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Top Innovations in Vehicle Safety Technology
Updated On September 15, 2023 | by Alex Smith
There are 5.5 million accidents every year, reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and these accidents cause around three million injuries and 40,000 fatalities. As the car manufacturing sector slowly paves the way for autonomous driving, many marques have prioritized innovative safety tech as a way to reduce the rates of road accidents or lessen their severity. The following are just a few of the most exciting technologies from affordable and luxury brands alike.
Every year, there are around 100,000 crashes involving drowsy driving. As an experienced personal injury lawyer will attest, drowsy driving, like other dangerous behaviors on the road (including speeding, aggressive driving, and DUIs) can cause various injuries to the bones, muscles, and surface tissues of the body, as well as mental and emotional injuries. Mercedes-Benz is aiming to put an end to drowsy driving via a technology called Attention Assist. The latter identifies over 70 parameters in the first minutes of a person’s drive to fully understand their driving style. As the drive continues, the system detects even small steering corrections that indicate the start of sleepiness. If fatigue is detected, the driver is asked to stop and rest via audible notification.
In July 2021, Samsung announced the launch of a brand new image sensor that will allow drivers to enjoy the surround-views of their vehicle via high-resolution imagery. Called ISOCELL Auto 4AC, the sensor captures images in different exposures simultaneously at a resolution of up to 120db HDR. This enables drivers to enjoy full rear and peripheral vision, thus making night driving (as well as driving in fog or rain) a lesser worry.
Crash Imminent Braking
AEB (Automatic Emergency Braking) is already present in many cars manufactured in 2021 and their main benefit is their ability to both alert drivers with audible notifications and brake automatically to prevent or lessen the impact of a forward collision. Crash Imminent Braking takes things a step further, by applying more brake pressure should the system sense that the driver is not applying enough brake pressure to stop their vehicle before an accident. This type of technology is already available for cars, trucks, and other vehicles.
Pack your GPS away and welcome the era of head-up displays (HUDs), now present in cars like the 2021 Toyota Mirai, Sienna, Venza, and RAV4 Prime, as well as the 2021 Nissan Rogue, the 2021 Grand Cherokee, and other vehicles by brands like Audi, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche. HUDs essentially project key information onto the driver’s windshield in transparent mode so they can use this information while still enjoying the perfect vision of the road. The information displayed includes obstacles on the road, the presence of vehicles in one’s blind spot, and directions to get to the driver’s chosen destination.
Attention assist, surround-view sensors, crash imminent braking, and head-up displays are just four of many new technologies aiming to make roads safer. Not only do they have the ability to reduce accidents, but they also contribute to making drivers feel more confident. Even difficult drives (those undertaken in poor weather or at night) can be considerably more secure thanks to new ways of obtaining information that can then be shared with the driver via notifications or displays.


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The profit margin is what investing in a food retailer is all about. What marks out the best retailers is how much cash they get to keep at the end of the day
“During 2014, Tesco’s problems worsened by the month. The company’s market share fell, its margins contracted and accounting problems surfaced,” Mr Warren Buffett wrote in his latest letter to Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders. “In the world of business, bad news often surfaces serially. You see a cockroach in your kitchen, as the days go by, you meet his relatives.”
As Graham Ruddick says "…there is a long road to recovery ahead".

domain: news


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It is the day after attending the 2011 World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif., and the ‘ol bod is in hangover mode. Perhaps a better description is a “stupor.” My “double nickel” age corresponds to the number of aches and pains flowing at warp speed through the body.
A ‘time out’ is the doctor’s (wife’s) best advice. It is time for a respite after walking a gazillion miles, Feb. 8-10, over the Expo show grounds, the world’s largest farm exposition, which covers 2.6 million square feet. Hoofing it across the dirt tundra like everyone else is the reality; no golf cart rides.
A few reflective thoughts on this year’s Expo; my fifth consecutive and the best ever. The weather was perfect with sun-drenched skies, a slight refreshing breeze, and light jacket temperatures in the low 60s. Rain generally falls during the annual Expo week creating short-lived mud baths. Not this year.
Crowds were extremely heavy each day and all day long. The farm show generally draws about 100,000 visitors. Perhaps attendance records were shattered this year.
Perusing the Expo grounds looking for good agricultural news stories involves engaging attendees in conversations. This year’s attendees were definitely in a positive mood. Current high prices for cotton, wheat, and other crops, plus strong fruit and nut demand helped paste some grins on the faces.
In past years, interviews with farmers revealed purchases made at Expo – from front-end loaders, almond brush chippers, flagpoles, GPS systems, and the like. Conversations this year did not uncover a single sale, yet surely millions to billions of dollars worth of transactions transpired or will result in sales in the months ahead.
What growers said is they have already invested in the latest and greatest technology and were shopping to tweak the high-tech components to give their operation an additional edge. Agriculture has come a long way from its bib-overall image to a sophisticated, well-educated, respected global business where participants engage technology to survive in the global agricultural market.
One young farmer was kicking the tires on a new green-paint combine to possibly add to the family’s custom harvest business in California’s Central Valley. He had spent numerous hours on the Internet prior to Expo conducting homework. He talked turkey with the sales rep.
A disappointment at this year’s Expo was poor attendance at some education seminars. The seminar topics and speakers were top notch, but some rooms were two-thirds empty. One beef seminar was attended by a mere 15-plus people. The speaker was Amanda Radke, a young South Dakota rancher, who is holding the feet to the fire of those working around the clock to abolish the U.S. livestock industry by a heavy-handed, misguided conversion to a vegetarian diet.
Radke, the online editor with BEEF Daily, a Farm Press sister media partner, www.beefmagazine.com, is rattling the nationwide anti-meat circuit through posts on the social websites Facebook and Twitter. Several years ago Radke led 1,000 people to walk out of a Carrie Underwood country music concert at the National FFA Convention based on the singer’s anti-beef campaign.
The 20-plus-year-old Radke is currently challenging talk show goddess Oprah Winfrey for ongoing anti-meat rhetoric.
The airplane flight home to Phoenix included a conversation with a show exhibitor who was extremely pleased with the folks who stopped by the company’s sales booth – both in the quantity (people numbers) and quality (potential buyers). The plant-nutrient salesman viewed Expo as well worth the time and money; a great platform to advance the company’s plant-based solutions.
The 2012 World Ag Expo is Feb. 14-16, in Tulare.


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Splitgate dev pinpoints the 3 factors that led to overnight success
How 1047 Games did all the right things with its latest shooter.
It took two years for Splitgate to become an overnight success.
The free-to-play sci-fi shooter was first released in 2019 but became so popular in July 2021 that its servers couldn’t keep up with the number of people attempting to play, leading to wait times of over an hour. Now, Splitgate’s servers have been expanded to support more than 160,000 concurrent players, and the team at 1047 Games couldn’t be happier with the success. CEO Ian Proulx says Splitgate’s unique twist on classic FPS gameplay is a major factor in that.
“Our game feels very familiar to people who grew up playing the older Halo games, but our twist of adding the portal mechanic really changes up the gameplay,” 1047 Games’ CEO Ian Proulx tells Inverse.
Splitgate has followed a similar rollout as Fortnite, Hades, and many others, releasing in early access to take in player feedback before launching in full. This has proved to be an effective strategy, but why else have so many players flocked to Splitgate?
To answer this question, Inverse spoke with Proulx, who highlights three main reasons for Splitgate’s sudden success, including its engaging gameplay, die-hard community, and the timing of its release.
3. Appealing by design
Splitgate has attracted thousands of players thanks to its fast-paced action that doesn’t let up. Its design has garnered the attention of many, particularly in the way it borrows from Halo and Portal. Its responsive, twitchy controls add to a feeling of fluidity balanced with a fair share of complex mechanics.
Splitgate is “easy to pick up and play, but the depth of skill required to play on a higher level is baked into the game design, so it has that broad appeal to a variety of players,” Proulx tells Inverse.
The team drew inspiration from games like Fortnite and Rocket League in terms of design, with an “easy to learn, hard to master” mantra at the forefront. “That’s been a core principle for us from before initial rollout in 2019 through to our re-launch,'' Proulx says.
2. A loyal and vocal community
The 1047 Games team also attributes the success of Splitgate to its engaged community, which provided feedback that led to a better game overall. The game’s early adopters were always in the developer’s corner and were responsible for getting “other people to want to jump in,” Proulx says.
Combined with the addition of crossplay, the team behind Splitgate was able to hit the ground running when it came to consoles in early access in July 2021.
“Having a loyal and vocal PC player base when we made the jump to console and being able to offer crossplay right off the bat helped new players get in the game on the platform they wanted while being able to play with a knowledgeable, experienced core community,” Proulx says.
“We also learned a lot over the past two years from community feedback and were able to make a lot of improvements to the game based on that.”
It helps that 1047 Games has listened to its community, which isn’t always the case with the developers of popular shooters. A large studio like Raven Software has a harder time addressing the feedback from Warzone players, due to the sheer size of the company.
Having valuable feedback means nothing if a developer isn’t open to making any changes, so the combination of 1047’s approach, along with its vocal player-base worked together to make Splitgate great.
1. Timing is everything
Splitgate came to consoles in early access in July 2021, during a lull for video game releases. With many blockbuster shooters like Halo Infinite and Battlefield 2042 several months away, fans of the genre needed something to enjoy in the meantime.
The rampant cheating problem in Warzone, combined with the ongoing Activision Blizzard lawsuit prompted top streamers to jump ship to Splitgate, bringing their many followers along with them.
Ultimately, the timing of Splitgate’s launch on consoles contributed to its success.
“We think our launch timeframe — or at least, our initial open beta launch time frame, struck the right note at the right time,” Proulx says. “It’s easy to get lost in a sea of game launches.”
1047 has worked hard to expand the game’s server capacity, while also juggling a host of complications that expanding the player base entails. But the team’s work is far from over.
“We have so many cool ideas and game features we want to put in in the near and long-term,” Proulx says. “Splitgate is a long-term project for us. We want to be able to make the necessary changes the game needs to grow with its player base, and not just in capacity.”
While the developer won’t reveal exactly what sorts of new features are in the pipeline for Splitgate, Proulx did allude to the possibility of the game heading to Nintendo Switch.
When asked about plans to bring Splitgate to the platform, Proulx said the team would love to, but there are items much higher in priority.
“Right now,” Proulx says, “we need to concentrate on the existing platforms we’re on and make sure that if we do expand to Switch, we do it right and we do it well.”
Splitgate is in beta for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S, with its full release planned for August 2021.


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MIUI 13 News: The countdown has begun for Xiaomi’s highly anticipated MIUI 13 update. Beta tests are starting very soon. Here are the details.
Promising that it will solve the problems with MIUI 12 with MIUI 12.5, Xiaomi has also managed to win the hearts of users about innovation. While everyone was waiting for MIUI 12.5, good news came from Xiaomi about the MIUI 13 update today. In fact, recently, information about the MIUI 13 interface, which is expected to be released in August this year, has started to come. Today, the Beta dates of the new update have been leaked.
Unlike other phone manufacturers, Xiaomi is the only company that releases weekly beta versions of the current MIUI interface for some models. That’s why information about upcoming MIUI features and new devices is popping up or leaking on the Web every week before their official announcement.
MIUI 13 update will be tested
According to the latest data from Telegram channel Xiaomi & MIUI News; The latest beta version of MIUI 12 has been released today. Tomorrow, the first beta version of MIUI 13 will be released. Also, the source says that these beta tests will be officially open to the public for 1 week after July 16.
MIUI 13 is expected to work with computers, tablets and TVs. After Huawei, which created an ecosystem with HarmonyOS 2.0, other Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi is expected to establish such an ecosystem. However, for now, it is not known how the Chinese technology giant will set up a system and how the devices will interact.
As Xiaomi will establish its own ecosystem, the number of devices that MIUI 13 will cover may be somewhat limited. That’s why it is said that 3-4 years old Xiaomi and features Redmi models will not receive the update. Let’s see if Xiaomi can surprise and expand the scope of the update like iOS 15.


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News and Events
The FTC is mailing 3,133 checks totaling more than $87,000 to consumers who lost money to the Your Yellow Book scheme, which allegedly bilked money from small businesses, doctors’ offices, retirement homes, religious schools, and charitable organizations.
For Your Info
The Federal Trade Commission is mailing 10,387 checks totaling more than $969,000 to consumers who lost money to a credit card interest rate reduction scam. The FTC sued Innovative Wealth Builders (IWB) , a telemarketing operation that falsely promised consumers it could reduce their credit card...
A group of scammers who falsely promised consumers new Medicare cards in order to obtain their bank account numbers and debit their accounts will be banned from selling healthcare-related products and services under settlements with the Federal Trade Commission. The settlements resolve charges the...
For Your Info
The Federal Trade Commission will hold a workshop on October 30, 2015, to explore the growing use of online lead generation in various industries, including consumer lending and education. Lead generators identify or cultivate consumer interest in a product or service, and sell the consumer “lead”...
FTC asserts LifeLock failed to institute security program and misled consumers about its identity protection services
District Of Columbia


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Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque on Saturday said that Bangladesh is no longer dependent on foreign aid as dependency on it has come down to 2 percent in the current fiscal year from 15-20 percent in 2019-20.
He came up with the remarks as the chief guest of the annual general meeting of Bangladesh Publisher and Book-sellers Association at the auditorium of Dhaka Engineering Institute in the capital.Bangladesh Publisher and Book-sellers Association President Md Arif Hossain Choton presided over the meeting.
Awami League Dhaka South City President Abu Ahmed Mannafi, Bangladesh Publisher and Book-sellers Association First Vice President Kawser E Alam Prodhan, Vice President Shaymol Pal, Mirza Ali Ashraf Kashem, Dhaka Branch President Mazharul Islam, and Former President Alomgir Shikhder Luton were present at the meeting.
Donor countries and institutions, including the World Bank, used to consider themselves the kings of this country to show their power with their aid, he added.
But now with strong and visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has achieved unprecedented success in all fields including economy, physical infrastructure, agriculture, health and education, the minister stated.
Book publishers and sellers do not have the opportunity to become rich overnight because it is a very noble, creative and intellectual development profession, he said.
The size of the book industry in Bangladesh has become much larger, the printing industry has also developed to international standards, he added.But in this age of information technology, the industry faces many challenges, he suggested that publishers need to find ways to tackle the challenges and sustain the publishing industry.
The minister think that the joy of reading printed books and reading books on computer or mobile screen is not the same.
He hoped that the attraction of the book will always remain; Even then, publishers need to focus on how to increase the appeal of printed books through the use of advanced technology.
State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain said that investing in a child's education is the best investment.
He stated that children should be encouraged to read extra-curricular creative books besides text books.
He urged the book publishers to publish more books on the liberation war.


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NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday raided multiple premises linked to businessman Navneet Kalra and his associates in Delhi-NCR as part of a money laundering probe linked to a recent case of alleged hoarding and black-marketing of oxygen concentrators, official sources said.
The agency found that they dealt in over 7,000 of these life-saving devices in an alleged illegal manner, and it also recovered 151 liquor bottles from the premises of Kalra in Delhi, ED sources said.
They said the searches were conducted at 13 premises of Kalra and his family, Matrix Cellular Services director Gagan Duggal, restaurants like Khan Chacha, Nega & Ju, Town Hall and Dayal Opticals in the high-end Khan market of Delhi and some other locations in Gurgaon under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The central probe agency has widened the ambit of the investigation as it suspects that more than 7,000 oxygen concentrators were transacted by the restaurateur and his aides as the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country.
The concentrators are in short supply as they are being anxiously scoured by those gasping for breath due to the high rate of infection of coronavirus.
ED sources claimed that the duo "had imported more than 7,000 oxygen concentrators from China in the past one month and sold to public at exorbitant prices by claiming that the concentrators are made with German technology".
They claimed that the "forensic examination of the concentrators has revealed that they are very low quality equipment".
Their import price of these devices is Rs 15,000 per piece but they have been sold at Rs 69,999 per unit, the sources claimed.
The two "took advantage" of a raging pandemic and made huge profit by cheating the public, the ED sources alleged.
At the Mandi road premises of Kalra and his family in south Delhi's Mehrauli area, they said, 151 scotch whiskey bottles were recovered.
Kalra's bank accounts were also searched by the agency sleuths, they said.
The ED had recently booked Kalra and others under the anti-money laundering law, taking cognisance of a Delhi Police FIR filed on May 5 after policemen raided some restaurants and premises owned and linked to him.
The police had recovered more than 524 of these life-saving machines from these premises and it was alleged that they were being hoarded and sold in the black market.
Kalra had denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the consignment was kept for regular sale.
He was sent to 14 days judicial custody by a local court here on Thursday.
Matrix Cellular, in a statement posted on its website, said it is "deeply pained by the insinuations that have been made against the company and its employees that it has engaged in black-marketing or hoarding of oxygen concentrators; when Matrix's intentions have been to ensure quick and efficient access to oxygen concentrators, after complying with all applicable laws".
"The baseless allegations and misguided investigation, shall be fiercely contested by Matrix and very soon we will be back to doing what we should be - which is helping Delhi!" it said.
The ED, officials had earlier told PTI, will probe if the oxygen concentrators were illegally hoarded and sold to the family members or caregivers of coronavirus-infected patients at exorbitant prices, thereby leading to generation of "proceeds of crime" as defined under the PMLA.
The ED is empowered to question and record the statements of the accused and it can even attach their properties during the course of investigation, following which it files a charge sheet before a special PMLA court seeking their prosecution under the anti-money laundering law.
Kalra was nabbed by Delhi Police Crime Branch sleuths from Gurgaon on Sunday night and was formally arrested the next day.
He was on the run for over a week since the seizure of the 524 oxygen concentrators from his restaurants like Khan Chacha, Town Hall, and Nega & Ju.
Police have said the concentrators seized from Kalra's restaurants were imported from China and were being sold at an exorbitant price of Rs 50,000-Rs 70,000 each as against a cost of Rs 16,000-Rs 22,000 each.
An oxygen concentrator is a vital medical equipment used to provide oxygen to COVID-19 patients and they are in high demand amid the second wave of the pandemic being witnessed by the country at present.
Four employees of Matrix Cellular company, including its CEO and vice president, were also arrested in this case by the police.
They were, however, granted bail by the court.
Kalra is alleged to have purchased the concentrators from Matrix Cellular, which had imported them.


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Georgia and I have rebooted our podcast! This week, topic one is all about Apple Leaker culture — something Rene knows a little about from way back in 2012 when he reported several high profile Apple stories.
Topic two is how we can handle social networks when the U.S government is threatening Tik Tok and Facebook's behavior is making Instagram and Oculus increasingly untenable. Georgia has so many thoughts!
NEBULA subscribers get a bonus topic each week:


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The ICO announced that Arabica prices rose in January, while Robusta prices decreased and stocks for both grew.
The ICO’s November green coffee report reveals that world coffee production in coffee year 2019-20 decreased although production exceeded global consumption as world coffee demand decreased.
In its latest report, the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) revealed that all group indicator prices rose in August 2020 for the second consecutive month.
In its June green coffee report, the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) announced that prices decreased for the third consecutive month.
Nespresso introduces new Ugandan coffee and marks second year of success for Reviving Origins programme
Nespresso is introducing AMAHA awe UGANDA, ‘Hope of Uganda’, a new and seasonal coffee from the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda, made possible only through the company’s unique Reviving Origins programme.


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Today Google dropped Android 12 Beta 5, its final beta before its official launch and to celebrate Google posted a grid of Pixel 6 phones with various Material You themes applied on Instagram.
Google took to Instagram today to show of variants of Material You on a Pixel 6. All of the dates on the widgets point to Tuesday the 19th, which is a reference to October 19th when Google will officially launch the Pixel 6 running Android 12.
What’s your favorite theme Google shared today? Let us know in the comments below.


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PEBB Enterprises and Banyan Development Acquire 10 Acres for Future Project in Delray Beach
Atlantic Avenue land is adjacent to PEBB and Banyan’s existing retail developments
DELRAY BEACH, FL – Dec. 23, 2020 – PEBB Enterprises and Banyan Development are teaming up once again. The companies purchased nearly 10 acres for a future commercial project in the rapidly growing West Delray section of Delray Beach.
The land is located at 8778 W. Atlantic Ave. – adjacent to PEBB’s Plaza Delray development and Banyan’s Shop Delray retail center. PEBB and Banyan closed on the $2.1 million acquisition on Dec. 21, 2020.
Plans for the new development will be announced in early 2021. In the meantime, PEBB is nearing completion of Plaza Delray.
“Expanding our relationship with Banyan through this new property acquisition in Delray Beach is a fantastic way to wrap up the year,” PEBB Enterprises President and CEO Ian Weiner said. “The development of this site in the years to come will address the continued demand from retailers, restaurants and other commercial businesses in West Delray.”
PEBB and Banyan are also developing the mixed-use Mainstreet at Boynton project in Boynton Beach.
“We are excited to partner with PEBB again and bring additional first-class commercial space to West Delray,” Banyan Development Principal Jason Sher said. “The area has grown so much over the past few years and is poised for further expansion in the years ahead.”
US Landvest Corp. sold the property to PEBB and Banyan. Tom DiBucci of Kingdom Living Properties represented the seller in the transaction.
About PEBB Enterprises: Based in Boca Raton, FL, PEBB Enterprises is an entrepreneurial, full-service private equity real estate investment company. PEBB has operated as a family-owned business for more than four decades and takes pride in the company’s team of forward-thinking associates who continue to push and expand PEBB’s growth on a daily basis. PEBB has an unparalleled track record of acquiring and developing high-quality neighborhood, regional and power shopping centers, as well as suburban office buildings. The company’s vast portfolio includes properties in Florida, Texas, Nevada and numerous Midwest and Southeast states. For more information, visit https://pebbenterprises.com/.
About Banyan Development: Banyan Development is a real estate investment company focused on commercial development in the state of Florida. Banyan and its principals have investments throughout the US that include retail, industrial, medical office, residential & multi-family assets. For more information visit www.banyandev.com.


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Over 55% of Russian businessmen adapted to sanctions - ombudsman's office
MOSCOW. Nov 7 (Interfax) - Most Russian businessmen say they have adapted or are continuing to adapt to the fallout from Western sanctions, according to a poll conducted by the office of Russian business ombudsman Boris Titov.
"While 10.5% of the respondents said they failed to cope with the aftermath of sanctions, 16.3% did not experience any restrictions, and 55.4% have either adapted or are continuing to adapt to the Western sanctions. This means that a larger part of the community has pulled through the sanctions," the office said.
The office polled 5,760 businessmen from all parts of the country, among them microbusinesses (74%), small businesses (21%), medium businesses (3.4%) and big businesses (1.6%). The majority of respondents sell non-foods, and 11% are food distributors. Companies from public catering, manufacturing industries, construction, production of building materials, household services, agriculture, forestry, education, and the tourism and hospitality industry were also polled. The share of each industry does not exceed 3% in the total number of respondents.
According to the respondents, the partial mobilization in Russia did not affect 66% of collectives, while 34% reported mobilization of some of their employees. Over a half of companies whose employees were mobilized did not need any personnel replacements or found them very fast. Nineteen percent of respondents said they did not find a replacement for the mobilized employees just yet.
Over 60% of businessmen named a decline in domestic demand as their biggest problem. About 26% said they failed to find analogues for critical foreign products or services, which are no longer available in Russia because of the sanctions. However, most businesses have found new suppliers of the same or similar products both inside and outside Russia.
As for the status of their businesses, only 6% of respondents said they "already had to shut down their business or would have to do that soon." The others said that the situation had worsened but is manageable. Nine percent reported a steady growth in earnings, 30.4% said that earnings were smaller but manageable, 27% noted a substantial decline, and 7% said they were in crisis, the office said.
As for support measures, businessmen praised the moratorium on inspections, lower rates of simplified taxation and property taxes in regions, soft loans for small and medium companies and backbone companies, and the suspension of the introduction of new requirements for labeling goods.
As for the desirable support measures, they mentioned partial tax write-offs, insurance contribution reduction to 15% of the total salary, cheaper and more accessible working loans, and a freeze on the rates of natural monopoly entities.


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Irvine’s Boost Mobile is set to become the official wireless communications sponsor for the New York Knicks this season, and it will gain a lot of brand exposure on the MSG Network as a result.
It’s part of a multi-platform marketing campaign launched by the Sprint prepaid brand, which is available at about 3,800 locations around New York City.
“We are excited to partner with the New York Knicks and to be part of their on-court transformation,” said Bob Stohrer, Boost Mobile’s vice president of marketing. “New York has always been a strong market for the Boost Mobile brand, and teaming with the Knicks will allow us to grow our market presence and develop a deeper relationship with their avid fans. We’re creating a truly integrated partnership with the presence of on-air and in the arena; this is more than just signage on the court.”
As part of this integrated partnership, current and former players will make in-store appearances at Boost Mobile locations throughout New York City. Another perk: Knicks fans and Boost Mobile customers will have an opportunity to experience the Boost Mobile Celebrity Row – a courtside area where A-list celebrities enjoy the games.
Boost Mobile will also become a regular presence on the MSG Network, a radio and cable TV network serving the mid-Atlantic states.
“Boost Mobile is an innovative marketer, and we are excited to align with them on this new multi-platform marketing partnership with the Knicks and MSG Network,” said Greg Elliott, senior vice president of marketing partnerships for MSG Sports. “From Boost Mobile Celebrity Row to the Knicks Groove Truck to Boost’s integration in our community programs and events, this broad-reaching partnership will provide Boost with presence in front of passionate Knicks fans at Madison Square Garden and throughout the tri-state area.”
AutoTrader.com buys Kelley Blue Book
O.C., Boston police form information network
Two billionaire investors take interest in Irvine’s BlueCava


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High-protein diet does not cause kidney damage in the long term
The idea that a diet containing relatively high amounts of protein leads to kidney damage is persistent. And even this Australian study, in which the subjects ate a high-protein, low-carb diet for a whole year without experiencing any pain, is unlikely to change that.
Nutritionists at the Australian research organisation CSIRO [csiro.au] got 115 fat adults with type-2 diabetes to lose weight by eating a diet containing 500-1500 kilocalories less than they burned. In addition they got the subjects to do fitness three times a week.
Half of the subjects were put on a traditional weight-loss diet. Their diet consisted of 53 percent energy derived from carbohydrates, 17 percent from proteins and the remaining 30 percent from fat. [HC] The researchers ensured that at least two-thirds of the fat was unsaturated.
The other half of the subjects were put on a high-protein, low-carb diet. The energy in their diet was derived for 58 percent from fat, 28 percent from proteins and the remaining 14 percent from carbohydrates. [LC]
The researchers measured the subjects' kidney function before and after the diet period. They looked, among other things, at the amount of albumin in the subjects' urine. The lower this is, the better the kidneys are working.
The researchers also measured the amount of creatinine in the subjects' blood. If you are not taking creatine supplements and your kidneys are healthy, there won't be much creatinine in your blood.
For all the values that the researchers checked, they found no statistically significant effects in either group, as the table below shows.
"Compared with a traditional high carbohydrate weight loss diet, consumption of a very low carbohydrate, high-protein, low saturated fat diet does not adversely affect clinical markers of renal function in obese adults with type 2 diabetes and no pre-existing kidney disease", the researchers summarised.
The research was financed by the Australian government.
Medicine (Baltimore). 2015 Nov;94(47):e2181.
Creatine and protein-rich diet combination not dangerous for kidneys 05.07.2013
Plant protein spares kidneys 26.07.2011
Young kidneys function fine on a protein diet, old kidneys don't 04.03.2010
Low Carb & Low Glycemic Diets


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BOJ plans digital yen experiment with mega-banks next spring
The Bank of Japan plans to start testing the feasibility of a digital yen with major Japanese commercial banks next spring, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.
The experiment, which will allow ordinary consumers to participate, is aimed at checking whether money deposits and withdrawals via bank accounts at commercial banks can be carried out smoothly with the use of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the sources said.
The BOJ has taken the position that it has no plans to issue a digital yen, but has begun checking the stability and feasibility of payment systems should it decide to issue such a virtual currency in the future.
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
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WASHINGTON – The US beef industry had mixed reactions to the news that the US Dept. of Agriculture and Brazil reached an agreement that will increase trade in beef and beef products.
For the first time since 2003, US beef and beef products will be allowed access to the Brazilian market. Brazil lifted restrictions on US beef related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy and recognized the US’s negligible risk status for BSE. Meanwhile, the Food Safety and Inspection Service of USDA ruled that Brazil’s food safety systems governing meat production remain equivalent to meat safety systems in the US. This means chilled or frozen fresh beef produced in Brazil, the world’s largest beef exporter, may be imported to the US.
“The Brazilian market offers great opportunity for US companies and it is a market the industry has been working to regain access to for years,” Barry Carpenter, president and CEO of the North American Meat Institute. “We are also pleased that Brazil has recognized what the World Organization for Animal Health did: that US beef is as safe as any in the world with negligible risk for BSE.”
Tracy Brunner, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), said the decision to allow imports of chilled or frozen fresh beef is concerning because the Government Accountability Office continues to review the methodology used in the decision-making process. He said “USDA has failed to provide the detailed and documented science-based review of the risk evaluation protocols for determining an animal health status for countries; information requested by the US beef industry and Congress last year in order to alleviate serious animal health concerns.”
In July 2015, members of the US House Appropriations Committee agreed to block imports of fresh beef from Brazil and Argentina pending further study on the potential risk of foot-and-mouth disease taking hold in the US.
Some industry stakeholders flat out oppose the decision to allow imports of fresh beef from Brazil. Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA, said in a statement that the agreement will expose US consumers and the US cattle herd to “an unnecessary and avoidable risk of disease.”
“Brazil lacks the resources and infrastructure to maintain health and safety standards that are at least equal to that of the United States,” Bullard said. “That is why the USDA lowered the US standard to that of mere equivalency — which essentially means “close enough.”
The agreement enables both countries to begin updating administrative procedures in order to allow trade in beef to resume. US companies will need to complete Brazil’s regular facilities registration process, USDA said.
“The Brazilian market offers excellent long-term potential for US beef exporters,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement. “The United States looks forward to providing Brazil’s 200 million-plus consumers, and growing middle class, with high-quality American beef and beef products.”
The agreement calls for an initial quota of about 60,000 tonnes of Brazilian beef to ship to the US this year. NAMI noted that Brazilian beef will likely compete with other products from Central America under the US tariff rate quota system which limits the volume of beef without paying a 26.4 percent tariff. The Institute anticipates that Brazilian beef will primarily be used in ground and processed beef products.


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I will share news on Android OS here.
About the latest android phones news.


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Activision line up more CoD and GH for 2010
The latest Guitar Hero titles may be just out, while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 arrives tomorrow, but Activision are already plotting the next iterations of these major series for 2010.
Speaking as they announced their third-quarter financial results, giant game maker Activision Blizzard said that new Call of Duty and Guitar Hero games will be released later next year.
Rumours abound that the next Call of Duty title could be in the works at Treyarch, and might well be set in Vietnam (best war music ever?). Guitar Hero 6, meanwhile, is an inevitability, but we've no details.
New Shrek and Spider-Man games are also out next year. Thanks VG247.
- Battlefield: Hardline beta rumoured to begin next week
- New Heart Of Thorns expansion announced for Guild Wars 2
- Wikipedia arbitration committee bans five feminist editors from commenting on feminist articles over GamerGate
- Ubisoft in the process of deleting game keys fraudulently-acquired by resellers from UPlay
- Gearbox is now recruiting for developers to work on Borderlands 3
- DayZ passes the 3 million sales mark on Steam Early Access
- Planetside 2 sets a new Guinness World Record for the most players in an online FPS game
- Homeworld remasters look stunning, will be released next month
- Riot Games in talks with European ISPs over building a dedicated League Of Legends network


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LAZADA PHILIPPINES IS ALL SET FOR THE PRO
WITH THE LAUNCH OF ASUS PHILIPPINES’ ZENFONE MAX PRO!
In celebration of a prosperous long-term partnership, Lazada Philippines and ASUS Philippines join forces to launch the most powerful Battery King yet, the long-awaited ZenFone Max Pro!
Lazada Philippines Chief Operating Officer, Ray Alimurung, with
ASUS Philippines Country Manager, George Su
Taguig City, Philippines (June 7, 2018) – After all of the teasers that left the ZenFans on the edge of their seats, guessing and probing for the right answers, Lazada Philippines and ASUS Philippines teamed up to finally unveil the long-awaited ZenFone that recently shook the mobile landscapes of both ASUS India and ASUS Indonesia. The two industry giants came together to announce that the ZenFone Max Pro will officially be arriving in the country.
The event took place in Versus Barcade, Bonifacio Global City during the early afternoon of June 7. It was an intimate yet upbeat gathering to welcome the coming of the aforementioned ZenFone, which is set to go exclusively online this June 25 on Lazada Philippines. In addition to this news, Lazada Philippines and ASUS Philippines also declared that they will be opening a pre-registration for interested buyers of the ZenFone Max Pro starting June 8, 2018.
“Lazada is proud to be ASUS’s exclusive partner with the launch of the ZenFone Max Pro in the Philippines. This new Battery King smartphone is a proof of ASUS’s continued commitment to understand our customers’ needs and launch innovative products that best fit to all kinds of interests,” said Raymond Alimurung, Chief Operating Officer of Lazada Philippines. “Our brands will continue to collaborate to ensure we offer the best and latest products for our customers to enjoy.”
ASUS Philippines Country Manager, Mr. George Su, also added: “Our companies share the same view, and that is to provide the most incredible experience at value for money. I am very proud to have shared the launch of the ZenFone Max Pro with Lazada Philippines. Together, we will work together push for the success of the ZenFone Max Pro, as we have seen with the Lazada Indonesia and ASUS Indonesia who were able to sell 2,000 units in just 15 seconds.” Su continued, “This is one of the partnerships we look forward to continue nurturing and growing.”
The Most Powerful Battery King yet, ZenFone Max Pro
Gamers and smartphone enthusiasts alike will surely enjoy the limitless power of the ZenFone Max Pro. With the most powerful combination of a ZenFone Max yet, a 5,000 mAh battery and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636, users of this Battery King will without a doubt experience smooth top of the line performance – more than what the usual smartphone offers. Especially with its Adreno 509 GPU which allows the ZenFone Max Pro to perform everyday activities with ease.
The ZenFone Max Pro also sports a 13MP+5MP dual rear camera as well as an 8MP selfie camera, great for taking photos at any moment. It also comes with a pure Android™ 8.1 Oreo™, the latest version of the beautiful Android user interface that improves productivity, and simply lets users have more fun with their phone.
Experience limitless possibilities with the ZenFone Max Pro for just the price of PHP 9,995.00 on June 25, 2018, with the pre-order process beginning on June 8, 2018! So do not forget to tune into the Lazada Philippines website for a chance at latest and most powerful Battery King yet and a trip for one to Europe!
Click here to pre-order!


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Rio dismisses China claims
Mining giant Rio Tinto yesterday said bribery claims against four staff held in China were “wholly without foundation” as Australia pressed Beijing to deal with the case quickly. “Rio Tinto believes that the allegations in recent media reports that employees were involved in bribery of officials at Chinese steel mills are wholly without foundation,” iron ore chief executive Sam Walsh said. “We remain fully supportive of our detained employees, and believe that they acted at all times with integrity and in accordance with Rio Tinto’s strict and publicly stated code of ethical behavior.”
Renault reports loss
French auto group Renault reported yesterday an operating loss for the first half of the year, saying that its global sales had plunged by 16.5 percent but a strong showing by Romanian Dacia had been a lifeline. Total sales had fallen to 1.106 million units, the group said, but it also reported that it had generated strong free cash flow with a cost-cutting plan announced in February. Last week, rival French group PSA Peugeot Citroen reported a fall of 14 percent in global sales in the first half.
POSCO to buy Vietnam plant
South Korea’s biggest steelmaker POSCO confirmed yesterday it would buy a Vietnamese stainless steel plant as part of efforts to meet growing demand. POSCO said in a statement its board has approved the purchase of a 90 percent stake in Asia Stainless Corp, but did not give the cost. Industry sources quoted by Yonhap news agency estimated the deal could be worth around US$50 million. Asia Stainless is Vietnam’s only cold-rolled stainless steel manufacturer.
Exports drop 11 percent
Singapore’s key exports fell 11 percent year-on-year last month as consumer demand from the developed economies, especially for electronic goods, continued to languish, the government said yesterday. It was narrower than the 12.3 percent decline in May and 19.2 percent contraction in April. Last month’s decline in non-oil domestic exports (NODX) was the 14th straight month of contraction, a slump that started last year when the trade-led economy sank into a recession. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, NODX shrank 5.2 percent.
Nissan may expand hybrids
Nissan Motor Co said yesterday it was considering expanding its line-up of hybrids, seeking to catch-up with rivals Toyota and Honda, whose fuel-sipping cars are surging in popularity. Japan’s third-biggest automaker may add its own hybrid technology to small and mid-sized vehicles in addition to the planned launch of a luxury version, a company official said on condition of anonymity.
Wal-Mart plans database
US retail giant Wal-Mart on Thursday announced plans to develop a database that it said would revolutionize shopping by putting information about products’ sustainability at consumers’ fingertips. The database, dubbed the sustainability index, could put information about how environmentally-friendly suppliers, manufacturers and their products are, just a garment label or barcode-scan away for shoppers, according to Wal-Mart executives speaking at a webcast gathering of their suppliers.


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You must have been living under the proverbial rock for the past few months not to have heard about the new launch of the Apple iPad. But whatever you think about this particular piece of kit from Apple, the biggest news is arguably the prices that buyers in the UK have had to pay for it.
The opinions are divided as to whether this iPad is worth buying in the first place anyway. But other than that the question of price rests largely on the application of VAT where this particular item is concerned.
Here in the UK most goods are subjected to VAT, no matter what they are or how much they cost initially. Since the rate at the moment is sitting at 17.5%, this can add a lot onto the price of an item when you buy it. But there is speculation that the rate of VAT could soon rise to 20% in order to try and pay for some of our huge national debt. Everyone knows this must be dealt with, and a rise in VAT could be one of the best ways to do it.
But as far as buyers of the Apple iPad are concerned, a rise to 20% would mean the price for the iPad goes even higher. There have already been many news stories about the prices for the iPad being a lot steeper in the UK than they are in the USA. We are quite right to be annoyed about this, because after all we are getting exactly the same piece of equipment that everyone in the US is buying. All that is happening is that we have to pay more for the privilege of owning one.
Some people are trying to get the public to boycott Apple by not purchasing an iPad. The idea is that if we all did this they would have to put the prices down. But then of course VAT would still have to be added, so in terms of the VAT aspect nothing would change.
Some people may be tempted to buy one now in case the rate of VAT should indeed go up. If it did there would have to be some degree of notice given anyway, so if you are considering buying an Apple iPad, make sure you keep an eye on the news. You might save money by buying fast if you need to.


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WASHINGTON, D.C. - October 15, 2012 (www.investorideas.com newswire) More and more desperate consumers seeking a way out from under mountains of debt are turning to widely criticized and controversial "debt settlement" organizations even though there is little prospect that such schemes will work, according to a major consumer warning to be issued Wednesday (November 17, 2012) by the nonprofit National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA).
Based on input from its members of across the U.S., NACBA will label "debt settlement" schemes the #1 danger facing the pocketbooks of deeply indebted consumers in America. In its new consumer alert, NACBA will outline the scope of the "debt settlement" scheme threat and how Americans can avoid falling victim to it.
Speakers on the live, phone-based news event (with full Q&A) at 1:30 EDT on October 17, 2012 will be:
Durham, NC bankruptcy attorney Ed Boltz, NACBA Board member and incoming NACBA president;
Bankruptcy attorney Trisha Conner, a NACBA member from New Jersey who has testified on debt settlement issues;
Ellen Harnick, consumer advocate, Center for Responsible Lending; and
A debt settlement "victim" who will tell his personal story.
TO PARTICIPATE: You can join this phone-based news conference at 1:30 EDT Wednesday (October 17, 2012) by dialing 1 (800) 860-2442. Ask for the "debt settlement schemes" news event.
CAN'T PARTICIPATE: A streaming audio recording of the news event will be available on October 17, 2012 by 6 p.m. EDT at http://www.nacba.org.
The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (http://www.nacba.org) is the only national organization dedicated to serving the needs of consumer bankruptcy attorneys and protecting the rights of consumer debtors in bankruptcy. Formed in 1992, NACBA now has more than 4,000 members located in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire and its syndicated partner network
Published at the Investorideas.com Newswire - Big ideas for Global Investors
Disclaimer/ Disclosure:The Investorideas.com newswire is a third party publisher of news and research as well as creates original content as a news source. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Investorideas is a news source on Google news and Linkedintoday plus hundreds of syndication partners. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investment involves risk and possible loss of investment. This site is currently compensated by featured companies, news submissions, content marketing and online advertising. Contact each company directly for press release questions. Disclosure is posted on each release if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and is published for the sole interest of our readers. More disclaimer info: http://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp
BC Residents and Investor Disclaimer : Effective September 15 2008 - all BC investors should review all OTC and Pink sheet listed companies for adherence in new disclosure filings and filing appropriate documents with Sedar. Read for more info: http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/release.aspx?id=6894. Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country.


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“Online shoppers abandoning their carts is a natural part of the buying process, but it’s also a high-value behavior that’s worthy of a response,” Salesforce points out in its 5 Blueprints for Building Smarter Emails. That report highlights eight “IQ Boost Opportunities” for your shopping cart abandonment emails—many of which are backed by the latest joint research by Litmus and Salesforce Marketing Cloud into these highly effective automated emails.
Conducted during the height of the 2013, 2014, and 2016 holiday seasons, our research into shopping cart abandonment email trends among U.S. retailers reveals clear trends around:
Our findings, which are summarized in the infographic below, also reveal that less than a third of major U.S. retailers send shopping cart abandonment emails. That’s a big missed opportunity for retailers and other ecommerce companies to increase their conversion rates by helping their customers, who may be confused about pricing or shipping, uncertain about their product choices, or may just need a reminder about the items they left in their basket.
Whether your brand has an existing shopping cart abandonment program or is planning to set one up, use this data to inform how you build out yours so it effectively serves your customers and generates stellar returns.


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The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Thursday, aimed to further recognise and establish friendly and cooperative relations, as well as support trade and investment promotion between Malta and China.
The signing took place at the China - Malta Economic and Trade Forum, which featured the participation of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, the Maltese Chinese Chamber of Commerce, The Chinese Commercial Community in Malta, and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
Addressing those present, Malta Chamber President Frank V. Farrugia said that the occasion offered a first-hand opportunity to discuss Malta and China's relationship concretely. He said that the two nations could synergise and further strengthen their commercial relations.
Referring directly to the Trade Forum, Mr Farrugia noted that its purpose was to facilitate bilateral trade between Malta and China by creating the right environment for business matchmaking and attracting investment to Malta while offering trade facilitation services to Maltese Companies doing business in China.
“It will also provide interested entrepreneurs with appropriate information about trade, commercial, intellectual property rights and legal matters that can enhance the potential of doing business in our respective countries” Mr Farrugia said.


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NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Shares of Apple Computer Inc. rose nearly 12 percent Tuesday after Goldman Sachs analyst Richard Schutte moved the company onto his "recommended list" of stocks.
Schutte had a "market perform" rating on the computer giant before the boost. The analyst wasn't available for comment.
Investors' faith in the Cupertino, Calif.-based company AAPL, +0.30% was heightened on the news, as shares surged 4 13/16 to close at 45 3/4.
Apple's boost may help assuage Wall Street's worries that the computer hardware industry was suffering a slowdown. Such talk was fueled by Compaq's cpq disappointing first-quarter results and other less-than-rosy reports.
An industry report released Monday, however, showed that U.S. shipments of personal computers shot up 24 percent in the first quarter due to improving consumer demand. See Hardware Stocks.
Also on Monday, Apple got a break as a Canadian high-school student abandoned his trademark dispute case against the company. The teen had laid claim to the domain name appleimac.com, which Apple now wants to use to promote its flashy computer line of the same name.


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Are you vulnerable to cyber attack? You may think not, but Walter Hale writes why you may need to change that thinking if you don’t want hackers holding you hostage.
One lunchtime, an engineer at the British chip designer ARM decided to see how many security cameras he could hack into. By the time he went back to work, he had managed to access 1.2 million of them. To prove the point that everything with a chip in it could be hacked, his colleagues at ARM later broke into the system of a 4x4 car.
Let’s think about that for a minute. Everything that is digital can be hacked - so not just computers and email, but TVs, smartphones, cars, even heart pacemakers. (This might sound like science fiction but the US government was worried enough to issue new security guidelines to safeguard these devices.) For businesses, the threat can come from anywhere: 110m customers of the retailer Target had their personal information compromised after hackers broke into one of its servers via its air conditioning supplier. And the spread of the Internet of Things (see IR Aug/Oct issue 2015: http://www.imagereportsmag.co.uk/features/technical/on-the-radar/6432-iot-the-mother-of-all-mis) will exponentially increase that threat.
Given that WikiLeaks seems to be able to break into the systems run by the CIA - the world’s largest intelligence agency - whenever it feels like it, it might feel like there’s not a lot of point in trying to protect yourself against cyber crime. It sounds expensive, time consuming and, besides, who’s going to hack into a wide-format print business anyway?
As Target’s experience suggests, that reasoning is deeply flawed. You may be a target - excuse the pun
- not because of your own business but because of the companies you are linked to. Realising that big companies are more likely to have state of the art cybersecurity technology, smart hackers analyse supply chains looking for the weakest link. Just imagine the damage they could do to your reputation - and business - if they used your systems to reach your largest customer to steal their data, disrupt their operations or to paralyse their business until a ransom is paid.
The idea of holding companies to ransom might sound like a plot from ‘Mission Impossible’ but it is happening with disturbing regularity to all kinds of businesses. Earlier this year, luxury Austrian hotel Romantik Seehotel replaced its electronic key cards with old school locks and keys after hackers immobilised its systems, effectively locking guests out, until a £1200 ransom was paid in bitcoin. The long and varied list of victims of this new kind of cybercrime includes the Singapore defence ministry, a hospital in western Germany, several police departments in the United States and Lincolnshire County Council. Surveys suggest that many British businesses have already suffered such attacks, though few have gone public.
With cyber ransoms - as with cyber crime in general - prevention is the ideal. Yet, as Jennifer Agate and Alice Mendonca, experts at the legal firm Farrer & Co, suggest: “Given the growing IT sophistication of hackers, mitigation may be the more realistic option.” A strategy to mitigate the threat would involve investments in the relevant technology, a contingency plan to deal with an attack - something which, surveys show, 20% of British businesses don’t have - and an internal education programme to make sure that staff understand the risks.
It is important too that when the authorities do step in - be they the police or the Information Commissioner’s Office, which can impose some hefty fines - that you can show that you took reasonable precautions to protect data, especially personal information and that you acted swiftly and responsibility as soon as the breach was detected.
One way of tackling this issue is to make sure you are complying with security regulations. This can mean you spend a lot of time ticking boxes, many of which have nothing to do with your business, but you can find good advice. Compliance is part of such standards as ISO 27000 where the CEO has to sign a document ensuring confidentiality and integrity and, if these pledges are broken and the company is attacked, they can end up in court. That prospect, as distant as it might feel, does tend to concentrate the mind. The UK’s Information Security Systems Association is developing an even tougher standard, ISSA5173, specifically designed to help small businesses become more secure.
The reluctance to invest in cybersecurity is understandable. It remains a “grudge purchase” because it is very hard to quantify the return on something that doesn’t happen. Yet print service providers cannot afford to neglect this issue. Just one bad attack can erode - or destroy - a customer’s trust. It can also, let’s be honest, look technically clueless. Would you place an order with a digital print firm that can’t protect its digital data?
The good news is that you can afford to reduce the threat. There is a range of options on offer, depending on the size of your business. Security provider Comodo offers free and reasonably priced solutions that will, for example, prevent malware from entering your networks. Small businesses can also get certain protection - firewalls, internet security and anti-virus software - for free. ESET lets you choose from a variety of bundles according to what devices you want to protect (computers, mobile phones, USB drives, networks and servers).
There are also more specialist solutions - CradlePoint NetCloud Engine will help you securely ‘virtualise’ your networks; Lookout Mobile Security protects your phones and tablets; CloudFlare will defend your website; Random.org generates passwords that are harder to guess than such perennial favourites as ‘password’ and CSID safeguards the identity of your business. (Yes, companies can have their identities stolen, not just people). Some companies, like Symantec, also offer packages designed to suit a small business budget. That said, their idea of a small business budget might be very different from yours.
Whatever your budget is, it is safe to say it will be finite so you will want to assess your risks and invest accordingly. For some, investment in the Cloud may be the answer, although cybersecurity experts differ on how secure this is. Those who favour the Cloud argue that as it is run by companies like Microsoft, which as they regard protecting data as mission critical, are likely to invest in the latest defences against cybersecurity. Yet others are troubled by the lack of clarity about who precisely is responsible for security on the Cloud.
The Cloud is a useful reminder that the threats to cybersecurity are constantly evolving. Phishing attacks are now almost routine, but too many organisations don’t discuss how to mitigate them by opening email carefully and not following links. Malware is becoming much more sophisticated - if Google’s systems can be compromised, as they were in 2010 in an attack known as Operation Aurora, can any business be safe? One of the more disturbing recent trends is revenge hacking - it’s not that difficult to annoy someone enough to make them want to attack you.
The importance of secure communication is still not widely understood. We text because it is quick, easy and effective - 98% of texts are opened compared to 20% of emails - and don’t even consider whether the message should be secure. Often, in a world of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), we’re using the same phone we do in our personal lives. Protecting these texts isn’t difficult - even WhatsApp would offer some level of protection, while an app like Signal uses its own platform to ensure end-to-end encryption - but someone needs to make the call.
You would have thought tech giants such as Facebook (as the owner of WhatsApp) would have this covered but they don’t. An article in the ‘Wall Street Journal’ last December revealed that the company’s move to change its capital structure was “tainted by secret text messages and meddling from financial advisers that pointed to a process rife with conflict of interest”. The same month, in the same paper, it was reported that VW had, according to US authorities looking into the emissions scandal, effectively lost or ‘bricked’ 23 mobile phones that could have been relevant to the investigation.
The lesson here is simple: if you don’t want information to be in the public domain, do not write it in email or texts that linger in any way. Granted, a print service provider is unlikely to have material that could interest Julian Assange or the BBC News but you never know what might prove useful - or lucrative - to a cyber criminal hacking into your texts or emails.
Cybersecurity is a risk you need to assess, but it should not become an obsession. The key is to distinguish between what you can control, and what you can’t, and invest time and money accordingly.


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AURORA, Colo. (AP) A woman walking past a Colorado pizza shop was hit by a car, landed on its hood and was pushed through a plate glass window into the store.
Amazingly, she immediately hopped off the car amid debris and escaped serious injury.
A surveillance camera captured Wednesday’s incident outside and inside the Pudge Brothers Pizza shop in Aurora.
KUSA-TV reports (http://tinyurl.com/ou47p9j ) the car’s driver apparently hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, jumped the sidewalk the woman was walking along, and crashed into the store. No one inside was hurt.
Aurora police didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking additional details, including the identities of the woman and the car’s driver.
Information from: KUSA-TV, http://www.9news.com


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Updated from 4:56 p.m. EDT
SAN FRANCISCO -- Data storage gearmaker
said third-quarter profit and revenue fell, in line with the company's reduced forecast.
Brocade on Thursday reported net income of $10.7 million, or 3 cents a share, down from $24.5 million, or 9 cents a share, a year earlier.
But subtracting stock-based compensation expenses and one-time items, Brocade earned 12 cents a share, or 49.5 million, up from 11 cents last year and topping Thomson First Call analysts' average forecast by a penny.
Revenue rose 73% to $327.5 million, matching analysts' estimates. The increase partially reflects the added sales from the acquisition of McData, which closed earlier this year.
In late trading, shares were recently up 14 cents, or about 2%, to $7.10.
Adding McData helped diversify the company's revenue base. Brocade's three largest customers,
, accounted for 64% of revenue, down from 67% a year earlier.
The company managed to strip out $13 million in sales of lower-margin products acquired through McData or from other third parties. As a result, Brocade's gross profit margin rose sequentially to 55%, excluding nonoperating costs, at the low end of the long-term target rate of 55% to 58%.
Brocade was also able to hold the line on prices better than historically, which also helped to hold the line on gross margins.
"In just two quarters, we have met or exceeded the vast majority of our target business metrics related to the acquisition of McData, and have strengthened our combined profitability and business fundamentals," said Chief Executive Michael Klayko in a statement.
Cash flow from operations rose 28% to $36.3 million despite an increase in outstanding accounts receivable.
Earlier in the month, the company warned that revenue would fall below its previous estimate of $330 million to $340 million.
In a conference call with analysts, Klayko said uncertainty over macroeconomic growth led to conservative corporate spending on information technology. This compounded a typical seasonal slowdown in tech purchases.
The weakness in sales came mostly from North American accounts.
But Klayko stressed that Brocade's customer surveys show that storage continues to be a top priority and that the fundamental need for storing, securing and managing data is growing with the consumption of digital entertainment and content.
Brocade is also benefiting from the trend in server "virtualization," which helps servers run more efficiently. Klayko said that companies attach network storage products like Brocade's to virtualized servers nearly 90% of the time vs. only 20% for traditional servers.
Chief Financial Officer Richard Deranleau forecast fourth-quarter earnings of 12 cents to 13 cents a share on revenue of $330 million to $340 million. These estimates are slightly below analysts' average estimate.
Both Klayko and Deranleau said this guidance was conservative and reflects a "cautious environment for IT spending."
Brocade shares were recently off 7 cents in after-hours trading to $6.89.


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It's as official as it can get: The Volvo wagon is finally back!
Read This Article
In best example of Asian fusion since PF Chang’s, Geely Automobile has denied a rumor that it was looking to purchase Saab, because it already has its hands full with another Swedish automaker: Volvo.
Effing magnets, how do they work?
Volvo recently announced that it will not be developing a flagship sedan to compete with any of its competitors.


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Imported Unsafe Products a Threat to Consumers
In a new study, UNCTAD research shows that general safety requirements and liability regimes embedded in the laws, along with standards, are the cornerstones of consumer product safety frameworks around the world. While more developed countries have put in place product safety frameworks, including laws, enforcement institutions, recall mechanisms, and communication campaigns, developing countries with weaker systems are less able to tackle unsafe products. International cooperation is therefore needed to improve product safety for all consumers.
In 2020 UNCTAD adopted its first recommendation on product safety. It aims to curb the flow of unsafe products being traded internationally, by strengthening ties among consumer product safety authorities and sensitizing businesses and consumers. It also emphasised the urgent need to eradicate unsafe and hazardous products being traded and manufactured. UNCTAD says consumers’ vulnerability is heightened since they may be unaware that health or safety requirements vary from country to country and may assume that all products on sale online are safe. Because consumers often underestimate risk and may decide to purchase the cheapest products out of financial necessity, UNCTAD urges authorities to educate consumers on the possible safety consequences of decisions based solely on price.
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Starbucks Indonesia has expanded its vegan range by adding two new options to its menu: a plant-based meatball sandwich and a vegan chocolate raspberry cake.
It’s the first time the major coffee chain has offered a vegan sandwich at its Indonesian locations.
Local brand Green Rebel makes the plant-based meat with non-GMO soy protein. The sandwich includes vegan barbecue sauce and onions.
Starbucks Indonesia collaborated with Green Rebel in February, too. Together the companies introduced vegan beef at 57 locations, mostly in Bali and Jakarta. Starbucks featured the meat in three vegetarian items: Focaccia Bread, Sloppy Joes, and Wellington Pockets.
Vegan food in Indonesia
Starbucks isn’t the first to adjust its menus to cater to Indonesia’s rising demand for plant-based food. Earlier this year, Burger King Indonesia rolled out its Plant-Based Whopper burger.
And in 2018, a San Francisco-based vegan burger chain announced plans to launch in Indonesia. The company, called VeganBurg, spoke to Plant Based News about the decision.
VeganBurg’s CEO Alex Tan said: “Expanding into the rest of South East Asia was a natural fit based on the region’s love for sustainability and the desire for a more plant-based dining experience.”
Starbucks’ new vegan options are available at 460 locations in Indonesia


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An interesting piece in the IHT titledAt auto show, all the talk is of fuel
As one automaker after another made clear at the auto show, which continues through Sunday, Toyota is not setting a universal standard for new technologies. It may be setting the pace, but mostly what it has shown is that high gasoline prices have made buyers more open-minded to alternatives.
"There is not going to be a one-size-fits-all solution," Ford's chief technical officer, Richard Parry-Jones, said when asked if an industry standard would emerge for hybrids. "We are in for a fairly confusing decade."
I would argue that we are in for at least a couple of confusing debates. Emergence of new generation of Hybrids and Diesels by the end of this decade, potential entry in to the market of Plug-in Hybrids around the same time, developments in fuel cell and battery electric vehicles, volatility in petroleum markets, and increasing concerns about climate change: These along with steady improvments in mainstream ICE gasoline vehicles are all going to work together to create (excuse the term) a perfect storm in the auto markets.
GM still has the audacity to claim that they will have a market competitive fuel cell vehicle by 2010, when most others have agreed that it will be hard to do before 2015, but much more likely in 2020.
"We believe we can design and validate a competitive fuel cell propulsion system by 2010," GM's vice president for research and development, Lawrence Burns, said before showing reporters the prototype.
In an interview, he sniped at hybrids, citing their expensive price tag and the limits to their efficiency.
"Hybrids could be another niche, low-volume technology that is nice to have," he said. "But is that going to make an impact if you are not penetrating the 64 million new cars and trucks?"
Even then, the question whether Hybrids will or will not become a mainstream technology, and by mainstream I mean present in at least a third of new vehicles sold, is up for grabs.
Toyota and Honda want to persuade buyers to pay a premium for hybrid technology.
"Toyota is looking to do with hybrids what Volvo did with safety, trying to get people to pay more for hybrids," Christopher Richter, an auto industry research analyst at CLSA Asia Pacific Markets, said after touring the motor show. "It is very similar to the debate a couple years back: whether you want to have air bags or not. American automakers were fighting it tooth and nail. Volvo got people to pay for it."
Some Americans are already paying several thousand dollars more for the cachet of driving a car powered by what is seen as a technology of the future.
*Some* is the key word. As GreenCarCongress reported, Honda may be offering some incentives on its Accord Hybrid
. Overall, the picture is really murky at this point in time, with the sales of hybrid vehicles in August and September being really distorted by very high gasoline prices in US. A much clearer picture will start to emerge from Nov-Jan. sales data, but as I said above it's unlikely that the dispute will be solved any time soon.


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Behavioural Ad Targeting Has Customers Subconsciously Redefining Themselves
What was once an ad block app is now an ad exchange. Wait. What?
Facebook and Google are back in the news...
98 personal data points that Facebook uses to target ads to you
The state of digital advertising is in constant flux these days.
The differences between the social web and web publishers is staggering.
If you think advertising is dead, a quick look at podcast advertisements may change your mind.
Ad blockers have started dominating the news cycle again.


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As reported by Kotaku EA Sports Rob Semsey has told them pending the NFL and NFL Players Association approval, Michael Vick will be added toÃ‚Â the Philadelphia Eagles with Madden NFL 10’s next roster update, which is scheduled for Aug. 19 for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Other platforms will follow shortly thereafter.
EA Sports spokesman Rob Semsey states:
We are currently working with the NFL and NFLPA on approvals and details regarding the addition of Michael Vick to the Philadelphia Eagles roster in Madden NFL 10. We are hopeful to make an announcement in the near future.


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Nintendo Knows Metroid Dread Includes A Game-Breaking Bug
Metroid Dread has been a treat for both long-time fans of the Metroid series and a whole host of newcomers. Despite it leaking pretty early on, the game has done well for both Nintendo and its fans, proving that the love for the 2.5D dungeon crawler hasn’t quite expired.
Though Metroid Dread seems airtight from the outside and has received some massive critical praise, there are a few bugs that have slipped through the cracks.
There's a particularly nasty bug that appears toward the end and is breaking people’s games. Worse than this, Nintendo has a strange way of addressing it.
Nintendo Advises Metroid Dread Players To Avoid Game-Breaking Bug
A game-breaking bug has appeared in Metroid Dread that sees the game crash near the end of Samus' journey. It appears with no warning when players unsuspectingly destroy a door while a specific map marker is placed on the map. It’s causing a lot of stress for a lot of players already, especially as it’s so close to the end of their Dread experience.
Nintendo has acknowledged this bug in a way you might not expect, though. It's told fans that devs know about the bug, but have stated that nothing will be done... yet.
Nintendo Urges Fans Not To Crash Metroid Dread
Nintendo has simply told players… not to encounter the bug. "Restart the game and, before playing through this sequence, remove the door icon map marker to prevent this error from occurring", the team has said. There is a patch coming later on this month, but until then, Nintendo has told you to simply not let the title crash. Helpful!
All in all, it’s not great advice. It's also a shame that fans are going to have to wait until the end of the month to see the bug fixed. This isn’t a problem created by players, so there’s no reason they should have to be proactive in making sure Metroid Dread is suitable to play. Either way, the end of October should bring a fix that keeps fans happy. Until then, keep an eye on your maps.


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DUBAI – Danube Properties announced the launch of Skyz Tower, a Mediterranean-themed high-rise residential tower with elegantly-designed apartments, retail outlets and recreational facilities with a development value exceeding Dh475 million.
The project will be developed at the Arjan master-planned community in Dubai, close to the Miracle Gardens, opposite to Motor City, Dubai Hills Estates and Dubai Hills Estate Mall with the easiest access to Mohammed Bin Zayed highway. The affordable homes come with Danube Properties’ trend-setting 1 percent payment plan that helps middle income tenants and end-users to easily acquire their dream homes.
The announcement was made at a packed press conference attended by the largest contingent of media and cheering crowd by Rizwan Sajan, Founder and Chairman of Danube Group. The launch of the new residential tower comes a few days after land transaction value exceeded Dh100 billion marks in less than 9 months this year – as announced by Dubai Land Department – fuelled by strong investor interest in Dubai’s real estate. This marks the first real estate project launch after the COVID-19 pandemic and also the first project launch since the start of Dubai Expo 2020 and reflects Danube Properties’ confidence in the market that is witnessing a gradual upturn.
“The launch of Skyz Tower comes 18 months after we launched our last project, Olivz – which was sold out by our team at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Due to the sell-out of all of our previous projects, we were running out of stocks – since the beginning of the year. This necessitated the launch of the new project,” Rizwan Sajan, Founder and Chairman of Danube Group, said.
“The launch of the new project comes after a lot of thinking and due diligence – due to the pandemic. It is being launched at a time when we have seen an increase in demand for new homes. However, we are very confident of the fast sell-out of the project due to growing demand for new off-line properties.
“Despite the challenging global economic environment and uneven global recovery from COVID-19 pandemic, we never lost our focus and continued the development and construction works of the ongoing projects. As a result, I am happy to announce that three of our ongoing-projects are being handed over in the next three months.”
Three projects – out of which the recently delivered Bayz and Miraclz, have been appreciated by all the investors who had bought units in them, and Lawnz which is currently being completed for delivery will take the number of delivered units to 4,281 with sales value exceeding Dh3.5 billion by the end of this year. This will help to reinforce Danube Properties’ reputation as one of the most successful developers in the UAE with the highest launch-to-delivery ratio.
Skyz will be developed at a land at Arjan, close to the Miracle Garden with easy access to Mohammed Bin Zayed Highway. The tower overlooks Miracle Garden, Arabian Ranches and Motor city communities.
The concept was to create a new residential destination that celebrates Mediterranean living by maximising usable outdoor space through balconies, terraces, gardens, parks, and plazas. The tower is designed to allow maximum views and light into the scheme and creates a series of ‘external gardens’ distributed around the building linked by an informal route with an outdoor pool and recreation area at various levels.
Skyz Tower provides holistic amenities from retail arcade, games room, kids play area, state-of-the-art health club, outdoor gymnasium, infinity pool, lilly pool with water beds, kids pool, outdoor jacuzzi, viewing deck, paddle tennis, gazebo, outdoor seating area, water bodies, BBQ area, jacuzzi lounge, party hall with billiards room, business centre and above all Sky Jogging Track.
Sky Jogging Track – a first in the region – is an elevated jogging track for occupants of Skyz Tower, which will help the residents to maintain a healthy lifestyle – in addition to the health club, gymnasium and swimming pool. This reflects Danube Properties’ focus on offering the best lifestyle to the home-owners, so that they can maintain a healthy life at the most affordable price.


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YouTube has been celebrating ‘Geek Week‘ over the past few days, It is basically a week of sharing videos for geeks that follow just about everything from ‘Lord of the Rings’ trivia to comic books to technology. Google is obviously filled with some geeks who are very partial to some classic video games. The classic Atari game called Missile Command has been .
1980: Play any video on the YouTube website and pause it. Then type in the characters ‘1980’. The video turns into the popular 1980 classic game called Missile Command. The idea is to save the video and destroy the missiles before they land on the video.
The controls are a little clunky but it did bring back some nostalgia for DOS based 8-bit games. The game also has a cheat code. Just type in “2300” while playing it and the users gets more power in the game. Try this Easter Egg on YouTube and drop in your comments.
It looks like Google is finally taking India seriously as a consumer market. Today Google unveiled a double treat for users. First was making movies available on Google Play and also making movies made available on rental with YouTube.
Google Play has started listing local movies that can be downloaded for Indian users. I saw that a quick search of Hindi movies brought about a few popular movies that can be purchased.
Mostly the prices are lower for older movies while newer ones are expensive. Foreign language movies are even more expensive.
The movies are up for rental on YouTube with their new featured channels that allow Indian users to not just stream full length movies free but also rent them online. This option of renting movies is newly introduced in India. The listings and pricing seems similar to Google Play movies.
Apple has already launched Apple TV in India. I can see Google now is preparing the ground for something similar. It is reasonable to expect Google TV being made available in India at some point of time.
Though one major drawback in India are broadband speeds are not exactly blazing fast all over but if more people rented movies online, ISPs will see an opportunity to improve broadband speeds.
While there’s Instagram for quick photo sharing, there’s isn’t such a product for video sharing. Though YouTube is available on mobiles, the process of uploading videos from the app isn’t streamlined, and hence Google has released YouTube Capture.
The whole point of the app is to shoot videos and share them quickly before the moment is gone, because – you know, life’s fast.
The process is really straight forward – you open the app, shoot a video, after which you add a caption and share it among social networks (here you can actually share it on Facebook and Twitter, not just Google+).
There are few neat features included like video stabilisation which will be really useful for editing shaky videos. There’s also colour correction and ability to add free background music.
Too much iOS love?
One thing which has surprised me a bit is that, Android version of YouTube Capture is yet to come – Google has confirmed that in their blog post. With updated Google search, Gmail, Google Maps and now YouTube Capture, iOS seems to be getting a lot of Google love, lately.
According to Google’s Research Blog, videos shot on mobile phones will be automatically compensated for rolling shutter distortions.
Use YouTube Editor to Stabilize your Videos
Access your videos on YouTube Editor and select the video you want to stabilize.
YouTube will automatically stabilize any shaky videos and also work wonders with videos shot with mobile phones.
Check this demo from YouTube on how well video stabilization works.
Video Before Stabilization:
Video After Stabilization:
Seeing how well YouTube stabilizes videos, it might be a good idea to upload all those shaky mobile home videos and stabilize them. In case you are uploading your personal videos it might be a good idea to not make them public and share them only via a URL.
What are your views on YouTube’s stabilization features? Do drop in your comments.
YouTube is the king of online videos with more than 48 hours of videos uploaded every hours, recently it has crossed 4 billions of views in a day. YouTube has great feature of embedding the videos on any Website or Blog, this help in promotion of videos as well as retention of users on the site. Earlier users could only view the videos but were not able to get information about the videos (descriptions), nor were they able to share it from the site where videos are embedded.
To share users has to visit the YouTube video page. But now YouTube has rolled out two new drop-down button in the embedded videos which allow users to view the infromation of videos as well directly share it to Social media sites without leaving the site.
Share Video directly
There are two new drop-down button added in the embedded videos at the top right after the title of video – Share and More info. With Share button, which open a sharing page on the video itself allows user to share video on Facebook, Orkut, Google+ and other major sites.
It also allows user to embed video as they do on YouTube, with all available options like embedding-size and the starting point.
Get information about the videos
The ‘More info’ button displays the Channel on which the video can be seen, along with the no of subscribers of the Channel and an option to subscribe to the Channel. If you have already signed into your YouTube account, after pressing subscribe button, you will be automatically subscribed to the channel otherwise a popup will appear to authenticate.
Details of the videos as well as no of views and likes and dislikes are also shown. This feature of videos can easily turned on/off. It is good for the user to get the information about videos without going to YouTube. Users can also like or dislike the video while they start watching the video, those button appear on the same title bar.
This will be hugely important for people creating video content on YouTube to be able to use it on a website without losing out on the social juice.
What you think about these changes YouTube done on embedded videos? Do drop in your comments!
Are you addicted to a popular tv series in India but cannot manage to watch them during their daily time slots? YouTube is where people should flock to. They have just made it easy to browser through 19,000+ episodes of various Indian TV shows.
Just visit youtube.com/shows and people viewing form India will be served yup with local content.
It seems media houses in India are increasingly getting comfortable with the idea of embracing the internet and the advantages it offers. About two years ago YouTube did open its doors to full-length Indian movies but at first glace, it does seem the TV show are a more comprehensive list.
This list is created by YouTube from the official YouTube channels which television production houses have. Majority of these serial were anyways uploaded by
Why getting on YouTube makes sense for Indian TV Channels?
I know many people who miss some episodes on the television and end up catching up from sites which might be uploading these episodes illegally. A lot of the these uploads are done on YouTube itself. Considering Indian television mostly has daily soaps or sitcoms, it makes sense to keep the audience upto date and do it officially through YouTube.
In case you want to watch television shows in English language, you can select them from this link.
What are your views on watching television shows on YouTube? Will it cut out piracy or illegal streaming? Do drop in your comments.
YouTube has made a few changes over the past year, with its new design and better social media integration. Some users were unhappy but it seems the changes have brought about some positives for YouTube.
According to Reuters, YouTube has reach the milestone of 4 Billion videos views per day. That is 25% up since data from May 2011. The number is truly mind-boggling, as it means that every hour 166 millions videos views take place. That does mean more than 46,000 videos views per second.
Other YouTube Statistics
10% of videos on YouTube are available in HD.
Over 48 hours of video are uploaded on YouTube every minute.
Mobiles users account for 400 million views on YouTube.
500 tweets on Twitter link to a video on YouTube every minute.
YouTube Monetization problems
Also 3 billion videos are monetized per week. That means less than 1/10th of the videos watched on YouTube are making money.
YouTube has been one of Google’s great successes but at the moment it is not making any real money for Google. But as bandwidth grows across the world, online streaming could possibly replace television over the next decade. This puts YouTube in a great place.
What are your views on the growth of YouTube? Do drop in your comments.
Almost anyone who watches online videos, does spend a lot of time on YouTube. Google has redesigned YouTube recently, which encourages viewers to share videos socially and view videos watched recommended by their friends.
YouTube has launched a new addictive game, called YouTube Slam. This pits one video against another and lets the user choose.
For regular YouTube users, this could be a great way to discover new videos. Two random videos are pitted against each other and we have to select one of them. The videos are categories under Comedy, Cute, Music, Bizarre and Dance. The videos that win most often get highlighted on a leaderboard.
YouTube’s Viral Tool
Such a game, where videos are pitted against each other can be very addictive and the preferred way for some to pass time. Searching videos to watch something funny can be a boring job, so such small features will help YouTube users discover videos randomly. It could also be a launch pad for some videos to go viral.
Try out YouTube Slam for yourself and drop in your comments.
When it comes to listening to audio files on your computer or iPod, everyone likes having the files in mp3 format. When I search for music online, I end up like most people, looking up the song on YouTube. This is because you will come across a lot of audio files on YouTube with just a image being played as video. This is a boon for people who upload their own music online and want to tap into the popularity of YouTube.
Use Mp32Tube, a web tool that easily allows you to upload your MP3 files onto YouTube.
Upload your MP3 file and add a name and description.
Also make sure you add the proper keywords and a new image to go with your file.
Send this file to YouTube or even create an AVI file.
Make sure while you upload music files, you are not breaking any copyright laws. As if the file is removed from YouTube, it might affect your account reputation on YouTube.


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E-commerce platform Shopee saw a global gross merchandise value (GMV) of over $1 billion on Nov. 11 alone, with exclusive promotions for shoppers and breakthroughs for small online businesses.
When compared to an average day, Shopee Live saw an increase in products sold of 33 times, alongside an 8 times uplift in new viewers on 11.11 itself, Shopee Philippines said in an e-mailed press statement on Wednesday.
It also noted a seller’s livestream selling over 67,000 items, generating P1 billion in sales on the day alone.
“We are elated by the overwhelming response and record-breaking success of our 11.11 Mega Pamasko Sale,” said Vincent Lee, head of Shopee Philippines.
“[We] will continue elevating the platform for more rewarding shopping experiences,” he added.
The e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek Holdings, and Bain & Company showed the Philippines’ digital economy is forecast to reach between $80 billion and $150 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) by 2030, slightly lower than its previous projection of $100-150 billion.
According to the report, it is projected to grow by 13% this year to $24 billion in GMV. This will be mainly driven by e-commerce, which is expected to expand by 21% annually to hit $24 billion by 2025. E-commerce is forecast to reach $60 billion in GMV by 2030.
Shopee Philippines said its top categories during the 11.11 sale were home and living, followed by health and personal care.
The links of an affiliate were able to generate P1.2 million in total sales, which grew five times from a normal day, it added.
It noted 12 million vouchers redeemed and 1.2 million entries for its Shopee Live Milyonaryo program, which has a P1 million prize.—Miguel Hanz L. Antivola