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India emerges as China’s tech challenger with record unicorn run
India is rapidly closing the gap with China in minting new unicorns — privately held startups valued at $1 billion or more — highlighting growing investor appetite for tech startups in the country as the pandemic accelerates adoption of digital services.
Over the past year, 15 companies from India raised capital at a valuation of $1 billion or more for the first time, according to CB Insights and company announcements gathered by Nikkei Asia. Ten of them became unicorns in 2021. By comparison, only two of the 16 companies from China that joined the list over the past year did so in 2021, according to CB Insights.
A successful listing of online food delivery company Zomato, which recently filed a draft prospectus with India’s securities regulator, would set the stage for many of these unicorns to follow suit. Zomato, a loss-making company operating in a nascent industry once considered too risky to invest, is planning to raise 82.5 billion rupees ($1.1 billion), including through a pre-IPO placement.
“Indian internet has always been a story on the horizon,” said one investor in Zomato. “But it’s finally here.”
India’s new breed of unicorns are mostly purely online businesses that have benefited from a flood of consumers and businesses that have flocked to their services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Investors are watching whether they can maintain the momentum as India grapples with a deadly second wave — new coronavirus cases have topped 300,000 every day since April 21, the highest in the world.
“Every business has been forced to figure out a digital way of selling online,” said Harshil Mathur, co-founder and CEO of fintech startup Razorpay. “A lot of small traditional retailers who used to sell through offline channels have gone online. We also saw a large number of both individuals and freelancers starting to sell things on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.”
Transactions on Razorpay, which processes payments for online services like food delivery apps, surged to an annualized rate of $35 billion to $40 billion from $12 billion a year ago, Mathur said. The company was valued at $3 billion in a recent funding round, just six months after it reached the $1 billion mark in October last year. The latest round was led by its existing shareholders, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Sequoia Capital.
Other startups that became unicorns include Chargebee, which sells software that helps companies manage their subscription services; Meesho, which operates a marketplace for individual business owners that want to sell goods on social media; Cred, which gives reward points to credit card users who pay their bills on time.
India has lagged China in the size of its digital economy but is rapidly catching up. Investors say this is thanks to a surge in mobile phone users as well as government-led policies like the 2016 launch of the Unified Payments Interface, a real-time payments system that enables instant transfer of money between banks. UPI now accounts for the majority of online payments, and transactions surpassed 5 trillion rupees ($66.7 billion) in March, more than double the figure a year ago, according to the National Payments Corporation of India, which operates the system.
China still dominates the overall unicorn list in Asia with 138 unicorns, more than four times the number in India, according to CB Insights. Some of China’s biggest unicorns are also much larger in size, such as Tiktok operator Bytedance, which has a valuation of $140 billion. India’s biggest unicorn is One97 Communications, the owner of mobile payments app Paytm, worth $16 billion.
Still, the rapid rise of India’s unicorns signals a shift in investor appetite.
“We are considering allocating more capital to India in the future,” said Ryu Muramatsu, founding partner of GMO VenturePartners, an early investor in Razorpay and Southeast Asian fintech startups. “There may be a correction in valuations in the short term. But compared to the past, companies have strong fundamentals.”
Zomato’s IPO will be an important indicator of whether the tech boom can gain momentum. With no track record of multi-billion dollar IPOs, skeptics say prospects of a profitable exit are highly uncertain. China, on the other hand, can point to a strong track record of homegrown tech companies going public, such as Alibaba and Tencent, which have grown into some of the world’s most valuable companies.
One bottleneck for Indian tech startups to go public has been a regulatory rule that generally requires companies to be profitable for three years before they can sell shares to retail investors. But loss-making companies can go public if they allocate at least 75% of the offering to qualified institutional investors — the route that Zomato, which posted a 23.6 billion rupee ($318 million) loss for the year ended March chose to take. If Zomato is successful, less-sophisticated investors will be more confident in backing loss-making companies.
“It’s a structural shift,” said Rahul Malhotra, an analyst at Bernstein. “Regulation has improved, companies are scaling, fundamentals are there. And the market is still underpenetrated.”
Chinese investors and companies are the most likely to lose out if India’s tech boom gains momentum. Once among the most active investors in India, companies like Ant Group, Zomato’s second-largest shareholder, have been mostly forced to watch from the sidelines due to a new regulation that requires companies from India’s neighboring countries including China to seek government approval before making an investment. Leading the latest wave of funding rounds are U.S. investors like Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital, which have raised billions of dollars for new funds in recent months.
The growing number of deep-pocketed startups will also intensify competition between Chinese tech companies. Those operating in India have already been hit hard by the Indian government’s ban on more than 200 Chinese apps last year following a deadly border clash.
Chargebee, which has offices in India’s Chennai as well as San Francisco, says the majority of its 3,500 customers are already from the U.S. and Europe. After raising $125 million at a $1.4 billion valuation, it plans to expand its footprint to Asian markets like India, Japan and Southeast Asia, according to a spokesperson.
Source: Asia Nikkei


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Korean electronics giant Samsung introduced two new entrants, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, to their Galaxy S line of flagship phones at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) currently underway in Barcelona.
The world's second largest phone-maker didn't experiment too much with the look of the new devices, sticking to the design ethos of their hugely successful Galaxy S6 series. Samsung's Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge were very impressive phones. So the company has concentrated on working on the weaker parts such as battery and durability based on customer feedback. They have added a microSD card slot and waterproofing to both of the phones.
Both the phones will run on 64-bit quad-core processors. Samsung is most probably shipping all the phones of the S7 series in the US with Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and they will ship the phones with their own Exynos processor elsewhere in the world. Both the phones will have 4 GB of RAM.
Initially, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge will be available only with 32 GB internal memory. Later, Samsung will release the 64 GB version. Memory is expandable up to 2 TB through microSD card. The company also said that the tray which holds the microSD card will act as a second SIM tray in select markets. Since dual-SIM phones are popular in India, it is highly likely that Indian market will get this version.
There is not much difference between the two phones apart from the size and battery. Galaxy S7 has a 5.1-inch QHD display while the Edge variant will have 5.5-inch QHD display. Last year, Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge both had a 5.1-inch display and later in the year the company had released a 5.7-inch Galaxy S6 Edge+ along with its Note 5 phablet.
Samsung has bumped up the battery in both the models as well. Galaxy S7 hosts a 3000 mAh battery while Galaxy S7 Edge hosts a significantly bigger 3600 mAh battery. Both the phones are equipped with quick charging capabilities. Both the devices can also be wirelessly charged. While most of the companies with metal phone design have stayed away from wireless charging, Samsung is supporting multiple standards for that. Interestingly, Samsung has persisted with mircoUSB for charging and data transfer instead of adhering to the new USB-C standard used in Nexus phones.
Galaxy S6 series had a fantastic camera. To improve on that, Samsung reduced the sensor size to 12 MP for the primary camera but introduced new technology measures. The camera lens has an impressive aperture of f/1.7. Apart from that, it has smart OIS and dual-pixel technology for low lighting. That means even without laser-guided focus technology, the camera will perform better even in low light.
The phones run on Android Marshmallow 6.0 with TouchWiz UI customization on the top. They also support Vulkan API for a better gaming experience. Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge both will support Samsung Pay with Near Field Communication (NFC) and Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST), which allows users to pay with the device even if the vendor only has a conventional credit card machine. Samsung also announced a magnetic extendable camera lens add-on and wireless charging battery expansion cases for both the phones.
Samsung had put a lot of emphasis on Virtual Reality (VR) in yesterday's event. They were live-streaming the event in 360-degrees which can be streamed through Gear VR. They released a 360-degree camera for shooting VR images, videos and other content called Gear 360. That was not it. They had Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg come and talk about VR. Facebook is a major stakeholder in Oculus, the company which supports Samsung in making Gear VR.
Zuckerberg said, "VR is the new future and 360-degree content is the next big thing. We at Facebook, have established a social VR team which will work on Facebook apps making them more VR friendly and enjoyable".
Both the phones will be available in black and gold colours. Galaxy S7 Edge offers two more variants, namely silver and platinum. The phones will be available in the US from 11 March. There is no announcement on International release or pricing.
This is a key year for Samsung in India as Apple is trying hard to open stores and gain a foothold here. So, after launching the mid-range premium phones Galaxy A7 and Galaxy A5, and also gaining the top spot in the smartphone market share last year, they will likely launch the flagship Galaxy S7 series soon after the international release.
Contact HuffPost India
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By year 2030, the city of San Francisco in California will only get power from renewal energy sources.
According to We Can Solve This, this is the goal of the city as it started the movement to go green in 2017.
The city began by imposing a ban on plastic bags in grocery stores. Residents are required to bring their own bags or pay 10 cents for paper bags. The ban was later extended to all stores and restaurants across the city.
San Francisco next banned the use of polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) cups, plates, ice coolers and take-out food containers.
Recycling and composting have also been imposed where residents and businesses are required to separate their trash using color-coded trash bins.
For the construction of new buildings, San Francisco also mandated these requirements:
1. Provision of electric charging stations
2. Compliance with rigorous green building standards
3. Equipping drinking fountains with bottle filling stations
In addition, the city government also passed the Better Roofs Ordinance where buildings are required to have solar panels or green roofs. As a result, half of San Francisco’s power will come from renewable energy by 2020.
These measures may be tedious but a San Francisco survey has revealed that residents love this green movement.
Don’t you think Metro Manila should follow in San Francisco’s steps?
From solar roofs to plastic bag bans, San Francisco, California is providing a model for cities that want to go green. Is your hometown follwing suit? #YEARSproject
Posted by We Can Solve This on Monday, 2 July 2018


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Brian Sozzi, Julie Hyman, and Brian Cheung discuss the warning from analysts on how Disney+ could experience a slowdown of growth and the impact this analysis could have on the company’s stock.
JULIE HYMAN: Let's talk about something else that has to do with subscriber growth, and that is Disney, because we got some analyst commentary on the company this morning. It was cut to equal weight over at Barclays. And the analyst there says the company faces a tough task to get to its long-term streaming subscription guidance.
This, of course, the backdrop for this, kind of on the other side, is that there was a report last week that Disney had talked about spinning off ESPN, which Disney then said, no, that's not the case, then pushed back against. But the underlying point being, they're looking to the streaming to-- for growth and trying to sort of-- I don't know-- maybe put a better spin on what's happening at ESPN.
BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, no, look--
BRIAN CHEUNG: Yeah, I mean, when it comes to--
BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah.
BRIAN CHEUNG: Go ahead, Brian.
BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, go ahead, Brian. Go ahead.
BRIAN CHEUNG: No, I was going to say, I mean, I think the ESPN story is really interesting because they're still, at the end of the day, a company that relies very heavily on the cable service model, right? I mean, every time someone subscribes to Optimum or to Fios or what have you, ESPN is going to get a cut of that money. So every time someone cuts the cord to a traditional cable subscription to get ESPN Plus, that might actually be losing Disney money, which is, I think, a reason why they're considering getting rid of ESPN, not just from the Disney Plus, Hulu bundle, but by just basically spinning off the entire company.
So I think that's why this chatter is built up. Whether or not Disney wants to do that so early on to this integration experiment, if you will, remains an open question. But yeah, Moffett Nathanson trimming their price target on Disney, I think now to $180. That's still about 2% upside from where it is today. But it does raise the question, would they be better off as separate entities? But I do agree. I think it's probably a little bit too early to make that assessment right now.
BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, good-- a hat tip to Barclays and Moffett for stepping up here and really calling it for what it is in terms of Disney. And the stock has been dead money since early March. I know you will go to Yahoo Finance, you'll pull up a chart, see it's up 37% over the past year, thinking things are great. They're not. I mean, the park recovery has not played out, I think to a lot of the bull case out there on the-- bull cases out there on the street.
And secondarily, and Disney management has nobody to blame for themselves with all this focus now on streaming. They have pumped up their streaming service over the past year and a half being the best thing since sliced bread. They came out with guidance for 2024. Things were going so great. Well, it appears it has hit its first hiccup on the road because of all the competition we are seeing in streaming services. So it makes sense the analysts are taking a more cautious look here because things are slowing down a bit.
BRIAN CHEUNG: Yeah, we'll definitely see. I know "Black Widow" just dropped on the Disney Plus platform, so I'm probably going to give that a watch later on this week. But plenty more to talk about as we do look forward to their earnings.


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A four-man crypto crime spree raged across Canada six months ago, and Calgary’s police department has finally decided now is a good time to ask the public for help catching the thieves. Sorry to bother you, eh?
On Wednesday, the Calgary Police Service Cybercrime Team posted that for ten days starting Sept. 16, four men “specifically targeted one Canadian bitcoin company” by making 112 fraudulent transactions at Bitcoin kiosks amounting to 195,000 CAD. Fifty-one of those transactions were in Calgary, with 17 in Toronto, 27 in Montreal, 13 in Winnipeg, and the rest in Ottawa, Hamilton, and Sherwood Park, a suburb of Edmonton. It wasn’t until October before Calgary’s cops were informed of the hit and it took a few months after that to issue a press release for some reason.
The name of the targeted company wasn’t released but a search on CoinATMRadar for Sherwood Park (population 70,000) produced two Bitcoin ATMs—both made by Genesis Coin, but one is operated by BitNational while the other is operated by HoneyBadger. BitNational only operates kiosks in British Columbia and Alberta while HoneyBadger operates in all the cities where the crimes took place.
So what happened? As Calgary’s press bulletin described it:
“It is believed that the suspects were committing ‘double-spend’ attacks, where a suspect attended a bitcoin kiosk and successfully withdrew money before remotely cancelling their transactions prior to the bitcoin company processing the withdrawal.”
In other words, the perps took advantage of how this particular Bitcoin ATM allowed the transactions to happen before confirmation on the Bitcoin blockchain. P. H. Madore over at CCN hinted that the crooks may have used a tool by Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd which essentially allows for a “double spend” in such a situation, something Bitcoin doesn’t do when transactions are confirmed.
One of the suspects (in the photo above, he’s the one wearing the baseball cap) did all of the transactions in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Hamilton. The others each did one of the remaining cities. The man wearing the blazer is the one who did the 51 Calgary ATMs.
For those curious, there is (or was) a Bitcoin ATM at the QuadrigaCX headquarters in Vancouver but it was operated by QuadrigaCX itself and was made by Lamassu.


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Security firm GDATA has published a report on mobile malware detected in the first quarter of 2015. The researchers discovered 440,267 new strains of Android malware, a new malware strain for the Android platform is detected every 18 seconds.
“The use of smartphones and tablets for online banking is increasing rapidly. Here in particular puts the Android operating system with a dominant market position in the focus of cybercriminals. It is therefore not surprising that attackers particular develop and disseminate as banking Trojans for this platform financial malware. We therefore expect the current year a significant increase in financially motivated malware for the Android operating system.” states Christian Geschkat, G DATA Product Manager Mobile Solutions”
The experts noticed a surge in the number of mobile banking especially malicious codes targeting the Android OS. At least 50 percent of the malware in the wild were designed to realize financial frauds, most popular are banking Trojans and SMS Trojans.
The rapid increase in Android malware highlight the necessity to adopt defensive security solutions on mobile platforms, experts suggest keeping default security settings enabled, such as blocking installation from sources third-party App stores.
In many cases, mobile users are deceived by social engineering tricks, in this way malware authors induce victims to turn off security settings.
The data on the diffusion of mobile malware are not surprising, they are a direct consequence of the massive spread of Android devices and the increasing attitude of mobile users to access banking, payment and online shopping services from their Smartphone and tablets.
Another element to consider is the lack of a proper security posture of mobile users, disseminating mobile malware is a relatively easy job, as explained by Catalin Cosoi, Chief Security Strategist at Bitdefender.
“As expected, cyber criminals prefer campaigns that make as many victims as possible with one hit. Disseminating mobile malware is also a relatively easy job. Attackers found ways to hide malicious code in repackaged apps sold on unregulated third party app stores,” Cosoi concluded.
Enjoy the G Data Report.
(Security Affairs – Android Malware, mobile)


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Multibillionaire businessman, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has given hints of an impending move to buy English Premier League club, Arsenal.
The latest development comes five years after Dangote and billionaire buddy, Femi Otedola, reportedly made attempts at buying stakes in Arsenal and Newcastle United respectively, but their offers were rejected.
Dangote, who doubles as Nigeria and Africa’s richest man, told Bloomberg that this time around he will not offer a “ridiculous price,” rather just one the “owners won’t want to resist.”
“I still hope, one day at the right price, that I’ll buy the team. I might buy it, not at a ridiculous price but a price that the owners won’t want to resist. I know my strategy,” Dangote said.
With his value reckoned to be in the region of $18.4billion (N4 trillion), Dangote, who has made his fortune through various operations including cement manufacturing, sugar supply and oil investments, however, says that he will concentrate on expanding his own business before launching a new offer for Arsenal.
“We have $16bn-worth [€14bn] of investments in the next few years. Right now I want to take my own business to a certain level. Once I finish on that trajectory, then maybe an offer will follow,” he explained.
A rabid Arsenal fan, Dangote federacriticised the club’s longtime manager, Arsene Wenger, claiming that the 65-year-old “needs to change his style a bit” and warning that the club “need new direction”.
Aside being an Arsenal fan, Dangote’s interest in buying the London club may not be unconnected to the huge fan base the Gunners enjoy among football followers in Nigeria.
“It won’t be out of place to say Nigeria may have more Arsenal fans than anywhere else in the world,” Arsenal’s former Marketing Director, Angus Kinnear, told journalists in March 2012 at a press conference to herald Arsenal’s visit to Nigeria that year.
Arsenal’s popularity in Nigeria assumed its peak between 1999 and 2004, when Nwankwo Kanu, a former Nigeria international played for the club, and the Gunners currently have in their fold a number of Nigerian-born youth prodigies like Chuba Akpom and Alex Iwobi.


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Facebook is trying to put its fingers in as many jars as possible, and this has caused the social media platform to have to cover a lot of bases in order to handle the massive amounts of competition it faces in the fields it is facing. confronted. attack with the goal of creating a monopoly that spans pretty much the entire Internet. One of its most visible wars has been against YouTube, with Facebook trying to position itself as a consumer video medium as well, which it has managed to do quite successfully so far.
However, Facebook has yet to really beat YouTube at its own game. While it has definitely become a hub for watching video content, it has not really succeeded in attracting the most valuable asset than a platform could have in this industry: the creators. It’s attracted some well-known creators, but for the most part, YouTube is still the place to be if you’re creating content and want to try and share that content with the world in a way that you can keep more of. easily your business and your business. Go.
In order to attract more creators to its platform, Facebook has launched a new âstudioâ application. This app is meant to be a place for creators to manage their downloads and get more analytics for the videos they are currently uploading regularly. This dashboard was available for desktop users but mobile users have been eagerly awaiting when they would get a mobile version for some time now, and they will really welcome this change. It will be interesting to see how this plays out as Facebook expands its horizons and begins to position itself as an alternative to YouTube.
Read more: Facebook is working on a feature that will sort what users see on its platform, the tabbed news feed is on the way!


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Apple has announced its most advanced computer chipsets ever, claiming they are the first ever personal computer chips built using a 3nm process – one-upping the announcement last week of Qualcomm’s 4nm chips for Windows computers. The Apple M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chipsets were launched alongside a new iMac desktop computer and MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch models. The iMac looks identical to the 2021 redesigned colourful M1 version, but now has the faster M3 processor.
The more powerful – and expensive – MacBook Pros now come in a stealthy space black colour, too. Apple usually brings out a new colour when it unveils new products so people buying it can show the world they have the latest Apple gadget.
You will need deep pockets though, with the top-spec 16-inch MacBook Pro running up at £7,299.
At a late-night announcement in the US on 30 October dubbed ‘Scary Fast’ in reference to being the night before Halloween and also the speed of its new Macs, Apple spent time comparing the M3 chips to the M1 chips it first showed off in 2020 – suggesting the gains are more noticeable over the three-year-old M1 than the newer M2 chip, which was used in the last MacBook Pro only back in January.
Apple claims the M3 chip is 2.5 times faster than the M1, with CPU performance up 30 percent and efficiency up 50 percent, which should show when doing big tasks such as video and photo editing. There’s also a new media engine with support for AV1 decode, which will allow higher quality video streaming from all your favourite streaming apps.
Apple announce all products will be 'Net Zero' by 2030
“With 3-nanometer technology, a next-generation GPU architecture, a higher-performance CPU, faster Neural Engine, and support for even more unified memory, M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max are the most advanced chips ever built for a personal computer,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies.
Qualcomm last week thought its new Snapdragon processors could beat the now-old M2 Max chip for speed, but Apple could well have leapfrogged its Windows competitor again with the M3 family – which important are all available to pre-order today. Windows PCs with the Snapdragon X Elite chip aren’t shipping till well into 2024.
- Advert-free experience without interruptions.
- Rocket-fast speedy loading pages.
- Exclusive & Unlimited access to all our content.
A new GPU that handles graphics now has what Apple calls Dynamic Caching, which picks the level of memory needed in real time, so only the exact amount needed is used. Apple claims this an “industry first” that will increase performance for pro apps and games.
The M3 chips also allow Macs to better render shading in graphics apps such as Photoshop, and also improve ray tracing, for more accurate shadow and reflections in high-end games. The Mac has always lost out to the Windows PC when it comes to running high-end games but this implies Apple is finally trying to change that – also shown in the iPhone 15 Pro’s ability to run high-end console quality games such as Resident Evil with the phone’s own 3nm chip, the A17 Pro.
Apple also said the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max have an improved Neural Engine to improve the Mac’s artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities, with the engine 60 percent faster than in older M1 Macs.
The M3 Macs don’t come cheap though. The cheapest new MacBook Pro is the 14-inch with M3 and costs £1,699, while the most affordable laptop with the M3 Max is £3,299, which can be specced up to an even more expensive version. The M3 Max allows support for up to a crazy 128GB RAM – that’s memory, not storage.
The 24-inch iMac with M3 chip costs £1,399 and is the most affordable way to get an M3 Mac. At that price you can only pick from four different colours, while a £1,599 or £1,799 version gets you more USB ports and gigabit Ethernet speeds, and a keyboard with a Touch ID button – all things missing from the cheapest model.
Source: Read Full Article


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Fossil's Meta Watch
has been beset with delays
and defective parts
but finally there's good news -- the watches have passed the FCC. The two models (analog and digital) can sync with your Android
smartphone or tablet via a Texas Instruments
CC2560 Bluetooth controller and are being sold as a "development platform" until enough apps are built to take advantage of the technology. T.I.'s website lists the watches as being available since August 22nd, although we're not entirely sure what to make of that -- it still looks like a pre-order situation to us. In any case, the devices should hopefully start reaching app developers pretty soon. Hey, how about using the internal gyroscopes to bring some genuine wrist-flapping action to Angry Birds?
Update: TI's website
is now listing the watch with a September 29th availability date.


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Analytics for big data could contribute £216bn to the UK economy and create 58,000 new jobs over the next five years, according to a study by research firm The Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) and business analytics provider SAS.
The report, entitled Data Equity: Unlocking the value of big data, aimed to find out the economic impact of big data on the UK economy.
The report calculated that big data contributed about £25.1bn to the UK economy in 2011 and this is forecast to reach £40.7bn by 2017. It also said that big data analytics adoption will also increase from 34 per cent in 2011 to 54 per cent in 2017.
CEBR said that big data will benefit the UK economy in three ways: business creation, efficiency and innovation.
It said that the 58,000 jobs created would largely be data specialist roles.
However, Charles Randall, analytics product manager at SAS UK & Ireland, said that this large increase in necessary jobs raises concerns as to where people with the right skills are going to come from.
"There is a need for skilled workers and that's why SAS are investing in the grass roots level of students at school to support them with their education in subjects like maths, science and engineering," he said.
Of the other findings, the financial services and investment banks had the highest level of adoption of big data analytics solutions. However, CEBR forecast that the manufacturing sector will benefit the most from high-performance analytics and will increase its output by £8.1bn by 2017.
Speaking to Computing, Shehan Mohammed, economist at CEBR, explained what the study entailed.
"What we've essentially done is to examine what the effect of big data analytics is when you implement this around businesses in a range of sectors, and how this technology is used to unlock the inherent economic value that is stored in the form of data across these businesses."
Mohammed explained that the next step was to determine the current and prospective rates of big data analytics take-up.
Finally, the research firm calculated the aggregate economy-wide benefits of big data by each sector.


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Air India opens bookings for domestic flights2 min read . Updated: 22 May 2020, 04:51 PM IST
- Air India has informed passengers that bookings for domestic flights will start from today
- After a two-month gap, India will reopen air travel from 25 May
Air India has informed flyers that bookings for domestic flights will start from today. The airlines will operate a total of 8,428 flights each week for the next three months from 25 May to 25 August as the government has announced the resumption of domestic flights. Tweeting about the same, the national carrier said, "Our Domestic Flight Bookings will start from 1230 hrs today. To book login to airindia or contact authorised travel agents or visit our booking offices or call customer care."
Many private players have also announced resumption of bookings for domestic travel. Carriers like IndiGo, Vistara and SpiceJet have started accepting bookings on their website. "As per the recent govt, directive, we will resume operations of some domestic flights from 25 May, 2020. We are in the process of opening the same for travel between 25th and 31st May, 2020," IndiGo noted on its website.
"We are geared up to take to the skies again. Are you? Bookings are now open,"Vistara tweeted.
After a two-month gap, India will reopen air travel from 25 May. The government has allowed one-third of the operations beginning Monday and set limits on fares which will be applicable for three months.
The fares will be capped according to seven sector classes, which have been divided according to approximate flight times. Under the new air fare regulations, the cheapest domestic flight ticket in India will be for ₹2,000 while the most expensive will be for ₹18,600.
Vistara welcomed the moved to resume domestic flights. “Aviation is a growth engine for the economy and resumption of air travel will give great impetus to the government’s overall efforts in helping the country eventually return to normalcy," Vistara CEO Leslie Thng said.
But flying would be entirely different now, certain guidelines have been issued for the passengers and airports, which are to be followed during flight operations.
Some of the guidelines to be followed are:
-The cabin crew will be required to be in full protective gear. Only one check-in bag will be allowed.
-Passengers should report at least two hours before the departure time.
-A passenger will be required to wear protective gear, face mask and carry sanitiser bottle.
- Airlines shall not provide the meal on board.
-A self-declaration or Aarogya Setu App status on a compatible device would be obtained to ensure that a person does not have COVID-19 symptoms.
-Passengers with red status on Aarogya Setu App will not be allowed to travel.


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The NFT space is one of the wildest mania we have seen both in tech and the financial markets in a while. This year alone the market cap has exploded by 1,785% following the huge attention it received. It appears that non-fungible tokens are not going to slow down any time soon as the demand keeps rising.
Non-fungible tokens are not new again after receiving so much reception from artists and the whole crypto community. However, they are unique, non-exchangeable tokens that are built on the blockchain and they reflect the value of a particular digital artwork.
On March 31, Dapper Labs, the company behind NBA Top Shot, raised about $357 million from its funding round that was led by Coatue. The star-studded investment round featured the likes of Michael Jordan, Kevin Durant and high-profile celebrities like Will Smith.
In contrast, the total NFTs sales in March was worth way more than the sales the previous months combined. The total assets sold in March was over $200 million, while January was $12 million and February was $91 million. Data from CryptoArt reveals that the sales made from Nifty Gateway account for about 70% of the total sales made in March.
The digital artist Beeple still holds the highest sale after he auctioned off his “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” artwork for about $70 million. In a short while, there have been several other huge sales from artists, celebrities and even sports stars. Following the trend surge, NFT marketplaces have also experienced huge sales volume.
NFT Investments Plans to List Shares on Stock Market
NFT investments, an investment company that focuses on NFTs revealed on April 1, that it is considering launching its ordinary shares on the stock market. The floatation should drive the valuation of the company to about £25 million.
The company is set to launch the shares on the Access Segment of Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market (AQSE) in London. This makes it the first company investing in NFT to launch on the stock market. The company aims to raise £10 million by issuing 200 million ordinary shares at £5 per shares.


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With the New Year upon us, it’s time again for industry insiders and gurus to come out with their predictions for the upcoming year. Traditional media and blogs are peppered with predictions stories, from technology trends to outlooks for the U.S. economy.
The PR industry is no different. PR practitioners have already begun to hit the blogosphere with bold forecasts for 2014. And while it is always fun to look ahead, I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the winning and losing 2013 PR predictions.
Below are a few of the highlights. Kudos to those who hung it all out there. Whether you were right or wrong, it takes a little courage to jump into the role of fortuneteller.
Rise of Visual Storytelling“The picture is the story. The rise of infographics, photo sharing and visual storytelling will push PR pros to deploy visual messages to compete in a crowded content market.” – PRSA Public Relations Tactics
The Verdict: Very True. No question, visual storytelling was central to PR success in 2013. Top brands used video, infographics and photo sharing to reach audiences with less time and shorter attention spans. Our clients certainly took advantage of visual storytelling in 2013 and we expect this trend to continue in the coming year.
The Power of Newsjacking“Become a Newsjacker! A powerful PR technique is to embed your message into an emerging news story or current event.” – 30MinutePR
The Verdict: No Kidding. While this was a strangely-worded prediction (more of a trend), newsjacking continued to be a powerful method for asserting an organization’s expertise in 2013. We certainly saw high profile news cycles present numerous opportunities for our clients, allowing them to build thought leadership and visibility in top outlets they would not have otherwise been a part of.
LinkedIn is the New Facebook“More brands will use LinkedIn to monitor conversations and connect with customers and influencers.”– PR Daily
The Verdict: Interesting, but Overstated. Yes, brands (particularly B2B brands) increasingly turned to LinkedIn to engage customers and leads, with a 38 percent rise in membership in 2013. But can we credibly call LinkedIn the new Facebook? I think not. LinkedIn’s 259 million users still pale in comparison to Facebook’s 1.15 billion users. It will be some time before LinkedIn reaches the ubiquity of Facebook. That said, the growth and popularity of the LinkedIn platform continues to offer great opportunities for our clients to reach key influencers and leads.
Standard Metrics Will Drive New Measurement Models“The industry will finally roll out a set of standard metrics that helps position public relations as more outcome-driven.” – PRSay
The Verdict: I Wish. There have been recent international efforts to develop a uniform standard for measuring PR success, but the industry is nowhere near attaining a standard that is prevalent across the practice of PR. Until we have a standard, RH Strategic has developed meaningful measurement methodologies that demonstrate ROI for our clients.
The Reputable Journalist is Revived“The rise of blogging and social media has increased the volume of online news and the speed at which it’s available, often at the expense of responsible reporting… The citizen journalist’s 15 minutes of fame are running out and information-overloaded consumers will demand a higher standard of reporting in 2013.” – PR Daily
The Verdict: Really, Who? This is by no means clear-cut. Have Americans really become fed up with citizen journalism or are they just as frustrated with professional journalists who get it wrong? The continued contraction of traditional media in 2013 indicates perhaps the latter. High profile blunders by outlets such as CBS 60 Minutes (Benghazi) and The New York Post (Boston Marathon bombings) calls this prediction into question. Last year Americans continued to turn to both traditional and non-traditional media, without a clear winner in the ‘reputable’ category.
Not too bad for 2013. Now, let’s sit back and see how well the pundits do in 2014. Happy New Year!


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WP Engine, a leading SaaS content management platform for websites and applications built on WordPress, today announced the launch of the new WP Engine Labs and its first innovation, S3 Mirror. The new WP Engine Labs will contribute to the Open Source community and serve as the innovation wing of WP Engine’s product suite. Headed [...]
NIMBOXX today unveiled its ‘atomic unit’ of the software-defined data center, an all-in-one solution that puts a hyper-scale computing model within reach for organizations of all sizes. The company also announced it has raised $12 million in Series A funding from SMC Holdings, a Hong Kong-based institutional investor with a strong track record in backing U.S. technology companies.
TrendKite, the company bringing ROI to PR and marketing, has announced $3.2M in Series A funding, led by Mercury Fund and Silverton Partners.
Cloudera, a leader in enterprise analytic data management powered by Apache Hadoop™, today announced that it has acquired Gazzang, the big data security experts, to dramatically strengthen its security offerings, building on the roadmap laid out last year when Cloudera first delivered Sentry.
The Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), part of the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin (UT), today congratulates Yan Engines on its company momentum.
Filament Labs raised $1 million in a seed round led by Mercury Fund to grow their flagship product, Patient IO, a care plan delivery platform for health professionals. Patient IO helps health professionals create personalized care plans that can be seamlessly delivered to patients outside the clinic.
To capitalize on the growing power of online video, Sigma, a leading researcher, developer, manufacturer and service provider of some of the world’s most impressive lines of lenses, cameras and flashes, enlisted Invodo, the business video experts, to expand its portfolio of online video.
StepOne, the adaptive self-service company, today announced the launch of their Contextual Care™ system in limited distribution. The company’s flagship product Contextual Care makes it easy for customers to resolve their own problems online by proactively delivering personalized support recommendations based on contextual data. StepOne has deployments currently with two global communication service providers, Telstra (Australia’s largest telecomm, a $38B company) and a Tier 1 U.S. cable company.
Compare Metrics, the leading provider of Adaptive Commerce navigation and discovery tools, today announced it has secured $3.8 million in follow-on financing.
CopperEgg today announced its monitoring solution for servers, websites, applications and end users is now available for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon CloudWatch.


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European Stocks End Lower
European markets ended lower Tuesday, though well off their worst levels of the session. Equities sank in the early going in a carryover of Monday's decline, as weaker than expected reports on household spending in France (Europe's third largest economy) and consumer confidence in the Netherlands further damaged already weakened sentiment. The major bourses managed a partial recovery after a better than expected report on U.S. consumer confidence.
In London, the Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100 index closed off 68.30 points, or 1.83%, to 3,671.10, as Prime Minister Blair pressed the case for attacking Iraq, which helped drive oil prices sharply higher. The biggest contributors to the decline in the FTSE included BP-Amoco, AstraZeneca,and banking concerns Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC Holdings.
In France, the CAC 40 finished down 51.50 points, or 1.84%, to 2,742.81, as French consumer spending fell 0.1% in August, and a published report says French social security deficit will rise in 2003.
And in Germany, the DAX Index was lower by 41.04 points, or 1.41%, to 2,873.21, on Iraq war fears and negative corporate earnings news.
In Asia, the markets finished lower. The Nikkei fell 159.44 points, or 1.68%, to 9,321.64. on growing pessimism over U.S. equities and the country's cooperate earnings. The market players expressed disappointment as the Japan's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP) has decided to wait until the end of October to announce any specific measures to boost the economy and reform financial systems, according to MMS. In Hong Kong, the market lost 117.19 points, or 1.26%, to 9,197.68.


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Amazon reveals how Prime Air drone delivery will work, still doesn't know how much it will cost
Amazon is prepping multiple drones to deliver your packages, assuming the FAA lets it.
By Ryan Whitwam
The FAA announces drone registration requirements, waives registration fee
The FAA has released its drone registration rules, and while the fees are minor, the penalties for failing to register aren't. From this point forward, drone pilots are considered aviators, and must learn to share airspace with helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
GoPro plans to release its own Karma drone in 2016
The action camera maker is making its own quadcopter for the Hero4 after talks with drone maker DJI stall.
By Damon Poeter
Here's a sneak peek of footage captured with GoPro's quadcopter drone
GoPro has unveiled a sample of footage captured with a GoPro Hero4 action camera mounted on a prototype quadcopter drone.
By Zara Ali
The Intercept's drone doc mega-leak is whistleblowing evolved
The Intercept's new mega-leak is a slick, effective attempt to turn dry classified documents into revolutionary domestic change.
Reports of drone close encounters spiked in 2015, with no simple resolution in sight
The FAA released a report today on the frequency of encounters between drones and aircraft. The two vehicles are running into each other with increasing frequency, and the costs of the entanglement are very real.
Musk, Hawking, Wozniak: Ban AI warfare, autonomous weapons
1,000 scientists, leaders warn against AI weapons that decide when to fire. And at what.
By Bill Howard
FAA is investigating YouTube video of a drone firing a handgun
Guns are legal, and drones are legal, but a drone with a gun is a surprisingly murky subject.
By Ryan Whitwam
Hobbyist drones force tankers to abandon wildfire-fighting efforts
Interest in drones has exploded in recent years as kits have become cheaper, but there are real risks to allowing the aircraft to fly. Firefighting efforts in drought-struck California were disrupted this week by drone pilots who wanted to view the flames.
US Special Forces are testing insect-sized reconnaissance drones
Reconnaissance Drones that are small enough to fit in your pocket are being tested by the U.S. military. Army Special Forces have been testing the lightweight reconnaissance drone since March.
By Jimmy Rose


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01 March 2023: Smaller adjustments year-on-year should be the order of monthly new vehicle sales when compared year-on-year during 2023. Certainly, February sales reflected just that, with sales only marginally up compared to a year ago.
“New vehicle sales growth should be in smaller increments during 2023 for no other reason than a relatively more stable sales year experienced during 2022,” says Lebogang Gaoaketse, Head of Marketing and Communications at WesBank. “This shouldn’t necessarily be construed as poorer performance from the market, but rather more realistic growth that can be expected as the market continues its recovery.”
The new vehicle market grew 13.9% year-on-year in 2022, but off the back of a volatile sales performance in 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the market is currently performing at levels last experienced during 2019, confirming the recovery of the market, rather than outright growth. “It is interesting to note that annual sales of 363,696 units in 2022 were just 2.3% up on 2019’s performance of 355,379 units,” said Gaoaketse.
“Not that this is a negative,” says Gaoaketse. “It remains positive for the market to have recovered volumes to this level, especially given the external constraints over the past few years. Demand remains good as measured by WesBank’s rate of applications, providing a solid foundation off which the market can continue its recovery.”
External factors continue to place pressure on new vehicle sales. Household budgets remain generally behind inflation; interest rates have increased eight times in the last 12 months; and fuel prices continue to climb. “This all provides many detractors for market growth,” says Gaoaketse.
“However, there are positive contributors that continue to drive the market’s recovery and growth in real terms,” continues Gaoaketse. “Not least of these is a massively improved supply chain that will organically meet levels of demand better with consequent increases in volumes.”
According to figures released by naamsa | the Automotive Business Council, February sales recorded 45,352 units, up 2.6% year-on-year.
Passenger car sales were behind the market performance, increasing 1.1% to 29,976 compared to February last year. The segment was salvaged by the rental market that, although 11.8% down in February 2022, pushed the sector into positivity territory thanks to 3,654 units. Showroom activity was aligned to the overall market, up 1.1% year-on-year in the dealer channel.
Recent new product introductions in the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) segment should boost volumes over the coming months. LCVs recorded 12,972 units during February, representing an increase of 5.6% year-on-year.
“The country’s energy crisis will invariably impact new vehicle sales off the back of declining consumer and business sentiment,” concludes Gaoaketse. “However, the market’s resilience shown over the past three years proves how robust the industry remains; and that there continues to be opportunity for growth.”
YouTube video link: https://youtu.be/q_i9NlGk20s


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A MAJOR safety alert was raised at Birmingham-based Dunlop Aircraft Tyres, with production brought to a total standstill following a supply of potentially sub-standard rubber.
Bosses at the Castle Bromwich plant suspended manufacturing of new and retreaded tyres for three days in the wake of the alarm following a “potential issue” with the raw material.
Production workers normally employed in the manufacture of new tyres were ordered to strip out already prepared tyres.
Normal production has now resumed at the factory, but the production suspension, which hit 200 workers, led to delays in deliveries to customers.
The Birmingham factory supplies aircraft manufacturers and airlines throughout the world.
A worker, who asked not to be named, said: “Apparently there was a fault with a batch of rubber. The factory was effectively at a standstill production-wise.”
In a statement, Ian Edmondson, chairman of Dunlop Aircraft Tyres, said: “Our quality assurance process identified a potential issue with some raw material provided to us by one of our suppliers.
“As a precaution we immediately isolated new and retreaded tyres and we suspended all production for three days.”


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A Boston man has gone viral on TikTok with his strange habit of 50 years — eating raw sausages and sucking the meat out of the skins.
Dad-of-four Peter Richardson first found his love of raw sausages via a mobile butcher, saying on TikTok: “Done it for 50 years since (the) mobile butcher used to come to home and he used to give them as treats.”
Two videos of the 55-year-old’s eating habits were posted on TikTok by his girlfriend Katie Chalmers. One of the videos amassed 2.6 million views, with the other being watched 672.2k times.
The most recent video on September 24 was posted with the caption “totally sucking the sausage meat out of the skins”.
During the video Katie, who has 55.8k followers on TikTok, said: “This is Peter choosing his favourite after work snack. That one looks really tasty. Fat and juicy and raw. Yep, raw sausage.”
This comes nearly eight months after the first sausage video, which was the most viral and was captioned “when he was a kid the butchers used to give them out for the children.”
The text in the video reads: “This is my boyfriend enjoying his favourite food. Apparently you can’t eat the skins – synthetic.
“Have you guessed it yet? Raw sausages.”
Some tried to question the fact the sausages were even raw, with one TikTok user saying “can’t believe how many of you really don’t know they get boiled off”. But Katie responded saying that “these aren’t boiled, they are straight from the butcher”.
Peter recently told The Mirror that he wouldn’t encourage people to eat raw sausages, but that he’d never had any issues in 50 years.
His partner of eight years, Katie, said she can put up with Peter’s quirk due to him being a handsome man, but that he is ironically a fussy eater.
Are you from Lincolnshire and have you starred in any quirky TikTok videos? If so, get in touch by emailing [email protected].


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Hamid warns start-ups to steer clear of state-backed funding
Veteran tech investor says capital gained through government schemes sends ‘wrong signal’
One of Silicon Valley’s most high-profile investors has said that Irish start-ups should target private sector investment ahead of state-backed funding.
Mamoon Hamid, a founding partner of San Francisco venture capital firm Social & Capital, said that relying on government-backed venture capital funds “can send the wrong signal to a subsequent investor.’’
Hamid said “It’s self-selection that’s going to happen where the best entrepreneurs will shun that and the mediocre...
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EY reports €393m revenues in Republic of Ireland for 2021 financial year
Revenues in the Republic increased 9.5 per cent for the year up to June 2021 to €393 million, up from €359 million in the previous year


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With a few tweaks, the New England Fleas’ newest farm is poised to be a major success story.
It’s a mix of chicken, pigs, cattle and goats, all kept indoors, all with a strict daily routine of milking, cleaning and cleaning again.
It’s a bit of a feat, but that’s what the New York-based Fleas need to maintain their popularity in New England.
In fact, the team that owns the Flea Farms in Southfield, N.Y., has been making the transition from chicken to goats since they bought the farm in 2006.
Fleas are one of the most popular farms in New York.
They’ve been around for more than a decade, and now, the new owners are hoping to get their new farm going and expand beyond New York state.
With a few big upgrades to their operation, the Fleashabres are aiming to become the biggest goat farm in New Jersey, according to the team.
“We have to take the same approach to our goat that we’ve taken to our chicken,” said Flea founder and CEO Michael Frazier.
The New Jersey-based team also aims to have an annual farm gate for the first time, allowing the animals to roam free.
Flea Farms have been around in Southfields since 2006, and it was there that the team got the idea for the new farm.
It was originally intended to be used as a farm, but the New Jersey farm team found that it was a much more sustainable way to farm animals.
The team plans to hire two full-time employees to maintain the farm, and will eventually grow the herd to be around 20-25 goats.
The team will also add a new barn, a water tank and an artificial sun garden.
“It’s going to be our first time doing a farm gate, but we’ve had it done before in California, and we know what works,” Frazie said.
The farm will also include a large, outdoor chicken enclosure, and the team hopes to build a farm shed.
“Our goal is to build the largest and most beautiful chicken farm we’ve ever had in New Brunswick,” Fazier said.


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With Christmas on the horizon (2020 has really flown) Buyagift has teamed up with TV personality and presenter, Joe Swash, to launch webuyanygift.com.
With recent research revealing that 86% of the UK has received an unwanted gift at least once, the new online service lets you exchange your old, unwanted gifts from Christmas past – and you give back to charity in the process.
The all-new site, launched exclusively for Christmas 2020, offers a free and instant online valuation. Simply enter the name of your unwanted gift to get your instant valuation and you could exchange and upgrade to something more memorable within minutes; from spa to racing days – the service has it all.
In addition to their gift exchange, webuyanygift.com is partnering with Shelter, where the unwanted presents donated to the service will be turned into help for people facing homelessness and bad housing in the UK.
Shelter is a nationwide charity that helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through advice, support, and legal services.
Joe Swash, who is helping to launch the initiative, admitted that his present choices have been somewhat desirable at the best of times.
“When it comes to buying presents for Stacey and the kids, I’ve been known to play it safe and get it wrong a few times… that’s why this new service is such a great idea,” he said.
“We all know about exchanging our old, unwanted cars online – why not do the same for that old gift set or pair of pyjamas that are getting dusty under your bed! It’s especially good to know that not only will the service allow you to get a memorable present that you’ve been eyeing up, but the Shelter partnership also means that you can turn old items in to help for people across the UK this Christmas,” Joe concluded.
Webuyanygift.com lets you exchange your old, unwanted gifts in just three simple steps, and you have right up until a week before Christmas on Friday 18th December 2020.
And if you’re wondering what unwanted gifts come out on top, the survey revealed that toiletries took the top spot with 35%, while gift sets clinched second with 30%.
The top ten list also featured: Bubble bath / bath salts (25%), Candle (20%), Jewellery (17%), Socks (16%), Perfume (16%), Mug sets (16%), Books (15%), and Knitwear (14%).
Use your old gifts for good, and turn them in to help and support for those in need this Christmas.
To exchange your unwanted gifts, visit here.


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Wendy the Snapple Lady is now just Wendy. The long-time
spokeswoman and the Dr Pepper Snapple Group parted ways recently over a
contract disagreement, according to Newsday.
Wendy Kaufman told Newsday
that she couldn’t accept the contract because it was one-sided, paying her
based on appearances, with no guarantee that the company would schedule any.
Greg Artkop, spokesman for DPSG, called the contract “fair,”
saying it offered payment for work performed instead of a guaranteed fee. He
said it was her decision to leave the company and wished Kaufman “nothing but
the best in whatever she does in the future.
That future will continue to include pitching products, Newsday reported. Kaufman told the paper
that she will do voice-overs for cellular phone maker Motorola.


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MULTICHANNEL MERCHANT » VIDEO
VideoMar 23, 2016 12:59 PM By Tim Parry
Tmall or JD.com? That is the question, Whether it is nobler to sell cross-border to consumers in China via one ecommerce marketplace or the other all depends on your business goals. In this video interview conducted last month at eTail West, Merkle CMO and EVP of global development George Gallate explains the difference between China’s two largest marketplaces, and how it affects the control you want as a merchant.
VideoFeb 26, 2014 11:52 AM By Erin Lynch
It turns out Amazon is not the only online merchant looking to get into drone fulfillment capabilities. Netflix, taking jabs at its streaming video competitor, has announced its own delivery service, “Drone 2 Home,” in a recent video mocking the futuristic service.
VideoSep 18, 2013 12:57 PM By Erin Lynch
The National Retail Federation has released a short video featuring small retailers from across the country expressing the online disparity between Main Street retailers and internet retailers, along with the “urgent” need for Congress to address the Marketplace Fairness Act.
VideoSep 06, 2013 12:22 PM By Erin Lynch
Designer Kenneth Cole, who created a social media firestorm this week after posting a tweet that some argued mocked the plight in Syria, released a video on Instagram responding to the backlash but issuing no apology.
VideoAug 01, 2013 4:35 PM By Daniela Forte
When it comes to various shipping options for the larger merchant, ship-from-store is not just a passing trend, according to Manish Chowdhary, founder and CEO of GoECart.
VideoAug 01, 2013 9:27 AM By Daniela Forte
Having video on your ecommerce site is the perfect selling tool, it not only will boost conversion rates, but also customer satisfaction, according to Dr. Melody King, vice president of marketing and sales for Treepodia.
VideoJul 31, 2013 10:26 AM By Daniela Forte
What is the best way to reach and secure the anytime, anywhere consumer this holiday season? According to Branden Jenkins, general manager of etail and retail for NetSuite, the answer is omnichannel.
VideoJul 29, 2013 4:51 PM By Daniela Forte
Omnichannel is all the buzz right now among consumers. In a recent one-on-one interview with Multichannel Merchant, Melanie Alavi, retail manager for UPS, explains why it is important more than ever for merchants to embrace the anytime, anywhere shopper.
VideoJul 10, 2013 3:48 PM By Erin Lynch
Wired has posted a new video introducing the ecommerce world to a few members of the robotic workforce at the Quiet Logistics order fulfillment center in Devens, Mass. According to the video, the robots, which have names such as Peanut Botter, Botter Rum, Juke Bot, Bot-B-Q, and Walter CaBot IV, require a five minute recharge every hour and have a 99.94% accuracy rate.
VideoMay 17, 2013 6:21 PM By Daniela Forte
YouTube is connecting people with products in a new initiative where they can now shop for products while viewing videos on YouTube channels. According to blog post by Google, which owns YouTube, people use the video site for entertainment, learning a new skill, find new information, and shop for products.


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Just months after Canon's camera encryption was cracked, the same team has claimed that it has managed to crack Nikon's authentication system used in high-end SLRs.
Image verification systems from Canon and Nikon are used to ensure that photos taken with the companies' cameras are authentic and have not been tampered with, particularly when used as legal or political evidence.
"ElcomSoft researchers discovered a flaw in the way the secure image signing key is being handled in camera. The vulnerability allowed the researchers to actually extract the original signing key from a Nikon camera," the company said in a statement.
As a result, ElcomSoft can create manipulated images that pass verification checks, as they have been created with this authentication key.
ElcomSoft has released a range of manipulated photos that pass the Nikon Image Authentication check, which are also available for download with digital signatures so that others can verify the check for themselves. The affected cameras include the Nikon D3X, D3, D700, D300S, D300, D2Xs, D2X, D2Hs and D200, plus any future camera that uses the same authentication key.
Nikon Australia was contacted for comment, but had not provided a response at the time of writing.


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At the Food Truckus Ruckus Saturday, Steve Paradis of Fresh Start Growers Supply explained to us how he sees food trucks as a positive, fun way to get good, prepared food to events and places that good grub might not otherwise be available. I also talked with Tom Edwards, one of the owners of the new Mozza Pi pizza business, which operates a food truck and plans to open a brick-and-mortar pizza operation in the Highlands this fall.
Several hundred people turned out at Fresh Start’s parking lot Saturday to sample food truck offerings and listen to music.
Legislation is being prepared by the Mayor’s Office that would make it easier for food truck operators to do business here, and Mayor’s spokesman Chris Poynter told me that it’s pretty close to being finished.
Check out the exclusive video from LouisvilleKY.com:


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Meta unveils yet another two generative AI tools, dubbed “Emu Video” and “Emu Edit.”
These tools, emerging from Meta’s “Emu” AI research project, aim to transform how users interact with video and image creation on Facebook and Instagram.
“Emu Video” enables users to create short video clips from text prompts. This tool operates on a two-step process by generating images based on text prompts and crafting videos by integrating the text and the generated image. It’s capable of producing 512×512, four-second videos at 16 frames per second.
1⃣ Emu Video
This new text-to-video model leverages our Emu image generation model and can respond to text-only, image-only or combined text & image inputs to generate high quality video.
Details ➡ https://t.co/88rMeonxup
It uses a factorized approach that not only allows us… pic.twitter.com/VBPKn1j1OO
— AI at Meta (@AIatMeta) November 16, 2023
The second tool, “Emu Edit,” allows users to perform custom edits on images through conversational prompts, eliminating the need to manually select the edit area. For example, users could transform an object into an image by simply typing a command like “turn the sofa into a bear.”
Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced these tools as additions to Facebook and Instagram, ensuring they integrate into content creation workflows.
Meta also said they’re working on methods to label synthetic content, ensuring transparency and authenticity in the growing world of AI-created media.
While their release dates on Meta’s platforms are not yet confirmed, their introduction signifies a significant stride towards democratizing AI-driven creative processes.
Round up of Meta’s AI features
Here’s a round-up of Meta’s AI tools for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp:
- AI stickers: Launching across WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Facebook Stories, these stickers enable users to create customized stickers from text prompts. This feature is powered by Llama 2 and Emu technologies. They were recently mocked for producing obscene images.
- Image editing with AI: Two new features, Restyle and Backdrop, are coming to Instagram. Restyle allows users to reimagine images by applying described visual styles, while Backdrop can change the background of images based on prompts.
- Meta AI assistant: A new conversational assistant available on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and soon on Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and Quest 3. It offers real-time information, generates photorealistic images from text prompts, and is available only in the US.
- 28 new AIs with unique personalities: In beta, these AIs feature different interests and personalities, some played by celebrity icons and influencers. They are accessible through WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram.
- AI studio: AI studio, a platform for building AIs, will soon be available to coders and non-coders. Developers can create third-party AIs for messaging services, starting with Messenger.
- AIs for businesses and creators: Businesses can develop AIs that reflect their brand values to improve customer service, while creators can develop AIs to extend their virtual presence across apps.
- Sandbox for AI Creation: Planned for release in the coming year, this sandbox will enable anyone to experiment with creating their own AI, with plans to integrate it into the metaverse for more realistic and connected AI experiences.
Meta has joined YouTube, which also integrated AI tools into its platform this week.
Alongside its Llama 2 LLM, Meta’s AI releases have helped revive the company from its metaverse-era slump and re-position it as an intriguing innovator for generative AI.


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Jollibee said it released in Singapore a Nasi Lemak variant of its popular Chickenjoy, proving that it is among the world's purveyors of Filipino flavors.
Nasi Lemak Chickenjoy is classic Jollibee fried chicken served with coconut rice and with a hard boiled egg, sambal (spicy sauce) and ikan bilis (dried fish, think dilis) on the side. It sells for SG$5 (P178).
It's rare of Jollibee to change up the flavors of Chickenjoy, its signature dish. It recently opened a new store in Liverpool, England, touting Chickenjoy as among Asia's best fried chickens.
Jollibee in Singapore caters to a large Filipino community of expatriate workers who want a taste of home. Elsewhere, it is trying to win new markets for the Jollibee brand and buying chains such as The Coffe Bean and Tea Leaf to be among the top 5 fast food operators in the world.


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Fans of the popular open world RPG Genshin Impact are now less than 24 hours away from the launch of the game\’s 1.1 update. This update brings along with it several new characters that players can obtain through the game\’s gacha system. The first new event banner, Farewell of Snezhnaya, features newcomers Childe and Diona and will launch alongside the 1.1 update. And since players will need Primogems to make these wishes, it seems that miHoYo has created a new promotional code to with a little gift for players.
This new promotional code will give players 50 Primogems as well as 3 Hero\’s Wit, which will certainly come in handy for players looking to summon Childe and level him up as quickly as possible. Players simply need to head over to the official Genshin Impact website and navigate to the \”Redeem Code\” page. After they login, players will need only to enter the code GENSHINGIFT to receive their rewards. This code is universal across all servers.
Primogems can become hard to come by for free-to-play players, especially upon reaching higher Adventure Rank levels. While this may seem like players will inevitably have to put money into the game either to continue summoning on a regular basis or refresh their Resin, some players have put together helpful videos and guides for farming Primogems quickly and efficiently.
While there are certainly ways for players to avoid putting their hard earned cash into Genshin Impact, it seems that other players have had no issue spending real world money on the game. It was recently reported that Genshin Impact brought in almost $245 million in player spending in its first month on mobile devices. This makes Genshin Impact the second most successful mobile game launch just behind Pokemon GO at $283 million.
Genshin Impact appears to appeal to players not just for some of its gambling-like mechanics, however. Players have remarked that the game\’s overall gameplay loop has been incredibly enjoyable for them, so much so that Genshin Impact was recently nominated as one of Google Play\’s Users\’ Choice Games of 2020.
It certainly seems like Genshin Impact has a lot of momentum behind it coming out of its first full month since release, but the real test will be how it performs over the coming year. However, between its consistent updates, miHoYo\’s transparency with the community, and its lengthy plans for future content, it seems that players will likely be play and talking about Genshin Impact for the foreseeable future.
Genshin Impact is available now on PC, PS4, and mobile devices, with PS5 and Switch versions also in development.


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Fortnite founder Tim Sweeney in a tweet noted that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse market have potential but are far too speculative for stepping into just yet. Sweeney made the remarks in response to a blog titled “Into The Void: Where Crypto Meets The Metaverse.” It is a text written by blockchain consulting, research, and investment firm Delphi Digital partner Piers Kicks. The essay highlights how new digital currencies based on blockchain and in-game economies have massive possibilities.
Fortnite Founder Finds NFT Market Speculative
Sweeney praised the article and admitted that blockchain and NFT technology have massive potential. However, he also criticized the crypto market. According to him, the NFT market goes in a different direction as there is more speculation than any real value in it.
A great Piers Kicks article on blockchain based underpinnings for an open Metaverse. This is the most plausible path towards an ultimate long term open framework where everyone’s in control of their own presence, free of gatekeeping.https://t.co/Fi6kweNDjj
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) January 30, 2021
The article dives into the history of digital connectivity and in-game economies. It argues that blockchain-based metaverses will not be a simple improvement over previous virtual experiences, but will instead mark the start of a new human epoch:
“In the coming decades, a new era of virtual existence will be ushered in marking our next great milestone as a networked species.”
Mark Cuban Released Personal NFTs
It’s exciting to see recognition of the potential of blockchain-based technologies from the founder of Fortnite, a leading pioneer within the game industry and beyond.
Meanwhile, Sweeney isn’t the only major entrepreneur to talk about NFTs in recent weeks. A few days ago, Mark Cuban released a series of 10 NFT animations of him dancing. They were all sold out within hours. This only reveals that Cuban is slowly starting to invest in the blockchain market.
At a similar time, Cuban also said in a TV interview that NFT prices are overpriced due to its lower interest rates. This only indicates that his interest in the NFT market might be only exploratory.


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(Yicai Global) May 13—The most important cause for recent difficulties faced by the real economy is not the impact from the internet but the economy’s need for transformation and upgrade, said Wang Jianlin, China’s richest man and the founder of Wanda Group.
The key to the development of the real economy lies in innovation, and the way to overcome the difficulties is to introduce differentiated products rather than keep producing the customary products and maintain a customary business model, Wang said in a speech.
As for Wanda Group’s overseas acquisitions, Wang Jianlin recalled: “Somebody told me that I would never succeed when I planned to acquire overseas cinemas. There was even a famous professor writing a 3,000-word article to demonstrate that I would definitely fail on the grounds that there had never been an intercontinental cinema company in the world. But my argument was that there was also no aircraft in the world in the past.”
In his view, the world’s film distribution channels have been basically divided up at present and it is almost impossible to reshape the market. The only way to make inroads into the industry is merger and acquisitions. However, we can hardly buy a well-performing company from others and we can only buy a badly-performing company before rejuvenating and revitalizing it through management, he stressed.
With regard to the future sustainable management of Wanda Group, Wang Jianlin told that the core to achieve the sustainable growth for Wanda Group is to pursue long-term stable cash flow. For instance, Wanda Group thought about developing shopping malls in the 1990s when peers were still engaged in real estate development, assuming the shopping malls would not collapse within 100 years, he mentioned, adding that Wanda now has to gradually move into the tourism and sports sectors, all of which will bring long-term cash flow. The sports brands with a longer history will make more money, and a large-scale tourism project may occupy the resources for 100-200 years.
Having moved into the health care industry three years ago, Wanda Group may gradually regard the health care industry as part of its investment portfolio in the future, revealed Wang Jianlin, but said whether the health care industry will be a pillar industry of the group remains to be demonstrated. On the other hand, Wanda Group currently has no plan to enter the education sector in large scale, for it has not discovered a better way for the education sector to generate profits and cash flow.
In May 2012, Wanda Group bought AMC Theaters, the second largest cinema chain in America at the time, for US$ 3.1 billion. In March 2016, AMC Theaters acquired the fourth largest theater operator, Carmike, in the US, which gave the Wanda Group the largest share in both China and US, the world’s two largest cinema markets. Soon after that, AMC Theaters acquired Europe’s largest cinema chain Odeon & UCI, ensuring Wang Jianlin and his group reach out to the world’s major movie theatre markets and have an important say in the industry globally.


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Graduate employment could reach a decade high
University leavers could also be earning more, says research. It predicts more openings in accounting, banking, retail and the public sector.
The Graduate Market study by High Fliers research also says typical starting pay may rise for the second year in a row from £29,500 to £30,000.
But students without work experience are unlikely to win places on graduate training programmes.
Universities Minister Greg Clark said: “Confidence in the economy continues to grow.”


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Haringey Borough Council has written an open letter calling for an auction house to suspend the sale of Turnpike Lane's Banksy piece.
The letter, which the council says is from the people of Haringey, calls on Fine Art Auctions Miami to suspend its online sale of the Banksy artwork, which was removed from the side of Poundland in Whymark Avenue last week.
It is addressed to Frederic Thut, the owner of the auction house in which the mural has been put on sale with a starting price of $400,000, equivalent to more than £250,000.
In the letter the council says: “When the people of Haringey realised the mural had been taken from them this week, they were angry and disgusted that someone could try to make money from a piece of community art.
“For you to allow it to be sold for huge profit in this way would be morally wrong, and completely contrary to the spirit in which we believe it was given to our community.”
The letter ends: “We urge you to abandon the sale and return this important piece of art to Haringey, where it belongs.”
The council is also calling on people to use the letter template to write to the auction house and urge them to stop the sale, which is due to take place on Saturday.
Councillor Alan Strickland, who has been investigating the circumstances of the removal, said: “Our residents have made it clear to me how angry and disappointed they are that this mural has been removed from the heart of their community.
“The Banksy had become a well known local landmark and a truly unique feature of Wood Green High Road, and we are determined to see it back where it belongs.”
People can read the letter by clicking here.


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Adobe has announced that it is now launching Mac-native versions of Lightroom Classic, Illustrator, and InDesign. Now virtually all of Adobe’s design and photo tools have been updated for the M1 SoC with the exception of Character Animator, which still runs through Rosetta.
The software giant already rolled out Apple silicon support for some of its other programs, like Audition and Photoshop. Now, anyone using Illustrator, Lightroom Classic, or InDesign on Apple silicon Macs can count on increased performance by up to 80 percent in comparison with an older equivalent Intel-based Mac.
Adobe stated that, according to a recent third-party benchmarking report it commissioned, “most operations in Lightroom Classic on an M1 Mac” like launching or exporting will now be “about twice as fast” compared to equivalent Intel Mac models.
Additionally, Adobe added a new Super Resolution image-enhancing feature, which it says is “more than three times as fast. The benchmarking tests were run on 13-inch MacBook Pros, one with an Intel Core i5 processor, and one with the new M1 chip. Both had 16GB of RAM and were connected to an Apple Pro Display XDR.
Adobe also threw in a few other updates to Lightroom. Now users will be able to specify custom aspect ratios when cropping, and mess around with a new collection of premium presets created by professional photographers. The set offers up portrait presets for varying skin tones along with more general options like “futuristic” or “cinematic.”
via The Verge


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Instagram will start requiring users to confirm their birthdays amidst youth safety push.
As part of an effort to create new safety features for kids and teens, Facebook on Monday said that Instagram will start requiring users to confirm their birthdays.
Facebook said in a blog post that it will need Instagram users to update their birthday information to keep using the platform in order to create “safer, more private experiences for young people”.
It’s been a while since Facebook started its plans to create an Instagram for kids under 13 years old. While Instagram’s “new experience” hasn’t become a reality, Facebook was creating safety features in order to ensure that Instagram provided “the right experiences to the right age group”.
For instance, Instagram announced last March that adults couldn’t send messages to under-18 users who don’t follow them, and Facebook last July started to default new accounts belonging to under-16 users into a private setting.
Recently, Facebook said that if users haven’t already shared their birthday information with Instagram, when they opened the app, they’ll see a notification a handful of times to provide the said data, otherwise, Facebook said that users won’t be able to continue using Instagram.
“If you haven’t provided us with your birthday by a certain point, you’ll need to share it to continue using Instagram. This information is necessary for new features we’re developing to protect young people,” said Facebook.
According to Facebook, it will add warning screens placed on posts asking for users’ birthdays before they can see it.
But Facebook clarified that as some users may want to give the company their wrong birthday data, the company was developing new systems in order to address this.


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Chipotle has its first unionized store in company history.
The restaurant, based in Lansing, Michigan, voted 11-3 in favor of forming with the Teamsters Union. According to CNBC, Chipotle has five days to object, or else the National Labor Relations Board will certify the results and the brand must begin negotiating in good faith. The restaurant filed to unionize on July 5, and Chipotle did not oppose the move. The chain oversees more than 3,000 company-owned restaurants across the U.S.
"[Thursday's] victory is an amazing moment for our team that has worked so hard and spent many months organizing," Samantha Smith, who's worked at the store for more than two years, said in a statement. We set out to show that our generation can make substantial change in this world and improve our working conditions by taking action collectively. What this vote shows is that workers are going to keep taking the fight to big corporations like Chipotle and demand the working conditions we deserve."
Laurie Schalow, Chipotle's chief corporate affairs officer, expressed disappointment with the vote, stating the company continues to "believe that working directly together is best for our employees."
The historic news follows the controversy at Chipotle's Augusta, Maine, unit, which was the first to file for unionization in late June. Employees wanted to be recognized as independent union Chipotle United in response to significant understaffing concerns. The workers even walked out in protest prior to the filing. However, Chipotle permanently shuttered the store in July because it couldn't find enough employees. Brandi McNease, an employee at the location, described it as "union busting 101," and Chipotle United filed a complaint against the chain.
The Teamsters called it a "common union-busting technique used in restaurant and retail chains."
"Despite Chipotle's efforts to intimidate workers into forgoing organizing efforts, workers in Lansing remained united in their effort to secure a voice on the job, and their victory signifies a pivotal moment for workers at fast casual restaurant chains across the country," the Teamsters said in a statement.
Meanwhile, for Starbucks, more than 220 of its roughly 9,000 U.S. corporate stores have filed to unionize. Thirty-four more elections have been ordered or are in progress, according to CNBC, and seven other locations are waiting to schedule an election. The coffee giant recently asked the NLRB to suspend all elections and conduct an investigation in response to a whistleblower alleging misconduct between the NLRB and union officials.


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Montevideo Cop Back To Work After Crash With High DriverA Montevideo Police officer is back to work after getting hit last week by a driver who admitted to being high on marijuana. Officer Kelly Robinson was off duty and was returning home from buying a camper for his family when a vehicle did not yield and pulled out in front of him.
Ford's New F-150 To Get 26 Mpg, Tops Among PickupsFord said Friday that its new aluminum-bodied F-150 pickup will get up to 26 mpg on the highway, making it the most fuel efficient gas-powered full-size pickup.
Ford Launches All New F-150 Pickup Truck [VIDEO]The new pickup should be in dealerships by late December.
Ford Starts Production Of New Aluminum F-150Aluminum isn't new to the auto industry, but this is the first time it will cover the entire body of such a high-volume vehicle.
Ford Recalls 200,000 Vehicles For Five Separate ProblemsVehicles recalled include various model years of the F-150, Flex, Transit, Transit Connect, Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car.
Car And Truck Sales Show Strong--But Uneven--October GrowthChrysler sales rise 22 percent. Best October since 2001. GM sales were flat. Ford sales dropped 2 percent, on tight pickup inventories.
Ford Getting Ready For An Important New Truck [VIDEO]The new Ford F-150 is coming, and the motor company is using 1100 18-wheelers to move parts for a new body shop.
Twin Cities Auto Show To Showcase New Truck TechnologyTrucks are tough, but that's not the only image you'll see projected at the Twin Cities Auto Show. The off-road experience is becoming lighter, safer and more connected than ever before.


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I just read The Economist’s lead article this week titled “Angry China”. I came away from it disappointed, and I would like to explain why. The main gist of the article is that the Chinese government should be worried about the rising tide of Chinese nationalism because a great deal of the anger now directed […]Read More...
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18 Feb Four Tech Startups You Should Look Out For In 2023
With over 305 million start-ups being created every year globally, standing out from the crowd is a huge challenge. Only companies with cutting-edge concepts and crystal-clear market strategies stand a chance of surviving through their first year, let alone making a profit.
We’ve scoured the startup scene to find out which budding businesses have made big waves in 2022 — and whose growth is showing no signs of slowing down. From state-of-the-art clean energy solutions to breakthrough podcasting platforms, here are six tech startups you should be keeping an eye on in 2023, and beyond, with this article being curated by https://www.bestaucasinosites.com/online-roulette/ for users who might see the casino site as a startup.
Taking a proactive approach to dealing with the climate crisis, Reverion is a Munich-based startup that’s gaining momentum at a rapid speed. As the clean energy market rises exponentially, Rerverion aims to solve some major challenges plaguing the sector by rethinking the way biogas is extracted.
After researching the field for seven years, the brains behind the company have figured out a way to optimize the efficiency of the process by using fuel cells. According to Reverion’s CEO Stephan Herrmann, this novel strategy can improve the efficiency of biogas extraction from 60% to 80%, a far cry from the 0.2% jump in efficiency that’s taking place annually.
The Bavarian startup has already secured €7 million in June this year and has landed a place on Tech Crunch’s Top 20 Startup Battlefield. With Reverion currently piloting 10 module power plant units — enough capacity to power 100 households each — needless to say we’re eagerly following the company’s next steps.
Another startup that’s dedicated to changing the world for the good, is Valar labs. The Palo Alto-based company uses emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technology to tackle pressing questions in cancer care.
The company, which was founded in 2021 by researchers from Harvard and Stanford, has invested in clinical-grade deep learning to unlock the potential of image data, helping oncologists make much more informed decisions about their patients.
By using breakthrough technology to solve one of the world’s longest-standing problems, Valar Labs has the potential to bring cancer care forward by leaps and bounds. In a medical field where current tools aren’t going far enough to reduce uncertainty, this breakthrough is pretty major.
This April, the startup raised a staggering $4 million in a seed funding round. The company’s founders, Damir Vrabac, Anirudh Joshi, and Viswesh Krishna, intend to use these funds to expand their operations and development efforts, so we’re expecting big things from the biotech company going forwards just like we do for the various best payout casino game on the internet.
Also founded in 2021, Wander is a short-term rental startup that works similarly to apps like Airbnb and Vrbo. Unlike its competitors, however, Wander owns each property it lists and caters explicitly to digital nomads — a growing population of workers that can work anywhere with a stable internet connection.
Tapping into the US 16.9 million-strong market of digital nomads (up almost 10 million from 2019) has proved to be a smart move for the Austin-based company. The startup accrued 30,000 users on its waitlist in under a year, as well as over 2,000 founding members, each agreeing to pledge $100 during the company’s beta phase.
Wander’s apex came in 2022, however. In October the company launched Altas, an initiative that gives Wander customers the opportunity to invest in the homes they book. The startup is expecting this scheme to double their number of available rentals by 2023, and with Credit Suisse just pledging to invest $100 million into the company, it looks like Wander’s dream might soon become a reality.
While the e-commerce industry has cooled a little since the pandemic, it’s still estimated to be worth $905 billion in the US alone, and riding this wave are companies like Skio.
Founded in 2021, Skio is a software startup that makes it easier for brands on Shopify to sell subscriptions. Bridging the gap between fintech and infrastructure, the New-York based startup helps brands achieve this in various ways, from scheduling payments and taking care of consumer processes.
By using modern solutions like passwordless logins and one-click checkout to provide a seamless experience to their customers, Skio has been able to grow much faster than similar services. And in addition to attracting high-profile customers like Bev, Kave Beauty, and Muddy Bites, the company boasts an impressive near-zero churn rate — and investors are taking note.
Throughout its short lifespan, Skio has already been able to attract a total of $7.4 million in funding through investors like Combinator and Adjacent. And with the company continuing to profit off dissatisfied ReCharge customers – its software rival – we think we’ll start hearing its name even more in 2023.


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This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team.
One of the great Twitter accounts out there is Can You Pet the Dog?. The account tests many games, answering the same question with every tweet: can you pet the dog? The answer in the dungeon crawler Enter the Gungeon was a saddening no. But the developers at Dodge Roll Games heard the outcry, and has remedied the oversight in its latest update.
New: Following an update, you can now pet the dog in Enter the Gungeon pic.twitter.com/kUOuF9ljL6— Can You Pet the Dog? (@CanYouPetTheDog) April 5, 2019
As of Patch 2.1.0 (with an updated patch still rolling out to console versions, as a PlayStation 4 patch went live this afternoon), you can now pet the dogs you come across in Enter the Gungeon. This update came alongside Enter the Gungeon's final expansion, A Farewell to Arms. Since launch in 2016, Dodge Roll has been regularly updating Enter the Gungeon with new, free content. Dog petting, it seems, barely made the cut.
"We have been working on Enter the Gungeon for five years now," wrote the developers on Reddit for the patch notes announcing the dog petting addition. "We are extremely excited to finally consider Gungeon complete, and to move on to new projects, with the release of this final update on the three year anniversary of Gungeon's launch."
With dog petting and one final bow of content, Enter the Gungeon is at last feature complete. Unfortunately, one oversight did slip through the cracks, as players on the game's subreddit have pointed out that while you can now pet the dog, you cannot pet the wolf. In a response to a sad fan, Dodge Roll wrote, "Well, no one made a CanYouPetTheWolf twitter…" Touché.


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Mitsubishi to drop Lancer under crossover pushFri, 06, Jan 2017
Mitsubishi recalls 82,436 vehicles for transmission problemsMon, 22, Aug 2016
Mitsubishi's latest crossover uncoveredTue, 09, Aug 2016
Mitsubishi touts 'laserlike focus' with Outlander PHEVMon, 11, Jan 2016
Mitsubishi gives sneak peek of Outlander plug-in hybridFri, 08, Jan 2016
Mitsubishi gives Outlander Sport, Mirage its family faceWed, 18, Nov 2015
L.A. show to get global debuts from Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, MitsubishiWed, 11, Nov 2015
Mitsubishi plans to move forward with U.S. sales, but experts wonderSun, 02, Aug 2015
With '16 Mitsubishi Outlander, flair is freeWed, 10, Jun 2015
Redesigned two years ago, the Mitsubishi Outlander was a nondescript dud in the marketplace. So the Japanese automaker gave its slow-selling crossover a clean-sheet exterior design with a striking blacked-out grille, standard alloy wheels and chrome accents galore, plus a new transmission and retuned suspension.
With '16 Mitsubishi Outlander, flair is freeMon, 15, Jun 2015
Despite Russian woes, Mitsubishi limits fleet salesSat, 13, Jun 2015
Ex-rival revamps Mitsubishi designMon, 20, Apr 2015
In his 40 years at Nissan, designer Tsunehiro Kunimoto had a knack for reinventing the brand's image through design. Now he aims to replicate that formula at Japanese rival Mitsubishi, which poached him last year to invigorate the brand's stale looks and lackluster reputation.


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CELLULAR OPERATORS ASSOCIATION OF INDIA
Buy Container Corporation of India, target Rs 580: Kunal Bothra
Buy Container Corporation of India Ltd. at a price target of Rs 580 and a stoploss at Rs 540 from entry point.
Why 5G is the next headache for some of India's richest men
5G could be the catalyst for India’s digital economy that has the potential to re...
BSNL engineers to Modi: Take measures to revive firm, reward performers
The association also stressed on a performance-based mechanism for BS...
FY-20 rebound tool: A rejig in foreign trade
The widening current account deficit (CAD) of India indicates that imports exceed exports and hurts the economic growth rate.
After check on pesky calls, blockchain may be applied for MNP
Trai chairman lauded telcos’ adoption of blockchain technology, saying it will empower consumer consent.
DoT backs Rs 3,050 crore fine on Airtel, Vodafone Idea
The dispute had divided telecom industry with the older operators on one side, Jio and Trai on the other.
Himalayan glaciers melting twice as fast: Study
Himalayan glaciers are melting twice as fast now as they were before the turn of the century, according to a new study that relied on recently declassified Cold War-era satellite imagery. The study, which appeared in Science Advances on Wednesday, is the latest indication that climate change is eating the Himalayan glaciers, threatening water supplies for hundreds of millions of people downstream across South Asia.
No levy rationalisation for telcos likely in Budget
Ministry feels that below-cost tariffs are unhealthy when telcos are undertaking network expansion, sources said.
Bogus IGST refund claims: Government to verify exporters' claims before sanctioning
Tax experts said the move to verify the refund claims would delay the process of refund issuances to exporters.
Copyright © 2019 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service