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The process was initially invented to infuse the egg with a smoky flavour profile, but it was later discovered that it carried two more important effects: bacterial elimination, and halting of the ageing process.
“[We use] a very precise, five-part equation to smoke the eggs,” The Smoked Egg Company Director Julie Kor told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“The eggs are put into our special smoker, and [we then] control five parts of the smoking equation: Time, Temperature, Humidity, Volume of smoke vs Volume of product. All of these must be aligned to successfully smoke an egg [the way we do].”
“We did not realise that all bacterial growth in the egg was being killed. At 18 weeks of age, a normal egg usually has 250 million bacteria, but our smoked egg had none whatsoever,” said Kos.
“We believe that this process kills salmonella too, and we are also testing this currently.”
If proven to have actual effect on salmonella, the company’s technique will have widespread effects, especially after eggs from multiple brands in Australia were recalled by Food Safety Australia New Zealand earlier in March this year and in September last year for potential salmonella infections.
According to the FSANZ website, the recall was due to a ‘potential microbial (Salmonella Enteritidis) contamination’. The affected companies this year included Ash and Sons and Bridgewater Poultry, whereas Glendenning Farms was affected last year.
“We are unsure just yet whether it kills it or has any effect, but any sort of effect it has on salmonella, whether slowing it down or others, will be an added advantage [and] a game-changer,” added Kos.
The company’s smoking process can be utilised on chicken eggs, duck eggs and quail eggs, although so far their packaged products concentrate on chicken eggs. All eggs used are free-range.
Packaged products include as a concentrated natural smoke flavouring as well as whole shelled eggs, liquid egg whites, liquid egg yolks and liquid whole eggs, which all impart a natural smoke flavour after being cooked.
The whole shelled eggs retail at A$6.50 (US$4.63) for six eggs in supermarkets, and all liquids at A$8.00 (US$5.70) per kg wholesale.
Patents and innovations
The Smoked Egg Company was only just launched earlier this year in Australia, but already holds the patent worldwide for the smoking process.
Within the Asia Pacific region, Kos has her eye on the markets in more developed markets such a Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and China.
“People [in the region] are willing to buy Australian milk as it’s safe to consume, and our eggs are safer than any other egg, so it would be good especially for young children, pregnant women, elderly folk and sick patients [to reduce their exposure to bacteria],” she said.
For the region, the company also intends to introduce options that are more focused on convenience, for example an egg omelette in a disc.
“We’re thinking of sending this over to China or Japan, where consumers can just pop it into the microwave straight out of the freezer, and then get an instant egg slider,” said Kos.
An additional advantage that the smoking process can confer, especially in Asian countries, is that it stops the natural ageing process of the egg.
“[Especially] in Asian countries where it becomes hot and humid, a lot of eggs do not poach well because it gets watery, [and this can prevent that],” she added.
That said, education and changing consumer mindsets has been the company’s single biggest challenge in terms of product promotion.
“One of the biggest challenges we face is that whenever ‘smoked’ is mentioned, people always automatically think that this means cooked, and this is not so – it’s a raw egg [and can be used for any application you want],” said Kos.
“The smoking process does not change the structure of the egg, and it will still do everything a normal egg does, from whipping to baking, [so the options are not as limited as people may mistakenly assume].”


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Yahoo! Inc. is rolling out a charged up search engine Monday in a bid to supplant its business partner, Google, as the most popular place to find things on the Internet.
With the revisions, Yahoo believes its search engine will provide more useful information than Google’s and be simpler to use. The rebuilt version will combine Google’s index with Yahoo’s customized services spanning sports, driving directions and weather reports. Toppling Google won’t be easy. In just five years, Google has become synonymous with online searching. Yahoo played a vital role in Google’s rise. After encouraging Google to create its search engine, Yahoo raised the startup’s profile nearly three years ago by licensing Google’s software to run the searches on its popular online portal.

domain: news


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Hamstrung by decades of political vacillation over whether to privatise it or not, it has been left dangling as competition in the postal market has been opened up. Neither public utility nor independent commercial entity, its position is untenable. With poor service levels and a militant workforce that strikes at the drop of an envelope, RM struggles to keep up in the world of 'always on' communications.
Danger signs First Secretary Lord Mandelson has tried to force modernisation on Royal Mail by selling it off. Mandie had a deal on the go to flog 30% to private equity house CVC as little as two months ago. But it's off again now - the £2bn offered wasn't enough, it seems, and Labour backbenchers have vowed to rebel over anything that might threaten the universal, one-price-goes-anywhere UK letter post. Meanwhile, Royal Mail's market is disintegrating. Last year, the number of letters sent in the UK fell by 5.5%, and the firm forecasts double that fall in 2009. Last year, e-mail use cost RM about £500m in lost profits too. Internally, things are even worse. There's a £10bn pension deficit costing £800m a year for starters, appalling customer service and work practices straight out of the '70s. Richard Hooper's 2008 report on postal services, Modernise or Decline, found massive inefficiencies, including overpriced stamps and a failure to achieve the levels of automation seen in other European postal companies.
Prognosis There is growth out there - online shopping is on the up and the number of parcels sent hit 860 million in 2007. But until RM's management can determine its own commercial destiny, free of political interference, it won't see much of it. As things stand, it's an unmanageable hybrid that even Allan Leighton - RM chairman until March and one of the country's most capable managers - couldn't really get to grips with. He left it profitable but with most of its systemic failings unresolved.


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By the end of the summer, Louisville will be home to two Mellow Mushroom pizza parlors.
Around the same time, another Mellow Mushroom restaurant, owned by another franchisee, is expected to open on Shelbyville Road in St. Matthews.
Each Mellow Mushroom location has its own theme, David Sims said. The couple chose a horse racing theme for their restaurant.
The Simses’ Mellow Mushroom will be located in a 6,000-square-foot space in the Blankenbaker Centre shopping center on Blankenbaker Parkway. It is situated at the intersection of Blankenbaker and Watterson Trail, across from Southeast Christian Church.
The interior of the restaurant will include Derby-themed murals created by local artist Amanda Bishop.
The Simses declined to disclose how much they are investing in the restaurant, but they said that it is being financed by personal funds and a U.S. Small Business Administration loan.
The couple likes the amount of input they have in the restaurant, David Sims said, since many franchised restaurant concepts dictate the look and atmosphere of their locations.
“Ninety-five percent of it is our ideas,” he said, adding that the Mellow Mushroom franchisor, Atlanta-based Home-Grown Industries of Georgia Inc., has allowed them to work with local companies on the project.
Louisville-based Derek Engineering Inc. is the general contractor for the project, and Jill Lewis Smith of Civic Consultants Inc. has been chosen as the restaurant’s architect.
The Simses plan to open the restaurant in late August with 125 employees, David Sims said.
David Sims, a commercial printer for AGI-Shorewood packing company, will quit his job to run the restaurant.
Dana Sims, a business planning supervisor for United Parcel Service Inc., will continue to work for UPS.
The Blankenbaker location, which is near the Simses’ residence, has a good mix of satellite colleges, hotels and residences nearby, David Sims said.
The couple has an agreement for just one location, “for now,” Dana Sims said. The couple might open more Mellow Mushroom restaurants in the future.
According to the company’s Web site, all Mellow Mushroom locations are franchised on a store-by store basis. The company does not typically sell territory rights for a particular market.
St. Matthews franchisee catering to families
The St. Matthews Mellow Mushroom will be in a 6,000-square-foot space that was the longtime home of Dutch’s Tavern, as well as a salon and mirror shop, according to Mellow Mushroom franchisee Jason Nase.
Nase and Damon Coates own the St. Matthews franchise.
Coates also is a Mellow Mushroom franchisee for a location in Lexington, Ky.
Nase worked for Mellow Mushroom’s parent company — three years in the corporate office and another seven or so working with franchise locations across the South.
He pointed out that the Louisville area can support both restaurants.
“There’s a lot of other restaurants around that have multiple locations,” he said, adding that the Blankenbaker area and St. Matthews are in different parts of town.
The St. Matthews location has a good mix of the “crowd that we’re looking for,” including families, Nase said.
“It really is a family affair. We’re trying to cater to families,” he said.
Renovations to the building began about a month ago, Nase said, adding that demolition work took longer than usual because of structural problems associated with the age of building, which was constructed in 1920, according to Jefferson County Property Valuation Administrator records.
Louisville-based Buffalo Construction Inc. has been hired to do the renovation work.
Nase said the St. Matthews Mellow Mushroom is expected to open in mid-August with about 100 employees.
Parent company: Atlanta-based Home-Grown Industries of Georgia Inc.
Restaurant description: Mellow Mushroom serves fresh, stone-baked pizzas in an eclectic, art-filled and family-friendly environment. Each location is locally owned and operated with a unique interior.
Menu: Pizzas, calzones, sandwiches and salads, with an extensive beer selection on tap and bottled; each store offers its own selection of local brews.
Pizza prices: $7.99 for a 10-inch cheese pizza to $24.99 for 16-inch specialty pizzas, such as the House Special and Magical Mystery Tour.
Number of locations open or in development: 142
Source | www.MellowMushroom.com


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Musk, who refers to Twitter as the town square of our time, has been controversial in many of his tweets, and one particular message back on Aug. 7, 2018, already cost him millions in Securities and Exchange Commission fines and forced him to step down as Tesla chairman.
Musk reached a settlement with the SEC on Sept. 29, 2018, which required the CEO and Tesla to each pay a $20 million fine and for Musk to step down as chairman for tweeting that he could take Tesla private at $420 per share and buy out the company for $72 billion.
Elon Musk Writes a Costly Tweet
"Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." Musk tweeted on Aug. 7, 2018.
Just days later on Aug. 10, 2018, investors sued Musk and Tesla alleging the statement that the company had the necessary funding to take the company private was fraudulent and that Musk and Tesla were artificially manipulating the price of Tesla stock "to completely decimate the company’s short-sellers," according to Courthouse News Service.
The plaintiffs seek damages for shareholders who traded Tesla stock in the days after Musk’s tweets, as shares shot up immediately after Musk's tweet, then fell on Aug. 17. Plaintiffs did not list an amount for damages.
Fast-forward to Jan. 17, 2023 and jury selection has begun in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco for the trial. Opening arguments reportedly could get underway Tuesday once the jury is selected.
The defendants, which include Musk and current and former Tesla directors, have denied the alleged fraud claims.
Musk's lawyers earlier requested a change of venue to Texas where Tesla is headquartered, but were denied by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen.


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Google may still face a break-up of some of its properties in the European Union, reports have claimed.
Reuters (opens in new tab) is reporting this Monday morning that the EU is still worried about Google's dominance and that the possibility of breaking it up into smaller companies is not yet ruled out. It seems as this consideration has been confirmed by the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager.
This is not the first time Google has been on the EU's radar. Last year, it was fined €2.4 billion for favouring its own shopping service in its own search engine results.
Now, the EU is drafting a bill that will force e-commerce sites, apps and search engines to be “more transparent” on how they rank services when they offer search engine and similar results.
The Commission is looking at different aspects of how Google does its work. It is investigating if Google has reduced choice, or limited innovation regarding mobile apps and services. A similar investigation is being led around advertising on its network.
"The important thing is that people can understand what is going on.,” Vestager said back in October 2015.
“The Google case is about misuse of a dominant position, to promote yourself in a neighbouring market not on your merits but because you can. And no matter the course of the case, there should be a takeaway which can be understood,” she says.
Image Credit: Turtix / Shutterstock


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Economic Expectations for Switzerland Continue Downward Trend
ZEW-CS Financial Market Test Switzerland
Even though the ZEW-CS Indicator has returned to negative territory for the first time since February 2016, the vast majority of experts (68.6 per cent) expect the economic development to remain unchanged in the coming six months. The negative indicator reading is due to the fact that the share of experts forecasting a positive economic development for the coming six months has fallen to 14.3 per cent. At the same time, 17.1 per cent of the respondents expect the economic situation to worsen. As in the previous months, the surveyed experts continue to show great unity with regard to the current economic situation, which is considered to be "normal" by 82.9 per cent of the analysts. 14.2 per cent consider the current situation as "good" and only 2.9 per cent as "poor", which results in the indicator's positive balance.
Meanwhile, the previous high inflation expectations have been revised downwards in the current survey. The difference between analysts that expect a rise in inflation rates and analysts that expect declining inflation rates can be used as a measure for inflation expectations. For Switzerland, this difference has fallen by 19.9 points to a reading of 25.6 points. This trend is likely to result from the rise in inflation rates in July 2016, which have increased for the first time in months. The inflation rate in Switzerland lies at minus 0.2 per cent in comparison to the same month of the previous year. In view of these developments, far fewer experts expect inflation to rise further. While inflation expectations for the eurozone have seen a similar development, experiencing a decrease by 26.6 points, expectations for the USA have merely decreased by 7.4 points to a reading of 44.2 points.
More detailed results - including survey participants' assessment of developments in other countries - can be found in this month's edition of the "Switzerland Financial market report" (please note that the URL is case sensitive): http://www.zew.de/zew-cs-financialmarketreport
Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung GmbH (ZEW)
ZEW works in the field of frontier empirical research in economics. The institute especially distinguished itself by working on internationally comparative studies in the context of Europe and by creating important scientific data bases, e.g. the Mannheim Innovation Panel (MIP) and the ZEW Start-up Panel. ZEW's key objectives are to conduct excellent economic research, provide science-based economic policy advice and transfer knowledge. ZEW was founded in 1991. ZEW currently has a staff of approximately 190 employees, two thirds of whom are researchers.


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Apple’s next-generation iPod nano may ditch the clip design and instead feature a 1.3-megapixel camera, according to leaked images posted by Taiwanese blog Apple.pro. The overall design of the unit looks similar to the current iPod nano, although there’s a chrome border around the new camera and the metal exterior has a noticeably deeper green hue, which suggests new colors are on the way. We’re a bit surprised at the lack of a clip on the nano, though, as most people we’ve seen with the music player use it — so perhaps it’s possible the clip can be removed to expose the camera lens. Either way, the form factor definitely matches earlier leaks of the next-generation iPod nano. More →
Giddy over Apple’s consistent staggering growth — and seemingly giddier over the iPad — Formula Capital managing partner James Altucher believes that Apple is poised to become the first $1 trillion company. In fact, Altucher thinks Apple could already be a $2 to $3 trillion company. According to Altucher, Apple can basically do no wrong — he believes demand for the iPad 2 will continue to grow and then new products like the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 will send demand for Apple devices through the roof. He goes on to state that Jobs’ eventual departure from the company won’t even have a significant impact on Apple’s future, as many analysts expect, thanks to other great innovators within Apple such as Tim Cook. Apple’s market capitalization is currently around $320 billion, so its stock price would have to balloon to about $1,000 for Apple to hit $1 trillion. Hit the break for an enthusiastic Altucher talking up Apple in an interview with Business Insider. More →
Apple on Wednesday reported earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 2011. Reports from Tuesday suggesting Apple might miss iPad sales estimates were accurate as Apple reported second-quarter sales of only 4.69 units compared to 7.33 million iPads last quarter. Analyst estimates fell between 6 and 8 million iPads for the March quarter. Apple’s iPhone sold 18.65 million units globally in the second quarter compared to 8.75 million units in the same quarter last year and 16.24 million units in the first quarter of fiscal 2011. iPod sales came in at 9.02 million units, down from 10.89 million in the second fiscal quarter of 2010 and 19.45 million last quarter. Wall Street was expecting 16 million iPhones and 9.9 million iPods in the quarter. Mac sales narrowly beat the Street’s estimates of 3.6 million units, totaling 3.67 million units in the March quarter, up from 2.94 million last year and down from 4.13 million from last quarter. Revenue for the second quarter came in at $24.67 billion and Apple recorded $5.99 billion in profit, up 95% from $3.07 billion in the same quarter last year. Apple noted in its earnings call that the earthquakes in Japan will not affect Apple’s supply chain or its products in the third quarter. The company’s full press release can be seen after the break. More →
Following RBC Capital Markets General Manager Mike Abramsky’s lead, JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz on Friday raised his revenue and EPS estimates for Apple’s 2011 fiscal second quarter. RBC upped its second-quarter revenue estimate from $23 billion to $24 billion on Tuesday, citing pent up iPad demand and strong sales of the Verizon iPhone 4 and newer laptop lines. On Friday, JP Morgan’s Moskowitz wrote in a note to investors that iPhone shipments in the quarter were likely stronger than expected thanks to the launch of the Verizon model and the addition of new sales channels for the GSM version of the popular smartphone. As such, he upped second-quarter estimate from 16.6 million units shipped to 18.4 million. Moskowitz raised his revenue estimate for the quarter to $24.42 billion from his earlier estimate of $23.83 billion, and adjusted his EPS estimate to $5.39 from $5.21. Apple will report its earnings for the March quarter on April 20th.
A Pennsylvania man has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple in a U.S. District Court in San Francisco alleging that the firm deliberately targets children with free applications that have appealing in-app purchases. Garen Maguerian believes that kids are purchasing in-app content and unknowingly costing their parents bundles of cash. In-app purchases are a great way to purchase extra content, such as levels or characters, in games. However, games such as Smurf’s Village or FarmVille can charge up to $99.99 for extra content that can be used to advance further in the game. “These games are highly addictive, designed deliberately so, and tend to compel children playing them to purchase large quantities of Game Currency, amounting to as much as $100 per purchase or more,” the suit says. Maguerian believes Apple is fostering these actions by allowing children to buy currency with the same iTunes App Store password they use to download free games. Since minors are entering the agreement with Apple to pay-up, Maguerian thinks that the contracts are not valid. “Apple has not offered to return to its account holders any of the millions of dollars it received from their minor children’s purchases,” Maguerian said in the lawsuit, which he is seeks refunds (including interest), damages, and legal fees. More →
We would like to extend a warm, Apple-rumor fueled welcome to Mr. Kevin Kenney. Technology blogs have picked up on the hiring of Kenney, a San Francisco-based mechanical engineer, by iDevice maker Apple, Inc. Via Kenney’s LinkedIn profile, we see that he is now a “Senior Composites Engineer” for the Cupertino-based company. The engineer has spent the last fourteen years working for Kestral Bicycles where, as 9to5 Mac reports, he was “building carbon fiber bicycles.” The hiring has ignited rumors of carbon fiber iMacs, iPads, and iPhones — personally, we’re holding out for a carbon fiber Magic Mouse. Kenney has worked for Apple on a contract basis for the past several years, and his name is on at least one carbon fiber-related Apple patent. If you read that the iPhone 6 will be made of composite materials , you now know where the rumor started. More →
On Wednesday Microsoft confirmed with enthusiast blog LoopinSight that it will launch Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 next week. The update will reportedly include performance enhancements, as well as security and stability fixes, but it will also include major changes for Outlook for Mac. After applying the software patch, users will be able to sync their Outlook calendars, tasks, notes, and contacts with Apple’s Sync Services, and it includes support for CalDAV calendars. The update will also add a new redirect and resend buttons. iPhone and iPod touch devices will also stay in sync, Pat Fox, Microsoft’s senior director of product management told The Loop. Service Pack 1 does come with one caveat, though: users will not be able to use Sync Services to sync with the MobileMe calendar beginning on May 5th. More →
Patently Apple reports that its Cupertino-based namesake has been granted a new patent for an improved 30-pin dock connector. The interface, which is used by Apple’s iPhone, iPad and iPods, is slightly thinner and will be able to sherpa data over USB 3.0 and 2.0, and contain a dual-lane display port channel. The patents suggest that future versions of the company’s laptops, desktops, and mobile devices will utilize the new USB technologies — and that future mobile devices may be able to output to HDMI without the need for an adapter. There is an additional patent schematic after the break. More →
That’s what it’s looking like according to a leaked image from Apple.pro, a site that has in the past leaked details and images on Apple products before their announcement and release. From what we can see, the seventh generation iPod nano would keep the same form factor as the existing model, though would add a relatively large camera sensor to the back of the small multi-touch music player. We’re betting that we’ll see the new iPod nano with camera appear at one of Apple’s traditional fall music events later this year. More →
It’s Friday, so kick back and catch up on your gaming. Two popular iOS titles, NBA Jam and Legendary Wars, were recently updated with some noteworthy features. NBA Jam picked up a new roster feature which provides more current rosters for teams like the Knicks, Nets, and others. This will allow you to dunk with Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups on the Knicks or Deron Williams on the Nets, for example. It’s not the multiplayer update we’ve been waiting for, but we dig being able to play as recently traded characters. Next up: Legendary Wars has been updated with a host of new features, including Retina display support, 50 Game Center achievements, 5 Leaderboards for Endless Modes, a new Armory, some bug fixes, and improved loading performance. There’s also a new free-demo of Legendary Wars in the iTunes App Store. More →
We’re big fans of ZShock and its work, so when the company decided it was going to do what it does best on a Lunatik iPod nano watch case, we had to get our hands — and wrists — on one. It takes ZShock around 3-4 weeks to create and carefully hand-set the diamonds into pave settings on the white gold watch case. The craftsmanship on here is amazing, and just what you’d expect from one of the most innovative jewelers around. The all-diamond ZShock Lunatik iPod nano watch retails for around $18,000, though custom orders with different metals and even different diamonds and stones are possible from http://www.zshock.com. Make sure to check out some photos of the diamond Lunatik iPod nano watch in our hands on gallery!
Right on schedule, Apple has released iOS 4.3 beta 3, build number 8F5166b, to developers through its online developer’s portal. The code is available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. We’re in the throes of downloading the new bits as we speak. You do the same and be sure to let us know what you find.
According to new projections issued by market research firm NPD Group, Apple is poised to break its previous quarterly sales record. For the first time, Apple’s Mac unit sales are set to surpass the 4 million mark, with fourth quarter totals expected to fall in the range of 4.1 to 4.3 million. Apple’s new MacBook Air will apparently play a big role in Apple’s record-breaking quarter, and early demand for the sleek laptop makes solid sales a foregone conclusion. NPD’s numbers, if met, will represent remarkable year-over-year growth of approximately 22% to 28%. Apple is also expected to sell between 18.5 million and 19.5 million iPods during the December quarter. More →


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Zhejiang Geely Holding Group ( Geely) and its wholly owned subsidiary Volvo Car Group (Volvo) intend to merge their existing combustion engine operations in order to establish a world leading business unit that will seek to develop next generation combustion engine and hybrid systems.
Geely Group Motorsport has opened the order books for the Lynk & Co 03 TCR race cars for deliveries in Q1 of 2020.
At the World Intelligent Connected Vehicle Conference held in Jiading, Shanghai, Geely Auto Group (Geely) was awarded its Autonomous Vehicle Test Drive license, allowing Geely to test autonomous drive vehicles on public roads in the Yangtze Delta River region as part of an intelligent connected vehicle (ICV) test pilot program.
Today, Volocopter, the Urban Air Mobility pioneer, announced that it signed the first closing of its Series C funding round, which is being led by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding). The new funds will be used towards bringing the VoloCity aircraft to commercial launch within the next three years.
Geely Automobile Holdings Limited (Group) (HK.0175), a Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, released its interim results for the first half of 2019.Download PDF
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding), China’s leading privately-owned automotive group, today announced that Hans Oscarsson, former Chief Financial Officer of Volvo Cars, has assumed his new role as Chief Executive Officer of Geely Sweden Holdings AB (GSHAB).
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding), China’s largest privately-owned automotive technology company, rose 47 places in the 2019 Fortune Global 500 to 220th after its last year’s revenues reached US$49.665 billion.
The world’s first pure electric British hypercar, Evija was unveiled by Lotus in London. Evija is the first new product launched by Lotus after joining Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. It represents Lotus’s innovative capabilities, engineering heritage, and new design language.
Following on from the announcement of a cooperation between Baidu and Geely Holding Group on July 3rd 2019, Reuters reports have incorrectly indicated that Geely Holding Group and Baidu will cooperate in the area of autonomous drive. Geely Holding and Baidu’s cooperation is limited to the research and development and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the automotive ecology with the goal of providing our end users with a leading experience
At the “2019 Baidu Create”, Baidu’s Artificial Intelligence Development Conference, Li Shufu, Chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely Holding) and Robin Li, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Baidu, announced that Geely Holding and Baidu will strategically cooperate in the fields of intelligent connectivity, smart mobility, smart home, e-commerce and in other areas related to AI technology. The two parties will jointly explore the development AI applications in the automotive ecosystem, with the long term aim of accelerating the large-scale popularization of intelligent connected vehicles in China and internationally.


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Music Gear News
Facebook music service stumbled upon
A new music service from the social networking giant Facebook has allegedly been stumbled upon inadvertently.
Jeff Rose, a software developer and self-titled "open-source" hacker, announced on his own personal blog that he came across the code called Facebook Vibes, which connects with a page that supposedly will one day allow users to download music.
Writing on his blog, Mr Rose said: "I searched around to see what this is all about, and it seems that this is an unannounced feature that has yet to be released. The vibes app connects with a music download dialog in the page though, so I'm guessing that with this release we are seeing the seeds for Facebook’s upcoming music offering."
Much like Google, Facebook is continually looking to evolve its brand.
If what Rose has come across is the first signs of Facebook's foray into online music software production, it will be joining an already crowded market, with Spotify, Amazon, iTunes already offering their own unique music streaming services.
It's nothing new as rumours have always surrounded the social media giant's intentions towards cracking the music market.
Back in 2008 the New York Post revealed that Facebook was looking to develop something similar to MySpace.
Save Money Now And Buy Online Today
Posted on 12 Jul 2011 10:07 to category : Music News
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JBL Professional has launched a competition that gives aspiring musician the opportunity to record in a professional facility with renowned producer Steve Levine.
Delivered by Choreographer and Theater Director Arlene Phillips, The Bacc For the Future campaign has acquired support of over 100 hundred influential figures
On the 22nd of April, Pink Floyd will be releasing an unheard version of the iconic classic 'Interstellar Overdrive' in celebration of world record day
With an increased quality of specifications right across the board, Apple's eponymous 'iPad' will host a whole generous selection of great new features.
Recent Music News
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We don’t have to owe our souls to the company store. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:
America has been turned into a kind of inescapable hospital ward by very sick people, using the cudgel of commerce to compel the healthy – the sane – to play along. As for example by requiring healthy people to play-pretend that they are sick – or spreading sickness – and so they must wear a “mask” to enter a store.
Including car stores.
This form of Sickness Kabuki is returning – not because most people want to “practice” it but rather because car dealerships, being the retail outlets of large corporations, are being pressured to impose it by the large corporations to which they are beholden. The same corporations that have reinstated “mask” requirements on the assembly line floor are insisting on the same on the showroom floor.
This includes General Motors, Ford and the Stellantis combine that owns Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, who earlier this month decreed that everyone who works for them will “practice” Sickness Kabuki by wearing a “mask,” including those who’ve took the experimental “vaccine” so as to avoid having to wear the soul-effacing things.
These poor people face an economic Sophie’s Choice: Assert their sanity and lose their paycheck. Or play along with the sick Kabuki, in order to continue being paid. The pressure coming from these big corporations is responsible for most of the spread of Sickness Kabuki, which would probably never have taken hold to the degree it did if people were not threatened with loss of livelihood, at the cost of their self-respect.
A dangerously large percentage of Americans work for these corporations, which for that reason wield a dangerous degree of control over America. A literal handful of corporate executives can cause tens of millions of people to dance pitifully from the economic strings they hold. And these corporations are “interlocking” – meaning they do business among themselves and share common interests, often at odds with our individual interests, as formerly independent human beings.


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Back again? After a semester that featured dorm lockdowns, gathering limits, maskless masses flooding bars, and more than a thousand positive tests among students, staff, and contract employees since August, UVA announced last week that students will return to Grounds in person for the spring semester. The university will essentially replicate its fall reopening plans […]
C-VILLE Weekly proudly supports businesses that are adapting and changing their practices due to the impact of COVID-19.
For a look at restaurants, stores, and businesses that are still open and providing modified services, please CLICK HERE!


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Droid X does not brick itself with ‘eFuse’ when rooted
If you’re familiar with the world of Android’s Os and devices, then you might know that they can be “rooted” and or “hacked” in order to install customer ROMs and Apps to the device. This idea has increasingly become more common among the non tech savvy Android users, while some smart phone shoppers are picking up the devices just due to this option that the open platform allows.
Just yesterday the new Motorola Droid X made its official debut, and in the days leading up to this debut the modders and hackers all had a ball dissecting the devices OS and attempting implement “non approved” ROMS. While dissecting the Droid X for all it’s worth the developers encountered a security measure implemented by Motorola during the manufacturing process called “eFuse”. When getting to the point where the ROM was being installed My Droid World claimed that the eFuse technology had a chip in it that was designed to “blow the fuse” if the device did not recognize the official boot loader that was initially installed on the device. In the world of Android phones, this is simply not respectable. Most Android users that are “in the know” pick up the new Android devices simply for these modding capabilities, and the idea of the new Motorola Droid “offing itself” due to unrecognizable boot loaders is preposterous. However the idea of a self destructing smart phone encouraged more information to be found, as a phone that can “brick” itself well is simply silly. So Engadget.com wanted more information, so they went right to the source, sending Motorola an email basically asking what gives. Motorola’s response was not what these modders wanted to hear but, at least we know that the Droid X can’t just up and off itself. Motorola addressed the ‘eFuse’ technology as “the technology is not loaded with the purpose of preventing a consumer device from functioning, but rather ensuring for the user that the device only runs on updated and tested versions of software”. Motorola then goes on to state that the technology is in place for the device to be put into recovery mode when unapproved software is detected and can re-boot once the approved software is re-installed.
So at the end of the day, the Motorola Droid X will indeed turn itself off when attempting to install an un approved bootloader. But the words from the horse’s mouth are not insinuating that the phone “bricks” blows a fuse or otherwise off’s itself.
It’s said that it is almost impossible to “work around” this eFuse technology, however I have faith that we will see a fully rooted Droid X in the future.
Does this alter your plans on picking up a Droid X?
Do you think this is the right thing for Motorola to do?rooted, motorola droid x, motorola efuse


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South Korea and Chile opened their first round of talks to revise their bilateral free trade agreement to reflect changes in the market over the past 15 years.
Chile and Brazil have signed a free trade agreement that scraps red tape and tariffs between the two South American economies.
The Chilean foreign minister explained that this protocol complements the Free Trade Agreement between both countries that entered into force on October 1, 2006.
Until Friday (October 19) the teams of Chile and Brazil working on a new Free Trade Agreement between the two countries will meet in Santiago.
The Chamber of Deputies approved the request that the Government has to review in detail each and every treaty signed by Chile, as well as future agreements.
President of the Republic of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, has expressed interest in entering into negotiations on a free trade-agreement with the Caribbean Community.
Brazil and Chile launched the first round of negotiations for a “second generation” free trade agreement, since they already have 100% of their trade released for more than 20 years.
Negotiators met in Brussels from 28 May to 1 June for the 3rd round of negotiations for a new, modernised trade agreement between the EU and Chile.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson concluded a five-day charm offensive in Latin America by expressing interest in a trade agreement with Chile and other countries in Latin America’s so-called Pacific Alliance.
The EU has apparently chosen to put the trade goals of European tobacco companies ahead of their own commitments to sustainable development.
After a 14-year dispute between Quiborax and the Bolivian government, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) rejected Bolivia’s application to annul a US$48.6mn award in favor of the Chilean mining company.
China expects Chile to continue to play an active and exemplary role in jointly building the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative with Latin America, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday.
The plenary of the leftist coalition Broad Front concluded on Sunday with a motion that postpones the decision over the Free Trade Agreement with Chile.
The Chilean President Sebastián Piñera and Brazilian President Michel discussed a proposal for a free trade agreement between Brazil and Chile.
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution to better account for gender equality in trade agreements. The commission could follow up on the resolution in its agreement with Chile.
The European Union and Chile would like to improve on their association agreement, which in 15 years has resulted in the doubling of trade volumes between them.
Thailand has entered into negotiations for a number of free trade agreements (FTA). Its first FTA was the Asean Free Trade Area, signed in 1992. The country has six FTAs with India, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Peru and Chile.
The negotiating teams covered a broad range of issues such as the facilitation of customs procedures, trade in services, investment, competition, rules of origin, and intellectual property.
As released by the European Commission
Eleven countries aiming to forge a new Asia-Pacific trade pact after the United States pulled out of an earlier version will hold a signing ceremony in Chile in March.


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The annual Yadkin Valley Wine Festival will celebrate its Sweet 16 this year on May 20 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Elkin Municipal Park.
“The festival gets bigger and better each year,” said Misty Matthews with the sponsoring Yadkin Valley Chamber of Commerce. “We hope everyone will come out for a wonderful day at Elkin Municipal Park to enjoy the flavors of the Yadkin Valley. It’s going to be great music, great food, great wine, and most of all, great people.”
The festival began as a way to promote the fledgling wine industry in the area and has become a tradition for wine lovers near and far. Matthews said that folks from all across the state and the country come to the festival each year. Last year, around 3,000 guests purchased wine tasting tickets for the event and Matthews said they estimate a total of 7,000 attendees overall.
The event is family-friendly with plenty of food options and live musical entertainment. Another highlight of the event that is a favorite for the young and young-at-heart is the grape stomp. Event attendees are given the chance to compete with a friend or other attendee to see who can fill a mason jar with fresh grape juice the fastest by stomping grapes with their bare feet.
There’s also plenty of toe tapping and the dance floor is usually full by the end of the day as festival-goers enjoy the live music.
This year’s entertainment will feature two local bands. The Blue Sky Band will perform from noon to 2 p.m. and Phatt City will take the stage from 3 to 5 p.m. to close out the celebration.
In addition to the 26 wineries that will be pouring, there will be plenty to choose from as far as snacks and food.
From traditional festival food such as hot dogs, cheeseburgers and ice cream, to BBQ, Haitian cuisine, such as chili-glazed wings, crab cakes and more.
Eighteen different craft vendors also will be at the festival featuring items such as hats, jewelry, clothing, gourmet foods, Adirondack chairs and more.
Tickets for this year’s Yadkin Valley Wine Festival are $22 in advance, $30 at the gate. Advance tickets are available for purchase by calling the Yadkin Valley Chamber of Commerce or online through EventBrite at www.yvwf.com. A select number of VIP tickets are available at a cost of $100 each, which includes tasting wristband, festival wineglass, VIP parking, festival shirt and access to the VIP/Hospitality Tent.
A military discount is available with active duty or retired military ID card, tickets will be $20 at the gate for veterans.
Festival parking is available on site at Elkin Municipal Park for $5 per vehicle, with proceeds going to the Elkin Volunteer Rescue Squad. Alternatively, shuttle bus service will run between 10:30 a.m and 6 p.m. from participating hotels in Elkin and Jonesville at a cost of $5 per person, valid throughout the day. There is a no coolers, pets or firearms policy at the festival.
Visitors to the Yadkin Valley are encouraged to make an entire weekend out of the event. With the annual wine auction on Friday night, the Tour de Vino bike ride Saturday morning and most area wineries open on Sundays, there will be plenty of fun the entire weekend.
For more information about the Yadkin Valley Wine Festival, visit their Facebook page or website at www.yvwf.com.
Kitsey Burns Harrison may be reached at 336-679-2341 or on Twitter and Instagram @onthevinemag.


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Other than the Iphone SE, each individual new Apple iphone options an OLED panel. Apple concluded the transition in 2020 when the Iphone 12 lineup acquired OLED screens. But Apple hasn’t manufactured the swap to OLED for iPads, regardless of doing the job on OLED screens for tablets for several decades. The technologies isn’t prepared, with a report indicating that the initial OLED iPad will release in 2024.
Apple is thinking further than mini-LED screens
Apple unveiled its mini-LED shows previous calendar year, which are an different to OLED panels. But only 3 Apple units at the moment aspect mini-LED displays: The 12.9-inch iPad Professional, the 14-inch MacBook Pro, and the 16-inch MacBook Professional.
The advantage of mini-LED screens in excess of regular Lcd screens concerns the all round screen encounter. You can expect improved brightness, far better blacks, and an enhanced distinction ratio and HDR. On top of that, the mini-LED screens that Apple utilizes aid Marketing, or refresh premiums of up to 120Hz.
But Apple isn’t all set to bring this “pro” display screen technology to additional tablets and laptops. We have read for many years that Apple has been developing OLED panels for the iPad and MacBook, which ought to join the mini-LED and Lcd screens in Apple’s pcs.
It was under no circumstances distinct which display screen technological know-how would be the very best for iPads and MacBooks. OLED appears to be the crystal clear selection for Iphone, but Apple hasn’t been capable to replicate that system for products with larger screens. Or it hasn’t been contented with what its suppliers can provide.
As a reminder, Samsung has been making use of OLED panels on its have tablets for quite a although now. Samsung is the dominant player when it will come to production OLED panels for smartphones and Samsung Exhibit is also the principal Apple iphone monitor supplier.
OLED iPad launch date established for 2024
About a yr ago, a report from Korea claimed that Apple wanted a particular sort of OLED technology for the iPad, one that Samsung was not keen to deliver. That report observed that the OLED iPad’s release date may have been pushed back again to 2023 or 2024 due to the fact of the setback.
A model new story from the very same place now states that Apple will launch the initial OLED iPad in 2024. For every ETNews, the OLED iPad will provide a several considerable updates to Apple’s tablet.
OLED screens will produce additional than just picture top quality improvements. Apple will also lower the sizing of the panel, which will lead to a lighter iPad.
The report doesn’t mention which style of iPads would get the OLED panel. But Apple has been taking its time with the engineering. The business reportedly made different prototypes and set them by means of several exams. Apple is now producing the last prototypes for the OLED panels.
Furthermore, ETNews claims that the OLED iPad will produce the initial dry etching system for the screen. Which is a chemical technological innovation that removes avoidable parts from slender movie transistor (TFT) circuit patterns. And dry etching will permit Apple lower the thickness and body weight of the OLED screen.
Apple is also acquiring specific coatings to raise the toughness of the ensuing slim OLED panel. Samsung and LG Screen will supposedly manufacture the screens.
Why OLED might be even bigger than mini-LED
The report doesn’t supply any specs for the OLED panel within long term iPads. Nor does it point out which iPad versions will use the OLED screens. Likewise, ETNews does not point out a company release date for the OLED iPad.
But the report does say that OLED panel makers will maximize investments in tiny and medium-sized OLED amenities. The Korean exhibit market has substantial expectations from the OLED iPad industry.
This implies that Apple might carry OLED screens to lots of iPads in the in close proximity to long run. That would unquestionably be an fascinating development for iPad supporters. And the only way to convince suppliers to increase investments in new OLED display screen plants.
Extra Apple protection: For much more Apple news, pay a visit to our Apple iphone 14 guideline.


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Did You Know? According to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, 30,000 new consumer products go to market each year, and of these, 95% will ultimately fail.
It seems everyone is looking to expand their capabilities by acquiring them, rather than building them. “The retail landscape is poised for a spate of mergers and acquisitions, according to
Certainly Alex Tramiel, founder of Palo Alto Innovation, was born with an entrepreneurial spirit. It had to be part of his DNA as the grandson of Jack Tramiel, founder of
Serving several helpful functions at once, the LiliLite is a friend to the nighttime reader. The LiliLite is a shelf that you mount to the wall, above your headboard, within


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Washington retailers would face a 500 dollar fine for selling video games depicting violence against police to children under a bill passed Thursday by the state legislature. Governor Gary Locke is expected to sign House Bill 1009 - which passed the Senate 42-7 despite attempts by game companies to change it. The bill applies only to violence against police officers - but would effectively stop sales of many of the market's violent games to children. One amendment would have expanded the bill to include all title rated "M" by the game manufacturers because of violent content. But sponsors opposed that - saying the state constitution forbids delegating the authority of rating games to private entities.
Ubi Soft has revealed the development of another expansion pack for Rainbow Six 3. The new add-on is titled Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword. Not much is known about the game except that it'll ship in the fall. Watch for screenshots and details to appear during E3 in Los Angeles next month.
Intel has cut the prices of its fastest microprocessors for desktop and laptop PCs by as much as 38 percent. Reuters reports that the price of Intel's Pentium 4 running at 3 GHz was cut to 401 dollars from 589 dollars. The price of the mobile Pentium 4 chip running at 2.4 GHz was cut 348 dollars. The cuts came as Intel introduced faster models of both types of chips. The price of Intel's newest chip for desktop computers - a Pentium 4 which also runs at 3 GHz but has a faster system bus - was set at 417 dollars. The new 2.5 GHz mobile chip was set at 562 dollars. Cuts to Intel's price list generally translate into reductions in the price of personal computers.


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The entirety of Tumblr’s New York City headquarters staff will move into Yahoo’s Midtown Manhattan office, Crunchbase News has learned.
According to several Tumblr employees, who confirmed the news on condition of anonymity, their company’s original NYC office in the Flatiron district will cease to exist at the end of this month. Instead, Tumblr employees will be relocated to Yahoo’s current New York Headquarters.
“We are looking forward to Tumblr’s move to Oath’s NYC headquarters,” Simon Khalaf, Oath’s head of media and products, told Crunchbase News. “It’s a natural progression for us to bring the Oath family of brands together as we continue to foster collaboration and build brands people love.”
Blogging platform Tumblr was acquired by Yahoo back in May 2013 for $1.1 billion—Marissa Mayer’s’ biggest buy—as a means to revamp their image into a brand geared toward a younger demographic. Given Tumblr’s early success at attracting a cult following for its blogging service, the acquisition was meant to help both parties achieve long term financial and branding success.
Since its inception, Tumblr has become known as a popular destination for independent creators and internet subcultures.
To top it off, Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp stepped down in November, signaling an end of an indie era. The move also comes on the heels of Complex Media — owned by Verizon, which also owns Yahoo under the Oath umbrella — moving into Yahoo’s Times Square building in December.
Tumblr raised Series A through E rounds from its launch in 2007 until 2012, raising a total of about $125 million before being acquired by Yahoo five years ago. Although the platform maintained an independent operation, the shadow of pressure from the Yahoo ownership created a “misunderstood” image.
While it’s unclear how Tumblr’s new office integration will operate, it’s safe to assume its culture will further be ingrained into Yahoo’s corporate one. This could likely mean a further detriment of what made Tumblr worth acquiring in 2013.
Stay up to date with recent funding rounds, acquisitions, and more with the Crunchbase Daily.


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DMS developer ZiiOS is revealing at Dealer Expo the first phase of its real-time data integration with website services provider PowerSports Network.
ZiiOS claims that real-time availability of P&A inventory marks a change within the industry. Other DMS and website integrations, the company says, only refresh the dealer’s inventory a few times a day. The integration between ZiiOS and PSN dealership websites will offer instantaneous updates. The moment a P&A purchase is made through the DMS, inventory levels will automatically be adjusted on the dealer’s website.
“This is an exciting time which will revolutionize the powersports DMS market. Having real-time inventory numbers makes a significant improvement to a customer’s experience. A dealer will absolutely have that part or accessory in stock when a customer looks at it on the dealer’s website. Lag times are now nonexistent,” says ZiiOS VP Curtis Conner.
Dominion Dealership Data XChange, or DX3, is the core technology behind the real-time availability integration. Later this year, Dominion Powersports Solutions will introduce major unit integration between ZiiOS’ DMS, a PSN dealer website and CycleTrader.com. (Dominion is owner of all three providers.)
“We’re very excited to help dealerships improve their operational efficiencies through our DX3 technology,” said Gwyn Price, vice president of sales and marketing of Dominion Powersports Solutions. “This robust technology will save dealers from duplicating their efforts across their DMS and dealer website.”
The P&A integration is being demonstrated during the show at Booth 4731.


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LOS ANGELES — Blue Bee Men has good reason to gloat. Next month, the Santa Barbara, Calif., specialty store will join a handful of upscale U.S. boutiques boasting a Ralph Lauren Black Label shop-in-shop. Historically, the line has been sold only in Ralph Lauren flagship locations and upper-crust department stores, although other upscale specialty retailers, such as Stanley Korshak in Dallas, have also installed shops.
At 500 square feet, the shop will feature RRL and Polo apparel in addition to Black Label slim-silhouette suits, leather bags, woven shirts, ties and sweaters, said Marty Bebout, who co-owns seven Blue Bee boutiques in Santa Barbara’s State Street shopping district with partner John Doucette.
“We’re really proud of this addition. It’s so perfect for our customers to combine RRL premium denim with incredible [Black Label] designer suitings,” said Bebout, whose customer base is split between tourists and locals.
According to Bebout, finalizing the in-store shop was a compromise of sorts with Ralph Lauren representatives, who wanted Blue Bee Men to carry Polo in addition to its existing RRL product mix of denim, premium T-shirts and canvas bags with distressed leather handles, among other items. “RRL was a home run for us from the beginning, but we couldn’t justify selling something as common as Polo,” Bebout said. “We’re a boutique and we wanted to offer clothing that is more special. But we pushed for Black Label, and agreed to carry Polo as well.”
Combining rustic and modern decor, the shop is separated into three sections, one for each line, united by flooring made of salvaged barn boards. Modern light fixtures will set the Black Label area apart, while antique shelving, armoires and vintage flea-market finds will surround classic Polo shirts and $700 RRL cashmere sweaters in the other sections.
Alberta Ferretti's "Rainbow Week" sweaters are back. The designer closed her #MFW show with a few day-of-the-week sweaters, which first debuted on the catwalk last January as part of the pre-fall 2017 collection. #wwdfashion (📷: @delphineachard)


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Foxconn says hiring freeze not related to Apple
0. phoneArena 20 Feb 2013, 13:58 posted on
A report in Wednesday's Financial Times blames Foxconn's hiring freeze through March on declining sales of the Apple iPhone 5 although the contract manufacturer says that Apple has nothing to do with the decision to hold off on recruiting new workers until after the Chinese New Year; Alexander Peterc, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, sees a 20% sequential slow down in Apple iPhone 5 sales in the current quarter...
This is a discussion for a news. To read the whole news, click here
1. _Bone_ (Posts: 2154; Member since: 29 Oct 2012)
Those rumors big companies care to deny usually hold some truth.
2. gallitoking (Posts: 4718; Member since: 17 May 2011)
because the world does revolve around Apple
3. rusticguy (Posts: 2828; Member since: 11 Aug 2012)
And Apple revolves around Android innovations :D
5. gallitoking (Posts: 4718; Member since: 17 May 2011)
so coming in with devices with bigger screens are innovation really?... cool now I know.
6. Furbal (Posts: 980; Member since: 22 Sep 2012)
According to the iPhone 5, bigger is; iPad mini smaller is...
7. joey_sfb (Posts: 5733; Member since: 29 Mar 2012)
Exactly why iphone 4 to 4s to 5 is not innovation.
4. ZeroCide (Posts: 772; Member since: 09 Jan 2013)
No just Foxconn's world. They were drinking the kool-aid and its running low.
8. arfinkhan (Posts: 25; Member since: 07 Feb 2013)
so coming with quad core 2gb ram is it innovation?
9. arfinkhan (Posts: 25; Member since: 07 Feb 2013)
innovation is super sensitive screen,pure motion hd+display,optical image stablisation,,pure view,clear black, penta band lte 3g.41 mega pixel through over sampling.this is innovation


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Federal and local law enforcement officials said this week they have seized around 100 Northern California houses they say were being used to grow cannabis tied to criminal organizations based in China.
The raids conducted Tuesday and Wednesday focused on Chinese nationals living in other states who bought homes in seven California counties, the Associated Press reported. Most of the home buyers were legal residents of the United States. They lived as far away as Georgia, Illinois, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The harvested and processed product was shipped back east to those states for distribution.
None of the home owners have been arrested yet. The U.S. Department of Justice called the bust one of the nation’s largest residential forfeiture seizures. None of the homes were in the San Francisco Bay Area, presumably because it’s cheaper to buy a home more inland, the AP report said.
“This criminal organization has put a tremendous amount of equity into these homes through these wire transfers coming in from China and elsewhere,” U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said in an interview with AP. “We’re going to take it. We’re going to take the houses. We’re going to take the equity.”
More details from the AP:
- More than 500 law enforcement officials were used in the raids, which also hit two real estate businesses in Sacramento.
- Agents from the Internal Revenue Service, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were deployed with Sacramento sheriff deputies.
- Money for home down payments were wired from China’s Fujian Province and stayed below the $50,000 limit restrictions in that country.
- Sacramento real estate agents were used as well as straw buyers who represented the homeowners.
The Justice Department said the houses tended to use very high amounts of electricity for grow lights and fans. It’s no wonder the sweep was dubbed “Operation Lights Out.”
It said in addition to the homes, agents hauled in 61,000 marijuana plants, 400 pounds of processed buds (worth $600,000 wholesale) and 15 guns.
Worries about competition from a thriving black market in the state have continued to increase since California legalized recreational, retail cannabis and started taxing it at high rates last January.
A report earlier this week found that state and federal taxes on legal cannabis are so high in California that they may be helping the black market thrive, as consumers look for cheaper sources for cannabis and retail businesses scramble to keep in line with regulations while still making a profit.


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Man allegedly resisted arrested after stealing TV
PANAMA CITY BEACH -- A man allegedly fought with police Friday when he was arrested for stealing a flat-screen TV from a Target store in Panama City Beach, according to police.
Employees of Target at 15555 Starfish St. in Pier Park witnessed the man trying to steal a large TV, and they called police, according to Panama City Beach Police. When officers arrived, they reportedly saw the man leaving with the TV and arrested him after a “lengthy struggle,” a police press release said.
Police said they found a small amount of meth and two oxycodone pills in the man’s possession.
James Herschel Jones, 25, was charged with shoplifting, resisting arrest with violence and possession of narcotics.
After reviewing video surveillance from the store, police also charged Jones in a separate shoplifting incident in which a flat-screen TV was stolen from the same Target store on July 2.


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The world’s largest battery manufacturer, China’s CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology) has announced a new battery technology that It will start production this year. It’s about the LMFP batteries (lithium manganese iron phosphate), whose energy density is between a 15 to 20 percent higher than that of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries marketed to date. The adition of manganese to the formula does not make a significant difference in the cost of the materials that compose it.
CATL never tires of announcing technological innovations related to the chemistry of its batteries. If recently announced the new Qilin batteries with technology cell to pack 3.0Now it’s the turn of the LMFP batteries. These are lithium ferrophosphate batteries to which manganese is added.
By adding this new component to the already known LFP formula the working voltage of the cells and the energy density are increased without this implying a significant increase in the cost of production since manganese is a particularly cheap material.
CATL LMFP batteries have passed the interim evidence in the first half of this year. The first samples are already being sent to automakers for real-world testing, reports CNEVPost. In addition to CATL, Sunwoda, Eve Energy and FinDreams Battery, belonging to BYD, have also worked on this type of battery. Those of the first two are also already in the testing phase with the manufacturers. BYD began purchasing materials in small quantities for its LMFP batteries which are currently in the internal development stage. Gotion High-tech It also revealed a patent related to this same technology in June this year, although for now it has not announced plans for its mass production.
The reason why these companies are devoting investments to this new technology based on LFP batteries is because they are capable of reaching higher energy density than lithium iron phosphate batteries. The theoretical energy density of LMFP batteries can reach a gravimetric density of between 210 and 230Wh/kg and a bulk density of 450-500Wh/litreas indicated PushEV.comwhat it means 15 to 20 percent longer than LFP batterieswithout this implying a significant difference in the cost of materials, according to information published by Late Post.
Considering that when packing the cells, the GCTP (gravimetric cell to pack) ratio is 90% and the VCTP (volumetric cell to pack) ratio is 72%, an LMFP battery without modules, i.e. with CTP technology, could reach densities of 207 Wh/kg and 360 Wh/l.
In 2013, BYD conducted research related to this technology with the intention of starting to develop it. However, in 2016 the project was stopped as preliminary results offered low cycle life and high internal resistance to electrical conductivity.
To solve this drawback of short life cycles and low conductivity, both CATL and the rest of the manufacturers affirm add doping materials to LMFP ternary cells. For now, the most viable improvements in the energy density of the LFP chemistry will be made by adding silicon to the anode or manganese to the cathode.


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‘The Business Blockchain’ Author Predicts Year-End Prices of Top Cryptos –...
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Fakes Aside, the Red Giant is Brimming with Newfangled Ideas, too!
It is hard not to be inspired by the poverty-to-prosperity ascent of Mr Jack Ma, founder of the Alibaba Group and the richest man in China with a net worth of nearly US$25 billion.
Born into a poor family and with less-than-stellar schooling, his job-search ended up in several rejections, including one at KFC. Often seen as a maverick, forthright businessman, Mr Ma has never been shy about his past. He had no need to, as it is the present that counts with his visionary zest making him scale great heights.
Where is the question of hating Mr Jack Ma when his climb to super-success inspires awe and admiration among those who have followed the growth of ecommerce?
Yet, I found it at odds with his persona when recently Mr Ma was quoted as saying that counterfeit goods appeared better than the original versions.
Given China’s notoriety in stealing intellectual property rights (IPR) and coming up with clones, he was pilloried in the social media. The International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) even withdrew his company’s membership. That was too hasty a move without going deep into the issue, exposing any prejudices the group may have nurtured.
Sensationalism, Media’s weapon for survival
Thanks to his opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, there is now clarity on his position, taken out of context and blown out of proportions – something journalists are notorious for. In an era where social engagement is increasingly making the mainstream media irrelevant, sensationalism is their weapon for survival.
The newspaper gave him the opportunity to set the record straight and Mr Ma comes out clean by saying that any “failure to protect brands is akin to thievery.”
Business Model Transformation
Mr Ma writes: “What I shared with our investors last week was an observation: that the dynamics between some brands and their manufacturing partners, and brands and their customers, are shifting due to economic and technological developments.”
He clarifies that his statement was made to highlight how the trends may challenge the business model of some established brands. “That’s reality.”
Relevance of Thought Leadership Pieces
The publication of Mr Ma’s commentary in The Wall Street Journal goes beyond a simple clarification and offers insights into market trends.
It has also helped place accent on the relevance of opinion pieces in newspapers. They are not like those that make it to the Letters to the Editor columns. They are thought leadership pieces from subject matter experts (SMEs) that give an authoritative view of what is shaping the world, from business to politics
Journalists are not SMEs
Journalists are not SMEs. Not even those that are assigned to specific beats or verticals (sports, business, technology, etc.). The scope is broad and they cannot be expected to have a firm grip on what they are writing about.
It is a challenge for newspapers to attract SMEs. Why will anyone qualified enough in a professional area of expertise want to take on a job in the traditional media? It is a field that has been losing its lustre!
Their main charter is to report on events without tainting their pieces with opinionated ranting. Allowing them to do so will signal a compromise on objective reporting.
Let me leave this digression aside and go back to the theme of the post – Mr Ma and counterfeiting. It is not difficult to find fake goods of all top brands in China – clothing, handbags, pens, watches and what not!
But there are bigger challenges for the established players as evident in the technology sector. Take, for instance, Huawei, which had been slapped with a range of legal suits in the past by Cisco Systems over thefts of the latter’s patents.
The situation is vastly different now with Huawei itself spending big on Research and Development and coming up with its own innovations, becoming in the process a serious challenger to Cisco.
Then there are instances aplenty of the likes of electric cars (Tesla), mobile phones (Apple) and drones (DJI Phantom 3 Professional, General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, etc.) being cloned and unleashed in the market.
…But No Dearth of Ideas in China
China keeps its eyes and ears open for exciting newfangled ideas and pioneering innovations from the U.S. that it can quickly ape for flooding the market with cheap alternatives.
At the same time, China has also been developing new-generation gizmos and gadgets, and showcasing them through major technology events such as CE China, similar to the annual Consumer Electronics expos in the U.S. and Germany (Berlin). This report in Digital Trends gives you an idea of innovations unfolding in China though high-tech products from around the world were on display there.
Moreover, hackers have been helping Chinese firms, stealing designs through cyber-attacks. Alarmingly, their target also includes military weaponry and reports show that China has already built up an arsenal of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).
Patent thefts are not something that can give China any sense of pride but the copycat syndrome has worked and given it economic might!
G Joslin Vethakumar


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(Reuters) -Samsung Electronics said on Tuesday that production at its U.S. chip plant at Austin, Texas had returned to near-normal levels as of last week.
Samsung (KS:005930) and other chipmakers with production facilities in the area had seen shutdowns due to severe weather in mid-February.
Samsung declined to comment on when production would be fully back to normal.
The disruption will have a definite impact on the global chip contract manufacturing industry that is already battling a severe capacity crunch, research provider TrendForce has said.
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Samsung logic chips account for about 65% of the monthly production at the Samsung plant, TrendForce added.
The disruption is expected to hurt production of smartphones globally over April-June by about 5%, TrendForce estimates.


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Super-high-definition 4K televisions and computer screens are becoming more and more common, and more affordable, too. But, before 4K has even become the standard, an even higher-definition video resolution called 8K is peeking around the corner.
There's an 8K video uploaded to YouTube right now called "Ghost Towns" that's drawing a lot of buzz. The only problem is you probably can't watch it. It's a two-minute high-definition tour through what appears to be a small abandoned community. The caption beneath the video keeps it simple and just says this:
4K is so "early 2015". Ghost Towns in 8K.
According to YouTube, the site has supported 8K video since 2010, but the labeling of 8K videos only became possible more recently. It's technically playable through the Chrome Web browser, so why can't you see it?


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At its first investor day conference, Snap outlined a bullish future for the Snapchat app — with senior execs saying they expect the company to generate 50% revenue growth for at least the next several years.
On the upbeat forecast, Snap shares popped more than 7% on Tuesday, with the stock hitting all-time highs, after dropping nearly 10% earlier in the day.
Today, Snap has less than 2% share of the U.S. digital ad market, while Snapchat reaches nearly half of U.S. smartphone users. The implication? That the company has plenty of runway to grow.
CFO Derek Andersen said at the event that based on the monetization platform Snap has built and its product road map, “we can responsibly grow our topline revenue at 50% or better year over year for at least the next several years.”
For the full year 2020, Snap revenue grew 46% year over year, to $2.5 billion. Snap’s fourth-quarter 2020 results topped Wall Street earnings expectations, as Snapchat gained 16 million daily users to hit an average of 265 million in quarter.
The Snapchat app has five tabs — Camera, Map, Chat, Stories and Spotlight — and each of those areas are long-term opportunities represent multibillion-dollar revenue opportunities, according to Andersen.
CEO Evan Spiegel summed up Snap’s approach at the start of the presentation: “Our strategy is to take product innovations like augmented reality lenses and evolve them into platforms by building tools for creators and developers and providing distribution for their creations to reach the Snapchat community,”
Spiegel said that Snapchat Stories, despite “substantial competitive pressure” — referring to rivals like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter copying the format — has become its largest revenue stream.
“We generate the vast majority of our revenue from Snap Ads inserted in between those Stories,” he said. “And these ads allow our community to take direct actions by swiping or tapping, and they’ve become an important tool for direct response and brand advertisers.”
Snap says its original short-form Shows are a critical piece of its growth in engagement. In 2020, total time spent watching Shows was up nearly 70% year-over-year, according to Andersen. “As we continue to deepen our engagement, our available inventory of premium ad units has grown,” he said.
Meanwhile, even as others have copied Snapchat features, Snap itself has borrowed from TikTok with Spotlight, the user-generated content section in Snapchat. Launched in late November, Snap had over 100 million monthly active users in January 2021. “[W]e are excited about the potential for Spotlight to further expand the supply of our highest yielding and most in demand advertising products in the future,” Andersen said at the event.
According to the company, Snapchat reached over 70% of those 13-24 in countries comprising over half the world’s digital ad spend. Approximately 80% of the Snapchat user base is over the age of 18.
“Longer term, we believe Snapchatters will engage naturally with businesses of all sizes across our service, whether through a brand’s profile, finding store hours on the Map, or interacting with products using an AR Lens,” said Jeremi Gorman, Snap’s chief business officer.
To date, Snap has localized content in nine different languages from nearly 500 partners in 17 countries around the world.


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U.S. small business optimism surged to a record in August as the tax cuts and deregulation efforts of President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress led to more sales, hiring and investment, according to a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business.
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index jumped to 108.8 last month, the highest level ever recorded in the survey's 45-year history and above the previous record of 108 in 1983, set during the second year of Ronald Reagan's presidency. The August figure was up from a 107.9 reading in July.
The NFIB noted record readings for job creation plans and the amount of owners saying it was a good time to expand. Capital spending plans were the highest since 2007.
"Today's groundbreaking numbers are demonstrative of what I'm hearing everyday from small business owners – that business is booming," said NFIB President and CEO Juanita D. Duggan, in a press release Tuesday. "As the tax and regulatory landscape changed, so did small business expectations and plans."
Small businesses have been a key beneficiary of Trump's economic plans. The U.S. economy expanded by 4.2 percent in the second quarter, the fastest pace in nearly four years.


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A longtime Lee Highway seafood shop has closed its doors.
America Seafood Corp., a standalone store located in the Lee Heights Shops parking lot at 4450 Lee Highway, served its final customers on Dec. 31. Owners Gary and Martha Royce were clearing out the last of the store’s equipment today.
The shop has been open for nearly 35 years — a sign in the window sign says 44 years, but that’s a typo, Gary says — and has served legions of locals seeking the freshest seafood and Key lime pies around.
Royce said he his wife were planning to move back down to his native Key West within a month. He plans to stay there at least a year before potentially coming back up to Arlington and deciding what to do next.
“Just wanted to get out of here, we have been here for 35 years already,” Royce said. The response from customers, he said, has been one of shock and sadness.
“Two ladies came here crying,” he said. “The people love this place. I mean, we have been here longer than any shop in this whole place.”
The secret, according to Royce, was “good seafood, good banter.” Royce said he sourced his seafood primarily from New England and Florida fisheries, which set his offerings apart from those in grocery stores.
“We sold a lot of Florida fish: grouper, snapper, yellowtail, swordfish, tuna,” he said, listing some of his best sellers. “I sold two different size shrimp from Key West, Florida… we sold all different kinds of fish, some of them were not even the same week, sometimes we sold trout, Chilean sea bass, we sold salmon.”
“I think I sold quality stuff, that’s why the people want to know where can they go buy quality fish around here,” he continued. “I bought it all direct, nothing from around here… that’s all CO2 [carbon dioxide] treated. They inject it with stuff and freeze it then you thaw it. That’s what they sell at grocery stores.”
So where should customers go to find fresh seafood now that America Seafood has closed down? Gary wouldn’t say for publication, but he did suggest that customers weren’t happy with the recommendation.
“I tell them and they say, ‘that place is terrible.'”
Hat tip to John B.
Explore the hidden gem that is Arlington Heights with Susan Minnick in this week’s Neighborhood Spotlight.
After sunny, near-perfect weather during the work week, a cloudier and cooler weekend awaits. The local news cycle in Arlington has remained busy, shifting from stories around this month’s County…
The cement spheres of “Dark Star Park” in Rosslyn, the electric blue ribbon of “Dressed Up and Pinned” in Courthouse and the twin striped monoliths of “Echo” in the park…
(Updated 2:15 p.m.) Hundreds of students walked out of their classrooms this morning to take a stand against sexual assault and harassment in Arlington Public Schools. Walkouts were held from…


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But let’s get back to the Sound Shark story. Randy Gardner, a freelance producer from Upland, California, visited the Klover / Kernwer booth at the...
In our last post we talked about how Sound Shark Audio came to be. Today let’s talk a little about the history of Klover Products, Inc. Klover...
Sound Shark Audio is the consumer products division of Klover Products, Inc. Klover Products was incorporated in 2012 in order to produce parabolic...
The KLOVER MiK 16 parabolic microphone and the Klover Box 16 enclosure were used at the 2014 baseball playoffs..
Dan Weecks of Weecks Productions posted a short interview we did at the 2014 NAB Convention. He was impressed with the new KLOVER MiK 09 parabolic microphone.
The KLOVER MiK 26 parabolic microphone is now shipping with larger handle grips.
Fox Sports used three Klover parabolic mic enclosures for the broadcast of the 2014 All-Star game.
Thanks to Jason Martin for this photo of a KLOVER MiK 26 parabolic microphone being used to capture audio at a rodeo.
The Recording Engineer’s Handbook includes a photo of the KLOVER MiK 26 parabolic microphone.
Duke University posted a nice article about the KLOVER MiK parabolic microphones they saw at our booth at NAB 2014.
Joe Carpenter, the Babe Ruth of baseball audio mixers, requested that we loan him 2 KLOVER MiK 16 parabolic microphones for the MLB baseball game in Sydney.
The New York Mets have purchased a set of four 16-inch parabolic microphones to be permanently mounted at Citi Field with option to purchase four more.
The KLOVER MiK 26 parabolic microphone was used for the first time at a Super Bowl.
Clair Productions used six 26-inch Klover MiK parabolic mic in its broadcast of the USA Sevens International Rugby Tournament.
Fox Sports purchased three 16-inch KLOVER MiK parabolic microphones for the ALCS and World Series.


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Administrators for collapsed spreadbetter Alpari UK have failed to find a bidder for the firm and have begun to sell off its assets, resulting in the loss of 114 jobs.
KPMG had sought to find a buyer for the currency trader, which collapsed after huge losses in January in the wake of the shock appreciation of the Swiss franc.
A number of firms were said to be interested in the West Ham shirt sponsor, however, a deal was unable to be reached for the business as a whole and KPMG will go ahead with breaking it up and selling off assets.
KPMG said a deal has been agreed to sell Alpari’s intellectual property to its largest shareholder Andrey Dashin, including the Alpari brand name.
It explained: “While it has not been possible to effect a sale of the entire business of the company, we are delighted to have completed the disposal of the intellectual property assets, which will recover value for the company's creditors. We continue to speak to buyers about sales of other parts of the company’s business."
Of the nearly 170 staff, 114 have lost their jobs, while others remain to help with the administration.
“Regrettably, as a result of the lack of a buyer in the entirety of the company's business, 114 employees have now left the company due to redundancies and resignations. We continue to employ 52 employees who will assist in the special administration,” said KPMG.


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The news: Amazon’s grocery stores will no longer feature its contactless Just Walk Out technology as the retailer focuses on delivering a more familiar experience for shoppers.
- The company’s newest batch of Amazon Fresh stores—the first to debut after the retailer’s 18-month pause on grocery expansion—will open without Just Walk Out installed, SVP of grocery stores Tony Hoggett told The Information.
- Amazon will also remove the technology from the majority of its existing grocery footprint this year as part of a wider store refresh.
How we got here: Under former CEO Jeff Bezos, Just Walk Out was Amazon’s way of putting its unique stamp on the brick-and-mortar experience—one that was meant to revolutionize the way people shop in-store.
- The reality has been more nuanced. While Just Walk Out works well for convenience stores and stadiums, it’s ill-suited to handle the complexities of grocery shopping, especially when it comes to larger baskets involving produce and other loose items.
- The technology relies on an extensive network of cameras and sensors to track what people put in their carts. It’s expensive to install and requires significant manpower behind the scenes to review transactions.
- It can take hours for Amazon to email receipts to shoppers after their visits, adding unnecessary stress to a routine experience, particularly for budget-conscious shoppers counting every penny.
- That’s why the retailer is pivoting its focus to Dash Carts, which allow shoppers to scan items as they move through the store and check their spending in real time.
The strategic shift: Amazon’s revamped strategy under Hoggett, a grocery veteran, is more squarely focused on delivering what shoppers want in the grocery experience.
- The retailer is adding bright colors and redesigning Amazon Fresh stores to be more inviting after complaints that its previous layout was “soulless.”
- The stores will also have a much larger selection of products, including items from Amazon’s private labels, and feature Krispy Kreme doughnut and coffee stands to draw shoppers in.
- Amazon’s enhancements will extend to the ecommerce experience. The retailer is in the process of overhauling its grocery delivery capabilities to make it possible for shoppers to order from any of its grocery banners—including Fresh, Amazon.com, and Whole Foods—and have everything delivered in a single shipment.
The big takeaway: Amazon’s shift away from Just Walk Out is representative of the broader strategic realignment under CEO Andy Jassy. Rather than pouring money into moonshot projects, the retailer is focusing on the fundamentals—in this case, a simplified and improved grocery experience that meets shoppers’ needs and expectations.
Whether that will be enough to gain ground against Walmart will depend on how quickly Amazon can scale its new Fresh format and how effectively it can win over value-focused consumers.


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Technology giant Google recently unveiled the Google House app in India. The app will help…
There’s a new breed of malware doing the rounds that can root your Android smartphone, among a number of other nasty things, without you even knowing it.
Called “Godless”, the dangers of this malware were highlighted by TrendLabs, the research arm of digital security agency Trend Micro. Godless is a piece of malware contained in some Android apps that possesses a host of rooting exploits that it can use to wreak havoc on any device running Android Lollipop 5.1 and earlier.
According to TrendLabs, Godless is present in certain apps available even on prominent app store like Google Play, and has so far affected over 850,000 devices worldwide. In addition, nearly half of that number, 46.19 percent to be exact, are devices in India, with Indonesia coming in second, holding only about 10 percent of the affected devices.
Godless uses an open-source rooting framework called android-rooting-tools, which can be used to unlock various Android devices. Once a malicious app with the malware is downloaded onto the device, Godless waits until the phone’s screen is turned off before proceeding with the rooting routine. Once that’s done, it implements a different standalone Google Play client.
The reason for this is that Godless can then fraudulently, and without your knowledge, upvote the apps that contain the malare to boost their rating. In addition, it can also remotely instruct the device to download additional apps, which may contain unwanted ads as well. That, however, is the least of those worries. More importantly, once the phone is rooted, Godless can also install backdoors to spy on the user.
TrendLabs has identified a number malicious apps on Google Play that contain the malware, including utility apps, and copies of popular games. One mentioned in particular is called “Summer Flashlight.”
But what if you only download apps from developers you trust? Well, if you download or update your apps outside the Play Store, you could still be in trouble.
The best way to avoid this kind of security issues is caution. Preferably, stick to downloading apps of certified platforms like GOogle Play and Amazon, and be sure to research a developer that you haven’t heard of before. In addition, if you’re proficient enough to root your own Android, stay away from suspicious websites that offer app updates or downloads. Even among the modding community, there are a few trusted sourcees to get your apps, if you know where to look.


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Under the terms of the agreement, Abbott will acquire OptiMedica for $250 million, net of cash, plus additional payments totaling up to $150 million upon completion of certain development, regulatory or sales milestones.
Abbott noted that currently, most cataract procedures are performed manually, with the surgeon making incisions into the eye by hand. It said OptiMedica's Catalys Precision Laser System is designed to allow surgeons to replace some of the technically demanding manual steps in cataract surgery with a precise, computer-guided, femtosecond laser technology.
The Catalys laser system has both CE Mark in Europe and clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"The acquisition of OptiMedica will provide Abbott with an entry point into the rapidly developing laser cataract surgery market," said Murthy Simhambhatla, senior vice president of Medical Optics for Abbott. "The Catalys laser system provides physicians with a state-of-the-art, computer-guided alternative in treating patients suffering from cataracts."
Abbott noted that nearly 22 million cataract surgeries will be performed globally in 2013.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year and won't affect Abbott's ongoing full-year 2013 earnings-per-share guidance.
In April, Abbott reported that its first-quarter revenues rose 1.8% as sales of baby formula and other nutritional products in emerging markets helped offset declines in the U.S. and Europe, where austerity measures and tough economic conditions continued to pressure use of its medical devices.
At the start of the year, Abbott Labs spun out AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) to shareholders in a bid for a higher market valuation for Abbott Labs' diversified businesses.
Shares closed Friday at $35.32 and were inactive premarket. The stock has risen 13% in the past 12 months.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires


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e-Botswana to go national
COMPUTINGJohn Churu, Gaborone, Botswana | July 20, 2012, 11:24 a.m.
By John Churu, Gaborone, Botswana
e-Botswana, the country’s only private television station, will be beamed throughout the country in the not so distant future.
The station manager at e-Botswana, Dave Coles, told biztechafrica.com that at the moment, they are working on putting finishing touches, and will be set for broadcasting.
Asked how far the station has gone with its national spread efforts, Coles said: “We are in the final stages. What we need to do now is to apply to the National Broadcasting Board for a national license. We have already put some money and we are currently working on a business case to see the project through.”
He said the team is excited about the prospects of going national and they will leave no stone unturned to get Batswana talking about the approach of the second nationally available television station.
Currently the station is limited to Gaborone and its surrounding areas, with a coverage of about 100 kilometres radius of the capital city. However, as the station moves towards national coverage, the initial idea is also to start with the country’s major cities then branch to other places as the viewership grows.
Another exciting development to come from e-Botswana is the introduction of a local news slot which will take the place of the current eNews Africa bulletin which is broadcast from South Africa etv’s studios in South Africa.
According to the station manager, this will bring “balanced news bulletin which will give a healthy balance to news items on the station.”
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The State government of Mizoram has lifted 17 year old ban on consumption of liquor and will come into force from today. However, the government did not relax on the punishment awarded to drunken driving and drunken brawls in public places. It isn't clear whether the government lifted the ban to increase its income.
The Mizoram Liquor Prohibition and Control Act [MLPC], 2014 will replace the Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act of 1995 and this new legislation legalises consumption of liquor for the first time in the state in the last 17 years. Wine shops will able to sell liquor from the month of March while the preparations have already begun in a large scale.


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just the Round-Up - The week in drinks
The week in drinks
The top ten stories published on just-drinks this week:
SABMiller is to merge its South Africa and Africa units with the head of the latter to lead the enlarged region.
Brooklyn Brewery and Carlsberg have lifted the curtain on a new joint brewery in Sweden.
Diageo plans to release a single grain Scotch whisky in partnership with David Beckham and British media mogul Simon Fuller.
Bacardi has announced that its president & CEO, Ed Shirley, has left the company after two years in the role.
The new head of Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) has admitted the company has too many brands, while making clear he can be “cold” when it comes to discarding assets.
Stock Spirits' largest shareholder, Oaktree Capital Management, has sold its entire 36.8% stake in the group.
Constellation Brands has reported a big jump in full-year profits and sales after its newly-acquired beer business drove growth.
PepsiCo is to roll out three Pepsi extensions in the US sweetened with “real” sugar.
Export volumes of Champagne to its biggest market, the UK, fell last year, but Belgium, Australia and Sweden saw healthy rises.
Export sales of Scotch whisky by value were flat last year as sales to China fell sharply, but demand in the US and India hit a record high.
- No Home Comfort for TWE as Bids Collapse
- Treasury Wine Estates: Here I Go Again On My Own
- Bacardi Seeks Own History at Bombay Sapphire Home
- Will low-alcohol wines wither on the vine?
- Private-equity bids "over" - TWE head
- Diageo's Johnnie Walker hit by Travel Retail slump
- Carlsberg suspends production at Russian brewery
- Treasury Wine Estates pulls plug on takeover talks
- Anheuser-Busch InBev shuts fourth Russian brewery
- Mallya stays chairman at Diageo's United Spirits