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There’s a storm coming, a storm of firmware upgrades. While few can deny that Windows Phone 8.1 has been long overdue, it seems Microsoft is already thinking far ahead for its mobile OS.
A new report claims that the company has planned at least two, maybe even three updates for its mobile operating system. Two are on track for 2014, while the third one could be released in early 2015, right before the next major version of Windows Phone is launched.
It is worth mentioning that the next major version of Windows Phone (some call it Windows Phone 9) is on track for launch alongside Windows 9, codenamed Threshold.
This interesting bit of information is coming from unnamed sources, of course.
And yes, the updates are likely to be named GDR1, GDR2 and GDR3 in order to offer users of Windows Phone powered smartphones new features, bug fixes and other such improvements and enhancements. Small changes, though, nothing major, as is usually the case with these firmware updates.
As we reported earlier, Microsoft is on track to complete final development work on Windows Phone 8.1 in around one week. April 14 is the big day.
A developer preview of the operating system is expected to be released soon after that, while end users will start getting Windows Phone 8.1 on their devices later this summer, depending on when the wireless carriers start their upgrade engines.


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No Moo in Mince Claim Benefits Horse Meat in Food Scandal TwistMakiko Kitamura
Paul Webb is milking Europe’s latest food scandal with a recipe for horse-meat lasagna and a pledge that “There’s no Moo in our Mince” on his company’s website.
Webb, the director of Exotic Meats in Derbyshire, England, says sales of horse burgers, sausages, steaks and mincemeat have spiked 10-fold since the equine matter was first found in supermarket burgers last month. He ran out of supply last weekend as consumers grew curious about horse flesh, he says.
“I think it’s people who want to try it to see what it’s all about, see if it really tastes like beef,” Webb said in a phone interview.
Exotic Meats, which also sells steak from zebras, wildebeests and alpacas, is among the unlikely beneficiaries of the meat scandal. By exposing the murky nature of Europe’s food chain and causing consumers to rethink the content of their plates, the crisis has piqued curiosity for horse fare in the U.K., where eating steed is something of a taboo.
“Customers are going to be far more aware as to what they are buying,” said Andrew Stevens, a food and grocery analyst at market research company Verdict Retail in London. He described the spike in horse meat demand as “an unexpected side effect.”
At Tucker’s Exotics Ltd., a seller of African game meats in Surrey, owner Peter Atkinson says he’s been inundated with inquiries from customers seeking horse. And some U.K. chefs say the taste of the meat, which is slightly sweet and closer to venison than beef, might appeal to the public if cultural habits in England could be overcome.
“If there was demand for it and it came from a good source, with decent provenance, I’d consider serving it,” said Henry Harris, the chef at restaurant Racine in London. For now, though, he doesn’t plan to.
Sales of horse meat as a percentage of butchered products has traditionally been in the low-single digits in the U.K., according to Brindon Addy, chairman of the Q Guild, which represents about 140 independent butchers. British people’s “love affair with the horse,” which makes them culturally averse to eating the animal, contrasts with habits in countries like Italy, he said. Horse sashimi is also a delicacy in Japan.
“In England, we tend to bet on horses rather than cook them,” says Mark Hix, the London chef.
As faith in supermarket products is shaken after chains including Tesco Plc, Aldi and Iceland Foods Ltd. found horse mixed with beef in some of their products, consumers are also returning to their local butcher for their staple meats.
Addy of the Q Guild estimates demand at independent butchers is up about 20 percent since the scandal began. Sales of burgers and sausages have grown as much as 30 percent, he says. A spokesperson for Tesco and one for J Sainsbury Plc declined to comment on how the crisis has affected meat sales.
The unexpected demand for horse meat suggests the problem for consumers isn’t so much that they’re eating horse -- it’s that they didn’t know they were.
“If you find that your beef has horse meat, then what else are they putting in there that we don’t know about?” Addy said. “You just want to know that you’re eating horse.”
From a nutritional point of view, the meat is healthy. It provides as much protein as beef and pork and less fat, according to a comparative study published in the medical journal Nutrition Research and Practice in 2007. Among other benefits, the researchers found higher levels of healthy unsaturated fatty acids compared with beef. A food safety document from the U.S. Department of Agriculture dating back to 1997 promotes horse, saying it is higher in protein than beef.
Each year, over 200,000 horses are slaughtered for meat in the European Union, with close to half killed in Italy, followed by Poland, Spain and France, according to Humane Society International, an animal protection organization based in Washington. The meat is also imported from Canada and Latin America, it said.
While interest in horse meat has spiked in the U.K., once the scandal dies down, demand will most likely follow, Stevens and Atkinson said.
“It’s a massive fad -- people in six months’ time won’t be buying horse meat,” Atkinson said. “I’d be very, very surprised if it were still selling.”
For now, Webb of Exotic Meats is restocking from his supplier, a licensed U.K. wholesaler who sources from southern France. He won’t name the original source, citing competitive reasons, but says he expects a new order later this week after supplies ran out last weekend.
“Forget your shop-bought frozen lasagna -- here is a recipe for the real horse lasagna,” he writes on Exotic Meats’s website. He developed his own recipe, with ingredients including carrots, celery, red wine and smoked streaky bacon, and first posted it about a week ago, he says.

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Save the date, Sacramento Fashion Week is here. The week long event will kick-off at the California Auto Museum, Feb. 21, 5:00 p.m. sharp.
Sacramento Fashion Week was launched in Spring 2006 as an answer to the call for a fashion show production that focused on the needs of the local fashion industry. With fashion becoming more mainstream and the growing demand for both beauty and fashion products in all markets; retailers needed a resource that would help them become profitable within the current marketplace, while manufacturers needed an outlet that would effectively reach these buyers.
We provide the bridge between fashion designers, models, photographers, advertising agencies, modeling & talent agencies, fine artists, make up and hair stylists, exhibitors and entrepreneurs in the beauty, fashion and entertainment industry. Sacramento Fashion Week strives to produce an upscale quality event with the overall goal to bring more awareness and economic growth to our local fashion industry. We work with local higher education institutions to recruit and develop talent as well provide an avenue for students to learn real-world skills in the various industries that contribute to our event. As part of our commitment to the Greater Sacramento area economy, our marketing strategy involves collaboration with local businesses to create new sales and networking opportunities.
For a list of this years events, click here!


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Regional brands writ large on Aurangabad OOH canvas
By M4G Bureau - February 01, 2023
Education services, personal care products, auto brands seen most
Nashik OOH awash with education, real estate, clothing brand campaigns
By M4G Bureau - January 31, 2023
The 4th largest city in Maharashtra has the potential for faster OOH growth
Showcasing Kashi Balloon and Boat Festival
By M4G Bureau - January 24, 2023
Sharing his comments on the spectacular event promotion, Kaushal Raj Sharma, Commissioner Varanasi, said that “ancient traditions of our country need to be packaged into authentic and curated experiences for the modern travellers”
Pikasso Italia launches the ‘Milano Collection’ with display of artist Elisabetta Benassi's work
By Rajiv Raghunath - January 20, 2023
"Art plays an essential role in our daily lives,” says Antonio Vincenti, Founder and CEO of the Pikasso Group and General Manager of Pikasso Italia.
Goldmedal boards Mumbai Metro 2A, 2B, 7 Lines with internal, external branding
By M4G Bureau - January 19, 2023
In Goldmedal's latest transit media campaign, MOMS successfully blends aesthetics and convenience within Mumbai Metros
Times Prime launches campaign at Gurugram’s CyberHub
By M4G Bureau - January 17, 2023
The 3-month campaign showcases offer launches and exclusive curated events.
Brands leverage gate branding at the Magh Mela in Prayagraj
By Nisha Yadav - January 16, 2023
State Bank of India, Shree Shree Tattva, Lux Cozi, Prism Cement, JK Super Cement, and Union Bank of India are among the companies that have taken advantage of this opportunity to connect with a large and diverse audience.
Bright Outdoor unveils ‘Kuttey’ on OOH across Mumbai
By Nisha Yadav - January 11, 2023
The pan-India campaign is running in 9 cities


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Densiva.ng is one of the leading online market-places in Nigeria where serious buyers can meet genuine sellers in a safe and secure manner for the purpose of transacting business.
The platform is open and ready to help wholesalers/retailers & service providers get more customers/clients.
Mr. Julius Osezua, the Managing Director/CEO of Densive.ng described the digital marketplace as the fastest growing classified ads platform in Nigeria where sellers of various kinds of goods and service providers can register and post ads for free (unlimited amount of ads can be posted daily).
Julius said that sellers can also make money on the platform easily without the financial burden of commission payment. It is basically a NO COMMISSION platform.
He explained further:
“The platform is highly secure as there are measures that have been put in place to fish out bad actors on the platform and protect both buyers and sellers. More importantly, registration on www.densiva.ng takes less than two minutes to complete.”
When asked if the platform was open to outside investment, the CEO responded:
“Every company that intends to address the needs of millions of people across Africa should be open to outside investment and Densiva.ng is no exception to that.”
He further stated that “Densiva.ng is willing to work with investors who also share in its vision of becoming the biggest and most trusted Classified Ads Marketplace in Africa.“


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WannaCry ransomware is all over the news now, causing the internet world to shake in doubt and fear. With over 200,000 computers in 150 countries being affected, the damage is really wide-spread.
For businesses and servers that are affected by this malware, the impact of this attack is huge and can lead to loss of business. As a result, it is important to secure your servers for ensuring their normal functioning. (more…)


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(Bloomberg) -- Pakistan’s small textile mills, which make products ranging from bedsheets to towels mainly for consumers in the US and Europe, are starting to shut after devastating floods wiped out its cotton crop.
As many as 100 smaller mills have suspended operations due to a shortage of good quality cotton, high fuel costs, and poor recovery of payments from buyers in flood-hit areas, said Khurram Mukhtar, patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association. Larger firms, which supply to global companies like Nike Inc., Adidas AG, Puma SE, Target Corp., are less affected as they are well stocked, he said.
The mill closures underscore challenges for the sector that employs about 10 million people, accounts for 8% of the economy and adds more than half to the nation’s export earnings. Their hardships have become acute due to recent floods, which submerged a third of Pakistan, killed more than 1,600 people, and damaged about 35% of the cotton crop.
The latest blow comes at a difficult time for the South Asian nation that is already struggling with high inflation and falling currency reserves. The closure of firms, such as AN Textile Mills Ltd., Shams Textile Mills Ltd., J.A. Textile Mills Ltd. and Asim Textile Mills Ltd., could worsen the country’s employment situation and hit its export earnings. Larger companies are also facing rough weather, with demand for their products seen falling about 10% by December from now due to a slowdown in Europe and the US, Mukhtar said.
Due to an “unforeseen downturn in the market and unavailability of good quality cotton” following heavy rains and floods, the company’s mills have been temporarily closed, Faisalabad-based AN Textile said in an exchange filing earlier this month.
Cotton production in Pakistan could slump to 6.5 million bales (of 170 kilograms each) in the year that started in July, compared with a target of 11 million, Mukhtar said. That could force the nation to spend about $3 billion to import cotton from countries such as Brazil, Turkey, the US, East and West Africa and Afghanistan, said Gohar Ejaz, patron-in-chief of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association. About 30% of Pakistan’s textile production capacity for exports has been hampered because of cotton and energy shortages, Ejaz said.
Pakistan’s textile sector, which exports about 60% of its production, is also facing poor demand in the domestic market due to fragile economic conditions. Gross domestic product is estimated to halve from 5% in the fiscal year ending June following the floods that led to damages of around $30 billion. Pakistan secured a $1.1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund in August to avert an imminent default.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.


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HTC has announced a change in its design strategy. The Taiwanese manufacturer has said that it is moving its focus away from physical keypads and towards better screen technology in its future devices.
Claude Zellweger, HTC Creative Director, recently told Pocket Lint: “There’s sort of a die-hard community that keeps wanting it, but we feel that putting too much effort into that would take away from our main focus.”
Conversely, the HTC Cha Cha, the Taiwanese manufacturer’s QWERTY keypad-sporting ‘Facebook phone’ which was released last summer has received a lukewarm reception from consumers. This could have influenced HTC’s inference that it plans on dropping physical keypads from forthcoming handsets.
The majority of handsets produced by HTC run Android, which has always given the impression that it is designed to work best on a large touchscreen, so it is understandable that the manufacturer is gearing its designs towards utilising this. It is also true that a physical keypad vastly increases the bulk of a handset, which not only reduces the space available for the touchscreen but makes the device more cumbersome than slimmer, touchscreen-only phones. With the advent of the One series, HTC has proved that slim and slender is where its intentions lie and physical keypads just do not fit in to its approach to design.
The Canadian manufacturer has deviated from the familiar Blackberry form factor in the past, releasing the all-touchscreen Storm back in 2008 in the hope that traditional Blackberry users would accept a device without physical keys. However, for many years RIM’s unique selling point for the Blackberry has been that it is very easy to type emails, giving the devices large appeal amongst the business community, leaving other manufacturers to clean up amongst demographics who wanted large touchscreens and the many options that they present.
Subsequent releases have toyed with combinations of inputs, based on a more conservative design. A number of handsets in the Torch range featured a small touchscreen and the re-introduction of the QWERTY keypad, along with an optical trackpad providing users with another option for navigation.
This layout is something that RIM has continued employ since, right up to its upcoming Curve 9320, details of which were accidentally leaked by T-Mobile last week. However, RIM has had to deal with the realisation that smartphone users could be deserting the Blackberry after it emerged that 40% of mobile phones recycled after last Christmas bore the Blackberry name.
Recently leaked mages of the upcoming Blackberry London appear to indicate that show RIM could be erring towards full touchscreen in its flagship models – if the range’s premium handset lacks this most identifying of features it could be evidence that RIM’s strategy is moving along the same lines as that of HTC.
In spite of what looks like an emerging trend in smartphone design, other manufacturers have gone against the grain and flirted with physical keypad design when their main focus has been on the more common, large touchscreen-sporting slabs. Samsung added a QWERTY keypad-sporting device to its Galaxy range last year with the Galaxy Pro, a Blackberry style handset that mostly failed in combining a physical keypad with a touchscreen. It felt as if the Korean manufacturer wasn’t so much experimenting with new designs as trying to tempt a few of RIM’s long-standing customers over to its flagship range by apeing Blackberry’s iconic feature.
So it may not be the biggest of surprises that HTC have made this announcement, as bold as it is to say it out loud. The Taiwanese company’s recent lack of success with the Cha Cha looks to have been enough to make it wary of QWERTY keypads and the super-slim One series on which its current focus lies does not lend itself to physical keys. However, if HTC are correct and, other than a die-hard minority, there is less consumer demand for physical keypads then it remains to be seen how RIM will adapt its range to the touchscreen era.


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Netflix has revealed a first proper look at the main protagonists of its upcoming The Witcher adaptation, which is due to release later this year as an eight-episode series, and they look much better than what we’d seen previously.
A Tweet today from Netflix’s “See What’s Next” account highlighted the images with the caption “It begins @witchernetflix.”
Back in October of 2018, the streaming service unveiled a snippet of unedited footage of Henry Cavil playing Geralt, which received a mixed reaction from the franchises’ passionate following. Later, an image of Nilfgaardian soldiers wearing armor that looked slightly budget also found its way onto the internet and earned a similarly lukewarm response.
What we’ve been shown today, though, looks of a more polished quality that’s more in line with the video game series the audience knows and loves. It’s amazing what a bit of post-production can do, right?
Details on the show’s storyline are still scant, but it will presumably follow an adapted version of one of the Andrzej Sapkowski novels. Sapkowski is actually working on the Netflix series as a creative consultant, so here’s hoping his input will result in more authenticity.
“I’m thrilled that Netflix will be doing an adaptation of my stories, staying true to the source material and the themes that I have spent over thirty years writing,” he said in a press release last year.
The franchises’ popularity as a video game IP still remains strong today if developer CD Projekt Red’s financial report is anything to go by. Continued sales of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt were said to be its primary revenue driver despite launching over four years ago.
It’s little wonder, then, they’ve opted to release a version for Nintendo’s Switch hardware, which will launch later this year.


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Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Rock the Runway Brought the Glamour of Rock to Over 2,500 Southern California Residents
On Saturday, May 2, over 2,500 people shared a day of glamour, rock and art with The Art Institute of California – Orange County. In just five short hours, guests of the second annual Rock the Runway event watched as students were awarded over $750,000 in tuition scholarships, heard two bands play hour-long sets, stood by as artists created a mural, ate gourmet hot dogs and mashed potato cocktails and were mesmerized by the professionally-produced fashion show that wrapped up the evening.
The highlight of Rock the Runway was the fashion show not only because of the looks from Miss Me, Elmer Ave, The Hive, Level 99 for men, Cohesive, shoes from Velvet Angels and PF Flyers and shades from Oakley, but because it was the runway debut for seven Fashion Design students.
The students competed against each other in the Rock Icon design competition and were challenged to create an outfit for a music legend of the past or present. The winner of the $2,000 design scholarship was decided by a panel of three judges: Rami Kashou, from season four of Project Runway; Lily McElroy, editor-in-chief of Preen Magazine; and Jonny Day, co-founder and designer for Elmer Ave.
Daniel Magaña, a fourth-quarter fashion student, was announced the winner and recipient of the $2,000 scholarship for his outfit inspired by Rihanna. The leather corset complete with spikes, chains and feather details, was modeled by Saleisha, the winner of America’s Next Top Model, cycle 9.
“The students in this competition have only had two to four quarters of instruction and they are already producing such high quality work,” said Mary Ann Gale, Fashion Design and Fashion Marketing & Management Academic Director. “I can only imagine how much more these students are going to grow by the time they get closer to graduation and producing their senior show.”
Rock the Runway began last year as a way to celebrate the arrival of the Fashion Design and Fashion Marketing & Management programs. The event this year showcased the 16 different creative programs available at The Art Institute of California – Orange County.
“The Art Institute of California – Orange County is proud to be a part of this community and we were happy to open our doors to the students, industry leaders and members of the media that make Orange County thrive,” said Daniel Levinson, president of The Art Institute of California – Orange County. “Rock the Runway is our way of getting to know our neighbors and letting our neighbors learn what we are all about.”
Aside from awarding scholarships, the second annual fashion, art and music festival also helped raise money for future competitions. Artists from eVocal customized hats and shoes for guests for a small fee and t-shirts designed by a local artist were also sold and contributed to the over $500 added to the scholarship fund. Sponsors also donated over $1,000 in goods for the online auction which is open until May 9.
To see pictures of the event, learn how to help raise scholarship funds for competitions like Rock Icon or to bid on items in the online auction, visit http://www.airocktherunway.com/.
Tricia Cook, 714.338.1303 or email@example.com
Veronica Orozco, 714.830.0221 or firstname.lastname@example.org


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BUSINESSES should see cash from Government lockdown grants land in their bank accounts from Monday, the council says.
The March lockdown payments – which are part of the ongoing support for businesses and not related to this week’s budget announcement – should arrive by Thursday. Anyone already signed up to the lockdown grants introduced in November does not need to reapply.
But the Government’s recently announced Restart Grant funding will not be paid until April 1 at the earliest, a council spokesperson warned, adding that the local authority cannot control the timeline for the national funding.
Cllr Andrew Waller said: “Paying grants quickly protects jobs, the supply chain and the city’s wider economy.
“We want to give businesses as much certainty as we can, so we’re pressing government for more details on when we’ll be able to pay Restart Grants, and will keep businesses informed as soon as we know more.
“We will continue to work with partners to find the fairest, most effective way to spend any additional discretionary funding which comes to York.”
Restart Grants of up to £6,000 for non-essential retail and £18,000 for hospitality and leisure will be available – but Government guidance has not yet been issued. For updates, visit york.gov.uk/information-businesses/covid-19-business-rates-grants.


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December 12, 2012 13:54
The number of used cars exported from Korea has reached a new record. The Korea Used Car Export Association on Tuesday said a total of 322,623 second-hand cars cleared customs from January to October this year, exceeding last year's total of 293,208 and a 38-percent growth on-year.
Sedans made up the most or 74 percent of exported used cars. A third of them were mid-sized gasoline vehicles with 1.5 to 2.0 liter engines, followed by compact cars with an engine capacity of 1.0 to 1.5 liter.
Trucks accounted for 19 percent, vans 6 percent, and tractors 0.3 percent.
Korea's used car export market was worth about W1.8 trillion last year, the world's fourth largest after the EU, Japan, and the U.S. The industry believes that the durability of Korean cars is being recognized in emerging economies in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and this is helping boost exports. Their relatively low price at an average of W5.8 million is another appeal.
Jordan was the biggest buyer of Korean second hand cars last year with 92,450.
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com


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Criminals utilizing bitcoin on the Silk Highway, the net black marketplace for unlawful items like medicine and weapons, have tainted the cryptoasset’s popularity for years. However for Neil Baker, it was the bust of the Silk Highway by regulation enforcement officers that first led him to grow to be a crypto investor.
Baker remembers studying information experiences concerning the FBI and Europol’s swoop on the net community, which has been known as the “Amazon of heroin and cocaine”. He was appalled by the criminality, however famous that bitcoin didn’t crater after the raids — and he reasoned that the digital tokens should have some benefit apart from shopping for medicine on-line.
“I’m not some type of tin foil hat, weed-smoking weirdo. I’m a married father of 1,” says Baker, 37, from Eastbourne in south-east England. “The market didn’t crash after the Silk Highway. That was what obtained me on to it.”
Baker, a advertising and marketing and gross sales government at a housebuilder, first invested in crypto in July 2017, after the Silk Highway episode piqued his curiosity. It started an enduring curiosity in crypto investing that weathered the wild swings within the digital asset market through the years.
Like different crypto traders, although, he has now seen his stake badly hit by the latest meltdown in costs, as markets for these property are gripped by one of the extreme crises of their 13-year historical past.
The losers embrace tens of millions of UK retail savers, who had been swept up by the passion. Many have already been worn out as their leveraged bets went unhealthy. Others have fund trapped in collapsed or suspended crypto firms. And nonetheless extra are actually questioning what to do subsequent with their diminished holdings.
The ache extends removed from subtle crypto merchants to tens of millions of have-a-go amateurs, together with many British retail traders. A number of agreed to inform FT Cash how they got here to hitch the crypto bubble — and what they may do now that it seems to be bursting.
Crypto plunge wipes out $2tn
Whole crypto market worth has dropped under $1tn, down by greater than two-thirds from a peak of $3.2tn final autumn.
Bitcoin, the most important cryptocurrency, has fallen 70 per cent in the identical interval, hitting ranges not seen since 2017, wiping out years of gains for digital asset true believers.
For some, the worth fall represents near an existential disaster for bitcoin. Launched within the aftermath of the 2008 monetary disaster, the flagship cryptocurrency had been touted as a steady retailer of worth unbiased of government-back paper cash, which might be resistant to inflation and free from the politically-minded meddling of central financial institution governors.
Now, even bitcoin traders admit that the crypto token, like different markets, simply can’t struggle the Fed. The highly effective US central financial institution has this yr reversed a decade of ultra-loose financial coverage, choking off the provision of low cost cash to calm the financial system and tame runaway inflation.
The end result has been a massacre for high-risk property and traders search security and reckon with rising rates of interest. Crypto property have been first on the public sale block, given their dangerous popularity.
Inside the crypto trade, tumbling costs have triggered a series response of defaults. A number of high-profile crypto tasks have hit the rocks, together with stablecoin Terra and lender Celsius. The contraction in lending has been likened to a “credit crisis”, producing a cascade of liquidations and a downward spiral in token costs.
A British shopping for spree
Almost one in 5 UK adults have invested in crypto, in line with a survey from crypto alternate Gemini this yr. Crypto investing was extra prevalent in wealthier cohorts, the research discovered, and 65 per cent of backers had been male.
The analysis discovered that 45 per cent of British crypto traders took the plunge for the primary time in 2021 in the course of the huge run-up in token costs, which has now crashed again to earth.
“It’s extra essential than ever to be sure to aren’t the final one in a line of better fools,” says Dan Lane, analyst at funding app Freetrade, which just lately began to supply crypto buying and selling. He argues the downturn in crypto might assist to shake out the various “weird spin-offs [that] have popped up over the pandemic”.
“Sadly, that reshaping is prone to take some traders’ cash in highly-speculative digital cash to zero,” he added.
For Baker, the sell-off has been painful however not ruinous. As we spoke, he loaded up the cell app for the crypto alternate Coinbase on his telephone to examine on the worth of his investments.
“Oh Jesus Christ, I shouldn’t have loaded up Coinbase, ought to I?” he stated, gazing on the value of his ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, which has fallen some 70 per cent since November. “It’s a very good job this isn’t a grand sum of cash.”
He counts himself fortunate that his crypto holdings by no means exceeded 10 per cent of his investments at their peak, and he owns his house and a second property as an extra security web.
“I’m not a crypto bro. I purchase ETFs and dividend shares. Nevertheless it simply felt like one thing I wanted so as to add in,” says Baker
In Baker’s view, the crypto market is cut up between speculative cash that quantity to playing and tokens like ethereum which have doubtlessly helpful functions via applied sciences like good contracts, that means they might maintain their worth and develop over a decade.
He nonetheless put £100 into dogecoin, the joke cryptocurrency named after a meme of a shiba inu canine, after chatting with the attendant on the automotive wash subsequent to his native grocery store. “I messed round with dogecoin as a result of it was enjoyable. Clearly I take all my monetary recommendation from the person on the automotive wash,” he quips.
However he’s involved by the addictive, lottery-like options of crypto investing. “There’s lots of people who get that dopamine hit from enjoying these items. I feel it’s one thing that as a society we have to reckon with,” says Baker.
Dogecoin’s value surged early within the pandemic partly due to supportive Tweets from Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur whom Baker has been following for a decade.
On reflection, Baker doesn’t assume a lot of Musk’s diversion into cryptocurrencies. “I a lot choose ‘rocket Elon’, the one who simply talks about rockets and nothing else, and perhaps vehicles. Every little thing else simply makes him sound like an absolute clown,” says Baker.
As as to whether he’s tempted to give up crypto now that the market has crashed, Baker says he has little selection however to carry on. Most of his holdings are in Ethereum, which he has “staked”. That is the crypto time period for locking up your cash to help a brand new venture and earn curiosity, on this case the transition from the environmentally damaging “proof of labor” blockchain to a brand new system known as “proof of stake”, which requires much less computing and saves electrical energy.
“I don’t assume crypto will be adopted as a worldwide technique of something if you’re utilizing the identical vitality as a high forty nation makes use of,” he says.
Baker says he would fear extra about what to do along with his remaining crypto wealth if he had a selection about whether or not to promote it. “Perhaps if I had a Promote button in my app I may be barely extra burdened . . . It’s not an possibility for me to promote it. So I’m OK with it.”
Deep beneath water
Baker sits among the many majority of cryptoasset traders who view tokens as a “enjoyable funding”, in line with analysis printed this month by HM Income & Customs. A smaller cohort, one in 5, stated cryptocurrencies had been “‘core half” of their funding portfolio.
Lyle, 27, is one investor who cross over from treating crypto investor as an thrilling exercise to creating it an enormous a part of his complete wealth. Now, he’s nonetheless holding on to his tokens as a result of his losses are already so extreme that each one he can do is hope for a rebound.
The graduate scholar from London is finishing a PhD in astrophysics and synthetic intelligence and has labored as an intern at a hedge fund.
“I’m speculated to be somebody who is aware of about finance,” says Lyle, who requested the FT to not use his actual title.
“I began very rigorously and had this confidence entering into that nothing too unhealthy might occur as a result of I knew what I used to be doing,” he says. “By the top, you get caught up within the bubble and also you’re similar to anybody else.”
His first foray into crypto got here in September 2020, with encouragement from his father, simply as token costs started the wild surge that will take the worth of bitcoin from round $10,000 at first of September to $60,000 by March 2021.
“It was all fairly thrilling. It went up quite a bit in a brief time period. I used to be simply type of playing around with it. I used to be solely placing in small quantities,” he says.
He hung out studying about Web3, a brand new model of the web constructed utilizing blockchain know-how. “It appeared like a know-how that will type of final in the long run. Increasingly associates had been moving into it,” he remembers.
The joy reached fever pitch early in 2022, as an increasing number of associates shifted giant chunks of their financial savings into the crypto market. Ultimately, Lyle bowed to see strain.
“I moved 50 to 60 per cent of my web price into both a crypto fund or Coinbase. I ought to have discovered that this was a nasty concept. You’re speculated to be a bit extra diversified than that,” he says. “Having all my semi-intelligent associates doing the identical, I type of felt I used to be lacking out. It’s the traditional bubble factor.”
Lyle’s resolution to double down got here on the peak of the market. His investments have greater than halved. The losses are a significant monetary setback. “It’s solely actually dawned upon me this week that I had really accomplished very well as a PhD scholar and managed my investments fairly properly, till I dumped all of it into crypto,” he says.
“It’s fairly annoying as a result of I’ve an enormous scholar mortgage that I might have paid a big chunk of off,” he added.
The concern of lacking out undoubtedly performed a significant position in Lyle’s choices. Many commentators blame promoting from crypto corporations, paid social media influencers and breathless media protection for hyping crypto even additional. However Lyle prefers to take private accountability.
“I don’t get the sense that we had been exhausting accomplished by as customers in any respect,” he says. “I simply did the worst potential sort of buying and selling, which is studying one piece of reports and going in your telephone and shopping for a bunch of stuff. The type of informal day buying and selling that often finally ends up with you dropping some huge cash.”
For him, the lesson is straightforward: “It’s so exhausting to be rational when all your pals are telling you the way a lot cash they’ve made.”
Though Lyle’s losses are painful, they might have been worse. Half of British 18-29 year-old crypto investor used debt to fund their purchases, with many turning to bank cards and scholar loans, in line with analysis final yr by Interactive Investor.
Sylvia, who additionally began crypto buying and selling is lockdown, counts herself luck for avoiding the entice of debt-fuelled investing and for lucky market timing.
The London-based fund supervisor caught the crypto bug from associates on the peak of the primary strict Covid-19 lockdown.
“I purchased on the time and sort of rode the wave till the top of final yr. I obtained actually fortunate as a result of for private causes I wished to return to money. So I offered on the peak,” says Sylvia, who requested for her actual title to be withheld. “It was like profitable a bit bit on the on line casino for a yr.”
She counts herself fortunate not only for good market timing, but additionally for avoiding the hazard of taking out debt to purchase much more crypto. “I do know some individuals who have leveraged themselves to purchase,” she says.
Leveraged methods backfired for a lot of crypto merchants, as falling token costs left them with excellent loans and no crypto proceeds to pay them again.
Though she averted this entice, the expertise was not all constructive for Sylvia. “As a result of I offered so excessive, I reinvested a part of it after which misplaced a part of it,” she says, “I assumed the entire psychology of it was very attention-grabbing.”
She additionally famous the psychological results on her colleagues. “I had a junior working for me. He was making extra money from his crypto commerce than I might give him as a wage. I feel that actually modified the perspective of some younger folks in the direction of cash [after they] made simple cash for greater than a yr,” she says.
For some novice crypto traders, the searing expertise of latest months has turned them off tokens for good. Others see the market downturn as a take a look at of religion, and imagine that those that maintain on might be richly rewarded.
I requested what Sylvia had realized from watching costs crash. There was an extended pause. Then she stated: “To not underestimate the danger and solely make investments cash that you’re solely actually, actually able to lose.”


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In 2009, Hyundai revealed a hydrogen fuel cell bus, and I am quite sure that technology in that department has advanced by leaps and bounds since then. In fact, word has it that Toyota is working on a 2015 version of a hydrogen fuel cell sedan that is capable of hitting a 300 mile range on a single full charge. That is extremely impressive to say the least, but since 2015 is not exactly knocking down on everyone’s door at the moment, it remains to be seen whether that intended range can be achieved or not in due time.
There is but scant details concerning the upcoming 2015 hydrogen fuel cell vehicle from Toyota, but hopefully more details will be revealed at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show that will be happening in November. Word has it that Toyota could very introduce the fuel cell sedan to the US in 2014, calling it a 2015 model, with a price point that should not veer too far away from a mid-size BMW or Tesla Model S. We do hope that it will be affordable to the masses at the end of the day, though.
Filed in toyota.. Read more about


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- Walmart employs a variety of engineers and tech workers across the US as it looks to accelerate its digital arm.
- The company has just announced its intent to facilitate livestream shopping on TikTok, after agreeing to acquire a 7.5% stake in the social media platform.
- The chain also launched its Amazon Prime competitor, Walmart Plus, in September.
- Business Insider analyzed the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification's 2020 disclosure data for permanent and temporary foreign workers to see how much Walmart paid employees for various tech-focused roles in different areas.
- From software and data engineers to directors and managers, here are the annual salaries and salary ranges for different tech-focused jobs at Walmart.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
With 1.5 million associates across the US, Walmart is known for its massive in-store workforce.
But the big-box chain is making major gains in the tech sector as well. Back in August, the company reported soaring sales compared with last year, with e-commerce sales nearly doubling.
On Thursday, the company announced that it will launch livestream shopping on video-focused social media platform TikTok. Previously, Walmart announced its intent to purchase a 7.5% stake in TikTok.
Business Insider analyzed the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification's 2020 disclosure data for permanent and temporary foreign workers to see how much Walmart paid employees for various tech-focused roles in different categories. The Office of Foreign Labor Certification discloses salary data each year after US companies report how much base compensation workers are offered when filing paperwork for visas on behalf of current or prospective foreign workers.
For the US, Walmart applied for 1,585 H-1B visas for these and other roles. Listed jobs were in multiple states across the US. Walmart did not return a request for comment for this story.
In general, Walmart's tech salaries are similar to those in other tech-focused industries. For example, software engineers' base salaries at Google and Amazon is generally about $177,933 and $155,086, respectively, according to Glassdoor. At Walmart, senior software engineers can make between $122,400 and $170,000.
In other cases, similar job descriptions for Walmart and other companies appear to have a bit more disparity in pay. For example, while an engineering manager at Walmart can make between $100,000 and $213,116, the same role at Google and Facebook offers average base salaries of $202,864 and $216,650, respectively, according to Glassdoor.
From software engineer to data scientist, here are the annual salaries, salary ranges, and averages for different tech-focused jobs at Walmart.
- Software engineer: $75,712 to $150,000
- Senior software engineer: $122,400 to $170,000
- Principal software engineer: $184,369 (average)
- Staff software engineer: $160,025 (average)
- Back-end software engineer: $125,000
- Software quality assurance engineer: $128,600
- Cybersecurity network engineer: $105,000
- Network engineer III: $130,000
- Staff network engineer: $154,432
- Quality engineer: $80,800 to $92,961
- Senior quality engineer: $127,474 to $145,000 (approximate)
- Staff quality engineer: $162,000
- Systems engineer: $76,700 to $114,138 (approximate)
- Senior systems engineer: $112,575 to $149,500
- Staff systems engineer: $153,812.78 (average)
- Senior mobile engineer: $160,000
- Staff mobile engineer: $175,000
- Staff mobile-automation engineer: $197,000
Data and database roles:
- Data engineer: $76,833 to $130,000 (approximate)
- Staff data engineer: $144,754 (average)
- Senior database engineer: $161,634
- Staff database engineer: $181,887
- Data scientist: $117,875 (average)
- Senior data scientist: $135,084 to $152,471 (approximate)
- Principal data scientist: $130,000
Other tech roles:
- Dynamic defense engineer, cybersecurity: $96,900
- Full-stack developer: $92,000
- iOS engineer: $167,500
- Machine-learning engineer: $142,500 (average)
Director and managerial roles:
- Director, software engineering: $208,534 (average)
- Senior manager, software engineer: $100,000 to $213,116 (average)
- Senior manager, data engineering: $165,000
- Senior manager, data scientist: $131,227


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Latest Kanye West News: Updates on New Album, Tours and Collaborations
Kanye West has been making headlines recently with his much-awaited new album release, as well as upcoming tours and exciting collaborations with fellow artists. The hip hop mogul has been teasing fans with snippets of his latest work, with rumors circulating that it will be dropping soon. In addition to music, West has also been making waves in the fashion industry with his Yeezy brand, which has become a household name for many fashion-forward individuals. Despite some controversies in the past, the rapper-turned-designer continues to dominate headlines and remain a major force in the entertainment industry.


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Updated: Feb 2, 2022
During a late 2021 interview about the release of his new book "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster" with MIT Technology Review, the notorious philanthropist Bill Gates said that "all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef." In simple terms, Gates is saying to the people of western world, that they can’t eat red meat any more.
What kind of nonsense is this self-proclaimed medical doctor and climate scientist joker talking about? He is erroneously claiming that livestock production is as heavily disparaging to the climate as any other cause of greenhouse-gas emissions.
Let's debunk Bill Gates' livestock production caused climate change claim, shall we?
First things first. According to EPA, the largest source of greenhouse-gas emissions from human activities in the US in 2019 was from burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation.
Greenhouse-Gas (CO2) Emissions From Agriculture
Only 10 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions came from agriculture – this number is the combined amount from livestock production, agricultural soils, and rice production.
Let's break down the Agriculture economic sector in terms of greenhouse-gas emissions:
Agricultural soils (5 %):
According to EPA data, various agricultural soil management practices such as application of fertilizers, the growth of nitrogen-fixing crops, the drainage of organic soils, and irrigation accounts for half of the greenhouse gas emissions from the Agriculture economic sector.
Livestock production (2.5 %):
Livestock such as cattle, produce methane (CH4) as part of their normal digestive processes. According to EPA data, this process represents a quarter of the emissions from the Agriculture economic sector.
Concluding Facts on Greenhouse-Gas Emissions From Agriculture
In 2019, livestock production accounted to a mere 2.5 % of the total CO2 production in the USA. While livestock production is evidently one of the contributors to over all greenhouse-gas emissions in the country, with only 2.5 %, livestock's contribution is definitely negligible compared to energy production, transportation and industrial and commercial activity (over 85 %).
During the last three decades, the greenhouse-gas emissions from agricultural activity remained the same.
Furthermore, after decades of relentless anti-meat campaigns in the US, beef consumption per capita has fallen substantially.
So, why is Bill Gates is so much interested in eliminating livestock production and consequently, real meat consumption?
Gates claims that plant-based fake meats have lower carbon footprint than that of beef, pork, chicken and other poultry.
This unproven claim serves purely self interest, as he is heavily invested in the companies Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods which are both producing plant-based fake meat alternatives.
Gates also claims that he carbon footprint of energy intensive cell-cultured meat (also referred to as cultivated, lab-grown, or cell-based meat) is also lower carbon footprint than that of beef, pork, chicken and other poultry.
Correctness of this claim is far from proven either. Gates is also heavily invested in Uprise Foods which is producing lab-cultivated cell-based meat.
We will look into cell-cultured meat (also referred to as cultivated, lab-grown, or cell-based meat) in depth in another blog post.
Our Answer to the Self Serving Claims of Bill Gates
There are simply no plant- or cell-based substitutes that taste, look, and feel similar to whole meat cuts which make up a large share of meat consumption.
No sir. We won't put down our forks at once because you are making such unfounded, sheer stupid claims which are only self serving. Go ahead and stuff yourself with your junk. And also, go ahead and shove your book somewhere fitting.


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Banker Trojans evolving into more dangerous forms
Banker Trojans designed to steal financial information are evolving rapidly. One recent example, the StealAll.A Trojan, injects a DLL in the Internet browser to steal data users enter in online forms.
According to PandaLabs, 53.6 percent of the new malware samples that appeared in 2006 were Trojans. And 20 percent of all Trojans detected by Panda ActiveScan in 2006 were banker Trojans. This was in fact the most frequently detected category of Trojan.
The rapid evolution of banker Trojans is largely due to the use of additional security measures by financial institutions, such as the virtual keyboards now used to prevent traditional keyloggers recording users’ keystrokes.
Cyber-crooks however have gone to great lengths to counter such security measures. Just a few months ago, PandaLabs detected Banbra.DCY, a banker Trojan designed to take video shots in order to see exactly which characters users enter on the virtual keyboard.
Another common technique uses Trojans designed for pharming. This involves tampering with the DNS (domain name system) used to direct users to web pages, redirecting them to spoof banking or financial pages designed to capture the data entered. Banker.CHG is a typical example of Trojan designed for pharming.


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First Free Story (1 of 3)Join Skift Pro
Flight Centre, one of the world’s largest travel agencies at $14 billion plus annual revenues, does not want to be called a travel agent anymore. And who can blame it, with the media and consumer battering the agent business gets in face of migration to digital services.
For one, it is changing its name to Flight Centre Travel Group, to convey that it has moved way beyond just flights in the leisure sector (bad margins) and now gets about 30 percent of its overall revenues from corporate travel.
Secondly, it does not want to be called a travel agent anymore, and will kill for it. Sort of. In its latest annual results presentation for analysts day earlier this week, the Australia-based company said it has come up with a “killer theme”: its migration from travel agent to a travel retailer.
The main point: we don’t want to sell third party products, and just be the middle agent, we want to create our own branded products with exclusivity built into those, and become a retailer.
“Being a world class retailer means we are the brand or business people identify with and go to…It is very different from being an agent, a middle man, a dealer for someone else’s product,” the company said in its annual results.
In 2013, almost 20 years into the Internet era, these homilies should be hugely obvious to businesses disrupted by flight to digital, but better late than never. Competitors like Thomas Cook and TUI are going through their own painful transitions, with some variations of this strategy.
Flight Center says it has seven strategic ways it will go about turning itself into a retailer, and those involve product-led thinking, moving from travel agents to experts and gurus, blending offline and online for consumers, reinventing its retail outlets into “hyperstores”, and building a sales and marketing machine behind it all.
Below, we’ve excerpted the relevant parts of the annual presentation, on Flight Center’s journey from agent to a retailer:


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The last Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fighter has officially been announced and it's not someone who has been closely linked to the game in the past.
As promised during the September 2021 Nintendo Direct showcase, Mr. Sakurai presented the game's final character during a live stream event. Much to everyone's surprise, Mr. Sakurai announced that Kingdom Hearts' protagonist, Sora, is joining the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster as the game's latest and last playable character.
Sora rounds out the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster
After Nintendo revealed the penultimate Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fighter a few months back, fans have been speculating as to who the game's 82nd fighter was going to be. An earlier leak even suggested that the final character would be a trio made up of a Legend of Zelda character, someone from a non-action Capcom game, and Waluigi. Some fans even believed that it was going to be Master Chief.
With that said, Sora now joins a character roster from some of the most celebrated franchises in all of gaming. Nintendo has done a mighty fine job looking for fighters from non-Nintendo games. This includes the internet-breaking introduction of Sephiroth. Coincidentally, it was also right around this time last year that Nintendo confirmed that the one-winged angel was coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Now that Masahiro Sakurai has confirmed Sora as the last fighter added to the game, it appears that all of these speculations and rumors can finally go to rest.
If it's any consolation, it's not like Sora was a bad choice; the Keyblade wielder is quite appropriate if not ideal. Earlier this year, Square Enix struck a deal with Epic Games to bring the Kingdom Hearts franchise to the PC via the Epic Games Store. Now, just before the year ends, Square Enix just lent Nintendo one of its most popular characters, where he'll join Sephiroth and Cloud in the roster.
The only thing that was probably missing from the announcement was a Kingdom Hearts IV tease, which remains unconfirmed despite many considering 2019's Kingdom Hearts III as the best game in the franchise.


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GTA Online Stimulus Package deposits begin today
Rockstar has announced that they will begin depositing the GTA Online Stimulus Package into players' virtual accounts from today.
Anyone who has played GTA Online during the month of October will receive the 500,000 GTA$ bonus from Rockstar as a thank you for persevering with the game despite its launch bugs.
Rockstar's PR department added, “Thanks go out to everyone for their continued patience and understanding while we worked through these issues, and we can’t wait to bring more into the world of GTA Online. On that note, stay tuned for more details on the Beach Bum update soon along with upcoming Social Club event announcements and more here at the Newswire.”
- Visuals are key to the PS4's success according to Nielsen's latest survey
- Sledgehammer considering revisiting classic multiplayer maps for Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare
- New ToeJam & Earl game comes to Kickstarter
- Free login campaign announced as Final Fantasy XIV tops 4 million registered users
- Fable Legends will be free-to-play on both PC and Xbox One
- Bastion will hit the PS4 in April
- Sierra bringing Velocity 2X to Xbox One and PC
- This month is a triple-A bonanza for Xbox gamers on Games With Gold
- New House Of Wolves leak shows a Reef social hub for Destiny


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Apple Arrives in RTP: What does this mean for the local economy and NC State?
Apple has announced their intent to break ground on a hub in Research Triangle Park (RTP), bringing $1 billion and over 3,000 jobs to North Carolina. The arrival of the tech giant promises six-figure salaries to those in IT-related fields and prospective job opportunities for NC State graduates.
Steve Allen, associate dean and professor of economics, breaks down the potential impact Apple’s arrival in RTP will have on the local economy, the booming real estate market and our current Poole College of Management students.
Q&A with Steve Allen
What does it mean for the local economy? What are your predictions on how it will impact an ordinary citizen of Wake County and nearby counties?
Apple’s decision to open a new hub in RTP is the biggest and best economic news this area has had in years. Three reasons why: First, this is Apple – a global brand that continues to generate new growth opportunities in technology applications while maintaining a strong core business in computers, tablets and phones. Second, it means 3,000 new jobs paying six-figure salaries, a huge economic boost for housing and services. Third, Apple is arriving just when it seemed that there would be a surplus of real estate in RTP and questions about the long-term viability of technology office parks.
How does the announcement impact the local real estate market?
I imagine that many of the new employees will be relocating from Apple headquarters in Cupertino, CA. The local market already is a seller’s market and this will make it more so.
Of course, Apple also will make many local hires which could end up starting a talent war with IBM, Cisco Systems and other tech companies in the area. A lot of software engineers could be looking at bigger houses!
What opportunities does it bring to NC State and Poole College? Is there a piece of advice you can give to current and prospective students?
I expect Apple to become more involved with NC State on multiple dimensions. Although Apple is a global company, it is hard to imagine they will treat NC State the same as Penn State going forward. Our graduate and undergraduate students in IT-related disciplines will be in greater demand.
Apple will want to train and develop its 3,000 employees and NC State would do well to develop a strategic partnership with Apple focusing on graduate programs in engineering and management. There will be research opportunities for faculty and, frankly, the university runs the risk of losing some top researchers to Apple.
My advice to students is to bring your A-game as Apple is a very selective employer and well known for a rigorous selection process.


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SRINAGAR - The administration in Srinagar is engaging consultants to formulate a plan for smart management of street vendors in the Srinagar city.
The plan involves relocation and re-arrangement of street vendors based on a comprehensive management plan to regulate their manner of operation aimed at reducing the ill-effects of indiscriminate occupation of public spaces and to improve the conditions of street vendors.
It includes smart solutions to the problem of unregulated vending bringing the registered street vendors under the ambit of an organised sector involved in business giving them a space and opportunities where their trade and conditions can flourish.
This involves validation of their operation through smart registration — after proper verification based on the data collected anew about genuine vendors involved in street vending business — and promotion of their markets and trades through different means and measures.
This is being done in association with the Srinagar Smart City Limited or SSCL which is engaging with stakeholders and involving experts to formulate a well-thought-out and workable plan which has a clear understanding of issues involved and aims to find smart and sustainable solutions to them.
The SSCL as part of these efforts Saturday organised an impressive all-stakeholders workshop wherein extensive discussions were held on the subject highlighting problems unregulated street vending presents and concerns of street vendors and emphasising the need for serious measures to tackle this issue in a manner that is sustainable.
The participants in the workshop included local entrepreneurs and students and heads of and senior officers from concerned departments. NGOs and SHGs were also among the participants holding discussions on the subject.
Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary who is also the CEO SSCL gave a detailed presentation on what the Srinagar administration in association with the SSCL is looking to do in the area of street vendor management giving a detailed brief about the means and measures being planned to tackle the problem associated with unregulated vending and securing the livelihood and improving the conditions of street vendors.
Speaking on the occasion he said the plan includes coverage of registered street vendors in the Srinagar city under various social security schemes including pension and insurance. He said the registered street vendors will be given smart cards that will enable easier identification thereof adding the aim is to prevent existence of bogus vendors and proliferation thereof.
It was informed that the Srinagar city will be divided into three zones including one where no street vending will be allowed and restricted and restrictions-free zones where street vending markets will be established and registered street vendors allowed to operate as per terms thereof.
Several local entrepreneurs and start-ups present on the occasion gave power-point presentations proposing solutions to the problem of unregulated street vending and offered to be part of the administration's efforts aimed at smart street vendor management in Srinagar.
Heads of concerned departments including VC SDA, Chief Town Planner Srinagar, SSP Traffic, RTO Kashmir, Joint Commissioner SMC who were also present all spoke on the occasion sharing their ideas about the issue of unregulated street vending and the kinds of solutions required to deal with it.
Most speakers stressed that street vendors are an integral part of urban economies around the world adding vibrancy to urban life and considered a historical and cultural heritage and called for immediate and serious efforts at providing them opportunities that can uplift their conditions.
Dr Shahid while making concluding remarks said the plan includes training for street vendors on how to manage and expand their business.
Chief Planning Officer Srinagar was also present on the occasion.
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The London market sunk deeper into the red today after further falls in commodity prices hit traders' confidence.
Mining and banking stocks pulled the FTSE 100 Index into the red today despite strong gains for microchip designer ARM and Marks & Spencer.
The London market soared more than 4% today as better than expected sales figures from retail giant Marks & Spencer helped lift spirits.
Weaker property and pharmaceutical stocks ensured the London market finished an uncertain session in negative territory today.
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Exactly two weeks before the commencement of Malta’s long-awaited beverage container refund system (BCRS), administered by BCRS Malta Ltd, the company “continues to work closely with the national regulator…to be in a position to roll out its Beverage Container Refund Scheme”.
This statement comes just two weeks away from the launch date of 1st April, stated on the company’s own website, however retailers and businesses that are a key part of the scheme have told BusinessNow.mt that they are in the dark as to how it will work in practice.
In response, this newsroom reached out to BCRS Malta Ltd for an official update, where it revealed that a total of 331 Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs), used by consumers and possibly retailers to return used beverage containers, have been purchased via a €17 million private investment, but failed to clearly state how many are actually present in Malta at the moment.
Initially set to launch at the end of 2020, the scheme was then delayed to 2021, with Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia citing “certain administrative ECO Contributions issues relating to tax and delayed payments”.
A number of factors are likely to have played a part in the further delay, including the impact of the COVID pandemic on supply chains.
Firstly, how will it work?
The beverage recycling scheme intends to address waste management failures by adding 10c to the cost of beverages covered by the scheme, with consumers able to recoup the charge by depositing empty containers at the aforementioned RVMs or a ‘designated redemption location’ – which can also be a retailer.
Should consumers seek to get their deposit back at the retailer, it can only be reclaimed against a purchase at said retailer, with the deposit value deducted from the consumer’s bill, according to the BCRS Malta Ltd website.
This deposit will initially be paid by beverage importers and suppliers to BCRS Malta Ltd, and will then be passed on down the supply chain, with each step paying 10¢ to its predecessor, from the importer through to the distributor, to the retailer, be it a shop or hospitality venue, to the final customer.
Several small-to-medium sized bars and retail outlets selling beverages that spoke to BusinessNow.mt on condition of anonymity say they have received minimal communication about how the scheme will work in practice – particularly whether they are expected to return containers to BCRS Malta Ltd, or whether they too will need to deposit individual beverage containers in the RVMs the same way a consumer would.
Another operator shared his frustration about how his establishment could possibly be expected to comply with the major demands to return potentially thousands of beverage containers, with no collection system yet available.
Should retailers need to make use of the vending machines, the BCRS Malta website states that “closer” to the 1st April 2022 launch date, it will host an interactive map showing all locations around Malta. However, a look through its website shows that this map is not yet functional.
BCRS Malta has refuted complaints over a lack of communication in its response to a request for comment by this newsroom, saying:
“BCRS Malta Ltd, in conjunction with the regulator Circular Economy Malta, have been communicating to the business community for the last six months through a variety of communication channels both traditional as well as online. The company is currently assisting its many stakeholders from the Producers, Importers, Distributors, Retail and HoReCa sectors in their respective onboarding process.”
The company was incorporated by the Malta Beverage Producers Association, the Malta Beverage Importers Association and the Malta Beverage Retailers Association with the obligation, amongst others, to assume the collective extended producer responsibility on behalf of producers, importers and retailers of single-use beverage containers, and take the necessary measures to achieve beverage container collection targets in terms of the Beverage Containers Recycling Regulations 2020.
The private operator has as its directors Malta’s largest beverage companies, from Farsons to Marsovin, and General Soft Drinks, among others.
Asked how many of these RVMs are currently in the country, and how many are in place, BCRS Malta made no mention of how many are available for use today.
Regarding where they would be placed, the company informed BusinessNow.mt: “RVMs will be placed in Retail Outlets and Public Kiosks as determined by a scientific market mapping study identifying the retail outlets and localities with the highest throughput of beverage containers.”
Separately, concerns have been raised about the requirement for small importers and producers to provide BCRS Malta Ltd with potentially commercially sensitive information, including the quantity of each product container placed on the market.
On this topic, BCRS Malta Ltd stated: “Data is protected with the deployment of latest IT technology available on the market both in terms of data protection, access rights and cyber security.
“This is supplemented by confidentiality policies and Chinese walls ensuring that access to sensitive data is highly restricted within the company, with systems programmed to output and report data in aggregate form only.”
The IT system used, was provided by “an international service provider who has already successfully implemented similar DRS systems in Europe. BCRS Malta Ltd takes the privacy of data extremely seriously.”
“The intrinsic typology (material, weight, and shape) and barcode of each seperate beverage container in scope of the Scheme on the Maltese market needs to be registered with BCRS Malta Ltd. so that it forms part of the Scheme’s national product library/database. This is mandated by the Regulations (LN 311/2020). BCRS Malta has developed and will maintain such database and its underlying infrastructure in a secure, reliable, and efficient manner.
“The product registration database, furthermore, provides the backbone to the nationwide Reverse Vending Machine infrastructure, which shall only accept returns of beverage containers which barcodes and typology are in the product registration library. Through such an infrastructural layout, powered through internet of things technology, the system ensures that deposit refunds to consumers are only conducted on beverage containers registered in the database. Thus, each product barcode and typology needs to be registered separately in the database to enable consumers to claim the refund on each separate and unique product/barcode and as anti-fraud measure.”
Craft importers and producers have also been at loggerheads with BCRS Malta Ltd for months but have made some progress on particular topics.
For example, after a number of craft importers and producers sounded the alarm on a €100 registration fee for each product brought onto the market, stating that it would threaten the survival of their businesses, BCRS Malta Ltd proposed a compromise by which they would waive the fee.
The proposal means that participants would pay only a variable administration fee, depending on the number of containers placed on the market, thereby avoiding the disproportionate impact on craft producers and importers, but also requires the Government to grant the operator a number of concessions.
These concessions included disposing of its annual licence fee of €230,000 for its first year in operation.
It also asked that the Government would also assist and contribute on an ongoing bases towards its information and education campaigns to ensure the successful launch and continued functioning of the scheme.
Finally, it asked for a Government financial contribution onto the capital expenditure that it is currently embarking upon, which exceeds €17 million spent on its clearing centre, 350 RVMs, along with front-end and back-end IT systems.
BusinessNow.mt has been informed that in the wake of this dispute and the other aforementioned ones around container registration, many importers and distributors have not yet registered their products for the system.
BCRS Malta Ltd has invited BusinessNow.mt for an interview with its CEO to discuss the scheme in more detail.
Environmental impact of banknotes equal to ‘negligible’ 0.01% of average European citizen’s total
It has now launched a website and is also taking bookings through the digital platform
The past few years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of online casinos


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August is almost upon us, and so far this summer has been incredibly dry after the ‘Beast from the east’ delivered snow and icy blasts in February and March.
While sun worshippers are making the most of the prolonged heatwave, it’s not such good news for boaters, especially those using the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, with plans by the Canal & River Trust to close part of the waterway if the drought continues.
But the sunny weather has encouraged people to enjoy the various events and festivals staged across the country, including Braunston Historic Boat Rally and Lymm Historic Transport Day.
Find out what else is new in the world of the waterways by picking up the latest copy of Towpath Talk from your nearest chandlery. You can also subscribe and have it delivered to your door, or you can keep up to date with the latest news from your favourite waterways publication on smartphone and tablet as the latest issue is available via a FREE app now! The links for each mobile device are as follows:
Flick through the latest issue of Towpath Talk below
Click here to open in a new window


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Two days before announcing its Internet strategy at the Internet World conference in New York, Microsoft (MSFT) has released its Internet Information Server 3.0 as a free download for Windows NT 4.0 users.
The IIS 3.0 Web server is part of the company's Active Server strategy that will put a spate of server-side tools, including the proprietary ActiveX component technology such as Microsoft Transaction Server, also announced today, at the disposal of Web site builders. IIS 3.0 will include Index Server 1.1 for online searches, NetShow for multimedia streaming over IP networks, FrontPage 97, and a Java Virtual Machine.
Microsoft is expected to lay out further how IIS and Active Server fit into its overall product strategy at an Internet World press conference on Thursday.
The Redmondians have tightly integrated IIS 3.0 with the NT operating system, which has brought complaints of anticompetitive practices from Netscape Communications. Netscape's Enterprise and FastTrack Web servers are Microsoft's main targets.
Microsoft has lined up some third-party support for the new IIS iteration and its Active Platform strategy, but so far no industry heavyweights have stood up, perhaps due to Microsoft's release of an alpha version of the next-generation IIS, code-named K2, to developers last month. A company official at the time acknowledged the risk of losing momentum for 3.0 by prepping developers for the future version.
Wall Data (WALL) will support IIS 3.0 with its Arpeggio Live Information Publishing Server software that publishes IBM mainframe, AS/400, or ODBC-compliant data or applications to the Internet or company intranet.
The NetShow streaming capability built into IIS 3.0 also received support from various software makers including Macromedia, Vxtreme, and Vivo Software, all of which will build NetShow compatibility into upcoming versions of their multimedia streaming products.


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For a reported $2 billion deal, Oculus VR and their Oculus Rift project have been bought out by the American social network service.
In a post on Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg personally confirmed the acquisition, claiming their mission is “to make the world more open and connected.”
The move comes as one of many for Facebook, as they recently acquired both Instagram and WhatsApp for a total of around $20 billion. Many pessimistic commentators have already declared the death of the Oculus Rift as a step-forward for gaming, although Zuckerberg says in his confirmation that “immersive gaming will be first.” He goes on to add:
“The Rift is highly anticipated by the gaming community, and there’s a lot of interest from developers in building for this platform. We’re going to focus on helping Oculus build out their product and develop partnerships to support more games. Oculus will continue operating independently within Facebook to achieve this.”
This hasn’t stopped developers from jumping ship, however. Markus ‘Notch’ Persson tweeted immediately after the news broke claiming that any deal to bring his game Minecraft to the Rift was off, calling Facebook “creepy.” He went on in a blog post to describe Facebook as:
“not a company of grass-roots tech enthusiasts. Facebook is not a game tech company. Facebook has a history of caring about building user numbers, and nothing but building user numbers. People have made games for Facebook platforms before, and while it worked great for a while, they were stuck in a very unfortunate position when Facebook eventually changed the platform to better fit the social experience they were trying to build.
Don’t get me wrong, VR is not bad for social. In fact, I think social could become one of the biggest applications of VR. Being able to sit in a virtual living room and see your friend’s avatar? Business meetings? Virtual cinemas where you feel like you’re actually watching the movie with your friend who is seven time zones away?
But I don’t want to work with social, I want to work with games.“
Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus, went to Reddit to attempt to cool the hatred being thrown Oculus’ way after the news. Sounding awfully like PR speech, Luckey told Reddit that:
“Facebook is run in an open way that’s aligned with Oculus’ culture. Over the last decade, Mark and Facebook have been champions of open software and hardware, pushing the envelope of innovation for the entire tech industry. As Facebook has grown, they’ve continued to invest in efforts like with the Open Compute Project, their initiative that aims to drive innovation and reduce the cost of computing infrastructure across the industry. This is a team that’s used to making bold bets on the future.”
Despite being decimated by downvotes following his announcement, Luckey went on to assure fans that a Facebook account isn’t and will never be necessary to use the Rift. In the same comment he called a user’s distaste about Facebook branding on the product “not really reasonable in a literal sense.”
Regarding questions about Facebook’s purported information leaks and the prospect of it being applied to the Rift, Luckey again denied this would happen. Again, though, Luckey’s responses appeared to be nothing more than damage control throughout his Q&A with users, many informing him that their pre-orders for the latest DK2 version of the Rift had been cancelled.
Luckey also claimed numerous times that there was exciting news that proved the positives about the Facebook acquisition, just that they aren’t “public” yet. Keep on the lookout on Enter_Name_Here for more news about this one when it breaks.


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The travel industry estimated holiday sickness claims had increased by 500% since 2013 – a rise not seen in other countries.
They warned that heavy pay-outs could lead to British tourists paying higher package holiday prices and being barred from some resorts. The government said it would reduce the cash incentives of bringing such cases against holiday firms.
Justice Secretary David Lidington said it wanted to limit the legal costs that travel firms had to pay out for holiday claims. “Our message to those who make false holiday sickness claims is clear – your actions are damaging and will not be tolerated,” Mr Lidington said. The government is closing a loophole that means legal costs are not currently capped on claims for foreign holidays. Travel trade organisation ABTA has called for the cap, saying last month the rise in bogus claims was “one of the biggest issues that has hit the travel industry for many years”.
The problem recently led Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to observe British digestive systems “had become the most delicate in the world”. When Boris is making jokes that are almost funny then you know things have got serious. The escalating problem of claims, according to one UK travel company boss, risked making British tourists the laughing stock of Europe because thousands of French, German, Danish etc. holidaymakers staying in the same hotels and dining in the same restaurants as British tourists, didn’t get as sick and as often as UK visitors. We are world-beaters again.
The dilemma for hotels and restaurants is of course that the cost of challenging these claims in the courts is so high yet the sums involved are relatively modest. So most hotels and their insurance firms have simply paid out. That ends up with higher premiums for everyone else.
UK holidaymakers who are found guilty of making a fraudulent claim face up to three years in jail, the Ministry of Justice said. We all know too well that the threat of prosecution isn’t the best deterrent not least because of the historical lack of appetite by insurers to escalate fraud cases.
Thomas Cook UK’s managing director Chris Mottershead said: “It has the potential of putting hoteliers out of business. They will stop British customers coming into their hotels” and he warned that if the problem continued, it could spell the end of the all-inclusive holiday for UK travellers. So every cloud has a silver lining?


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Taco Bell rings Big Ben’s bells
By Staff on Tuesday, November 20, 2018
London has become a city without a bell due to Big Ben’s construction, but thanks to Taco Bell, that’s no longer the case.
Yesterday, Taco Bell chimed in with a sound that London has been missing for over a year: Big Ben’s bells and chimes.
Taco Bell seized the opportunity to surprise Londoners with a sound of their own: its signature bell digitised to recreate the Westminster chimes.
The brand worked with an audio engineer to compose the chimes out of Taco Bell’s iconic bell.
The chimes were blasted through parametric speakers mounted on bikes in the surrounding area – just days before Taco Bell’s first London restaurant opening.
h/t The Drum


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Everybody knows about the everlasting console war between Microsoft and Sony. The two tech giants are going head to head on the market every day and both of them are doing their best to improve their own gaming consoles. Recently, while Sony has been launching different edition of PlayStation 4 Microsoft has been making up for that with major software updates. It’s safe to say that one of Xbox One’s biggest advantages is that it’s supported by Windows 10 and this gives Xbox One users access to all Windows 10 Creators Updates.
Regarding Microsoft software updates, Mike Ybarra who is the Director of Program Management for Xbox announced some big news over Twitter. The official stated that the upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update will remove the highly Snap Mode feature. This raised a bunch of concerns among the Xbox One community because this mode is highly popular because it gives Xbox One users the ability to multi task at without any issues.
To respond to all concerns, Mike Ybarra came back to Twitter once again and announced that the reason Microsoft is removing Snap Mode is because this will improve the console’s overall speed while also freeing up space for “bigger things”. We can’t know for sure that Mike Ybarra meant by “bigger things” but everyone in the gaming community is speculating that Microsoft is actually working on developing a new picture in picture mode. If this proves to be true it will increase Xbox One’s multi tasking functionalities by a large margin.
Additionally, because Snap Mode will be removed, Xbox One users will be able to see a major improvement in the console’s overall performance. The biggest performance enhancement will be noticed in the Xbox One dashboard. Also worth mentioning is that Microsoft has yet to unveil all the upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update changes and we can expect additional features to be added which will make up for the removal of Snap Mode.
Nonetheless, we can be sure that even though the removal of Snap Mode riled up Xbox One fans Microsoft will supply them with another great feature. Especially since the competition between Microsoft and Sony is at an all time high and Sony is the one on top right now with its PS4 Pro and PS4 VR.


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With the appointment, Lupin is looking to expand initiatives in digitization, process automation, data management and analytics.
In conversation with ETCIO, Gokhle throws light on how automation and digital transformation is helping it chase the desired targets in sales and revenue.
There is a growing need for a robust and secure supply chain management to conduct clinical trials in the country.
Sai Krishna stated that cyber attack can have a huge impact on pharma companies with zero or no cybersecurity, especially on small and medium-size units.
The partnership will include the availability of HCL’s Faster Intelligent Trials (FIT) Solution using Oracle Health Sciences Mobile Health (mHealth) Connector Cloud Service (Oracle mHealth Cloud).
AI will be a game changer for pharma sector: Amitabh Mishra, President and Global CTO, Emcure Pharmaceuticals
In an exclusive with ETCIO, Amitabh Mishra, President and Global CTO at Emcure Pharmaceuticals reveals that by incorporating AI into the processing of financial transactions, intelligent decision-making could be enabled, while reducing errors by 90%
IT companies and financial institutions are top buyers of cyber insurance, with the premium paid for such covers vary from Rs 4.5 lakh to Rs 80 crore a year
Apart from transforming Governance, Blockchain a provides a potent tool in the hands of governing officials to transform service delivery and increase trust with its constituents.
The boards of both companies are believed to have given their in-principle approval for the all-stock transaction to go through, according to sources.
Responsible for enabling business transformation through implementation of digital solutions Mishra will be orchestrating multiple business technology new initiatives in the new role.
Tech, ecomm, digital, fintech, consumer, IT and manufacturing are among the sectors leading the charge, offering enticing hikes of 30-40% for in-demand talent.
"Every product initiative, every business we get into, or people decisions that we take, we make sure it is stable in three to four years."
It has alleged that Flipkart “contradicts” India’s guidelines that mandate e-commerce cos must seek prior permission from direct-selling companies to list products online
While bosses’ salaries have jumped, some skillsets are attracting huge premiums.
It is still unclear whether the government would use this data to dig out tax evasions of the earlier years or whether this will only be for prospective tax scrutiny.
A major challenge facing the pharmaceutical industry today is the traceability and security of its supply chain, from raw material to manufacturing and on to the consumer. Blockchain may be the prescription to these problems
Beware of software companies cloud-washing their existing solutions: Adam Selipsky, Vice President, Amazon Web Services
"Our latest offering, Snowball is our addressal of that challenge. It is a convenient and a secure method of data migration."


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According to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) new car registrations grew by 1.7% in November.
This ends a four month consecutive decline with a total of 115,706 new cars registered.
What looks like a positive performance belies the underlying weakness of the market. Demand is there, with a slew of new, increasingly electrified, models launched but the global shortage of semiconductors continues to bedevil production and therefore new car registrations. The industry is working flat out to overcome these issues and fulfil orders, but disruption is likely to last into next year, compounding the need for customers to place orders early. The continued acceleration of electrified vehicle registrations is good for the industry, the consumer and the environment but, with the pace of public charging infrastructure struggling to keep up, we need swift action and binding public charger targets so that everyone can be part of the electric vehicle revolution, irrespective of where they live.”Said Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive.
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
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Zendaya Had the Best Response to People Body-Shaming Her ‘Big' Feet
10 days ago - By StyleCaster
No matter how recent their last pedicure was, celebrity feet never seem good enough for the internet. In the past few months, we've seen stars-from Kendall Jenner to Kim Kardashian -being criticized for their toes, nails, and general feet area. Now, the feet-shaming community has moved on to another star: Zendaya. But don't worry, Z isn't letting her feet-shamers have the last word.
On Wednesday, the 21-year-old actress took to her Twitter to share three pictures of her and her dog, Noon, hanging out in a pool. The photos were meant to celebrate Noon overcoming his fear of water, but for...
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What Does it Mean to “Yassify” Something?
Heavily altered photos of celebs and historical figures looking snatched are everywhere. Why is everyone so obsessed with them?
Yassification memes have swiftly taken over social feeds thanks to the popular Twitter account @YassifyBot, and you might be wondering why these heavily altered photos of celebrities and historical figures are swirling around. But if you have no idea what we’re talking about, a quick explainer:
To “yassify” something is to apply an extreme amount of filters and edits to an image using popular photo editing apps like Facetune or FaceApp, dramatically changing the subject’s appearance. The photos share similar qualities, as you can gauge by our yassified Jesus above. His skin is comically airbrushed, eyebrows perfectly penciled, cheekbones and nose contoured to the gods, and his brown hair has undergone a balayage treatment.
@YassifyBot, which currently has around 156K followers on Twitter, has tweeted hundreds of images from the Quaker Oats Quaker Man to Patrick Bateman to Alan Rickman’s Severus Snape in Harry Potter, all with thick lashes, blinding highlight and voluptuous, glossy lips.
Despite its name, @YassifyBot isn’t actually a bot. The account is run by a 22-year-old college student in Omaha who makes art under the name Denver Adams, according to the New York Times, and.
While the account is new and can be credited with putting yassification on the map, the term, according to KnowYourMeme, has been around since August 2020. Defined as “an internet slang term that refers to the process of something becoming more LGBTQ+ adjacent,” the word first appeared on Twitter and has now made its way to Tumblr and TikTok. As the Times and KnowYourMeme explains, words like “yas,” “yaas” or “yaaaaaassssss” have been prevalent in LGBTQ vernacular and meme circles for more than a decade.
So why are people now obsessed with yassifying everything?
Adams told the Times the mere absurdity of the images is what people find amusing, and the more extreme they get, the funnier they are. The memes also share similarities to “bimbofication,” an internet subculture that reclaims the derogatory word “bimbo” and celebrates being vapid and hot, notes the Times.
These memes might also be a critique of modern-day beauty standards. The yassified images resemble features most of us are familiar with. I like to call this phenomenon “Instagram Face” or what’s better known as “The Kardashian Effect.” The famous family’s specific aesthetic has been copied so many times now that practically everyone looks the same.
“You’ve seen their aesthetic details replicated on innumerable faces around the world: the stenciled, arched brow; the baked-powder contour; the inner glow that comes from carefully charted concealer; the gradient of the neutral lip pencil, overdrawn just so, topped off with a sheer brown gloss,” wrote Allure regarding the Kardashians’ impact on beauty standards, noting that the family has also influenced trends in plastic surgery. Kim’s iconic Paper magazine cover and the subsequent obsession with her butt caused consumer interest in butt lifts to rise. In 2015, when Kylie Jenner (who was 17 at the time) admitted to getting lip augmentation, internet searches for “lip fillers” went up 3,233 percent, per Allure.
These unrealistic beauty standards that often are promoted through Instagram, though, might finally be facing a reckoning. Users across social platforms, and specifically TikTok, have been calling out how celebrities, influencers and even themselves alter their Instagram images. The edits, while noticeable compared side-by-side to the original photo, are often so imperceptible at first glance that most people can’t decipher between a real or altered photo, fueling body dysmorphia, among other things, specifically among young women.
Adams speculates the yassification memes might be so popular because they’re making light of this very serious issue.
“There is something unhealthy about the culture of unrealistic beauty standards becoming seemingly normal. You can’t tell what’s real through an Instagram photo,” they told Teen Vogue in an interview. “There is no way to tell if it’s real, and it’s hard to remember that when you’re constantly comparing yourself to others on your Explore page. Obviously, the technology is so smart now that anyone could fake anything.”
So perhaps a yassified photo of Timothée Chalamet is serving as a well-needed reminder that nearly everything on social media is a big Facetuned lie.
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Steam reached 8.5 million concurrent users on January 2, 2015. At about 11:10am on that day, Steam stats page reports that 8,500,345 concurrent users were logged in. The timezone is unclear but most likely it is PST seeing as Valve is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. The previous Steam record was 8 million from June 29, 2014. Previous to that Steam reported 7.5 million concurrent users in December of 2013. A large majority of those users appeared to be playing Dota 2, as current reports indicate that 879,132 player were playing it at its peak just today, with the second game, Counter-Strike Global Offensive, trailing by 500,000 players. Steam also generally releases active user stats, which are the amount of accounts that have signed in recently and actually play/own games. That number was 100 million back in September of 2014.
Steam also announced that they have added 1,300 games in 2014 through to September, up from the 304 titles the year previous. This does cause some dissolution of quality as the mass quantity of games being released obscures that which is actually worth someone’s time and money. This is not helped by the Steam Early Access option which allows indie developers to release games in an unfinished state. As well as Steam Greenlight where projects are submitted and if they get enough votes are Greenlit and released on the Store. To combat this trend, Steam released a curation tool which allows popular users, such as YouTube Let’s Players and Gaming Industry people to curate a list of recommended titles. It is a way to sort through the crap to get at the good stuff being released. It has been 16 months since Valve first announced the Steam Machine concept, which was pushed back to 2015 in May of last year. Hopefully we get more information on when they will be released to the public at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.


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Even though the official release is still four days away, more and more people are getting their hands on early copies of Gran Turismo 5.
One of them is Chris who’s kind enough to share the videos below with us. His videos show a race in the BMW M3 road car on the Nürburgring Grand Prix Circuit, the Subaru Impreza on snow and a complete lap at Le Mans in the Nissan Super GT car.
The fourth video shows a replay of the Nissan run as Chris explains the options offered by the replay and photo mode.
Gran Turismo 5 will be bringing 1000 cars and over 60 tracks to the Playstation 3, including new features such as damage, weather and day/night effects. GT5 will be one of the first six Playstation 3 games to be available in 3D. Gran Turismo 5 will be available in Europe and the US starting November 24.


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DMCC – the world’s flagship Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise – hosted large celebrations to mark the Chinese New Year at the Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) Park in Dubai (UAE).
On 24 January, the festivities kicked off with traditional Chinese lion and dragon dances, roaming entertainment, face painting and traditional drum shows which showcase the rich history and culture from mainland China. The event welcomed more than 500 members of the growing JLT, and Dubai-based Chinese community.
Supporting Chinese companies to establish a foothold in the UAE market, DMCC launched last week, with the attendance of Mr. Wu YI, Economic & Commercial Counselor, Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Dubai, a specialised Chinese service centre in Almas Tower, JLT. The Centre aims to provide a unique customer experience and facilitate the process for Chinese companies looking to set up their businesses in UAE.
“China is UAE’s leading trade partner and DMCC has successfully created a valuable gateway to Asia as we continue to see a surge of interest from Chinese companies choosing to set up their business in Dubai. We are delighted to celebrate this occasion alongside our burgeoning Chinese community and we extend our warmest wishes to all employees, residents and visitors on the Chinese New Year of the Rat,” said Ahmad Hamza, Executive Director - Free Zone, DMCC.
“Looking ahead, DMCC will continue to play its role in growing the UAE-based Chinese business community and boosting cooperation between the two countries – strengthening Dubai’s position as a leading global trade hub,” he added.
The event underscores DMCC’s continuous positive contributions to facilitating the growth of UAE’s Chinese community and strengthening the UAE-China relationship through trade over the years. Today, DMCC is home to over 1,300 Chinese residents and 449 Chinese companies, equating to nearly 10% of all Chinese businesses registered in the UAE.
China remains one of the UAE’s largest trading partners, with trade between the two countries expected to reach up to AED 257 billion this year. China has also confirmed its participation in Expo 2020 investing over AED 367 million in its pavilion.