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Past times: South Korean soldiers led a convoy of trucks carrying rice to North Korea in 2004
With North Korea
suffering from one of the worst droughts in its history, neighbouring
country South Korea has offered a helping hand - but on one condition.
They have to ask for their help.
The
recent admission through the Korean Central News Agency was a very
unusual step from the famously isolationist authority, and many are
convinced it was their way of reaching out.
Despite the frosty
relationship between the two states, reports that thousands are at risk
of starvation in the Communist state have persuaded the Seoul government
in South Korea to offer aid, reports the Korea Times.
South
Korean Foreign Minister and inter-Korean relations expert Hong Yong-pyo
said they will be on hand if aid is requested, according to the Yonhap News Agency.
“At
a time when the two Koreas are coping with drought, I think that this
situation can be a chance to promote cooperation,” Hong told reporters
during a briefing.
With North Korea
suffering from one of the worst droughts in its history, neighbouring
country South Korea has offered a helping hand - but on one condition.
They have to ask for their help.
The
recent admission through the Korean Central News Agency was a very
unusual step from the famously isolationist authority, and many are
convinced it was their way of reaching out.
Despite the frosty
relationship between the two states, reports that thousands are at risk
of starvation in the Communist state have persuaded the Seoul government
in South Korea to offer aid, reports the Korea Times.
South
Korean Foreign Minister and inter-Korean relations expert Hong Yong-pyo
said they will be on hand if aid is requested, according to the Yonhap News Agency.
“At
a time when the two Koreas are coping with drought, I think that this
situation can be a chance to promote cooperation,” Hong told reporters
during a briefing.
“If North Korea faces tougher situations, South Korea is willing to provide the necessary support to North Korea.” Kim Jong-un
has so far remained immune to the offers, instead being photographed in
increasingly more bizarre and expensive surroundings like a gleaming
modern new airport in North Korean capital Pyongyang and in a lab where
he claimed to have cured Aids, Ebola, Sars and Mers.
Although
South Korea has stepped forward, the US is standing apart from the aid,
after the food aid it offered in 2012 - on condition of a cessation of
the nuclear weapons program and missile development - was withdrawn when
North Korea violated the agreement.
North Korea's ally China are ready to step in, but the circumstances have not yet been confirmed.
The
United Nations recently reported that about 70 percent of North Korea’s
population of 24.6 million people is significantly affected by food
shortages.
The 6,000 extra seats in the South Stand will contribute to
the Etihad becoming the third largest ground in the Premier League,
behind United and Arsenal
Manchester City
are adding extra capacity to the Etihad Stadium ahead of their bid to
reclaim the title from Chelsea next season - as these pictures show.
Coincidently, Jose Mourinho’s men will be the first to visit the expanded arena on the second week of the new season.
Having
already opened a new £200million training complex back in December
2014, the stadium expansion plans further reinforce the club’s ambitions
to firmly establish themselves at English football’s top table over the
course of the coming years.
The process has added an extra 6000
seats to the South Stand end of the ground, which takes the capacity up
to 61,000 ahead of the new campaign.
This will mean that
Pelligrini’s men will be playing their home matches in the third biggest
stadium in English football - only city rivals Manchester United and
Arsene Wenger's Arsenal can boast a greater capacity.
The next stage will be to see how many of the new seats can be filled
by fans of the club, given that there were empty spaces aplenty during
European nights at the Etihad last season, the jury is out as to whether
the new places will be regularly filled - nonetheless, you have to
admire the ambition.
City will be hoping their summer signings can put bums on the extra seats, with Raheem Sterling continuing to be linked with a switch to the Etihad.
Two offers have already been rebuffed by Liverpool, with the Reds bracing themselves for a third offer of around £50million.
Patrick Vieira has backed the City hierarchy to splash the cash and bring the young winger to Manchester.
"If
he is in the market, not just City would be interested in him. I think
if you go down and ask 10 people what they think about him, I think nine
would give you a positive answer.
"I would be part of the nine
people because he's shown how good he is, how well he's been doing at
Liverpool," Vieira told ESPN FC at an event in New York.
We see a lot of budget smartphones here at CNET (see our roundup of best no-contract phones for $250 or less,
for example), and they all straddle that fine line between cutting
costs and delivering a satisfying amount of functionality. The LG Volt
is a prime example: it's available without a contract on Boost Mobile
for just $100 (about £65, or AU$130). That gets you LTE connectivity and
great battery life. But you're also stuck with middling cameras and a
low-resolution display.
If you're looking for a smartphone that'll
impress your friends, play the latest games or take great pictures,
this is not the phone for you. The Volt is aimed squarely at folks with
tight budgets, or who simply don't want to spend all that much on a cell
phone. The Volt is not an especially impressive device, but LTE
connectivity at a low price coupled with long battery life could make
for a satisfying experience for folks on tight budgets.
Design and build
4.7-inch, 960x540-pixel resolution TFT (234ppi)
5.18 inches by 2.6 inches by 0.41 inch (131.6 x 66 x 10.4 millimeters)
4.8 ounces (136.1 grams)
The LG Volt is a generic black plastic slab with a 4.7-inch display.
There's nothing in the way of glitz or adornments: the squat, oval home
button sits on the front, flanked by capacitive back and menu buttons.
The volume controls sit on the right side, while the lock button is on
the left. The headphone jack and an infrared emitter sit up top, while the Micro-USB charging port, flanked by stereo speakers, lives on the bottom.
The
screen has a paltry 960x540-pixel resolution, which rules out watching
HD videos or ogling high-resolution images. But the display is otherwise
just fine: off-axis viewing angles aren't especially wide, but colors
look clear and consistent, even as the phone shifts around. A pixel
density of 234 pixels per inch means that text from Web pages and
messages looks rather crisp, too.
The uninspired design is right in line with the price, but if you're a Boost Mobile customer, I'd personally lean toward the Motorola Moto E 4G LTE.
That phone is little smaller and lacks a removable battery, but is
offered at the same price and it's charming, in its own chubby little
way.
This is a Boost Mobile phone, which means you're going to have to
wade through a lot of preinstalled apps. Most of them are just shortcuts
to the Google Play Store, so you'll be left with a fairly clear device
if you spend a few minutes clearing off the junk.
The phone is saddled with the older Android
4.4 KitKat operating system, which is a bit of a bummer. Google has
made efforts to keep apps and features separate from the operating
system, so you can still use things like Google Now or the latest
versions of the Mail app. But you're still missing out on the snazzy
design changes.
You'll be getting the LG Optimus UI instead. It's not a dramatic
departure from stock Android, and primarily focuses on swapping out
icons and tweaking the color scheme a tad. LG's own apps are also fairly
useful. There's Quick Remote, which turns the phone into a universal
remote for your TV, care of the aforementioned infrared emitter. There's
also QSlide, which allows you to plop select apps onto your display in
their own floating windows, for a bit of impromptu multitasking. The
Volt also offers NFC connectivity, so once Android Pay rears its head you should theoretically be able to use it.
Performance and battery life
1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400
8GB of storage
1GB of RAM
32GB of expandable storage
3,000mAh removable battery
he 3,000mAh battery doesn't disappoint.
Nate Ralph/CNET
The
1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor isn't going to win
any awards, but it's right in line with the price. You'll run into
trouble with more hardware-intensive games, but I've been revisiting
Grand Theft Auto 3 and it works fairly well here. Casual games and most
of my favorite Android games work just fine too.
LG Volt benchmark results
Quadrant
8,802
3DMark Ice Storm
2,873
Geekbench 3 (multicore)
1,153
Geekbench 3 (single-core)
341
Restart time
42
Camera boot time
1.7
The Volt's performance on synthetic benchmark tests was
right in line with competitors, too. These synthetic tests don't
translate directly into real-world performance, but they offer a general
idea of how you can expect the phone to perform in the real world.
There's only 8GB of storage, but pry off the back of the case and you'll
find the microSD card slot, with support for up to 32GB of extra
storage. There's also a 3,000mAh removable battery, should you feel the
need to pack a spare. I didn't need one: the phone is rated at 24 hours
of talk time, and lasted for an average of 16 hours and 21 minutes in
CNET's video playback battery drain tests.
But this is a budget smartphone, so connectivity is arguably the most
important factor here. Boost Mobile piggybacks off of Sprint's network,
and performance here in San Francisco isn't bad: I saw an average of
about 13.2Mbps down, and 8.96Mbps up.
LG Volt (Boost Mobile) average data speeds
Average 4G LTE download speed
12.2
Average 4G LTE upload speed
8.96
Temple Run 2 app download (46.2MB)
53
CNET mobile site load
4
CNET desktop site load
5
Call quality was less satisfactory: I never ran into issues with
dropped calls when I was in a location with a strong signal, but the
folks I spoke to complained that I sounded dull, and a bit muted --
listen to the voice quality sample above for a taste of what to expect.
That said, your own experiences with data and call quality are going to
vary based on your location, and factors like the time of day.
Camera
8-megapixel rear camera
1,080p HD video (30fps)
1.3-megapixel front-facing camera
I
wasn't expecting too much out of the LG Volt's 8-megapixel rear
shooter, and it performed in line with my expectations. Given strong,
indirect sunlight and a static subject, you'll get a usable, albeit
noisy, image. The camera struggles to offer much beyond that.
Conclusion
The LG Volt isn't going to blow you away, but
you're getting LTE connectivity, and no contract, for just $100. In
terms of performance it isn't too bad, either, lining up right alongside
the pricier Huawei SnapTo. Both the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime and Huawei P8 Lite will offer better performance and stronger cameras, but they both cost twice as much as the Volt.
The LG Volt makes a strong showing for the price, and while I'm still smitten by the Motorola Moto E 4G LTE
at this price level, that's largely a matter of personal taste. If
you're looking for great battery life and don't care if your device
looks a little dull, the LG Volt is a fine, budget choice.
Lost My Name, the
London-based startup behind the hugely popular “The Little Boy/Girl Who
Lost His/Her Name”, a personalised picture book for kids, has picked a
$9 million Series A round. Google Ventures led the investment, along
with Greycroft, The Chernin Group, Allen & Co, and former SunGard
President and CEO Cris Conde.
The new capital will be used by Lost My Name to further scale the
business globally — the investors are heavily skewed towards the U.S.,
even if Google Ventures now has an outpost in London
— and for further R&D, creating a pipeline of future
storytelling-based products, including the launch of a second, more
ambitious personalised book.
So, what’s a group of tech VCs doing investing in a dead-tree book
publisher, you may well ask? Well, a few reasons. Describing itself as a
“full stack” storytelling and publishing startup, Lost My Name is
heavily reliant on technology to control almost all the parts of its
business.
Co-founder and CEO Asi Sharabi tells me this includes a bespoke
e-commerce platform that enables it to personalise the kids storybook it
sells on the fly; you get a live preview of the book, customised to
change the story based on the child’s name you enter, further
encouraging you to progress through the conversion funnel. It also has
various printing partners around the world so that the company is able
to operate on an on-demand and zero-inventory basis.
It’s this “vertically integrated operation,” which Sharabi likens to
companies such as Warby Parker, that means Lost My Name controls most
other aspects of its business processes in-house, from creating the
stories, illustrations, to marketing and sales. The later has thus far
relied mostly on performance marketing — its books are sold directly
through its own website — as well as good old-fashioned word-of-mouth
(or, in my case, I kept seeing Lost My Name pop up on my Twitter feed
and made two subsequent and happy purchases for my girlfriend’s 3- and
4-year-old children).
The startup’s history is also noteworthy. It started off as a side
project by Sharabi and his three co-founders in November 2012 after
dissatisfaction with the existing and antiquated personalised kids book
market, which tends to produce poor quality and “gimmicky” products.
Seeing that the bar was set so low, the four of them embarked on
producing something much better.
Then, to Sharabi’s surprise, Lost My Name began to sell pretty well.
In fact, very well. By Christmas the company had sold 22,000 books. The
following April it raised £500,000 led by Forward Partners at a £2.5
million valuation. An appearance on the BBC TV show Dragon’s Den led to
further investment from Piers Linney, who invested £100,000 for 4 per
cent equity. And to date, the startup has sold more than 600,000 copies
of The Little Boy/Girl Who Lost His/Her Name in over 135 countries,
resulting in the company being profitable.
Meanwhile, fundraise when you can, not when you need to, seems to be
the mantra here. Sharabi was hesitant to focus on valuation
“chest-beating,” and instead is most excited about Lost My Name’s second
product, which will take personalised storytelling to the next level
with technology that taps into third-party APIs for customisation of
some of its content (I understand it has 14 people currently working on
the next book).
However, he did concede that the timing was good with a relative
abundance of capital available and plenty of offers on the table. The
result is that the company believes it’s now in a very strong position
to grow faster and invest significantly in R&D in order to keep
creating “magical moments” for kids
Facebook set an all-time high today, closing at $88.86 per share, valuing the company at just under $250 billion.
Positive analyst sentiment has helped propel the company’s shares in
recent days. Facebook traded around $82 as recently as last Friday,
making its fresh heights even more notable — a few points for a company
as valuable as Facebook mean billions in value being created, or erased.
Piper Jaffray raised its Facebook share price target to $120, a massive premium to the company’s share price even today, following its recent rally. Adding to the mix, RBC Capital indicated
that it currently thinks that Facebook is worth $105 per share, a more
modest, but still stiff figure when placed next to Facebook’s recent,
pre-rally trading range.
For context, Facebook is now worth three commas — 11 figures — more than Walmart.
However, what’s most interesting in the Facebook bump isn’t the
simple fact that it is now worth more — shares and markets gyrate.
Instead, it’s the reasons why analysts are more bullish that are
notable: Piper cited the Oculus Rift headset as a coming revenue source,
while RBC gave the top line potential of Instagram as key to Facebook’s
value.
Translating those points slightly, it seems that investors are taking
into account the revenue side of Facebook’s past purchases, and are
adjusting their expectations higher as those acquisitions mature into
income streams. That concept underscores how well the social company has
done on the M&A side of things these past few years.
In the wake of its IPO, Facebook traded at or under the $20 mark for much of 2012. It’s different days now for the company.
Today’s taxi driver protest is getting out of hand. According to the
police, 2,800 taxi drivers are protesting today against UberPOP, the
European equivalent of UberX (as UberX in France is Uber in the U.S.).
With UberPOP, everybody can become an Uber driver — taxi drivers see the
service as unfair competition as they have to get a special license.
Yet, this doesn’t really explain why cabbies are now attacking Uber
drivers, burning and breaking their cars.
The police have already arrested a taxi driver and an Uber driver.
The cabbie was throwing projectiles toward the police, while the latter
was attacking a cabbie. It is currently very difficult to go to
Charles-De-Gaulle and Orly airports as taxi drivers are blocking the
roads. Taxis are also controlling many parts of Paris, looking for Uber
drivers.
There are other protests happening right now in Nice, Marseille,
Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lyon and Lille. It’s the biggest protest so far
against the urban transportation company in France as UberPOP has been
expanding to new French cities.
UberPOP is the most controversial part of Uber in Europe, and many countries are trying to ban the service. It was banned in Brussels, the Netherlands and, yes, France.
But in many cases, Uber didn’t take its drivers off the road. After
UberPOP’s launch, most taxi drivers were mainly raging against the new
service. That’s why it is now on the brink of illegality or already
illegal, depending on who you ask.
You can still easily order an UberPOP in the company’s app. The
police have been issuing fines in Paris, but when an UberPOP driver gets
fined, Uber pays.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve already issued a statement,
saying that he asked Paris police chief to issue a decree making UberPOP
illegal (once again). But he also said that only a court order can make
the Uber app illegal in France.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that he would hold a meeting with
taxi union representatives tomorrow. All the unions declined the offer,
saying that they don’t want to talk to the Government anymore.
Skype Translator Preview testbed to widen further after Windows 8.1 and Windows 1 expansion
Microsoft will let users of its Skype for Windows desktop app
try out Skype Translator by the end of summer, as it expands its
customer testbed further.
Redmond plans to roll out its preview of Skype Translator to the
desktop app around August, after opening up the trial to Windows 10 and
Windows 8.1 users last month.
Since allowing users of these operating systems to download the
preview straight from the Windows Store, Microsoft saw a 300 per cent
rise in uptake, it claims.
Previously, testers were required to sign up and wait to be admitted
to the scheme before being able to directly translate speech to and from
English, Chinese (Mandarin), Italian and Spanish.
Skype’s product marketing manager, Yasmin Khan, said in a blog post yesterday that a greater number of users would improve the translating technology.
“We are thrilled with the positive response from around the world,
and especially thankful to ALL of the early adopters who downloaded the
application, and use it every day,” she wrote.
“Remember: Skype Translator uses machine learning, so the more people
use the technology, the better the experience for everyone!”
Currently, the Skype Translator preview can translate between
English, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin, as well as 50 written languages
in its instant messaging function.
More users means the machine learning behind the app can improve its
understanding of phrases and accents to become more accurate.
Microsoft said it will add more languages to the app as they meet its quality standard.
The new version of Skype Translator also allows support for
translating to and from French and German too, although Microsoft hasn't
revealed what other new goodies the latest version includes.
Microsoft launched Skype Translator last December and, initially,
only a select number of people were able to use it. Khan highlighted one
of the early adopter testers in a blog post, praising non-profit
development organisation Pro Mujer based in New York. The company
provides women in Latin America with financial, health, and human
development services and is using Skype Translator to communicate with
them.
"We are very proud of Pro Mujer’s mission, and we’re delighted
they’re finding value in using Skype generally, and Skype Translator to
make an impact in so many people’s lives," Khan said.
Earlier in the year, we looked at what you can expect from the automated translation service. Read on to find out more... What will it do?
Skype Translator will work by providing voice translation in near
real-time along with an onscreen transcription of what you have said.
The Preview will translate video conversations carried out in English
and Spanish. The Preview will also translate text in over 40 languages.
"The preview stage is critical to the development and advancement of
Skype Translator as it allows customers to use the product and provide
valuable feedback, which in turn will help us improve the product and
consequently, help the technology get smarter and learn more languages,"
Skype said in a blog post. What do you need?
For a chance to test drive the Skype Translator Preview service, you need to register.
You’ll need a machine running Windows 8.1 or the Windows 10 Technical
Preview to use the software. Support for various platforms including
Android, iOS and Mac is expected to be rolled out when the service is
officially launched. Does it work?
Yes. Microsoft has been working on speech-to-speech translation for
10+ years. To deliver the service, the firm has worked with specialists
in the language and translation fields, and leveraged technology from
core departments including Skype, Microsoft Research and Bing.
With the technology close to being rolled out in beta form, Microsoft has provided demonstrations at various events this year.
Skype Translator could be for language what Google was to search.
The first public demonstration of Skype Translator occurred in May
2014 at the inaugural Code conference. Skype was used to translate a
conversation from English-to-German and vice versa during a video call.
A similar demonstration was carried out on-stage at its Worldwide Partner Conference in July.
As it's still in beta form, translation isn't always perfect. However,
as the system uses machine learning, the more conversations it
translates, the better it will become. What are the benefits?
Skype Translator could be for language what Google
was to search. It will give people who may not have the means to learn a
new language the chance to communicate. The service will no doubt be
used for educational purposes and could even help worldwide leaders to
communicate effectively.
Businesses are also expected to receive a huge benefit. Having a
real-time translator will increase transatlantic communication between
colleagues, and potentially help businesses build contacts and break
into foreign markets as it lowers the cost of communication. This article was originally published on the 26/11/14 and has been updated multiple times (most recently on 09/06/15).
FROM
LEFT: VICE PRESIDENT YEMI OSINBAJO; FIRST LADY, HAJIA AISHA BUHARI;
PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI AND FORMER PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN,
DURING THE INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT BUHARI IN ABUJA ON FRIDAY
PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI ACKNOWLEDGING CHEERS DURING HIS INAUGURATION IN ABUJA ON FRIDAY
FROM
LEFT:FORMER VICE PRESIDENT NAMADI SAMBO; FORMER HEAD OF STATE, GEN.
IBRAHIM BABANGIDA; FORMER HEAD OF STATE, GEN. ABDULSALAMI ABUBAKAR;
FORMER HEAD OF INTERIM GOVERNMENT, CHIEF ERNEST SHONEKAN AND FORMER
PRESIDENT OLUSEGUN OBASANJO, DURING THE INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI IN ABUJA ON FRIDAY
Biafra Freedom Now
AlBashir Ibn Yakubu
Dolapo Aina
Trendsmap Lagos
Ebuka Obi-Uchendu
Akachi Junior
Isa Mutlib
'Gbénga Sèsan
Situation Room
Deola Adejuyigbe
Osahon
A|#AfriSphere
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