2017

June 30, 2017 , , , ,
Will you get the GST benefits? Depends on the state you live in
India made the biggest tax system reform in its history when it transitioned to the goods and service tax (GST) regime on Friday night. This is not only a change in the tax system, but this will also usher a big change in the federal system in the country. The states are giving up arguably much of their most important power: to impose taxes. So, on balance, will we, the people, be better off? 

There seems to be a variety of taxation systems in place in several federal systems. For example, Australia has adapted a GST system in which the central government administers the GST, and the revenue is shared between the Centre and the states. 

United States of Taxes 
In Canada, it is a mixed model — a harmonised sales tax (a value-added tax, VAT) — that is administered by the central Canada Revenue Agency. But one state, Québec, imposes its own state-level taxes. In the world’s largest economy, the US, each state imposes a different sales tax, which differs across states, and there is no revenue-sharing. 

How can adopting GST as a tax system across the country benefit us? The obvious answer is that by replacing a really messy system of indirect taxation, it will be easier for firms to do business across the country. This will increase investment and, through that, growth in the country. With added growth, welfare of citizens will rise. This is the strongest argument favouring the implementation of GST. 

Till now, there were multiple and complex set of taxes that differed across states. This was a deterrent in establishing and expanding business. 

Anything simpler is welcome. So, indeed, there will now be gains through this channel. Though even in this regard, the actual implementation of GST leaves something to be desired. 

Instead of one single GST rate, there will be several. A variety of goods and services will be taxed at different rates, reducing the simplicity that GST promises to bring with it. Also, adding complexity and cost is the requirement to register with both the central tax authority and state tax authority for each state a firm wants to do business in. This will certainly increase complexity. 

GST is also supposed to reduce the administrative cost of tax collection. 

Till now, the number of indirect taxes, central and state, were in double digits. Often, different agencies were involved in collecting taxes, which was costly. This reduces the net tax collected. Since all these taxes have now been subsumed under GST, the cost of administering and collecting indirect taxes is likely to come down. 

However, GST will have two different components: state GST (SGST) and central GST (CGST), and a firm has to pay one to the state tax authority (authorities, if it does business in multiple states), and one to the central tax authority. 

This will increase the cost of tax collection compared to the situation where a single authority collects taxes (as in Australia and Canada) and the revenue is shared. Moreover, multiple and possibly overlapping jurisdictions can cause conflict, further reducing the benefits of GST. 

Poof! Which Taxes? 
An important aspect of this transformation of tax system is that individual states will no longer be able to change their tax rates. The tax rates will be decided by the GST Council, which has representation from all states and the Centre. This has serious implications. 

First, both central and state governments have obligations to provide public goods and services. Though there is some overlap between the public goods provided by the Centre and the state, they mostly provide different public goods. 

For example, the Centre has the responsibility of providing defence for the country while, primarily, states are responsible for law and order, health and education. Thus, each state has to garner enough revenues to pay for these. 

State governments will earn the SGST part of the GST (and a share from the consolidated revenue of the Centre, as determined by the Finance Commission). But it will not have the ability to change that to respond to local shocks like droughts or floods. The only instrument that will remain with states is borrowing. 
The maximum amount a state can borrow is limited by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003. In the future, we can expect this to be severely tested. 

This is also precisely the insight from the 2008 paper, ‘Is It Is Or Is It Ain’t My Obligation? Regional Debt in a Fiscal Federation’, published by Russell Cooper, Hubert Kempf and Dan Peled in the International Economic Review (goo.gl/gy7ZHs). They find that if the central government is unable to commit to bail out the states, states may borrow excessively. 

Only Less Taxing 
Note that holders of a particular state bond are not limited to the residents of that state. So, we can expect a spillover effect, and the welfare of residents across states may be affected. Given this context, in the paper, ‘Optimal Taxation in a Federation and GST in India’ (goo.gl/TjBpXH), this author and Trishita Ray Barman try to understand the short-term and long-term dynamic effects of this change to GST. 

The paper finds that the variability of aggregate consumption can be expected to be lower under the GST system. 

However, whether aggregate consumption will increase depends on the relative weight of public goods and services provided by the Centre and the state. In such a situation, if the ability of states to provide the state-level public good is impaired, then people may be worse off. 

The study uses currently available data to calibrate the model used to further understand the differential effect of the GST across states. First, let us think about the short run. 

The big discussion point in the short run is whether the state governments’ revenue post-implementation of GST will increase or decrease. This has been at the heart of the political negotiations between the states and the Centre in adopting GST across the country, and something that held up the transition to the GST system for nearly a decade. 

The stated objective in setting GST rates is to make the GST rate revenueneutral — that is, with GST now kicked in, the revenue will be unchanged. But the question is: for whom will it remain unchanged? Given the variation in government revenues and consumption across states, the revenueneutral GST rate for each state will be unique and different. 

Taxable to the T 
Using a calibrated model to calculate the revenue-neutral rates corresponding to each state, one finds that it varies from 5.1% (corresponding to Manipur) to 20.1% (corresponding to Tamil Nadu). The median rate is 11.4%. 

That means if the effective GST rate is 20.1%, then the Tamil Nadu government’s revenue will remain unchanged. 
Anything less, there will be a dip in Tamil Nadu’s revenues. However, if the effective rate turns out to be 20.1%, then revenues for all other states will increase post-GST. 


So, is adopting the highest revenueneutral rate good? Hold on. Using state-level data from the past few years, the study shows that higher taxes will reduce the growth rate in the state. 

Thus, by adopting a high effective GST, even though there will be a bump in the revenue collection in the short run, in the long run, the governments’ revenue may be less than what would have been possible with a lower tax rate — not to mention the welfare loss due to higher tax rate. 

Note that the states have agreed to move to the GST system only after the central government has promised to compensate them for five years for any loss in their revenues. 

What really happens across states depend crucially on what the effective GST rate turns out to be. The GST Council, in its wisdom, has decided to go for multiple tax rates. So far, it has bunched an array of goods and services into five different rates: 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% (gold and raw diamond have their own rates). In addition, there will be cess. 

So what the effective tax rate in the economy will be is still a mystery. And, in balance, will we be better off? It depends on this unfolding mystery. What should have been a simple countrywide tax rate, like many things in life, is anything but simple. 

But we shall know soon enough, as India has taken the first radical step towards the removal of clutter in its tax system. Let many more required for further simplification follow. 
Read more »

June 30, 2017
Halle Berry ‘Loves’ JAY-Z’s Eric Benét DissTrack — His Cheating RuinedOur Marriage
It looks like Halle Berry, 50, has found a hot new jam to rock out to. The Oscar-winning actress is subtly addressed on the first track of JAY-Z‘s highly anticipated new album 4:44, which was released on June 30. In one of his epic rhymes, Hov calls out Halle’s ex husband Eric Benét, 50, for screwing up a good thing and surprisingly, she was all for it. “Halle absolutely loves JAY’s track and thinks it’s hilarious he cracked on Eric about his cheating,” a source close to the starlet tells HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY. “JAY is totally right Eric’s cheating did ruin their marriage and it really hurt Halle.”

Halley and Eric called it quits in 2005, shortly after he was caught cheating. The R&B star reportedly confessed to having hooked up with several other women while married to Halle. Eric later married Manuela Testolini in 2011, however JAY is now shining a new light on his past indiscretions. “You almost went Eric Benét / Let the baddest girl in the world get away / I don’t even know what else to say,” he raps in his opening track titled “Kill JAY-Z.”

Taking to Twitter on June 30, Eric clapped back at the rapper in a major way. “Hey yo #Jayz! Just so ya know, I got the baddest girl in the world as my wife….like right now,” he wrote. Even though Halle has moved on and is looking happier than ever these days, she’s not ticked that Eric was called out for his wrongdoings. “Halle isn’t one to forget people who screw her over too easily or quickly so it definitely gave her a giggle,” our insider continued. “Eric’s snarky response just shows how lucky Halle is to have moved on.”
Read more »

June 30, 2017
'We got a mayday!' Small plane crashes onto 405 Freeway in Orange County
A small twin-engine airplane burst into flames as it crash-landed on the 405 Freeway in Santa Ana on Friday morning shortly after taking off from John Wayne Airport.
In a frantic call to the airport’s control tower, the pilot of a Cessna 310 told controllers he had lost power in his right engine and was trying to land as the aircraft swooped low over area buildings and the freeway.
“Hey, we got a mayday! We got a mayday!” the pilot said, according to a recording obtained at LiveATC.net, a website that streams and archives air traffic control audio.
The tower told the pilot he was cleared to land but then told him, “Your gear appears to be up.”
“Yeah, I know. We’re still trying to get a little altitude,” the pilot said, his voice strained. “I lost my right engine.”
Barely a minute later, the aircraft slammed into the freeway. Video from the scene showed the aircraft bursting into flames and a tall plume of black smoke rising into the air.
A husband and wife in their late 50s or early 60s, were pulled from the burning aircraft by an off-duty firefighter from Avalon, authorities said. Both were rushed to Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, the closest trauma center to the airport.
Neither their names, nor their conditions have been released.
The plane had just taken off from John Wayne Airport when the pilot declared an emergency, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the FAA. The pilot was trying to return to the airport when the crash occurred.
A witness, Dana Stimson, said she and her husband were driving south on the 405 Freeway and merging with the 55 Freeway when she saw a small plane take off. Suddenly it banked sharply to the right and began losing altitude.
She saw the plane “above me looking as if it was about to to roll,” Stimson said. “It favored its right side.”
When she saw the aircraft begin to sway “to and fro,” she knew the pilot was in trouble, she said. “I told my husband it’s going down.”
The plane struck a divider in the southbound 405 — just north of MacArthur Boulevard — and began burning around 9:30 a.m., the CHP said.
“The fire burned the airplane like a toy in less than five minutes,” said Nga Dieu, who was riding in the southbound 405 with her husband and three daughters.
A video that Dieu made of the crash shows the plane engulfed in flames as two people appear to be dragging one of the victims away from the crash. One person was holding onto the victim’s legs and the other person held the victim’s shoulders.
The plane crashed short of the airport runway, Gregor said. All arrivals to John Wayne Airport were closed temporarily, but since have reopened, airport officials said. Departures were not affected.
A plane crash on a busy freeway could have been much worse, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Larry Kurtz. “The fact a plane can crash-land on the freeway and only strike one vehicle is extraordinary,” he said.
At least four vehicles were slightly damaged, but no motorists were injured, authorities said.
“It’s just so scary,” Liane Lynch said as she eyed the crash site from a nearby office building. “I can’t imagine the shock of driving and seeing the plane go down in your rearview mirror.”
The northbound lanes of the 405 were reopened by 10:15 a.m., and traffic was flowing normally.
The plane was manufactured in 1975 and registered to Twin Props LLC in Santa Ana, FAA records show.
The crash kept the 405 Freeway’s southbound lanes closed for hours. Authorities said they hoped to reopen the freeway around 5 p.m. Friday.
Office workers and motorists were immediately drawn to the scene of the plane crash.
“It sounded like a car crash. Then we heard all these sirens, and we just looked out and could see all the smoke,” said Brad Schaeffer, 24, who works about two blocks from the crash site. “We walked over and saw people rushing over.”
Traffic on the northbound 405 slowed to a crawl for hours as drivers eyeballed the wreckage and fire crews.
Saul Pantaleon said he was on his lunch break when he decided to drive a few blocks to get a better look. He said he often takes his kids to the parking lot adjacent to the freeway to watch the planes land.
“I think about it sometimes when I see the planes flying over” the freeway, he said. “What would it be like if something like this happened?”
At a news conference hours after the crash, the off-duty Avalon firefighter, John Meffert, told reporters that he was driving home to pick up his family for a Palm Springs vacation when the aircraft's wing scraped across the hood of his truck.
"I was in shock, like 'this thing just hit me,' " said the Rancho Santa Margarita resident.
Wearing just shorts, a T-shirt and sandals, he immediately pulled over and rushed to pull the man and woman out of the burning plane.
Authorities called his actions heroic, although Meffert is reluctant to accept the title of hero.
"I think any of us would hopefully help out others," he said. "We need a world where we help out others. I just happened to be there."
Read more »

June 30, 2017
Henry Bello: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
Dr. Henry Bello, a physician who resigned after facing termination, was named as the lone gunman who opened fire on other doctors at Bronx’s Lebanon Hospital after hiding a rifle under a white lab coat.

Fox 5 New York confirmed the name of the ex-employee who had worked in family medicine before he opened fire with an AR- 15 rifle inside the hospital, sending patients, doctors, and nurses scrambling for cover and barricading doors. At least one person, believed to be a female doctor, has died and six people were shot.

Other news stories reported the name as Henry Bellow, but he’s listed as Dr. Henry Bello on the hospital’s website. NYPD wrote on Twitter that “an assault rifle was found nearby. The subject was wearing a white, medical type coat.”

Police responded to the reports of multiple doctors shot by an active shooter wearing a doctor’s coat and carrying a rifle around 3 p.m. at Lebanon Hospital. The hospital is located in the Bronx in New York.

The mass shooting unfolded at 173rd Street and Grand Concourse in the Mt. Eden section of the Bronx hospital, which is one of New York’s busiest. The carnage might have been even worse, but the injured fell inside a hospital equipped to treat them. “At least one doctor was being treated by people inside the hospital who had tied an emergency fire hose as a tourniquet,” according to The New York Times, which added that “police had described the gunman as a tall, thin man wearing a blue shirt and white lab coat. A police official said he had a long gun.”

“One doctor is dead and several doctors are fighting for their lives right now,” New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio said later.

The shooter “was known” to the hospital, The New York Post reported. Reports gave his age as 45. The shooter is now dead, reports CNN. Police said he committed suicide.

A graphic photo has emerged of Bello lying dead on the hospital floor. You can see it below, but be aware that it’s disturbing.

There were major warning signs in Bello’s life before the mass shooting, which spanned two floors as Bello opened fire on hospital employees, including other doctors. He had a criminal history.

According to Pix11, Dr. Bello had three prior arrests, including one for sexual abuse. The New York Post reported that Bello was arrested in August 2004 in Manhattan “following an incident in which a 23-year-old woman said an assailant grabbed her crotch, held her arms, lifted her up and carried her off, saying, ‘You’re coming with me.'”

Bello was “charged with sex abuse and unlawful imprisonment, sources said. The disposition of the case was unclear,” reported The Post, which added that records against Bello in a 2009 case are sealed.

New York records list his medical permit as “expired.”

The gunman also had personal troubles, although they were in the far past. In 2002, Bello was listed as a respondent in a California divorce that listed minor children.

According to The New York Daily News, police followed a trail of blood at the scene of the shooting, which is being investigated by police as a workplace violence incident, not terrorism.

The early reports came in for an active shooter at the hospital.

“Due to reports of a shooting incident at Bronx Lebanon Hospital, avoid the area of 1650 Grand Concourse,” NYPD tweeted as the shooting news broke. The ATF tweeted that it was responding to the scene to assist the NYPD. According to a tweet from NBC News, “Officials say the shooter in the Bronx, attempted to start a fire on the 16th floor of the hospital. Sprinklers knocked it down.”

The NYPD later revealed that Bello set himself on fire before committing suicide in the hallway.

One woman posted a photo on Instagram showing her barricaded in a room at the hospital, and others gave similar accounts of the panic inside the building. New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill said the shooting erupted on the 16th floor and the gunman was found deceased on the 17th floor.

According to NBC 4, the shooter was wearing doctor’s attire. He “was dressed in a white doctor’s-type coat,” reported the television station. NYPD later confirmed this detail.

2. The Shooter Was a Family Physician Who Resigned Before Being Terminated

The shooter’s personal travails had spilled over into the work setting, where he’d recently been forced out of his job at the hospital.

The shooter was described as an “ex-employee,” reported The New York Daily News.

According to NBC, Bello “resigned from the hospital in 2015 in lieu of termination.” The New York Times reported that the doctor was accused of sexual harassment and didn’t leave his position voluntarily.

Bello was listed as a family physician on the hospital website. However, despite the fact that Bello is listed as a doctor on the hospital website, The New York Post reported that “there are no state records of a Henry Bello with a medical license.”

A Dr. Henry Bello comes up as a “student in an Organized Health Care Education/Training Program” in the National Provider Identifier Database. The New York Times reported that Bello had “received a limited permit to practice as an international medical graduate” to gain experience but the permit expired in 2016. He previously had a pharmacy technician license in California, according to the newspaper.

Witnesses said the gunman was determined to kill.


“I heard two doctors got shot 20 times, both of them,” said Jasmine Mercado, 24, to The New York Daily News. The New York newspaper reported that at least two of the victims were women.

3. Six People Were Shot by the Gunman Who Strode Through the Hospital in a Lab Coat

Witnesses described a frightening scene in which the man in the white lab coat – who some said was wearing all black but others said had on a green or blue shirt – walked through the hospital opening fire.

Bello was dressed all in black under the lab coat.

News reporters tweeted that police said at the scene that numerous people had been shot. The New York Post reported that those shot were doctors and that as many as three people were shot. CNN reported that “six people were wounded on the 16th floor, and five of those are in serious condition from gunshot wounds.”

The New York Times reported that those shot were doctors, and their condition was not known. PIX 11 later reported that one of the victims has died.

Patch also confirmed that multiple people were shot. The former doctor “had a rifle concealed inside inside the lab coat he was wearing,” reported PIX 11.

4. Doctors and Nurses Hid Inside the Hospital & a Woman’s Body Was Found Near the Shooter

According to CBS, there were reports that doctors and nurses had barricaded themselves inside the hospital as the gunfire broke out.

There were also reports that the suspect had barricaded himself inside the hospital with a rifle. However, police then confirmed that the suspect was down. “A total of 6 additional gunshot victims were removed to the ER of Hospital. 5 of them were seriously injured & 1 was shot in the leg,” the NYPD tweeted.

According to CNN, the suspect had ID on him, and “shot himself on the 16th floor.”

“The body of a woman who was shot was found near the body of the shooting suspect,” CNN reported. NYPD confirmed this account, tweeting:

“One shooter is deceased at the hospital,” a police spokesman confirmed on Twitter.

Police said that the shooter used an M-16 type rifle.

“Active shooting in Bronx Lebanon Hospital… Man dressed all in black. Smoke from the 16th floor,” the NYPD Special Operations Division tweeted.

5. Panicked People Posted to Social Media From Inside the Hospital

Frantic reports were posted to social media.

One person trapped at the hospital posted a video to Instagram in Spanish, saying, “just a guy stuck in a room in the hospital.”

According to PIX 11, “The 120-year-old hospital claims nearly 1,000 beds spread across multiple units. Its emergency room is among the busiest in New York City,” and it’s located near Yankee Stadium.

“I was in the middle of getting an X-ray when security alerted us to the active shooter situation and locked us in,” patient Felix Puno told the Daily News. “Police are here doing a floor-by-floor sweep.”

Krystal Rivera, 23, a hospital patient, told CNN she heard gunshots.

“I barricaded the door with an IV machine, two chairs and my whole bed,” Rivera said to CNN, which described her as seeing a man wearing “a white lab coat” with a rifle.
Read more »

June 30, 2017 , ,
TN TET 2017 Results declared on official website Trb.tn.nic.in, know how to check
New Delhi :  
Teacher Eligibility Test  (TET) 2017 results have been declared by Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) on June 30. Paper 1 for TN TRB TET 2017 was conducted on April 29 and Paper 2 on April 30. Students can check their results on trb.tn.nic.in. 
2,41,555 candidates appeared for Tamil Nadu Teacher Eligibility Test 2017 Paper I and 5,12,260 candidates  appeared for the  Paper-II examination. 
On May 22, in the website of the Teachers Recruitment Board the answer keys were published and representations, objections, etc  were invited from the candidates within 5 days (upto May 27).
"After thorough scrutiny, a revised and final answer key has been arrived at and based on that, OMR answer sheets have been valued and provisional mark list of the written examination for TNTET Paper-I and TNTET- paper - II - 2017 are published herein", said a statement accompanying the results.
Steps to check TN TRB TET 2017 results:
Step One: Go to the official website of trb.tn.nic.in.
Step Two: Click on the link "Tamil Nadu Teachers Eligibility Test (TNTET) - 2017 - Please click here for Examination Results and Final Key Answers"
Step Three: Click on next on the bottom of the page
Step Four: Click on the link Click here for Individual Candidate Query"
Step Five: Enter your roll number
After following the steps, results will be displayed
Read more »

June 30, 2017 , ,
TN TET 2017 Results declared on official website Trb.tn.nic.in, know how to check
New Delhi :  
Teacher Eligibility Test  (TET) 2017 results have been declared by Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) on June 30. Paper 1 for TN TRB TET 2017 was conducted on April 29 and Paper 2 on April 30. Students can check their results on trb.tn.nic.in. 
2,41,555 candidates appeared for Tamil Nadu Teacher Eligibility Test 2017 Paper I and 5,12,260 candidates  appeared for the  Paper-II examination. 
On May 22, in the website of the Teachers Recruitment Board the answer keys were published and representations, objections, etc  were invited from the candidates within 5 days (upto May 27).
"After thorough scrutiny, a revised and final answer key has been arrived at and based on that, OMR answer sheets have been valued and provisional mark list of the written examination for TNTET Paper-I and TNTET- paper - II - 2017 are published herein", said a statement accompanying the results.
Steps to check TN TRB TET 2017 results:
Step One: Go to the official website of trb.tn.nic.in.
Step Two: Click on the link "Tamil Nadu Teachers Eligibility Test (TNTET) - 2017 - Please click here for Examination Results and Final Key Answers"
Step Three: Click on next on the bottom of the page
Step Four: Click on the link Click here for Individual Candidate Query"
Step Five: Enter your roll number
After following the steps, results will be displayed
Read more »

June 30, 2017 , , , ,
BMW announces X5 and X6 M Black Fire Editions
BMW has revealed a mean looking, black themed version of its seriously quick X5 and X6 M SUVs.
Dubbed the Black Fire Edition, the pair will be available overseas from August. BMW Australia says the duo aren’t confirmed for local release but the local arm is keen for their arrival.
A spokesman said it was currently working on where they would fit in the local line-up and would confirm availability soon.
With both having the same 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 found in the normal X5 and X6 M, the cars aren’t mechanically different.
However, BMW says the Black Fire Edition “visualises all the strengths of the BMW X5 M and BMW X6 M.”
On the outside, this means Black Sapphire paint, black M kidney grille with black bars, black 21-inch wheels and carbon wing mirror caps.
The interior also gets the treatment, with black and red Merino leather, Black Fire logo and an M Performance Alcantara steering wheel with a leather motorsport accent in... light blue.
Read more »

June 30, 2017 ,
Qualcomm: 5G worth $12 trillion by 2035
SHANGHAI- 5G technology could provide a $12 trillion revenue opportunity by 2035, U.S. Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said during a keynote presentation at Mobile World Congress Shanghai. Mollenkopf said that this figure is a potential revenue target from 5G-related goods and services globally. The automotive industry alone could generate a revenue opportunity of $2.4 trillion, he added.

According to estimates from the U.S. chipmaker, the economic impact to the 5G value chain in China, Korea and Japan by 2035 could reach $1.6 trillion, while 12.5 million jobs could be created in that timeframe in those regions.

The executive also highlighted that there is still much to be done in the 4G space, particularly with new gigabit LTE networks, which he described as paving the way to future 5G deployments.
“Gigabit LTE is here. We’re on our second generation of gigabit LTE. Twenty operators worldwide are deploying it. It’s the first step towards the enhanced mobile broadband experience of 5G,” he said.
During Mobile World Congress Shanghai, the California-based company announced new products including its Snapdragon automotive platforms, which were selected for inclusion in the next-generation of infotainment systems in Chinese car maker Geely Auto Group vehicles, which also owns Volvo.
Geely vehicles featuring Snapdragon automotive platforms are expected to be available from 2020 onward. Select Geely models are expected to use the Snapdragon 820Am variant of the platform with an integrated X12 LTE modem, supporting up to 600 Mbps downlink and 150 Mbps uplink speeds. This solution is designed to provide in-car cloud connectivity to support key features, such as over-the-air updates, navigation with real-time updates, news and local information, emergency assistance and diagnostics.
Qualcomm also launched its Snapdragon Wear 1200 platform, offering low-power NB-IoT support for wearables, targeting child, pet, elderly and fitness trackers. Snapdragon Wear 1200 is a multimode platform for targeted purpose wearable spaces where consumers are demanding a smaller size, longer battery life, smarter sensing, constant location and robust security, Qualcomm said.
The solution also features an integrated applications processor for Linux and ThreadX based applications and is scalable to support voice over LTE, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.
Read more »

June 30, 2017 , , , , ,
DUCATI THIVEVAL REVEALED
A DUCATI XDiavel is already a head-turning bike but put one into the hands of Belgian customizer Fred Krugger and the result is guaranteed to be interesting.
That’s just what Ducati has done, and the finished bike – named Thiveral after a race track near Paris – is being unveiled this weekend at the Bikers’ Classic at Spa-Francorchamps.
Krugger, who’s won the AMD Custom Bike Building World Championship twice, has created a completely new look but managed it without actually changing too many of the bike’s parts.
He’s clearly binned the original, curvaceous seat and tank. In their place come custom-made units that look like they might have been inspired by a toaster. Straight lines and boxy shapes are very much the theme here, along with a black-and-brushed-aluminium colour palette.
The original headlight is kept, and blends in surprisingly well with the new look. At the back there’s a new, inset tail light that neatly matches the twin exhaust exits of the bike’s custom-made, under-seat pipe.
It’s clear that while the bike retains the stock suspension components, they have been lowered by several inches. It doesn’t look like there’s much travel left in those forks. But then again, practicality isn’t really the intention here.
Of course there are no current plans to make more of these – it’s just a one-off to show what the possibilities are. But it’s an interesting move away from the traditional custom bike style.
What do you reckon? Is this a bold new look that Ducati should be considering for future models?
Read more »

June 30, 2017 , ,
Xbox game sale cuts prices on Prey, Wildlands, Injustice 2 and more
Microsoft is currently running a massive sale on digital versions of Xbox One and Xbox 360 games. The Ultimate Game Sale’s best deals go to Xbox Live Gold members, with discounts as high as 70 percent off some titles.
Here’s a smattering of the newest Xbox One titles currently available through the promotion. Follow the link above for deals on Xbox 360 games as well.
  • Injustice 2 is 15 percent off, 25 percent off for Gold members.
  • Ghost Recon Wildlands Standard Edition is 25 percent off, 35 percent off for Gold members.
  • Mass Effect: Andromeda is 40 percent off, 50 percent off for Gold members.
  • Prey is 10 percent off, 17 percent off for Gold members.
  • The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind including the base game at 25 percent off, 35 percent off for Gold members. The upgrade for current owners of TESO is also on sale.
  • For Honor is 30 percent off, 40 percent off for Gold members.
  • Battlefield 1 is 50 percent off, 60 percent off for Gold members.
Other third-party titles include Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Rocket League and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.
Microsoft is also including several first-party titles, such as Gears of War 4. With Xbox Live Play Anywhere, that means you get the console and the PC version together in one purchase.
Xbox 360 titles include many TellTale titles, Destiny and the Metro series among others. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, the first game by the team behind E3’s surprise hit A Way Out, is 60 percent off, 70 percent off for Gold members.
The sale runs through July 10.
Read more »

June 30, 2017 ,
BENNELONG REVIEW (BANGARRA, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE)
Under the sails of the Sydney Opera House, on the same harbour point where Governor Phillip once built him a brick hut, Bangarra now stages this remarkable dance theatre tale about Bennelong. Snatched away to be the colony’s ambassador to his people, Bennelong was reportedly the first Aboriginal man to learn and write English, take up European ways and sail to London. 
But was he an appeaser seduced by vanities of white power or a realist negotiator? A father of reconciliation, a fighter or a victim? Or all of these?
Director Stephen Page’s Bennelong certainly tells a vivid story of cultural shock, disease, survival and adaptability – but also suggests necessarily there’s a Bennelong in every Indigenous Australian. And it didn’t end well for him. Perhaps that’s why many talk less of Bennelong and more of the resistance warrior Pemulwuy.
Page though is well qualified to dance into this cauldron of contested histories with this, his 26th production. After those stunning first elemental works in the 1990s around country, and later contemporary portraits of urban dispossession, Bangarra more recently has told histories both black and white. Among others, Patyegarang (2014) was the story of that young Aboriginal woman and her intimacy and exchange of language with Lt William Dawes in this same colonial Sydney. 
Bennelong is darker and less optimistic than Patyegarang, but is the more successful dance work, with its charged narrative beautifully supported by words in song. With dramaturg Alana Valentine, Page tells his story chronologically through 16 vignettes from Bennelong’s birth to his death, alcoholic and abandoned by all in a backyard in Putney.   
While this linear structure threatens to be repetitive and could so easily degenerate into historical pantomime, it never does. Page and his creative team, so practised now as collaborators, keep the narrative driving and its thematic handling powerfully impressionistic. 
Steve Francis’ score, with additional music and lyrics in language by Matthew Doyle, is a masterpiece collage of emotional power, melodies, techno assault, sounds of sea, wind and country, old racist shanties, Rule Britannia and a touch of Haydn when Bennelong and his mate stumble into London society.   
When Yemmerawanya dies in London, his body is hauled from the stage, forgotten, on the back of an aristocrat’s long purple cloak. Jennifer Iwin’s artful costumes, across time and cultures, here make no disguise that these nightmare figures are seen through Aboriginal eyes. And the next scene, Repatriation, equally avoids pantomime as Bennelong and the powerful ubiquitous spirit, dance elder Elam Kris, mourn Yemmerawanya, dancing to Valentine’s whispered horror words of body parts. 
Jacob Nash is well known for Bangarra’s richly textured, painterly backdrops which are here confidently fused with iconic elements like the suspended opening circle of light and smoke, a huge figure abstraction of “1788” and the silver prison walls slowly being built around the dying spirit of Bennelong. Nick Schlieper evocatively lights these elements and with his signature side-lighting picks out the dancers with sculptural precision.
Bennelong is Bangarra at the height of its powers and collaborative storytelling. It’s now 18 dancers number what was – and is no longer – the size of the Sydney Dance Company.
Not unlike Graeme Murphy, who at the SDC helped groom him as a dancer and young choreographer, Stephen Page draws on these dancers and collaborations to direct compelling dance theatre stories.
While this strength underpins a choreography which can run into generalised movement, Bennelong has some outstanding signatures, especially in the group work of Page’s dancers. Like kangaroos, over their shoulders they sniff with alarm the arrival of the settlers. Later they curl and stretch long in the death throes of small pox. And again, dramatic and abstracted production elements lift these scenes beyond the obvious. Page’s choreography is particularly striking when the tribes interact, together and in pairs, with the new arrivals, as these white ghosts with crooked arms semaphore their march across the stage.
Dancer Beau Dean Riley Smith is an amazingly agile and yet nuggetty Bennelong, intense and yet enigmatic as to what motives him. I missed the details of Bennelong’s supposed character – his charm, humour and manipulating self-interest – but perhaps that must wait for the epic film which begs to made about this landmark story. 
Daniel Riley too has little room for character subtlety but he dances an interesting Phillip, striving and anxious. And Jasmin Sheppard is notable as one of Bennelong’s wives, Barangaroo.
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