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Microsoft Corp made its popular Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications available,free of charge, on Android tablets, further signifying its drive to attract as many mobile customers as possible using its software.
It also released an app for its popular Outlook email program to run on Apple Inc’s iPhone and iPad, hoping to attract the millions of users familiar with Outlook from their work desktops.
The new releases are the latest gambits in Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella’s attempt to wrest back the initiative in the battle for mobile users, where Microsoft has fallen behind Apple and Google Inc.
Nadella broke with decades of tradition last March by releasing a free, touch-friendly version of Office for Apple’s iPad, before such software was even available for Microsoft’s Windows devices.
By giving away its industry-standard Office apps on Apple’s popular iOS and Google’s Android operating systems, Microsoft is looking to build up a base of users which it can later persuade to sign up for Office 365, the full, Internet-based version of Office starting at $7 a month for personal users.
Microsoft has been offering test versions of the Office apps on Android for almost three months, but Thursday marks the first day they are available as finished products from the online Google Play app store.
Word, Excel and PowerPoint, the key elements of Microsoft’s top-selling Office suite of applications, have been a hit on Apple’s mobile devices, with 80 million downloads since last March, according to Microsoft.
Microsoft plans to release new, touch-friendly versions of its Office apps for Windows devices later this year when it releases the Windows 10 operating system.
The new Outlook app, based on a popular app made by Acompli, which Microsoft bought in December, will allow iPhone and iPad users much easier ways of linking email to calendars and working with file attachments. Microsoft is also releasing a test version of the Outlook app for Android users.
The service, dubbed WorkMail, will launch in the second quarter and has been developed by the company’s cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS). It highlights Amazon’s efforts to convince deep-pocketed companies, called enterprises in tech parlance, to shift more of their work to AWS.
Launching an email and scheduling service is likely the first step toward a broader suite of Amazon tools to gain corporate clients, analysts said. For example, Google’s Gmail offers many other services beyond email and calendars including file-sharing and video conferencing.
AWS has spent the last couple of years trying to get corporate clients on board because big businesses spend more on data centers than startups, who were the initial focus of its business. But there are concerns that Amazon is spreading itself too thin, given its other sizeable investments in areas like Hollywood-style production and consumer devices.
“Email is a Trojan Horse into the enterprise,” Baird analyst Colin Sebastian said. He added that email is a $1 billion opportunity for Amazon given the popularity of AWS and Amazon’s willingness to sacrifice margins for volume.
If Amazon adds more services for companies, it could bring in about $10 billion more in extra revenue, Sebastian said.
AMD’s first 14nm processors are codenamed Summit Ridge and they are reportedly based on an all-new architecture dubbed Zen.
Information on the new architecture and the Summit Ridge design is still very sketchy. According to Sweclockers, the chips will feature up to eight CPU cores, support for DDR4 memory and TDPs of up to 95W.
Summit Ridge will use a new socket, designated FM3. This suggests we are looking at A-series APUs, but there is no word on graphics and the eight-core design points to proper FX-series CPUs – we simply do not know at this point. It is also possible that Summit Ridge is a Vishera FX replacement, but on an FM socket rather than an AM socket.
Of course, AMD Zen should end up in more products than one, namely in APUs and Opteron server parts. The new architecture has been described as a “high-performance” design and will be manufactured using the Samsung-GlobalFoundries 14nm node.
As for the launch date, don’t hold your breath – the new parts are expected to show up in the third quarter of 2016, roughly 18 months from now.
Texas Instruments appears to have done rather well thanks to a growing demand for chips from the car industry.
The company posted fourth-quarter revenue of $3.27 billion, up 8 percent from the year-ago period and slightly above what the cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street predicted by reading their tarot cards.
This was mostly because TI deepened its focus on analogue and embedded chips which are in demand from carmakers, telecom companies and industrial customers.
Revenue from Texas Instruments’ largest market, “industrial,” grew a bit in 2014, while revenue from its communications market expanded as wireless carriers installed next-generation base stations.
TI has been winding down its unprofitable wireless business and refocusing on analogue and embedded chips. Factories that Texas Instruments bought at relatively attractive prices in recent years and the chipmaker’s robust sales force give it an advantage over smaller competitors.
The company’s fourth-quarter net income rose 61 percent to $825 million. Earnings per share were 76 cents.
Texas Instruments forecast first-quarter revenue of between $3.07 billion and $3.33 billion.
Analysts on average had expected revenue of $3.26 billion for the fourth quarter and $3.19 billion for the first quarter.
Notorious malware kjw0rm and Sir DoOoM have been uncovered in a hacker forum as evolved versions, developed with advanced functionality, according to researchers at Trend Micro.
A threat response engineer at Trend Micro, Michael Marcos, said that he uncovered the malware while examining the Arabic language on a bogus “computer enthusiast site”, called dev-point.com forum.
“One of the notable topics in the forum talked about new malware ‘kjw0rm’ and a worm named ‘Sir DoOom’, which both came about after the release of the Njw0rm malware source code in the same forum,” he explained.
The Njw0rm’s source code was leaked in May 2013. The evolved kjw0rm is currently available in two versions, both of which have advanced infiltration and infection mechanisms.
The first Kjw0rm V2.0 appeared initially on the forum in January 2014, while the updated 0.5X version and new Sir DoOoM malware followed in December.
The V2.0 malware is the most basic of the three and reportedly hides itself in bogus files within infected systems.
“The propagation method of this malware targets all folders in the root directory of the removable drive,” read the advisory.
V0.5X follows a developed version of the same tactic, and Sir DoOoM adds an anti-virtual machine capability.
“[V0.5X] obfuscated some portions of the malware code. The malware author utilises an obfuscator tool that converts characters to hex values, adds filler functions, and performs computations that make analysis more difficult and time-consuming,” explained Marcos.
“[Sir DoOoM] also has an anti-virtual machine routine. It first searches for a list of the installed programs in the affected computer.
“If this variant found itself in a computer where a virtual machine program is installed, it will uninstall and terminate itself from the affected system. This prevents analysts testing to determine malware behaviour.”
Trend Micro senior engineer Bharat Mistry told V3 that the variants are dangerous as they add several advanced functions.
“Previous versions were there mainly for password stealing from browsers. As the malware has evolved, after the initial infections it now has the ability to download and execute Visual Basic code [VBS],” he said.
“VBS is a powerful coding language and can be used to interact directly with the operating system on the infected device.
“Also it now has the ability to recognise if it is being used in a security testing environment known as a sandbox by looking for the presence of a virtual machine.
“Finally the replication has also advanced with the use of hidden files on removable storage devices such as USB sticks.”
He added that the new powers could be used to mount a variety of attacks.
“The malware can be used to perform a number of different functions, including download, installation and execution of additional files or tools to potentially gain administrator or privilege credentials,” he said.
“Once this is gained hackers then have the ability to move laterally in the organisation and start looking for crown jewels or simply advertise that a point of presence has been created in a organisation that could then be ‘rented’ out to perform attacks, such as DDoS.”
Kjw0rm and Sir DoOoM’s appearance follows the discovery of several evolved attack tools. These include the defence-dodging Skeleton Key malware and the advanced Cryptowall 3.0 ransomware.
IBM has made the Power8 version of the latest Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) beta available through its Power Development Platform (PDP) as the firm continues to build support for its Power systems.
IBM and Red Hat announced in December that RHEL 7.1 was adding support for the Power8 processor in little endian instruction format, as the beta release was made available for testers to download.
This version is available for developers and testers to download from today through the IBM PDP and at IBM Innovation Centres and Client Centres worldwide, IBM announced on its Smarter Computing blog.
“IBM and Red Hat’s collaboration to produce open source innovation demonstrates our commitment to developing solutions that efficiently solve IT challenges while empowering our clients to make their data centres as simple as possible so they can focus on core business functions and future opportunities,” said Doug Balog, general manager for Power Systems at IBM’s Systems & Technology Group.
The little endian support is significant because IBM’s Power architecture processors are capable of supporting little endian and big endian instruction formats. These simply reflect the order in which bytes are stored in memory.
The Power platform has long had Linux distributions and applications that operate in big endian mode, but the much larger Linux ecosystem for x86 systems uses little endian mode, and supporting this in Red Hat makes it much easier to port applications from x86 to Power.
Suse Linux Enterprise Server 12 launched last year with little endian support for the Power8 processor, as did Canonical’s Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.
However, Red Hat and Suse are understood to be continuing to support their existing big endian releases on Power for their full product lifecycles.
IBM sold off its x86 server business to Lenovo last year, and has focused instead on the higher value Power Systems and z Systems mainframes.
In particular, the firm has touted the Power Systems as more suitable for mission critical workloads in scale-out environments like the cloud than x86 servers, and has been forging partnerships with firms such as Red Hat through its OpenPower Foundation.
The veteran tech pioneer, which long ago lost the mantle of the world’s most inventive company, is making a bold play to regain that title in the face of stiff competition from Google Inc and Apple Inc.
Virtual or enhanced reality is the next frontier in computing interaction, with Facebook Inc focusing on its Oculus virtual reality headset and Google working on its Glass project.
Microsoft said its wire-free Microsoft HoloLens device will be available around the same time as Windows 10 this autumn. Industry analysts were broadly excited at the prospect, but skeptical that it could produce a working model at a mass-market price that soon.
“That was kind of a ‘Oh wow!’ moment,” said Mike Silver, an analyst at Gartner who tried out the prototype on Wednesday. “You would expect to see a relatively high-priced model this year or next year, then maybe it’ll take another couple of years to bring it down to a more affordable level.”
Microsoft does not have a stellar record of bringing ground-breaking technology to life. Its Kinect motion-sensing game device caused an initial stir but never gripped the popular imagination.
The company showed off a crude test version of the visor – essentially jerry-rigged wires and cameras pulled over the head – to reporters and industry analysts at a gathering at its headquarters near Seattle.
It did not allow any photographs or video of the experience, but put some images on its website.
The European Space (ESA) has deployed a private, on-premise cloud platform designed to serve its community in Europe. The infrastructure is partly based on a custom version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).
The ESA Cloud needs to be constantly available to the space agency’s large user base, ensuring high levels of reliability and flexibility and the management capabilities of a modern IT environment, according to Red Hat.
Hosted applications include software development and testing, satellite data processing, document management and “more traditional” corporate IT services used during day-to-day operations.
The ESA Cloud infrastructure is based on systems from VCE, including a blade architecture with x86 CPUs, and cloud management software from Orange Business Services.
RHEL is one of the platforms supported within the ESA Cloud, and the space agency worked closely with Red Hat to customise the enterprise OS.
The customisation and implementation phase was particularly important, the ESA said, because its requirements are “dramatically” different to those of any other enterprise.
The scenarios Red Hat and the ESA IT team had to deal with were quite often “absolutely new”, the company stated.
The ESA Cloud is designed to provide complex virtual environments “within minutes” to end users, shortening the time needed to reach an organisation’s business and scientific targets.
Monitoring computing resources consumed in real time is another important feature of ESA’s private cloud, allowing the IT team to optimise the available capacity to support specific agency projects.
The first ESA Cloud data center is ready for production in Frascati, Italy, and the space agency has already completed a similar site in Darmstadt, Germany.
Future targets include increasing the number of available services, and disaster recovery capabilities to face “any possible large-scale calamity”.
Over the last few years, the industry has seen budget polarization on an enormous scale. The cost of AAA development has ballooned, and continues to do so, pricing out all but the biggest warchests, while the indie and mobile explosions are rapidly approaching the point of inevitable over-saturation and consequential contraction. Stories about the plight of mid-tier studios are ten-a-penny, with the gravestones of some notable players lining the way.
For a company like Ninja Theory, in many ways the archetypal mid-tier developer, survival has been a paramount concern. Pumping out great games (Ninja Theory has a collective Metacritic average of 75) isn’t always enough. Revitalizing a popular IP like DMC isn’t always enough. Working on lucrative and successful external IP like Disney Infinity isn’t always enough. When the fence between indie and blockbuster gets thinner and thinner, it becomes ever harder to balance upon.
Last year, Ninja Theory took one more shot at the upper echelons. For months the studio had worked on a big budget concept which would sit comfortably alongside the top-level, cross-platform releases of the age: a massive, multiplayer sci-fi title that would take thousands of combined, collaborative hours to exhaust. Procedurally generated missions and an extensive DLC structure would ensure longevity and engagement. Concept art and pre-vis trailers in place, the team went looking for funding. Razor was on its way.
Except the game never quite made it. Funding failed to materialize, and no publisher would take the project on. It didn’t help that the search for a publishing deal arrived almost simultaneously with the public announcement of Destiny. Facing an impossible task, the team abandoned the project and moved on with other ideas. Razor joined a surprisingly large pile of games that never make it past the concept stage.
Sadly, it’s not a new story. In fact, at the time, it wasn’t even a news story. But this time Ninja Theory’s reaction was different. This was a learning experience, and learning experiences should be shared. Team lead and co-founder Tameem Antoniades turned the disappointment not just into a lesson, but a new company ethos: involve your audience at an early stage, retain control, fund yourself, aim high, and don’t compromise. The concept of the Independent AAA Proposition, enshrined in a GDC presentation give by Antoniades, was born.
Now the team has a new flagship prospect, cemented in this fresh foundation. In keeping with the theme of open development and transparency, Hellblade is being created with the doors to its development held wide open, with community and industry alike invited to bear witness to the minutiae of the process. Hellblade will be a cross-platform game with all of the ambition for which Ninja Theory is known, and yet it is coming from an entirely independent standpoint. Self-published and self-governed, Hellblade is the blueprint for Ninja Theory’s future.
“We found ourselves as being one of those studios that’s in the ‘squeezed middle’,” project lead Dominic Matthews says. “We’re about 100 people, so we kind of fall into that space where we could try to really diversify and work on loads of smaller projects, but indie studios really have an advantage over us, because they can do things with far lower overheads. We have been faced with this choice of, do we go really, really big with our games and become the studio that is 300 people or even higher than that, and try to tick all of these boxes that the blockbuster AAA games need now.
“We don’t really want to do that. We tried to do that. When we pitched Razor, which we pitched to big studios, that ultimately didn’t go anywhere. That was going to be a huge game; a huge game with a service that would go on for years and would be a huge, multiplayer experience. Although I’m sure it would have been really cool to make that, it kind of showed to us that we’re not right to try to make those kinds of games. Games like Enslaved – trying to get a game like that signed now would be impossible. The way that it was signed, there would be too much pressure for it to be…to have the whole feature set that justifies a $60 price-tag.
“That $60 price-tag means games have to add multiplayer, and 40 hours of gameplay minimum, and a set of characters that appeal to as many people as they possibly can. There’s nothing wrong with games that do that. There’s some fantastic games that do, AAA games. Though we do think that there’s another space that sits in-between. I think a lot of indie games are super, super creative, but they can be heavily stylised. They work within the context of the resources that people have.
“We want to create a game that’s like Enslaved, or like DMC, or like Heavenly Sword. That kind of third-person, really high quality action game, but make it work in an independent model.”
Cutting out the middle-man is a key part of the strategy. But if dealing with the multinational machinery of ‘big pubs’ is what drove Ninja Theory to make such widespread changes, there must surly have been some particularly heinous deals that pushed it over the edge?
“I think it’s just a reality of the way that those publisher/developer deals work,” Matthews says. “In order for a publisher to take a gamble on your game and on your idea, you have to give up a lot. That includes the IP rights. It’s just the realities of how things work in that space. For us, I think any developer would say the same thing, being able to retain your IP is a really important thing. So far, we haven’t been out to do that.
“With Hellblade, it’s really nice that we can be comfortable in the fact that we’re not trying to appeal to everyone. We’re not trying to hit unrealistic forecasts. Ultimately, I think a lot of games have unrealistic forecasts. Everyone knows that they’re unrealistic, but they have to have these unrealistic forecasts to justify the investment that’s going into development.
“Ultimately, a lot of games, on paper, fail because they don’t hit those forecasts. Then the studios and the people that made those games, they don’t get the chance to make any more. It’s an incredibly tough market. Yes, we’ve enjoyed working with our publishers, but that’s not to say that the agreements that developed are all ideal, because they’re not. The catalyst to us now being able to do this is really difficult distribution. We can break away from that retail $60 model, where every single game has to be priced that way, regardless of what it is.
Driven into funding only games that will comfortably shift five or six million units, Matthews believes that publishers have no choice but to stick to the safe bets, a path that eventually winnows down diversity to the point of stagnation, where only a few successful genres ever end up getting made: FPS, sports, RPG, maybe racing. Those genres become less and less distinct, while simultaneously shoe-horning in mechanics that prove popular elsewhere and shunning true innovation.
While perhaps briefly sustainable, Matthews sees that as a creative cul-de-sac. Customers, he feels, are too smart to put up with it.
“Consumers are going to get a bit wary of games that have hundreds of millions of dollars spent on them”
“I think consumers are going to get a bit wary. Get a bit wary of games that have hundreds of millions of dollars spent on them. I think gamers are going to start saying, ‘For what?’
“The pressures are for games to appeal to more and more people. It used to be if you sold a million units, then that was OK. Then it was three million units. Now it’s five million units. Five million units is crazy. We’ve never sold five million units.”
It’s not just consumers who are getting wise, though. Matthews acknowledges that the publishers also see the dead-end approaching.
“I think something has to be said for the platform holders now. Along with digital distribution, the fact that the platform holders are really opening their doors and encouraging self-publishing and helping independent developers to take on some of those publishing responsibilities, has changed things for us. I think it will change things for a lot of other developers. “Hellblade was announced at the GamesCom Playstation 4 press conference. My perception of that press conference was that the real big hitters in that were all independent titles. It’s great that the platform holders have recognised that. There’s a real appetite from their players for innovative, creative games.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to try to do things differently. Like on Hellblade, we’re questioning everything that we do. Not just on development, but also how we do things from a business perspective as well. Normally you would say, ‘Well, you involve these types of agencies, get these people involved in this, and a website will take this long to create.’ The next thing that we’re doing is, we’re saying, ‘Well, is that true? Can we try and do these things a different way,’ because you can.
“There’s definitely pressure for us to fill all those gaps left by a publisher, but it’s a great challenge for us to step up to. Ultimately, we have to transition into a publisher. That’s going to happen at some point, if we want to publish our own games.”
In 11 of the 12 countries surveyed as part of a report published by Microsoft, respondents said that technology’s effect on privacy was mostly negative. Most concerned were people in Japan and France, where 68 percent of the respondents thought technology has had a mostly negative impact on privacy.
A majority want better legal protections and say the rights of Internet users should be governed by local laws irrespective of where companies are based.
Internet users in India, Indonesia and Russia were the least concerned, according to the survey. In general, those in developing countries were less bothered.
Surveys like this one should always be looked at with a healthy dose of skepticism. But there is little doubt that people are wary of how their personal data is used by companies and governments, according to John Phelan, communications officer at European consumer organization BEUC.
That people shouldn’t take privacy for granted has been highlighted on several occasions in just the last week.
Shortly after the horrific Paris shootings, British Prime Minister David Cameron was criticized for saying that authorities should have the means to read all encrypted traffic.
Also, U.S. mobile operator Verizon Wireless found itself in hot water over the way one of its advertising partners used the Unique Identifier Headers Verizon embeds in its customers’ Internet traffic to recreate tracking cookies that had been deleted by users. Online advertising company Turn defended its practises, but still said on Friday it would stop using the method by next month.
Worries about privacy aren’t likely to subside anytime soon, with more devices becoming connected as part of the expected Internet of Things boom.
The “Views from Around the Globe: 2nd Annual Poll on How Personal Technology is Changing our Lives” survey queried 12,002 Internet users in the U.S., China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, South Korea, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Japan and France.
Microsoft Researchers have worked out a way that means you will never have to plug in your phone again.
Yunxin Liu, Zhen Qin and Chunshui Zhao from Microsoft Research’s Beijing campus have developed a new system they call AutoCharge.
The researchers’ paper said that “wireless power methods have several disadvantages, preventing them from being used in our targeted usage scenarios”
Electromagnetic radiation of wireless power is much higher than wireless communications (Wi-Fi or 3G). Thus, safety to human bodies is a big issue in wireless power. As a result, wireless power is usually used only in extreme scenarios such as in outer space, for military purposes, or in very short ranges.
Radio frequencies used in wireless power are much lower than the frequencies of light, it is hard to emit the radio waves within a straight beam. This causes energy waste if the receiver is not large enough and makes it hard to ensure safety.
The current crop of wireless charging solutions for smartphones typically require special phone cases and ‘charging pads’, and work using electromagnetic induction. Power is transmitted only over a few centimetres.
However the researchers came up with a way of using solar power techniques to charge smartphones.
Indoor surrounding light is usually much than the sunlight and thus cannot be used to charge a smartphone but instead of relying on the sun, the team built a prototype charger that can be mounted on a ceiling and automatically locate a smartphone lying on a table, then charge it using a directed beam of light.
The light charger has two modes. In the ‘detection’ mode, it uses a camera and image recognition software to detect objects with the size and shape of a smartphone lying on a table. The charger will rotate until it detects an object that looks like a smartphone.
The device then enters charging mode and turns on its light. The prototype used an UltraFire CREE XM-L T6 Focusing LED Flashlight.
CCS Insight has said that, while Microsoft’s share of the tablet market is expected to grow, Windows 10 will have “little impact” before the end of 2016.
CCS has cast its eye over tablet sales, and said that while the market saw minimal growth in 2014, sales are likely to increase by 28 percent in 2015.
The growth will largely be driven by Android, thanks to affordably priced tablets running Google’s software, while Apple is expected to continue to woo those in the market for a high-end device.
Apple will also grow its position in the business tablet market, CCS expects, thanks to its partnership with IBM.
However, CCS stressed that Microsoft should not be overlooked. Sales of Windows-based tablets won’t see huge growth this year, but will gain a bigger share of the market.
Marina Koytcheva, CCS director of forecasting, said: “We expect Android to continue dominating the low-end and mid-range market, with Apple taking the lion’s share of the high-end.
“But Windows is gaining a bigger slice of the pie, albeit from a very low level, and should not be overlooked.”
Koytcheva added that Microsoft’s decision to scrap its licence fee for Windows devices under 9in is a major factor.
“It has given Windows fresh impetus, as it has spurred manufacturers to produce a better range of devices at a variety of prices, as low as $99 for HP’s Stream 7, for example,” she said.
Windows 10 is expected to make its debut on 21 January, but isn’t likely to have much of an impact, according to CCS.
“Microsoft still runs the risk of failing to convert the wide availability of cheaper Windows tablets into strong growth in unit sales before 2017,” Koytcheva said.
“Windows 10 will take time to make its mark, and developers will need a few months to perfect applications for the new platform. We expect Windows 10 to have little impact on tablet sales before late 2016.”
AMD has developed facial recognition technology to enable users to organize and search video clips based on the people featured in them.
AMD executive Richard Gayle demonstrated to Tom’s Guide how AMD Content Manager, uses facial recognition to browse through a group of local videos to find specific faces.
There is an index that displays the people’s faces that have been detected throughout the video clips.
The user can edit the names of the people as well as add keyword tags to help improve future searches for specific people.
For instance, if you are searching for videos that feature one person, you can click on his or her respective face to pull up the corresponding videos.
Additionally, if you want to narrow a search to a specific person combined with a keyword tag, you can drag the face icon and click on the desired keyword.
Once you click on the video you wish to view, a player appears in the right windowpane, along with a timeline displayed at the bottom with a list of all the people who appear in the video.
The timeline is separated into various coloured boxes to mark the exact moment in the video when each person first appears on screen, so you do not have to watch the entire video to see the bit you want.
The application also has facial recognition capabilities that allow users to do some basic editing, such as compiling a single montage video of any individual or individuals.
While this is pretty good technology, it probably does not have any major use yet on its own.
Gayle said it is unlikely that AMD will release Content Manager in its current form but will license it to OEMs that are able to rebrand the application before offering it on their respective systems.
He claimed that only AMD processors have sufficient power to operate the application, because of the processor’s ability to have the CPU, GPU and memory controller work closely together.
HP is about to put out two tablets later this year.
The names are expected to be the HP Pro Slate 10 EE G1 and HP Pro Tablet 10 EE G1 and they were found on the world wide wibble by Notebook Italia,.
Both tablets are powered by an Intel quad-core Bay Trail Atom Z3735F processor. Accompanying the processor package is 2GB of RAM, as well as 32GB of internal storage. Both the Pro Slate and Pro Tablet come with 10.1-inch displays, as well as 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFC.
The Pro Slate sticks with Android, while the Pro Tablet opts for Windows 8.1. The tablets mean they will each come with a stylus, but it would appear that the stylus is just a stand in for your finger, rather than doing anything useful.
Pro Slate will set you back $400.00 and Pro Tablet cost $499.
HP has yet to officially announce either device.
New evidence coming from two LinkedIn profiles of AMD employees suggest that AMD’s upcoming Radeon R9 380X graphics card which is expected to be based on the Fiji GPU will actually use High-Bandwidth Memory.
Spotted by a member of 3D Center forums, the two LinkedIn profiles mention both the R9 380X by name as well as describe it as the world’s firts 300W 2.5D discrete GPU SoC using stacked die High-Bandwidth Memory and silicon interposer. While the source of the leak is quite strange, these are more reliable than just rumors.
The first in line is the profile of Ilana Shternshain, an ASIC Physical Design Engineer, which has been behind the Playstation 4 SoC, Radeon R9 290X and R9 380X, which is described as the “largest in ‘King of the hill’ line of products.”
The second LinkedIn profile is the one from AMD’s System Architect Manager, Linglan Zhang, which was involved in developing “the world’s first 300W 2.5D discrete GPU SOC using stacked die High Bandwidth Memory and silicon interposer.”
Earlier rumors suggest that AMD might launch the new graphics cards early this year as the company is under heavy pressure from Nvidia’s recently released, as well as the upcoming, Maxwell-based graphics cards.


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Californian court will be hearing a price-fixing lawsuit and has urged consumers who bought DRAM products to file a claim to get a refund of the calculated difference from the involved companies.
The Vimtag P1: A great home monitoring cam with a few kinks
JESBOD QY13 sports Bluetooth earphones
Expanding mobile photography with Aukey's wide-angle lenses
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge Lens Cover
Time is running out to claim your free Windows 10 upgrade
windows 10 upgrade
Build 14393.5 for PC and Mobile released to all Insiders
A group of over 20 chip makers have joined forces to develop MRAM, the next breakthrough in memory chips which is set to deliver up to 10 times more speed compared to the current DRAM chips.
Intel's product recall of certain Sandy Bridge chipsets, which was initially estimated to cost the company around $300 million, is expected to come closer to the region of $1 billion. BusinessWeek is reporting that several...
Japan's NEC Corp and Toshiba Corp have agreed to jointly develop next-generation memory chips that reduce power consumption in a bid to hit back at overseas rivals, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said on Sunday. ...
NEC and Hitachi are mulling over the dissolution of their memory manufacturing joint venture and fleeing the DRAM business entirely, according to investors cited by Bloomsberg. NEC and Hitachi are fifth and...

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Facebook has worst customer satisfaction rating of all social media
Facebook may be huge but, even with 1 billion users around the globe, the social networking giant isn't scoring well in customer satisfaction, according to new figures released by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index.
Pretty much every social media platform has beaten Facebook in the customer satisfaction stakes, according to the ACSI.
Google+ took top place among social media with a score of 78, along with Wikipedia. Meanwhile YouTube scored 73, Pinterest 69, Twitter 64 and LinkedIn scored 63.
Facebook's customer satisfaction rating fell to 61 from 66 in ACSI's 2011 study, making it the fifth in the Top 15 worst rated U.S. companies for customer service.
Speaking to SocialTimes.com, Larry Freed, CEO of customer experience firm ForeSee (an ASCI partner), said there are many reasons why customers are unhappy with Facebook, mostly to do with concerns about privacy policies, advertising and security issues.
"They're in a near monopoly situation: That's where everybody is and there's really no other game in town. Yet consumers are pretty dissatisfied with Facebook," Freed told SocialTimes.com.
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US FDA Facility Compliance Actions Could Accelerate Despite Inspections Freeze
No longer in the field, inspectors have more time to wrap up work on previously completed facility evaluations, attorney Howard Sklamberg says. The inspections freeze could delay manufacturers’ abilities to bring facilities into compliance following adverse inspection findings, as well as agency reclassifications of facility status.
You may also be interested in...
"We're particularly concerned about the health care area right now because obviously that's driving everything now," says Tennessee AG Herbert Slatery III. He and CRN CEO Steve Mister spoke with HBW Insight about regulation of the consumer health marketplace with FDA suspending inspections of facilities operated by businesses manufacturing and marketing products subject to its oversight.
Exceptions will be made for inspections of facilities manufacturing medically necessary products, such as products to treat and prevent Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, and breakthrough products such as cancer treatments.
Agency responds to COVID-19 pandemic's US arrival by suspending domestic surveillance inspections and non-critical for-cause and preapproval inspections.


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This past May, Crunchyroll confirmed a July 2022 release window for the upcoming Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth anime. One month later, Aquaplus announced an exact date for the new anime.
The anime debuts on Saturday, July 2, across various Japanese broadcasting networks such as TOKYO MX and BS11. Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth consists of 28 episodes with the first two episodes arriving on July 2. These episodes will be released with a traditional weekly schedule.
Check out the new trailer below:
Aquaplus is working on a new Utawarerumono prequel game titled Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten. The new game releases on September 8 for PS4 and PS5 in Japan. Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten releases that same day for PC via Steam worldwide.
Lastly, the official website for the Utawarerumono series is live here.


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Nvidia (NVDA) is a leading provider of graphics processing units (GPUs), which are used in gaming, data centers, and artificial intelligence applications. The company has seen tremendous growth over the past few years as demand for its products has increased significantly. However, investors should be wary of buying into the hype surrounding Nvidia’s AI capabilities before earnings.
Nvidia’s stock price has skyrocketed since 2017 due to strong demand for its GPUs from gamers and data center operators alike. This trend continued in 2020 when the pandemic caused an increase in online gaming activity and cloud computing usage. As a result, Nvidia’s revenue grew by nearly 50% year-over-year during Q3 2020.
The company also saw strong growth in its AI segment last year as it released new products such as the DGX A100 system and EGX platform that enable customers to build their own AI infrastructure on top of Nvidia’s hardware solutions. These offerings have been well received by customers looking to leverage AI technology for various use cases such as autonomous driving or healthcare research projects.
However, despite this impressive performance from Nvidia’s AI segment, investors should not get too excited about these developments just yet because there is still much uncertainty surrounding how successful these initiatives will be going forward. For example, while many companies may be interested in using Nvidia’s hardware solutions for their own projects, they may ultimately decide against doing so if they find cheaper alternatives elsewhere or if they don’t believe that investing in such technology will yield sufficient returns on investment over time.
Furthermore, even though analysts expect Nvidia to report another quarter of record revenues when it releases its Q4 2020 results later this month, investors should keep an eye out for any potential risks associated with the company’s long-term prospects related to competition from other chipmakers or changes in customer preferences away from GPU-based solutions towards alternative technologies like FPGAs or ASIC chipsets instead . If any of these issues arise then it could put a damper on future earnings growth at NVIDIA which would likely cause its share price to decline accordingly .
In conclusion , while there is no doubt that NVIDIA has made significant strides towards becoming a leader within the rapidly growing field of Artificial Intelligence , investors need to remain cautious ahead of earnings season given all the uncertainties surrounding how successful these initiatives will actually turn out to be over time . It would therefore be wise not rush into buying shares right now but rather wait until after we have more clarity regarding what kind impact NVIDIA’s investments into this space will have on future profits before making any decisions .


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Mexico's inflation slowed in the first half of October, retreating further from August's peak as a drop in prices of agricultural produce partly offset a seasonal jump in energy costs.
The consumer-price index rose 0.62% in the first two weeks of the month, pushing the annual rate down to 6.30% from 6.35% at the end of September, the National Statistics Institute said Tuesday.
Core CPI, which excludes energy and fresh fruit and vegetables, rose 0.21%, slowing the 12-month rate to 4.75% from 4.80%.
Inflation slowed for a second consecutive month after reaching a 16-year-high of 6.66% in August, supporting the central bank's decision to stay on hold at its two previous policy meetings after a prolonged cycle of interest-rate increases.
The Bank of Mexico expects consumer prices to continue easing this year, and that inflation will return to its 3% target toward the end of 2018.
Residential electricity rates contributed the most to inflation in early October as summertime subsidies in 15 cities, designed to help consumers deal with air-conditioning costs, came to an end.
Public transport and telecommunications costs rose after a decline following a deadly earthquake in September, when the Mexico City government waived fares on the city's subway system and the country's telecommunications companies made phone calls, messaging and mobile data free so that even people without credit on their phones could communicate.
Agricultural prices fell 1.52% in the first two weeks of October, and overall food-and-beverage costs were down 0.63%. Processed food prices rose a modest 0.16%.
Write to Anthony Harrup at firstname.lastname@example.org
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 24, 2017 10:02 ET (14:02 GMT)


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2017 Jeep Wrangler Diesel Release Date – With a brand new 2017 Jeep Wrangler heading, Fiat Chrysler had two challenges to get over: Boost efficiency, and boost gas economy. Report has it a new turbocharged 4 cyndrical tube 2017 Jeep Wrangler Diesel engine could aid address both of those issues, as well as bring the vaunted 4×4’s drivetrain into the 21st century.
2017 Jeep Wrangler Diesel Review
Automotive News reports that Fiat Chrysler is rumored to be establishing a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder for the 2017 Jeep Wrangler Diesel. Result is estimated at “nearly 300 horsepower.” The engine, code-named “Cyclone,” is claimed to be an aluminum-block layout with straight fuel shot, variable valve timing, as well as a twin-scroll turbo.
2017 Jeep Wrangler Diesel Specs
The expected engine would likely be constructed at FCA’s Trenton 2017 Jeep Wrangler Diesel Engine Complex beyond Detroit. Last month, the car manufacturer introduced that the plant would certainly be updated to build a new four-cylinder engine, Automotive News states. The facility currently generates the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 that makes 285 horse power in the present Wrangler.
2017 Jeep Wrangler Diesel Engine
If the turbocharged Typhoon engine ends up in the 2017 Wrangler, it will likely be an optional drivetrain targeted at enhanced fuel economic climate. FCA boss Sergio Marchionne previously hinted that the next-generation 2017 Jeep Wrangler Diesel would certainly supply an optional four-cylinder engine as well as eight-speed automatic transmission.
2017 Jeep Wrangler Diesel Redesigns
With previous rumors recommending that the 2017 Wrangler can supply diesel and also crossbreed drivetrains, as well as button to a lightweight aluminum body, it’s clear Jeep is wishing for substantial enhancements in fuel economy. We’re assuming a grunty turbo engine would make the 2017 Jeep Wrangler Diesel satisfyingly zippy on-road, though rock creeping fans would likely like a large-displacement, naturally-aspirated engine. Us? We’re still holding out hope for a Hellcat-powered Wrangler.
2017 Jeep Wrangler Diesel Price And Release Date
The following 2017 Jeep Wrangler Diesel is stated to be making a late-2016 debut; the Toledo manufacturing facility where today’s Wrangler is constructed is already retooling for the next-gen version, as well as a new Wrangler-based pickup. With demand for the Wrangler frequently outstripping supply, and also the awaited increase in aluminum usage, Jeep can name its price when it concerns the new one, but a beginning MSRP near today’s $25,000 mark is likely.


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Paycom is one of only 23 companies to have earned a spot on the prestigious list for nine years or more.
OKLAHOMA CITY (PRWEB) August 21, 2014
Paycom, a leading provider of comprehensive, cloud-based technology for human capital management, was ranked on the Inc. 500|5000 for a ninth consecutive year, checking in at No. 2,401. The exclusive list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies recognized Paycom along with such powerhouses as GoPro, Bridger and Lending Club.
Paycom is one of only 23 companies to have earned a spot on the prestigious list for nine years or more. The honor marks Paycom’s final Inc. 500|5000 listing, as it recently became a publicly traded company with its shares opening for trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
“We’re proud to be in the company of many unique organizations who have found the way to channel their passion to deliver growth and success,” said Paycom founder and CEO Chad Richison.
Paycom’s success continues to earn accolades from the publication. In addition to this Inc. 500|5000 listing, Paycom is a two-time member of Inc.’s Hire Power Award and this year was named to Inc.’s Build 100, representing less than 1.5 percent of U.S.-based companies that are noted as sustained-growth champions.
Inc. magazine President and Editor-in-Chief Eric Schurenberg said, “The average company on the list grew a mind-boggling 516 percent. Those are results most companies could only dream of.”
A complete listing of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region and other criteria, can be found at http://www.inc.com/inc5000/list/2014.


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Car sickness: It comes and goes, right?
Read This Article
We reported earlier this year that General Motors would be adding a new driving mode to its Chevrolet Volt for model year 2013, as well as increasing the electric car's EV-only range from 35 miles to 38 miles.
For 2011, a Chevrolet Camaro convertible joined the Camaro lineup, so it is no surprise GM would release convertible version of the Chevy Camaro ZL1, only a matter of when.
The 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC SIerra have been caught testing in the dry desert heat. We got a peek at the engine, too.


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BEIJING - As China has a supply gap of beef and Pakistan has sufficient capacity, efforts are being made for Pakistani beef to enter into the Chinese market and grab a sufficient place of the product opening a wide opportunities of export to the neighbouring country.
China is a large meat importer of beef. In 2020, China’s beef production reached 6.72 million tons, and the import volume reached to 2.1183 million tons with an increase of 27.65 per cent, setting the beef import record. At the same time, China’s chicken import volume nearly doubled as compared with that in 2019.
China’s annual output of beef and mutton added up to 10 million tons, said Li Jinghui, Deputy Secretary General of China Animal Agriculture Association and President of
White-feathered Broiler Alliance. He added, “China’s per capita output is a few kilograms, which fails to meet domestic needs. That’s why there are millions of tons of imports”.
China is a major meat importer while animal husbandry plays an important role in the economy of Pakistan; yet annual meat trade between the two countries is very small. So far, China has not opened the door of Pakistani beef import, as Pakistan is still on China’s
“List of Animals and Their Products in the Countries and Regions with A Prevalent Animal Epidemic Situation Banned for Entry,” according to a report published by CEN.
In 2019, China and Pakistan signed the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Free Zone Agreement. Pakistani government is undertaking a vaccination programme to address the FMD issue. In this way, Pakistan is expected to move from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)’s Stage-2 category for countries (in which FMD is reduced to target areas) to Stage-3.
The Chinese research institutions are providing Pakistan with state-of-the-art technology, said He Cheng, a professor at China Agricultural University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
He added, “With vaccines and training personnel, Pakistan can produce certified and FMD free meat and dairy products, which is our goal”.
On the site selection of FMD free zone, Shen Jing, Deputy General Manager of QYH Biotech, with China Animal Husbandry Industry as its shareholder, revealed that they plan to build the FMD free area in either Balochistan province or Punjab province, and carry out the construction with the support of Chinese customs and quarantine agencies.
At the same time, he said they would further explore the possibility of information and personnel exchange, promote the use of vaccines and the establishment of standards, and advance the mutual recognition of standards.
Food and fodder should go ahead of troops and horses. Vaccine is a key element in the construction of FMD free zone. At present, the FMD vaccines, approved by Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, mainly comes from China, Russia and Western Europe.
Masood Rabbani, Vice Chancellor of University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), proposed an idea to realize the localization of FMD vaccines with the help of China.
“We have a vaccine research institution in Pakistan, and we can accept investment from Chinese enterprises to build processing facilities to produce foot-and-mouth disease vaccine,” he said.
As an enterprise exporting FMD vaccines to Pakistan in 2019, Shen Jing also plans to bring Chinese vaccine technology to Pakistan. “We will build a veterinary vaccine factory in Gwadar Port, Pakistan. The annual output of foot-and-mouth disease vaccine is expected to be 700 million doses. It is not only used in Pakistan, but also exported to the Middle East and South Asian countries.”
Gwadar Port sits at the southern end of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. As a Chinese enterprise deeply involved in Gwadar Port, Zhang Baozhong, the chairman of China Overseas Ports Holding Company, put forward a new idea.
He suggested that China and Pakistan make decisions as soon as possible and take Gwadar Port as a green channel for agricultural cooperation. “That is to say, we can carry out corresponding inspection and quarantine in Gwadar Port. After the products are transported to Chinese ports, no further inspection and quarantine is required. In this way, these goods can reach Chinese consumers directly.”


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KANSAS CITY — Across the supermarket, the refrigerated and frozen dairy departments face steadily rising competition from plant-based spinoffs.
Yet, over the past year, the availability of these non-dairy alternatives has not affected total dairy consumption in the United States. Dairy grocery store sales rose 14% in 2020 from 2019, to $67 billion, according to IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm. And while the 2020 numbers for overall dairy per-capita consumption are not out yet, the trend line indicates that dairy is performing well with consumers, according to the National Milk Producers Federation, Arlington, Va.
Since the US Department of Agriculture began tracking per-capita dairy consumption in the 1970s, the trend has continued upward for five straight decades, growing 21% since 1975. Increased demand for butter, cheese and ice cream this past year is expected to push per-capita US dairy consumption to its highest level ever. Even fluid milk retail sales, which had been declining significantly during the past two decades, remain above pre-pandemic levels.
“During the first seven months of 2021, dairy generated $34 billion in sales (per IRI data),” said Anne-Marie Roerink, president of 210 Analytics, San Antonio. “Compared to the massive sales peaks of 2020, this constitutes a 4.3% decline year-on-year, but an 11.1% increase compared with 2019.”
In refrigerated milk, for the 52-week period ended July 11, 2021, skim/low-fat retail sales were down 1.6% to $6.8 billion, while whole milk sales were up 2.2% to $4.9 billion, according to IRI. These figures remain higher than the 52 weeks ended July 11, 2019, which were $6.4 billion and $4.3 billion, respectively.
The category of refrigerated kefir, a probiotic cultured beverage recognized as assisting with building immunity, had been declining in the few years leading up to the pandemic. Then sales reached $96.8 million (up 5.3%) for the 52 weeks ended July 12, 2020. One year later, kefir is now a $100 million (up 3.8%) business at retail.
Refrigerated yogurt sales totaled $7.6 billion in the 52 weeks ended July 11, 2021, up 2.5% from the same period a year ago, according to IRI. Yogurt was one of the few dairy categories that did not experience double-digit growth in 2020. This relative weakness was likely due to the fact that single-serve yogurt products often are packed for lunch or consumed as an on-the-go snack. With more people staying home, yogurt sales did not boom. The opposite was true for ice cream.
“Ice cream sales set a blazing pace in 2020 and just never let up,” said Michael Dykes, president and chief executive officer, International Dairy Foods Association, Washington. “All in all, 2021 is shaping up to be one of the strongest years on record for ice cream production and sales as the US economy opens up and restaurants and foodservice compete with grocery stores for ice cream sales.”
In 2020, ice cream makers in the United States churned out just over 1 billion gallons of hard ice cream, up 6% from 2019, according to USDA data. In the first five months of 2021, hard ice cream production was running 4% ahead of 2020 levels.
Butter sales continue to be off the charts. In 2020, 78% of US households bought butter or butter blends, up from 74.5% in 2019, according to the USDA.
Natural cheese retail sales are not slowing down. The entire category was valued at the register as $15.8 billion (up 5.6%) for the 52 weeks ended July 11, 2021, according to IRI. Shredded cheese is the largest segment ($6.1 billion, up 5%); however, snacking formats are experiencing the greatest growth rates, with cubes, for example, up 12% to $148.2 million.
The International Food Information Council, Washington, conducted a survey in early April 2021 of 1,014 American adults who consume dairy at least a few times a year. The survey compared how often and why they choose dairy products and their plant-based alternatives.
Despite the ever-growing options available for dairy alternatives, dairy itself remains overwhelmingly popular among dairy consumers. According to the findings, nearly three-quarters (72%) of adults who consume dairy foods or beverages do so several times a week, compared to about one-quarter (28%) who say the same of non-dairy alternatives.
Older adults have the strongest preference for dairy compared to other age groups, with four in five of those age 55-plus saying they consume dairy foods or beverages multiple times per week, compared to two-thirds of 18- to 34-year-olds and 73% of those 35- to 54-year-olds. Conversely, only 10% of adults age 55-plus consume plant-based alternatives multiple times a week, compared to about one-third of younger people (34% of those 18 to 34 and 31% of those 35 to 54). Half of adults age 55-plus say they never consume non-dairy alternatives, standing in stark contrast to just under 8% of 18- to 34-year-olds who say the same.
When the results are broken down by specific foods, Americans prefer cheese made from dairy over plant-based versions. About three-quarters (74%) said they always choose the dairy version of cheese while 20% sometimes choose non-dairy.
Comparing other products, 68% always choose the dairy version of butter while 23% sometimes choose non-dairy; 66% always choose the dairy version of ice cream while 26% sometimes choose non-dairy; 64% always choose the dairy version of milk while 26% sometimes choose non-dairy; 62% always choose the dairy version of yogurt while 22% sometimes choose non-dairy; and 45% always choose the dairy version of yogurt-based smoothies or drinks, while 27% sometimes choose non-dairy.
Women are significantly more likely than men to sometimes choose both dairy and plant-based versions of milk (29% of women versus 23% of men), though overall product preferences are mostly similar by gender.


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Lack of knowledge or expertise compels many entrepreneurs to operate by trial and error. If they become skilled at it, the successful ones emerge from crisis mode. Michael Kendall, co-owner and head of R&D at Kendall Research Inc. in San Diego, Calif., and Joey Panek, co-founder of HuB Studios LLC in Sarasota, Fla., finally broke the pattern.
Kendall initially spent about five years developing and patenting GelThotics – orthopedic products now selling to medical and non-medical companies, including some businesses that incorporate his products in theirs. “We did it through chemistry,” he says, “visiting major universities and corporations, NASA, DoD.” Shortly thereafter during a break at a foot-and-ankle surgical conference, a car hit him and caused severe orthopedic and nerve injuries. Today he laughs about the irony of having numerous orthopedists and podiatrists on hand. The business shut down for 12 years while he rehabilitated, then re-opened in 2010, the same year the video production studio HuB launched.
HuB’s co-founders imposed an obstacle on themselves – knowingly contracting for projects “slightly out of our skill set, with a willingness to learn as we went,” Panek says. “Each project became a launching pad for future projects.”
The HuB Incubator invested $50,000 at the start-up of the video business, while Kendall Research started with approximately $30,000 from the three partners’ personal savings. Both businesses reinvest.
The team of entrepreneurs in Sarasota spotted the perfect time for generating revenue when their workload was controlled, technology and equipment were on-site and they had the best talent on-hand to create their own webvideos. While taking more risks in their own content, Panek discovered a local need and observed new capabilities in the team members.
Opportunity reappeared at Kendall Research when a co-owner mentioned a quasi-medical catalog for people with foot pain that Kendall had known was successful for others in the industry. “People wore GelThotics and they worked,” he comments. “It was a good time for sales and clinical analysis. Feedback from catalog sales told me that the product functions as it’s supposed to by making people better. It was the basis for my confidence in going forward.”
The ride could be bumpy, especially when HuB used a cramped temporary office with most employees working virtually, and some left. Resignations undermined group dynamics. During that period, HuB shot a video in 95-degree heat – “with painful humidity,” Panek explains. “I felt absolutely oppressed.”
Kendall felt “emotionally drained” from developing packaging, which was difficult and expensive. He experienced “a real high” when response to catalog advertising revealed that GelThotics “was working in the marketplace,” he says. “People understand it; it can be easily manufactured; it’s wearing well.”
Cooperating with the Ringling College of Art and Design, HuB held a grand opening, a new experience for both, in a completely new building. “The entire community came out to support us,” Panek says, “with 15,000 people in the parking lot. I felt validated.”
Kendall Research reports approximately $120,000 in gross revenue for 2012; HuB, $612,000.
Kendall Research Inc., San Diego, Calif. – 5 FT + 4 PT
HuB Studios LLC, Sarasota, Fla. – 3 FT + 5 PT
Dr. Mildred L. Culp celebrates entrepreneurs and their spirit in THE RIDE®. © 2013 Passage Media.
Call us at 1-877-304-7769.
Monday – Friday: 7 a.m. – 3 p.m. / Saturday & Sunday: 7 a.m. – 11 a.m.


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Tricon to handle IFC titles worldwide
The exclusive deal, coming ahead of MIPCOM, starts with the Canadian distributor shopping Comedy Bang! Bang! (pictured) and Bunk .
Looking to buff up its catalogue, Tricon Films & Television has secured a deal to become the exclusive worldwide distributor of IFC original programming.
Ahead of MIPCOM, the third party distributor will shop two IFC titles at the international market, Comedy Bang! Bang!, hosted by Scott Aukerman, and Bunk, a comedy game show.
The deal was hammered by Tricon’s Jon Rutherford, senior vice president distribution and business development and IFC’s Laura Sher, senior vice president of legal and business affairs.
“IFC has been attracting an incredible line up of marquee talent to their brand, and we look forward to partnering with them to bring this new slate of programming to viewers around the world,” Tricon Films president Andrea Gorfolova said in a statement Wednesday.


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The Wal-mart baby bathtub is no longer a standard item in most of the nation’s largest retailers.
Wal-Mart says it is now offering a new, larger bathtub in its stores, but customers can still get a bathtub that fits them just fine.
The new Wal-Marts are designed for the home and feature a large-diameter tub that can fit a child up to 12 months old.
Wal-Mart customers can use a $14.99 wash and rinse to clean up the inside of the tub.
The bathtub comes with a two-year warranty, and is priced at $14 a month.
Bathtub makers say they are working on new technology to keep the price low for consumers.
Walmart spokeswoman Julie Smith says the company is still working on a solution that will allow the tub to fit babies up to 6 months old without having to spend a fortune.
In addition to a baby wash, the bathtub also has an infant wash with a small sponge and a shampoo and conditioner.


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Kartik Aaryan traces his journey from playing Rajjo to Gogo for 'Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2'; looks forward to doing a web-series When Kartik Aaryan,... ...http://www.punemirror.in/entertainment/bollywood/Love-war-and-a-25-page-monologue/articleshow/49291147.cms
All India Radio (AIR) has appointed releaseMyAd as a virtual agency to let advertisers book ads for all of AIR's stations online. releaseMyAd will... ...http://www.medianama.com/2015/10/223-all-india-radio-releasemyad/
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal on Thursday pointed out that the Centre had shown gender discrimination in... ...http://www.deccanchronicle.com/151009/nation-current-affairs/article/gender-bias-staff-split-central-administrative-tribunal
Two-year-old online realty start-up Grabhouse has raised $10 million in its Series B funding round from existing investors Sequoia Capital and... ...http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/companies/grabhouse-raises-10-million-for-expansion/148320/
Mumbai-based Cryptopy Technologies Pvt Ltd, the company behind broker free rental accomodation listing platform Grabhouse.com , has raised $10... ...http://techcircle.vccircle.com/2015/10/08/grabhouse-raises-10m-from-sequoia-kalaari/
Vani Institute is well known as Gate...


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Yahoo Inc. plans to disclose Friday that it will shutter its popular Photos service and transfer users to Flickr, a competitor that the company acquired in 2005.
The move is intended to eliminate a redundant product and save on costs for the Web portal, which is trying to play catch up with rival Google.
In closing Photos, Yahoo is adopting a major tenant suggested in an internal memo by Brad Garlinghouse, a senior vice president at the company, that was leaked to the press in November. In the treatise dubbed the Peanut Butter Manifesto for his description of Yahoo being spread too thin, Garlinghouse called for a number of the company’s products to be eliminated as way to revive growth and restore focus.
There was no word whether Yahoo plans to close other products. In his memo, Garlinghouse had mentioned redundancies involving bookmark services Del.icio.us and myWeb, and Yahoo Groups message boards and Yahoo 360 social network service, among others.
Yahoo plans to send an e-mail to its Photos users around mid-June telling them of the company’s plans to close Photos. Users will have around three months to move their pictures to Flickr, but will also be given a choice to transfer the images to outside services including Photobucket, Shutterfly and Kodak EasyShare.
Yahoo had originally resisted merging its two photo services for fear of upsetting Flickr’s users, many of whom are avid photographers and who are on the extreme in terms of the amount of time they spend online. Yahoo Photo users, in contrast, were considered more mainstream, and interested primarily in somewhere to store their snapshots.
Stewart Butterfield, who co-founded Flickr with his wife, Caterina Fake, said in an interview that he always expected Flickr to become Yahoo’s sole photo service at some point. The question was always when.
Flickr is now a much more diverse Web site, he said, that can absorb the new users without upsetting the close-knit community he has created. In addition to the difference in user base, Flickr offers many features unavailable on Photos, including the ability to affix tags, or keywords, to photos to make them searchable, and groups around particular photo themes.
Yahoo Photos has a much larger archive of photos — around 2 billion, according to Butterfield. Flickr has around 500 million.
With the shuttering of Photos, Butterfield that he expects Flickr to swell in size. However, he emphasized the community on the Web site has become so diverse that it will be better able to cope with the influx than when it was acquired.


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Waterlogic, the clothier, producer, distributor and repair supplier of purified ingesting water dispensers, has offered its Oceansaver Accolade to DPD, the explicit parcel supply carrier.
The accolade recognises organisations that experience made a vital contribution and dedication to the relief of single-use plastics that now not simplest affect local weather trade, but additionally dangerously pollute the arena’s oceans.
Since 2020, DPD has supplied its other folks (roughly 22,000) with reusable steel bottles and has put in Waterlogic water stations at its 87 depots, making sure that the bottles will also be simply refilled. DPD estimates this has helped save over 1,000,000 plastic bottles, similar to over 82.8 tonnes of plastic – and, in accordance with its other folks filling up on moderate two times an afternoon, 5 days per week, an estimated 3.75 million plastic bottles of water will now not be wanted. In addition, DPD’s Hub merchandising machines, which most often distributed 100,000 plastic bottles of water a yr, now simplest supply cans.
“Our partnership with Waterlogic is an important part of our vision to be the leader in sustainable delivery. At DPD, our aim is to drive and inspire more sustainable behaviour in our employees – behaviours that will hopefully extend outside of the workplace. We believe that becoming more sustainable is the right decision to help protect our planet and the people in it, and we are really proud to be presented with this accolade and to have our efforts to remove single-use plastics recognised,” commented Olly Craughan, head of company social accountability at DPD.
Waterlogic’s Oceansaver Accolade programme demonstrates how front-and-centre environmental sustainability is in relation to the corporate’s operational mindset. The corporate hydrates just about 50 million customers day-to-day and contributes to the relief of 23.8 billion single-use plastic bottles, and was once one of the crucial first to introduce point-of-use (POU) water doling out programs. These attach without delay to present water provides and scale back the will for environmentally unfriendly single-use plastic bottles. Waterlogic is operating with its shoppers and main on new techniques to inspire extra sustainable hydration, together with its Freefill initiative that it has championed along primary organisations like DPD. By putting in bottle filling stations that group of workers and shoppers can use, 1.1 million refills have been recorded in 2020 on my own as communities embraced reusable bottles.
Alistair Dicken, head of company accounts at Waterlogic, commented: “As a long-term hydration solution supply partner to DPD, we have been delighted to support its green journey through the provision of innovative bottle filling stations across its distribution centres. The bespoke branding opportunity we provided for these stations enabled DPD to convey a powerful message to users, aligned to its wider sustainability programme – ‘You never need to use plastic again’. We are delighted to recognise DPD’s genuine commitment to sustainability with the Waterlogic Oceansaver Accolade.”
Waterlogic has already offered accolades to Goldman Sachs UK, Interserve on behalf of E.ON, the Iberostar Group and Ramsey Health Care in Australia, among others, and will proceed to recognise deserving, sustainability-focused shoppers internationally.


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Expat Relocation Solutions, a leading provider of relocation services, is proud to announce that Mary Ellen Tretina is taking on a new role of Director,
Strikes paralyze Germany travel, li-ion batteries claim several ships, how Ukraine-Russia war reshaped ocean shipping.
Rate hikes increase LTL revenue, heavy rains halt train shipments in South Africa, containers stuck in Pakistan’s ports.
Updates from the FMC, a shipping line shake-up and why seafarers need a much-needed safety seminar on lithium-ion batteries.
Though freight rates are returning to pre-pandemic levels, someone needs to something about all those empty shipping containers.
We are excited to announce Relocation Services International (RSI) and Expat Relocation Solutions (ERS) have merged and will now be operating under the brand Expat


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London-based Dija is an online marketplace that guarantees to deliver groceries to your doorstep within 10-minutes. The company launched in London today and is currently active in South Kensington, Fulham, and Hackney, soon to be followed by Camden Town and rolling out to over 20 locations by summer.
Raised funding last December
In December 2020, Dija raised $20M (approx €16.57M) from Blossom Capital, Creandum, and Index Ventures. The funding will allow the startup to invest in building its team and the operational and technological infrastructure that underpins its offering.
Guaranteed delivery within 10-minutes
Dija is founded by former Deliveroo executives Alberto Menolascina and Yusuf Saban. Menolascina was the director of Corporate Strategy at Deliveroo, and Yusuf Saban was Chief of Staff to the CEO of the food-delivery unicorn, which is expected to list shortly in London. Menolascina also co-founded Everli, a same-day grocery delivery company in Italy, and more recently served as a senior executive at REEF Technology.
With Dija, customers will be able to buy branded food and non-perishable items, as well as fresh produce with a guarantee of both speed and reliability.
In a press release, the company said it is so confident in its ability to deliver exactly what is requested in the allotted time, that it is offering customers free deliveries for three months in case if it does not. “If your order doesn’t arrive in 10 minutes, Dija will deliver free for the next three months under the terms of their ‘no-quibble 10-minute turnaround guarantee’*.”
*Dija’s 10-minute delivery and no substitution offer applies only in its first month of operation.
Yusuf Saban, co-founder of Dija said, “Dija will deliver all the goods you require on a weekly basis in under 10 minutes. Grocery stores aren’t designed to facilitate the fast fulfilment of orders, rather they are designed for browsing. We have put a 10-minute delivery speed and consummate reliability at the front and centre. Our hubs are designed so that pick and pack and fulfilment is the fastest possible.”
With 20 hubs covering areas including Clapham, Wandsworth, Acton, Islington, Mayfair, Stockwell, and Clerkenwell, due to open by summer, more than 3 million Londoners will be able to access Dija. Currently, the Dija app is available to download on Apple’s App Store.
How does Dija deliver so quickly?
Dija is operating the grocery marketplace from hubs within the local communities it serves. Besides the current delivery areas, the company plans to now open 20 further hubs, covering central London and Zone 2, by this summer.
Co-founder and CEO of Dija Alberto Menolascina said, “Gone are the days of fighting for online slots, damaged goods, and disappointing substitutions. Dija is here to change every hassle we experience with the weekly shop. We are making this time-consuming and unsatisfactory experience simple, speedy, and reliable. Dija combines brilliant execution with bespoke technology to create an exceptional experience for customers across the UK, freeing up their time and energy by delivering what consumers want, when they want it.”
To guarantee speed, Dija’s hubs are located within densely populated urban areas, right on customers’ doorstep, enabling them to deliver within 10 minutes. To guarantee the reliability, each hub carries more than 2,000 products sold at recommended retail prices.
Dija uses data to improve efficiency and spot buying patterns so that its customers do not have to put up with substitutions or missing items.
The company’s current delivery spot, i.e South Kensington and Fulham, has seen customers convert to regular shoppers. The company claims about 40 per cent of daily orders are placed by returning customers, and the service is top-rated by 95 per cent of customers. With such figures, the company has seen results of 300 per cent growth in orders since its inception.
The startup is investing in its own fleet of e-bikes to improve the sustainability of the delivery service. Also, it is making the safety and working conditions of its workers a priority from the outset, with vehicles, bags, and uniforms chosen to keep delivery riders and drivers safe and visible on the streets.


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“It was a big evening for Apple fans, as the biggest company in the world announced the latest round of updates to its products and gave us more details on a whole new one,” James O’Malley writes for Tech Digest.
“The most transformative new Apple product came earlier in the evening, as Cooked announced ‘ResearchKit,’ which will sit alongside Apple’s Health app and let users participate in medical research,” O’Malley writes. “It seems that the next frontier for smartphones is helping cure disease.”
“It’ll do this using two things that a smartphone can do: It’ll share your health data with healthcare providers (such as your step count and heartbeat – which your iPhone and Apple Watch will do), but it will augment this with specialist apps developed by medical professionals,” O’Malley writes. “Sounds brilliant, right? But get this – on a macro scale, it could be even more amazing. Typically medical trials only usually involve a relatively small number of people, answering vague questions. The sort of tech we see in ResearchKit means that trials could have thousands (if not millions) of participants, all sharing much more detailed data – which will hopefully lead to better and faster cures…”
Read more in the full article here.
Apple debuts ResearchKit, giving medical researchers the tools to revolutionize medical studies – March 9, 2015


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Ever since the beginning of the digital revolution, cyber attacks have been on the rise to this day
Today, no matter how developed we are in terms of technology, cyber criminals always use these developments against brands worldwide.
Therefore, even though almost every organization is taking the best cyber security measures, it is never enough to defend against cyber attacks. Thanks to cyber criminals’ latest techniques!
We have just crossed the first half of 2021, and we are sailing towards the other half. However, as of now, we have witnessed some major cyber attacks on businesses and organizations worldwide that have left organization’s heads and experts perplexed.
Some of these cyber attacks were not that harmful as compared to some of the attacks that are remarkably malicious and dangerous. Moreover, threat actors didn’t spare any industry, whether government or non-government, small or big. Almost every organization was targeted in the first half of 2021.
Now let’s take a look at 5 of the jaw-dropping cyber attacks that have happened so far:
#1 Domino’s India Data Leak
Domino’s India, the popular pizza brand, suffered a massive data leak. Customers’ personal data related to 18 crore orders that are placed with the fast-food chain were made available online. The worst part is that this information was made available to the public. Exposed data includes customers’ names, email ids, mobile numbers, and locations. However, the company assured customers that no payment details such as credit card information were leaked in the incident.
#2 Microsoft Exchange Mass Cyber Attack
The mass cyber attack on Microsoft Exchange Server has significantly added to the increasing sophistication of cyber attacks. The cyber attack effected thousands of organizations suffered and millions of individuals worldwide. The threat actors exploited the four zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Exchange Server, affecting 9 government agencies and over 60,000 private companies in the U.S. alone. However, as of now Microsoft issued a statement that the exploit has been patched.
#3 Computer Maker Acer
The computer giant Acer was targeted by a ransomware attack and the malicious actors demanded a ransom of $50 million. It is worth noting that the ransom amount made the highest recorded ransom till date. The attack came to light after the attackers disclosed the breach on their data leak site. It is believed the infamous ransomware gang, known as REvil, were behind this attack. The ransomware gang also shared some images of leaked data to prove they accessed the company’s data.
#4 Colonial Pipeline
On 7th May, Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest oil pipelines in the US, was targeted by a ransomware attack. The attack was so powerful that it forced the company to shut down for a long period of time. It was a smart move from the company to proactively take specific systems offline to contain the threat. The company also immediately engaged third-party cyber security experts to investigate the incident and mitigate the threat.
The attack was so severe and alarming that the U.S. President Biden had to declare a state of emergency. Unfortunately, even though the company handled the matter wisely and everything is in control now, they also had to pay a huge chunk of money as ransom to gain back access to its systems.
#5 Pegasus Spyware
Pegasus spyware attack is considered one of the worst cyber attacks on humanity and this ranks among the most sophisticated ones. The spyware was created by the Israeli company NSO Group for government agencies to monitor criminals and terrorists. A leaked list that consisted of more than 50,000 phone numbers, believed to be belonging to the persons of interests for NSO’s clients, made the shocking revelation.
The leaked list also contains details of various reporters, executives, and editors of giant media outlets such as the New York Times, Financial Times, CNN, and Reuters.
These attacks are just a tip of the iceberg. There are a number of cyber attacks that I haven’t mentioned. However, having said that, it doesn’t mean it is the end. In fact, several cyber attacks took place in the past and have surely alarmed the organizations to prepare themselves against such unexpected attacks. But, If an organization is left unprepared, the cyber pandemic can spread faster and wickedly than coronavirus.
Therefore, it is high time that organizations take cyber security seriously and equip themselves enough to battle these mischievous circumstances.
Click the link below to download the Latest
DMARC Industry Report 2020-2021


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Karachi – May: “IEEEP Fair presents a unique opportunity to electronics and electrical exhibitors, consultants, delegations and trade visitors for sharing views, developing understanding of latest developments and technological know-how in the engineering industry and find innovative and affordable solutions to engineering-related challenges.
I like to appreciate IEEEP Karachi and Badar Expo Solutions for organizing such event”, Mr. Shamim Ahmed Firpo, President Karachi Chamber (KCCI), shared his thoughts while addressing at the Networking Session about of 8th IEEEP Fair 2017 as its Chief Guest here at a local hotel.
“The Industrial, Electrical & Electronics Exhibition of Pakistan (IEEEP) is to be held from August 1-3 at Karachi Expo Centre”. This was stated by the Chairman Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers of Pakistan (IEEEP) Engr. M Asif Siddiqui. “The exhibition will also provide a bridge between the academia and industry for our future generation of young engineers,’ said Asif.
Earlier Engr. Navid Ansari, Vice Chairman and Convener Fair in his welcoming note stated that the exhibition will be a valuable forum for relevant persons to collect information on wide variety of developments in electrical and electronics sectors and to meet experts of the said areas.


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Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) on Thursday reported net profit of NT$2.47 billion (US$80.85 million) for last year, or earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.57.
That is a drastic drop from the NT$6.41 billion, or NT$1.47 per share, the world’s second-largest contract notebook computer maker reported in 2012.
The company suffered a net loss of NT$2.73 billion in the third quarter of last year, its first-ever quarterly loss, mainly due to a NT$4.9 billion one-time loss associated with the divestment of its loss-making telecom subsidiary Vibo Telecom Inc (威寶).
However, the company swung into the black last quarter with net profit of NT$2.45 billion, or NT$0.57 per share, which not only helped offset the third-quarter loss, but also allowed it to remain profitable for the whole year, its financial statement shows.
The fourth-quarter figure, Compal’s best result in nearly 10 quarters, beat Credit Suisse AG’s forecast of NT$2.33 billion and Yuanta Securities Corp’s (元大證券) estimate of NT$1.94 billion.
“The fourth quarter of 2013 was the first quarter where Compal was free of the Vibo impact, in other words, a new start for the company,” Yuanta analyst Vincent Chen (陳豐丰) said in a client note.
Chen said the fourth-quarter result was due to sizable investment gains, including NT$400 million from selling substrate maker Simpal Electronics Co (欣寶). Also making a contribution was the company’s Chinese laptop joint venture, Lienpal Ltd (聯寶), which finally broke even in the quarter, he added.
Compal’s consolidated revenue totaled NT$692.75 billion last year, up 1.44 percent from NT$682.89 billion in 2012.
The company’s main growth drivers this year would be smart devices, such as smartphones and tablets, while notebook computer shipments could continue declining, Chen said.
“Several new customers will be driving this trend from 2014, with Apple iPad on the tablet side, as well as HTC (宏達電) and Lenovo (聯想) on the smartphone side,” he said on Thursday.
Credit Suisse analyst Thompson Wu (武光明) yesterday said in a note that Compal would start assembling iPad minis in the second quarter, with full-year volume of 1.85 million units.
“Compal will have a stronger earnings recovery in 2014,” he said.
Net profit this year could be three times last year’s to reach NT$10.34 billion, or NT$2,41 per share, and revenue may increase by 12.76 percent to NT$781.16 billion from last year, Wu said.
Gross margin is likely to rise to 4.2 percent from 4.05 percent, and operating margin may improve to 1.6 percent from 1.33 percent, the analyst said.


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The new generation creative firm clinched Silver in the newspaper advertising category for its Boko Halal (the young bookworms) campaign which featured Muhammadu Buhari, Idriss Deby, and Paul Biya; Bronze in the magazine advertising category for its UAC Foods Gala Snacks campaign and Bronze in the outdoor media category for its Multipro's HYPO advert.
|Mr. Lanre Adisa, |
Managing Director of Noah's Ark Communications
Noah’s Ark during the 2015 LAIF also won several awards for the campaigns, including the only Grand Prix of the event.
A total of 316 awards were handed out over the two nights selected from 3112 entries from 22 countries across the Africa Middle East region. There were eight coveted Grand Prix winners with Nando’s the big winner of the awards winning two.


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John Merkin, whose career spans more than two decades in hospitality and restaurant management positions, has been named COO of Edible® International (Edible®). In this role, Merkin will oversee all franchise operations for the world’s largest franchisor of shops offering creatively designed fresh cut fruit arrangements as well as all-natural, fresh fruit snacks and treats. Merkin will also oversee Edible’s® supply chain organization.
Most recently, Merkin served as Chief Operating Officer for Popeyes® Louisiana Kitchen. His career also features positions in international brand marketing, operations management, and franchise business development, including over 20 years at InterContintental Hotels Group®, working on a major brand redevelopment.
“It is incredibly exciting to join Edible® at this time,” Merkin said. “Even though Edible® is an established brand, it is one that continues to expand into new product categories designed to WOW customers with premium products and a fantastic guest experience.”
This announcement comes as Edible® is experiencing an accelerated phase of growth and expansion into new markets and product categories, recently announcing the opening of a second headquarters in Atlanta, where Merkin will be based.
“The Edible® brand is evolving rapidly into new areas, and expanding the executive team with the kind of talent and expertise John brings will help us to continue pushing forward with our mission to fill the world with goodness,” said Edible founder and CEO Tariq Farid.


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13 Apr 2017
As the UK prepares to negotiate its exit from the European Union, UK businesses will be considering how the new political landscape will affect their ability to trade in Europe and globally.
Some firms will be relieved that they can now get on with business, whilst others are concerned that nobody knows how the UK’s relationship with Europe will shape up following Brexit.
The quarterly economic survey findings for St Helens for the first quarter of 2017 were mixed, and for manufacturing respondents, investment intentions and export trade have fallen sharply.
Following four quarters of positive growth in export markets, manufacturing firms recorded falls in both sales and future order books this quarter. Likewise investment intentions have plummeted for manufacturers, following five quarters of strong growth.
Domestic growth remains moderate in both manufacturing and service sectors, although future orders have fallen compared to the last quarter of 2016.
Businesses also continue to report that the rising cost of raw materials are squeezing margins, forcing many firms to raise their prices and inflation is feeding through to further wage demands.
While the government has little direct influence on currency movements or global commodity prices, it must do more to ease the burden of up-front costs and taxes faced by businesses.
Tracy Mawson, Deputy Chief Executive at St Helens Chamber, comments: “Now that Brexit negotiations are set to begin, businesses across the UK and their trading partners in Europe, want answers to practical questions, not political posturing.
“A pragmatic and grown-up dialogue on the real-world issues, rather than verbal volleys between London and Brussels, would give firms greater confidence over the next two years.
“Many companies have been adopting a ‘business as usual’ approach since the country voted to leave, which has kept conditions buoyant in 2016 and prevented a sharp slowdown in growth. Yet with several years of unspectacular growth ahead, coupled with inflationary pressures, it has never been more important to tackle the long-standing constraints that limit business confidence and growth here at home.
“However, the government has introduced a raft of changes in the new tax year, adding to the upfront cost of doing business. Whilst firms welcome the reductions in corporation tax, companies are more concerned about the escalating burden of employment and input costs which hit firms before they even turn over a single pound.
“Such costs are likely to cause many firms to implement cost reduction measures and weigh down on firms’ ability to invest, recruit and grow their business.
“We are calling for the Prime Minister and her government to remember Brexit is not the only thing on the minds of UK businesses. Issues here at home, from the training system to sky-high business rates and investment in infrastructure, still need to be addressed. Businesses would not look kindly on a government that treats Brexit as its only job. Getting the fundamentals right here in the UK is as important, if not more important, than any eventual Brexit deal.”
To view the full results of the St Helens Quarterly Economic Survey click here.


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Pay on Delivery, or Cash on Delivery if you would, might not be the best option for payment in Nigeria. However, it is the only way eCommerce giants like Jumia and Konga are getting Nigerians to shop online. Traclist recently joined to league. Konga is taking a bold step to address payment by launching KongaPay in partnership with Nigerian commercial banks. KongaPay will take out a lot of Pay on Delivery according to the Sim Shagaya, Konga CEO.
A brief on how it works
You register with your bank account, fill your information (account number, billing address, date of birth etc) and password. The system will generate unique OTP (One-time Password) for every payment request and send it to your phone as sms for authentication, just like token for online payment.
Your bank account won’t be billed until your order is shipped so you can still cancel your order anytime before shipping confirmation.
Konga also assures 100% cash refund if there’s a problem with your order after delivery.
Enjoy some exclusive pictures from the launch
Konga CEO, Sim Shagaya with Techpoint’s Adewale Yusuf
Techpoint is conducting research on mobile app usage for everyday internet needs in Nigeria. Please take out time to fill in this anonymous survey. Thank you.
Nigerian startups raised $35.5 million in Q3 2018, 52% less than in Q2. Find out more in the Nigerian Startup Funding report. Download.
On the 26th of January, 2019, over 5000 startup founders, investors and other industry stakeholders will convene at Techpoint Build West Africa. Register now to be a part of the movement.


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covertec produces some high quality leather cases for mobile devices, and it just released a couple of new smartphone cases. the company has a new case for the imate sp3 / orange spv c500 / qtek 8010 / audiovox smt 5600 device in black, red, and brown. this is a belt-clip holster case and sells for us$29.95. with a device this size i prefer to use these holster type cases because it really is a shame to ruin the small size and elegance of the phone with a bulky case. covertec also now has charging cables and travel kits available for purchase. thanks to patrick for the press release.
user comments 1 comment(s)
|tomb raider on c500 (6:31am est thu apr 28 2005)
is it possible to play tomb raider on the c500? – by james


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Somerset's newest Starbucks is to open in Taunton tomorrow (Wednesday, June 8).
The coffee giant's latest drive-thru will be at the Deane Retail Park in Hankridge and will lead to the creation to 16 new jobs. To celebrate the opening, Starbucks will be offering 50 free reusable cups to customers every day for the store's first week.
It will become the second Starbucks in Taunton and will be operated by licensee Cobra Coffee.
Store manager Hayley Brown said: "I'm really excited to be joining Starbucks and leading the team in this beautiful new drive-thru.
"We have such a passionate team from the local area who are excited to welcome local customers from June 8."
The store will be open between 6.30am and 7pm from Monday to Saturday and from 7.30am to 6pm on Sundays.
It will have a contemporary design, offering customers the opportunity to enjoy a handcrafted cup of coffee and relax with comfortable seating and free WiFi.


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FORT LAUDERDALE -- Even after five years as chairwoman of the event, lawyer Patricia Rathburn has yet to acquire a taste for the dishes she works hard to promote at the city`s annual Seafood Festival.
``I hate to admit it -- I don`t like fish,`` she said. ``But I figure all these people can`t be wrong.``
While Rathburn opted for a hot dog and popcorn, an estimated 30,000 seafood aficionados chose to partake in a smorgasbord of marine delicacies being cooked up on Saturday in Bubier Park along the New River.
Booths representing 28 restaurants served seafood linguini, calamari steak, conch salad, crab cakes, seafood rice paella, smoked marlin, fish dip, gator tidbits and garlic shrimp pizza.
Seminole Indians, whose ancestors used to live along the banks of the river, sold Indian jewelry and jackets at a chickee.
The festival was expected to raise $200,000 for the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, which provides educational programs, restores artifacts, publishes historical books and oversees a museum.
The event also was designed to attract people to the New River and downtown Fort Lauderdale, the oldest part of the city, Rathburn said.
Yachts crowded the river and people milled about the park to enjoy the sunshine and music from the bands playing at the festival.
Phyllis Day, 39, of Birmingham, Ala., liked the barbecued shrimp and the beer the best.
``We don`t get quite this variety of seafood in Alabama,`` she said. ``It`s such good food and such an attractive setting.``
Even those who weren`t seafood fanatics enjoyed sampling the various foods.
``I`m actually more of a meat-and-potatoes person,`` said Sandy Tynecki, 38, of Fort Lauderdale. ``I don`t think I`ll try any gator ribs or anything, though. I`m not that adventuresome.
Larry Fitzgerald, 43, here with his family from South Bend, Ind., knows his seafood. He praised Florida`s seafood and said it compared impressively with that found in his native Massachusetts.
``The seafood here is very good and the weather is better,`` Fitzgerald said between bites of escargot. ``I plan to jam as much as I can in my stomach before I have to go back home.``


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Relax Gaming expands portfolio with addition of Mascot Gaming4th May 2022 10:37 am GMT
Online casino games supplier Relax Gaming has bolstered its Powered By Relax distribution programme with the addition of titles from Mascot Gaming.
Mascot's portfolio of titles will be made available to Relax's operator partners, including top performing games such as Cleopatra’s Gems Rockways, Zeus the Thunderer, and Bastet and Cats.
“Mascot has a distinct style to its games and it’s that kind of diversity we look for in potential partners,” said Relax Gaming CPO Simon Hammon. “Their incorporation into Powered By Relax strengthens our international offering and we’re sure it will provide Mascot with the perfect platform to enhance its reputation in the industry.”
Mascot Gaming head of partnership Ilya Rybasov said: “We excel in providing modern casino games for the global igaming market, and this agreement is set to give us access to a huge base of new operators. We’ve been impressed by how easy it was to do this deal and we’re looking forward to making the most of it.”
Shares in Relax Gaming parent Kindred Group plc. (STO:KIND-SDB) were trading 4.07 per cent higher at SEK99.68 per share in Stockholm Wednesday morning.


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Women on average say they would be willing to give up sex for 15 months for a closet full of new apparel, with 2 percent ready to abstain from sex for three years in exchange for new duds, according to a new survey of about 1,000 women in 10 U.S. cities.Does this mean that women aren't interested in sex or that the sex they're getting isn't so hot? Sounds like you guys have a lot to answer for.
Sixty-one percent of women polled said it would be worse to lose their favorite article of clothing than give up sex for a month.
"Some people say clothes make the man, but the right clothes can even replace him," fashion designer, stylist and TV personality Carson Kressley from the reality TV show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" said in a statement accompanying the poll.
The study also suggested that clothes often wear better than relationships.
Via the temporarily hate-mongering Maximum Leader.