Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group, known as ATAP, is working on fabric that can sense touch gestures. Using a new kind of conductive yarn and woven multitouch panels, they can turn normal clothes into interactive devices.
Wearing clothing made from the textiles, you could swipe your hand over the sleeve of a jacket or side of your jeans to silence a phone. Tap a finger to start playing a song.
Called Project Jacquard, the initiative was officially announced at Google’s annual developer conference on Friday. Levi’s is its first official clothing partner, and the two Bay Area companies will start designing and experimenting with smart clothing.
They did not announce a timeline for when any smart clothes would be commercially available, though Levi’s global head of product innovation, Paul Dillinger, said the process would be iterative, fast and fun.
This is not the first time a company has tried to make conductive fabric, but Google is thinking on a global scale. The clothing industry produces 19 billion garments a year, 150-times the number of mobile phones.
“We cannot expect global fashion industry to change just for us even though we’re Google,” said Google’s Ivan Poupyrev. “We have to adapt to the textile industry.”
To move beyond novelty requires a yarn that can seamlessly work on existing industrial looms. ATAP has been working with textile experts in places like Japan to creating a conductive yarn that can withstand the brutal industrial weaving process, and also look good enough to make real clothes.
Levi’s said smart clothing could help people interact more with the real world around them instead of constantly staring at phones.
Arsenal will collect approximately $5.6 million in prize money for winning the FA Cup as well as around $1.1 million in television money, after cruising to victory against Aston Villa Saturday evening.
Arsenal broke records and the hearts of the 25,000 Aston Villa fans as they coasted to the biggest FA Cup final win in 21 years.
After escaping relegation, Tim Sherwood brought his Villa side to Wembley looking to win the FA Cup for the first time since 1957, but left in dejection following a 4-0 hammering.
Surprise starter Theo Walcott put Arsenal ahead at the end of a first half in which the Londoners dominated, Per Mertesacker scored the third and substitute Olivier Giroud rounded off the win at the death.
But the pick of the goals undoubtedly came from Alexis Sanchez, who hammered a 25-yard screamer in off the bar just after the restart.
Some of the Villa fans who had made the 115-mile trip to the capital left early while the Arsenal supporters rejoiced at retaining the FA Cup with ease.
The Gunners have now won the trophy a record 12 times and Wenger has been at the helm for half of them.
Wenger may have had his critics over the second part of his 19-year reign at Arsenal, but his cup pedigree cannot be questioned. Only George Ramsay, who managed Villa from 1884-1926, has won the same number of FA Cups as Wenger.
Commercial sponsors of FIFA could hold the key to the outcome of crisis in the world football governing house.
MacDonalds and adidas, two of the headline sponsors for the 2018 World Cup, expressed grave concern at the fresh wave of allegations of systematic corruption within Fifa.
However, the strongest line has taken by Visa., as no company involved in financial services would not want its image to be tainted by allegations of corruption.
In a statement issued by Visa, the company said; “Our disappointment and concern with FIFA in light of today’s developments is profound. As a sponsor, we expect FIFA to take swift and immediate steps to address these issues within its organization. This starts with rebuilding a culture with strong ethical practices in order to restore the reputation of the games for fans everywhere.
Visa became a sponsor of FIFA because the World Cup is one of the few truly global sporting events with the power to unite people from around the world through a common love of football. Our sponsorship has always focused on supporting the teams, enabling a great fan experience, and inspiring communities to come together and celebrate the spirit of competition and personal achievement – and it is important that FIFA makes changes now, so that the focus remain on these going forward. Should FIFA fail to do so, we have informed them that we will reassess our sponsorship.”
Sony and Emirates ended sponsorship deals last year amid criticism of how the 2018 and 2022 World Cups were awarded to Russia and Qatar.
Motivation is the essential factor to set and achieve goals in your personal and professional life–it is what causes you to act. Research has shown that you can influence your levels of motivation by knowing what you want and begin taking steps to becoming who you want to be. Everyone needs motivation. Without motivation there is no success in life.
When you need an extra shot of motivation in your business and personal life, consider these quotes that can lead you to the success you want and deserve.
1. “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison
2. “Out of clutter, find Simplicity. From discord, find Harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies Opportunity.” Albert Einstein
3. “With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” Eleanor Roosevelt
4. “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” Helen Keller
5. “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” Theodore Roosevelt
6. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” Henry David Thoreau
7. “The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.” Epictetus
8. “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.” Maya Angelou
9. “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” Tony Robbins
10. “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
11. “Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.” Thomas Jefferson
12. “Well done is better than well said.” Benjamin Franklin
13. “If you start by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work towards getting it.” Paulo Coelho
14. “If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” Dale Carnegie
15. “Go for it now. The future is promised to no one.” Wayne Dyer
16. “The quality of a man’s life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor.” Vince Lombardi
17. “Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you are willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it.” Lou Holtz
18. “While intent is the seed of manifestation, action is the water that nourishes the seed. Your actions must reflect your goals in order to achieve true success.” Steve Maraboli
19. “We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
20. “If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.” Charles R. Swindoll
21. “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Aristotle
22. “The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” Confucius
23. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” C. S. Lewis
President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, has acknowledged President Goodluck Jonathan for the singular phone call which made conceding defeat.
According to Buhari, Jonathan would have made things difficult for the country if had decided to use his power of incumbency to scuttle the electoral process.
Speaking at the Presidential Villa after receiving the hand over note as well as the report of the National Conference from President Jonathan, Buhari said the president was capable of using the power of incumbency to make things difficult on the outcome of the presidential election at the expense of the lives of poor Nigerians, but he chose to tow the path of selflessness.
” what I will say is since the telephone call you made, you have changed the course of Nigeria’s political history. For that you have earned yourself a place in our history, for stabilising this system of multi party democracy system and you have earned the respect of not only Nigerians but world leaders.
“All the leaders that spoke to me and congratulated us for arriving at the point we arrived, mentioned this and I could understand, a lot of relief in their voices that Nigeria has made it after all and this is largely owed to a situation.
“If you (Jonathan) had attempted to make things difficult, you could have made things difficult and that would have been at the expense of lives of poor Nigerians, but you choose the part of honour and may God help all of us. Thank you very much your excellency” he said.
On his part, President Jonathan told Buhari before handing over the notes as well as the report of the national conference that “this will give you (Buhari) a mission statement of the commitment of this government for the past five years and the directions we are going that will help you to navigate.”
For more than a century, Mercedes-Benz has the been the go-to purveyor of fine luxury automobiles. Now, the German automaker is stepping to another kind of luxury by teaming up with Lufthansa Technik — the aviation engineer arm of the Lufthansa Group — to design a ultra-posh cabin for private jets.
The concept created by the two companies eliminates the traditional delineation between ceiling, wall, and floor designs. Instead, the interior concept deploys what the companies refer to as a “spiral layout,” which melds the three design elements into a continuous, flowing feature.
On board, “black panels” float in front of the window and are meant to evoke the screen-design of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan. The concept interior is also equipped with Mercedes-Benz Magic Sky technology that can turn the “black panels” from dark to transparent.
Announced this week in Geneva at the 2015 European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE), Mercedes-Benz Style — the company’s non-automotive design firm — and Lufthansa Technik will use the concept to gauge interest from their “discerning customers.”
Which means, don’t expect to see this interior installed in some lucky guy’s Boeing BBJ or Airbus ACJ anytime soon.
“It was an inspiring challenge to transfer our design philosophy of sensual purity into the area of aeronautical engineering,” Daimler AG vice president Gorden Wagener said in a statement. “The spectacular architecture of the interior shows creativity and modernity. Sensual surfaces and clear forms, combined with intelligent high-tech features and perfectly shaped modern luxury are the characteristic features of Mercedes-Benz design.”
LG wants to make mounting your TV just as easy as sticking a magnet onto your refrigerator.
At an event earlier this week, the South Korean electronics giant showcased an incredibly thin 55-inch television with a flexible screen that you can press onto your wall using magnets.
It’s just a concept, though — there’s no indication when or if a product like this will actually come to market. The purpose of the announcement was really to announce LG’s plans to focus on making OLED screens for products moving forward.
The TV screen itself is less than a millimeter thick, according to CNET. For context, that’s about the same thickness as a paper clip. As shown in the image above, a magnetic pad holds the flexible TV screen up to the wall.
The TV itself almost looks like paper.
LG’s new display marks yet another concept device that showcases how flexible screens could one day be implemented into everyday products.
Both LG and Samsung have been pioneering flexible display technologies over the past several years, but we have yet to really understand why gadgets with curved screens would even be necessary in the first place. A television such as the one LG showcased earlier this week begins to answer that question a little bit.
Samsung is believed to be capable of developing a fully flexible phone by 2016, a company executive said at an investor event in New York this past November, but it’s unclear exactly what the advantages of a bendable phone would be. Both Samsung and LG have released phones with curved screens, but they haven’t really caught on with consumers.
Luis Figo has joined the league of candidates to withdraw from the Fifa presidential election on 29 May.
The 42-year-old, Ex-Portugal midfielder, pulled out on the same day as Dutchman, Van Pragg, to leave Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan as Blatter’s only rival.
Although 67-year-old Dutchman yet to give his reasons for withdrawing from the election, Figo made his reasons clear in a statement.
“I travelled and met extraordinary people who, though they recognized the value of much that had been done, also concurred with the need for change, one that cleans up Fifa’s reputation as an obscure organization that is so often viewed as a place of corruption,” he said.
“But over the past few months I have not only witnessed that desire [for change], I have witnessed consecutive incidents, all over the world, that should shame anyone who desires soccer to be free, clean and democratic.
“I have seen with my own eyes federation presidents who, after one day comparing Fifa leaders to the devil, then go on stage and compare those same people with Jesus Christ. Nobody told me about this. I saw it with my own eyes.”
He also questioned an election process in which a main candidate – Blatter – had not produced a manifesto, “so that federation presidents know what they’re voting for”.
Figo added: “There has not been a single public debate about each candidate’s proposals.”
The latest withdrawal comes after another presidential candidate, Frenchman Jerome Champagne, a former Fifa deputy general secretary, pulled out in February.
Blatter is favourite to win a fifth term as president and Figo said: “This process is anything but an election.”
“This process is a plebiscite for the delivery of absolute power to one man – something I refuse to go along with.”
Each of Fifa’s 209 member associations have a vote in the election and Van Praag, who is president of the Dutch football federation, says he will now support Prince Ali.
The English Football Association also intend to support Prince Ali, while the Scottish FA had previously said they would back Van Praag.
Raheem Sterling’s future at Liverpool remains a big doubt as contract renewal meeting which was scheduled to hold Today, Thursday, May 21st, was reportedly cancelled.
The youngster’s future with Liverpool has become one of the most recently talked about news in the English Premier League over the past weeks, with reports linking him to Real Madrid, Newcastle, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Sterling’s agent Aidy Ward had requested a meeting with Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre and Reds manager Brendan Rodgers this week to discuss the 20-year-old’s future following reports he was keen to leave Anfield at the end of the season.
After turning down a £100,000-a-week ($156,000-a-week) contract offer in January, Sterling is said to have decided to seek a transfer to a club playing in the Champions League next term.
Liverpool had hoped to use their talks with Sterling to persuade the England international, whose current £35,000-a-week contract runs until 2017, to commit his long-term future to the club.
But quotes from Sterling’s agent in an interview with the London Evening Standard on Thursday have, according to the BBC and the Daily Mail, convinced Liverpool there is no point in meeting with the player, even though his representative has subsequently disputed the words attributed to him.
“I don’t care about the PR of the club and the club situation,” the Standard quoted Ward as saying.
“He is definitely not signing. He’s not signing for £700,000, £800,000, £900,000 a week. My job is to make sure I do the best with them (my clients). If people say I am bad at my job, or they are badly advised it does not matter.”
While Sterling refuses to put pen to paper on a new Liverpool deal, the club did manage to secure the signatures of two other promising youngsters on Thursday.
Jordon Ibe, the highly-rated 19-year-old winger who broke into the first team after a successful loan spell at Derby earlier this season, has agreed a reported five-year contract that the Reds call “a long-term” arrangement.
Jon Flanagan has also extended his stay at Anfield for another 12 months as the England international battles back from a second knee operation.
Flanagan will be sidelined for a further six months, having missed the entire season, but Rodgers is optimistic the 22-year-old defender will come good again.
A U.S. appeals court has reversed part of the $930 million verdict Apple won in 2012 against Samsung. The new ruling effectively means Apple will not receive some monetary damages tied to the look and presentation of Samsung devices.
The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed the jury’s August 2012 finding, which stated Samsung had violated Apple patents or trademarks in 23 devices, including its Galaxy S II smartphones.
But on Monday, the court deviated from the jury’s finding regarding trade dress protections, a series of laws focused on protecting a product’s unique looks and packaging.
In this case, the court said the features Apple accused Samsung of emulating — the shape and screen appearance of older iPhones, for example — should not be included in the verdict because those features are fundamental to the way smartphones operate. By giving Apple this level of protection, the court would effectively give Apple a monopoly on such basic features.
Monday’s reversal on trade dress protections means Apple could pocket about $548 million in damages versus $930 million.
The original trial between Apple and Samsung was a widely watched event and is occasionally referred to as “the great smartphone war.”
Over the course of the past several years, Samsung has quickly risen to prominence, becoming one of the largest global smartphone makers; it released a slew of new smartphones and tablets at a faster rate than even Apple. In fact, the marketing research firm IDC reported Samsung eclipsed Apple in 2012 for market share of so-called “smart connected devices,” a market that includes smartphones, tablets as well as desktop and laptop computers.
Samsung and Apple have been locked head-to-head in a contentious battle for smartphone domination for years, though last month Samsung reclaimed the title of “largest smartphone maker” after shipping more smartphones worldwide than Apple during the first quarter of 2015, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics.
Soccer’s top teams rely on rich sponsorships to pay for their massive player salaries, and few properties are more valuable than a team’s jerseys and stadium. Team jerseys provide two revenue streams – deals with kit manufacturers that make the jerseys and sponsorship agreements with companies that advertise on them – while stadium naming rights provide an opportunity to leverage famed soccer grounds into even greater earnings.
In terms of jersey revenue, Manchester United is way out in front even without accounting for its new Adidas kit deal, which starts next season. The Red Devils get an average $36 million per year on their old Nike deal, which expires at the end of this season, as well as a staggering $80 million from the new Chevy sponsorship deal.
The seven-year, $560 million agreement is the sport’s single most valuable sponsorship (and may have been responsible for GM global marketing chief Joel Ewanick losing his job). And the team will break its own record next season when its new ten-year, $1.14 billion deal with Adidas kicks in.
Spain’s Barcelona, which ranks second, is 40% behind at $80 million per year from its kit and jersey deals with Nike, Qatar Sports Investments and Intel. Like many of the top-earning teams, neither Manchester United nor Barcelona has sold the naming rights to their stadium homes (Old Trafford and Camp Nou, respectively). But some teams have taken advantage of that sponsorship opportunity and, so far, the approach has paid off handsomely.
Bayern Munich sold its stadium naming rights to Allianz, which has since also become a minority team shareholder, on a lengthy 30-year deal. And both Arsenal and Manchester City have packaged stadium naming rights into their jersey sponsorships with Emirates and Etihad Airways, respectively. The latter agreement drew a fine from UEFA for violating financial fair play rules, but those deals are largely responsible for both English teams ranking among the top five teams in sponsorship income.
And it’s not like the market is slowing down. Below is an updated chart that accounts for new sponsorship deals that won’t kick in until at least next season. Juventus jumps into the top ten thanks to new deals with Adidas and Jeep, but the real story is at the top of the list, where Manchester United is making 52% more than any other team in the sport, even as Bayern Munich and Chelsea move ahead with new deals (an Adidas extension and new Yokohama Rubber sponsorship, respectively).
The biggest competition for Manchester United’s title, however, will likely be Barcelona. The Spanish side’s Nike kit and Qatar shirt deals should both be renegotiated in the immediate future, and it’s conceivable that their combined annual value could as much as double to $160 million per season. That won’t catch the Red Devils, who will soon net a staggering $218 million per year based on current exchange rates, but it should set the bar for the teams that don’t play in Old Trafford. Trying to clear that mark will be Manchester City, which is expected to begin renegotiating its Nike kit deal in the coming year.
There are five different kit manufacturers represented on our list – four Nike teams, three for Adidas and one apiece for Puma, Under Armour and New Balance’s Warrior brand – and eight jersey sponsors.The only sponsor with multiple teams on the list is Emirates, which has deals with Arsenal, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain. Add in sponsored teams AC Milan and Hamburger SV, and the airline is currently shelling out $130 million per year to put its logo on soccer jerseys.
Just missing the cut this year are three Italian teams: Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus. As noted above, the last of the three will soon make a jump forward as Juve has signed a new deal with Adidas and an extension with Jeep that will generate some $45 million annually between the two.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that over twenty-two million Nigerians were unemployed in 2014.
This was revealed on Friday, at an unemployment methodology review forum held in Abuja.
According to NBS, the number was an accumulation of unemployed Nigerians in the four quarters of the year which represents 31 per cent of the country’s population as against 18.3 per cent, the standard of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Out of 22,620,202 unemployed Nigerians, 4,672,067 million were unemployed in the fourth quarter; 7,027941 million were unemployed in the 3rd quarter; 5,307,375 million were unemployed in the second quarter, while 5,612, 819 million were unemployed in the first quarter of the year under review.
A further breakdown of the unemployment statistics was drawn from educational group; age group; gender and place of residence.
The number of unemployed Nigferians increased by 21 per cent from 7,078,450 million (10.0%) recorded in the previous year, with findings showing that 17.9 per cent of the figure were under employed in the country in the year under review.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of National Planning Commission, Dr. Sulaiman Abubakar stressed the importance of credible data, saying that federal government would continue to encourage the bureau to publish credible data for policy makers and Nigerian public.
“As long as Nigeria hopes to stick to official and accurate statistics, it has to be encouraged and upheld at all times. A combination of international standard is critical to us and that is why we cannot afford to make the mistake of undermining the importance f accurate data in our country,’’ said Abubakar.
Yesterday, Microsoft announced how it plans to package Windows 10 in various editions.
All of the editions share common features, but are sold and distributed differently depending on the type of device for which they’re intended.
All Windows 10 devices share a single Windows Store, which offers access to Universal Windows Apps capable of running on devices of many different sizes.
There are only two editions of Windows 10 for installation on new PCs
Large and small Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) who build new PCs, including desktops, all-in-ones, hybrids, 2-in-1s, and full-size tablets, will be able to purchase one of two Windows 10 editions for installation on those devices.
Windows 10 Home is the cheaper option. It includes the entire Windows 10 feature set, minus a handful of features reserved for the Pro edition. OEMs commonly install this edition on devices aimed at the price-conscious consumer and small business markets. Windows 10 Pro is typically found on higher-quality, higher-spec business-class devices. It costs more and includes a group of features that enthusiasts, professionals, and anyone on a Windows business network will appreciate: Hyper-V virtualization, BitLocker encryption, the ability to set up a PC as a Remote Desktop server, and the ability to join a Windows domain are the key ones.
Businesses must purchase a Pro license on a new PC to qualify for the Windows 10 Enterprise upgrade. A Home license does not qualify for an Enterprise upgrade. Yes, that means a business has to pay for two fairly expensive licenses for a PC running Windows Enterprise edition.
Both the Home and Pro editions will be available to large OEMs as soon as Windows 10 is released. Microsoft declined to comment when I asked about their plans to distribute OEM System Builder versions of these two Windows 10 editions.
Two editions of Windows 10 will be available for distribution as free upgrades on existing PCs
Consumers and small businesses who have PCs running Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1 will be offered a free online upgrade to Windows 10. Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 8.1 systems will receive an upgrade to Windows 10 Home. Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, and Windows 8.1 Pro systems will be upgraded to Windows 10 Pro. Microsoft has not yet disclosed whether and how it plans to offer Windows 10 for upgraders who prefer physical installation media or who have PCs running Windows Vista, which doesn’t qualify for the free Windows 10 upgrade. Likewise, the company has so far declined to discuss how it plans to offer Windows 10 for enthusiasts building their own PCs.
There is only one edition of Windows 10 available for sale on new mobile devices
Device makers building smartphones and small tablets (screen size less than 8 inches) will be able to install Windows 10 Mobile on those devices, assuming they meet the hardware requirements. These devices are not PCs. They typically use an ARM processor or one of the new Intel Atom x3 SoC designs (code-named Sofia).
It is extremely unlikely that Microsoft will offer Windows 10 Mobile as a standalone software product. It will almost certainly be available only on new phones and phablets.
Mobile devices running Windows Phone 8.1 will be offered Windows 10 Mobile as a free upgrade
Windows 10 Mobile will be available as an over-the-air upgrade, subject to carrier approval, a process that can be tedious and frustrating. Microsoft has announced it will continue its Insider program after the initial public release of Windows 10 Mobile, so it should be possible for owners of Windows Phone 8.1 devices to upgrade via that route as well. The quickest path to an upgrade? Sign up for the Insider program as soon as Windows 10 Mobile is released, install the current edition, and then turn off Preview builds.
Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise will be available as upgrades, primarily for large businesses
Large organizations who have Volume License contracts with Microsoft, including businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and nonprofits, will be able to install Windows 10 Enterprise on devices that already have a qualifying Windows 10 license.
The Enterprise upgrade gives the business a number of additional features and licensing rights that are important in large organizations on managed Windows networks.
Large enterprises can create private sites in the Windows Store, where employees can sign in and choose from a list of approved apps, with administrators being able to manage app licenses in a straightforward fashion.
Windows 10 Enterprise is for businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations, with separate SKUs for each one. The upgrade requires that the device on which it’s installed already has a license for a Windows business edition. Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise is a completely new offering. Microsoft’s description of what’s included is vague, but if it follows the normal Enterprise model, it will include security and management options as well as business usage rights (for Office apps, for example) that are not normally included on a mobile device running Windows.
Large educational institutions have their own Enterprise edition of Windows 10
Windows 10 Education is the Volume License option for educational institutions. These customers typically pay much less than their business counterparts, while still getting the same Enterprise features and rights. Another crucial difference: Windows Home editions qualify for Volume License upgrades at educational institutions, which helps keep overall costs down.
Windows 10 for ATMs
For Windows 10, Microsoft will release Windows 10 editions designed for use on ATMs, point of sale devices, and industrial robots. You as a consumer will not care that your bank’s ATM runs some weird embedded edition of Windows.
There is also a Windows 10 IoT Core edition coming at some point. Again, you will neither know nor care that a device is running this edition of Windows unless something goes wrong.
It is certainly the case that Manchester United has developed a more sophisticated and better resourced commercial operation that any other club and it has paid dividends for them financially. Even their training kit is the sixth best selling replica shirt in Europe.
It is anticipated that when United’s full financial results for the season are released later in the year they will show that commercial revenue has soared past £200m, a near five-fold increase in the decade since the Glazers acquired the club. That is before the new £750m ten year kit deal with adidas kicks in from August 1st. In all, more than 200 contracts have been signed at a value in excess of £2 billion.
In 2007 United’s commercial department consisted of two people working out of Manchester. Now they have 140 specialist staff spread across London, Manchester and Hong Kong from where they can tap lucrative Far Eastern markets.
The club can pitch to prospective sponsors the fact that a study has shown that they have 659 million followers across the globe. It might seem that many of those attachments are somewhat tenuous, but within 18 to 24 months of partnering with United, sponsors’ brand recognition is generally up 90 per cent.
United have adopted a fine grained, regionally differentiated approach to markets. For example, they have three different tyre partners in India, as well as deals in the Middle East and Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan and Russia.
None of this would, of course, impress the fans who broke away to form FC United. They see such commercialisation as symptomatic of what is wrong with the modern game. They will open their new 5,000 capacity stadium on May 29th and are only two divisions away from the Football League.
Toyota and Mazda are reported to be considering a comprehensive partnership in environmentally friendly technology as the world’s regulators demand cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and competitors roll out greener vehicles.
The Japanese carmakers are in the final stages of talks on the planned partnership, according to the Nikkei business daily, which added the two “intend to reach an accord in principle soon”.
Under the partnership Toyota proposed to supply fuel cell and plug-in-hybrid technology to Mazda, which in return would offer its proprietary Skyactiv green technology to Toyota, which it hoped to use to grow its line of fuel-efficient petrol and diesel vehicles.
The companies are also said to be considering cooperation in other areas, including Mazda’s procurement of commercial vehicles from the Toyota group and joint purchasing of car parts.
The firms have previously worked together in several fields. Toyota provided hybrid vehicle technology to Mazda in 2010, while Mazda agreed in 2012 to supply subcompact cars from a Mexican plant to Toyota.
The latest alliance was part of an effort to jointly address strict global environmental rules, the Nikkei said.
In 2018 California plans to push carmakers to boost sales volume for electric and fuel cell vehicles, while China and other emerging economies are also set to strengthen environmental regulations.
The Bank Verification Number (BVN) scheme which was introduced by the Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN) with the aim of curbing financial misconducts in Banks, has seen a total of 2,583,815 registered customers between February 14th 2014, when the scheme was launched and December 2014.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disclosed this in the December 2014 edition of its Financial Stability Report (FSR).
The report attributed the development to the collaborative efforts of stakeholders involved in the implementation of the scheme. According to the FSR, “The full implementation of the scheme is expected to increase the effectiveness of the Know Your Customer (KYC) standard as well as the safety and reliability of the payments system.”
The BVN is expected to boost financial inclusion as those who have typically stayed away from mainstream banking due to low literacy levels will be able to open and access their bank accounts using their biometric information rather than traditional identification methods.
As part of efforts to encourage enrolment for the BVN, the CBN had directed banks to only honour transactions over N100million from customers with BVN from March 2015.
A detailed financial report of what English Premier League teams made in the 2013/14 season has been released.
Manchester United were reported to have the highest turnover with £433m (up from £363m in 2012). While Manchester City were second with £347m (up from £271m in 2013).
Chelsea and Arsenal were 3rd and 4th with £324m (up from £260m in 2013) and £304m (up from £283m in 2013) respectively. Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle finshed 5th, 6th and 7th.
See list of Top Money Earners below;
Manchester United -Turnover: £433m (up from £363m in 2012) -Gate and matchday income £108m -TV and broadcasting £136m -Commercial activities £189m -Wage bill 1st highest, £215m (up from £181m in 2013) -Wages as proportion of turnover 50% -Profit before tax £41m (following £9m loss in 2012) -Net debt £275m -Interest and finance costs £28m -Highest-paid director Not stated
Nine years after their debt-loading buyout, which has cost United around £700m in interest and fees, the club still bears £342m of the Glazers’ borrowings but the income is spectacular. The obsessive sale of sponsorships, TV and huge stadium income made United £433m, £86m more than the Premier League’s next highest-earning club, City, which has support from Abu Dhabi sponsors.
Manchester City – Turnover: £347m (up from £271m in 2013) -Gate and matchday £47m -TV and broadcasting £133m -Commercial activities £166m -Wage bill 2nd highest, £205m (down from £233m in 2013) -Wages as proportion of turnover 59% -Loss before tax £23m (following £52m in 2013) -Net debt £46m -Interest payable £1m -Highest-paid director No directors of Manchester City Limited were paid.
City’s income dramatically increased in a title-winning season and the loss included Uefa’s £16m deduction under financial fair play rules for the previous two years’ £151m losses. City reduced their wage bill by £28m, mostly due to 125 staff being moved into the accounts of a parent company, City Football Group, which also services Mansour’s New York City, Melbourne City and his minority stake in Yokohama Marinos.
Chelsea – Turnover: £324m (up from £260m in 2013) -Broadcasting £140m -Matchday £71m -Commercial £114m -Wage bill 3rd highest, £192m (up from £179m in 2013) -Wages as proportion of turnover 59% -Profit before tax £15m (following £57m loss in 2013) -Net debt £1bn -Interest payable £Nil -Highest-paid director Unnamed, £1.425m (Ron Gourlay was the chief executive throughout the year; resigned October 2014)
Abramovich nevertheless increased his loans by a further £57m, lifting his total funding of Chelsea to a historically astonishing £1.041bn. Chelsea then bought big and well.
Arsenal Arsenal Holdings PLC major shareholders are: Kroenke Sports Enterprises UK (registered in Delaware, owned by US resident Stan Kroenke) 67%. Red and White Securities Limited (owned via Jersey, by Russian resident Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri) 30%
-Turnover 4th highest in league, £304m (up from £283m in 2013) -Gate and matchday income £100m -TV and broadcasting £121m -Retail £18m -Commercial £59m -Property development £3m -Player trading £0.5m -Wage bill 4th highest, £166m (up from £154m) -Wages as proportion of turnover 55% -Profit before tax £5m (down from £7m) -Net debt £33m -Interest payable £14m -Highest-paid director Ivan Gazidis £2.191m
Arsenal’s modern struggle has been to translate copious earnings from high-paying supporters at the Emirates Stadium into football success, and they are making progress. In 2013-4 they salvaged a summer of grumbles by splashing £42.5m for Mesut Özil, a club record-breaking signing. A huge £54m was put in the bank where Arsenal had £208m on deposit. Hence they bought again last summer, with £30m Alexis Sánchez the stand-out move. Debt from building the Emirates remained £240m but Arsenal, as always planned, are managing it comfortably.
Liverpool -Turnover: £256m (up from £206m in 2013) -Gate and matchday income £51m -TV and broadcasting £101m ......
Over the years, Google has acquired more than 180 different companies, with its top ten acquisitions alone, running into about $24.5 billion.
That’s a lot of money, but Google has learned how to make the most of those purchases. Time Magazine recently wrote that the company had “perfected” the Silicon Valley acquisition, in part because its so good at retaining talent.
Time found that two-thirds of the 221 startup founders that accepted jobs at Google between 2006 and 2014 are still with the company today.
Business Insider recently got to chat with the man who’s been in charge of Google’s acquisition process since January 2013: VP of corporate development, Don Harrison.
Harrison spoke frankly about how Google thinks about mergers and acquisitions and why it thinks that focusing on founders is so important.
Here are some highlights from the interview:
– Google thinks about acquisitions very broadly. If a technology company does something that improves people’s lives, will be used daily, and can scale, it’s fair game — whether it makes robots, satellites, or ad products. – The company usually goes out of its comfort zone to learn about new technologies. – One of things that’s unique about Google’s M&A process is the big emphasis it puts on a company’s founding team and whether or not those people are a good fit for Google. The company wants entrepreneurs who are intellectually curious, who are willing to start from the bedrock of an idea and “reason up from there.” – Google ensures that teams of Companies which they wish to acquire go through a pretty rigorous vetting process. Founders of those companies companies always sit down with CEO Larry Page and product VP Sundar Pichai before any decision is made. – Although the company first looks at whether an acquisition could help it achieve its overall product strategy, it has rejected potential deals because of a company’s team. – Google lures companies that are otherwise very successful independently into joining it by offering resources, autonomy, and the promise that Google is a very patient company. Its $3.2 billion acquisition of Nest is the perfect example. – The company does regular, 90-day follow-ups on all of its deals, big or small, to ask questions like, “How are we doing against our original goals? How we are doing on metrics of retention? How we are doing on getting you the resources you need to succeed?” – Overall, Google is proud of its employee retention, and has a bunch of people who came in through an acquisition that are still with the company, in new roles. – Are you a startup that wants to get on Harrison’s radar? Focus on your product first, but ultimately get an intro through a mutual connection.
Do you know of Nigeria's first ever Miss Nigeria, Grace Tinuke Oyelude? Well, here she is now. Still looking pretty since 1957.
Infobuddie learned that she now lives in Illorin. She's a great grand-mother and was the president of the old Kwara Health Management Board for a long time. We are glad she's still hale and hearty. So we decided to celebrate her, although it's not her birthday.
As Nigerians, let us all learn to celebrate our icons.
November 17th marked the one-year wedding anniversary for Peter Okoye of Africa’s sensational music duo, P-square.
The singer who got married to Lola Omotayo at the Ark Event Centre, Lagos, exactly a year ago, took to his Instagram page to appreciate his marriage to the mother of his kids.
He shared a photo of himself and Lola, with the caption “What was, still is. #HappyAnniversary Cc @lolaomotayo”.
The duo, Peter and Paul Okoye, who will also be marking their 33rd birthdays today, Novemer 18th, dropped a spanking new video for a song off their recently released 6th studio album, “Double Trouble”.
“Shekini” is a video involving what you would expect from P-Square…Dance! Dance!! and some more Dance!!! From garages to underground scenes with loads of youthful energy.
Video is directed by Clarence Peters, and song produced by Vtek. Enjoy!!!
It is common knowledge in the Nigerian music industry that D’Banj isn’t doing well as far as hits are concerned after he parted ways with Don Jazzy. His several singles such as CASHFLOW, BOTHER YOU and O YATO among others haven’t made the impact we have come to know him for in the past. OLIVER TWIST and SCAPEGOAT were the last singles he did that were produced by Don Jazzy and both were hits. OLIVER TWIST was a smash hit that was an international sensation as well as making an impact on iTunes downloads. It doesn’t require rocket science to know that Don Jazzy took along with him the magic when both of them parted ways. Singles and after singles by D’Banj have failed to make the expected impact despite rotations on radio and television. Mo’ Hits has metamorphosed into Mavin Records since D’ Banj’s departure and Don Jazzy has spurned out hits such as SURULERE, EMINADO, DOROBUCCI while D’Banj is making modestly successful music. D’Banj had said it on occasions that he really isn’t a good songwriter but more of an entertainer. He needs to find his way back to Don Jazzy to get that spark back into his music and revive his dwindling career.
He isn’t the first artist to experience this drought. The death of Tupac Amaru Shakur caused an exodus of artist from DeathRow Records. Among them was Snoop Dogg who left DeathRow Records for Master P’s No Limit Records to begin a downtime period in his career. It was during Snoop’s sojourn in No Limit that Dre made the revolutionary move of signing Eminem on his Aftermath label and still went on to churn out hits after hits, living proof that maverick producers always reinvent themselves when their star artists leaves(just like Don Jazzy is doing with Mavins records after D’ Banj left).
The Dogfather’s sojourn in No Limit had considerable success as he still made platinum sales on his albums there (The Game Is To Be Sold Not To Be Told, Top Dogg, Last Meal) but it was clear his creativity, style and expression were being stifled by No Limit’s dirty south sound. The biggest hit on his Top Dogg album, BITCH PLEASE featuring Xzibit and Nate Dogg was produced by Dr. Dre to prove that he still needed Dre while still away in No Limit.. His return to Dre in 2001 culminated in the release of the smash hit STILL DRE from the album 2001 with the highest point being the ‘’Up In Smoke Tour’’ which is regarded as the most successful hip hop tour ever.
The King of Pop, Michael Jackson met the legendary Quincy Jones when he was about to quit Jackson 5 and launch his solo career and Jones produced his ‘’Off The Wall’’ (1979), ‘’Thriller’’ (1983) and ‘’Bad’’ (1987) albums. Quincy Jones’ magic touch and genius was evident in launching MJ’s career to unprecedented heights. It was a marriage of two geniuses. Michael Jackson later parted ways with Jones in his quest for younger producers in the late ‘80s to early ‘90s during the New Jack Swing era and worked with the iconic Teddy Riley on the Dangerous album but it is a fact that none of his subsequent albums (Dangerous, Invincible etc) ever made the impact of his previous efforts with Quincy Jones.
Another classic example is Justin Timberlake. All his albums (Justified 2002, Future Sex Love Sounds 2006, The 20 20 Experience 2013, The 20 20 Experience 2 of 2 2013) have all been produced by the same producers. The Neptunes (Pharrel Williams and Hugo) produced most of the tracks on the Justified album with Timbaland producing some tracks. The subsequent albums in 2006 and 2013 have all been produced by Timbaland. It isn’t hard to see why all these albums have been very successful despite the time gaps between the release of all these albums due to Justin Timberlake‘s acting career creating a hiatus in his music.
The moral of the story is that every artist needs to find and recognise that producer who can interpret his sound and help him express his creativity and music. And when he finds that producer or those producers he should stick with them and work with them for the continuous and lasting success of his careers. Some producers know and can interpret your musical DNA while some can’t.
Innoson Motors, Nigeria’s leading indigenous automobile manufacturer, has said that it will be exporting its passenger car brands to West African countries.
Chairman of Innoson Motors, Innocent Ifediaso Chukwuma, disclosed this at the Nnewi plant of the company during a brief preview of the company’s passenger cars to mark the concrete takeoff of the auto policy.
He said that Innoson-badged vehicles are genuinely indigenous, noting that apart from being made in Nigeria they bear a Nigerian name and not the monogram of any foreign auto brand.
According to him, Innoson plant was set up long before the introduction of the Nigerian Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) and against all odds at a time when importation of fully built-up vehicles was an easier and far more lucrative option. He added that the coming of the auto policy, four years after the production lines were officially commissioned by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in Nnewi in 2010, would help the growth and development of the local industry.
“In the Nigerian auto industry, there is no other made-in-Nigeria vehicle that bears a local name apart from Innoson. Others are foreign brands, though made in Nigeria. If you go to Europe, America and Asia or anywhere outside this country, you won’t see any vehicle called Innoson, because the name does not exist in any other place in the world except here,” He said.
The products which are to be exported include Fox Sedan and Amazon car brands and will be exported to Republic of Benin and Ghana, as soon as the vehicles are finally rolled out from the company’s plant in Nnewi, Anambra State.
The New Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP) introduced by the Federal Governement last year is hoped to help transform the Nigerian automotive industry and attract investment into the sector, as the Auto Sector has been identified as a key component of the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP). The NIRP is a 5 year programme developed by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investments to diversify Nigeria’s economy and revenues through industry and to increase manufacturing’s contribution to GDP from 4% today, to 6% by 2015, and finally above 10% by 2017.
NAIDP aims to curtail Nigeria’s almost total dependence on imports and to meet a significant proportion of its demand through domestic production.
A Spanish judge has rejected a request by prosecutors to drop charges of tax fraud against four-time Ballon D'or winner, Lionel Messi, and has ordered the investigation into three cases of suspected unpaid taxes to proceed.
Although, prosecutors argued in June that Messi’s father Jorge was responsible for the family’s finances and not the four-time World Player of the Year, a court statement said there was "sufficient evidence" to believe the Barcelona and Argentina star "could have known and consented" to the creation of a fictitious corporate structure to avoid paying taxes on income from his image rights.
Messi's father, Jorge Horacio Messi, who is under investigation for an alleged 4 million euros ($5.3 million) in unpaid taxes from 2007-09, made a payment of more than 5 million euros ($6.6 million) in August 2013 to cover alleged unpaid taxes, plus interest.
Monday's statement in court said it was not necessary for Messi "to have full knowledge of all accounting or corporate transactions or the exact amount of the fraud" for him to have had a clear idea of an intention to defraud.
Messi, one of the world’s highest-paid athletes, earns just over $40m a season in wages and bonuses, according to Forbes magazine, as well as about $23m from sponsors.
Forbes has him as the fourth top-earning athlete behind the boxer Floyd Mayweather, Real Madrid footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and basketball player LeBron James.
Tagged to be the world’s deadliest disease of our time, the Ebola virus has been around for a couple of decades.
In Nigeria, reports were heard of the existence of this disease in other countries and its fatality rate, never would one have thought (probably, some imagined) that the ugly Ebola will find its way into the country. However, that is not coming as a surprise to us, for a country where things which are to be treated with seriousness are handled with kids gloves.
Today, Nigeria already has its first case of Ebola infection & death, courtesy of a Liberian national. Many questions remain unanswered, which can be found here.
But where on Earth did this evil miscreant come from? Who is the inventor? what are its carriers?
In September 1976, a package containing a shiny, blue thermos flask arrived at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. Working in the lab that day was Peter Piot, a 27-year-old scientist and medical school graduate training as a clinical microbiologist.
“It was just a normal flask like any other you would use to keep coffee warm,” recalls Piot, now Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. But this thermos wasn’t carrying coffee – inside was an altogether different cargo. Nestled amongst a few melting ice cubes were vials of blood along with a note.
It was from a Belgian doctor based in what was then Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo – his handwritten message explained that the blood was that of a nun, also from Belgium, who had fallen ill with a mysterious illness which he couldn’t identify. This unusual delivery had travelled all the way from Zaire’s capital city Kinshasa, on a commercial flight, in one of the passengers’ hand luggage.
“When we opened the thermos, we saw that one of the vials was broken and blood was mixing with the water from the melted ice,” says Piot. The samples were treated like numerous others the lab had tested before, but when the scientists placed some of the cells under an electron microscope they saw something they didn’t expect.
“We saw a gigantic worm-like structure – gigantic by viral standards,” says Piot. “It’s a very unusual shape for a virus, only one other virus looked like that and that was the Marburg virus.”
The Marburg virus was first recognised in 1967 when 31 people became ill with haemorrhagic fever in the cities of Marburg and Frankfurt in Germany and in Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia. This Marburg outbreak was associated with laboratory staff who were working with infected monkeys imported from Uganda – seven people died.
Piot knew how serious Marburg could be – but after consulting experts around the world he got confirmation that what he was seeing under the microscope wasn’t Marburg – this was something else, something never seen before. The Ebola virus under an electron microscope.
News had reached Antwerp that the nun, who was under the care of the doctor in Zaire, had died. The team also learnt that many others were falling ill with this mysterious illness in a remote area in the north of Zaire. By the end of 1976, it had spread to Sudan, with a total of 318 people infected (named after the Ebola River in Zaire) and killing 280 (a fatality percentage of 88)
Despite the tremendous effort of experienced and dedicated researchers, Ebola’s natural reservoir was never identified. The third strain of Ebola, Ebola Reston (EBOR), was first identified in 1989 when infected monkeys were imported into Reston, Virginia, from Mindanao in the Philippines. Fortunately, the few people who were infected with EBOR (seroconverted) never developed Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF).
Ebola Cote d’Ivoire (EBO-CI) was discovered in 1994 when a female ethologist performing a necropsy on a dead chimpanzee from the Tai Forest, Cote d’Ivoire, accidentally infected herself during the necropsy. But no death was recorded.
Before 2014, the last recorded case of Ebola, was in 2012 in DR Congo between June and November (77 infected, 36 deaths).
Presently over 1093 cases have been reported in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, with over 672 deaths – Nigeria accounting for one.
Fruit bats are believed to carry and spread the disease without being affected by it. Once infection occurs, the disease may be spread from one person to another. Men who survive may be able to transmit the disease sexually for nearly two months. Monkies have also been identified as carriers of the infection.
Experts have also warned about “bush meat” (any kind of meat that poachers bring out of “the bush,” forest and bushlands of Africa, especially central Africa).
Now that Ebola is here, it is important that we take safety precaution, so as to control its infection/fatality rate. You can read on how to prevent Ebola here.
[b]A sexually-frustrated wife has shared a spreadsheet detailing her husband's reasons for refusing her sex.
Few months into her marriage, the unsatisfied wife began documenting the reasons her husband gave when rejecting her advances. On the night their divorce was finalized, she celebrated with 10 friends and shared with them her brutally honest sex diary.
"He came home from playing basketball with his friends. He went to bed without taking a shower. I took a bath and masturbated,' the sexually-frustrated woman wrote on day one.
On day four: 'I wore a teddy to bed. He was snoring by 10 o'clock.' On day nine, her drought was broken when he 'went down on me'. But she had to wait another 16 days for more action, and it only lasted for two minutes. 'I finished myself off with the Magic Wand,' she wrote.
In 30 days, the unidentified woman had sex twice, masturbated 10 times and put up with endless excuses from her disinterested husband.
She claimed that was an 'above average' month and her hubby had problems with premature ejaculation, according to a report by Guyism.
Only last week, a similar spreadsheet compiled by an unsatisfied husband also went viral.
For a month, the husband jotted down every response from his other half when he asked her for intimacy.
He then collated the information and put it into an Excel document before cruelly emailing his wife as she arrived at an airport ahead of a 10-day business trip.
Most people slammed the husband's 'immaturity' and said he should have made his point in a different way.[/b]
A Nigerian, Sulaiman Abdulkarim Isah, emerged top position in the international Quran completion category at the 18th session of the Dubai International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA).
The award is given to the top memorisers of the Quran.
The award, held in Dubai at the Cultural and Scientific Association, Mamzar, saw Nigerian contestant, Isah, defeat Saudi Arabia's Omar Hussain Baeisa and Yemeni's Mohammed Khaled Yaseen to the second and third spots respectively, in the international Quran completion category of the Award.
Apart from emerging first position, Isha was awarded the cash price of Dh250,000 (over N11million), which was handed over to him by Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai.
Dear all, kindly debunk any reports yesterday about a twitter account (@Fifndhs) that had seemingly predicted the World Cup final that was decided yesterday.
The twitter account was seen to have made the predictions about 17 hours before the final and appeared to have gotten all predictions right. be not deceived.
What actually happened is that, this particular account, tweets all possible outcomes of a football match; once the predicted match is decided, it then deletes those that did not correspond with its predictions.
Germany won the world cup final fair and clean as they were the best team of the tournament. Congratulations once again to them.
A new high-tech birth control option that beats the use of daily pills is being developed by the Gates foundation.
The device, a small remote-operated implant that lasts up to 16 years, can be turned on and off over a wireless connection.
The project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aims to explore new forms of birth control, and the remote control implant would be the first hormone-based option that lasts more than five years.
Traditional birth control — namely the pill and condoms — have proven to be less effective because of improper use. Condom use as the sole form of birth control is on the decline, with only about 5 percent of men using them regularly. And it’s easy to forget to take a pill at the same time every day (it’s also rendered ineffective if the woman is taking other medications such as antibiotics).
Using a wireless remote, women get a 30 micrograms daily dose of common birth control hormone levonorgestrel for up to 16 years with no need for refills. Patients would also be able to stop the birth control at any time without making a trip to the doctor to get the implant removed.
The wireless “pill” is set to hit the market by 2018 with pre-clinical trials starting next year, MIT Technology Review first reported. Women would get the chip implanted under the skin on the upper arm, abdomen or buttocks.
Here’s how it works: A tiny implant (20 x 20 x 7 millimeters) would be inserted under the skin of your butt, upper arm, or stomach (interesting?), and each day it would automatically dispense 30 micrograms of levonorgestrel into your body—a hormone already used in several kinds of contraceptives. The dosage would be released thanks to an internal battery that triggers the opening of tiny reservoirs. (Talk about no more remembering or forgetting the Pill!)
As for women who are ready to conceive? They could simply turn the device off with the click of a remote, and then turn it back on when you’re ready to start receiving the daily dosages of hormones. Amazing. But the best part? After 16 years of use, the device can either be removed or replaced. (To put things in perspective, currently no hormonal birth control lasts over five years!).
However, the new project also raises some privacy and security concerns. Because the chip runs on a wireless connection, like many medical devices, it’s vulnerable to hacking.
Hackers can commandeer devices, such as a bluetooth headset or electronic key fob, by tapping into their wireless connection. Medical devices are especially susceptible because their malfunctioning can be life-threatening. A study found that drug infusion pumps that dispensed morphine drips, antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs could be hacked and have the dosages changed or turned off completely, Wired recently reported.
The Gates Foundation has a track record for improving birth control methods. In November, the foundation held a “build a better condom” contest, receiving nearly 1,000 applications. The $1 million contest’s goal was to encourage applicants to design a condom that preserves pleasure for both partners so that people would actually use it.
Insurgents believed to be Boko Haram members attacked a village in Borno State at about 7:49am yesterday morning.
According to our source, the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) got a distress call from the people of Fish Dam, entry point into Nigeria from Chad, about insurgents that had come into their village to steal food items and extort from the villagers.
The JTF got to the scene but two farmers had already been beheaded. The JTF were reported to have chased the insurgents out of the village and disloged them with 81 mm mortar bombs.
As at the time of this report, the head of MNJTF, Baga, could not be reached for a statement. But a source, who pleaded anonymity confirmed the incident.
Technology Market › ‘answer Calls With Your Pants’…google Is Working On Another Technology by Ping411(op): 3:55pm On May 31, 2015
