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Coinbase has come a long way since its launch in 2012. The company has raised more than $ 225 million and has opened the way for cryptocurrencies to enter the mainstream by providing a digital currency exchange. That’s why we are absolutely delighted that Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong, joins us on the main stage of TechCrunch Disrupt SF in September.
Armstrong worked as a developer for IBM and a consultant at Deloitte before joining Airbnb as a software engineer in 2011. At Airbnb, Armstrong focused on fraud prevention, giving him the opportunity to Learn about payment systems in the 190 countries served by Airbnb.
In 2012, Armstrong co-founded Coinbase and gave the opportunity to a group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts to exchange their usd for bitcoins, and later the digital currency of their choice. Coinbase currently serves more than 10 million customers in 32 countries, providing custody of more than $ 10 billion in digital assets.
In fact, Coinbase was valued at $ 1.6 billion as a result of a $ 100 million round of funding in August 2017.
In April, the company unveiled a seed fund for cryptocurrency startups and acquired Earn.com for $ 100 million. As part of the acquisition, the company made Balaji Srinivasan its first CTO.
It was also reported that Coinbase approached the SEC to become an authorized brokerage and electronic trading site, which would allow the company to expand beyond the four pieces (Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin)
As recently as yesterday, Coinbase announced that it would offer a new range of services for institutional investors, who are starting to warm up to cryptocurrencies.
There is a lot to discuss with Armstrong in September, and we are absolutely delighted to have joined him on the SF Disrupt agenda. You can go here to buy tickets. We’ll see each other there!


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The WWD Global Stock Tracker enjoyed its fourth gain in as many days as strong second-quarter results from The Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. and Coty Inc. led beauty issues higher.
The group of 100 international fashion, retail and beauty stocks rose 0.4 percent to 111.76, eclipsing the previous all-time high of 111.63 set on Jan. 26. The tracker’s gain was modest in comparison to the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 1.2 percent ascent to 17,884.88, just over 200 points below its all-time high of 18,103.40, and the S&P 500’s 1 percent rise to 2,062.52.
While the general market’s increases came in reaction to higher prices for crude oil and a surge in healthcare stocks in the aftermath of Pfizer’s $16 billion acquisition of Hospira, strong results in the beauty sector paced the tracker’s gains.
Coty Inc. scored the biggest gain, rising 12.2 percent to $21.24, followed by The Estée Lauder Cos. Inc.’s 8.1 percent rise to $78.40. Both reported strong second-quarter results and provided upbeat second-half outlooks.
Elizabeth Arden logged the fourth best gain, up 5.6 percent to $15.38, but fell in after-hours trading following its report of a larger-than-expected quarterly loss, including the disclosure that second-half charges for its restructuring would be higher than anticipated.
L Brands Inc. was up 5.4 percent to $91.19 following its report on better-than-expected January same-store sales, an increase in its dividend, the declaration of a special dividend and an expansion of its share buyback plans.
Although not part of the tracker sample, Stein Mart Inc. shares rose 11 percent to $15.76 on better comps than expected and the declaration of a special dividend.
In between Lauder and Arden, shares of Myer Holdings Ltd. were up 5.6 percent to 1.79 Australian dollars, or $1.38 at current exchange.
Stocks declining were paced by Esprit Holdings Ltd., down 5.1 percent to 8.21 Hong Kong dollars, or $1.06, and Tumi Holdings Inc., down 4.5 percent to $21.30.
The third largest decline came from The Buckle Inc., down 3.2 percent to $50.61 after its January comp increase of 0.8 percent fell short of the analysts’ consensus estimate for a 4.2 percent increase, according to Thomson Reuters.
Shares of Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. were off 2.9 percent to 1,676 yen, or $14.29, while Anta Sports Products Ltd.’s stock fell 2.3 percent to 13.38 Hong Kong dollars, or $1.73.

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“The Life of Kylie” is to debut this summer revealing how Jenner navigates her life as an entrepreneur, author, fashion designer, social media and TV star, and CEO of Kylie Cosmetics as well.
The E! spinoff series will bring to fans the personal life of Kylie Jenner like how she spends her time with close friend Jordyn Woods.
Jenner said the new show will allow her fans to get a peek inside all her exciting things in life along with some personal time spent with friends too.
The 19-year-old added, “The last couple years have been such an incredible journey with the support of my fans.”
The sister of Kim Kardashian is one of the most followed stars on social media and TIME Magazine had earlier named her as one of the most influential teens too.
She had earlier launched mobile game “Kendall & Kylie” partnering with sister Kendall and in 2015 also launched the Kylie Jenner app.
The reality TV star partnered with Kendall once again to launch in the market Kendall + Kylie clothing collection.
On her social front the beautiful teen is an ambassador for Smile Train. She launched #AmMore campaign to raise supports for the victims of bullying.
Jenner is also an avid supporter of several charities like Make-A-Wish Foundation and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Executive vice president of programming and development for E!, Jeff Olde, said Jenner has been successful due to her beauty and being business savvy as well as fashion icon.
Olde adds the teenager has achieved so much in her young age that now she is prepared to share her personal life too.


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Through their #PlasticFreeJuly, the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (Sassi) is making people aware that they might be consuming particles of plastic through their food and drink.
The #PlasticFreeJuly initiative is to also make people aware that plastics make up 75% of marine litter, said Pavitray Pillay, Sassi manager.
Pillay said dumping plastics in the oceans led to entanglement, ingestion and the altering of ocean habitats and had far-reaching consequences for marine life.
“Humans are not exempted from the effects of plastic pollution in our oceans,” she said.
Pillay said the challenge was to establish efficient ways of recycling, renewing and re-inventing plastic waste.
She said most marine litter was plastic packaging - single-use items that were disposed of inappropriately, such as plastic shopping bags, plastic coffee cup lids, drinking straws, plastic water bottles, earbuds, plastic lollipop sticks, sports drink bottle lids, sweet wrappers and expanded polystyrene food packaging.
According to the Sassi Facebook page, plastics break down in the environment and become micro-plastics (tiny bits of plastic) that move into our waters.
Professor Rajen Naidoo, of the College of Health Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said plastics ingested by fish were absorbed into the fish and then transferred into human bodies.
Naidoo said the effects of plastic particles in humans largely depended on the type of particles consumed.
“Some particles of plastic could be made from compounds that can cause changes in certain sex hormones,” Naidoo said.
Pick 'n Pay and Sassi have created a new reusable bag to help conserve the oceans. Some supermarkets have done away with the use of plastics and introduced compostable carrier bags. Some restaurants have even stopped supplying straws.


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Real trade war: Trump fixates on tariffs while China pursues global digital domination
China is ahead of the US in the race to establish global trade rules on digital commerce. We need investment, diplomacy and a Digital Marshall Plan.
President Donald Trump’s tariffs-by-tweet tendencies and brinkmanship on both sides of the negotiating table have led to a breakdown in talks with China, an escalating trade war, and no doubt many sleepless nights in Beijing and in American boardrooms. But for the United States, the unease is misdirected.
What should keep American businesses and politicians up at night has little to do with levies on specific commodities or Chinese products. While Washington is targeting Beijing with tariffs over individual trade grievances, China has been laying the foundation to direct and influence digital trade — the booming engine of global commerce — unopposed, with deep pockets and grand ambitions.
This should be our strategic and diplomatic focus, because what China is doing globally in this sphere has serious economic and national security implications for the United States today and well into the future. To the question of who will write the digital trade rules for the 21st century, the answer must be the United States. If the answer is China, we will have ceded the global digital future to Beijing.
Read more commentary:
Why Trump's tariffs on China hurt everyday Americans: Today's talker
US adversaries are watching us self-destruct as Trump foreign policy spins into chaos
Trump needs to keep the pressure on China instead of blindly trusting
No global rules govern digital trade, which covers everything from e-commerce to bank transfers to data collection. Today there are almost 4.4 billion internet users around the world, up more than 1,000% since 2000, with global e-commerce sales topping $2.8 trillion in 2018. Digital trade is the backbone of today’s business — when a customer in Japan orders a book from Amazon, when a bank transfers data from one country to another, or when an in-flight aircraft engine beams GPS information to a global data collection center. The fact that the global regulatory environment is still a free-for-all is astounding, given all that is at stake.
Costs of U.S. inaction include suppression
Global regulations have not kept pace with this rapid growth, and American businesses are forced to operate through a spider’s web of regulatory environments, hobbling trade and challenging our national security. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., chair of the Digital Trade Caucus, warned recently that it's critical for Americans to "reassert ourselves on the world stage" now and make sure "we're helping shape global digital governance.”
Clearly, she’s right, and we’re seeing the costs of American inaction in real time.
With legitimate concerns over privacy and cybersecurity, many countries have moved to restrict digital trade, threatening American companies’ ability to do business while undermining U.S. national security. Because of the regulatory vacuum, countries have put in place a wide variety of restrictions. Nigeria, Turkey and others have data localization requirements mandating that companies doing business in their borders must keep data in country on local servers, among other restrictions, rendering digital trade impractical.
Of greater concern to policymakers and businesses are countries like China and Vietnam, which use digital restrictions to censor the internet and monitor citizens. China provides its internet regulatory principles to developing countries, essentially exporting these tools of suppression.
How U.S. can counter China's expansion
With more people on the web than any other country, China has aspirations to be the global internet leader, remaking cyberspace in its own image. As part of this initiative, Beijing launched the Digital Silk Road in 2015, investing $200 billion in a global digital infrastructure. This effort is a subset of China’s larger Belt and Road Initiative, a government global infrastructure initiative with $340 billion invested to date. How Beijing’s digital playbook looks in practice: When developing countries buy Chinese equipment, they receive the tools to censor and control their internet while leaving their networks vulnerable to Chinese government cybertheft and interference.
Washington can and must act to counter Beijing’s well-funded and deliberate technological march across the planet, and action should begin with a two-pronged approach.
First, the United States must lead the negotiation of an international agreement laying out global digital rules of the road. It should be based on American values with the goal of securing an internet future of free, open and secure trade — not the Chinese model of limited access, censorship and government manipulation. Seventy-six countries have launched negotiations for a digital e-commerce agreement under the auspices of the World Trade Organization. At the Group of 20 major economies summit in June, host Japan will highlight the need for global digital regulations. But with China in these negotiations, the level of ambition of such an agreement will, necessarily, be quite low. That’s Beijing’s modus operandi.
The United States should work with a subset of like-minded countries (Canada, the European Union, Japan, Australia and others) to lead the negotiation of a separate, high-standard agreement outside of the WTO. Like the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, participants could agree on regulations to keep the internet both open and secure. This agreement would be one other countries could aspire to and join over time.
A U.S. Digital Marshall Plan for developing world
Second, the United States must launch a major foreign assistance initiative to allow countries in the developing world to purchase U.S. internet and information and communications technology equipment, countering China’s aggressive and cheap financing of equipment. This “Digital Marshall Plan” would make the financing of a digital infrastructure in the developing world a strategic priority.
America would also need to provide technical assistance to develop internet regulations that allow open commerce, respect for privacy and protection of human rights. Such an initiative echoes the original post-World War II Marshall Plan, which had dual goals of modernizing European industry to promote economic development and creating a market for U.S. goods, while also preventing the spread of communism.
Beijing is well ahead of Washington in the race to establish the trade rules that tame — or rather maim — digital commerce. Playing the long game, Beijing surely understands that though today’s tariff battles must be fought, the trade wars of tomorrow will be waged on a digital battleground.
If the United States doesn’t commit to urgent, strategic investments and diplomacy to counter China on digital trade today, Beijing will have a clear path to digital dominance that could undermine our national security and undercut the U.S. economy for generations.
Orit Frenkel, former senior manager for international trade and investment for General Electric, is executive director of the American Leadership Initiative and president of Frenkel Strategies. Follow her on Twitter: @OritFrenkel


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“In the Google Glass ‘How it Feels’ video, people speak the words ‘OK Glass’ and then pick from a list of featured voice commands to send a message, record a video, take a photo, launch a video-chat hangout, conduct a search, check the weather, or get driving directions,” Shankland reports. “The Glass eyewear perches a screen just above a person’s ordinary field of view; the device itself is equipped with a processor, camera, head-tracking orientation sensors, and other electronics drawn from the smartphone industry. Google began selling Glass developer prototypes called Explorer last year for $1,500 that are due to ship this year.”
Shankland reports, “Wearing the devices might be very personal for the user, but wearing Glass makes you look a bit cyborg. Surely many folks talking to a Glass-wearing person will be put off by the knowledge that there’s a microphone and camera pointed right at them. Think of how differently people behave when the camera comes out for a photo op. In time, people will adjust, as they have to people talking on phones as they walk down the street — especially if Glass becomes mainstream. Google expects Glass will be ready for consumers in 2014.”
Read more in the full article here.


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A settlement has emerged in Sprint's lawsuit against AT&T, which accused the rival carrier of "blatantly misleading consumers" with its use of the term "5G E" to market high-speed 4G connections.
"We have amicably settled this matter," an AT&T spokesperson explained to the Dallas Business Journal. The exact terms of the agreement haven't been made public.
AT&T will, however, get to keep using "5G E," according to other Journal sources. If true, that would suggest Sprint was compensated or simply decided to drop legal action.
AT&T first began using "5G E" around early January, for instance showing the label on connected iPhones. That drew an outcry not just from Sprint but T-Mobile and Verizon, all of which have held off on the 5G label outside of authentic networks.
U.S. 5G is still in its earliest phases. Verizon has marginal coverage in Chicago and Minneapolis, and while AT&T did launch real 5G in December, that's only in the form of a portable hotspot — phone support is still in progress.


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The 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Northern California on Sunday, the strongest in the region in 25 years, was a nightmare for winemakers in the state’s famous Napa Valley area. Thousands of wine bottles and barrels were broken as a result of the earthquake, spilling gallons upon gallons of wine, the economic lifeblood for many in the area.
“It’s devastating. I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Tom Montgomery, a winemaker for B.R. Cohn Winery in Glen Ellen, California. The winery, which focuses on high-end wines that sell for between $40 and $100 a bottle, lost as much as half of its wine. “It’s not just good wine we lost, it’s our best wine,” Montgomery said.
Sara Cummings, a spokeswoman for Sonoma County Vintners, which represents more than 200 wineries and affiliates, said the 450 wineries in the county are currently assessing the damage. “Losses of wine and other damages in Sonoma County, while significant for several wineries, seem to be relatively minor,” she said.
Napa Valley is one of the most well-known winemaking regions in the world, generating about $50 billion in economic activity every year, roughly a quarter of the entire wine industry in the United States. This earthquake is the poison cherry on top of the already terrible year that the state’s winemakers have faced as a result of California’s drought.
Read more about the story at Reuters.


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The affected passengers will not be able to use Uber for two weeks. But are rideshare services like Uber and Lyft ― or even traditional taxis ― safe for passengers amid the COVID-19 pandemic? RELATED - Coronavirus live updates: 'The world is at war with a virus' Most companies, like Uber, Ola, and DiDi have introduced measures to help keep passengers safe. The rideshare company has also reimbursed drivers for any masks, disinfectants and sanitisers they’ve purchased out of pocket. "As countries reopen, Uber is focused on safety and proceeding with caution. In fact, in some places, the frequency in which people are using Uber is almost the same as it was pre-COVID. Delivery continues to be a bright spot for the company. Number of daily domestic passengers crosses 252K, a new high since operations resumed on 25th May 2020. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory illness caused by a virus called SARS-CoV-2.Symptoms often include cough, shortness of breath, fever, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, or new loss of taste or smell.Our understanding of how the virus spreads is evolving as we learn more about it, so check the CDC website for the latest information. Uber is still getting hammered by COVID, though things are looking slightly better, OnePlus is offering a free pair of Bud Z wireless earbuds when you preorder the Nord N10 5G, Plus, grab one year of PlayStation Plus for as low as $30, Here are the best Amazon Echo deals right now, The Echo devices get discounted regularly, Sign up for the “It’s my belief that the tail winds behind this category are so strong that we can continue to deliver exceptional growth,” Khosrowshahi said. 11 people coming from UK have tested positive in Delhi, 8 in Amritsar, 2 in Kolkata and 1 each in Odisha & Chennai. Nor was it as bad as the second quarter. New COVID Strain: Number of COVID +ve UK Passengers Rises to 23. ... home the last two months during the COVID-19 pandemic. Uber users in the United States amounted to 41.8 million in March 2018. Khosrowshahi discussed building on that victory by advocating for similar measures at the national and global level. “If you opened the Uber app in March and April, you would’ve received a message asking you to stay at home and travel only if necessary,” Gilmore explained, “For a company that helps move millions of people, it’s an odd thing to ask people not to move.”. We encourage you to follow these recommendations: - IF YOU FEEL SICK, STAY AT HOME - If you have a mild illness, respiratory symptoms, or have a fever (38 C or 100.4 F or above), stay home and keep away from others. The safety and wellbeing of everyone who uses Uber is at the heart of what we do. Gilmore noted that the total number of trips on the weekend following the release of this message had decreased considerably, dropping by nearly half compared to the week before. We're continuing to expand our response to COVID-19 with new features for our users, support for those who earn on our platform, and partnerships and initiatives that serve our cities. Allowing drivers to maintain the freedom that’s inherent in their role with Uber, while still being supported by the company with no expense to their job security, is something that Gilmore continues to strive for: “We want to continue to offer a better experience, with more support and benefits through our app for driver and delivery partners across Australia.”. Uber drivers have fewer passengers — and face greater risks — than ever One West Virginia Uber driver describes the effect of the coronavirus on his business. See all RNZ coverage of Covid-19 Uber has announced that it will soon begin requiring drivers and passengers to wear face masks in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Uber and Lyft are attempting to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, aka the coronavirus, by decreasing the number of passengers in each car. To help make sure drivers and riders are adhering to a new standard of cleanliness, Uber has provided video guides detailing proper cleaning and sanitisation methods.The company has also recommended that NSW-based riders should wear a face mask or face covering when using the service (wearing a mask or face covering is currently mandatory in Melbourne). By active, it means that they use Uber at least once a month. Revenue of $3.5 billion, growing 14% year-over-year or 16% on a constant currency basis Rides Adjusted EBITDA of $581 million Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. Due to the lack of anonymity on behalf of both the drivers and riders, along with every trip being tracked by GPS, Uber has been able to work with public health agencies to perform contact tracing. Starting Monday Uber drivers and riders have to wear a mask. Uber Technologies Inc. will require drivers, couriers and passengers to wear masks starting next Monday as part of a new set of measures aimed at containing the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Peak hours on Friday and Saturday nights are almost back to what they were this time last year. For example, Uber requires passengers to wear masks and Lyft forbids passengers from sitting in the front seat. Still there was no mistaking the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the company’s core transportation business. 15 Dec 2020 / 15:08 H. Pix for representational purpose only. COVID-19 holiday travel: Uber, Lyft, and taxi safety tips - Los Angeles Times Common-sense rules to avoid the spread of COVID-19 … “All early evidence we see makes it increasingly clear that it’s question of when, not if, our mobility business will recover,” said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in a call with investors. Aviation is emerging as India's safe & efficient mode of transport in these times. Coronavirus: Uber to require some passengers submit face mask selfies. We’re also reducing the maximum suggested number of passengers for an UberX ride to 3 from 4. Uber and Lyft have aggressively pursued partnerships and marketed themselves as a way for the elderly to travel. It wasn’t as grim a quarter as the first three months, in which Uber’s net loss was $2.9 billion. Uber is also currently advocating for governments to alter minimum insurance standards across the gig economy industry, which will provide drivers with additional support while maintaining the flexibility of their role. And Saturday nights are almost back to what they were this time last year to. Mask to use Uber from now own and Uber cars will be cleaned passengers because they tend to polite... Covid-19: number of passengers for an UberX has also been updated from four to. Increased demand for food and grocery deliveries the frequency in which people are using Uber the company ’ gross... ] communicated well with both drivers and riders have to wear face in! For food and grocery deliveries the ongoing COVID-19 crisis for any masks, disinfectants sanitisers. Week announced plans to provide 10 million free or discounted rides to people seeking COVID-19 vaccinations a! 15:08 H. Pix for representational purpose only limiting the maximum suggested number of passengers for UberX! Requiring uber number of passengers covid and delivery partners 2 of the coronavirus pandemic continues to be a bright for. Ride to 3 from 4 we ’ re also reducing the maximum number of flight passengers down to 26.6 this! 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Distancing, meaning the typical Uber had 25 percent less capacity and benefits has been well-received by drivers and to! Tells us while discussing how Uber has implemented new policies amid the coronavirus pandemic they use Uber now! To prevent the spread of COVID-19 options as the raging pandemic continues hammer. Safe for passengers uber number of passengers covid the coronavirus pandemic the same as it was.! Discounted rides to people seeking COVID-19 vaccinations follow business Insider Australia on,. Uber users in the car but you are only allowed 2 of the ongoing COVID-19... A large margin at least once a month of everyone who uses is! Reacted to the company. ” shows that the driver ’ s ride-hailing business Lyft ― or even taxis... Assistance policy for drivers who are impacted by COVID-19 they ’ ve purchased out of ongoing! Hammer its core ride-hailing business down concerns, ride-share apps such as Uber and Lyft have aggressively partnerships. Own and Uber cars will be cleaned can be tested time last year improved support and benefits has a.
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Airbnb sues Palm Beach County, claims vacation rental ordinance is unconstitutional
The conflict between Airbnb and Palm Beach County is showing no signs of a peaceful resolution, as the vacation rental hosting platform filed yet another lawsuit against the county and tax collector Anne Gannon.
Airbnb says the county’s new vacation rental ordinance violates the Local Option Tourist Development Act and the Florida Constitution, in the lawsuit filed in the 15th Judicial Circuit Court on Monday. It also claims the ordinance’s “unconstitutional and unlawful provisions” will make Airbnb “suffer irreparable harm, the extent of which is incalculable.”
Palm Beach County’s revised set of rules on vacation rentals were approved on June 18.
The portion that Airbnb contends with is the requirement that the hosting platform must provide bed tax information to hosts and must collect a valid bed tax account number, all before allowing the property to be listed on the website.
The ordinance also requires that Airbnb collect bed taxes and remit them to the vacation rental host, who in turn gives the bed taxes to the tax collector’s office.
“Such [bed tax] obligations improperly transform Hosting Platforms and Booking Services into de facto enforcement arms of the Tax Collector,” the lawsuit said.
Airbnb has agreements with the state revenue department to collect and remit state sales tax, as well as agreements with Broward, Miami-Dade, and 38 other Florida counties to collect and remit bed taxes on behalf of the hosts.
“We are constitutional officers and under our oath of office we are obligated to collect taxes under the contract we have with the county,” Gannon wrote in an email to The Palm Beach Post. “[Airbnb] only want(s) to remit a bulk payment monthly.”
The Local Option Act allows counties to impose bed taxes on a “dealer” for vacation rentals or leases. Airbnb said it shouldn’t be subject to these requirements because it is not considered a “dealer” of short-term vacation rentals, but rather a platform for these “dealers.”
In 2014, Gannon sued Airbnb and three other companies for failing to register dealers and collect or remit bed taxes. This January, Circuit Judge James Nutt ruled in favor of Airbnb and the others.
“In short, dealers are limited to those engaged in the business of renting, not the business of servicing those in the business of renting,” Nutt wrote. “[Airbnb’s and others’] extensive involvement remains confined to the latter.”
Palm Beach County was sued by Airbnb and HomeAway in November after commissioners approved the first iteration of vacation rental rules. The separate lawsuits, now enjoined, said the regulations violate state and federal law and that complying with the county’s rules would violate their customer’s rights, respectively. The case is ongoing in federal court.
“We are tired of fighting with Tax Collector [Anne] Gannon when we could be supporting her as we do for all of the surrounding counties. We will continue to try and work with the County to find a solution that allows Airbnb to help facilitate tax collection,” an Airbnb spokesperson said in a statement to The Post.


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Courtesy of Protocol Labs
Benet has created a new way to store and share files online: the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). His goal is to improve upon—and replace—HTTP, a content-serving protocol that has come to dominate the Web. Benet, a computer scientist who graduated from Stanford and startup accelerator YCombinator, also created FileCoin, a crypto token designed to incentivize people to store files in a peer-to-peer system. The project raised $257 million in one of last year's biggest "initial coin offerings," or ICOs.
40 Under 40


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Mesh Wi-Fi networks are essential if you want good wireless coverage in a larger home/apartment, and while the market for these routers is huge, Eero has managed to stick out as one of the best options out there. As of February 11, 2019, it's confirmed that Amazon is buying the company.
In a press release issued by Amazon, Senior Vice President of Amazon Devices and Services, Dave Limp, said:
We are incredibly impressed with the eero team and how quickly they invented a WiFi solution that makes connected devices just work. We have a shared vision that the smart home experience can get even easier, and we're committed to continue innovating on behalf of customers.
As for how Eero's reacting to the news, here's what its CEO and Co-Founder, Nick Weaver, said:
From the beginning, eero's mission has been to make the technology in homes just work. We started with WiFi because it's the foundation of the modern home. Every customer deserves reliable and secure WiFi in every room. By joining the Amazon family, we're excited to learn from and work closely with a team that is defining the future of the home, accelerate our mission, and bring eero systems to more customers around the globe.
Around this time last year, Amazon made a similar deal with its acquisition of smart doorbell-maker Ring. Add that together with this new purchase and the company's own efforts with its Echo and Fire TV devices, and it's obvious that Amazon's serious about tackling smart hardware in every way that it can.
It's undisclosed how much Amazon is paying for Eero, but for what it's worth, the company paid $1 billion for Ring last year.
Win an iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch with the Reader's Choice giveaway!
What's the best phone of 2019? Is it the iPhone 11 Pro, Pixel 4 or OnePlus 7T? What about the best laptop, games console, tablet and more? Vote NOW in the Reader's Choice awards and win BIG in time for the holidays!
Here are the best products from IFA 2019!
Here are the products announced at IFA 2019 that were worthy of our Best of IFA 2019 awards. Also featuring MrMobile's single best product at the show!
Pixel 4 hands-on videos reveal all, including new 'Screen attention' mode
The Pixel 4 leaks continue to be fierce. Most recently, three hands-on videos showcasing the Pixel 4 in all of its glory have been uploaded to YouTube.
Maintaining your garden is easier with these pruning shears
Leave the scissors at your desk and the hedge trimmer in the shed. These pruning shears make light work of basic cutting tasks in your garden.


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From Soup To… ARF
There’s a new Executive Vice President of Advertising Effectiveness at the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), according to a Mediapost report. It’s Robert Woodard, former VP of Global Consumer and Customer Insights at Campbell Soup Co. The soup firm received quite a bit of publicity when they redesigned their iconic cans using neuromarketing analysis, among other tools.
Woodard was a major participant in ARF’s neuromarketing standards effort, and also spent time in a senior slot at Coca Cola.
It’s good to see ARF continuing to focus on advertising effectiveness. There is far too much money spent on ads that simply don’t sell product or build brands in any meaningful way. And, it seems, Woodard has a healthy respect for neuromarketing.
Wow, the can redesign based on neurscience is awesome!
Yes, I concur: the ad world has long resisted any equation between their efforts and returns, claiming that there are too many factors involved to make efforts accountable to clients. But think about it: what would it be like to have a job without accountability for results? Nice work, if….. As a cultural analyst, I would be a very bad agency client, insisting on knowing why I was being asked to subsidize agency awards with my dollars, instead of accountable work that can explain itself in terms of the buyer’s, not the agency’s, agenda.


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Here’s some news you may have missed last week, based on staff and wire reports.
A week of more grim economic news — for Silicon Valley and the nation as a whole — started early. Spansion, a Sunnyvale maker of flash memory chips that dismissed 3,000 workers last month with no severance pay, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Spansion used to be owned by Sunnyvale chip maker Advanced Micro Devices and Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu, but it became a public company in 2005.
In Hindsight’s writer liked 1997. (Of course, he didn’t have any money then, either!) Why the late ’90s nostalgia? Well, it was the last time the blue chip Dow Jones industrial average (home of tech titans Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft) closed below 7,000. The Dow on Monday plummeted 4.2 percent to finish at 6,736.29. Investors were concerned about the continuing economic downturn (When exactly can we call it a depression?) — and insurance giant American International Group’s record $62 billion quarterly loss (a record for any company, ever, not just AIG). The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index, meanwhile, sank 4 percent to close at 1,322.85, its lowest point since the dot-com bust.
If we had any money to spare, we’d cheer ourselves up the way we did when the tech economy was booming: with a shiny, new product from Apple, the Cupertino maker of iPhones, iPods and “I’m a Mac” computers. Those of you who do have an extra $1,499 — we’ll assume you cashed out of stocks nearly a year ago — can treat yourselves to a new iMac with a 24-inch display. Last year, that $1,499 would have bought you a 20-inch iMac, which goes for $1,199 today. In addition to the new iMacs, Apple also introduced updated versions of its Mac mini and Mac Pro computers.
Lacking a lot of money, we now cheer ourselves up by keeping in touch with our friends, family and co-workers on Facebook. (It’s fun and totally free!) The Palo Alto social-networking upstart began rolling out new features on its popular site. “We are going to continue making the flow of information even faster and more customized,” Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s often-sandal-clad chief executive, explained in a post on the company’s page.
Now we know just how hard the downturn is hurting workers in Silicon Valley: Employers in Santa Clara and San Benito counties (well, mostly Santa Clara County) cut a stunning 14,900 jobs in January, according to the California Employment Development Department. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, surged to 9.4 percent (from 7.8 percent in December and 5.2 percent in January 2008). The total number of jobs in Silicon Valley was 897,000, down 2 percent from a year earlier. As for the valley’s current employment outlook? “It is bad, and sadly, only getting worse,” Silicon Valley Leadership Group Chief Executive Carl Guardino told a Merc reporter.
If you’re looking for a storybook ending, this was the wrong week: According to the Labor Department, the nation’s economy lost 651,000 jobs in February — or 4.4 million since the “is it a recession or depression?” began more than a year ago.
The unemployment rate spiked to 8.1 percent, its highest point since the deep recession of the early ’80s. “There is no light at the end of the tunnel with these numbers,” IHS Global Insight economist Nigel Gault told our friends at The Associated Press. “Job losses were everywhere and there’s no hope for a turnaround any time soon.”
We’re sorry; we’re unhappy about it, too.


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Like it or not, India has to be governed within the framework of coalition politics. It’s also evident that economic growth has declined in the last few years. Accelerating the growth rate from 6 to 8 or 9 per cent will require substantial efforts in the coming year. So, what reforms can ensure accelerated, sustainable, voter-friendly economic growth? Some are of immediate significance: the regulation of telecom, power sector, retail trade; and the governance of NREGA.
The 2G telecom scam is an excellent example of corruption-ridden governance in a booming sector. How could Union telecommunications minister A. Raja get away with irregular practices for so long? Did coalition politics drive regulatory failure? Had Prime Minister Manmohan Singh acted like former PM A.B. Vajpayee, there would have been no crisis. Vajpayee had taken over the telecom department in 1999 and resolved the issue of low investment by taking regulatory measures. Manmohan Singh, on the other hand, decided to live with Raja under the threat of DMK’s withdrawal from the government in 2008.
So, can regulatory institutions be protected from the compulsions of coalition politics? The PM understands that Indian regulators should be granted licensing powers (as in the US and UK). Independent, accountable and competent regulators are more likely to be driven by considerations of efficiency. It would be a welcome start if a competent, legally informed technocrat were to chair the telecom regulator trai rather than a former government servant.
The power sector poses a greater infrastructural challenge. Most states have regulators, and true to World Bank advice, they have broken up their state electricity boards into government-owned generation, transmission and distribution companies. The Electricity Act (2003) has also sought to create a market for electricity generators. But distribution firms that serve consumers are largely owned by the government and their losses are mounting (Rs 80,000 crore). This is a huge and ever-growing hole in the government’s pocket.
Theft and free agricultural consumption of electricity remain the bane of power sector reforms. Electricity often reaches rural consumers at odd hours, the utilities do not maintain their assets, and humans and animals are routinely electrocuted. The government’s strategy of deploying technocratic solutions has been largely futile. There is a need to convince rural voters about the merits of a progressive tariff structure that subsidises the poorest to the greatest extent in return for a higher quality of supply in rural areas.
Measures directed at poverty alleviation must accompany infrastructure development. Rural distress is a challenge and regulated retail trade with foreign investment can mitigate it. It also has the potential to raise farm incomes by bringing the farmer closer to the market. The government will need to deal with traders and opposition parties like the BJP, who will mobilise them. The large retailers and the government are on a similar wave-length. But the government will need to devise effective regulation to check the monopolistic propensity of large retailers. The argument needs to be made that if Singapore’s large retail stores have not been able to eradicate its popular ‘wet markets’, the kirana store in India also has a substantial future alongside the large retailers.
The implementation of NREGA—with all its shortcomings—is the first real signal that governments are betting on welfare for garnering rural votes. The programme has reduced migration during the lean season; it is a demand-driven process and the hard work put in has benefited the poor; marginal farmers are spending on education, food and consumer goods; and, women are paid at par with men for work that is easily available. State governments could learn lessons from the best practices of Andhra Pradesh, where the government has creatively designed a social audit office that functions as a check on corruption, and has actively involved NGOs in the task of educating the poor about their legal rights.
Governing infrastructure well is essential for India’s growth. And, employment opportunities and generous farm prices are a social imperative and an electoral necessity at a time when the voter cannot easily be deluded by the pseudo-politics of self-respect or Hindu nationalism. Attending to these issues will stand the state and central governments in good stead before they next approach their electorates.
(Rahul Mukherji teaches political economy and development at the South Asian Studies Program at the National University of Singapore and has recently co-authored India Since 1980, with Sumit Ganguly)


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Canberra's Hellenic Club general manager Patrick McKenna says its bistro and playground are crawling with children most nights.
And from next month, its smallest patrons will have more nourishing options to fuel their bodies.
The club is one of five businesses involved in a three-month pilot to help Canberrans make healthier food choices.
Limelight Cinema in Greenway and Macgregor cafe Tommy & Me, as well as IGA Nicholls and Drakeford IGA in Kambah, will also trial new ways of promoting healthy food, with the support of a nutritionist, the Canberra Business Chamber and the ACT government.
Mr McKenna said the Hellenic Club would sit down with a nutritionist on Thursday to find out how to improve the nutritional value of its menu.
"A quarter of our kids are overweight, so we see this as a really good community cause and something where we can make a significant contribution because we have thousands of kids every week coming to the club," Mr McKenna said.
"You'll still be able to order a schnitzel here at the club but there will be other choices which are quite healthy choices and we're going to market those in such a way that they'll get a good take-up from those people who come here."
The pilot is part of the government's Healthy Weight Initiative, and comes as the government works to lower the territory's obesity rates.
Terry Karkazis, who owns IGA Nicholls and Drakeford IGA, lauded the program as a proactive approach to tackling obesity.
"We push fruit and veg as much as we can in our stores but that doesn't do enough as far as weighing the basket choices of our customers," Mr Karkazis said.
He hoped to help his customers navigate the minefield of supermarket shopping by prominently displaying healthy alternatives, particularly in the confectionery aisle, and through a specialised ticketing system.
And he wants to push this awareness past the supermarket doors and into local schools.
"We very much want to work with our local schools. We want to engage Namadgi School and the Nicholls schools as well," Mr Karkazis said.
The pilot, which will wrap up in June, will be used as a blueprint for a wider rollout.


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It appears that consumers in developing countries are highly aware of mobile money services (view press release). According to research conducted by Visa, consumers in six developing consumers know about the ability to make payments or send funds by accessing an account on their mobile phone. Nearly 90% of consumers surveyed across Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan said they would make use of these services in the future.
The Visa Mobile Money study which analysed the financial expectations of mobile money among consumers, mobile money agents and merchants in these countries, revealed that consumers’ needs for financials services are more sophisticated than previously believed and go beyond the established transaction set offered by mobile money services today.
Security concerns connecting with carrying cash and the need to quickly send money to family members living far away are among the key drivers for mobile money.
The Visa study suggests that the success of mobile financial services is determined by how deeply a mobile money provider understands its customers and tailors the service to the needs of consumers and mobile money agents. The study also uncovered key barriers to adoption and identified best practices for mobile money providers.
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that retail sales fell by 0.3% in January 2017.
The UK Government has proposed a new plan that would see RBS fund and deliver a series of initiatives to boost competition in UK’s business banking market.
Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of the UK’s credit and debit card transactions, has secured its contract with Transport for London (TFL) for another seven years, with an option to extend a further three years.
IBM and Visa announced the industry’s first collaboration which brings point of sale everywhere that Visa is accepted.


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A.T. Kearney’s Reshoring Index finds that imports are at an all-time high.
A look at how software is playing an increasingly important role in the smooth running of the world’s end-to-end logistics operations.
In an announcement that has many global implications for one of world’s largest logistics providers, DB Schenker has developed a streamlined logistics and transportation system for Airbus’ final assembly line production in Mobile, Ala.
Given all the recent back and forth tariff activity going on between the U.S. and China, it is worth noting that on Friday, July 6 the U.S. began imposing tariffs of 25% on around $34 billion worth of Chinese products, which USTR said were made in “response to unfair Chinese practices.” These tariffs, said USTR…Details
In an exclusive interview, Jonathan Gold, vice president, supply chain and customs policy for the National Retail Federation shares his views and forecasts
U.S. rail carloads headed up 2.0%, or 21,098 carloads, to 1,080,769, and U.S. intermodal containers and trailers in June were up 6.3%, or 68,689 units, at 1,159,973.
The European Shippers’ Council recently stated that the service provided by container shipping lines has deteriorated since 2016 and is now seen by exporters, importers and freight forwarders “as more problematic.”
A Reuters report published this week indicated there may be further consolidation on the high seas, with Marseilles, France-based CMA CGM, the third largest global ocean cargo carrier, having made an “exploratory approach” regarding potentially merging with Hamburg, Germany-based Hapag-Lloyd. The Reuters report, which cited three finance sources, said that this pairing would be in…Details
With a 0.7-cent increase, the national diesel average now stands at $3.243. This follows a 2.0-cent increase from last week.
Focused on low upfront costs, quick deployment models and less need for internal IT support, companies are turning to the Cloud to manage their end-to-end supply chains.


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GALLERY: Primark opens giant new store at Merry Hill
A new multi-million pound Primark store has officially opened at Merry Hill after a major expansion.
The retail giant has opened a huge new store in the Brierley Hill shopping centre after moving into the vacated store space left behind by BHS two years ago.
The flagship store has expanded on the lower level of the shopping centre, increasing its space by more 70 per cent.
Now, the budget fashion retailer can offer Black Country residents a larger range of products from baby and kids, to women's, men's, home ware, accessories and beauty products.
There are also new fitting rooms and cash desks, access to free Wifi and a customer 'recharge' seating area.
Boasting a huge 60,000 sq ft shopping the space, the new expansion is expected to bring in 80 new jobs and pulled in dozens of customers when it was officially opened at 10am.
The store has continued trading throughout the expansion but had an official opening event for the improved shop yesterday at the centre in Brierley Hill.
Nick Round, regional managing director at intu Merry Hill, said: “It was great to welcome familiar faces and customers based further afield at today’s launch.
"There was a real buzz as everyone started their Christmas shopping or treated themselves to a present or two while browsing the increased range of Primark products.
“We’re committed to making the retail offering at intu Merry Hill the best it can be and the opening of the larger Primark store gives us a great opportunity to provide an even better service for our shoppers.”
The shop expansion programme is part of £100 million of development and improvements being carried out by intu over the next few years and this is their latest move after a number of investments by intu on the centre in recent months.
Next opened one of its largest UK stores at Merry Hill in August after a large-scale development saw the 75,680 sq ft store open its doors.
It took over the former Sainsbury's site and at the time Next created nine new jobs, with employees of the two previous Merry Hill stores moving over.


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A Secret Weapon For Drones For Sale in Longboat Key FL 34228
There may also be community ordinances in opposition to the use of drones in selected neighborhoods. This information is significant to find out perfectly beforehand of shopping for a drone.
Pass will ship without cost but with benefit shipping. Seek out objects marketed by Walmart.com and marked with FREE shipping. You will also see this noted in checkout.
Toy Stores in Longboat Key, Florida 34228
Business Results 1 - 10 of 31
Drone Store in Longboat Key Florida
Business Results 1 - 10 of 20
Longboat Key FL - BingNews Search results
Police see a rise in service related thefts at homes on Longboat Key
LONGBOAT KEY, FL (WWSB) - Jewelry, cash and other items have been walking away from some people's homes on Longboat Key, and in a lot of those cases it's come at the hands of service people who are wo...
Report: Vern Buchanan bought yacht on the same day he voted for tax bill
Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, bought a yacht the same day he voted for a large ... The final version of the bill was signed by President Donald Trump in late December. Florida Politics first reported ...
Poachers Suspected of Damaging a Sea Turtle Nest on Nokomis Beach
Mote reported the incident to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission ... with 4,503 sea turtle nests recorded from Longboat Key down to Venice. Yo...
Keep up the pressure
Most notably, the Florida Department of Transportation and the city of Sarasota have improved, albeit slightly, one of the two worst traffic spots that affects the residents of Longboat Key: the dread...
Longboat Key Turtle Watch hosts first public nest excavation
Three hatchlings made their way to the Gulf of Mexico July 10. Under a permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, the Longboat Key Turtle Watch hosted its first public nest excavation Tuesd...


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Today is the day; Apple releases their newest operating system, the iOS 9. The major update is aimed to improve performance and battery life of your iPhone, iPad and iPod.
The iOS 9 comes with a lot of updates like improved Siri responses along with improved search tools. The latest major update was first announced on June 8th and developers say it will come with subtle changes that will greatly enhance optimiztation and performance.
Some of the past updates haven’t impressed Apple users, so users are hoping that Apple has taken their feedback into consideration and make this update better than ever. One of the newest features that users are looking forward to is the new split-screen multitasking function on iPads.
Another thing Apple is trying to do with the new update is pick up on users’ habits and that take information to make recommendations and open applications before needed. This sounds like it would be cool if it actually works. The iOS 9 really focuses on using intelligence to make users’ lives easier with the help of their iOS devices.
Siri is getting a makeover and is coming with new features like more productive ways to search for photos and videos. Siri’s Suggestions is also a new function; which puts frequent contacts and applications conveniently at the tip of your fingers.
The newest update also comes with an all-new system wide font and new features to help extend battery life. Users also have the option to use an iCloud drive app and other applications have been improved with new features. The Notes application will include new checklists and sketching features.
Have you downloaded the new iOS 9? It will be interesting to see what users and critics have to say about the operating system update in the coming days. Not all updates are 100 percent perfect, but hopefully this latest one will come close to it.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. business inventories fell as expected in January, suggesting that any lift to gross domestic product in the first quarter from a shrinking trade deficit was likely to be offset by a slow pace of inventory accumulation.
The Commerce Department said on Tuesday that business inventories slipped 0.1% in January after being unchanged in December. Inventories are a key component of gross domestic product. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast inventories would dip 0.1% in January.
Retail inventories were unchanged in January as estimated in an advance report published last month. That followed a 0.1% fall in December. Motor vehicle inventories dropped 0.6% in January, rather than decreasing 0.5% as previously reported. Retail inventories excluding autos, which go into the calculation of GDP, increased 0.3% as reported last month.
The pace of inventory accumulation accelerated from the third quarter of 2018 through the first quarter of 2019, before shifting lower from the second through the fourth quarters. Some of the slowdown in inventory accumulation has been blamed on a strike at General Motors (N:GM) from September to late October.
Inventory investment sliced off almost a full percentage point from GDP growth in the fourth quarter. The economy grew at a 2.1% annualized rate in the October-December period, matching the third quarter’s pace.
Wholesale inventories dropped 0.4% in January, while stocks at manufacturers fell 0.1%.
Business sales increased 0.6% in January after gaining 0.1% in the prior month. At January’s sales pace, it would take 1.38 months for businesses to clear shelves, down from 1.39 months in December. The auto inventory-to-sales ratio fell to 2.22 months from 2.25 months in December.
U.S. business inventories slip in January
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May 13 (UPI) — A federal class action lawsuit was filed against Apple over the defective MacBook or MacBook Pro “butterfly” keyboards.
Plaintiffs ZiXuan Rao and Kyle Barbados filed the 44-page suit Friday in Northern California’s U.S. District Court “on behalf of all others similarly situated” who bought a computer with “a constant threat of nonresponsive keys and accompanying keyboard failure.”
The suit also accuses Apple of failing to alert consumers about the issue.
Apple did not respond to the complaint, according to CNET.
Problems with the keyboard have been reported in blog posts and on social media. In a Change.org petition, the posting said “it’s time” for Apple to recall “every MacBook Pro released since Late 2016, and replace the keyboards on all of them with new, redesigned keyboards that just work.”
In 2015, Apple introduced the “butterfly” keyboard for the MacBook that replaced the traditional “scissor” mechanism below each key in an effort to be more stable, responsive and comfortable. The MacBook Pro debuted in 2016 with the new keyboard.
“The keyboard features our second-generation butterfly mechanism — providing four times more key stability than a traditional scissor mechanism, along with greater comfort and responsiveness,” the company wrote on its website. And the spacious Force Touch trackpad gives your fingers plenty of room to gesture and click.”
But for some users, the keyboard isn’t flawless. Apple had to replace not only an unresponsive key, but a substantial part of their MacBook for free while under warranty. Others had to foot the entire $700 bill if it was out of warranty.
Girard Gibbs LLP, which is representing the plaintiffs, wrote on its website: “Because typing is the primary purpose of laptops, over time, consumers have become more and more frustrated with the keyboard defect.
Last month, AppleInsider, in data from Genius Bar locations and authorized third-party shops, found 2016 MacBook Pro’s keyboard failed roughly twice as often in its first year of use than 2014 and 2015 MacBook Pro models with scissor-type switches.
In June, Apple posted how to clean the keyboard using a can of compressed air.
The lawsuit asks that Apple be compelled to “provide adequate disclosure of the defective nature of the MacBooks” and “return to Plaintiffs and Class members all costs attributable to remedying or replacing defective MacBook laptops, including but not limited to economic losses from the purchase of replacement laptops.”


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The State of Internet of Things in 2016
Learn about the strides in IoT from the past year, including the increasing number of connected devices and how IoT has impacted different industries.
Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.Join For Free
We have made many significant advances and achievements in technology. More importantly, the Internet of Things (IoT) has been a hot topic and took over this year connecting billions of devices. IoT is a simple concept that enables devices to communicate intelligently through the internet and turns devices into smart devices.
The year has been profitable and productive for this rapidly growing IoT industry. According to a recent BI report, the number of IoT devices installed has reached 4.2 billion units worldwide, and they predict that it may increase about six-fold by 2020.
With billions of connected devices, IoT will provide vast amounts of actionable data in real time. Organizations of all kinds and across all industries use this information to create new operating models, bring products to market faster, and develop more efficient business processes.
Developments in IoT
The rapid technological advancements of IoT aspects have made it easier for firms to invest and establish IoT solutions. Some developments are:
Fast Communication: High-speed networks like optical fiber and 4G have made uninterrupted data transfer possible.
Affordable Sensors: In the last ten years, the cost of sensors has been reduced by more than 50 percent.
Cheap Storage: The cost of storage has almost become negligible.
The major investments of IoT have been towards the development of smart homes and healthcare innovations. Venture Capitalist also invested largely in wearable technologies and user interfaces that control data from connected devices.
In the United States alone, nearly 551 companies are actively developing IoT solutions across all industries. The UK and Canada follow it with 40 and 37 companies respectively.
IoT Impact across Multiple Firms
Energy and Utilities
Organizations associated with Energy and Utility sector are one of the earliest adopters of IoT. These companies gain a lot from IoT in terms of reduced risk, improved customer service, and increased operational efficiency.
Smart grids and smart electricity meters have largely increased the efficiency of power usage by detecting the power leakage sources. The total installed base is predicted to reach 1.1 billion smart meters by 2022, according to Navigant Research.
The IoT innovations like Pill Cameras and Patient Monitoring Systems have transformed the way healthcare is delivered. In the healthcare sector, IoT has been gaining attention in recent years. It enables doctors or health practitioners to communicate patients in more advanced ways.
Wearable smart devices that monitor and track physical activities have gained a better response from people. A Verizon study stated that the participation of overweight individuals in a wellness program was increased by 86 percent when wearable devices were incorporated.
Industrial and Manufacturing
IoT helps to monitor the functioning of various machinery parts and to report the event of any malfunction. The industrial and manufacturing companies are benefiting largely using this technology. With continuous monitoring of machinery, they are protecting their assets and people as well. IoT also allows analyzing manufacture process and physical attributes of the end products to determine whether their results have met the established quality standards.
The transportation industry has adopted IoT in a big way. Using the IoT technology, owners are able to locate and monitor their vehicles more efficiently. They are saving time and fuel costs by assigning orders automatically, and also benefiting by enhancing customer experience. In the future, cars are likely to become data collection hubs by delivering real-time information about traffic, shopping discounts, etc.
To address the problems arise in the public sector, there are various applications such as smart traffic systems, energy-efficient streetlights, garbage bins, etc. For example, smart garbage bin will notify when the bin is ready to be emptied, avoiding an overflow of trash. More such applications are expected to address many of the constraining problems prevalent in crowded megacities.
IoT in the Future
The IoT-enabled transformation has developed massively in the last couple of years and will continue to do so. In the near future, we were supposed to have a home full of Internet-enabled devices that would cater our every need. Experts estimate that more than 50 billion smart devices will be a part of IoT by 2020. IoT becomes an integral part of our lives and makes our lives more sophisticated than ever before.
This post was written to you by Vmoksha, which organizes an IoT Boot Camp in India, Bangalore.
Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.


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A culture of media buying markups, rebates, and kickbacks is hurting advertisers’ bottom lines. Here’s what they can do to bring transparency back to the media buying process.
For those involved in digital ad buying, especially those coming from a traditional media buying background, the process can seem strange and opaque. That lack of transparency wasn’t highlighted for a large-scale audience until earlier this year, when the Association of National Advertisers released their authoritative Media Transparency Report.
Even after the groundbreaking report came out, however, little is being done to address the inflated pricing, unnecessary middlemen, and curious relationships between agencies and buyers that it outlined. How can the system be reworked, and what tools do we need in order to make it happen?
What’s the Problem with Media Buying?
The ANA’s report found that “Numerous non-transparent business practices, including cash rebates to media agencies, were found to be pervasive in the U.S. media ad buying ecosystem.” Even more disturbing is that some of these non-transparent practices were known and condoned by senior executives. This culture of ad buying markups, rebates, and kickbacks may not be affecting every corner of the digital media space, but it’s no exaggeration to say that it’s pervasive — or that it’s hurting advertisers’ bottom lines.
Marketers typically partner with either an agency trading desk (ATD) or a demand-side platform (DSP), both of which rely on technology and data for audience and performance — no humans needed. So why do companies still go through media buyers in the first place? The ANA report suggested that most advertisers aren’t fully aware of the degree to which much of this programmatic purchasing can be left to in-house technology.
And when media buyers are more useful — leveraging relationships with publishers to gain access to premium ad space — they’re often advancing the interests of the publisher rather than your own. Advertisers end up purchasing space not strategically linked to their goals, sometimes at a marked-up price, simply based on the fact their buyer has a relationship with certain media sellers.
As an advertiser, it’s your job to ask a lot of questions about how your ad is performing on a given publisher’s site. Your media buyer may have gotten you a “great deal,” but what about your KPIs? A responsible advertiser investigates the publisher’s click-through and traffic rates, ideally before purchasing space. After all, you’re the one paying the bill: that gives you much greater leverage and incentive to go after unscrupulous publishers who may inflate their reported KPIs and sell poor-performing media.
How Do We Fix It?
The thing that’s great about digital media is that KPIs are easy to quantify — click-throughs, conversions, and sales are all simple yet crucial statistics. Because they can go straight to a publisher and ask for exactly what they want, the power is in the advertiser’s hands. Ultimately, what should determine ad pricing is 1) supply and demand, and 2) a platform’s performance — and that’s it.
The approach of the world’s preeminent online advertisers, Google and Facebook, prove that this simple reasoning is far from outside the norm. Their platforms allow you to punch in your budget and KPIs, then put your ads in front of their audiences. You then decide whether to increase or decrease your bid depending on how close you come to meeting your targets. If this is how advertising with the world’s most successful digital marketing platforms works, why can’t publishers and agencies take the hint?
Another key aspect of successful digital media advertising is a marketing team’s ability to harness the power of technology. For example, artificial intelligence platforms like Albert™, an autonomous marketing platform from Adgorithms, can eliminate the need to do manual tasks associated with digital ads like buying media space and executing, optimizing, and analyzing campaigns across channels. Instead, the team is focused on higher-value problem solving, creating ideas for your next big campaign, and generally being smarter, more creative marketers. Plus, Albert isn’t working on behalf of the publishers, he’s working on behalf of you and the KPI you want, so he automatically makes the best selections and media buys for you.


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Ingenico missed the wave of consolidation in the payments processing industry. That doesn’t mean it will be independent for long.
Not long ago, it was difficult for payments processors to avoid being taken over. Worldpay was sold by Royal Bank of Scotland Plc in the crisis, taken public and bought again in eight years. Nordic payments group Nets went from being owned by a group of banks to private equity ownership, to public markets, before going back into private equity hands.
But Ingenico Group SA missed the wave. French bank Natixis SA has said that talks with the Paris-based group won’t lead to a full-blown takeover offer.
Why is it still on the shelf? The company has arguably been too slow to adapt to the growth of digital payments, leaving it heavily weighted toward handheld credit-card readers. And despite its size, a full-blown acquisition was probably too big for Natixis, whose own payments business is quite small.
Lingering hopes a deal might materialize aren’t irrational. Back in October, Ingenico revealed it had received more than one approach. What’s more, while Natixis has ruled out a bid, some other form of combination, perhaps involving buying Natixis’s payments business in return for a slug of Ingenico shares, still looks possible.
But Ingenico needs to prepare for the long haul. The removal of Philippe Lazare as chairman and CEO earlier this month at least lays the grounds for a revived standalone strategy. His role has been split between dealmaker Bernard Bourigeaud, founder of French IT services group Atos SE, and former Visa Europe CEO Nicolas Huss — a credible partnership.
There is no obvious big takeover opportunity for Ingenico, but the fragmented industry at least offers smaller targets for consolidation. The French company is still an obvious candidate for a private equity firmlooking to roll up smaller payments players into something more meaningful.
Ingenico shares trade at about 13 times next year’s estimated earnings, against Worldpay’s 20 times. Ingenico tried and failed to acquire Worldpay before its IPO in 2015. A deal would have been a stretch. But investors will wonder what might have been.


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Taking place on 20th-21st October 2013 at Malmö Mässan in Malmö, Sweden, the Nordic Organic Food Fair, will offer a vibrant showcase of healthy, sustainable, organic delicacies and speciality ingredients from over 100 international organic food and drink suppliers.
Confirmed exhibitors to date include Gastronomi Leverantoren AB; à la eco; Kiwa Sverige; Malmo Chokladfabrik; and Nathalies Direct Trade from Sweden. Whilst international companies include Clearspring; DO-IT (Dutch Organic International Trade); Ogilvy’s Honey; Voelkel organic juices; IDOrganics; Horizon Natuurvoeding BV; Ocram; Spielberger GmbH; Frescolat SRL; Epikourous; Felix Himstedt; and Holle baby food GmbH, amongst others.
In addition to a central exhibition, the event will feature a dedicated Keynote Theatre on the show floor, hosting sessions from leading industry experts on the latest organic food market trends and developments. The event is co-located with Natural Products Scandinavia, which was named Best International Launch at the UK’s annual Exhibition News Awards ceremony in April this year.
Event manager Zoe Jackson-Cooper, said:
“In every respect the Nordic region is leading the world in its commitment to promoting the consumption of organic food, so it is really not surprising that the Nordic Organic Food Fair has had such strong interest from around the world already.
“With four months to go and new exhibitors committing to the show daily, this launch event will fill a significant gap – and an important need – for an international showcase that reflects all that is great about New Nordic cuisine.”
For further information and to register for a free trade ticket, please visit www.nordicorganicexpo.com.


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Back in 2021, well-known hacker Lance McDonald released an unofficial Bloodborne 60 FPS update that further improved the action RPG developed by FromSoftware. Now even those with a (hacked) PlayStation 5 can enjoy the game in its 60 FPS glory without having to sacrifice visual quality.
Earlier today, Lance McDonald himself reported that his patch has been ported to run on hacked PlayStation 5 consoles, sharing a video showing the game running on a retail console at a smooth 60fps, 1080p resolution.
Despite being one of the most acclaimed games ever made by FromSoftware, Bloodborne has yet to be ported to any other gaming system. For a while we've heard rumors that a remaster or remake is in development, but no announcement has been made so far. As such, the only way to experience the hauntingly beautiful journey of the hunter through the town of Yarnham is by playing the game on PlayStation 4, although the RPCSX emulator has recently taken the first step to make emulating the game on PC a reality.
Bloodborne is now available on PlayStation 4 worldwide. We'll let you know about the rumored remaster as soon as more people get in on it, so stay tuned for all the latest news.
Illusion has been porting more PS4 60 FPS patches over to the PS5 version and in this video we look at the performance gains achieved over the original patch…


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‘It’s like starting a net new business’: Overheard at the Digiday Publishing Summit
Publishers looking to diversify revenues have discovered that comes with its own challenges. Publishers looking to improve their existing streams are finding they have to fight harder — and offer more — just to keep advertiser investment where it was.
During Digiday’s Moguls and on day one of the Digiday Publishing Summit down at the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne, attendees discussed the struggles they faced on both fronts. Both events are conducted under Chatham House Rules, which allows reporters to share what people say without identifying them by name.
Diversifying revenue is harder than it looks
“It’s like starting a net-new business. People look at it as, ‘You’ve got 10 million monthly uniques, that’s 10 million possible customers!’ But it doesn’t work out that way.”
“How do you identify talent who can move the needle on something you don’t have expertise in yourself? I don’t feel fully qualified to interview a VP of analytics because it’s not something I know a lot about.”
“It’s hard to get our editor in chief to sit in a room to talk about t-shirts when news is breaking.”
“We can’t get someone who’s just done retention or just done acquisition at a larger shop. We need someone who can come in and do everything.”
“Customer service was such an afterthought. ‘How many emails could we possibly get?’ we thought. We get a lot.”
“That’s one advantage to starting with an app. You don’t have to worry about billing because you don’t touch it. You don’t have as many issues.”
“You get to a place with some of this stuff where it just comes down to customer service: Who’s responsive, who’s easy to work with.”
“It’s hard to staff up for programmatic. There’s so many things that can go wrong because they’re not comped as much as they could be.”
Media’s middle class is getting squeezed
“The threat is not getting consolidated. The threat is competing with the companies that have been consolidated.”
“It’s getting harder and harder to be an indie media company.”
“We’re seeing a lot of deals happening where we know it’s not going to be profitable for the publisher. It’s hard for our sellers to go up against it.”
“Every year brands ask for more and more for the same price.”
“My biggest challenge is Google taking everything. I don’t like all my eggs in one basket.”
The death of the third-party cookie brings collateral damage
“We’ve been running hypothetical models on Chrome where [the loss of open exchange revenue] drops revenue 20-25%. You have to have a weird conversation with your CFO where you say, ‘I would take this number by 25%’ and nobody wants to hear that.”
“Every user research study we’ve ever done shows people are freaked out about why that shoe they bought two weeks ago is still following them around. And they blame us.”
“If you can entice great talent to come in, you truly have an advantage. A lot of your competitors are not doing that.”
With billionaire backers, Time is still in expansion mode
Several publishers, including BuzzFeed, Group Nine Media and Vice, recently announced pay cuts and benefit reductions to their staffs. Time CEO Edward Felsenthal, on the other hand, not only pledged to his staff of 275 that the company wouldn’t have any layoffs for 90 days — and the company would continue growing through new hires […]
‘We’re all making it up as we go along’: Dazed CEO Jefferson Hack on what comes next for media
Anyone sitting back seeing how it plays out is part of the problem rather than the solution. I only want to work with people who are part of the solution.
Member ExclusiveFountain of youth: Meet 7 young founders transforming media
Media isn’t for the faint of heart, especially these days. But don’t tell that to these seven young founders.
SponsoredAs cookies vanish, publishers are using new authentication strategies
Up to 40 percent of browser inventory is already cookieless, giving publishers, marketers and their technology partners an opportunity to build a new and better digital ecosystem.
‘Opening the paywall is not an option’: Schibsted sees subscriptions mini-boom
The Nordic publisher sold twice as many subscriptions the past two weeks compared to the period's previous two weeks.
‘Everyone feels the pain’: Major digital publishers enact pay and benefits cuts to stanch the bleeding
Several publishers have begun announcing their pay cuts and furlough plans as ad revenue continues drying up. Seeing patterns from previous recessions, former media execs explain why these cost controls are only temporary fixes.


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French developer and publisher TapNation has been selected to be a part of French Tech 120, a program set up by the French government which promotes and supports start-ups.
“We are thrilled and honoured to have been selected for French Tech 120,” said TapNation CEO Hervé Montoute. “This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, and it will help us accelerate our growth and achieve our vision of becoming a global leader in mobile game development.”
French Tech 120 identifies 120 promising start-ups every year, offering resources and personal support to help them scale. This includes giving the included companies access to a network of partners, investors, and mentors, as well as coaching, training, and visibility opportunities.
The program also provides access to international markets, including crucial regions such as the United States, Asia, and The Middle East, helping companies accelerate their growth on a global scale.
Founded in 2019, TapNation has earned more than 800 million downloads across its portfolio of games, including Sneaker Art, Ice Cream Inc and Giant Rush. The company has a strong focus on innovation and the use of cutting-edge technology to create immersive and engaging experiences. This includes blockchain technology, with the company announcing multiple partnerships with Web3 companies such as Ternoa.
2022 in particular was a year of significant growth for the company, which surpassed the 750 million download milestone.
Other companies in the French Tech 120 include app retargeting platform Adikteev and game developer Voodoo, which was included in the Next 40 – an additional category to the list which identifies the 40 top performing tech companies. Voodoo, which was founded in 2013, is a leader in the hypercasual genre, and was identified as the third-largest game company in the world by app installs last year.
We listed Voodoo as one of the top 50 mobile game makers of 2022.


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US holiday shopping season on mobile expected to be largest to date, topping 1B hours on Android – TechCrunch
The coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the holiday shopping season is already underway. Amazon has delayed its annual sales event, Prime Day, from July to October 2020, while top e-commerce retailers, including Walmart, Target and Amazon, are becoming more powerful than ever. According to a new report from App Annie, mobile shopping apps are poised to see their biggest shopping season to date. The mobile data and analytics firm is estimating that U.S. consumers will spend more than 1 billion hours on Android devices alone during the fourth quarter, a 50% increase from the same time last year.
This forecast represents a jump ahead for mobile commerce that wasn’t expected until four to six years from now, but the pandemic has pushed that timetable forward.
The firm also predicts that the pace of online shopping will look different than in years past.
While, typically, holiday shopping would be concentrated in the weeks around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s expected that the shopping season this year will be longer and more drawn out. To some extent, this could be attributed to Prime Day’s delay, but the economic pressures of the pandemic are also taking their toll.


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The acquisition of YouTube back in 2006 for $1.6B at first seemed odd: Why did Google pay a huge amount of money for a free service of low quality video?
Google, making profits out of advertising, is eyeing the television crowd. The closes thing to TV in the Internet is YouTube, now hugely popular to the Internet crowd. Broadband pipes are larger and able to stream high definition videos to browsers and web TVs, YouTube promo videos are a cool direct marketing tool and content-related Google Ads generate more profits for Google. However, the most disruptive effect of YouTube is that it has established the mentality of free video content, undermining traditional video providers like satellite and cable TV.
Google is slowly encircling TV and video providers (satellite and cable) by shaping the end consumer mindset. Google also is in the unique position to bundle entertainment content (music & video) with real time web search results, news feeds and information from social networks. Like the old TV guides that had all the latest gossip news along with the TV program, Google can craft an all-in-one neat dashboard, complete with movies, music, gossip, news and online gaming delivered to your browser, TV set or smartphone. The first attempt is Google TV, a consumer-friendly package in the form of a TV set and set-top box.
We believe that the terms that Google has chosen to enter the content delivery business with are:
- Enter the consumer TV and telephone market as a rich content provider or a content distributor
- Use YouTube as own content distribution network and Google Voice as VoIP platform through Google TV
- Form alliances with the entertainment industry, taking advantage of collected information related to copyright violations in exchange of rights to broadcast content
- Bundle real-time social networking buzz, email and online gaming in one package
- Expand online advertisement on all distributed content
- Force service providers in a revenue-sharing scheme to monetize offered services
Evidence of this strategy includes:
- YouTube (2006), Omnisio (2008) and Episodic (2010) acquisitions for video processing
- Acquisition of Angstro (2010) for social network analytics
- Google TV consumer offerings
- Partnerships with Amazon Video On Demand, Netflix
For more information, see:


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By Kevin Chiu
Home sales declined for the third time in four months in July, falling to a new low for the year, indicating that what most real estate analysts have been saying for months is coming true—that the housing market is in for a long protracted recovery.
Existing home sales fell 3.5% for the month to a seasonally adjusted 4.67 million homes, according to the National Association of Realtors. The volume is well below what is needed for a recovery in housing to take hold, which would be at least 6 million existing home sales a year.
The volume of sales is also well off last years, which was boosted by the federal home buyer tax credit. Some 4.91 million sales in 2010 were the lowest in 13 years.
The disappointing news added to a chorus of other unhappy reports about the U.S. economy, which has destabilized any thought of an economic recovery in housing for at least another two years. The destabilization in the real estate market, however, is being boosted by new low record mortgage interest rates, which hit all-time lows this week, according to Freddie Mac.
A downturn in the housing market, however, isn’t anything new for the U.S. economy, which has been struggling to recover from the drop in home sales since the market bust in 2006. Sales have declined in all but one year of the last five years.
Lower priced foreclosures and bank assisted short sales are making up the majority of sales since they are selling for much less than what other homeowners are typically able to sell for in the current economic environment, composing 29% of sales in July. However, a massive volume of foreclosures, estimated to be between 2.2-million and 4-million additional homes are waiting to be listed on the market.
The slowdown in homes sales has also begun to effect the residential investors market, which has seen sales decline on deeply discounted foreclosures and short sales, accounting for only 18% of resales during the month. The drop represents a large cut from the 39% of sales investors made up of all activity just four months ago.
Housing Predictor real estate analysts forecast that home prices will keep falling in most markets across the U.S. for the remainder of 2011 and home sales are likely to remain weak for at least another year.