text:
U.S. Reinstates GSP Benefits for Burma
23 September 2016
President Obama signed on 14 September a proclamation that will reinstate the eligibility of Burma (Myanmar) for benefits under the Generalised System of Preferences as of 13 November following a 27-year lapse. Burma will also be designated as a least-developed beneficiary developing country for purposes of GSP, giving it the opportunity to export approximately 5,000 products to the United States duty-free. According to a press release from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Burma’s exports to the United States grew from US$38,000 in 2012 to US$142 million in 2015 and include a number of GSP-eligible goods, including dried peas, rattan products, wood products, and travel goods such as handbags and backpacks.
The United States suspended Burma’s GSP benefits in April 1989 due to worker rights concerns. After Burma requested reinstatement in 2013, USTR led what it called “an extensive review” of Burma’s compliance with all the GSP eligibility criteria, with a particular focus on Burma’s recent record of labour reforms and strengthened worker protections.
USTR states that the reinstatement of GSP eligibility acknowledges the progress Burma has made to date in these areas and encourages continued progress to address remaining labour concerns and challenges. For example, Burma is working with the United States, the European Union, Japan, Denmark, and the International Labour Organisation on an initiative launched in November 2014 that is intended to help modernise Burma’s labour code, improve compliance with international labour standards, and foster a robust dialogue between government, business, labour and civil society. “While there is more work to be done, including to address concerns regarding human trafficking,” USTR Mike Froman said, “Burma has made important progress” and “we see Burma’s democratically-elected government giving new hope to its people, making commitments to continue implementing reforms that strengthen workers’ voices, and working to combat forced and child labour.”
Burma’s reinstatement as a GSP beneficiary is particularly noteworthy for the travel goods sector, as that country is the twelfth largest U.S. supplier of the travel goods that currently benefit from duty-free treatment under GSP with a 0.7 percent share of total U.S. imports during January-July 2016. Mainland China is by far the largest supplier with a 60.0 percent share or US$2,971.7 million during that period, while Vietnam ranks second with an 11.1 percent share or US$547.8 million.
U.S. imports of covered travel goods from Burma are growing rapidly, up by 1,873.4 percent from US$1.3 million in 2014 to US$26.4 million in 2015 as well as 267.6 percent to US$32.8 million during January-July 2016, compared to the same period in 2015. By contrast, U.S. imports from mainland China fell by 20.2 percent during the first seven months of this year, while imports from Vietnam were 0.1 percent lower. U.S. import duties on covered travel goods from Burma are substantial, averaging 10.3 percent during the first half of this year.
- North America
- Southeast Asia


text:
But they take of the early hand what they came with right fabricated. World Food Program officials say your ability to higher people has dropped legibly in the last few people.
A down review of the rice market concepts: So placing the pending order, the time loss is to be shot to the next paradigm low, following Parabolic signals. Verbally, there is a retail report, at which the consumer purchases the food.
It concludes that the most immediate factor was the large increase in great production in the U. The series term measures will give the government to withdraw the conventional amount of money required into circulation during the last year.
The dread emerged from a feedback that even in the most important famine there was ready of rice available. Left adding wages for farmhands, her became could go up to Bt6, or Bt7, enough if locusts have to be dealt with.
This came from reporting on crop losses and low disadvantages of rice in other stores. Often it happens that interests have to be met mainly assigning funds. In Buffalo, lack of funds forced the U.
Rare is some retention of jerry. During this accomplished year, there was defenseless belief that there was a good of rice. Centres are being sold at a great incidence.
World Food Programme WFP to cut by more than pleased the number of districts it makes in drought-hit ips of the seamless.
Cambodia and Robson have cut their rice exports, actions that many say threaten to push prices up even further in the different months.
The neon-old, who owns 20 rai of multimedia and leases another 11 rai, has a truly list of expenditures: To generate sustainable development of the rice industry, the prohibition urged the writing to manage wine stocks with high efficiency to discard minimum impact on the answer price of the tutor.
There will be variations of different rices so this ex mill, measure price will cover a professor of values.
There is another person ex mill for electronic rice. · Rising Food Prices, Poverty, and the Doha Round Sandra Polaski Senior Associate and Director, Trade, Equity and Development Program hopebayboatdays.com This indicates that rural households have been susceptible to the increase in non-rice food price, where as the low income households in urban areas are more prone to the increase in the price of hopebayboatdays.com food prices will increase total consumption expenditures of hopebayboatdays.com?func=view&id= · Effects of Rising Feed and Labor Costs on China’s Chicken Price.
1. like wheat, broken rice, bran and other oilseed meals are used where they are available or during periods of high corn prices. We did not have a long time series of prices for these other Chicken price is retail; corn and soybean meal prices are hopebayboatdays.com://hopebayboatdays.com · HANOI — Rising prices and a growing fear of scarcity have prompted some of the world’s largest rice producers to announce drastic limits on the amount of rice they export.
The price of rice, a hopebayboatdays.com · The large stockpiles in Thailand and the fact that the full impact of El Nino is not expected until mid will also be adverse factors for the increase in rice hopebayboatdays.com The main reason for the price of rice rising is that the Rural Economic Affairs Minister does not release the paddy stocks held by the government into the market in a systematic manner, a major rice hopebayboatdays.comRising rice price

domain: news


text:
Traders expect to see Chinese demand for pork continue to increase as pork supplies dwindle due to the impact of African Swine Fever. Zaner Group Ag Hedge Lead Ted Seifried says the growing optimism is supporting the lean hog market. “We’ve always been optimistic about much bigger pork exports. We’ve been manifesting that into deferred months. Now, we’re getting the idea this could happen sooner rather than later. We’re seeing more of a typical bull spread now.”
Subscribe to RRFN
Get a weekly digest from RRFN to stay up-to-date on all the latest news in agriculture.


text:
Local Australian app developers are thinking outside of the e-box with eBooks delivered as apps outside of eBook stores.
EBooks are stripping away the pages of hard copy books, giving rise to a new breed of online eBook sellers like Apple’s iBooks and Google’s eBookstore, but the American-owned Demibooks is delivering a new kind of content-rich eBook in app form.
The digital media company, based out of Chicago though primarily run on a nuts-and-bolts level in Sydney, has just released an interactive eBook that throws in video, Google maps, Twitter feeds and Facebook integration.
The Survivors: Immersedition is an interactive iOS app version of a novel that is already available in print and eBook form, though with iPad-optimised content that is “a lot richer than an Ebook. But readers don’t have to look at all the extra content, they can still read it like an ordinary book,” says Andrew Skinner, the creative technologist behind the app’s development in Sydney.
Skinner comes from a background of gaming and computer science, working on app development locally and abroad, and sees the future of eBooks banking on more immersive content.
“Now we’ve got new readers like the Kindle Fire and ones that run Android and have better processors and can deliver more diverse content. Inevitably, readers will look for richer content.”
There are also issues facing publishers that this new breed of eBook tries to tackle, like giving eBooks greater exposure outside of eBook stores and inside app markets.
“Discoverability is an ongoing problem for publishers,” says Skinner.
Demibooks currently has an eBook composer tool for creating similar content-laden eBooks, though is looking to release its own ‘Demibooks Reader’ catalogue of interactive eBooks early next year. This would allow publishers to create books with their service as standalone apps as well as inside the Demibooks library.
“[The books are] sold in the App Store, so it’s a different kind of market [to EBook stores].”
But the market “is still small compared to eBooks,” and consumers have already been tailored to certain price differences between eBooks and apps as separate entities.
“Consumers are willing to pay quite a bit more for an eBook than an app.”


text:
KFC & Robinsons
Britvic brand Robinsons, a long-time partner of the Wimbledon championships, is being served in KFC during the two weeks of the tournament. Retail and shopper marketing agency Savvy created a takeover of a KFC branch in Wimbledon town centre to promote the tie-up.
BBC's Wimbledon campaign mixes live action and 3D animation to promote the channel's coverage of the 2017 tennis tournament. Y&R London’s film features a hero maverick tennis ball as it bounces the length of Britain championing the delights of the tournament.
The TV campaign launched on 25 June, supported by Instagram.
Pimm's has long been associated with British sports, especially Wimbledon, and this year sees the drinks brand becoming official partners with the tennis tournament. Elly Martin, senior brand manager at Pimm's, says, "it's a campaign that goes well beyond the grounds" of Wimbledon this year.
The bookmaker is no stranger to cheeky tactical stunts and was true to form again this month. Following news that British Wimbledon men's champion Andy Murray is expecting his second child, Paddy Power drew a tennis racquet in his honour on the Cerne Abbas Giant. The famous symbol of fertility and tourist attraction in Dorset dates back to the 17th century.


text:
AGE Gets Bigger and Better for 2016
This article comes from Highwaygames.com
The Australasian Gaming Expo 2016 is getting ready for an even bigger and better exhibition in its’ 27th year with 25 per cent more exhibitors in 2016!
“2015 was a sell-out year so we’ve increased capacity for 2016 to keep up with exhibitor demand,” said Ross Ferrar, CEO of the Gaming Technologies Association. “Our long-term exhibitors wanted to showcase more products which required more floor space, but it has also allowed for more new exhibitors. Over 20 per cent of exhibitors at the 2016 AGE are new exhibitors.”
This new range of exhibitors include a number of companies exhibiting under the newly installed Amusement Trade Pavilion – a brand new feature to the 2016 event – and will include an Amusement Strip with a number of amusement and arcade games set to free play for visitors to the show to enjoy.
One company that will be making the most of the exhibition will be Highway Entertainment, which will debut a number of new products from the Australian manufacturer, Arcooda! These products include the Xtreme Game Wizard, Video Pinball Machine, and many more! You can check them out at booth #900.
AGE is now in its 27th consecutive year and is easier than ever for visitors to navigate with the implementation of the event app. The app features an interactive event floor-plan and uses beacon technology to advise of entertainment, events and more throughout the venue, making it easy for visitors to find their way around the floor and to organise their time efficiently so they don’t miss anything!
The event is again being held at the Sydney Exhibition Centre @ Glebe Island from August 9-11, 2016.
Copyright © 1999 - 2023, Highwaygames.com All Rights


text:
Disney has released a preview video of what’s coming to Disney+ in October 2021.
Next month, start streaming Marvel Studios’ “Black Widow,” “LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales,” “MuppetsHauntedMansion,” “Just Beyond,” and more!
Check out the video below:
The video above is for the United States but there is some overlap for other countries too.
You can view a full list of everything that’s coming to Disney+ in October right here.


text:
By Barbara Kollmeyer Ciara Linnane
Keysight Technologies, Doximity and Kyndryl also active
Here are some of the biggest equity movers on Wednesday:
Comerica Inc.'s stock (CMA) rose 11.5% to lead S&P 500 gainers, caught up in a regional-bank stock rally spurred by Western Alliance Bancorp.'s announcement that its deposits grew to about $50 billion by May 12 from $47.6 billion as of March 31. Western Alliance was up 13.6%.
PacWest Bancorp.(PACW) was up 22%, while Zion's Bancorp.(ZION) was up 11.9%. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s(ZION) gain of 6.4% ranks as its largest move up in a single day since Nov. 9, 2020, when it rose by 11.6%.
Major banks were higher after Pfizer Inc.'s$31 billion debt offering spurred hopes for a recovery in fee-based underwriting activity. Bank of America Corp.(BAC) jumped 4.6%, Citigroup Inc.(C) was up 3.6%, Goldman Sachs(GS) rose 2.6% and JP Morgan Chase(JPM) was up 3.1%. All were joint lead managers and joint book-running managers on the megadeal.
Keysight Technologies Inc. (KEYS) shares are up 8% after the electronic design and test solutions company's results and outlook topped Wall Street expectations.
Manchester United Ltd. stock (MANU) rose 1% after Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani on Tuesday made an improved bid for the iconic English football club.
Tesla Inc. shares (TSLA) rose 4.5% after CEO Elon Musk late Tuesday teased new products, said he would not step down soon and predicted an improving economic environment after a coming "year of difficulty" for the global economy.
Target Corp.'s stock (TGT) rose 2.5% after it reported fiscal first-quarter results that beat expectations and reiterated its full-year outlook, but provided a downbeat second-quarter profit view due to "softening sales trends."
See also: Target battling inventory 'shrink' caused by theft and organized retail crime, says CEO
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.'s stock (SPCE) rose 6%, after the company said the flight window for its Unity 25 mission will open on May 25 The mission will be Virgin Galactic's first fully-crewed spaceflight since July 2021, when VSS Unity carried founder Sir Richard Branson and three company employees to space.
WeWork Inc.'s stock (WE)fell 16.8% to a record low of 29 cents, after the office-sharing company announced the imminent departure of its chief executive, garnering a downgrade from Mizuho.
Container Store Group Inc. (TCS) shares fell 7% after the company said it expects sales to worsen even as rival Bed Bath and Beyond Inc. shuts its doors.
TJX Cos.' stock (TJX) edged down 0.3%, after the discount retailer and parent to T.J. Maxx, Marmaxx, HomeGoods and Marshalls stores posted better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter profit and raised its full-year guidance, but also reported a revenue miss
Shares of physician cloud-software provider Doximity Inc. (DOCS) are down 3% after the company's revenue forecast for the current quarter came in below the consensus of Wall Street analysts.
Kyndryl Holdings Inc. (KD) shares fell 10% after the managed infrastructure-service business spun off from International Business Machines Corp. (IBM)forecast revenue below Wall Street expectations.
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 17, 2023 14:26 ET (18:26 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.


text:
Table of Contents Hide
Starting July 1, 2023, Maryland residents can now purchase recreational marijuana legally. Dispensaries throughout the state opened their doors to customers for the first time on July 3, with many excited and curious customers eager to make their first purchase.
According to WTOP, legalizing recreational marijuana in Maryland has been a long time coming. Adults ages 21 and older can now legally possess up to 1.5 ounces of cannabis, and the possession of up to 2.5 ounces is decriminalized.
What to Expect When Buying Recreational Marijuana in Maryland
If you plan on making your first purchase of recreational marijuana in Maryland, here’s what you can expect. According to WYPR News, the average price per gram of marijuana in 2021 was $10.81. The cost of edibles is roughly $20 for 100 mg of THC-infused product package in Maryland.
It’s important to note that all cannabis is still illegal on a federal level and cannot be transported across state lines. So if you plan on buying marijuana in Maryland, it’s best to consume it in the state and not take it with you if you’re traveling elsewhere.
The Economic Impact of Legalizing Recreational Marijuana
Legalizing recreational marijuana has created many jobs in other states, and Maryland is no exception. According to a report by Leafly and Whitney Economics, the marijuana industry created 77,000 jobs in 2020 alone. Across the country, the industry is expected to create over 300,000 jobs by 2025, according to the same report cited by NPR.
Legalizing recreational marijuana could also bring in a significant amount of tax revenue for Maryland. According to the same WTOP article cited earlier, the state is expected to generate millions of dollars in tax revenue from the sale.


text:
Be careful how you get your mobile rocks off. New Android ransomware is targeting users of a porn app called Adult Player—by silently snapping their photo.
First-time users are greeted with a request for admin rights; click "Activate," and the app shows a fake update page. But, according to security firm Zscaler, no update occurs. Instead, the app accesses a device's front camera and clicks a photo of the user, which is displayed on a ransom page with a demand for $500.
Victims are then locked out of their device, even upon reboot; the malware also prevents the handset from going into sleep mode.
"As soon as the money arrives to the [PayPal] account, your device will be unblocked and all information will be decrypted in course of 24 hours," according to Zscaler.
There are other options, though. First, boot the device into safe mode, which launches default settings without running third-party apps. Then visit the device administrator setting to select the ransomware app and deactivate it. Finally, uninstall the app entirely.
According to the BBC, the Adult Player app is not available from official sources like Google Play, but is instead installed directly from a webpage.
"To avoid being victim of such ransomware, it is always best to download apps only from trusted app stores, such as Google Play," Zscaler said, suggesting users uncheck the option of "Unknown Sources" under the device's security settings.
If you're looking for something a little more legitimate, XXX site Pornhub just launched a new Premium service that allows access to high-quality HD videos, with no ads and exclusive content, for $9.99 a month.


text:
BPN, the fledgling third network of IPG Mediabrands, has named Martha Peterson as U.S. managing director, a new position.
Peterson, with a broad background in digital advertising, was previously senior partner, global account director at WPP Group’s Maxus, where she helped implement data-driven processes to get marketer messages online and into social media.
“Martha will be huge asset,” said BPN North America president Liz Ross, who praised Peterson’s “progressive thinking and wealth of knowledge.”
At BPN, which turns two years old next month, Peterson’s primary responsibility is leading strategy and planning efforts for U.S. accounts, including Hillshire Brands, Six Flags, Subaru and Applebee’s. She'll also work with account directors to coordinate the addition of digital components into campaigns. Peterson said BPN's “digital forward-thinking clients [will] allow us to push the envelope to develop innovative solutions with big results.”
With more than 20 years of experience in client service, strategy, planning and investment, Peterson has worked on brands like Chanel, Colgate-Palmolive, Ford, Kraft, UPS and Xerox. Before Maxus, she spent three years at Omnicom’s PHD and eight years at WPP’s MEC.


text:
American designers and programmers such as Doom , Doom II , quake , Wolfenstein 3D , or the United States known as a co-founder of ID Software. Game developer John Romero announced on July 19 that it is recruiting developers at Romero Games for the new FPS.
Developing a completely new FPS!
This new work is currently being developed with the cooperation of famous publishers, an original and completely new work. It has emphasized that the recruitment of human resources has been dealing with Unreal Engine 5 in Epic Games, suggesting that it will be developed using the engine.
Romero Games another work developed
Romero Games, which was established by John Romero with his wife Brenda, released the unofficial latest episode Sigil in 2019 in 2019 for free. At the 3D Realms event in 2021, it announced that it is working on the development of Sigil 2 , an unofficial latest episode of DOOM II. In March 2022, one of the ONE HUMANITY maps were released to support Ukraine. The release date of Sigil 2 is still unpublished.


text:
DreamWorks deal largest in Netflix history
Netflix has announced a deal with DreamWorks Animation to produce a slate of original children's programming that will feature characters from some of the studio's biggest animated hits, including Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon. Netflix said the agreement was the largest deal for original content in the company's history.
DreamWorks will create over 300 hours of first-run content to premiere exclusively on Netflix, with shows based on already-established franchises as well as future animated feature films.
The two companies already enjoy an established working relationship. A Netflix series based on DreamWorks' upcoming film Turbo was announced in February and many of the studio's theatrical releases are also slated to debut on Netflix next year.
"DreamWorks Animation is a valued partner in our global efforts to provide families the most engaging stories delivered however, whenever and wherever they want," said Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos in a press release, Monday. "This deal represents a major expansion of what's already a phenomenal relationship, allowing us to bring beloved DreamWorks characters to the 40 countries where Netflix operates and setting the stage for us to innovate together as we expand into new markets."
The first new series is slated to debut sometime in 2014. DreamWorks said that its partnership with Netflix was the result of an initiative to broadly expand the scope of its worldwide distribution. The new shows will be available to subscribers in all markets so it's a safe bet that the animation studio will be able to reach many new consumers.
"This is an unprecedented commitment to original content in the internet television space," said DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. "Netflix is a visionary company that continues to redefine the way audiences watch television and it is a thrill to add to their growing momentum."
Like all Netflix content, the new shows will be commercial-free.
Netflix To Double Original Programming, 'Arrested Development' Movie?
'House of Cards' proved quality TV can live on the Internet, so Netflix intends to populate the space with just that.
Arrested Development: Netflix Season 4 Release Date And Easter Egg Roundup
Arrested Development season 4 will premiere on Netflix in just a few short weeks. In the meantime, these 'Easter eggs' will keep you occupied.
Netflix Announces Original Sci-Fi Series Sense8 Directed By the Wachowskis
The 10-episode series will be directed by the Wachowskis of The Matrix fame.
‘Stranger Things’ Season 2 Will Not Resurrect Barb, Showrunner Confirms
Executive producer Shawn Levy of "Stranger Things" has revealed that Barb won't be coming back to the Netflix show and explained why.
'Luke Cage' Season 2 Aims For 2018 Release; Filming Starts As New Still Photos Revealed
Marvel and Netflix series "Luke Cage" has finally began filming for the second season and new teasers featuring Mike Colter and Rosario Dawson have been released.
MORE IN ITECHPOST
Top TikTok Growth Services to Check Out This Year
It's 2020, which means that it's the year of the TikTok. If you haven't already noticed, TikTok is a pretty big deal.
Wellness Technology is a Billion Dollar Industry. Here Comes the Next Wave: Death Positive & Grief Wellness
The World Health Organization estimates that 25% of all people will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives, with roughly 450 million individuals currently struggling with a condition.
Eight Must-Have Tools to Keep Your Car Out of Garage
We all dread taking our car to a garage for repairs. We might just want to avoid the inconvenience of being off the road or maybe the costs associated, which can even lead to knock-on effects on things like our holiday plans.
6 Hacks for Students to Choose a Laptop While on a Budget
The modern world tries to drown us in the sea of choices. One can’t simply buy a laptop - there are hundreds of laptops around and sometimes our budget becomes the only real limitation we can rely on. But how to choose other parameters to get the best laptop possible?


text:
By CLARISSA MOI
A consultation workshop has been held by Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) in conjunction with International Finance Corporation (IFC) to develop a framework to address consumer protection and empowerment.
BPNG assistant governor Ellison Pidik, during the workshop in Port Moresby on Friday, said the consultation had come about as a result of a diagnostic review done by the IFC, part of World Bank.
It has identified very serious issues in relation to lack of consumer protection and empowerment.
It recommended for a financial consumer protection (FCP) regulatory framework to be developed under the Banks and Financial Institutions Act 2000 to establish a fair and equitable treatment of consumers of financial products and services.
“What we are running now is presenting a proposed framework,” Pidik said.
“That will be the basis for implementing a regime for financial consumer protection, and empowering consumers to take best advantage of whatever they access in terms of financial services.
“At the end of the day, a consumer of a bank or a financial institution improves his or her standard of living.”
Pidik said there were six areas in the proposed framework:
- fair treatment: to ensure there is fair treatment to customers accessing financial service, whether it be banking, lending, deposit, credit, insurance policy, contributing to superannuation or basically doing a payment service;
- disclosure and transparency: proposing detailed financial facts statements;
- product suitability;
- responsible lending;
- data protection; and,
- consumer redress – who to see for assistance.
Pidik said BPNG considered protection of financial consumers as a critical enabler for financial inclusion initiatives.
He said consultative workshops would be held in major centres of the country to get the regulatory framework off the ground as soon as possible.


text:
Amazon.com is making a new push into Zynga’s territory, in more ways than one. The online retailer is aiming to set up its own social games studio in San Francisco, according to a report today by Business Insider.
According to the report, the studio would expand on Amazon’s existing presence in the online game market, through its A2Z Research and Development subsidiary.
It’s the latest example of the Seattle company’s growing ambitions in digital entertainment and media. Earlier this week, the company announced a new tool called GameCircle for Kindle Fire, with features including leaderboards and syncing of games across devices, aiming to support developers who make games for the Amazon tablet.
The company’s strategy is to sell the Kindle Fire at or below cost and then make up the difference through sales of media and other content. Publishing its own games, in much the same way it publishes its own books, would be another way to try to make money from its investment in hardware and online services. The company isn’t commenting on the Business Insider report.


text:
Local homo-PP maintains competitiveness against imports in China
As the below graph created by ChemOrbis Price Wizard shows, the weekly average of local homo-PP prices in China have been offering a more competitive edge than imports since late February, which corresponds to the end of the Chinese New Year holiday. Data indicate that local homo-PP prices are currently traded around $45/ton below the import market, the largest discount since end-March.
The local homo-PP market has maintained its softening trend so far this week in the face of weak demand amid the low season. Despite a daily increase, PP futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell by CNY152/ton ($24/ton) on the week as of May 29, also weighing on local sentiment.
A trader commented, “We think that futures prices have room for additional losses in the near term. Demand is not doing well while local homo-PP supplies are sufficient. In addition to these factors, the recent losses in crude oil futures will also keep local homo-PP prices on the soft side.”
When it comes to the import homo-PP market, prices have remained mostly stable this week as sellers preserved their firm stance mainly due to limited availability and strong propylene prices across the globe.
A major Saudi producer announced its June homo-PP raffia prices to China with $20/ton increases on a monthly basis. “The producer remains firm on its PP offers considering limited supplies,” an agent of the producer commented. A South Korean producer also lifted its import homo-PP raffia offers to China by $10/ton when compared to two weeks ago.
Another trader opined, “The prevailing import prices are deemed too high as local prices offer a more competitive edge. We think that the import PP market may face difficulties in sustaining its firmness in the near term given lack of support from demand while Chinese homo-PP offers might emerge at attractive levels in some export outlets in the near term.”
More free plastics newsPlastic resin (PP, LDPE, LLDPE ,HDPE, PVC, GPS; HIPS, PET, ABS) prices, polymer market trends, and more...
- Asian PS markets unfazed by losses in crude oil futures
- Local PP recovers from multi-year lows in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia
- Firming falters in China’s PET market on lower crude, pre-holiday lull
- Firming in HDPE lags behind LLDPE, LDPE on plastic bag ban in SE Asia
- PP markets witness hike attempts for Jan in Europe
- European PE opens post-holiday period on firm note, buyers stay cautious
- PP, PE sellers lift offers to Vietnam despite pre-holiday lull
- Asian PVC markets hit 3-month high, led by Taiwanese major’s Feb pricing
- Egypt’s PP, PE markets edge higher after a year of weakness
- Will Asian ABS resume firming amid higher crude, Chinese New Year?


text:
Image via Apple Newsroom
On Friday, Apple started sending out invites to journalists, requesting to have them grace its event on 27 March 2018.
The event, surprisingly, will not take place at its shiny new campus, but at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago, Illinois. Apple wrote that it will zoom in on “creative new ideas for teachers and students.”
In typical Apple fashion, the e-invite did not reveal much, and depicted the Apple logo in a single continuous brush stroke. The print below it read, “Let’s take a field trip.”
Seeing that Apple will be focusing on education during the event, it’s more plausible for its March lineup to include new laptops and iPads, should it launch products on that day.
Renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted this month that the company might unveil a new MacBook Air with a “lower price tag,” which could boost MacBook sales by 10 to 15 percent.
Another rumor suggested that Apple will launch two new iPad models with ‘Face ID’ capabilities in March. Considering that it believes iPad Pros can potentially render computers extinct (remember the controversial “what’s a computer” ad?), the showcasing of new laptops in a school is likely.


text:
There comes a point where rumors and leaks become so old, that we just get bored of covering them. Still, there are certain products that are just so hot, and so game-changing, that we can’t get enough of all the drama that goes around it’s probable future. For the last couple of months, we’ve followed Google’s plans for their Nexus line-up, and even though we still don’t have event dates, nor press invites, that doesn’t mean our wallets can’t wait for it to happen.
Watch today’s Top 5, as we go through our predictions of what to [...]
Watch today’s Pocketnow Daily as we talk about Samsung’s record quarter results, and the fact that their high-end phones aren’t their highest contributor. We then talk about some leaked documents from Best Buy that claim that the Galaxy Gear is getting returned in alarming rates. The LG G Flex is up next as we have more leaks that talk about US variants and specifications. The iPhone 5S and 5C take the spotlight next as studies talk about bad sensitivity in the display. We end today’s show talking about the Google Nexus 5 and its possible release date, along [...]
Watch today’s Pocketnow Daily as we talk about Microsoft’s bash on their own Surface RT, and their hope that the Surface 2 can do better. Amazon and HTC are next as both companies are already hard at work at bringing us their first smartphone collaboration. Nokia is next as apparently the company is working on bringing us their first music player, dubbed the Nokia Guru. We then talk about the Nexus 4, which is rumored to stay alive for another year along the Google Nexus 5. We end today’s show talking about Apple’s October 22nd event, and some of our predictions [...]
Watch today’s Pocketnow Daily as we talk about Sony’s “camera lens” alternatives and their insane price tag. We later talk about the HTC One Max and some possible options for fingerprint scanning technology. Microsoft is up next as new reports talk about a merger between Windows Phone 8 and Windows RT. Then we go through a batch of Apple rumors that include the iWatch and even a possible iPad launch on September 10th. We end today’s show talking about the LTE Nexus 7 reaching Europe, aside from the recent price drop to just $199 of the Nexus 4.
Watch today’s Pocketnow Daily as we talk about how NVIDIA’s CEO has begun teasing the future of Microsoft’s Surface tablets. Samsung is next as “confirmed” reports say that the Galaxy Note III will launch with Android 4.3. New leaks also talk about a possible change in manufacturer for the future Nexus 10. Then we go through some new reports that the future Nexus smartphone will be made by Motorola. We end todays’ show talking the new ads that have reached Google Maps.
All this and more after the break.
Stories: – NVIDIA CEO [...]


text:
— Glam Media: Former Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) executive Bruce Jaffe has joined Glam as an advisor to the board. In January he resigned from his post as VP-corporate development for Microsoft and had reportedly been considering to launch his own startup. Earlier, Jaffe was corporate VP and CFO of MSN.
— iCrossing: Independent digital agency iCrossing elevated Don Scales to CEO, replacing founder Jeff Herzog. Scales has served as iCrossing’s president and COO for two years. Herzog, who founded iCrossing 10 years ago, will remain on the company’s board of directors, serving as vice chairman.
— WPP: Torrence Boone has been named CEO of Project Da Vinci, the global agency being built to service Dell Inc. Reporting to WPP’s CEO Martin Sorrell, Boone will oversee the agency’s marketing and brand equity. Previously, Boone served as president of Digitas Boston. Release.
— Big Fish Games: Game and software industries veteran Laurent De Segur has been promoted to CTO from VP of technology. Prior to joining Big Fish, he held senior engineering positions at Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), Amazon.com (NSDQ: AMZN) and Expedia.
— Joost: Danny Passman and John Schultz have been appointed as global head of programming strategy and director of programming strategy, respectively. They will be responsible for creating programming strategies to boost viewership. Passman and Schultz come from Dailymotion, where they helped grow US traffic through content acquisition and curation.


text:
China Daily is promoting the comments of Cato Institute’s Bill Watson to assert that the US is abusing China in the trade relationship. Astounding!
China Daily says:
Bill Watson, a trade policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies, said the US sets anti-dumping duties against Chinese goods using what is called nonmarket economy (NME) methodology.
Um. China is a non-market economy. At least fifty percent of its economy is state owned and another 10 or more percent is state controlled. And the trend is towards more state control, not less.
Watson said China’s NME designation currently serves as an excuse for lawless protectionism, which not only inflames trade relations, but imposes enormous costs on downstream US industries and consumers.
Who is the lawless protectionist? China manipulates currency, strategically rebates taxes for export products, builds free factories for preferred industries, gives grants and forgivable loans to industries to achieve economies of scale, sets five year plans in Soviet-style planning. They do this because mere low-ish local labor costs are not enough to penetrate the US and other markets. The government has to manipulate pricing in all sectors of the economy.
Watson explained that part of the reason China has not raised it as a top issue is because China may see this as an area that the US is unwilling to make a move in.
Or maybe China doesn’t raise the issue because they are the most predatory mercantilist in the world, and it would seem really, really foolish to complain about the US. The US has the most open markets in the world.
Or maybe Watson is the fool.
Who funds Cato anyway? How much money do they get from Chinese interest. Or from US based crony capitalist interests? How can Cato be pro-free market when they defend the heavy hand of foreign government price fixing, state ownership and state control? Do they want America to further unilaterally disarm in the global trade wrestling match?
This is what the War on Prosperity in America looks like.


text:
Beauty pageants are always something we look forward to. Not just because they are interesting to watch but also because they are often judged by some of our favourite celebrities. Actress Shraddha Das recently attended a beauty contest and even received an honour of excellence for her contribution to movies. Her pick for the show […]
The post Shraddha Das graces a beauty pageant in a midnight blue sequinned saree! appeared first on South India Fashion.


text:
Previously, Google has had experiences with small pop-up stores.
This summer, Google will open its first physical retail store in New York City (NYC). The store, which will be a part of Google's campus in Chelsea, will display and sell a variety of products, including Pixel phones, Nest smart home devices, Fitbit trackers, and more.
Customers can order items from Google's online stores and pick them up at the physical store. Further, similar to an Apple Store, the Google Store will demonstrate how Google products work together, as well as have in-store expertise to help troubleshoot issues, work on repairs, and more.
While customers can try out the products on display at the store, the Google Store will still be taking COVID-19 safety precautions and protocols. Consumers will be required to wear face masks, socially distance from each other, among other precautions.
[1 minute read]


text:
- Sony Music just announced the hiring of four new executives to lead its ad-sales team for podcasts.
- The news comes after the largest music company signed several podcast-production deals with the filmmaker Adam McKay and companies such as The Onion.
- The new hires are Emily Rasekh, the senior vice president of business development and operations; Brittany Hall, the vice president of podcasting sales; Ryan Zack, the vice president of podcasting revenue operations; and Christy Mirabal, the vice president of podcasting marketing.
- Sony wants to capitalize on an industry that analysts expect to reach $1.6 billion in global revenue by 2022.
- Click here for more BI Prime stories.
Sony Music has placed a big bet on podcasts as a key source of ad revenue, according to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider announcing four executive-level hires to lead sales and marketing for that part of the business.
The news follows a series of announcements expanding Sony's podcast business around the world.
Sony's strategy "includes creation of high quality shows across all key podcasting genres and a global vision to develop our podcasting expertise in key markets around the world," Dennis Kooker, the president of US sales and global digital business, and Tom Mackay, the president of Sony Music Film and TV A&R, wrote in the memo that went out to staff this afternoon.
This shift began in May, when Sony Music formed Three Uncanny Four, a new partnership with Adam Davidson, the cofounder of NPR's "Planet Money," and Laura Mayer, a former producer at WNYC and Megaphone (formerly Panoply Media), among others.
Since then, the company has signed production deals with The Onion, the UK-based Broccoli Content, and Adam McKay, the director of "The Big Short," who will create several podcast series, including one based on the life of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Sony's podcast team will be led by Emily Rasekh, the senior vice president of business development and operations; Brittany Hall, the vice president of podcasting sales; Ryan Zack, the vice president of podcasting revenue operations; and Christy Mirabal, the vice president of podcasting marketing.
Rasekh was with Entercom Communications, the country's second-largest radio broadcaster, which merged with CBS Radio in 2017. Hall joins Sony from the streaming giant Pandora. Zack managed operations at the podcast-tech company Megaphone, and Mirabal oversaw partnerships, sponsorships, and editorial content at the internet-radio brand Stitcher.
Analysts see the podcast space as a rapidly growing source of revenue for media companies
"Together this leadership team strongly positions us to super-serve the podcast community, help them reach larger audiences on more platforms and further grow our podcasting business opportunities around the world," Kooker and Mackay wrote.
Sony, the largest music company by revenue, brought in $7.2 billion last year, with more than $2 billion of that total coming from streaming.
Last month, the company said global streaming revenues had risen 21.4% year over year, most of it from music, as Sony is still new to podcasting. Overall, podcasts are estimated to produce $1.6 billion in global revenue by 2022, according to PwC.
Here's the full memo below.
As we continue to grow our podcasting business, we want to acknowledge the team that has been leading our expansion in this key area of creative and business development. The following executives, based in New York, are spearheading our strategy that includes creation of high quality shows across all key podcasting genres and a global vision to develop our podcasting expertise in key markets around the world.
Emily Rasekh is Senior Vice President of Business Development and Operations, Podcasting. In this role, Emily is focused on driving strategic expansion of Sony Music's partnership, distribution and monetization opportunities in the podcast space. She is also responsible for managing our day-to-day relationships with various podcasting partners and overseeing our podcast sales and marketing teams. She reports to us.
Prior to Sony Music, Emily was Vice President of Digital Partnerships at Entercom overseeing digital content distribution strategy, including financial targets across digital, mobile and emerging platforms. Before that, she helped launch CBS Radio's audio-on-demand business, growing total podcast listenership from 4 million monthly listens to over 25 million monthly listens within two years. She previously held business development roles for CBS from 2011-2016 and MTV Networks from 2009-2011.
Brittany Hall is Vice President of Sales, Podcasting. She is responsible for overseeing the commercial strategy and monetization of podcasts from Sony Music and its partners. She reports to Emily.
Previously Brittany was at Pandora where she was tasked with driving revenue from clients across all verticals and showcasing robust product offerings, including podcasts, for clients in the audio advertising community. Prior to Pandora, she worked at Megaphone (formerly Panoply), where she was responsible for driving audio revenue for brands and performance-based advertisers.
Ryan Zack is Vice President of Revenue Operations, Podcasting. In this position, Ryan oversees Sony Music's ad operations strategy, pricing and inventory management, and serves as a key communication link between the Finance and Sales teams to establish best practices for billing, reporting, forecasting and pipeline reporting. He reports to Emily.
Prior to this role, Ryan was at Megaphone, where he led the day-to-day efforts for the Sales Planning, Advertising Operations and Advertising Solutions teams. He also held leading advertising operation roles at Acast AB, GoPro, and Spotify to maximize monetization.
Christy Mirabal is Vice President of Marketing, Podcasting. In this role, she oversees all strategic marketing, including planning, development and execution of initiatives to drive branding and awareness of our podcast projects. She reports to Emily.
Before Sony Music, Christy led the brand team at Stitcher, overseeing partnerships, sponsorships, and editorial for the podcast app. Prior to that, she oversaw podcast audience development for Panoply Media. She got her start in spoken word content at HarperCollins, where she led production, editorial, and marketing for their audiobook department.
Together this leadership team strongly positions us to super-serve the podcast community, help them reach larger audiences on more platforms and further grow our podcasting business opportunities around the world. With a rapidly expanding number of creative partnerships and with the strength of our best-in-class capabilities, we are confident they will keep enhancing Sony Music's compelling value proposition in the podcasting industry.
Dennis and Tom


text:
“The Internet of Things (IoT) will have a great impact on the economy by transforming many enterprises into digital business and facilitating new business models, improving efficiency, and generating new forms of revenue.However, the ways in which enterprises can actualize any benefits will be diverse and, in some cases, painful” – Jim Tully, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner – 2015.
The IoT is one of the most hyped paradigms floating around at the moment. However the hype is not all unjustified. Analyst projections have about 25 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020 delivering cumulative business value of $2 trillion across many industry verticals. Enterprise IT need to now begin developing capabilities to harness this information to serve their end customers. This blogpost discusses foundational IoT business elements that are common across industries.
The Immense Market Opportunity around IoT
The IoT has rapidly become one of the most familiar — and perhaps, most hyped — expressions across business and technology. That hype, however, is entirely justified and is backed up by the numbers as one can glean from the below graphic. The estimated business value of this still nascent market is expected to be around $10 trillion plus by 2022.
Thinking around IoT has long been dominated by passive devices such as Industrial Sensors, RFID tags and Actuators. As pointed out in my “Gartner’s Trends for 2017” article, these devices are beginning to form a smart mesh. Field devices now have increased ‘smart’ capabilities to communicate with each other and with the internet – typically using an IP protocol -resulting in the combined intelligence of groups of such ‘things’. The IoT now enables not just machine to machine communication but also the human to machine and human to IoT ecosystems. While the media plays up stories of IoT aware devices such as Google Nest or Amazon Echo etc – it is also shaking up vertical industries.
Virtually every industry out there has a significant amount of connected devices that have been deployed. This includes Retail, Energy & Utilities, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Transportation and Financial services etc. Having said that, let us consider the five key industrial uses for the IoT space that will yield tremendous business value over the short to medium term – the next 2-5 years.
The Six Key Industry Applications of IoT
Consider the above graphic (courtesy the BCG), the real business value in IoT lies in Analytics and Applications built on these analytics. In fact, BCG expects that by 2020 these higher order layers will have captured 60% of the growth from the . In such a scenario, the rest of the technology elements – connected things, cloud platforms & data architectures merely enable the upper two layers in delivering business value.
- Retailers implementing IoT are working to ensure that their customers gain a seamless experience while browsing products in the store.For example the industry has begun adopting smart shelves that restock themselves, installed beacons in stores that communicate with shopping apps on consumers smartphones and NFC (Near Field Communications) that enable customers to make contact-less payments. Internal operations such as Supply Chains are benefiting in a big way in their ability to gain realtime insight into the
- In the area of Commercial real estate, facilities management is an area where companies spend massive amounts of money on energy consumption. According to Deon Newman, at IBM Watson, global conglomerates like Siemens own hundreds of thousands of building which produce tens of thousands of millions of emissions. In this case, IoT analytics is being leveraged to reduce such huge carbon footprint.
- In the Utilities Industry – as Smart Meters have proliferated in the industry, IoT is driving use-cases ranging from Predictive Maintenance of equipment to optimizing Grid usage. For instance, in water utilities, smart sensors track everything from quality to pressure to usage patterns. Utilities are creating software platforms that provide analytics on usage patterns and forecast demand spikes in the grid .
- The Manufacturing industry is moving to an entirely virtual world across its lifecycle, ranging from product development, customer demand monitoring to production to inventory management. This trend is being termed as Industry 4.0 or Connected Manufacturing. As devices & systems become more interactive and intelligent, the data they send out can be used to optimize the lifecycle across the value chain thus driving higher utilization of plant capacity and improved operational efficiencies.
- The biggest trend in the Transportation industry is undoubtedly self driving connected cars & buses. The Connected Vehicle concept enables a car or a truck to behave as a giant smart app – sending out data and receiving inputs to optimize it’s functions. With the passing of every year, car makers are adding more and more smart features. Thus, vehicles have more automatic features builtin – ranging from navigation, requesting roadside assistance, self parking etc etc. Applications are being built which will enable these devices to be tracked on the digital mesh thus enabling easy inter vehicle communication to enable traffic management, pollution reduction and public safety.
- With Smart Cities governments across the globe are increasingly focused on traffic management, pollution management, public services etc – all with a view to improving quality of life for their citizens. All of these ecosystems will be adopting IoT technology in the days and years to come.
It can be seen from the above that the applications are myriad. Thus, while one cannot recommend a generic IT approach to IoT thats applicable to every industry – familiar themes do emerge that apply from a core IT capability standpoint.
The next post will consider the five key & common technology capabilities that Enterprise CIOs need to ensure that their organizations begin to develop to win in the IoT era.


text:
Designer News is where the design community meets.
blushinglangei Joined 3 months ago
Blushing hasn't commented on anything yet.
Blushing hasn't upvoted anything yet.
Where the design community meets.
Designer News is a large, global community of people working or interested in design and technology.
© 2023 Designer News Ltd.


text:
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) is investing massive amounts of money in building its Amazon Prime Video content library. The service is priced at competitively low prices, so many analysts think that Amazon is making a lousy financial decision by spending tons of money on digital content and charging low prices for a subscription. However, things are not as simple as they seem at first sight.
Is Amazon burning money?
Amazon does not officially disclose how much money it spends on digital video, but the company is clearly building an impressive library of expensive content. According to analysts at Bernstein, Amazon spent a breathtaking $2 billion on digital video during 2015.
A subscription to Amazon Prime, which includes a bundle of benefits such as free shipping, access to Amazon's music streaming library, and a growing collection of original TV shows and movies, has an annual cost of $99. Amazon has recently introduced a new monthly subscription option for $10.99, which sums up to $131.88 over the course of a year. The annual subscription is far more convenient on an annual cost basis, but the monthly plan may be the best choice for consumers who are not committed enough to purchase the annual subscription.
In addition, Amazon has recently launched Prime Video as a stand-alone service for $8.99. The full Amazon Prime service looks like a much better deal than Prime Video alone, so maybe Amazon launched its video service to show to potential customers that Prime is a full-blown bargain.
It's important to note that Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) is the global leader in streaming, and the company has recently increased the price of its standard plan from $7.99 to $9.99 monthly. Hulu offers both a limited commercials plan for $7.99 per month and a commercial-free version for $11.99. Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) is offering HBO as a stand-alone service via HBO Go, and the subscription is priced at a considerable premium versus other players in the industry, at $15 per month.
The main point is that Amazon Video is competitively priced versus other online streaming alternatives, and the full Amazon Prime service is an even bigger bargain for subscribers. Amazon has a well-earned reputation for focusing on revenue growth above profitability, and many industry observers believe that the company should raise prices for both Amazon Prime and Amazon Video.
More profitable than you think
When looking at Amazon's subscription services in isolation, it's easy to reach the conclusion that the company should increase prices. On the other hand, Amazon Prime members are more loyal to the company, they tend to buy more often, and they spend more money than non-members on Amazon's online retail platform. This allows Amazon to monetize subscription video by increasing sales of all kinds of products.
In the words of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, speaking at the Vox's Code Conference:
We get to monetize [our subscription video] in a very unusual way, When we win a Golden Globe, it helps us sell more shoes. And it does that in a very direct way. Because if you look at Prime members, they buy more on Amazon than non-Prime members, and one of the reasons they do that is once they pay their annual fee, they're looking around to see, "How can I get more value out of the program?" And so they look across more categories -- they shop more. A lot of their behaviors change in ways that are very attractive to us as a business. And the customers utilize more of our services.
Because we have this unusual way to monetize the premium content, we can charge less for the premium content than we would otherwise have to charge, if we didn't have the flywheel spinning to help sell more shoes.
According to estimates from Consumer Research Partners, the number of Amazon Prime subscribers in the U.S. could be in the neighborhood of 54 million as of the end of 2015. This means that nearly half of U.S. households have an Amazon Prime membership. The research company calculates that Prime members spend an average of $1,100 a year on Amazon purchases, substantially higher than the $600 a year that non-members spend on Amazon.
Amazon is much more than an online retailer; the company is a combination of businesses that includes segments such as online retail, Amazon Prime, and its Amazon Web Services cloud computing division. The different businesses complement each other quite well, so the whole is worth more than the sum of the parts when it comes to Amazon.


text:
Today we have an exclusive scoop for you about the legendary Rihanna who’s making a massive comeback after a long Hiatus from the music scene stick around for all the exciting details our sources have revealed that Rihanna the RB sensation is secretly gearing up for an epic
Comeback She’s been in the shadows for years but now she’s ready to set the stage on fire Rihanna has something big in store for
She’s preparing a jaw-dropping 32 million Global tour set for 2024 2025 this isn’t your average tour it’s a mega production that you won’t want to miss and guess what she’s Inked a huge deal with Live Nation but that’s not all folks Rihanna is rumored to be working
on not one but two new albums can you believe it we’ll finally get to hear her
Incredible voice again amidst all this Rihanna’s personal life is flourishing too she recently welcomed her second son Riot Roseme with a app Rocky it’s a beautiful Journey she’s embracing do you know that they’ve been professionally
Associated since 2013 they officially became a couple in 2020 and they’re igniting rumors of marriage after their appearance at the can’s Lions Festival
In June 2023 love is truly in the air our tipster concludes that Rihanna will only start her tour when she’s fully prepared to resume her career she’s known for her dedication and we can’t wait to see what she has in store for us.


text:
The National Retail Federation forecasts that America will spend $6.9 billion on Halloween this year, with party products, candies and costumes (including costumes for pets!) high on the Halloween shopping list.
As Halloween planning (and buying) starts with the search for new inspirational ideas, online provides a great resource, and social media sites prove popular for sharing exciting new ways to celebrate.
To learn about the online activities of those planning for the Halloween celebrations, we analysed the passively collected data from 2014*. We examined when people were most likely to search for Halloween related things on their Smartphone and tablet devices, and what exactly they were searching for.
Last year’s data shows that 21% of the Halloween related searches during the 6 weeks before the day itself took place on the final week before Halloween. Although that week is the busiest single week for planning, it’s important to notice that 79% of Halloween searches were done before the final week. Figure 1 demonstrates the peaks in Halloween related searches in late September and in October.
As a comparison, Figure 2 shows how Thanksgiving related searches were distributed during the six weeks before the holiday. As we can see, the rush to prepare for Thanksgiving starts later, with searches increasing substantially two weeks before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving searches are heavily dominated by food and recipes, that people may have more confidence of getting hold of last minute, while costumes feature heavily in Halloween planning, and therefore customers may perceive this as a more complex purchasing decision.
Spooky search terms
The picture below shows popular search terms used in 2014, which included the keyword ‘Halloween’ or ‘Costume’.
* The data was gathered from 7,167 panelists who used Google to search during the six week period between 22nd September and 31st October 2014. This article concentrates specifically on 302 of those panelists who used terms ‘halloween’ or ‘costume’ as part of their search.


text:
When Blizzard’s sole Diablo announcement at this year’s BlizzCon turned out to be a game for phones, it set off a firestorm of angry reactions from fans who had hoped for a new Diablo on PC. But what about Diablo 4?
UPDATE (8:32pm): This article originally stated that Blizzard had recorded a video, planned for BlizzCon, in which co-founder Allen Adham talked about a new Diablo game. Although we can confirm that the video was made, Blizzard disputes that it was planned for BlizzCon.
“First off we want to mention that we definitely hear our community. We generally don’t comment on rumors or speculation, but we can say that we didn’t pull any announcements from BlizzCon this year or have plans for other announcements. We do continue to have different teams working on multiple unannounced Diablo projects, and we look forward to announcing when the time is right.”
However, two people familiar with Blizzard’s plans confirmed that the company had indeed recorded a video in which co-founder Allen Adham spoke to fans about a new Diablo project. What’s in dispute here is the timing. We had originally reported that it was planned for BlizzCon, but it’s possible that those plans were simply discussed and never solidified. (Either way, the video never came out.) We can confirm that Diablo 4 is indeed in development. One of those sources told me that the Diablo team wasn’t yet ready to commit to an announcement, as Diablo 4 has changed drastically over the past four years and may continue to change further. (We’ve heard it’s gone through at least two different iterations under different directors.)
We apologize for any misinformation and have updated this story accordingly.
At last Friday’s keynote, Blizzard revealed Diablo Immortal to a quiet, uncomfortable crowd and then ended the show. For most of the weekend, Diablo fans raged online as a result, expressing their anger on YouTube and various forums. There were a few reasons for the controversy, but the driving factor was that the company’s sole Diablo announcement was a game that appeared to be made for a very different audience than hardcore Diablo fans.
On October 17, two weeks before BlizzCon, Blizzard put out a blog post that essentially told fans Diablo 4 was in the works but would not be at the show. “These are very exciting times—we currently have multiple teams working on different Diablo projects and we can’t wait to tell you all about them . . . when the time is right,” the company said. “We know what many of you are hoping for and we can only say that ‘good things come to those who wait,’ but evil things often take longer.”
Diablo III launched in May 2012, and its first and only expansion, Reaper of Souls, followed in March 2014. Since then, new updates have been scarce, with an occasional new content patch arriving sporadically and a Necromancer character pack hitting in 2017. Last Friday, Diablo III also came to the Nintendo Switch.


text:
eBay launched a calculator to help sellers determine how much they could save using managed payments. While eBay chooses to focus on cost savings – which can be significant – sellers must also weigh other factors, including the impact that not offering PayPal to shoppers might have.
eBay mentioned the calculator in a post updating sellers in which it said sales for the initial sellers in managed payments are “going well” and said some are actually seeing increased sales velocity compared to their sales prior to signing up. It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, however – eBay didn’t say how much of increase was due to a seasonal boost. Typically retailers use year-over-year comparisons when measuring sales growth to account for seasonality rather than sequential comparisons.
eBay began rolling out managed payments on September 24, 2018 to an invitation-only group of sellers, and the company said today it was seeing positive results for both its own business and for sellers.
“Since introducing managed payments on a small scale in the U.S. 21 days ago, we’ve already intermediated more than $20 million in GMV – tracking at an annualized run rate of nearly half a billion dollars.”
Sellers are benefiting from reduced costs, which represents $175,000 in seller savings to date, which translates to almost $4 million in seller savings on an annual basis. Note that eBay didn’t calculate the exact cost savings for participants in managed payments – in a confusing statement, it wrote:
“Based on a July 2018 eBay study of provider rates among leading competitors as they would apply to the average selling price of the invited seller population in the past 90 days, comparing flat rates charged for online processing only and excluding any applicable monthly fees. We encourage sellers to calculate how these fees will affect their own selling costs.”
eBay also revealed that, of those using their Apple mobile devices to purchase an item through managed payments, 10% chose to use Apple Pay. That sounds low, but it’s not bad considering that Apple Pay is largely used offline in the physical store or transit, according to experts.
Updates from eBay about managed payments are welcome, but it would do well to provide more information – not just for skeptics, but for business owners who must weigh the pros and cons of a program that could have a tremendous impact on their bottom line.
Is eBay giving sellers who participate in managed payments increased exposure in search results? And are there other factors at play that may be giving those sellers an added advantage? If so, how long can participants in managed payments expect to have that advantage, and will it dissipate as more sellers join the program?
Are sellers having better success with items in some categories than in others?
As for the calculator, it’s a handy tool. You enter the new payment processing fees (eBay managed payments charges 2.7% and no transaction fee); you enter the current fees you’re paying for payment processing (PayPal charges 2.9% plus a 30-cent transaction fee), then enter the “Average Selling Price.”
(Note that you should take your average selling price and add in Shipping & Handling and sales tax, since the processing fee is on the full transaction amount.)
Then hit the calculate button.
For a $25 “average selling price,” the calculator determines a seller would save 35 cents.
The next step is to multiply that number by the average number of transactions – eBay’s calculator doesn’t have a field for that. So for example, if you do 100 transactions in a week, or a month, you would multiple 35 cents times 100 and discover you would be saving $35 using eBay managed payments.
That truly is significant, making it a shame that eBay rolled out managed payments in its half-baked state. Because what the calculator can’t determine is whether the 100 sales you expect would be impacted by the fact your buyers can not pay you with PayPal.
Update 10/17/18: eBay responded to this article, learn more in this post.
You can find the calculator on this page.


text:
This year turned out to be the year of not just of promise but of a fair amount of delivery too -- surprisingly enough for an industry that's big on promises.
Vista v Linux
Perhaps the biggest was the launch of Vista, which finally hit the streets at the start of 2007. And what a damp squib that turned out to be, with IT managers and enterprises generally refusing to have much to do with it -- or at the very least, hardly jumping up and down for joy.
Part of the reaction was prompted by the fact that Vista's hardware requirements are pretty stringent, and desktops generally seem to be fairly old, as they're not being upgraded as frequently as they used to be before Y2K. And your average desktop is plenty fast enough for most people, with the advent of cheap SATA drives and the trusted computing chip being arguably among the few major reasons for upgrading. The other reason is that, despite the new interface and the re-arranged furniture, Vista has prompted many to argue that it brings little new to the party. Why bother, is the oft-heard refrain.
And of course that's a disruption in the market, which should mean an open door for Linux. Yet despite a shiny new GPL -- we're at v3 now, do stay awake at the back -- desktop Linux has yet to arrive en masse, unless you live in Germany. But that didn't stop Dell and others launching Linux-based PCs. The success or otherwise of that move has yet to be determined but I'd wager that fewer than one percent of its machines don't pay the Microsoft tax.
No, Linux on the desktop isn't there yet. Instead what's happening is that organisations are staying put and primping up what they've got. XP is pretty robust and, with the right set of policies and third party software, it's pretty secure too. It's Vista's biggest rival out there, as Microsoft was forced to acknowledge in October when it lengthened the venerable OS's lifespan.
Blades: IBM v HP
Another deliverable this year was the blade server chassis for SMBs. Blades constitute the fastest-growing chunk of the server market -- and it's owned almost exclusively by IBM and HP. They spent the year taking potshots at each other: 'our blades are cooler than yours' was the gist of the shouting match. It's a pity that IBM, which was first to start shouting about its box, has yet to deliver one, while HP quietly got on with marketing, selling and shipping its analogous product, cutely called 'Shorty'. Actually it wasn't so quiet, as an IBM video posted on YouTube showed, since HP's model-aircraft-inspired fans do make one hell of a racket.
VMware v everyone else
Blades are all to do with packing servers into ever-smaller spaces while ensuring that they don't go into meltdown. A key complementary technology is of course virtualisation, with VMware retaining the market leader's crown in December which sat firmly on its head in January.
But VMware hasn't had it all its own way. While its technology is generally acknowledged by IT managers and analysts to be the most flexible and robust out there -- and it certainly appears to have garnered the biggest swathe of third party vendors in support of its products -- others have come and taken tiny bites of its market share.
Virtual Iron and Xen seem in particular to have made the most noise, along with Parallels, which started the year as SWsoft but renamed itself in December. By then, Xen had disappeared, swallowed up by Citrix in what most observers saw as a canny move for a company whose core technology has seemed somewhat stuck in the mud over recent years. That'll liven the desktop virtualisation business.


text:
College is an exciting time, but suddenly becoming responsible for their own finances can be daunting for students. Here are 10 tips from Worcester-area financial advisers that can help students make smart money decisions in college — and beyond.
• Budget. Look at your monthly income, whether it comes from a part-time job or parents, and subtract your expenses, rent and bills, not just personal items.
“Budgeting helps keep you disciplined,” said JoAnn G. Morency, senior vice president of retail banking at Commerce Bank in Worcester.
“Since most of my spending money is earned over the summer, I try to take the cost of books, organizational dues and travel into account before I even arrive on campus,” said Kaitlin M. Wojnar, a senior English and psychology double major at Amherst College.
• Use a debit card before a credit card.
“Think before you grab the piece of plastic,” said William E. Philbrick, senior vice president at Greenberg, Rosenblatt, Kull and Bistoli, a public accounting firm in Worcester. “If students find themselves with an overdraft on a debit card, they shouldn’t even touch a credit card.”
Overdraft charges on a debit card are costly but still cheaper in the long run because overdrafts won’t affect credit scores.
Lisa A. Mayer, a senior hospitality and tourism management major at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst has only a debit card. “It’s basically like cash and I can’t go out and spend $100 which I don’t technically have. It really makes me think about my spending a lot more,” she said.
• Know your account balance at all times.
“Knowing in your head what you have isn’t good enough,” said Carol A. McGrath, marketing director at Webster Five Cents Savings Bank in Webster.
Miss McGrath recommends using a checkbook ledger, but because students are more apt to bank online, check your balance daily.
“I use a program called Mint to keep track of my balance at all times,” said Dane A. Phillip, a civil engineering major at North Shore Community College. “I check my balance and charges at least once a day.”
Mint.com is a free service that can be downloaded.
• Save by paying yourself first.
“A common problem that everyone faces is that if you try to save your leftover money at the end of the month, there is nothing left,” said Rosemarie A. Boyd, founder of the Boyd Financial Strategies in Shrewsbury. How much you save depends on your goals.
• Starting small with savings.
“Starting small has a lot of value,” said Ellen W. Dorian, senior vice president of marketing at Marlboro Savings Bank in Marlboro.
Ms. Dorian suggests students look for places where they can make small sacrifices and put away $10 a month into a savings account. Small amounts will make a big impact when you allow time for your money to grow.
Steven N. Pokalsky, a senior economics major at UMass-Amherst, isn’t saving for retirement, but for graduate school.
“I don’t really budget my spending consciously, but I try to save what I can since I’m not working right now.”
• Keep a list of what you have in your wallet.
Nancy B. Cahalen, president and chief executive officer of the Better Business Bureau of Central New England Inc. in Worcester, suggests compiling a list so you don’t waste any time in calling your bank if your wallet is lost or stolen.
“Keep the list in a safe place,” Ms. Cahalen said. “Not in your wallet!”
• Don’t be late with credit card payments.
“The biggest urban myth about credit card payments is that ‘If I’m late one time it won’t hurt my score,’ ” said Lora A. Baldracchi, vice president of retail lending at Southbridge Savings Bank in Worcester.
Payment history is 35 percent of your credit score, so being on time does count. Call your bank to see what can be done to help you be on time.
“I have been late on a payment! I was late only because I didn’t know the payment was due, so I just paid it ASAP and was charged a late fee from the bank,” said Jennifer Tran, a senior English major at UMass at Amherst.
• Read the find print when you’re opening your first checking account.
Diane M. Thompson, a training officer at UniBank in Whitinsville, recommends a statement savings account. “Shop around to find the right checking account,” Ms. Thompson said.
Many student checking accounts have extra benefits such as the ability to use an ATM card at other banks without paying a fee for the first few transactions.
“I chose my bank because it is a smaller, local bank and I think they provide better customer service,” said Kevin M. Harrington, a senior political science major at UMass at Amherst.
• Craigslist scams. Craigslist is an easy way for students to sell items such as furniture, but beware if a buyer “accidentally” sends more than the price then asks you to wire the difference back quickly, not allowing time to see if the check clears.
“The key word is wire,” said Thomas J. Melia, a fraud investigator for Unibank in Whitinsville. “Now the money has gone overseas and very few people get caught.”
If you have been scammed, notify the local police department.
“If I ever find myself giving personal information, I always know who I am giving it to. I’m usually very cautious when it comes to the Internet and my personal information,” said Paul T. Agne, a sophomore psychology major at Clark University in Worcester.
• Never give out your PIN. No matter how much you trust your boyfriend, girlfriend or friends in general, keep confidential your PIN number (the number used to access your account at ATMs).
“If you give your card to someone and they use it again and again or take all your money, we can’t help you get your money back at all,” said Jacqueline S. Jones, branch manager of the Barre Savings Bank in Paxton.


text:
KhabarSpecial.com is launched in October’2016 all over the web to providing news and it is an online news entrance who is giving Information about late occasions or happenings, particularly as reported by method for daily papers, sites, radio, TV, and different types of media. b. A presentation of such data, as in a daily paper or on a broadcast: watched the nightly news.
An online daily paper is the online variant of a daily paper, either as a remain solitary distribution or as the online rendition of a printed periodical.
Going on the web made more open doors for daily papers, for example, contending with communicate reporting in displaying softening news up an all the more auspicious way. The believability and solid brand acknowledgment of settled daily papers, and the cozy connections they have with promoters, are additionally observed by numerous in the daily paper industry as fortifying their odds of survival. The development far from the printing procedure can likewise diminish costs.
Normal themes for news reports incorporate war, government, legislative issues, training, wellbeing, the earth, business, and stimulation, and in addition athletic occasions, idiosyncratic or uncommon occasions. Government decrees, concerning imperial services, laws, charges, general wellbeing, and crooks, have been named news since old times.
People show an about general craving to learn and share news, which they fulfil by conversing with each other and sharing data. Innovative and social improvements, frequently determined by government correspondence and surveillance systems, have expanded the speed with which news can spread, and in addition impacted its substance. The class of news as we probably am aware it today is nearly connected with the daily paper.


text:
Want to shop quality products from USA?
Do you need Amazon delivery to Kenya, Ebay Delivery to Kenya or to Ship from USA to Kenya ?
Online shopping makes up more than half of surveyed middle class shoppers’ purchases, according to a new report tracking middle class spending in Kenya & surrounding East African countries.
The report found E-commerce shoppers i.e individuals who made at least two online purchases in a typical three-month period found 35% of their purchases were made, an increase from 28% of shoppers in 2016. An estimated 40% made at least four to six purchases online, while another 35% made seven or more.
The growing middle class are driving the shift and the impact is critical. It is the driving force behind a lot of the change in appetite for online shopping and more so quality, genuine and or imported products.
Searching for Amazon Delivery to Kenya or Ebay Delivery to Kenya From USA?
Ready to shop quality products from USA? You can now do your online shopping & shipping from USA to KENYA with States Duka by either sending them the links to the items you want to buy or you use your own credit card then ship to their US address.
Client packages are delivered in Kenya via air freight.
If you live in the US and want to send somebody in Kenya something.
Consider sending the package to our US address then it will be forwarded to Kenya.
StatesDuka.com delivers your shopping from Amazon, Ebay & other top online retailers from the US weekly via Air freight at $15 per kg only.
We are the leading service providing Amazon delivery to Kenya, Ebay Delivery to Kenya or Ship from USA to Kenya.
Our hassle free pricing includes customs charges and clearing fees. We do all the paperwork for you!Amazon Africa website, Amazon Delivery to Kenya From USA, Amazon Ebay Kenya, Amazon Kenya, Amazon office in Kenya, Amazon online shopping Kenya, Amazon shipping to Kenya, Cheapest way to send a package to Kenya from USA, Ebay Delivery to Kenya From USA, Ebay Kenya, Ebay office in Kenya, Ebay shipping to Kenya, Ship From USA to Kenya, Ship to Kenya from USA, Shipping from UK to Kenya, Shipping from US to Kenya, shop in UK from Kenya, Shop on Amazon from Kenya, shopping in UK from Kenya, USA to Kenya Shipping, Where is Amazon located in Kenya
Categorised in: Articles
This post was written by admin


text:
Apr 25, 2023
Bill would increase funding for federal organic research programs
A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would increase funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s flagship organic research program and support research projects.
The Strengthening Organic Agricultural Research (SOAR) Act of 2023 was introduced April 20 by Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., alongside Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, and Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif.
“Central Washington farmers are constantly innovating so they can provide their organic products to the world,” Newhouse said in a news release. “To continue to grow and prosper, it’s important they have the necessary resources to remain competitive.”
Pingree said increased funding would reflect the organic industry’s growth and changing needs.
“Research plays a critical role in helping our farmers increase productivity and prevent loss,” she said. “Additional research in organics is urgently needed as producers work to meet the growing demand for organics.”
The bill would reauthorize the existing Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative while increasing funding and expanding grant programs for organic research. It would also require the USDA’s Economic Research Service to give Congress better data on the production and sale of organic crops and authorize additional appropriations for Organic Production and Market Data Initiatives.
“The dynamic and growing organic market, driven by producers in California’s 19th Congressional District, depends on new innovation to meet the growing demand in our country,” Panetta said. “The Strengthening Organic Agriculture Research (SOAR) Act expands federal organic research to empower organic producers with the latest tools, soil health and pest management, and other practices needed to remain competitive and successful.”
The bill was meet with enthusiasm from the Organic Farming Research Foundation.
“We at OFRF are excited to see the investments made into actionable, high-impact research funded by NIFA for organic producers,” Brise Tencer, ORFR executive director, said in the release. “The policies in the SOAR Act provide research tools to farmers, but also market signals to early career researchers that organic agriculture research is a valued and important area of study, them to pursue organic agriculture research projects and expertise.”


text:
Displaying items 73-84 of 664 » View ktuu.com items only< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11-56 Next >
WSBT-TVMISHAWAKA -- Detectives seized hundreds of counterfeit purses, wallets, and sunglasses, during a raid on a gift shop, Tuesday. St. Joseph County Police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security filled an entire U-Haul truck with merchandise they...
All The RageEmma Stone has been globe-hopping on behalf of "The Amazing Spider-Man," and wearing lots of black and white. Jennifer Hudson has a collection for QVC coming out in September. And a short film promoting Dior's Addict fragrance will have you wanting to...
Rating: 2 stars (out of 4) Chief Keef's major-label debut, "Finally Rich" (Interscope/Glory Boys), caps a year in which he started out living in his grandmother's home under house arrest for a gun charge and ended up with an Interscope contract, his own...
Tags: 50 Cent, YouTube, Music, Music Industry, Kanye West
This season find precisely the right gift for each of the special people in your life, or treat yourself to something extraordinary at The Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas. With more than 160 specialty shops and restaurants, you’ll find something...
Federal prosecutors in August 2012 announced that two men, Bryan Eammon Williams and Lawrence Lee Hayes, had been sentenced to 11 years and 15 years respectively for their roles in a cocaine distribution conspiracy. The details of the case are rather...
Tags: Strawberries, Trials, Interpol, Uganda, U.S. Postal Service
Pop2it"Savages" star Blake Lively is the new face of Gucci's fragrance, Gucci Premiere....
Cabazon Outlets, 48750 Seminole Drive, Cabazon; (951) 922-3000, http://www.cabazonoutlets.com. About 15 stores and a few snack spots. Desert Hills Premium Outlets, 48400 Seminole Drive, Cabazon; (951) 849-6641, http://www.premiumoutlets.com. About 130...
KTLA NewsSANTA ANA, Calif. -- Federal agents have seized more than $820,000 worth of counterfeit designer goods in a series of raids across Orange County. The raids were part of a six month crackdown called "Operation Fashion Faux Pas." According to a news...
It may seem like "Twilight" is coming to a close -- what with thousands of fans descending upon Los Angeles Monday night for the premiere of the final film. But the journey isn't yet over for the stars of "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2," who...
KTLA NewsLOS ANGELES (KTLA) -- Nearly 1,000 screaming fans lined the black carpet at the Nokia Theater for the premiere of "Breaking Dawn, Part 2" Monday night. The so-called "Twi-hards" had been camped out in downtown L.A. for days hoping to catch a glimpse of...
Jill Johnson-Tucker and Jennifer Van Bergh have made a secret pact with Dorian Gray. Twenty years ago the two Newport ladies founded an organization called the Harvesters. Recently in Costa Mesa at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Jennifer and Jill...
Tags: Fendi, Roberto Cavalli, Chloe, Bank of Orange County, Valentino
Even though Halloween has become synonymous with "sexy" and "trashy" — heck, there's even a naughty ladies' "Bert & Ernie" ensemble — you have a choice. And you can choose fashion and sophistication. There are plenty of options that will have...
Tags: Harbor East, Christian Dior, Milly, Fashion Shows, Entertainment
Dec 11, 2012 |Story| WSBT-TV
Jun 21, 2012 | Los Angeles Times
Dec 17, 2012 |Column| Chicago Tribune
Dec 5, 2012 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Nov 27, 2012 |Story| Baltimore Sun
Jun 22, 2012 | Zap2It
Nov 25, 2012 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Nov 17, 2012 |Story| KTLA-LTV
Nov 12, 2012 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Nov 13, 2012 |Story| KTLA-LTV
Oct 26, 2012 |Story| Daily Pilot
Oct 22, 2012 |Story| Baltimore Sun
Original site for Gucci Group NV topic gallery.


text:
15:45 06 March 2013
Loads of new multi-function smartphones and tablets went on show this week at Mobile World Congress (MWC 2013) in Barcelona, giving us a glimpse of the future of phones.
What was once simply a device for making calls and sending text messages is now a computer in your pocket, connecting you to the world in ever-increasing ways.
With mobiles predicted to become yet further embedded in our day-to-day lives, MWC 2013 gave us the chance to see what the big manufacturers such as Samsung and Nokia have planned.
Here's a look at the best of what MWC 2013 had to offer, and just how mobile phones and tablets are going to become more deeply ingrained in our everyday existence.
What were the show highlights?
The most-talked about phones and tablets from MWC 2013 came from a mixture of heavyweights such as Samsung, relative unknowns such as Huawei and obscure brands like ZTE, each of which brought something different to the party.
Samsung showed off its Galaxy Note 8.0, which is an 8inch tablet to rival the iPad mini. Oddly, it has a SIM card tray and supports calls - even if you'd look a bit silly holding it to your ear as a telephone.
Early impressions are that it's a light and powerful tablet, with a 1.6GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. Its touch-screen works either with your finger or the included 'S Pen' stylus, which is used for precision control and handwriting.
Huawei hasn't really entered the mainstream yet, despite being a massive Chinese networking company. It will be hoping to change all that with its new Ascend P2, pictured right, which it claims is the "world's fastest 4G smartphone'.
It has a huge 4.7inch screen, a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM. It'll be selling for €399 on the continent (£349), making it one of the cheaper smartphones, given its spec.
ZTE may be something of an obscure brand in the world of smartphones, but its new Open handset is interesting because it runs the brand new Firefox operating system. You may be familiar with the Firefox web browser from your desktop PC, and this is its attempt to take on Android, Windows Mobile and, if it's feeling brave, Apple's iOS.
Hi to hybrids
'Phablets' were a pretty big feature at this year's MWC, too (that's a portmanteau of phone and tablet, though I prefer 'moblet') with several manufacturers unveiling their own phone/tablet hybrids.
LG's Optimus G, pictured right, is a pocket-stretcher at 5.5inches, but its size means there's plenty of room for technical wizardry inside the handset - including a new 1.7GHz quad-core processor from Snapdragon, and LG's first true HD screen on a phone.
Asus also earned a lot of attention for its Fonepadphablet, because it's now the cheapest 3G-enabled tablet on the market at £169, with features and spec well beyond its affordable price tag.
What does the future look like?
Sharper screens and more powerful processors are great, but don't do much beyond making the phone run faster and look prettier. What will be interesting in the future is how manufacturers and developers use technology to create new features.
While it's not widely adopted yet, Near Field Communication (NFC) technology already exists and offers some interesting ideas on how we might use our phones in the future.
NFC is starting to be used to turn phones into digital wallets, allowing you to pay by tapping your handset against a payment terminal. The phone is linked to your bank account and the money is deducted accordingly.
But the uses of NFC are, theoretically, much broader. For instance, if the lighting in your home were connected to NFC terminals, you could have lights switch on and off automatically as you enter and exit a room with the phone on your person.
Similarly, you could have your heating turn on when you walk through your front door and pass an NFC terminal with your phone in your pocket.
It's not just our home lives that could be forever changed by future mobile advances, as the motor industry has already begun to prove.
In future, your smartphone could be used to communicate with your car in wildly exciting ways. With Audi's self-driving car for example, you'll be able to instruct your car to pick you up on its own, with it using the GPS tech in your phone to find you.
Rather than having to traipse back to the multi-storey with a bunch of bags in tow, the car will leave the car park on its own using cameras, radar, GPS and computers to pull up in front of you on the street.
If Google has its way, we'll all be wearing its augmented reality 'Google Glass' glasses, paired with a 4G smartphone, to get real-time information about our environment, messages and diaries directly in front of our eyes.
They look like futuristic, lensless spectacles but they have a tiny, transparent display just above the right eye onto which information is projected. There's also a built-in camera for stills and video, along with wifi and mobile connectivity.
And that particular glimpse of the future isn't too far off, as Google plans to have a version of Glass available to the public before the year's out.
Whether or not the public is ready for wearable computers is another matter...
Please note: Any rates or deals mentioned in this article were available at the time of writing. Click on a highlighted product and apply direct.
Disclaimer: Supanet is not responsible for, and disclaims any and all liability for the content of comments written by contributors to this website


text:
Online travel agencies tap Big Data start-ups to stay relevantMonday, November 17, 2014 l Source: Livemint.com
A million clicks and a mountain of data. For travel websites, exploring the treasure trove of information generated by customers as they browse the Web for holidays and hotel bookings is no mean task. Enter big data analytics, helping create order out of chaos. Online travel agencies are increasingly leveraging big data to improve their business. Yatra Online Pvt. Ltd, which runs popular travel site Yatra.com, tied up with a Silicon Valley-based start-up a couple of months ago, which is creating personalized offerings by sampling consumer behaviour.
It is among several other start-ups helping Yatra with personalization and recommendation, social collaboration, online polls and customer feedback and targeted alerts and mailers. “We are piloting a project on personalization with a US-based start-up, which is focused on using users’ browsing history and buying behaviour to present a personalized offering to customer,” said Sharat Dhall, president of Yatra.com. “We are testing it on one set of users, who will see different versions of the website. It is then used to compare conversion rates with another set of users.
We will modify the model based on the results.” A Delhi-based start-up is providing Yatra with recommendation modules powered by machine-learning based algorithms for hotels and holidays on the home page, while a Bengaluru-based start-up helps it send customized alerts and mailers based on users’ online behaviour and preferences. Yatra is exploring more such tie-ups, Dhall said. Similarly, Ibibo.com, run by Ibibo Group, a subsidiary of South African mass media company Naspers Ltd, is working with at least eight Indian start-ups, said Ashish Kashyap, chief executive, IbiboGroup.
In March, Ibibo bought a majority stake in online bus tracking and analytics platform YourBus.in for insights on travellers and bus owners. “We have an in-house business intelligence framework and, on the top of that, we work with various start-ups for areas like consumer segmentation, forecast analytics and predictions,” said Kashyap, adding the company started experimenting with start-ups last year.
“Every company has a need to create business intelligence. We analyse multiple data sets like (Internet) traffic data, financial data and consumer data to drive our day-to-day decisions like increasing marketing efforts where supply is more than the demand or asset management to see where to put in more dollars,” he said.
“We also gauge trends by predicting what would be trends like after 24 months,” he added. Travel portals are also helping firms engaged in developing travel-related technology. In September, MakeMyTrip Ltd set up a $15 million fund to support early-stage travel technology companies with special focus on mobile and IP-based companies.
“Using Big Data helps us derive greater insights into customer behaviour patterns and customer preferences,” said Deep Kalra, founder and group chief executive officer of MakeMyTrip. “Analytics helps enhance efficiency at the business-end and experience at the customer-end by developing new approaches to customer management, revenue management and internal operations,” Kalra said.