text:
Love your iPhone? You're not alone. Wireless handset makers have the most fiercely loyal consumer base of any brand category, according to the Brand Keys 2009 Loyalty Leader rankings.
Apple's device, the iPhone, introduced in 2007, has the most loyal customers of any brand. Samsung’s wireless handsets (including the Rogue, Smooth and Trance) ranked second, followed by BlackBerry, which placed fourth.
Six wireless handset brands in all fell within the top 30. The findings were culled from a poll of 26,000 people via the phone and in-person in September. The rankings were based on whether consumers felt the brands they used met or exceeded their expectations. For handsets, those criteria were connectivity and performance, product design, good value for the money, and applications and features.
So why have handsets surpassed many of consumers’ favorite retailers, luxury hotels and the other brands that made up the 64 categories examined?
"They are an integral part of us by now. Like underwear, people always have their wireless devices with them," said Roger Entner, head of telecom research at The Nielsen Co. Plus, they are personalized and "are not a commodity by any stretch of the imagination like a hotel room," said Entner.
That's not to say consumers didn't show strong affinity to some commodity offerings. One of the biggest leaps, among the 440 brands measured, came from McDonald's coffee.
The Premium Roast coffee launch, which began in 2006, has resonated with consumers. This year, it ranked No. 16, up from No. 155. The chain bolstered its brewed offerings with the May national launch of its McCafé espresso-based beverages.
The Brand Keys findings "are validation that our beverages are delivering on our customers’ needs," said Darci Forrest, senior director, U.S. marketing at McDonald's. "We've made high-quality coffee accessible to everyone."
Dunkin' Donuts ranked 54, up from 123 while Starbucks ranked near the bottom of the poll at 428. The year prior it sat at 192.
Many of the top brands have benefited from the consumers' desire for value for their dollar, said Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys. "The shift has gone from shopping based on price to shopping for value. In lots of cases that value is what the brand stands for, nothing more—a handset is a handset, a cola is a cola."
Cosmetics is another category that embodies the trend. "Women want the promise of youth and beauty, and ultimately the brand needs to be the guarantor of that. They’re not going to buy a store brand," said Passikoff.
Eight brands of cosmetics and skin moisturizers fell within the top 30. Mary Kay cosmetics ranked seventh, followed by Maybelline (No. 12) and Estée Lauder (No. 13).
While it was certainly a difficult year for car sales, Toyota and Hyundai had no problem expanding their fan base. Toyota, based in part on the popularity of its hybrids, shot up to No. 15 from No. 108. Hyundai, which was Brandweek’s Grand Marketer of the Year, placed 24, up from 295 last year.
"Hyundai used to just mean cheap cars, but they’ve gotten their act together from a manufacturing perspective," said Passikoff. What's more, he added, its offer to take the vehicle back if consumers lost their job "made themselves emotionally part of the solution to people's problems. That's a big differentiator. There's the value because cheap metal is not hard to find."
On the opposite end of the spectrum was General Motors. GM ranked dead last among national brands. The only company liked less was New York energy provider Con Edison. Other brands at the bottom were the NHL (No. 438), Taco Bell (No. 437) and Diet Dr Pepper (No. 436).
General Motors, after being bailed out by the federal government, has shown little improvement, said Todd Turner, president of the consultancy CarConcepts. "They haven't changed anything. They are still in the same situation they've been in for years. It's like trying to sell the same real estate in a bad neighborhood with a new paint job."
Core to GM's problems is its pricing strategy. "They are a value story about pricing, financing and deals," said Turner. "The trade off is now you have a brand with absolutely no value because they got the customer because of a deal. When they come into the market again, they just want the next best deal."
— Nielsen Business Media


text:
NVIDIA Launches GeForce 326.01 WHQL drivers for Windows 8.1 Preview
Nvidia announces the availability of its new geforce 326.01 WHQL drivers, drivers who bring GeForce GPUs support your 6000, 7000, 8000, 9000, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 and 700 Series.
Nvidia emphasizes that these drivers were possible thanks to the close cooperation it has with Microsoft.
Unfortunately Nvidia has not mentioned what are the new features that include these new drivers, nor has made publicly available, the only way to get it from Windows Update, once the process of upgrading to Windows 8.1 Preview from Windows 8.
Link: NVIDIA Drivers for Windows 8.1 Release Preview Now Available (NVIDIA)
.Tags: 8.1, CineFX, controlador, controller, driver, Fermi, geforce, handler, kepler, manejador, Microsoft, NVIDIA.326.01, preview, Tesla, windows

domain: news


text:
Microsoft is looking to claim itself a spot beside the top dogs competing on the video and cloud front.
It says data is the differentiator.
“Unlike other providers who use your data to sell groceries or other services that compete [with your business], your data belongs to you,” Martin Wahl, principal program manager for Microsoft, told a room full of media and entertainment execs Tuesday at an AI Meets Media innovation summit.
Wahl, who works with global customers of Microsoft’s Azure Media Services group, seemed to be taking a swipe at the competition, namely Amazon and IBM.
Both have built and acquired their way into cloud video stacks. Amazon bought back-end video platform Elemental Technologies and merged it with its cloud infrastructure Amazon Web Services. IBM rolled its purchases of video service providers Clearleap and Ustream into IBM Cloud Video.
“Microsoft for years has looked at how we take cloud artificial intelligence and apply it to video,” Wahl said. “My team is responsible for making what Microsoft is doing in cloud AI … applicable in places like media and advertising.”
One ongoing headache for media and entertainment shops is wrangling their ever-growing volume of video streams on multiple channels, devices and operating systems.
Internal production teams want to reduce latency on content uploads and speed up video delivery, while advertisers like Coca-Cola and broadcasters like Sinclair need a better way to tag video content to improve discovery and personalization.
A combination of cloud and AI promises to help solve these pain points. Microsoft is doubling down on both.
Microsoft already built cloud-based technology that recognizes facial movement, along with audio detection and sentiment analysis to determine whether someone is happy or sad.
More recently, it rolled out a cognitive video service called Video Indexer. Historically, companies were forced to manually comb through and tag objects in video streams, but artificial intelligence should help expedite that process.
“Video Indexer lets you access all of your video metadata and correlate it,” Wahl said.
By moving “object tagging” to the cloud and applying machine learning, an advertiser, agency or media company can analyze what a video stream consists of frame by frame.
For instance, a CPG brand might want to see the top 10 occurrences of a particular product within commercials on-air or in digital, or an advertiser might want to swap out creative if a certain actor appears in a show in order to improve the contextual relevance of an ad.
Cognitive also comes into play by determining the tone and sentiment of people in a video frame using speech and keyword identifiers, which media companies can tap to tailor content more effectively.
Microsoft’s Video Indexer tool provides most of the necessary “raw” back-end support, such as video transcoding, hosting, storage and delivery. But it relies on partners, including video platform Ooyala, to provide the “practical” use cases such as, for example, improving revenue or return on ad spend.
Taken together, “this data can determine much more than, ‘These users watched this genre of show,’” Wahl said.
“It’s a matter of taking your existing metadata, re-indexing it and showing you new insights with cognitive,” he said. “We’re giving you all of this metadata, [analyzed through AI], which can be used for production, editorial, advertising.”


text:
According to an analysis of 2,108 companies by credit rating agency Care Ratings, the corporate net profits stood at about Rs 1.04 lakh crore in April-June period of 2016-17.
Besides, net sales of companies slowed down to 8.7 per cent in the three months ended June 2017, after registering a growth of 9.5 per cent in the same period year-ago.
As many as seven industries reported net loss, while 33 segments reported lower growth in net profit on year-on- year basis during the quarter ended June 2017.
The maximum drop was seen in consumer goods, automobiles and related segments, construction & real estate, finance, refineries, paper & paper products, pesticides & agrochemicals sectors.
Also Read: Govt extends GST return filing date to August 25
Profitability of services sector like hospitality and retailing were also impacted.
"Most of the industries in the first quarter that have posted lower growth numbers were affected by the destocking goods before implementation of GST from July 1, 2017 by the government," the report said.
In terms of net sales, 40 industries saw positive growth in sales in the first quarter of 2017-18. Some of the leading industries include sugar, electronics, passenger cars and tractors, capital goods, metals, NBFCs, hotels, resorts and restaurants, mining, refineries, plastic products, industrial gases and fuels.
As per the report, industries related to households where demand is inelastic remained largely stable with minimal slowdown. However, pharmaceuticals and drugs industry saw a sharp dip on account of lower exports.
Also Read: Confusion among traders as GST filing site stops functioning
"Consumer industries like textiles and durables which get extended to auto segment except tractors reported an improvement as players were destocking inventories before implementation of GST which led to higher sales," Care noted.
In the non-discretionary consumer goods consumer foods, household and personal goods segment as well as drugs and pharmaceuticals were affected, it added.


text:
Amazon.com wants to stock and sell groceries online directly to consumers in India, two senior government officials said, the latest move in its quest to boost sales.
Amazon.com wants to stock and sell groceries online directly to consumers in India, two senior government officials said, the latest move in its quest to boost sales, Reuters said quoting Wall Street Journal. The e-commerce company recently sought approval from the government to invest $500 million in the new venture. PM Narendra Modi’s government in Budget 2016 allowed 100 per cent foreign investment in retailing of processed foods made in India and Amazon’s application comes after this. Amazon Fresh, a subscription service in the US and the UK provides quick food delivery for online orders. The push to sell food directly to consumers in India could resemble this model only.
Amazon is making a huge bet on India and has vowed to invest more than $5 billion as it takes on home-grown Flipkart and Snapdeal for a bigger share of the world’s fastest growing internet services market. In an event attended by Indian premier Narendra Modi in Washington last year, Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said India was the company’s fastest-growing region.
Recently Amazon Canada got into a controversy when it was selling doormats depicting Indian flag and slippers with Mahatma Gandhi’s face printed on it. Taking strong exception to this, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asked the e-retailer to withdraw the products and tender an unconditional apology, failing which no official of Amazon will be granted Indian visa and the ones issued earlier will also be rescinded.
You may also like to watch:
Following her sharp rebuke, Amazon India’s vice president and country manager Amit Agarwal wrote to Swaraj expressing “regret at hurting Indian sensibilities”.


text:
July 2004 Health News Tips
Note to media: To reach the media contacts for any of these health news tips, call the Office of News and Publications at 214-648-3404.
Outdoor food preparation can be as risky as it is appetizing
Summer's heat brings thoughts of hamburgers and hot dogs sizzling on the grill. It also offers challenges in safe food preparation and storage.
According to a recent national survey, 56 percent of outdoor chefs don't know the proper temperature to grill meats to, ensuring they are cooked thoroughly. In addition, a third leave perishables outside, unrefrigerated in hot weather, for more than two hours, creating a perfect environment for bacterial growth.
- Make sure grilled meats are cooked to at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Purchase an inexpensive meat thermometer for your grill.
- Pack plenty of ice in coolers to store raw and leftover foods. Leftovers should be refrigerated within an hour of cooking during hot weather.
- Wash hands before digging into the picnic basket. If there's no running water, bring along moist towelettes or antibacterial hand sanitizer.
- Use color-coded coolers and utensils to keep raw meats separate from cooked meats and other prepared foods.
Media Contact: Donna Steph Hansard
Herbal supplements can damage kidneys, liver
Even with the recent banning of ephedra, consumers should remain cautious about trying other herbal supplements.
According to doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, substances such as bitter orange, germander, jin bu huan and usnic acid - ingredients in weight-loss products - have been associated with kidney and liver problems.
"A number of herbal preparations have been implicated in causing liver damage, some even leading to the need for a liver transplant or to death," says Dr. William Lee, professor of internal medicine and an expert in digestive and liver diseases. "Herbal products are not under any specific supervision by the Food and Drug Administration, so there is no quality control, no proof of efficacy and no tests of safety."
The ban on ephedra, which had been linked to more than 150 deaths and dozens of heart attacks and strokes, was the government's first for a dietary supplement. New manufacturing and labeling regulations for dietary supplements are expected later this year, according to the FDA.
"The herbal industry is largely satisfying a need for self-remedies for patients who are unwilling to seek conventional medical attention or are wary of doctors," says Dr. Lee. "Most supplements are indeed harmless and only injure the pocketbook. Many people, however, take these compounds in any amount, never limiting themselves to what is advised regarding dosing."
Media Contact: Scott Maier
Unpasteurized cheeses and pregnancy are a dangerous combination
Feta, brie, goat's milk cheese and Mexican-style cheeses such as queso fresco are common ingredients in many gourmet dishes and traditional Hispanic cuisine.
But the cheeses in their unpasteurized, or raw, form are a delicacy that could be dangerous to a pregnant woman and her unborn baby, says Dr. Kevin Magee, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
Unpasteurized cheese and other raw dairy products and meats could be contaminated with listeria, a bacteria that can cause serious infections and complications during pregnancy.
"Don't think that just because you use the cheese at home that it's safer. It's not," Dr. Magee says. "We recommend that our patients wash all raw vegetables, thoroughly cook all meat products and avoid any unpasteurized cheese or milk products.
"Finally, if you plan to eat leftovers, thoroughly heat them."
Media Contact: Staishy Bostick Siem
Reading to baby is still the best way to teach language skills
Educational TV programs, instructional videos and even some computerized games claim to help children develop language skills. But doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas say there's only one tried-and-true method to help infants speak and understand language: Read to them.
"When parents come to me with a child who has delayed language skills, the first thing I do is ask them how much they read to the child," says Dr. Paul Bauer, assistant professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery. "Many times helping a child understand language and helping them develop speech is a matter of taking time to read to them."
In fact, parents should begin reading to their children as young as 6 months old, Dr. Bauer says. While infants don't know the meaning of many words, hearing the sounds helps their brains develop critical language skills. It enhances a child's pronunciation of words, expands vocabulary and begins programming the brain for more advanced speech and reading.
Media Contact: Steve O'Brien
Outsmarting jet lag in three easy step
Taking a trip overseas or across the country? Don't let jet lag get in the way of your time away from home.
Travelers should follow three easy steps to help reset their bodies' clocks after a dramatic time change, says Dr. John Herman, associate professor of psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and director of the Sleep Disorder Clinic at Children's Medical Center Dallas .
- Take 6 milligrams of melatonin when it is 11:30 p.m. in the time zone of your destination.
- Get outside in the sunlight as soon as possible when you arrive at your destination.
- One hour before bedtime on the night of your arrival, take another 3 milligrams of melatonin.
"The combination of melatonin and bright light is the most powerful method of resetting your biological rhythm," Dr. Herman says.
For the trip home, repeat the formula with your hometown as the destination.
Media Contact: Donna Hansard
To automatically receive news releases from UT Southwestern via email,
subscribe at http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/receivenews


text:
Apple is expanding in Austin.
The company is confirming that it has a short-term lease on the Riata Corporate Park 8 building, which is less than a mile from its current campus.
The tech company also confirmed that it has leased a building at North Austin's Parmer Innovation Center.
News of these leases comes before the ground breaking on their future one-billion dollar campus.
Experts say it suggests that Apple needs more space because the future campus can't come soon enough.
That future campus is expected to be complete in 2021 and is estimated to employ up to five-thousand people initially.


text:
Would you pay $20 for a coffee?
We've watched the price of a cup of coffee creep from $3.50, to $4, to $5 - but $20?
Wellington's Caffe L'affare is selling one of the world's most expensive coffees at its College St cafe, but those interested in investing in the experience should get in quick: its supply is limited to just 700g, or about 30 cups.
Caffe L'affare imported two kilograms of the Don Pachi Geisha coffee from Panama via an Australian supplier.
"We can only afford to buy a certain amount of it," said brand manager Selena Hurndell.
It is rare because the Geisha cultivar yields low quantities of the bean-bearing "cherries" required for coffee production.
The cafe serves it in a glass Chemex coffeemaker - enough for about three small cups.
Ms Hurndell expected it to appeal to "coffee geeks", or those who wanted bragging rights to a $20 cup of coffee.
Caffe L'affare head roaster Kerry Murray said the Geisha was meant to be enjoyed over a 20-minute period, as it took on new flavours at different stages of the brewing process.
It was earthy, he said, with aspects of nectarines, plums and cocoa. "It's quite good."
Ms Hurndell said she "could drink it all day". "But obviously that's not really an option at $20 a cup."
The move to import niche coffee reflected the rise of the "soft brew" - made with a Chemex coffeemaker, siphon, plunger or filter machine, instead of an espresso machine - in Wellington over the past 18 months, she said.
"The general public are getting more coffee-savy, and they want to try new things. "There's a trend in coffee towards micro-lots, and rare and interesting coffee, just as there is in wine."
But it was a niche market.
"There are still those people who just want a flat white, and more power to them."
The Dominion Post


text:
Chase N. Cashe’s third project, CHARM, is out today and is available for stream and purchase right here.
In accordance with that new project, CNC has released a new video for “Line Of Fire” off of the album which is produced by Jahlil Beats. This video is directed by Phil The God and the latest of the gutter visuals from the New Orleans bred producer/rapper.
CHARM features production from Tha Bizness, AarabMuzik, Jahlil Beats and many more. Cop it right here and hit the jump to check the video for “Line Of Fire” down below.
Hip-Hop Wired delivers daily hip-hop music news, videos and streaming tracks from your favorite rap artists, plus the latest political and fashion news—including the hottest sneakers to hit the street.


text:
It is a real marketing challenge: in today’s hyperkinetic
consumer marketplace, how does the insurer stay relevant on new
technology channels? The risk of appearing to embrace technology
for technology’s sake is quite real, yet staying still is not an
LII talked with Susan McManus, associate vice-president of
interactive marketing at Nationwide Mutual, about the insurer’s
embrace of new technologies, including a new iPhone application,
and how a holistic approach to marketing the Nationwide brand means
that an application designed for motor insurance can help business
Nationwide is among the first insurers to harness mobile marketing,
and while its early initiative has more to do with its motor
business, it’s only a matter of time before its potential is felt
on the life insurance side as well, McManus said.
“We approach marketing from the perspective of upholding the
mission of ‘On Your Side,’ our motto, and one of the advantages of
that is that everything we do helps the whole business,” McManus
said. “So when we deliver a mobile application on the auto side, we
see it as providing a lift on the life side.”
Nationwide embraced the internet from its earliest days, launching
its first website in 1995 and selling insurance online by 2000, and
now the insurer views mobile devices and the internet as two
separate but closely related channels.
In 2008, Nationwide unveiled its mobile web site at nationwide.com.
The mobile site detects whether an incoming request is coming from
a mobile phone, and automatically diverts them to the mobile site,
which is optimised for smartphone usage, McManus said.
With the launch of Nationwide Mobile for iPhone, designed to help
customers after they get into a car accident, the insurer is
joining a host of corporate icons building iPhone apps. Nationwide
worked with independent interactive marketing agency Rosetta to
develop the mobile application.
Nationwide’s tagline is “After a car accident, it can be difficult
to think clearly and remember all of the details that need to be
taken care of next.”
The free iPhone application, available in Apple’s App Store, helps
Nationwide customers find local resources, document the accident
and submit claims information via their handset.
Nationwide’s customers involved in an accident can use the
application to quickly find local resources, such as Nationwide
Blue Ribbon Repair Service facilities or local agents. They can
also submit claim information on the spot.
Users can store accident photos taken with the iPhone’s camera and
automatically record the exact location of the accident using the
built-in GPS. A flashlight function and a tool to help
non-customers locate a Nationwide agent for a free auto quote are
also available, McManus said.
“Part of the personalised experience we want to deliver to our
customers is allowing them to interact with us in whatever way they
choose, and for a growing group of people we know this means via
their mobile device for certain things,” said McManus.
“We want our customers to know that we ‘get it’ when it comes to
the importance of mobile in their day-to-day lives. As we were
doing consumer research a year and half ago, we saw that
smartphones were outselling computers four to one, and so we
thought about how we could get on the mobile phone in a meaningful
Since August 2008, traffic to the mobile site has more than
tripled, she said.
“It’s an indication that more people are surfing the internet and
accessing it from mobile devices than ever before,” McManus said.
“We’re developing other apps as well, and we see the mobile channel
as incredibly important going forward.”
It’s not difficult to see why mobile marketing is taking off.
Today, mobile users total more than 4 billion worldwide, according
to the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), a consortium of wireless
carriers, ad agencies, technology companies and advertisers. And
that number is expected to climb to 5.6 billion by 2013, the MMA
In 2008, mobile marketing was a $169 million industry in the US.
It’s expected to grow 36 percent this year, to $229 million, thanks
to the rapid growth of mobile-based subscriptions and ad-supported
mobile applications, according to media economy forecaster
McManus said that Nationwide’s internal research showed high levels
of smartphone penetration among its customer base, leading the
company to conclude that mobile was a channel unto itself, one that
must be treated differently than the web in order to work.
“The mobile channel is ideal for pushing information to the
consumer, and for on-demand needs like the auto app,” she said.
“The web is still the comparison shopping medium of choice for
insurance consumers, and we don’t see that changing, so you have to
strategically design your interfaces with the needs of the consumer
From a marketing perspective, McManus said that the mobile
application sends a powerful signal about the insurer to
“We always want to be out in the forefront in technology, and
looking for new and modern ways to build something around the
claims experience made sense to us,” McManus said. “It says that
Nationwide is innovative and on trend, and that we will meet the
customer where they are technologically. There is no doubt that has
meaning for our life insurance business as well.”
So far, the insurer has processed 132 claims that have come in
through the iPhone application – two the day after its launch last
“It’s the only time you’ll see insurers cheering about a claim
coming in,” she said.
Free download worth over $5000Download our 2018 Technology, Media and Telecoms Predictions Report
In this report, we look at the 30 big tech themes for 2019, identifying winners and losers for each theme. This report will impact all industries helping:
- CEOs/Senior Staff: in all industries understand the disruptive threats to their competitive landscape
- Investors: Helps fund managers focus their time on the most interesting investment opportunities in global TM


text:
Storytelling that strikes an emotional chord with consumers play an important role to drive a Lunar New Year brand campaign viral in China.
This year, Pepsi China advocates a social movement through its Bring Happiness Home campaign with a simple message inspiring consumers to show their love to everyone, not just their families but colleagues and strangers as well.
Viewership for Pepsi’s integrated campaign attracted close to 870 million across its mini-movie, music video, and TV commercials as of early February.
This figure surpassed the 700 million views from the previous year.
Its social marketing efforts using China’s microblogging sites Sina and Tencent weibo were well received.
For example, a single branded weibo post from Pepsi that encouraged consumers to express their love for one another generated 150, 000 retweets.
This is a new record in Sina Weibo’s history, according to DDB China Group and BBDO China, the agencies in charge of developing the campaign.
“From a brand perspective, with a campaign where four different brands are integrated, the challenge is to bring out their individual brand equities, while still ensuring everything ties in together,” said Alvina Seah, group account director from BBDO China.
The four Pepsico brands include Pepsi, Lay’s, Tropicana, and Mirinda, which is supported by a multi-dimensional media approach that spans across digital leveraging China’s top video portal, Youku, its search engine Soku.com, Weibo, WeChat, as well as TV, outdoor, in-store, and packaging.
Execution: Finding a clever way to communicate across media platforms
Pepsi’s 30-minute web movie served as the core of its online communication that premiered on Youku and Tudou, including a Beijing theatre packed with Pepsi celebrities such as Louis Koo, Xie Na, and Yang Mi.
The story centered on a bus full of strangers heading home to celebrate Chinese New Year with their families. However, a heavy snowstorm stranded their bus in the mountains. As the passengers seek shelter in an abandoned cabin, they overcome their differences through faith, trust, and love to help one another out of the blizzard.
Coincidentally, the script became reality as the team encountered the biggest snowstorm in China’s 50-year history, which affected its shooting schedule.
“This series of events in turn spurred the team to tell this real life story juxtaposed against our reel life story, resulting in a heart warming music viral video,” Seah explained.
Indeed, its music video that featured famous celebrities went viral with 315 million views.
Its O2O (offline to online) strategy focused on QR codes in print, outdoor, and product packaging to drive people back to its web movie.
In addition to its massive viewership and viral on social media platforms, Pepsi’s success was measured through earned media generated from news reports across digital, print, and on national TV, CCTV.
Pepsi also demonstrated that it practiced what it preached by cooperating with the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation and China’s Women’s Development Foundation to show its care and help those in need.
Its CSR (consumer social responsibility) efforts were recognized by China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs as the Social Workers Association presented the company with a “Public Charity Innovation Award” at the company’s launch ceremony.
President Trump's digital savvy isn't limited to social media. As it turns out, the Trump Organization owns thousands of domain names, possibly even more than 10,000.
Social media has developed into an effective component of digital strategy, but measuring its performance is still a challenge. How will analytics affect social media in 2017?
I didn’t vote for him last November. There was no way this registered Democrat from the blue state of Massachusetts would check that box. But I have to give him props for his tweets.
On Thursday, Twitter reported its earnings for Q4 2016, and the results have raised questions about the company's long-term future.


text:
Not even two months after Samsung first released the Galaxy Note 7, the phone has already been recalled, replaced, only to be discontinued. Now, for the second time in five weeks, Samsung and U.S. safety regulators have issued an official recall covering all Galaxy Note 7 phones.
The expanded recall now covers all 1.9 million Note 7 units — both the originals that have yet to be returned and the phones that have been given out as replacements or sold as new since the recall was first announced.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Samsung has received 96 reports in the U.S. alone of overheating Note 7 batteries, including 23 incidents that apparently occurred after the recall. The electronics giant has received 13 reports of burns and 47 reports of property damage associated with the Note 7.
If you have a Note 7, the CPSC advises that you should immediately stop using it and power down the device. Contact your wireless carrier/retailer/Samsung.com (wherever you purchased the device) to receive a refund or free exchange for a new replacement phone plus incentives. If you bought your phone from a different source, contact Samsung directly.
“The Galaxy Note 7 recall has proven to be a real challenge for Samsung,” says CPSC chairman Elliot Kaye in a statement. “I am very concerned that consumers who exchanged their phones for replacement Galaxy Note 7s are now at risk again. We at CPSC have worked diligently under difficult circumstances to protect consumers and bring this matter to an appropriate close. CPSC will continue to hold Samsung and other companies accountable when consumer safety is put at risk.”
The Note 7, the latest in Samsung’s flagship line of mobile devices, was released in South Korea and the U.S. on Aug. 19. Within days, there were a handful of reports of the pricey phone overheating and even catching fire while charging.
By the end of August, Samsung was delaying shipments of the Note 7 while it investigated these incidents, and on Sept. 2, the company announced that it would recall the phone and allow customers to exchange their phones for ones without the apparent defect.
However, that announcement and exchange program is not the same as an official recall done in coordination with the CPSC. A CPSC recall means that no one can legally sell or resell a recalled product. It also allows other agencies, like the Federal Aviation Administration, to bar travelers from carrying these potentially unsafe phones onto airplanes. Without the official recall, the FAA was limited in its ability to prohibit carrying of the Note 7.
After the official recall was announced on Sept. 15, Samsung’s exchange program kicked into high gear. However, not only did a number of customers complain about short supplies and bad customer service, but there were soon reports that the replacement devices were also overheating and catching fire.
The two most notable incidents occurred in the last two weeks, including a reportedly new Note 7 that spewed smoke on a Southwest Airlines plane, and this smoking phone caught on camera at a South Korean Burger King:
In response to concerns that the replacement phones were still dangerously defective, all four major wireless carriers and Best Buy stopped selling the Note 7 and Samsung again shut down production, at first temporarily but now permanently.
On Wednesday, before the CPSC announced the second recall, the Yonhap news agency reported that the head of Samsung’s mobile division tried to allay concerns about the long-term impact on the company.
“Leaving the considerable amount of financial losses aside, I am well aware of the scars the situation that unfolded over the past few weeks and today’s decision will have on our executives and employees,” reads a letter sent to employees, according to Yonhap. “As the chief of the division, I myself can’t help feeling frustrated.”
While Samsung has still not fully sorted out exactly what’s causing the overheated batteries, the executive promised in the latter to “identify the fundamental cause at any cost so that all of our customers can restore trust in Samsung’s products.”
by Chris Morran via Consumerist


text:
Motorola Mobility has just announced that availability of the Milestone 3 Android smartphone in Brazil starting this week
No price options have been revealed for the handset, but Motorola stated that the Milestone 3 will also be available in other countries across Latin America by the end of September.
Obviously, the main attraction of the handset is the full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but also its sleek form factor.
Touted as the world’s thinnest Android QWERTY slider, Motorola Milestone 3
is already available for purchase in North America from Verizon Wireless, but with a different moniker, Motorola DROID 3.
Among other strengths of Motorola Milestone 3, one can notice the dual-core 1GHz processor, allowing for a better multi-tasking, faster web browsing and loading of Flash videos, as well as higher quality gaming experiences.
“Motorola MILESTONE 3 catapults people into a new realm of productivity. The Milestone brand invokes a sense of advanced intelligence and mind-blowing speed, and we wanted to build upon that standard to create a device that users won’t want to put down whether they are at work, at home, on the road
,” said Maurizio Angelone, vice president and general director for Mobile Devices Latin America, Motorola Mobility.
Milestone 3 comes with a brilliant 4-inch qHD display and enhanced security features that enable users to access corporate emails, documents and calendars with ease.
It also boasts a powerful 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and digital zoom, as well as a front-facing camera to video chat with friends whether over a Wi-Fi or a 3G connection
The main camera can shoot videos and play them back in 1080p HD with mirror mode which allows users to view and share content on a larger TV via HDMI output.
In addition, Motorola Milestone 3 is powered by Google's Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) platform and comes preloaded with Quickoffice app that allows users to edit documents, presentations or spreadsheets.


text:
Apple has officially named the “Best iPhone App of 2014.” Every year the company picks the best app that they feel had the biggest impact, and generated the most buzz around the app world. That being said, the winner this year was an app designed to train your brain, increase your memory, hone your focus, and even build reading comprehension skills. The brain game that was named “Best iPhone App of 2014” was Elevate.
Elevate features 25 mini games that help the player build cognitive skills that otherwise grow weaker as individuals use them less, and less. The game offers a nice balance between fun and challenge – and doesn’t bore anyone while still promoting the development of skills. The game is broken down simply into three categories each day – and the player is allowed to complete three challenges a day. The game does cost money if the player wants access to all of the challenges, but that either costs $4.99 per month, or $44.99 for a one-year subscription.
The game is designed really well, and developed the right way – many note the attention to detail and the flow that the app has – while others simply enjoy it because it has a very simple interface and gameplay options.
However, Elevate wasn’t the only app that won honors – a few other apps received honors as well. Here’s how the rest of the apps involved broke down:
Top 2 iPhone Apps of the Year:
- Elevate: Brain-development app that works on building focus, and cognitive skills.
- Hyperlapse by Instagram: This allows users to create time-lapse videos, and even though the technology was
introduced in Apple’s most-recent software update, iOS 8, it still was a smash hit in the App Store.
Top 2 iPhone Games of the Year:
- Threes: An addicting puzzle game that allows users to pass-time painlessly, while not over-frustrating players.
- Leo’s Fortune: This is one of the most impressive platform games on iPhone. Really good visuals, but a game that is quite involved.
Top 2 iPad Apps of the Year
- Pixelmator: This is the photo-editing app that was featured at the launch of the iPad Air 2. It’s impressive and heavy on the function side of things.
- Storehouse: This app is described as a “storytelling app” and has undergone regular updates to maintain its prowess and this year it did very well.
Top 3 iPad Games of the Year
- Monument Valley: This is a really good puzzle platform game, it’s challenging, time consuming, and won’t frustrate anyone too much.
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: This game was produced by the people responsible for World of Warcraft, but is a good combination of old school, and new school – with it serving as a digital-card-collecting-style game.
There were a lot of apps this year that received honorable mentions in Apple’s annual ranking. Some of those highly ranked apps were Yahoo News Digest, NYT Now, Buzzfeed, and Paper – produced by Facebook – though users rarely realize that Facebook has produced a news related app.


text:
LAGUNA HILLS, CA (BRAIN)—Giant’s message was quite clear yesterday: Our Maestro suspension platform is the best out there.
“We want our suspension design to be the highlight (not the shock itself),” said Giant’s marketing man Andrew Juskaitis, speaking to a packed retail crowd at the Laguna Hills Holiday Inn yesterday.
What makes Maestro so much better this year isn’t the actual suspension itself, but rather the bikes. Giant was able to shave weight off its bikes without compromising in the performance department, something that was a major point of emphasis to the Southern California retailers in attendance.
The basic concept behind Maestro—now in its fifth year—is “4x2x1” where four pivot points allow two rocker arms to articulate in a manner that creates one floating pivot point.
“For us, Maestro is about balance between activity (no pedal-bob) and efficiency (full range of suspension under braking),” Juskaitis told retailers.
Juskaitis even went through all the different suspension platforms on the market today including Single Pivot, Four Bar/Horst Link and Trek’s new suspension R1i, to help better illustrate the advantages Maestro holds over the others.
Giant general manager Elysa Walk (pictured) was also on hand, giving retailers a company overview.
“Giant has been on a tremendous rise the last five years,” she said. “From 2000 to 2006 we grew a lot.”
Walk wanted to make clear how important its dealers were to the company. “We want your feedback to drive our improvements,” Walk said. “Bringing the best possible product to market is what gets us going.”
Giant tech/demo manager Rich O’Neil said being the manufacturer to many vendors helps Giant stay one step ahead of the competition when it comes to suspension.
“We’re able to study so many things out there,” O’Neil said. “It’s a nice advantage.”
After the presentations concluded, Giant’s management team along with U.S. National MTB champ Adam Craig and freeride legend Jeff Lenosky cruised over to Aliso-Wood Regional Park so retailers could test for themselves the Maestro platform.
Giant’s Ride Maestro Tour visited eight different cities in five weeks.


text:
- Editor's PickRick Newman•8 hours ago
It’s a hard question to answer, one reason Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has gained traction with voters by haranguing free-trade deals with China, Mexico and other nations. Free trade is supposed to generate benefits that compensate for such harm, and leave Americans better off overall. Free trade has almost certainly brought enormous benefits to the US economy, however, including the creation of whole new industries that might not exist if the United States had the sort of closed economy Trump seems to prefer.
- Editor's PickSeana Smith•2 days agoApple ups iPhone 7 component orders; Wedbush downgrades Alphabet; Blackberry ditches hardware business
The tech giant has reportedly boosted its part and component orders for its iPhone 7. Alphabet (GOOGL) – Wedbush downgraded Google’s parent company Alphabet after weighing the cost of search ads against return on investment. Wedbush lowered its rating to underperform and cut its price target to $700 per share.
- Financial Times•40 minutes ago
From dishwashers to desktops and Chardonnays to phone chargers, retailers are making consumers pay more for goods on the high street as a weaker pound forces up their own costs to bring goods in from abroad. ...
Apple Inc. (AAPL)
NasdaqGS - NasdaqGS Real Time Price. Currency in USD
|Bid||112.19 x 200|
|Ask||112.25 x 100|
|Day's Range||111.80 - 113.80|
|52wk Range||89.47 - 123.82|
|1y Target Est||N/A|
Trade prices are not sourced from all markets
|P/E Ratio (ttm)||13.08|
|Avg Vol (3m)||35,675,128|
|Dividend & Yield||2.28 (2.02%)|


text:
I attended Nintendo Live 2023: Seattle, and I found an extremely well-run event for fans of the Big-N and video game lovers in general.
Friday, June 28th, 2019
Destroy, devour and evolve
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019
Bringing the gaming galaxy together.
Monday, May 6th, 2019
I go hands-on with Trover Saves the Universe, a game written by Justin Roiland, at GDC 2019 and I find an extremely witty adult PlayStation
Monday, November 5th, 2018
What's the deal with Fortnite?
Friday, October 5th, 2018
More Fortnite goodness on Nintendo Switch.
Tuesday, June 12th, 2018
One of the worst-kept E3 secrets.
Sunday, June 11th, 2017
Build forts, craft, fight monsters and collect loot.
Friday, April 14th, 2017
A number of Unreal Engine 4 games are coming to Nintendo Switch.
Friday, July 12th, 2013
No more Infinity Blade: Dungeons for iOS.
Wednesday, July 18th, 2012
BitMonster Games has just revealed the details of their first upcoming game
Friday, July 13th, 2012
Unreal 4 sports next gen tech. But will Wii U be able to support it?


text:
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Appliance companies from Sweden and Iran have been named preferred bidders for Daewoo Electronics, one of the South Korean company's creditor banks announced Wednesday.
Sweden's Electrolux AB and Iran's Entekhab Industrial Group were named as preferred bidders, said Jung Hee-kyung, a spokesman for Woori Bank.
Jung said an approximately 8-week due diligence process would be conducted beginning next week. Based on that, a memorandum of understanding would be signed, possibly in June, he added.
In Sweden, Electrolux spokesman Anders Edholm confirmed Wednesday that his company had made an offer for Daewoo, but declined to comment on the amount of the bid.
"It's an ongoing process so I can't say much more right now," he said.
Daewoo Electronics Corp. has been under a creditor-led debt-rescheduling program since 2000 after amassing huge debts.
Stockholm-based Electrolux is a leading manufacturer of household appliances including refrigerators, stoves and washing machines.
A planned sale of Daewoo to a consortium led by India's Videocon Industries Ltd. was scrapped in 2007 mainly due to differences over price.
Daewoo Electronics could not immediately be reached for comment late Wednesday in Seoul.


text:
COMPUTEX 2022: AMD, Nvidia, Microsoft to Headline
Updated: May 24, 2022
The upcoming COMPUTEX 2022 – fresh from a two-year hiatus for in-person conferences – will see a mix of physical and virtual activities. It is one of the first global events in Asia to plan such a large-scale event as the organisers want to pave the way for others to follow.
For the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) – the long-time host for COMPUTEX and its related events – it hopes to engage with all those who are keen to checkout this first-of-its-kind hybrid event. From keynotes, to workshop seminars, and showfloor tours, those who cannot make time to fly into Taipei can now, instead, tune in and participate virtually.
With COMPUTEX 2022 returning with in-person events, there are some major events that are considered as must-attends. This includes the big keynotes, showcases, and demo rooms that are spread across Taipei.
In terms of major announcements, the biggest ones are – undoubtedly – the big tech players:
Intel: There are rumours that the highly anticipated Intel Arc Desktop GPUs will be unveiled. Over the last few years, Intel always showed off new innovations that defy logic – Devil Canyon (AKA Intel Extreme Edition CPUs), Skull Canyon Next Unit of Computing for gamers, and the dual-hinged dual-screen Honeycomb Glacier. If there are new desktop GPUs coming out, it’s an easy bet that it will raise some eyebrows.
Reality Check: As expectations are riding high, Intel is expected to deliver in spades and may even drop a next-gen concept or two. There are no visible signs or teasers so it could be Team Blue has no plans even.
The revolutionary Honeycomb Glacier concept – to-date, no brand mass-produced this design.
AMD: Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and CEO, AMD, will be doing a keynote – AMD Advancing the High-Performance Computing Experience. Included in her May 23 presentation are, likely, updated roadmaps for AMD’s next-gen silicon and GPUs; new processor innovations; and possible game console teasers.
Reality Check: AMD next-gen silicon for the entire CPU and GPU ranges will definitely show up. There is chatter for next-gen consoles to be teased, but that is very unlikely.
NVIDIA: Six NVIDIA C-Suite will be at the CEO Keynote, including CTO Michael Kagan; Jeff Fisher, SVP, GeForce; and Ying Yin Shih, Director, Product Management for Accelerated Computing. While initial leaks for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 and some official details have dropped, the GPU leader is expected to continue the next-gen innovation narrative from its recent NVIDIA GTC Creators Conference 2022.
Reality Check: NVIDIA will likely reveal its highly anticipated GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs and showcase next-gen graphics tech as well. Even after the monster reveal for the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, there might be even big updates for current GeForce GTX and RTX lines.
Microsoft: Every year, without fail, Microsoft will be at COMPUTEX TAIPEI to take a keynote slot. In one keynote years ago, it showed off the once insanely powerful Microsoft Surface Pro 3. For 2019, the next-gen entries for both Surface Laptop and Surface Studio showed up alongside dual-screen laptops from various OEM partners. For this year, Panos Panoy, EVP and Chief Product Officer, Microsoft, will be taking the stage with Nicole Dezen, Corporate VP, Device Partner Sales, Microsoft to showcase new Windows 11 features and next-gen ventures in hybrid workspaces and gaming. Reality Check: Since its next-gen consoles are facing supply issues, Microsoft pivoted quickly and focused on rolling out its Game Pass instead for the PC. While there will likely be no news related to Xbox, new features for the cloud gaming platform are certainly on the cards.
Next-gen hardware and laptop announcements: The weeks building to COMPUTEX 2022 are filled with pre-event activities. This includes next-gen device laptop announcements from ASUS, Gigabyte, and Acer. More big news reveals are sure to make their respective reveals in the coming days. Reality Check: While mobile PCs dominate the news-cycles now, once Intel and AMD make their respective next-gen platform reveals, there is no doubt that all OEM hardware partners will also drop huge announcements on next-gen PC hardware.
Tie-In Innovation Events
COMPUTEX 2022 has, over the years, played host to a number of satellite events. This includes its sister event – InnoVex; the massive showfloors that are spread across Taipei; the all-new COMPUTEX DigitalGo platform for virtual streaming; and arranging global startup accelerator platform launches and workshops.
All these will be peppered with exclusive launch events, special demo areas, and breakout rooms that offer each visitor a few hours to personally try out with these next-gen devices.
AMD, NVIDIA, and Microsoft are expected to drop some major announcements
Intel shows no hints if it will even appear at COMPUTEX 2022, but pundits are hopeful
Beyond new PC hardware, this major IT calendar event will also see more smart devices appearing


text:
New Microsoft Surface Laptop – Microsoft debuted some gorgeous new hardware at its education event today with the latest member of the Surface lineup, Surface Laptop.
From the initial announcement to the tech specs, we got a good look at what to expect. But how does it feel in person? We went hands-on to give you our first impressions of Surface Laptop.
We’ll definitely have more on Surface Laptop coming soon. For now, if Microsoft’s latest Surface has piqued your interest, it’s up for preorder at the Microsoft Store.
Thank you very much for your visit on this webpage Hands-on with Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop (video).


text:
We have confirmed reports that some businesses listed in Google Maps / Places have noticed their business descriptions have gone missing.
A Google Places Help thread has several reports with confirmation from Googlers.
One place is an appliance store in Fort Worth, Texas who is completely missing their business description.
Normally the business description would show up under the grayed out tags or categories but here they do not.
Vanessa from Google said last Friday:
Just to be clear: descriptions have not disappeared with the new Place page changes. We've just pushed a new listings index — please give it a couple days for the info to reappear. But keep us posted if you see they don't come back so we can take a deeper look.
As of a few days later, the issue is still not resolved. I hope it is soon.
Forum discussion at Google Places Help.