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Mumbai-based Vu Technologies is one of the early movers in India's fast-growing smart TV space. But it has managed to hold its own against established rivals like Samsung, LG and Sony as well as a slew of Chinese companies like Xiaomi, Oppo and One Plus. The Rs 1,000 crore company claims to be the largest maker of 4K TVs in India and a segment leader in India's online marketplace. The company has not been impacted by India's decision to discourage sourcing of electronic components from its second-biggest bilateral trade partner, China, through higher tariffs, but is not too happy about the frequent changes in tariffs and policies in the country. This, it says, prevents manufacturers from committing funding to build own manufacturing capacities.
"From my perspective, the big challenge in government policy is that there is not much consistency. Every day, you read the papers, and suddenly the active duty is 20 per cent, and then 10 per cent. The point is, whether it's 10 per cent or 20 per cent or whatever, dont change the policy for five years," says Devita Saraf, Chairman and CEO, Vu Technologies. "When you do that, it's very harmful for entrepreneurs who take risk and set up manufacturing and then find that, suddenly, there's a political meeting and the policy is changed." Vu has a factory in Bhiwandi, though most of the large TVs it sells in India are assembled in China and have parts sourced from all over the world.
For all the talk of promoting locally made goods, be it in government contracts or household appliances, from a policy perspective, India's push for a self-reliant economy is fairly recent. The framework of the first two annual budgets of the Modi government after 2014 was to the contrary. Import duties were slashed on a host of products and their components such as LED/LCD TV panels, microwave ovens, solar equipment and laptops/desktops. It was only in FY17 and afterwards that duties on all these products were either partially restored or increased.
The trend of imports from mainland China and Hong Kong follows roughly the same trajectory. For example, imports of electrical machinery from the region rose from $14.81 billion in FY14 and peaked at $29.87 billion in FY18, before falling in last two fiscals. In case of other machinery, where focus of policymakers has been less intense so far, there is no decline yet. Imports were $9.61 billion in FY14, rose for a couple of years and stagnated around $14.67 billion after that.
The slowdown, or stagnation, in imports is in tune with global trade trends. A decline in global demand will automatically impact import of raw materials to produce goods for exports. Growth in India's overall exports and imports had been declining long before Covid-19 disrupted supply chains and muted domestic demand. India's efforts to make imports from China expensive have led to re-routing, not just through Hong Kong, but also several South East nations like Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam. This has caused a dip in import figures from mainland China, without a corresponding reduction in import dependence. The absence of clear classification of goods (HS Codes) also plays a role as goods on which there is higher tariff or anti-dumping duty are often imported under different tariff lines or simply under the "others" category. The government is attempting to plug most of these loopholes but the impact of its steps will be visible only in the medium term. The decline in value of goods imported from China and Hong Kong should thus be seen as the result of a combination of factors of which protectionist measures are just one part.
Import of solar panels and modules is perhaps the best example. Imposition of safeguard duties in mid-2018 to check import of solar panels from China has had little impact. Further, India's efforts to have 100 GW solar power by 2022 largely depend on Chinese equipment as the country accounts for nearly 80 per cent of India's solar panel and module imports. This cannot be substituted by local production in a hurry. Any ban on Chinese imports or substantial increase in duties is only likely to harm domestic power producers in the short term. "There was an attempt to curb imports from China with safeguard duties but it was not very successful. We are not in a position to self-sustain. China has the full value chain for manufacturing solar panels, modules and cells," says Ashish Khanna, Managing Director, & CEO, Tata Power Solar & President, Tata Power Renewables. "They also have the scale that makes them cost-effective. For us, till the time we have the full supply chain, any abrupt stoppage (of imports) will harm the industry." He adds: "We need a concrete policy that incentivises manufacturing of the full supply chain. It is capital intensive, but given the demand for renewable energy that India is projected to see, it is possible. Till we have the full supply chain here, stopping imports abruptly will harm the country.
The iron and steel sector is an outlier here. Anti-dumping duties imposed by India to curb dumping from mainland China between 2014 and 2016 produced the desired results. Imports of iron and steel from China between 2015 and 2018, which peaked in the second half of FY15, have been declining ever since.
Despite moderate success, the government seems to be pinning a lot of hope on such measures as it expects high tariffs, anti-dumping duties and mandatory standards to make India less reliant on China. It has already raised tariffs on 3,465 items in the last three years to protect domestic industry. According to the World Trade Organization's database, India has 92 anti-dumping measures against China in force, and investigations on another 11 are in progress. Similarly, it has initiated 203 sanitary and phytosanitary measures against WTO member countries, including China. In addition, Indias official standards setting agency, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), is bringing more products under compulsory quality certification. In the last six months, standards have been reviewed or introduced for steel, chemicals and fertilisers, air-conditioners, plugs and sockets, pressure cookers, electric cables, rubber hose for LPG, aluminium foil, toys, flat transparent sheet glass, etc, all aimed at making imports from China less attractive. The BIS has also notified that products such as LED modules for general lighting, keyboard, induction stove, ATM machines, USB external hard disk drive, wireless headphone, earphone, USB storage devices above 256 GB, electronic music system, etc, all mainly imported from China, will have to undergo quality compliance from October 1. The cumulative effect of these measures, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted, will see the country in the "next five years fulfill our aspirations, encourage entrepreneurship and our businesses to grow, make quality products, become the global factory of the world, create new job opportunities and ensure a better future for every citizen of the country." Incentives and protectionist measures alone may not be enough to fulfill this dream. As Vu Technologys Saraf points out, lack of consistency in policy - like reducing and then restoring duties in a span of just three years - could reduce the appetite of industry to invest in manufacturing in the country. Some even believe it will be unrealistic for India to insulate itself from China and make each and every machine component in-house . Considering the tensions at the borders, expect a lot of action on the trade front.


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Amazon has been found liable in multiple court rulings for defects in products sold by third—party merchants in its marketplace. This as legislation is being reviewed in California which would place liability on e-commerce retailers that provide platforms for these goods. Of note, that legislation is supported by Amazon, assuming the law applies to competitors who do not warehouse and ship products sold by third parties. Full link in the show notes.
Why do we care?
This one is of note to me because of the nature of so many small businesses building on top of other’s capabilities, particularly with the acceleration of ecommerce.
Of note to me is that the trend within the court is to apply the same rules to e-commerce that are being applied to physical stores. It’s not necessarily groundbreaking to think this way, but Court precedent is not known for being fast moving. That’s the trend I care about, and I’m noting it here.
Think about that as you consider security too – as I keep observing, gangs of criminals are breaking into businesses and holding hostages, I expect to see the courts and the legislature start seeing physical and virtual alike. All of the signs point to that.
Source: The Washington Post

domain: news


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As of Sunday January 27th, it could cost you more to pay retailers with a credit card as a new…
Tag: credit card fee
For women, it may be the latest pair of beautiful shoes. For guys, it may be a box of favorite cigars. Either way, the “buy now pay later mentality” that most Americans have means pulling out the plastic and worrying about how they are going to pay for the purchases later. When you learn how much that pair of shoes or box of cigars truly costs you if you don’t pay off your credit card bill in full at the end of the month, you may no longer think that purchase was worth it.
Yesterday, the Quizzle Wire reported that credit card companies are finding ways to get around some new laws passed to protect consumers from unfair credit card practices. These alternative routes were put in place to counteract congressional moves like the CARD Act, which gives consumers protection against unexpected interest rate increases, over-limit fees and major changes to credit card terms, and a new bill passed in the House of Representatives today that will overhaul the nation’s financial regulatory system.
New credit card rules are limiting how credit card companies have traditionally earned their bread, forcing them to come up with new ways to charge consumers. Find out what fees and charges you can expect with your credit card and learn what your rights are.
The Federal Reserve Board announced Tuesday a new rule to protect credit card users from unfair fees. The rule caps credit card late fees at $25. Many credit card companies have been charging upwards of $39.


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Oct. 30, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Anhui Anke Biotechnology (Group) Co Ltd<300009>, a bio-pharmaceutical maker, debuted on the ChiNext Board on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange today, becoming one of the first companies to trade on the Nasdaq-style board.
Shares of the company opened at RMB 37, a price 117.65% higher than the IPO price, while the Shenzhen Component Index opened 1.92% higher at 12427.10 points.
The company raised RMB 166 million by issuing 21 million shares, or 25% of the company’s enlarged capital. Sinolink Securities Co Ltd<600109> was the underwriter of the offering.
Anhui Anke Biotechnology, which specializes in developing, manufacturing and marketing pharmaceuticals and health-care products, posted RMB 143.92 million of operating revenue in the third quarter of this year, with net profit hitting RMB 35.87 million during the period.


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Despite having US$145 billion in the bank, Apple has decided to reach out to the debt market to offer $17 billion in bonds in order to pay money back to investors. Why would Apple need to go to such lengths and what does it mean to investors? We answer your questions.
- Christmas rush brings great deals to online shoppers – and new risks for their employers
- Dell, Lenovo, HP will patch hundreds of devices affected by Intel's buggy embedded CPU
- As unencrypted data becomes “negligence”, business leaders are taking encryption strategy away from IT
- Uber, ABC cloud data breaches put Australian companies on notice about cloud security
- Fake Symantec blog spreads macOS malware


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Now you can use Windows 7 on ipad via streaming on Onlive App, OnLive is a video game streaming company has now made it possible for iPad users to use Windows 7 on their iPads. Onlive has confirmed that they are developing a Virtual Microsoft Windows 7 app specifically for iPad which will allow user to experience Windows 7 on iPad for free. Onlive is also planning to develop something similar program for Mac users.
After the development such app by OnLive, iPad users will be able to use every kind of Microsoft product including Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Allowing Windows to enter in iPad market.
So how will it work? Here it is how it will work: As mentioned above that OnLive is a video game steaming company, the app will be using same server farms and streaming technology that the company uses for its gaming service. OnLive’s data servers are expected to be equipped with enormous computing capacity.
Company plans offer the app in two packages, one will be for free and the second package will be premium with the starting offer of 2 GB limited office applications and cloud storage. While the premium package will authorize 50 GB of cloud storage, priority server access and additional application support.
According to OnLive’s media statement, the app will be released in US on Thursday this week while it will be out for UK soon but no specific date was given for its release.


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MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Please replace the release with the following corrected version due to multiple revisions.
The corrected release reads:
CANOPY CO. NAMES ADDITIONAL BOARD MEMBER AND WILL OPEN SERIES B ROUND OF GROWTH CAPITAL
Canopy Co. (www.canopyco.com), developer of Sensus™, the world’s first touch-sensitive, app-enhancing smartphone case, which extends touch control on the iPhone’s screen to the sides and back surface of the case, announced today that Steve Babick has joined its board.
Mr. Babick is principal of B-Con Capital Corp, which provides board and investment portfolio services for several emerging companies. Previously, he was President of Exclusive Connections, and COO and board member of iModa, a mobile encryption company. From 2007-2010, he served as President & CEO of MetroSplash Systems Group and, in 2007, as VP-Finance & Global Field Operations for i2 Technologies, where he was responsible for financial planning & analysis and customer experience metrics for a global sales, marketing, and services organization. Previously he was interim CFO for UVM, Inc./Alta Communications and C121 Mobile/Cienda. He began his career at Texas Instruments, after earning a BS at Florida State University and an MBA at Amber University.
"Steve's experience with fast-growing emerging technology firms will be invaluable as Canopy now begins its Series B fund-raising," said Barbara Stinnett, Canopy executive chairman.
"We are delighted to have Steve's financial and consumer expertise as we continue to expand and strengthen our board," said Andrew Kamin-Lyndgaard, Canopy cofounder and CEO.
Canopy invites interested parties to meet with its executives at International CES in Las Vegas, January 7-10, 2014, booth number MP40023.
Canopy is a Minneapolis, Minnesota based tech innovation company made up of a dedicated and inspired team of people devoted to creating technologies that simply make life better. Canopy’s latest product is Sensus, the world’s first case that transforms the back and sides of your phone into a useable surface and adds variable pressure sensitivity. More about Sensus can be found at getsensus.com.


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[TechWeb] reported on July 28th news, according to foreign media reports, sources said, Alibaba, US online retailer eBay and Private Equity Investment Firm CVC Capital is bidding for Eastern Europe top auction website Allegro.
Ali is bidding for auction website Allegro
sources said the end of the year is expected to reach a value of 20-30 billion (22-33 billion) of the transaction. In addition, Poland portal Wp.pl and Onet.pl are also interested in Allegro.
sources said, Allegro is not only a gateway to Poland, but also access to the region portal."
foreign media said, Poland e-commerce market size of more than $8 billion, about 22000 online stores. By 2020, its size will double.
Allegro was founded in 1999, has more than 14 million customers, not only with the local competition, but also with eBay and the United States and other Amazon competition.
CVC, Alibaba, eBay and Allegro were not foreign media reports to comment.


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The EU’s proposed Cyber Resilience Act, which would introduce cybersecurity standards and regulations for all products and connected devices, is not enough to actually mitigate the increasing risk of cyberattacks.
There is no question that the act, first introduced late last year by European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen in her State of the Union address, is admirable and may go a long way toward raising awareness about cybersecurity and cybercrime. Heightened threats continue, especially from Russia and China, and are aimed at Europe and the United States—these attacks could ultimately affect civilians. With the proliferation of connected devices, attack surfaces and the potential consequences for both governments and civilians are also growing at record rates.
“If everything is connected, everything can be hacked,” Von der Leyen said. But, even if the regulation—along with another proposal known as NIS2 that would set out uniform cybersecurity standards for those providing critical services—is eventually approved later this year, it will not reduce the number of attacks or the increasing damage they cause. This is true of cybersecurity regulations in general, including the updated password compliance directives from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S.; on their own, they are not sufficient and may even provide a false sense of security.
Regulations are the Outcome of Attacks
These regulations arose after a number of significant cyberattacks were conducted or discovered over the last few years, especially in 2021. One of the major reasons the proposed EU regulations will not materially address cyberrisk is that they are reactive, not proactive, and will likely be out-of-date by the time they are approved and adopted. We are seeing malicious actors constantly changing their tactics and, along with the constant change in technologies and software, these threats are extremely dynamic, exploiting known and unknown vulnerabilities at organizations and disrupting legitimate processes.
This requires constant vigilance and active threat-hunting and threat intelligence to avoid the damage inflicted to a company’s reputation.
At their core, these moves by American and European agencies are well-intentioned; trying to better combat cybercriminals and attackers by creating a baseline level of cybersecurity and network conduct in government, civilian and critical entities and include reporting requirements and time frames during which companies must remedy incidents.
But such regulations will also likely be too broad to bring real protection to any one sector or organization’s product or service. The cybersecurity maturity and abilities within sectors vary widely; for example, the financial sector is more advanced than the retail and medical fields—and FinTech is even ahead of a lot of companies in the high-tech field—when it comes to overall cybersecurity. Not to mention that smaller supply chain companies are easier targets than big ones. For that reason, programs and processes used by one sector or one organization are not necessarily applicable or relevant to others.


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EID-TIME travel has remained cumbersome, hectic and risky affair for years. Sales of tickets, especially of the railway, has become a nightmare for passengers because of mismanagement. To streamline the sales, authorities this year launched a mobile app, Rail Sheba, for the online purchase of tickets and set up booths at Tejgaon, Airport Road and Banani in addition to the Kamalapur station. The railway was scheduled to sell 25,571 advance tickets of 33 intercity trains on Wednesday from capital while half of the tickets were scheduled to be sold at counters, through the app, the railway’s web site E Sheba and mobile texting services. However, people the first day of ticket sales faced severe mismanagement and they came up with the allegations manipulation. A photograph that New Age published on Thursday showed how hundreds of people were standing in long queues to buy advance ticket at Kamalapur. The people who who tried to buy tickets online were, meanwhile, dissatisfied as the system failed to confirm the purchase. The mismanagement in the advance online train ticket sales is shocking given that the government emphasises improvement in public services through digitisation.
As people were struggling with the mobile app, hundreds made calls to the Anti-Corruption Commission to report irregularities in online sales. People complained about long and unnecessarily complicated registration process and finding, on registration, most of the tickets for economy class having been sold. In many cases, people did not receive confirmation texts. They alleged that these unavailable tickets are sold outside the regular channel. Computer Network System Limited that railway authorities appointed tried to explain saying that a large number of people accessing the site at a time created the problem. The railways minister, however, acknowledged the failure and promised action against the company if they failed to provide the expected service. The response appears inadequate as Eid rush is not a new phenomenon and the number of people at the counter will rise in future. Authorities should have conducted a trial of the online system and fixed the problems before using it for Eid ticket sales. The experience of train passengers is the reflection of the failure and misgovernance that generally persist in the sector.
It is unbecoming that the government that has promised a ‘digital Bangladesh’ has failed at digitising public services. The government earlier has taken an initiative to introduce prepaid electricity meters but the system did not meet the expectations as there are not adequate number of recharging facilities and the ones that exist are often dysfunctional. The government, under the circumstances, must ensure that the reported ‘technical glitch’ is fixed and take immediate action to eliminate the ticket sales manipulation and make Eid-time travel free of hassles.
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The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine guide and walkthrough
E3 2016: all the games, news and trailers – everything in one place
PAX organizers have selected the indie games which will be showcased at the show in August.
Pax Indie Spotlight headlines
Pax Indie Spotlight Latest
PAX 10 indie selections announced for PAX Prime


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The epidemic of severe lung illness related to e-cigarettes continues to grow, federal officials say, as they try to pinpoint the exact cause.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said as of Thursday there were 805 cases of confirmed or suspected vaping-related lung illnesses in 46 states and the Virgin Islands — up more than 200 since last week. Twelve deaths are reported.
Many of the victims say they used vaping products containing THC, the compound in marijuana that causes the high. But others say they only vaped nicotine.
The CDC is urging everyone to stop using e-cigarettes, but several states are not waiting for federal officials to take stronger action.
Massachusetts this week became the first state to temporarily ban all retail and online sales of e-cigarettes. The ban is set to last for four months.
Other states have stopped the sale of flavored vaping products, saying the fruit and candy flavors appeal to young people.
The largest e-cigarette maker, JUUL, announced this week it will stop advertising its products.
E-cigarettes heat up liquid inside a cartridge and create a nicotine-filled vapor.
A team of US scientists has found that the concentration of carcinogen metals like lead, nickel, iron and copper in electronic cigarette aerosols, or vapour, has increased since tank-style electronic cigarettes were introduced in 2013.
Electronic cigarettes, which consist of a battery, atomizing unit and refill the fluid, are now available in new tank-style designs, equipped with more powerful batteries and larger capacity reservoirs for storing more refill fluid.
But the high-power batteries and atomizers used in these new styles can alter the metal concentrations that transfer into the aerosol, said researchers from the University of California, Riverside.
“These tank-style e-cigarettes operate at higher voltage and power, resulting in higher concentrations of metals, such as lead, nickel, iron, and copper, in their aerosols.
“Most of the metals in e-cigarette aerosols likely come from the nichrome wire, tin solder joints, brass clamps, insulating sheaths, and wicks, components of the atomizer unit,” said Monique Williams, a post-doctoral researcher and the first author of the paper that appeared in the journal Scientific Reports.
The researchers examined six tank-style electronic cigarettes and found all the aerosols had metals that appeared to originate in the atomizers.
Further, they found the model with fewest metal parts in its atomizer had the fewest metals in its aerosol.
Of the 19 metals they screened, aluminium, calcium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, magnesium, nickel, silicon, tin and zinc were from components in the atomizing units.
“We found the concentrations of chromium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc exceeded the proposed permissible exposure limit from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration,” Williams said.
Chromium, lead, and nickel are known as carcinogens. Prolonged exposure to chromium could cause gastrointestinal effects, nasal and lung cancer, respiratory irritation, and lung function impairment.
Prolonged exposure to lead could produce vomiting, diarrhoea, cardiovascular effects, and lung cancer.
Nickel inhalation could cause lung disease, damage to the nasal cavity, lung irritation, lung inflammation, hyperplasia in pulmonary cells and fibrosis.
The researchers have analyzed the following six tanks and their atomizers: Kangertech Protank, Aspire Nautilus tank, Kanger T3S tank, Tsunami 2.4, Smok tank and Clone.
“The presence of heavy metals, including some known carcinogens, in e-cigarette aerosols is concerning because with prolonged exposure they could cause adverse health effects,” said Prue Talbot, a professor of cell biology, who led the research team. (IANS)


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motto in its early times was to “move rapid and split things.” That’s also just one way to describe the Federal Trade Commission lawsuit against Fb that was seconded this 7 days by 46 point out Attorneys Common. That so lots of legal professionals could appear up with these types of a weak legal scenario is extraordinary.
doesn’t have several political buddies these days in both occasion. He has been criticized for restricting speech on his platform the two also considerably and far too small. Facebook has assisted to wipe out the promoting market for newspapers, and the entire world may be far better off without the need of it.
But the reason of U.S. antitrust law isn’t to cure social or political difficulties. That’s in essence what the FTC on a 3-2 vote and the AGs are trying to find with their lawsuits that asks courts to drive Fb to divest its Instagram (2012) and WhatsApp (2014) acquisitions.
According to the FTC criticism, Mr. Zuckerberg sought to buy Instagram and WhatsApp to neutralize levels of competition. Effectively, sure. “It is superior to acquire than compete,” Mr. Zuckerberg emailed in 2008. Any business ought to adapt as technological know-how and buyer tastes modify. Mr. Zuckerberg noticed how intelligent phones enhanced picture sharing and non-public fast messaging.
It was considerably less pricey and much easier for Facebook to purchase apps than make copycats. But even bigger companies buy upstarts all the time. Be aware also that Instagram and WhatsApp were complementary applications to Fb, not direct competitors. Quite a few persons use parallel social-media platforms with unique features these kinds of as TikTok,
Reddit and Snap.
The FTC speculates that WhatsApp and Instagram could have formulated into potent competitors had Facebook not bought them. Perhaps so. But Instagram at the time of Facebook’s acquisition experienced 13 workforce and no revenue. The FTC unanimously authorised the $1 billion offer in 2012.
Most WhatsApp customers in 2014 ended up (and still are) outside the U.S. Yet the European Fee cleared the $19 billion acquisition just after discovering no danger to competitiveness in any likely marketplace. Facebook’s Quick Messenger provider, by the way, even now boasts four occasions extra U.S. buyers than WhatsApp.
Acquisitions really do not usually realize success. See
invest in of Yahoo and AOL or
of DirecTV, which the telecom large is now seeking to auction off. Other tech giants were intrigued in Instagram and WhatsApp, and who appreciates if the applications would be as well known now under unique possession.
Fb has put in billions developing and bettering the apps. WhatsApp experienced charged a subscription cost just before it was acquired, but Fb built the app free of charge around the world and added video clip-contacting and encryption. While Fb saved Instagram cost-free, it monetized the platform by incorporating adverts.
The FTC states Facebook now has a digital monopoly in exhibit ads, but this defines the industry too narrowly. Organizations use a lot of platforms to advertise, together with lookup. All those most harmed by Fb (and other social media) are newspapers, like the Journal but particularly local kinds. Forcing Fb to divest Instagram would not support them.
The FTC go well with also states Facebook blocked application developers that use its platform from cooperating with opponents. But Facebook is not obligated by law to give builders absolutely free accessibility to its platform, or deliver its user info to assistance opponents. Builders have other means of achieving shoppers such as cell application retailers.
What about “network effects” that supposedly avert startups with significantly less person info from competing against Facebook? Effectively, even the FTC concedes “competitive threats to a dominant personal social networking company can emerge, significantly all through intervals of technological or social transition and especially if the newcomer is differentiated from the incumbent in a method.” TikTok, Q.E.D.
The complaint’s overriding weak spot is that it mentions no concrete damage to people, which is the legal conventional for antitrust violations. Facebook’s serious offense appears to be to be that it is simply just also large. But if that is what politicians assume, they can pass a law declaring so.
This unparalleled following-the-simple fact antitrust assessment would established a new regular that could be applied to break up any unpopular company. Governing administration is producing the political possibility that it can undo productive mergers, even these it permitted, any time it wants. Don’t be amazed if the final result is less enterprise financial commitment for startups, fewer innovation—and fewer competitiveness.
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Organization, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8


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Health privacy can, at times, be at odds with a major cultural shift happening in healthcare: a demand for greater transparency.
The Health Data Exploration project is another example where sharing trumps privacy.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – in collaboration with several California schools – aims to convince consumers to share the personal health data that’s being generated from an avalanche of apps and wearable devices like Fitbit.
The question behind the Health Data Exploration project is how to harness that data, and do something other than make money off of it.
“With these technologies, we can get to a space where we are getting more realistic data. It’s capturing that everydayness of heatlh,” says Matthew Bietz with the University of California Irvine, and one of the project’s lead investigators.
Bietz says the data would allow researchers to look at how stress affects eating, or how caffeine impacts sleep, on a scale that’s currently impossible.
This project will launch a research network that helps link businesses and their consumers with researchers.
University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Anita Allen says before consumers share their data to help solve some of healthcare’s most pressing questions, consumers must know they will be protected.
“Like it or not, some employers might find out information about us and use it against us when it comes to making hiring decisions,” she says.
“Are you a smoker? Are you overweight? Do you have diabetes? Do you have an irregular heart beat? These kinds of things might be used to our disadvantage.”
Bietz agrees that one of the trickiest tasks ahead is figuring out how to best protect consumer privacy.
Though, if done correctly, Bietz is convinced that “we could actually say new things about connections between the way we live and our well being.”
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Eric Umeofia, the company’s founder and president of Erisco Foods Ltd, has threatened to sue Chioma Egodi for writing a negative review of the company’s Nagito Tomato Mix on X.
On Thursday, Umeofia revealed this while participating on the Arise News Global Business Report program.
According to Gistlover, after posting a negative review of an Erisco product on social media, Egodi was detained by the police and taken to Abuja, a move that has drawn widespread criticism.
Babatunde Irukere, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s (FCCPC) Director-General, revealed this on Monday.
Reacting to the development, Erisco’s boss said, “I am pursuing legal charges against her because I have a conscience. Is she right to falsely criticise my product, and people are supporting her? I have over 3000 people in my factory; indirectly, we are paying 20,000 people. I cannot allow this type of ‘syndicate’ to come and destroy my business.
“I’ve been producing this product for over 10 years, and somebody cannot come overnight to [spoil it]. Should I allow her because she’s the weaker one? She’s not the first person to do a product review.”
“When we could not get her, we wrote a petition to the Inspector General of Police to help us. I have the right to write a petition when I’m not feeling comfortable,” Umeofia added.


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A custom car company plans on producing off-road vehicles from a "micro-factory" somewhere in the Valley as soon as next year.
Local Motors Company, based in Massachussetts, is already taking orders for its first car, the Rally Fighter, a $50,000 dune-buggy-type vehicle. The Phoenix Business Journal reports today that the company is taking design ideas from the public for future products.
The Rally Fighter appears to be designed for either desert racing professionals or people who have cash to burn on an expensive toy. But it sure looks cool. And it reportedly gets 36 miles per gallon of clean diesel.
Here's how the Biz Journal describes the Local Motors' business scheme:
The company manufactures only the vehicle chassis and body, Rogers said; the rest of the parts come from outside suppliers. The car is designed and finished based on choices made by each individual buyer.
The development pipeline -- from concept to rolling vehicles off the assembly line -- takes about 18 months and costs about $2 million. That's compared with four to five years and hundreds of millions of dollars for traditional carmakers.
With General Motors and Chrysler in bankruptcy, maybe companies like Local Motors will salvage the American vehicle manufacturing industry -- one concept car at a time.
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The New Age of APIs are Connecting Corporates Directly to Payment Rails
In the past, corporations traditionally relied solely on their banking connections and providers to access a wide range of payment rails and networks all around the globe. However, the dawn of the age of APIs has innovated this former strategy into companies being able to directly connect their businesses to payment rails, providing great potential for more benefits and less expenses.
By managing all of the data and login interfaces with multiple banking partnerships, firms such as OpenPayd are given the ability to loop clients directly into payment rails such as the SEPA payments scheme the said company recently announced. It is without a doubt that a unified platform with direct access to payment networks is the key to the future of the payment economy as it lets businesses worldwide initiate and handle major transactions either domestically or even across whatever borders, all in one single portal use. Imagine that.
Irregardless of which payment network is used, this type of method explores the opportunity for corporations, big and small, to reduce overall reliance on banks to access the payment networks they’re always in dire need of using in everyday transactions. So much so that one can even throw in blockchain technology into the equation leading to legacy rails but that’s a story for another time.
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DBZ fans certainly didn’t miss this event: a new Dragon Ball Super Broly movie is coming out soon and is available below.
After being long awaited in the US, the movie has been out in many theaters. However, many places were neglected for pure money and revenue issues. That doesn’t matter since nowadays movies are watched on streaming, but it can be an issue finding a good link that isn’t full of ads or malwares. To avoid that we’re providing you a trustful source to watch the Dragon Ball Super Broly movie that you can find right below.
In other news, Lil Baby released the visual of “Global”.


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Sunday, July 19, 2009
New Social Gaming Company?
Techcrunch has an article about a new social gaming company called Tiny Speck. I think social gaming will be huge: We will all be constantly connected, we will carry around various intellectual prostethics, and we will have time to spend as the checkout line at the grocery store. It will also be interesting to see how games adapt once our attention span for a game is only five minutes? To sample what's out there check out the various games at Zynga (social games) or Kongregate (online flash games, many for the five-minute attention span).


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In Q2 2009 Atom 300 series dual-core will jump to more than 25 percent of this market, at the expense of Intel Celeron single-core 400 series 65nm than will drop to less than 50 percent.
In Q3, Celeron single core 65nm 400 series will further drop to some 21 percent, while in Q4 2009 its market share will shrink to some 18 to 19 percent of this market. So despite what Intel is saying, Atom is not creating a new desktop market niche, it is, in fact, eating Celeron's market share. Of course, these numbers are Intel's hopes, plans and predictions for quarters to come.
Intel Atom eating Celeron marketshare
Posted on Tuesday, Apr 14 2009 @ 00:57 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck


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A Tasmanian vineyard harvesting the last of its vintage is hoping to sell its grapes and wines locally after the trade dispute with China decimated its usual market for bottled wine.
- China imposed tariffs on Australian wine at various times last year
- The tariffs are likely to be up to almost 220 per cent for the next five years
- Vineyards are looking to other international markets and selling more locally
Twelve months ago, China locked in tariffs of up to 200 per cent on Australian wine.
Nocton Vineyard in the Coal River Valley on the outskirts of Hobart was hit hard by the huge hike.
"When you've got that much wine that you can't export, suddenly it can cripple a business," viticulturist Alex Van Driel said.
The company put wine in storage — both in bottles and in vats. Some was sold locally.
"We've been very fortunate that even during COVID, most people have supported Australian wine companies and are drinking Australian wine," Mr Van Driel said.
The market collapse is forcing the vineyard to look at other international markets like Singapore and Indonesia.
Tasmania needs international markets
Tasmanian wine exports to China account for a small percentage of the state's overall wine sales.
Sheralee Davies from Wine Tasmania said strong demand within Australia would see a lot of that excess left in storage bought locally.
Even so, she said it was important for Tasmania to have a presence in international markets.
"We look at our wines as being comparable to other international cool climate wine regions, even more so than interstate wine regions," she said.
She he said the industry as a whole was still keen to tap into more export markets.
"We need to have a presences in those global markets where our competitors are seen," Ms Davies said.
Trade barriers unwelcome
To soften the trade blow, Nocton Vineyard is mixing things up this year and will sell some of its wine grapes by the tonne as part of a new marketing strategy.
"Probably about 120 to 130 tonnes will be sold to get a cash boost, and the rest is what we put in our own product range," Mr Van Driel said.
"It shocks some people to hear the sorts of prices people will pay for Tasmanian wine grapes," Ms Davies added.
Luckily, demand for Tasmania's cool climate grapes outstrips supply and winemakers across Australia are willing to pay top dollar.
"Tasmanian wine grapes routinely fetch more than four times the average price of interstate grapes," Ms Davies said.
"A couple of weeks ago, someone was trying to sell grapes for $11,000 a tonne. Now, I don't know if they've been successful, but I applaud them for having such confidence in the quality of the grapes they've grown and are looking to sell."
The expectation is that prices will be high again this vintage.
Vineyards around Tasmania have just finished the 2021 vintage and the quality is looking good.
"It looks fantastic. The year started off very hard with wet conditions, the cool conditions have made ripening slow, and the flavours and the colour in the grapes is absolutely unbelievable this year," Mr Van Driel said.
"And the yields have been outstanding."


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MGM Resorts International has been previously unsuccessful in its quest to enter into the Pennsylvania gambling industry. About a year ago, MGM Resort’s deal to buy Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem fell apart after then owner, Las Vegas Sands, found another suitor. However, MGM did not let go of its desires to be part of the gambling market in the state Now, the operator’s efforts have finally borne some fruit thanks to a recent partnership that will allow it to tap into the Keystone State’s gambling market.
On Monday, MGM Resorts International and Boyd Gaming Corporation announced that they had inked a deal for an unprecedented partnership that is going to significantly increase each of their market access and customer bases in the United States.
What the Partnership Entails
The partnership has given both MGM Resorts and Boyd Gaming the opportunity to offer online and mobile gaming platforms – these include casino gaming, poker, and sports betting. The said online and mobile games will be available in all the jurisdictions where either of the companies operates a physical casino resort or have online gaming licenses. In addition to this, the market access agreement between the two companies gives each of them the opportunity to expand their online and mobile gaming offering across a total of 15 states including Pennsylvania.
“We are excited to team up yet again with Boyd Gaming on this unprecedented partnership, which allows us to fully engage with the almost 30 million M life Rewards members throughout the country,” said MGM Resorts Chairman & CEO, Jim Murren. “We look forward to expanding our entertainment options for guests beyond their visits to our land-based resorts.”
Furthermore, as per the terms of the agreement, MGM Resorts also intends to provide the acquired market access to its joint venture with GVC Holdings PLC. The 50-50 joint venture that was also announced on Monday will see the two companies collaborating in establishing sports betting and online gaming platforms in the United States.
As more states continue to legalize interactive gaming and sports betting, MGM and Boyd Gaming will be able to effectively offer their products and services in all places where it is legally applicable.
“Our industry is evolving, providing opportunities for growth through new forms of gaming like online and mobile gaming,” said Boyd Gaming President and CEO Keith Smith. “Thanks to our partnership with MGM Resorts, Boyd Gaming will have the opportunity to potentially add an online presence in five additional states, positioning us for significant future growth as our respective companies take a leadership role in our industry’s evolution.”


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The IKEA Group has stopped selling meatballs in some parts of Europe as an "extra-precautionary measure" after tests detected horsemeat in the product.
The sales stop concerns meatballs manufactured by one supplier in Sweden and applies to all European countries except for Norway, Russia and a limited number of products in Switzerland and Poland.
More top news
British hopes for a sunny Easter break have been dealt a blow with forecasters warning of a week of wind, rain and even snow.
More than one in five school staff have had a false allegation made against them by a pupil, according to a survey.
Parents of obese children rarely spot that their child is overweight, doctors warn.


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How to Save Money Without Giving Up Too Much
Rely on these tips to live (happily) on less.
Find BalanceThe economy has seen better days. And so, perhaps, have you. According to a new survey conducted by Real Simple and Starbucks*, 63 percent of people are frustrated by trying to find the right balance between saving money and enjoying life. Despite the aggravation, pinching pennies is paying off: Fifty one percent of people report that over the past six months they have been able to save successfully―either a little bit or a great deal of money. So how can you stay on budget without going berserk? By sticking to a few smart strategies.
*Telephone survey conducted by StrategyOne among a nationally representative sample of 1,000 American adults in July 2009.
Next: Scrimp Wisely
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The Vedanata Group, in December 2021, had committed Rs 60,000 crore in the sector. Akarsh Hebbar, managing director of AvanStrate, had noted that the company was in the last stages of negotiations with various state governments for setting up a factory
Vedanta and Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn) have signed an MOU to form a joint venture company. This company will be manufacturing semiconductors in India. The former, as per the MoU, will hold majority of the stocks in the company.
Vedanta Chairman has been nominated to be the Chairman of the joint venture company. The company is already engaged in talks with various state governments to finalize the location of the company. The move follows the recent announcement by the government of India to offer a semiconductor and display manufacturing program with an outlay of Rs 76,000 Cr.
The Vedanata Group, in December 2021, had committed Rs 60,000 crore in the sector. Akarsh Hebbar, managing director of AvanStrate, had noted that the company was in the last stages of negotiations with various state governments for setting up a factory which, as per Hebbar, would require between 250 acres and 400 acres.
“Overall investments into the project will range between $6 billion (Rs 45,000 crore) and $8 billion (Rs 60,000 crore) in the first two phases, following which we will carry out further assessment of the market for expansion,” he had said.
The Vedanta Group’s $10 billion projects to set up India’s first plant to make flat panel displays was scrapped in 2019 after failing to obtain subsidies under the government’s Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS). The Maharashtra government had reserved 200 acres for the project and another 150 acres was earmarked for ecosystem partners near Nagpur.
The group is now reportedly eyeing Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as one of the potential states for setting up shop. Foxconn, on the other hand, is known as the world’s largest contract manufacturer. It is also gearing up to enter the electric vehicle manufacturing space.


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Tesco has responded to concerns that some customers aren't adhering to social distancing in stores.
It came following a query by a shoppper who said they felt "unsafe" on social media today (May 25).
The customer, under the handle @footlepootle, asked the retailer on Twitter earlier this morning: "What are your guidelines for handling customers who won't socially distance?"
They explained: "Yesterday a woman kept moving within 2m of me, forcing me to move repeatedly."
Responding to the tweet, a Tesco spokesperson commented: "I'm sorry to hear this! We've asked everyone to follow the current guidelines, and have signs in all our stores."
The spokesperson however suggested that the retailer is unable to enforce social distancing, commenting: "Whilst we all have our part to play in these unprecedented times, it's not something we can enforce."
The customer said they appreciated the signage, but asked what the retailer recommends shoppers do "in this kind of situation, when they're made to feel unsafe because of another customer's behaviour".
The Tesco spokesperson encouraged customers to alert store staff, responding: "If you bring this to the attention of a store colleague, we can politely ask the customer to adhere to the guidelines."
The supermarket implemented a number of measures throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, such as encouraging social distancing in stores and shopping alone, which continue to be promoted.
Another measure still in operation is the legal requirement to wear a face covering in stores. There are exemptions, in line with official guidance, to this policy though.
You can find out more about the in-store measures currently used by Tesco by visiting its official website.
Have you noticed people not keeping their distance in supermarkets? Let us know in the comments.


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Filing earnings for the first time in the wake of its listing a month ago on the New York Stock Exchange, the Swedish company said that it lost 41 million euros ($49 million) in the three months through March.
The losses were down from 139 million euros in the same quarter a year earlier and figured within the company's expectations.
But Wall Street focused on Spotify's full-year forecast, which it did not adjust despite the rapid growth of music streaming worldwide.
Spotify said that it still expected to lose 230 to 330 million euros for the year.
After a robust debut on the market last month, Spotify share prices tumbled in after-hours trade on Wednesday. Spotify was down eight percent two hours after its earnings announcement, up from initial lows.
READ ALSO: Who is Daniel Ek, Spotify's tenacious but reserved CEO?
Spotify CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek said that the company saw continuous growth in streaming and that he was not worried by competition from Apple.
“We don't see any kind of meaningful impact of competition,” Ek told reporters and analysts on a telephone call.
“When we look at this, we don't really think that this is a winner-take-all market. In fact, we think multiple services will exist in the market and we are all in a growing market,” he said.
Steady subscriber growth
Spotify said that it had reached 75 million paying subscribers, with another 99 million monthly users on its free, advertising-supported tier.
The figures marked a growth of four million paying subscribers and nine million free users since the start of 2018.
READ ALSO: Spotify, Swiss or Swedish? Whatevs says New York, flies wrong flag
Spotify said that it saw particularly strong growth for its free service in emerging economies such as Vietnam and Thailand, two markets which the company recently entered.
It said it was also seeing “increasing momentum” in Japan – the world's second largest music market where CDs still dominate.
Ek described Japan as an “S-curve” with slow initial traction followed by rapid growth and then quick maturation.
Barry McCarthy, Spotify's chief financial officer, said that advertising revenues rose at a healthy pace except on desktop computers. He said that the United States was “far and away” the most profitable advertising market.
With the latest data Spotify remains well ahead of Apple Music. The technology giant said in March that it had 38 million subscribers on its service, which was launched in 2015 and does not have an equivalent free tier.
Streaming – which offers unlimited music online – has rapidly transformed the music industry in recent years, leading to three straight years of growth for the recorded music business.
FOR MEMBERS: How you can turn your startup into the next Spotify


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Shanna Moakler shocked fans with a weight loss update on social media.
The former pageant queen wore black and green fitness capris with a grey bra top, showing off her toned legs.
She kept it casual with her hair up in a bun and silver stud earrings.
Shanna is on a personal health goal to lose 30 pounds in a natural way.
She captioned the story, “I am down 20 lbs! 10 more to go!” She also credited her new weight to both Tana Ashlee and David Allen.
Shanna Moakler attends pageant event
Shanna is pageant royalty. From Miss New York to Miss USA, she won several of the biggest titles during her beauty career, which she retired from back in the 90s.
Now a director for both Miss Nevada and Miss Utah, she definitely turned heads with her red-carpet appearance at the recent Miss Teen USA competition.
She wore a thigh-skimming one-sleeve brown dress with several sheer cutouts, showing off her amazing physique.
She paired the look with a low ponytail, silver jewelry, and stiletto heels with black and gold details.
Shanna Moakler celebrates daughter
Like mother, like daughter; Shannah’s 16-year-old daughter Alabama Barker is now a model and successful influencer and just debuted her biggest break so far.
Shanna recently took to social media to show that Alabama just started a collaboration with Pretty Little Thing.
The trendy collection, announced by the company in April, features everything from miniskirts to cropped jackets.
For the promotion, Alabama wore a light purple floral minidress with matching floral cutouts at her waist.
She rocked the look with a light blue denim jacket, a textured purple clutch bag, and a natural makeup look.
Alabama Barker is one of the kids Shanna shares with her ex-husband Travis Braker. Their other child is influencer and Charli D’Amelio’s boyfriend, Landon Barker.
She has been very vocal about co-parenting with both Travis and his wife, Kourtney Kardashian.
In an interview with ET, she opened up about their new family dynamic by saying, “My children are my first priority, and that’s one thing that I think Travis and I do agree on. That’s probably the only thing we agree on, but our children come first, and their happiness.”More: Shanna Moakler


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Nintendo Switch: Will it replace smartphone gaming?
Nintendo's new gaming console offers more flexibility than smartphones, but it will need more games to compete with them
Just when we thought that handheld consoles were no longer relevant and the Sony PS Vita was the last of its breed, Nintendo took another shot at the segment by releasing a new handheld console called Switch. The new device is completely different from the Japanese company’s previous ventures like the Nintendo 3DS. Switch is more of a modern handheld console that understands the concept of flexibility that is required to compete with smartphone gaming. The fact that Switch can be carried in one’s pocket, played on the go and can even be connected to a TV screen through a dock to deliver a proper console-like experience, reflects that.
Ever since its release in Japan last week, Nintendo has sold over 330,000 units of Switch in Japan alone, according to a Japanese magazine Famitsu. It is also available in US and UK at $299 (around Rs19,000). There is no update on India availability yet.
How it compares against smartphone gaming
Nintendo’s biggest challenge will be to convince users to go for a standalone handheld gaming console, when their very own smartphone can fulfil most of their gaming requirements. Smartphones with big screen and powerful hardware are easily available at Rs10,000 these days and the platform is not lacking in terms of content either. Some of the most popular gaming titles offering console level graphics such as F1 2016, GTA, Assassin’s Creed and FIFA 16 are available on Android and iOS devices.
Some of the smartphones even offer bigger screens with higher (2,560x1,440p) or (1,920x1,080p) screen resolution than Switch, which comes with a 6.2-inch (1,280x720p) display.
The Switch may feel a bit big and heavy (299g) for gamers with small hands, but it won’t be difficult to carry around as its control panel called Joy-Cons are detachable and can be carried separately.
One of the highlights of Nintendo Switch is the fact that it can be connected to a TV screen through a dock. It requires user to take off the Joy Cons and park the Switch on the dock. The Joy Cons can then be attached together and used as a game controller. This allows it to replicate a game console like gaming experience at screen resolution of 1,920x1,080p. Smartphone users can connect with TV screen using Google Chromecast or screen mirroring technology, but none of them are capable of streaming games smoothly on a big screen. Movie playback may work well, but with games there is a distinct lag.
The only advantage that Switch offers over a smartphone like OnePlus 3T (Rs29,999) is the physical controls, which are always going to be more intuitive than touch controls.
The success of Switch will also depend on the gaming titles it offers. As of now it offers handful of games such as The Legend Of Zelda (action-adventure), Fast RMX (racing) and Shovel Knight (side scrolling game like Mario). Nintendo recently announced that over 60 Indie games will be released for Switch this year. Among big names, EA Sports has a FIFA game, Telltale Games has Mincecraft Story Mode, 2K Games has NBA 2k18 and Capcom has Ultra Street fighter 2 in the pipeline for Switch.
Like smartphones, Switch will not only be a gaming console. It can be used as a multimedia device to stream content from Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. This feature is not available right away but will be added soon.
Despite its limitations, Switch can be more fun than smartphone gaming. However, it will need more games to draw more buyers.


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Wal-Mart stores honor 2 teachers
Pueblo's North Side and South Side Wal-Mart stores honored two District 60 teachers Tuesday in separate ceremonies.
The North Side store's employees named Risley Middle School seventh-grade science teacher Deborah Walters its teacher of the year.
Justin Shue, a fifth-grade teacher at Goodnight School received the honor from employees at the South Side store.
The discount department store chain marked National Teachers' Day by making the presentations at the schools. The winners were not aware before hand that they were being honored.
Both schools will receive $1,000 and the teachers honored get $100 gift cards to buy supplies for their classrooms.
Nationally, more than 4,000 teachers were honored Tuesday and $4.9 million in grants awarded to schools.


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SDL, the intelligent language and content company, today announces its ‘Predictions for 2021’, with insights from across its industry experts, looking at the increasing demand for trust, agility and intelligence from global brands in 2021.
2020 has been dominated by just one story – Covid-19. Very few people foresaw the significant disruption and distress the pandemic and the response to it would cause to all our lives. Economies have been hit hard, and while some businesses have thrived, many have stumbled, and some have sadly fallen.
As we look ahead to 2021, it has never been more important for customers to have trust in the brands they interact with, for businesses to be agile in how they operate and communicate with their customers, and for companies to embrace intelligence by taking full advantage of the latest developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Businesses that respond well to these changes will build better experiences for their employees, their customers, and all their stakeholders, and will be well placed to make the most of the economic recovery later in the year.
For these predictions, we asked our industry experts across SDL to provide insights into what they believe will be the prevailing trends during 2021. They looked specifically at how brands can adopt a closer and more trustworthy relationship with their stakeholders through the use of more agile technology and content that is deployed intelligently across any format to customers wherever they are in the world.
The Trust trend
1. The truth is out there… and truth will matter even more than it did before the pandemic
2021 will continue to see a tide of disinformation, but efforts to combat it will increasingly be made by organizations and individuals alike. A skeptical public will be more wary and will examine claims with greater scrutiny. This will not just be limited to areas such as politics and health – brands too must be above board and beyond reproach in all that they do. Honesty really will be the best policy. Consumers will continue to move more of their life online, but beset with sophisticated scams and dodgy dealers, trust in who you are dealing with online will assume ever greater importance.
2. Rogue algorithms – clarity over the human designed decision chain
The use of automation and AI will increase in 2021 as companies look to cut costs and be more efficient in how they operate. However, the pitfalls of the ‘rogue algorithm’ and the decision-making process, will draw increased scrutiny – as evidenced during 2020 with the UK school exam results, and multiple examples where rogue algorithms have generated biased results. Consumers will increasingly demand to see greater transparency and justification of automated decision making to make sure it is fair and non-discriminatory. Technology helps – but it should not always be the sole authority and decision maker. In 2021, businesses must be transparent and prepared to provide answers about their algorithms.
3. Easy access for all
With companies more conscious than ever of their responsibilities to society, technology and AI will help drive greater accessibility in the digital world. Investments in AI make content and online shopping more open and available to all. But it is not exclusively focused on retailers. Healthcare, accessibility is mandated by law and spans not just deaf, blind and other physical impairments, but includes Limited English Proficiency (LEP). Any U.S. organizations that provide healthcare and receive federal funding (Medicare, Medicaid) must be compliant with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). Increasing AI across accessibility channels will position a brand as a leader, enabling quicker-to-market processes to happen and faster regulatory compliance. As 2021 rolls on this is expected to grow significantly.
Agility will drive stability
1. Working effectively when working remotely
The shift to remote working will last. A swing back to more office work when offices are able to reopen is only to be expected, but workers have experienced too many positive changes to their work-life balance go back to full-time office work. At the start of the pandemic, few companies were fully set up for working from home, with many stumbling their way through 2020. In 2021, it is time to put working remotely on a proper footing, with effective processes and technology in place to enable the workforce to work efficiently and effectively together – even when choosing to work apart.
2. Evolution not revolution
Being more adaptable in a digital world that is rapidly changing requires finding and deploying technology that gives you greater agility and is to a degree ‘future proof’. But in 2021, organization-wide overhauls are less likely. In the middle of the worst recession in 300 years, no one has the time, budget or stomach for overhauling everything all at the same time. The focus in 2021 will be on smaller improvements that give the greatest returns in terms of scale, efficiency and intelligent customer engagement, and will be led from the front line, rather than those at the top. Changes will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
3. Winging it won’t do
Companies that have deployed intelligent technology thoughtfully are thriving. Businesses have found that they cannot cling to the old order anymore – digital is no longer a ‘nice to have’. In 2021, intelligent technology will prove essential to businesses, allowing greater responsiveness to a constantly changing business landscape.
The year of Intelligence
1. Talk to the heart – intelligence with empathy
Flat global marketing campaigns deliver flat results. For many businesses, if you are not engaging audiences around the world at an emotional level, your campaigns will always be pushing water uphill. 2021 will see a greater understanding of and respect for other cultures by businesses – but that respect must be genuine, must be authentic, otherwise the trust and engagement that brands work so hard to build will be undone. Transcreation – adapting content for different cultures – will assume a new significance and AI-powered machine translation will provide an intelligent solution that helps brands deliver more content and quicken the rollout of their global campaigns.
2. Making it personal
Personalization will move beyond just mere credentials, which feel fake and fool no one, to more genuine, more useful interactions, that are valued by customers. Companies will move toward smarter contextualization, based on location and customer knowledge, in 2021. The companies that will come out ahead will have a single source of trusted content, delivered efficiently and intelligently, to a multitude of localized destination interaction points in whatever language and context is required.
3. Enhanced experiences
5G rollout and faster fiber will see the Internet of Things become a reality and the demand for greater customer experiences explode. Intelligent content systems will become a necessity to meet the challenge of delivering all this content. Once again, trusted, intelligent content, deployed with agility, will provide a leadership platform for any brand, enabling businesses to do so much more with the same or less, and providing the best possible outcome for the consumer.
SDL, part of RWS Holdings plc, is the intelligent language and content company. Our purpose is to enable global understanding, allowing organizations to communicate with their audiences worldwide, whatever the language, channel or touchpoint. We work with over 4,500 enterprise customers including 90 of the world’s top brands and the majority of the largest companies in our target sectors. We help our customers overcome their content challenges of volume, velocity, quality, fragmentation, compliance and understanding through our unique combination of language services, language technologies and content technologies.


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This week kick-started with show-shoppers taking the runway at New York fashion week, Rihanna turning Super Bowl into her own concert, and Kiara Advani’s wedding pictures surfacing on the internet. Didn’t get a chance to catch up? Don’t fret, there is plenty to ascertain from the fashion dictionary that is Instagram. From your favourite Bollywood celebrities decked up in high-glam ensembles for the famous #SidKiara wedding reception to Sam Smith making a red-carpet statement wearing a black latex suit by Indian designer Harri KS–there is a lot to unpack.
To say love was the ruling theme for the past week would be an understatement–owing to Valentine's festivities or celebrating the union of one of the most beloved couples in the industry. Newly married Kiara Advani and Sidharth Malhotra hosted a lavish reception in Mumbai that saw A-listers decked in their traditional fineries–from Alia Bhatt and Ananya Panday to Bhumi Pednekar. Each turned up in their own rendition of saris that are sure to make your heads turn. From one loved-up couple to others, Athiya Shetty and KL Rahul in addition to Anushka Sharma with beau Virat Kohli, each was spotted acing street-style numbers looking fashionably chic.


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October 16, 2019
Smart, connected products are changing the face of competition. That was the thesis of a formative 2014 article in Harvard Business Review that highlighted the transformative potential of information technology integrated into an array of products.
In the past five years, however, the seemingly straightforward words of “smart” and “connected” have become more enigmatic and, arguably, more loaded terms. And the meaning of those two terms has steadily evolved and continues to change. Five to ten years ago, a “smart” product was one with embedded sensors, processors and software. These days, to qualify as “smart,” a device needs to take advantage of some form of basic machine learning at a minimum.
While most assessments of IoT adoption conclude the adoption of the technology has been steady in the past decade, neural network and machine learning advances have been swift. “It’s blossomed at a much faster rate than people thought, even three, four years ago,” said Steve Roddy, vice president, products in Arm’s machine learning group.
Neural Network and Machine Learning Advances Redefine ‘Smart’
One factor driving the progress is progress with convolutional neural networks. A pivotal moment came when Alex Krizhevsky, then a grad student at the University of Toronto, entered the ImageNet competition along with colleague Ilya Sutskever. A visual database that began life more than a decade ago, ImageNet became a stockpile for thousands of categories of images. The volume of data helped support the rise of a contest, known as the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge in 2010. Two years later, Krizhevsky entered and ultimately won, defeating the then state-of-the-art, human-written image recognition code. “There were people who would spend decades of their life writing image recognition software by hand,” Roddy said. Then, suddenly, a grad student from the University of Toronto creates a neural net dubbed “AlexNet” that beat researchers who had spent their careers on such research. “Oops,” Roddy joked.
“Within two years of that, there’s an explosion of interest in neural nets from researchers,” Roddy said. Big tech companies also threw their hat into the ring. In 2015, neural nets from Microsoft and Google defeated humans at image recognition.
That was the aha moment. “Neural nets better than what we previously had been able to code by hand with tens of thousands of lines of C code,” Roddy said. In addition, because researchers can train with large enough data sets, “neural have higher recognition rates on images flashed on the screen than humans,” he added.
Partly as a result of the impressive breakthroughs in image recognition, commercial machine learning and neural network applications are proliferating. Gartner’s most recent hype cycle for AI projects that all three are two to five years away from widespread adoption. Already, several manufacturers of consumer electronics are scrambling to incorporate hardware to support the use of neural networks in their products. As a case in point, look at smartphone makers like Samsung that have incorporated neural processing units into their products for “visual intelligence.”
“The idea of a dedicated NPU has rapidly proliferated down in price points in phones and is going into lots of other markets,” Roddy said.
More broadly, the pace of machine vision adoption is ramping up for industrial applications, as well. An assessment from MarketsandMarket referenced by Advanced Manufacturing estimates the compound annual growth of the technology to be 54.8% between 2018 and 2025.
When the concept of IoT devices began to gain traction several years ago, the notion of rampant connected “things” raised eyebrows in some quarters. The most obvious concern was the security ramifications of a world with billions of headless IoT devices. The other criticism was simply that many emerging IoT devices — especially in the consumer space — made use of IT technology in ways that seemed silly. Using a smart toaster as an example, ExtremeTech declared in 2017, “The Internet of Things has officially hit peak stupid.” The most recent Gartner hype cycle dedicated to IoT anticipates that the umbrella technology is between five to ten years away from mainstream adoption.
But the ramifications of smart and connected IoT devices as data-gatherers has only become apparent recently. And if attending the mammoth Consumer Electronics Show for the past two years is any indication, IoT in many cases has become more of a given than a novelty. And the rationale behind such devices is steadily growing more apparent as is their occasionally privacy-eroding potential.
Connectivity in a Dawning Edge Computing Era
Advances in voice recognition technology have helped mainstream IoT in the consumer sector. Researchers have made swift progress with speech recognition in the past decade. Tech heavyweights such as Amazon and Google helped drive improvement in this area through smart speaker technology. But the capabilities of an average so-called “smart device” has paled in comparison to, say, a smartphone. In a device such as a smart speaker, the capabilities of the onboard computing have tended to be relatively limited. The first generations of the technology have relied on cloud connectivity to carry out voice recognition tasks.
A string of critical articles from the likes of The Washington Post, The Guardian, Cnet and others have highlighted the potential of smart speakers and other voice-recognition-capable devices to invade user privacy.
There’s a danger of this model of chipping away at user privacy, at present, but especially in the long term. But the situation could be improving. For one thing, smart assistant vendors have recently taken steps to alleviate privacy concerns.
And in the long run, smart home devices and many other types of IoT products will make greater use of edge processing, projected Geoff Lees, senior vice president and general manager of microcontrollers at NXP. The trend has the potential to further address privacy concerns while removing a barrier to adoption in more privacy-conscious markets such as Germany, Lees said.
IoT devices such as smart speakers that send all data they gather to the cloud for processing are, by definition, privacy-invasive. The ability of the companies operating such devices will only improve over time, complicating matters further. “Why does a command of ‘Turn the lights on.’ have to go to the cloud to activate a light?” Roddy asked. “You want some speech processing locally because people will realize: ‘If every time I get up to the bathroom in the morning and say, ‘Turn the lights on,’ that gets reported back to the hyperscale cloud provider. Now all of a sudden, they can intuit that you’re, say, a man in his 50s must be having prostate problems. Or, if you are always turning the lights on at three a.m. that you must have insomnia,” Roddy added. The companies responsible for such devices can then use that information for targeted advertising.
But IoT device makers “can still have a device that is connected to the internet and still maintain privacy,” Roddy said. In some cases, having such devices connect to the internet is logical. “If I said: ‘Hey, XYZ assistant, tell me the score the ball game,’ at that point in time, that particular snippet is sent to the cloud, parsed, processed and a reply comes back,” Roddy said. “And your assistant tells you: ‘Your team is trailing.’” That’s not intrusive because it was a response to an explicit request. “It’s still connected device. It’s still a smart device, but it’s now sort of pre-filtering and only sending certain things to the cloud,” Roddy said.
“Having local voice control is the key thing,” agreed Gowrishankar Chindalore, Ph.D., head of technology and business strategy, embedded processors at NXP. “So there’s the voice control, and then there’s local natural voice recognition and understanding. As much of that capability comes to the edge to the end device, the better for all these concerns around privacy — and power consumption.”
Ultimately, extensive use of cloud computing for voice recognition scaled across millions of devices is a power-hungry activity. “We did some quick calculations. We could do about 1000 operations on the MCU with the same power it takes to send 1 bit of data to the cloud over LTE and bring it back,” Chindalore said. “That’s the order of magnitude difference in power consumption. So the more it happens at the edge, the better it is, in general.”
Brian is a veteran journalist with more than ten years’ experience covering an array of technologies including the Internet of Things, 3-D printing, and cybersecurity. Before coming to Penton and later Informa, he served as the editor-in-chief of UBM’s Qmed where he overhauled the brand’s news coverage and helped to grow the site’s traffic volume dramatically. He had previously held managing editor roles on the company’s medical device technology publications including European Medical Device Technology (EMDT) and Medical Device & Diagnostics Industry (MD+DI), and had served as editor-in-chief of Medical Product Manufacturing News (MPMN).
At UBM, Brian also worked closely with the company’s events group on speaker selection and direction and played an important role in cementing famed futurist Ray Kurzweil as a keynote speaker at the 2016 Medical Design & Manufacturing West event in Anaheim. An article of his was also prominently on kurzweilai.net, a website dedicated to Kurzweil’s ideas.
Multilingual, Brian has an M.A. degree in German from the University of Oklahoma.
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Paper’s Sustainable Track Record Shines at Bloomberg Green Summit
One of the highlights of Earth month this past April was the opportunity to meet and listen to some of the real movers and shakers in the U.S. forest sustainability space during Bloomberg Green’s annual sustainability summit.
On the dais was Rita Hite, President and CEO of the American Forest Foundation (AFF); Ellen Jackowski, Chief Impact Officer & Head of Sustainable Impact at Hewlett-Packard (HP); and Tensie Whelan, Founder & Director of NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business.
Together this female dream team represented the full spectrum of partners our industry works with to make a more sustainable world. Rita Hite’s group is almost literally “on the ground” with those many thousands of family foresters from whom paper and box companies source fiber. As she most ably demonstrated during the panel, AFF is the critical resource for turning what you might call “amateur” forest owners into “experts” by helping them plan for the long term and partner with foresters who can provide the scientific know-how to get the most out of their land.
Ellen Jackowski is exactly the kind of customer and partner our companies aspire to sell paper. She understands not just our industry, but also the consumers in schools and homes and offices around the country who are using paper-based products routinely. She’s sincerely committed to sustainability, and her mandate to make HP the most environmentally-friendly printing company drives our mandate to make the kind of products that can help her achieve, for instance, HP’s commitment to full recyclability and carbon neutrality.
Former Rainforest Alliance president Tensie Whelan worked for decades on the NGO side of forest issues before moving into consulting and academia. She brings the enthusiasm of an activist and the hard-earned know-how of someone who understands the way forests really work. Her insights, I think, were invaluable in addressing that cognitive dissonance consumers find hard to resolve, how can an industry that utilizes tree fiber invest so heavily in planting them. She also taught me something I didn’t know – there is an area of highly developed and industrialized Brazil where the only strips of intact forest remaining are those that are used by that country’s forest products industry! It was a bittersweet reminder that perfectly drove home the central economic incentive of our companies: that we can’t do business unless forests stay forests, unless forests thrive.
These three women, through their own deep knowledge and perspective, effectively communicated the circular nature of the paper and packaging industry in real and tangible ways that helped the audience understand our industry’s tree-centered business model built on a healthy demand for forest products like paper and packaging and a commitment to planting more trees than they harvest annually. It was a proud day to be a woman in the paper industry.


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Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) will terminate the sale of talc-based baby powder globally next year, the drugmaker said on Thursday, more than two years after it stopped U.S. sales of a product that attracted thousands of consumer safety lawsuits.
“As part of a worldwide portfolio assessment, we have made the commercial decision to transition to an all cornstarch-based baby powder portfolio,” it said, adding that cornstarch-based baby powder is currently being sold in countries across the world.
In 2021, J&J declared that it would end the sale of its talc Baby Powder in Canada and the United States because demand had dampened owing to what it termed “misinformation” about the product’s safety amid a plethora of legal challenges.
The company experiences 38,000 lawsuits from consumers and their survivors stating its talc products caused cancer because of contamination with asbestos, a known carcinogen.
J&J disproves the allegations, saying decades of regulatory approvals and scientific testing have shown its talc to be safe and asbestos-free. On Thursday, it restated the statement as it declared the cancellation of the product.
J&J spun off subsidiary LTL Management in October, designated its talc allegations to it and immediately entered into bankruptcy, halting pending lawsuits. Those suing have said Johnson & Johnson should have to protect itself against the lawsuits, while defendants of J&J and the bankrupt subsidiary process say it is a fair way to repay claimants.
Ben Whiting, an attorney with the plaintiffs firm Keller Postman, said because the lawsuits are halted in bankruptcy, the company’s sales decision won’t instantly affect them. But if a federal appeal court authorizes the cases to move up, the consumers could seek to use Johnson & Johnson’s decision to draw the products as evidence, Whiting said.
“If these cases were to go again, then it’s a very big deal.”
Ahead of the bankruptcy filing, the company met costs from $3.5 billion in verdicts and settlements, including one in which 22 women were given a judgment of more than $2 billion, the bankruptcy court records showed.
A shareholder proposal calling for a stop to global sales of the talc baby powder fell through in April.
A 2018 Reuters probe determined that J&J knew for decades that asbestos, a carcinogen, was existing in its talc products. Trial testimony, internal company records, and other evidence showed that from at least 1971 to the early 2000s, J&J’s raw talc and finished powders at times tested positive for small traces of asbestos.
In response to evidence of asbestos contamination filed in media reports, in the court room and on Capitol Hill, J&J has reiterated its talc products are safe, and do not bring about cancer.
Sold since 1894, Johnson’s Baby Powder become a sign of the company’s family-friendly image. An internal J&J marketing presentation from 1999 calls the baby products division, with Baby Powder at the core, as J&J’s “#1 Asset”, Reuters posted, even though the baby powder made up only about 0.5% of its U.S. consumer health business when the company took it off the shelves.


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Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Sep 18, 2004
Industry & Economy - Economy
Inflation declines on cheaper oilseeds, poultry
New Delhi , Sept. 17
THE annual wholesale price-based inflation rate eased to 7.81 per cent for the week ended September 4, from a four-year high of 8.33 per cent during the previous week, largely due to a higher base effect.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Friday, the year-on-year inflation figure has declined despite an all-round increase in the indices of primary articles, fuels and manufactured products during the latest week.
According to the data, the WPI rose by 0.3 per cent to 189.1 points during the week ended September 4.
The index stood at 175.4 points during the corresponding period last year.
The index of the primary articles' group (which has a weight of 22.02 per cent in the WPI basket) shot up by nearly one per cent to 194.4 points due to costlier food and non-food items.
The index of the fuel, power, light and lubricants' group was up 0.3 per cent to 281.6 points due to rise in the prices of aviation turbine fuel (12 per cent), naphtha (four per cent) and bitumen (three per cent) even as domestic oil prices were subdued.
The index for the manufactured products' group (which carries the highest weight of 63.75 per cent in the WPI basket) rose by 0.2 per cent to 166.7 points due to costlier food products, beverages tobacco, chemicals, leather and transport equipment.
The food articles' group's index rose by one per cent to 190.8 points due to higher prices of fruits, tea, fish-inland and bajra and maize and arhar (by one per cent each). The non-food articles' group index was up 0.6 per cent to 196.5 points owing to costlier sunflower, niger seed, fodder cent, skins, cotton seed, gingelly seed and raw cotton).
The food products' group index rose by 0.2 per cent to 175.9 points owing to higher prices of canned fish (four per cent), sooji-rawa (three per cent), packed tea, maida, sugar and hydrogenated vanaspati (two per cent each) and atta, cotton seed oil, groundnut oil and gur (one per cent each).
However, prices fell in the case of oil cakes (three per cent), solvent extracted groundnut oil, all kinds of bran and coconut oil (two per cent each) and rice bran oil, butter and imported edible oil (one per cent each). The beverages tobacco and tobacco products' group index rose by 0.3 per cent to 217.1 points on account of costlier scented chewing tobacco (two per cent) and beer and alcohol and cigarattes (one per cent each).
However, the index for the textiles group was down 0.1 per cent to 138.7 points due to a one per cent fall in the prices of cotton yarn-cones, viscose staple fibre and cotton yarn-hanks.
However, prices rose for texturised yarn (three per cent), hessian and sacking bags and polyster staple fibre (two per cent each) and other cotton yarn and hessian cloth (one per cent each).
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Millennials are changing just about everything, from how we live to where we shop.
Their generational preferences for authenticity and social values have sparked widespread innovation across industries, and the American workplace is no exception.
In 2016, Millennials made up 25 percent of the workforce, and are projected to reach over 50 percent by 2020 (MediaPost). As demographics continue to change due to Baby Boomer retirement and continued immigration, the Millennial influence within the workplace will move from novel to normal. According to Pew Research Center, Millennials will dominate the workplace by 2025, holding over 75 percent of American jobs.
At over 80 million strong, the millennial generation is changing the way just about everything works – including work.
Trailblazing millennials are forgoing traditional work opportunities in favor of something that provides a lot more freedom –entrepreneurship.
As millions of millennials start their own businesses and say “yes” to hiring themselves, the way we work is forced to quickly evolve. Full-time employees are being replaced by independent contractors, and old school 9-to-5’s are being converted to virtual positions (margarita by the beach, anyone?).
“It doesn’t matter how much money you throw at Facebook ads – millennial consumers aren’t going to bite unless you do away will all this elitist corporate party line crap!” I (exasperatedly) expressed to an old school business exec.
“We are not deviating from the proven safe zone. I know you’re pretty new to business, but in my forty years of experience, standard corporate messaging always works. Consumers don’t fear what you don’t tell them,” he replied.
Hannah Becker is a millennial author, entrepreneur, and marketing consultant. She currently helps brands increase millennial market share through digital strategy and public relations. Follow Hannah on Twitter@MotivatedGenY


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Jewellery brand Jersey Pearl has announced the launch of a new online portal for retailers, which allows orders to be placed 24/7.
The announcement comes shortly after the group unveiled a new website. With the addition of this tool the company hopes to offer an exclusive B2B platform for retailers.
As well as making the website more convenient for retailers, the company has also offers up-to-date prices and the latest products online. In addition, Jersey Pearl has also confirmed that it will now offer B2B users free shipping on all online orders, regardless of the order value.
Jersey Pearl wholesale manager, Martin Beesley, comments: “We’re always looking for ways to make life easier for our retailers, on top of the regular benefits for B2B users we’ll be running regular promotions exclusive to the online portal.”
He adds: “To launch, we’re offering rewards for first, second and third online orders.”