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Why BlackBerry Limited Shares Are About to Look Cheap
One of the problems with trying to put a valuation on BlackBerry has always been that BlackBerry is not exactly a pure-play devices company like Apple or Samsung, but rather a devices and mobile device management, or MDM, software company. Simply put, there are no pure-play MDM companies trading in the U.S., so it's difficult to get a feel for the valuation of the sector and BlackBerry itself.
Two major MDM players are about to be listed soon
However, this void of public MDM companies is coming to an end soon. Recently, two of the biggest independent MDM companies have filed for IPOs, and soon investors will have something to compare BlackBerry to.
MDM software firm MobileIron has filed to sell about 11.1 million new shares at a midpoint offering range of about $9 per share, according to the company's recent S1 filling. If successful, the company will raise about $100 million, giving it a market cap of about $670 million.
MobileIron reported revenue of $13.8 million in 2011, $41.1 million in 2013, and $105.6 million in 2013, and reported net losses of $25.7 million, $46.5 million, and $32.5 million, respectively. As for the first quarter of 2014, things are not looking that good.
Growth has stalled compared to the same period a year ago. The company reported total revenue of $28.2 million in the first quarter of 2014 compared to $25.8 million in the first quarter of 2013, or a 9.3% increase in total revenue. At the same time, it reported a net loss of $14 million. At these levels, the run-loss rate is much higher than 2013.
Another MDM company coming to market is Good Technology. According to the company's S1 filling, Good had revenue of $85 million in 2011, $116 million in 2012, and $160 million in 2013. It lost $41 million in 2011, $90 million in 2012, and a record $118 million in 2013. As for the first quarter of 2014, the company reported revenue of $46 million and a net loss of $24 million. The company aims to raise a maximum of $100 million, but we can not as of yet calculate a market cap, because we have no intelligence as to the number of shares offered and at what price.
Lets play the comparative valuation game
In the case of MobileIron, the $670 estimated market cap gives the company a price-to-sales ratio of about 6.5 times trailing sales. Now let's put that in perspective against BlackBerry.
BlackBerry's fourth quarter 2014 revenue was $976 million, of which 63% was generated by services and software sales, and the other 37% was hardware sales. That puts services and software at approximately $614 million.
Assuming BlackBerry stabilizes and replicates these numbers over the next three quarters, it will probably generate $2.4 billion in service and software sales for the full year. If we leave BlackBerry's hardware division aside, assuming it doesn't exist or it is worth zero, and we value BlackBerry's service and software revenue at 6.5 times sales -- as the MobileIron IPO is being priced -- then BlackBerry could be worth around $15 billion.
That's about four times higher than where it is trading today.
What this might mean for BlackBerry
Granted BlackBerry has problems, but it is not losing anywhere near the money the two soon-to-be-public companies are losing, and BlackBerry is still the leader in this space. If the market prices MobileIron at 6.5 times sales, then this might give BlackBerry's stock a boost, because currently BlackBerry trades at just more than 1 times forward sales and 0.58 times trailing sales.
The bottom line
While no one knows if the two IPOs mentioned above will perform well or not once shares hit the market, one can't help but notice that MobileIron is priced at 6.5 times sales, when BlackBerry currently trades slightly above one time forward sales.
So unless these IPOs tank after their shares start trading, on an apples-to-apples relative comparison, these two IPOs will probably make BlackBerry look cheap.
Leaked: Apple's next smart device (warning, it may shock you)
Apple recently recruited a secret-development "dream team" to guarantee its newest smart device was kept hidden from the public for as long as possible. But the secret is out, and some early viewers are claiming its everyday impact could trump the iPod, iPhone, and the iPad. In fact, ABI Research predicts 485 million of this type of device will be sold per year. But one small company makes Apple's gadget possible. And its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors. To be one of them, and see Apple's newest smart gizmo, just click here!
The article Why BlackBerry Limited Shares Are About to Look Cheap originally appeared on Fool.com.George Kesarios has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 - 2014 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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Food Industry Pitted Against Public
Health at UN Summit
How do you come up with a plan to help millions of people around the world avoid a chronic disease? For starters, don’t treat the food companies that sell the products that contribute to those diseases as partners in the process.
"So the question is: how do you partner with people who are part of your problem?"

domain: news


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Ꮇultiple ɡovernment ѡitnesses testified in impeachment hearings held by the Intellіgence paneⅼ this month that Trump directeԁ his personal laѡyer, Rudy Giuliani, to take the lead on Uҝraine policy and that Ԍiuliani pushed an “irregular” diplomatic channel. Whiⅼe Wawa has claimed that the breach did not compromise customerѕ who only սsed an ATM and didn’t leaҝ PIN or CVV numbers, reports that some CVV numbers have shown up in the caсhe of ѕtolen infoгmation.
Amateur metal detectorist unearths an 18-carat gold ring… Thousands of Instagram pasѕᴡords exposed online after… Elon Musk relеases his first eleｃtronic dance music track… RIP Ⴝpitzer: ΝASA bids an emotional farewell to its infraｒed… Even so, Dumps SEO, freshdumps.ru, it makes me wonder how a nontargeted scam like this comes together. If you send out, maʏbe, 500 letters — that’s $245 in postage, with stamps at 49 cents a pop — pеrhaps you could get at least one actual philanderer to pay up.
The whoⅼe thing is sophomorіc and shitty, but it’s also hysterical. Unlike a clever pһishing scheme that takes you to a lookalikе wеbsite to steal your password or іdentity, no one who isn’t rеally having an extramarital affair could be duped into paying սp. According to the cyber securіty firm , the stolen data is being sold on a black marketplace ｃalled Jokеr’s Stash and includes more than 30 million debit and credit records hoovered from hundrеds of stores in the US. ‘Since the breach may have affeсted over 850 stߋres and potentially exposed 30 million sеts of payment records, it ranks among the largｅst payment caгd breaches of 2019, and of all time,’ write reseɑrchers.
The envelope is equally innocuous, cc fullz shop down to the plastic window for my address that made me think it wɑs a bill. Νatᥙrally, there’s no return address. The only outside clues are an American flag stamp that ѡas affixed irritatingly askew, a Nashvillе postmark and a postal mеter number (31).


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Despite the significant drop, April marks the second best-performing month revenue-wise since online gambling became legal in NJ. The contribution of sports betting to the overall revenues continues to be quite high. In fact, the breakup of the gross revenues from online gambling in NJ for the month of April stood at:
- $34.91 million from online casino
- $16.50 million from sportsbooks
- $1.67 million from online poker
It must be noted that the NJ online gambling industry is a fledgling industry. Online gambling became legal in the state only last year. The industry is in the rapid growth phase, and analysts expect it to grow fast for many years to come until it becomes a mature market.
The UK, a vibrant online gambling market, for instance, generated revenues of £4.7 billion in the year 2018. Few restrictions, a more liberal attitude towards the industry, and a stringent regulatory body that protects the interests of the citizens have allowed the UK online gambling industry to grow spectacularly over the years.
Whether NJ can overtake international online gambling havens like the UK is to be seen.


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By Frank Boulben, Executive Vice President, Strategy, Marketing and Sales
December 7, 2011
Lately, LightSquared has been quite busy signing up a variety of new partners, across a wide range of industries. While this certainly signals exciting momentum for LightSquared, if you take a closer look – and as Fierce Wireless recently pointed out – you’ll notice a very compelling story about “non-traditional” companies who are partnering with us to help them enter the U.S. wireless market. These companies epitomize the spirit of entrepreneurship – boasting innovation, enthusiasm and a determination to transform the wireless landscape.
SmarterCar plans to use LightSquared’s cellular network – and satellite – to allow consumers and automobile dealers to use in-vehicle devices to access and analyze critical vehicle information, ranging from maintenance updates to location-sharing. Customers of Soundtracker, a geosocial Internet radio company, can now use a mobile product that bundles music and connectivity, giving them access to more than 11 million songs, regardless of location. Meanwhile, the U.S. Latino community, which makes up the customer base of m-banco, can use mobile devices not only for voice communications, but to conduct banking services such as wire transfers and ATM transactions, effectively creating “mobile wallets.”
We’re also helping transform “traditional” device manufacturers so they can participate in the connectivity game; AirTouch and Cellular Product Distributors (CPD-USA) can now bundle their devices with connectivity from LightSquared, creating new recurring revenue streams that are the holy grail for businesses.
What attracted these emerging companies to LightSquared was not only a state-of-the-art 4G wireless network, complemented with ubiquitous satellite coverage, but a game-changing business model that offers connectivity at very competitive wholesale prices, allowing them to efficiently deliver affordable access to content and services. In an increasingly wireless world, LightSquared is delivering on its mission to foster innovation and create much-needed competition in the wireless marketplace.
Frank Boulben is the executive vice president for strategy, marketing and sales. In this role he oversees strategy, marketing, and partner development for the first-ever wholesale-only open broadband network that uses an integration of terrestrial and satellite technology. Prior to joining LightSquared, Frank was global director of commercial strategy for Vodafone Group, where he was responsible for the company’s wholesale roaming business as well as its pricing, customer investment policies, and strategic management. He joined Vodafone in 2007 as new business development director.


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With Apple Inc. silent about official Apple Watch preorder numbers, analysts and research firms have been coming out from the woodwork with their best guesses and estimates. The latest comes from KGI Securities’ analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has extensively tracked and forecasted a number of products coming out of Apple’s pipeline. He’s now estimating that Apple Watch global preorders have come in at over 2.3 million units.
“We estimate production of Apple Watch around 2.3mn units in March-May,” Kuo wrote in a research note to investors obtained by MacRumors.
Of the three editions, Kuo expects the Apple Watch Sport, stainless steel Apple Watch and the 18-karat gold Apple Watch Edition to consist of 85 percent, 15 percent and less than one percent of the total orders respectively.
Those estimates place current Apple Watch production at under a million units per month. However, production could reach 2 to 3 million units per month by June, absent any bottlenecks.
In comparison, U.S. preorders on Friday were estimated to be around 957,000 units, according to e-receipt data gathered from a panel of 2 million shoppers by market research firm Slice Intelligence. If either Kuo or Slice’s estimates are accurate, Apple is already one of the biggest smartwatch makers in the industry, even before its product hits stores, blowing past the 720,000 Android Wear devices sold in 2014, according to estimates from Canalys.


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UPDATE: The fourth generation Apple TV will be available for pre-order on October 26, 2015, and it will begin shipping at the end of October.
Nothing about the Apple TV 4 is set in stone at this point and it hasn't even been officially announced yet. It is likely that Apple will announce the new Apple TV at the World Wide Developers Conference in June. Apple usually has a fall lineup of devices and the fourth generation Apple TV will likely hit the shelves then, along with an upgraded iPhone 6.
Apple also has a streaming TV service in the works that industry analysts believe will launch in September. It is likely that Apple would want to coincide the debut of its new hardware with that service so, as long as negotiations with the content providers go smoothly, look for the Apple TV 4 in September.A lot can change between now and then and we will update this FAQ as new details emerge, so check back soon.


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IntraLinks plans to go public by March. But the 3-year-old online financial services company does not plan use its IPO proceeds to support operations or buttress its already healthy sales. It wants the money to buy other companies. "We've completed one acquisition to date and we're actively looking at others," says Mark Adams, chief executive at New York-based IntraLinks. "It could be expanding into new markets or new areas, or acquiring a new technology that's instrumental in improving a product or service for our customers."
Not long ago the urge to merge at a firm like IntraLinks would have been seen as precocious at best, and downright foolhardy at worst. A young company that needed new technology or new customers would develop them itself, not go shopping for a startup.
That's sure to change this year. The first weeks of the year saw several mergers among e-commerce companies, capped off by last week's megamerger between America Online and Time Warner. Barring a major shift in the financial markets, expect dozens of other e-commerce firms to follow the lead of heavyhitters like Amazon.com, eBay and Ariba, all of which boosted their business in 1999 by aggressively making acquisitions.
The obvious motivation is money. A record number of Internet companies - more than 200 - went public last year and now have stacks of stock market cash to spend. "As spring follows winter, M&A activity follows IPOs," says Bradford C.
Koenig, a managing director at Goldman Sachs and codirector of its global technology group.
But there's more to the story. In the aftermath of the holiday season, online retail's stronger performers will likely see their stocks rise, while those of their weaker rivals will fall. In such an environment, the big companies will naturally turn a hungry eye to the smaller ones - and the smaller ones will think quickly about joining together to survive.
In the first week of January, Proflowers.com acquired Flowerfarm.com; luxury-goods retailer Ashford.com snapped up Jasmin.com, a perfume site; and shopping services company Brodia merged with gift registry WishConnect. On the business-to-business front, Commerce One acquired Mergent Systems. Concurrent with the merger trend is the continued drive among the largest Net companies to expand their reach into new sectors. Last year eBay moved into car sales and Amazon invested in everything from drugs to groceries. Both are expected to make strides this year.
But, as IntraLinks demonstrates, the desire to acquire is not an impulse felt only by established players. Looking ahead to 2000, investment bankers and e-commerce experts are buzzing about the number of companies that have gone public early and still need to add a range of products and services. Their choice is either to develop them internally or to buy them. Many are opting for the latter.
These mergers "are virtuous, they're offensive in nature and they're synergistic," Koenig says. "These are all about strategic positioning to be able to compete better."
For many companies, they're also about primping for Wall Street. By raising sales through acquisitions, firms reassure those investors who value Net stocks by revenue growth rather than profits.
"Wall Street expects growth and M&As are a piece of that," says Todd Carter, director of investment banking at Robertson Stephens.
Of course, mergers and acquisitions have not always been considered a good thing. Critics attacked them in the past as little more than financial engineering to inflate a company's value and to pad revenue growth. But Net deals appear to be passing muster among investors.
Net companies that announced large acquisitions in the past two years have seen their stock prices rise that day an average of nearly 3 percent more than the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, according to Ken Sawyer, managing director at Prudential Volpe Technology Group. In contrast, back at the start of the 1990s such news from tech companies was greeted by an average increase of under 1 percent.
"Historically an acquirer's stock price has declined on announcement of a merger transaction, but that's not so in the Internet space," Sawyer says.
"It's a Wild West land grab, and M&As are a key part of the dynamic."
THE ROARING 2000S
Investment bankers and analysts are forecasting an M&A feeding frenzy in the year ahead. For the Net in general they expect continued buying sprees by Yahoo and AOL, which will look to spread into new sectors and expand globally. In online retail they foresee fewer players in crowded areas like pet food and consumer electronics, predicting that megastores will move in and make acquisitions.
In the business-to-business e-commerce sector, big information-services providers like Oracle, the Netscape-Sun Alliance and IBM are also likely to be chasing deals, as are the new pure-play b-to-b giants, Ariba and Commerce One.
This wave of merger activity actually began as 1999 ended. A lot of bankers were already toiling long hours in late December. At Robertson Stephens, an adviser on many of 1999's biggest Net M&As, Carter says he was working on six deals, two of which involved mergers between major e-commerce companies.
Robertson Stephens is now looking to add more bankers to its M&A team, although the current number - over 100 - is five times what Robertson had a few years ago.
The pace is also accelerating at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. On Sept. 22, Broadbase Software, which creates software to help Web sites track customer information, went public. Just days later, Broadbase executives approached their bankers at Deutsche Banc about possible acquisition strategies, says Jeff Liu, a Deutsche Banc VP responsible for business-to-business solutions. By early December, Broadbase had a $330 million deal to buy Rubric, a privately held maker of software that helps businesses conduct Internet marketing campaigns.
"To compress all of that into a couple of months would have been unheard of a few years ago," says Karl Will, a Deutsche Banc managing director in charge of technology M&As. "It's now taking one to two weeks for a deal to happen instead of one to two months."
SITES ON SALE
Perhaps no area of the Internet Economy is more ripe for M&A activity than online retailing.
One faltering retailer is already a prime candidate for acquisition. Just before the new year, Value America warned that sales would fall below expectations and said it would cut its workforce in half. The company announced it would evaluate "strategic refinement," a euphemism often used by firms seeking a buyout.
Some analysts think M&A activity in the retail sector will be slowed by struggling retailers with few assets worth consolidating. But others say such companies could be good buys for land-based retailers that seek entry to e-commerce. In 1999, for instance, retail chain KB Toys teamed with BrainPlay.com to form KBkids.com.
Mergers in online retailing undoubtedly will take various forms. Some struggling online companies will seek to reshape themselves, others will try to buy their way into new niches. Some categories, such as apparel, should be big enough to sustain multiple players if each appeals to a specific segment of the market. On the other hand, categories in which products are commodities, such as consumer electronics, pet supplies or gift certificates, are likely to be less forgiving of second-tier companies.
"There should be consolidation but I don't believe all categories will be represented by single brands," says Tod Francis, a general partner at Trinity Ventures, a VC firm in Menlo Park, Calif., that has backed such online retailers as 800.com, iMotors.com, Della.com and Internet Diamonds (recently renamed BlueNile.com).
Noto expects online retailers in narrow market sectors to reach into adjacent categories to attract customers and revenues. An online grocery store, for instance, might consider acquiring a pet-supply provider or even a Web-based pharmacy.
MyPoints and Netcentives, two companies that offer one piece of Internet marketing, will likely be targeted by larger online advertising and marketing firms that want to broaden their platforms, expects one venture capitalist, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Analysts do not anticipate that the heavyweights will rest on their laurels in the year to come. Amazon and eBay are expected to invest in companies to spread their franchise into new categories, technologies and regions.
That was the strategy behind a number of Amazon's big buys last year, most notably a string of three deals involving $645 million in stock that was announced in April. Primarily a seller of books and music at the time, Amazon gobbled up Exchange.com to expand into rare books; it also acquired Alexa Internet and Accept.com to get tools for improving navigation on its site. The company also made sizable investments in online retailers that complement its core business, including Della.com, Drugstore.com and HomeGrocer.com.
EBay, meanwhile, has bought its way into businesses that fit its emphasis on online auctions: international operations in Germany, Butterfield & Butterfield for high-end auctions and Kruse International for auto auctions. Recently eBay absorbed Blackthorne Software, a company that makes it easier for active sellers to manage their auctions. Some analysts have suggested that eBay might now move into the business-to-business space; indeed it already has made an equity investment in Tradeout.com, a site for surplus corporate materials.
The business-to-business side of e-commerce is expected to see heavy M&A activity in the future, though the sector is generally thought to be a year or so behind online retailing in that department. Only a few b-to-b companies have made their public debut but dozens more are expected to list their shares in the coming months - and then pursue the same M&A strategy followed by firms that went public in the past couple of years.
Want a glimpse of what's to come? Consider the skyrocketing valuation of Tradex Technologies, a Houston-based company that sells infrastructure software for set- ting up Internet exchanges. Tradex, which Ariba plans to acquire, saw its value jump from $100 million earlier in the year to nearly $2 billion in December, when the deal was announced.
"Some [investors] think they left some money on the table, because [Tradex] could have been a $4 billion to $5 billion IPO," says Daniel Aegerter, Tradex's chief executive. "We were ready, locked and loaded to take this out."
So why didn't he? Aegerter says that route would have brought the company money, but also would have isolated it from the large networks that are emerging in the b-to-b marketplace. Aegerter calls Ariba one of the "gorillas" in that market, and he thinks it's better to be on Ariba's good side, even if that means a little less cash.
Tradex wasn't the only acquisition by Ariba, which went public in 1999 and quickly reached a stock market valuation greater than $10 billion. In November it scooped up Trading Dynamics, an auction-based marketplace for suppliers, for more than $400 million in stock. Meanwhile, Ariba rival Commerce One swapped cash and shares worth about $230 million to acquire CommerceBid.com.
Now other b-to-b procurement companies are looking to take similar steps. Firms like Intelisys Electronic Commerce, a second-tier provider of infrastructure for online marketplaces, know that if they want to compete with Ariba and Commerce One they'll need auction services. Intelisys board member Ray Fattell says his company "absolutely" will have auction capability and will consider making acquisitions to meet that need.
A possible target for Intelisys - and for other companies seeking to develop b-to-b exhanges - is Moai Technologies, which makes auction software for just such exchanges. (Ann Perlman, Moai's chief executive, said in an interview in December that the company was raising another round of venture funding and was not involved in any merger talks.) The motor behind all this merger movement is the trend toward b-to-b trading exchanges. While there are about 200 such marketplaces in various niches - from office supplies to truck parts - only a few are gaining critical mass.
Kenneth Fox, managing director of Internet Capital Group, a holding company with stakes in 28 online marketplaces, predicts leading b-to-b companies will consolidate their hold on their marketplace niches, then seek to expand. A plastics company, for example, might look to move into chemicals. "There are going to be consolidation opportunities across process industries," Fox says.
"These [online marketplaces] tend to be winner-take-all," he adds. "You're going to see No. 1 buy No. 2 and 3."


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Daniel Morial, reporting for Yugatech;
Grab has introduced GrabPay Credits, a new way of paying for your Grab rides. Instead of using just cash or debit/credit card to pay, you can now reload your GrabPay Credits just like with a prepaid phone. Then, you can use those credits to pay for your rides later.
This feature of GrabPay was first announced and rolled out in Singapore.
Introducing GrabPay Credits: the safe, easy and affordable way to go cashless with Grab — no need for a debit / credit card! pic.twitter.com/2PDYbzCW5Q
— Grab Philippines (@grabph) December 9, 2016
Last modified: December 11, 2016


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FOOD and drink venues across the UK risk losing customers in the coming years if they don’t embrace the use of up to date EPOS systems and wider hospitality technology, according to credit card and payment services provider Barclaycard.
A new report from the firm has warned that customers are now expecting a streamlined, but also more personal, experience when dining out.
Some UK venues are already enabling their customers to order and pay for food and drink remotely using an app on their phone, cutting out the need to queue at the bar and making it easier to purchase additional items.
And cash, said Barclaycard, “is increasingly becoming a thing of the past”.
Quoting the UK Cards Association, the company stated that there are now more than 100 million contactless cards in use across the UK.
“As well as being faster, contactless payments can also reduce the chance that your employees could miscount change or accidently contaminate food after handling money,” said the report.
“So if your business doesn’t let customers pay using contactless cards, wearable technology or mobile devices in the future, you may find you’re missing out on sales.”
And EPOS systems which record customer information, including favourite dishes or drinks, can allow venues to make each visit a more personalised experience for regular customers, said the firm.
The Barclaycard report comes as the latest edition of the GO Technology survey from CGA and EPOS firm Zonal found that UK hotels are already losing revenue by neglecting technology.
The latest research, which focused on hotels, found that 45% of 18 to 34 year olds would order room service in hotels if they could do so using their smartphone.


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The Go edition brings a fully redesigned set of Google apps, which are specifically built to serve the needs of first-time smartphone owners.
The UIDAI's valid toll free number is 1947, which is functional for more than the last two years, it said.
Apple’s management in earlier earnings call used to give more updates on the Indian operations, the potential of the market and business for Apple, and how it was able to achieve record revenue or sales of its main product, the iPhone.
Once hackers access your device, they can easily use your microphone or camera to record you.
The project was created from scratch to overcome the limitations of Android.
The European Commission ordered Google to end the illegal conduct within 90 days or face additional penalties of up to 5 percent of parent Alphabet's average daily worldwide turnover.
However, Trai has been engaged in a discussion with Apple to allow the pesky call reporting app on the iOS platform.
KaiOS, which powers JioPhone, is slowly taking over the iOS market in India, where it currently occupies the No. 2 position in the segment.
Mozilla, the maker of Open Source browser Firefox, is reportedly working on a new Internet browser "Fenix" for the Android operating system (OS).
In 2017, Microsoft shut down its Groove Music service after announcing a partnership with the music streaming platform Spotify.
Chinese electronics company iVOOMi on Wednesday launched its "i2 Lite" smartphone for Rs 6,499 in India.
Gmail has nearly 1.4 billion users globally -- more users than the next 25 largest email providers combined.
The app would run on Android versions 5.0 and up.
The smartphone would come with 12MP+5MP primary camera on the rear and an 8MP front shooter for selfies.
Earlier, OnePlus users had reportedly been encountering a "repeated data transfer problem" and this update comes with a the bug-fix.
Focusing on its own AR-building platforms, the tech giant would help creators generate, manage and use 3D assets and elements.
Google said subscriptions on Google Play continue to see huge growth, with subscribers growing over 80 per cent year over year.


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China is turning away from capitalism just when it needs it most, China scholar Yasheng Huang of MIT said Monday.
Halfway around the world from Wall Street, there is an unfortunate side effect of the current global economic crisis: Communist Party leaders have begun to question capitalism. Beijing is pointing at the U.S. government taking big stakes in banks and financial firms like
"In China, there's a view that socialism works and that a state-controlled banking system works," said Huang, professor of political economy and international management at the Sloan School of Management at MIT.
China is being hit hard by the current downturn because poor Chinese consumers cannot buy enough to replace the plunge in exports as far richer American and European consumers cut back. China is in a race to create jobs to replace those being lost to the slowdown, and Huang maintained that China's only hope is encouraging the development of small and medium-sized businesses that will quickly hire workers. "The only way to promote employment is through economic liberalization," said Huang, who studied China's three decades of economic reforms for his latest book, Capitalism With Chinese Characteristics. "Business income is the best protection rural households have and it had almost no growth" in recent years.
Incomes for rural China, where 800 million people live, have stagnated since the 1990s because sources of rural financing dried up as Beijing prioritized developing China's cities. That model worked as long as there was strong demand for exports from Chinese factories since fast job growth at the factories in coastal cities helped soak up rural workers who would otherwise have been unemployed.
As Chinese factories close, at least 20 million Chinese who had moved from the countryside to the coastal regions for work have returned, jobless, to their villages. Those migrant workers were one of the only sources of income growth for rural Chinese over the past decade, Huang said.
Beijing is concerned that high rural unemployment might lead to political unrest and has been experimenting with measures to help rural residents. There are discounts on white goods and reductions in school fees and taxes in certain regions. Officials are rightfully preoccupied with the plight of China's rural residents--both in political and economic terms, said Huang. "Everything comes down to the countryside."
China faced massive layoffs in the 1990s, as it began to dismantle many of its money-losing state-owned enterprises. But, back then, many workers were old enough to retire. Today, those being laid off are typically in their 30s, Huang said. Also, in the 1990s, foreign companies were racing to open factories in China, and they hired tens of millions of workers pouring in from the countryside. A real estate boom, which has since ended, helped cushion the economic blows at the time as well.
But none of those mitigating characteristics is present now. "Today's situation is much more severe," Huang observed. "Today you have the most efficient private enterprises in trouble," not Communist relics. "I'm not optimistic at all" about China's economic prospects, he added.
One of Beijing's few available tools to help its exporters--and in turn to boost employment at Chinese factories--is to devalue its currency. Since July of last year, China has kept it in a narrow range of 6.81 to 6.80 yuan to the dollar.


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Why all the recent talk of going data-only when data shows that customers are amenable to providing location data if it leads to relevant advertising? Let’s take a closer look at what a long-term commitment to our media partners really requires when it comes to location, minus all the triopoly panic.
Standard Cognition offers a product called Standard Checkout that retrofits cashier-based grocery stores into cashierless systems. Unlike the new cashierless Amazon Go, Standard Cognition is not a grocery chain itself, but instead a solution for chains that compete with Amazon Go, co-founder and COO Michael Suswal told Street Fight.
ZypMedia found that November is the most effective month for consumers to engage with brands and their holiday campaigns, with a click-through-rate that’s 125% higher than the average over the past year.
Digital advertising is an incredibly sophisticated industry, yet when it comes to selling in the data store, vendors lack incentive and opportunity to focus on quality. Instead, they’re restricted to sales tactics—none of which are good for buyers, brands, or the industry.
As the location data industry progresses as a community, companies in our ecosystem naturally form into a kind of pyramid—NOT a hierarchical one but one that reflects how the different location companies fit into the ecosystem, who does what, their limitations, and their areas of focus.
More and more, local retailers are understanding the importance of finding a loyalty program that works for them. Klosebuy, a Fort Lauderdale-based loyalty solution vendor, has recently discovered the difference that its product can make for small businesses.
AvePoint, a Jersey City-based tech company that helps migrate, manage, and protect Office 365 data, has a classic two-people-in-a-garage backstory. The founders, Tianyi Jiang and Kai Gong, built their first product in a local public library, and the company has now grown to about 1,500 employees.
What if seemingly inconsequential data—and location data, in particular—could actually be re-harnessed and used to provide additional revenue-generating opportunities for brands? That’s the concept behind a new report out from the global geolocation data and services provider Digital Element.
Black Friday has historically been seen as the official kickoff to the holiday shopping season, but new research from the data solutions company Lotame and the digital intelligence firm Jumpshot indicates that consumer interest actually peaks almost one month earlier. Retailers that wait until late fall to launch their holiday campaigns could be missing out on sales.
To find out what the Summit of Local Independent Online News Publishers accomplished, I went to longtime journalist Steve Beatty, who was editor and CEO of the award-winning, investigative website The Lens in New Orleans for eight years before joining LION as a consultant last January and who, with DeRienzo’s departure, has been named interim director.
TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING AND MEDIA… Ready or Not, Google’s Mobile-First Indexing Is Here… Are Holiday Campaigns Launching Too Late in the Season?… Localized Programmatic Platform Simpli.fi Goes National…
For enterprise companies looking to expand into new markets, Zipsprout’s micro-sponsoring of local non-profits offers an innovative way to go about supplementing traditional media spend.
During September’s Brandify Summit, we listened to an in-depth case study from Dick’s Sporting Goods on sharpening a localized search marketing strategy for multilocation brands around things like Google Posts. We feature that talk in the latest episode of Heard on the Street (see above).
TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING AND MEDIA… Google and the On-SERP Experience: We’re Just Gettin’ Warmed Up… Retailers Must Prepare for Visual Search, On Edge of a Breakthrough… What Will Advertising on Voice Look/Sound Like?…
Just one month after ThriveHive released a product to help small business owners navigate the creation and maintenance of their Google My Business profiles, the company is making some substantial changes to its diagnostic solution.
The introduction of a new Knowledge Graph layer in the form of “Topics” indicates to me that Google’s latest efforts in this arena will extend in two directions beyond Local entities. I see these linkages extending all the way up the search journey to initial consideration and even further down the funnel beyond Local entities.
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Releases Attribution Tool, The Cutting Edge of E-Commerce: People-Based ID
TODAY IN LOCAL & DIGITAL MARKETING AND MEDIA… Facebook Attribution Now Available to All Advertisers… Biggest Tech Trend for eCommerce in 2019: People-Based Identity… Privacy, Accuracy Hinder Voice Commands…


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When it comes to user experience, the longest-running bitcoin wallet is hardly an iPhone 7.
To use Bitcoin Core, users need to download a copy of the entire transaction history of the digital currency, a process that can take days and this is only becoming more burdensome as bitcoin’s transaction history increases.
This means that unlike other, flashier, VC-funded consumer wallets (think Coinbase or Circle) or open-source efforts like Mycelium, Bitcoin Core doesn’t fit on a smartphone, but it’s still used for essentially the same functions – sending and receiving bitcoins.
So, if bitcoin is already pretty difficult to use with these more user-friendly wallets, why use a wallet that only makes it more difficult? And why are developers still making updates when sleeker offerings are available?
For one, the Bitcoin Core wallet offers an alternative that’s arguably similar to bitcoin’s original value proposition, according to Bitcoin Core contributor Jonas Schnelli.
Since the wallet was first developed, many easier-to-use wallet programs emerged, many of which are packed with innovative features (think instant messaging add-ons or easy cold storage). But, none of them quite embody the principles of decentralization, security and privacy, he says.
To some, the modern-day version of the client designed by bitcoin creator


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Tesla reported its fifth consecutive quarterly profit on record revenue of $8.8 billion, boosted by an uptick in vehicle deliveries and sales of environmental regulatory credits to other automakers.
The electric car maker also affirmed its target to deliver half a million vehicles by the end of this year, a goal that will require it to significantly ramp up vehicle sales in the fourth quarter. Shares were up 2.5% at $433.88 in extended trade as the carmaker beat analysts’ estimates.
Tesla said it had the capacity installed to produce and deliver 500,000 vehicles this year, but added that achieving its goal has become more difficult. “Achieving this target depends primarily on quarter over quarter increases in Model Y and Shanghai production,” the company said. Asked by an analyst during a conference call whether Tesla aimed to deliver 840,000 to 1 million vehicles next year, based on its factories’ current maximum capacity, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk responded the target was “in that vicinity,” while another Tesla executive said the company would provide guidance next quarter.
Tesla has defied a downward trend in the wider auto industry in 2020 and bucked a pandemic and economic upheaval with steady sales and profitable quarters, sending shares up around 400% this year. At $394.5 billion, Tesla’s market capitalization has become the largest among all global automakers, despite the company trailing rivals in sales, revenue and profit. Tesla’s ascent highlights investor confidence in the future of electric vehicles and the company’s shift from niche carmaker to global leader in clean cars.
But Craig Irwin, an analyst with Roth Capital Partners, cautioned that Tesla’s lead could soon narrow. “The company is still valued incredibly richly, like it’s operating in a vacuum, yet competitors are working furiously to catch up,” he said, referring to more than 400 new electric vehicle models scheduled to hit the roads by 2024. General Motors Co on Wednesday revealed an electric version of its Hummer pickup truck that will compete with Tesla’s futuristic Cybertruck, which is scheduled to go into production next year.
Musk on Wednesday said Cybertruck orders will be delivered in 2022, or toward the end of 2021 the earliest.


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Carta, a digital platform that helps companies manage their cap tables, create valuation estimates, issue digital securities, and more, has partnered with Republic.
Republic is one of the largest securities crowdfunding platforms in the US that continues to launch a growing number of verticals in the online capital formation sector.
In an email, Republic stated that:
“Founders will be able to raise from their community while streamlining their cap table and consolidating investors into a single line item in summary through solutions provided by Republic and Carta. By working together, this strengthens Republic’s ability to offer a world-class experience for high-quality, venture-backed companies.”
Shareholder management is a lingering challenge for some investment platforms. Once a digital offering is completed, more work needs to be done. A securities crowdfunding offering is not a set it and forget it service. Carta currently assists more than 23,000 companies with shareholder management and other securities services.
Carta also has a VC segment of its business. A partnership here would make sense too, but no announcement yet.


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According to a Co-op survey, cash will be overtaken by contactless technology within a decade.
This column first addressed the proposition of ditching cash over three years ago. Technology and life move fast in the 21st-century since back then the only alternatives to cash were credit cards or bank debit cards requiring chip and pin. By early 2013, most of us had already forgotten how to use cheque-books.
As this dedicated accountant/journalist managed to prove, it was possible to avoid holes in pockets and complete most transactions without cash, although this could be embarrassing.
It also meant neglecting smaller stores in favour of large supermarkets, preferably with machines that would not give you a strange look when you use the credit card to spend 15p. The other consequence was the discovery that credit card statements would barely fit into envelopes as so many pages filled with tiny transactions were required.
The major technological leap has come in two stages, three if you use transport in London.
First, there was the Oyster card, a cashless alternative to paying for tickets at stations. This, enhanced by contactless technology, has now led to redundancies and the closure of all ticket offices, for better or worse.
Next in line came the cashless debit card. It is a reasonable bet that almost everybody would have been wary of these at the start but they are catching on as the Co-op survey demonstrates.
It is also now possible to use mobile phone technology to make payments without hitting a single button and this is where the next advance is anticipated.
The Royal Mint is clearly not happy but, in principle, the idea of presenting a card or phone to a reader and completing a transaction instantly is fantastic. Youngsters in particular are going to be intoxicated by the speed and ease with which they can purchase a can of lager, a bottle of vodka or soon to be taxed fizzy drink.
The question is whether anyone in the accountancy profession, trained to be prudent, is willing to trust technology that potentially puts their money at risk.
We all know about cloning and it has probably happened to the majority of those reading this column. Certainly, I was once simultaneously using my credit card in Spain and London, courtesy of a curry house close to London Bridge.
In reality though, allowing for the fact that the cashless limit has been increased to £30 and there is a restriction on the number of transactions that can be completed in a day, the risk is probably not that great.
However, not many of us would bother to check our bank transactions more often than once or twice a month and therefore theoretically quite a lot of money could disappear before theft was noticed. Against that, the expectation is that your bank would underwrite any loss in this way.
Regardless of these protections, the imposition of typing four numbers is not that great and for this user at least, remains the preferred method of choice.
It will be fascinating to see how matters develop over the next few years but a column in 2020 (when the post EU exit recession/boom will be at its height) might just be nostalgic about the days when we used to use cash for most transactions and dry cleaners made a mint out of replacement pockets.


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All the latest news from Curbed DC...
[The common area for a 377-unit building coming near Union Station]
UNION STATION—There's a 377-apartment building coming to the plot next to Union Station and it will have the city's second pet spa for a residential building. Other amenities include an eco-pond, rooftop garden, and outdoor dog walk. We have a few renderings to gander at.
DC—The dating app called Let's Date passed on some interesting data about the dating preferences of DC singles. Apparently we really like to drink and women don't actually like the sensitive type.
ADAMS MORGAN—The small space trend has reached new heights (or is it lows?). Eight new apartments will be built without windows, but each will have a skylight so the inhabitants can remember what the sun looks like.
GEORGETOWN—How about a few pictures of Cole Porter's chairs from his city apartment? The new issue of Veranda looks at a home with those pieces and more luscious decor. We have a few pictures.
VIDEO—The recent Portlandia episode parodied a guy that makes wood furniture and it just might have been inspired by a DC furniture maker. Do check out the video.
NOMA—National Public Radio is moving their headquarters to NoMa and the renderings show a modern eco-friendly building. It should be ready by April and once they're settled they'll open it up to the public for tours.
MAPS—Since it was the week for some lovin' we put together a map of homes that have hottubs and saunas—all of them have room for two. Or more.
EMBASSY ROW—There's a beautiful house for sale that may have been a former embassy, but the backstory is mysterious. But the pictures look great.
BROKERBABBLE—This week we decoded a common word that shows up in February house listings: romantic. Except, in this case it is an exaggeration.
GLOVER PARK—We found a good deal near Wisconsin Avenue—a two bedroom for less than $400K.
RACKED DC—A new men's clothing pop-up called Indochino is coming, a luxury trunk show at Tysons Galleria is this weekend, and more retail and fashion news.
SHAW—The semi-new pub Cause that raises money for charity is in a hot neighborhood. We've found ten choice properties for people who want to live in walking distance of the new watering hole.


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According to leaker billbil-kun, Quake 2 Remaster will be released today on all major platforms for $10, following reports that the game would be officially unveiled at QuakeCon 2023 today.
If true, then this mirrors the announcement and release of the original Quake Remaster, which was unveiled and shadow dropped at QuakeCon 2021. Right now there’s no word on whether Quake 2 Remaster — reportedly titled simply Quake 2 — will feature any new content, but we won’t have long to find out if it is indeed coming today.
Developed by id Software, the original version of Quake 2 was released in 1997 for the PC and later arrived on Nintendo 64, PSOne, and Xbox 360. The main campaign introduces numerous changes from the first Quake, including mission-based objectives, larger stages, and hub system, as well as advancements in the technology used at the time, allowing for coloured lighting effects and skyboxes.
[Source – Dealabs]


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Tesla has quietly made a previously unreported acquisition of a firm specialized in automated manufacturing to support the design of new factories.
Back in late 2017, Tesla announced that it was acquiring manufacturing firm Perbix, but the Minnesota-based firm wasn’t the only manufacturing firm Tesla was acquiring at the time.
At the same time, Electrek has now learned that the automaker made an until-now-unreported deal to take over Compass Automation, a firm specializing in making equipment for automaker manufacturing.
A tipster sent us a few job postings that Tesla had for positions related to manufacturing equipment building in Elgin, Illinois:
The Electrical/Mechanical Machine Builder will be responsible for building our automation equipment and occasionally installing and supporting it at our Tesla facilities. Tasks include performing mechanical assembly, electrical panel wiring, field wiring, troubleshooting, and machine integration of industrial automated equipment.
Elgin is a small city outside of Chicago and it’s not normal for Tesla to have jobs related to manufacturing in this region.
The tipster pointed out there’s a company in Elgin that builds “automation equipment”: Compass Automation.
Compass Automation’s website is disabled, but a cached version shows that it was describing itself as specializing in automated manufacturing:
At Compass Automation, we build the machines that help manufacturers compete. From jet engines to printed circuit boards, drive shafts to plastic bottles, Compass’ machines assemble, inspect, package, and paint the products that shape everyday life.
They had expertise in automated assembly and automated inspection:
We started digging, and we were able to confirm that Tesla purchased Compass Automation in December 2017.
The company completed its contracts with other customers and started working exclusively with Tesla at some point in 2018.
Tesla’s acquisition of Compass Automation more than two years ago went unnoticed until now.
A source familiar with the matter told Electrek that Tesla CEO Elon Musk was impressed by Brian Greviskes, an MIT-educated mechanical engineer who was president and CEO of Compass Automation, and thought of him as one the best manufacturing engineers he ever met.
Over the last few years, Musk has developed an admiration for manufacturing and its important, which he believes is underrated.
Since 2016, he has been pushing for Tesla to focus on “the machine that builds the machine“:
We realized that the true problem, the true difficulty, and where the greatest potential is — is building the machine that makes the machine. In other words, it’s building the factory. I’m really thinking of the factory like a product.
Musk greenlighted Tesla buying Compass Automation, brought in their engineering talent, and made Greviskes Tesla’s new director of automation development engineering.
Greviskes’ team has since been developing new automated manufacturing machines for Tesla’s manufacturing facilities, including helping design new factories like Gigafactory Berlin.
Now Tesla is apparently expanding its team in Elgin with three new engineering positions.
Here are some of the things Compass Automation was building before being acquired by Tesla:
I know that this happened more than two years ago, but I thought it was still worth mentioning since it went completely unnoticed.
As far as we know, it now adds up to four acquisitions from Tesla related to manufacturing — and specifically automated manufacturing, over the last four years or around the time Elon started talking about “the machine that builds the machine.”
He wasn’t kidding when he said that Tesla would focus on manufacturing.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.


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DIGITAL MANUFACTURING COULD BE A £74 BILLION OPPORTUNITY FOR THE UK
Research from KPMG, commissioned by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), has highlighted a £74 billion opportunity for the UK in the automotive industry alone, if the manufacturing industry fully embraces digitalisation over the next two decades.
The UK automotive industry is calling on the government to support the sector’s future competitiveness by prioritising digital manufacturing.
Digital manufacturing, sometimes known as the fourth industrial revolution, refers to an overhaul of manufacturing processes to include methods controlled by data and analytics – often collected by The Internet of Things.
For the uninitiated, this is a catchy name to represent items which are hooked up to the internet and communication infrastructure, using sensors and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to collect data. First seen at home in the form of kettles you can boil before you get home, in the manufacturing arena think of plant that can communicate across the production line when an element is broken, or machinery which reports smart insights into its operations.
Just like every other industrial revolution before it, digital manufacturing represents the possibility to manufacture quicker, smarter and better, automating and digitising processes, and self-optimising to achieve levels of efficiency not possible 10 years ago.
The SMMT research suggests that by embracing digitalisation, the automotive manufacturing sector as a whole stands to gain £6.9 billion every year by 2035, with a cumulative benefit to the wider economy of some £74 billion.
What about the manufacturing industry in total? £352 billion, according to Accenture, which estimates that the Internet of Things could add around £9.54 trillion to the world economy in the next 15 years.
But embracing digitalisation is not challenge free. KMPG suggests the UK’s digital infrastructure needs to be improved, the skills gap addressed and investment in digitalisation accelerated, while clear policies on cyber security and standards for data sharing must be developed to promote trust.
Have your processes gone digital?


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Popular maker of cryptocurrency hardware wallets, Trezor, has posted on its official Twitter page, reminding the cryptosphere that the next Bitcoin halving will take place exactly a year from now.
According to Trezor:
“In exactly 365 days we will experience the third Bitcoin halving in history. This event marks a 50% decrease of block rewards, lowering the total supply of bitcoins mined from one block to only 6.25 BTC. How will you celebrate this event?”
Halving is a set event which will occur after every 210,000 blocks are mined. This means that the number of Bitcoins produced as a block reward for every block will halve from the current 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC. This is done to slow the production of Bitcoin and prevent inflation.
Current estimations have it that a year from now, in May 2020 daily production of Bitcoin will drop to 900 from the current rate of 1,800.
Effects on Bitcoin Price
The simple laws of supply and demand would work here in Bitcoin’s halving. Since inception, halving has always had a significant effect on the price of Bitcoin. This is because, according to this law, when there is a scarcity and supply is reduced, prices almost always increase as a result.
So, because of this law and also because history suggests the same thing, experts are sure that when the halving does occur, the scarcity will cause a very significant price surge.
An analyst known simply as Plan B (@100trillionUSD) took to Twitter to express predictions that see Bitcoin hitting a $55,000 price mark when the halving occurs next year. According to the tweet:
“The model predicts a bitcoin market value of $1trn after next halving in May 2020, which translates in a bitcoin price of $55,000.”
The prediction also sees the Bitcoin market cap hitting $1 trillion. Explaining how such a figure would be achieved, Plan B says:
“People ask me where all the money needed for $1trn bitcoin market value would come from? My answer: silver, gold, countries with negative interest rate (Europe, Japan, US soon), countries with predatory governments (Venezuela, China, Iran, Turkey etc), billionaires and millionaires hedging against quantitative easing (QE), and institutional investors discovering the best performing asset of last 10 yrs.”


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The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) conducted an on-the-spot check on Sahad Stores in Abuja on February 16, 2024, leading to the temporary closure of the store due to continued violations involving misleading pricing and lack of transparency.
Earlier, on January 8, 2024, the FCCPC investigated Sahad Stores following reports of misleading pricing practices. The investigation revealed that Sahad Stores displayed lower prices on shelves and charged higher prices at checkout, contravening Section 115 of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018.
The investigation included all Sahad Stores branches in Abuja to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the issue and implement corrective measures across the entire chain.
The FCCPC promptly issued a summons to specific Sahad Stores staff, asking them to appear on February 12, 2024, to discuss corrective measures. However, the staff failed to appear without justification, raising concerns about potential violations under Section 33(3) of the FCCPA.
Consequently, on February 16, 2024, FCCPC operatives visited Sahad Stores and confirmed through random checks that the deceptive practice did not only continue, but cashiers also charged prices at their discretion, leaving unsuspecting customers vulnerable to unfair pricing. Exercising its authority under Section 18(f), the Commission temporarily sealed the premises.
However, following a mutual understanding and commitment from Sahad Stores to implement transparent pricing practices, the FCCPC reopened the store on February 16, 2024, at about 7:00 PM.
Businesses are expected to display transparent pricing information to empower consumers to make informed purchasing decisions, especially during challenging economic times. The FCCPC remains committed to combating all forms of exploitative or misleading practices that undermine consumer rights. The FCCPA protects consumer rights and prohibits deceptive business practices. Section 115 outlines potential penalties for violations, including fines for organisations and imprisonment for directors.
The FCCPC encourages all businesses to adhere to fair and transparent pricing practices to ensure consumer protection and a healthy market environment.
Dr. Adamu Abdullahi
Ag. Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer


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The Latest News On The API Economy
Searching: No Search Term , Filtered By Category: "Search", Category: "eCommerce", Category: "Auto", Category: "Auto"
We've added Fifteen APIs to the ProgrammableWeb directory in categories including Notifications, Music, Goals, and Credit Cards. Highlighted today are an API for Digital Bible Platform, and APIs for a musical visualization platform and a goal platform. Here's a rundown of the latest additions.
The number of available web search APIs has been reduced in recent months; Google and Yahoo have shut down a number of their web search APIs. This is the first part of a two-part article covering the state of web search APIs. The second part highlights search APIs provided by Google and Microsoft.
This is part two of a two-part article covering the current state of Web search APIs. This article takes a look at the Web search tools/APIs provided by Google and Microsoft. Article includes comparison charts highlighting some of the key differences between Google and Microsoft search tools/APIs.
Uber today opened the UberRUSH API to all developers. Using the API, developers can integrate UberRUSH, the transportation company's on-demand delivery service, into their applications to handle pick-up and delivery of pre-paid goods. In January of this year, Uber launched a private UberRUSH API.
Square is moving beyond the retail terminal thanks to a handful of new APIs meant to help companies accept payments in more places. The E-Commerce API and Register API target retailers large and small with a simple set of tools that integrate fully with Square's payment processing platform.
Six APIs have been added to the ProgrammableWeb directory in categories such as eCommerce, Charts, Video and Content. One highlight today is an API from Clipchamp, a service which records, converts, and compresses video directly from a browser. Here's a rundown of the latest additions.
Under the rubrick of what it calls a "Sales Channel SDK," Shopify has launched a series of APIs so that developers can build new sales channels that Shopify's merchants can then use to extend the visibility of their catalogs. The company also announced new partners who will be using those APIs.
In response to much feedback from the developer community, Microsoft has revamped the Bing Search APIs with a long list of new features. Not only do the new features expand the possibilities for using Bing within an app, a modern architecture should streamline integration and ease maintenance.
Ten APIs have been added to the ProgrammableWeb directory in categories including Translation, Banking, Games, and Science. Also new to the directory are SDKs for Gmail, Sunlight Foundation, Strossle, and Facebook Graph APIs. Here's a rundown of the latest additions and how developers can use them.
Tesla is considered the geekster’s car of cars, with the vision of creating an all-electric powered vehicle without compromising on performance. Of course, developers are eager to create some funky apps that will make the expensive Tesla vehicles even more connected via APIs.
Two security researchers discovered insecure, authentication-less APIs that made the world's best-selling electric car, the Nissan LEAF, vulnerable to hackers who could obtain private information about a vehicle's operations and travels and even control key vehicle functions.
Twelve APIs have been added to the ProgrammableWeb directory in categories including Healthcare, Financial, and Augmented Reality. Also new to the directory are SDKs for Gliffy, a diagram and chart creation service, and Disqus comments platform. Here's a rundown of the latest additions.
Recent updates to Google’s Search Console API provide the opportunity to leverage fine-grained detail about your search query data using the power of Excel and Pivot Tables. This tutorial by Chris Liversidge guides followers through extracting and analysing data to drive marketing decisions.
This article is the third of a three part series from MLSDev that shows you how to build an eCommerce API using Ruby on Rails. In this part, readers are shown how to secure their online store by implementing registration and authorization. A Github project accompanies this series.
This article is the first of a three part series from MLSDev that shows you how to build an eCommerce API using Ruby on Rails. In this part, readers are shown how to set up your API to populate your online store with the products that you will be selling. A Github project accompanies this series.
This article is the second of a three part series from MLSDev that shows how to build an eCommerce API using Ruby on Rails. In this part, readers are shown how to implement product search including autocomplete and full text search for an online store. A Github project accompanies this series.
Google said it will follow through on plans announced in 2011 to deprecate several search-related APIs. The company already has a replacement in place for the soon-to-be-defunct APIs. The replacement will help developers add select search functions to their Android mobile apps.
Autodata announced an expansion of its API portfolio. It now offers over 70 APIs that provide access to more than 40 years of aggregated automotive data. Autodata worked with TIBCO Mashery to create a developer portal that houses the API offering. API categories include content and vehicle APIs.
Thirteen APIs have been added to the ProgrammableWeb directory in categories such as Auto, Books and Booking. Also new to the directory are SDKs for Pandorabots bot building platform and TwitchTV social gaming platform. Here's a rundown of the new additions for developers to discover.
Little over a year after Uber released its API, Uber continues to add features that propel its offering well beyond a simple ride sharing service. Uber Trip Experiences allows third party apps to access a rider's Uber app and trip details. Think about a ten minute playlist, for a ten minute trip.


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So much sweetness became sourness in an instance.
About one ton of chocolate from a German factory spilled onto a roadway, halting traffic and making chocolate lovers all over the world to well up with tears of sadness.
The road was closed in the western town of Westonnen on Dec. 10 after a tank of chocolate at the DreiMesiter factory spilled its contents and coated the street in a sticky mess.
But the chocolate quickly solidified in its chilly environs, making cleanup a monster headache for about 25 firefighters who manned shovels, hot water and blowtorches to remove the mess and get traffic flowing smoothly again, reported BBC News.
“A 10-square-meter choco-pancke formed,” remarked the Werl fire department, which snarkily added a message for chocolate lovers to “stay strong.”
“Despite this hearbreaking incident, it is unlikely that a chocolate-free Christmas is imminent,” stated the local fire department.
DreiMeister executive Markus Luckey said that it would have been a catastrophe had the spill occurred closer to Christmas.
The German newspaper Soester Anzeiger reported that a “small technical defect” involving a storage tank was the cause of the gooey mess spilling out into the town.


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Sponsor logos placed on jerseys in NBA D-League playoffsPosted by Inside Hoops
While the NBA studies putting sponsor logos on jerseys, the Development League is placing them on their teams’ uniforms in the playoffs.
BBVA’s logo will be featured across the back of all jerseys during the NBA D-League playoffs, the league announced Monday. It’s the first time a marketing partner will have brand exposure on a D-League jersey other than adidas, the league’s official outfitter.
– Reported by the Associated Press


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The official Pokemon website has finally revealed the Team Up prerelease promos! They were unofficial leaked last week.
The promos are numbered SM158 through SM161.
Team Up prereleases will take place January 19th through 27th. You can find one near you by using Pokemon.com’s event locator.
We also have an unofficial English set list along with the Japanese card translations.


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The stock market made a strong late-day comeback after getting some possible good news about mortgages.
The Dow Jones industrial average pared sharp losses to finish down nearly 7 points today after a report that the government plans to subsidize mortgage payments for troubled homeowners. The idea of targeted help for homeowners impressed investors more than the government’s $789 billion economic stimulus package and its revised plan to bail out problem banks.
Google to halt selling ads on radio: Google plans to stop selling advertising on broadcast radio at the end of May. The retreat is the latest example of how the recession is forcing the Internet search leader to reassess its ambitions beyond the online ad market.
Today’s announcement could lead to up to 40 layoffs among Google’s workforce of 20,200 employees, the Mountain View-based company said.
The decision to stop selling ads for broadcast radio stations comes less than a month after Google scrapped its effort to sell ads for newspapers. The company expanded into radio advertising three years ago. Google said it still intends to place ads on television.
Netflix passes 10 million subscribers: Netflix of Los Gatos, which has long claimed to be the world’s biggest online movie rental service, said today it has surpassed 10 million subscribers, a milestone it achieved through a big boost in business in just the past few weeks.
“In crossing the 10 million subscriber threshold last night, Netflix has added more than 600,000 net subscribers since January 1,” the company said in a prepared statement. “Since the Netflix subscription service was launched in September 1999, it has added subscribers at an average annual rate of nearly 30 percent.”
The company last month predicted it would have between 10.6 million and 11.3 million subscribers by the end of the year.
Cisco’s bond sale may go for acquisitions, buyback: Cisco Systems may use part of the proceeds from its $4 billion bond sale to buy back stock as the time and price are good, Chief Executive Officer John Chambers said.
“We have a number of investments to make and there are small acquisitions to make and I prefer to make it in cash,” Chambers told reporters in Bangalore today.
Cisco is taking advantage of a more plentiful supply of credit to lower borrowing costs and boost its cash amid a slump in demand for networking equipment. The company is working to eliminate at least $1 billion in expenses by the end of July. Sales may drop as much as 20 percent this quarter, and analysts don’t expect a rebound until 2010.
The San Jose company, which completed the second bond offering in its 25-year history, will use the funds to repay $500 million of floating-rate notes maturing this month, Cisco said Feb. 9.
Silicon Valley tech stocks:
Up: Apple, Cisco, Genentech, Google, Hewlett-Packard and Yahoo
Down: Intel and Spansion
The tech heavy Nasdaq composite index: Up 11.21, or .73 percent, to 1,541.71.
The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average: Down 6.77, or .09 percent, to 7,932.76.
And the Standard & Poor’s 500 index: Up 1.45, or .17 percent, to 835.19.
Check in weekday afternoons for the 60-Second Business Break, a summary of news from Mercury News staff writers, the Associated Press, Bloomberg News and other wire services.


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Consumer prices in the US fell sharply for the third month in a row in December, sparking fears of deflation.
The US Labor department said the Consumer Price Index dropped by 0.7% last month, after falling 1.7% in November.
For the year, consumer prices edged up by just 0.1%, the smallest annual change since 1954. Consumer prices rose by 4.1% for all of 2007.
Nigel Gault, chief US economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "Inflation, seemingly so worrying just a few months ago, has vanished. Deflation is now the threat. The 12-month CPI inflation rate peaked at 5.6% in July, and has now plunged to just 0.1%."
Much of the decrease was down to the huge drop in oil prices from their peak of $147 a barrel in July. US light crude is currently $35.48 a barrel. Energy costs fell 8.3% in December, and were down 21% for the year. This is the biggest decline since records began in 1958. The cost of petrol plunged 43% last year, also the biggest decline on record since 1937.
Meanwhile, US industrial production dropped 2% in December, driven by a 7.2% contraction in motor vehicle output. Economists had expected a drop of 1%. Industrial production has plunged 7.8% over the past 12 months.
Paul Ashworth, senior US economist at consultants Capital Economics, said: "With many vehicle assembly plants now temporarily closed, further steep declines in production in Q1 appear inevitable. December's decline wasn't just due to the problems in the autos sector either. The contraction was widespread, with all sectors registering declines.
"The only good news is that the production of business equipment recorded a 1.8% increase last month, following a 2.9% gain the month before. Together, those gains suggest the decline in business investment in Q4 may not have been quite as bad as we feared. Overall, more woeful news on activity – Q4 was awful, Q1 will probably be equally as bad."


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In case you thought that people were overhyping the effects of ransomware, perhaps you should rethink that.
The Maersk shipping line, which runs container ships and ports around the world, among many other businesses, had to shut down some of their port operations after computers were infected with the NotPetya ransomware.
This week Maersk’s CEO says that the ransomware attack is expected to cost them between $200 and $300 million dollars due to lost business. At this point no lawsuits have been filed but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be any and if there are, that would add to the cost.
That is in spite of the fact that they say that no third-party data was lost. Does that wording mean that they lost no customer data but did lose company data? They are not saying.
They are saying that they have added more security measures as a result of having to shut down their port operations.
Another company, Merck, says that it STILL has not fully recovered from the attack and said that the attack affected manufacturing, research and sales worldwide.
Part of Merck’s costs are going to be due to losses related to their active pharmaceuticals ingredient operations which “grow” certain ingredients. If the computers that control them go offline, it could affect the entire batch and depending on how long it takes to recover from that, it could dry up the supply chain for certain products.
Merck says that it does not yet know the magnitude of the impact on operations. I think it is safe to say that if they have not recovered from the outage after SIX WEEKS, the cost will be significant.
And last week, Fedex said that the cost of their downtime, missed delivery and lost business due to NoyPetya will be MATERIAL to their full year profit and loss.
So here we have three very profitable multi-nationals with sophisticated IT operations and who were affected by this recent ransomware. They are all saying that it will cost them a lot of money.
It is reasonable to conclude that if you are not ready to respond to a ransomware attack – of which there are at least hundreds every day – that your operations could be impacted and your finances will likely take a hit.
As the Boy Scouts say – BE PREPARED!


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A Singular Vision: Faena Group Founder And President Alan Faena Is Bringing His Brand's Artistic Voice To The Middle East
The Argentine entrepreneur has signed a partnership with international hospitality conglomerate Accor to grow his brand to around a dozen locations worldwide, including Dubai where he's currently planning his largest and most ambitious luxury development.
The phrase “unperturbed hotelier” may sound like an oxymoron in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic, but it perfectly fits the description of Alan Faena. That’s because, even as the global hotel industry has experienced its most devastating year in history, his latest deal is a dream come true.
The Argentine entrepreneur, famous for his pioneering hotel projects in Miami and Buenos Aires, has signed a partnership with international hospitality conglomerate Accor to grow his brand– from two resorts, to around a dozen worldwide, including in Dubai where he’s currently planning his largest and most ambitious luxury development. “This partnership goes beyond the pandemic,” says Faena, the visionary fashion designer-turned-property developer and founder of the Faena Group. “I began talking to Accor a year before the pandemic began, and I found the perfect partner to expand worldwide. It has always been our dream to share the Faena ethos and artistic vision around the globe, and with Accor, we are turning this dream into reality.”
Faena’s small but powerful foothold as a global leader in luxury lifestyle is well established. Condé Nast Traveler’s 2020 Readers Choice Awards named Faena District Miami Beach the #1 hotel in Miami and #2 hotel in the wider United States, and the twelfth highest ranked property in the world, while Faena Buenos Aires was listed among the top 20 best hotels in South America.
Image courtesy: Faena Group
As a part of the new venture, Accor, the largest hospitality company in Europe and the sixth-largest worldwide with nearly 5,000 hotels across 110 countries, will now manage the brand’s bestselling properties. Faena will work in partnership with Accor to break new ground, developing Faena Districts in select destinations, a move that is expected to become a catalyst for exponential growth owing to the artist’s deeply personal and distinctive avant-garde approach. The Districts, a real-estate concept that he first originated in Buenos Aires and later imported to Miami, are one-of-a-kind holistic environments anchored in inspiring cultural experiences, which integrate luxury residences and hotels, celebrated epicurean concepts, original experiential retail, wellness and healing, soulful entertainment and cutting-edge interdisciplinary art.
The multi-award-winning Faena Districts are internationally renowned for shifting the gravitational center of cities, expanding their social footprint and becoming new cultural epicenters. The concept is renowned, for example, for transforming Miami’s mid-beach neighborhood’s faded hotels and condominiums into a thriving cultural hub. The multi-award-winning US$1.2 billion six-block district is anchored by the 169-room Faena Hotel. The property’s Art Deco theatrical aesthetic in high Gatsby style was conceived by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Baz Luhrmann and his wife Catherine Martin, an Academy Award-winning costumer designer.
Alexandre Arrechea and Alan Faena. Image courtesy: Oriol Tarridas for Faena Art
With hotels now scrambling to adapt or rework existing projects to evolve with the realities of the public health crisis, Faena’s timeline holds the advantage of building with an eye on the future of tourism. Its Dubai development, co-financed with Accor and set to be bigger than its landmark Miami location, is expected to open doors in 2023. “As Faena expands, we plan to continue rethinking hospitality lifestyle and shaping the path for groundbreaking concepts, setting new industry standards in the creation of inimitable environments rooted in culture, positively transforming cities, shifting old paradigms and becoming new international cultural epicenters,” the founder adds.
With the city’s penchant and reputation for all things luxurious, it’s no surprise that Dubai is top on the list for Faena’s next project. Frequented by celebrities like Beyoncé and Rihanna, Faena’s hotels boast frills like a butler service for every guest, and various other innovative experiences to satisfy the lavish travel expectations of the affluent, crafted in collaboration with a collection of artists, designers and architects including the likes of Philippe Starck, Rem Koolhaas, Norman Foster and Damian Hirst.
Faena Miami Beach. Image courtesy: Todd Eberle
With experience across a wide range of industries including hospitality, entertainment, art, fashion and real estate, Faena says he looks at each development as a unique combination of art, lifestyle, technology, service, nature and sustainability. “Dubai is a unique place, with similarities to Miami, with the atmosphere, the weather, business and culture,” Faena says. “I believe Dubai is a city that has been evolving and transforming for the last decade, and I am interested to bring the Faena way of doing things to such a vibrant city that continues to change and evolve.” At this point, it’s worth noting that the Gulf region’s hospitality sector is heavily dominated by luxury, and Dubai has spent a greater part of the past decade promoting itself as a top luxury destination. But when asked if this would affect his brand’s standing in the market here, Faena was quick to dismiss that notion. “We do not compare ourselves with others in hospitality,” he declares. “We are unique, and we have our own voice.”


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Last summer, the world’s largest Internet companies learned they’d been hacked by the U.S. government.
Their answer for 2014: encrypt everything.
Over the last eight months, Yahoo encrypted its e-mail service and Google extended encryption to every search term that users enter. Microsoft said that by the end of this year it plans to encrypt all the data traveling to and from its networks. “Encryption on the Web is expanding enormously,” says Peter Eckersley, technology projects director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which grades companies on how well they do at protecting users’ privacy.
The EFF believes that within a few years, every file crossing the Internet could be protected with encryption, which uses mathematics to scramble and unscramble messages.
Encryption does not guarantee complete privacy—ciphers can be broken or compromised. But its widespread use could seriously hinder both cybercriminals and bulk collection of data by governments. That’s because even someone who is able to pilfer encrypted data can’t easily read it.
Encryption was already a rising trend, even before the spy scandal. Major security breaches have shown that computer networks are not safe from intruders. Last year, hackers stole millions of credit card numbers from Target and Neiman Marcus after finding clever ways to gain access to their systems.
“Today’s networks are like Swiss cheese. It’s very easy to get in, move laterally, and exfiltrate data,” says Dmitri Alperovitch, cofounder of the security firm CrowdStrike. “People are using tools from the 1990s to do it.”
Encrypting data, like customers’ credit card information, is an additional line of defense. But encrypting stored data (as opposed to data in transit) turns out to pose a difficult puzzle. Encrypting the data protects it but also makes it difficult to search or process—rendering it less useful.
Encryption also takes up computer time, the main reason Web companies like Yahoo didn’t always use it before. But Internet firms realize they must now take extraordinary steps in response to extraordinary new threats.
This startup wants to copy you into an embryo for organ harvesting
With plans to create realistic synthetic embryos, grown in jars, Renewal Bio is on a journey to the horizon of science and ethics.
VR is as good as psychedelics at helping people reach transcendence
On key metrics, a VR experience elicited a response indistinguishable from subjects who took medium doses of LSD or magic mushrooms.
This artist is dominating AI-generated art. And he’s not happy about it.
Greg Rutkowski is a more popular prompt than Picasso.
This nanoparticle could be the key to a universal covid vaccine
Ending the covid pandemic might well require a vaccine that protects against any new strains. Researchers may have found a strategy that will work.
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| ||Thread Tools|
|1st April 2014, 07:40||#1|
Join Date: May 2010
Oculus Rift staff get death threats
Oculus Rift creator Palmer Luckey has written on Reddit that his employees have received death threats in the wake of the company's sale to Facebook.
Luckey said that he expected a negative reaction from people in the short term; he did not expect the Spanish Inquistion. Then again, no one expects the Spanish Inquistion.
He said that he was surprised to be getting so many death threats and harassing phone calls that extended to our families.
"We know we will prove ourselves with actions and not words, but that kind of **** is unwarranted, especially since it is impacting people who have nothing to do with Oculus," Luckey said.
Last week Facebook had announced it had purchased Oculus VR for $2 billion, positive and negative comments flowed forth from social media.
Oculus VR vice president Nate Mitchell said he expected to get some heat from its core fans over the deal, but said he was surprised by the outpouring of negativity from the community at large.
Since then Mitchell claimed je's already starting to see the conversation on Twitter and Reddit "swinging back the opposite direction." He stressed that it is up to Oculus VR to educate people on why the deal makes sense and should be considered a good thing.
This is what Luckey was trying to do. He answered dozens of questions on Reddit about privacy concerns and what the deal means for the future of Oculus.
One of the reasons that the deal is so unpopular is that Oculusís success was based on getting a dedicated band of followers using kickstarter. There were concerns that Facebook would be fast and footloose with user data from the company.
Many Oculus users were proud of the fact that Facebook did not have its paws on their personal data, until the buy out.
|Thread||Thread Starter||Forum||Replies||Last Post|
|Oculus VR/Facebook Deal Generates Internet Death Threats||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||31st March 2014 08:51|
|The new Oculus Rift costs $350 and this is what it's like||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||20th March 2014 07:55|
|Oculus Rift Unveils New Prototype at CES||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||9th January 2014 07:10|
|Oculus VR to showcase latest Oculus Rift headset at CES 2014||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||6th January 2014 11:04|
|My best Oculus Rift experiences to date||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||10th December 2013 07:45|
|Oculus Rift to Produce Only One Version for PC and Android||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||1||4th November 2013 09:05|
|Oculus Rift latency tester now available for pre-order||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||26th September 2013 07:50|
|Oculus remains focused on PC first for Rift||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||19th June 2013 07:36|
|Oculus founder: booze and Rift don't mix||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||28th March 2013 07:29|
|Oculus Rift could work on current and next-gen consoles||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||20th March 2013 10:18|


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A Canadian company thought it had a deal to sell a special piece of signed memorabilia but it all unraveled and lawyers are now involved.
Next Wave Sports, once a Canadian memorabilia maker, has field suit against the National Hockey League Players Association for blocking what it claims was an already-approved deal to sell signed Ilya Kovalchuk items at the All-Star Weekend two years ago.
According to the statement of claim, Next Wave developed a product described as a Jersey Art Collectible (JAC), which consists of a prominent player’s NHL jersey that displays unique artwork featuring the player.
Later, the company said it secured a deal through Kovalchuk’s agent to have the player sign a few hundred of the pieces. They planned to sell them in Atlanta during the All-Star week memorabilia show, but at the last minute, they weren’t allowed to put them on display.
They’re claiming the NHLPA is responsible for over $1 million in damages.
The company’s website is no longer active.
Read the story in the Edmonton Sun.


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BiNet USA VP Faith Cheltenham and BiNet USA co-founder Robyn Ochs with Latinx bi, pan, and queer actor/advocate Sara Ramirez
Thanks for sharing bisexual #givingtuesday images, memes, emails, tweets and posts far and wide this year in support of bi advocacy! Here's a few more to share featuring some of BiNet USA's best bi moments, and some of our historical figures, most outspoken advocates and closest accomplices.
This year's original BiNet USA artwork for #GivingTuesday
is courtesy of Nerdscarf (they/them).


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New Zealand Q4 Manufacturing Activity Volume Gains 2.0%
(RTTNews) - Overall manufacturing activity volume in New Zealand climbed a seasonally adjusted 2.0 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2018, Statistics New said on Friday - following the upwardly revised 1.1 percent fall in Q3 (originally -1.6 percent).
The main industry movements were meat and dairy products, up 4.0 percent; petroleum and coal products, up 4.1 percent; and chemical, polymer, and rubber products, down 3.2 percent.
"The meat and dairy industry rebounded after a strong fall in the September quarter," manufacturing statistics manager Sue Chapman said. "Most meat and dairy products in New Zealand are exported and occasionally, the timing of exports, price changes, and exchange rates can affect manufacturing sales."
By value, manufacturing activity was down 0.5 percent (NZ$135 million) following a downwardly revised 1.8 percent increase (NZ$519 million) in the three months prior (originally 2.0 percent).
The main industry movements were petroleum and coal products, up NZ$97 million (3.7 percent); chemical, polymer, and rubber products, down NZ$97 million (3.7 percent); and non-metallic mineral production, down NZ$43 million (4.7 percent).
The unadjusted volume of finished goods stocks for total manufacturing was 3.0 percent higher in the December 2018 quarter compared with the December 2017 quarter.
The volume of finished goods stocks for the meat and dairy industry was 7.5 percent higher than in the December 2017 quarter. Excluding meat and dairy manufacturing, the volume of finished goods stocks was 0.5 percent lower than in the December 2017 quarter.
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ATI’s Next-Gen R520 Targeted for September/October Release
ATI Technologies may be gearing up for the launch of its new-generation products code-named R520, RV530 and RV515, according to a report from AnandTech web-site. All the chips are set to be shipped commercially in early-September – late-October timeframe, it is claimed.
The highly-anticipated code-named R520 visual processing unit (VPU) that targets high-end market is reported to be launched in at least four versions, including R520 XL, R520 PRO, R520 XT and R520 XT CrossFire Edition. The R520 XL is expected to be launched in early September, 2005, whereas the XT and XT CrossFire parts are projected to follow in early- and mid-October respectively.
The new mainstream parts – RV530 XT and RV530 PRO – as well as value graphics processors – RV515 PRO and RV515 LE – are currently targeted to launch in late October and late September respectively, according to the web-site.
ATI code-named R5-series of VPUs is projected to support Shader Model 3.0 and other innovations, which requires a totally new graphics architecture from ATI. While general specifications of ATI’s R520 are unclear at this time, AnandTech believes that the RV530 will feature 12 pixel pipelines (at up to 600MHz clock-speed), whereas the RV515 will have 4 pixel pipelines (at up to 450MHz clock-speed).
Brand-name under which the R5-series of VPUs will be commercially sold is still unclear.
ATI Technologies did not comment on the news-story.
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Alliance Boots recorded annual profits of more than £1 billion for the first time, becoming only the third retailer in the UK to exceed that mark.
The pharmacist and wholesaler said that profits in the year to March 31 rose by 12.7 per cent on a year earlier to £1.07 billion, helped by sales of own-brand products such as No 7 Protect & Perfect skincare.
Tesco and Marks & Spencer are the only other British retailers to have generated annual profits of more than £1 billion.
Despite the stellar results, Boots, taken private in 2007 in Europe’s biggest leveraged buyout, said that it was still budgeting for subdued markets across Europe.
“We’re certainly not expecting the economy to improve at all,” Andy Hornby, the chief…


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Huawei’s sub-brand Honor has launched a new mid-range smartphone called the Honor 20 Lite ahead of its scheduled official announcement on May 21. This launch, however, is a limited one with the device only going on sale in Malaysia as of now. As you might have already guessed, the Honor 20 Lite is the 2019 successor to last year’s Honor 10 Lite that sold in decent numbers in the Indian market. The Honor 20 Lite comes with a plethora of interesting specs that include a 32-megapixel selfie camera, an attractive design, and a very capable processor. Let us now take a look at the handset in detail.
Honor 20 Lite: Specifications, features
The launch of the Honor 20 Lite comes just 6 months after its predecessor was officially unveiled for the Indian market. Key specifications of the Honor 20 Lite include its processor which happens to be Huawei’s current mid-range workhorse, the HiSilicon Kirin 710 SoC. The Kirin 710 is based on a 12nm manufacturing process and is an octa-core chipset with four Cortex-A73 and four Cortex-A53 cores, The graphics part is handled by the Mali G51 GPU. The chipset also supports up to 6GB of LPDDR4 RAM albeit, in the case of the Honor 20 Lite, only 4GB of RAM is available. The phone is a dual SIM capable handset that also gets a microSD card slot for expanding the storage even further. The display used on the Honor 20 Lite is a large 6.21-inch full HD+ IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1080×2340 pixels in the 19.5:9 aspect ratio and a PPI density of 415.
Honor 20 Lite: Camera, Software and Connectivity
The camera setup on the Honor 20 Lite includes a triple lens setup at the rear and a high-resolution front-facing camera. The primary rear camera uses a 24-megapixel sensor and is mated to an f/1.8 lens. The secondary camera uses an 8-megapixel sensor with f/2.4 ultra-wide lens. The third 2-megapixel sensor is a depth sensor with f/2.4 aperture. The front-facing camera gets a 32-megapixel; sensor with f/2.0 aperture for great looking selfies. The handset runs Honor’s iteration of EMUI 9.0 which is based on Android 9 Pie. The phone also features a fingerprint sensor at the rear and supports face unlock as well. Connectivity features include Micro-USB 2.0, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.
Honor 20 Lite: Price in India
While we will need to wait for the official India launch to happen before we can authoritatively talk about the price of this device, what we know is that in Malaysia, the device has been priced at around INR 15,900 mark. It is quite possible that Honor would keep the price of the Honor 20 Lite below the INR 15k mark in India. The phone will be sold in three color options; Phantom Red, Phantom Blue, and Midnight Blue.
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| Jul 31, 2014
| 8:01 AM
John Steven Ltd. has been closed since early this week, but its owner said he hopes to have the Fells Point tavern reopened soon.
Lyle Michael Farmer said he was planning to have the tavern back open this weekend but would give no details about the...
| Jul 31, 2014
| 3:38 PM
The Harford County Sheriff's Office and Maryland State Police report:
Keejuan Moorehead, 18, of the 300 block of Old Post Road, was arrested Tuesday on a bench warrant in a case in which he was charged with second-degree assault.
| Jul 29, 2014
| 5:27 PM
Towson's brand-new movie palace comes with all the accouterments of modern filmgoing: 15 tiered auditoriums, floor-to-ceiling screens, leather seats, even a choice of wines.
But the Cinemark theater, which opened July 10, also offers guests an...
| Jul 30, 2014
| 7:58 AM
There's not much better than downing an ice-cold beer on a hot summer day. But how about downing a really inexpensive ice-cold beer on a hot summer day? Yeah, that may be better.
For our third annual survey, we again divided the city into four quadrants,...
| Jul 18, 2014
| 11:30 AM
Actor Woody Harrelson, who recently joined with local financier John "Jack" Dwyer to purchase the Inn at the Black Olive, will be in town July 27 to co-host a charity dinner at the Fells Point hotel and restaurant.
Harrelson, an Emmy winner and Oscar...
| Jul 22, 2014
| 11:58 AM
Perhaps it was a prank or a desire for an unique Ocean City souvenir, but either way, a portrait of the founder of the Dunes Manor Hotel that hung in the lobby is missing and the hotel wants it back.
Police said the hotel reported the theft of the...
| Jul 11, 2014
| 12:31 PM
Chump change it ain't.
With a net worth estimated at a cool $2.1 billion, Baltimore's Blaustein brood ranks as number 108 on Forbes' magazine's list of the 185 richest families in America, worth a combined $1.2 trillion.
The only Charm City clan to...
| Jun 23, 2014
| 4:22 PM
Silicon Valley giant Oracle Corp. plans to acquire Columbia-based Micros Systems Inc. for $5.3 billion in a deal executives and industry observers said could generate local job growth instead of the typical corporate consolidation.
In the deal...
| Jun 24, 2014
| 2:32 PM
Walter T. "Lucky" Stankowski, the retired owner of a Fells Point tavern and package-goods store known for its Saturday afternoon music-making sessions, died of cancer June 17 at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Highlandtown resident was 89.
| Jun 28, 2014
I am fascinated with hotel restaurants. It might turn out that I like to think about them more than I like to dine at them.
Consider that a hotel restaurant is designed to appeal to a typical diner, or at least what the hotel industry has determined the...
| Jul 2, 2014
| 8:38 AM
When driving down Baltimore National Pike in Ellicott City, it's easy for eyes to wander. The myriad restaurants and shops all fight for attention with colorful signs and promises of limited-time deals. It's enough to give you a headache.
| Jul 5, 2014
| 5:22 PM
Rod Cofield has the building. Now he needs the tools.
Cofield's team at Historic London Town and Gardens has built a reproduction of a carpentry shop at the Colonial site in Edgewater. Now, to show how carpenters worked at the site in the 1700s, he...