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Americans now say they approve of free trade by 64%-27%, a margin of better than two to one. That's up from 57%-37% early in Trump's presidency, and 51%-41% near the end of...Politicsread more
Kudlow pointed to strong retail sales and low unemployment as signs that the U.S. economy remained strong.Marketsread more
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note briefly fell below the 2-year rate on Wednesday, a phenomenon in the bond market known as yield curve inversion, which is...Marketsread more
The MacBook Pro recall and its subsequent ban from flights underscores the increasing brand risk from problems with lithium-ion batteries.Technologyread more
Experts say the timing of Amazon executives' contributions to Rep. David Cicilline likely reflect the company's heightened urgency over growing regulatory scrutiny.Technologyread more
Despite aggressive strides, Waymo needs one thing before their self-driving cars become a seriously useful transportation system: people. We talked to the ones closest to it.Technologyread more
CNBC combed through Wall Street research to see which stocks are still a buy after their earnings reports.Marketsread more
Coinbase security chief Philip Martin explains, "Possession of a key is possession of your currency. What that means is that you can't revoke a cryptocurrency key, if that key...Technologyread more
Fraud investigator Harry Markopolos' accusations extended beyond GE's management to actuaries, auditors and analysts who he claims overlooked billions in liabilities.Marketsread more
The Supreme Court could strike down the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency Elizabeth Warren has likened to her child and which Justice...2020 Electionsread more
Bianco Research's James Bianco suggests Wall Street is desperately looking for a signal that a 50 basis point cut is coming next month.Trading Nationread more
WhatsApp was hit by a major outage on Friday morning, preventing people around the globe from using the world's most popular messaging app.
Users of the Facebook-owned app could not send or receive messages as the service continued to say it was "connecting", though no connection was made.
According to DownDetector, there were problems across Europe although users in India, Pakistan, Singapore and Iraq also reported that they could not access the service.
Whatsappdown was the top trending item on Twitter in India, which is the app's largest market. Around 200 million of the messaging app's billion-plus users are based in India.
A spokesperson for Facebook in Singapore said the company was investigating the matter, Reuters reported.
The online messaging app went down in the U.K. at approximately 8:30 a.m. GMT (4.30 a.m. ET), before users were able to reconnect around 30 minutes later.
The reported connection error comes as Apple released the iPhone X on Friday, with people eagerly anticipating the tech giant's latest flagship phone in stores globally.
Facebook was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.


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THE POSSIBILITY of a trade pact between Britain and America has been raised in Washington, elevating an idea which has hitherto been the preserve of the political right to a more serious level.
The Senate Finance Committee has proposed a study to see if the United Kingdom could be brought within the aegis of the North America Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), which currently includes the US, Canada and Mexico.
It has asked the US International Trade Commission to study the idea, and produce estimates of the impact on trade, GDP, employment and investment.
Until now, the idea of opting out of the European Union and joining America instead has largely been the preserve of the right wing of the Conservative party and some Canadians, like Conrad Black, the owner of The Daily Telegraph.
But yesterday support from William Roth, chairman of the Finance Committee, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the senior Democrat on the committee and a well-respected figure on both sides of the political divide in Washington and London, means the idea will now be examined by the ITC, an independent body.
"I have long believed that both the United States and Great Britain would benefit from freer trade between our two countries," said the Senate Banking Committee's chairman Phil Gramm.
"We already have strong financial and historic ties; now it's time to further our relationship," he added.
Britain would have to leave the EU to join Nafta. European Union trade policy is made by the European Commission, and a unilateral decision to join Nafta would be impossible.
For the right, leaving the European Union is the main point of the exercise, while ensuring trade access to two of Britain's most important export markets, the US and Canada.
Britain accounts for two-thirds of all European investment in America, and is the largest foreign direct investor in the US. The US is the UK's largest single export market with combined annual exports of goods and services worth more than pounds 31bn.
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On Monday, Feb. 27, Regis students Bailey Gent, Allison Foust, Elsa Meyners, and David Mooney coordinated and hosted an event to bring light to an issue we hear on a daily basis, fair trade.
Gent, Foust, Meyners, and Mooney showed the documentary: Mama Rwanda, about Rwandan women rebuilding the country after genocide through entrepreneurship. Additionally, four panelists attend the event to help discuss fair trade and their work with fair trade.
The panelists included Michelle Korth, who works with Restore Innocence, an organization that helps victims of human trafficking. Another was Shanna Heddle, who lived abroad in Myanmar and currently owns a secondhand store that donates 20 percent of their profits to help victims of human trafficking. Additionally Katie Hile was in attendance. She founded Totonga Bomoi, an organization that helps women in the Congo create products for income. Sarah Ray, who works with Yobel International, an organization that promotes the purchasing of free trade and recycled products completed the panel. These panelists are all women, who work to promote fair trade and empower other women through their work.
The panelists shared their experiences of becoming active in the world of free trade with the students in attendance. Each woman was able to share a different story or experience that spurred them to action, emphasizing the idea that relationships lead to social change and make their work worthwhile.
“What keeps me going is watching these girls go from this place of utter brokenness…to doing so well,” said Korth.
Panelists also offered suggestions to students who are interested in getting into the world of free trade, and promoting free trade as part of their lifestyle. One recommendation was finding one thing that is important to you and making sure that product is obtained through free trade means only. Additionally, they recommended downloading the Better World Shopping Guide which provides an index of how companies perform regarding fair trade, they also stressed the need not to put too much pressure on yourself.
“When you start out it can feel like everything you do is causing evil in the world, so focus on the things that grip your heart. Try to be balanced as you approach the adjustment in your life," said Weddle.
Regis students will get an opportunity to promote recycling and sustainable living in April when the same four students conduct a clothing swap on campus, keep an eye out for that event as the semester progresses.
Catie Cheshire Staff Reporter


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Intel finally releases its Arc A580 graphics card — and its price might make it the best cheap GPU going
Intel surprised everyone this week when it released its Arc A580 graphics card, a GPU that was first announced last year but which had otherwise been missing in action ever since.
The Intel Arc A580 (which had been rumored in recent weeks thanks to leaked benchmarks) sits in the middle of Intel’s Arc graphics card stack between the Arc A380 and the Intel Arc A750. At $179.99 (about £135/AU$260) the A580 officially comes in a bit cheaper than the A750, which has an official MSRP of $249.99 (about £190/AU$360), so it has potential for a spot on our best cheap graphics card list, though we won’t know for sure until we get one in for review.
There is no Limited Edition reference card like there was for the Intel Arc A770 and Intel Arc A750, so you’ll have to get the A580 through a third-party manufacturer. The three companies Intel cites in its press release announcing the card include ASRock, Gunnir, and Sparkle, but it’s not clear if Acer is also releasing an A580.
Acer has released A770 and A750 cards, so an A580 card might be in the works. We’ve reached out to Acer for comment and will update this page if and when we hear back.
News about an imminent release of the Intel Arc A580 has been swirling for a few weeks now and benchmarks at least gave us an inkling that something was in the offing, even if Intel itself was tight-lipped about it.
Intel told TechRadar that the delay in its release was down to making sure the Arc team had enough time to fix driver issues following the launch of the A700-series cards before adding another product to the stack.
“Since we introduced the Intel Arc A770 and A750 products last year, our teams were focused on improving the gaming experience with those products before introducing new ones,” an Intel spokesperson said. “Now that we have greatly improved our drivers and legacy API performance, the time is right to fill out the Intel Arc discrete graphics family with a compelling option that offers advanced 1080p gaming with modern features and the most complete media engine in the segment.”
We’re still in the process of securing our own unit for review, so we can’t say for certain how close the performance is to the A750, but the specs for the two cards are pretty close, and our friends over at Tom’s Hardware reviewed the card this week and found its performance to be fairly close to the A750, which does complicate the market position of this card.
A truly budget offering from Intel?
As many have noted already, the Intel Arc A580 is very close in current discount price to the Intel Arc A750, something that is only going to become more of an issue as we head into the holiday season and Black Friday graphics card deals pick up in earnest.
And, since the A750 is more powerful by virtue of four additional compute units, plenty of people are going to buy the A750 over the A580, which will definitely cannibalize the A580’s sales.
Which means the price on the A580 is going to come down very fast. It’s more than likely that the A580 will start selling around the $150 mark sooner rather than later, which puts it much cheaper than the AMD RX 6650 XT and RX 7600.
And while those two cards are among the best graphics cards for budget and 1080p gaming, the A580 has a real chance to be the true budget graphics card champion if its price comes down by about 17%, which is almost a guarantee given the current state of the market.
We won’t know until we get the card in ourselves, but the Arc A580 is already off to a solid start before you even slot it into your PC.
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Connelly: Agricultural markets won't stomach Trump tariffs -- delegation
Foreign markets for Washington's apples, cherries and potatoes will not stomach the Trump administration's tariffs on steel and aluminum, threatening a vital chunk of the state economy, the Washington congressional delegation warned Monday.
"The impact of retaliatory actions on Washington's thriving agricultural industry would not only significantly affect the agriculture industry, but also workers, families and small business throughout the state," read the letter, addressed to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
The bipartisan letter carried names ranging from trenchant Trump critic Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the public face of Trump Administration policies in Washington.
The letter listed three major export markets where Washington stands to get hurt. These are:
--China: China has slapped a 15 percent tariff on apples, pears, cherries and wine, the latter a product for which Washington wine makers have just begun to develop an export market.
"For Pacific Northwest cherries, China is the number-one export destination, with more than 10 percent of last year's crop -- valued at approximately $130 million -- having been shipped to China," said the letter.
"Last year, China was the fifth largest market for applies, work approximately $45-50 million, and it continues to be an important market for pears as well."
--India: On May 26, India notified the World Trade Organization that it is raising the tariff on apples from an already-high 50 percent up to 80 percent.
The tariff stands to have a "grave impact," the letter warned. "For this season, more than 7.7 million boxes -- valued at $118 million -- have been shipped to India. We understand that around one million cartons of applies are currently on container ships en route to India."
--Mexico: On June 5, as retaliation against Trump tariffs, Mexico announced that it was slapping tariffs on potatoes and apples.
"Last year, potato growers exported $37 million in frozen potatoes to Mexico," the delegation said. "And as the top export destination for apples valued at approximately $215 million last season, Mexico is currently the second largest market for Red Delicious."
Approximately one out of every four jobs in Washington depends on international trade.
The delegation letter was organized by a Republican, retiring U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, and two Democratic colleagues, Sen. Cantwell and U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash.
Reichert chairs the trade subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. DelBene is a fellow member of the tax-writing panel. Cantwell is a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee.
"We urge that the Administration make it a priority to negotiate a solution that shields our specialty crop growers from retaliatory actions in the form of tariffs or other barriers to trade," the lawmakers argued.
America is getting "clobbered on trade," President Trump said in a Tweet storm after breaking up last week's G-7 summit in Quebec. "We must put the American worker first," the president argued.
In Washington state, however, "the worker" makes Boeing jets for export, and produces apples, cherries, pears and wine for international markets.
SeattlePI.com writer Joel Connelly can be reached at email@example.com


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A Murrayville institution is about to close its doors after more than half a century of service to this Hall County community.
Murrayville Hardware and General Store is going out of business as its owner, Robbie Hulsey, 62, is retiring. It’s kind of the center of Murrayville, an unincorporated crossroads across Ga. 60, Thompson Bridge Road, from the large Fieldale poultry processing plant.
The store is the last of the independent hardware stores in the area, Hulsey said. It has survived in the face of the big box stores such as The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart and numerous national hardware businesses.
How? “Through relationships,” says Hulsey. “We don’t have customers; we have family.”
Since “Going Out of Business” signs went up, droves of that family have been coming in to say good-bye or browse the aisles for bargains. Many just come by to support Hulsey and his store. “We’ve been getting a lot of tears and hugs,” he said. His business the last few days was the best he had ever seen it.
Murrayville Hardware is akin to those old-time stores such as Britt Martin Hardware on Auburn Avenue and Castleberry’s on Dawsonville Highway in Gainesville. Hulsey sells garden seeds out of Mason jars and loose nuts, bolts and screws. You can buy a single bolt or a dozen at a time from the 40-foot aisle of such hardware.
Hulsey will grab a handful of certain seeds, weigh them on a 1950s scale and put them in an envelope for the customer. Sometimes the customer gets them for free, then will pay Hulsey with vegetables when they’re picked. He isn’t opposed to bartering, selling a bag of chicken feed in exchange for eggs later on.
Hulsey has enjoyed seeing customers grow up over the years. The store was opened by Bill Black in 1966, and Hulsey acquired it in May 1999. He recalls a boy about 6 years old being brought in by his grandfather regularly for a Mountain Dew slushie when the store had a slushie machine. That youngster is now a 32-year-old customer.
Children are attracted by a toy train that circles on a track just under the ceiling.
The hardware store once was a base for the area’s checkers players. Hulsey still has the wooden checkerboard that rests on a nail keg that was used by the regulars. For years, they would come in about noon every Friday to test each other’s skills at the game and stay until closing time at 6. The store also was the site for an annual checkers tournament that awarded several hundred dollars in prizes to the winners.
“They’re about all gone now,” Hulsey said of the old-time checkers players “who just died out.”
Murrayvillians and others come by sometimes just to chat. He’s had some to linger and talk for an hour or more. Murrayville Hardware has also been a place for prayer time. Hulsey said he used to tell customers who would come in with some troubles on their minds, “We’ll pray for you.” Now, he said, he just stops right there and prays with them.
He is the brother-in-law of the Rev. Scott Hearn, pastor of First United Methodist Church just down the road in Gainesville. They married sisters Emily and Sandy Mathis of Hall County.
Hulsey grew up in the Gainesville Mill village off Industrial Boulevard. There, “It really took a village to raise you,” he said. Neighbors would look after their neighbors’ children, and if some got out of line, they would be straightened out on the spot, and when they got home they would have another adjustment from their parents. His mother, Patsy Hulsey, remains one of the few longtime residents living in the village.
Robbie Hulsey worked at Mitsubishi Electronics in Braselton before it closed, and he bought the store. He is its only employee, though two sons “were almost raised here,” and helped out on Saturdays. Ryan is 33 now and Matt 30. A grandson, almost 2, is already helping sweep the floor.
Murrayville Hardware is hard to miss with dozens of examples of colorful yard art out front. More are inside, along with some old items that could be called antiques or just rarities, such as an ancient reel lawnmower, you don’t see much anymore.
“It’s been a great ride,” Hulsey said of his second career as a hardware store owner. When the new owner of the property takes over, he’ll have 60 days to dispose of his inventory.
Then, “I’ll start working on my wife’s list,” he said, before he decides if he’ll work somewhere part-time.
And Murrayville will have lost a colorful landmark and turn the page on a treasured piece of its history.
Watch for more local history in this column next Sunday.
Johnny Vardeman is retired editor of The Times. He can be reached at 2183 Pine Tree Circle NE, Gainesville; phone 770-532-2326; email@example.com.


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It’s just a matter of days (rather than hours) before fans finally get to set their eyes on the first-ever GTA 6 trailer. After months or more than a year of wait, the community is excited to finally get some official word and look from the game.
As part of the 25-year celebration, Rockstar Games announced that they would be revealing the first-ever trailer of their upcoming project from Grand Theft Auto, GTA 6, in early December. Naturally, it took the internet by storm. The announcement post by Rockstar became the most-liked gaming tweet in history.
As the community continued to hype over the coming of the trailer, a few days ago the developers announced the exact date of the trailer reveal.
What time and where is GTA 6 trailer releasing?
A few days ago, Rockstar Games announced the exact date and time of the GTA 6 trailer reveal. The X (formerly Twitter) post mentioned that the first-ever trailer of GTA 6 will be revealed on December 5, 2023, at 9:00 am ET. Although the devs have not revealed where the trailer will be launched, it is likely to be launched on Rockstar Games’ official YouTube channel, and X handle.
As the day of the GTA 6 trailer reveal inches closer, the rumors and speculations regarding the game continue to float around the internet. Interestingly, a recent rumor also claims that users will be able to pre-order the GTA 6 game starting December 12, 2023.
However, an official website dedicated to the developer, Rockstar Universe, settled the dust on the rumor stating that GTA 6 would be available only for pre-order once the official release date for the same is announced.
When is GTA 6 releasing?
The news that GTA 6 was in the making was first announced in February 2022 by Rockstar Games. Post that the developers maintained silence on any development before speaking again in September 2022. The developers again stayed tight-lipped for over a year and avoided speaking anything about their new GTA game, unofficially named GTA 6.
Finally, on November 8, 2023, the developers announced that the studio was celebrating its 25th anniversary in December 2023. Announcing the occasion, Rockstar Games’ CEO Sam Houser, made a series of posts and at the end of the thread, the CEO subtly announced that the devs plans to launch the trailer of their upcoming GTA game would be launching in early December.
Earlier in August this year, Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, hinted at the possible release window for the game. Strauss revealed that the game could be released between April 2024 to March 2025.


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There’s a growing digital divide between small businesses and large enterprises, with smaller businesses gaining an advantage by their adoption of new technology, according to a new report.
New Zealand-headquartered and Australian-listed accounting software provider Xero is claiming one million-plus subscribers signed up in the combined ANZ regional market and using its cloud accounting technology.
A comparison of small businesses in mature NBN regions and non-NBN regions who use the accounting software Xero shows that employment in the former grew by a third and increased revenue by two-thirds, a study claims.
Hi JJI'll ask and find out.Cheers,Alex
Good article! :D (as usual, thx Sam)Interesting, but the way that ASD report reads, especially in light of the '40%[…]
Hi JJFollowing up on my initial answer below, here’s the answer:Below are the prices after pre-sale:50" — $599.9955" — $699.9965"[…]
Hi jj,Sadly I don't know and didn't think to ask. Kogan has run this kind of pre-sale for years where[…]
What's the price after the sale?


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In the persistent drive to regulate the cryptocurrency industry and protect investors, the European Union is escalating efforts to adopt a more stringent approach towards digital assets. With the goal of establishing a transparent regulatory framework and combating activities such as money laundering and terror financing, EU lawmakers have introduced a fresh proposal that may alter the dynamics of how individuals across the continent engage with and carry out transactions involving cryptocurrencies.
Stringent Regulations Are Coming
The European Council and Parliament reached a significant provisional agreement on January 17th to revamp the crypto industry in the region, focusing on imposing stricter regulations on firms to target money laundering and terror financing. In a recent statement, the group of policymakers revealed that the proposed regulations would encompass most of the crypto sector, compelling all crypto firms to implement more rigorous due diligence procedures for their customers.
According to the provisional agreement, crypto firms would be required to conduct due diligence when customers plan to execute transactions valued at least $1,100. The initial statement highlighted that the agreement introduces measures to mitigate risks associated with transactions involving self-hosted wallets.
While the crypto deal awaits approval by the European Parliament, its potential impact on the industry is substantial. Vincent Van Peteghem, the Belgian Minister of Finance, emphasized that the provisional agreement aligns with the new Anti-Money Laundering (AML) system of the EU, ensuring that fraudsters, organized crime, and terrorists will find no space to legitimize their proceeds through the financial system.
Elsewhere, the EU recently concluded specific AML checks on crypto fund transfers in 2023. MiCA, set to become effective on December 30th, 2024, will establish the first comprehensive crypto regulatory framework for the European Union.


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The loan that is payday ACE money Express had a quick minute of notoriety in 2014, when an ill-advised example from an inside training manual slipped into general general public view.
Interestingly forthright, the graphic depicted the period of financial obligation which is why payday loan providers often have criticized. It recommended that Irving, Texas-based ACE had been trying to trap its clients for a borrowing treadmill machine.
Almost 2 yrs later on, whenever Google banned advertisements for U.S. loans with annual percentage prices above 36%, the technology giant cited the payday lending financial obligation period being a reason that is key.
GoogleвЂ™s 2016 ban received praise from customer advocates and rights that are civil, along side jeers from a single then-executive at ACE money Express.
вЂњExtremely disappointed,вЂќ wrote Manjush Varghese, who was simply then your vice president of ecommerce at ACE. вЂњI have already been a long-standing, accountable advertiser on Bing.вЂќ
But because it ended up, there was clearly less to your Bing ban than initially came across the attention. Per year after it took impact, United states Banker found many advertisements on Bing from ACE money Express as well as other payday loan providers, frequently from the page that is first of results.
A number of the advertisements looked like clear violations regarding the search engineвЂ™s policy. Other advertisements looked like exploiting a loophole in GoogleвЂ™s advertisement ban, that has maybe maybe maybe not been formerly reported. This loophole enabled payday loan providers to keep marketing on the site provided that both the advertising it self additionally the certain web page where an individual landed after simply clicking the advertisement failed to point out high-cost loans.
Simply speaking, payday loan providers have discovered numerous techniques for getting around GoogleвЂ™s ad ban that is year-old. Likewise, the payday industry has dodged the guidelines in various states where lawmakers have actually attempted to break straight straight down. And today customer advocates anticipate high-cost loan providers to probe for weaknesses within the customer Financial Protection BureauвЂ™s new payday lending guidelines, that have been revealed a week ago.
вЂњSubterfuge can be as core to your lenders that are payday business design as is trapping borrowers in a cycle of debt,вЂќ stated Diane Standaert, manager of state policy during the Center for Responsible Lending.
In belated September, United states Banker delivered screenshots of payday adverts found on Google to your hill View, Calif.-based business. After an interior review, a Bing spokeswoman stated that the adverts under consideration violated the companyвЂ™s policy.
вЂњWhile we try not to touch upon specific advertisers, we now have evaluated and removed the advertisements in breach of our policy on financial products,вЂќ the spokeswoman stated in a contact.
Bing declined to respond to questions regarding the main points of the payday loan ad ban, the actions the business takes to enforce it, or perhaps the banвЂ™s effectiveness.
Exploiting a loophole
Loan sharks in 2017 operate mostly online. Since the online is borderless https://personalbadcreditloans.net/reviews/moneylion-loans-review/, organizations can overseas set up shop and also make loans to Us americans without regard to federal and state customer security laws and regulations.
On the web payday lenders typically charge greater interest levels than in-store loan providers, based on a 2014 report because of the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Pew found that 30% of pay day loan borrowers reported having been threatened with a loan provider or perhaps a financial obligation collector. It determined that advertisers had been typically having to pay $5 to $13 per simply click on online loan adverts. That is a price that is hefty considering the fact that a simply simply simply click will not fundamentally result in a loan.
Bing, which obtained a whopping $79 billion in advertising income a year ago, has made serious cash through the presses of cash-strapped customers. Therefore the search giant ended up being acting against its very own economic self-interest whenever it announced intends to break straight down on pay day loan ads.
The insurance policy, that has been established following the business consulted with customer groups, possessed a rationale that is similar the Silicon Valley giantвЂ™s rules against ads for firearms, ammo, leisure medications and tobacco services and products.
вЂњWe donвЂ™t enable advertisements for items that we think are exceptionally harmful,вЂќ Vijay Padmanabhan, an insurance plan adviser at Bing, said in June 2016.
The Bing ban covers all U.S. unsecured loans with yearly portion prices of 36% or more, a category that features both pay day loans and installment that is high-cost. Unsecured loans that want payment in complete in 60 times or less will also be susceptible to the ban.
вЂњFor payday loan providers, focusing on the susceptible just isn’t any sort of accident, it is a small business strategy,вЂќ Alvaro Bedoya, executive manager associated with the focus on Privacy & tech at Georgetown Law class, stated whenever Bing announced its policy. вЂњToday, the worldвЂ™s biggest internet search engine says, вЂWe want no component in this.вЂ™ вЂќ


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Most tech companies go public so their early investors and management can cash-out. But some have other things in mind, and Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA) appears to be one of those. Zynga's IPO gives it currency with which to make acquisitions, and offers a way to tap more capital as it seeks to transform itself.
Zynga's plan (and it has been transparent on this for months) is to make itself independent of Facebook by creating its own Z-Cloud and making Zynga.com a destination site for games. Rather than just being a games company, in other words, Zynga plans to be a game cloud, selling cloud services as well as games.
The Z-Cloud, in turn, may be the biggest win for Citrix (NASDAQ:CTXS) in quite some time, and by consequence a big loss for Amazon.Com (NASDAQ:AMZN). Zynga has been Amazon's largest customer, bringing in a reported $100 million/year.
Citrix produces the Xen Hypervisor and a cloud system called Cloudstack. It has been touring Zynga as a reference customer for months, and the recent announcement lets it talk about the relationship in detail. This could bring it more customers who have feared that Xen was being overtaken by KVM or that Cloudstack might be losing out to stacks from VMWare (NYSE:VMW), Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) and the open source Open Stack, originally sponsored by Rackspace (NYSE:RAX).
The Zynga relationship is strong enough; Citrix was able to raise its guidance in January. If earnings meet that guidance of $2.50/share for fiscal 2012, it would yield a P/E of about 30, much lower than its cloud rivals, and a platform on which to build share gains.
As for Zynga, the new platform makes the stock much riskier than before, but also holds out the promise of greater reward. A hiccup in its Z-cloud would be a lot more serious than Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) February 29 problem with Azure, given its strategic importance. But should the Z-cloud succeed, the company would have lower expenses, fatter margins, and the ability to compete with other public clouds, giving it enormous growth potential.
For Amazon, the news is bearish. Zynga is a customer that will be hard to replace. On the other hand, the growing competition among public clouds will in time put a premium on lower-cost infrastructure, and since Amazon has been in this business a long time, it could perform well on that basis.
The loss of Zynga's lead game designer and general market conditions should put some short-term downward pressure on the stock, but these moves are strategic. If you believe in them, the move down is a buying opportunity.


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OSHKOSH (NBC 26) -- They are some of Northeast Wisconsin's biggest tourist draws and a summer staple for the Oshkosh business community.
EAA Airventure, along with Country and Rock USA, bring in thousands of visitors and tens of millions of dollars to the area's economy. This year, they've all been canceled. Tourism leaders said there's no way to fully recover in one summer.
“The loss of those events is devastating, there’s no getting around that, but we do have to get through it," Oshkosh Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Amy Albright said. “Oshkosh has been Wisconsin’s event city, and right now that’s probably not the best tag line to have during a pandemic.”
Instead, the visitors bureau has turned its focus to what people can do.
“Our messaging has really been make time," Albright said. "Whether it’s make time to play, whether it’s make time to get outside, make time to relax.”
Albright said the city has great waterfronts and trails, a zoo, and a bustling farmers market. Those are the types of things to do and places to go that the visitors bureau hopes to highlight this summer.
“The farmers market has definitely taken a new place in the community," farmers market manager Michelle Schmid-Shultz said. "It’s always been a crown jewel for Oshkosh, but this year it’s actually taken a leadership role.”
Schmid-Shultz said the market brings a lot of people downtown, and businesses are able to take advantage of that. She said some places have started opening early to try to capitalize on the crowds and bring people in to shop or eat.
Still, some businesses won't have the same chances to recover from the day trips that tourism leaders are hoping to promote. Hotels and home rentals could be particularly impacted by the loss of major events. Tourism leaders hope people with plans to attend 2020 events can carry those plans into 2021.
In the meantime, businesses are encouraged to find help. The Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program is still accepting applications, and the state's We're All In small business grant program will give $2,500 to up to 30,000 businesses.


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The future is here.
Survival-horror fans rejoice.
The best look yet at the follow-up to 2013′s ‘Tomb Raider’ reboot.
Konami shows off Hideo Kojima’s final ‘Metal Gear’ game for the company.
The popular anime series is coming to Sony consoles next year.
Take-Two Interactive reveals the latest installment of ‘Mafia.’
Bungie will celebrate the one-year anniversary of the original FPS with ‘The Taken King.’
Just take our money, already.
Square Enix took to Gamescom 2015 to set the stage for the events of ‘Final Fantasy XV.’
The battle for humanity wages on.


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Last Updated: September 12th, 2012
At the beginning of August, we heard about a Samsung device heading for T-Mobile that was then called the Galaxy S Blaze Q. The name later changed to Galaxy S Relay 4G, and now it's official.
T-Mobile just announced this QWERTY-packing handset for its HSPA+ 42 network, and it appears to be a fairly solid mid-range device:
- 4" Super AMOLED display
- 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor
- 5MP rear shooter, 1.3MP front camera
- slide-out QWERTY
- SAFE (Samsung Approved for Enterprise)
- Android 4.0
Neither pricing nor availability is available at this time, only that it will be available online and at T-Mobile retail locations "in the coming weeks."
Update: T-Mo just released official pricing and availability.


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Channel consolidation has stepped up and leading resellers are worried about pricing and procurement costs.
The latest CONTEXT ChannelWatch Survey, which profiles the views, activities and intentions of 7,500 global resellers, revealed that over 30 major distributor M&A deals have taken place in Western Europe in the past 18 months.
Across 20 EMEA countries there was a three percent year-on-year reduction of active resellers in the 90 day period in March to May 2017, according to CONTEXT’s Reseller Count Metrics tracking.
The report warns that if this carries on the reseller landscape will soon be unrecognisable.
The average number of distributors which resellers are buying from has also dropped from the five to 10 range in the last report period to just two to three this year, partly driven by the rise in purchases from retailers, according to CONTEXT.
Many more distributors have ceased trading altogether across the globe, while those that survive are being forced to move away from box-shifting towards holistic strategies focused on services and solutions.
Where margins used to reach double figures, half a percentage point now matters and this increases the importance of controlling costs, having well-oiled logistics, and looking for new, higher-margin opportunities, the report claims.
CONTEXT global managing director Adam Simon said that most consolidation has occurred in the long tail of smaller players and those in consumer channels, but larger resellers and retailers are merging too.
“This activity can also be viewed in the context of increasing reseller churn, especially associated with transitioning business models linked to cloud adoption.
“The main concerns of resellers are focused around rising pricing and procurement costs, which many believe will be the natural outcome of a consolidating market”, Simon added.


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March 29: Calcuttans flying to the US by Etihad Airways can carry laptops, tablets and other devices till the boarding gate in Abu Dhabi.
The airline has also announced that passengers in the first and business class will get iPads and enjoy Wi-fi connectivity on board the flight from Abu Dhabi. The services will be provided from April 2, the Gulf carrier has told tour operators.
The Donald Trump administration has banned carrying electronic devices such as laptops, tablets and e-book readers bigger than smart phones in cabin baggage on US-bound flights from several countries, including the UAE and Qatar.
Etihad sources said economy, business and first-class passengers were allowed to use electronic devices such as laptops and tablets till the boarding gate in Abu Dhabi, where they will have to be handed over to the airline staff for being carried as part of the registered luggage.
The passengers can retrieve their devices on reaching their destination in the US.
Earlier, the Emirates airline had announced that its passengers would be allowed to use laptops and other devices till they board their flights to the US.
Emirates customers travelling to the US via Dubai can carry the devices in their hand luggage on the first leg of the journey and also during transit in Dubai. After that the devices will have to be carried as part of registered luggage.
Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways together account for 600 seats daily out of Calcutta.
Between 25 and 30 per cent passengers are for the US and a similar number fly to Europe.
As for Wi-fi connectivity and iPads for first and business class passengers, a communication from Etihad to travel agents says: "To help your customers keep in touch with work, friends and family, we are offering first and business class guests free Wi-fi and iPads on all our US-bound flights from Abu Dhabi."
"Wi-fi vouchers will be provided by our cabin crew with the onboard welcome drink, providing free Wi-fi for the duration of the flight. In addition, we'll have iPads available for those that need them. Power and USB sockets at every seat will help keep devices charged."


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Among the individual components, education costs were down 13.0 percent on year, while furniture was down 3.5 percent, housing was down 0.5 percent and recreation was down 0.4 percent. Moving higher were prices for fuel, up 2.1 percent on year, while communications equipment was up 0.7 percent and food was up 0.5 percent.
On month, clothing prices were down 1.3 percent, while furniture prices were down 0.3 percent and recreation prices were flat. Moving higher were prices for fuel prices, up 0.3 percent, while communications equipment and education costs each added 0.1 percent.
Overall consumer prices in Tokyo - considered a leading indicator for the nationwide trend - declined 0.3 percent on year in March.


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Ubisoft announced that it sold more copies of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla in the first week of sales than any other Assassin’s Creed game during the same period. Without ever revealing precise figures, the company speaks of “record sales at the Ubisoft Store” in a press release.
The French publisher guarantees that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has achieved the best release in the history of the series, in particular thanks to the arrival of the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft, but also thanks to the PC which has also broken records. Obviously, the number of active players has doubled compared to the previous episode, which took place in ancient Greece. Out of curiosity, players have traveled over 4 million km and constructed over 55 million buildings in their colony.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a hit game
“We are extremely excited by the enthusiastic welcome from the players and we would like to thank them for their incredible support. Developing this game in the current sanitary conditions has been a real tour de force for our teams and it is very gratifying to see the players appreciate it so much ”, declared Julien Laferrière, producer of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. “But this is only the beginning, as we are planning a lot of new content for the game that will allow players to continue their journey into the heart of the Viking Age in a sustainable way.”
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Founder of Noticias e Tecnologia, and this is his second online project, after several years connected to a portal focused on the Android system, of which he was also one of its founders.
IT professional and passionate about new technologies, mechanical sports and mountain biking.


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Earlier this month, the Bank of England's (the Bank) monetary policy committee (MPC) voted unanimously to inject £75 billion of new money into the economy in a second round of quantitative easing (QE). The decision came in response to global economic slowdown, the deepening crisis in the eurozone, and fears that the UK could lapse back into another recession. The programme, known as QE2, is intended to stimulate the domestic economy by increasing the amount of money in the banking system, and thereby easing the flow of credit and boosting spending. It follows a dose of £200 billion of QE pumped into the economy between March 2009 and January 2010, which lifted output by 1.5 - 2 per cent.
When the Governor of the Bank, Sir Mervyn King, announced QE2 on October 6, the markets responded positively and the FTSE 100 gained 3.9 per cent, yet the value of the pound fell to a 14-month low and inflation threatened to surge to an all-time high, leaving many people questioning whether QE2 will be able to buoy the economy.
QE is the practice of supplying the economy with extra money to stimulate demand. The Bank creates new money electronically, which is used to purchase government bonds from private financial institutions, including high street banks, insurance companies and pension funds. This step encourages the sellers of government bonds to invest the money they receive from the Bank in riskier financial assets, such as corporate shares and bonds. They can also finance new loans to customers against the increased funding, which boosts cash and credit flow in the economy. The increased demand for bonds from the Bank also pushes interest rates down for business and consumer borrowers. As a result, money flows more easily and cheaply throughout all levels of the economy, which increases confidence and stimulates economic growth.
Mo money mo problems
QE is employed only as an emergency measure because the increase of cash in the economy causes inflation to rise, which devalues savings and pension funds in real terms, and therefore depletes people's spending power. But, according to the Bank, QE2 is justified because there's a shortage of money in the system. And although annual inflation rose to 5.2 per cent in September, the MPC predicts it will fall sharply in the new year, and could even dip below the Bank's two per cent target.
Even though QE has helped the British economy in the past, printing money weakens the value of sterling, which can upset the market by making British exports cheaper, and imports more expensive. There's also a risk that the money injected into the banking system through QE will be channelled into emerging markets, where returns tend to be higher, rather than being invested in domestic assets and lending to British companies. To bridge the gap, Chancellor George Osborne has proposed a policy of "credit easing", in which the Treasury will purchase small companies' corporate bonds to inject funding into struggling businesses.
Three strikes and you're out?
At the most, QE2 is predicted to boost the economy by 0.75 per cent, which the British Chamber of Commerce warns is unlikely to be enough to prevent a double-dip recession. This thought was echoed by Sir Mervyn King, when he commented that the present situation could be the worst financial crisis in history, and by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, which estimates that GDP will remain at a virtual standstill throughout 2012. With the interest rate already set at a historic low of 0.5 per cent, the Bank is reportedly already looking ahead to the possibility of launching QE3 in early 2012, and subsequent rounds of money printing that could push their total injections of cash to keep the British economy afloat up to £400 billion.


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European sales of cars powered by alternative energy sources rose 39 percent last year as Toyota Motor Corp. pushed hybrid models and Renault SA extended the driving range on the latest version of its all-electric Zoe.
Customers bought 953,355 autos that run on systems including batteries, electric-gasoline or -diesel motors, fuel cells or natural gas in 2017, the Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, or ACEA, said Thursday in a statement.
Combined demand for full hybrid cars, which can operate on either conventional fuel or self-charged battery power, and so-called mild hybrids, which use an electric motor to help the combustion engine run more efficiently, surged 52 percent. Sales of all-electric models jumped 49 percent.
The growth far outpaced the European car market's 3.3 percent gain last year, suggesting consumers are warming to the models added by Toyota, Renault and competitors. Still, the alternative systems powered only 6.1 percent of the 15.6 million autos sold across the region last year, an increase from 4.5 percent in 2016. Battery-powered cars had a 0.9 percent market share in 2017.
European Union regulators are requiring the auto industry to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions from vehicle exhausts to limit greenhouse gases. Countries including Germany, the region's largest auto market, and Norway have policies in place to encourage purchases of battery-powered or hybrid models. Still, customers have been reluctant to buy all-electric autos because of concerns about how long battery recharging takes and the short distances the cars can travel compared with gasoline or diesel models.
Renault improved the Zoe's range on a full charge by 67 percent to 400 kilometers (250 miles). Competitors' all-electric models going on sale this year an auto from BMW AG's Mini city-car division and a sport utility vehicle from Volkswagen AG's luxury Audi nameplate.
Toyota has up to now focused on hybrid technology, and it said in January that sales of the models jumped 38 percent in Europe last year to account for 41 percent of its deliveries there. Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz brand outlined a strategy last year to continue developing plug-in hybrids while setting up a battery-powered product line.


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India’s garment exports may touch $60 billion in three years: AEPC
Apparel exports stood at $13 billion last fiscal. During April-October 2013, apparel exports have increased by 15.5 per cent year-on-year to $8.2 billion.
Export in dollar terms for April-Oct. of the FY 2013-14 has increased by 15.5 per cent over the same period of previous FY and reached to $8259 million however, in rupee terms exports increased by 26.18 per cent compared to same period of last FY.
Sakthivel identified shortfall of labour to be the biggest bottlenecks to the garment industry. He said “We are getting good orders and have won the confidence of buyers. As a brand India we are recognized everywhere but challenge is translating that leverage into the world textiles global hub We are looking for skilled people in large number to meet them. Definitely India will be number one in garment export".


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Dunkin' has a special treat for members of its rewards program.
In a press release, the company announced that it was launching Free Doughnut Wednesdays, and if you are a DD Perks member, you can receive a free doughnut with the purchase of a drink.
“We know people are craving some fun and excitement to break up the week," said Joanna Bonder, Director, Loyalty Marketing and Strategy at Dunkin’, in the news release. "With Free Donut Wednesdays, we’re excited to give our DD Perks members a free sweet treat to help beat the midweek slump and keep them running with a smile."
The promotion starts nationwide Wednesday and runs through April 21.


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April showers bring May flowers and strange news of the weird to car washes around the country. That’s how the saying goes, right? Here’s your monthly dose.
Mashable reports that a group of grown men, who moonlight as radio DJs in Australia, decided to do a bit of a strange stunt for a commercial of sorts recently. The men sold all of their bit coin to buy an old convertible. Then they did the unthinkable with it: drove it through the car wash with the top down. The video is as funny as it sounds and these men give you a few laughs at their own expense. Check it out.
And a car wash in Brownsville, Texas is closing its doors after the owners decided to retire. Magic Time Car Wash sold auto parts and was known around town for its various artifacts from car washes back in the day. They sold everything standard like windshield wipers and air fresheners but they also had quirky signs to hang on you vehicle and a lot of gag gifts. The owners were in business for 30 years and replaced an old arcade. The building will be demolished within a couple of months to make way for a new shopping plaza.
Plus a woman wrote into her local paper in New York to point out a funny discrepancy between the cleaning standards some men subscribe to. “What is it with some men? They can leave dishes in the sink for days, the garbage has to be overflowing before they take it out — but no matter what, when Saturday comes, off they go to take their place in line at the car wash.”


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China: Growth hits record high in annual terms in Q1, although underlying momentum eases
GDP growth accelerated to 18.3% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021 from 6.5% in the fourth quarter of last year, marking the strongest reading on record.
The annual print was supported by surging retail sales—which benefited from improved consumer confidence—as well as sharp rises in industrial production, investment and exports amid strong demand abroad. Moreover, agricultural production was boosted by a recovery in pig numbers as farmers continued to rebuild their herds following the outbreak of African swine fever in 2018–19. However, the first quarter’s reading was heavily skewed by a favorable base effect, given that the economy contracted sharply in Q1 last year.
On a seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, economic growth lost momentum, coming in at 0.6% in Q1, down from 3.2% in the previous period. Q1’s reading marked the worst since Q1 2020, with activity held back in the early part of this year by an uptick in Covid-19 cases, which led to localized restrictions.
Looking ahead, annual growth rates should moderate sharply from Q2 onwards as the base effect becomes less favorable, although the economy will remain on the path to recovery.
On the outlook, Iris Pang, chief China economist at ING, stated:
“The high GDP growth in 1Q21 will not persist over the rest of the year. Most quarters should experience moderate growth because without base effects to swell the comparison, “super-high” growth will be very hard to repeat. Quarter on quarter growth rates should continue to stabilise between 1% to 2%. Domestic consumption will continue to be the stabiliser of the economy, and digital infrastructure investment will be the backbone of future growth.”


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WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — If you were looking to get a head start on your holiday shopping, there was a holiday craft show Saturday in Luzerne County.
The show started on Saturday from 11 to 5 and continues Sunday from 12 to 5.
Shoppers were able to find something for everyone with handmade jewelry, soaps, and even locally made chocolate.
The event was hosted in the old Sears store in the Wyoming Valley Mall.
For more information and a full list of vendors, check out the event page on Facebook.


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If you refuse delivery or the carrier returns a package because you provided an invalid address, the cost of return shipping will be deducted from your refund. 4 53111 Bonn, Germany, who are EEA Authorised and registered in the UK with the FCA, their registration number is 473510. ::: Click Here To Get Your Password Now ::: More Free Demo Games The actual Meandering Added: February 21, 2016 Miracle Book four: Hallowe.
Boris Johnson will be answering your questions on whatever topic you want on the first Tuesday of every month. , via Wikimedia Commons)Much digital ink has been spread about how Republicans created Donald Trump and now are paying the price for it. There's no getting away from a lot of this new gen of Tokyo fashion designers as being sublimely affected by Tokyo streetstyle culture.
??Read More Jun15 Animals Roam Streets Of Tbilisi After Flooding Kills 12, Frees Zoo Animals Posted By Alejandra Cantu on Jun 15, 2015 CNN Wild animals roamed the streets of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, on Sunday, after raging floodwaters damaged the city's zoo and set many of the animals free. A show like this summons the urgent need to get back in the studio post haste, that strange feeling of simultaneously wanting to stay and soak it up and get your butt out of there, back into the studio and get to work. From cardiovascular examination, to cranial nerves, to blood pressure and using a vascular doppler probe, we show you how to do it well.


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Ferrari to celebrate 60 years in the US with special edition. Ferrari celebrating 60 years in style at a special event in California.
As the Italian high-end automaker Ferrari celebrates its sixtieth year in the United States, the luxury automotive house appeals to its most endearing fans, collectors and owners with the “Race Through The Decades: 1954-2014.″ The event celebrates 60 Years of Ferrari in the USA with a public display of 60 of the most storied and spectacular Ferraris ever assembled, and anunprecedented gathering of Ferrari Club of America cars into Beverly Hills on Sunday, October 12th.
The activities include an arrival parade of spectacular Ferraris, led by Ferrari Chairman, the world premiere of a new Ferrari vehicle, first-ever award presented by the City of Beverly Hills.
Fabulous Ferraris include Testarossas, 250 GTOs, the Ferrari 308 GTS from Magnum, P.I. and the Testarossa from Miami Vice, Steve McQueen’s Ferrari 275 GTB/4, and the 1954 Ferrari 375 MM – this year’s Best in Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
Ferrari “unique experiences” include a 360 virtual tour of Museo Ferrari, and a Tailor Made village comprised of Ferrari’s global partners.
“Beverly Hills is proud to help celebrate 60years of Ferrari in America by hosting this world-class event,” said Lili Bosse, Mayor of Beverly Hills. “We invite all of our City’s residents and visitors to join us for the exciting RACE THROUGH THE DECADES: 1954-2014 exhibition.”


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PORT ARANSAS, Texas — Tourism is a big part of South Texas' economy, but the tourism industry has been especially hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s especially true in Port Aransas, where business owners want to be heard.
Most years, Port Aransas would be coming off another successful Sandfest. But city leaders shut down Port A’s tourism industry after Governor Greg Abbott’s stay at home orders in response to the coronavirus. Business owners don’t know how long they’ll last.
“We were just destroyed less than 1,000 days ago, but here we are, in our fourth week without any income at all,” said Jay Honeck.
Honeck and his wife Mary own Amelia’s Landing, an aviation themed hotel. They survived Hurricane Harvey, but the governor’s orders closed their hotel and others to anyone but essential workers. Their only guests these days are a couple leftover ‘Winter Texans’.
“That was money collected a long time ago,” said Honeck. “It’s been a bleak month.”
Honeck started an online petition to reopen Port A. So far, it has more than 500 signatures. He’s also planning what he calls a “friendly” protest Tuesday.
“We just drive around town, we’ve got signs, maybe beep a couple horns, and end up a city hall to let the politicians know what they’ve done to us,” said Honeck.
Port Aransas Mayor Charles Bujan, a small business owner himself, is sympathetic.
“I understand exactly where we are at as small business owners,” said Bujan.
Bujan says he respects Honeck’s right to protest, but with the exception of restrictions on beach access and a ban on short-term rentals, the city is following the state’s lead. He’s also in favor of reopening the city safely.
“I’d love to open everything up, believe me, because I know our folks are hurting,” said Bujan. “The only way that can be done is by the governor.”
Last week, Governor Abbott laid out his plans to “Reopen Texas”. Announcements for the next round of openings are expected next week. Honeck hopes the tourism industry gets good news.
“The city, the whole island is dying, there has to be a middle ground,” said Honeck. “We have to find a middle ground where we can all be safe and employed.”
Tuesday’s protest is set to start here at Amelia’s Landing at 1 p.m., anyone wishing to join should meet around 12:45. Again, Honeck stresses he wants this protest to be a friendly one.


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Swiss town Zug to accept bitcoin payments for government services
The Swiss town of Zug has decided to accept the cryptocurrency bitcoin as payment for government services on a trial basis.
The city in a statement said that payments will go live on 1st July and run through the rest of the year.
During the trial period, the town’s residents will be permitted to use up to CHF200 worth of bitcoin for various public services.
The town council added that it will analyse the benefits and costs of the programme after the trial period expires, and will then determine whether the programme should continue.
Created in 2008, bitcoin is a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.


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Take Two has announced that 2K, the new golden boy of its publishing group, is forming a brand new publishing label called 2k Play, and it's aimed at kids. The new label will kick off its portfolio with a couple of games based on Nickelodeon properties – Dora the Explorer
and Go, Diego, Go!
"The 2K Play label targets the growing market of casual gamers interested in accessible, high-quality products", said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. "It will be home to games that are fun and engaging for players of varied skill types and ages. Our exciting initiative with Nick Jr will offer a host of games featuring world-famous brands that appeal to the family-friendly gamer."
If the facts Take Two is throwing around are anything to go by, getting Nickelodeon on board should indeed appeal to the “family-friendly gamer”. According to Nielsen, which monitors media audiences, Dora the Explorer
and Go, Diego, Go!
are apparently the two top-ranked TV shows for kids between two and five in the U.S.
"We welcome our new partnership with 2K Play", said Shaul Olmert, vice president/Digital Media products for Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group. "This is the first time Go, Diego, Go!
is coming to handheld and console systems and will mark Dora the Explorer
's debut on the popular Nintendo DS system. We are excited to welcome 2K Play into our growing family of innovative digital products."
The move is something of a leap for a company famed for its controversial games. If Take Two's not careful, Jack Thompson might not even bother acting as the Hand of God to topple the publishing giant. SPOnG just hopes that our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and his new mate Tanya Byron
are paying attention as they set about investigating our filthy, evil, naughty industry.
2K, meanwhile, is going from strength to strength. Once the poor cousin of Rockstar, 2K's currently having a strong run commercially and critically as well as building hype with the likes of BioShock
, The Darkness
and the recently announced Borderlands


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Tue, Jul 31, 2018 – 6:24 PM
CATALIST-LISTED e-commerce player Y Ventures Group has launched an initial coin offering (ICO) through its subsidiary, Luminore 8, making it the first Singapore-listed company to do so, with the new AORA Coin cryptocurrency envisioned for use in e-commerce transactions.
Y Ventures hopes to raise US$50 million through the proposed ICO, subject to a minimum of US$20 million, with the proceeds to be used for the development of its AORA e-commerce platform.
The ICO begins on July 31 and ends on Nov 30, with the tokens priced at 20 US cents apiece and payment accepted in US dollars, Singapore dollars, or the cryptocurrencies Ethereum and Bitcoin. The AORA Coin is a utility token built on the Ethereum network, with a total supply of 625 million tokens minted and a total supply of 250 million saleable tokens.
All participants in the ICO will have to go through Know-Your-Customer and anti-money laundering processes, said Y Ventures in an announcement on Tuesday after the market closed. Luminore has engaged EBS Capital Partners as the lead manager and coordinator for the ICO.
Early adopters of the AORA Coin will gain access to additional benefits and features on AORA, Luminore’s upcoming blockchain-enabled global buying platform which will allow consumers to buy from any online store using cryptocurrencies. Luminore chief executive officer Cedric Choy said the company is “the first to develop, from ground up, a hybrid e-commerce platform augmented with blockchain technology that accepts both crypto and fiat currency”.
Developed in partnership with SingPost, AORA is expected to be launched in the first half of 2019. Its blockchain payment gateway AORA Pay could help merchants save up to 8 per cent on fees, said Y Ventures.
Said Y Ventures chief executive officer Alex Low: “AORA signals our optimism in the growth potential of the e-commerce industry and will be a new growth pillar for the group.”
Y Ventures shares closed unchanged on Tuesday at 49.5 Singapore cents before the ICO announcement.


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How We Present
Indonesia Sept trade improves, Oct PMI at record
by Rieka Rahadiana and Neil Chatterjee
Reuters Translate This Article
1 November 2012
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's trade picture improved more than forecast in September and manufacturing grew strongly in October, signaling a recovery from weak exports that have weighed on Southeast Asia's largest economy in recent months.
Inflation also climbed in October but remained within Bank Indonesia's target range, leading economists to expect the central bank to keep interest rates at a record low into 2013 to help support the domestic demand that is the economy's mainstay.
On top of showing Indonesia is gaining some traction, the data reinforced a trend seen across Asia, where big economies are slowly picking up after a year battling global headwinds. Business surveys on Thursday showed an improving factory sector in China, Indonesia's top trade partner.
'Good data as a whole, especially the fact that Indonesian import growth has returned back to positive territory. The fact that the trade balance has recorded another surplus is also encouraging,' said Gundy Cahyadi, economist at OCBC.
Indonesia's exports still fell 9.35 percent in September from a year ago, the sixth month in a row in which they were lower than a year earlier. This was better than a forecast 14.7 percent drop and August's 24 percent slump, as exports of metal ores and palm oil jumped.
Exports look likely to pick up further, after Indonesia's HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose in October to 51.9, the highest level since HSBC started the survey in 2011, though economists said a full recovery was likely to be slow.
'Export growth continues to indicate that the economy remains weighed by lower global demand, relatively low commodity prices and high base effects. We look for export growth to gain ... only towards the second half of 2013,' Cahyadi said.
Indonesia's imports in September rose 1.2 percent, better than a forecast for a 5.3 percent drop. August saw a surprise 8 percent fall, the first year-on-year fall for a month since November 2009, leading to concerns that domestic demand could be slowing.
Other indicators for domestic consumption, which makes up around 55 percent of GDP, have remained strong. Retail sales rose 11 percent in August from a year earlier, and consumer confidence grew in September.
Indonesia reports third quarter GDP data on Nov. 5. In the second quarter, it grew 6.4 percent from a year earlier.
Radhika Rao of Forecast Web in Singapore said 'Certainly the better-than-consensus exports and imports does bode well for Q3 growth numbers out early next week.'
TRADE BALANCE IMPROVES
September saw a trade surplus of $550 million, compared with August's $250 million. Between April and July, Indonesia reported four consecutive trade deficits, hitting the rupiah, Asia's worst-performing currency this year.
The rupiah was little changed after the trade data at 9,628 per U.S. dollar, having dropped 0.2 percent earlier on Thursday, to take losses for the year to 5.8 percent.
In a statement last month, Bank Indonesia said it expected a balance-of-payment surplus in the third quarter supported by improving current accounts and a bigger surplus in capital and financial transactions.
It estimates inflation could be lower than 4.6 percent for the full year, within its target range of 3.5-5.5 percent. The country's annual inflation in October was 4.61 percent, compared with a poll forecast of 4.57 percent.
The weaker currency means Indonesia is unlikely to take advantage of the mild inflation to cut interest rates further. Most economists expect Bank Indonesia to leave the benchmark rate at a record low at its meeting on Nov. 8.
Rao of Forecast Web said that with rate-cuts 'completely out the picture', the central bank's only option is to later lift rates with the timing in sync with reductions in global and improving trade numbers.
Robert Prior-Wandesforde, economist at Credit Suisse, said he believes the central bank 'will eventually be forced to tighten policy reasonably aggressively to protect the rupiah from the consequences of a deteriorating external deficit.'
(Additional reporting by Adriana Nina Kusuma and Andjarsari Paramaditha; Editing by Richard Borsuk)
© Copyright 2012 Reuters
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Just how many snacks do Americans eat watching the Superbowl? SNAC International, the international trade association for the snack industry, looked into this and figured out how many snacks Americans purchased for the Super Bowl
The Good Crisp Company, a brand of guilt free stacked chips, announced the closing of a new round of financing from CircleUp Growth Partners, a leading venture fund for innovative early-stage consumer brands.
In cooperation with Olde York Potato Chips, ALDI has voluntarily recalled 96 cases of Clancy’s Wavy Potato Chips from limited stores as a precautionary measure due to the potential presence of milk resulting from product mislabeling.
Walkers is launching the first nationwide recycling scheme for potato chips bags, locally known as crisp packets. Working with recyclers, TerraCycle, the scheme will tap into an established network of recycling collection points around the UK.


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05/26/2016 As the opening day of SEMICON West (July 12-14) approaches, the electronics manufacturing industry is experiencing disruptive changes, making “business as usual” a thing of the past. To help technical and business professionals navigate this fast-changing landscape, SEMICON West programming has been upgraded extensively.
05/24/2016 North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.59 billion in orders worldwide in April 2016 (three-month average basis) and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.10.
05/18/2016 For the first time, scientists at IBM Research have demonstrated reliably storing 3 bits of data per cell using a relatively new memory technology known as phase-change memory (PCM).
05/12/2016 Qualcomm, Micron, and SK Hynix registered ≥25% drops, with total top-20 sales off by 6%.
05/11/2016 EV Group (EVG) announced that it has received multiple orders for its GEMINI FB XT automated fusion wafer bonders from multiple leading device manufacturers.
05/11/2016 Reflects strong demand for eWLB in mobile market with accelerating adoption in Internet of Things, wearables, MEMS and automotive applications.
05/06/2016 Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. and Deca Technologies, a subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor Corp., announced the signing of an agreement whereby ASE will invest $60 million in Deca and will license Deca's M-Series Fan-out Wafer-Level Packaging (FOWLP) technologies and processes.
05/06/2016 The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) this week announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $26.1 billion for the month of March 2016, a slight increase of 0.3 percent compared to the previous month's total of $26.0 billion.
05/02/2016 According to the latest research study released by Technavio, the global semiconductor stepper system market is expected to reach over USD 6 billion by 2020.
04/29/2016 The world’s leading lithographers gather each year in San Jose, California at SPIE’s Advanced Lithography conference to discuss how to extend optical lithography. So of all the NGL technologies, which will win out in the end?
04/14/2016 To overcome the current market and technology constraints taking place today within the semiconductor industry, new advanced packaging technologies have been developed by industrial companies.
04/06/2016 Worldwide semiconductor wafer-level manufacturing equipment revenue totaled $33.6 billion in 2015, a 1 percent decline from 2014, according to final results by Gartner, Inc.
03/29/2016 Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) announced that Devan Iyer has been elected vice president of the company.
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HONG KONG—A shift into high-end products paid off for personal-computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd. 0992.HK -1.06% Lenovo Group Ltd. Hong Kong $9.35 -0.10 -1.06% Dec. 12, 2013 1:22 pm Volume : 13.69M P/E Ratio 17.20 Market Cap $98.71 Billion Dividend Yield 1.28% Rev. per Employee $7,916,670 11/20/13 Q&A: China's Coolpad Targets G... 11/14/13 Lenovo Vaults to Third In Smar... 11/14/13 Lenovo Vaults to Third In Smar... More quote details and news » , which beat declining PC sales with a 23% increase in its fiscal-first-quarter profit.
The Chinese company's solid results come at a time when the industry is grappling with plummeting sales of desktop and laptop PCs. Tablet computers and smartphones are satisfying more of consumers' computing needs, while the sluggish global economy is keeping corporate customers from replacing their office PCs.
Lenovo, which acquired International Business Machines Corp.'s IBM -1.08% International Business Machines Corp. U.S.: NYSE $175.20 -1.92 -1.08% Dec. 11, 2013 4:03 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 3.99M AFTER HOURS $175.20 0.00 0.00% Dec. 11, 2013 7:58 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): P/E Ratio 12.05 Market Cap $192.33 Billion Dividend Yield 2.17% Rev. per Employee $233,407 12/06/13 Supreme Court to Weigh Whether... 12/06/13 IBM Takes Controlling Stake in... 12/06/13 Facebook Eyes Indian Startup L... More quote details and news » PC business in 2005, has been outperforming the PC industry for the past few years and gaining market share. A report from research firm IDC last month showed that Lenovo became the world's largest PC vendor in the quarter through June, unseating Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ -0.18% Hewlett-Packard Co. U.S.: NYSE $26.99 -0.05 -0.18% Dec. 11, 2013 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 15.65M AFTER HOURS $26.91 -0.08 -0.30% Dec. 11, 2013 7:51 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): P/E Ratio 10.18 Market Cap $51.97 Billion Dividend Yield 2.15% Rev. per Employee $338,451 12/10/13 Big Data Spots Endangered Spec... 12/10/13 Hewlett-Packard Says Largest I... 12/09/13 H-P Moves to Capture More of t... More quote details and news » , while industrywide PC shipments fell 12% from a year earlier.
"If you can't drive growth, you should pay more attention to margins," said Lenovo Chief Executive Yang Yuanqing during an interview after the company reported its earnings. Lenovo has been focusing on selling products that can generate higher margins, including tablet-laptop convertible products such as the IdeaPad Yoga and ThinkPad Helix, and that has helped it generate strong profits, Mr. Yang said.
Lenovo on Thursday posted a net profit of $173.9 million for the three months through June, up from $141.4 million for the same period a year earlier. It beat expectations for a profit of $167.1 million from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Revenue increased 9.7% to $8.79 billion from $8.01 billion, even though Lenovo's PC shipments, according to IDC, declined 1.4% to 12.6 million units.
Lenovo said its operating margin in China rose to 5.2% in the quarter from 4.6% a year earlier, more than making up for a margin decline in the North America and Latin America. China is Lenovo's largest market, accounting for 42% of the company's revenue.
"Lenovo is clearly being more careful about margins, and the numbers are solid," said Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Alberto Moel. Still, a further decline in PC demand could make it harder for Lenovo to squeeze out margins, he said.
Despite its strong performance, Lenovo faces the same challenges that the traditional PC industry does. To keep up with changing consumer needs, the company has been trying to expand its smartphone business.
Lenovo, which sells most of its handsets in China, said its world-wide smartphone shipments in the most recent quarter more than doubled from a year earlier. The company ranked as the world's fourth-largest smartphone vendor in the quarter with a 4.7% market share, up from 3.1% a year earlier, according to IDC. Lenovo is the second-largest smartphone vendor in China, behind Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE -1.48% Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. S. Korea: KRX KRW1399000 -21000 -1.48% Dec. 12, 2013 2:19 pm Volume : 196,488 P/E Ratio 7.16 Market Cap KRW234944.48 Billion Dividend Yield 0.07% Rev. per Employee KRW2,485,940,000 12/11/13 Seoul Court Rules Against Sams... 12/10/13 Samsung's Curved Phone Offered... 12/10/13 Samsung's Curved Phone Galaxy ... More quote details and news » of South Korea.
Despite its growth, the smartphone business isn't contributing much to Lenovo's group earnings yet. While smartphone gross margins are higher than those for PCs, the earnings are being offset by investment in marketing, sales channels and product development, according to Mr. Yang.
"We believe the business is still in the development phase," he said.
Earlier this week, BlackBerry Ltd. BB.T -0.47% BlackBerry Ltd. Canada: Toronto $6.29 -0.03 -0.47% Dec. 11, 2013 4:47 pm Volume : 3.07M P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $3.32 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $799,278 12/10/13 Can people with two houses hav... 12/10/13 Canada Stocks to Watch: BlackB... 12/09/13 BlackBerry Hits Fresh 10-Year ... More quote details and news » said its board had decided to explore strategic options, including an outright sale, joint ventures or strategic alliances. The decision has raised questions about whether other smartphone makers, such as Lenovo, might be interested in BlackBerry.
Mr. Yang declined to comment on any specific targets or deals. "We believe that the PC industry and the mobile-phone industry will continue to consolidate," he said. Even though Lenovo's smartphone business is already growing on its own, "if a target or deal is consistent with Lenovo's strategy, we would take the opportunity," he added.
—Paul Mozur in Beijing contributed to this article.
Write to Juro Osawa at email@example.com


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EIT Digital has awarded the 5 best European deep tech companies in last week’s finals of the EIT Digital Challenge scaleup contest 2020. The first prize went to Deepomatic from France. The other four winners are Icometrix (Belgium), SwipeGuide (Netherlands), Targomo (Germany), and Wishibam (France).
Augustin Marty, CEO and co-founder of the first prize winner, considers the award a huge recognition for his teamwork. He stated: “Our company is only five years old and being named by EIT Digital as the best deep tech startup in Europe is really meaningful at this moment – the beginning of our scaleup stage.”
In addition, a record number of 403 scaleups from 32 countries applied. This represented a 44% growth as compared to 2019. The EIT Digital Challenge targets European digital technology scaleups focused on the fast growth of their business in Europe and worldwide.
Almost 40% of applicants, and 3 out of 5 winners feature women as founders or C-level executives. This is a testament to EIT Digital’s efforts to support European female entrepreneurs. The 2020 laureates are the most mature prize winners in the 7-year history of the Challenge.
The 5 awarded companies will join the EIT Digital Accelerator that was recognized in 2019 as one of the five ‘World Top Public Business Accelerators’ and the programme with the best pan-European reach, as well as ‘Top 4 European Accelerator brand’ in the Startup Heatmap Europe report. Moreover, the first prize winner receives a cash prize of €100K.
5 flagship scaleups strengthening the digital future of Europe
The 20 finalists presented their innovative digital solutions to a jury composed of tech specialists, investors, and C-suite level executives of EU tech corporations. After a thorough analysis of the scaleups, their technology and market success, the jury selected the 5 winners.
- Deepomatic (FR) – a no-code visual automation platform to support field operations with computer vision applications
- Icometrix (BE) – helps effectively quantify brain abnormalities through AI-powered imaging solution
- SwipeGuide (NL) – Intelligent work instructions and procedures via augmented apps to improve productivity on the factory floor
- Targomo (DE) – Location intelligence solution to optimise retail networks, deliver better public services, and improve real estate searches
- Wishibam (FR) – Enables the creation of scalable marketplaces based on real-time store inventory
Interested in knowing more about the outstanding deep tech scaleups will compete in the final of the EIT Digital Challenge? Read the full article here.


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Young entreps launch grant facility to promote social impact in business
The Roots Collective, in partnership with Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF) and Forest Foundation Philippines (FFP), launched the Sibol (growth) Program Fund last October 2 in Taguig City to enable start-ups to develop and improve their enterprises that helps in increasing the income of local communities and protecting the environment.
This three-year special grant facility, which will run starting January 2020, aims to ensure sustainability of social enterprises through product enhancements, sales generation, income generation for partner communities, and increased of areas for environmental protection.
According to Jamir Ocampo, chief executive officer of Roots Collective, the Sibol Fund is essential in promoting marketability of products while sustaining the impact they bring to communities they support.
“Advocacy for entrepreneurs is not just about the message. It's about proving that this advocacy will work with products through market acceptance. It's also our capacity to generate our own resources to take on developmental initiatives,” he said.
"The future of social enterprises rest on the young people."
PEF Executive Director Roberto Calingo meanwhile noted that the youth sector is becoming the key players and influencers of the market and the need to engage them is vital to help poor communities.
“May pag-asa ang mga poor communities if we can combine their efforts with the efforts of the youth in looking at ways to improve the product, and ways to bring the product to the market,” he said.
Calingo added that PEF is looking forward to the expansion of the project to connect young social entrepreneurs for lasting impact to poor households and communities.
“Sana hindi ito one isolated success. My vision is that, someday, we can have the session in Visayas, Mindanao, and in key cities with a lot of linkages happening in the communities. Today is the first step towards that vision,” he said.
The youth as partner for environment conservation
To FFP Executive Director Atty. Jose Andres Canivel, the youth sector offers fresh ideas in resolving pressing problems that plague the environment.
“In this time of forest degradation and climate emergency, we need all of the innovation, we need all of the creativity, and we need all of the passion that young people can bring into our work.”
Atty. Canivel also stressed that young entrepreneurs have been an important partner in developing sustainable livelihood that promotes forest protection and conservation.
“We were looking for a way to link our partner communities to the market. That drew us into working with social entrepreneurs,” he said.
The launch of the Sibol Program Fund is a part of a week-long Roots Commune, an exhibit at Uptown Bonifacio Mall that showcases a wide array of ethically made products that highlights sustainability and local creativity.


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Cryptocurrency Shiba Inu came off record highs after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he didn’t own any of the digital coin.
Musk was asked on Twitter how much Shiba Inu he holds and replied “None.”
“Out of curiosity, I acquired some ascii hash strings called ‘Bitcoin, Ethereum & Doge’. That’s it,” the Tesla CEO said in a follow-up tweet.
“As I’ve said before, don’t bet the farm on crypto! True value is building products & providing services to your fellow human beings, not money in any form.”
Shiba Inu, known also as SHIB, has fallen over the past 24 hours by 1% to $0.00003849, according to CoinGecko. It reached an all-time high of $0.000044 on 24 October.
Dogecoin has risen about 7.6% over the past 24 hours.
Shiba Inu was listed on CoinGecko as the 11th-biggest cryptocurrency by market value. Its market cap is about $19.14 billion.
The cryptocurrency soared over the weekend following a push to get it listed in the Robinhood platform.
Write to Joe Woelfel at joseph.woelfel@bar
This article was published by Dow Jones Newswires
This news is republished from another source. You can check the original article here.


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Costa Rican livestock farmers last week formally requested a tax increase on imported beef, in a move perceived by many to be an effort to fend off anticipated large increases in South American beef imports.
The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recently declared cattle in the four-country “southern cone” of South America to be free of foot-and-mouth disease.
Therefore, the Costa Rican Livestock Promotion Corporation (CORFORGA) anticipates that these countries – Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Chile – will soon seek to export large amounts of beef to Costa Rica. Costa Rica law prohibits the importation of beef from countries where foot-andmouth disease is present.
In anticipation of the increase in beef imports, CORFORGA joined legislator Ronald Solís of the Citizen Action Party (PAC) in proposing a tax increase on imported beef. The proposal, which was sent to the Foreign Trade Ministry (COMEX), asks that the tax, which is now at 15 percent, be raised to 45 percent.
Currently, only Uruguay has a contract with CORFORGA to export beef to Costa Rica. According to CORFORGA, Costa Rica receives an estimated 20,000 kilos of beef from Uruguay each year.
In a statement issued last week, Erick Quirós, executive director of CORFORGA, Argentina, Brazil and Chile have yet to submit requests for permission to export beef to Costa Rica. However, Quirós said that, given the low cost of beef in these countries, it is “very possible” that Argentina, Brazil and Chile will soon look to export beef to Costa Rica.
According to CORFORGA, beef is sold for $1.20/kilo in Argentina, $1.50/kilo in Uruguay and $1.50/kilo in Chile. In Costa Rica, beef sold for $2.40/kilo in July.
For the proposed tax to pass, it would have to be approved by COMEX, the Economic Ministry and the Agriculture and Livestock Ministry. From there it would go to a Central American board for review and, if accepted, would go to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for final approval.


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By Erin Atack
A new cigarette replacement in the form of a hand gel recently hit U.S. markets and is expected to arrive in the summer, though experts say it may encourage smokers to keep the habit.
Nicogel is a clear gel similar to an anti-bacterial product such as Purell but contains nicotine extracted from tobacco plants. One 0.8mL serving is rubbed into your hands either from a pump dispenser or from a single-serving packet similar to a wet nap.
In about 45 seconds, the product claims to put a tenth of the nicotine that’s in one cigarette into your bloodstream. Scott Welch, U.S. head of strategic marketing for Nicogel, explains that a tenth of the nicotine is all that’s necessary because the remaining content found in a cigarette gets burned and doesn’t get into your bloodstream when you smoke.
With the gel, one serving should subdue a smoker’s craving for up to four hours. “We don’t advertise it as a stop-smoking product,” Welch says. “It’s for use when you cannot smoke.”
He says Nicogel is useful for people who can’t smoke in airplanes, offices, movie theatres and restaurants. Welch says the product’s purpose is to satisfy the smoker, without bothering others or polluting the environment. Ryerson’s health experts agree that a smoke-free environment is ideal.
“As long as a person is using this product to help them quit smoking – which I hope the main use of this is going to be – then I think the elimination of second-hand smoke is a good thing,” says Melissa Matton, head of Health Promotions at Ryerson. However, health experts disagree with the product’s projected effectiveness.
“There are many reasons why this is unlikely to work,” says Rachel Tyndale, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Toronto who also works at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
“It seems remarkably unlikely that you’ll get significant levels (of nicotine) through a skin-delivery system.” Tyndale adds that satisfying a cigarette craving is not just about the nicotine fix. There are other effects that smoking has on the body.
“The smell of tobacco is a reinforcing effect, the passage of smoke through the airways is also a reinforcing effect.”
She also said that she is not aware of any controlled trials of Nicogel. Stephanie Barnhill, assistant pharmacist at Shoppers Drug Mart, suggests another need that the gel wouldn’t satisfy.
“The big thing with smoking is hand-to-mouth habit. A lot of times people just do it to keep themselves busy.” She recommends a nicotine gum like Nicorette because it gives smokers something to do with their mouths.
However, she won’t pass judgment on Nicogel until she sees trial results. Carol Hively, spokesperson for Walgreen Co. – an American drugstore chain carrying Nicogel – says it’s too soon to tell how the product is doing.
“It’s just arriving at stores now…some stores don’t have it on the shelf yet,” she said in an e-mail. “(But) we anticipate customer demand.” First-year graphic communications management student Daniel Ly is skeptical of Nicogel.
“It’s not reasonable or practical. Whenever you crave a smoke you’re going to rub your hands with some gel?” Over two million packets have been sold so far in 30 countries, and Canada is about to become a part of that statistic.
Welch says Nicogel is in the process of getting approved by Health Canada and has “no doubt it’s going to pass.”


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By Rory Jones
An Egyptian Internet startup that offers an online alternative to paid newspaper obituaries is part of an emerging pan-Arab tech renaissance with incubators and startup funding spanning Cairo to Beirut and Abu Dhabi.
Cairo-based ElWafeyat.com, the name roughly translates from Arabic as “deaths,” is creating a social-network like website with pages, pictures and posts for family and friends to memorialize deceased loved ones. Last month, it received $100,000 in seed funding from U.S.-based 500 Startups and has joined the accelerator’s four-month program in Mountain View, Calif.
The startup targets death notices—hand written and hand delivered to a Cairo newspaper’s office—that sometimes cost up to $1,000. Nesma El-Far, one of the three 24-year-old co-founders of ElWafeyat, says they “aim to go global.”
Driven by high smartphone usage and the widespread popularity of Facebook, Twitter, and Google’s YouTube, young Arabs from Beirut to Dubai are setting up tech companies in a region choked with conflict and tight government control. Most entrepreneurs are copying ideas from the West and customizing them for the Arab market. But a small few are creating unique tech businesses to expand outside the Middle East—and U.S. investors are taking notice.
“People look at these markets like they are emerging,” says Dave McClure, the founder of 500 Startups who has invested about $1.5 million in 15 startups from the Arab world. “They have already emerged.”
A handful of early-stage companies—mainly in the e-commerce space—have raised more than $200 million in the past three years, including from New York-based investment firm Tiger Global Management, J.P. Morgan, London-based Blakeney Management, and Boston-based Summit Partners.
Instabeat, a startup based in Beirut’s trendy +961 co-working entrepreneur space, recently began shipping wearable technology for swimmers. It raised a total of $2 million from a combination of crowdfunding on Indiegogo Inc., local angel investors and venture capital, also referred to as “sharks”, and plans to start selling in U.S. retail stores before Christmas.
Hala Fadel, the chair of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Pan-Arab Enterprise Forum, helps run +961, and says there used to be very little interest from U.S. investors in the Arab world. “That’s now slowly changing,” says Ms. Fadel.
In the past three years, a startup accelerator in Cairo called Flat6Labs has helped more than 150 entrepreneurs. It is expanding across the Middle East with new offices in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
In April, Google is setting up its first tech hub for entrepreneurs in the region in Dubai with startup incubator Astrolabs. The hub will include a space for up to 80 entrepreneurs who can get flexible government licenses and visas. It will house a mobile development lab, coding cave and training group.
“It’s still early days for the region, but I see great potential from here,” says Bridgette Beam, who leads Google’s international initiatives with entrepreneurs.
Yet obstacles remain. Funding above $1 million is difficult to find, tech startups say. More than two-thirds of startups in the Arab world haven’t received follow-on cash, despite a significant increase in funding in recent years, according to a new study by Wamda Research Lab.
Local investors also aren’t funding startups in significant numbers, and those that are say the quality of entrepreneurs’ ideas needs to improve. Government red-tape and a lack of infrastructure are also stunting growth in some countries.
Hind Hobeika, Instabeat’s 26-year-old founder, says it is difficult to find talented staff to work in Beirut and bureaucracy in Lebanon wastes her time. “I’ll spend half a day at the bank just to pay salaries,” says Ms. Hobeika.
Still, some governments are slowly fueling the tech industry. Earlier this month, Dubai’s government said it would invest 4.5 billion U.A.E. dirhams ($1.23 billion) in building an “innovation” community of buildings, incubators and investment funds over the next 10 years. In Lebanon, the central bank has agreed to guarantee 75% of the funding by banks in startups through venture capital and seed funds.


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This is the new Aston Villa away kit 11/12, officially released by Villa and their kit partners Nike on June 23, 2011. The new Villa away kit 11/12 is a white and pale grey checkered creation from the Nike stable. Villa will be wearing this away kit in their league games away from Villa Park in the forthcoming 2011/12 season.
Genting Casinos, part of the Malaysian Genting Group, are the sponsors of the new Villa away shirt 11/12 as part of the sponsorship deal they signed with AVFC recently. The new away shirt has a claret collar and is paired with claret shorts with white trim. Genting replace FXPro as Villa kit sponsors. The pics of the strip match with the leaked photos that were circulating prior to the kit’s official release.
Striker Gabriel Agbonlahor and upcoming star Marc Albrighton are seen modelling the new Villa away strip 11/12 in the photos below. The kit has been made from recycled material and will not have the Genting logo on junior shirts due to gambling restrictions prevalent in the United Kingdom.