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The 9 biggest 'cancels' of 2020
2020 proved that cancel culture is alive and well. With the backdrop of a worldwide pandemic and a nationwide reckoning with racial injustice, people took to social media throughout the year to proclaim a number of famous celebrities—from J.K. Rowling to Ellen DeGeneres—and brands—from Netflix to Oatly—officially “over.”
Oftentimes, these people and brands are degraded because they have committed offensive behavior or shared beliefs that don’t fit in social norms or stand as politically correct. The internet is especially unkind to those who commit acts that go completely against their brand. In fact, some people believe cancel culture has gone overboard and propose to cancel “cancel culture.” This year, even gushed-over Baby Yoda received some cancels after the animated creature ate frogs eggs in an episode of “The Mandalorian.”
For brands, it’s still a cultural phenomenon that could easily lead to a public relations crisis and potentially hurt business. After all, 64% of consumers will buy or boycott a brand because of its position on a social or political issue, according to a 2018 Edelman study.
Here are the people and brands who have felt the sting of being publicly #canceled this year:
For many who grew up reading the “Harry Potter” series, J.K. Rowling served as a childhood hero. For those who felt ostracized, the books’ themes of acceptance seemed to say there was a place for them in the world. But this past June, Rowling lost many of those fans.
Rowling chose Pride Month for the time to tweet out another round of transphobic beliefs. She commented on a Devex opinion article about “people who menstruate,” tweeting: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimund? Woomud?” She followed that up with further comments on how sex matters, and something trans people cannot change.
For many fans, it was the last straw. The hashtag #canceljkrowling began trending on Twitter.
Celebrities from the “Harry Potter” film series and spinoff series “Fantastic Beasts,” including Daniel Radcliffe and Eddie Redmayne, also spoke out against the author’s comments. Radcliffe posted on the website of LGBTQ suicide prevention charity The Trevor Project: “Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people.”
GLAAD tweeted: “JK Rowling continues to align herself with an ideology which willfully distorts facts about gender identity and people who are trans. In 2020, there is no excuse for targeting trans people.” The LGBTQ organization advised people to direct their anger into supporting organizations that help Black trans people.
While the incident doesn’t seem to be hurting Warner Bros.’ Wizarding World universe, the backlash has not ceased and could be affecting some branded partnerships. Five months after Rowling’s tweetstorm, underwear company MeUndies apologized to customers on Instagram for releasing a “Harry Potter” line of underwear.
The whole motto of the “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” is “be kind,” and yet host Ellen DeGeneres found herself accused of the complete opposite in a scorching BuzzFeed article in July. The article relays several interviews with former show employees who describe a toxic work culture. One Black employee told BuzzFeed she eventually walked off the show because she couldn’t experience any more racist comments and microaggressions. “Cancel Ellen DeGeneres” trended on Twitter as other people shared their uncomfortable experiences with the program.
That resulted in DeGeneres apologizing to her staff and Warner Bros. launching an internal investigation, which led to three executives leaving the show, which vowed to change its culture.
Partnerships with the franchise since the backlash have not gone over well. In November, Funko created an Ellen DeGeneres Pop! Figure exclusively available on DeGeneres’ website, and the Twittersphere was not amused. “I thought cancel culture canceled her?” read one tweet. Another user asked: “Y’all making an Adolf Hitler or a Pol Pot pop next while you’re at it?”
Ellen still won an E! People's Choice Award for best daytime talk show in November, leaving some people confused.
Rapper Doja Cat faced Twitter hastags #DojaCatIsOverParty and #DojaCatIsCanceled after being accused of participating in allegedly racist internet chat rooms, days after seeing her first Billboard No. 1 hit. Footage shows the rapper using a racial slur in the chat rooms in May. Doja Cat, whose real name is Amalaratna Zandile Dlamini, apologized to her fan base, but not too many of her fans appreciated her touting her South African heritage in her apology.
Doja Cat proves though that just because you’re a victim of cancel culture, it doesn’t mean you can’t return to glory. Billboard ranked her as its No. 1 new female artist of 2020, and she landed in the Forbes 30 Under 30.
“Cancel Netflix” began trending on Twitter in August and September over how the streaming site promoted its foreign-language film “Cuties.” The film is meant to be about a preteen girl who emigrates to France and rebels against her past culture by joining a dance team.
But Netflix users did not like the marketing of the film, which seemed to sexualize the children, showing them twerking as part of their dance movements. Netflix updated the promotional materials and apologized about how the situation was handled, but mentions of “Cancel Netflix” because of “Cuties” are still popping up on Twitter.
Like a lot of other brands in June, L’Oréal Paris made a statement about supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd’s death, but the brand's past came back to haunt it. Three years ago, the company fired Black transgender model Munroe Bergdorf over a Facebook post that spoke about white supremacy in the wake of the Charlottesville riots. Bergdorf spoke up on Twitter, saying L’Oréal was being hypocritical after the way it treated her. Her words sparked a boycott, with many of Bergdorf’s followers saying they would not purchase the brand again.
L’Oréal Paris Brand President Delphine Viguier addressed Bergdorf in a statement, hired her to be part of a new U.K. Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board and made a donation of $50,000 to transgender organization Mermaids and U.K. Black Pride.
President Trump has opposed cancel culture since he took office, but that didn’t stop him from calling on his followers to boycott Goodyear tires. With a tweet in August, the president told followers not to buy Goodyear tires because he believed the company placed a ban on his popular red “Make America Great Again” hats. Goodyear responded, saying that it had done nothing of the sort.
On the other side of the political spectrum, people were upset when Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue, in a presentation about the company’s food donation plans in July, said the United States was “blessed” to have Donald Trump as president. Goya calls itself America’s largest Hispanic-owned food company, but it faced backlash from people including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jose Andres, Julián Castro and others who are upset over how Trump has spoken out against immigrants from Latin America. Hashtags #BoycottGoya and #Goyaway trended on Twitter. A day later, Trump supporters began tweeting #BuyGoya.
In September, “Star Wars” actor Bon Boyega quit as brand ambassador for perfume brand Jo Malone after he was removed from the Chinese version of an ad he shot for the Estée Lauder brand without his knowledge or consent. The campaign was all about the actor as well. It featured Boyega traveling through his hometown of London, and his family members even made appearances, but in the Chinese version he was replaced by a Chinese actor. Jo Malone apologized and removed the offending ad.
People don’t forget so easily, though. In August, Jo Malone London tweeted that its film featuring John Boyega won The Fragrance Foundation Virtual Awards 2020 for Best Media Campaign, and got this response instead of congratulations:
Once a beloved brand, vegan dairy alternative Oatly was soured by the wrath of Twitter in August when the brand announced a $200 million round of funding from an investment group led by private-equity firm Blackstone and celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Jay-Z, Natalie Portman and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Oatly sold a 10% stake in the company to the Blackstone-led group.
The problem is, Blackstone chairman and CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman also invested in Hidrovias do Brasil, a Brazilian company that is allegedly contributing to the deforestation of the Amazon rain forest. To many users of Oatly, Blackstone’s involvement is contrary to the company's push for environmental sustainability, prompting them to boycott the brand. Blackstone has denied the accusations, saying that Hidrovias "objects to illegal deforestation and is committed to ensuring that the soy it ships is not from the Amazon biome."


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Business Today received a clarificatory e-mail from Nokia on 'How Samsung Moved Nokia's Cheese', dated May 27, 2012. Edited excerpts: "Your cover story reports Samsung has overtaken Nokia in March 2012 in value terms. We would like to highlight that this is incorrect. The data that you have used in the article quotes only Urban retail sales data from the GfK-Nielsen survey and is misrepresented as All India data. GfK-Nielsen's Urban data covers 793 cities and towns each with population more than 50,000, while its All India coverage is of 4,378 cities and towns and 586,000 villages.
According to the All India data from GfK-Nielsen for March 2012, Nokia is a clear leader of the overall Indian mobile handset industry - both in value and volume terms respectively. Unfortunately, we are legally bound not to share market data from GfK-Nielsen.
This story has had significant negative ramifications on the Nokia brand in India and the trust our consumers, partners and other stakeholders have in the brand, besides impacting the morale of 10,000 Nokia employees.
Poonam Kaul, Director, Communications, Nokia IndiaBusiness Today responds:The conclusions in the story were based on Urban data from GfK-Nielsen, a highly respected but confidential source for market sales numbers.
Business Today followed best journalistic practice in this story, as it does with all its reporting, and contacted all sides for their versions. Neither Nokia nor Samsung clarified that the data we ran past them was urban-only; GfK-Nielsen declined comment. We have subsequently learnt that Nokia leads Samsung by 1.4 percentage points in All India market share (31.7 per cent vs. 30.3 per cent) in March 2012. The Urban data we used in the story had Samsung ahead by 0.4 percentage points in March 2012. We have learnt that in GfK-Nielsen's methodology, Urban sales account for 55 per cent of All India data in volume terms and about two-thirds in value terms.
We also erred in saying the Urban data was sourced from 50 cities and in mis-labelling March 2012 data as March 2011 data. We regret the errors.
For nine quarters, it has been a downward slide for Nokia in India
. The Finnish phonemaker's vice-like grip on the India market has been slowly yet surely prised open by a raft of old and new rivals. Nokia ceded nearly half of its dominant share
of the mobile phones market
from a peak of 70 per cent between 2007 and now.
Even in context of this spectacular slide, Tuesday, April 24, was particularly gut-wrenching for Nokia. Data from market tracker GfK-Nielsen that came in that morning showed its nearest rival in India, Samsung, had achieved the seemingly impossible. The Korean brand, for the first time ever, had overtaken Nokia in India by retail revenues in March capping months-long game of steady catch up (see Slugging It Out).
Ranjit Yadav, Country Head, Mobile & IT, Samsung India
What stung Nokia was this: by the number of mobile phones sold, Samsung was trailing Nokia by a wide margin. In other words, Samsung was registering higher revenues in India
than Nokia by selling fewer phones. Samsung held a 34.2 per cent share of mobile phone retail revenues in March 2011 versus Nokia's 33.8 per cent, according to GfK-Nielsen. (The market research firm estimates revenues of brands by surveying their sales at the retail level.) This, despite nearly a 10 per cent gap in volume sales between the two: Nokia's 36.9 per cent versus Samsung's 27 per cent.
The data was greeted with expected cheers at Samsung's India headquarters in Gurgaon, a satellite town overridden by offices southwest of capital New Delhi. There was much back-thumping and plans made for an evening party.
- Samsung is the world's largest phone maker with25.4 per cent share
- Out of 50 models, 19 Samsung models are smartphone
- Samsung Mobile & IT made Rs 11,000 crore in India in 2011
When key members of his team reached the office of Ranjit Yadav, who heads Samsung India's mobile and IT division, the mood sobered a bit. "This is good but we need to build on this," Yadav told his team members, says an executive who was present. Yadav, 49, is as distanced when BT meets him. "This business is as good as you are everyday. We are still challenging," he says.
To be sure, as Yadav told his team, it is early days. It is just one month that Samsung has edged ahead of Nokia
in retail revenues. For 2011, Nokia's share of retail revenues from mobile phone sales is still a good 13 percentage points ahead of Samsung's (39.8 per cent and 26.8 per cent). And, in volume sales, the lead is even more 16.1 percentage points. Further, this estimate is from just one among four market trackers. GfK-Nielsen surveys retail sales in 50 cities reflecting market realities better, while others such as IDC, Gartner and Cyber-Media Research base their estimates on shipment data from the phone makers.
Even discounting for such factors, it is clear that Nokia is in a bad shape and it seems a matter of time before Samsung pulls firmly ahead. "If Nokia does not do anything drastic, the rate at which Samsung is growing, it will overtake Nokia by the end of 2012 even in volume sales," says a Gurgaon-based analyst who does not want his or his employer's name taken. This has already happened globally. Samsung, for the first time, outsold Nokia in the January to March quarter (93.5 million phones to 82.7 million).The Samsung Roll
Samsung India's Goliath-beating journey in the Rs 55,000-crore mobile phones business is as much luck as nose-to-the-grind execution. The luck was in the call it made two years ago on smartphones. (Such phones typically come loaded with a camera, access to the Internet, media player, games, social media applications, and other features. They are different from so-called feature phones that are more basic in functionality and inexpensive in comparison.) Smartphones account for over 11 per cent of all mobile phones sold in India, up from just six per cent a year ago and virtually zero before that. Look at its revenues and it is even more promising: Rs 15,000 crore in 2011.
It is in this chunky and profitable category that Samsung has carved out a comfortable space for itself. GfK-Nielsen puts Samsung's share at over 43 per cent of the smartphone market in March's volume sales compared to the 29 per cent of Nokia. This is in line with the trend of the last two years. While Samsung grew its share in smartphones to 26.7 per cent in 2011 from 4.9 per cent the year before, Nokia saw its share shrink from 83.5 per cent 46.1 per cent.
Such market-disrupting growth by Samsung India can be traced to a global bet its parent made on Android, the open source mobile operating system championed by Internet search giant Google, as late as 2009. Samsung developed phones for different operating platforms such as Symbian, Android and Windows Phone, as also the proprietary 'bada' platform. But, it turned out to be the biggest gainer on the Android platform: it has an over three-fifths share of Android phones globally and a share of 42 per cent of all smartphones.
James Crawshaw, European telecom and technology analyst at S&P Capital IQ, is unequivocal about where Samsung is getting it right and Nokia wrong. "Nokia's success [lies] not in increasing market share but in increasing its smartphones portfolio," he says in a phone interview. Nokia's profits, he insists, need to come from highend phones like that of Samsung's Android phones. Ratings firm Standard & Poor's downgraded Nokia below investment grade in April.
A new operating system is like a new religion: D. Shivakumar
The appetite in India for Androidbased phones became quickly clear in June 2010 when Samsung decided to launch its Galaxy phone. Nokia's smartphones were getting strafed in the market, the Apple iPhone was hardly here, and BlackBerry did not have a great touchscreen device. "We smelt the coffee. We shook up the product portfolio," says Asim Warsi, Vice President, Marketing, Samsung Mobiles. Galaxy offered the customer aspiring for the expensive iPhone an alternative with a great multi-touch interface, a large screen, and smart applications - at Rs 30,000. Samsung sold more than 100,000 Galaxys in the first three months, meeting what Warsi, an ex-Nokia hand, estimates was just half the demand.
Samsung quickly evolved the Galaxy series. It today has a portfolio of five Galaxy devices, ranging from Rs 7,000 for the Pocket to Rs 30,000 for the S2. The S3, globally launched May 3, will be locally priced around Rs 35,000. The speed with which Samsung introduced new models, set up new plants in India, and reached out to customers is part of the consumer goods-like battle plans drawn up by Yadav's team. He has kept a tight rein on costs, keeping the number of retail outlets selling Samsung phones at 90,000, less than half of Nokia's 200,000.
Nokia's competing smartphones were almost no match for Samsung's. It was not until February 2011 that a Finnish answer to the Galaxy came about in the form of the Lumia phone out of the Nokia-Microsoft tie-up in February 2011. The Lumia series received rave reviews internationally but sells just two phones in India - one at Rs 25,000 and a cheaper one at more than Rs 15,000. The devices are way too expensive going by prices Indians are used to, says Anshul Gupta, analyst at research firm Gartner. Nokia Pads Up, Again
The months ahead, promise Nokia executives, will see the battleground change with new Lumia phone
launches aimed at some traction in markets like India. The Lumia 610, for instance, expected to be priced under Rs 12,000, is set for a June launch. Mindful that selling Windows Phone devices can be a challenge in the distribution channels, Nokia has shortlisted some 5,000 stores, whose retail staff it is training, to sell the Lumias. "Consumers are looking for more than a device," says V. Ramnath, Director of Sales at Nokia India.
The issue of margins, the most important variable in any sales channel, too seems to be getting addressed. Mohammed Ameen, a Samsung distributor in Bangalore who until September 2011 sold Nokia phones, says: "For a particular price, if Samsung gives Rs 100 as margins, Nokia gives Rs 30. But now that is changing, Nokia has also started passing more margins to the trade."
"A new OS is like a new religion," D. Shivakumar, Nokia's Senior Vice President of sales for India, Middle East and Africa, indicating the market takes time to accept a completely new product line. He points to the 13 awards the yet-to-be-launched Lumia 900 won at this January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as an instance of its ability to wow customers.
Nokia's push is clearly in the right direction because smartphones will only grow as a share of the overall mobile phones market. Technology consultancy Ovum predicts smartphones will outperform the overall market for mobile phones and sell 1.7 billion units by 2017. Still, the question is whether the Windows platform was the right choice for Nokia. Ovum forecasts Android will continue to dominate with a 48 per cent share five years from now, by when the Windows platform will account for 13 per cent. Insiders at Nokia scoff at remarks about the company being "bloated and hierarchical".
One such person is Vipul Mehrotra, Director and Head of Smart Devices at Nokia India. Mehrotra, who was earlier leading Nokia's service strategy at the company's Espoo, Finland-headquarters, says he was made the project lead for Lumia phones a day after the February 11, 2011 announcement of the Nokia-Microsoft tie-up. Then, he says with some pride in the first Lumia phone released in nine months: "We had to work at speed that Nokia had never worked before."
Other 'Nokians' like outgoing Chairman Jorma Ollila remind outsiders of the many changes Nokia has been through. In an interview with Financial Times, London published early in May, Ollila said he had seen at least five crises at Nokia in his three decades there. A company with a history in tyres to toilet paper, Nokia has had its highs and lows, indeed. Just as it ran the mobile phone businesses of rivals such as Ericsson and Motorola into the ground, it now faces the death threat from software giants Apple and Google in the West and phone makers Samsung and HTC in the East.
But, it has survived and how. The battle it most recently won was over the market for mobile phones with two or more SIM cards in India. With as many as half the phone purchases in India dual-SIM phones, Nokia launched such models in June 2011 with features such as multi-SIM profile recognition. Cut to today: Nokia has a one-fifth share in the dual SIM phone market with rivals Micromax and Karbonn on the ropes. Even Samsung's dual-SIM phones introduced in February have hardly dented Nokia's share.
Next, eyeing the rising data usage in India, Nokia is attempting to shift the goalpost in the mobile phone business. It has introduced the Asha-branded range of feature phones with some smartphone features at prices ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 8,000. The idea is to catch customers using data on mobile devices for the first time. A Nokia insider quotes the India office's ambition while quoting global CEO Stephen Elop: "Our turnaround will begin in India."
From the vulnerable position Nokia is in vis-a-vis Samsung, an increase in sales of Lumia and Asha phones can only be good news. But the bigger lesson the Finnish giant can learn from its mauling by the chaebol is what Haw, one of the two "littlepeople" in Spencer Johnson's Who Moved My Cheese? bestseller, learnt about dealing with change: "Be ready to change quickly. And enjoy it again."Edited by Josey Puliyenthuruthel
**An earlier version of this subtitle incorrectly suggested Samsung had overtaken Nokia in India, when in reality Samsung is rapidly catching up. The error has been corrected.

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Nintendo and Sony are halting video game sales in Russia, citing the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Thursday, Nintendo told Reuters it was suspending sales in Russia “for the foreseeable future," after it already began stopping payments through the company's eShop in the country. The reason for the sales halt is due to the “volatility surrounding the logistics of shipping and distributing physical goods” to the country, it said.
On Wednesday, Sony also announced it was hitting pause on all software and hardware sales for the PlayStation in Russia. "Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) joins the global community in calling for peace in Ukraine,” it tweeted.
The sales stoppage means Russia is losing retail access to all three major video game console makers. Last week, Microsoft also decided to stop all product sales to the country, which should include the company’s Xbox hardware.
“Like the rest of the world, we are horrified, angered, and saddened by the images and news coming from the war in Ukraine and condemn this unjustified, unprovoked, and unlawful invasion by Russia,” Microsoft said at the time.
Others, including Electronic Arts, CD Projekt RED, Ubisoft, and Take-Two, have also halted game sales in the country. In addition, Intel, AMD, and Nvidia are no longer shipping chips and other products to Russia. As a result, it may get harder for local Russians to enjoy video games during the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The growing tech ban against Russia is precisely what the Ukrainian government wants. “We are sure such actions will motivate the citizens of Russia to proactively stop the disgraceful military aggression,” Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov wrote in an appeal to the gaming community last week.
However, Russia is reportedly preparing to respond to the tech ban by legalizing software piracy in the country. It’s also possible Russian consumers will simply source Sony, Nintendo, and Xbox games by importing them through unofficial channels from neighboring European countries.


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Recently, Toyota released the first official pictures of the new generation of RAV4 models (fifth generation), the picture shows the silhouette of the new car sideways. Like the C-HR and the new Camry , the new RAV4 is also born from the TNGA architecture. It will be launched globally at the 2018 New York Auto Show which will be opened on March 28 local time, and will be made available in 2019.
The official preview of the new trailer shows a new RAV4 parked on the “Lakeside of the Grand Prairie”. The intentional back light cleverly hides the details of the vehicle, but at the same time retains a clear enough outline of the body. It can be seen that the roof line of the new RAV4 is flatter than that of the current model, and the rear window has a larger angle of inclination, and the existing elements such as the roof rack and rear spoiler are more dynamic. In addition, the front of the new car is no longer as sharp as the cash models, the side looks more square, it is expected that there will be a more solid visual effect.
Looking back on the previous leaked photos, we can easily find that the new RAV4 has similar design elements to the Toyota FT-AC concept car , including a thick-striped grille, rich lines and tough front face, outside mirrors, wheels Style, etc., is expected that the FT-AC concept car is the prototype of the new RAV4. Of course, the final model of the production model will converge much more than the concept car .
In terms of power, we expect the new RAV4 to be powered by Toyota’s new Dynamic Force series of naturally aspirated engines , which will include three hybrid models: 2.0L, 2.5L and 2.5L. With reference to Yuze and New Camry , the maximum power of these three kinds of power is 171 horsepower, 209 horsepower, and 218 horsepower (combined), respectively. The transmission system of non-hybrid models is matched with CVT gearbox (2.0L) and 8AT, respectively. Transmission (2.5L). The actual shape and parameters of the new RAV4 have yet to be further announced by the government. Let’s wait and see.


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Semak Br1m2013 on Technology News and Updates AdmaTechnology.com at Thursday, April 24, 2014
Beijijng / San Francisco – Mandiant, an information security services company from the United States accused China are responsible for some cases of hacking, conducted by a secret military unit.
Mandiant accused 61 398 units of the military Chinese [...]
Sony showed off its latest ultrabook Windows 8 operating system, Vaio T13 “Touch Screen”, Indocomtech exhibition in 2012 at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC).
With a 13.3-inch wide screen, users can enjoy a new experience with Windows 8 [...]
Iron Man 3 movie has not been released, Gameloft has prepared his game to iOS and Android devices.
Quoted from Slashgear, Thursday (28/3), Iron Man 3 games scheduled to be released on 25 April, or the day before the movie appeared in theaters.
Rotation with the sun at a distance equal to the Earth’s rotation on the solar system.
An expert team of Anglo-German astronomers have discovered a new planet orbiting a nearby sun in the same distance as the Earth orbits the sun so that it has [...]
The good news for you smartphone users had Windows Phone OS. Angry Birds can now be downloaded for free.
Quoted from Ubergizmo, Thursday (2/5), Angry Birds has changed the status of being free is the original version, that is Angry Birds first.
As a gift to the loyal fans of the game ‘Angry Birds’.
In the third birthday, Rovio as a manufacturer of world’s most famous game, Angry Birds, released the latest level for the loyal fans.
Games featuring the ‘Angry Birds’ [...]
Your comic lover and owner of an iOS device? Do not miss this one application.
Marvel Comics tried to offer around 13 thousand popular comics in an application called Marvel Unlimited.
Quoted from Slashgear, Friday (3/8), the user will be given the freedom [...]
After going through various rumors and long waits, BlackBerry 10 platform was officially launched at an event in New York, U.S., on Wednesday (01/30) local time.
Quoted from Techradar, Thursday (01/31), BlackBerry 10 straight comes with two new smartphones, [...]
Microsoft to train their employees to be able to explain the differences in the operating system Windows RT and Windows 8 to consumers.
“We’re trying to make sure our store teams provide explanations to consumers about Surface or PC Windows [...]
Apple is reportedly preparing a new MacBook Pro is equipped with Intel’s Haswell and will be introduced at the WWDC 2013, 10-14 June 2013 in the U.S..
Never heard about Intel Haswell? This is the latest generation of Intel processors, which will [...]
With a price of $159 U.S. dollars.
If you are lovers of the underwater world and the music, then you need to have a digital music player Finis SwiMP3.
Finis SwiMP3 is a digital music player or MP3 player waterproof which has 2GB of memory capacity or [...]


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Ad spend on TikTok jumps 75X from May to November
There are space shuttles and there are rocket ships. And then there’s TikTok.
TikTok has grown an amazing 614 million users this year, according to SensorTower. The social network that’s basically a hybrid of Vine and YouTube is now closing in on 1.5 billion users. That’s serious scale — and serious growth. We haven’t seen that kind of growth since perhaps Pokemon Go, which exploded in 2016 and captured 750 million downloads in a single year.
And some of us never expected to again.
The reality is that when you grow an ad-supported social media platform by more than half a billion users, you’re probably going to grow ad revenues too. In fact, you better … because supporting all those hundreds of millions of new users is going to cost some cash.
Based on data Singular is seeing, TikTok has done just that.
And is well-positioned to continue growing ad revenues significantly for the foreseeable future.
TikTok spending blasts off
In fact, TikTok ad spend by Singular customers has jumped 75X between May of this year and November. (Singular optimizes well over $10 billion in annual ad spend for customers like Lyft, Nike, Rovio, LinkedIn, Airbnb, Twitter, and many others. So we have good visibility into where top advertisers direct their dollars.)
At the beginning of the year, we saw very limited spend.
The company has been growing fast, however, and in June, TikTok quietly showed plans for a self-serve ad model to select clients. It’s still early days in those efforts, and TikTok will very likely be continuing to iterate on efforts to make it easier for advertisers to build campaigns on the platform. (TikTok, by the way, is integrated with Singular for analytics, attribution, and ad monetization.)
One advertiser I talked to said that he’s “pretty impressed with how quickly they’ve built up the platform,” but that sometimes the speed shows. In other words, there are occasional glitches.
But clearly, whether it’s difficult or easy to access, TikTok’s audience is simply too large to ignore.
And, since 41% of TikTok users are between 16 and 24 years old, it’s the young audience that advertisers crave, because they can drive trends. (Caveat: that stat is from January of 2019 … the average age has almost certainly skewed older as Gen-Xers pile in to find out what the young-uns are doing these days anyways.)
Still a lot of room to grow
To add context, in the beginning of the year ad spend on TikTok was easily less than 1% of advertisers’ combined spend on Facebook and Google. By August and October, TikTok was running between 3-5% of spend on those platforms.
It’s still a small fraction of what you see on those leading and well-established platforms, but there’s clearly room for more. Ad load — the frequency at which users see ads — is about 22% on Instagram, for instance. That means for every 5 pieces of content, roughly one of them is an ad. And, Facebook is testing higher frequency in Stories. On TikTok, however, the current ad load ranges from a similar high of one every five videos down to a low of one every 20, @mattcatbat, a Tiktok user with over 450,000 followers, told me.
That high-water-mark is not common, in my experience. In my personal testing — yes honey, all that time on TikTok is actually work — I’m seeing very low ad loads … definitely on the low end of the scale.
Which, very simply, means that as TikTok ramps its self-serve platform and other features for advertisers, there’s a lot more potential for growth.
What’s working on TikTok?
In spite of the platform’s massive growth, it’s early days still on TikTok.
We see retail taking the lion’s share of the ad spend on TikTok, along with marketplaces. Retail makes perfect sense: you’ve got a young and presumably fashion-conscious audience on TikTok. These are people who are likely to be influenceable with the latest trends and fashions, and they’re incentivized to purchase.
Markeplaces is a category at Singular into which we put customers who are looking to acquire at least two sets of platform participants. A classic example would be an on-demand food delivery service. These services typically want to acquire both customers (food buyers) as well as delivery personnel (drivers), and probably also food providers (restaurants).
Many of these brands have similarities to retail.
Essentially, they’re looking to add buyers: end-user customers. But TikTok also has a large audience of young adults — some of whom drive — and who probably need a bit more disposable income. So many marketplaces could conceivably add service providers here as well.
We don’t see a lot of gaming yet, which is surprising (at least for us: many Singular customers are game publishers, and they’re usually pretty quick to test new things). We don’t see a lot of financial services, either, which is not surprising.
But that doesn’t mean that no game publishers or fintech companies are active on TikTok. Quite the opposite.
Fintech and gaming: on TikTok?
In fact, one advertiser I talked to is advertising on TikTok for his fintech company.
They haven’t made their content especially TikTok-friendly, but they’re still seeing similar returns compared to other platforms. This suggests two things. First, investing in making content that is more TikTok-friendly should boost engagement and likely also conversions. And second, advertisers in verticals that have a preconception that TikTok would not a good fit for them … should reconsider and test the platform.
Another advertiser I chatted with had similar results in the gaming vertical: not great, but similar to other channels.
One benefit here: since the younger demographic that TikTok specializes in is not on Facebook and might not be accessible via Google either — other than via YouTube, perhaps — TikTik could be accessing a whole new audience for your app or brand.
Of course, you’ll need to do your incrementality testing.
But you may find that you’re accessing a previously unreached audience.
Summing up: test away!
There’s a lot of activity on TikTok, and it’s growing fast. As seasoned advertisers know, the greatest opportunity often comes when platforms are young and there’s less competition.
That means you should be diving into TikTok and testing it for your vertical and your offers. If you do in fact reach a new audience and find ways to connect effectively, you’ll reap greater rewards than those who wait.
It is important to note that while we do see a lot of ad activity, our results, very naturally, are biased to our customer set. So it’s not clear that what we’re seeing is completely representative of TikTok’s reality. However, it should be a good indicator.
How Singular can help
Singular is a mobile measurement partner for all the major platforms, and we’re also integrated with TikTok for analytics, attribution, and ad monetization.
We can help you test and measure your results on all advertising platforms, including TikTok.


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World Cup soccer may not capture as much of the attention of the typical U.S. sports fan as the Super Bowl, but it’s going to be just about all they can think about for the next couple of years at the East Market Street offices of University Print & Graphics.
The company was notified in December that its long-shot application for a product license was approved by the International Federation of Association Football, better known by its French acronym FIFA.
FIFA is the Switzerland-based governing body that oversees more than 200 national soccer associations and holds major international tournaments, including the World Cup every four years that regularly draws more than 3 million fans to games.
Michael Brunson, chief operating officer and co-owner of University Print & Graphics with his wife Monica, said his license is for souvenir hair bows that will be sold at both the Confederations Cup tournament coming up in June of this year and the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which will both be played in Brazil.
University Print & Graphics, which has 10 employees of its own, has launched a new division called Tolo to produce the hair bows, which will be adorned in tournament logos and available in the national colors of competing teams, Brunson said. He expects Tolo to hire as many as 25 employees to handle licensing, administration and quality control in the run-up to the World Cup.
Tolo will also seek out separate license arrangements with competing teams and also produce hair bows for collegiate and other U.S.-based teams.
“We went out to South Africa to the World Cup in 2010 and thought, ‘how can we get a piece of this pie?’” Brunson said. “It took two years to make it happen. It was a really rigorous process.”
Brunson said he’s not sure yet what the total financial impact on the company will be, though he expects the price of the hair bows at souvenir stands and stores to be around $25. He’s expecting to sell between 15,000 and 20,000 units at the Confederation Cup, and how they do there will guide expectations for the World Cup next year. Sales then could run as high as 200,000 bows, he said.
One of the most important factors in successfully securing the license was coming up with a unique product idea, Brunson said. They discovered the market for school-themed hair bows basically by accident through their daughter’s experience as a cheerleader for Grimsley High, and they used that concept to pitch their concept to FIFA licensing officials.
“They’d never seen a product like ours before,” which Brunson said helped them get FIFA’s attention. “They’re looking for unique products, so even though we’re in the apparel business, we didn’t even think about that because we knew there’s already so much of it. It turned out that a lot of the process was just thinking through the right product to pitch.”
Brunson said his company will do the printing on the materials for the hair bows, which will then be produced by hand using a network of assemblers around the country. Production does not require expensive machinery or dedicated factories, he said, and the distributed model will help the Tolo brand tap into collegiate markets nationwide.
Securing a World Cup license is a huge achievement for a small company like University Print & Graphics, said Debbie Strader, director of the U.S. Department of Commerce Export Assistance Center in Greensboro, which helped the company navigate the license application. But the hardest parts may be yet to come, she said.
The company and its new Tolo division will have to make sure they are following Brazilian import procedures, that they have a reliable partner in that country, and that they have the proper processes and insurance to make sure they get paid.
Not to mention the challenges of producing enough products to meet demand, and hoping for sales to meet projections.
“Once they get the product there, will it sell?” she said. “We think it will, and they’ve done their market research and have confidence. But other than a natural disaster that calls off the whole thing, that’s got to be the biggest concern.”
Reach Matt Evans at (336) 542-5865 or firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Branscombe jackets raise funds
A FASHION show of ‘just jackets’ at Branscombe Village Hall raised �1,900.
The sell-out event in aid of Sidmouth Hospice and the Devon Air Ambulance involved a lunch of designer jacket potatoes, during which models moved around the tables, sporting jackets for sale.
Julia Cowell created the menu, including the Matalan (butter, salt and pepper) and the Vivienne Westwood (chilli con carne, soured cream, cheese and tortilla chips).
The 150 jackets which had been donated to the sale ranged from Sandwich to Country Casuals. Sixty per cent of those modelled, and 55 per cent of those on the rack, were sold, the unsold ones will go to charity.
Organiser Kate Norbury said the principles behind the event were recycling and modest pricing.
You may also want to watch:
“I’ve always believed in recycling,” she told the 64 guests.
The prize draw raised �150 and was supported by Sidmouth traders, Delderfields, The Original Factory Shop, Beauty Within, Eight’s a Wish and Woodforde’s perfumery.
- 1 Ottery brothers applaud customers on 'Freedom Day'
- 2 Review: Two rising stars shine bright in Sidmouth
- 3 Beachgoers share moment of wonder
- 4 Sidmouth Toy & Model Museum is a hit with Toto
- 5 Restarting the town band is music to the ears
- 6 New Ottery business aims to be far more than a shop
- 7 Cricket ground will be transformed into festival car park
- 8 Manor Pavilion reopens with festival of summer plays
- 9 Sidmouth charity shop needs your donations!
- 10 Motorcyclist 'seriously injured' in crash near Ottery St Mary
The shows began a few years ago, initially to raise funds for the hall’s refurbishment. Last year’s was held at Edge Barton Manor while work was done on the hall, and raised �1,000 each for Sidmouth Hospice and Honeylands Children’s Centre, Exeter.
Yvonne Franks and Sylvie Pickering from Sidmouth attended last week’s show, billed as Kate and team’s sixth and last.
Yvonne said: “We’re really impressed with the lovely clothes and the beautiful lunch.”
Model Amanda Statham said: “It’s good fun, Kate’s a really organised and lively woman and it’s great to get involved.”


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Users of Safaricom’s overdraft services Fuliza on Wednesday, March 8 reported that it had crashed.
Reports of its crash started streaming some minutes past 3pm on social media.
Tens of users, thereafter, took to the social media platform to report similar problems with the overdraft service.
In replies from Safaricom to those who inquired if there was something wrong, the telco acknowledged that its Fuliza M-pesa service was disrupted due to a system glitch.
The outage affected customers who attempted to use the service to pay bills, buy goods, or send money.
Customers who attempted to use the service received an error message, with some complaining about their limit reductions and others completely unable to access the service.
Safaricom, on the other hand, assured customers that it is working hard to restore normal services as soon as possible.
Other M-pesa services, such as normal calls, data, SMS, and money transfers, according to Safaricom, were not affected by the service disruption and remained available to customers.
Fuliza overdraft facility was launched on January 5, 2019, in partnership with Commercial Bank of Africa (now merged into NCBA) and KCB Group.
The small credit facility has emerged as a leading mobile loan, disbursing Sh1.5 billion daily.
Safaricom was yet to issue a statement on the cause of interruption of services by the time of publishing this story.
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INDIANAPOLIS — Heart-shaped chocolate boxes were so last year.
Kraft has launched its limited edition "Candy Kraft Mac & Cheese" ahead of Valentine's Day.
According to Kraft, the new option is made with the same cheesy Kraft Mac & Cheese but includes a candy flavor packet to turn it pink and also add hints of sweet candy flavor.
However, the boxes will not be available on grocery store shelves. Kraft will be giving away 1,000 boxes of Candy Kraft Mac & Cheese through an online contest.
The deadline to enter is Monday, Feb. 8 at 1 p.m. ET.
Click here to enter and read the contest rules.


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PayPal & Paxos: A Crypto Trading Partnership Made In Heaven?
cryptolove last edited by
One of the biggest payment processors in the world, PayPal is reportedly planning to facilitate cryptocurrency trading through a new partnership with the stablecoin operator, Paxos.
Reports surfaced earlier today saying that PayPal is planning to bring in crypto trading through the new brokerage service from Paxos and currently, it is unclear as to which crypto assets will be supported by the payments processor.
This all follows an announcement on the 15th July of the Paxos launch of the crypto brokerage service that gives other companies the ability to integrate crypto trading functionality to their services. It can be used through a simple application programming interface implementation and also looks over regulatory compliance.
As PayPal gets further and further involved in the crypto space, it is a sign of something different for the industry as we go into a new direction of major development.


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Remember the Gionee M3 with a huge 5,000mAh battery that promises more than a month of standby time? The company is planning to raise the bar with its successor, the Gionee M5. Instead of being powered by a single battery, it will have two separate batteries that Gionee claims will last up to four days of usage.
Unfortunately, not much has been revealed about the Gionee M5 yet. What was made known, however, is the fact that the M5 can work with only one battery. Because of this, it’s highly likely that the batteries are removable.
While this is a rather unique take on battery technology, it’s a little puzzling as to why Gionee decided to use two smaller batteries instead of just one large cell. Then again, this would also mean longer charging time and losing the ability to charge only one of the two batteries, giving users the convenience of not having the phone connected to a charger. It will be interesting to see how Gionee will implement this feature, not to mention if the M5 will be a thick device.
The Gionee Elife S7.
Previously, we reported that Gionee is planning to enter the Malaysian market starting with the Elife S7. That being said, there’s a chance Gionee will be bringing in the M5 as well. That is, if the company’s plan to come to Malaysia is still in the pipeline.


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Ambarella Introduces Complete 3D HD Camera Solution At Consumer Price Points
Nov 22, 2010 – Ambarella has announced the availability of a complete 3D camera solution that includes the new S3D™, a 3D video pre-processor. The S3D works with Ambarella's camera SoCs to enable full HD 1080p 3D video recording and high-resolution 3D photography.
News categories: Ambarella, Camcorder, Digital TV, ICs, Semiconductor, VR
Wireless HD Video-Enabled HDTV's: Playing in a Neighborhood Near You
Sep 20, 2010 – There are significant price and performance issues that need to be overcome before device manufacturers fully adopt wireless HD technology. However, manufacturers are already offering models boasting Wireless HD, says In-Stat.
News categories: In-Stat, Blu-ray, Camcorder, Market Research, Semiconductor, Set Top Box, Smart Home, Smart TV
Panasonic Unveils the World's First 3D Consumer Camcorder
Jul 27, 2010 – Panasonic has announced the launch of the Panasonic HDC-SDT750, the world's first consumer 3D camcorder, which includes a 3D conversion lens that enables the camcorder to shoot powerful and true-to-life 3D video content.
News categories: Panasonic, Camcorder, Digital TV, USA, VR
Germany: 2009 CE Market and 2010 Forecast
Jul 14, 2010 – According to GfK Retail and Technology, the German Consumer Electronics market saw minimal decline (-0.2%) in 2009; the main reason being the introduction and expansion of HDTV, leading to increased sales of LCD TV's and Digital Set-Top-Boxes.
News categories: GfK, Blu-ray, Camcorder, Digital TV, DVD, Germany, Market Research, Set Top Box, Smart TV
Digital TVs, Blu-Ray Players and Portable Media Players Drive Adoption of Wi-Fi in Consumer Electronics
May 3, 2010 – Across all stationary consumer electronics, which includes set top boxes, game consoles, Blu-ray players, digital picture frames, among other devices, Wi-Fi-enabled devices will exceed 200 million units by 2014, reports In-Stat.
News categories: In-Stat, Blu-ray, Camcorder, DVR, Gateway, Home Server, Market Research, Set Top Box, Smart Home, Smart TV, Tablet
Panasonic Unveils World's First Integrated Full HD 3D Camcorder at CES 2010
Jan 6, 2010 – Panasonic (NYSE: PC) will release the world's first professional, fully-integrated Full HD 3D camcorder in Fall 2010. Engineering samples of the professional camcorder will be exhibited at the Panasonic booth at the 2010 International CES.
News categories: Panasonic, Camcorder, CES2021, Content Distribution, Digital TV, VR
HDMI Adoption Climbs, while DVI Slides into Retreat
Dec 1, 2009 – High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) adoption continues to gain ground across several segments. Meanwhile, the now legacy Digital Visual Interface (DVI) is gradually declining, reports In-Stat.
News categories: In-Stat, Blu-ray, Camcorder, DVD, Market Research, Mobile, Optical Disc Recorder, Peripherals / Accessories, Semiconductor, Smart Home, Smart TV, Tablet
Broadcom Leading Supplier of Embedded Processors in the Digital Home in 2008
Nov 5, 2009 – Analysis of findings from Semicast's report 'Opportunities for Embedded Processors in the Digital Home' shows that Broadcom was the leading supplier in 2008, ahead of Sony and Toshiba.
News categories: Semicast, Camcorder, Digital TV, DVD, Gaming, Market Research, Optical Disc Recorder, Semiconductor, Set Top Box, Smart TV, Tablet
ViXS® Xtensiv™ Delivers Powerful Application Software for Multimedia
Sep 1, 2009 – ViXS Systems has announced the availability of its new Xtensiv™ software for Set Top Box (STB), PC and Consumer Electronics (CE) manufacturers designed to accelerate software development and help deliver extraordinary multimedia solutions.
News categories: ViXS Systems, Blu-ray, Camcorder, Digital TV, DRM, DVD, DVR, Home Server, Media Player, Middleware, Semiconductor, Set Top Box, Smart Home, Smart TV
- 317 million SVOD subscriptions for the U.S. in 2025
- Clearcable adds Minerva Networks IPTV platform to offering
- Amino helps Colsecor add SENSA OTT to legacy set-top boxes
- U.S. pay TV suffers historic cord-cutting
- SpotX unveils programmatic solutions for linear Addressable TV
- Sluggish growth expected for pay TV in India
- Vubiquity secures content services agreement with Liberty Global
- TV panel prices could rise by around 10% QoQ in 4Q20
- TV Red Digital chooses Anevia and Viaccess-Orca for ISP TV platform
- Azam TV extends contract and takes additional capacity with Eutelsat
- Comscore expands global Connected TV footprint with Samba TV
- Irdeto brings enhanced security services to Forthnet
- Iliad announces intention to acquire Poland's Play
- Western Europe to gain over 100 million SVOD subscribers by 2025
- EBU begins work on HbbTV and DVB-I interoperability
- MediaKind first to deploy latest You.i TV video experience SDK
- TVSquared and Blockgraph partner on TV and cross-channel measurement
- GTPL KCBPL selects ATEME for converged headend in India
- PlayStation 5 launches this November
- BrightLine launches connected TV ad solution


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All annual business forecasts have a theme, and 2018 will mark the year of the supply chain’s digital transformation. By the end of 2018, half of manufacturers will be using analytics, IoT, and social collaboration tools to extend the integrated planning process throughout the enterprise in real time, according to IDC. Digital transformation is opening new opportunities — and presenting new challenges.
Electronics companies tend to be early adopters of transformative technologies, albeit at different rates. The industry’s two largest distributors, Arrow Electronics Inc. and Avnet Inc., have made digital a cornerstone of their evolution. Distributors uniquely serve two masters in the supply chain: their suppliers and their customers. Transformation has to benefit both constituencies.
Arrow hired Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer Matt Anderson in 2014 to execute its vision of an integrated hardware, software, content and commerce platform accessible through a single site. “When I first got here the company had made a number of acquisitions including SiliconExpert, Verical and Transim,” said Anderson. “So the early part of our transformation was uniting Arrow’s capabilities and developing a critical mass. When I look at where we are today, I would say we are well down that path.”
By 2020, 60 percent of the world’s largest manufacturers will rely on digital platforms to support as much as 30 percent of overall revenue, predicts IDC. Distribution’s role in electronics manufacturing has evolved from inventory management to design, supply chain, logistics and end-of-life support. At the same time, distributors have been under pressure to provide these options at the lowest possible cost. Self-help and online offerings such as chats, video, BOM management and design tools have helped defray expenses, and Anderson says many customers actually prefer digital interaction.
“We see that the market and our customers like the value proposition that we can do online consultations — and it’s not just chatting with agents and certified specialists,” Anderson said. “We can see that procurement likes to collaborate with their engineering teams from the early phase of design to making millions of [their products]. We have millions of people coming to our sites for research and getting help, and what I am most excited about is what is still ahead.”
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a classic case for digital collaboration. Many IoT developers enter the market with a great idea but no implementation strategy. Component makers offer a vast array of IoT products ready for integration. Arrow’s digital platform unites suppliers, products, reference designs, spec sheets, tools and technical assistance in a single place.
“We see entrepreneurs that have a great idea but no technical expertise,” said Anderson. “Then what happens? They need a supply chain. We bring a new way to work with entrepreneurs: they can get consultation they didn’t have access to before; we have hardware assets online; and we’ve plugged in people that can work in a virtual market with thousands of other companies. Then we can set [developers] up with service and maintenance. That’s what I think ‘digital’ means: you aren’t just a hardware supplier.”
Suppliers rely on their channel to showcase their products. In the components realm, distributors are incentivized by suppliers to get their brand designed in to an OEM device. This not only requires distributors to have deep product expertise; it requires tracking components from the point of design to the point of production. Distributors’ compensation for design work depends on component traceability. By 2020, predicts IDC, one-third of manufacturers and retailers will be tracking goods using blockchain, improving delivered product quality by up to 20 percent.
“Digital is a vital part of demand creation with our suppliers,” Anderson said. “When I first came here suppliers were intrigued and wanted to see if we were serious [about our digital vision] and if we could compete with companies such as Digi-Key and Avnet. We are not trying to replace [traditional demand creation] strategies – but our solution is a whole ecosystem. What we have seen from our suppliers regarding hardware is margins are falling and companies are buying one another. Suppliers are looking for growth, not just new product introductions (NPI).”
Customers connect with suppliers in a variety of ways. “We have SiliconExpert that provides data sheets and reference designs, and we have relationships with ORCAD and Cadence design tools. You can develop your design using the cloud and ORCAD and then go straight on to Arrow.com for sampling and then on to production. Or, you can use datasheets provided by SiliconExpert, download your BOM on our BOM tool, and Arrow can manage fulfillment. To support our suppliers, we have FAEs, reference designs, architecture models and tools that can save designers days of work. This also translates into sales for our suppliers.”
Increasingly, sales aren’t just coming from OEMs – the maker movement is driving a lot of new product development. In 2016 Arrow formed an alliance with crowdfunding site Indiegogo. “Suppliers were very excited to bring working technology to where it hasn’t been before,” Anderson said. “We believe 50 of the biggest companies to come don’t exist yet.”
By 2019, 80 percent of supply chain interactions will happen across cloud-based commerce networks, according to IDC. “If you have the cloud, you can bring together two or more suppliers and deliver a full customer experience both online and offline,” said Anderson. “We are working with both cloud providers and cloud suppliers, and through these we can provide a ton of information including lead generation. Our model transcends traditional co-opetition [between suppliers].”
The big picture
Sales related to design assistance provide a higher profit margin for distributors. In November, Arrow CEO Michael Long told analysts its digital transformation “is designed to get more people to the site, because we know once they’re there and they do go on the platform, they like what’s there, they come back, they tend to grow. The other thing that I would tell you is that there is almost a 10 to 1 benefit after somebody buys on the web from us. When they go into the normal channel, they typically buy 10 times the amount from us as we’re seeing today.”
Arrow’s digital business is approaching a $1 billion annual run rate. “Arrow is becoming more than a distributor — we are becoming an ecosystem,” Anderson said. “We believe that design and production are really important whether [suppliers] are doing hardware or software.”
Digital platforms are helping distributors transcend traditional boundaries. By 2021, said IDC, 60 percent of manufacturers will be using data and analytics to improve the speed and accuracy of the fulfillment process.
“More of our customers are operating with a truly global model,” Anderson said. “Their supply chains span every continent. So how do you enable an engineer in Poland that works with procurement in China with their IT in France? All of those are at different levels of maturity but all are one brand.”
Arrow transacts in multiple languages and currencies and allows companies to collaborate across geographies. “Customers are looking for partners to handle everything from design to supply chain to manufacturing,” Anderson said. “It doesn’t take a physical presence in every market to manage those demands. Digital allows a pretty good touch model both online and offline.”
Distributors acknowledge their future relies on a mix of hardware and services. “I wouldn’t say we are getting far away from our core capabilities,” said Anderson. “We have already scaled those capabilities. But we also haven’t taken advantage of all the opportunities enabled by digital. You are not just hardware or software and services, and Arrow has spanned those various elements for a long time. Adding adjacent capabilities such as design and solutions creates an extraordinary ecosystem.”


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From flying around the clock, to traversing time zones from home. With severe limitations on international travel, Landini Associates has had to adapt its modus operandi. The process has been illuminating, reports Stephen Crafti.
14 February, 2022
Mark Landini uses the term ‘the blindfold test’ when talking about a new design for a client. “If you drop someone into a store wearing a blindfold, they should know instantly where they are,” says Landini, who is at the helm of Landini Associates, based in Sydney, Australia.
Although Landini has an enviable client list, approximately 85 per cent of them are overseas. “It’s easier to ask me where we’re not working,” says Landini, who has clients in Canada, North and South America, Europe and Asia.
Prior to the pandemic, Landini and his team would circle the planet at least 10 times a year, sometimes heading for meetings in London that would only extend for one hour.
“Since COVID-19, we’re getting much more sleep and in many ways our program is more efficient,” says Landini, who can speak to a client in, say Canada, at the end of their day. The team can then deliver concepts and plans to them online when they switch on their iPads first thing the next morning.
Although Landini and his team of 25 have an office in Surry Hills, most continue to work from home and only go to the office for meetings. “There are certain things that sitting around a table together can’t be achieved with Zoom.”
Landini, who established Landini Associates in 1993 with his wife Rikki Landini, was formerly creative director of Terrence Conran’s design company. And while design is at the core of their business, Landini Associates has a talent for making the retail and hospitality sector thrive even when there’s a downturn.
Whether its for a new retail fit-out for ‘Sun Sand & Sport’ in Dubai, or for Felna (kanesue) one of the largest supermarket chains in Japan, Landini sees the studio’s success as not ‘following the pack’ but looking at solving problems and creating a new experience in the process.
Landini’s reverse brief for the Italian supermarket Esselunga, comprised one word in Italian, ‘Dimmi’, loosely meaning ‘tell me about it’. Rather than present the usual schematic of a supermarket, Landini exposed the brand’s reputation for making food on site as much as for bringing food in from wholesales.
So, rather than being greeted with a point of sale, shoppers can enjoy seeing chefs and other staff producing food in a glass-fronted cube on arrival. “This immediately gives people a sense of who Esselunga is,” says Landini.
For a new project about to open in Paris, Landini’s client walked around the premises with a camera attached to his head.
“So, we could easily see the few areas that still needed to be addressed. In the past, we would have gone to Paris, met with our client and discussed things over a lunch meeting.”
“But now that’s all in the past,” says Landini, who, given the extensive experience of working remotely with overseas clients, has been more than comfortable working from home.
Following fashion has also never driven the Landini approach. The studio’s success with the Glassons chain of fashion stores in Australia and New Zealand is testimony to this, with a new concept for a New Zealand store thinking ‘outside the square’.
“The idea is more akin to visiting a bricks and mortar store, but with a feel of still being online when you walk through the space.”
While other designers may be finding working remotely a relatively new experience since the arrival of COVID-19, Landini Associates roams the globe in a similar way to tapping into a car’s GPS. “And we’re happy with the extra time this now offers.”
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Drink, prep and clean with the BLANCO UNIT that integrates the sink, mixer tap and waste management system.
Designed by Module K and Soulroom, Katinat Cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, celebrates excellent design coupled with the love of coffee and eating out in a beautiful new contemporary space. It’s latte living at its best.
All about Benjamin Hubert and his design agency, LAYER, this monograph provides candid insights into studio life, Hubert’s own life, and the projects that have put them on the global design map.


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Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on T Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on Twitter, Angel List, LinkedIn.
After bringing in more than $1.5 million in revenue in its first month, Japan-based chat app Line is extending sales of its user-generated stickers initiative — Creators Market — out of Asia and into the US, UK, Brazil and six other countries.
The initiative allows independent artists, or indeed anyone, to create animations for sticker packs which, if approved, are sold across Line’s messaging service to its 470 million registered users. Creators keep 50 percent of the proceeds, the rest goes to the app store gatekeepers — Apple or Google — and Line.
Sales first began in Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand, and the initiative attracted over 100,000 creators and 14,000 sets — now the company is ramping things up. Line banks over $10 million per month just from selling stickers — it says that users send 1.8 billion each day.
➤ LINE Creators Market Stickers Released in More Regions Now Available in LINE Sticker Shops Worldwide [Line Blog]
Related: Chat app Line’s increasing revenues show Twitter how it could develop DMs
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A family’s red-flocked Christmas tree had some surprise visitors inside.
TikToker @angelarouege declared this was the “last time” her family would get a red-flocked Christmas tree after the incident. When they unboxed the tree, its red-tinged branches were covered in praying mantises and their eggs.
The video showed tiny white eggs tucked away in the flock. Unfortunately, the eggs began to hatch rapidly. The family noticed praying mantises jumping from branch to branch and onto the walls and ceiling.
They frantically began to scream as the bugs jumped “everywhere.” Not exactly the Christmas magic they’d been hoping for.
The hilarious video received 2.1 million views on TikTok.
“At least it wasn’t spiders or bees,” a person joked.
“This isn’t that uncommon which is why you should always check your Christmas trees before bringing them inside,” a user wrote.
“The one and only time my parents bought a real tree and this same thing happened, they never bought another real tree the rest of my childhood,” another added.
In The Know is now available on Apple News — follow us here!
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Toyota announces CarPlay, Alexa update for 2018 Camry, Sienna; scraps V2X rollout
The update will be available free of charge.
Toyota has been one of the slowest automakers to adopt third-party infotainment systems in its vehicles, but the company is at least trying to make up for lost ground by announcing a retrofit for its 2018 Camry sedan and Sienna minivan.
Toyota announced on Monday a dealer-installed update that will give owners of 2018 Camry and Sienna models access to Apple CarPlay and Amazon Alexa. Toyota didn't announce pricing, saying only that "there may be a small service charge for the install."
"We are always striving to bring highly desirable services to our vehicles. This new program enables CarPlay and Amazon Alexa on some of our most popular vehicles already on the road.” said Steve Basra, vice president of Connected Technologies for Toyota Motor North America. "It's a great opportunity to surprise and delight our existing customers.”
While Toyota is expanding on the infotainment front, it's cutting back on its V2X technology. Toyota says it is scrapping an initiative that would have seen its vehicles equipped with Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) technology by 2021. Toyota said it's pulling the plug on DSRC deployment due to a lack of industry and government support.


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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos during an interview this morning with CNN said that he would give away most of his money to charity.
Jeff appeared with his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, who said they were cheap levitra making preparations to give away his money. He said that he wanted to give in a way that maximized the impact of the donations, “It’s really hard, And there are a bunch of ways, I think, that you could do ineffective things”.
Bezos had been criticized in the past for not signing the Giving Pledge, a campaign launched by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffet to encourage billionaires to donate the majority of their wealth through philanthropy.
Forbes Magazine estimates that Bezos is worth roughly $124.1 billion, making him the world’s fourth-richest person.
This would make Jeff the latest billionaire to pledge to donate his vast fortune during his lifetime.


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Similar to Google, Apple has guidelines on what apps need to do in order for them to be listed on the App Store, but what if developers don’t want their apps to be discovered by the general public? What if developers are creating apps on behalf of organizations or researchers that are only meant to be used internally?
The good news for these organizations is that it appears that Apple will now allow them to host apps on the App Store that are unlisted. This means that only users with a direct link to the app will be able to find it and download it, kind of like unlisted YouTube videos which don’t show up in search results.
This means that if researchers want to create an app that they only want participants in a study to download, or organizers want an app that’s only for a particular event, they can submit the app to the App Store and then provide users with a link where they can download the app from.
This is different from Apple’s TestFlight platform which is meant to host apps that are in beta. Apple has made it clear that unlisted apps cannot be beta apps and must still follow the App Store’s guidelines, so for the most part it’s still the same as a regular submission but slightly more private.


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A company may have a well-known name, it may be powerful, it may be innovative, and it may have an annual revenue stream that rivals some smaller countries', but that doesn’t mean that everything will always work out, especially when it comes to new technologies that many in the world are still getting used to. Of all the sub-industries that have shown the giants of the tech world some humility by forcing them to cope with failure, streaming music seems to be the one that is the most consistent, even if it should have been an easy money grab for many of them.
Power players like Microsoft, Samsung and, to a lesser extent, Google have all seen their efforts fall far from projections and expectations, despite massive promotions and teams that would make any music startup salivate. Seeing one of these companies fail with any new venture is odd, but all three shows that perhaps this is one world where bigger isn't always better, at least in the beginning.
Microsoft finally gave up on streaming only recently, announcing that its oft-rebranded service Groove Music would cease to exist at the end of the year. Samsung also realized it was fighting a losing battle with its own Milk Music offering, and that is also not long for this world, even though when it first debuted, many were excited about what it could offer the industry. Both of these massive firms gave in just recently, and there aren't many left that are likely to join them.
Google has done alright for itself when it comes to streaming, though it’s not the leader many would expect it to be. The company’s own Google Play Music has been growing in popularity recently, but it’s still a far off from being one of the top players. YouTube has become the world’s most-used streaming music site of sorts, though it never intended on claiming that title. More people head to the video titan to access the songs they love than any other platform, though it doesn’t limit itself to just that one vertical, and it’s not really a streaming music service in the truest sense.
Apple is perhaps the one company that started in tech which eventually found its way to streaming music...and which was able to make it work. Apple Music has solidified itself as the second biggest on-demand streaming platform on the web, and in just a few years, it has been able to collect tens of millions of paying customers. Though it still has a long way to go before it’s in first place, it is performing much better than many of its fallen counterparts.
The winners in the streaming music game are all names that started with nothing and managed to edge out the competition, forcing their way to the top. Spotify, SoundCloud and Pandora were all once just startups with an idea, and while money has always been an issue for all of them, it’s impossible to deny their dominance. Even players like Slacker, Tidal and Deezer, who aren’t in the same league as the aforementioned companies, are doing better currently than the offerings from Samsung and Microsoft ever did.
Every time a billion-dollar corporation announces a new music streaming initiative, the music industry gets excited, as if it goes well, it could mean another big boost is coming to the still-recovering field, but so far, few have worked. That’s not to say none ever well, but for the moment, it’s the disruptors that have had the most luck. Perhaps being first to field helps them stay in the game the longest, though it's only a matter of time before one of the pioneers is also forced to shutter, because streaming music is just too tough and still too small for everyone.


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Apple's iPhone and Research in Motion's BlackBerry are in a dead heat for U.S. smartphone ownership honors, Nielsen said today.
Apple's iPhone and Google's Android might seem to have all the momentum these days, but RIM's BlackBerry OS is the surprise winner in StatCounter's latest U.S. mobile OS Internet usage numbers.
AirPlay, one of the main feature additions in iOS 4.2, could soon work with third-party apps and Safari, according to a purported Steve Jobs e-mail that a reader sent to the MacRumors blog. The e-mail suggests that in 2011 users will be able to strea...
Windows Phone 7 early adopters won't have to wait long to get some major missing features, according to the latest murmurs.
Windows Phone 7 (WP7) smartphones have been on sale for more than three weeks in the U.S. and seem to be producing little buzz and only so-so sales.
A recent glitch on Microsoft's download servers for brand new Windows Phone 7 applications has sparked widespread Internet chatter among developers and focused new attention on the best ways to protect smartphone apps from being hacked.
Symbian Foundation has started dismantling itself. On Dec.17 the organization will shut down its websites, and anyone who wants to get the source code for the current version of the Symbian mobile operating system should download it now or they will ...
Three developers have released software that allows Windows Phone 7 users to "sideload" applications onto their phones, giving access to applications that have not been approved by Microsoft.
Microsoft has started letting developers build and release applications for Windows Phone 7 using Visual Basic, potentially opening the door to more applications on the new smartphone platform.
Employees are more likely to advocate for their companies if they're optimistic about technology, though IT pros themselves aren't especially big corporate boosters according to a new Forrester Research study.
A growing number of mobile operators are rolling out HD voice in their networks, allowing customers with compatible phones to make calls with better voice quality. The operators have been encouraged to invest in the technology by an increase in the n...
Apps in the Android Market will display content ratings starting in a few weeks, Google said Wednesday.
Days after Apple released the iOS 4.2 software update for iPhones and iPads, another update to the OS is rumored to be arriving in December, together with News Corp's iPad-only news app. A corroborated report from Apple-centric blog MacStories claims...
Motorola has just announced the release of the first ruggedised Android smartphone, the Motorola Defy.
Now that Verizon has started cranking up its hype machine for its LTE commercial launch next month, it's fair to wonder just what types of devices will run on the network.
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The FCA announced a ban, affecting UK retail traders, on trading cryptocurrencies through derivatives like spread bets and CFDs. The ban began on 6 January 2021. You can find more information on the FCA’s website here.
Are crypto ATMs legal in the UK?
Crypto ATMs operating in the country are illegal, U.K.’s financial regulator says. Crypto ATMs are not allowed to operate in the U.K., Britain’s financial regulator said Friday. None of the companies registered with the Financial Conduct Authority have been approved to offer ATM services, the agency said.
Are Bitcoin ATMs illegal?
‘People should be prepared to lose all their money’: Crypto ATMs are illegal and must shut down, says U.K.’s version of SEC | Fortune.
Is bitcoin illegal in the UK?
Yes, crypto is legal in the UK. However, all over the world governments and agencies are scrambling to proficiently regulate cryptoassets to give investors clarity but also make gains and income from the crypto markets taxable and legal.
Can I still buy bitcoin in UK?
Bitcoin is supported on all major platforms, and in the UK, you can purchase Bitcoin in GBP. This avoids the need to buy any other crypto or fiat currency before you are able to make the investment.
How many bitcoin ATM are in UK?
According to crypto-ATM directory Coin ATM Radar, there are 81 functional crypto-ATMS in the UK.
Are Bitcoin ATMs monitored?
Yes. In the U.S., Bitcoin ATMs must be registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and adhere to all anti-money laundering provisions within the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).
Is it illegal to sell Bitcoin for cash UK?
All Bitcoin cashpoints in the UK have been ordered to be shut down after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) declared the illegal. The FCA has written to all the providers of cryptocurrency ATMs in the country informing them of the decision and ordering them to cease operations or face law enforcement.
How much tax do you pay on cryptocurrency UK?
How much tax do you pay on crypto in the UK? For capital gains from crypto over the £12,300 tax free allowance, you’ll pay 10% or 20% tax. For additional income from crypto over the personal allowance, you’ll pay between 20% to 45% in tax.
How do I use a bitcoin ATM UK?
Just insert some bills into the machine and then scan a QR code for your digital wallet or enter its address manually — this is all you’ll need to buy Bitcoin using a Bitcoin ATM. The cryptocurrency you get from a Bitcoin ATM is sent from the wallet of its operator company.
Is Bitcoin taxable in UK?
When you trade crypto, unlike some forms of forex trading, HMRC does not class it as gambling. As a result, you’re always liable to pay tax on your profits.
Which crypto exchanges are legal in UK?
- eToro – Live prices; Wallet; Advanced trading tools; Popular coins.
- Uphold – Good for beginners; Cheap Forex rates; Crypto wallet.
- CoinJar – Live prices; Crypto wallet; Crypto card; Beginner-friendly.
- Coinbase – Best for beginners; Live prices; Wallet; Popular coins.
Can the government seize Bitcoin?
When can the government seize bitcoin? The government can seek to obtain a warrant to seize any property it has probable cause to believe is evidence of a crime or was used in the commission of a crime.
Which UK banks allow Coinbase?
- Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) RBS is one bank that many customers largely report having no issues with when dealing with cryptocurrency transactions.
- Standard Chartered Bank.
- TSB Bank.
Which Bitcoin wallet is best in UK?
- Coinbase Wallet – Best exchange wallet.
- Coinomi – Best multi-crypto wallet.
- Trezor Model T – Best wallet for experienced users.
- Ledger Nano S Plus – Best wallet for staking.
- MetaMask – Best Web3 wallet.
- Crypto.com DeFi Wallet – Best wallet for DeFi.
- XDEFI Wallet – Best wallet for NFTs.
What is the best way to buy Bitcoin in the UK?
- CoinJar. CoinJar is a cryptocurrency broker (founded in 2013) which makes it easy to buy bitcoin (and 51 other cryptocurrencies) with a UK bank transfer.
- Solidi & Bittylicious.
- BC Bitcoin.
Where is Bitcoin machine located in UK?
Cryptocurrency machine is installed at 28 Mill Rd, Petersfield, Cambridge CB1 2AD, UK.
Is Bitcoin ATM available in London?
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Friday that all crypto ATMs are prohibited from operating in the UK. The regulator “warned” crypto ATM operators to “shut their machines down” or “face enforcement action,” according to a Friday statement.
Where can I buy Bitcoins UK?
- CEX.IO – the best place to buy Bitcoin in the UK.
Who owns Bitcoin ATM?
Who owns Bitcoin ATMs? The main Bitcoin ATM manufacturer are Genesis Coin and General Bytes (first has 34.6% of the market share, and the second has 30.3%).
Do Bitcoin ATMs require ID?
No. Bitcoin ATMs don’t require identification but they are limited in the amount of Bitcoins you can buy.
Do Bitcoin ATMs report IRS?
Yes, the IRS can track crypto as the agency has ordered crypto exchanges and trading platforms to report tax forms such as 1099-B and 1099-K to them. Also, in recent years, several exchanges have received several subpoenas directing them to reveal some of the user accounts.
Is buying crypto illegal UK?
It is perfectly legal to buy cryptocurrency in the UK. You need to find a crypto exchange that will let you buy Bitcoin or other forms of the asset. You can then store your virtual asset in a cryptocurrency wallet. It is best to purchase your digital asset from an exchange that follows UK cryptocurrency regulations.
How do I cash out Bitcoin UK?
Go to Coinbase’s Buy/Sell Digital Currency page. Enter the amount of Bitcoin to sell and choose GBP as the currency to receive. Once you confirm the trade, Coinbase will transfer GBP to your wallet. Go to your GBP wallet and withdraw to your bank account.
How do I avoid crypto tax UK?
- Take advantage of tax-free thresholds.
- Use the trading and property tax break.
- Invest crypto into a pension fund.
- Switch your tax rate.
- Make a crypto donation.
- Gift crypto to your significant other.
- Invest in an opportunity-zone fund.


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Honda’s North American powersports sales were down in double digits for both its second quarter and its first half.
The company’s new motorcycle sales were down almost 13 percent and its powersports segment sales, which includes ATVs, decreased 15 percent for its second quarter, which ended Sept. 30, compared to the year-ago period.
For its first six months, Honda’s new motorcycle sales declined 14.6 percent and its overall segment sales dropped 13.4 percent compared to the first half of 2006.
For more on Honda’s first half, see the Nov. 12 edition of Powersports Business.Click here for reuse options!
Copyright 2007 Powersports Business


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Hong Kong retail soars
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that eight out of 10 Hong Kong retailers plan to expand as sales in the first half have increased appreciably and are expected to grow further, thanks to a rise in tourists and an uptick in local consumption. This is up from six out of 10 a year ago, according to a JLL survey. Retail sales recorded a fourth consecutive month of double-digit growth in May, jumping 12.9% to HK$40.5 billion (US$5.1 billion), according to The Hong Kong Retail Management Association. The growth is led predominately by the luxury sector, and the adoption of millennial-centric strategies that focus on experiential shopping and digital platforms by retailers and shopping malls.


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Holland America has just cleared its schedule of Hawaii and Canada cruises until 2021.
Previously, the cruise line put a "pause on" (i.e., canceled) its Alaska, Europe, and East Coast Canada departures, and now the company has added Vancouver and Hawaii cruises to the scrap pile.
A full list of canceled cruises is posted on the Holland America website.
Most, but not all, of the line's itineraries departing from the continental United States (including Caribbean vacations and a run to Australia from Seattle) remain on the schedule for the fall.
Holland America cited travel and port restrictions as reasons for the cancellations. As of today, Canada is still not permitting Americans to enter the country and Hawaii's default for American tourists is a mandated 14-day quarantine.
Customers on affected cruises will automatically receive a credit for a future cruise unless those customers notify the company by July 15 that they want a 100% refund.


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SAN FRANCISCO/BEIJING/hong KONG (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc said that it will be closed from China online shop July 18, as the AMERICAN e-commerce giant focuses on the lucrative activities of the sales abroad of goods and cloud services in the world’s most populous country.
FILE PHOTO: Amazon.com’s logo is seen on Amazon Japan office building in Tokyo, Japan, August 8, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
The move underlines how entrenched, home-grown e-commerce rivals have made it difficult for the Amazon marketplace to gain traction in China. Consumer research firm iResearch Global: Alibaba Group Holding’s Tmall market and JD.com controlled 82 percent of the Chinese e-commerce market last year.
An Amazon spokeswoman told Reuters on Thursday that the report of vendors that are no longer functioning of a market, neither the seller services at Amazon.cn.
Sources familiar with the plans had told Reuters a day before that the company were planning to take such a step.
“We work closely with our vendors to ensure a smooth transition and continue to provide the best user experience,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.
“Sellers who are interested in continuing to sell on Amazon outside of China are able to do this through Amazon Global Selling.”
The sources said that Amazon shoppers in China are no longer able to buy goods of a third party merchants in the country, but they will still be able to order in the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan through the company’s global store.
Amazon will wind down support for domestic sales merchants in China in the next 90 days and the evaluation of the impact on the fulfillment centers in the country, some close, one of the people said.
“They withdraw because it is not profitable and not growing,” said analyst Michael Pachter at Wedbush Securities.
Ker Zheng, marketing specialist at Shenzhen-based e-commerce consultancy Azoya, said Amazon had no large competitive advantage in China over the domestic rivals.
Unless someone is searching for a very specific imported good that can’t be found elsewhere, “there is no reason for a consumer to choose Amazon, because they are not able to ship things as fast as Tmall or JD,” he said.
The Amazon spokeswoman said the company would continue to invest and grow in China through the Amazon Store, Global, Global Sales, Kindle e-readers and online content. Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing unit, which sells data storage and computing power for companies, it will also keep.
U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba and JD.com rose 1 percent on Wednesday after Reuters first reported the move, before paring gains later in the day. Amazon’s shares closed flat.
The withdrawal of the world’s largest online retailer founded by Jeff Bezos, who later became the world’s richest person comes in the midst of a broader e-commerce slowdown in China. Alibaba in January, reported the slowest quarterly growth since 2016, while JD.com to respond to the changing business environment with staff cuts.
It also follows the Chinese e-commerce retreat of other major Western retailers. Walmart, Inc. sold to the Chinese online shopping platform JD.com in 2016 in return for a share in JD.com to focus on the bricks-and-mortar stores.
In the same way, the country seems to factor less in the global aspirations of fellow AMERICAN tech majors Netflix Inc., Facebook Inc. and Alphabet, Inc. Google, Wedbush Securities’ Pachter said.
Amazon bought the Chinese online shopping website Joyo.com in 2004 for $75 million, rebranding the company in 2011 as Amazon China. But in a sign of Tmall, the dominance of Amazon opened an online store on the site Alibaba in 2015.
Amazon is still expanding aggressively in other countries, especially in India, where he faces local rival Flipkart.
Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in SAN FRANCISCO, Cate Cadell and Pei Li in BEIJING, Kane Wu in HONG KONG, and Josh Horwitz and Brenda Goh in SHANGHAI; Editing by Susan Thomas, Christopher Cushing and Muralikumar Anantharaman


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Bitcoin may be one step closer to offering users improved confidentiality.
Proposed in a new paper authored by heavyweight cryptographers including Dan Boneh, Pieter Wuille and Greg Maxwell, “Bulletproofs” outlines a new technique that would reduce the size of so-called “confidential transaction” code – long floated as a possible way to shield the transaction amounts currently public on the blockchain, the cryptocurrency’s globally distributed ledger.
A rough sketch of the confidential transactions idea was first proposed informally on a popular bitcoin forum in 2013 by Adam Back, CEO of bitcoin startup Blockstream, and while the technology has been iterated on over the years, it still comes with a high cost. Transactions that use the technology take up about 16 times more space in the blockchain than normal bitcoin transactions.
Because of this, the idea has been dismissed as too bulky for the live bitcoin network, which is already facing much-discussed scaling problems.
But the new paper, co-authored also by Benedikt Bunz, Jonathan Bootle and Andrew Poelstra, contends Bulletproofs will slash the size of confidential transactions to under even that of a normal transaction.
In the announcement email, Maxwell said:
“This cuts the bloat factor down to about 3x for today’s traffic patterns.”
However, Maxwell went on to note that even though the confidential transactions idea is making progress, there are still issues to iron out. For one, the time it takes to verify a confidential transaction is still a “bottleneck” developers are continuing to chip away at.
And while the researchers can’t yet hint when the code might go live, the strength of the team hints at the growing awareness that some public blockchains are lacking in privacy.
For example, privacy emerged as a hot topic during ethereum’s annual developer conference Devcon3 this year, with the protocol looking to integrate zk-snarks, the tech behind anonymous cryptocurrency zcash. The example also serves to highlight the different approaches to the issue being taken across communities.
Bulletproof vest via Shutterstock
The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [email protected].
Published at Wed, 15 Nov 2017 03:30:25 +0000


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Under the 'Make in India' programme, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman handed over two kinds of indigenously built multi-fuel engines to the Vice Chief of Indian Army on Saturday. The two engines were reportedly manufactured by the Engine Factory Avadi (EVF), which is a unit of Ordnance Factory Board functioning under the Department of Defence Production.
Notably, the new engines were based on the Russian designs, one of which is 1000 HP engine - V92S2 engine -- powers T-90 Bhisma Tank and another is V-46-6 engine -- powers the T-72 Ajeya Tank. "The indigenisation of two of the three types of tanks used by the Army had made the Army battle-ready," Sitharaman was quoted as saying by The Hindu
Sitharaman had also claimed that engines were cost-effective as several lakh of rupees were saved in their production. The T-90 engine had resulted in saving Rs 33 lakh for the exchequer and T-72 engine saved an estimated cost of Rs 9.75 lakh.
Indigenous approach to prepare engines
As the engines were earlier prepared under the 'Make in India' programme, their localisation level is 100 percent. The local parts were kept around 73 percent. The indigenisation efforts by the EVF may help in saving Rs 80 crore for the exchequer.
While emphasising on the importance of developing the manufacturing sector in the country, Sitharaman said that despite knowing India's capability of producing and manufacturing own products, importing goods has become the norm.
This is the prime reason why Prime Minister Modi launched the 'Make In India' campaign. "If we keep importing parts for defence equipment, it might end up being a stumbling block to India's security. The equipment and parts may not be available when necessary, or servicing could become difficult," Sitharaman was quoted as saying by The Hindu.
According to Sitharaman, India need to reach a point where we can manufacture hi-tech quality goods to grab business opportunities in the defence sector. She stressed that India does not require to be dependant on imported products when it can be produced indigenously. She said, "Why should we go outside if we can buy quality products here in India?"
Anil Kumar, GM of EFA, has assured the defence minister that the company will manufacture UTD-20 engine with indigenous methods and the engines will ready by the end of this fiscal year.


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By Darren Gray
Listed medical device maker ResMed's boss Mick Farrell said strict social distancing rules are critical to containing the coronavirus pandemic, as the company changes its production line to tackle the rising demand for ventilators and face masks.
ResMed, headquartered in San Diego, California, has modified its manufacturing plant in the Sydney suburb of Bella Vista in response to the deadly outbreak, switching over from the manufacture of sleep apnoea devices to make more ventilators and masks suitable for affected patients with lung damage.
According to Mr Farrell, the company is aiming to at least triple the production of its ventilators and lift the production of its face masks by more than 10 times.
"It's been a complete pivot of the company in three months in response to this crisis. And the one thing that gives me heart is that we were able to get through it in China, and Singapore and South Korea, and through much of south-east Asia," he told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
"I feel that as we start to flatten the curve, as long as people follow social distancing and don't drive the contagion, we can contain it. And then we can deal with it through the ventilators and the ventilation masks."
ResMed is working directly with hospitals around the world who want to purchase its equipment, as well as federal and state governments and cities to gauge demand.
"We prioritise based on the flow of patients (and) the flow of need. And our goal is that if somebody is suffocating and needs ResMed's help, that ResMed is there in that hospital with a vent and a mask ready to go," Mr Farrell said.
It's been a complete pivot of the company in three months in response to this crisis.ResMed chief executive Mick Farrell.
He added that the company was on track to meet its aggressive production increase goals within weeks.
"Sydney is a really important part of our global manufacturing capability...We have dedicated ventilation lines and so we ramped those up and the volume to their maximum capacity. And we are just now setting up and have been setting up parallel lines and moving lines over from sleep apnoea devices to ventilation devices to be able to keep up with this demand," he said.
ResMed's Sydney factory makes both "life support ventilators and non-invasive" ventilators. Mr Farrell said he was proud of how his company's staff had responded to the crisis, and also lauded the medical staff treating patients suffering from the virus as "heroes".
The company's response to the coronavirus outbreak highlights a pattern emerging across global manufacturing, with companies adjusting their operations to produce goods in high demand because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Last week, The Age reported that ASX-listed packaging giant Pact Group was transitioning a number of its Sydney plants to produce hand sanitiser, instead of other products like industrial cleaners.
Pact said its aim was to make about two million units of hand sanitiser per month, once it reached full production.
Shares in ResMed ended Thursday's session 2.4 per cent stronger at $22.82.


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According to Burger Business, the new morning menu is called "Burgers for Breakfast" and includes select burgers as well as a chicken sandwich. While burgers weren't available until 10 or 10:30am, now you can get your burger fix even earlier. "Selling Burgers at Breakfast at Burger King restaurants allows our guests to start their day being their way — either with the great flame broiled taste of our signature burgers and sandwiches or with our delicious suite of breakfast offerings," Burger King said in a statement.
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