text:
Original TV programming being developed by Walmart Inc.'s digital streaming service, Vudu, will include interactive content and incorporate technology that lets viewers buy products featured on the shows.
Vudu revealed its plans Wednesday at the NewFronts digital media conference in New York.
NewFronts, held each spring and fall, provides a forum for digital media companies to pitch new opportunities to online advertisers. This week's presenters include Hulu, Twitter, YouTube, Viacom, The New York Times and Target Media Network.
Walmart acquired Vudu in 2010. The video-on-demand service offers more than 150,000 titles through licensing agreements with major television and movie studios.
Unlike competitors such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, Vudu doesn't require a subscription. Instead, viewers can rent or buy content, or watch free movies and TV shows on its ad-supported Movies On Us service.
After Vudu's presentation, the company said on its blog that it has created Vudu Audience Extension, "our instant-scale, retail-connected audience extension media network."
"We're partnering with other [streaming] services to be able to identify, target, and measure sales performance with regard to our Walmart customers wherever they're watching, not just on Vudu," blog author Scott Blanksteen said. "This means that our customers get relevant ads wherever they are and that our advertisers will get the benefits of first-party, deterministic data, from the living room through to the purchase point. ... It's retail-connected advertising at the scale of Walmart."
Blanksteen, who chief operating officer and head of product at Vudu, said the company will release the names of the other partners in the initiative over the next few months.
The blog did not address Vudu's "shoppable" ads, but according to TechCrunch's reporting on the presentation, Blanksteen said the service is already testing them. The ads allow viewers to buy featured products though a pop-up window, Blanksteen said, and will change based on viewer preferences.
Other streaming services also are looking at ways to reap advertising dollars. On Wednesday morning, Hulu said it's starting a new "binge ad experience," aimed at viewers watching back-to-back episodes of a show in one sitting. Brands can place ads that Hulu called "situationally relevant" to these viewers. The company said it will release more specifics about this format later this year.
In Vudu's presentation Wednesday, senior director Julian Franco revealed some of the new shows that will be coming soon to the streaming service. He reportedly confirmed some will be interactive programs developed with Israeli tech firm Eko. Franco played a video clip that said the interactive content will include comedies, dramas, thrillers and other genres.
Franco gave more specific descriptions of the non-interactive content in the works. This includes Albedo, a futuristic crime thriller starring Evangeline Lilly from the TV series Lost, planned for 2020. Vudu also is making a kid-friendly movie, Adventure Force 5, with the visual effects team from the HBO hit Game of Thrones.
Vudu's unscripted programming includes Friends in Strange Places, a travel show hosted by Queen Latifah, and Turning Point with Randy Jackson, billed as "an exploration of the artistic journey of some of the most creative minds in America."
In all, Franco said Vudu will premier about a dozen original series and movies this year. He said Vudu will differentiate itself from other streaming services by focusing on family-friendly programming.
At last fall's NewFronts in Los Angeles, Walmart announced a partnership with MGM to create TV series based on the studio's film and television franchises. Vudu said at the time that the first of these will be based on the 1983 film Mr. Mom. A Walmart spokesman confirmed Wednesday that the series is still planned, though no other original programming has been announced under the MGM partnership.
Business on 05/02/2019
Print Headline: Walmart details streaming service


text:
Trick-Or-Treat-Or Not – We’re Buying Candy!
The jury is still out on Halloween. Is the fear of potential exposure to the Coronavirus scarier that the ghost or goblin down the block? Will the kids dress up and go out? Will You? Time will tell but what we do know already is that candy sales seem to be rolling towards a semi-normal Halloween season.
Americans are stocking up with U.S. sales of Halloween candy shooting up 13% over last year—a larger jump than the usual single-digit numbers. Sales of Halloween chocolate alone are up 25%.
This jump may be due to earlier Halloween displays at some chains, but Americans may just need a sugar fix after months of stress and anxiety. Some suggest it's people excited for a little sense of normalcy,
"Candy makers rely on the Halloween period for nearly 14% of their annual $36 billion in U.S. sales with Halloween the biggest holiday of the year for candy makers, followed closely by Christmas and Easter. Valentine's Day is a distant fourth."
Still, the talk of a fall spike of Coronavirus could have an impact later in October. Company officials say fifty-five percent of Mars Wrigley's Halloween candy sales usually happen in the last two weeks of October.
So while traditional activities like trick-or-treat outings or the popular trunk-or-treat alternatives may or may not take place, if last year's candy favorites survey holds true, we do know what kind of candy your fellow Americans are buying.
According to a poll from Monmouth University, "more than 36% of Americans say Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are their favorite Halloween treat. It's more than twice the number of people who chose Snickers (18%) as their favorite. M&M's ranked third at 11%, while Hershey bars tied with candy corn in fourth place, capturing 6% each."
The full list of Americans' favorite candy, according to the poll:
- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - 36%
- Snickers - 18%
- M&M's - 11%
- Hershey bars - 6%
- Candy corn - 6%
- Skittles - 5%
- Starburst - 4%
- Tootsie Pops - 2%
From that list, my top three would be Snickers, Skittles & Tootsie Pops. How about you?

domain: news


text:
Yahoo, despite owning the most visited set of properties on
the Internet, has been forced to make
big changes to deal with losing
ground to its hungry
competitors like Google. Yesterday, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang confirmed
fears with an announcement that profit had significantly dipped from the
Yahoo experienced profit dips for several quarters, and now has another to add
to the list. The fourth quarter saw profit fall to $206 million USD, down
from $269 million USD from the previous year, a drop of approximately
23.5%. This comes despite revenue increasing $113 million USD to a total
of $1.83 billion USD.
Profit for the year sunk to $660 million USD, from $751 million USD only a year
ago. Revenue increased over the year, but could not help the sinking
result is that Yahoo will lay off approximately 7% of its workforce,
trimming 1,000 of its 14,300 jobs.
CEO Jerry Yang says the company is facing strong "headwinds" and
said, "This is a pivotal time for Yahoo's business and we have a unique window
of opportunity right now to make the necessary, game-changing
Analysts state that Yahoo may be in for even harder times if it loses its
broadband provider deals with some of the major telecoms, including
AT&T. Many analysts have speculated that AT&T may drop Yahoo
Furthermore, Yahoo's heavy
investments in online advertising may lead to further woes if advertising
takes a hit due to the jittery, downward-leaning economy.


text:
A brand-new trailer for Grand Theft Auto V has been released featuring a bigger world, more main characters, and the ability to explore underwater, fly planes and the potential to kill more prostitutes. So why is the only thing that everyone seems to be excited about is the ability to play tennis?
For starters, here's the expansive trailer:
What you want to watch out for is around the 3:23-3:26 mark, when this magic happens:
That folks is a real tennis game—notice the power bar and game details. And according to the gaming site The Gameological Society, tennis is what fans have been clamoring for since 2005. It's sort of crazy to the casual observer who may only know the GTA franchise as one of the first games to let you drive around and beat up women of the night. But yes, gamers actually want a tennis game with their Grand Theft Auto experience and yes, there may be some crossover into the GTA franchise from tennis fans who just want a decent tennis game.
"A report in Women’s Wear Daily fueled rumors that Grand Theft Auto IV would feature a Nico Bellic dream-sequence mission in which Nico wins the finals at Wimbledon," Gameological's John Teti writes, explaining what piqued fans interest. Those hopes were dashed, with "the sequence was ultimately cut from the game in favor of a mission where you shoot guys and then drive away really fast—like, REALLY fast."
Since then, Rockstar Games, the company behind the GTA franchise, acknowledged fans' yearning for a tennis component by coming out with Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis, released in May 2006, which was actually a surprisingly good and successful venture. Which ultimately brings us to today, where one of the main characters in GTA V, Michael, is clearly playing tennis.
Ultimately, the eager tennis fans cement the the idea that GTA was never really about senseless violence, though the capability is there. "Grand Theft Auto IV indoctrinated a generation of game players, and the conversation about the series largely shifted from how morally dangerous the games were to whether or not they should be considered works of art," explains Slate's Sharan Shetty, referring to the immersive world Rockstar has created with this franchise. If you recall, The Guardian's Tom Bissell got so addicted to the game in 2010 that he developed a cocaine addiction, as well. A tennis habit, we think, might be less damaging.
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to firstname.lastname@example.org.


text:
Racist Fashion Photo Of Black Woman ‘Chair’ Goes Viral
A European website has come under fire for a photo shoot that many have taken to be racist. Dasha Zhukova, the partner of a British soccer club owner Roman Abramovich, was photographed sitting on a chair made from the half-naked mannequin of a black woman. The topless mannequin has its legs in the air as Zhukova sits on a cushion above its thigh area. People were especially outraged at the racist photos as they were released to the public on Martin Luther King Day
The photos were for an interview was fashion website called Buro 24/7. After the photos sparked accusations of racism, the website removed the original images and replaced it with a cropped version where only the legs were visible. The editor of the website, Miroslava Duma, later issued an apology via Instagram.
“We are against racism or gender inequality or anything that infringes upon anyone’s rights. We love, respect and look up to people regardless of their race, gender or social status,” said Duma. “This photograph, which has been published completely out of context, is of an artwork intended specifically as a commentary on gender and racial politics. I utterly abhor racism, and would like to apologise to anyone who has been offended by this image.” Duma also removed the photo from her own Instagram account.
FashionBombDaily.com editor Claire Sulmers also expressed her anger at the photo, writing that the photo showed “white dominance and superiority, articulated in a seemingly serene yet overtly degrading way. The art and fashion industries are the few bastions of society where blatant racism and ignorance are given the greenlight in the name of creativity.
(Photo: Buro 24/7)


text:
10 of the Most Nutrient-Dense Foods That Won't Break the Bank
Skip the expensive supplements taking over your social media feed and stock up on some of these uber-nutritious (and real) foods instead.
The latest version of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans focuses on making every bite count—and the best way to do that is by choosing the most nutrient-dense foods and drinks. "You can think of nutrient dense foods and beverages as those that pack in a lot of nutrition—vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and bioactive substances—in every bite," explains nutrition expert Samantha Cassetty, MS, RD. According to Cassetty, nutrient-dense foods tend to be whole or minimally processed foods with little to no added sugar, sodium, or refined grains.
And before you assume that you'll need to take on a second mortgage to afford all the superfoods you see splashed across your Instagram feed, think again. "Choosing nutrient-dense foods doesn't mean you have to break the bank. There are numerous affordable options that are convenient, too," she adds. That means eating nutrient-dense foods can be easy on you and on your wallet. Here's exactly what to stock up on, according to Cassetty.
Adding more chickpeas to your diet can boost your nutrient intake and protect your health. According to Cassetty, people who eat chickpeas or hummus have been found to have diets with higher levels of fiber, vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C, folate, magnesium, potassium, and iron compared to those who don’t eat these foods (talk about overachieving!). Chickpea eaters were also less likely to be obese, possibly because chickpeas supply a filling combo of protein and fiber, which may reduce the likelihood of overeating. A cup provides 15 grams of protein and 13 grams of fiber.
“Chickpeas are incredibly versatile and can be used in sweet or savory recipes," she says. "I like adding them to baked goods and energy bites to give these foods a healthier spin. When roasted, they’re crunchy like nuts and make a filling snack or a crunchy garnish in salads and soups. Of course, they’re also an easy way to add more protein and nutrients to a meatless meal."
Plain Greek Yogurt
Plain Greek yogurt is an affordable and versatile way to get one of the three servings of dairy (or their equivalents) needed each day. “More than 80 percent of Americans aren’t meeting their dairy needs, which may be why calcium and potassium, which are prevalent in dairy foods, are two of the nutrients most Americans fall short on,” Cassetty says. Plain Greek yogurt can help fill the dairy gap. One cup provides 270 milligrams of calcium, 345 milligrams of potassium, and 27 milligrams of magnesium, on top of 25 grams of protein.
“I like to start my day with a Greek yogurt breakfast bowl, but I also use Greek yogurt to top pancakes and baked potatoes. Greek yogurt is also a delicious soup garnish, and it makes excellent dips for both fruits and veggies,” she adds.
100 Percent Orange Juice
“100 percent orange juice contains no added sugars, so it’s a great replacement for soda and other sweetened drinks, which are the leading sources of added sugars in our diet,” Cassetty explains. Currently, 63 percent of people exceed the limit for added sugars.
In one study that looked at the dietary intakes of almost 16,000 Americans, those who drank 100 percent orange juice had lower intakes of added sugar and more nutritious diets than those who skipped OJ. “That’s unsurprising when you consider that a glass of 100 percent orange juice is a good source of vitamin C, potassium, folate, and thiamin. It also supplies magnesium and health-protecting plant compounds, such as flavonoids and carotenoids. In addition to these natural nutrients, you can buy 100 percent OJ that’s fortified with calcium and vitamin D, which will boost your intake of these much-needed nutrients.”
Cassetty recommends pouring a big splash of 100 percent orange juice into seltzer water to make yourself a lightly sweet and refreshing fizzy drink. “It’s also fun to pour it into an ice cube tray and then use the frozen cubes in water or seltzer. In recipes, 100 percent orange juice is an excellent way to add sweetness without any sugar."
This leafy green veggie is less bitter than regular spinach, which makes it more approachable and versatile, and it also happens to be one of the less expensive pre-washed leafy greens in the market. Buying pre-washed baby spinach makes it more convenient to regularly eat these greens because you can easily add a fistful to soups, smoothies, pasta dishes, and sandwiches and wraps. And just a fistful could have a significant impact on your health.
One study found that eating just a cup of raw or a half cup of cooked leafy greens like baby spinach per day may preserve memory and thinking skills as you age. The study tracked more than 900 older adults over 10 years and found that compared to those who didn’t regularly consume leafy greens, those who ate this amount had the memory and cognitive ability of someone 11 years younger. Nutrients like vitamin K, folate, lutein, and beta carotene, which are rich in baby spinach as well as other leafy greens, may offer neuroprotection.
If you’re not currently a baby spinach eater, try adding a little bit to foods you’re already fond of, like pasta or eggs.
According to Cassetty, walnuts have more ALA—the plant-based omega-3 fatty acid—than any other nut. “An ounce of walnuts is an excellent source of this anti-inflammatory fat. This serving also supplies 4 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber, and a good source of magnesium, a nutrient that’s involved in maintaining healthy blood pressure and blood sugar levels,” she explains. Because they pack so much nutrition in every bite, a study found that eating them daily for six months significantly improved diet quality and led to healthier LDL cholesterol.
Walnuts are great for snacking and sprinkling on salads, oatmeal, and yogurt parfaits. You can also crush walnuts to use as a healthier alternative to breadcrumbs as a crust for chicken and fish.
Few foods are as inexpensive and nutritious as a carton of eggs. According to Cassetty, a large egg has 6 grams of protein plus vitamin D, selenium, zinc, iodine, folate and other B vitamins, vitamin A, and choline. “Most of the nutrients are found in the yolk, and while there has been some concern around eating the yolk, most healthy people can safely eat up to seven whole eggs a week."
Eggs are packed with nutrients and are healthy on their own, but they also pair well with other nutrient-dense foods, like veggies and whole grains.
According to Cassetty, unsweetened dry oats are an affordable way to get a spectrum of vitamins and minerals, like iron, magnesium, zinc, selenium, and B vitamins. They’re also rich in fiber, and they contain 5 grams of plant-based protein. “One type of fiber predominant in oats is beta-glucan, which helps promote a healthy and diverse microbiome and protects against other diseases,” she says. “Additionally, oats contain polyphenol antioxidants—compounds that counter free radical damage that can destabilize cells and promote conditions like heart disease and stroke.”
Of course, oats are a breakfast staple, but they’re also great in place of breadcrumbs in foods like meatballs. You can also grind oats to make whole grain flour for healthier baked goods, and they’re also a good choice for energy bites.
The Dietary Guidelines recommend eating two servings of seafood each week because of the valuable nutrients seafood provides. Yet Cassetty says that close to 90 percent of the population doesn’t meet this target. “Canned tuna is an easy and affordable choice to help you reach the weekly goal. A small can of light tuna, which is lower in mercury than white tuna, has 91 calories and 20 grams of protein, plus 50 IUs of vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential for immune functioning, and the majority of Americans don’t consume enough of this nutrient.” While higher in mercury, Cassetty says that canned white tuna is higher in omega-3 fatty acids that are important for your heart and brain health. “According to the FDA, it’s safe for most adults to eat a serving of canned white tuna every week. That’s why tuna salad is one of my go-to weekday lunches, and I also like balancing out pasta dishes with canned tuna,” she adds.
Frozen fruits and veggies are always a good choice since they’re just as nutritious as fresh produce and are usually a more budget-friendly option. Plus, according to Cassetty, people who consume frozen fruits and veggies eat more produce than people who stay away from frozen produce.
“One study found that people who eat frozen fruits and veggies had more nutritious diets with higher amounts of fiber, potassium, calcium, and vitamin D, compared to people who didn’t stock their freezer with these foods,” she says. “I especially like frozen blueberries because blueberry season is so short, but frozen blueberries are always available for a reasonable price. Blueberries stand out for being rich in polyphenol antioxidants called anthocyanins. Studies link regular blueberry consumption to a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes, and less cognitive decline over time.”
One of Cassetty’s favorite ways to enjoy frozen blueberries is to heat about half a cup in the microwave until they’re warm and the juices release. Once warmed, add about a teaspoon of chia seeds and let the mixture sit for at least 10 minutes. “This jammy blueberry mix is delicious when stirred into Greek yogurt or oatmeal or atop pancakes or whole grain toast spread with nut butter,” she says. “You can also use this mixture to make a faux crisp by adding some lower sugar granola on top.” (Yum.)
“This nutrient-dense soy food is a great way to shift toward eating less animal protein,” Cassetty says. “A portion provides 8 grams of fiber and 9 grams of protein, as well as iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and folate.” According to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, eating more plant-based foods and fewer animal foods may reduce your risk of heart disease. Plus, plant-based protein is less expensive than meat and poultry.
Frozen edamame is an easy snack or appetizer, but you can also mix shelled edamame with many common foods. For example, adding shelled edamame to mac and cheese makes this meal healthier.


text:
// More than 1800 jobs cut as Oasis & Warehouse administrators fail to find buyer for the whole business
// IP and stock sold to restructuring expert Hilco Capital, but Hilco decided not to buy the rest of the business
// Administrators say Oasis & Warehouse’s stores will close indefinitely & online sales will be stopped
More than 1800 workers are set to lose their jobs at Oasis and Warehouse and two other brands, after administrators said they were unable to find a buyer for the whole business.
Joint administrators from Deloitte have said that all of the Oasis and Warehouse Group’s stores will close indefinitely and online sales will be stopped.
The failure to save the core operations of company – which owns the Oasis and Warehouse fashion chains along with online retailer The Idle Man and Bastyan Fashions – will result in the loss of 1803 jobs.
- Oasis & Warehouse CEO Hash Ladha steps down amid administration
- Oasis & Warehouse: What went wrong?
- 202 immediate job cuts as Oasis & Warehouse files for administration
Deloitte said it had sold the intellectual property and the company’s stock to restructuring expert Hilco Capital, but Hilco had decided not to buy the rest of the business.
“Covid-19 has presented extraordinary challenges which have devastated the retail industry,” said Rob Harding, one of the administrators.
“It is with great sadness that we have to announce a sale of the business has not been possible and that we are announcing so many redundancies today.”
He added: “This is a very difficult time for the group’s employees and other key stakeholders and we will do everything we can to support them through this.
“We would like to thank all the employees and other key stakeholders in the group for their continued support.”
The news comes after two key senior leaders within the Oasis and Warehouse Group reportedly stepped down earlier this week as part of the administration process.
Hash Ladha left his post as chief executive while group chief product officer Paula Stewart also reportedly left her role, almost two months after she was promoted to it.
When Oasis and Warehouse Group first fell into administration on April 15, 202 jobs were made redundant immediately but the remaining 1800-plus staff were placed on furlough due to the lockdown.
Oasis, Warehouse and The Idle Man also continued to trade online from their respective websites while the administrators scrambled to find a buyer.
A series of other retailers have been forced into administration due to the coronavirus pandemic.
These include Laura Ashley, Cath Kidston, Lomkok, BrightHouse and Debenhams.
Meanwhile, LK Bennett extended its administration for another year, while surfwear retailer Animal announced it would close all stores and end the business completely by 2021.
with PA Wires


text:
Korean actress Kim Ji Won's appearance in her past fan signing event has gone viral.
Recently at an online community, a video from Kim Ji Won's fan meeting in last April has received an explosive response.
She was seen wearing a flower wreath and a striped shirt, showing her gorgeous looks.
On that day, one fan came close to her and gave her 1.5 L orange juice bottle.
According to the orange juice commercial in 2010, Kim Ji Won had unique retro style. She was wearing retro style clothes and was dancing to the beat.
But Kim Ji Won soon got over with her embarrassment and signed for her fans, bringing warm atmosphere to the site.
(Credit = 'h n' YouTube, 'OranC' TV Commercial)


text:
In Wichita Falls, the economy appears to be on the upswing.
Several new businesses have already opened their doors, and more are on the way.
"It speaks nothing but good for the community and for the work that we do for our economic development," said Wichita Falls Mayor Glenn Barham.
Barham added in addition to new businesses coming to town, recent moves by the City Council to give tax abatements to local manufacturers have also helped turn things around.
In fact, in the last year, the unemployment rate in Wichita Falls fell almost a full percentage point to 6.9%, lower than the State average of 7.2%.
"That indicates, to me anyway, that we're doing things right and getting people back on payrolls," said Barham, "Several industries in town are rehiring and putting people back to work."
With more people going back to work, local retailers are also experiencing a trickle down effect.
"When employment is up, we see more customers coming into our store," said Brent Spray, who, along with his wife, owns Yogurt Journey in Wichita Falls.
With a finance degree from MSU, Spray knows when big business booms, the extra money in people's pockets adds up to a tasty treat for him.
"As long as people are employed and are earning a reasonable income," said Spray, "they have the disposable income to be able to spend on luxury items.
"When they have that," continued Spray, "the whole economy does good. We're able to employ more people, so it all kind of comes back around."
LinkedIn, the social network for business, has a treasure trove of…
It's a sworn duty for honor and country.
One Wichita Falls mother said her son was left in a van at an…


text:
Almost all of the leaked features are confirmed
Motorola’s yet to announce the new Moto X and Moto G, but because of the numerous leaks we have a clear idea what the new phones will bring. As if to underline the accuracy of the leaks, a new promotional video, made Motorola Brazil further confirms much of the new features of Motorola’s upcoming budget smartphone, the Moto G.
The promotional video confirms a 5-inch, HD display, quad-core processor (probably a Snapdragon 410), water-resistant body and a 13-megapixel rear camera. Since Motorola is now officially present in the PH, it’s only a matter of time until the new model arrives here after its official launch on the 28th, alongside the company’s new flagship, the 2015 Moto X.


text:
Toronto is getting the first Canadian location of a massive global BTS pop-up
A BTS pop-up that's been successful across the globe is going to open its first massive Canadian location right here in Toronto.
BTS pop-ups have been slammed with crowds and lines in the past, and Space of BTS should be no different.
People are so crazy about BTS in this city they'll even buy used McDonald's wrappers themed around the group. If you're not familiar, they're a K-pop boy band known for hits like Butter and Boy With Luv.
So naturally, people should be clamouring over merchandise like stationery, apparel, homeware, and fashion items, which will be available while supplies last and will have a limited restock once sold out. This should include Butter, Sowoozoo and In The Soop merch.
Space of BTS stores have been opened around the world in places like Singapore, Busan, Manila, and LA. The first location in the country opening in Toronto is being brought to us by a partnership between local shop Sukoshi Mart and Hybe.
The pop-up should measure a staggering 2,500 square-feet and should include lots of interactive elements. They're planning on having in-store gifts and offers for customers who show up on the first day, so stay tuned to find out exactly when that will be.
The pop-up should be arriving at Eaton Centre in late summer.
Join the conversation Load comments


text:
|Posted by Lilly on May 31, 2018 at 6:30 PM|
(Rita's Italian Ice storefront)
As the Italian Ice season switches into high gear along with rising temps, you may begin seeing some new faces in the competition for frozen desserts.
SmallBizTrends.com reports that there are new players in the hot market for cool treats. While Rita's was always the big contender, shave ice and gelato are coming on strong.
Read the full (upsetting) story here.


text:
With bitcoin, on the other hand, the supply is tightly controlled by the underlying algorithm. A small number of new bitcoins trickle out every hour, and will continue to do so at a diminishing rate until a maximum of 21 million has been reached. This makes bitcoin more attractive as an asset – in theory, if demand grows and the supply remains the same, the value will increase.
“These companies are using extraordinary amounts of electricity – typically thousands of times more electricity than an average residential customer would use,” a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Public Service told Wired. “The sheer amount of electricity being used is leading to higher costs for customers in small communities because of a limited supply of low-cost hydropower.”
Bitcoin is an increasingly popular cryptocurrency that utilizes blockchain technology to facilitate transactions. Basically, a user obtains a Bitcoin wallet that can be used for storing bitcoins and both sending and receiving of payments. The blockchain technology used by Bitcoin is really just a shared public ledger that is used by the entire public network. The technology used is secured through cryptography, a branch of mathematics that provides a highly secure means of facilitating and recording transactions on the network.
The blocks chain is secured by the miners. Miners secure the block by creating a hash that is created from the transactions in the block. This cryptographic hash is then added to the block. The next block of transactions will look to the previous block’s hash to verify it is legitimate. Then the miner will attempt to create a new block that contains current transactions and new hash before any other miner does.
The attraction then, as now, was the Columbia River, which we can glimpse a few blocks to our left. Bitcoin mining—the complex process in which computers solve a complicated math puzzle to win a stack of virtual currency—uses an inordinate amount of electricity, and thanks to five hydroelectric dams that straddle this stretch of the river, about three hours east of Seattle, miners could buy that power more cheaply here than anywhere else in the nation. Long before locals had even heard the words “cryptocurrency” or “blockchain,” Miehe and his peers realized that this semi-arid agricultural region known as the Mid-Columbia Basin was the best place to mine bitcoin in America—and maybe the world.
Carlson has become the face of the Mid-Columbia Basin crypto boom. Articulate, infectiously optimistic, with graying hair and a trim beard, the Microsoft software developer-turned-serial entrepreneur has built a series of mines, made (and lost) several bitcoin fortunes and endured countless setbacks to become one of the region’s largest players. Other local miners credit Carlson for launching the basin’s boom, back in 2012, when he showed up in a battered Honda in the middle of a snowstorm and set up his servers in an old furniture store. Carlson wouldn’t go that far, but the 47-year-old was one of the first people to understand, back when bitcoin was still mainly something video gamers mined in their basements, that you might make serious money mining bitcoin at scale—but only if you could find a place with cheap electricity.
The Mid-Columbia Basin isn’t the only location where the virtual realm of cryptocurrency is colliding with the real world of megawatts and real estate. In places like China, Venezuela and Iceland, cheap land and even cheaper electricity have resulted in bustling mining hubs. But the basin, by dint of its early start, has emerged as one of the biggest boomtowns. By the end of 2018, according to some estimates, miners here could account for anywhere from 15 to 30 percent of all bitcoin mining in the world, and impressive shares of other cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum and Litecoin. And as with any boomtown, that success has created tensions. There have been disputes between miners and locals, bankruptcies and bribery attempts, lawsuits, even a kind of intensifying guerrilla warfare between local utility crews and a shadowy army of bootleg miners who set up their servers in basements and garages and max out the local electrical grids.
There are no physical bitcoins, only balances kept on a public ledger in the cloud, that – along with all Bitcoin transactions – is verified by a massive amount of computing power. Bitcoins are not issued or backed by any banks or governments, nor are individual bitcoins valuable as a commodity. Despite its not being legal tender, Bitcoin charts high on popularity, and has triggered the launch of other virtual currencies collectively referred to as Altcoins.
During the last several years an incredible amount of Bitcoin mining power (hashrate) has come online making it harder for individuals to have enough hashrate to single-handedly solve a block and earn the payout reward. To compensate for this pool mining was introduced. Pooled mining is a mining approach where groups of individual miners contribute to the generation of a block, and then split the block reward according the contributed processing power.
Unauthorized spending is mitigated by bitcoin's implementation of public-private key cryptography. For example; when Alice sends a bitcoin to Bob, Bob becomes the new owner of the bitcoin. Eve observing the transaction might want to spend the bitcoin Bob just received, but she cannot sign the transaction without the knowledge of Bob's private key.
Let your computer earn you money with Bitcoin Miner, the free easy-to-use Bitcoin miner! Earn Bitcoin which can be exchanged for real-world currency! Works great at home, work, or on the go. Download Bitcoin Miner and start mining Bitcoin today! Bitcoin miners perform complex calculations known as hashes. Each hash has a chance of yielding bitcoins. The more hashes performed, the more chances of earning bitcoins. Most people join a mining pool to increase their chances of earning bitcoins. Mining pools pay for high value hashes known as shares. The default mining pool issues payouts weekly to accounts with at least 5000 Satoshis. If an account doesn't reach 5000 Satoshis during a week, the balance carries forward (it is never lost).
Bitcoin is the world’s first cryptocurrency. It is a purely peer-to-peer electronic cash system that allows online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. The Bitcoin system is the most widely accepted cryptocurrency system at present. However, due to its initial setting, such as block size and block time, its performance is limited to less than 10 transactions per second.
Satoshi Nakamoto is credited with designing Bitcoin. Nakamoto claims to be a man living in Japan born on April 5th, 1975 but there are speculations that he is actually either an individual programmer or group of programmers with a penchant for computer science and cryptography scattered around the United States or Europe. Nakamoto is believed to have created the first blockchain database and have been the first to solve the double spending problem other digital currency failed to. While Bitcoin’s creator is shrouded in mystery, his Wizard of Oz status hasn’t stopped the digital currency from becoming increasingly popular with individuals, businesses, and even governments.
From a widespread adoption standpoint: for the typical consumer, Bitcoin is technically challenging and cumbersome to use for the inexperienced. They also forfeit the consumer protections afforded by traditional credit and debt cards. Merchants already have incentive to accept it in the form of reduced fees for accepting payments over typical payment processors.
What would it take for a competitor to nudge into the fray? For starters, it has to be willing to put a lot of money on the line. Several million dollars can go into chip design before a single prototype is produced. “It takes the willingness to pull the trigger and pay the money,” says Hanke. But he’s confident it will happen. “People will see it’s profitable, and they will jump in.”
Bitcoin (BTC) is down a little under percent on the day, and is trading at $6,470 as of press time. With one notable exception Oct. 15 – a brief spike correlated with Tether’s slight untethering from its dollar peg – the top coin has been trading sideways between $6,500-$6,500 for the past few days, before slipping below the $6,500 today, still above where it started the week, close to $6,300. On the week, Bitcoin is 2.7 percent in the green, and is also up just about 2 percent on the month.
Electricity cost: How many dollars are you paying per kilowatt? You’ll need to find out your electricity rate in order to calculate profitability. This can usually be found on your monthly electricity bill. The reason this is important is that miners consume electricity, whether for powering up the miner or for cooling it down (these machines can get really hot).
You can look at this hash as a really long number. (It's a hexadecimal number, meaning the letters A-F are the digits 10-15.) To ensure that blocks are found roughly every ten minutes, there is what's called a difficulty target. To create a valid block your miner has to find a hash that is below the difficulty target. So if for example the difficulty target is
Third-party internet services called online wallets offer similar functionality but may be easier to use. In this case, credentials to access funds are stored with the online wallet provider rather than on the user's hardware. As a result, the user must have complete trust in the wallet provider. A malicious provider or a breach in server security may cause entrusted bitcoins to be stolen. An example of such a security breach occurred with Mt. Gox in 2011. This has led to the often-repeated meme "Not your keys, not your bitcoin".
The first post was made on 31 August and suggested that the funds may be connected to the now-defunct dark web market Silk Road which handled the trade of billions of dollars worth of contraband such as recreational and prescription drugs, illegal weapons and pornography, malware, hacking services, guides to various types of criminal activity, and other black market goods and services.
Bitcoin is a digital asset designed to work in peer-to-peer transactions as a currency. Bitcoins have three qualities useful in a currency, according to The Economist in January 2015: they are "hard to earn, limited in supply and easy to verify". However, as of 2015 bitcoin functions more as a payment processor than as a currency.
In a sense the Trezor is less “high-tech” than many other platforms; however, this makes it far less vulnerable. Additionally, a very nice feature of the Trezor is its semi twin factor randomized pin code generator that is required to be used before each use. On its own, it is quite resistant to any form of malware, but with this feature, you are protected from keyloggers as well.
The other two BitFury mines are in Tbilisi, in the Republic of Georgia, where the weather is much warmer. According to Vavilov, the company has developed a two-phase immersion cooling technology with their subsidiary, Allied Control. The system bathes the mining machines in a dielectric heat-transfer liquid called Novec, which cools the computers as it evaporates. The system is now deployed at the Georgia data centers.
Before even starting out with Bitcoin mining, you need to do your due diligence. The best way to do this, as we’ve discussed, is through the use of a Bitcoin mining calculator. Bear in mind that mining costs money! If you don’t have a few thousand dollars to spare on the right miner, and if you don’t have access to cheap electricity, mining Bitcoin might not be for you.
Bitcoin’s first mover advantage, popularity, and network effect has cemented it as the most popular cryptocurrency with the largest market cap. Rivals like Litecoin may have numerous technical advantages over Bitcoin’s algorithm (see more about that here), but they only hold a fraction of Bitcoin’s market cap and their dwindling communities largely consist of loyalists, speculators, and antagonistic anti-Bitcoin buyers.
In exchange for securing the network, and as the “lottery price” that serves as an incentive for burning this energy, each new block includes a special transaction. It’s this transaction that awards the miner with new bitcoins, which is how bitcoins first come into circulation. At Bitcoin’s launch, each new block awarded the miner with 50 bitcoins, and this amount halves every four years: Currently each block includes 12.5 new bitcoins. Additionally, miners get to keep any mining fees that were attached to the transactions they included in their blocks.
But not everyone is going along for the ride. Back in East Wenatchee, Miehe is giving me an impromptu tour of the epicenter of the basin’s boom. We drive out to the industrial park by the regional airport, where the Douglas County Port Authority has created a kind of mining zone. We roll past Carlson’s construction site, which is swarming with equipment and men. Not far away, we can see a cluster of maybe two dozen cargo containers that Salcido has converted into mines, with transformers and cooling systems. Across the highway, near the new, already-tapped out substation, Salcido has another crew working a much larger mine. “A year ago, none of this was here,” Miehe says. “This road wasn’t here.”
Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency ever created has indeed become the most widely used digital currency on earth. Ever since the existence of Bitcoin in 2009, it has witnessed unprecedented growth across the world. The reason for its worldwide acceptance is no other than its ability to changed the way transactions are conducted in many electronic platforms. Conventionally, electronic card transactions take approximately three business days to get confirmation. On the other hand, Bitcoin transactions take few minutes to be confirmed on the blockchain.
Bitcoin Mining is intentionally designed to be resource-intensive and difficult so that the number of blocks found each day by miners remains steady over time, producing a controlled finite monetary supply. Individual blocks must contain a proof-of-work to be considered valid. This proof-of-work (PoW) is verified by other Bitcoin nodes each time they receive a block. Bitcoin uses a PoW function to protect against double-spending, which also makes Bitcoin's ledger immutable.
The concept of a virtual currency is still novel and, compared to traditional investments, Bitcoin doesn't have much of a longterm track record or history of credibility to back it. With their increasing use, bitcoins are becoming less experimental every day, of course; still, after eight years, they (like all digital currencies) remain in a development phase, still evolving. "It is pretty much the highest-risk, highest-return investment that you can possibly make,” says Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group, which builds and invests in Bitcoin and blockchain companies.
It would seem even early collaborators on the project don’t have verifiable proof of Satoshi’s identity. To reveal conclusively who Satoshi Nakamoto is, a definitive link would need to be made between his/her activity with Bitcoin and his/her identity. That could come in the form of linking the party behind the domain registration of bitcoin.org, email and forum accounts used by Satoshi Nakamoto, or ownership of some portion of the earliest mined bitcoins. Even though the bitcoins Satoshi likely possesses are traceable on the blockchain, it seems he/she has yet to cash them out in a way that reveals his/her identity. If Satoshi were to move his/her bitcoins to an exchange today, this might attract attention, but it seems unlikely that a well-funded and successful exchange would betray a customer's privacy.
Skipping over the technical details, finding a block most closely resembles a type of network lottery. For each attempt to try and find a new block, which is basically a random guess for a lucky number, a miner has to spend a tiny amount of energy. Most of the attempts fail and a miner will have wasted that energy. Only once about every ten minutes will a miner somewhere succeed and thus add a new block to the blockchain.
With the Antminers needing to stay below 38 °C, Mongolia is not the ideal location for a mining facility. It had been above 40 °C for several days when I visited in July. And in the winter, it can fall to –20 °C, cold enough for Bitmain to add insulation to the facilities. Dust is a problem as well, which is why the interior of every warehouse I walk through is veiled in a fine fabric filter.
Video description: Bitcoin.com’s mining services continue to grow exponentially as pool.bitcoin.com commands roughly 3 percent of the Bitcoin network’s global mining power. In addition to the company’s mining capabilities, Bitcoin.com is partnered with the largest U.S.-based bitcoin mining data center allowing the company to leverage mining services like no other business in the industry.


text:
Tablets won't replace laptops just yet
The rapid success of the tablet computer has caused many PC manufacturers to turn their business in a new direction. While there is much to gain by launching a successful tablet, one industry observer does not expect the mobile device to replace the traditional laptop PC anytime soon.
Writing for the Tech Block, Yasir Hossain points out that few households have abandoned their laptops for tablets. Despite the enormous growth of the latter, people still rely on the former for their more pressing computing needs.
Hossain highlights areas where the tablet needs to improve to supplant the laptop PC. The first is haptic technology. The touchscreen is one of the key draws of the tablet, but Hossain asserts that the technology is not being used to its full potential. Haptic technology -- which creates a tactile sensation on the touchscreen -- could be used in any number of creative ways to help bring tablets to the next level.
The blogger also cites a need for duplicity in tablet computers. The laptop functions as a device for both entertainment and productivity. For most people, the tablet only embodies the former. The tablet will need to become a bigger part of people's lives to make more of an impact.
Though they may not replace laptops in the immediate future, tablets are having a heyday at the moment. According to research firm IDC, tablet shipments will reach 106 million in 2012. In contrast, IDC expects PC sales to surpass 500 million units.


text:
Nikhil SubramaniamFeb 04, 2013 15:36:40 IST
The BlackBerry Z10 was announced last week and is slated to be officially launched in India in the near future. However, being available in the UK means the device will definitely sneak into the grey market.
We have learnt from our sources that the Z10 is available in the grey market and comes with an appropriately stratospheric price tag. We spoke to three grey market retailers and at least two of them have confirmed selling units of the Z10. They informed us that more handsets will be in stock tomorrow and they will each cost Rs 80,000, excluding bill and warranty. In fact, the price has only increased since the handset first became available. Yesterday, the retailers claimed to have sold phones for Rs 75,000. Another retailer we spoke to confirmed availability of new stock at his shop from Friday onwards.
A handsome looker, but will you fork out Rs 80,000 for it?
Of course, these prices are in line with prices of other highly-anticipated handsets that haven’t been released in India. The Nexus 4, which was launched last year internationally, has yet to be seen on Indian shores. On eBay.in, the handset is available from Rs 32,000 onwards for the 8GB model and the price goes all the way up to Rs 49,000 for the 16GB version. Considering the Nexus 4’s original price ($299 and $349), this is a more than twice the price.
Even when the iPhone 5 hadn’t officially entered India, its price was a mind-boggling Rs 1 lakh for the 64GB model, while the 16GB sold for 76,000 and the 32GB version for Rs 85,000. This was during the peak popularity of the device. Based on these numbers and depending on supply, the Z10 might see a further jump in price before coming down again closer to the official launch of the device. When official, the device could still end up with an expensive price tag. It is expected to retail close to Rs 45,000.
Clearly, BlackBerry fans are willing to pay a very high price to get a taste of the new BlackBerry 10 OS. In UK, the handset has been available through official channels since February 1 and in the US, eBay sellers have been selling the Z10 for as high as $1,500, which is about the same price as India.
The BlackBerry Z10 was announced on January 30 at an event in New York. It is the first handset by the company to run the BlackBerry 10 OS.
Here is a quick look at some of the highlights of the Z10:
- 4.2-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 768
- LTE, 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi, NFC
- GPS with A-GPS support
- Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP
- 8 megapixel AF camera with 1080p recording; 2 megapixel front facing camera with 720p recording
- 16GB internal memory, expandable up to 64GB via microSD
- MicroHDMI for AV out
The phone is powered by a dual-core 1.5GHz TI OMAP 4470 processor and comes with 2GB of RAM. The BlackBerry Z10 will be kept powered on by an 1800mAh battery.
Keep up with all the latest BlackBerry 10 news in our BB 10 section.
Welcome to Tech2 Innovate, India’s most definitive youth festival celebrating innovation is being held at GMR Grounds, Aerocity Phase 2, on 14th and 15th February 2020. Come and experience an amalgamation of tech, gadgets, automobiles, music, technology, and pop culture along with the who’s who of the online world. Book your tickets now.


text:
‘Cashless Indian Economy’ – Money Demonetization to Mobile Digitization
India – traditionally a cash based economy – recently announced the biggest and most ambitious move to crack down black money and move towards digitization and cashless economy. While cards payments have struggled to scale up due to several reasons, can mobile based payment technologies such as mobile wallet pave the future for cashless economy in India?
The payments landscape in India is undergoing a transformation: traditionally a cash-based economy, it has seen an increase in card-based and mobile transactions. In spite of advances made in the recent years by the Government and regulators to popularize cashless transactions, India continued to be a high-cash-usage economy. But on November 9th, 2016 Prime Minister Narendra Modi took entire India by surprise when he announced the demonetization of INR 500 and INR 1000 notes. There was a mad dash to withdraw smaller bills, or deposit bigger ones, at automatic teller machines around the nation before they shut down temporarily. This demonetization decision has been the biggest and most ambitious step ever to crack down on black money and fake currency and to move India towards a ‘cashless’ economy.
With INR 100 and lesser denomination notes in circulation, India has suddenly started seeing an upsurge in online transactions, card payments and mobile wallets to handle their daily expenses. But unlike rest of the economies where card payments have been the main source of paperless or plastic cash used for daily use, card payments have struggled to scale-up due to the fragmented nature of the retail sector – with its long tail of mom and pop stores – perception of it being expensive for small merchants, high cost of card payments hardware and lack of underwriting data for credit card issuance and merchant on boarding.
In such a scenario, mobile as a platform has a unique set of capabilities that can overcome the challenges posed by the Indian payments landscape. Mobiles offer a low-cost means to create financial access and payments. It can extend the last-mile reach of banking services either through business correspondents or directly to the end consumers. Improvements in the telecom infrastructure, access to internet connectivity and low-cost smartphones will eliminate the need for hardware based on fixed line connections. Mobile can be a platform that uniquely combines digital identity, digital value and digital authentication to create low-cost access to financial services.
In fact, since demonetization has come into effect, if there is a clear winner, it is the class of startups offering online wallets and digital payments. Mobile wallets have witnessed a massive rise in app downloads. Paytm’s traffic, for instance, increased by 435% and its downloads by 200%. Paytm is India’s leading mobile wallet startup – it allows users to make transactions “at 850,000 places across 1,200 Indian cities, including mom and pop shops, branded retail outlets, and petrol pumps. Paytm even advertised in newspapers, congratulating Prime Minister on the demonetization, calling it the “boldest decision in the financial history of independent India”.
So, can mobile wallets pave the way to a cashless economy?
The future of mobile wallets
According to analysts, by 2018 the mobile wallet market in India will grow at a CAGR of 140%, while the global mobile wallet market will register a CAGR of 34% by 2020. What’s fueling this optimism is the fact that India is one of the fastest-growing markets for smartphones in the world. It is expected to become the second largest market by 2017 – replacing the United States. The number of mobile internet users in India is expected to touch 314 million by 2017, up from 280 million now.
According to a recent report by GrowthPraxis, the market for mobile-enabled payments in India grew more than fifteen times between 2012 and 2015 to reach its current size of $1.4bn. Interestingly, nearly 60% of users accessed the internet for the first time on their mobile phones – in marked contrast to many other countries, where desktop and laptop are the first web-enabled devices that people use.
Earlier, most people used mobile internet for social networking sites, but that’s changing now – as increasing numbers of people are using it to make mobile payments.” Service providers are looking to make money by taking a cut from vendors, as the apps are free for customers. They are also flooding the market with cashback offers and discounts to get more traffic.
But the question remains, can mobile wallets in India mirror the success that mobile payment tech has enjoyed in countries like Kenya, where more than 90% of the adult population has signed up to Vodafone’s M-pesa payment platform?
Telecom infrastructure is improving and 3G & 4G services are being offered at very affordable prices, giving a huge boost to mobile commerce in the future. With 4G becoming more and more affordable with entry of telecom giants such as GIO, the digital wallets adoption in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities is going to increase many folds. If reliable and fast mobile networks can make it out to rural areas, then mobile wallets should see huge growth in India. But it will still take a huge cultural shift to wean people off hard cash. (Words 797)
Student comments on ‘Cashless Indian Economy’ – Money Demonetization to Mobile Digitization
It is very interesting to see that India follows China’s footsteps -the same story was happening with China several years ago. It’s even more exciting, that Chinese companies want to take advantage on that growth – China’s Alibaba Group and affiliate Ant Financial have become the largest shareholders of One97 Communications, the parent of Indian Paytm.
Read more at:
This article is fascinating. However, I am curious how a “mobile wallet” is defined. Is it the fact that the payments are processed through an app? If so, then I wonder if mobile wallets are necessary as opposed to a more rudimentary form of mobile payment. For example, you reference M-PESA, which operates on PIN enabled SMS text messages. Therefore, I wonder if India’s switch to mobile payments is being overcomplicated if widespread adoption is the goal.
Thanks for the article. Some of the figures you cited around the growth of this space in India are absolutely staggering. There is a payments revolution going on in one of the most populated countries in the world. Kenya is a great example, but I’m sure there are more challenges when thinking about a country like India (both culturally and technically due to scale). As mentioned above, I wonder whether there are easier technology solutions that would help with the rate of adoption. On the other hand, if peer-to-peer mobile payments are something that the government wants to encourage going forward, perhaps a blockchain-based solution (like Circle: https://www.circle.com/en) is a more secure, sustainable solution.
It’s interesting to think about whether the shift to mobile payments and potentially even away from fiat currency (toward things like Bitcoin) is a global trend or whether it will be limited to certain countries. The potential to get more people who are currently disenfranchised by the financial system more involved in the economy is one of the greatest benefits to quick adoption of digital currencies and mobile wallets.
Thank you so much for a great article – I was also surprised by the news but impressed by a bold move by the government at the same time. I’m also wondering how this will impact on the government’s efforts on taxation – will cashless economy will make the government easier to collect the cash? I’m also curious how traditional mom-and-shop retailers can change their behaviors – do you think they will move cashless economy soon? Or will this be a long march for the country to change?
Thanks so much for writing this – I had heard a little bit about the phasing out of INR 500 and INR 1000 notes but didn’t realize the implications on the mobile payments front. The numbers you present above are incredible and speak to how the infrastructure is evolving rapidly to accommodate this sort of growth. But, I have definitely seen the strong bias towards conducting transactions in cash for purposes of evading taxes and other public scrutiny), and I’d be curious as to your thoughts on whether the people of India are actually ready for a cashless society. The middle and upper class people have the resources to be able to buy mobile, download the necessary apps, and open bank accounts, but I would worry about how the poorer parts of Indian society will be able to deal with this transition. How do they get mobile phones and internet access? Meanwhile, I think where there’s a will, there’s a way – despite this shift towards a cashless society, middle and upper class people still have the resources to figure out a way to conduct large transactions in cash to avoid government scrutiny and taxes.
Great article ! I admire how India is tackling this issue, and in my opinion doing so with way more challenges to overcome that Kenya or other Africans countries ever faced. (principally due to scale)
One thing comes to mind though, on which I would love to get your perspective. As is the case in other emerging countries, governments had to set up a handful of processes and countermeasures to address a large number of potential threats. One of these threats is money laundering.
How does the Indian government make sure that mobile payments don’t become the global money-laundering machine that criminals have dreamed about (as tended to be the case in Latin America a few years ago) ?
This is super cool. I wonder what drives the government to intervene and pull out smaller notes from the market. But in any case, I think it’s a bold move in the right direction. Thailand faces a similar problem of being a cash-based economy. In fact, credit card penetration has long been a no.1 obstacle for any online payment. Alternative payment method, e.g., Paypal also failed to gain popularity.
On a separate note, I have one concern about the cashless system globally. The non-cash system will have a psychological impact on people spending behavior. People spends more when it’s not actual cash leaving their pocket. This is the tricked used by the casino. I wonder what kind of long-term impact this would have on the world. Will people spend non-cash money more consciously or they will consume more as a result.
Thank you for sharing such an impactful story. The ability to collect taxes will be huge in helping India to create infrastructure and solve poverty.
You mention the overall market growth for mobile wallets. However, on a population basis, I read that 28% don’t own a phone, and that less than 5% of the Indian population pay income taxes (http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/02/asia/india-poor-census-secc/). To me, this suggests that the country is not quite ready to become cashless. Do you think the government could combat the black market without striking against the poor? Perhaps India’s government could restructure their income tax brackets and put a 0% income tax on the 75% that earn below $78 per month (See link above). Also, in implementing a cashless and thus taxable society, do you think the Government could and should subsidize smartphones for those without?
Again, very interesting post! Let me know what you think.
Hi NC, enjoyable article. I have to say India must be the most compelling branchless banking market in the world. How do you think the Reserve Bank of India is going to manage increasing encroachment of telecoms on the banking space? How does current financial regulation manage this tension?
Very interesting article. I had the same concern that Ludwig mentioned above regarding the still relatively low mobile phone penetrance in India. Switching to cashless would certainly impact the non- and late-adopters to a much higher degree, and I wonder how much of a paradigm shift will need to occur in order for people to fully buy into such a system (no pun intended). Your article seems to suggest that there are also a lot of competitors in the mobile payments space; I wonder if this further complicates adoption as users and merchants alike will need to load multiple services in order to accommodate differing availability/usage patterns. I also wonder how much this opens up these consumers to fraud vs the status quo–though with appropriate safeguards, it seems reasonable that this would be a net benefit to combating “black money.”
It is fascinating to read about the rapid shift into mobile payment in India. And I found it interesting that government policies and directions have such a big impact on economic behaviors. It looks like not being the first movers into some technologies (PC and credit card in this case) allows India to frog-leap into mobile payment quicker and faster than many. With that, I’d assume the importance of having physical marketplace where cash exchange happens, no matter it’s a store or a bank branch, is diminishing.
While reading, I was worried about how the low income population would be included in this transformation. I was surprised by the statistics in Kenya, a country with 46% of the population living below poverty line (http://data.worldbank.org/country/kenya). If it is indeed possible to include most people in this new system, then it is unarguably beneficial to the country.
@ludwig the tele-density in India is closer to 75-80% (TRAI: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India estimates) . However the 29-30% number is relevant smart-phone penetration (not mobile phone penetration).
Mobile phone penetration in India has actually been miraculous, the country skipped fixed line penetration (unlike more developed economies) and embraced the wireless technology directly. The payment solutions have two clear paths to success from here: 1. Continued growth of smart phones. Smart phone penetration has been growing at a rapid pace, to put the 30% penetration number in context only ~50% of Indians have a bank account. Hence reaching a penetration of 30% has been spectacular in less than a decade; 2. Adopting to a non-smart phone but mobile based mechanism for payments. It will be interesting to see where the cashless economy boom goes, however it will have limited impact on taxation compliance in the recent future.
This was such an interesting article!
I can’t help but to wonder if this type of policy could be implemented in Latin America. Our economies have also a majority of cash transactions, however, more and more people are gaining access to mobile internet devices. Currently a lot of the usage is on social media, I think mobile payments would be a better use of our Tech in LatAm.
Considering that India has such a large population, this is an admirable effort. Mr. Modi is truly delivering on his promise to make the country’s economy more prosperous!


text:
Are you the type to gift the latest smartphone to a loved one during the holidays? Next time, think again. New research by Australian collection scheme MobileMuster indicates that small gadgets like phones are most likely to be hoarded by consumers for years.
Around 45% of Australian citizens say they intend to recycle their old smartphone but MobileMuster says ‘only one in 10 people’ actually do so. It estimates there are 23 million unwanted mobile phones lying in drawers and cupboards across the country with around five million thought to be beyond repair.
90 tonnes recovered
Last year, Australia’s government-accredited mobile phone recycling programme collected 90 tonnes of mobile phones and accessories such as chargers and smart watches. However, this represents ‘just a small portion’ of the ‘hoarded’ e-scrap, the group urges.
Motivation to recycle used smartphones is low because consumers are still attached to them. They say they plan to give them to someone else but hold onto them mostly because dropping them off for recycling is considered inconvenient.
‘It’s clear that phones are not ending up in our general waste stream: they’re ending up in our homes,’ says MobileMuster manager Spyro Kalos. ‘But the value comes from recovering those resources, and so reducing the need to mine virgin materials.’
Recycle phones, save the oceans
Kalos stresses that up to 99% of resources used to create smartphones can be recovered for recycling. ‘We tend to shove our phone in a drawer in case we need it later, but in reality we never go back to it,’ he points out. ‘Maybe two-thirds of us do that.’
In a bid to boost recycling awareness, MobileMuster has partnered with non-profit Take 3 For the Sea. During January and February, every mobile phone that is recycled will help support the charity’s fight against ocean plastics.
‘The partnership will encourage people to recycle a mobile phone and by doing so it will help Take 3 for the Sea continue doing the great work they’re doing in reducing plastic pollution,’ Kalos explains.
Would you like to share any interesting developments or article ideas with us? Don't hesitate to contact us.


text:
Looks like tech is topping Christmas lists this year, and parents are only happy to indulge.
If you held off on a new tablet last year, now is the perfect time to upgrade.
Markets in everything, indeed.
A new report by research firm Canalys suggests we’ll be buying tablets by the boatload in 2017 — almost 400 million of them. And next year, tablet sales will make up a full 50 percent of all PC sales, when you define a PC as one of a tablet, desktop, or laptop.
While the Surface 2 doesn’t appear to be a huge hit for Microsoft, new data from Chitika Insights shows that it’s at least allowing the company to stay relevant in the tablet arena.
The explosion of internet connectivity is requiring more servers to serve the web to new devices.
While the Surface 2 was a huge improvement for Microsoft, it now faces some stiff competition from one of Microsoft’s closest allies.
The Surface 2 shows that Microsoft’s initial bet on hybrid computing devices is beginning to pay off.
Four days after its release, the iPad Air is selling at a much faster pace than Apple’s previous models. In fact, within two days of launch, the iPad Air had five times the usage that iPad 4 had after its own launch, and three times that of the iPad Mini.
As our gadgets get thinner, the notion of tearing one apart for a do-it-yourself repair seems close to madness.
Lenovo’s Yoga tablet may be the company’s most intriguing Android slate yet.
The world really doesn’t need an affordable tablet in ugly shades of orange and yellow — at least the adult world anyways.
T-Mobile’s “Uncarrier” schtick continues to break new ground.
Almost no one’s seen it in person, handled, it, and played with it, but public reaction on Apple’s new iPad Air is massive and very positive. So, a bit surprisingly, is public sentiment around the new version of Apple’s OS X, Mavericks.
Apple’s new iPad Mini is here, and as expected it sports a high-resolution Retina Display.
In the U.S. and Canada, there is, essentially, only one tablet. Unless you count the various models of iPad.
Apple’s iPad event is happening now, follow our live blog here!
It’s a familiar picture for the gadget world: Tablets are on the way up, while traditional PCs are on the decline, according to the latest data from the research firm Gartner.
Peter Misek of Jefferies & Co says that Apple will be launching an iPad Mini at next week’s Apple Event in San Francisco, the “we still have a lot to cover” event.
Amazon’s tablets beats out more expensive Android tablets in touchscreen speed test.
At this point, there’s no doubt that Apple is working on a higher-resolution iPad Mini — the real mysteries are when it will be released and whether Apple will have enough units on hand to satisfy pent-up demand.
Looks like Apple’s new iPad 5 will come in at least one of the same colors as the new iPhone 5S: space gray. And it appears that the coming-soon updated iPad will be both lighter and smaller than the existing iPad 4.
Chinese site DoNews just revealed two photos of the potential iPad Mini 2 that tell us two things: It’s gold, and it also sports the iPhone 5S Touch ID sensor.
Samsung announced this morning that it has created the Samsung Solutions Exchange, a new ecosystem for enterprises that are adopting Android phones.
Amazon releases new tablets that offer higher quality, faster speed, and low prices.
Refinement. That’s what the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 are all about.
NEW YORK CITY — How much can change in a year?
HP introduces a bunch of new tablets.
Brooklyn-based Amplify envisions a future where children learn at their own pace, by playing games on Android tablets — and generating lots of data as they do.
Typically quiet Amazon has jumped to deny rumors that it’s working on a smartphone that would be offered to consumers for free.
Toshiba’s new laptops and tablets will be available in the $300 to $400 range.
Samsung’s Galaxy Gear may not be the smartwatch that will make regular consumers give a damn about smartwatches, but it’s a notable evolutionary step for wearable computing.
A small shift in research firm IDC’s 2013 tablet projections speaks volumes about the mobile market.
Samsung and LG are planning to include a tool that would make stolen phones and tablets inoperable.
The iPad may have lost the tablet wars to an army of Android tabs, but it’s still first in people’s hearts. Second place, however, belongs to a somewhat unlikely candidate.
After making the Nexus 7 a huge success, Asus may bring that same magic to its larger Nexus sibling.
It’s one thing for a single research firm to call out Apple’s quickly falling tablet market share, but now another outfit is painting a similarly bleak picture for the iPad.
Terms like “couch potato” and “boob tube” are going to become obsolete someday soon, right up there with “cat’s pajamas” and “gum up the works.”
As much as I love the iPad Mini, its low-resolution display is aging terribly as just about every new phone and tablet sports high 1080p resolutions.
Who says Android tablets are dead?


text:
Taking the stage a second time after going on medical leave five months ago, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is slated to announce the iCloud services offering at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) next week.
There is a new world order. MacDefender, and subsequently MacGuard, demonstrate that the inherent security by obscurity of the Mac is fading, and that attackers are looking at the bigger picture.
Apple may have conquered the Mac Defender malware with an official support page and a promise to wipe out the problem through a software update, but that's not stopping malware authors from fighting back.
Amazon today launched a Mac-specific application download store that will compete with Apple's nearly five-month-old Mac App Store.
Apple says it has a fix in the works for the Mac Defender fake antivirus app that has plagued a surprising number of Mac users in recent weeks. The company recently posted a Mac Defender support page explaining how you can remove the malware from you...
Hours after Apple owned up to a fake security software scam campaign, the "scareware" gang released a new variant, with a new name and a streamlined installation process that doesn't prompt victims for their password, a French antivirus firm said tod...
Apple on Tuesday promised an update for Mac OS X that will find and delete the MacDefender fake security software, and warn still-unaffected users when they download the bogus program.
Microsoft said this week that it has evidence of a link between the fake security software now plaguing Mac users and a hard-charging family of similar software on Windows.
Mac Defender is turning out to be somewhat of an epidemic that neither Apple, nor Mac users seem prepared for. The Mac malware has caught the Apple ecosystem off guard and threatens to shatter the reality distortion field that Apple thrives on.
Apple's Mac App Store puts users at risk because it's slow to update vulnerable software, a security researcher said Wednesday.
Twitter today updated its Mac desktop software, the first time the micro-blogging service has refreshed the program since it launched last January.
Adobe has released an important update to its Flash Player software that fixes critical security flaws and gives users a better way of controlling whether they are being tracked on the Web.
Microsoft yesterday told Mac Office users it doesn't yet have a fix for a PowerPoint bug that it patched for Windows customers.
As it promised last week, Skype today began serving up an update to Mac users of its chat and Internet phone software, fixing a dangerous bug that a researcher said could be used to build a worm.
Security researchers revealed a dangerous exploit in Skype for Mac which can be exploited to create a worm that can take control of Mac PCs. This FAQ will help you understand the potential impact of the threat, and what you can do to protect your sys...
Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Sony Xperia Z5 Premium review: Is the world ready for a 4K phone?
- 2 Mazda MX-5 (2016) review: Absolute driving purity
- 3 Sony 75-inch UHD TV (X9400C) review: Sony and Android are a winning duo
- 4 LG 55EG960T OLED UHD TV
- 5 Panasonic Viera UHD TV review: good hardware, fragmented software
Join the Good Gear Guide newsletter!
Best Deals on Good Gear Guide
Latest News Articles
- Java-based Trojan was used to attack over 400,000 systems
- HPE servers get new names to help users figure out what they can be used for
- Amazon Web Services goes gunning for gamers with free FPS framework
- US government wants to sharply increase spending on cybersecurity
- Facebook faces restrictions in France on data transfer to US, tracking of users
GGG Evaluation Team
First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.
- CCSenior Agile Business Analyst - Online/Mobile experienceNSW
- CCObjective ECMS Technical ConsultantSA
- FTSenior Systems/SAN EngineerNSW
- FT.NET DeveloperVIC
- CCRisk AnalystVIC
- CCSenior Business Analyst - BaselineACT
- CCProject ManagerSA
- CCSolution Architect - .NET TechnologiesNSW
- FTChange LeadNSW
- CCHybris Developer - Global Digital AgencyNSW
- CCWintel Support EngineerNSW
- FTSenior Portfolio Manager - IT ProjectsNSW
- CCAngularJS DeveloperNSW
- CCSharepoint AdministratorVIC
- CCCitrix Systems EngineerNSW
- FTOracle System Integration Engineer - CANBERRASA
- CCSystem TesterQLD
- CCEnterprise Architect - Network & InfrastructureNSW
- CCProject Server Specialist / MS ProjectNSW
- CCOracle Applications Projects Functional ConsultantSA
- FTVB6 DeveloperNSW
- CCLync/Skype EngineerNSW
- CCSenior Business AnalystNSW
- CCSenior Business Analyst - Life InsuranceVIC
- CCService ModellerNSW


text:
Sports Direct has officially opened its doors in Chorley.
Customers are finally allowed inside the new multi-fascia store Chorley’s Market Walk as sporting goods retailer Sports Direct and USC expands in Lancashire.
The opening comes as retail stores are allowed to reopen following the national lockdowon lifting.
It is hoped the new store will provide a boost to the town centre, which is one of only a few in the country to see new stores opening during the pandemic.
Councillor Peter Wilson, Deputy Leader of Chorley Council said “We are thrilled that Sports Direct and USC have opened in Chorley.
“The addition of these well-known brands adds to the fantastic variety of businesses that we already have, which will keep visitors coming into Chorley rather than going to neighbouring towns and retail parks.”
In August, Chorley Council announced that the well-known brands, both part of Frasers Group PLC, were to become tenants in the new part of Market Walk, taking the occupancy of the development to around 85 per cent.
The store opened on Wednesday, December 2, along with many other non-essential retailers who were allowed to reopen under the latest Covid-19 restrictions.
Sports Direct and USC have joined M&S Foodhall, Escape Entertainment Venue, Reel Cinema and Calico Lounge who began trading from the new development last winter.
The Sports Direct, boasts huge sporting brands including Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Asics and Puma. The selection for men, women’s and kids will also include sections dedicated to disciplines such as running, football and outdoor.
The store will also include a USC streetwear and fashion store. USC offers trend focused customers a selection of the season’s premium branded denim, urban fashion, accessories, footwear and beauty. Brands will include Converse, Champion, Levi’s and Hilfiger Denim.
Michael Murray, Head of Elevation at Frasers Group said: “We are really proud to open this new retail destination in Chorley. Our next-generation stores offer customers the biggest brands in sportswear, sports equipment and fashion, all under one roof. As we continue to grow throughout the UK, our ethos and commitment remains the same; we offer customers the biggest and best brands and unrivalled product choice.”
The Chorley Sports Direct store is one of the first in the UK to open with their new branding, which reflects the retailers new elevated store design and revised brand purpose.
Councillor Wilson continued “It’s really great to see that businesses want to trade in Chorley despite these difficult times and they are adapting to the current situation. We have every confidence that we will bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic and we’re here to support all Chorley businesses.”
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, new businesses in the Market Walk extension had already had a big impact on visitor numbers to Chorley town centre.
It is hoped the arrival of these well-known brands is set to attract even more visitors in the future.
-- to www.lancs.live


text:
As the NFT market has exploded, so has the amount of theft and fraud associated with it. Artists are by now familiar with the experience of finding, like in a horror movie, their own art staring back at them in OpenSea’s digital gallery, being hawked by an anonymous stranger.
Now, OpenSea has revealed just how much of the NFT activity on its platform is defined by fakery and theft, and it’s a lot. In fact, according to the company, nearly all of the NFTs created for free on its platform are either spam or plagiarized.
The revelation began with some drama. On Thursday, popular NFT marketplace OpenSea announced that it would limit how many times a user could create (or “mint”) an NFT for free on the platform using its tools to 50. So-called “lazy minting” on the site lets users skip paying a blockchain gas fee when they create an NFT on OpenSea (with the buyer eventually paying the fee at the time of sale), so it’s a popular option especially for people who don’t have deep pockets to jumpstart their digital art empire.
This decision set off a firestorm, with some projects complaining that this was an out-of-the-blue roadblock for them as they still needed to mint NFTs but suddenly couldn’t. Shortly after, OpenSea reversed course and announced that it would remove the limit, as well as provided some reasoning for the limit in the first place: The free minting tool is being used almost exclusively for the purposes of fraud or spam.
“Every decision we make, we make with our creators in mind. We originally built our shared storefront contract to make it easy for creators to onboard into the space,” OpenSea said in a tweet thread. “However, we’ve recently seen misuse of this feature increase exponentially. Over 80% of the items created with this tool were plagiarized works, fake collections, and spam.”
That’s a very large figure, and one that is probably not surprising to artists whose work has been stolen en masse and minted into NFTs. That OpenSea would risk its reputation with such a sudden and impactful move also gives us some indirect insight into the scale of the fraud problem that free minting is causing for OpenSea itself.
“In addition to reversing the decision, we’re working through a number of solutions to ensure we support our creators while deterring bad actors,” OpenSea said on Twitter, adding that it will preview future decisions with users before implementing them.
For now, though, it seems as if OpenSea is stuck between a rock and a hard place, those being the sea of outrage of every non-crypto person, and the outrage of its own users.


text:
Hon’ble Speaker, Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha Presents Degrees to IIGJ’s B.A., Gems and Jewellery Graduates
The Indian Institute of Gems & Jewellery, Mumbai held its convocation ceremony for the 15th batch of graduates of the 3-year B.A. in Gems & Jewellery programme offered in collaboration with Mewar University. Shri Rahul Narwekar, Hon’ble Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly graced the occasion as Chief Guest and presented trophies and certificates to the graduates. Chairman of IIGJ Mumbai, Mr. Vasant Mehta, Mr. Kirit Bhansali, Vice Chairman, GJEPC India, Mr. Sanjay Kothari, Ex-Chairman, GJSCI and other distinguished guests were present at the event.
Chief Guest: Mr. Rahul Narvekar, Hon’ble Speaker, Maharashtra Vidhan SabhaGuest of Honour: Mr. Kirit Bhansali, Vice Chairman, Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council
41 students successfully graduated from the 15th batch of B.A. Gems & Jewellery, Class of 2021. All the students are now either employed with prestigious jewellery companies or working on their own jewellery collections as entrepreneurs or have been absorbed into their family businesses.
Felicitating the students and congratulating them for their achievement, Chairman, Mr. Vasant Mehta said, “I am truly proud of the fact that IIGJ Mumbai’s B.A. students have done extremely well over the years. More than 400 students have graduated from IIGJ Mumbai so far. Out of which 40% run their own businesses and 60% are employed in the jewellery industry as designers, merchandisers, marketing personnel and in the production and product development departments… This speaks volumes for the quality of education received by students at IIGJ.”
Degree certificates were given to all the successful graduates and the Chairman’s trophy awards were given for:Best Student of the Batch 2018 to 2021: Ms. Jaini Dedhia1st Runner Up: Ms. Kalindi Darshetkar2nd Runner Up: Ms. Namira Shaikh
Shri Rahul Narvekar congratulated the students on their achievements and gave a rousing speech, encouraging them to use their talents and acumen for their country, which he believed would be leading the nations in the years to come.
Other distinguished guests also shared their encouragement to the students during the ceremony.


text:
Android as a working system has had some terrific achievements over the previous few years. For a while, Android producers took a back seat to Apple; Android became excellent. However, iOS was higher, the critics stated. Over a previous couple of years, Android’s success has critics seeing the Apple enemy in an entire new mild, with some suggesting that the destiny of the phone industry lies with Android producers and not with the Apple Corporation – a corporation that many as soon as a concept becomes invincible and beyond fail.
Android’s success was presupposed to come to be an amazing factor; it changed into speculated to assist Android producers in seeing the fulfillment that they may acquire and propel them to heights of which they’d by no means dreamed. Android’s fulfillment changed into purported to be the inducement and impact its manufacturers had to surpass Apple and iOS. I fear the worst, however: with Android’s rising fulfillment, its manufacturers are beginning to see their personal man or woman organizations as “superstars,” dividing Android, once a cohesive entire, into individual portions or fragments. We are getting ready for the fragmentation of Android.
Before you placed this article down and walk away, allow me to explain. Earlier this week at the International CES, LG Electronics announced that the Nexus 4 turned into best the first of collaborative efforts with Google:
“Through our collaboration with Google, we launched the LG Nexus four telephone. This is the primary of many gadgets to return from our developing partnership with this very selective business enterprise” (underline mine).
What this indicates is that we can stay up for a Nexus 5 and six, in all likelihood a “Nexus 9” or “Nexus eleven” one in all in recent times (depending on how the Nexus smartphones are named, in contrast to the Nexus pills). Sometime after LG made this statement, however, the International Business Times claimed that “the Nexus 4 manufacturing ‘is said to have [been] halted,’ with LG interested in building its next-gen devices” (Chris Smith, “Nexus four production reportedly halted, as LG is specializing in destiny smartphones, Nexus five blanketed?”).
What is that this meant to intend? To be blunt, LG has determined to abandon the Nexus four in favor of its personal smartphones. Supposedly, the LG Optimus G has made the enterprise grow confident in shifting forward to develop its personal motive. As for its assignment with Google? Well, LG appears to paintings with them in the future, but no particular time body turned into given wherein the 2 organizations would come together. Consumers who desired to get their palms on a Nexus four at the moment are left watching for the subsequent Nexus venture (which might be in 12 months or two).
In an article I wrote on the Google X Phone, I said that it’d not be a wise circulate for Google to push Samsung out of the manner. I assumed that Samsung would need to live within the Android manufacturing organization. While Samsung’s phones have made Android the OS to be envied, Samsung has also been working on an OS of its personal: Tizen. Reports have surfaced inside the closing two weeks that Samsung will produce extra Tizen phones this year than ever before. What this indicates is that Samsung, which has never gone public about its “OS inside the wings,” intends to sell its personal OS in its very own hardware this 12 months. Some say that this is in reaction to Google’s plans to create an X telephone; thinking about that Google posted its declaration first, I might no longer be amazed if Samsung’s selection to press forward has something to do with Google’s preference to rule Android (and Samsung’s desire to rule Tizen).
Now, LG has advanced and made the equal pass as Google: determining to put its very own paintings ahead of the partnership among itself and Google. LG’s pass can also be a political reaction to Google’s X telephone assertion: given that Google is moving ahead with its very own cellphone, LG seems to do the identical. Unlike Google or Samsung but, it no longer has the monetary sources to preserve generating one line of smartphones even as working on a new line, so it has determined to tug its resources together and start on some other phone (past the LG Optimus G and Nexus 4). What this says to the client is the following: “whilst LG and Google produced a first-class smartphone collectively, not anything topics more than our own cell phone line and organization called. If left to pick out between our telephones and a partnership cellphone, the companion phone challenge may be the primary to head.” This does no longer bode properly for a corporation that, until the Optimus G and Nexus four, became unknown for its cellphone collections.
With Google’s flow to create a one hundred% Google phone, Samsung’s move to have its personal independent Tizen OS, and LG’s withdrawal from its Google project to pursue its very own line, we have the start of what’s referred to as “the fragmentation of Android.” This curious assertion refers to the breakdown of a unified OS, a group of cellphone and software program manufacturers who, once unified, are determined to head their personal separate ways and create their own Android flavors that stick out from the relaxation. The fragmentation of Android refers to the breakdown of a unified OS into person businesses and their tech achievements. In other phrases, businesses that once said, “it is approximately we” (a couple of producers) will now say “It’s approximately me” (our one enterprise)!
This mindset, lamentably, will show detrimental to Android as a whole. Android has grown to be a hit thru no longer simplest its cohesion, however also its diversity. The variety of the Android atmosphere, operating together with the settlement of its hardware producers, has stored the running device collectively – even though the times while it struggled to compete with Apple’s iOS. There is team spirit in variety and diversity in unity, and these concepts have made Android what it’s far today. Unfortunately, Android producers are beginning to agree that there can be no variety in team spirit (handiest in the department); this mindset will allow Apple to divide and overcome its method to remain on pinnacle within the phone international.
Apple has made its success happen with a dictatorial, special approach. The organization produces its personal OS and keeps stern control over its companies and plans. It does the whole lot for itself, and simplest does what it wants to do. Samsung had already shown in 2012, whilst it beat Apple within the closing sector ($8.3 billion vs. Apple’s $eight.2 billion), working with Google has been a successful challenge, as opposed to going on the tech industry by myself. Now that Samsung has verified that “there may be no ‘I’ in ‘crew,'” Android manufacturers must do what they can maintain to push their economic earnings above that of Apple. This yr, but, Android producers are starting to think that they can accomplish extra on their own than they can in collaboration with others. This is a dangerous attitude, a good way to most effectively depart a route of destruction in the back of. The fact is in the sales: If consumers are compelled to choose between organizations in place of operating systems, Google and Samsung will rack up income while businesses consisting of HTC, LG, and other lesser-regarded names will lose within the smartphone warfare.
Englishman John Donne once wrote the statement, “No man is an island”; if that is real, Donne’s phrases could not be truer than in the current Android situations. Android’s achievement has come via its collaboration and innovation – a mixture rather than isolation. Take away one of the two elements of the equation, and the Android “I-land” will become nothing in any respect.