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The HTC One has proved to be a major hit with smartphone fans, and HTC has just made it that much more appealing: the company has just revealed the HTC One Mini, a more pocket-friendly version of your favorite Android phone.
Of course, now that it comes in a smaller size, there are some cutbacks, namely the polycarbonate that has replaced the aluminum on its sides, and a 720p screen instead of 1080p. But the phone still comes with its trademark forward-facing speakers, so music videos are going to smack you right in the face. There are no slots for storage expansion, though, so you'll have to make do with its 16GB of internal memory. HTC says the phone may hitting stores in September, but they haven't made anything official. Good news is, if you're in the market for a solid phone that won't take up space, all signs point to the HTC One Mini being $99 with a contract. Smaller size, smaller tab.
[via PC Mag]


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Update posted on May 19, 2020
After we reported this story, on May 19 Kroger confirmed that it would no longer seek repayments from workers.
UFCW Local 400 released the following statement:
We look forward to informing our union members who have received these collections letters that Kroger is no longer seeking money from them. We will also investigate any incidents in which a member may have already paid some money back to the company to ensure they are made whole. We are pleased Kroger has come to its senses. Now they can focus their attention on extending ‘hero pay’ until this crisis is over.
Veronica Copeland’s last day at the Kroger in Morgantown, West Virginia, where she works was March 23. She has an autoimmune condition that meant she needed to take emergency leave when the pandemic was ramping up. Two weeks were paid, and then she was supposed to take her vacation time if she needed to remain out.
“They said they were going to pay me the following two weeks,” she said. “Well, they kept forgetting. Some other people were getting the pay, but I wasn’t, so I kept having to call my manager.” It took a couple of weeks for them to finally overnight her the paper checks.
She thought that would be the end of it, but then she got a letter saying, “As you may be aware, you were overpaid your Emergency Pay.” Kroger was asking for repayment. “They ask you to acknowledge it, sign for it, and to agree to one of three payback terms: one, two, or three installments that they will take out of your paychecks,” she said. It struck her as strange, so she called her union representative right away. “They said, ‘Don’t sign anything.’”
Copeland wasn’t the only one who’d received such a letter. She noticed people on an online forum discussing the letters. “Somebody had brought it up and a number of people were chiming in that they were paying it back,” she said. “I’m off work for the foreseeable future, as long as they will extend my leave. I don’t have any income coming in, so I don’t understand where they expect it to come out of. And I have to imagine I’m not the only one in that boat.”
UFCW Local 400, which represents Copeland and 13,000 other workers at Kroger across seven states and Washington, D.C., told me:
We have recently received numerous reports of Kroger associates receiving collections letters from their employer. We are committed to investigating each case thoroughly and we will continue to advocate on behalf of our members. No matter how much Kroger wishes it were so, things are not back to normal. This is a time to be rewarding our heroes on the frontlines, not cutting their well-deserved pay.
What makes this all the more frustrating to Copeland is that it’s coming just as Kroger decided to end its “hero pay” of $2 extra per hour. The extra hazard pay will end May 17, though the pandemic that made those workers into “heroes” against their will is far from over. “They are taking it away from those people, which is ridiculous as far as I’m concerned because they’re still going to require them to wear masks,” Copeland said. “If it’s dangerous enough that you have to require them to wear masks, why wouldn’t you continue that extra pay? It is only $2 an hour, Kroger.”
And the company is doing quite well in the pandemic, Copeland noted. Its stock is up, and the company projects continued growth; recent SEC filings show that executives’ pay was up in fiscal year 2019 by millions—the CEO had a 75 percent increase in his compensation over the previous year. It bought back $355 million of its own shares in the first quarter. “They are making money hand over fist,” Copeland said. “Before all this started, two weeks before I went off, we had our first million-dollar week ever. A million-dollar week in our little tiny store, and we’ve hit it now a few times. They are definitely making a lot of money. The grocery stores have the monopoly on everything.”
Copeland continued, “I just don’t know what they’re thinking in the middle of all of this demanding repayment.”
The conditions in the store had been difficult before Copeland took time off. West Virginia shut things down toward the end of March, and before that she’d been frustrated by the lax behavior in her store.
I was like, “What are the courtesy clerks doing getting carts without even having gloves on?” and I was kind of laughed and pooh-poohed at. Then, I asked one manager, “Customers keep asking, are we going to start the early senior thing?” He laughed at me. He said, “Well, what do you expect us to do? Card everybody coming in the store?” I said, “I’m just asking because other stores are doing it [and] I have had several elderly customers ask me today.”
After she left, she continued to hear horror stories from coworkers.
I went to the store one time and it was just way overcrowded. The customers were not adhering to anything. At that point, they didn’t have the aisles marked off, they didn’t have the arrows, they didn’t have the plastic shields—they didn’t have any of that until after April 1. To me, it was a nightmare in there. I started going to a much slower grocery store that I can get in and out without having to see that many people. I would much rather go to Kroger because I get a discount there, but I just can’t because it is just too many people.
Even now, she said, “I’ve talked to several of my coworkers. They are terrified every day because they still can’t get a lot of the customers to adhere to the rules. Management won’t be forceful enough with customers. They don’t want to offend any customers.” Yet despite the extra fear and stress, Kroger intends to take away their extra pay, a move that angers Copeland. “It is really unfair that they’re taking away that little bit of extra pay they’re getting.”
Update posted on May 19, 2020
We got a flood of email from Kroger workers and customers after this story published.
Yvette Booker wrote, “I have been working at Kroger for over 26 years and I’m still not making $15 an hour and this is with the $2 Hero Bonus.” Kroger is making plenty of money, Booker noted, and the needs of employees “will continue to evolve and change.” Keeping the extra $2 “will be very greatly appreciated,” she wrote, though she also notes it should be more. “The employees are constantly, every day, putting their lives on the line, as well as their family members, when they make it home to their loved ones after a hard day at work. We as employees just want living wages, protective gear, safe workplace and we want fair compensation for our labor and this is not asking too much as associates.”
The pandemic shows no signs of ending, Booker wrote, and the risks remain real. “Hero pay didn’t outlast the virus; it just outlived its usefulness to Kroger.”
Anthony wrote that he was laid off from his service job of three years due to COVID-19 shutdown. He started collecting unemployment, but when he heard that Kroger needed people he went to apply. He said that he told the HR person that he had a prior felony and they said they’d waive the background check. “I worked for them 3 1/2 weeks until I was terminated for my felony when my background check came back.” Now, he wrote, his unemployment is denied because he was terminated from the job. “I risked my health working during this pandemic and lost my benefits, which was more money than my paycheck from Kroger. Feeling used and mistreated.”
Another worker, from Memphis, wrote in to say that they were worried about the company’s safety protocols. “They’re having someone taking our temperature with bare hands, not sanitizing the thermometer after every use and not wearing masks. I feel we really still need our ‘heroes bonus’ and that it shouldn’t go away, we’re in grave danger more now than ever, it’s just as a big chance of us getting this virus now than it was in the beginning. We’re the heroes just like other frontline workers. Without the employees, there is no Kroger. Some employees have small children and spouses that they could’ve spread this virus to, trying to do their job to keep the customers satisfied.”
A Ralphs worker (a Kroger subsidiary) from California wrote in also frustrated at the loss of heroes pay. “I hardly see associates with a smile on their face,” he wrote “I see them all under stress. Just like Uber, calling their drivers ‘partner,’ so they can escape the responsibility of caring for or covering the drivers.” Kroger, he wrote, is calling them “heroes” with just $2 extra while they risk bringing the virus home to their families. “American stimulus money is going to Kroger to buy their food. They’re enjoying the billions, and leaving us to die for pennies.”
Marcia, a Kroger shopper, wrote in that she was frustrated that Kroger was taking away the heroes pay. “We are far from over with Covid-19 and it disheartening to take this pay away from them.” She was also frustrated that the managers at her local store didn’t seem to take wearing masks seriously. “Please everyone at Kroger be safe, we need you and you need us.”
Sarah Jaffe is a reporting fellow at the Type Media Center, the author of Necessary Trouble: American in Revolt, and the co-host of Dissent’s Belabored podcast.

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HOUSE OF THE DAY: Billy Joel Sold His Miami Beach Mansion To An Italian Billionaire For $14 Million
via TruliaMusic man Billy Joel has sold his mansion on Miami Beach's posh La Gorce Island to Italian handbag mogul Diego Della Valle for just under $14 million, according to Trulia's luxury real estate blog.
The singer had listed the mansion in May 2012 for $14.75 million, just over a million dollars more than he paid for it in 2006.
The 8,880-square-foot Mediterranean-style home, is located on a .67-acre slice of waterfront, with expansive bay views and space to park a yacht.
Della Valle is the president and CEO of Italian leather goods company Tod's.
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Redmi k30 Professional is about to launch on March 24. The brand new Redmi-series telephone will come as an improvement to the Redmi k30 that debuted in 4G and 5G variants in December. The Redmi k30 Professional has already been teased to come back with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC. Moreover, Xiaomi sub-brand Redmi has revealed the design and digital camera particulars of the upcoming smartphone. The model additionally lately introduced that the Redmi k30 Professional would debut as an official accomplice for motion film Quick and Livid 9 film that’s releasing within the US on April 2, 2021. Learn on for the launch particulars in addition to the anticipated value and specs of the brand new smartphone forward of its official debut.
Redmi k30 Pro launch particulars
The Redmi k30 Professional launch is going down in China on March 24. As a result of the coronavirus outbreak, Xiaomi is not internet hosting an official launch occasion. The corporate will, as an alternative, conduct a Livestream on-line, via the official Redmi account on Weibo. Particulars concerning the world debut of the Redmi k30 Professional are but to be revealed. Nonetheless, contemplating the historic information of the corporate, the smartphone would debut in markets together with India at a later date.
Redmi k30 Pro value (anticipated)
Xiaomi hasn’t made any revelations across the pricing of the Redmi k30 Professional. Nonetheless, the latest itemizing on the Chinese language e-commerce website Suning urged that the brand new flagship would arrive with a price ticket of CNY 3,299 (roughly Rs. 35,200). That is notably greater than the pricing of the Redmi k20 Professional that went on sale in China with a price ticket as excessive as CNY 2,999 (roughly Rs. 32,000). Having mentioned that, we’re but to see the official pricing particulars. It’s, thus, secure to think about the listed value with a pinch of salt.
Redmi k30 Pro specs, options (anticipated)
The latest listing of teasers has confirmed that the Redmi k30 Professional will include an HDR10+ show that can be a Tremendous AMOLED panel manufactured by Samsung. The telephone may even have 1200 nits of peak brightness, 5000000:1 distinction ratio, and a contact sampling charge of 180Hz. Nonetheless, there will not be a top-notch refresh charge — simply the default 60Hz.
Just like the Redmi k20 sequence, the Redmi k30 Professional will include the pop-up selfie digital camera. That is in contrast to the Redmi k30 fashions which have a hole-punch show. The telephone may even have around digital camera module on the again with quad rear cameras, together with a 64-inch Sony IMX686 major sensor with 1.6-micron pixel measurement. You may also anticipate twin optical picture stabilization (OIS) in addition to the telephoto shooter onboard. The digital camera setup of the Redmi k30 Professional would ship as much as 3x optical zoom.
Below the hood, the Redmi k30 Professional will have the Snapdragon 865 SoC, coupled with an LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. The telephone may even embrace a 3.5mm headphone jack and an Infrared (IR) blaster. Additionally, it’s touted to have the biggest vapor chamber (VC) liquid cooling and a sandwich construction motherboard, comprising a layer of a radio frequency (RF) board, adapter board, and the primary logic board. New teasers have additionally talked about the presence of Bluetooth v5.1 with a variety of offering 400 meters connectivity. Furthermore, you will get dual-mode 5G connectivity alongside Wi-Fi 6 and 4G LTE assist.
The Redmi k30 Professional will are available in a number of shade choices — as many as 5 distinct shades to select from. The smartphone may even have a curved again glass panel.


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Microsoft is releasing a new optional update for Windows OS,
which includes some important bug fixes and new emojis previewed by the company
earlier this year. The emojis include Microsoft’s old animated character
Clippy, that is making its return after years of being taken off of the platform.
This time, however, Clippy looks a lot better thanks to Microsoft’s design team that has put in efforts to make his colors appear brighter and more saturated. The emoji is designed in 2D and is only available in Windows 11.
Although Microsoft had promised the emojis in 3D, the lack
of 3D may be due to technical limitations of the platform’s color font format
that uses a vector format.


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Sometimes, Google is actually happy to go to court.
The search giant filed a lawsuit in California federal court on Monday against a person who allegedly took money for puppies that were never delivered, and it wants you to know it'll be taking similar action in the future.
The complaint alleges that a person who lives in Cameroon ran a network of websites as part of "multiple international non-delivery scams" that used Google services to communicate or receive payment, particularly for basset hounds and other "adorable puppies."
The websites "exploit[ed] the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting high demand for puppies in the U.S.," Google claims, and in addition to violating the company's terms of service, the puppy operations cost Google "substantial resources in excess of $75,000 to investigate and remediate."
A request for comment to an email address cited in the complaint as being tied to the puppy websites did not immediately yield a response.
That $75,000 sum is, of course, a mere trifle for Google, and there's plenty to be gained from publicly trying to punish alleged international scammers and protect would-be pet owners who fell in love with pictures of dogs they would never receive. Puppies may even outrank apple pie in terms of popular causes, and the number of presumably sympathetic dog parents in the U.S. has literally increased by millions thanks to COVID-19.
Still, Google spokesman José Castañeda told Protocol in an email there would be additional consumer-protection lawsuits in the future, designed to bring "more enforcement and attention to other areas of online fraud and scams that especially impact commonly targeted groups like... seniors and veterans." (One of the people who paid for a puppy and did not receive it appears to have reported her experience through AARP, an organization for Americans age 50 and older.)
Google has also previously sued over botnets and against alleged fraudsters who impersonated the company.
There is, in fact, no scarcity of online fraud — some of it exacerbated by the increased loneliness and time online that have come from the pandemic. In 2021, people lost $770 million in social media scams alone, especially romance hoaxes, according to a recent Federal Trade Commission report. Those figures are way up from prior years, and according to the Better Business Bureau, more than a third of online shopping scam reports in 2021 involved pets.


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Ford to release cheesecake recipe
If you were intrigued by the Premier's 'famous cheesecake', you may be in luck.
Doug Ford posted a picture of himself baking in the kitchen with the message 'Stay tuned...#cheesecake.'
In a bit of a lighthearted moment, Ford joked about his two daughters coming to visit over the Mother's Day weekend by claiming he makes 'the best cherry cheesecake ever.'
He says he does it from scratch without a firm recipe, but many Ontarians, including 105.7 EZ Rock's Curtis Bray and Lori Love, have been asking for his secrets.
AM Roundtable - Brett Boake and Rev. Martha J. Lockwood
Evergrande, a Chinese company can’t pay a relatively small $100 million debt. CIBC rolls out new logo. JD Power, a company that looks at quality of service, released a ranking of the 20 largest airports in North America, Pearson ranked 19th. Tim talks to Marvin Ryder, Assistant Professor DeGroote School of Business McMaster University.


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Fitbit Walks Off Apple’s Online Stores
Ashley Allen / 4 years ago
Fitbit’s fitness tracking device has been removed from Apple’s retail website, though is still currently available in Apple stores for the time being. This follows the removal of Fitbit’s Apps for Health from the App Store back in October.
The reasons for the move are thus far unclear, but speculation suggests it could be due to the device’s incompatibility with Apple’s HealthKit developers tool. A statement from Fitbit suggests the feud is set to continue, as they affirmed that, “We do not currently have plans to integrate with HealthKit… It is an interesting new platform and we will watch as it matures, looking for opportunities to improve the Fitbit experience. At the moment, we’re working on other exciting projects that we think will be valuable to users.”
Fitibit have, however, suggested that their position may change if there is enough demand from Apple customers.


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The Barsowia anthology recently featured a story written by CE alum and Book Club Manager Paul Allor with illustrations by JM Ken Niimura (I Kill Giants, Amazing Spider-Man).
Barsowia is a Galician-language anthology, published in Spain.
"Barsowia has published the work of some extraordinary comics creators over the years," Paul said. "We're quite honorored to be included among their ranks."
The story reprinted in Barsowia is "Warlord," a part of the Clockwork anthology. You can read the English-language version online at www.clockworkcomic.com.
The Clockwork anthology contained 12 original stories on cross-genre characters such as space-faring gorilla pirates, heart-broken robots, a beautiful gunfighter, and even a man on death row.
Clockwork contained artwork by Comics Experience art alums and workshop members Ken Frederick and Carl Peterson, alongside well-known artists including Brett Weldele (Surrogates) and Nikki Cook (Memoir), as well as JM Ken Niimura.
It was also recently announced that Paul will be writing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Micro-Series #8 featuring Fugitoid. Paul's story will introduce the popular Fugitoid character into IDW's turtles continuity.
In addition to writing, Paul works as a comics editor on upcoming or released projects such as Girls' Night Out, Gutter Magic, Deluge, and Rex, Zombie Killer
Congratulations to Paul and JM Ken Niimura on the release of their work in Barsowia!


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There just isn’t enough time.
The next big thing in fitness offers a viable solution. Now even the busiest of people have a new option that makes pumping iron synonymous with waiting to catch a flight.
Now instead of sitting in the uncomfortable chairs (assuming you’re lucky enough to find a spot), you can get fit while you wait to fly at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Thanks to the recently opened ROAM Fitness, a revolutionary fitness center concept within the airport, visitors to BWI can maximize their airport time by stretching their muscles and feeling the burn.
Before you’re stuck on a plane with no leg room to spare, ROAM Fitness offers travelers the chance to get their heart rate up before they’re in flight so calories can keep on burning while they’re in the air.
“It’s a concept that my business partner and I came up with while we were in grad school and it’s something we wanted for ourselves,” explained Cynthia Sandall, CEO of ROAM. “We love the idea of offering travelers the ability to exercise when they’re away from home anyway, so when they return home they have more time to enjoy with their friends and family.”
It is the first location to open nationwide for ROAM, where about 20 people can work out at a given time. Passes can be purchased for the day, month or year, and offer options for travelers to rent Lululemon clothes and Brooks running shoes.
There are also lockers to store carry-on luggage, electrical outlets suitable for charging almost any device and, perhaps best of all, showers.
“Honestly, one of our main efforts right now is making sure our visitors are educated about everything we offer,” Sandall said. “You can take care of yourself at an airside gym facility with showers so you don’t have to worry about being all sweaty and gross for your flight.”
The concept is one Sandall said is well suited to start at BWI, an airport that has been recognized nationwide for its efforts to encourage healthy living. Healthy dining options, a bike path and rentals and the BWI Cardio Trail are among the other features that set BWI apart from the pack.
“We are thrilled to see people’s reactions to the concept so far,” Sandall said. “We’ve had a lot of really positive feedback about everything from our shoe and clothing rental to the showers, and being right there next to the gate after security really takes away the stress of worrying about catching your flight on time.”
Another 20 locations are planned at airports throughout the country in the next five years.
Through March, a day pass costs $25, month pass $150 and annual pass $500. Regular pricing begins in April at $40 a day, $175 a month and $600 a year.
ROAM Fitness is open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, so there is plenty of time even for those who say there isn’t.
Similar to ROAM Fitness, our goal here at Econopark Express is to make traveling out of BWI Airport more convenient. Complimentary bottles of water are available on our shuttles to help customers recharge, a value to fitness gurus who know the toll travel can take on hydration.
In addition, our 24/7 shuttle service is staffed by hard-working individuals dedicated to serving you, so you can save time and energy. Instead of wrestling with your baggage and stressing about having enough time, we take care of everything.
That way time should never be too short for you to be able to pump the brakes at Econopark Express and pump some iron at BWI.


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Restaurant-lighting, the owner of a popular restaurant is devastated with the eatery he has nurtured for more than 10 years set to close its. Restaurant industry employees who have been financially impacted by covid 19 outbreak may be eligible for a $500 grant, lakhani who owns the table in italian village with business partner jennifer marlatt is trying to keep a skeleton staff. The restaurant industry has been among the hardest hit during the coronavirus pandemic some are delivering and doing takeout, in light of the coronavirus restrictions some restaurants and stores are offering take home easter dinners and hams most.
Note: since news broke during this interview on idaho matters that boise mayor lauren mclean planned to announce restrictions, these are people like the grocery staffers who stock shelves ring up purchases and wipe down shopping carts with disinfectant like the restaurant employees who prepare and serve takeout meals like. Santa maria calif local restaurant owners in santa maria have expressed concern over health regulations in light of the distancing guidelines since the coronavirus outbreak newschannel 12, from now until 1 june we are offering two months' rent free to all of our restaurant and food beverage tenants operating in our shopping centres and commercial properties last week tenants in need.
Later they also discuss the fallout from the covid 19 pandemic its lasting effects on the restaurant business and how sean, a diverse digital database that acts as a valuable guide in gaining insight and information about a product directly from the manufacturer and serves as a rich reference point in developing a. Note: during her interview with idaho matters in the noon hour thursday boise mayor lauren mclean indicated that she would


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Barclays will be the first British bank to allow people to send payments using just the recipient’s Twitter username. The free service will launch on March 10 for users of the social network and the bank’s Pingit mobile payment app. “Adding the ability to pay people or a small business using just a Twitter handle brings together a social and digital experience to create a new step forward for mobile payments in the UK,” said Darren Foulds, director of Barclays Mobile Banking and Pingit.
- Dogs aim to take Blue Cross canal walk donations
- Accumulated payments with Samsung Pay surpass W10tn
- Contactless to account for more than one in two POS transactions globally by 2022
- Face ID described as iPhone 8’s ‘crown jewel’, unlocking device in ‘a few hundred milliseconds’
- From the high street to the handset: How banks can stay connected to consumers in the smartphone era


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|By Marketwired .||
|June 1, 2014 12:01 PM EDT||
PALO ALTO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/01/14 -- HP (NYSE: HPQ) today announced new milestones in the transformation of its consumer personal systems portfolio with a host of innovative form factors, and multiple operating system (OS) options, including a new notebook powered by Android.
Unique two-in-one PC designs, including two new 360 degrees convertible PCs and a new detachable PC, give customers the performance and mobility they want and need. Additionally, HP's new Chromebook introduces new colors and designs for customers who want a quick and easy way to complete everyday tasks, while HP's new Android-based notebook makes popular Android apps available in a clamshell design.
"Customers have made it clear that they need devices that better adapt to work and play the way they do," said Mike Nash, vice president, Product Management, Consumer Personal Systems, HP. "Today, we are announcing the next generation of laptops and two-in-one PCs, along with a new Chromebook that combine power, versatility and design for home and on the go."
Next-generation form factors
HP is extending its lineup of touch convertible PCs with the new HP ENVY x360 and the next-generation HP Pavilion x360, both of which enable customers to switch easily from a notebook to a stand, tent or tablet.
The HP ENVY x360 is ideal for customers looking for a high-performance PC that bridges the gap between work and play. Featuring a powerful Intel® Core processor, 15.6-inch diagonal Full HD(1) 10-point touch screen display, and the HP Control Zone trackpad that transforms the Windows 8.1 experience,(2) the HP ENVY x360 is designed to tackle any task, while its unique hinge enables users to seamlessly shift to tablet or tent mode for watching videos or playing games.
The HP Pavilion x360 has a 13.3-inch diagonal touchscreen and is available in multiple colors for customers who want enhanced productivity and mobility at a value price. Built with the latest Intel or AMD processors, the HP Pavilion x360 keeps up with the most demanding tasks while delivering next-generation entertainment with a 10-point touch screen and Beats Audio.
The evolution of the detachable PC
The HP Split x2 enables users to shift effortlessly from work to play by combining tablet portability with notebook productivity in a sleek, lightweight device. Feature packed with a powerful Intel Core processor, a 10-point touchscreen display and an ultra-quiet fanless design, the HP Split x2 combines power and portability with the Windows 8.1 OS. With an advanced hinge design and optional dual battery system -- one battery in the base and one in the tablet -- users can easily switch from notebook to tablet and back on this 13.3-inch detachable PC.
Expanding HP's Chrome and Android portfolio
HP is also expanding its Chrome and Android offerings with the new HP Chromebook and the HP SlateBook.
The HP Chromebook is a thin notebook with an11.6-inch diagonal HD(1) display that enables customers to quickly connect to their favorite websites, online music and videos,(3) and tens of thousands of apps in the Chrome Web Store. The HP Chromebook is available in Snow White or Ocean Turquoise. Plus, up to six hours of battery life(4) makes the HP Chromebook PC an ideal companion for customers who want a stylish Chromebook at a great price.
The HP SlateBook is a sleek, lightweight Android-powered notebook that gives customers access to the more than 1 million Android apps and games on Google Play in a more productive form factor. Equipped with a 14-inch Full HD touch screen, this compact, 16-mm thin notebook provides up to nine hours of battery life.(5) An NVIDIA® Tegra® 4 mobile processor, plus integrated GeForce® graphics, means the notebook lets users keep up with tasks at the office, home or on the go.
Enhanced protection for consumers
HP SmartFriend now provides one-on-one assistance to help customers manage their privacy settings on social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter, protect themselves from phishing and other online scams, and prevent third parties from tracking their online activities.
Pricing and availability
- The HP ENVY x360 is expected to be available in the United States on June 11 for a starting price of $679.99.
- The HP Pavilion x360 is expected to be available in the United States with an AMD A8 processor on July 9 and with an Intel Core i3 processor on July 20 for starting prices of $629.99 and $599.99, respectively.
- The HP Split x2 is expected to be available in the United States on June 29 for a starting price of $599.99.
- The HP Chromebook is expected to be available in the United States in July for a starting price of $279.99.
- The HP SlateBook is expected to be available in the United States on July 20 for a starting price of $429.99.
HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. With the broadest technology portfolio spanning printing, personal systems, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP delivers solutions for customers' most complex challenges in every region of the world. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.
Intel and Intel Core are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. AMD is a trademark of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
(1) High-definition content is required for high-definition images.
(2) Not all features are available in all editions of Windows 8.1. Systems may require upgraded and/or separately purchased hardware, drivers and/or software to take full advantage of Windows 8.1 functionality. See microsoft.com.
(3) Wireless access point and Internet service required and not included.
(4) Testing conducted by HP using Google Chrome OS power_LoadTest. Battery life will vary and the maximum capacity of the battery will naturally decrease with time and usage. See www.chromium.org/chromium-os/testing/power-testing for test details.
(5) Battery life tested using 720p (1,280x720) resolution, H.264 mp4 video format, 200 nits brightness, audio level at 50 percent system, 100 percent media player from local storage, headphone attached, wireless off, and disabled display power saving feature. Actual battery life will vary depending on configuration and maximum capacity will naturally decrease with time and usage.
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of HP and its consolidated subsidiaries could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning expected development, performance, market share or competitive performance relating to products and services; any statements regarding anticipated operational and financial results; any statements of expectation or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the need to address the many challenges facing HP's businesses; the competitive pressures faced by HP's businesses; risks associated with executing HP's strategy and plans for future operations; the impact of macroeconomic and geopolitical trends and events; the need to manage third-party suppliers and the distribution of HP's products and services effectively; the protection of HP's intellectual property assets, including intellectual property licensed from third parties; risks associated with HP's international operations; the development and transition of new products and services and the enhancement of existing products and services to meet customer needs and respond to emerging technological trends; the execution and performance of contracts by HP and its suppliers, customers, clients and partners; the hiring and retention of key employees; integration and other risks associated with business combination and investment transactions; the execution, timing and results of restructuring plans, including estimates and assumptions related to the cost and the anticipated benefits of implementing those plans; the resolution of pending investigations, claims and disputes; and other risks that are described in HP's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2013, and that are otherwise described or updated from time to time in HP's Securities and Exchange Commission reports. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.
© 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
SYS-CON Events announced today that FalconStor Software® Inc., a 15-year innovator of software-defined storage solutions, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. FalconStor Software®, Inc. (NASDAQ: FALC) is a leading software-defined storage company offering a converged, hardware-agnostic, software-defined storage and data services platform. Its flagship solution FreeStor®, utilizes a horizonta...
Feb. 14, 2016 07:30 AM EST
WebSocket is effectively a persistent and fat pipe that is compatible with a standard web infrastructure; a "TCP for the Web." If you think of WebSocket in this light, there are other more hugely interesting applications of WebSocket than just simply sending data to a browser. In his session at 18th Cloud Expo, Frank Greco, Director of Technology for Kaazing Corporation, will compare other modern web connectivity methods such as HTTP/2, HTTP Streaming, Server-Sent Events and new W3C event APIs ...
Feb. 14, 2016 07:30 AM EST
Silver Spring Networks, Inc. (NYSE: SSNI) extended its Internet of Things technology platform with performance enhancements to Gen5 – its fifth generation critical infrastructure networking platform. Already delivering nearly 23 million devices on five continents as one of the leading networking providers in the market, Silver Spring announced it is doubling the maximum speed of its Gen5 network to up to 2.4 Mbps, increasing computational performance by 10x, supporting simultaneous mesh communic...
Feb. 14, 2016 05:00 AM EST
The cloud promises new levels of agility and cost-savings for Big Data, data warehousing and analytics. But it’s challenging to understand all the options – from IaaS and PaaS to newer services like HaaS (Hadoop as a Service) and BDaaS (Big Data as a Service). In her session at @BigDataExpo at @ThingsExpo, Hannah Smalltree, a director at Cazena, will provide an educational overview of emerging “as-a-service” options for Big Data in the cloud. This is critical background for IT and data profes...
Feb. 14, 2016 04:00 AM EST Reads: 260
Eighty percent of a data scientist’s time is spent gathering and cleaning up data, and 80% of all data is unstructured and almost never analyzed. Cognitive computing, in combination with Big Data, is changing the equation by creating data reservoirs and using natural language processing to enable analysis of unstructured data sources. This is impacting every aspect of the analytics profession from how data is mined (and by whom) to how it is delivered. This is not some futuristic vision: it's ha...
Feb. 14, 2016 03:45 AM EST Reads: 478
With the Apple Watch making its way onto wrists all over the world, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a staple in the workplace. In fact, Forrester reported that 68 percent of technology and business decision-makers characterize wearables as a top priority for 2015. Recognizing their business value early on, FinancialForce.com was the first to bring ERP to wearables, helping streamline communication across front and back office functions. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Kevin Roberts...
Feb. 14, 2016 02:00 AM EST Reads: 436
Cognitive Computing is becoming the foundation for a new generation of solutions that have the potential to transform business. Unlike traditional approaches to building solutions, a cognitive computing approach allows the data to help determine the way applications are designed. This contrasts with conventional software development that begins with defining logic based on the current way a business operates. In her session at 18th Cloud Expo, Judith S. Hurwitz, President and CEO of Hurwitz & ...
Feb. 13, 2016 11:15 PM EST Reads: 316
One of the bewildering things about DevOps is integrating the massive toolchain including the dozens of new tools that seem to crop up every year. Part of DevOps is Continuous Delivery and having a complex toolchain can add additional integration and setup to your developer environment. In his session at @DevOpsSummit at 18th Cloud Expo, Miko Matsumura, Chief Marketing Officer of Gradle Inc., will discuss which tools to use in a developer stack, how to provision the toolchain to minimize onboa...
Feb. 13, 2016 08:00 PM EST Reads: 156
With an estimated 50 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2020, several industries will begin to expand their capabilities for retaining end point data at the edge to better utilize the range of data types and sheer volume of M2M data generated by the Internet of Things. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Don DeLoach, CEO and President of Infobright, will discuss the infrastructures businesses will need to implement to handle this explosion of data by providing specific use cases for filte...
Feb. 13, 2016 02:00 PM EST Reads: 262
SYS-CON Events announced today that Pythian, a global IT services company specializing in helping companies adopt disruptive technologies to optimize revenue-generating systems, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7-9, 2015 at the Javits Center in New York, New York. Founded in 1997, Pythian is a global IT services company that helps companies compete by adopting disruptive technologies such as cloud, Big Data, advanced analytics, and DevO...
Feb. 13, 2016 01:30 PM EST Reads: 292
SYS-CON Events announced today that Avere Systems, a leading provider of enterprise storage for the hybrid cloud, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Avere delivers a more modern architectural approach to storage that doesn’t require the overprovisioning of storage capacity to achieve performance, overspending on expensive storage media for inactive data or the overbuilding of data centers ...
Feb. 13, 2016 01:30 PM EST Reads: 149
SYS-CON Events announced today that Commvault, a global leader in enterprise data protection and information management, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7–9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Commvault is a leading provider of data protection and information management...
Feb. 13, 2016 12:45 PM EST Reads: 479
The Quantified Economy represents the total global addressable market (TAM) for IoT that, according to a recent IDC report, will grow to an unprecedented $1.3 trillion by 2019. With this the third wave of the Internet-global proliferation of connected devices, appliances and sensors is poised to take off in 2016. In his session at @ThingsExpo, David McLauchlan, CEO and co-founder of Buddy Platform, will discuss how the ability to access and analyze the massive volume of streaming data from mil...
Feb. 13, 2016 12:00 PM EST
SYS-CON Events announced today that Alert Logic, Inc., the leading provider of Security-as-a-Service solutions for the cloud, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Alert Logic, Inc., provides Security-as-a-Service for on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures, delivering deep security insight and continuous protection for customers at a lower cost than traditional security solutions. Ful...
Feb. 13, 2016 12:00 PM EST Reads: 476
SYS-CON Events announced today that Interoute, owner-operator of one of Europe's largest networks and a global cloud services platform, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7-9, 2015 at the Javits Center in New York, New York. Interoute is the owner-operator of one of Europe's largest networks and a global cloud services platform which encompasses 12 data centers, 14 virtual data centers and 31 colocation centers, with connections to 195 ad...
Feb. 13, 2016 12:00 PM EST Reads: 458
SYS-CON Events announced today that Men & Mice, the leading global provider of DNS, DHCP and IP address management overlay solutions, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. The Men & Mice Suite overlay solution is already known for its powerful application in heterogeneous operating environments, enabling enterprises to scale without fuss. Building on a solid range of diverse platform support,...
Feb. 13, 2016 11:45 AM EST Reads: 285
Fortunately, meaningful and tangible business cases for IoT are plentiful in a broad array of industries and vertical markets. These range from simple warranty cost reduction for capital intensive assets, to minimizing downtime for vital business tools, to creating feedback loops improving product design, to improving and enhancing enterprise customer experiences. All of these business cases, which will be briefly explored in this session, hinge on cost effectively extracting relevant data from ...
Feb. 13, 2016 11:30 AM EST Reads: 165
There will be new vendors providing applications, middleware, and connected devices to support the thriving IoT ecosystem. This essentially means that electronic device manufacturers will also be in the software business. Many will be new to building embedded software or robust software. This creates an increased importance on software quality, particularly within the Industrial Internet of Things where business-critical applications are becoming dependent on products controlled by software. Qua...
Feb. 13, 2016 11:00 AM EST
SYS-CON Events announced today that iDevices®, the preeminent brand in the connected home industry, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. iDevices, the preeminent brand in the connected home industry, has a growing line of HomeKit-enabled products available at the largest retailers worldwide. Through the “Designed with iDevices” co-development program and its custom-built IoT Cloud Infrastruc...
Feb. 13, 2016 11:00 AM EST Reads: 160
Companies can harness IoT and predictive analytics to sustain business continuity; predict and manage site performance during emergencies; minimize expensive reactive maintenance; and forecast equipment and maintenance budgets and expenditures. Providing cost-effective, uninterrupted service is challenging, particularly for organizations with geographically dispersed operations.
Feb. 13, 2016 11:00 AM EST


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The Fortnite Battle Royale season shop has also been replaced by the new Battle Pass.
A look at why you're in a long waiting queue, and tips for avoiding long waiting queues in future matches of Fortnite and Fornite Battle Royale.
The mode will be sticking around for most of December.
Check out the latest additions to Fortnite Battle Royale including a new inventory UI.
A settlement has also been reached with one of the original cheaters Epic went after.
A limited time mode and an inventory revamp are also in the works for Fortnite Battle Royale.
The Fortnite 1.9.1 update should arrive sometime today.
Recent gameplay shows just how powerful the rare Zapotron sniper is in Fortnite Battle Royale.
The cheater that Epic Games decided to sue is a 14-year-old minor.
Epic Games outlined the changes coming to Fortnite Save the World mode in a recent blog update.
The silent but deadly SMG is now available in Fortnite Battle Royale.
Everything you need to know about the Bush disguise in Fortnite Battle Royale.
Time to get in the habit of shooting bushes in Fortnite Battle Royale.
Become one with the bush in the next Fortnite patch.
Pumpkin launchers have become a new mode of transportation in Fortnite Battle Royale.
These are the best weapons to get during Fortnite Battle Royale.
Here’s the best places to land to find loot chests in Fortnite Battle Royale.
Grab some friends and adopt new strategies in Fortnite Battle Royale with this guide to playing Squads and Duos.
Players everywhere want to know: is there split screen multiplayer in Fortnite?
Epic Games says it needs to step up as Fortnite attracts more and more players.


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The age of physical video games may soon come to an end in two or three years. At least that what Frontier CEO David Braben believes.
Frontier Developments isn’t new to the video game scene. The company has been around since 1994 and brought into existence games like the RollerCoaster Tycoon series and Elite Dangerous, a game that found success in all platforms.
Being a veteran in the industry, Frontier’s foresight may arguably hold some weight.
No more physical video games?
This isn’t the first time that someone claimed the end of all physical video games. This is a belief that is probably shared by many in varying levels of acceptance. But for Frontier CEO David Braben, this could happen in just a matter of a few years.
In the GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit Online, Braben remarked on how the novel coronavirus pandemic has had an overwhelmingly positive effect on digital game sales. He believes that physical games would soon go away in a matter of years. Not only that, but he also claims the pandemic is speeding up the process.
David Braben: "Physical games will go away in two to three years" https://t.co/Mz1Oq9HQrR
— Videospielgeschichten 🕹 (@vsg_DE) May 28, 2020
“We’ve seen an acceleration in the transition from physical to digital,” he says. “That is a good thing. It’s probably two to three years before physical more or less goes away, and it’s probably accelerated that timescale a bit.”
Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two, also shared the same sentiments. However, he doesn’t think physical games would go away.
Surge in game sales
The pandemic is pushing people to play video games more. As governments implement lockdown restrictions and people are left stuck at home, there is nothing much to do. While countries are still trying to ease up on the restrictions, the gaming industry has already benefited from a massive game surge.
Both physical and digital game sales have increased exponentially during the first half of 2020. The Nintendo Switch, for example, saw record-breaking sales just for the first quarter of this year alone. This growth is furthered by the platform’s most popular game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The simulation game has broken records worldwide and has become a cultural phenomenon.
— JBKlutse.com (@jbklutsemedia) June 2, 2020
The Washington Post reports that gaming giants such as Activision, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Twitch had benefited greatly from the pandemic. Microsoft saw a 130% increase in its multi-player engagements, and its Game Pass subscription service grew to 10 million subscribers.
Twitch saw a 50% increase in viewership in March alone with Riot Games’ new tactical shooter, Valorant, contributing heavily to this growth.
This is especially true for digital games. A recent report claims that the market for digital PC games alone will grow $4.9 billion in 2019 to $10.5 billion this year. That is a massive growth forecast.
Physical video games are still widely popular in this digital age. However, more people are accepting the convenience of digital games.


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Dublin, 7th September
Net Affinity, a Dublin-based hotel reservation technology company, has won the award for Europe’s Leading Hotel Booking Solution Provider at the 2015 World Travel Awards. This highly coveted award was presented on September 5th during the European award ceremony, which was held at the Forte Village resort in Sardinia.
The World Travel Awards are the most prestigious and comprehensive awards in the travel and tourism industry. Often referred to as the ‘Oscars of the travel industry,’ votes are cast by travel professionals and others in the industry. The ceremonies are attended by key decision-makers, as well as the leading trade and consumer media.
Speaking after the award ceremony, Net Affinity CEO & Founder William Cotter said “We’re absolutely
thrilled to have won this award. I’m delighted for all our staff whose passion and commitment to providing an outstanding service to our clients has made this award possible.” William went on to say that “It was our third year in a row to have been nominated, so third time lucky.”
Staffed by a team of over 40 employees, Net Affinity works exclusively with independent and group hotels across Europe to provide a complete digital solution to supercharge their online presence. This includes website design, digital marketing and booking technology designed to convert site visitors at a higher percentage than industry peers.
Earlier this year, Net Affinity announced a €1 million investment in a multi-phase technology, research and development project. Net Affinity has kept technology at the heart of the company and this has been the driving force for our innovation. This major investment will further enhance the company’s already successful product portfolio and secure our place as one of the foremost technology leaders.
About Net Affinity
Net Affinity is an award winning Booking Technology, Design and Marketing Company working exclusively with hotels. Committed to driving more direct business at a lower cost of acquisition with proven conversion strategies for hotels, Net Affinity have collated the brightest, most commercially-focused, experienced ad passionate team of professionals to deliver on these objectives.
About the World Travel Awards
The World Travel Awards (WTA - http://www.worldtravelawards.com), which celebrated its 22nd anniversary this year, are acknowledged across the globe as the ultimate travel accolade rewarding the very best travel organisations worldwide. Nominations are vetted and inspected by a group of industry experts and votes are cast by professionals working within travel and tourism.


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By Tassos Stassopoulos, AllianceBernstein
Consumer dynamics in emerging markets are often misunderstood. Although the rise of the middle classes is a defining characteristic of a vibrant, developing economy, the working classes will be the real engines of consumer growth in developing countries.
In other words, the middle classes tell you what has happened. But looking ahead, the fastest growth will be driven by the masses of lower income workers as they improve their lot to join the ranks of the middle class. Continue reading »
A Chinese manufacturer and direct seller of health, cleaning and beauty products with Malaysian roots may not be the most obvious cross-border investor in the South African wine industry. But Guangdong-based Perfect China is selling volumes of classic wine with a French heritage produced in South Africa’s vineyards. It is one more sign of the potential for Asian investors with an innovative eye for Africa. Continue reading »
Ultra-luxury fireplaces and wood burning stoves may not sound like the obvious things to sell in China, which has little or no tradition of decorative heaters – and no wood to burn in them if it did. But if Starbucks can make itself almost a household name in a country that doesn’t like the taste of coffee, then anything is possible.
Chesney’s, the high end fireplace and stove brand which opens two large new showrooms this week in Shanghai and Beijing, is hoping that rich Chinese have all the famous-label bling they can handle, and are ready to move on to subtler ways to spend money. Continue reading »
Chinese growth needs to come more from consumption than investment. However, Chinese consumption patterns will be nothing like what we’ve seen in developed countries. According to Gordon Orr, Asia Chairman at McKinsey, China will turn the consumption patterns known in the west upside down. Continue reading »
China is increasingly flexing its legal muscles to protect consumers against everything from illegally fixed prices to, it seems, over-the-top product packaging.
Friday’s official Shanghai Daily reports a slap on the wrist for some cosmetic firms guilty of having “too much empty space in the packaging”. Continue reading »
Yum Brands may be the leading company in the Chinese fast food market with over 5700 outlets, but recently it has seen a sharp decline in sales in the country.
Although Yum has suffered from headline-grabbing food scares (bird flu and banned antibiotics), are there bigger structural shifts afoot in Chinese fast food? Chart of the week takes a look. Continue reading »
The rise in spending power of China’s 220m migrant workers is supporting the country’s economy as manufacturing stalls. James Kynge, principal of China Confidential, explains how a labour shortage is inflating wages and what this mighty consumer cohort is buying.
Ikea’s flagship store in Beijing is among the group’s most heavily trafficked in the world – with more than six million visitors in 2011. But how much time and effort does it take to translate those visits into sales?
It’s an important question given that the Swedish furniture giant has this week announced plans to boost the number of stores in China from 11 to 40 over the next seven years. Continue reading »
In China, saying sorry is a big deal. So it made national news on Tuesday when Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, issued a public apology to Chinese consumers for any “concerns or misunderstandings” they might have had due to poor communication over Apple’s warranty policies.
After a coordinated attack on Apple from state media and regulators during the past two weeks, it seems the US tech company had little choice but a public show of contrition. After all, China is the world’s largest smartphone market, and accounted for 16 per cent of Apple’s sales in 2012. Continue reading »
Death is big business in China at this time of year, as the annual Tomb Sweeping festival approaches, boosting demand for virtual iPads, iPhones and even mistresses offered up to entertain the deceased in the afterlife (or to console him, if his grave gets moved to make way for another golf course or superhighway). Continue reading »
If there is one thing that China’s smaller cities do not lack, it’s sportswear stores. The average fourth-, fifth- and sixth-tier Chinese city – everyone defines their tiers differently – has a high street with multiple Chinese sportswear retailers lined up in a row. Do these towns really need more running shoes?
Adidas certainly thinks so and its latest greater China sales – up 15 per cent in 2012 – seem to indicate that it’s right. The German sportswear brand, currently number two by sales behind Nike, has expanded into 350 more Chinese cities in the past 18 months, to 900 in total. Of the 800 stores opened last year, 400 were in lower-tier cities. The goal is to have 1,400 cities buying Adidas by 2015. Continue reading »
Every year, China stages the largest human migration on earth as up to 1bn people go home to their roots. The FT’s Patti Waldmeir reports on the phenomenal combined buying power of China’s 260m migrant workers and looks at the type of gifts they are buying this year.
By Georgina Adam
The Chinese art market, which in 2011 was reported to have leapfrogged the US to become the largest in the world, took a severe battering in 2012 and may have already lost its number one position, according to the front-page story in February edition of The Art Newspaper.
According to the publication, sales at China’s two largest auction houses, Poly Auction and China Guardian, have plummeted by more than half. Poly, part of a conglomerate which also includes the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, saw sales drop from $1.9bn in 2011 to $965m in 2012. China Guardian reported $1.8bn in 2011 but just $820m in sales in 2012. Continue reading »
In the world of fast-moving consumer goods – known as FMCG in the retail industry – China is a big prize. With a rapidly-expanding middle class, and the quick adoption of western brands alongside home grown products, it’s also a highly competitive market.
So which companies are making headway? Chart of the week takes a look. Continue reading »


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MUMBAI: Onion prices, which are already ruling at around Rs 80 per kg in most parts of the country, are likely to increase further by 10 per cent on tight supplies due to unseasonal rainsaffecting the crops.
“The situation is going to be more critical in future and we expect the price will go up by another 10 per cent in the coming days because the current crop, which is expected to hit the market next month, might be affected due to scanty rainfall,” Bombay APMC Director Ashok Valunj told PTI here.
Onions imported from Pakistan are already in the market and the lot from Egypt would hit the market next week, he said, but added that this would not help much in bringing down the prices.
“The 100-200 containers, 30 tonne each, of onions imported will be distributed in the entire country. Mumbai itself needs 80-100 trucks daily, each containing 12 tonnes. Moreover, our domestic stock is also depleting fast. So imports will not be able to bring down the prices,” he said.
The wholesale price of onion has risen to around Rs 60 per kg at Lasalgaon in Maharashtra while it is already selling at around Rs 80 per kg in retail markets.
About 700 kg of onion worth Rs 50,000 was allegedly stolen from a shop in suburban Mumbai, the police said yesterday.
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The concept of making the competition irrelevant was probably coined by Kim & Mauborgne in their Blue Ocean Strategy. Now it seems to have finally spread from pure strategy into strategic marketing. Brand Guru David Aaker is discussing the idea in his new book “Brand Relevance – Making Competitors Irrelevant“. Aaker states that the market has changed, and that we can no longer compete on Brand Preference, trying to make products better, cheaper and faster. We now have to compete on what he calls Brand Relevance. We have to create an offering so innovative that it creates a new category or sub-category, making the competition irrelevant. It think Aaker is basically saying what Kim & Mauborgne already said, but what is interesting is that he is involving innovation as a key element of brand strategy. When competing on Brand Preference incremental innovations were enough. A little bit better, a little bit cheaper to produce… Now we have to work with radical innovations. As part of our brand strategy we have to create radical innovations, in order to create new categories or subcategories.
Rather than spending billions on advertising, consider spending them on innovation.
“Winning is not when the brand is preferred, winning is when the new category or sub-category is preferred”


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© Intervala - for illustrative purposes
Electronics Production |
Intervala expands in relocation
US-based full-service manufacturer Intervala, LLC, has signed a long-term lease finalising the relocation of its corporate headquarters and Pennsylvania manufacturing operation to the Westmoreland Innovation Center in neighboring Westmoreland County.
With the relocation, the company continues to reside in the Greater Pittsburgh area but gains significantly more square footage in anticipation of future growth. The five-year lease for the 217’000 square foot space, which includes several extension options, was finalised earlier this month. The company has designed the site’s all-new, expansive production area for maximum efficiency, quality and throughput, incorporating line-of-sight manufacturing and recent investments in engineering, manufacturing and inspection technologies, as well as ESD and environmental controls. “We are thrilled with the many opportunities our new location provides, including the ability to design the best possible manufacturing experience for our customers and work environment for our employees,” says Teresa Huber, president and CEO of Intervala in a press release. “In addition, the site provides significant room for expansion as our business providing full-service manufacturing of complex, high-performance printed circuit board assemblies, electromechanical systems, and cable and harness assemblies continues to grow.


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Today Joe Biden and the Obama Administration unveiled a new program with low-cost energy audits, federally-insured PowerSaver loans, and a new Home Energy Score, according to Wendy Koch of the USA Today. Details of the program are available now at HomeEnergyScore.gov, which includes an interactive graphic explaining the new score based on a 1 to 10 scale.
Sally Kuchar, editor of Curbed SF, noticed these Boost Boxes at the Green Festival in San Francisco the other weekend. The company that makes them, Boost Home, put a lot of work into making dead-simple, unintimidating boxes to help people increase their energy, water, and money savings. Boxes include products, instructions, audit information, and other goodies. Check out a few:
You may not be in a position to design and build a new green home with cutting-edge design, techniques, and products. Most people aren’t. But it's definitely a good idea to invest in your existing home to make it more energy efficient, healthy, and green. That’s what I’m doing with my old place built in 1958. Probably the first place to start is with a home energy assessment or energy audit, explained in this video.
Colorado-based Ec Manufacturing started making structural insulated panels (SIPs) about a year and a half ago. The company was studying 2009 building code and thinking about how to innovate their products, when someone decided the building industry could use a thermally broken lumber material. That led to the creation of rSTUD.
The scaffolding is down and progress is being made on what could be the first Passive House in New York, according to Curbed NY. The mixed-use project is located in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn at 174 Grand Street and designed by Loadingdock5, an architectural studio from the same neighborhood.
Colorado-based Ice Energy today announced an infusion of Series C financing in the form of $24 million, according to a press release. The company will use this money to support the deployment of utility-scale distributed energy storage products and a 53-megawatt project in California. Ice Energy also wants to explore new products and expand to a wider set of customers.


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Lately, trade agreements between nations have been in the news almost every day. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been leading the way.
A couple of weeks ago, when President Trump spoke to the American Farm Bureau Federation, trade talks and especially NAFTA were front and center. When President Trump was elected, one of his campaign promises was to do away with all trade agreements and negotiate unilaterally or one-on-one with each country. In President Trump’s life as a developer, that was most likely how he did business, and of course, it’s a lot like how you and I do business.
Speaking to the American Farm Bureau, President Trump said all the right words. He praised the job American agriculture was doing and seemed to understand American agriculture. We appreciate that.
When one talks of agriculture trade between countries, it’s a complex discussion. When that discussion is about NAFTA, it really gets complex. Canada and Mexico are our neighbors, and we do a ton of business with both countries. They both buy a lot of grain from America, and we also sell them a lot of cars and other products, too. On the ag side, we send both countries tons of pork, even though the U.S. also just allowed Mexico to export pork here. That decision was based on Mexican pork health issues.
America used to export more cattle to Mexico and Canada, but that has changed. We are now a large net importer. In 2017, total imports of Mexican cattle were 1.057 million head. That represents a 12 percent increase from 2016. In addition, the U.S. imported an additional 602,000 head of cattle from Canada. When we total both cattle and beef, the U.S. ran a negative trade balance with NAFTA of around $1.8 billion. This number does not include variety meats, hides or any other such products. A lot of hides do go to Mexico for tanning, and almost all cattle coming from Mexico are feeder cattle to Texas and New Mexico, along with a few roping steers.
Say you are involved in Nebraska agriculture, where most of the grain and oilseeds produced go to Mexico and Canada, but not many head of cattle do. How does your governor lobby for NAFTA? The products have to be broken apart.
They say Mexico will not be so hard to negotiate with, but Canada will be tough. A while back, Canada filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over tariffs from the Trump administration just before talks were started. That action didn’t set the stage for good negotiations. The 32-page complaint referenced close to 200 examples of alleged American transgressions against Canada and other countries. The WTO has never been a big fan of the U.S., so it will be interesting to see how that goes.
There is no doubt we do need NAFTA and other trade agreements, but they have to be fair to all. We send a lot of cars to Mexico and Canada, but a good deal of the parts for those cars come from not only Canada and Mexico but from around the world. I read where there are now more Cadillacs sold in China now than in the U.S.
It’s a new time out there, and we have to take care of ourselves and negotiate trade agreements product by product.


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Apr. 17, 2012 (China Knowledge) - People's Daily Online Co Ltd, a website built by People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, announced yesterday that it set a price range of between RMB 20.00 and RMB 22.50 for its initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange
The price was 46.13 to 51.89 times the firm's earnings based on enlarged share capital.
The company plans to issue 69.11 million A shares, of which about 80% are issued through online subscription, which will take place on Apr. 18.
RMB 289 million of the total proceeds will be used to expand into wireless services, RMB 146 million to upgrade technology and RMB 92.43 million to beef up the firm's editorial team, said People's Daily Online.
In 2011, the company's sales revenue rose 49.9% year on year to RMB 497 million, and its net profit surged 73.9% to RMB 138 million.


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VINYL record sales leapt to their highest level in 25 years last year.
More than 3.2million LPs were sold, a rise of 53 per cent on 2015, and the highest annual total since 1991, when Simply Red’s Stars was the best-selling album.
David Bowie’s death last January led to him becoming the best-selling vinyl artist of 2016, with five albums featuring in the top 30.
Blackstar, shortlisted for a Mercury Prize, was the most popular, while fans also bought The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory, Nothing Has Changed and Changesonebowie.
It marks the ninth consecutive year that vinyl sales have grown, a far cry from just 200,000 albums sold in 2007.
Vinyl now accounts for nearly five per cent of the albums market, according to the British Phonographic Industry.
At least 30 titles sold more than 10,000 copies in 2016, compared with just ten the year before.
The music industry as a whole is booming, with 123million albums or their equivalent either streamed, bought or downloaded in 2016, up 1.5 per cent.
Total sales in 2016 were worth an estimated £1billion.
Streaming services have also rocketed 500 per cent since 2013 to 45billion last year, equating to over 1,500 streams for every household in the UK.
it's a record!Sales of vinyl overtake digital downloads for the first time since Apple launched iTunes in 2004
December saw audio streams hit one billion in a single week for the first time.
The surge demonstrated the growth of streaming as the UK's format of choice, with it now accounting for more than a third of our music consumption.
But while streaming and vinyl saw marked increases, sales of CDs were down by more than 10 per cent.
Geoff Taylor, chief executive of BPI and the Brit Awards, said: "Growth in UK music consumption in 2016 was fuelled by the explosive rise in audio streaming, which has increased 500% since 2013, and relative resilience from physical formats.
“Led by sales of David Bowie, demand for vinyl jumped to levels not seen since the start of the Nineties"


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Samsung's Galaxy Watch: A Scientist Weighs in on Its Features
The new wearable falls between two extremes.
On Thursday, Samsung revealed the latest addition to its collection of wearables. The Galaxy Watch looks a bit sleeker than an average fitness watch — a chic timepiece one might wear if one is not interested in advertising that they Seriously Work Out Regularly. Beneath the window dressing, the Galaxy successfully straddles two different worlds of fitness trackers: trackers that look good, and ones that can offer robust data.
The fitness watch spectrum ranges from hardcore workout trackers that don’t necessarily translate to daily wear (e.g., heart rate monitors that require a chest strap, like the Polar M400 GPS to watches that are designed to look good — or at least inconspicuous. The Galaxy watch appears to fall somewhere between the extremes if you take a look at the components, as Jonathan Peake, P.h.D, a senior lecturer at Queensland University’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation points out to Inverse.
“There is plenty of window dressing to suit personal preference,” Peake says. “It is promoted as military grade hardware, I doubt many users would requite that level of durability. Likewise, it’s rated to five atmospheres of underwater pressure, thus it could be used while deep-sea diving.”
How the Galaxy Watch Appears to Stack Up to Competition
Deep-sea diving capability isn’t the only elite-level sport aspect of the Galaxy watch. For instance, it has some advanced GPS technology — in particular capability to integrate with GLONASS, Russia’s satellite navigation system. But aside from those notable features, Peake, who conducted a systematic review of hundreds of consumer fitness trackers earlier in August and published his findings in Frontiers in Physiology, mentions that the Galaxy doesn’t have too much else under the hood to differentiate it from competitors.
“The sensors included in the watch are pretty standard for measuring activity levels, heart rate and daylight,” Peake says. “Monitoring activity levels at the wrist is most convenient and comfortable for users, But some activities don’t involve arm movement, and other activities involve only the arms while otherwise remaining sedentary.”
The Fitness Watch Still Has Two Big Problems
Still, even the Galaxy hasn’t solved two universal fitness tracking issues: the wrist is neither the best place on the body to even put a fitness tracker, nor is it the best place to get a heart rate reading. This is because it uses a system of measurement called plethysmography, which uses a light to sense the blood flow through the veins in the wrist, as opposed to chest-strap heart rate monitors, which measure the heart’s electrical activity.
Galaxy Watch Appears to Be an Organizational Game-Changer
But what does seem unique to the Galaxy watch is not how it collects data, but rather how it allows you to organize it. At the unveiling, it was revealed that the watch has workout modes for 39 sports, from cycling to yoga. For comparison, the Apple watch’s newest line only has specific modes for ten different sports.
Having this level of labeling specificity with sport tracking is incredibly helpful when you’e looking to run any kind of analysis on your workout data. For instance, it’s good to know if that a data point showing low heart rate is due to a yoga class and not, say, a slow struggle through a spin class.
For now, the Galaxy watch is one of the first to really attempt to be a true lifestyle fitness tracker that straddles both the worlds of Russian satellite tracking and intense deep-sea diving but can also trick you into thinking it’s a fashion accessory. We won’t know much about how people react to the Galaxy watch’s interfaces until it launches officially on August 24, but if anyone takes it deep sea diving, Samsung would likely be happy to hear about it.


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TWO of Ford's non-executive directors have resigned, reviving questions about the carmaker's stability.
Sir John Bond, the chairman of Vodafone, and Jorma Ollila, the chairman of Nokia, will leave because each "had significant responsibilities within their own companies, and each has recently added new responsibilities in advising governmental entities during these difficult economic times", Ford said on Friday.
The company said that it had no immediate plans to replace them.
The pair's departure will fuel uncertainty about the future of the big-three Detroit carmakers - Ford, GM and Chrysler - which have been mauled by a combination of falling sales, high debts and hefty pension and healthcare payments.
GM and Chrysler are in advanced talks about a tie-up. It is understood the two sides are…


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NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk’s massive First Fridays block party earlier this month brought throngs of folks downtown.
The Downtown Norfolk Council, which organized the event, roughly estimates 5,000 people walked in and out of restaurants in the event bubble on Friday, August 6, helping to give them a big boost in business.
“It was fantastic,” said Grace O’Malley’s owner Christy Marron. “Our sales were significantly higher.”
Marron said Grace O’Malley’s saw a 50% jump in sales compared to a typical Friday. She believes the new outdoor refreshment liquor law allowing people to walk around a designated area at special events with a drink in hand played a big role in attracting more people to the pub.
“That brought in more people than the typical First Fridays would when they were contained just a couple of blocks up the street,” Marron said. “A lot more people were coming in. They liked being able to get a drink to go, maybe some food to go and they could go out and roam through the streets.”
That Friday was the busiest day Hell’s Kitchen ever had in the 20 years it’s been open. Owner Kevin Blair said that day smashed records for his business with the help of the new ABC law.
“No question, the new liquor law helped,” Blair said. “It was one of the biggest contributors. It was our best day ever - better than New Year’s Eve and Halloween.”
Chicho’s Backstage also had a record-breaking day. Operating owner Rory Schindel said the restaurant saw a 100% spike in revenue.
“It was absolutely a record day for us, and it was awesome,” he said. “It doubled the sales for the weekend that night. It was is crazy.
Schindel said events like First Fridays coupled with the alcohol law will help to promote tourism downtown.
“I think it's a very good step that Virginia is taking,” he said. “There's a lot of people that wanted to come in, grab a drink and then go outside and enjoy the weather and enjoy the atmosphere out there.”
A huge concern that’s top of mind is rising COVID-19 cases and the possibility of sales dipping if restrictions are once again forced on businesses.
“Restaurants are definitely going to get hit hard again. It's almost inevitable,” said Schindel. “The initial lockdown really hurt us and probably every other restaurant around here. Nobody traveled downtown to visit us. It was a huge decline in sales.”
Both Chicho’s Backstage and Grace O’Malley’s owners said they’re ready if that day comes.
“We're prepared for it,” Marron said. “I am mentally prepared that probably by September, if the spike in the numbers keeps rising, that we're going to have some more restrictions, but we made it through the first round of restrictions.”
Restaurant owners are looking forward to the next two First Fridays coming up on September 3 and October 1, especially if new COVID mandates are put in place in the months ahead. They said they’re hoping to surpass sales numbers from the first event.
Meantime, some other Hampton Roads cities could be following Norfolk’s lead in applying for the outdoor refreshment liquor license. Williamsburg, Suffolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach city officials said they’re currently reviewing the law and how to implement it.
“The City of Chesapeake is reviewing this item; however, at this time a final decision has not yet been made regarding future actions,” said Chesapeake Public Communications Director Heath Covey.
Suffolk’s Media and Community Relations Director Diana Klink said, “The City is reviewing the new ABC law, its application, and logistics with respect to city-held events.”
In Williamsburg, the Economic Development Authority unanimously passed a resolution two weeks after the law went into effect on July 1. The resolution encourages city council and city staff to consider developing one or more outdoor refreshment areas to attract visitors, promote tourism, economic development, tax revenue and a sense of community.
“Our EDA has identified it as something that could work well in downtown Williamsburg and has asked city staff to look into it,” said PIO Nicole Trifone.
Virginia Beach’s Communications Director Julie Hill said, “Staff is developing a plan to bring to city leadership for how we can best implement and manage the process here.”
A spokeswoman for Portsmouth said the city council has not yet discussed applying for the outdoor refreshment liquor license.
Newport News and Hampton did not respond to requests for comment.


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The International Sign Association (ISA) Elite program, which provides education and networking to the next generation of sign and graphics professionals, has welcomed five new participants from across Canada.
On Mar. 2, Samsung celebrated the launch of its Galaxy S9 smartphone with a first-of-its-kind light-emitting diode (LED) show on the façade of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, U.A.E.
The International Sign Association (ISA) has named the three winners of its 2018 Innovation Awards, as selected from among 54 entries by a panel of industry experts. They will be showcased at this month’s International Sign Expo.
Toronto-based Entro has designed new interior and exterior signage for Winnipeg’s Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Convention Centre, following an expansion that nearly doubled its size to accommodate an increasing number of events.
The Federation of European Screen Printers Associations (FESPA), a global association for the digital printing, screenprinting and textile printing industries, has appointed Graeme Richardson-Locke to a newly created position as head of technical support.
A new marketing affiliation, Pharmacy Media Network (PMN), is aggregating a place-based digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising network throughout more than 900 pharmacies across Canada, comprising screens in prescription waiting areas.
Bill Dundas, former manager of technical and regulatory affairs for the International Sign Association (ISA), has been named chair of the board for the Foundation for the Advancement of the Sign Industry (FASI).


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Join the conversation on the future of alcohol retailing in Ontario
As you have heard in recent media reports there could be big changes coming to the way consumers in Ontario purchase wine and beer. Under the proposed changes, as many as 300 grocery stores across the province will be able to sell beer and wine.
Allowing grocery stores to sell beer and wine will have a big impact on the future of the LCBO and the work of OPSEU members. It’s the latest example of how the Liberal government under Kathleen Wynne is aggressively pursuing the sale of public assets to the private sector.
We’re here to answer your questions but we want to hear from you too.
With Liquor Board Employees Division (LBED) support, OPSEU is organizing three Telephone-Town Halls for members of the Liquor Board Employees Division. These Tele-Town Halls will provide you with the opportunity to call in and discuss what the proposed changes will mean to the LCBO and its employees. We’ll talk about what we can do to fight back against these changes. In fact, OPSEU’s executive board has already adopted a resolution to authorize a campaign to stop the expansion of beer and wine sales to the major grocery chains.
OPSEU President Smokey Thomas, LBED Chair Denise Davis, and Rick Woodall, chair of LBED’s anti-privatization committee, will be available at the Tele-Town Hall to answer your questions.
Mark your calendars and join the conversation.
- Tuesday March 31 7:30 p.m. – 8:45 p.m
- Wednesday April 1 10:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
- Wednesday April 1 7:30 p.m. – 8:45 p.m
To listen in or ask questions, all you have to do is answer the phone when we call you a few minutes before or after the start time. If you miss the call or don’t hear from us, please call into the discussion at: 1-877-229-8493 ID # 112847


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As many as 50 New Zealand baby formula exporters look set to be blocked from exporting their products to China.
This follows a Chinese audit of New Zealand’s $200 million infant formula industry last month.
But food scares have China increasingly worried about product safety and it is imposing tough new rules from next week.
Food Safety Minister Nikki Kaye say it’s “really positive” that China has been making changes over the last 12 months to lift its food safety laws.
The Chinese audit has found 12 of New Zealand’s 13 major baby formula makers do not meet all the rules.
However, the Government is confident it can get them to comply in time.


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Canadian credit card debt is skyrocketing
Total Canadian credit card balances top $100 billion for the first time.
Canadian credit card debt soared in the last three months of 2022 amid rising interest rates and high inflation. Younger Canadians in particular have been observed to rely on credit to make ends meet.
Credit monitoring agency Equifax finds that Canadians'debt on their credit cards credit grew more than 15% from the same period a year earlier and totaled more than $100 billion for the first time.
In its latest quarterly Credit Trends Report, the agency says overall consumer debt increased in the fourth quarter of 2022 to total debt of approximately $2.37 trillion, up more than by 6% compared to the same period in 2021.
According to Equifax, the effects of the rise in interest rates are not yet fully felt by owners, because many have yet to renew their mortgages, but young Canadians are particularly hard hit by inflation.
Inflation levels x27;non-mortgage debt rose 5.4% in the fourth quarter, but for millennials, that debt rose 8.4%.
Consumers without mortgages experienced the largest increase in debt defaults in Q4, particularly 18-25 year olds who were almost 31% outnumbered year to miss a refund, compared to a 17% increase for all consumers.


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With the New Year in, demand for connectivity, wider coverage and bigger data remains high as more and more Filipinos now rely on the internet for work, distance learning, basic government services, cashless transactions, deliveries and other needs while observing quarantine, travel restrictions, and social distancing.
Since last year, Globe has been strongly pushing its customers to embrace newer technologies for a better internet experience. In fact, Globe has been asking customers to switch to the 5G-enabled 4G LTE SIM and get a 4G LTE device. Here's why.
3G technology is old. The 3G network was the first technology with sufficient speed to provide a decent user experience on a smartphone. The technology, however, was first launched in Japan in 1998. Since then, so many advances were made to improve further the technology and the mobile devices that are capable of handling newer and better technology. The introduction and adoption of social networking and online content such as Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, Twitter, Instagram and others fueled the need for the development of new and faster wireless technologies such as 4G LTE and later on 5G.
Globe was the first telco in the country to launch 3G with High Speed Downlink Packet Access (3G HSDPA) in 2006 and also the first to introduce 4G LTE in 2012 and then 5G FWA in 2019. In order for Globe customers still on 3G to enjoy the benefits of these newer and faster technologies, they need to upgrade their SIM cards and mobile devices now.
3G is slow. While it can handle basic internet services, the technology is limited, slow and extracts patience for slow upload or download of video, music, games or big files that are normally needed for work from home setup, distance learning, news updates, entertainment videos or simply to do virtual face time with families and loved ones.
3G is outdated. With the pandemic impacting how the public sector can deliver services better to its constituents, local government units are using the internet to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and how they make important announcements and developments through social media or through online. If you are still using a 3G SIM or mobile device, you are probably missing out on these important news from your LGUs. There is also a big possibility that you can’t avail of basic services from the safety of your homes, not because there are no efforts coming from your local government but because your old 3G SIM and mobile phone are not capable of receiving them.
3G delivers poor quality when it comes to new applications and internet use. For video streaming experience, using 3G is beset with poor experience including latency, buffering and interrupted video streaming. Watching your favorite Koreanovela on Netflix using 3G technology can be a real challenge.
3G is limited. Doing cashless transactions through 3G is slow, risky and inconvenient. Shopping for your groceries, ordering food for deliveries and making your bank transactions in the safety and convenience of your home can be difficult with 3G.
3G needs to go. More networks in many countries in the world have replaced their old 3G networks with more advanced 4G LTE and 5G networks. Major global carriers are no longer allowing their customers to continue with their 3G SIMs and devices.
Globe customers are encouraged to switch to the 5G-ready 4G/LTE SIM now to experience and to continue to enjoy better services as the company has been aggressively pushing its network upgrades and modernization despite limitations imposed by the pandemic. Upgrading is free at all Globe Stores and customers will retain their old number. For security reasons, customers are advised to upgrade their SIM cards at all Globe Stores. For more information, please go to https://www.globe.com.ph/help/mobile-internet/lte/faqs.html.
Customers who wish to upgrade their mobile devices can also check all Globe stores to see the affordable and available 5G-ready 4G/LTE capable mobile devices.
Globe has laid out a 3-pronged strategy for its network upgrades and expansion, which includes aggressive cell site builds; upgrading its cell sites to 4G/LTE using many different frequencies; and fast tracking the fiberization of Filipino homes nationwide.
Globe supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically UN SDG No. 9 which emphasizes the roles of infrastructure and innovation as crucial drivers of economic growth and development. Globe is committed to upholding the 10 United Nations Global Compact principles and 10 UN SDGs.


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Chief executives from Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp on Wednesday called on Congress to pass legislation aimed at boosting US economic competitiveness against China, including in chip manufacturing.
What the Quad must do to build a resilient semiconductor chain
While Microchip normally lets customers cancel a chip order within 90 days of delivery, it began offering shipment priority to clients that signed contracts for 12 months of orders that couldn’t be revoked or rescheduled.
India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), the premier trade body representing the Indian Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) industry has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Singapore semiconductor industry association (SSIA) with an objective to establish and develop trade and technical cooperation links between the electronics and semiconductor industry of both countries.
Intel has joined the long list of technology companies to exit Russia. Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, as also big consulting and accounting firms have called it quits in Russia following Western sanctions on the country for invading Ukraine.
Global growth momentum is dampened by prolonged inflation, supply chain disruption, volatility in energy markets and investor uncertainty, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said as she attended the G20 finance ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting here.
The MoU is significant in the backdrop of the announcement by The Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology last week to form a 17-member committee to steer the country’s semiconductor mission to enable the building of a resilient supply chain, promote investments and ways of financing the semiconductor sector.
After years of heavy reliance on Asia for the production of computer chips, vulnerability to shortages of the crucial components was exposed in the U.S. and Europe as they began to emerge economically from the pandemic.
The Trump administration notified Huawei suppliers, including chipmaker Intel, that it is revoking certain licenses to sell to the Chinese company and intends to reject dozens of other applications to supply the telecommunications firm, people familiar with the matter said.
The Trump administration is further tightening restrictions on China's Huawei, seeking to starve it of crucial components by cutting off all access to US technology
The global semiconductor shortage has brought the tech world to its knees
The global shortage of semiconductor chips has hit 169 industries — including smartphones and healthcare devices. Carmakers have been the worst affected, with several of them forced to cut production and hike prices
Leaders of the ruling Communist Party made the announcement after a meeting to draft a development blueprint for the state-dominated economy over the next five years.
Anantha Chandrakasan, the Vannevar Bush Professor and head of the Dept of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science was named the dean of MIT's School of Engineering. He assumed his new role effective July 1. The Chennai-born academician had previously headed MIT's largest academic department


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New Crystal CEO, Edie Rodriguez, has confirmed that the ultra luxury brand will place an order for a new ship by the end of this year. The new vessel, possibly the first of up to five previously bruited new builds for the line, will ideally sit somewhere in size between the current, repeat award winning siblings, Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity.
She also unveiled some new ideas regarding the potential evolution of Crystal, including a more relaxed, semi formal evening dress code (which would draw a direct bead on rival Regent Seven Seas ), as well as some further enhancements to the line’s already legendary dining roster, according to a story today on Cruise Critic. This would include bringing chef Heston Blumenthal’s concept of ‘molecular gastronomy’ to the company’s celebrated dining rooms.
The projected third vessel will be a new build, and not a return to the fleet by celebrated launch ship, Crystal Harmony. In a previous pronouncement, Rodriguez said that she would ideally like to expand the Crystal brand to no less than seven vessels, allowing the line to make itself a truly deluxe global presence- something that the shortage of new tonnage has hitherto precluded.
It is now some eleven years since the 2003 debut of the hugely successful Crystal Serenity and, while the line has constantly updated and lavished money on its current brace of ships, Crystal lacks the momentum of rivals such as Silversea, Seabourn and Regent, all of whom have built- or are currently building- new, deluxe tonnage to expand their range of options.
Rodriguez has effectively issued a statement of intent. She will lobby Crystal owners NYK, for the funds for this projected first new build.
It will be interesting to see where all this leads. Beyond the ambition for this first new build- and it is evident Rodriguez sees this as already ‘in the bag’- the big question is whether or not the cautious, inherently conservative management at NYK will back the new CEO’s vision for a total of five new ships in all.
Crystal was at one time a trio; those same owners moved the trailblazing Crystal Harmony back to NYK, for whom she now sails as Asuka II. Building a new ship- and it will take at least a couple of years to get that done- will only get Crystal back to parity with where it was in the middle of the last decade.
That said, any new Crystal ship is a truly delicious and intriguing prospect. As always, stay tuned.
UPDATE: I have received some further information regarding this project from an official spokeswoman for Crystal Cruises, which is quoted word for word here:
‘……what she (Edie) said was that it is her vision that Crystal will expand and that she’d like to be in a position to announce details of a new ship. There was definitely no announcement or confirmation of a new ship…..’
My thanks goes to Crystal Cruises for providing this update, and allowing me to amend this blog to accurately describe the current state of play as regards the company.