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LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Shares in Scottish microchip maker Wolfson Microelectronics tumbled on Thursday as the company said its products won't be used in the new portable music players from a major customer believed to be Apple Inc.
Wolfson WLFMF (WLF) said that its chips won't be used by "a major Tier 1 customer" in the next generation of players to be launched during the third quarter. Those are expected to be the next versions of the iPod Nano and iPod Touch.
Wolfson presently makes chips for Apple's
Wolfson said that even though it won't be involved in the next-generation device, it "continues to have a strong relationship with this customer as an important supplier for other high-growth product areas."
"Apple has been responsible for [the] rise and fall of many chip suppliers in the past, and today it has completed that cycle for Wolfson as well," said Janardan Menon, an analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort in London.
It's not the first design loss for Wolfson -- Cirrus Logic
Wolfson in 2007 made 24% of its revenue from portable media players. But Wolfson stressed it generated sales outside the segment.
"Revenue growth from these applications has continued to be very strong thus far in 2008, with particularly good performance in handsets, digital still cameras, gaming, headsets, GPS and automotive," the firm said.
It held onto its revenue outlook for 2008, and sees double-digit revenue growth beyond this year.
Wolfson shares dropped 20% in afternoon action and are now down 62% over the past 12 months.


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Blog: Horsemeat finger points to Dutch meat trader
Michelle Russell | 14 February 2013
The ongoing horsemeat saga that has resulted in supermarkets panning Europe recalling frozen meat products has settled in the Netherlands today, with the finger pointing to a Dutch meat trader.
Jan Fasen, a director of Draap Trading, told the Guardian this week that he bought a consignment of horsemeat from two Romanian abattoirs Doly-Com and CarmOlimp, which are known to have sold horse cuttings that eventually ended up in Europe's food chain.
It is thought Draap acted as "middle man" between the Romanian slaughterhouses and France where one of Draap's customers is French firm Spanghero. This company in turn supplied to French company Comigel, one of the companies at the centre of the saga. Comigel was the supplier of Findus frozen products recalled in recent days across Europe because they contain horsemeat.
Fasen has insisted he clearly labelled the product as horsemeat, but despite his denials, the food trader appears to now be at the centre of investigations into how horsemeat entered the European food chain.
According to the Guardian, in January last year he received a one-year jail term after allegedly falsifying papers to deceive customers.
Romania has been insistent that the two slaughterhouses under scrutiny have not broken EU food rules. Fasen, who bought the Romanian horsemeat and stored it in Breda in the Netherlands is understood to have said he will "hand over all his information" to the Cypriot authorities, who will then pass it on to the French. It is understood Dutch food inspectors went to the Breda warehouse on Wednesday.
Fasen told the Guardian the meat was all labelled correctly, whether it was 100% beef or 100% horsemeat.
"I was 100% sure I was buying horse. We sold it to Spanghero in France as well as to clients in Belgium and Holland. It was all sold as horse. There is no issue," he told the publicatio. "Somebody made a mistake and it was definitely not us."
If investigations find Fasen to have been deliberately passing off horse meat as beef, he could provide the missing link in what has become an extremely complex chain.
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domain: news


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Consumer spending on clothing and footwear in August fell to its lowest level in six months as the U.S. economy slows, according to estimates released Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
Last month, personal consumption expenditures (PCE) for clothing and footwear declined 0.7 percent to $409.21 million from $411.94 million in July. This marked six months of rollercoaster increases and declines and brought purchasing in the sector to its lowest level since March.
Following a similar pattern, the National Retail Federation (NRF) reported earlier this month that clothing and accessories store sales were down 0.9 percent month-over-month in August.
PCE on all products increased 0.1 percent, or $20.1 billion, for the month. Real PCE, adjusted for inflation, also rose 0.1 percent, or $13.9 billion. NRF’s report, based on U.S. Census Bureau data, showed overall retail sales were up 0.4 percent in August seasonally adjusted from July.
“While consumer attitudes about the economy indicate some retreating optimism, the bottom line is that consumer spending remained resilient in August and continued to be a key contributor to U.S. economic growth,” NRF chief economist Jack Kleinhenz said. “Trends remain strong, but August grew somewhat slower than July, which could reflect consumers’ concerns about the unpredictability of trade policy. It is too early to assess the impact of the new tariffs that took effect at the beginning of this month, but they do present downside risks to household spending.”
IHS Markit economists said in a recent report that new tariffs on apparel and footwear set for October and December “are expected to boost consumer prices and the cost of capital, softening the outlook for personal consumption expenditures, business fixed investment and GDP.”
BEA said the increase in real PCE in August reflected an uptick of $18 billion in spending for goods and a $1.6 billion decrease in spending for services. Within goods, recreational goods and vehicles were the leading contributor to the increase. Within services, the largest contributor to the decrease was spending for food services and accommodations.
BEA reported that personal income increased 0.4 percent, or $73.5 billion, in August, while disposable personal income (DPI), a key barometer for retail spending, was up 0.5 percent, or $77.7 billion. Real DPI rose 0.4 percent in the month.
BEA said the increase in personal income in August primarily reflected increases in wages and salaries, nonfarm proprietors’ income and personal current transfer receipts that were partially offset by a decrease in personal interest income.
Personal outlays rose $22.3 billion in August, as personal saving was $1.35 trillion. The personal saving rate–personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income–was 8.1 percent.


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The subtitle of the fourth Hotel Transylvania film is “Transformania,” but perhaps it should be “The Search for a Release Date.”
The fourth and final installment of the franchise, Transformania is currently scheduled to be released on October 1st, but Deadline is reporting that Sony may move its release date, or even possibly shift it to streaming on Netflix.
Sony has already diverted to Netflix three of its theatrical features this year – The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Wish Dragon, and Vivo – due to the pandemic and the generally sluggish global box office. It had been saving Transformania for theaters, but those plans are now in question as the Delta variant expands globally and parental concerns over taking unvaccinated children to movie theaters.


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Despite now being the world’s third largest air cargo carrier, Qatar Airways Cargo shows no signs of slowing down with Asia and the Americas its top target markets.
The carrier’s chief cargo officer, Ulrich Ogiermann says in the first quarter of 2016 tonnage is up 23 per cent compared to the same time last year.
Ogiermann says although industry reports proclaim weakening trade and currencies in Asia, Qatar’s biggest air cargo market, it is confident of improvement there for the rest of 2016, as more aircraft join the airline’s fleet and new destinations are added to the network from the second quarter onwards.
Qatar’s traditional trade lanes from Asia to Europe, Europe to the Americas and Africa to Europe remain its best sectors, and Ogiermann notes the load factor in India and Bangladesh is consistently high, as it has 30 weekly freighter frequencies to the region, while bellyhold capacity on 102 weekly flights to 13 cities in India helps strengthen its market share in the region.
The carrier strategically divides its cargo capacity across its freighters and passenger aircraft with 51 per cent of shipments carried on freighters and 49 per cent in bellyhold.
Ogiermann sees “encouraging growth” in sectors where it operates both freighter and passenger flights such as India, Europe and the Americas, noting: “Bellyhold cargo has been well received in our network simply because it is very cost efficient and appreciable in our industry where yields are always under pressure.
“The smart combination of efficient belly space plus freighters allows us to adjust our services flexibly, meeting the needs of our customers as well as the dynamic air cargo business.”
This year, it will receive two more 100-tonne capacity Boeing 777 Freighters after its ninth 777F arrived on 1 May and another two 777F will be delivered in July and October.
Ogiermann says they will be advantageously deployed to improve its Americas network, where it operates six freighters and 12 bellyhold flights, offering over 5,000 tonnes of freighter and bellyhold space every week.
He explains: “We certainly see opportunity for growth in the US market as our expansion in the Americas indicates – including the start of daily non-stop commercial service to Atlanta on 1 June.”
2016 will see its network expand and it will launch another 10 bellyhold routes to the likes of Marrakech, Sarajevo, Namibia, Helsinki, Auckland, the Seychelles and Atlanta.
Ogiermann says from a cargo carrier standpoint, it is “crucial” it monitors load performance across its network constantly and whenever opportunities arise, it may instate aircraft and frequency upgrade rationally.
He adds: “For instance, we will be upgrading our flights to Geneva and Warsaw this year subsequent to progressive air cargo demand in both markets.”
The carrier’s freighter fleet plan will include upturning market share in the Americas, Ogiermann says to date, the Americas market contributes 10 per cent of its capacity: “In anticipation of robust demand, we will continue to expand our freighter portfolio in the Americas in 2016, with a tactical plan to consolidate our cargo traffic to and from the Americas in Luxembourg, our European hub.”
Last month, it launched QR Express, an airport-to-airport airfreight service for time critical shipments, which Ogiermann says will see a phased roll-out after its successful launch at Heathrow Airport and it aims to launch it soon at major origins in Asia such as Mumbai and Hong Kong.
As for challenges it faces, Ogiermann says over and beyond common subjects most carriers face such as fuel price fluctuation, safety and security compliances, weakening economies, its biggest one is upholding its load factors and yields from the ever-increasing capacity in certain regions.
He is quite clear of how it will grow: “Our best prospect is the airline’s continued investment and expansion of our fleet. We expect to outperform the market by strategically placing capacity in the right areas and offering the right combination of cargo products to the right destinations.”
You can be sure its target is to be the number one air cargo carrier, up from its number three position it occupies now, but to continue sustainable growth, Ogiermann believes service excellence is key and he says it constantly reminds itself to focus on innovation and tailor service offerings.
He feels Qatar will stay ahead of competition by achieving consistency of handling in safety, security, quality and operational delivery: “We set high standards for these disciplines and the capabilities of the ground handling agents are rigorously assessed with each new route launch or expiry of handling contract at existing stations.
“Our network handling partner program enables us to have an established framework with the global handling companies to ensure our specific requirements are met, irrespective of location.”
Ogiermann says Qatar is well positioned to “compete and win in any economic circumstance” and is confident it has the ingredients for success, but says even for Qatar – it is a “testing time”.
He is upbeat about the market and says there are bright spots with pharmaceuticals, manufacturing spots changing, trade patterns changing, and e-commerce on the rise: “Pharmaceutical products are of great importance for us – we have been working hard to get trade lanes certified by the big shippers. We see good prospects in pharmaceuticals, textiles, and perishables this year.
“We will continue to grow by matching the quantity of our capacity with the quality of our product, with a particular focus on a successive launch of exciting new products, backed up by state-of-the-art ground infrastructure and a team composed of the best talent in the industry.”


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Pappy Kojo has suggested that he brought fashion into the Ghanaian entertainment industry.
The rapper, who presented the award for Fashion Blogger of the Year at last Saturday’s 2019 Glitz Style Awards, claimed that he deserved a nomination in the style awards. He was responding to a fun question from Ameyaw TV’s JQ, on how he felt about the ‘snub’.
“It’s disrespectful, I brought fashion into this country…you already know that“, Pappy Kojo said on the red carpet, as he joked about wanting to boycott the ceremony even before it started!
Glitz Africa held the fifth edition of its Glitz Style Awards on Saturday, September 14 with singer, King Promise winning two nods including Social Media Style Influencer of the Year and Artiste of the Year
The celebrates individuals setting trends and raising standards with their sense of style; and also seek to strengthen the growing fashion industry by establishing, developing and promoting international industry standards here in Ghana.
Winners were announced for the various categories after a combined voting process involving Glitz Style Awards Board (40%)m Selected Voting Academy (40%) and Social Media (20%).
The 2019 Glitz Style Awards winners were announced as follows;
Best Dressed Celebrity on the Red Carpet– Zynnell Lydia Zuh
Artiste of the Year– King Promise
Movie Personality of the Year– Mawuli Gavor
Model of the Year– David Lartey (Nii Pro)
Red Carpet Designer of the Year – Quophi Akotuah
Stylist of the Year– Kelvin Vincent
Style Influencer of the Year (Africa)– Juliet Olanipekun (Love from Julez)
African Designer of the Year– Aisha Ayensu
Emerging Designer of the Year– Lauren Ama Bartels (Lauren Haute Couture)
Social Media Style Influencer of the Year– King Promise
Fashion Blogger of the Year– Debbie Beeko (Debbie Bjuku)
Fashion Photographer of the Year– Ben Bond Obiri Asamoah (OAB Photography)
Indigenous Beauty Brand of the Year– RnR Luxury
Designer of the Year– Ezekiel Yartel (Yartel Gh)
Makeup Artiste of the Year– Lawrencia Owusu (Lawrebabe)
Individual Style of the Year– M.anifest
Glitz Africa Style Influencer of the Year honorary – Yvonne Okoro and Swanky Jerry


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(This post has been updated – see below)
The Federal Trade Commission will co-host a press conference in Lexington, KY, today at 1 p.m. ET (Noon Central Time), with the Kentucky Attorney General’s office, to announce a major action against an allegedly illegal pyramid scheme.
Steve Baker, Director of the FTC’s Midwest Region Office, and Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway will be available to answer reporters’ questions.
So who is in the FTC’s cross hairs? We’ll have to wait until 1 p.m to find out (the announcement will be webcast here). Companies recently in the spotlight for their direct selling model are trading down this morning: shares in Herbalife are down almost 10% this, and fellow direct marketer Nu Skin is down 5%. CNBC are flashing a headline saying the announcement is not about Herbalife, but nobody has yet suggested who is is about.
Update: From the Lexington Herald Leader in Kentucky:
Officials with Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway’s office and the Federal Trade Commission were inside the Lexington headquarters of Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing Monday morning, sending employees of the multi-level marketing firm home.
Conway is scheduled to hold a news conference with FTC Midwest region director Steve Baker at 1 p.m. to “announce actions relating to an alleged global pyramid scheme operating in Kentucky.”
Baker and other officials at the company’s headquarters, located at 880 Corporate Drive, declined to comment. Lexington police were seen leaving the building at 11:45 a.m., along with people unloading boxes marked with the FTC logo.
Here’s a lengthy USA Today piece on Fortune’s business model, and the complaints against it, from back in 2010.
Update II: In its press conference, the FTC has confirmed the case is being filed against Fortune. “Today is the beginning of the end for one of the most prolific pyramid schemes,” it said.


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This comes after the Alliance had earlier criticised Customs for withholding the report ahead of deadline for submissions to the Productivity Commissions inquiry into the retail industry.
he Fair Imports Alliance is outraged that Customs is withholding a reporting containing the results of a three month crackdown in import rorts.
Opinions were shared and questions were raised during a discussion that was held by the NRA to address the need to close the GST loophole.
The Fair Imports Alliance has received written admission from the Customs and Border Protection Service that there is no proof to back-up that if the GST threshold was lowered, it would be economically and administratively unfeasible for the government.
The Fair Imports Alliance has raised concerns that the Customs and Border Protection Service's compliance campaign to crackdown on businesses and individuals rorting the importation regulations is lacking industry consultation regarding process.


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Australian law firm Mills Oakley has hired a partner from accounting firm EY to launch a digital law firm in response to client demand.
A lawyer with 30 years of experience, Alec Christie’s clients at EY included Microsoft, ANZ, Westpac, ING, ASX, ASIC, ABS, Cochlear and the University of NSW, Mills Oakley said. He also spent nearly a decade as a partner at DLA Piper and has been recognized as a leading lawyer in privacy and data security.
“Collaboration, geographic reach in Australia and high caliber college colleagues in all practice areas and offices are key to building a successful practice,” Christie said in a statement. “Mills Oakley has all of this and more, including a collegial culture that inspires partners to refer and receive work from a wide range of practices. It is the ideal solution for my practice.
Christie is Mills Oakley’s second recent hire in a digital / IT-related practice this month, with the company previously hiring Melbourne-based blockchain and cryptocurrency expert Joni Pirovich from Hall & Wilcox.
“We are committed to developing the digital culture of our business and we are also responding to client demand for digital legal advice, including IT, privacy, information regulation and other digital implications. mergers and acquisitions and other transactions. This is a clear area of growth for Mills Oakley, ”said company CEO John Nerurker.
EY declined to comment.


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New government-backed survey finds significant demand for socially responsible products
Prime Minister David Cameron has given his backing to a campaign this weekend that urges consumers to shop at social enterprises that have a positive impact on the environment and communities. One third...
Tesla has opened its Energy Plan to UK homes without electric vehicles, partnering with Octopus Energy to supply renewable electricity to customers
President Moon Jae-in announces climate ambition that sees world's 10th largest economy join growing momentum behind net zero
Tour operator becomes first in the world to have its climate goals verified by the Science Based Targets initiative
RenewableUK claims global project pipeline is up almost 50 per cent since January as UK retains position as world's largest market for the technology


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Two of the world’s leading suppliers of solar panels, LONGi Green Energy Technology of China and Hanwha Solutions Corporation of South Korea have put an end to their patent infringement war, on since 2019, with patent cross-licensing arrangement.
In a statement issued by LONGi, the Chinese company the licensing agreement allows both the parties to legally use the relevant patented technology globally. It will not have any impact on the company’s operations. It will continue to provide diversified products and services to customers globally.
Under the arrangement reached out-of-court, both the companies have committed to cancel all litigation and patent invalidation proceedings globally. Having withdrawn their lawsuit, both the companies do not have any patent disputes anywhere in the world, according to LONGi.
For a quick background, the patent infringement lawsuit was filed by Hanwha against LONGi, JinkoSolar and REC Group in 2019 in the US, Germany and Australia wherein it claimed the trio was using the company’s patented passivation technology (see USITC To Investigate Hanwha’s Claims).


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Ian Sherr and Jessica E. Lessin, writing for the WSJ (headline: “In Rare Move, Apple Goes on the Defensive Against Samsung”):
Apple Inc. is on the defensive.
In a rare interview a day before Samsung Electronics Co. announces
a new flagship smartphone in New York, Apple marketing chief Phil
Schiller on Wednesday played down the expected competition from
the device and discussed how believes such products — which run
Google Inc.’s Android software — are inferior to Apple’s iPhone.
He shared data on the iPhone’s popularity and said Apple’s own
research shows that four times as many iPhone users switched from
Android than to Android during the fourth quarter, according to


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Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) has admitted failing to meet targets for clearing goods at Songwe Border in Karonga, a development that is affecting trade facilitation.
This is contained in the Time Release Study (TRS), a tool designed by the World Customs Organisation (WCO) to aid tax administration in identifying bottlenecks and improving performance in clearance processes at the border.
MRA commissioner general Tom Gray Malata said in a statement yesterday that the study findings are crucial to MRA operations.
He said: “The findings from the study will assist MRA to further improve trade facilitation and operations at border stations, thereby creating a conducive environment for doing business.
“The authority will be conducting regular time release studies.”
The objective of the study, conducted in April 2019, was to find out the average time taken to clear goods from the time of entry into the customs area to the time of exit from the customs area.
The study specifically focused on cargo clearance processes, to identify mitigations to bottlenecks to reduce clearance time, enhance efficiency and reduce overall dwell times for transporters, freight and clearing agents and customs administration.
The study also found that import processes require nine hours and five minutes of average release time, the processes at the border ended in 15 hours and 58 minutes while export processes took five hours 35 minutes instead of 23 minutes. On the other hand, the study found that transit (inward) processes took one day, one hour and 34 minutes instead of 49 minutes.


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Today, the European Parliament gave its final greenlight to the new Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition (ECGT). The new law aims to curtail a series of unfair company tactics that prevents consumers from making sustainable choices. The text, agreed upon last autumn in negotiations among EU institutions and member states, is now ready to be transposed into national legislation across the EU.
Once enforced, the Directive will ban a series of greenwashing tactics, including climate neutral claims, which are among the most misleading green claims on the market.
Vague green credentials will also be restricted: producers will only be allowed to mark a product as “eco” or “green” when the entire product is truly greener than conventional ones, and certified by a trustworthy scheme such as the EU Ecolabel. In addition, it will not be possible to advertise a product or a company as green if only a minor aspect of the product or business has been made more sustainable.
More rigorous oversight will also extend to sustainability labels, which will need to be backed up by third-party verification to ensure their credibility and reliability.
The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) welcomed the law as an important step to counter corporate greenwashing: currently, 75% of the products on the EU market carry an implicit or explicit green claim, but more than half of these claims are vague, misleading, or unfounded, while almost half of the 230 ecolabels available in the EU have very weak or no verification procedures.
On the other hand, campaigners regret that the EU missed a chance to ban other unfair practices such as early obsolescence and barriers to repair.
While the new law requires for information on product repairability and durability to be made available to consumers at the point of sales, there are no further obligations to make products more long-lasting or repairable.
The law also fails to ban early obsolescence, the business practice of intentionally limiting the lifetime of a product to encourage replacement purchase. While it will be forbidden for traders to advertise faulty products to consumers, this will only apply if they are aware of the problem: a condition that will be difficult to prove in practice.
The Directive will now be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Thereafter, member states will have two years to adopt the new law in their national legislation.
Campaigners are also closely monitoring the development of additional policies that will complement the provisions of the ECGT Directive. Notably, the Green Claims Directive, which will define what companies should do to prove and communicate green credentials, is yet to undergo negotiations and will unlikely be finalised before the European elections in June. On the other hand, the Right to Repair Initiative is already further along in the process and may be adopted before the elections. Finally, EU negotiators have recently agreed on a new framework to make products sustainable by design (the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, ESPR), but sector-specific rules will only be developed in the coming years.


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Duke Nukem Forever has apparently been living it up secretly on a Caribbean paradise island retreat, or at least that's what Take-Two implies through court documents.
Apparently 3D Realms has a flush "off-shore account", and inside is enough green to bankroll the ever so longingly anticipated return of Duke Nukem; rubbish say 3DR.
"Upon information and belief, Apogee has title to a substantial amount of funds deposited in an off-shore account, which Take-Two believes Apogee can use to fund its outstanding obligations," says Take-Two in their lawsuit against the studio.
It has also been revealed that T2 wanted Duke Nukem Forever to extend on Xbox 360, but 3D Realms refused such a thing and so the publisher went shopping for a developer to handle the port.
However before that could happen 3DR financially collapsed leaving the game precariously hanging. Take-Two are adamant that the studio has breached their contractual obligations and so wants them to either finish the project or hand everything over, basically.
"3DR has been in nearly a dozen lawsuits (including against Warner and Fox). We’re always innocent, and we always win. This one is no exception. Give it a year, then the truth will come out," said Scott Miller, founder of 3D Realms/Apogee.
The courtroom ballet continues...


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NEW YORK — Get ready for another Las Vegas trade show—Capsule is gearing up for its first edition there this February.
Slated to run Feb. 17 and 18 in a convention space in the Luxor hotel, the new Capsule show will be its third location, following its first Paris show this past summer and the original New York show that debuted in 2007. Capsule targets upscale, indie designers, premium brands and their boutique retail buyers. The show’s organizers, the BPMW showroom in New York, are aiming for 40 to 50 vendors for the kickoff Las Vegas show.
“It will be a very similar setup to New York, with a brand assortment from all over the world,” said Edina Sultanik Silver, a partner at BPMW. “There’s a certain caliber of retailer and designer that we consider to be part of our community that we felt there is an opportunity to serve there.”
Brands that have showed at the New York or Paris editions of Capsule include Alexander Herchcovitch, Ksubi, April77, Kidrobot, Simon Miller Jeans and Super eyewear. The New York edition of the show has generated healthy buzz in a short period of time, and this past summer showcased about 70 brands.
In Las Vegas, BPMW is charging $5,000 for a standard 9×9 foot booth for apparel and $2,000 for a similar booth for accessories. Apart from the Capsule shows, BPMW also operates the Compass shoe show in Las Vegas.
The Capsule show joins a crowded field of apparel shows in Las Vegas, including MAGIC, Project, Pool, ENK Vegas and MRket, which all exhibit concurrently each season.


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THE SAMTEC BLOG
After several years of development, the Internet of Things has created a series of smart and innovative services. Artificial intelligence (AI) has also been implemented in various industries and used by everyone. The combination of AI and IoT further expands the level of smart applications which deeply affect our daily lives.
This year’s COMPUTEX Forum, with the theme of “Pervasive Intelligence”, invites global leading companies to explore the variety of industries from quantum computing, blockchain applications, immersive experiences, digital twins, and more to an in-depth exploration of AI applications in various industries and the new AIoT imaginary applications. The will inspire enterprises on the future layout and their strategic development.
Samtec will be featuring a wide variety of Samtec solutions including Optics and other High Speed Products. For more information, check out the Computex Taipei website.


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In the Indian market, the Toyota Urban Cruiser competed directly with the Maruti Brezza. However, this SUV also competed with Tata Nexon, Kia Sonnet and Nissan Magnite. Let us tell you that Toyota has taken the decision to discontinue the Urban Cruiser after launching the Urban Cruiser Highrider, which has been brought a few months back.
Why was Urban Cruiser discontinued?
The Toyota Urban Cruiser was the company’s most affordable SUV which was performing well with sales of around 2,000 units per month. However, the biggest reason for discontinuing it is the launch of the Urban Cruiser Highrider. The Toyota Urban Cruiser Highrider has been brought at almost the same price as the Urban Cruiser. Compared to the Urban Cruiser, the Urban Cruiser Highrider is a premium SUV that is equipped with hybrid technology. In order to offer both the SUVs at the same price level and to give priority to the new model, the company took the plunge of discontinuing the Urban Cruiser.
According to reports, Toyota has no plans to bring a new variant or rebadged model of the Urban Cruiser. This SUV, which was launched in the competition of Maruti Brezza, could never overtake the Brezza in terms of sales. Toyota was selling only close to 2,200 units of this SUV every month. Apart from this, the urban cruiser was also Rs 5,000-15,000 more expensive than the Brezza.
Talking about the Urban Cruiser, this SUV was made available in three trims – Mid, High and Premium. Maruti Suzuki’s 1.5-litre K-series petrol engine was used in the Urban Cruiser which produces 103 Bhp of power and 138 Nm of torque. This SUV gets the option of 5-speed manual and 4-speed automatic gearbox.
Toyota launched CNG car
Toyota has now made its move towards the CNG car market. The company has launched the CNG version of the Glanza hatchback in India on 9 November. The Glanza CNG has been launched with a starting price of Rs 8,43,000 ex-showroom. The carmaker has also informed about bringing Urban Cruiser Highrider to CNG, whose prices will be disclosed by the company soon.
The Glanza CNG is offered in its current fuel efficient K-series engine. This is a 1197cc engine that generates power of 77.5 PS. This engine is also known to deliver better driving experience. Maruti Suzuki is using the same engine in Baleno. Toyota has claimed that the Glanza can give a mileage of 30.61 km on 1 kg of CNG.
With the launch of CNG vehicles, the company has indicated to challenge the segment giants Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. Toyota launched the Glanza facelift earlier this year. The direct rival to the Maruti Baleno, the hatchback is available at a starting price of Rs. 6.59 lakh (ex-showroom).


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On this day 11 years ago, an anonymous writer under the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto” published a white paper. The document described a decentralized cryptocurrency, with transactions stored on a digital ledger in a “blockchain,” that would enable people to exchange funds over the internet without needing a financial institution.
Fast forward 11 years and the results have been a mixed bag. Bitcoin has a market cap of $167 billion, down from an all-time high of over $300 billion in December 2017. It’s sparked a widespread industry of “altcoins,” and even big names like Facebook have started exploring an asset-backed Libra cryptocurrency. But mainstream adoption remains limited, its price remains volatile, and environmental concerns swirl around the coin’s energy usage.
“After 11 years, it’s safe to say that bitcoin is not a flash in the pan,” Clement Thibault, an analyst at financial markets platform Investing.com, tells Inverse. “I remain cautiously optimistic about the future of bitcoin, but it may be decades before it ceases to be mainly a speculative asset.”
Bitcoin: the promise of a bank-free future
The bitcoin white paper’s introduction hints at a future that would cut major financial institutions from the equation, giving internet users a way to directly exchange value with each other:
What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party. Transactions that are computationally impractical to reverse would protect sellers from fraud, and routine escrow mechanisms could easily be implemented to protect buyers. In this paper, we propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-to-peer distributed timestamp server to generate computational proof of the chronological order of transactions.
The first real-world item purchased with bitcoin is believed to have been a pizza. Programmer Laszlo Hanyecz spent 10,000 bitcoins to purchase $25 worth of pizza from a user of the BitcoinTalk forums. At the time those bitcoins would have been worth $41, so Hanyecz made a notable loss on his purchase. May 22 is now celebrated in the community as bitcoin pizza day, and wallet manufacturer Ledger has even produced a limited-edition pizza wallet for storing bitcoins.
A Twitter account, Bitcoin Pizza Tracker, lists the price of those bitcoins every day. At the time of writing, they are currently worth $91 million.
In 2017, a surging price led to increased mainstream interest. The price moved from less than $1,000 in January to reach around the $20,000 mark by December.
But bitcoin remains a relative obscurity. It’s rarely offered as a payment method in the United States, and even in places that do offer support like BrewDog in the United Kingdom, the user experience can be frustrating.
That doesn’t mean bitcoin’s influence is over, though. After dropping to a price of less than $4,000 in December 2018, bitcoin peaked to $13,000 in July 2019. During this surge, Facebook announced a new push into cryptocurrency with the Libra consortium. This collection of firms would offer an asset-backed cryptocurrency, governed by an association, that enables those simplified transactions but aims to avoid some of the issues with bitcoin.
Bitcoin: a bright future?
Price-wise, nobody can be certain of bitcoin’s future performance. On the day of bitcoin’s anniversary, popular analysis Twitter account “crypto_birb” posted a suggestion that the price could rise to new all-time highs. But Kenneth Rogoff, a professor of economics and public policy at Harvard University, told Investopedia in June that the long-term value is “more likely to be $100 than $100,000.”
Focusing on the price could ignore some of its long-term effects.
“Long term, the price, tech, and social influence will align together and be correlated,” Thibault says. “Bitcoin is still a speculative asset but it will either end up as a forgotten temporary mania or as a force to be reckoned with. However, the longer bitcoin exists, the stronger it gets from a social and tech perspective, the more its influence grows, and the more battle-tested blockchain becomes.”
Author Daniel Jeffries made a similar declaration in a September 2019 HackerNoon story. He predicted a number of potentially unforeseeable improvements in user experience, the possible rise of a number of new projects, and a 50/50 chance for bitcoin’s long-term survival: “A coin with well designed, widespread, build-in governance will have a massive advantage over bitcoin and could easily replace it, as it makes upgrades seamless and smooth.”
But even with these problems solved, the question could remain whether cryptocurrency could fill a clear gap in the market to prove useful to a mainstream audience. Antoine Martin, an economist in the New York Fed’s Money and Payment Studies function, explained to the World Economic Forum in February 2018 why that might not be so clear:
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are trying to improve scalability and convenience so perhaps in the future one of these cryptocurrencies could realistically compete with current payment methods. But, fundamentally, we wonder whether a payment method designed to function where trust in institutions is completely absent can ever be as convenient as one where trust is required, but also already exists.
Bitcoin may have grown a year older, but its future remains as unclear as ever.
The author of this story has a stake in bitcoin and Ethereum.


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Lora Miller and her husband Ken Williamson, a cycling couple from New Britain, were wandering through the Connecticut Convention Center showroom Friday, gazing with delight at the dazzling displays of scores of handmade bicycles.
“It’s serious overload,” Williamson said of the custom-built two-wheeled dream machines from all over the world. “Everything here is bike porn!”
This weekend’s 14th edition of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show — which is occurring for the first time ever in New England — features 75 different bicycle builders from more than eight nations and more than 140 exhibitors presenting cycling-related equipment from high-end wheels to biking skinsuits.
Organizers of the event are hoping the Hartford show, which runs through Sunday, might even break their all-time attendance record of 8,200 set a few years ago in California.
One of the most popular booths on Friday belonged to Peter Weigle, a Connecticut builder with a reputation for creating some of the most sought-after, handcrafted bicycles around.
“In my opinion, Peter Weigle may be the best bike builder on the planet,” said Don Walker, a founder of the show for handmade bicycles and a custom bike maker in his own right from Louisville, Ky.
Weigle, 67, just laughs when asked about Walker’s opinion of his work. Weigle won’t say exactly how long it takes for him to produce one of his specialty bikes in his one-man shop in Lyme. “A long time,” he said, “I don’t keep track of the time.”
But his eager customers probably do. Weigle has a backlog of buyers who often have to wait three years to finally ride one of his custom-made “randonneur” — or long-distance — bicycles.
His machines are exquisitely crafted from special lightweight steel tubing, each designed for a particular rider who wants a bicycle to ride at speed for long distances in comfort and style, with racks to carry gear and fenders to keep the mud off. Weigle said each of his bikes is different, and can cost in the neighborhood of $15,000 apiece. “Every part of the bike has been modified,” Weigle said as he proudly showed off one of his hand-painted creations.
As the Connecticut artisan discussed his work, cyclists of every description paused to listen and admire, and then strolled on to take in the other booths in the hall.
Tattooed teenagers and bearded grandfatherly types stood side by side, many taking photographs as if they were at a Hollywood red-carpet event, or just gazing longingly at bicycles of every imaginable type.
Over at the Calfee booth, a handmade tandem bicycle built for two hung on a wall. “That one probably costs about $20,000,” Walker estimated.
A few aisles away, Lance Rake, a professor of industrial design at the University of Kansas, was enthusiastically explaining to visitors how he came up with his sturdy looking bamboo-and-plastic bicycle.
Rake developed his unusual bike while on a fellowship in India. He said his idea was to design a machine that could be made from local, inexpensive, easily obtainable materials. “I told them they should make [bamboo] bike frames — that they can make a lot more money with that than by making baskets,” Rake said.
At the other end of the hall was the booth of Mosaic Cycles of Boulder, Colo. The owners brought 11 complete bikes to the Hartford show, ranging in price from a low of $5,500 to more than $15,000.
Phillip Ball, a salesman for Mosaic, estimated the total value all the bikes in the display at “close to $100,000.”
The Hartford event is Brian Chapman’s first ever appearance at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, and the centerpiece of his booth was a gorgeous tandem with a special trailer for carrying luggage that would set you back more than $11,000.
Chapman said that most of the bikes he makes by hand in his Cranston, R.I., workshop cost between $7,000 and $8,000. “I like to build about 12 bikes a year,” Chapman said, estimating that he puts in 80 to 100 hours on each one.
Walker said exhibitors at the show include builders from Canada, Japan, Korea, Russia, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy, as well as from all over the U.S.
There were displays of sleek carbon-fibered models ready to take on the mountain stages of the Tour de France, and fat-tired mountain bikes capable of negotiating the roughest off-road terrain.
“We’ve been waiting for this,” Weigle said of the first New England edition of the biggest handmade bicycle show in the world. “It’s neat to have it here.”
The North American Handmade Bicycle Show continues on Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Connecticut Convention Center. Tickets are $31 on Saturday and $25 on Sunday.


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Hardly a day goes by without another news report on a diet and dietary practises. In fact, sometimes it appears in complete contrast to the day before.
This can be confusing and we can be forgiven for giving up on it all!
Take these two articles for example from the New Zealand Herald:
Often the science is correct but it’s been re-written in a new context to make it more newsworthy. And of course, they need a headline.
Let’s take these two stories for example:
1. Reducing fat intake may lead to an early death
The Canadian research spanned 18 countries and was presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Barcelona. The data found that consuming high levels of fats cut mortality by up to 23 per cent.
The researchers said, “Our data suggests that low-fat diets put populations at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.” Those on low fat diets tend to eat too much stodgy food like bread, pasta and rice. Eating in this way caused them to miss out on vital nutrient, the experts said.
“Getting the balance of fats and carbohydrates right was about achieving a ‘sweet spot’ which was best for health”, they added.
I’ve highlighted the word balance as that is the MenoMe® philosophy of health, starting with a woman’s hormones. We’re all about happy, healthy hormones. To help this end make this a mantra you live by.
Avoid plain white processed foods with “empty” calories such as sugar and flour.
2. Five-a-day fruit and vegetable theory debunked
When reading the headline of the second article, “Five-a-day fruit and vegetable theory debunked” you might wonder. “Wow, shouldn’t I eat fruit and vegetables then? I’m confused!”
Actually, all it says is that eating four 80g serves gives you the same benefit as eating 5+ serves a day. For public health messages to mass populations of people the messaging has to be very plain, simple and clear.
The 5+ a day campaign has been very successful at communicating the importance of eating fruit and vegetables.
It cleverly uses a hand, with five fingers to communicate so that even children get it. But sadly it seems that many families cannot afford five serves of fruit and veges a day. Not to worry, because four could be enough. Well, at least statistically, five gave no more benefit over four in this study.


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Qorvo makes continued progress towards margin targets
Infrastructure and Defence Products "driving record bookings", says CEO Bob Bruggeworth
US RF company Qorvo has announced financial results for Q1 2018 (ended July 1, 2017). On a GAAP basis, Q1 revenue was $640.8 million, gross margin was 36.9 percent, operating loss was $27.8 million, and diluted loss per share was $0.24. On a non-GAAP basis, Q1 revenue was $639.9 million, gross margin was 47.3 percent, operating income was $137.4 million, or 21.5 percent of sales, and diluted EPS was $0.87.
Bob Bruggeworth, president and CEO Qorvo, said, "The Qorvo team delivered June quarter revenue and EPS at the high end of our guidance with continued progress toward achieving our margin targets. "We're particularly proud of the strong revenue growth in IDP [Infrastructure and Defence Products]. Our IDP product portfolio is capturing diverse, high-growth opportunities with differentiated technologies, and this is driving record bookings. In Mobile Products, we've secured designs for a broad suite of new products, and we're excited about ongoing development programs for marquee platforms. We're building our industry's most highly integrated RF solutions, and we're targeting the most complex and most profitable opportunities."
During the last quarter, the companychieved record IDP revenue of $184 million, up 9 percent sequentially and 22 percent year-over-year, led by IoT and defence. The company also secured 28 GHz wins supporting SamsungÂ® 5G MIMO demo at 2018 Winter Olympics. It began commercial shipments of 39 GHz FEMs for 5G infrastructure, and was designed into Technicolor DOCSIS 3.1 gateway with 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi solutions.
Other achievements were selection by the leading China-based smartphone OEM to support marquee smartphone ramping this fall with power amplifiers, premium filters, high-performance switches and an ET PMIC; and support for new smartphone entrant in the Android ecosystem with more than $12 of Qorvo RF content.
Mark Murphy, CFO of Qorvo, said: "In the second quarter, we expect strong sequential growth on seasonal phone launches, a modest China recovery, and continued strength in IDP. In Mobile Products, we expect double-digit year-over-year growth in the second half of the fiscal year, reflecting our current view of timing of program ramps and China market dynamics. In IDP, we are projecting over 15 percent full-year growth on strength across multiple markets. Our operating performance continues to improve, and we now expect free cash flow will triple in fiscal year 2018."
Qorvo currently expects the demand environment in its end markets supports the following non-GAAP expectations for the September 2017 quarter: Quarterly revenue in the range of $800 million to $820 million; gross margin of approximately 47.8 percent, up 50 bps from the prior quarter; and diluted EPS in the range of $1.36 to $1.50.


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Crumbl Cookies sets opening date for Montgomery store
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Montgomery cookie lovers can now rejoice, as Crumbl Cookies is inching closer to welcoming customers inside.
People have been driving by the cookie chain’s new store, located at the Zelda Place shopping center near Publix, eagerly awaiting its opening date.
Owners Vanessa and Christopher Arias say they plan to open on June 9 at 8 a.m.
While “now hiring” signs are still posted outside, the owners say they already have more than 60 employees on board.
The store is known for its weekly rotating menu and open kitchen. Crumbl Cookies allows customers to see cookies being mixed, baked and prepared.
The Montgomery store was announced a year ago, alongside the new CAVA Mediterranean restaurant.
Sign up for the WSFA Newsletter and get the latest local news and breaking alerts in your email!
Copyright 2023 WSFA. All rights reserved.


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The standalone YouTube Gaming app will close on May 30. YouTube announced the impending shutdown last year, saying the spin-off caused “confusion” among game fans. Instead, it integrated the service into its main application, launching a gaming-focused hub that has already largely replaced the old YouTube Gaming.
In a help page, YouTube leads all remaining YouTube Gaming fans at this new hub. This is also the merger of YouTube and YouTube Gaming subscriptions, although people will apparently lose the list of games they have registered. “We launched YouTube Gaming as a standalone app for gamers where we tested new features based on feedback from the gaming community,” the page explains. “We want to continue to build a stronger home for the thriving gaming community on YouTube.”
YouTube Gaming was launched in 2015. YouTube promoted it as a way to improve the live streaming experience and keep irrelevant content away from gaming fans, besides being a test bed for features like channel subscriptions and a dark mode. But according to the company, most users still watched game videos on the main app, and many didn’t even understand what YouTube Gaming was for. Its best features came later on the main platform – where a lot more people actually saw them.


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The number of pure-play network change and configuration-management vendors decreased again as EMC announced it had purchased Voyence for an undisclosed amount.
Ingrian Networks announced it has updated its DataSecure encryption appliance line most commonly used for credit-card encryption, adding the high-end 400 Series and discontinuing the 300 Series, while keeping the low-end 100 Series with enhancements.
3 Mobile and Skype unveiled a new and exclusive mobile phone that lets people make free Skype to Skype calls and send free instant messages to other Skype users across the world.
As employees struggle to read an increasing amount of work-related material, some companies have turned to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology to improve productivity.
Taiwan's Asustek Computer complained of a shortage of Intel central processing units (CPUs) for laptop PCs, but said it didn't expect the problem to affect its sales.
Asustek Computer's Linux-based Eee PC laptop will soon be on sale in North America and Europe, and the company plans to offer a version running Windows XP by the end of the year.
McAfee will acquire ScanAlert, a Web application security vendor, for US$51 million, the companies announced this week.
Internet startup Meebo is urging developers to create applications around its Web-based IM (instant-messaging) site, an attempt to create Facebook-like momentum.
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a seven-year extension to an Internet tax ban, the final step before the legislation heads to President George Bush to be signed into law.
IBM and networking provider Alcatel-Lucent are teaming up to take Microsoft head-on in the unified communications market.
Microsoft showed off some features of the next version of Project, to the delight of the crowd gathered at the Microsoft Office Project Conference in Seattle.
The Google phone is inching closer to reality, with wireless handhelds running Google applications and operating software expected in the first half of 2008, several industry analysts said this week.
Apple's computers are the most reliable and its support the most dependable of the five top vendors, a U.S. national chain of computer service shops said this week.
Apple said it has shipped more than 2 million copies of Leopard, the Mac OS X upgrade it released globally last Friday.
Microsoft this week plans to unveil a new initiative that will focus on taking model-driven design mainstream, easing the process of developing composite applications within a service-oriented architecture (SOA).
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The European Internet Service Providers Association (EuroISPA) and the Federation of European Direct Marketing Associations (Fedma) have clashed over how to deal with junk electronic mail, so called spam, in a proposed directive on electronic commerce.
EuroISPA said it wanted junk electronic mail to be banned, saying it costs consumers money through their phone bill and time to delete the unwanted mail. Fedma said that subject to privacy restraints, spam is a legitimate form of marketing.
Jean-Christophe Le Toquin from EuroISPA said: "It costs ISPs money in bandwidth and capacity. Commercial electronic mailers should not object to being restricted to mailing only those people who have given their consent to receive such mail."
But Fedma officials said it would be opposed to any form of banning of unsolicited junk mail and said that the current data protection directive makes it clear that marketing agencies give consumers the choice to receive or refuse mail.
"We have to acknowledge that there is a consumer concern, but there are other ways of dealing with the problem of spamming than banning it altogether," said Asuncion Caparros of Fedma.
"More money needs to be invested in finding a solution that can be applied to electronic mail - we have found solutions for post and telephone marketing and we can do the same for electronic marketing," she said.
Caparros said the marketing industry has established a system called the Robinson list, where the consumer can write to all direct marketing agencies worldwide to request not to be sent material.
The US has created a Robinson list for electronic mail, which would be operational there in the next two months and in Europe in the near future, she said.
European Commisson is proposing that worries over spamming be resolved by 'tagging' unsolicited electronic mail so the recipient can identify it and choose to ignore it.
But EuroISPA said there are widespread fears that the 'tagging' process would give junk mailers the chance to send at least one junk mail to everyone before consumers had a chance to set up a filter.
In a separate call on the directive, the European Public Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO) said ISPs could be encouraged to shut down websites which have illegal content, for fear of being held liable, even where proof of illegal activity is not available.
"The draft directive contains nothing to inhibit unjustified complaints. This, combined with ISPs lack of competence to judge the validity of complaints, will result in the unnecessary closure of many sites," said an ETNO statement.
ETNO said it is essential that ISPs are required to take down, or remove material, only in response to complaints that conform with clearly defined procedures and that liability in cases of takedown because of unjustified third party complaints must be defined.
The draft electronic commerce proposal was under discussion in the European Parliament's legal affairs committee at the end of last week, with a vote expected at the beginning of April.
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Battery development could help boost performance of smartphones
Topological photonic chips promise a more robust option for scalable quantum computers
In quantum physics both the chicken and the egg can come first, claim University of Queensland researchers
Cause-and-effect is not always straightforward in quantum physics


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“Ultimately, the idea here was we have this newish machine, and we know it’s small. We know there’s an opportunity for this to let people appreciate the size of it on their countertops. So let’s just dramatize that aspect of it, and start putting these machines in small spaces to demonstrate that functional attribute.”
–Stephen Kill, Marketing Director, Nespresso USA
Nespresso is taking its “There’s Always Room for Great Coffee” campaign messaging seriously. And literally. On March 7, to showcase the functional features of its smallest coffee machine, Vertuo Pop, the brand transformed an elevator at New York’s One World Trade Center into the stylish, two-person Vertuo Pop Café. From the lobby to the 64th floor, commuters riding up to their offices were treated to a quick demo of the machine and a hot espresso, latte or coffee to go. Talk about an elevator pitch.
Here’s how it worked: Nespresso partnered with One World Trade Center to slow down the express elevator to the 64th floor so that the ride took 45 seconds from the time the doors closed to the top. Typically, two people at a time could participate in the mini café experience. Guiding the experience was a barista from one of Nespresso’s boutique coffee shops, who offered a quick bite of info—either how the Vertuo Pop works, or how the brand created the tiny coffee shop—along with a hot beverage, which took 30 seconds to brew.
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The sleek little café was inspired by the Pop machine itself, including a pink color scheme and reflective, wall-mounted spheres, which were inspired by the capsules that are used to brew Vertuo coffee. Meanwhile, ample curved edges and ribbing mimicked the shape and textures of the machine.
The brand teamed up with Condé Nast, whose offices are located at One World Trade, to pull off the activation. The idea was to leverage the design chops of editors from Architectural Digest to craft the café’s premium look, and to drive awareness of the Nespresso’s Vertuo line of coffee machines among the publication’s sophisticated audience.
“Pop is our lowest-price Vertuo machine, so it is going to be a workhorse for us,” says Stephen Kill, marketing director at Nespresso USA. “But how do we continue to not do that at the expense of brand credentials? So we had to continue to try to elevate the brand and that’s where Architectural Digest played that dual role of the paid portion with the reach, but also them giving us the design credibility.”
This isn’t the first, or last, time Nespresso will be popping up in small, unexpected places. The brand launched its first Pop Café last August at the Santa Monica Pier, where it took over a gondola on the Pacific Ferris wheel and turning it into a mini cafe, complete with a barista serving up iced coffee. Looking ahead, Nespresso aims to take the Vertuo Pop Café concept to a variety of U.S. cities in the coming months.
“We need to be in markets where the biggest opportunity exists for the brand. So we’ve done a lot of analysis on where we may be underdeveloped, where the biggest potential is for us to grow,” Kill says. “It’s an opportunity to create a presence where we may not have a boutique or something else. And this size format really plays well no matter where you are.” Agencies: nmbl; Invisible North.
Photo credit: Kelsey Rose


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Nintendo bosses have insisted AGAIN that the Nintendo 3DS isn't going anywhere.
It's been speculated that the new console/handheld hybrid could replace the Nintendo 3DS, as they both focus on their portability as their main sell.
But Kimishima has instead promised that "thanks to our software, the 3DS hardware is still growing".
He added to Bloomberg: "So that business still has momentum. And certainly rather than being cannibalized by the Switch, we think the 3DS can continue in its own form."
Kimishima also pointed out that Nintendo 3DS sales are up, and that Pokémon: Sun and Moon has already broken records, despite not even being released yet. Over 3.5 million users downloaded the demo released last week (Tuesday, October 18).
Reiterating the point that Switch won't make Nintendo 3DS redundant (have you got that yet?), he added: "We didn't just want a successor to the Wii U or the 3DS. So our original concept was, 'What kind of new experience can we create?'
"And what we showed this time was an object that's both stationary and one you can take outside to play with anyone you want."
The question remains: how long will Nintendo continue to support the 3DS? But for now, it's definitely here to stay.
So, to recap: the Switch will not be replacing Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo 3DS isn't going anywhere.
Everyone got that?


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Curious about how the OnePlus 10 Pro is to use? So is everyone else outside of China since the phone launched there on Jan. 10, as the company hasn’t yet given an international release date. But a new video showing off the flagship phone reveals that it’s essentially running Oppo software.
YouTuber Marques Brownlee got his hands on a OnePlus 10 Pro model from China and demonstrated that it appears to have entirely replaced all traces of OnePlus’ signature OxygenOS Android skin with Oppo’s ColorOS.
This doesn’t necessarily mean the version of OnePlus 10 Pro that will be sold outside China won’t have OxygenOS, Brownlee noted. But replacing software entirely is very different than the “fusion” of operating systems that OnePlus CEO Pete Lau described last September that would bring the best of both OxygenOS and ColorOS to the next generation of OnePlus phones.
Fans and media have been in the dark since the phone’s launch earlier in January, which only revealed the OnePlus 10 Pro’s specs and new design. Per Brownlee’s video, the phone’s hardware is exactly as advertised: it seems to have the same lenses as the OnePlus 9 Pro in a redesigned camera block housing, though it does have a new 150-degree ultrawide mode within the photo app among other tweaks.
In addition, the in-screen fingerprint sensor, which was awkwardly low on the OnePlus 9 Pro, has been moved up on the display to be easier to reach with your thumb. The phone also has a new type of display, an LTPO 2, which has the same 120Hz maximum refresh rate but it now goes down to a 1Hz, which is lower than the 9 Pro’s minimum 10Hz, meaning lower potential power drain.
It seems we were right to be excited for the 10 Pro’s 5,000mAh battery, the largest on a OnePlus flagship phone yet, as Brownlee found it lasted longer than the brand’s older phones. The 80-watt charging is also as speedy as expected, though you’ll need to buy a proprietary Oppo wireless charger to reach the phone’s 50-watt maximum wireless charging speeds.
OnePlus veterans may be thrown off by the charger included in the box, which isn’t OnePlus’ WarpCharge but the SuperVOOC charger block typically packed with Oppo phones. The latter has a USB-A plug instead of the USB-C ports used by most modern chargers, so if you lose the included cable, you may need to unearth older cables long ago consigned to your desk drawer.
OnePlus didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.


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Tariffs signed – 25% steel, 10% aluminum – Canada & Mexico get a reprieve. TPP signed – minus US. Cigna buying Express Scripts. Tomorrow is 9-year anniversary of market bottom – tech has been the leader in the bull market.
Plus, Peter Cohan, author of Startup Cities Plus, Steve Jurich from IQ Wealth More info at www.SinclairNoe.com


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24/7 Connect, the company’s ad serving unit, will provide Modem Media’s
client — whose identity was undisclosed — with the capability to manage
and track online advertising campaigns, deployed across any digital device.
“Modem Media is a very influential player in the interactive services
industry, and we couldn’t be more pleased to be working with them,” said
David Moore, president and chief executive officer of 24/7 Media.
“24/7 Connect is a powerful ad serving system that will be a great fit for
the specialized services Modem Media creates for its clients.”
Until fairly recently, 24/7 Media had outsourced its ad serving to CMGI‘s AdForce, but it has lately been moving all
of its clients over to its proprietary solution. That system, which the
company partially based on the technology of Sabela Media, which it
acquired, is 24/7’s first real effort at getting into the ad serving
business. The company says that more than 96 percent of the US Web sites on
the 24/7 Network have transitioned to 24/7 Connect, serving more than 135
million impressions per day.
Separately, 24/7 Media on Monday said its ad serving network for small- and
medium-sized Web sites, ContentZone, served more than 200
million impressions in June, a 100 percent growth since its re-launch in


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Search Used and New Cars
Search New and Used Cars
Expert Reviews and Vehicle Details
We even loved the bargain Kia Rio hatchback (or Rio5) when we drove it a couple of years back. The brand just pulled the covers off the refreshed version for the 2021 model year.
Now, Mazda is about to start manufacturing its first all-electric vehicle known as the MX-30 crossover. But here's the kicker. It only has 124 miles of range.
They have the RAV4 Hybrid, which sells like hotcakes, and the new Highlander Hybrid. Now, they're bringing a new member info the lineup and, guess what? It's a hybrid crossover called the Venza.
Toyota wants to at least change some of that with the new 2021 Sienna, and it looks like they just might pull it off. Upon first glance, our reaction was, "Wow, now that's a good-looking minivan."
You can easily save a ton over buying new if you're smart. But what year vehicle should you buy and how much mileage should you comfortable with as you shop?
The RAV4 actually increased its sales volume by quite a substantial margin compared to Q1 2019. The numbers reflect a double-digit sales increase.
The new Prius 2020 Edition gets dressed to "kill" as a 2021 model that will be produced in limited numbers (2,020 to be exact).
The new Jeep Gladiator Mojave grade sports the first-ever 'Desert Rated' Badge. Here's what the 2020 Gladiator Mojave packs to take on the desert and earn the inaugural badge.
One of the biggest car rental companies, Hertz, has been hit hard by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, and they almost had to file for bankruptcy.
FCA's new Uconnect 5 system is more powerful and more customizable. See how it makes the user experience safer, more responsive, and more personalized.
We hung out with our whole family in the San Diego, CA area this past spring before COVID-19 hit en masse, and the 2020 Sequoia TRD Pro was our chariot for a week.
Convenience marries driving thrills thanks to the 2020 Hyundai Veloster N's new 8-Speed DCT. Get all the details about the enhanced hot-hatch.
There's no confirmation from the brand just yet, but a couple of months ago, news of something performance-oriented was intimated by Toyota executives. This could mean a GR Corolla.
While full details are still under wraps, this is what we do know about the brand's first production vehicle that's meant to go up against the Tesla Model S and the Porsche Taycan.
The current Nissan Rogue is attractive and semi-competent on road. The 2021 redesigned Rogue is coming, and thanks to the magic of social media, we may know what it'll look like.


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Greensboro, NC, March 13, 2018 --(PR.com
)-- Imagine going into your local retail store with the intention to purchase a doll, book or even a t-shirt with a cute image and savvy quote for your child, but you realize that none of the merchandise has images that look like you.
When Dr. Kimberly Harper and Mrs. Robyn Abdusamad became mothers, they noticed a that big chain retail stores didn’t have a variety of African American books and toys that looked like their kids. “When I’d go shopping to buy a doll for my daughter, Naeemah, it was difficult to find a wide selection, and it was almost impossible to find action figures for my son. The dolls I would find were not displayed prominently or they were priced much higher than the white dolls. As I worked to build a library for my children I encountered the same problem. I had to purchase everything online because major book retailer did not have a wide selection of books for African-American children,” said Kim.
During a phone call, the two long-time friends discussed the need for products that uplifted and positively represented their kids. They knew it would be important to create a counter narrative to what being projected in the media and in retail by establishing positive and healthy images of African Americans in addition to children books. “Anti-Black bias continues to be prevalent in our society, especially in mainstream media,” Robyn said. The friends began their own research and discovered the results were very limited. From there, they decided to take a leap of faith in creating their own brand that would promote healthy images of African Americans as well as providing uplifting historical stories – stories our kids wouldn’t learn about in school.
“When you look at all the negativity in the media about African Americans the wear and tear can begin to undermine the self-esteem of people of color—especially children,” said Robyn, “we felt it was very necessary to create a foundation for our children that would instill that sense of love and dignity in themselves and their culture.”
From there, Omera Productions was created.
“Studies have shown that when children are able to see positive representation of themselves whether it is in the media, classrooms, retail stores or literature, it boosts their confidence which can lead to great achievement from our youth,” said Kim, “African Americans have such a unique and extraordinary legacy; much of which is untold. It’s a heritage that we should take pride in as African Americans and not be made to feel ashamed or less than in this society.”
Robyn and Kim have put forth a lot of time and investment into their idea which includes devoting hours on writing and marketing, as well as connecting with schools and organizations in the community for their products to become more known.
Omera has produced school supplies that feature illustrated African American images with uplifting affirmations. “We’ve done extremely well thus far and we look forward to continued growth as the year closes out,” said Kim. Also, Omera has a jewelry line called Inspirational Jewelry by Omera-ZAA. This jewelry line was created by two young sisters who handmade the jewelry and decided to give each item an uplifting name. “While education is essential, I also instill in my daughters the importance of establishing their own business,” said Robyn, “they’re such intelligent and creative girls; they love making the jewelry, they write stories and are also designing an app with the help of their father. So, they’re busy little bees at such a young age.”
“Although we feature African American images on our products and in our stories, we maintain that all children can benefit from what we offer,” said Kim.
Robyn and Kim’s concept has grown leading to many calls from various places, individuals and organizations requesting bulk orders or wanting to collaborate somehow with their efforts.
“I won’t lie but it’s been a little overwhelming, but we are humble and grateful for the blessing,” said Kim.
Omera has published a children’s book, “Zaynab’s Enchanted Scarf” written by Robyn Abdusamad. “This is my third published book but I consider this one special because it teaches our children as well as adults about our legacy as African Americans; how our history didn’t begin with slavery but our ancestors were actually great Kings and Queens,” said Robyn, “Imagine tracing your roots and learning King Mansa Musa or Queen Amina is one of your relatives, how amazing would that be!”
Currently, Omera is working on getting their products in more schools and bookstores. They are also working on developing educational programs for youth, speaking engagements and are planning for a 2018 reading tour.
“This is an exciting time for us, and we are very pleased with the support,” said Kim.
“Zaynab’s Enchanted Scarf” is available online at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. This children’s book has a product line that includes a coloring and activity book as well as an animation that is available for download.
Learn more about Omera Productions by visiting their website at www.omeraproductions.com.
Contact: Dr. Kimberly Harper or Mrs. Robyn Abdusamad


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2020 has been a quiet year for the Air Jordan 9, but Jordan Brand is giving it a moment in the holiday spotlight by prepping a “University Blue” colorway. The “University Blue” is only the second AJ9 to release in 2020 — January’s Air Jordan 9 “Racer Blue” was the first — and it uses the signature light blue shade of Michael Jordan‘s alma mater, the UNC Tar Heels, to offer a clean and simple collegiate style.
High-cut uppers are built of crisp white leather, quickly offset by a sparkling black synthetic on the mudguard, heel and collar. Black laces sit atop a white tongue, and black midsoles/white outsoles add further to the yin and yang of tones. “University Blue” is relegated to the branded accents: it’s most noticeable on the heel’s #23 graphic and rubberized badge, but also appears on the fabric tongue tag and duo of Jumpman hits that grace the lateral side of the midsole and the outsole’s heel. This colorblocking scheme is sure to be inherently familiar to Air Jordan heads, as it debuted on the OG Air Jordan 9 “Space Jam,” a shoe that last released in 2016.
The Air Jordan 9 “University Blue” has been reported to release via Nike SNKRS and retailers like Foot Locker come December 5, though this has yet to be confirmed by Nike. MSRP will likely be set at $190 USD.
For more from the Jumpman, get a detailed look at the Air Jordan 4 “Fire Red” ahead of its Black Friday release.


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US companies have long accused Huawei of using its technology to spy, something the company has vehemently denied.
The US and India are long-standing allies, and trade is an important part of the relationship. However, a row over market access and tariffs has escalated, leading to fears of a protracted dispute.
The US first family likely enjoyed their fancy trip to the palace, hosted by Queen Elizabeth II. Trump got to share his tuppence worth, but for what? Even the monarch's veiled hints fell on deaf ears, says Bernd Riegert.
Google is suspending some services for Huawei smartphones after the Chinese company was placed on a US trade blacklist. The move effectively bars Huawei from making phones and tablets for sale outside China.
At the US-Africa economic summit, stakeholders from both sides meet to discuss future business. Africa's political elite is represented in large numbers. Interest in the US is not as strong.
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Why have African governments been slow with the adoption of cryptocurrencies?
Maybe they have good intentions and are just trying to protect their young citizens?
Alternatively, could it be because Africa has a crop of old leaders who can’t envision a future without paper cash?
Which is it?
From Nigeria to Kenya and South Africa to Egypt, a lot of the younger generation have jumped unto the Bitcoin train, disregarding the scepticism of regulators on the continent.
In Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has distanced itself from the “bitcoin movement” twice and even warned it’s citizens that bitcoin investments had no legal cover.
However, Bitcoin trading is booming in Nigeria. It must be said, though, that these boom in trading has been partly aided by MMM, a busted online Ponzi scheme. The MMM scheme eased the introduction of bitcoin trading into mainstream awareness.
The CBN’s first public reaction to virtual currencies was in a January 12, 2017 circular to Nigerian banks (PDF) warning them to deal in cryptocurrencies at their own risk, pending substantive regulation.
Some people have wrongly interpreted the circular as a ban, but officials at the Central Bank have since acknowledged that they cannot stop Bitcoin because it is obviously not within their control.
“Just don’t come crying to us if you lose your investment,” the CBN seems to infer.
When you do a quick search on Google Trends, it shows 3 African countries rank top 10 worldwide for the search term “Bitcoin.” These countries are South Africa (1), Ghana (5) and Nigeria (10).
Let’s use these African countries to examine what cryptocurrency regulation is like on the continent.
“Africa’s regulators are adopting a ‘Wait and See’ approach” – Ecobank report says.
The graph below shows the current regulatory stance of countries around the world.
South Africa cryptocurrency regulation: Let’s tax this thing.
The South African government has to be the friendliest to the Bitcoin ecosystem in Africa. The South African Revenue Services, the revenue arm of the South African government, has been exploring ways in which cryptocurrency investments can be properly taxed. In April 2018, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) said in a statement that citizens must declare income derived from cryptocurrency investments as part of their capital gains statement.
“The onus is on taxpayers to declare all cryptocurrency – related taxable income in the tax year in which it is received or accrued. Failure to do so could result in interest and penalties,” the statement explained.
The South Africa Reserve Bank (SARB) launched a project in 2017 dubbed “Project Khokha” to explore the distributed ledger technology – Blockchain. Early 2018, the bank completed a 14-week “realistic” proof-of-concept on the Blockchain that managed to settle the country’s every day 70,000 daily payment transactions within two hours, taking an average of 1–2 seconds for each transaction – and all while preserving full anonymity. Banks including Absa, Capitec, Discovery Bank, FirstRand, Investec, Nedbank and Standard Bank all participated in this live blockchain experiment.
Ghana cryptocurrency regulation: Wait, while we look into this thing. It might take forever though.
On January 22nd 2018, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) announced that trading Bitcoin in the country is not yet legal as it isn’t a recognised legal tender in the country.
Here’s what the BoG thinks: “The Bank of Ghana wishes to notify the general public that these activities in digital currency are currently not licensed under the Payments System Act 2003 (Act 662). The Bank of Ghana is currently investing many resources to enhance further the payments and settlements system, including digital forms of money and also to introduce cybersecurity guidelines to safeguard electronic and online financial transactions.”
The apex bank is still awaiting parliamentary decision on the Payment Systems & Services Bill since the beginning of 2018.
Kenya cryptocurrency regulation: We’re still looking into it.
Appetite for digital currencies remains active in Kenya. Volumes transacted are the third highest in Africa – behind South Africa and Nigeria. After the governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, Dr Patrick Njoroge, compared Bitcoin to a pyramid scheme in 2017, there’s some evidence the bank may be willing to soften its position going forward.
In 2018, President Uhuru Kenyatta directed that a Blockchain and AI taskforce be created to explore the use of these technologies within Kenya’s existing economic framework. Also, the Capital Markets Authority, Central Bank of Kenya, Insurance Regulatory Authority, SACCOs Societies Regulatory Authority and the Retirement Benefits Authority are due to meet to discuss how to regulate virtual currencies.
Nigeria cryptocurrency regulation: We might have been wrong to overlook this thing.
The Central Bank of the continent’s largest economy, Nigeria, had repeatedly warned its citizens and local banks against doing business with cryptocurrency exchanges. However, with the economy enjoying some stability over the past few months in 2018, the bank’s Head, Payments System Policy and Oversight, Musa Jimoh, disclosed has started looking into these virtual currencies from a policy standpoint.
At a cryptocurrency conference held in Lagos in September 2018, Jimoh alluded to the fact that the apex bank“cannot stop the tide of waves generated by the blockchain technology and its derivatives.”
He said the bank has “taken measures to create four departments in the institution that are looking forward to harmonise the white paper on cryptocurrencies.”
All in all, it looks like users are still bullish on cryptocurrency investments all over the continent and regulatory authorities are either working their way to creating policies, cashing in on the craze or warning against adoption.
One thing is sure, though, African regulators aren’t looking away.


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Makerbot Lays Off 20% Of Staff, Restructures Brooklyn Workplaces
Makerbot CEO Jonathan Jaglom has introduced that they’re shedding about 20% off the corporate’s four hundred employees or about eighty individuals. The transfer follows a earlier spherical of layoffs that dropped 20% of the unique workforce and closed the corporate’s three retail shops.
The corporate can also be closing one among its workplace areas in Business Metropolis and is relocating the software program and gross sales groups to its headquarters in downtown Brooklyn.
“We have now achieved quite a bit as a staff, however we now have additionally been impacted by the broader challenges in our business,” wrote Jaglom. “For the previous few quarters, we didn’t meet our formidable objectives and we’ve got to make vital modifications to make sure MakerBot’s future progress and success. With a purpose to lead our dynamic business, we have to get again to our entrepreneurial spirit and handle our fractured organizational construction.”
Jaglom stated the corporate will contract out manufacturing of its 4th era merchandise “to save lots of on prices and focus our groups at our manufacturing unit in Brooklyn on our present era of MakerBot 3D printers.”
Makerbot has weathered a troublesome few years after the exit of former CEO Bre Pettis and the transfer by interim CEO Jenny Lawton into the corporate’s new mum or dad, Stratasys. Competitors is fierce within the area now and up-and-coming corporations are shortly overtaking Makerbot as a house 3D printing juggernaut. In the long run this transfer might streamline the corporate to make it extra aware of buyer wants, an necessary consideration in an period of $500 3D printers.


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Caffeine is okay in coffee, but be wary of energy drinks. Sugar is fine in fruits and vegetables, but not added to snacks and drinks. It seems to be these sorts of recommendations made by the 2015 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) that are drawing praise from some and hostility from others.
Last week, the government-backed committee, which is comprised of 14 nationally recognized experts in the fields of nutrition, medicine and public health, submitted their report to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The DGAC’s recommendations are likely to shape the official 2015 U.S. dietary guidelines, which are intended to promote the health and well-being of Americans.
The committee’s report includes commentary on sustainability and the environmental impact of current diets, the first time that the DGAC, first established in 1980, has waded into the subject. The published report, which is released every five years, has major implications on the foods that consumers eat and on the ingredients that food and beverage companies choose to use and market.
While some, including a few members of the U.S. Congress, have accused the DGAC of overstepping its authority by advocating certain public policy recommendations like a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, health advocates are praising the committee for giving recommendations based on foods as a whole versus making guidelines for specific nutrients.
Experts from the report state that, “the totality of the diet — the combinations and quantities in which foods and nutrients are consumed — may have synergistic and cumulative effects on health and disease.” It’s the committee’s stance that consumption of sugars in fruits and vegetables, which contain various other nutrients and fibers, can have a different result on the body than consuming added sugars from a beverage or snack.
Here is a summary of the DGAC’s recommendations.
- Although the 2010 dietary guidelines recommended that cholesterol intake be limited to no more than 300 mg/day, the 2015 dietary guidelines is not continuing this recommendation. The new dietary guidelines state that cholesterol is no longer a “nutrient of concern for overconsumption.”
- In fact, the committee states that there is no “appreciable relationship” between dietary cholesterol and cholesterol in the blood, which is consistent to reports by the American Heart Association.
- The committee is placing a strong emphasis on “added” sugars suggesting that it is different from those that occur naturally in fruits and vegetables.
- The committee suggested to limit “added” sugar intake to less than 10 percent of total calories consumed.
- Policy recommendations included putting a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and putting nutritional information on the front of all packaging.
On Low-and No-Calorie Sweeteners
- The committee reviewed evidence on the efficacy of low-calorie sweeteners in weight loss and management and concluded that the ingredients can be helpful for weight loss. However, it did not recommend beverages containing no- or low-calorie sweeteners be used as tools to reduce both sugar and caloric intake.
- The committee states that consumption of three to five cups of coffee a day can actually be a healthy part of the diet and is associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
- On the other hand, the committee is warning against caffeine from energy drinks, which can provide high caffeine intake, or greater than 400 milligrams per day for adults. It is recommending limited or no consumption of high caffeine drinks for children and adolescents.
- The committee showed a softer approach on salt, recommending 2,300 milligrams or less of dietary salt per day, even for those people most at risk for heart disease. This new advice followed a 2013 report by the Institute of Medicine that said there is no solid evidence that eating less than 2,300 milligrams a day of sodium offers benefits, although the report says that limiting salt can still be helpful for some people.
Now that the advisory committee has completed its recommendations, it will be further reviewed by the HHS and USDA and considered along with comments from the public and various experts. The public is encouraged to view the report and provide written comments. You will have until April 8,, 2015. The government’s final, updated guidelines will be made available by the end of the year.


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Pop band 5 Seconds of Summer crashes in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 as the Australian group's self-titled full-length debut album arrives atop the list. The set sold 259,000 copies in the week ending July 27, according to Nielsen SoundScan, following the album's release on July 22.
A New York man who stole millions of dollars from clients by falsely promising to book performances by world-famous recording artists like Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber has been sentenced to five to 10 years in prison.
Through the new agreement, announced Wednesday (July 30), APRA AMCOS will represent peermusic’s catalog on a multi-territory, non-exclusive for licensing the publisher’s repertoire to digital music services.


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According to TechCrunch, citing anonymous sources, Microsoft is reportedly interested in acquiring the social news reader, Prismatic. The Redmond giant is apparently the frontrunner towards purchasing the startup for around $30 million. Other companies like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and Apple are also supposedly interested.
Prismatic works by recommending news articles to the user according to his or her interests. It also analyzes the interests of friends, as well as the user's own behaviour. All of these data point will then be used by the app to recommend more relevant news stories for the user in the future.
The product is currently available for iOS, Android, and the web. Despite its rave reviews, the app is facing a big problem: it's hard getting a mass of users to download a news reading app as a primary way of getting information. Most people usually turn to Facebook, Twitter and other similar social networking websites to gather news, and it will be difficult to make them tear away from these websites in favor of a standalone news reading app.
Neither Microsoft nor Prismatic have publicly commented on this report.


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When we last heard from the folks at Tokyo-based Metaps three months back, the company informed us that its Android monetization platform had driven 10 million app downloads in the span of just one year. And today the company has an update on its progress, stating that the total amount of participating Android apps have been downloaded 30 million times.
Metaps attributes this success to a strong performance in the Asian region, particularly in Korea where the advertisement consumption growth rates for Metaps’ partner apps was up 2,024 percent for the period of September to October this fall. Readers may recall when we spoke to Tapjoy a couple of months back, they reported a Korean smartphone market that skewed very heavily in favor of Android. So it should come as no surprise that Metaps would find a welcoming market there.
That’s followed by strong growth among the company’s partner apps in China too, which have seen a 864 percent rise in advertisement consumption. Other standout regions in Asia for Metaps partners were Hong Kong, Vietnam (both up 181 percent), and Taiwan (up 161 percent).
All this follows funding rounds about a year ago which helped the company staff a Singapore subsidiary from which it could make this Asia push. According to today’s announcement, Metaps plans to continue business development on a global scale, with a focus on Asia and North America.
Metaps is just one of many Japanese mobile/internet companies that have used Singapore as a springboard to expanding business overseas. We have seen a veritable all-star cast set up shop in the garden city, including DeNA, GREE, Recruit, and KDDI’s ad unit Mediba.


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The Lenovo brand has just officially announced that a new generation of gaming phone is on the way, it is the upcoming Lenovo Legion Y90 which is expected to bring features such as dual air cooling and high quality screen specs.
Lenovo Legion Y90 and Legion Y700 tablet very close to launch: here are the first specifications
In particular, the preview poster shows us that the gaming phone will be equipped with a 6,92-inch AMOLED screen, which uses E4 material, supports a 144Hz refresh rate and 720Hz touch sampling rate. There is also independent color calibration for each model and blue light eye protection certification.
As for the cooling system, the brand mentions a "Double Engine Air Cooling", this suggests that the smartphone will have two integrated cooling fans, which is similar to the Lenovo Gaming Phone 2's "Double Turbo Fan Supercharged Liquid Cooling System". Pro released earlier, and should be an updated version of the latter. .
It is worth mentioning that Lenovo's product director Lin Lin anticipated the smartphone by stating that after playing at 122 fps for 20 minutes, the phone's temperature was 38,9 degrees.
In addition to the dual air-cooled gaming phone, the Lenovo brand also anticipated its gaming tablet, the Legion Y700.
According to several leaks, the Legion Y700 uses 8,8-inch, 2560 * 1600 high resolution screen, with 3% DCI-P100 color gamut, supports 120Hz high refresh rate and touch sampling rate of 240Hz.


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CPI for agricultural and rural labourers up at 10.21 per cent in May
23 June 2009
The point to point rate of inflation based on the consumer price index for agricultural labourers (CPI-AL) and consumer price index for rural labourers (CPI-RL) increased to 10.21 per cent during May, from 9.09 per cent in April, for both the series.
The CPI inflation rate for the two series during May 2008 were 9.11 per cent and 8.84 per cent, respectively.
The all-India consumer price index for agricultural and rural labourers (base: 1986-87=100) for May 2009 increased by 7 points each and stood at 475 points for both the series.
The rise in the index, however, varied from state to state, data released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) showed.
In case of agricultural labourers, four states reflected an increase in index between 11 and 16 points; 11 states between 6 and 10 points and 5 states between 1 and 5 points.
Punjab with 523 points topped the index table whereas Himachal Pradesh with the index level of 412 points stood at the bottom.


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In the U.S. recently, President Obama announced that 75,000 trained workers will be needed in the next few years to support the expected continued growth of the US solar energy industry. Many of these solar workers will be retrained veterans returning from active service.
Supporting this effort and prediction are company announcements like this one today from Sunrun that they are hiring for expansion.
Sunrun, today announced the expansion of the company’s presence in Nevada. Sunrun’s Las Vegas office and warehouse, which opened in 2014, is expected to add more than 45 new jobs this spring, nearly doubling the company’s local workforce.
To support this growth, Sunrun will be present at the Las Vegas Choice Career Fair April 14 and the Military Spouse Hiring Fair at Nellis Air Force Base April 29 to meet and interview candidates.
“We’ve grown our business and footprint in Nevada since we began offering Sunrun solar in the market last year,” said Ethan Miller, senior vice president of operations at Sunrun.
We’re creating additional jobs in our Las Vegas facility to help support increasing consumer demand as Nevada homeowners become more aware of clean energy options like home solar that can save them money on their electric bill.
According to the recently released Solar Foundation National Solar Jobs Census 2014, Nevada ranks among the top seven states for solar job creation with more than 5,900 existing solar jobs in the state. Nevada jumped from number eight to the number one rank in per capita solar jobs in the U.S. last year.
Currently, Sunrun is available to homeowners serviced by NV Energy in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Mesquite, Boulder City and the surrounding areas, and continues to look for opportunities to extend its service within the state, like the regions surrounding Reno and Carson City. By continuing to grow its network, Sunrun aims to make home solar accessible to more consumers in Nevada and nationwide.
To view open positions at Sunrun’s Nevada branch and learn more about working at the company, visit the Sunrun Careers page.
Gordon's expertise in the area of industrial energy efficiency and alternative energy. He is an experienced electrical engineer with a Masters degree in Alternative Energy technology. He is the co-founder of several renewable energy media sites including Solar Thermal Magazine.