text:
Business Day Motor News Editor, Mark Smyth, was lucky enough to attend the 2016 Paris Motor Show in person. These are the cars that bought the stars to his eyes:
The company with the four rings had three world debuts at the show, but the most important was the new Q5 which adopts the new design language at the Ingolstadt firm, particularly when it comes to the interior. The new A5 and S5 Sportback models also appeared as did the RS3 sedan.
The company’s big surprise was the X2. We knew the model was going to be shown, but the surprise was that it was not an X1 coupe as we had expected. Instead, it looks set to be a standalone model, showcasing a new design era for BMW. Elsewhere on the stand, the company showcased a bunch of new 7 Series models as well as the updated 3 Series GT, two new M models in the form of the M140i and M240i and the longer range i3 electric vehicle.
Citroen’s big reveal was its new C3, which will feature those AirBumps that debuted on the C4 Cactus. Sadly, Citroen is not doing so well in SA and while the C3 might once have been a major player for the brand, it will not be bringing the new model to our shores. It also showed a stunning concept in the form of the CXperience, a vast grand tourer with an amazing interior. We will bring you more details on it when we delve into the concepts of Paris in next week’s issue.
The star of Fiat’s stand was not actually a Fiat at all — it was the Riva motor yacht. I spent ages staring at it, such is its incredible beauty. The company had it on the stand as part of its reveal of the limited edition 500 Riva, but the show also gave us our first glimpse at the new Fiat 124 sports convertible. Only the Abarth version is coming here.
The main reveal for Honda was its new Civic hatchback, which is currently only under consideration for SA. But it was not the star of the stand, that accolade went to the prototype of the next generation Civic Type-R. Interestingly it was shown in the same year that the latest version of the Type-R was launched, with the model traditionally arriving years into the mainstream model’s life cycle. Honda is promising to rectify this, though, and you can expect the extrovert Type-R to arrive next year.
Far from its South Korean homeland, Hyundai had plenty to shout about at Paris. Its big reveal was the new i30 which shows the next stage of the company’s design strategy. It also used the event to finally debut its performance brand in the form of the i30 N. As yet Hyundai SA has not confirmed if it will bring the performance models to our shores, but we certainly hope it does. Apparently the new i10 had a global reveal at the show too, but it must have been tucked away because we didn’t see it.
The Rio is a top seller for Kia so it was no surprise that it was the focal point on its stand. Displaying a more dynamic look than the outgoing model, it again boasts a long list of standard features and looks set to boost its popularity against the likes of Volkswagen’s Polo.
It was all about the fifth generation of the Discovery on Land Rover’s stand. Taking design cues from both the concept and the Discovery Sport, the new model again offers space for seven and an assurance the legendary off-road capability it is renowned for will continue. We are in two minds about the interior, which is nothing like the concept we were so excited about. Instead the company looks to have raided the Jaguar Land Rover parts bin and gone with something more conservative, although in line with other models. This probably means the cool stuff will only come with the midlife facelift. There is a new infotainment system and some new tech, but none of the innovation the concept promised.
Lexus revealed its strangely named UX sports SUV. Strange because if you read the names together, it says Lexusux. Did nobody in the marketing department think about that? Fortunately the concept does not suck though, instead showcasing a dramatic design both inside and out as well as a host of technology features. As Toyota and Lexus seek to reinvent themselves, we really want to see Lexus build the UX to provide something very different.
One of the big battlegrounds in Paris was that of the electric vehicle and Mercedes weighed in with its EQ concept as well as its Smart electric-drive models. We’ll bring you more on the EQ next week, but currently Merc SA is not looking at EVs, preferring to go the plug-in hybrid route until we get a decent level of infrastructure to support electric motoring. In the realm of the internal combustion engine, the company debuted its GLC43 coupe, as well as the E-Class All Terrain. The wow factor, though, was reserved for the massive Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 with its bonnet the length of a runway and its tail the length of a super yacht. In the middle sits a super luxurious cabin. It’s a concept, so the company can do what it likes and we suspect that if it were to go into production it will be somewhat more subdued. But then people bought the ultra expensive and extrovert Maybach Exelero, so who knows.
Mini might have ditched some of its niche models such as the roadster and coupe, but it is still creating vehicles offering something different when it comes to performance. The latest, which made its debut in Paris, is the Clubman John Cooper Works, for those who want a Mini station wagon with serious attitude.
Mitsubishi showed its new Outlander plug-in hybrid, the successor to the bestselling plug-in hybrid in the world. Bet you didn’t know that. The new version has a dramatically different design which will filter down into the other Outlander models which we will get in SA. The company’s Ground Tourer concept was a major draw card though, certainly attracting a great deal more attention than the dated Pajero tucked away in a corner. That could be because everyone expects the concept to hint at the next generation Pajero. Given that some of the styling of the concept already appears in the new Outlander, that would make sense.
Nissan took a massive stand for a little car as it debuted the next generation of its Micra. No word as yet on whether the new city car will come to SA after the company dropped it from its line-up a few years ago, but it could do with something in the segment to take on its rivals.
It was all about world debuts on the Peugeot stand. It showcased its new 3008 Dakar entry, which will be the big reveal for the guys at Toyota’s motorsport division to look at. For us normal folks, the company showed the new regular 3008, which is anything but regular. It is a major departure from the outgoing model with a great, albeit slightly more mainstream, design. The interior is stunning with a true driver cockpit style and space for passengers. Expect it next year.
Porsche’s stand was all about the world motorshow debut of the new Panamera. With its more dynamic styling and revised interior, it is likely to lure yet more people away from the traditional executive sedan offerings.
Renault revealed its dramatic Trezor concept, which hints at the next generation styling for the brand. It also showed the production version of the Alaskan bakkie for the first time and hit out at all its electric vehicle rivals by revealing the new Zoe with the statement that it offers a 400km range “now”.
VW was the main target of Renault’s electric vehicle range claims as the German car maker pulled the wraps off its ID electric car concept. The company has big ambitions for its electric vehicle range as it tries to move away from the Dieselgate scandal and into a new era where it plans to sell 1-million electric vehicles globally.


text:
This article was originally published on this site
The F&C Commercial Property Trust has reported a return of 8.8% for 2017.
One of the Moneywise First 50 Funds for beginners, it invests in commercial property across the UK including offices, warehouses and retail and leisure space.
The trust makes money by renting these properties to tenants as well as benefiting from any increase in their value.
F&C says investments in industrial and logistics sites were the most successful for the year, delivering a stonking return of 17.7% in the year. Its top-performing investment was St Christopher’s Place Estate, a buzzing district near London’s Oxford Street with shopping and eateries.
Commercial property funds are popular choices for investors looking for a steady stream of income, and F&C did not disappoint in 2017 with a dividend yield of 4.4%.
The F&C trust manages £1.4 billion of investors’ money with around a third of its assets in office space and another 31% in retail. Some 34% of the portfolio is in the West End of London, a further 25% in the South East and 12% in Scotland.
Its largest assets include a business park unit in Aberdeen, retail park space in Newbury and Solihull, and an office building in St James’s Street in London.
F&C’s performance for the year was boosted by its decision to avoid investing in shopping centres, which have been out of favour as consumers move away from the high street to online shopping.
In the year, the trust sold an office site on Great Pulteney Street in London’s West End and used the proceeds to buy One Cathedral Square, a new 56,821 square foot site in the centre of Bristol.
Fund manager Richard Kirby says: “Our long-term outperformance and highly secure income return remain on track and we believe we have a resilient portfolio that is well position for the year ahead. We keep a close eye on the investment market for opportunities that meet our criteria and will provide sustainable and secure income streams.”

domain: news


text:
This Is How Much Tax New York State Places On Marijuana Sales
Let's be honest; the real reason New York State legalized adult-use recreational cannabis is due to the potential tax revenue it will produce. Although marijuana was decriminalized, the state fast-tracked approval of the legalization of marijuana after COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the budget. So much money was provided for COVID-19 relief and to protect residents, that the state had few options to recoup the money. Then those in power realized that cannabis (and online sports betting) were the answer. Vices usually are, lol. People spend a lot of money on things like gambling, alcohol, tobacco, sex, drugs, and marijuana.
How Much Money Can New York State Make From Marijuana Sales?
Let's take a look at the tax revenue California generated this year from adult-use marijuana sales. According to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, Cali has made almost $600 million this year alone (in two quarters),
As you can see, marijuana sales have the potential to be very lucrative for New York State.
How Much Does New York State Tax Marijuana
New York predicts that the adult-use cannabis industry will generate millions, possibly billions of dollars in revenue for the state from taxes and other fees. The state has a robust taxation plan in place to make sure it maximizes the legalization of marijuana. In addition to taxing distributors of adult-use marijuana products in the state, there are two taxes that consumers will pay. These taxes will be active once the first legal retail dispensaries and lounges open,
There is a state excise tax imposed on the sale of cannabis products by a retail dispensary to a cannabis consumer at 9 percent of the products’ price.
Second, there is a state excise tax imposed on the sale of cannabis products by a retail dispensary
to a cannabis consumer at 9 percent of the products’ price.
Third, there is a local excise tax imposed on the sale of cannabis products by a retail dispensary to a cannabis consumer at four (4) percent of the products’ price. This tax is distributed to local governments based on where the retail dispensary is located.
As you can see, the legalization of marijuana will pay New York State handsomely. The tax revenue doesn't even include the fees imposed for licenses and other requirements for businesses participating in the marketplace.
But, it's not just marijuana. New York makes a lot of tax revenue from our bad habits.


text:
There has been a lot of hype about the current novelty of Samsung – Galaxy Fold. We have called it a revolutionary device that had started a new era of smartphones, yet, it turned out to be a too pompous name for such a phone.
Samsung presented Galaxy Fold in February 2019, it was the first company to release a combination of a simple smartphone and a tablet in one device. The first impression of the Galaxy Fold was quite unpleasant, people considered it too ugly to buy, however, they admitted that the new era of electronic devices had begun.
Later, the journalists, tech experts, testers received the models of the phone to test them out and make reviews. Usually, testers are amazed by new phones produced by Samsung, but not in this case. They reported a number of failures and screen damage after a couple of days of using.
Samsung received a big wave of criticism amid the fact that its Chinese competitors – Huawei, Xiaomi – also released folded smartphones which got a big welcome among people. And now Samsung decided to postpone the release of Galaxy Fold in China, according to SamMobile. The official reason is the problems with the venue, though other events connected to the launch were also delayed.
Richard Lai, the editor in chief of Engadget Chinese, posted a tweet saying that events in Hong Kong and Shanghai have been delayed.
Samsung Galaxy Fold launch events in Hong Kong and Shanghai have been postponed. They were originally scheduled for this Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
— Richard Lai (@richardlai) April 21, 2019
Such a major setback has a certain impact on the price of Samsung’s shares. In the last five days, the value of stocks fell from ₩47,400 (~$41) to ₩45,350 (~$39).
Subscribe to The Coin Shark news in Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coinshark/


text:
An upcoming anime adaptation game Twin Star Exorcist by Bandai Namco release date has been confirmed. The game will release on January 26, 2017 in Japan.
This is a recent TV clip that was shared for Twin Star Exorcist.
Bandai Namco also gave a special bonus for first-print copies of the game. The copies will include a product code for an original twin star exorcist PS Vita theme.
How much do you like this article? Let everybody know by clicking below:


text:
Jirka Jón will be again on the jury of the European Effie Awards
The European Association of Communication Agencies, which is behind the Effie Awards Europe, announced on 24 August the composition of this year's jury. Ogilvy Consulting's director Jirka Jón will also evaluate the effectiveness of communication in the Multi-Market & Positive Change category in the second round.
This year's jury, which will choose the winners for 2022, is made up of more than 100 professionals from 26 European countries. The results will be announced on 30 November at the Effie Europe Awards gala. More information about juries can be found here.


text:
India’s logistics sector still poor: ASSOCHAM
Industry body Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) is worried about the growth of India’s logistics market as this sector drives the growth of several other sectors including manufacturing, FMCG, retail and e-commerce sectors.
The country’s logistics sector is still in a poor condition and because of this, the exporters from the country are not competitive when compared to other countries, D S Rawat, Secretary General of ASSOCHAM told The Dollar Business Bureau.
Robust logistics infrastructure, that include better road, rail, air and waterways, is very important for faster development of the country to support the government’s initiatives such as Make in India. Quality logistics infrastructure would help in attracting foreign investors to invest heavily in the country,” he said.
As per the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2015–2016, India’s overall infrastructure ranked 81st out of 140 economies. India lags behind the BRICS countries (Russian Federation, Brazil, China and South Africa) in overall infrastructure. Hong Kong, Singapore and Netherlands are the top three countries in infrastructure ranking.
Stressing on the need to overcome the country’s infrastructure deficit, Rawat said, “The growth of Indian economy has placed stress on logistics infrastructure such as railways, roads, ports and airports. The goals of inclusive growth and a double digit growth in gross domestic product (GDP) can be achieved only if the country’s infrastructure deficit is overcome. Infrastructure development will help in creating a better investment climate in India.”
As per a study by ASSOCHAM, there are 1702 transport infrastructure projects that are under implementation stage. Among these, 438 projects have reported time overrun, and 674 projects have reported cost escalation. Over 23 projects have reported delay of more than 100 months. The cost of the projects has increased more than four times to reach Rs.4.8 lakh crore, from the actual cost of the projects at Rs.1.02 lakh crore.
According to the study, seven air transport infrastructure projects have been completed within the time frame but the rest of the projects got completed after lot of delays. Among 91 road transport projects, 16 projects have been completed on time. Only three out of 15 railway transport infrastructure projects, five out of 21 shipping transport projects and four out of 19 transport logistics projects have been completed on time while the rest have been completed but only after prolonged delays.


text:
Italian Ceramic Industry Production Declined 0.9% in 2022
Sassuolo, IT, June 15, 2023- Confindustria Ceramica reports that there were a total of 128 ceramic tile companies operating in Italy in 2022 with a production of 431.2 million square meters (down 0.9% on 2021) and a workforce of 18,639 direct employees, similar to the previous year’s figure.
Total sales amounted to 448.9 million square meters (-1.4%). Sales in Italy exceeded 92.7 million square meters (+1.7%), while exports reached 356.2 million square meters (-2.2%). Italian tile producers reported total revenues of almost €7.2 billion (+16.5%), of which €6 billion was generated by exports (+14.8%; 83% share of turnover) and €1.2 billion from sales in Italy. Investments totaled €441.3 million, an increase of 25.6% over 2021, and represented 6.1% of turnover.
Manufacturing operations in Europe and North America by subsidiaries of Italian ceramic companies generate a total value in excess of €1 billion.
Related Topics: CERAMICS OF ITALY


text:
We’re all familiar with the growing influence of user-generated rating sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor. The power of these sites to determine which businesses thrive, while others struggle to stay in business, is well documented. Without a doubt, there is power in ratings and rankings. But you could be excused for thinking that this is all a very B2C phenomenon: consumers, retailers, restaurants and the like. After all, this is where all the noise and press reporting has been focused. But there are strong B2B opportunities in the world of ratings and rankings. And these opportunities don’t need to be at the scale of a Yelp or a TripAdvisor. Indeed, a simple list of the top players in a market can be absurdly influential, and where there is power and influence, there is usually also opportunity.
Consider this one compelling example. Bloomberg reports that two companies, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, were willing to forego millions of dollars in fees just to get credit as having worked on several large M&A deals. This “credit” in turn pushed the companies higher on a listing (often referred to as a league table) of the companies handling the most M&A transactions, and published by a third-party company called Dealogic.
Step back and consider, even savor, this for a moment. Two prestigious, successful and extremely savvy companies that hardly need more publicity or name recognition, are willing to trade millions of dollars in fees to push themselves higher in a list that ranks transaction activity. Clearly what’s going on is that these companies feel that the bragging rights and marketing value of ranking highly on this list will be worth many more millions that those they walked away from.
Now you may be noting that Dealogic, the transaction platform and data company behind this league table, didn’t see any of the millions of dollars. But monetization isn’t always direct. And in the case of the league table in particular, it shouldn’t be.
But let’s tally up the benefits to Dealogic. It certainly needs name recognition more than the big name companies in its ranking, and it gets that recognition in spades as the producer of this important list that drives deal activity. Secondly, the league table is inherently a highly summarized product. Dealogic can easily sell the underlying data at a premium price to those who want to do more granular analysis. Third, the league table has a halo effect on other Dealogic products. As a producer of critical industry data, every Wall Street player will be receptive to hear about all the other products and services that Dealogic offers. Indeed, many of these Wall Street players will be regularly reaching out to Dealogic to make sure they are properly reflected in these league tables. As a neutral producer of this relatively small dataset, Dealogic has built strong market authority and credibility, and is able to reach and sell to the biggest names on Wall Street more as an equal than an obscure vendor.
The power of rankings and ratings is undeniable. But the really important lesson here is that the rankings don’t have to be elaborate, and the market doesn’t have to be huge for them to yield outsized benefit.


text:
The latest must-have accessory is a designer bike, and the latest designer bike is Gucci’s. It’s designed by Gucci creative director Frida Giannini for Bianchi.
This, like the fragrances that clothing designers love to market, is getting to be a crowded field. Other luxury brands that have come out with fashionable bikes include Kate Spade, Hermes, Missoni for Target (IF you could get your hands on one), Fendi, Ralph Lauren, Trussardi and even Chanel. In fact, this isn’t even Gucci’s first go at it—they had a different bike in 2008.
Gucci, at 90, is pressing home its long heritage—sponsoring blue-blooded horse riding events and even opening a museum in Florence. (Bianchi is even older, at 126.) The bike, and the accompanying accessories—helmet, riding gloves and a water bottle—are also a stab at a product category that has been surprisingly recession proof.
As any resident of New York who has been clambering around all the bikes locked to signposts has noticed lately, bikes are a hot seller at all price points. A Taiwanese bike manufacturing alliance, A-Team, recently announced that Taiwan’s bicycle exports are set to exceed $1.65 billion this year, up 10% from the year-earlier, according to the CENS news service. And they’re getting pricier, with the average export price reaching $372, up 31% from a year ago.
This Gucci-Bianchi model is sleek and logo-driven, with the little Gucci green-red-green stripes on the top tube. It comes in two models: a white steel single-speed bike, retailing for $6,200, has Gucci leather handle grips and is aimed at urban riders who don’t have to fight any hills (no point in carrying it in San Francisco); and a matte black carbon-fiber model, which costs $14,000, is an urban/off-road bike with carbon fork and disc brakes.
You’ll find them in select Gucci stores—including Rome, Milan, Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Honolulu, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore and Chevy Chase, Md. Or have a glass of wine and ogle them at the new Bianchi concept store in Stockholm, Bianchi Café & Cycles.


text:
Volkswagen moves into Rental in China
Published on January 9, 2013 by Joey Wang
Volkswagen’s service arm ‘Volkswagen New Mobility Services Investment’ said on Monday that it had acquired Shanghai Zhenlang Transportation Equipment Leasing and will officially establish car rental operations across China.
According to the company’s General Manager, Peter Tempich, after the first step of the acquisition, the company plans to gradually set up car rental stations in all major cities of the country, providing long-term rental and leasing services for corporate clients.
In the second step, it plans to gradually set up car rental stations in all major cities in the country, providing long-term rental and leasing services aimed at corporate clients, said Tempich.
Since its foundation in November 2011, the service company under German automaker Volkswagen AG has concentrated on investments in long-term rentals, after sales services and alternative mobility solutions, such as corporate car sharing and e-mobility services.


text:
Month while bitcoin grows
Bitcoinist - decade-long financial growth wiped out in one month while bitcoin grows stronger forum rules if you are posting news, press or any other related material that directly or in-directly benefits you, we request that you post a back-link to bitcoin. Its impossible to discuss new developments in money without thinking for a moment about what money is.
John lanchester when bitcoin grows up what is money.
Now, an analysis has revealed that there is an aggressive inbound bullish movement on the cards that will most likely push bitcoins price up to around 17k in late september. If you already have an account with a bitcoin-related site that offers an affiliate program, this is another way you can earn bitcoin.
Who else wants to grow their bitcoins? Here are 14 ways.
Back rumored samsung galaxy. While bitcoin may have emerged as the preserve of rebels, originally popular with people buying drugs on the dark web, the technology that it pioneered known as blockchain has been.
On one side we have a famous dead person elizabeth fry or charles darwin or adam smith. The bitcoin price index is an average of bitcoin prices across leading global exchanges.
Reports ani we are depending on information from social media. Olusegun ogundeji how bigcommerce.
Live bitcoin blows past 8k, altcoins bleeding while bitcoin dominance grows.
Well, 2019 arrived, and while the start of the year still felt a tight bearish grip over the market, things appear to be taking a positive turn. Bitcoin to hit 17k this month predicts crypto analyst bitcoin dominance grows to 70.
Another shockwave of declining stocks is affecting other major trading markets all over the world, and there is no end in sight. 5 bitcoin continues to gain market dominance and nurture its present bull run.
Statistic the graph presents the evolution of bitcoin price index from september 2017 to september 2019. The corresponding business gets a new customer, while you gain a referral bonus (paid in btc).


text:
DETROIT — Auto executives and experts are confident that the industry's good times will continue this year despite a 1.8 percent decline in U.S. new light-vehicle sales in 2017 that ended a seven-year growth streak.
Contributing to the calmness are sound economic trends and a trifecta of positive signs: moderate inventory levels, average transactionprices in the mid-$30,000s and consumer preferences that point to more profitable sales.
Most automakers and industry experts predict sales this year will decline from 17.25 million vehicles in 2017 — the fourth-highest sales ever after a record 17.55 million in 2016 — to a still robust range of 16.7 million to 16.9 million.
It's "still a healthy industry demand level, supported by positive economic conditions and, specific to the auto industry, still welcoming credit conditions and high incentive levels," said Christopher Hopson, manager of North America light-vehicle forecasting for IHS Markit, which forecasts sales of 16.9 million in 2018.
Even so, some industry watchers say the market remains vulnerable to a steeper downturn.
"We do have some concerns that headwinds are growing," said Charlie Chesbrough, senior industry insights director for Cox Automotive. "It's a mixed blessing when we look into 2018."
Among the risk factors that could bite into new-vehicle sales: a record number of off-lease vehicles, rising interest rates and the just-enacted tax law, which is expected to put more money into consumers' pockets but also could prompt the Federal Reserve Board to raise rates faster than expected to check inflation.
Those concerns are in addition to possible fluctuations in gasoline prices, consumer confidence and incentive spending.
Average incentive spending for the industry rose 9.7 percent to $3,672 per vehicle sold in 2017, according to Autodata Corp.
Many automakers, including General Motors and Hyundai, increased incentive spending upward of 20 percent to end the year, while smaller players such as Mazda and Mitsubishi went even higher to push the industry average for December up 5.7 percent to $3,980 per vehicle, according to Autodata.
"Collectively, automakers are bracing for slower sales in 2018 with lower overall production volume, which should allow for a pullback on elevated incentive levels," said Eric Lyman, chief industry analyst for ALG.


text:
To enable the development of wearable devices that possess advanced ultraviolet (UV) detection functions, Singaporean scientists have created a new type of light sensor that is both flexible and highly sensitive.
While invisible to the human eye, UV rays in the environment, and excessive exposure can cause health issues including skin cancer and premature skin ageing. The intensity of UV rays is typically reported through an index during weather reports. A wearable device, such as a T-shirt or watch that monitors the actual personal UV exposure throughout the day, would be a useful and more accurate guide for people seeking to avoid sun damage.
In their study, which was featured on the front cover of the peer-reviewed journal, the researchers reported that their flexible UV light sensors were 25 times more responsive, and 330 times more sensitive, than existing sensors, exceeding the performance level required for optoelectronic applications – or light-based electronics.
UV light sensors, also known as photodetectors, are used in a wide range of systems, from smartphones to biomedical imaging. Over the past decades, gallium nitride (GaN) has gained prominence as the ideal material to fabricate UV light sensors, largely due to its superior properties in emitting, regulating, transmitting, and sensing light. However, most GaN-based UV sensors today are built on rigid layers, limiting their use in flexible and wearable products.
While researchers elsewhere have developed flexible GaN-based UV sensors, they have not attained the level of performance required for state-of-the-art use. Two of their biggest challenges are low responsivity and low sensitivity.
The NTU team overcame these constraints by creating their flexible UV light sensors on a semiconductor wafer 8 inches in diameter, using free-standing single-crystalline layers of GaN and aluminium gallium nitride (AlGaN), arranged using membranes that consist of two different thin semiconductor layers (heterostructure membranes).
This type of semiconductor structure, which can be fabricated using existing industrial compatible methods, allows the material to be easily bent, making it ideal for use in flexible sensors. At the same time, the chemical composition of the material changes with depth, meaning that high performance is maintained even when it comes under strain.
Lead researcher said that the high performance of the team’s flexible UV light sensors proves that it would be feasible to manufacture large-scale lightweight and flexible electronics for use in future relevant light-based applications. The team’s achievement could lead to significant advances in UV optoelectronic devices and circuits, as product engineers could now look forward to developing UV-enabled wearable systems.
While the performance of the rigid form of GaN-based UV light sensors has been greatly improved with various structural innovations over the past years, a flexible version remains in its infancy and their performance is far behind that of the rigid counterparts. Their high-performance flexible UV light sensors pave the way forward for a wide range of future wearable applications, such as in personal smart health monitoring, where people can accurately measure their UV exposure levels throughout the day to reduce their risk of skin cancer.
Skin cancer can be prevented by protecting the skin from excessive sun exposure. In this context, a reliable wearable device that could track UV exposure may be a handy tool to help monitor one’s recommended exposure, particularly for those who spend a lot of time outdoors.
This demonstration on a flexible platform opens vast opportunities not only in UV photodetectors but also in other optoelectronic and electronic device applications. The project to develop the flexible UV light sensors took the team two years of design, fabrication, and testing. Moving forward, the researchers are looking to devise eye-type UV imagers and other applications using their innovation.


text:
Bangladesh asked the telecom operators to shut down mobile phone services in Rohingya camps, citing a security threat and illegal phone use in the territory, reports Al Jazeera. It has also ordered the telecom companies to stop selling SIM cards. A spokesperson for Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) told AFP that telecom operators have seven days to submit reports to the government on the actions they took to shut down networks in the camps. The spokesperson added that a recent "survey" in the camps revealed that cellphones are being used illegally and people in the camps pose a threat to the country. According to the report, a police spokesperson, Ikbal Hossain, hailed this decision. He said that the refugees have been "abusing" mobile phone access to conduct criminal activities such as trafficking of methamphetamine pills worth hundreds of millions of dollars from Myanmar. He further stated that this communications blackout will have a positive impact and will help reduce criminal activities in the country. Back in August 2017, about 700,000 Rohingya had fled into Bangladesh from Myanmar's Rakhine state, following a military crackdown in response to the militant attack. They joined about 200,000 Rohingya refugees who had fled there earlier. The Bangladesh government had banned mobile phones in Rohingya camps in 2017, but this was never wholly enforced; mobile phones and SIM cards remained easily available. Back in 2018, the Bangladesh government had suspended high-speed internet services in the country one day before national elections were held on December 30. At the time, the…
- US Securities regulator charges Binance and its founder with 13 counts of security violations June 6, 2023
- Summary: Petition in Supreme Court against prolonged internet shutdown in Manipur June 6, 2023
- Access providers must create a unified consent seeking platform: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India June 5, 2023
- EU Court Upholds Verdict Finding French Politician Liable for Hateful Comments on Facebook Wall June 5, 2023
- UPI’s online dispute resolution system to now provide refunds: National Payment Corporation of India June 5, 2023
MediaNama’s mission is to help build a digital ecosystem which is open, fair, global and competitive.
Is it safe to consider all "publicly available data" as public?
PhonePe launched an e-commerce buyer app for ONDC called Pincode. We, however, believe that it should also launch a seller app.
Amazon announced that it will integrate its logistics network and SmartCommerce services with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
India's smartphone operating system BharOS has received much buzz in the media lately, but does it really merit this attention?
After using the Mapples app as his default navigation app for a week, Sarvesh draws a comparison between Google Maps and Mapples
Please subscribe to MediaNama. Don't share prints and PDFs.
You May Also Like
Google has released a Google Travel Trends Report which states that branded budget hotel search queries grew 179% year over year (YOY) in India, in...
135 job openings in over 60 companies are listed at our free Digital and Mobile Job Board: If you’re looking for a job, or...
Twitter takes down tweets from MP, MLA, editor criticising handling of pandemic upon government request
By Aroon Deep and Aditya Chunduru You’re reading it here first: Twitter has complied with government requests to censor 52 tweets that mostly criticised...
Rajesh Kumar* doesn’t have many enemies in life. But, Uber, for which he drives a cab everyday, is starting to look like one, he...


text:
Here’s an amazing statistic: every day for the past nine years, women in America started 1,072 new businesses. The result, according to American Express’ 2016 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, is that women-owned firms now number 11.3 million, employing nearly nine million people and generating over $1.6 trillion in revenue.
We’re proud to count EleVen among the ranks of those women-owned businesses. EleVen is not a licensed line, where a celebrity spokesperson just lends her name. The behind-the-scenes story is that Venus Williams holds a degree in fashion design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and, as EleVen’s owner, she also is personally involved in each aspect of the design and production processes. A serial entrepreneur, Venus is also CEO of her own interior design firm, V Starr Interiors.
With her career in tennis, what motivated Venus to become a business owner, too? For Venus, the drive to become a business owner started at a young age, and was inspired by her parents. Venus explained the origins of her entrepreneurial spirit when she recently spoke to Ellevate, a global professional women's network dedicated to the economic engagement of women worldwide. “My dad taught us the mindset: Be independent, be entrepreneurial. [He] always said, ‘Work for yourself.’ So I always wanted to have my own business, it was just the culture that we grew up in,” she said.
Knowing she wanted to be a business owner, finding her way to the fashion industry was a natural path for Venus. Since her early days as a teenage tennis phenomenon, Venus has been known for her trend-setting style on and off the court. She was passionate about bringing her sense of style as well as her commitment to the highest level of performance to her own line of active wear. EleVen fulfills that vision for Venus, combining fashion with function. Venus’ mission for EleVen to help people get moving and feel good about how they look.
As a business owner, Venus also understands the importance of having a strong team in place, and, as it turns out, EleVen’s senior leadership team is made up of mostly female executives. Together, Venus and the EleVen team are committed to designing clothes that empower women to feel their best, whether they are at work or at play.
After all, the concept behind EleVen is to be better than a “ten,” better than your best. Says Venus, “The name EleVen represents how I strive to live every day -- that is, without limits.” EleVen salutes all the women behind those 1,072 new businesses being launched each day, for their commitment to creating a world without limits.
Check out the latest collection from Venus and EleVen team!


text:
Automation Anywhere this week announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft that will integrate the San Jose, Calif.-based RPA provider’s technology into the Seattle software giant’s cloud offering. Under the agreement, customers will be able to access Automation Anywhere bots from within Microsoft Azure “to help manage large, unstructured datasets, decrease time-to-market and lower operating costs.”
The partnership will enable joint product integration, marketing and selling between the two market leaders. It will also enable mutual customers to leverage software bots to automate business processes along with integrated access to Microsoft products; find new Microsoft-enabled bots in the Automation Anywhere bot store and access Automation Anywhere products on the Azure Marketplace beginning next quarter.
“Cloud computing provides the foundation on which to build a digital enterprise,” said Frank Della Rosa, IDC research director for SaaS and cloud software, in a press release. “Digital enterprises rely on innovation accelerators like AI-enabled automation to increase agility and disrupt markets. The combination of Automation Anywhere and Microsoft Azure creates an intelligent digital workplace, where software bots operate with maximum efficiency and accuracy enabling enterprises to unlock the value of intelligent automation in the cloud.”


text:
The House Energy and Commerce Committee just approved comprehensive food safety reform, setting it up for consideration on the House floor in the coming months. The Food Safety Enhancement Act was approved by voice vote, indicating bipartisan support and suggesting a relatively smooth passage through the entire House.
As studies continue to link bisphenol-A (BPA) with all sorts of health problems, states and cities are banning the chemical from baby bottles and sippy cups and Congress is considering a ban in all food containers. This worries industry groups, who last week held a private meeting to devise strategy to protect the use of BPA. Someone sent the notes to the Washington Post.
The Chicago City Council has voted to ban the controversial chemical BPA in baby bottles, says the Associated Press.
Minnesota has enacted the “Toxic Free Kids Act,” which will ban bisphenol-A (BPA) in sippy cups and baby bottles. Minnesota joins Suffolk County, New York, which banned BPA earlier this year. Other states and counties, as well as the federal government, are considering bans on the potentially dangerous chemical, which has been linked to all sorts of adverse health effects. The Minnesota ban goes into effect in 2011. (Photo: tiffanywashko)
Philips Avent, the nation’s largest seller of baby bottles, announced today that it will voluntarily stop selling bottles containing the controversial chemical bisphenol A (BPA). Attorneys general from Connecticut and New Jersey had written a letter to several bottle makers asking them to stop, and the Washington Post says the six largest baby bottle manufacturers in the country have voluntarily complied.
Suffolk County, New York enacted the nation’s first Bisphenol-A (BPA) ban on Tuesday when it voted to ban BPA from bottles for children 3 and under.
Chicago might become the first place in the United States to partially ban the sale of products that contain Bisphenol-A (BPA), the chemical that some studies have shown may have harmful effects on humans. They’re proposing to forbid the sale of any BPA product intended for children. Canada banned the chemical last year, but the FDA has so far come down on the side of manufacturers.
A new study from the University of Rochester shows that bisphenol-A (BPA), a potentially toxic chemical found in many plastics, can enter the body via non-food sources and lingers in the body longer than previously thought.
those with the largest amount of BPA in their urine had nearly three times the risk of heart disease and more than twice the risk of diabetes as those who had the lowest levels.
Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine have linked [BPA] to problems with brain function and mood disorders in monkeys—the first time the chemical has been connected to health problems in primates.
Bisphenol A, or BPA, is the chemical used in various plastic bottles and can linings that Canada recently banned, consumers in Arkansas, California, and Ohio have filed lawsuits over, and Playtex and Nalgene have stopped using. The fear is that it’s toxic—studies on animals in Canada have shown that it’s damaging, and some tests in the U.S. suggest it’s harmful to humans as well. Critics of the anti-BPA movement point out that the human studies rely on super high dosages that never occur in real life, and that making safety decisions based on the general public’s fears isn’t exactly scientific.
It’s been a few weeks without a BPA story, so here goes: Four parents in Ohio have sued Evenflo, Avent America, Handicraft, Playtex Products, and Novartis for using bisphenol A in their baby products. They’re seeking class action status. [Washington Post]
A woman in Arkansas has filed a federal lawsuit against Playtex Products over their use of BPA in plastic baby bottles, claiming that the company “failed to adequately disclose that its plastic bottle products are formulated using BPA,” according to MSNBC. The suit is seeking class action status, which would make it the second BPA-related class action lawsuit after the one in California against Nalge Nunc International (the makers of Nalgene bottles)—although the chemical is still not classified as toxic in the U.S.
It begins! A woman in California, no doubt under the expert legal advice of people who only have her best interests at heart, has filed a lawsuit against Nalgene alleging that they “knew, but downplayed risks, that a toxic substance in its popular…
There’s nothing official about BPA in the U.S. (yet), and there’s no legal reason (again, yet) for a company to refund or replace any products that have BPA in them.


text:
Circuit City deal includes more property
Earlier this week, the Scope reported that a former Circuit City store had sold for $1 million, but that price tag apparently includes more than the single building.
Oliver Nassimi, of New York-based Nassimi Realty, said the company also bought an adjacent building that's home to Southeastern Salvage and Office Max. Nassimi declined to comment on the sale price, but a deed on file with the county put it at $1 million. That deed listed a map and parcel number that, according to KGIS, includes both buildings. (KGIS also shows a National Tire and Battery store as part of the parcel on Knoxville Center Drive.)
Nassimi said the deal represents his company's first property in Tennessee. Regarding the Circuit City building, he said that "we have no particular tenant in mind right now. We're going to go to the market and see how we can re-rent it."
Could you help me. Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. Help me! Help to find sites on the: Apply for college scholarships online. I found only this - judson university outside scholarships online. Scholarships online, adler was that the propĂ¦dia and the micropĂ¦dia could prevail the subject of an connection. Attend to proclaim each curriculum you allow in undergraduate to make your pioneers, scholarships online. Thanks for the help :eek:, Carleton from Burkina.


text:
This is a better response rate than it sounds. Buy Cbd Capsules Online all of the patients in the trials are those like Sam who had already run out of conventional options. But it is also a reminder that CBD Epidiolex or any seizure drug doesn’t help everyone.
The mother of two ran legal marijuana shops in Colorado and Washington before moving to Detroit to be closer to family. Her shop sells cannabis flowers as well as edible products and has a 24-hour drive-through for patients hempotion cannabidiol cannabidiol concentrate who find it difficult to get out of their cars especially in the harsh Michigan winter. But despite the store’s success Ms Gaetano and her nine employees may soon be out of business. Image caption Cannabis dispensary 420 Dank could soon be forced to shut New legislation in the city of Detroit prevents medical marijuana dispensaries from being within 1000ft (305m) of schools churches off licences strip clubs or other dispensaries – and 420 Dank is just 371ft away from an off-licence. Buy Cbd Capsules Online Michigan thc oil buy online legalised marijuana for medical use in 2008 but it took years for the state to draw up regulations which are enforced differently county to county. Ms Gaetano has applied for special permission to stay open citing her compliance with other local codes like fire safety and ID inspections and strong ties to the community.
The pharmacy knew how many pills had been dispensed he said; it would know how many had been consumed; and it would expect her to return Buy Cbd Capsules Online the unused pills before she left the country. The pharmacist made it clear that he was not only in touch with our doctor but with the company supplying the medication. They would know if she broke the
rules. Buy Cbd Capsules Online Evelyn said she understood and slipped the brown Buy Cbd Capsules Online glass bottles into her purse. She and our 11-year-old son Sam were omega 3 fatty acids flaxseed oil jet-lagged.
But even if the store is allowed to stay open it will still face new restrictions. Drive-through sales have been banned and stores cannot open until 10am cutting into the hours when it caters for people finishing night shifts. Image caption In some states only non-smokable medical marijuana can be sold National concerns Michigan is not the only state to place onerous regulation on the marijuana Buy Cbd Capsules Online industry.
Nevada California Arizona Maine and Massachusetts are expected to vote on fully legalising marijuana in November. Michigan could join that list if one of three proposed ballot initiatives can gain enough support. A bill has also been proposed in Michigan’s state senate but even its creator difference between hemp oil and hash medical ingesting cannabidiol headaches oil Congressman Jeff Irwin does not think it will get very far.


text:
Hardware store chain Sutherlands opens new Springfield location
Home improvement store chain Sutherlands opened its new permanent location in Springfield on Thursday.
The store at 1464 S. Glenstone Ave. is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, according to the store's Facebook page.
Sutherlands closed its previous Springfield location, at 3148 E. Chestnut Expressway, in the spring of 2016. It was one of two businesses to vacate property in connection with the Missouri Department of Transportation's construction of a railroad overpass in the area.
Sutherlands then opened a temporary location at 2951 E. Sunshine St, which only operated for part of the year.
Sutherlands has more than 45 stores in 14 states, according to its website.
Opening date announced for Springfield's second Ross Dress for Less store
First Watch hopes to open at former Shoney's site by October


text:
Could a Raw Food Diet Ease Your Crohn's?
If the phrase "raw food diet" conjures images of long hair, Birkenstocks and fringe communities, it may be time for a new picture. The number of people eating only raw food is growing, and followers report significant health improvements when making the switch to this way of eating. Furthermore, the results of several small studies indicated raw food diets might help people with Crohn's disease.
So what exactly is a raw food diet?
Raw foodies believe that food cooked over 116⁰ F loses most of the vitamins, nutrients and enzymes we need for a strong immune system. This is not a recent trend; raw food diets date back to ancient Greece.
Followers do not heat at least 75 percent of their food. They eat primarily fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, sprouts (food that is still growing when eaten), nuts and seeds. Raw foodies avoid eggs and diary, and most are vegan; they do not consume any animal products. They believe eating this way protects them from disease, and improves their overall health.
In February 2008, the journal of Inflammatory Bowel Disease reported the results of a small, but rigorously controlled, study of diet modifications in people with Crohn's. The subjects who changed their diets showed an improvement in intestinal lesions compared to those who did not. Researchers believe such results support theories that our western lifestyle, which includes diets high in saturated fats and refined foods, causes intestinal lesions to persist, and accounts for an increase in earlier onset of Crohn's disease.
In another study, a researcher followed a group of about 500 raw foodists whose diet consisted of 80 to 90 percent raw foods. Participants reported significant improvement in immunity, digestion, allergies, weight moderation, chronic illness, and mental and emotional health. In fact, 68 percent reported being free from illness after consuming only "live foods."
At least anecdotally, evidence to support raw food is mounting. Raw food chef, author, and Crohn's sufferer Paul Nison says he became disease free after switching to a raw food diet. David Klein, Ph.D., author of Self Healing Colitis and Crohn's, reports supervising the cures of 1,000 Colitis, Crohn's and Irritable Bowel sufferers.
Addenbrooke Hospital in the United Kingdom has implemented a program of identifying Crohn's trigger foods, eliminating them and "switching" off the disease. After two to three weeks, 90 percent of patients in the program report being symptom free.
Even the most passionate raw foodists acknowledge it's not always easy to follow this diet. However, improved health motivates them to stick with it.
The idea of vibrant health through plant-based nutrition is not limited to a small group of medical professionals pushing the limits of traditional medicine. On May 2, 2009, leaders from around the world convened for the third International Living Food Summit. Their goal was to establish scientifically based, common standards for optimal health.
Whether you feel a raw food diet might right for you, it's clear that the idea of creating and maintaining health through diet is here to stay. In the United States, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is conducting studies on health effects of modified diets, including at least one specifically for Crohn's disease.
Sign Up for Free Newsletters
Ask Your Doctor the RIGHT Questions!
the most from your doctor visit.
Emailed right to you!
The Ask Your Doctor email series
may contain sponsored content.
18+, US residents only please.


text:
10 18 January 2001
MTA contribution increases, untimely for leisure industry
While some business owners have seen only minor increases to their MTA contributions, contributions now payable by others have become tremendous and have come about at a rather inopportune moment during the low season.
Many operators in the leisure and hospitality sector are now realising what the increases actually consist of. They are analysing last year's accounts while preparing how to face the worst months for business this year. In fact, one hospitality business owner complained that his annual contribution toward the running of the MTA soared from some Lm80 per year to Lm750.
Another bone of contention stands with penalty payments. Prior to the new contributions recently announced, contributors would pay a normal bank rate if the payment was not effected within three months.
Now, however, if payment is not effected within the stipulated time frame, defaulters are penalised by seeing their contributions doubled a practice that the MTA describes as giving a discount' of 50 per cent for timely payments. Effectively, if the business owner mentioned above were to fail to meet payment deadline, that Lm750 fee would in reality rise to Lm1,500
When The Business Times spoke to the GRTU's Leisure and Hospitality President Phillip Fenech, he explained, "Our members reacted strongly against the new policies laid out by the MTA. Not that they feel that the industry doesn't need advertising abroad at a point in time when they are re-positioning their products to be in line with developments in the tourist operator markets such as the reduction of at least 40,000 tourists per annum from Frosch.
"Running contrary to the incentives received by the manufacturing industry, for example, if one looks at the tourism sector, no one incentifies it.
"The tourism and leisure industry over the last few years has passed through a rather difficult period over the last years as a result of rising standards, fierce competition, increased number of outlets, heightened supply and shifts in the economy.
"The type of tourist lately has been of a lower yield while figures are failing to keep up with supply. This, unfortunately, goes part and parcel with sluggish domestic demand.
"We all know that the economy is in a stop and go state making it difficult to plan a business and to see a turn-over high enough to be able to determine profitability.
'As a result, any extra expense is undesirable - especially at the moment, when the market is slumping.
"The sector has become a very expensive one to operate in, businesses are becoming more and more breathless and sustainability is decreasing rapidly. Compliance has become a very expensive exercise."
Asked how he responds to criticisms that this is just another case of businesses airing their grief, Mr Fenech explains, "If anyone is in doubt, go ask distributors of wines and spirits and ask how their debtors lists stand. It is painfully obvious that they are not keeping up with their payments. Additionally, ask the banks where loan and overdraft payments from the sector stand. Even many of last year's trading licences still need to be paid. These payments are not being kept up with because owners are living in luxury, it's a mere matter of survival.
"The majority of businesses in the sector are owner-managed, we've all had to put in more hours due to streamlining. Management is no longer about running the business, but also about fronting their businesses - with managers and owners working behind bars and serving clients now more than ever.
"We are all making our sacrifices to keep our shops open until matters improve.
"Is it wise to carry on burdening the sector at a time when it is suffering, or should we handle it with care until it becomes sustainable again and business starts ticking again as it should?
"Businesses in successful countries have grown because the economic policies for small and medium sized enterprises is geared toward low tax and high incentive. In Malta, we seem to be doing things the other way around by auguring success only with lip service."


text:
Recent polysilicon prices continue to fall. Taiwan can even see prices at US$ 12.5/kg. Affected by an import price of RMB 106/kg, polysilicon prices will still reflect a downtrend in China.
Multi-Si wafer shortage remains in China and Taiwan. Procurement staff had to purchase enough wafers to fulfill a large quantity of cell orders in January. Cell manufacturers try to confirm January wafer demand although multi-Si wafer makers haven’t come up with a price quote for January yet. Due to weaker demand, mono-Si wafer suffers from significant price decline, with the trading prices almost reaching US$ 0.88-0.89/pc in Taiwan. It’s expected that the price gap between mono and multi-Si wafers will be US$ 0.02 only in January.
Overseas module prices have started to drop, leading to limited price increase for cells. Whether cell price can increase in January will have to depend on how much multi-Si wafer prices increase. Despite slow price increase, recent demand from the US and India will result in full order status in the beginning of 2016 in Taiwan.
Module manufacturers will be running at full capacity thanks to strong power plant demand in China before the Lunar New Year. Barely any stocks have left for this year. Although some manufacturers try to increase prices during this time when demand is strong, module prices are likely to stay flat.


text:
Still problems logging in on XB1 and X360 but getting service is getting better
PSN was attacked on Sunday, and Sony spend most of Monday getting it back online, but the same group taking credit for the PSN DDOS attack has been focusing now on the Xbox Live service since Monday!
We reported on the major DDOS attack on Sony's PSN Servers this weekend, that even went as far as 'bomb threats' directed towards the Sony Online CEO because of PSN being totally down across all regions from the 'wave of attacks' which left PSN off for almost 2 days, and just now has become fully restored in all regions around the world.
But as Sony was busy rebooting their network, the hackers moved onto a new target, Microsoft's famed Xbox Live service, the unsinkable ship of servers, and did end-up running into some rough water, and Microsoft was forced to put the system on 'limited' service which caused trouble logging in for some regions, but if you were already login and gaming, you never noticed a thing.
The "Lizard Squad" tweeted a message asking if people are having issues with "Xbox Live Login servers". This is the same group that have admitted they were behind the attacks of the PSN as well.
If you look at the Xbox Live status official website, some services are limited at the moment. The issues don't seem to be as widespread as the PSN, but some people are experiencing some troubles logging in.
Game Informer noted they had some issues logging in to the Xbox Live services for Xbox 360, but Xbox One seems to be fine at the moment. If you look for people's reaction on Twitter, there are quite a few people having problems with Xbox Live now too. Pretty sad that now both PSN and Xbox Live seems to be down for a lot of people today.
Microsoft is aware of the issues of Xbox Live and posted the following message:
"Are you having a tough time signing into Live? We want you to know our team is aware of the issue and working hard to get things back to normal as soon as we can. Thank you for being patient. We'll provide an update for you in 30 minutes"
That above was posted yesterday evening, but no updates for a few hours, except now the system is basically up and running totally, except for all those people that grabbed the new Diablo III this weekend, they are still stuck unable to play it on Xbox consoles.
Xbox members, are you having trouble connecting to Party Chat, or running into server unavailability issues within Diablo III? We are currently working with our partner to get these issues fixed as quickly as possible. Thanks for being patient during this process. We'll provide an update to you when we have more information.
Personally, I think this whole DDOS attack stuff going on is to due inpart because of Diablo 3.
Because it actually started on Blizzard's Battle.net servers first before it moved onto PSN and later Xbox.
And the new Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition was recently released for both next-gen 'consoles', and alot of loyal PC gamers hate that fact it is on consoles so they decided to launch these DDOS attacks during the time the 'console' version quickly became one of the top-selling games this week.
And since both networks were already overloaded with all the new users logging in from the hot Diablo 3 sales, it would make for alot easier target to bring down the network via a DDOS style attack alot faster due to the combination of all new users, and DDOS'ing.
What do you think was the reason behind all the recent DDOS attacks thru-out the major gaming networks?
Research ongoing at Microsoft into 'new-era' of Cloud Gaming that can predict your 'next move'
System virtually eliminates lag by streaming your next action before you even do it. If this works, it'd be a huge coup for cloud gaming and might remove the need to buy costly consoles in the future!
The end of 'consoles' as we think of them is quickly coming to an end, at least the two big gaming companies are pushing towards it.
First out of the door is Sony with them launching the PlayStation Now service soon along with PlayStation TV on October 14th, you will soon be able to play a library of top best-selling PS3 games that used to require a costly $300 console on tiny cheap $99 box, and in the near future even PS4 games, with Sony Execs saying in the future PlayStation will just be 'brand-name' there might never be a PS5 console launched, that $99 tiny PlayStation TV box could be all you need for decades to come.
There is only one problem with the 'above setup' that is already in Beta-Testing by Sony, that there is 'LAG' and it is not really the 'same in-house console gaming experience' we gotten so used to over the last few generations of nice dedicated gaming hardware.
Well no problem here comes Microsoft Research team to save the day and bring in a whole new-era of Cloud Gaming that will make the 'LAG' disappear all together, by using more powerful computers to 'watch' and 'learn' your 'gaming moves' and predict what you going to do before you even know it yourself, so the servers can stream up the required digital content over the network before you even need it, removing the 'lag' currently that you find between 'slamming' the buttons on the gaming controller before your 'character' moves.
Researchers at Microsoft think they've come up with the solution. They've designed new software called "DeLorean" that predicts what you'll do next. Multiple different scenarios are played out at the same time on the servers, and those few options are then sent to your home before you've even made your next move. When you finally decide who you're going to shoot or in which direction you're going to walk, the image frames are already queued and ready for action on your device at home.
The result is a nearly lag-free experience. According to the researchers, testing with real gamers in Doom 3 and Fable 3 revealed that DeLorean made gameplay acceptable at latencies - or delays - of up to 250 milliseconds. Without such a system in place, a latency of 100ms or even 60ms can significantly impede gameplay.
Of course, the system is dependent on the accuracy of its predictions. To get the best predictions possible, the researchers designed the system to use information on how most players proceed through the game, as well as data on your individual gameplay style. In more complex situations, like a shootout, the system will make multiple guesses and pre-cache those on your device at home. And when the system completely misses its guess, the system allows for your device to perform some simple three-dimensional perspective adjustments to one of the incorrect predictions.
In testing with small groups of players, the researchers report that users saw a vast improvement when compared with traditional delays in cloud gaming systems. Some still noticed a delay, but they found it to be acceptable. A more quantitative experiment tested how much damage players took as they progressed through an area in Doom 3. While players took far more damage when playing with as little at 64ms of lag on a typical setup, the difference between players using DeLorean and those on a lag-free system were negligible.
It's all extremely promising, but there is at least one major downside: sending multiple different predicted outcomes for each action to users' homes demands quite a bit of bandwidth. In testing, the researchers recorded 1.5 to 4.5 times greater bandwidth usage with DeLorean than a standard setup. Multiplayer gameplay could also be a concern, as there are more human players who can do something unpredictable. In a paper detailing the system, however, the researchers note that current multiplayer systems use a bit of prediction already and that errors and glitches using DeLorean "are no more or less frequent than in standard multiplayer."
No word yet when 'DeLorean' will drive us into the future at 88 miles per hour, but we could very well soon be hearing 'beta-testing' of Xbox 360 games on our Xbox One consoles, or... [Read More]
'We are deeply saddened by this decision and the impact it has on our community,' Signal Studios writes
Free-to-play Xbox 360 game Ascend: Hand of Kul (formerly known as Ascend: New Gods), has been removed from the Xbox Marketplace, and developer Signal Studios isn't happy about it.
Without any notice to gamers, Microsoft has decided to 'pull' the plug on F-T-P game that been available for a while on the Xbox 360 Marketplace.
In a post on the company's website, Signal Studios says, "Despite our best efforts and the game's success, Microsoft has discontinued support for Ascend: Hand of Kul."
According to the studio, it found out about the game's removal over the weekend. Signal Studios did not share any details regarding its discussions with Microsoft about why Ascend: Hand of Kul was removed. We have followed up with Microsoft asking for its side of the story.
"We are deeply saddened by this decision and the impact it has on our community," the developer writes.
Though you can't play Ascend: Hand of Kul on Xbox 360 anymore, the PC version on Steam is still available. And as a "thank you" to fans, all new PC players will be given a starting bonus of 25K souls, which you can use to buy gear, spells, and buffs. All existing Ascend: Hand of Kul players will receive a 10K bonus.
Ascend: Hand of Kul was announced during Microsoft's 2012 E3 briefing and launched on Xbox 360 in September 2013. Its developer, Signal Studios, is perhaps best known for the Toy Soldiers series.
Is this an early warning signal that Microsoft is gearing up to 'cut-down' the amount of stuff running on their older Xbox 360 platform?
Microsoft hits 10 million Xbox One's in 'one day' thanks to China!
China has approved the sale of 5 million Xbox One units, opening the way for Microsoft to make a big splash in the country’s emerging console sector.
Well thanks to China Govt. and the way their 'console partner' setup works, Microsoft has officially hit the 10 million 'shipped' mark for their Xbox One's, matching PS4 levels, because China has pre-approved the 'sale' of 5 million Xbox One's for the upcoming launch of xbox One, and the way Microsoft's PR Dept. loves to spin the 'shipped-to' resellers figures as their overall customer base, they just got 5 million units added with the simple stamp of 'approved invoice' by the chinese govt. overseeing body on now overturned console ban.
China has approved the sale of 5 million Xbox One units, opening the way for Microsoft to make a big splash in the country's emerging console sector.
Microsoft's Chinese partner BesTV revealed the figure in a Tuesday earnings statement. The Chinese version of the Xbox One goes on in China on Sept. 23, after the country ended a 13-year-old ban on the import of foreign game consoles.
Although China often censors gaming content to weed out excessive violence, the approval of 5 million Xbox One units signals that the country's government is still giving ample room for actual device sales.
BesTV, a provider of Internet television services, is confident the Xbox One will rake in big profits over time. The industry is projecting that China's console gaming market has the potential to sell over 50 million units over the next five years, the company said.
The Xbox One first launched in western markets last November, with total shipments reaching 5 million units in April.
Chinese gamers have been looking forward to launch of the local version. But last month Microsoft revealed that the Chinese version of the Xbox One will cost consumers 3,699 yuan (US$600), $200 more than the U.S. version.
Despite the price, some local gaming merchants and experts believe the Xbox One will still attract customers. Microsoft and BesTV are bringing aboard local vendors and developers to create games and sell the system across the country.
Too bad Sony, you could use the 'same trick' to beat them with sudden new next-gen battleground of China, if you would switch over to use the same clever marketing trick on using 'shipped vs. sold' figures in your monthly PR spins to the media and future buying public.
Former Microsoft employee explains how ads first came to be on Xbox's dashboard.
As you may remember, Microsoft has recently fired over 18,000 employees and alot of them took to the 'net to blog about their 'life' while working at Microsoft, and one of them called 'Allen Murray' posted on his personal blog he is sorry for 'causing ads' to appear on the Xbox 360 dashboard, and is very sorry how it all turned out from his original idea to have just one 'commercial banner' on the UI.
As Murray explains in a post to his personal blog, the idea originated with good intentions. In 2004, Murray's first job in the games industry was Program Manager on the Xbox team, where he worked on the web services layer of Xbox Live. At some point, it occurred to Murray that many users won't discover games that were hidden just several clicks down the user interface.
"I went to Larry ['Major Nelson' Hyrb'] and showed him the problem: there was no way to promote content inside the Xbox 360 itself," Murray said. "He supported me and saw the value in how he could use it as a tool to promote not only the games that were available, but also events and special community messages."
Murray said he then went to his boss (whom he doesn't name) and suggested they display "banner ads" on the dashboard that link directly to the download pages of games. His boss was very skeptical of the idea, saying that gamers will hate ads.
"It was very hard for me to convince people that this sort of advertising was good," Murray said. "In hindsight, I think it was my choice of language, using terms like ‘advertising' and ‘banner ads' that conveyed a tone of corporate soullessness. This was games! We were supposed to be cool and f**k the man and all that s**t."
Ultimately, with Hyrb's support, the Xbox Live Arcade team moved forward with designing the Banner Of The Day system they would use to schedule ads. Murray said it's built with a proprietary tool very similar to Flash, and had a very basic scheduling system that allowed them to set up ads weeks in advance.
"Nowadays the Xbox One UI is nearly all ‘ads', i.e., links promoting content and apps in the Xbox ecosystem," he said. "So it's nice to see that the idea caught on and if you hate the Mt. Dew ads, I am truly sorry."
So now you know whom to blame next time you forced to view an ad, or click on it by mistake while just trying to play a game.
Exclusive to GAME in UK --- Available for £429.99 on 4th of November wih Exclusive DLC
The limited edition Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare 1TB Xbox One pack will be exclusive to GAME in the UK, the retailer has confirmed.
So far if you want a 1TB Xbox One, you going to have to shop at GAME in UK and pay 429 pounds for the Limited Edition CoD:AW bundle, which will get you the bigger hdd, custom decals, and exclusive DLC and day before everyone else playing the game online.
It is currently the only way you can get a 1TB-sized version of the console (and one coloured by custom COD decals, too).
You'll also get a headset and a digital version of COD: Advanced Warfare's Day Zero edition - meaning you can play 24 hours earlier than the game's official launch and earn double XP.
A limited edition exoskeleton for your character is also be included.
GAME is the also only chain to stock the COD: Advanced Warfare-coloured Xbox One controller separately, which also comes with "exclusive DLC" of some sort.
No announcement yet for other chains in Europe or a North American deal for the 1TB Xbox One, but details should be out soon.
Microsoft continues to outpace Sony with another huge Xbox One update
Microsoft announced a huge new update to the Xbox One on Tuesday and it included a full-scale video player capable of supporting just about any kind of file you can think of including, MKV containers!
At Gamescom, Sony only teased that new 'user interface' is coming this fall with their PS4 updates, but Microsoft turned up the heat by announcing their Xbox One is getting a ton of more 'features' in series of updates thru-out the rest of year.
With the big one that they going to allow you to basically throw at it any media file you can think of, in their dream of making Xbox One the 'all-in-one' thingie attached your big screen living room TV, to compete against the battle of small little streaming xmbc-type boxes that people have now wired up to their connected household to watch all those 'pirated' movies, tv shows you always deny you have until you figure out that your new friends that you invited over to house are cool like you are, and not going slap you down with lawsuit for watching 'Expendables 3'.
Gamescom only just began, but Microsoft has already made a splash with a couple of huge Xbox One bundles, some exclusive game announcements and a software update that Xbox One (and PS4) owners have been waiting for since the consoles launched last fall. Major Nelson took to the Xbox Wire shortly before the media briefing kicked off to announce that a full-scale media player would finally be coming to the Xbox One.
The media player will be capable of playing just about any file you can throw at it, including .avi, .jpg, .gif, .mov, .mp3, .mpeg, .wma and .wmv.
Other additions to the console include a new "Friends" section, Snap Center and threaded messages with the full conversation history. Microsoft is also planning to release a digital TV tuner for the Xbox One in Europe, and those with the TV tuner will be the first to gain the ability to stream live TV on their SmartGlass devices. Xbox One owners will also be able to boot straight to TV and those with OneGuide will see a new mini guide at the bottom of the screen.
Those that have been invited to the Xbox One early access Preview program will get a chance to toy with all the new features later this month. The rest of us will have to wait until September for what looks to be one of the biggest updates yet for the Xbox One.
Well, Microsoft had to do something as there is no good 'games' coming out until the next Holiday 2015 year, so you will need to do something with your new XB1 console this holiday season, even if it is just watching 'pirated' shit. -- Welcome to the Dark Side!
Microsoft spent $2.1 billion on the production and launching of the Xbox One console
Microsoft has announced that its latest games console, the Xbox One, has lost the company over $400 million since its release in November.
Microsoft has spend a ton of money in marketing and production costs for their Xbox One Launch, and as such the annual report for the last year shows that XB1 has produced them a loss of $400 million.
Posted in their annual earnings report for 2014, figures from Microsoft show that an increase in production and advertising costs brought about by the launch of the Xbox One had been responsible for the company's losses.
According to the report, company said that they had sold a total of 11.7 million consoles in the 2014 fiscal year, compared to just 9.8 million sold last year and this had led to the company's revenue increasing to $1.7 billion.
Nevertheless, this was set against the $2.1 billion they had to spend on the production and launching of the Xbox One.
The Report read: "Xbox Platform revenue increased $1.7 billion or 34%, due mainly to sales of Xbox One, which was released in November 2013, offset in part by a decrease in sales of Xbox 360."
"Xbox Platform cost of revenue increased $2.1 billion or 72%, due mainly to higher volumes of consoles sold and higher costs associated with Xbox One."
Looks like only Sony has posted a 'profit' so far in this next-gen console war, but it is still early as 2015 will be a big year for all 3.
Microsoft is pushing ahead with their 'All-In-One' idea for Xbox One consoles, at least in Europe
Microsoft no stranger trying to bring live TV to Xbox One just announced that it will release a new Digital TV Tuner USB adapter to its video game console.
Even tho Xbox One has not been doing very well in Europe compared to the PS4, Microsoft says the most requested feature is still 'TV' and are moving ahead with their original 'All-In-One' box idea and are releasing the Digital TV Tuner for XB1 owners in Europe & UK.
The digital TV tuner will connect to European Xbox One easily using a USB port turning the console into a TV set-top box. Once connected users will be able to tune free over-the-air DVB-T, DVB-T2, and DVB-C TV channels available in the area without the need of a cable subscription or proprietary box, or setting messy IR blasting through the Microsoft's Kinect sensor.
Using the new digital TV tuner Xbox One owner in Europe will be able to:
Watch HDTV without cable subscription
Watch Live TV and receive game invitations and notifications
TV viewing in Snap mode, while playing, Skype, or using other apps
Pause live TV
TV listing using OneGuide
Create favorite channel list in OneGuide
Use voice commands to tune channels
Full support of Xbox SmartGlass to access OneGuide with the ability to tune channels using your tablet or phone
Users will also get notifications of which TV shows are available to watch on demand using the video app
According to Microsoft this was a highly requested feature and now is a reality for European Xbox One owners. However one of the most important feature found in a TV set-top box isn't included, that is the DVR functionality to record live TV. Perhaps the 500GB storage isn't enough to keep many shows, but the console already supports external storage, so it's possible we could be seeing a future update with this functionality.
The Xbox One digital TV tuner will be available in Europe in October and it'll be priced at 29.99 EUR.
No word yet, if this $40 add-on will ever get released in North America/Canada markets or other regions.
Personally, if MS wanted to push XB1 as 'All-In-One' this cheap add-on should had been included from 'day one', maybe that is their plan in the near future instead of price-cut to include this adapter in a new SKU release this upcoming holiday season.
What are your thoughts on the renewed 'All-In-One' focus by Microsoft Europe for the current Xbox One consoles?
Mother of victim wants people to remember her daughter
Ten years ago today, six people were found beaten to death inside a Deltona home, in one of the worst mass murders in Central Florida history.
Can't believe its already been 10 years since we first reported on this horrible crime that become known as the 'Xbox Murders'.
On August 6, 2004, four men burst into a home on Telford Lane and beat the victims and a dog to death with baseball bats.
The crime became known as the XBox murders, because the accused mastermind, Troy Victorino, had gone to the house to get his XBox and other items after he was caught squatting in the home.
"It's unbelievable that it's already been 10 years because she's still gone," said Kay Shukwit, the mother of one of the victims, Michelle Nathan.
Shukwit couldn't stop smiling when she talked about her daughter. She still remembered her love for animals, her dream job of becoming a veterinarian and her vibrant personality.
"She was always happy, smiling, having fun," Shukwit said.
Shukwit said being close to her children and grandkids makes the healing process easier but knowing her killers are still alive, doesn't take away the pain completely.
"They're still breathing, they're still eating, they're still watching TV. If their family comes to visit, they can still see their child, their brother," she said. "I get to go visit mine in Orange City, sitting on a bench and my child is in the grave."
Victorino, along with Jerone Hunter, were found guilty and sentenced to death. The two others involved are serving life sentences. Victorino appealed his death sentence but lost.
Two years ago, the ringleader tried to asked for a new trial, and I wonder when we report of him asking for an Xbox to play in his cell?


text:
Whitley Neill targets al fresco dining with campaign
Halewood Artisanal Spirits has introduced a £1.2 million (US$1.6m) campaign for Whitley Neill Gin channelling summer outdoor dining occasions.
With the tagline ‘time for a little luxury’, the advertising campaign presents drinkers in a meadow with a picnic of fruits and Whitley Neill Gin.
The new initiative highlights three expressions in the producer’s 12-strong portfolio: Blood Orange, Raspberry and Rhubarb & Ginger.
Simon Jackman, senior global marketing manager for White Spirits at Halewood Artisanal Spirits, said: “Our Whitley Neill Gin flavours such as Blood Orange, Raspberry and Rhubarb & Ginger have continued to see strong growth over the past year as consumers have become more experimental with their drinks choices.”
One poster for the campaign features brand’s Blood Orange Gin, describing the bottling’s tasting notes as ‘fruit bursts of Sicilian blood oranges and their zesty aromas’.
“Our new campaign is set to further drive awareness for our award-winning range, inspiring shoppers and showcasing how these delicious, vibrant gin flavours are the perfect choice for any summer drinking occasion,” added Jackman.
The campaign will go live this August across social media, digital screens and on billboards and digital sites.
The news follows Halewood Artisanal Spirits’ acquiring a Waitrose listing for its Samuel Gelston’s Irish whiskey in the UK.


text:
Don’t Let Giant Corporations and Factory Farms Corrupt Organics!
French dairy giant Groupe Danone (Dannon in the U.S.) has announced the proposed acquisition of WhiteWave Foods for approximately $10 billion. The deal would combine the Danone-owned and world’s largest organic yogurt brand Stonyfield with Wallaby, a rapidly growing yogurt label. The deal would also give Danone control over the Horizon organic brands, which is the nation’s largest brand of organic milk.
The U.S. government should protect market competition by enforcing laws, including the Sherman Act and Clayton Act, which decry anti-competitive practices including price fixing, monopolization, and controlling trusts. Both the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice are charged with reviewing acquisitions over a certain size for anti-competitive concerns.
All organic stakeholders should be concerned by the Danone-WhiteWave acquisition. The market for organic dairy already has less competition than other agricultural sectors and is more susceptible to monopolization and price fixing. Read Full Article »


text:
It was a year in business unlike any other.
Every single sector of the economy was affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Jobs were lost, businesses closed forever, and some sectors saw changes that would have otherwise taken a decade. Some companies, on the other hand, saw massive gains.
Here’s a look at some of the companies and economic sectors that came out on top in 2020, and some that suffered.
Banks: Sure, you could probably pencil banks in as big winners every single year. But coming in a year that brought so much economic devastation, it was especially impressive (or galling, depending upon your mood) to see billions in profits still flowing into the coffers of the Big 5. In the most recent quarter, RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO and CIBC made a combined profit of $ 12.9 billion. (RBC, TD and BMO all saw their earnings rise, while Scotia and CIBC saw their earnings dip). Still, in a sign of just how jaded investors have become, RBC shares actually fell in the days after the bank announced its earnings.
Grocery stores: Between panic buying enough toilet paper to keep themselves spotless until the year 2050, and cooking more at home, Canadians provided a big boost to the bottom line of grocery chains this year. Being declared “essential” helped the likes of Loblaw, Sobey’s and Metro, too. In the third quarter, Loblaw Cos. saw its earnings rise to $ 345 million, up from $ 334 million in the same period last year. Revenue also rose, to $ 15.7 billion, from $ 14.7 billion. It was a similar situation at Empire Co. Ltd., the parent company of Sobey’s. In the quarter that ended Oct. 31, Empire earned $ 161.4 million on revenue of $ 6.98 billion, up from $ 154.6 million and $ 6.44 billion in the same quarter last year.
Amazon: No, not all of those packages piling up in apartment lobbies and on front porches were delivered by Amazon. But many were. According to some estimates, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos saw his net worth increase by almost $ 100 billion (U.S.) between mid-March and mid-October.
Zoom: Raise your hand if you’d used Zoom before this year. OK, put it down, because odds are you’re fibbing. Now? The San Jose-based live video chat company is a household name across the planet, thanks to people working from home, or just staying in touch with relatives. (Before this year, would anyone really have entertained the thought of a Zoom wedding, funeral or cocktails?) And the company’s revenues and profits have skyrocketed along with that name recognition. In the three quarters ending Oct. 31, Zoom had revenue of $ 1.77 billion (U.S.) compared with $ 434 million in the same period a year ago. Their profits rose even more dramatically during the same period, going from $ 2.1 million in 2019 to $ 403.7 million this year.
Bitcoin: It still hasn’t caught on as a mainstream alternative to traditional currencies, but the world’s best-known digital money rallied in 2020, more than tripling in value to $ 19,000 (U.S.) for the price of a single bitcoin since mid-March.
Airlines: With travel restrictions around the world because of COVID, it has been one of the worst years on record for the entire air industry. According to the International Air Transportation Association, total air travel spending around the globe in 2020 is expected to total $ 340 billion (U.S.), down from $ 876 billion in 2019. (The IATA wasn’t able to say precisely how much of this year’s total came before March, when COVID was declared a global pandemic and travel bans were put into place.) In Canada, airline revenues plunged, and bottom lines turned red. Through the first three quarters of the year, Air Canada lost $ 3.49 billion, compared with a $ 1.32 billion profit in the same period of 2019. Revenues dropped to $ 5.01 billion from $ 14.70 billion.
Restaurants: The restaurant industry is a tough business at the best of times, with single-digit profit margins and high failure rates. In 2020, with government-ordered restrictions on dining out, it was the darkest year in modern times for restaurants in this country. Even when governments tried to help, like with the widely panned Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program (since replaced by the more effective Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy), it was too little too late to keep many places afloat. Industry lobby group Restaurants Canada estimates that 10,000 restaurants in this country have already closed permanently because of the pandemic.
Small retailers: While big box stores, at least those that had groceries or other essential goods, remained open during lockdowns, small retailers struggled with greater restrictions. Between that and the volume of online shopping handled through web giants like Amazon, it was a grim year indeed for small, independent retailers.
Hairdressers, gyms and yoga studios: Personal services like haircuts were off limits for much of the year, because of restrictions designed to limit the spread of COVID. So too were the use of gyms, fitness and yoga studios, much to the consternation of both fitness buffs and owners who argued there wasn’t enough evidence to shut them down. Especially for smaller, independent studios and gyms, it’s been a devastating year.
Shopping malls and office towers: For much of the year, malls have been reduced to offering curbside service. At a time when online-focussed retailers are thriving, retailers inside malls, even well-known names, have been struggling mightily.
With many office workers doing their jobs from home, office towers, many of which are owned or run by some of the same large companies that own malls, have also been ghost towns. With many companies realizing they can still run their businesses successfully with employees working from home, that spells trouble for the bottom line of firms that own office towers, even when the pandemic is over.


text:
Explore the quality and diversity of Australian and New Zealand wine in an exciting collaboration between Wine Australia and New Zealand Winegrowers – in Copenhagen on 23 October and Stockholm on 25 October.
Monday 23 October 11.00-17-00
This is the first time that Wine Australia and New Zealand Winegrowers team up in the Nordics and the first time that they are running tastings in Denmark and Sweden since 2019.
Get up-to-date with the Australian and New Zealand wine scene, discover new wines, meet the makers, and catch up with importers.
• 450+ wines from 120 wineries, some in market and some seeking distribution
• Meet winemakers and winery owners – from emerging stars to big names
• Try the latest vintages from iconic producers – Penfolds, Wakefield, Felton Road, Greywacke – and many more
• Discover alternative grape varieties, new wave styles, and low and no alcohol wines
• Explore wines made by organic, biodynamic and sustainable champions
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to taste the stars of the Southern Hemisphere under one roof.
When and where
Premium: Search 2000 wine lists around the world.