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EOS 5D Mark III firmware arrives 30th April 2013
Eagle-eyed readers of Canon USA’s website have noticed that “A firmware update for the EOS 5D Mark III is scheduled to be released on April 30, 2013”
This is the long awaited update for the AF system to work with lenses, or lenses and extenders, with a maximum aperture of f/8, and also provides the option for a clean HDMI output signal as required for external video recording devices like the Atomos Ninja 2. Canon actually must have released a firmware beta to some vendors at the recent NAB show in Las Vegas, since there were several reports of external recorders working with a clean HDMI signal from EOS 5D Mark III cameras.
Twelve more sleeps…
It’s been nearly six month in the making – Canon pre-announced this firmware in October last year – so it would be great for the firmware to have a few other nice fixes too. Red focus points in AI Servo would appeal to me for sure!
It seems to be turning in to firmware news week 🙂
Is your camera running the latest firmware?
All EOS DSLR camera firmware updates are available to download from the firmware update page.


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20 February, 2010
As of April 2010 online filing of VAT will be mandatory for businesses with a turnover of £100,000 or more. The same rule will apply to businesses of any size that register for VAT as from April 2010.
15 November, 2009
The Finance Act 2009 includes rules to prevent businesses from manipulating the change in rate.
30 September, 2009
The HMRC guide tells you in practical terms how to deal with and apply the change to the new standard rate of VAT.
04 August, 2009
Additional fraud cases on VAT and other taxes are expected to be uncovered by the HMRC who are working on reducing tax fraud.
23 July, 2009
The HMRC is likely to pay out about at least £100m to businesses in overpaid VAT, after dropping its request for a ‘stay’ in the Fleming-Bodycraft case.
17 June, 2009
Reports are showing that due to cash problems, approximately 141,000 businesses have deferred their tax payments, totalling an amount of £2.5bn.
12 June, 2009
On the 1st January 2010 there will be significant changes to VAT legislation and the way that VAT is administered.

domain: news


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Foreign buyers found styles and prices to their liking at Brazil’s two biannual fashion weeks and didn’t let the global financial crisis constrain purchases.
In fact, lines at the more commercial Fashion Rio event registered an uptick in buying, a welcome development for the challenged apparel industry.
Many buyers said while Brazilian fashion is rarely a bargain, prices remained competitive with those in the U.S. and Europe, even as the local currency, the real, has fluctuated against the U.S. dollar and the euro.
Last month, the dollar gained 21 percent against the real since June 2008. However, it had lost 15 percent against the real since January — the dates of the most recent Brazilian fashion weeks.Meanwhile, the euro registered 8 percent gains and 10 percent losses during those respective periods. Valuations made dollar- and euro-based fashion exports cheaper and more competitive in the past 12 months, while devaluations had the opposite effect in the past six months.
The June editions of both events, open to the public, showed summer 2010 fashion and attracted a similar number of local and international buyers as in prior years.
São Paulo Fashion Weekshowcased 40 upscale designers in catwalk presentations and drew a crowd of 100,000, among them about 40 foreign buyers. Fashion Rio held runway shows for 29 designers, who, along with an additional 77 mid- to lower-price lines, showed in an on-site salon, attracting 90,000 visitors, with 97 foreign buyers from 28 countries. At both fairs, 5 percent of visitors were trade, organizers said.
SPFW designers who presented on the runways as well as fashion houses in off-site showrooms rang up an estimated 1.5 billion reais (or $770 million at current exchange), holding steady with the June 2008 edition. SPFW will feature an off-site salon at next January’s event to replace an on-site showroom space that had been suspended since June 2007.
Fashion Rio’s on-site salon’s 106 showrooms rung up a 4 percent increase in orders from domestic buyers totaling 461 million reais (or $236 million) and a 29 percent increase in orders from foreign buyers ($21 million), a sign they weren’t purchasing cautiously.
“Orders placed at Fashion Rio and sales estimates during SPFW show that Brazilian fashion mainly relies on domestic market sales and that the global economic crisis has not affected them in any relevant way,” said Gustavo Bernhoeft, an organizer of both events. “Strong foreign orders at Fashion Rio show that Brazil remains a viable alternative for buyers from abroad who want quality at competitive prices.”
Fashion consultant Gloria Kalil said that “trendwise, both fashion events showed similar tendencies, with both featuring the nude color, transparencies, short tops and dresses, fringes, sequins and, in particular, dressy beachwear.”
Among the looks at SPFW were Alexandre Herchcovitch’s nude chiffon dress with big flower petal details, Maria Bonita’s black linen spencers, Gloria Coelho’s short, silk organza and satin balloon dresses, and Agua de Coco’s dressy bikinis in multicolored prints.
At Fashion Rio, Walter Rodrigues showed a black transparent silk top over a white T-shirt, Alessa offered a dress made entirely of big multicolored sequins and Lenny showed a dressy, canary-yellow swimsuit with fringelike strips from neck to midriff.
In São Paulo, what most struck foreign buyers was how unique Brazilian fashion had become. Helen Lambert, a consultant for luxury department stores in the U.S., Europe and Asia, said that some SPFW designers “have that something special my clients want, especially for summer, the forte of Brazilian fashion.”
Maria Cardini, the fashion director of La Rinascente, Italy’s biggest and most upscale department store chain, agreed. “SPFW designers have evolved and now offer a wide range of singular styles, often at competitive prices,” she said.
Two German boutiques with very different clienteles came to the same conclusion. Andreas Murkudis, owner of five fashion-forward shops in Berlin, is buying Alexandre Herchcovitch’s oversize white latex T-shirt dresses with stylized arrow details. “These dresses are affordable, one of a kind and perfect for my clients, who tend to be thirtysomething artists or gallery owners and want something edgy,” said Murkudis.
Bernardo da Franca, owner of Fashion Clinic, an upscale Düsseldorf boutique, is purchasing Uma’s black polyester tank dresses with balloon bottoms. “It’s comfortable, not-too-pricy casualwear that the typical German woman likes because it’s not very showy,” he said.
Buyers from the Mideast sought eye-catching partywear. Elham Chegini, a buyer for the two Zai boutiques in Doha, Qatar, liked Isabela Capeto’s green and black seersucker A-line dresses made with Lurex metallic yarn, “because they are vibrant without being ostentatious.”
American buyers were also eyeing salable, vibrant, edgy clothes. Sarah Bronilla of Eva, a fashion-forward boutique in Manhattan’s Bowery neighborhood, liked Herchcovitch’s plasticized-silk multicolored crescent-print shift dresses, noting SPFW prices “are better than those in Europe.”
Jennifer Mankins, owner of Bird, a chain of three Brooklyn shops, was taken by the “riotous use of color and print” in Neon’s accordion-pleated shift dresses, featuring vibrant color block panels and beach-and-sky prints with appliquéd white birds.
“Neon fits my customers — independent young women who want to make a creative statement, not a brand statement,” said Mankins. “And Neon has prices similar to many New York designers.”
Eva and Bird have taken steps to stem the current sales slump. Eva is throwing cocktail parties and multimedia presentations featuring various designers, while Bird has tightened its inventory and is e-mailing new collections to regular clients.
Tsum, Moscow’s biggest department store, is taking more drastic steps: It slashed prices by 50 percent in June and July because of sagging fashion revenues. Still, Tsum buyer Raquel Michailov ordered a combined 20,000 to 40,000 euros ($28,100 to $56,200) worth of Huis Clos and Ellus, lines she hopes will attract new clients.
“Ellus’ beige silk chiffon A-line dresses with metal grommets and Huis Clos black cotton jumpsuits with side drapings are perfect for my twentysomething, fashion-forward clients and cheaper than European labels,”said Michailov. “Their detailing makes the difference.”
Bev Malik, buyer for the Neo luxury boutiques located within the worldwide chain of One&Only Resorts, found “the fresh take I was after for my sophisticated clients” in Osklen. She singled out the designer’s triple-layered, triple-hued, transparent tulle T-shirt dresses and his pleated chemise dresses with colorful digital prints of sequins.
Neo has boosted business by doing trunk shows, where clients can see exclusive pieces of new collections.
Meanwhile, Fashion Rio moved from the city’s marina to a less polished but more spacious dockside address.
Etro’s show, titled “The Tree of Life,” was a celebration of the house’s 50th anniversary. “My father founded the company in 1968, which was the year of counterculture and psychedelia. It’s really a show that celebrates that and the paisley design of India and its origin,” said Veronica Etro. #wwdfashion #mfw #ss18 (📷: @delphineachard)
For @msgm’s spring 2018 show, creative director @massimogiorgetti said “Words, sounds, colors. Synthesis and therapy of a collection,” were the inspirations behind the collection, showing today. Read the rest of Milan spring 2018 inspirations on WWD.com. #mfw #wwdfashion #ss18
For her first solo album in over 10 years, Fergie tapped Carine Roitfeld, Mert and Marcus, Giovanni Bianco and more to create a fashion-focused video approach for the record, Double Dutchess. "Giovanni really helped me get back in touch with my tomboy side, my hardside," said the singer. #wwdeye #wwdfashion ( : @slovekinpics)
“Volumes and Graphic Art of the Nineties are the main inspirations of the new Aquilano.Rimondi SS 2018 collection,” said cocreative directors Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi. #wwdfashion #mfw #ss18


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- Products & Services
- Knowledge Base
CHICAGO, IL, March 07, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- High Road Producers LLC announced today they have reached an agreement to add DentalPlans.com as a promotional partner.
According to Keith Knutter, president of High Road Producers, DentalPlans.com will be designated as the 'Official Dental Plan Website' for the High Road Producers Broadcast Network of terrestrial radio stations and on The Needle, HighRoad's 24-7 online radio station (www.theneedelradio.com).
DentalPlans.com is the leading online resource for discount dental plans, an alternative to dental insurance for families and individuals.
"We are thrilled to feature DentalPlans.com in our broadcasts", Knutter mentioned in the announcement. "DentalPlans.com offers a valuable, market-based service for customers looking for alternatives to the traditional insurance industry. And their service is needed now, more than ever, with so much confusion and chaos in the healthcare industry created by government interference."
Beginning in March, High Road Producers will broadcast promotional campaigns advising listeners that they can choose from 30+ different plans from the healthcare brands they already know and trust like Cigna, Aetna and more, with plans that cover more than 100,000 dentists nationwide.
DentalPlans.com has affordable plans to fit any need and budget. And, depending on the plan you choose, individuals can save 10% to 60% on their next visit.
High Road Producers LLC is a media production company headquartered in Chicago, IL. The company produces an independent-minded lineup of talk radio shows and on-demand podcasts, with each show advocating the principles of individualism, free markets and reason.
The company broadcasts daily programming via The High Road Producers Broadcast Network of terrestrial radio stations and on "The Needle", the company's 7x24 live streaming radio station, which can be accessed at http://www.theneedleradio.com.
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The Canadian dollar rose against its U.S. counterpart after yesterday’s largest drop in more than a year as gold pared losses following a 14% two-day plunge that damped demand for commodity-linked currencies.
The loonie, as the currency is nicknamed, fell versus its commodity peers, the Australian and New Zealand dollars, as gold for immediate delivery gained 2.6%. Slower-than-forecast economic data in Canada, China and in the U.S., the nation’s largest trading partner, is projected to lead the Bank of Canada to revise down growth forecasts as it leaves its 1% interest rate in place at its policy meeting tomorrow. Canadian factory sales increased more than forecast in February.
“When you look through what Canada exports and who it exports to, you can come to the conclusion that maybe the disappointment in China probably wasn’t as significant as the market thought it was yesterday,” said Jane Foley, senior currency strategist at Rabobank International in London. “Maybe there is a little bit of a recovery from the sell-off we had earlier in the week.”
The loonie rose 0.3% to C$1.0227 per U.S. dollar at 10:24 a.m. in Toronto. Yesterday it touched C$1.0259, a 1.2% drop and the biggest since Dec. 8, 2011. One loonie buys 97.78 U.S. cents.
Although the world’s two biggest gold producers by market value are Canadian, gold miners account for only 6.1% of the Standard & Poor’s Toronto Stock Exchange Index. Goldcorp Inc. is the biggest by market value and Barrick Gold Corp. is the second biggest.
Futures on crude oil, the country’s biggest export, fell 1.1% to $87.71, after touching $86.06, the lowest point since November. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of U.S. stocks gained 0.7%.
Canada’s benchmark 10-year government bonds fell, with yields rising three basis points or 0.03 percentage point to 1.74%. The 1.5% security maturing in June 2023 lost 31 cents to C$97.77.
The Bank of Canada will announce additional details on April 18 about an April 24 auction of securities maturing in 2015.
A faster-than-forecast pickup in factory sales in February follows weaker-than-projected gross domestic product data in China, an expected drop in retail sales in the U.S., and the biggest monthly job loss in Canada since 2009.
Canadian factory sales advanced in February at the fastest pace since July 2011, with sales rising 2.6% to C$49.6 billion ($48.5 billion), following a revised January decline of 0.6%, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. The increase exceeded all 18 economist forecasts in a Bloomberg survey with a median estimate of a 0.6% gain.
“The market is looking for more of a dovish stance from the Bank of Canada, potentially even going to a neutral stance and taking any sort of hiking rhetoric out of the statement,” said Darcy Browne managing director of currencies at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s CIBC World Markets unit, by phone from Toronto. “When the Canadian dollar strengthens people will sell that and if the U.S. dollar weakens people are looking to buy that.”
Central-bank officials have held the benchmark interest rate at 1% since September 2010 to support the economy.
Canada registered a net outflow of securities in February as foreigners sold a net C$6.31 billion of Canadian securities in February, led by the biggest sale of stocks since October 2007, government figures showed.
The cost of living in the U.S. declined 0.2% in March for the first time in four months after a 0.7% jump in February, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Separate data showed a surprise 7% jump in U.S. new-home construction.
The Canadian dollar has fallen 1.3% this year against nine other developed nation currencies tracked by the Bloomberg Correlation Weighted Index, trailing the Australian dollar’s 1.7% gain and the New Zealand dollar’s 4.8% gain. The U.S. dollar rose 2.1%.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Microsoft makes 70 Billon dollar Deal for huge Gaming company
It's hard to believe Microsoft started out in the garage of Bill Gates back in 1975, little did he know it would change the world. Bill Gates set out to revolutionize the way we live our lives, introducing the computer and the promise of the future in technology.
Fast forward to today Microsoft is a multi-billion-dollar company, financing more than just your average tech or computers. Playing their part in smartphones, video games, healthcare and so much more. Now they've purchased one of the biggest companies in gaming.
It's no secret Microsoft is a gaming giant inside the community releasing titles like Halo, Sea of Thieves, Gears of War honestly the list goes on. However, the gaming world is shocked to find the news that Microsoft has bought Activision, Treyarch, and Ravensoft in a 70 billion dollar deal.
Activision releases many gaming titles however their most popular is none other than Call of Duty. That's right the first-person shooter game that took the world by storm in the mid-2000s and has stayed relevant for 20 years. now in 2022, the game has brought in billions in revenue due to both in-app purchases and copies of their main titles sold.
This has obviously caught the eye of many huge gaming and tech companies but Microsoft was the first to bite at the chance of owning it. This comes after multiple lawsuits and issues brewing inside of Activision. Employees have walked out due to grievances and the game has suffered from it losing hundreds of thousands of players.
Now with the game in Microsoft's capable hands, we could see the turnaround of the century. Rumors are saying Call of Duty could become an Xbox exclusive but it's very unlikely we'll see that since 48% of Activision's player base is PlayStation users. More than likely Microsoft will capitalize on its already widespread audience and continue to make the game for everyone.
This has become amazing news for everyone who has recently parted ways with the game myself included. The promise is there to fix the bugs that Activision has refused to address or fix over the years. Every game Microsoft puts out is praised and loved by the users and gaming community, this means big changes will come to the game and company to make it a better and fair work environment.
We're excited to see the changes and how fruitful this new business venture will become for Microsoft.
LOOK: The Most Famous Actor Born Every Year
50 Famous Brands That No Longer Exist


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A new report from Morgan Stanley concludes that while Apple is saying little about AI, it is ready to profit as consumers adopt AI-based tools in everyday life.
Artificial Intelligence has been the buzzword of 2023 with everyone, except Apple, who has said so little that there's a presumption it has fallen behind, and is spending heavily to catch up. In reality, AI in the form of Machine Learning has been integral to Apple products for years, and Tim Cook recently described it as "fundamental technologies."
Investment firm Morgan Stanley believes that Apple is not only further ahead in the field than it publicly states, but that as early as 2024, it will become one of six "key beneficiaries... [in] a catalyst year for 'Edge AI'."
"Edge AI" is Morgan Stanley's fuzzily-defined label for what happens when AI stops being a ChatGPT-like app and instead is woven into all computing. "[As] AI permeates into new consumer use cases, we expect the edge to become an emerging enabler of AI inferencing in 2024 given the benefits of lower query costs, improved latency, greater personalization, better data security/privacy, and easier accessibility."
So where now generative AI is increasingly included as an option within apps such as Microsoft's Bing, in future AI will be less of a distinctly separate service. Instead, AI will be invisibly powering tools for consumers.
"While some investors question Apple's AI intentions, we believe Apple will be an AI enabler," says Morgan Stanley. " We believe Apple will emerge as one of the key winners — or 'Edge AI Enablers' — in this race given the unique data from Apple's 2 billion+ devices and 1.2 billion+ users, Apple's focus on data privacy, and Apple's leading hardware, software, silicon and services vertical integration."
So at its core, Morgan Stanley's logic is two-fold. It argues that AI tools need powerful devices, and that such tools also need t to reach a very wide audience.
Given that Apple already includes "powerful silicon... [such as] Apple's A17 Pro SoC, which can process 35 trillion operations per second," Morgan Stanley says its iPhone can already power AI on device. "We expect new battery tech, silicon, and edge devices to emerge in 2024 (and beyond)," it says, "helping to spark investor interest in this theme."
"For AI to provide truly differentiated outcomes," continues Morgan Stanley, "it needs to leverage unique data sets, and Apple's 2B+ devices and 1.2B+ users generate more insightful data than most platforms we can think of."
"When paired together will [sic] Apple's industry-leading focus on data privacy," says the report, "and some of the most powerful smartphone and PC hardware/silicon in the market today... we believe Apple can become a true 'AI Enabler' in ways many others can't."
"And while some investors question whether Apple is really 'all-in' on AI," claims Morgan Stanley, "reports indicate Apple is spending billions on AI technology, suggesting Apple's emergence as a leading provider of AI at the edge is a matter of 'when' not 'if'."
Siri could be key to AI's future
"AI is traditionally deeply integrated across Apple's product and services ecosystem (think FaceID, TrueDepth Camera, Fall Detection, Smart Dictation, etc.)," say the analysts. "Other edge AI use cases that are likely to emerge on Apple devices include more efficient code development, integrating AI into Apple's native productivity apps, and AI-powered health, financial, and fitness assistants, amongst others."
But Morgan Stanley also thinks that Siri "as the ultimate smart assistant is still the 'killer' AI app."
"[Using] LLMs [AI Large Language Models] to power Siri as the ultimate virtual assistant is, to us, the clearest 'killer AI app' Apple can deliver to market," the report continues, "and reports indicate this integration could come to Apple devices as soon as next year."
"We believe Siri powered by LLMs could become an 'intelligent layer' that sits in-between a users iPhone and the websites/applications the access," it says, "becoming an all- important gateway to many of the brands we use today."
Expect AI news at WWDC 2024
"Moving forward, we will be closely watching for any announcements," says Morgan Stanley, "related to 1) new Apple (or third-party) silicon launches that will power edge-AI workloads, 2) step-ups in AI hiring, capex, or component procurement plans, and/or 3) partnership announcements with current AI enablers, such as Alphabet (covered by Brian Nowak)."
Apple doesn't tend to talk about AI even when it is launching a feature that uses it, such as voicemail transcription. Instead, Apple talks about the benefits more than it does the specific technology.
Nonetheless, Morgan Stanley says that it will "be closely watching for AI-related commentary during future product launches, and the rollout of AI-enabled services (and/or developer tools), with Apple's next WWDC in June 2024 a likely key catalyst."
Apple's three advantages
Apart from having the capital to invest in AI, Morgan Stanley believes that Apple has certain specific advantages over other firms.
"We believe Apple will be a Gen AI enabler given 3 distinct advantages," it says, "unique data from an installed base of over 2B diverse edge devices and 1.2B users, unmatched privacy standards, and vertical integration of hardware, software, silicon and services that enables a more powerful device to process Edge AI workloads."
In a slightly mixed metaphor, Morgan Stanley says that Apple Silicon is already positioning Apple "at the center of AI at the edge." That's because "Apple-designed processors for the Mac and the iPhone are already capable of processing LLMs below 10B [billion] parameters."
Plus of the six firms Morgan Stanley sees as profiting at this AI edge, only Apple has a vertical stack meaning it has computers, wearables, smartphones and more. The other firms including Dell, Qualcomm, and Xiaomi, all offer many but not every option Apple does.
Morgan Stanley's position
While Morgan Stanley is predicting an enormously profitable future for Apple on the back of AI, it's still holding its price target at $210. The company does not address that discrepancy, but it does acknowledge that it expects investors to be skeptical of its "edge" predictions.
"Why Apple? Are they even investing in Gen AI? We anticipate these being the two key questions we get from investors initially," it says, "because Apple has — admittedly — been less vocal about their AI ambitions than many of their megacap tech peers."
"What we know is that Apple is historically slow (and tight-lipped) to adopt new technologies — we can look back to the smartphone, 4G/5G networks, multi-cams, AR/VR headsets, and other products/technologies as examples where Apple was not first to market — as they typically take time to understand how to best monetize their products/ services and avoid potential regulatory headwinds," continues Morgan Stanley.
"However, Apple has proven time and time again that this strategy pays dividends," says the report, "as in each of the major markets Apple has entered over the last 10-20 years (smartphones, tablets, wearables), Apple's entrance has helped to grow the TAM [Total Addressable Market] beyond the size of the prior incumbent peak, with Apple capturing the majority of profits in these markets today."
To back this up, Morgan Stanley notes that since 2015, "AI-related job postings at Apple have risen from 5% of total Apple job postings to ~20% today."
"We see this as clear confirmation of Apple's AI intentions," says the company, "and we'll be closely watching Apple's Capex and opex plans to better understand the added costs associated with enabling new AI workloads, which admittedly trail AI investments from many of Apple's mega-cap tech peers today."
Morgan Stanley's optimistic view of even the immediate future does fit with recent rumors that, for instance, Siri will be improved by AI in 2024.


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Changing attitudes towards veganism are seeing fast food chains and even pubs introduce more plant-based food options, as more Australians — particularly millennials — turn away from meat.
About 11 per cent of Australians don't eat meat, for environmental, health and animal welfare reasons.
However there are many Australians who are opting to reduce their meat intake, even if they're not strictly vegan or vegetarian.
Amanda Walker, the co-founder of Lord of the Fries, the largest vegan food chain in the southern hemisphere, said consumers were becoming more ethical about what they put in their mouths.
"There is activism but it's more subversive, it's in the background — activism through the stomach," she said.
"We wanted to make an impact in the area of animal rights but we weren't into animal activism, we were into food, so we opened a vegetarian restaurant."
The business, which sells burgers with patties that look like traditional beef and chicken but are made from plants, grew from a single food truck in 2005, to 24 franchises across Australia and New Zealand.
The word vegan can 'isolate consumers'
A key to that success, was not using the word 'vegan', which Ms Walker said was a word that deterred meat eaters.
"For vegans it is one of the most beautiful words you can hear, but for other people it can cause guilt, confusion, discomfort and a bit of self-blame," she said.
"We experienced at different family events the sort of controversy that comes up when you are vegetarian or vegan, and we wanted to avoid that in our business.
"So we decided we wanted to carry that vibe through our business by being a vegetarian business but without having the vegan or vegetarian political stance."
Lord of the Fries is just one of many fast food companies and food manufactures who are opting to play down vegan branding on their products.
Last year, supermarket giant Woolworths placed a plant-based mince in the red meat isle of the supermarket, among beef and pork mince, rather than in the vegetarian section.
Thomas King is the CEO of Food Frontier, a not-for-profit that helps food manufacturers and entrepreneurs get into the business of making plant-based meat alternatives.
He said one of the first things he told fake meat makers was to avoid the term "vegan" on their labelling, because it can isolate consumers.
"Veganism is breaking outside of that very neat and old-school box where it's been labelled as sort of an extremist choice to something that everyday consumers want," he said.
So called-militant vegans — who damage farm properties to make a statement against livestock production — were also causing reputation damage to the word vegan.
"A lot of these food companies are avoiding using terms like vegetarian and vegan because it is restricting, it can come with certain connotations, so by dropping it they are opening up their products to the mainstream market," Mr King said.
A study in the United Kingdom last year from 30,000 households found that 29 per cent of household dinners in Britain were now vegetarian — up from 27 per cent in 2014, and 28 per cent in 2016.
There is no similar study in Australia, but a trend of major food producers introducing plant-based alternatives to popular products shows at least anecdotally that tastes are changing fast.
Hungry Jacks, Nandos, Schnitz, Grill'd and TGI Fridays now all have plant-based and vegan burgers, while vegan cheese can now be found at Zambrero, Mad Mex, Dominos and Crust.
Some ice-cream brands, like cornetto and magnum, have recently introduced vegan lines as well, made without milk.
"We're seeing a whole range of well-known foods now coming out as plant-based options, whether it's sausages or burgers or yoghurt or cheese or ice cream," Mr King said.
"There are multiple big market research agencies and news sites that have dubbed 2019 the year of plant-based foods and I think that's certainly the case for Australia.
"I think we'll continue to see considerable growth in this space, more new product launches, than any year previously.
"I can't name names at the moment but there's a couple of meat companies we're working with who are developing plant-based products — because if they're in the business of producing sausages already, then why wouldn't they respond to the growing market demand for plant-based sausages?"
'Not just for hippies'
Saverio Catanzariti is the head chef at the Alma Tavern, a pub in Adelaide's eastern suburbs, that has recently joined the chorus of pubs across Australian cities who have introduced extensive vegan menus.
"I did a vegan menu just naturally, because of the demand for it from people coming in. It's not just the hippy down the road anymore who is asking for this," he said.
Mr Catanzariti said around 15 to 25 per cent of the meals he now made were vegetarian or vegan.
"About 11 per cent of Australians are already vegan or vegetarian in their diet, but I'd say that percentage would have to have increased by now," he said.
"The demand isn't just coming from vegans, it's also coming from the general public who are becoming interested in vegan food, even if they still like meat.
"Definitely people still want chicken parmigiana, steaks and burgers, but it's a new millennium and people want that variety."
While veganism and vegetarianism is not a new concept, Mr Catanzariti said the difference now was that the trend was being fuelled by issues beyond just animal welfare concerns.
"I'm not saying vegans or vegetarians are a new thing — it's always been out there," he said.
"It's just in the forefront of everyone's mind now, whether for health or environmental ones, as well as animal welfare concerns."


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Jain receives gift from Cogent Systems
Jain receives gift from Cogent SystemsAnil Jain
, University Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, has received a gift from Cogent Systems, Inc, which is a global biometric identification provider to governments, law enforcement agencies and commercial enterprises. The gift will support Professor Jain's research in biometrics.
(Date Posted: 2010-10-19)


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Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
Trustpilot must prove its potential for profits
It may not go near the performance of nascent cyber security star Darktrace (DARK) but investors piled in to Trustpilot (TRST) after shares in the online reviews platform began trading on the London market in March 2021.
Retail investors were unable to participate directly in the IPO (initial public offering) so there was a ready army of willing buyers poised to pounce. And pounce they did, initially anyway, sending the stock soaring 11% early on its market debut, although the stock ended its first day flat.
The Denmark-based digital reviews and analytics platform had earlier priced its IPO at 265p a share, valuing the business at £1.08 billion.
Like many digital commerce businesses, Trustpilot’s business grew rapidly during the pandemic. The platform hosts more than 144 million consumer reviews of products and businesses that cover around 626,000 web domains. It had 21,000 paying customers at 30 June 2021 and is adding more than 15,000 new domains every month on average, according to chief executive and founder Peter Holten Muehlmann.
ON A RAMPANT GROWTH CURVE
Trustpilot has certainly seen rapid growth in recent years. The company claims compound average revenue growth of 30% a year between 2015 and 2020, and ‘high retention rates’ from its software subscriptions model, which implies that most of any year’s revenue comes from customers who subscribed in previous years. Customer retention rates ran at 97% in the first half this year.
Revenue went from $64.3 million to $102 million in the past two years, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation swung from a $21.5 million loss to a $6.1 million profit.
Berenberg forecasts the company will generate a modest net profit of $11 million in 2023.
The key to Trustpilot’s future will be its success at becoming the home for reliable and valuable opinions about businesses, brands and services and tapping the network benefits.
The more consumers that use the platform and share their own opinions, the richer the insights the company can offer clients and the more opportunities they will have to earn the trust of consumers from all around the world.
Done well, this creates a virtuous circle where consumers feel drawn to Trustpilot because it is where meaningful services are listed and reviewed, and the more consumers that use Trustpilot, the more businesses will feel they cannot afford not to be on the platform.
The growth runway for Trustpilot looks extensive. According to a Cavas8 report released in 2020, 89% of consumers in the UK, France and the US checked reviews online before making a purchase. Trustpilot operates in more than 100 markets covering industries from beauty to beds, fashion to finance, technology to travel.
According to Alexa February 2021 rankings, Trustpilot sits among the top 0.0001% of most visited websites worldwide. The long-term total addressable global market opportunity, excluding China, has been estimated at $50 billion, albeit based on a study commissioned by Trustpilot. The current market is estimated at $6.3 billion, so even if $50 billion is over-egged, there is still huge scope for expansion.
Funding this growth potential won’t be a problem. At 30 June 2021 the company had net cash of $91 million and no debt. In the first half this year it burned through $12 million worth of cash, although IPO costs were a large part of that which won’t be repeated.
CHALLENGES TO MANAGE
That said, potential investors should not expect Trustpilot to have the market to itself. Competition comes from several directions with New York-listed Yelp perhaps the best point of comparison. It has significantly larger revenues, forecast at more than $1 billion this year, and had been profitable for three years straight pre-pandemic.
Trustpilot also has a long-run battle on its hands to prevent dodgy reviews that give consumers a bum steer. The BBC’s Watchdog programme ran an investigation on Trustpilot in 2019 after receiving consumer complaints that its reviews cannot always be relied on.
The company launched its own investigation after discovering ‘suspicious patterns’ and while Trustpilot can be expected to chase down abuse where it can, it may not always be able to verify the content.
Serious failures could damage Trustpilot’s brand and significantly impact the share price. Shares would like to see more evidence that Trustpilot can manage these challenges and build a reliable stream of profits for shareholders before we’d be willing to recommend the stock to our readers.


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Food outlets from top restaurants to tea rooms must make sure they comply with new regulations which make them responsible for telling customers about potentially lethal allergens in the dishes they supply, a chef at the University of Derby Buxton has warned.
Chef Lecturer Rob Stordy said European Union regulations mean that from December it is the retailers’ responsibility to give clear information about food allergens in their menu items.
“Ten people in the United Kingdom die each year from an allergic reaction to certain foods and many more end up in hospital,” said Rob, a former University Chef of the Year.
“In most cases, the food that causes the reaction is from a food outlet.”
The new rules mean it is no longer just the customer’s responsibility to ask what is in a dish.
“Restaurants, cafes, pubs, takeaways, delis and bakeries will have to provide clear information about the food allergens in their menu items,” said Rob, who is concerned that smaller retailers may not be aware of the change.
“Even large companies who already have allergen policies in place are making mistakes with mislabelling and miscommunication.
“Allergens will need to be highlighted on menus, packaging and displays. Verbal information may be provided; however, written confirmation of the details will be required and customers can request this at any time.”
The allergens prescribed in the new EU FIR 1169/2011 laws are: gluten-containing cereals, crustaceans, molluscs, fish, peanuts, lupin, tree nuts (such as walnut, hazelnut, almond etc.), soya, eggs, milk, celery, mustard, sesame and sulphur dioxide.


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VizanSign’s tailored digital signage solution can revolutionize visual communication and engage audiences effectively.
SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE, November 9, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ — In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, customer engagement is a critical factor for success. To help businesses boost their customer interactions and create memorable experiences, Singapore’s leading digital signage solutions providers are offering cutting-edge technology and services. This press release highlights how Singapore’s digital signage solutions are enhancing customer engagement and driving business growth.
Digital signage has become a powerful tool for businesses to captivate their audience, convey messages effectively, and enhance brand visibility. As the digital signage industry continues to innovate, Singapore’s companies are at the forefront of this transformation.
Key advantages of Singapore’s digital signage solutions include:
Interactive Content: Singapore’s digital signage providers offer interactive content, allowing businesses to engage with their customers on a whole new level. Interactive touchscreens, motion sensors, and augmented reality features are just a few examples of the technology that companies are using to create immersive customer experiences.
Personalization: Tailoring content to the preferences and behavior of individual customers is becoming increasingly essential. Singapore’s digital signage solutions are equipped with advanced data analytics and machine learning capabilities to deliver personalized content that resonates with customers on a personal level.
Seamless Integration: These solutions seamlessly integrate with other digital marketing channels, creating a consistent brand message across multiple platforms. From social media feeds to website integration, Singapore’s digital signage providers offer a cohesive and engaging brand experience.
Remote Management: Singapore’s digital signage solutions include remote management options, enabling businesses to update content, analyze performance, and troubleshoot issues from anywhere in the world. This flexibility ensures that businesses can stay up-to-date and responsive to customer needs.
Eco-Friendly: Many digital signage providers in Singapore prioritize eco-friendly solutions by using energy-efficient displays and sustainable materials. This not only aligns with the global trend towards sustainability but also saves businesses money in the long run.
Expert Support: Businesses in Singapore can benefit from expert support and consultation services to maximize the impact of their digital signage solutions. From design to deployment, Singapore’s providers offer comprehensive assistance.
VizanSign – Digital Signage Singapore, one of the leading digital signage companies in Singapore, commented, “The future of customer engagement is digital, and we are proud to offer cutting-edge solutions that help businesses connect with their customers in new and exciting ways. Our technology is designed to captivate, inform, and entertain, and we are committed to delivering results that matter.”
As businesses across Singapore embrace the power of digital signage, the impact on customer engagement and business growth is evident. Whether in retail, hospitality, healthcare, or any other industry, digital signage is helping companies stand out and create lasting impressions on their customers.
Businesses looking to enhance their customer engagement and overall brand experience should explore the innovative solutions provided by Singapore’s digital signage companies. To learn more about the latest developments and offerings, visit their websites, or contact them directly for a personalized consultation.
VizanSign – Digital Signage Singapore is a leading provider of digital signage solutions in Singapore. With a commitment to innovation, technology, and customer engagement, we empower businesses to create unforgettable customer experiences. For more information about our services, visit www.vizansign.com
10 Ubi Crescent, #01-84 Ubi TechPark
Lobby E, Singapore – 408564
GoDaddy India godaddy.com Shop now Sponsored 1 of 2 · 0:01 godaddy.com Skip Ads 0:18 / 0:20 VizanSign – Digital Signage Singapore


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US Man Selling Bitcoin Without License Faces 5 Years in Prison
A New Orleans resident has been charged for selling bitcoin without registering with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network .
These companies must register with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as money transmitting businesses.
Yusko was the owner and manager of Nervous Light Capital LLC, court documents show.
Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.
Banks and credit unions of all sizes can now facilitate the buying, selling, and holding of bitcoin within their banking platforms thanks to a collaboration between Finserv and New York Digital Investment Group .
Bitcoin ATM operator Athena Bitcoin has unveiled its plan to install 1,500 bitcoin ATMs in El Salvador.


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KANSAS, CITY MISSOURI, U.S. — The Export Exchange 2020 will address critical issues facing U.S. exports and seek to educate and build awareness of the benefits of U.S. corn, sorghum, distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and other products.
It will be held in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S., Oct. 7-9, 2020.
The event is expected to be attended by 200 international purchasers and end-users of coarse grains and related products and an estimated 300 U.S. producers and agribusiness representatives.
The Export Exchange is a biennial event held in October, sponsored by the U.S. Grains Council, Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and Growth Energy, to offer an opportunity for education of and introductions to members of the U.S. grains production and export industries.
According to the event sponsors, the buyers from 35 countries who attended the Export Exchange in 2018 reported purchasing an estimated $403 million worth of coarse grains and co-products, including DDGS and feed grains.
For more information about the Export Exchange 2020 visit the events website.


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Is Your Orange Juice Safe?
(WASHINGTON) — Low levels of a banned pesticide found in orange juice imported from Brazil is safe for sale in the domestic supply, says the Food and Drug Administration after conducting new tests.
The juice, which is stored in huge, three-story high tanks in Florida, is tainted with the fungicide carbendazim, and will soon reach American grocery stores.
“In this case, we’ve been really cautious in working with EPA to insure that these residues are posing no safety concern,” Michael Taylor, deputy director of the FDA, said Thursday.
The FDA has said that the juice is entirely safe to drink and that the amount of the fungicide in the contaminated OJ is far below unsafe levels. To test positive for the pesticide, orange juice samples had to contain at least 10 parts per billion of the pesticide.
Carbendazim has been found to cause birth defects in rodents and some chromosome problems in human cells in laboratories. However, it hasn’t been found to have any health effects for humans. Carbendazim is a pesticide used to kill fungus and fungal spores. It is not approved for use on oranges in the U.S., but is lawful in other countries.
Studies show no risks of consuming carbendazim at up to 80 parts per billion, and that actual levels of danger are thousands of times higher, the Environmental Protection Agency said.
“FDA is confident that orange juice in the United States may be consumed without concerns about its safety due to the possible presence of such residues,” said a statement on the agency’s website.
The American juice processors are not being asked to clean the tanks, as the FDA says it will let the fungicide wash its way out of the storage system, along with the orange concentrate and onto store shelves over next few weeks.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio


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ATLANTA, March 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Visiprise, Inc., a leader in manufacturing execution systems (MES) for the integrated enterprise, announced today it has been named to START-IT magazine's START-IT 125 list.
The START-IT 125 list is compiled by the editors and editorial advisors of START-IT magazine to recognize the top companies providing technology solutions to the manufacturing market.
Visiprise's flagship solution, Visiprise Manufacturing, is a manufacturing execution system (MES) for discrete manufacturers. The solution captures, shares, and stores manufacturing data while integrating with ERP, PLM and other business systems to provide complete visibility across the manufacturing enterprise.
"Each year, we see more change in the manufacturing industry and the available technology, and each year the editors of START-IT must be more critical in examining the top 125 technology providers," said Peggy Smedley, editorial director of START-IT. "The START-IT 125 lets our readers know what the best solutions are, who can provide them, and how they can help manufacturers improve business practices."
This recognition continues the momentum that began in 2005 when Visiprise was named to the publication's 2005 Hottest Companies list. In 2006 Visiprise was named to the Hottest Companies list and was picked as one of only three MES vendors to be recognized on the 2006 START-IT 125 list. In 2007 Visiprise was again selected for the START-IT 125 list and gained further recognition when Visiprise Manufacturing was selected as one of START-IT's top 50 technologies.
"We continue to maintain our position as an MES market leader," said Carter Johnson, senior vice president of corporate development at Visiprise. "Our achievements in 2007 are leading to success in new markets and geographies in 2008. This recognition reflects a consistent record of success that our company has worked diligently to achieve on behalf of our customers and partners."
Visiprise is a leading provider of business solutions for integrated manufacturing operations. Visiprise solutions help customers plan, define, control, execute and analyze manufacturing operations in a single environment, to easily integrate with existing enterprise applications. Focused on aerospace and defense, electronics, automotive and specialty vehicles, and the medical device industries, more than 200 customers around the globe turn to Visiprise for improvements in operating costs, quality and manufacturing visibility. Customers include Actia, BAE Systems, Celestica, ConMed, E-Z-GO Textron, Lockheed Martin, Philips Lighting, Solectron and Thales Avionics. For more information, visit http://www.visiprise.com .
|SOURCE Visiprise, Inc.|
Copyright©2008 PR Newswire.
All rights reserved


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Company financial results can be pretty dry affairs, as the CEO makes some high-level comments, the CFO immerses everyone in the details of the balance sheet, and analysts ask routine questions. But when the company is one of the world's top PC manufacturers and a significant player in the mobile and datacentre markets, and is headquartered in China, things become much more interesting in these turbulent geopolitical times.
Box: How Aaron Levie and his childhood friends built a $2 billion business
So it is with Lenovo, which is currently embarked on its mission to become the "leader and enabler in the Intelligent Transformation era while driving customer centricity and leveraging Smart IoT/Smart Infrastructure/Smart Vertical" -- a strategy it hopes will elevate the company to new heights.
The figures for the 2018/19 financial year, ended on 31 March 2019, look good. But will fallout from the US-China trade war affect Lenovo's future prospects?
With $38.5 billion out of its $51bn revenue for FY18/19 coming from the PC and Smart Devices (PCSD) group, it's clear that, for now, Lenovo remains primarily a PC company. The remaining 25 percent of revenue is evenly split between the Mobile Business Group (MBG) and the Data Centre Group (DCG).
The current financial year is the first time Lenovo has exceeded $50bn in revenue. The fourth quarter of FY18/19 generated $11.7bn in revenue, up 10.1 percent year on year.
Profitability is looking good too, with operating profit of $273 million, pre-tax income of $180m and net income of $118m — three-figure year-on-year growth in each case.
Lenovo chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing's prepared statement on the results referenced climate, but not the geopolitical one: "Lenovo's solid financial performance is the result of persistent execution of our transformation strategy. At a time of great global change -- economically, socially and environmentally -- we continue to focus on how we 'intelligently transform' ourselves and enable our many customers around the world successfully to do the same," he said.
Here's how Lenovo's main business groups performed, in the fourth quarter and the full 2018/19 financial year.
PC and Smart Devices Group (PCSD)
Lenovo's core PC business continues to perform well in a declining market, with its success in $800+ commercial notebooks validating the company's strategy of concentrating on high-value market segments.
Mobile Business Group (MBG)
The mobile business group saw its second consecutive profitable quarter, suggesting that Lenovo's turnaround strategy of cost cutting, selective geographical focus and portfolio rationalisation is bearing fruit.
Data Center Group (DCG)
Although revenue and profitability are improving, the data centre group's turnaround still has some way to go. High-growth areas such as hyperscale and software-defined infrastructure will be important going forward, while Lenovo's joint venture with NetApp strengthens its offering in the storage and data management sector.
Services and LCIG
Software and services revenue increased by 18.6 percent in Q4 18/19 to $619 million, and by 18.9 percent to $2.4 billion for the full year.
Lenovo's chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing has been sanguine in recent months about the state of US-China relations and the likelihood of Lenovo's businesses being affected. Despite Huawei's 15 May placement on the US Commerce Department's Entity List, which prohibits US companies from exporting technology products and software to the Chinese company, Yang remained optimistic at the 23 May earnings call -- going so far as to say that "this is the most promising time in Lenovo's history."
However, it's not inconceivable that US suspicion of Chinese companies will broaden to include Lenovo, and that the current trade war will escalate, with Chinese-manufactured PC products receiving higher tariffs. Several questions at yesterday's earnings call explored the company's preparedness for such developments.
"We are a global company with a balanced business across geographies and a very sophisticated supply chain," Yang said. "We have in-house manufacturing facilities across the world...so compared to our competition, we have more flexibility to adjust our supply chain. PCs and smartphones haven't been tariffed yet, and so manufacturing in China still gives us certain advantages."
When asked whether Lenovo might get the Huawei treatment from the US, Yang Yuanqing responded: "Lenovo has always been a global company, originated from China. We have always been a trusted player across the world. We have never had a problem with security and compliance, and we always comply with the law and regulations everywhere we do business. We are a very transparent company with a high standard of governance...I don't think we have a reason to be targeted."
That optimism undoubtedly informs the response to a question about whether Lenovo might seek to future-proof itself, as Huawei has done, by developing its own chips and operating systems. "We still believe globalisation is a trend, so we don't need to do everything ourselves. We have no plans to build chips or operating systems: we provide the best product for our customers using the latest technology, partnering with trusted partners. That's our strategy," said Yang.
Taking a sledgehammer to another large Chinese technology company's business would be a bold move, even for the Trump administration. But that doesn't mean it won't happen. That said, the latest noises coming from the US suggest a more conciliatory approach, so perhaps Yang Yuanqing's optimism is justified.


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BANGKOK, 17 May 2023 – Digital transformation for businesses has gone far beyond a buzzword. However, the question is no longer whether digital can provide value, but rather how it can increase resilience and agility, and reduce cybersecurity and data privacy risk in an increasingly complex environment.
In response, PwC has embraced an asset-based services strategy – combining their traditional professional services with digital assets to deliver human-led, tech-powered solutions. As part of this strategy, PwC has launched the Asia Pacific Marketplace, the first of its kind in the region, across Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam with other territories soon to follow.
This is a digital ecosystem where their clients can explore digital solutions, built by PwC and their alliance partners, for business issues such as cybersecurity, data and analytics, digital transformation, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), organisational effectiveness, risk management, tax and upskilling. Each digital asset is created with unique, real-world perspectives and deep industry knowledge gleaned from serving the world’s largest and most complex companies.
Over 12 months, PwC’s Asia Pacific Marketplace has introduced over 160 innovative digital assets with more being added, ranging from licensed Software as a service (SaaS) products, tech-enabled services (asset-based services) to managed tech services, to the market.


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Oculus is preparing to take virtual reality to the next level: eSports, and it is partnering with ESL to showcase the potential of VR eSports at competitions such as ESL One in New York last month and the recently concluded IEM Oakland. The game featured as a potential eSports contender is The Unspoken, a competitive urban fantasy game developed by Insomniac Games exclusively for the Oculus Rift.
The Unspoken pits two players against each other in head-to-head competition—each using Oculus Touch controllers to summon spells to throw at their opponents or defend against them. Although the game is still in development and doesn’t officially launch until December, it is the ideal demonstration for how VR can be brought into the world of eSports.
Insomniac Games’ chief brand officer, Ryan Schneider, recently spoke to [a]listdaily about The Unspoken and how it could pave the way for virtual reality to become an integral part of the eSports industry.
“The Unspoken has enjoyed critical praise and excitement from all who have seen or experienced it since it was first revealed earlier this year,” said Schneider, detailing how the game came to be featured at events such as ESL One. “That has led to opportunities from many sectors—including the ESL—to showcase The Unspoken at ESL One and now IEM Oakland as a benchmark for the future of competitive VR games.”
Schneider explains how player reactions to the game have been strong. “They enjoy The Unspoken’s depth and strategic choices, but really it’s the sense of immersion that gets them the most excited. It’s one thing to experience a competitive game from a top-down or limited FPS (first-person shooter) view. It’s entirely different when the fast-paced action literally surrounds you. We think it’s the first game that really delivers on the fantasy of being an all-powerful mage who can physically cast spells.”
When asked what opportunities VR opened for eSports, Schneider said that “there are opportunities from all perspectives. Players can become the first to master the fastest-growing segment of the games industry. How exciting would it be to not just be a pioneer of the VR eSports movement but also its greatest player? Spectators can find a way to be closer to the action than ever before. Imagine seeing critical gameplay decisions from an entirely different perspective, which in turn can make spectators more knowledgeable and even better players themselves. Brands will find a way to connect with the community in deeper ways by virtue of the medium’s immersive nature. Every day, we learn about how brands are innovating within the world of VR. The opportunities just continue to multiply.”
Schneider also thinks that eSports could lead to faster adoption of VR technology as long as it’s done well. “If eSports players and fans feel like they’re getting something crammed down their collective throat for the sake of novelty, it could de-position VR as nothing more than a fad,” he said. “That’s why we’re approaching this from a very grassroots level, seeking game feedback from experts and the most passionate players. Certainly though, the potential is there to grow VR adoption because you have a huge base of PC players hungry for fresh, competitive experiences. On the surface, nothing in gaming is hotter at the moment than VR/AR and eSports. Marrying the two is inevitable.”
If marrying VR and eSports is inevitable, we asked if Insomniac was developing The Unspoken with an emphasis on eSports in mind. “We’re primarily focused on making The Unspoken a great competitive game, period,” Schneider replied. “One of the better ways to do that is to demo The Unspoken at events like ESL One and IEM Oakland. Go to where the most passionate players already live. We can absorb and incorporate valuable player feedback there for future versions of the game. So, we’re not attending to push an eSports agenda—we’re legitimately there as part of a broader plan to make the best competitive game possible.”
That being said, The Unspoken still has high potential as aSport. “The things that make The Unspoken a stand-out competitive game could help it resonate as an eSport,” said Schneider. “The Unspoken offers variety in its character classes, multiple and unique spell types, and the complexities associated with when to summon each spell along with critical gesture-based movements.
“What’s especially exciting to me is that the potential here for players is to be on the ground floor of a new way to play sport altogether—kind of like learning to play basketball at the time it was first invented. From a spectator perspective, we’d be able to offer fans a center court, front-row seat to the wonder and danger inherent in an urban magic fight club.”
Given how The Unspoken is a modern urban fantasy, we asked if there were opportunities for brands to be integrated into the arenas if the game were to be adopted as an eSport.
“That’s a tricky topic,” Schneider replied. “We’ll never do anything that either detracts from or doesn’t add to the player’s experience. That said, we are already working with trusted partners like Intel and Nvidia to ensure we’re delivering game content that can be fully optimized on the most sophisticated of gaming PC rigs.”
With the incredible success of movies such as Doctor Strange, the timing is perfect for a game like The Unspoken to reveal itself. We asked if the movie’s popularity could indirectly promote the VR game. Although Schneider hasn’t seen it yet, he does believe that a paranormally themed movie set in an urban locale could help The Unspoken. “The same can probably be said even for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” said Schneider. “It just goes to show that there’s still a healthy appetite for the world of arcane magic, and that kind of fantasy can play out in many different forms.”
Learn everything you need to know to invest in today’s fastest-growing media channel—Competitive Gaming and eSports on 2.16.17 in Los Angeles. Go to alistsummit.com for more info.


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Android smartphone owners have lots of options to choose from when it comes to Music Player apps in Google Play Store. Here in this article we are covering 15 Best Music Players app for Android. In case you have your own music collection and you don't rely upon subscription music
WhatsApp introduced its beta testing version on Google Play back in April 2016. You can download testing version by accepting conditions to join the testing program and become a tester. After that you will get updates for beta version. When you become a tester of WhatsApp Beta version you will
On this page we are providing direct APK download links and changelog of latest updated versions for WhatsApp, so that in case you are not able to get it from Google Play Store for some reason, you can get the APKs from this page. Previously we posted tutorial on you
Google Play Store offers many lock screen apps to make your experience more personalized and useful. It may be a difficult task however to make a decision, given the number of such apps available in the store. So, in order to make your life easy, in this article, we are
Google is now pushing a new update to one more of it's apps. This time, the update is headed to Google Maps.
Google Maps is now getting updated on iOS platform. The iOS app of Google Maps is now getting the app version 4.45 in the Apple App Store. Talking about
Google has now silently released a new update to the Tez payment app.
Tez payment app from Google is getting updated on iOS platform. The update comes with app version v6.0 on iOS. Talking about the changes, the update brings support for iPhone X, support for Face ID. Other changes include
Payment app from Flipkart, PhonePe is now getting another update today.
The PhonePe app for iOS platform is getting updated. The latest update to PhonePe for iOS brings multiple new improvements. The update brings app version 4.7.0 to the iOS platform.
After the update you'll get new features like direct bus booking
A new smartphone from Chinese OEM Gionee is upcoming and we have an evidence to that.
The smartphone we are talking here is Gionee F205. The Gionee F205 could be one of the few most affordable smartphones to come with HD+ 18:9 display on the front. The smartphone comes with a
WhatsApp is one of the most widely used social messaging app worldwide. It is highly used in countries like India. Currently it has becomes the must have app for every smartphone.
Now a new update is here to the WhatsApp. The WhatsApp app is getting this above mentioned updates on Android
Paytm app for Android is receiving an update in the Google Play Store.
The latest update, version 6.1.0, adds a few new features along with usual bug fixes and performance improvements.
WHAT'S NEW in v6.1.0
QR scanner just got a power upgrade! Use it now to scan barcodes, vCards and much more!
Huawei has unveiled now just one, but two devices in China yesterday. The first one is Honor 7x smartphone and the second one is Honor WaterPlay tablet.
The Honor WaterPlay tablet comes with a display size of big 10.1-inch with QXGA(1920x1200p) display resolution. It comes loaded with specs like 3GB and 4GB
Microsoft Edge is the default browser present in Windows 10 OS for PC as well as Mobile. Users choosing Windows 10 Mobile OS get the Microsoft Edge browser as default browser in their phones.
Now the company is releasing the Microsoft Edge browser to two different mobile operating systems. The Edge
Hike messenger has been updated in the Google Play Store for Android with exciting new features. Hike messenger is one of the most popular multi-layered messaging app chosen by more than 100 million users worldwide and is widely popular in India because of the fun it throws in while chatting
Reliance Jio Digital Services Pvt. Ltd. has pushed a new update to the MyJio app for Android platform. The new update is live in the Google Play Store.
The latest update to MyJio app for Android comes with software version 4.1.01 with this update. The update brings new software UI and


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A Cambridge robotics consultancy has been working with another city tech firm on the world’s first sleep-sensing headphones.
Robotae has designed the electronics architecture for Kokoon. As reported in the News, the Bluetooth headphones use an electroencephalography (EEG) sensor to monitor electrical signals from brain neurons, lowering the volume of music as the wearer drifts off to sleep. They have proved popular on Kickstarter, where the company has raised $2m and pre-sold 10,000 units.
Dr Kevin Rathbone, founder and CEO of Robotae, said his company develops systems that respond intelligently to changes in their environment, and has helped accelerate Kokoon’s development.
“Processors, sensors and actuators are becoming faster, smaller, and cheaper,” he said.
“They are also more power-efficient and this is making it more feasible to incorporate mechatronics into a wider range of portable consumer products. This has coincided with advances in artificial intelligence and the development of new robotic safety standards.
“Kokoon needed development to start immediately, while they grew the team. It’s a great concept with enormous potential, so I was keen to get involved.
“By the time they had recruited a permanent electronics engineer, I had developed their proof of concept into an architecture suitable for product development, significantly extended the battery life, and designed a development PCB to allow the team to experiment with various hardware options and begin embedded software development.”
Kokoon’s CEO Tim Antos first had the idea for the sleep-sensing headphones when he secured a high-level job and decided to improve his sleep patterns to cope with the increased stress. He discovered audio relaxation to be an effective solution, but found his regular headphones uncomfortable to wear when sleeping.
The company’s co-founder and CTO Richard Hall believes the headphones, together with the accompanying mobile app, audio library, sleeping techniques and progress tracker opens up potential in the future for marketing as a medical device.
“Kokoon uses EEG sensing as used for medical science for brain activity research and sleep studies,” he said. ”Most wearable devices use actigraphy (monitoring of human rest/motor activity cycles) which gives loose approximations of sleep states and has limited value in the area we need.”
Robotae focuses on consumer electronics, and elsewhere has been working on a number of innovative projects, including development of a gonioreflectometer (no, me neither) for Change of Paradigm, an ecommerce fashion platform that enables photorealistic rendering of high-end fashion. They have also developed a sophisticated “gimbal” for the retailer, a device which apparently allows cameras mounted on drones to remain steady under all conditions.
Rathbone believes the future is bright, with technologies maturing and the robotics market continuing to grow.
“I don’t expect the world to change overnight – the development cycle is much longer for robotics than for purely software products, such as smartphone apps,” he said.
“We’ll see a gradual introduction of robotics into our daily life but over a vast range of applications.”
- Robotae will be exhibiting a number of its projects at the Engineering Design Show, which is being held at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry, on October 19 and 20.


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The attempt at a grand unification of "internet of things" devices is mostly a dream, but that isn't stopping big companies like Google from making an honest go of it. The latest initiative from Google to create and unify the internet of things takes its current Brillo and Weave standards and adds more parts to create one platform: Android Things.
Google describes Android Things as "a comprehensive way to build IoT products with the power of Android," and of course that sounds very familiar to its stance on letting manufacturers use Android to build phones, tablets, TV boxes and more. Android Things is effectively a rebranding and expansion of its previous Brillo platform, which itself was a stripped-down version of Android designed for IoT device.
You can now develop IoT devices right where you already develop apps.
So what's the change? Well, the biggest difference is that hardware and software developers can now create IoT devices using the same Android APIs and Google Services they already know. Android Things is now available to work with inside of Android Studio with the Android SDK, Google Play Services and Google Cloud Platform. Google will also start releasing updates to Android Things similarly to how it handles other Android releases, with patches and security fixes. In many ways this turns IoT development into a first-class citizen right next to creating apps for Android phones and tablets.
Of course there's a hardware angle to all of this, and Google is quick to point out the handful of turnkey solutions available for you to buy and start developing on, including Intel's Edison kit and the Raspberry Pi 3. Qualcomm also announced today that it intends to work with Google to make sure Android Things works properly with Snapdragon processors.
Considering how weakly Brillo has been received since its introduction in 2015, it's not surprising that Google made a big effort to make developing for IoT devices more like developing for other types of Android. By bringing Android Things into the core Android development experience, many barriers have been dropped and more hardware developers can experiment with using Google's platform first. Google already has a Developer Preview of Android Things available, if you want to take a look.


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In a recent television interview, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani categorically stated that his company is unlikely to raise fresh capital from the equity markets. On the face of it, this might seem like an innocuous assertion.
If, however, it reflects the sentiment of corporate India as a whole, there could be something to cheer about. I would argue that the fact that Indian companies are unlikely to make large cash calls on the stock market augurs well for the current bull run.
Let's start with a bit of simple economic theory. Stocks are no different from onions (or any other product for that matter) when it comes to the mechanics of their price determination.
Flood the mandi with a large supply and prices of onions crash.
Push up the demand for onions and prices move up. Substitute stocks for onions and you get a bull run when investors increase demand. Prices crash when there is an excess supply of stocks.
Given this basic mechanism, I argue that one of the reasons why stock market booms went bust in the past was essentially due to a huge rise in stock supply that came in their wake. The initial rise in demand was fuelled either by post- liberalisation euphoria (in the mid-nineties) or optimism about a specific sector like software in 1998-99.
The supply response usually took the form of IPOs (initial public offers) that hit the markets and absorbed investor savings.
Thus the initial rise in the demand for equity paper was completely swamped by fresh supply.
To take an example, when markets boomed in the mid-nineties, fresh equity supply of as much as Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) came into the markets in just the two years of 1994-95 and 1995-96.
Although the rally in 1998 and 1999 was very narrow and fuelled almost exclusively by demand for Indian software shares , it nevertheless led to more than Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) of new equity issues. As supply outstripped demand, prices naturally softened.
There is a sequel to this story. A good bit of the fresh capital that was raised during boom times either created large excess capacity or funded dubious projects. Thus, the fresh supply of paper not only suppressed stock prices, it funded activities that depressed prices and revenues.
As the business cycle wore out, profits declined dramatically. Some companies went bust in the process, leading to 'capital destruction.'
This found its analogue in the stock market and prices of stocks nosedived.
Investors, particularly on the retail side, burnt their fingers, became somewhat irrationally suspicious of stocks and perpetuated a bear phase.
Are things different this time around and if so, how are they different?
I would argue that ironically enough, the really positive thing going for the Indian stock market today is the absence of an IPO boom.
Despite the sharp recovery in the equity indices, Indian companies are clearly not making a beeline to raise money from the equity markets. This is likely to keep paper supply in check. There is a clear reason for this apparent apathy towards new issues.
Indian industry has just been through a phase of consolidation -- small unviable entities have shut shop or have been gobbled up by larger companies. In a scenario like this, fresh investments are likely to come from incumbent firms who have survived the shakeout. New firms, 'entrants', are unlikely to enter this market in a hurry.
Thus, the usual flurry of new companies that usually launch operations on the back of stock-price booms is unlikely to be there. This might worry some analysts but is actually a good thing. It means that investors might not have a larger menu of stocks to choose from but prices of existing stocks will have an upward momentum.
What about the possibility of equity issues by the 'incumbents' that can potentially have the same price lowering effect?
This is where Mr Ambani's assertion becomes important. Most large Indian companies like Reliance do not need to make a trip to the IPO market at this stage simply because they don't need to.
Almost all of them are sitting on large piles of cash that will take a while to exhaust. The accompanying table gives a sector-wise breakdown of cash profits, or the trove available to companies to fund investments.
These cash piles have resulted from a combination of improved top lines, a dramatic reduction in interest costs and improved treasury operations.
Is there a possibility of incumbent firms going on a huge capacity creation binge, creating an overhang of supply in the medium term that is likely to depress profits in the long-term.
The answer, fortunately is again in the negative.
The Indian corporate sector is just emerging from a phase of consolidation where the emphasis has been on raising output through the better use of assets.
Anecdotal evidence on investment plans of Indian companies suggests that there are hardly any plans for the creation of greenfield capacity.
The emphasis seems to be on working purely at the margin, de-bottlenecking existing capacity to make assets sweat harder rather than add to their stock.
This however does not mean that stocks will climb continuously. There will be episodes of correction when investors sell their stocks and book profits.
This will essentially be driven by perceptions of what constitutes a fair value for Indian equities and if prices cross this limit, investors are likely to sell some of their holdings.
Over the last few months, Indian stocks have run up more than most other emerging markets (The MSCI India index has risen 44 per cent compared to a rise of 39 per cent in the aggregate index) and it is quite likely that towards the end of this year, there will be some decline in prices.
However, as prices come down, investors will start buying again and in the absence of large fresh supply, prices will move to another peak and the bull market will sustain.
When will the bull run come to an end?
Clearly if excess supply is unlikely to depress prices, price appreciation will peter out when demand slackens.
Demand for Indian equity, both from foreign and retail investors depends on the health of the Indian corporate sector and there the prognosis is encouraging.
Broadly, two sets of things are happening.
Investors are beginning to appreciate the fact that Indian companies have seen huge gains in productivity over the last three or four years, driven by factors such as workforce rationalisation and inventory management.
This has led to better operating margins and profitability. Interest costs have also come down dramatically as a result of lower borrowing and falling rates.
The economy is in the middle of a cyclical rebound and the consensus is that this will last at least for another year-and-a-half. This is going to keep demand for Indian stocks stable.
In the absence of a huge overhang of supply, the bull-run is here to stay.
The writer is senior economist at the Crisil Centre for Economic Research.


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Uber is suspending its professional taxi service in Barcelona from tomorrow almost a year after it re-entered the Catalan capital. The move follows the regional government agreeing new regulations for the vehicle for hire (VTC) sector aimed at making sure they do not compete directly with taxis. “The new restrictions
Mark Minevich Contributor Share on Twitter Mark Minevich is a digital fellow at IPSoft. Japan, still suffering the consequences of its ‘Lost Decade’ of economic stagnation, is eyeing a transformation more radical than any the industrialized world has ever seen. Boldly identified as “Society 5.0” Japan describes its initiative as
Cold weather is no fun for battery-powered cars, but experienced owners have a few tips for getting by when the mercury drops.
Facebook’s main app has more than 2.3 billion users. We know this because, each quarter, the company reports its user growth, alongside its business updates. These metrics are a key signal to investors and others about how the company is doing and how quickly it’s growing. But that could soon
New York City open-source maker startup LittleBits began to lay off staff last month, TechCrunch has learned. The loss of jobs comes as the company looks to shift more focus toward the K-12 market. Education-specific offerings have been lucrative for the company in its eight-year existence, but recent products have
Gmail on mobile will soon get a new look. Google today announced that its mobile email apps for iOS and Android are getting a redesign that is in line with the company’s recent Material Design updates to Gmail, Drive, Calendar and Docs and Site. Indeed, the new UI will look
This induction-powered, cast-iron multicooker from Japan has an impressive array of capabilities, but it doesn’t break any new ground.
At the tail end of Tesla’s earnings call today, Elon Musk dropped a surprise bit of news: the company’s CFO, Deepak Ahuja, will be retiring. “There is no good time to make this change,” said Ahuja, but noted that after two back-to-back profitable quarters, now might be the best time.
Parts of the Midwest are experiencing the coldest temperatures in 20 years this week as the polar vortex takes hold. On Wednesday morning, it was -22 degrees in Chicago, with a wind chill of -49, according to CNN. In northern Minnesota, wind chills dropped to -65. Flights are being delayed
Whether you’re straight, gay, bi, or otherwise, dating as a guy can be rough. Sometimes you want to make the first move, but you don’t want to appear over eager. After all, if it’s a lady you’re pursuing, chances are she’s received more than a few unsolicited messages already. But
Forget everything you thought you knew about Snapchat. The disappearing messaging app might soon be home to snaps that don’t actually disappear. That’s according to Reuters, which today reports the company is considering a plan that would make public snaps permanently viewable. SEE ALSO: Snapchat survey finds that Snapchat makes
You’d be forgiven for being cynical. I’ve been seeing foldable display concepts for as long as I’ve been attending tech trade shows (which, quite frankly, is longer than I care to mention). Big names like Samsung and LG have been pumping countless R&D dollars into the technology in hopes of


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|ww 1984 release date hbo max||1.26||1||4613||80|
Wonder Woman 1984 will debut in U.S. theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously on Friday, December 25, aka Christmas Day. It will debut in theaters internationally one week prior, on December 16. Wonder Woman 1984 will stream on HBO Max for free for one month.When will ‘ww84’ be on HBO Max?
According to their press release, WW84 will be available to stream on HBO Max for one month starting December 25 (and presumably will return to HBO Max later in 2021 after the home video release window). Warners also confirmed the movie will be released in select international theatrical markets beginning on December 16.How much does HBO Max cost?
HBO Max costs $14.99 a month, and if you’re already an HBO Now subscriber, there’s a good chance you already have access to it. You can use HBO Max on your desktop, as well as via Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Playstation 4, Samsung TV, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S devices.Who is the producer of Wonder Woman 1984?
By late May 2018, long-time DCEU producer Zack Snyder confirmed on social media platform Vero that he, along with his wife Deborah Snyder, would serve as producers on the Wonder Woman sequel. On June 13, 2018, the title of the film was announced to be Wonder Woman 1984.


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May 13, 2022
Production and development for the world's first and largest Bollywood Metaverse platform is on in full swing as the Bollyverse team works with Shadow Factory in programming and developing its key attractions for what will emerge as an amazing multiuser,.
May 11, 2022
nCore Games is India's leading mobile games publisher and Bollyverse is thrilled to be in partnership with this mega mobile interactive entertainment gaming company, based out of Bangalore, India.
May 06, 2022
Celebrity Football Cup 2022 to be held in Dubai on 7th May 2022. Friendly football match in aid of charity 'Playing for Humanity'.
May 04, 2022
Imagine a world where you can reach out and have a chat with your favourite Bollywood celebrity, play a round of golf or shop for designer couture with them, go for cocktails and dance to their latest hit, or enjoy front row seats to the industry's most..
Apr 29, 2022
Bollyverse Technology Limited is thrilled to get their first health and wellness partner on board, GOQii.
Apr 26, 2022
Bollyverse Technology is thrilled to announce that they now have the rights to showcase and host many elements of the most prestigious and much anticipated Bollywood Awards show on Bollyverse! IIFA, the International Indian Film Academy Awards are an...
Apr 25, 2022
Bollyverse is the brainchild of the ever innovative and dynamic team of TV Products Limited and TV Products Development Limited. Moving with the times and fast paced digital technology around us, this is their vision.


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Supply chains for mobile networks have become highly globalised, and as a result, are now at the centre of current geopolitical tensions – particularly in the area of mobile network vendors and chip producers.
To simplify what the supply chain for 5G telecom equipment looks like, we can divide it into general categories – each of which has particular importance in a specific geographical area:
China, Sweden, Finland
US, Taiwan, South Korea
Unclear so far, but there is a bigger role of US companies than in the vendor market
Unclear so far
This distribution of vendors and producers in different geographical locations has led to distinct dependency patterns, as countries require products or services from other countries. China’s telecom vendors, for instance, enjoy large shares of the European market for network equipment, and to some extent also in the US. However, China and Europe both rely on the US, and co-producing countries like Taiwan and South Korea, to produce the high-tech chips required in telecom equipment.
These complex cross-border dependencies have led to several tensions. Firstly, it has led to concerns from the US and its allies that the Chinese government could use vendor equipment to spy on networks, or even disrupt them. In 2019, the US government declared an export ban against Huawei, which forced US chip companies, like Qualcomm, and Taiwanese TSMC to halt supply – a development that could potentially limit the further global growth of Huawei. These high-tech components are crucial for the growth of Huawei. There are also suggestions that Chinese vendors might disrupt the market by receivingundue government support. The US government is promoting US companies to be become the leaders in the Cloud-RAN and Open-RAN markets – aiming to reduce the dependency on Chinese and European companies – and has designated funds for this purpose.
Supply chain dependency creates several problems. These dangers from dependence on other countries in telecom supply chains can be broadly categorised into the following risks:
- Cybersecurity of networks.
- Threats of espionage.
- Foreign regimes regulating European data.
- Political trust – not wanting to be dependent on countries with different political and legal regimes for key technologies.
- Competitiveness/antitrust – the potential for some vendors to receive undue government support, which would allow them to dominate external markets
- Trade – whether European vendors have access to the Chinese market
Naturally, there are also arguments in favour of using foreign, particularly Chinese, suppliers. Chinese vendors are technically advanced, and it would put Europe at a competitive disadvantage to exclude them – an argument that has been made by the association of telecom operators, GSMA. On the other hand, experts argue that European vendors (Nokia & Ericsson) are equally capable of manufacturing all of the components needed for 5G networks. In light of this, the EU has placed a focus on diversification of its supply chain, rather than implementing outright bans of foreign suppliers.


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GM dealers started replacing the ignition switches this week in 2.6 million recalled vehicles.
GM mailed letters last week telling owners of 1.4 million 2003-2007 models to contact a GM dealer — Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet or GMC — and schedule an appointment for the recall. Owners of more than 800,000 recalled 2008-2011 models will receive letters in early May that confirm their inclusion in the recall.
The new ignition set, which includes ignition switches and cylinders plus new keys, can be installed in about 90 minutes at any of the automaker’s 4,300 dealer service departments.
If you own a GM vehicle right now, it’s best to contact your local service department and inquire about the recall.
A recent study by Carfax shows that 92% of consumers shop online when looking for a vehicle. No surprise there. The days of driving from dealer to dealer to see what they have to offer are over.
The study showed that consumers spend 11 hours on average shopping for cars and most of that time is completely wasted because the consumer does not check the Carfax report or Autocheck vehicle history report until the end of the process.
Then the consumer finds something negative and decides to pass on that particular vehicle.
That’s why it’s important to CHECK THE VEHICLE HISTORY VERY EARLY IN THE PROCESS. This will save you time and energy.
Just a quick tip!
Happy Easter to all.
Their #1 pick is the 2014 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta coupe. No surprise here, Ferrari has won the top spot many times. This coupe is gorgeous and the specs are impressive: 731HP, 3595 pounds, zero to sixty in 3.5 seconds, 211 mph top speed and $316,000 price tag. Pretty awesome.
Other notable cars to make their top 10:
Audi R8 V10 Plus
Aston Martin Vanquish
Bentley Flying Spur
Porsche Panamera Turbo
Maserati Quattroporte GTS
All good picks.
Car Seats Affected: More than 1.3 million Evenflo child-safety seats are being recalled by the manufacturer. The affected seats were built between 2011 and 2014. They are select Evenflo Momentum, Chase, Maestro, Symphony, Titan 65, SureRide, SecureKid, Snugli All-in-One and Snugli Booster models.
The Problem: The car seats’ harness buckle could become difficult to unlatch if food or drink gets into it, causing a safety hazard during an emergency exit of a car. This is the same problem that affected 4.2 million Graco car seats, which were recalled in February and March of this year.
The Fix: A replacement buckle kit is available to affected owners who have registered their car seats, but the car-seat manufacturer says that the recalled car seats are crashworthy and can be used while waiting for the replacement kit — as long as the car seat’s original buckle is able to unlatch. Parents also can clean the buckle by submerging the unlatched buckle into a cup of warm water and agitating it; don’t use any soap or cleaning solutions to clean it. Be sure to depress the buckle’s red button several times when it is submerged. Parents should not get the buckle’s harness straps wet when cleaning the buckle. After cleaning the buckle, shake out excess water and allow it to air dry.
What Owners Should Do: To find out if your car seat is affected by the recall and order the replacement buckle kit, go to http://www.buckle.evenflo.com or call 800-490-7591.


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KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Use of the Chinese currency renminbi (RMB), or the yuan is expected to increase going forward, HSBC's Asian Economics Research co-head Frederic Neumann said on Monday.
He told reporters after a media briefing on Asian outlook that the RMB internationalization is a gradual process, but "we have seen progress in areas such as the inbound investment."
Enlarging trade and investment between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative will spur the RMB usage, he said.
According to the expert, trade settlement cost and convenience, and risk diversification will be the drivers to facilitate the yuan usage moving forward. he said "some central banks are holding RMB as reserves."
HSBC's RMB business development global head Candy Ho also highlighted that Malaysia has been supporting the yuan in both cross-border trade, investment and financing.
With greater economic trade ties between China and Malaysia, she foresees more demand on RMB in Malaysian market.
"Chinese is not only participating in infrastructure projects in Malaysia, but also using Malaysia as a hub for regional expansion," she said.
Ajay Sharma, the bank's global trade and receivables finance regional head, believed that China's influence in global commodity market will be a key factor to drive the RMB usage.
Although the world commodity market has been dominated by the U.S. dollar in decades, he expects the trend to change as China is a big trading nation both as consumer and exporter now.
Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aiming at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of Silk Road.


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State vs. National Privacy Law Legislation
Several states have implemented privacy legislation – many similar to the GDPR regulations signed into law in May, but tech giants are also weighing in on the conversation. CompliancePoint’s Matt Dumiak discusses the differences between data privacy laws at the state and the federal level.
Businesses and consumers continue to discuss privacy regulations and legislation. Data breaches, data vulnerabilities and compromised private information is released in the news almost daily. Legislation has recently been proposed for individual states regarding data privacy regulations head-on. Virginia, Vermont, Colorado and New Jersey have all introduced related privacy regulations most recently. California recently set themselves apart in the privacy space with the adoption of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which gave citizens the rights to not only protect their own data, but to obligate businesses to disclose exactly which information has been collected about them.
At the federal level, the United States has yet to propose a national privacy bill. Vermont recently implemented a law regulating data broker companies that buy and sell personal information. With the new law, brokers must disclose what information they collect as well as allow customers to opt out of collection. Furthermore, consumers can sue data brokers if they sell any information that causes illegal discrimination. A similar law has also been proposed in Colorado that is broader, yet specifically manages personal identifying information. Individual states seem to be leading the way for data privacy regulation discussions.
International regulations have also played a significant role in the privacy discussion, specifically following enforcement of the General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union EU.
These regulations have certainly contributed to the movement toward consumerism and prompted businesses in the United States to rethink data collection and management, considering how violating these regulations could adversely affect their business and brand. Many organizations are asking themselves “am I liable and governed by the legislation in the EU?” For many, the answer is yes. More specifically, any website that offers goods or services to EU natural persons is subject to the GDPR. The discussion has further prompted organizations to question whether or not they are governed by similar laws in the United States.
Since the introduction of the CCPA, several senators have proposed policy options for national legislation on data security and privacy. Proposed bills have had a GDPR-like flavor that is similar in scope to the international regulation. If the U.S. were to adopt similar regulatory standards, business processes and products that handle personal data would need to be built to include data protection by design and default.
Regardless of business size, the magnitude of data collected, shared or mismanaged is more concerning considering the sensitivity of the private information everyday people entrust these organizations to protect. As the conversation around regulation increases, there has been much talk about what a national privacy law might look like, and furthermore, how state regulations would affect organizations doing business across the U.S.
At the forefront of privacy law related issues are very visible and widely used big technology companies. These big technology players have demonstrated some interest in getting ahead of possible regulation by possibly drafting and proposing possible regulatory standards themselves – perhaps because there is a monetary desire for these bills to be aligned with their terms, rather than abiding by laws voted in by citizens of the United States.
Big data companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter have all been amongst discussions, and various reports have been released stating the companies are “in favor” of such legislation. This push has left some lawmakers feeling uneasy, considering these companies are likely seeking to be involved in legislation to sway technicalities in their favor.
In conclusion, states will likely continue to pave the way for privacy regulations. Until formal national legislation is adopted and voters see these initiatives on their ballots, states will continue to implement their own forms of data protection. Problems will continue to rise for businesses as states implement their own laws that nonregulated states must abide by. A national privacy law could make this transition easier among U.S. business owners, as one uniform standard can be applied to all.