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SADDLE BROOK, N.J.—Thomas Itty has been named marketing director at Nourison. With more than 20 years of marketing and advertising experience, Itty— who replaces Dave Forman in the position— will be responsible for all marketing and promotional efforts at the company, including consumer and trade events, public relations, advertising, web and social media, and will oversee the in house marketing department. He will report to Alex Peykar, principal of Nourison.
Itty previously served as marketing and business development manager at CLG Insurance. “I’m a firm believer in integrated marketing communications,” he said. “One of my tasks will be to ensure we take advantage of the various marketing opportunities spread across the entire spectrum of print, electronic and web-based media.”


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Tag: Seun Ajayi
“I made the best decision of my life” — Actor, Seun...
Man arrested for allegedly streaming explicit content on a billboard in Port-Harcourt (Photos)
“This is the life, I reject poverty in Jesus name” — Dino Melaye prays...
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The U.S. Postal Service decision to eliminate Saturday mail delivery has generated increasing calls for protests by workers and community organizations under the common demands: “Save six-day delivery” and “Save our Post Office.”
On Feb. 5, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe announced plans to stop delivering and collecting letters and other first-class mail on Saturdays, beginning Aug. 10. Post office operating hours will not change but postal workers will only deliver packages and prescription drugs on Saturdays. More than 35,000 letter carriers, rural carriers, clerks and mail handlers’ jobs are threatened from the controversial cutbacks.
The surge of three days of accumulated mail every Monday will overwhelm and slow down operations, leading to more delivery errors and delays, injuries and unfair discipline procedures. Monday holidays will increase the problems.
“Combined with service cuts at thousands of post offices, the sell-off of landmarked postal buildings, the accelerated privatization of postal trucking, and the gutting of mail processing facilities, the elimination of Saturday delivery and collection will slow Social Security, WIC [Food and Nutrition Service] and other checks, medicine, absentee ballots, advertisements, newspapers, parcels and magazines,” said a Community-Labor United for Postal Jobs & Services press release dated Feb. 17.
Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said, “Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe’s plan to end Saturday delivery is a disastrous idea that would have a profoundly negative effect on the Postal Service and on millions of customers” and called for the immediate removal of the postmaster general.
Postal and corporate executives claim widespread Internet use is the cause of declining mail volume and increasing USPS deficits. Privatization is their ultimate goal, postal unions counter, asserting that a 2006 congressional law unnecessarily forces the Postal Service to pre-fund retiree health benefits 75 years in advance, the real cause of the red ink. Postal operations actually made a $100 million profit in the last fiscal quarter, if not for the congressional mandate and the overpayment of billions of dollars into two pension funds. (nalc.org)
Save our postal service!
The National Association of Letter Carriers has called a national day of action to save six-day delivery on Sunday, March 24.
The national coalition Communities and Postal Workers United has called for local days of action the weekend of March 17 to save the postal service and to oppose all closures, cuts and delay of mail.
As part of that call, the local New York City coalition, Community-Labor United for Postal Jobs & Services, is organizing an “Emergency Postal Forum” on March 16 at Hostos College near the landmark Bronx General Post Office (put up for sale by USPS), to “analyze, strategize and unite the fight to save the Post Office.”
On the first day of curtailed Saturday services, CLUPJS “calls for treating Saturday, Aug. 10, as an illegal lockout. We encourage postal workers to report to work and force USPS to send them home. We propose community and labor rallies outside post offices nationwide on that day to make it clear communities want postal services improved, not cut. We also call for massive filing of grievances and unfair labor practice charges against this illegal attack on working conditions.” (For full statement, see clupjs.com)
Piette is a retired postal worker.


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- VineLines Dispatch: Tasting rooms continue to swirl around Woodinville
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- L’Ecole No. 41 recruits Marcus Rafanelli to take over as winemaker
- VinesLines Dispatch swings along Columbia River, Walla Walla Valley
- Alexandria Nicole Cellars uses white Rhône blend to lead Great Northwest Invite
- VineLines Dispatch coverage of 2019 vintage continues
- VineLine Dispatches from Harvest 2019
- ‘Slow and steady harvest’ forecast for Northwest grapes in 2019
- VineLines Dispatch: Northwest wineries fill lists of USA Today readers
More British Columbia wine News
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- Posted January 3, 2014
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text: After Bitcoin’s meteoric rise, a small, wholesome correction gave the approval for the rally continuation of Bitcoin value which is already painted inexperienced once more.You will need to be aware that fundamentals didn’t change a lot in Bitcoin, and it appears that evidently the value is influenced by current gamers throughout the business as a result of it nonetheless doesn’t seem that Bitcoin is in beneath accumulation and new cash isn’t actually felt out there. Counting on previous expertise, new cash will are available lots solely after Bitcoin breaks new value highs.However, the discourse and curiosity round digital currencies has lately elevated, primarily on account of Fb’s announcement. Whereas it’s inconceivable to disregard the curiosity that has been created round Libra, this isn’t the rationale why Bitcoin has risen because the starting of 2019, and it’s not sure that there are clear causes that may be identified with regards to Bitcoin’s volatility.In any case, the dialogue round cryptocurrencies is increasing and touches on the necessity to enhance the worldwide financial system, and it appears that evidently Bitcoin’s impact contributes to this by organising an alternate system that apparently doesn’t go anyplace, as Bitcoin’s mining problem breaks new data.Then again, the state of affairs across the different currencies, or altcoins, isn’t notably vibrant. They proceed to lose their dominance in favor of Bitcoin. Egretia (EGT) was considered one of few Altcoins that continued the rising development and weren’t affected by the rise of Bitcoin. Whereas the market is ready for one more Alt season, 2019 seems to be a darkish yr for Alts, up to now, falling to previous lows towards the surging Bitcoin.RegulationsIn the regulatory sector, we’re additionally seeing issues shifting ahead, because of Fb’s Libra that’s urging regulators to make the required updates concerning digital currencies. After the FATF issued pointers final week, we’re anticipated to get an replace from the IRS concerning taxation problems with the assorted currencies.To summarize, the 2019 rally continues in Bitcoin, whereas the altcoins are ready for one more season that’s presently not in sight. As time passes, the Bitcoin halving occasion approaches and the race to stockpile Bitcoin continues. Based mostly on earlier cross-sectional occasions, it may be mentioned that they’ve a direct impact on the Bitcoin value and for a lot of merchants it’s a good cause to start out accumulating (this shouldn’t be seen as a buying and selling or funding recommendation).Market DataMarket Cap: $344,three B 24h Vol: 82,9 B BTC Dominance: 63.7% BTC Shorts (BFX): 13.6 Ok BTC BTC Longs (BFX): 23.2 Ok BTC Crypto NewsThe Struggle Between Binance’s CZ and Nouriel Roubini Simply Reached New Heights. Nouriel “Dr. Doom” Roubini who argued that cryptocurrency was a “right-wing nightmare,” referred to as some of the influential people within the area, Changpeng Zhao, a “jerk” and a “snake oil peddler.” CZ argued that it’s quite odd to name a man a jerk as a result of he’s constructing what he believes in.Tether Prints One other $100M in USDT: Weekend Motion Forward For Bitcoin? The favored secure coin issuer Tether printed yet one more batch of $100M value of USDT. The tokens have been minted on Ethereum’s blockchain and despatched to Tether’s treasury account. The transfer occurred earlier than the weekend which remained quite flat for Bitcoin.Craig Wright Says Early Bitcoin Developer Co-Based Silk Street Darkish Internet Market. Self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto, Craig Wright, has mentioned in a courtroom session that early Bitcoin developer Martti Malmi and Bitcoin.org moderator often known as Theymos, have co-founded the notorious Silk Street darkish market alongside convicted Ross Ulbricht.Can Fb’s Libra Grow to be the International Reserve Foreign money? As Fb’s Libra idea begins to develop in reputation, members of the neighborhood have already provide you with attention-grabbing theories. One, specifically, outlines the way it may truly develop into a worldwide reserve forex.Bitstamp Crypto Change Units Up Lightning Community Node. Standard European cryptocurrency alternate, Bitstamp, has arrange its very personal Lightning Community node with the intention to enhance the capabilities of the community. The LN is named Bitcoin’s scaling resolution as it’s designed to allow quick and zero-fee transactions.Main Chinese language Monetary Information Supplier Quietly Provides Crypto Index. Sina Finance is a finance-focused web site which is owned by one of many main Chinese language tech firms – Sina Corp. It has added a cryptocurrency index to its cellular app, which alerts for additional adoption of the digital currencies within the area.World’s First Zero-Fiat ‘Bitcoin Bond’ Now Accessible on Bloomberg Terminal. Two European firms have collectively launched the world’s first real Bitcoin bond, as per their very own phrases. It comprises no fiat publicity for the buyers and it’s available through the Bloomberg Terminal. It’s the primary cryptocurrency product to have its ISIN code.ChartsThis week we’ve analyzed Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Tezos, and Tron; click on right here for the complete value evaluation. Be the primary to learn about our value evaluation, crypto information and buying and selling suggestions: Comply with us on Telegram or subscribe to our weekly publication.


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Keep up with the latest cybersecurity threats, newly discovered vulnerabilities, data breach information, and emerging trends. Delivered daily or weekly right to your email inbox.
Network cards, video cameras, and graphics adapters are a few of the subsystems whose lack of security could allow attackers to turn them into spy implants.
Robert Lemos, Contributing Writer
February 18, 2020
5 Min Read
The software that acts as the interface between a computer and its various hardware components can be turned into an espionage-focused implant because the companies that make the components often fail to create a secure mechanism of updating the code, Eclypsium stated in an analysis released today.
In its report, the enterprise firmware security company found that major turnkey design and manufacturing firms that supply components — such as Wi-Fi adapters, USB hubs, trackpads, and cameras — failed to sign their firmware, opening up the possibility that an attacker could replace the hardware code with a malicious version that could be used to spy on and control the compromised system. The company found devices that lacked signed firmware on Lenovo, Dell, and HP laptops, as well as unsigned firmware files on a portal from which computer users can download updates.
The findings are not surprising, says Jesse Michael, principal researcher at Eclypsium. In a standard laptop or workstation, more than a dozen different devices could be running firmware, and in a server more than 100.
"If you buy a laptop or a server from a big name company ... they all have a variety of different suppliers for the lower-level components, such as the network card or a webcam or a touchpad," he says. "While the brand-name computer makers have been looking at software security for a while, the smaller companies [that make these subsystems] have not — most of the devices in these systems do not have signed updates."
The research underscores that, despite the light shed on the technique by the leak of documents from the National Security Agency by former contractor Edward Snowden, few companies have created a secure supply chain for attesting that the firmware updates are official. While many software makers have improved the security of their development life cycles by using code-signing certificates to authenticate updates before they are applied, the original design manufacturers (ODM) that design, program, and produce subsystems for computer manufacturers often fail to take similar steps for the software that acts as the interface between hardware subsystems — such as network adapters, trackpads, and cameras — and the main computer system.
"Despite previous in-the-wild attacks, peripheral manufacturers have been slow to adopt the practice of signing firmware, leaving millions of Windows and Linux systems at risk of firmware attacks that can exfiltrate data, disrupt operations and deliver ransomware," the company stated in the report.
The company found, for example, that Synaptics — which provides trackpads for many laptops — did not verify the cryptographic signature before applying a firmware update, allowing the researchers to run arbitrary malicious code on a Lenovo laptop, turning the subsystem into a Trojan.
In another proof-of-concept attack, the researchers modified the firmware of a Wi-Fi adapter running on a Dell laptop. Windows 10 will check to see whether the driver for the network adapter, a device made by Killer Wireless, is signed, and if it is not, it will display it without a certificate icon but will otherwise continue to load the software and use the malicious firmware.
The main benefit to an attacker of compromising the firmware is that a subverted device could be used to reload malware, if an antivirus scanner, for example, detects and cleans the attacking code from the hard drive. "You have a good place for persistence," Michael says. "It is a good place to hide in the system."
Yet specific devices could also grant the attacker other benefits if they are compromised. A network adapter, for example, could allow the intruder to capture communications or send and receive commands covertly. In another proof-of-concept attack, the researchers updated the firmware used by a server's Broadcom baseboard management controller (BMC) to invisibly tap into the system's network communications and create a covert channel.
"Using this approach, we can inspect the contents of BMC network packets, provide those contents to malware running on the host, or even modify BMC traffic on the fly," the researchers wrote. "This could also be used to block alerts sent from the BMC to a central logging server, selectively redirect them to a different server, copy and send traffic to a remote location for analysis, as well as make outgoing network connections to a remote command and control server directly from the NIC itself without the host or BMC being aware that any of this is happening."
Because such changes are invisible to the host operating system, host-based security products will not detect such a compromise. While there are products to detect firmware changes, the best approach for the industry is to put additional pressure on their suppliers, the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), giving them more clout with the maker of the subsystems, Michael says.
"The OEMs are at the mercy of the ODMs to some degree," he says. "Individually, they only have a limited amount of buying power. By having more customers and organizations aware that there is an issue, they can bring more pressure to fix this problem."
Check out The Edge, Dark Reading's new section for features, threat data, and in-depth perspectives. Today's top story: "8 Things Users Do That Make Security Pros Miserable."
About the Author(s)
Veteran technology journalist of more than 20 years. Former research engineer. Written for more than two dozen publications, including CNET News.com, Dark Reading, MIT's Technology Review, Popular Science, and Wired News. Five awards for journalism, including Best Deadline Journalism (Online) in 2003 for coverage of the Blaster worm. Crunches numbers on various trends using Python and R. Recent reports include analyses of the shortage in cybersecurity workers and annual vulnerability trends.
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If it was introduced into the right spot, a shard could work its way into a position to cause a short circuit. Short circuits can cause a cascading effect where excessive heat builds up and a cell eventually catches fire. It then ignites the adjacent cells inside a battery pack, producing effects such as those seen from a notebook that caught fire in Osaka, Japan, recently. That machine produced flames and smoke. "Why Dell thinks its the first to see the problem, is because it was first to adopt these cells from Sony," Kay said. "It thinks its competitors will start seeing these problems in greater frequency as these things get to be two years old and older."However, both Dellwith its recalland Sony, which has now made changes to its manufacturing processes, said they chose to err on the side of caution. Thus far, Dell says it has received only a handful of reports of "incidents" with its Sony-made battery cells, including six in the United States and a few more elsewhere in the world. One such incident involved the now-famous Osaka laptop. That machine caught fire at a business conference. An investigation that involved a post mortem of the laptop by Dell helped lead to the discovery of the manufacturing defect inside the battery cells, Dell officials said. "When compared to the hundreds of millions of battery packs and PCs that were shipped [in the time period of the recall], we believe the number of incidents to be very minor," Yang said. "Were taking this precaution to ensure there arent any other failures in the marketplace and also to make sure that were taking care of all of our customers." Wolfson urged anyone who has one of the affected Dell batteries to comply with the recall as soon as possible. "If you can tell through our [CPSC] Web site or Dells Web site that you have one of the affected models, take it out of the computer, store it someplace safe and call Dell to get a replacement battery," he said. "We really want consumers to respond quickly to this recall." Meanwhile, Kay said the scope of the problem could draw a closer look from government agencies, such as the Federal Aviation Administration. "Then theres going to be an awful moment where [manufacturers] say, We dont know where these things are," Kay said. "Not all of them do, because not everybodys selling direct to the customer. Theoretically, if you paid cash at retail and you never registered the product, nobody would know who you were." For its part, the FAA has already been testing laptop batteries, according to an agency spokesperson. Once the agencys recommendations are complete, the FAA will make a recommendation to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration as to whether the lithium-ion batteries used in most laptop computers are safe to use. The FAA says it has no plans to ground laptops. Click here to read more. Previously, the most recent battery recall by Dell was a December 2005 campaign to replace about 35,000 Dell notebook battery packs sold to corporations and consumers worldwide between October 2004 and October 2005. Apple Computer also recently launched a campaign to replace battery packs that shipped with its 15-inch MacBook Pro until May 2006. Editors Note: This story was updated to include additional information and comments from the CPSC, Sony and PC manufacturers. Additional reporting for this story was provided by Wayne Rash. Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest news in desktop and notebook computing.
A Dell spokesperson declined to comment on other manufacturers systems. Sonys Yang said that he couldnt be sure Dell was the first or only manufacturer to use the battery cell design.


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Revelations about the number of counterfeit goods being sold on Etsy, the online marketplace for handmade and vintage items, has affected its stock price, but also may be having a negative impact on its reputation.
Sellers in Etsy's forums are expressing serious concern over public perceptions of the company and on the whole seem to want the company to take action over shops hosted on the service that are selling illegal goods.
An analyst report into Etsy published earlier this week revealed that as many as two million items on the service -- equal to 5 percent in total -- may either be counterfeit or constitute trademark infringement. "Counterfeit candidates include items infringing on Louis Vuitton, Chaneland Michael Kors, as well as a wide range of Disney and NFL brands. Sample of high risk listings indicates some violations may be 20x more likely on Etsy than eBay and even more likely than Alibaba's Aliexpress," says Wedbush, which put the report together.
Etsy stock took a nine percent nosedive recently, largely seen as a reaction to the report. But while this issue has only just been drawn to the public's attention, sellers that frequent the site's forums claim that it has a problem they have known about for years.
One former seller, Sherry, left the site to set up on her own in 2013 due to the divergence away from genuinely handmade products. Commenting on the revelations, she says: "I see lots of threads about the counterfeit items sold on Etsy as well as the class action suit now being formed. It is interesting to see how the general public, buyers and investors, now views Etsy. They have the same concerns that we as sellers have brought up for years... but fell on deaf ears."
Another seller, Michelle Bradley, remarks: "We've been trying to get something done about that for the longest kind of time but Etsy will only do so much. I hate to say it but I hope it does underperform for that reason. Then maybe Etsy will do what needed to be done a LONG time ago. It's just a shame that that's what it would take to make them do what's right."
Many sellers are particularly vocal about the problems with Disney items on the site, in particular paraphernalia relating to the film Frozen. "Frozen is the worst offender. Why hasn't Disney shut them down, they have people whose only job is to look for that. How hard is an etsy search?" says Lauren Darby.
In Wedbush's report, Disney topped a list of brands whose IP was routinely being infringed by sellers on the website. A search on Etsy returned 157,901 results for Disney, 59,381 results for Frozen and 32,222 results for Elsa. In Wedbush's report, it claims that 722,658 Disney listings were returned following a search, and numbers reported by forum users also differ substantially, suggesting that the number is constantly yoyo-ing.
According to seller Kay Baxter, Disney has been conducted a pursuing sellers across Amazon, Ebay and Etsy recently, particularly if they are selling items relating to Frozen. "I am all for Disney protecting their brand but just thought some sellers might need another warning. I see so much Disney Frozen stuff on here its not even funny," she writes in the forum.
Many Etsy sellers rely on the site for their incomes and have expressed concern that the reputation of the site is being damaged by the counterfeits and will discourage buyers from frequenting the marketplace. "Etsy is getting a fair bit of bad press lately, and I'm getting concerned that buyers from our shops will get scared to shop here," says Sue Graham.
Their concerns have been echoed in Wedbush's report. "If Etsy chooses to continue to ignore these potential violations, we believe it could tarnish its brand with both buyers and sellers," it says.
WIRED.co.uk has conatcted Etsy for comment and will update this article if we hear back.


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Apple’s pro-level photo editing application for the Mac, Aperture, has been updated to version 3.2.3. Aside from the usual fixes addressing “performance and stability,” this update brings Aperture up to parity with iPhoto in allowing users to delete photos from Photo Stream, the iCloud service that allows wireless syncing of photos across all enabled devices.
Oddly, this update has come out nearly a week after similar updates to Aperture’s “little brother” iPhoto were issued, but Apple’s support site claims the update actually went live March 6, the day before Apple’s big iPad event and the launch of the iPhoto update. I know for a fact that Aperture 3.2.3 didn’t show up in my Mac’s Software Update until a few hours ago as of this writing, and MacUpdate’s information on the Aperture update confirms it didn’t go live until March 14 despite what Apple’s support site says. The fact that this update came out almost a week after a similar iPhoto update, plus the incorrect date on Apple’s support site, makes me wonder if someone forgot to throw the switch on the Aperture update on March 7.
Whatever the case may be, Aperture 3.2.3 is available now as a 636 MB update. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have about 200 iPhone screenshots to clear out of my Photo Stream…
Aperture updated to 3.2.3, enables Photo Stream deleting originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Wed, 14 Mar 2012 04:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.


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When gas prices began skyrocketing, Timothy Pappas, owner of a St. Petersburg ice cream company called Working Cow Homemade Inc., broke into a sweat.
His fuel bill climbed from $1,700 a week to $3,000. He had two choices to save his business from a meltdown: raise prices or trim expenses.
Pappas decided to cool it with the costs. He consolidated delivery routes for his trucks and asked his drivers to spend nights in hotels, instead of returning and driving the same route the next day. He is getting rid of two of the six trucks in his fleet soon and he has already extended his delivery time from five to seven days a week.
Pappas isn't the only one making tough choices. Across the country small business owners are particularly hard-hit by rising energy costs, according to a study released in April by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration. The American Express Small Business Monitor, a semiannual survey of business owners, shows the percentage of business owners reporting lost sales because of the higher costs doubled to 35 percent from 17 percent in the fall. The same survey found that 33 percent of business owners raised their prices to compensate for higher fuel costs, up from 26 percent in the fall.
"It's stifling small businesses," said Mario Iezzoni, an analyst at the University of South Florida's Small Business Development Center. "They are dealing with cash-flow problems and scaling back employees. They have been hit hard. Real hard."
Most businesses don't fancy passing on the cost to customers, but with no relief in sight, some are taking that extreme step. In a recent poll of nearly 1,900 service companies nationwide conducted by Angie's List, 85 percent of respondents said gas prices were chewing into their profits. About 60 percent of the businesses said they were passing the extra costs on to their customers.
At Gumby's Pizza & Grinders on Fourth Street N. in St. Petersburg, owner Jack Caramello raised his delivery fee by 25 cents. Caramello has been in the industry for 15 years and said he has never seen it this bad.
"We had to raise the commission for delivery guys twice this year alone," he said. "It's a second job for most of them and if they don't make a certain amount of money then it's not worth it for them."
The problem isn't limited to fuel. Prices have gone up across the board. These days Caramello pays $13 for a 25-pound bag of flour; a year ago he paid $6 for the same amount.
The bad news? It could get worse.
"Every year gas prices go up on Memorial Day," said Brad Kamp, associated professor of economics at the University of South Florida. "We may see a hike of as much as 20 to 25 cents per gallon."
Kamp blames it on the falling dollar and people using oil to hedge against it. So prices will continue upward even if there's no real shortage.
Vicki Kuehne, owner of Mostly Roses Florist in Clearwater, finally succumbed to the pressure and raised her prices.
"We held off until two weeks ago," she said. "Most people have been very understanding about it."
Kuehne says she expects the fuel problem to even out soon, and blames the media for discussing sordid tales about the economy.
Others aren't that optimistic.
"It's going to be a crisis point soon," said Iezzoni of USF. "Ninety-five percent of businesses are very tiny, and if they keep absorbing these costs they will be saturated soon."
When that happens, he said, the businesses will shut down.
Madhusmita Bora can be reached at email@example.com or (813) 225-3112.


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Rediffusion Y&R, Delhi ropes in Tarun Batra as Creative Head – Art
Rediffusion Y&R, Delhi has further ramped up its creative team with the appointment of Tarun Batra as Creative Head – Art. Batra joins from Lowe Scanad (Scangroup) Tanzania, where he was Creative Director (Art). He will be reporting to Chraneeta Mann, ECD, Rediffusion Y&R, Delhi.
Rediffusion Y&R, Delhi has further ramped up its creative team with the appointment of Tarun Batra as Creative Head – Art. With over 12 years’ experience in the advertising industry, Batra joins from Lowe Scanad (Scangroup) Tanzania, where he was Creative Director (Art). He will be reporting to Chraneeta Mann, ECD, Rediffusion Y&R, Delhi.
Commenting on Batra’s appointment, Abhik Santara, VP, Rediffusion Y&R, Delhi, said, “Tarun is a very important addition to our Delhi creative team. With design aesthetics and art playing such a crucial role in the ever increasing ad clutter, Tarun’s experience will bring in the necessary differentiator. Tarun and his partner will work together to achieve cut through ideation and design standards for our brands. While their primary responsibility will be to lead the vertical of LG, Tata-Pepsi and Amway, I see them contributing to other brands managed by our Delhi office as well.”
Chraneeta Mann added here, “We want to embed a creative approach into all of our client work. Tarun will be a major catalyst in accelerating this process. Moreover, his extensive experience across many international brands will surely add to the visual development of the work done on LG as well as the other brands in his portfolio.”
Batra has worked on brands such as Warid Telecom Uganda, Zantel Telecom, East African Breweries, Toyota Tanzania, Coca Cola, Shweppes, Minute Maid (Kenya), Standard News paper (Kenya) Godrej Hi-Care, Grover Vinyards, Magna Publication, Piaggio Automobiles, State Bank of India, Raymond Suitings, ZEE TV, Navbharat Group, Shipping Corp of India, MIDC, Indian Oil
Corp, MTNL, Orient Fans, Siyaram's Suitings, Fedex, Bank of Baroda, BJP Election Campaign, Montex, Pantaloons, Red Tape, Planet Sports, Force Motors and Hero Honda, to name a few.
He has several awards under his belt – a Gold at Delhi Ad Club, Finalist at the Montreux Festival Paris, Finalist at the New York Fest, Finalist at the London International Advtg Awards - all for public service -'Feet', Silver for Public service in Big bang Awards and a Silver for Afternoon Independent Thinkers Award.
On joining Rediffusion Y&R, Delhi, Batra said, “I am very excited about the brands that I will be working on and the opportunities that they offer to do good work. Rediffusion Delhi has always stood out for its work and I am looking forward to being a part of this team.”
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Apple Pay Cash now allows United States users to send money via iMessages
06 Diciembre, 2017, 00:02 | Author: Misty Newman
If you're an iPhone user and have updated to iOS 11.2 but not seeing the Apple Pay Cash feature, do not be alarmed, it will take a bit of time before the company rolls it out to everyone. The update landed on the weekend and it was supposed to bring the new Apple Pay Cash to users in the US.
'Beginning today, Apple customers in the USA can use Apple Pay to send and receive money with friends and family quickly, easily and securely, ' the firm said. When it's done, you'll spot an Apple Pay Cash card in Wallet that you can access and use.
As with the initial rollout of Apple Pay itself, Apple Pay Cash is now limited to the US. A balance in Apple Pay Cash can be transferred to a connected bank account and can also be used to pay for transactions inside stores or online using Apple Pay. That is, you can send money for free if you use a debit card.
The newly released update also ships with three new Live wallpapers exclusively for the iPhone X smartphone.
Reuters/Stephen LamAn attendee checks out a new iPhone X during an Apple launch event in Cupertino, California, U.S.
Apple released the final version of iOS 11.2 on the 2nd of December.
Now Apple has flipped the switch meaning all United States users can begin using the Square Cash and Venmo competitor.
Big banks in Canada eventually adopted Apple Pay, so that's a good sign.
Apple Pay Cash Vs.
For now, though, Venmo and Square Cash must deal with the new competition.
Adding cash: a minimum of $10 per transaction, and a maximum of $3,000.
Despite the limits, it could still help you eliminate the hassle of paying through the paper currency when paying your friends for stuff. This has caused a lot of frustration for users who rely on their phones to be available throughout the day.
On Saturday, Spencer finally met his opponent in person when he flew to her home state of Florida to pay a visit. Butler then chose to bring the two together, coordinating the meeting and flying down to Florida with Sleyon.
Además tiene el objetivo de eliminar las penalizaciones para aquellos estadounidenses que no contraten un seguro médico. La rebaja impositiva promovida por Trump es la mayor desde la de 1986 del expresidente Ronald Reagan.
El impacto de la confesión de Flynn alcanzó a la bolsa de valores de Wall Street, cuyos principales índices cayeron más de 1%. Otros allegados a Trump durante la campaña electoral también ya fueron inculpados por el escándalo .
Law enforcement officers in North Carolina arrest a man in connection to a missing child, who they now believe to be dead. Mariah's family has said that the 3-year-old struggles to get around on her own and wears leg braces for assistance.
A new director is expected to take over the production, which is said to have about two weeks of principal photography left. Robot star, 36, reportedly complained to Twentieth Century Fox about Singer's "unreliability and unprofessionalism".
Creators Matt and Ross Duffer recently talked about the future of the show revealing that season 3 will not be the end of it. The announcement should come as no surprise as the first two seasons proved to be very big hits for the network.
En el West Ham , que ocupa la penúltimam posición con sólo 10 unidades, jugaron Pablo Zabaleta y Manuel Lanzini. Sumando todas las competiciones, los " citizens " acumulan en la temporada 20 triunfos y dos empates.
The two supermassive black holes are nearly certainly being drawn together by mutual gravitational attraction. The binary system is the most closely orbiting pair of black holes of their kind we have ever seen.
Trump meets with Mormon leaders in Utah
Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat he has nicknamed "Pocahontas" for her claim to have Native American heritage. The Trump administration can resize an existing national monument thanks to a provision in The Antiquities Act of 1906.
Padres among finalists for Shohei Ohtani
They spoke on condition of anonymity because not all teams had announced whether they were in or out. Just know that when/if you play at Yankee Stadium, we're going to let you hear about it.
Tiger still in the woods
Jordan Spieth (72) and England's Justin Rose (71) were tied for second at nine-under 207, one stroke ahead of Italy's Francesco Molinari (71).
Tell Me You Love Me
In the visual for " Tell Me You Love Me ", the singer walks down the aisle with Grey's Anatomy actor Jesse Williams . But things take a turn for the worse after they exchange rings and Jesse ultimately takes his ring off.
Puppies and Christmas Trees in Williston
The Reifenbergs also have brought in pre-cut trees from MI to offset the lower supply at their farm caused by the droughts. The tall, narrow tree is popular at Christmas, in part because its stiff branches are suitable for holding ornaments.


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SAP co-founder sells shares worth 120 mln euros
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - SAP's (SAPG.DE) co-founder Hasso Plattner sold shares in the German business software maker worth 120 million euros, divesting a portion of his overall stake, the company said on Friday.
To protect the stock price, a bank will place 10 million euros worth of the shares every month until no more are left.
"The sale will be carried out at the bank's own discretion in the stock market or over the counter, for the first time in November 2012 and then again in the months January through November 2013," SAP said in a regulatory statement.
SAP shares reversed their gains, trading down 0.5 percent at 59.91 euros by 1554 GMT.
Plattner is SAP's largest shareholder with 121.49 million shares, representing a 9.89 percent stake, according to Thomson Reuters data from the end of September. Based on the current share price the stake is worth a little over 7 billion euros.
With a 73 billion euro market capitalisation, SAP is the most valuable company in the German blue chip index, followed by Siemens (SIEGn.DE), worth a little under 70 billion.
(Reporting by Harro ten Wolde; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)
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- Govt considers ban on e-cigarettes, sale of single smokes
- India's fiscal deficit in H1 almost 83 pct of full-year target
- Islamic State fighters kill 220 Iraqis from tribe that opposed them
- Sensex surges 500 points on BOJ easing, L&T gains
- Europe won't recognise vote in eastern Ukraine, Merkel tells Putin
Samsung Electronics unveiled two new mid-tier handsets with a premium design as it prepared to deliver a riposte to its low-priced Chinese rivals and reclaim its title as the top brand in the world's biggest smartphone market. Full Article


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- Taxes on some wealthy French top 100 pct of income: paper
- North Korea fires short-range missiles for two days in a row |
- Israel warns against Russian arms supply to Syria
- Winning ticket for $590.5 million Powerball lottery sold in Florida |
- Toyota plans to increase lithium-ion car battery output-Nikkei
Mexican shares gain, surge to record high
MEXICO CITY, July 3 |
MEXICO CITY, July 3 (Reuters) - Mexican stocks rose on Tuesday to a record high, bolstered by expectations the European Central Bank will cut interest rates this week to support economic growth.
Mexico's IPC stock index advanced as much as 1.1 percent to 40,550 points led by retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico , up 1.5 percent, and telecommunication giant America Movil, higher by 0.63 percent.
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DEALER group Cambria Automobiles saw its pre-tax profit soar by 37 per cent to £12.5m for the year to August 31, it reported today.
In its final results for 2018/19, announced via the London Stock Exchange, the franchised motor retailer, which was established in 2006, said it had performed ahead of board and market expectations, enjoying gross profit growth across all segments despite what it labelled ‘challenging market headwinds’.
Revenue was up by 4.4 per cent to £657.8m, with operating profit rising by 36 per cent to £13.9m.
New unit sales were down 8.1 per cent like for like, but gross profit was up as a result of the 11.1 per cent like-for-like increase in profit per unit because of what it called an ‘improvement in the franchise portfolio mix’.
Among its franchising highlights over the past financial year, it opened its second Lamborghini dealership, in Tunbridge Wells, as well as showrooms for Peugeot in Warrington, Suzuki in Maidstone and Citroen in Oldham. It also bought land in Brentwood to build a dealership.
Chief executive Mark Lavery, pictured, said: ‘We are pleased to have delivered a strong performance in the 2018/19 financial year.
‘The year has seen a difficult new car market that has been impacted by weakening consumer demand in the face of the uncertainty around the Brexit negotiations, inconsistent messaging around the future of diesel engines and the impact on car supply from the change in emissions testing.’
He praised staff for their work over the past year, saying: ‘Our teams have worked incredibly hard and delivered a strong result at both the revenue and profit levels, which significantly outperformed market expectations.
‘Our strong new car profitability, improved used car profit performance, combined with growth in aftersales have all been significant contributors. I would like to thank our associates for their contributions throughout the year.’
But Lavery also warned: ‘The challenges facing vehicle manufacturers in achieving compliance with the 2020 and 2021 CO2 emissions targets will impact the new car market over the next two years.
‘Like our peer group, we are also having to cope with government-driven central cost increases including, but not limited to, the national minimum wage increases, apprenticeship levy, pension contributions, increases in debit and credit card charges and increased property rating costs. Regrettably, we have no control over these factors.’
Cambria’s annual meeting will be held on January 9 at Grange Jaguar Land Rover in Hatfield.


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Written by Andrew Sherman, Dairy Science Senior at California Polytechnic State University
Today, American consumers have a wide variety of beverage choices, everything from gut-rotting , energy drinks to all natural pomegranate juice. So why should they choose milk and how can we better encourage the selection of milk over other products?
The first answer lies in the nutritional value of milk. Other beverages may be high in sugar and caffeine, but hey fail to supply the number of vitamins and minerals milk provides. We are surrounded by pressure to create healthier eating habits and are encouraged to increase physical activity. This often directs attention to commonly known “sports drinks.” These products tend to be high in electrolytes and minerals, which may be beneficial, but lack the protein and fat content which milk can supply to the daily diet.
It is important to continue to find new ways to make milk appealing to Americans with things like flavor additives and convenient packaging. With increased options in sugar-free flavored milk products, schools and other organizations are beginning to realize the importance of milk and dairy products in a child’s diet. As we continue to strive for a healthier nation, it is important that cheaper alternatives to milk do not overpower the commercial beverage industry. The dairy industry is a major part of California agriculture and it is important to continue efforts to educate consumers on the health benefits of milk and ne environmentally safe dairy practices.


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Arby’s has recalled oven mitts sold as premiums in its restaurants, even as its Oven Mitt character stars in a photo contest for the restaurant chain.
The mitt premiums—modeled after Arby’s iconic Oven Mitt spokescharacter—were part of a fundraiser for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, which Arby’s has sponsored nationally for 18 years. The mitts sold for $1.99 in all of Arby’s 3,450 restaurants; each mitt sold triggered a $1 donation to Big Brothers/Big Sisters.
The recall began in mid-November, triggered by product quality concerns. Agency Strottman International “found quality concerns,” and contacted the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said Strottman VP Ron Coughlin. The commission didn’t ask for a recall, but Strottman initiated one “because it was the right thing to do,” Coughlin says. Arby’s asked consumers to bring mitts back to the restaurant for a refund.
Meanwhile, Arby’s continues a photo contest starring the Oven Mitt: Consumers submit vacation-style photos that show the Oven Mitt in an unusual locale. The recall prompted Arby’s to tweak the photo contest and not require entrants to have an actual mitt; Arby’s put a photo of the mitt on its Web site for entrants to download and use in photos. The contest began Nov. 5 and runs through yearend.
Twenty finalists are chosen by random. A panel of judges chooses a grand-prize winner (based on uniqueness of the photo locale and photo composition). Grand prize is a seven-day photo safari trip for two in Kenya. The 19 finalists get a digital camera. Irvine, CA-based Strottman handles the promotion for Arby’s, Atlanta.
The recall doesn’t affect Oven Mitt items sold on Arby’s site; that line includes a blanket, sweatshirt, hat, apron, T-shirt, tote bag, magnet and rubber lapel pin—but no actual oven mitts.


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For over a decade now, JD.com has been putting other e-commerce businesses in Asia on their toes due to its unique expansion strategies. For instance, despite launching its site in Thailand, the firm recently announced its plans to open up its a logistics network to the public. Besides broadening its horizons and bringing it even more returns, opening its logistics networks to the public means added convenience as people will now be able to send and receive parcels using the firm’s reliable services.
JD.com first plan is to open up its network to customers who reside in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, allowing them to send items within these cities, and also across mainland China before making the service available nationwide. It also plans on adding more delivery times, and also incorporating high value items on the program making it possible for shippers to send valuable consumer electronics and other luxury products using the platform.
The company believes that with its nationwide logistics network, it will manage 90% of the same day and next day deliveries to approximately 99% of China’s population. Depending on the delivery option chosen by the client, the parcels can be sent either by high-speed rail or air. To prove that they mean business, the firm’s officials have already put the new service on trial to see how it performs, and is offering clients multiple pickup points a day.
According to Jingdong Chief Executive Officer, Wang Zhenui, this move will not only help the company expand its scope by venturing into a new market, but will also help increase its online influence, thus enabling it to achieve its primary objective. Zhenui further added that through this service, the firm would also be able to open up its technology and infrastructure to more businesses, industries, and shippers, making JD.com the go-to option for both the residential and commercial sectors.
Based on the consumer statistics that it collected on its survey, JD.com’s officials believe that most of its clients will be from the urban professional realm, the tech, business, and communication sectors to be precise. According to the results of the survey, about 74% of the respondents were from this arena and they expressed their need for a delivery service that is both fast and reliable, and at the same time that offers intra-city deliveries.
Jingdong is one of the most renowned and most successful retail e-commerce companies in China and Asia. The firm is setting the standards for online shopping in that region, and in the world as well by offering a one-stop shop for all products from fresh food, cosmetics to digital appliances.


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Bangalore based Sami Labs Limited, a Rs 259 crore transnational health science company, is looking at setting up a manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh within the next six months.
Sami Labs is in serious talks with the Andhra Pradesh government in this regard and has been scouting for land in the Visakhapatnam SEZ and other places around Hyderabad.
Speaking to Business Standard, Muhammed Majeed, Managing Director of Sami Labs Limited, said, “We are looking at setting up a nutraceutical manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh within the next six months.” We have earmarked a budget of close to Rs 12 crore for this purpose and are looking at employing around 100 people for the plant,” he added.
Sami at present has four manufacturing plants in Karnataka and this will be its first venture in Andhra Pradesh.
Sami, through its subsidiary Sabinsa has its presence in the US, Japan, Australia and South Africa. “We are now planning to set up an office in Brazil by this year – end,” Majeed said. “We are targeting a global turnover of Rs 450 crore by December 2005,” he added.
According to Majeed, Sami is the only company in India that does not test its products on animals. “We use alternative toxicity methods like InVitro non-animal testing that is done on cell lines and eggs. The equipment for this purpose is sourced from California-based InVitro International,” Majeed said. “We have also received an approval from Bhabha Atomic Research Center for radio-labeled studies that will help us in testing the efficacy of our ingredients and products without the use of animals,” he added.


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In every war there is a high price to pay, and this trade war will not be any different. The normal flow of goods and services around the globe is being severely disrupted, and even though this trade war has barely just begun, it is already having an enormous impact on the U.S. economy. Even if we ultimately win this trade war and the Trump administration is able to achieve all of the goals that it is targeting, there will still be a great cost in the short-term. We are going to see businesses fail, we are going to see workers get laid off, and global economic activity will inevitably contract. Heck, at this point even Fox News is calling this trade war “economic suicide”. We live at a time when a delicately balanced formula of economic factors allows us to live a debt-fueled standard of living that is far beyond what we actually deserve. Now we are messing with that formula, and the consequences are likely to be far more severe than most Americans are anticipating.
Let’s start by talking about steel and aluminum. One of the chief goals of the tariffs was to help the steel and aluminum industries, and thanks to those tariffs we have seen the price of U.S. steel rise 36 percent since the beginning of 2018…
For instance, US steel and aluminum prices have soared since the imposition of tariffs. US midwest hot-rolled coil steel price, the US steel price benchmark, soared 36% between the start of the year and the start of July. This in turn causes prices of goods made with the metal to rise.
That is good news for the U.S. economy, right?
Actually, it isn’t.
Every product that uses steel and aluminum is now going to cost more.
In many cases, a lot more.
For instance, one grill company is reporting that they have had to raise prices “by almost $350 per grill”…
Middleby Residential, a California-based company that makes Lynx grills, told the Dallas Morning News that even though the company uses US steel, the recent price pressures have driven up costs by almost $350 per grill.
Do you want to pay an extra $350 for your next grill?
Retail prices for washer and dryers are surging as well. They have increased by 20 percent compared to a year ago, and that is because prices for raw materials are skyrocketing…
Whirlpool Corp trimmed its full-year profit outlook as it booked a large charge on its European operations and said it wouldn’t be able to offset the effect of steel tariffs with higher prices for consumers.
The company said Monday it now expects to pay about $350 million more this year from rising raw-material costs as it faces “a very challenging cost environment.”
Anybody that purchases any products that contain steel and/or aluminum will be feeling these prices increases.
And any business that uses steel and/or aluminum on a regular basis is going to be feeling an enormous amount of pain. For example, the largest nail company in America is already laying off workers…
When President Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel imports last month, America’s largest nail manufacturer had little choice but to raise its prices. Mid Continent Nail Corporation quickly lost 50 percent of its orders as customers opted for cheaper suppliers. Within weeks, the firm had to lay off 60 workers. Up to 200 more might lose their jobs by the end of this month.
All over the country, companies are going to be forced to either raise prices, fire workers or move production facilities out of the United States.
Meanwhile, farmers all over America are facing a different problem. Thanks to a massive decline in demand from China (thanks to tariffs that they have hit us with), prices are plummeting and warehouses are filling up with food that doesn’t have anywhere to go.
Every year, the U.S. usually imports about 14 billion dollars worth of soybeans to China, and I covered the plight of soybean farmers in a previous article. But of course soybean farmers are far from alone. It is being reported that more than 2.5 billion pounds of meat and poultry products that have been produced by our farmers is being stockpiled in cold-storage warehouses. To help the agricultural community, President Trump announced 12 billion dollars in aid to farmers on Tuesday…
As President Donald Trump embarks on a multistate tour through parts of the country hit heavily by trade battles, his administration said Tuesday it will direct $12 billion to farmers whose harvests have been hurt by tariffs.
But the idea faced immediate criticism from Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Responding to farm groups and the Republican discontent, administration officials said they have been working since April on a short-term plan to shore up slipping prices for soybeans, pork and other crops hit with retaliatory tariffs from China.
Sure, this will help farmers get through the trade war in the short-term, but isn’t this exactly the kind of big government socialism that we are always railing against?
And who is going to bail out the real estate industry?
CNBC is reporting that home sales fell a whopping 11.8 percent year over year in southern California last month…
Southern California home sales hit the brakes in June, falling to the lowest reading for the month in four years. Sales of both new and existing houses and condominiums dropped 11.8 percent year over year, as prices shot up to a record high, according to CoreLogic. The report covers Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties.
And do you know who has been fueling the extremely hot real estate market on the west coast?
At one time they were buying up everything in sight, but now they have become net sellers of U.S. real estate.
And there are rumblings that we could soon see some sort of “national boycott” of American goods in China. The following comes from Zero Hedge…
The survey found that 54 percent of 2,000 respondents in 300 cities across China would “probably” or “definitely” stop buying US-branded goods “in the event of a trade war”. Just 13 percent said they would not.
The remaining 33 percent said they were unsure or did not at present buy US branded goods, according to the survey, conducted for FT Confidential Research (FTCR), a research unit at the Financial Times.
The survey was carried out between June 27 and July 10, mostly before the US imposed 25 percent tariffs on $34bn of Chinese goods on July 6. The move elicited an immediate tit-for-tat response from Beijing.
Of course something similar could be tried in the United States, but most Americans simply do not care if a product comes from China or not. They are simply going to buy the cheapest stuff no matter what anyone tells them to do.
Look, I very much understand that we have been sending businesses and jobs overseas for a very long time. I have been writing about this for years, and something had to be done.
But trying to fight trade wars with virtually everyone else on the planet simultaneously is madness, and the consequences for the U.S. economy are going to cause all of us an immense amount of pain.
Michael Snyder is a nationally syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is publisher of The Most Important News and the author of four books including The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters.


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Quick Note: Samsung's 128 GB Flash Chips Head to Mobile Devices
September 18, 2012 12:21 PM
comment(s) - last by
Early adoption will likely be slow
Samsung Mobile Solutions Forum 2012
this week Samsung Electronics Comp., Ltd. (
that it had just initiated mass production of 128 GB NAND flash chips for mobile devices.
The chips are destined to wind up in high-end smartphones and tablets. They support 140 MB/s data transfer speeds (reads) and adhere to the JEDEC eMMC v4.5 specification. The chips are fabricated on Samsung's
new 20nm process
and feature a toggle DDR 2.0 interface.
Expect early adoption to be slow, particularly on the smartphone front.
introduced 64 GB memory modules
in Jan. 2010. Yet two years later, the only 64 GB smartphones are Apple, Inc.'s (
) iPhone 5 and ASUSTek Computer Inc.'s (
. Beyond that HTC Corp. (
) has a handful of premiere 32 GB models, while most of the rest of the Android pack are sitting at 16 GB or less of internal storage.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
Most companies (sans Apple) allow consumer expansion....
9/18/2012 5:52:20 PM
By allowing consumers to use Micro-SD cards, WE get the choice of less expensive phones and expand the memory as we see fit. Many can use existing microUSB cables to charge their phones and even access their phone
Apple charges $100 each tier to expand soldered memory from 16, 32, 64. Apple requires a proprietary cable to charge and you can only add content using proprietary software ITunes.
Why pay up to 200.00 more for a phone when you can buy a 50.00 MicroSD card and keep the rest in YOUR pocket? Apple LOVES to take advantage of its followers, so it gets away with it. Over time many will begin to wake from the infatuation and breakup with Apple.
Reality Check on Android and Apple comparison...
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They say that sharing a project together can help bring married couples closer together, and it makes sense. After all, whether it’s as simple as cooking dinner together or redecorating the living room, there’re plenty of positive vibes to be felt in putting your heads together and producing something that provides a sense of accomplishment.
Husband and wife Teruyuki and Yuka Ishikawa happen to be involved in a bit more ambitious of an undertaking, though. For more than a year, the pair of Tokyo-based CG modelers has been working on Saya, an amazingly lifelike CG construct of a Japanese schoolgirl. We’ve been wowed by her photos before, and now comes a video showing her in motion for the first time.
At this week's CEATEC Japan electronics trade show, exhibitor Sharp showed off its new 8K monitor, and to demonstrate its high-spec clarity, visitors to the booth can see a video of Saya as she turns and grins for the virtual camera. While some of the animation looks a bit off (her hair and clothing look oddly stiff), her muscular movement looks like the real thing, and as always the textures of her skin and hair look uncannily close to those of a living human being.
The Ishikawas have long said their eventual goal is for Saya to be the star of a movie, and while her gig at CEATEC is closer to a commercial or celebrity endorsement, it’s exciting to see her make her first steps into the world of show business.
Source: IT Media
Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- This high school girl is incredibly popular online, but can you guess what her secret is?【Photos】 -- Godzilla figure based on Shin Godzilla CG model is stunningly detailed, shockingly expensive -- Japanese kitty’s reaction to seeing snow for the first time captured in cute video 【Video】© Japan Today


text:
Here is our final list of ongoing trends that we predicted would be significant in 2020. (Part one is available here and part two here.)There’s not as much description of the trends because we think, since they’re ongoing, they need no introduction. Our point in highlighting them is that some trends don’t immediately fade away. Obviously some trends disappear. But just because a trend went mainstream one year does not mean it goes away the next.
These ongoing trends can continue to be relevant in subsequent years. That’s why we always identify ongoing trends, and why we think it’s worthwhile to look at which ones made a difference.
Here are grades for 21 ongoing trends.
1. Robocalls won’t go away. Grade A.
2. More home exercise equipment will offer at-home streaming classes. We didn’t anticipate the huge growth in the sector but we were right about at-home streaming classes. Grade: A.
3. News fatigue. Even reporters complained of being overwhelmed by too much news. Grade: A.
4. Short news cycles. In Oct. alone, there was so much news that there wasn’t enough time to process everything before being overwhelmed by some other news item. That happened all year. Grade: A.
5. Fake news and disinformation will continue, probably increase in 2020. We shouldn’t have hedged our bet by including the word “probably.” Grade: A.
6. The credibility of news media is under attack. This remains a problem for marketers. And also for the hope of bringing people together to heal our country. Grade: A.
7. Social media will continue to undergo scrutiny and it won’t look good. We expect more scrutiny in 2021. Grade: A.
8. Cord-cutting will continue to attract the media’s attention. Not sure it did. Grade: C-.
9. Most tech reporters at newspapers will continue to focus on FAANG: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google. They also discussed Zoom and accessories to help you work from home. Grade: B+.
10. Elon Musk and Tesla will continue to attract undue amount of media attention. Probably true. Grade: B.
11. Driverless cars still won’t be ready. True. Grade: A.
12. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality still won’t be everywhere. But the pandemic may accelerate adoption. Grade: B.
13. Blockchain and bitcoin will continue to get media coverage but most consumers still won’t have much contact with bitcoin and won’t understand how Blockchain affects them. Probably true. Grade: B.
14. Corporate boycotts & consumer boycotts will continue. Corporate boycotts are when companies pull their ads from specific shows, hosts or networks to protest something said or done. This did happen in 2020. Grade: B.
15. 3-D content and 3-D printers will still not be as popular as they are cool. True. Grade: A.
16. Student debt and healthcare will continue to be big issues. Student debt did not get the attention we expected while healthcare was significant. Grade: B.
17. Climate change will be an issue. This got attention, in the wake of fire storms and other natural disasters. Grade: B.
18. Drug pricing will continue to get a lot of attention. Also, we all learned about the cost to develop and manufacture COVID-19 vaccines. Grade: B+.
19. STEM will continue to be important. But there didn’t seem to be as much media coverage of this.Grade: C.
20. More small colleges will merge or close. We expect more of that in 2021. Grade: B.
21. The future continues to look cloudy – as in cloud computing. Cloud computing was a big help during the pandemic. Grade: A.
We did pretty well with this set of predictions. We think many of these trends will continue to have impact in 2021.
Let us know what you think. We are preparing our trends and predictions for 2021 and will issue them in early November.


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Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is the upcoming first-person survival horror game by Capcom. The game seems to take a sharp turn away from previous installments. Judging by the demo, it’s going to focus more on horror than action, in the vein of Outlast and Amnesia. The demo, titled Beginning Hour, has revealed a lot about the game, but raised just as many questions. Here’s what we know so far about the game.
The A.I. seems to be very sophisticated and relentless. The Bakers freely roam around the mansion, so there might be no truly safe zones anymore.
So, this is pretty much everything that we know about the game so far. I honestly can’t wait for this game to come out, it promises to be a thrilling ride!


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It has become apparent in the last few days that in light of the result to leave the EU, some of our industry’s biggest companies have taken the decision to raise their prices. This is something that fabricators and even installers may already being seeing.
Does this statement look familiar:
I reckon quite a few of us have seen a letter or two like this in the last few days. And in fairness you can understand why some companies will be wanting to pass on their price increases. For those who buy their raw materials in dollars, they will have seen their costs rise quite a bit in the past few days.
Companies who bulk buy their raw materials in 6-12 month batches won’t see an immediate increase. But companies who buy on shorter term contracts will, and as the statement above suggests, this rise is fairly significant.
We’re talking about companies here though that buy their raw materials from outside the UK. This isn’t the case for every window and door manufacturer and sysco. What about the ones who produce and fabricate here in the UK?
The beginnings of a price war
There are already a few companies sharp enough to have realised that their British made window and door products won’t suffer price increases. After all, if everything they make is sourced and produced here, import costs from a weakened pound won’t affect them.
This is going to create a clear divide between companies who are choosing to put their prices up and those that are not. And we’re talking about significant price increases here. Not just one or two percent. We’re talking seven to eight percent, if not more.
So you can imagine the immense selling point for companies who make things here. They will be using this to their advantage, going out to the installer sector and promoting hard the fact that they’re not implementing price increases. In a time of instability and rising costs, this will be a very tempting factor for a lot of installers.
The pressure will then be on suppliers to keep their existing installers on board. Are their customer’s loyalties strong enough to withstand, say, a 10% price increase? I would estimate that for a large number, increases of amounts of this type will be a step too far, and will force them to look elsewhere in the market, and at companies who haven’t put their prices up since the Brexit vote.
A potentially feisty battle
Lets be clear, this could be a battle that will get feisty, and perhaps quite ugly. The companies who are not going to raise their prices are going to be very vocal about this fact. They are going to put extreme pressure on the companies that are in order to steal new business away from established clients and bring them over to their platform.
In return, companies who are having to pass on increases are going to need to fight tooth and nail to keep hold of their existing customers. As I have said above, price increases of this size will force some installers to go elsewhere, so there is a risk that companies will lose installers and revenues will drop as a result, a double whammy.
There is the potential for this to build steadily over the coming weeks as the industry splits quite rapidly between the two camps. There will be wars of words between companies and personalities, there will be business won and business lost. I suspect those syscos and fabricators based in the UK will fare better in the coming weeks and months.
Either way, this is going to be a key area to watch in the short to medium term, and one that could get very volatile.


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Nairobi-based bookstore Soma Nami Books has just suffered a targeted cyber attack on their website on Tuesday, March 26. Our thoughts are with the Soma Nami team as they work on recovering from the attack.
Soma Nami Books was founded by Muthoni Muiruri and Wendy Njoroge in 2021 as a woman-owned and Pan-African literary hub dedicated to the power of literature and the striving for knowledge. It is a book haven for all readers near and far, and won Brittle Paper‘s 2021 Literary Platform of the Year.
It is extremely sad to see that such a thriving African bookstore was the target of a malicious cyber attack. The attackers left a veiled threat on the website, spouting rhetoric about Anti-semitism. See the photo below.
According to the Soma Nami team, this attack represents “not only a breach of digital security but also a direct assault on the fundamental freedoms of expression, creativity and information.” We stand with Soma Nami books as they work on recovery, both digitally and politically in a global climate that is filled with censorship and suppression.
Read the full press statement from Soma Nami below.
Dear Valued Readers, Authors, and Supporters,
It is with great regret that we inform you of a recent targeted cyber attack on the website of Soma Nami Books www.somanami.co.ke, on Tuesday, 26th March 2024.
Founded in 2021, Soma Nami Books is a woman-owned and run Pan-African bookstore and literary hub based in Nairobi, Kenya, offering a vast and diverse selection of books to readers across East Africa. Soma Nami Books has been at the forefront of democratizing access to knowledge and information and is dedicated to the exchange of ideas and promoting the power of literature.
This attack represents not only a breach of digital security but also a direct assault on the fundamental freedoms of expression, creativity and information.
Soma Nami Books has long served as a beacon for readers and writers alike, providing a space where diverse voices can be heard and celebrated. Our commitment to encouraging critical thinking, and championing the written word remains unwavering, despite this setback.
This incident serves as a timely reminder of the importance of protecting books and ideas in an increasingly digital world. Books have the power to enlighten, inspire, and challenge us. They are essential vehicles for the transmission of knowledge and the preservation of culture. Yet, they are also vulnerable to censorship and suppression, whether through physical means or digital attacks.
We are actively working to restore the Soma Nami Books website and strengthen our cybersecurity measures to prevent future attacks. The matter has also been reported to the relevant authorities for investigation. As a precautionary measure, and as investigations into this incident are carried out by relevant authorities, Soma Nami Books has taken the decision to take the services that were available online on the website, offline.
In the meantime, readers can still purchase books in-person at our store at The Greenhouse Mall, Ground floor, through phone/WhatsApp on 0705 548 052 or via our social media platforms below:
Together, let us reaffirm our commitment to the power of books and the enduring importance of free expression.
Thank you for your continued support.


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Run Wild & Family Fit Fest
By Patte Smith; photos courtesy of Stacie Chadwick
Families, neighbors and local business owners all gathered on September 16 for the community Run Wild and new Family Fit Fest at Elk Ridge Park. Runners of all ages and abilities participated in the City’s seventh annual 5K and 5-mile runs, with the overall mens and womens winners taking home a cash prize and gift certificates to local merchants. For those less competitive in the group, the ever-popular “Color Me Wild” fun run provided a splash of excitement and color.
New this year, the Castle Pines Chamber of Commerce joined with the City and brought neighborhood businesses out for a more comprehensive health and wellness experience. “The addition of the Family Fit Fest was intended to further promote our health and wellness businesses to our residents,” stated Chamber Executive Director Amy Shanahan. “We are able to bring these types of events to the community because of the generosity of our business members who are invested in making Castle Pines a wonderful place to live.”
Activities included a bouncy house, tumble bubbles, the Ninja Nation course, a mini farmers market, a pet corner – with adorable pets to adopt, free beer and a pancake breakfast.
To view a slideshow of the event, visit photos.castlepinesconnection.com/slideshow/2018/runwild/index.html.


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The Kenyan parliament has introduced a new bill, The Finance Bill 2023, which proposes a taxation system for cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The bill calls for a 3% tax on crypto and NFT transfers, and a 15% tax on monetized online content, including sponsorships, merchandise sales, paid subscriptions, and affiliate marketing. The proposed regulations aim to regulate digital assets by taxing income derived from transferring or exchanging digital assets.
The bill’s digital assets section has elicited mixed reactions online. Some see it as a step forward, as the proposed tax officially recognizes cryptocurrencies and NFTs in the country. However, critics argue that the proposed 3% tax is excessive, and will hurt innovation and investment in the emerging digital asset sector in Kenya. Some Kenyan crypto advocacy groups even call it “targeted harassment,” and contend that the digital tax “must apply to everything digital.”
Before becoming law, the bill must go through the entire Kenyan legislative process; five rounds of readings, committees, and reports by the National Assembly, and if successful, it will be sent to the President for final approval. If passed, crypto exchanges or individuals initiating cryptocurrency or NFT transfers will be responsible for collecting and remitting the 3% tax to the government, including exchanges not registered in Kenya, which will be required to register under the new tax regime.
Kenya first attempted to regulate cryptocurrencies in November 2022 by amending its capital market laws, which mandate individuals owning or dealing in cryptocurrencies report information on their activities to the authorities. The Finance Bill 2023 is the latest attempt by the Kenyan government to regulate the burgeoning digital asset market within the country.
As the Kenyan government moves forward with The Finance Bill 2023, it remains to be seen how these proposed regulations will impact the digital asset market within the country. With mixed reactions and controversy surrounding the proposed taxation system, it is clear that this issue will continue to spark debate and discussion in the coming weeks and months.
Written By Agbo Obinnaya
Learn more about VTRADER’s expansion into Africa here: https://vtrader.io/news/


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The market now sits 8% ahead of last year-to-date, but 18% behind pre-pandemic figures for the same period, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
A total of 10,034 units were registered across the three months, demonstrating the best quarterly growth since Q3 2021.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “Large growth in the heavy goods vehicle market is welcome amid the myriad challenges facing the sector, and signs of supply chain issues finally beginning to ease deliver hope for a more positive 2023.
“To maintain strong momentum, solidify recovery and drive fleet renewal, essential for delivering cleaner air in our towns and cities, the government must focus on measures to help drive demand for decarbonised heavier vehicles. This means investment in charging infrastructure that is accessible for trucks and reflective of their growth, ahead of need, while also taking a technology neutral approach as we race towards 2040 and the goal for all HGVs to be zero emission.”
The strong performance was driven by demand for artics and rigid trucks – up 53.1% to 4,510 units and 15.8% to 5,524 units, respectively. There were notable increases of 56.1% for trucks with three or more axles, and 33.7% for two axle models. Rigids also posted growth, predominately within the 6-16T sector, which recorded a 21.7% increase, while >16T vehicles saw a slightly more modest rise of 12.7%.
Meanwhile, tractor units continued their strong performance across 2022 with deliveries up 53.2% to 4,409 units and accounting for 43.9% of the market. Box vans followed closely behind, with a 46.7% increase.


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Bell Pottinger partner departs at the Double
Bell Pottinger partner Steve Double has joined crisis and reputation management consultancy Alder. Double had been at the agency for 10 years and had also held senior roles in-house at British Airways and Cable & Wireless.
DawBell's Sky win
DawBell has been appointed by Sky Atlantic to handle PR for its new series Riviera, which will air in early summer 2017. It is the first TV series the agency has worked on, having previously specialised in representing musical acts or presenters, alongside actors including James Corden and Michelle Keegan.
Mason Williams' festive brief
Mason Williams has been appointed to deliver a national festive PR campaign for The Elf on the Shelf, an online retailer of Christmas gifts.
Canagan gives PHA a bone
PHA Media has announced it has been appointed by premium pet food brand, Canagan to manage its communications. The agency has been tasked with raising awareness of the brand’s products, core values and success to date.
FSC brings in head of content
Hospitality and leisure specialist Fleet Street Communications has appointed Mike Berry as head of content. Berry spent 17 years in b2b journalism and is currently managing editor of pub trade title the Morning Advertiser. The agency's founder previously worked at its sister title M&C Report.
We Are Social's strategic hire
Harvey Cossell has joined We Are Social as head of strategy. He was previously strategy director of digital content agency Adjust Your Set, having started his career in-house with GSK, and going on to work for various other agencies.
Neat PR wins Matchstick Monkey
Following a competitive pitch process, retail specialist Neat PR has secured the PR brief for new teething toy, Matchstick Monkey.
Focus toasts D1 brief
PR, experiential and social agency Focus has been appointed by British spirits company, D1 London Spirits, to support its premium bar listings, and launch the D1 International Cocktail Exchange, in which 18 top bars and restaurants from the UK and South East Asia will pair up and swap signature cocktails.


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A Dutch billionaire, John de Mol, has recently sued Facebook over fraudulent bitcoin ads that showed him next to quotes about how much money he purportedly made investing in BTC with a company that was swindling users.
Reuters reported that De Mol’s lawyer has claimed the businessman, who created the reality show ‘Big Brother’ and is one of the brains behind the Endemol entertainment studio, is suing Facebook over damages to his client’s reputation, and over Facebook’s inability to stop the ads from appearing altogether.
De Mol’s lawyers wants Facebook to automatically block ads featuring him and cryptocurrencies. His lawyer further claimed consumers sent a total of €1.7 million (around $1.9 million) to the scammers, before Facebook reacted to complaints and removed the ads from its platform.
De Mol also wants to get the names of those behind the fraudulent bitcoin ads, so he can hand them over to authorities. Jacqueline Schapp, one of his lawyers, argued that Facebook’s system of reacting to users reporting problems isn’t good enough.
He said: “I don’t know what reality Facebook lives in, but that doesn’t work.”
Facebook’s lawyer, Jens van den Brink, revealed the company couldn’t be forced to monitor every ad that goes through it all the time. He also said that it’s “technically impossible” to block ads with De Mol’s name on it, as he is not the only person with such a name.


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Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. are holding strong to pot policies in place at each company for the time being and turning down advertisement offers from organizations hoping to target marijuana users in Colorado and Washington via online ads.
Trade group National Cannabis Industry Association has attempted to pay social networking giant Facebook to "boost" pot-related stories posted on the site by publications such as The New York Times, but Facebook turned down the effort, tech news site GigaOm reported.
Facebook is reluctant to run the ads in Colorado and Washington where marijuana is legal, even though the company can target online ads to specific locations and demographics.
“The risk of attempting to allow ads promoting the drug in certain states or countries where it is legal is too high (no pun intended) for us to consider at this time,” Facebook spokesman Tim Rathschmidt, told GigaOm by email.
Policies are updated often so the ad rules could change, both companies stated.
"Potrepreneurs" aren't having any luck on Twitter Inc. either, according to AdWeek. The article states that if pot advocates such as Woody Harrelson and Snoop Dogg become celebrity advocates and the online companies revamp their dope policies, the online ad landscape could see dramatic changes.


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MILAN (Reuters) – Italian car part suppliers see their small average size struggling to adapt to industry changes following the merger of local carmaker Fiat Chrysler with France’s PSA which created Stellantis earlier this year, a lobby survey showed on Thursday.
Global carmakers are investing billions to accelerate a transition to low-emission mobility, pushing parts makers to adapt their production, with electric engines requiring less and often different components from traditional combustion ones.
Most of the Italian parts suppliers surveyed by Italian automotive industry lobby ANFIA did not give a final judgment about consequences of the creation of Stellantis, the world’s fourth largest carmaker.
But it showed a majority of those who responded think their size could put them under pressure from the bigger carmaker to adapt to its demands.
“There is a problem with size and this is an issue, especially in terms of investments, when businesses need to refocus their productions,” said Marco Stella, head of the components sector at ANFIA, noting that Italy did not have large car part suppliers like Germany.
“Small size affects their ability to respond to challenges posed by industry changes”.
However, many of the respondents in the survey still saw the merger as an opportunity, in particular for wider access to markets the group can guarantee, the report said.
Francesco Zirpoli of Venice Ca’ Foscari University, who contributed to the report, said the fortunes of Italy’s car part suppliers would be tightly linked to how Stellantis manages the overlap between its former Fiat Chrysler and PSA European supply chains.
“Italian car parts makers are struggling to update their offer through R&D investments,” he said.
The report showed Italian car parts industry comprised around 2,200 companies, with total revenue of almost 45 billion euros ($52 billion) last year. Around 42% of it came from sales to Stellantis.
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
Copyright 2021 Thomson Reuters.


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Time Warner has confirmed plans to release the next game in the Batman: Arkham series in 2013.
Speaking during the firm's fiscal year 2012 earnings call last week, as transcribed by Seeking Alpha, chief financial officer John Martin said: "We also have a strong games release this year, which will include the next release in the Batman Arkham franchise.”
Time Warner's current fiscal year ends on December 31, 2013. We’ve sought further comment from Warner Bros. Interactive on its plans for the Batman: Arkham series this year.
It has been rumoured that the follow-up to 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum and 2011’s Batman: Arkham City will be a “highly stylized” prequel revolving around Batman's first meeting with the Joker. Variety reported last year that it would be based on the Silver Age of DC comic books from the 1950s, when Batman joined forces with the likes of Superman to found the Justice League of America.
VG247 said today it has been told by unnamed sources that Arkham Asylum and City creator Rocksteady Studios is not developing the next game in the series.


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AT&T has finally posted a statement disclosing an official date for MMS
activation for iPhones running on its network. Moreover, the carrier has indirectly confirmed the rumored iPhone OS 3.1 Software Update. The update is likely going to be announced at Apple’s annual iPod event hosted on September 9 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco.
“We know many of our iPhone customers are eager for an update on our rollout schedule for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS),” an official statement
from AT&T reads. “We’ve been working for the past several months to prepare our systems and network to ensure the best possible experience with MMS when it launches – and that launch date is: September 25 for iPhone 3G and 3GS customers. MMS will be enabled through a software update on that day.”
AT&T is most likely referring to an Apple-developed Software Update for iPhone owners, which, although is likely to be announced at the September 9th event
, will not see the light of day until September 25, going by the carrier’s statements.
“We know that iPhone users will embrace MMS,” the mobile carrier adds. “The unique capabilities and high usage of the iPhone’s multimedia capabilities required us to work on our network MMS architecture to carry the expected record volumes of MMS traffic and ensure an excellent experience from Day One. We appreciate your patience as we work toward that end,” the provider of wireless services in the US states. AT&T goes to outline that smartphone growth has impacted the carrier’s network, resulting in the delay of MMS for iPhone. Nevertheless, the company assures customers it is ready to handle the workload.
With this confirmation from AT&T, all focus will be directed towards Apple’s iPod event next week, when the company is likely to confirm the newest iPhone OS Software Update, and the changes it brings along.


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Player information swiped in hack of Ubisoft system
Videogame titan Ubisoft on Tuesday warned that hackers swiped names, email addresses and other information about users of its online gaming community.
"We recently found that one of our websites was exploited to gain unauthorized access to some of our online systems," the France-based company said in a message to members of its Uplay service.
"We learned that data had been illegally accessed from our account database, including user names, email addresses and encrypted passwords."
Ubisoft said that it sealed the breach to its system and that no credit card or other payment information was stolen because there was none kept in the computer system.
Ubisoft urged players to change their passwords.
"This is pretty serious," a Uplay member wrote in an online forum beneath the blog post about the cyber strike. "Thanks for being up front about it."
Hit Ubisoft franchises include 'Assassin's Creed' and military espionage games inspired by spy novel author Tom Clancy.
Ubisoft did not disclose how many accounts were involved.
"Ubisoft's security teams are exploring all available means to expand and strengthen our security measures in order to better protect our customers," the company said in an online question-and-answer forum.
"Unfortunately, no company or organization is completely immune to these kinds of criminal attacks."
© 2013 AFP


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The IDC’s preliminary Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet Tracker found that total tablet shipments reached 25 million units in Q2, representing a healthy 66.2% rise from the year before.
Apple unsurprisingly continued to dominate the market, and IDC said that iPad shipments even reached a new record level in the quarter.
The research group said that 17 million iPads were shipped in the quarter, up from 11.8 million units in Q1 and above Apple’s previous quarter record of 15.4 million iPads (in Q4 of 2011).
Apple was not however the only tablet vendor to experience growth, as four of the top five players saw their tablet shipments increase on a yearly basis.
Samsung's tablet shipments more than doubled to 2.4 million units, while Amazon shipped 1.2 million Kindle Fires to take third place on the market.
Asus shipped 855,454 tablets, someway above its total of 397,048 units last year (note: the Nexus 7 was not accounted for in this study), but it was Acer who struggled to most to attract new buyers. The Taiwanese vendor saw tablet shipments decline from 629,222 units in Q2 of last year to just under 400,000 a year later.
With the iPad Mini, the Surface and Windows 8 tablets set to boost the tablet market imminently, IDC expects the tablet market to become more competitive in the second half of 2012.
However, the firm has warned that the addition of these devices, as well as Amazon’s next Kindle Fire, could cause customer confusion.
"If anything, there's a real risk that people will have too many options from which to choose this holiday season,” said Bob O’Donnell, program VP of clients and displays at IDC.
“Consumers baffled by the differences between Amazon and Google versions of Android, or Windows 8 and Windows RT, may well default to market leader Apple. Or they may simply choose to remain on the sideline for another cycle."


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As 2022 kicks off, predictions abound on the technology advancements and innovations expected in the year ahead. However, several highly anticipated advancements, including the metaverse, mainstream companion robots, a boom in edge computing and more will NOT happen in 2022, according to ABI Research.
“The fallout from COVID-19 prevention measures, the process of transitioning from pandemic to endemic disease and global political tensions weigh heavily on the coming year’s fortunes. This white paper is a tool for our readers to help shape their understanding of the key critical trends that look set to materialize in 2022 as the world begins to emerge from the shadow of COVID-19. It also highlights those much-vaunted trends that are less likely to have meaningful impact in 2022,” says Stuart Carlaw, chief research officer at ABI Research.
From ABI Research:
- The metaverse will not arrive in 2022, or for that matter, within the typical 5-year forecast window.
- Edge computing, both Mobile-Access Edge Computing (MEC) and general edge computing, will continue to increase in deployment numbers. However, the deployments in 2022 will be mostly critical ones made by early adopters—not the start of the boom that had been anticipated.
- Despite the potential for social/companion robotics, 2022 will not be the breakout year the industry is hoping for.
- A combination of factors will take until 2023 to resolve shortage issues through additional capacity, verification of real demand and the inflationary impact on consumer spending on products.


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Its a good time for AMD. Only a week ago they released some powerful, well priced graphics cards, with their new Nvidia competing Radeon RX 5700 XT and along side those Navi architecture cards they also brought out 6 new Intel chomping processors.
Its always been said, never have a war on two fronts, but AMD are doing remarkably well at fighting the two titans we know as Intel (processors) and Nvidia(graphics cards). So much so that we are getting a bunch of data flow through the media that shows that the markets in Japan and South Korea have tipped into AMDs favour when it comes to selling processors. This puts Intel in second place for the first time, in a long time.
First off lets take a look at the Japan BCN Ranking chart, which takes data from major retailers throughout Japan. And it shows that AMD have just slipped past Intel as the most popular CPU brand. That is a huge drop for Intel over the year.
Ok then we move over to the South Korean Danawa research data set, that shows us that the new Zen 2 AMD processors have pushed the AMD brand past Intel there as well. The most popular is still the Intel Core i5-9400F but it is now followed very closely by AMD’s Ryzen 7 3700X then the Ryzen 5 3600X and then the heavy hitting Ryzen 9 3900X.
The reason why those markets are so juicy is that normally they are early adopting tech nations. Which means they are more likely to be at the front of a tech trend. Which means there is a chance that if it keeps up, AMD processors can stomp their way across the rest of the world over the coming year, like some giant CPU Godzilla.


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DETROIT (AP) — Ford says the Focus compact car is the best-selling auto in the world this year.
The company says it sold almost 590,000 Focuses during the first half of the year based on registration data. That beat the No. 2 finisher, the Toyota Corolla.
Toyota disputes the claim. The Japanese automaker says Ford didn’t count identical Toyota cars sold under different names in other countries.
Ford says Focus sales are up 20 percent through the first half of the year. That’s mainly because of big sales in China, now the car’s largest market.
This could be the second year in a row that Ford Motor Co. lays claim to the top-seller honors.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.