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|By Business Wire||
|November 19, 2012 12:01 AM EST||
Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today released its Adobe® Digital Index 2012 Online Shopping Forecast focused on the 2012 holiday shopping season in the U.S. and Europe. The Digital Index analyzed more than 150 billion website visits to more than 500 Adobe retail customers over the past six years in order to forecast sales growth figures and online shopping spikes for the upcoming season. Using predictive analytics technology, the Adobe Marketing Cloud can sift through massive amounts of historical data from the Web’s top retailers to identify patterns and algorithmically predict future results.
Adobe expects Cyber Monday 2012 online revenue for the retail sector to reach $2 billion, growing by 18 percent year-over-year. The company’s data analysis also predicts strong purchasing activity from mobile devices, with mobile representing 21 percent of total online sales this holiday, an increase of 110 percent over last year. Adobe’s online shopping predictions and actual results will also be available on an ongoing basis via a new interactive website that will continuously monitor and update online purchasing data as-it-happens throughout the season. The Adobe Digital Index 2012 Online Shopping Forecast infographic and interactive website can be accessed at http://adobe.com/go/onlineshopping.
Key Digital Index Predictive Analyses for the 2012 Holiday Shopping Season
Biggest Online Shopping Days
- Online retail sales are expected to reach a record $2 billion on Cyber Monday (November 26), the biggest online shopping day of the year in the U.S., representing a growth of 18 percent, year-over-year.
- Black Friday (November 23) is expected to be the second largest online sales day of 2012 when retailers will see a sales increase of 12 percent, year-over-year.
- While all retailers benefit from increased Cyber Monday traffic, Brick-and-Click retailers are the segment expected to see the largest spike on Cyber Monday, bringing in nearly 540 percent more than what they do on an average day in 2012. Online-only retailers are expected to see an impressive, yet more modest sales increase of 210 percent this Cyber Monday compared to an average day throughout the year.
- Green Monday (December 10), the second Monday in December and also a high-grossing online sales day, is predicted to outpace Green Monday 2011 by seven percent. The typical retailer can expect to see a sales increase of nearly 150 percent compared to an average day throughout the year.
- Free Shipping Day (December 17), when thousands of merchants offer free shipping online with guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve, is also expected to grow by 12 percent year-over-year, particularly since it falls on a Monday for the first time since its inception five years ago. Mondays historically are the busiest online shopping days of the week.
Increase in Mobile Sales
- Mobile is expected to represent 21 percent of total online sales during the 2012 holiday season.
- Sales from mobile devices are projected to increase 110 percent this holiday season compared to last year, with sales from tablets constituting 13.5 percent of total sales, more than double that of smartphones (6.5 percent) and other devices such as e-readers (one percent).
- On Black Friday, consumers are expected to use their tablets and phones to shop more than any other day of the year with 24 percent of online visits projected to come from mobile.
Social Media Influences More Purchasing
- Social media referrals to retail point-of-sale websites this holiday season are projected to double compared to last year.
- Out of these social referral sources, referrals from Pinterest are expected to grow the most, doubling from seven percent to 14 percent, year-over-year.
Holiday Shopping in Europe
- European consumers are expected to start holiday shopping sooner and finish later than their U.S. counterparts. While online sales in the U.S. do not pick up significantly until Black Friday, European retailers were seeing average daily sales increase by 150 percent the first week of November and will see a similar spike the week after Christmas.
- Mobile shopping is projected to increase in Europe this holiday season, with sales from mobile devices expected to double from six percent to 12 percent, year-over-year.
Additional Shopping Insights
- Despite widespread discounts offered during the Thanksgiving weekend, the best deals will actually be found online the week before Christmas, not on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. The largest price reductions are expected to come on Free Shipping Day.
- Online jewelry sales will peak in mid-December, much later than sales in most other retail categories which will peak on Cyber Monday. In fact, the data forecasts online conversion rates to double for jewelry purchases on Free Shipping Day as jewelry is a popular last-minute gift.
Interactive Holiday Data Website
Adobe also introduced an interactive website driven by Adobe CQ technology that will be accessible at http://adobe.com/go/onlineshopping throughout the holiday season, allowing visitors to compare the accuracy of Adobe’s online shopping predictive analyses over time as well as uncover new shopping patterns and trends on their own as they emerge. Visitors will be able to compare various retail metrics such as “conversion,” “online sales,” “average price,” “visits” and more by distinct retail segments and product categories within the U.S. and Europe for any specific date throughout November and December 2012. Adobe will update the data daily so that visitors can always come back to find new information.
Brad Rencher, senior vice president, Digital Marketing Business, Adobe
- “Rather than report on what happened after the fact this holiday season, we are leveraging big data captured by the Adobe Marketing Cloud to accurately forecast the trends before they happen. This helps our retail customers plan for consumer spending activity online to better monetize their holiday campaigns. Adobe is the big data company for marketers, helping them sort through and understand massive amounts of online and offline transactional information to uncover patterns that will help them better understand and drive their business forward.”
Adobe Digital Index Holiday Forecast Methodology
The Adobe Digital Index 2012 Online Shopping Forecast infographic and interactive website can be accessed here. The algorithms used to create the predictive analysis are based on more than 150 billion online visits to over 500 retail websites in the U.S. and Europe over the past six years. The margin of error is two percent with a 90 percent confidence level and the forecast’s methodology and degree of accuracy has been evaluated and verified by b3Intelligence, an independent analytics and research service provider.
- Adobe Digital Index Holiday Forecast infographic
- Adobe Digital Index Holiday Forecast interactive website
- Adobe Digital Index Holiday Forecast interactive websiteAdobe Digital Marketing Blog
About Adobe Digital Index
Adobe Digital Index publishes research on digital marketing and other topics of interest to senior marketing and e-commerce executives across industries. Research is based on the analysis of select, anonymous and aggregated data from over 5,000 companies worldwide that use Adobe Marketing Cloud to obtain actionable data and analysis of activity on their websites.
About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe and the Adobe logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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BEIJING—China this month awarded Ivanka Trump seven new trademarks across a broad collection of businesses, including books, housewares and cushions.
At around the same time, President Donald Trump vowed to find a way to prevent a major Chinese telecommunications company from going bust, even though the company has a history of violating U.S. limits on doing business with countries such as Iran and North Korea.
Coincidence? Well, probably.
Still, the remarkable timing is raising familiar questions about the Trump family’s businesses and its patriarch’s status as commander in chief. Even as Trump contends with Beijing on issues such as security and trade, his family and the company that bears his name are trying to make money off their brand in China’s flush and potentially promising market.
The most recent slew of trademarks appear to have been granted along the same timeline as Ivanka Trump’s previous requests, experts said. But more broadly, they said, Ivanka Trump’s growing portfolio of trademarks in China and the family’s business interests there raises questions about whether Chinese officials are giving the Trump family extra consideration that they otherwise might not get.
These critics say the foreign governments that do business with Ivanka Trump know they are dealing with the president’s daughter — a person who also works in the White House.
“Some countries will no doubt see this as a way to curry favour with President Trump,” wrote Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, and Norman Eisen, chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, two nonprofit watchdog groups.
Eisen’s group reported on the trademarks Saturday.
“Other countries may see the business requests made by his daughter’s company as requests they cannot refuse.”
Ivanka Trump’s representatives have said that there is nothing improper about Trump’s trademarks and that they prevent individuals from profiting off her name. Abigail Klem, her brand’s president, said previously that the brand’s protection of trademarks is “in the normal course of business,” especially in countries where trademark infringement is rampant. Trump’s representatives were not immediately available for comment Monday, a U.S. holiday.
Chinese trademark officials didn’t respond to a request for comment Monday.
Donald Trump said in a surprise announcement May 13 that he was working with China’s president, Xi Jinping, to save jobs at the Chinese telecommunications company, ZTE. The company was left paralyzed after U.S. officials forbade U.S. companies from selling their chips, software and other goods to ZTE for violating trade controls. Trump’s announcement was widely seen as a potential peace offering to Beijing as the United States and China threatened each other with tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of trade.
Six days before the ZTE announcement, China said it approved five of Ivanka Trump’s trademarks, according to data from China’s trademark office. Then, on May 21, China awarded Trump two more trademarks in snacks, spices and bleaching preparations. In total, Trump now has 34 trademarks in China that would allow her to capitalize on her brand in the world’s second-largest economy.
Experts said the timing appeared to be a coincidence, given how quickly Trump won her previous trademark requests from Chinese authorities, though they differed on whether she appeared to receive special treatment.
Trump applied for six of the trademarks in March 2017. She applied for the seventh even earlier, in May 2016. China’s trademark office usually takes up to 18 months to approve trademarks, said Charles Feng, head of the intellectual property division at the law firm East & Concord Partners.
“From application to registration, this is very fast,” he said.
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Laura Young, a trademark lawyer at Wang & Wang, said she did not see anything unusual about the timing. She pointed out that under Chinese law, the trademark office should complete its examination of a filing within nine months, and that some of her clients get decisions within a year.
Still, Trump’s fame is likely to have helped her with the trademark approval process in China, according to Young. The president’s daughter has a large following in China, where she is lauded by many for her appearance and wealth. Videos of Trump’s daughter, Arabella, singing Chinese songs have gone viral.
“When a person is famous, and the examiners say: ‘Oh, I’ve heard of this person,’ it can be decided more quickly than if the examiner is not sure and has to consult others or go to a committee,” Young said.

domain: news


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New supermarkets are in the pipeline for Nottinghamshire after the Co-op announced a plan to open 100 food stores across the country this year.
It says up to five branches could open in the NG postcode this year, with stores in Bramcote Lane, Chilwell; University Boulevard, Nottingham; Alfreton Road, Sutton-in-Ashfield; and Bridge End,Colsterworth confirmed.
They are all expected to open in the first half of 2018.
The Co-op says the £160million plan will create around 1,600 jobs - based on an average of 16 roles for each store.
A full list of locations for the new stores has yet to be revealed, but the retailer says more than 20 new stores will open in London, up to 18 in Scotland, 10 in Wales - with the remainder across England.
It also plans to give "major makeovers" to a further 150 outlets, including the large supermarket in Bridgford Road, West Bridgford, and a convenience store in Arnold Road, Bestwood Estate.
The news follows the announcement of an agreement for the Co-op to become the exclusive wholesale supplier to the 2,200 Costcutter Group stores, and the deal to buy Nisa Retail, which is conditional on Competition and Markets Authority approval.
Jo Whitfield, chief executive of Co-op Food, said: "The Co-op is positively responding to the changes occurring within this dynamic sector. Our food business is going from strength to strength in what is clearly a challenging retail market.
"We have the ambition for our stores to be at the heart of local life, bringing communities together and offering our members and customers great quality products when and where they need them."
Stuart Hookins, Co-op's director of portfolio and development, said: "The Co-op's extensive acquisitions and refit programme is a fundamental part of our food strategy.
"Moving forward with a clear purpose and momentum, our expansion plans for 2018 will mean that the Co-op is on track to have opened at least 100 new stores in each of three consecutive years.
"With over one million new active members joining us in the last year, we are always looking for new locations to get closer to where our members and customers live and work and to meet their shopping needs conveniently."
The new-look stores will see the Co-op – which last year won the title of convenience retailer of the year accolade in the Retail Industry Awards – focus on offering a wide range of fresh, healthy foods, meal ideas and essentials, alongside increased ranges of own-brand and locally-sourced produce.
Scott Knowles, chief executive at East Midlands Chamber, said: “We welcome the prospect of five new supermarkets opening in Nottinghamshire.
"New business creates a spiral of growth in that it creates jobs, which means more income and more spending power, which creates more opportunities for economic growth and even more jobs.”


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Eurobike 2022, one of the largest bicycle trade shows in the world, took on a new life this year as it moved to a larger venue in Frankfurt, Germany. Electrek was on site to check out all the latest news and unveilings from the electric bike world.
We also want to thank Tern Bicycles for sponsoring our Eurobike coverage this year, which was perfect timing considering Tern’s two newest e-bike models were on full display at the event.
The post The coolest electric bikes (and other fun stuff!) we saw at Eurobike 2022 appeared first on Electrek.


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Observing a girl’s expression when reading one of his books, the Italian writer Ignazio Silone thought that writers focus too much on other writers’ opinions and not enough on readers’.
Nowadays it’s social marketers who don’t always manage to interpret the way people perceive advertising strategies: this aspect was recently highlighted by a study specifically conducted by Adobe on a sample of 1,250 US adults, 20% of whom were marketers.
The study showed a certain discrepancy between the answers provided by marketers on the one hand and by consumers on the other. Reality is not like social marketers wish it was or – even worse – take for granted (also because social users are less naïve than what one might generally think). This is why often ads appear invasive rather than involving, and in general the acceptance and the efficacy of messages don’t match expectations.
For instance, consumers tend to click “like” on a company’s page or product much less than marketers who work in the sector. Only 2% of consumers consider that a content posted on the corporate page of a social network is credible. And only 2% would buy a product because a friend clicked “like” on the page; also, 29% would visit the page, while 35% wouldn’t.
Therefore, according to the study marketers should occasionally be humble enough to put themselves in the shoes of consumers: there would be an inevitable economic return. Ann Lewnes, chief marketing officer with Adobe, said: «The web, and especially social media, provide huge opportunities, but marketers like us still have not fully exploited them».


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What a difference a year or so makes. Cotton quotes, which had skyrocketed in early 2011 to well
over $2 per pound, are now hovering in the low, well-under-$1-per-pound range. The latest U.S.
Department of Agriculture supply/demand estimates provide the details behind the huge decline.
Global production over the new 2012-13 marketing year beginning this month, for example, is put at
more than 115 million bales. That’s well above expected usage, which is targeted to reach only 109
million bales. Compare the two numbers, and it’s easy to see why stocks at the end of the marketing
year look to jump by nearly 9 percent — to more than 72 million bales. Equally important, this
means that the widely watched stock/usage ratio — a bellwether indicator of market trends -will
soar to near 66 percent at that time. That’s far above the low 40-percent reading recorded as
recently as 2009-10. Zero in on comparable U.S. numbers, and the picture is pretty much the same —
with the projected 2012-13 stock/usage ratio coming to 31 percent — more than double that reported
only two years earlier. Given all the above, it’s hard to justify any appreciable cotton price
recovery. To be sure, there could be a few rallies, but they’re likely to be modest and temporary.
Nor are any problems anticipated in the other major fiber area — man-mades. True, the government
price index here shows tags running some 4-percent ahead of a year earlier, but that’s hardly
earthshaking. Moreover, there are even a few areas of weakness. The polyester fiber reading, for
example, has slipped more than 3.5 percent vis-à-vis a year ago — with spun synthetic yarns off by
an even larger 6.5 percent. Finally, even wool quotes have tended to ease a bit compared to 12
months ago. In short, mill material costs are now pretty much under control.
The Bottom Line Impact
This changing material cost picture is also having a strong positive effect on the U.S.
industries’ financial health — primarily by lowering the proportion of the revenue dollars
earmarked for this key production input. Thus,
figures show that during last year’s cotton price run-up, material outlays for companies
making basic products like fabric accounted for a hefty 74 percent of each revenue dollar. This
year, however, the figure is expected to slip to near 72 percent. And it’s pretty much the same
story for both more highly fabricated mill products like home furnishings and carpets, and apparel
-with last year’s 67-percent and 61-percent ratios each falling about four or five percentage
points. More importantly, these cost trends are expected to continue into next year.
editors, for example, see material cost/revenue ratios declining even further in 2013 — to 62
percent for basic mill products, 44 percent for more highly fabricated mill items, and 45 percent
when it comes to apparel. These are clearly not insignificant declines. Indeed, they pretty much
‘s feeling that industry profits and margins will improve not only in 2012, but in 2013
Some Thoughts On Prices
Prices, too, are contributing to overall industry optimism. One might think that recent
declines in production costs would lead to some pressure on buyers to lower tags. But so far,
there’s been precious little evidence of this happening. Indeed, quotes on some key sectors like
finished fabrics and apparel have actually continued to inch up. And again, all indications suggest
this pattern will persist through the foreseeable future. One key reason: Fairly solid domestic
demand is helping reduce the need for discounts and other price concessions. Note, for example,
that over the past year, purchases of home furnishings, carpets, and apparel have all outpaced
year-ago levels. Moreover, the positive demand impact on pricing is being reinforced by recent
small declines in domestic excess capacity — as production potential continues to shrink. Still
another price-bolstering factor: The gradual narrowing of the U.S.-overseas price gap. Other things
being equal, this is calculated to strengthen domestic producer pricing clout. Strong confirmation
of this shrinking gap comes from recent textile and apparel import price hikes — increases that
have tended to outpace any relatively fractional ones posted by domestic firms. Throw all of the
above into the computer hopper, and it suggests some modest upward revisions in
‘s earlier 2012 price forecasts — with the following increases now projected: 3 percent or so
for basic mill products; 1 percent for more highly fabricated ones; and 1 to 2 percent for apparel.
And for 2013, odds still favor firmness, with, again, a chance of some modest advances.
August 21, 2012


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Can You Stop A DDoS Attack?
As we all know, recently a large domain name server (DNS) called Dyn had to deal with a huge distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. The result was a lot of high-profile websites throughout the U.S. being taken down. How can we manage to stop a DDoS attack when our site is the target?
Latest DDoS Attack
The latest DDoS attack even prompted a federal investigation, according to Android Headlines. The investigation is yet to be concluded, but from the initial reports we may conclude that that the attack was conducted by a botnet. This consists in a network of hacked devices programmed to- simultaneously request access to the same website.
A botnet results in an attacked DNS timing out due to a traffic bottleneck. In case of the latest DDoS attack, the malicious network was created by a malware called "Mirai." The malware is especially programmed to target Internet of Things (IoT) devices like connected printers, webcams, speakers and routers by using their generic passwords assigned by manufacturers.
This means that one of the largest DDoS attacks in recent years was made possible thanks to IoT devices instead of being conducted through malware-infected personal computers. As we can see, IoT gadgets have become a critical internet security issue.
While we may blame people who failed to change default passwords of their new IoT gadget purchases, the average consumer cannot truly be found at fault. The consumer electronics manufacturers cannot realistically expect that their customers are tech-savvy enough to ensure changing the password on their recently purchased products.
The companies certainly should not be shipping IoT devices with identical hard coded root passwords in the first place. But how to avoid such issues in the future? Is it possible to stop a DDoS attack from taking place?
How To Stop A DDoS Attack?
According to Digital Trends, if you are using the default password or you do not have yet a password on your Wi-Fi router, now is time to change it immediately. Also ensure that rather of selecting the older WEP or WPA as the security mode, you select instead the nee WPA2 standard.
Nacked Security recommends that you should also disable the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) that has significant security vulnerabilities. Even if you don't own any IoT devices yet, it is a good idea to make these changes now in order to ensure that your home network isn't welcoming intruders.
Another thing to do is to ensure that your router has no open ports. For this task you may use the free tools available on the website yougetsignal.com. In case that you already have some IoT gadgets, the next step is to ensure that they aren't at risk of being captured by a botnet. You'll need to reset the product back to its factory settings in order to wipe any malicious code that eventually has found a home on your device. Also, it is recommended that you make sure your IoT gadget is running the latest firmare.
In case that your favorite website becomes the victim of a DDoS attack, you may not have many options beside to wait until the issue is fixed. But if a DNS provider is attacked, you may try to change your DNS provider from your local ISP to a service like Open DNS or Google DNS. Usually these bigger companies have a much more robust DNS infrastructure than your local ISP.
Can Advanced Tech Protect Internet Security?
The new internet security challenges could be overcome with the help of advanced tech.
How To Prepare For The Next DDoS Attack?
After the biggest DDoS attack in internet's history, it's time to get yourself prepared.
Hackers Used New IoT Weapon For Friday's Internet Attack
According to internet security experts, hackers used a new IoT weapon to perform last Friday's internet attack at an unprecedented scale.
Microsoft's New Cybersecurity Engagement Center Opens In Mexico, Aims To Improve Users' Safety
Microsoft has publicly expressed their concern for the welfare of human beings in a global scale. This is the reason why they have extended their coverage of cybersecurity throughout Mexico to prevent the Latin American populace from being cyber attacked.
More Than Half Of The World's Internet Traffic Comes From Bots, Not Humans
According to a published report called Imperva Incapsula Bot Traffic Report, the world's internet traffic is not mainly caused by humans, but from bots.
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Cherry explores several different technology gizmos and gadgets to keep in mind when the initial burst of fitness motivation runs dry.
How Do Personal Emergency Response Systems Work?
Personal emergency response systems, known as PERS for short, are systems that help people to raise the alarm and get immediate help when a medical or personal emergency occurs. They are ideal for older people and anyone with a mobility issue or an injury or illness that can cause falls.
Eight Must-Have Tools to Keep Your Car Out of Garage
We all dread taking our car to a garage for repairs. We might just want to avoid the inconvenience of being off the road or maybe the costs associated, which can even lead to knock-on effects on things like our holiday plans.
6 Hacks for Students to Choose a Laptop While on a Budget
The modern world tries to drown us in the sea of choices. One can’t simply buy a laptop - there are hundreds of laptops around and sometimes our budget becomes the only real limitation we can rely on. But how to choose other parameters to get the best laptop possible?


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Truebil, a marketplace for selling used cars in India, has closed a $3 million post-Series A funding round from China’s Shunwei Capital. Its $5.5 million Series A was raised in January 2016.
Unlike more traditional rivals like CarTrade, which just raised $55 million led by Singapore’s Temasek, its sister site CarWhale and Cardekho, Truebil dis-intermediates the professional auto trader because it enables direct consumer-to-consumer transactions.
Truebil was founded in 2015 and it is currently present in Mumbai and Bangalore. The company said it is selling 200 cars per month, with 1,000 new listings going up each month. Aside from the marketplace, it also offers a service that buys offline and sells refurbished vehicles: Truebil Direct. The firm purchases used vehicles from owners, which are then refurbished and sold on the site as a more premium option. Truebil Direct is also unique because it allows an owner to sell their car instantly.
The company said its revenue is growing 20 percent per month across both businesses — the marketplace and Truebil Direct. Annual GMV, it claimed, surpassed $220 million in 2016. Truebil said it will invest the new capital on operations, infrastructure and R&D. The round takes the company to $9 million from investors to date, according to Crunchbase data.


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‘People felt like we were delivering great value.’
Whereas reports on which console did best during Black Friday seem to be wildly differing, it’s not impossible to believe that all three consoles probably did well over the holiday shopping season. And Microsoft, for their part, certainly seem to be happy with how the Xbox One seems to have done.
Speaking to DualShockers, Marketing Group General Manager Aaron Greenberg said, “We’re here on Monday after Black Friday, and we’ve definitely been talking with our retail partners, and overall we’ve seen unprecedented demand and engagement online over the Black Friday weekend.”
At this point, our first day back in the office, we don’t have any specific results, but I’d say we’ve been sort of watching the fans’ reaction and lots of people sending us updates on what was sold out, and what retail stores, and which online sites, and so on.
Black Friday also really got extended beyond the U.S. We saw Black Friday take off in the UK with a lot of great offers, and a lot of our retail partners had some just fantastic deals for people that were looking to pick up an Xbox One, and hopefully with the games that we’ve launched this holiday, people felt like we were delivering great value.”
With the NPD results for the month of November being posted next week, on December 10, we will soon know for sure exactly who did how well- but on the whole, I think the best possible result for all of us would be each console doing well for itself in the end.


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The lawsuit identifies iOS mobile devices, Apple TV, App Store, iTunes, iADS, Safari and OS X-based personal computers as infringing the patents.
Apple is counting on a long-awaited agreement with China Mobile to make major headway in China. But the technology giant may need to overcome some significant hurdles.
Officially, it's Apple versus Samsung Electronics in another tech patent faceoff. But there is one unnamed party in the case - Google.
Apple and Samsung will return to federal court in the heart of Silicon Valley on Monday for a new round in their seemingly perpetual patent war.
Google, which is not named in the litigation, was clearly a large part of it. While Google has declined to comment, Apple says Samsung is trying to mislead.
The sweetness of this compote will vary with the type of fruit used. Sweet fruit, like dried apples, pears and raisins, will result in a compote with a brightertaste.
Apple filed its complaint against Samsung accusing Samsung of infringing on software patents by copying features found in both the iPhone and iPad.
Apple has avoided jaw-dropping takeovers in favor of a series of smaller deals, using the companies to buttress or fill a gap in products that already exist.
HP, Lenovo, Acer and Apple strengthened their market shares in Western Europe during the fourth quarter of 2013 from the year ago, according to Gartner.


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Chinese resource MyDrivers published the likely technical characteristics of graphics accelerators NVIDIA Ampere. Note, the release of graphics cards planned before the end of this year.
What is known about the new graphics cards
According to the Asian journalists, “green” is preparing to release at least two graphics core with a new architecture and GA103 GA104. These GPU will be a NVIDIA GeForce based cards RTX RTX 3070 and 3080.
For the production of graphics cores Ampere will use a 7-nm process technology, but the source is not willing to say, which of contract chipmakers turn NVIDIA. The most likely candidate for this role is Samsung Electronics, however, it cannot be excluded that the company will again use the services of its longtime partner, the Taiwanese company TSMC.
Predvaritelnye characteristics of graphics cards
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (GA103) will adopt 3840 CUDA cores, divided between 60 multiprocessore SM units, 320-bit memory bus, and a 10 – or 20-Gigabyte framebuffer chips GDDR6.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (GA104) will operate 48 blocks SM 3072 stream processors and 256-bit memory bus. Onboard soldered chips GDDR6 a total volume of 8 or 16 GB.
Date of announcement
The official announcement of the graphics core NVIDIA Ampere, according to reports, will be held at the conference GTC in 2020, which will be held March 23-26 in San Jose.
More news on the events from the world of technology, gadgets, artificial intelligence, and space, see Techno


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Commentary: BBIN Economic Corridor Has Potential to Transform Trade and Development in East and Northeast India
21 November 2023
ADB under the SASEC program has invested more than $15 billion in the priority sectors of transport, energy, trade facilitation, economic corridor development, and ICT as of 2020. To fully realize BBIN's potential, countries must also invest in regulatory reform in logistics services. This is an excerpt of an article that appears on the Tatsat Chronicle.
By Kalyan Chatterjee
Garment exports constitute more than four-fifths of Bangladesh's total export of trade and services. Eighty-five percent of garments find markets in Europe and the United States (US), under the system of preferential trading for least developed countries. Together, exports to the European Union, the United Kingdom, and US add up to as much as $37 billion. In comparison, Bangladesh's garment exports to its next-door neighbor, India, is barely $1 billion. And this has been achieved in just the past couple of years. In 2020, India's garment import from Bangladesh was just about a fifth of this.
It is just one example of the low levels of regional economic cooperation in the South Asian region, home to some of the poorest people in the world. According to a 2021 World Bank report, regional trade can boost India's national income by as much as 7.6% and that of Bangladesh by over 16%, bringing all-round prosperity to a fifth of humanity.
The benefits of regional cooperation had occurred to South Asian countries nearly half a century ago, leading them to create the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 1985. SAARC had been inspired by the success of other regional economic groupings such as the European Community, now expanded into the European Union, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal Motor Vehicles Agreement (BBIN MVA) aims to make possible free movement of vehicles within these four countries, all sharing borders with India, shortening trade routes, and making international and interregional trade faster and cheaper. But eight years have passed, and it remains mostly on paper.
Countries in the BBIN subregion have so far failed to take advantage of their proximity to one another and it remains one of the least integrated regions globally. Trade between Bangladesh and India, the two largest economies of the region, is just 1% of Indian trade and 10% of Bangladeshi trade. The subregion is way behind: even in the East African and sub-Saharan regions, interregional trade is 50% and 22% of total trade, respectively, according to a report, Multimodal Connectivity for Shared Prosperity: Towards Facilitating Trade in the BBIN Subregion, by development organization CUTS International.
The subregion is burdened by high trade costs due to poor infrastructure and logistics. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) through the South Asian Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) program has invested more than $15 billion in the priority sectors of transport, energy, trade facilitation, economic corridor development and information and communication technology (ICT) as of August 2020.
The CUTS analysis of gross domestic product (GDP) and trade within the subregion between 2010 and 2019 brings out the positive correlation between the two. In 2010, interregional trade was $6 billion, while GDP was $1.7 trillion. By 2019, trade had risen to $16 billion, while GDP had nearly doubled to $3.2 trillion. The GDP of the BBIN subregion grew faster than the world GDP, leading to its identification as one of the fastest growing regions of the world.
The benefits of integrating BBIN will begin to emerge when trucks, trains, and boats begin to cross international boundaries with the complete implementation of the MVA. Though the MVA has an average score measured against an ideal transport agreement, it misses out with regard to some important elements, according to the 2021 World Bank Report. Chief among them are standards for the design of infrastructure on which services are provided, rules on the training and issuance of driver's licenses and general principles for transit movement.
The cost and quality of road transport services are critical as it accounts for more than 80 percent of all regional trade shipments. High costs of trade and long delays in crossing borders, the age and reliability of fleets, the poor quality of services, weak skills, and the high degree of atomization hamper trade. But despite its importance, said the WB Report, little attention has been paid to the cross-border integration of transport services in the region.
Creation of infrastructure alone will not reduce trade costs. Countries must invest in regulatory reform in logistics services such as trucking, warehousing, and freight forwarding. Infrastructure has to be built to the same standards and specifications, providing the basis for allowing vehicles loaded to the same limits to cross the borders without hindrance. Different load limits may require goods to be transloaded, resulting in delays and high costs.
Efficient cross-border road transport operations require countries to negotiate complementary reforms—on road signs, driver training, insurance, and visa regimes—not specified in the MVA. The MVA requires them to carry as many as 11 documents. Digital technology can help in sharing information between the countries, obviating the need for drivers to carry physical copies of documents.
Because of the shape of the borders in the region, Bangladesh could serve as a transit country for trade between northeast India and the rest of India as well as provide easier access to ports for landlocked Nepal and Bhutan. But, as of now, cross-border movement of vehicles—for transit or delivery of goods—is not possible. But if the integration eventually happens then, CUTS International estimates, the combined GDP of the region can easily exceed $8.3 trillion by 2035 as projections show.


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December 30, 2015
Your State Agency’s New Year’s Resolution
According to NSSF research conducted by Southwick Associates, roughly a quarter of all hunters will not renew their hunting license next year, and nearly half of anglers will not renew. This high turnover, or “churn,” impacts industry sales and conservation funding. To help reduce the high churn rate and improve convenience for customers, the National Shootings Sports Foundation (NSSF) has been encouraging states for the past several years to offering automatic license renewals. In 2015, Florida has become the first state to do so.
The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission implemented recreational licensing auto renew functionality to offer customers the option to set eligible fishing and hunting licenses to renew annually without any effort from the customer. Due to a series of bureaucratic, legal and other hurdles, states have often been blocked from storing customers’ credit card numbers and providing automatic license renewals. After several unsuccessful attempts in several states, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission with the help of its license vendor, Brandt Information Services, have overcome these hurdles.
Like every fish and wildlife agency across the United States, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission has been faced with industry challenges associated with participation, license revenue and conservation efforts. Cultural shifts in recreation, technology and interests have decreased consumer interests in outdoor activities, including fishing and hunting. Fish and wildlife agencies must now position themselves to compete with other outdoor activities, retailers and e-commerce outlets using the same resources, personnel and tools.
A Focus on Reactivation: Reducing Churn & Lapses in Licenses
|Customers can turn auto renew on and off for eligible licenses by sliding the switch. Customers can manage auto renew settings, stored payment methods and more.
A primary concern of fish & wildlife agencies is the loss of retention of existing customers who have previously purchased a recreational license. With the costs of attracting new customers being double or triple that of reactivating existing customers, engaging existing participants can offer agencies increased participation and revenue and decreases in churn with minimal effort.
To support reactivation efforts, the Florida FWC partnered with their licensing vendor, Brandt Information Services, to implement auto renew functionality to allow customers to easily and automatically renew their annual fishing or hunting licenses online.
Tokenization: Protecting Customer Data & Securely Processing Transactions
|The process of tokenization protects credit card information while enabling customers to automatically renew their licenses.
Using tokenization technologies, auto renew functionality allows customers to store their desired payment method for auto renew transactions without risking exposure to data breaches. The tokenization process converts the credit card number to a 4 digit token that matches the last 4 digits of a customer’s credit card number – meaning credit card numbers are never stored in the licensing system. That credit card token is valid only across the solution’s designated credit card processor and IP address, and tokens are useless if stolen since they only contain the last 4 digits of the credit card. The tokenization approach mitigates security issues, maintains Payment Card Industry (PCI) Level 1 Compliance, and eliminates the storage of cardholder data on state systems.
|Customers in 47 of 50 states have registered for auto renew in Florida.
Since the implementation of auto renew functionality in October 2015, results have found staggering success that has exceeded the expectations of the fish and wildlife industry.
In less than 60 days:
- Over 16,000 customers have registered for auto renew
- Over 25,000 licenses have been set to auto renew.
- Customers in 47 of 50 states have registered for auto renew in Florida.
- Customers who have registered for auto renew have an average license lapse of 227 days. (Some lapse periods exceeded 5 years or longer.)
New Year, New Opportunity
Easing the Licensing Process
|Florida connected with license buyers to let them know that they could now enroll in auto-renewal.
2016 is a new year and for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the opportunities seem bright. New technologies are continuing to evolve that can help us better manage our R3 challenges. As you make plans for the upcoming licensing and hunting seasons, consider evaluating your state’s licensing process to see if there are some challenges that you can address. Ask a colleague or friend to walk through your licensing process and identify any constraints that might prohibit a hunter from making that purchase. Would a lay-person understand the terminology used to describe your licensing types? Can a customer purchase a license from their mobile device? Perhaps auto-renewal isn’t the first thing you can tackle, but there may be some other things you can do to simplify the licensing process.
Let’s make 2016 a year of progress in the R3 realm and join Florida Fish and Wildlife in celebration of accomplishments for the year. Stay tuned to NSSF’s R3 blog as we highlight other state’s accomplishments this year and share strategies to help you address your hunting and shooting sports R3 challenges.


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AGENT LINK To empower those who change lives for the better
RECRUITING UNPRECEDENTED NUMBERS OF TOP-LEVEL PRODUCERS IN 2018
How One of the Largest Annuity IMOs in the Country Is Using Predictive Targeting
Last month, we caught up with Jeff, senior vice president for one of the largest IMOs in the country. In 2018, Jeff ’s organization saw unprecedented growth in the number of high- quality agents they recruited and contracted. Recruiting percentages were through the roof. But, as Jeff says, “It wasn’t just that. You can recruit all day long, but these guys are writing business.” It wasn’t just the quantity but also the quality of agents that was different.This resulted in a massive increase in annuity premium for 2018. Here’s how they did it. THE COMPANY As one of the largest annuity Independent Marketing Organizations in the country, situated in the Southwest, they’ve been in business for more than two decades.They are deeply involved in product design and national sales distribution, and they target active, top- Since opening their doors in the 1990s, this organization has found that recruiting solid annuity agents has become increasingly challenging due to market saturation and growing competition from other IMOs. Over the years, the organization’s marketers noticed a trend in the leads they were getting — an increasing number of hobbyists rather than serious producers. Prior to adding more Marketing Staff, the organization wanted to implement positive changes to expand more efficiently. level annuity producers. THE CHALLENGE
handcrafting a unique value proposition that would stand out from the sea of sameness that the annuities market had become. Rather Continued on Page 2 ...
OUR SOLUTION Working with Agent Link’s creative team, the marketing organization’s first step was
1 +800 535 4545www.agentlinkmarketing.com
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Tua Tagovailoa had to choose a new jersey number after he was drafted by the Dolphins. The No. 13 he wore in college at Alabama is Dan Marino’s number in Miami and is retired.
Tua went with the No. 1 and that has paid off big time for the Dolphins rookie. Two versions of his Dolphins jersey are currently occupying the top two spots at the official NFL Shop top sellers list.
Tua’s Dolphins jerseys have only been available for a few days and have now topped both Tom Brady’s and Rob Gronkowski’s Buccaneers jerseys.
RELATED: Tua Tagovailoa Shows Off His No. 1 Dolphins Jersey
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More and more companies operating in Kenya are allowing their customers to pay for products and services using the M-Pesa mobile money platform.
Last week airline Virgin Atlantic, owned by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group (51%) and Singapore Airlines (49%), announced that its passengers can now pay for tickets using the popular M-Pesa service. Passengers will be allowed to transfer up to Ksh.140,000 (US$1,537) from one phone number per day. Virgin Atlantic offers flights between London and Nairobi.
“With the launch of the M-Pesa service, we are determined in ensuring that customers pay for their air tickets conveniently and efficiently via their mobile phone,” commented David Rose, Virgin Atlantic country manager for Kenya.
Over 600 companies and organisations in Kenya currently accept bill payments through M-Pesa. Earlier in the year, Deacons, one of east Africa’s largest clothing and household goods retailers with brands such as Woolworths and Mr Price, also announced that customers will be able to pay via M-Pesa. Similar agreements were also signed with supermarkets Uchumi and Naivas.
M-Pesa, which was launched by mobile operator Safaricom in 2007, had over 14 million customers in April 2011. The service does not require users to have a bank account; an important aspect in Kenya, where millions of people do not operate bank accounts. Account holders can buy electronic funds at an M-Pesa agent and send the electronic value to any other mobile phone user in the country, who can then redeem it for conventional cash at any M-Pesa agent. In April this year, there were over 27,000 agent outlets.
In 2010 M-Pesa users transferred an estimated $7 billion, equivalent to 20% of Kenya’s national gross domestic product (GDP).
“Perhaps most demonstratively, M-Pesa’s success has spawned over 60 similar programmes across the globe. Some are already showing signs of comparative success. For instance, since launching mobile money services in partnership with Stanbic Bank in Uganda, MTN has already amassed over 3,000 mobile banking agents across the country. By the end of August 2010, MTN had 1.2 million mobile money subscribers, transferring a monthly average of $60 million, 60% of which was sent from urban to rural areas. In 2010, the Bank of Uganda recorded $400 million worth of mobile money transfers, with registered mobile money customers quadrupling from 552,000 in 2009 to around 2 million by the end of 2010,” said Standard Bank analyst Simon Freemantle in a recent research report.
“From a virtually non-existent base five years ago, it is estimated that there will be upwards of 350 million users of mobile money transfer services in Africa in 2015. Mobile money offers a swifter, safer and more cost effective means to transfer money, and has been revolutionary in the manner in which it has extended financial services to the informal economy,” he added.


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Save Big Time Now During Mike Erdman’s Huge Moving Sale, Watch the Move Live On Space Coast Daily TV
By Alan Zlotorzynski, Senior Editor // July 3, 2018
NOW IS THE TIME TO GET YOUR NEW TOYOTA OR NISSAN!
SPACE COAST DAILY TV: Mike Erdman Nissan is moving from their location on the State Road 520 Causeway in Merritt Island this morning to their new location at State Road 520 and I-95. Space Coast Daily’s Zach Clark is at the old location, while Alan Zlotorzynski is at the new location as employees move hundreds of cars. Don’t miss the Moving Sale going on now!
WATCH: For more than 27 years, the Mike Erdman Auto Group has been an integral part of the Brevard County community, and beginning Tuesday, will make its exciting and highly anticipated move into Brevard’s most modern auto dealer facility. CLICK HERE for information about their huge moving sale!
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA– For more than 27 years, the Mike Erdman Auto Group has been an integral part of the Brevard County community, and beginning Tuesday, will make its exciting and highly anticipated move into Brevard’s most modern auto dealer facility.
Located on the State Road 520 Causeway in Merritt Island, the Mike Erdman Motors Nissan, Toyota and Cadillac dealerships have served the community with new and used vehicle sales and outstanding service.
“The new facility will be the Taj Mahal of dealerships in Brevard County,” said Ryan Pierce, Internet Manager for Mike Erdman Toyota.
On Tuesday morning, the Mike Erdman Auto Group will relocate its Nissan operations into the brand new state of the art 35-acre, 95,000 square foot facility, located at State Road 520 and Interstate 95.
The new facility will also house the Toyota dealership, which is scheduled to make the move into the new dealership off I-95 later this month.
ABOVE VIDEO: Ryan Pierce, Internet Manager for Mike Erdman Toyota, talks about the great savings available now during the huge moving sale now going on. Both Mike Erdman Toyota and Mike Erdman Nissan have extended their “Moving Sale” through the close of business on Monday. Customers can save thousands on pre-owned and new vehicles.
Mike Erdman Cadillac will remain on Merritt Island and will move into the current Erdman Toyota location, located about two miles east at 1545 E. Merritt Island Causeway. The body shop will also expand and will continue to feature the Express Lane.
No facility auto dealership in the building stages on the Space Coast has been as closely followed as the new Erdman facility has, especially when you consider its location.
The new dealership is an integral part of the I-95, State Road 520 and State 524 Cocoa expansion during the past year.
Last year, around the time the Erdmans were breaking ground on the dealership, a new Pilot Flying J Travel Center opened two miles north just off State Road 524 and I-95 and just east of the new travel center, and Walmart is scheduled to open a massive 550,000-square-foot, $100 million warehouse distribution center this fall.
As for the move, both Ryan Pierce and Joe Kennedy of the Erdman Automotive Group told me they really don’t want to move the nearly 600 cars down to the new place – which is great news for customers in the market for a vehicle.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE MOVING SALE
The vehicles that aren’t sold will be moved to the new dealership during a D-Day logistic-like process you will be able to watch live on Space Coast Daily TV on Tuesday, starting at 6 a.m. All hands will be on deck as staff members drive all the vehicles west on State Road 520 to the new location.
Space Coast Daily will have cameras at the current Nissan location, the new location and in the vehicles as they are being driven to their new home.
STAY TUNED TO SPACE COAST DAILY FOR UPDATES
CLICK HERE FOR BREVARD COUNTY NEWS


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I am not sure if this is a Nokia or Microsoft feature, but the latest ROM leaked for the the Nokia Lumia 820 and 920 adds a new, but rather useful feature for those on limited data plans.
Under Mobile Network Settings, users are now able to switch mobile data off completely, confining data use to WIFI only, even when it is not available.
The ROMs, firmware 3049.0000.1330.xx, are available for download at WindowsMania.pl here, but of course flashing your device will lead to some data loss.
While the feature is great for those on data limits, I wish for the opposite also, ie. the ability to force mobile data use when WIFI is not available e.g. when downloading podcasts, for those with fast connectivity and unlimited data plans.
Find the ROMs at WindowsMania.pl here.
Nokia promised to announce impressive enterprise wins later in August, and has now delivered in spades, with the news that more than 19,000 Delta Air Lines flight attendants will today begin using new Windows Phone 8 handheld devices to streamline on-board purchasing.
"Delta’s 19,000 in-flight professionals are there for the safety and comfort of our customers, and equipping them with innovative solutions means they can better meet our customers’ needs on board every flight," said Joanne Smith, senior vice president – In-Flight Service. "This is yet another way we’re investing in technology to improve the customer experience."
The Windows Phone 8 device, a Nokia Lumia 820, enables Delta flight attendants to offer:
- Near real-time credit card processing for on-board purchases, including upgrades to Delta’s popular Economy Comfort seating. On-board Economy Comfort upgrades will begin on transcontinental and international flights before being offered on flights across Delta’s system.
- Convenient eReceipts that can be emailed to customers.
- Customers’ use of pre-paid credit cards for on-board purchases.
- Quicker transaction processing times.
- In the near future, the ability to read coupons displayed on a customer’s mobile device.
- More efficient service recovery.
On Aug. 26, flight attendants on Delta Connection flights also will begin using the device.
In the future, Delta expects to provide flight attendants with certain customer-specific information to enable more personalized service.
This solution was developed by Microsoft, Avanade and AT&T after months of development and feedback from flight attendants. The Windows Phone 8 devices will include a Delta-specific customer experience developed by Avanade on the Microsoft Dynamics for Retail mobile point-of sale platform and will operate over Wi-Fi and AT&T’s 4G LTE Network. The agreement includes plans to expand the solution over the next three years to the newest Nokia devices.
Delta also offers its popular Fly Delta app for Windows Phone and today offers in-flight Wi-Fi on more than 800 aircraft.
Delta Air Lines has more than 80,000 employees, serves more than 160 million customers each year and offers service to 327 destinations in 63 countries on six continents.
Read more at Nokia Conversations here.
Thanks Nishy for the tip.
WPDang reports that the China Unicom version of the Nokia Amber update for the Nokia Lumia 820 and 920 is now also available to download.
The update has all the expected features except of course Datasense, which is even now only on a limited number of carriers.
As usual we do not recommend flashing your handset, due to the risk of data loss, but if you are bold (or foolhardy) read more about the download and Installation at WPDang.
WindowsMania.pl, who has leaked the Nokia Lumia 820 and 920 Amber firmware update, has now also posted a video demo of the software running on the Nokia Lumia 820.
The download for the update and instructions can be found at WindowsMania.pl, but in general we suggested waiting for the official Over the Air update, which would preserve you app data vs flashing the ROM, which will wipe out all third party apps.
WindowsMania.pl always seem to get their hands on the goodies before everyone else and today is no exception.
They have managed to lay their hands on the as yet unreleased Nokia Amber firmware for the Nokia Lumia 820 and 920.
They also have full instructions on flashing these stock ROMs, but note that unlike the official over the air update this will wipe your device, meaning your application data and settings and game progress, unless backed up by the apps elsewhere, will be cleared from your handset and you may lose data.
Posting on their firmware update site, Vodafone Australia announced that testing of the GDR 2 update for the HTC 8X has been completed, and is just awaiting release by Microsoft.
Unfortunately the more complex Nokia Amber release of the Nokia Lumia 820 is still in testing, and for some reason the update for the Nokia Lumia 720 has not been submitted yet.
It seems by keeping it simple HTC may beat Nokia out of the gate with the new software. Hopefully it will not be like Samsung did, by leaving out important features such as Datasense and the FM Radio support.
See the page at Vodafone Australia here.
Thanks brent3000 for the tip.
Vodafone Australia has posted on their blog that the PR2.0 Nokia Amber update is currently in testing for the Nokia Lumia 820, and that testing will soon begin for the Nokia Lumia 720.
An update is also in testing for the HTC 8X.
The testing phase tends to last less than 2 weeks, suggesting we can expect to see the OS roll out at the end of July or early in August, at least on this carrier.
The Nokia Amber GDR2 update brings back support for the FM radio, brings Datasense to all handsets, an Always ON Clock, Double Tap to Wake , Nokia Smart Camera App , CalDav & CardDav support , and a host of other features, including Bluetooth 4.0 support for the Nokia Lumia 720.
Thanks brent3000 for the tip.
Telecompaper reports that Digicel is bringing the Nokia Lumia range to Trinidad and Tobago.
The carrier will be offering the Nokia Lumia 620, 820 and 920 at its flagship stores across the country.
The Nokia Lumia 520 will be $599 TTD ($93 USD) on contract, while the 820 will be $2899 TTD ($451 USD) and the 920 will be $3899 TTD ($607 USD) on contract.
The carrier has previously offered the Nokia Lumia 610.
There are some people who message constantly on their phones and really challenge a battery to last a whole day.
For those people a removable battery is just not enough, and they need just what Mugen Power has provided – a massive extended battery that more than doubles the capacity of the 1650 mAh battery in the Nokia Lumia 820.
The battery costs $89.50, which is somewhat pricy, and comes with a replacement back available in Black, Red, Yellow and White.
The Mugen Power 3600mAh Extended Battery for Nokia Lumia 820 with Battery Door [HLI-820XL] can be found on their website here. Delivery is from the 4th May.
On their blog Vodafone Australia has announced that the Nokia Lumia 820 is getting a software update tomorrow, and rolling out over the next month, which will enable 4G LTE support on their network.
The PR 1.1.5 update will make the Nokia Lumia 820:
- 4G enabled
- The phone can now play videos sent from a Samsung Galaxy via MMS
- Stability improvement, fixing reboot and freezing issues
- General performance and quality improvements
The update will come to 25% of users in the first 5 days, 50% in the next 15 and should cover all users within 26 days. Users will be notified via an update prompt on their handset.
Interestingly it seems the 4G update is coming to the Nokia Lumia 820 before the iPhone 5 and other Android devices, which is pretty sweet for however long it lasts.
Read more at Vodafone Australia’s blog here.
Thanks Nikhil for the tip.
Recombu posted this round-up of Nokia’s full Windows Phone 8 range, including the Nokia Lumia 520, 620, 720, 820 and 920.
They have also posted a brief overview of the specs, and after handling all the devices interestingly felt the Nokia Lumia 720 was their favourite device, saying:
Oddly, the Nokia Lumia 720. Its slender elegance and balance of power sits well in our hand and pocket. It also seems like the design continuation of the seminal Lumia 800, a classic in our eyes.
This of course is good news, given that the 720 is likely the vanguard of Nokia’s device design going forward, with future handsets likely sharing the slimmer and sleeker profile.
Read more at their site here.
Nokia has been moving their free wireless charging promotion from country to country, hitting US, UK and Germany, and the offer has now finally rocked up in Australia.
Unfortunately not retrospective, if you buy a Nokia Lumia 820 or 920 between the 1st April and the 31st May you can claim a free wireless charging plate at Nokia’s dedicated website www.nokiapromo.com.au.
To claim you merely need your date of purchase, receipt number and IMEI number.
At a value of $69 the offer is too good to resist. Read more at NokiaPromo.com.au here.
Thanks Stephen for the tip.
We have seen the Nokia Lumia 820 being discounted elsewhere, and now the Windows Phone 8 handset is also seeing its price dropped on AT&T.
The Nokia Lumia 820 is now available for only 1c on contract, down from $49.99, and the commitment-free price has also dropped fro $399.99 to £349.99.
The deal is available on both new and upgraded contracts, and if signing up for two years you will also get a free Bluetooth handset.


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6 Apr 2016
COMPANIES ACROSS EUROPE INVITED TO ENTER PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS IN ITS 10th YEAR
7 Mar 2016
32 businesses have been named as their country’s ‘National Public Champion’ after almost 160,000 people voted for their favourite business in The European Business Awards, sponsored by RSM.
9 Feb 2016
110 businesses have been announced as the finalists and Ruban d’Honneur recipients in the 2015/16 European Business Awards sponsored by RSM.
11 Jan 2016
Europe’s Premier Business Awards Opens Online Public Vote
VOTE NOW AT www.businessawardseurope.com


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The group, led by online children’s clothes seller Arunee Numkate and freelance translator Thirapat Charoensuk, submitted a letter to Palang Pracharath MP Watanya Wongopasi, who is the spokesperson for a House committee on finance, fiscal and financial institutions and markets.
The group called on the panel for help after PayPal (Thailand) announced all accounts registered to freelancers, casual online sellers and small-scale entrepreneurs will have limited functionality from March 7. To continue receiving payments all users are required to submit proof that they have been registered as juristic persons, PayPal said.
However, the group said this requirement has not just caused confusion but is also an added financial burden.
Watanya responded by saying her panel will call on the Bank of Thailand (BOT) and Commerce Ministry to look into the issue.
She said PayPal is supervised by the BOT and she believes it should be able to come up with a solution for freelancers.
She also said the panel will try to have PayPal delay the implementation of its new policy, which she believes is influenced by the BOT’s measures against money laundering.
Cause of confusion
Thirapat also complained that PayPal has provided no information on how freelancers can register as legal entities or even which Thai laws can be applied. He said when asked to clarify, PayPal only said they should register with the Commerce Ministry as “ordinary persons doing business” if they want to continue receiving payments.
Then on February 5 PayPal changed the rules again and announced that all accounts in Thailand must be registered as legal entities, he said.
Arunee, who has been selling clothes online for eight years now, said suddenly on November 11, PayPal demanded she registers with the Commerce Ministry. However, she said, on February 5, it changed its policy again.
She said registering as a juristic person will take time and is worried she may not be able to meet the March 7 deadline.
Hence, Thirapat said, the group wants the panel to speak to PayPal and find out which government agency has pushed for the changes and which laws these changes are based on.
The group also called on the House panel to cancel the requirement for freelancers to register as juristic persons and take responsibility for the damage caused by the confusion.
The group also wants PayPal to postpone the implementation of the new policy and allow non-business users to continue using the service.
Published : February 25, 2022
By : THE NATION


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Surfacing after the release of official images depicting the next-generation Ford Ranger pick-up truck, the Blue Oval has released footage of the forthcoming model in this Thai-market video.
There’s less material disguise on the upcoming fourth-generation Ranger in the footage here, though being a teaser, its details are still obscured; what can be seen as before are its new, larger headlamp arrangement similar to those on the Maverick, and when joined by a much more upright grille, offers more than a passing resemblance to its larger relative, the F-150.
Exact details of new equipment over that offered over the current model are still under wraps, though we already know that a plug-in hybrid powertrain will feature in the new Ranger’s line-up, and that of the Everest SUV as well.
This will be in addition to petrol and diesel engines, and this will reportedly offer 367 PS and 680 Nm of torque from a 2.3 litre turbocharged petrol engine mated to an electric motor. Claimed fuel consumption from this petrol hybrid unit is 3.0 litres per 100 km.
Purely internal combustion options will include the existing choice of 2.0 litre four-cylinder twin-turbo diesel, and this will be joined by a new 3.0 litre turbocharged V6 turbodiesel. The petrol unit is expected to be the 314 PS/542 Nm 2.7 litre turbocharged V6 that features in the Bronco. All powertrain options will reportedly use a 10-speed automatic transmission.
Also likely to be included in the fourth-generation Ranger is the latest iteration of the SYNC 4 infotainment system, with larger touchscreen interfaces measuring up to 15.5 inches across as seen in the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning. For the driver, there could be an optional 12-inch digital instrument display.
An exact launch date has yet to be revealed, though the Blue Oval says the pick-up truck’s premiere will take place soon. What are your favourite aspects of the next-generation Ford Ranger so far?
Source: Read Full Article


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- The Fed, cryptocurrency, and inflation, dominated financial news.
- All the talk of an accelerating economy and rising inflation just doesn't add up.
- Stocks in every sectorbut tech started this week trading in the red - here's everything you need to know about what happen in the markets this week, according to Lenore Hawkins, Chief Macro Strategist at Tematica Research.
The biggest news for the markets this week came from the Federal Reserve. On Wednesday, it released the January Federal Open Market Committee meeting notes and they were interpreted as dovish by some and hawkish by others as analysts raced to divine insight from the text.
The recent data isn't supporting the narrative of accelerating global growth and inflation while equities continue to experience higher volatility. What does it mean for stocks, bonds and yields? Glad you asked! Here's my take on why all the talk on an accelerating economy and rising inflation just doesn't add up when you look at the data.
Equity Markets — A Relatively Narrow Recovery
The shortened trading week opened Tuesday with every sector except technology closing in the red. The S&P 500 fell back below its 50-day moving average after Walmart (WMT) reported disappointing results, falling over 10% on the day, having its worst trading day in over 30 years.
Walmart's online sales grew 23% in the fourth quarter, but had grown 29% in the same quarter a year prior and were up 50% in the third quarter. We saw further evidence of the deflationary power of our Connected Society investing theme as the company reported the lowest operating margin in its history.
Ongoing investment to combat Amazon (AMZN) and rising freight costs — a subject our premium research subscribers have heard a lot of about lately — were the primary culprits behind Walmart's declining numbers. To really rub salt in that wound, Amazon shares hit a new record high the same day. This pushed the outperformance of the FAANG stocks versus the S&P 500 even higher.
Wednesday was much of the same, with most every sector again closing in the red, driven mostly by interpretations of the Federal Reserve's release of the January Federal Open Market Committee meeting notes. In fact, twenty-five minutes after the release of those notes, the Dow was up 303 points . . . and then proceeded to fall 470 points to close the day down 167 points. To put that swing in context, so far in 2018, the Dow has experienced that kind of a range seven times but not once in 2017.
Thursday was a mixed bag. Most sectors were flat to slightly up as the S&P 500 closed up just +0.1%, while both the Russell 2000 and the Nasdaq Composite lost -0.1%. The energy sector was the strongest performer, gaining 1.3% while financials took a hit, falling 0.7%.
The recovery from the lows this year has been relatively narrow. As of Thursday's close, the S&P 500 is still below its 50-day moving average, up 1.1% year-to-date with the median S&P 500 sector down -1.0%. Amazon, Microsoft and Netflix alone are responsible for nearly half of the year's gain in the S&P 500. The Russell 2000 is down -0.4% year-to-date and also below its 50-day moving average. The Dow is up 78 points year-to-date, but without Boeing (BA), would be down 317 points as two-thirds of Dow stocks are in the red for the year.
Fixed Income and Inflation — the Coming Debt Headwind
The 1-year Treasury yield hit 2.0%, the highest since 2008 while the 5-year Treasury yield has risen to the highest rate since 2010, these are material moves!
What hasn't been terribly material so far is the Fed's tapering program. It isn't exactly a fire sale with the assets of the Federal Reserve down all off 0.99% since September 27 when Quantitative Tightening began, which translates into an annualized pace of 2.4%.
As for inflationary pressures, U.S. Import prices increased 3.6% year-over-year versus expectations for 3.0%, mostly reflecting the continued weakness in the greenback. The Amex Dollar Index (DXY) has been below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages for all of 2018. The increase in import prices excluding fuel was the largest since 2012 and also beat expectations. Import prices for autos, auto parts and capital goods have accelerated but consumer good ex-autos once again moved into negative territory.
Outside the U.S. we see little evidence that inflation is accelerating. Korea's PPI fell further to 1.2% - no evidence of rising inflation there. In China the Producer Price Index fell to a 1-year low - yet another sign that we don't have rising global inflation. On Friday the European Central Bank's measure of Eurozone inflation for January came in at 1.3% overall and has been fairly steadily declining since reaching a peak of 1.9% last April. This morning we saw that Japan's Consumer Price Index rose for the 13th consecutive month in January, rising 0.9% from year-ago levels. Excluding fresh food and energy, the increase was just 0.4% - again, not exactly a hair-on-fire pace.
The reality is that the U.S. economy is today the most leveraged it has been in modern history with a total debt load of around $47 trillion. On average, roughly 20% of this debt rolls over annually. Using a quick back-of-the-envelope estimate, the new blended average rate for the debt that is rolling over this year will likely be 0.5% higher. That translates to approximately $250 billion in higher debt service costs this year. Talk about a headwind to both growth and inflationary pressures. The more the economy picks up steam and pushes interest rates up, the greater the headwind with such a large debt load… something consumers are no doubt familiar with and are poised to experience yet again in the coming quarters.
The Twists and Turns of Cryptocurrencies
The wild west drama of the cryptocurrency world continued this week as the South Korean official who led the government's regulatory clampdown on cryptocurrencies was found dead Sunday, presumably having suffered a fatal heart attack, but the police have opened an investigation into the cause of his death.
Tuesday, according to Yonhap News, the nation's financial regulator said the government will support "normal transactions" of cryptocurrencies, three weeks after banning digital currency trades through anonymous bank accounts. Yonhap also reported that the South Korean government will "encourage" banks to work with the cryptocurrency exchanges. Go figure. Bitcoin has nearly doubled off its recent lows.
Tuesday the crisis-ridden nation of Venezuela launched an oil-backed cryptocurrency, the "petro," in hopes that it will help circumvent financials sanctions imposed by the U.S. and help improve the nation's failing economy. This was the first cryptocurrency officially launched by a government. President Nicolás Maduro hosted a televised launch in the presidential palace which had been dressed up with texts moving on screens and party-like music stating, "The game took off successfully." The government plans to sell 82.4 million petros to the public. This will be an interesting one to watch.
Economy — Maintaining Context & Perspective is Key
Housing joined the ranks of U.S. economic indicators disappointing to the downside in January with the decline in existing home sales. Turnover fell 3.2%, the second consecutive decline, and is now at the lowest annual rate since last September. Sales were 4.8% below year-ago levels while the median sales price fell 2.4%, also the second consecutive decline and this marks the 6th decline in the past 7 months. U.S. mortgage applications for purchase are near a 52-week low.
Again, that's the latest data, but as we like to say here at Tematica, context and perspective are key. Looking back over the past month, around 60% of the U.S. economic data releases have come in below expectations and this has prompted the Citigroup Economic Surprise Index (CESI) to test a 4-month low. Sorry to break it to you folks, but the prevailing narrative of an accelerating economy just isn't supported by the hard data. No wonder that even the ever-optimistic Atlanta Fed has slashed its GDPNow forecast for the current quarter down to 3.2% from 5.4% on Feb. 1. We suspect further downward revisions are likely.
Looking up north, it wasn't just the U.S. consumer who stepped back from buying with disappointing retail sales as Canadian retail sales missed badly, falling 0.8% versus expectations for a 0.1% decline. Over in the land of bronze, silver and gold dreams, South Korean exports declined 3.9% year-over-year.
Wednesday's flash PMI's were all pretty much a miss to the downside. Eurozone Manufacturing PMI for February declined more than was expected to 58.5 from 59.6 in January versus expectations for 59.2. Same goes for Services which dropped to 56.7 from 58 versus expectations for 57.7. France and Germany also saw both their manufacturing and services PMIs decline more than expected in February. The U.K. saw its unemployment rate rise unexpectedly to 4.4% from 4.3%
The Bottom Line
Economic acceleration and rising inflation aren't showing up to the degree that was expected, and this was a market priced for perfection. The Federal Reserve is giving indications that it will not be providing the same kind of downside protection that asset prices have enjoyed since the crisis, pushing markets to reprice risk and question the priced-to-perfection stocks.


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USA TODAY featured Linda Rottenberg in its newly debuted “Change Agent” series. In addition to publishing an article that highlighted Endeavor’s success “revolutionizing entrepreneurship in emerging nations,” USA Today posted a video interview with Rottenberg to their website. The article examines Endeavor’s model and highlights key entrepreneur success stories such as Leila Velez (Beleza Natural), Wences Casares (Patagon/Lemon) and Martin Migoya (Globant). It also discussed Endeavor’s pending launch in Miami and other US cities.
The Change Agents series aims to “highlight innovators and entrepreneurs looking to change business and culture with their vision.” For a link to the article and accompanying video on USA TODAY.com click here.


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Similar to online grocery shopping, The Food Bank for New York City has launched a virtual food drive for the upcoming Jewish holiday Passover. The tool will allow donors to choose which Kosher foods they will give to those in need.
According to Food Bank President and CEO Margarette Purvis, she tells the NY Daily News that, “Tools like the virtual food drive allow us to tell a better story about who is hungry. So many people still believe we are only serving homeless people. No. It’s people with college degrees, people who lost a job. It’s everyday people.”
In addition, its predicted that an online food drive will cause a surge in donations from younger populations.


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Walmart Black Friday On Thursday [Audio]
WalMart, the world’s largest retailer, has decided to open even earlier this year to kick off it’s Black Friday holiday shopping season.
Black Friday at WalMart begins at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.
It might not be such a bad idea after all. It could be a good excuse to get away from certain family members you’ve had enough of!
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KFC has launched bizarre new ‘finger condoms’ for their customers to help them avoid getting their fingers greasy.
In an apparent U-turn over the fast food firm’s world-famous slogan “Finger lickin’ good”, branches in Japan rolled out the protective gloves this week.
Many fried chicken lovers will be familiar with the dilemma of trying to use their smartphone or tablet while tucking in to their favourite meal.
The Finger Nup – short for finger napkin – is designed to stop customers getting their hands covered in oil while they eat.
The tiny plastic glove fits only over the thumb and index finger, just enough for them to pick up their chicken.
They said many people would wrap the paper towels around the chicken in order to pick it up.
But the napkins would quickly soak through with grease – leading the restaurant to innovate with plastic.
KENTUCKY SPIED CHICKENKFC website hacked as over 1.2m loyalty scheme members warned to change password
A bit fishyMcDonald's and KFC workers reveal menu items 'you should NEVER order under any circumstances'
THE CHICKEN AND THE EGGKFC rolls out its new breakfast menu across the UK - and it's looking finger-lickin' good
The Finger Nup is being introduced at 222 restaurants around the Kanto and Kansai regions from December 15.
But customers who want to try them out will have to ask staff, as they will be kept behind the staff counter.
As well as the restaurant chain’s famous motto, the hand sheaths could also spell the end for its well-known alcoholic hand-wipes.
The wipes are supplied KFC branches across the UK to help customers clean up their hands after eating.
But they could become surplus to requirements if the Japanese “finger condoms” are rolled out across the rest of the world.
The world-famous fried chicken brand has been doing more than its fair share of innovating of late.
The restaurant offers to provide decorations, waiter service and the Colonel’s tasty Christmas burger for hungry punters, providing “easygoing alternative to the traditional boozy office gathering”.
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Dr. Stephen R. Covey, renowned management/self-help author and co-founder of Franklin Covey, has passed away. Covey was most famous for his book The 7 Habits of Highly-Effective People and the many related works it spawned. Dr. Covey caused a stir in the e-book world in late 2009 when he granted one year e-book exclusivity on [...]
Stephen R. Covey
The literary world has lost three titans in the last week.
It seems every week I receive a press release or read a news article about a new e-book exclusivity agreement an author has struck with Amazon. This week, it was best-selling science fiction author F. Paul Wilson.
According to the press release I received from Amazon, Wilson has made five of his books available in the Kindle Store exclusively for one year using Amazon's e-book self-publishing tool, Digital Text Platform.


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General Motors will temporarily close its Fairfax assembly plant in Kansas City, Kan., and four other factories next month as it tries to reduce a growing inventory of cars on dealer lots.
The factories will close anywhere from one to three weeks because of the continuing U.S. market shift toward trucks and SUVs, spokeswoman Dayna Hart said. Just over 10,000 workers will be idled.
The Fairfax plant and the company’s Detroit-Hamtramck factory each will be shut down for three weeks, while a plant in Lansing, Mich., will be down for two weeks. Factories in Lordstown, Ohio, and Bowling Green, Ky., each will be idled for one week.
The Fairfax plant, which has more than 3,000 employees, builds the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick LaCrosse.
Other cars affected by the idling include the Chevrolet Cruze, Camaro, Corvette, Volt and Impala; the Cadillac CT6, CTS and the ATS. Last month, almost 62 percent of total U.S. vehicle sales were trucks and SUVs.
Buyers are snapping up SUVs largely because they like the high seating position and the ability to haul things. Gasoline prices around $2 per gallon have helped the sales, but SUVs also have become more fuel efficient in the past five years.
GM’s inventory of vehicles on dealer lots at the end of November stood at 874,162, up 26.5 percent from the same time a year ago.
Workers at the plants will get company supplemental pay and unemployment benefits that add up to most of their pay.
Also Monday, Fiat Chrysler announced it was adding four off days to the Jan. 2 observation of New Year’s at its minivan assembly plant in Windsor, Ontario, and its large-car facility in Brampton, Ontario. The moves are to align production with demand, said spokeswoman Jodi Tinson.
Bloomberg News contributed to this story.


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Remember the barefoot homeless man who was given a costly pair of boots by a NYC cop who felt sorry for him on a cold, cold night? He’s barefoot again:
His name is Jeffrey Hillman, and on Sunday night, he was once again wandering the streets — this time on the Upper West Side — with no shoes.
The $100 pair of boots that Officer DePrimo had bought for him at a Sketchers store on Nov. 14 were nowhere to be seen.
“Those shoes are hidden. They are worth a lot of money,” Mr. Hillman said in an interview on Broadway in the 70s. “I could lose my life.”
Mr. Hillman, 54, was by turns aggrieved, grateful and taken aback by all the attention that had come his way — even as he struggled to figure out what to do about it.
“I was put on YouTube, I was put on everything without permission. What do I get?” he said. “This went around the world, and I want a piece of the pie.”