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DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES / ACCESSWIRE / December 9, 2019 / Blockchain-based online community management platform GLBrain that aims to make communication, content sharing, and networking transparent and faster, has now amassed more force to reach its full potential. This is because it now has Dr. Evan Luthra, an acclaimed blockchain investor, and mentor, at the helm of its product cycle and upcoming Token Sale.
GLBrain won £50,000 from Dr. Evan Luthra in London this October
CEO of GLBrain, Dr. Wolfgang Pinegger said that he is excited to have Evan on board. He said that he is positive that Dr. Luthra's rich experience in building and scaling technology companies from the ground up will go a long way in giving GLBrain the direction it needs to achieve its goals.
Dr. Evan Luthra is a young entrepreneur but has the business acumen of a seasoned innovator and investor. He embarked on his entrepreneurial venture when he was just 13 years old. However, within a short period, he was already building ingenious mobile apps and investing in technologies that he knew would revolutionize industries.
In a matter of a few years alone, Evan has gained mastery over blockchain technology and helped bring numerous products in the industry to completion. Today, he is sharing his wisdom and experience with forward-thinking entrepreneurs and blockchain pioneers around the world to pave the path for a better future.
"Having received both financial backing and business direction from Evan, I feel like we have the perfect man on our team", Pinegger said. "We have already built a platform that's robust and truly one-of-a-kind. Now that Evan has shared his vision for the project, we are confident that we will introduce the world to a revolutionary online community management platform."
Apart from Dr. Evan Luthra, who is alone a huge addition to the GLBrain team, "The Bitcoin Man" Herbert R. Sim has also decided to be a part of the project as a key advisor. He is a well-known entrepreneur, writer, philanthropist, and investor and also the founder of Crypto Chain University (CCU). His experience in the blockchain industry will be of huge help for the GLBrain team.
GLBrain is a new-age online community management, social network, and marketing platform that uses the features of blockchain technology and distributed ledger technology to deliver solutions for our future. It offers its users a unique range of communication, content-sharing, and community management and online marketing functions while at the same time giving them absolute privacy and ownership over their data
Name: Wolfgang Pinegger
Email ID: [email protected]


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It’s no secret the houseboat industry has had a tough time over the last few years. Economic turbulence here and abroad even caused several prominent manufacturers to close their doors. But houseboaters are a passionate bunch, and if last year’s sales numbers are any indication, these folks are starting to open their wallets and expand their horizons once more.
In this year’s edition of our annual “state of the houseboat industry” survey, we reached out to the segment’s premier manufacturers to hear about their latest models and consumer news, concentrating on those builders who have strong connections to the Heartland area. What we heard back was a growing sense of optimism, with some builders claiming that 2012 was their best year since 2008.
Bravada Yachts / Axiom Yachts
The newest company in our radar, Bravada Yachts, is busy reshaping its product line for 2013. Founded three years ago in Phoenix, Ariz., it focuses on the Lake Powell and California markets but has established a growing Heartland presence as well. The up-and-comer reports that 2012 was its strongest year yet, during which time it even teamed up with the Discovery Channel to film a houseboating lifestyle show.
The Bravada LT, GT, Limited and Custom models range from 75 to 85 feet in length and from 18 to 22 feet in width, with adaptable interior arrangements and sleek, glass-panel exterior walls. The models offer energy-saving options like solar packages, geothermal water-source heat pumps and ultraviolet water purification systems.
The builder’s value-driven line is the Adventure Series, measuring from 45 to 75 feet in length. By using a different manufacturing process and limiting changes to the main- and second-floor structures, Bravada can better control the cost of these models.
New for 2013, Bravada’s will introduce its first production houseboat line under the name Axiom Yachts. These “crossover” vessels blend the function of a houseboat and the form of a sport cruiser. Available lengths include 55 and 65 feet, with two floor plan choices. The two-stateroom model is open for entertaining; the four-stateroom model is more family friendly. A 16-foot beam and one-piece second level that’s put on at the destination will help keep transportation costs down. This bridge deck has wraparound seating, a helm station, wet bar, four pedestal seats, sun top and screening.
Destination Yachts of Montgomery, Ind., used the fiscal downturn to concentrate on product development. Its new Elite Series is “something not anticipated from Destination Yachts,” according to owner Sheldon Graber. Imagine a feature-loaded, full hull, custom model stretching up to 95 feet in length. Starting in the $500,000 to 600,000 price range, the first boat ordered boasts glass walls and offers remote control of a variety of operating systems via iPad.
At the same time, Destination is also focusing on producing high-value smaller boats for its entry-level customers and is confident enough of its future that it rejected a buyout offer last year and is looking for a larger facility. The company also recently introduced fiberglass pontoon models for saltwater markets.
MetroSHIP Modern Houseboats
Making a name for itself out of Atlanta, MetroSHIP Modern Houseboats is another relative newcomer that’s having success and adding models to its line. These vessels are primarily designed as high-end, “floating loft apartments” meant to be moored in urban areas — with translucent walls that seem to glow in the dark from the interior lighting. Recent models have been shipped to California, New Jersey, the Hamptons and even Saudi Arabia.
The brand’s newest projects, built on fiberglass catamaran hulls measuring 42 feet in length, will be used as hotel rooms in New England. These cats can also be produced in 8.5-foot by 26-foot trailerable or 10-foot by 36-foot deck boat versions. MetroSHIP is also producing hulls for other companies and for commercial applications.
Monticello River Yachts
Kentuckiana Yacht Services in Jeffersonville, Ind., maker of Monticello River Yachts, closed its doors last year. But then David Shaw, former vice president of operations, purchased the assets and started rebuilding. His first step has been producing parts and servicing Monticello and Jefferson Yacht customers, as well as offering brokerage services.
Also a designer with 40 years of experience, Shaw said his next step is to introduce a new product for today’s houseboaters. He is working on different ideas and hopes to have something under way this summer.
Pluckebaum Custom Boats
The folks at Pluckebaum Custom Boats in Prospect, Ky., have been hard at work performing maintenance on some if its houseboats and refurbishing others, including one that had been completely submerged. The makeover required that they gut the boat inside and out, taking it back to the bare aluminum, and fabricate a new radar arch, swim platform and window tracks before repainting it.
The company says it is looking to firm up some commitments for new commercial vessels this year while still keeping an eye on the recreational market.
Sailabration Houseboats of Powell, Tenn., split its time last year building new boats and refurbishing older ones. The company says it has enough customers ready for a new look that it currently has a backlog of people waiting. The owners of several older vessels requested to have their catwalks removed in order to create a more modern, wide-body style with greater interior room.
One of Sailabration’s newest boats, fully loaded and measuring 16 feet by 77 feet, was launched in Nashville last year before the owner cruised it to its new home on the Illinois River. Another boat was built exclusively to travel the Tennessee River, with 46-inch pontoons normally used on wider boats, twin 135-hp engines, thrusters, a satellite TV and GPS navigation system.
This La Crosse, Wis., company spent a lot of its time in 2012 retooling its sales and marketing efforts following acquisition by a new owner. Skipperliner finished a couple of boats started by previous management and then built two houseboats for demos and boat show use. These, says the builder, feature the best furnishings and appointments ever included on a Skipperliner.
One of these is a 16-foot by 65-foot vessel with a totally customized interior, right down to the maple cabinetry, two pop-up flatscreen TVs, window treatments, bath linens and dishes. There are two main-floor staterooms and two cuddies below in the 96-inch-deep hull. On the top deck, a large wet bar, gas grill and waterslide complete the picture.
The other new boat (17 feet by 57 feet) is being decorated by a well-known design firm. The interior will be stunning, says the company, and one of the below deck cuddies will be able to convert into an office by sliding the bed into the wall. An integrated package allows the owner to control most of the electrical functions remotely from a tablet or smartphone.
Stardust Cruisers reports that its sales have returned to the pre-2008 levels, but even with a backlog, it can still schedule for early summer delivery. The company has recently built boats destined for lakes in five states and has exported several more.
Buyers can currently choose from three hull designs: standard barge type, a new displacement hull or a catamaran. One particularly nice 18-foot by 90-foot model headed to Georgia had triple decks and a unique padded ceiling, patterned fabrics and LED lighting. Like all Stardust boats, it was built with wood-free walls. In the past year, the company has also installed a number of diesel generators in boats with gas engines for owners wanting greater economy and safety.
They’re back! The rights to Sumerset Houseboats were purchased by Thoroughbred Houseboats last April, and the company has retained many former personnel, easing the transition in ownership. In fact, it has already shipped one boat to its Atlanta dealer and has three others on order.
The revitalized builder plans to deliver its first glass-look yacht later this year, featuring glistening sides, sweeping front and rear edges, and white aluminum bulwarks to give the vessel a “yacht feel.” Sumerset says it will hold over some customer favorites — LED front logo, 32-inch deep aluminum hulls and forward open bridge design — plus add new features like 8-foot, 6-inch side walls.
During the slowdown in manufacturing, Sunstar Houseboats focused its attention on houseboat transportation and can now handle shipping of all sizes coast-to-coast. But with 2012 being its best sales year since 2009, look for lots of new boats to hit the water this year.
The latest vessel to roll out of the manufacturing facility was a model-year 2013 17-foot by 80-foot platform with twin MerCruiser sterndrives, a 14-kW generator, deck bridge with radar arch, 26-foot party top and top deck bar. It went to Lake Cumberland.
In addition acquiring the rights to Sumerset Houseboats last year, Thoroughbred Houseboats also acquired the 60,000-square-foot Fantasy factory designed specifically for houseboat manufacturing.
The company had a big year with its glass-sided boats, which allow for inventive layouts and lighting to create elegant, custom designs. A new, 10-foot-long fiberglass bar is more affordable than its granite-topped predecessor but still comes with a large sink, icemaker and refrigerator and works well as a breakfast buffet. Fiberglass canopy tops on larger bridges replace stick-built or canvas tops. Low-maintenance, simulated teak exterior decking is being used more, as are underwater lights that add impressive night views.
Thoroughbred reports that sales have “taken off” in the Russian houseboat market, and with the huge waterway system there, the company looks forward to greater growth in abroad. Finally, it is now also building for saltwater applications by using a different aluminum and bottom paint.
If you, like a growing number of people, are considering the purchase of a houseboat, the place to be is the In-Water Houseboat Expo on June 7, 8 and 9 at State Dock Marina on Lake Cumberland. More than 35 exhibitors will display their wares here, including both new and used models. You might just find that the temptation to live large on the water is almost impossible to resist.
Bravada Yachts, 602-278-3536, www.bravadayachts.com
Destination Yachts, 812-486-2628, www.destinationyachts.com
MetroSHIP Modern Houseboats, 818-357-4000, www.metro-ship.com
Monticello River Yachts, 502-419-7776, www.monticelloriveryachts.com
Pluckebaum Custom Boats, 502-569-9327, www.pluckebaum.com
Sailabration Houseboats, 865-947-4234, www.sailabrationhouseboats.com
Skipperliner Industries, 608-784-5110, www.skipperliner.com
Stardust Cruisers, 606-348-8466, www.stardustcruisers.com
Sumerset Houseboats, 606-340-3191, www.sumerset.com
Sunstar Houseboats, 606-348-6648, www.sunstarhouseboats.com
Thoroughbred Houseboats, 606-340-3191, www.thoroughbredhouseboats.com

domain: news


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Great Performances founder and C.E.O. Liz Neumark announced today that the catering company is taking on two Tentation Potel & Chabot alums. As he hinted to us back in December, Nicholas Daeppen has been named director of sales, while John Wyatt has been named senior event director.
Former managing director of the now-dissolved Tentation, Daeppen will manage the sale of all Great Performances events—from corporate and social affairs to galas, openings, and movie premieres. Wyatt spent the past eight years as Tentation's senior event director, producing such high-profile events as the Imperia North American launch and the Wildlife Conservation Society gala. In his new role, he will aim to grow Great Performances' fashion and luxury client list.
In other news, Strategic Group has hired Rebecca Chase as an event producer. Chase most recently served as general manager at RentQuest, where she worked for six years. In her new role, she will aid Strategic's event production team, which is presumably recovering from back-to-back events during the Super Bowl in Arizona and the NBA All-Star Game weekend in New Orleans.
The ever-growing Shadow PR, founded less than a year ago by Brad Zeifman and Lisette Sand-Fredman, has named Liza Bychkov as director. Formerly associate vice president of fashion and beauty at Susan Blond Inc., Bychkov oversaw national publicity campaigns for brands such as the Sports Club L.A. and for personalities including Damien Fahey and Marc Ecko. In her new role, Bychkov will head up publicity and events for the firm's fashion and beauty department, working with brands like Intermix and Armani Exchange.
In addition to relocating to Greenwich, Connecticut, Lisa Lori Communications has also named Lisa Rivera as a senior account executive. Formerly at Kao Brands, where she repped brands such as Jergens and Curel, Rivera will now be responsible for beauty, fashion, and retail accounts.


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(hennemusic) The 1974 Rush classic "Working Man" is featured in a new commercial for retail giant Walmart. "Working Man" appeared on the band's self-titled debut album.
The ad is part of a campaign to promote Walmart's support of American workers by investing $250 billion over the next ten years towards the purchase of products made by American factories.
Late last fall, Rush released a new live DVD entitled "Clockwork Angels Tour." The band were filmed and recorded in November, 2012 at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas for the project. Watch the commercial here.


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In early September, Mark Zuckerberg rushed to a Meta lab in Pittsburgh, sat in front of more than 100 high-definition cameras, and prepared to prove the metaverse critics wrong.
The photo shoot was designed to create a more realistic avatar in the likeness of the Meta CEO as the social media giant strives to show that its $10 billion annual bet on a futuristic 3D digital world known as the metaverse was not a fiasco.
In previous weeks, the Facebook founder had been the subject of public ridicule after an earlier cartoon-like avatar selfie went viral for all the wrong reasons.
This primitive image was widely derided as “cynical” and “soulless,” and pressured Zuckerberg to prove that he had not wildly misjudged his company’s future based on a metaverse vision that has seen more than $27 billion in operating losses over the past three years. years.
But the selfie section is just one of the hurdles for Zuckerberg, who believes the metaverse is the next natural evolution of online socialization and is expected to reveal the new avatar as soon as next week.
According to his notes and conversations with 10 current and former employees, the social media empire with 3 billion users is experiencing setbacks and difficulties as part of the transition to Meta and has already had to delay future launches and adjust expectations.
In a September note seen by the Financial Times, Vishal Shah, vice president of Meta’s metaverse arm, warned that users and creators are complaining about Horizon Worlds – the social virtual reality experience and the closest thing to a metaverse ever. It was low quality and full of bugs.
He ordered a “quality restraint” for the remainder of the year and told staff they needed to improve the fundamentals before any aggressive expansion. Shah added that staff working on the product needed to “reprioritize or slow down some of the things we’re planning,” adding that he lowered his target for user numbers for the second half of the year.
Some employees warned that morale had plummeted as teams were restructured to adapt to Zuckerberg’s new vision, which many had yet to embrace. “There are a lot of people in it who don’t wear it at all. [virtual reality] headphones,” said a metaverse employee.
Meta said in a statement that the company “confidents that the metaverse is the future of computing and should be built around humans.” “Of course we’re always making quality improvements and acting on feedback from our creator community. It’s a multi-year journey and we will continue to make what we’re building even better.”
to the metadata store
It’s been almost a year since Zuckerberg announced his Meta pivot. He said his plan is to eventually attract 1 billion users and “hundreds of billions of dollars a day in digital commerce,” which will take between five and 10 years.
From now on, Zuckerberg puts the social media network he founded in 2004 – and the vast majority of its $118 billion annual revenue today – into secondary status, saying “we’re going to be the metaverse, not Facebook first”. Reality Labs, the division dedicated to metadata, will see its workforce double to 20,000 engineers.
Meta currently has more than 83,000 staff members after rapidly expanding during the pandemic and snatched augmented and virtual reality engineering talent from rivals Microsoft and Apple as it sought to strengthen its metaverse team.
But the impetus to the metaverse comes as the group’s market cap has dropped from $1 trillion to less than $400 billion in the past 14 months. The company faces several challenges: a decline in digital ad revenue, slowing user growth on the Facebook platform, and increased competition from China-owned deep-pocketed rival TikTok.
Last week, Zuckerberg announced that hiring for most teams would be frozen and belt-tightened into 2023, given the tough macroeconomic backdrop. Employees were also ordered by Zuckerberg to work with “increased intensity” and “a sense of urgency,” according to a July memo.
Analysts and employees said the coming years will determine whether the metaverse shift is the answer to these problems – new revenue lines to catch up with the next generation of internet users, or a giant distraction that sucks resources and limits the company’s ability to reinvigorate its legacy product. and rebuild the ad infrastructure.
“The challenge is that they’re metaverse-focused because they haven’t invested in the core product that is Facebook and Instagram. “This is all a side show from the fact that Meta continues to clear its clock by TikTok,” said LightShed Partners analyst Rich Greenfield.
He added that Meta’s level of investment in the metaverse is “concerning” for investors. “The metaverse, as meta predicts, cannot be invested today. Nobody buys Meta for the metaverse”.
Since early 2019, more than $27 billion in operating losses have been reported for Reality Labs, Meta’s metadatabase and virtual reality division.
According to people familiar with the situation, investments have focused on the development of software for the 3D world, as well as hardware such as virtual and augmented reality headsets that can be used to log into the metadatabase. system.
Along with avatars to represent users on Metaverse, the company is working on activities beyond simple socializing to give them something to do, from exercising in virtual fitness programs to playing games and even venues for training.
In its final results in July, the company said it has $24 billion worth of non-cancellable contractual commitments “primarily related to our investments in servers, network infrastructure and consumer hardware products at Reality Labs.”
Meanwhile, the division’s revenues, which come largely from VR headset sales, fall short, in part due to the fact that the entire VR industry is developing more slowly than expected. In the second quarter, Reality Labs generated $452 million of total revenue of $28 billion, and the company warned that it expects Reality Labs revenue to be even lower next quarter.
“It’s a big gamble,” said one advertising executive. “If you get the timeline wrong [too early] 10 years later, the company is really in danger given how capital intensive this is.”
According to many current and former staff members, the recent restructuring and abandonment of various projects to prioritize the metadata warehouse has lowered morale, and some report an unhelpful split between metadata-focused staff and those in the old part of the business.
Devon Copley, CEO of Avatour, a virtual meeting company, said Meta “leads the industry” when it comes to developing hardware.
He warned, however, that the company is having a harder time developing software for the metaverse.
“The problem is the fragmented nature of the different software product teams and initiatives within Meta org,” he said, referring to constant restructurings, “frequent changes of direction” and the lack of a “coherent vision” for a social network that includes virtual. and augmented reality.
Already, the company is struggling to impress creators who build social experiences on the metaverse. According to a Meta note shared by someone on their Facebook profile, the creators complained at a roundtable last month that Horizon Worlds was “unstable and unreliable” and that Meta staff didn’t report bugs or give them updates ahead of launch.
“Employees don’t communicate well, otherwise there may be a shortage of staff and things can get out of hand,” said one metaverse employee.
In Shah’s memo, first reported by The Verge, Meta executive said the Horizon Worlds team had deliberately sought “faster shipping”, but that this had resulted in employees “compromising quality for the sake of speed.”
The bugs and stability issues were so bad, Shah stated that even Meta’s own employees didn’t use the product.
“The simple truth is, if we don’t love it, how can we expect our users to like it?”
#Zuckerbergs #metaverse #rush #pauses #quality #lockdown


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A new Harris study on Tuesday again gave Motorola, Verizon Wireless the lead in mobile categories in the 2011 Harris Poll EquiTrend.
Motorola outranked it in a large January survey of Americans, giving the Droid creator a top score of 64.4 among phone makers where Apple managed 59.3. It wasn’t even second place as the study also put HTC (60.6), Sony Ericsson (59.8), and even Nokia (59.5) slightly higher.
“There is still a large audience of consumers that aren’t interested in a smartphone running their life, and Apple doesn’t have a product to meet that need,” Harris Executive VP Jeni Lee Chapman said.
HP scored 69.9 where Apple was close at 68.3. The company had the advantage of its ubiquity in stores along with its long-serving brand name. Apple was still well ahead of Dell’s 64.1-point score.
Other scores were more in line with expectations. Verizon beat out AT&T for the most valued carrier brand, while Sony was at the forefront for general home electronics. Nintendo was the best reputed console maker to beat both Sony and Microsoft.
The rankings put a strong emphasis on brand equity, which Harris said included a mix of not just familiarity with a brand but its perceived quality and whether or not a buyer was likely to consider it.


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Honda plant reopens after shutdown
Thousands of car workers returned to the production line at one of the UK's biggest plants today after a four-month shut down.
Back to work: The Honda factory in Swindon resumes business
The Honda factory in Swindon, Wiltshire, resumed business this morning but the 3,400 workers and management staff returned to the factory for lower wages and will be producing far fewer cars this year.
During the shut down 1,300 workers took the company's offer of voluntary redundancy. The employees still at Swindon have agreed to a 3% pay cut for the next 10 months while managers are having pay reduced by 5% in the face of a big downturn in new car sales.
And around 400 people who returned to work have been given new roles or training as their jobs no longer exist.
Staff got full pay for the first two months of the shut down and around 60% for the last two months. With production halted Honda has spruced up the Swindon plant, stripping and rebuilding assembly lines and redecorating throughout.
New robots and machinery have been brought in to prepare for the new Honda Jazz Supermini which will start production at Swindon in September.
Director of Planning and Business Administration David Hodgetts was positive today about Honda's future. He said by the end of the month they hope to produce 600 cars a day. 'There was scepticism that we would reopen today so we are very happy that we have returned to work and that the overall climate is as we expected and has allowed us to reduce our stock levels,' he said.
'We have halved our production to match sales and we will gradually increase over the next few months so we are confident for the future. This has got to be seen as a good sign from an economic point of view; it does not mean the end of the recession but it means that things have stabilised and we can go forward with our plans.'
During the shutdown employees said they had been spending time with their families, taking other paid employment or doing community voluntary work.
Paul Wiseman, 33, who works in the engine department, said: 'We all understood the shutdown had to happen and we think it was a good idea.
'I'm pleased to be back at work and back into a routine. I have painted and decorated the whole house and kept the wife happy by doing all those jobs I never got around to doing. There are people who took the redundancy money and are still out of work. At least we have a job.'
Paul North, 38, an engine floating operator, said: 'Taking a 3% pay cut is not a big deal, it could have been worse. In Japan they are having to take 10%. Nobody wants to lose their jobs so if this safeguards jobs then we have to go with it.
'Everybody is glad to be back because four months off is a long time and there's only so much golf you can play. I think the new Jazz will be the making of Honda and of Swindon because people are going to buy the smaller cars during the recession.'
Honda had hoped to produce 228,000 vehicles at Swindon this year. Last November this figure was reduced to 175,000 when it was decided that production would stop in February and March.
In mid-January, Honda said the shutdown would last through April and May as well, and the 2009 production figure has now been set at just under 113,000.
Honda new car sales in the UK dipped more than 16% in April 2009 compared with April 2008 and sales for the first four months of this year are down more than 34%. The restart of production comes at a time when there is a glimmer of hope amid the motor industry gloom.
Last week, the government announced that the 'cash for bangers' car scrappage scheme had been an initial success, with 35,000 new cars being ordered since the initiative was first announced on 22 April. Nationally, new car sales have fallen 28.5% in the first four months of this year. But it is possible that the scrappage scheme could, at the very least, halt the rate of decline.
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Why Marissa Mayer Must Fix Yahoo's Mobile Advertising Business
Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer has brought a lot of attention to the lumbering Internet giant since taking its helm in July 2012.
She hired Katie Couric to become some sort of news anchor for the company, lured noted technology writer David Pogue away from the New York Times , and spent over $1 billion buying Tumblr. She also licensed Saturday Night Live episodes, announced the company was looking at producing original television-style shows, and has worked to turn Yahoo from a company that relies on Internet search and services like email to one that's a media company with proprietary content. Mayer has done everything possible to get attention for her evolving company -- she even posed for a spread in Vogue. But what she has not done is move Yahoo into offering a cohesive mobile experience. That has left the company struggling to grow revenue in a market where desktop is declining and mobile is growing.
How far behind is Yahoo?
In an earnings call with investors in January Mayer described Yahoo's mobile advertising revenue as "not material," CNET reported.
That's a frightening statement that shows that however far Mayer has moved the company, she has an enormous hurdle ahead.
Yahoo reported $453 million in display ad for the first quarter of 2014, flat compared to the first quarter of 2013. That's an accomplishment of sorts -- being flat in a down market is at least sort of a positive. But Yahoo did not break out how much of its revenue came from mobile ads, so you can assume the number is still "not material."
Facebook and Google rule mobile
Facebook , a Yahoo competitor that also had trouble making the transition to mobile, solved that problem and derived 53% of its advertising revenue from its mobile platforms in the fourth quarter of 2013 up from 23% in the same quarter last year.
Even Google -- which Yahoo battles for search revenue -- has made gains on the mobile ad front. Google does not break down where its ad revenue comes from, but eMarketer estimates that Google's global net advertising revenue will rise 14% to $43.5 billion in 2014, from $38.3 billion in 2013, and the company forecasts that a growing percentage of that number will be from mobile ads.
In fact in the mobile advertising world so far it's a two-horse race and Yahoo doesn't appear close to saddling up.
"Facebook and Google accounted for a majority of mobile ad market growth worldwide last year," eMarketer reported. "Combined, the two companies saw net mobile ad revenues increase by $6.92 billion, claiming 75.2% of the additional $9.2 billion that went toward mobile in 2013. The two companies are consolidating their places at the top of the market, accounting for more than two-thirds of mobile ad spending last year -- a figure that will increase slightly this year."
Yahoo's mobile plan needs work
Facebook got a lot of attention earlier this month when it announced plans to split its Messenger service off from its main app. That news was disappointing to casual users of Facebook (like me) who enjoyed the convenience of having everything in one place, but at least Facebook has a main app and a clear (albeit mildly confounding) app strategy.
Google has a straightforward main app that works almost exactly as its website does. There is a search box, a microphone button for the company's digital assistant, and a button to access the company's various services including YouTube, Blogger, News, and more. Accessing any of those services is simple as hitting a button that launches the web app version of the service. Google of course also has stand-alone apps for some of those services and its Maps offering, but the main app is comprehensive and clear.
Yahoo's strategy is less cohesive and harder to understand. Download the main Yahoo app (at least it's the one titled Yahoo) on an iPhone and you get an app that lists news stories. There is a tiny search button, but nothing as obvious as Google's giant search field. Yahoo also offers stand-alone apps for its mail, messaging, weather, news, fantasy sports, finance, video, cricket news (really), and sports services. You can access some of those services via the main app, but unlike Google, which launches a web version of the app, the button in Yahoo's main app brings you to the app store download page.
Yahoo has to fix its mobile experience
If people are balking at the idea of having to install a second Facebook app, they are not likely to be thrilled by the prospect of downloading half a dozen or more Yahoo apps. Mayer may have the company on the right path in terms of moving away from relying on search and having a suite of products along with proprietary content, but none of that matters if the mobile experience is not good.
Yahoo needs to stop whatever it's doing and build a Yahoo app that mirrors the experience of the Yahoo website in a mobile-friendly way. The company must simplify its offering and eliminate some of its apps (or at least make it very clear which app the main one is and what it does). Only after that happens will it matter that Yahoo has Couric and lots of cool original and licensed programming. There is simply too much content available for users to put up with a bad experience in search of good content.
These are solvable problems but they have to move to the top of Mayer's list or any turnaround will be short-lived.
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The article Why Marissa Mayer Must Fix Yahoo's Mobile Advertising Business originally appeared on Fool.com.Daniel Kline has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Facebook, Google-Class C Shares, and Yahoo!. The Motley Fool owns shares of Facebook and Google-Class C Shares. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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text: Tochu-tea has been popular as a functional health food since long time ago. Recent research on its ingredients, health effects have been conducted so far. The previous study have reported that a component (ASP) which is one of the ingredients in Tochu-tea, has an anti-obesity effect. We conducting research toward elucidating its mechanism. In our studies, ASP improved the lipid metabolism in the liver and showed a molecular mechanism to suppress obesity. It is expected to have potential as a new functional ingredient containing food in the future. And we expected its relevance to various metabolic diseases.


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4K resolution is pretty much the standard for televisions now but there’s a new resolution that is starting to flood the market. If you haven’t upgraded to 4K or just did, the news of the 8K might not come lightly to you.
So, what is 8K anyway?
8K is a higher resolution standard than 4K, quadrupling the total number of pixels just like 4K did with 1080p.
8K is 7,680 by 4,320 resolution or approximately 8,000 horizontal pixels. 4K, by contrast, is around 4,000 horizontal pixels at 3,840 by 2,160, and 1080p is around 2,000 horizontal pixels at 1,920 by 1,080.
Just as there are twice as many horizontal pixels for each resolution, there are also twice as many vertical pixels.
This means each step quadruples the number of pixels, and that 8K has 16 times the number of pixels as 1080p.
Where are 8K tv and how are they priced?
8K TVs aren’t currently shipped worldwide and but this will change in a few years. 8K is coming, but it won’t be feasible for consumers for a while.
Samsung unveiled the Q900FN TV at IFA earlier this year, and it looks like the first consumer-available 8K TV to be released by a major manufacturer.
Samsung plans to release the Q900FN in the United States in late October. Manufacturers haven’t announced pricing or availability information for the TV.
Is an 8K TV better than 4K TV?
8K TV is bound to be superior to 4K TV. But to a consumer, the differences could be hard to nail down since other factors such as screen size and distance come in.
The difference might not be noticeable if viewed from a close distance and viewed on a TV smaller than 40 inches.
Just as it’s hard to differentiate between 1080p and 4K on smaller screens.
Is current content upscale able to my new 8K TV?
For those looking to purchase 8K TV’s in the next one or two years, there’s currently no consumer 8K video content available.
Since there’s isn’t any broadcast or otherwise live streaming 4K content right now as yet, 8K is still a long shot.
And in order to enjoy 8K resolution, one will need new cables and new devices that can handle the resolution.
Must read: What you need to know about eSIM
The new HDMI 2.1 standard supports an 8K resolution at up to 60 frames per second, and it requires almost triple the bandwidth of 4K-capable HDMI 2.0.
That means your current Blu-ray players, media streamers, and game systems will top out at 4K. You’ll need new HDMI 2.1-equipped devices that can process 8K video and output it to an 8K TV.
So, Is 8K worth it?
There seems to be no direct answer to this. While consumers are still currently processing the idea of 4K TV, 8K might not be a priority for the environment.
Demand for 8K resolution content is what will help drive 8K TV supply. But at the moment, no pricing details for 8K are available and information on the resolution is still thin.
Devices that can process 8K content such as HDMI cables and the rest have still not yet been manufactured. Since 8K is an improvement on the 4K, it’s still too early to tell.
The answer to this question will come in a few years or so.


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This is big news for all the Cash App users. Cash App founder or owner Bob Lee is dead.
Bob Lee’s family says – Bob Lee, the founder of the multibillion-dollar tech company Cash App, was fatally stabbed near the San Francisco City Center on Tuesday (4 April 2023).
Cash App owner Bob Lee was found at 2:35 a.m. outside a luxury residential building on the 300 block of Main St. near Rincon Hill and the Bay Bridge.
However, no arrests have been made in the murder of Bob Lee, which is being investigated by the SFPD homicide detail.
Mr. Lee founded the Cash App and then became the chief technology officer at the payment company Block. When Lee died, he was the chief product officer at MobileCoin, a crypto payment firm.
Cash App Founder – Bob Lee
|Profession||American tech executive and software engineer|
|Post||Chief technology officer of Square,|
Chief product officer of MobileCoin,
|Birth Date||December 20, 1979|
|Died||April 4, 2023 (aged 43) San Francisco, California, U.S.|
Bob Lee was an American tech executive and software engineer. He is the founder or owner of Cash App, the chief technology officer of Square, and the chief product officer of MobileCoin. Bob Lee also worked at Google, where he helped develop Android during the 2000s.
Lee was fatally stabbed in the Rincon Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, resulting in his death on April 4, 2023.


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Toyota (TM) has announced a recall of its 2010 model Prius, the market leader in the global hybrid car sector. The company says that a software glitch causes a brake problem in the car and that the trouble is not a safety issue. Ford (F) recently recalled its Fusion and Mercury Milan hybrids for software upgrades in their brake systems.
The hybrid got a good name among drivers who wanted fuel efficiency and environmentally friendly vehicles. Brake problems in many of the category’s cars may undercut the demand for hybrids and sales may take years to recover.
It may be obvious but still worth noting that people will generally put their own safety ahead of saving money on gas or helping to cut gases that hurt the enviroment and melt the polar ice caps. Very few people live above the circles that surround the Arctic or Antarctic regions. None of those people is likely to be a hybrid customers.
Hybrid vehicles have a high-profile because they have been in the vanguard of a generation of cars which can get high miles per gallon on gas but still offer the performance of a gasoline fueled car. That image may be so badly damaged that consumers will skip the hybrid and wait for electric cars. It is possible that the brakes will work on vehicles run off a battery.
Douglas A. McIntyre


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McVitie's Owner Hires Oppenheimer on Jacob's Cracker Sale
(Bloomberg) -- Yildiz Holding AS, a debt laden Turkish food conglomerate, plans to sell its Jacob’s cracker unit and production facilities in the U.K. this year, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The owner of McVitie’s digestives and Godiva chocolates may offload the entire business or a stake to an investor, the people said, asking not to be named because the talks are confidential. The company is working with Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. on the sale, the people said.
Yildiz Holding, the world’s third-largest biscuit maker, is selling assets under the terms of a $6.5 billion loan restructuring agreed upon with banks last year. The company plans to divest holdings “outside our global focus of businesses,” Nurtac Ziyal Afridi, Yildiz Holding’s chief global strategy and M&A officer, said in an interview this month.
The company last week agreed to sell Asia-Pacific retail and distribution licenses for its Godiva chocolate brand to North Asian private equity firm MBK Partners Ltd. Its private equity unit this month signed an exclusivity accord with Austria’s RHI Holdings NV for its mining and brick business.
Yildiz Holding acquired United Biscuits Holdings Plc in 2014 for $3.1 billion, in what was the biggest overseas acquisition by a Turkish firm. It also bought several of its brands, including Jacob’s and McVitie’s and seven production plants in the country. Jacob’s produces several types of crackers and biscuits in the U.K. and Ireland, according to its website.
Yildiz Holding and Oppenheimer declined to comment.
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.


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Harris explains Napier jersey
Storm will wear a special jersey for the Club's match in Napier, New Zealand on Saturday, designed by Kiwi international forward Tohu Harris.
Taking the field against St. George Illawarra at McLean Park on July 25, Storm will don the specially designed jersey which draws on a number of local Maori and pacific island designs inspired by the Hawkes Bay and Hastings regions.
The jersey incorporates several new elements which highlights the different cultures making up the Melbourne Storm family, while staying true to Storm's traditional purple and navy colour base and also containing the Club's signature thunderbolts.
WATCH the video player above to see Tohu Harris explain the jersey he helped design.


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Massive counterfeit cig haul seized
More than 150,000 counterfeit cigarettes have been taken off the streets after raids on three premises in Dewsbury.
Police and trading standards officers discovered counterfeit packets of tobacco and cigarettes worth around £100,000 in a town centre basement.
Officers from Dewsbury and Mirfield Neighbourhood Policing Team and West Yorkshire Trading Standards officers carried out the raids last Friday following complaints about cheap tobacco products being sold.
Police named the businesses targeted as Global Groceries and neighbouring Top Shottaz snooker club in Bradford Road and Middle Eastern Mini Market in South Street.
Officers completed the searches but later returned to Global Groceries, where a hidden storage room in the basement was discovered.
Around 30 large boxes were found to contain 2,764 packs of hand rolling tobacco, suspected of being counterfeit and 9,000 packs of cigarettes containing 180,000 cigarettes.
Brands included Golden Virginia and Amber Leaf, Jin Ling, Viceroy, Pect and Malboro. Trading standards said Jin Ling cigarettes are a black market product illegal in the EU. They are made to look like the brand Camel.
Some of the haul is believed to be counterfeit, while some cigarettes have been imported illegally without UK duty being paid.
A 32-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of copyright and trademark offences. He was bailed as enquiries continue.
Suspected counterfeit items including Gucci handbags, ICE watches and Beats headphones by Dr Dre were also seized by officers on the day.
NPT Inspector Jenny Thompson said: “This day of action shows that we take the issue of counterfeiting goods seriously.
“By having a highly visible presence across the town we help to reassure residents that we mean business.
“If you are aware of any criminal activity in your area then please get in touch. If you tell us we will act.”
Coun Andrew Pinnock, of the West Yorkshire Trading Standards Committee, said: “Counterfeit goods undermine the economy by taking money and jobs away from legitimate traders. If you suspect someone of selling counterfeit goods then contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 08454 040506.”


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"This is not some two-bit fly-by night outfit that you can pick up with spare change."
Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun, has hit out at suggestions that his company is an acquisition target.
Speaking at a news conference after his address at Sun's JavaOne conference in San Francisco, he made a point of scotching the persistent rumours, claiming he would only settle for an all-cash deal, which makes the chances of a sale - given Sun's market capitalisation of $17.4bn - very remote.
McNealy said the price tag should be enough to ward off any suitors.
"I'm going to not vote for anything but an all-cash offer," he said. "How many non-convicted monopolists can afford that kind of cash? This is not some two-bit fly-by night outfit that you can pick up with spare change."
While many claim Sun is in a increasingly precipitous position, McNealy took advantage of the conference to refocus the industry on some of his company's recent achievements.
Most notably, Sun signed deals under which the top two PC makers, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, will ship Sun's up-to-date Java on all their desktop and laptop computers.
"I believe the HP and Dell announcements this week are really stunners," McNealy said. "Already, they're creating a very interesting domino effect, with all the other PC manufacturers needing to understand they're going to need to bundle J2SE," he said, referring to the desktop version of Java, called Java 2 Standard Edition.
News.com's Stephen Shankland contributed to this article


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Canopy Growth Just Admitted Massive Failures
Canopy Growth remains locked out of the major cannabis opportunities in the U.S.
The Acreage deal is failing due to a lack of funding for the MSO.
The company is still aggressively spending chasing smaller global opportunities in competitive markets.
The stock is far overvalued here with a $6.5 billion valuation, over 16x FY21 sales estimates.
On June 22, Canopy Growth (CGC) hosted a virtual investor meeting where the company discussed the future of cannabis in great detail. Whether intentional or not, the large Canadian cannabis company highlighted how the business model continues to waste too much money chasing the wrong markets. My investment thesis remains highly negative on the stock here with a market cap of nearly $6.5 billion and a long road to profits ahead.
Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.
Disclosure: No position. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.
Canopy Growth just modified the deal with Acreage Holdings (ACRGF) to drastically lower the value.
The original deal, announced in April 2019 and valued at ~$3.4B, consisted of $300M in cash and 0.5818 of a CGC common share for each ACRGF share subject to the federal legalization of cannabis in the U.S. (triggering event).
The new contract specifies a $37.5M upfront cash payment and 0.3048 of a CGC common share for each new Acreage Fixed Share, each representing 70% of an existing Acreage share.
Acreage will also issue Floating Shares representing 30% of an existing Acreage share which CGC "may acquire" in the future based on the occurrence or waiver of the triggering event for a minimum of $6.41.
CGC has agreed to loan $100M to Acreage subsidiary Acreage Hempco, an initial $50M at 6.1% interest and the remaining $50M subject to conditions. The loan will be in the form of a secured debenture maturing in 10 years


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Bloomberg are reporting that the European Union industry landed a US$26.7 billion windfall from an emissions cap-and-trade program that was intended to moderate emissions by putting a price on pollution. This information comes from an environmental consultancy.
Companies in the cement, petrochemical and steel industries gained most from the emissions trading system, or ETS, from 2008 to 2014, according to a study by CE Delft that was commissioned by Carbon Market Watch.
Energy-intensive industries have recommended that policy makers keep distributing free permits to companies to prevent the relocation of companies, known as carbon leakage.
The report’s findings “bust open the industry myth of carbon leakage,” said Femke de Jong, EU policy director at Brussels-based Carbon Market Watch.
Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/16032016/cement-companies-gain-emissions-trading-system-707/


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China’s luxury Consumer Price Index, which tracks the pricing of luxurious products and services, rose 4.1 percent on the back of soaring liquor prices and education costs, the Shanghai-based Hurun Report said.
The luxury CPI, calculated based on changes in prices of 108 types of high-end goods and services from June 2017 to June this year, revealed that liquor and cigarette prices as well as luxury travel accounted for the luxury items being more expensive.
The index also tracks costs of real estate, watches and jewelry, accessories and beauty products, cruises and private jets, and automobiles. It also tracks 38 kinds of imported products.
Liquor prices soared after they fell during two years of recession, jumping 12 percent from a year ago with Kweichow Moutai and other imported high-end liquor being bought.
Education costs at renowned institutions rose for the 12th straight year, adding 8.1 percent annually to notch the highest growth in 10 years.
The luxury travel industry rebounded from last year's decline, adding 8.5 percent from the year before, amid a price hike in major luxury hotels in China’s first-tier cities.
Prices of accessories and beauty products gained 7.2 percent and those of leisure activities rose 5.6 percent.
Luxury property prices lost 3.4 percent following a 16.6 percent hike last year, with domestic property prices picking up slightly while overseas house prices dipped due to changes in foreign exchange rates.
Real estate, however, is still the most favored investment for China’s high-net-worth individuals, with 14 percent of respondents saying they will invest more in overseas properties in the next three years.
By the end of 2016, there were 749,000 Chinese mainland families with 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) of investible assets while those with 100 million yuan of assets grew 11.6 percent from a year ago to 99,000.


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By 2020-2021, 2 million 348 thousand 336 hectares are scheduled to be cultivated in the country's irrigation districts, with a volume of 26 thousand 765.9 million cubic meters (Mm3) of water. Of this, almost 1.9 million hectares have been planted so far -81% of the programmed amount-, with 47% of the volume of water for irrigation. The rest of the...
MEXICAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
According to the Mexican Meat Council (Comecarne) during the past year, while there was growth in some segments of the domestic deli meat industry, overall the trend in the sector was downward with a 1.2% drop compared to 2019.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader) informed that the increase in banana production in Mexico, by 2.9 percent, allowed the country to consolidate sales of the tropical fruit to China, which began precisely in 2020.
The balance of the country's trade balance of agri-food products -agricultural and agro-industrial- recorded a surplus of 603 million dollars in January 2021, informed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Mexico is the sixth-largest beef producer in the world and the eighth-largest beef exporter, due to the fact that its products comply with quality and safety standards, thanks to the work of producers and the veterinary pharmaceutical industry, which positions it as an important player in the international market.
Over the past year, Mexico reduced pork imports from the United States by 3% in both value and volume to a total of 688,253 tons purchased for a total of $1.15 billion, figures from the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) indicated.
The Mexican government welcomed the United States International Trade Commission's (USITC) determination that imports of blueberries from Mexico are not causing injury or threatening Mexican industry.
Mexico has its own breed of donkey, the Mixteco donkey, thanks to the work of more than 40 enterprising Mexicans who seek to positively influence the breeding and treatment of this species.
Mexico updated the guidelines for the organic operation of agricultural activities created in 2013 to regulate production and facilitate exports of organic products to international markets.
Farmers celebrate World Milk Day with a series of conferences offered via the Internet. Milk consumption is 15,288 million liters, while production is 12,437 million liters. There are 250 thousand units of milk production from specialized and dual-purpose cattle; 96% have less than 100 heads, so the dairy is dominated by micro, small and medium...


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Retailers selling through new Rakuten Marketplace on Rakuten Play.com website set to benefit from branded shopfronts and dedicated e-commerce consultants
Cambridge, 24th October 2012 – Today, Rakuten’s Play.com announced the launch of Rakuten Marketplace, a new merchant retail offering that will empower retailers large and small by allowing them to create their own branded e-shops within the Rakuten Play.com website.
Merchants listing on Rakuten Marketplace will be supported by a dedicated team of e-commerce consultants (ECCs), who are on hand to guide them on optimising online sales; from shop front design and e-marketing, to interpreting customer analytics. Key features in the Rakuten Marketplace Merchant Toolbox revealed today include:
Rakuten Play.com Superpoints – This unique online loyalty scheme branded Superpoints lets retailers reward and incentivise customers, by running their own multiplier promo campaigns where shoppers can earn extra loyalty points for buying from them.
Customer Databases and Rakuten Mail – Customers that shop with a merchant, can choose to receive updates on the latest products and special offers from that merchant. Using the RakutenMail tool merchants can then engage in direct communications with their customer base.
Branded Shop Front – Just because a merchant operates in a marketplace doesn’t mean they shouldn’t strive to create brand personality online, especially if they want to stand out from the competition. Rather than being confined to a standard template, on the Rakuten Marketplace all merchants will have the freedom to bring their brand to life.
E-commerce Consultants (ECCS) – Business is personal and the Rakuten Marketplace is not a faceless platform. Merchants are assigned a personal contact from within our team of e-commerce consultants to work collaboratively to maximise sales, by providing personalised guidance on everything from customer insight to promoting products..
Adam Stewart, Marketing Director at Rakuten’s Play.com explained why this collaborative approach is so critical: “Let’s face it, competition online is fierce. Whatever a retailer’s size, it’s crucial that they are armed with the tools to create a shopping experience that offers customers more than just the lowest price tag. Rather than competing with our merchant, at Rakuten’s Play.com we want to create lasting partnerships and help them maximise sales through the platform – it’s win, win, win. “
Whatcar.com, the UK’s leading car-buying website, has partnered with award winning lead generation specialists, The Lead Agency, to handle all new car enquiries generated through their car valuations service.
Currently, three million potential new car buyers use Whatcar.com every month; 50,000 of these request a current vehicle valuation. As part of the partnership, Whatcar.com will benefit from significant technology enhancements that will help car buyers with these enquiries.[more…]
Made in Britain? Six-in-ten UK consumers say country of origin is one of most important factors in brand choice
Consumers prefer global brands for electronics but local ones for food. Six-in-ten British consumers say a brand’s country of origin is at least as important to them, on average, as factors such as its range, price, function and quality – according to Nielsen’s new Global Brand-Origin Survey.
6th May, 2016: Shoppers are shunning some household-name grocery brands because they believe their products are too expensive, according to research from creative communications agency Southpaw. 1,000 UK-based consumers* were asked which brands they buy less frequently now than they did five years ago, or have even stopped buying altogether. Some 14% cited Cadbury’s, followed [more…]
The nurse approached him, smiling. "The labor is going great," she said. "Wouldn't you like to come in?" "Oh, no." The man shook his head.
The nurse returned to the mother's side, and the labor progressed smoothly. As the birth neared, the nurse returned to the man, now pacing frantically in the ball. "She's doing so well," she assured him. "Would, you like to at least come in and see her?"The man seemed to hesitate slightly, then shook his head again. "No, no, I couldn't do that." He jingled car keys in his sweaty palm and resumed his pacing.
A seven year old boy was at the centre of a courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him.
The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible.


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More and more consumers are starting to pursue individuality and uniqueness, and the overseas market full of fresh and diversified commodities has become the object of their pursuit, small to snacks, toothpaste, slippers and other furniture daily necessities, large to home appliances, luxury bags, all aspects of the life of the Chinese people are accustomed to the sea. According to the data of ocean terminal, the cost of sea washing has also increased significantly, and the frequency of consumption and the increase of expenditure have shown the arrival of the era of nationalized sea.
When it comes to perfume, the first time is Chanel 5, miss Dior, Burberry, Gucci, Lancome, Estee Lauder. But just this summer, Tiffany, the champion of the jewelry industry, launched perfume again after 14 years. And these have long been GET to the ocean wharf.
Tiffany & Co Tiffany’s last launch of perfume has been traced back to 2003. This is the fundamental reason for pushing the fragrance line again, of course, in order to expand the size of consumers. The perfume is also the first cooperation between Coty group and Tiffany&Co.. The former, the Coty group is the largest perfume company in the world, and is also recognized as the leading manufacturer in the global beauty community.


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14th August, 2014
Lenovo on Thursday posted a 23 percent jump in quarterly net profit, beating market estimates as the Chinese technology giant logged strong sales of personal computers and smartphones.
The world’s biggest maker of PCs said net profit for the three months ended June 30 climbed to $214 million from 174 million in the same period last year.
Revenue for the quarter was up 18 per cent at $10.39 billion, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Lenovo said it achieved “strong results with record performance across all lines of business”, adding that worldwide smartphone shipments grew about 39 per cent year-on-year.
In a bid to diversify its business beyond PCs, Lenovo earlier this year announced a $2.91 billion deal to purchase Motorola from Google and another $2.3 billion deal to buy IBM’s low-end server business.
The company said it was working with authorities to close both deals and is “well prepared for the coming integration”.
“The group believes the acquisition of such an iconic brand (Motorola), innovative product portfolio and incredibly talented global team will immediately make Lenovo a truly global smartphone player in the fast-growing mobile space,” the company said in the filing.
Analysts say the solid results, which surpassed market expectations, have boosted investor confidence.
“Strong earnings give investors more confidence about Lenovo’s ability to manage the acquisitions,” Alberto Moel, an analyst from Sanford C. Bernstein, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Shares in the company were up 0.53 per cent at HK$11.48 by the afternoon, while the benchmark Hang Seng Index was flat.


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Lenovo are probably best known for their computer equipment, but the Chinese company manufacture a wide range of devices. Photo credit – Pixabay
Lenovo is China’s most influential global brand
Lenovo has been revealed as the most influential Chinese brand according to the BrandZ Top 50 Chinese Global Brand Builders Report.
It places the electronics firm in first position, above Huawei in second place and Alibaba in third.
Indeed, Air China is the only brand in the top five places not to be an electronics or e-commerce firm, with Xiaomi in fourth position.
The phenomenal international growth of Chinese brands shows no signs of slowing.
When Brand Finance’s Global 500 rankings were published in February, every single one of the largest climbers was Chinese.
China Construction Bank climbed by three places, with a calculated annual brand growth of some 37 percent, Alibaba climbed ten positions, with a whopping 58 percent growth, and China Mobile climbed two positions, growing its brand by 14 percent.
Brand Finance CEO David Haigh, said: ”Brands like Huawei, Ping An, State Grid, Evergrande, ICBC, Yili, Haval, Wuliangye, and many others are now being recognised worldwide as quality brands. We expect to see this develop rapidly in more and more sectors.”


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New Delhi: The outbreak of Corona may be decreasing slightly now but in the last 45 days it has caused terrible devastation across the country. Not only has a large number of people lost their lives and property, but it has also adversely affected the economy and business of the country. Trade organization CAT has claimed that there has been a business loss of about Rs 12 lakh crore in the last 45 days due to the lockdown imposed in various states to prevent the coronavirus and its spread.
Accordingly, the country has been estimated to cause a domestic trade loss of about 115 lakh crore rupees annually. This domestic business loss has had a direct impact on the financial condition of 8 crore small businessmen across the country.
7.5 lakh crore rupees estimated loss to retail business
BC Bhartia and General Secretary Praveen Khandelwal, national president of merchant organization CAT informed that retail business alone has lost Rs 7.5 lakh crore out of Rs 12 lakh crore, while wholesale business has suffered the loss of around Rs 4.5 lakh crore. The traders have appealed to the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Chief Ministers of the states to announce a financial package for the traders so that the business can be brought back on track when the lockdown is lifted.
CAT said that it is not just the responsibility of the Center to provide financial assistance to the traders. States should also participate in it. Significantly, even in the first wave of coronavirus, no provision was made for the assistance of traders in the financial aid packages announced by the central government. Traders have appealed to the central government that all compliance dates under GST should be suspended immediately.
Increase the duration of TDS
Apart from this, the period of income tax and TDS should be increased to 31 August 2021. Not only this, banks and other financial institutions should be instructed to provide loans to these traders at a subsidized rate in a simple manner. Apart from this, the traders have demanded from the Central Government that the charge levied by the bank on payment through digital medium should also be waived. The central government should give this charge of the banks directly to the banks as a subsidy.
Maharashtra’s business has suffered the most
CAT has claimed that Maharashtra has incurred a business loss of Rs 1.10 lakh crore due to Kovid 19 and lockdown. At the same time, about 30 thousand crore rupees to Delhi, about 60 thousand crores to Gujarat, about 65 thousand crores to Uttar Pradesh, 30 thousand crores to Madhya Pradesh, 25 thousand crores to Rajasthan, 23 thousand crores to Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. Has suffered a huge business loss of about 50 thousand crores.
E-commerce companies are openly violating lockdown rules
Traders have claimed that even in the states where shops are partially open due to the lockdown, very few people are reaching the markets due to the fear of Corona. It is seen that people are going to the markets and shops to buy only the essential goods, while the shoplifting of e-commerce companies is increasing. It has been observed that despite the guidelines of Covid, e-commerce companies are selling non-essential goods and delivery indiscriminately. The surprising thing is that not a single state is noticing this step. CAT has demanded that these companies should also be asked to do business within the purview of fixed policy and law.


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Malawi says Aug inflation eases to 7.2 pct year-on-year
By Frank Phiri
BLANTYRE (Reuters) - Malawi's headline inflation eased to 7.2 percent year-on-year in August, compared to 7.4 percent in the previous month, largely due to lower food prices, its National Statistical Office said on Tuesday.
Food inflation, which accounts for 58.1 of the impoverished impoverished southern African nation's Consumer Price Index (CPI), dipped to 6.6 percent from 6.7 percent in July, the NSO said.
Malawi has had a bumper maize crop this year, helping to lower the cost of the key staple. The country had a surplus of 1.3 million metric tonnes of maize in the 2006/2007 growing season, more than three times the surplus in the previous year.
Economic analysts, however, expressed concerns that rising fuel prices could force Malawians to dig deeper into their pockets to cover higher transport and farming costs, reversing the gains made on the inflation front.
Malawi, a landlocked nation with no oil refineries, is a net importer of fuel. The government announced last week a sharp increase in the price of petrol, blaming the move on the rising price of oil on international markets.
"The fuel hike will hit farmers because it is peak time for agriculture when inputs need to be transported to farms and produce to markets to fetch money for buying the inputs," Andrew Kumbatira, an economic analyst in Malawi, said.
The Reserve Bank of Malawi has eased the pinch with a more accommodative monetary policy. Last month the central bank cut its bank rate to 17.5 percent from 20 percent, citing the improved outlook for inflation and other economic fundamentals.


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Even if you're never shopped at IKEA, you probably know about the store's food offerings. The IKEA Swedish meatball, offered at locations of the store around the world, is nothing short of iconic. A staple, if you will, that's been appealing to the tastebuds of IKEA-goers since 1979. However, for vegans, vegetarians, or people who simply don't like the dish's beef and pork ingredients, IKEA's classic KÖTTBULLAR meatball offering isn't an option. And though the company launched its KYCKLINGBULLAR and GRÖNSAKSBULLAR offerings — chicken and vegetarian meatballs, respectively — in 2015, and its SJÖRAPPORT salmon/cod meatballs in 2018, people who follow a fully plant-based diet haven't had an option for their dietary needs in the past. However, this is all primed to change very soon: As it announced in March 2019, IKEA developed a plant-based, vegan meatball for its menu that would look and taste like real meat — and earlier this year, I was lucky enough to be one of the first to try it.
With its new vegan Swedish meatballs made from plant-based ingredients, IKEA is promising that taste and appearance-wise, they will be like real, meat-filled meatballs.
I had the opportunity to try the new vegan meatballs at IKEA's headquarters — home of the first ever IKEA! — in Älmhult, Sweden in May 2019. I was deeply excited to try them, as personally, I'm not a big fan of meat. I find that I'm just more likely to enjoy my food if I know that it's made of plant-based ingredients versus animal ingredients, on a mental level. It's not even a taste thing, because I do like the taste of meat — I just don't like that it came from animals. Meat substitutes can be tasty, but I've found that they rarely act like a taste substitute. You always know when you're eating a veggie burger, you know?
The taste factor isn't the only reason these meatballs were created, however. According to Michael La Cour, the managing director at IKEA Food Services AB, creating these meatless meatballs — an endeavor that took over a year between ideation and the prototype — was important to IKEA not just on an inclusive dietary level, but because of the company's dedication to promoting environmentally-friendly products.
"The food industry in Europe stands for about 28 percent of the CO2 gas emissions by itself," La Cour told Bustle during the conference. "A large part of that comes from the cattle industry. Since IKEA is committed to the Paris Accord and to do what we can to transform the business from solely meat-based to more of a plant-based. And you know a little veggie ball or a meatless meatball might seem like a little thing, but when you sell a billion meatballs, [it's something]." According to La Cour, the hope is to transfer at least 20 percent of meatball sales to the new vegan option, in an effort to lower CO2 emissions in any way it can. "We launched the veggie hot dog — and we sell about 110 million hotdogs on a global basis — and there we see a great success. In most countries, somewhere between 10 and 20 percent [of sales for IKEA] are now the veggie-base. And that's a very good start."
The new meatballs are not in stores yet, as they're still in the testing and conceptualizing phase — unfortunately, it's not clear when they'll hit stores, though La Cour comments that IKEA is working with an "ambitious" timeline of getting the meatball to test with customers in early 2020.
According to IKEA, attendees of the two-day conference were among the first to try the current prototype of the new meatballs. They were presented in (sustainable, of course) paper bowls in pairs, along with peas, mashed potatoes, lingonberry jam, and topped with IKEA's famous ALLEMANSRÄTTEN cream sauce.
This was probably the thing I was most excited about trying during the conference, and I was admittedly so enthused once I found the meatball stand where they were being prepared and serviced that I ate my entire serving before taking more than one photo of it. That's a testament to how good it was, though; I had no problem inhaling it within seconds.
Texture-wise, they actually do resemble real meat quite closely. Much like real meat, they didn't fall apart when I bit into them, and they felt just as dense as a real meatball with beef and pork would. According to IKEA, the meatball is made from new plant-based alternative proteins.
I did find them to be delicious — extremely so. Again, I inhaled these things. I probably would have had about five more of them if it wouldn't have looked really, really over the top! But, for meatballs that are being touted as tasting like "real meat," I did find them to be missing something in their taste that a meatball made of beef and pork would have had. They tasted great with the cream sauce and I loved feeling like I was eating meat while knowing there was no actual meat in my dish — but it's important to note that these aren't the meatballs that you're going to be able to trick someone of Ron Swanson-level meat-lover into thinking is real meat. Similar to something like Beyond Burger, which mimics the consistency of a real burger patty while still being slightly different, IKEA's vegan meatballs didn't fool me into thinking I was eating anything else but a great vegan meatball.
But then again, I don't think they're supposed to fool anyone — and honestly, looking at them in that way is going against the reason they were created. The only thing that's ever going to taste like real meat is real meat — even dishes like these meatballs that come extremely close to being similar will never be the same. But, unlike real meat, these vegan meatballs aren't going to have as much of a negative impact of the environment when they're being produced — and that's important. They taste close enough to real meat that someone could easily enjoy it instead of a beef meatball and feel the same satisfaction while also doing something good for the environment as well.
Farmers will need to produce 70 percent more food by 2050 to feed the world's growing population, according to a 2011 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization assessment — which, as The Guardian reports, means "[200 million more tons] of beef and other livestock" will be in demand. The FAO stated "sustainable intensification" is necessary to ensure any detrimental impact on the environment is avoided, but that the current rate of protein production won't meet the demands of the future, according to the report, titled "The State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture." Between this and the fact that, also according to the FAO, global livestock contributes to 14.5 percent of all human-created greenhouse gas emissions, I think it's worth making a sustainable choice when the option exists. IKEA is making that easier by introducing something that still tastes great, but is also an alternative protein option that has the potential to lessen demand for other, already-existing forms of protein.
Considering the company's reach and fanbase, I personally hope that the introduction of the vegan meatball will help to prove that just because a food is "healthy" or "vegan" doesn't mean it tastes bad — and that it is possible to make good choices for the environment that happen to be tasty as well.


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This article was first published in the Winter 2014 issue of OnWindows
Security is the foundation on which financial businesses are built. As a multitude of high-profile news stories have recently shown, a security breach can put millions of customers at risk. And in today’s connected world it will quickly become global news, tarnishing the brand and creating a devastating impact on business. But ensuring security is an increasingly complex task for financial firms. While increased connectivity has brought huge productivity gains to businesses, mobile working and the consumerisation of IT also mean that the IT environment is significantly more complex to manage.
Helping financial firms to stay ahead of the threats is a critical focus, says Dejan Kusalovic, director of marketing at Intel. “Innovation and trust are the legs we stand on,” he says. “We pride ourselves on making sure that the best, most up-to-date solutions run on Intel, and security is central to providing that level of capability. We embed security enhancing capabilities, features and solutions in our platforms, across the compute universe from mobile devices, including wearables, all the way to the most powerful server chips. That’s critical for any business, but more than ever in the financial services industry. We look at transactions end to end and we work to eliminate any weak links in the process.”
User behaviour – especially in terms of passwords – is a key security concern, says Kusalovic. “The chief security officer for a major bank recently told me that they get about ten million hack attempts a month,” he says. “In most cases, security would have been much stronger if users had paid more attention to their own behaviour. But it’s natural for consumers to behave the way they do; on average, people have about 16 passwords to remember. So it’s natural – but not safe – for them to use the same one with a subtle variation, such as adding a number.”
By embedding smart technologies in the actual device, significant progress can be made towards eradicating password-related risk. It’s a principle that’s central to Intel Identity Protection Technology (IPT), an example of Intel’s security solution, which provides a tamper-resistant hardware authentication mechanism that can be detected and used by any IPT-enabled website, providing different ways to validate that a legitimate user is logging in.
“IPT addresses how people actually access their accounts and their devices,” explains Kusalovic. “It generates a unique, one-time password to enable two-factor authentication and secure VPN access. A public key infrastructure certificate is embedded in the chipset to authenticate the user and the server to each other and to encrypt and digitally sign documents. Working in conjunction with these tools, a protected transaction display confirms user presence, verifies transactions and protects information from being viewed by hackers. Simply, it makes it tougher for people to expose themselves.”
On the server side, many financial firms already hold some tools to ensure security: information about customers’ spending habits, and the processing power to analyse it in real time.
“The new Intel processors on the server side are more powerful than ever,” says Kusalovic. “There’s a wealth of customer demographic and spending information available from credit card customers, and this can be used to compare typical behaviours such as spending amounts, locations types of purchase with real-time use data, so that any deviation is flagged up for investigation.
“In the past, this could only be done by data analysis experts using the largest computer systems. Now, organisations can use sophisticated algorithms to process and analyse customer credit card data, and track those indicators effectively and affordably in real time. In addition, we keep investing in deeply embedded hardware features such as Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) that has been in several generations of our Xeon server processors. They can even use a powerful yet cost-effective solution like Intel Mashery API Management to create smart server tools for fraud protection, which can be deployed in the cloud, on premise or in a hybrid environment.”
As cybercrime becomes more advanced, addressing both server-side and client-side security will be key to enabling financial organisations to stay ahead of the threats. Combined with the processing power of today’s computers, solutions such as IPT and TXT are making that possible.
“We’ll continue to develop technology that can be used for authentication and secure transactions,” says Kusalovic. “More capability will be incorporated on the server side to continually improve the algorithms that detect intrusions. Wearables will also provide a way to harness biometrics so you become your own password. In five or ten years’ time, you could be wearing a watch or necklace that checks your vital signs, many of which – such as your heartbeat – are unique to each individual and could be used to authenticate you. The technology could put those signs in context – so if you’re running, for example, it will question whether it makes sense that you would be looking at your bank account at that point. This is true ubiquitous computing that will enable organisations to protect consumers and stay ahead of security threats – it’s a few years ahead now, but it will become a reality.”
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The majority believe that the automotive industry will soon be taken over by electric vehicles. Even government bodies across the globe are encouraging this transition with the provision of various subsidies. It is expected that the growth in the EV sector will be exponential. Tesla is a great example of how this sector will expand in terms of manufacturing and returns. The industry, for now, is ambitious with great plans, but it is a great time to invest in EV stocks as other players join the game and stabilize themselves.
The International Energy Agency states in a report that the number of electric vehicles on roads is expected to grow from 11 million to 145 million by the end of the decade. If governments expedite the process to achieve climate goals, the number can reach 230 million by 2030. The IEA found that 3 million electric cars were registered across the world in 2020.
Fortune Business Insights also reports that the global EV market is expected to grow by 24.3% annually from $287.4 billion in 2021 to $1.3 trillion in 2028. Investors witness this current wave as a disruption of the global auto industry as the EV sector is all set to wipe out demand for millions of barrels of oil.
Lucid Group Inc.
Its first car Lucid Air was named the 2022 MotorTrend Car of the Year. Technology is one of the greatest advantages of Lucid Group over the other EV startups. As of November 2021, it has a backlog of 17,000 vehicles which implies a revenue backlog of $1.3 billion. Lucid is a premium and a pure-play EV stock with a great buying opportunity.
Its stock has more than doubled in the year 2021. CEO Jim Farley expedited Ford’s push in the EV scene. The company announced that 40% of all Ford global vehicle volume to be all-electric by the end of decade. The EV production is likely to be increased to 600,000 vehicles by 2023. The planned electrification spending is also raised to $30+ billion by 2025 which includes the development of its IonBoost batteries. This will also make the company the second-largest U.S producer of EVs.
Its direct-to-consumer model boasts of a rapid path to production and profitability. The FSR stock will remain in the limelight as the company is set to produce its Fisker Ocean in the fourth quarter of 2022. Many investors are hopeful of Fisker’s potential with its recent partnership with Bridgestone. Fisker can expect a healthy launch because of its marketing campaigns in U.S and Germany.
Rivian unlike its rivals is completely focused on electric sports utility vehicles and pickup trucks for now. Rivian reportedly plans to invest in building a battery factory in the U.S. It may also open a plant in Europe. Worth mentioning, Rivian EDV van has an order backlog of 100,000 vehicles from its backer, Amazon.
XPeng – the “Tesla of China” is expected to launch its G9 model in the third quarter of 2022 and help boost its overall margins. They also plan to export cars to Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands. The company has a strong execution in light of the challenges in the recent global supply chain. The company delivered 15,613 vehicles in the month of November – an impressive figure to gain trust.
Are you willing to bet your money on EV stocks in 2022?


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Danish homeware and furniture retailer JYSK has announced plans to open three more stores in Ireland during the first half of the year.
New JYSK outlets will open in Carlow and Tralee in May and Cork at Eastgate retail park in Little Island in June, bringing the company's total number of stores in Ireland to 12.
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The new stores will create 40 total jobs, adding to the 112 people currently employed by JYSK in Ireland following its launch here in April 2019.
JYSK country manager for Ireland and the UK Roni Tuominen said: 'We have always been committed to expanding in Ireland and we are reaching our target to open 15 new stores in our first two years here.
'We are very confident in the Irish market and in our customer’s love for JYSK. There is a great appetite for home furnishing products, perhaps now more than ever, with so many of us spending more and more time at home.
'We are delighted to bring JYSK to Carlow, Tralee and Eastgate Retail Park in Cork, and we look forward to welcoming and meeting new customers in our new locations this year.'
At present, JYSK has nine stores in Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Naas, Sligo, Drogheda, Dundalk, Waterford and Portlaoise, which remain closed in line with public health restrictions at thus time.
The company seeks to rival IKEA in Ireland with plans to open 40 stores in its fist three to five years of operation.


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Until recently, Ant Financial is most commonly known as the parent of China’s default payment app Alipay, and therefore, a financial service in the eyes of most. However, the Alibaba affiliate is gradually finding a new position as a technology services company. By outsourcing all of its technical capabilities that have been mastered by running Alipay, the company is turning traditional financial service providers from competitive rivals to cooperative clients.
Ant Financial is opening up its technology capabilities to financial service institutions for them to solve problems in financial security, massive financial transactions, and blockchain applications announced Hu Xi, Deputy CTO of Ant Financial and Partner of Alibaba Group, at The Computing Conference. Open technology capabilities are expected to become the core monetization model of Ant Financial, according to the firm.
Started out as Alipay, Ant Financial tries to solve all the basic technical problems since its inception in 2004. After opening up its payments services to a wide range of online and offline businesses, Ant Financial announced an “Internet Booster” plan in 2015 to support the digital transformation of traditional financial institutions by sharing Ant Financial’s technological capabilities. The new announcement marked the company’s effort to speed up the initiative in providing standardized and comprehensive technical solutions to all the financial services.
Ant Financial’s technology-based solutions allow financial institutions to deliver services, from payments to risk management efficiently, all at scale. In payments, for instance, Alipay was able to process a record-breaking 256,000 transactions per second at the peak of the 2017 Single’s Day Shopping Festival.
The company has already partnered with over 200 financial institutions around the world, including over 100 banks such as Commercial Bank of China, China Merchant Bank, MyBank— China’s 1st commercial bank with core system running on a distributed architecture—over 60 insurers and north than 40 funds and securities.
For Ant Financial, the change also underlines a shift in the nature of its clients, from individual customers, where it already takes a grip through Alipay, to financial enterprises clients. Hu explained that a transition from customer-faced (2C) to business-faced (2B) business comes in line in a changing landscape in China.
“The past two decades, relatively the span of China’s internet history, was a period when customer-faced services experience a quick boom. Back then, there’s no digital infrastructure in China, so 2C service is a good place to start. But today’s China is under urgent need to increase efficiency, no matter it takes the form of a push to increase production capacity, upgrading traditional manufacturing industry or consumption upgrading. Digitalization of enterprises is a possible solution for it,” says Hu.
At the same time, Alibaba’s established foothold in the 2C market is expected to benefit a 2B foray thanks to deep industry insight and vast business connections.
Looking forward, Hu also touched on some of the technical explorations and challenges in the future, suhc as real-time secure computing on top of a large volume of IoT data, giving AI financial grade capabilities, pursuing continuous availability with zero data loss, making the digital world secure and trustworthy, and giving everyone a reliable digital identity.


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7amleh Center held a roundtable discussion on the report “Palestine and PayPal - Towards Economic Equality” in light of the intensification of violations of Palestinian digital rights and of Palestinian content online.
7amleh - The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media held a roundtable discussion on 27th February 2019 in Ramallah to discuss the research report “Palestine and PayPal - Towards Economic Equality”, which sheds light on the impact of PayPal’s refusal to operate for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza and its’ repercussions for Palestinian digital rights. Firstly, the researcher Ubai Aboudi gave a summary of the findings and stressed the importance of an understanding of digital rights as human rights. With the lack of PayPal services available to Palestinians, economic opportunities are lost.
Furthermore, businessmen and women participated in the discussion: Sam Bahour, part of the founding team of the #PayPal4Palestine campaign stressed that even though alternative payment services to PayPal have been created, it is the Palestinians right to have access to PayPal, the world’s biggest online payment service. The supposed instability of the region can not be used as an excuse, as the service operates in more than 203 countries around the world, among them politically unstable countries such as Somalia and Yemen. Furthermore, the service is available within the West Bank, but exclusively for Israeli settlers within settlements illegal under international law, but not for Palestinians in the West Bank. Derrar Ghanem from BuildPalestine suggested running a joint crowdfunding campaign alongside the advocacy campaign, and not to be disempowered by PayPal’s refusal to operate for Palestinians, as Palestinians have always been finding alternatives - as proven by BuildPalestine bringing in over $200,000 to organizations in Palestine.
The discussion concluded with a set of recommendations, including to conduct further specialized research on the potential of economic development that can be generated through the operation of PayPal in Palestine as well as the remaining barriers to financial and technological preparedness. Furthermore, the importance of a continuation of a campaign for PayPal to start operation in Palestine was stressed, as well as setting up direct meetings with PayPal.
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The private-equity owners of Hostess Brands LLC are planning to put the maker of Twinkies and other snack cakes up for sale in early 2015, potentially valuing it at more than $1.7 billion, including debt, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Apollo Global Management LLC and C. Dean Metropoulos & Co., which bought Hostess Brands out of bankruptcy for $410 million in March 2013, have received inquiries from some potential buyers about selling the cake business, the people said.
Hostess Brands is also having conversations with investment banks Rothschild, Credit Suisse Group AG and Perella Weinberg Partners about advisory roles they are likely to have in a potential sale, the people said.
The sources asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Apollo, Credit Suisse and Rothschild declined to comment, while Metropoulos, Hostess Brands and Perella Weinberg did not immediately respond to requests by the news agency for comment.
Deliberations over a potential sale, first reported by The New York Post on November 11, follow a remarkable turnaround in the past year and a half spearheaded by Apollo and Metropoulos, a consumer industry veteran.
Kansas City, Mo.-based Hostess owns the Twinkies, CupCakes, Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, Zingers, Suzy Q's, Sno Balls, Donettes, Fruit Pie and other snack-cake brands.
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Ford today has revealed the new Mustang for Europe. This Euro-spec model comes with engine and suspension upgrades, new driver assistance technologies and more customisation options for the iconic sports car.
The instantly-recognisable Mustang profile has been enhanced with LED lighting, and a choice of 11 exterior colours and new alloy wheel options. The three-dimensional tri-bar tail lights now all feature LED tech. The front headlight bezels also have been restyled to reflect the trapezoidal shape of the upper grille.
Ford’s 5-litre V8 engine has been further worked on to deliver more power and a higher rev-limit than before. Peak power of 450bhp is thanks to a new high-pressure direct injection and low-pressure port fuel injection system, which also increases low-end torque. The updated engine is mated to a 10-speed automatic gearbox. Ford is also offering a 6-speed manual for keen drivers.
Deliveries of the new Ford Mustang for customers in Europe will begin in 2018. The car competes against the likes of BMW M4 and Lexus RC F.
Image source: AutoExpress


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Sprint appears to have won the race to FroYo as they will reportedly begin rolling out the Android 2.2 update for the HTC EVO 4G to a test bed of customers tomorrow. The first batch of over the air updates are slated to start at 12:00 pm CST on July 30th and if everything goes well they will begin proactively pushing it to a broad audience on August 2nd.
Verizon was rumored to update their Droid line of phones next month, but Sprint has been hard at work with HTC on Android 2.2 for the EVO and beat them to the punch. In a leaked internal document posted at Engadget we can see that Sprint made Android 2.2 a “high priority for competitive reasons”.
This update is significant because this is the first time we have seen the carriers, handset makers, and Google work so closely together in order to push these updates out in a timely manner. Android 2.2 was announced at Google I/O in May, released to OEMs in June, and now test builds are in the hands of carriers.
HTC is mostly responsible for the quick turnaround by finishing the tweaks on their Sense UI to make sure it took full advantage of all the new features offered in Android 2.2. These custom skins have traditionally slowed updates down by as much as six months or longer (right, CLIQies?) so it’s a good sign for other Android fans that their wait might not be as long this time around.
It also sounds like HTC has completed Android 2.2 updates for most of their other new phones. The Nexus One received it already, the Desire is rolling out any day now, and the Incredible’s version is in testing. This now puts Motorola and Samsung on the clock who we expect will have Android 2.2 updates in August and September respectively.
If you have an EVO and want to upgrade to Android 2.2, we will be on the lookout to the official download link from Google’s servers. Check back soon for a manual upgrade guide.