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Chrysler's freshened midsize sedan that will be launched later this year will be named the Nassau, replacing the Sebring name, according to dealers and other personalities who are familiar with Chrysler's product plan.
Incidentally, the Nassau name was given to a Chrysler concept car showcased at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show.
A Chrysler spokesman gave no comment when asked about this name. Jim Hall, a consultant from 2953 Analytics, which advises carmakers on future vehicles, said that we shouldn't expect the Nassau to appear like that car. Hall said that the Nassau name makes sense since Chrysler purchased the name when the concept car came out.
The new name is actually just one element in Chrysler's effort to bring back its credibility in the high-volume midsize car segment after the Sebring was heavily criticized for its inferior quality and cheap interior.
This segment, which is composed of strong entries from just about every other major carmaker, is expanding as the younger generation of customers turn to small cars.
This segment also gets the bulk of SUV owners who now want cars that are fuel-efficient. At this year's Detroit Auto Show, CEO Sergio Marchionne had said that the Sebring, when benchmarked against the competition, "is not where it needs to be."
Chrysler designers have been working to install entirely new interiors for the 2011 Chrysler Nassau and Dodge Avenger.
With regards to the exteriors, they're expected to look considerably different. Consumers can opt for either a 2.4-liter four-cylinder or a new V6 Pentastar engine made at Chrysler's Trenton South engine plant.


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In recent years the company has opted to showcase its games through its own digital events, rather than host conferences or have a significant physical presence at major industry conventions like the expo in Cologne, which comes at a considerable expense.
Sony most recently appeared at Gamescom in 2019, which was the last in-person edition of the show before the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to organisers Koelnmesse and the German Games Industry Association, as of the middle of March, 10% more companies had registered for 2023’s event than had done so for 2022’s show at the same time a year earlier.
In April, Nintendo was announced as the first major publisher to be attending Gamescom 2023.
The Swich maker last attended the convention in 2019, when it primarily showcased games launching later that year. It also had a large number of booths on the show floor for consumers to try its games.

domain: news


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Targets ‘Rise to Incredible’ with MediaTek Flagship and Premium SoCs with customized, power-efficient and innovative 5G experiences
New Delhi, NFAPost: MediaTek, the world’s leading fabless semiconductor company powering nearly 2 billion connected devices a year, is enabling enhanced 5G experiences across the smart device ecosystem in India including smartphones, smart devices, gaming and connectivity solutions.
The company is geared up to facilitate a rise to the incredible, with its array of flagship 5G chips under the MediaTek Dimensity family, including Dimensity 9000, 8000 and 8100. To further expand customer outreach in the premium smartphone category, MediaTek has collaborated with almost all the popular OEMs in India.
MediaTek also reiterated its commitment to deliver customised, power-efficient and innovative 5G experiences, powered by the innovative Dimensity 5G Open Resource Architecture, which offers OEMs closer-to-metal access on 5G chips.
The company is also keen on enabling disruptive technologies and boosting R&D capabilities to further expand its India footprint over the next few years. With 5G likely to be deployed soon, MediaTek is upbeat on 5G prospects in India and is offering solutions aimed at enabling the entire smart device ecosystem.
The streamlined vision was announced on the sidelines of the 10th Chapter of MediaTek Technology Diaries- “Rise to Incredible with MediaTek Flagship”, focused on the latest technology trends from MediaTek and the smartphones/smart devices market in India.
MediaTek India Managing Director Anku Jain said auto-connectivity and 5G are driving new-age technology adoption across the eco-system.
“This is not only making electronic devices more interesting but also enabling seamless experiences for customers. With a comprehensive portfolio including gaming, automobiles, connectivity, smartphones, tablets, optical drives, AR/VR solutions, Chromebooks and cloud computing, India is one of the biggest growth markets today,” said MediaTek India Managing Director Anku Jain.
MediaTek India Managing Director Anku Jain said MediaTek is collaborating closely with its OEMs to create incredible experiences and flagship solutions basis the diverse and changing customer demands and requirements.
MediaTek Bangalore General Manager Rituparna Mandal said MediaTek Dimensity 5G chips are leading the global technology domain and MediaTek Dimensity 9000 is the world’s first 4nm TSMC 5G Mobile SoC, taking 5G experiences to the next level.
“With innovative technology now easily accessible, customization is the need of the hour, with OEMs spending countless hours to create personalized smartphone experiences. As a brand that listens to its customers’ demands and tailors smartphone features without wasting precious time in the go-to-market journey,” said MediaTek Bangalore General Manager Rituparna Mandal.
With closer-to-metal access to customize features for cameras, displays, graphics, artificial intelligence (AI) processing units (APUs), sensors and connectivity sub-systems, MediaTek Bangalore General Manager Rituparna Mandal said the platform enables unmatched personalisation, permitting OEMs to create differentiated smartphones which can then be marketed to their preferred consumer segments.
The event saw insightful interactions around current topics including:
· Flagship experiences – MediaTek Flagship chips promise a rise to the incredible – Dimensity 9000 5G smartphone chip for next-generation smartphones. MediaTek Dimensity 8100 and Dimensity 8000 system-on-chips (SoCs) that bring flagship level technology – connectivity, displays, gaming, multimedia and imaging features – to premium 5G smartphones.
· MediaTek Dimensity 5G Open Resource Architecture – This will enable OEMs to create more customized consumer experiences, with closer-to-metal access to unlock customized consumer experiences that differentiate flagship 5G smartphones.
· Rise to Incredible – MediaTek is a leader in 5G technology, powering innovative smartphones and enabling ultra-fast, near-zero-latent 5G network. MediaTek is also enabling incredible performances across 5G modems for PCs, Wi-Fi hotspots, broadband customer premise equipment (CPE), industrial IoT applications, and more.
· Smart Devices – MediaTek remains a market leader in digital TVs, voice assistant devices, Wi-Fi routers and other smart home products with a portfolio that caters to a wide range of customers across smartphones, smart homes, automotive, IoT and home/enterprise connectivity segment.
· Wi-Fi 7 – MediaTek has the broadest Wi-Fi portfolio and is the No. 1 Wi-Fi supplier across broadband, retail routers, consumer electronics devices and gaming. It is also the first company to showcase the real potential of the forthcoming MediaTek Wi-Fi 7 Filogic connectivity portfolio in live demonstrations for key customers and industry collaborators.
· MediaTek Pentonic – MediaTek unveiled its new Pentonic smart TV family with the introduction of the Pentonic 2000, which will power next generation flagship 8K TVs. The MediaTek Pentonic smart TV series is built on MediaTek’s innovative technologies in display, audio, AI, broadcasting and connectivity.
Speaking at the event, OnePlus India CEO and Head of India Region Navnit Nakra said OnePlus is committed to creating user-centric technology that provides the best possible experience for the community, a vision that is shared by friends at MediaTek.
“We are taking a major step forward in this regard with our latest collaboration for the upcoming ‘R’ series product. It was a wonderful experience to be part of MediaTek Technology Diaries and we would like to congratulate the MediaTek team on a successful event,” said OnePlus India CEO and Head of India Region Navnit Nakra.
Talking about the relevance of Metaverse, IDC India Principal Analyst, Mobile Phones Upasana Joshi said Metaverse can be considered as a ‘digital reality’ or more specifically a shared virtual environment that will combine some aspects of AR,VR, Social Media, Cryptocurrency, Online Gaming and more.
“And once the high speed 5G spectrum is available in India, the use cases like virtual events, gaming, fashion shows and digital commerce is likely get more immersive,” said IDC India Principal Analyst, Mobile Phones Upasana Joshi.
Camera and graphics
Counterpoint Research Research Director Tarun Pathak said technology has the potential to disrupt various segments but needs a very strong foundation for that, which 5G can offer.
“If you look at existing smartphone features like the camera and graphics, we have followed a very different way of positioning it, when it comes to consumer experiences. Going ahead, AI will play a big role in these features, followed by the silicon behind it,” said Counterpoint Research Research Director Tarun Pathak.
GfK Director for Strategic Accounts – India Kartik Vasudevan said as per GfK Consumer life, 62% of surveyed urban Indian consumers, especially the millennials and Gen Z, look for devices that offer meaningful experiences and this is where 5G is poised to disrupt the Indian smartphone market.
“Consumers want to future proof their purchases with 5G enabled handsets and thus, we expect 5G contribution to be between 30-40% in 2022 with disruptions in mid-tier price bands,” said Kartik Vasudevan.
The Technology Diaries series is an interactive and informative event aimed at demystifying the newest technologies set to transform peoples’ daily lives.
About MediaTek Inc.
MediaTek Incorporated (TWSE: 2454) is a global fabless semiconductor company that enables nearly 2 billion connected devices a year. MediaTek is a market leader in developing innovative systems-on-chip (SoC) for mobile device, home entertainment, connectivity and IoT products.
The company’s dedication to innovation has positioned us as a driving market force in several key technology areas, including highly power-efficient mobile technologies, automotive solutions and a broad range of advanced multimedia products such as smartphones, tablets, digital televisions, 5G, Voice Assistant Devices (VAD) and wearables.
MediaTek empowers and inspires people to expand their horizons and achieve their goals through smart technology, more easily and efficiently than ever before. The company works with the brands you love to make great technology accessible to everyone, and it drives everything it does.


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You may have heard, especially from us, the importance of adding nuts and dried fruits into your daily diet. Well, this October the world’s leading researchers came together for a historic gathering, Nuts 2022, where they reconfirmed their importance and discussed future research priorities in nut and dried fruit investigation to help ensure the healthy lives of all.
The effects of nut and dried fruit consumption
They have gained traction over the last years and are supported by growing scientific evidence they have been associated with a myriad of health benefits, from cardiovascular health to insulin resistance and diabetes, weight management, lipoproteins and dyslipidemia, inflammation and oxidation, gut health, aging and cognition, and some forms of cancer. More recently, other lines of research have included fertility and nuts and dried fruits as part of sustainable diets. While some areas of research have been put into focus more than others, there is irrefutable evidence that they are nutrient-dense foods with an interesting nutritional composition.
The benefits of nuts are wide-ranging and include a variety of nutrients, mono- and polyunsaturated fats, fiber, vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, and antioxidants, all which have a beneficial effect on health, and dried fruits contain essential nutrients and health-promoting bioactive compounds such as antioxidants.
Among the future lines of research discussed at the gathering, the potential role of nuts and dried fruits in the prevention of diabetes was highlighted, which is of particular relevance in today’s world. According to the International Diabetes Federation, there are currently 537 million people worldwide with diabetes, and this number is projected to reach 700 million people by 2045. Prevalence is increasing worldwide, leading to over 4 million deaths every year, and in countries such as China and India, the number of deaths attributable to diabetes are extremely high: 1.4 million and 648,000 people, respectively. Lifestyle measures and a healthy diet have been shown to be effective in preventing or delaying type 2 diabetes, which is the most common type of diabetes.
At the meeting, it was also highlighted how a joint effort must be made to help bring awareness to the importance of including nuts and dried fruits as part of a healthy diet. And, that’s where you can help! We are constantly shouting about the importance of eating nuts and dried fruits and the health benefits they bring. So, please go over to our social media channels and show your support by giving us a follow (if you don’t already) and share our contents with everyone you know and don’t forget to add that handful of nuts and dried fruits into your daily diet.
Footnote: The gathering was chaired by Prof. Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Distinguished Professor at Universitat Rovira i Virgili, and included highly-esteemed researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Loma Linda University, and Penn State University, among others.


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WebMethods Inc. is readying a new version of its business process management middleware that links applications and transactions not simply across the enterprise but across business-to-business networks, as well.
The extension of the WebMethods Integration Platform, which the Sunnyvale, Calif., company will introduce next month, ties existing enterprise applications and extends them to databases, data warehouses and mainframe systems with WebMethods Mainframe Integration Server, which provides real-time legacy data integration.
The platform will also integrate third-party Web services such as logistics and finance applications and integrate workflow or exception processing. Those last capabilities come from tools that WebMethods gained in its purchase of IntelliFrame Corp. three months ago.
WebMethods is tying all these applications into a single dashboard approach, where users can access different functionalities from a single viewpoint.
WebMethods is also working to offer insight into a customers integration platform through a recent development partnership with Hewlett-Packard Co. announced earlier this month.
HPs OpenView software business unit will collaborate with WebMethods to create software that helps companies monitor and manage the performance of their business IT environments.
“If youre deploying a big legacy ERP [enterprise resource planning] [system], you cant deploy that into a company without having very sophisticated tools to manage [that process],” said Scott Ovitz, vice president of product marketing at WebMethods and former chief technology officer at IntelliFrame. “The problem is, when you look at other people dealing in the integration space, they havent thought of the systems management details.”


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Indonesian e-commerce honcho Bukalapak raised US $ 234 million in a new funding round led by Microsoft, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and local media giant Emtek, report Reuters.
Other investors participating in the big round include SC Ventures (the investment arm of Standard Chartered) and South Korean web portal Naver.
Separately, BRI Ventures said in a press release that it has also made a strategic investment in e-commerce unicorns. This partnership allows BRI Ventures’s parent company, Bank BRI, to offer its digital banking and loan products to merchants and customers on the Bukalapak platform.
The report states, citing sources, that Bukalapak is planning to list in Indonesia and has asked Mandiri Bank’s securities branch Mandiri Sekuritas for assistance in this process.
If local listing comes to fruition, the e-commerce giant will then seek to merge with a special purpose acquisition (SPAC) company in the United States.
The latest funding round comes six months after the report was released stated Bukalapak raised a $ 100 million funding round that at the time included Microsoft, GIC and Emtek.
Launched in 2010, Bukalapak, last valued at US $ 2.5 billion in 2019, claims they have more than 100 million users on their platform.
In recent years, Bukalapak has moved beyond the original electronic market model and into the fintech and digital services sector. Through the O2O Mitra Bukalapak platform, it claims to have reached more than 13.5 million MSMEs and more than 100 million users across the archipelago.
In 2019, they launched their B2B e-shopping business through BukaPengadaan Indonesia. It also implements its signature platform to buy and sell mutual funds (BukaReksa).
The company recently partnered with Standard Chartered to launch “innovative services” as part of its push to digital banking.
The 9-figure funding round comes amid growing interest in the Southeast Asian tech sector with many tech startups looking for public listing.
Yesterday, the Grab super app in the region announced it was merged with the SPAC Altimeter Growth Corp in the world’s largest SPAC deal.
Its e-commerce rival Tokopedia is in conversation with the ride-hailing giant gojek in a merger that will see the US $ 18 billion combined entity chase a dual list on Indonesian and US exchanges.
Meanwhile, Indonesian travel giant Traveloka is staying discuss with SPAC Bridgetown Holdings backed by Peter Thiel, in a potentially $ 5 billion deal.
Photo credit: Bukalapak
Posts Bukalapak bag worth 234 million USD, plan to list in Indonesia: Report appears first on e27.


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Google has started rolling out a new update for its Android Play Store, bringing in a dark mode theme to the app store. The update is currently being rolled out in phases to smartphones running Android 10. It is being said that with the update all apps on the Play Store are set to gradually get a dark mode of their own. The dark mode theme for Google’s Play Store is being rolled out to select Pixel handsets running Android 10. However, we expect the company to start rolling out the update to other smartphones soon.
The company has also started rolling out a dark mode update to its mailing client app, Gmail with its 2019.08.18.267044774 version, which you can download from the Play Store. All of these developments seem to come after the introduction of Android 10, which comes with an integrated dark mode. Read More...
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By Justin Guillou / July 1st, 2018
The second half of Gintama‘s Silver Soul arc will air on July 8. Bandai Namco Pictures have released an ad for what is considered the “Climax” of this arc and it features SPYAIR’s new theme song “I wanna be..”. You can watch it below:
You can watch Gintama on Crunchyroll.
SOURCE(BN Pictures’ YouTube Channel)
animeAnime GintamaGintamashounenSilver SamuraiSilver Soul


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Digital security and privacy are a buzzing topic these days, particularly in light of the fact that user information from Ashley Madison was just dumped online. Silent Circle is a company that aims to protect your privacy, and that’s why they created the Blackphone, an Android-based smartphone focused on privacy. Now, the second ... Read More »
Tagged #Silent Circle
Blackphone 2 will support Android for Work when it launches in September, more companies on board too
Back in March of this year, Silent Circle officially unveiled the Blackphone 2, a souped-up version of the original device that still focuses primarily on security and encryption.
Now Silent Circle has another announcement to make: The Blackphone 2, when it launches later this year, will officially support Android for Work, which allows individuals ... Read More »
The Blackphone, a smartphone centered around privacy and security, will soon be joined by a companion. The creator of the Blackphone, Silent Circle, has confirmed that they’re currently working to create a private and secure tablet. In a statement to BBC, Jon Callas, the co-founder of Silent Circle, said about the company ... Read More »
Most Tweeted This Week
Does all of the recent news concerning security and the NSA have you concerned about your privacy? The folks at Geeksphone and Silent Circle know how you feel, and in response they’ve announced a new smartphone that promises to make your communications more secure.
Dubbed the Blackphone, this unlocked GSM handset runs a ... Read More »


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Trinnov Audio unveils its revolutionary WaveForming™ technology, poised to redefine the audio landscape. In a recent interview with Tom Garrett, a Sales Manager of…
BBOXX, an off-grid solar company, has secured a US$20-million Series C investment to step up operations in Kenya and Rwanda.
BBOXX not only designs and manufactures their plug and play solar solutions but manufactures them as well. More than 70 000 BBOXX products have been sold in over 35 countries, providing off-grid power to around 350 000 people, the company said in a blog post.
The investment comes from Mackinnon, Bennett & Company (MKB), ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies and KawiSafi Ventures, as well as existing investors.
“We are excited about the growth potential for the African off-grid solar market and delighted with BBOXX’s rapid development,” said Managing Director of ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies, Laure Vincotte in BBOXX’s blog post. “We feel that BBOXX’s technology is fully in line with ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies’ objectives of promoting sustainable and scalable energy solutions for all.”
BBOXX vision is to reach 20-million people by 2020
BBOXX is in the process of building their operational headquarters in the capital of Rwanda, Kigali. The country has set a goal of 20% of the population being powered via off-grid solutions, representing a big opportunity for the company.
“BBOXX is building the next generation of energy services — connected, distributed, renewable and focused on customer service. We see a strong opportunity for BBOXX’s licensed products and services to act as a foundation for a rapidly growing new sector in the global utility market,” said Patrick Bennett, VP at MKB.
“We have built an innovative, data-powered technology platform for the next generation of distributed utility companies,” said the CEO of BBOXX, Mansoor Hamayun.
“We are thrilled to have ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies, KawiSafi Ventures and MKB as our lead investors — it will bring credibility to our industry and much-needed scale. We are already deploying systems at the fastest rate in East Africa, at 10kWp of solar per day, and I am excited that we will continue to grow quickly over the next few years,” Hamayun concluded.
Featured image: Dave Proffer via Flickr


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Pandemic buying: Aussie still flock to physical stores despite increase in online shoppers
- Nearly 60 per cent of Australians bought non-grocery household items in physical stores in the six months up to May 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Online marketplaces, such as Gumtree, grew in popularity, as did retailer websites and online-only stores, like Kogan.
- These are results from the annual Retail Monitor survey from Australian Consumer and Retail Studies (ACRS) unit in the Monash Business School.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Australian consumers still flocked to bricks-and-mortar stores to buy household items rather than use online channels in the six months up to May 2020, according to a new report by researchers at Monash University.
The annual Retail Monitor survey of 500 Australian shoppers, compiled by researchers at the Australian Consumer and Retail Studies (ACRS) unit in the Monash Business School, shows, on average, 59 per cent of total non-grocery consumer spend was made in physical stores.
Online marketplaces also grew in popularity, accounting for 10 per cent of consumer spend, only just behind retailer websites at 15 per cent and online-only retailers like The Iconic and Kogan at 11 per cent.
The survey shows 70 per cent of Australians purchased clothing, footwear and accessories in store in the six months up to May 2020. Household items and personal care products were also popular purchases (54 per cent and 52 per cent, respectively), while the popularity of consumer electronics and media and entertainment products grew (32 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively).
As Melbourne experiences lockdown for a second time, research conducted in May gives some insight into how both consumers and retailers have adapted under the COVID-19 pandemic.
As people have been stuck home during lockdown, some used the opportunity to clean out their wardrobes and homes, with many of those products sold on websites like Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree.
Consumer electronics, and media and entertainment items – items like TVs, DVDs and gaming consoles, and computer monitors – were also popular during lockdown, as people sought entertainment while indoors.
Dr Eloise Zoppos from ACRS says shoppers, many of whom turned to online shopping channels for the first time or more regularly as bricks and mortar stores were closed, expect to use online channels more in the next six months due to COVID-19.
“Many shoppers used online shopping channels like marketplaces for the first time during the shutdown, when physical stores were no longer open,” Dr Zoppos said.
“And they expect that they will be using online channels more in the second half of the year, suggesting they have become more comfortable and confident in their use.
“But it was surprising to see, especially during the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic, that people still visited and trusted physical stores for non-grocery related purchases. That should give retailers of all sizes confidence that people still value a personalised shopping experience.”
Earlier this year, consumers were reeling from a long list of retail closures, uncertain if this was the beginning of the end for retail. Back then, Dr Zoppos explained it was not a retail apocalypse, but rather a changing of the guard with consumers now having more power than retailers.
Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, 49 per cent of consumers said they would continue to shop at physical stores for non-grocery purchases in the next six months. About 23 per cent said they would use the physical store less.
More than one-quarter of shoppers said they would turn to online retailer websites for their purchases in the next six months, with 24 per cent saying they will use online-only retailers.
“It’s been a tumultuous first half of the year, but retailers who are nimble, agile and prepared to adapt to new consumer and shopping behaviours, are going to be successful in the long-term.”
Read the full article on Monash Impact.


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"IdeaScale, the Federal Communications Commission's first "crowd-sourcing" platform, debuted last week at www.broadband.gov/ideascale. The site is part of the agency's effort to get more community input via online resources - with the initial focus on the National Broadband Plan. Other social media sites on Facebook and YouTube will be linked via the FCC's site: www.fcc.gov/connect. FCC officials say that the expanded online presence is part of the commitment to open government data to consumers as well as industry organizations. Chairman Julius Genechowski posted his first video blog last week, too, on the FCC's Blogband page, http://blog.broadband.gov/?page_id=185
In it, he said that the FCC needs "to find new ways to use new media" to perform its functions to communication, generate citizen participation and collect data. He echoed what is becoming a popular refrain: unleashing the power of entrepreneurs and innovation.


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Business Analyst Trends for 2015Category: Business Analysis Training, General Posted:Aug 25, 2015 By: admin
In view of our anticipated patterns, 2015 appears to be a year of critical change, and business investigators are on the cutting edge of progress. A few noteworthy commercial enterprises, and the numerous associations inside of them, are currently move so it ought to be nothing unexpected that the significance of the business examiner just increments as business sectors movement and associations are compelled to manage the quickening pace and unpredictability of business.
Hospital services is a flawless a valid example. Authoritative changes recently have moved the hidden establishment of the business bringing about members all through the worth anchor to reclassify their plans of action. Suppliers are attempting to keep up as they search out new items and administrations to address a buyer driven, as opposed to payer-driven, market. From numerous points of view, monetary administrations firms have experienced comparable changes in the course of recent years. Significant industry movements won’t be the main troublesome power in 2015. A large number of the current year’s patterns mirror a hierarchical spotlight on vital execution. A lack of assets in the course of recent years has brought on business pioneers to invest a lot of energy and exertion on deciding precisely what is, and is not, crucial for the business. While this is valid from an expense regulation point of view, where basically every business procedure has been precisely evaluated and enhanced, it is additionally valid for development activities, where associations have turned out to be considerably more capable at sponsorship those undertakings that most nearly adjust to system and that yield the most noteworthy worth to the business. A few of the current year’s patterns touch on ways that business investigators are being requested that fortify the connections in the middle of technique and execution and guarantee that business quality is really conveyed. Ability administration appears in a few the patterns this year as movements in the supply and interest for venture experts starts to affect more associations and their capacity to get the right individuals in the correct spot at the opportune time. A maturing workforce and spotty advancement endeavours in the course of recent years have made a shallow seat of ability for some undertaking associations, and left them in an unstable position as the economy starts to warmth up.
For BUSINESS ANALYSIS Training needs, Visit http://www.zarantech.com/course-list/ba/business-analyst/. Call 515-309-1546 or email firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Mercedes-Benz is hard at work on its GLA crossover model, previously known as the GLC. The compact SUV is aimed to compete against the BMW X1 and this is our first look at it.
The GLA will be built on the German automaker’s front-wheel drive architecture (MFA) that also underpins the A- and B-Class models. It is expected to arrive later on next year or early 2014 and currently looks to be on schedule, despite the heavily camouflaged vehicle seen in these spy shots.
Though it may be hard to see, the GLA’s body looks similar to the A-Class, and is definitely much less angular than the GLK.
With the A-Class set to his US dealers in 2014, look for the GLA to arrive after that, likely powered by a turbocharged 4-cylinder making around 200 hp.
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Profits down but turnover up at Algo
Tayside construction company Algo has reported a fall in profits but a rise in turnover as directors take steps to ensure that it comes out of the Covid-19 pandemic in as healthy a position as possible.
Algo, which employed nearly 100 people during the 12-month period to the end of June 2020, saw pre-tax profits drop to £653,963 – compared to £818,886 the year before.
However, it managed to increase turnover to £19.34 million from £18.45m previously.
The business was set up 25 years ago by farmer Peter Alexander, who is still a non-executive director at the venture. Peter’s son, Murray, is managing director of the business.
The strategic report with Algo’s results states that the directors are “confident” that the company will continue to operate profitably.
During the last financial year, Algo’s projects included being contractor for the new Trinity Church in York Place, Perth, while it also constructed a Co-operative store and an additional two retail units at Forres in Moray.
The company’s portfolio of commercial buildings is reported to have grown steadily over the years.
It added: “With our own extremely successful Algo Business Centre and repeat custom from prestigious clients such as Castlecroft, Algo has gained a wealth of experience building specifically for serviced office providers.”
The firm said it is the clear leader for agricultural building across central Scotland. It added: “Although alike in their aesthetic qualities, our agricultural buildings and sheds are far from kit construction.
“As bespoke design and builds, each project is looked at in its entirety to ensure areas of importance such as environment, business growth, planning department regulations and long-term diversification are all considered when drawing up plans and putting together designs.”


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Disney Retires FastPass For New System With Added CostFor the first time in Disney’s history, line-skipping privileges at the parks will have an added cost starting this fall.
Disney Nearly Doubles Price Of ‘Very Merriest’ Christmas Party TicketsIf you were planning a trip to the happiest place on Earth for this year's "Very Merriest" Christmas party, expect to pay up.
COVID In Florida: Disney Requiring US Employees To Be Vaccinated Against CoronavirusThe happiest place on Earth may not have very happy employees after learning The Walt Disney Company is now requiring US workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Report: Walt Disney Co. In Line For $570M In Tax Breaks For New Florida CampusThe Walt Disney Co. could soon be enjoying a major tax break for building a new facility in Florida.
Walt Disney World To Celebrate Holidays With 'Most Magical Celebration'After having to cancel their holiday event last year due to the pandemic, the Walt Disney World Resort is planning to bring back the festive merrymaking this year with “The World’s Most Magical Celebration.”
Disney Expects Full Florida Theme Parks By Year EndWalt Disney World could approach full capacity by the end of the year, Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Chapek said during the JPMorgan 49th Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference on Monday.
CDC's New Mask Guidance Is "Very Big News" For Disney ParksThere are no changes yet for Disney parks in the wake of the new CDC guidelines that ease indoor mask-wearing for fully vaccinated people. The guidance also indicates that fully vaccinated people do not have to wear masks outdoors in crowds.
Disney Testing Facial Recognition Tech For Park EntryDisney is testing facial recognition technology.
Disney's New 'MagicMobile' Turns Your Phone Into A MagicBandWalt Disney World will soon make it a little easier for guests to have access around the resort by simply by using their mobile phone or smart device.
Disney Laying Off An Additional 4,000 Workers As Company Struggles During COVID CrisisDisney is laying off 4,000 more workers as the company struggles during the pandemic.
Walt Disney Company Plans To Let Go 28,000 Workers At Florida, California Theme ParksThe Walt Disney World Company announced Tuesday it plans to let go 28,000 workers at its Florida and California theme parks as a result of the COVID pandemic.
Deputies: Georgia Mother Hid Guns, Marijuana In Diaper Bag At Disney's EpcotA Georgia mother is in trouble with the law for trying to bring two guns and marijuana into Epcot at Walt Disney World and the illegal contraband was hidden in her child's diaper bag, according to court documents.
Disney Updates Mask Protocol Requiring Guests To Stay Stationary When Eating, DrinkingCoronavirus cases continue to skyrocket in Florida, but Disney World remains open in Orlando with a new facial mask protocol.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Has 'No Doubt' Disney World Will Be Safe After ReopeningThe doors to Disney will be back open soon. Two theme parks, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, are set to reopen Saturday for the first time since coronavirus-related closures in March and Gov. Ron DeSantis is confident in theme park safety precautions.
Disney's 'Splash Mountain' Ride To Be Rethemed After 'Princess And The Frog'Move along Br'er Rabbit, Br'er Fox, and Br'er Bear, Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen are coming to town.


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At the top, there’s nowhere to go but down. So says conventional wisdom, and Wieden & Kennedy topped Ad Age’s Agency A-List last year, thanks to strong work for legacy clients and a massive expansion of agency stakeholders.
But W&K has spent more than three-and-a-half decades thumbing its nose at conventional wisdom. It’s independent, based far from the global ad hubs and willing to resign huge clients, as the agency did with Verizon in 2017. And this year was perhaps even more impressive than last.
W&K has proven it does more than survive: It thrives when competing with big holding companies that increasingly lure clients with bespoke creations that assemble talent from multiple agencies. Others in the industry raised eyebrows late last year, for instance, when W&K won a major piece of the Ford account, which had been parked at WPP for many years. Although BBDO, a 2019 A-List Standout, was named the automaker’s lead global agency, so far, most of the high-profile work in the all-important North American market has come from W&K. And with Accenture’s announced acquisition of Droga5, there’s now no doubt that W&K is the nation’s highest-profile and most widely respected independent creative agency.
Within the last year, it’s completed culture-leading work for OKCupid, KFC and Bud Light. But W&K’s best-known campaign of 2018 was for Nike. The shop worked with the sportswear maker to position Colin Kaepernick as the face of the brand, explicitly taking a stand against police violence in communities of color despite his blacklisting by the National Football League, a move that made Wieden’s name known beyond the industry.
The company also landed 52 new business wins, including RXBar and Tinder; media for KFC and “League of Legends”; and social media for Bud Light, which longtime client AB InBev handed off without a review.
It hasn’t all been good news, though. This year, the shop lost Procter & Gamble’s Secret and last year it parted ways with Spotify, Impossible Foods, Equinox and Chiquita. U.S. revenue growth sat at under 2 percent. But for the second consecutive year, the New York office had its best financial performance in history, approaching double-digit revenue growth.
“You’ve got to approach every year like it’s the first,” says Colleen DeCourcy, co-president and chief creative officer. “I don’t know how else to not freak out.”
In September, the world watched as Nike firmly sided with Kaepernick, the former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, whose kneeling protests during the national anthem divided fans almost wholly down political lines. “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything,” he tweeted, as part of the 30th anniversary celebration of “Just Do It.” (Kaepernick had remained unselected by any NFL team since the end of the 2016 season. The league settled a lawsuit with him earlier this year for an undisclosed amount.) The tweet was soon followed by “Dream Crazy,” a two-minute spot featuring Kaepernick and other Nike athletes.


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Samsung is dominating the headlines over the holidays with teases of their next-gen Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ flagship smartphones, with the company now receiving FCC certification.
The FCC has certified the international versions of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ which will rock 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch displays, respectively. Samsung will reportedly be upgrading the rear-camera rig on the larger Galaxy S9+ with a dual-camera set up, compared to the single-camera snapper on the regular Galaxy S9.
Inside, the next-gen flagship smartphones will feature Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 845 in the US versions, while the non-US versions will be powered by Samsung's in-house Exynos 9810.
- > NEXT STORY: Jeff Kaplan, Overwatch director does 10 hour live stream
- < PREVIOUS STORY: Zelda: BOTW runs at near-solid 60FPS with new CEMU emulator


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|By PR Newswire||
|March 5, 2014 12:01 AM EST||
MONTREAL, March 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ - MEGA Brands Inc. (TSX: MB) announced today its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2013. (All figures are expressed in US dollars.)
Full year 2013
- Consolidated net sales decreased 4% to $404.7 million in 2013, compared to $420.3 million in 2012.
- Net earnings increased 25% to $20.8 million or $0.93 per diluted share, compared to $16.6 million or $0.84 per diluted share in 2012.
Net sales decreased 5% in the Toys segment while net sales for Stationery & Activities increased 1%. On a geographic segment basis, net sales decreased 3% in North America and 5% in International. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (''EBITDA'') was $47.0 million compared to $49.2 million in 2012.
- Consolidated net sales decreased 21% to $101.2 million, compared to $127.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2012.
- Net earnings were $1.4 million or $0.04 per diluted share, compared to $4.0 million or $0.01 per diluted share in the same 2012 period.
Net sales were down 24% in the Toys segment and 3% in Stationery & Activities. On a geographic segment basis, North American net sales decreased 20% and International net sales decreased 23%. Adjusted EBITDA was $8.9 million compared to $13.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Adjusted EBITDA is a supplementary financial measure and readers are cautioned that this measures does not have standardized meaning and is unlikely to be comparable to similar measures used by other issuers.
Several factors contributed to the decline in the Corporation's fourth quarter shipments, including a difficult retail environment which affected the performance of the entire toy industry, particularly in products for boys. The Corporation also faced a difficult comparison with the fourth quarter of 2012, which saw an 18% net sales increase compared to the previous year.
The MEGA BLOKS First Builders product line had a year of record growth and the retail performance of the Call of Duty line equaled or bettered the sell through of any previous MEGA BLOKS product launch. According to NPD Group, the Call of Duty product line was the top-selling new brand in the construction toy category during the fourth quarter despite limited availability.
The Corporation ended 2013 in a strong financial position, with long-term debt reduced 48% to $59.3 million compared to $113.0 million at the end of 2012, cash on hand of $16.4 million compared to $8.0 million the previous year, and no borrowings against our working capital facility. The Corporation also completed a three-year program during which it invested over $30 million to increase efficiency and production capacity in its Montreal facility.
About MEGA Brands
MEGA Brands Inc. is a trusted family of leading global brands in construction toys, games & puzzles, arts & crafts and stationery. They offer engaging creative experiences for children and families through innovative, well-designed, affordable and high-quality products. Visit http://www.megabrands.com for more information.
The MEGA logo, Mega Bloks, Rose Art, MEGA Puzzles, MEGA Games and Board Dudes are trademarks of MEGA Brands Inc. or its affiliates.
This press release should be read in conjunction with the Corporation's Management's Discussion and Analysis (the ''MD&A'') as well as the audited consolidated financial statements and notes for the year ended December 31, 2013. The Corporation will file these documents today via SEDAR. The MD&A, financial statements and notes will be posted today on the Corporation's Web site.
Supplementary Financial Measures
The Corporation reports its financial results in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (''IFRS''). However, the Corporation believes that certain non-IFRS measures provide useful information to investors regarding its financial condition and results of operations. Readers are cautioned that non-IFRS financial measures do not have standardized meaning and are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures used by other issuers. A reconciliation of supplementary financial measures with IFRS financial statements is provided in the Corporation's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2013, which is available at www.sedar.com and on the Corporation's Web site.
All statements in this press release that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws These statements represent the Corporation's intentions, plans, expectations and beliefs. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information and statements are based on a number of assumptions and involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by them, including, but not limited to risks, assumptions and uncertainties described in the Corporation's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2013, which are available at www.sedar.com and on the Corporation's Web site. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by applicable law.
Consolidated Income Statements
(in thousands of US dollars, except per share amounts)
ended December 31,
ended December 31,
|Cost of sales||65,485||79,396||255,702||262,452|
|Marketing and advertising expenses||6,359||7,703||18,231||16,937|
|Research and development expenses||3,817||4,405||15,389||16,218|
|Other selling, distribution and administrative expenses||21,269||25,184||84,059||87,830|
|Contingent consideration on business acquisition||87||96||347||383|
|Loss (gain) on foreign currency translation||(966)||473||(1,808)||576|
|Earnings from operations||5,161||10,281||32,818||35,875|
|Early redemption of debentures||-||-||2,869||-|
|Earnings before income taxes||2,991||5,765||19,183||18,228|
|Earnings per share|
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income
(in thousands of US dollars)
ended December 31,
ended December 31,
|Other comprehensive income (loss):|
|Items that may be reclassified subsequently to income or loss|
|Cumulative translation adjustment||(69)||(45)||(620)||1,008|
|Items that will not be reclassified subsequently to income or loss|
|Cumulative translation adjustment||(1,841)||(213)||409||91|
|Other comprehensive income (loss):||(1,910)||(258)||(211)||1,099|
Consolidated Statements of Financial Position
(in thousands of US dollars)
|Cash and cash equivalents||16,417||8,018|
|Trade and other receivables||116,740||130,541|
|Derivative financial instruments||-||113|
|Total current assets||195,174||193,821|
|Property, plant and equipment||46,385||39,817|
|Trade and other payables||54,231||62,638|
|Derivative financial instruments||1,037||-|
|Current portion of long-term debt||1,844||8,023|
|Derivative financial instruments||58||206|
|Accumulated other comprehensive loss||(5,956)||(5,745)|
|Total liabilities and equity||293,908||286,409|
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity
(in thousands of US dollars)
|Balance - December 31, 2011||429,007||24,430||3,492||(374,322)||(6,844)||75,763|
|Other comprehensive loss||-||-||-||-||1,099||1,099|
|Balance - December 31, 2012||431,893||24,029||4,478||(357,736)||(5,745)||96,919|
|Other comprehensive loss||-||-||-||-||(211)||(211)|
|Balance - December 31, 2013||502,193||8,485||5,851||(336,962)||(5,956)||173,611|
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(in thousands of US dollars)
ended December 31
|Depreciation of property, plant and equipment||13,387||12,476|
|Amortization of intangible assets||422||422|
|Early redemption of debentures||2,869||-|
|Loss on foreign currency||459||2,316|
|Net change in non-cash working capital balances||(7,709)||14,406|
|Income taxes paid (recovered)||1,695||(1,473)|
|Cash flows provided by operating activities||35,412||51,998|
|Repayment of debentures||(60,368)||(7,411)|
|Change in asset-based credit facility||-||(37,279)|
|Issuance of long-term debt||216||4,524|
|Repayment of long-term debt||(750)||(220)|
|Issuance of capital stock||54,135||2,337|
|Cash flows used in financing activities||(6,767)||(31,458)|
|Acquisition of property, plant and equipment||(20,228)||(19,234)|
|Cash flows used in investing activities||(20,228)||(19,234)|
|Effect of changes in foreign exchange rates on cash and cash equivalents||(18)||(33)|
|Increase in cash and cash equivalents||8,399||1,273|
|Cash and cash equivalents — Beginning of year||8,018||6,745|
|Cash and cash equivalents — End of year||16,417||8,018|
SOURCE MEGA Brands Inc.
SYS-CON Events announced today that Technologic Systems Inc., an embedded systems solutions company, will exhibit at SYS-CON's @ThingsExpo, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Technologic Systems is an embedded systems company with headquarters in Fountain Hills, Arizona. They have been in business for 32 years, helping more than 8,000 OEM customers and building over a hundred COTS products that have never been discontinued. Technologic Systems’ pr...
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SYS-CON Events announced today that IoT Now has been named “Media Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 6–8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. IoT Now explores the evolving opportunities and challenges facing CSPs, and it passes on some lessons learned from those who have taken the first steps in next-gen IoT services.
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SYS-CON Events announced today that WineSOFT will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Based in Seoul and Irvine, WineSOFT is an innovative software house focusing on internet infrastructure solutions. The venture started as a bootstrap start-up in 2010 by focusing on making the internet faster and more powerful. WineSOFT’s knowledge is based on the expertise of TCP/IP, VPN, SSL, peer-to-peer, mob...
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Containers have changed the mind of IT in DevOps. They enable developers to work with dev, test, stage and production environments identically. Containers provide the right abstraction for microservices and many cloud platforms have integrated them into deployment pipelines. DevOps and containers together help companies achieve their business goals faster and more effectively. In his session at DevOps Summit, Ruslan Synytsky, CEO and Co-founder of Jelastic, reviewed the current landscape of Dev...
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SYS-CON Events announced today that delaPlex will exhibit at SYS-CON's @CloudExpo, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. delaPlex pioneered Software Development as a Service (SDaaS), which provides scalable resources to build, test, and deploy software. It’s a fast and more reliable way to develop a new product or expand your in-house team.
Feb. 19, 2017 05:45 PM EST Reads: 764
The Internet of Things can drive efficiency for airlines and airports. In their session at @ThingsExpo, Shyam Varan Nath, Principal Architect with GE, and Sudip Majumder, senior director of development at Oracle, discussed the technical details of the connected airline baggage and related social media solutions. These IoT applications will enhance travelers' journey experience and drive efficiency for the airlines and the airports.
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The security needs of IoT environments require a strong, proven approach to maintain security, trust and privacy in their ecosystem. Assurance and protection of device identity, secure data encryption and authentication are the key security challenges organizations are trying to address when integrating IoT devices. This holds true for IoT applications in a wide range of industries, for example, healthcare, consumer devices, and manufacturing. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Lancen LaChance, vic...
Feb. 19, 2017 05:00 PM EST Reads: 7,979
With billions of sensors deployed worldwide, the amount of machine-generated data will soon exceed what our networks can handle. But consumers and businesses will expect seamless experiences and real-time responsiveness. What does this mean for IoT devices and the infrastructure that supports them? More of the data will need to be handled at - or closer to - the devices themselves.
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You think you know what’s in your data. But do you? Most organizations are now aware of the business intelligence represented by their data. Data science stands to take this to a level you never thought of – literally. The techniques of data science, when used with the capabilities of Big Data technologies, can make connections you had not yet imagined, helping you discover new insights and ask new questions of your data. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Sarbjit Sarkaria, data science team lead ...
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SYS-CON Events announced today that Dataloop.IO, an innovator in cloud IT-monitoring whose products help organizations save time and money, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Dataloop.IO is an emerging software company on the cutting edge of major IT-infrastructure trends including cloud computing and microservices. The company, founded in the UK but now based in San Fran...
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Building a cross-cloud operational model can be a daunting task. Per-cloud silos are not the answer, but neither is a fully generic abstraction plane that strips out capabilities unique to a particular provider. In his session at 20th Cloud Expo, Chris Wolf, VP & Chief Technology Officer, Global Field & Industry at VMware, will discuss how successful organizations approach cloud operations and management, with insights into where operations should be centralized and when it’s best to decentraliz...
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In the first article of this three-part series on hybrid cloud security, we discussed the Shared Responsibility Model and examined how the most common attack strategies persist, are amplified, or are mitigated as assets move from data centers to the cloud. Today, we’ll look at some of the unique security challenges that are introduced by public cloud environments. While cloud computing delivers many operational, cost-saving and security benefits, it takes place in a public, shared and on-demand ...
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In his session at @ThingsExpo, Sudarshan Krishnamurthi, a Senior Manager, Business Strategy, at Cisco Systems, will discuss how IT and operational technology (OT) work together, as opposed to being in separate siloes as once was traditional. Attendees will learn how to fully leverage the power of IoT in their organization by bringing the two sides together and bridging the communication gap. He will also look at what good leadership must entail in order to accomplish this, and how IT managers ca...
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In his session at 20th Cloud Expo, Mike Johnston, an infrastructure engineer at Supergiant.io, will discuss how to use Kubernetes to setup a SaaS infrastructure for your business. Mike Johnston is an infrastructure engineer at Supergiant.io with over 12 years of experience designing, deploying, and maintaining server and workstation infrastructure at all scales. He has experience with brick and mortar data centers as well as cloud providers like Digital Ocean, Amazon Web Services, and Rackspace....
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The financial services market is one of the most data-driven industries in the world, yet it’s bogged down by legacy CPU technologies that simply can’t keep up with the task of querying and visualizing billions of records. In his session at 20th Cloud Expo, Jared Parker, Director of Financial Services at Kinetica, will discuss how the advent of advanced in-database analytics on the GPU makes it possible to run sophisticated data science workloads on the same database that is housing the rich inf...
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The proposed regulation would require store owners to label prepared, unpackaged foods found in salad bars and food bars, soups and bakery items. Erik Lieberman, regulatory counsel at the Food Marketing Institute, said testing foods for nutritional data will require either expensive software or even more costly off-site laboratory assessments.
Lieberman said failure to get it right comes with...
In response to:
That relates to the FDA how?
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If Cyber Monday statistics are any indication of the future for the overall online sales market, it could be a bright future for the online community.
The May 2016 issue of Beverage Industry includes a cover story on HEINEKEN USA, as well as articles about sports and protein drinks, CPG markets, and consumer trends. Check it out today!
Copyright ©2016. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.
Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing


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'Halo 3' Commandeers $300 Million in First Week
After a record-breaking opening of $170 million in just 24 hours, 'Halo 3' has racked up more than $300 million in sales in its first week of release. Master Chief's last stand to save mankind is not only one of the year's best-selling games, it's also responsible for doubling sales of the Xbox 360 console. According to Microsoft, the weekly average of 360 sales experienced a 200-percent increase in the week leading up to 'Halo.'
This is good news for Microsoft, of course, which can use the proceeds of this success to throw water at some other fires that have erupted recently. Most recently, there was the faulty packaging that lead to scratched discs in the premium edition of 'Halo 3' -- Microsoft is replacing those for free. The company has also been forced into extending its warranty program for the 360 because of that nasty rash of defective systems (estimated at one point to be as high as 30 percent of all 360s sold). Outside of its gaming division, the Zune media player has still failed to capture the interest of the public while Windows Vista is being largely ignored or abandoned in favor of Windows XP.
While there's no doubt that 'Halo' is a cash cow for Microsoft right now, the company may not be able to count on similar video game successes in the years ahead. Earlier this week, the Internet was awash with rumors that 'Halo'-creator Bungie is parting ways with Microsoft -- something that could definitely put a crack in the foundation of Gates Manor.
- Is 'Halo'-Creator Bungie Leaving Microsoft?
- 'Halo 3' Annihilates Sales Records
- Is Your Copy of 'Halo 3' Scratched, Too?


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The Obama administration is pushing China to do more to prevent online piracy of software and copyrighted content.
China needs to make “critical changes” to its intellectual property legal framework, the U.S. Trade Representative wrote this week in its annual report to Congress about China’s fulfillment of trade obligations.
The country faces “rampant piracy online, which is increasingly becoming the predominant mechanism for copyright piracy,” the report said.
The report cited the examples of illegal music downloads, which “account for an estimated 99 percent of all music downloads in China,” and websites that allow users to stream pirated content, which “have become the preferred method in China to watch illegal content.”
The report criticized China for its “poor [intellectual property rights] enforcement record,” including in the areas of software piracy and online infringement, as well as trade secret theft.
“One major weakness is China’s chronic underutilization of deterrent criminal remedies,” the report said.
The U.S. will continue to work with China to address these intellectual property theft concerns, the report said, but the administration is “prepared to take other types of action on these issues” — such as dispute settlement at the World Trade Organization — “when bilateral discussions fail to resolve key issues.”


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ASMedia reports low earnings for 2Q15
Steve Shen, DIGITIMES, Taipei
ASMedia Technology has reported net profits of NT$6.556 million (US$202,646) for the second quarter of 2015, down 81.95% from the previous quarter. The earnings translated into an EPS of NT$0.12 for the quarter compared to NT$1.21 a year earlier.
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Playtech has launched a new slot based on one of the world’s most iconic puzzle games, Rubik’s® Cube. The new slot features striking 3D graphics and addictive Sticky Wilds mechanics, as well as a built-in modifier that opens up a choice of six different free-to-play modes, including player choice of volatility.
James Frendo, Director of Playtech Casino, comments on the launch of the game:
“Certain brands and themes are truly timeless, like the iconic Rubik’s Cube®. This legendary puzzle has fascinated players around the world for over 40 years, so it is exciting to bring the spirit of this unique puzzle to a brand new slot game. With our game modifier technology, operators can unlock six different free game modes, making this a truly innovative twist on a classic game. Millions of people around the world have grown up with the Rubik’s Cube, so for our exclusive launch of the new slot, we really wanted to capture the spirit of what should be the most famous puzzle game on the planet. Our specially designed mini-game provides insight into both the classic brand and the new slot, and we are confident that players will love both. "
Christophe Bettin, CEO of Rubik’s®, adds:
“We have worked very closely with Playtech to bring the legendary Rubik’s Cube® to life in this new slot game and are now very pleased with the results. Innovation has been what has attracted puzzle aficionados to our brand for over 40 years, so it’s great to see this spirit embodied in Rubik’s® Cube. ”


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Continuing Recovery for the Caribbean and Cruise Lines
In a key step in the Caribbean’s recovery following this fall’s devastating hurricanes, the cruise lines have begun to set timetables for their return to San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. While some parts of the islands and their attractions face long-term recovery efforts, the cruise lines confirm that they are expecting a resumption of service by year’s end to many of the hardest-hit islands and are also supporting programs designed to spread the word to consumers.
This week, Royal Caribbean announced that on November 10, their ship Adventure of the Seas will set sail for St. Thomas, marking the resumption of normal cruise service. “With power and water fully restored to St. Thomas, and most downtown shops, restaurants, bars, and operations fully functional, guests will be able to experience the diverse and extensive array of dining, shopping and activities they've always enjoyed on the island,” Royal Caribbean said in its statement. The line also committed to a partnership with the U.S. Virgin Islands to complete the restoration of one of St. Thomas’ most popular tourist attractions, Magens Bay, before the Adventure of the Seas returns to the island. Royal Caribbean also plans to resume calling at San Juan and St. Maarten by December 1.
Other major cruise lines have announced similar plans. Carnival Cruise Lines recently said that “we have been monitoring the recovery progress in St. Thomas and St. Maarten and feel confident these ports will deliver a fun and memorable shore experience for our guests.” Carnival currently expects to resume its normal eastern Caribbean itineraries by early 2018. At present, eight of the line’s vessels are operating on alternative routes, and one has been chartered to FEMA to support hurricane relief efforts.
MSC Cruises has also announced revisions to its sailing schedule. After substituting Western Caribbean itineraries, MSC now expect to resume calls in Eastern Caribbean, including St. Thomas, in November aboard the MSC Divina. The MSC Seaside will commence her planned Eastern Caribbean itinerary in January 2018, although MSC anticipates substituting calls in Antigua for St. Maarten and St. Thomas for San Juan. MSC Fantasia will be substituting other calls for the previously planned ports of Tortola and Dominica.
The return of the cruise ships to these hard-hit islands will be a critical economic contributor to the on-going recovery efforts. In the meantime, the cruise lines are also supporting a broad-reaching publicity program about the recovery effort and the effects of the storms. Entitled “The Caribbean Is Open,” its goal is to spread the word that large parts of the Caribbean were either unaffected or have already recovered from limited damage.


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Hungry Ford drivers on the go may have a new option to satisfy their growling stomach, as long as they are in the mood for pizza.
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Domino’s Pizza is teaming up with its neighboring Detroit-based automaker, unveiling new technology that allows customers to order pizza from their cars. The innovation will be debuted at the International CES in Las Vegas Wednesday.
In mid-2014, Domino’s customers who have a Pizza Profile on the company’s mobile app, and have the Ford (NYSE:F) SYNC in-car connectivity system, will be able to activate their “Easy Order” options with voice activation, Domino’s announced in a release.
“This is, no question, one of the coolest in a long list of recent technology innovations for Domino’s,” said Patrick Doyle, Domino’s Pizza president and CEO, says in a statement. “To be able to partner with a brand like Ford, with its terrific SYNC technology, to offer yet another way to bring our ordering app experience to life makes it all the better.”
The technology is enabled by Ford SYNC’s AppLink feature, which enables drivers to use selected apps on connected smartphones and tablets with the SYNC button on their steering wheels. The feature is available on more than one million Ford vehicles, according the company.
“We’re thrilled to add Domino’s to the ever-expanding lineup of mobile apps Ford drivers can use hands-free,” said Julius Marchwicki, global product manager for Ford SYNC AppLink, in a release. “Americans love pizza, and now they can have one ready for carryout or delivery when they are on their way home or heading to a gathering with friends.”


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Korean startups are attracting global attention, with investments growing year on year. In 2021, the investments have seen a record high, and rookie startups are getting needed funding support. Also, Korea’s most prominent startup festival COMEUP 2021, to be held in November 2021, opens for pre-registration for offline attendance.
Korean artificial intelligence (AI) developer, VUNO Inc. signs another deal with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Korea Startup Forum’s film on successful startup founders ‘THE Entrepreneur’ plays at the Busan International Film Festival and good news for new entertainment startup Big Planet Made signs K-Pop singer Soyu, a former member of the Sistar band.
Source: Business Korea
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on Sept. 28 that the startup investment in South Korea for the first eight months of this year totaled 4,615.8 billion won, up 85.8 percent from a year ago. For reference, the previous yearly high, 4,304.5 billion won, was recorded last year.
From January to August this year, a total of 3,395 investments were made in 1,588 startups. Information and communication technology service providers, biotech and medical startups, and logistics service providers attracted more investment than the others and the investments in the first and second groups topped one trillion won by a margin of 308 billion won and 93.5 billion won, respectively. The investment in the third group increased to 961.8 billion won.
Source: Pulse News
A growing number of Korean startups raise a chunky 10 billion won ($83.8 million) or more in their series A round of financing that is up to five times what most startups raised a few years ago, driven by investor bet on enormous business opportunities or the market hype around tech companies.
According to sources on Thursday, a total of nine Korean startups raised 10 billion won, each, this year alone, and most of them are in future technology development such as artificial intelligence, metaverse and autonomous driving.
Upstage, a one-year-old startup, was in the spotlight for its whopping 31.6 billion won financing in a recent series A round. Another rookie startup VoyagerX raised 30 billion won in series A round held in June. Ringle, a 1:1 English tutoring platform, is known to have raised 20 billion won in its recent initial fundraising.
VUNO Signs Another Deal with Samsung Electronics to Incorporate AI-assisted Solutions into Samsung’s Premium Ceiling Type Digital Radiography System
South Korean artificial intelligence (AI) developer, VUNO Inc., announced on October 5 that the company closed a deal with global medical device manufacturer, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., to embed VUNO’s artificial intelligence-driven chest X-ray diagnostic solution, VUNO Med®-Chest X-ray™ into Samsung’s GC85A premium ceiling type digital radiography system.
The latest contract follows an earlier deal in June with Samsung to supply the VUNO Med®-Chest X-ray™ solution to the electronics maker’s mobile digital radiography system GM85, making the AI solution an adjunct to Samsung’s mobile and ceiling type digital X-ray systems and available for use by customers in Korea as well as Europe and other key markets around the world.
VUNO Med®-Chest X-ray™ is an AI-empowered medical device that assists clinicians in the detection of areas that are suspicious for pulmonary diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia by accurately identifying thoracic abnormalities on chest radiographs. Its lightweight feature driven by the optimization of AI calculation algorithm is the key factor that enables seamless integration with a wide range of X-ray devices, delivering AI results on the spot upon scanning an image.
Hyun-jun Kim, co-founder and CEO of VUNO said that “thanks to the solution’s excellent capabilities as well as a proven track record in a wide range of X-ray devices under various clinical settings, we were able to sign another deal to include VUNO Med®-Chest X-ray™ in the two premium digital X-ray systems of Samsung Electronics”. He added, “VUNO will continue to work closely with global medical device manufactures including Samsung Electronics to further expand our presence in the world market.”
‘THE Entrepreneur’, co-produced by Korea Startup Forum and Media Startup Cutting Edge, will be shown for the first time as an official invitation to the Busan International Film Festival’s ‘2021 Community Life: Kirby Road’ program on October 9th. The Korea Startup Forum is running the ‘THE Entrepreneur Campaign’ to commemorate the 5th anniversary of its foundation, and an interview project with 50 entrepreneurs.
‘THE Entrepreneur’ is specially designed content to inscribe the meaning of entrepreneurship, and 7 entrepreneurs who lead innovation in Korea will appear – Woowa Brothers Chairman Kim Bong-jin, Market Curly CEO Kim Seul-ah, Zigbang CEO Ahn Seong-woo, Seung-geon Lee, CEO of Viva Republica, who founded Toss; Geum-chae Min, CEO of Zikooin Company, the plant-based meat substitute company; Kim Hak-soo, CEO of Social Bean. It contains the sincere and vivid story of 7 entrepreneurs with various backgrounds and experiences along the journey of trouble, effort, and trial and error.
Singer Soyu, a former member of Sistar, has signed a contract with new startup label Big Planet Made (BPM), the agency announced Wednesday.
“Big Planet Made has taken its first step in the entertainment industry by signing our first artist Soyu,” said the label in a statement. “We plan on discovering talented groups through a well-structured system and build up the company with a unique story of our own.” Soyu also posted on her Instagram on Wednesday that she has decided to leave Starship Entertainment, where she debuted as a member of Sistar and start fresh with a new agency.
“Please look forward to my upcoming activities with refreshed energy from the new company,” she wrote.


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Behind The Surge In Digital SignageAlthough retail installations show the most promise for future growth, content is in the driver's seat of this media. 10/23/2007 6:55 AM Eastern
Behind The Surge In Digital Signage
Although retail installations show the most promise for future growth, content is in the driver's seat of this media.
United Airlines and the Chicago O'Hare International Airport help up to 70,000 daily travelers navigate one of the nation's busiest aiports thanks to more than 150 digital signage displays positioned strategically throughout the Terminal 1 lobby.
Credit: Planar Digital Signage
The secret to understanding the digital signage market today is to realize there is no digital signage market. Rather, digital signage is a tool that's being used to varying degrees in a wide range of applications, all of which have different objectives and standards for measuring its value. Another key trend to note is that many observers expect today's state of affairs — in which dedicated, noncommercial signage networks dwarf those devoted to advertising and sales promotion — to reverse itself in the foreseeable future.
The case for dynamic signage is strong in both settings, but the world's universities, museums, airports, corporate campuses, and other users have, so far, embraced digital signage more enthusiastically and effectively than its retailers. The eventual retail advertising market is, of course, immense. So far, though, no one entity has come forward to “connect the dots.”
“One of the issues we've got right now is that there is no clear structure to who is driving it,” says Mark Webster, president of Rollouts, a company in Chaska, Minn., that specializes in “high site-count, nationwide installations.”
Brad Gleeson, vice president of business development at Planar Digital Signage, Beaverton, Ore., agrees, characterizing the digital signage market as an amorphous cloud that is beginning to crystallize.
“There clearly is a very fragmented group of small markets, some larger and more strategic than others, in sort of overlapping circles,” he says. “But it's not yet an industry, and the real future is still out there a ways.”
Wayfinding is a key application for digital signage at the U.S. Post Office in Potomac Falls, Va.
Credit: Symon Communications
A huge amount of money is being spent on equipment and networks for signage. Market research firm iSuppli, El Segundo, Calif., for instance, notes that in the third quarter of 2006, indoor digital signage alone surpassed conference rooms to become the largest revenue-generating segment of the display industry. Furthermore, it notes that the retail digital signage sector, generating some $416 million in the fourth quarter of 2006, will be worth $2.8 billion by 2011.
Beyond that, exact numbers are hard to come by. “There's a ton of capital flowing into this area right now,” says Webster, based on the promise of “being able to do things that haven't been done before.”
With all that money being spent on infrastructure in the hope of even more amounts being spent on content, who is really going to shape the future of digital signage? Who will decide what networks are installed, what content they convey, and how their effectiveness is measured? Who will design and install them? Answers to these questions are evolving right along with the underlying business environment.
It's easier to say who is not driving the surge in digital signage. Start with the equipment manufacturers. “If we were successful in driving it, installs would have proliferated much more than they have,” says Mark Pickard of Samsung, Ridgefield Park, N.J. “I don't think display manufacturers are driving it in any significant way.”
Next, add in traditional systems integrators. “The most common meetings I have today are with dealers that we did not have as standard AV systems integrators — companies that have formed specifically to address the digital signage market,” says Pickard.
Instead, the fundamental driver of the signage market turns out to be...content. “The key driver is the challenge to improve marketing investment,” says Lyle Bunn, strategy architect at Alchemy International, a Toronto company that specializes in planning, executing, and creating content for multimedia promotional campaigns. “That desire is not just on the part of brands and product categories, but also on the part of retailers who want to improve the shopping experience.”
What the client wants to accomplish, whether it's to sell shoes or encourage employees to contribute to their retirement plans, drives what they buy, who they buy it from, and how they use it. This basic definition also crafts the division of the market into the broad categories of advertising-driven and non-advertising networks.
So far, non-advertising networks have grown and prospered more dramatically than those based on selling ads. But virtually all observers expect that situation to change, as more people figure out just how to use dynamic signage to boost sales and build brands.
Retail Pot of Gold
Always one of the great engines of America's economy, retail advertising promises to be the big payoff on digital signage investments in the future, but that future , says Gleeson, is “still out there a ways.”
Consultant Bill Collins of Decision Point Media Insights, a market research and consulting firm in Cincinnati, compares retail digital signage spending today to “where the Internet was five or six years ago.” Collins estimates that total spending for all out-of-home media, including cinema advertising, is still significantly less than $1 billion annually. Still, huge amounts are being spent on infrastructure on the well-known premise that if you build it, they will come.
In the retail arena, the big players right now are “those who have the installed base of display at this point,” says Bunn. “These are privately funded companies who have invested in the technologies and have a display inventory.”
Credit: Planar Digital Signage
In many cases, these are dynamic signage initiatives recently launched by some very traditional media players. Clear Channel, for example, which runs a nationwide chain of radio stations, has an outdoor division that's actively promoting digital signage. Similarly, the Captivate Network, which has displays in elevators and lobbies of hotels and office buildings nationwide, is a subsidiary of the newspaper publishing giant Gannett Corp. Lamar Advertising, a major national billboard operator, has launched a dynamic signage unit, and other leading media companies have followed suit or plan to do so soon. In any case, these are companies accustomed to selling ad space or time nationwide with well-established contacts among major advertisers and their agencies.
“The people who have been making the most progress on the advertising-supported approach are the people who sell advertising: Clear Channel, CBS Outdoor, and the like,” says Gleeson. “They are seeing the transition from their traditional signage media to dynamic media as absolutely critical. Looking at LED billboards with a cost of $300,000 or so each, they're buying them as fast as they can. They can generate seven times as much cash flow per sign as they generated with the traditional media.”
So far, says Gleeson, retail digital signage has been very much a push market. “It has been people who knew what could be done, promoting it to people who didn't know they needed it,” he says.
Part of the sell is to advertising agencies, the usual gatekeepers between marketers and media. “The brands, the people who are actually driving the advertising, are used to going to a broker,” says Webster.
The ad planning and buying process is very mature and thoroughly understood, he adds. However, “so far, in order to be able to sell the ad space in those networks that do exist, there isn't a brokering system to do that,” says Webster.
Creating this system takes time, says Bunn. “Ad agencies and media planners typically have to work hard to understand a new medium,” he says.
Today's Inroads, Tomorrow's Explosion?
The hottest retail markets for digital signage today, says Steven Keith Platt, director of the Platt Research Institute in Hinsdale, Ill., are banks, financial services companies, insurance agents, and similar companies. Webster points to any place that has a captive audience for a period of time. Medical sites are particularly hot, he says, along with pharmacies and doctors' waiting rooms.
Says Pickard: “Convenience stores and medical waiting rooms: I'm very confident that both of those will happen, because it's easy to understand the business model. That's critical in order for ad agencies to buy in.”
Platt says that “the busiest channel, where we're spending a lot of our time, is banks, financials, and insurance companies. These are companies that deal with a lot of intangibles, with complex sales, not impulse buys.”
Pickard also predicts that certain segments will pay off later this year, although he won't identify them. “Other verticals will start serious deployments in the next 12 to 18 months,” he says. “The first really big deployments will come later this year, leading to thousands of locations.”
Many users who might fuel this explosion in signage may seem to be looking at each other for clues. “One of these [large networks] is going to hit with a nationwide convenience-store chain,” says Pickard. “It will be so obvious that it's successful, everyone will try to copy it.”
The intersection of technology, cost and advertisers “is not there today,” he adds. “Maybe in six months or a year, I don't know.”
Part of the promotion challenge, of course, is figuring out just who makes the buying decision in a target organization. To Bunn, the champion is the chief marketing officer, because “digital signage enables marketing communication.”
For AV integrators and other local or regional businesses, breaking into the big national scene can be difficult. “So many of the decisions to invest in these networks are not made locally,” says Collins. “It's like national advertising, and for AV integrators in and of themselves, it's going to be hard for them to sell.”
Still, experts say the savvy AV integrator does have a role, even in the biggest national systems. The starting point is to realize that however good the national players may be at building networks and distributing effective ad content, there are also things at which they're not so good, such as installing, monitoring, maintaining, and servicing sophisticated audio and video systems.
“There's a huge opportunity in the traditional pro AV segment to be the hardware and hardware maintenance component,” says Pickard. “The companies I'm talking to generally don't have a technical service capability, and it's definitely going to be necessary.”
Platt says an AV integrator that wants to play in this arena “would be well advised to hook up with someone on the front end, perhaps with two or three firms that specialize in marketing at retail.”
Another sound business strategy, say experts , is to realize the biggest and most famous players are far from the whole market.
“Lots of people have focused on the home run,” says Gleeson, “on the broad retail chains, aggregating hotel lobbies or health clubs, or high-rise elevators — chains with broad national footprints. But there are also opportunities for lots of Mom and Pop networks, which take place inside a community and don't have to be huge. The AV integrator can take part in both sides of the business.”
Even plain, old, much-maligned hardware sales, often portrayed as an unprofitable commodity environment, shouldn't be overlooked, says Gleeson.
“People in the business need to buy products that are professional-grade,” he says. “Whether plasma or LCD almost doesn't matter. If you are going to buy professional-grade products, who else do you buy them from?”
Getting a Piece of the Action
Possibly most important, aspiring dynamic signage integrators should remember that much of the excitement of ubiquitous retail promotion is still in the future. Meanwhile, other markets are booming in the here and now.
“You would be surprised how few networks are advertising-driven right now,” says Webster.
Platt agrees, noting that “about 90 percent of the market is on the captive side of the world. This is very much an infant business, young and growing.”
Bunn cites a recent consensus among speakers at a business conference that about $390 million worth of advertising is running on North American digital display networks. “If you consider that number against the billions of dollars of annual expenditure for digital network infrastructure, estimated by InfoTrends, then it's clear there are a lot of networks out there being considered as an alternative to other communications media, for internal employee communications, or within a campus environment,” says Bunn.
Samsung's Pickard says airports are his company's largest market for digital signage. “They are the largest single vertical market for large LCDs, and not an advertising market, but firmly on the informational side,” he says.
Universities, corporate facilities and campuses, churches, local sports facilities, and similar venues may offer untapped growth potential for digital signage networks created, installed, and served by local and regional providers. Says Collins, “It's going to be easier to sell to traditional AV customers in settings like these, because they already have the relationship and can be an added service they offer.”
Bunn warns, however, that the AV integrator should not expect to be the first person calling on a prospect with a digital signage proposal. “Software providers have been fairly aggressive in this marketplace for the last few years, and the display companies have pushed hard to advance this application,” says Bunn.
So when the AV integrator calls on a prospect, “there has probably been a presentation by a display provider [party that runs the outdoor or indoor signage] or a software company before that,” he says. “This is not a brand new prospect with a large learning curve.”
If the prospects are increasingly knowledgeable, the systems are sophisticated, the bandwidth is cheap, and the return on investment is more tangible than ever, it seems likely the long awaited boom in digital signage may finally be at hand.
“The issue now is not the technology, because that now works, and has proven itself,” says Bunn. “The issue now is what communications objectives are sought to be achieved with dynamic signage?”
John McKeon is a freelance journalist in Chevy Chase, Md. He is also the author of a recent novel, “Demented Choirs,” which can be previewed at www.dementedchoirs.com. John can be reached at email@example.com.


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DAILY BRIEFING: Heathrow records its busiest November on record, with 5.72m passengers last month, up 2.5%
Booming: Heathrow has recorded its busiest ever November
AIRPORT SOARS Heathrow has recorded its busiest November on record, welcoming 5.72million passengers last month, up 2.5 per cent year-on-year.
The airport, which is the Government's preferred location for boosting runway capacity in south-east England, said growth was driven by the use of larger aircraft such as Airbus A380s, A350s and Boeing 787s.
Emerging markets performed strongly in terms of passenger numbers, with Mexico, China and the Middle East all up 8 per cent.
MORTGAGE PROBE The financial watchdog is to probe the mortgage market as part of efforts to improve competition for consumers and ensure borrowers receive value for money.
The Financial Conduct Authority has launched a market study to consider if consumers have enough information to choose products, and if they are in a position to understand whether they are cost effective.
The review will also explore if commercial arrangements between lenders, brokers and other players lead to conflicts of interest.
FRENCH SALE Barclays is to sell its French retail banking business to AnaCap Financial Partners as it continues a drive to undergo a restructuring.
The deal – for an undisclosed sum – will see the lender shed 74 retail branches and a life insurance business, as well as wealth, investment management and brokerage operations in the country.
It means Barclays has completed its exit from consumer-facing banking in continental Europe. However, it will retain its corporate and investment banking businesses in France.
CLEANERS STRIKE Cleaners on Great Western Railway are to stage two 24-hour strikes in a dispute over pay and conditions.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union employed by contractors Servest UK will walk out from 6am on Friday, December 16 and from the same time a week later.
The dispute, involving almost 200 workers, is over a number of issues including pay, annual leave and the use of agency workers.
The union is calling for agency workers to be made members of GWR staff to end the current situation of a 'two tier' workforce.
RIGHT NOTE British banknote manufacturer De La Rue is set to buy the authentication unit of DuPont Electronics and Communications in an all-cash deal worth $25million (£19.8million).
De La Rue said the acquisition of the Utah-based business is in line with its five-year strategic plan, helping to 'transform the group into a technology-led security product and service provider'.
DuPont Authentication produces holographic films and software, while its technology is used to verify products such as identification documents and consumer electronics.
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