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Champion Green founder has hailed Irish consumers for supporting local business in record numbers as non-essential retailers remained closed to the public over the Green Friday weekend.
Data show that spending with Irish websites more than doubled year-on-year last weekend, increasing by some 135%, as shoppers chose to back small businesses who have been among the hardest hit by the pandemic.
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Nearly two-fifths (39%) of all spending by Revolut users in Ireland last Friday went to Irish websites, marking a significant shift in the spending patterns of Irish shoppers.
During the six-week Level 5 lockdown, retailers urged customers to shop local online, stating that 70% of online spending in Ireland goes to companies based outside abroad and just 30% going to local businesses.
'People realise that supporting each other and local business is critical now, if we are to recover from this huge economic and social challenge,' Ms O'Gorman said.
'As the festive shopping rush begins, I would encourage consumers firstly, to stay safe, and secondly, to make shopping local a priority.'
Retail Excellence has forecast that €6bn will be spent in retail during December and that a strong surge in spending over the next few weeks would go some way to make up for the losses of lockdown.
Christmas trade, which can start in September, represents up to 50% of annual turnover in some sectors, according to Retail Excellence CEO Duncan Graham.
'Retail is Ireland's largest industry and our largest private sector employer, in towns and cities across the country,' he said. 'Local jobs relate directly to spending locally, so we are asking consumers to please shop consciously this Christmas.'
Small Firms Association Sven Spollen-Behrens echoed the call and said the extent of online shopping with local retails for Green Friday was encouraging.
'We need this to continue now, in-store too, and for households to consciously look at dealing with locally owned firms for all of their household and family product and services,' he said.
'Small businesses are the cornerstone of towns and communities across Ireland, and the coming month will be crucial to their recovery.'
Retailers have also been encouraged by indications from that half of the parcels handled by An Post are now from Irish companies, and data from Visa that shows 40% of cardholders who hadn't shopped online prior to March are now doing so.
To Champion Green this Christmas, shopping and gifting advice includes:
- Shop online or in-person with local and Irish businesses
- Buy gift vouchers for local products and services, particularly those that were closed for long periods
- Commission local art or design work
- Keep the kids busy with art and craft projects from local hobby stores
- Think local when sourcing corporate gifts or deciding staff bonuses
- Order locally-made household supplies online, like toiletries and homewares, rather than multi-national brands.
- Check out restaurants’ meal kits and take-away options, and local café or deli offerings
- If you prefer staying home, everything from gym classes to counselling to business coaching is now online; give it a go!
- Order that spring staycation voucher or event tickets for the family, or as a gift; who doesn’t need a break and something to look forward to?
- Update your home office or festive interiors with locally sourced furniture and design.


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YouTube' still distant dream for Pakistan users
YouTube' Sill Distant Dream For Pakistan Users
Islamabad: The promise of providing Pakistani users with a localized version of video site YouTube is reportedly unlikely to be delivered till 2015, as a result of slow implementation of the'prevention of electronic crimes bill'.
YouTube has long been banned in the Pakistani territory owing to the blasphemous content uploaded by an American filmmaker, which the site had refused to remove as it was against its policy.
However, Pakistan government and the site had together charted out a way out by introducing what could be called as a 'localised' version of the site.
Since the 'prevention of electronic crimes bill' that formed the bases of the negotiations between the government and Google-owned YouTube for the localized site, would become applicable in June 2014, YouTube can't launch the site prior to that, The Nation reports.
According to the report, the prevention of electronic crimes bill does not just aim to facilitate YouTube, but otherwise as well was a requirement to take action against cyber crimes.
Sources said that until and unless the bill was applicable, no site was going to launch its localised version in the country and even if the bill is enacted in June and the site decides to launch a localised version, that is not going to happen before early 2015
16 July 2019 10:23 AM GMT

domain: news


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This revelation was released by the tech expert @kopite7kimi
on Twitter, and this person’s previous news about the NVIDIA Ampere architecture was relatively accurate. He released some parameters of RTX 3060 SUPER, RTX 3070 SUPER, RTX 3080 SUPER, and RTX 3090 SUPER on Twitter. However, even he himself is a little uncertain about these parameters, so everyone should take a look at them as rumors. And even if these parameters are true, it does not mean that they are the final specifications of the RTX 30 SUPER series PGU given by NVIDIA.
Let’s take a look at RTX 3090 SUPER first. Compared with the current RTX 3090, the new RTX 3090 SUPER has 2 more SM units, the number of CUDA cores has increased from 10496 to 10752, and the number of Tensor Cores and RT Cores has also increased by 8 and 2. In terms of video memory, RTX 3090 SUPER may continue to use 24GB GDDR6X video memory.
RTX 3080 SUPER also adds 2 sets of SM units, the number of CUDA cores has increased from 8704 to 8960, and the number of Tensor Cores and RT Cores has also increased. But the most surprising thing is its video memory because the news revealed that the RTX 3080 SUPER will have 12GB of video memory, which is the same as the RTX 3080 Ti.
As for the RTX 3070 SUPER, it is the only GPU that has not added CUDA core, Tensor Core, and RT Core in this revelation. On the contrary, RTX 3070 SUPER just changed the video memory from GDDR6 to GDDR6X.
The last is RTX 3060 SUPER. The increase in the number of CUDA cores of this GPU is the largest among SUPER graphics cards this time, from 3584 to 5632, Tensor Cores from 112 to 176, and RT Cores from 28 to 44. There is no change in video memory. If the news is true, then the performance of RTX 3060 SUPER is likely to be flat or even surpass RTX 3060 Ti.


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Senate version of auto excise tax bill seen to hit car sales, manufacturing
Car sales under the government’s automotive resurgence program would take a hit from higher excise tax rates passed in the Senate, possibly creating less jobs in the process, Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez said.
This is why, Lopez said, he preferred the auto excise tax rates proposed in the House version of the first tax reform package under the Duterte administration. The House version gives a relatively lower increase for units registered under the CARS program when compared to the Senate version, he said.
The CARS program, which stands for Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy, provides perks to participating car companies to produce 200,000 units within six years. It has two registered participants, market leaders Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) and Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC).
“[The Senate bill] might impact the volume that would have been sold. The volume expected to be sold if it were [pct] increase would change when the tax rate becomes 10 percent,” Lopez said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“In the end, it’s the manufacturing activity you are creating. If they are successful, that means the manufacturing activity would grow, creating more jobs and more local content. If the increase is super big, it would be a slowdown. That’s why our wish is closer to the House version,” he said.
Under House Bill No. 5636, different increases were pinned for different price brackets as higher rates are imposed on more expensive cars.
For example, the lowest bracket, which covers cars with a net manufacturing price of up to P600,000, would be imposed a three-percent excise tax rate for the first year of implementation, then four percent in the next year.
Senate Bill No. 1592 simplifies this, offering only two excise tax rates: 10 percent for those priced up to P1 million, and 20 percent for those that exceed that amount. For most of the price brackets, the Senate bill offers lower increases in excise tax. It even offered lower increases for more expensive cars, such as those in the luxury market, which would have had an excise tax of 90 percent to 120 percent in the House bill.
“Initially, my answer there assuming we have the Senate version is that I’m for the House version. That’s because there is less increase in the House bill and that’s where the prices of the cars under the CARS program are,” Lopez said.
This, he said, is under the assumption that he has a choice between the two. However, if the rates in the Senate bill prevail in the bicameral conference, he said he “can still live with that.”
Mitsubishi and Toyota officials have not yet reached out to him, he said.
Both TMP and MMPC joined the program during the last stretch of the Aquino administration, prior to talks of excise taxes being raised under a new tax regime. Now, the models the companies registered under the CARS program — TMP’s Vios and MMPC’s Mirage — would be subject to an increase in car taxes, just like every other car brand. The difference now, however, is the extent of the increase.
As of this writing, representatives of both car companies did not provide, upon request, the net manufacturing price for their respective CARS-registered models. For both chambers of congress, the excise tax rate would depend on the net manufacturing price.
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Today, Bob Iger:
Disney CEO Bob Iger said today at D9 to expect a new Disney.com content site within a year.
This “uber network” for the Walt Disney Company will be a home “for people to consume our content directly,” Iger said.
The site will have gaming and streaming video content, and will be monetized by a subscription service, advertising, pay-per-view, and even micropayments, according to Iger. (To be sure, he didn’t say that all this would be live within 12 months, but rather “elements of the relaunch.”)
…Iger said of sites like Netflix and Hulu, “The more distributors the merrier–it keeps them all honest.”
…Of Netflix specifically, Iger said, “I’m not in the camp that believes Netflix is going to own the world. I don’t think that’s possible in today’s world.”
Yesterday, Reed Hastings:
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings won’t say exactly how much it’s going to cost his company to renew its 2008 licensing deal with the Starz cable network. Speaking with AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher, he declined to say much about the state of negotiations between the companies. Asked to confirm the speculation of analysts that it might cost as much as $200 million, he said, “We
haven’t done the deal yet, but that wouldn’t be shocking.” At $200 a million a year, that would amount to a little more than 6 percent of Netflix’s forecast 2011 revenue. The original deal cost $30 million.
Is there any wonder why Hastings is selling his stock faster than he can exercise his options? Starz is just one small content provider. Other content providers will follow suit and charge NFLX more too…that is, of course, if the content providers have not signed exclusive deals with Disney, Amazon.com, Apple, Hulu, etc., etc. for content distribution.
We are still short NFLX.


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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Dell Inc. dell said Tuesday that it will open a new manufacturing plant in North Carolina in 2005. The computer maker said the new plant will employ 700 workers in its first year and will expand to 1,500 workers within five years. The new facility will produce desktop computers for Dell customers in the East Coast.
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Hit with the Coronavirus pandemic just like the rest of the world, automobile sales in the 27-state nation were certainly down in 2020. A total of 1.62 million passenger cars were sold and 335,269 light commercial vehicles (LCVs) between January and December, representing year-over-year decreases of 28.6% and 15.4% respectively.
Brazilian manufacturer Fábrica Nacional de Motores (FNM) will produce 1,000 electric trucks for beverage maker Ambev in South America.
Ford Brazil announced it will cease production operations in 2021, but will continue to serve customers in the South America region with a portfolio of new SUVs, pickups and commercial vehicles sourced from Argentina, Uruguay, and other markets.
Sales for commercial fleet vehicles in Argentina increased by 20.2% to 10,284 units in October 2020, though the overall market is still down 19.9%, year-to-date.
Brazilian manufacturer Fábrica Nacional de Motores (FNM) is returning to the market to produce battery-electric trucks for the Brazil market, after shutting operations in 1988, following a new partnership with a U.S.-based battery Tier 1 supplier.


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Andrew Spinks, the creative genius behind the side-scrolling sandbox title Terraria has just announced that his game will be expanding beyond the PC audience and will arrive on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace sometime next year.
505 Games will take up publishing responsibilities for the game and is confident that this indie title will find loads of success now that it is being opened up to a much larger audience. In fact, 505’s Tim Woodley had the following to say about the game’s 2013 launch:
The block-building genre has taken the world by storm and Terraria has garnered a massive following through its increased focus on adventure and discovery. We’re looking forward to bringing an already hugely successful experience to a brand new console audience and we can’t wait for the existing Terraria fan base to experience all-new content.
Spinks also expressed his excitement in having the game expand to the PlayStation and Xbox crowd, saying, “I can’t say how excited I am to finally have Terraria come to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. To see it come so far is a complete shock, especially after such humble beginnings.”


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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel already is rolling out the red carpet for Archer Daniels Midland Co., which plans to move its new headquarters here from Decatur.
The mayor has asked Choose Chicago, the city's tourism arm, and World Business Chicago, its economic development group, to send a “Welcome to Chicago” gift bag to each of the agriculture company's 11 board members. Patricia Woertz, the agriculture company's board chairman, CEO and president, will be able to take advantage of all of the contents right away, given she's a board member with Chicago ties.
She and her husband, Ronald Jensen, president and CEO of Paper Pak Industries in La Verne, Calif., have a home in Chicago. The rest of ADM's board members live in Missouri, California, Kansas, Texas, New York and Brazil.
Goodies in the gift bag include samples from Chicago-based Argo Tea and Garrett Popcorn, as well as Frango mints, a "Choose Chicago" pen and pin, tickets to Steppenwolf Theatre Company, a gift card to Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc. restaurants and membership to the Art Institute of Chicago.


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In 2017, Singapore was identified as the world's second-largest trader of shark fins after Hong Kong. Between 2012 and 2013, Singapore exported $40 million worth of shark fins and imported $51.4 million worth of fins. In February, 89 Singapore-based establishments committed to phasing out shark fin in 2018. These include brands such as Crystal Jade, Pan Pacific Hotels, AccorHotels and Foodpanda, whose policy applies across its 3,800 partner restaurants
Manila’s Walled City is expected to attract a share of wine enthusiasts, brought by the opening of a distillery museum. Olivia Limpe-Aw (Global FWN100™ '16), a fifth generation master brewer and President of Destileria Limtuaco & Co. Inc. said the museum would show the feats and challenges the 165-year old company faced, from times of war up to the present.
The dating service, Tinder Plus, offers a basic online product without charge, but added a premium service in 2015 that charged $19.99 a month to customers over 30 and $9.99 or $14.99 for younger customers. California Appeals Court ruled on Monday that an online dating service can’t charge higher rates to customers over 30 even though they might be able to afford it.
Silverado, a network of memory care, at-home care, and hospice care centers, will pay $80,000 and provide other relief to settle a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. Silverado discriminated against Shaquena Burton, a caregiver at the Silverado Oak Village facility in Menomonee Falls, Wisc., when it fired her rather than accommodate her pregnancy-related medical restrictions.


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Metatime’s Native Token Metatime Coin Now Available To Trade On Bybit
Alongside the listing, Metatime is pleased to announce that its smart contract infrastructure code has been fully audited by the independent auditing firm Hacken, completing the process with full marks.
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Metatime, the blockchain project building a complete Web3 ecosystem that promises users full control over their finances, identity and assets, has announced its native ecosystem token Metatime Coin ($MTC) will be listed for sale on the leading cryptocurrency exchange, Bybit. Alongside the listing, Metatime is pleased to announce that its smart contract infrastructure code has been fully audited by the independent auditing firm Hacken, completing the process with full marks.
The $MTC token, which currently has exactly 415,439 registered users, will go live on Bybit on Monday, June 26 at 10.00 UTC, at which time it will be available for anyone to buy, sell or trade. Investors who bought early during the presale will now be able to sell their $MTC, while those who missed out on early access will now be able to participate in Metatime’s growing Web3 ecosystem.
Earlier this year, Metatime witnessed enormous demand for its token, raising a total of $38 million via two pre-sales of the $MTC token on the world’s biggest crypto launchpad platforms, helping to fund its goal of onboarding millions of new users to Web3. All told, Metatime sold 100 million $MTC at 5 cents, 100 million $MTC at 6 cents, 100 million $MTC at 7 cents and then 200 million $MTC at 10 cents.
The $MTC token is currently deployed on BNB Chain but will migrate to Metatime’s own blockchain with the launch of the MetaChain mainnet on Nov. 11, 2023. For all $MTC investors, relevant information and technical assistance is available through Metatime’s support team.
The official listing of $MTC on Bybit follows the completion of a full audit of Metatime’s smart contract code by the respected independent auditor and testing firm Hacken. The report by Hacken highlighted the “exceptional performance of Metatime’s documentation, code quality, test coverage and security measures”. Metatime achieved a perfect score of 10/10 in the documentation quality category, providing comprehensive functional requirements and detailed technical descriptions. It also achieved a perfect code quality score and, furthermore, demonstrated exceptional test coverage during thorough testing of deployment, basic user interaction and system features.
Metatime’s Web3 ecosystem of products include a comprehensive blockchain network and cryptocurrency exchange, plus NFT marketplace, crypto launchpad, blockchain explorer, wallet and stablecoin. The MetaChain is powered by the Proof-of-Meta consensus mechanism which enables all users to participate in network verification and $MTC mining. Metatime’s upcoming MetaExchange will set a precedent in the industry by not assessing commissions for all trades that close at a loss, while its copytrade features will enable novices to emulate expert traders.
Metatime has emerged as a visionary ecosystem that builds the world of the future, designed from the start to be beneficial to everyone. By completely self-funding its technology development stages, Metatime aims to establish the world’s most comprehensive and transparent ecosystem. Through the development of blockchain-based digital products, Metatime is actively shaping the future today. Metatime continues to innovate and develop a wide range of products such as MetaChain, MetaWallet, Metatime Coin, MetaExchange, and MetaNFT, placing user needs at the forefront and designing from the ground up. By envisioning a future where blockchain becomes accessible to everyone, Metatime leads the way in spearheading the Web 3.0 transformation.


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The numbers are in - the Android version distribution numbers, that is. This month's update shows no surprising change in trends, with KitKat adoption growing 3.7% over last month. Jelly Bean continues its net decline, this month losing 2.2% of the pie.
Ice Cream Sandwich fell 0.7%, as did Gingerbread, and Froyo is down another 0.1%. Lollipop isn't featured in the chart, as it does not yet have the requisite 0.1% to be shown. Read More
While Google did skip October, platform version numbers are back, this time for November. Back in September we saw KitKat's gains continuing, and this month seems little different - in the two months since September, KitKat added another 5.7%, or about 2.8% per month. This is a slightly decline in pace, to be sure. In September, KitKat added 3.6% in a one-month timespan, so 7.2%+ would have been needed to maintain that pace. Read More
The monthly Android version distribution numbers are up for September on the Android Developers site, and things appear to be moving just the way you'd expect.
Month over month, we saw a 2.2% decline in share for Gingerbread, a drop of 1% for Ice Cream Sandwich, 1.4% for Jelly Bean 4.1, and small gains of 0.9% and 0.1% for Jelly Bean 4.2 and 4.3, respectively. KitKat was this month's biggest mover, adding 3.6% to its share of the pie, bringing it to 24.5% of all Android devices active in the last week. Read More
Last month's Android platform distribution numbers showed a continuing steady rise of Android 4.4 in handsets worldwide, but this month's numbers mark a major jump - KitKat is up to 13.6% of all devices, from a mere 8.5% a month ago today. Updates to handsets likely explain some of the rise, though consumers replacing aging devices with updated phone like the HTC One M8 and Galaxy S5 are probably more likely candidates for such a rapid and significant rise in adoption. Read More
Google continues its monthly ritual of posting platform distribution numbers for Android. After getting a fairly late start, KitKat is keeping up its suddenly explosive pace by adding 3.2% to last month's 5.3%. This is largely due to a continual stream of updates to the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Note 3.
The increase in KitKat's presence came at the expense of almost every older version of Android except for Jelly Bean 4.2, which actually rose 0.7%. Read More
Google has made its monthly update to the developer dashboard with new platform distribution numbers, and KitKat is on a roll (finally). After making up only 2.5% of active Android devices last month, it's now at 5.3%. Yes, it more than doubled. Those continued Samsung updates probably have a lot to do with the jump.
Google has posted its monthly snapshot of the Android Platform Versions distribution, and things are, unsurprisingly, inching forward for KitKat and Jelly Bean. KitKat is up from a share of 1.9% last month to 2.5% this go around, likely owed to the widening rollout of Android 4.4 to the Galaxy S4 and a number of other devices.
Jelly Bean continued to gain ground, too, up slightly this month at 62% as compared to 60.7% in February, with the individual breakdown still heavily favoring Android 4.1 as opposed to 4.2 or 4.3. Read More
As we're still basking in the afterglow of a big Android announcement, Google is back to the same old stuff. The developer dashboard has been updated with the freshest Android distribution numbers. This time Jelly Bean has hit a milestone just as it became the "old" version of Android.
According to Google's newest values, Jelly Bean is now on more than half of all Android devices – 52.1%. Keep in mind that includes all Jelly Bean versions from 4.1-4.3. Read More
The latest Android platform distribution numbers are in, and they tell a story you probably would expect. There's no surprise ending here - more users are getting their hands on Jelly Bean, whether through updates or by purchasing new devices, and older versions are continuing their descent. Gingerbread remains stubborn, with more devices than Froyo, Honeycomb, and Ice Cream Sandwich combined.
Honeycomb hasn't disappeared yet, with .1% of users still holding on to their aging tablets. Read More
Google has just published the platform distribution numbers collected over the past two weeks, and things are finally looking up for the 4.1+ crowd. It's been a long, tedious, tiring trek, but Android 4.1.x/4.2.x, collectively known as Jelly Bean, has finally become the dominate OS – surpassing Gingerbread by 3.8 percent. It may not be a huge amount, but Jelly Bean is currently running on 37.9 percent of all devices – a full 4.9% more than last month's numbers. Read More


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February 25, 2008
First 4 weeks of Shock & Awe then DVCon
Please note that contributed articles, blog entries, and comments posted on EDACafe.com are the views and opinion of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the management and staff of Internet Business Systems and its subsidiary web-sites.
This past week was the week Mike Santarini got laid off, John Cooley remembered his manners, Brett Cline forgot his, Wally Rhines proved (once again) he’s an engineer’s engineer, Tom Williams became an electron, Karen Bartleson became an advocate for peace, and Gary Smith admitted he doesn’t balance his checkbook.
More profoundly, however, this past week was the week that Cadence pulled out of DAC (see excerpt from the press release below). Though the news was not completely unanticipated, it still came as a shock – even after 4 weeks of shock and awe. Others may not agree, but I believe this decision will have far-reaching ramifications for the company, the conference, and the industry.
Meanwhile, and not coincidentally, this past week was also the week I finally learned the truth about design automation. The truth is that the big IDMs would (probably) get along just fine without the EDA industry, and that’s because they do so much friggin’ tool development in-house.
The truth is that the chip designers in the big IDMs not only have easy access to their own internal CAD-specific IT support, they also have easy access to the internal CAD tool developers themselves. Hence, the internal tool developers at the big IDMs learn from their in-house chip designers, and the chip designers learn from their in-house tool developers and the living is easy. The truth is that the big IDMs are often (always?) way ahead of the third party CAD tool providers in technology, methodology, and implementation because it behooves the IDMs to have it that way. Their existence and survival depends on it. The truth is that the IDMs don’t even think to turn to third-party CAD tool providers until their own CAD tools have reached such a level of sophistication that the IDMs can be comfortable letting third-party vendors provide the “commodity” sub-set of their total requirements. That the third-party tool vendors then undercut each other (to death?) on increasingly anorexic margins for those commoditized tools is of little concern to the IDMs. In fact, it’s to their benefit that the third-party vendors tear each other apart in attempts to get the attention and business of the IDMs. The truth is, if the price and service and accommodations aren’t just right, the IDMs can just go internal again and continue on with their own
in-house tool development and support. They’ve got the money, the knowledge, and manpower to do it.
And that’s the truth about design automation and the context for everything that follows here.
Hint: Click on “Print this article” up there on the right if you want to read this article all on one page.]
First there was Shock & Awe
Four weeks ago: Cadence released sharply disappointing Q4’07 revenue numbers and predicted Q1’08 revenues would be closer to $280 million than the hoped-for $390 million. Cadence stock promptly plummeted 33%, the company’s market cap fell to its lowest level in 10 years, $2.9 billion (in contrast to its $6.4 billion market valuation at the height of last June’s unconfirmed Blackstone/KKR buyout rumors), and the financial press went gaga with headlines like, “Cadence: What Just Happened in the EDA Business?” The entire industry was implicated; SNPS, MENT, and LAVA tanked, as well.
Three weeks ago: IEEE’s annual solid state circuit extravaganza,
ISSCC, showcased a dazzling array of Latest & Greatest for the 3500 techno-wonks gathered in San Francisco, including:
The world’s first 2-billion transistor chip from
Intel, a 65-nanometer 16-core 32-thread processor from
Sun, novel techniques for on-chip gain and filtering functions from
Sony, power-down architectures for increased on-chip power efficiencies from
IMEC, an implantable amplifier for extraction of micro-Volt “brain biomarkers” from
Medtronic, an ultra-low power 45-nanometer multimedia processor from
TI, a 56-nanometer 2-bit-per-cell NAND Flash device with 34Mbits/s program throughput from
Toshiba, a 45-nanometer 4Gbit 3D double-stacked multi-level NAND flash device from
Samsung, a 1-Volt wearable SOC for a wireless body-area-network monitor from
Toumaz Technology, and a full GSM SIP complete with RF, baseband, and power management from
* Three weeks ago, as well: EDAC hosted its annual CEO Forecast Panel in Silicon Valley. Despite plucky, niche-specific, bravado-laden claims from some – Jasper’s
Kathryn Kranen: “Design-based verification will take off!” Denali’s
Sanjay Srivastava: “2007 was the Year of the SoC!” MIPS’
John Bourgoin: “Long-term trends play into the IP market!” Synopsys’
Aart de Geus: “No doubt, we’ll do very well!” – only Mentor Graphics’
Wally Rhines had the courage (and recursion charts) to posit an actual growth number for the industry for 2008, an astonishingly anemic 2%.
Of course, Cadence’s long-suffering
Mike Fister, beaten into submission by The Street the previous week, had to admit: “Our customers are in recession and we’re worried.” But, he also noted that many continue to undervalue the worth of the tools his industry provides: “We’ve created value, [but some customers see] an opportunity to destroy that value, which is criminal.”
Sitting next to Fister, Kranen sharply retorted: The all-you-can-eat deals that characterize the business practices of the large EDA vendors exacerbate pricing pressures for the smaller vendors. Fister responded, “It’s a cop-out to say all-you-can-eat deals are prevalent.” And later, in apparent defiance of The Street as well, he added, “It doesn’t matter what the market says!”
Lest the report of the EDAC event be incomplete, the evening’s speakers also offered concrete suggestions. From
Kathryn Kranen: Customers are seeking the little ROI from less expensive tools, but they should be looking for the Big ROI from the massive improvements that come with tools that are worth breaking their flows for. From
John Bourgoin: The high growth rate [ahead] is in analog. From
Sanjay Srivastava (after running over prophecies of ESL with a freight train): We need to be bolder with the adjacencies. From
Aart de Geus (just returned from the annual pilgrimage to the World Economic Forum at Davos): We must learn to sell better, [because] we are an industry that adds value. From
Mike Fister: Automation is the key, [as well as] educating the customer. And from
Wally Rhines: Throughout the history of EDA, we’ve grown by solving new problems. There will always be profits from advancing the technology!
Three weeks ago, also: IEC’s
DesignCon took over the Santa Clara Convention Center. With more than 130 exhibitors on the floor, the exhibition hall was large, lively, and well attended. There was definitely energy there. [But, don’t take my word for it. EnjoyGraham Bell’s video interviews with many of the vendors on the show floor at DesignCon.] Eight companies at the conference were honored with IEC DesignVision Awards, including Cadence (design tools), Mentor & Cadence together (for OVM), Amphenol TCS (interconnect), Altera (ICs), Rambus (IP), Lattice (FPGAs), Future Plus Systems (system-level design tools), and Agilent (test and measurement). Various panels at the conference were rich
in content and candor, including a discussion of the current ecosystem for semiconductor startups which was shockingly blunt in its evaluation of the shortage of both venture capital and profits in the industry today.
But the flip side of the emotional schizophrenia within the semiconductor industry was also on display at DesignCon, where a panel moderated by Forbes’
Elizabeth Corcoran discussed (read “showcased!”) exuberant employment and market opportunities in India.
Ganesh Guruswamy said they’ve got thousands of employees working at geometries ranging from 250-to-45 nanometers in the company’s centers of excellence for SOC and IP design in India. Cadence’s
Jaswinder Ahuja said Cadence has been underway for 20 years in India and an operation that Joe Costello once termed a “hidden jewel” is now a huge contributor to the company’s R&D. Wipro’sVasudevan Aghoramoorthy cited current statistics for his company: “We’ve grown significantly [over the last several years] and now have 18,000 engineers working for us in India.” And he reiterated the power of the consumer in India: “India as a market has exploded since the late 90’s. Ten years ago, no one would have believed that there could be 10 million new cell phone subscribers per month in India, but that’s today’s reality. And that doesn’t include replacement handsets!” Ahuja added: “It’s an acknowledged fact that
the BRIC economies [Brazil Russia India China] are now driving the global markets!”
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-- Peggy Aycinena, EDACafe.com Contributing Editor.


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NEW DELHI: South Korean technology giant Samsung is busy expanding its Galaxy M series smartphones. The company recently launched the Galaxy M12 in India and now a Galaxy M42 5G is expected to launch in the country.
According to an online report, this will be Samsung’s cheapest 5G smartphone. The smartphone is said to have a price below Rs 25,000 and be available online Amazon and Samsung.com and offline in authorized retail stores.
The smartphone is said to be powered by an octa-core processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G with 4 GB of RAM.
Samsung Galaxy M42 5G should run the Android 11 operating system and it should also be delivered with Knox Security. The smartphone has already received TO Certification which means it will start in India soon.
The smartphone will also contain a 6000 mAh battery and a 64 megapixel quad rear camera.
It was recently reported that Samsung is slated to partner with Olympus for its upcoming smartphone. As reported by Mashable, neither company has yet to confirm the partnership. Allegedly, Olympus cameras will debut with a special edition of the Samsung Galaxy Fold or with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Olympus is part of OM Digital Solution, which is known for its professional cameras. The leakster says the Japan-based camera company may offer both branding and expertise in key areas of photography and videography for future Samsung flagship phones.


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Honda and George White Are Motorcycle Live Show Favorites
While Honda picked up the honours as the fans’ favourite manufacturer stand, George White Superbikes was rated as the best non-manufacturer experience.
“Both Honda and George White typified the remarkable efforts that every single exhibitor made to ensure that Motorcycle Live was a success. This online vote reflected the general comments we’ve received on the show – that it offered an amazing variety of interactive opportunities and put a lot of people on bikes. Honda and George White played a major role in that success,” Finlay McAllan, managing director of MCI Exhibitions, said in a statement for the press.
Along with all Honda’s new-for-2011 models, the company’s stand also boasted an innovative and industry-first technical feature which allowed potential customers to lean – just as they would while riding on the road – on new bikes such as the CBR1000RR Fireblade.
On the other hand, motorcycle dealer group George White, which represents all the major manufacturer brands, including Honda, brought a massive retail presence to Motorcycle Live, offering visitors a comprehensive shopping experience and access to various bargains on related clothing and accessories.


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Roblox Global News. A spokesperson for Roblox contacted Global News with the following statement “We were outraged to learn that Roblox’s community policies and rules of conduct were subverted We have.
Roblox Launches Party Place A Private Venue For Virtual Birthday Parties And Other Meetups Techcrunch from techcrunch.com
As General Counsel for Roblox Mark Reinstra leads a team that enables and supports Roblox’s global growth including its international expansion privacy and data security and care and safety efforts Prior to joining Roblox Mark was a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati where he practiced corporate and securities law for 25 years.
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1 day agoSource Roblox 2021’s collective haul of $19 billion in revenue is more than double what Roblox made throughout what was already an impressive 2020 for the company per last week’s earnings.
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Wayfair sales and earnings slipped in the second quarter, but the e-tailer pointed out that the recent results were stronger than in the pre-pandemic period in 2019.
Adjusted diluted earnings per share beat a Zacks Investment Research analyst average estimate of $1.18.
Net revenues slipped to $3.86 billion from $4.3 billion and income from operations decreased to $145.2 million from $300 million in the year-prior quarter.
Active customers reached 31.1 million as of June 30, up 19.6% year over year.
For the 2019 quarter, and before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Wayfair posted net revenues of $2.34 billion and a loss of $181.9 million.
Niraj Shah, Wayfair CEO, co-chairman and co-founder, said in a conference call that consumer finances in the United States are in good shape and interest in the home remains strong even if spending shifts somewhat as restrictions to movement wane in an environment where COVID-19 responses have less impact on in-store shopping then they did in the second half of last year.
He noted, however, that the company’s annual Way Day event in the second proved to be the biggest in the company’s history, and he added that Wayfair customers tend to shop one item, one room and one project at a time. So, even if the balance of spending changes, consumers always have updates to the household environment in mind as their domestic circumstances evolve. Shah asserted that Wayfair should grow faster as category demand shifts structurally online. In that case, with approximately 20% consumer penetration in its most developed geography and set of classes, Wayfair has a long runway ahead to capture more of the growing online share in the home category.
“Wayfair delivered $3.9 billion in net revenue in Q2, well above pre-pandemic run-rates, even as we began to lap the early heights of COVID-related lockdowns in 2020,” Shah said. “While the current macro environment is dynamic, the home remains a high priority for our customers and longer term tailwinds to online category growth are firmly in place.”


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BRYAN R. SMITH | AFP | Getty Images
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange at the closing bell of the Dow Industrial Average, May 10, 2017 in New York
Check out which companies are making headlines after the bell:
Shares of L Brands dropped more than 6 percent in extended trading after the company released its second-quarter earnings after the bell. The retailer, best known for its Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret brands, beat earnings and revenue estimates from Thomson Reuters, but lowered its guidance for 2017 and posted weak same-store sales comparisons.
Shares of Cisco fell more than 2 percent in extended trading after the IT company posted underwhelming fourth-quarter earnings. While the company beat revenue estimates and matched earnings expectations, its revenue has now declined for seven consecutive quarters.
Shares of Synopsys fell more than 3 percent in after-hours trading after hitting a 52-week intraday high. The automation company reported earnings of 75 cents per share on revenues of $695.4 million for its third quarter.
ADRs of VipShop dropped more than 6 percent in extended trading after posting second-quarter earnings after the bell. The Chinese e-commerce company missed expectations on its bottom line, but beat revenue views.
Shares of NetApp fell more than 1 percent in after-hours trading, despite beating Thomson Reuters estimates in its first-quarter earnings release. The computer storage services company gave a range of earnings guidance for its second quarter that was somewhat lighter than expected.


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The Amazing Mercedes-Benz Coupe at the Beijing Motor Show
Mercedes-Benz is making quite an impact at the Beijing Motor Show this year. Their spectacular looking concept coupe was showcased, with many hoping that the car will hit production in the future. Why? Simply because of it’s stunning looks. Their wishes will come true and we can expect the car to hit UK showrooms next year. The CSC (Concept Style Coupe) will be named the CLA when it is released.
The new Medium Front-Drive Architecture
This coupe derives from the A-Class and contains the MFA infrastructure which stands for medium front drive architecture. MFA in German stands for Modularenfrontanstriebarchitektur, meaning Medium front-drive architecture in English.
Spread across the brand
The new MFA infrastructure will be a new platform across plenty of new Mercedes-Benz models. It will represent a new generation for the company.
The engine matching the Golf GTI for power
There is expected to a be a 2.0 litre with 211 BHP worth of power within the new CLA when released. That matches the new generation Volkswagen GTI for power it has been estimated by experts.
No 4Matic four wheel system for us
The car will contain a seven speed double clutch transmission. Although the car shown off at the Beijing Motor Show will contain a 4Matic four wheel drive system, this will not be made available for versions here in the UK.
No 21 inch alloy wheels for us
The stylish 21 inch alloy wheels will as expected not be made available here in the UK. Fans must remember that the car is just a concept. Plenty of features upon the car now will not be on the production vehicle. It is safe to assume however that when the car is released, it will be one of the most desirable coupes on the market.
Bound to be a success here in the UK
Will the Mercedes-Benz be a success here in the UK? Luxury coupe vehicles seem to be selling extremely well at the moment, for that reason we believe it will be a success. The car has a great deal of class, style and will be a unique entrant into the market. There will not be any direct rivals so to speak. However the car will offer a special type of alternative to a conventional 3 Series and a C-Class. Some sources believe the car will cost around £25,000.


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UK media investment growth has, with the USA, lagged its western peer group since 2005 and is now one of the first into ad recession. It is looking deep already, with only the USA currently expected to shed more ad dollars in 2009. This has been a classic, hard-to-predict ‘trend reversal’ from our own springtime hopes of 3% UK media growth next year, with sentiment falling fastest alongside the grim September/October newsflow.
Every medium is affected, and indeed nearly every country including the fast-growing BRIC/Next 11 as our forthcoming global forecast will show (December 8th).Since 2005 total UK media investment has been substantially supported by extraordinary growth in all forms of internet advertising – paid search, display and classified. As internet grows to become the largest advertising channel – which we still expect will occur in 2009 – it was inevitable that the growth rate would slow. The moment seems to have arrived. We have reduced our forecast of headline UK internet growth (all types) from 27% in our May forecast to 22% in 2008, and more dramatically from 20% to 4% for 2009. Demand for paid search and online display is still good, but paid search growth has been slowing markedly across 2008 and display is subject to price deflation as more activity becomes cost-per-action or ‘performance’-based.
Premium display inventory (pre-roll, high-quality publishers and portals; cost-perthousand-based rather than cost-per-action), typically used by larger brand advertisers, remains in good demand but advertiser arbitrage between per-thousand and per-action chains their respective pricing.
Sudden recovery is always possible but consumer retrenchment is simply too deep to make this likely in 2009. But some conditions are already improving. The monetary and fiscal taps are at least open, even if the flow is sluggish. Raw materials prices have fallen and for packaged-goods advertisers in particular this frees up cash which could be returned to marketing. Brands which were strong enough to raise prices when commodities spiked are even better-placed. Most of all, the strategy-minded advertiser knows recessions are a rare and brief opportunity to build share at bargain prices.
This Year Next Year is GroupM’s media and marketing forecasting series drawn from WPP’s worldwide resources in advertising, public relations, market research and specialist communications. GroupM is the leading global media investment management operation. It serves as the parent company to WPP media agencies including MAXUS, MediaCom, Mediaedge:cia and Mindshare.


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Loyalty has paid off for shopper Marilyn Brown as she is the first winner of the Carluke business improvement district (BID) loyalty shopping scheme’s £100 cash prize, only weeks after the scheme was launched.
“I’m delighted to have won,” said Marilyn. “I shop all the time in Carluke.
“The lady in the tanning salon told me about the loyalty card, and I’m glad she did.
“I use the shops, the hairdressers, chemists and butchers all the time.
“I think more businesses should be promoting this and telling their customers about it.”
That sentiment was echoed by district team director Christine Warren.
“We expected it might take a while for this to build interest for businesses, but it has been popular with customers from the start,” she said. “It’s important that businesses promote this and realise it can be a big help for them.
“The scheme couldn’t be easier for businesses. All they do is stamp the customer’s card. The BID does the rest.”
There are almost 80 businesses in the scheme already. Shoppers have to use three types of business to qualify by getting their loyalty card stamped at three of each, from retailers, services and food and drink outlets.
Jim McNally, manager of the BID team, commented: “Marilyn has got us off to a flying start.
“The scheme is only a couple of weeks old, and we didn’t expect people to have filled their cards already, but we did get a handful of entries, and Marilyn was the lucky winner.
“People are already using several cards at once, collecting stamps from the goods and services they use most often, then starting another card.
“I’m just relieved we ordered an extra 5,000 cards.”


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BELLEVUE, WA - Paccar reported lower revenues and net income for the first quarter of 2009,” says Mark C. Pigott, chairman and chief executive officer. “Paccar’s results reflect the impact of a slower economy on freight shipments and truck purchases worldwide. I am very proud of our 17,000 employees who have delivered good performance to our shareholders and customers in today’s very challenging business conditions. Paccar’s strengths continue to be exceptional quality products and services, geographic diversification and strong aftermarket revenues and financial services income.”
“Paccar’s excellent balance sheet and positive cash flow have enabled ongoing investments to enhance operating efficiency and develop innovative products such as new diesel engines and hybrid vehicles. These investments will contribute to the company’s achievement of its long-term growth objectives,” notes Pigott. “The difficult recession continues to affect our business in North America and Europe as truck markets remain weak. The first quarter 2009 financial results were negatively impacted by lower build rates, temporary plant shutdowns and reduced gross margins. These challenging market conditions are continuing as we enter the second quarter of 2009. Paccar has rigorously reduced operating expenses and capital expenditures to align its business with the current market.”
Paccar earned $26.3 million ($.07 per diluted share) for the first quarter of 2009 compared to $292.3 million ($.79 per diluted share) earned in the first quarter last year. First quarter net sales and financial services revenues were $1.99 billion compared to $3.94 billion reported for the first quarter of 2008.
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CBS Streams Net Record Q1 Results1 May, 2012 By: Erik Gruenwedel
CBS Corp. again mined significant incremental revenue from third-party streaming services, which contributed to the media company posting first-quarter (ended March 31) net income of $363 million, up nearly 80% from net income of $202 million during the same period last year.
Indeed, revenue from content licensing and distribution (domestic/foreign TV syndication) topped $1 billion from $734 million during the same period last year. License agreements include Web-based subscription video-on-demand services Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime and LoveFilm Instant.
At CBS Entertainment, which includes CBS Films, CBS Television Network, CBS Television Studios, CBS Studios International, CBS Television Distribution and CBS Interactive, operating income was even higher at $370 million — up nearly 61% from operating income of $230 million last year.
Entertainment revenue, which includes box office ticket sales from horror-thriller The Woman in Black, topped $2.3 billion, up 21% from revenue of more than $1.9 billion last year. The Woman in Black, starring “Harry Potter’s” Daniel Radcliffe, is CBS Films’ top box office title to date with more than $125 million generated at the global box office.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release the film at retail May 22.
Content licensing to Internet-based streaming services also contributed to a 15% increase in CBS cable revenue to $452 million from $393 million last year. Cable properties include Showtime Networks, CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Networks.
Total CBS Corp. revenue in the quarter topped $3.9 billion, up 12% from revenue of $3.5 billion last year.
“Our ability to capitalize on the fundamental shifts in our industry has led to the growth of significant new revenue streams and has also allowed us to increase our share of non-advertising revenue,” CEO Les Moonves said in a statement.


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Stephen Marcus, President of A New Horizon Credit Counseling Services, applauded the revisions which he called “long over-due”.
Fort lauderdale, FL (PRWEB) December 19, 2011
A new consumer-friendly credit card agreement has been introduced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency created to safeguard the rights of the American public in their dealings with financial institutions. The new agreement has been shortened to approximately 1,100 words, down from the typical 5,000 word agreement currently in use by credit card issuers. The change is intended to reduce the contract with the banks to plain English said Raj Date, the bureau’s interim director, at a recent news conference. Reports A New Horizon Credit Counseling Services is a nonprofit debt management organization that has been helping consumers since 1978
Stephen Marcus, President of A New Horizon Credit Counseling Services, applauded the revisions which he called “long over-due”. Marcus said, “Making the new agreement easy for the consumer to understand allows them to make better decisions when selecting a credit card, particularly with regard to the new fees being introduced almost daily.” A New Horizon is a national credit counseling agency that assists consumers with managing their debt.
The new agreement is being tested with the Pentagon Federal Credit Union in Alexandria, Va. With 1 million members, and $15 billion in assets, it is one of the largest credit unions in the country.
The new agreement contains 3 sections: Costs, Changes and Additional Information, designed to clearly explain the prices, risks and features of the credit card. Marcus said, “This is a good start, but in order to simplify the disclosures, the bureau had to move some of the explanations of terms to a website, calling into question whether the consumer will make the effort to reference them on the internet.” Consumers without internet access can get the additional definitions in hard copy.
With an estimated $700 billion in U.S. credit card debt, approximately $6,000 per household, and “difficulty understanding the terms of their agreements” being the top consumer complaint, any improvement designed to make the consumer better informed is a welcome change, said Marcus.
For more information about A New Horizon Credit Counseling programs, contact 1-800-556-1548. They can also be found on the web at http://www.anewhorizon.org, or reached via email at slieberman(at)anewhorizon(dot)org


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Focus topics of IFA NEXT, the innovation platform of IFA Berlin 2019. Smart cities, the future
From the Oculus Quest and Valve’s pricey Vive Pro to Nintendo’s family-friendly kits, a guide to what’s on offer in the world of virtual reality
The boom in virtual riding systems like Peloton and Zwift has got people swapping the road for a room at home. Are they worth it?
The Digital Health Summit at CES 2019, the largest and most influential tech event in the world, is previewing
You seriously can look like a super hero in this Jet Suit. The world’s first jet suit is available
Think you can keep up with Bradley Cooper through the desert? IWC Schaffhausen x Google Spotlight Stories The VR movie


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Can Banks Afford IBM's Newest?
International Business Machines Corp. will find banks to be a tough sale for its new mainframe computers because they may opt for used machines instead, bankers and analysts said.
IBM is expected to announce several of the new mainframes, large-capacity disk drives, and new mainframe software on Wednesday. The new computers will consist of one-, two- and three-processor models.
They are part of a new family of mainframes that IBM first announced a year ago, called the ES/9000, and code-named "Summit" before their debut. It is IBM's first new line of mainframes in 10 years.
The one-processor system can operate 45 million instructions per second. It will start at around $4.5 million, according to analysts familiar with IBM's plans. Used mainframes with roughly the same performance - but without the enhancements of the new machines - cost around $2 million.
Glut of Used Machines
"The big question is how are they going to sell the thing," said one computer industry analyst who requested anonymity. "The market is awash with used machines. There are some features in the new machines that will be very attractive to bankers, such as cryptographics [a data security feature], but at what cost?"
An economy struggling to recover from a recession, and pressure to cut costs, will keep bank technology budgets lower this year than in previous years.
"The used market can offer you some of the same performance [as new hardware]," said Ronald Cybyske, senior vice president for information services at BancOne Corp., Columbus.
Banc One is preparing to acquire more mainframes to support a new strategic banking software system that it developed with EDS Corp. The new system will house eight times more information about customers than the bank currently stores, so Banc One will need more mainframes and more storage devices.
Analysts say IBM's new devices will store 50% more data than current storage systems.
Mr. Cybyske said Banc One is evaluating IBM computers and storage devices, as well as Japanese-made computers that can run IBM mainframe software. The bank already uses new communications software introduced by IBM last year that allows it to connect two data centers with high-speed links.
"We're looking not only for speed in accessing customer information, but getting the most reliable access to information," Mr. Cybyske said. "Reliability and the ability to build redundant information is going to be an important element of our strategy."
Banc One hopes to begin installing new machines between the first and third quarters of next year.
Other banks have already invested in new IBM mainframes because their new features - as well as price breaks - make them attractive.
First of America Bank Corp., Kalamazoo, Mich., purchased a ES/9000 computer.
"IBM will look to make an attractive offer to move bankers to their new computing architecture," says Peter J. Purcell, senior vice president of application development at First of America Computer Services.
"What IBM is trying to do with new machines is to create enterprise computing for banks and other customers that have far-flung networks of branches and large systems complexes that require delivering automated services across wide areas," Mr. Purcell said.
Software with Bank Appeal
One feature that may sell banks on the new computers is a software system that warehouses data from many other computer sources.
"It's IBM's answer to Teradata in a software version," said one analyst, referring to Los Angeles-based Teradata Corp.'s computers that manage large data bases by drawing specific sets of information from other host systems, such as IBM mainframes, minicomputers, and other computers.
The Teradata machines have been popular with banks that use them for managing customer, product, and marketing information.
"The question is, is [the IBM system] going to be a real product anytime soon?" the industry analyst said. "Don't hold your breath. I think it's more of a statement of direction."


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As reported by footwearnews.com, this year marks the first time Boston-based running shoe company Saucony, has put out a Super Bowl commercial. It used its ad spot to debut Originals, its new biodegradable shoe line.
The shoe is made with natural materials and renewable resources, and the production line will minimize its use of electricity. The new collection is part of Saucony’s ongoing sustainability platform, “Run for Good.” The eco-friendly platform includes a vegan shoe collection and a sustainably made Spring ’20 apparel line.
Saucony also committed to producing a “green” commercial using CGI for the majority of its images and donated all of the shoes used for the ad to the Boston Rescue Mission.
“We think constantly about the impact our products have on our consumers,” stated Shawn Hoy, Saucony’s VP of global product. “Now, we are focusing on our impact on the planet. As an industry, we must do better. As a brand, we must do better. This project is a critical first step in our journey to do better and be better.”
Additionally, Adidas used the Big Game to take a stance against plastic waste with long-term partner Parley for the Ocean. The brand announced the opening of its first sustainable football field, made from around 1.8 million recycled plastic bottles, at Miami Edison High School located in Super Bowl 54’s host city. To kick off the opening of the new field, the Three Stripes will host a seven-on-seven football tournament for high school students, who will play in cleats and uniforms made from recycled plastic.
Adidas and Parley, a nonprofit that works to prevent the destruction of our oceans, partnered in 2016. Together, they have produced millions of pairs of sneakers from upcycled plastic waste.
Sustainability has become more of a focus for footwear firms in recent years, while an increasing number of consumers are actively seeking out environmentally friendly products. In a 2019 study from CGS, more than one-third of respondents said they were willing to pay up to 25% more for items that were eco-friendly. Of 1,000 respondents ages 18 and up, 70% said they considered the environment an “important” factor to take into account when making a purchase.


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Microsoft and Rare have released the official launch trailer for Sea of Thieves. Sea of Thieves is a pirate-themed shared world adventure game, offering the essential pirate experience, packed to the seams with sailing and exploring, fighting and plundering, riddle solving and treasure hunting.
Sea of Thieves features some truly amazing water physics and will offer cross-play between the Xbox One and Windows 10. With no set roles, players have complete freedom to approach the world, and other players, however they choose.
The game is currently planned for a March 20th release, and it promises to run incredibly well on a variety of PC configurations. Furthermore, Rare and Microsoft do not plan to implement any loot boxes.
Microsoft will provide us with a review code so stay tuned for our PC Performance Analysis!


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ByÂ MIKE ZAPLER, Politico
Sen.Â Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), who heads the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, listed those issues as priorities in an announcement Thursday outlining his top concerns for the 112th Congress.
Kohl specifically called outÂ Google as a potential cause for concern. The senator in December urged the Justice DepartmentÂ to conduct a “careful review” of the search giant’s attempted acquisition of travel search software firm ITA.
“In recent years, the dominance over Internet search of the worldâ€™s largest search engine, Google, has increased and Google has increasingly sought to acquire e-commerce sites in myriad businesses,” Kohl said in a news release.
“In this regard, we will closely examine allegations raised by e-commerce websites that compete with Google that they are being treated unfairly in search ranking, and in their ability to purchase search advertising,â€ Kohl continued. â€œWe also will continue to closely examine the impact of further acquisitions in this sector.”
The emergence of online video â€” and barriers providers face reaching consumers over broadband Internet lines â€” will also be a focus of the subcommittee. He said the panel will also trackÂ Comcast’s integration with NBC Universal and whether conditions on the deal attached by regulators are being met.
“Internet video holds the promise of providing consumers, for the first time, an alternative to expensive pay TV subscriptions and the ability to purchase only the programming they want,” Kohl said.
The panel will look at â€œchallenges that video programmers face in distributing their programming over the Internet, challenges that online video distributors face in obtaining programming, and whether Internet service providers are placing undue barriers to the video delivered over the Internet,â€ Kohl said in the release.
In addition, he said, the panel is going to explore adherence to â€œthe merger conditions imposed on the Comcast/NBC Universal merger to ensure that these conditions are being properly applied to foster competition, including competition from new forms of Internet delivery of video content.”
To read more, visit:Â http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51079.html#ixzz1GIOKfeup
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PAX East is going on this week, which means it’s yet another big event that features gamers from around the globe interacting with the heavies of the game industry. It feels like we have so many of these events now that it is a bit dizzying, but when something cool comes of it, like this, I’m not going to complain. After a lot of promises and a ton of money donated, we finally get to see a little glimpse of what Star Citizen is going to look like. It’s AMAZING.
Look, when you think that $41 million has gone into Star Citizen since 2011 you gotta be thinking that this game should be blowing our minds. There is actually an expectation from backers that we’ll see the dogfighting module within the month, so finally getting a glimpse of what it’s like zipping around space in your cockpit is even better. This video footage is from PAX East 2014 and is from a presentation to what seems like a bunch of super enthusiastic gamers. The fact that the pilot hopping into the cockpit and putting a helmet on gets a huge reaction is proof enough that this game is onto something and that there is a huge demand for it.
So watch this and be aware that this is all very much a work in progress. This is just to show off what to expect when Star Citizen’s dogfighting module drops.


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Board of Equalization Chairman Jerome E. Horton recently presented opening remarks at the White House Business Council, “American Jobs Act” Conference, at the California State University, Los Angeles Ballroom. This premiere event highlighted President Obama’s American Jobs Act and how it will directly benefit California’s small business owners and the billions of dollars in new resources and incentives that may be available to the State of California.
“I want to commend President Obama for his “American Jobs Act” initiative.” Horton said. “From tax cuts to help America’s small businesses hire new workers and putting workers back on the job, to modernizing our infrastructure, reforming our unemployment program, and providing tax relief for working households, the president understands that putting Americans back to work is critical to our economic health long-term.”
Horton was joined by White House representative, David Hinson, National Director of the U.S. Minority Business Development Agency. Mike Rossi, Governor Brown’s Senior Advisor on jobs and business development, Joel Ayala, Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, Andrew Gudger, Director, Office of Small Business Programs, as well as a host of other panelists.
The small business forum, with over 200 small business owners and sponsored by the White House Business Council, in partnership with Coastline Community College’s Institute for Economic Development and Governor Jerry Brown’s Office of Business and Economic Development, was designed for the state’s 3.5 million small businesses to ensure that their voices are heard in the governor’s office and in the White House.
“Small businesses employ over 52% of California’s workforce,” Horton noted, “and that represents over 98% of our state’s employers. It is critical that small business owners, and entrepreneurs interested in starting a new business enterprise, use their imagination, creativity, and ingenuity to create business models that are on the cutting-edge of small business development.” He added.
“It is no longer business as usual.” Horton concluded, “With an ever-evolving global economy, small businesses must find a way to the cutting edge and build a bridge to the other side.”
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Elected in 2010, Chairman Jerome E. Horton is the Fourth District Member of the California State Board of Equalization, representing more than 8.5 million residents in Los Angeles County. He is also the Board of Equalization Legislative Committee chairman. He is the first to serve on the Board of Equalization with over 21 years of experience at the BOE. Horton previously served as an Assembly Member of the California State Assembly from 2000-2006.


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Mexico: Inflation moderates further in April
May 9, 2016
In April, consumer prices fell 0.32%, which was faster than the 0.26% decrease the markets had expected. April’s plunge contrasted a 0.15% increase observed in March and was the first monthly drop since May 2015. As usual, around this time of the year, the decline in consumer prices is largely driven by seasonal factors related to electricity tariffs. In addition, the monthly drop also reflected lower prices for fresh food.
In April, inflation fell for a second consecutive month, following February’s peak of 2.9%. Inflation edged down from 2.6% in March to 2.5% in April, which was the lowest level since December 2015. The result was in line with the Central Bank’s view that inflationary pressures remain contain for now and that inflation continues to hover below its target of 3.0%.
The closely watched core consumer prices—which exclude volatile categories such as fresh food and energy—increased 0.22% in April over the previous month, which marked a slower increase compared to the 0.36% rise registered in March. Core inflation remained stable at March’s 2.8% in April.
Author: Ricardo Aceves, Senior Economist


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Italy’s Agency of Customer and Monopolies (ADM) has caused uproar in the esports community by shutting down three ‘digital entertainment venues’ located in the North of Italy.
The government agency that oversees gambling policies across Italy’s 20 regional provinces shut down the ‘three gaming halls’ that were deemed to have ‘lacked any form of authorisation, licence and concession’.
The venues hit back at the ADM’s decision, outlining that they were part of a ‘local area network’ in which their halls offered ‘gaming with home entertainment devices without any cash prizes.’
The ADM had acknowledged to local media that the gaming halls had been compliant with relevant taxes and applied premises rules to check underage customers.
It later be revealed that the ADM’s enforcement was a result of a complaint issued by Sergio Milesi, Chief Executive of Italian amusement arcade operator LED SRL.
The arcade operator had warned the ADM that esports venues such as Bergamo’s Esports Palace, one of the e-halls shut down, had infringed on Italy’s commercial laws to operatee adult entertainment venues.
Of distinction, Milesi and LED SRL highlighted that the e-halls operated a ‘fixed subscription entry’ for esports patrons to play at their venues – deemed an ‘unfair competitive advantage over traditional establishments’ that could not offer their patrons the same incentives.
Milesi, owner of several Italian amusement arcades, therefore considers eSports halls as a form of ‘unregulated and untaxed competition’ in direct contrast to his arcade venues are forced to adhere to ‘numerous regulatory controls’.
The complaint outlined that esports venues should not be allowed to operate until the ADM defines a clear legislative framework for how esports retail properties should be operated in line with existing highstreet laws.
The closed venues responded that Milesi’s complaint was purely self-serving in the interest of LED SRL to stifle competition, in which the company is biding its time to launch its own esports entertainment properties.
Italian esports stakeholders will now wait for the ADM to decide how it will interpret commercial and retail laws applicable for esports venues to adhere to.
“The hope, however, is that both Parliament and the regulator can understand the interpretative error and promptly take a position on the rules applicable to esports, clearly excluding the ones that regulate amusement machines without a cash prize,” stated Giulio Coraggio, Head of Intellectual Property & Tech practices at law firm DLA Piper.
“Any different decision would risk damaging a market that is quickly growing, generating new jobs, new businesses, and consequently contributing to the growth of our country’s economy.”


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Candice Swanepoel was seen strutting down the runway clad in 2013 Royal Fantasy Bra worth $8 million. This year, the South African Angel is seen heralding the International Bombshells’ Day which was officially celebrated on May 2 all over the world. The 26 year old model has also been roped in as the new face of Victoria’s Secret’s new ‘Bombshell’ fragrance campaign. Candice sizzles in the monochrome images which show her clutching on to the most popular scent from Victoria’s Secret. The heaven-sent glamorous blonde strips to put her skin on display in the most sensual way.
The seductive and alluring scent won a FiFi Fragrance Foundation Award for ‘Fragrance of the Year’ in 2011. Boasting of fruity notes of purple passion fruit, Shangri-la peony and vanilla orchid, the Bombshell fragrance certainly deserved an enchantress to promote it in the most sensual manner.
This year, Victoria’s Secret debuted the international Bombshells’ Day. Held the first Saturday of May, the brand celebrated the first-ever holiday on May 2nd and Candice Swanepoel was thrilled to kick off the Bombshells Day in Dallas.


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BRUSSELS has agreed to slash four in five checks on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland in a major Brexit climbdown.
EU bosses had insisted for months there was no wriggle room on detailed inspections of all shipments under the terms of 2019’s divorce deal.
But yesterday, they caved in and pledged to dramatically slash hated paperwork.
But, the compromise risked being upended last night by a bizarre intervention from rogue Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings.
The ousted Brexit guru claimed Boris Johnson signed the divorce deal knowing he would tear up the aspects around the Irish border.
He said “cheating foreigners is a core part of the job” of Brexit negotiations, adding: “Of course there wasn’t ‘good faith’.”
At the moment, a supermarket truck carrying 100 different products from the mainland to Ulster has to file a separate form for each one in case any entered the EU market via Ireland.
But, after the PM threatened to pull down the whole Northern Irish Protocol, Brussels has offered to reduce 80 per cent of red tape on fresh food products and half of paperwork for other goods.
European Commission Vice-President Maros Šefcovic said he had listened to Northern Ireland, adding the proposals were a, “direct, genuine response to their concerns”.


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While you are right that demonetization had a significant impact on naxalites and other terrorist groups in India, and also had a positive impact on fake currency notes, one cannot ignore the fact that it has failed in so many other regards. The primary objective was to eradicate at least 20% of the black money, yet it managed to eradicate less than…
The figure 40–45% refers to the revenue generated from the products that the SGX is looking to launch on its platform. Yes, it is a loss to the Indian market, but it is unlikely to have a huge impact just yet. What the article aims to explain, is that if this trend were to continue, the situation will become worrisome.
Considering that the article aims to highlight the fact that portions of the Indian financial markets are being exported to other country’s exchanges (Singapore, Dubai), the inflows relating to those particular Indian financial instruments/markets which have been exported would not be directed towards India. In…
While Yes Bank does offer 7% returns on an FD, this rate only applies for FD’s of a duration longer than 36 months. https://www.yesbank.in/personal-banking/yes-individual/deposits/fixed-deposit-residents. This article was referring to an investment of a shorter period, i.e 6 months or less.


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CarMax Inc.'s KMX, -0.44% fiscal first-quarter earnings rose 21% as the number of used cars sold rose sharply.
CarMax, the biggest used-vehicle seller in the U.S., has posted higher profits in recent quarters as a slow economic recovery continues to drive customer demand toward used cars.
For the quarter ended May 31, CarMax reported a profit of $146.7 million, or 64 cents a share, up from $120.7 million, or 52 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue jumped 19% to $3.31 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently forecast per-share earnings of 58 cents on revenue of $3.15 billion.
Gross margin edged down to 13.5% from 13.8%.
The number of used vehicles sold jumped 22% and rose 17% on a same-store basis. The volume of wholesale sales increased 6%, benefiting from more stores and a stronger appraisal buy rate.
Income at the company's auto-finance unit improved 16% to $87 million.
Shares closed Thursday at $44.57 and were inactive premarket. The stock is up 19% since the beginning of the year.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires


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Making the most of the Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week festivities, Dakota Fanning was spotted at the Marc Jacobs Fall 2012 runway show yesterday (February 13).
The “Runaways” starlet looked beautiful as she hammed it up for the cameras along with designer Marc Jacobs himself.
Dakota showed up at the NY State Armory for the swanky shindig dressed to the nines in a shimmery sleeveless dress.
Additionally, Ms. Fanning was featured on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine’s January issue, along with a fascinating interview.
Enjoy the pictures of Dakota Fanning at the Marc Jacobs show in NYC (February 13).
Photo Credit: Getty Images


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Twenty-eight year old Ho Kun Xian started gaming as a young boy. He came from a poor family who managed to spare him $2 to spend on video arcades whenever he went. There he began to master the art of fighting games. Years later, he turned pro, earnings hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money as a gamer.
Xian's story highlights the burgeoning esports industry, which is minting millionaires who play video games for a living by the age of 30.
Esports refers to competitive video gaming where teams or individuals play against each other in games such as EA's "FIFA" series or Valve Corporation's "Dota 2" for hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, in front of millions of viewers watching online and in physical arenas. Market research firm Newzoo forecasts the esports economy will grow to $905.6 million this year and $1.4 billion by 2020.
CNBC's latest episode of "Beyond the Valley," which was published Wednesday, takes a look inside the industry.


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A quarter century ago, Gadsden County grabbed a slice of international fame.
It was 1987, the summer of the big pizza project.
Twenty-five years ago this month, a cooperative county commission expedited approval of a plan to create the world’s largest pizza in Havana.
Tallahassee restaurateur Lorenzo Amato planned the giant pie and the world’s largest oven to bake it in.
He knew his sauce, having twice previously held the record for the world’s largest pizza. But Amato had lost the crown to a South African pizza maker and told the commission he wanted to return the title to America.
Why Havana? It seems his son owned some land just north of town on U.S. 27.
So that summer, the Gadsden County Times through Alice Du Pont kept the public informed about progress on the big pizza.
The recipe called for 15,624 pounds of flour, 1,037 gallons of water, 494 gallons of sauce, 2,062 pounds of cheese -- and don’t forget the pepperoni, 1,875 pounds of it.
The finished product would be about one-third the size of a football field and weigh an estimated 29,160 pounds. The giant pizza would be 100.83 feet in diameter, giving it a circumference of 316.6 feet.
Construction of the giant propane-fired pizza oven became an attraction itself with busloads of kids from Gadsden and Leon counties stopping off to see the progress.
The oven was finished and tested in early September, as the pizza pieces were being pre-sold. The pizza project was also a fundraiser to benefit the American Red Cross, the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society.
Preparing the big pizza was set for Columbus Day weekend. According to news accounts, there were two days of carnival atmosphere with pony rides and vendors and traffic jams at what was being called Lorenzo Park.
About 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning Amato and “an army of experts from the United States and Canada” finished preparations, rolled out the dough and fired up the oven. Eight hours later it was ready to eat.
The event attracted a crowd estimated at 10,000 to 30,000 people, who polished off less than half of the giant pizza with its estimated 94,000 slices.
“We have regained the pizza title for the United States,” proclaimed Louis Piancone, president of Roma Foods, which sponsored the $500,000 project. Representatives from the state Bureau of Weights and Measures verified its size.
The famous Havana pizza did go in the record book and ruled until June 1990 when a Pizza Hut in Singapore broke the record, which was quickly topped again by a supermarket in South Africa.
Tales about Havana’s giant pizza can still be found on various websites and Google images has a color photo of the finished product.


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China Digital revenues rise
March 3, 2017
By Chris Forrester
Smart-card and Conditional Access supplier China Digital TV saw revenues fall during its fourth quarter last year, although its full-year numbers were in positive territory. The company, which undertook some major management and ownership changes during last year, reported a significant fall in revenues and profits for its Q4.
China Digital TV’s net revenues for the full year increased by 120.2 per cent to $4.2 million from $1.9 million in the prior year. The increase was primarily due to an increase in revenues from its ‘cloud’ platform operations. Gross profit in 2016 increased by 402 per cent to $2.7 million from $0.5 million in the prior year. The increase in gross margin was primarily due to an increase in the cloud platform operations, which have a comparatively higher margin than the Company’s other continuing operations, such as system integration and system development.
China Digital TV’s net revenues for Q4/2016 decreased by 34.8 per cent to $0.8 million from $1.2 million in the prior year period. The decline in net revenues was primarily due to a fall in revenues from system development in Q4/2016. Gross profit in Q4 was $0.2 million, as compared with $0.5 million in the previous year. Gross margin, which is equal to gross profit divided by net revenues, was 24.4 per cent in Q4/2016, compared to 45 per cent in the prior year period.
As of December 31st 2016, China Digital TV had cash and cash equivalents totaling $124.4 million in place.


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Portable Nose That Can Sniff Out Counterfeit Liquor
News Jan 11, 2018 | Original Story from the American Chemical Society.
A portable device with an advanced sensor can “sniff” out counterfeit liquors. Credit: Kenneth S. Suslick.
Watered-down or fake liquors can reap financial rewards for nefarious individuals, but the adulteration of liquor cheats consumers and can even lead to health hazards from added contaminants. Scientists now report in ACS Sensors a portable device with an advanced sensor array that can identify liquors and determine if they'd been altered, offering a strategy for liquor quality assurance.
In the past few years, deaths from contaminated alcohol have been reported in Indonesia, Mexico, China, Poland and Russia, among other places. Unscrupulous individuals hoping to make a profit may homebrew liquor and bottle it in official-looking packaging or dilute liquor with anything from water to antifreeze. Kenneth S. Suslick and Zheng Li from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign wanted to address this growing health concern by engineering a device that can easily identify tainted products.
The researchers developed a disposable sensor with 36 dyes that change color upon exposure to particular components in liquor. Partial oxidation of the liquor vapors improved the sensor's response. Using a handheld image analyzer to detect these color changes, the scientists correctly identified the alcoholic content and brand of 14 different liquors, including various scotch whiskies, bourbon, rye, brandy and vodka with greater than 99 percent accuracy. In a proof-of-concept experiment to demonstrate a real-world application, the researchers also sniffed out booze that had been watered down, even by as little as 1 percent.
This article has been republished from materials provided by the American Chemical Society. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.
A Hand-Held Optoelectronic Nose for the Identification of Liquors. Zheng Li and Kenneth S. Suslick ACS Sensors (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.7b00709.
Human Malaria Parasites Grown for the First Time in Dormant FormNews
One of the biggest obstacles to eradicating malaria is a dormant form of the parasite which is resistant to most antimalarial drugs and can reawaken years later, causing disease relapse. Researchers have shown they can grow the dormant parasite in engineered human liver tissue for several weeks, allowing them to closely study how the parasite becomes dormant, what vulnerabilities it may have, and how it springs back to life.READ MORE
Innovative Nanomaterial Made From Natural SubstancesNews
Protein nanofibres often have outstanding properties such as a high stability, biodegradability, or antibacterial effect. Artificially creating these fibres is not easy, much less assigning them specific functions. That and how fibres with new properties can be successfully created is now being reported by materials scientists in a new study.READ MORE
First Observation of Optical Light From Shock Breakout in a Supernova ExplosionNews
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The Bitcoin is a cyber currency that has attracted a lot of media attention over the last number of years, and continues to do so. Bitcoin was established by a confidential team or individual in 2009, who utilized the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, after whom the smallest system of Bitcoin currency is called. It is the first and perhaps the most well-known cryptocurrency. Initially just of interest to the net elite, the Bitcoin has actually gotten broader charm in recent years and regulates regard in its very own exactly on the forex.
How does Bitcoin work?
The finer information of how the Bitcoin works can be difficult to understand, because it is not under main control like traditional money, yet instead every transaction is collectively accepted by a network of individuals. There are no coins and no notes, no bullion held in a safe, but the Bitcoin supply is finite, it will quit at 21 million. Every 10 mins, 25 Bitcoins are discovered by Bitcoin miners, and every 4 years the number of Bitcoins released will halve till the restriction is reached. This means that there will certainly be no further release of Bitcoins after 2140.
Why do I need Bitcoin information?
The price has historically been extremely unstable, with substantial optimal and downturns at intervals. Lately, the rate of a Bitcoin jumped up more than 10-fold in simply two months. In 2013 a number of Bitcoin Millionaires were made over night when the value of their Bitcoin purses boosted considerably. If you already hold some bitcoins in your digital pocketbook, or are thinking of dipping a toe into the water, then you truly should certainly keep up to speed with the Bitcoin News. Trading Bitcoin is an increasingly prominent alternative or add-on to traditional foreign exchange trading, and is expanding in assistance as even more brokers take the plunge.
In spite of the slowly dropping price of Bitcoin discovery, the interest in cryptalker Bitcoin information proceeds. There is a real and consistent demand to up to the minute, trusted information about its value. Bitcoin obtained a strong endorsement from PayPal recently which will absolutely strengthen self-confidence in its integrity as a reliable alternative to traditional bank card or money purchases online and on the high road. This may go some method to appease the critics of Bitcoin that assert that the system utilized to authorize or verify deals, called Blockchain, and is unsecure and prone to attack by hackers.


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While companies are finally coming around to hiring CIOs and CISOs as part of their C-Suites, it's looking like a half-hearted move at best: close to half of CISOs recently indicated that their growing responsibilities are vastly outpacing their capacity to address issues.
Burnout is a perpetual factor for CISOs and the technologists and analysts they manage.
Meanwhile, a recent study tracking executive cybersecurity habits found that the c-suite itself is one of the biggest areas of risk, with 93% of CEOs admitting to keeping work on unprotected personal devices, and 59% admitting to downloading non-approved software to company devices and computers. Adding another log to the fire is the recent study finding a severe and fundamental disconnect between the perception of CEOs about the biggest cybersecurity risk to their companies and that of their infotech and infosec leaders: 60% of them assume malware to be their biggest threat in comparison to the 35% of technical officers (CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs) who agree.
Why the disconnect?
If data breaches make daily news and are getting more expensive and hackers are giving CISOs new gray hairs on an almost hourly basis, why does it seem like the rest of the c-suite is partying like it's 1999?
There are a variety of possible factors--the skills shortage in cybersecurity and the ever increasing number of potential attack vectors for hackers both come to mind--but the largest and often overlooked factor comes down to the high stakes of risking a breach itself.
Simply put: the consequences of a breach, even a seemingly apocalyptic one, for a company, its shareholders, and CEO don't even remotely compare to what can happen to those customers and employees whose personal information has been compromised.
The minimal consequences of a data breach
Looking at some of the bigger breaches of the last several years, there's not a strong correlation between the severity of the compromise and the overall net effect. Target's 2013 data breach which exposed roughly 40 million credit and debit accounts ended up costing the company a total of $202 million by their own admission, including legal settlements, litigation fees (as well as offset costs from a cyber-insurance policy held by the company).
If this seems like a significant sum, consider that the company's failed attempt to expand into Canada during the same timeframe cost them $2 billion in comparison, and that the combined effects led to the ouster of then-CEO Gregg Steinhafel with a $61 million severance package. Target experienced a short-term 10% drop in stock price which then more than recovered two months later.
Ditto Home Depot, which announced a $161 million loss in relation to its 2014 breach of 56 million cards and quickly rebounded. Sony CEO Amy Pascal received $40 million for her exit following the massive breach on her watch. Equifax, whose breach was perhaps the broadest in compromised records (147.9 million!), and deepest in terms of the data exposed, reported a 20% increase in revenue from 2016 to 2017, and managed to send ousted CEO Richard Smith packing with as much as $90 million.
The cost to the individual does not need to be illustrated with case studies. When an identity thief successfully taps into the average consumer's financial life, the result is life altering to say the least. The amount of time needed to get things back to normal can impact careers, the problems that arise: all-consuming.
This isn't to say that major and public data breaches don't have any consequences. I certainly don't envy the CEOs of Equifax, Facebook and others who have had to sweat through senate subcommittee hearings, face popular outrage, lose their positions of power, and generally be the butt of jokes and ridicule.
I'd also have a difficult time imagining that any one of the millions of consumers who have to keep a close eye on their credit reports, bank accounts (and Explanation of Benefits Statements issued by their health insurers) and hope for the best as a result of these breaches wouldn't happily and eagerly trade places with them in exchange for a golden parachute. Instead, they're forced to spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders.
This is not a rallying cry to get out the torches and sharpen the guillotines - far from it. It is, however, meant to shed some light on a very wide gap between the stakes for consumers and technical officers for companies and the boardrooms and shareholders who--despite many, many examples--are still failing to come up with clear and cogent cybersecurity strategies, or even to prioritize them adequately. The disconnect will persist as long as legislation in the U.S. fails to ensure widespread compliance with cybersecurity basics.
No matter how many times I invoke Peter Drucker's line that "culture eats strategy for breakfast," until the expenses of litigation, regulatory interaction, lost business and diminished stock prices come anywhere close to the financial and emotional tumult caused by a destroyed credit history, drained bank account, stolen identity, or worse, the status quo will be more of the "trouble runs downhill" variety.


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Unredeemed Bonga points are accounted for as liabilities in their accounts so as per now, the company owes its subscribers up to Ksh 3 billion shillings. In a bid to reduce this liability, Safaricom has been encouraging subscribers to redeem their points to get smartphones and other electronic gadgets at a cheaper price.
“We encourage use of the points so that the programme can achieve its objective and also clear our books of accrued liability,” Safaricom said in a statement to Business Daily.
The accrued liabilities from Bonga points eat into Safaricom’s revenue given that accounting guidelines require the telco to only recognise the loyalty points as sales once customers redeem the credits. This means Safaricom’s total sales for the year to March 2013 would have been 127.4 billion without the deferral of revenue.
The number has grown from 1.4 billion in 2009 to 3.2 billion in the past financial year.