text:
In May of 2020, Google announced that an update to the company’s search algorithm could be coming sometime in 2021. It didn’t make much of an impression for most people, but in one corner of the tech world, search engine optimization (SEO) professionals immediately kicked into high gear.
According to StatCounter, a web traffic analysis website, Google has overwhelming dominance as a search engine, with 81 percent market share on desktop devices and 94 percent on mobile. Appearing high up on search results is vital for attracting users, so websites are always anxious to maintain and improve their Google search rankings. Anytime Google announces a change in its algorithms, there’s a scramble to figure out just what those changes mean.
Google’s May announcement said the next upcoming change will have to do with site performance — how quickly a page loads in the browser after a user navigates to the site. This factor is not entirely new; Google has been using performance as a factor in determining search rank on desktop since 2010, and on mobile since 2018.
“It’s been a big factor for some time, in part because mobile usage has exploded,” said Chris Rodgers, CEO of Colorado SEO Pros. “Because page load speed has such a big impact in the mobile environment, that helped push it as a priority in terms of Google’s algorithm.”
But Rodgers said Google was now going to put more weight on specific measures of page load speeds as it makes performance a more nuanced and important part of determining search rank.
What Are the New Search Signals?
Google has hundreds of factors — what the company calls “signals” — that together determine the order that websites appear on its search results. Some of the most important signals are outside individual websites’ control, such as the wording of the search query and how many other websites link to your site. But there are also signals, such as the quality of the site’s content and its technical polish — known as the “technical SEO” — that websites do control.
“Technical SEO is all about what’s going on underneath the hood,” Rodgers said. “Are there broken links? Are there pages that Google can’t get to or can’t understand?”
“Technical SEO is all about what’s going on underneath the hood.”
Part of technical SEO’s future focus seems to be on site performance. Google’s announcement about its upcoming search ranking update spotlighted Core Web Vitals, a collection of metrics the company created to quantify the “user experience” factor of a website. Core Web Vitals is currently composed of metrics that evaluate the loading speed of a website in three different ways.
The first metric calculates how long it takes the website to load its largest visible piece of content, such as an image, video or large block of text. This is known as the “largest contentful paint,” and Google’s website describes this as a measure of a website’s “perceived load speed” to the user.
Another criteria measures how quickly a website becomes responsive once the user navigates to it. The length of the delay — known as the “first input delay” — is the time between when the user first tries to interact with content on the page and when the website actually responds.
The third metric is on how much a website’s layout shifts during the page loading process. This problem, known as “cumulative layout shift,” is what causes the frustrating experience of having the text you were reading suddenly shift out of view.
“It can just be annoying, or it can be really bad if you went to click on a link and you clicked on something else instead,” Rodgers said.
All these metrics combined determine Google’s Core Web Vitals, and higher scores are expected to increase a website’s search rank.
Easy Changes for Improving a Site’s Core Web Vitals
In Rodgers’ experience, developers don’t spend a lot of time thinking about SEO, but they should.
“Most web developers are probably not focused on it, because they’re not looking at things through the Google lens — they’re looking at it through the users’ lens,” he said. “But if you’re the developer, if and when your client goes to hire an SEO, you can bet they’re going to come full circle and ask you to solve these issues. And if they’re serious about SEO and you can’t solve these issues, they’re going to look for someone who can.”
There are many changes developers can implement to improve a website’s Core Web Vitals. Rodgers said one of the quickest fixes is to scale back the sizes of images and other resources being loaded onto a website.
“It might be as easy as changing the image resolution, the file sizes, even the file type,” he said. “Sometimes it can be that you’ve got a bunch of CSS that’s being stored on-page, and you need to store that off-page. You can compress all of the HTML so that it’s not all spread out.”
He said a good way to improve a website’s cumulative layout shift score is to make sure lazy loading is done correctly. Lazy loading is the practice of loading non-critical but data-intensive resources after the majority of the page has already loaded, so that the most important parts of the website can load faster. Resources such as images and videos are often lazy loaded.
The problem occurs when developers don’t include placeholders on the page for where the lazy-loaded resources will go — an image being lazy loaded will suddenly appear after most of the page has already loaded, altering the structure of the page and shifting things out of place. Using placeholders fixes the shifts caused by lazy loading.
“It might be as easy as changing the image resolution.”
There are also backend changes developers can implement to improve Core Web Vitals.
“One of the things that we look at right away is whether there’s a CDN, a content delivery network,” Rodgers said. “It’s usually not a huge gain, but it’s a pretty easy way to speed things up.”
CDNs are services that cache copies of a website on servers in geographically distributed locations. They can help cut down on load speed time by decreasing the distance between users and the website’s data.
And finally, there are also tools for developers to track their websites’ Core Web Vital metrics. Chrome has them in the browser’s built-in developer tools feature, which includes the Chrome Lighthouse tool.
“Lighthouse is a great tool — they give you a lot of immediate recommendations on the webpage that you’re testing on,” Rodgers said.
PageSpeed Insights is another tool that specifically measures and gives feedback on website performance metrics. Developers can use these tools in combination with reading Google’s recommendations on improving Core Web Vitals to manage their website performance.
Change Is Coming, but How Much Change?
Trying to predict what Google is going to do with its search ranking algorithm can be frustrating for developers trying to keep up with SEO changes.
“We know the page experience update is going to ding us for cumulative layout shifts — we don’t know how much,” Rodgers said. “Google’s telling us this is a big deal, telling us way ahead of time, but then when it actually comes time, are they actually going to make this a big factor? No one knows.”
Google’s own announcement last year about the upcoming changes reminded developers that having good information is still one of the most important factors for determining search rank, and that the company is evaluating the overall user experience, not just performance.
“While all of the components of page experience are important, we will prioritize pages with the best information overall, even if some aspects of page experience are subpar,” the announcement read. “A good page experience doesn’t override having great, relevant content.”
But page performance is going to be increasingly important for determining search rank in the future, and Rodgers said it’s better to get ahead of the changes.
“Even if, for some reason, the update doesn’t affect SEO in a big way, user experience is important, and page load speed is really important, down to some very specific metrics,” Rodgers said. “People need to start looking at this right now.”


text:
Boston, MA -
The Boston Bruins announced today that they will be collecting new, unwrapped toys at all four of their home games in December to benefit the Greater Boston Toys for Tots program. Originally scheduled to host only one donation, the Bruins decided to add an additional three collection dates after learning of the tremendous need facing Toys for Tots this holiday season, as according to recent statistics provided by the Toys for Tots program, donations have decreased by 50 percent while demand has increased.
"For the past 10 years we have been very proud of our relationship with Toys for Tots," said Bruins Executive Vice President Charlie Jacobs. "This year, given the troubling economic times and the deficit of toys that Toys for Tots is experiencing, we are proud to be stepping up our efforts and collecting toys at every Bruins game at the TD Banknorth Garden during the month of December. Hopefully this extra effort can help provide more children in the Boston area with a better Holiday season."
The collections will take place at each of the entrance turnstiles at the TD Banknorth Garden beginning at 6 p.m. on December 8, 13, 18 and 20.
To increase fan participation, any Bruins fan who donates a toy at any of the four games will receive a voucher for a free kids ticket for children 12 and under. The offer is valid with the purchase of an adult ticket for the Thursday, Feb. 26 game vs. the Anaheim Ducks (in select locations and subject to availability).
On Saturday, December 13 Bruins wives will assist with the toy collection at turnstiles throughout the TD Banknorth Garden. Any fan who donates on Saturday, December 13 will also receive a raffle ticket for each toy donated. Prizes include an autographed team jersey, an autographed novelty highway sign or an autographed hockey stick.
The Boston Bruins have supported Toys for Tots through various toy drives for the past 10 years, and hope to make the 2008 toy collection the most successful to date. In addition to their help before the game on the 13th, Kelly Ward, wife of Bruins defenseman Aaron Ward, and Krissy Kobasew, wife of Bruins forward Chuck Kobasew, delivered and sorted toys at Toys for Tots warehouse in South Boston.
The Greater Boston Toys for Tots program is part of the national U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program. Their mission is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted. Their goal is to deliver, through a shiny new toy, a message of hope to needy youngsters that will motivate them to grow into responsible, productive, patriotic citizens and community leaders.

domain: news


text:
Taxis4SmartMobility (T4SM) and the International Road Transport Union (IRU) warn the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU about the serious risks that the Commission’s proposal on improving working conditions for platform workers is posing for the taxi industry in a joint letter addressed to Johan Pehrson, the Swedish Minister for Employment.
We welcome the Commission’s proposal to fill the legal vacuum created by global digital platforms and to guarantee platform workers the working rights they are entitled to. However, the current text risks to have serious consequences for the concept of urban mobility as a whole, leaving already vulnerable consumers behind.
Therefore, we call on the Swedish Presidency to sharpen the definition of Digital Labour Platforms (DPLs) and consider following the same approach as the European Parliament, who agreed that taxi dispatch services should be treated differently from ride hailing digital labour platforms. Secondly, we also ask the Council of the EU to clarify the criteria establishing employment to make sure that the taxi sector does not fall under the scope of the directive.


text:
The Tokyo based Toshiba Corporation is currently contributing and investing towards advancements of the cryptographic solutions driven by quantum computing. The company is expecting the cyber security sector to grow by some $12 billion to solve the data protection problems arising from advancements on quantum computing.
- The long term strategy estimated to come to fruition by Toshiba in about 10 years is aiming at securing $3 billion out of the estimated $12 billion upcoming cyber security sub-sector for quantum based data protection solutions.
- The technology Toshiba is currently exploring called Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) leverages quantum physics achieving transmission of data encryption keys through a single particle of light (photon) over fibre optic based computer networks.
- At the beginning of October 2020 Toshiba has confirmed successful deployment of the first crypto quantum based network connecting two research facilities over a short distance within the United Kingdom through standard fibre optic infrastructure in partnership with British Telecommunications
- In the future Toshiba hopes to be at the forefront of securing critical national infrastructures and already has kicked off its initial pilot programs through which it has started acquiring vital infrastructure partnerships with the telecommunication companies such as the Verizion in the United States and the BT Group in the United Kingdom, with the next move towards South Korea.
- Monero's Oxygen Orion Upgrade Successful
- The long awaited launch of Filecoin is finally here
- United Kingdom regulators ban Crypto Derivaties
- Cyber Threat On The Rise
- Surfing the net a bit more securely
- $6 Trillion Tokyo Stock Market down due to one piece of equipment malfunction
Ongoing crypto free earn campaigns:
- Coinbase Learn & Earn up to $60 of Compound
- Coinbase Learn & Earn up to $50 of EOS
- Coinbase Learn & Earn up to $50 of XLM
Ongoing crypto non-free earn campaigns:
- Crypto.com $50 of CRO once 1000 CRO staked


text:
Zenger – An Israeli startup has produced 1,000 extra-fast-charging electric car batteries that could be the future for automobiles.
StoreDot‘s XFC proprietary lithium-ion batteries can be charged up to full capacity in just five minutes, compared to 30 to 40 minutes for other electric car batteries, including those made by Tesla. If the company’s batteries can be mass-produced over the next three years, it could mean gameover for the internal combustion engine.
StoreDot replaces the graphite used in traditional lithium-ion batteries with germanium-based nanoparticles, into which ions can pass quickly and more easily. The company plans to transition to silicon, which is less expensive than germanium, next year to make the cost equal to lithium-ion batteries.


text:
A new leak of the specifications on the upcoming Galaxy Note 4 have popped up on the internet, courtesy of an Indonesian retailer. They have put up a spec page on their website regarding the new Samsung phablet.
It seems as Samsung well retain the same 16 megapixel camera while adding OIS. Previously it was reported Samsung would drop it down to 12 megapixels to add the OIS.
Another key feature is the expected 4GB of RAM. Rumors originally speculated that it would retain the 3GB of RAM found on the Note 3, but that is not the case. The Note 4 we will be the first phone to feature this much virtual memory.
Samsung is going the extra mile to distance itself from Apple, and these specs will definitely help. When September 3rd rolls around, this will be one of the most powerful phones to ever hit the market.


text:
THE CAFFEINE CONFLICT-WHERE DOES IT STAND?
By MARIAN BURROS
Published: April 21, 1982
SEVEN— UP, once known as the Uncola, recently began an advertising campaign designed to convince the public that its lemon-and-limeflavored beverage is preferable to other soft drinks because it does not contain caffeine. Understandably, this has upset the manufacturers of Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola and Dr Pepper, which do contain caffeine. They contend that 7-Up's advertising campaign is based on unsubstantiated health concerns. The dangers of caffeine, they argue, have never been proved.
This is the the latest in a series of controversies involving caffeine during the last few years that have changed the public perception of America's favorite wake-up beverage from a friendly, harmless substance to a potentially dangerous drug.
It began in 1978, when an advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration reported that too much caffeine might have a deleterious effect on central nervous Caffeine addiction: See the Personal Health column by
Jane E. Brody, page C6 system development. Since then, several studies have linked caffeine with birth defects, fibrocystic breast disease (a benign disorder) and pancreatic cancer.
There have been calls by consumer groups to ban caffeine as an additive in soft drinks or, at the very least, to require prominent labeling on products to which caffeine has been added. These have been countered by barrages of press releases from the soft-drink and coffee industries attempting to assuage public fears.
Between the pro- and anticaffeine forces stands the Food and Drug Administration, charged with sorting out the facts. But four years of debate and testing have not provided any clear answers. The issue of caffeine is still as muddy as a bad cup of coffee.
One thing that no one disputes, however, is the ability of this white, needlelike substance, which occurs naturally in coffee, tea, cocoa and chocolate and is added to soft drinks, drugs and food, to stimulate the central nervous system. Caffeine constricts the blood vessels, speeds up the heart and stimulates the brain, stomach, kidneys, ovaries and testes. On some people it acts like amphetamine, pepping them up temporarily, then letting them down. Caffeine is, in the words of Dr. Sanford Miller, director of F.D.A.'s Bureau of Foods, ''a potent biologically active material.''
Caffeine causes sleeplessness in some people and caffeinism in very heavy coffee and tea drinkers (five to 10 cups a day), with symptoms ranging from nervousness, irritability and agitation to headaches and muscle twitching. It is estimated that 25 percent of the population drink five or more cups a day; 10 percent drink seven or more cups.
Four years ago the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, an F.D.A. scientific advisory group, studied the literature on caffeine as part of its review of the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) list of food additives. The group was concerned with the effect of caffeine on children, who, because of their body size, require less caffeine than adults for side effects to show up.
In its report, the advisory committee said that chronic consumption by some children of caffeine from cola-type drinks might impair brain or central nervous system development, but the committee said it did not know precisely what consumption levels might be dangerous. It recommended that caffeine be removed from the GRAS list and placed in an interim category until tests on its safety could be concluded.
That change is still pending, as is a change in Federal regulations that would make the addition of caffeine to cola-type soft drinks optional instead of mandatory. Under current F.D.A. regulations any drink that uses the name ''cola'' or ''pepper'' must contain caffeine because caffeine is a natural constituent of the extracts used in these drinks.
While the F.D.A. continues to study the problem, the public's perception of caffeine as a potential hazard appears to have already had an impact on the coffee industry; now soft drink manufacturers are beginning to feel it as well.
According to the National Coffee Association, the industry's trade group, almost 75 percent of the population drank coffee in 1962; last year the figure had dropped to 56 percent, in large part because people between 20 and 30 years old are not drinking as much coffee as their parents did. Thirty years ago coffee consumption was 3.12 cups per person per day; last year it was 1.92 cups.
In that same period, consumption of soft drinks, especially those made with caffeine, jumped ahead of coffee. While people are drinking more caffeine-laced soft drinks, they are also drinking more decaffeinated coffee. Its sales have increased 15 percent since 1962.
The high price of coffee in 1976 and 1977, a result of a freeze in Brazil that damaged coffee trees, also contributed to the decline in consumption. The coffee industry says it has no idea how many people who stopped drinking coffee at that time never went back.
The Coffee Association admits, however, that caffeine's poor image has taken its toll: Coffee consumption has declined almost 6.5 percent in the last two years. In 1975 almost 20 million bags of green coffee were imported into this country; less than 18 million bags were imported in 1980.


text:
With the humongous volume of data circulating virtually right now because of online activities such as video streaming and sending tweets, it is crucial for businesses to rely on data centres as they provide services for reducing infrastructure costs, providing uninterrupted power supply, improving data security and safety, and increasing storage.
According to SAS, big data is a term that describes the large volume of data – both structured and unstructured – that inundates a business on a day-to-day basis. In other words, big data is simply the large and complex set of information on human digital activity used to analyse patterns and trends in order to predict online behaviour.
Source: IBM Big Data & Analytics Hub
Formation of data centres across the region
“Mobile computing, the Internet of Things and cloud computing are driving significant demand in the data centre industry,” said Gene Williams, senior director of Cushman & Wakefield and Data Centre Practice Leader to Forbes in September, 2017.
Specifically, Singapore is the first country in the region to have Google Cloud Platform in operation.
“Data centres in Singapore have been in operation since 2015 for Google’s internal use and we aim to improve latency and the option to store data locally for clients here,” said Diane Green, Google’s Chief of Google Cloud to Data Center Dynamics in June 2017.
It is projected that Singapore’s data centre market will reach US$1 billion in revenue by 2021, up from US$739 million in 2017 as stated in a report by 451 Research in January 2018.
Indonesia, on the other hand, is expected to be the fastest growing data centre services market in the region registering a 35% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) as mentioned by Frost and Sullivan in 2016.
Aside from data consumption trends and technology driven demands, government regulation is also another factor in shaping the data centre services market. In the Surfing the data wave: The surge in Asia Pacific’s data centre market report by PwC in January 2017, the Indonesian government stipulated that customer data in Indonesian banks must be stored domestically by October 2017. This has resulted in a surge in market demand from both, the cloud and financial sectors for world-class data centre services in Indonesia as mentioned in a 2016 Equinix Report.
In addition, Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) prohibits the transfer of personal data outside the country, unless the overseas company gives assurances that it will comply with the PDPA’s regulations. So, this not only limits data transfer abroad but also encourages the local industry to build its own data centres. A 2016 Broadgroup Report states that by the end of 2017, Indonesia’s Telkomsigma will grow its data centre to 110,000k m² space while Singapore’s Singtel is going to expand to 105,000k m² space.
Hyperscaling is inevitable
Unlike old-school data centre architecture, the hyperscale model works with hundreds of thousands of individual servers that are made to operate together via a high-speed network as explained by data centre hardware manufacturer, Raritan.
A hyperscale data centre is built around three key concepts - infrastructure and distributed systems that are able to support hyperscale data centre operations, scalability for computing tasks to ensure efficient performance based on demand and appropriate revenue generation to justify the shift to hyperscale.
Source: Internet World Stats
As a whole, hyperscale requires a smaller footprint but has a higher cost-effectiveness when compared to traditional data centres that usually require at least 1,000 square meters of space or more.
According to a report by consultancy firm Linesight, hyperscale-type facilities with capacities of 60 to 100 megawatts (MW) will comprise more than half of data centres worldwide by 2020. Linesight also predicts that Asia Pacific’s data centre capacity will surpass Europe’s by 2020.
Big kids on the data playground like Google and Facebook are pioneer hyperscalers that are driving the lion’s share of demand and have the capital to build their own data centres as reported by Bisnow in September, 2017. These cloud-based companies build supercomputers to accommodate their hyperscale needs and many of them run on Linux.
The rising penetration of internet usage in Southeast Asia has set the stage for hyperscale technology to be implemented in data centres across the region in the near future. It is this sort of futuristic vision that ASEAN nations need to adopt moving forward.


text:
Best Cars For Tall Drivers 2020
2020 Chevy Bolt Ranks on Kiplinger’s 10 Best Cars for Senior Drivers List. The Kiplinger team commended the 2020 Chevy Bolt for its accessibility thanks to its tall seating position, . Toyota has given its 4Runner several updates for 2020, bringing this SUV’s rugged looks and off-road capability into the new decade. Related: 2020 Toyota 4Runner Review: At Home Where the Sidewalk .
With all the uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic, is anyone even thinking about buying a new car? After all, most states have implemented stay-at-home orders. Yet for drivers who really needs a new . Regular Caterham Sevens offer better value for money than the Super Seven 1600, especially if you get carried away with adding options. However, the classic looks that the Super Seven offers as .
Formula Drift didn’t exist when BMW launched its M division, turning its sport coupes into competition-ready, street-legal race cars. But times have changed, and it’s nice to see the company expanding . The Honda Accord has been Edmunds’ top-rated midsize sedan since this latest generation launched for the 2018 model year. But a new challenger has arrived on the scene: the redesigned 2020 Hyundai .
A twin-turbo V8 arrives just months before the CT6’s factory is scheduled to close. But this is engine is bound to show up elsewhere soon. .
Best Cars For Tall Drivers 2020 : Some of you might be familiar with a parable that many refer to as the Upstream Parable or alternatively the River Story. Attributed to various originating sources, some believe it was initially . The 2020 Lexus LX 570 makes no effort to be subtle. The big SUV’s brash styling, strong engine, and prodigious thirst are balanced by a plush interior and cosseting ride. The LX shares its basic .
The Kia Soul, in its third generation of boxy minimalism, is one of Kia’s best-selling vehicles, and it packs plenty of character. Toyota’s refreshed C-HR still looks like a rally car that briefly .


text:
Original photo by Apple
Apple’s long-promised AirPower wireless charging mat is history.
Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch has published a statement from Dan Riccio, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, that says:
After much effort, we’ve concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards and we have cancelled the project. We apologize to those customers who were looking forward to this launch. We continue to believe that the future is wireless and are committed to push the wireless experience forward.
So that—canceling an announced product—is a first, as far as any of the TidBITS crew can remember. Thumbs up to Apple for acknowledging its failure and not just quietly sweeping AirPower under the rug and hoping we’d all forget about it eventually. Better to cancel a product now than ship something that works poorly—like the infamous butterfly keyboard in the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air—and disappoint customers regularly.
Simultaneously, though, thumbs down to the statement for putting the blame on AirPower itself, as if the product somehow didn’t try hard enough, rather than its cancellation being a failure of Apple management (in promoting something that engineering couldn’t deliver) and Apple engineering (in agreeing that they could build AirPower). And it’s particularly embarrassing that the second-generation AirPods have a picture of AirPower on the box, and iOS 12.2 betas had support for it.
What went wrong? Physics is unforgiving. Last year, Sonny Dickson published an article suggesting that AirPower ran into problems with heat management, inter-device communication, and mechanical and interference issues (see “Apple’s AirPower Wireless Charger: What Happened?,” 17 September 2018). Matthew Panzarino says he heard much the same from his sources.
Given the customer desire for AirPower—in a recent Clockwise podcast, all four participants answered the question of what they wanted to see next from Apple with “AirPower”—I can only imagine that engineers around the world will be tackling the problems Apple was unable to solve. In the meantime, there are numerous Qi-compatible chargers that can charge a single device at a time—see “13 Qi Wireless Chargers for the iPhone Reviewed” (22 February 2018) for those we’ve examined.
How about you? Are you using a Qi-compatible charger that you can recommend to those who had been holding out for AirPower? Share your experiences in the comments.


text: Adani Ports announced that it won’t be handling export and import of cargo originating from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The move will come into effect from November 15. “Adani Ports and Sez will not handle EXIM containerised cargo originating from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan at all its terminals from 15th November,” the statement read. This comes a month after massive drug seizure from Adani Group-run Mundra Port in Gujarat. On September 14-15, nearly 3,000 kg of Afghan heroin was seized by DRI. Watch the full video for more details.


text:
Buying activity at top online retailers remained flat in September for a second straight month, according to PC Data Online. Amazon.com, Ticketmaster.com, and Buy.com retained their positions as the top sites with numbers of buyers virtually unchanging from August. Amazon.com retained the No. 1 slot with 1.6 million buyers. Ticketmaster followed with 569,000 buyers and Buy.com was third with 428,000 buyers.
“This hopefully is the calm before the storm — not the calm before the calm,” said Cameron Meierhoefer, Internet analyst for PC Data Online. “Online retailers have become serious about turning a profit and many have discarded steep discounts they used to win over consumers last year. This may be driving consumers to shop around — both online and offline — for the best deal before buying.”
|Top 20 Web Retailers Among US Home Users
|Source: PC Data Online|
A new study underlines the massive influence that Amazon exerts over the ecommerce market, with the site being the first port of call ... read more
Election 2016 is already like no presidential race before it, and one of the most striking aspects of this year’s race is the disparity ... read more
Nurcin Erdogan Loeffler, head of strategy and innovation, Vizeum China, outlines the seven ways businesses can future proof their digital strategies.
Chief marketing officers have shared their views on technology, innovation and how they see their roles transforming into the near future at an ... read more


text:
It's The People, Stupid
An Internet software executive once told me he couldn't believe all the fuss about the auction site eBay Inc. (EBAY) "They're not doing anything," he said. "They just get people to show up together." Gee, is that all? eBay may have had a lot of luck on its side, but it understood one thing early on: It's the people, stupid. More than any other e-commerce site, eBay has created a community of people who can do business with each other on their own terms. In fact, it has amassed more than 16 million members solely from word of mouth.
To continue reading this article you must be a Bloomberg Professional Service Subscriber.
If you believe that you may have received this message in error please let us know.


text:
It’s been said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
And now, McDonald’s is jumping on the breakfast expansion bandwagon, Bloomberg reported yesterday. The Golden Arches brand has allegedly already begun to test pastries in various U.S. markets in hopes to increase early morning sales. This comes in the heat of what we’ve dubbed the epic Breakfast Battle — Starbucks, Taco Bell and other fast food chains have recently reported putting more offerings into their breakfast menus to draw more people to the daypart. Do you typically order breakfast on-the-go? If so, which chain are you inclined to lean on? Read More


text:
On Shark Tank, the drone firm xCraft sparked a feeding frenzy.
According to owners J.D. Claridge and Charles Manning of the Idaho-based company that was featured on Friday’s show, their drone can go from hover to flight mode, traveling at up to 60 mph and reaching altitudes of up to 10,000 feet.
Despite the fact that xCraft’s drone hasn’t yet been released, the co-founders had $173,000 in pre-orders through a Kickstarter campaign and their business website when they went to the sharks. According to VentureBeat, Manning was hired by Claridge, an aerospace engineer in his mid-thirties, to assist with managing the company’s commercial operations last year. In addition to serving as Kochava’s CEO, Manning has 20 years of experience in the software sector.
Shark Tank and XCraft
JD Claridge and Charles made a grand entrance into the tank by flying the X PlusOne into the space in front of them. After a safe landing, they compared the development of the drone industry to the beginning of aviation. By inventing manned flight, the Wright brothers altered how people saw transportation. Similar unmanned flights were being carried out by drones. A drone was redefined with the X PlusOne.
Although many conventional drones could hover, this one had a wide range of uses because it could transform into a plane. The X PlusOne could do everything, even filming a moving car and traveling farther on a single charge. It could also easily switch between its two modes while flying and be programmed to take a particular route. JD and Charles asked for a $300,000 investment for twenty percent of XCraft.
Update for XCraft in 2022: After Shark Tank
The deal between the Sharks and xCraft was never finalized. But that hasn’t stopped their success. Even though they have stopped selling items to the general public in order to concentrate on making drones for businesses and military units, they are still operating as of August 2022. According to what we can tell, they are today valued at over $17 million, a huge increase from the $6 million they had when they first went on Shark Tank.
They also started a Kickstarter campaign for their phone drone project, which was successful in raising more than $170,000, well exceeding their initial $100,000 goal. A number of venture capital firms, including Meyer Equity and Mountain Man Ventures, have also agreed to invest in them. They also used a StartEngine campaign to raise more than $1 million.
Padrone, Matrix RTK, Nano One, Shadow, Matrix SE, and Maverick Mapper are now their six available products.
Once the Nest Cover Is Opened, the Panadrone Will Lift Off on Its Own.
Panadrone: This drone can shoot high-definition video while flying up to 400 feet in the air. Furthermore, it has the ability to function as a node in a mesh network. Simply choose the appropriate altitude on the included tablet, then click the “launch” button. The Padrone will autonomously open the nest cover and take off. Those who would like to request a live demo can do so from their official website.
The Matrix RTK, which was created for surveyors and engineers, is ideal for people who want to take high-resolution mapping photographs. For the most accurate autonomous path, it can additionally be coupled with a GPS bay station.
The Nano One, their most recent invention, is a wind- and rain-resistant drone intended for military surveillance. To ensure mission success, it has ultra-portable capabilities including the auto return and lost link failsafe.
Shadow: This unmanned aerial vehicle can fly up to 100 feet in the air and be tethered for up to 24 hours. Additionally, it has an emergency backup power system that will guarantee its safe return in the event of a power system breakdown.
The Maverick is ideal for reconnaissance, according to Maverick Mapper. It has a Skydroid controller and can map 40 acres on its own in 25 minutes. You can follow them on social media if you’d like to be updated on their most recent news. Their official Facebook page (@xcraftuav) is updated frequently, and they have an active Instagram account (@xcraftuav) with over 10.8K followers.


text:
Huawei launches own Mobile Operating System named HarmonyOS
- Chinese telecom giant Huawei has launched its own operating system named HarmonyOS for its mobile phones. This was done as it faces the threat of losing access to Android systems and US sanctions.
- Huawei will deploy HarmonyOS when it loses access to Android completely. Till then it will continue with Android OS.
Points to remember:
- Which company has launched the HarmonyOS?
Source: Business Standard


text:
Michael Avenatti stole $300,000 from Stormy Daniels and lied to her about where the money was, prosecutors say
Prosecutors claim Avenatti stole part of Daniels' book advance by forging her signature on a letter to the book publisher.
The software firm's strategy is to buy and hold bitcoin, CFO Phong Le said to the Wall Street Journal.
If you're due for a refund this year, be sure to file electronically: The IRS says it should come in under three weeks.
The startup behind the viral Tom Cruise deepfake just raised $7.5 million. Here's the 15-slide pitch deck Metaphysic used to raise funds from the Winklevoss twins.
Logan Paul and the Winklevoss brothers are backing AI startup as it looks to take advantage of intense investor interest in Web3 and the metaverse.
Cannabis VC 2022 predictions: Institutional interest in cannabis to "explode" this year.
The suggestion from the Tesla CEO, posted on Twitter Tuesday, came after Dogecoin cofounder Billy Markus had a back-and-forth with McDonald's.
Dogecoin pops 8% after Elon Musk says he'll eat a happy meal on TV if McDonald's accepts the meme coin as payment
The fast-food giant tweeted "how are you doing people who run crypto twitter accounts" amid a sharp sell-off in the crypto market on Monday.
"We are pursuing every option to reverse this immediately," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement.
The world's 10 wealthiest people have lost $135 billion in the stock-market rout this month. Warren Buffett is the only person on the list who's gotten richer.
Buffett's net worth has grown by $1.4 billion this year, while the other nine members of the $100 billion club have lost an average of $15 billion.
Two small biotechs hope that gene therapy will be the future of Alzheimer’s disease treatment. Here’s what we know so far.
Biotechs Lexeo Therapeutics and Shape Therapeutics gave the public its first look at the one-and-done gene therapies they're creating for Alzheimer's.
Wildly popular gaming firm Roblox is hiring for 258 metaverse jobs and pays up to $430,000 in base salary for top talent. Here's how to land a job, according to its CTO.
Roblox, the gaming platform wildly popular with kids, references the metaverse in every job ad.
New data compiled for news site Axios shows how Trump appears to have lost his onetime dominance of conversation online.
Sarah Palin dined at a restaurant while unvaccinated, breaking NYC COVID-19 rules, 2 days before testing positive
The manager of Elio's, where Palin dined over the weekend, told The New York Times it had made a "mistake" in not asking for her vaccination proof.
Opportunists bought NFTs worth more than $1 million for significantly less due to a bug on OpenSea.
I'm a vice president at Facebook who's had to unlearn self-criticism. My advice to other women in tech: Don't overfocus on weaknesses.
Maria Angelidou-Smith, Facebook's head of communities, shares how flexibility and focusing on strengths have propelled her career in tech.
Russia posts video of soldiers, tanks, and missile launchers near Ukraine border as West warns of invasion
Russia's Western Military District posted the video on Tuesday. Russia has repeatedly denied plans to invade Ukraine.
New Jersey toddler orders nearly $2,000 worth of furniture from Walmart with mom's phone in online shopping spree
The toddler's mom told CNN she had placed more than a dozen chairs in her Walmart shopping cart but hadn't bought them yet.
This CEO explains how he sealed the deal for a $33 million Series B round for his sales software startup Scratchpad over three text messages and a ten-minute phone call
Scratchpad just raised a $33 million. Its cofounder told Insider how the round was sealed over texts, and what he learned from running a pizza shop.
22 developer tools that could explode in 2022 as the tech industry races to help programmers collaborate and be more productive in the remote-work world
Cloud-integrated development environments like GitHub Codespaces and Gitpod and code-search tools like Sourcegraph and Archipelo are on the rise.
The fashion journalist and culture critic opened a door for creatives of color. "His influence knows no bounds," one designer said.


text:
University/Nightlife Patch Next Week
about the University and Nightlife patch revealed that the patch was in testing stages late last month. More than two weeks later that's still the case, but it shouldn't take much longer. The patch can be expected to be put online next week, even though the first target date was yesterday. The release date isn't definite though - it's merely an estimate. Nevertheless the patch should now be very near to completion. An exact date for the release is not given. The following was said by MaxoidKane in this post
"Just heard that the patch won't be out until next week instead of today. It's still in testing and that's the new estimate. Sorry to bring you the bad news but wanted to update you with what I know."
Thanks to our affiliate SP Zone
for the link.
Written at 22:22 on Friday, 7 October 2005 by ChEeTaH
These comments express the view and/or opinion of our visitors and not The Sims Zone. It's not necessarily The Sims Zone's or any
of its staff members' opinion. The Sims Zone cannot be held responsible for what's said in these comments.
Abusers of this service will be blocked. We have filters installed to filter explicit words,
but we cannot guarantee that they filter all explicit words.
Written at 20:18 on Thursday, 13 October 2005 by festmonkey716


text:
Most people know that sweets are bad for their teeth, but far fewer realize there's a danger with sour treats, too.
Regular and diet soft drinks, candies -- especially sour ones -- and foods such as lemons are acidic.
Repeated exposure to acid wears away tooth enamel, leaving teeth sensitive, less attractive and vulnerable to decay.
A pH level of 7 is considered neutral. Studies by pediatric dentist and associate professor at the University of Alabama Dr. John Ruby have found common drinks and candies have pH levels below 4 -- acidic levels which cause direct tooth erosion.
Source: Newhouse News Service


text:
Want to join the conversation?
$MU's NAND Flash gigabits sold to trade customers for 2015 grew on higher output from improved product and process technologies and transition of wafer fabrication facility in Singapore from DRAM to NAND Flash output. Gigabit production of NAND Flash products rose on shift in product mix to higher levels of managed NAND Flash and MCP products.
For the past few years, $AAPL has been buying domains with the iCloud name. According to a report from TechCrunch, the latest acquisition was of the domain name iCloud.net.
$AAPL just released the first look of its $5 billion Cupertino campus, now named Apple Park. Take a look.
Looking forward to the first $TSLA earnings after SolarCity acquisition.


text:
Model-cum-actress Jannatul Ferdous Peya has been featured as the cover girl for Vogue India.
She appeared along with five other models on the cover of Vogue India’s October issue. Vogue India is one of the 23 editions of the American lifestyle and fashion magazine published monthly in different parts of the world.
Peya is the first female model of Bangladesh to land a cover for the famed magazine.
‘As far as I know, no other female model of Bangladesh has ever appeared on a Vogue cover. It’s like a dream come true, and is going to be a landmark in my modelling career,’ said a beaming Peya.
She explained how the opportunity came her way.
‘I was selected after the Vogue authorities assessed online profiles of many Bangladeshi models. Then they contacted me and I accepted their offer instantly,’ she said, adding that Vogue India’s fashion editor Anaita Shroff Adajania and photographer Bharat Sikka had conducted the photo shoot.
The photo shoot took place at the Mehbub Studio in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, Peya has recently finished shooting for two films – Chhitmahal and The Story of Samara. She made her big screen debut with the film Chorabali, which was directed by Redwan Roni.
Among other films in which she appeared is Gangster Returns.
Besides her career in entertainment, Peya is looking forward to pursuing a career as a lawyer. She is currently a student of London College of Legal Studies, and also practising law under the eminent lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain.
Recently, she got an offer to study law at the UK’s Bristol University.
Want stories like this in your inbox?
Sign up to exclusive daily email
More Stories from Miscellany


text:
Pa. business auctions vandal's brick for $1150March 6, 2013 @ 2:55 pm
PITTSBURGH (AP) - It's like throwing money out the window, only backward.
The brick a vandal tossed through a Pittsburgh printing shop's window Monday night fetched its new owner more than $1,000 in an impromptu auction Tuesday.
Business owner Dan Rugh says what was initially a frustrated joke turned into a big moneymaker, with people and businesses alike pitching in prizes. One woman offered tickets to a Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game, a brewery offered a free tour, and restaurants donated gift certificates.
The final $1150 bid for the brick came in at 11:59 p.m. Donations totaled about $1000 more.
The window cost only $425 to fix so Rugh and his partner say they'll donate the rest to charity.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Amazon has new plans for huge biospheres on its new campus
Microsoft calls its new Xbox 'truly intelligent TV'
Seattle's Skillet Street Food and its creator are growing way beyond the Airstream
Bonneville Media encourages site users to express their opinions by posting comments. Our goal is to maintain a civil dialogue in which readers feel comfortable. At times, the comments can descend to personal attacks. Please do not engage in such behavior. We encourage your thoughtful comments which: have a positive and constructive tone, are on topic, are respectful toward others and their opinions. Bonneville reserves the right to remove comments which do not conform to these criteria.


text:
Digital experience analytics leader grows global footprint following $500M Series E investment to support growth & innovation
NEW YORK, January 25, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Contentsquare, the leading experience analytics company, today announced momentous growth in 2021, almost doubling its ARR, with a +98% increase on the previous year.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220125005649/en/
Contentsquare Delivers 98% ARR Growth in 2021 And Continues To Accelerate Innovation & Market Expansion (Photo: Business Wire)
Gaining momentum and making headlines in the areas of company growth, product, impact and brand awareness, Contentsquare is well poised for continued acceleration as businesses continue to shift to digital-first. The company celebrated a pivotal $500M Series E funding round led by SoftBank, accelerated geographic expansion across the globe with new offices in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Lyon and Rennes, and announced key new leadership hires including Kat Borlongan, Chief Impact Officer, and John O’Melia, Chief Customer Officer.
In September, Contentsquare announced it had acquired Hotjar, the leading product experience insights platform in the SMB market, allowing it to now serve the global market end-to-end, and to enable businesses of every size to deliver outstanding digital experiences to their customers. It also acquired Paris-based deep-tech company Upstride to accelerate its ambitious AI innovation roadmap.
Jonathan Cherki, Founder and CEO, Contentsquare, said "What an incredible year this has been. None of this would have been possible without the hard work and vision of our fantastic team at Contentsquare. I can’t wait to see how the Contentsquare team transforms the future of digital experience, helping global brands realize the value of data-led customer journeys and helping them reach new heights with their customers and brand."
Other notable 2021 Contentsquare highlights include:
Rapid team growth, with around 1,300 team members today and early projections that Contentsquare will recruit 1,500+ new roles over the next three years, with hundreds of positions in R&D/Product
Expanded presence in North America and Europe, as well as in APAC with teams in Singapore, Melbourne, and Sydney
Growing its incredible client community, including 30% of the Fortune 100 and achieving an NPS score of 46 (Retently’s 2020 NPS benchmarks puts the average Saas score at 30) and being trusted by Cementing our commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion with the hire of Orly Lynn, Global VP, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Making key new hires, including Albert Nel as SVP Asia Pacific and Japan and Chip Winslow as Americas Chief Revenue Officer
Expanded its Experience Partner Ecosystem which includes +100 technology integrations including Microsoft, AWS, Salesforce, Qualtrics, Optimizely, Kibo, AB Tasty, Intercom, Momentive AI, and more. It also includes +150 solution partners including Dentsu, Wunderman Thompson, THG, Gaprise, and more
Continuing to enhance its privacy-first, secure, scalable, and reliable platform on which Contentsquare products are built such as Digital Find & Fix, Apps, Insights and Merchandising
Delivering the first cookieless solution in our industry and making privacy and Digital Trust a key pillar of our vision
Joining the small list of privacy-first global organizations to have been awarded ISO 27701 certification, a new international standard of best practices for managing information security in compliance with the provisions of legal frameworks for data protection such as CCPA and GDPR
Collecting 300 Billion pageviews and 15,000 Billion interactions in 2021, across sites that processed $2.25Billion in transactions daily
Growing our Atomic Labs incubator to work with 16 start-ups over 2021, reaching 450 hours of mentoring and 50 hours of product, marketing, and sales workshops, and leading 7 proof of concepts, resulting in 2 integrations within the Contentsquare solution
Pledging 1 Million Euros to the Contentsquare Foundation, a nonprofit organization with a mission to help reduce the digital accessibility gap
To date, the company holds 11 issued patents and has another 37 pending applications, globally
Receiving key industry awards including Built In Best Places to Work, the HappyIndex at Work Award, AI Breakthrough Award, Stevie, MarTech Breakthrough Award and the Marketing Excellence Award for Corporate Marketing Team of the Year. Founder and CEO Jonathan Cherki was also recognized by The Software Report (TSR) as one of the Top 50 SaaS CEOs of 2021
Forming an Advisory Board of top industry executives from Aera Technology, Dollar Shave Club, Gainsight, Marketo and Microsoft
Contentsquare empowers brands to build better digital experiences. Its experience analytics platform tracks and visualizes billions of digital behaviors, delivering intelligent recommendations that everyone can use to grow revenue, increase loyalty and fuel innovation. Founded in Paris in 2012, Contentsquare has since opened offices in London, New York, San Francisco, Munich, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam and Barcelona. Today, it helps more than 800 enterprises globally deliver better digital experiences for their customers. Visit contentsquare.com to find out more.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220125005649/en/


text:
But her party is deeply divided over what it wants from Brexit , and the election result means British businesses still have no idea what trading rules they can expect in the coming years. "Gavin will have an important role to play in that". "But she now has to turn her focus immediately back to the Brexit negotiations while presiding over an angry and restive party and with serious doubts as to whether she will lead the party into the next election, whenever it takes place", he said.
MSCI's index of stock markets across the world rose 0.3 per cent, while European shares added 0.6 per cent, rebounding from recent losses. Texas-based Whole Foods Market is engaged in the business of natural and organic foods supermarket.
The update will also bring a new graphics pack to view games in 4K, and with better effects like shadows and improved lighting, as well as water effects. The PlayStation version of Minecraft was left out of the picture though. While there are plenty of mods out there that can augment the style or look of the game , its official, vanilla version has extolled the virtues of blocky, low-level graphics that make it possible just about any system to play it.
After the jury sent a note on Thursday morning saying that it was unable to reach a unanimous verdict, Judge Steven O'Neill, in a state court in Norristown , Pennsylvania, instructed the panel to continue trying. Constand first reported the alleged assault to authorities a year later while living with her parents in Canada. "If they don't have a verdict by now, we'd hope the judge would relieve them".
She has been jailed in neighboring Lincoln County since her arrest, according to a booking report released by the sheriff. Her family knew nearly nothing about her work life, they said. Gary Davis , Winner's stepfather, said she turned down a full college scholarship to join the Air Force. The former Air Force linguist, who speaks Arabic and Farsi and had a top-secret security clearance, was working as a government contractor in Augusta when she copied and mailed a classified report ...
Vice Chairman Mark WarnerMark WarnerSenate Intel panel won't investigate Trump obstruction question Senate votes to continue arming Saudis As Yemenis suffer the consequences Senate Intel heads meet with Mueller MORE (D-Va.) told CNN that while the intelligence panel will not focus its efforts on Trump's potential obstruction of justice , it will turn over any evidence it finds related to the matter to the special counsel.
Amazon said it will continue to operate Whole Foods stores under that name as a separate unit of the company. It was only two days ago that Mackey, who co-founded the company almost 40 years ago in Austin, Texas, laid into activist investors that had grabbed a big chunk of his company's stock, because they were pushing for a quick sale.
Trump reacted after several news reports late Wednesday said that Special Counsel Robert Mueller plans to interview key US national security officials about Trump's comments in seeking an end to the investigation of contacts his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn , had with Russia's ambassador to Washington .
In Spencer's words: "You should think about the hardware part of the console as not the money-making part of the business". Microsoft could soon be making money from Xbox One X sales, but how long that will take is now unclear. Microsoft's press event at gaming conference this week drew the massive attention that fans expect from one of the big three console makers. When Ben Gilbert asked Spencer whether Microsoft is making any money on each unit of the Xbox One X, to which he simply ...
Cook said in a television interview that the company is focusing more on the core technology required for an autonomous system, rather than on developing an entire vehicle itself. That would seem to represent a significant shift from the original ambitions the company had when it first launched the project several years ago. That doesn't mean that less sophisticated systems won't save countless lives, but it suggests there's a long way to go yet, as we've pointed out before.
A stock rating usually tells investors how well a stock's market value relates to what analysts think is a fair value for the stock, based on an independent evaluation of the company. The correct version of this article can be viewed at [[permalink]]. With 5.27 million avg volume, 14 days are for Opko Health Incorporated (NASDAQ:OPK)'s short sellers to cover OPK's short positions.
Mashable questioned the authenticity of Perry's Twitter followers, claiming that bots, or fake accounts, are a common problem on Twitter. It is also good timing for the singer who is making the rounds in a public relations blitz for her new album, " Witness ".
Shares of the grocer were trading at $33.06 a share before the deal was announced, so the deal represents a 27% premium on its closing price yesterday. The Whole Foods acquisition will give Amazon 450 more points of distribution, he said. "I would not like to be somebody playing in the grocery space right now", said Jan Rogers Kniffen, chief executive of retail consultancy firm J.
Another way the apps could work on iOS 11 could be with the status bar being blackened out. I'll say this. I'm still on a desktop in my office. You can now take screenshots of what's on your Apple device by holding down the home and power button at the same time but this would allow you to actually record video .
Luckily, it will be IO Interactive themselves that will be making sure the series is safe and sound. Abrak confirmed that after finishing negotiations with Square Enix, the two companies agreed to a management buyout, allowing the development team to continue working on more Hitman games.
As of the end of the quarter Columbia Partners L L C Investment Management had bought 4,429 shares growing its position 1.0%. The Lodestar Investment Counsel Llc holds 451,625 shares with $28.06 million value, down from 459,502 last quarter.
Most fans thought that the $500 price tag was more likely. Microsoft has finally revealed its plans for Project Scorpio , the new generation of Xbox one consoles that have been rumored for far too long. Digital licences to original Xbox games will transfer over as well. The Xbox One X will go for $499 United States dollars and will be the smallest Xbox console yet, according to Gamespot .
The E3 is an annual three day conference which is nearly a premiere event where big brands showcase whats new for their company in terms of video games and related products. Past year at the post-E3 PS4 event gamers got to see the first trailer for The Last of Us 2. Monster Hunter World will be the first mainline Monster Hunter entry on a Sony platform since 2011.
Enjoying prime time in the spotlight at PlayStation's E3 2017 briefing should be two cinematic action-adventures from the same Sony-owned studio: Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and The Last of Us Part II . Though past year treated fans to a simple teaser , Sony pulled out all the stops with almost 10 minutes of continuous gameplay at its 2017 event. The Sony E3 2017 PlayStation Conference kicks off tonight and is likely to feature more news on the Last of Us 2 .
Plus, with your first purchase you get the game Rebel Galaxy for absolutely free. For instance you can grab The Witcher 3: GOTY Edition for 50% off the normal price. GOG Connect is back again , this time giving the opportunity to redeem 40 titles from your Steam account and grow your DRM-free collection on GOG.com.
In addition to a more powerful GPU, the Xbox One X offers higher bandwidth compared to the PlayStation 4 Pro . That said, power comes with price; that price being a hefty $500. Need for Speed: Payback and Madden 18 will also be in 4K. Spencer also explained why the Xbox One X name was selected: the slogan "there is no greater power than the power of X" really drove the original Xbox team, and that influenced the choice.
PS: Don't get me wrong. To my mind, while the Xbox One X is definitely more powerful than the Pro, it is analogous. Yet, the Xbox One S has done "so well" for Microsoft this year, and Spencer can see a "reinvigoration" of the Xbox community with these two products in the hardware lineup.
He further added that the reveal of these new exclusives would have done wonders with respect to PR point of view, and consumers (especially Xbox fans) would have got the much-needed confidence in the future of brand Xbox , but Team Xbox made a decision to show things that a player will play on Xbox when they buy the console.
The firm has "Neutral" rating given on Thursday, April 7 by JP Morgan. A large surprise factor in either direction typically can lead to a significant swing in the stock price in the hours and days after the report. The Price to Sales (P/S) ratio of the stock is 10.01, while P/B (Price to Book) stands at 1.41. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sorrento Therapeutics by 3.8% in the first quarter.
Windows Server 2016 has been part of Microsoft's recent push into the hybrid cloud space, along with Azure Stack, which is created to bring all the benefits of the Azure public cloud platform on customers' own equipment. They get access to Windows 10 LTSB builds. Note that not all users will get the benefit of the new biannual releases - only Windows Server Standard or Datacenter users who are covered with Software Assurance, or those running Windows Server in Azure (or other cloud ...
After Spider-Man was a success at the press conference of Sony's E3 2017, the American video game developer Insomniac Games were absolutely thrilled to create an awesome, one-of-a-kind game that all game enthusiasts is expecting. The Sphero Spider-Man is described as an "interactive app-enabled super hero". Insomniac Games' Spider-Man was present with full force during E3, and the latest gameplay trailer blew us all away.
Thirty-three accused are absconding, including key conspirators Dawood Ibrahim, his brother Anees Ibrahim, Mustafa's brother Mohammed Dossa and Tiger Memon. At the end of a marathon trial lasting over 13 years, in September 2006, 12 accused were awarded the death sentence, of which 10 were commuted to life by the Supreme Court later.
John Mackey will stay on as CEO of Whole Foods, and corporate headquarters will remain in Austin, TX. Amazon said Whole Foods stores will continue operating under that name as a separate unit of the company. Whole Foods has been put under pressure by Jana Partners, one of the investors, and money manager Neuberger Berman. Whole Foods released its most recent earnings report in May.
They can also be easily shared between other devices easily as the format is compatible with most devices. Watch OS4 will rock Apple Watch and Apple Watch 2 are getting a new Watch OS4 update, and a new range of summer band colours has been launched too.
Now, developer Psyonix has spoken about the issues opening up cross play to PS4 users. The sporty racing battler will, excitingly, let you play with friends on unnamed other platforms - which isn't the first time we've heard word of such a feature this week.
It will be a mid-range tablet offering from the Korean tech giant, which is expected to be announced in August this year. For the avoidance of doubt, the Galaxy Note 8 made its appearance with the model number SM-N950F which is possibly its official model number for one of the versions.
It has outperformed by 47.84% the S&P500. Beta value of the stock is marked at 1.09. The Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc holds 205,000 shares with $2.84M value, up from 5,000 last quarter. As per Friday, May 27, the company rating was maintained by Maxim Group. On November 18 the stock rating was upgraded from "Neutral" to "Positive" in a report from Susquehanna.
Nina Turner, a former OH state senator who campaigned for Sanders in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, said: "Both sides need to look in the mirror". He wrote letters to the local paper's editor, took part in Occupy Wall Street protests. The congressional staffer, who works for Rep. Roger Williams of Texas, was shot in the leg and has since been released from the hospital.
Minecraft has been a cult hit since its initial release in 2009, and it just continues to grow with each new console or series iteration. What's more, any DLC you purchase will be accessible amongst the various devices at no extra charge.
The company has finally released the Surface Laptop in Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Stock is now moving with a positive distance from the 200 day simple moving average of approximately 34.13%, and has a solid year to date (YTD) performance of 53.85% which means the stock is constantly adding to its value from the previous fiscal year end price.
Paul Ryan said, "An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us". Hodgkinson had been in the Virginia area since March. CRIMINAL HISTORYHodgkinson has no felony charges or convictions on record in his home county of St. Another congressman and a second police officer also suffered minor injuries. "What I did notice about this gentleman is he'd open up his gym bag and in it, he had everything he owned", Euille told The Post .
There will also be Nintendo-exclusive items, such as Mario and Luigi caps for your cars to wear. Still, Fils-Aime noted that digital sales for top Switch games - especially Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - have been strong and that Nintendo recognizes how valuable a digital marketplace can be.
There are two Android Excellence collections, one for apps and one for games . To get a picture of what data are being collected and transmitted from people's smartphones, the researchers from IMDEA Networks Institute in Spain developed a free Android app of their own, called the Lumen Privacy Monitor.
With Loop, you can choose a Live Photo and turn it into a short fun video loop - picture the popular Boomerang feature . Now, you can say, " Siri , say, "Start off at Boston Common, following Cambridge Street to Park Street, and make a right after the T station' in German".
The Depression, Second World War and some speakers of the House have intervened to cancel some games, but it's been a fixture since the '60s and is now a charity fundraiser. Two Capitol Police officers sustained relatively minor injuries, as did a congressional aide, and they have been released from hospitals. Earlier on Thursday, Republican lawmakers met behind closed doors to share reflections and pray.
If you do download the developer beta or the public beta, be sure the data on your device is backed up, because this version is for testing purposes and not ready for prime time. You can produce a screen capture very easily and quickly in iOS 11 , including using the Control Center to do your screen recording for you in a snap.
The two got a head start by taking and tossing the Honda driver's cellphone and leaving the other 31 prisoners locked inside the bus, Sills said. Investigators said the vehicle wrecked around the 91 mile marker and the individuals inside ran into a nearby home.
He hugged one woman as she told him about a missing 12-year-old girl who had been on the 20th floor of the tower. The fire reportedly trapped many residents in the building - dozens are still missing. An investigation into the cause of the blaze, the worst in the British capital in a generation, was underway. Members of a Peterborough charity headed to London yesterday to take donations to the families left homeless by the Grenfell Tower fire.
For video streaming platforms, developers may decide to take a 20 percent cut to pass on 50 percent of the tips to content creators, which will open up a new and legal path for monetizing videos. Previously, there was no formal rule from Apple about how tipping was classified. It looks like Pepe the Frog is not welcome on the Apple App Store.
The person filming the video can be heard inviting people into her apartment to escape the smoke. Speaking to another woman, Rania, is told not to open the front door as it will "let the smoke in". "She lives on the top floor and her husband was not home because he is on holiday". "You can see she's trapped", Yaz told the program through tears.
This service is the equivalent of Xbox Live Gold, but Microsoft hasn't broken down its Xbox Live user base into paid and unpaid groups for many years, so it's hard to know how this compares. While there are already an abundance of games spanning the beginning of the Xbox library to be playable on the One X, Microsoft announced that there would be more than 20 Xbox One X exclusive titles to be released.
Transference is a new virtual reality title that is a collaboration between Ubisoft , Elijah Wood and Spectrevision. The reveal of Beyond Good & Evil 2 was one of excitement, but the means in which the game was showcased was a disappointment.
London's fire commissioner says that firefighters have been traumatized by the devastation they witnessed during a high-rise apartment blaze that killed at least 12 people . Mayor of Sadiq Khan had earlier demanded a public inquiry into the blaze, which appears to have spread along cladding added to the outside of the building when it was refurbished.
A massive fire engulfed a 24-story apartment block in London. And leading Republican legislators on Tuesday waved off the idea of firing Mueller, with House Speaker Paul Ryan saying that his advice was to "let Robert Mueller do his job" and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell voicing confidence in the special counsel.


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Why Reno, Nevada (not Arizona) is likely to land Tesla's $5B gigafactory
(Page 2 of 3)
Jimmy Hamilton, one of Tesla’s lobbyists at the Arizona Legislature, said lawmakers’ eyes are on finalizing the state budget right now and then perhaps there could be some movement on legislation, House Bill 2123, to allow Tesla sell directly to consumers in Arizona.
Hamilton said the sales rules are not part of Tesla’s site-selection decision where to land the plant.
“It’s sole and separate,” Hamilton said.
Bobbi Sparrow, president of the Arizona Automobile Dealers Association, is also waiting to see what the Legislature does with the Tesla bill after the budget is completed. Sparrow said sales rules have also been a backdrop in Texas, which is contending for the plant and is considering dealership changes. “They are definitely using it in other states,” said Sparrow.
When asked about Arizona’s odds of landing the Tesla plant, Sparrow said “zero.”
Greater Phoenix Economic Council spokeswoman Michelle Kauk declined comment on Tesla . Officials at the Arizona Commerce Authority did not respond to a request for comment.
The Arizona Legislature is considering some tax break bills this session that will help Apple Inc.’s new manufacturing plant in Mesa. Those tax breaks for renewable energy used at manufacturing plants and equipment write-offs for companies already receiving a lower 5 percent property tax rate are geared toward Apple, but could also benefit Tesla. Apple also has a large data center in Reno.
While Nevada has a proximity advantage to Tesla’s Bay Area factory and could also offer tax breaks to Tesla, Texas and New Mexico could also offer big incentives to land the plant. Texas has used big incentives to grab automakers and technology companies.
Mike Sunnucks writes about residential and commercial real estate, government, law, sports business and workplace issues.
- Most popular
- Phoenix sports bars look to punch up business with boxing match
- And the richest person in Arizona is...
- Haggen prepares for quick entry into Phoenix grocery market
- New Scottsdale Fashion Square Harkins delayed
- Everest College staffers shocked at rapid campus closures
- Phoenix Ritz-Carlton closing for renovations, losing its luxury name
- Apollo Group CFO resigns; interim replacement to make $80,000 a month
- Caliber of students at Grand Canyon University strengthening
- Grand Canyon University set to hire 200 before August
- REI opens huge distribution facility in Goodyear
Sign up to receive Phoenix Business Journal's Morning Edition and Afternoon Edition newsletters and breaking news alerts.
Small Business Banker Washington Federal | Phoenix, AZ
Public Works Division Manager Pima County Department of Transportation | Tucson, AZ
Interim County Auditor County of Kaua'i | Lihue, HI
Legal Billing Manager Rose Law Group pc | Scottsdale, AZ
**Delivery Specialist and Parts Specialist** O'Reilly Auto Parts | Phoenix, AZ


text:
SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea’s biggest auto parts maker, said Friday it will invest 1.32 trillion won (US$1.1 billion) in two local hydrogen fuel-cell plants by 2025.
Hyundai Mobis plans to build a hydrogen fuel-cell stack plant in Incheon, just west of Seoul, and a hydrogen fuel-cell systems assembly plant in Ulsan, 414 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the company said in a statement.
The fuel-cell stack consists of a stack containing up to several hundred fuel cells. It forms the heart of the fuel-cell power system.
“We aim to start the production of fuel-cell stacks and systems at the plants in 2023 and complete the investment by 2025,” a company spokeswoman said.
The company is expected to supply the assembled hydrogen fuel-cell systems for Hyundai Motor’s hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. are key affiliates of Hyundai Motor Group.


text:
While the United Auto Workers’ contract seems to be a done deal for all three Detroit-based automakers, Ford is the only brand that’s issued any formal statements on ratification thus far. But there’s not much to pick apart in the release. The company avoided opportunities to promote itself as the brand that seemed most willing to accommodate the UAW and only brushed against assertions that paying workers more would add to its operational costs.
It was still a corporate press release, however, and came with plenty of the usual trappings. Ford wanted to make sure readers understand it believes all the things they do, and always has, without getting too specific into exactly what that means.
But it wasn’t entirely empty and came directly from the Ford President and CEO Jim Farley. The executive again hinted that it’s interested in addressing quality control while reminding everyone that new products are forthcoming. Suggestions that the new labor agreement would result in higher operating costs may also be paving the way for the company to try and rationalize subsequent price bumps.
From Ford President and CEO Jim Farley:
“We are pleased the agreement has been ratified and we are very happy for our more than 57,000 UAW-represented employees and their families. Ford believes in rewarding all of our people and growing the middle class in America — and we have shown that with our actions over many years.
Now, we are getting back to work as one Ford team. Thankfully, we are on track to reach full production schedules in the coming days at our assembly plants in Michigan, Kentucky and Illinois that were affected during the strike. I’m excited to personally get out to as many of our plants and operations as possible in the coming weeks and months to spend time with our teams who build our vehicles.
Ford is America’s No. 1 brand again and we want to build on that in 2024. We are entering one of our biggest-ever new product launch years in the U.S. We need to deliver these new vehicles on time and with top quality. This is critical!! I am talking about [the] new Ranger and Ranger Raptor. New F-150 and F-150 Raptor. New Expedition. New Explorer. New Lincoln Navigator and new Lincoln Aviator. All told, we are refreshing about half of our U.S. volume in 2024. We are also working flat out on our next generation of electric vehicles and software platforms.
It’s also imperative that we continue to attack cost and waste throughout our operations. The reality is that this labor agreement added significant cost, and we are going to have to work very hard on productivity and efficiency to become more competitive.”
We’ll see where it all leads. For now, Ford leadership seems to be signaling business as usual and downplaying it having been slightly more affable toward the UAW than its main rivals. I’m not sure what the strategy is there beyond avoiding conflict with people who aren’t fond of the union. But the blade cuts both ways and it’s not likely to take any more heat or praise than General Motors or Stellantis for having reached a deal, as they’re all very similar to each other.
At the very least, the executive statement officially settles contract negotiations between Ford and the UAW for the foreseeable future.
[Image: Ford Motor Co.]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.


text:
2024 Kia Sportage 30th Anniversary Edition special revealed
Updates include double-joined sounding glass on all trims and two cabin colors for the Anniversary Edition
PIMS 2022: Kia PH won't launch the all-new Sportage yet
If you're looking forward to the all-new Kia Sportage, we'll have to wait a bit longer
Will 2022 Kia Sportage debut at PH motor show?
Kia PH confirms they will be launching a brand new model at this year's PIMS
Is Kia PH preparing for all-new 2022 Sportage?
Kia has just secured an approval for a turbo-diesel engine, could it be the next-gen Sportage?
Kia asks HQ if Philippines is affected by fire risk recall
Kia says they will provide replacement with OEM partner if needed
2023 Kia Sportage PHEV can travel 51 km on electric power
Here are the first images and details of the 2023 Kia Sportage PHEV
Kia plans to export cars from Malaysia to Philippines
Sorento, Carnival, Sportage and Niro to be built by Kia in Malaysia with plans to export
2022 Kia Sportage Hybrid makes more power than turbo-diesel
After revealing the turbo gasoline and diesel engines, Kia unveils the Sportage Hybrid
Here are the specs, features of 2022 Kia Sportage
2022 Kia Sportage is now bigger, packs more tech, and still comes with turbocharged engines
2022 Kia Sportage looks absolutely lit
2022 Kia Sportage gets a bold new look, inside and out


text:
Tomorrow's tablets? Look, no hands.
Knowles' tiny microphone, about the size of the tip of a pen, can "hear" sound waves inaudible to the human ear that are emitted from special speakers in a smartphone or tablet. The microphone then uses those signals to triangulate hand locations and track movement, similar to radar.
Knowles said its new product, which it calls ultrasonic, would allow a consumer to, say, flip a slide on a presentation or share information between a smartphone and another device with a simple hand gesture from 4 to 12 inches from the screen. Officials hope the new device will entice companies like Apple and Samsung, Knowles' largest clients, to add a fourth microphone to their devices, generating more sales for Knowles.
To develop ultrasonic, Knowles worked with California-based Elliptic Labs, which developed the software that works with the microphone.
"We see this as a story that goes into 2016, when people start adopting ultrasonic," said Jeff Niew, chief executive of the company.
Many of the high-end smartphone models, like the iPhone 5S, have three microphones, but smartphone-makers are reluctant to add a fourth unless it offers extra features--hence, the focus on ultrasonic.
Knowles' technology faces competition from smartphone camera manufacturers, which have added sensors to their products to track movement.
To date, current optical technology has not been a huge hit in the market, mainly because it works from a distance of only about 2 inches from a screen, said Marwan Boustany, a senior analyst with research firm IHS Technology. At that distance, he said, it's easier just to touch the small screen.
Knowles said its technology is superior because, in addition to allowing greater distance between the user and screen, it uses less power than smartphone cameras and, because it uses sound waves, the technology can be used in the dark.
Niew said a few of his smaller customers have bought the technology to test it.
"We are in the early adoption phase," he said.
Knowles, founded in 1946, has a history of innovation. Neil Armstrong's first words from the moon, "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind," were transmitted via a Knowles microphone, the company said.
Knowles grew by developing microphones for hearing aids, but today, parts for mobile consumer electronics, such as smartphones and tablets, account for nearly two-thirds of its revenues.
Knowles, spun off from Dover this year, said 2014 will be a year of modest growth. Year-end revenues are expected to increase slightly, to $1.22 billion, from $1.21 billion in 2013, according to Bloomberg.
The now publicly traded company is in the midst of a plan to cut annual costs by $40 million to $50 million, which includes consolidating factories to 11 from 18 by 2016. It also is moving production lines that involve manual assembly from China to the Philippines to save about $10 million a year. Knowles' year-end 2014 profit is expected to decline by 96 percent, to $4.7 million, mostly because of those restructuring charges.
Niew said labor costs in China have increased by 17 percent annually. By comparison, he expects labor costs in the Philippines to increase by 6 to 8 percent a year. The new facility will employ about 3,500 people by the end of the year, mostly assembling hearing aid parts. Worldwide, Knowles employs more than 10,000, including about 300 in Itasca.
Though Knowles moved factories from China, it has no plans to back away from Chinese consumers. With wages in China expected to increase by 10 to 12 percent per year, Niew said smartphone demand will continue to grow.
In the second quarter, Xiaomi became the leading smartphone vendor in China, overtaking Samsung, according to research firm Canalys. Eight of the top 10 smartphone vendors in China are local companies.
Niew said many of those companies are Knowles customers, and as they grow, Knowles is positioning itself to grow with them.


text:
If you have a mobile device such as tablets, Android phones or iPhone, you can play Stranger Things 1984 and Stranger Things 3: The Game
Netflix Games is the new service offered by this streaming platform. This is integrated into your current subscription and allows you to enjoy video games on mobile devices. Although, it is now limited to a few games like Stranger Things 1984 or Stranger Things 3.
In total, Netflix Games has five launch video games: Stranger Things: 1984 and Stranger Things 3: The Game, as well as Shooting Hoops, Card Blast and Teeter Up. Although it is a small catalog, the company promises to bring new experiences in the near future.
Some of the titles that it could bring are of puzzles, narrative stories, as well as more complex experiences. We hope to hear from you soon.
Why did the company create Netflix Games?
According to Gamerant, Netflix has been trying to break into the industry since the early summer of 2021. For this reason, it has hired industry veterans such as Mike Verdu, who was vice president of video game development for Electronic Arts. Finally, Netflix Games was released in August for Poland.
By the end of September, it was available in Spain and Italy. Its worldwide launch came on November 3, 2021. The company is likely looking to expand its market through Netflix Games. Perhaps other streaming companies like Disney + or Funimation could follow suit.


text:
At our June coffee hour we had a surprise guest. Natalie Blaise stopped by just to say Hi! Natalie is our new State Representative for the first Franklin District. Our coffee hour will resume in September.
Posted: to Goshen News on Mon, Jul 22, 2019
Updated: Mon, Jul 22, 2019


text:
MANILA -- Check out some of the latest news related to health and wellness.
These are not endorsed by ABS-CBN News.
AIDE BRINGS BACK NURSING CARE SERVICE
Medical services app AIDE has brought back its nursing care service to address the growing need for professional help in caring for newborns, sick, or elderly family members.
AIDE, which merged with telehealth app KonsultaMD in 2022, offers various medical home services such as the Basic Diabetes Package, laboratory tests, and physical therapy.
More details are available on the AIDE app on the App Store or Google Play.
KONSULTAMD TO LAUNCH SUPERAPP
KonsultaMD is set to launch SuperApp through a fun run event in partnership with ColorFest Manila in Vermosa, Cavite on April 30.
The SuperApp will bring together the country's top health brands to offer a wide range of healthcare services, including doctor consultations, medicine delivery, and at-home labs and diagnostics.
More details are available on the KonsultaMD website and app on the App Store and Google Play.
LISTERINE'S FIGHT MOUTH AGING CAMPAIGN
Listerine recently held a talk on the significance of protecting your mouth as you age as part of its "Fight Mouth Aging" campaign.
It was moderated by Listerine brand ambassador Macoy Dubs and featured Dr. Jose Angelo Militante, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon and immediate past president of the Philippine Dental Association; and Dr. Ashita Bhatia, associate director research and development for Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health APAC.
Experts reminded attendees to maintain a consistent oral care regimen which includes regular brushing, flossing, and use of mouthwash to fight cavities, plaque, and gum problems.
MWELL WINS INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
Metro Pacific Investments Corp.'s (MPIC) mWell recently won two Gold Stevie Awards in the Innovation in Health and Wellness and Most Innovative Startup of the Year - Business Service Industries categories in the 10th annual Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.
It is the only Philippine entry to bring home the Gold Award in these two categories. Bronze winners include Vietnam, Taiwan, and Australia.
An accredited telemedicine partner of the Department of health, mWell promises to redefine telemedicine in the Philippines via a seamless, fully digital experience. Users can choose a doctor, consul on video, receive an e-prescription, and get a medical certificate within the app.
Patients may consult online 24/7 with over over 800 Primary Care doctors, specialists, and mind health experts, and have their medicines delivered to their doorsteps via MedExpress.
PHILUSA'S ADVOCACY-BASED VIDEO SERIES
PHILUSA Corp. is celebrating its 65th year with a two-part video series, highlighting its partnerships with organizations that advocate for clean water access and the reduction of ocean-bound plastic waste.
The Filipino-owned company is known for its brands Rhea, Mediplast, Apollo, Cleene, Babyflo, Albatross, and Gleam, among others.
The first video, titled "Katuwang sa Kalinisan," follows PHILUSA's efforts in promoting basic access to clean water in partnership with Manila Water Foundation.
This is followed by "Katuwang sa Kalikasan," which shows PHILUSA joining hands with the Canada-based social enterprise Plastic Bank to help reduce ocean-bound plastic waste.
The videos are available on PHILUSA's Facebook page.
WATSONS' KWENTONG PHARMACIST SERIES
Health and beauty retail brand Watsons has released the Kwentong Pharmacist series, which features three bite-sized videos.
In "Kwentong Date," "Kwentong Albularyo," and "Kwentong Heartbreak" Watsons aims to show how it safeguards the health of Filipino families.
The brand said it is also working with the Department of Health and key medical associations in driving health and wellness literacy through education and education programs.
More details are available on Watsons' website.


text:
The mobile payments company Fortumo has announced a developer program for Windows Phone and Windows 8 apps. Developers who integrate Fortumo in-app purchasing to their app will receive an advance of up to USD25,000 from Fortumo to cover their integration costs. The program is also open to successful iOS & Android developers who are bringing their apps to the Windows platform.
Mobile operator billing with Fortumo is designed to complement Microsoft Corp.’s own payment solution. For Windows Store, Fortumo provides mobile payments in 81 countries and over 300 mobile networks. It also extends Microsoft’s existing mobile operator billing reach by adding a number of emerging markets in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, Middle-East and Africa with low credit card penetration.
Currently there are a host of top developers such as Rovio, Zeptolab, EA Mobile and Gameloft using Fortumo for in-app purchasing on Windows, Android, HTML5 and other platforms. By covering integration costs, Fortumo wants to highlight the significant revenue opportunities of adding mobile operator billing also on Windows Phone and Windows 8.
Fortumo offers native-looking in-app purchasing for Windows and Windows Phone apps that only requires the user to have a mobile phone – no additional registration or credit card is required. It supports over 40 currencies and is localized into 32 languages.
The company’s in-app payments enable customers to charge digital goods purchases to their mobile operator bill. Mobile payments are a strong alternative to credit cards, especially in emerging markets. There are four times more mobile phones in the world than credit cards and in countries like Brazil, Russia, India and China, credit card ownership is as low as 15%.
Whether or not this angle from Fortumo comes to fruition remains to be seen. However it is certainly worth keeping an eye on.
Fresh from its $4.5bn IPO, Nordic payments processor Nets has picked Spire as its partner to help with the physical roll out of mobile payments for Dankort customers.
Square has introduced a new update to its contactless and chip readers that reduces transaction speed to 4.2 seconds.
It seems laptops are about to catch the biometric fever as PayPal, Intel, Lenovo and Synaptics are collaborating to introduce FIDO-enabled embedded fingerprint solution to PCs.
Mastercard is working with Stripe to expedite the payment process for American sellers on the latter's marketplaces using the instant payouts feature from Stripe.


text:
Mumbai : CEAT Limited, one of the leading tyre manufacturers in India announced its partnership with Torino FC, one of the top football clubs in the Italian Serie A.The partnership will span over the next two years and will make CEAT the football club’s official tyre sponsor.The deal is aimed to fortify CEAT’s brand presence inItaly and the European football crazy markets.As a part of the deal, CEAT branding will feature at the club’s stadium during matches, ticketing services, and on Torino’s official website. Additionally, the tyre manufacturer will be able to participate in Torino’s official events, B2B workshops and conferences.
CEAT International which stands for CaviElectriciAffini Torino (Electrical Cables and Allied Products of Turin) was first established in 1924 in Turin, Italy as a manufacturer of cables for telephones and railways. In 1982, the RPG Group, took over CEAT Tyres of India, and in 1990, renamed the company CEAT Ltd.
“We are extremely happy to partner with Torino F.C., which is one of the most popular clubs in Italy.CEAT was a brand born in Turin, Italy and going back to our roots is what makes it a special experience for us.The association will help us further position our brand and the products in global markets that are crucial and a part of our global expansion strategy. Going forward, we hope to contribute to the success of the team and wish them luck for their matches.” said Mr. Nitish Bajaj, Sr. Vice President – Marketing, CEAT Limited.
Commenting on the partnership, Spokesperson (Torino) said, “We are thrilled to have CEAT on board with us, a well-known brand in India with a history in Italy. We as a club would like to take our brand across the world and association with a global brand like CEAT would be a testament to our mission. We look forward to a long and successful partnership for the seasons to come.”


text:
AutoNation CEO Gives Feds Failing Grade In Handling Of Recalls"Quite frankly, it's a black eye for our industry."
Jeb Bush Discusses Politics, But Not PresidencyFormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush has not announced whether or not he’s going to run for President, but the speculation grows and so do the joke.
Bye-Bye Maroone, Hello AutoNationOne of South Florida’s best known corporate brands is changing names here and across the country but local customers shouldn't notice any difference when they decide who they're gonna call.
Laughing At Uncertainty, AutoNation Sales Rise 21% In Third QuarterDespite a struggling economy and uncertainty surrounding which presidential candidate’s economic policies will drive the country, Americans still love their cars, and they are opening their wallets to prove it.
AutoNation Posts 3rd Quarter IncreaseFt. Lauderdale based AutoNation Inc. reported that its third-quarter profit was up 24 percent thanks in part to higher prices for new and used vehicles.


text:
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- After more than seven decades as the world's biggest automaker, General Motors Corp. now has to share the title with Toyota Motor Corp., at least until the Japanese giant offers further clarity on its 2007 sales totals.
At this point, with the release of GM's GM, +0.56% global year-end figures, it's a dead heat in a race that's been neck and neck for most of the year.
GM said Wednesday that worldwide sales rose 3% to 9,369,524 million cars and trucks in 2007 -- the second-best global sales total in company history.
Toyota TM, -0.03% earlier this month posted sales of 9.37 million, but hasn't given a final number down to the last vehicle sold. It may never release that figure.
"[Toyota's] consistent practice in years past has been to report out to two decimal places only," company spokesman Mike Michels said. "It is unlikely that this will change. It would seem that the so-called sales race is a tie."
'We're in this thing for the long run, and we want to win. But the most important thing is to do all the right things in terms of growing the business.'
GM's global sales analyst Mike DiGiovanni told media and analysts on a conference call following the results that he wasn't aware of the outcome just yet.
"The race is too close to call. It's impossible to say," he said. "We're just really focused on putting our nose down and trying to do a good job serving our customers and making the best products we can. ... I don't think anybody knows at this point."
Executives from both companies have downplayed the importance of the race, for the most part.
"Sure, everyone would love to be the first, but we're much more concerned with being the best," said Jim Lentz, head of Toyota's U.S. division, at the 2007 L.A. auto show.
DiGiovanni of GM mostly echoed that sentiment Wednesday.
"We're in this thing for the long run, and we want to win," he commented. "But the most important thing is to do all the right things in terms of growing the business."
GM doesn't want to get "caught up in just sales numbers" and resort to "unnatural things" like fleet sales and too many incentives just to keep the factories running, DiGiovanni said.
Regardless of which company eventually lays claim to the crown, GM, which has struggled to grow sales on its home turf, has made strides worldwide, particularly in China and Russia.
During the fourth quarter, the Detroit automaker sold 2.31 million cars and trucks, up 4.8% from a year earlier. Vehicle sales outside the United States totaled 5.5 million, accounting for about 59% of GM's totals global sales.
GM set a record in China, where it leads Toyota with more than 1 million vehicles sold, and nearly doubled sales in Russia to a record of more than 258,000 vehicles.
Worldwide Chevrolet brand sales rose 4.4% in 2007 to 4.49 million vehicles from 4.3 million, with its biggest growth in Europe.
GM sold 3.8 million trucks worldwide in 2007, up about 1% from a year earlier.
Shares of GM, a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, jumped 8.7% to finish at $25.70 amid a strong broader-market rebound. Toyota shares shrugged off early weakness to finish up 2.4% at $99.25.