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Inflation in Latin America’s largest nation is expected to start showing signs of temporary relief this year, but the central bank is likely to continue to raise interest rates as underlying price pressures remain.
Monthly IPCA consumer price index inflation is expected to decelerate largely due to some seasonal declines in travel and clothing, according to economists. Prices for both of those segments often go up in December as companies tap a Christmas bonanza, and then subsequently decline in January.
Monthly inflation is seen falling to 0.63% versus 0.92% in December. The 12-month rate is expected to slow to 5.67% for the 12 months ended January, down from 5.91% at the end of December, according to a survey with 12 economist by The Wall Street Journal.
Brazil’s next inflation figures will be released Friday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE.
Despite the expected slowdown, price increases are likely remain above the official target. The government’s target for12-month inflation is 4.5%, although there is a margin of tolerance of two percentage points in either direction.
The ongoing inflation pressures probably mean the central bank will continue to raise interest rates. Espirito Santo Investment Bank‘s economic team said in a research report that the three-month moving average for IPCA inflation is running at an “astounding” 7.2% in annualized terms.
“This is a backdrop that – in our view – contradicts the official position that inflation has been pressured solely by supply shocks,” Espirito Santo said.
Inflation spiked at the end of 2013, nudging the overall inflation rate above the level seen in 2012, a defeat for government officials who had insisted inflation would decelerate.
The central bank has already raised interest rates sharply to try to tame inflation. The Selic rate now stands at 10.5%, up from 7.25% at the beginning of last year. Another hike is expected when the central bank’s monetary policy committee meets later this month and, increasingly, economists foresee more rate hikes through the year. The market sees the Selic rising to around 13% this year, according to Nomura Securities.
A disagreement persists between the central bank and economists over the root causes of inflation. The central bank emphasizes problems that have hindered the supply of goods, such as droughts affecting food prices. Economists argue that there is simply too much demand: low unemployment, rising salaries and hefty government spending means there aren’t enough goods to go around.
Compounding the problems, the Brazilian currency has weakened sharply as markets struggle to cope with the prospect of tightening monetary conditions around the world. That move has been led by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which recently began to withdraw some of its bond-buying program. A weaker currency drives up the cost of imports into Brazil.
“In our view, inflation will remain under pressure this year, due to devaluation of the Brazilian real and also the increase in income in the latest months. We project inflation at 6% this year,” Banco Santander economist team said in a research report.


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The Hospitality Industry has seen better days than these.
We are at the bottom right now! Everyone is hoping for a light in the tunnel, but there is still too much uncertainty in the future.
The sad truth is that the Hospitality Industry was flourishing just when the Coronavirus hit the world.
We had plenty of jobs, and the companies were building new hotels and restaurants all over the world.
Global economic growth, low unemployment rates, and the thurst of the Millennials for international travels have fueled the Hotel Industry. Before the pandemic, the only worry the companies had was finding enough employees.
New trends were rising, as the World population grew wealthier, and the demand for luxury properties was through the roof.
The occupancy rates were very high, and the daily room rates were an all-time high. A new generation of tourists were looking for outdoor activities, an eco-friendly environment, and sustainability. The effects of globalization were all over the Hospitality Industry, and the management could no longer ignore it.
The forecasts were for continued growth through the 2021-2022, and the companies were investing in new properties and renovations.
Now everyone is scrambling for survival.
The Hospitality Industry employs millions of people, and while before the pandemic, there was a high demand for more workers, now millions of people are without a job.
Hotels and restaurants are closed all over the world.
But what the future holds?
Unfortunately, there is no clarity about the Coronavirus situation, and the near forecast for the food and beverage industry is bleak.
There is one certain thing, though: once the global pandemic is over, the global growth will continue, and the Industry will flourish once again.
Nothing can stop the modernization, the technology developments, and the desire of the people to travel.
-The global wealth has been rising for decades.
-The world population has been growing.
-The longevity of the people has been rising, and all that brings more business to the Hospitality!
More and more luxury hotels and restaurants will be open in the future! Many well-paying waiter jobs will be available. That will increase the demand for experienced, knowledgable staff. Now is the time to prepare for the good times by learning new skills, new languages, and getting the right experience.
What seems impossible right now will be a given in a few years! The globalization process will open for you many doors in the future! Working in the USA or Europe will be as easy as finding top jobs near you.
Once again, there will be so many Hotel jobs that the companies will compete for employees with better offers.
The robotization of the Hospitality jobs will never happen! Maybe some low paying, less skillful jobs will be taken by robots, but this will never happen in a la carte restaurants or luxury hotels.
How the future of restaurant service looks like, I doubt anyone knows, but it will require changes way beyond safety and sanitation protocols. We will have to invent new ways to serve our guests and meet their expectations.
As of right now, we are seeing lockdowns easing in the United States and Europe. We are seeing an increase in new cases on both continents as well. There are reports indicating that hotel web traffic shows early signs of positive trends, as prospective guests eager to return to travel tentatively book stays for the latter part of the year.
Hotels and airlines are offering free cancelation policies and that should help increase travel reservations.
Recently, The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) introduced ‘Safe Stay’, an industry-wide, enhanced standard of health and safety protocols.
Guest’s safety will be the primary concern for the hotel industry in the near future. The guests will view hotels under a microscope with perceived cleanliness and safety measures as primary factors in their decision to book a property.
While specific procedures may differ across properties, many properties will look to adopt the following changes:
- Appoint a ‘Cleanliness Manager’
- Promote ‘cleaning protocols’ to guests
- Upgrade cleaning products and increase the frequency of disinfection and upkeep
- Enhance food and restaurant safety and sanitary processes
- Screen guests and employees for COVID-19 symptoms
- Maintain physical distance/barriers between guests and employees
- Require masks or protective equipment for staff and where applicable, guests
- Prohibit employees and guests who have recently traveled or visited high-risk areas
- Leverage self-service and contact-free technology and services where applicable
- Digitize in-room and on-property items like menus, information, brochures, etc.
- Reconsider or revise some amenities and offering to avoid contact
- Hold frequent meetings to clarify employee responsibilities and have ongoing training
- Prepare an action plan for event response procedures when alerted of a COVID-19 case
Historically, global events such as the coronavirus pandemic are a catalyst to industry transformation and innovation. Change is imminent, but so is our industry’s revival, and hotels will undoubtedly rise to the occasion.
Original source: https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4099946.html
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Finally, a Ben Solo Funko Pop! and more could be on the way.
December will mark a whole year since Star Wars Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker came out, the concluding film in the Skywalker saga that perhaps not-so-neatly wrapped up the age-old movie franchise. But regardless of the public’s reception of it, some fans could agree that a few certain Funko Pops! were missing since its release.
A year ago, just after the movie came out, I wrote a list of 10 Funko Pops! I was hopeful to see during a second wave of The Rise of Skywalker releases. And months after, only one of those Pops! have been created, Babu Frik. The second, and subsequent third, etc., waves of releases are meant to show off Pops! with all the spoiler moments we loved in the film. So maybe Funko wanted to give it plenty of time before they began to finally reveal those spoilery Pops!. (At least, that’s the best-case scenario.)
Now, the latest of the Star Wars leaks says that finally, just a few of those Pops! fans have been waiting for may come. This is according to @anerdydad on Instagram. So all leaks should be taken with a grain of salt until they are officially announced.
The list of leaked The Rise of Skywalker Pops! includes Ben Solo, Rey with the yellow lightsaber, revitalized Palpatine, and Rey with two lightsabers.
Not bad for 4/10 of the requests on my original list back in 2019. For Ben Solo fans in particular, this is something that they’ve wanted for quite a while. And it’s no wonder that it’s taken them so long to come up with a Rey that’s holding a yellow lightsaber (as well as the two lightsabers).
Unfortunately, we don’t quite know what “coming soon” could dictate as far as dates. The Funko schedule can be quite unforgiving for those who want instant gratification. The announced Mandalorian season 2 Pops!, for example, won’t be coming until November. And they recently announced Pops! for Amazon Prime’s The Boys won’t be available until March. It seems like by the time you get them, you will have already forgotten that you ordered them in the first place.
Nonetheless, it’s good to see these Pops! may finally be seeing the light of day. Now for that Dominic Monaghan Pop!… If they need any more good ideas, the list is theirs for the looking.
For more Star Wars leaks and updates about Funko Pops!, keep up with the Toys category on Dork Side of the Force.


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Sansa Security has announced that it’s going to support Samsung’s new ARTIK platform. Sansa Client, the company’s device-focused software stack, is going to be integrated into the ARTIK silicon in order to provide end-to-end security.
ARTIK is Samsung’s latest big step into the Internet of Things. It’s aiming to be a comprehensive chip infrastructure platform that allows developers to quickly build IoT products. Sansa, it seems, is going to provide the security, with Sansa Client establishing the guidelines for activation codes, keys, encrypted software and so on, and then implementing those security protocols on the device itself via its Trust as a Service (TaaS) platform.
In a statement announcing the development, a Sansa executive listed a number of potential applications in the ARTIK ecosystem, including “in-field and factory key provisioning, secure code introduction, in-field feature activation, operational flexibility between OEMs, IoT application developers and IoT service providers, provisioning rights transfer, and time-based provisioning rights management.”
It’s a bold move into the emerging world of the Internet of Things, both for Samsung and for Sansa. And it seems to be a big pay-off for some smart position on the latter’s part; within the last month, Sansa has joined the AllSeen Alliance, which seeks to establish a common and open platform for the field; and Sansa was named a Cool Vendor in the Internet of Things by Gartner. Samsung clearly agrees.


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The New York State Senate today passed a comprehensive package of bills that would strengthen and preserve agriculture as the state’s leading industry. The bipartisan measures help support farm workforce retention and expansion; create new tax credits for preserving farmland, transitioning to organic certification, and offering healthy options in communities; promote the use of local produce in schools; and help prepare new farmers for successful careers, among other initiatives.
Senator Patty Ritchie (R-C, Heuvelton), Chair of the Senate’s Agriculture Committee and sponsor of many of today’s bills, said, “The Senate Majority Conference has been leading the charge in reversing damaging funding cuts and investing in innovative efforts - like our New Farmers program - that are helping to protect the future of agriculture. This plan will help support the hardworking farmers responsible for the continued success of New York’s leading industry, as well as provide the agriculture professionals of tomorrow with the resources they need to be successful.”
The measures build upon the Senate’s ongoing commitment to agriculture, including its role as the undisputed leader in restoring more than $55 million in proposed state funding cuts since 2011. This funding has helped support investments in cutting-edge agricultural research, education for the next generation of family farmers, environmental stewardship, and protections for plant, animal, and public health. The bill package would help further support the growth of agriculture in New York and create jobs by:
- Doubling the Existing Farm Workforce Retention Credit: S2905, sponsored by Senator Ritchie, would help farmers meet consumer demands with a strong and steady workforce. The bill increases the Farm Workforce Retention Credit to $500 per eligible employee this year, and $1,200 per employee when fully effective, saving farmers an estimated $60 million when fully implemented.
- Helping Schools Purchase Local Produce: S1430, sponsored by Senator Ritchie, would allow school districts offering bids for food services to include language that favors local or regional farm producers. This expands the market for local produce, encourages larger distributors to invest in smaller farms, and could help co-ops or farms without the resources to independently participate in a bidding process access local school procurement programs.
- Creating a “Future Agriculture Readiness Marketing” Camp: S4660, sponsored by Senator Ritchie, helps those new to the agriculture industry gain the valuable knowledge and tools needed to promote their businesses. This legislation would establish F.A.R.M. Camp, or Future Agriculture Readiness Marketing Camp. Offered once yearly to a select group of successful farmer-applicants, this camp will expose selectees to several of the best agriculture programs in the state. Each participant will have access to all that SUNY has to offer, allowing them to develop their business and themselves. An exclusive group of graduates from the program will also be granted additional aid in the form of grant funds to help them make their marketing plan a reality.
- Increasing New Farmers’ Access to Land: S4900, sponsored by Senator Ritchie, directs the State Department of Agriculture and Markets to enhance access to viable agricultural land for new and beginning farmers. The agency would work with the Office of General Services to develop an inventory of state-owned real property that may be viable for farming. This would help younger farmers overcome frequent barriers that prevent them from gaining access to land and contribute to the aging of the farming population, such as the complex process of transferring ownership of farms and prohibitive capital costs.
- Conserving Productive Land: S2479, sponsored by Senator Ritchie, would create a statewide blueprint for conserving productive land and maintaining the vitality of agricultural production in New York State. The measure would require the state to propose programs that encourage the growth of emerging trends and practices that might benefit small- to mid-sized farms.
- Creating a Farm Savings Account: S3835, sponsored by Senator Ritchie, establishes a tax-deferred Farm Savings Account that will allow farmers to self-insure part of their risk to counteract strong cyclical downturns in the farm economy. Some of the methods used by farmers to help offset losses due to weather or other market forces include delaying the purchase of equipment and the repayment of loans. A farm savings account will offer farmers another management tool to help offset their costs.
- Establishing a Young Farmer Advisory Board: S4021, sponsored by Senator Ritchie, establishes a young farmer agriculture advisory board designed to advise and make recommendations on policies and programs affecting agriculture. Young and beginning farmers play a fundamental role in preventing the threat posed by the gradual aging of farmers and in the future success and growth of New York farms.
- Providing Tax Credits for Organic Farm Transitions: S4721, sponsored by Senator Ritchie, creates a tax credit to increase the profit margin for certain agricultural products that meet any one of several industry standards for crop quality during the three-year transitional period to USDA Organic Certification. This will reduce the uncertainty farmers face when attempting to achieve USDA Organic Certification by providing them with an expanded market for their products and greater financial security during the transition period.
- Offering Tax Exemptions for Organic Farm Transitions: S562, sponsored by Senator Catharine Young (R-C-I, 57th District) creates a real property tax exemption for the lands of a farm operation that are transitioning to organic. In 2011, New York ranked third in the nation in the total amount of organic farms with 597, with the state’s certified organic farms selling a total of $107 million produced commodities. This credit would foster the growth of these farms and is similar to an existing tax exemption for the replanting of vineyards and orchards.
Senator Young said, “Agriculture is one of our state’s major economic drivers, and organic farming is a major growth area with huge potential. Consumers place a higher premium on safe, fresh, and locally-grown organic fruits, vegetables, and other farm products. New York’s farms are rising to meet this demand, and establishing a property tax exemption to help farms transition to organic operations would provide financial stability and increase the likelihood for success.”
- Lifting Size Restrictions on Wine Ice Cream: S4265, sponsored by Senator Joseph Griffo (R-C-I, Rome), would lift the current minimum packaging requirements (at least one pint) for the sale of wine ice cream to meet consumer demand for smaller containers of wine ice cream for weddings, fundraisers, recreational tours and other events.
Senator Griffo said, “Our dedicated farmers have been a significant factor in the economic success of New York State, so I am proud to join the Senate Majority in taking steps that would protect our agriculture professionals and better prepare them for the future. By voting to restore the funding cuts that have threatened many farms across our state, we are continuing to provide the support and investments our farmers need to remain the state’s leading industry.”
- Creating the Healthy Options and Community Outreach Program: S943, sponsored by Senator Rich Funke (R-C-I, Fairport), would create the Healthy Options and Community Outreach Program to increase public awareness and address the issue of “food deserts” by creating a new tax credit for small grocers and convenience stores that commit to selling healthy food and drinks at their shops. Up to 100 percent of an improvement project’s cost could become eligible for a credit if the owner expands, purchases coolers or shelving for the purposes of selling healthier food options.
Senator Funke said, “In my community, which is home to some of the most challenged neighborhoods in the country, access to healthy, affordable food continues to be a barrier for too many families. Our common sense solution would help more small shops stock fresh produce on their shelves and break-up the food deserts that exist in too many neighborhoods across our state. Together, we can feed a healthier, stronger, and more prosperous New York.”
- Preserving Farmland: S4535, sponsored by Senator Pam Helming (R-C-I, 54th District), encourages farmers - particularly those located in areas of the state with greater development pressure - to participate in farmland preservation efforts and remain stewards of their land for future generations by changing the maximum acreage for agricultural assessment of farm woodlands from 50 acres to 100 acres.
Senator Helming said, “As Senate Chair of the Joint Commission on Rural Resources, I have heard from many farmers and agribusinesses about the challenges they face. This legislation will help preserve farmland throughout our state and ensure the continued success of New York’s agriculture industry for future generations.”
- Promoting Farm Cideries: S1078, sponsored by Senator David Valesky (D, Syracuse), would expand products sold by farm cideries and authorizing such cideries to sell cider to other licensees for resale.
- Reducing Transportation Costs: S1240, sponsored by Senator Valesky, allows the New York State Thruway Authority to provide a discounted toll rate of half the normal toll to farmers transporting agricultural products. This measure would help give farmers some relief on high transportation costs for when they travel to ship goods to markets throughout the state.
Senator Valesky said, “Our upstate farms provide fresh produce to so many markets downstate and providing a toll discount will help connect this state to locally grown food. We need to support our local farmers by expanding business opportunities, which is why I'm also proud to support expanding sales possibilities at our local farm cideries, so that our producers could sell each others’ products and also market fresh pastries to complement their beverages. This is a great way to support products made right here in New York.”
- Awarding Excellence in Agriculture: S1333, sponsored by Senator Leroy Comrie (D, Hollis), provides a mechanism for the state develop an agriculture and food awards program that would be provided to farmers, manufacturers and processors that produce exceptional products using locally-sourced ingredients, and also the businesses that make a special effort to market and promote them. These awards could also be presented to restaurants, food retailers, and schools and colleges that feature and promote New York farm foods.
Senator Comrie said, “New York is world-famous for our agricultural products and our farmers deserve more recognition for that fact. My legislation, S1333, will enable state government to provide awards to New York farmers and manufacturers who use locally-sourced ingredients as well as to businesses, retailers, and restaurants who utilize these products and promote them here in New York and beyond. I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for supporting this proposal and for their dedication to New York farmers and our agriculture industry.”
The bills passed today – on National Agriculture Day - are among the latest efforts by the Senate to focus on growing New York agriculture from the ground up. Last week, the Senate passed a budget resolution that included extensive measures that invest in the state’s farm workforce, support the next generation of farmers, and help farmers connect to new markets, among other initiatives to support farming’s growth. Initiatives included:
- $12 million in restored funding for important agricultural programs cut by the 2017-2018 Executive Budget;
- $60 million in tax relief for farmers by doubling the existing Farm Workforce Retention Credit, as outlined above in S2905;
- $10 million to help make additional investments in county fair facilities so that New Yorkers can continue to learn about agriculture and farms in their area.
- Support for $3 million for drought relief in parts of Central and Western New York when lack of rain in 2016 caused severe crop losses;
- $1.8 million to expand access for 120,000 seniors to get free, fresh produce at area farmer’s markets;
- An additional $200,000 for Farm-to-Schools, for a total of nearly $1 million;
- Expand Future Farmers of America (FFA) by supporting and building upon the $542,000 in the Executive Budget;
- $500,000 to help farmers with questions about employment laws and regulations by providing access to Cornell-based specialists;
- $450,000 to help farmers expand to new markets, especially those needing assistance to achieve organic certification;
- $250,000 for the Future Agriculture Readiness Marketing (FARM) Camps, also outlined above in S4660;
- $200,000 for a "Seeds of Success" award to promote and recognize school gardens and gardening programs across the state;
- $100,000 for "Farm to Table Trail" development that directs consumers to local food and beverage options; and
- An expansion of Pathways in Technology (P-TECH) agriculture programs to create opportunities for high school students to achieve credits towards college study in agriculture.


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(Reuters) - Space transportation company Momentus Inc said on Wednesday it will go public through a merger with blank-check firm Stable Road Acquisition Corp SRAC.O in a deal valued at $1.2 billion including debt.
As part of the deal, Momentus will get $172.5 million from Stable Road and $175.0 million from other private equity investors.
The California-based startup sells in-space shuttle services that help move satellites between orbits. The combined company will be listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “MNTS” after the deal closes.
A blank-check firm, also known as a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), is a shell company which raises cash in an IPO with the goal of buying an unidentified private company, usually within two years, in a deal which would then take the acquired company public.
This year, a number of companies have preferred to go public through the SPAC route, as opposed to a traditional IPO.
Once confined to the backwaters of capital markets, SPACs emerged this year as a major driver of IPOs, led by splashy deals for the likes of space tourism company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc and fantasy sports and gambling company DraftKings Inc.
Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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Former Stanford professor will discuss the urgency around Impossible Foods’ mission
ARLINGTON, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#CES2020–The Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® today announced that Dr. Patrick O. Brown, CEO of Impossible Foods, will headline at the CES 2020® Leaders in Technology (LIT) Dinner, an invitation-only event bringing together more than 600 policymakers, technologists and entrepreneurs from around the globe. FOX Business anchor Liz Claman will host the fireside chat to discuss Impossible Foods’ rise from startup to global success.
Brown founded Impossible Foods in 2011 with a singular mission: to eliminate the need for animals in the food chain and reverse animal agriculture’s impact on the environment. The food tech startup debuted its most significant product upgrade, Impossible Burger 2.0, at CES 2019.
“Pat Brown had a vision to reduce the impact of animal agriculture and satisfy consumers, and through technology innovation, he turned his idea into a global phenomenon – reinforcing that every company is a tech company,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA. “We look forward to hearing Impossible Foods’ vision for technology’s role in the future of food.”
Pat Brown is CEO and founder of Impossible Foods, which he founded in 2011. Before Impossible Foods, Brown was a professor of biochemistry at Stanford University School of Medicine. At Stanford, Brown and his colleagues developed DNA microarrays – a new technology that made it possible to monitor the activity of all the genes in a genome – along with the first methods for analyzing, visualizing and interpreting global gene expression programs. He also co-founded the Public Library of Science, a nonprofit scientific publisher that has transformed the publishing industry by making scientific and medical research results freely available to the public.
Liz Claman joined FOX Business Network (FBN) as an anchor in October 2007. She anchors The Claman Countdown (weekdays 3-4PM/ET).
Brown and Claman join other confirmed CES keynote speakers, including NBCUniversal’s Linda Yaccarino; Daimler’s Ola Källenius; Delta Air Lines’ Ed Bastian; Samsung’s Hyun-Suk Kim; and Quibi’s Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
The CES Keynote Schedule will be updated regularly as additional keynote speakers are announced. More than 1,100 visionaries and thought leaders are expected to speak and share insights on premiere technologies at CES 2020. Visit the CES Featured Speakers page to see the latest. For more information regarding the LIT Dinner, please contact Laura Hudson at firstname.lastname@example.org or 703-907-7604.
Owned and produced by CTA, CES 2020, the world’s largest and most influential technology event, will run Jan. 7-10, 2020, in Las Vegas and provide access to the most transformative tech across various marketplaces, such as 5G, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, smart home, smart cities, vehicles, digital health and more. Industry leaders and rising stars will come together again to pioneer future innovation driving the ever-evolving tech industry. Visit CES.tech for all CES updates and register for CES 2020.
CES® is the largest, most influential tech event in the world – the proving ground for breakthrough technologies and global innovators. This is where the world’s biggest brands do business and meet new partners, and the sharpest innovators hit the stage. Owned and produced by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®, CES features every aspect of the tech sector. Learn more at CES.tech and follow CES on social.
About Consumer Technology Association:
As North America’s largest technology trade association, CTA®is the tech sector. Our members are the world’s leading innovators – from startups to global brands – helping support more than 18 million American jobs. CTA owns and produces CES® – the largest, most influential tech event on the planet. Find us at CTA.tech. Follow us @CTAtech.
CES Unveiled Las Vegas
January 5, 2020 – Las Vegas, NV
CES 2020 Media Days
January 5-6, 2020 – Las Vegas, NV
January 7-10, 2020 – Las Vegas, NV


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CORONET yet again exceeded expectations at the 2019 Baselworld watch and jewelry trade fair. The brand was awarded its 9th GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS with the ‘most diamonds set on a watch’. CORONET is already a proud title holder of previous 8 GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS for innovative diamond creations, including the most valuable Guitar featuring 1.6kg of 18K gold and 400 carats of diamonds.
The recently GWR awarded & Mudan; diamond watch by CORONET is an incredible art-piece featuring 15,858 diamonds. The watch is set in 18K gold with artist Reena Ahluwalia’s unmatchable diamond painting on the dial. Reena Ahluwalia’s coveted diamond paintings are hyper-realistic and take hundreds of hours to paint. The watch is inspired by Peonies, as they symbolize nobility, honor and wealth. Reena;s diamond painting on the dial represents the shining nobility that we carry within. Peony (Mudan 牡丹) is known as the ;King of the flowers; in the Chinese culture.
Aaron Shum, founder of Coronet® and President of Aaron Shum Jewelry Limited said, “Since 2015, CORONET is continuously surprising jewelers and fashion lovers at BaselWorld when we unveiled the dazzling Diamond Guitar. This is the ninth time that Coronet has been honored with a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title. We are proud to showcase our one-of-a-kind ;Mudan; watch with artist Reena Ahulwalia’s masterpiece on the watch;s dial - a hyper realistic painting of a diamond. There are 15,858 diamonds set in 18K gold, and a 3D painting dial with diamonds on 3, 6, 9, 12-hour position; The Mudan watch has a total of 50.01 carats of diamonds.
Reena Ahluwalia, an award-winning jewelry designer, diamond painter said, “I feel honored that my artwork has made it into the Guinness World Records. While growing up, I used to read about the Guinness World Records with pure amazement, so this feels very special to me.”
CORONET also showcased its latest jewelry collections, including an artistic and exciting new watch collection in partnership with Reena Ahluwalia, featuring Reena’s 3D diamond paintings on the watch dial.


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All those developers who use Flutter, Google’s development framework for creating applications for Android and iOS, and very recently also for Windows, Linux, Mac and web platforms thanks to release version 2.0, now it will be easier for them to add secure payment capabilities through the new Google Pay plug-in that Google itself has just introduced, coinciding with the start of the Google I / O 2021 event.
Wake up to Google, the new Google Pay plugin for Flutter makes it easy to add payment capabilities to apps being built for Android and iOSIt is also open source, with a unique code base and written in the Dart programming language.
In this way, users who use these applications will be able to make the corresponding payments Quickly and safely via Google Pay, which according to Google’s description:
enables you to provide users with a fast and secure payment experience that increases conversions and frees you from the need to manage credit cards and payments.
This release may also have a different reading, since it is still a business strategy to expand the use of Google Pay as a payment method in the mobile applications segment, allowing users security, speed and familiarity in mobile payments.
As clearly indicated in the description, users will not need to memorize or have to search for their bank card details every time they have to make a payment with Google Pay, since it is Google Pay who will have this information safely.
Do not forget that there are more and more mobile payment methods with which Google Pay has to compete, so it also has to seize the opportunity to make its system the most used against the competition.
On the side of the developers, the same They have the information they need, as well as a series of examples, through the official statement, also having access to other utilities that will allow them to become familiar with how Google Pay works.
From here, it will be a matter of time before we begin to see the first implementations of Google Pay in applications created with Flutter, thus expanding payments with Google Pay beyond the native application that we can install on our smart mobile phones.
More information: Google Developers


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Consumers who have picked up fines from the Minnesota court system now have the option of taking on credit card debt to pay it off.
According to a report in the Rochester newspaper the Post-Bulletin, the court system in Olmstead County, one of the biggest in the state, will soon allow consumers to pay their court-imposed fines with a credit card either on its website or by using an automated phone system. The service is available for any citations that do not require a person to appear in court.
The paper said that this service is part of a campaign that will roll out a similar system statewide over the next two years, which will help the government both reduce its costs and improve service. This new system will be centralized at the state’s Court Payment Center, which will process 1 million payable citations a year from local courthouses. The entity will also house a new call center.
A number of industry experts have said that governments can see increased profits by allowing consumers to pay for municipal fines with credit cards.


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MONTREAL — Alliance Atlantis’ movie distribution operations slumped bigtime in the first quarter due to lackluster box office for its releases in Canada, the U.K. and Spain.
The dip in profit at the Toronto-based Movie Distribution Income Fund is particularly worrisome given that summer is not its hottest period: It relies on product from U.S. specialty companies and competes with the studios’ summer blockbusters.
Distrib reported a net loss for the first quarter ended March 31 of $3.7 million, down considerably from net earnings of $10.6 million a year earlier.
“We just didn’t have a good release slate,” said Movie Distribution Income Fund chief financial officer Lloyd Wiggins. “But we’re very confident on a go-forward basis.”
Revenue for Alliance Atlantis’ movie distribution unit was $85 million, up 7% from $80 million in the same quarter last year.
Canuck distribution revenue was down largely due to underperforming pics “Cursed” and “Son of the Mask,” offset by strong DVD sales for “The Notebook,” “Shall We Dance” and “Finding Neverland.”
In the U.K., Alliance Atlantis-owned Momentum Pictures reported revenue increased 13% in part thanks to the theatrical release of “Racing Stripes” and DVD sales of “CSI: Miami.” However, it posted an operating loss of $80,000, down from a profit of $3 million a year earlier.
The poor U.K. results partly reflect costs of the launch of “Downfall” on April 1. The strong British B.O. for the German pic will be reflected in second-quarter results.
Revs at Alliance Atlantis’ Spanish distributor Aurum were $7 million, a reflection of a lack of major theatrical releases.
The other dark cloud hovering over Alliance Atlantis is the ongoing change at Miramax, one of its key suppliers in Canada.
Alliance is already receiving fewer Miramax pics, and there is no guarantee that it will nab the output deal for Canada from the Weinstein brothers’ new company.


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Baijiu Makers Benefit from Rising Middle Class, Reform in Sector
(Beijing) — Chinese liquor makers are seeing sales rebound after three years of declines amid a government crackdown on graft, thanks to a rising middle class and reform within the sector.
Before reporting revenue for 2016, the front-runner in terms of market value in the baijiu sector, Kweichow Moutai Co., forecast a 17% year-on-year gain for the first quarter of 2017.
Other distillers have shown a better-than-expected performance, with Wuliangye Yibin Co. Ltd. recording sales of over 70 billion yuan ($10.2 billion) in 2016, up 8% year-on-year. Sichuan Tuopai Shede Wine Co. Ltd. expects its 2016 net profit to grow tenfold from a year earlier, and Sichuan Swellfun Co. Ltd. said it expected to see its net profit grow 160%.
Great market expectations have helped boost average share prices of listed baijiu makers, which surged by almost 4% last week, the steepest gain of all food and beverage firms.
The high-end liquor industry, which soured after the central government began a nationwide anti-graft campaign in 2012, appears to be rebounding as consumption shifts from official to individual use.
“After three years of government anti-extravagance measures, baijiu consumption has largely shifted from party and government office consumption to individual consumption,” said Euromonitor research analyst Fay Zeng.
“With growing health concerns, increasing income levels and changes in attitudes to consumption, Chinese consumers are starting to drink better-quality products, which has resulted in a higher volume growth in premium baijiu, and consequently has inflated average unit prices,” Zeng said.
Several companies have increased retail prices, following several years of price cuts — a shift that indicates recovering demand.
By Friday, prices of some popular brands, such as Moutai, Wuliangye and Swellfun, had increased by 8.8% on average within one week on online stores on JD.com, according to a report by financial services firm Northeast Securities.
Increasing costs of raw materials, packaging, labor and transportation have largely affected the profit margins of liquor manufacturers, which has compelled them to increase prices, Zeng said.
Meanwhile, reforms allowing employees of distillers and their distributors to own shares in the companies have contributed to higher productivity and profitability.
Wuliangye in December last year secured regulatory approval to issue additional shares worth 1.8 billion yuan to employees and distributors. Earlier, Hebei Hengshui Laobaigan Liquor Co. Ltd. rolled out similar plans, and the government of southwestern China’s Sichuan province handed the majority of shares of Tuopai Shede to a private group, SkyOcean Group Holdings Co. Ltd.
Moutai and Luzhou Laojiao Co. Ltd. are working on similar reforms.
Xiao Zhuqing, general manager of baijiu company Shandong Wenhe Alcohol Co., Ltd., told Caixin that ownership reform is a future trend within the sector that will allow distillers as well as distributors to share profits and losses, which will improve cooperation.
Share ownership reform is also likely to shift focus from short-term performance to long-term development, Xiao said.
Baijiu is expected to see retail value growth of 6% in 2017, but overall consumption volume is likely to remain stable due to a gradual shift among young consumers away from the existing traditional drinking culture, Euromonitor’s Zeng said.
Contact reporter Coco Feng (email@example.com)
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text: We've all seen those "OMG! Don't make us pay for Facebook" fake petitions, but App.net and The Social Network raise questions about how our social services raise their moolah. Tencent's Sophia Ong has revealed that it's in the unique position of having users happy to pay for services that we take for granted. While signups for QZone (Facebook equivalent) is free, users have to use QBs, the site's virtual currency, to buy and clothe their avatars. While 1 QB = 1 yuan ($0.16), there are 30 million paying customers on the site -- meaning that the company can count on around $50 million in monthly payments. It's not stopping there either, sensing a slowdown in the local economy, the company has an eye on opening up its eCommerce platform to ensure it can continue to rake in the cash.


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It also is labeled for use against Anthracnose, Phomopsis and Rhisopus rots in berries, according to a news release.
The product contains two strains of the naturally occurring yeast-like fungus, Aureobasidium pullulans, which colonize the flower or berry surface, blocking the gray mold pathogen from colonizing the surface.
Because it acts as a competitive antagonist and not directly on the pathogen, there is little chance of resistance developing, according to the release.
It has not been shown to affect fruit quality or wine fermentation, according to the release. The product can be applied alone or as a tankmix.
It is exempt from MRLs, or maximum residue levels.
The product is approved for use on organic crops by the Washington State Department of Agriculture.


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There have been lots of rumors that Apple is interested in making a low-cost smartphone for China. I don’t buy it, and in the company’s quarterly earnings call, Apple released some information that indicates they may not need any new offerings in the Chinese market to spark growth. According to the company, iPhone sales in China “more than doubled” year-over-year in Q1 2013. CEO Tim Cook said that the company is “extremely pleased” with the “exceptional growth” in iPhone sales in China.
Apple said in total, it saw $7.3 billion in total revenue in China during the quarter. Tim Cook also said that the company — here’s a no-brainer — plans to open more Apple stores in the country:
I’m very happy with how things are going [with China…] It’s clear there’s a lot of potential there.
In fact, China has become such an important region to Apple that it has been split off from Apple’s Asia-Pacific operating segment, and made into a separate Chinese operating segment that includes the mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. This is mostly a corporate structural change, so it won’t have an impact on Apple’s day-to-day customers in China, but it does reflect the company’s increased focus on China and Chinese-speaking markets.


text:
Video: Tesla Full Self-Driving system takes a driving test
Tesla's Full Self-Driving beta system has made headlines in recent months, both positive and negative – but how does it stack up in a learner driver licence test?
Much has been said of electric car brand Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) autonomous driving system, with videos of Tesla cars veering into concrete pillars and passing through stop signs doing the rounds online over the last few months.
But as regular software updates continue to improve and hone Full Self-Driving's abilities on the road, just how good is the latest version of the system?
That's what this new video from YouTube channel Charging Chats tries to find out, pitting Tesla's autonomous system – tested in beta on a Model 3 sedan – against a US driving test, with a driving school instructor in the passenger seat.
After getting off to a shaky start in a car park, the car begins to claw its result back on the road; we won't spoil the outcome.
Watch the full 41-minute video below, or skip through to the pass/fail verdict with the embedded chapters.


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#WHAT Whispers of DDR5 stretch back to early 2018, however, not much has been announced regarding performance until earlier this year.
Developers are promising some impressive figures for DDR5 and have been quoted saying the latest RAM modules will have twice the performance of today's DDR4-3200 RAM.
"We believe that DDR5 will be able to reach at least 6400Mhz in consumer options"
#WHEN Back in March of 2017 JEDEC announced that DDR5 was being worked on and should be released in 2018. Jumping forward to November 2018, SK Hynix finally announced the first ever DDR5 compliant RAM module, which they in turn said would be available to consumers come 2020.
IDC anticipates DDR5 to account for 22 percent of the total DRAM market in 2021, and 43 percent in 2022. So realistically, even though DDR5 is arriving soon, DDR5 memory kits may not find their way into gaming PCs in a meaningful way for another couple of years.
Then we wait for AMD and Intel to launch DDR5 platforms. When exactly will we be reaping those DDR5 benefits? Well, we could start seeing server-grade DDR5 memory kits later this year (2020). The first ones that hit the market will likely be aimed at the Enterprise applications. Then we will start seeing consumer-grade DDR5 being available around late 2021. This is because both Intel’s and AMD’s next-generation consumer chips slated for later this year will be based on DDR4.
#HOW AMD’s Ryzen CPUs are known for performing better when paired with speedy memory, i.e., compared to their Intel counterparts. Ryzen CPU’s noticeable frame rate increases can be reported in certain titles when you pair them with faster RAM and a high-performance discrete graphics card.


text:
Dell said Thursday it is in advanced talks with storage vendor Compellent Technologies regarding a merger that would call for Dell to pay US$27.50 per share, or roughly $876 million, for the company.
Enterprise open-source software vendor Red Hat has acquired cloud software provider Makara, Red Hat announced Tuesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Novell announced Monday it has agreed to be acquired by Attachmate for US$2.2 billion, ending months of speculation over its future. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.
Open-source data integration vendor Talend is expanding its footprint into SOA (service-oriented architecture), announcing Wednesday that it has purchased Sopera, developer of an open-source ESB (enterprise service bus) and other technologies. Terms ...
Oracle announced Tuesday that it plans to buy e-commerce vendor Art Technology Group for about $US1 billion. The deal is expected to be completed early next year.
Google continues to aggressively pursue social-networking capabilities, this time with the acquisition of Angstro.
The bidding war for storage vendor 3PAR continued to escalate Friday, with Hewlett-Packard submitting a new offer of US$30 per share, or $2 billion. The offer topped a $27 per share bid made by Dell earlier in the day.
Hewlett-Packard has raised its offer for 3PAR to US$27 per share, outbidding Dell once more as the battle to acquire the California-based storage vendor continues.
The bidding war between Dell and Hewlett-Packard for virtualized storage vendor 3PAR continued on Thursday, with Dell increasing its bid to US$24.30 per share, or about $1.6 billion.
3PAR will open discussions with Hewlett-Packard following that company's unsolicited $1.6 billion cash bid for the data storage maker, which exceeded an earlier bid from Dell.
Hewlett-Packard has offered to buy 3PAR, a vendor of virtualized storage systems, for US$1.6 billion in cash, topping a bid of $1.15 billion made by Dell last Monday.
Dell on Monday announced it has agreed to acquire virtualized storage provider 3PAR for about US$1.15 billion, a move that will boost its capabilities for building public and private cloud computing environments. The deal is expected to close later t...
Google has bought Jambool, a company that makes a platform for managing online payments for virtual goods sold on gaming and social networking sites.
IBM said Friday it intends to purchase marketing software maker Unica for roughly US$480 million, in a move that will boost Big Blue's capabilities for creating focused marketing campaigns. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this ...
Adobe Systems has agreed to buy Web software maker Day Software Holding in a deal worth US$240 million, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
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Once-Promising Niche Fragrance Brand Commodity Seems To Have Come To An End
In an astonishing turn of events, once-promising niche fragrance brand Commodity appears to have shuttered.
On April 12, employees at the brand’s branches in the United States and United Kingdom, which operated under the corporate entities Commodity Inc. and Commodity Europe Limited, were let go. Commodity’s products at Sephora in the United States are being sold at a discount to clear remaining inventory.
Financial distress seems to have been a factor in Commodity’s demise. Ash Huzenlaub, former CEO and managing director of Commodity, detailed in an Instagram post that he had attempted to acquire the brand and restructure it as a “more strategically distributed and focused entity from London” to save it from ruin. He wrote, “I have learned much and am sorry that the brand’s life was cut abruptly short. I and our ops team made every effort possible to carry on, to serve our vendors that we owed our best efforts.”
In the same Instagram post, Huzenlaub lauded Commodity for accumulating $23 million in retail sales, rolling out to 642 stores across 16 countries and building a direct-to-consumer infrastructure reaching 30 countries over the course of four and a half years. On top of Sephora in the U.S., Commodity’s retail network spanned Space NK in the U.S. and the U.K., Sephora Middle East and Nordstrom. Its assortment encompassed unisex fragrances such as cult favorites Gold, Rain, Mimosa, Moss, Wool and Nectar, body lotion, bath bars and candles. Prior to Commodity’s closure, skincare was on the docket to be released soon.
Contacted via direct message on Instagram, Huzenlaub didn’t elaborate on the conditions leading to the end of Commodity. However, he shared that he didn’t own any equity in the brand. In filings for Commodity Europe Limited in the company registrar for England and Wales, Konstantin Glasmacher is described as a person with significant control. Glasmacher, founding partner of Lagovent Ventures Group, co-founded HauteLook Inc. and SoleSociety. An email to Lagovent Ventures Group on Thursday was unanswered by press time. According to Huzenlaub’s account in a Fashionista article published in January 2018, he met Glasmacher in a London café in 2014. Huzenlaub formerly held posts at Sweet Leaf Tea and ChicBaby.
In 2013, Yo Santosa and Owen Gee, the brains behind Ferroconcrete, a Los Angeles branding agency that helped popularize Pinkberry, launched Commodity to personalize and digitize fragrance shopping. They gave it a minimalist aesthetic and Warby Parker-style distribution model. Customers filled out a fragrance questionnaire and, based on the results of the questionnaire, Commodity sent them five scent samples to test before they purchased full-size bottles. To fund the business, Santosa and Gee ran a Kickstarter campaign that raised nearly $57,000. (Beauty Independent requested comment from Ferroconcrete for this story, but received no reply.)
“I have learned much and am sorry that the brand’s life was cut abruptly short. I and our ops team made every effort possible to carry on, to serve our vendors that we owed our best efforts.”
Glasmacher and Huzenlaub entered the Commodity picture shortly after they met in 2014, and Gee and Santosa faded into the background, although Santosa had a seat on the brand’s board. Recounting Commodity’s origin story to L’Officiel last year, Huzenlaub said he and Glasmacher quickly established it as an international lifestyle brand. In 2015, the brand broke into 24 Sephora doors, where its gender-neutral positioning and fragrance-layering approach called cocktailing set it apart from the stable of fragrances from fashion houses. Commodity was also unique in its celebration of the perfumers behind its fragrances, including Robertet Group’s Donna Ramanauskas, Mane’s Mathieu Nardin, Drom Fragrances’ Olivia Jan, and French Color & Fragrance’s Ketrin Leka.
In May last year, Huzenlaub told Women’s Wear Daily that Commodity registered double-digit year-over-year revenue growth with no advertising spend. In the Fashionista piece four months earlier, he expounded, “The exciting thing for us now is that we’re getting traction and finding success in the fragrance market for the brand identity that we wanted, which was to be minimalist and to allow the product to speak for itself. I give great kudos to our designers who do great work. What we’re really trying to do is not distract the consumer from what the product is, whether it is our fragrance or candles or whatever else we may create in the future. We want them to not be distracted by the marketing.”
Commodity leaves disappointed fans in its wake. Vince Veloria, creator of the blog The Skincare Idol, expressed shock that the brand is done. “As a person who’s seen them rise up from nothing, I was really impressed [by] the work they did in the industry from working with various top perfumers [to] sourcing rare ingredients for their fragrance notes,” he says, adding, “What made the brand different from the rest was the education it provides to the everyday consumer. It introduced the idea that there’s more to fragrances than the visual appeal and the branding. It really honed in on educating people on what fragrance notes are and how they worked.”
Fragrance reviewer Joseph Secu believes Commodity’s legacy will live on in Huzenlaub. He says, “It’s sad to see the brand go, but I personally believe that Ash isn’t finished yet. The Phoenix will rise from ashes, and I foresee an exciting new future for Ash.”


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The phenomenom known as eSports (short for "electronic sports") is growing at a rapid pace, and a new $12 million Series A round of financing for a company entrenched in the space is a great sign for the industry as a whole. In fact, it only took the company Vulcun a total of eleven weeks of existence to secure the $12 million raise, which was assisted by Vulcun's new partnership with venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.
The raise by fantasy eSports website Vulcun is one of the largest to date in the eSports industry, which is quickly becoming a real area of focus for venture capitalists. An eSports competition, also referred to as competitive gaming, matches individuals against each other in a variety of video game genres with cash prizes awarded to those who prevail against the competition. The eSports industry has become so popular that many of the competitions are now live-streamed for supporters of the participants and fans of eSports gaming to engage in the events as spectators.
Vulcun launched in January 2015 and has already paid out $760,000 in prizes. Its prize pool has grown from $250,000 to $4 million in only three months of existence . The top winner on the platform has earned over $30,000 in that limited time-span.
Those numbers led to a host of investors taking interest in Vulcun. The company's Series A round of financing of $12 million included the following participants: Matrix Partners, Universal Music Group, Battery Ventures, Creative Artists Agency, Crosscut Ventures, Naval Ravikant (Angellist), Mark Pincus (Zynga), Kevin Chou (Kabam), Lars Buttler (Trion), Joe Kraus (Google Ventures), Steven Fan (Yahoo), Kevin Moore, Edward Fu and other angel investors.
The industry as a whole is showing signs of progress as fantasy operator Vulcun accepts an influx of capital to keep building out its platform. Research firm Newzoo has released a report stating that the eSports industry is currently worth roughly $200 million and revenues are predicted to grow to $465 million within two years. According to Vulcun co-founder Ali Moiz, industry estimates indicate that more than 120 million people will tune in to an eSports competition in 2015. Moiz's position is that eSports is already the second most-watched sport in North America after the National Football League.
Vulcun does not host competitions. Instead, it is a fantasy league for eSports, including the popular games League of Legends and CounterStrike. The service allows users to draft their favorite eSports players and compete against others for cash prizes, which have increased as the platforms user base has been strengthened and solidified. Both free and paid contests are offered on Vulcun's platform.
"We really believe in the long-term potential of eSports and Fantasy Leagues," Sequoia partner and Vulcun board member Omar Hamoui. "Vulcun allows fans to really participate in the thrill of competitive gaming at the highest levels, without the need to go pro. Vulcun founders Ali & Murti have a strong background in running a successful eSports team, and passionately believe in what they do."


text:
Russia-Ukraine conflict sees Georgia’s exports drop 9% in January
Monday, February 16
Georgia experienced a nine percent decline in external merchandise trade due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
External merchandise trade, excluding non-organized trade, of Georgia amounted to $694 million USD (about 1.4 billion GEL) in January 2015. This was a nine percent drop when compared to the same month of 2014, announced Geostat, the National Statistics Office of Georgia.
When looking at January year-on-year (y/y) comparisons, in 2015 the value of Georgian export decreased by 30 percent, totaling $156 million (317 million GEL), while imports decreased by one percent and amounted to $538 million (1.1 billion GEL).
Last month the trade deficit equaled $382 million (776 million GEL) – constituting 55 percent of the total trade turnover.
Georgia’s Ministry of Economy published an official announcement in response to the release of Geostat data, and said the decline in exports was caused by the tense political and economic situation between Russia and Ukraine.
"The Russia-Ukraine conflict became a serious reason for declining Georgia’s exports to these two markets in January. More specifically, [products which saw a major] export decline was Georgian wine (65 percent), spirits (87 percent), mineral water and citrus.”
"However, export to the European Union increased by 21 percent or $8.5 million. Export to Italy increased by $6 million; to Germany by $4.4 million and to Spain by $1.1 million,” said the Ministry.
"As for products, the export of nuts increased by 100 percent, or $9.4 million; fruit and vegetable juice by 54 percent; greens by 60 percent and fish by 169 percent.”
The Ministry said industrial production export, excluding the re-exporting of cars, was a positive area of export last month and totaled $65 million (132 million GEL).


text:
Lyft has always been a distant second to Uber in the ride-sharing market, and always will be, but considering how Uber is a $68 billion behemoth, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Being a distant second hasn’t stopped the company from raising $2 billion in funding from the like of General Motors and Saudi Prince Al-Waleed, so there’s no reason to have any doubts about the company’s future… or is there? According to a report from the New York Times on Friday, Lyft has approached numerous companies in recent months to discuss a potential buyout. Amazon, Apple, General Motors, Google, and even Uber were among the companies that were approached, but all of them rejected Lyft.
Ride-hailing company Lyft, the second largest such firm behind Uber, has been making overtures to sell itself recently, according to a report from The New York Times. However, the discussions, which have taken place with a number of companies including Apple, Google, Amazon, Uber, Didi Chuxing, and GM, have not been fruitful. GM is one of Lyft’s biggest investors, putting $500 million into the company earlier this year, is said to have been Lyft’s most serious suitor for, but it never made a written offer. Last week, reports said Lyft had rebuffed GM’s acquisition interest, meaning it’s not entirely clear who rejected who in the end. It’s possible the sides may have been too far apart on price to necessitate an official bid. Lyft remains firmly in second place in the ride-hailing industry behind Uber and that isn’t likely to change any time soon. Uber made significant announcements this week into its development of self-driving cars, including a major acquisition and a partnership with Volvo. Lyft has $1.4 billion in cash and should be able to continue operating as a private firm for quite some time, but the fact that the company is looking for an exit doesn’t evoke a lot of confidence for the future of the company. The Times says Lyft is not yet profitable, but is working toward that goal. Uber says it is profitable in the US, but not internationally.


text:
Vehicles Affected: Nearly 450 model-year 2014 Aston Martin DB9 and Rapide S high-performance luxury sports cars manufactured between June 2013 and July 2014
The Problem: Due to a faulty circui... Read More
Vehicles Affected: Approximately 5,001 versions of Aston Martin vehicles, including the 2008-2014 DB9 and V8 Vantage, 2009-2012 DBS, 2010-2012 Rapide, 2014 Rapide S, 2011-2012 V12 Vantage, 2011-... Read More
Honda says that shipping vehicles from Japan to the United States is not profitable, and the automaker will limit the amount of vehicles it sends to the country, according to Automotive News. Hon... Read More
Aston Martin is recalling 1,090 2007-08 Aston Martin DB9, DBS and V8 Vantage over a potentially dangerous steering defect, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Some f... Read More
After winning gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, figure skater Evan Lysacek plans to reward himself by buying an Aston Martin DBS, which starts at $269,000.
Lysacek, who took the g... Read More
The first name most people associate with Aston Martin is that of a famous secret agent who drives these cars in hard-to-reach locations. What the public always forgets is this man inevitably des... Read More
It seems iTunes ate our latest podcast, which is why we couldn’t bring it to you earlier. Sure, we could have just posted it via the player below, but we held out hope that it’d also be availabl... Read More


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Verdict lists five of the most popular tweets on venture capitalists in Q3 2021 based on data from GlobalData’s Technology Influencer Platform.
The top tweets are based on total engagements (likes and retweets) received on tweets from more than 150 venture capitalists experts tracked by GlobalData’s Technology Influencer platform during the third quarter (Q3) of 2021.
The most popular tweets on venture capitalists in Q3 2021: Top five
1. David Sacks’ tweet on Craft Ventures closing two funds for SaaS and marketplaces
David O. Sacks, co-founder of venture capital firm Craft Ventures, shared an article announcing the closing of the company’s two funds, Craft Ventures III with $612m and Craft Ventures Growth I with $510m, for a total of $1.12bn.
The funds will be focused on two key areas, namely software as a service (SaaS) and marketplace businesses. SaaS has a high growth potential, while marketplace businesses have strong networking, defence, and long-term liquidity advantages, the article noted.
The company has backed more than 30 unicorn companies during their early stages. Few of the unicorn companies in its Fund I and II, for example, include Addepar, Bitgo, Bird, ClickUp, Neuralink, Multicoin, Sourcegraph, Reddit, Pipe and SpaceX, highlighted the article.
Excited to announce Craft III — $1.1 billion for SaaS and Marketplace founders.https://t.co/hHgyhXSXzL
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— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) August 4, 2021
Username: David Sacks
Twitter handle: @DavidSacks
2. Chamath Palihapitiya’s tweet on DroneSeed raising $36m in a Series A funding round
Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of venture capital and private equity firm Social Capital, shared an article on forestry management services provider DroneSeed raising $36m in a new funding round to accelerate reforestation efforts after wildfires. The funding round was led by Social Capital and venture capital firm Seven Seven Six along with other investors including DBL Partners, Resilience Reserve, Shopify’s CEO Tobi Lütke, the CEO of Salesforce Marc Benioff, Marc Tarpenning, and Spero Ventures.
Large areas of land equivalent to more than the size of the entire state of New Jersey were destroyed by wildfires in the US in 2021, Palihapitiya tweeted. DroneSeed replaces human planters with drones to deliver seeds to forests destroyed by wildfires, the article noted.
Forestry experts believe that replantation can help buy time against climate change, and therefore, requires aggressive investment to recover what has been lost, similar to the efforts being made in solar energy, electric vehicles, and other climate-focused initiatives, the article detailed.
In 2021 alone, more land has burned in the US than the entire state of New Jersey. 😟https://t.co/ccsoqkcdYf
— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) September 29, 2021
Username: Chamath Palihapitiya
Twitter handle: @chamath
3. Leo Polovets’ tweet on Susa Ventures closing two new funds
Leo Polovets, general partner at venture capital firm Susa Ventures, shared an article about the closure of two new funds – Susa Ventures IV with $125m and Susa Ventures Opportunities II with $250m.
The first fund is focused on pre-seed and seed stage investments between $1m and $2m, while the latter is focused on Series B and C investments ranging from $10m to $15m in existing Susa companies, the article highlighted.
Susa Ventures is looking to back companies right from seed stage to growth with the new investments. The company manages $1bn in assets across vehicles and funds, partnering with companies in healthcare, financial services, software, consumer, and supply chain, the article detailed.
We're very excited to announce our two new funds!
— Leo Polovets (@lpolovets) August 30, 2021
Username: Leo Polovets
Twitter handle: @lpolovets
4. Jeff Richards’ tweet on GGV closing $2.52bn worth of new funds for global entrepreneurs
Jeff Richards, managing partner at venture capital firm GGV Capital, shared an article on the company closing new funds worth $2.52bn for entrepreneurs worldwide. A significant proportion of the money will be invested through the company’s ninth flagship fund, which is expected to infuse $1.5bn into start-ups, the article noted.
The company has also closed $366m for an opportunity fund, $80m towards a fund that invites investors to the GGV network, and a $610m discovery fund that intends to support start-ups across the world.
GGV currently handles $9.2bn-worth assets across 17 funds and is betting on certain high-value private companies based out of India, Israel, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Infrastructure automation company Hashicorp, online education company Zuoyeban, and online resale marketplace StockX are some of the companies that GGV plans to invest in in the future, the article highlighted.
FWIW, $650M of this is dedicated solely to Seed + Series A. Onward! 🤠 https://t.co/ymktHue8rY
— Jeff Richards 🇺🇸 (@jrichlive) August 28, 2021
Username: Jeff Richards
Twitter handle: @jrichlive
5. Harry Stebbings’ tweet on Airlift raising $85m for its quick commerce service
Harry Stebbings, founder of seed-stage tech fund Stride.VC, tweeted about Airlift Technologies, a tech start-up focused on quick commerce and logistics, raising $85m in a Series B financing round. Valued at $275m, the funding round is the largest for a Pakistani start-up and was led by Harry Stebbings and Josh Buckley of venture capital firm Buckley Ventures.
Other investors include Sam Altman, former president of Y Combinator, Steve Pagliuca, co-chairman of Bain Capital, Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter and Medium, Taavet Hinrikus, founder and chief executive of TransferWise, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, ex-chief executive of Disney and Quibi, which brought the start-up’s total funds raised till date to $110m.
Airlift plans to use the funds for its quick commerce service Airlift Express, which currently has presence across eight cities in Pakistan including Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. The quick commerce service allows users to order groceries, essentials, sports goods and medicines through its app and delivers them in 30 minutes, the article detailed.
🚨 20VC Growth Investment 🚨
Excited to co-lead $85M Series B into @airlift_tech from 20VC.
👨💻 @usmangul is one of the most special founders I have met.
💵 Far superior unit Econ to western models.
📈Cohorts like I have never seen. https://t.co/R5box8xSRw
— Harry Stebbings (@HarryStebbings) August 18, 2021
Username: Harry Stebbings
Twitter handle: @HarryStebbings


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Looking at sound rooms at CEDIA 2019, BlueBOLT updates to 2.0 , and CCPA compliance is coming. Are you prepared?
Browsing: Arlen Schweiger
RTI launches a new training program they call RTIXCEL. The pros and cons to taking a class online and in person.
Steaming services like Amazon and Spotify are gaining more traction that ever, but does it compare to having that music in your hands?
Google and roomba creator iRobot partner up for smart mapping technology. Concerns over privacy and personal data.
Looking at the solutions for elderly consumers and how they can be improved.
Energy efficiency isn’t just good for the environment, it is a great selling point for integrators.
Dish helps integrators with cord cutters. How the “standard” outlet of media consumption is changing.
Americans love music according to Nielsen, Sonos has a new amp, and RTI has a new training program.
Brilliant’s new Two Switch control panel, AV solutions for senior citizens, Crestron is using biometrics, and iRobot sells your floor plan to Google.


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It was a good second quarter for Apple's iPhone as the company maintained third place in global sales among smartphone companies, according to a new report from market research firm Gartner.
In fact, Apple had the largest gains in the smartphone market, selling more than 5.4 million iPhones in the second quarter of 2009 compared to 892,000 in the second quarter of 2008, according to Gartner. First reported by AppleInsider, the increase in sales boosted Apple's market share for the category to 13.3 percent from 2.8 percent in the same period in 2008.
Gartner cited Apple'sand its expanding into more countries as having a "clear effect on sales volumes." To put the iPhone numbers in perspective, Apple sold more iPhones during the launch weekend in June for the iPhone 3GS than it sold for the entire second quarter of 2008. (Apple released the iPhone 3G in the third quarter of last year.)
The top company in the market is Nokia, which sold 18.4 million devices for a 45 percent market share. That share is down, however, from a 47.4 percent share in the second quarter of 2008. Research In Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, sold 7.6 million devices, finishing out the quarter with 18.7 percent of the market, up from a 17.3 percent share during the same period last year.
Worldwide, mobile phone sales totaled 268.1 million for the second quarter, down 6.1 percent over the same period last year. However, the smartphone category increased 27 percent year over year, with 40 million devices sold.
It appears that Apple's good fortunes will continue. Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner, said that since the iPhone was released late in the quarter, "its full potential will only start to show in the sales figures in the second half of 2009."


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CLERMONT-FERRAND, France—Michelin will continue to manufacture tires in Germany, the group emphasized while announcing the closure of three major production facilities in the country.
"As the home of the technology-leading automotive industry, Germany remains an important location for the Michelin group," the French-based tire maker said in a Nov. 28 statement.
Its passenger car tire plant in Bad Kreuznach, Germany, in particular, will be a "success factor" in the future penetration of markets for tire sizes 18" and above, the company said, noting the Bad-Kreuznach location also is an important center for the manufacture of "strategic high-tech tires."
Michelin will also maintain what it said is the largest European truck tire retreading facility: its site in Homburg, which is also to continue processing RFID chips.
Michelin said it would continue to modernize both production sites to make them "even more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly for the future."
After the cutbacks involving over 1,500 job losses, Michelin said it will have 2,780 employees in Germany—across industry, logistics, sales, marketing and administration functions.


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‘A gusher of money’: Google testing video ads in search results, industry sources say
Google is testing promoted video ads in search results, a format that could bring more brand dollars to marketing there, according to a number of sources familiar with the company’s product road map.
The search video ads are in a limited test right now and have come up in discussions between Google and the ad industry, according to these sources. The video ads would be the next step in Google’s evolution of search advertising, which started as simple links but increasingly include photos and other media formats.
“What used to be narrowly defined as search is being turned on its head,” said one digital marketing executive. “Google is finally getting away from just having three lines of text. Video ads have taken over mobile, Facebook and YouTube, and Google is thinking about how to integrate them into search.”
The leading search company isn’t alone in its interest in promoted videos in results. Yahoo is developing its own version, and Bing sells “Rich Ads.”
“Rich Ads are truly effective because they allow advertisers to engage better with potential customers on the search engine results page, provide enriching video content allowing them to extend their brand or campaign assets and offers a higher conversion rate,” John Cosley, marketing director in the Search Advertising Group at Microsoft, said in an emailed statement.
“We’re in the process of refining Rich Ads and working to create a better video experience, especially for mobile, and are excited to bring a new medium to our customers.”
Google would not comment on any current plans to introduce search video ads, but the company said it has played with the format in the past. “We’ve experimented with a number of different video search formats over the years but don’t have anything specific we’re launching right now,” the company said.
Google has floated the idea of video thumbnails in some sponsored results and other variations; however, digital video advertising is a more mature market now requiring a more serious effort, sources said.
Advertising insiders who were familiar with the product spoke on the condition of anonymity. It was unclear if the latest video tests would lead to a full-fledged ad product, and Google was said to be in the preliminary stages of development.
Brands could change the way they approach search marketing if promoted videos were introduced more widely. Marketers could shift goals strictly focusing on clicks and sales to focus more on raising brand awareness, marketing experts said. Still, it’s unclear if catching consumers while searching the Internet is the right context for this type of advertising, said Jim Nail, a Forrester analyst.
“If advertisers could buy video, their favorite format, on search, their favorite place to reach consumers, it would be a gusher of money for Google,” Nail said. “But does it work?”
It’s a question the search advertising community will carefully consider. Every view brands get on videos posted to outside platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Google, eats into marketing developed around their own websites, one ad agency insider said.
“Marketers are getting less dependent on the microsite, because every feed-based website is giving the content away right there, when consumers want it,” the agency source said. “Google’s doing the same thing bringing the content to the feed, and that’s video.”
VIDEO: How the identity economy works as the third-party cookie’s demise approaches
Watch and learn how new identifier economy will work after Google removes support for third-party cookies.
Why some publishers worry identity tech could slow down their sites
Some publishers say adding any new ID tech could create problems by slowing down site load times, and others say they have ways to test to prevent that.
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Brands search for retargeting alternatives as third-party cookie demise looms. They're left collecting first-party data as uncertainties related to privacy and regulation are anticipated.
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Peacock Alley is known for its curated collection of luxury bedding. As the company transformed from a wholesale business model to an e-commerce contender, its two-shoots-a-year creative plans had to change with it. To keep up with the increasing demand for photos and reviews and campaign collateral of all kinds, Peacock Alley turned to user-generated […]
Cheat Sheet: Why Snap plans to integrate Screenshop as part of it’s hot pursuit of e-commerce
The commerce acquisition is just the latest way Snapchat is trying to get its 265 million global users to shop through the app.
How Bustle Digital Group sets up shoppable options within its editorial content
Rather than launch a shop page or an online marketplace adjacent to its homepage, BDG is giving all of its content the ability to become shoppable.


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To make further inroads in the Indian mobile market, the likes of Xiaomi and Huawei are said to be looking at the offline retail space. Both companies are reportedly looking at setting up exclusive retail outlets away from the metros. Also Read - Samsung Galaxy M32 first look: A decent Redmi Note 10S competitorAlso Read - OnePlus Community Sale offers listed: Discounts on OnePlus 9, earbuds and more
Xiaomi is said to be looking at setting up thousands of Mi Stores in rural locations across India, ET reports. It plans to have 500 franchise-owned Mi Stores at taluk areas by the end of this year. This will not only extend the reach of Xiaomi s smartphones, but will also help generate over 5,000 jobs in such areas. The Chinese company had recently revealed that it expects 50 percent of its smartphone sales to come via offline by early next year Also Read - Samsung Galaxy Watch Active4 leaked renders show fresh design, flatter display
Huawei is also looking at extending the reach of its Honor smartphones, which have largely been available online. As per the report, Huawei will be setting up 100 franchise-owned stores across India. This isn t the first time reports about Huawei s offline focus have surfaced online.
India s smartphone currently is dominated by online sales, but companies have lately realized the potential of the untapped offline space. Companies like Xiaomi and Motorola, which debuted in India with an online-only strategy, are now shifting focus to the offline space. Another company to follow suit is OnePlus, which plans to open over 10 new offline touchpoints in 10 key markets.
Watch: A look at Moto Hub Store
Such renewed focus on the offline space will add pressure on Samsung, which has already been feeling the heat from the Chinese rivals. For the first time this year, it was overtaken by Xiaomi, which became the largest smartphone brand in India.


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by Brandon Richard
NBA teams continued to open the season on Wednesday night, providing us with a stacked lineup of sneakers for today's Sole Watch.
The buzz is finally back in Charlotte, where Kemba Walker knocked down a stepback jumper in the Under Armour ClutchFit Drive to give the Hornets a 108-106 overtime win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Team owner Michael Jordan watched courtside in his 'Hornets' Air Jordan 13 PE.
Derrick Rose, in the adidas D Rose 5 Boost, made his regular season return for the Chicago Bulls against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Perhaps showing that they're the team to beat in the East, the Bulls easily handled the Knicks 104-80. Laced up in a clean Nike Hyperdunk 2014 PE, Pau Gasol had 21 points and 11 rebounds in his Chicago debut.
Highly publicized rookie Andrew Wiggins got his career underway as the Minnesota Timberwolves visited the Memphis Grizzlies. The Wolves gave the Grizz all they could handle, but it was the home team pulling away late for the 105-101 victory. Wiggins had just 6 points and 3 rebounds in his long-awaited debut, but broke out a fresh Crazylight Boost PE for the game.
Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers continued their slow start to the season, dropping a road game in Phoenix 119-99. The news wasn't all bad for Kobe though — he turned a few heads with a purple-based Nike Kobe 9 Elite PE.
Kevin Durant wasn't on the floor for Oklahoma City's season opener in Portland, but the 'Concord' Air Jordan 11 was. New Team Jordan athlete LaMarcus Aldridge laced up the classic and dropped a Jordan-esque 27 points to lift the Trail Blazers over the short-handed Thunder 106-89.
What other shoes hit the court Wednesday night? Scroll through the gallery of game shots below to find out and let us know who you think played in the best pair.
Jabari Parker -- Jordan Melo M10 'Bred' PE
Gerald Henderson -- Jordan Super.Fly 3 'Hornets'
Al Jefferson -- Jordan Melo M10 JBC PE
Kemba Walker -- Under Armour ClutchFit Drive PE
Jordan Super.Fly 3 'Hornets' PE
John Wall -- adidas J Wall 1
Dwyane Wade -- Li-Ning Way of Wade 2.5 Encore
Pau Gasol -- Nike Hyperdunk 2014 PE
Joakim Noah -- adidas Crazylight Boost
Amar'e Stoudemire -- Nike Zoom Soldier 8 PE
Carmelo Anthony -- Jordan Melo M10 PE
Derrick Rose -- adidas D Rose 5 Boost
Iman Shumpert -- adidas Crazy 8
JR Smith -- Nike Kobe 9 Elite 'Brave Blue'
Roy Hibbert -- Nike Kobe 9 Elite 'Brave Blue'
Mike Conley & Ricky Rubio -- adidas Crazylight Boost
Vince Carter -- Nike Air Max Premiere PE
Marc Gasol -- Nike Hyperdunk 2014 PE
Courtney Lee -- Air Jordan 13 Retro 'Barons'
Andrew Wiggins -- adidas Crazylight Boost PE
Terrence Ross -- Air Jordan 8 Retro 'Playoff'
DeMar DeRozan -- Nike Kobe 9 Elite Low 'University Red'
Kobe Bryant -- Nike Kobe 9 Elite PE
Isaiah Thomas -- Jordan CP3.VII PE
Stephen Curry -- Under Armour ClutchFit Drive PE
LaMarcus Aldridge -- Air Jordan 11 Retro 'Concord'
Dame Lillard -- adidas Crazylight Boost
Russell Westbrook -- Air Jordan XX9 'Team Orange'
Rudy Gay -- Nike Hyperfuse 2014 PE
Klay Thompson -- NIke Hyperdunk 2014 PE
DeMarcus Cousins -- Nike Zoom Soldier 8 PE
Harrison Barnes -- adidas Crazy Ghost 2014 PE
images via Justin Ford, Adam Hunger, Steve Mitchell, Craig Mitchelldyer, Sam Sharpe, John E. Sokolowski, Brian Spurlock, Kyle Terada for USA Today Sports


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The body of the blockchain in the South
Korea wants to convince the Gwangju authorities to convert the city into one
specialized district of digital currency. Convert the sixth largest city into
South Korea in a digital money center would create many jobs, second
to KBEPA (Korea Blockchain Enterprise Promotion Association).
The association blockchain was
founded in July 2018 and is in collaboration with Universal Group. Turn
the urban area in a district of digital currency, the body of the blockchain
look for an audience with Lee Yong-Sub – Gwangju's major – and others
politicians in the city.
South Korea's Blockchain corporate plans to meet senior Lee Yong-Sub
In a statement, the blockchain
association said: "We plan to meet the Mayor
Lee Yong-Sub to officially deliver the recommended plans to announce and
transforms the sixth largest city in Korea into a special government city for digital money. We also have meeting plans
with Kim Dong-Chan – the adviser – to ask for his support ".
According to the blockchain
association, the South Korean government has focused on the
manufacturing industry to create new jobs and do not pay attention to the
fourth industrial revolution. Converting the sixth largest city of Korea into
a digital currency center, one million new jobs would be created in the city.
Bitcoin (BTC) Price today – BTC / USD
Some countries already have
has started to benefit from blockchain technology and cryptos. Kim In-Ki – the CEO
of Universal Group – has provided the example of Malta and Estonia that both have
has benefited enormously from their early adoption of blockchain technology.
Malta and Estonia were the precursors
of the fourth industrial revolution attracting blockchain organizations all over the world
invest in their cities. They have enjoyed a huge increase in the number
of jobs created.
Kim said that the government of
South Korea has sought to create jobs by focusing only on
manufacturing – shipbuilding or automotive, ignoring the rise of the fourth industrial revolution. Furthermore, the
the blockchain association also criticized the position of the South Government
Korea towards the digital currency and blockchain companies emphasizing
example that some national companies are forced to open trading platforms
out of the country due to hostile rules.
South Korea rejects digital currency exchange platforms such as Venture companies, fees to be doubled
KBEPA has had numerous rudeness
the instances. One of these instances includes a government move less than 3 months ago to exclude blockchain and digital
currency start-ups to be classified as venture companies. This means that they are
vital incentives such as tax benefits are denied.
During the announcement, the
government said the decision would apply immediately to blockchain e
cryptographic companies that would be created after the announcement. Existing blockchain
and digital currency companies would no longer be classified as venture companies
This resulted in an increase in corporate taxes and income
paid by digital currency trading platforms. Their tax rate has doubled. Above and
Bithumb were some of the trading platforms that should have been influenced in the
hostile move by the government.
The association blockchain is
supporting the greater adoption of
blockchain and digital currency in the country as well as the creation of
friendly regulations for digital currency companies and blockchain.


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Updates rolling out today to Sprint’s variants of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge will get each phone ready for the launch of Samsung Pay. Keep in mind that Samsung Pay doesn’t actually launch until September 28, but a trial opens tomorrow that select users will get to be a part of.
As for the rest of the update, you are looking at “Live broadcasting via Yahoo!” being loaded, along with better audio with Samsung headsets, UI updates, and bug fixes. (more…)
As first reported earlier this month, it appears early rumors claiming Samsung desired to make a massive tablet were true. Sources of SamMobile claim the tablet, codenamed Tahoe, is real, and features a gargantuan 18.4″ Full HD display. (more…)
The Amazon Echo continues to gain features, with the latest being support for SmartThings from Samsung. If you plan on picking up a Samsung SmartThings Hub off of Amazon (currently available through pre-order for $99), users can tell Alexa to, “Turn on the TV.” Or if you have a SmartPower Outlet, you can ask her to, “Turn on the lamp,” or porch light. (more…)
Samsung’s latest, the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+, are now available to purchase through all of America’s major carriers. Not only can you buy the devices through Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, but you can also find them on Best Buy and US Cellular. (more…)
For those of us currently using an iPhone, but were thinking about trying out one of the new devices from Samsung, the company has kicked off the Ultimate Test Drive event. For 30 days, you can try out a Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+, or Galaxy Note 5, all for the price of a single dollar and zero obligation to buy. (more…)
The year is 2015 and we still don’t have a perfect smartphone. I’d argue that there isn’t even a phone that is all that close to being perfect. I’m not saying that all of today’s phones are bad, because most are very, very good and you will probably be satisfied with whatever you choose. But every single one of them includes a big “but.” Hear me out.
Over the past few years, we have seen display technology from Samsung that looks more life-like than your TV and is mindblowingly good. We have seen processors reach PC-like power and efficiency levels. RAM is insanely fast. The Galaxy Note 5 has 4GB of it, people. 4GB. Storage is also faster than ever before. We even have fast wireless charging now! Cameras are reaching point-and-shoot territory. No, smartphone cameras are coming close to eclipsing some point-and-shoots. Metals are being used. Glass is too. Phones look like high-end watches or jewelry, yet do more than a computer in many instances. Technology is, well, pure awesome right now. So why is it that every single Android manufacturer can’t make us the perfect phone.
Why isn’t there a perfect option right now? (more…)
According to an unnamed source of PhoneArena, Samsung and AT&T are working together to launch a Galaxy Note 5 Active onto the network this November. We know, it sounds ridiculous. As most of you likely know, the Active moniker deployed by Samsung defines a device’s rugged and tough design, capable of taking drops and even going for a swim thanks to water resistance. (more…)
Looking for the best price on a Samsung Galaxy S6? This is it. A current daily deal going on over at eBay for an unlocked GSM Galaxy S6 for $469 is about the best price we have seen to date. Remember, this phone launched at most US carriers for close to $700, so we are looking at over a $200 discount.
This is the international unlocked model of SM-G920i and works great on either AT&T or T-Mobile. This is an unlocked GSM phone, so don’t expect it to work on Verizon or Sprint.
The deal includes 32GB black, white, gold, and blue models, all for $469, along with free shipping.


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Sports Direct has attacked Debenhams’ administrators at FTI and demanded they resign or reverse the administration in Mike Ashley’s latest salvo against the defunct department store chain.
Chris Wootton, deputy finance chief of Mike Ashley's firm, also claimed Sports Direct was considering legal action against Debenhams’ directors over shareholder losses.
Sports Direct and other investors were wiped out after Debenhams fell into the hands of a group of hedge funds and lenders on Tuesday in a pre-pack administration.
Mr Ashley had attempted to derail the pre-pack several times with various offers to provide a loan, buy its Danish business for £100m and underwrite a £200m rights issue.
However, Debenhams’ lenders rejected his demands to become chief executive and refused to take a haircut on the money they were owed.
Sports Direct said it had made “repeated, prolonged and varied attempts and proposals to rescue the company as a going concern”, but that Debenhams, its lenders and advisers “did not appear to share that goal”. Mr Ashley has branded the collapse of Debenhams a “national scandal”.
The sportswear retailer claimed that because FTI was engaged as an adviser to the lenders since February it should not be handling the administration because it was involved in the events leading up to Debenhams' failure.
Sports Direct said it was reserving its right to apply to the High Court for FTI’s removal on the basis it was "conflicted and unable (at a very minimum) to independently perform your duties of investigation”. The company has given a deadline of 4pm Wednesday.
Adrian Hyde, former president of the insolvency trade body R3, said that it would be difficult to bring a claim against the administrators and doing so would not reverse the pre-pack process.
FTI responded saying that it understood "that Sports Direct as a shareholder will be disappointed that there is no value in the equity".
"However the transaction delivers continuity for all group operations and was in the best interests of the group’s creditors, employees, customers, pension holders and suppliers," it said.
"We strongly refute our actions in undertaking a sale for the benefit of the company’s creditors were subject to any conflict of interest."
Separately, Sports Direct was on the receiving line of anger from the board of Findel, which attacked its 161p-a-share takeover offer as “opportunistic” and highlighted that just 1pc of investors had tendered their shares. Mr Ashley has until 4 May to offer a sweetener to investors in the home shopping retailer.


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iOutage Apple’s iMessage is leaving many unable to Communicate
Apple’s iMessage, the SMS texting alternative that most iPhone users currently rely on for most of their text messages is currently experiencing a widespread outage. News was reported of the issues on several blog sites yet there has not been any official word from Apple on this.
Users began noticing the issues and hit the internet looking for answers with none to be found. trying to send a message through my iOS device yielded a similar issue with a message that just sat with nothing being sent.
It was noted that pressing and holding your finger on the iPhone message provides a way to send the message via SMS text which went through just fine.
@3:21 PDT I tried again and was able to send a message through iMessage still unsure how others are fairing….