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After the initial leakage of the imminent Samsung Galaxy S10 device some weeks ago, several other pictures of the device have emerged on the internet. As per the latest leaked pictures, the device comes with a hole-punch display. One of the users of Twitter namely Ben Geskin has originally posted it on the popular social media site.
At an event in San Francisco which is some weeks left over, the developers of Galaxy S10 will surface the much-anticipated device in front of the audience. Before that, the images got leaked alongside the storage options of the device. The upcoming Galaxy S10 might provide an option to secure the data on Crypto currency wallets. Here is everything you need to know about the leaked images of Samsung Galaxy S10 device. Check my last post on how to Download Garageband on Windows 10/8.1/7 to create music on your device.
Samsung Galaxy S10 Leaked Images:
The device offers a full-screen display alongside the hole-punch display. It is one of the best crypto currency wallet application which is a secure place for storing the crypto currency. Moreover, it enables users to import currencies such as Ethereum alongside the ability to access biometric authentication for security. The device comes with a single front-facing camera. The upcoming Galaxy S10+ device offers two rear cameras for the users.
In the leaked pictures, one can notice that Samsung has commenced handling the status bar. If you take a deeper look into the pictures, you can find that the hole-punch diameter is pretty bigger compared to the Honor View20. It eventually generates some sort of gap between the battery icon and the camera unit. You can notice that there is slight space on the top of the device wherein one can use OMEs pretty easier. In the forthcoming future, one can witness much more optimizations to the upcoming versions of the device. Here is the my previous post on How to Delete Facebook Account Permanently on Your Device.
Galaxy S10 Release Date:
Apart from the Galaxy S10 device, Samsung has planned to reveal its remaining handsets that include Galaxy S10E, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10 Plus. Soon after finishing the presentations, we expect the company might commence the pre-orders for the devices online. The devices come in numerous colors with significant designs. The Samsung Galaxy S10 features 6.2-inch display LTE with a unique display. In terms of the camera specifications, the device offers 12 megapixels and 16 megapixels ultra-wide front and rear cameras. The event takes place in San Francisco in the month of February.
Must Read: Exclusive Deal: Buy iPhone SE @ Just $249
We expect that the company might launch the Galaxy S10 device at the event on 20th February 2019. The Samsung lovers need to wait for about a month to view all the stunning features and specifications of the handset. However, people have already witnessed some of the pictures and specifications of this device through the leaked images. Before the official launch, we might expect much more interesting leaks about the Galaxy S10 handset. In the month of February, we can have several interesting revelations alongside the highly functional version of the foldable smartphone from Samsung. We anticipate a lot of images will leak soon before the official launch of the Samsung Galaxy S10 and its range of handsets.


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The boss of Hamleys has insisted the iconic toyshop is on track to become profitable again after the tough UK market left it nursing a £12m loss.
Chief executive Ralph Cunningham said a drop in consumer confidence, coupled with Brexit uncertainty and the fallout from terror attacks in London had created “one of the most challenging years in UK retail history”.
Despite the pressure, he said efforts to cut costs and invest in its international franchise stores meant profitability had “improved significantly” during the current financial year.
Hamleys recorded a loss before tax of £11.9m for the year to December, down from a £2.6m profit in 2016. The fall was partly caused by one-off costs linked...

domain: news


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November 9, 2017
Ray J Closes $31 Million Deal to Launch Raycon
We have been covering the story of Raytroniks for a while now and the company has just taken a massive leap forward. Ray J has recently closed a $31 million deal securing the launch of his electronics transportation company, now branded Raycon.
According to a recent press release, the $31 million deal, paid in the form of equity and cash, was finalized between the R&B artist/television personality and Cowboy Wholesale, a leading distributor of consumer electronics based in New York City.
Ray J and Ray Lee of Cowboy Wholesale shake hands after signing the paperwork cementing their $31 million Raycon distribution deal. (Image: Raycon)
Ray J’s company has been popularizing the Scoot-E-Bike, its foldable, two-wheeled electric vehicle. The bike was presented to a mass network of influencers, which allowed it to gain a good amount of traction in the market.
It looks like Raycon is an extension of what Ray J initially started. The company will include more innovative, high-demand electronics designed and backed by celebrities and plans to address the everyday needs of the urban technophile, focusing on impactful electric transportation.
“The world is moving towards renewable green energy, and electric transportation is a big part of that. With the Raycon movement, we are going to make sure we are one of the first ones there,” said Ray J in the press report.
Partnering with Cowboy Wholesale was a smart move for the entrepreneur. Not only will they provide capital, but a world-class management team and board of advisers who have collectively sold over $1 billion in sales. The company has a heavy footprint in consumer electronics with past executive experience in companies such as Sony, Coby Electronics, and Pepsi.
As the exclusive distributor of Raycon products, Cowboy Wholesale will market the products through its global logistics and distribution channels, including the United States, Asia, and Europe, leaving Ray J to tend to marketing and global branding strategy.
The Raycon official product launch is set to release mid-November 2017 and products will be available for purchase at rayconglobal.com.


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China views Belarus as important transport corridor within Belt and Road project
31.08.2017 16:32 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) —
As of this week, while speaking within the 5th Global Economic Leaders Summit in the Chinese city of Changchun (sister city of Minsk), Special Representative for China-CEE Cooperation Affairs of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Huo Yuzhen has said Belarus is an important transportation corridor within the Belt and Road project, Belarus Radio reports.
As to the report, Ms Huo Yuzhen highlighted the obvious importance of the joint implementation by Belarus and China of the Belt and Road concept within many areas, including economy, energy, investment, and transport. By the way, trains for Europe start from the city of Changchun, one of the important hubs of the Silk Road economic belt.
«Organization of uninterrupted transportation is a key factor for trade and economic cooperation among the Belt and Road participating countries. Here Belarus plays an extremely important role,» she said.
It is to be admitted, the 5th Global Economic Leaders Summit has gathered over 300 representatives from 40 countries.


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But that is what Bessemer Venture Partners says it achieved with Summit Microelectronics, which sold to Qualcomm two weeks ago.
If there is a lesson to be learned, it might be this: “Sometimes you just have to be patient,” says Bob Goodman, founding partner of Bessemer’s New York office. “We just stayed with it.”
The Sunnyvale, Calif., company makes power management chips for use in mobile phones, tablets and other devices. The novel aspect of its technology is its efficiency and small footprint, says Goodman.
He described the better than 4x return as an excellent outcome for the company, though he declined to say exactly how much money Bessemer invested over the years. Also undisclosed is the purchase price Qualcomm paid.
According to data from Thomson Reuters, the company raised a total of $54.73 million from a long list of backers, including Bessemer, which first become involved with the company in 1998. Other investors are August Capital Management, Norwest Venture Partners, Spinnaker Ventures, Pequot Capital Management, FirstMark Capital, Eastward Capital Partners, HLM Venture Partners, Hotung International, Nokia Growth Partners and CID Group, according to the data from Thomson Reuters, publisher of this blog.
Bessemer invested out of its 1996 fund.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.


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By Cara Waters
Winemaker Jordy Kay was appalled by the amount of plastic used to wrap the pallets of wine he exported to overseas markets.
"If you put so much effort in to make the wine natural it is a shame to wrap it up in plastic," he says. "At any dock you can see pallets upon pallets of plastic stretch wrap and seldom is it recycled.
Kay was inspired to start Great Wrap, the world's first certified compostable industrial stretch wrap with the aim of removing 1 million tonnes of plastic from the environment.
"I thought someone would step into the space, it makes a lot of sense," he says. "Nobody did, so I thought I would."
The 29-year-old invested about $60,000 in savings to create a minimum viable product starting with a biodegradable product last year before this week launching Great Wrap.
Great Wrap is made from plant-based products, rather than plastic, and breaks down within 180 days once it enters compost pile.
Kay says compostable is preferable to biodegradable but acknowledges there are limited commercial composting facilities with only 150 in Australia.
"It is a great way in which it is made but it is only as good as the way it is finished," he says. "When it breaks down it breaks down into carbon and water and it is completely toxin-free which means it can break down into a non-compost environment as well. There is a huge composting revolution coming in Australia a lot of the big waste services are investing a lot into this space. I think we will see it become much more readily available."
Kay says Great Wrap has already attracted interest from companies as varied as Penfolds and the Dubai Airport.
"They are all really interested but it is just a slow burn because it is more expensive and plastic is cheap and easy," he says. "Once we can get to a point when it is a little cheaper more will come on board."
Kay says wrapping a pallet in Great Wrap costs around $2.50 while wrapping it in standard petrol-based plastic costs around $1.50.
Tom Belford, founder of Bobar Wines, was one of Great Wrap's first customers for its biodegradable wrap and is keen to use the compostable wrap.
"It is about finding another part in your supply chain that you can get rid of some plastic and find a sustainable and viable alternative," he says. "My only concern would be if it doesn't function as well. The cost difference is negligible."
Great Wrap is keen to create an plastic wrap alternative for the consumer market as well but for now is focused on the business to business market.
"The biggest issues we face around the world are B2B," Kay says. "It's great to see people using keep cups and reusable bags but we personally believe consumers are just tip of the iceberg."
He says a large Australian winery sells nearly 100,000 pallets of wine every year using roughly 50,388 kilograms of single-use stretch wrap, of which only 5000 kilograms will be recycled.
"There is the potential to remove 1 million tonnes of plastic from the environment."


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More than four years since plans were first set in motion to bring a grocery store to the fast-growing town, King Soopers Marketplace held the grand opening for its Erie location on Wednesday.
“We are so excited that this day has come about,” Erie Mayor Tina Harris said at Wednesday’s ribbon cutting. “We are excited for King Soopers, we are excited for the town of Erie and we are excited for our residents who have been asking us for years to bring them another grocery store to Erie.”
“I’m excited and proud to say that the day has finally come,” she added.
The 125,000-square-foot King Soopers Marketplace designed, according to Erie officials as a “one-stop lifestyle shopping destination,” is part of the commercial 30-acre site near the northwest Sheridan Parkway and Colo. 7.
Apart from King Soopers, the development includes a fuel station and three parcels of land that will go to independent retailers.
The town last year agreed to purchase the more than 30-acre property for about $3 million to entice Dillon Companies Inc., King Soopers’ parent company, to build there.


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Chief executive Giles Hawke confirmed the two Globus brands’ stance on Monday (24 May) in an open letter, stating confidently it "felt like the time was nearing" to resume holiday operations.
Hawke said Cosmos and Avalon would use the UK government’s traffic light system to inform its decision making, taking into account its plans to review the green, amber and red lists every three weeks.
"Our intention will be to operate our tours and cruises, where operationally viable, to destinations on the green and amber lists which are accepting international visitors," said Hawke.
Hawke said the brands were studying "a range of criteria" to inform decisions on which tours and cruises are viable, and which may have to be delayed.
"Throughout the coming months, as UK and international travelling resumes, we will be aiming to balance guests’ desire to get away with our operational ability to deliver a holiday as close as possible to what they have booked," said Hawke.
"We will be making decisions on travelling at a much later point than would be ideal, but we are remaining flexible and aiming to make holidays happen if at all possible."
Acknowledging the inevitable inconvenience, he asked customers to "remain flexible" and be understanding of the fact the situation could change at short notice.
He said the brands’ overarching aim was to "retain every opportunity to deliver holidays after such a long period of not being able to go anywhere".
"It feels like the time is nearing for when we will be able to resume our holiday operations and start to take people away," he said.
Hawke added that while it was Cosmos and Avalon’s belief that some form of vaccine passport or certification would come into play in the summer, guests would for the foreseeable future be required to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, or test negative for the infection, prior to travel.
"Our goal remains to provide holidays wherever possible and, where not possible, to provide guests with alternative travel dates or options, or to offer a letter of credit so customers can book something at a later date if so desired," said Hawke, adding the brands’ focus was to ensure it was doing the right thing for guests and their travel plans.


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“It's the first week of November, and Christmas is coming fast. Santa's elves are working overtime, and why not? His toys have guaranteed distribution.
“Things aren't so simple at Toronto-based Spin Master Ltd. "
That’s the opening to my feature story on Spin Master, Canada's largest toy company, in the latest issue of PROFIT Magazine. It’s a pretty long piece, but it’s one of my all-time favorites, and I think it’s worth your time.
For the first time, the reclusive management team at one of Canada’s most innovative and globally successful firms opens up about how they work, their greatest challenges and where they’re heading next. They offered me full access to their daily schedules for five days, enabling a rare inside glimpse into the workings of one of Canada’s most-honored growth companies.
Adding a human element to the piece: the three owner/founders are all still in their early 30s, and they’ve been friends since university. This is a very human story about a huge business success and the founders’ remarkable ability to trust, squabble and move on.
Here’s an excerpt, for those who are too busy to click through right now and think they’ll remember tomorrow:
Despite Spin Master's many successes, [co-CEO] Anton Rabie sees its evolution as a daily battle to exist. "Every day I wake up, I am being attacked," he says, eyes flashing with characteristic intensity. "I've come to realize that this is my life."
We're in his tidy, spacious office in late October, trying to conduct an interview while the phone rings and colleagues rush in looking for urgent decisions. "The LC is four weeks late!" complains one. Whenever there's a lull, Rabie rolls his highback chair to his computer table to check his inbox. "Wow," he says. "I just got an ugly e-mail."
At its size [more than $300-million], you'd think Spin Master had earned the right to give other people ulcers. But here are just a few of the challenges Rabie is dealing with this day:
* The rising cost of plastic foam following the hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico has forced Rabie to request an emergency price increase for its kids' beds. But one buyer has just turned Rabie down flat. In a terse e-mail, the buyer adds archly, "Let us know if you don't want to ship. We have alternative product lined up."
* Meanwhile, Spin Master has been trying for weeks to license an exciting new toy technology. The deal is all but done, but the inventor just found another problem with Spin Master's proposed terms. (This haggling will continue for weeks, threatening the company's spring schedule for rolling out the new product.)
* A movie producer is about to award product licences for its next animated feature. Spin Master has a new product that would fit this property perfectly—but isn't ready to announce it. Rabie gets on the phone, lobbying hard for the producer to await Spin Master's bid.
* Meanwhile, the acquisition of a niche toy company in the U.S. seems stalled, and Rabie has to get things moving again. "Let's schedule a meeting, anywhere in the world you want to meet," he tells the prospect over the phone. His goal is to get his CFO, Mark Segal, and his outside legal counsel in the same room as the U.S. toymaker until a deal is done. "How about you send the markup by Tuesday, we meet in New York Thursday at 4 p.m., and we either leave happy or sad?" In the end, the meeting is cancelled.
"Either it's a retailer cancelling an order, competitors coming into our category or an acquisition where the terms are falling apart," says Rabie grimly. "Our business is under attack every single day." Then, flashing a grim smile, he adds, "It's great entertainment."
Read the rest of the story here.
(Hint: to read it all without having to click to a new page every few paragraphs, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "Print Story." You can also copy and paste the story from that pop-up window if you want to save it for later.)
And let me know what you think. Leave a comment below.


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The Paducah-McCracken County (Ky.) Riverport Authority has its first new customer for its general cargo facility in years with PRCO America Inc., which has begun moving raw materials for refractory bricks via barge for the first time.
The riverport received its third shipment of 1,800 supersacks on February 23, Paducah-McCracken County Riverport Authority Executive Director Tim Cahill said. The shipments are brought from China to New Orleans in a bulk cargo vessel, then transferred to a barge and brought up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The riverport is located between Mile 1.3 and 2.0 on the left descending bank of the Tennessee River, near its confluence with the Ohio River.
The port stores the bags and then trucks them for just-in-time delivery to PRCO’s manufacturing plant near Mayfield, Ky.
Revitalizing Paducah Port
With the agreement, PRCO has become the primary customer for the port’s general cargo berth, which had previously been underutilized, Cahill said.
Supported by a 2021 Port Infrastructure Development Program grant, the port is also in the midst of revitalizing its bulk yard for use by existing customers, which include Pine Bluff Materials, Pine Bluff Sand & Gravel, Southern FS and Superior Graphite. The bulk yard services 31 counties in four states.
“We are rebuilding the Paducah-McCracken County Riverport for the next generation,” Cahill said.
Shipping Via Barge For The First TIme
The PRCO shipments contain minerals that are compressed using a 2,500-ton hydraulic press and heated to make the ultra-high-density ceramic bricks that line the inside of the furnace in a steel refractory, said Bill Porter, general manager of PRCO America. The brick lining keeps the molten metal from flowing out. When the bricks are 50 percent used, they are replaced with fresh bricks. Nucor Gallatin in Ghent, Ky., is a major customer, Porter said.
PRCO America was formed in 2008 in Pennsylvania. Originally, it imported finished goods from China, Vietnam and India in sea containers, which were then brought to various ports, including Vancouver and Los Angeles-Long Beach before being sent by rail to warehousing facilities in the Chicago, Ill., area.
PRCO bought an existing building to use as its plant in 2020. It processed its first bricks in August 2022 after the installation of an overhead crane and mixers, hydraulic presses, tempering ovens, mechanical presses and four robots. Finished refractory bricks have been shipped to seven different steel plants within the United States so far.
While the Mayfield plant currently employs about 18 people on one shift, Porter said the company plans to ramp up production, adding a second shift and another eight or nine employees this summer. That will require a barge shipment of supersacks roughly every month by the end of the year, he said.
The bricks PRCO has made from the barged-in raw materials have been received very favorably by all seven steel plants, Porter said. Additionally, he said, choosing to barge in the materials provides considerable cost savings.
“My experience is the longer you stay on the water, the cheaper it is,” he said.
Porter also noted that transporting the minerals via barge is a more environmentally friendly way of moving the products, compared to other modes of transportation.
A fourth shipment of the minerals is due into New Orleans within the next month to be barged to Paducah, with a fifth shipment waiting at the port in China and arrangements being made for a sixth shipment soon, he said.
“They have done everything we’ve asked them to do,” Porter said of the Paducah riverport. “They have been a perfect partner. We’ve been fortunate to find somebody like that to work with.”
PRCO also sees room for potential expansion of barged shipments along the river. Porter noted that PRCO’s plant is centrally located among several customers who are producing steel or have made announcements to build steel plants.
Many of those plants, like Nucor Gallatin, are also located along the inland river system. In 2020, Nucor Gallatin received a $434,136 Marine Highway grant from the U.S. Maritime Administration (MarAd) to support expansion of service between Nucor Gallatin and the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville. The same year, MarAd awarded a $2,363,800 grant for construction of a marine terminal at Nucor Brandenburg.
Marine Highway Effectiveness
Cahill said the port’s arrangement with PRCO to receive and store its raw materials for the new Mayfield plant is a perfect example of the effectiveness of moving products via marine highways like the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. While the PRCO agreement with the port is not part of a grant-funded project, it has the same goal as the United States Marine Highway Grant Program of shipping products by the inland waterways that were once moved primarily by rail or truck, increasing safety and decreasing costs.
Caption for top photo (click on image for full photo): The Paducah-McCracken County Riverport Authority’s 53-ton lift Comansa tower crane unloads a barge full of supersacks filled with raw materials for new customer PRCO America Inc. (Photo by Shelley Byrne)


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Made Smarter, the movement connecting UK manufacturing industries to digital tools, conducted a survey of 200 SME manufacturers in the area.
The results highlighted how the last two years affected them, their approach to digitalisation and their priorities going forward.
The survey revealed while many (35 per cent) makers, particularly smaller businesses, were focussed on survival after a turbulent few years, achieving growth by improving productivity and adopting digital technologies were key drivers.
In fact, two-in-five manufacturers (38 per cent) revealed they had plans to invest in new technology in the next two or three years. Meanwhile, one in three said their latest business strategy included integrating digital technology or a roadmap towards automation.
The survey also showed that manufacturing leaders were exploring a range of technologies to revolutionise the way they make and distribute their products.
Almost half (44 per cent) expressed an interest in data and systems integration technologies, while two-thirds were considering industrial machinery, robotics and automation.
The survey also tapped into attitudes towards technology adoption where it found almost a third (29 per cent) cited productivity, efficiency, and output as key drivers for manufacturers in 2022 and beyond, despite the current business climate.
Increasing revenue (18 per cent) was the secondary motivator to invest in new digital tools, followed by attracting and winning new customers (17 per cent).
However, while the majority (80 per cent) of manufacturing leaders expressed a clear understanding of what they need to do and the benefits of investing in new technologies, once they are aware of the benefits, barriers to adoption remain.
Two in five (42 per cent) manufacturers said that the lack of capital and funding to invest was holding them back.
The survey also revealed a fragmented awareness of the business advice and support available, meaning SMEs are potentially missing out on valuable funding and support available to them.
Donna Edwards, programme director for the Made Smarter adoption programme in the North West, said the findings of the research show that the case for digitalisation has never been stronger.
She said: “SME manufacturers have endured a few unsettling years and continue to face a multitude of recovery challenges. They are aware that technology brings significant benefits and they risk being left behind by not capitalising on the opportunities on offer.
"But it is also clear that they need support and advice to create a roadmap to digital transformation to enable them to adopt the right digital tools, progressively and sustainably, to avoid risking wasted time, money and effort.”
Made Smarter was designed to overcome these and other hurdles by helping SME manufacturers navigate through complex technology advice and decisions.
Registration only takes five minutes and is followed up with a digital transformation workshop to identify core challenges, provide a bespoke digital manufacturing roadmap, and pinpoint other ways that Made Smarter can support digitalisation.


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Opah fish are hauled onto a dock for sale last week in San Diego. Fishermen coming home to California after weeks at sea are finding strict anti-coronavirus measures, and nowhere to sell their catch.


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Telecom Lead Asia: Cisco said India is expected to have
the highest IP traffic growth rate with a 62 percent CAGR from 2011 to 2016.
In a second-place tie, Brazil and South Africa both have
53 percent CAGRs over the forecast period.
Annual global IP traffic is likely to grow to 1.3
zettabytes by 2016.
The projected increase of global IP traffic between 2015
and 2016 is more than 330 exabytes, which is almost equal to IP traffic
generated in 2011 (369 exabytes).
Growth in devices, Internet users, faster broadband
speed, more video and WiFi will drive the growth.
There will be nearly 18.9 billion network connections by
2016 — almost 2.5 connections for each person on earth, — compared with 10.3
billion in 2011.
By 2016, there are expected to be 3.4 billion Internet
users — about 45 percent of the world’s projected population according to
United Nations estimates.
The average fixed broadband speed is expected to increase
nearly fourfold, from 9 megabits per second (Mbps) in 2011 to 34 Mbps in 2016.
By 2016, 1.2 million video minutes — the equivalent of
833 days (or over two years) — would travel the Internet every second.
Over half of the world’s Internet traffic is expected to
come from Wi-Fi connections by 2016.
“Each of us increasingly connects to the network via
multiple devices in our always-on connected lifestyles. Whether by video phone
calls, movies on tablets, web-enabled TVs, or desktop video conferencing, the
sum of our actions not only creates demand for zettabytes of bandwidth, but
also dramatically changes the network requirements needed to deliver on the
expectations of this new normal,” said Suraj Shetty, vice president of
product and solutions marketing, Cisco.
By 2016, the Asia Pacific region is forecast to generate
the most IP traffic (40.5 exabytes per month), maintaining the top spot over North
America (27.5 exabytes per month), which generated the second most amount of
The fastest-growing IP-traffic regions for the forecast
period (2011-2016) are the Middle East and Africa (58 percent compound annual
growth rate, for 10-fold growth), and Latin America (49 percent CAGR, sevenfold
By 2016, the highest traffic-generating countries will be
the United States (22 exabytes per month) and China (12 exabytes per month).
There are expected to be 1.5 billion Internet video users
by 2016, up from 792 million Internet video users in 2011.
By 2016, the Index forecasts there will be nearly 18.9
billion network connections — almost 2.5 connections for each person on earth.
In 2011, PCs generated 94 percent of consumer Internet
traffic. This contribution is expected to fall to 81 percent by 2016.
By 2016, TVs are expected to account for over 6 percent
of global consumer Internet traffic (up from 4 percent in 2011), and 18 percent
of Internet video traffic (up from 7 percent in 2011) — demonstrating the
impact of Web-enabled TVs as a viable online option for many consumers.
There will be 8 billion IPv6-capable fixed and mobile
devices in 2016, up from 1 billion in 2011.
Globally, 40 percent of all fixed and mobile networked
devices will be IPv6-capable in 2016, up from 10 percent in 2011.
Global advanced video traffic, including
three-dimensional (3-D) and high-definition TV (HDTV), is projected to increase
five times between 2011 and 2016.
Mobile Internet data traffic is forecast to increase 18
times from 2011 to 2016, to 10.8 exabytes per month (or 130 exabytes annually).
By 2016, global peer-to-peer traffic is projected to
account for 54 percent of global consumer Internet file sharing traffic, down
from 77 percent in 2011. On a quantity basis, however, the amount of
peer-to-peer traffic is expected to increase from a rate of 4.6 exabytes per
month in 2011 to 10 exabytes per month by 2016.
Business IP video conferencing is projected to grow
sixfold over the forecast period, growing more than two times as fast as
overall business IP traffic, at a CAGR of 42 percent from 2011 to 2016.
Globally, there were 1.7 billion residential Internet
users with fixed Internet access in 2011; the index forecasts there will be 2.3
billion residential Internet users with fixed Internet access by 2016.
Digital TV is expected to be the fastest-growing digital
television service, going from 694 million subscribers in 2011 to 1.3 billion
subscribers in 2016.
Globally, voice over IP (VoIP) is projected to be the
fastest-growing residential Internet service, going from 560 million users in
2011 to 928 million users in 2016.
Online Music is expected to be the most highly penetrated
residential Internet service — in 2011 there were 1.1 billion users (63
percent of residential Internet users); in 2016 there are forecast to be 1.8
billion users (79 percent of residential Internet users).
Mobile consumers are forecast to grow from 3.7 billion in
2011 to 4.5 billion by 2016.
Globally, mobile video is projected to be the
fastest-growing consumer mobile service, going from 271 million users in 2011
to 1.6 billion users in 2016.
Consumer SMS will be the most highly penetrated consumer
mobile service — in 2011, there were 2.8 billion users (74 percent of consumer
mobile users), increasing to 4.1 billion users (90 percent of consumer mobile
users) by 2016.
Business Internet users are projected to grow from 1.6
billion in 2011 to 2.3 billion by 2016.
Globally, desktop videoconferencing is projected to be
the fastest-growing service, with 36.4 million users in 2011, increasing to
218.9 million users in 2016.
Business mobile location-based services (LBS) are
forecast to be the fastest-growing business mobile service, with 27 million
users in 2011, increasing to 158 million users by 2016.


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LONDON — Blighty’s pay-TV giant, BSkyB, has defied the skeptics by announcing better than expected subscriber growth for the summer quarter.
Analysts had forecast that the satcaster, controlled by News Corp. under attack from terrestrial digital platform, Freeview, would add fewer than 50,000 new paying customers between July and September.
But a bullish James Murdoch, who took over as CEO a year ago, revealed that 62,000 new subscribers had forked out for Sky packages taking the total number of BSkyB subscribers to 7.4 million.
Almost as encouraging for BSkyB was the high take-up of Sky Plus, the outfit’s PVR system.
Murdoch said he was pleased with figures showing 77,000 new Sky Plus subscribers in the quarter, bringing the total to 474,000. “With Sky Plus, I think it’s just a great product and the word is getting out there,” he said.
The City reacted positively to the news as BSkyB shares surged by six per cent, or 32p, to 564p, in early trading.
Revenues in the first quarter rise by 11% to $1.598 billion (£940 million). Pre-tax profits climbed by 16 per cent to $250m (£147m).
In a conference call Murdoch Jr. promised to add at least another 100,000 subscribers during the key pre-Christmas quarter.
He insisted the satcaster remained on track to reach eight million customers by the end of 2005.
Murdoch said: “We talked about a Christmas quarter that would be seasonally strong with north of 100,000 additions. Certainly, we feel reasonably good about where we are.”
Analysts welcomed the figures and said they were reassured by the fact that the new marketing campaign launched this fall, following a disappointing spring, appeared to be working.
Murdoch said initial reaction the campaign, targeting families and highlighting programs on offer other than sport and movies, had been good, and that the response so far to Freesat, launched on October 21, had been generally positive.
Three months ago the 31-year-old CEO outlined a $765 investment program aimed to bolster subscriber numbers and attract new customers to a range of price points.
This was a break with BSkyB’s traditional strategy of going all out for selling premium packages.
Murdoch said BSkyB would start to target mid-market customers during the next year by promoting packages priced around the $35 a month mark.
“We think we’ve got a range of very attractive price points. but we think there’s more pricing and packaging work we can do to make that more competitive. We won’t be looking at a $17 (£10) package,” he said.
BSkyB aims to reach 10 million subscribers by the end of the decade. Today he repeated his claim that that pay-TV in the U.K. would echo the U.S. experience eventually reaching 80 per cent penetration; it now stands at 43 per cent.
He added: “This technology is very much in the beginning. We see penetration rising to 80% in the long term. It’s that opportunity that we’re focusing on.”
On the question of broadband-based video-on-demand services beginning to emerge in the U.K. Murdoch played down the threat.
He said: “It’s something we expected. The film business in the home is very competitive. VOD and DVD are part of what the studios are pushing, but we believe it is very early days for VOD.
“Our focus is putting together a tremendous movie package at great prices and we aren’t losing much sleep over this.”
With at least one of BSkyB’s movie contracts with the Hollywood studios being renegotiated Murdoch said as other home media started offering movies to paying customers, he would expect the studios to drop their prices.
“We’re always determined to get the right prices but when those products are exploited in other distribution outlets that has an impact on value.”
On the subject of a new encryption deal with ITV, Blighty’s most watched private web, due to expire this month and said to be worth $120m to BSkyB, Murdoch said it was important for ITV’s regional advertising sales and copyright protection.
The BBC’s channels have opted out of BSkyB’s encryption system. As ITV continues to cut costs, the web is expected to follow suit.
The BSkyB figures came on the same day as the company’s AGM, which last year made headlines when investors protested against the appointment of James Murdoch, accusing BSkyB chairman Rupert Murdoch of nepotism.
Today’s meeting was a more relaxed affair as a controversial share buyback scheme, tightening the Murdoch family’s grip on BSkyB, was passed.
Oddly, both Murdochs declined to speak to reporters at the event. This was a departure with precedent and interpreted as a sign of sensitivity over News Corp’s recent attempts to stop Liberty Media increasing its stock in the conglom.


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Reliance Industries, chairman Mukesh Ambani on Friday announced setting up of national distribution centres in Madhya Pradesh with over 10 million square feet space across 45 locations.
The company, which has over 600 stores and 100 petroleum retail outlets in the state, is planning to more than double the same over the next few years, Ambani said at ‘Magnificent MP’, investment summit organised by the Madhya Pradesh government.
“Madhya Pradesh is a natural choice for logistics hub because of its strategic location. Reliance will be setting up state-of-the-art national distribution centres in MP with over 10 million sq ft of space across 45 locations in the state,” Ambani announced through video conferencing.
Ambani, however, did not share the investment details of this project. Ambani expressed his inability to attend the summit because of the board meeting of the company on Friday. Read More
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First things first. Let's reveal the winners of our year-end quiz.
We received 181 entries, including 19 that got every answer right. We picked three winners of autographed copies of Jim Cramer's RealMoney: Sane Investing in an Insane World.
And the lucky trio is ... Lynn Lyons of Laguna Beach, Calif., Andrew Knauf of Grand Rapids, Mich., and Jacob Boak of Pittsford, N.Y. Congratulations!
Thanks again to everyone for participating, and to Jim for the books.
Now, on with the show. (
To view Colin's video take of this column, please click here.
1. Flower Power
The year is young, but already the
hype is in full bloom.
Everyone's favorite Internet stock doubled in 2005, but that hardly silenced the spirited debate over the company's
eye-popping valuation. This week, a pair of Wall Street analysts -- longtime bull Safa Rashtchy of Piper Jaffray and onetime fence-sitter Robert Peck of Bear Stearns -- added to the chatter.
Rashtchy rang in the new year by
raising his price target from a modest $445 to an impressive $600. A number that big is prone to cause double takes no matter how you explain it, but at least
Rashtchy's rationale is clear.
"Google is our top large-cap stock pick for 2006 because it is singularly well positioned to benefit from the growth of online advertisement and search," Rashtchy writes. "Furthermore, Google's culture of innovation has enabled the company to go beyond online search marketing with innovative new products that have redefined the consumer Internet experience. Two of Google's newer products, Google Ad Network and Google Base, show significant promise to fuel Google's string of earnings upside surprises beyond 2006."
Peck's 38-page report takes the opposite tack, eschewing simple logic in favor of florid prose. In raising the stock to outperform from peer perform, Peck boosts his price target to $550 -- up from $360, which Google last saw around Halloween -- and sheds any semblance of modesty.
"Today we are introducing the concept of the Google Ecosystem to investors," Peck writes. Helpfully defining the ecosystem as "a community interacting as a functional unit, that grows and mutually supports the various components within it," the analyst adds, "While most people associate the ecosystem with nature, we think it also applies to business sectors and believe Google is in the midst of nurturing its own Ecosystem, much like
did in the past."
Of course, that's not all. "Google is the one-trick pony that knows other tricks its competitors have not yet seen," Peck says, adding that he now believes his previous take on the stock was "too conservative."
He doesn't seem to be in grave danger of repeating that mistake.
Dumb-o-Meter score: 93. Apparently it's only natural that Google should defy gravity.
Stern Signs 'Em Up
2. Stern Countenance
Howard Stern is enjoying 2006 too. The renowned shock jock, whose uncensored rantings will finally hit the satellite-radio airwaves Monday, celebrated this week by accepting a hunk of
The $225 million payout was triggered when Sirius beat some enrollment targets. The company said it added 2.2 million subscribers during the year and finished 2005 with 3.3 million users, well above its oft-repeated 3 million-subscriber target. Last quarter, Sirius even beat out rival XM( XMSR) in head-to-head competition, such as it is.
Yet some people were skeptical of the achievement. "I'm not surprised Sirius had little trouble hitting any subscriber numbers target given the heavy rebating activity on the hardware," RealMoney.com 's Michael Comeau wrote Thursday morning. And some observers have wondered about Sirius' car-counting methods.
Stern's stock award is part of the five-year, half-billion-dollar contract he signed in October 2004. Of course, CEO Mel Karmazin has his own contract, worth more than $1 million a year in addition to restricted stock valued above $20 million. The huge payouts help to fuel the robust cash burn often noted by bears on Sirius stock.
That doesn't faze Karmazin, though. "Satellite radio is very hot and is continuing on pace to be one of the fastest growing products in consumer electronics history," he said Thursday with typical understatement.
Another raft of hype from Sirius? What a shocker.
Dumb-o-Meter score: 90."Wonder if Stern is going to listen to the 17 analysts with buy ratings and hold his shares?" RealMoney's Will Gabrielski pondered Thursday. "I wouldn't."
3. Buck Shot
It may be based in Europe, but
( BF) knows the value of a dollar.
The Ludwigshafen, Germany-based chemicals giant grabbed headlines this week by
going public with a $4.9 billion unsolicited proposal to buy rival
. Engelhard shares soared 27% in a day, even as the Iselin, N.J., company asked shareholders to sit tight while its board mulls things over.
Up till now, BASF had been best known for its long-winded ad tagline, "We don't make the products you buy -- we make the products you buy better." But its pursuit of Engelhard may put that slogan in a different light.
According to a letter it released Tuesday, BASF first approached Engelhard in late December. BASF suggested a merger at $37 a share, seeing huge opportunities in what it called "the dynamically growing catalyst market." Engelhard agreed to meet but later backed away, BASF says.
In its letter, BASF expresses some exasperation with Engelhard Chairman Barry Perry and his board. What's particularly galling, BASF hints, is that Engelhard has turned its back on BASF's generous offer to pay for confidential information.
"We have clearly indicated to Mr. Perry that we would be prepared to raise our current offer price by as much as $1.00 per share if he agrees to meet with us and the information provided supports such an increase," BASF says. "In the absence of such additional information, we are unable to improve our original offer of $37.00 per share."
If adding a dollar is BASF's idea of making its offer better, we can't blame Engelhard for sitting this one out.
Dumb-o-Meter score: 85. With Engelhard stock fetching $38 this week, it seems like BASF is going to have to ante up the extra buck anyway.
4. Paper Tiger
Martha Stewart cut another huge deal this week.
Her Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO) media conglomerate has come under fire on Wall Street for its poor financial performance. The New York company continues to lose money and was taken to the woodshed last fall after shareholders were left holding the bag for the founder's TV ambitions.
This week, CEO Susan Lyne and her minions fashioned their bold response. On Thursday the company rolled out plans to sell Martha Stewart Crafts, giving customers "a one-stop shop for their crafting needs."
Where Wall Street wants to see revenue growth and profit gains, Martha Stewart sees a chance to sell "paper-based craft and scrapbooking merchandise," starting late this year. The company even arranged a partnership with EK Success, which Martha Stewart Living says has the "leading market position in the fast-growing $3 billion scrapbooking segment of the U.S. craft industry."
If that's not enough, Martha's Web site will offer "inventive scrapbooking content" and other stuff.
"Scrapbooking has taken hold across every demographic, and we are thrilled to be partnering with the industry leader, EK Success," said Robin Marino, president of merchandising at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. "MSLO has both how-to expertise and deep archives in the craft arena, and we look forward to creating inspired, high-quality products in what is clearly a growth industry."
Yes, we can't wait to frame the clippings from that next big earnings misfire.
Dumb-o-Meter score: 80. Will each scrapbook come with a handy container for storing freshly chopped cabbage?
5. Shell Game
Kulicke & Soffa
just had a strange brush with the stock market's dark side.
This week the Willow Grove, Pa., semiconductor-parts company amended its annual report for the year ended Sept. 30, 2005. It seems that in a
Securities and Exchange Commission
filing Dec. 13, Kulicke & Soffa checked off the wrong box. That doesn't seem like a big deal -- until you consider which box Kulicke mistakenly checked instead.
"The cover page of the Company's 10-K had erroneously indicated by check mark that the Company was a 'shell company' within the meaning of Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934," the company said in a press release.
Shell companies aren't highly esteemed on Wall Street, to say the least.
Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms defines a shell corporation as a "company that is incorporated but has no significant assets or operations. Such corporations may be formed to obtain financing prior to starting operations, in which case an investment in them is highly risky. The term is also used of corporations set up by fraudulent operators as fronts to conceal tax evasion schemes."
Of course, no one is making any of those claims against Kulicke, which duly reports that its corrected cover sheet was filed as an amendment to the 10-K Wednesday. "There were no other changes to the 10-K," Kulicke assured investors.
Well, maybe Kulicke was just thinking outside the checkbox.
Dumb-o-Meter score: 78. And people say complying with Sarbanes-Oxley is tough.
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Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) to guarantee that its viewers will be able to watch streaming video without any of the hiccups associated with slow or intermittent connection speeds, a decision that should eventually raise Netflix’s prices and has major implications for the future of net neutrality, reports Dawn C. Chmielewski for The Los Angeles Times.
Comcast agreed to abide by net neutrality, the idea that all internet traffic should be treated equally by service providers, when it acquired NBC Universal in 2011. Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) said that even under the new deal “Netflix receives no preferential network treatment,” but it’s hard to imagine how that could be true. If Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is guaranteeing that traffic from Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is seamless, but doesn’t make the same guarantee for all other data that it transmits, then it isn’t treating everything the same way.
There's a gold rush coming as electric vehicle manufacturers fight for market share, proclaimed David Einhorn at this year's 2021 Sohn Investment Conference. Check out our coverage of the 2021 Sohn Investment Conference here. Q1 2021 hedge fund letters, conferences and more SORRY! This content is exclusively for paying members. SIGN UP HERE If you Read More
Netflix focusing on viewer experience
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) has benefited from net neutrality up until now, as does any internet startup before it becomes successful, but now that the company is seeing strong growth and facing high expectations from investors it is working hard to enhance the viewer experience any way it can. If it’s willing to spend money producing original content and developing capacity to deliver ultra-high definition 4K resolution, skimping on connection speeds would be a strange decision.
The bigger question is where this leaves everyone else. If Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) signs deals with other big ISPs like Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), it will either have a competitive advantage over its competitors because of the smoother viewing experience, or it will open the door for all major internet companies to start paying for more consistent speeds. If Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA), which is trying to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC), is allowed to charge whatever the market will bear, those costs will eventually reach consumers, and new startups will have a harder time establishing new services, which could stifle online innovation.
There is also concern that tiered levels of internet access will give any company that is both a major ISP and a content producer an easy way to drive competitors out of business.
FCC to rework net neutrality rules
The Federal Communications Commission has tried to guarantee net neutrality before, but federal courts have ruled that it didn’t have the authority to enforce the rules as they had been written. FCC chairman Tom Wheeler is working on a new set of rules that would have the same effect while staying within the limits set up by the court, but not everyone at the FCC is on the same page. FCC commissioner Mike O’Reilly has argued in favor of further deregulation instead.


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Lou Kilzer, Pittsburg Tribune-Review
A proposed deal would send rare-earth elements from America’s single major mine to factories in China, bending if not breaking the idea of full American independence in the strategically vital materials.
“I would be surprised if this doesn’t set off alarm bells in the Defense Department,” Washington-based rare-earth consultant Jeff Green said. The deal was announced this week.
That’s because manufacturers use the 17 rare earths found on the periodic table and other materials to make magnets, iPads, hybrid vehicles, smart bombs, lasers and sonars.
Colorado-based Molycorp Inc., owner of a huge rare-earth mine in California, announced a $1.3 billion plan on Thursday to buy Neo Material Technology Inc., which converts rare-earth raw materials into commercial powders, primarily in China.
Chief executive officers for both companies said in a conference call on Friday that their representatives are talking about the deal with regulators in Beijing and Washington.
Although most of its factories are in China, Neo Material is headquartered in Toronto, where its shares are traded.
Rare-earth prices fell about 50 percent in the past six months. Aprice explosion in 2010 and 2011 was caused by export quotas from China, the world’s largest rare-earth miner.
That produced a buyer’s market for rare-earth properties by Molycorp, which is backed by investment banks Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisee, Green said.
“The transaction will give Molycorp greater exposure to the world’s largest and fastest-growing rare earth-consuming nation — China,” Molycorp said in its announcement.
Molycorp CEO Mark Smith said he doesn’t anticipate that U.S. officials will resist because his mine would produce enough rare earths to satisfy customer demands in America, Japan, Europe and China.
The Tribune-Review first reported in early 2011 a possible deal in which Molycorp would send rare earths to Neo Materials in China. At the time, Smith said he would approach such action with great trepidation because of the political sensitivity of strategic rare earths.
Neo Material CEO Constantine Karayannopoulos said then that there was “a certain amount of jingoism” in American reservation about sending U.S. rare-earth materials to China.
Smith said the deal could be approved in the second or third quarter of this year.
Ed Richardson, president of the U.S. Magnet Materials Association, told the Trib that once rare-earth material gets to China, it can be problematic to get it out.
“Is the government just going to sit by as rare earths are shipped to China? Really?” he said. “To me, that’s stunning.”
Smith said that shipping Molycorp’s material to China is a smart move because China produces most of the world’s rare earths and consumes 70 percent of them.
Molycorp promised a “mine-to-magnets” approach in America since it went public in 2010. How much of that it can accomplish within U.S. borders is unclear. An earlier deal to accomplish that by cooperating with Japan’s Hitachi fell through.
Business considerations will determine whether to put any of Neo Materials’ technological expertise into practice within the United States, Smith said.


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The Royal Caribbean cruise ship Grandeur of the Seas is suffering from an engine issue and her sailing has been canceled.
Grandeur of the Seas Engine Issue
The vessel has suffered from an engine issue after departing from her homeport in Baltimore, Maryland on Saturday. As a result, the ship had to return to port and cancel the cruise which included a call to Bermuda.
A letter was sent out to guests about the situation which was “due to a technical issue with one of the ship’s engines” and an explanation of what is happening next. The engineers needed to assess the engine issue and as a precaution, the voyage needed to be canceled as the ship would not be able to spend much time in Bermuda.
The cruise line has apologized to guests and is refunding the full price of the cruise fare. Also, to make up for guests not being able to enjoy their vacation Royal Caribbean is providing a 100% future cruise credit. Any shore excursions or pre-cruise packages are also being refunded.
With Grandeur of the Seas returning to Baltimore yesterday guests have been able to remain on board until September 1 with the debarkation process starting at 6:00 PM. Those passengers who wanted to leave the ship yesterday were able to disembark before 11:00 PM. The cruise line also offered free phone calls and internet access so alternative travel arrangements can be made.
Royal Caribbean has provided guests with everything they needed to know and you can’t beat a full refund as well as a future cruise credit! Let’s just hope that the engine issue can be resolved so the next and much longer 9-day cruise to Canada and New England will go ahead as scheduled on September 5.
Grandeur of the Seas was originally scheduled to sail a 5-day cruise which included an overnight call to Bermuda on Sep 2 – Sep 3. The ship is over 73,800 gross tons and has a guest capacity of 1,900 at double occupancy.
Recently the Carnival Dream had an issue with its propulsion system and had to cancel a call in Mexico, you can read more here.


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PayPal made big news twice in the past couple of weeks—news that should have banking leaders sitting up and taking notice.
First, PayPal formally broke away from its one-time foster parent, eBay, and became an independently traded entity in its own right (symbol PYPL).
Second, it announced plans to buy Xoom Corp., a digital money transfer provider specializing in international remittances, paying about $890 million in cash.
All very interesting, but why should bankers in particular care? Because of the battle over payments.
And it is a battle. Three McKinsey and Co. principals, in a 2014 white paper titled The Digital Battle That Banks Must Win, portrayed the general situation pretty succinctly:
“Armed with deposit accounts, lending relationships, an enduring reputation for security, and a robust infrastructure for clearing and settling, banks are currently the only players with the ability to achieve the scale required for mobile payments.”
But the three qualify that statement this way: “For now, the payments business remains squarely within the core bank franchise, but attackers such as Google, Apple, and PayPal threaten critical sources of revenue.”
Perspective of the “attackers”
Those “attackers,” notably PayPal, have made considerable headway since then. PayPal was the pioneer in 1998 that established the rapid adoption of ecommerce by providing a safe and convenient way to send money by email. Yet it is not a bank.
Meanwhile, as an ACI Worldwide/Ovum study shows, most banks believe consumers in general want a broader choice of payment tools, and if a given bank offered such a payments choice, the primary payback would be in increased customer satisfaction, and not in gaining competitive advantage or reducing business costs.
PayPal certainly realizes this—in so many words. Its CEO, Dan Schulman, says in a statement announcing the separation from eBay:
“Right now, every aspect of commerce is being rewired on a global basis. The convergence of mobile technology and cloud computing is unleashing incredible opportunities to transform how people move and manage money, and how merchants and consumers interact and transact. Our company has a leading position to deliver the benefits of this transformation.”
PayPal’s vision goes beyond words, as can be seen in the acquisition of Xoom. Again, says Schulman:
“Expanding into international money transfer and remittances aligns with our strategic vision to democratize the movement and management of money. Acquiring Xoom allows PayPal to offer a broader range of services to our global customer base, increase customer engagement, and enter an important and growing adjacent marketplace. Xoom’s presence in 37 countries—in particular, Mexico, India, the Philippines, China, and Brazil—will help us accelerate our expansion in these important markets.”
Analysts approve of PayPal strategies
Various outside analysts have generally been positive in viewing PayPal’s recent actions.
Regarding the Xoom purchase, Nikhil Joseph, emerging technologies analyst at the Mercator Advisory Group, says: “Remittances could be the Trojan horse that enables PayPal to crack these [foreign] markets, representing a cost-effective way of acquiring new PayPal users.”
Gilles Ubaghs, analyst at Ovum, provides an even broader viewpoint, incorporating not only the Xoom acquisition but other recent acquisitions: “PayPal as an organization is now bigger than its core wallet platform, and will continue to develop these new services as it diversifies its portfolio of capabilities … These acquisitions including online payments provider Braintree, wallet provider Paydiant, and international mobile remittance platform Xoom, significantly expand PayPal’s capabilities in both the merchant and consumer spaces.”
A year after writing their white paper, the McKinsey commenters certainly would recognize this chain of developments. They said back then: “Having entered the payments space through profitable, underserved niches such as [peer-to-peer payments] and cross-border commerce, attackers are now venturing into adjacent segments, which are at the core of banks’ offerings, such as point of sale lending [witness the existing PayPal POS app] and financial planning.”
More generally, it’s clear that PayPal has very big plans.
Schulman means what he says about PayPal’s future: “We look forward to the limitless opportunities that lie ahead to create a world of money and financial services that are simple, safe, transparent, affordable, and accessible for everyone.”
McKinsey’s experts delineate a clear battle between banks and their “attackers,” and offer this cautionary conclusion:
“Banks are the natural owners of the payments space, as payments are the gateway into the financial relationship. However, attackers are developing payments-service capabilities and operational skills superior to those of banks. They are not smarter, just more focused. Banks’ customer relationships, structural security, multichannel capabilities, and stability should ultimately combine to win the game. But banks will succeed only if they can match the solutions, operational efficiency, and client-service skills of attackers. And they must get there quickly. In the digital world, tomorrow is already too late.”
Sources used for this article include:


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Updated 4:17 p.m.
• BlackBerry 10 is a failure that won’t be able to compete, company source says but RIM: Rumors About BlackBerry 10 Problems “Simply False” – BGR says the real reason behind the BlackBerry 10′s delay is a problem integrating core components into the new operating system. RIM denies it, saying it’s waiting for a better LTE chipset.
• Google Will Pay Mozilla Almost $300M Per Year in Search Deal, Besting Microsoft and Yahoo – As part of the renewed contract for Google to be the default search engine in Firefox.
• New iPhone? No thanks, say cash-conscious Europeans – Europe’s economic woes are hurting sales of the iPhone, a market research firm says. Also Apple nears German court rebuff in row with Samsung
• Louis CK’s digital distribution experiment clears $1M in 12 days – The comedian says he’ll only keep $220,000 for himself. The rest he’ll give away.
• Study Shows AT&T’s LTE Network Is Faster Than Verizon’s — For Now – This has been my experience, too, in Houston.
• How the iPhone Zapped Carriers – The Wall Street Journal looks at how the iPhone has upended the world of the telcos, who aren’t having much fun trying to keep up with heavy data demands from smartphone use.
• People: Steve Jobs awarded a Grammy – For changing the music industry via iTunes. (Some in the music industry would argue this was not necessarily a good thing.)
• 7″ panel orders reportedly overtake 9.7″ shipments as iPad 2 production draws down – Will competition from Amazon and Barnes & Noble force Apple to release a 7-inch version of the iPad?
• The truth about Microsoft and CES – A source tells The Verge that Microsoft was approached by CES about a three-year keynote contract, but chose only one, for 2012. Also Mystery: Who killed the Microsoft CES keynote?
• Sony Ericsson LT28at Xperia ‘super phone’ has 4.55-inch 720p Reality Display, LTE and 13-megapixel camera – It appears to be coming from AT&T. Also Ice Cream Sandwich coming to 2011 Xperia™ smartphones from end March/early April 2012
• All the Companies Supporting SOPA, the Awful Internet Censorship Law—and How to Contact Them – So just who would support a law that its detractors say would break the Internet? These guys. But Coders Are Already Finding Ways Around SOPA Censorship
• Hasbro sues Asus over Transformer Prime tablet – The owner of the Transformers toy line is not happy that Asus has given this name to a tablet computer.
• Here’s The Damning Letter A Massive AOL Shareholder Just Sent Tim Armstrong – An investment firm with a big stake in AOL says the company is mismanaging its media business. And AOL ISSUES STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO STARBOARD LETTER TO COMPANY
• RIAA: Someone Else Is Pirating Through Our IP-Addresses – The RIAA says its staffers weren’t the ones downloading illicit TV shows.
• How hackers gave Subway a $3 million lesson in point-of-sale security – Some Subway franchisees had not installed the proper software on their registers.


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First it was fuel prices now it’s electronic chips in your phones and cars which are set to soar in price – bleak economic news looms over the “new Ukraine.”
Economists are warning of a global hi-tech doomsday scenario in which Chinese moves to annex or erect a trade blockade around Taiwan spark inflation-busting price rises for mobile phones and other hi-tech “must haves.”
Their concern stems from parallels between this potential conflict and the one in the Ukraine, namely the rest of the world’s over-reliance on one of countries involved for a product it badly needs.
But whereas it has been Russia for gas (before the war the EU was importing 40% of all its natural gas supplies from the Soviet Union) it is Taiwan for electronic chips – chips whose uses include powering hospitals and defence systems.
Despite the tiny island in East Asia having a population of only just over 23 million, and only becoming independent of China in 1950, Taiwan has grown into an economic superpower in its own right.
Gareth Leather, a Senior Economist who has covered Asian economies for more than a decade, said: “Taiwan matters far more to the world economy than its one per cent share of global GDP would indicate.”
Mr Leather, who is part of the London-based independent research consultancy Capital Economics, continued: “A further escalation in cross-strait tensions that cut Taiwan’s export off from the rest of the world, would lead to renewed shortages in the automotive and electronics sectors and put further upward pressure on inflation.”
Interest rates touched double digits in the UK this week for the first time in 40 years, while in America they continue to rise from the bleak announcement last month that the cost of borrowing was at its highest in three decades.
In a briefing note to subscribers, Mr Leather further noted that Taiwan is the world’s largest producer of the processor chips “that are increasingly ubiquitous in new products,” having twice the market share of the next biggest producer.
Leather added that 92% of the most advanced semiconductors are made by TSMC in Taiwan, making its dominance at the high end even greater. So, if Taiwanese semiconductor supply were disrupted for a prolonged period, electronics and automotive manufacturers would struggle to find alternative suppliers.
TSMC produces semiconductors for companies including Apple Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. Globally, TSMC held more than half of the share of the $100 billion semiconductor fabrication market last year, research firm Gartner said.
And, according to a 2021 report by the Boston Consulting Group and the Semiconductor Industry Association: “In an extreme hypothetical scenario of complete disruption for one year, Taiwanese foundries would lose their current cumulative USD $42 billion in revenues, but that could also cause a USD $490 billion drop in revenue, or 12 times more negative impact, for electronic device makers across different application markets.”
The researchers added: “The global electronics supply chain would come to a halt, creating significant global economic disruptions.”
In an undated interview broadcast by CNN in late July, TSMC Chairman Mark Liu said use of military force or invasion of Taiwan would render TSMC factories non-operable. Its manufacturing facilities “depend on real-time connection with the outside world, with Europe, with Japan, with the U.S.,” he said.
Multinationals are meantime scrambling to draw up contingency plans in the event of a US-CHINA conflict over Taiwan.
Eric Zheng, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, said that for many US manufacturers with global supply chains, the Taiwan crisis added to the “material” impacts of souring US-China relations such as trade tariffs, and was compelling them to seriously consider building factories in other countries.
“The popular thinking is ‘China plus one’ or even ‘China plus two’ — meaning China will still be the primary base for manufacturing but you have an alternative south-east Asian country, just in case,” he said.
Ms Chen Wenling, the chief economist for the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, has spoken of how a conflict between the US and China would be “a disaster for mankind.”
However, in a markedly less conciliatory tone, she said that if the US and its allies imposed sanctions on China similar to those against Russia, it “must recover Taiwan” and “seize TSMC, a company that originally belonged to China.”


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Visitors to the auto show, which this year features vehicles from Changfeng Group, an auto maker based in China’s Hunan Province, will likely see more Chinese companies displaying vehicles here in coming years.
Robert Thibodeau Jr., co-chairman of this year’s show, said that aside from Changfeng, Great Wall Motor Co. and a couple of other Chinese auto makers “have expressed interest in coming to the show.”
Though Great Wall isn’t exhibiting cars this year, it is very likely the Chinese carmaker is going to have a display next year, said Mr. Thibodeau in an interview. “Detroit offers an unmatched opportunity to showcase their products and brand names to North American consumers and to the world.”
Last year, China’s Geely Automobile Co. displayed a vehicle during the media preview of the auto show.
Changfeng has expressed interest in selling cars in the U.S. some time over the next decade. Changfeng executives said that displaying vehicles at this year’s show is part of the process of building dealer interest in its Liebao (cheetah in English) brand vehicles. The auto maker is scouting around for “two or three good dealer groups” to promote the brand in North America.
According to Mr. Thibodeau, the North American International Auto Show sent a representative last year to China and met with a number of Chinese auto makers in an effort to promote the show. “We wanted to make sure they know who we are and make it clear what it takes to exhibit vehicles at our show,” said Mr. Thibodeau, also a Detroit-area car dealer. – Norihiko Shirouzu


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Grand Strand salons, barbershops holding on tight during recent COVID-19 spike
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - The recent spike in COVID-19 cases is troubling news for those who earn a living through close-contact businesses, such as hair salons.
Lisa Coombs owns Diva’s Hair Design in Myrtle Beach and says she feels comfortable operating without a facemask right now. She said it’s because her staff members are sanitizing on a regular basis to keep it safe for clients.
Coombs also explained that many clients are fully vaccinated, and that business was booming earlier in the year. However, she’s now seeing a decline during this stage of the pandemic.
Right now, Coombs said she’s having to focus on ways to make additional income until things turn back around again.
“Coming up with creative ideas to keep income-generating,” she said. “I haven’t considered anything else outside of that. I’ve been in business for over 26 years now and I want to continue.”
Amy Howie, owner of Papillon Salon in North Myrtle Beach, says business has been good since close-contact businesses were permitted to reopen it’s doors last year.
She also says making a profit while balancing the best safety precautions at times is challenging.
“The most intimate place in the salon in the hair industry is at the shampoo bowl,” Howie said. “When the numbers started increasing again we went back to mandatory masks within the salon. I’m hoping to some degree we can all get back to some kind of normalcy. Because we are all tired of the extra steps we’re having to do but we will do it. I lost a loved one, an employee, a dear friend of mine, to COVID with pneumonia. We were best friends for 11 years, she worked with me for four. When you start losing loved ones, it becomes more personal. So I will do whatever I need to do to keep everyone I know as safe as I know how.”
Barbershops like Vick’s in North Myrtle Beach are also facing similar challenges.
Owner Sammy Martin says he feels comfortable working at the shop because he’s fully vaccinated. While masks aren’t required, he will wear one at a client’s request.
Martin says the shop has cut back on some of its hours because of the pandemic, but business has been steady thanks to local support.
In the meantime, he says everyone can play their part in keeping the shops safer.
“If you wake up and you got a runny nose and a fever and you feel yucky, don’t go in the barbershop or the grocery store or go shopping,” Martin said. “A person is in here 10-15 minutes max. I use every precaution I can.”
Copyright 2021 WMBF. All rights reserved.


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The website of the Trump-Pence presidential campaign refers to a study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) regarding the effects of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on trade in the US automobile sector. In its section on Economic Vision: Winning the Global Competition, the site states: “According to the Peterson Institute, TPP would increase the automobile trading deficit by $23 billion by 2025.”
The reference is to a PIIE study by Peter A. Petri and Michael G. Plummer, published in 2012. That study reflected the hopes of many negotiators at the time, namely that the TPP would eliminate all tariffs among members. In the event, the TPP agreement signed by the United States and 11 other countries in February 2016 did not change tariffs on US auto imports at all by 2030 (the last year of our projections), but it did eliminate tariffs on US auto exports to many countries. Thus, the TPP as concluded will actually reduce the auto sector trade deficit by $1.7 billion by 2030, according to updated calculations by PIIE.
Although the Trump-Pence campaign’s statement does not identify a source, it appears to refer to research cited in the Wall Street Journal (“Pacific Trade Deal Likely to have Narrow Reach,” March 15, 2015). The article underscores that the effects on the auto sector are particularly sensitive to the outcome of the negotiations, and by early 2015 it was clear that US auto tariffs would not be liberalized as much as calculations made in 2012 had assumed.
Results based on the concluded TPP agreement were published by Petri and Plummer here. Sectoral and other detailed results from that study are available on their website. These recent simulations show that the TPP will not only reduce the US auto trade deficit but also increase the output of the transportation equipment sector (measured as value added) by 0.7 percent and employment in the sector by 0.4 percent by 2030. Meanwhile, auto prices will decline and product variety will increase for American consumers. Overall, the TPP will also have a marginally favorable impact on income distribution in the United States, as described here and here. PIIE has alerted the Trump-Pence campaign to update the statement on their website.


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At Instagram video launch, Zuckerberg doesn’t make the pitch
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What can you do in 15 seconds? Lots of things. But now you can record them all using Facebook’s photo-sharing app, Instagram. The social media company unveiled a new video recording feature on Thursday.
It’s Facebook’s answer to the popular Vine app featured by rival social media company Twitter. But Facebook’s offering more than doubles Vine’s 6-second video capacity.
“It still feels like a take on Vine, but its also something that seems to have been coming for a long time,” says Ellis Hamburger at website The Verge.
The other takeaway from the event was the role of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg – or lack thereof. When Facebook rolls out new products, they often rely on Zuckerberg to deliver the news. But yesterday, the person in the spotlight was Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom. Hamburger says the move was meant to reinforce Instagram’s unique brand at a time when young people are flocking to the app.
“Instagram is quickly becoming Facebook’s most popular and most interesting mobile experience, it’s the one that people are turning too, especially younger people,” Hamburger says. “It’s super important they don’t let Mark Zuckerberg’s face watermark that entire experience.”
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Valiant Entertainment has just wrapped their ComicsPRO breakfast presentation, kicking off the retailer meet-and-greet day in Portland with several big announcements concerning long-term plans for their new Bloodshot Reborn ongoing series.
Marketing Director Hunter Gorinson and Sales Manager Atom Freeman began their presentation with a recap of recent milestones for the Valiant Next wave of titles that began with The Valiant in December and runs through Timewalker, Divinity, Imperium, Ninjak and Bloodshot Reborn.
Issue #1 of The Valiant has sold out of two printings. A third printing is now available. Issue #2 is also sold out and has a second printing available. Supplies of this week's issue #3 are expected to be exhausted shortly.
Divinity #1, the first Valiant release to feature the debut of an all-new character, has also sold out as of Thursday morning. A second printing is now available.
Valiant described Imperium #1 as one of their most acclaimed releases to date, and also teased that March's Ninjak #1 will be their highest selling release since Rai #1 in 2014.
Then Gorinson and Freeman dove into the final Valiant Next release, Bloodshot Reborn, with a slew of new information and ComicsPRO announcements.
To illustrate their confidence in the book they described how far ahead they are on the title, and mentioned that every retailer at ComicsPRO has been given a retailer-exclusive early edition of April's Bloodshot Reborn #1, which goes to initial orders next week.
But when they said they were ahead, many weren't expecting what they showed off next.
Jeff Lemire has already scripted almost a dozen issues plotted through 2017 with multiple artists already working on future arcs. Valiant then showed completed pages by Mico Suayan from the first arc of Bloodshot Reborn, running through July's issue #4. They promised that retailers at the show will be able to read completed copies of issues #1-3 in the Valiant hospitality suite throughout the weekend.
Stating that Lemire has a multi-year plan for the title, Gorinson then announced plans and showed artwork from Bloodshot Reborn #5, a special standalone issue bookending the first arc and featuring guest art by Raul Allen. Allen, a Spanish artist currently assisting David Aja on the final issues of Hawkeye, has done many Valiant covers as of late, but Bloodshot Reborn #5 will be his first full-length interior work for the publisher.
Valiant then announced that Eisner-nominated artist Butch Guice (Captain America, Winter Soldier, Ruse) has signed on for the second arc of Bloodshot Reborn, beginning with September's issue #6. Gorinson showed Guice artwork from their upcoming FCBD special, which features a an exclusive prelude to April's Bloodshot Reborn #1 by Lemire and Guice.
Then they went even farther, jumping ahead a whole year to show off multiple pages of artwork from Bloodshot Reborn #10 – a book not due until well into 2016 – by Lewis LaRosa, who will be handling the entirety of the Bloodshot Reborn's third story arc. The artwork for the arc, entitled Analog Man, seemed to indicated a post-apocalyptic setting with walled cities, armored vehicles, and desert landscapes.
Gorinson stated that although this was just a sliver of the artwork they were authorized to show publicly at the moment, work was already underway on several arcs beyond this — stretching into 2017 and beyond — and that Lemire's work on Bloodshot Reborn would be central to the core of the Valiant Universe from its debut onward.
The presentation concluded with the debut of an as-yet unreleased animated trailer for Bloodshot Reborn #1, and the presenters introduced Valiant's recently expanded sales team to the assembled crowd of retailers. In addition to Freeman, the team recently added former retailers Matthew Klein (formerly of Forbidden Planet NYC) and Andy Liegl (formerly of Collector's Paradise and Boom!).
If you're eager to check out more on Bloodshot Reborn #1, copies of the ComicsPRO exclusive early edition are hitting eBay, with one copy already fetching $150 US…