Chinese Woman Speaks Fluent Tamil And Leaves Us Mesmerised

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Chinese Woman Speaks Fluent Tamil And Leaves Us Mesmerised

We, as youngsters have tough time being a pro in a single language. Neither do we know proper Hindi, nor the correct English. We just keep juggling between the two. And forget mastering a third language. Remember how much we used to hate the third language class? Be it French, German, or the regional language like Punjabi etc, it took a heavy toll on us.

However, we recently came across a video in which a Chinese woman can be seen speaking Tamil very fluently. Not only she was speaking in tamil, but she seemed to be a master in it.

The video was shared by Mahindra Group Chairman, Anand Mahindra on Twitter and the video is spreading like fire. Sharing the video, he wrote, “Thanks for this video Ravi. Fun start to a Monday. Not easy to learn the accent & cadence of the language but this Chinese lady seems to have conquered the Great Wall of Tamil. Have to ask my buddy @MM_Murugappan if he approves.”

Watch here:

In the video, we can see the Great Wall Of China and the lady was giving a guided tour of the tourist place.

People are awestuck after watching this video. A user wrote, “Wow!! Wonderful indeed. This is not general Tamil. I mean its the professional one, which I feel is quite difficult. Like how the Hindi we speak at home is little different when compared to the one we read in the books.”

Another user wrote, “Amazing! I really appreciate the manner in which the lady has adopted the Indian culture and the Tamil language.”

Check out some more tweets:

Don’t know about you, but we are surely amazed.  Learning a foreign language is not a child’s play. And Tamil is one language which North Indians find most difficult to learn or understand.

W should surely take some lessons from this lady!

Published by Kanika Saini on 31 Jul 2018
Chinese Woman Speaks Fluent Tamil And Leaves Us Mesmerised Chinese Woman Speaks Fluent Tamil And Leaves Us Mesmerised Reviewed by Unknown on 6:29 PM Rating: 5

Midterm attackers cited Black Lives Matter in false flag Facebook rally

12:29 PM

Unknown midterm election attackers that Facebook has removed were hosting a political rally next month that they pinned on Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and other organizations, according to third-party event websites that scraped the now-removed Facebook events.

Facebook provided an image of the deleted “No Unite The Right 2 – DC” event as part of its announcement today that merely showed its image, title, date, location, and that a Page called “Resisters” was one of the hosts of the propaganda event. But a scraped event description TechCrunch discovered on Rallyist provides deeper insight into the disruptive information operation. Facebook won’t name the source of the election interference but said the attackers shared a connection through a single account to the Russian Internet Research Agency responsible for 2016 presidential election interference on Facebook.

“We are calling all anti-fascists and people of good conscience to participate in international days of action August 10 through August 12 and a mass mobilization in Washington DC” the description reads. “We occupy ICE offices, confront racism, antisemitism, islamaphobia, xenophobia, and white nationalism. We will be in the streets on August 10-12, and we intend to win.”

But what’s especially alarming is how the event description concludes [emphasis mine]. “Signed, Black Lives Matter Charlottesville, Black Lives Matter D.C., Charlottesville Summer of Resistance Welcoming Committee Agency, Crimethinc Ex-Workers Collective, Crushing Colonialism, D.C. Antifascist Collective, Future is Feminists, Holler Network, Hoods4Justice, The International, Capoeira Angola Foundation-DC (FICA-DC), Libertarian Socialist Caucus Of The DSA, March For Racial Justice, Maryland Antifa, One People’s Project, Resist This (Former DisruptJ20), Rising Tide North America, Smash Racism D.C., Showing Up for Racial Justice Charlottesville, Suffolk County DSA, Workers Against Racism, 350 DC.”

The attackers were potentially trying to blame these groups for the rallies in an effort to further sow discord in the political landscape.

Facebook initially provided no comment about the description of the event, but then confirmed that it was originally created by the attackers’ Page Resisters which then later added several legitimate organizations as co-hosts: Millenials For Revolution, March To Confront White Supremacy – from Charlottesville to DC, Workers Against Racism – WAR, Smash Racism DC, and Tune Out Trump. Strangely, those co-hosts have relaunched a new event with a similar name “Nazis Not Welcome No Unite The Right 2” and similar description including a similar but expanded “Signed by” list, and now include BLM Charlottesville and D.C. as co-hosts.

Meanwhile, Facebook also shared an image of a November 4th, 2017 “Trump Nightmare Must End – NYC” event, also without details of the description. A scraped version on the site AllEvents shows the description as “History has shown that fascism must be stopped before it becomes too late. There is only one force that can stop this nightmare: we, the people, acting together. On November 4 we’ll take to the streets demanding that Trump regime must go! We meet at Times Square (42 St and Broadway) at 2 PM!”

The co-opting of left-wing messaging and protests is a powerful strategy for the election interferers. It could provide the right-wing with excuses to claim that all left-wing protest against Trump or white supremacy is actually foreign governments or hackers, and that those protests don’t represent the views of real Americans.

Midterm attackers cited Black Lives Matter in false flag Facebook rally Midterm attackers cited Black Lives Matter in false flag Facebook rally Reviewed by Unknown on 12:29 PM Rating: 5

She went on our honeymoon alone, Anil Kapoor shares cute details about his love-story with Sunita

10:49 AM
She went on our honeymoon alone, Anil Kapoor shares cute details about his love-story with Sunita She went on our honeymoon alone, Anil Kapoor shares cute details about his love-story with Sunita Reviewed by Unknown on 10:49 AM Rating: 5

Lust Stories actress Kiara Advani celebrates her birthday with friends

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Lust Stories actress Kiara Advani celebrates her birthday with friends

On the eve of her birth anniversary, Bollywood beauty Kiara Advani hosted a special bash in which her besties from film fraternity were also present.

Shinning bright in a pretty golden bodycon costume, the bold and beautiful Kiara was full of a sweet smile on her big day.

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It is clear from her appearance that the birthday girl is in a cheery mood as she cuts her special birthday cake.

With her stunning smile, flowing curly tresses and a proper amount of make-up, Kiara was looking really hot and gorgeous.

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Kiara entered the Hindi film industry with the flick named ‘Fugly’.

The movie, which hit theatres during the year 2014 and also featured Jimmy Sheirgill, also marked the Bollywood foray of Mohit Marwah, Vijender Singh and Arfi Lamba. The film bagged mixed response and its songs were really commendable.

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Kiara has also showcased her acting skills in ‘M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story’. The actress donned the character of Sakshi Singh Dhoni in the film.

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput was seen playing the character of Dhoni in the movie and it was one of the finest movies of the year 2016.

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Kiara is also playing the lead role in ‘Lust Stories’ that is an anthology movie, comprising 4 short movie sections helmed by Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, and Karan Johar respectively.

The KJo’s section comprises Neha, Kiara and ‘Raazi’ star Vicky Kaushal.

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The KJo’s part discusses a newly married young female and her problem in finding a sexually companionable partner. Kiara is one of the leads in Kjo’s section.

Kiara Advani also said that she lets her mood settle on what she should be dressed in.

“I might wake up feeling sporty or boho chic. So, I don’t really tie down to just one thing,” Advani said at India Couture Week in New Delhi on Saturday.

“I like to wear whatever my mood decides. I have fun… I enjoy being myself,” she added.

Published by Mamatha on 31 Jul 2018
Lust Stories actress Kiara Advani celebrates her birthday with friends Lust Stories actress Kiara Advani celebrates her birthday with friends Reviewed by Unknown on 3:39 AM Rating: 5

Blockchain media project Civil turns to Asia with fund to kickstart 100 new media ventures

11:09 PM

Civil, the blockchain-based journalism organization, is casting its eye to Asia after it set up a $1 million fund that’s aimed at seeding 100 new media projects across the continent over the next three years. The organization has teamed up with Splice, a Singapore-based media startup which will manage the fund, according to an announcement.

There’s been a lot of attention lavished on Civil for its promise to make media work more efficiently using blockchain technology and its upcoming crypto token, CVL. The organization has raised $5 million in financing from ConsenSys, the blockchain corporation led by Ethereum co-creator Joe Lubin, and its ICO takes place next month with the goal of raising around $32 million to launch its network and actively onboard new media companies worldwide.

But the company is waiting around. Civil has already actively jumped into the media space — providing financial backing to the newly-formed The Colorado Sun — but the scope of the project in Asia is different in trying to kickstart a wave of new media organizations by giving them money to get off the ground.

Alan Soon, co-founder and CEO of Splice, told TechCrunch that it hasn’t been decided whether the financing will be in the form of grants or equity-based investments. Despite that, he said deals will be “pre-seed, micro-investments to help entrepreneurs take their ideas to prototype stage.”

Soon said that all kinds of media are in play, ranging from the more obvious suspects such as publishers, reporting websites and podcasts to behind-the-scenes tech like automation, bots and adtech.

Notably, though, he clarified that the beneficiaries of the fund will be under no obligation to adopt Civil’s protocol, the technology that will be funded by the upcoming ICO. Splice itself, however, has committed to doing so which will mean it gains access to the network’s content, licensing opportunities and more.

“I’m with Civil because I really believe in their values,” Soon added. “They want to do the right thing for this space.”

Blockchain media project Civil turns to Asia with fund to kickstart 100 new media ventures Blockchain media project Civil turns to Asia with fund to kickstart 100 new media ventures Reviewed by Unknown on 11:09 PM Rating: 5

Hina Khan looks gorgeous in purple ethnic suit in London, attempts to tackle cold weather

8:07 PM
Hina Khan looks gorgeous in purple ethnic suit in London, attempts to tackle cold weather Hina Khan looks gorgeous in purple ethnic suit in London, attempts to tackle cold weather Reviewed by Unknown on 8:07 PM Rating: 5

Mira Rajput Shares How Her Mother Takes Care Of Her Even When She Is Far

12:27 PM

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Mira Rajput Shares How Her Mother Takes Care Of Her Even When She Is Far

Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput are going to become parents again and their fans are very excited for the same. Mira is quite active on her Instagram page and often shares beautiful pictures and videos with Shahid and Misha and also her pregnancy woes.

The night of June 27, 2018, and morning of June 28 was the longest lunar eclipse of this century. Naturally, people started taking extra care of their food, outing and many other things. But the one group of people who is the most affected by eclipses are the pregnant women.

On the night of the lunar eclipse, Mira’s mother had a good advice for her preggy daughter. Mira took to her Instagram and shared a story in which we could see Mira getting a WhatsApp message from her Mumma which was, “Also today is lunar eclipse please through it and relax”. Sharing this, Mira captioned it, “This is why I love my mom”.

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In India, and also in various other parts of the world, it is advised for pregnant women that they should not go out during the eclipse.

Shahid’s wife recently took to Instagram and shared how her old jeans would not fit her anymore. She captioned her post as, “That weird phase when your jeans don’t fit and Maternity jeans are too big”.

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Shahid married Mira in 2015 and then their first child, daughter Misha was born a year later.

Back in July 2017, Mira had said in an interview that she would love to work but not before having another baby. “I would love to work, especially in a field that is creatively stimulating, but also allows me time with family. Perhaps something with food, or lifestyle,” she had said. But added that she doesn’t have a deadline for it because she was “going to have another baby, and then decide.”

Stay tuned to Laughing Colours for latest Bollywood news and updates.

Published by Bhaumik Raja on 30 Jul 2018
Mira Rajput Shares How Her Mother Takes Care Of Her Even When She Is Far Mira Rajput Shares How Her Mother Takes Care Of Her Even When She Is Far Reviewed by Unknown on 12:27 PM Rating: 5

Interior Define, the custom furniture startup, opens new location in SF

9:47 AM

The direct-to-consumer space has some stand-out players, both in newcomers like Brooklinen and old-timers like Warby Parker. But one company, Interior Define, has maintained a low profile over the four years of its existence.

The company offers fully customizable furniture, including couches, dining sets and bed frames, to customers through an online showroom. But ID also has guide shops in Chicago (its home market), LA, New York, and Austin.

Interior Define has also just opened up its biggest retail location yet, right in the middle of Hayes Valley in San Francisco. And this time, the store has a twist.

In the back of the showroom, Interior Define has built out a fully furnished two-story home called Studio ID. Alongside its own pieces, Studio ID includes pieces and products from other digitally native partners including Wright Bedding, Gantri, Snowe Home, Barn & Willow, 57st Design, Revival Rugs, Minted, Fireclay Tile, and Sonos.

The idea here is to show off ID’s pieces in their most natural setting, alongside offering partner companies better exposure via offline retail.

According to Interior Define cofounder and CEO Rob Royer, there is no exchange of cash for these partnerships.

Royer also told TechCrunch that San Francisco has been a priority market for the company for a while, but that the startup insisted on finding a great place within Hayes Valley, and waited until they found this newest location to move into the market.

When Interior Define first launched, the company simply sold customizable sofas. Users could choose the upholstery, the measurements, and the accents like sofa legs. The company has since expanded into dining sets and bed frames, but has also enhanced the overall experience with an Interior Define app.

The app lets users scan the floor of their home and place the item they’re customizing into the home via augmented reality. Interior Define also took a page out of the Warby Parker playbook, offering a free swatch program for users interested in purchasing online.

Interior Define has raised a total of $27.2 million from investors such as Fifth Wall, Pritzker Group, Breakout Capital, and Greak Oaks.

Interior Define, the custom furniture startup, opens new location in SF Interior Define, the custom furniture startup, opens new location in SF Reviewed by Unknown on 9:47 AM Rating: 5

Badminton World Championship 2018: Indians Have High Expectations From PV Sindhu

5:02 AM

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Badminton World Championship 2018: Indians Have High Expectations From PV Sindhu

PV Sindhu has become the new face of badminton after she made our country proud during the Rio Olympics. She then won a number of medals in the various championships and is now again heading to play the World Championship.

With two bronze medals in 2013 and 2014 and a silver last year, Sindhu has an impressive record at the World Championship. Her epic final against Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara at Glasgow last year went down as one of the greatest matches of all time, clocking 110 minutes. The Indian will hope her love affair continues in Nanjing.

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According to reports, PV Sindhu might have to upstage defending champion and familiar foe Nozomi Okuhara as the two finalists of the previous edition are drawn to meet in a match of the World Championship, to be held from July 30 to August 5 in Nanjing, China.

The 23-year-old from Hyderabad has been very consistent with six final appearances last year, out of which she won India Open, Korea Open and Syed Modi International but she lost the finals at Worlds, Dubai Super Series and Hong Kong.

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The Indian is likely to meet Korea’s Sung Ji Hyun in the third round, crossing which will probably put her face-to-face with defending champion and familiar foe Nozomi Okuhara in the quarterfinals.

“I really want to do well in the World Championship. I have been preparing well. It is going to be a tough draw in the world championship, so I can’t relax,” said Sindhu, who will play Fitriani in my first game.

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“I know everyone is talking about Nozomi and my match but before that there is Sung Ji Hyun, who is not an easy player. So that round would be equally important.”

We wish PV Sindhu good luck in their matches and we are sure that they will make the country proud as they always do. Stay tuned to Laughing Colours for latest updates on PV Sindhu’s match and everything about sports.

Published by Bhaumik Raja on 30 Jul 2018
Badminton World Championship 2018: Indians Have High Expectations From PV Sindhu Badminton World Championship 2018: Indians Have High Expectations From PV Sindhu Reviewed by Unknown on 5:02 AM Rating: 5

A Karnataka Clerk Is Sponsoring Education For 45 Girls

9:42 PM

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A Karnataka Clerk Is Sponsoring Education For 45 Girls

A man named Basavaraj who works as a clerk in MPHS Government High School in Kalaburagi’s Maktampura, Karnataka is sponsoring education for not just one or two but 45 girls. Yes, you heard it right!

Sadly, Basavaraj had lost his daughter Dhaneshwari last year due to some serious health problem.

Basavaraj stated to ANI, “From this year I have started paying the fees of poor girls who study in this school.”

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One of the students of MPHS Government High School named Fathima stated, “We belong to poor families and the fees which we can’t pay is paid by our Basavaraj sir in memory of his late daughter. We wish his daughter rests in peace.”

This is really a noble deed done by Sasavaraj in the memory of his late daughter. We hope many people come forward and sponsor funds for girls’ education.

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Girl education goes beyond getting them into school. It is additionally about guaranteeing that young girls learn and feel safe while in school; finish all levels of education with the aptitudes to viably contend in the work showcase; take in the socio-enthusiastic and fundamental abilities important to explore and adjust to an evolving world; settle on choices about their own particular lives; and add to their networks and the world.

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Girls’ training is a key improvement need. Better taught girls have a tendency to be more beneficial, take an interest more in the formal work advertise, procure higher livelihoods, marry at the right age, and empower better medicinal services and training for their kids, should they move toward becoming moms. All these factors combined can help lift households, communities, and nations out of poverty.

As per UNESCO estimates, 130 million young ladies between the age of 6 and 17 are out of school and 15 million young ladies of grade school age—half of them in sub-Saharan Africa—will never enter a classroom.

So all the people out there, we request you to educate your girls and also help the ones who are in need but can’t afford to educate their girls.

Published by Mamatha on 29 Jul 2018
A Karnataka Clerk Is Sponsoring Education For 45 Girls A Karnataka Clerk Is Sponsoring Education For 45 Girls Reviewed by Unknown on 9:42 PM Rating: 5

Amazon’s Echo Spot is apparently free right now (Update: aaand it’s gone)

8:17 PM

Update: Nothing gold can stay, Ponyboy. It was fun while it lasted, but both Spots are back to their original $129 asking price — and the white version still appears to be totally sold out. It looks as if the whole thing was a pricing mistake, rather than extra generosity on the part of Jeff B. So, nice work if you nabbed one in time. Keep those fingers crossed that it actually gets delivered. 

I like the Spot. It’s my favorite Echo. And due to what may well just be an error on Amazon’s part, the screen-sporting smart speaker is currently showing up for $0.00 — for those who can access it, at least. Some users are already registering it as Out of Stock.

The black version of the device is still listed as $99 — a much less killer deal, but still $29 down from the original asking price. It could be a pricing error, or maybe Amazon is trying to get rid of that old stock for some reason. Heck, maybe the company just really wants to get the Alexa delivery system in as many homes as humanly possible. This is certainly one way to do it. 

Chances seem decent it may never even ship — those who did order one (or three or four) are seeing a still pending delivery date. In either case, we’ve reached out to Amazon and will update when we hear back. 

Amazon’s Echo Spot is apparently free right now (Update: aaand it’s gone) Amazon’s Echo Spot is apparently free right now (Update: aaand it’s gone) Reviewed by Unknown on 8:17 PM Rating: 5

Love stories of Indian Sportspeople Are Just Too Beautiful

2:12 PM

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Love stories of Indian Sportspeople Are Just Too Beautiful

A nation like India is very fond of just one game and it is cricket. Cricket is adored in our country and cricketers are considered as God. In such a situation, the achievements of players playing different games are not noticed. There are sportsmen and sportswomen from different sports like hockey, tennis, wrestling, and badminton among others who have won awards and made our nation proud with their achievements.  

Unlike cricketers, these sportspersons’ personal life is too private and not much is known about them. Let’s take a look at some of the finest sportsmen and sportswomen of India and their better halves who are their support system and their constant source of motivation.     

  • Geeta Phogat and Pawan Kumar

She is the first ever woman wrestler of our country, who bagged a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. After years in the year 2016, a film based on her journey of becoming world’s no. 1 under the guidance of her father was made. Aamir Khan played the lead role and the film was Dangal. Geeta walked down the aisle with, Pawan Kumar, who is also a wrestler. The couple tied a knot in a traditional ceremony in 2016. They met in 2016 only and instantly clicked. After talking to each other regularly for months, the couple decided to get married. Pawan is five years younger to her.

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  • Sunil Chetri and Sonam Bhattacharya

Indian football team captain married his long-time girlfriend Sonam in an intimate ceremony in November 2017. The couple tied the knot in a traditional Nepali style. It was a close-knit affair. Sunil’s wife is a business management graduate from Scotland and runs two hotels in Kolkata. Sonam was his big fan and the two had a love marriage after dating for many years.

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  • Mahesh Bhupathi and Lara Dutta

The Bollywood beauty and tennis champion had a beautiful union for lifetime in 2011. The couple tied the knot in a private ceremony in Goa. Their marriage is going strong since many years and is blessed with daughter Saira who was born in 2012.

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  • Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza surprised everyone when the news about her getting married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik broke out. Sania and Shoaib tied the knot in the year 2010 and now after 8 years, the couple is expecting their first child. The duo met at a restaurant and later Shoaib came to see her match. Soon, the two became friends and fell in love.

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  • Mary Kom and Karung onkholer

The five time female boxing champion Mary Kom is happily married to the footballer, Karung Onkholer since 2005. The couple is blessed with three sons. After dating for almost 4 years, the couple tied the knot in a traditional ceremony.  

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So folks, what do you have to say about these beautiful love stories? Tell us in comments.

Published by Mamatha on 29 Jul 2018
Love stories of Indian Sportspeople Are Just Too Beautiful Love stories of Indian Sportspeople Are Just Too Beautiful Reviewed by Unknown on 2:12 PM Rating: 5

Mira Rajput Looks Gorgeous In Recent Pic, Janhvi Kapoor’s Comment Is Not To Be Missed

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Mira Rajput Looks Gorgeous In Recent Pic, Janhvi Kapoor’s Comment Is Not To Be Missed

Mira Rajput is one of the popular star wives of Bollywood. Shahid Kapoor’s wife hails from a non-filmy background but soon managed to adapt herself in the show business with her remarkable presence. She always accompanies hubby Shahid at various events and award shows, chat shows proving that she is no less than a diva.

Mira has always impressed everyone with her confidence, style, attitude and the way she presents herself in front of the world. She definitely has all the star qualities.

Mira is quite an avid Instagram user and likes to keep everyone updated about her whereabouts. She has a whopping 1.2 million followers and fans eagerly wait to see her latest posts.

With her lots of Instagram posts, Mira gives a sneak peek of her likings, style statement, beauty care and many more things.

The star wife’s recent Instagram post is making all the right kind of noise on the social media.

Mira shared a photograph to promote a cellphone brand on her Instagram. She is seen sitting at her Mumbai home’s terrace in a teal blue top, looking stunning even without any make up. Her hair blows gently in the wind and she holds a photo in one hand.

Take a look at the pic here:

She captioned her pic and wrote, “Can’t wait to use my new OnePlus 6 Silk White! Looks stunning and can’t explain how silky smooth it feels in your hand

Want to get your hands on this? Follow @oneplus_india right NOW and stay tuned to their latest updates!”

In no time comments started pouring from the fans.

Among the many, there was Dhadak star Janhvi Kapoor’s comment which stole the limelight.

The newbie was so mesmerized with Mira’s beauty that she couldn’t stop herself from commenting. Janhvi wrote, “Bro hate to break it to you but no ones looking at the phone in this picture.”

Mira replied to Janhvi’s comments with a series of kiss and heart-eyes emojis.

Mira is the wife of actor Shahid Kapoor and currently pregnant with their second child. They have a one year old daughter, Misha.

So folks, what do you have to say about Mira’s pic? Tell us in comments.

Published by Mamatha on 29 Jul 2018
Mira Rajput Looks Gorgeous In Recent Pic, Janhvi Kapoor’s Comment Is Not To Be Missed Mira Rajput Looks Gorgeous In Recent Pic, Janhvi Kapoor’s Comment Is Not To Be Missed Reviewed by Unknown on 2:12 PM Rating: 5

Sanjay Dutt Celebrated His Birthday With Wife And Close Friends At A Grand Party

1:32 PM

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Sanjay Dutt Celebrated His Birthday With Wife And Close Friends At A Grand Party

Today, Bollywood’s superstar Sanjay Dutt turned a year old. The actor had a midnight birthday celebration and quite a few of his close friends from the industry were spotted at the party. R Madhavan, Amrita Arora, Sanjay’s wife Maanayata Dutt, Tanishaa Mukerji among others, were seen at the venue. Actor R. Madhavan couldn’t escape the eyes of the paparazzi! He kept his look cool and casual in a shirt and jeans.

A video of Sanjay Dutt cutting his birthday cake with wife Maanayata and kids Shahraan Dutt, Iqra Dutt was also shared on the social media.

Sanjay Dutt and Maanayata Dutt look perfect in black!

Maanayata Dutt shared aphoto with caption, “You are my companion, comforter and friend, I am so blessed to have and to hold you as my husband forever❤️ happy birthday love ❤️ #aboutlastnight #loveofmylife #rockstar #besthalf #love #grace #positivity #dutts #mumbai #beautifulife #thankyougod🙏 @duttsanjay.”

Talking about the birthday boy, the actor made his debut in 1981 with the blockbuster film Rocky. Dutt is an extremely talented actor and has often put his heart and soul into films.

Sanjay is presently married to Maanayata and has two children with her – a girl named Iqra and a boy named Shahraan. Maanayata and Sanjay Dutt got married in 2008. There wedding was a private affair which took place in Goa. The couple dated for about two years before tying the knot. On October 21, 2010, the duo was blessed with twins.

Sanjay Dutt’s biopic Sanju has become an all-time blockbuster. Ranbir Kapoor played the role of Sanjay Dutt and the story of the film has impressed people very much. The film has garnered more than Rs. 325 crore at the domestic box-office.

We wish Sanju baba a very happy birthday. Stay tuned to Laughing Colours for the latest news and updates on Bollywood.

Published by Bhaumik Raja on 29 Jul 2018
Sanjay Dutt Celebrated His Birthday With Wife And Close Friends At A Grand Party Sanjay Dutt Celebrated His Birthday With Wife And Close Friends At A Grand Party Reviewed by Unknown on 1:32 PM Rating: 5

Verizon’s new ‘Safe Wi-Fi’ is a VPN that blocks ad tracking for $3.99 a month

7:02 AM

Verizon has rolled out a new product called Safe Wi-Fi, a VPN that provides a security stop gap for its mobile customers logging onto a public network. It’s also being marketed as a way to block ads.

So WTF is a VPN and why does it matter? A VPN is a virtual private network. It sits between a device in front of you and a server in a data center. Think of it as a tunnel that cloaks or hides your internet traffic from other folks on your local network. That open Wi-Fi at your local coffee shop can give advertisers and more nefarious types the ability to track your IP address. A VPN provides a secure connection between you and the server, and hides the IP address from prying eyes.

Safe Wi-Fi (check out the video below) costs $3.99 a month per account and is available to Verizon customers on Android and iOS. Safe Wi-Fi covers up to 10 devices on a single account.

Verizon customers can sign into My Verizon and go to the Products & Apps page, scroll to Safe Wi-Fi and then click “get it now” to subscribe. The Safe Wi-Fi feature is then added to their account. Customers can download the Safe Wi-Fi app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store on their device and then follow the onscreen instruction to sign up with a one-month free promotion.

Users can turn on the “Ad Tracker Blocker” within the Safe Wi-Fi settings. The Ad Tracker Blocker prevents customers from ad network tracking while browsing the internet, and from ads generated from the device’s downloaded apps, according to Verizon’s FAQ page on the feature. In some cases, ads will be blocked entirely to prevent ad trackers from working. A gray image will replace the ad on the screen, Verizon says.

Websites that require ad trackers may be blocked, according to the company.

It’s important to remember that a VPN doesn’t eliminate the risk entirely. As TechCrunch reporter Romain Dillet notes, the risk just moves down the VPN tunnel. The person operating the server can see all unencrypted traffic. VPN companies might examine a customer’s browsing habit and sell them to advertisers, for example.

Disclosure: Verizon owns TechCrunch parent company Oath.

Verizon’s new ‘Safe Wi-Fi’ is a VPN that blocks ad tracking for $3.99 a month Verizon’s new ‘Safe Wi-Fi’ is a VPN that blocks ad tracking for $3.99 a month Reviewed by Unknown on 7:02 AM Rating: 5

Tapping into the power grid could predict the morning traffic

12:07 AM

Why is there traffic? This eternal question haunts civic planners, fluid dynamics professors, and car manufacturers alike. But just counting the cars on the road won’t give you a sufficient answer: you need to look at the data behind the data. In this case, CMU researchers show that electricity usage may be key to understanding movement around the city.

The idea that traffic and electricity use might be related makes sense: when you turn the lights and stereo on and off indicates when you’re home to stay, when you’re sleeping, when you’re likely to leave for work or return, and so on.

“Our results show that morning peak congestion times are clearly related to particular types of electricity-use patterns,” explained Sean Qian, who led the study.

They looked at electricity usage from 322 households over 79 days, training a machine learning model on that usage and the patterns within it. The model learned to associate certain patterns with increases in traffic — so for instance, when a large number of households has a dip in power use earlier than usual, it might mean that the next day will see more traffic when all those early-to-bed people are also early to rise.

The researchers report that their predictions of morning traffic patterns were more accurate using this model than predictions using actual traffic data.

Notably, all that’s needed is the electricity usage, Qian said, nothing like demographics: “It requires no personally identifiable information from households. All we need to know is when and how much someone uses electricity.”

Interestingly, the correlation goes the other way as well, and traffic patterns could be used to predict electricity demand. A few less brownouts would be welcome during a heat wave like this summer’s, so I say the more data the better.

There are many factors like this that indicate the dynamics of a living city — not just electricity use but water use, mobile phone connections, the response to different kinds of weather, and more. Traffic is only one result of a city struggling to operate at maximum capacity, and all these data feed into each other.

The current study was limited to a single electricity provider and apparently other providers are loath to share their data — so there’s still a lot of room to grow here as the value of that data becomes more apparent.

Qian et al published their research in the journal Transportation Research.

Tapping into the power grid could predict the morning traffic Tapping into the power grid could predict the morning traffic Reviewed by Unknown on 12:07 AM Rating: 5

Tesla is making a $1500… surfboard?

5:12 PM

Tesla is no stranger to branded merch. Its got the standard company swag — the hats, the shirts, and the mugs. It’s got quirkier stuff, like miniature Teslas for kids and USB chargers shaped like the Superchargers that juice up their vehicles.

And now they’ve got… surfboards?

While it’s now gone for some reason, a product page went live in its shop early this morning detailing a $1500 Tesla-branded board (we’ve asked Tesla for insight, but it sounds like they sold out.) Electrek caught the description before the page vanished:

“Designed by the Tesla Design Studio in collaboration with Lost Surfboards and Matt “Mayhem” Biolos, surfboard shaper for World Surf League Championship athletes. The Limited Edition Tesla Surfboard features a mix of the same high-quality matte and gloss finishes used on all our cars. The deck is reinforced with light-weight “Black Dart” carbon fiber, inspired by the interiors in our cars, and featuring tonal logos in subtle contrast gloss.”

(Update: the page is back up now, and it is, in fact, sold out)

While its unclear why the product page vanished, a Google cache of it is visible here, and a few people on Twitter mention being able to get orders in before it went down.

At $1500 before tax, the board is… certainly on the higher end of the surfboard pricing scale. A solid board from a company like JS or Ripcurl would cost you around $750. Most of the boards made by Lost (the company Tesla is doing the collab with here) go for around $700-800. But with a limited run of 200 boards, they’re probably going to sell out here anyway. My gut feeling is that many of these could end up being wall pieces or permanent roof rack accessories rather than shredding up the ocean — but who knows.

And for the curious surfers out there: based on Lost’s other “Black Dart” models, this board comes in at 6’8″ long. It doesn’t come with fins. The now-gone product page said all 200 boards should ship within 2-10 weeks.

Here’s all the photos that were on the product page:

Tesla is making a $1500… surfboard? Tesla is making a $1500… surfboard? Reviewed by Unknown on 5:12 PM Rating: 5

Home run exits happen stealthily for biotech

10:37 AM

Startup exit tallies commonly underestimate biotech returns. Unlike most tech deals, the biggest profits in bio often come long after an IPO or acquisition.

Take Juno Therapeutics, a publicly traded cancer immunology company that sold to pharma giant Celgene this year for $9 billion. At first glance, it doesn’t seem like a deal that would impact Juno’s early investors.

After all, Juno went public back in 2014. Though the Seattle company raised more than $300 million as a private company, pre-IPO backers had years to cash out at healthy multiples.

Yet some held on. Bob Nelsen, managing director of ARCH Venture Partners, Juno’s largest VC backer, told Crunchbase News that his firm was still holding nearly its entire 15 percent pre-IPO stake when Celgene bought the company.

In the end, the acquisition netted ARCH’s limited partners 23 times their money, bringing in close to a billion dollars. It’s an exceptional return, even by venture home run standards.1

“We tend to distribute on milestones, not financing events,” Nelsen said of his firm’s approach to exiting a portfolio investment. That often means holding for years after an IPO awaiting positive clinical trial outcomes or other value-creating inflection points.

For public companies, that can be done over time or all at once, and usually comes in the form of company shares rather than cash.

So when is it an exit?

It’s outcomes like Juno that help explain why life sciences, despite bringing fewer first-day IPO pops and buzz-generating unicorn exits than the tech sector, still consistently attracts roughly a third of venture investment. Big exits do happen. But oftentimes it’s not with a lot of fanfare and usually not with a public market debut.

“I don’t think IPOs are ever an exit in biotech. It’s always a financing event,” Nelsen says. While ARCH may hold shares longer than the typical VC, he says it’s not uncommon to hang on the stakes for a while post-IPO.

That IPO-and-hold strategy appears to have worked out well for the firm on other occasions. Other portfolio companies that went public and were later acquired for multiple billions include Receptos, a drug developer, and Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, best known for an injectable to reduce chin fat.

Using Crunchbase data, we looked to see how common it is for a venture-backed biotech company to go public and then sell a few years later for multiple billions. We found at least eight examples of companies selling for $2 billion or more in the past five years that went public less than four years before the acquisition. (See list here.) Altogether, these acquisitions were valued at more than $47 billion.

Racking up post-IPO gains

It’s also not uncommon for biotech startups to grow into multi-billion dollar public companies a few years after IPO.

Using Crunchbase data, we put together a list of a dozen life science companies that went public in roughly the past five years and have recent market values ranging from $1.5 billion to nearly $9 billion. (This is a sampling, not a comprehensive data set, and was assembled based on exits of several top-tier life science VCs.)

On top was gene therapy juggernaut Bluebird Bio, which has seen a seven-fold rise in its stock price since going public five years ago. Next was Sage Therapeutics, a developer of therapies for central nervous system disorders, up more than six-fold since its IPO four years ago, reaching a market cap of nearly $8 billion.

Then on the device side there’s Inogen, a maker of portable oxygen concentrators for patients with respiratory ailments. It went public at a valuation of less than $300 million in 2014. Today it’s worth around $4.3 billion.

Yes, it’s true tech stocks can see massive gains a few years after going public, too. But the drivers are usually different. In tech, a company may see its stock jump after a big rise in sales, but it probably had sales in prior quarters. The business hasn’t fundamentally changed; it’s just improved.

Moreover, tech venture capitalists do generally consider an IPO an exit. While insiders usually can’t sell shares immediately, they’re typically comfortable liquidating when they can around the IPO price.

For bio, hitting key milestones changes the entire value proposition. A company can go from having no marketable product and no sales to quickly having one or both of those things.

Milestones and money

Returns from biotech startup M&A exits are also hard to pin down because of the widespread use of milestone payments. Buyers pay an upfront price with the agreement of more to come following favorable clinical trial results and a commercially successful therapy.

Often, it’s several multiples more to come if milestones are met. Take Impact Biomedicines, one of this year’s biggest private company exits. Celgene bought the company for $1.1 billion. However, the deal could be valued at up to $7 billion over time.

But the probability of hitting all the milestones seems low. To get the full $7 billion, global annual net sales of Impact’s therapies would have to exceed $5 billion. However, some milestones look more feasible, such as a $1.25 billion payment for obtaining regulatory approval.

This kind of deal structure is pretty common, and not just for M&A. A study by medical news site STAT analyzed nearly 700 biotech licensing deals and found that, on average, just 14 percent of the total announced value was paid out up front.

As with returns from post-IPO acquisitions, it’s hard to gauge just how well investors end up doing on these milestone-based purchases. The largest payoffs can be years down the road.

The opposite of tech

If it seems like the dynamics of a bio exit are, in many ways, the opposite of a tech exit, it’s worth considering how different the two sectors are at the early stages, too.

In the tech startup world, it’s common for a company to launch with an idea that sounds silly (tweeting, scooter sharing, air mattress rentals) and then suddenly be worth billions.

Bio companies are kind of the reverse. Practically every one sounds like a great idea (curing cancer, alleviating pain, treating neurodegenerative disease), and many turn out to be worth nothing. Investments that work out, however, may take a while, but eventually deliver in a big way.

  1. Making 23 times your money back is exceptional at all stages of investment. However, when it does happen, it’s most common at the seed stage for investment, where investors put in single digit millions or less. In the case of ARCH, 23X it is a particularly high return because it encompasses all the rounds Juno raised before going public.
Home run exits happen stealthily for biotech Home run exits happen stealthily for biotech Reviewed by Unknown on 10:37 AM Rating: 5

Google Assistant can now do things automatically at a scheduled time

3:52 AM

Back at Google I/O, Google announced two new features for Google Assistant: custom routines and schedules — both focusing on automating things you do regularly, but in different ways.

The first lets you trigger multiple commands with a single custom phrase — like saying “Hey Google, I’m awake” to unsilence your phone, turn on the lights and read the news. Schedules, meanwhile, could trigger a series of commands at a specific time on specific days, without you needing to say a thing.

While custom routines launched almost immediately after I/O, scheduling has been curiously absent. It’s starting to roll out today.

As first noticed by DroidLife, it looks like scheduling has started rolling out to users by way of the Google Home app.

To make a schedule:

  • Open the Google Home app
  • Go to Settings>Routines
  • Create a new routine with the + button
  • Scroll to the “Set a time and day” option to schedule things ahead of time

If you don’t see the “time and day” option yet, check back in a day or two. Google is rolling it out over the next few days (generally done in case there’s some bug it missed), so it might pop up without much fanfare.

Want your bedroom lights to turn on every morning at 7 am on workdays? You can do that. Want that song from the Six Flags commercials to play every day at noon to get you over the hump and/or drive your roommates up a wall? Sure! Want to double-check the door lock, dim the downstairs lights and make sure your entertainment center is off at 2 am? If you’ve got all the smart home hardware required, it should be able to handle it.

While a lot of things you might use Google Assistant for can already be scheduled through their respective third-party apps (most smart lights, for example, have apps with built-in scheduling options), this moves to bring everything under one roof while letting you fire off more complicated sequences all at once. And if something breaks? You’ll know where to look.

Google Assistant can now do things automatically at a scheduled time Google Assistant can now do things automatically at a scheduled time Reviewed by Unknown on 3:52 AM Rating: 5

Twitter will suspend repeat offenders posting abusive comments on Periscope live streams

9:01 PM

As part of Twitter’s attempted crackdown on abusive behavior across its network, the company announced on Friday afternoon a new policy facing those who repeatedly harass, threaten or otherwise make abusive comments during a Periscope broadcaster’s live stream. According to Twitter, the company will begin to more aggressively enforce its Periscope Community Guidelines by reviewing and suspending accounts of habitual offenders.

The plans were announced via a Periscope blog post and tweet that said everyone should be able to feel safe watching live video.

Currently, Periscope’s comment moderation policy involves group moderation.

That is, when one viewer reports a comment as “abuse,” “spam” or selects “other reason,” Periscope’s software will then randomly select a few other viewers to take a look and decide if the comment is abuse, spam or if it looks okay. The randomness factor here prevents a person (or persons) from using the reporting feature to shut down conversations. Only if a majority of the randomly selected voters agree the comment is spam or abuse does the commenter get suspended.

However, this suspension would only disable their ability to chat during the broadcast itself — it didn’t prevent them from continuing to watch other live broadcasts and make further abusive remarks in the comments. Though they would risk the temporary ban by doing so, they could still disrupt the conversation, and make the video creator — and their community — feel threatened or otherwise harassed.

Twitter says that accounts that repeatedly get suspended for violating its guidelines will soon be reviewed and suspended. This enhanced enforcement begins on August 10, and is one of several other changes Twitter is making to its product across Periscope and Twitter focused on user safety.

To what extent those changes have been working is questionable. Twitter may have policies in place around online harassment and abuse, but its enforcement has been hit-or-miss. But ridding its platform of unwanted accounts — including spam, despite the impact to monthly active user numbers — is something the company must do for its long-term health. The fact that so much hate and abuse is seemingly tolerated or overlooked on Twitter has been an issue for some time, and the problem continues today. And it could be one of the factors in Twitter’s stagnant user growth. After all, who willingly signs up for harassment?

The company is at least attempting to address the problem, most recently by acquiring the anti-abuse technology provider Smyte. Its transition to Twitter didn’t go so well, but the technology it offers the company could help Twitter address abuse at a greater scale in the future.

Twitter will suspend repeat offenders posting abusive comments on Periscope live streams Twitter will suspend repeat offenders posting abusive comments on Periscope live streams Reviewed by Unknown on 9:01 PM Rating: 5

Star Wars: Episode IX will feature unseen footage of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia

2:20 PM

Spoiler warning for anyone who hasn’t seen The Last Jedi, though if you still haven’t at this point, what are you even doing reading Star Wars casting announcements for the next one?

No one ever really dies in the Star Wars universe. The official cast list for Star Wars: Episode IX has been posted, and it features some familiar, intriguing names. Along with the long awaited return of Billy Dee Williams as Lando, Carrie Fisher is listed among the names.

Fisher sadly passed away in late-2016, of course, but Princess Leia Organa will be returning for one last film. Rather than recreating the character with CGI, however, director/co-writer J.J. Abrams will be resurfacing unseen footage from The Force Awakens.

“We desperately loved Carrie Fisher,” Abrams said in a press release tied to the announcement. “Finding a truly satisfying conclusion to the Skywalker saga without her eluded us. We were never going to recast, or use a CG character. With the support and blessing from her daughter, [Billie Lourd], we have found a way to honor Carrie’s legacy and role as Leia in Episode IX by using unseen footage we shot together in Episode VII.”

Rogue One, of course, took a slightly uncanny valley approach to recreating a young Leia with actress Ingvild Deila and a little bit of the old Industrial Light & Magic.

Also returning is Mark Hamill. Given how things worked out for him during The Last Jedi, however, it’s hard to say if he’ll be doing so as a translucent blue ghost. We’ll have to wait until December 2019 to know for sure.

Cast members Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran and Joonas Suotamo will be returning, as well. 

Star Wars: Episode IX will feature unseen footage of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Star Wars: Episode IX will feature unseen footage of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Reviewed by Unknown on 2:20 PM Rating: 5

Samsung’s new flexible display can withstand a lot of drops

7:30 AM

There are those who will almost certainly take Samsung’s declaration of an “unbreakable” display as a challenge. That’s just human nature. For every one else, there’s something undeniably appealing in the idea of a phone that can be dropped from up to six feet, without a any sign of damage.

As far as when (or, rather, if) Samsung’s new flexible OLED tech will actually appear in devices, that remains to be seen. Before you get your hopes up too much, Samsung and LG are in the habit of showing these kinds of technology previews all the time, regardless of economic feasibility. That’s just one of the many cruel jokes that comes with paying attention to this sort of stuff.

That said, a new round of rumors point to a “foldable” display device coming at some point next year, so who knows, maybe all of our wildest dreams are about to come true then. In the meantime, the tests certainly point to an impressive component.

UL’s drop testing (no doubt the funnest part of that person’s day) involved letting the display go from around four feet up, 26 times in a row. The phone was also exposed to extreme temperatures and — as mentioned above — dropped from around six feet, just for kicks. None of which appear to damage the screen.

Here’s Samsung GM Hojung Kim on the tech, “The fortified plastic window is especially suitable for portable electronic devices not only because of its unbreakable characteristics, but also because of its lightweight, transmissivity and hardness, which are all very similar to glass.”

In addition to phones, the tech may also be used in cars, gaming consoles and tablets.

Samsung’s new flexible display can withstand a lot of drops Samsung’s new flexible display can withstand a lot of drops Reviewed by Unknown on 7:30 AM Rating: 5

Facebook also removes 4 Infowars videos, including one it previously cleared

12:40 AM

Days after defending its decision to give a voice to conspiracy theory peddler Alex Jones and his Infowars site, Facebook has removed four of his videos for violating its community standards.

But one of the four had already been allowed to slip through the firm’s review system. A source within Facebook told TechCrunch that one of the videos had previously been flagged for review in June but, after being looked over by a checker, it was allowed remain on the social network. That decision was described as “erroneous” and it has now been removed.

Facebook’s removal of the videos comes days after YouTube scrubbed four videos from Jones from its site for violating its policies on content. The Facebook source confirmed that three of the videos it has removed were flagged for the first time on Wednesday — presumably after, or in conjunction with, them being highlighted to YouTube — but the fact that one had gotten the all-clear one again raises question marks about the consistency of Facebook’s review process.

Contrary to some media reports, Jones has not received a 30-day ban from Facebook following these removals. TechCrunch understands that such a ban will be issued if Jones violates the company’s policies in the future, but, for now, he has been given a warning.

“Our Community Standards make it clear that we prohibit content that encourages physical harm [bullying], or attacks someone based on their religious affiliation or gender identity [hate speech]. We remove content that violates our standards as soon as we’re aware of it. In this case, we received reports related to four different videos on the Pages that Infowars and Alex Jones maintain on Facebook. We reviewed the content against our Community Standards and determined that it violates. All four videos have been removed from Facebook,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the company’s head of News Feed John Hegeman said of Infowars content — which includes claims 9/11 was an inside job and alternate theories to the San Bernardino shootings — that “just for being false, doesn’t violate the community standards.” He added: “We created Facebook to be a place where different people can have a voice.”

Facebook seemed to double down on that stance on Monday when, at another event, VP of product Fidji Simo called Infowars “absolutely atrocious” but then said that “if you are saying something untrue on Facebook, you’re allowed to say it as long as you’re an authentic person and you are meeting the community standards.”

It’s not been a good week for Facebook. A poor earnings report spooked investors and caused its valuation drop by $123 billion in what is the largest-single market cap wipeout in U.S. trading history. That’s not the kind of record Facebook will want to own.

Facebook also removes 4 Infowars videos, including one it previously cleared Facebook also removes 4 Infowars videos, including one it previously cleared Reviewed by Unknown on 12:40 AM Rating: 5

Tech companies can bid on the Pentagon’s $10 billion cloud contract, starting today

5:55 PM

On Thursday, the Pentagon opened bidding for a huge cloud computing contract that could be worth as much as $10 billion. Given its size, the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract, known as JEDI, is alluring for major cloud computing companies that might not normally do much business with the Department of Defense.

Announced in March, JEDI is structured as a winner-take-all contract with a potential 10-year term, though the Pentagon clarified that the original award will span just the first two years, so all 10 years aren’t set in stone up front.

While it’s not yet sparked the same level of outcry as Google’s AI contract with the Pentagon known as Project Maven, JEDI isn’t uncontroversial. The now infamous Project Maven was a smaller, more specific contract with direct implications for the military’s use of drones, while JEDI is broader and bigger, seeking a vendor to provide cloud services for all branches of the military. Google has since abandoned plans to renew the contract, but Maven was likely a kind of test run for the company in the lead-up to JEDI.

While Amazon is largely regarded as the most likely winner, Google, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle are also among the major tech companies expected to throw their hats into the ring. Earlier in the process, it looked possible that companies could band together to form unlikely alliances against the perceived frontrunner, though it appears in the final request for proposal that the Pentagon plans to award the contract to a single company capable of handling it. Interested parties will have until September 17 to submit proposals, so in the months to come we can certainly expect to hear more from companies in the running and workers who oppose JEDI involvement.

Tech companies can bid on the Pentagon’s $10 billion cloud contract, starting today Tech companies can bid on the Pentagon’s $10 billion cloud contract, starting today Reviewed by Unknown on 5:55 PM Rating: 5

Daimler’s car2go car sharing service adds its first U.S. city in four years

11:15 AM

Car2go, the free-floating car-sharing service owned by Daimler, launched in Chicago this week—the company’s 25th market globally. The car-sharing company, which lets customers rent out vehicles on a short-term basis, has been steadily expanding in the past several years, adding to and changing up its fleet beyond the diminutive Smart cars that were once the lone option for customers.

This launch stands out because it’s the first time in four years that car2go has added a U.S. city to its ranks. The last time car2go added a U.S. city was New York in 2014.

The car sharing service has more than 3.3 million members worldwide, of which about 1 million in the U.S. and Canada—a 25 percent growth over the prior year, according to the company. Today, the car share service offers Mercedes-Benz CLA and GLA as well as the two-door Smartfortwo vehicles.

Daimler was one of the first automakers to get into the car-sharing business. And others have followed, some of which have announced plans just in the past few months. In 2016, BMW’s ReachNow re-launched in North America and GM started Maven, which recently expanded its offerings to a peer-to-peer car-sharing service in Chicago, Detroit, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. VW Group announced in July it will launch a car-sharing service that uses only electric vehicles in Germany next year with plans to expand to other major cities in Europe, North America, and Asia beginning in 2020. Volvo and Renault have also announced plans for a car-sharing service.

This automaker-jumps-into-car-sharing-story is a indicative of a bigger trend within an auto industry grappling with how to earn money beyond the traditional business of building and selling cars. And this period of transition and experimentation isn’t likely to slow down.

If anything expect more tinkering. For instance, Daimler announced Thursday it would break itself into three separate units focused on trucks, its Mercedes-Benz car division, and mobility in a massive restructuring aimed at helping it keep pace with the emergence of automated and electric vehicles.

Daimler’s car2go car sharing service adds its first U.S. city in four years Daimler’s car2go car sharing service adds its first U.S. city in four years Reviewed by Unknown on 11:15 AM Rating: 5

LG Mobile’s losses continue but now sales are falling too

4:40 AM

Korean electronics giant LG is soaring to new heights, but its mobile division continues to lag well behind the rest of the company and the signs aren’t promising.

LG’s latest financials released today recorded another quarter of success with operating profit jumping 16 percent year-on-year to hit KRW 771 billion ($715.1 million) as overall sales rose 3.2 percent across the group. LG said its sales and profit for the first half of 2018 are at all-time highs but — and you knew a but was coming… — its smartphone division remains a significant loss-maker.

The company’s mobile and communications division — which houses LG Mobile — posted yet another quarter in the red. Sales of KRW 2.07 trillion ($1.92 billion) represented an annual drop of 23 percent, while the division carded an operating loss of KRW 185.4 billion, or $171.95 million.

That’s compared to a quarterly profit of KRW 407 billion ($377.48 million) for LG’s home entertainment business and a KRW 457.2 billion ($424.04 million) profit for its home appliance unit, which are LG’s two stand-out business units.

There’s nothing new herelosses are commonplace for LG Mobile.

It hasn’t been break-even or profitable since 2014. Those losses have been cut by some degree since the company shook up the division with new leadership in November 2017, but there’s plenty to worry about with sales dipping noticeably over the past two quarters of business.

This time around in Q2, LG put its mobile losses down to “the slowing growth of the global smartphone market and a decline in mid- to low-end smartphone sales in Latin America.” While it claimed that the size of the operating loss was down to investments in sales and marketing ahead of the release of its next flagship devices.

There’s a hint a reorganization — perhaps even layoffs — as the company added that it would “seek to further improve its business structure” as it aims prepares to push its LG G7 ThinQ and LG V35 ThinQ devices worldwide and get ready for those new launches.

More changes are on their way, you’d imagine, as LG is surely looking for a way to stem the bleeding but also retain a mobile business has certainly been iconic despite its struggles in recent times. Perhaps the answer is a downsizing in a similar style to Sony in 2016. Back then, the Japanese firm was losing even more than LG is per quarter but it began to be more strategic with its new device launches and target sales markets. The end result of that strategy was an end to the big losses and a more sustainable mobile business.

LG Mobile’s losses continue but now sales are falling too LG Mobile’s losses continue but now sales are falling too Reviewed by Unknown on 4:40 AM Rating: 5

Korean hotel firm Yanolja moves into Southeast Asia with $15M investment in Zen Rooms

9:40 PM

Zen Rooms, the budget hotel network startup founded by Rocket Internet, had faced the deadpool earlier this year after a prospective funding deal collapsed, but now the business appears to have found a home. Korea’s Yanolja, a popular motel brand that has branched out into app-based hotel bookings, has made a strategic investment that could see it fully acquire the business.

Ten-year-old Yanolja is initially paying $15 million for an undisclosed “strategic non-controlling stake,” but it will retain the rights to buy 100 percent of the Zen Rooms business. Zen Rooms clarified that the acquisition is an option and not based on performance or financial metrics.

Founded by a former hotel worker, Lee Su-jin, Yanolja is best known for its lovel hotels although it is trying to clean up the general image of short-stay hotels by promoting them as destinations for business travelers, tourists and families, as noted by a Bloomberg profile story. The company has also grown its own app-based booking service which among the most used in its homeland with 20,000 rooms.

The company is reportedly planning an IPO, so expansion is on its mind.

For those reasons, Zen Rooms fits that new focus. The company borrowed the budget hotel model, first pioneered by SoftBank-backed Oyo in India, and brought it to Southeast Asia when it launched three years ago. The concept is simple, Zen Rooms guarantees minimum standards at all hotels including free WiFi, fresh towels and bedding, hot showers, etc all of which is controlled via a mobile app. Those standards are normal to most hotel stayers, but when traveling in the East, standards can vary wildly especially at budget hotels, which Zen Rooms is focused on.

For hotels, Zen Rooms manages the brand — and sometimes more — and it allows helps them tap the internet to find customers and bookings.

Today, Zen Rooms is active in six cities in Southeast Asia — it had previously also run operations in Brazil, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka — across which it claims to operate 1,000 hotel franchisees with an inventory of more than 7,000 rooms. Its rivals in Southeast Asia include Red Doorz, which raised $11 million earlier this year.

The startup has raised $8 million from investors to date, including a $4.1 million Series A last April that was led by Korea’s Redbadge Pacific and SBI Investment Korea with participation Asia Pacific Internet Group (APACIG), the joint venture fund in Asia between Rocket Internet and Qatari operator Ooredoo.

However, TechCrunch understands that a major funding deal of over $10 million fell apart in Q1 2018 which left the company with a rapidly depleting runway. As a result and as TechCrunch reported in March, the company was aggressively shopped to potential buyers, investors and rival companies in order to keep the business afloat.

Yanolja has come to the rescue but a full buy-out looks like it will be dependent on the company’s future performance, such is often the arrangement with strategic deals made with a view to full ownership. Rocket Internet, which remains a major investor in Zen Rooms, will hope that the deal goes as smoothly as Lazada, its e-commerce service that is now owned by Alibaba.

Lazada ran out of capital in similar circumstances in early 2016 and Alibaba, the Chinese internet giant, came to its aid with a $1 billion investment. Although that was a majority investment it wasn’t a full-on buyoutAlibaba later increased its holdings until it fully owned the business, and today it is a key part of the firm’s overseas expansion strategy.

Already, TechCrunch understands from one source that Zen Rooms has gone on a hiring spree in recent weeks after it closed the deal. It had earlier been forced to make cutbacks to its team as a result of cost-cutting following the collapse of the funding deal earlier in the year.

“We now have the capital to invest,” ZenRooms co-founder Kiren Tanna told TechCrunch. “The deal has been in discussion since earlier this year…. we are treating like an acquisition but this is step one.”

Tanna added that the company plans to focus on five markets in Southeast Asia, and an expansion to Vietnam may be in the pipeline soon.

Korean hotel firm Yanolja moves into Southeast Asia with $15M investment in Zen Rooms Korean hotel firm Yanolja moves into Southeast Asia with $15M investment in Zen Rooms Reviewed by Unknown on 9:40 PM Rating: 5

2.5 billion people use at least one of Facebook’s apps

3:00 PM

Facebook is hiding that users are leaving its main app but sticking with Instagram and WhatsApp by publicizing a new metric. Facebook today for the first time announced that in June, 2.5 billion people used at least one of its apps: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger. That’s a helpful number because it counts real people, rather than accounts, since people can have multiple accounts on a single app. 2.5 billion people compares to 2.23 billion monthly users on Facebook, 1 billion users on Instagram, 1.5 billion users on WhatsApp, and 1.3 billion users on Messenger.

Mark Zuckerberg announced the new stat on Facebook’s Q2 2018 earnings call following a tough report that saw its user growth slow to its lowest rate ever. Zuckerberg said the 2.5 billion count “Individual people rather than active accounts” which he says “excludes when people have multiple accounts on a single app. And it reflects that many people use more than one of our services.”

It seems as if Facebook announced the stat in hopes of deflecting attention from the fact that its user count shrank in Europe and was flat in the US & Canada, contributing to extraordinarily low monthly and daily user growth. That growth trouble in turn sent Facebook’s share price down over 9 percent in after-hours trading.

On the 2.5 billion stat, Facebook CFO David Wehner explained that “We believe this number better reflects the size of our community.” He also clarified that Facebook’s monthly active user count of 2.23 billion “does count multiple accounts for a single user, and that accounts for 10 percent of Facebook’s MAU” or 223 million.

By bundling the user counts into a “family of apps audience metric”, Facebook can obscure the fact that its core app is hitting a wall. Instead, it can rely on WhatsApp and Instagram to shore up the number. For example, if teens slip from Facebook to Instagram, they’ll still be counted in the new metric. But that doesn’t change the fact that the company’s main money-maker is losing its edge.

2.5 billion people use at least one of Facebook’s apps 2.5 billion people use at least one of Facebook’s apps Reviewed by Unknown on 3:00 PM Rating: 5

Only a few hours left on early-bird prices for Disrupt SF 2018

8:10 AM

Today’s the day, people. The door slams shut on early-bird pricing for Disrupt San Francisco 2018 as of midnight PST tonight. It’s time to stop procrastinating, time to dust off your credit card and time to invest in your professional future — at the best possible price. Magical connections can happen at Disrupt events, and you never know who you’ll meet. Don’t miss the opportunities. Buy your ticket right now.

Disrupt SF 2018 (the only Disrupt event happening in North America this year) unfolds on September 5-7 at Moscone Center West. With three times the floor space, more than 10,000 attendees, 400 media outlets, 1,200+ exhibitors and giant piles of cash waiting to be won, it promises to be our biggest, most ambitious Disrupt ever. Why wouldn’t you go?

Here’s a partial list of superb reasons to attend Disrupt SF 2018:

Disrupt San Francisco 2018 takes place on September 5-7, and our early-bird pricing disappears at midnight PST tonight. Get in under the buzzer and, depending on the type of pass you purchase, you can save up to $1,200. That’s some serious cheddar. Go buy your ticket now.

Only a few hours left on early-bird prices for Disrupt SF 2018 Only a few hours left on early-bird prices for Disrupt SF 2018 Reviewed by Unknown on 8:10 AM Rating: 5
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