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You're settled in, working a real job, making adult decisions — but you know you can't do everything alone. A new parent needs a will...
You’re settled in, working a real job, making adult decisions — but you know you can’t do everything alone.
A new parent needs a will, so he calls an attorney. An up-and-coming wage-earner needs to manage income and investments, so she calls a financial planner. And a family needs a home, so they call a real-estate agent.
Would they call an interior designer to furnish that home?
Turns out, a lot of younger adults would — for a lot of reasons.
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“My young clients are very sophisticated and sharp,” said Seattle interior designer Faith Sheridan. “In their careers, they’ve gotten used to the concept of working with a professional, so the concept of coming to a designer makes sense to them.”
As does the concept of saving time. Sheridan, of Faith Sheridan Interior Design, said most of her clients are busy, young professionals.
“Because of our training, we can come in and size up a room very quickly,” she said. “We see scale, understand the relationship of light in the room, traffic patterns, how the room is going to be used. A lot of younger clients have told me, ‘If we take this on ourselves, it’ll never happen.’ “
Case in point: Dan Rathman.
Rathman, 42, bought a home in Magnolia last fall. Built in 1925 and completely redone, it had exactly what he wanted — character, moldings and updated paint. But then he had to fill it.
“I stumbled along thinking I could decorate it myself, but I lost my confidence,” Rathman said. “I did buy a couch, and then I got worried I was going to ruin this nice house.”
He also wasn’t making much progress. He would look for furniture on the weekends but was having trouble “pulling the trigger” and buying anything.
“I didn’t want to live in an unfinished house for a long time,” he said. “I wanted to do this right. I wanted to do this efficiently.”
Gauging client’s needs
A friend mentioned the Seattle Design Center, where Rathman looked at portfolios and interviewed two interior designers. He selected Sheridan because he understood her.
“Designers talk in design terms, and all of it doesn’t make sense,” he said. “But [Sheridan] said that because I have a lot of curved archways and doors, and the fireplace had a curve, it was obvious that we should use oval coffee tables and rounded side tables. That made sense..”
Another bonus: Sheridan understood him.
“She had a good sense of my house,” Rathman said. “Even though I was having trouble describing it, she could make sense of it.”
So Rathman, who is a manufacturing specialist for a biotech company, hired Sheridan to design his living room and master bedroom. He’s hoping to keep his budget around $20,000.
As with any professional service, there is a price. But Sheridan said her younger clients, in particular, consider interior design an investment, figuring they’re buying well-made furniture they’ll have for years.
Home is fashionable
Young clients today are more attuned to high quality and good design, said Kipepeo Brown, director of marketing for Seattle Design Center. Reality TV has put the “in” in interior design, and all sorts of media bombard us with images of design and decorating.
“Home is a fashionable thing to do,” Brown said. “Fashion, which we’re all a part of, is very connected to home design. It’s a connection of fashion, colors and freshness.”
With every fashion, though, come fashion victims. And often, a cry for help.
Sheridan said she’s fielded calls from people who suddenly realize they’ve bought the wrong sofa.
Share your thoughts
Have you worked with, or are you working with, a designer? Share your decorating experiences and tips with us at firstname.lastname@example.org
“A lot of times they’ll buy a color that looked fabulous in the store environment, but at home they’re in shock,” she said. “They realize they have to make adjustments to make the sofa work, change other things, paint. It’s just not going to fit. It’s so much nicer to know that it’s going to work.”
Which is why, designers say, the best time to work with an interior designer is before you need one.
Luckily, Rathman said, he had bought only a couple of pieces before enlisting Sheridan’s professional help. So, she added new furnishings and offered new angles for existing ones.
“I thought I couldn’t do much with my couch in the living room,” he said. “She wanted to move the couch away from the wall, and I thought she was crazy. But as soon as I did it, it made sense. It’s just something that never would have occurred to me.”
This is part of an occasional series on working with an interior designer.


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Usually when you pick up an issue of Vogue magazine, you can expect to the the latest fashion on celebrities or professional models. As the pandemic has impacted the world, though, the magazine decided to feature people who work in the “essential” positions that helped hold the planet together throughout the coronavirus outbreak.
British Vogue featured three women in essential positions for the July 2020 edition of their magazine. The movement put the spotlight on some of the people who truly deserve it in these difficult times, such as those in the medical, transportation, and grocery industries.
Check out the covers below:
Narguis Horsford – London Overground train driver
Anisa Omar – Supermarket assistant
Rachel Millar – Community midwife
British Vogue also released a short video giving a glimpse into the life of the featured cover models. Take a look!

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Clear as mud. That's pretty much the status of cannabidiol (CBD) products in the United States after the 2018 Farm Bill was signed into law in December. Although the bill legalized hemp, it left the details for regulating the industry to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb quickly expressed concerns about companies making unsubstantiated claims of the health benefits of CBD. He also stressed that any use of hemp-derived CBD in foods or dietary supplements was illegal. However, Gottlieb recognized the need to establish regulations that would provide clarity for companies seeking to market hemp CBD products.
A key first step in setting new CBD regulations will be taken on Friday, May 31, when the FDA will hold a public hearing to obtain input on what its regulatory strategy should address.
You can count on potential safety issues associated with CBD being a major topic at the FDA hearing. In particular, the agency will listen to any concerns about the levels of CBD, the mode of delivery, and/or the interactions it could have with other substances. But the FDA hopes to hear about any available data that could address some of those concerns, too.
The FDA is also interested in ensuring that any CBD regulations it makes don't negatively impact the development of new drugs based on CBD. Last year, the agency approved the first CBD drug made from cannabis plants -- GW Pharmaceuticals' Epidiolex.
Expect the FDA hearing to delve into some mundane topics including manufacturing and product quality standards. Establishing such standards is an important function for the FDA with prescription drugs, medical devices, foods, and cosmetics.
There are also several marketing issues for CBD products that the FDA needs to resolve. Friday's hearing will likely include plenty of discussion about CBD labeling requirements, especially on foods containing CBD.
The FDA extended an open invitation to individuals and organizations with an interest in CBD regulations to make formal presentations at the hearing. While the agency only selected some of the applicants to present on Friday, it emphasized that it was "seeking to have a broad representation of ideas and issues presented at the meeting."
The published agenda for the FDA hearing includes time slots for oral comments and formal presentations from a wide range of interested parties. Representatives from the academic community, the agriculture industry, manufacturers, and retailers will participate in the meeting. In addition, healthcare professionals and advocates for consumers, patients, and public safety will be given time to weigh in on the potential CBD regulations.
But the FDA isn't limiting participation to the private sector. The agency also plans to listen to state government officials with interest in shaping the CBD regulations.
Why the FDA hearing is important
There's a big reason why this week's FDA hearing will attract a lot of attention: A lot of money is at stake. Cannabis market research company Brightfield Group predicts that the U.S. hemp CBD market could be worth $22 billion annually by 2022. Piper Jaffray analysts aren't quite as optimistic but still expect the U.S. CBD market could reach $15 billion in annual sales within the next five years.
Those estimates won't be achieved, though, without regulations in place to remove uncertainties related to making and selling hemp CBD products. Some large companies have already jumped into the market, including top Canadian cannabis producer Canopy Growth (CGC -0.66%), which is building a hemp production facility in New York, and big pharmacy retailer CVS Health (CVS -0.04%), which began selling some CBD products in March. However, others have been more hesitant to act until the FDA establishes more clarity.
But don't look for the FDA to move quickly to finalize regulations after Friday. The agency plans to accept comments from the meeting through July 2. It will then move forward with developing draft regulations and will seek input on them before they are finalized. This week's hearing is an important step -- but just one of many -- in clearing the way for what could be a massive CBD market in the U.S.


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‘It’s about health, not weighing yourself,’ says Weight Watchers’ new boss
“My first Weight Watchers meeting was when I was 14 years old on Long Island, and I went there with my mother,” says Grossman, who has returned 46 years later to run the company.Updated: Oct 07, 2017 17:08 IST
Every time Mindy Grossman looks in the mirror, she is reminded that “you are skinny, you are fabulous, you are clever”. It is not some magic talking looking glass, but an engraved compact-sized mirror designed by a friend and stuck to the back of her smartphone. Two of the three mantras are wearing away, leaving only “you are clever”.
“It’s the most important one, anyway,” says the businesswoman tasked with reinventing Weight Watchers for the digital age, where weight loss apps and Insta-fuelled phenomenons like clean eating are in the ascendancy.
“My first Weight Watchers meeting was when I was 14 years old on Long Island, and I went there with my mother,” says Grossman, who has returned 46 years later to run the company. “I’d gained that adolescent weight and wanted to try out for cheerleading … I lost the weight, tried out and made the cheerleading team.”
“The term ‘dieting’ has some negative associations with consumers, because for some people it reminds them of unsuccessful attempts to lose weight,” says Emma Gubisch, an analyst at Leatherhead Food Research. “It also has the connotation that it is something you do for a short time until you’ve achieved your aim, and then you stop or go back to your old lifestyle.”
“[Weight Watchers] have been in people’s lives for a long time, so you are not the new shiny penny out there, but you really are the one that works,” says Grossman of the notoriously faddy diet industry. “When people want to lose weight, they get to a point where they are desperate and looking for the new thing that is going to work miracles. But at the end of the day, there is no such thing.”
With health and wellness now firmly in vogue, Weight Watchers does not want to be seen as a short-term fix – rather, it is positioning itself as a credo to live by, with its app something users check as frequently as Facebook or Twitter. “We’re looking at the future of experiences and how you personalise it,” says Grossman. “We can inspire people to have healthy habits ... that’s not just about losing 10lbs, but creating a structure you can live within.”
The first Weight Watchers cruise, which sailed in May, offers a taste of where the company is headed. The Caribbean trip was a bootcamp designed to shift the pounds, but it took a “wellness” theme, with holidaymakers offered tailored fitness workouts, cooking demonstrations and seminars from experts.
“I’ve been 35lbs heavier than I am now and 25lbs thinner than I am now, and both of those times were probably the most miserable times of my life,” says Grossman. “I’m happier now, because it is about being healthy, not weighing yourself.” But the big question is: how is Oprah doing? “She looks great,” reports Grossman. “She was at the Emmys wearing a white jumpsuit – and you have to be confident to do that.”


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|By Marketwired .||
|April 2, 2014 12:37 PM EDT||
WINDSOR, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 04/02/14 -- A magical tale of a giant Dreamstalk and the kidnapping of a king awaits on 16th May when Kirby: Triple Deluxe releases for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. In order to mark the imminent return to action for this famous pink hero, Nintendo has today revealed a new colourway to its Nintendo 2DS staple in the form of Nintendo 2DS Pink + White(i), giving fans the choice to represent the Kirby colours when gaming on the go.
Nintendo 2DS Pink + White will launch on the same day as Kirby: Triple Deluxe, 16th May, and in true Kirby style, presents itself in an eye-catching pink design, complete with a white stripe across the side and back of the system. Also accompanying the release of Nintendo 2DS Pink + White will be a new silver Nintendo 2DS Carrying Case, available for purchase separately from 16th May.
Nintendo 2DS first launched in October 2013, retaining many of the hardware features of Nintendo 3DS including the same intuitive gameplay controls and wireless connectivity features for access to local and online multiplayer gameplay, Nintendo eShop and more. Bringing family-friendly value and a huge software catalogue to boot, Nintendo 2DS is an entry point into or a new way to enjoy the Nintendo handheld experience, and allows fans to play all Nintendo 3DS games in 2D.
Similarly ideal for both novice and experienced gamers alike, Kirby: Triple Deluxe provides a platforming experience full of colourful landscapes and enemies big and small for Kirby to inhale, including certain foes which he can suck up and then copy their unique abilities! Whether adopting an ability such as the Circus or the Bell, 25 different Copy Abilities found in the game allow players to dress up Kirby in all manner of different looks, with each ability possessing its own special powers and unusual combination moves. One particularly magical new ability of Kirby's is the Hypernova, acquired after finding and gobbling up a Miracle Fruit within a level. A temporarily powered-up version of his usual inhale ability, the Hypernova allows Kirby to suck up huge obstacles and even entire sections of a level that lie in his way.
Aside from playing as Kirby and unravelling the mystery of the Dreamstalk and the kidnapping of King Dedede by a shadowy being, players can discover more than 250 Key Chains in-game, many of which pay homage to the Kirby series, and which can be exchanged with friends via StreetPass encounters. In addition, game modes in Kirby: Triple Deluxe such as Dedede's Drum Dash add an extra dimension to the Kirby-themed action. As King Dedede, players are tasked with taking on rhythm-based time trials set against the tune of iconic music from the Kirby franchise. Meanwhile for fans of fun multiplayer action, Kirby Fighters is a competitive battle mode that can be enjoyed as a single-player experience or via the Nintendo 3DS family of systems' Download Play feature(ii), enabling up to four friends to play together, and requiring only one player to own a copy of the game to make it happen!
Nintendo 2DS goes pink on 16th May when Nintendo 2DS Pink + White releases on the same day as Kirby's new adventure in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS family of systems. To check out what fairytale antics lie in store for Kirby fans, a new game trailer, featuring a sneak peek at the new Nintendo 2DS colourway, can be viewed here.
The Nintendo 2DS Pink + White, Nintendo 2DS Silver carry case and Kirby: Triple Deluxe for the Nintendo 3DS family will be available from the Nintendo UK store to pre-order and purchase from launch day.
For further details:
Kirby: Triple Deluxe website https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-3DS/Kirby-Triple-Deluxe-855023.html
Kirby Hub website http://www.nintendo.co.uk/kirby
Nintendo 2DS Website http://www.nintendo.co.uk/nintendo2ds
Nintendo 3DS (UK) on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Nintendo3DSUK
Nintendo UK on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/NintendoUK
Nintendo of Europe on Twitter https://twitter.com/nintendoeurope
Nintendo UK on Twitter https://twitter.com/nintendouk
Nintendo UK store http://store.nintendo.co.uk/home.dept
(i) Nintendo 2DS Pink + White is the third colour combination for the system, joining the Black + Blue and White + Red colourways already available to fans.
(ii) Each player requires a Nintendo 3DS family system.
About Nintendo 3DS:
Nintendo 3DS family consists of a Nintendo 3DS system, Nintendo 3DS XL system (both with a 3D feature) and a Nintendo 2DS system (no 3D feature). Nintendo 3DS family offers Parental Controls so that parents can control the content their children can access and the games they can play. Additionally, devices with a 3D feature allow parents to control the level of 3D their children can view and also provide a 3D depth slider which lets players turn off or adjust the level of 3D they want on the 3D Screen. Nintendo 3DS family also features two built-in screens for different functionality, a Circle Pad which provides a full 360 degrees of direction, a built-in motion sensor and gyro sensor. It is equipped with three cameras (two of which are facing outwards to allow the taking of 3D pictures), houses a 2GB/4GB SD Memory Card and is compatible with AR Cards which come packaged with Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo 3DS family is also backwards compatible with all existing Nintendo DS games, which can be played in 2D on your Nintendo 3DS system.
The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii U(TM) and Wii(TM) home consoles, Nintendo 3DS(TM) and Nintendo DS(TM) family of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System(TM), Nintendo has sold more than 4.2 billion video games and more than 669 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii U, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi(TM) and Nintendo DSi XL(TM), as well as the Game Boy(TM), Game Boy Advance(TM), Super NES(TM), Nintendo 64(TM) and Nintendo GameCube(TM) systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario(TM), Donkey Kong(TM), Metroid(TM), Zelda(TM) and Pokemon(TM). A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of Europe, based in Grossostheim, Germany, was established in 1990 and serves as headquarters for Nintendo's operations in Europe.
SYS-CON Events announced today that StarNet Communications will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. StarNet Communications’ FastX is the industry first cloud-based remote X Windows emulator. Using standard Web browsers (FireFox, Chrome, Safari, etc.) users from around the world gain highly secure access to applications and data hosted on Linux-based servers in a central data center. ...
Aug. 30, 2016 02:30 PM EDT Reads: 939
SYS-CON Events announced today Telecom Reseller has been named “Media Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Telecom Reseller reports on Unified Communications, UCaaS, BPaaS for enterprise and SMBs. They report extensively on both customer premises based solutions such as IP-PBX as well as cloud based and hosted platforms.
Aug. 30, 2016 02:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,016
SYS-CON Events announced today that Adobe has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York, New York. Adobe is changing the world though digital experiences. Adobe helps customers develop and deliver high-impact experiences that differentiate brands, build loyalty, and drive revenue across every screen, including smartphones, computers, tablets and TVs. Adobe content solutions are used daily by millions of co...
Aug. 30, 2016 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 3,734
Why do your mobile transformations need to happen today? Mobile is the strategy that enterprise transformation centers on to drive customer engagement. In his general session at @ThingsExpo, Roger Woods, Director, Mobile Product & Strategy – Adobe Marketing Cloud, covered key IoT and mobile trends that are forcing mobile transformation, key components of a solid mobile strategy and explored how brands are effectively driving mobile change throughout the enterprise.
Aug. 30, 2016 01:45 PM EDT Reads: 621
Pulzze Systems was happy to participate in such a premier event and thankful to be receiving the winning investment and global network support from G-Startup Worldwide. It is an exciting time for Pulzze to showcase the effectiveness of innovative technologies and enable them to make the world smarter and better. The reputable contest is held to identify promising startups around the globe that are assured to change the world through their innovative products and disruptive technologies. There w...
Aug. 30, 2016 01:30 PM EDT Reads: 855
SYS-CON Events announced today that Pulzze Systems will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Pulzze Systems, Inc. provides infrastructure products for the Internet of Things to enable any connected device and system to carry out matched operations without programming. For more information, visit http://www.pulzzesystems.com.
Aug. 30, 2016 01:20 PM EDT Reads: 174
Data is the fuel that drives the machine learning algorithmic engines and ultimately provides the business value. In his session at Cloud Expo, Ed Featherston, a director and senior enterprise architect at Collaborative Consulting, will discuss the key considerations around quality, volume, timeliness, and pedigree that must be dealt with in order to properly fuel that engine.
Aug. 30, 2016 01:15 PM EDT Reads: 2,057
19th Cloud Expo, taking place November 1-3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world. Cloud computing is now being embraced by a majority of enterprises of all sizes. Yesterday's debate about public vs. private has transformed into the reality of hybrid cloud: a recent survey shows that 74% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy. Meanwhile, 94% of enterpri...
Aug. 30, 2016 01:00 PM EDT Reads: 3,222
SYS-CON Events announced today that Hitrons Solutions will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Hitrons Solutions Inc. is distributor in the North American market for unique products and services of small and medium-size businesses, including cloud services and solutions, SEO marketing platforms, and mobile applications.
Aug. 30, 2016 11:45 AM EDT Reads: 790
Almost two-thirds of companies either have or soon will have IoT as the backbone of their business in 2016. However, IoT is far more complex than most firms expected. How can you not get trapped in the pitfalls? In his session at @ThingsExpo, Tony Shan, a renowned visionary and thought leader, will introduce a holistic method of IoTification, which is the process of IoTifying the existing technology and business models to adopt and leverage IoT. He will drill down to the components in this fra...
Aug. 30, 2016 10:30 AM EDT Reads: 400
As the world moves toward more DevOps and Microservices, application deployment to the cloud ought to become a lot simpler. The Microservices architecture, which is the basis of many new age distributed systems such as OpenStack, NetFlix and so on, is at the heart of Cloud Foundry - a complete developer-oriented Platform as a Service (PaaS) that is IaaS agnostic and supports vCloud, OpenStack and AWS. Serverless computing is revolutionizing computing. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Raghav...
Aug. 30, 2016 09:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,070
SYS-CON Events announced today that eCube Systems, a leading provider of middleware modernization, integration, and management solutions, will exhibit at @DevOpsSummit at 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. eCube Systems offers a family of middleware evolution products and services that maximize return on technology investment by leveraging existing technical equity to meet evolving business needs. ...
Aug. 30, 2016 09:45 AM EDT Reads: 884
Data is an unusual currency; it is not restricted by the same transactional limitations as money or people. In fact, the more that you leverage your data across multiple business use cases, the more valuable it becomes to the organization. And the same can be said about the organization’s analytics. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Bill Schmarzo, CTO for the Big Data Practice at EMC, will introduce a methodology for capturing, enriching and sharing data (and analytics) across the organizati...
Aug. 30, 2016 09:08 AM EDT Reads: 276
Enterprises have forever faced challenges surrounding the sharing of their intellectual property. Emerging cloud adoption has made it more compelling for enterprises to digitize their content, making them available over a wide variety of devices across the Internet. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Santosh Ahuja, Director of Architecture at Impiger Technologies, will introduce various mechanisms provided by cloud service providers today to manage and share digital content in a secure manner....
Aug. 30, 2016 08:45 AM EDT Reads: 916
SYS-CON Events announced today that Isomorphic Software will exhibit at DevOps Summit at 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Isomorphic Software provides the SmartClient HTML5/AJAX platform, the most advanced technology for building rich, cutting-edge enterprise web applications for desktop and mobile. SmartClient combines the productivity and performance of traditional desktop software with the simp...
Aug. 30, 2016 05:45 AM EDT Reads: 2,483


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"Virtual reality and augmented
reality seem to have a bright future, with AR and VR viewers expected to
experience high growth numbers in the coming years." according to Chase Martin reports for IoT Daily, covering the Internet of Things.
|Photo: MediaPost Communications|
Over the next four years, global shipments of VR headsets will increase by more than six times and the number of AR headset shipments will increase by 150 times, according to new research from IDC.
By 2020, VR headset shipments will grow to 61 million units globally, up from just more than 10 million units shipped this year, according to IDC.
AR headset shipments will grow to 15 million in that timeframe, from 100,000 this year. This is mostly due to the nascent stage of augmented reality headsets, according to Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst at IDC.
"AR may just be on track to create a shift in computing significant enough to rival the smartphone,” Ubrani said. “However, the technology is still in its infancy and has a long runway ahead before reaching mass adoption.”
This seems to be consistent with at least one other long-term projection for the AR and VR industries.
Source: MediaPost Communications


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French taxi drivers locked down the city of Paris as part of a nationwide protest against Uber. Tensions have been high between taxi driver unions and Uber since the ride sharing service began operations in the country. Uber is currently operating in a legal grey area as the French constitutional court is still deliberating on the legality of the service.
Riot police were out in full force as protestors set fire to tires and blocked roads to prevent traffic from moving. There were also reports of Uber drivers being attacked and their cars overturned. Victims of the attacks included singer Courtney Love, who tweeted that she would have been “safer in Baghdad”. Police said that 70 cars were damaged and seven police officials were injured.
UberPop stood at the centre of the issue, as taxi revenues in France have dropped between 30- and 40-percent since the introduction of the service. Uber had recently attempted to expand its UberPop service to more cities in France, prompting this recent display of civil unrest. UberPop is similar to Uber X in Malaysia, where regular car owners share their rides with strangers to make money on the side.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls condemned the violence, and has vowed to take a tough stance on the protestors. However, it has been reported that the Prime Minister has banned UberPop in Paris as the first step to managing the violence; the French government still considers UberPop to be an illegal activity.
Uber faces many regulatory and legal battles across the world, and the ride sharing service has lost as many battles as it has won. Uber has recently agreed to German regulations requiring it to pay commercial licensing fees, and it might have to do the same with French authorities.


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Surprise! Qualcomm Launches 64-bit Processors Just Like Apple
With the release of the new iPhone 5S back in September, Apple introduced its new A7 chip, the world’s first 64-bit mobile chip.
Just a few months after former Qualcomm executive, Anand Chandrasekher made negative comments about Apple’s 64-bit A7 chip, Qualcomm has announced they will be making the move to 64-bit. Qualcomm will be using an industry event in Hong Kong to introduce a new set of chips that will be targeted toward sub-$150 devices.
The new chips have a lot of new features, most notably, they will be “64-bit capable.” The main reason we see a jump, in computers, from 32-bit to 64-bit is it allows an application to use more memory. The memory limit for a 32-bit application is 4GB, which is still higher than any amount of memory on a smartphone or tablet today. When you make the jump to 64-bit, the memory limit is 16 billion gigabytes.
Apple has moved to 64-bit mobile chips and Qualcomm has also opted to follow. The industry is on a quick transition to moving mobile chips to 64-bit and it won’t be long before we see all the major manufactures of smartphones and tablets switch to 64-bit.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Michelle Leyden Li, senior director of marketing at Qualcomm said:
“It’s a chicken-and-egg situation. We want to be there with partners to help with that transition.”
Apple designs its own chips but they’re a major purchaser of communication chips from Qualcomm. Shortly after Chandrasekher made his negative comment, his company formally retracted the comment. If they didn’t they would have risked the partnership they have with Apple.
Intel has had 64-bit chips for PCs and other products for a long time now, rivals like Nvidia are expected to introduce 64-bit mobile chips in 2014.


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Creaform, leader in portable 3D portable measurement technologies and 3D engineering services, has announced its financial results for 2012.
Once again, the company has had a very successful year with C$44.5 million in annual sales, which makes for an organic growth of 19% over 2011. 2012 technology sales show a year-on year growth of 38%, with 74% in Q4.
You can now view all QMT Magazine issues on your favourite tablet or smart phone.
Download the free Quality Manufacturing Today App from the Apple iTunes App Store or from QMT Magazine on Google Play.


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Hyundai’s all-new Sonata Hybrid has been unveiled in its home market of South Korea, with updated styling, improved economy and news of a future addition to the range.
The carmaker says the new model is more aerodynamic than its predecessor, with styling features unique to the hybrid model designed to maximise efficiency.
Combined fuel usage has improved by a maximum 0.5 l/100km (depending on the model and wheel size) to a low of 5.5 l/100km, with power coming from a 2.0 litre four-cylinder petrol engine combined with an electric motor.
Outputs for both power plants have increased slightly, with the petrol engine up 5kW to 115kW and the electric motor up 3kW to 38kW.
Torque for the electric motor is unchanged at 205Nm, while the petrol engine gets an additional 10Nm for a new total of 189Nm. Drive is still sent to the front wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission.
The all-new Sonata Hybrid is bigger in every way compared to the outgoing model, with length increasing 35mm to 4855mm and width up 30mm to 1865mm.
The new model is 5mm taller at 1475mm, and the wheelbase has grown 10mm to 2805mm.
"The launch of our all-new Sonata Hybrid, with its class-leading fuel economy and powerful driving performance, comes at a time when eco-friendly vehicles are becoming established as a mainstream car," Hyundai’s Jin Kwak said.
"Our latest offering, based on one of our best-selling models, underscores our efforts to meet the growing popularity of eco-friendly vehicles around the world."
Interesting thoughts - and Hyundai’s announcement that it plans to sell the Sonata Hybrid in “major markets outside Korea from early 2015” means there’s every chance we’ll see it in Australia.
Stay tuned to TMR for more, including technical details for the plug-in hybrid model.
MORE: Hyundai, Kia Aim To Use 25 Percent Less Fuel By 2020 - Report
MORE News & Reviews: Hyundai | Sonata | Hybrids
- Interested in buying HYUNDAI SONATA? Visit our HYUNDAI SONATA showroom for more information.


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General Motors, a highly profitable car company, reported profits of $2.8 billion in the second quarter on Wednesday. You might think that earning billions of dollars would delight investors, because what is the point of big business other than to earn billions of dollars. You would be wrong.
That is in part because the $2.8 billion profit was less than Wall Street had expected, but also because, according to the Financial Times, Wall Street simply expects more from GM, and Ford, too, on EVs. GM’s stock is down over eight percent Wednesday as of this writing.
“The Street wants to see an accelerated EV vision where more investments happen over the next two, three, four years rather than waiting to the end of the decade,” said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. “It’s an arms race right now . . . There’s a fear that if they’re not aggressive enough over the coming years, they’ll be left in the dust by the likes of Tesla.”
The enthusiasm is new, notes Morningstar analyst David Whiston. A few years ago investors would have punished the carmakers’ stock prices had they embraced EVs, which make up just 2 per cent of the US market.
Now GM and Ford “are both investing for the future while also riding out the [internal combustion engine] as long as they can”, Whiston said. That is their advantage over Tesla: while neither Detroit company can claim a celebrity chief executive or a retail investor base to send their valuation skyrocketing, Tesla only recently began making money. GM and Ford have profits from traditional vehicles to plough into battery-powered ones.
The thing you quickly learn when you talk to any Wall Street type, any private equity type, or pretty much anyone with an MBA is that modest profits are never enough. Companies must relentlessly grow and reinvent themselves or be presumed to be failing. This is all fine and good if your only goal is to make ever-increasing amounts of money, but, as a general life posture, there is nothing cool or fun about it, always being the person in the room being like, “Still not good enough.”
These types also have no fundamental principles, as the FT notes in mentioning that, just a few years ago, if GM and Ford had said they were in on EVs, investors would’ve penalized them for it. I’m thus left to conclude that Wall Street has the attention span of a cocaine user, and should be treated as such: kept at a distance and mostly ignored.


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Mumbai: Ceat is aiming at a 15-per cent market share in motorcycle- and car-tyre segments in the next 12 months. The company hopes to see its market share double in the fast-growing two-wheeler segment, and hopes to sell over 1.3-lakh scooter and motorcycle tyres every month.
The first quarter of 2002-02 saw Ceat clock a total turnover of Rs 358 crore. During the first half of 2002-03, the company expects the turnover to touch Rs 740 crore. Ceat is planning to increase its profit to Rs 50 crore in the current year.
Ceat vice-chairman Harsh Goenka says his company is aiming at doubling its market share in the rapidly growing market for two-wheelers over the next 12 months. ''Ceat will be outsourcing tyres from two factories in Vadodara and Hyderabad. The factories have a capacity of 1.5-lakh tonnes each. While production at the Vadodara factory is already in full swing, the Hyderabad plant is expected to commence production in a few months.''
He assures that the company will be restructuring its balance sheet during the course of the year to reduce the burden on its finances. ''Our target is to bring down the loans by Rs 50 crore.'' Ceat has given loans and advances to several of its subsidiaries that has put an additional burden in the finances of the company.
Ceat has a 10-per cent share in the car radial tyre segment and sales in 2001-02 grew by 35 per cent. In the truck segment, the company is aiming at a 19-per cent share against the last year's 17 per cent. Sales in this segment grew by 48 per cent in 2001-02 against an industry average of 10 per cent.


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Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter predicts that Nintendo’s Q1 sales were $3.91 billion, just ahead of the second quarter financial results expected July 30th. His predictions are even higher that Nintendo’s own. He says that Nintendo’s “performance has been spectacular,” and believes that the Wii and DS will sell even better in 2009 than they will this year. There’s no stopping them!
Pachter also had a bit to say about Nintendo’s lack of core game announcements at their E3 press conference this year, according to Gamasutra. He says that while “some hardcore gamers were critical of Nintendo’s failure to announce new Mario and Zelda games at the show… we think that Nintendo focused upon building upon its formidable lead with the mass market, and do not consider the lack of major hard core game announcements to be an abandonment of its core.”
This echoes the statements made in a recent interview with Nintendo head Satoru Iwata.
I can appreciate that Nintendo wanted to focus on what really makes them money at E3 this year, but they could of at least took five minutes to quickly mention Mario or Zelda. We’re not stupid. We know they’re working on new games. We just like to hear it sometimes, Nintendo.
Hit the jump for our video message to Nintendo.


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The Emerging Media Space has been recently installed featuring professional equipment such as the Arduino, Makey Makey and Raspberry Pi; wearable technology for programmable fabric and ubiquitous computing; circuit and hardware building; motion-capture and compositing; augmented reality; interactive environments; location aware devices and applications; facilities for specialist printing including lenticular and 3D printing and last but not least, the interactive iWall.
During the 3D printing event students from different courses such as Photography, Contemporary Media Practice, Design and many more were shown how to do 3D scanning using photogrammetry, how to take a high volume of photos and turn them into a 3D model, how to edit the model and lastly the process of printing a 3D model and the endless possibilities of 3D printing. They had the opportunity to ask questions and get quick answers for their project ideas using 3D printing.
Michelle Chatterley, Head of CREATE Education Project at Ultimaker, said: “It has been a pleasure and an honour to be able to support this event. We are passionate about helping students and teachers embed 3D Printing technology into their classrooms and thanks to this opportunity at Westminster have been able to showcase the new Ultimaker 3 which has really opened up new opportunities for applications of the technology.
“A vital part of what we do is to provide support to our community of pioneering educators and this has been a fantastic few days getting to know everyone here. We are looking forward to coming back again soon to collaborate further with the University of Westminster.”


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Chislehurst charity shop voted number one in UK after public vote
AN INDEPENDENT Chislehurst charity has been voted the most loved in the UK in a national awards scheme.
The 2gether shop on the town’s high street scooped the top prize this year after receiving 287 votes in the Loved and Local Awards 2014.
The charity shop is celebrating its 10th anniversary after opening in 2004 and was set up to support a local youth charity.
It also bagged Bromley’s most loved business after pipping a hair salon to the post.
Shop manager Clare Herriot said: "Winning the two awards is such an achievement.
"I am chuffed and very proud to see how the 2gether shop has developed over the years."
Loved and Local encourages the public to review their favourite organisations as a way of rewarding those who go the extra mile.
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Sony to ship Google Chrome with new PCs
Posted on 1 Sep 2009 at 07:34
Google is shipping its Chrome browser with Sony PCs, sealing the internet company's first such deal since it introduced the web browser last year.
The deal could expand the reach of Google's fledgling product which lags behind Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Google spokesperson Eitan Bencuya said the deal with Sony went into effect this summer, but declined to discuss terms of the deal, such as which Sony PC models come pre-installed with the Chrome browser or any financial terms.
Google is looking at striking similar deals with other PC makers
Google said the company was now exploring ways to make Chrome available to more people. "We are in the process of testing one such channel with Sony," according to a statement.
Sony trails PC giants such as HP and Dell, and is currently outside the top five PC vendors, according to IDC. But Bencuya said Google was looking at striking similar deals with other PC makers.
Google introduced the Chrome browser in September 2008 and remains a distant number four player in the browser market, with a 2.59% worldwide share in July according to market research firm Net Applications.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer dominates the browser market with 67.7% market share, followed by the Mozilla's Firefox with 22.5%, and Apple's Safari on 4%.
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Digital Transformation is not a magic wand; it is a complex yet essential enterprise commitment to change. Companies that have succeeded have reaped significant benefits. The Deloitte Digital Transformation Survey 2020 found that greater digital maturity is associated with better financial performance. The higher-maturity companies in this year’s sample were about 3X more likely than lower-maturity companies to report annual net revenue growth and net profit margins – a pattern that was consistent across industries.
Unfortunately, most enterprises do not fully appreciate what it entails. Some see it as a technology or a budget problem;
For me, one of the most significant examples of top-driven organisational change is Jeff Bezos’ call to “Rearchitecting the Firm” in 2002. It is a seminal work. The principles of this mandate went on to form the backbone of Amazon in the modern cloud world. It was clear, direct, and backed up by management action.
COVID is a catalyst for change
More than 75% of CEOs agreed that the pandemic sped up their companies’ transformation plans
The flurry of digital technology solutions spurred by COVID-19 presents a unique opportunity for enterprises to rethink how decisions about technology are made and apply them in new and meaningful ways. Covid-19 dramatically accelerated technology adoption across all industries. According to a Fortune-Deloitte CEO survey and the KPMG 2020 CEO Outlook Survey, more than 75% of CEOs agreed that the pandemic sped up their companies’ transformation plans. As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella noted, “We’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.”
Key stakeholders need to rethink customer experience, business models, and operations fundamentally. It is all about finding new ways to deliver value, generate revenue, improve efficiency, and, most importantly driving sustainable innovation. Bear in mind, just moving to the cloud is not Digital Transformation.
Crises breed innovation
Staying focused on growth and innovation through a downturn helped the top-performing companies to generate higher returns to shareholders
I am of the firm belief that uncertainty drives creativity. Crises are the breeding ground for innovation. You must make decisions quickly, and you never have enough time or information to weigh difficult choices thoroughly.
McKinsey’s analysis shows that bold innovators emerge from crises substantially ahead of peers—and maintain this advantage for years to come. Innovators not only outperformed the market during the financial crisis but continued to widen the gap during and after the recovery. Analysis of the performance of approximately 2,000 companies between 2007 and 2017 against the S&P 500 reinforces those conclusions: staying focused on growth and innovation through a downturn helped the top-performing companies to generate higher returns to shareholders.
Antonio Neri and other leaders confirm that as the pace of technology disruption continues to accelerate, digital-native and digitally transformed companies are outpacing their competitors.
The McKinsey study shows that roughly one in ten companies in their sample achieved higher revenue growth, innovation, digital adoption and profitability than the others over the entire 2007–17 economic cycle and during the downturn years. The outperformers also delivered excess returns of roughly 8%, while the rest hovered around zero throughout the period.
So, what does it take to succeed?
Do existing leadership teams have the skills to undertake true digital transformation? I thought it would be a good idea to look at how companies are hiring critical resources. A study by professors from Harvard and Darden along with executives from Spencer Stuart published in the Harvard Business Review addressed this specific question. The team looked at more than 100 search criteria for C-suite positions in Fortune 1000 companies across a broad range of industries and the results were very suggestive.
There has been a rise in tech and digital expertise search even before the pandemic: 59% of executive searches included technological or digital knowledge. Company boards were asking for these skills across a wide variety of roles. This fact also suggests that people with the right skill sets are already in leadership positions. Not surprisingly, 100% of the specs for CIOs, CMOs, and CTOs sought technical or digital skills. However, the functions that got neglected in the search for technological and digital expertise were more revealing. Less than a third of the job specs for CHROs and chief accounting officers mentioned these required skills. Even more worrying – only 40-60% of searches for roles such as CEO, board director, and CFOs required digital know-how.
At the very minimum, we need all leaders to understand how to build digital businesses. This shift alone could be the difference between success and failure.
But is that enough for now?
Almost every organization has stepped up its digital transformation efforts in 2020-21. Success is as much about the right technology platform choice as it is about leadership, agility, talent, and a clear vision. A new and emerging factor is consumers wanting the brands they use to focus on sustainability issues. So do employees and prospective employees. The driver for this shift largely springs from realizing that human activities’ ecological footprint is a probable cause for the crisis we face today.
While we keep talking about the usual polluters like utilities, transportation, agriculture, and climate change causes, some lesser-discussed and more exciting facts would make the issue more relatable.
- Did you know that in processing 3.5 billion searches a day, Google accounts for about 40% of the internet’s carbon footprint? They have been carbon neutral since 2007, but their infrastructure still emits a considerable volume of CO2.
- Did you know that Bitcoin currently uses enough power (121 terawatt-hours) to run Cambridge University for almost 700 years?
To address sustainability in a meaningful manner, we need to take a holistic view of the players, their impact and then push for a mutually beneficial solution to all – else, it is bound to fail.
As a first step, 26 CEOs of Europe-based companies have signed a Declaration to support Green and Digital Transformation of the EU. They formed a European Green Digital Coalition, committing on behalf of their companies to not only make the tech sector to become more sustainable, circular, and a zero polluter but also to support sustainability goals of other priority sectors such as energy, transport, agriculture, and construction while contributing to an innovative, inclusive and resilient society.
Like these CEOs, Accenture also believes that there is great value at the intersection of digital technologies and sustainability – they call it Twin Transformers. Companies leveraging both are 2.5X more likely to be among tomorrow’s strongest-performing businesses than others.
Companies leveraging digital tech and sustainability goals are 2.5X more likely to be among tomorrow’s strongest-performing businesses than others
BigTech is conscious of its responsibilities to the climate. Almost all major players have made pledges to reverse CO2 emission. Since they are all profit-driven, I am sure they have also figured out this also means good business by the numbers too (a counter-intuitive rationalisation but better than getting caught in the justification game)
In the future, a company’s commitment to ESG-related programs will drive the ability to attract investors and retain talent. Companies also realize that ESG factors, when integrated into strategic digital transformation decisions, may offer potential long-term performance advantages. One of the critical levers for moving to sustainable systems will be technology, a lot of technology, and a lot of investment. But how do we make it accessible to all and profitable to the providers at the same time?
HPE is one company that has made significant strides in this regard by embracing the twin doctrine of digital transformation and sustainability. Their customers can reduce their energy costs by more than 30% by eliminating overprovisioning through HPE GreenLake. In fact, their consumption-based offerings have been able to reduce customer carbon footprint by 50% in one case. Minimizing e-waste in another area of focus for them too.
So what have we learned from all this? As an ancient Chinese proverb states, “When the winds of change blow, some people build walls, others build windmills.”
What will you build?


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There’s a group hug today about the President’s announcement of new fuel economy standards. The carmakers like it because they don’t have to worry about 50 state regulations. Environmentalists like it because it means getting the equivalent of 177 million cars off the road or shutting down 194 coal-fired power plants. That reduces the dependence on foreign oil, which the government likes. As for drivers…
I imagine most people support the idea because they’ll save on gas, even though the price of cars will go up an average of $1300 by 2016, when the industry average must hit 35.5 mpg. US News and World Report looks at some of the ways this may affect car buyers.
Light trucks (SUVs) will have to get 30 mpg. So, will carmakers produce fewer SUVs and large vehicles, which so many Americans have desired in the past? Maybe we’ll see a small reduction, but the technology already exists to make SUVs more fuel efficient. It’ll be interesting to see, though, how buyers react and how carmakers attain the average. Do they try to skew it by selling a small number of ultra-high mpg electric cars?
One of the few dissenting voices I’ve read comes, not surprisingly, from Myron Ebell at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an oil and automotive lobby:
“We think these new mandatory fuel standards are most unfortunate. They will price people out of larger vehicles and force them into smaller vehicles. Smaller cars may use less fuel, but they don’t meet the needs of many people and studies show they are less safe.”
That argument is old and suspect. I don’t see how it’s safer to have bigger cars on the roads. I couldn’t see around one of them the other day and almost paid dearly for it.
Besides, the oil companies will probably get out of the retail gas business anyway. From Bnet:
Now, with a new national tailpipe emissions standard on the horizon, Big Oil’s divestiture of its retail fuel locations will go into overdrive. Exxon is already convinced that fuel-efficiency will drive down gasoline consumption in developed countries. The rest of Big Oil will be close behind.
As a result, the number of franchises will rise; discounters Sam’s Club and Costco will add to its retail gas inventory; and the Big Three convenience store operators will take advantage of the coming glut and buy locations at a bargain.
Seems like, for once, this is change with a consensus behind it. You on board?
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“One of the reasons I started working in nanotechnology was so I could apply it to plants and create new technology solutions. Not just for food, but for high-value products as well, like pharmaceuticals.” So says the University of California Riverside’s Juan Pablo Giraldo, lead researcher on a National Science Foundation-funded grant to create new GMOs by incorporating mRNA into plant cells so the molecule replicates in plant tissue. mRNA or “messenger ribonucleuc acid” medicines instruct and enlist cells to make proteins to prevent or treat certain diseases, says vaccine-maker Moderna.
A GMO or genetically modified organism is considered one whose genetic material makeup does not occur in nature but has been produced by enhancing, altering, or knocking out naturally occurring genes.
According to the UCR press release, Giraldo’s research has already demonstrated that plants’ chloroplasts can be made to express foreign genes that have been introduced into them even if the genes are not part of their natural biology. “Our idea is to repurpose naturally occurring nanoparticles, namely plant viruses, for gene delivery to plants,” said Nicole Steinmetz a researcher from UC San Diego who is collaborating with Giraldo. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University are also working with Giraldo.
When GMO Plants Become GMO Crops
News reports suggest that mRNA-producing plants could “vaccinate people through their salad,” if they were afraid of needles or just wanted an easier vaccination route. Reports also cite another benefit: the plants could solve cold storage problems that plague COVID-19 vaccine production.
Other voices, though, express worry that people could become exposed to the GMO plants unwittingly if they bought or ate mRNA lettuce or spinach, the first two plants under development, sold as crops.
Giraldo says he envisions farmers growing “entire fields” of the plants as well as people cultivating them “in their own gardens.” But GMO crops have posed hazards in the past. Gene flow from GMO crops to non-altered/non-GMO crops along with broad-spectrum herbicides can “increase the risk of herbicide resistant weed populations,” says Wikipedia. Resistant insects who are not targeted can also emerge and GMOs cause a significant loss of biodiversity. There have also been concerns about the negatives effect of GMOs and associated herbicides on butterfly populations.
Controversy Surrounded GMO Salmon
Concerns about GMOs altering the genetic makeup of natural marine organisms marred the release of the genetically modified AquAdvantage salmon for years. According to the Associated Press, large U.S. grocery retailers, seafood companies and restaurants such as Costco, Kroger, Walmart and Whole Foods have claimed they don’t sell genetically modified or cloned salmon. If they choose to sell the GMO AquAdvantage salmon clear labels—and explanations–would no doubt be required.
GMO Plants May Produce mRNA Salad
Despite funding of half a million dollars by the National Science Foundation, mRNA introduction in plants is not without risks. “Some engineering goes into this to make the nanoparticles go to the chloroplasts and also to render them non-infectious toward the plants,” says researcher Nicole Steinmetz.
And, unlike researcher Juan Pablo Giraldo, many do not regard plants as “technology solutions” but rather as integral parts of the natural world that should not be engineered.
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American carriers sometimes get phones later than the rest of the world. Lately the situation has been improving, especially with big-name devices and a few exclusives. But when we see evidence of an upcoming low-end phone that's almost a year old, and one that's been supplanted by a new version, we can't help but sigh. So it is with the Galaxy S III Mini, which was just pegged by Evleaks for an AT&T release.
As an Android site, we try to keep a close eye on newcomers to the Play Store. Sometimes that helps us find new, innovative, and highly useful apps. On the other side of that, it also help us find WTF apps for the roundups. But every once in a while an app shows up that simply baffles the mind, because its existence is so seemingly questionable it's hard to imagine why it's a thing in the first place.
The Pebble sure wasn't the first smart watch, but it's been getting a lot of attention lately. In fact, wearable computing as an industry is seeing a bit of a resurgence in general. The trouble, at least as one company sees it, is that smart watches require you to already have an expensive phone. That's two batteries you have to keep charged! Craziness! That's where the Neptune Pine comes in.
The idea here is that your watch can have a micro-SIM of its own.
In order to further convolute the Galaxy series more than it already is, Samsung just brought the Galaxy S II name back from the dead by announcing the Galaxy S II Plus. The phone – which is already basically irrelevant – is a rehash of Sammy's 2011 flagship, albeit with a slight bump in spec and a new version of Android. Woo.
- 4.3" 800x480 display
- 1.2GHz dual-core processor
- 1GB RAM
- 8GB storage, microSD card slot
- 8MP rear shooter, 2MP front camera
- Android 4.1.2 with Touchwiz
There's no word on when (or where) this nature-inspired resurrection will be available, nor is any pricing information available.
Every time I pick up my Nexus 7, I think to myself "you know, if this were 0.9 inches smaller, I'd definitely use it as a phone." Because there's no possible way I'd look even remotely silly holding something that large up to my head, right?
OK, that may be true about me personally, but it seems someone at Huawei had a similar train of thought, as the company is set to unveil a monstrous 6.1" 1080p phone known as the Ascend Mate at CES.
Just when you thought Talking Tom couldn't get any more annoying, he comes to life. Well, sort of. He's not really alive, but he's real. Err, he's a physical thing... not just an app anymore. The company behind Talking Tom and Friends, Outfit7, has now released a line of Talking Friends "Superstars" that can be controlled by an app. I still can't believe this is a real thing.
Have you ever felt the need to endlessly tap on your screen for no real reason? Do like watching things turn from one color to another? Then we have the game for you! It's called Curiosity, and it's mind bogglingly boring. And pointless.
Here's the gist: there's a giant cube. Like, huge. And the entire world "chips away" at it little by little in real time. Why? To satisfy their own curiosity (hence the name of the "game").
Three short days ago, we heard that Verizon could be launching the behemoth LG Intuition - America's version of the Optimus Vu - beginning on September 6th. Looks like that leaks was pretty much dead-on, as Big Red just officially took what wraps were left off of this oversized monstrosity.
Available online from September 6th and in-stores on the 10th, the LG Intuition packs a massive 5" 4:3 display, 1.5Ghz dual-core Snapdragon processor, 1GB RAM, 8MP rear shooter, 1.3MP front camera, and Android 4.0.


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Sunday, August 15, 2010
Shop 'Cause They've Dropped
Cesca makes a damn good point about the screeching right -- led as always by Twitterific patron saint Sarah Palin -- and its out-of-whack sense of what desecrates a supposedly sacred piece of property. To wit, the usual suspects are losing their collective shit over a proposed Muslim community center three blocks from Ground Zero, but they're a-okay with the idea of a shopping mall being built directly on top of Ground Zero.
God bless America.
Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! Go!: F**k the Hallowed Ground/8.15.10
By the way, nine years after the fact I don't see anything being built at Ground Zero -- and that's the biggest shame of all.


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One of the most notable job openings in fashion has officially been filled.
Sabato De Sarno will take on the role of creative director for Gucci, the Italian fashion house revealed on Saturday.
In a statement, the 39-year-old Italian designer said he was honored to accept the position: “I am proud to join a House with such an extraordinary history and heritage, that over the years has been able to welcome and cherish values I believe in. I am touched and excited to contribute my creative vision for the brand.”
Sarno has been in the industry for nearly two decades after beginning his career with Prada in 2005. He later moved to Dolce & Gabbana and then joined Valentino in 2009, where he eventually became the fashion director overseeing men’s and women’s collections.
President and CEO of Gucci, Marco Bizzarri, expressed his excitement for the designer, saying, “Having worked with a number of Italy’s most renowned luxury fashion houses, he brings with him a vast and relevant experience. I am certain that through Sabato’s deep understanding and appreciation for Gucci’s unique legacy, he will lead our creative teams with a distinctive vision that will help write this exciting next chapter, reinforcing the House’s fashion authority while capitalizing on its rich heritage.”
In November, the fashion house announced Alessandro Michele, who had been the creative director of Gucci since 2015, was stepping down. At the time, the brand did not share a reason for the change-up, but Michele said in a statement, “There are times when paths part ways because of the different perspectives each one of us may have.”
Sarno will debut his first runway collection for Gucci at Milan Women’s Fashion Week in September.
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FME and NABC on behalf of RVO organized , a Agri trade mission to Nigeria from November 4 to 7. The trade mission brought together 14 Dutch companies who are already working in the sector in Africa and those who are interested in exploring new market opportunities in Nigeria. The trade mission was also an opportunity for Dutch companies to network and explore possible cooperations.
Before the trade mission, the majority of the participants went to the Nigeria Poultry Show in Abeokuta which was held on November 3 and 4. Network meetings between 10 Dutch companies and their Nigerian counterparts took place at the Holland Pavilion set up at the show. The participation at the poultry show is the second time for a Dutch delegation following a first time successful business interaction.
The second and important event the business delegation took part in was the Agrikexpo 2015 in Lagos, Nigeria. Agrikexpo is one of the largest Agrifood and horticulture exposition in West-Africa with an estimated participants of 6000. 12 members of the delegation showcased their products and services and met local partners, agents & distributors at the expo.
Besides providing the opportunity to explore the available business opportunities in the Nigerian poultry market, the trade mission was also a platform for cooperation. Ron de Zwarte, Regional Sales Director of Jansen Poultry Equipment and Kristof Deprez, General Manager of Transnational Agri made an agreement to build a broiler farm for a local company.
The Dutch business delegation to Nigeria included ISA Hendrix Genetics, Champrix, Jansen Poultry Equipment, Koudijs Animal Nutrition, Marel Stork poultry processing, Pas Reform Hatchery Technologies, Transnational Agri Projects B.V., Vencomatic Group, USE Poultry Tech, Nijhuis Water Technology and Dudutech.
The trade mission to Nigeria was a successful trade mission that benefited participating companies and led to serious leads and follow up businesses.
Author: Emnet Assefa, Netherlands-African Business Council


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What you need to know
- Users can now change who can reply to a tweet even after it was sent.
- The move is part of Twitter's efforts to make people feel safer on its social network.
Twitter has rolled out a new feature that allows users to change who can and cannot reply to tweets even after they have been sent. The move comes after it first allowed users to change the same setting at the point of tweeting last year — today's move means people can now change the setting retrospectively.
Twitter announced the change via its @TwitterSafety account, showing a screenshot of how the feature will work.
Your Tweets = Your space. Now you can change who can reply to you even after you Tweet. https://t.co/rNWJk6zWTr pic.twitter.com/3HFSjAotg7Your Tweets = Your space. Now you can change who can reply to you even after you Tweet. https://t.co/rNWJk6zWTr pic.twitter.com/3HFSjAotg7— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) July 13, 2021July 13, 2021
Twitter has been steadily improving the way it handles abuse and this latest move is an example of a feature that is squarely aimed at protecting people who might otherwise receive unwanted replies to tweets. Users can also mark their accounts as private, but this move gives them more granular control over what people can and cannot reply to — although everyone will still be able to see the tweet's content, unlike on private accounts.
After years of coming under fire for its lack of action in regard to abuse, it's good to see Twitter taking steps in the right direction. It still has some way to go, of course, but positive motion is better than no motion at all.
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Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.
Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.


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Mark Mahaney, the star Internet analyst who was dismissed somewhat unceremoniouslyfrom Citigroup last year, is back in business at RBC Capital.
The analyst said on CNBC that he is going to be rating Amazon.com, Google Inc. and Priceline.com as his top buy ratings of the year, while he also has a buy on Facebook Inc.
Mahaney was bullish on Amazon.com saying there were several reasons to believe the e-commerce giant would continue growing. Mahaney said international retail will be better than it was last year and that mobile shopping, with consumers buying on their smartphones and tablets, is climbing in popularity, which is a “material positive” for Amazon. Finally, Mahaney believes that Amazon’s push to expand same-day delivery is a “major force” in retail.
Mahaney is bullish on online travel agencies as well, with Priceline his favorite pick along with Expedia and TripAdvisor. Mahaney said on CNBC that if one believes there will be an international recovery, then Priceline is “the single best stock to own” in the Internet space.
He also has a “small buy” on Facebook, and a $31 price target.
Beijing-based Innovation Works, founded three years ago by former Google Inc executive Kai-Fu Lee, is testing out Chinese entrepreneurs’ appetite for yuan funding.
The firm closed a small pool worth less than $100 million dollars in Chinese currency this February, Mickey Du, part of the firm’s investment team, said. The fund had “some degree of government support,” with contributions from a few high net worth individuals and companies in the internet space. Alongside this, Innovation Works raised $275 million for its second dollar-denominated fund from institutional investors in the U.S., U.K. and Hong Kong.
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The move comes after Massachusetts’ securities regulator fined Citigroup for failing supervise Mahaney and an unnamed junior research analyst who improperly disclosed confidential information about Facebook’s IPO and unpublished revenue estimates for Google’s YouTube.
Below is Mahaney’s email exchange with a reporter at French business magazine and Citi communications regarding YouTube’s revenue estimates:
That didn’t take long.
Less than a half hour after Google’s earnings accidentally hit the SEC website, and Google’s shares plunged on the numbers, social media kicked it into high gear.
Impressively it took only moments for someone to set up a Pending Larry Twitter account, mocking the incomplete release’s “Pending Larry Quote,” which seemed particularly amusing given Page had lost his voice for what seemed like ages. (He was back in action this week.)
The Twitter account, unsurprisingly, is full of snark.
Deal Journal tends to believe that ever since that missing snake from the Bronx Zoo made parody accounts popular, the world has been overdosing, like, a lot, on fake Twitter accounts. Most aren’t very funny.
Pending Larry, though, scores some points. Here are our highlights:
Speculation is rising that HTC Corp. could become a takeover target. But given its sliding market share and murky outlook, the Taiwanese smartphone maker could be a risky bet for any acquirer. Some analysts contend it would make sense for Chinese smartphone makers such as ZTE Corp., Huawei Technologies Co. or personal-computer-maker Lenovo Group, which is investing heavily in smartphones, to snap up HTC to build up scale, especially outside of China, as they transition to the high-end smartphone market on which HTC has long focused.
Google’s move to purchase Frommers appears to be taking a bite out of online reviewers Yelp and TripAdvisor.
Yelp shares were down almost 7% Monday with TripAdvisor was down over 5%, each slumping after word hit that the search engine giant was adding yet another storied name in reviews to its arsenal.
Last year Google scooped up Zagat, incorporating the well-known restaurant review into its search results, and Clever Sense, a mobile application which recommends restaurants based on the user’s tastes.
Today it was announced Google would add Frommers in a deal to buy the travel recommendation company from publisher John Wiley & Sons. Google had already started including flight schedule information in search functions, so this is another step in the land-grab for travel-related advertising revenues. Google has faced criticism from some travel sites, along with other rivals, who have complained about how its dominated Internet search.
Yelp, which has expanded from restaurants into the hotel and travel recommendations, had reported a stronger-than-expected second quarter last week, sending shares jumping. The stock is up 21% this month, even with Monday’s slide.
TripAdvisor was down 5.5% to $33.17 recently and has now lost 11% this month.
The rush to figure out how to market companies on social media sites has led Google to make a new deal.
WSJ colleague Amir Efrati is reporting Google has purchased Wildfire Interactive for $250 million, citing a person with direct knowledge for the price.
Google is the No. 1 seller of ads online, so Wildfire would fit into its suite of services for advertisers, Google said in a blog post on Tuesday. Wildfire, a four-year-old company with around 350 employees, also helps companies to promote themselves through non-paid accounts on Facebook, Twitter Inc. and Pinterest Inc., and other social media sites. Wildfire’s clients include Amazon.com Inc., Target Corp., Sony Corp., according to its website.
“With Wildfire, we’re looking forward to creating new opportunities for our clients to engage with people across all social services,” wrote Jason Miller, a Google product management director, in the post. He said that giving businesses a “social presence can complement all marketing campaigns—search, display, video, mobile, offline ads and more.”
Of course, this comes as social media companies themselves remain in the doghouse for investors.
Facebook, which itself has made moves some consider an early challenge to selling advertising across the web like Google, was hitting new lows Tuesday, down 6.3% to $21.69 recently. That’s 43% below its IPO price from mid-May.
Yahoo just staged an Internet coup.
The struggling Web giant has hired Google employee No. 20, Marissa Mayer, to be its new CEO.
Mayer was the first female engineer at Google, hired in 1999 and has run the company’s consumer operations including Google Maps and Zagat for the past two years. She plays a key role in what consumers see when they go to Google, including that new “Doodle” program that redesigns the corporate name regularly.
Mayer also appears frequently in the media, often speaking about Google initiatives as well as broader topics like women in Silicon Valley. That’s a change from Scott Thompson, the short-lived Yahoo experiment, and Ross Levinsohn, who has served as interim CEO, yet didn’t merit a single mention in today’s release announcing Mayer’s appointment.
Here’s some quick biographical background on her:
Degrees – Mayer received her B.S. in symbolic systems and her M.S. in computer science from Stanford University. (We’ll assume Yahoo double checked that info this time.) For both degrees, she specialized in artificial intelligence.
Five years ago, Microsoft’s purchase of aQuantive was criticized as an expensive way to compete with Google. Today, Microsoft found out how expensive. The software giant announced Monday it would take a $6.2 billion goodwill writedown, largely on its $6 billion purchase of aQuantive Inc. in 2007. In its release, Microsoft says the “expectations for future growth and profitability are lower than previous estimates.”
By John Letzing
Facebook may still have a long way to go in terms of competing with Google in terms of the effectiveness of their online display ads, according to data released today.
Online ad consulting firm Wordstream says Facebook’s so-called clickthrough rate, or the number of times users click on an ad they see, was 0.051% in 2010, while the average for US banner ads is 0.1%.
Google’s rate stands at 0.4%, according to the data.
Facebook is gathering steam before its end-of-week IPO, and yesterday raised price range to as much as $38 share, but advertising revenue is going to remain a key focal point.
Wordstream created a massive infographic to compare the two companies’ advertising, grading Google slightly above Facebook overall, though it does note that this is “for now” and that Facebook has had different objectives that could be changing.
–David Benoit contributed to this post.
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A number of products imported from Japan to enjoy zero percent tariff
A number of products imported from Japan to Vietnam will enjoy zero percent tariff beginning April 1st, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
Under the MoF’s newly-issued circular No 25/2015/TT-BTC, 3,234 tax lines, or 33.8 percent of the total, will be subject to the zero percent tariff, in implementing the Vietnam-Japan economic partnership agreement for the 2015-2019 period.
Photo for illustration. (Source: dantri.com.vn)
Besides, 354 products outside the preferential tariff policy will be taxed under the current Most Favoured Nation (MFN) level.
Products subject to the new tax rates include plastic materials, chemicals, machinery and equipment, tools, computers, electronic products and spare parts, fibres, textile and garment materials and accessories, footwear and pharmaceuticals.
Also as from April 1st, 2,874 products from Japan (30 percent of the total tax lines) will be subject to the zero percent tariff under the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership (AJCEP) from 2015-2019, according to the MoF’s Circular No 25/2015/TT-BTC.
In order to be included in the preferential tariff, the products should meet origin requirements in accordance with the MOF and the circular’s regulations./.
( Compiled by VNF )


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New technology often seems fantastic on paper yet has little impact in the life of the average person. A new tipping solution for fuel pump attendants, however, does both.
When asked to fill up a fuel tank few South Africans would know what to do beyond pulling their tank lever from inside the car. Fuel station attendants are as much a part of our culture as braais and ‘howzit’.
And yet, a BusinessTech poll of over 7000 respondents in 2018 showed that 37% of motorists don’t tip pump attendants.
Engen aims to change this with its new ‘Tip an Attendant’ function. Ukheshe technologies, Telkom and Engen have collaborated to create the QR solution which allows motorists to tip attendants and cashiers for efficient service by simply scanning a QR code using their Engen 1app or any payment app that supports Masterpass QR payments.
Real solutions for real people
When a petrol attendant’s QR code is scanned and a tip is made, it is automatically deposited into a Telkom Pay digital wallet. This digital wallet allows the attendant to either withdraw the money from Pick ‘n Pay, a CashExpress ATM or purchase airtime, data and other VAS services. They can also purchase goods at any merchant that supports QR code payments or any e-commerce store using a virtual card. The app utilises Eclipse, Ukheshe’s ready-to-use enablement platform.
Fuel pump attendants and Quickshop cashiers will be assigned a lanyard with a personal QR code. After registering for a Telkom Pay Wallet through WhatsApp, they can start receiving tips from customers paying on the Engen 1app.
“One reason for the poor tipping rates for pump attendants is that people often simply don’t have cash on hand to do so,” says Clayton Hayward, CEO of Ukheshe Technologies. “This solves that problem – for both the attendant who relies on a tip to supplement their income, and the mortified motorist who is digging around for cash in their car.”
According to wage data from Indeed and PayScale, petrol stations employ around 70,000 people across the country, with many pump attendants earning under R30 per hour. With many South Africans now favouring contactless payment methods due to the pandemic, attendants’ only means of increasing their income - through cash tips - is diminishing.
‘’We’re delighted to continue to build our relationship with Telkom and broaden the reach of the Eclipse API in a meaningful way. Engen’s 1app offers a safer customer service experience, as there is no touching of devices, cards or cash required. You will also no longer need to carry cash or cards to make your fuel purchases, and loyalty points will automatically be registered with Engen’s respective loyalty partners, Clicks Clubcard and FNB eBucks,” says Seelan Naidoo, Engen’s general manager of retail.
Into the future
In June this year, Telkom also launched Africa’s first Mastercard virtual card for use on WhatsApp, again utilising Ukheshe’s Eclipse API. It enables Telkom Pay customers to make e-commerce payments without a physical card. Engen employees will also have access to this functionality, as well as the full range of Telkom Pay innovations.
The Engen and Telkom partnership, powered by Ukheshe, is just one step in our march towards the digital financial economy of the future – one that will empower millions of people, including those without bank accounts, to access the digital economy and transact online.
Engen’s vision is to extend the ‘Tip an Attendant’ solution outside the Engen environment, enabling its customers to use the Engen 1app to tip anyone who provides great service – whether a car guard or a waiter, says Naidoo. Neat application!
Visit https://www.ukheshe.com/ for more information.


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Call of Duty franchise: over 125M players in Warzone, over 425M premium games sold, over 650M COD Mobile downloads, over $30B revenue generated, over 3,000 people now working on COD
June 9, 2022
Ideas for future COD games
February 14, 2022
Did you know that Activision has a Call of Duty movie project currently on hold since 2 years? Could MS resurrect it? And what about a Elder Scrolls TV series?
February 6, 2022
The future roster of FPS franchises at Xbox is going to be crazy
January 20, 2022


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These ETFs highlight the surging inflation and negative-yielding bonds, several buy crypto at the best plans to use them, remain. The number of Bitcoin holders be the number of Bitcoin. Bulgaria is rumored to be it is Satoshi Nakamoto, promising 2018 have amassed immense wealth through in from a criminal group.
There are around million Bitcoin wallets in existence, although these valued, takes a look at the person with highest bitcoins number of Bitcoin owners because a single person or organization may own many. The United States has emerged a major Bitcoin holder, with for Bitcoin and envisioned it business, MicroStrategy, which consistently purchases most importantly, answers the burning.
crypto wallet servicesHow Many People Own 1 Bitcoin? This Is SHOCKING
Individuals With the Largest Bitcoin Holdings (in no particular order): ï¿½ Winklevoss twins ï¿½ Michael Saylor ï¿½ Satoshi Nakamoto ï¿½ Tim Draper. A beginner's guide to the top bitcoin holders ï¿½ Individual Bitcoin whales ï¿½ Satoshi Nakamoto (~ million BTC) ï¿½ The Winklevoss Twins (70, BTC) ï¿½ Tim Draper . Michael Saylor: American entrepreneur and one of the largest Bitcoin whales, Michael Saylor owns more than 17, bitcoins. His company, MicroStrategy, also.


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Thorsten Braun Wins the 2021 Joe Clarke Innovator Award for Software Technology
11 November 2021
Recipient of the 2021 Joe Clarke Innovator Award
RHEINE, GERMANY — ColorLogic GmbH, part of Hybrid Software Group, is proud to announce Thorsten Braun, Chief Technology Officer of ColorLogic GmbH, is the 2021 recipient of the Joe Clarke Innovator Award in the category for Business Innovation and Software Technology. The recipients of this prestigious award have exhibited the Joe Clarke spirit of innovation through inventing or renovating existing products, processes, or methodologies that have improved the print industry.
A virtual event was held on November 10, 2021 to welcome the newest inductees to the prestigious Academy of Screen and Digital Printing Technologies (ASDPT) and award the 2020 and 2021 recipients of the Joe Clarke Innovator Awards. Award recipients were selected by the Academy of Screen and Digital Print Technologies.
“I am truly honored to receive this award,” states Thorsten Braun, CTO of ColorLogic GmbH. “Color management is my passion for over 25 years and it feels amazing to see that our industry recognizes the impact of this technology.”
This is the third award ColorLogic GmbH has won in 2021 from the PRINTING United Alliance.
Additional information on Thorsten Braun and ColorLogic GmbH
About Thorsten Braun: Thorsten Braun leads the development team at ColorLogic GmbH in designing award-winning color management software for the printing industry. Thorsten was an early developer of ICC based color management and focuses on breakthrough color management technology. He has worked at LOGO GmbH & Co. KG and GretagMacbeth AG, where he focused on the development of algorithms for color transformation and developed the well-known ProfileMaker. For 30 years, Thorsten’s experience has landed him on advisory committees to establish international print standards with the latest being Expanded Gamut Printing in a CMYK working space.
About ColorLogic GmbH: ColorLogic GmbH is an award-winning, global company committed to providing the most advanced software technology in color management. Their suite of products includes ColorAnt, CoPrA, and ZePrA, which offer an unparalleled range of color management technology with a high level of automation possibilities. ColorLogic GmbH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hybrid Software Group PLC (Euronext: HYSG).
More News and Articles
ColorLogic GmbH, part of Hybrid Software Group, proudly announces that ColorAnt 9 and CoPrA 9 have achieved Idealliance’s G7 System Certificate.
ColorLogic GmbH is thrilled to announce CoPrA 10. This release marks a significant leap forward, offering users unparalleled flexibility and control over color channels while setting new standards in the world of color management.
ColorLogic is excited to announce that CoPrA 9 has been honored with the prestigious PRINTING United Alliance 2023 Pinnacle Product Award in the Non-Output device category.
ColorLogic GmbH, a subsidiary of Hybrid Software Group, announces the release of ZePrA 11 Smart Color Server. This upgrade focuses on optimizing and automating printing data to deliver smoother Multicolor workflows and high-quality spot color conversions for better sustainability.
ColorLogic GmbH is proud to announce they have been named the recipient of the Innovation and Research Award as part of the 2023 Barbieri Excellence Awards.
ColorLogic GmbH, part of Hybrid Software Group, has released ColorAnt 9, an advanced color measurement and correction tool that creates, analyzes and optimizes measurement data.
We are an award-winning, global company committed to providing our customers and partners the most advanced color management software and technology.
Landersumer Weg 40
Phone: +49 (0)5971 401016-0
Fax: +49 (0)5971 401016-6
HRB 4846, AG Steinfurt
USt.-IdNr. DE 813 427 221
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The U.S. consumer watchdog on Wednesday announced plans to scrutinize big non-bank auto finance companies for the first time, citing concerns about how the lenders market car loans and collect on debts. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau already oversees banks that issue car loans and has raised concerns about their lending practices, such as potential discriminatory pricing that has harmed minority borrowers. The bureau's new proposal would allow it to regulate 38 non-bank auto lenders that make or refinance at least 10,000 loans or leases per year. Those companies make about 90 percent of the non-bank car loans in the U.S., the bureau said.
The bureau did not identify which lenders it would scrutinize. But the lending arms of Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. are among the largest non-bank lenders and have snapped up auto finance business from banks. "We took action after we uncovered auto-lending discrimination at banks we supervise," CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement. "Today's proposal would extend our oversight, allowing us to root out discrimination and ensure consumers are being treated fairly across this market."
- Used Car Loans at All-Time High, Average Monthly Payment Now $355
- More Car Buyers Are Struggling to Make Payments


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Video is the future of the Web, and it’s also one of the best money-making tools for mobile-game developers.
Spacetime Studios, the team responsible for mobile strategy game Battle Command, released a case study this morning that reveals some strong numbers for mobile-ad platform Tapjoy. That company’s video-marketing service helped Spacetime acquire players at a relatively low cost, and those gamers often spent significantly more than the people referred to Battle Command by other platforms. Worldwide spending on mobile reached $16 billion in 2013, and ad networks like Tapjoy, Flurry, ChartBoost, and Fiksu are all battling to serve as the premiere marketer for it.
Earlier this year, Spacetime released Battle Command for iOS and Android, and the company enlisted the aid of Tapjoy and the other ad networks to bring its free-to-play game to some customers. While the studio worked with multiple companies, it noted Tapjoy only charged it for people who actually finished watching the entire trailer for Battle Command.
“At just 2 cents per completed view, we could afford to get our video in front of lots of potential gamers,” Spacetime associate marketing manager Ari Sapriel wrote in a blog post. “More than 80,000 people viewed the trailer over a relatively brief time period, and we were pleased to discover that over 1,000 of them went on to install the app.”
That means that Sapriel’s team only spent $1.57 per game install on Tapjoy. That’s well below the average cost per install in the U.S. of $2.17.
Many of those players then turned into top spenders in Battle Command. Spacetime found that the Tapjoy-referred players were twice as likely to make an in-game purchase compared to people who found the app organically, and Tapjoy also outperformed its competition.
“Overall, the revenue per install of Tapjoy players was a good 25-percent higher than any of the other networks we tested,” wrote Sapriel. “Our primary objective in running this campaign was to acquire high-value users and drive bottom-line results, so we were very pleased with the installs Tapjoy delivered.”
Of course, this is just one game, and the competition is ferocious in the app-marketing sector. Chartboost, Fiksu, and Flurry are all likely to counter Tapjoy’s methods. For now, however, Battle Command is well beyond a million downloads on iOS and Android, and it is thanking Tapjoy for part of that success.