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LONDON — It may sound like a trend, but the long-bad, biny-haired haircut is the most common haircut on Earth, according to new research.
The findings of a survey by the National Centre for Social Research and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, which looked at the hairstyles worn by 2,000 British adults, suggest that many Britons are opting for a more curvy look, according the BBC.
People who have long black hair have been seen as “slackers” who don’t take care of themselves, said the researchers.
“We think that a lot of these people are very comfortable with the way their hair is done, and have very little idea of how to do it in a way that’s more sustainable,” said Dr. Matthew J. Dyer, a social psychologist at the University at Buffalo who led the study.
There’s been a rise in the popularity of short hair in recent years, and the researchers say that it has become a fashion statement.
But many of those who have adopted shorter hair styles have become increasingly concerned about the cost of such haircuts, and say that the shorter hairstyles are not sustainable in the long run.
“Long-haired people in general have to spend a lot more money to look good than short-haired ones, and we think that that money is not being well spent,” said Dyer.
Dyer said that for people with short hair, the long haircut is a way to keep up with the trends and that it is also an opportunity to cut costs.
They often go to the hair salon to trim their hair, so there’s a lot less fuss, which they see as a better value for money, he said.
While some people choose to stay in the industry and continue to wear their long hair, many others are moving on to shorter haircuts.
The trend may be in decline, but it is still popular with people, Dyer said.
“It’s the trend, so we’re going to keep on doing it.”
Read more on hairstyles at ABC News.
More from ABC News


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But Tango-capable devices require fancy hardware, like a depth sensor, and there are few phones out there that support it, so it hasn't become widely used.
Not to be outdone by Apple, Google on Tuesday announced its own augmented reality ambitions for Android. What is different about ARCore (compared to other AR development tools), is that ARCore looks to bring AR functionality to a vast number of Android smartphones, quickly. And Google is calling it, quite amusingly, ARCore.
The SDK works with the Java/OpenGL, Unity and Unreal software engines and, like Tango, uses information provided by the device's sensors to accurately position virtual objects on the screen, without requiring the use of Global Positioning System signals or other externally provided data.
Devastating Photos Showing The Tragic Aftermath Of Hurricane Harvey
He promised a rapid federal response for those affected, saying: "You're going to have what you need and it's going to be fast". Long said up to 50 Texas counties have been affected by Harvey and 18 of those counties are eligible for federal aid.
Google has released a preview of a new software development kit (SDK) for augmented reality (AR) in a step aimed at broadening the range of devices that can use the technology, which combines virtual objects with a real environment viewed on a device's screen.
Furthermore, ARCore will work with Unity, Unreal, and Java/OpenGL for motion tracking, environmental understanding, and light estimation. "Developers who have already developed on the Tango platform can use that experience to help them create on the ARCore platform.", says Android Engineering VP Dave Burke in today's blog post. Augmented Reality, in general, is progressing every day with apps like Holo and Pokemon Go.
Powering millions of devices, Android will have one of the most prominent impacts in making Augmented Reality truly mainstream.
Google says ARCOre stems from its work on Tango. The company is now focusing on ARcore. And with developers able to begin experimenting right now, expect to see plenty of nitpicking between the pair and even more creative AR exploits showing up on your Twitter feed. Starting today, developers can use ARCore on the Pixel and Samsung's Galaxy S8, as long as they're running Android 7.0 Nougat or above. These will allow for a phone's camera to detect feature points in a room, detect horizontal surfaces where AR objects can be placed and interpret lighting conditions so virtual objects can be correctly lit. However, like every other software framework, Google ARCore's success also comes down to how well it is received by developers.

domain: news


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AB InBev on Monday confirmed another offer to buy SABMiller for about 67.4 billion pounds, or $103.6 billion. The bid is more than a pound more per share (43.50) than its previous offer of GBP 42.15, which SABMiller rejected less than a week ago.
AB InBev says the cash proposal represents a premium of more than 48 percent to SABMiller’s closing share price of 29.34 pounds on Sept. 14 (being the last business day prior to renewed speculation of an approach from AB InBev).
Monday’s offer marked AB InBev’s fourth to SABMiller. Prior to its last two offers, AB InBev made two written proposals in private to SABMiller, the first at 38.00 pounds per share in cash and the second at 40.00 pounds per share in cash, according to AB.
SABMiller said Tuesday in a statement: “Under the terms of the possible offer, SABMiller shareholders would be entitled to receive GBP 44.00 per share in cash, with a partial share alternative available for approximately 41 percent of the SABMiller shares.
“The all-cash offer represents a premium of approximately 50 percent to SABMiller’s closing share price of GBP 29.34” on Sept. 14.
“The board of SABMiller has indicated to AB InBev that it would be prepared unanimously to recommend the all-cash offer of GBP 44.00 per SABMiller share to SABMiller shareholders…”
Go here to view SABMiller’s full statement as well a list of the potential deal’s “pre-conditions.”
Industry experts weigh in
A number of industry experts have given their thoughts on the proposed deal.
Prior to SABMiller accepting the latest offer, National Beer Wholesalers Association President and CEO Craig Purser said Monday, as the grouped kicked off its 78th annual convention and trade show in Las Vegas, that “the global market power that results from this new entity could be like nothing this industry has ever seen. The impact worldwide related to raw materials, market share and overall influence is staggering. That is why antitrust regulators and antitrust officials must give this acquisition thorough scrutiny and exhaustive review. We want to ensure that the American marketplace—an orderly marketplace—isn’t negatively impacted by an increase in global power.
“At the same time, this proposed global deal reinforces the value of the open and independent American distribution system,” he added. “What better way to demonstrate the value of having three separate tiers—a system that gets new brands to market, generates robust competition and delivers the best selection and value to retailers and consumers?”
John Colley of the Warwick Business School in England, a professor of practice and a former CEO of a FTSE 100 company, who researches large takeovers, said, “AB InBev has paid a reasonably full price for SABMiller, which certainly passes some of the merger benefits to SABMiller shareholders.
“AB InBev shareholders will be hoping that it can extract the planned benefits and overall for once I would have said it is a decent deal for both shareholders as AB InBev probably will extract the synergies and consolidate a declining market. I say this because the majority of major acquisitions fail to extract planned synergies and more than half destroy value.
“That said AB InBev does have a good record with previous acquisitions. However, expect substantial redundancies and cost savings over the next year.
“Product ranges are also likely to be rationalized allowing greater investment in the retained brands. However, for the customer, one in three beers will be produced by AB InBev as a result of this merger, which suggests less choice and less competition.
“The global beer market overall is largely flat and in some regions is declining as other beverages such as wine continue to penetrate. Micro Brewers and their highly differentiated cask ales also continue to make progress. As a consequence cost, product and distribution rationalization become an attractive way of increasing shareholder returns.
“In major manufacturing operations economies of scale can be enormous, which means breweries will be rationalized to focus on the largest and most modern. Scope economies will be substantial, too, as head offices and country management teams are likely to be rationalized. Combined purchasing power should also realize substantial savings. AB InBev has both a reputation and demonstrable track record for being able to effectively extract these savings.”


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THIS WEEK IN 1993: Wily fox takes a shine to footwear
Foxy happenings were afoot in a Gosport garden where wily thieves took a curious shine to shoes just days after the same problem was reported in Fareham.
Twenty-two items of footwear were dumped in the garden of puzzled pensioner Norman Stockman in just three weeks.
And footloose foxes were blamed for the strange stash of boots and shoes.
An RSPCA spokesman said he had never before heard of foxes stealing shoes, but playful cubs could have been responsible.
‘They are just like puppies – people give their pets squeaky toys, and I suppose cubs could easily pinch a pair of slippers instead.’
Mr Stockman, 75, of Madden Close, said: ‘Every morning I get up and find another boot or shoe – it’s becoming like a graveyard for footwear.’
He added: ‘I’ve found some single shoes and some in pairs. If no one claims them I am going to give them to the dustmen.’


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Last week, Realme launched the Narzo 30 smartphone in India, which includes the Narzo 30A and Narzo 30 Pro models. With its release, the Narzo 30 Pro became the most affordable 5G phone in the country, priced at 16,999 INR.
Now according to the recently released news of Realme Camera Innovation Event, 2021 shows that Realme 8 Pro will debut with the 108MP Samsung HM2 1/1.52″ main sensor. The sensor will support 9-in-1 pixel binning and ISOCELL Plus. The camera can output excellent images that have balanced overall exposure, vivid colors, and clear details in both bright and dark environments.
The company also revealed that Realme 8 Pro’s camera will be equipped with an in-sensor zoom function activated in 3x mode. This function can only use the 12MP sensor that is partially mapped with the zoom to generate an image. Due to the smaller size of 12MP photos, the camera will also bring a faster imaging process.
It is also said that the Realme 8 Pro camera will be the world’s first product to play starry sky time-lapse video and tilt-shift time-lapse video on its smartphone. It will take 480 seconds or 4 minutes to take 30 photos and then generate a starry photo or 30 fps time-lapse video. This means that the time-lapse mode can display the ever-changing universe at 480 times the speed.
The Realme 8 Series will be able to capture tilt-shift photos as well as 10x faster tilt-shift time-lapse video with the help of Realme’s new tilt-shift photography algorithm. The company also hints that the 8 series will come with three iconic filters- Neon Portrait, Dynamic Bokeh Portrait, and AI Color Portrait.
Till now the company has not announced a release date, but it is expected that the Realme 8 series may arrive in India later this month or early next month.
Give a new look to your Portrait shots with these new filters of the #realme8Pro:
👉Dynamic Bokeh Portrait
👉AI Color Portrait
— realme (@realmemobiles) March 2, 2021


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By: Michael Glanville
Australia Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business, Trade, FDI, Corruption
This article talks about the economy of Australia and how it compares to other countries. Their rank globally is 5th with their economic score being an 80, which is very good. It attracts many tourists because of the many sights to see. Government debt has been rising since the global financial crisis but remains substantially lower than in most other advanced economies.
Australian Economy Snapshot
This article talks about basically the same things. Their economy is very good compared to others and many people go there to witness the many attractions they have. Their economic growth is on the rise and their unemployment rate is very low, especially compared to the US.


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Fitbit just launched a new $100 fitness tracker with the goal of getting kids to be more active.
Called the Fitbit Ace, the new band is designed specifically for children. It comes in two colors — purple and blue — and costs $100.
Fitbit says it designed the band to help fight childhood obesity. It can automatically track kids’ activity, remind them to get up and move, and set activity goals for them to meet.
Fitbit Ace is available for presale starting March 13. Here’s how it works:
Fitbit Ace looks a lot like Fitbit’s Alta fitness tracking band, but smaller. It comes in two colors: Purple…
Fitbit Ace is intended for kids ages 8 and up. Fitbit says it created the band to help get kids to be more active, and to fight childhood obesity.


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Toki Tori 2 fans rejoice! After a year and a half of sweat, blood, tears, and delays, Two Tribes is proud to announce the game is finally complete. The game has been submitted to Nintendo for certification and an official launch date will be announced in the coming days. The testing should take no more than a few weeks if all goes well.
In the mean time, the team have posted a time lapse video of a full play through on the Nintendo Wii U on their website for all to enjoy.
Find out more about Toki Tori at their official site here.


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First there was the iPad at around 10 inches and then there was the iPad Mini that is closer to 8 inches. Now Apple Inc is gearing up to roll out a larger, 12.9-inch version of its once dominant iPad for 2015, with production set to begin in the first quarter of next year, Bloomberg cited people with knowledge of the matter as saying on Tuesday.
The report comes as Apple struggles with declining sales of its tablets, which are faltering as people replace iPads less frequently than expected and larger smartphones made by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and other rivals have taken a bite out of its sales.
Apple has been working with its suppliers for over a year on larger touch-screen devices, Bloomberg cited the sources as saying.
It is expected to introduce larger versions of its 4-inch iPhone next month, although the company has not publicized plans for its most important device.
Apple was not immediately available for comment.
Apple has agreed to replace some iPhone 5 batteries free of charge, claiming that “a very small percentage” of the smartphones needed to be charged more often and that those charges were quickly exhausted.
The program, which was announced last week, only in a support document published on Apple’s website, offered free battery replacements for iPhone 5 devices that “suddenly experience shorter battery life or need to be charged more frequently.”
According to Apple, the affected phones were sold between September 2012 and January 2013, and “fall within a limited serial number range.” The Cupertino, Calif. company also said that only “a very small percentage” of iPhone 5 devices were impacted.
Computerworld‘s experience was different. Out of an admittedly small sample — three iPhone 5 phones bought during the stretch in question, each several weeks apart — two were eligible for the battery replacement. Neither of the two that qualified, however, had required more charging than was normal for a nearly-two-year-old iPhone, nor did their batteries drain any faster than the third, ineligible, device.
Apple started selling the iPhone 5 on Sept. 21, 2012. It retired the model last year when it was replaced by the iPhone 5S and 5C.
This was not the first time that Apple has dealt with iPhone battery issues. In October 2013, the company confirmed that it was contacting a “very limited” number of iPhone 5S owners and offering them a replacement phone.
In both 2009 and 2011, iPhone users also reported battery-draining problems with their iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4S devices, respectively.
Customers can check their iPhone 5 for battery replacement eligibility onApple’s website by entering their device’s serial number. That can be found under Settings/General/About.
Until Friday, Aug. 29, the replacement deal will be available only in the U.S. and China; on that date, other countries will come online.
At present, that applies to the Unity Test Tools and the engine’s new graphical user interface system, which was demonstrated in the opening keynote of Unite 2014. The features will be available under the MIT/X11 license, giving users the freedom to “control, customise and extend” their functionality.
The source code for the components will be hosted on BitBucket, and Unity has prepared a guide for any interested open source contributors. The source for the Unity Test Tools is already available, with the GUI to follow.
“Beyond that, we don’t have a concrete plan, but we have a lot of things in the pipeline,” the company said in a statement. “These components will all be isolated from Unity in such a way that you can modify them and use your own modified version with the official public Unity release.
“Although Unity Technologies has been active in the open-source community for quite some time, this is the first time we’ll be opening the source to components of Unity itself.
“We’re excited to see what you do with it.”
Sources are suggesting that Activision is planning to launch an entertainment division that would be responsible for creating movies and TV shows based on Activision intellectual properties. The move might leave many scratching their heads if true since so many others have failed at trying to turn video game IP into gold.
Word is that CEO Bobby Kotick is taking to folks in an effort to secure the right talent to make this happen. Kotick has to be aware that this has not gone well for its competitors, but he apparently thinks that Activision IP is different and they will have no problem giving the people want they want.
Our take on this is that we will wait and see what happens, but it will not be easy to be successful, regardless of the IP that you have in your stable. The bigger question might be is it really worth the money and effort to try and make it work?
According to DFC, 92 per cent of PC game sales in 2013 were digital and it thinks this trend will continue and rise in 2014.
Gamers are starting to favour digital downloads over physical copies of the game, which is not really surprising given that who actually wants to own boxes and DVDs and manuals when all you really need is the game.
DFC Intelligence goes on to add that PC games outsold console games in terms of revenue so it means that channel is not the way gamers are playing. But then again the specs of consoles are well below PCs.
By his own admission, Andrew Wilson still “geeks out” at EA’s press conferences, despite his position as the company’s CEO demanding that he take centre stage. When we meet after the Gamescom media briefing, he enthuses in great detail and at considerable length about a FIFA 15 video demonstrating the capabilities of the new game’s goalkeepers. What that team has accomplished since he ascended to executive level, Wilson says, never fails to make him smile.
And Wilson has spent his first year in charge identifying the ways to spread that enthusiasm to EA’s customers. That hasn’t always resulted in success, of course: with Battlefield 4 the company stumbled once again on the unpredictable landscape of online gaming, and with EA Access it met with resistance from Sony on the grounds of value. In this interview, Wilson discusses both of these issues, and outlines EA’s renewed dedication to listening to its customers and following wherever that might lead.
Q: The last time we spoke you were still with EA Sports, and you’ve had a promotion since then – quite a big one, in fact. You’re coming up on a year as CEO now. Have we started to see evidence of the mark you wanted to make on the company?
AW: I think…no, I know that I didn’t approach this role thinking about making a mark or leaving a legacy. It wasn’t personal in nature. I took on the role because of how I feel about the company. This company has been very good to me and my family over the years, I loved the people I worked with inside the company and I loved the games we made together.
“Financial return is an outcome, but it shouldn’t be the objective. We’ve made a lot of decisions based on that over the last 12 months”
As I worked in the company in a variety of different roles, it became apparent to me that in some areas we’d lost our way a little bit. When I came in [as CEO] I really wanted to bring to the forefront the things that I thought made the company great, things that had delivered for us over the years. That really meant building this foundation of ‘player first’. I get that there are things we have to think about: we’re a big company, we’re a public company, we have shareholders, we have 8,000 people working for us. But all of that is for nothing unless you deliver for your number one constituency: the players. Without that, it’s for nothing.
Q: So the idea that the CEO is stuck trying to serve two masters, the shareholder and the customer, that isn’t how you see it, then?
AW: Financial return is an outcome, but it shouldn’t be the objective. Financial return is what happens when you achieve the right objectives. We’ve made a lot of decisions based on that over the last 12 months. We are engaging with our player-base more regularly, through more platforms to ensure that we’re doing what they want, and to make sure that we’re listening to them when we’re doing something that they don’t want. It’s as much about eliminating what doesn’t inspire or entertain as it is about the stuff that does.
Q: Is that how we should think about the problems that Battlefield 4 faced? You’ve publicly addressed the complaints already, but was that just a consequence of trying to deliver on an ambitious objective?
AW: If I promised you that nothing would ever go wrong [on future projects], that would be very disingenuous of me. The reality is that we come to work every day and challenge ourselves and our teams to do creative and innovative things. What I can say, however, is that living up to that commitment to engagement and action I mentioned before means that we will make tough decisions in service of the player.
Titanfall for Xbox 360 was coming in hot, it needed a few more weeks, and we moved it out of the fiscal year to get a great game. I don’t think we would have done that before. Need for Speed is a franchise we’ve released every year for 17 years – it’s as sure a thing as FIFA. But the team said that they couldn’t do what we challenged them to do in a year. It wasn’t possible, so for the first time in 17 years we decided not to launch a Need For Speed.
More recently, Battlefield: Hardline, moving out of the holiday quarter would traditionally be seen as catastrophic in this industry.
Q: Particularly that franchise. Battlefield 3 and 4 were both holiday releases.
AW: Yes, but it was the feedback. We brought gamers in earlier, we let them play the beta earlier. And the beta was very stable, so we’d solved a bunch of the problems that existed in Battlefield 4. But what people said to us was, ‘This is pretty cool, but we think you should go deeper. We want more out of this.’ So we’ve given the team more time. That’s a tough decision to make, and it has a financial impact in the near-term, but long-term, for the player and the franchise, that’s the right decision.
Q: Do you see EA Access in the same way? You’re the first publisher to pull the trigger on something like this on console. I remember a talk you gave at the Develop conference a few years back, where you held up services like Netflix as a model for the games industry to emulate. Was this idea in your mind all the way back then?
AW: It’s not completely the same, but yes. But, again, I wouldn’t take credit for that programme in its entirety. I’ve been involved in that programme, but we’ve got a great team that’s been looking at challenging the standard by which certain people access products. It’s early days – we launched it yesterday – but for what it’s worth all the positive intent is there. It will evolve, but what we’ve come to understand – and what I believed back then – is that this concept of, ‘I want to give you an amount of money each month that makes sense, and for that I want a bunch of cool stuff’, we want to live up to that.
Does that mean people will stop paying $60 for games? No, but there’s a big part of the population for whom that [EA Access] is the right context, that’s the right way for them to engage with games.
“There’s a big part of the population for whom EA Access is the right context, that’s the right way for them to engage with games”
Q: And potentially it’s a way for people who wouldn’t ordinarily play, say, Madden to get acquainted with the franchise. For a lot of people, FIFA and Battlefield would be enough to justify for the annual fee, and anything else is a bonus.
AW: Yes, but there will be many different types of players. For some people that will be how they want to play all content, for others it will form some part of it. There’ll be others who might use it just to trial games. Again, the price point is low enough that it’s pretty cool as a trial mechanism. We want to build a service that players can use in a way that makes sense to them.
Q: It gives the catalogue longevity, too, which is something that the games industry hasn’t been particularly good at.
AW: EA makes great games. Stuff that we made ten years ago is still good, and so in ten years time the games we’re making now will still be good.
Q: It’s early days, as you point out, but even in the near term are you planning to grow the selection on EA Access, to be additive?
AW: Absolutely. We wanted to launch it at a point where we could put things into the catalogue, into The Vault, and it would have value. We thought that four [games] was the minimum for the price-point, but we want to get to a place where you could play any number of games for that price-point. Over time, the value will just get better and better and better, in much the same way that Netflix does. When I started subscribing to Netflix, there was no House Of Cards, there was no Orange Is The New Black – there is now.
Q: I have been surprised at my preference for buying games digitally in the generation so far. I thought it would take a bit more time.
AW: Convenience is a wonderful thing.
Q: Is that sort of behaviour behind the decision to get EA Access out there now, this year? Is that transition happening faster than you expected?
AW: No. Listen, we – and certainly myself – have matured in the understanding over the years about how people consume content, irrespective of the industry. One of the stats that I hear frequently is that 40 per cent of music is still bought on CD. Now, I haven’t bought a CD in 14 years. I’ve bought vinyl, by the way, a bunch in the last 14 years, so I consume media in different ways through different business models based on what I’m looking for. The way my view has evolved, I’m a bit like you: I haven’t bought a disc for my PS4 or my Xbox One; I click a button and it turns up, and that’s good for me. But that doesn’t mean that everyone wants it the same way. I’ve moved from a belief that there will be one access model to rule them all, to the belief that our objective as a company is to provide access to our entertainment in ways that make sense to the growing population of players.
Q: Services like EA Access to make sense in the context of this generation, which seems to largely about choice, whether that’s variety of games, how you want to buy, how you want communicate with other players. The experience is very open now.
AW: One of the things that we’re learning as we make the digital transformation is that we don’t need to guess what players want any more. For the longest time we had to guess, and the first opportunity to find out whether you got it right or not was when you saw the game on the shelf. Now, we’re getting better at listening. We haven’t always been great listeners, but we’re getting better, and what that’s telling us is that people want choice. They want to be able to choose what’s right for them at a given moment in time. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all any longer. We’ve got to build a core platform, game engines and games that facilitate that.
Q: Are you concerned that Access will alter your customer’s perception of value? FIFA 14 is still a game that can be played all year whether the new one is out or not. That $60 has got to feel like a better decision than before, surely.
“We thought that four games was the minimum for the price-point, but we want to get to a place where you could play any number of games for that price-point”
AW: It doesn’t matter whether you spend a $1, $10 or $100,000, as long as you’re getting value from what you’ve spent then you’ll feel good about that. EA Access feels like tremendous value, and whether you continue to feel good about paying whatever it is for a frontline product comes down to our ability to to deliver value.
The commitment that we’re making to those frontline products is that they will be bigger, more engaging, service oriented, with new and dynamic content every time you log in. People are now playing FIFA and Battlefield all year round. When I started a game would get played for four weeks, and then it was on to the next one. The value that we deliver today, we have games that can be the only thing you play for an entire year.
Q: Certain products have started to feel out of time to me. I won’t mention the name, but I bought a game digitally that cost the same amount as, for example, FIFA, and it took me six or seven hours to finish and that was it. I felt cheated in a way that I wouldn’t have with the exact same game at this point in the last generation.
AW: That understanding of value is really, really important, and I’m trying to push that into the organisation – irrespective of business model. Back in the day it was all about delivering $60 of value; now, I want to deliver $1 of value if you want to spend $1, I want to deliver $10 of value if you want to spend $10. I want to deliver value on your investment and on your investment of time. As you get older you realise that time is the most important resource. Part of your issue with that other game is that it took six hours, and you didn’t feel the value returned. We should think about the investment of money, but also the investment of time.
Q: You’ve mentioned the value of EA Access several times, and obviously Sony came out and disagreed on that point. For now, at least, Access won’t be available to PlayStation customers. Was that disappointing, particularly with the reason Sony gave?
AW: What I can say is that we launched it yesterday. We believed when we launched it that it was great value, and gamers, for the most part, have fed back that it’s great value. We’re going to continue to put things into that service that make it even better value. It will evolve and go through lots of permutations over time as we listen and learn from players who engage with it. My hope is that we can deliver that kind of service to many millions of players for years to come.
The storage of user data in China represents a departure from the policies of some technology companies, notably Google Inc, which has long refused to build data centers in China due to censorship and privacy concerns.
Apple said the move was part of an effort to improve the speed and reliability of its iCloud service, which lets users store pictures, e-mail and other data. Positioning data centers as close to customers as possible means faster service.
The data will be kept on servers provided by China Telecom Corp Ltd, the country’s third-largest wireless carrier, Apple said in a statement.
“Apple takes user security and privacy very seriously,” it said. “We have added China Telecom to our list of data center providers to increase bandwidth and improve performance for our customers in mainland china. All data stored with our providers is encrypted. China Telecom does not have access to the content.”
A source with knowledge of the situation said the encryption keys for Apple’s data on China Telecom servers would be stored offshore and not made available to China Telecom.
Apple has said it has devised encryption systems for services such as iMessage that even Apple itself cannot unlock. But some experts expressed scepticism that Apple would be able to withhold user data in the event of a government request.
“If they’re making out that the data is protected and secure that’s a little disingenuous because if they want to operate a business here, that’d have to comply with demands from the authorities,” said Jeremy Goldkorn, director of Danwei.com, a research firm focused on Chinese media, internet and consumers.
“On the other hand if they don’t store Chinese user data on a Chinese server they’re basically risking a crackdown from the authorities.”
Goldkorn added that data stored in the United States is subject to similar U.S. regulations where the government can use court orders to demand private data.
A spokesman for China Telecom declined to comment.
Apple, which was at the forefront of creating the tablet market in 2010 with its first iPad, has seen growth plummet from 2012, as larger phones became more popular and people delayed replacing their tablets.
Mass production of the iPad with a 9.7-inch (24.6-cm) screen has already started, and it is likely to be unveiled by the end of current quarter or early next quarter, Bloomberg said, citing two people familiar with the matter.
A new version of the 7.9-inch iPad mini is also entering production and is likely to be available by the end of the year, Bloomberg said.
Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller declined to comment on the report.
International Business Machines Corp said in July it would partner exclusively with Apple to sell iPhones and iPads, which could rejuvenate the tablet’s sales by entering into a largely untapped corporate market.
Apple shipped 13.2 million iPads in the June quarter, 8 percent less than a year earlier. Sales of the devices, which accounted for 15 percent of revenue, fell short of Wall Street’s expectations for the second quarter in a row.
Word is circulating that the new BioWare IP which is rumored to be called Shadow Realms could be on EA’s agenda to finally be revealed at Gamescom. While rumors have been making the rounds for some time, so far EA has been mum about its existence.
We do know that EA’s is planning to provide more details on FIFA 15, Battlefield: Hardline, The Sims 4, Dragon Age Inquisition, and Dawngate at its Gamescom presser which will take place on Wednesday, August 13th at 9am BST.
While EA might reveal Shadow Realms, it is likely that BioWare has it on the release schedule for late 2015 at the soonest, but it is possible that it could even be a 2016 title. Let’s hope EA puts some of these rumors to bed and tells us what Shadow Realms is all about.
Activision Blizzard reported its financial results for the quarter ended June 30 today, revealing an unprecedented reliance on digital revenues.
The publisher reported revenues of $970 million in sales on a GAAP basis, 49 percent of which came from digital channels. On a non-GAAP basis (excluding the impact of changes in deferred revenues), the digital percentage was actually 73 percent of the company’s $658 million in sales. Activision attributed the digital strength to Blizzard’s lineup of titles (World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, and Diablo III), combined with digital sales for Call of Duty.
However, not all of those digital sales drivers posted strong numbers for the quarter. World of Warcraft in particular lost about 800,000 subscribers over the period, and as of the end of June was down to a paying player base of 6.8 million gamers. However, Activision Blizzard characterized this decline as a “seasonal” dip in advance of the next expansion, Warlords of Draenor, which is set to launch later this year. The publisher likened the downturn to the subscriber losses that happened in 2012 ahead of the Mists of Panderia launch.
On a GAAP basis, Activision Blizzard revenues were down nearly 8 percent, with net income down 37 percent to $204 million. However, the publisher still beat its previous guidance. On a non-GAAP basis, revenues were up about 10 percent to $658 million, while non-GAAP net income was reported at $45 million, down 50 percent year-over-year.
The quarter’s performance gave Activision Blizzard enough confidence to update its previous guidance for the full year. For calendar year 2014, the publisher had previously forecast total GAAP revenues of $4.22 billion, but moved that up to $4.24 billion today. The company also projected earnings per share of $0.91, up from $0.89.
In another dose of bad news for Samsung Electronics, the Korean tech giant has lost its ranking as China’s top smartphone vendor, after holding onto the position for two straight years, according to research firm Canalys.
In this year’s second quarter, Chinese company Xiaomi overtook Samsung to become the country’s largest smartphone maker with a 14 percent market share. Samsung held on to the second spot, with a 12 percent share, slightly ahead of third place Lenovo, outshipping it by 200,000 units.
The Korean electronics giant had been China’s leading smartphone maker since 2012′s first quarter, said Wang Jingwen, an analyst with Canalys. At the time, the company’s market share was 22 percent.
In China, Samsung sells a large range of handsets, from high end to low, and benefits from a strong brand and a vast reseller network. But its Chinese rivals are increasingly putting pressure on the company, especially when it comes to selling lower-end phones, Wang said.
“In the mid-to-low end segment, Samsung devices have not represented great value for money in China,” she said. The country’s largest mobile carrier, China Mobile, is also partnering more with domestic handset makers to launch phones built for its new 4G network, Wang added.
Xiaomi, on the other hand, has been growing fast, largely by selling feature-packed smartphones at just above cost price. This marks the first time the Chinese company has taken the top spot in China, after only starting to sell phones three years ago.
Xiaomi’s low-end series of phones, known as Redmi, are driving the company’s shipments in China, which reached almost 15 million in the second quarter, according to Canalys. The Redmi phones can start as low as 699 yuan (US$113) when bought without carrier subsidies.
Xiaomi’s aggressive pricing is leading the company’s success, Wang said. The company has already sold 26.1 million phones in this year’s first half, with the goal of selling a total of 60 million by the end of this year. Although not a big name outside of China, Xiaomi is expanding to ten foreign markets this year.
Signal comes from Open Whisper Systems, who also created RedPhone and TextSecure, both Android applications that encrypt calls and text messages.
The application is compatible with RedPhone and eventually RedPhone and TextSecure will be combined in a single Android application and called Signal as well, according to a blog post.
Signal is notable for two reasons. First, it’s free. There are many voice call encryption products on the market for various platforms, most of which are not cheap and are aimed at enterprise users.
Second, Signal is open source code, meaning developers can look at the code and verify its integrity. That’s important because of concerns that software vendors have been pressured into adding “backdoors” into their products that could assist government surveillance programs.
The beauty of Signal is its simplicity. Setup requires verifying the device’s phone number through a one-time code that is sent by SMS. Signal displays only the contact details of the other user who has it installed.
It provides end-to-end encryption of voice calls over a data connection. Signal displays two words on a screen during a call, which are meant to be verified with the party on the other end to ensure a man-in-the-middle attack isn’t underway.
Signal adds to a growing number of mobile encryption offerings from software vendors. Silent Circle, based in Washington, D.C., offers encrypted calling and texting services for a monthly subscription, and is a partner in Geneva-based SGP Technologies which makes the BlackPhone, a security minded device released last month.
It shipped smartphone 34.3 million units, boosted by sales of flagship phones the Ascend Mate 2 and the Ascend P7, it said on Tuesday. In the second quarter alone it shipped 20.6 million units, an 85% year-over-year increase.
Much of that growth is coming from emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, where its smartphone shipments are doubling or even tripling compared to the previous year, the company added.
Other Chinese vendors are also reporting booming smartphone sales, but Huawei ships a higher proportion of its production to foreign markets, said Melissa Chau, an analyst with research firm IDC.
“It has the most number of shipments outside of China, roughly 40%,” she estimated. “If you look at Lenovo, ZTE, or Xiaomi, they are nowhere near that.”
In this year’s second quarter, Huawei will hold on to its ranking as the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor, behind leader Samsung Electronics and second place Apple, Chau added.
In foreign markets, Huawei is driving growth by selling low-end models, while flagship products such as the Ascend P7 find most of their buyers in mainland China, Chau said.
Huawei has ambitions to rival Apple and Samsung in the smartphone arena, so is spending more on marketing and raising brand awareness. But its market share in this year’s first quarter was only 4.7%, still far away from second place Apple, which had a 15.2% share.
“They are making some progress, but they are still not anywhere near being a super top-tier player,” Chau said. Android smartphones are also becoming commoditized, which risks dampening Huawei’s attempts to stand out from the rest of the competition, she added.
The Mi 4 has a 5 inch, 1080p screen and a Qualcomm Inc Snapdragon 801 2.5 Ghz processor, said Chief Executive Lei Jun at a launch event in Beijing.
But sheathed in iPhone-like metal sides, the Mi 4′s similarities to Apple’s smartphone drew murmurs from the crowd of ‘iPhone’ when showcased by Lei.
Founded in 2010 by Lei, Xiaomi seeks to cut costs by eschewing brick-and-mortar stores in favor of web-based distribution and word-of-mouth marketing.
Xiaomi became the world’s sixth-largest smartphone vendor in the first quarter of 2014, according to data firm Canalys, after repeatedly doubling its sales. The company was valued at $10 billion last year.
Xiaomi sold 18.7 mln smartphones in 2013 and on Tuesday maintained a 60 million sales target for 2014. For comparison, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has said it is targeting 80 million smartphone sales for the year.
The latest phone was unveiled at a glitzy launch event at the National Convention Center in Beijing, where Lei Jun and Vice President Hugo Barra – a former Google executive – posed for photos with a winding queue of fans decked in Xiaomi-branded red T-shirts.
Barra told Reuters in an interview this month that the company was actively targeting the Indian market.
Apple Inc has agreed to pay $450 million to settle U.S. state and consumer claims the iPad manufacturer conspired with five major publishers to fix e-book prices, according to court records filed Wednesday.
The settlement, which would provide $400 million for consumers, is conditioned on the outcome of a pending appeal of a New York federal judge’s ruling last year that Apple was liable for violating antitrust laws.
A ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York reversing the judge could, under the settlement, either reduce the amount Apple pays to $70 million, with $50 million for consumers, or eliminate payments altogether.
“While we cannot predict the outcome of the appeal with certainty, we are confident in the case we made against Apple at trial,” Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said in a statement.
Apple in a statement denied that it had conspired to fix e-book prices and said it would continue pressing its case on appeal.
“We did nothing wrong and we believe a fair assessment of the facts will show it,” Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokeswoman, said.
The settlement, which requires approval of U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, had been announced in June. Terms were not disclosed at the time.
It came ahead of an Aug. 25 damages trial, in which attorneys general in 33 states and territories and lawyers for a class of consumers were expected to seek up to $840 million.
The deal follows earlier settlements with five publishers that provided $166 million for e-book purchasers.
Combined with the $400 million from Apple, the recovery is “among the exceedingly rare cases that provide consumers nationwide with double the amount of their estimated damages,” lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote in a motion.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the state attorneys general sued Apple and five publishers in April 2012, accusing them of working together illegally to increase e-book prices.
In July 2013, Cote found Apple liable for colluding with the publishers to impede e-book competitors such as Amazon.com Inc after a non-jury trial.
The publishers include Lagardere SCA’s Hachette Book Group Inc, News Corp’s HarperCollins Publishers LLC, Penguin Group (USA) Inc, CBS Corp’s Simon & Schuster Inc and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH’s Macmillan.


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JEFFREY FASHION CARES ATLANTA CELEBRATES 26 YEARS THIS AUGUST 2018
Kicking Off Fall Social Season, Atlanta’s Most Philanthropic and Fashionable Affair
Will Descend Upon Phipps Plaza for an Extraordinary Evening Featuring a Cocktail Reception,
Fashion Show, and Silent and Live Auctions
Monday, August 27, 2018 at 7 p.m.
Atlanta, Georgia (May 31, 2018) – Jeffrey Fashion Cares Atlanta is set to celebrate 26 stylish years on Monday, August 27, 2018 at 7 p.m. Considered the official kick-off to fall social season, the annual philanthropic fête founded by acclaimed retailer and arbiter of style, Jeffrey Kalinsky, will return to Phipps Plaza for an unforgettable evening that kicks off with a cocktail reception and dynamic silent auction followed by a high-energy live auction. The evening’s pièce de résistance, a runway show featuring Kalnisky’s style selections from high-end designers, once again promises to dazzle with looks from Celine, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Calvin Klein, Dries Van Noten, Sacai, Saint Laurent Paris, Balenciaga, Christian Louboutin and Manolo Blahnik. The 2018 event will benefit Susan G. Komen Greater Atlanta, the Atlanta AIDS Fund (AAF), and the Medical University of South Carolina.
The annual social affair will once again be co-chaired by Lila Hertz, Jeffrey McQuithy and Louise Sams who will continue their mission to raise as much funds and awareness for the event’s beneficiaries as possible. Selling out year after year, guests will slip into a completely transformed and private environment in the Monarch Court at the recently renovated Phipps Plaza located in the heart of Buckhead. Last year’s event raised over $750,000 for the organizations, and in its history, Jeffrey Fashion Cares has grown into one of the largest combined AIDS and breast cancer benefits in the country. Sponsor and patron packages are currently available. A limited number of single seat tickets will be on sale beginning July 16, 2018. For more information, visit jeffreyfashioncares.com.
Fashion Event Chair: Jeffrey Kalinsky
Event Chairs: Lila Hertz, Jeffrey McQuithy and Louise Sams
Date: Monday, August 27, 2018
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Event Location: Phipps Plaza 3500 Peachtree Rd Atlanta, GA 30326
Event Activities: Pre-Show Cocktail Reception, Live Auction and Jeffrey Fashion Show
Benefiting: Susan G. Komen Greater Atlanta and the Atlanta AIDS Fund (AAF).
Sponsor &Patron Packages: Patron & Sponsor Packages available at www.jeffreyfashioncares.com.
Limited Individual Tickets: $500 Reserved Seating
Includes Pre-Show Reception, Auction & Fashion Show only
(Will go on sale via www.jeffreyfashioncares.com on July 16, 2018, but are subject to availability.)


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AccuStore, a leading provider of site intelligence for retailers and multi-site operators, announced today that Jan Davis has..
Tax inversion has been in the news a lot lately, first Walgreens and now Burger King. The big question is should business..
This year's Master's Program Day Two covered the newest trends, a retail tour, and case study workshops. Attendees heard ..


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UK developer Icon Games today announces its new PSP title 'Spinout', a fresh original racing title in which the player races their spherical craft (Xorb) around a selection of high-rise courses.
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PGR 3 creates the ultimate roster of the hottest supercars in existence, introduces them to the high-definition era, and drops them into a completely new gaming world, where style rules the road. Racers define and create individually customized gameplay, and can race each other — on or offline. Read more to check out the latest visual goodness.
Germany publisher dtp has just signed Frozenbyte's action-shooter Shadowgrounds. Featuring straight arcade-shooter gameplay with suspense and survival horror-elements, yet the looks is all but retro: with realtime shadows and lightning effects the top-down view Shadowgrounds is totally "2005".
Today Microsoft announced its Japanese Xbox 360 line-up during the Xbox Summit 2005. During the presentation quite a few new titles were unveiled such as Namco's Ride Racer 6, Konami's Winning Eleven. Tecmo has no less than 4 titles planned (including DoA Xtreme 2). Read more for additional details ...
Auto Assault combines vehicular combat with role-playing elements. Players explore a post-apocalyptic future in customizable cars, motorcycles, semis and even tanks. Players battle other players both in arenas and in epic race vs. race wars for control of the regions in a devastated Earth.
EA has joined forces with Gibson Guitar and Hard Rock International to launch a European-wide music competition for a place on a videogame soundtrack. Dubbed the Burnout Bandslam!, unsigned acts from across Europe can enjoy a summer of hot competition in Hard Rock Cafes in four countries across Europe, for a chance to be featured in a future Burnout game.
Microsoft announced today that it would launch its new Xbox 360 console in Japan and Europe in time for the year-end holiday shopping season. Microsoft had already announced plans to launch the console this year in the United States ahead of the holiday season, which begins in late November. It had previously said Japanese and European launches would follow within six weeks. X360 will feature three PowerPC-based microprocessors joined onto one chip to deliver powerful computing and advanced graphics, as well as a detachable 20-gigabyte hard drive and a wireless controller.
Pirates of the XXI Century is a new FPS in the works over at Eastern European developer DioSoft. Not much info is available at this point but Pirates of the XXI Century revolves around modern day sea pirates with action taking place on load, air, sea and even underwater. You will be able to play as either a member of Hong Kong’s triads, modern day pirate or soldier of US Special Forces and have use of about 30 weapons.
EA has signed a pact with New Line Cinema extending its rights to make games based on The Lord of the Rings franchise using images and actor likenesses from the pic trilogy. In addition, EA has now also signed a deal with with Tolkien Enterprises for J.R.R. Tolkien's literary trilogy, previously in the hands of Vivendi, giving it rights to use events and characters from the books not used in the pics.
For the very first time in franchise history, the next game in the series won't debut on a Nintendo platform, but is so far only scheduled for PS3 and X360. While it is way too early to speculate on a release date, Capcom producer Takeuchi Jun says "We would need 3 or maybe 5 years to fully exploit the capabilities of the new generation of systems, but right now this is the project Capcom is putting the most effort into." From the media available, it seems RE5 will feature Chris Redfield from the original RE and Code Veronica.
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Harvest Health & Recreation, Inc. has maintained its revenue stance within the cannabis market after news on cannabis vapes entered the media’s focus. Cannabis vapes were brought into the spotlight of the news media after illegally manufactured blackmarket vape cartridges caused illnesses to occur in its users. Due to this news, markets have pulled and stopped the sales of vape products and have impacted some company sales. It is reported that 20%-30% of sales for U.S. cannabis companies come from vape products and that California exceeded 30% in vape cartridge sales in the month of October.
The company hasn’t seen a revenue issue since the vape news started and continued to stay on track even after the decline in vape sales would be noticeable in a quarterly report. The cannabis sector has seen a valuation decline overall due to the news, but Harvest Health has a potential FY2020 outlook that could position those who invest now for great returns next year.
The company has three mergers that are expected to close within a short period of time. Mergers with Falcon, Verano Holdings and CannaParmacy are expected to increase the company’s 2020 revenues. It was confirmed by Harvest Health that the revenue growth will reach 2020’s revenues to $900 million and near $1 billion on Earnings before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) at 30%. Cannabis market investors may want to highly consider Harvest Health & Recreation as a potential addition to their investment portfolio. The stock is at yearly lows due to the recent vape news, but the revenues and projected earnings indicate that a high return on investment might be possible.
Curious about how you can make money investing in cannabis? Sign up for Cannin Free Access and subscribe to the Cannin Chronicle. We’ll keep you informed on all things cannabis and even help you determine which cannabis companies have the highest growth potential.


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The Dodgers are once again having to change up their health and safety protocols for the 2021 season. With Los Angeles taking a big step back due to COVID-19 outbreaks in the county, the club had to change how fans are able to move throughout the stadium.
That includes once again mandating masks. In their latest update, the Dodgers said that unvaccinated fans are required to wear face coverings while at the stadium. Vaccinated fans are required to wear them when in the indoor areas of the stadium.
More from the team website:
In accordance with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health order (effective July 18, 2021), all individuals age 2 and older, regardless of vaccination status, are required to wear a mask or an appropriate face covering while in indoor settings, such as retail stores and restaurants, except while seated and actively eating and drinking. Indoor settings also include covered stadium concourses and concession stands. Fully vaccinated individuals are not required to wear a face-coverings while seated in their ticketed seats
The Dodgers also added that fully vaccinated fans are not required to wear their masks while seated. They did not announce any plans to limit capacity or go back to the pod seating, and that does not appear to be in the plans at all.
The Dodgers have also not said anything about how long these mandates will last. That would presumably be on the city and county as they try to move back into a safer range of positive COVDI-19 resting among the community.
So don’t forget to bring your mask out to the stadium!


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"If we wait for perfect, we'll be waiting for a very, very long time."
The march towards autonomous vehicles is far from limited to the civilian sector, as the military has been doggedly pursuing the idea of driverless vehicles for several years. Its latest initiative seeks to introduce a line of autonomous vehicles by a target date of 2025, according to the Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center.
If you had told us a decade ago that Google, of all companies, would be developing a driverless car, we likely would have asked you what you were smoking. But here we are, watching the Internet giant not only testing such systems on existing cars, but designing its own vehicles. It won't be the only one, it seems, as reports from China indicate that one of its own is following suit.
- Volvo shoots for self-drivers by 2021
- Jeep spends $1 billion on factories
- Find Parts & Accessories for your vehicle!
- Obama rolls out new EV plan
- Infiniti dealers ranked best, Tesla worst
- Compare Volvo XC90 and Lincoln MKX


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Mike McGlone, a strategist at Bloomberg, has made some interesting predictions for the prices for Bitcoin and Ether in the near future.
The expert, who predicted Bitcoin would reach $20,000 again in December last year, believes Bitcoin will keep growing.
According to him, the price of the cryptocurrency developed by Satoshi Nakamoto will hit new highs in the second half of the year and will become more profitable than Ether.
He is sure Bitcoin will some day hit $100K, while Ether will also reach new highs thanks to the increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies by institutions.
McGlone is not alone in this optimistic predictions about the future of cryptocurrencies. In this sense, analysts at Autonomous Capital Management believe financial institutions are only eyeing Bitcoin and crypto-focused products so far.


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- Our Knights & Distinguished Personalities
- DIGITAL EDITION
The inaugural watch auctions held by Phillips in association with Bacs & Russo held on May 9 and 10 in Geneva, Switzerland, realised a combined total of $31.83 million selling 97 per cent by lot.
The auctions sold four watches for over $1 million and established multiple records including for any stainless steel wristwatch, for any Rolex sold at auction, and for any Rolex Day-Date.
The top lot was an extremely rare Patek Philippe single button doctor’s chronograph in stainless steel with a superbly aged off-white silvered dial, highlighted by a pulsations scale and a sector design.
At the auction on May 10, after 21 minutes of bidding between clients from four continents, it eventually sold to an anonymous bidder on the telephone $4.98 million, more than doubling its low estimate of CHF1-2 million and setting a new record price for any stainless steel wristwatch sold at auction. One of only two examples of this model, both of which were made for a retailer in South America, the other is a highlight of the Patek Philippe Museum.
Aurel Bacs says: “It is a great honour to have been welcomed back to the rostrum with such warmth from the watch collecting community and we are thrilled to have been able to launch Phillips watches with such strong results. The market reacts with the greatest appetite to the rarest and most exceptional watches as seen by the magnificent single button chronograph by Patek Philippe which drew bids from collectors in four continents, eventually selling for CHF4.6 million and setting a record for any stainless steel wristwatch sold at auction. Now we look forward with great excitement to the auctions in Geneva in November, including the ‘Only Watch’ auction which we are honoured to hold for the first time, and our inaugural Hong Kong sale which will take place on 1 December 1.”
Edward Dolman, CEO and Chairman of Phillips, says: “We are proud with the results for our inaugural auctions which already position Phillips as the house of choice for the very best collectors’ watches. To consider that the Phillips Watch department was only launched in November, it pays the greatest testament to the team at Phillips and, perhaps most of all, the stewardship and reputation of Aurel Bacs and Livia Russo, to have achieved so much in so little time. As we continue to invest in this area, we are thrilled to welcome Myriam Christinaz to Phillips as Managing Director in Geneva where she will lead the team going forwards and oversee exciting developments including the forthcoming opening of our dedicated space in central Geneva, and also to confirm the date of our inaugural watch auction in Hong Kong.”
GLAMOROUS DAY-DATE (MAY 9)
This auction was dedicated to Rolex’s most prestigious model and offered 60 of the rarest examples, including unique models and watches with royal provenance. In a packed saleroom of over 300 people, every lot sold for a total of CHF6.17 million) (pre-sale estimate: CHF1.7-3.4 million).
The highest price was paid for the ‘Big Kahuna’, one of only two known 6612 references made in platinum. It smashed the world record price for any Rolex Day-Date sold at auction realising CHF473,000/$507,865, more than doubling its pre-sale estimate of CHF100,000-200,000. Multiple records were established for individual references and models.
THE GENEVA WATCH AUCTION: ONE (MAY 10)
This auction was dedicated to watches of the highest quality, including exceptionally rare examples and timepieces with fascinating provenance. The auction realised a total of CHF23.46 million/$25.199 million (pre-sale estimate: CHF10.1-17.3 million), selling 96 per cent by lot.
The highest price was paid for the exceptionally rare 1927 Patek Philippe single button chronograph which realised CHF4.64 million/$4.98 million, more than doubling its low estimate of CHF1-2 million and setting a new record price for a stainless steel wristwatch sold at auction.
Further highlights included a highly important and very rare Patek Philippe pink gold perpetual calendar chronograph with pink dial, moon phases and heavy Gay Frères bracelet from 1948 which sold for CHF1.44 million/$1.55 million (estimate: CHF800,000 to 1,400,000); the most renowned of four existing examples of the Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ‘Albino’ which was formerly a highlight in the personal collection of pop star Eric Clapton, and which sold for CHF1.32 million/$1.42 million (estimate: CHF500,000-1 million) – a record for any Rolex sold at auction; and an exceptionally rare Rolex reference 6062 model featuring a triple calendar with phases of the moon which realized CHF1.001 million/$1.074 million (estimate: CHF250,000 to 450,000).
Hysek reveals new timepiecesMon, Apr 22, 2024
OMEGA launches Olympic Games Paris 2024 watchesWed, Apr 17, 2024
Kross Studio unveils new timepiece created for Ahmed Seddiqi & SonsThu, Mar 28, 2024
American model Taylor Hill promotes Saudi perfume brand LaverneWed, Mar 20, 2024
Steve Harvey joins Falcons to bring rare collectibles to regionThu, Mar 14, 2024
AP offers Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar 'John Mayer' editionSun, Mar 10, 2024
OMEGA launches new Moonwatch with lacquered white dialTue, Mar 5, 2024
Montblanc opens news store in Mall of DhahranThu, Feb 29, 2024
OMEGA offers new Mini Trésors for Valentine’s DayTue, Feb 6, 2024
Doha Jewellery & Watches Exhibition dazzlesTue, Feb 6, 2024
OMEGA offers new Dark Side of the MoonTue, Jan 23, 2024
Doha jewellery, watches show to draw 500 top brandsWed, Jan 10, 2024
Boucheron reopens boutique in Kuwait’s Avenues MallThu, Jan 4, 2024
OMEGA launches Winter TalesTue, Dec 12, 2023
Planet of OMEGA showcases unique timepiecesWed, Nov 22, 2023


text: In response to the tragedy of the Aurora Colorado shootings a local comic book store ALL C’s Collectibles is hosting a Benefit Event for the victims and their families. I can’t attend the event but I asked them if I could donate some books and art to include in their silent auction. I created this poster in honor of three individuals who gave their lives protecting their loved ones. According to news reports Jon Blunk, Matt McQuinn, and Alex Teves died shielding their girlfriends from the gun fire. To be sure their actions are not the only examples of bravery and selflessness to come out of that horrific event but their story touched me and I wanted to do something to honor their memory. A few of these posters and Super Siblings books will be available for purchase at the event on August 25th and 26th. Click Here for details.


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Belstaff gets its new CEO from Anya Hindmarch as Haig exits
Belstaff has named a new leadership team following its buyout last November by Ineos. Helen Wright is its new CEO and Robin Huston takes over as non-executive chairman.
Wright is an experienced exec who was most recently CEO of fellow British luxury brand Anya Hindmarch and has also worked in major roles at Karl Lagerfeld, LVMH’s Fendi and Ralph Lauren.
While at Hindmarch, she drove through a key phase in its global expansion across multiple distribution channels, particularly ramping up its e-tail operations.
And at Karl Lagerfeld as global VP retail, she “partnered with investors in a global rollout of the brand via a new retail store concept across key international fashion capitals.”
Both sets of experience will be crucial as she works to raise Belstaff’s game and drive through an expansion plan built both on its British heritage status and its trend-driven fashion profile.
Gavin Haig, the current CEO of Belstaff, will step down “by mutual consent with immediate effect.”
Robin Huston is currently CEO and Chairman of Lime Wood Group and Home Grown Hotels of which Jim Ratcliffe, the founder and CEO of Ineos, is a major shareholder. Huston is also a past chairman of Soho House Limited.
On announcing the management changes, he said the company “sees great potential to revitalise and grow the [Belstaff] business.” And he added that “there is enormous depth of talent and passion within the management team and the company’s longstanding and valued suppliers. We aim to support and empower this talent with the required level of investment over the years ahead.”
He also cited Wright’s 25-year-plus of luxury and lifestyle brand experience, while thanking Haig “for his dedication and commitment to Belstaff over the last four years in building a stronger brand and company.”
And in another change, Sarah Doukas will also join the Belstaff board. She is the founder of Storm Management, one of the world’s top model agencies, which she has managed for the last 30 years.
Copyright © 2023 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.


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The National Retail Federation said the average family will spend about $700 this year on school supplies.
January marks one of the slowest months for retail sales, which means good news for shoppers.
Black Friday is becoming Black Thursday. The annual American shopping holiday marks the unofficial start of the Christmas season, and retailers everywhere try to cash in on the early shoppers.
Just days after the blizzard, consumers are now in the driver’s seat, demanding record bargains and getting them.


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achtQuark Team further enriched by a New, Cultural Wind18/07/2016
achtQuark Racing Team surpasses own expectations at Munich Marathon10/10/2016
This year’s slogan: „Digital is everything – not every thing is digital“
Exposition and conference with new records: 50.700 visitors, 1.010 exhibitors and more than 570 speakers!
The most important trends at dmexco this year: VR (Virtual Reality), Live-Streams, Mobile, Big Data, Content Marketing.
- Sir Martin Sorrell via Skype with Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey
- Seminar “Understanding the Facebook Newsfeed”
- Great coffee at the Google booth
- Nice conversations with customers, cool booth visits and meeting old colleagues


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Only yesterday, the FTC endorsed the idea of a "Do not track" online system, akin to the "Do not call" phone registry. In his public statement, the head of the FTC observed:
The FTC [recently] charged that EchoMetrix sold so-called “Sentry” software to enable parents to monitor their children online, but it failed to adequately disclose that it also sold information about the kids’ online activities to third-party marketers. The only – only – potential hint to parents was a vague statement buried 30 paragraphs down in the Sentry end user license agreement.Hardly a transparent practice, is it? That's one reason the FTC wants to see a "Do not track" system, and I agree.
Also, I notice that the Wall Street Journal's story on the proposed anti-tracking legislation has 8 trackers on it (I know because I've installed Ghostery to count and block as many as possible). The New York Times's story on the FTC statement had only 3 trackers.
If adults want to consent to be tracked online, they can make an informed decision to opt in or out. Kids, however, aren't in the same category. Sorry, my opinion is that marketers should not be tracking what kids do online; businesses that value their reputation for customer-centric policies will welcome guidelines for preventing such tracking.


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The Kentucky Derby may be over, but Louisville is just starting to come alive. This month, the entire city is inviting you to be a tourist in your own city.
The Hometown Tourist Celebration encourages Kentucky and Indiana residents to take advantage of of the Louisville’s most popular places.
There will be major discounts available at over 80 Louisville attractions, hotels, restaurants and shops that will be good now through May 31.
Find out more info and browse specific deals on GoToLouisville.com
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Russian Helicopters is relaunching production of the Mi-34S1 light piston helicopter and simultaneously working on a turbine version, the Mi-34S2 Sapsan, powered by a Turbomeca Arrius 2F. The Sapsan (Russian for peregrine falcon) is expected to be certified under U.S. FAR 27 and European CS 27 regulations.
The FAA has issued an Airworthiness Directive for Turbomeca Arrius 2F turboshaft engines, citing insufficient clearance between the P3 air pipe and the rear right bulkhead. According to AD 2008-NE-43, investigations have shown that both the P3 air pipe and the rear right bulkhead were compliant with the original approved design.
Eurocopter Canada has announced the delivery of its 500th helicopter in the country–an AS355 NP Ecureuil light twin. The NP is an upgraded version with Turbomeca Arrius 1A1 engines that provide a 20-percent payload improvement. Customer Phoenix Heli-Flight is based in Fort McMurray, Alberta. It performs medevac, firefighting, passenger transport and various kinds of aerial work operations.
At last month’s Paris Air Show Eurocopter delivered the first upgraded Ecureuil/TwinStar, the AS 355NP, its current light twin offering. According to the Marignane, France-based manufacturer, the helicopter offers better performance, an enhanced cockpit and improved cabin interior. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certified the aircraft on February 15. Transport Canada and Russian certifications are expected later this year.
The new Eurocopter AS 355 NP Ecureuil on display here at Le Bourget will shortly be delivered to the first customer, Scandinavian Helicopter Group. The Swedish operator uses its fleet of rotorcraft mainly for passenger transport and aerial work.
Here at the Paris Air Show, helicopter engine manufacturer Turbomeca announced three contracts for its support-by-the-hour (SBH) scheme.
Eurocopter, already the world’s largest helicopter manufacturer, shows no signs that its meteoric sales pace will let up anytime soon.
Last year the company delivered 381 new helicopters worth more than $5 billion and booked orders for 615 helicopters with a combined value of $6.45 billion. Those figures represent a substantial increase from Eurocopter’s 2005 order book, valued at $4.64 billion.
The European Aviation Safety Agency has certified the Arrius 1A1, a new version of Turbomeca’s Arrius turboshaft. The 463-shp engine will power the Eurocopter AS 355NP twin turbine. On the 1A1, a new high-pressure turbine enables a higher one-engine-inoperative rating, meaning that the helicopter retains category-A performance under hotter, higher and heavier conditions. The 1A1 is fitted with a fadec.
Accentuating the positive attributes of helicopters for business travelers, Eurocopter is displaying here at the EBACE show two of its most popular twin-engine models with corporate interiors–an EC 135 and an EC 155 B1. Both were recently delivered to customers.
Eurocopter has now sold more than 500 EC 135s (nearly 90 of those ordered in 2005 alone) and 50 percent of those were destined for U.S. customers. Now the OEM is in the final stages of certifying a new model, offering an increased takeoff weight, from 6,237 pounds to 6,402 pounds and a reduction in empty weight to 3,201 pounds.


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If you think of startup ecosystems around the world, what comes to mind?
More middle- and secondary-school teachers are using digital tools in their classrooms and..
Kids deserve more credit than they get. They’re observant, incredibly intuitive and can sometimes..
In spite of the gloomy funding trends this year, there’s still hope for entrepreneurs in need..
Funding is a critical part of creating and building businesses. It is important to consider the..
“The only thing worse than starting something and failing… is not starting something.” Seth..
Fotopedia, the publisher of iOS apps and the Fotopedia Magazine, today announced it is launching..
Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are eyeing almost every market. And they are interested in..
Lots of people are starting their own companies and that’s good, at least its better than not..
New technology startup founders and entrepreneurs have found great information and lessons from..
PepsiCo has announced the 10 start-up companies, which will make up the inaugural PepsiCo10, an..
Technology is human innovation in action that involves the generation of knowledge and processes..
An incubator is a new type of educational institution. It teaches hands-on “entrepreneurial..
Since i started exploring startups from my continent,the numbers has not been very encouraging.I..


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PETA Supporters Will Urge Shoppers to Shun New Store Peddling Fur-and-Feather Jackets
For Immediate Release:
December 6, 2019
Brooke Rossi 202-483-7382
Toronto – On Saturday, a pack of PETA supporters along with activists from the Canada Goose Pressure Campaign and FurFree Toronto will be holding a “skinned coyote” and a trap while leading a spirited protest outside Canada Goose’s new store in the CF Sherway Gardens mall. Protesters will hold a banner reading, “Canada Goose Cruelty Sold Here,” to urge shoppers to stay away until the retailer stops selling coyote fur and goose down.
When: Saturday, December 7, 1–3 p.m.
Where: Outside CF Sherway Gardens, 25 The West Mall, Etobicoke
“Every Canada Goose coat represents the suffering of coyotes who were caught in painful steel traps and geese who were violently killed,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on shoppers to avoid Canada Goose as long as it continues to profit from animal suffering and death.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—points out that trapped coyote mothers desperate to get back to their starving pups have tried to chew off their own legs to escape and that many trapped animals succumb to the elements, blood loss, infection, or attacks by predators before trappers return to kill them. Ducks and geese used for down are typically shipped in all weather extremes to slaughterhouses, where they’re stunned, their throats are cut, and their bodies are dunked into defeathering tanks.
Following a PETA complaint and a subsequent Federal Trade Commission investigation, Canada Goose has stopped claiming that its standards ensure that its suppliers don’t abuse animals.
PETA opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.


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Weddings are fun-filled, loving events that come with many perks. From catching up with the family members you rarely see to shimmying to ABBA on the dancefloor, and from picking out the perfect outfit to hearing the couple say their vows, it’s an event that would warm the coldest of hearts.
However, there is one downfall when it comes to weddings and that is the cost. There are 101 expenses you need to cover, and it can prove to be extremely difficult for many families.
A new study has found that the average cost of attending a wedding in the United Kingdom is £1,015.
This price covers everything including gifts, childcare, transport to clothing, as well as food and drinks.
It also includes the money you splash out on pre-wedding events, such as engagement parties, hen parties and stag dos.
The events are even more expensive for special members of the bridal party, including bridesmaids who spend approximately £1,058, with the parents of the bride spending a massive £1,450.
When it comes to a couple who jet off to tie the knot, guests can expect to spend an average of £2,050 on the big day.
Guests have the additional cost of paying for flights and accommodation as well as all of the usual expenses.
Covering childcare costs for an abroad wedding is also pricier, due to the fact that you’re spending more time away from home.
The study was conducted by Provident.


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The company is investing heavily in this technology.
The Korean automaker announced that it will start to develop the project, involving the introduction of hydrogen engines. Plans to significantly expand research in this direction, and gradually to equip all models such powertrains.
According to the plan, the Korean company is going after 12 years to produce at least 700 of the thousands of power plants running on hydrogen. First units will be designed for passenger vehicles. But, the brand does not exclude cooperation with large shipbuilding firms engaged in production of drones.
The Koreans noted that for hydrogen installations is the future. They can be actively applied in various fields, not only in the automotive industry.
In the development of this project is expected to invest more than 6.7 billion dollars. It will create new production areas which will provide jobs for 50 thousand specialists.
© 2018, z-news.link. All rights reserved.


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According to CNBC, in the face of negative debt yields, “solid” assets, such as gold, are again coming to the fore. Some experts believe that there are all conditions for the precious metal to grow to $ 2000 per ounce.
The world price of gold continues to trade at a maximum of the last six years. The growth driver for the precious metal is the escalation of the trade conflict between the United States and China, as well as concerns about the prospects for the global eco
The price of gold in Asian markets showed a decline after it became known that the US Federal Reserve lowered the interest rate, as expected the day before. But at the same time, a hint sounded that a further reduction in rates would not be long.
Расписание презентаций и вебинаров на текущую неделю
At the end of September this year, the agreement of the Central Banks of Europe (a total of 21 banks), which provided for the restriction on the sale of gold from reserves, ends. As it became known recently, European Central Banks will not extend it, so a


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Is India’s most popular instant noodles banned in Uttar Pradesh?
According to a PTI report, Nestle India has been asked to withdraw a batch of popular Maggi noodles from the market after it was found to contain high level of lead.
A high lead content was reportedly found during routine tests conducted in Kolkata on two dozen packets of the instant noodles. Packets belonging to this batch have been recalled from shops and additional batches of Maggi are now being sent for testing.
Confirming the order asking Nestle to recall a batch of Maggi noodles, UP's Additional Commissioner Ram Arya Maurya said, "Whatever action we had to take we have taken. I don't wish to say anything more."
Tests of the said batch had also reportedly found high levels of added monosodium glutamate (MSG), a taste enhancer, in the noodles.
However, a Times of India report claims that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has denied ordering recall of any batch of Maggi noodles.
The central food safety regulator said that it was waiting to examine the initial report from the state enforcement agencies in Uttar Pradesh which found the product containing added monosodium glutamate and lead in excess of the permissible limit. "We have not yet ordered any recall. We are waiting to see the report from UP and may order countrywide sampling after that," a senior official in the FSSAI said.
The Nestle spokesperson also confirmed that the company has not received any communication from the regulator seeking countrywide recall
In fact, sources close to the company said Nestle has contested the findings and that the subsequent batches have passed all the tests. They also contested the conclusion based on testing of just "one pack" of Maggi noodles.
Nestle India has clarified that it has "strict safety and quality controls" in place for all raw materials used to make Maggi noodles. "We do not add MSG to Maggi noodles and glutamate, if present, may come from naturally occurring sources. We are surprised with the content supposedly found in the sample as we monitor the lead content regularly," a spokesperson from Nestle said.
Nestle India, a subsidiary of Swiss conglomerate Nestle SA sells instant noodle, ketchups, sauces under the Maggi brand. It has around 60 per cent market share in the instant noodle category.
Twitter, meanwhile, saw an outpour from Maggie lovers.
@DebasreePurkaya tweets: Gosh! #Maggie was only hope of a lazy evening.
@cynic_wall: RIP Maggie noodles
@Lambar_Daar: Ban on maggie noodles is tearing my family apart.
@MostlyShalin: You don't care about the lead I consume every day in the traffic, but Maggie noodles is killing me? #getoutofhere
And then there are always some who are optimistic.
@radharaju18: The Slimy Maggie noodles will slip thru the Indian laws..:D
@mehreenrana: When all else fails, Maggie Noodles is the obvious winner.


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Record number of people traveling this weekend
Happy Memorial Day Weekend! While we are excited for the unofficial start of summer, this weekend stands in remembrance of America’s fallen servicemen and women. We are grateful to them and their families. Today we share some good economic news during this very slow week in the markets, along increases reported in inflation and consumer spending.
Market Update: Investors and traders are looking toward the long weekend, so trading volume was very light this week. Without any new catalyst, the S&P 500 gained 0.65% this month, bouncing around a tight trading range. The federal reserve is ‘talking about talking about’ reducing their monthly bond purchases, which will likely mean interest rates will increase slightly sometime after the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole meeting in August. We are keeping a close eye on the speed of any interest rate increases and inflation.
Good Economic News: Jobless claims hit new lows, and the durable goods report (which covers business investment and spending) was stronger than it appeared. We always look at the details of these reports: durable goods were negatively affected by airplane orders, but the underlying data for business investment increased by 2.3%. March data was revised higher as well after more information came in. Business spending has remained strong throughout the pandemic.
U.S. Personal Spending: Consumer spending rose at a steady yet moderate pace in April, consistent with sustained growth in personal spending, which makes up the largest part of the GDP.
Core Prices Jump: The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) core price gauge, which is a measure of inflation that excludes food and fuel, showed the biggest monthly advance since 2001. The PCE increased .7% in the latest report through March, exceeding expectations.
Bitcoin Losses Deepen: Bitcoin continues to show extreme volatility. Bitcoin’s weekend trading is especially volatile, and trading volumes are very thin, which exacerbates the big moves. Bitcoin is down 44% from the April peak of $63,000. More broadly, the threat of tougher regulation continues to be a drag on crypto market sentiment.
Record number of people traveling this weekend: 37 million Americans are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home this weekend, an increase of 60% over this time last year. The CDC recently announced guidance that fully vaccinated people can travel domestically at low risk to themselves, while taking proper precautions. At the same time as everyone takes a road trip, we’re also seeing the highest gas prices since 2014. The national gas price average has stabilized at $3.03 a gallon, which is $.17 more than last month and $1.12 more expensive than last year during the pandemic. Try AAA’s gas cost calculator to find out how much your road trip will cost.


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After an appearance in the Hall of Fame Game that kicked off the NFL preseason in Canton, Ohio, the Denver Broncos are heading to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field on Thursday.
Kickoff is at 10 p.m. ET. Here’s a rundown of how to watch the Broncos vs Seahawks online without cable, with the live streaming options being dependent on where you reside:
If The Game is in Your Market
First, you’ll want to know what channel the game is on. It’s on MyTV in Denver, CBS in Colorado Springs and Fox in Seattle, and it will be on either ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CW or MyTV in other cities.
Then, if you don’t have cable, you can watch a live stream of one, some or all of these channels (in select markets) on your computer, phone, Roku, Fire TV or other streaming device via one of the following live-TV streaming services:
(Unfortunately, MyTV in Denver is still not available on any streaming services. NFL Network will show a replay of the game at 10 a.m. ET on Friday)
Fox, CBS, NBC, CW (all live in select markets; view channels in your area) and NFL Network are among the 95-plus live TV channels included in the main FuboTV bundle, which is largely tailored towards sports.
You can start a free seven-day trial of FuboTV right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the Broncos vs Seahawks on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, or other supported device via the FuboTV app.
If you can’t watch live, FuboTV comes with 30 hours of cloud DVR space, as well as a 72-hour look-back feature, which allows you to watch the game on-demand within three days of its conclusion, even if you don’t record it.
PS Vue — which doesn’t require an actual PlayStation console to sign up or watch — offers four different live-TV channel packages. All of them include Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC and MyTV (all live in select markets; view channels in your area), while NFL Network is included in the upper three bundles.
You can start a free five-day trial of PS Vue right here, and you can then watch a live stream of Broncos vs Seahawks on your computer via the PS Vue website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation (3 or 4), or other supported device via the PS Vue app.
If you can’t watch live, PS Vue comes with cloud DVR.
In addition to a Netflix-like on-demand streaming library, Hulu also offers a bundle of 60-plus live TV channels, including Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC & CW (all live in select markets; view channels in your area).
You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the Broncos vs Seahawks on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Echo Show, or other streaming device via the Hulu app.
If you can’t watch live, Hulu With Live TV comes with 50 hours of cloud DVR space, as well as the option to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of space and the ability to fast-forward through commercials.
If the game is on CBS in your area (as it is in Colorado Springs), and you don’t want any other channels, Amazon Prime’s CBS channel is a great option.
If you have Amazon Prime or want to start a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime, you can watch all live and on-demand CBS content via the CBS All-Access Amazon Channel, which comes with a 7-day free trial.
Once you’re signed up for both Amazon Prime and the CBS channel, you can then watch a live stream of the Broncos vs Seahawks on your computer via the Amazon website, or you can watch on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 or other streaming device via the Amazon Video app.
If The Game is Out of Your Market
You can watch every out-of-market preseason NFL game online via NFL Game Pass, which costs $99.99 for the season (or you can pay four installments of $29.99). You can also watch replays of preseason and regular season games several hours after their conclusion.
You can start a free trial of NFL Game Pass right here, and then if the game is outside of your market, you can watch the Broncos vs Seahawks on your computer via the Game Pass website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the NFL app.
If You’re in Canada: DAZN
Viewers in Canada can watch every preseason, regular season and postseason NFL game live online via DAZN, a digital streaming service that also includes NFL Network, NFL RedZone, Premier League soccer, Champions League soccer, boxing and other live sports for $20 per month or $150 per year.
You can sign up for a free one-month trial of DAZN right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the Broncos vs Seahawks and every other NFL game on your computer via DAZN.com, or on your phone, tablet, smart TV, Roku, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the DAZN app.
Broncos vs Seahawks Preview
The preseason kicked off last Thursday with the Hall of Fame Game, pitting the Broncos against the Falcons. Denver won the plodding preseason tilt 14-10, scoring on a late touchdown grab by Juwann Winfree to record the victory.
Veteran quarterback Joe Flacco didn’t play in the first preseason tilt for the Broncos, but will make his debut for Denver against Seattle. The Broncos sent a fourth round pick to the Ravens this offseason to acquire Flacco.
Flacco helped the Ravens to a victory in Super Bowl XLVII and threw for 38,245 yards, 212 touchdowns and 136 interceptions during his 11-year career in Baltimore. The Ravens decided to go in a new direction at QB after Lamar Jackson took over the starting role last season as a rookie.
Flacco is ready to get in some live action in with his new squad.
“You just want to go get your feet wet a little bit,” Flacco said. “You want to feel live action again, bodies flying around you, guys getting hit and taking care of the football. Most importantly, you want to go out there and move the ball. And you want to gain confidence as a group that you can go out there and do it when it counts.”
The Seahawks are coming off of a 10-6 season that ended in the Wild Card round with a 24-22 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
There’s been quite of bit of change in Seattle, with the team shipping out pass-rusher Frank Clark to Kansas City in the offseason and watching star wide receiver Doug Baldwin retire, calling it a career after eight seasons with the Seahawks.
What has remained the same is franchise cornerstone and perennial Pro Bowl QB Russell Wilson being under center. Wilson will be the key to Seattle’s success this season, but won’t be suiting up for the preseason game against the Broncos as a battle wages for his backup spot between Paxton Lynch and Geno Smith.
“We’ve got a big competition at the quarterback position in particular,” Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said. We want these guys to play as much as they can and play their way into their spots. I don’t want these to be decisions we have to make without a lot of great information, so that’s what’s most important right now. We have a lot of competition at the receiver spot, we have a lot of competition in the offensive line, and we’re going to be able to play a lot of guys in this game and see how they can do.”
The game will be especially interesting for Lynch, who was drafted in the first round by the Broncos in 2016, but was cut following last season. He threw some shade at his former team this week.
“It feels closer, feels like a family. I bring my fiancé out here, I bring my dad out here. And they even say it too,” Lynch said. “They feel so much more welcome around everybody. They’re so good to them. They treat them so good. They treat the players good. It feels like part of a family. It feels like everybody is close.”
For most teams, the preseason consists of four preseason games — the Falcons and Broncos being the exception that play five. Starters mostly see limited reps in the preseason, with playing time peaking in the third game. The games are meant for teams to evaluate talent deeper down on the depth chart and dwindle their rosters to 53 players.
The exhibition games run through Aug. 29, with the kickoff to the NFL’s 100th season taking place on Thursday, Sept. 5 with NFC North rivals Green Bay and Chicago facing off.
Disclaimer: Heavy Inc. has affiliate relationships with various streaming content providers and may receive a commission if you sign up for a service via a link on this page.


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The Chevrolet Bolt has been affected lately by concern about abrupt battery failures while the vehicle is on the road. General Motors has sought to address this issue with a new software update that has the capability to warn Bolt owners of the need to replace the battery if chances are high for the battery to fail while driving.
The company said in a notification to Chevrolet Bolt owners that some 2017 model year Bolt vehicles have a condition due to which the calibration does not detect the difference in the level of charge between the cell groups of the battery. Hence, the owners of the vehicles will remain unaware if the level of charge in the battery drops and they will not have sufficient warning to replace the battery. This can cause them to become stranded without charge while driving as the vehicle will lose propulsion.
General Motors is not carrying out a formal recall for this issue and is instead trying to resolve it with an informal satisfaction campaign. The new update can be used to reprogram the hybrid powertrain control module. Owners will thus get more warning when a vehicle needs to be brought in get the battery replaced under the free repair program.
“Only certain vehicles will experience the battery low voltage condition,” the owner notice says.
Hamid Moaref has always been fascinated by cars and the automotive industry. His family has a longstanding association with the industry and has been in the tire business for the past 35 years. Raised in Dubai, Hamid attended Capilano University in Vancouver where he graduated with a BBA in marketing before attending an intensive course in magazine publishing in 2005. He has been the publisher and chief editor of Tires & Parts magazine for the past ten years.
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© 2017 Morjan Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.


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Big data, analytics revenues to reach $260bn by 2022
The banking and manufacturing sectors are making the largest big data and analytics investments, says IDC.
Zindi to crowdsource solutions to African challenges
The new platform will enable data scientists to solve real-world business problems through monthly competitions, says Ixio Analytics.
IDU Holdings impresses Gartner
Gartner has included the company in its 2018 Market Guide for Corporate Financial Planning Applications reports.


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WUHAN, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Central China's Hubei Province saw foreign trade grow 22.1 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2022, according to local customs.
Hubei's import and export value totaled 469.09 billion yuan (about 64.88 billion U.S. dollars) in the nine-month period, data from Wuhan customs showed.
The foreign trade value contributed by the province's private sectors reached 292.81 billion yuan, up 30.4 percent, accounting for 62.4 percent of the province's total.
During the period, the province's trade with its largest trading partner, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, topped 72.1 billion yuan, up 38.4 percent year on year.
Hubei's trade with other members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership rose 21.7 percent to 141.19 billion yuan, while its trade with countries along the Belt and Road reached 138.84 billion yuan, up 39.4 percent.


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The CEO of cryptocurrency payment service BitPay Stephen Pair to CNBC said in the interview that the current cost of bitcoin is more connected with a speculative component, and only its small part – with practical value. However by forces of the company he plans to change a situation.
“Speculation has very great influence on the price, and the real practical importance of bitcoin is only a small component of its price. The BitPay company concentrates the attention on this question – use of the platform and granting products which will be valuable to our clients”, – Pair told.
He considers that besides ETF of bitcoin there are many ways, having applied which it is possible to raise the cryptocurrency price to values of the end of 2017. The current annual volume of transactions in BitPay is $1 billion, however Peyr expects that in several years the figure will make already $10 billion, and over time and all $100 billion when cryptocurrencies are supported by a wide range of retailers and payment applications. According to him, thanks to this positive dynamics the rate of bitcoin will manage to be restored.
Pair also considers that possibilities of technology of a blockchain are much more extensive, and in the future it will be applied not only in cryptocurrency space, but also to formation of databases in universal use. By its approximate calculations, 3-5 years later clients will be able to come to restaurant or shop where payment with use of a blockchain will be supported.
“We consider that a large number of digital assets will be issued on a blockchain, as well as the majority of payments will be made by means of this technology. This vision is not limited to bitcoin or tokens which are presented to the market at the moment. On a blockchain also fiat currencies, such as dollars and euro will be issued. Therefore when we speak about payments on a blockchain, we mean not only payments in bitcoin. We speak about all types of digital assets which are possible for using for implementation of payments”, – Pair told.