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The owners of InterContinental Hotel, including allies of former President Daniel arap Moi, have put up thousands of movable properties on a fire sale as they prepare to lease out the building or convert it into a mixed-use property.
The hotel has put thousands of goods up for auction including vehicles, bedsheets, televisions, carpets, and kitchen equipment.
Garam auctioneers said they had received private instructions to put the hotel property up for sale.
Kenya Hotel Properties (KHP) is seeking a consultant to advise on a change of business model for the hotel, which closed permanently in August last year, to include a mixed-use approach —signalling the hotel building could be converted to office blocks, shops, and mini-hotels.
It is also open to selling or leasing the InterContinental Hotel building to the government, which owns several properties in the vicinity including Parliament, Kenyatta International Convention Centre, and Sheria House.
“Duly instructed by Kenya Hotel Properties we shall sell the undermentioned goods belonging to the former InterContinental Hotel located off Parliament road through a public auction,” the auctioneers said.
The permanent closure and the decision of the global chain InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) to stop running the Nairobi hotel has downgraded its value.
The auction will see some proceeds recovered, which will be used in the restructuring leaving the iconic building as a stripped shell on prime real estate.
The hotel owners are now looking for various strategic options available for the company premises and adjacent parking silos to repurpose the property to ensure maximum returns on investment.
This signals that KHP is keen on earning leasing fees from the 389-room InterContinental Hotel, whose sale of the government stake has dragged for more than a decade.
An investment banker close to the Moi-linked Sovereign Group told the Business Daily earlier that the firm had little interest in purchasing the government stake amid the slump in the travel sector and the exit of the anchor partner -- the IHG.
"There is little value for Sovereign to run the hotel. The land where the hotel sits is more important than the hotel," said the investment banker who requested not to be identified.
The Privatisation Commission was expected to start talks with Sovereign Group to buy the stake that the government holds in the hotel.
But the commission, which is in charge of the sale of government firms, said it had yet to receive offers from local or foreign buyers willing to acquire the stake in the hotel, which closed in August at the height of the Covid-19 crisis.
Sovereign Group is the largest individual local investor in the hotel with a 19.2 percent stake while Development Bank of Kenya has a 12.99 percent stake.
Joshua Kulei, the late President Moi’s former private secretary, Rodger Kacou, and Ahmed Jibril own a combined stake of less than one percent in the firm.
The InterContinental Hotels Corporation Group, which is listed in both the UK and the US, has a 33.8 percent stake in the hotel group.
The Covid-19 crisis has hit hotels, forcing owners to rethink their future, which has seen some hotels change hands.
The Fairmont Norfolk, an iconic hotel in Nairobi, said it was closing its doors indefinitely and sacked all employees in a row sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
City Lodge Hotel Group plunged into Sh3.64 billion (R486.6 million) loss last year — the first in over seven years and opted to sell off its franchise in Kenya and Tanzania.
South African owners of Nairobi’s Fairview Hotel, Town Lodge, and City Lodge Two Rivers are set to sell the three hotels to Ukarimu owned by real estate investor Actis for Sh1 billion.
City Lodge Hotel Group put up the three Kenyan hotels and Tanzania’s City Lodge Hotel in Dar es Salaam for sale in plans to exit East Africa after barely seven years of operation. It plans to sell the Tanzania hotel for Sh7.3 million.
The company says the East Africa units were loss-making to the tune of Sh2 billion as at the end of last year.


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Yesterday a federal district court in Washington state granted the FTC’s motion for summary judgment against Amazon in FTC v. Amazon — the case alleging unfair trade practices in Amazon’s design of the in-app purchases interface for apps available in its mobile app store. The headlines score the decision as a loss for Amazon, and the FTC, of course, claims victory. But the court also granted Amazon’s motion for partial summary judgment on a significant aspect of the case, and the Commission’s win may be decidedly pyrrhic.
While the district court (very wrongly, in my view) essentially followed the FTC in deciding that a well-designed user experience doesn’t count as a consumer benefit for assessing substantial harm under the FTC Act, it rejected the Commission’s request for a permanent injunction against Amazon. It also called into question the FTC’s calculation of monetary damages. These last two may be huge.
The FTC may have “won” the case, but it’s becoming increasingly apparent why it doesn’t want to take these cases to trial. First in Wyndham, and now in Amazon, courts have begun to chip away at the FTC’s expansive Section 5 discretion, even while handing the agency nominal victories.
The Good News
The FTC largely escapes judicial oversight in cases like these because its targets almost always settle (Amazon is a rare exception). These settlements — consent orders — typically impose detailed 20-year injunctions and give the FTC ongoing oversight of the companies’ conduct for the same period. The agency has wielded the threat of these consent orders as a powerful tool to micromanage tech companies, and it currently has at least one consent order in place with Twitter, Google, Apple, Facebook and several others.
As I wrote in a WSJ op-ed on these troubling consent orders:
The FTC prefers consent orders because they extend the commission’s authority with little judicial oversight, but they are too blunt an instrument for regulating a technology company. For the next 20 years, if the FTC decides that Google’s product design or billing practices don’t provide “express, informed consent,” the FTC could declare Google in violation of the new consent decree. The FTC could then impose huge penalties—tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars—without establishing that any consumer had actually been harmed.
Yesterday’s decision makes that outcome less likely. Companies will be much less willing to succumb to the FTC’s 20-year oversight demands if they know that courts may refuse the FTC’s injunction request and accept companies’ own, independent and market-driven efforts to address consumer concerns — without any special regulatory micromanagement.
In the same vein, while the court did find that Amazon was liable for repayment of unauthorized charges made without “express, informed authorization,” it also found the FTC’s monetary damages calculation questionable and asked for further briefing on the appropriate amount. If, as seems likely, it ultimately refuses to simply accept the FTC’s damages claims, that, too, will take some of the wind out of the FTC’s sails. Other companies have settled with the FTC and agreed to 20-year consent decrees in part, presumably, because of the threat of excessive damages if they litigate. That, too, is now less likely to happen.
Collectively, these holdings should help to force the FTC to better target its complaints to cases of still-ongoing and truly-harmful practices — the things the FTC Act was really meant to address, like actual fraud. Tech companies trying to navigate ever-changing competitive waters by carefully constructing their user interfaces and payment mechanisms (among other things) shouldn’t be treated the same way as fraudulent phishing scams.
The Bad News
The court’s other key holding is problematic, however. In essence, the court, like the FTC, seems to believe that regulators are better than companies’ product managers, designers and engineers at designing app-store user interfaces:
[A] clear and conspicuous disclaimer regarding in-app purchases and request for authorization on the front-end of a customer’s process could actually prove to… be more seamless than the somewhat unpredictable password prompt formulas rolled out by Amazon.
Never mind that Amazon has undoubtedly spent tremendous resources researching and designing the user experience in its app store. And never mind that — as Amazon is certainly aware — a consumer’s experience of a product is make-or-break in the cut-throat world of online commerce, advertising and search (just ask Jet).
Instead, for the court (and the FTC), the imagined mechanism of “affirmatively seeking a customer’s authorized consent to a charge” is all benefit and no cost. Whatever design decisions may have informed the way Amazon decided to seek consent are either irrelevant, or else the user-experience benefits they confer are negligible.
As I’ve written previously:
Amazon has built its entire business around the “1-click” concept — which consumers love — and implemented a host of notification and security processes hewing as much as possible to that design choice, but nevertheless taking account of the sorts of issues raised by in-app purchases. Moreover — and perhaps most significantly — it has implemented an innovative and comprehensive parental control regime (including the ability to turn off all in-app purchases) — Kindle Free Time — that arguably goes well beyond anything the FTC required in its Apple consent order.
Amazon is not abdicating its obligation to act fairly under the FTC Act and to ensure that users are protected from unauthorized charges. It’s just doing so in ways that also take account of the costs such protections may impose — particularly, in this case, on the majority of Amazon customers who didn’t and wouldn’t suffer such unauthorized charges.
Amazon began offering Kindle Free Time in 2012 as an innovative solution to a problem — children’s access to apps and in-app purchases — that affects only a small subset of Amazon’s customers. To dismiss that effort without considering that Amazon might have made a perfectly reasonable judgment that balanced consumer protection and product design disregards the cost-benefit balancing required by Section 5 of the FTC Act.
Moreover, the FTC Act imposes liability for harm only when they are not “reasonably avoidable.” Kindle Free Time is an outstanding example of an innovative mechanism that allows consumers at risk of unauthorized purchases by children to “reasonably avoid” harm. The court’s and the FTC’s disregard for it is inconsistent with the statute.
The court’s willingness to reinforce the FTC’s blackboard design “expertise” (such as it is) to second guess user-interface and other design decisions made by firms competing in real markets is unfortunate. But there’s a significant silver lining. By reining in the FTC’s discretion to go after these companies as if they were common fraudsters, the court has given consumers an important victory. After all, it is consumers who otherwise bear the costs (both directly and as a result of reduced risk-taking and innovation) of the FTC’s largely unchecked ability to extract excessive concessions from its enforcement targets.

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Linen source Libeco Lagae in new space for Showtime
Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, May 15, 2012
HIGH POINT — Libeco Lagae, which says it is Belgium's largest and oldest linen producer, has moved from a temporary space in Market Suites to a 1,500-square-foot permanent in Market Square Tower here for the upcoming Showtime fabric show, June 3-6.
The company said that as it continues to grow and expand its product line, the showroom, in space 382 on the tower's third floor, will allow customers to explore the diversified, high-added-value linen products it offers. The new space also was open during the April High Point Market.
For more than 150 years and five generations of management by the Libeert family, the parent company, Libeco Lagae N.V., has offered an exclusive collection of high-quality, pure and blended linen fabrics for furniture, upholstery, windows, apparel, decorative accessories and pillows, blankets and rugs, officials said.
Libeco Lagae says it offers piece-dyed linen in many assortments, such as plaids, stripes, wide-width, glazed and chintzed linen.
At Showtime, the company will introduce a new line that includes a new plaid collection, core solids, new stripes and other 100% Belgian linen styles.
Most Viewed Articles
FTTV: Frontline Friday From F/T


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WWE has confirmed the locations for the events surrounding the WrestleMania 29 weekend which is being marketed as taking place in both New York and New Jersey.
Axxess, the four day fan interaction event, will be held at the IZOD Center in New Jersey from Thursday, April 4, till Sunday April 7. The Hall of Fame ceremony on Saturday, April 6, will be held at Madison Square Garden, the only event which will be actually taking place in New York. Monday Night RAW, the day after WrestleMania, takes place also at the IZOD Center on Monday, April 8.
In travel packages related news, WWE will be having all its fans in a New York hotel despite most activities being in New Jersey. Also, the VIP package, which can reach nearly $8,000 for one person, had some additional items added to it, including a private reception at MSG with top WWE Superstars prior to the Hall of Fame, and the WWE Encyclopedia book autographed by Vince McMahon. The VIP package also includes a private guided tour of WWE Headquarters by a WWE Legend.


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Price of bread increased
Posted by Editor on November 28, 2021 - 11:58 am
The Bakery Owners’ Association says that the price of a 450g loaf of bread will be increased by Rs. 10 from midnight today (28).
The price of a loaf of bread was last increased by Rs.5 on the 11th of October.
Latest Headlines in Sri Lanka
- Sri Lanka’s Agriculture Minister explores opportunities to export eggs and chicken September 23, 2023
- Stability should not come at the sacrifice of values of freedom of expression: U.S. Ambassador September 23, 2023
- Sri Lanka imports test kits to detect Nipah virus September 22, 2023
- Import tax on powdered milk increased September 22, 2023
- Sri Lanka President’s robust economic development program leads to 62.1% drop in inflation – Minister September 22, 2023


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ISIS video shows NH journalist's beheading, U.S. officials say
Got milk? Franklin does. Israel and Max Garelick founded Garelick Brothers Farms in Franklin in 1931.
So why is a little brick building, a glass of milk and a guy named Ben so important to this town?
Click here to find out!
Copyright 2013 by WCVB.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Boston police say they're looking for four people responsible for stealing approximately $20,000 in jewelry from a Dorchester jewelry store on Aug. 11.


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Wallabing Is Giving Renters And Owners An Alternative To High Fees Plaguing The Peer-To-Peer RV Rental Market
By Rachael Green, Benzinga
Younger travelers, in general, look for adventure and new experiences, with RV travel ranking high as a lower-cost means of exploring the country, especially with a family in tow. In a survey by RVshare, 75% of millennials and 58% of Gen Z said they were planning to take a road trip or vacation in an RV within the next year.
For many, the reason theyre opting for RV travel is a greater preference for nature and wildlife as well as an interest in spending quality time with friends and family. Peer-to-peer rental platforms like Wallabing make getting that experience and quality time that todays travelers value easier and more affordable. As the new RV rental platform raises capital on WeFunder and works toward profitability, take a look at why RV rental platforms are taking off and what makes Wallabing different from similar platforms in the space.
Younger Experience-Focused Travelers Are Driving A Renewed Interest In RV Travel
As millennials start entering their 30s and 40s, the notorious industry-killing generation isnt killing travel but they are drastically changing it. According to a Morning Consult report, millennials travel more than any other age group, even edging out the wealthier and often retired Baby Boomers.
Despite being saddled by debt and weathering three economic downturns, millennials are not only still willing to spend on travel but see it as an important piece of their identity and what makes life worth living. As a result, that spend tends to be a lot more intentional, and theyre much more likely to spend on experiences rather than luxury goods.
That high priority younger travelers place on travel balanced by the need to be cost-conscious and careful about how they spend their travel budget makes RV rentals one of the best ways to check all the boxes. Spontaneous new adventures suddenly become more attainable when you can just book an RV when you need it and give it back to the owner when youre done.
For owners, the platform can not only help make up the cost of ownership but also turn their RV into a passive revenue stream when theyre not traveling themselves. Since most owners only use their RV for about 20 days per year on average, thats a lot of downtime that can be turned into extra cash.
RV Rental Platforms Like Wallabing Bridge The Gap Between RV Owners And Renters
That win-win scenario for owners and renters has helped the emerging RV rental market see notable growth. With the rapidly growing rental market for RVs, valued at $546 million in 2020, and the forecast of 44 million Americans planning to go RVing this summer, Wallabing's platform emerges as an essential solution, said Wallabings lead investor, Mark Thimmig.
However, the challenge that owners and renters alike face in the current RV rental landscape is high fees. I currently rent my 2 Campers on both Rvshare and Outdoorsy, said Wendell Olson, a Wallabing investor on WeFunder. I see RVshare take 25% of my nightly rate and the same on back end charges. Outdoorsy takes less on nightly and much less on back end charges but it's still high.
Moreover, many of these platforms are also charging similarly high fees to renters. So renters end up paying more and RV owners earn less. Thats what Wallabing founder and CEO Jason Carlson wanted to do differently with the launch of the new RV rental platform. On Wallabing, owners pay nothing to list and arent charged any fees when their RV is rented. The price they set is the price they get, making it the only platform to date that doesnt charge a commission to owners.
Instead, the platform earns revenue from a flat 10% fee charged to renters on the nightly rate only not on any cleaning fees or other add-on services. The transparent, low-fee pricing structure saves renters up to 25% per trip on average.
In the first phase of its growth, Wallabing has been focused on building up its RV inventory, which has grown 628% so far, including a 25% increase in new listings in the first half of this year. Its goal is to have over 150,000 RVs listed on the platform within the next five years.
Alongside that growing inventory, Wallabing recently began a PR and marketing campaign to reach renters. That helped bring in over 30,000 new users since June and substantially grow the companys social media following. As that increased user base and social media following starts to translate into RV bookings, the peer-to-peer RV rental platform is targeting $780,000 in gross revenue per month by the end of their fiscal year.
As it works toward profitability, it is raising funds via its recent WeFunder campaign and talking with Venture Capitalists and angel investors. So far, its raised over $1 million in capital from an initial family and friends funding round along with over $55,000 from investors on WeFunder.
This post contains sponsored content. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.
View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/wallabing-is-giving-renters-and-owners-an-alternative-to-high-fees-plaguing-the-peer-to-peer-rv-rental-market-359628344
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Research Raptor journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.


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Anna Wintour Gets Fashionably Political at Chicago Fund-Raiser for Obama 49 weeks ago
Anna Wintour is becoming quite the fashionable fixture on President Obama’s campaign team this election season.
The Vogue editrix...
By Kasia Anderson
The Vogue editrix endorsed President Obama’s embrace of gay marriage on Wednesday's "Colbert Report"
Vogue leads the pack with 584 ad pages, a 9.3 percent improvement over September 2010
From "Alejandro" to "Born This Way," some critics say the "Fame Monster" borrows a little too liberally from the "Material Girl"
Magazine rolls out first application for Apple tablet with Madonna-copping pop star
Condé surprise: Carine Roitfeld to step down in January
Here's the good news: September issues are looking fat again -- if not as fat as before the bust
Press-averse actress: "There was no way I could say no"; meanwhile, Cosmo unveils Jessica Alba's "Va-Jay-Jay"
Notorious Vogue editor-in-chief won't be in 'Gossip Girl's' episode that features her magazine-- but she did read the script
Vogue editrix joins Martha, Hef, Tina Brown, Gloria Steinem, Jann Wenner and Helen Gurley Brown
The sheer banality -- and mediocrity -- of what she’s saying seems to carry the weight of wisdom.
Vogue, Allure, Cosmo: We put those fat fall issues on a scale and ...
Monthly pubications see their ad-page count tumble 23 percent year-to-date.
All makers of loud, stupid action movies only wish their films delivered as much sheer sensation as this latest installment in the vroom-vroom saga


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Promoting Vietnam as a safe place to welcome foreign tourists
Vietnam’s tourism sector is preparing to welcome back foreign tourists. The tourism sector will submit a schedule for re-starting inbound tourism in the coming time.
Vietnam’s tourism sector is expected to resume welcoming inbound travelers sooner than many other countries in the region will do thanks to the success in containing the pandemic. “Vietnam is a safe place” would be the new slogan, said businesses and insiders at the recent conference on post-Covid-19 solutions for the tourism industry.
|En cave, Quang Binh province. Photo: Vic (Facebook)|
At the conference titled “Solutions promoting domestic tourism and recover international tourists” held on May 21, Steve Wolstenholme, CEO of Hoi An South Development (Hoiana), suggested that Vietnam needs to communicate the message “Vietnam is a safe place” and has to safeguard those who work in the industry.
Sharing the same idea, Vice President of Lodgis Hospitality Holdings Vietnam Craig Douglas added that Vietnam needs to take the opportunity to promote itself as a safe tourism corridor to attract tourists.
Kenneth Atkinson, vice president of the Tourism Advisory Board (TAB), underlined that Vietnam could learn from experiences of Australia, New Zealand and Thailand on creating specific resorts meeting anti-pandemic safety standards to accommodate international tourists.
Safety is of utmost priority for the tourism industry when it is re-opened to tourists, Nguyen Le Phuc, deputy general director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), affirmed at the conference.
|The conference entitled "Solutions promoting domestic tourism and recover international tourists” on May 21.|
“To achieve this target, the industry could apply technology for controlling the pandemic. At this time, the VNAT is implementing a communication plan on safe tourist destinations to lure tourists,” Phuc added. “Travel businesses are encouraged to devise sets of criteria on the safety and safe tourist destinations by themselves as well as cooperate with each other for better promotion.”
Trinh Hong Quang, deputy CEO of national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, added that local businesses should take advantage of Vietnam's successful control against the Covid-19 pandemic to build new product packages that focuse on the safety of the tourists.
Since the social distancing order was loosened, travel businesses have offered in unison promotional programs to attract domestic travelers. However, local insiders commented that this is only a short-term solution. For long-term ones, it is important to lure foreign travelers due to their high spending and purchasing power.
Le Quang Tung, deputy minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, concluded that Vietnam needs to communicate the safe destination images to the world. In addition, businesses need to work together to develop and take advantage of opportunities to revive the Vietnamese tourism industry.
|Gianh River, Quang Binh province. Photo: dimorua (Facebook)|
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will, based on the collaboration with relevant agencies, build a schedule for reopening the industry, Tung said.
In the first four months of 2020, international arrivals to Vietnam plunged 37.8% year-on-year to 3.7 million, according to the General Statistics Office.
In April alone, the number of tourists fell 98.2% from a year earlier and 94.2% against March. The pandemic impacted on the whole tourism industry and its goal of welcoming about 20.5 million international visitors this year is highly unlikely.
- Vietnam-UK target US$10-billion trade turnover by 2023
- UK multinationals pledge long-term presence in Vietnam
- “Japan Street” to bolster Vietnam-Japan business cooperation: JETRO
- Vietnam, UK seek closer relations
- Media outlets and businesses form strong bond in difficult times: Experts
- Vietnam's e-government procurement system set to launch in August
- Hanoi GRDP growth hits 7.79% in first half
- Vietnam Grand Sale 2022 set to last for over one month
Vietnam-UK target US$10-billion trade turnover by 2023
“Japan Street” to bolster Vietnam-Japan business cooperation: JETRO
Agritech, Greentech, Deeptech and Foodtech - foreign funds interests in Vietnam
UK multinationals pledge long-term presence in Vietnam
Australian Foreign Minister enjoys Pho ga in Hanoi
Hanoi GRDP growth hits 7.79% in first half
Hanoi selects final design of Tran Hung Dao Bridge
Fiercer storms forecast to hit Vietnam towards year-end
Bun cha listed in the British Queen's Platinum Jubilee Cookbook


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The ad celebrates the modern-day realities of being Scottish, including watching the national football team lose and hitting the beach with white skin.
Adrian Troy, head of marketing for parent company Barr, said: "The campaign is a change of pace for Irn-Bru.
"It features our trademark irreverence and humour but it's also moving and instils a real sense of pride and what that means for Scots from all walks of life."
The 60 second film, directed by Martin Wedderburn, was seen first by 200 winners of a competition that ran in The Daily Record.
They were given memory sticks holding the new ad and were encouraged to spread it online before the ad broke yesterday.
Does the ad live up to earlier Irn-Bru ads? Are you Scottish? Did this get your blood racing? Comment below:


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Drainage Southampton, drainage experts operating in Southampton, have begun working to new lower margins after investing in training and technology, and can now offer great value services. Drainage Southampton recently organised a brand awareness programme in Southampton and a spokesperson for the company explained that because drain repairs tend to be emergency issues the majority of the time, effective services of experts like Drainage Southampton were needed in the area.
The spokesperson, the brand awareness programme had been held in order to highlight Drainage Southampton’s triple brand promise of FIRST RATE SOLUTIONS, SPEED AND AFFORDABLE RATES. Every project, whether big or small, and every client, he said, is now guaranteed value for money. In the past, when drainage firms have offered cheap rates, the quality of workmanships has left much to be desired. Drainage Southampton is an already proven company though, and has the staff, technology and processes to deliver value for money.
An offer of affordable prices with a promise of quality!
“The certified and skilled professionals at Drainage Southampton use the latest and most effective industry methods and technologies to provide their clients with quality drainage solutions,” said the spokesperson. “For all drainage repairs, plumbing and sewage network jobs, as well as CCTV surveys and analysis in Southampton properties, we believe we are the market leaders,” he added. The Drainage Southampton financial director explained, “We have been working hard to become a streamlined, agile company, and are now in a position to deliver our services at really great prices through a sustainable growth model”. He also mentioned the aim of their service culture is having customers that leave totally satisfied. “Our secret is simple – YOU. That is, the client,” he said.
He stated that the drainage service marketplace has become quite mercenary, and that Drainage Southampton never sees a client as a balance sheet statistic. He added that they respect every single client for making the choice to trust that they at Drainage Southampton could and would solve their drainage problems. He finished by explaining that the staff at Drainage Southampton obtain their motivation from an unwavering commitment to service.
Drainage Southampton history
With over a decade of drainage service experience in the area, Drainage Southampton has a reputation as a leading provider in the area. A new price plan has recently been announced by the company. The company can deliver everything from repairing cracked or obstructed pipes, CCTV drain services, drain and pipe unblocking, bath and sink unblocking, gutter cleaning and much more. To visit our website go to https://drainage-southampton.uk.
Contact us now –
Website address – https://drainage-southampton.uk
Contact – Teresa Parker
Company – Drainage Southampton
Contact Number – 0800 061 4703
Contact Email – firstname.lastname@example.org


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Xerox Emirates has teamed up with the United Kingdom’s V-Health Passport Ltd. to launch its digital health passport and contract tracing platform of the same name in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.
The exclusive strategic agreement between the two parties includes holding all distribution rights within the region, Xerox Emirates confirmed.
First launched in April 2020, the V-Health Passport is part of parent cyber technology company, VST Enterprises (VSTE), which uses its “revolutionary patented VCode and VPlatform technology.”
“Xerox Emirates continues to support the UAE’s drive towards a safe environment that uses the most advanced, secure, efficient and reliable solutions to upgrade and streamline essential and everyday processes,” said Shahzeen Mir, Sales and Marketing Director at Xerox Emirates. “Our exclusive partnership with V-Health Passport will help fast track the authentication of COVID-19 tests in addition to tracking and maintaining records in the UAE’s healthcare sector.
“The all-in-one solution is a perfect synergy between companies, and our expertise will ensure an easier to use, faster to implement, more adaptable system than there has ever been before in this industry.”
THE LARGER CONTEXT
Available on both Android and iOS, the V-Health Passport works by providing a single application to track a multitude of information, including COVID-19 vaccination status, recent tests – including PCR, LAMP, rapid antigen and antibody tests – travel and boarding pass details, and even event details. All information can be obtained by others by scanning the VCode on the app.
Meanwhile, the passport’s fully automated contact tracing system, dubbed “True Contact”, alerts a user when they have come into close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 either by the V-Health Passport or venue “VCodes”. According to V-Health Passport Ltd., VCodes are “gaining popularity” with music, sports, restaurants and hotel venues.
“A ‘trackandtrace’ venue code is set up with a digital geo-fence assisting the system with live contact tracing. This means if a passport user who has visited the venue tests positive for coronavirus, other users who visited the venue on that same day will automatically receive an email, text and app alert prompting them to be re-tested,” the company said in a statement.
The UAE is tightening its COVID-19 measures by introducing more restrictions to those currently not vaccinated. For example, from August 20 in Abu Dhabi, only those vaccinated will be permitted to enter public places, including shopping centres, restaurants, cafes, gyms, health clubs, resorts, museums, cultural centres and theme parks. Restrictions also apply to universities, public and private schools, and nurseries.
ON THE RECORD
“V-Health Passport is delighted to partner with Xerox Emirates. Their experience in scaling business in similar fields as V-Health Passport will be paramount for the ongoing growth and success of our products,” said Louis-James Davis, CEO of V-Health Passport.


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Philippines – Home Buddies, an esteemed group of Filipino home enthusiasts, celebrates its third anniversary with a bazaar event featuring established and budding local brands in the field of home improvement, décor, and design.
Aptly titled Home Buddies Bazaar, the event makes room for a carefully curated selection of furniture must-haves, household finds, and decoration pieces that bear the online community’s mantra of budget-friendly shopping with style.
“It’s the first independent event that we’re doing, so we have no limits,” shares founder Frances Lim Cabatuando, prominently known as ‘Mayora’ to HB’s cult-like following on social media. “We’re bringing in amazing home brands, starting with our co-presenters Tough Mama, PLDT Home and Ayala Malls Manila Bay. We’re also bringing the biggest home professional organizations like United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) and Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE) for free home consultations for our kapitbahays!”
Bringing Pinterest-inspired ideas to life with specialized booths and shops, Home Buddies Bazaar houses more than 30 home and living merchants that will surely unleash everyone’s inner budol. It also doubles as the first official “grand eyeball” of the growing online community, with more than 3.2 million followers on Facebook to date.
Mayora explains, “We just want to celebrate the community and allow its members to meet up in person since it’s now safer to do so. I’m sure one way or another, we’ve all affected each other’s lives. And we just want to make them realize that the online group isn’t just a Facebook group; it’s a real, thriving community that helps Filipinos improve their homes.”
The one-day event will take place at the activity center of the Ayala Malls Manila Bay in Pasay City on October 1, 2023. Aside from its extensive roster of home improvement merchants and booths, the maiden edition of Home Buddies Bazaar will have on-stage segments, games, activities, and performances, with alt-rock icons Barbie Almalbis and Sandwich as headliners, as well as newcomers I See Bees, New York Heights, Raven and the Papis and Sofia Carpizo.
Home Buddies Bazaar is co-presented by PLDT Home, Tough Mama, and Ayala Malls, and supported by its partners GNN Entertainment Productions, the 210.ph, MStudio, NYMA, UAP and PICE. Special thanks to its sponsors: FWD, Davies Paints, Tinybuds, Samgyupsalamat, Omni Electrical and Lighting, CW Home Depot, 3D Appliances, Bostik, and the rest of their generous brand buddies.


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This week, Andy and Devindra are joined again by Christopher Burnor from the Symbiotek podcast & Startup Digest as we discuss Currents, Google’s answer to Flipboard, FBI uses Carrier IQ files for “law enforcement purposes”, Verizon in the market for Netflix, Twitter updates its interfaces, Sarah Lacy to start a TechCrunch 2.0, webOS goes open source, Louis CK’s self-distribution experiment, ‘Steve Jobs’ tops year-end best-seller lists, Universal censors song praising filelocker service, and the political inevitability of remix culture.
This week the TDD team discuss their Black Friday finds, staff shakeups at TechCrunch & Mashable, the quashing of SOPA, Redditors build an alternative to the Internet, Facebook’s IPO is coming, Kinect for Windows, President Obama joins Google+, and Arrested Development returns to Netflix.
Later, we discuss the potential dissolution of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile USA merger, and rumored new cellphone devices from Amazon and Facebook.
This week, TDD team (including Tom Cheredar) discuss Mona Simpson’s eulogy for her brother Steve Jobs, Sony buys Ericsson out of their mobile joint venture, HP decides to keep PC division, E-PARASITES would create the Great Firewall of America, Apple acquires mind-blowing 3D mapping technology, creepy PETMAN robot is the first iteration of the Terminator, Google launches an iPhone GMail app (then takes it back), and Rockstar releases a trailer for GTA V.
Later, we discuss Google’s new updates to Google TV and 100 new content channels for YouTube and how these may disrupt the home TV viewing experience. Lastly, we explore the lack of racial diversity in the tech sector, causes and potential solutions.
This week Andy and Devindra are proud to add Dwayne De Freitas, of the Symbiotek podcast as a regular panelist. We discuss former Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz’ outspoken remarks about her dismissal and the future of Yahoo, Michael Arrington’s decision to leave AOL, Google acquires Zagat, Sprint to offer unlimited data on the iPhone 5, Nike creates ‘Back to the Future II’-inspired shoes, Amazon to launch an e-book rental service, Turntable.fm launches an iPhone app, and Facebook launches better friend sharing services.
Later, we discuss Microsoft’s launch of their Windows 8 Developer Preview. Then Tom Cheredar interviews “The Dude” Dean Bairaktaris on his ‘Save SGU’ and ‘Save Eureka’ campaigns.
Welcome to Drill Bits, the podcast where we rescue the stuff that fell on the editing room floor of The Drill Down, material that was either too long or off-topic, yet still interesting.
This week on The Drill Down episode 200, we spoke with some of The Drill Down’s former co-hosts about their reminiscences of the past 200 episodes. We recorded a lot more than what we aired however, and had to cut some fascinating discussion to keep the show at a reasonable length.
First we continue our conversation with Reg Saddler, one of the founding members of The Drill Down, from its inception back in July 2007. Here he discusses his secrets to improving Klout scores, Google conspiracy theories, Apple’s success strategy, and his brush with Steve Jobs.
Then we finish our discussion with Lidija Davis, who joined the show in September 2008 as our first full-time female panelist. We discuss her thoughts on Steve Jobs’ departure from Apple, Michael Arrington’s ouster from TechCrunch, and her mixed feelings on Google.


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Monday, July 15th, 2013, Busan, South Korea – the Maersk McKinney Moller, the first Triple-E and the world’s largest ship afloat, is making its maiden call at Busan port, Korea on 15th July, 2013.
Maersk Line’s newest vessel is the first of the Triple-E series and was built in Okpo Shipyard (DSME) in Geoje, Korea. An additional four of the Triple-E ships will be delivered from the shipyard during 2013, while the remaining 15 ships will be delivered in 2014 and 2015.
The 18, 270 TEU giant, Maersk McKinney-Moller will make its maiden call at the Pusan Newport Company terminal at Busan Port at 1pm, 15th July, 2013 and it will handle more than 10, 000 TEU of containers here.
The Busan Port Authority said that PNC was awarded Best Productivity for 2012 in Busan, so they are confident that this cargo will be handled as efficiently as possible to provide the best services for the first vessel of Maersk’s Triple-E class.
To celebrate this historic occasion of the world’s largest ship’s making its maiden call at Busan Port, the Busan Port Authority will hold a ceremony, inviting dignitaries and VIPs from the government, civic groups, media and academic sectors as well as key players in the shipping industry.
The Busan Port Authority noted that considering the recent announcement of the P3 network, the world’s largest ship calling at Busan Port is proof that Busan Port is capable of accommodating the biggest container vessels with its deep water access, industry-leading productivity and state-of-the art port facilities.
Mr. LIM Ki-tack, the president of BPA said “This prestigious event is expected to raise the brand awareness of Busan port and strengthen the market position of Busan port as the main transshipment hub for Northeast Asia.”
After its maiden calling to Busan Port, the M/V Maersk McKinney-Moller will call at Kwangyang, Ningbo, Shanghai, Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Suez canel, Rotterdam, Gdansk, Århus, Gothenburg, Bremerhaven, Tangiers, Singapore, Yantian, and Hong Kong.


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Volkswagen is going to pay the state of Ohio $3.5 million in a settlement because of the 2015 Dieselgate scandal. Ohio claims the German automaker violated state laws when it manipulated vehicle computer software to cheat emissions tests, according to Reuters.
In November 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out VW’s bid to avoid lawsuits filed by three states including Ohio. The company argued that under the Clean Air Act, only the federal government can pursue emissions claims. Volkswagen also noted they reached a more than $20 billion settlement with the EPA and vehicle owners over Dieselgate.
Anexo plc (LON:ANX) is a specialist integrated credit hire and legal services group focused on providing replacement vehicles to consumers who have been involved in a non-fault accident.


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Moneyfarm, a robo-adviser has raised €40mn as part of its ongoing Series C funding round.
The lead investor is Poste Italiane, the Italian post office’s retail banking arm.
Allianz Asset Management will also be investing.
Moneyfarm is already part of a joint venture with Allianz.
What does this mean?
The company hopes that the investment as well as the relationships it brings will help it expand across Italy. It will form a strategic distribution partnership with Poste Italiane.


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What you need to know
- iPad keyboard maker Brydge has filed a lawsuit against Kickstarter project Libra.
- Libra is an iPad Pro Keyboard with trackpad.
- Brydge claims Libra is a "brazen" violation of a patent owned by Brydge.
Popular keyboard maker Brydge has filed a lawsuit against both the creator of Kickstarter project Libra and Kickstarter itself, over what it describes as a "brazen" violation of a patent owned by Brydge.
In an official press release Brydge said:
The Libra project on Kickstarter was launched on September 24, and has gained strong support from backers and widespread coverage across the media including The Verge who reviewed the device. The standout feature of Libra is the fact that it has a trackpad, enabling it to take advantage of the all-new mouse support in iPad OS.
In the lawsuit, Brydge pits Libra side-by-side with a prototype of its own codenamed 'Bilby', Brydge's own iPad Pro keyboard with a built-in trackpad. Manufacturing of that device is "weeks away" according to Nick Smith, Brydge co-founder and CEO.
Whilst Libra has some similarities to current Brydge models, when you put it side-by-side with the Bilby prototype, the two are almost a carbon copy. As The Verge notes:
Brydge hopes to begin selling its iPad keyboard with trackpad in January or February next year as a "beta" product, in part so that customers understand the limitations of the trackpad because of the rather basic nature of iPadOS' mouse support.
One of the challenges Brydge faces is identifying who actually makes the Libra keyboard, with a spokesperson admitting Brydge is "not certain" who manufactures it. The campaing is run by a brand by the name of "Sentis", of which almost no information exists. As per the report from The Verge:
Brydge had also sent a cease-and-desist letter to OGadget in September, after which it stopped selling the Libra on its own website. When contacted by The Verge, OGadget also told them that Sentis was no longer their client. Because of the confusion, Kickstarter is also named in the lawsuit. Brydge itself was a Kickstarter project in 2012.
Following news of the suit as reported by The Verge, comments in the last hour on the Kickstarter from the manufacturer gave the following statement to viewers:
Master your iPhone in minutes
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Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.
Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9


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Apple has acquired a Silicon Valley start-up, WiFiSlam, which makes mapping applications for smartphones.
Apple confirmed the acquisition, but declined to give details. The news was reported by the Wall Street Journal, which quoted a person familiar with the matter as saying that Apple paid around $US20 million ($19.1m) for the company.
"Apple acquires smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans," an Apple spokesman said.
WiFiSlam develops technology that provides indoor tracking and similar services. Big tech companies such as Apple and Google have been racing to provide more and better map applications for users. Google's application, Google Maps, is widely accessed on Google's Android platform and Apple's rival iOS platform.
The acquisition of WiFiSlam follows Apple also purchasing Australian mobile app search engine Chomp in February last year for a reported $US50m.
Reuters and Fairfax Media
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It’s really hard to get a break in a new market. It’s doubly hard for a Chinese company trying to achieve competitive scale in the US market. Ask Huawei, 4th largest global manufacturer of mobile phones. They were poised to launch their first US distribution channel with AT&T when a funny thing happened: Red Scare Redux.
Surprisingly, Huawei had unveiled their continued business collaboration with Microsoft just a few months ago. No accusations of espionage resulted from that cooperative effort with an American computing icon. This is from their web announcement detailing the Memorandum of Understanding:
Huawei and Microsoft already enjoy a time-honored and deepening cooperation in the field of cloud computing as the HUAWEI CLOUD has provided Windows Server and RDS for SQL Server. In this new strategic cooperation, Huawei and Microsoft will bring more Microsoft enterprise-level products online… both companies will jointly carry out market expansion and marketing activities on schedule.
Why wasn’t the partnership with Microsoft dissolved, when only three months later AT&T would renege on their carrier distribution deal? If there is a danger to Americans then wouldn’t this partnership be just as threatening as the partnership with AT&T? Two factors come instantly to mind. The US government and Apple.
Huawei Trumped by Apple?
Everyone is surely aware of the many instances of Trump’s tough talk about the trade deficit with China. Trump also promised to bring back corporate tax dollars. According to an article on NBC news, Apple made a deal just last week to pay $38 billion in taxes on overseas cash, create 20k new jobs and open another campus. They are also going to increase the amount of their Advanced Manufacturing Fund. The current budget of the AMF is $1 billion it will change to $5 billion in order to create more stateside production. While this left Apple stock with a small 2 percent gain, it seems that this spending action was more quid pro quo. There are numerous reports of businesses getting on board the Trump train as the tax bill rolls out. It stands to reason that Apple may have been able to leverage their position with any number of government officials in order to limit competition.
Huawei is a direct competitor to Apple with its Mate series AI powered phones and has even made overt snubs to Apple for their AI efforts and face ID. It shouldn’t be too hard to make the simple inference that the rumors of espionage are only lip service. Huawei has been selling feature phones and cheaper versions of its Android phones for years. Their best selling US device, the Nexus 6p, was Google’s last in the Nexus lineup. No concern over espionage with that device. I guess Huawei just became an Enemy of the State because they dared to threaten the Apple Hegemony.


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DENVER, October 4, 2021 / PRNewswire / – AF spaces, the retail platform directly connecting business owners and retailers to curate pop-up storefronts, today announces a partnership with Bedrock. Through this collaboration, AF Spaces will add more than 32,000 square feet of downtown Cleveland real estate to its platform within the iconic Tower City Center.
Acquired by Bedrock in 2016, Tower City Center is Cleveland iconic hub for shopping, dining and entertainment. AF will connect its nationwide network of brands to retail storefronts available for immediate short-term pop-up shopping opportunities, as part of Bedrock’s plan to reimagine the Center as a destination market. Tower City Center also offers a mix of commercial office tenants with direct access to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority and Public Square. As an anchor in the city center Cleveland, Tower City is adjacent to landmarks such as the Ritz Carlton and the Terminal Tower.
“We are delighted to welcome Bedrock to our growing list of world class owners on the AF SPACES platform. We are honored that they have contacted us to leverage our platform and our nationwide network of innovative and emerging brands. For the first time in Tower City, brands will be able to effectively and transparently “test” their own. Cleveland storefront. At the same time, local residents will have the opportunity to engage with their favorite brands face-to-face. ”CEO of AF Spaces and Founder of AF, Mark Bollman.
AF SPACES is a natural extension of American Field, a brand discovery marketplace, whose mission is to provide growth opportunities for brands. AF Spaces has built an organized network of 2,500 brands, including Fatherty, Topo Designs, Shcott NYC and Ball and Buck, as well as a nationwide network of owner partners. The platform gives brands the ability to test store windows through streamlined, short-term deals with major owners. These activations bring new traffic to dark spaces while landlords secure traditional long-term tenants.
For more information on Tower City Center and available retail outlets, please visit TowerCityCenter.com and [email protected].
For more information on partnerships or interested tenants, please visit https://americanfield.typeform.com/to/i684eppC
Founded in 2012 by Mark Bollman, AF’s mission is to connect innovative brands to consumers and to reinvent retail. Their self-fulfilling ecosystem of consumers, brands and retail spaces paves the way for the future of branding.


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The fourth-quarter earnings at two of the country’s largest sellers of home goods and electronics both benefited from the so-called COVID nesting trend, but the business outlooks given by Wayfair and Best Buy on Thursday (Feb. 25) suggest that an inevitable slowdown is coming. While Wayfair said its Q4 revenues rose roughly 45 percent to $3.67 billion, the figure was slightly below Wall Street analyst expectations, and was seen as a disappointment for investors who have bid up Wayfair’s stock by 250 percent over the past 12 months.
Wayfair’s U.S. sales, which account for over 80 percent of its business, rose 40 percent, while its smaller international segment posted a 70 percent increase in sales last quarter. On the profit front, Wayfair posted $263 million in adjusted Q4 earnings, comfortably ahead of expectations. However, the company’s lack of a firm outlook for the coming quarter and year is what caught the attention of many investors and analysts.
“In this environment, it is so tempting to fixate on the latest news headlines, web traffic updates, credit card data refresh, or the year-ago quarterly comps, but there are bigger things happening at Wayfair, and perhaps the pandemic has accentuated some of them,” Wayfair CEO, Co-founder and Co-chairman Niraj Shah said on the company’s earnings call. “The opportunity in what we’re building is so much greater than any single period. It seems more important than ever to think in years rather than quarters.”
Best Buy Also Trips on Guidance
At the same time, Best Buy also reported record Q4 results that were a hair less than expectations, with revenues rising 12 percent to $16.9 billion for the three months ending Jan. 30, as the company said its online sales grew almost 90 percent and accounted for 43 percent of total domestic revenues. On the earnings front, the Minneapolis-based operator of about 1,200 stores topped expectations with a 20 percent increase in adjusted earnings per share. That said, Best Buy’s “-2 percent to +1 percent” same-store sales outlook for this year was the focus of investor concern.
“Demand for technology remains at elevated levels as we start the year,” Best Buy CFO Matt Bilunas said on the company’s conference call. “However, there is a high level of uncertainty related to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic that makes it difficult to predict how sustainable these trends will be,” he added, noting the timing and administration of vaccines, the impact on customer demand and shopping patterns, and the potential for a third round of government stimulus checks.
Bilunas said the sales outlook reflects a scenario in which customers resume or accelerate spending in areas that were slowed during the pandemic, such as travel and dining out, with an expectation that growth will be positive in the first half of the year and then negative in the back half, as Best Buy faces tough year-on-year comparisons in Q3 and Q4.
Mixed Retail Outlooks
Whether it’s Walmart, TJX, Wayfair or Best Buy, retailers in general have been consistently cautious in addressing the inevitable slowing rate of growth they face as they rebound from the economic trough that started last March and April, leading into a steady, online-driven bounce over the next 10 months. There have also been repeated references to increased strain on supply chains, which have been struggling to balance out efforts to restock shelves while also trying to keep inventory levels as low and lean as possible.
At the same time, the issue of rising delivery costs has been a recurrent theme in the retail sector, due to both increases in minimum wage requirements as well as the result of high demand for, and tight supply of, the so-called “final-mile drivers” needed to fulfill sales. That said, there are continued pockets of retail optimism for the year to come, as expressed by the head of L’Oreal, who foresees a “roaring 20s rebound,” and the CEO of TJX, who said on Wednesday (Feb. 24) that he’s counting on spate of “revenge shoppers” once the pandemic has cleared.


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Fast chargers have become ubiquitous in recent times. We started seeing fast charging being used a marketing tool since the OPPO Find 7 20W VOOC charging back in 2014. In 2020, OPPO showcased 125W fast charging for phones which is stupefying by any measure.
However, it seems that these fast charging systems have a fatal flaw. Researchers from Tencent Security labs found an exploit which they call “BadPower” that lets them change the firmware on fast chargers and cause damage to anything that is plugged to them. The physical damage in question is serious like burning, which is a scenario you wouldn’t want for your expensive gadget.
Fast charging employs chips that communicate between the charger and the device being charged so that it does its job effectively. This systems acts like a gatekeeper where a huge amount of power is delivered initially and is gradually constricted towards the end due to the nature of Lithium ion cells and consideration of heat generated, which affects a lithium ion battery’s health.
The researchers tested 35 models from different manufacturers and found 18 of them from 8 different brands had issues. You can update the firmware through the USB port that you plug your phone into. They were able to build a method to alter that firmware through a phone or another device and this firmware could send too much voltage that fries the device connected to it.
The Tencent researchers implore manufacturers to do a few things to prevent this form of attack. They’ll have to disable the ability to accept firmware updates or use a method where only updates signed by the company that wrote the original firmware can be accepted.
They also say that they reported this safety issue and actively worked with relevant manufacturer to address this big problem.


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TomTom is a global leader in traffic information, with one of the most extensive bases of real-time GPS probes in the world, detecting the actual traffic situation on all roads. Recent industry benchmarks and awards prove that TomTom Traffic covers more jams with fewer false alerts than its competitors, giving drivers a clearer picture of traffic conditions on every journey.
Volkswagen and Audi drivers will now benefit from the most accurate TomTom service available on the market with over 100 million kilometers of roads covered. Navigation systems can propose reliable alternative routes, saving drivers hours of travel time annually, while actively reducing fuel consumption.
“We’re delighted to announce this important partnership with Volkswagen Group, one of the world’s premier car manufacturers, strengthening our global market leadership as the trusted provider of navigation technology”, said TomTom Senior Marketing Manager, Winnie Kwan.
“TomTom invented and developed traffic information and efficient routing as we know it today. Large scale adoption and on-going development will continue to contribute to reduced traffic congestion and CO2 emissions, as well as enhanced safety on the road in the future.”
Browse Autotrader’s range of VWs for sale.


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WeChat started out as a social messaging app but has become an essential part of an integrated online and offline (O2O) ecommerce strategy for brands operating in China.
Ecommerce in Southeast Asia has been given a huge boost after Alibaba announced a US$1 billion investment for a controlling stake in Lazada this week, one of the region's biggest online players.
Mobile and the rise of on-demand services is fuelling a new form of commerce the IDC is calling xcommerce.
Chinese tourists make more than 100 million overseas trips a year, but marketing to this lucrative group starts long before they leave China.
The week in numbers starts with wearable technologies and the Internet of Things, but ultimately, it's mobile technologies that make the world go round.
Apple faces domestic competition from Alibaba and Tencent as it launches Apple Pay in China.
QR codes might seem old school in the fast-paced world of digital marketing, but in China, they have transformed communications app WeChat into a world-leading example of mobile social commerce.
China's ecommerce cross-border trade channel is booming. Here are three points to consider when setting up a strategy for your brand.
When establishing your brand's retail presence in China, a native app can complement the overall mobile app user experience.
Mobile, pre-sales marketing and a live television gala event starring James Bond, were just some of the elements making this year's Alibaba Singles Day event another record-breaker.


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Pickpockets are targeting women shoppers in St Ives.
Reports are coming in that the thieves are ‘working’ the town to steal belongings from shoppers.
In the first incident a woman had her purse stolen from her shoulder bag while shopping in Market Hill just before midday on Friday, November 17.
Police said the victim “felt someone bump into her while she was in a charity shop and noticed the purse was missing at the next shop she visited”.
The purse contained cash and cards one of which was used by the thief to make a cash withdrawal shortly after the theft took place.
Investigations are continuing, including looking at CCTV footage from the shops visited by the victim.
In the second theft another woman was the victim of a purse thief while she was shopping on Market Hill at around 11.45am on Friday, November 17.
Again, the purse was stolen from a shoulder bag, most likely while the lady was looking around inside a charity shop.
The purse contained a small amount of cash and photographs. Police will be looking at CCTV footage from the shop as part of the investigation.
In the third incident a woman had her purse stolen from her handbag while she was shopping in Crown Street at around midday on Saturday, November 18.
A police spokesman said: “It is likely that the theft happened when the lady put her bag down on the floor in a shop to look at clothing hanging on a rack. The purse contained cash, cards and other documents.”


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The new fifth beta version of iOS 12 contains images of an updated cover for wireless charging of AirPods. For the first time, a new cover was presented last year, but its output was postponed together with a stand for charging AirPower. Both devices should finally be released this year. The detected images show a new cover for the AirPods with an LED indicating the charging status. If you can recognize the charging status of AirPods without opening the cover, then it will be able to work with AirPower.
The images show a cover with a green light of the bulb, indicating that it is fully charged, and yellow – charging is still in progress.
The current model of headphones is called AirPods1.1, and the new one will be called AirPods1,2. However, Apple has not yet confirmed that headphones will be updated along with the case.
It is already known that the owners of the current AirPods will be able to buy a new case separately.
For the first time the stand for charging AirPower was presented in September of last year, and it was supposed to be released at the beginning of this year. However, due to problems with production, the output of the stand was postponed until the fall of this year. It will certainly be released simultaneously with the AirPods 2018.
In June, information appeared that in 2019 Apple will release new award-winning AirPods, a new version of HomePod and headphones for the studio.
According to sources, Apple wants to release premium AirPods with noise reduction and water resistance, as well as a longer range of action. Protection from water is not designed so that you can listen to music while swimming, it is needed to protect against rain. Also, biometric sensors can be added to track the heartbeat, etc.
Technically, these will be AirPods 3 generations, as new AirPods should come out this year too. They will have a new processor, as well as support for activating Siri voice command.
Apple should release iOS 12 in September this year, along with new versions of macOS , tvOS and watchOS. A new Apple technique should be presented around this time. New iOS devices and Mac computers will be introduced.


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The Michigan Apple Committee is enticing consumers in a six-state area to pick up Michigan-grown apples with a vacation giveaway.
The DeWitt-based committeeâs Michigan Apple Vacation Sweepstakes promotion, which is underway, lasts through the end of the year. It is a first of its kind for the committee, according to a news release.
The committee is giving away three trips, each for a family of four, to Boyne Highlands of Boyne Mountain Resort that include two nightsâ stay and choices of activities that include skiing, golfing and a zipline adventure.
In addition to providing an incentive for choosing Michigan apples, the promotion is also meant to promote Michigan as an agri-tourism destination, said Holly Whetstone, marketing and communications specialist for the committee, in the release.
Sweepstakes details are available on the committee website. Consumers must enter online to be eligible.


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BTS Jimin has been a hot topic as he led the sell-out chaos of luxury brand Celine in 40 countries and dominated Google.
BTS released the second preview video for “2022 BTS SEASON’S GREETINGS” through their official YouTube channel on Nov 3rd. In the video which features a friendly shooting site, Jimin perfectly pulled off various outfits with his unique charms. Among them, the multi-colored T-shirt made by Celine, a representative French luxury brand, received a great response from the public.
After the release of this video, Jimin’s Celine T-shirt was sold out on Celine’s official website in 40 countries including France, England, Italy, Australia, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, China, Greece and Korea, showing the BTS member’s beyond imagination brand power.
After Jimin boasted his luxurious “prince look” while wearing a Celine’s Varsity jacket on a live broadcast of NBC’s popular morning talk show “Today Show” last year, Celine posted a photo of Jimin on their official SNS and actively promoted him even though he was not their ambassador.
“Celine’s man” Jimin ranked first with the overwhelming support of 71.19% in the “Idol who looks best in Celine clothes” survey conducted on Exciting DC last month, which is why he was once again imprinted as the No.1 representative image of Celine.
In addition, the key chain of the American brand “AMIRI” that Jimin wore on that day was sold out at 5 stores including “FARFECH”, “LYST” and “MODESENS”. The two-colored trendy “CONVERSE” high-top sneakers were also sold out through websites such as “AccuWeathershop”, “MODESENS”, “CETTIRE”…
After the preview video for “2022 BTS SEASON’S GREETINGS” was released, the keywork “Park Jimin” reached 100% of interest level several times in all categories such as “Art and Entertainment” and “Beauty and Health” of Google in Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom. This proved the explosive reaction of fans around the world.


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Starting 2013 with good news on the Cruze, looking for more
It doesn’t get much better than starting a new year with good news.
And so it is that the entire Mahoning Valley should welcome the year-end sales figures for the Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cruze.
Cruze sales were lagging through the first half of 2012, and by July were falling behind the comparable figures for the first half of 2011. Then came a string of months showing strong sales increases, and the last two months of the year were extraordinary.
Last month saw 21,230 Cruzes sold, a 27 percent increase over December 2011, which had sales of 16,675. November 2012 sales were also 27 percent higher than a year earlier.
Those banner months helped give the Cruze a 2.6 percent increase for the year. A total of 237,758 Cruzes left the showroom floor in 2012, compared with 231,732 in 2011.
Competition in the U.S. auto market is as tight as ever, and the Cruze remains a General Motors success story and a success story for the Mahoning Valley.
The Lordstown plant is getting back to production following it holiday shutdown and a weekend scare from a fire that broke out during maintenance work at the closed plant.
The Cruze faces the same challengers as other domestic car makers in a new market.
A photograph in Sunday’s Years Ago column is a perfect example of the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words.
Here it is, taken in 1955 to illustrate a story about how business was doing at General Fireproofing Co. in Youngstown that year.
It is basically a portrait of the products of the Big Three auto makers of the day, a collection of Fords and Mercurys, Chevrolets, Oldsmobiles, Buicks and Pontiacs and Plymouths. It’s possible there’s one Volkswagen in the far right-hand corner, but even with a magnifying glass, an editor couldn’t be sure.
But look around most parking lots today, and the automotive demographics tell a different story.
Today, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are competing with Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, Subaru, Hyundai and Kia, among others.
The ability of the Cruze to compete in this now-crowded market is a testament to a commitment to quality by the company and its workers.
In 2013 the Cruze will make a bid for another piece of the economy market with the introduction of a diesel version. And beyond that, GM and its employees here will begin looking toward building the next generation of the Cruze, already slated for production in Lordstown.
Competing for today’s buyer isn’t getting any easier, but the men and women working at the Lordstown plant are showing that they can find success by just getting better.


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Source: China Daily
CHANGSHA - Once with a big population and deficient resources, Shaodong county in China's Hunan province is now at a turning point.
Known for its booming private businesses and ambitious entrepreneurs, Shaodong is facing a real bottleneck problem in its hardware sector -- understaffing, though it's home to more than 1.3 million people.
The county's hardware sector has been losing its edge in vital export markets in recent years since the traditional labor-intensive industry relies heavily on manual work.
"It was hard to sustain consistent the quality and output of pincers, since they used to be affected by the manual installment of rubber handles," said 30-year-old local Zhou Shengqiang, who runs two tech companies across the country.
Zhou added that fewer young recruiters are sticking to the job as many of them want higher earnings in big cities, while older workers hardly meet recruitment standards due to their poor eyesight.
Two years ago, Zhou started his second tech business in his hometown of Shaodong to overcome these difficulties, saying the industry's weaknesses can actually be seen as opportunities. "Since the rubber handle procedure is in desperate need of recruits, we should be considering using industrial robots."
Like many other county dwellers in China who move to big cities to seek better opportunities, Zhou had previously moved to China's tech hub of Shenzhen to open his first company, which develops computer, communication and consumer electronics.
When he opened his second company, he relocated part of his R&D team in Shenzhen to Shaodong to begin research on industrial automation.
The high demand for accuracy has brought difficulties to Zhou and his team in their quest for reliability. They have even worked with researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, taking them over eight months to overcome technical problems.
Fifty five year-old Wang Shunde became the first employer of robots at Zhou's Shaodong-based company. As someone with over three decades of experience in the hardware industry, Wang believes robots would gradually free humans from some certain jobs in the years to come.
With the application of robots, the output of pincers at Wang's Shaodong factory has come on leaps and bounds. Before, it would take one employee about eight hours to manufacture 1,500 pincers, but with the help of machines, output has surged by about seven-fold.
Each machine only requires workers to do checks on a routine basis, and with the use of robots, product quality has not suffered.
"The machines also help to ease recruitment pressure," Wang said, adding that robotic automation can help sell more premium hardware products to more overseas markets.
Hardware is a major export product of Shaodong, with an annual production capacity of 300 million tool kits and an annual output of over 2 billion yuan ($290 million).
Currently eyeing a bigger market to help Shaodong's products go global, Zhou believes automation will help the county earn a more competitive reputation worldwide.
In recent years, Shaodong entrepreneurs running companies abroad and in other parts of China have been returning to start their businesses at home.
Zhou said Shaodong people always feel the need to bring back skills to their hometown and contribute to the local economy.
"We're paying more attention to smart manufacturing," said Deng Xingzhao, who works with the county's publicity department.
"Our improving high-tech infrastructure is making Shaodong more competitive," Deng said.


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DALLAS, Dec. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — AT&T’s new Mobile Share Value® plans will make it even easier for customers to share data and save money while enjoying the nation’s fastest and most reliable 4G LTE network.1 Beginning Dec. 8, new and existing wireless consumer and business customers will have the option to choose from new Mobile Share Value plans. The new plans offer customers more savings and provide ‘No Annual Service Contract’ options.
With the ‘No Annual Service Contract’ options, smartphone customers can save $15 a month on Mobile Share Value plans.2 Customers can receive these monthly savings when they: Get a new smartphone for no down payment with AT&T Next; bring their own smartphone; purchase a smartphone at full retail price; or when their smartphone is no longer under contract and they switch to the new plans. All Mobile Share Value plan customers will benefit from shared data plus unlimited talk and text on their phones. Consumers will have the ability to connect up to 10 devices, including tablets and other wireless devices, while business customers will be able to connect up to 10, 15, 20 or 25 devices, depending on the plan.
- It’s never been more affordable to get on the nation’s fastest and most reliable 4G LTE network. For only $45 a month, smartphone customers can now get unlimited talk and text plus 300MB of data.3 Qualifying smartphones can be added to any Mobile Share Value plan for $25 more a month per phone; tablets can be added for $10 more per device.
- Customers with basic and messaging phones can enjoy a low monthly rate of $40 for unlimited talk, text and 300MB of data.3 For $20 more a month per phone, additional basic and messaging lines can be added to any Mobile Share Value plan.
- In addition to the 300MB option, AT&T Mobile Share Value plans offer data options ranging from 1GB up to 50 GB, all with unlimited talk and text.
AT&T is also adding a new AT&T Nextsm plan with an 18 month upgrade option on Dec. 8. It will be available to consumers for up to four smartphones, and to select small business customers, who may provide employees with up to six company-owned devices.3 The new plan will make monthly smartphone payments even lower than the existing AT&T Next option, by spreading payments over 26 months and giving eligible customers a way to get a new smartphone after 18 monthly payments for no down payment, no upgrade fee, no activation fee and no financing fee.
“With our new Mobile Share Value Plans, customers don’t have to compromise,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility. “Our new no contract option lets customers add a smartphone to the nation’s fastest and most reliable 4G LTE network at a lower monthly cost. Customers want great value and a premium network – and now they can save more and get unlimited talk, text and data to share.”
The new Mobile Share Value plans make it easy for customers to manage their data without needing to keep track of multiple plans. Consumers, Individual Responsibility Users (IRUs), and Corporate Responsibility Users (CRUs) have different options to stay informed about their data usage and can check it anytime online through the my AT&T mobile app, or by dialing *DATA# from their mobile phone. AT&T also sends courtesy alerts to customers nearing their data allowance for the month.
All plans include access to AT&T’s nationwide Wi-Fi network at no additional charge. Customers can learn more about the new plans and determine which plan is best for them at www.att.com/mobilesharevalue.


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Palm looks set to dish all the details on when the new Pre will be coming to UK shores as it has revealed it will be making an announcement next week.
Although it didn't go as far as to say what it was regarding other than about the Palm Pre, it's almost nailed-on that the UK will be getting its own launch date.
This means we'll find out about price, contracts and most importantly, who will be stocking it, with the most likely destination O2 after many internet reports have ruled Vodafone out of the running.
Another nice thing about such an announcement is that it ties in nicely with Palm's earlier pledge to bring the Pre to Europe 'one to two months' after the US release, which occurred on 6 June.
This follows earlier leaked shots of the Palm Pre in a UK-friendly GSM flavour, which means it's likely ready to ship in the coming weeks.
To upgrade or not to upgrade?
With the launch of numerous new phones in the last few weeks (the Samsung Jet, the iPhone 3GS and the HTC Hero) and more to come as well, including the first Samsung Android phone, the i7500, it looks like a summer of phone love is very much on the cards in the US.
Add to this the fact Toshiba is holding a media briefing about 4.1-inch screened, 1GHz processor-toting TG01, and you might want to sit down and have a really good think about which phone gets your upgrade this year.
If you want a really up close and personal look with the forthcoming Palm Pre, then check out T3's 360 degree review of the new handset to see the iThrone pretender in all its glory.
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Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.


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Dalton—J+J Flooring Group, a leading manufacturer of commercial specified flooring, has named Bill Blackstock as the company’s new corporate vice president of sales strategy.
Blackstock will succeed Bill Crosley, current corporate vice president of sales strategy, who is retiring later this year after 36 years with the company. In the interim, Blackstock will work closely with the entire J+J leadership team to further hone the company’s short and long term sales strategies and product initiatives. Blackstock will assume his new role Sept. 1.
“Our success has always been founded on the quality of people that comprise our company,” said David Jolly, president and CEO of J+J Flooring Group. “With Bill Crosley and Bill Blackstock, we have two of the finest sales management professionals in our industry.”


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Saks Inc.'s third-quarter net income slid 51% from results a year ago that benefited from a large tax reserve-related gain. But its latest performance topped Wall Street's expectations and its revenue increased on more full-price selling and fewer promotions.
"We continue to be optimistic about the future of luxury retailing in general and for Saks Fifth Avenue in particular, and we believe Saks is well-positioned for additional operating margin improvement over time," Chairman and CEO Stephen Sadove said in a statement.
He added that the company would continue to use a cautious and strategic approach going forward due to economic and political conditions.
The New York department store chain reported net income of $17.8 million, or 11 cents per share, for the period ended Oct. 29, down from $36.3 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier, when it had the tax reserve-related gain of 14 cents per share.
Taking out the gain, Saks had earnings of 6 cents per share in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast adjusted earnings of 9 cents per share.
Revenue rose 5% to $692.3 million from $658.8 million, beating Wall Street's prediction of $690.6 million.
Revenue at stores open at least a year rose 5.8%. This metric is a key gauge of a retailer's health because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.
Saks Direct, which sells online, reported a 24% rise in same-store revenue. Saks said that revenue at Off 5th stores open at least a year was softer than expected.
The retailer said that the strongest categories at its Saks Fifth Avenue stores included women's contemporary clothing, women's shoes, handbags, jewelry, men's clothing, shoes and accessories.
Saks said Tuesday that it expects a mid-to-high single digit percentage rate increase in fourth-quarter same-store revenue. It anticipates its gross margin rate will fall in the quarter, but that it will still have an improved gross margin for the second half and full fiscal year.
Saks currently runs 46 Saks Fifth Avenue stores and 60 Off 5th locations.


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Country's export basket is getting a significant boost as the shipment of agricultural products has made a massive headway with 9.1 percent jump in July-April period of the current fiscal year (FY21).
Local agricultural product exporters made a shipment of goods worth US$824.59 million during July-April period of FY21.
In FY20, the volume of shipment of the agricultural items was worth $755.8 million, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data showed.
Exporters said the impact of the Covid-19 across the world could be one of the reasons for the rise in exports of the agricultural products such as tea, tobacco, spices and dry food.
During the pandemic, the agricultural items importing countries' dependence on dry food, other agricultural products and other related stuff has increased, they said.
Besides, the government policy support, including cash incentives from 2010, has facilitated the export of the Bangladeshi agro-processing food, they pointed out.
Exporters said that the 20 percent cash incentive has helped the Bangladeshi agro-processing food industry in enlarging the shipment of dry foods mainly.
The shipment of dry food items - biscuits, cakes, uncooked pasta, corn flakes, bread, waffles and wafer, couscous, mixed-food preparation ingredients, chips, chanachur, chocolate, and different prepared food from cereals - had swelled by more than double in the first 10 months of the current FY2021, compared to that in FY2017.
In FY2017, the volume of Bangladeshi dry food export was $109.61 million.
However, in July-April of the current FY2021, the volume had picked up to $243.47 million, EPB data showed.
The shipment of the Bangladeshi dry foods in the following FY2019 also marked a significant rise to $227.09 million.
In FY2020, Bangladeshi producers exported the prepared food worth $193.71 million to different overseas markets.
The major importing countries of dry and processed food items include India, Nepal, Bhutan, Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Hong Kong, the UK, Italy and France.
Meanwhile, export of tea soared 17.38 percent in July-April period of FY21 and the country fetched $3.31 million during the period against $2.82 million of FY20.
Tobacco export also grew 3.16 percent in July-April period of FY21 to 73.03 million which was $70.79 million in the same period of FY20.
Export of spices, another agricultural item, maintained a steady growth in FY21 as the country earned $36.22 million against $29.04 million earned in the previous fiscal year.
General Manager of Bombay Sweets,Khurshid Ahmad Farhad said that they were getting 20 per cent cash incentive against the export of agro-processing food items.
Besides, the Covid-induced lockdown in some cases becomes a boon for the exporters as the food habit of the people in the importing countries has changed to some extent, resulting in the rise in dry food export in the current fiscal, he added.
Syed Mohammad Shoaib Hassan, managing partner of Chittagong-based HIFS Agro Food Industries, said that Bangladeshi producers had continued their production when the Covid-19 had shutdown manufacturing industries in the competing countries.
So, the export of the products had increased in the current FY2021, he added.
The cash incentives, lower labour cost, and available raw material at home have also prompted the increase in shipment, said Hassan.


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ComScore just released February data on most-visited Web sites that confirmed Google still rules the Web, with186.6 million visitors.
The next biggest properties were Microsoft Sites with 174.4 million and Yahoo sites with 173.5 million. Facebook, meantime, came in at number four with 158.6 million visitors, and, curiously, MySpace jumped 8 positions to rank number 42 with 25.5 million visitors.
Remember: This is strictly visitors, not a measure of how long people spend on these sites.
Yet one standout from the report is Pinterest, the invitation-only site that at the end of least year ranked as a .
Pinterest, a place where people create virtual pinboards from things they find across the Web, saw its number of unique visitors jump 52 percent from January to February, to more than 17.8 million.
Other big gainers aren't as surprising. The IRS site, for instance, would naturally get more attention given that it's tax season. And the Super Bowl was a big traffic boon to automakers.
More than 27 million people visited automaker sites in February, a gain of 17 percent versus January. Toyota led the group with 6.4 million visitors (up 20 percent), followed by Honda with 5.1 million (up 42 percent) and General Motors with 4.8 million (up 6 percent). Chrysler, which ran a Super Bowl ad featuring Clint Eastwood's "Halftime in America," posted a 17 percent increase to rank sixth with 2.7 million visitors.


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It’s been almost three years since Rihanna fans have been graced with an album by the singer, and it looks as though the wait for a follow-up to Anti may soon be over.
The Wait is Over!
Rihanna has stated that her ninth studio album will drop in 2019. In the comments under a promotional photo for Rihanna’s Fenty beauty line posted on the singer’s Instagram account, a fan wrote: “But when is the album dropping Robyn? Can we have a release date for that?” Riri bluntly replied: “2019.” Check out that post below.
RiRi is back!
Rihanna’s last album, ANTI, came out in 2016. The singer has been especially busy since then. In September, she unveiled her Savage X Fenty line at New York Fashion Week. Later that month, she penned an op-ed about global education for The Guardian. More recently it was revealed Riri would co-star with Donald Glover in the new film Guava Island.
She’s now a Makeup Guru!
As mentioned above it is not like Rihanna’s been doing nothing since 2016. On the contrary, the ‘Umbrella’ singer launched her own makeup brand at the end of 2017 called Fenty Beauty and to say it has done well is an understatement! Fenty is known for its broad inclusivity across skin tones and gender, especially its Pro Filt’R foundation product produced in 40 different shades, Fenty Beauty was named one of Time magazine’s best inventions of 2017.
We’ve missed her Music!
Rihanna is known for her catchy songs with epic beats. Although we are happy that her Fenty Beauty line has been successful we are so excited to hear some of her new music.
Not only has Rihanna said that she’s coming out with new work but that she will also be going on tour! Rihanna’s tours are infamously glamorous and her costume changes never fail to amaze us.
All Hail the Queen
The last time Rihanna took to the stage was during the 2018 Grammy awards, and let us tell you she was flawless. Rihanna just took the stage at the 2018 Grammys, performing “Wild Thoughts” with DJ Khaled and Bryson Tiller. She was, of course, a scene-stealer and killed it with her slow, smooth choreography. Moreover, Earlier this week, Rihanna’s go-to vocal producer Kuk Harrell said that her currently untitled ninth studio album was sounding “amazing.” He added, “It’s incredible, and that’s all I’m going to say.” He didn’t give us a time frame for the album’s release, though.
Safe to say we’re Excited!
Rihanna may not be with Drake anymore and we’re pretty sure their relationship did not end amicably but we wouldn’t be surprised if some other guest stars made an appearance. What makes her so popular? Her debut single Pon de Replay combined the slightly cliched island riddims of Beyoncé’s Baby Boy with Jennifer Lopez and Madonna’s recent DJ-request anthems – Play and Music, respectively – and sold 2m copies, peaking at No 2 on the Billboard singles chart. Rihanna is a pop-sensation and we couldn’t be more excited about her musical comeback!
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Toshiba has officially launched early this week the “world’s thinnest and lightest tablet”–the Toshiba REGZA AT700–for the Japanese market.
The tablet is due for release in Japan in mid-December. Toshiba made the official announcement of the 10.1-inch tablet at the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies (CEATEC) trade show held in Tokyo, Japan.
The Toshiba REGZA AT700’s attractive features include its depth/thickness of 7.7 millimeters and its weight of 558 grams. The tablet is much thinner than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and is slightly lighter, too.
The REGZA AT700 is powered by Android 3.2 Honeycomb and a dual-core Texas Instruments [...]
When curious owners tinkered with the Webtop files for the Motorola DROID Bionic, they unearthed a curious name of a yet-unknown Motorola handset–the Motorola Edison. It turns out that this name is just an internal codename for the Motorola ATRIX 2 whose delicious-looking images showed up late in July this year.
Boy Genius Report (BGR), which was given the new leaked images, reports that the new handset will be a bumped up version of the earlier Motorola ATRIX 4G on AT&T.
Unfortunately, BGR’s source mentioned that the Motorola ATRIX 2 (MB865) will not be LTE-capable.
The photos that BGR acquired exactly looked alike to the ones in our July [...]
We have gotten leaks before saying that Verizon would be releasing a Samsung Android smartphone dubbed the Samsung Statosphere, but we never knew what it clearly looked like–until recently.
Thanks to new leaked images recently sent to Pocketnow, we now have a better and clearer idea of how the Samsung Stratosphere (SCH-I405) looks like.Formerly known as the Samsung Aegis, the Stratosphere seemingly resembles the Samsung Epic 4G of Sprint, with some tweaks done on the keyboard (e.g., moving of the Shift and Fn buttons and the addition of a dedicated Internet shortcut key, to name a few).
Rumored earlier to be released alongside the Motorola DROID Bionic on [...]
More information about two upcoming mid-range phones for Verizon Wireless–the Pantech Breakout LTE and the Samsung Illusion–have surfaced recently. Both Android phones are expected to be released on Verizon this month, according to a Verizon timetable leaked earlier.
Pocketnow has received press photos of the Verizon phones.
The Pantech Breakout LTE is Pantech’s first 4G phone. It is speculated to have a 4-inch touchscreen panel (800×480 resolution), a 1.0-GHz single-core processor, a 5-MP front camera, and 512 MB of RAM.
One of the rather interesting things about this phone is that it can act as a mobile hotspot connecting up to 10 [...]
A smartphone with a laptop dock? Not new. A gaming phone? Seen that already. A phone with a tablet dock? Kinda new, but not that new. A phone that does all of the above? Are you kidding? For real?
Korean Telecom recently unveiled its KT SpiderPad, one of the few interesting devices that did not get much exposure, at the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA 2011) in Berlin.
The device should be debuted in Japan later this year. No word from Korean Telecom about the price or whether it will be available outside Japan.
The phone’s specs are quite impressive: a 4.5-inch screen with a 1280×800 resolution, a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 processor (dual-core, 1.5 [...]
Verizon has an upcoming mid-range Android smartphone from HTC–and it’s possible that the phone may be carrying Beats by Dr. Dre technology.
A Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) list allegedly from Verizon Wireless found its way to Droid Life and showed the HTC Rhyme with a price tag of US$200.
Very little is currently known about the HTC Rhyme. The MAP list shows it with model number ADR6330, which seems close to the model number of the HTC Merge (ADR6325) and the HTC DROID Incredible 2 (ADR6350).
This device might share the appearance of either of the two aforementioned devices, although it is tough to tell for now.
Also, the HTC Rhyme’s price [...]
HTC’s first attempt at an Android tablet, the HTC Flyer, came out with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and HTC Sense, but several developers have found a way to pour sweet honey on the HTC Flyer.
Paul O’Brien, MoDaco founder, has obtained a Honeycomb leak in RUU (ROM Upgrade Utility) form for the HTC Flyer. He advises to flash it at your own risk. It’s an early build so expect stability and overall performance of the Flyer using such software to be not that good.
O’ Brien says that he will release a fully tested build once he has tested it on his own HTC Flyer, which will be arriving next week.
Basing on the comments over at XDA Developers, the braver ones who [...]
HTC’s flagship smartphone, the HTC Sensation, will soon have an upgraded version called the HTC Sensation Special Edition 2 (SE2), which will not only see several hardware upgrades but also the inclusion of Beats by Dr. Dre technology.
A good audio experience is one thing that most smartphones, including HTC’s, aren’t so good at. With the recent partnership agreement between HTC and the audio company Beats by Dr. Dre, consumers wondered when HTC would start coming out with its first Android smartphone with Beats technology.
Most folks thought HTC will be bringing out a brand-new device as its flagship for Beats by Dr. Dre. It turns out that HTC has decided to [...]
The bootloader unlocking section on the recently launched HTC Dev site has been updated yet again, and 4 variants of the HTC Sensation have been added to the list; namely, the T-Mobile USA, Turkish, Arabic, and Bouygues Telecom versions. Sprint’s HTC EVO 3D has also been marked as unlockable using the HTC-provided unlocking tool.
Unlocking the bootloader simply means that the owner of the device can customize the software on the device, or in simpler terms, install custom/modified Android software on the phone. The bootloader basically controls which applications must run during the boot process.
The official bootloader unlocking process is quite simple. Even [...]
Rogers Communications confirmed via press release that the Canadian mobile carrier will be offering the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE, previously codenamed the Samsung Celox, among other LTE-enabled devices this fall.
With the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE, Canadians can now enjoy the blazing speed of LTE (Long-Term Evolution) technology. LTE is the next generation mobile technology that delivers mobile broadband experience similar to that of home and office broadband. LTE can potentially reach peak download speeds of up to 150 Mbps and upload speeds at 70 Mbps.
Rogers recently announced that it will be bringing the fastest network technology to Toronto on September 28. [...]