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Kings Support NHL's Suspension Of Voynov NBA Owners Vote Down Lottery Reform Efforts Rice Files Formal Grievance Against Ravens T.I. Agrees To Help Hawks Move On NBA Aligns With Anta In China Franchise Notes Warriors Embrace Heritage, Former Players NBA Franchise Notes Adidas To Open Blazers Shop At Moda Center Sources: Islanders Sale Price Was $485M
Upcoming Conferences and Events
NBA Ticket Sales Notes
Published May 19, 2005
HEAT: In Miami, Barry Jackson reported that “fewer than 500 tickets for each [home Heat] playoff game have gone on sale to non-season-ticket holders.” Heat Exec VP & CMO Michael McCullough, who joined the team in ’97, said, “The tickets are selling faster than anytime since I have been here” (MIAMI HERALD, 5/18).
BLAZERS: SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL’s John Lombardo reports Trail Blazers officials “cite a plan launched this spring to offer discounts to longtime season-ticket holders as the main reason for a substantial jump in their offseason ticket renewal rate.” The officials said the plan has led to a renewal rate of about 85%, up from just 47% two years ago. NBA officials said that the Trail Blazers are the “only NBA franchise that offers this type of discount.” Trail Blazers VP/Ticket Sales & Services Todd Taylor: “In the past few years, the number of our season-ticket accounts fell from 4,500 to 3,000 by the start of the [’04-05] season” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/16 issue).


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How to sniff out a fraudster & beware buying goods online via instant EFT
Consumer journalist Wendy Knowler’s “Watch-outs of the Week”
In this weekly segment of bite-sized chunks of useful information, consumer journalist Wendy Knowler summarises news you can use:
Beware of buying goods online using Instant EFT
That was the warning issued by a trio of regulators — the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, the Payments Association of SA and the Reserve Bank — to consumers on Thursday, on the eve of #BlackFriday sales.
“Instant-EFT” is a payment method offered by a third-party, in partnership with e-commerce stores, which automates payment by consumers to those online stores and provides immediate confirmation of payment to them.
It’s done by a process called screen-scraping, which makes it possible for third parties to access a person’s bank account data and act on their behalf, using their banking access credentials.
“We do not support the use of screen-scraping to effect payments, given that ... screen-scraping puts consumers’ access credentials at risk of being compromised,” the three organisations said.
“Consumers have no control over how their credentials and any other data or personal information accessed by the third party — such as account numbers and account statements — may be stored and used.”
Also, fraudsters could pose as third parties offering “instant-EFT” services on fake e-commerce sites to capture consumers’ access credentials for their bank’s internet banking websites.
“From there they could impersonate the consumer on their banking platform, making real-time payments to themselves, applying for a personal loan, increasing transaction limits and ultimately initiating payments to mule accounts.”
That’s not all. If you make use of instant-EFT products you could be in breach of your bank’s terms and conditions, which regulate internet banking, by providing their internet banking login credentials to a third-party.
“As a result, consumers are, knowingly or unknowingly, giving up their rights of recourse and lack any legal protection in the event of fraud and subsequent loss suffered by such consumers.”
In short, instant EFTs may be quick and easy, but they are potentially very high risk.
Hold on to that receipt
You don’t have to be super organised to put your receipts into a special drawer, shoebox or file — just know where to find your proof of purchase when you need it, because if you can’t, it can cost you a lot.
You have a legal right to return defective products within six months of purchase, for your choice of a refund, replacement or repair — provided you can produce proof of purchase.
Many retailers will voluntarily take back non-defective goods for an exchange or credit, but in most cases they will insist on that all-important little piece of paper first.
Charmaine wanted to return an item of clothing to a major retailer recently, with the original tags still attached, but this was refused because she no longer had her receipt. So now she’s stuck with a too-small piece of clothing.
She didn’t try it on before buying, because she is wary of using a public changeroom in the midst of a pandemic. “And with Covid, I sanitise everything that comes into my home, including my till slips,” she told me, “so the receipt for that garment had turned grey”.
About that: The international scientific community believes that 90 to 95% of transmission of the coronavirus is person-to-person. While virus particles have been reported to survive for hours or days on surfaces, the chance of transmission through inanimate surfaces is very small.
At least take a photo of your receipt so you have proof of purchase when you need it.
What not to buy online: a puppy
Thea of KwaZulu-Natal wanted a puppy; and not just any puppy. She wanted a pug.
She found one for sale online two weeks ago, advertised by a woman who gave her name as Maria van Deh. Not her real name, of course, but nothing of what she — who was mostly likely a he — WhatsApped Thea about was real, starting with the little pug. “Maria” sent photos of the dog, having lifted them off the internet.
But for Thea and her family, the puppy was very real, and they paid R4,000 into Maria’s FNB account for her. The pup was to be flown to them by “delivery agent” Jet Park Logistics, the fraudster said.
Then, on the supposed day of delivery, Thea got the usual story: “This crate is not good enough; you need to hire a special crate for the puppy” — at a cost of R9,100, of which R9,000 would be refunded, she was told.
Like many before her, Thea paid up, because she was convinced the poor puppy would be stranded at the airport if she didn’t.
But when she was asked to pay another R15,000 — something to do with a breeder organisation — she realised she’d been scammed.
This scam has been running for years, and will no doubt continue for long as enough people want certain breeds of dog, and are willing to shop for them online, then buy them without seeing them or the breeding conditions.
Always be suspicious when engaging with an unknown entity selling goods online — assume it’s a scam unless and until your research reveals otherwise.
Never send your ID to a “puppy seller” — they will steal your identity in a heartbeat. In fact, many perpetrating the puppy scam do so using the identities of previous victims.
Here’s one of the many ways to sniff out a fraudster — ask them to do a video call so that you can see them and the “puppies” — or whatever they are selling, and all you’ll get are a whole lot of reasons why that can’t happen.

domain: news


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Jamie Lynn Spears's Look Inspires New Label
Clothing and accessories worn by Britney's kid sister on Zoey 101 will hit stores this fall
Going from TV to your local department store, clothing and accessories worn by Jamie Lynn Spears on the popular Nickelodeon series Zoey 101 are due to go on sale this fall as “a brand with its own fashion sense,” says a network spokesperson.
Spears, the 14-year-old sister of Britney Spears, plays the independent 13-year-old Zoey Brooks on the show, which is set in a co-ed Malibu boarding school.
Her look will be represented in the new Zoey 101 apparel line by coordinated and mix-and-match separates of fashion T-shirts, denim and skirts, as well as sleepwear, handbags, jewelry and watches, the New York Post reports. The May Department Stores Company will be the exclusive outlets.
Besides outfits worn by Spears on the show, the label will also embrace the styles of some of the other characters. An official launch of the line is due this week at the International Licensing Show, says the Post.


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Rs. 1,300 CR ADS AT IPL 2017
Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) has targeted an advertising revenue of Rs. 1,300 crore from the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL), which commences on April 5.
SPNI president Rohit Gupta told the press, "We are looking at a 10 to 12% revenue growth. We should touch Rs. 1,300 crore. IPL has become a very big property."
Vodafone, Amazon & Vivo have signed up as copresenting sponsors. Associate sponsors include Ceat Tyres, Yamaha Motors & Vimal Paan Masala. Polycab is also reportedly planning to join in.
The IPL will be held next fiscal, and the effects of demonetisation are easing off, so IPL 2017 revenues may not be hit, according to observers.
TV ad spend growth this year is likely to fall to 8% this year, compared to 10% last year, according to media agency GroupM's recent forecast report that TV broadcasting advertising expenditure will be Rs. 27,378 crore in 2017.In comparison, total advertising expenditure in India is expected to grow at 10% to touch Rs. 61,204 crore in 2017.
In terms of media mix, TV's share of total ad expenditure is likely to fall to 44.7% of total expenditure in 2017 from 45.5% in 2016.
AD GROWTH CHANNELS
GroupM CEO South Asia CVL Srinivas has opined that sports, FTA & HD channels will garner increased ad shares. "This year we expect sports to continue to do well. We expect HD to do well. We are seeing a lot of growth in HD although it's a very small base. We also expect some FTA channels to do well considering the reach and the value proposition that they deliver," according to Srinivas. n


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If you're waiting for Nintendo's first game for smartphones you're going to have to wait a bit longer. And if you're waiting for Mario to make the jump, you're going to have to wait a lot longer.
Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima unveiled "Miitomo," the company's first free-to-play title, on Thursday, though he confirmed whispers that the company will delay its entry into the mobile space from the end of 2015 until next spring to "further improve the application and to optimize the overall smart device business."
It's not a game by any traditional definition — more like a social networking app designed to get people playing more games with each other.
As such, the company isn't using well-known characters in its catalog such as Mario, Donkey Kong or Link, from "The Legend of Zelda." Instead, Nintendo — along with partner DeNA — opted to make the game a more personalized experience, letting players use the avatars like the ones they create on the Wii and Wii U.
"Miitomo" will use that character — called a Mii — to communicate with other players, which Kimishima said will "enable friends to share information comfortably and securely."
After creating a Mii in the app, players will answer a variety of questions — the answers of which will be communicated to the user's circle of friends within the app. Nintendo envisions these are "communication starters" which could lead to real world discussions.


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The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) of Vietnam dipped to 54.1 in April, a slight decline from March’s 22-month high of 54.6, reported Nikkei on May 3.
The number of new orders has increased continuously since December 2015, with the growth in workload leading manufacturers to increase production in April
A significant increase of new orders, especially from abroad, helped improve output, employment and purchasing activities in Vietnam’s manufacturing sector during April.
Meanwhile, there were signs of downward inflationary pressures, with input costs and output prices increasing at the slowest paces in six months.
The growth rate of new export orders has also quickened for three successive months.
The survey said that the expansion in both new business and new export orders was due to rising demand from customers.
The number of new orders has increased continuously since December 2015, with the growth in workload leading manufacturers to increase production in April.
The rise in production allowed firms to complete outstanding business despite the rise in new orders, with work backlogs falling for the first time since the end of 2016. Stocks of finished goods also decreased.
Employment also increased for the 13th successive month as firms responded to new order growth. The rate of job creation was slower, but remained solid.
The rise in new jobs continued to impact the purchasing activity of Vietnam’s manufacturers. The swift expansion contributed to a 10th successive monthly rise in stocks of purchases. Inventories in anticipation of further new order growth were increased as well.
Higher demand for inputs encouraged suppliers to increase their prices during April, leading to another monthly rise in input costs. Prices of some goods from China also rose. However, the rate of cost inflation eased to the weakest point since last October. Output prices also rose at the slowest pace in six months as charges increased slightly.
Manufacturers reported that delivery duration lengthened for the third successive month, partly due to raw material shortages.
In addition, the latest deterioration in vendor performance was the most marked since January 2016.
The survey complier IHS Markit’s representative Andrew Harker said that “A record rise in exports was the key highlight from the latest Vietnam Manufacturing PMI survey as firms once again displayed a good ability to secure new work in international markets.
This success fed through to improvements throughout the sector, with production, employment and purchasing activity all rising solidly in April.
The manufacturing sector therefore remains a star performer in Vietnam at the start of Q2.”
Photo: CBR Investment AG


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At the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Toyota not only had its FCV concept on display, but brought along a prototype fuel-cell vehicle that has been delivering a driving range of 300 miles.
According to the Japanese automaker, its prototype engineering vehicle has been used for extensive and extreme on-road testing in North America for over a year. It has consistently delivered a 300-mile driving range while sporting a 0-60 acceleration time of about 10 seconds. Best of all, the fuel-cell vehicle emits no emissions other than water vapor. As for refueling its hydrogen tanks, Toyota claims it takes three to five minutes.
Toyota hopes to launch its FCV in 2015, initially in the state of California.
“Hydrogen works beautifully with oxygen to create water and electricity and nothing more,” said Bob Carter, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales. “For years, the use of hydrogen gas to power an electric vehicle has been seen by many smart people as a foolish quest. Yes, there are significant challenges. The first is building the vehicle at a reasonable price for many people. The second is doing what we can to help kick-start the construction of convenient hydrogen refueling infrastructure. We’re doing a good job with both and we will launch in 2015.”
GALLERY: Toyota Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car
Discuss this story at our Toyota forum.


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Meta Platforms is revamping the design of Facebook's feed to give users more control over the content they see.
"One of the most requested features for Facebook is to make sure people don't miss friends' posts," Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday. "So today we're launching a Feeds tab where you can see posts from your friends, groups, Pages and more separately in chronological order."
|META||META PLATFORMS INC.||306.82||+6.61||+2.20%|
Within the Feeds tab, users will be able to create a favorites list of the friends and pages they care most about. There are no "Suggested For You" posts in Feeds, and ads are included.
The Facebook app will still open up to a primary Home tab, where the social media giant's discovery engine will offer "uniquely personalized" content recommendations through a machine learning ranking system. The Home tab will also allow users to create Reels videos and see what connections are sharing on Feed and in Stories.
Beginning Thursday, some users will find the Feeds tab in their shortcut bar located at the bottom of the Facebook app on iOS and the top on Android.
The tabs in the shortcut bar change based on the parts of the app being used the most. Users can also personalize and pin a tab in their shortcut bar.
The feature is expected to roll out globally over the next week.
The changes come as Facebook faces growing competition from rival TikTok, which surpassed 1 billion monthly active users globally in September 2021.
In the first quarter of 2022, Meta reported 1.96 billion average daily active Facebook users, up 4% year over year, and 2.94 billion monthly active Facebook users, up 3% year over year.
Meta will offer an update on Facebook's user figures when it reports its second-quarter earnings next week.


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(KTLA) – A store owner is devastated after a group of thieves broke into a Los Angeles dispensary on Wednesday and got away with hundreds of pounds of weed.
The owner hopes security footage will help someone recognize the thieves and bring them to justice.
“They seemed organized though, like they’ve done this before,” Toby Stein, owner of the Silver Lake Caregivers Dispensary Group, told Nexstar’s KTLA.
Stein says the brazen thieves escaped with hundreds of pounds of marijuana during the swift break-in, which happened a little after midnight.
Although he’s experienced smaller burglaries in the past, Stein says he’s never been a victim of such a substantial theft, estimating that possibly over $1 million of inventory was stolen.
“It’s pretty tough, honestly,” said Stein. “It hasn’t really computed yet.”
The burglary also appeared extremely organized: Six thieves, using four vehicles, broke in and absconded with Stein’s merchandise within 15 minutes.
Security video shows the thieves scaling the shop’s fence in a back alleyway while using crowbars to pry open a door. They also appeared to know exactly where to go when they entered the store, Stein added.
Some of the suspects looked to be taking their time, even as the security alarm was ringing in the background, the video shows.
Cameras then captured the suspects moving large bags of product to a car parked outside. As the first vehicle became too crowded with stolen merchandise, a second vehicle arrived to carry more items before both cars sped away.
Two lookout vehicles were parked out front, following the getaway cars to the freeway entrance.
“It’s just a reminder of the risks we take as business owners every day, and a reminder to take more security precautions,” Stein said.
Although it’s a major setback to his business, Stein said he’s relieved none of is employees or customers were inside during the burglary.
Stein now hopes someone will recognize the thieves before they target another business. He’s even looking into the possibility of the theft being an inside job.
“It just goes to show, if somebody really wants your stuff, they’re going to get it,” said Stein.
Anyone who recognizes the suspects or has information on the case is asked to call Los Angeles Police.


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The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) is considered a golden chance for developing countries like Vietnam to improve quality of services, goods and competitive advantages.
However, the implementation of information technology and human-made intelligence applications have also posed several challenges for Vietnam’s economy.
Industry 4.0 has created enormous opportunities for many countries. In the first nine months of 2017, Vietnam’s turnover of imports of machinery and spare parts reached more than 22 billion USD, up 34 percent compared to the same period last year.
The figure shows increasing demand for the expansion of manufacturing businesses as well as growth in construction activities.
According to experts, Industry 4.0 will create a new driving force for import-export enterprises to connect and join in regional value chains.
“First of all, it will help businesses cut operating and managing costs up to 70 percent of total expenses,” said economic expert Can Van Luc.
“It will also create conditions for enterprises to access new markets, and help enterprises increase competitive capacity, improve services and productivity,” he added.
Four key sectors facing challenges from the Industry 4.0 include garment and textile, footwear, handicrafts, and the manufacturing industry as these sectors require a lot of labourers.
“Industry 4.0 requires us to change, we have to occupy higher links in a value chain, we also have to use more intelligence which can not be replaced by technology,” said Tran Thanh Hai, Deputy head of the Department of Import-Export Management under Ministry of Industry and Trade.
“We will know how to introduce products which are suitable for everyone and we will be able to meet greater demand of bigger clients,” Le Hong Viet, FPT’s Technological Director said.
Industry 4.0 is expected to open export growth possibility. However these advantages can only be realised if import-export enterprises take the initiative now.
Authorised bodies should also introduce new approaches to help the economy to adapt to Industry 4.0./.
Source: Vietnam Plus
Photo: CBR Investment AG


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INDIANAPOLIS — McDonald’s is bringing back two fan-favorites.
Ahead of St. Patrick’s Day, McDonald’s is offering their minty Shamrock Shake.
For the occasion, the fast food chain has launched an app to help users track down the closest store selling the milkshake. It’s available now, but the company hasn’t said exactly how long it will remain on the menu.
In addition, the Golden Arches is also bringing back Szechuan sauce for its McNuggets.
The dipping sauce was an instant sensation when it was introduced for one day only last October.
Twenty-million packets are on the way to McDonald’s restaurants across the country and are expected to be available starting next week.
The sauce will be available as long as quantities last.


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i-payout Launches Instant Payout Service
Rather than relying on a company-issued prepaid card, payments are sent directly into payees’ existing bank accounts.
i-payout Launches New Website
i-payout, a leader in “business to individual” mass payments space, is pleased to announce the launch of their new website at https://www.i-payout.com.
ENGAGE 2022: Conversion Immersion
Come by our booth and learn how i-payout is innovating to support the evolving needs of Direct Sellers.


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Kicking off the new year with a fresh wad of cash: according to an SEC filing, mobile and online payments startup Jumio has raised $25.5 million in funding on top of the $6.5 million it raised from Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin – and others – back in March 2011.
Jumio confirmed the financing round but declined to provide more details (which investors participated and what they plan to use the additional capital for) at this time.
The startup’s twist on helping e-merchants process card payments digitally is to leverage webcams (and smartphone cameras) to read credit cards rather than making people enter their details or swiping their cards. Its solution, called Netswipe, in other words turns phone cameras and webcams into credit card readers.
Good to see a European entrepreneur swing for the fences once more.
Jumio® Inc. offers next generation online and mobile credit card payments validation and ID verification products for e-tailers, financial institutions, online marketplaces and governmental agencies. Designed to increase revenue, reduce fraud, and streamline customer experiences, Jumio utilizes patent-pending computer vision technology to validate and facilitate transactions while providing unprecedented levels of consumer convenience and data security. Jumio’s core vision technology is currently applied in two product lines: Netswipe® supports real-time credit card scanning and validation in online and mobile checkouts. By...


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Posted on Jeep Scrambler Forum August 22, 2017:
JeepScramblerForum.com (sister site to JLWranglerForums) have just confirmed some major key facts about the engines, removable tops and frame/axles for the upcoming 2019 Jeep Scrambler (JT) pickup truck!
First, based on additional info unearthed from the FCA dealer systems we can confirm that the JT Scrambler and the JL Wrangler will share the 3.0L V6 Turbo Diesel Engine with Engine Start-Stop. This has been widely rumored and we’re happy to finally put it to bed.
We can also confirm that the JT truck will in fact have a removable roof and share at least a few of the top configurations with the JL Wrangler. This confirmation comes from the discovery that the JT pickup will be available with a Black 3-Piece Hard Top, Body Color 3-Piece Hard Top, and Premium Black Sunrider Soft Top.
Read more on JeepScramblerForum.com


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Sanjay Jha in at Motorola as co-CEO, handset division chief
Motorola announced today that it would be appointing Qualcomm's former COO Sanjay Jha to head up its ailing handset division -- much to the chagrin of our own Ryan Block. Jha will also take on co-executive duties for the parent company along with current CEO Greg Brown. The news comes hot on the heels of speculation that the electronics-maker will spin off its mobile phone wing as a separate, publicly traded entity, though chatter persists that an outright sale of the division may be more economically advisable at this stage. So here's the question that begs asking: why has Moto gone the co-CEO route? Whether it's a matter of the board's confidence in Brown's abilities, or a by-product of some unseen moves, it comes off as unusual at best.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.


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Ehden’s ice age water delivered to superyacht crews
Posted: 24 July 2015 | Victoria White | No comments yet
Ehden has partnered with Yachting Pages Delivers to add its 15,000-year-old glacier water to packs to be delivered to superyachts and their crew…
Ehden, the Monaco-based custom drinks creator, has partnered with Yachting Pages Delivers to add its 15,000-year-old glacier water product to packs to be delivered to superyachts and their crew in France, Italy and Spain.
Simon Brooks, field account manager for Yachting Pages Delivers, explained, “We have three sets of 500 bottles going out, so 1,500 in total. The first delivers pack, which includes this bottled water, is being delivered to all the major ports and marinas in the French Riviera, starting the week of 20th July.
“Then on the 27th July we’ll be delivering the bottles throughout Italy for a week, with the next delivery in Spain scheduled to take place in Palma de Mallorca on 19th October, also for one week.”
Ehden claims their water is actually ‘water from the ice age’, having been filtered by nature over 15,000 years. The company also says that it is targeted at everyone from infants to the elderly, and helps to prevent the appearance of wrinkles!
Ehden creates ‘own brand’ bottled water for luxury hotels
Simon said, “We are delighted to have struck a deal with Ehden, helping them break into the superyacht and yachting industries and I’m sure these bottles will be a hit with yachties on board. Their goal is to show the luxury superyachts that they could easily have their own brand of luxury water on board, just like the five-star hotels do.”
Ehden also creates the famous Gold Energy drink, which has real gold in it, priced at anything up to €50 per bottle in some of the night clubs in the French Riviera. Supplying the water itself as well as the bottles, labels and branding, Ehden can create many customised drinks such as cola and lemonade. The company has also formed partnerships with many luxury hotels, creating many ‘own brand’ water bottles.


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Rechtsanwalt, Legal Director
Out-Law News 3 min. read
14 Dec 2012, 9:11 am
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has announced that consumers will generally be able to restrict the access of suppliers and third party companies to the 'consumption data' that smart metering records.
However, smart metering expert Chris Martin of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said that consumers may have to give up some of their privacy in order to see the benefits that smart metering can deliver.
"There needs to be a balancing between privacy and ensuring that suppliers and third parties have the sufficient leverage with which to deliver the benefits that smart metering can provide," Martin said. "Smart metering has the potential to help consumers to reduce their use of energy and therefore reduce their carbon footprint. In addition it can help them to monitor their energy consumption and pay less by being more efficient."
"However, consumers may have to be prepared to give suppliers and third parties access to more granular data about their energy consumption in order to benefit from those savings and efficiencies," he said. "For example, consumers could consider consenting to their supplier accessing information about their consumption on a more regular basis than just once a month for billing purposes. This could allow the supplier to better analyse whether consumers are on the cheapest tariff. Consumers could also consent to third parties, such as alternative suppliers or switching sites, so as to compare alternative tariffs."
Martin said, though, that "one of the biggest barriers" to the potential success of smart metering is "getting consumers engaged".
"Until such time as energy costs so much that more people consciously monitor their usage - in the same way that they currently regulate their petrol consumption for example - people will continue to be less caring of the energy they use and what it costs," he said. "People have the right to switch providers now, but many do not use it. For smart metering to work to its potential, consumers will need to consent to allow more to be done with their data than merely billing."
Smart metering enables a two-way flow of electricity and information that allows real-time information about demand for energy to inform the level of supply needed to meet that demand in a near-instantaneous fashion.
Smart metering technology is due to be put in place in the UK from 2014. Approximately 55 million meters will be installed, covering every UK household and business, by 2019. The Government has said smart metering will help to reduce unnecessary energy use and emissions and cut consumers' energy bills.
In a document detailing its response (94-page / 758KB PDF) to the views received in a consultation it ran on data access and privacy in smart metering, the DECC said that energy suppliers will need the "explicit consent" of consumers in order to access the most detailed information about individuals' energy consumption under the new smart metering programme. Consumption data could be accessed as regularly as every half hour under the plans.
"In order to access more detailed (half-hourly) data, explicit (opt-in) consent must have been obtained in advance," DECC said. "However, the licence conditions are not specific about precisely which format consent needs to be given in. This will allow flexibility to suppliers to receive consent by any appropriate method (for example, on the telephone, by website, or email). Suppliers would, however, need to maintain records to demonstrate that consent had been obtained."
"Suppliers would also be required to inform consumers that they could withdraw their consent at any time, and inform them of the process by which they could withdraw that consent," it said.
DECC said that consumers will generally be able to control how their consumption data is used other than where suppliers have to access it for billing "or for other regulated purposes". Suppliers will require the "explicit consent" of consumers in order to use the data for marketing purposes, whilst consumers will also be able to object if suppliers want to access consumption data that covers a period of less than a month.
Suppliers will be required to "explain clearly" what data they will be accessing, for which purposes and what choices consumers have on the matter, DECC said. Research has suggested that consumers are not always with clearly and prominently presented choices, it said, so "it will be imperative for suppliers to consider carefully the best way of presenting choices to consumers, within the bounds of the regulatory framework," the Department said.
It said that suppliers that intend to access consumers consumption data on a daily basis must give consumers a chance to opt out seven days in advance of doing so.
Consumers will be able to send on their own consumption data to third parties if they wish to, although DECC has confirmed that procedures will be put in place tor require those businesses to verify the identity of those customers.
Rechtsanwalt, Legal Director


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Residents of Ascot and surrounding suburbs will soon be able to enjoy an exciting new cafe, bar and gaming precinct on the corner of Lancaster and Nudgee Roads.
Gallopers Sports Club, the former Hamilton Bowls Club, has undergone a $1million makeover by owners/operators Brisbane Racing Club (BRC) and will reopen its doors this Thursday, April 19.
Leading architects, Rothe Lowman White, designed the renovation which included the construction of a new outdoor terrace and alfresco cafe, a transformed gaming lounge with close to double the number of machines, new reception and front entrance, a transformed a la carte restaurant and kitchen facilities and a new, full service TAB and keno area fitted out with numerous state-of-the-art television screens.
To celebrate the $1million makeover, the Club is offering $1 memberships (normally $5) for a limited time. Members earn points and receive additional benefits including discounts on dining and drinks.
Gallopers Sports Club General Manager, Chris Anderson, said the Club will launch with a brand new menu.
Our new menu will offer locals a wide variety of classic meals including chicken parmigiana, steak, pizzas and tacos as well as new twists such as a grilled haloumi, roast pumpkin and cous cous salad or grilled herb and dill marinated salmon, said Mr Anderson.
Bound to be one of the more popular aspects of the new menu is the daily meal specials priced at a modest $9.90.
The alfresco cafe at Gallopers will be an exciting addition to the precinct and a new breakfast menu will no doubt be popular with locals looking for an alternative early-morning haunt on the weekends.
The menu offers options for the health conscious such as bircher muesli or avocado on toast through to traditional breakfast fare such as eggs benedict or the big breakfast serving up Irish sausage, smoked bacon, eggs anyway you like, cherry tomatoes, hash brown and mushrooms on toast.
We wanted to introduce breakfast so that locals could stop by on the weekend, meet up with friends and enjoy delicious food in our new and comfortable surrounds, said Mr Anderson.
Aside from the new restaurant, bar and cafe, Gallopers Sports Club will now also boast a modern, comfortable gaming lounge with 91 gaming machines including many of the newest and latest games, a TAB with state-of-the-art television screens and Keno.
Members who play between Thursday, April 19 and May 20 will go into a draw to win a Toyota Yaris 5Dr Hatch, thanks to Sci Fleet.
Gallopers is an exciting new and comfortable entertainment hub which will offer something for everyone from coffee lovers, diners and those who love to linger over a relaxing weekend brekkie, to punters and anyone looking to simply be entertained, said Mr Anderson.
Gallopers Sports Club re-opens this Thursday, April 19 and will be open 7 days a week.


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New Delhi, Apr 23 (PTI) Facebook Inc’s USD 5.7 billion investment in Jio Platforms, subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), will help to monetise the digital platforms of both companies and aid in deleveraging of RIL’s balance sheet, Fitch Ratings said on Thursday.
Facebook’s investment for a 9.99 per cent stake in Jio Platforms is the single-largest FDI in the Indian telecoms and technology sector.
Reliance Jio, the wireless market leader with around 390 million subscribers, is a subsidiary of Jio Platforms. At the same time, Reliance Retail, RIL’s retail arm, has also partnered with Facebook’s WhatsApp to allow RIL’s e-commerce business users to use the WhatsApp platform.
Fitch said it had in August last year revised the outlook on RIL’s ‘BBB’ rating to ‘positive’ and may upgrade to ‘BBB+’ if “net adjusted debt/EBITDA ratio improves to below 1.5x on a sustained basis”.
“The deal is part of RIL’s plan to strengthen its businesses and to achieve a net cash position – through partnerships and supported by organic growth and lowcapex,” Fitch said in a statement. “We expect the partnership with Facebook to bolster RIL’s consumer business in the medium term.”
The rating agency said the proceeds from the transaction should help RIL maintain the pace of its deleveraging – counteracting the likely weakness in its refining and petrochemical segment during 2020-21.
Fitch expects RIL’s oil-to-chemical segment to face volume and margins headwinds due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in line with the industry trend.
“We expect the pandemic to weaken demand for refined products and petrochemicals in Asia-Pacific during 2020, with a gradual recovery through 2021 to pre-COVID-19 levels. However, RIL should be less affected than peers, due to the high complexity of its refineries and integrated petrochemical operations with feedstock flexibility,” it said.
The deal, it said, will allow both Facebook and Jio to monetise their digital platforms, engage customers online, and provide direct connectivity between users and merchants.
Usage of digital platforms is likely to grow significantly in the medium-term amid severe disruptions caused by lockdowns and social distancing measures.
Increasing reliance on digital platforms might also assist RIL in gaining market share in India’s growing e-commerce segment, and soften the impact of lower footfalls in its physical retail stores.
“Jiomart, which is a market-place platform and built in partnership with small merchants and ‘kirana’ (small neighbourhood retail store) shops, will allow users to buy goods and services using WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Jio Platforms will focus on introducing digital solutions for 60 million micro, small and medium businesses; 120 million farmers; 30 million merchants; and millions of SMEs in the informal sector,” Fitch said.
On its part, Facebook is likely to be able to expand its platforms – including Facebook Marketplace, Instagram Shopping and Facebook Pay – to help SMEs set up virtual shops on such platforms and sell goods and services.
Facebook plans to roll out WhatsApp Payments in India and other countries this year, after having tested this with a million people in India in 2018. WhatsApp Platform, which has started charging businesses, is still offered free to retail users globally, it said.
Facebook reported 641 million daily active users (DAU) in APAC in 4Q19, up by 14 per cent year-on-year and now contributing around 39 per cent of overall 1.7 million DAUs.
India is the single-largest market with about 330 million monthly users, and also one of the fastest-growing markets for Facebook. WhatsApp’s messaging app also has the largest user base in India, with about 400 million users.
“We believe internet users in the country will rise to at least 800 million by 2022, up from around 600 million in 2019 as India overtook the US to become the world’s second-largest smartphone market after China by unit shipments in 2019. DAUs represented around 66 per cent of 2.5 billion monthly active users in December 2019,” Fitch added.


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Meal delivery services like Blue Apron and HelloFresh are rising in popularity and profitability, according to a report published by Packaged Facts. The report expects these sales to exceed $1 billion in 2016. The meal delivery trend is an alternative to fast food and some college students are taking advantage of it.
BYU senior Zack Kitterman, studying landscape management, used the HelloFresh delivery service for three months when he and his wife were looking for good, healthy meal ideas for two people. While his experience with the service was “very good overall” he cautions other college students to be wary of pricing when considering a meal delivery service.
“Although the meal plan service is only slightly more when broken down per meal than going to the store yourself, you have to take into account that these meals are pricier overall than what the typical college student eats,” Kitterman said.
The average cost of a dinner at home is $4. However, the average cost of eating dinner at a restaurant is $10 which is the equivalent of the average cost of a meal delivery, according to a study performed by the National Purchase Diary Group.
BYU health coach and senior in dietetics Lisa Keovongsa said costliness could be a big concern for students, but time management may make meal delivery more appealing.
“I think in terms of time it might be helpful, but people have to balance out what’s more important to them: saving time by spending a little bit more money or taking a little bit more time to prepare a quick lunch and take it with you,” Keovongsa said.
Salt Lake City’s Ultimate Food Essentials prides itself on being a gourmet food service, according to owner Giovanni Bouderbala. Bouderbala was the head chef of One World Cafe in Salt Lake before he decided to start Ultimate Food Essentials. Bouderbala believed there was a need for a service producing meals for people trying to live a healthy lifestyle.
“Having a meal service makes it convenient. You get to choose what you want to eat and they will come to your home,” Bouderbala said. “You really know that you have somebody that cares about your meals, and you don’t have to worry about it.”
Bouderbala said the difference between his meal service and bigger chains, like Blue Apron, is that he chooses to shop and produce locally.
“Our money and the client’s money stays here in Utah,” Bouderbala said. “We invest the money back into the community and into small businesses here in Utah.”
Another option for meal delivery is Meals That Transform, a business born from a “necessity” for celebrity trainer Angela Martindale’s clients.
“I felt like everybody needed to be treated like a celebrity,” Martindale said about starting her business. “Everybody needs a private chef, everybody needs nutrition counseling. Everyone needs a personal trainer.”
Martindale said subscribing to Meals That Transform means getting a diet customized to a client’s unique needs.
“It’s based on your nutritional needs and what each individual person needs,” Martindale said. “So my diet might be different than my neighbor’s diet, and that’s fine.”
Recently opened Wasatch Fresh is another meal delivery service in the area. Founder Page Viehweg spent time studying to become a chef in Italy and as Sur La Table’s resident chef before she decided to open Wasatch Fresh in June 2016.
Viehweg compared paying someone to walk your dog or having someone change your oil to using a delivery service. Some people are able to do these tasks themselves, but they don’t have time or it’s inconvenient.
“If a college student is concentrating on studying and perhaps juggling a job as well, a nutritious meal delivered to them a few times a week is a pretty sweet deal,” Viehweg said. “Plus we take the stress out of the equation.”


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TORONTO – Ontario consumers could see major changes to the way beer, wine and spirits are sold if the Liberal government adopts the recommendations of an advisory panel it set up to find ways of squeezing more value out of Crown assets.
The panel chaired by Ed Clark of TD Bank Group looked at possible sales of Ontario Power Generation, Hydro One and the Liquor Control Board, but in its interim report released Thursday concluded all three should remain in public hands.
“Ontario can retain all three core companies and significantly improve their performance,” Clark said in the forward to the report.
However, the panel recommended sweeping changes to improve sales and profits at the government-owned LCBO, which turns over a dividend of about $1.7 billion a year to the province, on top of taxes.
It said the LCBO should move to a ‘click and collect’ model to allow customers to buy products online — including items from around the world — and be able to pick those products up at the local liquor store.
It recommended LCBO stores be allowed to sell 12-packs of beer, not just six-packs, and said the agency should increase its service charge for beer for the first time since 1989, noting beer prices jumped 64 per cent during that time.
The panel said the Liberals should negotiate new deals with the foreign-owned Beer Store, which has 447 retail outlets, and with Winery Retail stores, which are owned by six wineries that sell only their own products at 292 off-site stores and 199 on-site outlets.
“We do not believe as a matter of principle that the government should continue to foster a marketplace that provides unique benefits to these privately owned quasi-monopolies,” concluded the panel.
“The relationship between the provincial government and the Beer Store should be revised to ensure that Ontario taxpayers receive their fair share of the profits from the Beer Store. Consumers should not see an increase in price as a result of this change.”
Canada’s National Brewers, which represents Labatt, Molson and Sleeman, has warned the panel’s ideas would add about $5 to the price of 24-packs.
The panel also said Ontario should consider a limited number of stores featuring local and international craft beers and ciders, and do the same with the wine industry and distillers to generate some limited competition for the LCBO.
“The council is open in Phase 2 to exploring the suggestions of how competition can be increased without undermining the fundamental economics and advantages of the monopoly system.”
Clark said the panel’s final report on the Crown assets and liquor sales will be ready in time for the government to make changes, if it wants, in next spring’s budget.
On the electrical utilities, the panel recommended the province keep most of the operations in public hands, but said Hydro One should get out of the local distribution business and focus on its core transmission business.
“The system needs more capital, which is unlikely to be available from the public sector owners given other pressing needs,” said the report.
Ontario Power Generation should consider internal structural changes to effectively become two entities, one a nuclear company and the other to focus on the utility’s non-nuclear assets, but the panel said the change should be done slowly because of the demands of the refurbishment of the Darlington nuclear station.
Clark’s panel said cost savings at Hydro One and OPG “are relatively small” unless both utilities can modify their total compensation packages, which feature “above market wages, benefits and pensions.”
The panel said its proposals would help limit the growth in electricity rates, keep liquor prices below the Canadian average and free up as much as $3 billion that the Liberals promise to spend on infrastructure projects.


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Revenue / 01.31.19
SeatGeek on Driving the Future of Ticket Sales via Rideshares
The Cargo rideshare service has partnered with SeatGeek to expand the products that can be ordered while en route, letting customers buy tickets at a discount. Passengers in a Cargo-equipped vehicle can enter their driver's unique code into the “mobile menu,” and then search tickets available for sale on SeatGeek. Upon selecting a ticket, customers can check out with a credit card or mobile wallet. “It's all happening within the Cargo Web app in a pretty seamless way,” says SeatGeek's Lee Moulton. Passengers can avail themselves of an exclusive deal on the tickets, which is solely available when they are in a rideshare vehicle. Moulton says the “consumer needs some kind of incentive or benefit” besides convenience, with the aim of encouraging consumers to purchase through the platform. He notes the offering comes amid several market trends, including consumers buying tickets closer to actual events, and even while traveling to or in line for an event. Moulton also envisions driverless cars as a potential market, with SeatGeek wanting to be “part of that ecosystem” and a first mover in the industry via the Cargo partnership.
Read the full article on Pymnts.com.
Tags: News , Mobile


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General Motors laid out its electric vehicle strategy on Wednesday, showcasing roughly a dozen products as part of a broader attempt to convey to investors how serious it is about embracing its electric future.
In addition to showing off some of its upcoming vehicles, GM revealed an all-new modular electric vehicle platform with an improved battery pack called Ultium. Much like Volkswagen's so-called MEB platform, the GM platform is intended to be flexible and multifaceted, with the goal of eventually undergirding a variety of vehicle types and shapes.
The new batteries are unique because of the "large-format, pouch-style cells," compared to cylindrical cells, which GM says enables them to be stacked vertically or horizontally inside the battery pack. These batteries will offer power ranging from 50 to 200 kWh, which could allow for a driving range up to "400 miles or more." Motors designed in-house will support front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, and performance all-wheel drive applications.


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It hasn’t even been a week since the iPhone 15 hit the shelves, and the internet is already talking about the iPhone 16 series, particularly the iPhone 16 Pro Max. This time around, a report suggests that Apple will deviate from the naming convention it has been following for years, and there might not be an iPhone 16 “Pro Max” after all. And that’s not the only bit available about the phone. Here’s everything we know about the iPhone 16 series.
Apple To Ditch The “Pro Max” Moniker
Per known tipster Majin Bu, the iPhone 16 series won’t have an iPhone 16 Pro Max. Instead, the company could name the model iPhone 16 Ultra. This is not the first time we’ve heard rumors about a significant name change in the lineup. Before the iPhone 15 came out, some experts believed that Apple was about to rename the iPhone 15 Pro Max as iPhone 15 Ultra, but that did not happen this year. We should still see an iPhone 16 Pro, nonetheless.
iPhone 16 Ultra to Feature Three Smaller Cameras
Another weird yet interesting prediction from the tipster suggests that the iPhone 16 Ultra will come with three new smaller cameras, other than the three massive sensors the Pro iPhone already has. Bu says the sensors have some functionality for the upcoming mixed-reality headset, Vision Pro, but that is the extent of the information.
iPhone 16 And iPhone 16 Plus Could Get ProMotion Display
The tipster suggests that all iPhones in the iPhone 16 series will feature a 120Hz ProMotion display, a much-awaited update. If that happens, the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Plus will likely come with thinner bezels than what we’ve seen on the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus. However, like the current generation of non-Pro iPhones, the iPhone 16 should also come with two cameras.
The iPhone 16 units (in the United States) will feature a button to switch to mmWave mode. To provide some context, mmWave is faster than Sub-6GHz, but it isn’t as widely available as the latter. Hence, it would make sense to have a button that switches to mmWave connectivity in available areas.
At the end of the X (formerly known as Twitter) post, the tipster writes that all the information is unclear as the new iPhone models are in the testing phase. Hence, readers should take the news with a pinch of salt. However, it does set a context for the upcoming iPhones, coming in as some of the earliest rumors. Some of the claims, like the shift in naming, additional cameras on the iPhone 16 Ultra, and ProMotion Display on the regular iPhones, seem likely.


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On September 27, 2016, Google has rolled out the Google Neural Machine Translation system (GNMT), “which utilizes state-of-the-art training techniques to achieve the largest improvements to date for machine translation quality,” explain Quoc V. Le and Mike Schuster in their blog post. Until the release of this update, Google had been relying on another model, which involves breaking sentences into individual phrases and breaking those phrases even further into words. The old model was known for producing convoluted and hard-to-understand translations, especially in the case of notoriously difficult language pairs such as Chinese and English.
But, after testing the new version of Google Translate, several tech commentators have reported that the system is now approaching human-level accuracy. Try translating a complex sentence—even one with historicisms and obscure names of places and events—and you will likely be just as surprised by the accuracy of the translation as Nick Statt from The Verge and others were.
That being said, the system is by no means perfect. “GNMT can still make significant errors that a human translator would never make, like dropping words and mistranslating proper names or rare terms,” Google admits. However, by using a system modeled after neural connections in the human brain, these gaps could quickly disappear. The system is even said to have developed “its own internal language to represent the concepts it uses to translate between other languages.”
Surprisingly, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 46 percent increase in translation job opportunities between 2012 and 2022. Tony Guerra, the director of interpretation services at CETRA, even said, “Google Translate has a role: it can provide a very rough and overall sense. But it does not understand or distinguish certain phrases.” That’s exactly where both he and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics may be wrong.
There’s no doubt that high-stakes translators won’t be replaced by computers anytime soon—perhaps even never—but what about millions of translators and interpreters who work on a freelance basis, dealing with an endless stream of mundane translations of descriptions for cheap products, internal company guidelines and policies, and high-school homework? ZDNet lists the profession of a translator as the 9th job that will be automated by AI and robots. Considering the article was posted more than a year ago, it would be interesting to see where would the author place translators now.
The key here is convenience. It takes time, money, and effort to hire a translator, but it takes just a few seconds to copy-paste the text into Google Translate. And when the software spits out something that looks legitimate, it’s easy to imagine many cases where someone would just decide to use what Google Translate thinks is the right translation. That right there represents an hour or two of work for some freelancer, which doesn’t seem significant until you realize that the Google Translate mobile and web apps account for around 18 million translations per day for Chinese to English alone.
Once Google perfects the technology behind their text-based translation system, they could use it in other, even more interesting ways. “A few wearable tech upstarts are showing interest in the area of translation hearables,” says Sophie Charara in her article for Wareable. One company, Doppler Labs, is developing a real-time hearable device that would allow for in-ear translation of Spanish. A start-up named Waverly Labs have raised $3.5 million on Indiegogo to fund a smart earpiece language translator which translates between users speaking different languages. The device won’t be out until May 2017, but it already serves as a clear evidence confirming the large demand for the technology.
It could be that the profession of a translator will change and adopt these technologies as essential tools for working in a more efficient manner. Machines could do the first draft and real human beings could then use their expertise and knowledge to polish the final product to perfection. But where accuracy and appropriateness of style don’t play a huge role, there will likely be no work left for real translators.
To those who closely follow the virtual reality industry, Intel’s entry into the crowded mosh pit that is VR likely comes as no surprise. The company has missed their chance when it comes to mobile, so the pressure is on them to come up with a technology that would help them stay as relevant in the future mobile-first world filled with virtual and augmented reality experiences as they are now.
Google has been pushing virtual reality with their ultra-affordable headset made from cardboard, and, with Google Daydream, the company is now starting to establish itself in the as a worthy competitor to Samsung’s Gear VR, a mid-range mobile virtual reality headset. But neither of these companies occupies the spot that Intel wants to seize. The main target is the same demographic that would purchase an Oculus Rift headset for its superior graphical fidelity and immersion.
“Merged reality delivers virtual world experiences more dynamically and naturally than ever before and makes experiences impossible in the real world now possible,” said Intel’s chief executive, Brian Krzanich. Project Alloy revolves around Intel’s RealSense technologies, a platform for implementing gesture-based human-computer interaction techniques.
When used for the purposes of virtual reality, RealSense technologies help Intel get rid of several critical restrictions of current VR solutions. For starters, Project Alloy cuts all cords, allowing users to enjoy a free range of motion without being chained to a computer. To ensure users won’t bump into real objects while being immersed in virtual worlds, Alloy employs advanced collision detection and avoidance system. As a user approaches, let’s say, a wall, the wall will become visible in the virtual world.
Not only that but the same technology also allows you to bring your own hands into your virtual world and use them to interact with objects just like you would in real life. The RealSense cameras on the headset can accurately track finger movements, analyze them in real time, and project them back into the virtual environment with an unnoticeable delay of just a few milliseconds. What’s possible with a technology like this is limited only by the imagination of developers.
Intel knows that and is ready to support developers by releasing a suite of sensing and computing technologies and collaborating with Microsoft to ensure that Windows-based content works great on Alloy and other Intel-based virtual reality devices. According to Intel’s website, “Intel will open the Alloy hardware and provide open APIs for the ecosystem, allowing developers and partners to create their own branded products from the Alloy design, in 2017.”
The current version of Project Alloy, which is still just an early prototype, shares certain design features of both PlayStation VR and Samsung’s Gear VR. One commentator complained about problems with fit and comfort, saying that the headset felt too heavy. But, according to Tim Parker from Intel, the final version of Project Alloy will offer a much better user experience. The company plans to ship first units in the second half of 2017, and they should feature Kaby Lake processors and a single 400 series RealSense camera, instead of an older Skylake processor and two R200 RealSense cameras. What’s more, the final Project Alloy will support a discrete graphics card.
In past, Intel debuted several interesting tech concepts which failed to turn into real products, but, hopefully, things will be different this time around. Their partnership with Microsoft is promising and so is the concept itself. We already have lightweight mobile VR systems that offer a blurry glimpse of what VR is all about, and there’s no doubt that there will be no shortage of heavy-duty tethered systems. Project Alloy could be right in the middle, striking the perfect balance between portability and graphical fidelity.
Of course, a device that’s essentially a PC with an Intel microprocessor in it is just what the company needs to establish a foothold in the virtual reality market and ensure their revenue stream won’t dry up as our computing habits evolve and change.
“[Smartglasses] are not going to happen,” wrote Hayley Williams in her article posted in April 2016 on Gizmodo. The article contains a roundup of various Kickstarter projects, most of which live in obscurity to this day. Several commentators under the article shared her views and expressed their disinterest in the arguably dorky technology that first became available to public on May 15, 2014, with the release of Google Glass, an optical head-mounted display designed in the shape of a pair of eyeglasses.
At the time, the $1,600 gadget seemed to be spearheading an entirely new category of wearable devices, one that could fundamentally alter the way we interact with one another and the world around us. But in January 2016, Google has decided to suspend sales of Google Glass, ending the product’s brief and quite unsuccessful life. “The problems Glass created outweighed the solutions Google thought it could solve. It’s strange and unsettling to consider how disconnected Google was from the real world with Glass,” commented Nate Swanner.
Arguably, Google Glass failed as a product because of the company’s over reliance on early adopters willing to spend big bucks, developers of apps and solutions for which there was never any real audience to begin with, and support from large business partners, such as Twitter, who were all quick to drop the technology as soon as they’ve realized where it’s heading.
What the world needed wasn’t a large ecosystem and an entirely new way of living; it was merely a useful, simple-to-use product that wouldn’t be out of reach for most folks. That product is now here, and its name is Snapchat Spectacles.
Spectacles came as a surprise announcement by Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, along with the launch of Snap, Inc., a camera company with a goal to empower people to express themselves. Priced at $130, the simple, plastic glasses with a camera inside neatly fit into the upper echelon of the impulse buy price category of novelty gadgets and toys, which is also occupied by products such as Amazon Echo and devices from Fitbit.
The idea behind the glasses is simple: you shoot a short 10- to 30-second long video clips that instantly upload to Snapchat via your smartphone. Because the camera shoots 115-degree wide-angle footage, you can view it either in landscape or portrait—the app will automatically level the view as you spin your phone around. Why would Snapchat implement a feature like this? Because it’s fun. And that’s what the glasses are all about.
There’s something captivating about capturing the world around from the eye-level perspective; something that even a GoPro mounted on the head can’t replicate. The familiar field of view brings with it an unrivaled degree of intimacy and emotional connection. Even relatively mundane, daily events are interesting to watch when replayed on your smartphone or computer, not to mention sharing them with your friends and family.
It also helps a great deal that the Snapchat Spectacles look completely non-threating, which is something Google Glass utterly failed to achieve. They are made from plastic yet well-built, have very prominent circular LED lights to let people around you know you are recording, and they even come in a colorful case that doubles as a charger. The fun design brings the best out of people, making everyone want to participate in your short snippets of recorded memories.
Snapchat has also decided to go with a very unorthodox distribution method: the Spectacles are sold through vending machines known as Snapbots. Snapbots are yellow, rectangular, vaguely resembling the Minions. These vending machines travel across the United States, never staying too long in one place. You can visit the official website of Spectacles to keep track of the Snapbot’s current location (it seems there’s just one Snapbot at the moment).
Despite everything that’s great about the product, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. The video quality could be better, it would be nice if Spectacles could shoot photos, and many people would certainly like to see a few extra styles of the glasses. But as a revival of a dying breed of wearable gadgets, Snapchat Spectacles deserve our praise.
The idea behind the project isn’t to throw away Cardboard into the pits of technological obsolescence, but rather to offer customers the next logical destination on their journey towards an immersive VR experience. Clay Bavor, Google’s vice president of virtual reality, commented, “We knew that Cardboard would only go so far, because there’s only so much you can do in terms of immersiveness and interactivity with—let’s be serious—a piece of cardboard, and a phone that was really only meant to be a phone.”
Google is going to keep Cardboard around as a highly affordable way how VR newbies can get a glimpse of what the once futuristic technology is all about. When the same customers reach the limits of what’s possible with Cardboard, they will know exactly what to buy next: Daydream.
So, what is Daydream? According to Bavor, Daydream is about enabling very high-quality mobile VR. The key word here is “high-quality”. Google is well aware that any truly immersive mobile VR experience will require a suitable hardware to run on. Not only that, but the entire ecosystem – apps, operating system, VR glasses – has to work in unison.
That’s why Google is working with their industry partners and in-house developers to create a VR platform the world has not seen before. The first Daydream-compatible smartphones – the ZTE Axon 7 and Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe – are right around the corner, and so are the other two pillars of Daydream.
Three Pillars of DaydreamDuring his presentation at Google IO 2016, Bavor explained the steps Google took to create “our platform for virtual reality.” To succeed, Google needs to have a total control over the VR experience. Customers must know that when they purchase a Daydream-certified smartphone, they won’t run into any compatibility or performance issues.
There’s simply no more room for guesswork like there was (and still is and will be) with Cardboard. Samsung, with their Gear VR, has shown that customers are willing to pay extra for a smartphone that does something extra. But Samsung’s problem is the inability to control the experience from top to bottom. Users have to fight an operating system not meant for virtual reality and apps developed with only a vague idea of the kind of VR headset the apps are going to be consumed through. But all that is about to change.
SmartphonesGoogle doesn’t want any redundancy in their platform. The company expects smartphone manufacturers to bake all the functionality and features necessary for a smooth VR experience directly into their devices.
This entails powerful hardware capable of pushing demanding graphics at 60 frames-per-second, low-persistence displays with little to no lag to eliminate ghosting, and high-quality, latency-free sensors to increase the sense of immersion when inside a virtual reality world.
Prominent smartphone manufacturers, including Samsung, HTC, LG, Xiaomi, Huawei, ZTE, Asus, and Alcatel should have daydream-ready smartphones available this fall. The beauty of this approach lies in the fact that the whole platform can evolve in a similar way as video game consoles do. All that Google has to do to take Daydream to the next level is to bump up the reference specifications and call the result “Daydream 2.0” or something similar. With enough time, Daydream could start competing with PC-tethered headsets.
Headset and ControllerThe current mobile VR experience is held back by the chaos that reigns among the headsets. The market is flooded with headsets ranging from a few dollars to few hundred dollars. Some are compatible with devices up to 6”, others can fit only smaller smartphones; certain models have a wide field of view and high-quality optics, but there’s a slew of other headsets that don’t even come close.
With Daydream, Google has taken their experience and created a reference design that others can use as a blueprint to come up with something of an equal quality. The sketch they showed at Google IO 2016 depicted a sleek, clean headset that should appeal to regular smartphone owners and tech enthusiasts alike.
To complement the headset, Google has also created a VR-optimized controller that’s both powerful and intuitive. Its DNA can be traced back to the Wii Nunchuk Controller, as a consequence of its minimalistic appearance and built-in orientation sensor that allows for intuitive motion control. A circular clickable touch pad is designed to bring touchscreen gestures to the virtual world, and two buttons – a home button and app button – provide all the essential functionality without overwhelming users with options.
AppsThe team behind Daydream has been working with the core Android team to include VR capabilities in the next version of the mobile operating system. Starting with Android N, users will be able to put their smartphones into a special VR mode, which will change the UI, making the device easily controllable even while still in VR. Substantial changes have also been made under the hood to allow for a very low latency of less than 20ms and increased performance.
Clay Bavor said that Google will take a strong stance on quality and not allow badly written, designed, or optimized apps to enter into the Daydream ecosystem. “We want to make sure that we’re representing good VR to our users.”
Google wants to lead by example with their apps. The Play Store, YouTube, and Street View are all going to be optimized at launch to deliver an uncompromising user experience. A new face among Google’s increasingly larger collections of apps is the Daydream Hub, a kind of home screen that acts as a gateway to all games and virtual reality apps.
More VR apps are expected to pop up in the near future, thanks to Google’s partnerships with the New York Time, WSJ, USA Today, Netflix, Hulu, IMAX, NBA, MLB, and many others. New VR games from EA, Ubisoft, NetEase, and OtherSide Entertainment are also on the horizon, so there’s no reason to doubt that there won’t be enough compelling content available when Daydream takes off.
It’s ComingThe release of Daydream is planned on Autumn 2016, shortly after Android Nougat is out. Given that Cardboard headsets hover around $10 and Gear VR currently goes for $100, Daydream will probably be positioned right above the Gear VR, in terms of its price.
Google’s vision of the future seems to involve ultra-powerful smartphones that act as keys to countless invisible virtual worlds around us. They recognize that once we reach the point where we no longer need to own a laptop or PC just to get more processing power, smartphones and mobile operating systems will become the only thing that matters.
But this $45 billion company led by a man who happily admits that being greatly influenced by Steve Jobs doesn’t want to be regarded as a smartphone business. Xiaomi insists that they are an internet company – a new kind of company that deals primarily with rapid innovation, community building, and lifestyle.
They see that in our post-mobile, interconnected world, tech companies have become much more than providers of useful gadgets. Our entire work and personal lives revolve around tightly integrated ecosystems developed by companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and, of course, Xiaomi.
But to understand how Xiaomi got there and where the company is going, we have to understand how they managed to sell over 70m smartphones in 2015 alone.
High-End Products Without High-End PricesXiaomi is often compared with Samsung and Apple, even though the company targets a substantially different market. Their bread and butter are devices with high-end specifications and affordable prices. Such products appeal mainly to tech-savvy people and members of the younger generation who don’t have enough disposable income to afford often obscenely expensive flagship models from premium smartphone manufacturers.
In India alone, there are more than 700 million consumers under the age of thirty. When Xiaomi’s devices go on sale in this market, the company often sells their entire stock in just a few seconds. For example, the entire first batch of Mi 4 smartphones in exactly 37 seconds, according to GSMArena.
A flagship device from, let’s say, Samsung is going to cost you around $600, but a device with similar or even better specifications from Xiaomi sells for just $400. And if you lower your expectations just a little bit and look at Xiaomi’s mid-range smartphones, then you are suddenly dealing with prices and value unrivaled by any established mobile manufacturer.
The younger market that Xiaomi targets is also a lot more passionate and vocal about their gadgets. There’s no need for Xiaomi to spend large sums of money on advertising – their own fans will spread the word out.
Lifestyle CompanyIn an interview for Wired, Lei Jun said, “Think of Xiaomi as a company that is bringing innovation to everyone. We put an emphasis on high-quality products that help to create a connected lifestyle for everyone as we move into a new era of technological innovation. This doesn’t only mean smartphones, tablets, TVs, routers — we invest in startups that form what we call an ecosystem. They make products that are sold on Mi.com, ranging from power banks to wearables to air and water purifiers, so we have hundreds of products that come together to create a lifestyle.”
This “lifestyle approach” could be the key to Xiaomi’s total dominance in the second part of this decade. As their core audience gets older, they are going to settle and shift their collective gaze from smartphones, tablets, and laptops to refrigerators, microwave ovens, water and air purifiers, air conditioners, smart light bulbs, smart weighing scales, and all those other products that Xiaomi is investing their time, money, and effort into.
In this new environment, a smartphone is going to be a sort of central hub that brings everything together. Similarly, a Mi account is going to be a form of personal identification that unlocks not just an online cloud storage – but the entire world around us.


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Treatt plc has named Daemmon Reeve group chief executive officer. He has overall responsibility for Treatt plc and its group subsidiaries. The announcement follows Hugo Bovill's departure from the company.
Reeve has worked with RC Treatt, the group’s principal operating subsidiary, for 19 years and most recently, held the position of CEO of Treatt USA.
Reeve will continue to be based in the United States but will spend a significant amount of time in the United Kingdom, according to the company.
“I am honored to be appointed group CEO of Treatt and am looking forward to driving the business forward with the assistance of our professional and dedicated teams, and continuing to build on the company’s growth and success," said Reeve.
Meanwhile, the company has reported financial results for the period spanning April 1 to Aug. 15, 2012. Treatt USA has continued to perform well, the company noted, while RC Treatt’s results have shown an improvement compared to a tougher first half of the financial year.
Raw material price volatility, notably orange oil, has impacted results. Orange oil prices have fallen in price by around 70% in the past 18 months, the company notes, which is significant because sales of orange oil-related products represent approximately 25% of group sales.
Sales and margins at Earthoil, the Group’s cosmetics ingredients division specializing in organic and fair trade products, "have remained in line with expectations," Treatt says.


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The Prescaronov Region won the award in the international competition thanks to the Be Charmed by the Prescaronov Region video."We are very happy to have gained appreciation for our promotional spot in competition with the whole world," said Martin Janoscaronko, director of KOCR Northeast Slovakia, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
"It was quite hard to squeeze all the beauties and interesting places of the region into three-and-half minutes," said Barbora #268echovaacute from KOCR Northeast Slovakia, as quoted by TASR, adding that they are happy that the video works, successful in both the local scene and abroad.The main motif of the video is the flight of a raptor, leading the spectator through the region from different perspectives.
"About 173,000 tourists visited Tren#269iacuten in the first half of 2018, which is 1,000 more compared to the same period last year," said Juraj Gerlici of KOCR
Tren#269iacuten, as quoted by the TASR newswire.The number of nights spent in the region by foreigners has also increased, by 17 percent.
The nearest will take place on July 21st in the Mniacutechovskyacute Potok, Bardejov locality, followed by the Levo#269skeacute hills on August 18th and a race in Prescaronov and its surroundings on September 8th.The Allure of the Cyklopaacutetranie consists in choosing the aims of the route for yourself, depending on your condition, skills and interests, said the head of KOCR
Northeast Slovakia, Martin Janoscaronko, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
The proposed measures include, among online platform and creation of tourism products aimed at specific target groups, branding KOCR
Trencn region, marketing communication and promotion in order to most effectively exploit the potential of tourism in Trencn expand and more attractive tourist offer and thus support the increase in traffic, the number of Bed and height for the selected accommodation taxes in this region.


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Value fashion chain Peacocks is to start selling CDs to take advantage of the gap left in the market since the collapse of Woolworths.
The 500-store retailer will sell CDs — by artists including Cheryl Cole, Lady Gaga, The Saturdays and Take That — for under £10 in 150 selected stores from this week.
The retailer will also sell accompanied by licensed t-shirts. Peacocks said that rock t-shirts are currently up 20% on the year.
Peacocks managing director Tim Bettley said: “The current trends that appeal to our fashion conscious customers are more and more influenced by the music scene. We will offer a combination of the two for customers who know and love their music just as much as their fashion.”


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Get caught up on the most up-to-date know-how and startup information from the previous 7 days. Listed here are the most popular stories on GeekWire for the 7 days of April 17, 2022.
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Sergei Dreizin is co-founder and CEO of application engineering enterprise Akvelon, based mostly in Bellevue, Clean. … Study Extra
Brett Skaloud and Jeff Feiereisen the two worked on some of the most slicing-edge technologies at any time developed at Amazon, with specific aim on encouraging to begin the company’s cashierless Amazon Go ease retailers. … Read Much more
Three and a 50 percent years immediately after his dying, another just one of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s passion projects — the intensive selection of aviation and navy artifacts that was housed at the Traveling Heritage & Overcome Armor Museum in Everett, Wash. … Go through Extra
President Joe Biden breezed into Seattle on Thursday, and continues his stay this early morning with ideas for Earth Working day remarks at Seward Park (see tweet at bottom). … Browse Extra
Google is heading gangbusters in the suburbs east of Seattle. … Examine Much more
Astronomers have issued an Earth Day call for environmentalism to be extended much more entirely to the closing frontier, and for organizations such as SpaceX and Amazon to dial back their ideas for mega-constellations. … Read A lot more
— Microsoft’s head of developer relations Ashley Willis McNamara announced Friday that she is departing and becoming a member of Google as head of developer communities. … Browse More
Editor’s notice: This guest write-up was composed by Glowforge CEO Dan Shapiro. … Browse Far more
— Sonia Jain, previously CFO from Cars.com, will be a part of Seattle startup Convoy as its new chief economical officer. … Read Much more
Microsoft launched a new online video Wednesday that reveals the latest progress on a multi-year redevelopment venture reshaping a significant swath of its headquarters in Redmond, Clean. … Read through A lot more


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Sponixtech's technology aims to help leagues, broadcasters and advertisers increase viewership and enhance the fan experience.Sponixtech (screenshots from feed)
The center of the virtual advertising universe may very well be Doha, Qatar. A man there named Mohammad Ali Abbaspour has millions of funding dollars in one hand, unique SPboard technology in the other and soccer federations banging on his door.
His company is Sponixtech, which two weeks ago unveiled novel technology that can remotely produce virtual advertising in multiple markets, regions or continents off of one international program feed. Its debut broadcast was a football match at Spain’s RCDE Stadium between Morocco and Chile that had one set of virtual ads on the world-wide feed and separate ads on South American feeds. If that sounds routine in a world with virtual first-down markers in American football and beamed digital ads on NBA baselines, this was conceptually the opposite.
Sponixtech’s staff didn’t have to be even near RCDE stadium. Or even install hardware in the venue. They managed all the virtual advertising…from a "cloud" in Qatar.
"There are different technologies in the [virtual] industry," Sponixtech’s founder and CEO Abbaspour told SportTechie. "Some of them, they need a specific billboard to be placed in the stadium, and some of them need a specific camera to be installed in the stadium. Some others…need to have access to the main camera feed. But no one in the industry can do this just from the program feed. And especially the dirty feed. We are using the dirty feed."
A "dirty feed" can have a game score, a game-clock, graphics or a watermark on it. But Sponixtech’s SPboard technology uses software-based artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer version—through Google cloud computing—to turn the dirty feeds clean.
"The solution is unique," Abbaspour says. "Now maybe tomorrow someone will do what we’ve done. But right now, no."
A precursor to last month’s launch was Sponixtech’s immersive replay solution in 2020 called SPov. The standard bearer before then was Intel True View, which installed 5K cameras around arenas and stadiums to capture visual data on the field and then —by syncing virtual cameras with computers —created replays from a players’ first-person point of view.
Sponixtech managed to do the same, but without integrating cameras or hardware at the stadium. Leagues or clubs such as UEFA, Mediapro Belguim, UAE, S.L. Benfica and FC Koln were thoroughly impressed, and soon broadcast partners like Eleven, Sky Sports, BeIN Sports, RMC Sport and Al Kass introduced the immersive replays into their game-casts and studio shows.
The next progression was creating similarly hardware-less virtual advertising. It took two years and an undisclosed multimillion dollar investment from UK-based Aser Ventures to finetune the technology, and the result was a three-pronged platform that can change the virtual industry.
According to Abbaspour, the SPboard process begins with a real-time calibration of the stadium. The next step—and perhaps the most complex of all—is the computer vision segmentation that allows the virtual advertising to not interfere with the players or the referees or the ball.
"Segmentation of the players is the most complicated and difficult part, especially when you haven’t any specific billboard or green [screen] inside of the stadium," Abbaspour says. "So this is the uniqueness of our solution, that we can segment the players, the ball, those kinds of things without any issue… without having any hardware in the stadium."
The final piece is rendering the virtual overlays of the ads to the broadcasts. Sponixtech’s protocol is to obtain the ads pre-match from the brand or sponsor with instructions on where the virtual ad should go and at what point during the game. The renderings are then projected appropriately and accurately due to the calibration.
Leagues, clubs and rightsholders have been enthralled, meanwhile, because it is a money-making software that allows them to sell each billboard multiple times to various sponsors at the same time.
"Let’s say the price of a [regular] billboard for a club or a league is $1,000 each match," Abbaspour says. "So a club or league or rightsholder can say to a sponsor that instead of $1,000 for this billboard, you [can pay] $700. But you won’t be visible in these other three of four markets."
"And then after that, they will go and sell the second board to those three or four markets, each of them, for example, for $400 or $500. So, in this case, they will have much more revenue from renting the space from one billboard. And at the same time, they can sell the same billboard several times. This is how it’s working."
That exact scenario played out at Sponixtech’s second SPboard integration at last week’s soccer match between Japan and Ecuador. The event was staged in Germany, with the international feed beamed simultaneously to Japan with virtual ads for Kirin beer and also to South America with virtual ads for Banco Pichincha.
As of now, Sponixtech can create virtual ads simultaneously for between four and seven different feeds at a time, and, with more in-house machines, they can bump it up to 20, 100 or more. At that point, it’s just about cost. It also has blueprints to expand to handball, tennis, paddle tennis, basketball and futsal, and conceivably could accommodate the American sport of baseball. And if the company does branch to U.S. sports, Sponixtech could take one feed of a Dodgers-Cardinals MLB game and put virtual Dodger Dog ads on the Los Angeles broadcast and virtual Budweiser ads on the St. Louis broadcast. And MLB and rightsholders could add incrementally to their revenue stream.
"Yes, see, we can produce different feeds for different markets," Abbaspour says. "It could be different continents, it could be a different country, even it could be different cities in one country."
As college football readies for the CFP and the NFL enters the final stage of its season, hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand look into the biggest media stories in both sports. For college football, that includes the CFP, the end of the Pac-12 conference and the final SEC on CBS telecast. With the NFL, Marchand and Ourand dissect the NFL’s decision to use flex scheduling on for “Monday Night Football,” and they analyze Amazon’s record-setting viewership for the Seahawks-Cowboys game.
Marchand and Ourand devote a topic to the NBA’s on-going media rights negotiations. Marchand looks into how MLB Network is treating MLB’s Winter Meetings. And Ourand explains why the DirecTV-Tegna carriage battle is so important to the sports media business.
SBJ I Factor: Ilana Kloss, presented by Allied Sports
SBJ I Factor presented by Allied Sports features an interview with Ilana Kloss, CEO of Billie Jean King Enterprises. Kloss, a member of Sports Business Journal’s Game Changers class of 2011 and a U.S. Open tennis doubles champion, sat down with SBJ’s Ross Nethery to talk about her career path, the importance of building relationships, and having the courage to make difficult career decisions.
SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards, such as Forty Under 40, Game Changers and others.


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SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland — Revenues from Garmin Ltd.’s marine segment increased 9 percent to $37 million during its fourth quarter, which ended on Dec. 25, 2010.
Marine segment revenues were also up 12 percent for the year to $199 million. Total revenues for the year were $2.69 billion, down 9 percent from 2009. The decrease in revenues is due to a 19 percent decrease in the company’s largest segment: Automotive/Mobile.
In his executive overview Garmin Chairman and CEO Dr. Min Kao said this about the marine segment: “With full year improvement in margins, the segment contributed $67 million of operating income in 2010. As we look forward to 2011, we are excited to be launching Garmin marine electronics with a growing number of OEM partners including Volvo Penta, Bavaria Yachts, Tiara Yachts and Chaparral. In addition, we have refreshed our fishfinder line-up for the spring season. Throughout the coming year, we will continue to build our position in the segment through innovation and OEM relationships that offer long-term growth.”
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- For more of the latest news, click here.


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Even as the indifferent monsoon is threatening to affect crop sowing in the current season, the recent spike in the prices of some fertilisers and related developments in the fertiliser sector are adding to disquiet over kharif production prospects. The government’s move to slash subsidies on non-urea fertilisers early this year, coupled with the rupee’s depreciation, has led fertiliser companies to substantially hike the sale prices of decontrolled fertilisers, such as diammonium phosphate (DAP), muriate of potash (MoP) and mixed fertilisers. As a result, the retail prices of DAP have now gone up by about 24 per cent to around Rs 2,400 a tonne and those of MoP by a still higher margin, of nearly 29 per cent, to Rs 16,000 a tonne. At the same time, however, the government has chosen to keep the prices of urea, the fertiliser most consumed, unchanged, at Rs 5,310 a tonne. The fertiliser ministry tried to restrict, at least slightly, this expanding price differential by suggesting a marginal 10 per cent hike in urea prices — but the proposal failed to be approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which instead referred it to a group of ministers.
This huge difference in prices will aggravate the imbalance in the use of the three major plant nutrients — nitrogen, phosphate and potash, with worrying consequences. Besides impairing soil health and lowering its fertility, a chemical imbalance would adversely affect farm output at a time when the consumer prices of agricultural items are already high. Some of the repercussions of these policy deficiencies are, indeed, already in evidence. The sales of phosphatic and potassic fertilisers have already turned sluggish. The industry expects the demand for these fertilisers to drop by 25 to 40 per cent in the current kharif season. The offtake of urea, on the other hand, is anticipated to swell by at least three to four per cent, if not more.
The genesis of these worrisome developments in the fertiliser sector is traceable to an enduring bias in the policy framework: it does not hold all fertilisers on a par. While the government decontrolled the prices of phosphatic, potassic and other non-urea fertilisers in 2010, when it switched over to the nutrient-based subsidy (NBS) system, urea was excluded from this move. Such lopsided policy hurts both agricultural and the government’s bid to curtail its fertiliser subsidy bill — which mounted to a whopping Rs 80,000 crore in the last fiscal. Even a 10 per cent increase in urea prices could have trimmed the fertiliser subsidy by Rs 1,500-2,000 crore. It is worth recalling that a similar increase in urea prices in April 2010 was absorbed by farmers without much grumbling, though there was a short-lived outcry from political parties. Thus, the best course available for the government today is to extend the NBS system to urea and decontrol its prices, to ensure that the subsidy and retail prices of urea move up or down in tandem with those of other fertilisers. Agricultural growth and output, already insecure, will otherwise be put in further jeopardy.


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IT'S a leather jacket considered legendary among late night TV news consumers and even has its own Facebook site.
That's why it could bring in thousands of dollars for charity now it has been put up for auction by its owner.
The owner is Liberal front bencher Malcolm Turnbull and he no longer fits the jacket having lost more than 10kg and dropped from a size 56 to a size 52.
Any money raised from the sale will go to the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross.
But how did a rather ordinary, pre-owned piece of clobber gain such fame? It came from a really bad gag cracked by Mr Turnbull on television.
On Monday August 23, just days after the inconclusive election last year, Mr Turnbull appeared on the ABC's Q&A where he was the only one of four males on the panel - Labor's Mark Arbib pulled out at the request of his leader Julia Gillard - not in a suit. He came in leather.
The Greens Sarah Hansen-Young noted that "there was a larger swing to informal votes than there was to the Liberal Party in the election and I think that does say a lot".
Mr Turnbull joked: "That's why I didn't wear a tie, you see. I'm courting the informal vote tonight".
That joke cemented the jacket as a fashion fixture of Australian politics for those who love to pursue its trivia.
Its auction will be promoted tonight when Mr Turnbull again appears on Q&A on its last program for the year.
This is the eBay description of the item for sale: "Malcolm's leather jacket emerged into notoriety at the famous QandA episode of August 2010, just two days after the Federal election.
"During this time, Parliament's independent MPs were still deciding who should form Government; Labor MP Mark Arbib inexplicably pulled out of appearing at the last minute.
"Malcolm appeared for the Coalition explaining his leather jacket as part of a strategy to court the informal vote. The independents were not swayed however and Julia Gillard survived as Prime Minister.
"Since Malcolm trimmed down, the jacket no longer fits - it is a size 56 and he is now a size 52. But the jacket is now looking for a new owner - but one who has not just big shoulders to fill it but a big heart to support the Wayside Chapel in Sydney's Kings Cross to whom all the proceeds will go."
Originally published asIf the Q&A jacket doesn't fit auction it off