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Here’s Exactly How You Can Help Your Local Food Bank Right Now
In these uncertain times, your local food bank needs support more than ever.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought a lot of uncertainty to our homes and neighborhoods. As unemployment rises and most Americans are sheltering in place, some people don’t have access to basic necessities like food. We talked with Zuani Villarreal, director of communication at Feeding America, to see exactly how you can help in this difficult time.
Find our entire guide to sheltering in place.
What’s Happening at Food Banks?
“The pandemic is creating a perfect storm for food banks across the country. More people need food, yet less food is donated,” says Villarreal.
When shoppers stockpile staples at home, stores are unable to donate extra items to food banks. That’s a problem because retail food donations account for around 35% of the food distributed through Feeding America!
How Can You Help Your Local Food Bank?
“The most effective way for people to support food banks right now is through a financial donation,” says Villarreal.
Food banks can use your donation to fulfill their exact needs efficiently. Having access to funds allows the staff at food banks to rise to the occasion as needs and situations shift. For example, people may need food immediately but have a long-term need for home items like cleaning supplies and toilet paper.
During this time when the future is unclear, monetary donations prepare food banks to swiftly pivot to tackle needs in the community as they arise.
“Any donation—big or small—will support food banks across the country and help them secure the resources they need to serve the most vulnerable neighbors of their communities,” says Villarreal. “Whether it’s to the national fund or local food bank or pantry, people who donate will help their neighbors in need.”
What Are Other Ways to Support Your Local Food Bank?
Before collecting items to donate, it is best to reach out to your local food bank to see what they need. Feeding America has a registry that makes it easy to locate and contact the food bank closest to you.
Do not attempt to donate home cooked or baked goods, though. Food pantries can only accept items in their original packaging.
When browsing your pantry at home or making a shopping list, remember that food banks can accept unopened, non-perishable items, so skip the refrigerator and freezer aisles. Instead, check out this list of essential foods to donate—they’re always appreciated.
Food banks in some communities also need volunteers, especially as older volunteers choose to stay home. Contact your local food bank to see how you can volunteer—and don’t forget to be patient. The staff is thankful for your help, even if they aren’t able to respond right away.
Is It Safe to Donate or Volunteer at Food Banks?
“Donations packaged in cardboard boxes or plastic bags are safe. There is no evidence that food is associated with transmission of COVID-19,” says Villarreal. You can also ask about guidelines put in place at your community drop-off locations to make sure your donation is as safe as possible.
It’s also safe to volunteer at food banks as long as you follow the guidelines outlined by the CDC and Feeding America. “We first and foremost want volunteers to be safe and do everything they can to protect their health and that of the community,” says Villarreal.
How to Support Your Food Bank Without Donating
While local food banks desperately need help in the form of financial contributions and food, it’s understandable that not everyone can give at this time.
“We know not everyone can make a monetary donation, but people can also support their local food bank by raising awareness on social media and advocating for support at the federal level,” says Villarreal.
To stay up to date, support efforts nationwide and learn more about Feeding America’s response to this pandemic, visit feedingamerica.org/covid19.


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By Samuel Shen and Norihiko Shirouzu
SHANGHAI, Oct 31 (Reuters) - China's state-owned GAC Motorscored above average in a closely watched quality survey, ashome-grown brands narrowed the gap with the foreign marques thatdominate the world's biggest car market.
GAC Motor, which sells cars under its own brand Trumpchi,had 97 problems per 100 newly sold vehicles in a surveypublished on Thursday by market-research firm JD Power &Associates.
That was better than the average 119 problems and beatglobal names such as General Motors Co's Buick andChevrolet, Ford, Nissan and Honda.
A lower score indicates higher quality, with a score over100 showing multiple problems per vehicle.
Three other Chinese brands -- Venucia, Roewe and Luxgen, also performed better than the industry average, compared withnone last year when JD Power started ranking domestic brands inthe survey.
Venucia is a brand developed by a Chinese venture of Japan'sNissan Motor Co for the local market, while Roewe is a brandSAIC Motor Corp started with technologies thestate-owned Chinese carmaker purchased from Britain's Rover.
"Chinese domestic brands achieve tremendous improvement invehicle quality in 2013," Mei Songlin, J.D Power's China vicepresident said in a statement.
Chinese automakers including SAIC Motor Corp, GAC Motor andFAW Car Co Ltd have stepped up efforts to developtheir own brands using technologies and skills they have learnedor bought from foreign companies, which can only operate inChina through joint ventures.
But despite these efforts, foreign brands still grabbed thetop spots in the survey - Toyota's Lexus and Daimler's Mercedes-Benz tied for the highestquality, with 52 problems per 100 cars, followed by Subaru, madeby Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd, Volkswagen and BMW.
The survey, which was initiated 14 years ago, monitors howcars perform in the first two to six months of ownership byasking randomly selected buyers.
It measures the number of problems, such as design-relatedissues, defects and malfunctions that buyers identify, per 100vehicles.
- Consumer Discretionary

domain: news


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Almost two-thirds of chefs are concerned about how cross-contamination could damage their reputation on social media, according to a new “Coloring in the Lines of Food Safety” survey conducted by Rubbermaid Commercial Products (RCP).
While food safety has always been a top concern for chefs, 97 percent believe that Americans are more aware of food allergens and sensitivities today than in the past. This awareness coupled with the potential online impact of a negative review or fallout from a food related incident is a major concern for restaurants and chefs.
RCP selected a subset of American Culinary Federation member chefs to uncover their behaviors and attitudes towards food preparation and storage, and how they manage these challenges in their kitchens while trialing RCP’s Color-Coded Foodservice System. Key findings include:
- Food safety takes a large portion of their time on the job. Ninety-six percent of chefs say they spend a fair amount of their day making sure food is being handled and stored correctly in their kitchen.
- Customer demands have increased and almost three-in-five chefs find staying on top of food safety issues and regulations to be a top concern.
- Chefs want a solution that provides time savings and is up to par with food safety regulations so they can focus on the more appealing parts of their job. Four-in-five chefs said they felt more confident about food safety regulation compliance after using the RCP Color-Coded Foodservice System in their kitchen, and 95 percent agree they would recommend this product to other chefs.
Learn more about food safety at Catersource Conference and Tradeshow!


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by Lois Greisman, Associate Director, Division of Marketing Practices, FTC
Have you noticed lately that you're getting fewer robocalls? Yes, way too many calls are still coming, and we're fully engaged on that issue. But we're seeing some promising developments. Some recent FTC actions might just have something to do with that.


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Thursday, October 1, 2009
At Least One Part of the Economy is Growing: Cybercrime
The APWG (Anti-Phishing Working Group) released its latest Phishing Activity Trends Report and found that new records were being reached in a variety of areas, such as rogue anti-virus software, phishing websites and crimeware designed to target financial institutions' customers.
According to a release, the APWG H1, 2009 report found that the numbers of detected rogue anti-malware programs—fake security software that actually infects computers to animate assorted electronic crimes—grew 585 percent between January and the end of June 2009.
The number of unique phishing websites detected in June rose to 49,084, the highest since April, 2007's record of 55,643, and the second-highest recorded since APWG began reporting this measurement.
The number of hijacked brands also reached an all-time high of 310 in March and remained at an elevated level to the close of the half in June.
The APWG added a new metric to its Trends Report that measures proliferation of three categories of malevolent software: Crimeware (code designed to victimize financial institutions' customers); Data Stealing and Generic Trojans (designed to send information from the infected machine, control it, and open backdoors on it); and Other (commonly auto-replicating worms, dialers for telephone charge-back scams, etc.). This data was obtained from report contributor Websense.
This metric replaces counts of "Password-Stealing Malicious Code URLs" and "Password Stealing Malicious Code - Unique Applications" which, due to incongruent sources and counting methods became systematically unreliable.
According to Dan Hubbard, APWG Trends Report contributing analyst and Websense CTO, the growing complexity of these attacks is making it difficult for experts to distinguish between those attacks that are designed to steal banking credentials from customers.
"Due to evolution of attack sophistication, it is becoming increasingly difficult to separate and report on attacks that are specifically designed to steal customer banking information," Hubbard said in a statement. "Additionally, attacks that only look for credentials from popular social networking, web mail, and even gaming sites, can lead to attacks for banking theft and crimeware." Continue article (Finance Tech)


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New Delhi, 6 June: The sale of online and offline Delhi University admission forms crossed the two lakh mark by the fourth day of the admission process Thursday, a varsity statement said.
According to official data, a total 2,16,048 (online and offline) forms have been sold by the varsity so far.
Starting Monday, 57,577 students have registered online and made payments for the optical mark registration (OMR) forms.
Meanwhile, 13,864 offline forms were sold from 18 centres across Delhi.
A total of 32,460, 29,693 and 82,454 forms were sold respectively on the first, second and third day since the admission process began on 02nd June. It will end on 16th June.


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Hyundai Aura Launch, Images, Price in India Live Updates: The brand new Hyundai Aura will be launched in India today to take on rivals like the Maruti Suzuki Dzire, Honda Amaze and the Ford Aspire as a brand new sub-compact s
A whopping 26 vehicles will be displayed at the Tata Motors stand at the 2020 Auto Expo! Tata's BS6 emission compliant engines will begin hitting Indian streets from January 2020 starting with the Altroz hatchback.
The decade now comes to a close. So, we wanted to take a look back at all the events that took place during the decade that shocked the world, global trends and new technology that were the most talked about over the last 10


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Toshiba's been lagging in the race to raise storage capacity in solid-state drives, but has taken a step forward with its new 7.68TB ZD6000 SSD.
The Windows 10 Anniversary Update has many features that could make new hardware desirable.
The hardware and software to make iris scanning a key feature is now in place for smartphones and PCs.
Like the Galaxy S7, the Note 7 will ship in two versions: one with a Qualcomm Snapdragon, one with Exynos.
It took a while, but the hot Pokemon Go mobile game is now working on smartphones with Intel chips.
PC makers HP, Lenovo and Dell have stopped selling PCs with home editions of Windows 7. However, they are still selling PCs with Windows 7 Professional that can be upgraded to Windows 10 Pro for free.
Intel has stopped selling a smartphone developer kit with its RealSense 3D camera technology, in a setback to its plans in mobile augmented reality.
Microsoft will start enforcing a change in minimum hardware requirements for Windows 10 PCs and mobile devices, and expects hardware makers to comply.
After months of delays, Lenovo's first laptop with an OLED screen is now shipping, but it remains a question if the PC maker will come out with additional OLED model anytime soon.
If you want to play with an ARM-based server, you can now apply to gain access to one online through the Linaro Developer Cloud.
Intel seems to be developing a pair of augmented reality smart glasses, known as Remote EyeSight, and we may see them at the company's developer show next month.
Apple's decision to use the FirePro professional GPU in its Mac Pro line was a signature win for AMD; otherwise, it is getting crushed by Nvidia in the workstation market.
Nvidia keeps upping the performance with each new GPU based on the Pascal architecture. Its latest, the Quadro P6000, can deliver 12 teraflops of single-precision performance, a teraflop more than the Titan X unveiled just last week.
Alternative mobile operating systems are struggling to survive while Android and iOS dominate, but an operating system called Sailfish -- which was on the brink of disappearing -- is back after a short absence.
AMD is rebooting its server business around chips with the Zen CPU, which will also be used in PCs. AMD is getting creative with Zen and considering merging the CPU with a high-performance GPU to create a mega-chip for high-performance tasks.


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In a recently published YouTube video, Tobias Lindh has shared a construction update on Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany.
Drone footage of the under-development facility, located in Gründheide, Germany, showcased a number of new tent structures. The tents will most likely be used to store equipment as construction progresses.
The first Tesla Model Y units in the company’s new Midnight Cherry Red colourway have landed at a Tesla service center and showroom in Ottersberg, Germany, as seen in images shared on Twitter by @TeslaBremen. pic.twitter.com/LeeBq11nJ8 — Tesla Bremen (@TeslaBremen) March 26, 2023 The same units were previously also spotted by @Berlinergy. Yesterday near Bremen🇩🇪 (overcast […]
Tesla owners can pretty easily play retro games on their vehicle’s infotainment screen, as demonstrated by Twitter user @YoumotherFUDer. As detailed by Shawn, Tesla owners can play retro games in their vehicles by simply going to RetroGames.cc using the built-in internet browser on Tesla’s infotainment system. The website features a wide selection of retro games, […]
Tesla Megapack batteries were delivered on March 16 to the Cater Water Treatment Plant in Santa Barbara, California. The battery systems, funded by SCE’s Self Generation Incentive Program, will provide power backup to the plant, a critical city facility, while also managing demand on the electricity grid. This development aligns with the city’s adopted Strategic […]


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At a time of year when we’re inclined to show empathy for people less fortunate than ourselves, some of our top business leaders are notable for comments that show their disdain for struggling Americans. Their words may seem too outlandish to have been uttered, or inappropriately humorous, but all the speakers were serious.
1. Environmental Wisdom from Exxon and Monsanto
Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon, which has used tobacco industry tactics to cast doubt on climate change, summed up the whole environmental issue with his own unique brand of logic: What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?
Monsanto has no such moral compunctions over corporate social responsibility. A company director once said,Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible.While Monsanto, according to Food & Water Watch, has “wreaked havoc on the environment and public health” with PCBs, dioxin, and other dangerous chemicals, the company reported in its most recent financial report to the SEC: We are committed to long-term environmental protection.
2. The Art of Delusion: How Business People Fool Themselves
This starts, fittingly, at McDonald’s, where a company representative vigorously defended his burgers and nuggets: We don’t sell junk food…We sell lots of fruits and veggies at McDonald’s…And we are not marketing food to kids.
Next, on to a company that hides overseas earnings, avoids federal and state taxes, makes $400,000 per employee, pays its store workers an average of about $12 per hour, pays its CEO $143 million a year, and operates overseas factories with working conditions that, according to the Economic Policy Institute, “reflect some of the worst practices of the industrial era.” Their CEO Tim Cook says, Apple has a very strong moral compass.
Such delusional heights are also reached in the financial industry, where Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is doing God’s work, his colleague Brian Griffiths feels that we have to tolerate the inequalityas a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all, and Ponzi Scheming JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon is not only not embarrassed to be a banker, but also proud of the company that he works for.
3. Talking Down to the Down & Out
It’s hard to choose the most insensitive and condescending remark from people who seem to lack empathy for the less fortunate. Perhaps hedge fund manager Andy Kessler, who addressed the issue of why these homeless folks aren’t also working. Ignoring the National Coalition for the Homeless conclusion that homelessness is caused by (1) a shortage of affordable rental housing, and (2) a lack of job opportunities, Kessler suggests they’re homeless because someone is feeding, clothing and, in effect, bathing them.
Equally condescending is the Walmart executive who presumed to speak for his low-wage workers just before Thanksgiving by saying: Walmart associates are really excited to work that day.
Now back to McDonald’s, which had these budget tips for its own low-wage employees: You may want to consider returning some of your unopened purchases that may not seem as appealing as they did. Selling some of your unwanted possessions on eBay or Craigslist could bring in some quick cash…Consider bringing a brown bag lunch and skipping the takeout…You might also consider a temporary part time job to dig out of debt quickly.
But the condescension king has to be Charles Koch, whose foundation tried to convince half of America that they were rich: If you earn over $34,000 a year, you are one of the wealthiest one percent in the world.
4. Paying Taxes with Imaginary Money
Tim Cook, the “moral compass” guy from top tax avoider Apple Corporation, blurted, We pay all the taxes we owe – every single dollar. He has a lot of support. Whole Foods CEO John Mackey protested, It’s not Apple’s faultthat they’re seeking to avoid paying taxes. And Rand Paul added, What we need to do is apologize to Apple and compliment them for the job creation they’re doing.
Exxon, which once said, any claim we don’t pay taxes is absurd, used a “theoretical tax” to account for almost 90% of last year’s income tax bill. The Economist explains theoretical taxes: “Companies have two versions of the truth: the theoretical tax bill, calculated using accounting profits..and the actual cash tax they pay..”
CEO of the Year: A Blend of Gaffes, Guile, and Honesty
You asked me if I was in the meth business or the money business. Neither. I’m in the empire business. — Walter White
- 5 Ways Corporate Executives Showed Their Disdain for Struggling Americans
- The Jungle: Thousands of Homeless People Live in Shantytowns at the Epicenter of High-Tech, Super-Rich Silicon Valley
- How American Conservatives Came to Believe That a Turkey and an Invisible Hand Could Cure Poverty


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Have you checked your credit report lately? Have you really checked it? Gone over it with a fine-toothed comb and a magnifying glass? If not, it’s time to do so. An investigation by CBC News has just found that the number of mistakes on the credit reports of Canadians are up to a dangerous high. And those mistakes are preventing otherwise qualified individuals in the country from getting loans; and it’s costing them a lot in interest charges.
The news investigation found that in just the past few years, over 500 complaints have been lodged with provincial consumer affairs across Canada. And one such agency in B.C., Consumer Protection BC, says that there have been 341 calls regarding inaccurate credit reports just in the past three years. And Dan Barnabic, a paralegal in Toronto, has said that approximately one-third of his 3,000 clients have found problems contained within their report – problems that are a result of inaccurate reporting. These numbers suggest that the 500 individuals CBC found could only be a fraction of those that have glaring errors on their report.
The problem doesn’t come from the credit reporting agencies themselves, such as Equifax Canada or TransUnion Canada. Rather, it comes from the department stores and the other creditors that have allowed their customers to borrow from them. What will happen is that one account is reported to an agency as overdue or inactive. The customer. wanting to do the right thing and get themselves back on track, pays the bill and asks the credit reporting agency to report the payment – along with the new “in full” or “paid” status – to the credit reporting agency.
Many times, these numbers show, that’s where it ends. There is no call made to the credit reporting agency, and that overdue amount and bad credit rating stay on the person’s credit report. The next time they then go to apply for a mortgage, a line of credit, or even get a car loan, they’re turned down because they still have that black mark on their report. A mark that shouldn’t even be there.
“You are what your credit is,” says Mr. Barnabic. “And when you discover something that actually does not belong to you…that will actually prevent you from getting credit, it’s devastating. It turns into a horrific situation that people lose sleep over.”
But getting anyone to own up to the mistakes, or even implement policy to keep them from happening, is a losing battle it seems. Paul Le Fevre, director of operations at Equifax Canada, says that it is the companies’ jobs to ensure that they’re submitting the correct information for their clients.
“What we rely on our members to do,” he says, “is to remove that information or amend that information accordingly within the electronic media that they send to us.”
Much of the same, albeit a very vague sentiment, came from TransUnion, who simply said that they try to “maintain accurate information on every consumers’ TransUnion credit report.”
There are some things that can be done to prevent errors, such as the fines most provinces will impose if inaccurate information is reported. But, says Mr. Barnabic, these fines are hardly ever actually put into place, leaving no responsible except for the consumer that worked very hard at repairing their credit. And, he says, the federal government doesn’t seem to be doing too much either.
“Our elected government so far has showed very little interest in improving the system and actually getting the consumer on equal footing with the financial sector,” he says.
His solution is to adopt the system currently seen in the United States, where credit bureaus must by law look into any complaints within 30 days of receiving them.
What do you think? Would this help with the problem of incorrect credit reports? And how likely are you to obtain a copy of your report and look it over, after hearing this latest news?


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In a significant move to bolster its local manufacturing sector, India has recently imposed restrictions on the import of laptops, tablets, other personal computers, and servers. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced this amendment to the import policy, indicating that the new restrictions take effect immediately.
According to the government notification, the import of laptops, tablets, all-in-one personal computers, ultra-small form factor computers, and servers falling under HSN 8741 will be classified as “restricted.” However, it’s worth noting that importers can still bring in these devices if they possess a valid license for restricted imports. Additionally, the restriction does not apply to passengers carrying the mentioned devices in their personal baggage.
While the specific rationale behind this restriction was not elaborated upon by New Delhi, it is evident that the move is aimed at fostering local manufacturing and bolstering the “Make in India” initiative. By curbing the import of these tech products, the Indian government is signaling its commitment to promoting domestic production, creating employment opportunities, and driving economic growth within the country.
In recent years, India has been proactively encouraging local manufacturing through various incentives and policies. The country has already successfully attracted major smartphone manufacturers and has become a hub for chipmakers and semiconductor producers. Now, with this latest restriction on laptops, tablets, and servers, India is taking another stride toward integrating hardware manufacturing into its domestic network.
Back in May, the Indian government took a momentous step by announcing a $2 billion incentive scheme dedicated to boosting local production of IT hardware. The scheme aims to empower and support businesses involved in building devices such as laptops, personal computers, and servers within India’s borders. This was an upgrade to a previous program where the government had allocated $892 million for similar purposes.
Industry giants like Dell and HP have already established manufacturing facilities in India, which reflects the country’s increasing appeal as a destination for tech companies seeking to set up production hubs. Furthermore, the Indian government is determined to expand its local manufacturing capabilities even further and make the nation an attractive location for Apple and its manufacturing partners to establish a global manufacturing hub.
As India continues to invest in its manufacturing ecosystem, there is a growing emphasis on reducing reliance on foreign imports. By restricting the import of laptops, tablets, and servers, India aims to stimulate domestic production, enhance product quality, and create a self-sufficient technology ecosystem. However, it’s worth noting that the country presently spends substantial amounts on importing laptops and other hardware, making the push for local manufacturing all the more crucial for economic and technological growth.
As the landscape of global manufacturing undergoes transformation, India’s strategic decision to restrict imports is likely to have far-reaching implications. By fostering local production and nurturing a conducive environment for tech companies to thrive, India is positioning itself as a prominent player in the global tech industry. As the nation progresses towards self-reliance and innovation, it will be fascinating to observe the impact of these measures on India’s economic prosperity and technological prowess in the years to come.


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It’s been an interesting week for Intel so far, and it’s only just begun. Yesterday, German tech site HardwareLUXX reported that Intel would be shelving its 10nm desktop processor ambitions, meaning we’d only ever be seeing the chips in notebooks or similar devices. As an observer of Intel’s 10nm journey, it’s unfortunately not difficult to believe the news. Intel has had an enormous challenge getting 10nm off of the ground in a notable way, at a time when its competition is seriously aggressive.
Following this news, Intel released a simple statement to deflect it: “We continue to make great progress on 10nm, and our current roadmap of 10nm products includes desktop.” That didn’t sit well with many fans, since it could be spun so many different ways. The mention of “products” rather than “processors” sticks out, but Intel cleared the air with Tom’s Hardware that “Desktop Products” in this party line means “Desktop Processors”.
Intel’s 8-core Core i9-9900KS is due soon
Some have found that this change of tune hasn’t actually changed too much, since if you really want to grasp at straws, Intel could end up releasing 10nm chips only for its NUC line of mini-PCs, and the statement would remain accurate. Given Intel’s difficulty of getting 10nm off of the ground, it’s really hard to know what to believe without Intel being a lot more direct with its message.
At this point, Intel’s 14nm process has been the go-to since June 2015, with the release of Broadwell, and the Core i7-5775C – a chip that included one of the first Intel Iris Pro graphics solutions inside. That series itself was delayed because of 14nm process issues, so to look back, we’re definitely seeing some parallels to today.
Broadwell’s life on the market was short-lived, having lasted two months before being succeeded by the Skylake series in August 2015. That brought the i7-6700K to the table. After that point, we saw the release of Kaby Lake (eg: 7700K), and Coffee Lake (eg: 8700K, 9900K), and are at this point waiting for the next launch, Comet Lake. That series is targeting mobile for now, but things can change. We’re going to need a 9th-gen Core mainstream successor for the desktop at some point.
At the moment, we know that Intel is planning to launch its 5GHz all-core Turbo Core i9-9900KS soon, with its next Core X-series chips hitting the market next month. As we reported earlier this month, this new Core X-series will introduce new pricing that in some cases cuts prices in half compared to the previous generation. That price recalibration wasn’t done without a reason, and it’s probably a really good thing to have made the move ahead of AMD’s third-gen Ryzen Threadripper launch, also expected next month.
In related news, Intel also announced its latest Xeon W CPUs a couple of weeks ago, which is based on Cascade Lake-X just as the upcoming Core X-series are. These chips are targeting the business consumer, especially those who plan to take advantage of ECC memory and Intel’s vPro features.


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MINNEAPOLIS - Caterpillar said Monday its 2013 profit could shrink if the world's economy doesn't pick up in the second half of the year, as mining companies and builders remain cautious about buying new gear.
The cloudy outlook for the year came as Caterpillar reported a fourth-quarter profit less than half as big as a year ago because of a deal in China that went bad and slower growth around most of the world.
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When Earthfall launched back in July, our reviewer Chris was pretty positive about it, “It’s a fun romp – especially with friends – and it will provide enough variety that I would recommend it as a good arcade shooter, especially for those who have been spending their days playing Left 4 Dead.“ One of the main universal criticisms was that the game could use more varied content. Well, developer Holospark is coming through on their promised roadmap, the free Militia Update is available today. This is already the second update, in August Inferno added a brand new level as well as two new enemies, a new weapon and new customisation options. So what do you get this time?
- Brand new weapon: the much requested Grenade Launcher
- Hunting themed character outfits
- Camouflaged weapon skins
The good news is the updates don’t end here. October brings another free update with Invasion which will include player progression and a brand new horde mode.
Earthfall is currently available digitally for £24.99!
For more gaming news and reviews, stick to thelootgaming.com.


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"Virtual Reality is not just for gamers or geeks,” says Rebecca Bonnington, a partner with international coaching group Shirlaws.
The firm believes the technology is a game-changer for ambitious SMEs looking to scale up their operations, particularly in the retail, leisure and care sectors.
“Delivering your message, concert, performance, talk or event through Virtual Reality to a large audience is audacious and game-changing for businesses in Scotland and across the globe.”
Bonnington says her ‘brain popped’ with the limitless possibilities of VR after seeing its wide-ranging applications at a special demonstration organised for business leaders and influencers. She is now working with clients on building strategies to use VR to transform their businesses.
"It leaves me convinced that businesses can use this technology to augment their current products and services, and so called ‘traditional' businesses need to have one eye open for the dizzying array of new technology that is coming at us in unstoppable waves," Bonnington adds.
VR is being used in industries from tourism to healthcare in applications such as virtual guided tours, the modelling of new designs, training staff and creating buildings and infrastructure.
"Virtual Reality has been championed by the younger generation – and yet as a fully paid up member of Generation X, I can see and appreciate how important it's going to be in our lives,” Bonnington says. “No matter which of the five generations in the workplace you belong to, exploring new tech needs to form part of your strategy for growth."
Bonnington desiged Shirlaws’ CIRCLE Programme, for ambitious business owners and leaders who want to scale up their businesses. The full programme covers six interactive half-day group sessions and is aimed Scotland's SME and family-run firms with turnovers of less than £1.5 million.


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Tsingtao Profit Falls as China Slowdown Curbs Beer DrinkingRachel Chang
Net income of 1.7 billion yuan slightly better than estimates
Brewer struggling to raise prices as drinkers abandon beer
China’s second-largest brewer, Tsingtao Brewery Co., reported a 14 percent drop in 2015 earnings after an economic slowdown and a consumer shift to different types of alcoholic beverages hurt beer demand.
Net income was 1.71 billion yuan ($263 million) last year, down from 1.99 billion yuan a year earlier, according to a statement sent to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday. That compared with the average forecast of 1.68 billion yuan by 11 analysts compiled by Bloomberg.
Sales fell 4.9 percent to 27.6 billion yuan. Analysts had estimated 27.5 billion yuan for the beermaker, based in the eastern port city of Qingdao. The stock dropped as much as 1.7 percent to HK$28.60 in Hong Kong trading Tuesday, while the Hang Seng Index was little changed.
“Tsingtao has had problems with execution,” Daiwa Capital Markets analyst Anson Chan said in an interview before the results. “Its average sales prices are not growing, and its profit margins are declining.”
China’s brewery industry is shrinking, with sales volume declining 5 percent year on year in the third quarter of 2015, according to a January report from the Macquarie Group Ltd. Beer drinking has been affected by the economic slowdown. It’s also lost share to baijiu liquor and wine as Chinese consumers become more health-conscious, the report said.
The beermaker has been struggling to raise its prices, Chan said. A liter of beer sells for an average $1.60 in China, compared with $7.90 in the U.K. and $4.10 in the U.S., according to data from Macquarie Group and Euromonitor International.
Tsingtao has fallen behind China Resources Beer Holdings Co., which makes the country’s best-selling Snow beer. Both companies held about 13 percent of the beer market in 2005, according to data from Euromonitor. In 2014, the latest year for which data is available, China Resources Beer’s share rose to 23.2 percent market share while Tsingtao had 18.4 percent, according to Euromonitor.


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The industry watchdog found that a National Party ad claiming retirees would pay an extra $140 a week under the Green Party's proposed wealth tax was misleading.
Dunedin-based climate activist Adam Currie, who brought the complaint, said the ad was widely seen over the four days it was on Facebook.
"It's really misleading and really harmful to see these mistruths be peddled over and over again," he said.
"It's really hurting our democracy"
While the ad provided a link to further information on the party website, the figure of $140 extra per week was not substantiated.
It is the third such complaint upheld against the party this year, following earlier decisions on ads about beneficiaries and car emissions.
While the ad was found to be misleading, the complaint was deemed settled because the ad had finished running and was pulled early.
The National Party now has the opportunity to appeal the decision, as they have done with previous complaints.


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Insomniac Games’ Spiderman has outsold multiplatform title Far Cry 5 in the UK in only 4 weeks.
Sony and Insomniac released Spiderman for exclusively for PlayStation 4 last month, and after being on sale for less than a month, the title has already overtaken Far Cry 5 sales in the UK. Ubisoft released Far Cry 5 back in March of this year, and apart from being on sale for 6 months, the game was released on PC and consoles.
Truth be told, the UK sales data doesn’t factor in digital downloads, but it’s still an impressive feat.
“The arrival of FIFA means that Spider-Man drops to No.2 for the week”, GamesIndustry.biz writes. “Sony's game is now the second best-selling game of the year as it has overtaken Far Cry 5 in just four weeks. It's an impressive achievement for the PS4 title, as it is only available on one platform (admittedly, the UK's most popular console).”
Spiderman is available now globally for PS4. Far Cry 5 is available worldwide for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Ubisoft's latest Far Cry installment recently received a new patch.


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It’s the worst thing that can happen with any controller, your playing one of your favorite games and your avatar begins to do things that are seemingly out of your control. It seems to be the joystick, and no matter how much you wiggle it, clean it, and try other strategies, the drift continues to happen. Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Cons were littered with this issue so much so, they were allowing owners to turn in their Joy-Cons to get fixed. Looks like Nintendo now has bigger fish to fry, as it seems the new Nintendo Switch Lite is also suffering from the drift.
Nintendo’s Joy-Con drift has become quite a known issue. Players reportedly find their characters moving on their own even when they have their controller sitting idle. Even when it became a class-action lawsuit, owners were still turning in their controllers and having to wait several months for a fix along with a hefty sum that was needed to be paid. Once the issue became more apparent and widespread, Nintendo began fixing controllers free of charge, even if they surpassed the warranty period.
With the new release of the Nintendo Switch Lite, many were safe to assume that Nintendo put all their ducks in a row and made sure the miniaturized system with non-detachable controllers would not suffer from this issue. Unfortunately, that is not the case already, Switch Lite users seem to be reporting the same Joy-Con drift issues with the new model and are joining the cause to get their Switch Lites fixed.
If the problem has flared up this early on, it is likely this will become a widespread issue just like the Joy-Con controllers. As for now, Nintendo has not commented on the issue at hand so stay connected with MXDWN Games when more info comes in.


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SEC official: we can learn from Bermuda on crypto
A leading American securities official says her country can learn from the approaches taken in Bermuda and other jurisdictions concerning the regulation of cryptocurrencies.
Speaking at a convergence forum hosted by the Singapore University of Social Sciences, US Securities & Exchange commissioner Hester Peirce said “crypto regulation affords international regulators the opportunity to learn from one another”.
She added: “I often have expressed my concern that the US will fall behind other countries in attracting crypto-related businesses unless we are more forward-leaning in establishing a regulatory regime with discernible parameters. The US SEC can look to our counterparts overseas for ideas in untangling some of our most difficult legal and policy questions in this area.”
Stressing that the views expressed were her own, and not necessarily those of the SEC or her fellow commissioners, Ms Peirce said regulators in jurisdictions including Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Malta, Switzerland, France and Bermuda were addressing difficult questions concerning cryptocurrency regulation.
She said: “Bermuda is one of the only jurisdictions to address the custody question in detail. In conjunction with a regulatory regime for digital asset businesses, the island also released draft guidance for crypto custodial services, which addresses such difficulties as how to store private keys for hot and cold storage while preserving necessary liquidity, what safeguards should be in place to prevent unauthorised access, and how to frame internal audit of transactions to ensure their integrity.”
Referring to the efforts of Bermuda and other countries to innovate, she said: “These ‘laboratories of regulation' operated by our international counterparts have me thinking about possible paths for the US to become more welcoming of crypto innovation.”
She added: “I look forward, for example, to learning more about Bermuda's custody framework to see if we can draw from it as we think about how our custody rules apply in the crypto context.”
Ms Peirce concluded: “Whatever direction we go in the United States, continued communication among the world's financial regulators will be important. While I believe a single global regulatory framework would be unwise, regulators can create a healthy environment for this new market to grow by sharing information that will smooth cross-border transactions while stamping out fraud and other harmful activity.
“We also can continue to learn from one another to fill the gaps in our own regulation and borrow, when appropriate, from frameworks developed and tested in other places.”
Ms Peirce's comments were made on the same day that the founder and chief executive officer of a fintech firm that is to set up on the island told a US Senate Banking Committee that the regulatory approach taken by the Bermuda Government “can and should be emulated by other countries”.
Jeremy Allaire's fintech company, Circle, will create more than 30 new jobs in Bermuda over the next two years, he said recently.
Mr Allaire said an uncertain and restrictive regulatory environment has led many digital asset projects and companies to domicile outside of the US and to block US persons and businesses from accessing products and technologies.
In Circle's case, he told the Senate committee, the firm has begun the process of moving its international-facing products and services into a licensed Bermuda entity.
“Bermuda's forward-looking Digital Asset Business Act provides a comprehensive regulatory framework for companies offering this new type of financial service,” he testified.
“We believe that the approach the Bermuda Government has taken can and should be emulated by other countries.”
Mr Allaire's crypto-finance firm was the first to get a full licence under DABA, which came into force last September.


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It wasn’t that long ago that the McLaren name was synonymous with winning Formula One championships.
Not any more. A team that is second only to Ferrari in F1 history for race wins and whose pantheon of drivers includes greats such as Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Mika Hakkinen went nearly nine years without a single victory until Daniel Ricciardo won the Italian grand prix in September.
These days, McLaren spends far more time competing for investment than it does for pole position. Making expensive petrol supercars in an era of electrification is not for the faint-hearted. Trying to do so during a pandemic is almost impossible.
The onset of Covid prompted a scramble for cash at McLaren. Since March 2020, it has been on a seemingly never-ending search for fresh capital, selling a third of the F1 team and its Woking headquarters, tapping existing shareholders for hundreds of millions in fresh funds and raising even more from new investors.
Five separate fundraisings - equivalent to one roughly every three months - have brought in somewhere in the region of £1.3bn, and yet still there are doubts about its ability to remain independent.
Reports of takeover talks with Audi have been denied but McLaren still has the look of a company whose future rests in the hands of a larger rival with the financial heft, and perhaps more importantly the know-how, required to survive the forthcoming post-combustion engine era.
Britain has a rich history of building cars. Its mass car-making capabilities were largely subsumed into larger foreign rivals long ago. But a handful of specialist brands have been able to eke out a living assembling expensive hand-made luxury vehicles and sports cars to order from enthusiasts and high net-worth customers.
Here too, overseas benefactors have been needed to keep production going. After a disastrous stock market listing, Aston Martin is now controlled by a Canadian billionaire and his wealthy friends. McLaren is jointly owned by the sovereign wealth fund of Bahrain, its Saudi counterpart, and a California investment house.
But trophy asset owners are no guarantee of survival nowadays. The culture of many of these niche outfits is such that they remain heavily populated by men in boiler suits more accustomed to tinkering around in sheds unencumbered from the commercial pressures of their larger mass market cousins.
The problem for most small-scale premium carmakers is that to build electric vehicles they have to basically start from scratch. This requires vast sums of investment to develop new engines, new drive trains, and most importantly the battery technology.
Either that or they have to effectively get the technology second hand from a larger rival. And, with advances moving so fast, you’ll always be building yesterday’s super car.
Either way, new assembly lines and supply chains are needed, alongside extensive research and development teams way beyond the reach of most small producers. Even the world’s biggest carmakers such as Ford are struggling to move quickly enough.
That’s what makes Elon Musk’s achievements so impressive. His quest to create the carmaker of the future from nothing relies heavily on vast gigafactories and Musk has only been able to build them by borrowing against Tesla’s increasingly pumped up stock market valuation.
Few, if any, will be able to replicate that model, and even then there is still no guarantee that Tesla will succeed. The future of Rolls-Royce and Bentley look secure in the hands of BMW and VW respectively, at least for the time being.
But how long will Ineos tycoon Jim Ratcliffe persist with attempts to revive the Land Rover Defender? Ditto China’s Geely with Lotus, while Aston Martin’s tie-up with Mercedes seems destined to end with the German giant firmly in the driving seat.
In the race to go green, the hobbyist carmaker may have run out of road.


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IHOP Opens in the Middle East
IHOP has opened its first restaurant in the Middle East adjacent to the world’s biggest manmade indoor ski slope at The Mall of the Emirates, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The 225-seat restaurant serves many of the same traditional breakfast favorites as its U.S. locations, including pancake, egg, and meat combination plates, omelets and signature pancakes. Adapting to the local market, all meats at IHOP in Dubai feature Halal-certified turkey hams, veal sausages and beef bacon.
The opening marks the first of a 40-restaurant development agreement that will eventually include IHOP restaurants in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Egypt. IHOP also has restaurants in Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Lauren Mack is the Travel Editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @lmack.


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HONG KONG — After being hard hit by the global economic downturn in their traditional markets, exhibitors at the APLF Fashion Access fair said they are setting their sights on expanding into the Chinese market.
The footwear and accessories fair, held at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center from Oct. 6 to 8, featured 354 exhibitors. The show’s organizer declined to release attendance figures.
Vicky V. Amalingan-Sales, chairman and marketing manager of Philippines-based woven handbag and clutch brand S.C. Vizcarra, said 2009 has been a difficult year.
“About 80 percent of our business comes from Japan, but this year we’ve seen a 50 percent drop in sales,” said Amalingan-Sales. “We’ve had to cut our prices by 10 to 15 percent to attract more customers. We can only hope things will get better next year, but we don’t see things picking up anytime soon.”
Price cuts have not been uncommon given the economic climate, and some have compromised on quality in a bid to stay in the game. Sally Chang, North America sales manager of Canadian handbag brand Gaya, said 30 percent of its retail clients have dropped their line since April.
“As a result, we’ve had to look at using cheaper materials,” said Chang. “In fact, we’ve removed all leather products from our upcoming summer collection to concentrate on vinyl synthetic totes and bags. At this point, we don’t know when things will pick up.”
Companies like Los Angeles-based leather handbag label Blue Elegance have adopted the opposite strategy. Owner Annie Lin said during periods of economic difficulty it was crucial for product to stand out in order to maintain sales.
“This year has actually been a very good year for us,” she said. “Instead of cutting back costs, we’ve invested more in sourcing higher quality leather and studs. Improving the quality of our products has really paid off and the response from our North American clients, which range from department stores to boutique retailers, has been incredibly positive.”
Handbags with distinctive hardware and embroidery such as studs, chunky buckles and sequins spurred the most buyer interest, as did small leather accessories in pastel lilac, wisteria and mauve.
Many handbag and accessories companies are also looking to enter the Chinese market as part of a strategy to offset dwindling demand from Europe.
Catherine Ma, a sales representative with Nu Design, which produces and exports small recyclable leather goods, said the year had a fairly slow start but started to pick up after May.
“Europe, our biggest market, was very badly hit. They were quiet for about six months,” said Ma. “We’re lucky we’re a small- to medium-sized factory that we can afford to be cost cautious. Factories operating on a larger scale were hit worse. That said, we are looking to enter the China market, but with caution.”
Despite the lure of the Chinese market, Ma said she was aware the brand must lay the groundwork to enter the country under the best circumstances possible.
“I know how lucrative the Chinese market can be, but we don’t want to jump into it,” she said. “We have to find the right partner and the right department stores that can represent our brand successfully. There are also pricing and taxation issues to consider.”
Matthew Chow, managing director of C-Corp International Co., a handbag manufacturer and distributor to Europe and the U.S., said the firm is also looking to enter the Chinese market.
“The problem with China is that it can take much longer to get anything done there as there is a lot of red tape involved,” said Chow. “A lot of people have lost a lot of money trying to crack China, but I believe if you push through, it can be worth it in the long run.”
@margotrobbie steps out onto the red carpet wearing @miumiu. The actress is nominated for “Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role” in “I, Tonya” at the #SagAwards. (📷: Stewart Cook) #wwdfashion
For @massimogiorgetti of @msgm, the Nineties are his favorite decade. “They had a huge impact on my personal growth. What I like of the Nineties is that they are not so precise in terms of style as other decades…there was actually a bit of everything,” he said. As seen on MSGM’s Spring 2018 show: tie-dye and a bit of grunge, two styles that are synonymous with the decade #wwdfashion #wwddecades (📷: @kukukuba)
Breaking News: @hedislimane joins @celine as its new artistic, creative and image director. One of fashion’s preeminent image-makers and trendsetters, Slimane is to join the LVMH brand on Feb. 1 and unveil his first fashion proposition for men and women next September during Paris Fashion Week. It marks a major homecoming for Slimane, who cemented his reputation – and influenced men’s tailoring for more than a decade – as the designer of Dior Homme between 2000 and 2007. He went on to reinvent and ignite the house of Yves Saint Laurent, which he rechristened Saint Laurent, between 2012 and 2016 – all the while maintaining a close relationship with the Arnault family, which controls LVMH and Dior. Read the full exclusive story on WWD.com. Link in bio. #wwdnews #wwdfashion
“Personally I believe the Eighties have been the richest and more vivacious period for international fashion,” Giorgio Armani said when asked what his favorite decade of fashion is. It was a moment of disruption and experimentation and only thinking back to the first years of that decade is always an emotion for me, for what they have meant to me and my work.” The influence is clear in @giorgioarmani spring 2018 collection, pictured here, which was full of bright colors and unexpected prints. Read more about which decades designers loved most on WWD.com #wwdfashion #wwddecades (📷: @aitorrosasphoto)
For Lady Gaga’s only Italian show on her “Joanne World Tour,” the singer wore a range of @versace_official outfits. The standout piece: this custom-made bodysuit inspired by the brand’s spring 2018 collection. #wwdfashion (RG: @ladygaga)
@_camillaruth_ is expanding on the wellness-craze concept with @westbourne – a new NYC restaurant that’s both a healthy-minded café as well as a business that gives back to the community. Marcus works with the Robin Hood foundation to give back to The Door, a non-profit providing youth development services, and also hires employees through The Door. Read our full interview with Marcus on giving back through food on WWD.com. #wwdeye (📷: @lexieblacklock)


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Iconic beverage-making giant Coca-Cola (KO - Get Report) on Tuesday reported second-quarter earnings and sales that beat analysts' forecasts amid ongoing demand for its water, sports drinks and namesake zero-sugar beverages.
Coca-Cola reported second-quarter earnings of $2.6 billion, or 63 cents a share on an adjusted basis, compared to $2.3 billion, or 54 cents a share, in the comparable year-earlier quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting earnings of 62 cents a share. Sales came in at $10 billion vs. the $9.9 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet.
While Coke has been selling more of its water, sports drinks and fizzy soda beverages, the company has been anticipating slowing sales growth this year amid macroeconomic uncertainty and volatility in some of its overseas markets.
"We delivered another solid quarter, with broad-based organic revenue growth, underlying margin expansion and improving cash flow trends." - $KO CFO John Murphy: https://t.co/Cwrrz8Iypk pic.twitter.com/lGKo028YBJ— The Coca-Cola Co. (@CocaColaCo) July 23, 2019
The company provided a semi-updated full-year outlook, forecasting earnings per share that could fall or rise by 1% and organic revenue, which excludes currency adjustments, acquisitions and product-line divestitures, to rise by 5% instead of 4% as forecast in April.
The company also raised its guidance for operating income on a currency neutral basis, now expecting it to increase between 11% and 12% instead of between 10% and 11%.
Coke in recent years has expanded well beyond its iconic brown carbonated drinks, delving into both the hydrating and non-hydrating world of beverages, including its purchase of British coffee chain Costa, which it plans to produce coffee-infused carbonated drinks with.
Shares of Coca Cola bubbled higher, rising more than 5% to $53.91 in mid-day trading on the New York Stock Exchange after closing Monday at $51.22.


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Clipp, the payment app which has been described as “Uber for bar tabs” has announced former Microsoft Executive, Todd Forest, as the company’s new CEO.
Forest, has worked with international brands like Nike and AOL, and says his plan is “to cement our position as Australia’s go-to mobile payments solution.”
He joins the Aussie startup at a time when the mobile payments are set to experience a massive shift following Apple’s mobile wallet announcement.
“I join [the business] at a time when the mobile payments space is beginning to heat up,” said Forest. “Clipp is at the forefront of the industry in Australia, proven by the rapid uptake of our proprietary technology in the last six months alone.”
This year the startup has experienced rapid scale, signing over 200 venues in less than 6 months. Now, Clipp has its eyes on raising more revenue through future capital rounds.
Forets, who now owns a minority stake in Clipp, also is an active angel investor who has currently invested in 6 successful Australian start-ups including DesignCrowd, RecruitLoop, Posse, XLabs and HeyLets.
The new CEO said he looks forward to working with the business and told us to expect some “big news” next year.
Now read why co-founder of Clipp, Greg Taylor thinks the bar tab in Australia has changed forever now that PIN is the only form of authorising a payment.
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Qualcomm Partners With Razer To Launch Development-Driven G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform
Join Gaming Leaders, Alongside GamesBeat and Facebook Gaming, For Their 2nd Annual GamesBeat & Facebook Gaming Summit | GamesBeat: Into the Metaverse 2 January 25-27, 2022. Learn more about the event.
Qualcomm introduced its Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 gaming platform to power a new generation of dedicated gaming devices. And gaming lifestyle brand Razer has teamed up with Qualcomm on a portable game development kit powered by the G3x processor.
Qualcomm said that the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 gaming platform delivers performance to run all Android games, play content from cloud game libraries, stream games from a home console or PC and enjoy the entertainment of your favorite Android apps.
The first concept device, pictured above, is available today as part of the Handheld Game Development Kit powered by the first generation Snapdragon G3x. Qualcomm showcased the platform, which it sees as something of a passionate gaming platform for mobile gamers, at its annual analysts event in Hawaii.
The Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 gaming platform is a platform specifically designed to enhance gaming on mobile devices. The platform brings together all of the Snapdragon Elite Gaming technologies to create a premium category of dedicated consumer gaming products.
The 2nd Annual GamesBeat and Facebook Gaming and GamesBeat: Into the Metaverse 2 Summit
The Snapdragon G3x platform features the Qualcomm Adreno graphics processing unit (GPU) to run games at a speed of 144 fps (compared to 60 fps for many mobile phones) and high dynamic range (HDR) 10-bit for 4K gaming in over a billion color shades.
And Qualcomm said that Snapdragon Sound technology is optimized for quality, latency and robustness so gamers can locate their opponents and hear all the action around them. With AKSys support, it provides precise touch mapping technology to enable the use of the built-in controllers in a wide variety of games.
It also offers an augmented multiscreen experience by connecting to an XR viewer via USB-C to a device powered by Snapdragon G3x. It also allows a device to act as a companion controller to a 4K display TV.
To showcase the platform, Qualcomm Technologies has partnered with Razer to create the first Snapdragon G3x handheld game development kit, which is available exclusively to developers starting today. Razer takes pride in creating designs that appeal to gamers, and their entire brand is built around the gamer lifestyle.
âRazer is extremely pleased to partner with Qualcomm Technologies and support them in their journey to introduce cutting-edge new technology to the global gaming industry,â Min-Liang Tan, CEO of Razer, said in a statement. âTogether, Qualcomm Technologies and Razer will lead the way with new and innovative solutions that push the boundaries of fidelity and quality available in handheld games, transforming the way these games are experienced. “
The dedicated portable development kit has been designed around the Snapdragon G3x platform to support features such as a 6.65 inch OLED display with Full HD + resolution and 10-bit HDR. The screen can operate up to 120 Hz.
Qualcomm said the device can provide sustained performance allowing long-lasting play on the most demanding titles. It has a 5MP / 1080p60 webcam with dual mics that gamers can use to capture themselves playing and stream games to their audience as a streaming tool.
The device also features 5G mmWave and sub-6 and 6E Wi-Fi for the fastest connectivity for low latency, fast downloads and uploads, and the most reliable connection. And it’s been designed for easy-to-grip controls and comfortable gameplay over an extended period of time. The SDK also includes built-in controller mapping from AKSys to provide precise touch-to-controller mapping technology to enable the use of the built-in controllers in a wide variety of games.
On this device, you can play native Android titles or stream your favorite games from your favorite cloud gaming platforms like Microsoft’s Game Pass Ultimate. And you can also access your library of Steam games on the go.
Speaking at a press briefing, Micah Knapp, senior director of product management at Qualcomm, said there are 2.5 billion mobile gamers in the world and that $ 90 billion to $ 120 billion out of the $ 175 billion The gaming industry’s dollars come from mobile gaming revenue. The share of mobile continues to grow and, by comparison, the film industry in 2020 generated less than $ 45 billion.
âWe’ve only seen a huge amount of migration to the mobile gaming space for many reasons,â Knapp said. âAnd one of the things we noticed is that we look at console gamers, PC gamers, or mobile gamers. It’s not really the truth anymore. When we talk to PC gamers, you know they’ll be spending a dozen a week on a PC, but they’ll also be spending five or six hours a week playing on their phones.
People play games whenever they get the chance, and that’s why there are more cross-platform games like Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, and Call of Duty.
Qualcomm is doing it now because there aren’t enough personalized gaming devices in the mobile space. And this kit will allow more hardware companies to launch such devices, he said.
The hardware prototype has dedicated controllers – joystick and buttons – for better control and fidelity, and a larger, unobstructed playing field. Knapp said it would take time to equip the developer community and allow them to make games for the device. Once this is initiated, the hardware makers can create the game hardware for the enjoyment of the consumers.
âWe’re at a tipping point where we believe there are opportunities to create unique gaming experiences and a platform specifically for gaming devices,â Knapp said.
The device has a user interface that allows you to easily navigate through your favorite games and different types of games. When asked if the model looks like the Steam Deck or the Nintendo Switch, Knapp said there is a lot of room in the market for a variety of design types, and the unique identity of this kit is that of a dedicated mobile gaming device.
When asked if Qualcomm would consider launching the gaming handheld itself, Knapp said, âWe’re a chipset company. Not an appliance company. He said the partners probably would.
âWe think once they get their hands on it the sky will be the limit,â Knapp said.
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[Africa Tech Week] E-Learning transforming Africa’s education
Despite the obvious digital divide, African countries and other developing nations are finding ways to achieve the potentials of digital learning like the developed counterparts. E-learning has completely transformed the way in which learning is imparted to students. Unlike, the traditional chalk and board method which most of us went through during our early days in school, e-learning makes learning simpler, easier and more effective. This is why African governments and even non-governmental organisations are seriously advocating for it.
In Kenya, this week, Camara Education in conjunction with Dell and Computer Aid unveiled computer classrooms and solar powered labs in Kajiado County. The programme is complementing the implementation of the Digital Literacy Program by the Kenyan Government (DLP) in all 23,951 public primary schools countrywide. This came at a time when experts from Europe and Africa are expected to Gather in Kigali Rwanda on September 28, 2018, for eLearning Africa conference. Just recently, aNewSpring, a Dutch-based learning technology company also announced the opening of its Johannesburg-based office.
This week, Mastercard also partnered with Microsoft to introduce Mastercard Track, a global trade platform that will simplify and enhance how companies around the world do business with each other. This was not the first time Mastercard was making some major announcements. Just recently, the company partnered with Vodacom and BancABC to introduce the first online card in Tanzania – the M-Pesa virtual card. In Zambia, it unveiled a new partnership with EcoCash and launched EcoCash Scan & Pay, a simple, secure and instant mobile payments solution for consumers and merchants. In South Africa, Mastercard partnered with Entersekt to enable Nedbank’s customers to make QR payments to Masterpass, Pay@, SnapScan, and Zapper merchants and billers through the Nedbank Money app. These are just a few of the payment partnerships the company has unveiled this year.
Loon, the Alphabet company that is planning to launch balloon-powered internet connectivity in Kenya next year, this week also announced that it has successfully sent a test internet connection 1,000 kilometres across seven balloons. That represents a distance that would span the entire of Kenya from the port city of Mombasa to the Kenya-Uganda border. Back in June, the company signed a definitive agreement with Telkom Kenya to pilot an innovative new 4G/LTE access network service in Kenya. Telkom Kenya, on the other hand, has been working hard to increase its 4G coverage. Recently, it unveiled 200 new 4G sites in Kenya, raising the total number of 4G sites in the city owned by Telkom to 300.
Still this week, Samsung announced that it was going to mentor 19 startups from South Africa as part of its employee volunteer programme. This will be done under the company’s Global Start-up Acceleration Programme in partnership with the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) and NGO Nangila in the country. In 2017, the company, under the same programme conducted a week-long workshop in Ghana aimed at empowering young girls with future-focused ICT skills. In Togo, the company set up a Mobile clinic in Togo Ministry of Health and Vision Togo.At least 24 villages in the Kara region benefited from the new health initiative unveiled last year.
Latest insights from International Data Corporation (IDC) released this week showed that Africa and Middle East personal computing devices (PCD) market, declined 7.7% year on year in Q2 2018.Similar data released by IDC in June also showed that Africa, the Middle East and Europe smartphone markets hit record value. The same report in a previous article published by Africa Business Communities revealed that Africa’s smartphone market declined in Q4 2017 despite the strong performance of the region’s biggest markets. While this was happening, Vodacom Tanzania this week signed a partnership deal with Google to give customers the option to pay for content on the Google Play Store using Vodacom Airtime balance.
Oracle, this week held its Impact Technology Summit in Nairobi Kenya. The summit brought together domain experts and business leaders to discuss the influence emerging technologies has on business innovation. The company has recently been unveiling new products to support innovation. Last year, it introduced its next-gen cloud applications to support Kenya’s digital economy. The same applications were also introduced in Botswana, Mauritius and Nigeria.
As more and more Kenyans continue to buy things online, Kenyan new online retailer Hashmart announced that it is betting big on electronics to give established players in this segment a run for their money. Cab hailing service Taxify also rolled out a new feature to enable its drivers to maximize their daily earning potential. The Driver Destinations feature will allow drivers to indicate where they’re going and then synchronize it with the Taxify app for drivers to find and connect with trips that are on their way.
Yahsat, a global satellite operator based in the United Arab Emirates and Hughes Network Systems (HUGHES), a subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation, also this week partnered to provide commercial Ka-band satellite broadband services across Africa, the Middle East and southwest Asia. This is not the first time Yahsat is proving broadband services in Africa. In June, the company announced plans to launch satellite broadband service across West Africa. In 2014, the company also announced that itsYahClick satellite broadband internet promotional offer in Uganda for a period of two months.


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The Insider: Ferry sails from Utah to B.C. -- via truck
Published 10:00 pm, Sunday, January 15, 2006
ROAD TRIP FOR A BOAT: It only seems like there's been enough rain to make the local highways passable for watercraft.
So when it came time for moving a really large boat -- a car ferry -- from Utah to British Columbia, a little wheeled assistance was in order.
BC Ferries bought the MV John Atlantic Burr, which has been operating on Lake Powell for the past 20 years, for $200,000 from the state of Utah. To get the ferry to British Columbia, BC Ferries hired Emmert International of Clackamas, Ore. The ferry's hull was cut into four sections, which were hauled on two 1,900-mile trips to Tacoma. Then the hull sections were placed on a barge and taken to a shipyard in North Vancouver.
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The information comes from Kenworth Truck Co., which sold Emmert two T800s for the project. BC Ferries plans to widen the 154-foot-long ferry to expand the car-carrying capacity from 26 to 35 and have it in service this summer.
BUT MOM, IT'S EXERCISE: Video games: Root cause of American mind rot or a vital component in exercising the brain?
Seattle-based game developer PopCap Games said in a statement last week that it is teaming with The Games for Health Project to "gather, evaluate and share research on the use of digital games and cognitive health." The first findings are promised for early spring.
PopGames says it wants to look at what role digital games might play in maintaining healthy minds, and if there's a role, what types of games might contribute. The project will include reviews of research, expert interviews and reviews of current projects. "The goal ... is only to summarize past and present efforts," the statement said. "It is not designed to test the validity of any specific game (PopCap's or otherwise) for which there is no actual body of existing research."
Games of Health is a part of The Serious Games Initiative, sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The initiative "applies cutting-edge games and game technologies to a range of public and private policy, leadership and management issues."
JUST WHO IS BILL MONK? Some ideas are born in the lab, others in the boardroom. Gaurav Oberoi and Chuck Groom -- two former Amazon.com developers who quit their jobs last summer to start a Seattle Internet company -- came up with their business while trying to figure the bill at the Stumbling Monk Pub on Capitol Hill.
Because of that, the two entrepreneurs decided to name their new service Bill Monk. The service helps friends, roommates and family members settle IOUs, phone bills, restaurant tabs and other payments over the Internet or on cell phones.
"We liked the idea of a monk," Groom said. "We want to be an impartial third party so you can take the heat out of the money relationships with friends."


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Airbnb has sealed a new partnership with the Thailand Boutique Accommodation Trade Association (TBAA) to showcase the country’s boutique hotel sector on the platform.
It marks a new departure for the home sharing platform and is the first time the TBAA has entered into an agreement of this kind with an international company.
The two companies join forces to boost global awareness of the sector
“We are excited to work with the TBAA to bring boutique entrepreneurs onto our platform, and connect them with a growing global audience who desire to experience iconic Thai hospitality in an intimate, design-centric setting,” said Mike Orgill, Airbnb country manager for Southeast Asia.
The agreement will see Airbnb conduct workshops for TBAA member hoteliers into how best to manage their properties on the Airbnb app and market themselves to users.
“The TBAA’s collaboration with Airbnb is an exciting opportunity for boutique hotel owners in Thailand, which will showcase their uniqueness and creativity to a global audience,” said Suparerk Soorangura, TBAA president.
Boutique accommodations play a key role in the local tourism landscape with ‘host-led hospitality and distinctive local design’ Orgill said.
Furthermore the partnership hopes to stimulate tourism growth in Thailand’s lesser known regions by encouraging stays beyond the most popular tourist destinations such as Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai.


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Read the latest news from Primary Intelligence on our progress as a company and the benefits of our solutions.
Primary Intelligence Releases New Industry Insights Report “Changing Your Sales Outcomes”
March 16, 2018
New Research highlights actions companies in the study could have done differently to win 35% of the opportunities they lost to competitors.
Primary Intelligence Selects Scholarship Winner—Allison Short
Aug 18, 2017
Primary Intelligence announced the winner of its 2017 “Scrappers’” Scholarship, which asked college students from around the country to describe ways in which they have overcome adversity—at significant personal costs and against great odds—in pursuit of their education and career goals.
Primary Intelligence Announces the Date, Location and Guest Speakers for The Outcomes Conference 2017
Feb 21, 2017
Primary Intelligence announced the dates and location for the Outcomes Conference to be held Wednesday, September 13th to Friday, September 15th, 2017 and will take place at the Grand Summit Hotel at the Canyons Village in Park City, Utah
Primary Intelligence Releases State of Customer Experience 2016 Report
July 19, 2016
New research highlights B2B firms are increasingly serious about collecting, analyzing, and responding to feedback from their customers.
Primary Intelligence Discovers Industry Experience Bests 7 Other Criteria in B2B Buyer Decisions
April 26, 2016
New research highlights importance of vendor experience when B2B buyers consider potential vendors in competitive sales opportunities.
Primary Intelligence Releases B2B Buyer Loyalty Report
March 10, 2016
New B2B buyer loyalty report from Primary Intelligence finds buyers recommend non-selected vendors to other colleagues and also consider losing vendors for future business.
Primary Intelligence Announces National Scholarship Contest for Students
January 26, 2016
Primary Intelligence is pleased to announce the launch of a scholarship essay contest inspired by a September 2015 TED Talk. The essay winner selected will receive a $1,500 scholarship.
Primary Intelligence Releases State of Win Loss 2015 Report
December 15, 2015
A new research report from Primary Intelligence finds that Win Loss programs are gaining momentum with B2B businesses, with 84% of B2B organizations engaged in Win Loss initiatives in 2015, up from 76% in 2014.
Primary Intelligence Celebrates 15 Years
November 20, 2015
Primary Intelligence, a company specialized in Win Loss and Customer Experience Analysis, celebrates 15 years. As part of the celebration, Primary Intelligence releases 15 resources for sales, marketing, and product leaders.
Primary Intelligence Releases Research on Customer Experience Programs
October 28, 2015
A new research report from Primary Intelligence finds that Customer Experience (CX) programs not only lead to an improved understanding of customer needs, but also generate enhanced customer support, discovery of best practices, increased response rates, and better overall communication with customers.
Primary Intelligence Celebrates World CX Day
October 6, 2015
Primary Intelligence is joining in the CX Day celebrations, a global event that celebrates customers, customer experience professionals, and delivering exceptional service.
Primary Intelligence Launches Enhanced Offering to Gather Sales Intelligence for Win Loss and Customer Experience Analysis
September 28, 2015
Discovery sessions help sales teams uncover root causes for a buyer’s experience in a sales engagement, and account managers uncover root causes for client experiences.


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As the Coronavirus pandemic continues to make its mark on countries around the world, many industries have been forced to adopt new policies to keep their clients safe while performing their daily tasks.
In the retail space, this means that stores have had to enforce new policies to help customers form new shopping habits that will not contribute to the spread of the virus.
While the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has laid out guidelines for consumers who need to run essential errands such as grocery shopping, it is the responsibility of stores to ensure that their shoppers are safe while they shop.
As such, many stores have implemented several new measures to make shopping during the pandemic as safe as possible.
Enforcing Prescribed Health and Safety Measures
To combat the spread of the coronavirus, stores have taken to enforcing some of the most important guidelines laid down by the CDC for grocery and food retail workers as well as customers.
These include using hand sanitizer when entering and leaving stores; enforcing a look don’t touch policy for food items; requiring the wearing of masks by both staff and shoppers in enclosed areas; and enforcing safe shopping distances of six feet between shoppers, especially in stationary checkout queues.
Also Follow Food Safety Tips
Fewer Shoppers are Allowed in Stores
One of the first changes that were made to accommodate the new health and safety measures put in place by the CDC was the limiting of the number of customers allowed in stores at any given time.
While this has a major effect on the bottom line of retail outlets, which can easily be measured through the use of Little’s Law, enforcing new maximum occupation limits is an essential step in ensuring that the minimum social distancing measures are being met.
Installing Physical Barriers
The coronavirus pandemic has forced many businesses to reevaluate how to display food and other items. Following the release of research that confirmed that the virus can survive on surfaces for up to 28 days, many stores have been forced to install physical barriers at counters that typically did not need such measures.
The use of barriers such as sneezeguards at grocery stores is becoming more common as these types of barriers can help prevent the spread of airborne illnesses as well as prevent the contamination of food and other goods.
Also Read This Post Snake Juice Recipe
Online Ordering and Curbside Pickups
One of the best ways to prevent being infected with the coronavirus is by limiting the amount of human contact a person gets. So, in a bid to protect their customers and still keep their businesses running, many stores have opted to give their customers the choice to order their groceries online and have them delivered or made available for curbside pickups.
The online shopping industry was already booming before the coronavirus pandemic. Thanks to the enforcement of social distancing measures, this option is now appealing to even more shoppers than ever before. As more major retailers enter the digital space, shopping online will get even easier.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way many people go about their daily lives. Stores that can show their customers that they care about their well-being by implementing some of the safety measures to prevent the spread of the virus will have a better chance of survival than those that do not.


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The East-Flanders brewery The Musketeers is launching a new specialty beer in cans. Moreover, The Musketeers is increasing its production capacity in order to continue to meet the great demand at home and abroad.
Brewery Verhaeghe-Vichte uses beer and art for coronavirus research
Brewery Verhaeghe-Vichte, a small family business joined forces with abstract artist Lode Laperre to create a work of art around beer. The total proceeds of the exclusive beer cases will be donated to the World Health Organisation to support research in the fight against coronavirus.


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Video - Local News
Posted on July 31, 2013 at 5:30 PM
Updated Wednesday, Jul 31 at 5:30 PM
There’s a new temporary injunction in the case against accountant Sandy Jenkins. It means he can’t spend any money or conduct any financial transactions as the bakery tries to recover some of what was allegedly stolen.


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Final Fantasy designer Tetsuya Nomura shifts from Hatsune Miku to Utada Hikaru as he draws a cover for her upcoming album
Renowned video game designer Tetsuya Nomura, best known for his work on the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series, is one busy man. Not only is he currently working on Kingdom Hearts 3, he also recently collaborated with virtual diva, Hatsune Miku and released a new video of her which was first shown in New York last month. Now, it was revealed that he is also currently working with another Japanese icon, legendary pop star, Utada Hikaru.
The J-pop icon is known for singing the theme songs for the Kingdom Hearts games, so it was no surprise that Nomura was the one of illustrated her new album cover, which features a lot of familiar elements from the Kingdom Hearts games.
For her latest album, Utada Hikaru will also be working with various artists such as Kumamon designer Manabu Mizuno, and the team which was responsible for the Evangelion movies. The album will also feature a collaboration with 13 other musicians, which are Sheena Ringo, Inoue Yosui, Okamura Yasuyuki, Hamasaki Ayumi, Hanaregumi, KIRINJI, tofubeats with BONNIE PINK, Yoshii Kazuya, Kato Miliyah, Ohashi Trio, AI, LOVE PSYCHEDELICO, and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis feat. Peabo Bryson.
Also, read more J-entertainment news here on SGCafe.
Source: Koi Nya


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The recent opening of Girls Auto Clinic in the Philadelphia area has received a lot of news coverage as of late. According to owner Patrice Banks, she founded the shop, which doubles as a nail salon, as an alternative to typically male-dominated facilities. Her marketing pitch is that women are frequently taken advantage of at traditional shops and made to feel uncomfortable. At first, I was annoyed by the broad brush Banks used to paint men and the auto care industry in general.
But looking at the coverage Girls Auto Clinic received for their opening did offer a fresh perspective on our industry that some people choose to ignore: How some shops educate, hire and market to the public is not conducive for growing a diversified industry that caters to every demographic.
First, all consumers have anxiety about asking questions about repairs — it’s not just a female issue. Men are often even worse because they don’t want to admit to automotive ignorance in the first place for fear of being judged as less manly. Shops should spend more time educating customers (both men and women) about their vehicles. Showing all customers how to check their oil or spending a little time explaining a TPMS warning light can go a long way in creating better customers.
Second, there are not enough women working at independent repair shops today. Shops need to attract more women if they are going to survive. We are fighting a technician shortage. It doesn’t matter if a technician is male or female, if they have an aptitude for fixing cars, we need them now. To attract more women, we need to be more inclusive when recruiting the next generation of techs.
Third, some owners have to clean and fix up their shops. I am not saying every shop needs a nail salon in the waiting room, but some shops need a “woman’s touch” when it comes to the front counter and waiting room. Grease stains and dirty floors aren’t exactly the best representation of a modern shop.
Lastly, shops, and the industry as a whole, need to be more savvy about marketing and PR. Most shops have a heart of gold and perform miracles on their customers’ vehicles. The media needs to know about it.


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Pat Persiano's encounter with a customer-support phone line is an all too familiar story for many computer users. Unable to open attachments that came to her by E-mail, the CEO of Professional Partners, a 22-employee Century 21 franchise in Mayfield Village, Ohio, called America Online's tech-support line for help. "They said, 'I'm sorry, that's a software problem, not our problem," she recalls.
Persiano didn't have time to figure out the problem's source. But neither could she justify the expense of full-service technical support. She was stuck. That is, until she happened upon a Help in a Flash computer-service card that was up for auction at a local realtors' association meeting. The CEO bid $135 and won what looked like a prepaid calling card, which she brought to the office. The card was good for technical support for five "incidents" of computer meltdown. The real kicker: the 10-person staff at F1 Ltd., the $1-million Cleveland company that sells the cards, promises to solve any technical glitch, no matter which software package is at the bottom of it. The company even provides training over the phone.
Persiano gave the card to her assistant, Barbara Pokorny, who put it to use while running her recently installed QuickBooks accounting application. When Pokorny called Help in a Flash for assistance, an F1 support specialist gave her a 90-minute QuickBooks training session. "He walked me through entering the checks, doing the payroll accounting, and calculating taxes," she says.
That's just what Damon Hacker, founder and CEO of F1, wants to hear. Hacker conceived of the service after he found that small and midsize companies were reluctant to purchase F1's long-term technical-assistance packages. "But they still needed the service," he says.
F1's solution: provide a low-risk, low-cost, 24-hour help desk that's versed in more than 80 applications. The Help in a Flash card comes in two models: a five-incident card priced at $125 and a 10-incident card for $199. When a customer calls, an F1 support specialist "takes ownership" of the problem at hand and logs a detailed incident report in order to track the customer's use of the service.
While existing customers seem happy with the concept, Matthew Nordan isn't sold on the idea. An analyst at Forrester Research who covers technical-support services, Nordan says efforts like Help in a Flash rarely make money. "They're trying to squeeze profits out of a traditionally unprofitable business," he says. Hacker admits that the card service's profits are 8% to 12% lower than those of the long-term help-desk contracts that F1 has with larger companies. But that's OK for now, he says, since those long-term contracts make up close to 85% of F1's revenues.
While Professional Partners isn't likely to sign up for long-term IT services with F1, Persiano says she'll purchase another Help in a Flash card when the one she's using runs out. And judging from Pokorny's enthusiasm, that could be any day now. "I can't wait until my next problem," she says.


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Uber has announced its entry into the ninth African country, Tanzania, effectively meeting its expansion target on the continent in 2016.
The San Francisco-based company that allows users to summon taxi rides on their smartphones, had set a target of expanding to three markets in Africa this year, including Uganda, Ghana and Tanzania.
It launched in Ghana’s capital Accra and in Uganda’s Kampala city a few weeks ago.
Uber said users in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s capital, will enjoy six free rides for three days to celebrate the launch. The port city becomes the 475th city to join the Uber global network.
“We are proud to launch Uber in Tanzania at such an exciting point in its growing economy. As the infrastructure of Dar es Salaam rapidly urbanises, so the demand for affordable, easy and flexible transport grows,” Alon Lits, General Manager for Uber Sub-Saharan Africa, said in an emailed statement.
“We have set the standard for connecting people to world-class transport, moving millions of global citizens every day through our offering of affordable and reliable rides at the touch of a button. Our service complements existing transport options, so we can all work together to reduce traffic congestion and the environmental impact of transport in the city,” he added.
Tanzania has a sizable population of about 52 million people and a growing economy where commercial activity in cities like Dar es Salaam is expected to benefit from transport services like Uber that provide a lot of convenience with their ease of use.
The East African nation’s GDP growth rate is estimated at 6.8 percent for 2017 and its transport sector is among those that are booming, according to the World Bank.
Uber, which is considered one of the fastest-growing companies globally, also operates in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco.
#1 Macroeconomic Newsletter For Black America


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Online marketplaces could be stopped from using brands’ trademarks to sell rival products after the UK High Court ruled Amazon breached the copyright of cosmetics firm Lush by showing customers search results for similar products.
Dell is looking to the activation around its sponsorship of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games to raise awareness that it offers more than just desktops and laptops and to drive a more emotional connection with the brand among business decision makers.
Jaguar is planning a “disruptive and edgy” marketing campaign for the launch of its F-Type sports car as it looks to broaden the appeal of the brand beyond its traditional ‘older blokes’ audience to ‘more youthful’ customers, according to Jaguar’s UK managing director Jeremy Hicks.
Air conditioning brand Nuaire did a complete U-turn on its positioning, which resulted in it creating a pipeline value of £7.4m in just five months.
As the furlough scheme comes to an end, the realities of the impact of Covid-19 on the economy and jobs is becoming ever clearer. In our new series, our secret marketer takes us behind the scenes to offer some catharsis and lessons on what to do if you find yourself made redundant.
From building teams you can feed with two pizzas, to committing to regular retrospectives, agile working is helping GSK rethink how it does business in the era of Covid-19.
In an exclusive interview, Coca-Cola UK marketing boss talks about the challenges of 2020 and why the soft drink maker has had to be “braver” than ever before.


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Cape Town-based biotech incubator OneBio will launch its first programme for early-stage Southern African entrepreneurs in May, with applications now open.
Disrupt Africa reported last year on the launch of OneBio, which will provide life science startups with funding, business support, lab facilities and office space, as well as access to networks, mentorship, international markets and large corporate partners, both in Africa and internationally.
Applications have now opened for its first six-month programme, which will feature three bootcamps in Cape Town, virtual workshops, expert coaching sessions and tailored online content.
The programme will culminate with a demo day where entrepreneurs will pitch their companies to a room full of local investors.
“In the past year, OneBio has been working with biotech entrepreneurs and has been blown away by the talent and potential of the region’s startups,” said Michael Fichardt, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of OneBio.
“The programme is purposed to source, amplify and accelerate local life science talent and support a new wave of biotech success stories for Southern Africa. We encourage scientists, bio-hackers, entrepreneurs and anyone using biology to solve large problems to apply.”
Entrepreneurs have until March 10 to apply.