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Fujifilm, active in several fields of imaging with products for the graphic arts, packaging, healthcare, photo imaging, optical devices, and functional materials and other high-tech areas, in Hall 9D at PrintPack. It will display its digital press, Revoria Press PC 1120, its 6-color print engine launched last year in India.
A regular participant at PrintPack, Fujifilm will also focus on its Superia ZX, which is considered one the industry’s most advanced offset printing plates. It will also showcase its Flenex FW plates, for the water washable flexographic plate segment.
Kentaro Imafuku, head of the Graphic Arts Business of Fujifilm India, says, “Since this is the first major trade event post Covid-19, for our industry, we expect decent footfalls for the event. The audience will range from all printing segments, including packaging, labels, general commercial printers, quick printers, photo labs, and digital signage customers.
“We see a very bright future for the overall industry and the Indian market. We already see substantial improvement in the overall business numbers post the Covid-19 meltdown. Packaging will continue to grow, as will the labels segment. There could be some consolidation in commercial printing, but more volumes will be generated in the short run where digital equipment will play a major role,” he concludes.
Note: The IPPGroup will be publishing the PrintPack India Show Daily on all five days of the event from 26 to 30 May 2022. Our May issues of Indian Printer and Publisher and Packaging South Asia will also contain previews of the event.


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Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, announces the publication of its Chocolate Sustainability Report 2014/15. This year’s report documents the company’s progress towards making its cocoa and chocolate value chain more sustainable, from cocoa farming to the sales of sustainable cocoa and chocolate products.
The report highlights several major developments in the company’s strategy and activities during its fiscal year 2014/15:
• The company established the independent, non-profit Cocoa Horizons Foundation to grow impact and drive change in cocoa sustainability globally
• A new range of sustainable cocoa and chocolate products, HORIZONS, was developed to support farm productivity and community development programs, with traceability from farm to warehouse
• The company sourced 159,000 tonnes of sustainable cocoa, up 21% compared to previous fiscal year. Of these, two-thirds were sourced from the company’s own programs on the ground
• 70,500 farmers were trained in good agricultural practices, to allow them to improve yields, income, and livelihoods
• Sustainability premiums of CHF 20 million were handed out to farmers and farmer groups
• The company opened a new Cocoa Learning Center in West Sumatra to teach farmer trainers and disseminate knowledge in modern agricultural practices across Asia.
Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO of the Barry Callebaut Group, says: “We have had a long standing commitment to sustainable cocoa.
Our systematic approach to innovation, implementation and impact measurement, combined with our presence in all major cocoa growing countries has enabled us to scale up impact and to help shape a sustainable chocolate and cocoa future, in alignment with CocoaAction, the industry initiative to modernize the cocoa sector.
While we still have a long way to go, we are pleased with the progress that we have achieved in the past fiscal year.”
The Cocoa Sustainability Report 2014/15 was guided by the AA1000 standard for sustainability reporting and was externally verified by the auditing organization Denkstatt GmbH.
The complete report can be downloaded here.

domain: news


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Some of the world’s top tech companies have filed patent applications – and some have already received patents — for gadgets that seem weird today but may soon be coming to an e-commerce site near you.
Motorola Mobility is seeking a patent for “Coupling an Electronic Skin Tattoo to a Mobile Communication Device”:
The electronic skin tattoo can include an embedded microphone; a transceiver for enabling wireless communication with the MCD [mobile communication device]; and a power supply configured to receive energizing signals from a personal area network associated with the MCD.
The tattoo would be able to pick-up vibrations from the speaker’s throat – eliminating both annoying background noise and annoying people who talk too loudly on their cell phones. Motorola says that the device would be especially useful for “large stadiums, busy streets, restaurants, and emergency situations.”
Motorola also claims that the tattoo can be used as a lie detector, by measuring electrical changes in the skin. The patent application does not suggest contexts in which an embedded lie detector would be desirable to consumers.
According to Sony, wigs are better than over other types of wearable computers:
The usage of a wig has several advantages that, compared to known wearable computing devices, include a significantly increased user comfort and an improved handling of the wearable computing device. …[M]ost of the components or all components of the wearable computing device are covered by the wig and are, thus, not visible. Therefore, the user can wear the wearable computing device as a regular wig while looking natural at the same time…. A further advantage relies on the fact that the head area is more sensitive than other body parts, such as a foot, a hand or the waist of the user…
The wig could be uses to guide blind people by tapping them on the head, according to Sony.
Google has figured out how to monetize the view from its Google Glasses. In 2013 the company received a patent for its “gaze tracking system.”
The patented method would allow the determination of whether something a viewer is looking at is an advertisement and enable charging advertisers on a “per gaze” basis.
The method could also allow detection of whether a user looked directly at an ad and for how long, could provide feedback to advertisers on whether a given ad draws or holds the user’s gaze, and can even determine whether an ad evokes an emotional response.


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| October 22, 2012
Report Says Apple, VMware Teaming Up To Design iPad Microsoft Office Killer
Apple apparently has its eye on producing an office suite that will compete directly with Microsoft Office. According to a report from CRN today, Apple is teaming up with VMware to design a cloud-based iPad app that will allow organizations to “ditch Office entirely.”
According to sources with knowledge of the project, the iPad app combines VMware View virtual-desktop software with cloud-hosted versions of Pages, Keynote and Numbers -- known as the iWork suite -- running on Apple infrastructure. VMware's Horizon Application Manager, a management tool that has been likened to an enterprise app store, is also included, sources told CRN.The infrastructure being designed will be completely different from the consumer-facing iCloud that is built into the latest version of iOS and Mac OS X. The report had no information on when the solution would be released or what it would cost. But its intent seems clear:
"Apple wants Pages to be seen as a replacement for Microsoft Word, Numbers as a replacement for Excel and Keynote as a replacement for PowerPoint," one source familiar with the project told CRN.The news comes on the heels of Microsoft bringing Office to iOS devices. News of the Office iPad app first hit in February, but the most recent information is pointing to its release sometime early next year. Would you want to ditch Office for one of Apple’s solutions? Source: CRN


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Disney shut down both Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., and Disney World in Orlando on March 12 because of coronavirus.
In late May, Disney announced that Disney World was scheduled to reopen on July 11. Now, Disneyland will follow less than a week later.
The news comes despite the fact that nearly 1,000 people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19 in each of the past three days. Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Tuesday that the pandemic “isn’t over.”
Disney has already reopened Shanghai Disneyland and several stores worldwide.
“While certain aspects of your visit may change, I assure you the quality of our storytelling, magic of our experiences and the caliber of our cast members has not,” Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro wrote in a post.


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Amazon UK has listed the HTC Desire S as being available in Europe on April 18th at a cost is £419.99 ($677.26) unlocked. Amazon is currently taking preorders and is offering free shipping on order.
As mentioned in Slash Gear’s Hands-on, the Desire has unibody construction with a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and sporting a rear mounted 5MP camera and front facing VGA camera for video chat. The Desire S will run Android 2.4 (Gingerbread) out of the box.
[via Amazon UK]


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Microsoft has unveiled the details of its cloud platform, which will launch at the start of next year, building an online community for developers and resellers to promote their own applications.
The details of Azure have been taking shape over the last year with the vendor using its partner conference a couple of months ago and then its Professional Developers Conference currently taking place in Los Angeles to fill in some of the blanks.
Resellers now know that the launch date is 1 January and that customers will start paying from 1 February. But the other announcement from yesterday's keynote speech at the PDC by Ray Ozzie, chief software architect at Microsoft, was the launch of Pinpoint, an online shop window for resellers to sell their services.
"We are moving into an era of solutions that are experienced by users across PCs, phones and the Web and that are delivered from data centres we refer to as private clouds and public clouds," he said.
Ozzie also underlined the commitment the vendor was making to interoperability with other platforms as well as offering customers a virtual Windows 7 desktop environment and project Dallas that aims to help firms unlock the information in their unstructured data.
Mark Taylor, director of developer and platform evangelism group at Microsoft UK, said that the announcements were coming thick and fast and the response from partners at PDC was positive because most of the gaps in the Azure programme had been filled in.
He added that although it had just been announced the likely process for resellers wanting to get on board with Pinpoint would involve an accreditation and appraisal process but Microsoft would take as much friction out of the process as possible".
Taylor added that the other appeal to developers was not just the chance to sell on their own services and applications but to take advantage of the cloud in the way they approached the market.
"If you think about the promise of the cloud it is highly elastic about how you deploy it," he said.
The PDC conference continues today with more announcements around Azure expected.


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NPD Group names president of home business unit
Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD Group named Perry James, a 16-year veteran with the research firm, as the new president of home and office supplies.
James replaces Peter Goldman, who moved on to a position within NPD as senior VP of the Technology Analyst Business.
Before his current position, James was president of NPD’s Office Supplies and Software businesses. From 2005 through 2007, he was with the home group on the business development side.
"We’re very excited to be expanding our coverage of the hardware and home improvement industry," James said.
James will be based in the company’s Port Washington headquarters.
Newell Rubbermaid takes “more conservative” view of 2011
In a corporate announcement that sparked a sharp decline in the company’s share value, Atlanta-based Newell Rubbermaid said it is seeing weak consumer spending trends in the United States.
CEO Mark Ketchum pointed to "persistent softness in the U.S. economy and increased inflationary pressure" as a reason to revise downward the company’s expectations. Newell Rubbermaid now anticipates 2011 core sales growth in the range of 3% to 4%, down from a previous guidance of 4% to 5%.
The company’s stock was trading Monday morning at $14.95, down from about $17 before the Friday morning announcement.
The company, whose brands include Irwin Tools, Lenox, Benzomatic and Shur-Line, as well as Paper-Mate and Sharpie, lowered its earnings expectations to gains of 5% to 10%, down from previous guidance of 10% to 12%. Ketchum added that the Baby & Parenting business were particularly hard hit by the economy. Across most of the company, a 4% to 5% gain is still expected.
"We still expect solid core sales growth versus our 2010 results; however, our revised expectations are lower than they were just a short while ago,” said Ketchum. “Several of our large retail customers are revising downward their U.S. growth expectations for the year, pointing to weak consumer confidence levels and lower-than-expected spending trends, particularly in the semi-discretionary categories in which we compete. These lowered expectations are impacting customer ordering patterns and, as a result, we think it prudent to reflect those assumptions for lower growth in our own sales projections for the year.
“Our growth drivers, which were always skewed toward the back half of the year, include the launch of innovative new products, distribution gains at a number of key retailers, aggressive pricing actions to offset cost inflation and a greater focus on expansion in faster growing emerging markets," he said.


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General Motors is gearing up to bring its 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV to market this fall 2023. While the company hasn't yet shared anything official, images have surfaced online showing the compact electric crossover coming off GM's assembly line in Mexico.
It's been a long time coming, but GM has been touting vehicles like the Chevrolet Equinox EV for years. It will be an affordable EV for the masses with a starting price as low as $30,000, but don't expect that starting price to be $30,000 this fall. GM CEO Mary Barra recently said it may be the end of the decade before $30,000 EVs become a reality due to cost.
Gallery: 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV
GM also plans to launch a slightly larger Chevrolet Blazer EV alongside the Equinox EV. There are many other vehicles yet to come, including a Chevrolet Silverado EV pickup truck, and eventually, electric sports cars.
As GM works on its EV goals, it has focused only on expensive models for its next-gen launches, including the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq. However, it did redesign the well-priced Bolt EV and bring a companion crossover to market to sell alongside it: the Bolt EUV. Sadly, production on both affordable GM EVs will come to an end this year to make way for Equinox EV sales and other electric models.
There's a chance the production that was witnessed in Mexico was just early trial production or among small batches of vehicles being produced for final testing and assembly line configuration. If the vehicles are part of GM's captured test fleet, they can use them as test models now but still sell them later.
The 2024 Equinox EV wasn't supposed to go into production until later this year, yet local sources say about 100 copies of both the Equinox and the Blazer EV are coming off the line to go out for export.
According to Google Translate, the above text reads as follows:
"Equinox EV production began at GM's Ramos Arizpe plant, alongside the Honda Prologue in the same complex in #Coahuila ... The first 100 electric Equinoxes are already here... #Saltillo #Torreon #Monterrey@Lonso0"
The 2024 Equinox EV will have DC fast-charging capability as standard and up to 300 miles of driving range. GM says it will also have a whole host of the latest technology and safety features. It has two rows, seating for five, and a maximum cargo volume of 57 cubic feet.


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|Mexico's June Auto Production Doubles To 206,195 Units|
Paul Kiernan - Dow Jones Newswires
go to original
July 13, 2010
Mexico City - Mexico's auto production more than doubled in June from a year earlier as exports continued to gain market share in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.
|Nissan Motor said Tuesday it might suspend production in the United States and Mexico due to a delay in the delivery of engine control units, after announcing it would interrupt output in Japan. (AFP/Kazuhiro Nogi)|
Production rose 102% at Mexican auto plants last month, to 206,195 cars and light trucks, the Mexican Auto Industry Association, or AMIA, said Monday. Exports soared 109% to 177,575 units, led by demand from the U.S., Canada and Latin America. Mexico also shipped thousands of cars to Africa and Asia, where its exports had little or no presence last year. Domestic sales remained fairly feeble, growing 7% in June from a year ago to 59,909 vehicles.
"The dynamism of Mexican exports explains the significant increase in production, with growth (even) from levels prior to the crisis," AMIA said.
The auto industry represents Mexico's biggest single manufacturing sector. The U.S. recession led to a plunge in output in 2009, and a number of local assembly plants closed temporarily as a result of curtailed demand.
The rebound in output has led Mexico's recovery in economic activity this year. The National Statistics Institute reported Monday that May industrial production rose 8.4% from a year ago, with manufacturing up 14.2%.


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a major victory for Google Inc, U.S. regulators on Thursday ended their investigation into the giant Internet company and concluded that it had not manipulated its Web search results to hurt rivals. The Federal Trade Commission did, however, win promises from Google that it would end the practice of "scraping" reviews and other data from rivals' websites for its own products, and to allow advertisers to export data to independently evaluate advertising campaigns. …
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Shein, the Chinese ultra-fast-fashion retailer beloved by the TikTok generation (it received nearly as many #BamaRush mentions as Kendra Scott) announced this week that it was hosting a "Project Runway"-style design competition, which will be chronicled with a four-part series set to air later this month on the brand's app and Youtube channel. The company assembled 30 fashion designers from all over the world to battle it out for a grand prize of $100,000; the top five finalists will get the opportunity to fly to Los Angeles for a finale fashion show.
Of course, if you want a competition to generate buzz and legitimacy, you need a few marquee names to act as judges. To that end, designer Christian Siriano (no stranger to this type of competition), image architect Law Roach, Loveseen founder and former J.Crew president Jenna Lyons and InStyle style director Laurel Pantin have all signed on to participate as judges and mentors. As was surely part of their contract with the brand, most of the judges announced their participation on social media Wednesday, as well as their own promo codes for 20% off the e-commerce site. The response was... not all positive.
Many of the judges' fans and followers, as well as members of the fashion community, have expressed surprise and disappointment.
Despite Shein's massive popularity among Gen-Z shoppers, the company — which adds up to 1,000 new styles to its site per day, many of which cost under $10 — is often criticized by advocates for sustainability and fair labor practices. Like other retailers of its ilk, Shein is also frequently called out by designers for knock-offs. It hasn't exactly established a ton of goodwill among the fashion community.
After receiving an onslaught of critical comments on her Instagram post, Lyons disabled comments. Meanwhile, Siriano's team opted to go the individual deletion route, commenting on his own post, "We deleted negativity! Thank you."
On Roach's, the comments are still there, at least for now. A sampling:
"I really love you but so disappointed to seeing you working with Shein - are you not against their 1) exploitation of workers 2) contributions to waste and environmental damage 3) stealing from designers?" — @cardi.zee.
"Nope, not into this. When many of the small businesses I follow have their designs stolen and then get ignored, ghosted, and lied to, it makes me sad and angry. Really should not be supporting such a company." — @jennynashd.
In response, Law commented: "My Tribe please just watch this when it airs and you will see why I choose to do this!!! I promise you will be proud of me ❤❤❤❤."
Lyons updated her post with an explanation of a similar tone, writing: "The reason I participated - if you are interested - is because the ENTIRE PROCESS was designed to support young designers, and all of the contestants were incredibly talented, passionate, and deserving of a chance at winning 100k." She added that she would be taking comments down "in order to preserve the positivity for the designers involved."
For Kardashian, who has 175 million followers, there seems to be a more even mix of negative and positive comments, as there probably are with everything she posts. Pantin doesn't appear to have posted anything yet.
It's impossible to imagine these five didn't assess the risk of partnering up with a controversial company. We'll have to wait and see if the sentiment changes when the series begins to air this Sunday.
Homepage photo: Dia Dipasupil/WireImage


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All News | Be The First To Know at EdgeProp.my
"We welcome that Berlin embraces home-sharing in creating new rules that benefit regular people…”
“This is a very competitive industry and we have to be very focused on the product details.”
“In some cases, we were offering too few single storey houses.”
Will be the third-largest retail destination in Central London upon completion.
BLand remains confident that Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd will continue to maintain its market share in the number forecast operation.
On Oct 31, Ekovest said it would buy the remaining 61.65% stake in IWCity not held by its parent company Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Bhd.
"Years later, New Yorkers are still recovering from the housing crash…”
GDB said it commenced work on two new projects in 2017.
MRCB’s wholly-owned MRCB Land Sdn Bhd is the project’s management contractor.
Sold for: RM1.88 million (RM823.48 psf); Concluded by: Sean Inn (REN 18479) of Propstar Realty (012-287 6600); When: February 2018


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News about the NFC market in Netherlands — trials, pilots, tests and live services.
September 30th, 2015
PARTNER NEWS: Mobile payments specialist Bell ID’s host card emulation (HCE) solution has been certified by three of the largest global payment schemes, the company has announced, making it the first vendor to receive approval…
September 23rd, 2015
PARTNER NEWS: Visitors at CTIA Super Mobility Week 2015 in Las Vegas and IBC 2015 in Amsterdam were able to capture and exchange business cards with other attendees using NFC badges powered by NXP’s Mifare DESFire EV1 chips. NFC event solutions provider ITN International’s BCard Reader and Interact mobile apps let visitors use their NFC mobile devices to read other attendee’s badges, add notes and save contacts.
September 11th, 2015
August 26th, 2015
PayPal has extended its One Touch mobile payments solution to 13 new markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. “Eligible merchants in these markets will automatically have One Touch enabled without needing to do any integration,” the company says. The platform was launched in August 2014 and is available in the US, UK and Canada.
August 24th, 2015
MasterCard is testing a ‘Selfie Pay’ service in the Netherlands with International Card Services and Dutch bank ABN Amro. Some 750 cardholders can verify online transactions with a face or fingerprint scan using their smartphones, while 200 employees of US First Tech Federal Credit Union will trial the service in September. MasterCard unveiled its plans to pilot biometrics for online shopping in July.
July 7th, 2015
Dutch mobile order and payment provider MyOrder is to add virtual cards based on host card emulation (HCE) issued by German payments technology provider Wirecard to its app later this year, which will let users make in-store payments at any terminal that accepts Maestro contactless. The service lets users order and pay in advance using their smartphone at more than 14,500 participating retailers in the Netherlands.
July 3rd, 2015
Users of ING’s mobile banking app in the Netherlands can now use their voice or a fingerprint to authorise payments. “Customers previously could use voice control in the app and could log in with fingerprint recognition,” says the bank. “It is also possible from today to confirm payments in the app with your voice, or fingerprint for iOS devices equipped with Touch ID.”
June 17th, 2015
ING is to launch a mobile payments service based on host card emulation (HCE) in the Netherlands this summer following a final test with a group of the bank’s employees. “ING customers who already use the Mobile Banking app and have a suitable Android NFC smartphone — Android 4.4 KitKat or higher — will be able to make direct contactless mobile payments through the new ING Mobile Payment app after activating it with their mobile PIN,” the bank explains.
June 17th, 2015
The Groninger Museum in the Netherlands has deployed beacons to send information about its exhibitions directly to a visitor’s smartphone running the museum’s mobile app, developed by startup Tapme Media. The implementation follows a successful pilot of the technology that lasted for a year. “It’s a fantastic addition to our presentation,” says the museum’s Andreas Blühm.
June 12th, 2015
Mobile payment solution SEQR, developed by Swedish m-commerce software firm Seamless, is to launch in the US, making it the eleventh country where the system is available. Allowing consumers to make payments, transfer money, connect loyalty programs and redeem offers through digital coupons, it is also in operation in Sweden, Finland, Romania, Belgium, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France and Italy.
June 8th, 2015
Dutch banks have laid out plans to facilitate instant payments within four years, with a view to creating a “new payment infrastructure” that would transfer payments within five seconds. “The project will be carried out under the aegis of the Dutch Payments Association, which, together with the banks, will further discuss and work out the vision and roadmap with users in the second half of this year,” De Nederlandsche Bank says.
May 28th, 2015
Netherlands-based DS Tags is at an advanced stage with “several top-tier airlines” in planning the delivery of DS Bagtag, a solution that incorporates an NFC- and Bluetooth-enabled electronic luggage label, a secure cloud-based travel document delivery…
April 23rd, 2015
Vodafone customers in the Netherlands can now make NFC payments with a mobile version of a credit card. Visa credit cards from International Card Services (ICS) can be added to the Vodafone Wallet app running on Android NFC handset equipped with an NFC SIM. Vodafone Wallet users have been able to make NFC payments with the operator’s own SmartPass prepaid account since March 2014.
April 21st, 2015
An NFC transport ticketing trial in the Netherlands will allow passengers to see on their phones if they have correctly checked themselves on or off the service as they travel, avoiding the risk of paying…
March 30th, 2015
Vodafone customers in five major European markets will be able to use their Visa cards to make NFC mobile payments from the second quarter of this year with a new SIM-based service that makes use of tokenization technology.
February 16th, 2015
Customers of Dutch financial institution Rabobank with a Samsung Galaxy S4 or Galaxy Note 3 can now use a mobile wallet app that works with the secure element embedded in their mobile device to make…
January 27th, 2015
Two Dutch schoolboys have developed KeyTouch, an app that uses Apple’s Touch ID technology to protect access to Mac computers. “Apple fans who happen to own Touch ID-enabled iPhone and iPad models can use the app to unlock and lock their Macs as long as their OS X computers have Bluetooth 4.0 LE support and are running the KeyTouch companion app,” BGR reports.
December 3rd, 2014
Dutch startup BitStraat has launched a project aimed at turning Amsterdam into Bitcoin City, providing one hundred merchants with a free tablet-based POS terminal they can use to process mobile payments made using the virtual…
October 22nd, 2014
Mobile ordering startup YesTap has installed an NFC-based interactive shopping wall at Google’s Amsterdam offices which lets employees tap to order groceries and make a payment on their mobile device before collecting the items at the end of the day.
October 21st, 2014
Dutch newspaper publisher NDC Media is testing Bluetooth beacons with thirty shops in the town of Leeuwarden, Netherlands, to send offers to consumer smartphones running the Lightcurb mobile app. “The overarching goal is to connect shoppers and entrepreneurs together; this test is designed to gain experience,” NDC explains. The company is working with Lightcurb platform operator Snakeware for the pilot, which is scheduled to run until the end of 2014.


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Unless you’re a K-pop fan living in Asia where the effects of Hallyu are visible in the local culture, chances are over 80% of your K-pop livelihood takes place on the Internet. Personally, I’ve spent my entire life in New England suburbia, so apart from the two JYJ concerts in New Jersey and New York, my K-pop life has largely been confined to my computer screen.
Speaking of JYJ, some might remember that JYJ’s management attempted to use Facebook to coordinate JYJ’s American showcase tour last fall. While this method of communication might have proved convenient for many North American fans regularly logged into their Facebook accounts, I couldn’t help but feel that it was unprofessional of JYJ management to coordinate their PR through Facebook.
The appeal of promoting through Facebook lies in the size, spread, and diversity of its user audience. In a sense, Facebook is a giant Internet hotspot where people of all interests and backgrounds are gathered in one place. In theory, it would be foolish for a Korean entertainment company to not take advantage of Facebook and connect an artist with millions of potential customers.
SM Entertainment has started to connect with international audiences, as evidenced by last year’s SMTown concert in LA and upcoming SMTown concert in Paris. SM has recently launched an official Facebook page for all of its artists in anticipation for the Paris concert. It looks like SM intends on using their Facebook page to publish exclusive material, such as behind the scenes concert footage and photos, as well as an official outlet for news and announcements. Leeteuk, the SMTown leader of all SMTown leaders, explains more in the video below:
What puzzles me, though, is why this same exclusive material can’t be published on an official English- or multi-language website other than Facebook. After seeing JYJ attempt to command an entire PR effort through Facebook, I can’t help but think that big entertainment industry names should keep their paws off of Facebook and seek other ways to communicate with international fans. It’s not because of JYJ’s craptastic first shot at promotions in the United States, but because of the nature of Facebook and the way in which Facebook is perceived by its users. Personally, I use Facebook to communicate with people whom I already know personally. Conversely, I use Twitter to communicate with the internet community at large – news outlets, online communities directed towards niche interests, people who read my blog, et cetera. I do not talk about my plans for the weekend on Twitter. Nor do I expect to be bombarded with breaking news via a CNN news feed on Facebook. Ultimately, it’s a matter of purpose, and K-pop entertainment companies should recognize the different purposes of these social networking sites when attempting to connect with fans through the web.
It’s also a matter of professionalism and exclusivity. When you’ve got thousands of fans spamming the wall of a company’s official Facebook page with fangirl nonsense, it not only damages the professional image of the company but also weakens the barrier between the consumer and the producer. As aforementioned, there’s something about Facebook that’s more personal and private than any other social networking site. When a large company attempts to promote via Facebook, it doesn’t encroach on our (meaning “regular folks”) privacy as much as it detracts from their status as a notable public figure with a professional image to protect.
Needless to say, social media is a huge component of modern internet culture. With many international K-pop fans feeding their interests exclusively through the internet, it makes sense for Korean entertainment companies to reach out through social media. But in the end, it just seems like the audience researchers at these companies just thought that Facebook was the “big thing” overseas, and just decided to jump on it without doing much research about Facebook itself.
Facebook just ain’t the right place for professionals to go and hark their wares, period. The same argument could also apply to non K-pop artists, but it seems to be more relevant to K-pop idols because K-pop idols perpetuate an image that causes fans to believe that they are “just within an arm’s reach”. While the issue of idol ‘accessibility’ is a discussion for another time, it can be argued that the professional boundary between idols and fans is weak enough. Using a means of communication that’s as unprofessional as Facebook only makes things worse.
So final word, SM: If you insist on using Facebook, tidy things up a little. Close comments and ‘likes’ and keep fan postings to a minimum. Display your own, official material on the page and nothing else. At best, turn the Facebook page into a simplified webpage where fans can easily and directly link your material to their own pages. Or switch to Twitter, and post material from an official blog. Besides, K-pop has taken over Twitter already; y’all are just late to the party.
Or start a Tumblr! There might be horny fangirls everywhere and an entire blog dedicated to Onew’s junk, but hey – at least they’re enthusiastic, right?
(Sarcasm, folks. Sarcasm.)


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“The iPhone’s dead.” That’s what they said. “Android’s going to take over, and Apple’s going to be left out in the cold.” What proponents of the Android phone don’t realize is that the majority of the world lives outside of the tech-bubble, and Apple’s pre-sale numbers not only disprove early arguments from Android users, but they also pretty much sum up the argument that Android devices are geek-specific.
When was the last time you heard an Android phone selling out on a pre-order day? According to early reports, Apple’s both completely sold out of their first round of phones, and approximately 600,000 phones (On the first day) have been pre-ordered by consumers. That’s a lot of “fanboys” lining up to make a purchase before the phone is even available to take home. At some point, Android fans are going to have to realize that the iPhone is mainstream, and that Apple’s market reach extends far beyond “Fanboys,” who’ve “drank the Kool-aid.” Because we’re not exactly sure that fanboys would be able to deliver AT&T the busiest day in their history all alone.
So where’s that put the iPhone market this quarter? About 9.5 million handheld devices could be sold, and put in the hands of consumers by the end of this quarter. That’s one hell of an army of fanboys if you ask us. I don’t care what you think about the phone or the competition to the iPhone; it’s hard not to be impressed with those kinds of numbers. It’s surely an eye-opening experience for people who argue against Apple’s philosophy of the device. People don’t care about a garden being open or walled, they just want a phone that works, and clearly they think the iPhone “Just works.” Is it any surprise that Apple decided to focus on iOS at WWDC this year?
Despite all the setbacks yesterday, Apple managed to outsell their entire stock of the device, and now consumers won’t be able to get their devices shipped until July 2nd when the second batch of phones becomes available for sale. Fresh off the heels of iPad supply issues, we’re starting to wonder if those “five” international companies who were supposed to be included in the fray sometime in July will see their release dates pushed back — just like they were with the iPad. It sucks for consumers looking to buy the device, but clearly it’s a good problem to have if you’re Apple Inc.


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In the midst of escalating conflict and worsening hunger in Afghanistan, USAID (United States Agency for International Development) agricultural programmes are increasing fruit exports. Programmes to rehabilitate fruit orchards destroyed by the war, to replace opium crops, are linked with export supply chains complete with transportation, storage, processing, packaging and marketing. Pomegranates are a key crop, and Afghan varieties, with dark red juice and acid taste as well as sweetness, are widely regarded as the best in the world. Pomegranates are hailed as a ‘superfood’ full of antioxidants and fetch a high price in the US, Europe and Middle East and Asia. Afghanistan’s pomegranate exports increased 10 per cent in 2008 compared to 2007, totalling 45,000 tonnes, about half of a total pomegranate crop of 96,000 tonnes.
Independent newspaper as a ‘beacon of hope’ for the future of Afghanistan farming. The key flagship product is pomegranate juice and the factory aims to buy fruit including pomegranates, apples and apricots from 50,000 Afghan farmers. About 5,000 tonnes of fruit were expected to be processed by the end of 2009, with plans for 25,000 tonnes in 2010. The factory has contracts to supply India and several countries in the Middle East, and is negotiating to supply Europe and the US.
The USAID supported Badam Bagh Demonstration Farm in the north of Kabul trains Afghan farmers in ‘modern’ farming methods, such as how to use gas powered insecticide spraying machines and protective equipment when working with poisonous pesticides. The farm does showcase some small scale techniques like different methods of drying fruit, but the emphasis is not on rehabilitating the varied traditional skills of Afghan farmers, but transplanting modern agribusiness into Afghanistan, with all its problems such as fossil fuel dependency, input intensity and large scale infrastructure, such as irrigation with a single 10 cm pipe from Kargha Lake 10 kilometres to the west of Kabul all the way to the farm.
The farm has an export centre with fruit including pomegranates, grapes and apricots flowing in from nearly every province of Afghanistan. An agreement has been made with India to supply 3,000 tonnes of apples from the Wardek and Paktika provinces, with the first shipment delivered in November 2009. The emphasis is on exports, not supplying fresh produce to malnourished Afghans. An article on the USAID website highlights a delivery of produce including watermelons, broccoli and sweetcorn from Badam Bagh farm to refugees in Camp Hilmand in Kabul to 110 families, but this fresh produce was a one-off exception to their usual diet based on bags of flour.
At the time of the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 the US declared that the country would regain its self sufficiency in food by 2007. Yet Afghans are suffering worsening food insecurity due to a complex of factors including the war, drought conditions and high food prices. By 2009 7.4 million people, a third of the Afghan population, are unable to meet their basic food needs, 54 per cent of children suffer stunted growth and the World Food Programme was aiming to feed 8.8 million people. A BBC article highlights people living in Parwan, a relatively peaceful province with fertile land, as particularly badly affected by malnutrition and hunger. Food aid supplies are inadequate, and not reaching the people who need it. Even farm workers in Parwan are suffering from hunger. Yet in a two-week period in July 2009 $110,000 worth of cherries, apricots and melons were exported from the Kandahar, Wardak and Parwan provinces via Badam Bagh farm to India and the UAE.


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Vette Revolution: The Tech of the 2020 C8 Corvette Stingray
Now that the years-long wait is over and Chevrolet has finally spilled the beans and given us a ton of info about the long-awaited mid-engine C8 Corvette Stingray, the internet and social media have exploded with reaction to the new car.
But more than just being the first ever mid-engine production Corvette and a huge departure from the past, the C8 is loaded with technology that sets its apart from previous Corvettes and shifts it more toward the realm of European supercars.
So after taking some time to soak in all the fresh information, we decided to break down some of the key new technology and interesting mechanical components that will be featured in the C8 platform.
Eight-Speed Dual Clutch Automatic Transmission
With the shift from a front-engine to a mid-engine platform, one of the biggest new pieces of technology in the C8 Corvette is the eight-speed dual clutch transmission that will be mated to car's small block V8. Co-developed with the Tremec, the new gearbox has been optimized for both hard track driving and everyday cruising.
First gear has been designed for off the line performance, while two through six are close ratio for spirited and circuit driving. In typical Corvette fashion, gears seven and eight are for cruising and should help the C8 continue the modern Corvette tradition of getting surprisingly great highway fuel economy.
Needless to say, the new transmission can be operated by paddle shifters, and Chevy has even included a way to disconnect the clutch manually by holding both shift paddles at the same time. It might not be the old-school manual gearbox some had hoped for, but it's certainly one of the more interesting new parts on the C8.
The move to the mid-engined platform also gives the C8 a radically different cabin layout when compared to the C7. In fact, the whole thing has been moved forward by 16.5 inches in comparison to the old car.
More than just the position though, the cockpit has also been redone with a heavy dose of inspiration from both modern fighter jet aircraft and single seat race cars. Maybe it's not a coincidence to the C8 was unveiled on the same day the Top Gun 2 trailer dropped?
Without the engine sitting in front of the windshield, the C8's hood is much lower than before, and that also contributes to a view that's more race car or fighter plane than the long-hooded Corvettes of the past.
No More Leaf Springs
While the words "leaf springs" might make you picture American muscle cars from the '60s or heavy-duty pickup trucks, the Corvette has been using leaf springs for its entire life—the transverse setups on the modern cars actually working incredibly well.
But now the Corvette will say goodbye to leaf springs with the C8's new coilover damper on each corner. The Z51 performance package will even include manually adjustable threaded spring seats.
The C8's new suspension design might not be quite the leap that 2015 Mustang made when it went to an independent rear suspension layout, but it's just one more example of the new Corvette throwing out the rulebook and going in a new direction.
Mag Ride 4.0
Magnetically-controlled suspension is easily one of the most impressive technologies on today's performance cars, and it's not surprising to hear that the C8 will be available with an even more advanced version of this tech.
Dubbed "Magnetic Ride Control 4.0," the system uses accelerometers to provide more precise readings from the road for faster and smoother operation of what already was a rather seamless-feeling setup from behind the wheel.
One of the big missions of both the C8 and past Corvettes is to combine ultra high level performance in a package that isn't punishing or uncomfortable during everyday driving, and Mag Ride 4.0 looks to continue that tradition.
GPS Leveling System
With its new mid-engine layout and radically different look, the C8 Corvette is clearly working into supercar territory, and one of its new pieces of technology has been found on ultra-expensive European supercars for a while—a front end lift system.
Designed to avoid having the low-slung front end make contact with obstacles on the road or parking lots, the C8's front lift system raises the bumper by about 40 millimeters and can elevate itself in less than three seconds. It can also be used at speeds up to 24 mph.
Most interesting of all, the system is programmed by GPS and can remember up to 1,000 locations, so the car will the raise the front end automatically without the driver having to manually activate it.
Dry Sump Lubrication for LT2 V8
Of all the equipment on the new C8, the naturally aspirated small block V8 might be the most familiar part of the new Corvette. Now designated LT2, the 6.2L V8 does have some performance boosts when compared to the old LT1, but the big story is its oiling system.
While past editions of high performance Corvettes have had dry sumps, the C8 marks the first time Chevy has employed a dry sump lubrication system on the entry level car, with three scavenge pumps to ensure the LT2 is never starving for oil.
With the C8 designed for heavy track use, the engineering team put a ton of work into making sure the system can keep up in situations with over 1G of lateral force on the engine in any direction.
All in all that’s just a little taste of some of the tech that the C8 will offer when it arrives for 2020. It's made all the more impressive by a starting MSRP that will come in under $60,000 and the fact that this is only the first model of what's sure to be a line of even faster and more technologically advanced C8 variants to come.
Additional photos by: Stacy Pittas
See everything shown at the 2020 C8 Corvette reveal, here.


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Ketchup Thief Is Inspired To Make Things Up To Restaurant Due To Bad ‘Karma’
A thief who stole a ketchup bottle from a restaurant in New Jersey just made amends by giving the establishment two ketchup bottles after he said the theft brought him bad karma.
A manager was closing up Perkins Restaurant in Lacey Township earlier this week when he noticed a brown paper bag that included two brand new bottles of ketchup and a note. In the letter, the writer explained that they had stolen a bottle of ketchup from the restaurant on a whim.
“I thought it’d be ‘risky,'” the letter said. “I am as square as they come and this is the worst thing I’ve ever done.”
The thief went on to say that he or she had experienced tons of bad luck since the robbery, including their car being hit by another vehicle mere hours after the robbery. The thief expressed hopes that giving the restaurant two new bottles would improve his or her karma going forward.
“I hope returning two new bottles will restore some [luck] for me, and I can stop carrying around this guilt,” the person wrote. “Again, I’m really sorry if I inconvenienced you the same way my life has been inconveniencing me. I’m sorry, from an awful person.”
The manager spoke out afterwards to say that the unknown thief has been forgiven, and that nobody working at the restaurant even noticed the ketchup bottle was missing.
“How could you not forgive someone like that?” the manager said. “I was like, this poor kid, she must feel terrible.”


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It’s the fourth quarter of the year and that means some of the biggest smartphone OEMs are getting ready for the upcoming holiday season. While Samsung does get a lot of flack from enthusiasts in the United States for their locked down bootloaders at carrier stores, they are still selling millions upon millions of new device. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 was unveiled yesterday and we are getting closer and closer to the phone’s launch date. Wallpapers for new smartphones are something that a lot of people are interested in and right now you can download the ones that are loaded on the new Galaxy Note 9.
If you’ve been reading the headlines in any of the Android publications then you already know this device is already up for pre-order. We’ve known for a while that the launch date would be around August 24th. Our official XDA forums for the new Samsung smartphone are open and our friends over at Pocketnow got an early look at the phone too.
As mentioned, Galaxy Note 9 wallpapers are something that a lot of people are looking forward to for many reasons. Some just like to get a refreshed set of official wallpapers for their device, while others use it to imitate their Galaxy Note 8 (or older) phone is brand new so they don’t get tempted to go spend $1,000 on a new phone. If you’ve been reading through our Galaxy Note 9 forums then you may have spotted a thread where XDA Member Vmb265 uploaded these images packed up in a ZIP file. And we have some to show you as well. Hit the link to download the ZIP file.


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A ship carrying Bentleys and Porsches is drifting in the mid-Atlantic after it caught fire, forcing the 22-strong crew to be evacuated.
The ship was travelling from Emden in Germany, where Volkswagen, which owns Bentley and Porsche, has a factory, to Davisville, Rhode Island in the US.
Volkswagen said a number of Audi vehicles were also on board, as well as cars which had already been paid for by customers. It was not clear whether the cars were damaged.
A spokesman for Volkswagen said: "We are aware of an incident involving a third-party cargo ship transporting Volkswagen Group vehicles across the Atlantic. We are in contact with the shipping company to get more information about the incident."
No-one was hurt in the blaze, which was being brought under control by Portuguese authorities off the coast of the Azores islands. The crew were evacuated from Felicity Ace, a 60,000 tonne car carrier ship registered in Panama, on Wednesday, according to Portugal’s navy.
US-based car reviewer Matt Farah said on Twitter that a Porsche he had ordered was on the ship.
“I just got the call from my dealer,” he tweeted. “My car is now adrift, possibly on fire, in the middle of the ocean.”
The fire was still reportedly active as of Thursday night and the cause is not yet known. The ships are often divided into sections, which could limit the damage to the cargo.
The ship is operated by Mitsui OSK Lines, which said it “regrets the inconvenience and concern caused”.
It added: “MOL will make every effort to contain the damage and resolve the situation as the main priorities.”
The crew are safe in a hotel on the Azores and are in good health, it said, adding that it had appointed a salvage team which is due to arrive at the vessel on Friday.
Among the 3,965 cars affected were Volkswagen and Lamborghinis, according to the German newspaper Handelsblatt.
Container ship fires are rare, but can be catastrophic. In 2018, a fire on the Maersk Honam claimed the lives of five of its 27 crew after chemicals it was carrying caught fire and the ship’s carbon dioxide fire suppression system was unable to bring the blaze under control. It was salvaged and renamed the Maersk Halifax.
Container ship sizes have increased by 1,500pc since 1968, according to insurer Allianz, which has warned that ever-more sophisticated fire-fighting systems will be needed to keep up.
Volkswagen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


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“In recent months, more than 2,500 Russian—speaking freelancers have arrived in Cyprus,” the heroes of the documentary series “New World” report.
The premiere of the documentary show “New World with Nina Serebryannikova” took place on YouTube. The first series is dedicated to the life of the Russian-speaking IT community — including gaming — in Cyprus. Among the speakers is the Minister of Innovation and Digital Legislation of the island.
Epiphany special: American lawyers extinguish Polish game dev, and the Ministry of Health — video games in Russia
Stream/podcast on a legal topic. Together with Roman Lukyanov, managing partner of Semenov &Pevzner, we discuss numerous lawsuits against CD Projekt, as well as the desire of the Ministry of Health to suspend the circulation of violent video games in Russia.
Video interview with Azur Games: how and why to port a mobile frituplay to the console
The company Azur Games, which previously specialized exclusively in mobile titles, a week ago announced the launch of its first project on consoles — battle royale Axes.io . We talked with Dmitry Yaminsky, CEO of the company, about why the mobile publisher decided to go to consoles, and also whether he has ambitions to take this market seriously in general.
Video interview with Xsolla: Why do gaming companies enter the stock market?
Why gaming companies go on the stock exchange, does it really force them to treat their employees worse, and why some choose European markets for the placement of shares, while others choose American ones — Dmitry Burkovsky, Chief Investment Officer at Xsolla, talked about these and other topics.
Interview analysis: Why is everyone excited about Genshin Impact?
Discussing the success of Genshin Impact. The other day it became known that only the mobile version of the game collected $ 140 million. Alexander Bazhan, Head of the Game Analytics and Design Department at My.Games Venture Capital, helped us figure out the secret of Genshin Impact.
Industry on Thursdays: “Esports in Russia and the CIS — money, betting, laws”
In today’s issue of Industry on Thursdays, we talked with Stepan Shulga, head of the esports division of Parimatch. We discussed what the modern Russian-speaking esports market is today, how it works, what it earns and whether it earns at all. They also touched upon such topics as brands, betting business and legislative initiatives of the Russian Federation.
Interview with Pixonic about War Robots: why change the visual of the game and how to get into the Apple presentation?
We are posting a new issue of the program “Industry on Thursdays“. Yesterday our guest wasMaxim Fomichev, producer of Pixonic. We talked with him about how a major graphical update to War Robots is being prepared for release, including thanks to which the game was shown at the last Apple presentation.
Interview with a lawyer: why was Supercell convicted and why was Voodoo able to win the court?
Starting this Thursday, we are launching a new format — live interviews on current topics. Our first — today’s — issue is dedicated to the legal news of game dev. Together with Roman Lukyanov, Managing Partner of Semenov& Pevzner Law Firm, we analyzed two cases: a trial between Supercell and GREE, as well as a trial between Voodoo and Rollic Games.
“By itself, multiplayer can’t hold,” — interview with Ivan Domankov
A new one-hour interview from App2Top.ru . This time we talked with Ivan Domankov, co-founder and managing partner of Highcore Games. In the center of the conversation is the story of the launch of the midcore mobile game Tanks A Lot.
Video: round table on the situation on the hyper-casual games market during the pandemic
Today, June 3, at 13.00 Moscow time, a new broadcast will take place on WN Hub. This time it is dedicated to hyper-casual games. Developers, publishers and marketers will discuss the future of the niche, as well as discuss how the situation with COVID-19 has affected hyper-casual games.
“The format of publisher-developer cooperation is outdated”: interview with Ilya Karpinsky about MRGV
At the end of April, MRGV turned three years old. We decided that this was a great opportunity to talk to its managing director Ilya Karpinsky about the relationship between developers and publishers.
Video: discussing with Epic Games the second nationwide competition of game developers on Unreal Engine 4
At the end of April, Epic Games, together with our colleagues from Disgusting Men, announced the Second nationwide competition for game developers on Unreal Engine 4. We discussed with Alexey Savchenko why it is needed and how it will take place.
Video: Dreamside Interactive talks about AA development in Russia and coming to Fig
On April 28, the Frozen Flame game from Dreamside Interactive was released on the Fig crowdfunding platform. She scored the required amount in the first week — $ 50 thousand. This is the first Russian project on the platform and one of the few domestic desktop AA games. We talked about the history of development, personnel hunger, working with investors and, of course, entering Fig with the owner of the studio Sergey Korolev.
Video: Facebook told why and how to switch to a hybrid model of monetization of games
Converting a user into a paying player is one of the most difficult tasks. At the same time, it will not be possible to radically increase their share. More than 4% of the total audience is unlikely to happen anyway. Therefore, Facebook recommends taking a closer look at the hybrid monetization model today. This is when there is advertising in the game, in addition to IAP. The video tells about how to implement such a…
Video: interview with Hypernova Games about the specifics of working in the hypercausal games market
What is going on in the hyper-casual games market? How difficult is it to launch your own studio in this niche? Is viral success possible? Under what conditions do publishers work with developers of hyper-casual games today? We talked about this and not only in the format of a video interview with Alexander Filatov, co-founder of Hypernova Games.
Video: Valorant — is the project relevant for the market?
We have launched a YouTube channel. On it, we plan to post interviews and streams with game developers about the industry. The pilot issue is dedicated to Valorant. We talked about the project with Kirill Shabordin, Technical Director of the W4 Game Creation Kit.


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Audi R8 LMS race teams kick-off 2015 season at the Rolex 24 in Daytona
Paul Miller Racing and Flying Lizard Motorsports look to compete in the 53rd running of the Daytona 24 hour race. Both race teams bring considerable endurance racing experience to the effort with a total of four 24 hour race winners taking the wheel.
The teams will compete as part of the 19 vehicle GTD class with 54 vehicles in total on the grid. Audi won the Daytona 24 hour race two years ago as part of the GRAND-AM series. Paul Miller Racing was able to find success with a contentious 2nd place finish following last year’s race as well as taking their first victory at Road Atlanta last year. Flying Lizard placed second at Laguna Seca and has shown a strong ability to compete for the podium.
All-new Audi Q7 earns EyesOn Design Award at Detroit auto show
The all-new, next-generation Audi Q7 was named winner of the EyesOn Design Awards “Best Designed Interior” Category at the 2015 North American International Auto Show. The full-size premium SUV, which offers more headroom, shoulder room and legroom along with exceptional integration of technology, continues the Audi reputation of designing great interiors.
The Audi Q7 is the first-ever vehicle to be honored with the “Best Designed Interior” award. The SUV was also named a finalist in the “Innovative Use of Color, Graphics, and Material” category. The EyesOn Design Awards are given to the most significant automotive designs revealed at NAIAS as determined by North American and global leaders of design from automotive manufacturers, along with academic chairs of transportation design programs and design leaders from other fields.
Audi hosted the world premiere of the new Audi Q7 at the North American International Auto Show
At this year's Detroit Auto Show, the brand with the four rings presented the new Audi Q7* – the lightest SUV in its class. Compared with the previous model, curb weight has been reduced by 325 kilograms (716.5 lb). With its lightweight, multimaterial body and an all-new chassis, it offers superb comfort together with the performance of a sporty Audi – as well as top-notch CO2 levels.
Another highlight of the Detroit Auto Show was the new Audi Q3* which celebrated its US debut.
AUDI AG: new record year with over 1.74 million deliveries in 2014
In 2014, AUDI AG clearly exceeded its goal of 1.7 million deliveries: By year-end, the company handed over around 1,741,100 cars to customers, 10.5 percent more than in 2013. The company was thus once again able to accelerate its growth pace and achieved with around 165,600 additional customers the second-highest volume increase in its history. The coveted SUV models* (+15.8%) and the A3 family* available worldwide for the first time in 2014 (+53.2%) contributed primarily to the strong sales total. In December, Audi continued to post double-digit growth and concluded the year with sales up 14.7 percent to around 150,000 units for the month.
“2014 is impressive evidence of the Audi brand’s strength,” says Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG. “We accomplished a very successful record year even before the second stage of our model initiative. Meanwhile, conditions in many markets continue to be challenging.”
Audi at 2015 CES
A four‑core processor processing eight billion operations per second. A virtual tachometer with a needle that is rendered anew 60 times per second to ensure absolutely fluid motion. 3D sound to match a concert hall and appearing to come from every direction, an Audi tablet as a multimedia control panel and simple wireless communication between your mobile devices and your car all demonstrate how diverse the future of the automobile is at Audi. All this and convenience, too: piloted parking and innovative Audi wireless charging (AWC) technology pave the way for electric mobility. A laser headlight shining ahead hundreds of feet and a car lapping the famous Hockenheim speedway at 240 km/h (149.1 mph) without a driver – Audi is a leading and driving force in all technology areas relating to electronics and electrics. At CES in Las Vegas, the world’s most important electronics exhibition, Audi makes a splash with a host of new technologies
Even today, many customers view their car as more than just a vehicle – it is a “mobile device". Audi drives forward networking of its models both inside and outside the car. At CES, Audi presents a wide range of innovations in the technology fields of controls and displays, infotainment, connectivity and lighting technology, in driver assistance systems and in piloted driving.


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Most of the time when a company is not updating or enabling certain features in older phones that are available in newer devices. More often than not these issues are due to hardware limitations. However, Google has now changed the game and is now refusing to provide people with newer features even though the hardware supports them!
Recently Google updated its latest flagships the Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro with the latest C-Band 5G however this is what actually sparked a lot of issues as these updates for the C-Band 5G features were only limited to the 6 and the 6 pro and older pixel devices were excluded from these updates.
In a later clarification, Google accepted that older devices did support the update to C-Band 5G as far as hardware was concerned but were not going to receive the update. Google is pretty adamant on their stand.
Only In the US Though
The issue is apparently only in the United States as Google will not be updating the device specified in the US. Google in their statement particularly mentioned that the update to C-Band 5G is supported by the older models but will not be provided in the United States.
“Earlier Pixel Models have C-band capable hardware and are enabled for operation in certain countries but that the company does not have any plans to support C-band operation in the US for those earlier Pixel models.” – Google
Google May Have a Bigger Plan
There is no company on the planet that wakes up one fine day and does not support certain devices or does not upgrade certain devices. Google has carefully planned what they are doing and it is going to benefit their business.
People often purchase older devices that have certain updated features to save money and this is also prevalent in the US. The US is a good market for the latest Google Pixel right now and that is exactly why Google is taking this step.
People are buying the Pixel 6 devices in huge amounts in the US and Google is coming up to be a strong competitor for Samsung and Apple here. If the updates are provided people may just end up buying the much cheaper older Pixel devices from eBay and other sites and that will damage the sales considerably.
However, this decision is not sitting well with people who put their hard-earned money in their Pixel 5 expecting robust support.
Phones That Aren’t Eligible For An Update
Now when we say they are not getting the update. They are not getting the update specifically in the US. The reason behind this was not told by Google and this does seem like a quick money grab opportunity for Google.
Phones Not Being Updated
- Pixel 4a
- Pixel 5
- Pixel 5a
We hope that the phones do somehow get an aftermarket update method for the benefit of the users.
For more such interesting news keep visiting us!


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- 360 DigiTech’s share price jump and positive valuation re-rating in recent months have priced in favorable changes in the regulatory environment for Chinese fintech companies.
- QFIN will require some time to fully transition into a capital-light business model, so I don’t expect a substantial re-rating of the stock’s valuations to happen in the near future.
- I assign a Hold rating to 360 DigiTech, as I think that it is too early to turn bullish on QFIN when its business model transition is still in progress.
My rating for 360 DigiTech, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:QFIN) [3660:HK] stock is a Hold. Positive regulatory developments are already priced in, and QFIN still has capital-heavy services accounting for a significant part of its loans for now. My take is that 360 DigiTech’s shares will remain range-bound in the near future, while the company continues to pivot towards a capital-light model in the intermediate term. This explains my Hold rating for QFIN.
In its 20-F filing, 360 DigiTech calls itself a “Credit-Tech” company or one that offers “solutions that empower and enhance credit services, such as loan facilitation services.” Since the company commenced operations in 2016, QFIN has facilitated RMB1.2 trillion in loans and served 43 million users as indicated in its December 2022 corporate presentation. QFIN also noted in its corporate presentation that it is the third largest “consumer Credit-Tech platform” in the Chinese market after Alibaba’s (BABA) Ant Group and JD.com’s (JD) JD Technology. 360 DigiTech’s shares have been listed on the Nasdaq and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since December 2018 and November 2022, respectively.
Key Characteristics Of Loan Products Offered By QFIN
360 DigiTech’s Key Service Offerings
QFIN’s Past Valuation De-Rating Was Driven By Regulatory Headwinds
In the last two years, 360 DigiTech has seen the stock’s valuation multiples compress substantially, although there has been a decent recovery in recent months.
Based on valuation data taken from S&P Capital IQ, the market valued QFIN at 8.3 times consensus forward next twelve months’ normalized P/E on February 16, 2021. This was the highest normalized P/E valuation multiple that 360 DigiTech has ever traded at since its IPO on the Nasdaq in December 2018. QFIN traded at a much lower consensus forward next twelve months’ normalized P/E ratio of 2.3 times on October 24, 2022 which was a new two-year trough. Similarly, 360 DigiTech’s consensus forward next twelve months’ price-to-sales multiple has de-rated significantly from its all-time historical high of 2.7 times recorded on June 23, 2021 to 0.6 times (two-year historical low) at the end of the October 24, 2022 trading day.
360 DigiTech’s valuation de-rating in the past two years coincided with a series of new policies introduced by regulatory agencies in China to tighten control of the Chinese fintech sector. In March 2021, Reuters reported that China “banned micro lenders from granting new consumer loans to college students.” New regulations relating to data security and protection came into effect in China in August 2021 as highlighted in a CNBC news article. Subsequently in September 2021, the People’s Bank Of China tightened requirements associated with “credit reporting services” as highlighted in its press release.
But there are signs that the worst is over for Chinese fintech companies such as 360DigiTech in terms of policy headwinds.
A spokesperson from the People’s Bank Of China noted that the “rectification of financial businesses of 14 platforms”, which include BABA’s Ant Group, was concluded as reported by Chinese state media Global Times. Ant Group is arguably China’s most prominent fintech company, and it had to abandon plans for an IPO in November 2020 due to regulatory pushbacks. In other words, this recent development sent a positive signal about the Chinese policymakers’ current regulatory stance on China’s fintech sector.
On the part of the company, QFIN revealed at its Q3 2022 earnings briefing on November 16, 2022 that it has “completed most of the required rectification items and received a positive feedback from regulators” by September last year.
In that respect, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that 360 DigiTech’s share price has performed well in the past three months and QFIN’s valuation multiples have re-rated positively during this period. Since the end of November 2022, QFIN’s share price surged by +39.6%, while the S&P 500 declined by -3.2% in the same time frame. As of March 1, 2023, 360 DigiTech is valued by the market at consensus forward next twelve months’ price-to-sales and normalized P/E valuation multiples of 1.3 times and 4.8 times, respectively, which were higher than what they were in late-October last year.
This suggests that positive regulatory developments have already been factored into QFIN’s current stock price and valuation multiples. 360 DigiTech needs a new catalyst to drive a further expansion of its current valuation multiples, which is discussed in detail in the next section.
Further Valuation Re-Rating Is Dependent On Capital-Light Strategy’s Success
QFIN had made an important move to pivot to a capital-light operating model since 2018. This means that 360 DigiTech has been trying to move away from capital-intensive or capital-heavy services (e.g. credit risk taking services) to capital-light offerings (e.g. credit screening and assessment) in the last couple of years. It also indicates that QFIN’s revenue mix will change for the better going forward with a reduced reliance on interest fees (affected by macroeconomic environment and regulatory caps), and an increase in contribution from fees relating to consulting and technology solutions.
The proportion of new loans originated or facilitated under the capital-light model for 360 DigiTech has increased from 23% for the first quarter of 2020 to 58% in the third quarter of 2022. As a result, the company’s leverage ratio dropped substantially from 9.7 times as of end-2018 to 3.8 times at the end of Q3 2022. This shows that QFIN has made decent progress in its transition to becoming a capital-light business.
But new loans facilitated or originated under the old capital-heavy model still accounted for a meaningful 42% of 360 DigiTech’s total new loans for Q3 2022. Also, a significant 43% of total loans outstanding as of September 30, 2022 were still attributed to QFIN’s legacy capital-intensive services.
At the company’s prior Q3 2022 results call in mid-November of the previous year, 360 DigiTech noted that “we expect to see rather stable leverage ratio for the time being until capital-light contribution grows beyond current range.”
My interpretation of this specific management commentary is that QFIN will most probably take some time to make further headway with its capital-light business model transition. I think that this is a reasonable assumption for two reasons. Firstly, as the macroeconomic environment in China turns for the better with the country’s reopening, 360 DigiTech might be more keen to originate or facilitate a higher percentage of loans under the capital-heavy model with a bigger risk appetite. Secondly, QFIN has already done pretty well in growing the contribution of its capital-light model for the past few years. The company will need to put in much greater effort to either engage new financial institutions or promote more capital-light services to its existing partners so as to drive future growth.
I have a Neutral view of 360 DigiTech’s shares. QFIN’s stock price performance in recent months has been reasonably good pricing in positive regulatory developments, so it isn’t realistic to expect a big jump in its shares in the near term when the company’s business model transition is still in progress.
Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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The company also has two additional unpatched Office bugs on its list. The Virut botnet was ranked fifth in the world in terms of infections, NASK and CERT Poland said, citing a statistic from antivirus company Kaspersky Lab. Speaking at a press conference in Sydney recently, Hovsepian said he was firefox by the slow uptake of Microsoft's desktop operating system Vista. Don't have a Mac capable of running Lion (or no Mac at all).
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0 only, with the regular end-user edition due later this fall. Somehow, this one flew under my radar until just a few minutes ago but I found it to be a really cool feature, thus worth the mention here on the blog.
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It represents a new business model and new ways of doing business, not only for our customers but for all of us. It's a place where Papa Dop's Sun doesn't shine.
That means the Pebble's notifications display now works with Apple iOS devices just as well as it works with Android devices, which have always been able to share notifications from third-party apps with the smartwatch. No one law-abiding ever speeds, after all). The article cited a study by Domain Name System vendor Secure64, which researched 360 government agencies to see how many had digitally signed their.
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- US Online Poker
- US Online Casinos
- US Online Sports Betting
- FEATURE: Ontario Online Gambling
A report surfaced last week, indicating that Google will soon expand the range of ads related to gambling it permits in the US market. The number of states in which sports betting is advertised will almost triple as soon as this week.
What’s more, online casino advertising should be coming within a matter of months.
Google is generally gambling-friendly, permitting related advertisements in roughly 30 countries. Until recently, however, the United States was not on that list.
That changed in June this year when Google Ads allowed regulated sportsbooks to advertise in New Jersey on a trial basis, followed shortly thereafter by Nevada and West Virginia.
This week, Google disclosed that it is in the final stages of obtaining regulatory permission for sports betting ads in five additional states:
Montana is a somewhat surprising inclusion, as there isn’t actually a legal product to advertise there yet. Although the relevant legislation passed in May, state officials said in September that they do not expect a product to launch until the end of the year.
Google, meanwhile, says that the first ads might go live as early as Oct. 22. The exact timing depends on the speed with which the relevant regulatory authorities grant their final approval, and it may vary from state to state.
Although Google didn’t make a public announcement regarding online casino advertising, EGR Intel ($) reports that these are expected in the first quarter of 2020.
There’s no word on whether online poker ads are also on the way, which may depend on the regulatory structure of individual states.
A New Jersey online casino license also includes poker, for instance, so we’ll probably see both verticals advertised in parallel. In Pennsylvania, by contrast, poker is licensed separately.
Google’s terms of service include numerous stipulations for gambling companies that advertise, including age verification and the presence of responsible gambling messaging.
Any gambling business failing these tests wouldn’t be licensed to operate legally in the US in any case, of course.
Yet, there are still hoops for Google to jump through to convince regulators that it has the proper tools in place to ensure only legal companies advertise, and only in appropriate contexts.
The reach of Google Ads is unparalleled, including “zillions of placements” across YouTube and a number of mobile apps (via AdMob). Approved online gambling ads will be permitted in conjunction with all of these — save for Google Ad Manager, which gives publishers some control over which ads are displayed on their websites.
From the perspective of online gambling operators looking to advertise, there are two separate hurdles. The regulatory component is one, but there’s also the matter of finding ad platforms willing to carry such advertising. Cultural resistance to gambling is still fairly widespread in the US.
Operators are sure to be delighted, then, that Google is proactive in working on getting its ads onto its mammoth platform.
Google’s approach has always been fairly permissive, though, using “Democracy on the web works” as one of the early pillars of its philosophy. While that sentiment related to how it prioritizes search results, the impact Google has had on real-world political democracy has since become a legitimate talking point.
Even as its range of products has expanded, Google has remained committed to the idea of trusting the wisdom of crowds to curate content.
Not all tech companies operate on the same philosophy, however. Apple is far on the other end of the spectrum, and its attitude similarly traces back to its origins as a company.
From the beginning, co-founder Steve Jobs was adamant about keeping Apple technology proprietary — and controlling as much as he could about the products and how they are used. That attitude helped the company establish a reputation for reliability and user-friendliness, but it has had other repercussions since Jobs’ death.
Whereas Google has been proactive in pursuing the right to advertise online gambling products, Apple has been equally gung-ho about making it difficult to get them onto its platform at all. It has banned the use of HTML 5 for any commercial application, for instance, and made it clear up front that its new Apple Card will never be usable for gambling purposes.
Although Apple is not a competitor to Google in the ad space, it does offer real estate for developers to advertise in its App Store. It is probably safe to assume that it will not be seeking regulatory approval to include online gambling apps any time soon.
Apple has not disclosed how it will handle Google’s willingness to serve gambling ads via AdMob when the apps in question are being used on iOS devices.
It’s good news for online gambling companies that Google is in their corner. It seems to be making good progress in terms of getting regulatory approval for advertising.
That trend will likely continue into 2020 and beyond as more states pass online gambling legislation, and more products come to market.
At the same time, we’re likely to see a growing rift between pro-gambling companies like Google and “anti-gambling companies” like Apple. And those differences in approach could end up shaping the market in a big way.
Advertising is just one component of that, of course, but it’s an important one.


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By Kim O'Donnel
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
A harvest celebration. That's how historians refer to the first Thanksgiving in 1621, when English settlers and their new Native American neighbors gathered to feast on the fruits of their first harvest in the New World.
Nearly 400 years later, Thanksgiving is a far cry from the days of farming, hunting and gathering in the New England wilderness. Today's feast is more likely to be an industrialized affair, prepared with food of the long-distance, prepackaged variety.
On its way from farm to plate, food in the United States travels an estimated 1,500 to 2,500 miles, 25 percent farther than in 1980, according to Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based environmental nonprofit organization.
With a season-less global marketplace at our command, it has become easy to buy South American asparagus to go with this year's turkey and to forget how to eat as prescribed by Mother Nature, as our forefathers did. But Thanksgiving presents the perfect opportunity to get back in touch with our neighbors -- the family farms -- and regain sight of where our food comes from, by creating a meal from local ingredients.
The spinach scare in California and books such as Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" have helped spark renewed consciousness about our food chain. But the reawakening has been going for years. In the Washington area alone, you can find farmers markets seven days a week during the growing season, an indication of consumer awareness and demand. FreshFarm Markets, celebrating its 10th season at Dupont Circle, now operates six markets in the District and Maryland. Nationally, the trend is similar; according to the 2004 National Farmers Market Directory published by the Agriculture Department, there were 3,706 farmers markets on record in 2004, more than double the number in 1994.
There also has been a groundswell of grass-roots activism around eating locally. In 2004, an ad hoc group of culinary enthusiasts in San Francisco came together around the premise of eating food grown or raised within 100 miles of the Bay area. They called themselves "Locavores."
In August 2005, the Locavores upped the ante on a Web site, http://eatlocalchallenge.com/, asking people to try a local diet for an entire month. Meanwhile, two writers in Vancouver were already well on their way to completing an even more ambitious year-long "100-Mile Diet."
For some, a year of diligently sourcing foodstuffs might sound like a daunting task.
The way to get started, say local food activists, is one bite at a time, one day at a time. "Start small" is the first item on the "Getting Started Guide" on the 100-Mile Diet Web site, http://100milediet.org/: "You can start with a single meal, a 100-Mile day, a one-week commitment."
"If people made the effort even 20 percent to eat local, it would have a huge impact on the environment, the local economy and their communities," says Sarah Irani of Frederick. Irani, a 29-year-old sculptor who moved to the area from rural Michigan six years ago, says she originally became interested in organic food for health reasons. Moving to a more densely populated area shifted her focus to a local diet.
"Eating local isn't just about health," says Irani. "The more time you spend eating really good food, your taste buds acclimate. I recently had the greatest bunch of broccoli from the Frederick farmers market. It was so unbelievably delicious. And it didn't sit on a truck for three weeks, frozen."
Maryland farmer David Smith agrees. "I always like to use the honey analogy when I talk about the taste of local food," he says. "The bees visit the local flora. We smell the air and our senses and our taste buds are attuned, so when we buy a local honey, it tastes better because we are smelling and tasting something familiar. It's also good for allergies for the same reason."
Smith, who has made farming a second career since 2000, runs Springfield Farm, a 67-acre family property in Baltimore County. Besides taste, Smith says, there's the obvious freshness factor.
"When you come to our farm to buy a dozen eggs, they were laid that day or the day before, compared to those from a factory farm which are probably several months old," he says. In addition to the eggs (available daily) and a variety of turkey breeds (see local turkey resource list on Page 6 for details), Smith sells chickens and a variety of pasture-raised beef, pork, lamb and rabbit.
After participating in her first Eat Local Challenge (and joining the band of bloggers at http://eatlocalchallenge.com/), Irani started a garden with her new husband and began the legwork to form a local chapter of Locavores. The Frederick group started meeting in August.
Thanksgiving, given its harvest timing (remember that feast in 1621?) and one-day scope, is a prime opportunity to experiment with eating locally. Just last month, Locavores and 100-Mile Dieters joined forces with several other eat-local advocate groups to pose a "100-Mile Thanksgiving" challenge on their Web sites.
Here in the Washington area, with a long growing season and a climate more temperate than that of our northern neighbors, pulling off a local feast is fairly easy. All those classic Thanksgiving favorites -- sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing, apple or pumpkin pie, apple cider and a green vegetable -- are available right up until the holiday, from farms within 100 miles of the city.
Pound for pound, local turkeys undoubtedly cost more than their mass-produced supermarket counterparts. Smith won't dispute that. But he explains why you shell out a little more for a local bird.
"Local farms typically will sell at the true cost of raising the product," he says. "When we sell a turkey for $3.50 per pound, that's what it costs us to raise it and to pay us a living wage. When you're taking care of the environment and practicing good animal husbandry, you deserve more than a minimum wage; you deserve a white-collar wage."
The dollars for a local bird keep the local economy alive. "When you eat local, you are supporting family farms and their continued existence, which is what our agricultural system was built on in the first place," Smith says.
If you're worried that such an undertaking will require a long-distance road trip, put your mind to rest. The farms can come to you. In addition to several farm markets that are open through Thanksgiving (four of them -- Takoma Park, Dupont, Arlington Courthouse and Falls Church -- are open year-round), the region boasts several food co-ops and small local grocery chains. For turkeys alone, we uncovered eight farms within 100 miles taking Thanksgiving orders through this week.
In addition to Thanksgiving staples, cooks can find local milk and butter for the mashed potatoes, eggs for dessert, lard for the pie dough, sausage for the stuffing, herbs to season the bird, and even chestnuts, if they get lucky.
Irani cooked her first local turkey last year after buying it from the Frederick market, and she proclaims it "the greatest turkey I have ever had."
"The flavor was juicy, it wasn't dry, and it was my first time cooking one!" she exclaimed. But more than anything, she was proud to have prepared a meal so in keeping with the spirit of the holiday.
"In our modern culture, Thanksgiving is the last vestige of feast as celebration," she says. "It's an offering to people you care about. It's really a beautiful thing."
Kim O'Donnel's food blog, A Mighty Appetite, is updated daily onhttp://www.washingtonpost.com.


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It was the lawsuit that made lawsuit abuse famous.
Back in 1992, Stella Liebeck, age 79, burned herself with a 49 cent cup of McDonald's coffee. She sued the fast-food giant, making the incredible claim that the joe was "unreasonably dangerous" because it was too hot. A New Mexico court awarded her $2.9 million.
Fast forward to Port Arthur, circa Jan 15. Caterer Katie Lacey ordered coffee with her breakfast at the McDonald's drive-through on Gulfway Drive, then spilled it on her lap. She filed suit in Jefferson County last month, charging the coffee was, you got it, too hot to handle. Lacey says the restaurant should have warned her it was "boiling."
First and foremost, we're pretty sure the coffee wasn't "boiling" by the time Lacey got her hands on it. We've been drinking the stuff daily since mom and dad allowed us, and we've never once seen a bubbling pot, much less a cup. But we digress.
Coffee is supposed not just supposed to be hot, it's supposed to be very, very hot. Steaming. In fact, the National Coffee Association recommends coffee be brewed at between "195-205 degrees Fahrenheit" and drunk immediately, or at least maintained at "180-185 degrees Fahrenheit."
Or, as U.S. District Court Judge Frank Easterbrook explained in his opinion on a similarly frivolous case, "the smell (and therefore the taste) of coffee depends heavily on the oils containing aromatic compounds that are dissolved out of the beans during the brewing process. Brewing temperature should be close to 200 degrees F to dissolve them effectively."
"For coffee to be 150 degrees F when imbibed, it must be hotter in the pot."
Or else it is colder when you finally take a sip. And from this purview, there's nothing worse than a cool cup of coffee.
If McDonald's had spilled hot coffee on Ms. Lacey, it would bear responsibility for her damages suffered. But seeing as she spilled the coffee on herself, this claim should be summarily dismissed. She should have been more careful.