text:
|By Esmeralda Swartz||
|July 7, 2014 07:45 AM EDT||
When Facebook decided to invest a cool $19 billion ($16 billion upfront) for messaging app WhatsApp the entire world was bound to take notice. Telecommunications types, in particular, were keen to understand how this latest move would impact them as mobile operators have been feeling the heat from over the top (OTT) players like Google and Facebook for years. (To put this $19 billion in perspective, AT&T, one of the world's largest telecom carriers, invests about $20 billion in networks and spectrum in an entire year.) Shortly thereafter, in another surprise move and with the dust not quite settled on WhatsApp, Facebook picked up virtual reality startup Oculus Rift for $2 billion. This left many in the industry wondering what exactly was going on. While WhatsApp and Facebook's previous acquisition of Instagram for $1 billion were in keeping with its social network roots, Oculus Rift was in the video game industry and had yet to release a product. This led many to ask: What was Zuckerberg thinking? But if you dig deeper, these acquisitions are intertwined and central to Facebook's short and long term play to develop the next-generation communications platform. With WhatsApp and Oculus Rift, Facebook takes on Google and mobile providers in the race to do just that.
Let's start with WhatsApp. Messaging is one of the top activities on smartphones and these apps are increasingly viewed as social networks. WhatsApp is already an international phenomenon, even if it has not made as much of a statement in the U.S. just yet. In some markets, WhatsApp generates almost as much messaging traffic as all traditional carriers combined. Instead of people using carrier text and voice messaging at cents per message, WhatsApp users consume a few bytes of their data plan for close to zero, and send WhatsApp $1 a year. That's correct: WhatsApp charges nothing for the first year of service and then a mere $1 per user per year. That's not much to a phone company, but nice work for an app company getting close to half a billion users. This leads phone companies to pine after all that revenue they're losing. As if that's not enough, WhatsApp will add a voice calling service to its offering. With this capability, WhatsApp Facebook challenges telcos not only on mobile messaging but also for their bread and butter business: phone calls.
Facebook's entire history is all about getting more and more people to sign up and WhatsApp currently boasts more than 450 million active monthly users. The rapid rise of WhatsApp's user-base was largely due to the low cost and its commitment to not collect user data for advertising revenue, despite users providing detailed personal information to the company, including private texts to friends. If these qualities remain intact, the combined user base of both networks will be truly massive.
Zuckerberg assured the world that acquiring WhatsApp was not simply about money, but rather that it was in tune with his vision that everyone in the world should be connected. He has also stated that mobile operators should give away Internet access in developing nations. Who is going to argue against the idea that communications (in the broadest sense) has delivered social and economic benefits to people in affluent countries? If we expand opportunities to communicate by providing cheap and effective tools, then people and economies benefit, and that's a good thing. However, with free Internet access and almost free WhatsApp voice calling, Facebook can offer nearly what carriers can offer and all those customers will in reality have more disposable income to pay bigger subscriptions and respond to ads. This will mean Facebook gets richer, even as Zuckerberg implied that this would be a happy coincidence, and not the fundamental reason for the acquisition. But it's important to remember that mobile operators stand between Facebook and its customers and rallying public opinion behind a noble cause is good for Facebook and makes the carriers look greedy for not supporting the cause.
WhatsApp is obviously an important element of Facebook's strategy and the company is committed to honoring the app's principles: cheap, reliable, easy to use, no ads and preserves privacy. Just like Google, Facebook is increasingly faced with the harsh reality that many people simply don't like or trust its platform. Buying companies like WhatsApp and Oculus Rift and giving them the freedom to stick to their core roots is an important component to growing the all-important subscriber base and restoring the value and "cool" factor of Facebook long term. Rather than trying to integrate acquisitions into the mother ship, Facebook and Google (e.g., Nest acquisition) are taking a similar approach by putting their significant marketing and development resources behind the acquired companies while letting them continue to innovate autonomously.
The autonomous component is a key strategy. Facebook's internal innovations within its original social networking platform (Facebook Platform and Facebook Messenger for PCs) have not been successful. So, just like corporate giants in other industries, Facebook needed fresh infusion from the outside. For example, while Snapchat and Pinterest have been innovating in social media, Facebook bought its way in with the Instagram purchase in 2012. Facebook's "me too," Snapchat look alike app called Poke - an internal endeavor - again didn't make it off the ground. And it's not just Facebook. Google's list of abandoned projects has its own Wikipedia page that is worth a read. However, when you compare these two companies' success rates in innovation to other big companies (e.g. AT&T, GE, Ford, Nokia) they all have lists of failures alongside their successes that keep them in business. We expect Google and Facebook to be different because they are still relatively new, but now they are big and like any large corporation are just as prone to messing up big projects. Following in the path of corporate giants that came before them, buying innovative small companies is critical to their long-term strategy and relevance.
When it comes to these companies' actual wins, some might argue, for example that the Android OS and Google Web Services are only successful because they have been given way to boost Google's real business - Google search and Web ads - which are still responsible for the bulk of Google's revenue. This is a similar theme for Facebook. Both companies are riding the Web advertising wave, but now to stay on top in that field they need to remain the go-to players for the next-generation communications/advertising platform: augmented reality provided by Google Glass and Virtual Reality provided by Oculus Rift (Facebook). However it is important to note that advertising revenue has become, for these companies, not the primary goal, but rather a means to an end. Google's actions suggest that the company has a bigger picture in mind, and Zuckerberg wants to build a lasting place in history for himself and Facebook. Both companies are entering these new modified-reality markets to ensure they have a growing subscriber base and their advertising revenue is protected well into the future to give them the funds they need to do what they want in their endeavors. But that's where the similarities come to a grinding halt.
I'll get into the differences in my next blog. Follow us on Twitter to make sure you don't miss it.
Software AG helps organizations transform into Digital Enterprises, so they can differentiate from competitors and better engage customers, partners and employees. Using the Software AG Suite, companies can close the gap between business and IT to create digital systems of differentiation that drive front-line agility. We offer four on-ramps to the Digital Enterprise: alignment through collaborative process analysis; transformation through portfolio management; agility through process automation and integration; and visibility through intelligent business operations and big data.
Sep. 30, 2014 10:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,474
There will be 50 billion Internet connected devices by 2020. Today, every manufacturer has a propriety protocol and an app. How do we securely integrate these "things" into our lives and businesses in a way that we can easily control and manage? Even better, how do we integrate these "things" so that they control and manage each other so our lives become more convenient or our businesses become more profitable and/or safe? We have heard that the best interface is no interface. In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, Chris Matthieu, Co-Founder & CTO at Octoblu, Inc., will discuss how these devices generate enough data to learn our behaviors and simplify/improve our lives. What if we could connect everything to everything? I'm not only talking about connecting things to things but also systems, cloud services, and people. Add in a little machine learning and artificial intelligence and now we have something interesting...
Sep. 29, 2014 06:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,872
Last week, while in San Francisco, I used the Uber app and service four times. All four experiences were great, although one of the drivers stopped for 30 seconds and then left as I was walking up to the car. He must have realized I was a blogger. None the less, the next car was just a minute away and I suffered no pain. In this article, my colleague, Ved Sen, Global Head, Advisory Services Social, Mobile and Sensors at Cognizant shares his experiences and insights.
Sep. 28, 2014 09:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,533
We are reaching the end of the beginning with WebRTC and real systems using this technology have begun to appear. One challenge that faces every WebRTC deployment (in some form or another) is identity management. For example, if you have an existing service – possibly built on a variety of different PaaS/SaaS offerings – and you want to add real-time communications you are faced with a challenge relating to user management, authentication, authorization, and validation. Service providers will want to use their existing identities, but these will have credentials already that are (hopefully) irreversibly encoded. In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, Peter Dunkley, Technical Director at Acision, will look at how this identity problem can be solved and discuss ways to use existing web identities for real-time communication.
Sep. 27, 2014 11:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,900
Can call centers hang up the phones for good? Intuitive Solutions did. WebRTC enabled this contact center provider to eliminate antiquated telephony and desktop phone infrastructure with a pure web-based solution, allowing them to expand beyond brick-and-mortar confines to a home-based agent model. It also ensured scalability and better service for customers, including MUY! Companies, one of the country's largest franchise restaurant companies with 232 Pizza Hut locations. This is one example of WebRTC adoption today, but the potential is limitless when powered by IoT. Attendees will learn real-world benefits of WebRTC and explore future possibilities, as WebRTC and IoT intersect to improve customer service.
Sep. 27, 2014 10:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,821
From telemedicine to smart cars, digital homes and industrial monitoring, the explosive growth of IoT has created exciting new business opportunities for real time calls and messaging. In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, Ivelin Ivanov, CEO and Co-Founder of Telestax, will share some of the new revenue sources that IoT created for Restcomm – the open source telephony platform from Telestax. Ivelin Ivanov is a technology entrepreneur who founded Mobicents, an Open Source VoIP Platform, to help create, deploy, and manage applications integrating voice, video and data. He is the co-founder of TeleStax, an Open Source Cloud Communications company that helps the shift from legacy IN/SS7 telco networks to IP-based cloud comms. An early investor in multiple start-ups, he still finds time to code for his companies and contribute to open source projects.
Sep. 27, 2014 10:30 PM EDT Reads: 2,283
The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to create new business models as significant as those that were inspired by the Internet and the smartphone 20 and 10 years ago. What business, social and practical implications will this phenomenon bring? That's the subject of "Monetizing the Internet of Things: Perspectives from the Front Lines," an e-book released today and available free of charge from Aria Systems, the leading innovator in recurring revenue management.
Sep. 27, 2014 09:45 PM EDT Reads: 2,492
The Internet of Things will put IT to its ultimate test by creating infinite new opportunities to digitize products and services, generate and analyze new data to improve customer satisfaction, and discover new ways to gain a competitive advantage across nearly every industry. In order to help corporate business units to capitalize on the rapidly evolving IoT opportunities, IT must stand up to a new set of challenges.
Sep. 27, 2014 08:45 PM EDT Reads: 2,361
There’s Big Data, then there’s really Big Data from the Internet of Things. IoT is evolving to include many data possibilities like new types of event, log and network data. The volumes are enormous, generating tens of billions of logs per day, which raise data challenges. Early IoT deployments are relying heavily on both the cloud and managed service providers to navigate these challenges. In her session at 6th Big Data Expo®, Hannah Smalltree, Director at Treasure Data, to discuss how IoT, Big Data and deployments are processing massive data volumes from wearables, utilities and other machines.
Sep. 27, 2014 01:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,041
All major researchers estimate there will be tens of billions devices – computers, smartphones, tablets, and sensors – connected to the Internet by 2020. This number will continue to grow at a rapid pace for the next several decades. With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing IoT strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @ThingsExpo in Silicon Valley. Learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is as "IoT-Ready" as it can be!
Sep. 27, 2014 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,218
P2P RTC will impact the landscape of communications, shifting from traditional telephony style communications models to OTT (Over-The-Top) cloud assisted & PaaS (Platform as a Service) communication services. The P2P shift will impact many areas of our lives, from mobile communication, human interactive web services, RTC and telephony infrastructure, user federation, security and privacy implications, business costs, and scalability. In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, Erik Lagerway, Co-founder of Hookflash, will walk through the shifting landscape of traditional telephone and voice services to the modern P2P RTC era of OTT cloud assisted services.
Sep. 26, 2014 11:45 PM EDT Reads: 1,536
While great strides have been made relative to the video aspects of remote collaboration, audio technology has basically stagnated. Typically all audio is mixed to a single monaural stream and emanates from a single point, such as a speakerphone or a speaker associated with a video monitor. This leads to confusion and lack of understanding among participants especially regarding who is actually speaking. Spatial teleconferencing introduces the concept of acoustic spatial separation between conference participants in three dimensional space. This has been shown to significantly improve comprehension and conference efficiency.
Sep. 26, 2014 10:45 PM EDT Reads: 1,478
The Internet of Things is tied together with a thin strand that is known as time. Coincidentally, at the core of nearly all data analytics is a timestamp. When working with time series data there are a few core principles that everyone should consider, especially across datasets where time is the common boundary. In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, Jim Scott, Director of Enterprise Strategy & Architecture at MapR Technologies, will discuss single-value, geo-spatial, and log time series data. By focusing on enterprise applications and the data center, he will use OpenTSDB as an example to explain some of these concepts including when to use different storage models.
Sep. 26, 2014 07:45 PM EDT Reads: 2,289
SYS-CON Events announced today that Gridstore™, the leader in software-defined storage (SDS) purpose-built for Windows Servers and Hyper-V, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 15th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Gridstore™ is the leader in software-defined storage purpose built for virtualization that is designed to accelerate applications in virtualized environments. Using its patented Server-Side Virtual Controller™ Technology (SVCT) to eliminate the I/O blender effect and accelerate applications Gridstore delivers vmOptimized™ Storage that self-optimizes to each application or VM across both virtual and physical environments. Leveraging a grid architecture, Gridstore delivers the first end-to-end storage QoS to ensure the most important App or VM performance is never compromised. The storage grid, that uses Gridstore’s performance optimized nodes or capacity optimized nodes, starts with as few a...
Sep. 26, 2014 06:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,653
The Transparent Cloud-computing Consortium (abbreviation: T-Cloud Consortium) will conduct research activities into changes in the computing model as a result of collaboration between "device" and "cloud" and the creation of new value and markets through organic data processing High speed and high quality networks, and dramatic improvements in computer processing capabilities, have greatly changed the nature of applications and made the storing and processing of data on the network commonplace. These technological reforms have not only changed computers and smartphones, but are also changing the data processing model for all information devices. In particular, in the area known as M2M (Machine-To-Machine), there are great expectations that information with a new type of value can be produced using a variety of devices and sensors saving/sharing data via the network and through large-scale cloud-type data processing. This consortium believes that attaching a huge number of devic...
Sep. 26, 2014 06:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,584
Innodisk is a service-driven provider of industrial embedded flash and DRAM storage products and technologies, with a focus on the enterprise, industrial, aerospace, and defense industries. Innodisk is dedicated to serving their customers and business partners. Quality is vitally important when it comes to industrial embedded flash and DRAM storage products. That’s why Innodisk manufactures all of their products in their own purpose-built memory production facility. In fact, they designed and built their production center to maximize manufacturing efficiency and guarantee the highest quality of our products.
Sep. 26, 2014 05:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,584
Can call centers hang up the phones for good? Intuitive Solutions did. WebRTC enabled this contact center provider to eliminate antiquated telephony and desktop phone infrastructure with a pure web-based solution, allowing them to expand beyond brick-and-mortar confines to a home-based agent model. Download Slide Deck: ▸ Here
Sep. 26, 2014 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,529
All major researchers estimate there will be tens of billions devices - computers, smartphones, tablets, and sensors - connected to the Internet by 2020. This number will continue to grow at a rapid pace for the next several decades. Over the summer Gartner released its much anticipated annual Hype Cycle report and the big news is that Internet of Things has now replaced Big Data as the most hyped technology. Indeed, we're hearing more and more about this fascinating new technological paradigm. Every other IT news item seems to be about IoT and its implications on the future of digital business.
Sep. 26, 2014 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,070
BSQUARE is a global leader of embedded software solutions. We enable smart connected systems at the device level and beyond that millions use every day and provide actionable data solutions for the growing Internet of Things (IoT) market. We empower our world-class customers with our products, services and solutions to achieve innovation and success. For more information, visit www.bsquare.com.
Sep. 26, 2014 09:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,440
With the iCloud scandal seemingly in its past, Apple announced new iPhones, updates to iPad and MacBook as well as news on OSX Yosemite. Although consumers will have to wait to get their hands on some of that new stuff, what they can get is the latest release of iOS 8 that Apple made available for most in-market iPhones and iPads. Originally announced at WWDC (Apple’s annual developers conference) in June, iOS 8 seems to spearhead Apple’s newfound focus upon greater integration of their products into everyday tasks, cross-platform mobility and self-monitoring. Before you update your device, here is a look at some of the new features and things you may want to consider from a mobile security perspective.
Sep. 26, 2014 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,417


text:
V.20 No.42 | 10/20/2011
The Daily Word in lions, commoners and mixtapes
By Marisa Demarco [ Thu Oct 13 2011 12:14 PM ]
UNM students protest Chick-fil-A for donating money to groups that oppose gay rights.
Sarah the lion at the zoo has died.
KOB grills Occupy Albuquerque protesters for solutions.
“We have a permit. It’s called the Constitution.” —Occupy Boston.
Gov. Susana Martinez’ PAC took in thousands during the legislative session, though state law prohibits politicos from doing so directly.
Target promises to sell only sustainable seafood by 2015.
Gawker dubs FOX News article on funny, sexy women possibly the most horrifying thing ever written.
Top headline of the day: Why are these galaxies bending like crazy snakes?
Slutoween is coming!
King of Bhutan marries a commoner. Trendy.
Why some women are not getting married.
V.20 No.21 | 5/26/2011
Fashion and Charity
By Sharla Biefeld [ Thu May 19 2011 4:41 PM ]
The extravagant hat worn by Princess Beatrice to the royal wedding between Prince William and Catherine Middleton, got almost as much attention as the wedding itself. The hat inspired mockery, admiration and even a Facebook page. Now Beatrice is giving up the head piece to help benefit children's charities. The bidding on eBay.com, which began this week, has now reached more than $35,000.
The auction is being overseen by Auction For A Cause and all proceeds will go to The The Little Bee Initiative, a campaign set up by Princess Beatrice. The money raised by auctioning off the hat will be split evenly between two charities, UNICEF and UK Children in Crisis.
For all of the prosperous fashionistas out there, there is still time to place your bid on this truly individual hat. The auction closes on May 22, so hurry.
NEWSLETTERS Great Alibi stories, events and deals delivered to your inbox each week. No fooling!
Twinkle Light Parade at Nob Hill
Kick off the holiday season with dozens of festive floats, dancers, car clubs, animals, marching bands and more.
Women of the World Poetry Slam Championship at Outpost Performance Space
Chill • singer-songwriter at Fat Squirrel Pub & GrilleMore Recommended Events ››

domain: news


text:
Tesla exports flagship EV “Model 3” from China to Europe
Tesla, a major electric vehicle (EV) company in the United States, announced on October 19 that it will export its flagship EV “Model 3” produced at its plant in Shanghai, China, to Europe. Shipments will begin within the month to more than 10 countries including Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland.
The “Gigafactory” built by Tesla in Shanghai will begin delivery to the Chinese market in January. At the moment, only Model 3 is produced, and the annual production capacity is 150,000 units. The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, announced at a shareholders’ meeting held in California, USA on September 22 that it would increase the annual production capacity of its Shanghai plant to 1 million units.
According to data from a car sales industry group, Tesla sold a total of 80,500 units in the Chinese market from January to September 2020, and the Shanghai plant still has plenty of production capacity. The company is also constructing a new plant in Berlin, Germany, with the aim of completing it in July 2021, where it plans to produce the “Model Y” SUV. Therefore, the Model 3 for the European market will be exported from the Shanghai plant for the time being.
EV sales are growing rapidly in the European automobile market. This is because each country is increasing subsidies for EVs against the backdrop of the tightening of CO2 (carbon dioxide) emission regulations in the EU (European Union). In Germany, for example, when a consumer purchases an EV, a subsidy of up to 6,000 euros (about 740,000 yen) is provided per vehicle. France has raised its budget for EV subsidies from a total of 260 million euros to 400 million euros this year.
Meanwhile, the Model 3 made in China may be the trump card for Tesla to expand sales in Europe. This is because the Chinese version of the “Standard Range Plus,” which is a low-priced model 3 model, uses a low-cost “iron phosphate-based” lithium-ion battery as the power source. This is because the real price after using the subsidy from the Chinese government has just been reduced to 249,900 yuan (about 3.93 million yen) from October 1.
This article is provided by “Caixin”
According to Tesla, the specifications of the Model 3 exported to the European market are the same as those for China. The Model 3 that had been sold in Europe so far is made by the Fremont factory in the United States, and it seems likely that the price will be reduced along with the switch to the Shanghai factory


text:
Getty Images. Ambrosio is having a great year.
The number of models who have had successful and convergent high fashion and commercial modeling careers is extremely slim. In recent years, the only top model to land high-end campaigns while signed on a lucrative Victoria's Secret contract has been Gisele Bundchen
, who strutted for the lingerie brand and starred in Dior campaigns in the same period of time.
But with curvier shapes seeing a reprisal in the world of high fashion, some lingerie models are landing top gigs in Paris and Milan. This week, The Cut
revealed that men's magazine favorite Alessandra Ambrosio will be the face of Moschino's fall 2010 campaign. Earlier this year, Ambrosio walked in shows for Prada, Giles, and Louis Vuitton, at times alongside fellow Victoria's Secret angels Miranda Kerr and Adriana Lima.
Could this signal the reemergence of the supermodel?
More pictures of Alessandra Ambrosio:


text:
Bitcoins worth $10 million dollars have been transferred to the cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp from an unknown wallet address. Will BTC dump again? Just two days after Bitcoin’s biggest crash in over 10 months, falling from a value of around $7200 per BTC to under $5500 where it currently resides, a huge transfer of the cryptocurrency has taken place today. According to whale-alert.io’s Twitter update: 2,000 BTC were transferred from an unknown address to the cryptocurrency […]
The recent market sell-off may not affect only stocks and Bitcoin (BTC). Apparently, XRP whales are also looking for a fiat position, as one wallet moves 24.95 million tokens to a crypto exchange. Who is this Whale? A recent “whale” transaction reveals a tranche of 25 million XRP coins was sent to Bitstamp today. The coins moved just a day after Bitcoin experienced a massive sell-off which sent it plunging under $8,000. 24,999,995 #XRP (5,217,224 […]
US federal judge allowed the IRS to demand information about users’ assets from Bitstamp crypto exchange, although the agency was also ordered to reduce the number of requests. The IRS’s involvement with the cryptocurrency industry continues to increase. This, in turn, has irked quite some crypto users. One resident of Washington even sent a request to the Washington County District Court, asking for a court order that would stop the IRS from receiving information about Bitstamp
The post US Court Allows IRS to View Bitstamp Customer Information appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.
The Bitcoin network once again carried a stunning amount of value in a single transaction. Recent tracking showed the movement of more than 107,848 BTC, worth nearly $900 million at the time of tracking. The Whale Turns Out to Be Bitstamp The transaction follows a previous unknown whale that moved more than $1 billion and a more recent transfer of 13,850 BTC. Such transactions are usually found to belong to exchanges. This time, the transaction
The post Bitcoin (BTC) Whale Just Moved $900M in Single Transaction appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.
Most of the centralized bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges saw a decline in activity during the last 30 days, according to TokenAnalyst data. Bitstamp is the only exchange to experience increased flow. Bitstamp is Amongst Best Performers in Terms of Net Flow Major crypto exchanges like Binance and Bitfinex saw their inflows and outflows dropping over the month, suggesting a decrease in activity. On the other side, Bitstamp noted an increase in the outflow of bitcoin.
The post Bitstamp’s Cryptocurrency Activity Up Over the Month appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.
A 5,000 BTC dump on Bitstamp likely caused the bitcoin price flash crash that occurred during the early hours (UTC) of Friday (May 17, 2019). Bitcoin plunged to as low as $6,100 on the exchange but has since recovered over $7,000 over the past few hours. Whale Dump, ‘Fat Finger Error,’ or Bot Glitch A trader on the Bitstamp exchange reportedly put up a sell order of 5,000 BTC at an oddly low price of
The post Bitcoin Price ‘Flash Crashes’ To $6.1K – Here’s The Likely Reason Why appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.
An equity battle involving a South Korean gaming giant could end up with Walt Disney Co. owning two major cryptocurrency exchanges. Happy Ending For Disney And Crypto? As local news outlet JoongAng Ilbo reported quoted by Korea Herald April 17, Disney is currently one of the major bidders for a 98.6 percent stake in Nexon, South Korea’s largest game developer and the second-largest online games publisher in the world. Nexon is 47 percent owned by
The post Disney Could Soon Own Oldest Bitcoin Exchange in $13 Billion Equity Deal appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.
Bitstamp now can officially offer cryptocurrency trading services in the state of New York after the state’s Department of Financial Services granted the exchange a BitLicense. Obtaining a BitLicense is undoubtedly good news for the traditionally European-focused Bitstamp, which will now find it easier to make inroads into the United States cryptocurrency trading ecosystem and expand its presence in the large North American market. Stated the Luxembourg-based exchange in an official announcement: Bitstamp has always
The post New York, New York: Bitstamp Obtains BitLicense, Plans to Expand Into US appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.
On September 24th, Lamassu announced the introduction of their new line of cryptocurrency ATMs to the public. Lamassu calls its new line of ATMs, “Sintra.” The ATMs herald a new line of ATMs as another crucial step in crypto’s march towards widespread consumer use and accessibility. Growing Industry According to CoinATMrader.com, there are currently roughly 3,750 crypto ATMs installed worldwide. Lamassu has been producing cryptocurrency ATMs since 2013 when they produced their first, which was called
The post Lamassu Unveils New Line of Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency ATMs appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.
Four cryptocurrency exchanges, including Gemini – the one founded by the Winklevoss brothers, is purportedly setting up a working group to bring new industry standards. Virtual Commodity Association Working Group (VCAWG) The Winklevoss twins’ cryptocurrency exchange Gemini is teaming up with three other exchanges to form a new self-regulatory organization (SRO) dubbed the Virtual Commodity Association Working Group. The exchanges in the newly formed organization, besides Gemini, are Bittrex, bitFlyer USA, and Bitstamp. Bittrex is
The post Winklevoss’ Gemini Teams Up with 3 Big Exchanges to Form Self-Regulatory Group appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.
U.S. government officials have ordered multiple cryptocurrency exchanges to fork over comprehensive trading data in order to aid in their investigation of whether or not cryptocurrency markets are being manipulated. ‘Required to Share Information’ Four major bitcoin exchanges have been ordered to turn over comprehensive trading information to U.S. government investigators, following fears of bitcoin futures-driven market manipulation. The report comes from The Wall Street Journal, which spoke to individuals close to the matter. The
The post 4 Bitcoin Exchanges Must Turn Over Comprehensive Information in Manipulation Investigation appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.
Revolut, the London-based fintech firm, has added Bitcoin Cash and Ripple to its catalog of supported cryptocurrencies. Thus, customers will be able to buy the two added cryptos from the Revolut mobile app. This move signals the company’s desire to establish itself in the emerging cryptocurrency fintech market. Bitcoin Cash Added to the Mix Revolut was founded in London in 2015 as a fintech firm with a core focus on providing alternative digital banking solutions.
Despite experiencing one of the worst heists in the cryptocurrency market’s history, Coincheck has still managed to turn a significant profit. Can’t Nobody Hold Coincheck Down As reported by Reuters, Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Inc. has recorded a writedown of roughly $432.56 million for the financial year ending in March. The information comes directly from the exchange’s parent company, Monex Group Inc. Earlier this year, Coincheck notoriously suffered a hack which saw the exchange lose
The post Coincheck Posts Significant Profit, Despite High-Profile Heist appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.
Bitstamp — a popular Luxembourg-based bitcoin exchange and the oldest bitcoin exchange still standing — is apparently close to finalizing a deal for the sale of the company to a South Korean gaming company. A Major Acquisition The information comes from three unnamed individuals with insider knowledge of the matter, two of which informed Business Insider that Nexon is the probable purchaser. The individuals also claimed the two companies are in the process of solidifying the
The post Bitstamp Reportedly Up For Sale to South Korean Gaming Company appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.
The Slovenian city of Kranj has installed a giant circular Bitcoin logo near the city center, making it the first official monument dedicated to the world’s first decentralized cryptocurrency. Slovenian City Erects Bitcoin Monument Slovenia has been known as a hot spot for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency-related activities for several years now. It was the original home of the Bitstamp exchange, one of the most popular cryptocurrency trading platforms in the world. Now, a giant installation
The post World’s First Bitcoin Monument Unveiled in Slovenia appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.


text:
Samsung Mobile Australia today announced the launch of its latest "hero" mobile phone, the UltraTouch, which comes equipped with a touch screen and a slide-out numeric keypad.
Samsung Electronics became the first major mobile phone maker to launch a smartphone based on Google's Android software.
Samsung launched a whole host of new mobile phones at the Mobile World Congress, but the biggest attraction was the Omnia HD, which can record video in HD resolution and play it on an HD-ready TV.
How many megapixels can you squeeze into a cell phone? On the eve of the big Mobile World Congress wireless telecom trade show here in Barcelona, Spain, the race is on. At pre-show press conferences, Samsung and Sony Ericsson between them unveiled th...
LG and Samsung will both unveil next week mobile phones that you definitively won't want to keep in your pocket. They have developed prototype handsets that are recharged by solar panels built into the case.
Among Samsung's new wares unveiled at this year's Consumer Electronics Show is the LD series of monitors. These monitors are designed specifically with notebook users in mind so they can have a seamless second display.
Samsung announced that it is breaking out its LED-backlit HDTVs into their own line, called Luxia.
During four digital camera announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today, Samsung introduced a wide-angle, 10X-optical-zoom camera that ranges from an extremely wide 24mm on the wide-angle end to 240mm on the telephoto end. In wid...
Solid-state disks, hard-disk drive replacements filled with flash memory chips, have become popular in the laptop computing space and now they're expanding to other markets. At this week's International Consumer Electronics Show, Samsung Electronics ...
Samsung Electronics plans to unveil a flat-panel TV that's as thin as just 6.5-millimeters at this week's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it said Sunday.
Sony Ericsson has joined the Open Handset Alliance, the group of companies, including handset manufacturers and carriers, committed to the Android open mobile platform.
A tenth of a millimeter might not seem like much, but in the competitive world of flat-panel televisions it's enough for Samsung to steal the thinnest-TV crown from Philips.
When Samsung Electronics unveiled its new X360 laptop at the IFA electronics show in Berlin last week it made a big deal of the machine being lighter than Apple's Macbook Air.
Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Evapolar USB air conditioner review
- 2 LED Lenser P7R Professional Torch review
- 3 Aftershokz Wireless Trekz Titanium Bone Conduction Bluetooth Headphones review
- 4 Review: Periscope users rejoice with Feiyu’s G4 Plus 3-Axis Gimbal for Smartphone video
- 5 2016 Ford Mustang EcoBoost review
Join the Good Gear Guide newsletter!
Latest News Articles
- Samsung's UHD Monitor covers 99.5 per cent of Adobe colour spectrum
- Samsung wave makes a splash at Mobile World Congress
- Samsung begins mass production of 3D TV LCD panels
- Samsung 3D TVs likely to reach Australia in April
- Samsung builds 3D TV home system, thinnest LED TV ever
GGG Evaluation Team
First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.
- CCSolutions ArchitectACT
- CCSenior Project ManagerACT
- CCSenior .NET DeveloperVIC
- FTAndroid DeveloperNSW
- CCNetwork Design Specialist - TelecommunicationsNSW
- CCSenior Business Analyst -Change and SAP ProcurementNSW
- FTSenior Project Manager | TelecommunicationVIC
- FTMDM EngineerNSW
- FTCertification and Accreditation Security ConsultantACT
- CCSenior Infrastrcture Project ManagerACT
- CCProgram Manager - Data InsightVIC
- FTOutbound TelesalesVIC
- FTTest Manager (HP Quality Centre / ARIBA)NSW
- FTTeam Leader Full Stack, Python, FinanceNSW
- CCFull Stack Application Developer - IoT projectsVIC
- CCJava / J2ee ProgrammersACT
- CCBusiness Analyst - Telecom ProjectNSW
- CCContract Junior Programmer (J2EE/SQL) 160927/JP/551Asia
- FTOutbound TelesalesVIC
- FTSenior Front End DeveloperNSW
- CCPMO AnalystNSW
- CCDesktop Infrastructure SpecialistACT
- CCBusiness ArchitectNSW
- FTCarrier/ Industrial Network ConsultantsWA
- CCInformatica Developer (MDM)NSW


text:
SAVE $503: Walmart(opens in a new tab) and Amazon(opens in a new tab) have the 55-inch LG C1 OLED TV on sale for just $1,296.99 as of Oct. 29. It normally retails for $1,799.99, so this saves you 28% — that's its highest discount yet.
If you're attempting to buy a next-gen console this holiday season, we only have two things to say:
Godspeed, you brave soul.
Get a 55-inch LG C1 OLED TV while you're at it, too.
Super low input lag, 120Hz refresh rates, HDMI 2.1 support, and Nvidia G-Sync compatibility make that 4K smart TV our absolute favorite display for gaming, and it just so happens to be enjoying some all-time-great pricing at Walmart(opens in a new tab) and Amazon(opens in a new tab) right now. As of Oct. 29, both retailers had it on sale for $1,296.99 — that's a whole $502 (or 28%) off its $1,799.99 MSRP, which is its highest discount to date.
Elsewhere, you'll find it going for $1,299.99 at Best Buy(opens in a new tab), Target(opens in a new tab), and on the LG website(opens in a new tab).
We're not the only ones who think the C1 OLED is in a league of its own, by the way: PCMag said it's "easily one of the best TVs you can buy," with "fantastic contrast, impressively wide and accurate colors, strong audio, and excellent gaming capabilities." (It managed to win Editor's Choice and TechX awards over there, which is no small feat.) Meanwhile, TechRadar deemed it "the gold standard for 2021 OLED TVs"; Wired's Parker Hall said it's "the first TV I regularly plug my gaming PC into for a better experience than I get with a traditional desktop monitor." (Sheesh.)
And for what it's worth, customers across Amazon(opens in a new tab) and Walmart.com(opens in a new tab) have awarded the C1 OLED a 4.8/5-star rating on both websites — she really did that.


text:
Hoshizaki has grown its UK team by making two senior sales and marketing appointments.
He will supervise sales activities and work closely with Hoshizaki’s UK national sales manager Roz Scourfield to expand the business.
Mr Shearing has more than 30 years’ experience in sales and previously worked for the likes of Electrolux and Dawson MMP.
Simon Frost, director of Hoshizaki UK and Ireland, said: “Both Andrew and Hayley are shining additions to the Hoshizaki team. With Andrew’s natural sales flare and Hayley’s plethora of marketing experience, we are confident that our new colleagues will help Hoshizaki UK continue to go from strength to strength.”


text:
Oppo N1 mini goes official; features swivel Camera and 5″ Display
Finally Oppo is also jumping on the mini bandwagon with its new Oppo N1 Mini. The company just unveiled its new Android smartphone even though some details still remain unknown. Oppo is expected to reveal more detail on the device at the event on June 10. The smartphone is a miniature version of its flagship Android device Oppo N1.
Despite mini, Oppo seems to have a powerful specs inside. THe device is expected to come with one of two octa-core chipsets – either the MediaTek MT6592 or the Exynos 5422 Octa SoC.
The Oppo N1 mini has the same swivel camera as its bigger brother. The camera is 13MP Sony 6-element lens camera with a 1/3.2″ sensor size and the device boasts Super Zoom mode which was first introduced on Oppo Find 7. Difference with the mini’s camera from Find 7 is that it is 24MP, not 50MP.
The device also features a 5″ display that doesn’t sound that “mini” though. The display resolution is yet to be revealed but we assume it is 1080p, the last word is of Oppo though. The phone will have China Mobile’s TD-LTE and running on Android KitKat with color OS 1.4 on top.
Price and availability are also unknown but Oppo should be revealing them as well at the event, so stay tuned, we will keep you posted.


text:
FLIMSY BAGS OUT AT BIG DRUG STORES
SAN FRANCISCO Plastic sacks have been banned at supermarkets for 6 months
Walgreens and Rite Aid stores may no longer hand out those ubiquitous flimsy plastic bags to customers in San Francisco as a groundbreaking city law banning plastic sacks at some major retailers expands today to include chain pharmacies.
The new restrictions come six months after the ordinance banning plastic bags at large supermarkets went into effect, a law hailed by city leaders and environmentalists. Other cities - as close as Oakland and as far away as Paris - have passed bans of their own since then, and industry-friendly China will bar stores from handing out free plastic bags come June 1. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who sponsored the ordinance, has even garnered a bit of celebrity for his work on the issue, including a recent spread in People Magazine.
Mirkarimi and officials at the Department of the Environment, the city agency charged with enforcing the ban, say the ordinance has been such a success that they are fielding inquiries on a daily basis from other cities considering similar laws.
"I have rarely seen an idea that has traveled with such velocity throughout the country and abroad," said Mirkarimi, who admits surprise at its popularity. "I am hearing from cities in red states as much as blue states. It's very exciting. It transcends partisanship and borders."
The law is meant to decrease waste and litter and curb dependence on petroleum, as the bags are oil-based.
No official figures are available to quantify the difference since the bag ban at major grocery stores took effect on Dec. 1, but Department of the Environment spokesman Mark Westlund estimated that the ban at grocery stores alone will take about 150 million plastic bags out of circulation annually. The program has been so successful at Whole Foods, he said, that the retailer is now phasing out plastic bags throughout its entire chain.
And Robert Reed, a spokesman at Norcal Waste Systems, the city's garbage-collection company, said there are 10 t0 15 percent fewer plastic bags at the Pier 96 recycling facility. San Francisco does not allow residents to recycle soft plastic, but many people still put the sacks in their blue recycling containers, causing headaches at sorting facilities.
"We have to shut the plant down twice a day so workers can use box knives to cut the bags out of the conveyor belt and other recycling equipment," Reed said, adding that the process takes between 12 to 16 man hours every day.
The recycling plant manager's "feeling is that the city needs to be more aggressive about banning them, getting them out of all retail stores in San Francisco," Reed said.
That idea - a complete plastic bag ban - is still on the table, Mirkarimi said. But city leaders first wanted see how grocery stores and pharmacies react.
While some critics remain - the California Grocers Association argues officials should instead educate residents about using reusable and recyclable bags - city officials said most retailers have been happy to comply.
Walgreens, which has 58 stores in San Francisco, is still working with city officials to identify paper bag suppliers, a spokeswoman said Monday, but intends to "meet or exceed" the law's requirements.
Currently, customers who visit Walgreens will receive a plastic bag, but one that is reusable - the ordinance allows stores to hand out bags made of cloth or other washable material, as well as pouches made with "durable" plastic at least 2 1/4 millimeters thick. The bags, while sturdier, still cannot be recycled in San Francisco.
Other cities have faced much sharper criticism and more serious opposition than San Francisco. Oakland's bag ban, passed in June 2007, was put on hold last month after a judge agreed with a group of plastic bag makers and recyclers who sued because the city did not conduct an analysis of the ban's environmental impacts. The City Council has not yet decided whether to conduct the environmental analysis or appeal the judge's decision, a spokesman at the city attorney's office said.
And officials in the North Bay town of Fairfax, assisted by several environmental groups, announced Monday that they would take the ban to the ballot box after an ordinance passed by their City Council was threatened with litigation by the same group, the Coalition to Support Plastic Bag Recycling. The group's leaders say they didn't challenge San Francisco's ban because they were not organized at the time it was passed.
Michael Mills, the coalition's attorney, said that elected officials should consider all of the facts and consequences of the bans and argued that compostable plastic bags and paper bags could be just as harmful to the environment as traditional plastic bags. Mills and Dave Heylen, a spokesman for the California Grocers Association, say the number of paper bags being handed out at grocery stores has increased exponentially since the ban was instated.
Other jurisdictions that are considering or have passed plastic bag bans:
-- Westport, Conn.
-- New Haven, Conn.
-- Portland, Ore.
-- Arlington, Texas
Source: Chronicle research


text:
Of the countries that are most targeted for mobile ad fraud, Japan is the most susceptible, irrespective of whether on an Android and iOS-enabled device.
According to ClicksMob’s The State of Mobile Ad Fraud, 2016 report, which is released recently, the three countries that are most targeted by mobile ad fraudsters, for both Android and iOS, are Japan, Singapore, and the United States. Japan led the lists, with 12% of total detected fraudulent activity reported on Android, and 11% of the total detected fraudulent activity for iOS devices. The data that was compiled based on the country of download shows that aside from Japan, Singapore, and the U.S., Malaysia and the United Kingdom were also highly susceptible to Android device-related frauds, while for iOS devices, it was Saudi Arabia and Australia.
“The State of Mobile Ad Fraud” report for 2016 by ClicksMob highlights the following other trends in mobile ad frauds-
- Weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) were the most targeted days for fraudulent advertising, with Friday being the day with the most hits, at 18% of total attempts. In comparison, Mondays and Tuesdays drew in between 12% to 14% per day of total ad fraud attempts that occurred on a weekly basis.
- Gaming apps are the most targeted, followed by Lifestyle, Shopping, Travel, and Sports. Gaming accounted for 39% of the attempted fraudulent traffic, while the runner-up Lifestyle accounted for 18% of all detected fraud attempts.
- Overall, trends suggest that fraudsters prefer leisure apps, given that Gaming apps and Lifestyle together made up close to 60% of the attempted fraudulent activity.
Mobile ad frauds haven’t made a significant enough impact in India, but the nation’s rapidly growing smartphone base indicate that it’s just a matter of time before we start seeing a lot more mobile ad frauds in India as well.
As per current findings in the report, India was found to be at moderate levels in terms of mobile-related ad fraud risk, specifically for Android. This is understandable, given that Android heavily dominates India’s smartphone user base. For the second quarter of 2016, Android reportedly captured 97% share of the Indian smartphone market, while in contrast, Apple’s iOS share of the market in India fell further down to a meager 2% for the same period.
As per the ClicksMob report, Japan’s mobile app users are high value, which is what makes them most likely to be targeted by fraudsters. However, high value and high payout aside, there does also appear to be a unique device-related trend that is making certain geographies more susceptible to mobile frauds than others. Take, for example, the case of Saudi Arabia, which has not only a high-value customer base but also a significant number of iOS users.
Findings in ClicksMob’s report indicate that iOS devices are 50% more likely to be hit by fraudulent ad traffic than Android. The higher risk was accredited to the higher payouts that iOS provided over Android. This is, however, contrary to the conventional wisdom that Android’s open source operating system made it more vulnerable to being wrongly exploited.
Meanwhile, China is witnessing a unique mobile ad fraud problem, setting it aside from the rest of the globe. Going by findings of AdMaster, a leading Chinese Marketing insights firm, China is regularly witnessing fraud rates of close to 40%, negatively affecting US$27 billion digital advertising industry significantly.
The Global Ad Fraud Scenario
Ad fraud has now been likened to the drug trade, in terms of size and scale of crimes. A report by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), claims that ad fraud has turned into a major source of income for organized crime, and comes second only to the global drug trade. For every $3 spent on digital ads and online advertisements, digital ad frauds reportedly take $1. For the year 2016 alone, online advertisers were estimated to have lost about $7.2 billion because of ad frauds.
It is shocking to note that over 56% of the overall online traffic is accounted for not by humans, but by bots. It is even more alarming that 25% of the publishers over digital spaces have absolutely no way of detecting whether or not their traffic is originated by humans. While a majority of loss associated with ad frauds is still happening over desktops, the growth of smartphones is bringing along with it the associated risks, of which ad fraud is a major one.
The rapid shift to more digital formats in advertising, while highly beneficial and profitable for brands and marketers, also comes as a gainful arena for fraudsters. Online advertisers have reportedly lost about US$7.2 billion to fraudulent viewing and automated computer programs that mimic human behavior. The WFA has issued guidelines assisting marketers and brands to reduce their risk and exposure to ad frauds. These guidelines identify people, technology, education and communication, standards, and governance, that are areas to focus on more and make necessary changes, to reduce ad fraud risks, for brands in particular.


text:
Zynstra, the leading provider of purpose-built software powering the retail edge, today released more findings from its C-Store Technology Insight Report, which identifies the key priorities and obstacles c-store retailers face as they look to deliver better customer experiences and reduced costs.
Point-of-sale flexibility is critical for delivering right customer experience
When asked about POS systems, the majority of c-store retailers indicated a number of drivers for change at the POS. This was no surprise, as only 18% of respondents said they had the exact POS infrastructure to serve the business now and in the future. Additional insights include:
· 25%: are uncertain of the future of customer checkout behavior, but know they need to make POS investments now to adjust to evolving behaviors
· 23%: acknowledge that their current POS infrastructure requires change to meet the demands of the future
· 21%: seek a solution to keep their legacy POS running with minimal cost to buy their c-store estates’ time as they analyze how checkout behavior evolves
Keeping pace with Amazon Go and omni-channel experiences
C-stores know that Amazon Go’s frictionless checkout has set the benchmark for convenience and their Prime loyalty program continues to expand offline. While c-store retailers know they will have to offer new levels of frictionless checkout and omnichannel convenience to compete, they face barriers due to the high cost and lack of consistency across their technology infrastructure.
According to the survey, top challenges in rolling out new applications and services to c-stores include:
· 43%: cost of sending IT teams to upgrade and install the new features
· 42%: difficulty in consistency of offline-online components
· 37%: overall budgets hindered their ability to implement new features
· 32%: lack of consistency across store sites created friction in delivering an omnichannel experience
In response to the Amazon threat, survey respondents identified mobile POS tablets, kiosk-based POS, scan & go, mobile payment apps, order online/pick-up in-store and order at the pump as “very important” to the future of their business.
Meeting the future c-store IT needs: simplified, cost-effective and scalable technology
To meet the challenges of implementing new applications and services, 91% of survey respondents answered that simplified management of IT is a top priority. Centralized management of stores through a software-defined store strategy can be the key to this, as it allows c-stores to manage all stores from one central system, enabling faster app deployment and more secure IT updates. Other top IT priorities for c-store retailers include:
· Reducing IT costs
· The ability to run new advanced applications
· Empowering store associates with the right technology to maximize sales per square foot
“With rising labor costs impacting margins, c-store retailers are looking for ways to drive in-store cost efficiencies while meeting customer’s expectations for a fast and frictionless experience,” said Nick East, CEO and founder, Zynstra. “To achieve this, we are seeing c-store retailers look towards optimizing their existing POS infrastructure while digitally transforming their stores for the future.”


text:
Using Facebook is a trade. You get a way to socialize over the Internet, and the company gets to rent out your eyeballs to advertisers.
But today Facebook signaled that it thinks millions of people are cheating on that deal by using ad-blocking browser extensions. The social network says that it will start tweaking its site in a way that allows its ads to evade ad blockers.
Things could now get interesting, since the developers of ad blockers will set out to evade Facebook’s blocker blockade to keep their many users happy. Ad industry estimates suggest that between 45 and 70 million people in the U.S. use an ad blocker on a desktop computer. Adblock Plus, the most popular blocker, reports more than 100 million active users and even takes money from Google and others to let certain ads through.
Adblock Plus and its competitors are already in an arms race with companies attempting to neutralize them. But those solutions aren’t 100 percent effective. Facebook should be able to make more powerfully block-resistant ads. It has more resources at its disposal than conventional media companies do, and more control over the way it serves up ads.
The design of ad blockers exploits the fact that when you visit a Web page, any ads are usually loaded from Web domains other than the one providing the main content. (This is because publishers usually outsource hosting and display of ads.) Tools like Adblock Plus and uBlock work by using a blacklist to block out domains known to host ad content, so ads never load.
Facebook appears to be saying that it can neutralize the blacklists that power ad blockers. If the company serves up ad content and content such as your friends’ photos from the same sources, then the ad blockers simply won’t work.
Ad blockers won’t necessarily be shut out for good, though. Facebook clearly labels ads using slugs such as “Sponsored” so as not to confuse its users. That provides clues in the makeup of a Web page that an ad blocker could be designed to interpret. Facebook has fired a powerful opening shot in its war on ad blockers, but it probably won’t be the last.
Meet Altos Labs, Silicon Valley’s latest wild bet on living forever
Funders of a deep-pocketed new "rejuvenation" startup are said to include Jeff Bezos and Yuri Milner.
Meta’s new learning algorithm can teach AI to multi-task
The single technique for teaching neural networks multiple skills is a step towards general-purpose AI.
All charges against China Initiative defendant Gang Chen have been dismissed
MIT professor Gang Chen was one of the most prominent scientists charged under the China Initiative, a Justice Department effort meant to counter economic espionage and national security threats.
A horrifying new AI app swaps women into porn videos with a click
Deepfake researchers have long feared the day this would arrive.
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.


text:
TI11 Raises Less Money Than TI10 and TI9 in First 10 Hours
Following the release of The International (TI11) Battle Pass, it was expected that the prize pool record would be broken yet again by the community. However, this year’s Battle Pass prize pool did not manage to reach the $5 million mark in the first ten hours of release making it the least successful battle pass release since 2018. Considering the fact that the duration of the battle pass is also shorter than the previous versions of it, it looks like TI11’s prize pool may not break TI10’s record $40 Million USD.
Valve announced earlier today that there would be two parts of the Battle Pass for this year, the first one for TI11 and the second one will be released on November 3rd, in conjunction with Dota’s Diretide event.
TI11 Battle Pass Raises Less Money Within The First 10 Hours.
When Valve released The International (TI11) Battle Pass earlier today, it was expected that the prize pool record would be broken yet again by the community. However, this year’s Battle Pass prize pool did not manage to reach the $5 million mark in the first ten hours of release, as the Dota 2 Prize Pool tracker shows that TI11 is currently third in the comparison, below The International 2019 (TI9) and The International 2021 (TI10) prize pool records.
This might be due to the community’s reaction, seeing that the Battle Pass will be released on two separate occasions which might cause the players wallet to be a bit tight as they have to save for two different Battle Passes.
TI11’s prize pool will slowly increase as the Battle Pass was only released today. However, the decline in revenue within the first ten hours might concern Valve as it indicates a decline of purchases for the Battle Pass.
TI11 Battle Pass mainly features two Arcanas, two Hero Persona’s, Sticker Capsules, Voice Packs and the return of Cavern Crawl. The Battle Pass also includes custom towers, cosmetics, sound packs and more as the first part is released today to the public, with the second part releasing on November 3rd.


text:
According to the club’s official website: Hibernian are pleased to unveil this season’s third kit by Puma, sponsored by Crabbie’s.
The kit will be played in for the first time when the team travel west to face Celtic next Saturday, 1st September.
The limited edition kit modelled by latest signing Shefki Kuqi, features a vibrant yellow design with black accents and a tonal crest.
Do you like this soccer jersey? Please rate


text:
The technology automated house is right around the corner. Companies recently have been building everything to have the ability to be controlled by phones, whether it be thermostats, or even light bulbs. Today, Kwikset has added door locks to the list.
Kwikset announced today, its new product, dubbed Kēvo, which is a deadbolt that can also be controlled by an iPhone. The lock uses Bluetooth to connect to a device, and if the device is recognized by the lock, the user can simply touch the deadbolt to unlock the door. The new system also works with a key fob. The accompanying app will also allow owners to send “electronic keys” to others to give them the ability to unlock the door. In addition to standard encryptions, Kwikset has also added military grade encryption to the lock to prevent unwanted iPhone users from entering your home.
The company did not release a price or release date, but for those looking to fully automate their homes, this is a must have piece of technology. For more information, be sure to head on over to Kwikset’s website. Would you automate your house and switch to high tech, Bluetooth locks on your doors? Why or why not? Leave a comment below!


text:
GM financial Springs into Blockchain
Late 2017, GM experienced their first dip into blockchain after it partnered with Hyperledger along with J.P Morgan, IBM, and FedEx. This time around, the Auto Giant has announced its partnership with blockchain start-up, Spring Labs.
Spring Labs raised $15 million in its first funding round last spring and has come a long way since. The auto lender will join the Spring Founding Industry Partners Program to work with Spring Labs as it develops its blockchain products, the first of which are expected to launch in the first half of 2019.
According to the CEO of Spring Labs, Adam Jiwan, “We came together with the view that we could develop a series of use cases that would match some of [GM Financial’s] core business priorities as a lender, or potentially [those of] GM as a parent company”, reported by Forbs.
The Chief strategy officer for GM financial, Mike Kanarios believes the partnership with GM financial with Spring Labs is a “natural fit” as the company explores blockchain technology. “We believe that they have the most momentum in this space,” Kanarios says.
This blockchain startup is developing a protocol that will allow companies to securely exchange and verify sensitive information such as a customer’s credit history. Jiwan told Forbes this could help both lending and non-lending institutions share information about customer identities without compromising customer privacy, making it easier for everyone to identify fraudulent actors.
Kanarios told Forbes he thinks that Spring Labs’ protocol could help GM Financial combat synthetic identity fraud, which occurs when a fraudster uses both real and fake identification information to create a new identity and make purchases. Fraud like this costs GM Financial millions of dollars per year in both losses of inventory and prevention costs, and Kanarios says a blockchain-based identity verification program could be a “better, faster, and cheaper system” than the lender’s current processes.
The company had high hopes to get positive feedback from the technology in this aspect and wish to expand to other sectors such as seamless payments and expansion of blockchain in general. David Treat, A managing director and global blockchain lead at Accenture, believes that the use of blockchain could one day be used in insurance and even AI technology to make driving safer, more secure, and efficient.
Accenture is a part of MOBI, Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative, along with GM and other members like; BMW, Ford, And Groupe Renault. MOBI is a group dedicated to exploring applications of the blockchain.
There are many questions to ask and research that is left to do before blockchain is the norm of any sector, but getting a head start now in order to implement it on a large scale is essential. Kanarios knows blockchain may not be for every company need but its potential is hard to ignore.
“Of course there are…challenges with it,” he says, “but it’s one of those things that we wanted to get involved in to make sure that we took advantage of the technology.”


text:
Iceland is offering thousands of pensioners a free £30 voucher to help with the rising cost of living.
The frozen foods supermarket chain has team up with The Rothesay Foundation to launch its new 'Summer Cheer' campaign. It will see around 40,000 pension-age people living independently, or with a carer, who rely solely on state pension and benefits, offered a £30 voucher for food and other essentials. The campaign will run until September 16 and the vouchers can be spent in any of 269 Iceland stores in 16 areas across the country.
Iceland said the locations were identified as the places where there are some of the highest numbers of pensioners living in material deprivation in the country. The campaign will also provide copies of Age UK's financial advice information guide, reports Wales Online.
News of the new voucher comes just after Iceland also launched another scheme for anyone over the age of 60 earlier this year. In May, they became the first supermarket chain to offer anyone over the age of 60 a 10% discount that applies to every Tuesday.
Anyone who is eligible for the new Summer Cheer voucher scheme can combine the £30 voucher with the 10% discount on Tuesday to make their shopping bills that bit more affordable. It follows a similar pilot campaign run by Iceland in the London borough of Lambeth last December which helped older people on lower incomes to a free £30 voucher to spend in nine of its stores.
Richard Walker, managing director of Iceland Foods, said: "Since the launch of the partnership last Christmas, the cost of living crisis has taken hold of the UK, and now more than ever, people are struggling to access the food they need.
"No one should ever have to worry about how they are going to eat or drink, and we hope that the support we can offer across the UK will help pensioners access and enjoy a worry free meal during this time." To find your local Iceland store, click here.
The campaign is also being rolled out across Iceland stores in the following locations:
- Greater Manchester
- Newcastle North
- West Midlands
- North Wales
To claim the voucher, you first must be of pension-age people living independently, or with a carer, and relying solely on state pension and benefits. If this is you, you can call the Summer Cheer hotline, which is 0800 098 7877 to request a voucher.
The telephone line will be open from 9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday. Once you have called through to the phoneline and it is decided customers are eligible for a voucher, they will be sent a leaflet in the post with the £30 voucher on it.
- The wannabe crooks snared by doorbell cameras in Lancashire - as police officer admits: 'I've got one myself'
- UCLan set to become just one of 11 UK universities with veterinary school on campus
- Design of Preston Brick Veil Mosque 'misunderstands' city's varied history
- Son's tribute to Rossendale dad who died from cancer in pandemic
- Accrington mum returns to study after starting family and bags a first


text:
- CRITTER TALK
- MOVIE-TV-BOOK REVIEWS
- NEWS I FIND INTERESTING
In this article, we are going to show you some of the most known drone controversies over the years. If drones are a topic you have a passion for, you should visit this drone reviews site, where you can find all things drones, from selfie drones and DSLR drones to drones with the longest flight times and the best racing drones. Now, let’s see why drones can be so controversial.
Project Maven is one of the most controversial topics nowadays. In case you haven’t heard about it, the Department of Defense (DoD) is working on an artificial-intelligence pilot program by partnering with several tech companies, including Google. However, a scandal emerged when Google employees raised some AI-related ethical issues in this project.
While other tech companies haven’t complained about Project Maven, a dozen Google employees even resigned because of the project. Those workers were outraged that Google is offering the DoD the possibility to surveil and kill people with Google’s technology. This is a controversial issue since military surveillance shouldn’t involve tech companies. Also, some people are concerned that drones could rule the world after artificial intelligence becomes advanced enough.
2. Drone Registration
This is not as controversial as Project Maven, but it still has caused some problems. In 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration decided that it is mandatory for drone owners to register non-commercial drones. At first, the agency promised that the ones who registered their drone within the first 30 days after the announcement will receive back the $5 fee.
While the fee is not that substantial, the controversy was that most drone owners didn’t really understand why it was necessary to register their drones. In 2017, a federal court decided that FAA’s registration rules violated a 2012 congressional law.
3. Drone Geofencing
Geofencing is another problem that negatively affects drone users. First, geofencing is a software feature that puts a virtual barrier over restricted areas like airports and military bases. The barrier prompts the drones that there is a no-fly-zone ahead, which makes the drone turn around or give a signal to the owner. While not all drones come with this feature, in the future they will all have it.
While many users believe that geofencing is limiting their freedom to fly a drone wherever they want, other users believe that this is an amazing idea since manufacturers have the opportunity to use geofencing.
4. Commercial Drone Use
In 2015, the commercial drone use was outlawed for drone owners that did not have an exemption certificate. Congress was the one that asked the FAA to make some rules and regulations so that commercial drone use could be legal in the U.S. The FAA missed their first deadline which was established in 2015. First, this doesn’t allow the U.S. to grow and innovate the drone industry.
Second, others fear that the regulations will be too harsh and it will be almost impossible to have a drone for commercial use, even after the rules are implemented. Also, it is a good idea to legalize the commercial use of drones? This is why commercial drone use is still a controversial idea in the US.
5. Military Bases Can Shoot Down Drones
Another controversial problem surrounding the use of drones is the military bases can now shoot down drones that fly over them. Since many drones cost a lot of money, drone owners are not pleased with the news. The Pentagon approved military bases to shoot down drones. Both private and commercial drones can be shot down by the military base.
As you might expect, drone owners fear that their drones could be shot if they pass a military base by accident. Also, most people believe that all drones will be shot down, even if they lack a camera or a tracking system.
The list can go on with many other drone-related controversies. However, these ones are some of the most well-known scandals concerning the technology that happened over the last few years. Also, drone owners have a hard time at keeping up with all the rules and regulations.
In Case You Missed It: The Final Frontier: Trump Creates the Space Force


text:
Retail bellwether John Lewis unveiled a 27% half year profits plunge, while Argos owner Home Retail Group and Morrisons also underscored the pressure facing the sector.
With banks also on the back foot, the FTSE 100 Index closed down nearly 1%, or 47.8 points, at 5318.4.
Losses among London’s top flight had been much worse amid heavy early selling on Wall Street, but they rallied towards the close.
Sentiment during the session was not helped by the pound slumping to a two-and-a-half-year low against the dollar - below 1.75 dollars - in the wake of gloomy economic warnings from Bank of England policymakers at the latest Treasury Select Committee meeting.
Retailers dominated the fallers board after the John Lewis profits fall. The group’s department store chain saw like-for-like sales fall 1% in the six months to July 26, with home goods down 5% in the struggling property market.
Morrisons was the worst hit blue chip stock, down more than 6%, or 16.5p to 253.75p. That came despite the chain unveiling a 7.6% rise in first half same-store sales, but analysts noted the chain’s increased use of price cuts as it looks to lure in hard-pressed shoppers.
Sainsbury’s was another hefty faller, down 21.75p to 345.25p and B&Q owner Kingfisher slipped 7.4p to 130.1p. Marks & Spencer also lost 7.75p to 240p.
Home Retail’s trading update showed Argos sales dropped 5.8% in the second quarter of its financial year, with sister company Homebase off 8.3%. The FTSE 250 stock fell 13.75p to 228p.
Among the banks lower today, Halifax Bank of Scotland fell 13p to 286p, Lloyds TSB slipped 12p to 283p and Barclays dropped 8p to 338.5p.
Broadcaster ITV was high up the FTSE 100 Index risers board, ahead by 3% or 1.1p to 49.9p, amid takeover speculation prompted by former suitor Virgin Media’s hiring of former boss Charles Allen as a director. But ITV discovered yesterday it will be leaving the Footsie later this month because of its recent share price woes.
Another stock heading for the trap door, Carphone Warehouse, fell 6.4p to 185.9p.
Heavier Footsie losses were avoided thanks to gains for miners which have been subject to heavy selling recently. Anglo American led the way, 113p better off at 2308p, with Xstrata not far behind after a gain of 50p to 2275p.
Another big gain came from prospector BG Group after it announced more drilling success off the coast of Brazil. Shares were up almost 5% or 45p to 1100p.
The Footsie’s four biggest risers were Anglo American, up 113p to 2308p, BG Group up 45p to 1100p, Smiths Group up 38p to 1063p and Drax Group, which closed up 24p to 758p.
The four biggest fallers were Morrisons, down 16.5p to 253.75p, Eurasian Natural Resources down 39.5p at 662p, Sainsbury’s down 21.75p to 345.25p and Kingfisher, which ended the day down 7.4p at 130.1p.


text:
Shares of America’s biggest company, Apple (AAPL), have been under pressure as of late, pushing expectations for this earnings report to a high level, even for the Cupertino-based giant. The stock has fallen by about 17% in the past quarter leaving the firm teetering around the $500/share level at the time of the report, so a solid release was definitely being counted on by the bulls to propel the stock out of its current malaise.
Unfortunately, it looks as if investors will have to wait until March for a more bullish report as this latest release wasn’t good news according to most.
Some of the key stats include:
- Earnings: $13.81/share actual vs. $13.44/share expected
- Revenue: $54.5 billion actual vs. $54.58 billion expected
- Forecast Revenues for Q2: $41 billion- $43 billion
- iPhone Sales: 47.8 million actual vs. 50 million expected
- iPad Sales: 22.9 million actual vs. 23 million expected
- Operating Margin: 31.6% vs. 37.4% (year ago)
- Cash/Short-Term Securities: $137 billion
Immediately following the report, shares of AAPL were down about 4.7%, or roughly $24/share.
What do you think of this release? Does it confirm to you that Apple’s glory days are over or are expectations just too high for this money making machine?
Let us know what you think in the comments below!
More From Zacks.com


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
RERC’s new CEO diversifying 25-year-old company
- Carmen Carroquino
With a new CEO at the helm to help usher in the next 25 years of business, RERC Strategic Advisors, an independent research firm in Orlando, has its sights set on the future.
“We’re diversifying and looking ahead,” Taylor said of taking over the reins from former CEO and founder William Owen a year ago. “We’re looking at hiring, ways to expand our presence geographically and how to maintain the quality control of our data and better interpret the information we find to fit the client’s specific needs.”
Owen, now chairman of the board and key adviser of the company he began in 1986, said Taylor has the “fresh set of eyes and renewed sense of focus and perspective” to take the firm forward.
With services in market research and feasibility studies, community redevelopment planning and investment grade analysis, the firm maintained about 60 percent of its presence in Florida along the Interstate 4 corridor from Tampa to Daytona Beach, before expanding its reach.
Today, with activity in California, Nevada and Minneapolis, the firm’s out-of-state work has grown to about 25 percent to 30 percent of the business.
“You don’t do a lot of work with cities and government agencies if you don’t have a good reputation with trust and understanding,” he said. “These guys do.”
email@example.com | (407) 649-8470
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
- Most popular
- These Orlando restaurants have critical food code violations
- 4 new office, retail tenants join Orlando’s Lake Nona
- Start-up to roll out Star Wars ball droid
- Details revealed on World’s Largest Entertainment McDonald's
- J.J. Abrams shares new Star Wars details with superfans
- 5 new public schools proposed for Orlando’s Avalon Park
- Orlando board recommends $400,000 incentive deal for global tech firm
- Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores to break ground on $22M expansion
- McDonald’s tests new custom burger experience in Orlando
- Nikesh A. Patel update: Isleworth home sale, possible new hotels buyer
Professor, Network Engineering Technology Valencia College | Orlando, FL
Interim County Auditor County of Kaua'i | Lihue, HI
Adjunct Professors Valencia College | Orlando, FL
Civil Engineer/Project Manager Boyd Civil Engineering, Inc. | Orlando, FL
Office Manager and Executive Assistant ACCP | Orlando, FL


text:
Apple’s official carrier in South Korea, KT, revealed yesterday that iPhone has now surpassed the half-million (500,000) sales mark. This makes South Korea, a nation with 47 million total mobile subscribers, number 8 globally in first year iPhone sales.
via iPhonAsia.com » Blog Archive » iPhone passes 500K sales in South Korea.
There have been several chauvinistic campaigns in Korea that attempted to undermine iPhone’s success. Yet, ironically, these well-funded initiatives may have backfired


text:
Meta and Microsoft team up for better VR productivity and gaming
Who actually cares about VR productivity though?
Microsoft and Meta are teaming up to bring productivity and gaming to the Meta’s Quest virtual reality (VR) headsets. The biggest Microsoft services are coming to VR, including Teams, Office, Windows, and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
The biggest takeaway is that Meta hopes that actual, industry-standard productivity tools will drive some Quest VR headset sales.
Your next Teams meeting might be in VR
The partnership means that Teams and Horizon Workrooms users can join each other’s meeting rooms. Avatars from both systems will also carry over, one of the early promises that hadn’t shown up until now.
Microsoft is also bringing Windows 365 to Quest so you can use your virtual Windows desktop from your VR headset. 2D versions of Office are also coming to the platform.
Imagine being able to use 3D Excel spreadsheets in VR in the future. We can’t quite work out if it’s horrifying or exciting, but the promise is there.
Xbox Game Pass in VR
Microsoft has long said it wants to bring Xbox gaming to everyone, wherever they play. Meta wants everyone to live in the metaverse.
Now you can do both, as Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming to the Meta Quest Store. That will significantly increase the number of games available on the platform, which will be playable on a virtual screen.
It’s their metaverse – you’re just living in it
With Microsoft now allying with Meta, the metaverse is going to happen. Will we see Windows VR Edition one day, untethered from virtual screens?
The will is certainly there, but hardware makers must figure out battery life issues.
The two-hour maximum for the Meta Quest Pro isn’t going to convince purchasing departments to spend $1,499 per user so they can take their Teams calls in VR.
- Apple VR headset: Release date, features, and price
- Meta tests way to quickly switch between Facebook and Instagram
- Sony PS VR2: pricing, news, rumors, features, and release date
- New Pico 4 VR headset goes head-to-head with the Meta Quest 2


text:
- Business Insider Intelligence and eMarketer are now Insider Intelligence, a digitally-focused research company from Insider Inc. Learn more about what we offer.
- This story was delivered to Business Insider Intelligence Banking Briefing subscribers earlier this morning.
- To get this story plus others to your inbox each day, hours before they're published on Business Insider, click here.
- Stay up-to-date with our latest coverage on the impacts of coronavirus on technology, marketing, and the digital economy here.
Members of Parliament (MPs) in the UK's House of Commons are voicing concerns about the possibility that plummeting ATM usage due to the coronavirus pandemic is putting the country's cash infrastructure in danger of collapse, ATM Marketplace reports.
A letter signed by 37 MPs has been sent to UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak, asking him to protect the country's cash infrastructure, including its ATM network. Recommended measures include reviving free-to-use ATMs for local communities and maintaining incentive for operators to keep ATMs online by reversing cuts to the interchange fees banks pay to those operators.
In the letter, MPs also criticized the UK's main debit and ATM card issuer, the Link network, saying that Link's guarantee that communities facing cash shortages will have their ATMs replaced by one from a Link member bank falls short in filling the gap, per ATM Marketplace.
In the course of just a few months, the coronavirus has had staggering effects on the usage of ATMs and cash more widely. During the lockdown period in the UK, ATM withdrawals have plunged 60%, per data from YouGov published in late April cited by Crowdfund Insider.
And the usage of cash on the whole has receded as well: Approximately three-quarters of UK consumers confirmed that they aren't using physical currency as much as they were before the crisis. A solid majority (58%) say they are conducting significantly fewer cash transactions, and 54% say that they've been avoiding cash and using digital payments platforms.
But the lasting effects on consumers' usage of physical money could pose even more of a threat to the UK cash infrastructure in the long run. Over three-quarters (76%) of respondents to the YouGov survey said the coronavirus pandemic is likely to impact their future use of cash, with 50% saying they plan to use payment cards with greater regularity and 31% saying they intend to use ATMs less frequently.
And these shifts away from cash usage could be exacerbated by the fact that it's costing UK consumers more and more to access money via ATMs. If a greater portion of UK consumers exhibit a lasting reduced dependence on cash, there will be less incentive for banks to maintain their ATM networks at their current size, though those that do could enjoy fierce customer loyalty from clients who remain dependent on physical currency as cash access options recede.
Want to read more stories like this one? Here's how to get access:
- Business Insider Intelligence analyzes the banking industry and provides in-depth analyst reports, proprietary forecasts, customizable charts, and more. >> Check if your company has BII Enterprise membership access
- Sign up for the Banking Briefing, Business Insider Intelligence's expert email newsletter tailored for today's (and tomorrow's) decision-makers in the financial services industry, delivered to your inbox 6x a week. >> Get Started
- Explore related topics in more depth. >> Visit Our Report Store
- Current subscribers can log in to read the briefing here.


text: Join Pocketparks for a pop-up event as it turns a vacant lot at 923 Locust Street in downtown St. Louis into a small parcel of paradise the weekend of May 14-16. The reimagined space will feature greenery, games, and giveaways, as well as food from Bailey’s Restaurants, beverages from STL Barkeep, and more. The activation is part of an effort by Pocketparks to bring streets and neighborhoods back to life. View the transformation, participate in the fun, and provide feedback starting Friday, May 14 (from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.) and continuing Saturday, May 15 (noon – 9 p.m.) and Sunday, May 16 (noon – 4 p.m.). The event is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted to help support the project. Food and beverages sold separately. All Activities will follow COVID-19 safety protocols. Attendees will be required to wear masks while not eating or drinking. Hand sanitizer will be provided. To learn more, visit www.pocketparks.co and @pocketparksusa on Facebook, @pocketparks on Instagram and @parks_pocket on Twitter. The 923 Locust Street pocket park is named the DUC Park in honor of its naming sponsor, Downtown Urgent Care.


text:
Traders Buy Shares of General Motors Co. (GM) on Weakness
Investors bought shares of General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) on weakness during trading on Wednesday. $64.57 million flowed into the stock on the tick-up and $33.11 million flowed out of the stock on the tick-down, for a money net flow of $31.46 million into the stock. Of all companies tracked, General Motors had the 9th highest net in-flow for the day. General Motors traded down ($0.13) for the day and closed at $32.02
Several brokerages recently weighed in on GM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (down from $47.00) on shares of General Motors in a report on Tuesday, April 19th. Piper Jaffray Cos. began coverage on shares of General Motors in a report on Thursday, June 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $41.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of General Motors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of General Motors from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 22nd. Finally, SunTrust Banks Inc. reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of General Motors in a report on Monday, June 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.16.
The stock has a market capitalization of $50.01 billion and a P/E ratio of 4.10. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $29.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.23.
General Motors (NYSE:GM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 21st. The auto manufacturer reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.35. The firm earned $42.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that General Motors Co. will post $5.85 earnings per share for the current year.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 9th will be paid a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.75%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 7th.
In other news, EVP James B. Deluca sold 10,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.48, for a total value of $326,573.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.
Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GM. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in General Motors by 215.5% in the fourth quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 35,495 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $1,207,000 after buying an additional 24,243 shares in the last quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust raised its stake in General Motors by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 42,070 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $1,431,000 after buying an additional 1,896 shares in the last quarter. Monetta Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in General Motors during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,462,000. Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in General Motors by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 58,192 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $1,979,000 after buying an additional 7,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pekin Singer Strauss Asset Management IL raised its stake in General Motors by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Pekin Singer Strauss Asset Management IL now owns 63,159 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $2,148,000 after buying an additional 10,764 shares in the last quarter.
General Motors Company (General Motors) designs, builds and sells cars, trucks and automobile parts across the world. The Company also provides automotive financing services through General Motors Financial Company, Inc (GM Financial). The Company’s four automotive segments include GM North America (GMNA), GM Europe (GME), GM International Operations (GMIO) and GM South America (GMSA).
Get Analysts' Upgrades and Downgrades Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of analysts' upgrades, downgrades and new coverage with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.


text:
Treatibles, pioneer and industry leader in creating Organic Full Spectrum Hemp CBD products for pets, is proud to announce the brand’s Hard Chews, Soft Chewables, Oil Dropper Bottles, Capsules and Topical Cream are now available at 15 Chow Hound Pet Supplies stores throughout Michigan and Ohio and 28 Feeders Pet Supply stores in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.
“We are thrilled by our partnership with these two highly regarded and rapidly-growing specialty pet retailer groups,” offered Julianna Carella, Founder and CEO of Treatibles. “We applaud both Chow Hound and Feeders Pet Supply for their commitment to become experts on the products they carry, offering a personalized shopping experience for their customers and, of course, for providing superior products for pets, including Treatibles.”
Brannon Dixon, CEO of Feeders Pet Supply and Chow Hound Pet Supplies.
By Leah Wilkinson
A new year brings new opportunities and excitement, and 2023 is bound to be the same, with several chances for advancing policy issues of importance to the U.S. animal food industry.
By Lindsay Beaton


text:
Blog: Soft drinks firms face hard choices
Olly Wehring | 8 March 2006
Who’d be a CSD CEO this month? It’s not been easy of late for the carbonated soft drinks companies of the world, but those operating here in the UK are having a rare old time in March.
In spite of trying to make a half empty glass look half full, Britvic last week pointed to the first two months of this year as evidence that soft drinks are struggling in the country.
“Since Christmas, there has been a weakening in the total soft drinks market in the UK,” the company said. “If the soft drinks market shows recovery over the balance of the year as we anticipate, we remain confident of delivering earnings within market expectations, albeit at the lower end.”
Looks like a big if, if the start of 2006 is anything to go by - Britvic also noted that, for the 12 weeks to 25 December, revenue was up by only 1% and operating profit pre-exceptionals rose by 5% compared to the same period last year.
Add to this the recent testing in the country of soft drinks for the cancer-causing chemical benzene, and the alarm bells just get louder.
The Food Standards Agency has been testing 230 soft drinks available in the UK, and found benzene levels of up to eight parts per billion in some brands, eight times the level permitted in drinking water. Naturally, some of the UK press had a field day, in spite of the FSA noting that the levels of benzene were very low and not a concern for public health. Indeed, the British Soft Drinks Association highlighted the comments, adding that there was nothing to worry about.
But something still worries me. Here in the UK, a legal limit has been set for the amount of benzene found in drinking water, but no legal limit exists for the amount of benzene in soft drinks. Oh, and the word ‘cancer’ is in the news stories.
This one needs handling with kid gloves, otherwise the CSD market will turn yet more unpalatable than it currently is.
Do you like whisk(e)y? And, I mean, really like whisk(e)y? Are you at a loose end in the first half of 2017? If so, then I've found just the job for you....
Whenever we read anything about Millennial consumers, there is almost always mention of the personalisation trend as well as the importance of social media....
Ever wondered what fuels Anheuser-Busch InBev's acquisitional drive? Is it naked ambition? Faith? The good of mankind?...
Anheuser-Busch InBev is reportedly calling a halt to its Seth Rogan and Amy Schumer Bud Light campaign in the US....
- Diageo NA head on Trump, Millennials, Bourbon
- Has Millennial-mania drowned out elder consumers?
- Interview - Loch Lomond GTR head Andre de Almeida
- Absolut and Smirnoff's conflicting Millennial view
- Brown-Forman's H1 performance by region, brand
- Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent set to stand down
- Diageo wine assets integration head to leave TWE
- Brown-Forman's barrel sales take Scotch hit
- Absolut not "sufficiently focussed" on Millennials
- Angostura places CEO on administrative leave
- Luxury Alcoholic Drinks: The Spirit of Premiumisation
- Global gin insights - market forecasts, product innovation and consumer trends
- Global Wine Market 2016-2020
- Global Cognac insights - market forecasts, product innovation and consumer trends
- Global rum insights - market forecasts, product innovation and consumer trends