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Watch a timelapse video of this years Christmas 2016 In-store Installation and se how the magic comes together. Watch hereRead more
Black Friday is now recognised as a key trading event in the retail calendar, with shoppers spending more than £3.3 billion over the bumper shopping weekend in 2015.
While the long-term benefit of this revenue is less than clear, with many of the sales being dragged forward from Christmas and margins suffering significantly, it is apparent that every retailer needs a plan in place - even if their strategy is to ignore the day entirely.Read more
A recently published report has revealed that many car dealerships are not utilising digital POS tools to their full potential.
Compiled by retail display experts CJ Retail Solutions, the report lifts the lid on customer engagement in the showroom environment, which is increasingly moving away from the traditional ‘car lot’ layout.
However, there was clear evidence of a drive for a more ‘design led’ environment among some car dealerships, in what is stated as a huge step forward for the automotive industry.Read more


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DED's Dubai SME to support impacted startups, entrepreneurs
The measures being offered include postponement of rent payment and easier access to SME financing
Dubai SME, which is an integrated division of the Department of Economic Development (DED) has implemented a package to support the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector as well as startups and entrepreneurs in Dubai who are dealing with the economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
The measures which are aimed to ensure business continuity and sustainability, range from postponement of rent payment and easier access to SME financing, to remote assistance on successfully navigating operational challenges.
Speaking about the package and support offered, chief executive officer of Dubai SME, Abdul Baset Al Janahi, said: "The challenges communities and businesses worldwide are facing since COVID-19 underline the role and significance of SMEs in creating new economic opportunities, and in building resilient and sustainable enterprise. Dubai SME is exploring all avenues to ensure that SMEs in Dubai remain resilient and turn the present challenges into an opportunity to pursue further innovations and growth."
As part of the support package, Dubai SME's Hamdan Innovation Incubator (Hi2) programme is aimed at supporting entrepreneurs and innovators by postponing collection of rents for three months.
Beneficiaries of Hi2 can take advantage of the postponement and focus on developing their project. In addition, beneficiaries can also enjoy a fee reduction of up to 20%, as offered on the Private Office package of Hi2.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Fund for SME, which is the financial arm of Dubai SME, has also announced a support package, including loans to support business continuity of projects benefitting from the fund as well as a three-month grace period for loan repayments and easier access to financing for SMEs.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Fund for SME will offer zero-interest financing to Dubai SME members who are striving to meet operational expenses such as salaries and rents, in addition to online financial consultancy for entrepreneurial projects.
To conclude, Dubai Entrepreneurship Academy (DEA), which is the educational arm of Dubai SME, is providing remote educational lectures using the latest technologies to help entrepreneurs manage their projects in light of the current challenges.

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By Michelai Graham Boardroom's Tech Reporter
January 21, 2024
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Tech Talk is a weekly digest by Boardroom’s Michelai Graham that breaks down the latest news from the world’s biggest tech companies and the future of industry-shaping trends like AI.
Apparently, Tesla Cybertrucks keep getting stuck in the snow, and while I find it funny, I’m curious about what type of weather testing these vehicles went through before they hit the road.
A peek into today’s edition:
Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 get banned again
Samsung announces mobile AI system
Google employees brace for more layoffs
The Apple Watch Ban Battle Continues
Are Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 devices banned or not? There has been a lot of back and forth, but once again, a federal judge ruled against Apple this week. The Big Tech giant wasn’t able to overturn a US International Trade Commission ban on sales of the two watches with blood oxygen sensors. The commission found in October that Apple’s blood oxygen sensors infringed intellectual property owned by medical device company Masimo. The ban went into effect on Thursday, and I bet Apple has a lengthy legal battle ahead to get the newest version of its watches back on shelves.
More updates from Apple:
Apple Vision Pro presales officially kicked off on Friday, and if you plan on getting in line for a demo on Feb. 2, prepare to get your face scanned and sit for a rundown of the interface before actually diving into the 25-minute demo.
While Apple is depending on robust entertainment options to sell the Apple Vision Pro, the device won’t launch with a Netflix, Spotify, or YouTube app. But, it will launch with 3D movies from Disney Plus.
The Big Tech giant is shutting down a 121-person AI operations team based in San Diego and relocating some staffers working on Siri data operations to Austin.
iPhone 15 models were on sale in China for $70 this week as Apple attempts to attract more business in the region with steep competitors.
Samsung Unveils Galaxy AI at Latest Galaxy Unpacked Showcase
Samsung showcased the next class of its smartphone series, a new AI platform, and a fitness ring at its latest Galaxy Unpacked event. The electronics leader unveiled that its new Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24 Plus, and Galaxy S24 Ultra will be equipped with Galaxy AI, the bespoke AI model that operates on S24 devices and is accessible via the cloud. Galaxy AI boasts many features, including live translation, photo editing suggestions, note summaries, and chat assistance. The new tech is powered by Qualcomm’s mobile chipset.
Toward the end of Unpacked, Samsung teased a new device dubbed the Galaxy Ring in a short video. The health-focused hardware features various sensors on its inner ring, but the electronics company hasn’t elaborated on further specs or launch plans at this time.
Samsung’s new AI tech and devices come as Apple beat it for most smartphone shipments last year for the first time in over a decade. Samsung has previously held the top spot down every year since 2011. Maybe some native mobile AI tech will give Samsung the boost it needs to rise back to the top.
OpenAI Launches Master Plan to Combat 2024 Election Misinformation
OpenAI announced that it’s introducing some new policies and tools for its suite of offerings, including ChatGPT and DALL·E, in preparation for the 2024 elections later this year. The generative AI company is making some changes to prevent its flagship platforms from being used to spread election misinformation. OpenAI vowed to ban people from using its tech to impersonate candidates and government officials, and it will also begin rolling out digital watermarks for images generated with DALL·E. The company is also teaming up with the National Association of Secretaries of State to provide ChatGPT users with accurate voting information when they prompt related questions.
Also this week, OpenAI announced its first official partnership with a university. Arizona State University will get full access to ChatGPT Enterprise beginning next month to use for coursework, research, tutoring, and more. To gain access, faculty and staff must submit plans for using ChatGPT in three areas: “enhancing student success, forging new avenues for innovative research, and streamlining organizational processes,” according to a press release.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai told employees in an internal memo this week to brace themselves for more layoffs in 2024. The Big Tech giant has laid off over 12,000 employees since January last year, including 100 staffers at YouTube on Thursday.
Amid layoffs, Google’s AI research and development lab, DeepMind, announced a new system called AlphaGeometry that it claims can solve the most complex geometry problems. DeepMind built the system to unlock new innovations across mathematics, science, and AI.
Elon Musk is demanding 25% voting control of Tesla before agreeing to expand the electric vehicle maker’s AI and robotics plans. If he doesn’t get a quarter of the company’s voting control, Musk said he’d start building products outside of Tesla.
Microsoft announced a pro plan for Copilot targeted at consumers to broaden the network of paying customers of its flagship AI platform. Copilot Pro is priced at $20 per user per month and expands to Microsoft‘s suite of apps, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Amazon is developing a higher tier of its Alexa voice tech offering called Remarkable Alexa, which users will have to pay for, according to Business Insider. The new tech is expected to debut at the end of June, despite some bad early testing results. I’m going to bet that Amazon will revamp the project and push the release date due to unforeseen difficulties and testing result leaks.


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Norwegian research raises questions regarding whether particular methods for sharing of information violate information privacy legislation in European countries while the united states of america.
By Natasha Singer and Aaron Krolik
Popular online dating services like Grindr, OkCupid and Tinder are distributing individual information like dating alternatives and accurate location to marketing and advertising organizations with techniques which will violate privacy laws and regulations, in accordance with a unique report that analyzed a few of the world’s most installed Android os apps.
Grindr, the world’s many popular dating that is gay, sent user-tracking codes together with app’s name to more than a dozen businesses, essentially tagging people with their intimate orientation, based on the report, that was released Tuesday because of the Norwegian customer Council, a government-funded nonprofit company in Oslo.
Grindr additionally delivered a user’s location to companies that are multiple which might then share that data with numerous other organizations, the report stated. Once the ny circumstances tested Grindr’s Android os software, it shared latitude that is precise longitude information with five businesses.
The scientists also stated that the app that is okCupid a user’s ethnicity and responses to individual profile questions — like “Have you utilized psychedelic medications?» — to a company that can help businesses tailor advertising messages to users. The days unearthed that the site that is okCupid recently published a listing of a lot more than 300 marketing analytics “partners” with which it would likely share users’ information.
“Any customer with a typical quantity of apps on the phone — anywhere between 40 and 80 apps — could have their information distributed to hundreds or simply numerous of actors online,” said Finn Myrstad, the policy that is digital when it comes to Norwegian customer Council, whom oversaw the report.
The report, “Out of Control: exactly exactly How individuals are Exploited by the web Advertising Industry,” adds to a growing human anatomy of research exposing a massive ecosystem of organizations that easily monitor a huge selection of huge numbers of people and peddle their private information. This surveillance system allows ratings of companies, whose names are unknown to consumers that are many to quietly profile individuals, target all of them with advertisements and attempt to sway their behavior.
The report seems simply a couple of weeks after California put in impact an extensive consumer privacy law that is new. On top of other things, what the law states calls for a lot of companies that trade customers’ personal stats for cash or any other payment to permit visitors to effortlessly stop the spread of these information.
In addition, regulators within the eu are upgrading enforcement of one’s own information security legislation, which forbids organizations from gathering private information on faith, ethnicity, intimate orientation, sex-life along with other sensitive and painful topics without a person’s consent that is explicit.
The group that is norwegian it filed complaints on Tuesday asking regulators in Oslo to research Grindr and five advertising technology businesses for feasible violations associated with the European information protection legislation. A coalition of consumer teams in america stated it delivered letters to US regulators, such as the attorney general of Ca, urging them to analyze perhaps the businesses’ methods violated federal and state regulations.
The Match Group, which owns OkCupid and Tinder, said it worked with outside companies to assist with providing services and shared only specific user data deemed necessary for those services in a statement. Match included so it complied with privacy legislation together with strict agreements with vendors so that the safety of users’ individual information.
The report examines exactly just exactly just how designers embed pc pc pc pc software from advertisement technology organizations to their apps to trace users’ app use and real-life locations, a practice that is common. To aid designers spot adverts within their apps, advertising technology organizations may spread users’ information to advertisers, personalized marketing services, location information agents and advertising platforms.
The non-public data that advertising pc computer pc software extracts from apps is usually associated with a user-tracking code that is exclusive for every device that is mobile. Businesses utilize the monitoring codes to create rich pages of men and women in the long run across numerous apps and internet web internet sites. But also without their names that are real people this kind of information sets are identified and positioned in true to life.
The norwegian Consumer Council hired Mnemonic, a cybersecurity firm in Oslo, to examine how ad tech software extracted user data from 10 popular Android apps for the report. The findings declare that some organizations treat intimate information, like sex preference or medication habits, no differently from more innocuous information, like favorite meals.
On top of other things, the scientists discovered that Tinder delivered a user’s sex as well as the sex the consumer ended up being seeking to date to two advertising businesses.
The scientists did not test iPhone apps. Settings on both Android os phones and iPhones permit users to restrict advertising monitoring.
The group’s findings illustrate exactly exactly just how challenging it will be for perhaps the many consumers that are intrepid monitor and hinder the spread of these private information.
Grindr’s application, for example, includes pc pc computer software from MoPub, Twitter’s advertising solution, that may gather the app’s title and a user’s device that is precise, the report stated. MoPub in change claims it might share individual information with over 180 partner businesses. Some of those lovers is a advertisement technology business owned by AT&T, that might share data with increased than 1,000 “third-party providers.”
In a declaration, Twitter sa >
AT&T declined to comment.
The spread of users’ location along with other information that is sensitive provide specific dangers to those who utilize Grindr in nations, like Qatar and Pakistan, where consensual same-sex intimate functions are unlawful.
It is not the time that is first Grindr has faced criticism for distributing its users’ information. In 2018, another Norwegian nonprofit group discovered that the software have been broadcasting users’ H.I.V. status to two mobile software solution organizations. Grindr later announced so it had stopped the training.
The report’s findings also raise questions regarding the level to which companies are complying aided by the brand new Ca privacy law. What the law states requires companies that are https://mylol.review many take advantage of exchanging customers’ personal statistics to prominently upload a “Do maybe perhaps Not Sell My Data” option, enabling individuals to stop the spread of the information.
But Grindr’s stance challenges that idea. By agreeing to its policy, its web web site claims, users “are directing us to disclose” their private information “and, consequently, Grindr will not offer your private data.”
Mr. Myrstad said numerous customers had been comfortable sharing their information with apps they trusted. “But this research obviously demonstrates that many apps abuse that trust,” he said. “Authorities need certainly to enforce the guidelines we now have, and we need to make smarter rules. if they’re not adequate enough,”


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We are on the verge of a crisis in Cyber Hygiene. Not only are millions of IoT devices (like physical security cameras) unprotected and vulnerable, the methods to harden and protect them (sustainable cyber hygiene) have often been done manually and require physical presence onsite. Automated solutions like Viakoo can help change this dynamic.
Many organizations are implementing, or have already implemented, cloud-based physical security services to supplement or replace instances of on-premises software and processing. The trend to make everything into “as-a-Service” has brought us popular cloud services including CRM systems such as Salesforce, communication systems such as GoToMeeting, and shared storage such as Box. Security systems “as-a-Service” are also rapidly growing, including cloud-based identity management, access control, and video surveillance, among others. With more than 20,000 cloud services available, consumers and businesses alike have quickly become accustomed to their advantages, including greatly improved access from any connected location, and greatly improved collaboration with other contributors.


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Former Mulberry boss Bruno Guillon responsible for disastrous upmarket move gets £648,000 payoff
Bruno Guillon, whose attempt to take Mulberry into the luxury market backfired, has received a £648,000 payoff, it has emerged.
During his two-year tenure, the Frenchman – a former boss at Parisian fashion house Hermes – raised prices to £1,000 or more for a leather bag in a strategy to place Mulberry alongside top luxury brands such as Prada.
He was ousted in the spring and executive chairman Godfrey Davis is now producing more bags in the £500 to £800 range that made totes such as the ‘Alexa’ a hit with British shoppers.
Failing strategy: Bruno Guillon raised prices to £1,000 or more for a leather bag, but the move backfired
In the 10 weeks to June 7, following Guillon’s departure, like-for-like sales fell by 15 per cent with the business still in recovery mode.
Mulberry (down 27.75p to 702.25p) also admitted the firm expected a double-digit decline in wholesale sales in 2014/15.
Profits for the full year fell 46 per cent to £14million due partly to an increase in costs associated with opening new stores.
But the company said the launch of new Tessie bags had been ‘well received’ and the shares rose 22p to 730p. The dividend is steady at 5p a share.
Mulberry opened a second new factory in the UK last year, creating 320 jobs, and expects to open a new Paris flagship store in 2015 or early 2016.
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The action comes amid similar legal disputes initiated by consumers and an antitrust investigation initiated by the Department of Justice.
Two app developers — Donald Cameron and Pure Sweat Basketball — filed a lawsuit against Apple in a California federal court, alleging that the Cupertino tech giant engages in anti-competitive practices.
The plaintiffs claim that limiting the purchase and download of apps to just the App Store stifles developers.
App Store demands 30% commissions on all app purchases plus a $99 yearly fee from devs just to qualify for on-platform software sales. Apple also artificially regulates minimum and maximum price points for apps, according to the lawsuit says.
“This practice is analogous to a monopolist retailer paying artificially low wholesale prices to its suppliers,” the developers said in their complaint filed Tuesday. “In both paradigms, a competitive market would yield better post-commission or wholesale prices, and fairer profits, for developers’ digital products.”
The lawsuit closely mirrors another one, filed by consumers who allege that Apple artificially inflates prices for software in their App Store. This earlier lawsuit stalled in court because of certain legal questions, but this May, the Supreme Court ruled the case can go ahead.
The Cupertino-based tech company, who just presented its newest Mac OS upgrade, did not comment on the new lawsuit, The Hill report says.
Apparently, the company has other troubles on its hands. On Monday, the US Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission initiated an antitrust investigation into the four main US tech companies. According to an agreement reached between the two bodies, the Department of Justice will handle the investigation into Apple and Google, while the Commission will probe Facebook and Amazon. The details of the investigation have not yet been disclosed.


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As the world braces for more conflict in the Korean peninsula, auto manufacturers and parts suppliers make plans to pull their production efforts out of the area in the event war breaks out. North Korea has moved two of its mid-range missiles from their military bases, and have announced plans to go ahead with a fourth nuclear missile test despite worldwide protest.
General Motors in particular is faced with the possibility of shifting its auto production elsewhere from its plant in South Korea. According to the Original Equipment Suppliers Association, based in Troy, if the automotive giant moves it operations out of the area, parts suppliers who work in conjunction with GM will be forced to follow.
Despite growing tensions in the region, the U.S. deployment of missile defense systems to Guam and South Korea’s launching of its own warships in anticipation of an attack on North Korean missile sites, the tourist industry in South Korea continues to boom. North Korea has already warned all foreigners to leave South Korea in light of the threats and increased tension.
Japan, another auto manufacturing powerhouse and manufacturing giant in the region, is also bracing for war to break out in Korea. Japan has boosted missile defenses protecting the city of Tokyo and has issued warnings for travelers to head further south to escape the conflict.
With so many manufacturing facilities in the Pacific region, including auto makers, electronics producers, and other industries there which supply the entire world with goods, the prospect of war is frightening on an economic level as well as on a personal level. Switzerland has offered to mediate between North Korea and other countries involved in the rising conflict, but as of yet no solution nor compromise even looks close.
Some reports claim the threat from North Korea could potentially cause real danger and damage as far east as the western coast of the United States.
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CyberGuy’ Kurt Knutsson on the potential uses of virtual reality technology in the future.
Mark Zuckerberg didn’t spend $2 Billion for nothing. That’s what price Facebook agreed to buy Oculus VR, what he calls the leader in virtual reality. He just might be right.
Early reviews from those able to spend even a few minutes with the much touted VR headset made by the company is leaving their heads spinning and a residual wow factor that must have also struck the nerve of the otherwise unexcitable usual monotone CEO of Facebook.
Zuckerberg expects spherical video or 3D video to be big in your Facebook timeline. This VR technology immerses you into the video as a most active participant rather than passive 2D perspective. I’ll be hosting a VR panel for Digital Hollywood shortly and look forward to updating you on new insights.


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One of us conducted an informal poll on a social media platform about individual preferences for a particular brand of medicine. Around 70% of responders who lived in India trusted brands prescribed by their doctors while 80% of those who lived in a high-income country voted for cheaper brands recommended by their pharmacists.
The survey results reflect a common – and interesting – perception. Why do Indians not trust a generic alternative to their doctors’ recommendations?
In her recent book Bottle of Lies, the investigative journalist Katherine Eban writes about the startling discovery by an FDA investigator of substandard insulin manufactured by the Indian company Ranbaxy. Dinesh Thakur, a whistleblower at Ranbaxy, exposed the company’s efforts to forge data and dispose evidence to avoid penalties.
Eban describes the utter disregard the company had for the people that consumed these harmful medicines. While the exported material is of high standard thanks to the vigilance of foreign regulatory bodies, the quality of drugs within India remains questionable. Lax regulatory policing in India permits the use of lower quality ingredients and recourse in manufacturing short-cuts.
Although the Indian pharma industry has denied these claims, Eban writes that pre-announced or inadequate inspections and data-tampering contribute to the state of affairs being what it is. In her own investigation, she found gaps in manufacturing data were common knowledge among managers and that they took the greatest liberties in markets with weaker regulations so the risk of discovery was lowest.
There are horrifying examples. Ranbaxy claimed the shelf life of the drug co-amoxiclav suspension was 24 months whereas tests showed it to be only 18 months. This rendered a good percentage of this antibiotic, given to children to treat ear infections, still circulating in the market to be ineffective. In 2012, regulators in Ghana found that all ergometrine tablets and half the oxytocin samples, sourced principally from India and China, didn’t have any effects. This might as well have been a death sentence to women suffering from postpartum haemorrhage.
It must be noted that while the situation is bad, it is not irredeemable. First, not all Indian drug manufacturers are crooks. In fact, there are many examples of the Indian pharmaceutical industry having staved off health crises in other countries. Second, not all Western drug manufacturers follow ethical practices in the healthcare industry. Eban’s book is one-dimensional in that that focuses only on generic drugs in the US market manufactured elsewhere. Third, a cheaper generic drug does not automatically equate to poorer quality. Similarly, a more expensive branded variant isn’t necessarily of better quality.
India’s generic drug business boomed after the Indian Patents Act was passed in 1970. The Act made it legal to copy an existing molecule for production but illegal to copy the process of making it, conferring chemists with the right to remake existing drugs as long as they altered the steps to make it. So chemists studied samples of the original drugs, manufactured the active ingredient and recreated the drug with additional ingredients called excipients. The resulting revolution in drug manufacturing contributed significantly to curtailing the AIDS epidemic in Africa, for example. There is no doubt that India deserves to be called the ‘pharmacy of the world’, and its pharmaceutical companies deserve much of the credit.
However, the stories documented in Eban’s book and elsewhere are a clear and present danger. The Ranbaxy fiasco affected export of medicines from India to the US, which accounts for 40% of the total. After the 44th meeting of the Drugs Consultative Committee on July 20, 2012, at the FDA, the Government of India proposed strengthening the drug regulatory infrastructure at the central and state levels. It recommended regulatory officers of the State Drugs Control Departments be trained with the appropriate protocols and so help implement standards around the country in a uniform manner. The Centre also undertook efforts to make drug pricing more realistic according to its drug price control order.
Although these are welcome steps, they won’t suffice to regain the trust our companies have lost. We also need to strengthen the Central Drug Standards Control Organisation, empowering it to conduct surprise inspections of pharmaceutical plants with standardised procedures. We need to certify the companies that pass these checks accordingly, helping consumers understand the quality of the drugs they’re purchasing.
Inspectors need to implement quality checks at the product level as well as at the manufacturing level. All managers should use the principles of process validation, a data philosophy that became popular in the 1980s. It requires all data to be attributable, legible contemporaneously recorded, original and accurate – acronymised as ALCOA.
Finally, pharmaceutical companies need to be as transparent about their production practices as about the clinical trials that follow. They need to disclose all their data and all stakeholders must have zero tolerance for any kind of misconduct, misdemeanour or fraud.
If you’re wondering why now: the answer is obvious. Antimicrobial resistance has emerged as a grave threat to public health around the world, and India carries a large portion of the global burden of drug-resistant pathogens. There is considerable evidence that sub-therapeutic doses of medicines contribute to the development and spread of such resistance, so it is important that the Indian people – the biggest consumers of antibiotics worldwide – be exposed to good quality ones.
Additionally, urbanisation, changing demographics and consumerist lifestyles have supported the spread of non-communicable diseases. This in turn could encourage pharmaceutical companies to cut corners and engage in profiteering.
After receiving the ‘Whistleblower of the Year’ award from Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund, Thakur spoke about the importance of role models in public life who have had the courage to challenge dishonest practices and the will to change the system for the better. Thakur himself is such a role model, and following in his steps, the Indian pharmaceutical industry can lead the way for their counterparts in other countries.
This is the only way Indians can be persuaded once more put their faith in Indian generic drugs. Trust is a terrible thing to lose, but what better time to start winning it back than now?
Arjun Narayanan is a medical officer at the Department of Health Services, Government of Kerala. Aju Mathew is a medical oncologist at the MOSC Medical College, Kolenchery, Kerala.


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“Our needs led us to carry out a market research, carefully analyzing several manufacturers, until, at Bauma 2019, we saw the presentation of the Forste37DJ Speed and it immediately made a very good impression on us as it was a very easy and intelligent machine to handle. especially with the peculiarity of having vertical stabilization. This has led us to the prudent choice of incorporating the first ForSte37DJ Speed Socage into the fleet, which will allow us to offer the customer a rental, the company’s main business, an innovative service with benefits beyond the current market standard “. Massimo Bellini, titolare della società Tecnoalt
A new delivery, a new milestone for Socage, which hopes to continue this collaboration also in the future.


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Dead Rising 4 not fully exclusive to Xbox One, Windows 10 platforms
Dead Rising 4 is coming to the Xbox One and Windows 10 on December 6, 2016, and is one of the most anticipated titles of the year. Unlike Dead Rising 3, though, this game won’t stay exclusive to Microsoft, with the door wide open for it to be released on other platforms in the future.
In a statement to GameSpot, Microsoft confirmed the game won’t be a full exclusive but rather it will be a timed exclusive to Windows 10 for the first 90 days of release and an Xbox One timed exclusive for an entire year.
Dead Rising 4 will probably find its way to Steam after the Windows 10 exclusivity is up, and then to the PlayStation 4 after its one-year run has ended on the Xbox One. This shouldn’t be a big deal seeing as when a game is released a year later on a competing console, it no longer has the same spark.
With this being the case now, console gamers can decide to either get an Xbox One if they haven’t already or wait until it is available on the PlayStation 4 come 2017 or sometime in 2018.
Here’s the full statement from Microsoft:
“Dead Rising 4 on Xbox One is developed by Capcom and will be published in partnership with Microsoft. Fans will be able to play ‘Dead Rising 4’ first on Xbox One and Windows 10 PC this December. It will remain a Windows 10 exclusive for the first 90 days and console exclusive on Xbox One for one year. We’ve had a close and longstanding relationship with Capcom including the launch of Dead Rising as an Xbox 360 exclusive and Dead Rising 3 as an Xbox One exclusive. We’re thrilled to partner with Capcom once again to help bring their ambitious vision for Dead Rising 4 to life.”
Dear Rising 4 isn’t the only game coming to Xbox One. Those who are planning to see the new Ghostbusters movie can have a look at the official companion video game, featuring a 4-player co-op mode among other things to get fans excited. Furthermore, there’s a good chance Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn might show up on the Xbox One in the near future.
RELATED STORIES YOU NEED TO CHECK OUT:
- Dead Rising 4 announced during the Xbox E3 2016 event
- Dead Rising 4 leaked gameplay and promotional material confirm sequel
- State of Decay 2 coming to Windows 10 and Xbox One in 2017
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ASIA’S TECHNOLOGICAL HUB
Monita Pesumal provides a snapshot of Taiwan’s economy and the threats posed by mainland China
In response to the question of what’s the deal with Taiwan, here’s some background information: China sees it as a runaway province, which it has vowed to retake by force if necessary; but Taiwan maintains that it is a sovereign state with its own currency, constitution, democratically elected leaders and approximately 300,000 active troops in the armed forces.
Last year, the country’s economy grew by nearly three percent compared to 2019 and this growth enabled Taiwan to claim that it is Asia’s top performing economy. Economists predicted that Vietnam would be Asia’s fastest growing economy in 2020 but Taiwan surpassed the 2.5 percent expectation forecast by its central bank and forged ahead of Vietnam’s 2.9 percent growth.
Taiwan is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of ICT products. Last year, strong global demand for Taiwanese tech exports – mainly semiconductors – offset the negative effects brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s semiconductor industry is the world’s second largest in terms of revenue after the US.
The island excels in the production of semiconductors. And since any product that’s computerised depends on them, it means they’re vital in powering everything from computers and cars, to electronics and mobile phones.
Tiny Taiwan produces chips for tech giants such as Apple’s iPhones, Google data centres, Nintendo and Sony game consoles, and car manufacturers such as Ford, Honda and Daimler, as well as US F-35 fighter jets among others.
With people being forced to work from home (WFH) because of the pandemic, global demand for consumer electronics, tablets and laptops surged. This is providing the likes of Taiwan and South Korea with an avenue to ramp up their microchip and semiconductor production, as economies around the world scramble to embrace digital transformation and 5G technology.
One remarkable fact in this story is that Taiwan’s economy has outperformed that of mainland China for the first time in three decades. The former’s expansion last year was also higher than China’s 2.3 percent full year growth in 2020.
The island last surpassed the world’s factory in 1990 when its 5.5 percent growth beat China’s 3.9 percent. Based on the latest estimates, Taiwan is currently ranked the world’s 21st largest economy.
According to the WTO, Taiwan is the 18th largest exporter and 17th largest importer of merchandise. Exports to China (which is Taiwan’s largest trading partner) spiked by an annual 57 percent to almost US$ 15 billion while exports to the US grew by nearly 22 percent.
Government data reveals that due to the trade feud between China and the US, Taiwan has attracted approximately 42.5 billion dollars of investments from 783 companies since late 2018.
When US President Joe Biden first called his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping ahead of the Lunar New Year, the issues discussed included ongoing tensions in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The US had earlier reaffirmed its support for Taiwan following China’s dispatch of warplanes near the island in an obvious attempt to intimidate Taipei and test the resolve of the new American administration.
According to Associated Press (AP), the US State Department has stated that Washington will continue to strengthen ties with Taiwan and ensure its safety from Chinese threats while supporting a peaceful resolution of issues between the two nations.
Taiwan’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been hailed by the international media as a success story. According to an index published by the Lowy Institute in Australia, it has been listed among the top three countries in the world for its management of the COVID-19 pandemic, ranking only behind New Zealand and Vietnam.
The Lowy Institute mentions that China was not included in the ranking because of a lack of publicly available data on testing while Taiwan was assessed separately. With some 1,000 cases and 10 deaths, Taiwan is deemed to have one of the world’s best strategies to counter the virus.
Hard measures early on – including quarantine for a fortnight for everyone entering the country, strict physical distancing rules and travel restrictions, easy access to rapid testing centres and a national face mask mandate – ensured that the country ranks high on the COVID Performance Index.
The island even cancelled its popular lantern festival, which is traditionally held to welcome the Lunar New Year.
Reflecting Taiwan’s attractiveness as a safety net amid the global pandemic, the number of recipients of its Employment Gold Card – a special work and residency permit for highly skilled foreign talent – took a significant leap last year.
This is open to foreign professionals and technicians in multiple fields, ranging from science, technology and finance, to architecture, law, education, culture, sports and the arts. Taiwan’s safe and stable environment offers a growing number of foreign nationals from different cultural and educational backgrounds a chance to develop their careers.


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Four hundred eighty channels and nothing to watch on TV? Liberty Global, one of the largest cable service providers in Europe, is adding a few more options for its customers.
The company will soon introduce a set-top box that will marry traditional cable content with apps, widgets and access to web-based video, Wired has learned.
"It's a set-top box on steroids," Balan Nair, chief technology officer for Liberty Global, told Wired.com. "The interface will be very intuitive and advanced and include features such as search and recommendation that will tie in a seamless way the experience of a using a DVR and a web search engine."
Think of it as a Boxee or Roku-like service living on the cable digital video recorder. For instance, a search for Batman will show what channel is broadcasting it, if is available through video on demand, where on the web you can find it and even if it is available through some peer-to-peer networks.
The move will be a big step forward for the cable industry, which has so far been wary of internet video content. It could change the idea of a set-top box and usher in a post-TiVo era where consumers watch Jersey Shore with the same ease as an episode of the online show Epic Fu. In addition to delivering a greater variety of content to your living room, it could open up new opportunities for video producers to reach a mass audience, and could help the cable companies sell more broadband accounts.
The only losers? Startups that have bet their futures on making dedicated internet TV boxes, with functions that set-top boxes like Liberty Global's could soon replace.
The box or the "gateway" as Nair likes to call it will be an IP-based device that can stream video, voice and data over Wi-Fi to devices in the home such as PC, phones and eventually the iPad. Liberty will partner with Samsung and LG to build the box, which will be powered by Intel's Atom processor.
Liberty's new set-top box will initially be available in Europe early next year. Although the company hasn't yet determined prices, it might be free to new customers who sign up for Liberty's cable service, and available for a small upgrade fee to current customers.
"It makes a lot of sense because it is smart and future-proof," says Jeff Wlodarczak, an analyst with Pivotal Research Group, a New York-based equity research firm that focuses on the media and communications sector. "All of cable will eventually go in this direction."
Web-connected TV is growing fast as more people connect to Hulu to watch the latest episode of Lost or hook up Boxee to look for Jon Stewart's comedy clips. By 2014, about 160 million households worldwide will be watching internet-delivered video on their TVs on a regular basis, estimates The Diffusion Group. In North America alone, 63 million homes, or almost half of the TV watching households, will be viewing internet content on the big screen, Diffusion predicts.
"If you can let people personalize their TV experience by combining widgets and internet content with the 40 channels, that's going to be very important," says Wlodarczak.
Cable service providers are intrigued yet wary of web content and offering easy access to it. Liberty Global's move could help some service providers in the United States find a way to replicate it, says Colin Dixon, an analyst with The Diffusion Group.
"If Liberty does this, it is a step forward for the entire industry," he says. "If they can provide a set-top box with access to web content, then it becomes a pretty good deal for customers."
Today, getting internet video content on your TV means having enough tech savvy and patience to jump through a few hoops. First, users have to download services such as Boxee and Roku on their PCs – though the two companies also make their services available through dedicated hardware – and then hook them up to their TVs.
Companies like Apple and Netgear have tried to make the process easy by offering consumers hardware that will stream web content to their TVs more simply. But so far, most consumers have resisted adding yet another device to their living room.
Baking web-streaming features directly on the cable box could change the picture. Liberty's box will support the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) standard that will allow different devices, such as DVD players, TVs, set-top boxes and PCs, to share their content with one another.
But all this could come at the expense of some of the smaller, innovative streaming media startups.
"Cable guys are great at delivering content and a pipeline full of channels 24/7," says Andrew Kippen, vice-president of marketing at Boxee. "What they don't have expertise in is delivering the interface and that's why we are a software company."
Kippen may be just a little too optimistic.
TiVo's history offers clues on what happens when cable companies move in. Despite its great user interface and innovative service, TiVo's service was crushed by inexpensive set-top boxes from cable companies that flooded consumer homes and offered similar features. TiVo recovered only when it cut a deal with the cable companies to integrate its software into their boxes, slowly giving up on the idea of having a TiVo-branded box in consumer homes.
Services like Boxee could meet with a similar fate. "If the cable companies move in, Boxee or even Hulu will cease to be quite so important in the web world as they are now," says Dixon.
Boxee says it hopes to stay one step ahead in the game by partnering with the cable companies and creating an open platform.
"We are not a gatekeeper like the TV company is going to be," says Kippen.
Boxee and Roku may have found the chink in the cable providers' armor. Liberty Global's success, for instance, will largely depend on how open their new set-top box service is, says Dixon, because openness is the key to rapidly adding new features via third-party products.
"Roku has this open API and anyone can get on its box," he says. "But if Liberty can't do that then they are never going to be able to keep up with what's going on the web and they will be left behind by more open players."
The biggest of those challengers is likely to be Google. At its developer conference next week, Google, in partnership with Sony and Logitech, is expected to announce an open set-top box that will run the Android operating system.
"It's a business that's likely to get intensely competitive," says Wlodarczak.
Despite Liberty Global's efforts, change in the cable world, especially in the United States is likely to be slow, says Corey Ferengul, Executive Vice President of Marketing for Rovi, a company that works with TV content creators and cable companies.
"Cable operators are absolutely interested in getting into internet content, whether that be shorts or user generated content," says Ferengul. "What they haven’t figured out is how to pay for the service and that's holding them back."
Take that fear into account and Liberty Global's walled garden approach could be the right first step, says Wlodarczak.
"Keep it simple, that's what they are going for," he says. "They can always iterate on it and add more but right now they are taking a big first step."
- Hands-On With the Boxee Set-Top Box and Remote
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Apple’s 33rd edition of the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is set to commence on June 6. Like every year before the conference, there are rumours about what the company has to offer. This time, a report by MacRumors suggests that Apple has created a package of trading cards that you can view in augmented reality, rising the speculation that the company might introduce NFTs in the future.
Memojis have been a common feature of Apple’s marketing strategy for years. However, this year Apple decided to add an augmented reality (AR) element twist to it. Interesting, the cards also look similar to avatars of RTFKT Studios’ CloneX and animated cards of Gary Vaynerchuk’s VeeFriends Series 2. This further caused the rise in speculation within the NFT space about the future possibilities of an Apple NFT.
According to Cointelegraph, when the cards are placed on the surface using the AR interface. Users can tap it and open it up and see an array of colourful Memoji faces. If you swipe it, you can go back to the cards to view the other options.
Every time you open the card pack, you will get three separate cards, and there are at least nine card options to choose from. It is worth noting that this is one of the more detailed interactive AR experiences that Apple has designed for one of its events, as many have only featured creative Apple logos, as per MacRumors.
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The Cupertino-based tech giant is also expected to make several new announcements during the opening keynote of the event. These include improvements on iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and more. Meanwhile, users interested in caching the Apple WWDC 2022 event live can check out the link to the live stream below. Note that the link will go live at 10:30 pm IST on Monday, June 6.
Some other products that could make an appearance at the event include a new MacBook Air, the upcoming M2 chip, a new HomePod or perhaps a new Mac Pro. We should have more details as we head closer to the event.
Earlier in November, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that he is a crypto investor and holds digital coins. Cook was answering Andrew Ross Sorkin, who was hosting the New York Times’ two-day online summit. The Apple CEO shared his thoughts on the hot topic of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.


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Meatless Monday FACTS
1. The Meatless Monday movement raises awareness about the animal welfare, environmental and public health impacts of industrial meat production.
2. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, “If every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetables and grains … the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads.”
3. Polls show that 50 percent of people in America are aware of Meatless Monday and that roughly one in five are participating in it.


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USA: Sewing Firm Burdett Apparel To Close
Contract-sewing firm Burdett Apparel Inc announced on Thursday it will close with the loss of around 20 jobs due to fierce competition from cheap overseas labour. The Salt Lake City-based company, which used to employ more than 100 people and carry out work for apparel giants such as Gap Inc and Land's End, said it will shut down once its last contract is finished.
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Double hit for second homes
HUNDREDS of thousands of people face a hike in their bills under plans to double council tax on second homes. Owners of the estimated 200,000 second homes in the UK currently pay just 50% of tax on those houses. But the Government plans to allow local authorities to raise the tax to up to 100%. The plan could raise more than £150m for local authorities every year.
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Local government minister Nick Raynsford is set to approve the change next month following negotiations with local authorities. The measures are expected to be pushed through next year, The Business reported, with implementation in two years.
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The FTSE 100 soared in early trading on Wednesday despite the overnight sell-off in the US, as more upbeat company updates boosted investor sentiment.
The UK’s benchmark index defied expectations as it was actually seen opening lower following yesterday’s big tech sell-off in the US, which dragged all three major stock markets – the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq – more than 2% lower, with Apple the biggest loser as it fell 6.7%.
However the FTSE instead jumped 1.16% to 5,999, with sentiment buoyed by some more positive earnings updates and dividend revivals, while it was also helped by a fall in the pound as investors grow concerned a no-deal Brexit is becoming more and more likely.
BIFFA MAINTAINS OUTLOOK
In company news, waste management business Biffa (BIFF) gained 0.5% to 214p as it maintained its full-year outlook, with performance ‘slightly ahead’ of expectations amid an ongoing recovery in sales.
During August, revenue recovered to 90% of levels seen in its last financial year, while underlying profit contribution was also continuing to ‘steadily improve month on month’, with Biffa adding that it expects to bring back its staff on furlough by the end of September.
Ongoing pressure on plastic prices, however, would impact trading at its Seaham plant until it starts to produce food grade recycled materials in April 2021, the company said.
COMPUTACENTER RESUMES DIVIDENDS
Computer services company Computacenter (CCC) rose 3.2% to £22.50 as it resumed dividend payments after reporting that first-half profit jumped on Covid-19 related cost cuts and an uptick in revenue.
For the six months to 30 June, pre-tax profit rose 42.5% to £72.4 million as revenue increased 1.5% to £2.46 billion.
The company attributed the rise in profit to Covid-19 related cost reductions and improving services and technology sourcing margins. It also announced an interim dividend of 12.3p per share, up from 10.1p a share last year.
ASTRAZENECA PAUSES COVID VACCINE TRIAL
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (AZN) dipped 0.37% to £83.17 after it was revealed that its final clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine, developed in partnership with Oxford University, have been put on hold after a participant suffered a suspected adverse reaction.
AstraZeneca described the pause as a ‘routine action’ in the case of ‘an unexplained illness’, and said it would expedite the review to minimise any potential impact on the trial timeline.
OTHER COMPANY NEWS
Logistics provider Wincanton (WIN) jumped 9.2% to 196.5p after it raised its earnings guidance as the boom in online shopping increased demand for its services.
The company said full-year profits are likely to be ‘materially ahead’ of expectations thanks to booming demand for online retail during the pandemic, adding that revenue in its Digital and eFulfilment arms was ‘significantly ahead’ of pre-pandemic levels, with elevated numbers of two-person home deliveries throughout the summer months.
Military equipment supplier Avon Rubber (AVON) firmed 5.5% to £39.20 on news that it had agreed to acquire helmet group Team Wendy for $130 million, while reaffirming earnings guidance.
Advertising company S4 Capital (SFOR), founded by former WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell, gained 1.67% to 366p after it swung to a modest first-half profit after acquisitions helped it build its client base and boost revenue.
Pre-tax profit for the six months through June amounted to $0.12 million, compared to a loss of $8.5 million in the same period a year ago, as revenue jumped 60% to £141.3 million and rose by 6.9% on a like-for-like basis.
Oil company Tullow Oil (TLW) was having a tougher day, tumbling 15% to 16.6p, as it swung to a deep first-half loss after output and crude prices both fell and it wrote down the value of its assets.
Tullow's pre-tax losses for the six months through June amounted to $1.44 billion, compared to a profit of $268.4 million a year ago, as net debt climbed to $3.02 billion.


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The researchers say they tested the film on someone who was sedentary, someone doing office work, and people engaged in vigorous activity, such as boxing, and found the system was effective in a wide variety of scenarios. The stickiness of the film was sufficient for it to stay on the skin and on the watch without the need for a wrist strap for an entire day.
While the researchers designed a custom smartwatch and app to work with the system, they say the concept could someday be applied to popular models of smartwatches.
"We are particularly excited about our technology because by transforming our smartwatches and wearable tech into biomonitoring platforms, we could capture multidimensional, longitudinal and physiologically relevant datasets at an unprecedented scale, basically across hundreds of millions of people," says Emaminejad. "This thin sensing film that works with a watch shows such a path forward."
For more, see " A wearable freestanding electrochemical sensing system ."
Wearable multi-device sensor promises 'annual physical in a patch'
Wearable sweat sensor tracks physiological changes in real time
Bioscience researchers get $1M to develop portable medical sensors
Wearable biosensor measures 'stress hormone' in sweat


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Last week we heard that Apple is indeed planning to launch a new cheaper (relatively) and smaller iPhone. But instead of being called the iPhone 6C, as the rumours had hinted until now, the phone would be called the iPhone 5SE. And to remain faithful to its name the new iPhone, which is likely to be launched in March, also seems to sport a design similar to that of the iPhone 5S.
Now a leaked image shows that the Apple's next phone is going to have dimensions similar to that of the iPhone 5S. It seems to have a similar size - 4 inches - screen seems to be of similar thickness. Just like the iPhone 5S, the iPhone 5SE would be made using aluminium unibody.
However, internally as reported by 9to5mac, the new iPhone would pack in more powerful hardware than what users got in 2013. It has been rumoured that the iPhone 5SE would come with the A8 processor, which also powered the iPhone 6. It will also have the same rear camera that Apple put inside the iPhone 6S.
According to rumours so far, the iPhone 5SE would be launched in late March or early April. It would sport a price tag of $450 - the same price that the iPhone 5S currently has - and hence may not be as cheap as what people are hoping for. If the rumoured price turns out to be accurate, in India the phone may cost around Rs 30,000. The entry level version of the iPhone 5SE would have 16GB internal storage, most likely 1GB RAM, and support for the Live Photos.


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Holding Nvidia Stock Will Pay Off Due to Two Impenetrable Moats
November 15, 2018
Lead Tech Analyst
Tech stocks are getting slammed right now, and Nvidia may be one of Wall Street’s biggest losers in the sell-off that began last month and continued into this week. Nvidia’s stock has seen a 30-day high of $292 and a whiplash low of $176 – equaling a 40% plunge in the matter of four weeks. Today, it stands at $197.60.
Economic indicators and earnings from tech companies have not exactly warranted this reaction from the market. Fears the semi-conductor industry is slowing down based off Advanced Micro Devices earnings report were negated when Intel reported strong Q3 earnings. And while Apple may be on the precipice of a capped out $1 trillion-dollar market cap due to possible iPhone saturation, Nvidia’s outlook is quite the opposite in regards to public-company growth trajectory. The market may continue to have volatility, but Nvidia investors who are patient will be rewarded due to competitive advantages in GPU-powered cloud performance and developer adoption of Nvidia’s platform.
Brief Overview of Nvidia’s Revenue Segments
To summarize, gaming claims the majority of Nvidia’s revenue at $1.81 billion, up 52% YoY. Gaming will get a nice boost in 6-12 months from the new GeForce RTX 2070, RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti chips, which introduce the possibility of hybrid rendering through ray-tracing. In layman’s terms, ray-tracing mimics how light behaves in the real world by mapping out rays from 3D illumination sources. The imagery is much more realistic as a result. Electronic Arts released the first raytracing game today (November 14th) whereas 6 months ago, the gaming industry did not think raytracing would even be possible. Companies who have signed up for the new Turing architecture include Adobe, Pixar, Siemens, Black Magic, Weta Digital, Epic Games (maker of Fortnite) and Autodesk.
Data center revenue has been picking up speed at 83% YoY, or $760 million, as GPU chips are powering more of the cloud for machine learning and artificial intelligence applications. Data center revenue, once a small blip, claims 24% of the company’s total sales. This will continue to grow steadily into the near future due to the computing power and flexibility GPUs provide over CPUs, which is what Intel sells, or TPUs and FPGA, which are custom machine-learning chips by Google and used by Microsoft that are too specific to one platform for widespread adoption – more on these points below.
Smaller segments by Nvidia include professional visualization and automotive, which grew to $281 million and $161 million, respectively, up 20% and 13% year over year.
Two Impenetrable Moats: GPU-Cloud and Developer Adoption
Revenue segments are your typical Nvidia stock coverage. But can Nvidia take market share from Intel? Will Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Apple design their own custom chips to compete with Nvidia? This is what investors need to answer for themselves especially if we continue into correction territory.
Regarding Intel, the cloud is too competitive to forego the performance and efficiency that Nvidia delivers. Recently, the Turing T4 GPU became the fastest adopted server GPU of all time in just two short months of hitting the market. Prior to the release of the Turing T4 GPU, Nvidia’s data center growth was 3x compared to Intel. Intel posted 26% growth YoY whereas Nvidia posted 83% YoY. However, Nvidia’s data center revenue is 1/6th compared to Intel’s at $760 million vs. $6.1 billion. This revenue segment will continue to grow as the GPU-powered cloud is built out. Unfortunately for Intel, GPUs are the better choice for cloud customers as the usage pattern is constantly in flux, demanding a wide variety of models and different software frameworks. Intel’s CPU Xeon Processor cannot compete with the performance-per-watt of what Nvidia offers in the cloud. Per the announcement on September 13th, 2018, Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Dell EMC, Fujitsu, HPE, IBM, Oracle and Supermicro plan to release servers with Nvidia’s T4 GPU on board.
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Google and Microsoft have both made chips for their data centers. Microsoft adopted the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) which is used for AI apps. And Google has built a custom chip called the Tensor Processor Unit (TPU) for Google’s TensorFlow deep learning framework. Competing, customized chips will become the new norm as tech giants prefer to use proprietary tech. The biggest weakness that competing customized chips face like TPUs, from Google, and FPGA, used by Microsoft, is that they may be too specialized for developers to adopt. The drawbacks will continue to be price and difficulty, as programming for FPGA is an area not many engineers have expertise in. The same goes for Google Cloud Platform (GCP). They’ll have to get developers to adopt GCP and keep them locked into TensorFlow. Even so, there are alternate frameworks such as PyTorch from Facebook which add further to the fragmentation of developer frameworks. In addition, even if Google uses TPUs for inferencing, it may still use Nvidia’s GPU for training neural networks.
Let’s use mobile application development as an example. One of the reasons mobile is a duopoly between Android and iOS is that developers can only learn so many tools and development environments before the process becomes inefficient. In order to truly excel at a language, it has to be universal. For instance, Microsoft attempted to launch a Windows phone, which was met by resistance as developers did not care to learn a new operating system that could not prove itself with user adoption. In turn, mobile users did not buy the Windows phone because their favorite applications were not available to download. iPhone’s success was due to iOS developers who learned tools like XCode to create applications. Android became the competing universal language for the remaining manufacturers, such as Samsung, LG, Sony, Pixel, etcetera. The next wave of AI applications and machine learning inferences will follow the same path of limited competition due to development bandwidth. Developers will self-regulate the number of competitors for processing units due to a need for a universal platform that supports all frameworks.
Here’s a quote from Marc Andreessen of Andreessen-Horowitz, one of the most successful venture capitalists in Silicon Valley:
“We’ve been investing in a lot of startups applying deep learning to many areas, and every single one effectively comes in building on Nvidia’s platform. It’s like when people were all building on Windows in the ’90s or all building on the iPhone in the late 2000s.”
There is an even greater need to simplify artificial intelligence and machine learning than exists for mobile standards. There are thousands of variants emerging each year in AI as neural networks evolve and expand in depth, complexity and architecture. There are multiple frameworks supported by major industry players and Nvidia’s GPUs are flexible enough to accelerate all of these frameworks and workflows including Caffe2, Cognitive Toolkit, Kaldi, MXNet, PaddlePaddle, Pytorch and TensorFlow.
In addition, AI occurs beyond the cloud and Nvidia’s GPUs are available in what is called edge devices, such as self-driving cars, desktops, workstations, data centers and across all major cloud providers.
Nvidia is already the universal platform for development, but this won’t become obvious until innovation in artificial intelligence matures. Developers are programming the future of artificial intelligence applications on Nvidia because GPUs are easier and more flexible than customized TPU chips from Google or FGPA chips used by Microsoft. Meanwhile, Intel’s CPU chips will struggle to compete as artificial intelligence applications and machine learning inferencing move to the cloud. Intel is trying to catch-up but Nvidia continues to release more powerful GPUs – and cloud providers such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google cannot risk losing the competitive advantage that comes with Nvidia’s technology.
The Turing T4 GPU from Nvidia should start to show up in earnings soon, and the real-time ray-tracing RTX chips will keep gaming revenue strong when there is more adoption in 6-12 months. Nvidia is a company that has reported big earnings beats, with average upside potential of 33.35 percent to estimates in the last four quarters. Data center revenue stands at 24% and is rapidly growing. When artificial intelligence matures, you can expect data center revenue to be Nvidia’s top revenue segment. Despite the corrections we’ve seen in the technology sector, and with Nvidia stock specifically, investors who remain patient will have a sizeable return in the future.
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Apple will have to face a class-action lawsuit over allegations it knew about flaws in the MacBook Pro butterfly keyboard design and didn't do enough to combat issues or lost value for owners.
The lawsuit, which complains of issues with the butterfly keyboard, was officially certified as a class-action suit by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. The certification took place on March 8, but was kept under seal until March 19 so that a redacted version of the court order could be created.
A total of seven subclasses were determined by District Judge Edward J. Davila, with each covering users in a different state. The states it applies to are California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Washington, reports The Verge.
The suit also applies to people within those states who bought a Macbook between 2015 and 2017, a MacBook Pro between 2016 and 2019, or a MacBook Air between 2018 and 2019 that used the butterfly keyboard.
Originally filed in 2018, the lawsuit alleges the keyboard failed during regular use, such as dust or debris ingress causing keys to not fully respond. In some instances, the behavior manifested as "sticky" keys or overly repeating characters, as well as a lack of response.
It is claimed Apple was aware of the issue, but kept selling models using the keyboard despite knowing this. One Apple executive is quoted in writing "no matter how much lipstick you try to put on this pig (the butterfly keyboard)... it's still ugly."
The complaints were so much of an issue that Apple updated the keyboard to include a thin silicone membrane, seemingly to reduce noise and cut down on debris.
While most public complaints were anecdotal, research by AppleInsider in 2018 collecting data on first-year hardware failures for the MacBook Pro found the butterfly keyboard failed twice as often as previous models.
By late 2019, Apple seemingly gave up on the butterfly keyboard altogether, and started to migrate its new MacBook products over to the Magic Keyboard instead.
Apple previously attempted to dismiss the lawsuit in 2019, citing its implementation of troubleshooting methods and a repair program. The plaintiffs successfully argued that the voluntary program was ineffective as it failed to address the core problems with the keyboard.
Replacing the faulty keyboards with another using the same design was also considered by the plaintiffs to be a bad idea, as it had the potential for the same issues to resurface at a later time.
Stay on top of all Apple news right from your HomePod. Say, "Hey, Siri, play AppleInsider," and you'll get latest AppleInsider Podcast. Or ask your HomePod mini for "AppleInsider Daily" instead and you'll hear a fast update direct from our news team. And, if you're interested in Apple-centric home automation, say "Hey, Siri, play HomeKit Insider," and you'll be listening to our newest specialized podcast in moments.


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Boston-based Circle Internet Financial Ltd. USDC/USD is keeping a keen eye on the regulatory changes in Hong Kong following the implementation of the territory’s new cryptocurrency regulations.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire told Bloomberg Television during the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China, described Asia as “a huge area of focus.”
“Hong Kong clearly is looking to establish itself as a very significant center for digital assets markets and for stablecoins and we are paying very close attention to that,” he said.
Also Read: FTX’s Image As Customer-Focused Leader Was A Mirage, Report Says
Circle is the company behind the issuance of USD Coin, the world’s second-largest stablecoin.
This comes on the heels of Circle securing a license as a major payments institution in Singapore. This license enables Circle to provide digital payment token services and facilitate both domestic and international money transfers in the city-state.
Allaire believes that the Singapore license will aid in expanding the distribution of its USD Coin in the region.
Hong Kong introduced its new cryptocurrency regulatory framework on June 1. This move comes as global digital asset firms are on the lookout for new, safe locations that are investor-friendly, especially in light of the crackdown in the U.S.
However, Hong Kong has yet to introduce regulations specifically for stablecoins.
Interestingly, Hong Kong’s shift towards becoming a hub for digital assets has received subtle support from Beijing, despite the mainland maintaining a ban on trading.
This has sparked speculation that China might consider lifting its cryptocurrency ban sooner rather than later.
Allaire suggested that the developments in Hong Kong could be indicative of the future growth of these markets in Greater China.
He also noted that jurisdictions like Hong Kong and Dubai are actively trying to attract companies, while Singapore is planning to limit retail investor participation.
He also mentioned that the European Union approved the most extensive digital-asset rules of any developed economy in April.
Allaire concluded by saying, “We see enormous demand for digital dollars in emerging markets and Asia is really the center of that.”
Read Next: Japan’s Crypto Tax Revolution: No More Capital Gains Tax On Unrealized Gains
Join Benzinga’s Future of Crypto in NYC on Nov. 14, 2023 to stay updated on trends like AI, regulations, SEC actions & institutional adoption in the crypto space. Secure early bird discounted tickets now!
© 2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.


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Yes, due to the title of this article most of you would wonder how can a smartphone that is in the works and soon to be released be confirmed just now? Well, yes, we knew for some time now that the South Korean company was working on the Galaxy Note 9. Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has officially been confirmed that surfaced online, but we never saw any official documentation in order to back up our claims. In a nutshell, today we will be talking about Samsung’s official confirmation of their latest device coming out in just a little over a month. Read more to find out all of the details behind this decision.
FCC confirmed Samsung Galaxy Note 9
Samsung Galaxy Note 9 was first spotted on the official FCC going under the name of SM-N960F. The code name alone might not be much of a giveaway, but the fact that the phone was also said to operate with a stylus pen made people think that this was indeed the Note 9 that they were seeing.
If you were still not sure if this was indeed the Galaxy Note 9 on the list, then we would like to guide your attention to the fact that the model number for the Galaxy Note 8 was SM-N950. The similarity between the two names means that we are likely talking about the official documentation for the Note 9. For those of you that do not know, the FCC is the US Federal Communications Commission where every device has to be listed in order to be approved to be sold in North America.
The train of official news is not stopping anytime soon since the South Korean company announced just last week that they were going to hold an Unpacked event in New York on the 9th of August, pretty much confirming already existing rumors of the release date of their next flagship device. The invite for the event only holds the message “SAMSUNG Galaxy” and what seems to be part of a golden S stylus pen. Some may say that the message is cryptic, but we would beg to differ.
It is more than obvious that Samsung has decided to host this event and leave small clues that still paint a broad picture that we previously knew about. Last but not least, this official invite suggests that some of the past renders that we saw of the Galaxy Note 9 might indeed be an accurate rendition of the real-life device.
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By Lisa Johnston
New products on display at the American International Toy Fair, held in N
FREMONT, CALIF. —Vialta has unveiled the ViPhone, a video-phone with Web browser and e-mail access. The device, which also offers optional voice-over-Internet Protocol long-distance calling, features a fold-down videoscreen, built-in videocamera, 56K V.90 modem, hands-free speakerphone, address book and calendar functions, caller ID display, and RJ-11 connection for external handset. It is expected to retail for about $499 with LCD display and $299 without.
Vialta is a subsidiary of ESS Technology, a maker of chips for DVD players and computer audio and video cards. The com-pany also unveiled a Web-browsing DVD.
LAS VEGAS —Siemens announced at CES that it landed its first carrier account, Cingular Wireless, after re-entering the U.S. wireless-phone market in late 2000. Cingular signed a memorandum of understanding to carry the Siemens S40 triband world GSM phone in its GSM markets. Cingular, the product of a merger between BellSouth and SBC wireless operations, also operates TDMA networks in its 38-state network. The silver 3.4-ounce phone, available in March, features internal antenna and vibrating alert, WAP browser, PIM functions that synchronize with Microsoft Outlook, voice recorder, and thin lithium battery delivering up to 260 hours of standby time or up to 360 minutes of talktime.
WASHINGTON, D.C. —The FCC has proposed the reallocation of the 1710-1755MHz, 1755-1800MHz, 2110-2150MHz, and 2160-2165MHz bands for new wireless services, including 3G. The first two bands are used by the government, primarily the Department of Defense; the latter two are currently used for a broad variety of wireless services. Under an order issued by former President Clinton, the FCC will allocate new spectrum by July 2001 and hold auctions by Sept. 30, 2002.
KANSAS CITY, MO. —Sprint PCS, which already sells a Palm-based smartphone, has tightened its relationship with Palm. The two companies announced plans for an early-2001 cable and software kit to connect Palm PDAs to Sprint phones, first-half availability of Kyocera's new Palm-based smartphone, and midyear sales of a CDMA wireless modem for Palms. The solutions will enable users to wirelessly access a co-branded portal that will deliver PIM services, access to websites, access to POP3 e-mail, and in conjunction with Sprint's enterprise solutions, wireless access to corporate e-mail and enterprise applications.
This TWICE webinar, hosted by senior editor Alan Wolf, will take a look at what may be the hottest CE products at retail that will be sold during the all-important fourth quarter. Top technologies, market strategies and industry trends will be discussed with industry analysts and executives.


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New Delhi, Jan 30: Despite a weak trend in the overseas markets, gold prices rose for the third straight day by adding Rs. 55 to Rs. 28,465 per 10 gram in the bullion market in New Delhi on Monday, while silver shed Rs. 500 to Rs. 56,000 per kg on stockists selling.
Traders said sentiment in gold remained firm on pickup in wedding season demand even as metal decline in the global markets.
Silver, however, fell on stockists selling in tandem with a weakening global trend and reduced offtake by industrial units, they added.
In Singapore, silver lost 0.7 per cent to $33.66 an ounce, while gold lost 0.4 per cent to $1,731.65 an ounce.
On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity advanced by Rs. 55 each to Rs. 28,465 and Rs. 28,325 per 10 gram, respectively.
The precious metal had gained Rs. 640 in the last two sessions.
Sovereigns remained flat at Rs. 23,350 per piece of 8 gram.
Silver ready fell by Rs. 500 to Rs. 56,000 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs. 600 to Rs. 56,625 per kg.
Silver coins also declined by Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 66,000 for buying and Rs. 67,000 for selling of 100 pieces.


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Expanding technology and homeowners' desire for sophisticated living continue to spark outdoor product trends, according to professionals who exhibited at a recent industry tradeshow.
Whether it's a ring of fire with a fountain in its center to top-down infrared searing grills for the back yard, today's homeowner has plenty of fun products from which to choose.
"Key economic and industry projections are indicating 2004 will be an excellent year for the hearth, patio and barbecue business," said Carter Keithley, Hearth Patio & Barbecue Association president and CEO, at the 2004 tradeshow in March. "Technology advances in both the grill and hearth appliance areas are providing homeowners with products that truly meet the needs of an evolving lifestyle. Enhanced performance and improved design enable the purchase of quality products at literally every price level and for any home, regardless of style."
Grills remain a staple in the backyard. Some 75 percent of households across the United States own at least one grill. Some of the grill highlights this year include:
- High-end portables
- More affordable stainless steel models
- Higher quality charcoal grills
- Super-premium all stainless units with every bell and whistle
- High performance electric grills
- Electric and propane-fueled turkey/fish fryers
- Kamado cookers
The hottest new breakthrough, however, is the introduction of infrared technology -- used for years in commercial applications -- to the backyard grill.
Top-down searing systems, grills with one infrared burner -- the searing station -- and others will all infrared burners are in stores everywhere.
The HPBA says of the $172 billion Americans invested in home renovation and remodeling last year, a good chunk was spent on outdoor living:
- Nearly $3 million on barbecue grills and related equipment
- $3 billion on outdoor furnishings
- $21 billion on pools, spas and hot tubs
- $40 billion on upgraded landscaping, hardscaping and gardens
Meanwhile, the experts at retail home improvement giant Lowe's say the line between indoor and outdoor living continues to blur.
"Driven by the need for peaceful respites to balance stressful lives, people are consciously carving out more time and creating sophisticated spaces for enjoying outdoor settings with family and friends," said Melissa Birdsong, Lowe's director of trend and design.
Homeowners increasingly want to entertain at all times of the year. In turn, manufacturers, Birdsong said, are offering products -- lighting, furnishings and fabric -- that can be used inside and out.
"Comfort and the desire for low maintenance also are important considerations behind these design evolutions," she said.
Outdoor rooms, Birdsong said, can be as elaborate or simple as the homeowner desires.
"We can look at an outdoor room as similar to an indoor room, but with walls formed by trees, hedges or fences connecting to the home's exterior walls," she said. "Outdoor flooring, in the most basic sense, can be as simple as grass, pebbles, or stepping stones, or as elaborate as a well-designed multilevel deck or slate tiles installed on a concrete pad."
And today's outdoor furniture is also an extension of the indoor living area, particularly in fair weather climates like Northern California.
"We furnish from the family room door to the back fence," California Backyard owner Buzz Homsy told the Sacramento Bee in an April 24 article. "Folks now look at their back yards as if they were adding a room (to the home) without actually building one."
Homsy said comfort is the most common request among his customers.
"We're always careful to ask the customer what furniture they've already had," Homsy said. "What were their likes and dislikes. Comfort and durability are the usual issues."
Meanwhile, Robyn Strangis, owner of Loring Interiors in Minneapolis, Minn., in an April 21 article written for the Star Tribune, suggests the following for easy ways to make the most of your outdoor space:
- Use similar colors inside and out. Bring splashes of your interior color outdoors.
- Freshen up your interior by bringing in some of your outdoor furnishings or accessories.
- Create outdoor rooms by grouping furnishings or using plant or landscaping materials to carve out separate areas.
- Add an outdoor structure, like an arbor, pergola, or gazebo to give a sense of enclosure.
- Install a fire pit or free-standing fireplace. Hang candle chandeliers.


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The straight path to success has never much interested Susan Lyne.
Starting as a journalist, she went from creating magazines for Rupert Murdoch to running ABC Entertainment for Walt Disney (DIS) to heading Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO)--then led online fashion retailer Gilt Groupe.
So Lyne's arrival today at AOL (AOL), as CEO of its Brand Group, comes as a surprise…and not.
"This represents a convergence of all that came before--print, video, technology and brand-building," she says, pinpointing the logic of her new gig. "It's as close as I can imagine to having it all."
An AOL director since 2009, Lyne says that before Christmas, AOL chief Tim Armstrong asked her if she would consider stepping off the board and into a key position inside the company. Over a 10-day holiday with friends in Burma, Lyne weighed Armstrong's offer—and considered why she shouldn't accept it. Having moved from Gilt CEO to chairman to vice-chairman, she envisioned her future: "I thought, I'm going to start investing and advising, and it's going to be a wonderful free existence."
Then Lyne thought about why she should take the job. Gilt had just brought in a new CEO--board member Michele Peluso from Citigroup (C)--and was on track to go public in the coming year. While the "wonderful free existence" tempted her, Lyne, at 62, wasn't ready to hang it up. In fact, she decided, the prospect of "putting my head down and working 12 hours a day" sounded fun.
So here she is on her first day at AOL. As chief of the Brand Group, Lyne is overseeing the company's content assets including Tech Crunch, Engadget and Patch, a collection of local-news sites. The one site not in Lyne's charge: the Huffington Post. Arianna Huffington and Lyne, longtime friends, rank as equals and both report to Armstrong.
Perpetually drawn to "where the heat is," Lyne sees in AOL the chance to help Armstrong, who came from Google in 2009, create "the media company of the future," she says. "I really sense an attitude shift around content--from commodity status to critical differentiator." As for Armstrong, she adds, "I adore Tim. After he acquired the Huffington Post and Tech Crunch, all the naysayers thought he would destroy them or lose control of them. Instead, they've flourished and grown in value."
Indeed, Armstrong has AOL growing again for the first time in eight years. And the stock, at $36, has doubled in the past year.
Says Armstrong about Lyne: "My job is to bring in the world's most powerful brand people, and Susan is one of them." And it's no coincidence that she adds to his stable of C-suite women. "The Internet was designed primarily by men, but at least half of the users are women," Armstrong says. "To design products and services with women in leadership positions is one of the best opportunities in the world."
by Patricia Sellers
The most head-spinning thing about Arianna Huffington's deal to sell the Huffington Post to AOL (AOL)--besides the sweet $315 million price, which is 10 times HuffPo's 2010 revenues and almost all in cash--is her expanded job description.
Once the acquisition closes, Huffington will oversee all of AOL's media content including the recently purchased TechCrunch, Engadget, AOL Daily Finance, and MapQuest and Moviefone as well.
Her new purview--overseeing platforms that reached MOREPatricia Sellers - Feb 8, 2011 2:58 PM ET
With Jerry Yang demoted at Yahoo (YHOO), who might be the struggling Internet giant's next CEO?
Former COO Dan Rosensweig and ex-AOL chief Jon Miller are known to be on the candidate list held by Heidrick & Struggles' uber-recruiters John Thompson and Gerry Roche. Also: Tim Armstrong, who oversees Google's (GOOG) North American and Latin American sales and operations, and Todd Bradley, EVP of Hewlett-Packard's (HWP) $28 billion Personal MOREPatricia Sellers - Nov 18, 2008 4:19 PM ET
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|Walmart offers cheaper money wire service|
|Americans have fallen in love with real estate once again|
|Why you should pay off your car loan ASAP|


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Last week, a lawsuit made headlines for its claims that the global beer giants systematically watered down some of its products with the intent of misleading consumers about the alcohol content printed on its labels.
Steele, who brewed for Anheuser-Busch from 1992-2006 and is currently the Brewmaster at San Diego’s Stone Brewing Company said that ABI waters down its beer before being bottled as part of a process called high-gravity brewing – a method that’s common at large, volume-driven brewery businesses.
“It’s very normal for this to happen,” he said. “There are two reasons for it. First, it allows you to get your ABV totally dialed in with the specifications that are set for the beer. Second, it gives you more capacity in the brewery.”
Steele said that Anheuser-Busch employed this method of brewing throughout his 14 year stint with the company.
But the lawsuit, which was filed on February 22, claims that ABI knowingly added extra water to create a finished product with lower alcohol content than displayed on its packaging. That’s where Steele, and others in the craft brewing community who spoke with Brewbound.com, disagree.
“They know exactly what that alcohol is when beer goes through the pipeline,” he said. “The potential ramifications and the fines are so huge that I can’t see a scenario where that would happen.”
He’s not the only craft brewer who thinks the claims are off base, either.
“Those guys are the most technically proficient brewers in the world,” said Chris Lohring, founder of Boston-based Notch Brewing. “All of the tests I’ve seen, since this news broke, have been spot on.”
At the request of National Public Radio, some Anheuser-Busch products were tested by White Labs, a San Diego-based laboratory and manufacturer of brewing yeast . Results showed that the beers’ alcohol content was labeled correctly – an outcome that craft brewers predicated.
Still, it’s interesting that craft brewers are, in some ways, defending ABI’s methods. For years, smaller brewers have marketed their products as never being “watered down.” Look no further than the country’s largest craft brewer, Boston Beer Company (BBC), who in 2006 released a commercial that addressed the issue head on.
“Boston Lager tastes rich, complex; it’s not watered down,” BBC Brewmaster Bob Cannon said in the video.
So why, all of a sudden, are craft brewers hesitant to use the media feeding frenzy as an opportunity to spout off?
Mitch Steele would rather let the beer speak for itself.
“Craft beers are more flavorful than an American lager,” he said. “That is the most logical statement I can make right there and I don’t need anything else.”
But Steele’s boss and Stone Brewing founder, Greg Koch, had a much snarkier attitude towards the allegations that Bud had extra water.
“Are you suggesting that it was possible to confuse the two,” Koch said.
Koch, who has decried ‘fizzy yellow beer’ for years, said he’s not paying much attention to the reports.
“I am no more or no less interested in fizzy yellow beer because of this,” he said.
Ray Daniels, founder of the the beer serving certification ‘Cicerone Program,’ offered up the opinion that, even if the lawsuit is found to be misleading, it may indicate some of the cultural change accompanying the growth of craft beer.
“I do think it is interesting that this suit even has any credibility with the media and consumers,” he said. “I believe that 15 to 20 years ago, this assertion would have been rejected outright by public and most media. And in the 1990s, it was craft brewers who weren’t quite trusted by consumers and the media. Today, the shoe seems very much to be on the other foot.”


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The number of buildings globally deploying smart building technologies will reach 115 million in 2026, up from 45 million in 2022.
The figures are contained in a new report from Juniper Research.
The growth of over 150 percent reflects increasing demand for energy efficiency from businesses and residents alike, as energy costs spike, according to the report's authors.
Juniper Research defines a smart building as one that uses connectivity to enable the economical use of resources while creating a safe and comfortable environment for the occupants.
The new research, Smart Buildings: Key Opportunities, Competitor Leaderboard and Market Forecasts 2022-2026, found that by enabling buildings to monitor and automate common functions, significant efficiency gains can be made while improving the environment for workers and residents.
For vendors in the sector, the researchers recommend focusing on building analytics platforms for the most value to be driven from deployments.
Non-residential Smart Buildings Driving Spend
The research found that non-residential smart buildings will account for 90 percent of smart building spending globally in 2026; at a similar level to 2022. This dominance is due to the larger economies of scale in commercial premises driving this spending, as well as the commercial focus of most smart building technologies.
According to research co-author Dawnetta Grant, “Smart building platform vendors will understandably focus on non-residential use cases, as these provide a stronger return on investment, but they should not neglect the importance of residential deployments, as environmental concerns intensify.”
Sensor shipments accelerating
The research found that the global shipments of sensors used in smart buildings will exceed one billion annually in 2026 from 360 million in 2022; representing a growth of 204 percent. Sensors, when combined with intelligent management platforms, will allow smart buildings to adapt to conditions; matching elements such as lighting, heating and ventilation to living requirements.
The authors also identify an opportunity for smart building vendors to partner with AI vendors to maximise the benefits of automation, such as reduced energy costs and improved working environments.