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Whoever did not see this coming, raise your hands.
Okay, so that is how many dummies are here. You can put your hands down. Chinese Internet and gaming company Tencent, known for publishing a plethora of mobile video games, now considers delving into the gaming smartphone business themselves. The company does not plan to manufacture this hypothetical device on its own, though; Tencent will provide its brand and publishment, while the device itself will be developed by someone else. This someone will be, according to gossip, either ASUS, Black Shark, Wentai or Razer.
Why would Tencent want to dip its finger into the mobile gaming phones pie? Mostly because releasing their own phone would allow them to install its own services and storefront on it, which in turn would mean more money flowing into the company’s coffer. These phones would also be crafted specifically so that Tencent’s mobile games could be played on them.


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Comcast’s debut advertising report should have been a perfect opportunity to demonstrate a keen understanding of where the market is heading, but instead we find an MVPD clinging onto its legacy advertising business for dear life.
Most notable from the Comcast Advertising Report 2022: Actionable Insights for the Modern TV Advertiser is the fact that Comcast seems to caution against advertisers putting all their eggs in an addressable basket.
“Advertisers should be sure this hyper-focus on in-market customers does not detract from their need to reach future potential buyers,” the report reads. It gives the example of a luxury automotive brand which saw one-third of its purchases come from viewers that were not identified as having been ‘in-market’ for the car.
While MVPDs are usually desperate to push the infinite promise of addressable, Comcast has held back. The reasons could be two-fold. It is likely looking to retain some confidence in its traditional, non-targeted TV revenues, which are due for a big hit in the near future, while perhaps it is also trying hard to distract from the fact that its addressable initiatives have been too little, too late.
Considering that the automotive brand in question achieved three-times higher conversion rates by reaching those deemed to be in-market, via addressable advertising, palming off the technology certainly seems like an odd move – especially in a year that many are viewing to be addressable’s ‘take-off’.
The report certainly reads as though Comcast is trying to protect its linear impressions, with the recommendation that multi-screen campaigns perform best (in terms of audience reach) when only 20% to 30% of advertising spend is allocated to streaming.
The argument here is that linear can do most of the groundwork in pulling in the large numbers, while streaming should be used tactically for incremental reach. Comcast does caveat that adjusting within a wider bracket of 10% to 40% may be necessary depending on the desired audience, but this seems far too low if one wants to target those under 30 years old.
However, our main gripe with the Comcast report is that it deceptively frames its findings as holistic representations of the video industry at large.
As far as we can tell, these stats only concern viewers, publishers and advertisers that are somewhat tied into the pay TV ecosystem. Even those who have been living under a rock for the past five years will have an inkling that this is not the full picture.
Viewers are reportedly still spending over six hours a day watching linear TV, with 75% of that viewing occurring outside of primetime hours. This linear viewing is split by 69% cable and 31% broadcast. But what is unclear is whether this six-hour average accounts for all video-watching households in the US, or only those with pay TV packages?
If it is the latter, as suspected, then we imagine that the average linear watch time would shrink considerably once it accounts for the 20 million-plus homes that have cut the cord in the US since 2016. Faultline reached out to Comcast to clarify this, but did not hear back in time.
Comcast says that live content is still the big pull for viewers, making up 89% and 54% of linear and digital watch times, respectively. If anything, this 54% of digital watch time seems weirdly high, with the remaining 46% made up of VoD – 34% longform and 12% clips.
While we certainly agree that live is set to become pivotal in digital video consumption, the idea that binge-watching series only makes up 34% of digital watch times seems off. If Comcast is including FAST services in this number, it is slightly more believable, especially as FAST viewership grew 25% over 2021, with six out of ten connected TVs households now tuning into FAST services, according to Comcast.
The number of digital video ads is on the rise, with impressions up 45% year on year in the second half of 2021. The paper quotes a November 2021 survey from Effectv which found that 75% of viewers are happy to view streaming ads, so long as the content is free. There has also been a 54% increase year on year in audience targeted campaigns, which has fueled an interest in advertisers harnessing their own first-party data to find these audiences. Comcast says this has proven particularly true with political and automotive advertisers.
Comcast highlights how this need to optimize audience data has led to an increased reliance on the automation and efficiency offered by programmatic buying. Programmatic ad impressions grew 80% YoY in the second half of 2021, 60% of which were guaranteed deals, which leads Comcast to forecast that programmatic deals could comprise half of all premium video advertising by 2026.
As for viewing formats, 65% of programmatic views were on CTV, which is seeing a growing share of such buys, while set tops, desktops and mobiles each hold 19%, 9% and 6%, respectively.
Another interesting nugget is that many publishers are turning to schedule optimization technologies to maximize yield from inventory. In one case study, Comcast found that such tools can reduce manual workloads for publishers by 20%, while simultaneously boosting revenues by 20%.

domain: news


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The conversation around wearable tech is still very much alive, though more of a cautious whisper. A lot is happening behind the scenes, and there's plenty of speculation around what new advances will be made to integrate new technological advantages into our work and daily lives. What's clear is the next evolution of compact, personal gadgets is not far off, so it's worth considering the implications they'll have for your workplace sooner rather than later.Smartwatches and fitness trackers have taken a noticeable backseat to flashy virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) at major conferences like CES and the Mobile World Congress this year. Still, the market for wearables is growing with a healthy 16.9% lift in Q4 alone. As the technology continues to improve its usefulness, it will be difficult to not want to integrate and take advantage of its many business benefits, and there are steps we can take now to prepare for this.
Expect Improvements on Existing Advantages
The potential promises of wearables are still being realized, but the future seems to be rooted in apps, at least to start. The next Fitbit may be more similar to smartwatches, and the dependence on applications moves these devices closer to smartphones. Experts seem to expect that wearables will be independent of smartphones for mobile network connectivity.
Health and fitness are expected to continue to be a prominent function, as people take interest in measuring activity. Wellness is always a great corporate goal, and wearables will likely improve the potential to build a culture of wellness and support, like many people already do together with friends and colleagues using simple Fitbit challenges. We can already imagine the potential for additional workplace activity integrations as well, such as improved trackers to reinforce safety and compliance.
Accessibility and security will also see new opportunities. Wearables have the potential to make handling administrative tasks more efficient and improve scheduling. They also could increase security through personal biometric measurements, replacing swipe cards or shared passcodes.
Start Bolstering Your Mobile Smarts
Wearables will challenge businesses similarly to how personal smartphones and tablets have. By allowing personal phones in lieu of a separate business phone, companies can continue to leverage workplace mobility while limiting burdens and underscoring the expectation of responsibility. We've experienced many degrees of device policy while working diligently with clients to set up Kronos Workforce Mobile to their advantage. Strong policies, such as strict password requirements on personal phones with business emails, set the foundation for new technologies to come.


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Full profile →'">
The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
Continued from page 2
- On the merits of its products alone, it remains a bit of a head-scratcher exactly how Chrysler's existing lineup of sheet metal continues to produce the sales increases that it is. The Jeep Grand Cherokee, all-new last year, is a worthy vehicle and is selling at a 36-percent better pace this year than in 2011. But Chrysler's other big sales winners include a Dodge Avenger and Dodge Challenger whose appeal would seem to be largely limited to fans of retro vehicle designs, while the Dodge Journey -- a middling execution of what at this point already has become a hoary nameplate -- posted a 69-percent sales increase in July and is ahead by 23 percent for the year in a very competitive segment.
- Fiat is treating Chrysler now like a senior instead of junior partner, with Marchionne wisely moving more of the merged company's output to cost-advantageous Chrysler factories in the United States while he hopes Fiat can tread water in the still-deteriorating European auto market. There's no understating how difficult the European market has become for Fiat, with the company paring back its operations in Italy the most in memory, and Marchionne complaining about Volkswagen's sharp elbows. But through it, Chrysler-Fiat has become an exemplar of how to make the industry's first true transatlantic alliance of OEMs an effective strategic partnership, while GM and Ford cope with massive bloodletting by their legacy operations in Europe.
Another sign that Chrysler is stabilizing at a much-improved place over a few years ago is that the company is finally able to pay true attention to improving its corporate culture after decades of erratic movements from one overlord to another and a necessarily makeshift approach to empowering and motivating its employees.
Under the Fiat-Chrysler global manufacturing system, for instance, there is a concerted effort to build on several crucial "pillars" of management that "really underlie the people side of our system now," Mario Pino, head of world-class manufacturing for Chrysler, told me. One goal of this approach is to eliminate non-value-added activities in Chrysler plants in a thoroughgoing way that the company never has attempted before, down to shaving steps required by an assembly-line operator to complete a given task -- by asking the worker to redesign the job.
Four months ago, I posted for Forbes.com on "7 Things Chrysler Could Use to Mount a Good Second Half." Under Marchionne, the company arguably is coming through on all seven of them -- and more -- creating not only tangible momentum for the rest of 2012 but arguably a good foundation for years to come.


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Pace Sees Early Benefits From Philips Acquisition
[Satellite Today – 07-10-08] Pace expects to perform ahead of expectations over the next year, the company said July 10.
The set-top box manufacturer expects to benefit from a combination of a favorable exchange rate and stronger-than-expected performance of certain parts of its business.
Pace France, the renamed Philips set-top box and connectivity solutions business Pace acquired in April, in particular has benefited from these conditions, Pace said. Pace France initially was expected to post a loss in 2008 but now is profitable, and Pace expects that the company’s performance for the year will significantly exceed current expectations.


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US tech giant Apple has agreed to store personal data of its Russian users at a data centre inside Russia to comply with a new law, the Kommersant business daily reported on September 10, citing unnamed sources.
Apple will cooperate with Moscow-based data centre operator IXcellerate, which already teamed up with US online hotel booking service Booking.com.
Most major tech companies, including Google, eBay, Paypal, Aliexpress, Samsung and Lenovo have already transferred their data to Russian data centres.
Under the new regulation signed by President Vladimir Putin in December 2014, all Internet services using the personal details of Russian clients must transfer such data to the servers inside the country by September 1, 2015. If a company refuses, Russian communication watchdog Roskomnadzor can restrict access to their websites.
The Board of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) resolved to keep the key interest rate unchanged at 9% at the policy meeting on July 28, the regulator said in a press release. The decision to pause ... more
The High Court of Justice in London accepted Kyiv’s position during hearings on $3bn Eurobonds held by Moscow, and granted a further suspension of its ... more


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TORONTO, May 26, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — True-E Marketing, a Canadian digital marketing firm, has introduced Chinese SEO and media releases in mainland China to their line of services. “These services can rapidly increase exposure for companies to nearly a hundred mainstream media channels in China,” claims Lloyd Zhang, CEO of True-E, “China has a rapidly developing economy and one of the most lucrative markets in the world. It just so happens that Chinese youth enjoy interacting with well-known brands from around the world and have become a powerful consumer group through internet consumption.”
In the past 30 years, brands from multiple countries have successfully entered the Chinese market through the Internet at a low cost. North American brands such as Canada Goose, Arc’teryx, and Lululemon have all achieved great success in the Chinese market, in large through E-marketing. If a company wants to successfully enter and invest in the Chinese market, effective usage of the Internet is essential to increasing brand exposure, and True-E Marketing has been providing clients with this essential Internet marketing knowledge at no cost.
True-E Marketing was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Its founder and vice president, Jenny May, is a senior Internet expert with more than 15 years of managing experience in listed Internet companies. She holds a master’s degree from Tsinghua University and Peking University (equivalent to Harvard and Yale in China). She has experience as an operating executive at three listed Internet companies in the NASDAQ, and was one of the earliest content creators of China’s most famous social media platform, Weibo. Ten years ago, she led a team of 20 people and generated nearly $40 million in revenue for the Weibo. Jenny has handled hundreds of successful Internet marketing cases, many of which have been invested tens of millions of dollars each year. In May 2021, Jenny May won the “2021 International Elite Women’s Most Influential Technology Award” in recognition of her and True-E Marketing team’s contributions.
True-E Marketing continued on to receive external investment shortly after its establishment. True-E Marketing’s investor and CEO, Lloyd Zhang, previously worked at KPMG and is also a graduate of Tsinghua University. In the past three years, True-E Marketing has led many Canadian and American companies in successfully entering the Chinese-American market. By dedicating hundreds of hours to the community through hosting more than three years of free public courses, True-E Marketing has truly helped various small and medium-sized enterprises in North America.
A search for “True-E Digital Marketing Toronto” on Google yields a Google score as high as 4.8 points, with over 80 positive reviews from their clients. On YouTube, True-E regularly releases free educational videos, so far adding up to hundreds of hours of digital marketing courses available on their channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv8H_Nvew1DBeSXIW1flvqQ).
True-E’s other touchpoints include their website (https://www.true-e.ca), WeChat official account, as well as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and even Tiktok. Their followers amount to near 10,000 students and customers.
If your business strategy is to attract more Chinese customers in North America or have potential consumers in mainland China know more about your products and services, True-E is currently having a special promotion for 10 Chinese press releases for only $500! Contact: [email protected] for more details.
Adam, True-E Marketing, 1 4168780880, [email protected]
SOURCE True-E Marketing


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Majority holdings of citrus firm Alico sold
10/19/2013 6:05:51 AMMajority interest in Fort Myers, Fla.-based Alico Inc. has been sold to 734 Agriculture LLC, a private... Read more.
Industry works to divert waste from landfills
10/18/2013 5:46:52 PMNEW ORLEANS – About 40% of all fruits and vegetables grown in the U.S. are thrown away, straining... Read more.
Ohio State University scientists clone tomato fruit size gene
10/17/2013 7:58:25 PMOhio State University researchers have led an international team that identified and cloned a gene... Read more.
Agritourism operators should review their safety plans
10/16/2013 11:30:43 AMFall marks high consumer interest in agritourism from hayrides and corn mazes to pumpkin patches and... Read more.
H-2A delays endanger desert labor supplies
10/16/2013 11:31:31 AMThe federal government shutdown will contribute to November labor shortages in the vegetable fields of... Read more.
Southern Corporate Packers adds greenhouses, expands acreage
10/14/2013 7:52:56 PMIMMOKALEE, Fla. — Southern Corporate Packers Inc. is expanding its acreage and moving into greenhouse... Watch Video.
- Citrus growers endure another cold night, prepare for more
- Avocado pest, disease continue to spread in Southern California
- Potato marketers promote nutrition
- California OKs herbicide for use on permanent crops
- Arizona project explores hydroponic strawberry production
- Survey finds food safety ranks as a top concern among Floridians
- Genetically engineered tomato helps fight bad cholesterol
- Most California produce tested had no detectable pesticide
- Bayer tests new seed treatments to protect honeybees
- Florida battles Mexican strawberries
- Del Monte testing genetically modified pineapple
- Glyphosate-resistant weeds also may be disease resistant


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Focus on health maintenance and healthy aging is now front and center.
COVID-19 has fundamentally changed consumer attitudes about health. In short, it’s given proactive healthcare a shot in the arm.
Even before the pandemic, consumers were becoming more conscious about the impact of their current diet and lifestyle on their health. The pandemic, however, intensified focus, placing greater emphasis on health maintenance to stave off disease. FMCG Gurus research shows that any reaction to the virus amongst consumers is not short-term; on the contrary, consumers appear to have changed their attitudes and approach to health long-term.
More than ever, consumers are embracing the notion of healthy aging, seeking to become fit and active until as late in life as possible. This, in turn, is influencing dietary habits. Consumers want nutritious products they know and trust and can easily incorporate into their daily health regimen.
FMCG Gurus research in 2020 shows that 42% of global respondents say they have adopted a long-term approach to health maintenance. Many are recognizing that their diet and lifestyle are not as healthy as they should be, increasing the risk of immediate and long-term health problems.
For instance, 41% say that in the last 12 months, they have experienced health problems that impact their quality of life. Up to 23% describe their diets as unhealthy. And 52% say they are concerned about the amount of time they spend indoors on digital devices.
Even before the pandemic, consumers realized the need to make improvements; however, this realization intensified over the past year and will continue to do so. Indeed, 58% of global respondents say they are concerned about a third wave of the virus, while 19% believe it will continue to impact our day-to-day lives for years to come.
Before the pandemic, health goals were often aspirational and less urgent. The pandemic changed all that. Consumers are now questioning their vulnerability to disease and illness and looking to take steps to minimize their exposure to germs like viruses and bacteria. Research in February 2021, for instance, shows that 65% have become more conscious about their immunity as a result of the virus.
This highlights two key issues. Firstly, more than a year into the virus, instead of developing COVID fatigue or believing the pandemic to be sensationalized, consumers remain concerned about their health. Secondly, concern about vulnerability to disease and illness is not just restricted to those more vulnerable to COVID-19, such as the elderly.
In laying out their proactive plans, 76% of consumers say they plan to eat and drink more healthily as a result of the virus, while 75% say they plan to lead an overall healthier lifestyle. These sentiments have remained steady over the course of the pandemic, with minimal change in the proportion of people saying this in February 2021 compared to when the survey was last run in July 2020.
Consumers remain committed to leading a healthier lifestyle. When looking to improve their diets, they will most likely strive to increase their intake of functional ingredients while reducing those deemed to be dietary evils. Ingredient-led claims will become more influential on purchasing habits.
When it comes to diets, however, consumers can often demonstrate attitude/behavior gaps. This is why the prevalence of lifestyle-related health problems continues to rise despite more people than ever saying they are committed to improving their eating and drinking habits.
Helping Consumers Overcome Barriers
These barriers are still present in a pandemic environment. Research conducted in 2019 showed some of the key obstacles cited by consumers when trying to lead a healthy lifestyle: 1) healthy food is seen as bland and boring (31%), 2) time-scarcity means an overreliance on convenience food (45%), 3) better-for-you products are often more expensive (48%). The cost barrier is likely to have intensified as a result of the recession created by the pandemic.
This means that if brands are to truly help consumers facilitate healthy-aging plans, they need to ensure products are nutritious and hassle-free so they can be easily incorporated into daily diets. In addition to being convenient, affordable, and tasty, products must be high in good ingredients, low in bad ingredients, and carry credible claims on packaging.
Author’s note: This article is based on the following FMCG Gurus surveys: 1) FMCG Gurus Personalized Nutrition Survey (2020), and 2) FMCG Gurus COVID-19 Survey Series (February 2021).


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IC tomorrow launches £210k prize to find innovative VR & AR ideas
IC tomorrow has announced a new £210,000 contest to encourage UK digital businesses to innovate in the fields of augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR). With the AR & VR markets expected to reach $150bn revenue in the next 5 years (according the Digi-Capital), it’s a ripe sector for startups and small businesses to come up with inventive new ways to use the technology. That’s why this new fund has been set up to invite these companies to trial their AR/VR ideas for music, retail, healthcare, education, construction and tactile technology.
As well as a share of the funding, the six winners will enjoy valuable partnerships with industry leaders including Crossrail, John Lewis, Pearson plc, Columbia Records, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) with Enteric HTC and Royal London Hospital, and King’s College London with Konica Minolta and Ericsson.
The winning entrepreneurs will keep 100% of their IP, as well as receiving mentoring and promotion to help bring their solutions to market. The six categories and their respective partners include:
- Smart construction– Crossrail
- Immersive retail– John Lewis
- Enhanced medical training and care– Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), Enteric HTC and Royal London Hospital
- Next-generation vocational education– Pearson plc
- Tactile experiences– King’s College London, Konica Minolta and Ericsson
- Amplified music experiences– Columbia Records
Matt Sansam, programme manager at IC tomorrow, said: “The re-emergence of virtual and augmented reality is attracting a lot of attention, with pioneering start-ups like Surreal Vision leading the way in the UK. But the potential for innovation goes far beyond gaming and entertainment. Successful applicants will use AR/VR to re-shape the way we approach many industrial and technical challenges, such as bridging the gap between online and in-store shopping experiences to help British retailers, or empowering healthcare professionals to carry out remote diagnosis and virtual training. In launching this contest, we are looking to nurture original, creative ideas that have the potential to stimulate the economy and drive growth.”
The deadline for applications is 12pm, Tuesday 18 August 2015. Shortlisted entries will be invited to a live pitch and Q&A with a panel of judges. The final trial launch for successful applicants is scheduled to take place in summer 2016.
Full information on the contest is also available at http://bit.ly/VARcon.


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The process, which has been posted by zedomax over at XDA-Developers, is an easy one click root that is available to those running Windows, Mac OS X or even a Linux based computer.
This process is about as simple as it gets. Windows users will want to install a couple of drivers but after that, all it takes is a simple little script to root the device. That’s about as painless as its going to get.
Read: HTC EVO 4G LTE vs. iPhone 4S.
Once root is achieved on the HTC EVO 4G LTE, users will then have full access over the phone. Keep in mind, this is a new release, so there won’t be much out there to install or hack just yet.
Now, just because this process is easy for some doesn’t mean it will be for others. Those who are trying to root for the first time need to be especially careful because there is always a chance that something could go wrong. Bricking a phone a day after launch doesn’t sound like too much fun so please be careful.
We can’t be responsible for what happens to the device.
The HTC EVO 4G LTE is the third device that Sprint has launched on its still unactivated 4G LTE network joining the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the LG Viper 4G LTE. The EVO 4G LTE is Sprint’s third major EVO device following in the footsteps of the HTC EVO 4G and the HTC EVO 3D.
Specifications on the HTC EVO 4G LTE include a 4.7-inch Super LCD display with 720p HD resolution, a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 8MP rear camera that is powered by a dedicated ImageChip and has a physical button, 16GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, an NFC chip for use with services like Google Wallet, and a large 2,000 mAh battery.


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iPhone 6s Rear Camera Rumored to Retain 8-Megapixel Sensor
iPhone camera module supplier Largan Precision is expected to face limited earnings growth this year amid rumors that Apple's next-generation smartphone will retain an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera sensor, according to Taipei Times (via GforGames).
The report cites Taipei-based analyst Jeff Pu, who claims the iPhone 6s will have the same camera hardware specifications as previous models. Apple first introduced an 8-megapixel rear camera on the iPhone 4s in 2011 and used similar modules for the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s.
Pu said that the camera specifications of the next-generation iPhone, dubbed iPhone 6S, will stay the same as the current iPhone 6 at 8-megapixels, limiting potential catalysts to push Largan’s stock price higher in the second half of the year. [...] Pu said that although the migration to 8-megapixel and 13-megapixel lenses would remain strong among Chinese vendors of mid-tier and low-end phones, upgrades to 16-megapixel and 20-megapixel lenses for flagship phones would be slow given the limited supply of CMOS sensors — used to convert light into electrons.
While details surrounding the so-called "iPhone 6s" remain limited, this report is consistent with Largan Precision's stock price dipping early last year amid rumors the iPhone 6 camera would retain an 8-megapixel sensor. Meanwhile, it was reported in November that the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus could have the "biggest camera jump ever" with a dual-lens, DSLR-quality system.
Top Rated Comments
actually a lot of people say that...
They haven't bumped the megapixels since the 4S for a good reason. At the tiny sizes of smartphone sensors, introducing more megapixels degrades image quality and makes for noisier pictures. Apple know what they are doing.
5S has the same megapixel camera as the 5. So...what tradition?
As evidenced by numerous camera improvements in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, a higher-megapixel sensor does not always matter. Apple could still implement this rumored dual-lens, DSLR-quality system with 8-megapixel sensors on its next-generation smartphones.
The amount of people who print larger than A3 (11.69 x 16.53 inches) from a phone are still quite few. :)
Give me the things the others don't: Dynamic range, correct colors, good lowlight performance and good IS.


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The Tech Innovators Series is supported by Lenovo. Lenovo does not just manufacture technology. They make Do machines — super-powered creation engines designed to help the people who do, do more, do better, do in brand new ways.
For Marvell Technology Group co-founder Weili Dai, the connected lifestyle is the future for not only consumers, but for the semiconductor industry as a whole.
Since its founding in 1995, Marvell has risen up the ranks to become one of leading fabless semiconductor companies in the world. The company's chipsets live inside everything from connected devices, mobile phones and laptop computers to large-scale storage controllers and automobiles.
Ms. Dai has the distinction of being the only female co-founder of an American semiconductor company. As vice president and general manager of communications and consumer business, Dai is considered one of the most successful women entrepreneurs in the world.
Mashable spoke to Dai about how women can become more involved in technology, the future of the semiconductor industry and her advice to young entrepreneurs.
Earlier this month, CNN International profiled Dai as part of its Leading Women Innovator series. You can watch the clip here:
Getting Women More Involved in Tech
As a society, we're constantly looking at ways to address the gender disparity in the tech sector. Dai credits her own success to a solid family upbringing and a strong educational background.
"I was so fortunate to have such lovely, caring and encouraging parents," Dai tells us.
That foundation, coupled with "wonderful teachers" and a lifelong love of math and science helped her become an entrepreneur. Dai believes that "education is really the key ingredient for anyone's success."
Dai has no doubt that women can lead the tech industry. To get there, however, she says that as a society we need to really understand "the subtle differentiation of what women can do," especially as those differentiators — whether they are physiological or learned cultural norms — pertain to the skills required to lead technology companies.
Dai says that part of the challenge is letting young girls know from an early age that they can do these things. She says that as a society, we need to be thoughtful about planting the seeds in media, sports, toys and books. Rather than just having a Barbie doll on toy shelves, we should have Barbie who is interested in computer science and technology.
Still, at a fundamental level, Dai doesn't see the gender divide in technology and business as being about men versus women. She stresses that "it shouldn't be he or she but us and we."
Entrepreneurship and Sports
Between the ages of 9 and 14, Dai played semi-professional basketball in China. It was sports — and basketball — Dai says, that really helped teach her the skills she needed as a business leader.
"Basketball taught me to be strong, to be a team player and discipline," she says. Those skills helped her when building Marvell from a startup to a multi-billion dollar company.
"It takes hard work, passion, commitment and responsibility," she says of growing a business to the next level.
We asked Dai what advice she had for entrepreneurs who are looking to take their businesses to the next level. Her advice: Be ready.
Likening entrepreneurship to taking a bullet train in Japan — Dai says that once you get on the train, there's no turning back. That means that business leaders must be ready. "Entrepreneurs have got to be ready and believe in themselves. When facing the challenges ahead, turn the page and look for the opportunities."
The Future of Semiconductors
Dai firmly believes in the idea of the connected home. The impact that smartphones and tablets have had on the world will only extend to other parts of our lives — starting with the living room, but also extending to the car and appliances. For Marvell, the goal is to be the platform that all of these devices can use to grow.
Using the analogy of pizza, Dai likens the semiconductor to the dough — the base for the pizza. The dough can be thin, it can be thick, it can be small or large. The semiconductors that Marvell makes vary in size and functionality, but at their core, they provide the base for the the connected lifestyle.
"In the last seven years, we've invested in all types of technologies so that we can be the best type of dough," she says.
Some of those investments are paying off. In January, Google announced that it had chosen Marvell chipsets to be the reference design for its future Google TV products. This is where Marvell's mission of being a flexible, malleable platform becomes readily apparent, as these chips can be used in all types of connected devices.
Series supported by Lenovo


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Only a few days to go: We’re raising £25,000 to keep TheyWorkForYou running and make sure people across the UK can hold their elected representatives to account.Donate to our crowdfunder
Our vital farmed salmon sector is a global success story, generating £540 million in gross value added, and offering over 10,000 jobs, many of which are highly skilled and well paid, in some of our most remote communities.
I will continue to support the salmon industry following Brexit, but the United Kingdom Government’s lack of clarity on key issues such as market access and certification threatens that vital sector, and damages investor confidence. Extra costs, risks and bureaucracy directly result from the UK Government’s obduracy. It must heed the warning from the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation, which has highlighted the huge unnecessary burdens that will result from the Brexit deal being pursued.
Last week, the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation warned that, without a close relationship and tariff-free trade with the European Union, the industry could see £9 million lost in costs and delays to the departure of fresh fish. Does the cabinet secretary agree that trade barriers with our biggest trading partner will damage the sector and businesses, and put jobs at risk in the Highlands and Islands?
Yes, I very much agree with the way that David Stewart has set out the position.
The extra costs would result from the imposition of export health certificates and other bureaucracy. Let us be clear: at the moment, there is no need for them at all; there would be no need for them if the UK Government agreed dynamic alignment with the EU. It could remove the need for them; however, it has refused.
On Monday, I asked George Eustice whether the UK Government would pick up the tab for the extra £9 million, or perhaps more, that the trade body has estimated. Mr Eustice said that that would be a business cost. Business must pay that cost, which results directly from the policies pursued by the UK Government. Here we have the first Boris Brexit bill, which the industry will have to pay directly because of the UK Government’s Brexit policies.


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India has emerged as a ray of hope for the whole world in this era of economic slowdown and recession. As the world struggles to avoid slipping into recession, India remains the fastest growing major global economy. This is the reason why India’s stature has increased rapidly in recent times. Many institutions believe that in the coming few years, India will not only leave behind Japan and Germany, but China and America are also going to be left behind from India. /h3>
Apart from institutions like Goldman, SBI and S&P, many domestic and foreign giants have reiterated such things in the last few days. Some believe that India will leave America behind by 2075, while others say that India will overtake China in 2047 itself. Veteran industrialist Anand Mahindra also seems to agree on India’s overtaking of China.
Anand Mahindra commented on the occasion
India’s progress and emergence as an economic superpower Anand Mahindra, who is always optimistic, has recently said big things in this regard. He was addressing a gathering at the announcement of the financial results of his business group Mahindra & Mahindra for the first quarter of the financial year 2023-24.
We are far behind
On this occasion, Anand Mahindra said that India is benefiting a lot from the recent geopolitical tensions and because of that many manufacturers are getting attracted towards India instead of China. He said that now India’s manufacturing companies are behind by a very small margin and they can soon displace China as the world’s factory.
This is the reason why big companies are coming to India
< p>However, Anand Mahindra also reiterated that geopolitical tension is not the only reason for India to overtake China. He made it clear that the economy has a big role in this. He said that the cost of manufacturing in India is the lowest in the world. This is the reason why companies like Apple, Samsung, Boeing and Toshiba have now shifted a large part of their manufacturing to India.
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Manufacturing output prices below last year's level
According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), output prices of products manufactured in the Netherlands were 5 percent down in December 2015 from December 2014. In November year-on-year prices were almost 7 percent down. This time too, the crude oil price and prices of petroleum derivatives had plummeted. Year-on-year oil prices fell less rapidly in December than in November.
Oil prices and output prices down
Since 2013, year-on-year oil prices have fallen almost continuously. In December, the barrel price of North Sea Brent oil was nearly 36 euros, i.e. 30 percent below the price level recorded in December 2014. In November, the barrel price was nearly 43 euros, i.e. 33 percent below the level recorded one year previously.
Year-on-year prices of petroleum derivatives slumped by 24.4 percent in December 2015 and by 28 percent in November. Evidently, prices of petroleum derivatives are directly affected by crude oil price developments. If petroleum price developments are not taken into account, manufacturing output prices were 2.4 percent lower.
Prices of chemical products were 9.4 percent lower than twelve months previously. Prices of food products were more than 1 percent below the level of one year previously. Prices of basic metal products also fell, by nearly 5 percent compared to twelve months ago. Metal products were also cheaper in December than one year previously.
Year-on-year prices of machinery, cars, rubber and plastic products, on the other hand, rose marginally.
Altogether, the eight industries referred to in the above text and the corresponding graph account for nearly 80 percent of total Dutch manufacturing industry.
Manufactured products cheaper in December than in November
Prices of manufactured products decreased on a month-to-month basis. In December 2015, output prices of manufactured products fell by 2.2 percent relative to November 2015. Prices on the foreign market fell by 2.6 percent, prices on the domestic market by 1.9 percent. In December, oil prices fell considerably compared to November.


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Reports suggest that Samsung Electronics will be investing approximately 2 trillion yen by 2021 in order to boost the flash memory production, at its factories in Korea. Samsung intends to secure the top position in the flash memory segment, while Toshiba is still in the process of selling its flash memory business unit— Toshiba Memory. Samsung will be investing in new product lines including its latest NAND type flash memory. The company's production capacity is expected to grow twice by 2021 with this additional investment. According to Research company, IHS Technology, in 2016, Samsung grabbed the top share in the flash memory market with 35.2%, followed by Toshiba 19.3%, Western Digital 15.5%, Micron Technology 12.0%, SK Hynix 10.1% and Intel 6.9% in terms of value.
Sumitomo Chemical Co. has developed a new technology which can reduce production costs of large-format OLED panels to a great extent. The company has developed a new chemical pigment material for manufacturing OLED panels that targets to cut the production cost to half of the current deposition method. The company plans to enter quantity production by 2019 and sell to panel manufacturers in and outside Japan, expecting reduction of prices for OLED TVs to expand the market. The current deposition method requires expensive equipment and lots of the chemical pigment materials are wasted. The light-emitting elements of red, green and blue are supplied by Idemitsu Kosan Co. of Japan, Merck from Germany, and so on. The new printing method can reduce production costs because it requires less manufacturing processes than the deposition method but has a drawback of difficulty of coating light-emitting pigment evenly on the panel plate, which becomes more difficult when the panel sizes get larger. The new pigment that Sumitomo Chemical has developed is expected to reduce colouring of the light-emitting pigments on to the panel. Sumitomo Chemical said it has developed new manufacturing equipment for the printing method. To develop the new pigments, the company has cooperated with foreign panel makers and JOLED, which was established by integrating the OLED business division of Sony and Panasonic in 2015. JOLED plans to develop 21.6-inch display for medical use by using the new OELD panel produced in the printing method and market this autumn.
iBall recently launched its newest wireless presenter 'iBall Presento 60'. Designed to optimize the presentations and make it more effective, the Presento 60 comes with 6 buttons with an in-built laser pointer. The buttons of this presenter assist users by taking their presentations forward and backward. iBall Presento 60 comes with volume buttons on its side and provides a wireless range of up to 30 meters. Its remote allows access to Hyperlinks on a single point. iBall Presento 60 supports all kinds of operating systems which include Windows, Android, Mac and Linux. The Presento 60 is available at all leading retail stores across India with 1 year warranty at INR 2,799.


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CMO and CDO Kapil Grover explains why it choose to do such a campaign and if it marks the start of a pricing war with rivals.
Burger King’s guerilla attempts to onboard actor Hrithik Roshan as its brand ambassador, won it several nods and salutes over the weekend, plus an annoyed actor to boot.
As Monday dawns to a close (you are reading this on a Tuesday), Burger King (BK) revealed that it did another number on the actor. A BK employee masquerading as a paparazzi got the actor to say “Fantastic”, which the brand then used as a promotional tool for its Stunner menu.
The actor and his legal team were quick to clap back only for him to face defeat at the hands of BK’s Stunner menu – a variety of items, each priced at Rs 50.
Kapil Grover, chief marketing and digital officer, BK, says actors and cricketers help you to grab eyeballs, but because it is BK, you can’t do a typical ad featuring a star. And so, you ask yourself, how do we put a twist on it? “No other brand will dare to do it, it comes naturally to us.”
The ad series, which is available online, will be released on TV in a staggered manner. It has a run time of eight weeks and is staggeringly different from the maiden campaign of the Stunner menu that was released in 2021, which was similar to BK’s global Crown campaign.
Grover explains that the first campaign acted as a tool to build awareness around the Stunner menu. “We had to explain to the customer that this is a new menu, it has multiple items, it costs Rs 50 and that campaign did the job quite well.”
Cut to 2022 and BK wanted to do a “Stunner 2.0, which raises the bar on engagement, conversation, buzz and entertainment value of the campaign.” Grover states the brand, globally, stands for the cultural hacks it doles out and always gains disproportionate cultural recall.
The campaign’s initial idea was an entertaining piece of content around the Stunner menu, which focuses on the fact that it’s a Rs-50 menu, and establishes it as a new price point for the consumer. And also, how does one execute it in a clutter-breaking fashion?
Roshan was the first choice for the campaign, but “one should never build a campaign around a star, they should find a place in the campaign.”
The constant light being shone on the Rs 50 price point might point towards a new competition bone among QSRs, where the price is the new bait to lure consumers. A June 2022 ICICI Securities research states, “Within burger chains, we found that Burger King is cheaper by 8-10% than McDonald’s in the affordable segment.”
Grover, however, feels there is no pricing war. The brand is not going down a discount or a deal route.
He explains how value menus either have one to two items at the value price or it says “starting from Rs X” and when you buy things of your choice, you see the price is higher than what you expected. “We intended to solve the two problems of the consumer. That was the idea of the Stunner menu.”
Amid all the chatter around the Stunner menu, another stunning fact was the creative agency behind this entire campaign. The first thought would have gone to Famous Innovations, BK’s creative agency on record. Instead, it was Leo Burnett Orchard.
Grover says BK has agencies on retainer, but when it comes to creative ideas and solutions, it is always good to keep an open brief and today’s agencies love to work on such projects. “For our first Whopper launch campaign in 2016, Lowe Lintas was not our agency on record,” he reveals.
Pravin Sutar, Leo Burnett Orchard’s creative head, remarks that BK, as a brand, has been cracking clutter-breaking ideas and it is something that brings newness to thinking, and that was what we wanted to capture.
“When we came up with the idea of a celebrity, we had Hrithik in mind from day one. BK saw the merit in the idea and always supported it,” he reveals.
The campaign will run for eight weeks on TV, digital and even Spotify. “It is a complete 360-degree campaign where the spends is much higher on digital than BK's traditional preference towards TV because the content is such that it will travel quickly and so digital made sense,” remarks Grover.


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French DIY stores open for business on Sunday
Issued on: Modified:
Home improvement shops across France remained open on Sunday, breaking a long-standing tradition of shuttering for a day of rest at the end of the week while the government reviews complex trading laws.
The French government announced on Tuesday that home improvement stores may remain open on Sundays until 1 July 2015.
Sunday’s in France have been enshrined as a day of rest since 1906 but a plethora of clauses and exemptions have complicated matters.
Retailers in bustling, high touristy areas could remain open, food shops until 1:00 pm and gardening and furniture stores could stay open, while DIY stores were forced to close.
Critics said the law prevented workers wanting to work from gaining an extra day of employment and slowed growth in Europe's second largest economy during turbulent economic times.
Now nearly 180 stores are able to open their doors until France is able to an overhaul of the law by mid-Summer.
Jean-Claude Bourrelier, CEO of Bricorama, told Agence France Presse that 33 of their stores, including 27 in the Paris region, stayed open on Sunday.
Bourrelier added that only one or two stores were not able to organise in time to open today.
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He raised the task while attending a ceremony to give the order to handle the first cargo in the Year of the Cat at Tan Cang-Cat Lai port which belongs to the Saigon New Port Corporation in Ho Chi Minh City on January 29.
The leader said the Saigon New Port Corporation would promote its key role in the deep-water seaport development in the country, as well as maintaining its position as the pioneer in implementing the maritime economic development strategy until 2030 with a vision to 2045.
The Government, ministries and sectors will always support the firm and the whole Vietnamese business community in general, he added.
The corporation is operating eight container ports, including the three largest and most modern ones in Viet Nam, accounting for 55 percent of the domestic market share.
The Tan Cang-Cat Lai is among 20 container port clusters with highest production in the world.
In 2022, the corporation reported a rise of 5.4 percent in revenue and 16.2 percent in profit, contributing over VND 1.9 trillion (US$ 80.96 million) to the State budget./.


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The TVS Apache RR310 was launched earlier this year and has already made a name for itself in the Indian performance motorcycle segment. The launch of the RR310 commemorated 35 years of the company’s presence in Indian motorsports. Hence, it doesn’t come as a surprise to see the manufacturer coming up with the track-tuned, race-ready version of the Apache RR310. The company recently revealed the new motorcycle along with the names of 12 racers who’ll race them.
In terms of appearance, the track-only version looks a lot like the Akula concept that was showcased at the Auto Expo 2016. It’s the same concept that previewed the production-spec Apache RR310. As for the track-only version, akin to the concept, it doesn’t carry any sort of a headlamp and offers a taller windscreen. These motorcycles will be used in the Apache Cup. The motorcycles also carry fairing-mounted aerofoils to fine-tune the aerodynamics by lowering the drag coefficient.
Underpinning the motorcycle is an aluminium trellis frame that is light in weight. Powering the motorcycle is a performance-tuned version of the same 312.2 cc reverse inclined single-cylinder liquid-cooled engine that powers the stock motorcycle. For the road-going version, this motorcycle outputs a max. power and peak torque of 34 PS and 27.3 Nm, respectively.
In order to handle the additional performance, the TVS Apache RTR 310 Cup Racer is bestowed with stiffer suspension, upgraded brakes and of course, track-spec tyres. While the specifications of these motorcycles haven’t been revealed at the moment, these bikes are likely to offer a maximum power output of more than 45 PS. Here are the names of the 12 racers who’ll use this motorcycle in the Apache Cup –
- Deepak Ravikumar
- Amarnath Menon
- P Sriharsha
- Arun Muthukrishnan
- Abhishek V
- Akash C
- PM Soorya
- Aditya Rao
- S Sivanesan
- K Kannan
- Vivek Pillai
- Vysakh Sobhan
Commenting on the selection of these twelve racers, B Selvaraj, Team Manager, TVS Racing, said, “When we spoke about the TVS Apache RR One Make Series at the launch of the TVS Apache RR 310, the response across the country was phenomenal. This further translated into the number of entries and we were delighted to see new names spring into the final 12. We are glad to have such spirited and talented individuals on our platform and look forward to seeing them compete fiercely in the cup astride the Race tuned TVS Apache RR 310. I wish them all the best for the cup.”
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A 13-year Harvard University study of 20,000 women found that those who drank half a bottle of wine a day had a 70 per cent reduced risk of obesity compared to non-drinkers.
According to Washington State University the polyphenol found in red wine, resveratrol helps to transform “white fat” into the more easily burnt “beige fat”.
The powerful antioxidant resveratrol comes from the skins of red grapes. Resveratrol is also found in nuts, blueberries and strawberries. So no, you don’t need to always turn to the bottle to shed those pounds.
The weight loss benefits don’t stop there. Another study found that resveratrol also helps suppress your appetite. This means that a cheeky glass of red will help you to go straight to bed without stopping by the fridge for a midnight snack.
The U.S. government’s official alcohol body, the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has claimed that ‘when alcohol is substituted for carbohydrates, calorie for calorie, subjects tend to lose weight, indicating that they derive less energy from alcohol than from food’.
Not only can red wine help you lose weight, but researchers from Harvard Medical School have also reported that red wine has anti-ageing properties. Red wine drinkers have a 34 percent lower mortality rate than people who opt for beer or vodka, according to a 29-year-long study. Resveratrol protects against cell damage and prevents age-related mental decline.
This is not a new concept; in fact, European monasteries have claimed for years that a monk’s long life span is partially thanks to the regular consumption of red wine.
The benefits of red wine don’t stop there. Studies have shown that red wine can increase the healthy cholesterol HDL; it can improve type 2 diabetes, decrease the risk of breast and colon cancer, prevent dementia and even reduce the chances of depression.
We may have slightly rose tinted glasses when it comes to wine, but the science backs us up, this is one diet worth giving a go.
To find out why you should eat all the colours of the rainbow click here.


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The Hyderabad based, India’s most affordable computing device maker
“RDP Workstations P Ltd” has crossed the 500 GeM Partners landmark.
Speaking to newsman – Mr Rajesh Mallampalli, VP Sales RDP, minced no words in giving credit to GeM, the Government E Market for providing such
a platform and making Indian Companies excel in globalised workspace.
He said “As on date we have 500 + active partners registered across India for GeM business, each day we have GeM registration requests from new partners”
He shared, that the company is providing free ERP login for their GeM registered partners and a special training session from dedicated teams to make sure that partners get familiarized with the system.
RDP’s Partner – Shiva Santosh, Director, Unique Technologies said
“Our relation with RDP has just been over a year. We are able to do brisk business with help of their recently launched online system that is very transparent & dynamic, we are able to see the complete bidding process.
RDP have been extremely supportive on GeM business with their Sales, Service & Training. The system’s process sends notifications, reminding us for participating one day before the bid. They also have a calling system as well, in place” Santosh said.
“The value of goods and services sold via GeM portal stood at an impressive Rs.1 Lakh Crore for financial year 2022” says Rajesh Mallampalli.
“Based on current bid publishing flow in GeM, we expect approximately 40k bids alone in Compute category for this fiscal” he added.
Keeping in view of the enormous potential thrown open thru GeM, RDP had decided to create a platform for partners who register with the company.
“It took us a good 24-36 months to build the process, thanks to our in-house teams who worked 24/7” Mallampalli said.
RDP cherry picked brains from IITs, IIMs and also from premium institutions to build the process. It is India’s first, Amazon kind of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that an Indian IT company has put in place.
“We believe in – ‘Build people and people will build businesses”, the VP said and added that “I can confidently say that no brand has built a similar process for GeM business alone.
“I am proud to say that RDP is now fully digital and each and every communication of the published bid is captured in our ERP. With our new after sales support initiatives and improved delivery timelines we believe in achieving our company milestones”
Mr Mallampalli said.
RDPs Partner at Mumbai, Mr Vijay Khadloya of KJM Group said “Our association with RDP has come at a perfect time when GOI is bullish on MII – Make In India. We have shown our choice from HP, Dell and other imported brands to RDP. Their unique online system has come at a right time that has put RDP in a growth trajectory like Amazon & Flipkart. It’s service reporting, tendering, documentation has been incorporated & automated with a very prompt dynamic ERP (CRM) system that no other competing brand has done till date. They have realigned & integrated their sales support and service. We feel with such dynamic order put in place RDP is poised to become the
next Dell of India”
In the recent past, RDP was the only OeM brand in the computer hardware category that got an invitation from Govt of India to showcase its range of products at the recently concluded Digital India week 2022 at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. It was inaugurated by Honorable Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi.
Founded in 2012 by a young entrepreneur Vikram Redlapalli with a dream of making low cost computing a reality, RDP, during the last decade has bloomed into a promising brand making a mark across the world.
RDP during this short span has also aquired over one million users, 3500 partners, 35,000 clients and more than 250 active retailers for its range of products that includes desktops, laptops, and tablets, thin clients both for personal and business use.


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Musk had the largest dollar gain on this year's list, according to Forbes, with a fortune of $151 billion, a $126.4 billion increase compared to $24.6 billion last year, when the Tesla and SpaceX executive ranked at No. 31. Tesla shares have risen about 705% over the past year.
However, Musk still trails behind Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who stands as the world's richest person for the fourth consecutive year, raking in a worth of $177 billion in 2021, up $64 billion from a year ago, as a result of surging Amazon shares.
|LVMUY||LVMH MOËT HENNESSY LOUIS VUITTON SE||178.76||+2.23||+1.26%|
|BRK.A||BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC.||466,754.98||-5,360.02||-1.14%|
He joins Oracle CEO Larry Ellison ($93 billion), Google co-founders Larry Page ($91.5 billion) and Sergey Brin ($89 billion) and Reliance Industries Limited chairman Mukesh Ambani ($84.5 billion) in the Top 10.
Together, the 10 men are worth a combined $1.15 trillion, up by two-thirds from $686 billion last year.
The total number of billionaires on Forbes' list added 660 people in the last year, reaching an unprecedented 2,755 people, who are worth a combined total of $13.1 trillion, up from $8 trillion on the 2020 list. About 86% of all billionaires are richer than a year ago.
The U.S. leads its counterparts with a total of 742 billionaires, but China is closing the gap with 698 billionaires, including 71 from Hong Kong and one from Macao. India has the third highest number of billionaires, with a total of 140.
Joining the list is a record 493 newcomers, including 210 from China and Hong Kong and 98 from the United States. The richest newcomer is Miriam Adelson ($38.2 billion), the widow of casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who died in January. Other notable newcomers include film and television producer Tyler Perry and Whitney Wolfe Heard, the co-founder of the Bumble dating app and the world's youngest self-made woman billionaire.
Some of those newcomers earned their riches through cryptocurrency, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), traditional IPOs, and COVID-related health care, the media company said.
Approximately 106 of the list members are under 40, two-thirds of whom are self-made.
The youngest billionaire on the list is 18-year-old Kevin David Lehmann of Germany, whose father, Guenther Lehmann, transferred his stake in drugstore chain dm-drogerie mkt to him. Meanwhile, the oldest self-made billionaire is Mercury Insurance founder George Joseph at 99 years old.
A record 1,975 billionaires are self-made, or 72% of the 2021 list, up from 1,457, or 70% of the list in 2020.
Forbes also saw the smallest number of drop-offs from its list in a decade with a total of 61 people, including Kardashian family member and makeup entrepreneur Kylie Jenner and West Virginia Governor Jim Justice.
The 2021 list was compiled using stock prices and exchange rates from March 5 to calculate net worths.


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Mumbai: There have been several rumors regarding the involvement of the beautiful Bollywood actress in the Kochi Indian Premier League. However it appears that all of the rumors have been false, as Katrina Kaif is in no way involved in any IPL event this year. The official spokesperson of the Bollywood super star has said in a recent interview that Katrina is not nor will be the brand ambassador for Pune Warriors as it was said.
After the Bollywood super star stopped being the brand ambassador for the Royal Challengers Bangalore quite recently, there has been lots of talks about a possible new upcoming venture with yet another team from IPL, but the rumors turned down to be untruth. “These reports are untrue and Katrina is not part of any franchise this year,” said Katrina Kaif’s official spokesperson in a recent statement.
So it seems that we will not have the change of seeing her taking part in any IPL event for quite some time at least, as she is not interested in IPL this year.


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Commonwealth Bank will partner with Gemini, a US-based crypto exchange, to provide a digital currency investment platform to over 6.5 million users on CBA apps.
According to a reporter in Sydney, Commonwealth Bank (CBA) will become Australia's first bank to allow customers to buy, sell and store digital currency through the bank's products and applications.
In an announcement released on November 4, CBA said it will partner with Gemini, a US-based cryptocurrency exchange, to provide a digital currency investment platform for more than 6.5 million people. used on CBA applications.
At the initial stage, customers can only trade digital assets, including bitcoin, ether, and litecoin. However, over time, the CBA is likely to expand the range in which clients are allowed to trade.
CBA CEO Matt Comyn shared that the emergence and growing demand for digital currencies creates both challenges and opportunities for the global financial services sector.
The world has seen a large number of players enter the cryptocurrency market and this innovative business model is becoming more attractive than ever.
The rapid entry of CBAs into the ranks of digital currency “logistics” providers will play an important role, addressing growing customer needs and providing capabilities, security, as well as security. trust in a cryptocurrency trading platform.
Global Head of Business Development at Gemini exchange, Dave Abner, described the partnership with CBA as “setting a new standard for banks and financial platforms in Australia.”
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This move helps promote more investment capital to flow into the blockchain technology platform (a tightly encrypted database system that is the basic foundation for the development and circulation of cryptocurrencies and financial assets). other digital assets) and increase the convertibility of digital currencies evolving from being a store of value or being considered digital gold, to becoming a new currency (a means of payment). legitimate, widely accepted and competitive with other fiat currencies.
Economists say the CBA has pioneered Australia to become a global leader in digital currency and new technological financial means of payment.
BTC Markets CEO , Carolines Bowler, said that most of the giants in the technology payments space, such as PayPal and Afterpay, already allow users to trade cryptocurrencies.
This is the time for banks and financial investment funds to join the "future fintech game."
However, some experts complain about the CBA choosing a foreign partner, instead of cooperating with a local exchange operator.
According to research by financial institution Finder, about 3.3 million Australians hold or trade cryptocurrencies, most of which are young people.
However, observers believe that the choice to cooperate with Gemini is completely in line with CBA's approach strategy, in the context that regulations for digital currencies in Australia are still very difficult.
Previously, this bank also decided to invest in Klarma, a financial technology company operating in the field of pre-pay, post-pay, to compete with two giants Afterpay and Zip in Australia.
The digital currency is yet to be officially approved in Australia. The Australian Transaction Analysis and Reporting Center (AUSTRAC) is currently reviewing a number of new regulatory changes, including those related to digital currency controls.
AUSTRAC director Nicole Rose said the agency is likely to issue a regulation, called a "rule of movement," for digital currency transactions soon, requiring financial institutions government is required to transfer certain information, along with digital currency transactions, to the next financial institution.


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Cupertino, CA – Steve Jobs announced the creation of The Apple Channel (TAC), a new basic cable channel that will cater exclusively to the tastes of Apple customers.
“A new era of television entertainment dawns today,” said Jobs. “With shows like The Core and Byting the Apple, viewers will get insider information on upcoming technologies, and personal stories about employee achievements.”
Jobs also announced several other original series that will be featured including a teen drama centered on iPods called The 99-cent Crew, and an animated show produced in partnership with Pixar called Meet the Steves.
The announcement continues Apple's move toward becoming a media company rather than a technology company, a move that many critics think is a mistake. “It's one thing to make entertaining products, another to make entertaining programming,” said NBC President Jeff Zucker in an interview conducted on his iPhone.
Instead of infomercials that other fledgling networks broadcast to fill open air time, TAC will be displaying images of sleek, shiny objects designed to keep Apple customers enthralled for hours; small children and animals should also be drawn to this programming.
A special feature will be interactivity with Apple TV which will allow the viewer to instantly download programs for $1.99 with the press of the remote control's one button. Jobs also said that iPhone owners won't be left out. “You'll be able to stream programs to your iPhone very slowly,” he said.
Apple isn't the first technology company to enter the cable television market. Microsoft's MSNBC, a 24-hour news channel debuted in 1996, and Dell's short-lived Dude TV debuted and folded in 2001.
The network will begin broadcasts on basic cable and satellite systems in the United States and Canada in December of 2007.


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Amazon Studios recently gave the green light to take ‘Betas‘ — a comedy about about four Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who are trying to pitch their app idea to investors — out of beta and into production. To get there, they had to make a stop at Silicon Beach.
“You can’t replace Hollywood,” explained Ron McElroy, CEO and founder of ROC Santa Monica, where the pilot episode takes place. In true Hollywood fashion, both the pilot and the rest of the series will be filmed near Los Angeles, not Silicon Valley.
We asked McElroy why, when television networks came knocking during pilot season, he turned over his collaborative workspace to Amazon instead.
Although other networks, including Warner Bros., Fox, and NBC, had also approached McElroy about using the space to film their pilots, he said he chose Amazon because “they were the best fit” for the company’s entrepreneurial vibe.
Located in the technology hub of Silicon Beach, the 44,260-square-foot co-working space previously occupied by Google now hosts as many as 150 small companies in 200 offices in an eco-friendly “environment that almost feels like a living room,” McElroy said.
Capturing the business dealings of startup founders and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley naturally required a more modern setting than that of “Workaholics,” another office-themed comedy by “Betas” producer Scott Sites.
The company was only partially done renovating its offices when the camera crews arrived. Between the production team and the extras, there were about a hundred people in the space. “It was way more than we expected,” McElroy said.
Once Amazon decided to pick up the show for a full season, the production was moved to a studio in Culver City, but about 80 percent of the pilot episode takes place at ROC. Said McElroy, “It’s a nice feather in our cap that they did it here.”
“Betas” might not be the last series shot at ROC Santa Monica, either. “We’re pretty bullish on this whole entertainment market out here,” McElroy said.


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Business; For Better or Worse, Winemakers Go High Tech
By ALICE FEIRING
Published: August 26, 2001
WINEMAKERS like to say wine is grown in the vineyard. But more and more of the wine produced in the United States is grown in the lab.
In the last five years, new treatments and additives ranging from smoky oak chips to tropical-flavored fermenting yeasts have spread through the 500-million-gallon-a-year American wine industry, whose epicenter is California. They have enabled winemakers to adjust the taste and texture of their products in response to consumer demand, obscuring the line between what is natural and what is not.
While these changes have helped minimize the wine industry's risks of a bad vintage and contributed to a 25 percent increase in annual domestic wine production over the last decade, they have also inflamed an emotional debate about whether winemakers are erasing the mystique of regional differences in wine.
''Anytime I taste a wine that has nothing distinctive about the place or the climate, I call that deception,'' said Roger B. Boulton, professor emeritus of viticulture and enology at the University of California at Davis, who opposes what he calls a creeping homogeneity in wine. ''When everything becomes the same because of winemaking practices, that's a pretty sad day.''
Nearly 90 percent of wine produced in the United States originates in California, and the state's wineries have good reasons to produce wines that they know will sell. The volume of imports has nearly doubled over the last decade and now accounts for more than 20 percent of all wine sold in the country, according to Impact, a trade publication of M. Shanken Communications. Many of those imports, particularly Australian wines, are also produced with the new techniques.
The Wine Institute, a trade group in San Francisco, estimated that the retail value of all wine sold in the United States was $19 billion last year, up 5 percent from 1999.
A trend toward homogeneity in wine may be driven in part by a perception that influential wine critics like Robert M. Parker Jr. and magazines like Wine Spectator prefer particular flavors and aromas. Winemakers seeking good reviews may be exploiting new technologies not only for damage control, but also to shape their wines from birth.
There is nothing illegal about human intervention in the natural fermentation of wine. But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which regulates the industry, does impose some limits. It is not permissible, for example, to use food coloring to perfect a wine's color. And artificial flavoring cannot be added to replicate a particular taste, like that of blackberries.
What is allowed, however, is the use of oak, either raw or charred to varying degrees, which can impart flavors reminiscent of coconut, vanilla and coffee, for example. But while winemakers still use oak barrels, oak chips are increasingly used to save money on lesser wines -- the chips are sprinkled into stainless steel vats to flavor a wine and give it an ''oak flavor profile.''
Adjustments are also permitted in the level of carbon dioxide in fermenting wine, which affects a wine's acidity and fruitiness. Adding unfermented grape juice sweetens the wine. Enzymes lock in color. Yeasts control the level of fermentation. Tannins, naturally occurring chemical compounds in grape skins and wood, are used in powdered form to further enhance a wine's taste and feel in the mouth.
Advances in yeast cultivation have now made it an ingredient for taste as well. Chardonnay producers looking for a toasty, buttery taste use a special yeast that enhances those qualities. Another example is a yeast that gives a banana flavor and aroma, originally introduced 10 years ago in Beaujolais.
Marty Bannister, the founder of Vinquiry, a wine analysis and consulting firm in Sonoma, Calif., said yeast was ''the essential fermentation tool.'' But now, she added, ''people also look toward it for flavor.''
Diana Burnett, fermentation products manager at Scott Laboratories in Petaluma, Calif., a leading distributor of wine yeasts, said that in the past, winemakers relied on nature, soil and skill to make the best wine they could. Now, she said, they decide in advance what flavor they want, then choose the materials and tools they need.
CALIFORNIA's wine industry has embraced the technology of wine enhancement partly because ripened California grapes often have a higher sugar content than grapes grown elsewhere. Until recent years, the sugar was a chronic source of production problems for many winemakers -- it contributes to high levels of alcohol in fermentation, which can kill the yeast prematurely and produce acetic acid, turning wine to vinegar. Wines with more than 14 percent alcohol, the normal amount, can taste hot and harsh.
High alcohol levels also raise the price to the consumer. A federal excise tax of $1.07 a gallon is levied on wine sold in the United States that is no more than 14 percent alcohol. The tax is $1.57 a gallon when the alcohol content exceeds 14 percent.
But now a technique called reverse osmosis, in which high pressure is used to separate the alcohol and acid from the wine, has helped many winemakers salvage crops that nature might have ruined. Use of the technique, originally intended to make nonalcoholic wine, has spread in recent years.