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Don Mattrick believes the Xbox One is “over-delivering” in value, at the recently announced $499 price point.
“It’s a lower number than some of the analysts had forecasted,” Mattrick told Bloomberg in a video interview
“We’re over-delivering value against other choices I think consumers can get. Any modern product these days you look at it [and] $499 isn’t a ridiculous price point. We’re delivering thousands of dollars of value to people, so I think they’re going to love it when they use it.”
Mattrick went on to speak about the advantages of the Xbox One, which included Xbox Live, Kinect, Skype and the exclusive NFL collaboration.
“We’re delivering thousands of dollars of value to people, so I think they’re going to love it when they use it. We’re really making the living room your centre of fun for your family,”
The Xbox One will ship $100 higher than the PlayStation 4, which will ship at $399.


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US soft drink company PepsiCo have withdrawn an online ad for Mountain Dew after it was criticised for portraying racial stereotypes and making light of violence against women.
• PepsiCo has withdrawn an advert labelled ‘arguablt the most racist commercial in history’
• Advert created by Odd Future rapper Tyler, The Creator also criticised for making light of violence against women
In the 60-second ad developed by US rapper Tyler, The Creator, shows a battered white woman on crutches urged to identify a suspect out of a lineup of African-American men. A goat character known as Felicia is included in the lineup.
One blogger described the 60-second video as “arguably the most racist commercial in history”.
The goat makes threatening remarks to the woman such as “Ya better not snitch on a player” and “Keep ya mouth shut.” She eventually screams “I can’t do this, no no no!” and runs away.
The word “do” is in apparent reference to the soft drink’s “Dew It” slogan.
PepsiCo Inc, based in Purchase, New York, apologised in a statement and said it understood how the ad could be offensive.
Jen Ryan, a spokeswoman for PepsiCo, said the company was alerted on Tuesday by its consumer relations team that some people found the ad offensive. The company immediately decided to take down the spot and was told by Tyler that he would remove it from his YouTube channel as well, she said.
The ad was never intended to air on TV, Ryan said.
Tyler, the Creator’s songs have been criticised for their homophobic and misogynistic content, though he has also expressed support for singer Frank Ocean, who revealed he was bisexual last year.
Management of Odd Future, the hip-hop collective led by Tyler, the Creator, issued a statement apologising to anyone offended but said the ad was taken out of context. It noted the men in the ad’s lineup are Tyler’s friends and Odd Future members.
The artist “absolutely never intended to spark a controversy about race,” the statement said. “It was simply an, again, admittedly absurd story that was never meant to be taken seriously.”

domain: news


text: This week at the SID Display Week 2016 trade show we've gotten up close and personal with Samsung's new rollable screen, just one of several next-gen inventions in display technology. But this is just another in a long line of demos of such "transforming" or "curved display" tech from Samsung, LG, and the rest, right? Not so fast. Now that Samsung has proven their ability to deliver the goods with devices like the Galaxy Edge, the company is expected by the public to deliver on concepts like these with more speed. The time is now!


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The 2020 Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide is now Live! Designed by Professor Peter W Roberts and his team at Emory University, the guide aims to help separate the specialty market from C-market commodity pricing; highlighting market trends in the speciality coffee sector. We’re proud to be one of this years 81 supporters, as well as
Despite having de-commoditised the specialty coffee business many years ago, Mercanta does not exist in a vacuum. Events in the wider commodity coffee world are coming to visit the specialty coffee world, and they are coming quickly. Commodity coffee prices at $2.50/lb are the highest in 13 years. This, in itself, is a newsworthy item.


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UK to give small retailers 900 million pound tax cut: finance ministry
LONDON (Reuters) - British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is likely to give a 900 million pound ($1.15 billion) tax cut to small high-street retailers in his annual budget on Monday to help them compete against online competition, the government said . High-street shops have long complained that Britain’s tax system unfairly favours online retailers and out-of-town stores, which face lower business property taxes than firms operating from expensive town centre locations. Britain’s finance ministry said that starting from next year, almost half a million small retailers would enjoy a cut of a third to their property taxes, known as business rates. A further 650 million pounds will be available over the next four years to improve infrastructure, under-used property and transport links in town-centre shopping areas. “This package will provide short-term relief for struggling retailers and a long-term vision for town centres, helping them to meet the new challenges brought about by our changing shopping habits,” the finance ministry said. Economists expect Hammond to announce rosier figures on the public finances on Monday, but refrain from big spending or tax announcements at a time of economic uncertainty and political fragility before Britain leaves the European Union next year. Business rates raised 27.4 billion pounds last year, just under 4 percent of total government revenue. The finance ministry declined to comment before Monday’s full announcement on whether the tax break would be permanent, or if 900 million pounds was the cost for 2019/20 alone. The British Chambers of Commerce said the move was very welcome, but that in the longer term the business rates system needed fundamental reform. More than 80 percent of British adults shopped online last year, the highest proportion in Europe. But there is widespread public and political concern about the extent to which online giants such as Amazon are legally able to avoid paying British taxes due to their multinational structure. At the start of this month, Hammond said Britain would unilaterally implement a digital services tax if there is no international agreement soon on how to tax big internet companies. Hammond has appointed Jason Furman, who served as chief economist to former US President Barack Obama, to lead a review of Britain’s competition regime, to ensure it is fit for the digital era. Separately, the finance ministry said Hammond was also expected to recommend a review of restrictions in England and Wales on businesses hosting lucrative civil marriage ceremonies.


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SEPTA's rollout of its new fare system is taking another step forward Monday, with the introduction of cards for senior citizens and a system that will allow riders more flexibility in using the SEPTA Key card.
People who already have the cards will be able to maintain accounts on their SEPTA Key cards in a way that mimics the E-ZPass system. Senior citizens will receive cards with photo IDs that will grant them free travel on SEPTA's subways, buses, and trolleys, and the Norristown High Speed Line.
The SEPTA Key cards debuted in June and eventually will replace all of SEPTA's fare systems, including tokens. The card is not yet usable on Regional Rail during the week, but SEPTA has said it would begin making it functional for rail commuters next year.


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Downtown Indio has many empty storefronts like the one pictured. / Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun
Visit the database and join the conversation
The Desert Sun conducted a Coachella Valley retail vacancy survey by walking the streets, shopping centers and malls on various days in July.
While the retail leasing scene changes constantly, the snapshot of more than 1,000 storefronts helped illustrate the impact the economic downturn has had on key retail centers.
The survey found that retail vacancies vary widely, from 0 percent at Old Town La Quinta to roughly 20 percent in downtown Palm Springs and nearly 60 percent at Indio Fiesta Mall.
View a database to see what The Desert Sun's survey found in the key retail districts, including addresses, their occupancy status and, when available, their business name. Some were more clear than others, but if you have suggestions or other thoughts, please share them via email at email@example.com
Nearly one in five storefronts in the Coachella Valley is empty, far more than any other key retail corridor in Southern California.
The desert's overall retail vacancy rate hit 18.2 percent at the end of June, according to commercial real estate firm Marcus & Millichap.
A first-hand assessment by The Desert Sun of 10 of the valley's major retail corridors and shopping centers in July found pockets of commercial space in more dire circumstances. Indio's half-empty mall and the 93 percent empty Palm Springs Mall are vestiges of boom-and-bust development.
Both have lost anchor department stores, a blow that can domino into rapid deterioration and retail flight.
Some districts, such as Palm Desert's El Paseo and Westfield retail centers and The River in Rancho Mirage, have managed to fill vacancies despite five years of economic challenges.
Into this commercial real estate glut, developer John Wessman has already moved wrecking balls onto Palm Canyon Drive in anticipation of his $100 million redevelopment of the former Desert Fashion Plaza.
Envisioned as a year-round magnet in the heart of downtown Palm Springs, the 150,000-square-foot, mega-re-imagining of the valley's signature boulevard will compete for a finite number of tourist dollars.
Scheduled to open in late 2014, Wessman's legacy project will undoubtedly attract commerce and national brands that would otherwise lean toward Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Indio, La Quinta or other regional retail centers.
Vacant for more than a decade, the former mall was once anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue until it shuttered in 2001. That high-end department store is now on El Paseo along with other retailers that once filled the Fashion Plaza, including Gucci and Leeds & Sons Fine Jewelers.
The upscale bowling alley Lucky Strike, LA Fitness and Krikorian Premiere Theatres were among the tenants Wessman said were in negotiations for the new project. Nordstrom Rack, which in July announced it would open a 34,000-square-foot store in 2014 in Palm Desert, also made his list.
The valley's steep retail vacancy rate is seven to eight percentage points higher than anywhere in the Inland Empire and more than 10 percentage points above Orange and Los Angeles counties. The region's commercial space market is expected to hover at high vacancy levels into 2014, some real estate experts told The Desert Sun.
“We've still got a couple years to work through this, but I think we're going to see in the next 12 to 18 months those looking at (prime) retail are going to find it very hard to find opportunities,” said Maggie Montez, a longtime valley commercial real estate agent.
“That's probably going to drive people to the Class B,” said Montez, senior vice president with Lee & Associates of Palm Desert, which could provide a lift for some of the valley's struggling locations.
But this economy's slow recovery has proven most predictions wrong.
“First of all, I don't think anybody is having a lot of fun right now,” said Dick Baxley, president of Baxley Properties in Palm Desert. “Landlords are having a tough time. Rents have been hammered down to a pretty low level.”
The hundreds of empty stores cut into the tens of millions of sales tax dollars the Coachella Valley's already-struggling cities receive annually to conduct regular business — from funding public safety and libraries to paving roads and building new parks and fire stations.
Over the past few years, the cities have laid off dozens of employees and made other severe cuts to services to balance budgets.
Several cities — Cathedral City, Coachella and Indio among them — raised tax rates to shore up their budgets. Other cities have levied additional fees and assessments, borrowed money or tapped reserves to make up for revenue declines.
Palm Springs passed a 1 percentage point sales tax increase, which took effect in April, and will invest $43 million -- just a portion of the estimated $200 million total -- into Wessman's downtown gambit.
Banking on sales tax revenue can be risky, though, especially when commercial space is abundant.
Cathedral City hoped a 2010 sales tax boost would stabilize its budget, but two years later in June of this year the city projected expenses without cuts of $33.9 million and revenues of $26 million.
Sizing it up
Shopping centers and malls typically don't share their vacancy rates, preferring to herald strong anchors and pending lease deals.
To get a sense of how the Coachella Valley's key retail corridors are really doing, The Desert Sun conducted its own retail vacancy survey by walking the streets, shopping centers and malls on various days in July.
The survey of more than 1,000 storefronts offers a snapshot to illustrate the effect the economic downturn has had on such shopping districts.
The survey found that retail vacancies vary widely, from 0 percent in Old Town La Quinta to roughly 20 percent in downtown and uptown Palm Springs and nearly 60 percent at Indio Fiesta Mall.
Despite a 22 percent vacancy rate, there has been plenty of foot traffic in Palm Springs' core area this off-season.
Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt owner Yon Mccullough chose a busy stretch of Palm Canyon Drive, a move that propelled her store's sales to the top tier in the chain (Mccullough has other locations in La Quinta and Palm Desert).
Many storefronts that long stood empty in the Uptown Design District of Palm Springs have been filled, though the area still has a 20.6 percent vacancy rate.
“The whole uptown in the past three years, there's just been a resurgence,” said Larry Abel, co-owner of Raymond-Lawrence, a retail incubator that brings together 21 “pop-up” merchants under one roof.
Just a few miles east, the 320,000-square-foot Palm Springs Mall has become a virtual ghost town: just two retailers and Kaplan College remain in the 47-year-old center.
Indio's aging mall has struggled as well.
Despite some well-meaning but never fully realized renovation plans, retailers have fled Indio Fiesta Mall, where there are now two dozen empty stores and a nearly 60 percent vacancy rate.
Downtown Indio, too, is fraught with vacancies as are stretches of Highway 111 from La Quinta to Palm Springs.
“Tenants that are coming into that corridor are not finding buildings that are acceptable,” said Steve Lyle, CEO of Coldwell Banker Commercial Lyle & Associates in Palm Desert. “So we're seeing some new construction.”
Downtown Indio has also lost many retailers to the much newer Indio Town Center on Jackson Street north of Interstate 10. The center hosts a WinCo grocer, Toys R Us, 24 Hour Fitness and dozens of other retailers.
A stretch of Highway 111 in south Palm Springs to Cathedral City has filled in during frugal times with numerous consignment stores such as The Estate Company III, Caroldean's Resale Therapy, Misty's and Touch of Class and Consign Design earning it the nickname “Consignment Row.”
Not surprisingly, prime locations continue to attract the most retailers. “Pockets — I would call them pockets — of retail areas where everybody wants to be,” Lyle said.
Of the more than 100 leasing signs Lyle's firm has throughout the valley, 10 generate 90 percent of phone calls from interested retailers, he said.
“What's fair to say is where we have strong anchors in place, that's where we're doing well,” Montez said.
Commercial real estate agents are confident much of the vacant retail space will be absorbed by the time Wessman's downtown Palm Springs mall renovation becomes reality -- so long as the economy cooperates.
One reason for that confidence is that after a nearly four-year lull, national tenants are again eyeing valley locations.
Lyle, for instance, recently fielded five offers for two vacant spaces on Palm Canyon Drive just east of Tahquitz Canyon Way next to Starbucks in the heart of downtown Palm Springs.
An international Japanese restaurant chain with a Tokyo-themed bar has signed a deal for the properties.
“They plan to combine the spaces, and what an incredible space that is,” Lyle said of a patio that faces the 26-foot-tall statue of Marilyn Monroe.
Montez received multiple offers for a 28,000-square-foot anchor position previously occupied by Office Depot at the Desert Crossing shopping center in Palm Desert.
“We had four offers on that and are going to lease with a tenant that I cannot yet name,” Montez said. “It will be their first desert location.”
Other big-name merchants setting up shop in the valley include Nordstrom Rack and Whole Foods, both of which will anchor a shopping center near Westfield Palm Desert, which has the lowest vacancy rate among the key districts at 7.9 percent.
The mall has added new tenants such as Richie's Diner, Toda Moda and Rendezvous.
“I think there's a renaissance going on along Highway 111 in Palm Desert,” said Kathleen Howard, executive vice president with NAI Capital in Palm Desert.
The River in Rancho Mirage — with an 11.4 percent vacancy rate — has added several new tenants recently and now has only three empty storefronts.
Commercial real estate agents say valley retailers are leasing more as well.
That's important because local retailers make up about two-thirds of the market, said Lynn Coker, an investment sales and leasing specialist with NAI Capital.
“We're seeing people who are coming out of their basement and garages,” he said.
Some restaurateurs are finding spaces where previous owners doled out thousands of dollars on expensive improvements, yet there are still good lease rates.
One of the barriers to recovery is financing.
The Coachella Valley's retail market is considered “tertiary,” meaning national retailers and lenders typically prioritize it behind both primary and secondary markets, Lyle said.
“Lenders feel the safest making their loans in the primary markets,” Lyle said. “That hurts us. It's harder to get the financing. It's harder to get the top corporate development firms.”
Another challenge facing the retail market is economic uncertainty.
“Consumers remain highly sensitive to economic news and policy debates that threaten their financial security,” said Sandy Kennedy, president of the Retail Leaders Industry Association.
Consumers are concerned about the strength of the job market, Coker said.
Along El Paseo — an upscale corridor of restaurants, galleries, shops and boutiques with a 13.4 percent vacancy rate — many retailers are moving into better locations or taking advantage of better deals.
Commercial real estate agents, using different methodology in computing vacancy rates, see El Paseo thriving despite the recession.
“It's surprisingly full, especially for the summertime,” Baxley said.
“It's still a big-buck street and pretty much unaffected by the economy. I did a study that showed vacancies under 6 percent. So rents will probably start to move up before the end of the year.”
Montez said there's another, more deep-seated reason for an uptick in retail leasing: entrepreneurial spirit.
“I really credit the American business spirit — people who recognize opportunity even though times are unstable,” Montez said.
“They know their business well enough to understand whether they can deal with a second or third location.”
Lyle said there's a general sense the retail scene is finally gaining momentum.
“It's better now, there's no question,” said Lyle, noting that “pent-up demand” and consumers' attitudes seem to be a driving force.
“Your shoes — you can't just keep wearin' 'em over and over,” Lyle said.
“The recession has lingered on so long, people are just tired of waiting. They're buying again, but they're being very selective.”
More stories in this iSun Investigation:
A tale of two adjacent shopping areas
Big Coachella Valley properties draw little interest
Coachella Valley's indoor malls facing diverse challenges to success
Pop-up incubator offers retailers time to catch on
Experts to discuss Coachella Valley market


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Business Wire India
BCI, India’s leading AIDC technology and supply chain solution provider, today announced the launch of its e-commerce website, the BCI webstore (webstore.barcodeindia.com). The webstore aims to bring the entire AIDC hardware and consumables shopping experience online and within the reach of customers across India. The webstore will feature a wide range of barcode, QR code, RFID, and enterprise wireless LAN products, consumables along with designing/printing software.
The webstore will include a wide portfolio of products from Zebra Technologies, an innovator at the front line of business with solutions and partners that deliver a performance edge. Zebra’s solutions including a wide range of 1D and 2D scanners, desktop and industrial printers, mobile computers, and consumables are now available at attractive prices on the BCI webstore.
BCI is Zebra’s long-standing premium partner in India.
Speaking on the launch, Ajay Bhutani, co-founder, and CEO, BCI said: “Delivering extended value to our customers sits at the core of all that we do at BCI. We are excited to launch the BCI webstore, which will now allow our customers to purchase AIDC products and consumables quickly and seamlessly. Moreover, we will now be able to service customers even from the remotest parts of the country in record delivery time. We are hopeful that our customers will enjoy this new shopping experience from us.”
The BCI webstore has a ready inventory of all products that are featured on its site, with a delivery network supporting 22,000 pin codes across India and delivery time of four working days. The delivery network comprises of the best logistics partner brands in India. This is complemented by friendly exchange and returns policy.
Deep Agarwal, Regional Sales Director of India, Zebra Technologies said: “We are delighted with the launch of BCI’s e-commerce website. As our largest premium partner in India, BCI services some of our largest enterprise customers locally. The newly-launched webstore provides our customers with greater accessibility to Zebra’s solutions while extending the high service quality and technical support from BCI at the same time.”
Going a step further in its customer centricity, the webstore also promises to feature customized products, which can be designed to meet specific requests from customers. BCI plans to continuously add to the length and breadth of products on the webstore. Coupled with exciting promo offers and discounts along with BCI’s world-class aftersales support infrastructure and experience, the webstore is set to offer a one-of-a-kind shopping experience to its customers.


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Commonwealth Utilities’ Fall 2010 Runway presentation may have been the coldest fashion show that I have ever attended. The show was held in an abandoned hotel lobby, which did give the show considerable ambiance. However it would have probably been more comfortable in September, or you know any week of the year that didn’t feature three massive, back to back blizzards that left parts of the city practically unnavigable and made smart fashionistos dawn full-scale military garb. The other photographers and I were huddling together on the tiny press riser to conserve heat. And it was fascinating watching how the PR girls herded the attendees into cordoned off pens to keep them both orderly and away from the precious space heaters that they were reserving for themselves.
The following are some of my favorite images from the show including behind the scenes shots as well. For the full story and article please check out modacycle.com. And while you’re there please take some time to explore several other stories from the past fashion week as well as full coverage of all the upcoming shows in just a few weeks in London, Milan, New York and Paris.


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Toronto ‘Star Touch’ iPad App “Selling Like Hotcakes”: Editor
Recently the Toronto Star launched Star Touch for iPad, its digital newspaper based on the success of La Presse. Star editor Michael Cooke spoke with Bell Media radio station 104.5 CHUM FM earlier this week, and shared details about the app’s launch.
Cooke told the “Roger & Marilyn” show on Tuesday morning the free Star Touch iPad app is “doing for news what Cirque du Soleil has done for circus.” The app, which Cooke says debuted at number one in the Canadian App Store under free iPad downloads (it currently is in the sixth spot), is so new and exciting “you can’t step away from it.”
Star Touch launched September 15 as a free app, delivering digital news to customers via push notification by 5:30AM local time. The app brings local, world, sports, business and entertainment news, bundled in a unique format that’s interactive with lots of photos and videos.
The editor said Star Touch has “been selling like hotcakes”, while also noting ads are interactive and “a lot of fun.”
The publication said the launch of Star Touch also saw the addition of young journalists to to the Star newsroom, changing dynamics of the group as it “brought our age down by a couple of decades.”
Cooke gave the hosts free iPads and also one to give away to listeners, calling the new app “a great step forward,” despite still sticking to the newspaper’s core, which he says is investigative reporting and great stories.
Last year, The Star announced it would end its digital paywall and focus solely on Star Touch, investing $14 million to build the app—which also includes joint marketing with La Presse.
We tested Star Touch briefly on our iPad and it’s definitely a great start for a newspaper app. It presents stories in a creative way that’s very interactive, like a magazine instead of a newspaper. As for the ads, the publication has seamlessly integrated them into the app, making them feel like they’re part of the experience.
Click here to download Star Touch for iPad—it’s free. What do you think of Star Touch so far?


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ALFOZ Private Limited Company, a company engaged in the export of agricultural product, has built a modern coffee processing warehouse at a cost of 20 million birr in Dire Dawa, located 535 kilometers east of Addis Ababa.
“The new coffee processing facility will further boost our capacity. We want to dedicate this processing facility only to the green coffee bean produced in Harargie. It creates an additional capacity to export six containers at a time,” said Ali Hussein Mohammed, the Managing Director of the Company.
The new coffee processing facility built on 7,700 square meters has a capacity to store 500,000 sacks off coffee at a time. A sack of coffee weighs 60 kilogram.
Though the company’s main export item is coffee, it also exports sesame seeds, cereals, and meat. It imports trucks and oil following market signals.
“We export not only coffee but also sesame, cereals and meat. Coffee is our main export item. We also import items like heavy duty trucks, oil and any other items whenever there is a shortage. We committed five percent of our export earning to import anything in short supply in the domestic market. By doing so we try to help the domestic consumer beyond raking in hard currency to the country,” argued the managing director.
In the past 10 months of this Ethiopian budget year, the company has exported 10,000 tons of coffee to the United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Korea, and Jordan according to the managing director.
The company which was established in 1998 owns a coffee farm around Jima town of the Oromiya Regional State. The farm which is meant to produce specialized organic coffee is 200 hectares wide.
ALFOZ also owns a coffee processing warehouse that holds 30,000 tons of coffee and coffee roasting machines with an installed capacity to roast 5,000 tons of coffee. It creates employment opportunity for about 1,000 citizens both permanently and temporarily.


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Receive the latest in Footwear, Fashion, Music and Creativity in our newsletters.
Explore and be inspired by the latest women's fashion news and trends.
Enjoy HYPETRAK's updates, features, and editorials on the dynamic world of music.
France, Germany and Australia get region specific themed consoles.
In preparation for the launch of the XBox One and Microsoft Windows 10 exclusive.
The white, slimmed-down console is just a couple of weeks away.
Project Scorpio, the successor to the Xbox One, is coming Holiday 2017.
Including the debut of the 2017 Lamborghini Centenario.
40% smaller than the original with 4K Ultra HD video support, a streamlined controller and more.
The game now has an official release date, too.
Will Sony accept Microsoft’s gaming invite?
PS4 vs. Xbox One set to reach new heights.
A truly original first-person shooter.


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iPhone 15 impact: Apple to discontinue iPhone 12? Check list NOW
Apple will pick a date between September-October, 2023 to launch the iPhone 15 lineup. But with its arrival, some iPhones, including the iPhone 12, may get discontinued.
The iPhone 14 might be the latest Apple smartphone in the market, but the iPhone 15 is definitely the talk of the town. There have been plenty of leaks and rumors about the upcoming lineup and they have painted a stunning picture of what the phone can potentially be. But while there is excitement on one hand, there is also a little disappointment because this would also be the time when Apple would inevitably discontinue some of its older smartphones and they will not be available for purchase. iPhone 12 could be one of them. But which other smartphones are likely to disappear in the Fall of 2023? Let us take a look.
The current Apple lineup
These are smartphones that can be directly bought from either the online Apple website or Apple stores across the globe. And every year, Apple removes some smartphone models as it introduces new ones. You can still find older iPhones such as iPhone 11 on Amazon and some other retailers but either these are refurbished or pre-owned smartphones or the stock that reached a dealer but did not sell out yet. With that being said, let us take a look at the smartphones you can currently buy from Apple.
The list includes iPhone SE 2022, iPhone 12, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
mobile to buy?
Which iPhones can be discontinued after iPhone 15 is launched?
The most obvious one is the iPhone 12. Apple never keeps iPhones in its stores that are older than three years, and so once iPhone 15 comes to the shelves, iPhone 12 will be the first to be discontinued.
The other two likely to be discontinued models would be iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. Apple has been discontinuing previous year's Pro models as soon as new flagship smartphones are launched for a number of years and we do not think that would change this year.
Now, coming to the trickier part, iPhone 13 mini and iPhone 14 Plus may also be discontinued. It is known that the mini models never sold much and that's why Apple decided to not include it in the iPhone 14 lineup. However, a case could be made for it that Apple may just take $100 off its price and make it available for $499, which would become a unique price point.
iPhone 14 Plus was launched for the first time last year so no one is really sure what Apple may do with it. But there are two reasons why it might be discontinued. First is its display size. Apple may feel having iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 15 Plus, and iPhone 15 Pro Max as three 6.7-inch displays might be a bit too much. Also, if Apple knocks its price by $100, it would cost as much as the new iPhone 15 (provided there are no price hikes), which might be counterproductive for Apple.
However, we will still have to wait till the launch of the iPhone 15 series to really know which smartphones will be discontinued.


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McDonald's Corp. is emphasizing ongoing variety over quickie promotions in its 2001 marketing plan.
New Tastes offers sampling of McD's marketing strategy
At the heart of the strategy is the Oak Brook-based burger chain's New Tastes Menu, a permanent menu fixture featuring 40 food items that franchisees may choose to rotate for various periods.
The new menu, launched Jan. 21, is backed by an estimated $60-million ad campaign by Chicago advertising agency DDB Worldwide, a unit of New York-based Omnicom Group.
At the same time, McDonald's has increased its reliance on Walt Disney Co. for its promotions, according to the company's 2001 marketing calendar, Enhanced Brand Plan, obtained by Crain's sister publication Advertising Age.
Damon Brundage, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates, said he believes the sluggish economy may be driving the stronger dependence on Disney for promotions.
"You need to be certain the promotions you run will be good ones," he said. "Disney (promotions are) the lowest-risk promotions you can run, period."
The fast-food chain has been vexed by sagging customer counts despite a flurry of high-profile toy and film-related promotions, including Beanie Babies and Disney's "Dinosaur" and "102 Dalmatians."
Giving people more choices is a credible strategy for getting customers to try more options and building sales, said Mr. Brundage.
"We're at a point in the economic cycle where consumers are pulling back," he said. "You can't indefinitely sustain positive (same-store sales) if fewer people are coming into your stores." He also said people may balk at paying more for an item, which could keep customers from "trading up" to higher-priced items.
McDonald's is planning four large-scale national promotions. All the kids' movie events are Disney tie-ins, including Miramax's "Spy Kids," "Atlantis" and "Monsters"; the first major event will be a tie-in with ABC's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" game show in mid-April. While most of these promotions will feature core menu items, the New Tastes Menu will be featured with "Atlantis" and "Monsters."
"They are doing their full complement of promotions movie, TV, home video and theme park," said Brett Dicker, senior vice-president of worldwide promotion for Buena Vista Pictures Marketing. "McDonald's is doing the first big 'Millionaire' promotion, and their first promotion with Miramax for 'Spy Kids.' "
Larry Zwain, McDonald's senior vice-president for marketing, would not comment on the details of the calendar that haven't already been announced.
Crain News Service
Wayne Friedman contributed to this story.
©2001 by Crain Communications Inc.


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Rackable Systems has turned to patriotism and Al Goristics to sell its latest line of storage systems. Yes, disk has turned emotional. The server and storage maker this week started hawking a fresh set of RapidScale systems along with a new expansion box called the OmniStor SE3016. At the end of Rackable's statement revealing …
Slap two of these babies back-to-back, you get 32 drives in 3U or 416TB of storage space.
That would mean they are using 13 TB hard drives.


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Mumbai Today, on Friday, 8 May 2020, the inventory market opened up sharply. Today, the Sensex opened with a achieve of about 580.93 factors at 32024.31 factors. The Nifty opened with a achieve of 167.35 factors at 9366.40. Today, buying and selling began on a complete of 470 corporations in BSE, out of which about 364 shares opened up and 90 fell. At the identical time, share costs of 16 corporations opened with out lowering or growing.
Nifty's high gainer
Shares of Dr. Reddy Lab opened up by Rs 187 to Rs 4,025.00.
Hindalco's inventory opened almost Rs three to Rs 121.00 degree.
HUL shares rose almost Rs 60 to Rs 2,051.95.
Bajaj Finance shares rose by about Rs 53 to Rs 2,113.45.
IndusInd Bank shares opened up about Rs 14 to Rs 468.05.
Nifty high loser
Shares of Power Grid Corporation misplaced about Rs 1 to open at Rs 161.25.
Asian Paints shares fell almost Rs 7 to open at Rs 1,586.90.
Corona impact: China strikes these 5 strikes, India reversed


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[Abstract] Microsoft (XBOX game studio) has obtained the best game publisher of the year 2021 of the Metacritic website. Today, according to foreign media reports, Microsoft (Xbox Game Studio) has obtained the best game publisher of the year 2021 of the Metacritic website.
According to data from Station M, the average score of game media released by Microsoft in 2021 is more than 85 points. So far, there have been no publishers to achieve this result. Although Microsoft has less than previous years than in previous years, it is less than previous years. The game is consistent. In 2021, Microsoft achieved three games higher than 90 points, namely "Extreme Race: Horizon 5", "Brain Air Force 2" and the next -generation version of "Microsoft Flight Simulation". The success of these three games almost covered the edge of 87 points of "Halo: Infinite". Ranking TOP10: 1. Microsoft (Xbox Game Studio) 2. Sony 4. Activision Blizzard 5. Beltasda 6. Capcom 77 Wanmeng Palace 8. Shijia Ninato has no game last year and scored more than 90 points. The average score is only 76, and it has not yet entered the top 10.


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KitKat in-store displays featuring NHL official partner branding are currently on site in grocery and retail stores across Canada.In New Zealand, it’s Custom Jerseys Cyber Monday of the culture.Kirk Cousins $60 million $58 million $2 million NFL 10.Elina Sviolina tennis $6M 8.With the finale of ESPN’s documentary The Last Dance airing on Sunday night, Bucs quarterback Tom Brady shared a brief video clip of both him and Michael Jordan, himself, being interviewed after winning a golf tournament.20 with the Washington Wizards in last year’s poll to Top 15.
Los Angeles Rams NFL $3B 12.Kirk Cousins $60 million $58 million $2 million NFL 10.In the end, Sanders faced Peterson, and both won: EA Sports put Sanders on the cover for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wi releases, Peterson on the covers of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.Preliminary nominating waves of research were conducted among 4 respondents from Sept.
Tiger Woods $62 million $2 million $60 million Golf 9.View More The Colorado Avalanche Pee-Wee team began the day on Friday with a behind the scenes tour of the Quebec Parliament Building located in the heart of the city.One restriction: M&M’s said, To keep this an M&M’S fan-friendly experience, each tent has a carry-in limit of one 24 pack of beer.At Godiva, we like to say that we can turn a simple smile into a ‘Wow!’, and Caroline does the same around the world, Mohamed Elsarky, Godiva CEO, said n a statement.
Neymar $95 million $79 million $25 million Soccer 5.Philadelphia Eagles NFL $3B 24.Los Angeles Rams NFL $3B 12.New York Yankees MLB $5B 3.in 2021 to play in the MLB Little League Classic presented by Geico, according to MLB, the Major League Baseball Players Assn.Custom Jerseys Cyber Monday Sale has had a good level of success on the international stage, and stands an outside chance of reaching the medal stages this year, but the men in red are the only ones with World Cup gold in their history to live up to.
6 NBC �?Super Bowl LVII State Farm Stadium Glendale, AZ Feb.October 10: PA Parenteau was placed on waivers.It offers a free subscription to NBA League Pass via Verizon’s official alliance with the league, as well as other sports and live concerts.
New York Yankees MLB $5B 3.Boston Celtics NBA $3B 20.New York Jets NFL $3B 20.
As Diesel said in the first movie, Let’s go for a little ride.Cristiano Ronaldo $105 million $60 million $45 million Soccer 3.It was time to build around the rookie phenom.


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The iconic 1964 Aston Martin DB5, featured in hit Bond films Goldfinger and Thunderball starring Sean Connery, has been bought by an American car enthusiast for £2.6 million at auction.
Clearly delighted with his new purchase, proud new owner Harry Yeagy said: “We’re going to fire the car up and drive it round the streets of London tonight. We're going to have a bit of fun with it.”
The silver model boasts revolving license plates, a bullet-proof shield and an ejector seat.
Still a worthy competitor for modern-day vehicles, the car can also reach speeds of 145mph.
The previous owner – also from the US – paid $12,000 for car in 1969.
Photo: © Rex


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Town Hall: Helping Small Business Pivot to a New Normal
Leadership Johnson County will host a Town Hall "Helping Small Business Pivot to a New Normal" at noon on Friday, May 22.
The virtual Zoom session will feature panel members will be Adam Treibic, First Merchants Bank; Deana Haworth, Hirons; and Amy Richardson, Main and Madison Market Cafe. Please plan on joining us to hear their perspective on what small businesses need to do to successfully pivot to a new normal.
All attendees much register to join the conversation and have computer access to the Zoom software. The event is free.
May 22, 2020


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WELLINGTON, N.Z. — Confirmation made on Dec. 15 that the U.S. will start negotiating entry to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (T.P.P.) is a significant step toward trade liberalization within the Asia/Pacific region, according to Meat & Wool New Zealand and the Meat Industry Association. This formal notification to Congress follows President Obama’s recent announcement at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (A.P.E.C.) meeting in Singapore.
Congressional notification from the U.S. Trade Representative, Ron Kirk, of intent to negotiate T.P.P., signals the start of the process, said Mike Petersen, Meat & Wool New Zealand chairman.
"Meat & Wool New Zealand has contributed to this important outcome through its presence in the U.S. for over 50 years in Washington, focused on strengthening our trade opportunities," he added. "Where we are today justifies the hard work undertaken by Meat & Wool New Zealand, with farming and political leaders over many years."


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The Dubai Mall is a major component of Emaar’s Downtown Burj Dubai project that also includes the Burj Dubai. It is scheduled to open in 2008 and will include more than 1,000 retail stores, an ice rink, multiplex cienema, the world’s largest aquarium, and the world’s biggest gold souk. The developers claim that it will be the world’s largest shopping mall.
Atlantis is the majestic focal point of Palm Jumeirah, a man-made island that has captured the world’s imagination with its magnificent scale and ingenuity. From the moment of arrival, you’re immersed in a dazzling world of imagination, pleasure and luxury. The resort offers relaxation and thrills for couples and families alike, including a landmark hotel, unique marine habitats, an exhilarating water park, pristine white beaches, world-class cuisine, indulgent spa and cosmopolitan boutiques. To stay or visit is to live out your dreams amidst warm Arabian seas.
The new Emirates-occupied Terminal 3 at Dubai International airport has opened, with a phased launch starting with flights to the Americas and GCC destinations.
Emirates Terminal 3 will have a capacity for 43 million passengers once fully operational, but the initial launch involved flights to Doha, Muscat, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jeddah, Damman and Riyadh in the GCC, along with New York, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo and Toronto in the Americas.


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Aussie Home Loans executive chairman
Aussie has teamed up with Mastercard to offer the premium card, which will allow online shoppers and international travellers to avoid paying fees of about three per cent on purchases from overseas merchants.
The credit card carries an $99 annual fee.
Mike Ebstein, a credit card expert at MWE Consulting, said the offer was unusual, but not unprecedented, with Wizard Home Loans previously offering a similar card.
Aussie, which is one-third owned by Commonwealth Bank of Australia, bought Wizard in February 2009.
“It’s certainly valuable for people who do travel or shop online," Mr Ebstein said.
“If you don’t travel much, it’s probably better getting a card with no annual fee."
An online poll of 519 people conducted by Aussie showed 78 per cent of respondents did not know what they pay in international transaction fees.
Mr Symond, who made his name undercutting the big banks on home loan rates before the 2008 credit crisis, said: “We have the answer for those Australian travellers who are feel they are paying unnecessary fees and high interest rates".
“With so many people shopping on overseas sites, our Platinum MasterCard card cuts out what amounts to millions of dollars in international transaction fees for online shoppers, the majority of whom are taking advantage of our high Australian dollar and lower offshore prices."
The card offers up to 55 days’ interest free credit and a variable purchase interest rate of 13.29 per cent.
Most credit card providers charge fees for overseas purchases. Some banks offer travel cards that allow users to lock in foreign exchange rates before heading overseas. Mr Ebstein said travel cards gave FX certainty, but required users to pre-fund their forecast expenditure.
A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that online shopping expenditure by 9.5 million Australians reached $13.6 billion in 2011 and is expected to grow to $16 billion in 2012.
MasterCard Australia’s country manager, Andrew Cartwright said it’s great to see someone moving with the times when introducing new credit card products.
“We’re proud to be collaborating with Aussie on what is an exceptional new product for online shoppers and those who travel regularly. Adapting to changing payment behaviours is vital in the credit card space, and the Platinum MasterCard is evidence of this," he said.
The Australian Financial Review


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Published in Insights
By Narration Box team
Oct 30, 2022
Why are spotify and apple fighting...again.
Spotify and Apple recently got into a pickle. Spotify has enabled an all-out attack, by saying that Apple has forced it into a tough spot by purposefully delivering bad user experience and would do nothing to rectify that behaviour. Unless of course, the company decides to pay a handy commission (30%) to the app store on all sales made from Spotify. Apple in response claimed that Spotify is trying to skirt the legal guidelines of the App Store rules by directing customers to purchase audiobooks outside of the app, although the same initially was agreed upon. Let’s take a dive into this model and understand why Apple might be in the wrong for this.
Spotify has promised it’s users a super-easy and exciting interface, but the problem with providing the same for iOS users is Apple’s stance on the purchases made in the app. Apple wants all transactions to be made via its built-in iOS purchasing system, and not via a particular app’s or brand’s. This is also not the first time something like this has occurred as a similar situation with Epic Games, the makers of the incredibly popular game Fortnite that is no longer available on the App Store after being banned for allowing purchases that side-stepped Apple purchasing policies.
In short, Spotify doesn’t feel the need to pay the 30% commission on all sales to Apple, as it would inculcate making the audiobook business much less profitable, and forced to adopt a convoluted, difficult process for audiobook purchases. In fact, it’s tried three times to redesign the process, the company says, but Apple has rejected the app for breaking App Store guidelines.
We have compiled a list of 8 pointers listing out where Spotify believes the problems with Apple lie:
Not being able to make a sale without Apple’s in-house purchase technology.
Not being allowed to explain to consumers why they can’t purchase audiobooks directly from the app.
Not being allowed to provide consumers with the information of where they can get their audiobooks.
Not being allowed to share a link to send customers to a website to buy the audiobook.
Being unable to send people an email with purchase information outside of the App Store.
Being unable to communicate with their consumers about an audiobook via an email.
Being unable to let the customers the cost of the audiobook either in their app or in an email.
Not being allowed to direct people on how to navigate a non-Apple purchase process.
That’s a blockage too many, the most senseless and futile is perhaps, is not allowing Spotify to send an email via its own mail servers to its own customers, a process that doesn’t concern Apple at all. In a statement released by Spotify recently it stated, “Basically, Apple rules mandate a cumbersome Audiobooks purchasing process that makes it harder for you to find your next favourite author or book. Apple doesn’t just make the rules. They also arbitrarily change them to favour their own services and punish app developers who choose not to implement in-app purchases (IAP). And in this case that means audiobook listeners as well as authors and publishers bear the brunt, too.”
The reality of this situation is however sooner or later, competition authorities will most likely force Apple to open in-app purchases. In Europe, that’s via the new Digital Markets Act, which will likely require significant changes in both the App Store and Google Play, thereby allowing Spotify to continue with its model of providing audiobooks in an affordable and easy way.


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The first Toyota 4Runner was released in 1984. The 2019 model will mark 35 years of excellence. To commemorate the special occasion, the automaker released a limited edition dubbed the Toyota 4Runner Nightshade.
As you can probably infer from the name, the Nightshade edition includes black-coated components. This includes black interior trims, a black grille, a black bumper, and 20-inch black wheels. Even the exhaust tips are clad in black.
That’s not all; some of the add-ons for the limited edition are also performance oriented. For instance, you can order the Nightshade trim with the TRD package, which gets you JBL Premium Audio speakers, a roof rack, and a Fox Suspension system. The max towing capacity also increases to 5,000 pounds.
Now, let’s take a look at the SUV’s 35-year history. The model made its debut in 1984 as a modification to the Toyota Hilux pickup truck. The first-generation model was a two-door SUV that resembled a semi-convertible wagon.
The mid-1980s was also the time when the first SUVs were released. By its second-generation in 1989, the Toyota 4Runner was upgraded to a four-door vehicle and a rear-wheel-drive version was also made available.
The Toyota 4Runner is currently in its fifth generation, which was introduced in 2010. Today, the vehicle is marketed as a rugged and versatile SUV with an option for an off-roading TRD add-on. Toyota automakers also introduced the Toyota Highlander for consumers gravitating towards a roomier SUV that’s more oriented towards family hauling.


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Nearly 96% of the world’s population is mobile or about 7 billion. The awareness of the value of personal data is growing while solutions to manage usernames and passwords become more cumbersome and the use of biometric data to authenticate access will become more widely implemented.
GPShopper reports over 10% of client app usage on Black Friday occurred in-store. Furthermore, this in-store app usage actually converted mCommerce sales at double the rate of other users.
BitPay has integrated with Xsolla, a well-known billing platform that helps game developers monetize and improve conversion. Big gaming companies like Twitch and Nexon have already started accepting bitcoin as a reliable in-game payment method.
San Francisco-based Revel Systems has secured a $1.2 million grant from Invest Northern Ireland to open a UK sales and operations center in Belfast. The Revel platform includes complete front-end order entry, POS system and payment processing, back-end personnel scheduling, time clock and payroll, inventory management, comprehensive product/menu management and advanced reporting to successfully measure and optimize business performance.
Launched in July by SAP’s Ariba and Discover Financial Services, AribaPay has hit the stratosphere. More than $1 billion in payments have been made to nearly 1,300 suppliers using the innovative cloud-based service as companies seek to improve the speed and accuracy of B2B payments.
The latest guesstimate for the U.S. migration to Chip & PIN (EMV) is $9.5 billion and it will take until 2018 to reach a penetration of 80%. This reflects the cost of replacing over one billion insecure magnetic-stripe payment cards, 1.2 million point of sale (POS) card readers and 7 million card reading terminals with the global EMV standard Chip & PIN technology.
Bankrate is acquiring Wallaby Financial. Wallaby’s proprietary CardBase database includes more than 2,400 credit cards offered by over 500 financial institutions and is the ideal companion for every digital wallet solution.
Citi Ventures has formed a partnership with Plug and Play Tech Center to expand Citi’s accelerator efforts in the U.S., Germany, Singapore, Brazil and Spain. This program will utilize Citi’s global lab network while building on its first FinTech accelerator, launched in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2013.
Big data specialist Apixio has named Maya Capur as its Vice President of Customer Operations. Capur will join the company’s executive team and lead the development and expansion of Apixio’s customer success and operations activities.
Compass PlusCompass Plus announced that its open development payment platform, TranzAxis, has now been fully certified to support Futurex’s Excrypt SSP9000 hardware security modules (HSMs). This new partnership with Futurex, a provider of secure, robust, and cost-effective data encryption security solutions, has extended the list of HSMs now supported by the TranzAxis payment platform. Compass Plus’ distributor in the Latin American and Caribbean region, during the migration of Global Processing Centre in Antigua (GPC) to TranzAxis. The certification has enabled customers, including GPC, to utilise Futurex HSMs for EMV data preparation and the card issuance process, as well as the secure authorisation and communication of sensitive data for Visa, MasterCard and UnionPay EMV cards.
CardWeb.com’s CardExecs database today features Kenneth Chenault, Chief Executive Officer of American Express.
Fortumo mpayments signed partnerships with global smartphone manufacturers Oppo Electronics and Gionee. Fortumo’s direct carrier billing solution will be implemented for payments in the manufacturers’ app stores and Fortumo’s app catalogue becomes available for device preloads.


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GREENVALE, NY -- Apple Industries will host an open house on March 6 to showcase its new Face Place Wedding Photo Booth. The fête will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the company's Long Island headquarters in Greenvale, NY.
"We've gotten a tremendous response from event planners who have already seen the Face Place Wedding Booth," said Warren Friss, president of Apple. "Photobooths have become an absolute craze at weddings. Now event planners can offer their customers something that is elegant, includes the latest technology and is designed just for weddings."
Friss explained that the Face Place Wedding booth has custom white and silver upholstered trim and runs Face Place's new Smile 2.0 software. This connects the photobooth directly to social networks, so photos can be immediately uploaded to the wedding couple's Facebook page, and shared by email or Twitter.
Users also can obtain photo strips or standard 4x6" prints. Interest-free financing will be available to qualified customers.
Information on the March 6 Wedding Booth open house may be had from Teresa Mamo by calling her at (516) 619-8000, ext. 22.
photo | MEMORIES: New Face Place Wedding Booth from Apple Industries features white-and-silver trim and upholstery to complement wedding receptions. The photobooth's Smile 2.0 software allows partygoers to share their pictures on social networks, as well as take home classic photo strips (left) or standard 4x6-in. prints. Wheels facilitate installation.


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While Canadian convenience retailer Couche-Tard and others are keen to poke holes in EG's funding capability, the petrol station owner appears to be doing everything it can to get the capital to be in with a serious chance of taking Caltex out.
Street Talk can reveal Jefferies Australia has been joined by Wall Street giants Bank of America and Citigroup on the advisory ticket.
It's no secret Citi and Bank of America have two of the biggest balance sheets in investment banking, and are keen lenders to Australian corporates to fund acquisitions.
And it was Citi which advised and funded EG Group when it secured a foothold in the Australian market last year, by buying Woolworths' chunky $1.73 billion petrol station portfolio.
Founded in 2001 by brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa, Blackburn-based EG said then that it wanted to use the Woolworths Petrol purchase to establish a solid base to further expand in the region.
Of course, even if EG does get a credible bid submitted, you'd have to think there might be stiff opposition from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Two years ago, the ACCC blocked BP acquiring a network of retail service station sites owned by Woolworths. Instead, EG acquired the Woolworths service station sites.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims is unlikely to discard the concerns he had in December 2017 about loss of competition from concentration of ownership of fuel distribution. BP has a 20 per cent market share in wholesale petrol distribution, while Caltex has a wholesale market share of 34 per cent.
Since completing the Woolies deal last April, EG Group, which is backed by buyout firm TDR Capital, has been acquiring assets in the US, most recently the Cumberland Farms network in the north-east and Florida.
It comes as Julian Segal-led Caltex and Couche-Tard's senior management team, headed by chief executive Brian Hannasch and chief financial officer Claude Tessier, prepare for a management presentation on Thursday in relation to Couche-Tard's $8.6 billion takeover offer, as foreshadowed by this column.
EG's Australian business is run by Mike McMenamin, a former long-term Caltex executive who later headed up the sale process for the fuels business at Woolworths.
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The alliance between Credit Suisse Australia and Kiwi-broker-turned-rival Jarden is no more.
Will third time prove the charm in ARA Asset Management's quest to get businessman Gary Weiss onto Cromwell Property Group's board?
Local listed online learning company 3P Learning is set to be acquired by global rival IXL Learning.
Chevron has kicked off the sale of its one-sixth stake in Australia's largest producing oil and gas project, the North West Shelf, with an eight-point pitch to potential buyers.
Strong demand for new ASX-listed healthtech companies has drawn a fast growing UK-based telehealth business to gear up for an Australian sharemarket float.


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Albeit the Huawei P40 Pro series isn’t too close to its unveiling – which is expected to happen in March – leaks and rumors about the upcoming devices keep popping up in the last weeks. Today’s leak is about the panels we’ll find on the smartphone but also on the next second gen Huawei Mate X.
Huawei P40 Pro Will Use Panels from Samsung & LG, 2nd Gen Mate X to Use Samsung’s
According to Huawei leaker @RODENT950, the P40 Pro will get its “quad curved display” from Samsung and LG. With BOE getting kicked out of the game. Now, we aren’t sure why Huawei would decide to prefer South Korean imported panels as opposed to China-made displays from BOE, but it might have to do with the issue the company had with some screens on their Mate 20 series.
Additionally, as we can see in the image above, the second gen Huawei Mate X is apparently getting a Samsung panel as well.
Gizchina News of the week
Going back to the more mainstream Huawei P40 Pro, the leak also suggests the smartphone will get a display with four curved sides; a design we’ve seen in previous renders. This probably means that the final look is somewhat confirmed at this point.
Along with the four curved sizes we’ll be also getting a punch-hole camera at the front. This is indeed the industry trend for 2020 and Huawei isn’t getting away from it.
Other specs on the P40 should include a Huawei Kirin 990 5G CPU; a chipset that uses the most advanced 7nm + EUV process and integrates 5G modem into the SoC for the first time. It is also the world’s first mobile chip with more than 10.3 billion transistors. We should then find a periscope lens to support 5X optical zoom or more and a total of five rear cameras.
Once again, according to Huawei Consumer Business’ CEO – Yu Chengdong – the P40 series will be released in March. So you should take these leaks with a large grain of salt.
The mate 20 pro screen problems are actually LG displays, all BOE displays dont have issues


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Sit down, buckle your seatbelt, take the key out of the ignition, close your eyes—and breathe.
Now, imagine your car as a sanctuary. Can you shed the noise and stresses associated with driving? Can you imagine feeling better, more rejuvenated, calmer, even at peace with the world—while sitting in your vehicle?
What may sound like a far-fetched fantasy instead encapsulates the pursuit of many car companies today. Beyond comfort and safety, manufacturers are racing to find ways to improve the overall physical and mental health of drivers and passengers.
It’s a category the industry has coined “health, wellness, and well-being,” or HWW, and it’s become an exciting space for innovation. Kia and Hyundai have AI-powered concept cars that respond to driver’s emotional state; Audi teamed with Italian fitness manufacturer Technogym to design a “wellness mode” which transforms its car cabin into a mobile fitness studio; Mercedes Benz has a futurologist who creates feel good scents; and the programs running BMW’s latest models feature a self-care concierge. Lincoln is even positioning its vehicles as a place to do a seated meditation, with the help of a free app subscription.
The link between car design and health has become even more relevant in light of the mass awareness about airborne viruses. Last March, just when the menace of the novel coronavirus became clear, Jaguar Land Rover previewed research using UV light technology in car interiors to arrest the spread of colds and flu.
Sarwant Singh, managing partner at the market research firm Frost & Sullivan, says that Covid-19 is fueling a clamor for health-enhancing car environments. In Forbes, he explains how Tesla’s souped-up air filtration system, which was met with some mockery when it was introduced in 2015, has suddenly become practical during the pandemic. “Tesla’s Model X vehicles that were famously advertised as being so powerful that in ‘Bioweapon Defense Mode’ they could help vehicle occupants survive a military grade bio attack through the simple expedient of sitting in their Tesla X,” Singh writes.
“Hyperbole or not, it’s something that resonates in these times of Covid-19, particularly since the filters are touted to be 100 times more powerful than top-end automotive filters and remove at least 99.97% of fine particulate matter and gaseous pollutants, as well as bacteria, viruses, pollen, and mold spores’.”
Tesla owners in California also testified to how useful the feature was during the spate of raging wildfires last year. Singh predicts that health and wellness will become standard themes across the industry by 2025.
No car company has been more zealous about driving home the health and wellness message than Lincoln Motor Company. Historically known for touting horsepower and heft, the Ford-owned brand has taken a decidedly softer tone in recent years. Commercials for its entry level SUV, for instance, highlight Herman Miller-designed ergonomic seats, an immersive entertainment system, and interiors designed to eliminate visual clutter.
The car’s mechanical bings, clicks, and ticks have been replaced by pleasant chimes composed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Lincoln’s celebrity spokesperson strategy shifted from the macho energy of Dennis Hopper to the chilled out vibes of Matthew McConaughey.
Kemal Curic, Lincoln’s design director, says that these features are expressions of “quiet flight,” a principle the company adopted in 2014 as a counterpoint to the aggressive, performance-driven themes that have defined the automotive industry for decades. “We’re challenging the entire company to think in terms of four guiding pillars—beauty, ‘gliding,’ human, and crafted sanctuary,” he explains. The aspiration, Curic says, is to create an ultra relaxing, spa-like environment.
Lincoln’s position within the wellness space goes beyond the bounds of its vehicles. Apart from built-in features, Lincoln sponsors yoga classes, book events, and even convened a coronavirus-themed mindfulness workshop moderated by Goop’s chief content officer. And starting last August, every Lincoln customer can avail themselves of a year’s free subscription to the meditation and sleep app Calm.
For Lincoln, the partnership with Calm is more than a nice-to-have customer perk. It’s central to its efforts to position itself as the wellness-oriented luxury car brand. The companies even share a celebrity endorser in McConaughey.”We saw that a lot of our clients and our target customers are making mindfulness part of their routines,” explains Eric Peterson, marketing communications manager at Lincoln. “Offering Calm is less of an incentive than [an alignment] with their lifestyle.”
Practicing mindfulness behind the wheel is particularly appealing for busy professionals. Multitaskers have attested to the advantages of taking a few minutes to center themselves before starting the engine, while on the road, or for electric vehicle owners, while their car is charging. “The daily commute is a great opportunity to train the mind. And mindfulness, in essence, is just mind training,” explains Maria Gonzalez, author of Mindful Leadership, in the Harvard Business Review.
“You can develop focus and create calm and relaxation, arriving at the office refreshed and ready for the day, and at the end of the day, arriving at home ready to enjoy the evening. Since we commute twice a day, it’s a powerful opportunity to form new habits.” Gonzales contends that mindfulness can be done safely while driving because it trains us to be more present. Calm and competitor Headspace have mindfulness modules, breathing exercises and even a podcast for commuters.
Even for those who aren’t meditating, there’s research indicating that car owners are using their parked vehicles to collect themselves. The 2018 IKEA Life At Home report found that 45% of American respondents to its survey said they sit in their cars to get a break from the domestic chaos in their homes. Psychologists say that the car is a conducive environment for a good, cathartic ugly-cry, as the Washington Post explains.
The burgeoning wellness-on-the-move movement is also changing the people who design cars. Designer Kimberly Marte teaches at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, and has worked at Tesla, Nissan, and Acura. Her impression is that the industry is thinking more broadly about the driving experience. “As as a whole, we’re more thoughtful,” she says. “There’s a big discussion about how to make a cleaner space for your five senses and create that spa-like experience.” Design studios are scrutinizing the toxicity of standard materials like paints, glues, plastic parts, and leathers, and some companies are even looking to hire Hollywood-caliber sound engineers to fine-tune all the sounds a vehicle emits.
Instead of cockpits, car cabins are being reconceived of as home interiors, and it could mean a shift in the male-dominated automotive design industry. Starting with General Motors’ “Damsels of Design,” in the late 1950s, auto makers began recruiting female designers after realizing that women had a great influence in car-buying decisions. With some notable exceptions, female designers have been traditionally relegated to working on interiors and finishes, which was considered less prestigious than defining the car’s exterior. The emphasis on enhancing car interiors could mean a reversal or at least a leveling of this hierarchy.
Marte, who teaches a course in color and materials, has also observed a change in attitude in her students. “This genderless mentality is so much a part of the character of the younger generation. They don’t necessarily fight for male or female but for what’s right for the design,” she explains. “I have several guys in my graduating class who want to focus on CMF [Color Material Finish]. That never would have happened 10 years ago.”
Marte explains that an emphasis on car interiors is also a preview for the future of self-driving vehicles. It’s something we’re already seeing a bit of today, as about 7% of cars in the US already have some technology that can take over tasks like steering or monitoring speed limits, according to a 2019 survey. “When your car can monitor the stop-and-go traffic, you can take the time to reflect on your day and use your car as serenity space,” she explains. “And when we don’t have to control our vehicles, we’ll have a kind of second living room.”


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"Suicide Squad" B-Roll Footage Reveals Harley Quinn's Classic Jester Costume
Film, Comic Books
Crime | OneBookShelf, which operates the digital-comics website DriveThruComics and several other retail sites, has suffered a data breach. “A hacker found a crack in our defenses and got in,” the company said in a Q&A on its websites. Hackers stole credit card information from transactions processed between July 10 and Aug. 6, and used the OneBookShelf’s servers to launch DDOS attack on other sites. It’s not clear which numbers were exposed, but the company recommends customers who made transactions, or had credit card information stored on the site during that time, get new cards. [ICv2]
Following in the footsteps of the likes of Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin’s Panel Syndicate, Image Comics and, just last month, comiXology, Valiant Entertainment will allow readers to download its comics as DRM-free digital files.
Through a new agreement with DriveThruComics, Valiant’s monthly titles are now available as PDFs on the same day of their print release. The online retailer will soon host the publisher’s entire catalog of single issues and collections.
“Valiant has some of the most exciting and entertaining comics on the market today,” Matt M. McElroy, DriveThruComics’ director of publishing, said in a statement. “Several members of the DriveThruComics crew were already huge fans of the Valiant characters and creators, so we couldn’t be more thrilled to have these books available on our site.”
In celebration of the new partnership, the first issues of Valiant’s ongoing series are available for free download from Drive Thru Comics for the next 30 days. They include:
As the shape of the digital comics world emerges from the haze of uncertainty, readers are saying one thing loud and clear: “I want to own my digital comics.” And most publishers are sidestepping the whole issue by saying “We will gladly sell you a license to read our digital comics” and going no further.
So when Viz Media reps unveiled their SuBLime line of Boys Love (yaoi) manga at Yaoi-Con on Saturday, they made manga history: They will be publishing some titles digitally in a download-to-own format, according to manga blogger Deb Aoki, who was tweeting from the panel. The licenses will be worldwide, not restricted to the U.S. and Canada like Viz’s other digital releases. What’s more, the downloads will be PDFs, which can be read on a Kindle, Nook or iOS device as well as pretty much any computer.
That’s right: DRM-free downloadable comics, available worldwide. And the cover price on these e-books is a very reasonable $5.99.
The digital comics scene is still evolving, with lots of complications; over at Comics Alliance, David Brothers samples all five of the different ways you can buy Marvel comics digitally, none of which is fully compatible with the other, and none of which is fully satisfactory.
The one thing that all the modes of buying Marvel comics have in common is that they are basically rentals; the Marvel DCU service is available only as long as you keep up your subscription, and even the comiXology and Chrome comics could disappear if the provider disappears. There’s another way of selling digital comics that none of the big publishers will touch: Downloadable, non-copy-protected PDFs (or CBZs or CBRs, which are like PDFs in that they are portable). I just sampled two different sites that sell comics this way, a single-artist site and a digital storefront, and despite a few hiccups in the latter, the experiences were remarkably similar.
The first was the Agreeable Comics store, which is a very simple storefront that sells just one thing: comics by Kevin Church and his collaborators. Buying a comic there was amazingly easy—I didn’t have to set up an account or remember one more password. I chose a comic (I went with the ironic choice, a short horror comic called Copy Protection), clicked the link, and was taken to a PayPal page, where I entered my password and authorized the sale. I was immediately sent two e-mails, one with a receipt, the other with a link to download the comic. That was it. No profile to create, no username, no social networking. I just went to a web store and bought a comic.


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I’ve written before about the question of when to buy a new car as opposed to making your old one last. Two related points came to my attention this morning. One is right here in the C-VILLE Weekly (print version only), in the current cartoon by wicked-funny Slowpoke artist Jen Sorensen. This week Jen takes on the question of what automakers should do with all those new cars they aren’t selling right now. Pick up the paper if you want to find out her ideas; I’ll just say that she definitely gets to the question of waste that’s implied by all that unneeded inventory.
The other was in this Grist report on a bill that just passed the U.S. Senate and is likely to be signed by President Obama. It’s called "cash for clunkers" and would give folks vouchers for trading in their inefficient cars for newer ones that get…well, only a tiny bit better mileage. Example: You drive a 1985 Dodge pickup that’s pulling 12 miles to the gallon. Trade it in for a 2009 Range Rover that boasts an impressive 14 miles to the gallon, and the government will give you $3,500! Choose something that gets 17 mpg, and your voucher expands to $4,500.
This is some whack legislation. Clearly it’s meant as a straight-up boost to the auto industry, but is being dressed up as a quasi-environmental measure. If and when Obama signs up, he’ll slip a little in my estimation. Yeah, Detroit is very important to our economy, but it’s also an industry that has egregiously dragged its feet on addressing the pollution its products cause. And subsidizing drivers who opt for vehicles like this—while in effect patting them on the back for their eco-friendliness—really, shall we say, grinds my gears.
You feel me, folks?


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Americans not only have a ton of credit card debt, but also are embarrassed by their plight. This combination can cause big problems for budgets and bottom lines.
There is perhaps no debt more reviled than a revolving credit card balance, and with good reason. Average interest rates are dramatically high, making it expensive to service credit card debt. While a mortgage comes with tax benefits and the hope of increased property value, and people need a car loan to get to work and run errands, maintaining a credit card balance is seen as a failing of personal responsibility. Maybe if you didn’t buy that big screen television set, you wouldn’t be in this mess.
If you carry a balance, this moralistic narrative doesn’t really help you understand what’s driving your debt load, and it won’t help you find your financial footing. Here’s what you need to know about credit card debt and what you can do about your bill.
Who has the most debt?
If you have credit card debt, you really don’t want other people to know about it, according to a survey from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Respondents were more willing to reveal their weight or bank balance than share how much they owe or their credit score. Maybe that’s because debt makes you less appealing as a possible dating partner?
While debt may be distasteful, it isn’t uncommon. The Federal Reserve, for instance, recently announced that consumers hit a new record level of credit card debt, surpassing the highs seen during the worst of the financial crisis. An online poll by American Consumer Credit Counseling found that nearly half of respondents had a household debt over $10,000.
And among those in debt, the more you earn, the higher your credit card balance. The most recent Survey of Consumer Finances by the Fed found that the top percentile of earners carry $12,500 in debt, or nearly three times as much as middle-income workers.
Lack of savings
Credit card debt goes hand-in-hand with a lack of financial security. About half of those who earned $75,000 or more could not easily pay for an unexpected car repair costing $500, or a $1,000 trip to the emergency room, a Bankrate survey found. Nearly three-quarters of Americans have a hard time saving anything because of unplanned expenses, according to the Pew Charitable Trust.
Most people are simply worried about getting from one day to the next while keeping a roof over their head. As a result, credit cards provide a necessary safety valve to those who need to get their car back up and running, or didn’t plan for an appendectomy.
What to do
The first step is to improve your savings through automation.
The Pew study found that people who created a budget were not particularly adept at beefing up their savings. Instead, you might want to consider dedicating a certain percentage of your direct deposit to a high-yielding savings account with the goal of reaching three to six months’ worth of expenses. This cushion should lessen the need to take out more credit card debt.
When it comes to dealing with the debt you’ve already racked up, it pays to start small. Research shows that the “snowball method” of paying off your lowest balance first, and building moment from there, helps cancel out your debt quicker than going after the card with the highest APR.
Lay out your various debts on a spreadsheet and set up an auto payment until you work the debt down to zero. Then go after the next smallest fish.
You might also consider a balance transfer credit card to more easily pay off your debt. Cards offer a 0% interest period after you move your balance from one card to the next, with some products giving you as many as 21 months of no interest. Divide your balance by the number of zero percent interest months on the card to pay off your card before the interest kicks back in.
Also give yourself a break. Credit card debt is an issue to be resolved, rather than a moral failing.


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High Liner Foods Inc (TSE:HLF) – Equities research analysts at Cormark lowered their FY2019 EPS estimates for High Liner Foods in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, August 15th. Cormark analyst K. Mcphee now forecasts that the company will post earnings per share of $1.11 for the year, down from their previous forecast of $1.14.
Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of High Liner Foods from C$10.50 to C$10.75 in a research report on Thursday, May 10th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of High Liner Foods from C$12.00 to C$8.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of High Liner Foods from C$13.00 to C$10.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 10th.
In other High Liner Foods news, Director Schaayk Frank Bernard Har Van purchased 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of C$10.80 per share, with a total value of C$43,200.00. Also, Director Robert P. Dexter purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of C$10.59 per share, with a total value of C$105,900.00. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 17,600 shares of company stock valued at $173,220.
About High Liner Foods
High Liner Foods Incorporated engages in the processing and marketing of prepared and packaged frozen seafood products in the United States and Canada. The company provides a range of frozen seafood products, such as raw fillets and shellfishes; cooked shellfishes; and value-added products comprising sauced, glazed, breaded, and battered seafood products, as well as seafood entrées.
Read More: Stock Symbols and CUSIP Explained
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After weeks of rumors, The New York Times announced Wednesday that more than 100 newsroom jobs will be slashed, as “well as a smaller number of positions from its editorial and business operations[.]” If enough people don’t accept buyouts, the ax will fall. According to the Huffington Post, this adds up to a huge 7.5% cut of the overall Times‘ staff.
What has to be especially troubling for the Times is that its new much-hyped digital platforms have failed. According to the paper’s editor Dean Baquet, the NYT Now and NYT Opinion apps are “not achieving the business success we expected.”
NYT Opinion will be killed off.
These digital platforms were the last hope for a New York Times that has seen its physical subscription rates and advertising revenues plummet in recent years.
The note also said financial results from the company’s third quarter, which ended Sunday, had improved from a difficult second quarter. Digital advertising is likely to show growth of about 16 percent in the third quarter, the best quarterly performance since 2010, and digital subscriptions are expected to increase by more than 40,000, the largest number of quarterly additions since 2012.
But the company’s profitability was lower than during the same period last year as costs increased.
As of yet there’s been no word from the Times‘ leftwing stars — Maureen Dowd, Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman, etc — about any kind of offer to save these jobs through a personal pay cut.
I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.
John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC


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India is home to one of the largest developer communities in the world, and has been attracting the attention of several global players for years.
Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Facebook, along with HasGeek, Helpshift, and Thoughtworks have long been actively contributing to foster the developer community in India, holding various events and going to college campuses to find and coach talent.
One major player, however, was missing from the list for the longest time, and it was the company that thousands of developers in India were anxiously hoping to talk to, and get feedback from: Apple.
With just under half-a-million registered Apple developers in the country, India is among the most active markets when it comes to making apps for Apple's platforms, but the iPhone-maker took its time before getting involved with the local ecosystem in a meaningful way.
Things started to change earlier this year, when Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, flew to India to officially kickstart Apple's App Accelerator - a first-of-its-kind initiative, in namma Bengaluru.
More than three months later, the company's efforts are starting to shape up. Gadgets 360 spoke to many developers who have signed up for the App Accelerator, and they are pleased with how things are going so far. Registration to the App Accelerator - which is capable of hosting 500 developers per week - as well as attending the sessions, is free and open to everyone.
"The experience at the App Accelerator has been really good; Apple really wants Indian developers to be part of the global players," Alvin Varghese, founder of Swift India Developer Community, an unaffiliated group that focuses on building a vibrant community of Apple's Swift developers, told Gadgets 360. "We are glad that Apple is doing this."
At the App Accelerator sessions, which range between two to four hours, "evangelists" from the company are getting developers up to speed with the newest technologies, and guiding them to improve their apps and make the best out of the available resources. Developers told Gadgets 360 they get to understand what new technologies Apple specifically recommends they target, with SiriKit being one such example.
That's a big and helpful change, developers say, because Indian companies often take long time in leveraging new features Apple introduces. Only a small number of companies have shipped any iMessages extensions, for instance, even though the company announced support for extensions in Messages last year.
"We generally take around two years on an average to integrate company's new frameworks," Prasad, a Bangalore-based developer tells Gadgets 360. "We typically wait to let people first get the latest iOS update, and only then we start working on implementing new frameworks," he added.
These pitches are in line with Apple's vision for the developers in the country. Speaking to Gadgets 360 at the launch of the accelerator earlier this year, Schiller said that the company wants to guide Indian developers about the latest technologies on Apple's platforms.
"Here we give a greater opportunity for the developers in the market to learn about these innovations quicker, play with them, experiment with them, understand how they can best use them in their apps, I think that can help them to make more innovative apps, quicker than if we weren't here," Schiller had said.
The most crucial advice that developers have walked out of the campus with, they tell Gadgets 360, has been to reconsider their target audience. The evangelists have told them to make apps that serve to the needs of the local market, instead of focusing their energies in chasing the Western audience.
"What will work in the US or elsewhere may not work here. Don’t copy any app. Try to think of your own use case and your users' needs. Study other apps but be original," Mayur, a Delhi-based developer recounted Apple's message.
To recall Schiller’s remarks from earlier, he said Apple wanted this accelerator to “help the local market create apps for customers in India that better meet the needs of our growing customer base here.”
Even as there are feedback sessions and opportunities to have one-on-one interaction with experts at the App Accelerator, the overall environment is very disciplined, five developers told Gadgets 360.
That's not to say that they don't make jokes. There is a running joke among many evangelists that developers should only focus on Apple's platforms (and avoid Android, and other rival platforms). Though some developers said that the message is more than a joke, "Apple would really like if you stick to its ecosystem," a developer said.
As Apple pushes to find its next big market in India, the company would need the help of these developers. Apps that cater to the local market, leverage new technologies, and are built with right coding practices could create the best user experience for Indians.
To further incentivise the developers, Apple tells them that it wishes to see an Indian developer win at Apple Design Awards (ADA), the annual WWDC fixture that recognises the best and most innovative iOS and Mac apps. So far, these awards have been mostly won by developers in the US and Europe.
"They are looking to mentor Indian devolopers so that even we make great apps for India," Paul, a Bangalore-based developer who has enrolled at the App Accelerator told Gadgets 360.
For details of the latest launches and news from Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo and other companies at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, visit our MWC 2024 hub.


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The channel, which is broadcasting free-to-air on the Nilesat and Arabsat platforms, is targeting Arab women and their families across the GCC and Levant.
The all-Arabic channel, which is backed by a US$2 million marketing spend, has been on air since a soft launch last month but its official launch is this week.
Al Aan TV is owned by a new Dubai-based holding group called Tower Media, which plans to launch further channels in the region.
Zoya Saker, head of corporate communications for Al Aan TV, said the channel would offer Arab viewers a new genre of "infotainment".
"This is a new genre for the Middle East called infotainment, which is a mix of information and entertainment," she said.
"We want to be a valuable guest in every home. We want to get through to the women of the family."
The channel will broadcast 15 minutes of news every hour, along with programmes about subjects such as cooking and real life . All programmes will be produced exclusively for Al Aan from a studio in Lebanon.
The channel's revenues will be generated through advertising, which is being sold by an in-house team of five. Saker said: "We will carve a niche for ourselves. I see the channel achieving a huge advertising spend and excellent recall."
The US$2 million pan-Arab marketing campaign is already underway. The campaign includes outdoor, print, radio, online and direct marketing.


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For April-June 2022, the company’s sales rose 17% to $480 million. And net income increased immediately by 26% to $90.5 million.
Lineage W is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), which the company launched in November last year. During the first quarter of this year, the game brought in a record $170.5 million for the studio.
Lineage W generated 1.2 million DAU of traffic. Given the product’s continued box office popularity, the company is considering selling the game in the West, such as North America and Europe.Hong Won-Jung, NCSOFT CFO
NCSOFT stock rose 10.29% after the report was released, outperforming a 2.12% gain in South Korea’s main Kospi index.
In addition to launching Lineage W in the West, the company plans other popular games – Blade & Soul 2, a mobile fantasy martial arts MMORPG, in Asia in the second half of this year, and Blade & Soul, an online MMORPG, in the second quarter of next year.
The studio will also release seven new games by the end of 2023, including Throne and Liberty, an MMORPG for PC and consoles that will launch in the second half of this year.
Throne and Liberty will be released simultaneously for PC and console platforms, and the company will also prepare versions for Windows, Mac, PlayStation, Xbox and Steam. With Throne and Liberty, the studio will showcase strategies that differ from those used today.Hong Won-Jung, NCSOFT CFO


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Comicbooks are starting to do double duty in Hollywood.
It seems as if every day, a new deal is announced to turn a graphic novel into a high-profile feature like “300,” “Watchmen” or “Wanted.”
Development executives love the books, since they give a visual sense of what a film and its characters may end up looking like on the bigscreen.
But filmmakers are now hoping the launch of new comics will help promote properties moviegoers may not necessarily be familiar with before films bow at the megaplex.
Paradox Entertainment, the company that’s developing a reboot of the “Conan the Barbarian” film franchise, inked a deal last week with Dark Horse Comics that will launch books for characters, created by pulp writer Robert E. Howard, that the shingle wants to turn into film franchises.
While Conan may be familiar among the masses, Dark Agnes, El Borak, Cormac Mac Art and James Allison are more obscure characters.
Earlier this year, Paradox and Dark Horse began publishing a series of Solomon Kane books to promote the shingle’s upcoming actioner, based on the character played by James Purefoy.
“Although it’s a legacy character, a new generation had never heard of him,” says Paradox president and CEO Fredrik Malmberg, who hopes the books help introduce the 16th-century swordsman to audiences, while turning into a viable publishing biz for the shingle.
Comicbooks like “Solomon Kane” often serve as prequels and establish characters, flesh out backstories and the overall world or storyline that will drive the pic’s plot. The goal is to interest a new generation of fans who will recommend the film to others through a flurry of Internet chatter.
This summer, comicbook prequels were published to hype Paramount’s reboot of “Star Trek” and Warner and Sony’s “Terminator Salvation.” A new series of books was handed out at last week’s Comic-Con to tubthump Par’s “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.”
In fact, the interest in comicbooks has grown so much in Hollywood that publishing one to help drive a pic has become a standard piece of a film’s marketing campaign — especially for major tentpoles.
“Studios have come to the realization that having a presence out there and the ability to build interest is valuable to a film,” says Dark Horse prexy Mike Richardson. “We reach the same demographic the studios are trying to reach,” namely 16- 30-year-old males.
Because of that demo, Malmberg sees comicbooks as “one component of a character or franchise launch.”
But it’s a strategy that needs to follow a set of rules in order to strike a chord.
“You have to do the book for the love of the game and not as a crass marketing play,” says one studio marketing maven.
While that’s easier said than done, it’s why Paradox turned to Dark Horse — the company is producing films (its recent credits include the “Hellboy” films and “30 Days of Night”), but publishing comicbooks is Dark Horse’s core business.
“We tap into their editorial knowledge, so we’re not just Hollywood types wishing for comicbook sales,” Malmberg says. “You can’t fool the readers. If it’s not a comicbook, they don’t want to read; they’re not going to buy it. And if they don’t buy it, they don’t help your movie.”
Dark Horse prefers publishing prequels that end right where the movie begins.
“We’re happy to do the straight adaptations, but those are less fulfilling,” Richardson says. “You’re just retelling the story you’ll see in the theater.”
It’s too early to tell whether comicbooks can serve as an effective marketing tool.
In the overall comicbook market, DC and Marvel overwhelmingly dominate the charts each month with their lineup of superheroes, creating little room for movie-based books to break through. And like other media, the comics biz is struggling, with a 10% decline in sales this year.
Yet TV networks have launched successful books to promote “Fringe” and “CSI,” and keep older ones like “Angel” alive with fans. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” moves around 100,000 copies per run for Dark Horse. Even videogame companies have launched books for “World of Warcraft,” “Mirror’s Edge” and, soon, “Mass Effect” among others, to promote titles.
For a book to be considered successful, it needs to move 20,000 units per issue. Generally, trade paperback collections wind up breaking even or generating profits sincethey have a longer shelf life, carry higher pricetags and are sold at large bookstores.Books for “Star Trek,” “Star Wars” or “Transformers” have been successful “because the fanbase is so rabid,” says one senior comicbook agent. “The material sells no matter what.”
A prequel setting up the first “Transformers” pic in 2007 was expected to sell a strong 50,000 copies overall, but wound up moving more than 1 million books for IDW Publishing. Another prequel book for this summer’s sequel has also sold well.
Sales like that are usually unreachable for more unknown titles. Most wind up losing money.
Summit Entertainment sold only around 20,000 copies for a six-issue series, published by DC Comics’ Wildstorm division, to promote its sci-fi actioner “Push.” The run ended in February.
Paradox has done better with “Solomon Kane,” so far. Its first five books have sold more than 57,000 copies.
“Comicbooks do a better job at helping set up a movie or TV show at a studio,” says an agent who reps comicbook publishers and clients looking to adapt them or launch their own. “That’s where you’re going to make the most money. More obscure properties aren’t going to sell enough to warrant attention.”
Yet even if the books aren’t successful, studios aren’t risking too much by publishing them, at far less than $1 million for a run.”We view comicbook publishing as a viable business that stands on its own,” Malmberg says. “It’s a profitable and growing business for us. You have to see the comicbook as one piece of a much broader launch so that the film becomes the big tentpole and all the other things can support it. This is a town of hype, so any buzz for a project is positive.”