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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 price cut from 171999 to just 99999, get this MEGA foldable now
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 gets a massive price cut, bringing it down to Rs. 1 lakh. Here is how to avail the deal.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 is now getting a massive price cut deal. The Fold 3 was Samsung's big fat flagship from 2021, offering a mega folding display and all the bells and whistles Samsung could cram into a phone. Get this – it even had an under display selfie camera that hid the camera cutout when it wasn't needed. The phone was eventually replaced by the Galaxy Z Fold 4 in mid 2022 but Samsung kept selling it as a more affordable alternative.
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is now available at an incredibly low price and those looking to own a big tablet style foldable device cannot get a better deal than this. If you head over to Amazon right now, you can bag the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 for less than Rs. 1 lakh. That's right, the phone is currently selling at a price of Rs. 99999 on Amazon India. That is a whopping 42 percent discount over the phone's launch price. And, this price is applicable without applying any exchange offer deal or special bank credit card offer.
Galaxy Z Fold 3 selling for less than Rs. 1 lakh
At Rs. 99999, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is an incredible smartphone to own. The Fold 3 was the most polished foldable smartphone you could buy in 2021 and most 2022. As 2023 begins, the Fold 3 is still a great smartphone to own. The phone is already on the Android 13 update with the One UI 5 and is eligible to get at least three more Android OS updates.
mobile to buy?
Then there's the folding display, which is the main attraction here. The Fold 3 offers a massive 7.4-inch 120Hz refresh rate OLED display that can folded shut when not needed. The display offers a tablet experience, allowing for better multitasking with multiple apps running together. There is also a 6.1-inch OLED 120Hz Cover Display on the outside that allows to quickly send a text or even run apps while on the move.
The hinge also allows the phone's camera to be more versatile. You can achieve tripod effects with the Fold 3. A Snapdragon 888 chipset runs the show, thereby offering all the raw performance you need. The cameras themselves are among the best in the business.
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CHICAGO — Americans increasingly are shifting away from meat in favor of alternatives made from beans, nuts, ancient grains and even jackfruit. A rise in so-called “flexitarian” eating has inspired a wave of innovative new product launches featuring meaty textures, flavors and experiences, said Lu Ann Williams, director of innovation at Innova Market Insights, Arnhem, The Netherlands.
|Lu Ann Williams, director of innovation at Innova Market Insights
“If we look at 10 years ago there was a lot of tofu and a lot of soy, and there were a lot of small niche players who were really focused on this market,” Ms. Williams said during a presentation at the Institute of Food Technologists’ annual meeting and food exposition, held July 16-19 in Chicago. “And then about five years ago we saw new sources of proteins starting to emerge, more players entering the market, and the products getting a little more sophisticated, a bit trendier.”
The number of global food and beverage launches featuring a vegetarian claim has increased more than 60% between 2011 and 2015. Vegan launches also rose, accounting for 4.3% of total introductions last year, up from 2.8% in 2014 and 1.5% in 2012.
While the majority of meat substitutes are made with soy or wheat protein, alternative protein ingredients, including egg, pea, ancient grains and nuts, are on the rise, Ms. Williams said.
“In the United States, there could be more than 120 million people who are considered flexitarians, so it’s an absolutely huge market, and of course much bigger than vegetarians or vegans.”
The rise in part-time vegetarianism and its influence on new product development was one of 10 trends identified by Innova Market Insights during a presentation at I.F.T.
“Every year we spend about four months with our analysis team trying to figure out what’s happening and what we think is going to have the biggest impact on product development for the next year,” Ms. Williams said.

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Xbox 720 Will Beat PS4, Suggests Google
Microsoft Xbox 720 versus the Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) - that's what the gaming industry is waiting for, a battle between two titans fighting for dominion in our living rooms. However, the question is which one is more likely to succeed over the other?
If Google trends is anything to go by, the Xbox 720 may have an early advantage.
Google logs every search query made using its search engine, the company uses the data gathered for marketing and for other purposes. By using Google Trends, anyone can have an insight into what is popular and what is not, and in the case of the Xbox 720 versus PlayStation 4, the next Xbox is proving too much for Sony's next offering.
The Web site, Ludos Mundi, collected information via Google Trends on the performance of the Xbox 720 and PS4. They wanted to know which platform consumers were gravitating towards more, the information has the potential to predict which one of the new consoles could be on top when they are both released.
According to the data received, 60 percent of searches worldwide goes to the Xbox 720, while the PS4 could only muster 40 percent. In the U.S., the Xbox 720 pulls away with a 66 percent lead, the PS4 drops to 34 percent, which is not surprising since the Xbox brand is more popular in America.
We conducted a little investigation on Google Trends and came away with the same conclusion, the Xbox 720 at this time is more popular than the PS4. What is happening here is not good news for Sony, the one dominant force has lost significant market share to the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360. To regain control, it must gain interest from gamers and potential gamers alike.


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Nintendo may end production for the Wii U by March 2018, says Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima. The news comes on the heels of Nintendo’s next-generation NX announcement, as well as the company’s financial estimates. Nintendo anticipates its operating profits will rise over the coming year, increasing 36.9-percent by March 2017, banking on both a new console and smartphone games to help with the financial push.
We still don’t know much about Nintendo’s planned upcoming console, codenamed NX, though rumors about it (and a handful of fake pictures) have surfaced over past months. Nintendo announced today that it will release the NX across the globe in March 2017 — no other official details, including a formal name, were given.
The launch of a new console will spell the end of the Nintendo Wii U — something that has largely flatlined over its relatively short life, and that will be even less desirable once a new option is available. It isn’t exactly clear how long Nintendo plans to keep producing the Wii U — we’ve heard word that it could end as early as this year — but company President Kimishima gave a very rough time frame today.
Kimishima said that Nintendo might cease production of the Wii U by March 2018, giving it one year of life after the launch of NX. It’s certainly not a resolute statement, though, and so it shouldn’t be taken too concretely. Before the new console arrives, Nintendo plans to launch four mobile games — ones that are actual proper games, not social disappointments like Miitomo. Two of those four games are set to arrive by this upcoming autumn.


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Posted: 15 Nov 2015 Print Send a link
TheMarketingSite.com, 12 Nov 2015: “The latest results from ComScore show that the BBC has overtaken CNN in ComScore’s digital rankings, reaching a global desktop audience of 75.6m unique visitors each month, compared to 72.1m for CNN. BBC visitors are also more engaged, spending over three minutes per visit and generating close to 1.8 billion page views. The latest results have seen the BBC’s sites achieve their highest-ranking position in ComScore’s News and Information category, above competitors including CNN, Mail Online, NYT and The Guardian. Jim Egan, CEO of BBC Global News Ltd, said, ‘In an increasingly noisy news landscape the BBC chooses to offer facts, context and completely impartial analysis people can trust. This has always been our commitment and we are delighted that audiences around the world value what we do.’ The BBC puts its popularity down to a programme of product investment, digital innovation and its continued investment in balanced reporting from an unrivalled network of international correspondents. BBC news is available on digital platforms in 30 different languages around the world.” KIM: While comScore has its shortcomings, not least of which is that its brand name begins with a lower case letter, this is an important global measure. “Desktop audience” is specified because, in most countries, comScore is limited in its measurement of Internet use via mobile devices. So far there is no information about this at the BBC Media Centre, but I’ll update this item as necessary.


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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's contention last week that privacy is becoming less important to online users caused a stir across the Internet and among privacy advocates.
The Nexus One "superphone" revolution appears to be experiencing some backlash. Google's Nexus One has been available for less than a week, yet customers and developers are already amassing a growing list of issues and complaints.
The Nexus is raising quite the ruckus. From the squabble over the device's name to complaints over poor 3G performance and subpar support, Google's first foray into phone sales is taking some unfortunate twists.
Middleware vendor Progress Software announced Monday it has purchased BPM (business process management) vendor Savvion for approximately US$49 million.
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While Amazon and Flipkart are celebrating their growth during the ongoing festive sales, a new report by Canalys has shown that the online smartphone market in India is set to surpass 15 million units shipments in the third quarter of this year, growing 25 percent year-on-year and accounting for 38 percent it the total smartphone market in the country. The Singapore-headquartered market research firm has estimated that online channels, including Flipkart, Amazon.in, Paytm Mall, and Mi.com, grabbed 35 percent of the total smartphone sales in the country in the second quarter. Online marketplaces such as Amazon.in and Flipkart already dominated the Indian online smartphone market, whereas shipments during the quarter directly via vendors’ websites accounted for 9 percent of the total.
According to the Smartphone Analysis, October 2018 report by Canalys, smartphone sales through online channels in India have grown more than 65 percent year-over-year with 11.7 million units shipped in the second quarter. Flipkart, Amazon, and other retailers dominated the online channels in the second quarter with massive 91 percent share, while vendor websites such as Mi.com and OnePlus.com accounted for 9 percent of all online shipments during the quarter.
Canalys Analyst TuanAnh Nguyen notes that the Walmart-Flipkart deal and Alibaba’s investment into Paytm have “infused much need optimism in the industry” and making smartphones as the direct beneficient of the fresh investments. “Online retail is seeing fresh vigor in India,” Nguyen adds.
The traditional retail model in India is based on offline retail for a long time. However, smartphone vendors such as Xiaomi brought a change to the market. Canalys points out in its detailed analysis that as of the second quarter, 62 percent of smartphones were shipped to distributors in the country and eventually resold to lower-tier channel partners and retailers. Xiaomi has continued its domination on the online smartphone market with a 54 percent share, followed by Samsung at 13 percent and Huawei at 7 percent. The analyst firm also highlights Asus that was initially 100 percent distribution led, recently revamped its go-to-market strategy and set to move to 100 percent online-only in the coming months. The Taiwanese vendor already brought some offers during the ongoing Flipkart sale to persuade buyers. Moreover, the company is found to tripled its shipments sequentially from the first quarter to the second quarter.
Canalys also estimates that 64 percent of Xiaomi’s total smartphone business in the second quarter was driven by the online market. This scenario is even higher in the case of Honor and OnePlus that had 91 percent and 92 percent of their business online during the quarter.
On the festive sales, Canalys notes that the aggressive offers by Amazon and Flipkart are likely to “stimulate demand”. Young brands such as Poco and Realme are also expected to boost smartphone shipments in the next couple of quarters.
“There has been a marked shift in the go-to-market of various smartphone vendors in India and online retail is a big part of that change,” said Canalys Research Manager Rushabh Doshi, in the report revealing the analysis. “While it’s difficult to shake Xiaomi’s dominance, vendors have begun to build partnerships with leading e-commerce players and are challenging the status quo.”
Doshi adds that alongside the growth of the online smartphone market in India, Amazon and Flipkart are also expected to emerge as the “true winners.”
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The survey, performed through the peak of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in India this 12 months, discovered that a big proportion of worldwide enterprise leaders stay assured in India’s short- and long-term prospects and are readying plans to make extra and first- time investments within the nation.
An evaluation by Deloitte confirmed that India will want $8 trillion of gross capital formation (new greenfield property) to grow to be a $5 trillion financial system by FY2027. Primarily based on previous tendencies, India will want no less than $400 billion, cumulatively, over six years, in FDI.
When requested to establish sectors most certainly to see new investments utilities (power infrastructure) led the way in which (57%), reflecting India’s plans to considerably develop its renewables capability, whereas monetary providers (49%) and healthcare (48% ) additionally ranked extremely.
India has the strongest constructive notion within the US when in comparison with markets comparable to China, Brazil, Mexico, and Vietnam. Given US and UK’s sturdy historic ties with India, US and UK enterprise leaders expressed larger confidence in India’s stability. Nonetheless, respondents from Japan and Singapore presently view Vietnam as their most popular funding vacation spot, the survey confirmed.
“After the challenges of the previous 18 months, the survey is a constructive validation of the underlying strengths of the Indian financial system, specifically its attraction for international traders. We imagine the outlook can solely get higher due to India’s enhancing ease of enterprise, which incorporates fiscal advantages and different reforms. These constructive steps additional persuade me that India is shifting in direction of its ambition of a US$ 5 trillion financial system,” Punit Renjen, Deloitte Global CEO was quoted as saying by an announcement from the consulting agency.
Though there may be important crossover, extra enterprise leaders, particularly in Japan, are making investments in India for entry to the home market relatively than utilizing India as a springboard for exports, the survey confirmed.
It mentioned that regardless of current reforms to enhance ease of doing enterprise in India, consciousness amongst traders stays low. Enterprise leaders in Japan (16%) and Singapore (9%) had been least conscious of initiatives such because the digitisation of customs clearance and manufacturing linked incentives for producers. Accordingly, India was perceived as a tougher atmosphere to do enterprise in comparison with China and Vietnam. Roughly 75% of enterprise
leaders mentioned they had been extra prepared to spend money on India after being made conscious of present authorities programmes, incentives and reforms, in response to the survey
India can goal attracting larger FDI into seven capital-intensive sectors—textile & apparels, meals processing trade, digital items, prescribed drugs, autos & components, chemical compounds & API, and capital items—which have contributed $181 billion of merchandise exports in fiscal 12 months 2020-21. It mentioned such investments will assist enhance the export progress of those sectors by six occasions to US$1,075 billion by FY2026-27.


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Razorpay launches payment gateway with Curlec in Malaysia
By Leandra Monteiro
Emerging economies like India, Malaysia, and other countries in South-East Asia are facing challenges of driving financial inclusion, increasing digital payment adoption amongst consumers and businesses, and strengthening local payments infrastructure.
To resolve these challenges, the Indian payments company is working in close partnership with local banks and regulators to launch new FinTech innovations.
Curlec by Razorpay combines India’s tech capabilities with a deep local understanding of the Malaysian payments ecosystem. It aims to provide businesses with a payment gateways that accepts payments, automates payouts, and helps them focus on their customers.
By harnessing the Razorpay technology that empowers businesses in India, the all-new Curlec Payment Gateway will offer a superior payment experience for Malaysian businesses.
Zac Liew, Co-Founder & Ceo of Curlec said, “With the launch of our Payment Gateway, ‘Curlec by Razorpay,’ is a full-stack payment solutions provider, combining the might of both worlds – world-class tech capabilities and an understanding of the local payment ecosystem.”
The company states that its collaboration with Curlec marks an important milestone in the digital payment landscape of Malaysia. With Razorpay’s proven technology and Curlec’s extensive experience, Curlec by Razorpay offers a powerful solution that simplifies payment collection, automates payouts, and empowers businesses in Malaysia.
IBSi Daily News Analysis
September 26, 2023
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Intel Corp. on Monday introduced its latest personal computer microprocessor, called the Pentium 4.|
A range of computer makers, including Compaq (CPQ: Research, Estimates), Dell (DELL: Research, Estimates), IBM (IBM: Research, Estimates) and Gateway (GTW: Research, Estimates), are expected to announce the immediate availability of systems featuring the Pentium 4.
Initially available at clock speeds of 1.4 and 1.5 gigahertz, the introduction means the Santa Clara, Calif., company now has the fastest processors available, a distinction it lost to rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: Research, Estimates) after a technical glitch led Intel to recall its highest speed Pentium 3 processors in August.
Intel and AMD have been locked in a fierce battle for bragging rights as the company that offers the fastest chips. Some critics suggested that the rivalry between the two companies is what prompted Intel to drive up the clock speed of its Pentium 3 to a point where its architecture could not handle the load, leading to the recall.
But the Pentium 4 is built around a whole new architecture, called "Net Burst," which is designed to optimize multimedia applications and can handle much higher clock speeds. The company is aiming to release a Pentium 4 processor operating at 2 GHz by the third quarter of 2001, according to Paul Otellini, executive vice president and general manager of Intel's architecture group.
The last time that Intel made a significant change to the architecture of its microprocessors was when it introduced the Pentium Pro in 1995. The Pentium 4 has 144 new instructions built into it that are designed to better handle audio, video and 3D applications that are becoming more prevalent with the rising use of the Internet.
"We designed this product for where we believe the Internet is going," Otellini said. "We really have tried to anticipate the growing application base for Internet applications and usage."
Dozens of software vendors rallied behind the Pentium 4 at the Comdex technology convention in Las Vegas last week, demonstrating more than 60 different applications that have been developed specifically to take advantage of the chip's new features.
At first, the Pentium 4 will be targeted at high-end desktop systems, mostly for consumer enthusiasts, according to Otellini. He said the company is aiming to have Pentium-4 based systems available in all the mainstream segments before the end of 2001.
Initially, the 1.5 GHz Pentium 4 will be available for $819, while the 1.4 GHz version will sell for $644. Both those prices are for unit volumes of 1,000 or more.
However, those prices are likely to come down relatively quickly. Intel executives have vowed to aggressively ramp production of the Pentium 4, sales of which they expect to overtake the Pentium 3 early in 2002.
"The crossover point will be very early in 2002, and our goal, of course, is to pull that in to 2001," Otellini said. In order to accomplish that goal, Intel will be very aggressive in pricing the chips, he said.
That could add pressure to what already is shaping up to be a harsh pricing environment in the PC processor market in 2001. Several analysts in recent weeks have voiced concerns that AMD's efforts to garner more market share combined with weaker-than-expected demand for PCs has laid the groundwork for a fierce pricing war in the coming year.
"I think you'll see very aggressively priced systems out there," Otellini said.


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The first wool sales of the new year have produced muted results, with prices for most lines of wool falling.
At last week's combined North and South Island auction more than 70 percent of the 17,500 bales sold but only fine lambswool showed any price gain.
There is still steady demand from China for finer wools but a marketing executive with exporter New Zealand Wool Services International, Malcolm Ching, said overseas customers were holding back on buying stronger cross-bred wool as supplies increased.
That was reflected in almost half of last week's South Island offering being passed in for not reaching farmers' reserve prices.
Mr Ching said the wool passed in was mainly full 12 month shorn fleece wool.
"There's quite a lot of that coming onto the market. There was an expectation put into the local marketplace by representatives of different companies that fleece would actually hold quite well this year, so a lot of farmers have an expectation of a higher price."
Quite a few farmers made the choice not to sell because of that, Mr Ching said.


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FTAG Group announced today that it has acquired a significant stake in Singapore-based live streaming startup BeLive Technology. The strategic move, made via the company's investment arm FTAG Ventures, will enhance FTAG's own media capabilities while expanding its technology portfolio. It also makes them one of BeLive's largest backers alongside Singapore's national broadcasting network Mediacorp.
"The e-commerce space is huge, with e-commerce sales worldwide reaching USD4.3 trillion in 2020. The pandemic has shown us that in the new normal, e-commerce and home-based entertainment will continue to dominate global consumption," FTAG Group Chairman Kelvin Chng commented. "We see tremendous potential in this space and live shopping is the next most exciting development from here."
BeLive offers powerful live streaming solutions that boast advanced interactive features and viewer data analytics which greatly enhance the user's experience, especially during live shopping. BeLive has been a key player in the live streaming industry since 2014, with offices in Singapore, Vietnam, and China. Key clients such as Samsung, Rakuten, Square Enix, L'Oréal Paris, and more recently, one of Indonesia's top e-commerce marketplace Bukalapak, is testament that BeLive is at the forefront of innovation.
Meanwhile, FTAG is set to push on with further strategic acquisitions during a time when most companies are unwilling to take on risks. The firm is also currently planning a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) deal targeting technology firms in the Asia Pacific region.


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BEIJING, July 11 (Reuters) – iPhone maker Apple (AAPL.O) has opened a store on its social media platform, Tencent (0700.HK) subsidiary WeChat said on Tuesday, marking an expansion of its retail channels. The American company ranks second in the world. largest economy.
The announcement of WeChat, China’s dominant messaging app that also provides e-commerce, live streaming and payment services, announced that users will be able to buy Apple products including iPhones, iPads and Macs from the store.
Apple and Tencent did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.
Apple’s move comes as Chinese consumers increasingly turn to social media platforms such as WeChat and ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to shop.
Besides its stores and website, Apple already operates a store on Alibaba Group’s Tmall (9988.HK) online marketplace. Apple also attempted to market its products live in China for the first time in May with an hour-long show.
Smartphone sales in China in the first quarter fell 5% year-on-year, marking the country’s lowest first-quarter sales figure since 2014, according to data from Counterpoint Research.
However, during the quarter, Apple recorded a 19.9% share of the Chinese smartphone market — the largest since 2014 — as sales increased 6% year-over-year in a declining market.
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom, Sophie Yu and Brenda Goh); Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Jamie Fried
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
“Typical beer trailblazer. Hipster-friendly web buff. Certified alcohol fanatic. Internetaholic. Infuriatingly humble zombie lover.”


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The Media Lab seems to have solved a problem that we don’t yet have.
Suppose it’s the future, and you are walking along a busy street. You pass a quaint shop or two, and decide to cross the street to get to a coffee (I was going to say to visit bookstore, but of course those probably won’t be around by the time this problem arises).
You step off the curb, look to your left, and there is a car coming toward you without a driver—one of the many autonomous vehicles that seem to be appearing in trendy neighborhoods. It slows down and stops at the intersection.
Do you dare step out in front of it to cross the street? Does it know you are there? Or will it suddenly accelerate and break your legs? There’s no driver to make eye-contact with.
A group led by Kent Larsen at the Media Lab has a solution. The researchers have outfitted a prototype electric vehicle (it’s about the size of a desk) with lights that look like eyes and the sensors from an X-Box 360 Kinect. The lights swivel to look at you when the sensors detect you, and blue LEDs flash to indicate the car has seen you. Directional speakers swivel toward you, too, and the car tells you it’s safe to cross. The system can also flash bright white LEDs to get your attention.
Sonar sensors can detect if a pedestrian is too close to the side of the car. If they do, LEDs in the wheels to turn from green to orange and red—getting redder as you get closer—to warn you, and let you know the car knows you are there.
Just a few years ago, the possibility of autonomous vehicles driving themselves around seemed remote. It would require massive infrastructure, new laws, and completely changing driver’s minds about how reliable robotic cars could be. But now Google is testing driverless cars, and automakers are steadily adding features that allow drivers to opt out of more driving. Adaptive cruise control has taken over braking and acceleration, even in some mid-range cost vehicles. Next year, BMW will sell a car that can drive itself at speeds under 25 miles per hour.
Autonomous vehicles seem far more plausible now. But it will probably be many years before municipalities allow them to drive around in cities. They’ll at the least require that a driver is behind the wheel in case the car goes berserk and decides to mow down a latte-bearing pedestrians.
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Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch
Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.
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Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd., reported that it expanded its patent infringement litigation against Fry’s Electronics, Inc., a big-box consumer electronics retailer, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
In its amended complaint, Seoul asserts that top brand televisions sold in Fry’s stores infringe 19 Seoul Semiconductor patents covering WICOP Technology that enables LED chips to be directly soldered onto printed circuit boards (PCB), as well as LED chips, LED packages, backlight lenses, backlight modules, and phosphors.
Seoul filed its original patent infringement lawsuit against Fry’s on August 31, 2018.
Seoul’s backlight lens patents cover a new concept in lens technology for producing thin and light televisions. The company jointly developed this patented backlight lens technology with preeminent optical expert, Dr. David Pelka, and these development efforts included considerable research and development investments.
Seoul says it now holds about 160 backlight related patents, as a result of these efforts and investments.
Seoul’s backlight module patent refers to the use of KSF phosphors to enable significant improvement in the color gamut of LCD displays. Seoul Semiconductor co-developed the related technology with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation for numerous years. According to Seoul, the backlight technology has been widely incorporated in most mobile phones and increasingly applied in LCD TVs as well.
Seoul’s WICOP (Wafer Incorporated Chip on PCB) patents enable LED chips to be soldered onto a PCB without an LED package. Seoul points out that other companies may have attempted to imitate its patented WICOP technology, describing it as a CSP (Chip Size Package) that requires a sub-mount between a PCB and an LED.
Efforts to Protect its Patents LED Seoul to Expand Infringement Claims Against Fry’s
Protecting its patented technology has led Seoul to expand its infringement claims in the Fry’s ligation. Furthermore, to safeguard its LED backlight technology and other protected inventions, Seoul has actively enforced its patent rights and sent cease-and-desist letters to suspected infringers.
Seoul says that as a result of these enforcement efforts, the United States Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on November 19, 2018, that one of Seoul’s competitors willfully infringed Seoul’s LED lens and backlight module patents. The appellate court also ruled that Korean LED package company Lumens Co., Ltd provided LED backlight bars incorporating infringing products to television makers.
“We hope that our commitment for technology innovation would inspire young entrepreneurs and small businesses,” said Sam Ryu, Seoul’s vice president of IT Business.“Protecting that technology against infringement is a cornerstone of our business and sends an important message to the market, and other innovators who would follow in Seoul’s footsteps – that hard work and innovation will be respected.”


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Morpheus Labs is proud to announce its collaboration with Cypherglass, one of EOS’s biggest block producers, to ensure education remains a priority within the blockchain industry.
Blockchain technology has the potential to reshape entire industries, such as Healthcare, Supply Chain, Finance and Banking, Government, Payments — the possibilities are endless. While distributed ledger technology is still in its infancy, a growing number of industries are discovering the potential of blockchain.
Morpheus Labs’ vision is for this emerging technology to reach mass adoption and believes that education is paramount to achieving this goal. By facilitating blockchain development and deployment, Morpheus Labs is accelerating the technology’s advancement and mass adoption.
Morpheus Labs has a direct interest in aiding talented developers, smart contract writers, and blockchain specialists. Fortunately, more blockchains, companies, and universities are joining hands to facilitate educational opportunities across the globe to ensure the technology will grow to meet its full potential.
Cypherglass consists of industry experts in the fields of infrastructure, cryptocurrency, and finance to bring to bear the most credible, transparent Block Producer for the EOS network.
Rob Finch, CEO of Cypherglass, called the partnership with Morpheus Labs “the next logical step.”
“Our main goal at Cypherglass is to on-board developers and users into the EOS ecosystem through education,” Finch explained.
This partnership with Morpheus Labs is the next logical step in this journey, and will result in more developer and user adoption of EOS. We are incredibly excited for the months ahead. Go EOS!
Dorel D Burcea, CIO of Morpheus Labs, said Cypherglass would bolster user confidence in its BPaaS and “push the boundaries of blockchain.” Burcea said in a statement:
Morpheus Labs BPaaS aims to be the leading go-to platform to help the developers and enterprises with their development of the blockchain tech. We had partnered with Dreamplus Blockchain Academy earlier to reinforce our goals to increase awareness and stickiness of user adoption. With Cypherglass now onboard, it would be a strong boost to the user confidence and together, we will aim to push the boundaries of blockchain
Morpheus Labs and Cypherglass will be working together to ensure every student and developer has a chance to educate themselves to truly reap the benefits of the EOSio software and blockchain technology, equipping themselves for future mass adoption of the technology.
About Morpheus Labs
As a Singapore-based blockchain startup founded in 2017, Morpheus Labs has developed a Blockchain-agnostic Platform-as-a-Service (BPaaS) and DApps Marketplace, enabling enterprises and developers to develop, deploy, and test-drive blockchain-powered applications at a fraction of the current cost and time.
We have on-boarded NEM, Ethereum, MultiChain, Hyperledger, and VeChain onto the Platform and count QuarkChain, TomoChain, CPChain, NULS, and Neurochain Tech as blockchain partners.
In March 2019, we initiated a partnership with Dreamplus Blockchain Academy backed by a renowned South Korean conglomerate and introduced a 7-week blended learning course, conducted with video tutorials and our Morpheus Labs Platform.
Check us out at our website, www.morpheuslabs.io
Contact Details: Willynn Ng, Head of Marketing [email protected]/ [email protected]
About Asia Blockchain Review
Asia Blockchain Review is the largest initiative for media and community building in Asia for blockchain technology. It aims to connect all blockchain enthusiasts on a regional scale and facilitate the technological foundation of blockchain through a range of group discussions, technical workshops, conferences, and consulting programs.
Our goal is to cultivate and encourage a collaborative community for our members to gather, share their experiences and endeavors in the blockchain space, and brainstorm the potential uses of blockchain technology.
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New sticky-note line will lead Gill Bebco to hire 30-40
The Bebco Line includes marketing products such as sticky notes and scratch pads, magnets, bookmarks and keychains. Gill Studios acquired the rights to the product line and all the machinery necessary to produce many of the products. Now, Gill is racing to get the local manufacturing operation up and running as soon as possible.
Gill Studios CEO Paul Lage said he understands that the clock is ticking and the longer it takes to get the product back onto the market, the harder it will be. So he has a huge interest in rehiring as many people as possible who already have experience manufacturing the products at Barton Nelson.
“The knowledge of the people there is key to us because it’s not something that’s easily transferrable,” Lage said in an interview. “There are a few operations we’re not going to continue, so we won’t need to hire back those people. But in general, we’re trying to bring back as many people as possible to restart operations. A lot of them have actually gone out and got new jobs. But it’s a tight-knit group. It’s been exciting for us to see all the people who want to come back and work for the company.”
Lage said the first priority is to get the paper products line back up because it was the largest piece of the business. Then, Gill will work to get the rest rolling.
James reports about banking, financial services and law.
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1 year after opening, Gather GVL is adding new tenants and losing others
Posted on 02/22/2021 by Gather GVL
By Lillia Callum-Penso, Greenville News
Much can happen in a year, and especially a year wrought by opening a new business and by a global pandemic. One year after it opened, Greenville’s first outdoor food hall, Gather GVL, continues to adapt and change.
Come spring, the food hall will see the closing of some of its original concepts and the opening of some new ones, said Gather GVL co-owner, Doug Cross, who conceived of and created the food hall with his son and partner, Mack Cross.
Among those concepts that have, or will be, closing their doors, is West End Coffee, Rocky Moo, the ice cream sandwich concept, Sweet Sippin’, the wine bar concept, which will be opening a brick and mortar location in the West End later this year and Prost!, the authentic German food concept.
West End Coffee and Rocky Moo have already moved out, while Sweet Sippin’ and Prost! will move out at the end of March, Cross said.
Prost! owner Harald Schmidt expressed sadness at the closing of his first location and his first restaurant. The native of Germany put all of himself into his concept, he said, and was pleased to gain a following over the past year.
“I’m sad not to have future opportunity to serve the clientele,” Schmidt said.
For now, Schmidt said he is trying to figure out next steps and if and how they might include Prost!
The year has been a long one, Cross said, but he is happy to see Gather continue to be a space for interesting food concepts and for the community to gather safely.
The opening of Gather on Feb. 18, 2020 was a challenge, Cross said. Construction on the food hall had taken over two years, making the opening feel welcome but long overdue.
There were also disputes among some of the tenants and the Crosses about rent commitment and specifics of lease agreements, which led to legal action in August. All four tenants leaving Gather were part of the lawsuit. The case ultimately went court-ordered mediation.
And, there was, and still is, the pandemic, which forced all restaurants in the state to close on-site dining.
New concepts will open in the spring
Cross is keen to focus on some positive news, he said. This includes a number of new concepts at Gather, including that of The Pasta Addict. The homemade pasta concept filled Gather’s incubator space this past year. The space is designed to help people with a good idea test the waters of business at a lower cost. The space is a short-term lease and is a reduced cost with equipment provided.
The Pasta Addict grew a following and will be moving into a long-term home inside the food hall, in the former Rocky Moo space.
“Our hope is that folks will get their feet under them and be able to spread their wings either in a brick and mortar outside of Gather, or if there is a space available, to another space within Gather,” Cross said. “Anthony and Jennifer (Pepe) were a perfect example. The purpose of it is to let them get their feet on the ground.”
Filling the incubator space will be Myami Bites. The concept will be a spinoff of Owners’ Lynda and Tomas Prado’ Charleston-based Spanglish Cocina+Bar. Myami Bites will bring Cuban-American flavors and a menu that among other things include Cubanos, empanadas, and other inspired sandwiches.
Moving into the space where Prost! currently is will be Yolo Pizza Kitchen, a new concept from Amy Rinkoski, owner of Tacozzini. While the menu is still under development, Rinkowski shared that it will likely consist of some standard pizzas, along with some unique ones, creative salads and a few appetizers. Plans call for offering a 10-inch size pizza, along with a 6-inch size for kids. And, Rinkowski also plans to offer standard crust and a cauliflower crust, which has become hugely popular.
“We sold like 15,000 cauliflower crust pizzas last year,” she said with a chuckle.
While Rinkowski had considered opening another location of Tacozzini, she feels at home at Gather, she said.
“I like the energy,” she said.
Going into the Sweet Sippin’ space will be another wine bar concept, Juice Box, the brainchild of Devin Cox, owner of the Greenville Beer Exchange, which sits just across the courtyard at Gather. Cox, who also owns the original GBX brick and mortar shop in downtown Greenville, had been toying with expanding that space and with adding wine.
When Cross approached him about the Gather space coming available, Cox said, it felt like a perfect opportunity to take his wine program further.
Cox is now growing in many directions. He signed a lease to take over some empty offices behind GBX downtown a day before signing the lease for Juice Box. The expansion will add nearly 3,000 square feet to the 1,000 square-foot retail space, allowing Cox to add a bar and a lounge area.
Cox has hired Evan Rutter, former owner of The Tasting Room in Travelers Rest who has deep knowledge of wine, to direct the wine program for both outposts.
Initial plans for Juice Box call for offering a variety of wines at a variety of price points, along with wine flights, mimosas and seasonal sangria. Cox is also toying with a fun resealable pouch that would further the theme of juice box with a Capri-Sun-like packaging as well as bringing in kegged wine.
“We’re going to find wine that anyone can enjoy, anyone can understand, anyone can buy,” Cox said. “We wanted everyone, no matter your wine knowledge to be able to come and enjoy something."
Both the expansion of the downtown GBX location and the opening of Juice Box is slated for April.
Thus far, the West End Coffee space at Gather is not filled, but Cross said he is hoping to find a complementary concept soon.
Gather GVL is located at 126 Augusta St., Greenville. Current hours are 8 a.m. – 9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 a.m. – 10 p.m. Friday – Saturday; 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sunday.
Lillia Callum-Penso covers food for the Greenville News. She loves the stories recipes tell and finds inspiration in the people behind them. When she’s not exploring local food, she can be found running, both for pleasure and to keep up with her 5-year-old twins. Reach her at firstname.lastname@example.org, or at 864-478-5872, or on Facebook atfacebook.com/lillia.callumpenso.


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tralac Daily News
10% hike in SA trade exports, stats show (Bizcommunity)
South Africa recorded a trade surplus of R16.1bn in February 2023 compared to a deficit of R22.7bn in January 2023, and higher than the market forecast of a R14.3 bn shortfall.
This was the largest trade surplus over the last six months and came on the back of a 10.7% month-on-month increase in exports and a substantial decrease of 14.8% in imports. In line with expectations, the cumulative trade balance for the first two months of 2023 narrowed to a deficit of R6.6bn compared to a R17.1bn surplus over the same period in 2022.
South Africa once again recorded trade deficits with most of its regional trade partners, except Africa. With a substantial decline in imports from Africa for the period, the trade surplus with the continent rose to R30.5bn. This surplus is greatly beneficial to South Africa in that it increases the rand flow to the country, but also, the composition of the trade with the continent supports economic development in the country.
Other than oil and coal, most of the exports to Africa consist of higher value products, such as machinery, vehicles, and iron and steel. On the import side, products sourced from the continent are mostly lower value-added mining and mineral products such as oil, gold, and diamonds.
South African light sports aircraft manufacturer Bat Hawk Aircraft has credited South Africa‘s membership of the Brics group as helping it win a major export order. Brics is the acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. The company is based in Nelspruit in Mpumalanga province.
“While our biggest aircraft importer in the continent is the Democratic Republic of Congo, followed by Botswana and Mozambique, we do export outside the continent as well,” explained Bat Hawk MD Terry Pappas. “We have footprints in the US and Australia. But our major breakthrough in the past five years has been with the Brics.”
Developing cybersecurity skills pipeline critical to fighting cybercrime (Engineering News)
Cybersecurity is one of the most significant risks facing South African companies and the government, as well as the world, with the World Economic Forum placing it among the top ten biggest threats faced by the world today.
However, the ability of the private and public sectors to respond adequately to the threat hinges on developing a cybersecurity skills pipeline, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) cybersecurity systems research group leader Billy Petzer said on April 4 at a cybersecurity media briefing in Pretoria.
The UN SDGs highlight the importance of energy indicators in achieving sustainable development. The supply side of energy in Tanzania has received a significant boost and there are optimistic targets to suggest further improvements in this area. However, past experiences have shown that the problems of financial constraints and the lack of technical capacities required could either delay or lead to the total abolishment of some projects. In the short- to medium-term, emphasising demand-side management (DSM) could prove crucial in ensuring a sustainable energy system in Tanzania but the evidence is sparse.
This study reviews the trends and underlying drivers of energy demand, supply, and cost in Tanzania. Total primary energy and electricity consumption exhibit a rising trend, and challenges on the supply side suggest energy deficit is a looming challenge in the future. Thus, without a significant boost in supply and probably DSM, unserved energy demand could worsen in the future. Key drivers include economic growth, price, electrification rate, population growth, industrialisation, changes in economic structure, and energy efficiency. Forecasted peak demand in the medium (2020-2025) and long term (2025-2030) would average annually 1274.74 MW and 1490.33 MW, respectively. Recent electricity tariffs in Tanzania are ranked among the highest in the sub-region, and the key drivers are own generation and transmission, and power purchase. The current tariff structure favours commercial consumers more than domestic consumers and this might impose significant affordability challenges on women who mostly do not operate in formal businesses. We discuss the implications of the findings.
Local manufacturers hail suspension of proposed excise duty hike (The Guardian Nigeria)
The inability of many Nigerians to access cash for daily activities is beginning to impact livelihoods and productivity in the real sector negatively, while pushing many businesses in the informal sector to the edge.
Factories are also experiencing a reduction in number of shifts and utilisation due to fewer workers and poor product sales at the retail end, while stakeholders in the informal sector have witnessed a decline in activities in the last few weeks.
CPPE chief executive officer, Dr. Muda Yusuf, noted that Nigerians continue to groan in the adversity inflicted by the acute cash shortage amid rejection of old currency notes by market operators, refusal by banks to accept old notes, silence by the Presidency on the Supreme Court judgment and absence of official pronouncement by CBN on the issue. He added that retail transactions across sectors have become nerve-wracking and distressing as payment system challenges persist. Yusuf, therefore, called on President Buhari to immediately intervene to put an end to the hardship caused by the currency redesign policy, adding that the cash scarcity has not only crippled economic activities in the country but has now become a major risk to the livelihoods of Nigerians.
The economy is gradually grinding to a halt because of the collapse of payment systems across all platforms. Digital platforms are performing sub-optimally because of congestion; physical cash is unavailable because the CBN has sucked away over 70 per cent of cash in the economy and the expected relief from the supreme court judgment has not materialised,” CPPE said.
President William Ruto has called for sustained efforts to enrich jurisprudence on environmental law in a bid to curtail further climate-related crises in Africa. Ruto who spoke on Monday while officially opening the 3rd Symposium on Greening Judiciaries in Africa challenged courts to widen their scope beyond human rights and constitutional affairs in a bid to secure climate justice.
“Greening our judiciaries will be inevitably multi-sectoral and inter-disciplinary. Beyond local and international human rights, constitutional, environmental, trade and economic law, our judiciaries must be exposed to diverse fields such as ecology, economics, agriculture, food systems, trade and finance, carbon markets, energy and infrastructure,” he told delegates at the conference.
Ruto termed pollution-dominated industrialization as unsustainable hence calling for concerted efforts to promote sustainable alternatives.
Chemicals company BASF global precious metal services senior VP Timothy Ingle told delegates attending the Platinum Group Metals Day, in Johannesburg, earlier this week, that it would be extremely challenging from a raw materials perspective to meet the expected global uptake of ten-million electric vehicles (EVs) this year and the goal of reaching 40-million EVs on the road by 2030.
Ingle pointed to challenges faced globally with securing base metal supply and, in particular, lithium and class one nickel.
Concern over East Africa manufacturing slide (The Citizen)
Queries are being raised over the falling manufacturing value addition (MVA) in the East African Community (EAC) bloc. The trend fell short of the annual growth rate envisaged under the region’s industrialisation drive.
“We are not doing well in meeting the aspirations of the regional industrial policy targets,” said Mr Jean Baptiste Havugimana, the EAC director of productive sectors. According to him, MVA growth has slowed down in recent years. The growth rate fell from 5.3 percent between 2005 and 2010 to 4.6 percent between 2010 and 2021. The fall, he further said, was short of the 10 percent annual growth rate envisaged in the EAC Industrialisation Policy (2008-2032).
“This is nowhere near the double-digit growth envisioned,” Mr Havugimana told a meeting of the EAC sectoral council on trade, industry, finance and investment. He said that due to the slow pace of MVA growth, relative to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the share of manufacturing in GDP has been contracting. Previously manufacturing contributed more than ten percent of the region’s GDP but has now dropped to less than eight percent.
“This is raising doubts about structural transformation through industrialisation,” Mr Havugimana said at the meeting held in Moshi.
Lesu and kanga to get new EAC textiles boost (The Independent Uganda)
The East African Community-EAC is now pushing for traditional wear and garments made from local materials in a bit to revive the region’s textile industry. A policy organ says if the lesu and kanga are encouraged as wear or inputs for clothes, it will go a long way in supporting cotton farmers, boosting industrialization, and saving foreign exchange. For close to ten years now, the East African Community has sought to jointly revive and grow the local textile industry but efforts are yet to bear fruit.
Now the Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment (SCTIFI) called on EAC the Partner States to adopt the use of traditional or folklore wear as official Government dresses for official events, as part of the “Buy East Africa, Build East Africa” strategy.
The council, at its just-ended 38th Extraordinary meeting, also encouraged the countries to establish digital platforms to support the exchange of information on the harvesting of cotton and trade of cotton lint in order to increase the intra-EAC trade on the products.
The ministers also proposed that textile and textile articles be moved to the maximum band (of goods protected by high tariffs on imports) to stimulate local production.
EAC members urged to remove bottlenecks obstructing industrial development (Capital Business)
Seven member states of the East African Community (EAC) have been urged to remove restrictions and bottlenecks that obstruct industrial development in the region. A statement by the EAC headquarters in Tanzania’s northern city of Arusha said the appeal was made during the 38th Extra Ordinary Meeting of the Sectoral Council on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment dedicated to industrialization held in Tanzania.
According to the statement, the chairperson of the meeting, Burundian Minister of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning Audace Niyonzima, said industrialization, trade, finance, and investment are important pillars of integration, and their development will help to deepen integration as the region moves toward the next milestone of financial integration.
Niyonzima called on EAC member states not only to put in place clear industrial policies and strategies but also to implement them on the ground to support economic development and employment for EAC citizens.
Baker McKenzie’s latest Africa Competition Report 2022 provides a detailed analysis and overview of recent developments in competition law enforcement and competition policy in 32 African jurisdictions and regional bodies. The Report outlines how, over the past two years, African competition regulators have actively engaged in efforts to address pandemic-related challenges, but there has also been a general upward trend in competition policy enforcement across the continent. This trend is highlighted by a number of significant recent developments in competition law regulation across the continent. Countries and regions with recent competition law developments include the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa.
AfDB supports Africa fintech hub project with $525,000 grant (News Agency Nigeria)
The African Development Bank (AfDB), have signed a 525,000 dollar agreement to support Africa Fintech Network’s (AFN)’s Hub project. Mr Lamin Barrow, the Director-General, AfDB, Nigeria Country Department, during the signing in Abuja on Tuesday, said the project would boost the fintech industry on the continent.
This grant of 525,000 dollars, will support the operationalisation of an on-line digital hub to serve as a repository of knowledge for fintech entities across the continent, and globally. “ The Digital Hub, which is to be delivered through a strategic partnership between the Africa Fintech Network and Cenfri, will help to strengthen the fintech ecosystem across Africa, and boost the industry’s competitiveness.
The grant is funded by the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI).
As China opens up to African farms, long road still ahead for ‘green lanes’ (South China Morning Post)
A variety of raisins from South Africa are now reaching Chinese consumers, as doors open wider to African food products under President Xi Jinping’s “green lanes” promise.
“High quality fruit from Africa is gaining more and more recognition in the Chinese market,” Wu Peng, director general of the Chinese foreign ministry’s African affairs department, tweeted recently. This comes as China imports more farm produce from Africa, including avocados, cashews, sesame seeds and chilli peppers, as agriculture becomes the new focus of its engagement with the continent.
Can Russia Increase Trade With Africa Beyond Rhetoric (Business Post Nigeria)
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the International Parliamentary Conference Russia – Africa in a Multipolar World held in Moscow under the auspices of the State Duma of the Russian Federal Assembly on March 20.
The partnership between Russia and African countries has gained additional momentum and is reaching a whole new level, he noted in his speech, and along the line, adding that additional opportunities are opening up by the process of establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which began in 2021, which in the future will become a continental market which favours developing ties both through the Eurasian Economic Union and bilaterally.
“Mutual trade is growing every year, which reached almost $18 billion last year. It is unlikely that such a figure can fully suit us, but we know that this is far from the limit. The development of counter-commodity exchanges will undoubtedly be facilitated by a more energetic transition in financial settlements to national currencies and the establishment of new transport and logistics chains,” he added.
Trade tracker: EU trade deals (UK in a changing Europe)
The EU has signed two economic partnership agreements (EPAs), one with West Africa and the other with the East African Community (EAC). They have yet to come into force. Upon ratification, the deals will reflect one of the first major trade divergences between the EU and the UK from the EU side.
The West Africa EPA involves 16 West African states that did not previously have trade deals with the EU. For the EPA to be fully ratified, all 16 states must sign the deal and then adopt it in their respective legislatures.
More flexible rules of origin will allow products being exported from West African countries to have inputs from other countries and still be eligible for tariff-free trade with the EU, giving goods from West Africa more ability to utilise global supply chains.
In terms of sectors, West Africa’s exports to the EU consist mainly of oil and gas (58.7%) and food products (28.9%). West Africa’s imports from the EU consist of fuels (27%), food products (20.6%), machinery (23.2%), and chemicals and pharmaceutical products (10%).
The EAC EPA involves six countries, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan, and Uganda. Kenya and Rwanda are the only countries to have signed the EPA so far, both signing it in 2016 and Kenya ratifying it in the same year. Kenya is the only country to have ratified it to date. Similar to the West Africa EPA, the EU has signed a stepping stone EPA with Kenya while they await full ratification from all six countries. The UK rolled over that deal with Kenya when it left the EU. This deal is not as far along as that of West Africa. While the deal is finalised, the process of ratification by each country’s legislative body is still in the works, therefore, its benefits will not be realised for some time.
The deal will help EAC exports of coffee, cut flowers, tea, tobacco, fish, and vegetables while it will help EU exports to West Africa, which are primarily dominated by machinery, vehicles, and pharmaceuticals.
A recent publication contains guidelines and best examples of integrated weather and climate services from across the globe. It “provides well-timed support for this crucial decade of energy transition to net zero,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas “By enabling WMO Members and their National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, as well as energy sector companies and practitioners, to deliver and use integrated weather and climate services, national strategies on clean and sustainable energy for all can be achieved in a timely and effective manner,” he added.
investment is critical, including to ensure that energy infrastructure is resilient to climate-related shocks, and to harness the power of energy generated from sources such as the sun and wind, the UN agency said.
Marco Molina, Deputy Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the WTO, reported in his personal capacity on informal meetings he was asked to convene by a group of WTO members on the issue of dispute settlement reform. The objective of these meetings was to have substance-based discussion to find practical solutions to the concerns identified by members, with the aim of fulfilling the June 2022 ministerial mandate of having a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all members by 2024.
Mr Molina said that between 6 and 14 February he had over 40 bilateral meetings with delegates and regional coordinators representing more than 130 WTO members, which was followed by an informal meeting on 17 February open to all WTO members. An online template was created for the submission of proposals, of which 70 have been received from members to date. Informal discussions were also started in small groups and open to all members for talks on the proposals put forward; so far 45 delegates have participated in the small group meetings.
Participants in the WTO’s Information Technology Agreement (ITA) welcomed at a meeting on 29 March a request by Timor-Leste to join the ITA and the ITA Expansion Agreement. Members also discussed ITA trade concerns and heard a WTO Secretariat report on latest trends in global trade in information and communication technology (ICT) products.
The Secretariat provided an update on latest trends in world trade in ITA products. The presentation noted that world exports of ITA products have more than quadrupled since 1996, reaching USD 2.5 trillion in 2021. The export of products under the ITA’s Expansion Agreement is estimated at about USD 2.1 trillion of exports in 2021, accounting for around 12 per cent of world merchandise exports. The Secretariat noted that products covered under the ITA and its expansion are among the most traded product groups in the world.
The report also noted that the ITA contributes to the reduction of import prices of IT products. These prices were around 70 per cent lower in 2021 than when the ITA entered into force in 1996. Asia’s leading role in the production and integration of ITA products was also noted, with Viet Nam becoming the world’s seventh-largest ITA product exporter.


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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) and Senate Committee on Communications have commended Airtel Nigeria for launching its 4G LTE – aimed at providing fast and reliable internet for Nigerians.
The Chairman of NCC, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, in his remark at a consumer launch event held recently in Ibadan, said Airtel’s upgrade and expansion to a 4G network in Ibadan will definitely improve telecommunications services and drive economic growth. “NCC is happy to celebrate with Airtel on this milestone and on other efforts aimed at achieving robust and extensive network coverage in Nigeria. NCC has taken note of Airtel’s numerous giant strides towards the provision of good communication service – accelerating economic growth in our dear country,” he said.
Hon. Saheed Fijabi, Chairman, House Committee on Communications, National Assembly, commended Airtel for continuous innovation and commitment to improve telecommunication service in Nigeria. “Airtel has been one of the companies that have always been complying with local content. We believe Airtel has been doing well and we will continue to give them our support.”
Director General, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. Dan-Azumi Mohammed Ibrahim, also applauded the telco for its customer-centric offering; describing the launch of its 4G LTE has a timely revolution.
The Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Chief Moses Alake Adeyemo, hailed Airtel for deploying 4G in Ibadan, saying that he is glad that Airtel Nigeria has chosen Ibadan to pioneer the launch of its revolutionary 4G service.
Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, while speaking during the event, said with the 4G launch, Airtel will power people, businesses and cultural advancement through technology in Ibadan.
“Airtel 4G will help drive growth, spread prosperity and empower the highly enterprising people of Ibadan to fulfill their potentials and realize their dreams.
“Our commitment is to deliver 4G Service that works to Nigerians as we will dramatically improve mobile Internet experience for telecoms consumers across the country.


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Last week, Samsung made the official Android Nougat update for the unlocked Galaxy S7 Edge available for users to install. Its little brother was left out of the action, but it now looks like the unlocked Galaxy S7 is also getting the same update.
According to many users across the web, Android 70 is now rolling out to the standard unlocked Galaxy S7. The update weighs in at around 1.2GB and is rolling out over the air. In other words, you don’t have to take some alternate route to get the update installed on your phone.
In the same breath, the OTA of Nougat for the S7 Edge is also reportedly beginning to roll out.


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Chipotle Mexican Grill is a “chain of restaurants in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and France, specializing in burritos and tacos”. With the attractiveness of “fast casual food” restaurants emerging in America, Chipotle was, for the longest time, at the peak of their popularity. With a food business so dear to the hearts of many, the E. Coli outbreak linked to many of the chain’s outlets in Washington state and Oregon was a shock for all.
Those who have taken some sort of biology class may know that most strains of E. coli are harmless. Escherichia coli, the scientific name for the bacteria, can be found in the intestines of humans and animal. While some strains of the bacteria are necessary to a healthy intestinal tract, there are harmful strains that can cause severe stomach cramps, diarrhea (often bloody), and nausea. These strains are usually found in contaminated food or water and can spread through human contact.
Some may wonder how a business, such as Chipotle, that promotes healthy and organic ingredients end up leaving their customers with such an illnesses. It is because the company’s “use of fresh produce and meats rather than frozen, and [their] reliance on employees cooking with traditional methods rather than automation,” informs the Chipotle management. Organic foods are grown the conventional way of farming, which can lead the produce being contaminated by the fecal matter found in fertilizers, soil, etc. These all-natural methods in preparing the food lead to 43 outlets in Washington and Oregon had been closed
The news of Chipotle’s E. coli outbreak has many people upset and others unfazed. Fifty-nine percent of Apex High School students polled that they refuse to eat at Chipotle. The other forty-one percent could not care less about the company’s outbreak. Those who would continue to eat at Chipotle say the only people who should be alarmed are the customers living in states of Washington or Oregon. They also believe it is rash to give up something that has become a significant part of their lives.
On Nov. 10, Chipotle said they will reopen all the restaurants that they closed, despite the cause of the E. coli still being unknown. While Chipotle has had a rough couple of weeks, things are looking up, starting with their shares increasing by .45% on November 17.


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Covid-19: 6.5 lakh medical kits, purchased from China, to arrive in India today | India News
In a tweet, India’s ambassador to China Vikram Misri said the medical kits were shipped early Thursday from Guangzhou airport in southern China.
“#IndiaFightsCoronavirus A total of 650,000 kits, including rapid antibody tests and RNA extraction kits, have been shipped earlier today from Guangzhou airport to #India,” Misri wrote.
#IndiaFightsCoronavirus A total of 650,000 kits have been made, including rapid antibody tests and RNA extraction kits … https://t.co/KtEpOJC8Du
– Vikram Misri (@VikramMisri) 1587006823000
Misri told PTI more than two million test kits that are sourced from China in the next 15 days.
Rapid Antibody Test Kits deliver results in 15 minutes and work on blood samples instead of nasal samples to determine if a patient has been exposed to the new virus. The RNA Extraction Kit allows total extraction of RNA from tissues. This extracted RNA is a mixture of a person’s own genetic material and, if present, the coronavirus RNA.
Two major shipments of medical kits were reported to have been shipped to India from China earlier as part of efforts to intensify testing, especially at hot spots during the ongoing blockade in the country.
On Tuesday, Misri told the media here that India has ordered to obtain 15 million personal protective equipment from China for medical personnel treating patients with COVID-19, in addition to three million test kits.
The requests are made in good faith with the help of the Chinese government.
“I believe that facilitating our needs and requirements in a timely manner, smoothly, on a predictable schedule at stable and orderly prices, would be the best possible signal to send the India-China relationship,” Misri said.
As its factories resumed operations after a tough two-month battle with coronavirus, China is busy taking advantage of vast export trade opportunities for key medical products, especially ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE), worldwide. , including India, where private and government agencies are placing orders for the import of these products.
India has extended its ongoing blockade to fight the coronavirus until May 3. It has reported 414 deaths due to the disease and 12,380 people have been infected with the disease in the country.
Considering the importance, Misri said the Indian embassy is facilitating commercial purchases in addition to coordinating flight links for their timely arrival in India.
As demand for Chinese medical supplies increased due to the spread of the virus in various parts of the world, China on Wednesday asked all countries to import these items through renowned Chinese companies authorized by the government and promised to punish the engaged in counterfeit behavior.
Responding to questions about quality concerns raised by various countries related to imports of medical equipment from China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a press conference on Wednesday that the Chinese government is facilitating ordered exports. .
“We hope that foreign buyers will be able to choose products from companies that have been accredited by Chinese regulators with good production credentials,” he said.


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Sony continues to favour the stick over the carrot in their ongoing battle against leaks.
As MusicWeek report, Sony has launched a $233,000 (£154,000) lawsuit against a BitTorrent user in Sweden. The company claims that the 47-year-old man uploaded Beyonce’s 2011 LP 4 to the file-sharing site a fortnight ahead of the album’s official release date. The man reportedly works in the music industry.
The case is something of a first, with data from US electronic monitoring service DtecNet helping to build a case against the defendant. DtecNet are responsible for the high-profile ‘six-strikes’ scheme in the US, whereby file sharers receive six gradated warnings when they breach copyright law. Sony’s submission to the Gothenburg District Court claims that the leak adversely impacted on its sales figures and marketing strategy. Sony also claims that the leak harmed Beyonce’s relationship with the company, and damaged her personal reputation as an artist.
As NME note, the move follows Sony’s successful 2013 action against two hackers accused of uploading unreleased music from Michael Jackson. James Marks, 27, and James McCormick, 26, of Blackpool, were given six month suspended sentences and were forced to complete 100 hours of community service.


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SAUDI ARABIA — (ARAB NEWSWIRE) — Wahyd Group Inc, the leading technology company has announced the opening of its offices in Saudi Arabia, their second office in the GCC region.
Utilizing Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML), Wahyd has expanded its comprehensive technological solutions to streamline road freight transportation in Saudi Arabia, to make logistics more efficient, open, and transparent for all stakeholders.
Wahyd’s cutting-edge technology empowers transporters and shippers. Its solution allows enterprises and individual customers to directly communicate with small truckers and get the best possible rates without much hassle.
Wahyd’s proprietary technology allows it to eventually become the largest and most diverse fleet in the region. This technology can serve all types of orders, allowing the organization to have access to almost the entire market.
Wahyd’s territorial growth and geographical expansion started from South Asia. Its solution successfully traveled through Central Asia and is now expanding across the Gulf region.
The conglomerate’s expansion it GCC’s market underscores its commitment to expand its reach to help businesses in the region adopt innovative technologies that will streamline their operations.
With its world-class services and solutions, Wahyd is well poised to become a key player in the GCC’s logistics sector.
About Wahyd Group
Wahyd Group Inc. is a Delaware, USA, based for profit, social enterprise which has mobilized digital technology to facilitate the growing multitrillion dollar global logistics industry. This long sought addition is revolutionizing within and around the logistics industry which, in most of the world, is still being run with conventional strategies and non-technology tools.
Ali Tahir, Global Marketing Manager
This press release is issued through Arab Newswire (www.arabnewswire.com) – a newswire service for Arab World, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and it is distributed by EmailWire™ (www.emailwire.com) – the global newswire service that provides Press release distribution with guaranteed results™.


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STOCKHOLM, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Swedish high-tech car safety products maker Veoneer has recruited former parent Autoliv’s finance chief Mats Backman as its new Chief Financial Officer, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
Backman replaces Mathias Hermansson at Veoneer, who announced his resignation in December, prompting a steep fall in Veoneer shares on the day.
Veoneer, which makes products such as radars, vision systems and advanced driver assistance systems and was spun out of airbag maker Autoliv earlier in 2018, said Backman would take up his new position in early July at the latest.
Autoliv said in a statement that Christian Hanke, currently Vice President, Corporate Control would serve as interim CFO during the search process for a permanent CFO.
Reporting by Johannes Hellstrom; Editing by Simon Johnson


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Hewlett Packard expanded its Compute portfolio with two ProLiant Gen9 Tower servers, which are aimed at small- to medium-size businesses. The servers are designed to run general purpose workloads and applications such as IT infrastructure, collaboration, Web and business applications.
The servers include the ProLiant ML10 v2, an entry-level 10 Series tower server with increased connectivity slots for storage and networking.
The Federal Aviation Administration has now given permission to Amazon to begin outdoor test flights of its delivery drones. However the FAA also placed limitations on the operation of those drones.
The restrictions include limiting drone flights to no more than 400 feet above ground level and testing must be performed in clear weather during daylight hours. The drone operator must have a private pilot’s license with a current medical certificate. In addition, the operator must have line of sight visibility of the drone when it’s flying.
A European lawmaker has called on EU regulators to bring formal antitrust charges against Google after a document surfaced this week showing that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission staff wanted the agency to sue Google for violating antitrust laws.
Several European lawmakers have previously said that it might become necessary to split Google’s search business from the rest of the company to ensure fair competition in the search services space.
Distributed denial-of-service attacks are often associated with large bursts of attack traffic that last for hours at a time. However, a report from Corero Network Security has found that the majority of DDoS attacks in the fourth quarter of 2014 lasted 30 minutes or fewer.
The short-duration DDoS attacks represented 96 percent of attacks against Corero’s customers in that quarter. While the DDoS attacks were short in duration, Corero reported in its DDoS Trends and Analysis quarterly report that its customers saw an average of 3.9 attacks per day.


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Pet owners are projected to spend 4% more on supplies for their pets this year than they did last year, according to the market research firm Packaged Facts. "We are certainly seeing more health-related and preventive health products on the market that help pets maintain healthy lifestyles," said Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Products Association. Hot items include products geared toward aging pets, pet dental care items and natural and organic pet food.
Consumer pet spending projected to increase
SmartBrief Job Listings for Health Care


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WESTPORT, Conn. -- Laurence Bradley, Westport Planning & Zoning director, said that, as the height of hurricane season approaches, town officials will provide flood zone and flood insurance information during the fourth annual Slice of Saugatuck on Saturday.
The event is from noon - 3:00 p.m. at the Saugatuck Fire House, 3342 Blue Star Highway.
Visit Westport’s Emergency Information page for further helpful information, useful links, and to sign up for alerts.
Also, visit the National Weather Service 2015 Hurricane Outlook page at 2015 Hurricane Seasonal Outlook.
At the Slice of Saugatuck, there will be three dozen of Saugatuck's finest restaurants, shops and galleries opening their doors and inviting the community to come and sample their offerings.
Walk the streets of Saugatuck Center and taste food from restaurant to restaurant, to liquor store, to retail merchant and back.
Click here to sign up for Daily Voice's free daily emails and news alerts.


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Cannabis Solidifies its Global Stature
Friday, April 12, 2019 8:18:00 PM
Cannabis has grown into a global force recently, driven specifically by the spur of ongoing legalization efforts. Despite cannabis still being illegal in most countries, the movement for legalization is stronger than it's ever been.
In October 2018, Canada became the second country to ever legalize cannabis entirely, joining Uruguay on that short list. Shortly after, the U.S. held its mid-term elections in November where Missouri, Michigan, and Utah all legalized cannabis on a certain level. Meanwhile, globally, a string of countries such as Australia, Germany, and South Korea began accelerating their medical cannabis programs. Furthermore, Argentina, Columbia, the Netherlands, Spain, and many others have decriminalized cannabis, allowing for personal moderate consumption.
Moreover, hemp-derived CBD products like tinctures, creams, and oils are seeing massive exposure because they are legal within the U.S. The proliferation of cannabis legalization is leading to an explosive emerging global marketplace, where many investors and entrepreneurs have noticed. Cannabis-based companies have expanded significantly over the past few years due to these political trends as well. And many of the top players within the industry have already implemented international operations, as the medical cannabis industry currently accounts for the majority of the market share globally.
However, the North American region is expected to shift the market share from medical to recreational, primarily due to U.S. states like Colorado, California, Washington, and Nevada and the maturing Canadian recreational market. According to data compiled by Mordor Intelligence, the global cannabis market was valued at USD 7.7 Billion in 2016 and is expected to reach USD 65 Billion by 2023. Additionally, the market is expected to grow at a robust CAGR of 37% throughout the forecast period from 2019 to 2024.
Convention on Narcotic Drugs, cannabis remains a Schedule 1 drug internationally, which is the strictest regulation. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed a recommendation to reschedule cannabis due to its medical benefits. Furthermore, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency took notice and delisted CBD as a Schedule 1 and reclassified it as a Schedule 5. The United Nations Commission met throughout March 2019 to discuss matters of cannabis legalization.
The U.S. in particular was interested in discussing the legality matter revolving around cannabis. Additionally, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is holding its first public hearing on CBD in May, as the agency looks to legalize cannabis in food and drinks. Outgoing FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is collecting data to prove the credibility of cannabis and its therapeutic effects.
Previously, cannabis was heavily restricted internationally and resulted in harsh consequences if users were caught. Now, the industry has transitioned after many countries began to explore opportunities within the market.
"The industry is at about 5 percent of what it will be someday," concurs Tyler Stratford, Director of Client Operations for cannabis consulting firm Canna Advisors. "Even if the path forward isn't straight, we're certainly on a path forward. The tide has changed, and there's no turning it back now."
WeedMD Inc., a federally-licensed producer and distributor of medical-grade cannabis, just announced breaking cannabis news that, "it has closed on the purchase of an additional 60 acres of prime land located directly adjacent to its 98-acre Strathroy property. WeedMD's outdoor grow now has the potential to increase to more than 100 acres.
As previously announced, the Company has applied to Health Canada for an amendment to its Strathroy licence to expand beyond its greenhouse cultivation with an initial 25-acre, low-cost, outdoor grow operation in 2019. Link to release here. An additional 25 acres had previously been planned to come online as Phase II in 2020. With today's announcement, Phase II will increase to 75 acres for an overall outdoor cultivation of 100 acres online by 2020.
Pending Health Canada approval, WeedMD's outdoor grow is expected to increase its total yield to more than 100,000 kgs of cannabis in 2020 and more than 150,000 kgs when combined with its greenhouse cultivation.
Outdoor grow video
"With the amalgamation of this property and our existing licensed footprint, we now own more than 160 acres of contiguous land in Strathroy – that's 100 adjoining acres of prime workable agricultural land for outdoor cultivation. WeedMD is well-positioned to be the industry leader setting the benchmark for low-cost, scalable, quality-driven outdoor production in Canada," said Keith Merker, CEO of WeedMD. "As one of the first out of the gate, our experienced cultivation team has started onsite preparedness with ready-tested genetics and clones being propagated at our state-of-the-art greenhouse. The ability to produce consistent strains for dried flower, extracts and concentrates at a fraction of the cost of other production platforms will give us a strategic edge as we expand our product lines and commercial reach with our first outdoor harvest expected in fall 2019."
"Our Strathroy property was strategically selected in 2017 for its modern greenhouse and future growth potential. The vast outdoor property has full sunlight, an abundance of air flow, a protective buffer zone of trees and proximity to our infrastructure and propagation operations at the greenhouse. We have now capitalized on the opportunity to expand across perfectly-maintained adjacent lands already primed for outdoor cultivation - all of which can now be easily folded into our licensed property," said Derek Pedro, Chief Cannabis Officer of WeedMD. "With the purchase of the adjacent 60 acres of land for outdoor grow, we're well on our way to rapidly scaling production, with Phase II bringing us to full capacity in 2020."
About WeedMD Inc.
WeedMD Inc. is the publicly-traded parent company of WeedMD Rx Inc., a federally-licensed producer and distributor of cannabis products for both the medical and adult-use markets. The Company owns and operates two facilities: a 26,000 sq. ft. indoor facility in Aylmer, Ontario and a state-of-the-art greenhouse and outdoor facility located in Strathroy, Ontario.
The Company currently has 136,000 square feet of licensed production space and is expected to have a total footprint of more than 550,000 square feet of indoor and greenhouse production in addition to more than 25 acres of outdoor cultivation space online in the first half of 2019. WeedMD has a multi-channeled distribution strategy that includes selling directly to medical patients, strategic relationships across the seniors' market and supply agreements with Shoppers Drug Mart as well as six provincial distribution agencies".
NewCa.com is NOT affiliated in any manner with company mentioned herein.