the fourth quarter of 2021, up 34% year-over-year. However, its total costs and expenses were up 14% year-over-year at $1.45 billion. Total current liabilities were $1.76 billion for 2021, compared to $1.4 billion for 2020.
The company is expecting $48 to $50 billion in gross order volume in 2022, implying a modest 14% increase from $41.9 billion last year. However, that’s not enough to justify DASH’s lofty valuation. Currently, the stock trades at a price-to-sales multiple of 7.4, expensive compared to top competitors like Uber Technologies (UBER), which trades at a price-to-sales multiple of 3.6 – half that of DASH.
DASH’s EPS is estimated to remain negative in 2022 and 2023. Its EPS is estimated to fall 20.6% for the first quarter. It’s Important to note that the company missed EPS estimates in each trailing four quarters. The stock has declined 54% since the beginning of the year to close Friday’s session at $66.23.
Headwinds against e-commerce car vendor Carvana (CVNA) had already been intensifying before the sizable ramp up to its vehicle inventory in the first quarter. Management recently admitted that it accelerated its car buying business at the wrong time, during a worsening economic environment, causing investors to flee the stock in search of greener pastures. CVNA could continue to burn through cash at an alarming rate as it faces threats to the value of its inventory.
“It has become clear over the past few months that the company is facing serious challenges to the business,” Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a note to clients after he downgraded CVNA to Equal Weight from Overweight and slashed the price target by 70% to $105, down from $360. “By the company’s own admission, it had accelerated growth at precisely the wrong time into a consumer slowdown leaving a major mismatch between capacity and demand, creating a liquidity crunch,” he continued.
The company’s liquidity issues are likely to be compounded as the Fed boosts benchmark interest rates, making it more expensive to take out loans. With its business model, Carvana is also at risk of a decline in used car prices as that would devalue its inventory, and a pullback in prices is likely as interest rates rise.
During Carvana’s most recent quarterly announcement on April 20th, the company reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss and revenue that beat analyst expectations. Results showed a $1 billion increase in equity and $3.275 billion in debt. Carvana may look like a bargain, down more than 90% from its August 2021 ATH. Still, with interest rates rising and escalating concerns of a looming recession, the company could be further wrung out as economic growth slows.
Empire Financial’s Joel Littman
L.O.C.K. System Predicts Crash Before September
Joel Litman’s L.O.C.K. system predicted the March 2020 crash… Now it says all Americans should do one thing this month… [Full Story]


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Agartala, Dec 13: The World Gold Council (WGC) has launched a programme to boost the sale of gold in Northeast.Talking to media here today, WGC Associate Director Keyur Shah said the gold consumption in India, excepting metros, was gradually reducing even as the country's average gold consumption is highest in the world.
Mr Shah was here on a two-day visit in connection with NE's first commercial gold coin release ceremony on Tripura, a venture of WGC and state's leading jewellery house Shyamsundar Co. ''We want to promote gold consumption in the region as well as promote Tripura in outside through the standardised coin,'' Mr Keyur said.
The infiltration of imitation jewelleries have posed a serious threat to the gold consumption in the country, Mr Shah asserted adding that gold is a wise investment as it had high resale value.
India produces about 750 MT gold per annum from it lone Kolar gold fields in Karnataka but about a double amount of gold is still imported from other countries also.
Releasing the standardised coin with an embossed Tripura map on it, state Finance Minister Badal Choudhury said it opened a new option of savings for middle class families while Industry Minister Tapan Chakraborty and Rural Development Minister Jitendra Choudhury asserted that the coin would get foreign exchange.


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Former DoubleClick CEO Takes the Reins at Benchmark Capital-Backed 1stdibs
David Rosenblatt has taken a seat in the chief executive’s office again, this time at online luxury marketplace 1stdibs in New York. Rosenblatt, former CEO of DoubleClick, was appointed CEO of 1stdibs on Nov. 3 in conjunction with an undisclosed investment from Benchmark Capital. Rosenblatt says this is 1stdibs’s first outside funding since its founding in 2001.
1stdibs sells high-end antiques, estate jewelry, and furniture from dealers. “Our customers are decorators and prosumers [professional consumers],” Rosenblatt says. Others are welcome to shop at 1stdibs—if, for example, they are ready to drop $18,900 for a set of Harry Winston Tahitian pearl, diamond earrings.
Rosenblatt says he was drawn to the market opportunity that 1stdibs has as a seller of hard-to-get luxury items. He will remain as chairman of Group Commerce and retain his seats on the boards of Twitter and IAC. Matt Cohler, general partner with Benchmark, also joined the board at 1stdibs in conjunction with the investment.
Rosenblatt was CEO of DoubleClick, a provider of online ad management and ad serving technology, through its sale in 2008 for $3.1 billion to Google. He says though he worked in a different type of industry, his experience growing DoubleClick may serve him well at 1stdibs. “We scaled [DoubleClick] from the 40 or 50 people it was when I joined to more than 2,000 people in 25 countries,” he says.
1stdibs currently has a staff of 50, which Rosenblatt says he plans to expand. The company will grow its ranks in marketing, technology, operations, and sales he says. “We have a great collection people who understand this market,” Rosenblatt says. “My job is to build a team of people who are equally good at building and scaling Internet businesses.”
Currently 1stdibs primarily serves customers in North America, Rosenblatt says, though the company also does business in Britain, Mexico, and France. Rosenblatt says an iPad app is in the works for 1stdibs, since many dealers use the tablet device to show off items to their clients.
Rosenblatt says his goals as CEO include offering the website’s services to more customers around the world. Rosenblatt also wants to increase the breadth of products made available from abroad. “There is no reason why we shouldn’t be in 50 to 60 countries over the next couple of years,” he says.
Rosenblatt also wants to add new product categories, though the company has not yet determined what it will introduce. “We have an art business, a jewelry business, a fashion business,” he says. “What are other things that our customers look to us for?”
1stdibs sells items that range from an American flag from the 1876 centennial to a pair of Spanish marble side tables. “One of the promises we want to fulfill is aggregating the world’s supply of beautiful, one-of-a-kind products,” Rosenblatt says. The site adds new inventory every Wednesday.
Rosenblatt says 1stdibs sets itself apart by gathering selections that would otherwise be hard for buyers to find on their own. “I think it’s an incredible opportunity to bring the luxury market into the digital age,” he says. The company said it expects its gross volume of goods sold by the dealers on the website to top $500 million this year.
While 1stdibs offers some sale items, most products are not listed at a discount. That makes the site different from other e-commerce sites such as New York-based Fab.com, which offers discounts up to 70 percent off for certain items. Gilt Groupe also offers curated luxury items with discounts for its members.
Michael Bruno started 1stdibs in 2001 to offer what the company describes as “the experience of a flea market in Paris,” albeit a rather high-end flea market.
Bruno will remain active with the company, Rosenblatt says, and will likely focus on strategy, new markets, new products, and relationships with the company’s key customers. “[Bruno] is definitional to this business. It’s his voice that is expressed in every product,” Rosenblatt says.
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With less than six months until cannabis officially becomes legal in the state of California, members of the previously underground, autonomous weed economy are bracing themselves for a wave of regulations from the Manufactured Cannabis Safety Branch of the California Department of Public Health. While various elements of the legal cannabis industry––such as lab testing, which helps consumers know exactly what’s in their cannabis––deserve stronger regulatory oversight, the FDA won’t moderate weed while it remains federally illegal. A number of measures, including dosage caps, prohibited ingredients, and package restrictions, pose a serious threat to the way edible manufacturers do business.
Come January 1, the proposed legislation in place would threaten, if not destroy, the diverse array of treats we’ve grown accustomed to. If passed, edibles would be capped to ten milligrams per serving––roughly the equivalent of a few hits of a joint––and imaginative cannabis chefs would be restricted


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Some very interesting data have been revealed recently at live chat in the US and the UK. With, more and more clients being given the option of speaking to customers support representatives in real time during the purchase process, it is interesting to find out that are the prospective shoppers interested to chat?
According to the recent report, it has been seen that there is a significant growth across the UK and US with more than 65% of American on line shoppers engaged in live chat. Though this figure is slightly on a lower side in the UK but it is still escalating.
However the studies reveal that more than 31% of on line shoppers from US and UK said that they would be more likely to purchase after a live chat. This figure has escalated to 56% for shoppers who support live chat over other customer support channels and communication methods.
According to Bold Chat surveys it has been seen that 21% of on line shoppers prefer live chat, with 23% who favor using the telephone and this still remains ahead of social media.
The key factor which makes enticing for the fans to chat is ‘Time‘. Among those who preferred live chat, 79% said that they prefer live chat as they get their concerns responded quickly and 46% confessed that it has been the most efficient communication method.
Live chat is a tool that makes the entire shopping experience seamless and hassle free.


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Waiting for the fateful date of 6 April, the day fixed for the presentation of the new Meizu M3 Notes, comes the first confirmation about the hardware we’ll find aboard this midrange, thanks to the famous AnTuTu benchmark, which as always anticipates the launch of new terminals, revealing part of the technical file. Based on rumors already circulated in recent days do not emerge big news Meizu M3 Notes will adopt one of the latest MediaTek chip,commonly known as P10 Helio MT6755m, a true 64-bit octa-core Cortex-A53, ARMv8 architecture-A clock frequency up to 1.8 GHz, and GPU ARM Mali-T860 MP2 from 700 MHz.
The display uses a Panel from 5.5 “to full HD resolution, Android distribution still leans a Lollipop 5.1 through customizing Flyme UI, media industry integrates a front and a rear camera 5 MP 13 MP.
Two variants that will be proposed by the Chinese producer, the first with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal memory (probably expandable as the previous model), the second with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory, certainly more interesting.
Prices and specifications-others will be revealed next week, hoping that Meizu is able to propose a worthy successor of the current M2 notes, after the great success achieved at the global level.


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Sales for the Wii U have been falling for a while now, and Nintendo has finally announced it intends to end production of the system months before launching its follow-up, the Nintendo Switch. An announcement on the Wii U Japan site notes that production of the Wii U will be ending in that country -- and if Nintendo is killing the hardware off in its most popular country, it isn't going to keep the US version going for long either.
Nintendo confirmed the shutdown to Ars Technica(Opens in a new window) and said the firm had already shipped all of the stock it intended to ship to American retailers for the 2016 holiday season. "We can confirm that as of today, all Wii U hardware that will be made available in the North American market for this fiscal year has already been shipped to our retail partners," Nintendo of America said. "We encourage anyone who wants Wii U to communicate with their preferred retail outlet to monitor availability."Nintendo at E3 2012, unveiling the Wii U Rumors that Nintendo would shut the Wii U down date back to March (when the company denied it) and surfaced again a few weeks ago (when the company denied it then, too). Corporate lying is, of course, nothing new -- but it's just a bit frustrating when everyone knows a product is going to be axed, and the corporation responsible for manufacturing it continues to claim otherwise.
Underappreciated platform or worthless dud?
I've seen people go both ways on whether or not the Wii U deserves to be remembered as anything. Sales-wise, it's an utter failure -- it didn't even manage to reach GameCube figures, and it's the worst-selling console Nintendo ever launched, unless you count the Virtual Boy [please don't - Ed.]. That's not to say there were no good Wii U games -- Splatoon, Super Smash Bros, and Bayonetta 2 were some great highlights for the platform. The problem wasn't even the Wii U's lackluster, nearly nonexistent third-party content, since Nintendo consoles regularly suffer that problem.
The Wii U's biggest problems were its gamepad and its timing. The gamepad seemed at least interesting, with its semi-remote play capabilities, but Nintendo had no idea how to take advantage of its capabilities or help developers do the same. Say what you will about the Wii's motion controls, but at least a solid double-handful of games could make some use of them. Very few titles really took advantage of the Wii U's gamepad, and even fewer used it to offer anything compelling or unique. The fact that Nintendo's hardware was too underpowered to drive multiple gamepads was undoubtedly part of the problem, at least in multiplayer -- designing good games that use asymmetric experiences is much more difficult than throwing 2-4 people into the same environment.
The other factor Nintendo critically failed to understand was how the market had changed between 2006 and 2012. In 2006, there were tens of millions of people that lacked HDTVs and there was interest in the simple, family-friendly motion controls that Nintendo demonstrated. By 2012, most people had HDTVs and the market knew the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 were coming a year later. The Wii U's graphics were a marked step up from the Wii and generally equaled the Xbox 360 and PS3, but didn't really surpass either. There are great games out for the Wii U, but nothing that really became iconic or essential unless you were plugged into Nintendo's ecosystem.With the Wii U set to halt production, it'll probably become scarce on the ground as a new system over the next few months -- though you'll still see some stock clearing and GameStop is likely to do brisk business in trade-ins.


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June 8, 2011
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The Second District's economy has continued to expand since the last report, though at a somewhat diminished pace. Labor market conditions have continued to improve modestly. Retail sales have held steady at favorable levels since the last report. Consumer confidence reports have been mixed. Tourism activity picked up in April but tapered off a bit in early May. Commercial real estate markets have been relatively stable. The residential purchase market has been steady to somewhat softer, but the rental market has continued to improve; new residential construction remains low. Finally, bankers report further weakening in consumer loan demand, tighter credit standards on the commercial sector, and higher delinquency rates on consumer loans but somewhat lower delinquencies in other loan categories.
Auto dealers in upstate New York report that sales of new vehicles have cooled somewhat since the first quarter but remain at fairly high levels, up moderately from a year earlier. Some of the slowing in sales is attributed to supply disruptions related to the tsunami in Japan. One local auto dealers' association reports an exceptionally low inventory of used vehicles, which has hampered sales volume and pushed prices up. Retail credit conditions continued to improve, while wholesale credit conditions were mixed.
Consumer confidence surveys have given mixed results. Siena College reports that consumer confidence among New York State residents fell to its lowest level of the year in April--largely attributed to surging food and energy prices. In contrast, the Conference Board reports that consumer confidence among residents of the Middle Atlantic states (NY, NJ, Pa) surged in April, reaching its highest level since late 2007; the rise was largely driven by improved perceptions of job availability.
Tourism activity in New York City strengthened in April, though there were signs of some pullback in May. Occupancy rates at Manhattan hotels moved up by more than the seasonal norm in April, and room rates accelerated, running 5-10 percent higher than a year earlier. Partly due to a spate of new show openings, Broadway theaters report that both attendance and total revenues surged in April and were running 10 to 15 percent ahead of a year earlier, after a sluggish March,. Attendance and revenues slipped in May, although both were still up from a year earlier.
Construction and Real Estate
An authority on New Jersey's housing industry reports that sales of existing homes have slowed since the last report, and new home sales remained depressed. A sizable inventory of foreclosed properties--roughly equal to nine months of sales--is reported to be putting downward pressure on home prices overall. However, low volume and a sizable incidence of distressed sales make it difficult to gauge price trends in northern New Jersey. Activity in New York City's co-op and condo market was mixed but generally stable since the last report, with Manhattan, Brooklyn and Bronx holding steady--in terms of both prices and sales activity. Some softening was evident in Queens and Staten Island. Long Island's market has been stable, though conditions have weakened in the Hamptons, where sales activity is off, especially at the high end.
In contrast with the sluggish purchase market, rental markets have performed fairly well, particularly in New York City: Manhattan rents are reported to be up roughly 6 percent from a year ago. Moreover, when the widespread withdrawal of landlord concessions is factored in, the rise in effective rents has been steeper. Rental vacancy rates have drifted down. Contacts in both New York City and northern New Jersey see relatively little new residential construction, and note that most new and proposed development is for rental housing.
Commercial real estate markets have been largely steady since the last report. Office markets showed signs of modest improvement in New York City, Long Island, and most of upstate New York, as vacancy rates edged down while asking rents were steady to up slightly. However, market conditions weakened somewhat in northern New Jersey, Westchester and Fairfield Counties, and in the Albany area. Industrial vacancy rates rose in Long Island but were little changed in other markets. In much of the District, asking rents on industrial properties, which had been declining through the end of 2010, have leveled off or moved up modestly in recent months.
Other Business Activity
Non-manufacturing firms broadly indicate that both business and hiring activity have been steady to modestly higher since the last report. Contacts have become slightly less optimistic about the near term outlook and have scaled back hiring plans somewhat. Non-manufacturing firms report that cost pressures remain widespread but have not broadened since the last report. Manufacturing firms in the District report that business activity was generally steady in April and early May. Contacts report that they are adding workers, on net, and plan to continue to do so in the months ahead. Manufacturers also note increasingly widespread price pressures, and roughly two in five say they plan to hike their selling prices in the months ahead. A trucking-industry contact reports that shipping activity has shown no sign of slipping, despite the recent surge in diesel prices.


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How can we learn about the cultural impact on our products and brands in Europe?
This was the focus of the Intensive Programme (IP) PROMINENCE “PRACTICING CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE ACROSS CULTURES” which took place this week at the University of Economics in Bratislava with students and professors from 6 European countries: Hungary, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria and Slovakia.
In cross-cultural teams students were developing (beer) brands and devising marketing strategies to introduce them to target markets in two European countries. Two marketing leaders from Heineken Slovakia demonstrated the importance of these lessons in sharing their experiences in altering an existing product in order to grow market share. They also highlighted the importance of marketing in a sales and product strategy. One cultural highlight was the international buffet where participants from the respective countries bring along some delicacies specific to their national cuisines.
„We really like the experience here merging cultural intelligence with real-world business and crafting in our teams global marketing campaigns for the European market. And in our global teamwork adventure – we found strength in diversity with students from every corner of Europe contributing to our success.“
Thanks to Prof. Dr. Alexandra Angress as initiator, academic coordinator and one of the lectures on this successful European programme for our university! We are excited to have been involved since the launch of this European project consortium PROMINENCE. For next year, our partner the University of Economics in Varna, has already signaled a willingness to host the next IP as an ERASMUS IP in November in Varna. We look forward to this and will keep you in the loop!
Coordinator Ildiko Nemethova, Eva Stradiotova, Viera Vančíková (University of Economics in Bratislava, EUBA, Slovakia); Troy Wiwczaroski (University of Debrecen, Hungary); Justyna Ganassali (University of Economics in Katowice, Poland); Petar Petrov (University of Economics – Varna, Bulgaria); Lieze Joye (Howest University of Applied Sciences, Belgium); Alexandra Angress (Aschaffenburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany)


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TOKYO: Tokyo tattoo artist Ichi Hatano’s usual activities declined during the pandemic, but now he wants to extract a new stream of income from the first crypto art exhibition in Japan.
Hatano’s ink featuring Japanese folk creatures was especially popular with foreign visitors until Japan closed its borders to tourists due to COVID-19. Hatano has now gone digital, selling his designs as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), virtual items that have taken the art world by storm.
“It’s great for artists to have a new market, it opens up a lot of possibilities,” said the 44-year-old, who has five digital works of art for sale at the show, which opened on the weekend. -end last in Tokyo.
Using the same blockchain technology behind cryptocurrencies, NFTs turn everything from artwork to memes into virtual collectibles that cannot be duplicated.
They have become popular this year and are now traded at major auction houses, generating several hundred million dollars in transactions each month.
Although he traded his familiar canvas of human skin for pixels, Hatano said the creative process was the same.
“This is the emergence of a new economy, a new way of valuing art,” he told AFP, saying he hoped that technology would allow creators like him to reach a wider audience.
His work is one of 150 NFTs by dozens of artists exhibited at the “CrypTokyo” exhibition in the trendy Harajuku district of the Japanese capital.
Screens on the walls show a rotating selection of the works, the NFTs of which can be purchased online with Dai and Ethereum cryptocurrencies for amounts ranging from a few hundred dollars to around US $ 50,000. Hatano hopes to pocket between $ 1,400 and $ 2,400 for each of his offers.
Some of the most expensive works are by Maxim, frontman of British electropunk group The Prodigy and recently converted to NFT art.
“PART OF EVERYDAY EXISTENCE”
Any digital creation can be marketed virtually as an NFT, allowing artists to monetize digital art by giving boasting buyers unique property rights – even though the work can be reproduced endlessly online.
Classic elements of internet culture, from GIFs to home videos, have been auctioned off for huge sums. In March, American digital artist Beeple became one of the world’s three most valuable living artists when an NFT of one of his works sold for $ 69.3 million.
But in Japan, there is still a way to go before crypto art becomes a mainstay, said Yasumasa Yonehara, 62, an artist exhibiting at the show.
âNFTs are known in Japan for selling tweets by famous people for astronomical sums of money, and few know what it really is,â he said.
An authenticated version of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet – the very first on the social network – was sold in March for $ 2.9 million.
Japanese buyers always approach the format with caution, agreed exhibition curator Sascha Bailey, 27.
“The problem that a lot of people have with NFT art is’ how do I live with it, how do I interact with it in my everyday life,” Bailey, who runs the platform, told AFP. Blockchain Art Exchange international sales office.
“What we’re trying to do here, at least in the proto-stages, is show how it can be part of your daily existence.”
Some of the static works have augmented reality features – coming to life when viewed through a smartphone screen – and discussions with artists are also scheduled during the three-week exhibition.
French artist Botchy-Botchy, 48, sold his first NFT at the Tokyo show.
“The real plus is that the artist receives royalties for each resale of his token,” he said. And in the art industry, “it’s really new.”
Bailey said he sees Beeple’s massive sale as “an exception” and believes that greater value lies in the potential of NFTs to spark wider creativity.
âMaybe (the sale of Beeple) was important in showing the traditional art world that it’s a competitive thingâ¦ I see crypto art as the most powerful and the most meaningful when it helps people. small artists, âhe said.


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Volkswagen Beetle Convertible Transformed into Shark Cage
Ah, it's that time of year again folks– Shark Week. And in honor of this Selachimorphan-inspired holiday, VW has drummed up one special edition Beetle Convertible. Make that, one special edition Beetle Convertible shark cage. Sponsoring the much-loved week of shark-based television on Discovery Channel, VW chopped the top off of last year's hit Beetle shark cage. Now, we seriously doubt this will keep humans out of reach of any hungry sharks that might be lurking, but it is a pretty cool concept nonetheless.
Even cooler, when Discovery rolls out its Shark Week premiers beginning August 4th, the Beetle will give viewers a full underwater angle of what's going on outside the cage. We're guna need a bigger Bug.
PHOTOS: See more of the 2013 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible


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Reopening the U.S. May Hinder China’s Economic Recovery
China is already having an impressive economic recovery, despite being the emergence point of the coronavirus, due to increased domestic demand and exports, said Michael spencer from Deutsche bank.
Spencer, the Dusted Bank’s Chief Economist and Head Of Research for Asia Pacific said that China’s economy will likely grow by 5% to 6%. This will occur quarter on quarter from April to June, despite the contraction between January and March.
However, the U.S. presents the biggest challenge to both China’s economy as well as the global economy, according to Spence. The U.S. decision to reopen is premature and could trigger a second wave of Coronavirus infections, necessitating another lockdown.
Domestic Demand and Exports Are Boosting China’s Economic Recovery
Worldwide Lockdown measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic have halted most of the world’s economic activity. Those drove the global economy into a recession and dampening any expectations of economic growth in 2020. However, “the domestic demand part of the Chinese economy has recovered well,” said Spencer.
Spencer added that a broad range of indicators in China are returning to normal, especially auto and property sales. China’s exports have also performed better than expected. But the economic weakness in its major export destinations could make the situation worse in the coming months.
In May, China’s trade surplus stood at 62.93 billion in contrast to a forecast of 3.9 billion in April, which also recorded a $45.34 billion surplus. In the U.S. alone, China’s trade surplus in May was 27.89 billion. Even with rising tension between the two world’s largest economies, over Hong Kong’s special trade status and the Phase One deal.
“Even though the export performance exceeded expectations, the difficulties faced by traditional trade enterprises should not be ignored.” Said the chief economist, at Zhonghai Shengrong Capital Management, Zhang Yi.
China’s economy shrank by 6.8% in the first quarter of 2020 from 2019. The uncertain outlook so far has made the Chinese government decline to set an annual growth target for the year. Stating that future exports will likely see negative growth. Zhong added that “it is not necessary to be too pessimistic” as the growth “should be within-10%”.
Spencer mentioned the U.S. as the biggest risk to China and the global economy because the country is reopening “too soon.”
This also has implications for its own economy. A new wave of infections and further restrictions could leave the U.S. economy struggling. This is even after recording a jump surprise increase in employment gains in May.
The U.S. Might Take Years to Recover From the Enormous Economic Damage
The U.S. economy added 2.5 million jobs in May, reducing the unemployment rate from 14.7$ to 13.3% due to limited reopening, which led to rehiring in restaurants, bars, construction sites, and doctors’ offices.
“These improvements in the labor market reflected a limited resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed in March and April due to the Coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it,’” according to an official statement by William w. Beach, Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While the government responds to the coronavirus crisis, with a multi-trillion rescue package with unemployment benefits during this economic recession. Experts warn that the country will take a long time to recover.
According to Steve Hanke, a senior fellow at American Libertarian Think Tank Cato Institute, the U.S. economy might take years to recover.
And to repair it, it’s just not going to happen immediately. I don’t think we will reach the level of pre-crisis GDP until 202 and probably way beyond that.” He said. “So, we’ve got a tough road to follow here.”
In March 2020, the Bank of America officially declared that the U.S. economy had fallen into a recession in a deep plunge. Michelle Meyer, Bank of America’s economist, said, “Jobs will be lost. Wealth will be destroyed and confidence depressed.”
She also added that the GDP would collapse by 12% in the second quarter. Moreover, it will collapse by 0.8% for the full year.
US-China Volatile Trade Relations
Tensions are high between the U.S. and China due to the new security law that China plans to impose on Hong Kong, with the U.S. threatening to revoke the special trade status it has with Hong Kong.
Additionally, China’s forecasted inability to honor the terms of the Phase One trade deal signed in January, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, threatens re-igniting the long-standing trade war between the two countries.
Spencer said to expect less favorable economic news from the two countries. Tensions between them will be extremely sensitive this year, especially with the upcoming U.S. Presidential elections in November. President Trump will center his reelection pitch on his ability to be tougher on China than his opponent Joe Biden.
“So the rhetoric between China and the U.S. has already gotten worrying. And I think it can only get worse through this summer, “he said.
Spencer added that there is no prospect for a phase two deal that President Trump planned to establish before the elections. Since the possibility of the phase one deal falling apart in the next few months is very high.
Get the latest economy news, trading news, and Forex news on Finance Brokerage. Check out our comprehensive trading education and list of best Forex brokers list here. If you are interested in following the latest news on the topic, please follow Finance Brokerage on Google News.


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Things are clearly going Rambus' way lately. Hynix agreed to pay the litigious memory technology company royalties on RAM sales back in March. Today, we see the Federal Trade Commission has dismissed its antitrust case against Rambus.
MarketWatch has the details:
The Los Altos, Calif.-based company said the FTC order "indicated it would not pursue further proceedings against Rambus" in the antitrust case.
Rambus quoted the FTC order as saying "the Commission finds that further litigation in this matter would not be in the public interest."
The FTC lashed out at Rambus in August 2006, saying the company filed patents on memory technologies unlawfully during its membership at the Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council—the body that set the SDRAM and DDR SDRAM standards. (Rambus subsequently sued SDRAM memory makers that allegedly infringed on those patents.) However, in March of last year, a San Francisco jury ruled that the patent filings were lawful. (Thanks to TR reader tfp for mailing this in.)
|Corsair's Graphite Series 380T case reviewed||22|
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|Friday night topic: why the fear of autonomous machines?||137|
|Corsair's new DDR4 modules are rated for 3300 MT/s||32|
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Food and drink exports rose to their highest level on record in Q1 to almost £5bn, according to the latest figures from the FDF.
While positive growth was reported across all 20 markets surveyed, the biggest growth came from countries outside the EU, where exports were up almost 10% year on year.
However, the federation warned of a potentially damaging blow to exports from weak currency, which until now has been helping boost trade, especially outside the EU.
Exports of all UK food and drink in Q1 2017 grew to £4.9bn, up 8.3% on 2016, with the UK’s top exported products remaining whisky, salmon and chocolate.
The top three export destinations were Ireland, France and the US, although export growth to non-EU countries of 9.4% was at a faster rate than the 7.4% to the EU.
The three export markets that saw the greatest percentage growth in value were South Korea (40.3%), Belgium (37.3%), and South Africa (31.2%).
The FDF said beer was the key driver in export growth to South Korea, while wheat and barley were behind the rise in Belgian exports, and animal feed boosted those to South Africa.
Despite the increase in exports, which was partly boosted by currency weakness, the FDF warned this had also led to an increase in the cost of many essential imported ingredients and raw materials, which had resulted in the UK’s food and drink trade deficit increasing by 19% to -£6.2bn in Q1 2017.
It said the impact of weaker sterling on British exports was expected to be seen in Q3 2017 as companies negotiated new sales agreements with overseas buyers.
The FDF called on the next government to recognise the huge untapped export potential among UK manufacturers, with at present only 20% of food and drink manufacturers actively exporting.
“The growth of food and alcoholic drink exports we’ve seen in Q1 is very encouraging news for our industry,” said FDF director general Ian Wright.
“We want to work with government to take advantage of increased demand for UK products overseas and the opportunities that leaving the EU is expected to create. We would encourage the new government to look to the Irish food board, Bord Bia, as inspiration in creating an organisation to help turbocharge sales of UK food and drink globally.
“It is also very pleasing to see non-EU exports performing beyond expectations,” Wright added. “As the UK leaves the EU, growth in exports is hugely important to our sector. We hope that with the determination of businesses and the assistance of the new government, we can open more channels and provide a further boost to the UK’s competitiveness on the world market.”


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PRIME lamb producer Kelly Manton-Pearce believes barriers to trade in Western Australia’s biggest sheep meat export markets, political uncertainty surrounding live exports and volatile prices are eroding producers’ faith in the industry.
“At the moment (the industry) is in a very dire situation, prices have dropped significantly and people are losing confidence in the industry,” said Dr Manton-Pearce, who has travelled the world searching for insights into how to shape the sector.
“It could potentially get even worse for prices because there’s a lot of product set to come on line from the eastern states where they’ve had a really good season.”
Dr Manton-Pearce has direct experience of the pressures facing the industry through the prime lamb and cropping farm she operates with her husband in Yealering, in WA’s Wheatbelt region south-west of Perth.
She combined this knowledge, and her experience as a research fellow at the CRC for Sheep Industry Innovation for her Nuffield Scholarship, to investigate the demand and supply balance for Australia’s sheep meat around the world
Last year prices for sheep meat reached record levels, however, a large boost to the eastern states flock, combined with the decrease in live export ships arriving in WA have caused prices to crash this season.
WA Farmers meat section president Jeff Murray said these two factors had added to price volatility and caused fanners to lose more faith and confidence in the industry.
“When live exports came to a standstill after the Pakistani incident, prices dropped by 50 per cent, and for WA producers about $50,000 to $60,000 was wiped off their bottom line,” Mr Murray said.
Five Mddle Eastern countries take around 90 per cent of WA’s live sheep exports. When trade to this market was disrupted, there was a rush to get livestock into the state’s abattoirs.
Dr Manton-Pearce said: “It’s really hard to get space in an abattoir at the moment and producers are having to wait until February to get their sheep in, because all these sheep are supposed to be going on boats.” However, there are other markets for chilled and boxed meat, mainly the United States, the European Union and China.
While the growing Chinese middle class represents a huge opportunity for WA producers, imports are subject to tariffs.
“China is a huge market and there are estimates that demand for sheep meat could increase by 50 per cent over the next five years, which is huge when you consider their growing middle class will have the ability to pay for it,” Dr Manton-Pearce said.
“But tariffs are set at 15 per cent, whereas New Zealand has just signed a free trade agreement with China, so their 6.7 per cent tariff will go down to zero in 2015.”
Dr Manton-Pearce said India represented a huge untapped market, however, restrictive quarantine rules meant Australian producers were missing out.
“India for me is a very interesting market, 30 per cent of their population, 300 million people aren’t vegetarian, and the vast majority of those people don’t consume beef,” she said.
India’s ‘phyto-sanitary’ restrictions prevent livestock imports from countries where certain diseases are present.
Dr Manton-Pearce said only a few of the diseases on the “long-list” compiled by Indian authorities were present in Australia. India’s restrictive quarantine regime is the currently the subject of a US submission to the World Trade Organisation.
“It’s pure protectionism,” Dr Manton Pearce said.
Australian imports to the EU are subject to quota of around 19,000 tonnes a year.
Mr Murray said the EU was “the biggest and highest priced market” for Australia’s sheep meat exports.
Dr Manton-Pearce believes achieving more price stability is essential for the long-term survival of the industry.
“One of the things I’ve learnt in my travels is that fanners aren’t really chasing high prices all the time, they just want a consistent pricing system,” she said.


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The Honda Fit 2017 is one of the top picks for a subcompact hatchback. Review and more details here. more
A big little hatchback. more
Honda fires a shot into the burgeoning mini-crossover market. more
Honda has issued a recall for 1,038 Honda Fit hatchbacks for potential problems with the right front driveshaft. more
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It’s been just revealed that Coinbase praised Bitcoin and said that there’s nothing that can compete with it. In a new blog post, the crypto exchange explained that Bitcoin is standing alone as a digital version of gold and other blockchains have gravitated towards becoming platforms for Dapps.
It’s also important to note the fact that the crypto exchange aims to refute some of the common criticisms against the king crypto.
“Proponents believe Bitcoin is in competition with Web 3.0 cryptos. It’s not. It is trying to be one thing above all else: digital gold.”
Coinbase also noted the following:
“Nearly every other actively developed cryptocurrency besides BTC has the same product vision as Ethereum: create a decentralized application platform, often called ‘Web 3.0.’ They are trying to build the next Internet, to enable ‘unstoppable apps,’ not build digital gold.”
Coinbase also made sure to explain the fact that altcoins are fighting each other for Web 3.0 dominance while BTC has seen zero competition since its inception.
“The realization that BTC has a fundamentally different goal from the web3 cryptos reveals a crucial point: Bitcoin has no meaningful competitors. The Web 3.0 crowd is scratching and clawing at each other, while literally no one else is trying to play BTC’s game…”
Coinbase also noted that for any competitors that do decide to challenge Bitcoin, they will have to overcome Bitcoin’s massive 13-year head start. Check out more available data about what Coinbase had to say in the exchange’s official blog post.
Coinbase in the news
It’s been revealed that the US exchange Coinbase is launching support for non-fungible tokens in the browser wallet.
This new upgrade is about to roll out in a few days.
This will enable Coinbase Wallet customers to view NFT collections and access NFT marketplaces from the wallet’s browser extension, says a recent announcement from the crypto exchange.
We suggest that you check out more info about all this in our previous article.


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Nvidia was testing some monstrous new PCIe graphics cards late last year, potentially from the Nvidia Ampere generation, if the recently unearthed Geekbench database entries are to be believed. The largest of the two GPUs in question supposedly sports more than a 60% increase in SMs compared with the top graphics silicon of the Nvidia Turing architecture generation, and the smaller one still over-shadows anything we’ve seen from the green team in recent years. Even the server-side V100 GPUs…
Nvidia finally launched GeForce NOW out of beta this month and has already seen over one million gamers sign up either to the free account or the paid-for Founders subscription… which is still gratis for the next few months because of the free trial offered on release. That’s a hell of a lot of people, and likely a whole lot more than you’ll see streaming their little hearts out via Google Stadia.
But that number likely includes a lot of free trial lookie-loos. ARS T...
Nvidia has confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 will be available to play on GeForce NOW the same day it’s fully released. That means it will be arguably the quickest way to get yourself into Night City the instant the game is unlocked on Steam. No 100GB+ install, no day one patches, and no worries about PC compatibility. Probably.
Nvidia’s GeForce Now disagreement with Activision Blizzard may have not been entirely down to the game publisher’s own actions, a statement published by Nvidia last week admits. Soon after quietly removing all Activision Blizzard titles from its streaming service, Nvidia confirmed that this was due to a “misunderstanding” on its part in securing the publisher’s library post-beta.
Nvidia’s CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang, believes the continued success and growth of Nvidia gaming laptops effectively means they’re akin to “a new game console,” and if the graphics card company’s success continues with Turing and further GPU generations, gaming notebooks will become “the largest game console in the world.”
Activision Blizzard has requested for its games to be removed from Nvidia’s week-old GeForce Now game streaming service. Nvidia staff quietly confirmed the move on the GeForce forums yesterday (via VG247), with immediate effect. It’s not a great look for Nvidia only moment’s after launch – but could it also be telling of Activision Blizzard’s cloud ambitions?
Palit has released a new silent model of Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650. It’s calling its new, small, ITX graphics card the 1650 ‘KalmX,’ and for good reason. It’s said to run at 0dB as it only requires passive cooling – in other words, no fans – and marks the first model of GTX 1650 to be released that relies on case cooling alone. Its quietness might make you ten times calmer… maybe that’s what it was going for with ‘KalmX.’
GeForce Now works with hundreds of games you may already own, includes free tier. ARS T...
Whether Nvidia Ampere or Nvidia Hopper, the green team’s next-gen GPU silicon will reportedly deliver 70 – 75% greater performance than the current generation. That looks like a comparison with the Volta architecture, given that the source for the performance figures is referencing the extra computational chops the new GPUs offer in the supercomputer space.


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XiaoMi , one of the leading smartphone OEM in India has now come up with some MEGA plans for Diwali in India for this festive season. At GMIC Bengaluru event, Hugo Barra mentioned that it will be bringing the Mi3 device in India along with few more units of XiaoMi’s Redmi 1S smartphones by Diwali
Celkon Mobiles comes with an all new android smartphone dubbed as Crown Q40 which comes with the base level specs along with the base level price tag as well. With the likes of sub $100 devices, it seems like Celkon wants to go lower and come up with the smartphones which cost even less than $100. So let’s deep dive to check out on what are the specs and features of this new smartphone which comes with the decent specs
Stylish looks and powerful specs seems to be the new mantra of Karbonn as we have already seen one of the best smartphones from Karbonn in the form of Sparkle V which was the Android One series smartphone.
While Google starts with the Android One programme, UMI will soon reveal its new android smartphone dubbed as UMI ZERO which comes with some of the exciting features. So for all those who wanted to make sure that they have the latest android smartphone, you got to wait for at least this one arrives. Umi has recently started coming out with the better smartphones than ever and they are calling their latest android smartphone as “Superbody” is actually a term they are using to describe the alloy chassis of the new phone.
Jivi JSP 20 Android smartphone is the latest android smartphone in the plot which comes with the ultra-affordable price tag and with the specs which are decent enough for experiencing the android ecosystem. While this smartphone is yet to be hit the shelves, at least as per the specs, this smartphone looks to be one of the decent enough one as it has better specs when compared with the Intex Cloud FX Android smartphone which was priced at Rs.
OPPO (Opal Mobile) from China comes will soon be lauching a new smartphone dubbed as OPPO R5 whch comes with the 4G LTE Support along with the bunch of other specs and features which is sure to delight you. This device comes with the self timer camera flipper which is otherwise there in the OPPO N3 Android smartphone. This model from OPPO dubbed as R8106 is being spotted by sogi with certification bodies in Singapore and China
China’s Meizu, one of the popular android smartphone manufacturer will soon be popping the new smartphone which is basically an extension to its flagship smartphone Meizu MX4 which was announced just almost a week back at the Beijing. Meizu MX4 comes with some interesting specs which includes the octa core processor along with the 5.4 inches of 5:3 display along with the 20.7MP camera at the back etc.
Wickedleak Wammy Desire 3 is the latest android tablet which comes with the decent specs along with the price at which these days powerful smartphones are being offered. With programmes like Android One and phones like XiaoMi Redmi 1S which comes with the affordable price tag, there seems to be new wave of tablets which will be priced in this bracket to fight it out. There are not many tablets which comes with similar specs and better looks.
With a campaign of “Live Large”, ZTE is one such manufacturer which will soon be unveiling a bunch of 4G LTE ready smartphones. While initially it will be rolling out the smartphones in USA, this device comes with the larger screen, budget pricing along with the 4G LTE smartphones
Intex has unveiled another low priced smartphone in India after its Firefox OS devices. The Intex Aqua T2 will be the lowest priced Android device that will run Android KitKat Operating System out of the box. After the Intex Cloud FX that was launched for Rs


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WHAT HAPPENS IF THE CREDIT BUREAUS VERIFY CREDIT REPORT ERRORS? Have you made a dispute to a consumer reporting agency, such as Equifax, Experian or Trans Union? Did the credit reporting agency verify false information? The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is a federal law that provides consumers in all 50 states with rights, including … Continue reading WHAT HAPPENS IF THE CREDIT BUREAUS VERIFY CREDIT REPORT ERRORS?
Tax-related identity theft is growing problem Detroit Free Press Tax-related identity theft is a hot spot for quick cash -- and the National Taxpayer Advocate says it's now one of the top problems facing taxpayers. Taxpayers must keep ID theft in mind as they gather paperwork and prepare tax returns. Consumer Reports: Needless identity theft … Continue reading IDENTITY THEFT IN THE NEWS – WEEKLY UPDATE
Geopolitical analysis company Stratfor has been hit with a lawsuit this week after a computer hacker stole information on thousands of the company's customers. The lawsuit, filed by Stratfor users, claims that information on 90,000 credit card accounts were stolen, as well as 75,000 people's personal information. The lawsuit is seeking more than $50 million in … Continue reading CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FILED OVER STRATFOR DATA BREACH – THOUSANDS OF CREDIT CARD NUMBERS STOLEN
In Ohio, three women were taken into custody and indicted on multiple counts of identity theft and tax fraud. The women, Karen Taylor, Laquanna Bradshaw and Tiffany Cole, were indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiring to defraud the IRS with fraudulent tax returns. The identity theft victims are believed to be mentally disabled adults. … Continue reading TAX FRAUD & IDENTITY THEFT – 3 ARRESTED & CHARGED FOR CRIMES IN OHIO


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Apple hires Tesla engineer to head car project, report saysTue, 19, Apr 2016
Apple hired former Tesla Motors vice president of vehicle engineering Chris Porritt to work on "special projects" related to the tech giant’s electric car initiative, website Electrek reported today.
Toyota design is having a 'moment' with SetsunaMon, 18, Apr 2016
The latest example of Akio Toyoda's focus on emotional styling - he's trying to rid Toyota of its reputation for boring design - is a two-seat roadster made entirely from wood.
VW readies plug-in hybrid SUV concept for Beijing auto showMon, 18, Apr 2016
Volkswagen will unveil a luxury SUV concept Sunday at the Beijing auto show that the German automaker says will move the company in a “high-tech direction.”
Concept hints at look of future Infiniti crossoversMon, 18, Apr 2016
The QX Sport Inspiration that Infiniti will show at this month's Beijing auto show explores the brand's vision for a next-generation midsize crossover.
Toyota gets a glimpse at Clemson students' vision of future mobilityTue, 12, Apr 2016
Toyota planners are scrutinizing a concept for an urban youth vehicle created for them by Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research vehicle development program.


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I love the voluptuous black womanly body that Serena Williams proudly displays. She is once again stirring up controversy. Is she being too sexy in this new video game ad? Check it out and let us know what you think in the comment box below.
The Daily News recently reported that Serena Williams does a sexy commercial for Top Spin 4, a tennis game made for Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. In a commercial lasting less than 60 seconds, Williams – clad in a black leotard and stockings – is deemed “the world’s sexiest tennis player” before she faces off against actress Rileah Vanderbilt, who is dressed in a similarly revealing outfit and called “the world’s sexiest tennis gamer.”
The video is cut with clips from the actual game, as if the two women were playing each other. But combined with grunting sounds that are more commonly heard in the bedroom than on the tennis court, the hotness factor goes up several levels.
“You realize this is a fantasy right?” Williams says at the end.
What did you think of the video? Was Selena being too sexy? Please leave your comments in the box below.


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Our lives are moving through the Digital wallets. As the consumers trying to shift from their usual physical wallets and use digital ways of payment gateways. To take stride, the new initiative by Apple trying to force that big push into mobile payment gateway is trying hard to thrive and sustain. The consumers now can use iPhones to pay the checkout counter.
The market of mobile payment in the US is growing expected to reach $118 billion at the point of sales by the year 2018 by a mere $3.5 billion in 2014 predicted by the eMarketers. To take hold on this exceeding business preposition, Apple in just of few weeks will launch its Apple pay initiative.
This technology will only be available for the owners of iPhone6 and 6 Plus in the US and eventually those having Apple Watch can avail this digitized transaction. The mobile payment gateway is still a gloomy market, with Apple stepping in is sure to boost up and act as a catalyst. The iPhone is a huge market with more than 10 million new iPhone sales will certainly transform the consumers taking advantage to digital wallets.
The old habits
The digital wallets will certainly enable consumers not to fumble for cash and those plastic credit cards trying to pay the cash standing in the queue. But the age old habit of shoppers paying with cash or card is certainly a challenge Apple Pay have to counter upon.
To cite an example, Google Wallet which was launched in 2011 have really not made a profitable stride, practically flopped, but Google has not yet closed its doors, still trying its level best to sustain. So has the branded Softcard, a joint venture among commercial giants AT & T, T- Mobile and Verizon launched way back in the year 2010.
The Security prospective
People are always in two minds when anything is new and feel hesitated to try it out. Moreover, more than 40% of consumers fear that their personal information might get leaked out if they are making mobile payment as per the survey conducted by Kurt Salmon Global Management Consulting firm.
The new iPhone includes a secure element chip where your credit card information is stored and verified with the particular bank for the transaction, if there is sufficient fund available. A dynamic number used only one time is issued. The merchant is not at all furnished various details like the user’s actual credit card number, and furthermore Apple has no idea the amount and what you purchased. You have just to hold your phone within a couple of inches from the point of purchase at the cash counter, pressing the touch ID fingerprint scanner to validate that you were the actual person making the purchase.
The Phone Passbook icon gives you the complete details of transactions. Now you may think what happens if my phone gets lost? Apple pay has come up with a fingerprint scanner which will prevent a crook from accessing your entire personal details available with your iPhone. The feature further extends of switching off your Apple pay apps using find my iPhone feature.


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Animal agriculture is a leading producer of greenhouse gas emissions. Yet consumers continue to hesitate on vegan alternatives. Can promoting a “vegan economy” help fix the planet’s myriad problems? It’s the impetus behind Vkind, the platform, app, and production house focused on connecting consumers to vegan businesses and events. And it might just work.
New research published today in the journal Nature Communications, proposes that adopting plant-based alternatives can considerably shrink global agricultural emissions.
This adjustment, which necessitates replacing 50 percent of all meat and dairy with plant-based products by 2050, has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 31 percent, prevent forest degradation, and improve the nutritional intake of millions worldwide.
“We’ll need much more than ‘Meatless Mondays’ to reduce the global GHG emissions driving climate change — and this study shows us a path forward,” study co-author Eva Wollenberg of the University of Vermont, said in a statement.
“Understanding the impacts of dietary shifts expands our options for reducing GHG emissions,” said study lead author Marta Kozicka, a researcher from IIASA. “Shifting diets could also yield huge improvements for biodiversity.”
The new study is the latest research to suggest that a wholesale shift away from animal products is critical to meeting Paris Agreement targets of keeping global temperatures below a 1.5°C rise over pre-industrial levels. Leading climate scientists say we’re going to tick past that threshold in the coming years regardless — a result of our inaction — which underscores the need to make a significant effort to reduce emissions everywhere possible.
The researchers consulted Impossible Foods, a leading producer of vegan meat. The company provided generic recipes for the plant-based meat substitute products used in the analysis. Impossible has done its own research into animal products’ impact on the environment. Last year, its founder, Pat Brown, professor emeritus of biochemistry at Stanford University, co-led research that found a shift away from animal products in the next fifteen years is critical for fighting climate change.
“Plant-based meats are not just a novel food product, but a critical opportunity for achieving food security and climate goals while also achieving health and biodiversity objectives worldwide,” Wollenerg said. “Such transitions are challenging and require a range of technological innovations and policy interventions.”
Changing what’s on our plates is among the easiest and most impactful choices. However, recent research shows the number of U.S. consumers identifying as vegan has dropped from 3 percent in 2018 to just 1 percent today (but 4 percent identify as vegetarian, according to the findings).
Vkind: building a vegan economy
Vkind, the app and platform aimed at connecting consumers to vegan businesses, is working to help foster that shift away from animal products.
“This platform facilitates collaborations and hiring within the plant-based community, encouraging individuals to invest their money where it aligns with their values and preferences,” Dr. Shabnam Islam, a spokesperson for Vkind, told Ethos over Zoom. Islam co-hosted the platform’s first vegan cooking show, Peeled, alongside venerated Los Angeles chef Babette Davis.
Islam says Vkind operates as a dedicated search engine for those seeking exclusively plant-based venues. “This initiative significantly embodies a forward-thinking approach to ethical consumption and industry practices,” she says.
Like other geotag-based platforms, the Vkind app points users toward vegan businesses near them, making it easier to opt for products or services that help to mitigate the climate crisis by leaving animals out of the equation. “That gives us the power to put our money where our values and our votes are,” says Islam.
Encouraging consumers to make vegan choices aligns with the new research’s calculations. Substituting 50 percent of meat and dairy products with plants would see agricultural areas decline by 12 percent, allowing for rewilding and reforestation. It would essentially halt global deforestation, the researchers say. Shifting away from animal products would also halve nitrogen inputs and decrease water use by more than 10 percent — all boons to reversing the climate crisis and promoting biodiversity.
Overall, a 50 percent shift away from meat and dairy could see emissions decline by 2.1 Gt CO2eq year-1(31 percent ) in 2050 (1.6 Gt CO2eq year-1 on average in 2020–2050). Another benefit of reducing meat and dairy: global undernourishment rates would drop by at least 3.6 percent — a reduction of more than 30 million people per year, according to the researchers.
It’ll also make us healthier, despite persistent myths that a vegan diet is lacking in key nutrients. The recent Netflix series Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones revealed a plant-forward diet is common among all of the five Blue Zone populations. A longstanding criticism of vegan meat products like the Impossible Burger is that they’re too processed. But recent USDA data found plant-based food is healthier than animal products even when ultra-processed.
But regardless of what type of diet people follow, there’s a health risk to everyone on the planet as emissions rise. Climate change will exacerbate a host of threats to human health from natural disasters to increased air pollution to more pandemics, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The food sector produces roughly one-third of global GHG emissions — and has been notoriously difficult to de-carbonize,” said Wollenberg. “Given the magnitude of benefits we show from substituting meat with plant-based alternatives for global sustainability, climate action, and human health, this research provides important food for thought for consumers, food producers, and policymakers.”
With its Peeled cooking series, Vkind showed a diverse range of ways plants (and fungi) can replace animal products in a familiar content format. In November, it’s aiming to shake things up with the VKind Experience — a first-of-its-kind immersive tasting event.
Sprawling across LA’s Magic Box, the all-encompassing vegan event immerses participants in a multi-sensory world, offering a tour through a dozen uniquely themed rooms covering 35,000 square feet. Each room offers visual projections, live performances, sounds, smells, and, of course, tastes, which will be curated by Peeled judge, chef Chris Tucker.
The event takes attendees to all seven continents; walk among wildlife in the Serengeti of Africa, submerge yourself in the waters of Oceania, or traverse the Rainforest of South America, Vkind says, all while tasting the foods and flavors of the regions. “It is educational, but also an incredibly inviting and fun place,” Islam says.
The event will also debut the Vkind-produced short film, The Next Girl. Written by Lisa DeCrescente and directed by indie filmmaker Terrah Bennett Smith, the short film is from the point of view of a young girl trapped in a dystopian world of human trafficking. “The Next Girl unfolds a compelling story about the challenges of our current times, a story that we felt compelled to share,” Star Simmons, founder and CEO of Vkind, said in a statement. “I am extremely excited to introduce this impactful narrative to attendees at our Vkind Experience in November. It’s going to leave people talking.”
“There has never before been an event this compassionate and transformative, at this scale, with this many cultures represented in such an authentic and meaningful way,” Vkind Partner and Vkind Experience Event Producer, Jia Dadabhoy, said in a statement.
All of this supports Vkind’s vision for a VegEconomy and moves the needle on that urgent need to reduce meat and dairy consumption, Islam says. “This blend of education and pleasure, coupled with a good cause, is what makes this event truly special.”
The Vkind Experience is taking place in Los Angeles at the Magic Box November 11-12. Find more information and tickets at the Vkind Experience website.
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Kellogg’s Venture Capital Fund Has Made Its First Investment
Kellogg’s investment fund has placed a bet on food startup Kuli Kuli, the first investment by the Big Food company’s VC arm since it was launched last year.
On Wednesday, the maker of Rice Krispies, Pop-Tarts and Frosted Flakes said the VC arm, known as eighteen94 capital, led a $4.25 million Series A funding of Kuli Kuli along with additional institutional investors InvestEco and S2G Ventures. Kuli Kuli is a relatively new startup that sells herbal teas, powders that can be used in smoothies and “superfood” bars that are all moringa-based products.
Moringa is a plant protein that is produced by trees that are grown in semiarid and tropical regions of the world. The leaves, pods and oils of those plants are a source of iron, calcium and Vitamin A.
“By investing in Kuli Kuli and helping them grow, we’re backing a new superfood category, one in which we see the potential for ongoing high-growth,” said Simon Burton, managing director of eighteen94 capital. Burton is now a member of the Kuli Kuli board of directors with the investment.
Kellogg’s (K) VC arm initially debuted last year, as the cereal maker said it was aiming to invest directly in promising entrepreneurs and ventures at a time when consumers are increasingly giving startup brands a try when they go to the local grocery store. With the biggest brands from Big Food manufacturers seeing sales often stall or slow down, those companies are aiming to invest in startups that are helping popularize new categories of food. Kellogg’s eighteen94 capital has vowed to invest about $100 million into startups that are pioneering new ingredients, foods and packaging.
Plant-based proteins are one of those categories. A number of startups in that world have gained the attention of Big Food makers, including, and plant-based burger maker Beyond Meat.
To participate in those trends, Big Food makers have launched VC funds to place relatively small bets. Rivals including Campbell Soup (CPB), General Mills (GIS) and Tyson Foods (TSN) have all launched VC funds under a variety of formats. Often times if the brand is performing well, a full takeover can occur later. That happened recently when PepsiCo (PEP) bought probiotic drink maker KeVita for around $200 million and Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS) paid $1.7 billion for antioxidant beverage maker Bai Brands. Both of those soda companies had already secured initial investments in those smaller brands.
Based in Oakland, Calif., Kuli Kuli was co-founded by Lisa Curtis, a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger who first tasted moringa when she was working abroad. She says she founded Kuli Kuli to help West Africans use more moringa locally, as well as sell some of their harvest to the U.S. via products like Moringa Green Energy shots and Energizing Moringa Herbal Tea. Kuli Kuli was initially launched through a crowdfunding campaign that raised $53,000, with a second campaign raising $100,000.
Kuli Kuli products are already stocked in over 2,000 stores, including Whole Foods (WFM) , Safeway and Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM).


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Recently Microsoft joins the $1 trillion company club after Apple and Amazon. Today Microsoft is having its annual developer Build conference at its Redmond Campus in Washington DC. During this two days conference, Microsoft will be announcing new updates to its products. Microsoft surprises its fans by announcing to ship a full Linux kernel to Windows 10.
According to the Microsoft Program Manager, Jack Hammons, Microsoft will start to include the Linux kernel on Windows 10 starting this year summer. Microsoft will include it under the Windows Insiders builds where early beta testers can test the Linux kernel. They also announce the kernel will be based on the latest stable version which is 4.19.
Microsoft is taking a huge step forward by integrating the Linux kernel into Windows 10. Apart from that, Microsoft also announces developers can receive updates of the kernel from the Windows Update itself. Additionally, it will be fully open source, where developers can create their own kernel and contribute the changes to the Linux kernel community. Windows 10 users can expect this update to be available later this year.
In conclusion, sooner developers can really start their contribution on the Linux kernel without Linux OS. Other than that, Microsoft also announces its new Windows Terminal app today. It is a new command line tool for Windows which is designed to be the central location for access to environments utilities such as PowerShell and CMD. You can find additional information on this announcement on its official Microsoft blog.


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In his OpenWorld keynote, Oracle CEO Mark Hurd listed five things Oracle believes will be true by 2025:
- Eighty percent of production apps will be in deployed in the cloud.
- Two suite providers will own 80 percent of the SaaS market. Only 20 percent of the SaaS market will be held by point providers.
- All new testing and development will be done in the cloud. Today, 30 to 40 percent of IT spending is on these areas, making them attractive cloud targets thanks to cost savings, according to Hurd.
- By 2025, virtually all enterprise data will be stored in clouds. The rationales: Better economics, easier access and real-time availability, Hurd said.
- To that end, enterprise clouds will be the most secure environments in the world. Oracle's is more secure than anyone, he claimed.
POV: Hurd's prediction regarding dev and test is the easiest one to agree with, since that segment is fairly mature already with options from many vendors, large and small.
As for a SaaS market dominated by two suite companies, such a scenario probably depends on a lot of consolidation between now and 2025. One key factor for customers would be how well each vendor integrates and harmonizes the pieces into their suites.
Finally, Hurd didn't spend a lot of time on the data and security predictions, but both topics will be up for deeper discussion on Tuesday during CTO Larry Ellison's second OpenWorld keynote.
General Electric's Journey to the Cloud
Hurd's keynote featured discussions with high-profile customers, including General Electric CIO Jim Fowler. GE is undergoing a far-reaching move to the cloud as part of a transition into digital lines of business.
Fowler provided a succinct and telling example of the cloud's multiple benefits. One GE division moved a configurator application off-premises to the cloud and in doing so, the cost to run it went from $65,000 to $6,000. But the real benefits were global scale and the resulting ability to push more orders and quotes through the system, he said.
GE is taking a deliberate approach to what it buys in the cloud, which includes Oracle's Taleo recruitment software, according to Fowler. "I want to buy things that don't differentiate me in the market," he says. It makes more sense to buy those products from specialists like Oracle, and use in-house talent to build out unique IP, Fowler said.
POV: Just a few weeks ago, Fowler appeared at Amazon Web Services' re:Invent conference and declared the company "all in" with AWS as part of a far-reaching digital transformation.
GE is planning to move 9,000 application workloads to AWS over the next few years, reducing its data center footprint from 34 to four.
This subject unsurprisingly didn't come up during Hurd's discussion with Fowler. Oracle is touting its ability to offer customers the cloud at all three levels--IaaS, PaaS and SaaS--but it's got some catching up to do, particularly in the first category. The good news for customers considering both options is that Ellison has publicly stated Oracle will compete aggressively with Amazon on IaaS pricing.
Constellation Insights provides members with daily analysis of breaking news across the enterprise. Insights will be available in November 2015. Learn more about Constellation Insights.


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"Our most recent checks indicate the current 2GB and 4GB nano models will see their storage doubled to 4GB and 8GB capacities," analyst Shaw Wu told clients in a research note.More info over here.
The analyst said he is also picking up indications that the players will gain basic video capabilities. "We anticipate these new nanos will become available in the September Quarter and become top sellers, particularly if Apple keeps the price points low at $199 and $249.
Apple to launch new 4GB and 8GB iPod nano in September?
Posted on Monday, May 01 2006 @ 22:04 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck


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Being obese can cause a deficiency in vitamin D circulating in the body, reports a new study.
Efforts to tackle obesity should thus also help to reduce levels of vitamin D deficiency in the population, says the lead investigator of the study, Dr Elina Hypponen.
The new study sought to establish the direction of causality i.e. whether a lack of vitamin D triggers a weight gain, or whether obesity leads to the deficiency.
Researchers used genetic markers derived from an analysis of 21 adult cohort groups (up to 42,000 participants) to explore the link between body mass index (BMI) and genes associated with the synthesis and metabolism of vitamin D.
Associations between vitamin D and BMI were further confirmed using data from another genetic consortium with over 123,000 participants.
It was found that a 10 per cent rise in BMI was linked to a four per cent drop in concentrations of vitamin D in the body. Overall, the findings suggest that a higher BMI leads to lower levels of available vitamin D, while the effect of a lack of vitamin D on BMI appears to be very small.
Overall, the ICH results suggest that although increases in vitamin D are not likely to help with weight regulation, increased risk of vitamin D deficiency could contribute to the adverse health effects associated with obesity.
Dr Hypponen, UCL Institute of Child Health and lead author of the study, says: "Vitamin D deficiency is an active health concern around the world. While many health messages have focused on a lack of sun exposure or excessive use of suncreams, we should not forget that vitamin D deficiency is also caused by obesity."
"Our study highlights the importance of monitoring and treating vitamin D deficiency in people who are overweight or obese, in order to alleviate adverse health effects caused by a lack of vitamin D."
The study has been published in the journal PLOS Medicine. (ANI)


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“After years of seeing millennials sit on the sidelines, it’s clear some are recognizing it might not make sense to wait,” said
Millennial homeowners are confident they made the right decision in buying. Nearly 80 percent report homeownership has had a positive impact on their long-term financial picture. A similar number (86 percent) believe owning a home is more affordable than renting. This is in sharp contrast to those consumers who have not yet purchased a home, as they are split on what’s more affordable: 54 percent say owning, compared to 45 percent who say renting.
In further defining homeownership, these 18- to 34-year-old owners are more likely than any other generation to associate it with adulthood (39 percent), and least likely to define it as the American dream (16 percent) and permanence (11 percent).
When looking back at their homebuying experience, current owners across generations would tell their younger selves to start saving sooner (60 percent), consider the maintenance costs and unexpected expenses (42 percent), and create and stick to a budget (35 percent). Twenty-one percent say buy early to build equity.
Prospective buyers are planning, but not pulling the trigger yet
While they are juggling a variety of financial priorities, including paying off debts and bills (61 percent), improving credit scores (47 percent) and paying off student loans (32 percent), nearly one in four prospective buyers see homeownership on the horizon, saying they will purchase their first home within the next two years. Furthermore, 35 percent say they have started to plan for a down payment.
Almost half of first-time buyers believe they need 20 percent or more of a home’s price for a down payment, which may be why just 21 percent think they can currently make one.
“Some prospective first-time homebuyers tend to believe their personal circumstances should line up perfectly, or that they need a 20 percent down payment. Yet there are many ways homebuyers can achieve responsible and sustainable homeownership much sooner than they think,” said Boland.
Experienced buyers say value of homeownership goes beyond dollars and cents
Just one-third of owners say a home’s value is determined by how much it cost to purchase. Beyond financial value, current homeowners also see clear emotional benefits of homeownership, as nearly all say they are proud of owning (95 percent) and treasure the memories they have made (91 percent). Only 21 percent say owning a home is a burden.
Furthermore, the majority (82 percent) of experienced buyers look for ways to make their current home more valuable, and 70 percent spend a lot of free time working on their home.
For additional information about the
Bank of America’s Consumer Lending unit includes First Mortgage, Home Equity, Merrill Lynch Banking, and Consumer Vehicle Lending. Each business is focused on delivering a distinctive and consistent client experience through competitive product offerings, quality loan production, choice of multiple connection and delivery methods, and operational excellence based on a client’s unique attributes and relationship with us.
This survey was conducted by