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Apple made much ado of the Lightning connector it launched side-by-side with the iPhone 5, but what we’ve known about it has been limited outside of the presence of an authentication chip. Double Helix Cables’ Peter Bradstock has delved deeper and tells AppleInsider that there’s some clever wiring that clinches the reversible design. While Lightning’s power supply is truly symmetrical among the contact pins, the data isn’t — which suggests a chip inside is redirecting data to keep the plug working as intended. The technique helps explain why Apple would need any elaborate circuitry in the first place. No matter the wizardry inside, Bradstock doesn’t see any cut-rate Lightning alternatives being useful in the near future: as it’s unlikely that anyone outside of Cupertino knows how the authentication works at this stage, clone cables may amount to little more than heaps of metal and plastic ~ Jon Fingaz
Albert Einstein’s brain can now be downloaded to your trusty Apple iPad, should you own one.
Sadly it’s not an iOS-compatible simulation of the top physicist’s mind, best known for coming up with the general theory of relativity and laying the ground work for quantum mechanics. Instead it’s a selection of photos of slices of the German-born boffin’s grey matter.
Still – the app will let iPad users get as close to the great man’s brain as any neurobiologist can.
Einstein’s brain was removed and preserved when he died in April 1955. Pathologist Dr Thomas Harvey of Princeton Hospital split it into 170 parts and sectioned them into microscope slides. He then stained the wafers to highlight the cellular structure and nerve conduction tissue.
Dr Harvey’s collection of brain samples was bequeathed in 2010 to the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Chicago, which has just scraped together the cash to digitise the slides and put them in a new iPad app. The software is available from Apple’s App Store for $9.99, or £6.99, and funds will go to the museum.
The magnified high-resolution images give fanbois the view that they’d get if the brain slides were on the business end of a microscope, and the app makers hope opening up one of the world’s greatest brains to neurobiologists everywhere, as well as the the general public, will garner new insight into the workings of the Nobel prize-winning boffin’s cerebral matter.
Nothing exceptional was found about Einstein’s brain in 1955, but a 1999 survey found that it contained a rare density of connections between neurons in the language, spatial and mathematical areas.
One severe limitation of Harvey’s slides is that it is hard to tell exactly where each sample was taken from Einstein’s brain: the 170 parts are loosely attributed to the brainstem and various lobes rather than specifically located. Solving the location of the brain parts is now considered to be much more important.
The Chicago museum features another interesting brain from Dr Harvey’s collection: Henry Molaison, who died in 2008 after living for decades with profound amnesia.
Planned updates to the Einstein app will include further slides as they are digitised and will add more context to existing ones. ®
Code that’s making the rounds on the Internet could trigger a factory reset on the handsets without warning, a security researcher discovers.
Owners of the Samsung Galaxy S2 and S3 may be vulnerable to a flaw that could allow their personal data to be deleted from their device, a security researcher has discovered.
The malicious code, which is now circulating on the Internet, could trigger a factory reset of the popular handsets, according to Ravi Borgaonkar, a researcher in the Security in Communications department at Technical University Berlin, who demonstrated the vulnerability at the Ekoparty security conference in Argentina last week (see video below).
The flaw lies in the way Samsung’s TouchWiz UI interacts with unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) codes, which execute commands on the handset’s keypad. While most dialers require the user to hit the “send” button to complete the code, Samsung’s does not, Borgaonkar said.
He showed how the flaw could be exploited on a Samsung Galaxy S3 via a single code embedded in a Web link, QR code, NFC connection, or SMS, supplying the correct factory reset code to wipe the device without warning the owner or asking for permission.
Borgaonkar also said it was possible to lock the SIM card, preventing owners from using many of the device’s features. However, attacks can be prevented by turning off “service loading” in settings and disabling QR code and NFC apps, he said.
Samsung appears to be the only Android smartphone maker affected by the flaw, Borgaonkar said.
“It’s possible to exploit this attack only on Samsung devices,” he said.
MTN Group plans to spend 7 billion rand on its South African network in 2013, a 40 percent increase from the current year, the telecoms operator said on Tuesday.
Image by: MIKE HUTCHINGS / REUTERS
MTN, Africa’s largest mobile phone services provider, also said it is “exploring the possibility of switching on” commercial long term evolution, or so-called 4G technology, in three South African cities within 2012.
Kanagaratnam Lambotharan, Chief Technology Officer at MTN SA says the commercialisation of technologies such as LTE (Long Term Evolution) is expected to address consumer needs for full service continuity, a seamless network and high speed Internet connection.
He says MTN is exploring the possibility of switching on its commercial LTE network within 2012 and has identified 3 key urban cities to roll out the network namely Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban.
‘However pricing has not been finalised yet.’
The company said in a statement it has increased 2 Generation (2G) network coverage to 98.6% of the country’s population while the company’s EDGE and 3Generation sites cover 92% and close to 65% of South Africa respectively.
(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)
commentary Apple supporters triumphantly cheered on the company after it sold 5 million iPhones over the weekend. Wall Street, however, was disappointed by the figure after seeing the long lines on Friday.
The correct reaction probably lies somewhere in the middle. Perhaps a polite golf clap? For analysts, it was a classic case of hype feeding into the estimates, which ramped up to as high as 10 million for the first weekend, numbers that even a powerhouse like Apple couldn’t hope to achieve.
“We find it unfortunate that some analysts continue to publish irresponsible estimates without taking into account realistic demand trends and potential supply constraints,” said Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee.
On the flip side, while 5 million is an impressively high number, and is 1 million better than last year’s iPhone 4S launch, it isn’t a genuine indicator of the longer-term appeal of the iPhone 5. There was so much pent-up demand that Apple would have sold out of however many phones it had in stock. The truth behind that first weekend statistic that Apple proudly proclaims is the number isn’t really as relevant as you might think. It’s a nice figure to boast about, window dressing, and it certainly fuels the hype and illusion that Apple is invincible. But in reality, that’s about it. There are too many factors, including supply issues, the availability of its phones in key markets, and reaction to the competition, to really make a judgment on whether the company’s latest phone will suitably carry on the legacy of success that its predecessors enjoyed. The true test of the phone’s longevity in the market won’t come until after the key holiday season, when many high-profile smartphones start to see a pullback in sales and the euphoria of the recent iPhonelaunch hype has long faded away.
Now, any company would kill to sell 5 million units of anything over the weekend, but the iPhone runs at a higher standard. Sales of the iPhone 4 were amazingly resilient, and hung on to the top spot at AT&T for more than a year (it was also helped by its introduction at Verizon Wireless). Conversely, sales of the iPhone 4S had an initial pop, but began to fizzle as the months went on. Yes, it remained a top-selling phone, but its momentum couldn’t match the previous iteration.
The iPhone 5 is poised to pick up where the iPhone 4 left off. Despite criticism that it isn’t drastically different, the phone addresses the key concerns of iPhone users, namely the larger display and a faster 4G wireless connection. Those two, alongside the thinner and lighter design, may convince consumers that it’s worth the upgrade. Despite the initial disappointment, Wall Street remains as bullish as ever. J.P. Morgan yesterday said it estimates Apple will sell 50 million iPhonesin the fourth quarter. For the quarter ending on Saturday, the firm estimates 25 million units will be sold. Sterne Agee’s Wu said the noise over the launch and the following disappointment didn’t change his estimate. He still believes the company will sell 27 million this month and 46.5 million in the quarter ending December 31. While the stock may have sold off yesterday, there remains a lot of optimism around Apple.
(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET)
There are some hurdles for Apple to reach those lofty expectations. For one, the company’s decision to use a new, thinner display is causing some supply shortages, according to reports. The various suppliers are having trouble producing the volume of screens needed to meet the high demand. The supply issue is one of the reasons analysts blamed for the big discrepancy between their estimates and Apple’s actual sales figure. Another unknown is whether Apple will be able to expand the availability. In China, hundreds of millions are waiting for the iPhone to show up at China Mobile. Getting the iPhone to China Mobile is important because it’s the world’s largest wireless carrier with more than 650 million subscribers, or more than twice the combined customer base of Verizon, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile.
Beyond internal issues, Apple and its new iPhone 5 face unprecedented competition. Its biggest rival, Samsung, has already launched a campaign mocking the iPhone lines that even some fans have admitted contains genuine insight into the silliness of the whole affair. For once, its rivals can already boast of those key features in many of their smartphones.
Google unit Motorola has already tweaked Apple for the maps flap, and its lineup of Droid smartphones are an attractive alternative.
The holiday season is poised to get even more crowded with a slew of Windows Phone backed by a massive push from Microsoft, vendors such as Nokia and HTC, and carriers such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T. For the carriers in particular, the iPhone is no longer the phone to have, since it’s available virtually everywhere. There is also a lot of incentive to promote other phones, since they require a lower subsidy and consequently weigh less on their profits. Apple’s iPhone 5 will be successful; there is little doubt of that. But how much of a success remains to be seen, and one weekend’s worth of data isn’t nearly enough to make a call yet. ~ Rodger Cheng
Cell C CEO Alan Knott-Craig says a company is just “butting its head against the wall” until it gets to at least 20% of the market share.
Cell C’s barrage of price cuts has started paying off for the country’s third cellphone operator, which now sees approximately 700 000 new subscribers join its network each month.
The “underdog” operator came under the industry radar again when former Vodacom head Alan Knott-Craig took the helm almost six months ago and started shaking things up – giving rise to what has been termed a mobile “price war”.
From the word go, Knott-Craig said his number one goal with Cell C was to grow market share. In January, when news of his appointment first broke, he said his aim was to gain a 25% share of the market. This means a doubling of Cell C’s current market share of 13% over three years, as per Knott-Craig’s contract term.
Knott Craig recently reiterated his ultimate aim in light of SA’s incumbent duopoly, Vodacom and MTN. “You need to have about 20% of the market share to be in the game. Until you get to that point, you are just butting your head against the wall. At 25%, you are assured of financial sustainability, and that is where you want to be. If you are not aiming for it, you aren’t going to get there.”
World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck says the notable monthly customer migration to Cell C, to a large degree, represents churn.
“Our understanding is that a large proportion of the 700 000 new subscribers represents churn. Natural churn in the prepaid market is already very high – more than 40% a year – and that would be a lot higher where a network is introducing a dramatically reduced pricing structure.
“Although users can convert the package they are on, the typical prepaid user would simply dump the old number and take up a new prepaid account, purely for the perceived immediacy thereof.”
He says the net effect of these additions is possibly between 100 000 and 200 000 a month.
Goldstuck says, also to be borne in mind, is that Cell C’s growth comes at a time that the industry as a whole is seeing unprecedented growth.
“Cell C is growing faster now than at any time in its history, but it is growth within a market that is growing as a whole, so the gain in market share will not be as fast as the gain in subscribers.”
Nevertheless, he says, SA will see the impact of Cell C’s simplified low-cost approach to prepaid customers. “We saw MTN’s prepaid growth rate slashed in the first half of this year compared to the last six months of 2011. This must to some extent be attributable to Cell C winning market share.”
Motorola and Samsung just caught a break from the law after a few hard knocks. A Mannheim, Germany court has ruled that neither company infringes on an Apple patent covering how an OS responds to and ignores touch events. While we don’t yet know the full details, patent lawsuit guru Florian Mueller suggests that the German judge took the same point of view that thwarted Apple’s claims in the Netherlands and the UK: the particular patent was just too broad to stick. It’s a potentially important win, as a ruling of violation could have led to serious problems with keeping Android-based Motorola and Samsung devices in stores; other patents are more easily circumvented. However, it’s still something of a Pyrrhic victory for a pair of companies that have lately been facing the threat of near-term bans and steep damages. ~ Jon Fingaz
A new PC interface for TV screens is set to change gaming – and could herald future smart TVs with the power of modern PCs
THE world’s largest video-game distribution platform for PCs is now available on televisions, bringing a new community of gamers into the living room.
Last week, Valve, the US firm behind the acclaimed Half-Life and Portal games, launched Big Picture, a television interface for Steam, the company’s PC-only video-game distribution and social-media platform.
The move aims to change the gaming landscape. It will also accelerate a move towards smart TVs equipped with the power of modern PCs.
Even though Steam offers over 1500 games and claims around 50 million PC gamers, it is still something of an industry niche. Big game publishers such as EA and Ubisoft are geared towards console releases, with PC versions of games coming later, if at all.
But even Sony’s PS3, the youngest of the current generation of consoles, is six years old. PC hardware, meanwhile, gets better and cheaper every year. With Nintendo launching its new console in November and Sony and Microsoft poised to follow in 2013, Valve is determined to muscle in on console territory: the family sofa. As a Big Picture promo video puts it: “Sometimes, you just want to kick it in the living room.”
“It’s about being a couple of steps ahead of the curve,” says John Walker, co-director of cult PC-gaming website Rock, Paper, Shotgun. “It’s a really interesting flag they’re placing.”
Big Picture provides an alternative interface for Steam which lets users bring their profile – including their social network and personal library of games – out of the bedroom or home office and into the family environment of the living room. It includes a TV web browser optimised for use with a game controller or a keyboard and mouse.
The downside is that you need to run an HDMI cable from your PC to the television. That’s fine for laptops, but will be impractical if the PC and TV are not in the same room. But TVs with built-in PCs are a future inevitability, says Walker. Such a combo would also make on-demand streaming of films over the internet far more convenient. Another possibility would be for Valve to offer its own Steam set-top box – a small, dedicated games PC running the Linux operating system. Valve is already adapting its games to run on a Linux version of Steam, Walker notes, making this less of a technological leap.
Both Steam and consoles face competition from cloud-based gaming services like OnLive and Gaikai, which Sony recently bought for $380 million. Because the computing for these games is done on servers in the cloud, a TV with a small set-top box is all the computing power that is required to play. But internet bandwidth limitations mean that cloud-based gaming cannot yet compete with the console or PC experience.
Valve’s move will have a big impact on independent game developers, as getting approval to publish a game and charge for it via Steam is far easier than on consoles. And there are very few restrictions to distributing games on PCs.
“Steam on a TV is massively exciting for an indie developer,” says Mike Bithell, who is lead game designer at Bossa Studios in London by day and an independent developer by night. “It’s a fast and easy way to take a game created with the PC in mind and transfer it almost immediately to couch play.” ~ Douglas Heaven
IPhone 5 Limits Set to Spark Samsung Discounts in Europe
Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone 5, which bars customers of some European carriers from accessing the fastest available mobile networks, will prompt those operators to cut prices for handsets from rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) The iPhone 5, which went on sale today, will connect to fourth-generation wireless networks in Europe that run on an 1,800 megahertz band, favoring carriers who do have a network attuned to that frequency, including Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) and its British EE venture with France Telecom SA. (FTE) Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) and Telefonica SA (TEF)’s O2 unit will only be able to offer the iPhone 5 on their slower 3G networks.
The restrictions of the iPhone 5 will “push Vodafone and many other European operators harder into the arms of Samsung,” especially as the South Korean company’s popular Galaxy line of phones includes a 4G version that is compatible with their networks, said Robin Bienenstock, a London-based analyst for Sanford C Bernstein. With the iPhone 5 predicted by analysts to become the fastest selling technology gadget in history, subsidies and promotions will help operators that only offer the device on slower networks to keep customers. Vodafone lost its top spot in the U.K. to O2 after failing to win the exclusive rights to the first iPhone in 2007.
The device became Telefonica’s best- selling phone ever and two-thirds of the clients coming to its U.K. network were poached from rivals. Upgrade Discount O2 plans to offer iPhone 5 customers with a long-term contract the chance to upgrade to a 4G phone once the operator’s own 4G service is available, according to Telefonica spokesman Simon Lloyd. The carrier will chip in 10 percent of the cost of buying out the contract and pay the taxes, he said. The new networks, based on long-term evolution, or LTE, technology, allow users to watch videos, stream music or perform other data-intensive tasks at a faster speed. EE, the largest mobile-phone operator in the U.K., said this week that the new 4G service is five times faster than is currently available. Samsung vaulted to the top of the global smartphone market by introducing a variety of Galaxy models using Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android software.
While the iPhone is the most popular smartphone, Android is more widely used, showing up in devices from Samsung to HTC Corp. (2498) Galaxy S III Samsung said this month that sales of its latest Galaxy S III, which has a bigger screen than the iPhone 5 and also works with 4G networks based on different frequencies, topped 20 million units. Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) unveiled a lineup of Lumia models this month with the most recent Microsoft Corp. Windows Phone software, aiming to win back market share with better camera and mapping technology. Customers in Sydney, Tokyo, Paris and New York lined up for the iPhone 5 today.
Queues of more than 1,000 people gathered in Frankfurt and London this morning as loyal Apple customers raced to get the latest device. Piper Jaffray Cos analyst Gene Munster predicts that 10 million iPhone 5 may be sold this weekend. Shares of Samsung climbed 1.2 percent to close at 1,302,000 won in Seoul. In German trading, Apple slipped 0.2 percent to the equivalent of $701.10 as of 10:56 a.m. in Frankfurt. Nokia dropped 0.6 percent to 2.19 euros on the Helsinki exchange. Subsidy Question “The question for operators now becomes in the near term – – how sticky is Apple’s software versus the better speeds of the Samsung Galaxy’s, and how much subsidy will be put behind this,” Bienenstock said. Vodafone and O2 offer 4G devices from Samsung, LG Electronics Inc. (066570) and HTC that are able to run on the operator’s 4G networks based on frequencies other than the 1,800 MHz band.
In the U.K., EE said Sept. 11 it will start the service and give pricing details in coming weeks. The U.K. auction of 800 MHz and 2,600 MHz frequencies is set to begin later this year, allowing a general rollout of faster data services in 2013, regulator Ofcom has said. Vodafone has opposed EE’s move to start 4G services ahead of an upcoming auction of frequencies, saying it was “shocked” by Ofcom’s approval of the service, which creates a “competitive distortion.” “We’ll have to work a bit harder and we’ll have to work with other devices,”
Vodafone Chief Financial Officer Andy Halford said last week. “We’ll be looking at the pricing and competitiveness of those devices.” To be sure, EE’s LTE network isn’t widely available — rolling out in 16 British cities by Christmas — and as the first entrant in the U.K., the burden will fall on them to introduce customers to the new technology and market its benefits, said Gyanee Dewnarain, a London-based analyst at researcher Gartner Inc. (IT) “They’ll have to do the work to educate the mass market,” Dewnarain said. “The mass market doesn’t have a clue what LTE is.” By the time they do, Vodafone may be ready to offer its own service, she said.
Canon 6D Full Frame D-SLR
The inclusion of a full-frame sensor offers greater control over depth of field in portraits, allowing photographers to easily isolate their subjects with attractive background blur. With the Canon 6D, photographers can now also explore the full potential of their wide-angle EF lenses to capture every detail of a sweeping landscape, with models ranging from 8mm to 800mm. Additionally powerful DIGIC 5+ image processing offers a host of automatic modes and creative shooting features, complementing full manual controls to offer total flexibility to a wide range of users.
Canon EOS 6D features
The Canon 6D digital SLR camera is full of advanced features to assist photographers in capturing outstanding quality landscapes and portraits. HDR mode enables the capture of both highlights and low lights in tricky lighting conditions, while Multiple Exposures allows photographers to combine up to nine separate exposures into a single image in-camera, creating a dramatic effect in the final picture. A silent drive mode offers a more subtle option for shooting candid portraits or weddings, and a single axis electronic level accessed through the viewfinder or via the LCD display, ensures that horizons are level during image composition.
Canon 6D Sales package
• Canon EOS 6D body
• Canon LP-E6 battery pack
• Canon LC-E6 battery charger
• Canon AVC-DC400ST stereo AV cable
• Canon EOS digital solution disk
• Software Instruction Manual CD
• Canon EOS 6D instruction manual
• USB interface cable
• Wide neck strap
Canon 6D price and availability
The Canon 6D body carries a suggested retail price of € 2000,- Euro. Prices may vary from country to country. Visit the Canon website in your country for more information and optional EOS 6D accessories.


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New Ben & Jerry's alert!! Two new summer-themed flavors just dropped as Walmart exclusives! The first is Red, White & Blueberry, which has blueberry and raspberry ice cream swirled with vanilla ice cream, strawberries, and shortbread pieces. The second is Ice Cream Sammie, which is probably the closest Ben & Jerry's has been to a straight up cookies & cream. It has a vanilla base with chocolate sandwich cookies and a chocolate cookie swirl. Huge thanks to @thecoldhardscoop for posting the first find!
If you’re someone who gets excited about ice cream (like me), then your Monday just got a whole lot better, because Ben and Jerry’s just released two new Summer-inspired ice cream flavors — and they’re both packed with cookies!
Presumably the perfect post-barbecue snack on the Fourth of July, a pint of the brand’s new Red, White, and Blueberry ice cream contains blueberry and raspberry ice cream swirled with vanilla ice cream, chopped strawberries, and crunchy shortbread pieces. So it’s basically a deconstructed ice cream pie. As for the second new flavor? Ice Cream Sammies adds a twist to Ben and Jerry’s classic vanilla ice cream by mixing in chocolate sandwich cookies (think Oreos, minus the cream), and chocolate cookie swirls. Yum! See more photos of the frozen treats ahead and stop by your local Walmart to stock up before Summer officially hits.
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The Japanese bike maker, Yamaha Motor to launch their first scooter christened as ‘Ray’ in India. Earlier it was displayed as a prototype at the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo, the stylish, small capacity (125cc) scooter targets the fairer sex.
Additional features adorned in Yamaha Ray include dynamic and elegant design, powerful, and fuel efficient engine, comfortable long and wide seat, large storage space, smooth suspension, dynamic braking system, stylish headlamps, silver tone back mirror, impressive instrument panel and stylish alloy wheels. It will be available in two color options of pink and yellow.
Yamaha Ray scooter will be targeted towards woman riders and expected to bear a price tag of around Rs. 50,000/-. The scooter will be launched in the month of October, 2012. Yamaha plans to launch only Ray scooter for the year 2012, so we can expect FZ or Fazer 250 only in the year 2013.
The Yamaha Ray will compete against the Suzuki Access and Piaggio Vespa. These vehicles will be rolling out of Yamaha’s Surajpur facility in Uttar Pradesh. The company is also planning to build a new plant in South India. Seems like the Japanese major has quite a few exciting things planned for India.


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“Apple Inc’s iPhone 6 is in the final stages of review for approval, with results due shortly, a top Chinese government regulator said in an interview published on Tuesday by Tencent,” Gerry Shih reports for Reuters.
“‘The iPhone 6 has entered the final stage of the approval process, now it’s just a matter of time,’ MIIT chief Miao Wei told Tencent in an exclusive interview in Beijing. ‘Netizens, please wait patiently,'” Shih reports. “Miao declined to offer a timeframe for completion of the review, saying only that he expected a result ‘very soon.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, “Netizens,” have some patience, will ya? 😉


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While Toyota has been one of the automakers hardest hit by the tragic Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters in March of this year, nearly every auto company on the planet felt its impact. Thanks to a global, tight-laced network of interconnected suppliers, manufacturers were left scrambling to make up gaps in the parts chain when Japan's manufacturing mechanism ground to a halt. As it turns out, General Motors took on the challenge of making sure as many of its plants stayed operational as possible by employing a team of hundreds of employees that worked around the clock.
Officially termed "Project J," the workers came up with creative solutions to manage the supply interruptions. As a result, GM says that its bottom line for 2011 won't be significantly impacted by the Japanese earthquake.
In some cases, that meant shifting parts from low-volume plants like the Shreveport, Louisiana facility responsible for the Chevrolet Colorado and the GMC Canyon to other facilities. GM stressed that it didn't want to simply walk away from its old suppliers in their darkest days, so the automaker sent a team to Japan to learn how it could help get key factories back up and running. That included sourcing hydrogen peroxide and steel from Korea from two different companies.
The whole effort is incredibly impressive and worth a read if you've got the time. Check it out over at The New York Times.


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Here’s the first teaser trailer for Forza Horizon 2, with presumably more footage to come at Microsoft E3 press conference. The game is developed by Playground Games and features a weather system as well.
The game will be released on the Xbox One and Xbox 360, and the game will be running at a crisp 1080p resolution and at 30 fps. There’s no release date or more information on the game but we should be getting that at E3 this year.
Check out the trailer below.


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The dyeing and bleaching units in Tirupur creates more pollutions in the city and other places of Tamil Nadu
Tirupur is very famous city and a district in Tamil Nadu having more textile units, which produces various cloths and exports the cloths to various countries. There are many dyeing and bleaching units in Tirupur, which makes much process to manufacture the cotton and textile products. The output of the dyeing and bleaching units are connected to the Noyyal River in Tirupur. This wastage output of the units creates more pollution in the city and also affects the drinking waters. The agricultural lands are also affected while pouring the polluted water from the river. There are more than ten thousand hectors of agricultural lands are affected by the polluted river water in various places of Tamil Nadu. It also creates many diseases and skin problems to the human beings those who are using the polluted water.
The Madras High Court has ordered the closure of all dyeing and bleaching units in Tirupur
The Madras High Court has ordered one week before to close all dyeing and bleaching units in Tirupur, which generates a fifth of India's textile exports. The move would affect around 720 dyeing and bleaching units in Tirupur and also affect the life of 40,000-50,000 workers those who have got employment by this units. Further, there is also an estimated loss of Rupees 50 crores per day. On Friday, the bench was hearing a contempt petition on the pollution of Noyyal River flowing through Tirupur. It observed that the dyeing units were polluting the river and could not function until zero discharge was achieved.
The public interest in legal action against the units was filed way back in the year 1996 and sought directions from the high court for a pollution-free Noyyal river. The petitioner who filed it said that the dyeing and bleaching units are discharging industrial sewages into the river, making the water out of condition for irrigation and other purposes. Despite several orders for closure from the Madras High Court, no steps were taken, which led to the filing of the present contempt petition, the petitioner said.
The comments of textile business men in Tirupur 'No Tirupur without dyeing factories'
A Sakthivel, President of the Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) said that "I cannot comment on the court order. But this would bring Tirupur to a standstill and would cause a loss of around Rs 50 crore per day to the industry. We have just come out of the yarn problem and now this has cropped up. Around 50,000 workers would be affected," and the "Exports would also take a beating because of this move." He also urged the state and central government to consider the seriousness of this issue and come forward to bail out the units.
N Murali, Tirupur Exporters and Manufacturers Association vice-president and Rajshree Exports managing director told that The court strictly instructed the closure of these units and also directed the state pollution control board to initiate criminal prosecution of units which fail to rectify defects leading to pollution. "There is no Tirupur without dyeing factories," . He said it is not possible to comply with zero-level discharge as even the ground water and well water contains some salt. There are around 5,000 units in Tirupur engaged in various activities related to knitwear exports employing more than four lakh workers. The city is host to a number of knitwear export firms. "The industry is already struggling with high production cost due to 100% increase in cotton prices and 70% increase in cotton yarn prices in the last one year. The euro and dollar fluctuations have also been hitting us badly. Now this closure of all dyeing units will further dent our future," he added.
In the mean while, TheIndustry veteran and Tirupur Exporter's Association general secretary G Karthikeyan said that the dying and bleaching units are very essential to the textile business in Tirupur.The city itself would become idle without any dyeing activity in progress for the business purpose and also he told that "We are facing many problems, which has never been faced by the business people and the textile industry in Tirupur so far. There are nearly about 10 lakh peoples living in Tirupur would be affected because of this action. The whole city of Tirupur is dependent on export activity. K Krishnan, secretary of Dyeing Association of Tirupur have expressed his view and told that "All the running dyeing units in Tirupur have 'consent to operate' by the certificate received from Tamil Nadu pollution control board,Chennai. But the court wants a more appropriate certificate to prove zero-level discharge. We will plan our action after receiving the complete judgment copy from the High court of Chennai."
More articles: Tirupur information


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Green Mountain Power officials were in downtown Rutland Tuesday to unveil the first of 12 high-speed electric vehicle chargers they plan to install across the state.
GMP hopes the new charging stations will encourage more Vermonters to drive electric cars and help ease what’s known as range anxiety for those who already do.
For traditional cars and trucks there are more than 160,000 gas stations to choose from nationwide. But if you drive an electric vehicle – or EV for short – public charging stations are not nearly as plentiful.
According to Drive Electric Vermont, there are 69 charging stations in Vermont, though fewer than a dozen offer high speed services.
But the state’s largest utility wants to change that. Green Mountain Power is partnering with NRG, a large American energy company with a subsidiary called eVgo.
Vermont is the first New England state to be added to eVgo’s national network of high-speed charging stations. And GMP president Mary Powell says they’re the first utility in the country eVgo is partnering with.
“I think this is yet another example of collaboration where through collaboration and innovation in our state we’re being a real leader in terms of creating an electric vehicle infrastructure in the state," Powell says.
The charging stations look a bit like high tech gas pumps – but smell better. The one in Rutland offers charges at two speeds. The faster option can provide approximately 80 percent of a battery charge in 25 minutes. The slower speed provides up to 24 miles of charge per hour.
Costs vary from 10 cents a minute to $1.50 an hour per charge, with monthly subscription options also available.
Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras bought an electric Smart car last November and was the first to use the new charger in Rutland. While he admits he was worried an electric vehicle might be inconvenient, he says that’s not been the case, and a statewide network of charging stations will make things even easier.
“If I’m going someplace else I will get a text on my smart phone when my charge is complete, which is neat stuff," he says. "Or, if you don’t need a full charge, you can keep track of where it is in the process and come back when it has enough juice.”
Louras says the fact that GMP is locating chargers in downtown locations is also a plus. “There’s going to be a whole change with how people refuel their vehicles as they move from gas to electricity. There are people who drive from an hour away, plug into this and walk and go to a show and when they come out it will be fully charged," says the mayor.
In addition to Rutland, GMP has just installed eVgo chargers in White River Junction, Quechee and Waterbury, and will add other locations over the coming months.


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Daily Archive: May 1, 2023
Is there a better name for a heat pump? Should it be sexier or come in harvest gold? Or is it enough that it works and saves money?
Here at CleanTechnica, we’re all about using electric vehicles in as many ways as possible and with Tesla’s Camp Mode, their vehicles have become popular for weekend warriors road, trippers and full-time campers alike. We’ve been following the Living In Tesla YouTube channel since creator and host Jimmy Cheung launched it. After many uncomfortable road […]
In Texas, anti-ESG whiners lead the cheer for a massive new green hydrogen facility supported by wind and solar power.
The license plates are from Graz, where contract manufacturer Magna Steyr has its headquarters and factory.
Fortum Battery Recycling Opens Europe’s Largest Closed-Loop Hydrometallurgical Battery Recycling Facility In Finland
Fortum Battery Recycling has begun commercial operations at its hydrometallurgical battery material recycling facility in Harjavalta, Finland. The recently built facility is the first hydrometallurgical recycling commercial-scale facility in Europe and the largest recycling plant in Europe in terms of recycling capacity. The new large-scale plant will significantly ease the rising demand for sustainable battery […]
Does an electric car create emissions during manufacture? Of course. But the Washington Post inflates their impact to scare readers.
A new wave of models is entering the market.
DAF’s all new assembly plant for battery-electric trucks was officially opened last week by Micky Adriaansens, the Dutch minister of Economic Affairs and Climate. We are finally starting to see some traction in the electrification of commercial vehicles. In the United Kingdom for example, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) says ownership of […]
A dual-battery pack ensures many miles of go-anywhere fun.


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Student has chance to win $1,000 in Walmart competition
Southmoreland junior Dylan Opalinski is one of many teens who use their after school hours to make extra money at a job. Yet for Opalinski, he now has the opportunity to win $1,000 in a competition Walmart is participating in.
“I’ve been working as a cart pusher since the beginning of January,” said Opalinski. “I didn’t think I was going to have this type of opportunity with it.”
The corporation is currently in a competition for which U.S. store has the most downloads of the Walmart App.
“We qualified for the top 64 at first,” said Opalinski. “As of April 11, we were number one in the nation.”
For continuing to move up in the rankings, the employees, as well as the store, have already won lanyards, water bottles, a catered meal, and a $70 bonus. However, the overall prize that Opalinski coverts is $1,000.
“That seems like a pretty big chunk of money,” said Opalinski. “I know I tell myself that I’ll save it, but like every teenager I’ll probably end up spending it on food or an iPhone.”
Employees have turned to family out of state to help the Mount Pleasant Walmart stay in first place until the end of April.
“We’ve been calling friends and family from out of state to download the app and just choose the Mount Pleasant Walmart to keep us in first place,” Opalinski told the Tam O’shanter. “They don’t have to know your location, so it doesn’t matter where you are.”
To help Opalinski and the Mount Pleasant store, people can just download the Walmart app in their app store and select the Mount Pleasant location to keep the store in first place.
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The leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, lost around $ 7,000 after it reached an all-time high of $ 61,683.
At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin is trading at 54,352.01 with a daily trading volume of $ 74 billion according to Coingecko.
Bitcoin is down 9% in the last 24 hours.
The current market value of Bitcoin is $ 1.0005 trillion.
What are the reasons behind this decline?
Nikolaos Banegertzoglu, who is one of the most famous analysts at JP Morgan, points out that the Bitcoin decline is due to the exhaustion of bitcoin-buying speculators, as the leading retail investors in the field of cryptocurrencies retreated and stagnated, amid a clear decline as well. In the institutional inflows so far.
According to data released by JP Morgan, retail investors bought around 187,000 Bitcoins this quarter of the New Year 2021, compared to 172,684 by institutional investors when using data from the Square platform and PayPal.
The announcement of the US stimulus plan indirectly contributed to the rise of Bitcoin to new highs, but the short-term price action is now revealing its extreme decline.
Mr. Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi, told his opinion of the reasons that led to the massive sell-off and the decline of Bitcoin, and stated:
There were strong attempts around the Doge digital currency to raise it higher, but the coin did not respond to the tweets of celebrities, but rather retreated, revealing negative momentum in the crypto space.
This failure to maintain winnings is worth noting, as increased mobility can be a game-changer
But selling may refer to either:
A) Expectations to purchase risky assets with incentive check money may be exaggerated or exaggerated
B) A significant portion of the money will be used to pay off tax liabilities or
C) Newly printed cash will find its way into the real economy now that restaurants, Vegas and beaches reopen.
For many retail cryptocurrency traders, Bitcoin has been the outlet for moving and investing money.
Ed Moya, Senior Market Analyst at Oanda Corp, told Bloomberg:
Bitcoin has maintained an impressive bullish trend.
Retailers have also been revitalized with the latest buzz in the NFT market, all with stimulus checks arriving at their bank accounts.
It is important to note that the world’s leading cryptocurrency has gained about 990% last year, so it seems that profit-taking at this stage is a normal scenario considering that some investors, whether individuals or institutions, withdraw some of their gains.


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The liability insurance Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes wants to require of convenience stores in the city that sell alcoholic beverages may make the premises safer from mishaps such as slip-and-falls.
But don’t look for it to lessen the likelihood of violent incidents – or to even cover customers injured by violence, insurance professionals say.
Ward 3’s Stokes has proposed an ordinance to require the stores to insure themselves as an alternative to forcing them to hire security guards if open from midnight until dawn.
His reasoning, he said, is that insurance providers will require the stores to make their stores safer for customers and employees alike, and in some instances would require security guards. “If they have insurance the insurance company is going to make sure they are safe,” Stokes said at a June 21 Finance Committee public hearing on an ordinance he proposed after a police officer shot and killed an unruly customer March 31 at the JASCO Mart on the corner of Woodrow Wilson Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
At one point, committee member Quentin Whitwell of Ward 1suggested $1 million in liability coverage would be a “reasonable amount.”
Insurers think Stokes could be right about insurance bringing increased safety measures. “That’s a strong possibility because businesses would face inspections,” said Roszell Gadson, a spokesman for State Farm’s regional headquarters in Atlanta.
State Farm would likely provide the coverage if the store adopted safety measures such as burglar alarms, a panic button and adequate lighting throughout the building and grounds, he said.
“We do conduct a complete safety inspection,” Gadson said. “Obviously, our goal is to make the business as safe as possible, not only for the owner but for the customers who come there.
“Coverage includes the building, contents and — of course — a liability policy,” he added, but noted liability would not extend to random acts of violence.
That’s far different from someone slipping on a wet floor inside the store, Gadson said
But some stores are not even insuring against accidental injuries, Stokes said.
“If someone takes a step outside and breaks a leg, how are they going to take care of this?”
Many insurers are reluctant to insure late night convenience stores and put those policies in the “surplus lines” category in which an out-of-state insurance carrier is willing to take on a larger-than-customary risk. Being out of state and free from regulatory constraints of the insured-store’s state, the surplus-lines carriers have more flexibility to design and price their policies, the Mississippi Surplus Lines Association says.
“Free of rate and form, they can write a policy to conform to the need of the insured ” and accept a higher level of risk, said Peggy Dronet, the association’s executive director.
But even these carriers are likely to insert an “assault-and-battery” exclusion, said Hank Aiken, VP of R.W. Aiken Insurance Agency, a six-decade old Jackson commercial insurance firm.
“It might be impossible to get,” Aiken said.
“You might get it, but it is going to cost” more than many store owners would be willing or able to pay, he said.
“I have had apartment complexes (in Jackson) that just couldn’t buy it.”
The ordinance may be an over-reach, Aiken said. “When you read about a violent act every month in the Bailey Avenue area… it is going to be very difficult to insure something that happens every month. That’s the problem with the city requiring it.”
Stokes said he wants to hold an additional public hearing before taking his proposal to the full council for a vote. He acknowledged he was unaware that liability coverage would not extend to violence and assault on a store’s premises. He will weigh that factor in deciding any changes to the measure, he said. “We’ll look at all aspects of it.”
He said that when he meets with the merchants he will ask for details on the differences between the insurance they currently carry and the insurance that would be necessary to meet terms of the ordinance.
Several store owners queried before introduction of the ordinance said they had no insurance at all on their stores, according to Stokes.
In visits by the Mississippi Business Journal to two convenience stores on Woodrow Wilson, including the JASCO Mart where the police shooting occurred, store personnel said the stores carried insurance. The owner of the J.D. Food Mart at the corner of West Capitol and Galvez streets where a customer was shot in a car-jacking on June 28 says he carries coverage as well.
All three noted that selling alcoholic beverages requires them to pay extra on premiums.
Aiken, the Aiken Agency VP, said even most of the independent convenience stores carry some coverage. “They have something to insure,” he said. “They have capital at stake.”
Some that are just starting up and watching every dime may not get coverage but eventually they do, Aiken said. “Once they get to the point they have some capital at risk they buy it.”
Generally, the premium is based on the square-footage of the premises, according to Aiken. “If they sell gasoline you actually have to calculate the gallons of gasoline they sell.”
Having a security officer at the stores could help lower the costs – provided the guard is unarmed, Aiken said. “There’s a balance there. If you have armed security the insurance agent is going to run away. If you have your own security guard un-armed, that’s a little better.”
The arrangement most likely to find favor with the carrier is a guard from an established security agency– one that is trained to diffuse tensions and can quickly alert law enforcement to impending trouble, Aiken said.
An off-duty police officer is not always a good solution because the jurisdiction for which the officer works can be held liable for any mistakes the officer makes on the outside job, he added.
The heads of two organizations whose members include Jackson convenience stores that sell alcoholic beverages want Stokes to drop his proposal, calling the measure an undue burden on business.
The state does not require the insurance and neither should Jackson, said Ron Aldridge, state director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
“We’d certainly be fighting something like that.”
To zero-in on a certain kind of business and require it to have liability insurance is unfair, he said. “A business can take on as much exposure as think they can bear.
“There is no significant danger” at convenience stores, he added.
Aldridge does not like the alternative of requiring security guards any better. “We already have security guards – they are called police.”
Phillip A. Chamblee, Aldridge’s counterpart at the Mississippi Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, said the association would oppose any additional expenses placed on store owners.
Chamblee questioned why Stokes is signaling out the stores. He cited FBI statistics that show robberies of convenience stores in 2009 accounted for 5.4 percent of the total; filling station robberies accounted for 2.4 percent.
Most robberies – 42.8 percent – occurred on the street and the second highest total, 16.9 percent, in homes, according to FBI statistics compiled by Athena Research Corp.
Without prompting, Chamblee addressed the suggestion of a security guard requirement with a paraphrase of Aldridge: “We already have it – it is called police.”
Normally, the police are there or nearby, Stokes said. But the stores “want the police to become their own private security…. These officers have to cover a wide area.”
BEFORE YOU GO…
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Jon Stewart decided to use his first show of 2014 to question the climate change deniers who climb out from under a rock every time it gets cold outside – you know, the ones that work at an entertainment station that rhymes with cocks.
This shouldn’t happen and unfortunately, it’ll probably play right into the hands of people opposed to Fisker, their Karma and all EVs. From Fisker:
“We have more than 1,000 Karmas on the road with a cumulative 2 million miles on them. There are more than 185,000 highway vehicle fires in the US every year. In an electric vehicle, immediate suspicion is focused on the battery and high voltage components. The location of the damage to the vehicle in this incident appears to rule out that suspicion. Fisker has not had any battery or high voltage fire incidents with any of its vehicles.”
This is the second Fisker Karma to catch fire and hopefully we won’t hear too many more of these stories. No person was hurt in either fire but the brand is getting fiskered and the vehicle is hearing its share of bad karma jokes (sorry!). [Wired]


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Without revealing the actual price plans, 3 has simply said it will have new data plans for iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G in the coming weeks.
The announcement is accompanied by a boilerplate Apple statement: “iPad 2 is the next generation of Apple’s magical device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading ebooks and much more.
“The amazing new iPad 2 improves on the original iPad by being thinner, lighter and faster, all while maintaining the same incredible 10 hours of battery life.”
Steady my beating heart. As operators in Ireland no doubt issue identical statements we’ll keep you posted.
Now the big question is whether the iPad 2 will actually be available in Ireland on 25 March when it goes international.
The device sold out last week when it launched in the States and it emerged last night that online buyers in the US are faced with a wait of four to five weeks for delivery.


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C.H. Robinson has unveiled a tool and data model designed to help the transportation sector monitor and manage...
The Professional and Corporate Education program at Stetson University has recently announced the launch of a Sustainability Series that...
Micromobility operator Voi and SaaS leader Trafi exchange thoughts on sustainable mobility, partnerships, happy users and the enormous potential...
Never miss any supply chain signal
- Watch: Adjusting Global Supply Chains to a Reopened Economy | 2021-04-12 13 April 2021
- Indiana regulators slash net metering rate, advise solar owners to buy batteries – pv magazine International 13 April 2021
- L.A.-Area Port Backlog Persists as Imports Surge | 2021-04-13 13 April 2021
- Australian utility to deliver hybrid energy systems to C&I customers – pv magazine International 13 April 2021
- Big Data and Analytics: The New Underpinning for Supply Chain Success? 13 April 2021


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Cyber-attacks occur globally, targeting every industry, and business size. As users, authentication, and data move outside of the network, thanks to widespread SaaS adoption, they create a larger attack surface for businesses.
The average company uses 254 applications, and more than half are not owned or managed by the IT department. This diminishes the ability to enforce basic security practices, such as multi-factor authentication and password policies. As a result, vulnerabilities are more difficult to detect, remediation is delayed, and data breaches are more likely.
Password-based authentication is both the first line of defense, and the weakest link, when it comes to securing your SaaS applications. We know that end-users default to poor password practices—recent reports find all the way up to 99% of users reusing passwords either across work accounts, or between work and personal accounts. This means that the same user credentials, if stolen or compromised, can target multiple accounts, even accounts that provide access to business-critical resources.
Most companies on a windows-based network use Active Directory to manage users and authentications. Stolen Active Directory credentials make it easy for attackers to take over the infrastructure. Even with a secure Active Directory password policy, your business could be at risk if users are reusing the Active Directory password on external web applications.
Compromised credentials are like candy for hackers
Compromised credentials allow hackers to operate undetected and move to other systems to further escalate attacks. Targeted attacks can even start with a compromise of an employee’s personal account before moving on to business accounts and data.
Social engineering is a popular way to compromise credentials. In a recent attack targeting email marketing service Mailchimp, access to employee credentials was obtained and used to target cryptocurrency customers like DigitalOcean and 214 others. As a result of the breach, customer email addresses were exposed, and a very small number of customers experienced an attempted hack of their accounts via fraudulent password resets.
Data dumps of breached passwords provide the path of least resistance for hackers looking to get their hands on breached credentials. Earlier this year, 71,000 employee credentials were leaked following a breach suffered by Nvidia. These passwords can now be purchased and tested against additional accounts. If the password has been reused, the attack will likely be successful. A company several times from the attack can now be vulnerable.
End-user cybersecurity training isn’t enough
Data breaches are a global problem. An attack on one company can reach across borders to impact another. The first preventative measure is to educate employees about password hygiene and reuse.
Unfortunately, recent reports indicate that cyber security training is failing where password reuse is concerned. According to a recent survey of 1,000 business leaders and 1,000 employees, 78% of employees who had received ‘a lot’ of cyber security training still reused their passwords.
Find and block breached passwords in your Active Directory
With that in mind, it is possible that a percentage of your employees are already using a breached or vulnerable password—to audit employee passwords and ensure no known breached passwords are in the network, consider adding a tool like Specops Password Auditor to your arsenal. The read-only Specops Password Auditor allows system administrators to scan Active Directory passwords against over 900 million known breached passwords. The free tool provides valuable information that indicates the severity of your organization’s password vulnerabilities in over 15 different areas.
Once you have identified users with vulnerable password, you can set the User must change password at next logon flag on those accounts. However, that doesn’t stop the user from selecting a different vulnerable password. If you want to actively block users from selecting breached passwords, you need a tool like Specops Password Policy with the Breached Password Protection service. In addition to blocking over 3 billion compromised passwords, the service is updated daily to protect your business from real world password attacks.


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Many companies are trapped in a traditional website redesign cycle. Every 2-5 years, the marketing team agrees the site design is looking “stale” and…
None of today’s small business success stories have gained or maintained their positions without embracing change, though many may at times they have felt like they were on a treadmill where, no matter how fast you run to stay ahead, someone else keeps turning up the speed.
Keyword research is the foundation of search engine optimization. Keyword data allows us to peek into consumers’ desires and analyze what they really want. Google AdWords Keyword Planner opens that window for us.
Here are the tools to help catapult your brand to new heights.
But I can say that over the past 25 years I’ve sold hundreds of millions of dollars of stuff. That stuff being everything in Pandora’s box that I had to sell just to stay alive. When I think what worked for me, here’s what I come up with…
As for the first quarter of 2014, perhaps the best social practices that can help increase audience engagement via Facebook, Twitter, etc. include…
It appears that not everyone believes information needs to be true or correct to share and as such, we are left with a ton of misinformation, like these 21 myths, tips and terrible SEO advice. Read the full article at Website Magazine – http://bit.ly/1j0dgkC Keywords: seo myths, tips, terrible seo advice
A payment provider should support a merchant’s payment needs, charge low fees, and scale as the business grows. Even though these requirements appear straightforward, it is not easy to choose a provider from the hundreds of options.
When Web professionals embark on a new project, they often resort to WordPress as an open-source application of assisting in the creation of the site.
Fortunately, there are steps that ’Net professionals can take to improve the online reputation of their brands in both the eyes of users and, perhaps, the search engines too.


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InterContinental Park Lane for sale
One of London's best-known hotels, the InterContinental in Park Lane, has been put on sale by InterContinental Hotels Group as it moves from owning to managing hotels. The hotel, which overlooks Hyde Park Corner, could fetch more than £200m, according to analysts. The group's first-half profits rose by 6 per cent to $286m.
Co-op boss retires after Lloyds deals
The boss of the Co-operative Group surprised the City yesterday by announcing his retirement, just weeks after buying 632 branches of Lloyds Banking Group to boost its high-street presence. Peter Marks will step down next May, after a six-year spell at the helm.
Italy's recession bites deeper
Italy's economy shrank 0.7 per cent in the second quarter, underlining a deepening recession, as austerity measures continue to affect everything from factory activity to consumer spending. The country's GDP fell for the fourth quarter in a row.
Lloyds worker in £2.4m fraud
A former Lloyds Bank worker in charge of online security has admitted her part in a £2.4m fraud. Jessica Harper, 50, was accused of submitting false invoices between 2007 and 2011 while working as the head of fraud and security for digital banking. She will be sentenced on 21 September.
Falling prices hit Xstrata's profits
Xstrata, which is pursuing a £57bn merger with Glencore, reported a 42 per cent fall in first-half profits as commodity prices fell sharply. The FTSE 100 miner said operating profits were $2.45bn (£1.57bn), down from $4.24bn last time, and blamed a "cyclical downturn in commodity prices".
Jubilee's slump blow is softened
The Jubilee slump for Britain's manufacturers did less damage to the overall economy than originally feared, official figures showed yesterday. The extra holiday for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee sent manufacturing output sliding 2.9 per cent in June. The 0.7 per cent second-quarter fall the ONS estimated should be 0.6 per cent.
Bellway bends succession rules
The housebuilder Bellway has bent the rules on City best practice by naming its chief executive, John Watson, as its next chairman. Mr Watson said: "In housebuilding you need a bit of experience and continuity." Current chairman, Howard Dawe, has been with Bellway since 1961.
Legal & General's profits surprise
Legal & General said it was braced for more shocks from the eurozone, but produced a better-than-expected 5 per cent rise in operating profits to £518m for the first six months of 2012. The improvement, driven by strong sales of corporate and housing protection insurance, saw profits at L&G's risk division climb by 15 per cent.
Kenyon moves to HMV finance job
HMV has hired Ian Kenyon from Carphone Warehouse as its group finance director, in the latest management reshuffle at the beleaguered entertainment retailer. Mr Kenyon, who was the finance chief of the joint venture Best Buy Europe, replaces David Wolffe. HMV is set to post an annual loss of £16m tomorrow.
Northern Ireland suffers jobs hit
Almost 11,000 jobs have been lost in the private sector in in the past two years, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Its Economic Outlook report predicts that the Northern Ireland economy will shrink further this year.Reuse content


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This installment of my “Retro T.O.” online column for The Grid was originally published on May 22, 2012.
Toronto Star, December 18, 1971.
To some, it provided a welcome respite from braving the elements on their lunch break. For others, especially those working in its retail outlets, it made them feel like a mole. The three kilometres of underground shopping malls and tunnels that 175,000 office workers passed through daily in May 1980 formed the spine from which today’s PATH system grew.
Since the opening of the Toronto-Dominion Centre’s sub-surface shopping complex in 1967, planners and developers envisioned an underground network connecting the core’s major business, shopping, and transportation facilities. One of the first reports commissioned by the city was 1968’s “On Foot Downtown,” which concluded that downtown pedestrians required a space that wasn’t impeded by industrial pollution, noise, traffic congestion, or too many of their fellow human beings. “We had reached the point where sidewalks couldn’t handle all the people,” former Toronto planning commissioner Matthew Lawson told the Star in 1980. “At the same time, all our forecasts said such conditions would only worsen because of the growth of the downtown work force.”
It was hoped that a climate-controlled underground route would avert these problems and provide protection from Mother Nature—as Toronto development commissioner Graham Emslie told the Star in 1971, “let’s face it, there are a hell of a lot of days you’d just as soon not walk outside.” The first major connection in the primordial PATH, which linked Nathan Phillips Square to the Richmond-Adelaide Centre, opened in January 1973. By May 1980, apart from a gap at Adelaide Street that became a haven for jaywalkers, one could wander underground from City Hall to Union Station.
Toronto Star, November 17, 1973. Click on image for larger version.
While many users extolled the network’s conveniences, some urban planners and consultants were alarmed by the potential effects on surface life. An adviser to a planned revitalization of Yonge Street found it “worrisome” that in the future, people would take the subway downtown, shop at the Eaton Centre and other underground shopping complexes, then head home without ever setting foot outdoors. “We don’t want to become a city of moles,” noted Toronto planning and development commissioner Steve McLaughlin. To mitigate such a fate, a recently written central plan for the city encouraged developers to place higher priority on street-level retail in future buildings. According to McLaughlin, “we don’t want the downtown streets to contain nothing more than block after block of office lobbies.”
Toronto Star, May 3, 1980. Click on image for larger version.
Back underground, Downtown Business Council president David Arscott provided the Star with a shopping list of improvements. Filling the gap under Adelaide Street was critical, as was a proper orientation system to give users a sense of which surface landmarks they were wandering under. Complaints Arscott received that required addressing included narrow walkways, poor lighting, low ceilings, and boring street entrances. “We are still in a primitive stage of the art,” said Arscott. “We have a lot to learn from experience.”
Downtown Toronto underground pedestrian mall system, 1981. City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 200, Series 1465, File 408, Item 5.
Within the next decade, some of those issues were resolved. The Adelaide gap was fixed in 1984, while a tunnel opened under Bay Street in 1990 that properly connected the Eaton Centre and Simpsons (now The Bay) to the rest of the PATH. Signage would long remain a problem, one caught between city politicians who wanted clear wayfinding versus landlords who didn’t want to create the impression that the network was a truly public space.
“People bound for jobs in the financial district pour out of Union station into the underground mall section of the Royal Bank Plaza. It’s been described as an ‘environmental vaccuum’ by some due to the poor artificial lighting and the mechanically recirculated stale air.” Photo by Erin Combs, 1985. Toronto Star Photo Archive, Toronto Public Library.
While a few people may have mutated into moles over the years, the surface streets remain filled with those seeking a breath of unfiltered air during the workday.
Additional material from the December 18, 1971, January 11, 1973, and May 3, 1980 editions of the Toronto Star.


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The release of new football kits is always an exciting moment as it triggers the countdown to the new season.
While some of the new releases prove to be popular, there are always a few shockers appearing in the away and third kit markets.
Commemorative kits have cropped up over the years, as have special European ones, but how many do you remember?
talkSPORT has unearthed nine kits you may have forgotten existed from some of England’s biggest clubs.
Click the arrow, above, right to see some of these neglected ensembles.
Have we missed any rare kits? Let us know in the comments section below!


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LEGO DC Villains Will Be Announced on May 29, Teaser Website Opens
A viral campaign has just started with a countdown that will expire in seven days, and the images of the protagonist of this initiative in full Joker style leaves no doubt that Warner Bros. Games will unveil LEGO DC Villains to the world.
After LEGO The Incredibles, it seems that WB Games is working on a second LEGO game, as leaked by the rumors that emerged a few months ago. Today the publisher has opened a teaser website (called Chaos is Coming) with a countdown that ends on May 29th.
The site does not contain any other details but fortunately, the Facebook page of LEGO Batman has been updated with cover and avatar that would suggest a game set in the DC Comics universe, almost certainly revealing the much-rumored LEGO DC Villains (working title), which will feature the supervillains of the DC world.
At the moment, unfortunately, there are no details on this mysterious project, we just have to wait until the end of the countdown to learn more. According to rumors, LEGO DC Villains will be released by the end of the year (probably in November) on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
#CHAOSisCOMING https://t.co/zE7xZE1rtu pic.twitter.com/nfBgU4utmE
— TT Games (@TTGames) May 23, 2018


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Retail inflation fell to an 11-month low of 5.88% in November, mainly due to lower food prices, official data showed today.
This is the first time in 11 months that the retail inflation print has been within the RBI’s 4(+/-2)% tolerance range.
Retail inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI) was 6.77% in October 2022 and 4.91% in November last year.
According to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), food basket inflation was 4.67% in November, down from 7.01% the previous month.
After staying above the upper 6% tolerance threshold set by the Reserve Bank since January, retail price inflation fell to its lowest level in 11 months. In December 2021, retail price inflation stood at 5.66%.
The Reserve Bank said last week that the worst of inflation was behind us, but there is no room for complacency in the fight against rising prices. The central bank also said it would keep “Arjuna’s eye” (close attention) on changing inflation dynamics and that projected inflation is expected to remain above 4% over the next 12 months. month.
Last week, the RBI’s interest rate setting panel raised the benchmark rate by 35 basis points to 6.25%, taking cumulative rate hikes to 2.25% since May 2022.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)


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06 March 2023
Switchcom Distribution, a leading South African ICT distributor, and Tarana, manufacturer of the carrier-grade Gigabit 1 (G1) next-generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) platform, are partnering to bridge the digital divide in southern Africa.
The Tarana G1 platform allows operators to deliver reliable, high-speed internet, in either 3GHz licensed or 5GHz license-exempt spectrum, resulting in an unparalleled user experience. The G1 platform is known for its exceptional interference cancellation and non-line-of-sight performance, delivering up to 9.6Gbps per site and 800Mbps per link, even in challenging conditions. With world-class sales, support, and service teams, Switchcom Distribution is well-equipped to meet the growing demand for G1 in South African markets.
“As an authorized distributor of Tarana in South Africa, Switchcom is excited to carry the next-generation of fixed wireless technology. G1 puts our wireless customers truly shoulder-to-shoulder with fibre providers in terms of speed, performance, and scalability. Together we will narrow the digital divide in Africa,” said Mandie van Zyl, general manager at Switchcom Distribution.
“We look forward to leveraging Switchcom’s robust experience to benefit our joint customers and their end-users in South Africa,” said Tarana’s vice president of worldwide sales, Mike Calabrese. “Enabling operators to provide fibre-class speeds at a fraction of the cost and time to deploy will bring quality broadband to African communities on significantly shorter timelines and with far superior network economics.”


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The restaurant business is notoriously brutal. Yet Sacramento has a long list of successful independent owners who keep up to a dozen or more locations thriving.
What’s their secret? It goes without saying that consistently excellent food and service are critical. But successful multi-location restaurant owners tend to agree on these ingredients as well:
- Pick good people and treat them well.
- Be there. Successful owners say they visit all their locations often.
- Sweat the details. Be willing to immerse yourself in questions of inventory and bookkeeping.
- Be prepared to reinvent your business — repeatedly.
If everything goes right, a multi-location independent chain can enjoy both the advantages of a franchise — such as economies of scale — and the advantages of an authentic original.
And having a strong local identity can be a big asset in the capital area, several restaurant experts say.
“The people in Sacramento really enjoy the nonchain restaurants,” said Keith Simpson, a restaurant broker with Restaurant Realty Co. in San Rafael. “Customers in Sacramento like their local brands.”
A home-field advantage
Independent restaurateurs naturally have an edge in Sacramento, agreed Trevor Sanders, a restaurant consultant associated with the private-equity firm DCA Capital Partners in Roseville.
Landlords in this region often consider successful local eateries prize tenants, said Sanders, who also is a partner in some locations of the local chains Dos Coyotes and Jack’s Urban Eats. That is not the case in a lot of cities, where landlords want brand-name franchises or corporate-owned stores.
“The landlords in Sacramento really tend to want to support local restaurants,” Sanders said. With a successful local operator, “the landlord knows what they are getting. It’s just like the customers know what they are getting.”
Consistency is one of the values of a franchise, which has a system its restaurants must follow. But that can make franchise operations inflexible, experts say.
A local chain can have the best of both worlds by being small enough to adapt quickly, yet large enough to establish a recognizable brand.
“You know what you are going to get when are going to that restaurant,” said Simpson. “If you liked the restaurant downtown, you know you will probably like his other one in midtown or in Roseville.”
Turning one into many
The first restaurant is the hardest to do, Simpson said. You have to pick the right menu, customer type, location and price level. If it works, the second location should be easier, he said.
There are tangible benefits to operating multiple locations. For one thing, you get better deals on everything from supplies to insurance.
But there are dangers. Opening a second location is “totally different than the first,” said restaurant consultant Bill Bender, principal of W.H. Bender & Associates in San Jose. “All of a sudden (the owner’s) attention is away from the first, and sometimes the first one suffers.”
Success with one location doesn’t guarantee success with a second, Bender added. “You have to know who your customer is and what you are trying to serve,” he said. “You have to know your marketing plan and your customer before you open the space.”
For example, a casual 2,000-square-foot restaurant that’s successful at the beach likely won’t work with 9,000 square feet in the suburbs. And a successful family restaurant in the suburbs likely won’t work downtown.
The right location also is critical to good management, several successful owners said. Distance is your enemy.
“It is important to not have restaurants too far apart. As you become too distant, it becomes too difficult to manage them properly,” Simpson said.
Knowing the details — and good bookkeeping — are critical, said Randy Paragary, owner of Paragary Restaurant Group. “This is a business, and business is measurable. You have to keep track of what you are doing and you have to know what is going on,” Paragary said.
“The farther you are away geographically, the more you rely on other people,” he added. “You have a more favorable likelihood of success if you can keep it close.”
The hard part is the people
The key to success for restaurants — and for most businesses — is having the right people, said restaurant consultant Bender.
“A lot of people have this dream of being an independent sole proprietor, but you cannot do it all yourself,” he said. “You need to build a team, attract talented people and retain talented people.”
For one successful restaurant, an owner needs to build a team, and for multiple locations, those team members become even more important, Bender said, because they will be supervising themselves.
“You have to spend the time and money to develop these people, and then — guess what? — you have to let them do what they do,” Bender said.
That doesn’t mean you can put your restaurants on autopilot, however. Successful multi-location owners say they visit relentlessly.
“I’m not in every store every day, but I’m in all the stores every week,” said Bobby Coyote, owner of Dos Coyotes Border Grill. “You have to be.”
He opened his first restaurant in Davis in 1991, and the second one came in 1994. As he has added more stores, he’s spent more time on the road.
Some of his employees have worked with him for years, but for a lot of employees over the years, his kitchen has been their first restaurant job — or first job.
“When you are dealing with teenagers who have never had a job before, you have to train them,” he said. “You don’t have to yell at them, but you have to teach them. I find that people like to learn skills.”
The hardest part of having multiple locations “is keeping the same quality of food and the same quality of service,” said Haru Sakata, CEO of Mikuni Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar, the restaurant group owned by Taro Arai. “We have to keep going around and make sure that everything is good.”
Unlike franchise operations, an independent chain is a group of stores generally with the same ownership — though different partnerships may own some locations. Major local restaurant chains include:
Crepeville, Burgers & Brew
Founded by: Derar Zawaydeh, 1990
Locations: Five — Sacramento, Davis and Chico
Chicago Fire Pizza
Founded by: Eric Schnetz, 2003
Locations: Four — Folsom, Roseville, Sacramento
Dos Coyotes Border Cafe
Founded by: Bobby Coyote, 1991
Locations: Seven — Davis, Roseville, Sacramento, Elk Grove, Folsom
Fat Family Restaurants
Founded by: Frank Fat, 1939
Locations: Four — Sacramento, Roseville, Folsom
Jack’s Urban Eats
Founded by: Tony Babcock and Greg Virga, 1998
Locations: Ten — Sacramento, Roseville, Folsom, Gold River, Davis, Santa Rosa; one under construction in Fresno
Mikuni Japanese restaurant & Sushi, Taro’s
Founded by: Koki and Komichi Aria, 1987
Locations: Eight — Sacramento, Roseville, Elk Grove, Fair Oaks, Davis, Truckee
Paragary Restaurant Group
Founded by: Randy Paragary, 1974
Locations: Five Cafe Bernardos — Sacramento, Davis; four other restaurants: Paragary’s Bar & Oven, Esquire Grill, Centro, Hock Farm — all in Sacramento
Paesanos, Pronto, Uncle Vito’s
Founded by:Dave Virga and Mark Scribner, 1996
Locations: Three Paesanos — Sacramento, Davis, Elk Grove; two Uncle Vito’s— Sacramento, Davis; Pronto — Sacramento
Founded by: Fred and Matt Haines, 1995
Locations: Two Bistro 33s — Davis, El Dorado Hills; three other restaurants: 33rd Street Bistro, Riverside Clubhouse, Suzie Burger — all in Sacramento
Locally based franchises
A franchise is a system of company and investor-owned locations that operate with a uniform set of rules, menus and procedures. Franchises are regulated and overseen by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and they must meet complex and extensive disclosure, registration and filing requirements. Franchisees pay the franchisor for the use of the franchise, and in return they get support, training and sometimes marketing. They generally also get many rules and restrictions.
Some locally based restaurant franchisors include:
Beach Hut Deli — 37 locations
Buckhorn — 11 locations
La Bou — 21 locations
Jimboy’s — 39 U.S. locations; seven now under development in India
Mr. Pickles — 37 locations
Original Pete’s Pizza, Pete’s Restaurant Brewhouse — 12 locations
Steve’s Pizza — four locations
Strings Restaurant Group — 21 locations
Mark Anderson covers agriculture, banking and finance, restaurants and hospitality for the Sacramento Business Journal.


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It seems that the time of the Nexus 5X and 6P (and Nexus devices in general) is officially over. The devices come with the security patch november 2018 may be their last update received, and are no longer Google supported.
Nexus 6P and Nexus, 5X-updates are not more
Just like some other smartphonefabrikanten makes Google clear from the beginning to when are smartphones receive updates. On a support page you can read exactly when the search giant’s new Android-based versions, and guaranteed security updates promises, so that as a user you know where you stand. Unfortunately we have only news, because it seems that the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P yesterday, the latest software update have had.
On the support page states that the Nexus 5X and 6P after november 2018 will no longer have to rely on security patches. New Android versions were already longer no more released: the support for this was in september 2017, shortly after the release of Android 8.0 (Oreo). Remarkably enough, were both units in december 2017, still with windows 8.1.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the Nexus-phones not get updates. Google extended the ‘updateperiode ” earlier this year, two months, and it’s quite possible that Google is in critical problems later a patch will come out. The chance is larger that Google the to the security update of november, and focuses on the Pixel devices.
Users of the original Google Pixel sit still until October 2019 good, though it gets the phone next year, probably no update to Android Q. The support of the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL matures in October 2020, which means that these phones Android Q and R will get. The new Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL received until October 2021 updates, and can even count on an update to Android S. The smartphones are released with Android 9.0 (Pie).
→ Guide: the most frequently asked questions about Android security updates
Also interesting: Google required manufacturers to two years of Android updates
The latest news about Google
- So do you get the Google Home Hub (and other Google products) to the Netherlands (6-11)
- This are the new Google Home, and Assistant functions of the NOS (6-11)
- Google gives Android security update november 2018 (5-11)
- App Cloner removed from Play Store: these are alternatives (3-11)
- With Gboard you make your own emoji stickers on your selfie (31-10)


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In the US, Amazon has made significant improvements to its grocery offer. Amazon usually launches new initiatives in the US and then replicates elsewhere, so these developments might provide a guide for your market.
There are three key reasons Amazon is prioritising the US.
- It’s Amazon’s largest market, it’s estimated it has over 100m Prime members, it delivered $160bn net sales (68% of the worldwide total). It’s also a profitable market, with the North American region achieving $7.3bn of net income in 2018.
- Amazon has an established grocery business to develop. The $13.7bn acquisition of Whole Foods Market, means it has 479 stores and $17bn net sales.
- There’s a sizeable opportunity; we forecast that the US grocery market is worth $1,520bn and online only accounts for 2% of the market.
The five big developments:
1. Moving to one-day delivery
Amazon will invest US$1.5bn in its fourth quarter so Prime members get free one-day delivery (it used to be two-day). It wants to make its offer more convenient and differentiate versus competitors, to help it acquire and retain customers. Amazon is incurring additional costs, such as buying inventory and transporting stock closer to shoppers’ homes. We expect Amazon to respond by opening more stores, using them as micro fulfilment centres to reduce last mile delivery costs.
Source: IGD Research
2. Offering single unit deliveries
Amazon is now offering Prime members free one-day deliveries of single items for as little as $1. Previously, to protect profit, Amazon offered these as add-on items for orders over $25. Through this development Amazon can now cater for the top up mission and its product assortment will improve (many branded manufacturers restricted their ranges to larger packs to deliver a profit).
Amazon will remain focused on profitability and will continue to make the supply chain more efficient, with initiatives such as shipping products within their own container. It also has a huge opportunity to improve profitability through Amazon Advertising, a business that delivered $10bn net sales last year.
3. Rapid delivery through Amazon Fresh
Amazon Fresh has always offered a broad range, capable of meeting shoppers’ needs for a ‘main shop’ mission, but that same range is now available with a delivery within the hour. Amazon is investing to make its offer more convenient and to differentiate versus competitors. It means that Amazon Fresh can cater for all missions, such as food for now, food for later today, top up, main shop, stock up and planned events.
4. Amazon Fresh free for Prime members
Amazon has removed the $14.99 fee for Prime members wanting to use Amazon Fresh, and made deliveries free of charge from Whole Foods Market. It’s invested in Whole Foods stores, so they can fulfil online orders. This has increased Amazon’s order capacity, enabling Prime members, from across the country to place an online grocery order. Amazon now has the confidence to scale, having established picking and fulfilment processes that deliver against its value of operational excellence.
Amazon has consistently invested in its Prime offer and has put through several price increases (originally $79 to $99 to its current $119/ year). It needs to improve its offer, as the US online market is intensely competitive. For instance, Walmart recently launched unlimited delivery for an annual fee of $98 and Kroger is rolling out Ocado’s successful Smart Platform.
5. Trialing new stores
In addition to rolling out checkout-free stores, Amazon Go, next year, it’s reported that Amazon will open non-Whole Foods Market stores across the country. These stores will help drive awareness of Amazon’s grocery offer, help it acquire new Prime shoppers and act as mini fulfilment centres, close to shoppers’ homes, thereby reducing last mile delivery costs and enabling rapid delivery.
Source: IGD Research
Learn more and stay up-to-date
If you’d like to learn more about Amazon then please visit our Amazon retailer page, or read our Amazon Strategic Outlook report. You can also keep up with the latest online and digital developments by signing up to our free monthly newsletter.
We look at the scale and scope of the US online channel, key trends shaping its development, retailer strategies and the growth opportunity over the next five years.
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Spar to add EV charging points to stores in Hungary
05 August 2019
5 August 2019
Food retail chain Spar has announced that it will begin to build an electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in Hungary.
The supermarket business has 500 locations in the country and will take the initiative to establish a chain of charging points before sales of the vehicles increase following investment from major manufacturers.
Currently, Hungary is home to around 6,000 EVs, but with CO2 emissions targets for 2020 and 2021, carmakers are pushing development and sales of plug-in technology. Across Europe, there is a need to expand charging infrastructure, especially in public areas, and even more so where consumers can be active during the long wait required to fully top up a vehicle battery.
Initially, the charging services will be offered free of charge to shoppers, which will likely net Spar a bonus from EV drivers with immediate effect. How long the offer remains was not stated, however.
The first installation was carried out by by NKM, which installed 66 EVBox charge points at 17 high traffic locations in the country. EVBox is one of the largest EV charging station and software manufacturers, with more than 75,000 charging points in more than 55 countries, according to the manufacturer.
′This kind of service sets SPAR apart from many other retailers and offers shoppers an additional service to improve their shopping experience,’ states EV Box in a release. ′Especially in a country where one-third of the population lives in apartment buildings, with limited access to (private) charging stations, many EV drivers are dependent on (semi) public chargers.’
The installation of charging points in supermarkets would give instant access to charging to a vast swathe of a country’s population. With many unable to have a charger at home, a car park where shopping can be done while the battery tops up is an ideal location.
Spar is following the example of Tesco in the UK, which last year announced a partnership with Volkswagen to install 2,400 charging bays across 600 stores within the next three years. The scheme, which will be powered by Pod Point, will offer customers of the supermarket the opportunity to charge their EV for free using a normal 7kW charger – or to make use of a faster 50kW point for a small cost, in line with the market rate.
Superstore brands Ikea and Lidl have also announced plans to embrace the EV revolution by adding further charging stations to their car parks. Ikea has a goal of equipping all German locations with fast-charging stations by 2020 and Lidl plans to install 40 charging points at its stores across Ireland.


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Apple Seeks More Incentives to Expand India Facilities, New PLI Schemes in the Works
India has wanted to lessen its dependence on Chinese electronics products for a long time as they are a major source of its import dependence on the country.
This goal aligns with the larger ‘Make in India’ narrative, now additionally repurposed in the wake of COVID-19 into ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ or Self-Reliant India.
Chinese smartphone brands like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Realme currently hold three-fourths market share in India – which also necessitate India’s efforts to develop indigenous production and innovation capacity.
Apple, the Cupertino-based technology giant is keen to tap into this localization narrative by reducing its export-oriented production in China and expanding to India instead. However, to achieve this, Apple is demanding more incentives to counter critical gaps in India’s supply chain.
India seeks a win-win situation – lowering Chinese market share and encouraging FDI for domestic capacity-building
India’s smartphone market is presently a concentration of foreign players led by Chinese brands. Chinese phones commanded 75 percent of India’s smartphone market in 2020 – the highest since 2014 and up from 71 percent in 2019, according to research from data firm Counterpoint. Xiaomi Corp dominated the India smartphone market and occupied a 26 percent share in 2020.
Given the size and rapid growth projections of the Indian smartphone market, particularly in tier 2 and 3 cities, other leading international non-Chinese players, like Apple and Samsung, also want to secure a larger presence.
Last year, Apple, through its contract manufacturers Foxconn, Wistron, and Pegatron, was able to tap into the sector-specific Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to gain incentives by setting up in India. The PLI scheme was introduced to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in mobile phone manufacturing and specified electronic components, including Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) units.
Since 2017 and 2018, Apple had begun assembling some iPhone models in India (iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 6s) – increasing operations via Foxconn and Wistron. Another supplier, Pegatron, set up its base in India last year. Wistron, however, was put on probation in December 2020 as operations in its south Indian plant (Narasapura) were affected over non-payment of workers that led to violence.
Altogether, the three Apple suppliers had committed to about US$900 million and hiring 1000s of workers over five years to make iPhones in India.
New PLI schemes expected
Irrespective of the blow to the PLI scheme after Wistron’s probation, India is keen on expanding it to develop its industrial capacity.
This year, according to a recent Reuters report, India could offer new incentives to electronics manufacturers that would cover production of tablets, laptops, and servers.
The new PLI scheme, that will offer cash-back to manufacturers for exports, is expected to have a budget of up to INR 70 billion (US$964.5 million) over five years as per sources quoted in the media.
More information is awaited from the government on this plan as well as others currently being floated to boost other product segments like wearable devices.
What Apple is seeking from India
Apple is widely reported to be lobbying for a bigger budgetary outlay of INR 200 billion (approx. US$2.70 billion) to start manufacturing iPads for the first time in the country – before the new PLI scheme for the sector gets finalized.
A major reason being that India does not currently have the scale or the supply chain for making such products. For one, the manufacture of chips in India is still a weak point. The government policy of not reimbursing costs of failed chip projects till after a new project has been set up – may be why the area has lagged. Second, the Indian market is flooded with competitive duty-free imports of tech products. Also, the batteries used in the devices are made from lithium that India imports; China has one of the world’s largest lithium reserves.
Nevertheless, Apple is serious about diversifying its production facilities in Asia – looking at both India and Vietnam. The impetus for this began during the US-China trade war and will likely remain as geopolitical sensitivities inject volatility into the market. Foxconn has reportedly invested US$270 million into building a new factory in Vietnam in order to expand production capacity.
A final catch
Yet, even if Apple intends to have more facilities in India – the products will be assembled by its contract manufacturers.
The Apple products, iPad and MacBook, are assembled by Taiwan’s Compal Electronics and China’s BYD Electronic International.
This could be problematic as India is not keen on inviting further Chinese technology investments. One way the government appears to want to see this play out is if Apple opts for any of its non-Chinese contract manufacturers.
India Briefing is produced by Dezan Shira & Associates. The firm assists foreign investors throughout Asia from offices across the world, including in Delhi and Mumbai. Readers may write to email@example.com for business support in India.
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text: Greeks stocks jumped more than 5 percent yesterday, outperforming gains on major European bourses, as expectations of an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank this week helped boost equity sentiment. The Athens Exchange’s benchmark general index added 5.24 percent to 2,229.59 points, racking up gains of almost 30 percent over the last six sessions. National Bank, the country’s largest, leapt 10.68 percent to 19.20 euros, while gaming company OPAP rose 7.20 percent to 18.16 euros. Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling, the world’s second-largest bottler of Coke products, advanced 5.25 percent to 12.42 euros. The company is scheduled to announce third-quarter earnings today, before the start of trade. Turnover reached 275.4 million euros versus 237 million in the previous session.


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The young salt who cut his teeth at Oceanaire and Sazerac before becoming the opening chef of Toulouse Petit three years ago is leaving his Cajun playground behind and opening his own place--something many of us in the food community have been eagerly awaiting.
Donnelly, a big fisherman, will be creating a seafood-centric menu with a few handmade pastas thrown in.
"The majority of [the menu] will be seafood and shellfish, a large oyster list, geoduck, clams, mussels, calamari, octopus, some cool fish from the east coast, like striped bass, bluefish, John Dory and local stuff," says Donnelly. "I don't want to do swordfish or tuna--things that are high on the food chain. I'll focus on the really middle to low-end of the food chain, like sardines, smelt, sand dabs, which forces you to be a better cook."
Donnelly describes his new space as not huge, but stacks well.
"I think once it's all filled with people, it'll have a really good vibe. Natural lighting, skylights and all of these big windows--the energy in the building as it stands already is so good. It's like, 'Ah, this was meant to be!'"
In addition to the good vibe, there's huge rolling doors that open onto a street-facing patio, a downstairs dining room that seats about 40, an open bar, open kitchen and a rustic staircase that connects a mezzanine level with more seating and eventually another bar.
"I love cooking seafood. I love the educational piece, the ability to teach people about fisheries. Over some time, there's been several models, but what RockCreek is going to become is really cool: globally sourced sustainable fisheries and spirits. That's going to be our focus."