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The HSBC Expat Explorer Survey 2013 saw China emerge on top as the best country for expats to be in, thanks mainly to its economics and the experience it offers. The country’s GDP expanded 7.7% last year and is forecast to grow 7.4% in 2014. The overall economy is stable, even as contribution to GDP from tertiary industries (such as services) has outpaced contribution from secondary industries, including manufacturing.
In December 2013, industrial production grew by 9.7% over the same month last year, while retail sales grew 13.6%. There’s a bit of bad news for the automotive industry, though, as vehicle sales in 2014 are predicted to grow only 8-10%, as opposed to 14% last year. Thanks to growth in productivity, the country is likely to see 7.6% growth rate over the next decade, even as the quality of growth continues to improve.
Contrast this with the world economy. The IMF predicts that the global economy will grow 3.6% in 2014. Developed economies are set to see 2% growth, while emerging and developing economies will grow by 5.1%. Clearly, the Chinese dragon has a lot of firepower left in it.
Beijing: City snapshot
Beijing, the capital of China, is also the value-added manufacturing powerhouse of the country. The city manufactures communications equipment, computers, transport equipment (including automotives), machinery, food and beverages, raw chemical materials and chemical products, metallic and non-metallic mineral products, and processes petroleum and coke products – among others. Electronics manufacturing – including mobile phones and computers – is the biggest industry. The city is also China’s biggest automobile producer. Wholesale and retail trade is another key sector, with multiple commercial and shopping districts making their presence felt all over. In the services industries, transportation, IT, telecommunications, accommodation and catering services, finance and real estate enjoy pride of place. Tourism, too, is a thriving sector and so are related verticals such as hotels and hospitality. The city is a hub for international banks and financial institutions that have set up base here.
Top destination for expats
The quality of life China offers its expats is on par with the best in the world. According to the latest HSBC survey, 49% of expats in China say their work-life balance has improved.
Cities like Beijing and Shanghai are very cosmopolitan and feature at the top of the list of key destinations for expats. In a nod to the importance of integration into the local culture, 86% of expats in China attempt to learn the local language.
Chinese state-owned enterprises are actively courting foreign professionals to represent them in the international arena. The job market started picking up in the second half of 2013, and currently there is huge demand for foreign professionals with specific knowledge of capital markets and listings regimes. Several corporations in China are on their way to being listed on international bourses, and professionals with experience in international capital markets are seen as the right people to further Chinese interests abroad.
On the other hand, the country’s growing focus on serving domestic consumer demand is also creating exciting opportunities for those with sales and marketing experience in automotive, FMCG and retail. Due to the present development of the Beijing economy, candidates with hard skills and professional experience have certain advantages. Industries looking to hire such professionals include – engineering, medical technology, environmental tech, the chemical sector, pharmaceuticals, Information Technology (IT), R&D, intellectual property law, international patent affairs, and finance.
In a report released last year, over 25% of the 4000 professionals surveyed in China said they had changed jobs in the previous 12 months, each time receiving salary hikes of 20-50%. Most of this activity was among people earning more than US $8000 per month.
Profiles in demand
China is a unique market in some ways. Its escalating costs are offset by the vast, virtually unlimited potential for growth. This is why companies are forever on the lookout for senior executives who have experience achieving rapid growth along with consistent profits. CFO/ financial director level managers with experience in healthcare and consumer goods, especially, are in demand.
According to recruitment firm CTPartners, this year, certain senior roles in technology are very sought-after not just in China, but across Asia-Pacific:
• Chief Digital Officer, Head of eCommerce/ Omni-Channel
• Chief Risk Officer/ Cybersecurity/ Information Security Officer
• Chief Marketing Officer
• Vice President, M-Commerce, Retail
• Managing Director, Data Scientist/ Data Analytics Leader
• Chief Creative Officer, Media/ Television
• Board Director, Digital
• Chief Information Officer
Digital transformation is a trend in nearly every market, especially retail and travel. Companies are looking for a Chief Digital Officer who can help them transition smoothly to digital and mobile platforms. Increasingly, B2B businesses are headed the ‘consumer’ way, requiring them to embrace the digital platform in a big way, as well.
Chief Marketing Officers too are in demand, particularly those with experience in using analytics to help measure the impact of marketing on revenue and growth. Customer-centric and digitally savvy marketing executives capable of creating and implementing marketing programs across platforms will find themselves chased by headhunters. As customer engagement assumes more and more importance, these roles too become critical. Correspondingly, the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO) too assumes greater importance in China this year.
Those with experience in any of these profiles should definitely put Beijing on their map, this season.
Compensation and benefits
Senior professionals who switch jobs in China are looking at salary increases of ~30%. Online business and lifestyle service sectors are actively seeking professionals, according to Robert Walters’ 2014 China Salary Survey. FMCG, retail and technology are among the fastest growing sectors in Beijing, creating exciting opportunities for professionals.
Banking and financial services are expected to see hiring growth of 5-10%, while pharmaceuticals and medical care too will expand.
A survey by 51job.com that covered real estate, high-tech, consumer products and manufacturing, and other key sectors, interviewed 3400 enterprises and 4600 employees in China. According to the survey, those in finance received the best salary hikes in 2013, with a 10.4% increase in salary, followed by 10.1% salary growth in real estate, 9.9% in high-tech, and 9.2% in bio-pharmaceuticals. The numbers indicate strong hiring demand for qualified, senior professionals in these fields, and companies are willing to pay a premium to attract and retain such professionals.
According to a Hays report, average pay increase in China is higher than in other countries in Asia. Beijing and Shanghai attract many financial institutions, banks, and companies in the service industry, leading to huge demand for specialized talent in these fields, in these cities.
Make sure you’re ready to to take your career to CEO level and succeed. Sign up to the CI Executive Career Management programme and get access to a Career Coach to guide and coach you through your journey to board level. Also don’t forget to keep a lookout for the top roles that become available in emerging markets.
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Tech jobs: CIOs look safe, IT managers face chop, chief digital officer is the next big thing


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“Pixel 2 was the first major smartphone with eSIM, and now, on Pixel 3, we’re expanding eSIM support to more carriers. If you’re in the U.S. and would like to purchase a phone that has eSIM, head over to Google Fi or the Google Store. If you’re in Germany, look out for the ability to purchase Pixel 3 with eSIM functionality from Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone soon. Sprint in the U.S., EE in the UK, Airtel and Reliance Jio in India, and Truphone and Gigsky in various countries will also roll out eSIM support for Pixel 3 in the coming months,” Google wrote in its blog.
Launched in October, Pixel 3 costs Rs 71,000 for the 64GB variant in India and up to Rs 80,000 for the 128GB storage variant. The Pixel 3 XL is available at Rs 83,000 for the 64GB variant and up to Rs 92,000 for the 128GB model.

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CafePress Data Breach: Owner Agrees to Feds' Settlement22 Million Accounts Breached Owing to Multiple Security Failures, Regulator Says
Does your organization store Social Security numbers and security questions in clear text? Does it fail to use "reasonable measures" to safeguard passwords? Has it "failed to implement a process for receiving and addressing security vulnerability reports from third-party researchers, academics, or other members of the public"?
Those are just three of the information security shortcomings cited by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in a draft settlement agreement it announced this week with CafePress, a website that allows independent "shopkeepers" to sell a range of user-customizable products, including T-shirts and coffee mugs.
The FTC says that owing to a multitude of poor security practices, the CafePress site was breached by attackers multiple times. In these breaches, attackers stole account details and personal information for approximately 22 million users.
"CafePress recently discovered that an unidentified third party obtained customer information, without authorization, that was contained in a CafePress database," the company said in a Sept. 5, 2019, data breach notification on its websites. "Based on our investigation to date, this may have occurred on or about Feb. 19."
The breach triggered investigations not just by the FTC, but also by multiple state attorneys general. It also sparked a lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Illinois, seeking class action status (see: Hacked Off: Lawsuit Alleges CafePress Used Poor Security). But that lawsuit was dismissed in 2020.
When the data breach occurred, CafePress was owned by Respondent Residual Pumpkin Entity, based in Louisville, Kentucky. On Sept. 1, 2020, most of CafePress' assets were sold to PlanetArt, based in Calabasas, California, which changed its name to Residual Pumpkin Entity.
In a comment about the FTC's settlement, PlanetArt tells Information Security Media Group: "The data breach occurred well before PlanetArt bought the CafePress brand, and happened under the technology leadership of the brand's prior owner. PlanetArt was happy to agree to the FTC's request that PlanetArt also become obligated to the FTC's settlement with the prior owner, as it comports with the priority PlanetArt has always placed on cybersecurity specifically and, more generally, on consumer protection."
As part of the proposed settlement, CafePress' former owner would also pay a fine of $500,000.
Multiple Security Failures Cited by FTC
The FTC says the company's list of standard email responses to common security questions included this statement: "CafePress.com also pledges to use the best and most accepted methods and technologies to [ensure] your personal information is safe and secure."
But according to the FTC's complaint, those claims were not true. Indeed, "among other things," the settlement details numerous poor data security practices, including the company regularly failing to comply with its own security policies.
In addition, the FTC says Residual Pumpkin "failed to implement readily-available protections, including many low-cost protections, against well-known and reasonably foreseeable vulnerabilities," such as SQL, CSS and HTML infection attacks, as well as cross-site scripting - aka XSS - and cross-site request forgery attacks.
The company also stored personal information, including Social Security tax identification numbers, in clear text.
For hashing passwords, the company used the SHA-1 hashing algorithm, which the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology deprecated in 2011, and which security experts have been warning for years is not fit for use with passwords. In addition, Residual Pumpkin failed to salt the passwords, which means to random data that would have made them more difficult to identify via a rainbow table or to brute-force crack.
The FTC says Residual Pumpkin also failed to:
- Require strong passwords;
- Delete unneeded user data in a timely manner;
- Implement "reasonable procedures to prevent, detect, or investigate an intrusion," such as robust logging and monitoring;
- Disclose security incidents in a timely manner;
- Investigate malware outbreaks;
- Sufficiently lock down accounts after attackers had taken them over.
Follows Settlement With States
Residual Pumpkin already agreed to a settlement over the data breach with the attorneys general of Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Oregon.
On Dec. 18, 2020, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that Residual Pumpkin had agreed to pay a $2 million fine for multiple cybersecurity failures. The actual amount paid by Residual Pumpkin was $750,000, divided among states with affected residents, and the remainder of the settlement was "suspended based on the company's financial condition," according to the New York attorney general's office.
As part of the settlement agreement, Residual Pumpkin pledged to make numerous information security improvements.
Data Breach Timeline
One of the shortcomings detailed by the FTC was a failure by Residual Pumpkin to investigate suspected intrusions in a timely manner, even though it had been suffering multiple malware outbreaks and account takeovers.
Here's a timeline of the data breach and how Residual Pumpkin responded, as detailed by the New York attorney general's office and the FTC:
- Feb. 19, 2019: An attacker stole customer and seller data for about 22 million accounts, including 186,179 Social Security or tax identification numbers.
- March 11, 2019: Residual Pumpkin received a warning from a security researcher stating that he "believe[s] hackers have access to your customer [database]. The data is currently for sale in certain circles." The researcher demonstrated how a SQL vulnerability in a CafePress database could be exploited.
- March 12, 2019: Residual Pumpkin confirmed the vulnerability.
- March 13, 2019: After reviewing only two weeks' worth of logs, Residual Pumpkin found no evidence of a breach, but patched the affected system.
- March 13, 2019: Residual Pumpkin investigated a spike in orders suspected to be fraudulent and concluded that they traced to someone "testing ou[t] stolen credit cards," according to the FTC.
- April 4, 2019: CafePress reset the passwords of all accounts, requiring users logging in from that date forward to pick a new password.
- April 10, 2019: "Residual Pumpkin received an email from a foreign government with an attached letter stating that a hacker had illegally obtained access to CafePress user account information from January 2014 to January 2019," the FTC says. "The email included an attachment with CafePress account logins and passwords and said the hacker had sold the information to a large number of 'carders.'" It also requested that Residual Pumpkin immediately notify all affected users, not least so they could take steps to protect themselves.
- July 13, 2019: Social media posts claimed that a large quantity of customer data had been stolen from CafePress and was being offered for sale on cybercrime markets.
- Aug. 3, 2019: Social media posts containing passwords allegedly recovered from the CafePress data breach began to appear.
- Aug. 4, 2019: The free breach notification service Have I Been Pwned added the email addresses of everyone affected by the breach, thus notifying them directly that their details had been exposed.
- Sept. 4, 2019: Residual Pumpkin began to notify affected CafePress users and offered victims whose Social Security or tax identification numbers had been exposed two years of prepaid identity theft and credit monitoring.
Post-Breach Problems Continued
The FTC says Residual Pumpkin didn't launch a full investigation into the breach until September 2019, when "an identity thief or thieves used personal information belonging to three Residual Pumpkin employees to try to change the employees' payroll direct deposit information." It was the third such incident that year, following similar attempts in April and May, the FTC says.
It also says Residual Pumpkin didn't completely fix problems tied to the CafePress data breach until later. Notably, "Residual Pumpkin continued to allow passwords to be reset through Residual Pumpkin's website simply by answering a security question associated with an email address," the FTC says. But this precise information had been stolen by the attacker and was being offered for sale.
This shortcoming was only remedied around Nov. 19, 2019, when Residual Pumpkin began to verify that anyone attempting to log into an account to change the password also controlled the associated email address.
On the privacy and data minimization front, Residual Pumpkin in November 2019 began to delete data it had stored on users, in response to requests from residents of the European Economic Area and Switzerland, the FTC says. Since June 19, 2018, Residual Pumpkin had claimed to delete such data upon request, but the FTC said it instead deactivated accounts and had been keeping the data. As a result, many individuals who had requested - prior to the breach - that their personal information be deleted, still had their personal information exposed in the breach.
The FTC says Residual Pumpkin deactivated CafePress accounts for shopkeepers that it believed had been hacked but charged them a $25 closure fee. The regulator said this amounted to "an unfair act or practice" and was one of the multiple shortcomings it detailed leading to its complaint and seeking that Residual Pumpkin not only overhaul its security practices, but also pay a fine.


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German BMW to invest USD1 b in its factories
(MENAFN) German automaker BMW will invest as much as USD1 billion over the following 2 years to increase output of its X-series all-wheel drive SUV vehicles, according to Oman Observer
Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer said: "This will increase annual production capacity by 50 per cent up to 450,000 vehicles from 300,000 currently.
BMW is launching production at the facility of the X4 model, and will also build the X7 at the plant. It also has plans to build a plug-in hybrid X5 at the factory
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.


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Pakistani mobile phone companies spent a combined total of at least 60 million dollars on SIM re-verification.
This was revealed during interviews with officials of cellular companies on sidelines of Saturday’s press conference held by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.
Telcos said that they deployed 80,000 biometric devices across country, each of which costs from USD 350 to USD 400. Not to be mentioned, this is largest deployment of biometric devices in the world for a single project.
Except biometric devices, telecom companies hired thousands of employees specifically for the re-verification purpose.
This cost of US 60 million excludes the business loss that telcos incurred during the SIM-reverification activity.
Michael Foley, Telenor CEO, said that his company spent tens of millions dollars on SIM reverification drive. He said that the value of loss for potential business is beyond this figure that will stretch across years to come.
Michael said that Telenor employed 3,600 individuals for the sole purpose of SIM reverification drive.
A Mobilink official confirmed ProPakistani that his company spent 15 million dollars on SIM reverification drive. The official said that there are countless number of spends that company incurred to ensure timely re-verification of SIMs, for example over 700 vans were arranged that roamed through towns and cities across Pakistan for re-verification of customers.
Also Read: PTA Plans to Remove 5 SIMs on One CNIC Rule
Telecom operators, to ensure that no customer is left un-verified, went ahead to reach out to customers themselves. For the purpose, re-verification booths and mobile reverification solutions were setup at universities, colleges, bazaars, markets, banks, press clubs, construction sites, localities and anywhere where there were chances of gatherings.
Not to mention, these spending are other than the verification fee that customers paid, which is estimated to be around 1 million dollar in total value.
Re-verification of entire cellular customers is arguably the most successful execution of all the projects that are undertaken by the government under National Action Plan.
Mobile phone companies said that re-verification of SIMs was clearly an expensive activity, but they carried it happily as it it was essential for Pakistan’s security.


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One in five small businesses has re-invested all their profits just to stay afloat this year, according to research.
A poll of 500 SMEs revealed the cost of living crisis (38 percent), energy price hikes (33 percent) and increased supplier costs (23 percent) have eaten into margins.
As a result, plans to make their businesses more sustainable have been put on hold.
Just under half (48 percent) said going green has been less of a priority, though 44 percent think they’ll be able to do more in the next year.
The study also found almost half (48 percent) believe eco-conscious businesses are more successful than those that are not.
Victoria Bacon, Smart Energy GB, which commissioned the research, said: “The economic climate has put Britain’s small businesses under a huge amount of pressure, so it’s understandable that they’re focusing on the essentials of running their business.
“But taking steps to reduce your environmental impact often delivers real cost savings too.
“Even small changes that aren’t expensive to implement can make a big difference to a business’ bottom line, as well as being good for the planet.
“Getting a smart meter is one small thing small businesses can do, as it can help them monitor their energy usage and identify where they can make changes, as well as keep a closer eye on cashflow.”
Looking ahead, 43 percent now feel in a better position to make their business more sustainable.
A quarter would finance eco-friendly changes by reducing spending on other areas of their business and the same amount would look for new revenue streams.
Just over four in 10 (43 percent) want to reduce their carbon footprint so their energy bills go down – but 13 percent think it will also make their staff happy.
And around the same amount (39 percent) want to do their bit to ensure the planet is both healthy for future generations, as well as being less wasteful.
While others plan on moving to more environmentally friendly packaging (17 percent), buying in bulk to reduce transport costs (16 percent), investing in smart plugs (nine percent) and getting light sensors (13 percent).
In the medium term, 14 percent of those polled were hoping to purchase an electric vehicle and 19 percent want to replace old equipment with more energy efficient tech.
Being more eco-friendly topped the list of things small businesses owners said they’d do differently if they were starting their businesses again.
With taking control of energy usage and buying local where possible being the advice they’d give their younger selves to make their businesses more sustainable.
Victoria Bacon, Smart Energy GB, added: “Small businesses have an important role to play in helping Great Britain meet its net zero targets.
“Smart meters are an integral component of our national infrastructure upgrade to meet these targets, which will enable us all to increasingly use cheaper, cleaner energy.”


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Wipro's scrip slumped over 12 per cent on Tuesday, wiping-off Rs 11,882 crore from its market value, on the first day of trade as a standalone IT stock after the company hived-off its three non-IT business divisions into a privately-held company.
In November last year, the Wipro board had approved the demerger of the non-IT businesses - Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting (including furniture business), Wipro Infrastructure Engineering (hydraulics and water businesses) and Medical Diagnostic Product & Services business - into a privately-held company to be named 'Wipro Enterprises Ltd'.
The demerger has been effective from March 31.
"...the scheme of arrangement for the demerger of 'Diversified Business' of the company approved by the board of director on November 1, 2012 is effective from March 31, 2013," Wipro had said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on April 1.
After making a weak opening, shares of the company further tanked 12.55 per cent to Rs 392.15 in afternoon trade on BSE. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the stock tumbled 12.61 per cent to Rs 392.20.
Led by the steep decline in the share price, the market capitalisation of Wipro slipped by Rs 11,882 crore to Rs 98,551 crore.
"We expect Wipro to trade at 10 per cent lower than current market price post this event (demerger). The demerger will enable the company to focus on its growth strategy in the IT services and products space and increase its competitiveness in the market," Edelweiss Research said in a report.
Wipro had last week said that April 11 has been fixed as the record date for the purpose of determining the members of the company to whom Securities of the Resulting Company will be allotted and who will be entitled to the Exchange Right pursuant to the Scheme of Arrangement (Election and Exchange Notice).
It is likely to take about six weeks from the record date for the whole process to be completed, it had said.
Wipro Ltd will remain a publicly listed company that will focus exclusively on information technology, while Wipro Enterprises will be an unlisted company. Promoter's held 78.29 per cent stake in the company as on December 31, 2012.
With inputs from PTI


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About half of the increase is from the company's SmartPost partnership with the U.S. Postal Service. SmartPost moves lighter, cheaper packages through FedEx that are then delivered by a postal worker. A growing number of online and catalog purchases is driving growth in that unit and across the company.
Online holiday spending since Nov. 1 is up 12 percent over last year to nearly $22 billion, according to research company comScore. Last Monday and Wednesday ranked in the top five days for online spending ever, comScore said.
Consumers are using smart phones and other mobile devices, as well as computers, to buy and ship. Online auction and shopping website eBay said Monday that Sunday was its busiest mobile shopping day so far this year. Ebay expects mobile users to buy $1.5 billion worth of good this year compared with $600 million last year.
Online orders overall are likely to spike again this Friday, which many merchants are promoting as "Free Shipping Day."
Online spending increases come with modestly brighter prospects for holiday spending in general. Retail experts predict total spending will increase by 2 to 4 percent over last year.
Severe weather, including a weekend blizzard in the Midwest, is not hindering deliveries significantly on FedEx's busiest day, spokeswoman Deborah Willig said. There are scattered road closures and dangerous driving conditions in parts of the Midwest. Snow is still falling around the Great Lakes.
Although this week is the busiest for both UPS and FedEx, you still have time to send packages to be under the tree by Christmas. The last day for guaranteed FedEx ground service delivery is Friday. Procrastinators can choose more expensive options like FedEx two-day shipping until Tuesday, Dec. 21, or overnight service through Dec. 23.
UPS expects its busiest day closer to Christmas, on Dec. 22 when it will move about 24 million packages. That's 60 percent more than a normal day. The Atlanta-based company will accept packages for Christmas delivery through Dec. 23.
FedEx's busiest day is the high water mark of a holiday season in which it expects to move 223.3 million shipments worldwide. That's 86 packages delivered every second from Thanksgiving Day to Christmas Eve. UPS will deliver almost double that -- 430 million packages -- between the two holidays.
This week FedEx will move more than 63 million packages compared with 57.5 million last year. Wondering what's in Santa's sacks? FedEx says it's mostly books from Internet retailers like Amazon.com, clothing purchases, personal electronics such as iPads and smart phones, as well as luxury goods.
High-tech imports from Asia, including iPhones and computers, have driven growth for both FedEx and UPS this year, as businesses invest in hardware upgrades and consumers stock up on the latest gadgets.
FedEx relies on its 285,000 employees working overtime to handle the holiday rush. UPS hired 50,000 part-time workers to help sort and deliver the packages to their destinations -- about the same number it hired last year.
Industry analysts and economists track FedEx and UPS shipping performance for signs of consumer spending trends and the health of the broader economy, because both shippers handle a wide variety of goods shipped between manufacturers and consumers.


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This article was first published on Insights – Ripple
For the millions of remitters in South Korea, speed and cost matters—time delay in payments can interfere with covering critical expenses like emergencies, tuition payments and unexpected bills. However, for many years, the remittance market in Korea was controlled entirely by large financial institutions—leading to high foreign transfer fees and costly delays. Rule changes introduced in 2017 have now allowed non-bank companies to offer consumer remittance services.
Seizing this opportunity, Coinone Transfer partnered with RippleNet for its retail remittance product, Cross—South Korea’s first blockchain-powered remittance mobile app offering fast, lower cost payments to nearby markets, including Thailand and Sri Lanka. Since launching in 2018, Coinone Transfer has experienced a 50% month-over-month growth rate in payment volume and was able to reduce fees by 90% compared to what banks are charging customers.
Today, almost half of Ripple’s customers on RippleNet are based in Asia-Pacific (APAC), eight total, with the recent addition of Sentbe, Hanpass and WireBarley and more in Korea revealing the significant need for improved cross-border payment services in and out of the country. SBI Ripple Asia, a joint venture between SBI Holdings and Ripple, is responsible for the growth of RippleNet in Japan and South Korea.
Not unlike Coinone Transfer, Sentbe is a money transfer service provider that uses cutting-edge technology to offer an easier, faster, and more convenient way to transfer money abroad. Sentbe focuses on the South- and Northeast Asia corridor, including The Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan and China, and saves their customers up to 95% in remittance fees over banks.
For Hanpass, the focus is on simplifying the steps necessary for sending money in and out of Korea. The company enables its users to safely send money across borders without the hassle of creating local bank accounts in-person through a complex ...
To keep reading, please go to the original article at:
Insights – Ripple


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Today, Apple has put up a new teaser video for ‘The Snoopy Show’, which is set to debut on Apple TV+ February 5, 2021.
‘The Snoopy Show’ trailer is only about a minute long and features various antics by character. You can watch it on Apple TV’s official YouTube channel.
‘The Snoopy Show’ is the second iteration of Apple’s partnership with Peanuts Worldwide and DHX Media. In 2019 Apple showed ‘Snoopy in Space’ featuring the Peanuts gang, and a cartoonish documentary titled ‘Peanuts in Space: Secrets of Apollo 10’.
‘Peanuts in Space’ has garnered Apple an Emmy for Outstanding Children’s or Family Viewing Program. The Cupertino-based company has vowed to produce more Peanuts content for Apple TV+ in the coming years.
Apple TV+ is Apple’s streaming service that costs $4.99 a month. It has a free 7 day trial and features exclusive content such as ‘Defending Jacob’ ‘The Beastie Boys Story’ and ‘Ted Lasso’, among others.


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In a move to better tackle the Australian market, independent greeting card publisher Carte Blanche Group has decided to cease Carte Blanche Australia’s operations from 1 January next year.
The decision comes after a strategic review of Carte Blanche’s UK and Australian operations, realising it needed a new approach to the Australian market.
The company will now be partnering with John Simson for its greeting cards and packaging and Jasnor Australia for distribution of its plush ranges.
“We believe it’s the right time to build on this foundation and develop our brands further with a different model,” says Carte Blanche Group CEO, Alister Marchant. “We are excited by this new chapter in our Australian journey and look forward to supporting and building strong partnerships with the teams from Simson and Jasnor, who we’ve already got to know well through this transition.”
Simson’s energy for new and innovative product with that Australian ‘touch’ for colour and text was what stood out for the company, explains Carte Blanche Group commercial director, Gerard O’Mahony.
“We have great confidence they will help build business with our brands,” he says.
“Jasnor was founded in 1988 and is a highly respected member of our industry and one of Australasia's leading distributors of quality and innovative toys and gifts.
“They have a fantastic reputation for providing value for money combined with a high level of service, experience and expertise and we feel sure they will nurture and grow our brands.”
Indeed, Jasnor is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2018 and sales and marketing director, James Thurlow says he is looking forward to representing such an iconic company.
“We have demonstrated, as Carte Blanche has for the same period of time, an ability to represent and grow long term brands,” he says.
“Our considered approach to the correct retail channels together with our 360-degree marketing approach makes Jasnor a very attractive partner.”
The Carte Blanche Australia office in Botany, NSW will remain open in 2018 until the transition is complete.
By Marion Gerritsen


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Report says manufacturer is set to cut 10 per cent of its 99,000 workers as part of cost cutting exercise
Samsung is preparing to axe nearly 10,000 employees at its headquarters in Suwon, South Korea as part of moves to cut costs in 2016.
This is according to a report from local newspaper Korea Economic Daily, cited by Bloomberg. which said the cuts are being targeted at employees in human resources, public relations and finance departments.
It said Samsung had a total of 98,999 employees at its headquarters as of June 30, according to a regulatory filing.
A Samsung spokesperson said: “We are unable to comment on market rumours or speculation.”
The move comes after the manufacturer revealed in July that Q2 profits had slumped 37.6 per cent year-on-year to 2.76 billion won (£1.5 billion), while sales had fallen to 26.06 trillion won (£14.2 billion) from 28.45 trillion won (£15.5 billion a year ago.
Global figures released last month from IDC said Samsung’s market share in Q2 was 21.4 per cent – down from 24.8 per cent from the same three month period in 2014.
Samsung announced its flagship Galaxy S6 and S6 edge (pictured) smartphones at Mobile world Congress in February, and followed this with the larger Galaxy S6 edge+ last month.


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MPs have called on the accountancy regulator to consider investigating PricewaterhouseCoopers’ auditing of Sir Philip Green’s wider retail empire, after the firm was hit with a record fine over the handling of BHS under his ownership.
The Financial Reporting Council confirmed late on Tuesday that PwC had been handed a record £6.5m fine, reduced from £10m after it agreed to settle and admitted misconduct.
Steve Denison, one of the firm’s senior accountants who audited BHS’s accounts ahead of its sale for £1 a year before the department store chain collapsed, is separately facing a 15-year ban and record personal fine of £325,000 from the industry watchdog. The fine was reduced from £500,000 after Denison admitted misconduct.
The Commons work and pensions committee, which carried out an investigation into the demise of the department store in 2016, is pressing the FRC on whether further investigation and wider sanctions are called for.
It has asked whether the FRC will investigate PwC’s audit of the accounts of Taveta, the Sir Philip Green-led former parent company of BHS that sold the department store to the former bankrupt Dominic Chappell in 2015.
Taveta controls Arcadia Group, which includes Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton.
Frank Field MP, the chair of the committee, said of the FRC’s sanctions of PwC and Denison: “This is undoubtedly a good first move. It reopens the key question of whether BHS was in fact a ‘going concern’ when it was jettisoned for £1. For that, the company directors as well as the auditors are on the hook.”
The committee has also asked for further details of the misconduct of PwC and Denison that earned them the fines, and of whether there was a conflict of interest in the advisory firm auditing the accounts of BHS and the parent company that was trying to offload it.
The regulator said that in addition to the financial sanctions and a “severe reprimand” it has asked PwC to monitor its Leeds-based audit practice and provide detailed reports to the FRC for the next three years, while ensuring that all audits of high-risk non-listed companies or high-profile companies are reviewed for quality.
- COVID-19: Help for high streets as retail sales surge after lockdown hit
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- Arcadia administrators race to spin themselves out from Deloitte
- What Lordstown’s Meltdown Means for SPACs
- Next in race to buy Topshop owner Arcadia as bid deadline nears
- KPMG rebuilds restructuring arm months after £360m Interpath sale
MPs call for scrutiny of PwC auditing of Philip Green's retail empire have 490 words, post on www.theguardian.com at June 13, 2018. This is cached page on Asean News. If you want remove this page, please contact us.


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SFX Entertainment is dancing with David Bowie’s UltraStar Internet Services.
The live entertainment promoter, producer and venue operator has taken a minority stake in the glam rocker’s Internet company, which includes Bowie’s subscriber website, BowieNet, as well as the official websites for the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, although Bill Zysblat, Bowie’s business manager and co-founder of UltraStar, said the deal includes “a sizable amount of cash
— but not a lot by Internet standards — for which we’ve given a small amount of equity.”
The ability for UltraStar to tap into SFX’s resources, its relationships with artists, celebrities, concert tours, athletes, sporting and theatrical events, which will help drive more clients to UltraStar, is “far more important than cash,” said Zysblat.
Unlike many Internet companies, UltraStar is “already cash-positive,” he said. “Embarrassingly, we make money.”
With Bowie and Zysblat’s star-studded connections, UltraStar has no problem linking with artists, but it helps when SFX, putting together a $100 million tour for a star, suggests the artist build an affinity site –an online fan club — using UltraStar, said Zysblat.
“We were introduced to BowieNet and we saw an enormous business opportunity to replicate that with other entertainers, athletes, sports teams, anything with an affinity component,” said Pam Spevak, President, SFX Interactive. “The Internet is the perfect medium for bringing like-minded people together and for them to get close to the artists, athletes and teams they feel close to.”
UltraStar will be able to mine SFX’s consumer data base of 60 million people who attended SFX-related events. In 1998, SFX promoted or produced 24,000 shows.
While such i-companies would have an IPO in mind, UltraStar won’t go that way until it has to raise a considerable amount of money for expansion down the road, said Zysblat.
UltraStar didn’t turn to venture capital firms to launch its Internet company, either. Bowie, Zysblat, three other private investors, and now SFX, are the investors behind UltraStar.
BowieNet, which hasn’t had any promotion or advertising, has 15,000 members who pay at least $5.95 a month. About 20 percent of them go for the total ISP service at $14.95 a month.
The service will launch a marketing and promotion campaign next quarter and relaunch the site Jan. 31.
UltraStar expects to launch the subscription sites for the Yankees and Orioles on Feb. 15, when spring training starts, and seven to 10 new affinity sites first quarter.


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TROY, Mich., Sept. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Inteva Products has selected November 17, 2011 for the grand opening ceremony of its new manufacturing facility in Cordeiropolis, Brazil. Inteva Products President and CEO Lon Offenbacher will be joined by other Inteva executives to host customers, government officials, community leaders and members of the media for this important event marking Inteva's expansion in South America. Inteva's new facility in Brazil is located at: Estrada Vicinal Joao Peruchi, 775, Bairro do Cascalho, Cordeiropolis, SP – CEP 13490.
"Inteva sees many opportunities in Brazil to use our expanded manufacturing footprint to serve light and heavy duty vehicle customers," said Aluisio Gallo, Cordeiropolis Plant Manager, Inteva Products. "We look forward to showcasing our advanced manufacturing capabilities to industry leaders in South America. The grand opening celebration gives us the opportunity to showcase the full breadth of our design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities and recognize the talents and skills of our team."
Inteva has manufacturing operations on four continents and is expecting to grow its presence to serve global customers in South America. Inteva Brazil currently produces latches and window regulators for many of the world's largest automakers. The company goal is to eventually expand its portfolio in South America to include product offerings from Interior Systems, Roof Systems, and Motors and Electronics.
About Inteva Products, LLC
Inteva Products, LLC is a leading global supplier offering value-based innovation and environmentally friendly products that enhance quality and performance. Inteva serves original equipment manufacturers in six key markets: automotive, commercial vehicle, defense, marine, consumer and industrial. Focused on delivering high-value quality, on time and on budget, Inteva has global resources for engineering, manufacturing and customer service for Closure Systems, Interiors Systems, Motors and Electronics, and Roof Systems. Inteva is focused on sustained global growth, providing excellent customer service and being a best place to work for employees. The company is headquartered in Troy, Michigan and employs over 8,000 people in 18 countries. For more information, please visit www.intevaproducts.com.
Kimberly A. Welch
SOURCE Inteva Products, LLC


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PlayStation Awards 2017, which is being held at Konron in the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa in Tokyo, will begin shortly.
The awards show, which has been held annually since 1995, honors the top-selling games across the Japan and Asia regions. Prizes are awarded across Platinum, Gold, PlayStation Network, Users’ Choice, PlayStation VR, and Indies & Developer categories. Read more about each award here.
Generally, the PlayStation Awards is strictly an awards show and does not act as a platform for new game announcements. In 2014, however, the show hosted the announcement of the PlayStation 4 20th Anniversary Edition.
This year marks the first year that the PlayStation Awards is being streamed with a live English translation.
Watch the live stream below. (Starts at 17:00 JST.)


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Mobile wallets and other apps will soon be able to plug into Flexa's payment rails and offer crypto payments to retailers.
Perlin's PERL cryptocurrency looks to make shipping easier, but could also democratize the proof-of-stake model.
Staking is getting attention for all the wrong reasons, and it’s time to re-examine its role, argues Decred's Jake Yocom-Piatt.
New funding for InfStones, a node operator currently staking over $450 million worth of EOS, will fuel hiring and an expansion into more PoS networks.
Ethereum researchers are currently discussing the optimal reward issuance rates for a new version of the network called ethereum 2.0.
A Singapore fiat-to-crypto exchange launch, a DEX on the mainnet and token staking are all in the Binance news today.
Battlestar Capital says customers can earn “up to 30 percent” return annually by staking their idle cryptocurrency holdings.
Blockchain staking startup Bison Trails has raised $5.25 million in a series seed funding round backed by investors including Galaxy Digital.
Sequoia India has led a $3 million funding for Band Protocol, a startup that incentivizes reliable content producers with token rewards and staking.


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STAFF |HOLLAND, MAN.
Those two controversial lake ships the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) is buying for $65 million will be paid for by farmers over four years instead of 25 because the federal government wouldn’t guarantee the CWB’s loan.
“For various reasons they (federal government) weren’t going to accept that (guaranteeing a loan) so we devised a plan to take it out of the pool accounts over a four-year period,” District 10 CWB director Bill Toews said at his director’s meeting here March 15.
While a 25-year loan would cost farmers more in total due to additional interest costs, it would have spread the payments out, making the cost per tonne much smaller.
It’s expected to cost farmers $1 a tonne over four years to pay for the ships. One criticism of the purchase is that farmers about to retire will help pay for something they’ll see little or no direct benefit from.
The federal government guarantees most other CWB borrowings, including those used to finance its operations, as well as its hopper car purchase and a new laboratory in Saskatchewan.
The government guarantee allows the CWB to borrow at very low interest rates – so low that it sometimes earns a profit through credit sales.
“I don’t know for sure what their (federal government) reasons were (for not guaranteeing the loan),” Toews said later in an interview. “I think it had to do with taking on more liability in a sense.”
A March 17 email from Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz confirmed that.
“We were not willing to put taxpayers’ money at that kind of risk and the CWB should concentrate on marketing instead of getting into a business they know nothing about,” he wrote.
“Unfortunately, the CWB didn’t show the same respect for farmers’ money and went ahead and took on a risky venture without even asking them.”
Others have criticized the CWB for not consulting farmers before ordering the ships. But Ward Weisensel, the CWB’s chief operating officer, told farmers it was impossible to do because of a confidentiality agreement it signed with the other companies involved in buying lakers.
“Our partners don’t want their competitors knowing they’re potentially going to the market to buy vessels,” he said.
A lot of thought and research was done before the CWB decided to buy the vessels, Weisensel said.
The idea was brought to the CWB’s board of directors almost a year ago, he said. The board asked management to investigate further.
“The business case looked very sound,” Toews said.
“It’s a strategic investment in the marketing chain and it’s part of our responsibility to reduce the marketing costs of the grain that we ship.”
The CWB reckons the purchase will earn the CWB, and ultimately farmers, about $10 million a year.
It costs the CWB $70 million to $75 million a year to ship around 3.5 million tonnes of grain from Thunder Bay to ports in the lower St. Lawrence, Weisensel said.
Other factors that make the purchase so attractive include the strong Canadian dollar, elimination of a 25 per cent duty on foreign- made ships and the drop in orders for new ships, he said.
“Shipyards are hungry for business and you can get a vessel built much cheaper today than you could a couple of years ago,” Weisensel said.
The two ships the CWB is buying are part of a seven-ship purchase by Algoma and Upper Lakes. The ships, which are being built in China, will be managed and operated by Seaway Marine Transport, which is jointly owned by Algoma and Upper Lakes.
Only one farmer here commented on the purchase.
“I would like to give a bouquet to our board and management for this lake (ship) deal,” said Somerset- area farmer Bill Acheson.


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As we move in to the second quarter of 2013, the mobile wars are heating up. Apart from the usual wars between the usual smartphone making companies, there is also a silent brewing war between the manufacturers of components. And what component could be more important than the one that is center to the modern smartphone – the SoC (System On Chip) that houses the processor, the GPU and the plethora of chips that makes your phone a smartphone.
Two of the players battling it out in this segment are Qualcomm and Nvidia – both of which launched their newest chips at last month’s CES. Nvidia at the time of the launch of its Tegra 4 proudly claimed it to be the fastest mobile processor around. They had the benchmarks as well that sort of supported their claim. Well, a day later Qualcomm came up with their newest bunch of chips called the Snapdragon 600 and the 800. The first devices based on these chips have already been announced and Qualcomm is confident that both these chips are more than capable and can stand up to the challenge posed by Nvidia. Qualcomm’s Raj Talluri opines that their Snapdragon 800 chip is a better one because unlike the Tegra 4, it integrates LTE capability right within the SoC. He also asserted the 800’S capability to encode and decode 4k videos – which let me tell you, needs a hell lot of processing power.
All said, Qualcomm seems to be doing well when it comes to bringing devices laden with these new processors- especially when compared to Nvidia. A bunch of devices based on the Snapdragon 600 have already been announced are on the verge of being launched, There are over 50 ore devices based on these chips that plan to invade the market in the months to come. That isn’t the case with Nvidia. Anyway, as of now, Qualcomm seems to have a headstart in this latest avatar of the mobile processors race – but things can change quickly in here!


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This week in crypto: BTC donations are on for Australian bushfires, crypto booking service gets 33% boost after partnership with Booking.com and Burger King Venezuela starts bitcoin payments
BTC donations are on for Australian bushfires
Bitcoin donations are now accepted while the wildfires are raging in Australia. Addresses have been opened for immediate borderless relief. Saunders announced the Bitcoin wallet address through which people can donate on Twitter.
The fires in Australia are the greatest forest fire crisis in history, which brings damage to both residential and wildfires. Australia is home to a very diverse wildlife, which means the crisis can affect the whole world due to the loss of animal populations.
As soon as the hashtag #AustraliaBurn was spread in the cryptocurrency community, and the Bitcoin donation address was opened, about 0.26 BTC was collected.
There have been many projects opening Bitcoin donations. Over the past year, the whole crypto community has joined their efforts to fight climate change with their contributions. Opening a Bitcoin donation address saves people from the trouble of going through an intermediary.
Crypto booking service gets 33% boost after partnership with Booking.com
Cryptocurrency-accepting booking service Travala has had its revenue for December go up by over 33.5% following a partnership with Booking.com.
Over 9% of December’s bookings were paid in Travala’s proprietary token, AVA, and, 28% of them were paid in Bitcoin (BTC), 8% in Bitcoin Cash (BCH), 37% with credit card and PayPal while the rest with other crypto assets. Overall, over 60% of the total bookings were paid for in crypto.
In November, Travala partnered with the giant Booking.com. Since the collaboration began, the service started allowing its users to book any stay on Booking.com and pay with cryptocurrency.
The tourism and travel industry is increasingly accepting cryptocurrency. In November, Alternative Airlines, a travel company from the United Kingdom, started a cooperation with cryptocurrency service Utrust to enable crypto payments, and last summer the Scandinavian airline Norwegian Air announced that the company plans to launch its own cryptocurrency exchange to facilitate the airline’s acceptance of cryptocurrencies.
Burger King Venezuela starts bitcoin payments
Burger King is letting people pay their meals in Venezuela with a new bitcoin partnership that enables payments with cryptocurrencies. One Burger King in the Sambil area of Caracas accepts coin payments from bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Binance Coin, Dash and the stablecoin Tether. It is expected that all 40 Burger King locations throughout Venezuela would start to accept coins in 2020, as it provides a more reliable alternative payment method and store of value.
The Venezuela-backed cryptocurrency Petro is still the only currency accepted for passports and other citizens’ needs.
Bitcoin trials have failed with Burger King in Russia and Europe in the past. Its 2017 loyalty program — “Whoppercoin” — never really took off. Cryptocurrency acceptance across retailers in Latin America has also remained low.
However, in May, major retailers — such as Crate and Barrel, Nordstrom and WholeFoods — started accepting bitcoin and three other kinds of digital money in the U.S.


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There is no doubt the current crisis is affecting all Albertans, including our local business community. Apart from essential businesses that sell products we all need, many companies are closed to traffic and trying to stay afloat with curb service and delivery. […]
With the annual Easter Egg hunt cancelled this year, the Town of Morinville has decided to celebrate Easter a little differently this year. The Town is inviting residents and businesses to decorate their front windows to show some Easter cheer.
Morinville Town Council has decided to sell the Ray MacDonald Sports Center. At its March 10 regular meeting Councillors voted unanimously to direct the Administration to put it up for public sale. […]


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Then crime pays quite well, as criminal enterprise conducted over the internet makes billions. McAfee estimates that annually, cybercrime costs the global economy more than 445 billion dollars, the stat including security costs for companies and criminal financial gains.
We know that cybercrime is certainly a large industry, yet how exactly do hackers and cyber criminals make millions in the digital world of the internet?
Perhaps the most significant and influential cybercrimes are large, digital data heists with millions of victims worldwide. These heists, also known as data breaches, are where hackers manage to break into company servers and steal confidential information. Most of the time, the information stolen is the personal information of customers. This can be anything from customer emails, account information, credit card numbers and even medical records. This personal information can be sold on the black market and used for anything from fraud to identity theft.
In fact, in 2014, 47% of American’s had personal information exposed in some sort of data breach. So even if you personally take security seriously, there is not much you can do to protect your information when it is leaked from a company with whom you have trusted your information.
Read more ... source: DeepDotWeb
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Intel mulls selling cyber security business
27 June 2016
Chipmaker Intel Corp is mulling the sale of its cyber security business, earlier known as McAfee, the Financial Times yesterday reported.
Intel established Intel Security after acquiring McAfee, the world's second-largest security software company, in 2011 for $7.68 billion.
Intel has spoken with several bankers to find a buyer for Intel Security, the report said.
Private equity firms are recently shown keen interest in cyber security companies since it brings in strong cash flows as corporate customers become increasingly worried about protecting their business from cyber attacks, the report added.
A group of PE firms might form a consortium to buy Intel Security if it is sold for the same price or higher than the $7.68 billion Intel originally paid for it, the report said.
Santa Clara, California-based Intel is the world's largest chip maker and its chip run more than 80 per cent of the world's personal computers. If its chips were to be embedded with McAfee's anti-virus software, it would be difficult for other security software companies to forge alliance with PC-makers to buy their software.
Intel's acquisition of McAfee is believed to have been aimed to not only add security features to its PC chips, but also to expand into new areas, such as mobile phones and other personal electronic devices since security is now a fundamental component of online computing.
But Intel failed to embed McAfee's cyber-security protocols within Intel's chips and two of Intel Security's CEO left the company and is now led by Chris Young, a former Cisco senior vice-president.
McAfee has a suite of software-related security solutions, including end-point and networking products and services that are focused on helping to ensure Internet-connected devices and networks are protected from malicious content, phony requests and unsecured transactions and communication.
Intel said in April that it is cutting 12,000 jobs in order to focus on making chips for data centers and Internet of Things devices.


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The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has barred Vodafone from using a poster advertisement claiming that "Only Vodafone can guarantee mobile signal in your home".
The Guardian (opens in new tab) reports that the poster advertising Vodafone's Sure Signal femtocell device, which utilises broadband connections in houses to enhance mobile coverage in 3G "notspots", attracted complaints from other network providers, as well as customers.
According to the ASA, the Vodafone advert misled customers by claiming to guarantee signal, even though it did not control the broadband network.
The advert also failed to state that users needed a 3G handset to use the service.
The ASA ruling stated: "Vodafone did not control the availability and performance of the broadband connection, the claim to 'guarantee' a signal was unsubstantiated and likely to mislead."
ASA also said that the advert misleadingly implied Vodafone's superiority in the telecommunications market, as it neither referred to nor explicitly promoted the Sure Signal service.


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New Delhi: India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) announced on Thursday that its total domestic (domestic + OEM) sales increased 32.2% at 152,608 units in September 2020 as against 115,452 units in the same period last year.
In the passenger vehicle (PV) segment, the automaker saw an uptick of 33.9% at 147,912 units as against 110,454 units in September 2019.
Domestic sales, which includes the PV and the light commercial vehicle (LCV) Super Carry sales were recorded at 150,040 units last month, up 33.4% as against 112,500 units in the same period last year.
However, the company sold 2,568 units to other OEMs, a drop of 13% as compared to 2,952 units sold in September 2019.
For the Mini segment models (Alto and S-Presso), MSIL domestic sales clocked 27,246 units in September 2020, an increase of 35.7% as compared to 20,085 units sold in September 2019. Meanwhile, the Compact segment (WagonR, Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno, Tour S, Dzire) saw an uptick of 47.3% at 84,213 units as against 57,179 units sold in the same period last year.
Similarly, Utility Vehicles segment (Gypsy, Ertiga, S-Cross, Vitara Brezza, XL6) grew 10.1% at 23,699 units in September 2020 as against 21,526 units in September last year.
Total sales (domestic + exports) for the month under review stood at 160,442 units, up 30.% as compared to 122,640 units in September 2019.
The company’s total export sales saw an uptick of 9% at 7,834 units in the last month as against 7,188 units in the same period last year.
"ICVs are seeing a spurt in demand and this is the best time to introduce our proven I-Gen6 BS-VI technology in one of our best-selling brands in the portfolio. These launches will further strengthen our portfolio and help us achieve our vision of being in the global top 10 CV makers," Vipin Sondhi said.


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So close, Capcom, and yet so far. 2012 had the potential to be a real banner year for the developer. Starting from the top with a new numbered Resident Evil that had strong buzz, a Street Fighter crossover that had the potential to be another Marvel vs. Capcom, and the 25th anniversary of Mega Man, they had all their zombie ducks in a row. But big success just wasn't in the cards, whether it was the failure of Street Fighter X Tekken to catch big traction in the market, the critical disappointment that was Resident Evil 6, or an almost complete absence of Mega Man. What happened?
Capcom started the year strong with Resident Evil: Revelations for the 3DS, as well as the strange-but-fun Asura's Wrath. Street Fighter X Tekken was not a bad game—Mike Fahey gave it a "Yes" in his review—but it failed to grab a large audience like SFIV did, at Capcom's own admission. Most unfortunate was the underwhelming Resident Evil 6, which had the chance to be one of the year's biggest titles and instead seemed to pass by with a whimper. While we got a Mega Man social iOS game, and an 11th hour fan made Street Fighter crossover, expect Capcom devotees to demand a big Mega Man release from the company in 2013.


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The profile details of over 100 million Facebook users have been made available on an internet file-sharing site, tech new site Thinq has reported.
Security researcher for Skull Security Ron Bowles used a piece of code to scan and collect all user profiles data contained in the platform's open access directory. The directory is a list of all users who have not changed their privacy settings to make their profiles unavailable to search engines.
Bowles said that he had revealed the profiles to highlight the lack of security on the platform.
Facebook has said that the information leaked online is already available online via search engines like Bing, Google and Yahoo, and so is not a reflection of the site's security.
In a statement to the BBC, Facebook said: "People who use Facebook own their information and have the right to share only what they want, with whom they want, and when they want."
"In this case, information that people have agreed to make public was collected by a single researcher and already exists in Google, Bing, other search engines, as well as on Facebook. No private data is available or has been compromised."
The list has been downloaded by over 1000 users of the file sharing website The Pirate Bay since its release. Experts have predicted that thousands more will download the file in the next few days.


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The Register writes on HP’s Container offering.
Hewlett-Packard has finally found its way into the data center trailer park.
It took a while, but the hardware vendor is introducing its own scheme for selling chunks of data centers in pre-packaged containers. HP joins the likes of Sun, IBM, Rackable, and Verari with similar White Trash Data Center programs.
HP calls its offering a "Performance Optimized Data Center" or POD. HP joins IBM by providing the option of filling containers not just with the vendor's own kit, but also a wide variety of third-party metal.
"We engineered our PODs to be the most flexible infrastructure in the industry," said Paul Miller, HP's marketing chief of enterprise gear. "If it can fit into a 19-inch rack, we can pretty much fit it into our POD."
Miller said customers are all about standardized hardware in the container arena. For example, the standards approach lets customers start with half a POD and then move their existing equipment into the container when they need the extra space.
Most other vendors have chosen a ground-up approach for the job — fitting their containers with specialized gear made for life in a 40-foot unit. HP, however, doesn't have new hardware for its container. But at least it's managed to cram a lot of what it currently has in there.
HP claims the shipping containers will support more than 3,500 compute nodes, or 12,000 large form factor hard drives. The company estimates that's equivalent to 4,000-plus square feet of typical data center capacity. It also promises delivery within six weeks of the customer's order.
Here is HP’s POD web site.
HP’s slick video is here.


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Uber will launch UPI in a few weeks wherein it will offer payment option through BHIM. Amazon & Google are also set to launch UPI facility in next few months.
Major U.S. tech firms press Congress for internet surveillance reforms
In a quest to build Uber into the world's dominant ride-hailing entity, Kalanick has openly disregarded many rules and norms, backing down only when caught or cornered.
According to a report in Variety Magazine, the comment was made by CEO Evan Spiegel during a meeting to discuss the growth of the app’s user base in 2015.
The German political elite feels threatened by nationalist populist propaganda-based successes such as Brexit and Donald Trump's victory.
For 15 years, he was counted as one of Google’s most prized employees, heading the company’s core search business.
After leaving Waymo, Levandowski started a self-driving truck company called Otto that Uber bought for $680 million to accelerate an expansion into autonomous vehicles.
K2 Global, which has built up stakes in Paytm and Saavn over in about two years, is raising another round of 284 million Singapore dollars, following on to the recently closed 257 million Singapore dollars.
Parent company Snap Inc. on Wednesday sold its first shares of stock to the public at $17 a share, or a market value of about $24 billion, including outstanding equity.
Digital startups are uniting to ensure policymakers hear them as well as to fight and counter any pushback from established incumbents.
Teams at the IIT Kharagpur, Kanpur and Bombay are working on ‘autonomous vehicle solutions’ or driverless solutions, a project evoking interest from Indian automotive companies.
Google is an Uber investor, and it would have been unlikely to sue one of its portfolio companies without thinking things through.
Anthony Levandowski, a former manager at Waymo, in December 2015 downloaded more than 14,000 proprietary and confidential files, including the lidar circuit board designs, according to the complaint.
While conditions are currently not conducive for driverless cars in the country, the changes will help prepare the ground, said Abdul Majeed, partner at PwC.
Anthony Levandowski is accused of taking incredibly valuable intellectual property from Alphabet to his current company, Uber Technologies Inc.
Waymo also wanted unspecified damages in what it described in court documents as "an action for trade secret misappropriation, patent infringement, and unfair competition."
JioMoney users will be able to request and pay for their Uber rides from within the JioMoney application, the telecom operator said.


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Thai energy firm Gunkul has bought the Tan Chau solar plant in southern Vietnam for over $47 million, its fourth such acquisition this year.
The company, formally Gunkul Engineering Public, purchased a 99.9 percent stake in Tan Chau Energy Jsc, which operates the 50 MWp plant, from Singapore’s Sungrow Power. The remaining 0.1 percent is owned by two Vietnamese individuals.
The plant began operations in October with a 20-year selling price of 7.09 U.S. cents per kWh.
The purchase is set to expand Gunkul’s operations in Southeast Asia and promote its growth in an industry which it considers low risk with high potential, the company said in a statement.
Earlier this month, Gunkul said it has acquired the 50 MWp Phong Dien II solar power plant in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue for $39.9 million.
In February, it had spent $60.6 million on two power plants in the southern province of Tay Ninh with a total capacity of 60 MW. Read More..


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When you look at the spec sheets for most of the best Android phones this year, you'll see a common trait. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor is the industry standard right now, found in devices like the Xiaomi 13 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
It's no slouch either. The 8 Gen 2 marks a significant step up from its predecessor, with a CPU that is 35% faster and 40% more efficient. It also has a GPU which is 25% faster, and improves ray-tracing for more accurate gameplay.
It's an undeniably brilliant processor – but the next generation looks set to get even better. That's according to respected tech tipster The Galox, who tweeted a few bits of information about the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which should succeed it this year.
According to the posts, the next generation processor will have a 30% faster CPU, with 20% more power efficiency. Plus, another tweet suggested that the 8 Gen 3 would be capable of multi-core scores around 6,200 in Geekbench testing. That would put it on par with the best scores seen on phones like the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and a league above handsets with the current Snapdragon processor.
It's tough to comprehend just how good that could be. The 8 Gen 2 is already far more capable than most users need, allowing for blistering speeds and massive workloads without breaking a sweat. For power users and gamers the additional horsepower will be a welcome boost, though, making it easier to tackle intensive tasks that might have otherwise needed a tablet or a laptop.
One thing is for certain though – it's going to push the best phones to be even better. And that is certainly no bad thing for consumers.


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Keeping true to its intimate bond with its audience, Eat Bulaga launched a week-long campaign with Havas Media Ortega to honor Filipino moms last Motherâ€™s day.
The initiative kicked off on Facebook last 2 May and ran until 10 May, marking the first time a digital campaign was incorporated into the program. Eat Bulagaâ€™s fans flooded Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with photos and greetings for their moms with the hashtag #EBMomsDay during the campaignâ€™s launch.
From 5 May, Eat Bulaga created a special edition of â€śPinoy Henyoâ€ť (Filipino Genius) called â€śInay Henyoâ€ť (Genius Mom) to let moms play the showâ€™s iconic game with their child.
The two-minute game is an Eat Bulaga staple where pairs are tasked to guess the word placed on their partnerâ€™s forehead. Along with the segment, Eat Bulaga asked fans to add #InayHenyo to their Motherâ€™s Day greetings.
A teaser video was then posted on Facebook on 8 May to drum interest about the campaignâ€™s conclusion on May 10 where Eat Bulaga dedicated its Saturday program for mothers as an advanced Motherâ€™s Day celebration. During the show, Motherâ€™s Day messages that HVMO collated from social media were featured through screen pop-ups.
â€śA concept should know the soul of the client, its language, its culture, and its core business. When HVMO presented the concept for Motherâ€™s Day, I knew right away that they know us â€“ they know Eat Bulaga by heart,â€ť Jenny Ferre, Eat Bulaga Senior Vice President for Production, said.
For the longest time, Eat Bulagaâ€™s average Saturday rating is at 8% in Mega Manila but the showâ€™s Motherâ€™s Day campaign brought it up to 9.0%, beating its competitor, ABS-CBNâ€™s â€śItâ€™s Showtimeâ€ť, with 7.7% according to Nielsen Philippines.
The campaign also made notable success in digital, creating 68.2 million impressions from 2,974 mentions in Twitter. It also reached 1,865,864 million Facebook users and garnered 2,366 Instagram entries.


text: Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar Tuesday invited the Argentine companies to take advantage of the lucrative investment opportunities in Pakistan, especially, in Special Economic Zones established under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Project (CPEC). The minister, who is also the President of Parliamentarians for Global Action met with Ms. Cecilia Todesca Bocco, the Vice Minister and Secretary of International Economic Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade & Worship, Argentina. The meeting was held at the historic San Martin Palace in Buenos Aires during the minister’s official visit to Argentina to participate in the 43rd Annual Forum of Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA). The minister was accompanied by the Ambassador of Pakistan Dr Muhammad Khalid Ejaz and Jameel Ahmed Baloch, the Trade and Investment Counsellor of Pakistan in Argentina, said a press release. Naveed Qamar urged the Argentine exporters to utilize Gwadar Port as transit and transshipment hub for export of the agricultural produce to Western China, Afghanistan and Central Asia being the shortest route. Regarding Pakistan-Argentina bilateral trade, the minister informed that Pakistan-Argentina bilateral trade, despite COVID-19 pandemic witnessed promising growth in financial year 2021-22 increasing to $ 253 million from $191.56 million in the previous year. Pakistan’s exports to Argentina registered a growth of 48%, whereas, Argentina’s imports grew by 28.75%. He however, emphasized that the current level of bilateral trade is not commensurate with the potential the two country have. The minister also urged the Argentina side to support Pakistan’s efforts for starting the negotiations on Pakistan’s request for a preferential trade agreement with Mercosur as the framework agreement was signed in 2006, however, not much headway has made so far. The Commerce Minister gave an overview of the Pakistan’s economic recovery after the pandemic and informed the Argentine side about the fiscal and tariff reforms undertaken by the Government of Pakistan. He specially mentioned the ease of doing business reforms undertaken by the Pakistan to improve business environment in the Pakistan. As a result of the consistent efforts, Pakistan improved 39 positions in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index in the last two years and was placed at 108th position, he said adding that liberal investment policy which provides a comprehensive framework for creating a conducive business environment for the attraction of FDI with liberalization, de-regulation, privatization and facilitation being its cornerstones. Naveed Qamar also invited the Vice Minister to visit Pakistan and also to urge the businessmen in textile and leather sector to participate in Pakistan’s premier fashion and textile exhibition TEXPO-2022 scheduled from 26-28 May,2023 in Karachi. Speaking on the occasion, the Vice Minister expressed her deep appreciation for the visit and gave a brief overview of the Ministry and the policies and activities undertaken for promotion of economic relations between Argentina and rest of the world.


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The price increase reflects economic factors such as rising material costs, as well as market dynamics. The company makes products at competitive prices, maintaining quality and using innovative technology.
Robert Hennessy has been appointed to the role of chief commercial officer in charge of aligning sales strategies across all business units in the Americas, Tim Amburgey has been promoted from regional director of refrigerant sales to vice president of fire protection, Taylor Ferranti has been promoted from regional director of refrigerant sales to vice president of refrigerants, and Jon Stack has been promoted from vice president of carbon projects to vice president of environmental services.
Bob and Tim have had a big day at work — it’s 3:30 in the afternoon, and they are done for the day. They’re having coffee at a local restaurant, talking about their careers when Tim asked a question, “What is a ton of refrigeration, and why is it called a ton?”
Amazon is set to usher in the next generation of “smart” convenience stores with the launch of its Amazon Go concept, replacing traditional checkouts with smart technology. The store concept works by automatically logging purchases to the user’s Amazon account when a product is removed from the shelf.
North America is expected to dominate the market over the forecast period
December 14, 2016
The global commercial refrigeration equipment market is forecast to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5 percent over the forecast period of 2016 to 2026, to be valued at $45.9 billion by 2026, according to a report by Persistence Market Research.
The Food Marketing Institute’s (FMI’s) 2016 Energy & Store Development Conference attracted more than 600 attendees and 105 suppliers and featured educational sessions on refrigeration, energy, and store development along with networking opportunities and a manufacturer/retailer exchange.
The Kigali amendment is subject to ratification in the U.S. and will formally take effect when 20 member parties to the Montreal Protocol ratify or accept the amendment, which could take up to two years.
Growing food safety concerns are expected to boost the demand
December 9, 2016
The global refrigerated display case market is expected to garner $20.8 billion by 2022, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.8 percent during 2016 to 2022, according to a new report published by Allied Market Research titled "Global Refrigerated display cases Market - Opportunities and Forecasts, 2015-2022."


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When fashion designers Reuben and Lévi Uwi returned to Kenya for the first time in 17 years, they were in search of inspiration for designs to debut at New York Fashion Week—a stark contrast to their last trip to the country, when their family sought sanctuary from the shocking violence in Rwanda. In April 1994, the 7-year-old twins and their family packed up the car, drove to Congo, then flew to Kenya, fleeing the carnage in their homeland that would leave more than 800,000 Rwandans dead in just 100 days.
“At that young age, we didn’t really realize the magnitude of the situation,” says Reuben. “We were fighting for life and death.”
The Uwi family lived in Kenya for a few years before eventually emigrating to Vancouver, which they now consider their home. Reuben and Lévi weave details of their heritage and incredible story into the garments of the Uwi Twins fashion label. They made their New York Fashion Week debut on Friday evening, with a runway show featuring their third collection, I Left My Heart in Africa.
“Having been in Canada for that long, it was important for us to get back to our roots,” Reuben said of his return to Kenya last February. “That really inspired us to create this collection, from the colors to the patterns. We really honed in on creating something we feel is special to share with everyone.”
Their homecoming was threaded throughout the Uwi Twins runway show at New York’s Gotham Hall on Friday. Traditional drummers and a face-painted dancer roused the audience before models showcased 50 pieces from the collection for men and women. The 33 looks that comprise I Left My Heart in Africa range from artistic street wear, like T-shirts and shorts, to dressier pieces, like long blazers and geometric dresses, that easily transition from the office to the nightclub. Many pieces incorporate personal details, like their birth year, 1987, and a photo of the twins as child refugees. The show is evident that the designers look to Africa not as a source of pain, but as a fountain of inspiration.
“We have accents of gold, which symbolize the rich resources that Africa does have,” Lévi said.
Reuben added, “We did a couple of safaris, so you’ll see giraffe and animal prints in the collection. The sheer natural beauty of Africa is breathtaking, so inspiration comes easy. We had a chance to go to Mombasa in Kenya. That yellow [and] that royal blue that we used within the collection come from being inspired by the ocean.”
The 27-year-old designers demonstrate the power of perseverance. Reuben and Lévi kicked off their careers in fashion as teenagers with R&U Styles, a T-shirt line that was picked up by Hudson’s Bay, a department store chain with 90 locations throughout Canada. Their confidence came from earning frequent compliments from friends on their style and “knowing how to put things together and knowing what works,” Lévi said.
Rather than go to college, the men chose to pursue fashion with no formal training and launched the Uwi Twins label in 2014 as a chance to tell their story through fabric, patterns and colors.
“Our whole entire goal with this brand is to inspire the underdog, to inspire young entrepreneurs to never give up, to always persevere,” Lévi said. “We wanted this brand to essentially symbolize the message of perseverance and keep going and never give up on your dreams. In life and in business, you’re always going to have ups and downs and it’s all a matter of how you deal with it and how you’re going to move on from there. It’s never going to be easy. You just have to stick to your personality and stick to what you believe in and never give up on your end dream.”
The designers hope that their debut at New York Fashion Week will build their presence in the United States, further bolstered with a show at Los Angeles Fashion Week in October.
“We definitely want to . . . be that bridge between North America and Africa when it comes to modern fashion designers,” Reuben said. “With sharing our story, we hope to inspire or spark motivation in young designers and entrepreneurs, or someone who wants to pursue their passion.”
While plans for global domination are within reach for these emerging designers, Reuben and Lévi stay down to earth, joking with each other over petty arguments about fabric colors and praising their parents for behaving bravely during the most perilous period of their lives. It’s safe to say their ambition comes from humble roots.
“If it wasn’t for our experiences, we wouldn’t be who we are right now,” said Reuben. “If it wasn’t for Africa, if it wasn’t for what happened, I don’t know if we’d be in the same position or if we would have the same drive to get to where we want to go in life.”
Link to the article on Forbes
Article by Joni Sweet


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Samsonite Singapore has teamed up with Singapore design company STUDIO DAM to upcycle pre-loved luggage following the successful launch of their 2022 Luggage Trade-In campaign.
Consumers and key opinion leaders were invited to trade in pre-loved luggage at any Samsonite retail store during the initiative that runs until April 30. For every piece traded, Samsonite Singapore has committed to a S$10 donation to the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF-Singapore).
The Luggage Trade-In Campaign forms part of Samsonite Singapore’s strategy for environmental responsibility, which focuses on the whole journey – from how Samsonite Singapore’s products are made to how they endure; how the company plays its part in reducing its impact on the planet and how it ensures that its people, partners and communities engage in and benefit from this progress. This sustainable push supports a design agency that champions recycling efforts.
Said Samsonite’s SEA Head of Marketing and Brand Strategy Hazlina Dayangku: “We are pleased to share the news of our partnership with STUDIO DAM in our ongoing efforts to reduce wastage and increase sustainable initiatives within our company. It’s truly encouraging for us that travellers have embraced this campaign and we take this as a positive move forward towards creating a beneficial impact on the way we engage with our sustainable goals.”
In a bid to support a circular economy, Samsonite Singapore’s tie-up with STUDIO DAM, a firm of sustainable design in Singapore, will see pre-loved luggage upcycled into sets of 2-piece coasters which customers can redeem at Samsonite’s ION (#B3-08) and Suntec City outlets (#01-463/466, North Wing). The offer begins in May, with details to be posted on Samsonite’s social networks (Instagram: @samsonite_sg).
STUDIO DAM – founded by Debby Yu and Matthijs Rikken – is a multidisciplinary design studio, one arm of which focuses on upcycling waste through their DAM GOOD PLASTIC enterprise into a variety of products including trays, coasters and plant pots.
The DAM GOOD PLASTIC initiative is a display of STUDIO DAM’s effort in practising corporate social responsibility. Said Matthijs Rikken, Co-Founder – Creative Director – Maker: “From preloved luggage to 100% upcycled all-purpose trays, this collaboration between Samsonite and DAM GOOD PLASTIC is so meaningful as we witness the company taking steps to create a tangible, 100% up-cycled plastic object made locally in Singapore from their own waste.”
Samsonite’s donations to WWF-Singapore go towards the environmental group’s No Plastic In Nature Initiative, Plastic ACTion (PACT), a programme that empowers companies to adapt their business models and processes to be more resource-efficient.
Formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund, WWF-Singapore is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment.


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Many of America’s largest multinationals see the efficiency of blockchain technology as valuable to their long-term growth strategy. While blockchain tech and cryptocurrency were once considered outliers in the global marketplace, they have risen in prominence over the years because of their versatility and are now an integral part of most financial institutions’ long-term business-to-business (B2B) strategies.
Recent PYMNTS research revealed that 61% of financial institutions (FIs) consider access to cryptocurrency “very” or “extremely” important for their corporate customers, making it the most cited financial service after payment acceptance.
PYMNTS’ research showed that FIs, like corporate entities, are willing to use or offer cryptocurrencies to their clients when doing so provides tangible solutions and does not add unnecessary complexity. Forty-three percent of businesses stated that the prospect of added efficiency via the adoption of cryptocurrency or blockchain technology influences their development strategies on blockchain and cryptocurrencies, and 16% consider it the most important influence.
Today, blockchain technology powers everything from smart contracts that automate payment processing as deliveries are completed to user authentication for contactless payments.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology are relatively new, but they have altered the ways businesses and FIs see the future of commerce and trade. From investment to eCommerce, virtual currencies are making payments and user authentication easier for consumers, retailers and FIs seeking to remove frictions from in-store payments.
The Corporate Treasury Shift: Asset Allocation And The New Cryptocurrency Option, a PYMNTS report sponsored by Circle, is based on a survey of 250 multinational businesses with revenues ranging from $10 million to more than $100 billion conducted between April 7 and April 27, 2021.
Additional key findings from the survey include:
93% of FIs believe their business clients will eventually use digital currencies for investments and transactions. Digital currencies have emerged as a viable choice for institutional investors.
96% of FIs would use stablecoins for investing and transactions. Stablecoins are among the top choices for FIs allocating assets to digital currencies.
20% of multinationals have chosen to actively hold digital currencies as an asset management tool in recent months.
To learn more about why more corporates are increasingly turning to blockchain adoption for transaction management, download the playbook.


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Over the weekend, US Vice President Mike Pence said that Apple had donated over 6 million N95 masks to health professionals in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a press conference yesterday, Pence upped that to 9 million, and now Tim Cook has taken to Twitter to offer more details.
The post Tim Cook says Apple has sourced and donated over 10M masks to US medical workers appeared first on 9to5Mac.
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Alcatel and Microsoft signed an agreement for the joint development of an IP technology solution for television (IPTV). In a statement, the companies explain that the integrated distribution solution that will result will benefit from Alcatel’s experience in the area of broadband, IP networks, development and integration of end-to-end multimedia and video solutions, as well as Microsoft’s experience in the field of software for television and devices aimed at the consumer market.
The main objective of the partnership is to accelerate the development of IPTV-based services for broadband operators worldwide. The partnership also foresees the joint implementation of several initiatives which include the development and customization of new applications in this area and the integration of content, security and software digital rights management to ensure the secure distribution of high quality content inside and outside the home.
The companies hope that the new solution will help the development of IP technology in television formats and allow service providers in that area to reduce costs and development time, improving their ability to respond to the market, details a statement.
The document also explains that the two companies share the same view that consumers should be able to receive personalized services through multiple devices, including television. As an example, applications of streaming video, interactive television, sharing music and video content and games online.
2003-07-22 – Microsoft with cable operators for Microsoft TV software testing
2002-01-16 – Microsoft announces new generation of Microsoft TV Developer program


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CBD oil is massively popular, and when you look at the anecdotal evidence, it’s easy to see why. A quick Google search reveals myriad testimonials about the physical and mental illnesses it can treat or cure, from anxiety to cancer. Although no medication is a cure-all, there’s empirical evidence to back up CBD’s effectiveness in alleviating symptoms such as inflammation, nausea, and insomnia. But is it even legal?
The FDA will now oversee CBD; to what extent is yet to be determined.
CBD, short for cannabidiol, is one of the two main cannabinoids in the cannabis plant; the other is THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol. The latter is the one that gets you high, and it’s why cannabis remains federally illegal. However, you can buy CBD-oil vape cartridges at smoke shops, CBD gummies at gas stations, and CBD-infused treats at pet stores.
“With the recent passing of the  Farm Bill, hemp-derived CBD was removed from the Controlled Substances Act and officially made legal nationwide,” says Elle Welch, Marketing and Communications Manager of Mary’s Medicinals, a manufacturer of hemp- and cannabis-derived topicals. “Prior to this, companies were operating under and complying to an industrial hemp pilot program.”
She’s referring to the 2014 version of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Farm Bill, which created an exception to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) categorization of cannabis as a Schedule 1 controlled substance. That exception was industrial hemp research. This limited redefinition of the word “cannabis” applied to any plant with a THC concentration of less than 0.3 percent.
The 2014 Farm Bill allowed state departments of agriculture to grow hemp – not marijuana -- “for purposes of research conducted under an agricultural pilot program or other agricultural or academic research.” However, the FDA didn’t specify how to procure the hemp seeds, specifically define “research,” or address CBD production specifically. There was no guidance for out-of-state transportation of seeds or product.
“Hemp-derived CBD companies use various courier services,” says Welch. Denver-based Mary’s has a side line called Mary’s Nutritionals, which they sell online; the THC-containing Medicinals are only sold in licensed dispensaries. The CBD for the Nutritionals line, she says, is grown in-state.
Procuring the original hemp seeds, then, is somewhat shrouded in secrecy, but if the plants are grown in-state and conform to THC limitations, they’re legal. Shipping to other states, however, isn’t. Transporting any form of cannabis, including hemp, across state lines violates Justice Department guidelines. In an effort to comply with federal law, companies that produce CBD products sometimes import hemp from outside the U.S. (Welch is clear that Mary’s doesn’t do this, saying, “Our hemp-derived CBD is grown in Colorado on Elite Botanicals farm and held to the highest quality farming principles. Some overseas countries do not adhere to those same standards.”)
With the passage of the 2018 version of the Farm Bill, which designates hemp as an agricultural crop, it is no longer classified as industrial. “The signing of the 2018 Farm Bill into law is genuinely historic and monumental,” says investigative journalist Maryam Henein, best known for directing the documentary film Vanishing of the Bees. She sells a organic liposomal CBD through her company Simply Transformative. “The DEA is no longer classifying CBD as Schedule 1. The FDA will now oversee CBD; to what extent is yet to be determined.”
This DEA-to-FDA handoff has both pros and cons. On the one hand, it federally legalizes CBD. On the other hand, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has stated that CBD is a drug ingredient, and as such, it’s illegal to add it to food or health products without FDA approval. “Selling unapproved products with unsubstantiated therapeutic claims is not only a violation of the law, but also can put patients at risk, as these products have not been proven to be safe or effective,” Gottlieb’s official statement reads.
“Of course, we’re not allowed to make any claims,” says Henein. The product descriptions for Simply Transformative products instead provide links to research studies on the conditions (neuropathies, fibromyalgia, joint pain) for which CBD has shown to be effective.
Efficacy and regulation of CBD products will take center stage as we head into a new era of oversight. The gas-station gummies, for example, probably aren’t as effective as oil from non-GMO, pesticide-free hemp that has been decarboxylated, cleanly extracted, and tested for contaminants.
The cannabis industry and producers of cannabis oil are now in the position to educate the FDA, to the degree the FDA chooses to be educated. A CBD-based seizure medication called Epidiolex, produced by GW Pharmaceuticals and Bayer, recently received FDA approval. At a cost to patients of approximately $2700 per month, it’s prohibitively expensive. Whether or not the FDA will allow small business to make the same claims as big business remains to be seen.
Gottleib’s statement says that while CBD is no longer a Schedule 1 drug, shipping foods and supplements containing it is still illegal. This is another Epidiolex-based complication: CBD is now an FDA-approved ingredient in a prescription drug, and the FDA doesn’t allow prescription-drug ingredients in foods and supplements. In 2019, the agency will begin to work out future CBD regulation.
In the meantime, if you want to try CBD, educate yourself on the way products differ. Purchase products with minimal ingredients that reveal the extraction method used. Choose organically grown, pesticide-free, non-GMO hemp (or cannabis, if you live in a legal state). If you purchase your CBD oil in a dispensary, a knowledgeable budtender can tell you more about where it comes from and who makes it. If you order online, look for legitimate customer testimonials, and ask friends for recommendations. Buy locally, if possible – and it’s going to become more and more possible now that the government has made hemp a commodity crop, allowing farmers to obtain crop insurance and get loans from U.S. banks.
The 2018 Farm Bill is good news for both growers and patients. With luck – and continued activism by cannabis advocates – CBD will become more potent, purer, and more accessible in 2019 and beyond.


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Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this isn't happening this year after all.
"We have been working with Microsoft to deliver the full iTunes experience to our customers and we need a little more time to get it right," said an Apple spokesperson via an emailed statement.
I'm hearing the plans still remains for iTunes to come to the Windows 10 (now called Microsoft) Store at some point. But neither Apple nor Microsoft is providing any updated timing. Apple officials also declined to share what specifically is holding this up.
The lack of iTunes in the Windows Store may be most disappointing to Windows 10 S users, as that version of Windows only can run apps that are available in the Microsoft Store. Microsoft has been positioning Windows 10 S as well suited for students and others who want longer battery life and better security, but are willing to trade those features for being restricted to Store apps only.