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Rancho Palos Verdes, California (CNN) -- AT&T's data network won't be on par with Verizon Wireless' until 2013 or 2014, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega said on Thursday.
AT&T has yet to launch its faster fourth-generation cellular technology but has plans to do so in the second half of this year. The first cities to get the 4G LTE service will be Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.
The launch will come at least seven months after Verizon Wireless', which began rolling out in December.
AT&T has used some marketing misdirection to claim its data network is 4G. But it will take some time for AT&T's wireless Internet to match Verizon's in speed, reliability and coverage, de la Vega said at the All Things Digital conference.
Initially, de la Vega said he "can't say when" AT&T will meet Verizon's quality. But he later added, "In the next two to three years, they will probably be indistinguishable."
U.S. regulators still have to approve a merger between AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile USA, which will reduce the wireless industry's big competitors from four to three.
In its bid to acquire the fourth-largest carrier from Deutsche Telekom, AT&T has pledged to eventually reach 97% of the U.S. population with its 4G LTE network. "We're doing something that I don't think has been done in any country anywhere in the world," de la Vega said.
Verizon plans to cover 97% to 98% with its 4G network, CTO David Small said in an interview in March. As is the case for all carriers, customers need to buy new phones that are compatible with 4G.
De la Vega says the proposed merger will improve the quality of AT&T's network because it will be able to use T-Mobile's cell sites. Major cities, such as New York and San Francisco, should see the most significant benefits, he said. Building a new cell site in San Francisco takes two to three times longer than in other cities, he said.
Owners of Apple's iPhone, which was exclusive to AT&T until this year, have been among the loudest to complain about AT&T's service. Some blame the design of the phone's radios and antennas. But as it turns out, AT&T may also take some blame.
When designing the first iPhone, Apple CEO Steve Jobs had asked AT&T to provide guidance on cell-phone building, de la Vega said.
"When we first did the phone for Apple, Steve Jobs called me and said, 'We want you to send us the specs on how you build a phone,'" de la Vega recalled. "So we bent over backwards to give them that kind of information."
The schematics included information on cell radios and how they interact with software, de la Vega said.
De la Vega stressed that AT&T was integral in the release of Apple's early products like the iPhone and iPad. It is "our software in collaboration with Apple that makes the iPad work," he said.
Capitulating to Apple's insistence on absolute secrecy in relations, AT&T had to retool its internal-communications system to make it more secure, de la Vega said.
"In the case of Apple, they're very, very concerned about stuff getting out," he said. "We built a complete infrastructure in our company to keep their information private."
Apple has yet to commit to building an iPhone that runs on 4G. The Verizon iPhone debuted when that carrier was preparing to roll out its first 4G phones. Apple COO Timothy Cook said the 4G chips available weren't up to the iPhone's standards yet and would require design changes Apple engineers weren't willing to make.


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Mylan CEO defends EpiPen pricing
Mylan’s CEO, Heather Bresch, has been forced to defend the pricing of its EpiPen under sceptical questioning from US politicians.
Bresch (pictured) was summoned to a hearing in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform, to give evidence on Mylan’s pricing for Epipen (epinephrine), which is the company’s biggest selling product with annual sales exceeding $1 billion.
The price of the life-saving injection for people with severe allergies has increased from less than $100 for a pack of two in 2008, around the time Mylan acquired the product, to more than $600. This has prompted accusations that Mylan has taken advantage of a lack of competition for the drug.
Drug pricing is under intense scrutiny in the US, after it emerged that companies such as Valeant and Turing Pharmaceuticals had inflated the price of some generic drugs.
Mylan has responded to the widespread criticism by producing a generic version of EpiPen, priced at around $300.
The high price of the original EpiPen was down to rising wholesale acquisition cost, Bresch told the committee, who also made great play of Mylan’s decision to give 700,000 free EpiPens to more than 66,000 schools in the US.
She added that Mylan gets revenues of $274 for each pack after wholesale acquisition costs are deducted, although this has increased from net revenue of $235 two years ago.
After cost of goods and other costs are subtracted, Mylan make around $50 per pen, Bresch said.
She told the committee: “I know there is considerable concern and scepticism about the pricing of Epipens. Many people incorrectly assume that we make $600 off of each pen. It’s simply not true.”
But Republican committee chair, Jason Chaffetz, said Mylan would likely make more revenue from the generic Epipens, as they can be sold directly to the patient at $300 each.
Chaffetz was surprised that Mylan had not anticipated the controversy over the pricing of EpiPen. “You raised the price, what did you think was going to happen?”
Democrat Elijah Cummings, who also sits on the committee, noted that the company spends $97m on marketing for EpiPens. Cummings criticised Mylan for failing to provide details of costs related to EpiPen.
The committee also heard from Doug Throckmorton, Deputy Center Director for Regulatory Programs at the US Food and Drug Administration, said he was unable to give details of the number of EpiPen generic rivals that the regulator is waiting to approve.
The FDA reportedly faces a backlog of around 4,000 generic drugs filed and awaiting approval, although the agency denies this figure.
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CANADIAN company Alcan Extruded Products will make aluminium casts in Levice, southern Slovakia. Its subsidiary Alan Slovensko Extrusions opened the new plant on May 15. The plant, whose construction was launched in July 2006, will supply the growing Eastern European market with soft alloys. Alcan expects the demand in this market to grow five percent on average. The plant's construction costs came to $35 million. Reinhard Fleer, CEO of Alcan Extruded Products told the SITA news wire that the company plans to produce a wide spectrum of casts for the automotive industry, construction or transport in a new plant in the Levice-Géňa industrial park.
When it reaches full operation, the new plant should produce 25,000 tonnes of aluminium products in the future, representing an output of about €50 million. The plant should achieve optimal capacity in three to four years. Currently, the planirty people, but full operation will require a staff of 200. Fleer said that building a new plant in Slovakia is part of Alcan's strategy to participate in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe.
21. May 2007 at 0:00 | From press reports


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SIA Applauds Launch of Indo-Pacific Economic Framework
Thursday, May 26, 2022, 10:30am
by Semiconductor Industry Association
WASHINGTON—May 26, 2022—The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) today released the following statement from President and CEO John Neuffer regarding President Biden’s recent announcement that he is launching the administration’s Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). IPEF aims to define shared objectives around trade facilitation, standards for the digital economy and technology, supply chain resiliency, decarbonization and clean energy, infrastructure, and other areas.
“We applaud the Biden administration’s decision to take forward the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. The importance of the Indo-Pacific region for U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and supply chains cannot be overstated. In fact, U.S. semiconductor exports to the region totaled $13.5 billion in 2021, accounting for 23% of total U.S. semiconductor exports, and a whopping $90 billion in sales.
“SIA looks forward to working closely with the Commerce Department and USTR to finalize an IPEF that unites the Indo-Pacific’s key economies around a strong set of rules and disciplines that boost America’s supply chain resiliency.”
# # #
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is the voice of the semiconductor industry, one of America’s top export industries and a key driver of America’s economic strength, national security, and global competitiveness. SIA represents 99% of the U.S. semiconductor industry by revenue and nearly two-thirds of non-U.S. chip firms. Through this coalition, SIA seeks to strengthen leadership of semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research by working with Congress, the Administration, and key industry stakeholders around the world to encourage policies that fuel innovation, propel business, and drive international competition. Learn more at www.semiconductors.org.


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Aimia Inc. announces closing of Giovanni Bozzetto S.p.A.
by CM Staff
Bozzetto is an ESG-focused provider of specialty sustainable chemicals with a portfolio of over 2,000 products.
TORONTO — Aimia Inc., a holding company focused on long-term global investments, confirms that it has closed the previously announced acquisition of Giovanni Bozzetto S.p.A. Bozzetto is an ESG-focused provider of specialty sustainable chemicals with a portfolio of over 2,000 products. All amounts denominated in Euros below have been translated at the closing date of May 9, 2023 at an exchange rate of 1.4685.
Phil Mittleman, CEO of Aimia, said: “Today marks an important milestone for Aimia as we close our second acquisition since the sale of our PLM stake in the second half of last year. With over 100 years of operations, high EBITDA margins coupled with strong free cash flow conversion and a fantastic management team, Bozzetto represents an outstanding opportunity for Aimia to own one of the world’s largest ESG-focused providers of specialty sustainable chemicals. Bozzetto, as well as our previously announced acquisition of Tufropes, will form the backbone of our strategy to continue to acquire businesses that generate significant cash flow for Aimia while presenting strong opportunities for further growth.”
Aimia invested $206.3 million (€140.5 million) for an equity stake of 94% in the Company. Bozzetto’s executive management team invested $13.3 million (€9.1 million) of their after-tax sales proceeds alongside Aimia into the new investment structure, which represents a minority position of approximately 6%.
For the fiscal year 2022, Bozzetto reported revenue of $320.6 million (€218.3 million) and Adjusted EBITDA of $45.0 million (€30.6 million).
Roberto Curreri, CEO of Bozzetto commented: “Bozzetto is driven by a passion for innovation in the specialty sustainable chemicals space. I’m excited to usher in the next phase of Bozzetto’s journey under Aimia’s stewardship. I’m confident that our partnership with Aimia will catalyze meaningful growth and opportunities for many years to come.”


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Zynga just announced its own social networking/gaming platform: Zynga Direct.
The first component of Zynga Direct is a sign-in platform codenamed Project Z. It will launch later this year.
Zynga Direct is a more general name describing Zynga's new direct-to-consumer strategy. The idea is that you can play Zynga games outside of Facebook, and across multiple platforms -- like Facebook to mobile.
One of Zynga's biggest risks is that it is almost entirely owned by Facebook. It has to give Facebook a cut of all its virtual goods revenue, and its success is reliant on Facebook.
It sounds like a problem, but so far it's been working for Zynga. Still, it makes sense for Zynga to establish its own platform and try to own the users.
Zynga isn't ditching Facebook entirely for its Direct platform. It will still use Facebook Connect.
Zynga has been working on Direct for two years now.


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Tea and coffee consumption could be the reason for the epigenetic changes in women, study reveals.
-A group of researchers from the University of Uppsala investigated the role of tea and coffee consumption on governing the epigenetic changes.
-Studies conducted in the past suggest that both coffee and tea play an integral role in modulating the risk for diseases in humans.
-However, the recent study revealed that the intake of tea and coffee significantly showcased epigenetic changes in women more than men.
-Also, many of the epigenetic changes were observed in the genes causing cancer and estrogen metabolism.
-The study also revealed that women consumed more tea and coffee compared to men and therefore increased their risk for the same.
-The pharmacologically active components present in the tea or coffee is believed to generate this response.
-Findings were published in the Journal of Human Molecular Genetics
Source: Journal of Human Molecular Genetics


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BANGOR, Maine — America’s booming brewing industry and farmers alike are bothered and befuddled by a proposed U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule change that could alter a partnership that dates back to Neolithic times.
In Maine and across the country, brewers and farmers have formed handshake agreements: Brewers brew beer, producing barrels or truckloads full of heavy, wet spent grains. These grains have been heated up to extract sugars, proteins and other nutrients that go on to make beer. The process is called mashing. The spent grains are a byproduct — with no real usefulness purpose left for the brewer.
To the farmer, spent grains are a valuable dietary supplement for their livestock. It’s common for breweries to reach out to local farms to offer up their spent grains as animal feed. Most often, farmers are happy to oblige, picking up the spent grains themselves a few times per week. Little or no money exchanges hands during these deals. Brewers are glad to get rid of the grain, and farmers are glad to take it off their hands.
Andrew Geaghan of Geaghan Brothers Brewing Co. in Bangor, a company that brewed more than 15,000 gallons of beer in 2013, said each batch of beer uses about 350-500 pounds of grain per batch. At the end of the mashing process, it comes out even heavier because it’s saturated with water.
Geaghan’s formed a partnership with Fair View Farm in Hampden.
“It’s a really favorable relationship for both of us,” Geaghan said. “It’s a product that we extract what we can from it, and it leaves a nice feed for his cattle that is locally sourced and a high-protein, good fiber source, [and] a nice hydration source as well. It’s really a win-win for everybody.”
Those sorts of partnerships have existed for as long as agriculture has existed, but the FDA’s rule proposal could change that.
The proposed rule is aimed at “ensuring the safety of animal food for animals consuming the food and ensuring the safety of animal food for humans handling the food, particularly pet food,” according to the FDA.
It requires facilities producing animal food to have written plans that identify hazards, specify steps to minimize those hazards, and monitor and record the safety of the feed.
“FDA understands that many breweries and distilleries sell spent grains … as animal food. Because those spent grains are not alcoholic beverages themselves, and they are not in a prepackaged form that prevents any direct human contact with the food, the Agency tentatively concludes that subpart C of this proposed rule would apply to them,” according to the FDA rule.
Most small and medium-sized brewers wouldn’t be able to follow these rules without significant investment. Breweries that want to send their spent grains to farmers would have to dry, package and analyze the grains, all without it touching human hands. These efforts would cost brewers money, time and resources, making it too much of a hassle for some to continue partnerships with farmers, according to critics.
Geaghan said that one of the few alternatives would be to take the grain to a landfill, which carries costs of its own.
John “Jack” Perry, 81, runs Fair View Farm, which has a herd of 50 beef cattle. He has been taking Geaghan’s spent grains since the company started brewing in 2011. Before that, he used spent grains from Sea Dog Brewing Co.
“This is real good stuff,” Perry said. “It keeps [the cattle] in good shape, and they really seem to like it.”
Perry said running a farm in recent years has been a challenge. Getting the free spent grains helps keep his cattle heavy through winter and reduces their hay consumption. He said he wouldn’t be able to afford to stay in business if he had to buy fresh, commercial grain.
He said he has never had any concerns about contamination coming from Geaghan’s or any other brewer’s spent grain.
Brandon Mazer is legal counsel for Maine’s largest brewer, Shipyard, which produces 400-600 tons of spent grain per week during its peak production seasons. Those grains are dumped onto a truck trailer and go to farms as feed.
“It’s a very big umbrella, and we got sucked under it,” Mazer said of the proposed FDA rule change. He said that no brewers in Maine, and few in the country, are equipped with the machinery, personnel or money to meet the requirements outlined by the FDA.
The Brewers Association, Beer Institute, American Malting Barley Association and other brewing organizations have voiced strong opposition to the new restrictions, calling for an exemption for brewers.
The Beer Institute says that in 2012 alone, U.S. brewers produced about 2.7 million tons of spent grain.
The FDA has extended the public comment period on this set of rules until March 31, and brewers and farmers that work with them say they are watching closely.
“The goal of brewing is not to manufacture beer and animal feed simultaneously. The goal of brewing is to manufacture beer,” the institute wrote in a letter to the FDA, adding that regulating this long-used byproduct would impose unnecessary difficulties on businesses that just want to make beer.
To view the complete rule, visit http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/FSMA/ucm366510.htm. For the FDA fact sheet on the rule, visit http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/FSMA/ucm366510.htm#facsheet.


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Tokina will soon announce a new lens for DSLR cameras with APS-c image sensor. The new Tokina ATX-I 11-16mm f/2.8 CF lens will available for Canon EF mount and Nikon F mount.
The new lens will be called Tokina ATX-I 11-16mm f/2.8 CF lens. The Japanese price for this lens is 54,800, US price around $500.
This lens will be officially announced this week, and the release date is on November 8th, 2019.
Nokishita reports that the new lens will be called ATX-i 11-16mm f/2.8 CF and it would be the direct replacement for the current 11-16mm f/2.8 model).


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States such as Texas, Florida and Arizona are seeing the progress made in recent months against COVID-19 quickly disappear as infections and hospitalizations increase dramatically. These and other sales-tax-dependent Sun Belt states have been slammed with revenue losses as consumer spending fell dramatically after the shutdowns. As new cases spike in states across the region — many of which were among the nation’s first to begin reopening — it’s not certain how their economies may be further impacted.
This post is part of our “COVID-19 and Cities” series, which features experts’ views on the global pandemic and its impact on our lives.
On Thursday — the second consecutive day Texas has reported nearly 6,000 new COVID-19 cases — Gov. Greg Abbott announced the state’s phased reopening would be suspended. Initially, Abbott said businesses that have already reopened may continue to operate, but he amended that on Friday morning, ordering all bars in the state to again close. Abbott also said restaurants will have to scale back operations to 50% capacity. Since June 12, they had been allowed to operate at 75%.
“The last thing we want to do as a state is go backwards and close down businesses,” Abbott said in a statement Thursday. “This temporary pause will help our state corral the spread until we can safely enter the next phase of opening our state for business.”
A number of Houston restaurants have reopened and closed again following positive COVID-19 testing among staff members, raising the question of whether similar re-closings could prolong the pain of both lost sales tax revenue for the city and lost income for business owners and workers.
Kinder Institute research shows state and local limits
A pair of research reports recently released by the Kinder Institute for Urban Research indicate the Sun Belt region’s largest cities, including Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, likely are in for several years of budget tightening as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Across the Sun Belt, small government — at both the state and local levels — is the norm, especially compared to older large cities in the Northeast and Midwest. In large part, urban policy in America is created using those cities as the model, according to “The Urban Sun Belt: An Overview.”
Excluding California, Sun Belt states also have lower tax rates — a point of pride for most — which translates to less spending per capita. On average, they spend $5,629 per capita while states outside the region spend an average of $7,215 per capita. Overall, states in the Sun Belt have low property and income taxes. An exception to this is Texas, which has no state income tax but some of the highest property tax rates in the nation. The states make up for this through sales tax — eight of the 10 states with the highest average sales tax rates are in the Sun Belt.
In Texas, the three largest cities — Houston, Dallas and San Antonio — depend on retail sales tax for 29%, 23% and 26%, respectively, of each city’s general fund revenue. That’s according to the Kinder Institute’s recently released report “Troubled Fiscal Times,” which compares the revenue sources and service levels of the three cities in Texas with populations of 1 million or more. All three will see an estimated 10–15% loss of revenue because of COVID-19.
According to the Kinder Institute’s City Finance report, the City of Houston predicted that from the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis to the end of FY 2020–21 in July 2021, the city’s sales tax revenue would drop by almost $100 million.
Tracking COVID-19’s economic impact
Harvard University-based researchers studying the economic impacts of COVID-19 have created a real-time tracker showing changes in the spending habits of consumers in low-, middle- and high-income households across the United States since the pandemic began. According to their analysis, which is based on credit card data and is available on the Opportunity Insights economic tracker website, nationwide consumer spending by high-income households dropped 17% between January and June. In low-income households, spending declined only 4% during that time.
The decreased spending patterns of the wealthiest 25% of Americans accounted for two-thirds of the total decline in spending since the precipitous fall that began in mid-March, bottoming out around the first of April before starting a steady climb in mid-April after federal stimulus checks went out. Since that time, the analysis shows, lower-income households have returned close to pre-pandemic spending levels, while the wealthiest households continue to spend much less.
In Texas, consumer spending fell 13% overall — 14.4% for high-income households compared to 4.8% for low-income households. Consumer spending decreased 14.2% in Houston, 15% in Dallas and 7.2% in San Antonio. Those reductions translate to lost revenue for the cities and lost jobs for residents, especially low-income workers.
Low-income workers are suffering
Between 2000 and 2016, the Sun Belt’s 22 largest metropolitan areas — the Urban Sun Belt — added an estimated 1.6 million retail, accommodation and food-service jobs. However, the relatively low-paying service jobs in this sector were hit hardest by the efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the past several months.
For example, according to the Opportunity Insights team’s tracker, employment rates in Houston decreased by 31.4% for low-income retail workers and by 34.7% for low-income restaurant and hotel workers between January and the end of May. In New Orleans, employment rates fell 72.2% for low-income restaurant and hotel workers and 42% for retail workers. Nationwide, the COVID-19 economic crisis has impacted low-income workers the most, but they’ve been hit particularly hard in New Orleans, where overall employment rates dropped almost 55% for low-income workers.
The impact of those job losses, as well as the loss in sales tax revenue, which makes up large portions of cities’ income, is and likely will continue to be strongly felt in Sun Belt states.
Facing constraints to crisis response
Not only are city- and county-level governments in Sun Belt states limited in their ability to address urban issues, their capacity to respond in times of economic crisis like the one resulting from the COVID-19 shutdown is constrained. The Kinder Institute’s City Finance report shows that, of the three biggest cities in Texas, Houston is the most constrained in its options for increasing revenue.
On top of that, Houston already faced fiscal instability before anyone ever heard of SARS-CoV-2. When the consulting firm PFM created a 10-year financial plan for the city in 2017, it predicted a structural deficit of more than $100 million every year for the next decade — that’s $1 billion between 2018 and 2027. As the Kinder Institute’s analysis of city finances points out, that projected deficit came after pension reform but before Proposition B and before the full fiscal impact of Hurricane Harvey was known. Houston City Controller Chris Brown estimated the city’s structural deficit for FY 2020–21 to be $156 million. These existing financial struggles have only been worsened by the COVID-19 crisis.
Several factors limit Houston’s ability to provide public services compared to Dallas and San Antonio. “These include the locally imposed revenue cap, the lack of a solid waste fee, the fact that the city maintains its own health department and the sequestering of general fund revenues for public works under ReBuild Houston. The first two factors constrain the city’s revenue while the second two factors help to dictate the allocation of financial resources.”
In turn, to reduce budgets, funding for city services is cut. And the services most likely to be defunded are those such as parks and public libraries as opposed to police and fire.
Short-term solutions only work in the short term
The loss of sale tax revenue from the shutdowns combined with the downturn in the oil industry left Houston with a projected $169 million budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year. Originally, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner thought deep spending cuts, sapping the $15 million rainy day fund and furloughing some 3,000 city workers would be necessary to make up for the deficit. In the end, the Houston City Council approved Turner’s proposed $5.1 billion budget for the fiscal year 2020-2021 — one that didn’t include drastic cuts.
Instead, the city will use part of the funds it receives through the CARES Act to fill the gap. Houston could get up to $404 million in coronavirus relief money, while San Antonio and Dallas can receive up to $270 million and $234 million, respectively. However, restrictions on that money limit use to expenses related to COVID-19 between March 1 and Dec. 30.
“When you’re talking about Houston, $400 million sounds like a lot of money, it’s 15% of the general fund,” Kinder Institute Director Bill Fulton told the Texas Tribune. “But if you can only spend that money on certain things and spend it in a short period of time, you’re probably not going to solve all your budget problems, and what do you do the next fiscal year?
“It will help some and it will help in the short run, but it won’t solve the problem,” Fulton said.
Houston’s budget includes $964 million in police funding — a $19 million increase from last year. That 2% increase comes as protestors across the nation continue to march against police brutality and call for reductions in police funding in the wake of the killings of Black Americans in police custody. Meanwhile, cities such as Dallas and Austin have indicated support for cutting police funds and using that money to make more community investments.
According to the Kinder Institute’s city finances report, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio all spent roughly the same amount on police service — $310 — per capita last year.


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Tebow was once No. 1 in jersey sells in the NFL. That was during his rookie season in the NFL, but since then he has plummeted to No. 10 in jersey sales with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers taking over the top spot. Tebow has also been bumped to being the third string quarterback on a team that went 4-12 last season behind Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn.
Tebow had the No. 8 selling jersey between the months of April and July but began sinking lower after his demotions on the team. No. 2 on the list is Aaron Rodgers’ teammate Clay Matthews followed by Steelers safety Troy Polamalu. Let’s hope Tebow gets positive news from somewhere soon.


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AI Models are on the rise, and making serious money.
While the subject of the website is on Ai trading bots, you can not ignore what else is going on in other areas of ai technology. The future of ai, I believe will be an exciting time, if not at times confusing.
Here is a few snippets from two different articles, on two beautiful models, that are sadly not real, but are in fact ai models, simply ai programs. Didn’t see that one coming.
Social media is filled with influencers and models, people who rapidly rise to fame due to their eye catching content. One of these is Aitana Lopez, a gorgeous woman based in Barcelona that’s known for her stylish pink hair and amazing photos. Unlike other influencers of the sort, Aitana is not a real person. Instead, she’s an AI program that makes thousands of dollars for her creators.
Her social media is packed with all manner of information, including her interests, her age, and the name of her parent company, The Clueless, founded by Ruben Cruz. Her profile indicates that she’s based in Barcelona, is a gamer, and is interested in fitness. Posts show her in a variety of locations, from the beach, to her home, giving the appearance of a real person that travels and spends time posting photos and writing captions. She has over 130 thousand followers on Instagram and earns about 12 thousand dollars on a good month, reports Interesting Engineering.
In an interview with EuroNews, Cruz revealed that they made Aitana to make more money for his company, and not have to rely on outside forces. Aitana was devised so The Clueless “could make a better living and not be dependent on other people who have egos, who have manias, or who just want to make a lot of money by posing.” Her great success has resulted in the birth of Maia, another AI personality made by The Clueless, having blonde hair and an attraction for monochromatic pallets.
The first AI Latina model
AI models are on the rise, with keen eyes being the only ones who are able to determine if a person online is real or not. Evania Aria Luxardo is another similar case, the first Latina AI model to go viral. She made an appearance on this year’s New York Fashion Week, showcasing the union betweeen human creativity and artificial intelligence, with the model digitally integrating herself with the clothing garments.
Evania Aria Luxardo
Evania Aria Luxardo, a Latina “AI” virtual model, spurs unanswered questions
Claimed to be a pioneering, AI-generated ‘virtual influencer’, Evania Aria Luxardo makes us wonder what the future might hold for social media, the influencer world, fashion and modelling, among other topics.
The crew behind Evania Aria Luxardo, the Product Bar, says she’s a ‘virtual influencer’ who is powered by ‘artificial intelligence’. And they have high hopes that she’ll represent the future of fashion while celebrating Latina heritage.
According to the company, which is a collective of digital experts: ‘We believe she represents not only the future of virtual influencers but also the future of diversity and inclusion in the digital realm. Evania Luxardo will break boundaries, inspire, and ignite conversations about the limitless possibilities of AI technology.’
There’s no deception here. Evanialux admits she’s an AI-generated Latina virtual model in her Instagram description and website, though she can’t be 24 years old. It’s not hard to foresee another player not being up front with a model’s origins at all. The world forecast by Andrew Niccol in his 2001 film Simone is being realized a generation on.
Evania Luxardo’s 33 Instagram images, uploaded over the last week, already see her posing in some Nike gear, and placed in front of presumably real-world settings that have had the bokeh effect applied to them.
While Evania is often described as an “AI-generated” model, it’s important to remember that a team of humans is behind her creation and ongoing development. The AI aspect comes into play through algorithms that power her facial expressions, body movements, and interactions with her audience.
The rise of AI virtual models like Evania presents exciting possibilities for the future of fashion, marketing, and entertainment. It will be interesting to see how this technology continues to evolve and shape our digital experiences.
As always, feel free to leave a comment.


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Sir Jonathan Ive leaves Apple. The one who has been responsible for the apple company’s design for more than two decades has announced that he will abandon Apple to found his own design company, of which Apple will be a customer, according to the company’s statement a few hours ago.
Ive’s iconic designs made Apple one of the world’s biggest companies and devices such as the Mac, iPod or iPhone in design examples for the rest of the industry. The exit of probably the most famous industrial designer in the world is quite a surprise for all, he was in charge of maintaining the aesthetics of Apple and one of the people who knew Jobs the most, his legacy was in his hands.
Ive is going to found his own design company called LoveFrom next year and during these months we will see a small transition, however according to what Ive said, this is not an endpoint, “although I will not be an employee of Apple, I will continue to be very involved. ”
I’ve stopped being an Apple employee but will still be involved
The role of Ive is going to change in Apple and it is possible that every time its importance is diminishing with the years, the person in charge of the most iconic designs of Apple will no longer be an employee of Apple. Although at the moment Apple and Jony Ive are going to go hand in hand, we will have to wait and see how the relationship between Apple and LoveFrom, Ive’s new company, evolves.
In an official statement Tim Cook wanted to dedicate a few words to one of the most important people in Apple’s history:
” Jony is a singular figure in the world of design and his role in Apple’s rebirth can not be underestimated, from the innovative 1998 iMac to the iPhone and unprecedented ambition at Apple Park, where he has recently been putting all his energy and watch out”. Apple will continue to benefit from Jony’s talent by working directly with him on exclusive projects, and through the continued work of the brilliant and passionate design team he has built. After so many years of working closely, I am happy that our relationship continues to evolve and I look forward to working with Jony in the future . ”
Ive himself has also wanted to leave his impressions after almost three decades at Apple:
” After almost 30 years and innumerable projects, I am very proud of the lasting work we have done to create a design team, a process and an Apple culture that has no equal. Today is stronger, more vibrant and more talented than at any time in the history of Apple. The team will thrive under the excellent leadership of Evans, Alan, and Jeff, who have been among my closest collaborators. I have the greatest confidence in my fellow designers at Apple, who are still my closest friends, and I look forward to working with them for many years to come. “
The question that we all ask ourselves is about what will happen now, Apple and Jony Ive will continue to be involved in “exclusive projects” but it does not seem that the degree of involvement can be the same. It is without a doubt a before and after in Apple and a sad day for the company.


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Corp.'s chief executive Paul Otellini has been tapped by U.S. President Barack Obama
to be a member of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
General Electric chief executive Jeffrey Immelt chairs the panel.
Its goal is to put Americans back to work, post recession and to promote
skilled and professional jobs.
The White House says that it will name more board members in coming weeks.
President Obama, following the severe recession of 2008 and 2009, first
created the board in 2009.
President Obama is currently wrapping up a West Coast trip, in which he dined
with the likes of Steve Jobs (Apple), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook),
and Eric Schmidt (Google). Today he is touring Intel's
Hillsboro, Oregon facility, accompanied by Mr. Otellini.
Mr. Otellini is only Intel's fifth chief executive. He has been with the
company for over three decades, having joined in 1974. He slowly climbed
the ranks, gaining notice as the general manager who supervised the design of
the first Pentium processors in 1993. From there he became executive
vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, supervising
chipset and processor development.
In 2002 he was elected to the company's board of directors and became president
and chief operating officer. In 2005, he replaced Craig Barret as chief
During his reign as chief executive he sold Apple on the idea of using Intel
processors and oversaw the launch of the highly successful Core series of
processors. Despite these successes, he's had to make cuts, committing to
series of layoffs in the company's history during the downturn.
Now he's going to be looking to put Americans back to work.


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According to web metrics firm NetMarketShare, Firefox 3.6 is the second most used version of Mozilla's browser with a usage share of 5.3%, behind Firefox 8 which has a usage share of 7.3%.
Mozilla is now to start notifying Firefox 3.6 users of the new version in the hopes of getting them to upgrade. That might be a tough sell.
The problem is that there's a stalwart group of Firefox 3.6 users who do not like what Mozilla have done with the browser post 3.6. They don't like the new user interface, they don't like the fact that it breaks some plug-ins, they don't like some of the new bugs, and the especially don't like the idea of Mozilla shoving a new browser onto them every six weeks or so.
Firefox 3.6 was the last ‘traditional’ release of the browser before Mozilla switched to a rapid release cycle that sees a new version making an appearance every 6 weeks. In the home environment, this is not a big problem. Sure, some add-ons might break, and people might have to spend a few minutes scratching their heads trying to find things that have moved, but none of this is a deal breaker. For business users, this aggressive release cycle is too much to have to deal with (because enterprise likes to test things before releasing them). It’s simply too much to ask enterprise users to to test a new browser every six weeks, especially when there isn’t much to appeal to enterprise users in those releases. Given this, sticking with version 3.6 makes a lot of sense. Mozilla has outlined plans to offer enterprise users a special versionESR (Extended Support Release) of Firefox that would have a more relaxed 42-week update cycle, but so far no ESR browser has materialized.
I think that it's time that Mozilla announce an End Of Life (EOL) date for Firefox 3.6 and release the ESR version for those who don't want to be saddled with a new browser every six weeks.


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PARTNER NEWS: Digital security specialist Gemalto’s Mobile ID solution has been accredited by the GSMA’s Mobile Connect program, an initiative that aims to help mobile network operators provide a universal phone-based identity and authentication service to consumers worldwide. Mobile ID provides scalable identity management and authentication services to allow MNOs to easily become a digital identity provider.
- Federal Reserve calls for industry input on payments security
- Bell ID’s TSP to help Japan Apple Pay integration
- G&D to deliver prepaid wristbands for concerts and events
- Apple Pay transactions up 500% year on year, CEO reports
- EMVCo adds biometrics to 3-D Secure


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We reported back in November that Triumph could spawn two new motorcycles based on the Trident 660’s platform. Triumph has now officially confirmed that it is indeed going to expand the 660 line-up by rolling out a few teaser images of the Tiger Sport 660. The Tiger Sport 660 is basically an adventure-sports tourer version of the Trident 660 which will see its launch in the coming few months. The company has neatly hidden away the details under heavy camouflage that could be mistaken for a custom wrap because it is too tastefully done!
Talking about the evident details that we can make out from the released images, the upcoming Tiger Sport 660 will feature a big fuel tank, substantial radiator shrouds, a sizeable windscreen and sleek twin LED headlamps.
A road-biased ADV-tourer
What is even more evident than these details is the fact that instead of being a hardcore off-road tool, the Tiger Sport 660 will turn out to be a road-biased machine. That can be further cemented by bringing in two more key factors: its 17-inch wheel setup and Michelin Road 5 tyres, both of which it shares with its naked roadster counterpart. However, it remains to be seen whether it will get longer suspension travel or not because by the looks of it, it has a similar-looking black colour Showa USD fork as the Trident 660.
Engine and transmission
Although Triumph has remained tight-lipped about the specs and features the upcoming Tiger Sport 660 will come loaded up with, it is logical to assume that it is going to borrow its powertrain and chassis from the Trident 660. The claimed max power output is 80 hp at 10,250 rpm and 64Nm at 5,000rpm. Nearly 90 per cent of the torque is available from as low as 3,600rpm and exists till 9,750rpm, which is incredible and should suit the characteristics of this ADV-sport tourer as well. The Tiger Sport, like the Trident 660, will include a six-speed gearbox and a bi-directional fast shifter, but it’s unclear if this will be an optional feature or a standard feature.
Now that we already have the Trident 660 on our soil, we can expect the Tiger Sport 660 to land here as well, in the early months of 2022.


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Sherita Semple knows good baking – every day, she makes cakes, cheesecakes and puddings for her Syracuse bake shop, Trita Treatz. She also knows bakers have just the right magical touch to satiate the sweet tooth of any taste-tester.
Thanks in part to her efforts, that magic was on full display at Syracuse’s first annual Bakers Expo, which welcomed more than 500 attendees who sampled treats from 22 bakers. But with events like this, there can only be one winner – or, in this case, four.
The winners of the expo – four bakers with entrepreneurial spirits – will be given a chance to promote their businesses and sell their delectable delights throughout the summer at pop-up events sponsored and hosted by Wildflowers Armory.
Semple partnered with Syracuse Common Councilor Rita Paniagua to make the expo a reality, and both women were on hand to announce the inaugural winners. In the corridor of Jubilee Homes, an organization that focuses on providing resources for economic development, Executive Director Walter Dixie and Paniagua congratulated this year’s expo all-stars.
More than a year ago, Semple sought out Jubilee Homes to inquire about ways to grow her business. With Paniagua’s help and belief in Semple’s vision, the pair teamed up to turn that vision into the Bakers Expo.
“I reached out to the sponsors and they immediately stepped up to the plate, saw this as a good event, a good opportunity for the community, and immediately we were able to raise, all together, $40,000,” Paniagua said.
All of the expo ticket sales were distributed to several organizations, including Jubilee Homes’ youth culinary program, Interfaith Works and the local food pantry.
The four winners – Keren Cepeda, Keishla Lopez, Maria Maldonado-Lewis and Daphne Diaz – are all women of Hispanic heritage who are pioneering self-made businesses with their culinary creations. Diaz received $1,000 and was named “baker of the year;” Lopez won $500 for taste and texture; Cepeda won $500 for creativity and design; and Maldonado-Lewis was awarded $250 for creativity in packaging.
“I was so impressed with the turnout and how everyone did,” said Michael John Heagerty, owner of Wildflowers Armory. He said he offered them space in the Wildflowers pop-up events because he wanted to give back to the bakers and help them promote their businesses.
“There’s four dates, so I figured at each of them we can feature one of [the bakers] and have the tent ready and [they] can sell, no cost, no nothin’,” Heagerty said.
The only things the bakers are required to bring are tablecloths and their custom-baked delights, he said.
Wildflowers will hold the block party pop-up events every second Sunday throughout the summer, beginning on Mother’s Day, May 14, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Bank Alley in between East Jefferson and East Washington streets.
The streets will be closed for pedestrian-only traffic, and in addition to the bakers, other local vendors will sell their handcrafted items. The events will also highlight young entrepreneurs selling their creations from the Everson Museum’s summer art camp, “The Everson Lemonade Stand.”
Read more arts & culture coverage
23 local bakers will table at the event on Thursday night.
The three-day Syracuse Fashion Week showcased more than 20 innovators and creators at the epicenter of fashion in Central New York.
After a brief intermission, Syracuse Fashion Week will return for the spring 2023 season, beginning Thursday and continuing through Saturday.


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Mac computers ‘infected with malware’
More than half a million Apple computers have been infected with the Flashback Trojan, according to a Russian anti-virus firm.
Its report claims that about 600,000 Macs have installed the malware – potentially allowing them to be hijacked and used as a “botnet”.
The firm, Dr Web, says that more than half that number are based in the US.
Apple has released a security update, but users who have not installed the patch remain exposed.
Read more on BBC news


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3D printing specialist Markforged says that it has developed a new 3D printing metal method called atomic diffusion additive manufacturing (ADAM).
The company says that its Metal X machine, which uses the technology, can print metal parts for manufacturers in demanding industrial, automotive, medical and aerospace industries, as well as 3D printed molds for plastic parts.
The company claims that it can create shapes and geometries that cannot be machined or produced with today’s metal printers. The ADAM technique produces parts layer-by-layer, using a metal powder contained in a plastic binder. After printing, the plastic binders are removed and the part sintered into customary engineering metals. By sintering the entire part at once, ADAM technology allows metal crystals to grow through the bonded layers, effectively erasing the layer-to-layer strength reduction of many other 3D printing processes, Markforged says.
Initially, the Metal X will print high-end stainless steels such as 17-4 and 303, while tool steel for injection molding applications and other metals are actively under development and will be available later this year.
This story is reprinted from material from Markforged, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier.


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After more than 50 years, Linz finally got a brewery again.
KOOP Live Marketing carried the opening of the brewery out. Many guests of honour visited the brewery and learned about the process of brewing beer, while also being allowed to have a taste of Linzer Bier.
The restaurant “Zur Liesl” was already open and served many different types of beer and regional specialities.
The event was organized by KOOP and a concept for Covid-prevention was also prepared and carried out by us.


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JaaGee Nigeria Limited has unveiled a new eatery called Stop-Over Grilled Chicken Centre which offers freshly grilled chicken and chips.
The centre is a new innovation which focuses on quality and a modern preparation of grilled chicken, chips and fried fish.
The Managing Director of the company, Mr Gbolade Famoriyo, stated that the decision to position the stop-over was to serve as a quick linking channel to people coming from the north, east, south and west.
Famoriyo added that travellers were only expected to have a quick stop-over for their order which should not take more than five minutes. “We have brought in a completely new innovation into the fast food industry in Nigeria,”
The Managing Director added that services were also rendered for formal and informal events, with home delivery, noting that the unique selling point of the eatery was the low fat content of the meal.
Mr Famoriyo said the business of quality service would only be appreciated by those who love good food and would be willing to pay for a quality meal. He also revealed that experts managing the business came from Ghana and the United Kingdom to ensure international standard and uniqueness.
Jaagee Nigeria Limited has been in the business of ensuring food standards and the nutritional value of food for over 20 years and has identified the need for quality in grilled chicken and chips meal after consultations with directors of major food eatery centres in France, Sweden, Japan, United kingdom and the US.


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A lender that is payday operates almost 1 / 2 of the pawn stores in Ohio really wants to alter state legislation to get rid of competition for the stores and quadruple the amount that bad customers pay money for pawn loans.
Money America, which has Cashland pawn stores, desires to improve the state cap on pawn loans from 5 per cent a thirty days to 20 per cent.
In addition, money America proposes competition that is limiting pawn stores. In big towns like Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, a brand new pawn shop is banned from starting within two kilometers of a preexisting pawnbroker.
The bulk of Ohio’s 300 pawn licenses take place by mom-and-pop shops. Money America, along side its Cashland Financial solutions supply, holds 120 pawnbroker’s licenses. Its next biggest competitor, Lev’s Pawn Shop, has 16.
Independent pawnbrokers want nothing at all to do with the proposition.
Nonetheless they state money America could circumvent their objections — and steer clear of general public debate — by cramming the modifications into an amendment to Ohio’s gargantuan spending plan bill. That bill had been near to 5,000 pages, and that is before legislators got the opportunity to make amendments through the Senate flooring.
Money America, in accordance with its investor reports, has increasingly appeared to its pawn operations as being an income supply since states began breaking down on payday advances.
But pawnbrokers that are independent the modifications the string wishes could disrupt the industry by increasing the default price and eventually pushing low-income customers far from pawn loans.
” It could be an awful burden on our customers,” stated Lou Tansky, whom operates Uncle Ben’s pawn store of Cleveland and functions as president associated with Ohio Pawnbrokers Association. Continue reading “Payday loan provider seeks modifications to Ohio pawn legislation to cut competition, raise loan rates”


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Not all that long ago, many Americans thought of Chinese food as fried rice, chow mein and orange chicken. And one reliable place to find it was at the mall, at places like Panda Express.
But food court mainstay Panda Express is now in the midst of a major transformation. That means moving from mall basements to stand-alone restaurants and keeping pace with an increasingly sophisticated American palate.
"It was my entryway into Chinese food," says Devin Niebrugge a bit wistfully. The 23-year-old California transplant is enjoying a late lunch at a Panda Express in Washington, D.C. "I feel like you start with Panda Express and when you start to like that, then you go to the more local Chinese restaurants and experiment a little more."
Panda Express is now one of the fastest-growing chains in the U.S. For the past 28 years, head chef Andy Kao has worked to stay ahead of food trends.
"Before, I just gave customers a big chunk of meat," Kao said at a suburban Los Angeles Panda that was turned into a temporary test kitchen last fall. "Now I need to make sure [the] nutrition's good."
One of Panda's challenges is countering the perception of Chinese food as oily and fried. Since 2007, Panda has publicly made a point of serving 20 different kinds of vegetables all chopped in-house every day.
Freshness is a strategy it shares with other "fast casual" restaurants such as Panera Bread and Chipotle. The niche thrived during the recession by highlighting quality ingredients in meals costing less than $10. To compete in a "Food Networked" world, Kao has had to somehow showcase Panda as generally appealing yet authentically ethnic.
One secret? That fiendishly tasty orange chicken. Panda Express product manager Patricia Lui says Panda sold over 60 million pounds of it last year. Every ounce seems calibrated to clobber your pleasure centers.
"Sweet and sharp and salty," she smiles. "You don't want any one flavor to stand out. You want it to be balanced."
To create another Panda platonic ideal, Lui and Kao are in the process of testing a brand new recipe for shrimp. Such premium products (along with Angus steak and portobello mushrooms) are part of Panda's plan to go more upscale. But the bottom line is steam table sustainability.
"So we'll taste it fresh and we'll taste it held," Lui explains. "And we'll see if the flavors and textures are holding up, and if not, we'll go back to do more development work."
Of the 150 recipes Kao dreams up every year for Panda Express, only one or two will make it to consumers, usually after years of trial and error. I watched Lui and product development coordinator Adrian Lok narrow down sauces.
"We had to put out 60, 70 sauces and taste each one," Lok says. The day I visited, they'd screened it down to six. Panda did not want me to reveal the flavors, but they would be familiar to anyone who enjoys a range of Asian cuisines. Smart, says food industry consultant Darren Tristano, who points to the success of Sriracha rooster sauce. He says Americans are craving a flavor profile Panda's well-positioned to provide.
"The spiciness, that teriyaki flavor," he enthuses. "Those different types of sour and tart and tangy. They're really starting to become more appealing. In fact, if you just look at the kids' aisle for candy [in the grocery store], that's most of the types of food we see. Very tart and sour flavors are what kids are looking for."
So are older kids, like the college students who routinely devour Korean food and seek out Korean-influenced frozen yogurt, like Pinkberry. It's reflective of a changing American palate. Tristano says there are about 40,000 Asian restaurants in the U.S. that represent about 13 percent of all full service sales.
"Compared to Italian at about 11 percent," he observes. "Now Italian used to be larger than Asia, but the two have flipped over the past two years."
Tristano admits that "Asian" seems like ridiculously broad category compared to Italian, but it's in Panda's interest to play up a pan-Asian approach; one stop for Chinese, Korean and Thai.
In fact, the final version of that test kitchen shrimp that landed on Panda's steam tables last week uses spicy Thai green peppercorns. Sales are up 5 percent since the launch of peppercorn shrimp. Customer Niebrugge says Panda can innovate all it wants. Nothing would persuade her to order anything but her beloved orange chicken.
"You know it's always the biggest tray on the little buffet line," she points out. "Everybody eats it."
A few new Panda Expresses open every month, most recently in Mexico City, joining about 1,500 Pandas so far. That's 30 percent more than 10 years ago. Over the long term, Panda plans to express itself to the tune of 10,000 restaurants all over the world.
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
Now to one familiar company that's re-inventing itself: Panda Express. You've probably seen it in food courts and airports. Fair or not, it represents what Chinese food has long meant to many Americans - gloppy orange chicken or bland chow mein.
Now, as NPR's Neda Ulaby reports, Panda Express is evolving as it tries to keep up with an increasingly sophisticated American palate.
NEDA ULABY, BYLINE: It's crisp and cold outside on this bustling commercial strip in Washington, D.C. But inside Panda Express, it's warm and fragrant. The colors on the wall reflect the heat of the food - citrusy, toasty yellow.
Twenty-three-year-old Devin Niebrugge has been a Panda Express customer since high school.
DEVIN NIEBRUGGE: It was my entryway into Chinese food. I feel like you start with Panda Express and when you start to like that, you might start to go to the more local Chinese restaurants and experiment a little more. It's how I learned to eat with chopsticks, actually.
ULABY: Panda is getting more adventurous along with its customers. For the past 28 years, head chef Andy Kao has worked in the Panda Express test kitchens to stay ahead of food trends.
ANDY KAO: Before, I just give customer a big chunk of meat. But now, I need to make sure nutrition is good.
ULABY: As it rapidly expands, one of Panda's challenges is countering the perception of Chinese food as oily and fried. For the past two years, Panda has made a big point of serving 20 different kinds of vegetables, chopped in-house every day, including broccoli, cabbage, string beans and mushrooms.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHOPPING)
ULABY: Panda Express has emerged from the food court basement into the fastest growing segment of the restaurant business, called fast casual. Places like Panera Bread and Chipotle have done extremely well during the recession, using fresh ingredients in meals costing less than $10. And to compete in a Food Networked world, chef Andy Kao has had to somehow showcase Panda as being generally appealing yet authentically ethnic.
KAO: Yeah, I take responsibility for all the dishes.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
PATRICIA LUI: Including the orange chicken.
ULABY: That's Patricia Lui, a Panda Express product manager. She says Panda sells over 60 million pounds of orange chicken every year. Every ounce, perfectly calibrated to clobber your pleasure centers.
LUI: Sweet and sharp and salty. You don't want any one flavor to stand out. You want it to be balanced.
ULABY: To create the next fast food platonic ideal, Lui and chef Andy Kao have taken over a Panda Express kitchen in suburban Los Angeles. They're testing a brand new recipe for shrimp.
Premium ingredients, like walnuts and shrimp, are part of Panda's plan to go more upscale. But the bottom-line is steam table sustainability.
LUI: So, we'll taste it fresh and then we'll taste it held. And we'll see if the flavors and the textures are holding up. If not, then we have to go back and do some more development work.
ULABY: Right now, Patricia Lui and product development coordinator Adrian Lok are narrowing down sauces from across a range of Asian cuisines.
ADRIAN LOK: We had to put out 60, 70 different sauces; taste each one.
LUI: And we screened it down to these.
ULABY: Bringing in tastes from different Asian countries is a great strategy, says Darren Tristano. He's an executive at Technomic, a food consulting company. He says, look at Sriracha Rooster Sauce. Recently, it's everywhere. Americans are craving a flavor profile that Panda is well positioned to provide.
DARREN TRISTANO: That spiciness, that teriyaki flavor, the different types of sour and tart and tangy. If you just look at the kids aisle for candy, very tart and sour flavors is what kids are looking for.
ULABY: And older kids, too, like the college students who routinely devour Korean food and Korean frozen yogurt, like Pinkberry. Tristano says there are about 40,000 full service Asian restaurants in the U.S.
TRISTANO: Asian actually represents 13 percent of all full service sales. Compared to Italian at 11 percent. Now, Italian used to be larger than Asian. But the two have kind of flipped over the past few years.
ULABY: Tristano admits that Asian seems like a ridiculously broad category compared to Italian. But Panda is playing up being Pan-Asian, one stop for your Chinese, your Korean, your Thai.
The final version of that shrimp in the test kitchen landed on Panda's steam tables last week. It uses spicy Thai green peppercorns. Sales are up five percent. But customer Devin Niebrugge says Panda can innovate all it wants, nothing could persuade her to order anything but her beloved orange chicken.
NIEBRUGGE: And you know it's always the biggest tray on the little buffet line. Like, everyone eats it.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
ULABY: A few new Pandas open every month, most recently in Mexico City. There's about 1,500 of them total. Over the long-term, Panda plans to express itself to the tune of 10,000 restaurants all over the world.
Neda Ulaby, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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USA: Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.8 trillion in 2013, a 4.1 percent increase from 2012 spending of $3.6 trillion, according to the latest forecast by Gartner Inc. Currency effects are less pronounced this quarter with growth in constant dollars forecast at 4 percent for 2013.
The Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast is the leading indicator of major technology trends across the hardware, software, IT services and telecom markets. For more than a decade, global IT and business executives have been using these highly anticipated quarterly reports to recognize market opportunities and challenges, and base their critical business decisions on proven methodologies rather than guesswork.
"Although the United States did avoid the fiscal cliff, the subsequent sequestration, compounded by the rise of Cyprus' debt burden, seems to have netted out any benefit, and the fragile business and consumer sentiment throughout much of the world continues," said Richard Gordon, managing VP at Gartner. "However, the new shocks are expected to be short-lived, and while they may cause some pauses in discretionary spending along the way, strategic IT initiatives will continue."
Worldwide devices spending (which includes PCs, tablets, mobile phones and printers) is forecast to reach $718 billion in 2013, up 7.9 percent from 2012 (see Table 1). Despite flat spending on PCs and a modest decline in spending on printers, a short-term boost to spending on premium mobile phones has driven an upward revision in the devices sector growth for 2013 from Gartner's previous forecast of 6.3 percent.


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EBay boosts marketing spend ahead of busy Christmas shopping season
EBay has reported a 14% rise in third quarter profits and boosted its marketing spend in the period, ahead of an expected seasonal price war between ecommerce businesses.
eBay: reports 14% rise in third quarter profits
Revenues for the third quarter ending 30 September 2012 rose 15% to $3.4bn (£2.1bn), while profit grew 14% to $718m.
EBay hiked its sales and marketing costs in the quarter by 16.5%, compared to last year, spending $726m.
The lift in sales and marketing costs comes ahead of the Christmas shopping season when consumers spend more online, potentially sparking a price war between eBay and rival Amazon.
PayPal, eBay's payment arm, continued to bolster eBay’s performance with strong growth, ending the quarter with 117.4 million active registered accounts, up 14% year on year. Net revenue from payments climbed 23% to $1.37bn for the quarter.
EBay said it had increased its focus on simplifying and improving customer experience. Its core marketplaces business, which has previously lagged behind payments, picked up this quarter, with gross merchandise volume (GMV), excluding vehicles, increased 11% year on year to $16bn in the third quarter of 2012. Net revenue for marketplaces was up 9% year on year.
Active user growth continued to accelerate during the quarter, reaching 10% year on year, which is its fastest growth since 2007. EBay claimed that this was driven by mobile, with 800,000 new users coming from the channel.
John Donahoe, president and chief executive of eBay, said: "Mobile continues to be a game changer for us, and we continue to be a clear leader in mobile commerce and payments. With our strong portfolio and global reach, we are consistently demonstrating our capabilities to help consumers shop anytime, anywhere. And we are enabling retailers of all sizes to compete in a rapidly evolving, multichannel commerce environment."
Earlier this year, eBay unveiled a new logo and more recently a redesign of its page, as it looks to behave more like a retailer.
This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk
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Used car values have been dropping after a summer of strong growth, but the change in prices is not the result of the current lockdown.
That’s the view of Cap HPI, which says the price drops are part of a seasonal readjustment.
Demand for used vehicles was significant following the first lockdown, but this is now declining and dealers are now trying to avoid having high-priced stock sitting on forecourts.
Cap HPI has identified a decline in trade prices by 2.1% in October and by more than 2% so far in November. This equates to around £450 in total on a typical three-year-old car.
Derren Martin, head of Valuations at Cap HPI, said: “With pent-up demand from the first UK lockdown and consumers buying to avoid public transport both now declining, trade buyers are wary of paying previous high prices for cars that may now sit on their forecourts for longer and will potentially need to be reduced. This has led to a decline in trade prices across the board.
“It is important to remember that, when comparing the same type of car at the same age and mileage point today to a year ago, prices are some 5% ahead of where they were, when normally we expect a decline, as models deflate in price whilst moving through their lifecycle. This upward movement that the market has experienced is not unprecedented, but history shows us that it is generally unsustainable.”
While trade values are seeing a decline, retail values remain relatively steady for the moment. Cap HPI says retailers have generally held their nerve over recent weeks, adjusting advertised values only by small amounts when necessary, this has not been the case in the wholesale, or trade market.
The volumes of cars being sold in the trade are lower than prior to the latest lockdown, they are currently only down by around 15%. However, the valuation business warns that dealers need to be on the guard; with a drop in trade prices now, this could eventually filter through to retail prices.
Martin added: “With many smaller models of cars around 10% higher in value than they were a year ago, some realignment was always likely and the final quarter of the year is generally the time when values drop. We see no cause for alarm, and many consumers are still buying used cars through Click & Collect. Even with this realignment, used car prices are still higher than even the most optimistic would have predicted a year and certainly six months ago. It is essential for buyers and sellers alike to track trade prices in real-time at times like this.”


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It’s possible that someday we’ll look back and realize that online-only banks were the beginning of the end of traditional banking – or at least of branch banking.
Perhaps we’ll realize that the rush to mobile banking was the second major event taking us in this direction.
If this turns out to be true, then the third major event taking us down this long road is currently underway. This next event is known only to those fortunate enough to have come across an article about a new kind of bank.
Although it’s currently in beta test mode, a website is available for those with inquiring minds. The launch is scheduled for later this year.
While some pundits in the future might describe this transformation as revolutionary, I would describe it as evolutionary. It will be the culmination of a series of innovative efforts over a prolonged period of time.
Anyone familiar with the work of futurists knows that these seers are not blessed with some special powers enabling them to see the future. Their gifts consist of perseverance in the widespread collecting of data and being able to put together the relevant bits of information to paint a mental picture of what’s coming down the road.
That’s what I’m describing here – pieces of information that taken individually may not be that significant but collectively are pointing to a very different future for retail banking.
What’s interesting and most relevant today is the impetus behind this new kind of consumer bank.
According to a recent article in Fast Company magazine, a young Wall Street guy contacted a friend of his about starting a new bank. In the email he told his friend he was fed up with his personal banking experiences – the hidden fees, confusing bank jargon, and poor customer service.
Unfortunately for today’s bankers, they’ve aggravated the wrong group of consumers – the growing legion of young techies who are quick to start their own businesses to get the products and service they feel they deserve and share them with millions of others.
Look no further than Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Fed up as a result of his weeks’ long experience trying to become a credit card merchant, he wrote the software program for Square – a low-cost, no contract approach allowing anyone with a mobile phone to accept credit card payments. As of the end of April, it’s now the option of choice for over 330,000 merchants and growing rapidly.
We will undoubtedly witness rapid growth for this new bank launching later this year. Already you can visit the bank’s sleek new website and put your name and email address on the invitation list. Mine’s there along with over 50,000 eager early adopters.
The guys behind this new banking venture closed funding last August and already have a core team of eight employees busy creating a new banking experience. Among them is a creative director whose skills are evident once you tour the website here.
Unlike a traditional bank with numerous expensive branches, BankSimple consists of three core players:
- BankSimple which is basically the brand and customer interface.
- Partner or back-end banks providing FDIC-insured products.
- A processing partner to handle transactions between BankSimple and all third parties including card associations, partner banks, and ATM networks.
As for the partner banks, those selected to participate are all smaller banks that’ll be holding BankSimple customers’ money in specially-designed accounts linked to a BankSimple debit card. A BankSimple line of credit is also part of the package.
According to the Fast Company article, the goal of the bank’s founders is to streamline the consumer banking experience by decoupling it from actual FDIC-insured banks. This will enable employees of BankSimple to place greater focus on user satisfaction.
While no one can predict at this time whether or not BankSimple will be a major threat to today’s traditional branch-reliant banks, it would be a mistake to ignore these entrepreneurs. Their success with consumer banking depends almost exclusively on younger, more tech-savvy consumers who have little or no history with branch banking.
Today’s younger consumers are very comfortable buying online and via their mobile phones as they know that if they choose wisely, they’ll receive excellent customer service from companies like:
- J. Peterman
- LL Bean
- Ally Bank
- And a growing number of customer-centric digital merchants
To the BankSimple guys, consumer banking is just the next frontier to be settled.
One thing is certain, the future of retail banking will not come from the moribund big banks burdened by expensive branch networks but from younger entrepreneurs in the high tech community generating new ideas like Square and BankSimple and creating new business models from them.
If you aren’t already familiar with BankSimple, consider this your wake-up call to bring yourself up-to-speed on this innovative new approach to consumer banking. A quick Google search on the keyword “BankSimple” yields a number of informative articles for your reading pleasure.
BankSimple just might be the next step in the beginning of the end of traditional banking.


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Iphone 13 Update Calls Without Any Network -Even if there is no mobile network
IPhone means new updates, new discoveries. Which surprises its users. Almost every year the iPhone is launched in the world market with such a surprise. As was the case with the iPhone 12 Pro Max. But this time the situation is different. IPhone 13 update can be called even if there is no mobile network. That’s what Apple expert Ming Chi Kuo said. He claims that Apple 13 users will get this benefit.
Apple is going to bring low-earth-orbit satellite phones to launch this service. In fact, in order for Apple to launch this service, all telecom operators have to work on behalf of the US satellite company “Globalstar”. Apple is satisfied with this new technology of Apple.
So far no phone has launched satellite calling service However, the iPhone 13 surprised the world by bringing new technology. The relevant iPhone 13 uses Qualcomm customized X60 chipset. 4G 5G both network support.
This wonderful phone will be launched in the world market on 13th September.


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Weather key to destination choices: Top 10 emerging travel hotspots (part 4)
Following significant end-of-summer seasonal decreases in travel in September, flight bookings in October remained relatively stable. Both domestic and international travel destinations that saw the most bookings in October were comparable to those in September, with warmer climate destinations continuing to see an uptick in flight bookings.
In this fourth installment of our analysis of emerging travel hotspots, we analyzed flights booked by U.S. consumers on Expedia, Orbitz and United Airlines in October to detect the top ten domestic and international destinations by MoM changes in booking activity. We then compared October’s findings to the average booking activity in the last six months to shed light on long-term travel trends. Read on for our full travel findings.
Top 10 domestic travel destinations in October
While domestic bookings dropped 16 percent between August and September, domestic flights saw a mere 1 percent decrease in booking activity during October. Another look at the data revealed a continued seasonality effect in domestic travel, with warmer climate destinations, such as Sarasota, FL and Maui, HI gaining popularity, while fans of winter sports drove colder locations, such as Aspen, CO, into the top ten domestic list for MoM changes.
Sarasota, FL saw the largest MoM increase in flights booked, with a 114 percent increase in bookings in October compared to September. Des Moines, IA was a close second, with 112 percent MoM increase in booking activity.
As for the rest of the list, only two destinations that made the October list carried over from September. Maui saw a 56 percent MoM increase in bookings in October, after a 55 percent decrease in bookings in September versus August. Lihue, HI saw a 40 percent MoM increase in bookings in October, on top of the 18 percent increase in bookings in September.
|2||Des Moines, IA||112%|
|3||Cedar Rapids, IA||83%|
|7||Oklahoma City, OK||48%|
|10||Palm Springs, CA||38%|
Top 10 international destinations in October
As on the domestic front, flight purchases to international destinations from within the U.S. remained stable MoM, with a mere 1 percent MoM increase in booking activity. As in September, trips to warmer climates, such as Netherlands Antilles and Brazil saw an uptick in flights purchased in October, while European countries, such as Austria and Greece, saw substantial MoM decreases. In fact, all but one of the countries that made the October list with increased MoM flight purchases are located in warmer regions, with Ireland as the only exception.
Only two countries that made October’s top ten list for MoM changes were also features in September’s lists: Netherlands Antille and Greece. Netherlands Antilles claimed first place for MoM changes in flights booked, with a 150 percent increase in October, following a 65 percent decrease in flight purchases between August and September. United Arab Emirates also saw a large increase in popularity during October, with a 147 percent MoM increase in flights booked. Greece continued losing travelers in October, with a 49 percent decrease in flights booked MoM, on top of a 49 percent decrease in activity between August and September.
|2||United Arab Emirates||147%|
Six-month flight booking trends
When comparing October’s findings to the average of the last six months two clear trends emerged: College towns saw the largest decreases in booking activity among domestic destinations, while weather severely influences international travel.
Six-month domestic travel trends
Sarasota, FL, October’s lead for MoM changes in booking activity, also claimed first place for increased fight purchases when the last six months were considered. This destination saw a 84 percent increase in flights booked during October compared to the average since May. Palm Springs, CA was the only other destination that increased flight bookings in October compared to the six month average.
The rest of the top ten list was dominated by college towns, taking up seven spots in the top ten for flight bookings when comparing October to the six month average. These destinations saw major decreases in flight purchases post back-to-school.
|#||Destination||October compared to 6 month average|
|3||Myrtle Beach, SC||-57%|
|4||Palm Springs, CA||50%|
Six-month international travel trends
When the full six months were taken into account, warmer climate travel was seen as a prominent trend in international travel. All four countries with increased flight bookings in October compared to the six month average were warm weather destinations located either south of the equator or in the Middle East. And four out of six countries with decreased activity in October compared to the average since May were European countries.
The two exceptions were Indonesia and Chile. Flights booked to Indonesia fell by 47 percent in October compared to the six month average, as the country entered its rainy season that month. And flights to Chile saw a 44 percent decrease in flights booked in October compared to the six month average.
|#||Country||October compared to 6 month average|
|5||United Arab Emirates||48%|
Bottom Line: October’s story was less about monthly change than the role climate plays in travel destination decisions. With six months of data, we’ve seen the impact of both summer and back-to-school with winter travel just beginning to be seen. Our November and December data should show holiday travel and begin the comparison of winter to summer destinations, so be sure to check back. In the meanwhile, Happy Holidays to you and your family!


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SCOTLAND’s first social enterprise supermarket, Locavore, has secured £850,000 in funding to support ambitious growth plans as it looks to capitalise on increased demand for local, organic and zero waste food and goods.
Based in Glasgow, Locavore aims to build a more sustainable local food system which is better for the local economy, the environment and its surrounding communities. Since opening in 2011, the social enterprise has opened three shops in Glasgow, developed market gardens, established a veg box scheme and got lots of people more engaged in thinking about issues around food, where it comes from, and the fairness and sustainability of mainstream supply chains.
During a typical month, Locavore serves 15,000 customers in its shops and delivers 7000 veg boxes across central Scotland. With a turnover of around £4.3 million, it now employs almost 90 people.
The £850,000 funding package includes a mix of loan and grant funding from responsible provider Social Investment Scotland (SIS). This new investment will help Locavore achieve its ambitious plans over the next two years to build a network of 10 shops, increase its capacity to deliver 22,500 veg boxes per month; and build the infrastructure required to make this work in an efficient and sustainable way, with a commitment to becoming a carbon negative business.
Successfully delivering this plan will see the social enterprise increase its headcount to 180, creating 90 new jobs in the process, and increasing its turnover to around £10m.
The funding package will be used by Locavore to scale up their activities by: opening three new shops in three new locations in Scotland; taking on a new warehouse site which will act as a regional distribution hub and increase its capacity to deliver veg boxes across central Scotland; purchasing and setting up a new organic market garden.
While many retail markets were adversely impacted by changing restrictions during the pandemic, the fresh food sector was one to have benefited from consistently high consumer demand. Locavore was no exception, going from delivering almost 1,500 boxes per week at the beginning of March 2020 to almost 2,000 by the end of the same month. Currently operating at capacity, there is a waiting list in excess of 1,000.
Reuben Chesters, Managing Director, Locavore, commented: “This latest investment from SIS will help Locavore achieve its ambitions of becoming a leader on many new fronts, putting us in a position from where we can easily scale further and faster than we have ever done before. Within Scotland we’ll be one of the biggest retailers, wholesalers and veg box schemes of our kind with an important position to play in development of the organic market. We’ll also be a model for how to do business properly, a leading social enterprise and a more prominent and influential voice calling for a fairer and more sustainable society.”
Alastair Davis, chief executive of SIS said: “Having supported Locavore for a number of years, we are delighted to continue building this relationship with one of Scotland’s leading social retailers. Locavore is a real success story and proof of how a social enterprise can be run successfully whilst being ethical and delivering high levels of social impact. Through its ambitious growth plan, Locavore will open up new markets beyond Glasgow and move to the next level in its growth journey. We’re excited to be supporting Reuben and his team on this new phase of growth.”
SIS is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Established in 2001, SIS has since invested over £100m of loan finance in helping community enterprises and social businesses have a positive impact on people’s lives, society and the environment. Over the past year, SIS has taken an active role in leading the support for Scotland’s third sector and social enterprises during the pandemic, providing more than 800 support interventions for people and organisations from the third sector, supporting Scotland’s responsible lenders through the £15m Scottish Community Lenders Fund programme. SIS has also continued its support for social enterprise retailers through the SIS Retail Academy, providing ambitious social entrepreneurs with mentoring and advice from some of the UK’s leading retail experts.


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Toyobo Co Ltd (3101.T)
Latest Key Developments (Source: Significant Developments)
Jan 18 (Reuters) - Toyobo Co Ltd <3101.T>:Rating and Investment Information, Inc. (R&I) raised the company's rating to "A-" from "BBB+"-R&I .Rating outlook stable-R&I. Full Article
Jan 12 (Reuters) - TOYOBO Co Ltd <3101.T> ::Says its unit was imposed fine of totaling 3.9 million yen by Japan Fair Trade Commission due to violation of antitrust law, on Jan. 12. Full Article
WASHINGTON Japan's Toyobo Co Ltd and its U.S. subsidiary have agreed to pay $66 million to resolve claims they sold defective fiber used in bullet-proof vests bought by the United States for federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies, the Justice Department said on Thursday.


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The Wii U will kick off the next console generation this November.
After months of speculation from gamers and the press about when the Wii U would launch, Nintendo revealed its next console's official release date at a press conference in New York City. The Wii U will be available in North America on Sunday, November 18.
The console will be launching in two separate bundles. The basic bundle will have a white Wii U console, the GamePad controller, a sensor bar, AC adapters, an HDMI cable, and 8GB memory. The premium bundle comes with all of that, except the console and GamePad will be black, not white. It also comes bundled with Nintendo Land, a console stand, and a GamePad charging cradle. The premium Wii U has 32GB memory.
The basic bundle will be $299.99, and the premium will be $349.99.
Now that the big news is out, it probably won't be long before retailers start taking pre-orders for Nintendo's next console. We'll have more Wii U news coming out of Nintendo's press conference today, so stay tuned.


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44807 Bochum, de
+358 (7180) 34379
Sony Ericsson and Nokia to co-operate on DVB-H interoperability
To secure interoperability in multi-vendor mobile TV service pilots, the Open Air Interface implementation guidelines, publicly available on the web (www.nokia.com/mobiletv), will be used. Current and future technologies within related standardisation bodies will be reflected in future releases of the OAI implementation guidelines and compatible products.
"Sony Ericsson believes that mobile TV will be a key growth area for the mobile phone industry in terms of handsets, applications, content and services. With our unique background in telecommunications and audio visual technology, we are ideally positioned to take advantage of these new exciting business opportunities" said Mats Lindoff, Chief Technology Officer, Sony Ericsson. "We are pleased to announce this co-operation with Nokia on developing DVB-H interoperability as we believe this will be one of the key technologies driving the mobile TV market in the future."
"Availability of interoperable DVB-H enabled mobile devices is crucial in opening up the mass market for broadcast mobile TV," says Ilkka Raiskinen, Senior Vice President, Multimedia Experiences, Nokia. "We are delighted to see that the Open Air Interface (OAI) implementation guidelines which we published in August 2005 can serve as a concrete starting point for interoperability. We are confident that DVB-H will be the technology that enables the best broadcast TV experience on mobile devices."
DVB-H technology complements existing operator networks, optimizing capacity and quality. It offers consumers the chance to enjoy high quality terrestrial digital broadcasts along with voice telephony and internet access all in a single device. Broadcast mobile TV will offer new business opportunities for mobile service providers, content and broadcast companies, infrastructure and handset manufacturers as well as technology providers.
The feedback from different mobile TV pilots has been promising. The recent interim results from the Oxford Mobile TV Trial showed that there is clear consumer demand for the service and that 83% of the pilot participants are satisfied with the end-to-end service provided.
Notes to the editors
DVB-H technology enables the TV service you are familiar with at home to be broadcast to your mobile device. DVB-H provides the best user experience in the mobile environment with excellent picture and reduced battery consumption. Up to 50 TV channels can be delivered with low cost, over one network. With extensive pilots of broadcast mobile TV currently taking place across the globe, involving leading broadcasters, mobile operators, broadcast network operators and handset manufacturers, the market for commercial broadcast services is expected to spread during 2006.
The Open Air Interface (OAI) 1.0 implementation guidelines which Nokia published in August 2005 are availabe at www.nokia.com/mobiletv. The Open Air Interface is based on existing DVB-H standards and specifies how mobile TV devices connect with the DVB-H network and the servers of the overall mobile TV service infrastructure. The OAI specification was published to enable multivendor interoperability in the mobile TV industry.
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications serves the global communications market with innovative and feature-rich mobile phones, accessories, PC-cards and M2M solutions. Established as a joint venture by Sony and Ericsson in 2001, with global corporate functions located in London, the company employs approximately 5,000 people worldwide, including R&D sites in Europe, Japan, China and America. Sony Ericsson is the global title sponsor of the Women's Tennis Association, and works with the Association to promote the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in over 80 cities during the year. For more information on Sony Ericsson, please visit www.sonyericsson.com
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More is happening in budget 5G, as Vivo takes on Oppo and Realme with another inexpensive take on the category.
When we’re all eventually let outside, the amount of us connecting to 5G networks could jump up quickly, and the mid-range market might be the reason why.
In recent months, the price of 5G mobiles has been falling, as the capability has trickled to lower priced devices, including quite a few 5G phones below the $500 mark. It’s certainly a battleground for mobile makers, particularly those looking to let people dive into 5G without needing to spend up big, though it’s one that is showing some interesting results.
And this week, there’s now one more, as Vivo joins the category, launching a mid-range player for $379 locally and that joins a familiar template we’be seen on pretty much every sub-$500 phone thus far.
There’s a big 6.58 inch Full HD+ screen in the Y52, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner under the power button, a 5000mAh battery, three cameras including a 48 megapixel main camera with a look not far from its X60 Pro flagship, support for WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and Near-Field Communication (NFC) for Google Pay, Android 11, and a good 128GB of storage, giving it plenty to work with, plus a microSD slot for a little more if you need it.
Much of this appears to be the template for low-end 5G phones this year, and it also comes with MediaTek’s Dimensity 700 chip, paired with 4GB RAM, the latter of which is a touch concerned.
Back when we reviewed the Oppo A54 5G, another of those sub-$500 options, we found the 4GB RAM wasn’t quite enough to stave off speed issues, resulting in poor performance overall. Granted, the chip was different in that model, with Oppo using a Snapdragon instead, so it’s possible the 4GB won’t be a problem here, but we have our suspicions.
However the price shows Vivo is definitely thinking about the competition here, with the Vivo Y52 5G pitching a price of $379 for the Y52, making it one of the least expensive 5G phones in Australia.
“5G is becoming more accessible and that shouldn’t mean you need to spend more to future proof your smartphone,” said Laura Hayward, Communications Manager for Vivo in Australia.
“We are thrilled to offer Australians the most affordable 5G smartphone, delivering a premium experience at a low price point,” she said.
The Vivo Y52 5G is available now across Australia from Big W, The Good Guys, JB HiFi, Officeworks, Amazon, and other retailers for $379.