Pakistan bat against Sri Lanka in decider

#GNN - #DAMBULLA: #Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq won the toss and elected to bat in the third and decisive one-day international against Sri Lanka in Dambulla on Saturday.

With the series level at 1-1, Pakistan welcomed back spin spearhead Saeed Ajmal who missed the previous two matches due to a flying visit to Australia to have his bowling action tested.

Ajmal was tested in Brisbane after his action was reported by the umpires during the preceding Test series, which Sri Lanka won 2-0. He is allowed to play on till the results of the tests are made known.

Ajmal replaced left-arm seamer Junaid Khan in the team.

Sri Lanka also made one change, bringing in seamer Dhammika Prasad in place of Nuwan Kulasekara.Pakistan won the first match in Hambantota by four wickets, before Sri Lanka drew level with a 77-run win in the second game at the same venue.

Pakistan: Misbah-ul Haq (capt), Sharjeel Khan, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan.

Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Ashan Priyanjan, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Dhammika Prasad, Rangana Herath, Seekuge Prasanna.

Umpires: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI) and S. Ravi (IND)

TV umpire: Steve Davis (AUS)

Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

Nokia’s Here Maps Its Future On Samsung With Its First Android And Tizen Apps

#GNN Tech - Opera may have taken some of the wind out of the Nokia brand’s sails with the news that its browser will be replacing Nokia’s on the now-Microsoft-owned, winding down, feature handset business. But today the Finnish company that has remained after the Microsoft handset sale had some interesting news of its own: it’s tying up with Samsung for two new versions of its Here mapping product, a free Android version coming first to Samsung’s Galaxy line of devices, and a Tizen version for Samsung’s Tizen-powered smart devices, specifically the Gear smartwatch.

Nokia says that Here app will be available on Samsung Galaxy devices exclusively. We have asked the company when it plans to make it available to other Android handsets and will update this as we learn more. (Update: there will be availability elsewhere, but no timeline when. “HERE for Android is part of our partnership with Samsung, but we aim to make HERE available to as many people as possible,” a Here spokesperson tells me, adding that it will be sometime “later this year.” Another spokesperson tells us that Here for Samsung Galaxy smartphones will be rolled out at the same time that the Gear S starts to retail — further strengthening the link between the two pieces of news and the functionality.

The new apps are coming at a key time for Samsung, which is trying more and more to differentiate itself from the rest of the Android pack — the world’s most popular mobile platform, but also the most widely used by a variety of OEMs alongside Samsung — and create services that are unique to its devices alone.

Samsung is currently the world’s most popular maker of Android-based smartphones and other devices, but it has a lot of competition coming after it, from established competitors like LG to those like Xiaomi from China cleaning up in its home market and very clearly looking at growing more.

At the same time, it’s looking for ways of driving more interest in its new wearable device — hence tying the functionality together to incentivize consumers to stay within the Samsung ecosystem.

Mapping has been one of the “killer apps” of the new age of mobile, with location-based services helping our always-on, always-present devices becoming companions for our everyday lives and the things we like and need to do, taking things like smartphones beyond basic functions like making voice calls and sending texts to others.

For Here, the interesting thing is that the Samsung apps are the result of a licensing deal between the two companies — meaning that Here will have received some form of payment as part of it.

That’s important for a company that only recently, after losing a lot of money for years, been just about breaking even — or reporting a slight loss, depending on whether you count its non-IFRS or IFRS-reported numbers. Even though maps may be a core part of our mobile usage these days, that hasn’t always translated into them being a strong revenue generator.

And the moves come as Here is undergoing a reorganization of its own: Michael Halbherr, a longtime Here exec, stepped down as CEO last week.

The Android app will work much like it does on Windows Phone and iOS devices — users will be able to access maps for some 200 countries, see turn-by-turn navigation, search for businesses and other places of interest, and access the maps using GPS when there is no network connectivity available.

The Tizen Gear app, meanwhile, will mean that users of the Galaxy smartphones will be able to sync up their maps between their devices. The idea here is that for some situations mapping will be easier to plan on one device, but to use on the other. The apps will also integrate with in-car systems and integrate with mapping apps that run across all three, such as location-sharing app Glympse.

PM discusses political situation with leaders of various opposition parties

#GNN - #ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a consultative meeting with the leaders of various opposition parties in the Parliament House Islamabad on Wednesday.

They discussed overall political situation of the country besides ongoing sit-ins in Islamabad.

The leaders called on the Prime Minister included opposition leader Syed Khurshid Shah, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Aftab Sherpao, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Dr Farooq Sattar and Haider Abbas Rizvi. (GNN)(PPI)(AIP)

Ybrain Raises $3.5M To Fund Trials Of Its Wearable For Alzheimer’s Patients

 #GNN Team - Ybrain, a Korean startup that makes wearables for Alzheimer’s patients, announced today that it has raised $3.5 million in Series A funding led by Stonebridge Capital, bringing its total raised so far to $4.2 million.

Co-founder Seungyeon Kim told TechCrunch that the money will be used for clinical trials and the manufacturing of its wearable devices.

The company was founded in 2013 by Kyongsik Yun, a neuroscientist who trained at the California Institute of Technology, and engineers from Samsung.

Ybrain is currently conducting clinical trials at Samsung Medical Center in Korea.

Kim says that Soterix Medical, another wearable device maker, is Ybrain’s closest direct competitor, while global pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Novartis are indirect competitors. He adds that Ybrain is currently the only company carrying out clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease with a wearable health device.
Ybrain wearable device consists of a headband with two sensors embedded in the front that emit electronic signals at 2-milli-amperes, which stimulate brain activity to counteract the symptoms of Alzheimer’s. The device is supposed to be used for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, and can be worn at home.

The headband is also intended for use by people with “mild cognitive impairment.”

The startup’s clinical trials currently show that its wearable devices are 20 percent to 30 percent more effective than existing oral medication for Alzheimer’s patients. “This was key to our funding,” says Kim.

The devices will be available for purchase online and through hospitals after Ybrain finishes clinical trials and registers with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. as well as the Korean Food and Drug Administration (KFDA).

In a statement, Fortune Sohn, analyst at Stonebridge Capital, said “Most Alzheimer’s disease experts are forecasting that new Alzheimer’s oral medications may not come out until 2025. Ybrain’s global first Alzheimer patient ready wearables will be a great solution.”

[h/t BeTech]

Samsung’s New Gear S Smartwatch Features A Curved Screen And 3G Connectivity

#GNN Tech - #Samsung officially takes the cake when it comes to launching smartwatches: It just announced the Samsung Gear S, its billionth smartwatch device launching this year.

The Gear S has a few hallmarks that set it apart from the crowd, however, including a curved Super AMOLED display, which has a 2-inch diagonal measurement and 360×480 resolution, and a built-in 3G modem, which can let the wearable receive notification and messages, and even make and receive calls without any smartphone involved.

The Gear S is essentially a wrist-mounted smartphone, which is not something new to the industry. Samsung’s latest effort is Tizen-powered, like its Samsung Gear 2 and Gear Neo devices, and also has built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, in addition to its cellular radio.

The Gear S’s hardware design might be its more impressive feature, as we’re finally starting to see displays that wrap around the contours of the wrist, rather than sticking out as a traditional flat surface.

On the software side, the Gear S has HERE navigation provided by Nokia, as well as Spritz speed-reading. It also includes GPS sensors, an accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, UV detection, barometer and a heart rate monitor.

IN terms of specs, it’s packing 4GB of internal storage and 512MB of RAM, plus a dual-core 1.0 GHz processor. It has IP67 dust and water resistance, and a relatively small 300mAh battery, which Samsung says will still manage to get it 2 days of usage under normal conditions.

Samsung is also launching the Gear Circle headset alongside the new wearable, which offers Bluetooth connectivity, as well as a vibration motor to provide silent notifications, and a mic for chatting as well as receiving voice commands.

The Gear S will be available starting in October, though pricing hasn’t been announced. Regardless of what Samsung asks consumers to pay for this device, it begs the question: How many smartwatches from one company can consumers stand? Especially one based on Tizen, now that Google has thrown its weight behind Android Wear?

Taiwan-Based Streaming Music Service KKBOX Raises $104M To Expand Overseas

#GNN Tech - KKBOX, a Taiwan-based company that has provided streaming music services in Asia since before Spotify was founded, announced (link in Chinese) that it has raised $104 million from Singapore GIC (formerly known as the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation).

KKBOX co-founder and CEO Chris Lin said that the funds will be used to develop the company’s tech platform and services, as well as continue expanding into overseas markets.

The compnay currently has 10 million users and offers streaming music services in six Asian markets: Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. Other investors include KDDI, Japan’s second-largest telecommunications company, HTC, and Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom.

KKBOX was founded in 2004 and currently has deals with 500 international and local music labels that allow it to stream over 10 million tracks.

In addition to its streaming music services, KKBOX also publishes a montly print magazine about music and holds an annual music awards show in Taiwan.

KKBOX first started expanding overseas in 2009, starting with Hong Kong. Since 2013, however, it has had to compete with Spotify, which launched in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia that year. It is now also available in the Philippines and Taiwan.

In 2013, KKBOX also began aggressively expanding, launching in Malaysia and Singapore. It has said it also plans to move into Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines this year.

KKBOX previously told TC that its competitive advantage against Western competitors like Spotify is its ability to strike deals with local music labels, which take a 70 percent to 85 percent market share over Western labels, as well as localized features like rolling karaoke-style lyrics and in-app chats and events with artists.

SWAT Team Detains Popular Gamer Who Was Live-Streaming ‘Counter-Strike’

#GNN Tech - An incredible video showing the apparent swatting of a video game player who operates under the moniker ‘Kootra‘ was published today.

Swatting is a prank that involves falsely telling the police of a dangerous situation so that a SWAT — special weapons and tactics (SWAT) — team is deployed in response, erroneously. The police are led to believe that they need to roll out the guns and armor, leaving the intended victim of the prank literally staring down the barrel of the gun.

In this case, a Denver-area building was selected for the prank. Nearby schools, according to local media, were temporarily placed on lockdown due to the phantom threat.

Making the entire situation nearly surreal is the fact that Kootra, whose common name is Jordan Mathewson, was streaming a video game to the Internet when the heavily armed police force entered his location, and detained him.

It isn’t clear who instigated the prank that Kootra was caught up in.

The stream continues for some time until a police officer realizes that he is being recorded, at which point he appears to either shut, or otherwise turn off the computer in question. Until that point, the raid was taped, the footage of which was uploaded to YouTube.

Kootra, a member of a gaming group called The Creatures, is a popular personality with more than 200,000 Twitter followers.
Here’s the video:

Kootra later indicated that he’s safe:

Dag nabbit that was dern sure an experience. I am all Ok though. Thanks for all the supportive tweets everyone—
(@Kootra) August 27, 2014

While Kootra got through the ordeal, the danger to his person was material. Whomever instigated the swatting should be ashamed of themselves.

Microsoft Promises To Remove Scammy Apps From The Windows Store, Kills Off 1,500 Apps To Start

#GNN Tech - The Windows app store has a problem: it’s full of garbage.

For every popular app, there’s a dozen-plus apps trying their damnedest to trick the user into buying it.

No app store is without its shady apps — even Apple, with their infamously/painfully stringent restrictions (which, notably, seem to have been relaxed a bit over time), has its fair share of iffy clones and trademark violations.

But many of the apps on the Windows Store went far beyond being tacky conceptual clones; many of them didn’t even bother to create new icons, or come up with new names beyond changing a few characters.

Meanwhile, blatant trademark violations were rife. You want iTunes? How about “Itunes PC”, for $4? Or “Itunes Play App” for $9? The icons were the same; the names were intentionally confusing. The only difference was that behind that download button was a hot pile of garbage that no one was likely to download intentionally. And until now, it didn’t seem like Microsoft really wanted to do anything about it.

How-To Geek tore into Microsoft over the issue last week, and now Microsoft is promising to fix it.

In a just published blog post, Microsoft announced three changes to their certification process:

• App names have to be clear (So “iTunes PC” is probably a no go.)
• Apps must be categorized properly (So no more premium “How To” guides disguised as functional apps)
• Icons must be unique enough that you couldn’t get two apps confused with each other.

They all seem like fairly obvious rules that probably should’ve been in place to begin with — but at least they’re in there now.

Microsoft says that the new rules will impact all future app submissions and updates, but that they’re also going back through and re-reviewing their catalog as quickly as they can. To date, they’ve killed off about 1,500 apps. If you’re unlucky enough to have bought one of the ones that got nixed, they’ll refund your money.

[Photo modified; original photo by Clyde Robinson on Flickr. Used under Creative Commons]

Hardware Crowdfunding: Where The Venture Dollars Flow

#GNN Tecm - Editor’s note: Matt Witheiler is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners. You can follow him on his blog.

$211,290. That was the magic number that the data suggested was the “success” threshold in hardware crowdfunding. The analysis also showed that people love 3D printers and that almost half the crowdfunded dollars went to 37 companies. That deep dive into 443 projects provided some insight into where consumers are spending their money (and time) in the hardware ecosystem but it felt like something was missing.

Crowdfunding dollars are only one source of capital for hardware startups. The other source, the one that gets even more attention, is venture capital. In the years since Kickstarter launched, venture investing in hardware has gone from non-existent to mainstream. CrunchBase data shows 115 companies tagged as Hardware + Software got funding in 2007 compared to 383 in 2013 – an increase of 233 percent.

While there has been some recent writing on how many crowdfunded hardware startups go on to raise venture money, the analysis of what categories of hardware companies raise money has yet to be done. In other words, it was impossible to answer the question “What parts of the hardware ecosystem do investors think are hot?”

Using the same data set as before (hardware projects raising $100,000 or more on crowdfunding sites as of late June 2014) and combining it with data from CrunchBase and Mattermark, I’m here with that answer.

Making It Rain
Of the 443 hardware projects analyzed, 94 have gone on to raise a total of $503.8 million from investors. Much like the crowdfunding data, the vast majority of these 94 companies ran their campaigns on Kickstarter: Just 17 companies, or 18 percent, of the total that raised money started on Indiegogo.

The category perspective provides a glimpse into where VCs are putting their money. The $503.8 million raised is broken out as follows:

Comparing this to the previous map, there are a few things to note. Most obvious is the domination of the Entertainment category, which received $188 million in venture funding, or 37 percent of all venture dollars that went to crowdfunded companies.

Across the board, many of these venture dollars went into a few “winners.” Specifically, of the $503.7 million venture dollars that crowdfunded hardware projects brought in, nearly 40 percent went to four companies: Oculus, Gramofon, Misfit and FormLabs. Fourteen companies raised more than $10 million in funding post campaign, bringing in $335.8 million. In addition to the “big four,” these were: OUYA, Lifx, Loop, SmartThings, tado, Canary, Peloton Cycle, Emotiv, Pebble and Scanadu.

The set of 94 raised venture dollars from a number of investors. Almost everyone you would suspect is represented, but the most prolific may surprise you. That would be HAXLR8R, which invested in 10 of the companies, although only invested $25,000 each time.

Leverage
The dollar investment measure is one way to understand how VCs think of hardware. An alternative way of looking at just how excited VCs are about various categories is exploring the relationship between crowd dollars committed and venture dollars raised. I call this leverage.

I calculate leverage as: Venture Dollars Raised / Crowd Dollars Raised. Leverage of 1.0x means that for every dollar the crowd put in, VCs put in another dollar. The higher the number, the more dollars (i.e. interest) VCs had in the category. The lower the number, the more skeptical VCs were compared to the crowd.

Now things get interesting. Remember, this measures investor interest relative to the crowd. As you can see, the wearable space, specifically wearables that are worn on clothing or attached to the body somehow, garnered way more love from investors than from the crowd: In the body wearable category, the crowd pre-ordered $3.5 million worth of product and investors later put in $37.6 million. From a leverage perspective, this even outpaced Gaming despite the fact that that category holds the largest venture bet from the crowdfunding cohort: the $91 million Oculus. In the 3D printing category, which consumers feverishly poured $25.6 million into across 50 projects, investors were much more tepid, choosing to deploy $26.5 million of capital across just five companies.

At a macro level, each crowdfunded dollar resulted in $2.71 of venture dollars invested and the Medical category faired best with $7.11 of venuture dollars per crowd dollar – although across a very small sample set of three companies. Next best is the wearable category mentioned above, where the sector had 4.76x leverage and 18 venture-funded projects.

What It Means
While investors are absolutely using crowdfunding success to vet hardware startups (the rate of investment across these $100k+ campaigns is orders of magnitude higher than the general startup investment rate) not all project categories are created equal. Your camera campaign is unlikely to be a home run with investors even if you hit it out of the park with the crowd.

Conversely, even a mediocre outcome in an automation campaign may earn the attention of investors’ wallets. It just goes to show, investors want to back companies that not only deliver what people want today, but also represent a compelling vision for the future.

I’ve shared the source data in Google Docs. Feel free to dig in with your own analysis.

IMAGE BY SHUTTERSTOCK USER ISMAGILOV (IMAGE HAS BEEN MODIFIED)

Broad Range Of Public Tech Firms Trade For Record Prices

#GNN Tech - All the talk of a bubble isn’t slowing down public interest in technology shares. Today, Apple, TubeMogul and Arista Networks set new record highs. TubeMogul and Arista both recently went public.

Other firms, like Microsoft are trading near local maximums. MobileIron set an all-time high yesterday, managed a new intra-day high today, and is up strongly in the past few trading sessions. Facebook is toying with the $75 price per-share range, a record performance.

That we’re seeing companies head public is therefore not surprising. Companies that are losing monday on a GAAP, and non-GAAP basis are looking to raise hundreds of millions from investors — LendingClub filed to raise $500 million today, Box wants $250 million and so forth.

The buoyancy, of course, extends outside of the technology industry. The S&P 500 closed at another record today, implying that a broader set of industries’ stocks are doing quite well.

There are notable exceptions. Twitter remains far under its 52-week high. King Digital has taken a beating in recent days. But the larger market for tech stocks appears healthy.

At least for now, the IPO window looks open, and Silicon Valley is sunny.

IMAGE BY FLICKR USER ANTONIO MORALES GARCÍA UNDER CC BY-SA 2.0 LICENSE (IMAGE HAS BEEN MODIFIED)

Japan could offer unapproved Ebola drug under certain criteria: #government

#GNN - #Japan could offer an unapproved drug under certain circumstances to help treat the deadly Ebola virus even before the World Health Organization has decided to make a request for the drug, the country's top government spokesman said on Monday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that Japan would cooperate with the WHO and was ready to make an international contribution.

"I am informed that medical professionals could make a request for T-705 in an emergency even before a decision by the WHO. In that case, we would like to respond under certain criteria," he said.

T-705 is the developmental code for the influenza drug favipiravir. Japan's Fujifilm Holdings Corp and U.S. partner MediVector are in talks with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to submit an application to expand the use of favipiravir as a treatment for Ebola.

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The Ebola epidemic in West Africa has killed more than 1,000 people and prompted the WHO to declare an international health emergency.

(GNN)(Reuters)(AIP)(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

Sony says Playstation users' information safe after hackers target #game sites

#GNN Tech - #Sony Corp (6758.T) said hackers had taken down its #PlayStation Network without compromising its 53 million users' personal data, while the FBI was investigating a bomb scare on a flight carrying a top Sony executive in the United States.

The hackers behind the PlayStation attack said they had also targeted the servers of World of Warcraft video gamemakers Blizzard Entertainment, whose website was down, and threatened to attack Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Xbox Live network which was also experiencing problems.

Sony said on Monday it was still trying to restore access to its gaming network after the attack on Sunday.


"We are trying to get the network back up as fast as we can while finding the source of the problem but I can't say how long that will take," Sony Computer Entertainment spokesman Satoshi Nakajima said in Tokyo.

The unidentified hackers said on their @LizardSquad Twitter microblogging account that the attack was meant to pressure the Japanese tech giant to spend more of its profits on security.

"Sony, yet another large company, but they aren't spending the waves of cash they obtain on their customers' (PlayStation Network) service. End the greed," one post said on Sunday.

Sony said no PlayStation users' personal information had been accessed in the attack, which overwhelmed the system with traffic.

Blizzard Entertainment was not immediately reachable for comment but its customer support Twitter account said its servers were stabilizing.

Microsoft wrote in a post on its Xbox blog on Friday that some users had problems accessing sections of the network, while users reported that they were having problems accessing their accounts on Sunday.

"We don't comment on the root cause of a specific issue, but as you can see on Xbox.com/status, the core Xbox LIVE services are up and running," Xbox spokesman David Dennis said.

Lizard Squad also tweeted to American Airlines on Sunday to say they had heard that explosives were on board a flight carrying Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley. That was a possible reference to another tweet from a game player's forum telling the airline "I'm gonna send a bomb on your plane be ready for me tomorrow".

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A PlayStation spokeswoman in the United States said the FBI was investigating the diversion of the Dallas/Fort Worth to San Diego flight.

The FBI had no comment on the incident but American Airlines said on its Twitter account that it was "aware of threats" made over the microblogging service and had alerted security.

Sony's network business has been hit by attacks before, with a security breach in 2011 dealing a major blow to plans at the time for a looser network designed to allow for the connection of a range of Sony devices.

Since then it has invested heavily in the system and is now hoping the network can serve as a centerpiece of its plans to rebuild its business after years of losses in its flagship electronics operations.

(GNN)(Reuters)(AIP)(Additional reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Thai king endorses junta leader as prime minister

#GNN - Thai #military leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha was endorsed as prime minister by Thailand's king on Monday, four days after he was elected by his own hand-picked parliament, although critics called his appointment a political farce.

Prayuth was appointed prime minister on Thursday, three months after leading a coup, by 191 out of 197 members of the military-dominated national assembly. He was the sole candidate.

Approval from King Bhumibol Adulyadej was a formality. His endorsement paves the way for the establishment of an interim government in coming weeks, although power will remain firmly in the hands of the junta formally known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). [ID:nL4N0QQ2IK]

"His Majesty the King has endorsed General Prayuth Chan-ocha as prime minister to govern the country from this day onwards," the Royal Gazette said in a statement published on its official website on Monday.

The military said the May 22 coup was necessary to avoid further bloodshed after months of turbulence pitting protesters, including the urban elite and southern Thais, against supporters of ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Dressed in a crisp white military uniform, Prayuth got down on his knees and paid homage to a portrait of King Bhumibol at a ceremony in Bangkok on Monday.

King Bhumibol, 86, who is in a Bangkok hospital for what the palace said is a routine medical check-up, did not attend.

"I consider this the highest honor of my life," Prayuth said in a televised address after the ceremony.

"Our country has accumulated many problems over the years which need to be urgently solved. To do this we must not create future problems," he said.

Critics have denounced the coup and the junta's self-described efforts to "return happiness to the Thai people".

The Organisation of Free Thais for Human Rights and Democracy, a group set up overseas to oppose the junta, called Prayuth's selection illegitimate.

"The NCPO's selection of Prime Minister is only a political farce and in violation of the rule of law," Charupong Ruangsuwan, the group's secretary general, said in a statement posted on Facebook.

The junta has cracked down on issues ranging from food hawkers at tourist destinations, the illegal logging of forests, and taxi mafia gangs at international airports.

Prayuth, who is due to retire as army chief in September, moved quickly to silence dissent and deployed troops to quell protests in the weeks after the coup.

The junta has tried to sell a positive story and has pointed to modest improvements in the economy and consumer confidence since the takeover.

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Southeast Asia's second-largest economy avoided recession in the second quarter of the year but the tentative recovery is some way from matching the government spin.

Prayuth, 60, was a key figure in the 2006 coup that ousted Yingluck's brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin has lived in self-exile since 2008 to avoid serving a jail sentence for corruption charges he denies.

Prayuth has said he wants to free Thailand from a vicious cycle of political instability but critics say his rhetoric, including nostalgia-tinged references to an agrarian utopia and a "return to morality in Thailand", is outmoded and threaten to drag Thailand back by decades.

(GNN)(Reuters)(AIP)(Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Paul Tait)

Burger King in merger talks with Canada's Tim Hortons

#GNN - Burger King (BKW.N) is in talks to combine with Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc (THI.TO) in a deal that would create a fast food powerhouse with a market capitalization of roughly $18 billion.

The companies confirmed merger discussions late on Sunday, and said the new company would be the world's third-largest quick service restaurant. It would be based in Canada, which has lower overall corporate taxes than the United States.

The proposed deal would be structured as a so-called tax inversion transaction to move Burger King's domicile out of the United States, and could come as soon as in the next few days, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

Recent attempts by companies for tax inversion deals, which are made to avoid higher U.S. taxes and save money on foreign earnings and cash held outside the United States, have drawn the attention of President Barack Obama, who criticized a "herd mentality" by companies seeking such deals.

Walgreen Co (WAG.N) recently decided against a tax inversion deal in its acquisition of European pharmacy chain Alliance Boots ABN.UL, saying it was "not in the best long-term interest of shareholders to attempt to re-domicile outside the U.S." [ID:nL6N0QC35L]

Amid heightened political sensitivity in the United States to such tax-cutting transactions, Walgreen said it was mindful of the public reaction to a potential inversion deal and its role as an "iconic American consumer retail company with a major portion of its revenues derived from government-funded reimbursement programs."

3G MAINTAINING MAJORITY
The companies said 3G Capital, the majority owner of Burger King, will continue to own the majority of the shares in the new combined entity on a pro forma basis, with the remainder held by existing shareholders of Tim Hortons and Burger King.

3G, a New York-based investment firm with Brazilian roots, acquired the then struggling Burger King in 2010 for about $3.3 billion. It later took the company back to market in 2012 but still owns nearly 70 percent of the firm's shares, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Tim Hortons and Burger King are set to operate as standalone brands within this new entity while benefiting from shared corporate services, the companies said.

Burger King said its experience in building a large global footprint would allow it to help accelerate Tim Hortons's growth in international markets.

If a deal gets sealed this wouldn't be the first time the iconic Canadian restaurant chain moves into foreign hands. It was bought by Wendy's International Inc in 1995, but later spun out in 2006 after the fast food chain came under pressure from activist investor Nelson Peltz.

While operated from Oakville, Ontario, it kept its corporate headquarters in Delaware before moving it back to Canada in 2009. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper took some credit for the move, citing the Conservative government’s decision to cut the corporate tax rate.

Since coming to power in 2006, the Conservatives have cut Canada's corporate tax rate to 15 percent. Public companies also have to pay provincial corporate taxes that then bring their combined federal and provincial tax rate to about 25 percent or higher.

Tim Hortons and Burger King said they do not plan to comment on this potential deal further unless and until a transaction is agreed, or discussions are discontinued.

Burger King, founded in 1954 and headquartered in Miami, Florida, operates over 13,000 locations in nearly 100 countries and territories across the globe. It has a market capitalization of about $9.55 billion.

Oakville, Canada-based Tim Hortons operates more than 3,500 system wide restaurants in Canada and over 850 in the United States. Its U.S. market cap stands at about $8.4 billion.

(GNN)(Reuters)(AIP)(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, Olivia Oran and Mike Stone; Editing by Leslie Adler, Stephen Coates and Ryan Woo)

Market leaders seen taking S&P 500 to 2,000

#GNN - U.S. stocks have been on a roll of late, with the S&P 500 hitting the latest in a series of records on Thursday, and investors expect the index's momentum to soon carry it to - if not far past - the 2,000 milestone.

The S&P is about 10 points, or 0.4 percent, from that landmark, which analysts expected would be reached toward the end of the year, according to the most recent Reuters poll. Reaching it ahead of schedule is the latest affirmation that stocks are widely preferred to bonds, even with further upside seen as limited as the Federal Reserve remains on track to end its bond-buying stimulus program in October..

The level has more psychological than fundamental significance, and it could prompt market participants to consider whether their holdings have become stretched.

The "2,000 (level) has no fundamental significance outside of suggesting that stocks are fully valued and getting more so all the time," said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston. "We should see some weakness as Fed policy winds down, but I'd still rather own stocks than bonds, as in the long run they'll continue to expand."

The S&P is up 7.8 percent this year, outpacing overseas indexes and shrugging off headwinds such as a weather-depressed first quarter and political unrest abroad. Both defensive and cyclical stocks have led at times, but traders expect technology and healthcare names, the market's current leaders, to drive it over 2,000.

"Now is not the time to seek out value over growth," said Jeff Mortimer, director of investment strategy for BNY Mellon Wealth Management in Boston. "Price momentum tends to have stickiness in this kind of market."

Every S&P sector is positive year-to-date, with tech and healthcare both up about 13 percent, eclipsing the 11 percent rise of utilities, the previous leader.

Despite record levels and the lack of any sustained pullback since 2012, investors are finding reasons to buy, with U.S. stock funds getting $9.9 billion in inflows last week, according to Thomson Reuters' Lipper service.

Only two of the 27 industry groups that Wells Fargo monitors are down from 12 months ago, a breadth that leads to year-over-year gains 90 percent of the time, the firm wrote, with the S&P rising an average of 12.7 percent.

Optimism about near-term market direction hit a nine-month high in the latest AAII Sentiment Survey, with 46.1 percent of respondents expecting gains over the next six month.

"There's a good underlying tone in the market and we still have plenty of prospects for more gains," said Michael Mullaney, chief investment officer at Fiduciary Trust Co in Boston.

He added that he would not be concerned about valuation until the S&P's forward price-to-earnings ratio was 17 and its trailing P/E was 20. Those metrics currently stand at 15.7 and 17.4, respectively.

(GNN)(Reuters)(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica.; Editing by Andre Grenon)

Deepening rivalries test German luxury car dominance

#GNN - Berlin-based PR executive Herbert Franz should be a soft target for German luxury automakers - his last car was a BMW (BMWG.DE) X3 - but he can't wait to leave them behind.

"This car is hip," said Franz, 52, at the city's biggest Jaguar Land Rover (TAMO.NS) showroom, while eyeing up a British-built Evoque SUV that he fully intended to purchase.

Decked out in bright red blazer and canary yellow trousers, Franz might not be the typical customer in Germany's conservative premium market. But his shifting taste in cars foreshadows less comfortable times ahead for global leader BMW, as well as Audi (VOWG_p.DE) and Mercedes-Benz (DAIGn.DE).

The German premiums have long been on a roll, producing an export-driven sales explosion and huge returns while mass carmakers struggled through Europe's crisis.

But in a headlong sales race, second-placed Audi and runner-up Mercedes have both vowed to depose BMW, giving rise to heavy discounting, which sullies luxury brands and creates opportunities for the growing competition, observers say.

Now a host of younger or revived premium marques are poised to follow JLR by pitching dozens of new models against the big three, whose very ubiquity is taking the shine off their prestige.

"The German premiums have sacrificed some of their exclusivity by entering smaller, volume segments like compacts," said Bernd Hoennighausen, an automotive consultant.

"They've pushed volume with fleet discounts of around 20 percent," said Hoennighausen, who previously managed corporate fleets for Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas.

"This may open the door to newer players like Jaguar, who are starting to offer fleet-relevant products."

Among others waging or planning new offensives are Fiat-owned (FIA.MI) Maserati and Alfa Romeo, Nissan's (7201.T) Infiniti, and Volvo, a unit of China-based Geely (0175.HK).

"Our theory is that there's room for something visibly different that is styled in a more provocative manner," said Andy Palmer, the senior Nissan executive charged with achieving a breakthrough for the 25-year-old Infiniti brand.

"It's particularly true for China," Palmer told Reuters. "Chinese consumers will cross-shop - and Audi only has the market to lose because they've been so dominant."

For now, the Germans remain firmly on top. Their combined sales amounted to 4.7 million vehicles last year, almost 60 percent of the global luxury car market, according to consulting firm IHS Automotive.

That represents a 38 percent gain since 2007, the eve of the financial crisis, when the big three claimed just over half of the market. Global car sales grew 21 percent overall, while European demand shrank by a quarter over the period.

TURNING TIDE
Superior scale also brings cost advantages - from research to production and marketing - that are not going away. BMW has led the charge into new niches, launching dozens of models including SUVs in every size category, with Audi close behind.

Nonetheless, some analysts believe the tide is beginning to turn against the Germans.

UBS expects the same group of challengers, plus Tesla's (TSLA.O) zippy electric cars and DS models from PSA Peugeot-Citroen, to grab 30 percent of global premium sales growth in 2014-18, raising their current 12.5 percent market share.

Pressured by the increasing competition, the Germans' return on invested capital will continue falling away from historic peaks of around 30 percent in 2010-2012, the bank predicts.

"There's also an inherent contradiction between premium and concentration," UBS analyst Philippe Houchois said. "Buyers of premium-branded cars are looking for some degree of exclusivity that will set them apart from less fortunate car owners."

The resulting market fragmentation is "bringing the curtain down on the unprecedented growth ... that enabled premium auto manufacturers to generate outsized returns", he added.

BMW shares are up 5.4 percent this year, beating the wider European auto sector's 0.4 percent slide .SXAP. But Daimler is 1.1 percent lower and VW down 15 percent, hit by cost overruns. [ID:nL6N0QD5H2]

A Maserati push is making headway, with first-half shipments quadrupling on new models launched under Fiat Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne, who hopes a revived Alfa can also use its pedigree to outrun upstarts such as Infiniti and DS.

"Unless you've got history, you're not going to create the brand," the chief executive told reporters recently.

Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover recorded 19 percent sales growth last year, thanks in large part to the compact Range Rover Evoque coveted by Franz, and aims to follow up with the imminent Jaguar XE sports sedan and a later SUV.

Land Rover has proved that the Germans can be challenged, said Eric Neubauer, joint-CEO of France's Neubauer Group, whose Paris-area dealerships sell 19 car brands from Kia to Ferrari.

The Evoque poaches clients "from BMW, Mini and everywhere else in the premium universe", Neubauer said. "The strength of Land Rover is that we win new customers who then become loyal."

Luxury automakers must sell more smaller cars to meet ever-tightening carbon-dioxide emissions targets and avoid fines.

Driven by this imperative and their bitter rivalry, BMW, Audi and Mercedes have been discounting as hard as many mass-market carmakers.

"No other group of manufacturers has increased incentives more than the Germans," said Arndt Ellinghorst, a London-based analyst with ISI Group.

BMW rebates have grown as big as 25 percent in the UK, according to data compiled by the brokerage, and price-slashing has cost the big three about 6 billion euros ($8 billion).

"Steep discounts and attractive financing show how non-exclusive premium cars have become," Ellinghorst said. Left unchecked, "the race to sell more vehicles will eventually damage brand equity and profitability".

RIDING THE VOLUME TRAIN
Despite their investment clout and model proliferation, a slow start in hybrids - which combine a combustion engine and electric motor - has left a chink in the German armor, especially in markets where gas guzzlers incur punitive taxes.

Failure to see the potential of electrification contributed to the ouster of Audi's last research and development chief, and BMW is only now rolling out its flagship i8 performance hybrid. [ID:nL5N0EW3Q5] [ID:nL6N0HR0MV]

Louis Alexandre de Froissard, a Bordeaux-based private wealth manager, gave up his Audi A8 for an Infiniti Q50 hybrid that delivers 364 horsepower while emitting 144 grams of CO2 per kilometer, comfortably below a 160 gram French tax threshold.

By comparison, BMW's 7-Series hybrid gets 320 horsepower for 158 grams of CO2. Froissard also ruled out the Audi A6 Avant, which puffs a penalty-prone 190 grams for just 310 horsepower.

"It wasn't powerful enough," he explained, and besides, "everybody's got an Audi or a BMW - so Infiniti was a much more original choice".

BMW's sleek i8 is among belated German steps to plug the hybrid gap after a period of complacency. On the broader sales and pricing rivalry there are also some signs of circumspection.

"We have to find the right balance between volume and pricing," CEO Norbert Reithofer told analysts on Aug. 5.

"We (realised) in December that if you reduce your volume, you can even have a better profit," the BMW boss said on a conference call, adding that a "thinking process" was underway.

CFO Friedrich Eichiner even described the new stance as a "message to the competition", but Audi and Mercedes may still be too intent on overtaking to take the hint.

"Volume is indispensable," Audi boss Rupert Stadler told Reuters on July 8. "Only when you grow you have a chance to make gains on productivity."

With leadership successions due within two years at all three German luxury carmakers, any deeper tactical change may have to wait, ISI analyst Ellinghorst believes.

"It may be easier for those in charge today to continue to ride the volume train," he said, "leaving the more difficult and political task of improving pricing to new management teams."

($1 = 0.7541 euro)

(GNN)(Reuters)(AIP)(Additional reporting by Edward Taylor, Costas Pitas and Irene Preisinger; Editing by Will Waterman)

PlayStation Network Suffers DDOS Attack, Hackers Claim To Have Grounded SOE President’s Plane

#GNN Tech - #PlayStation Network is currently experiencing mass outages for North American users, and the reason behind the downtime is a DDOS attack for which hacker group Lizard Squad has claimed responsibility.

Sony says there haven’t been any personal details leaked in the attack, but the rolling outage persists in various locales, some ten hours or more after the attack began.

What’s unusual about this attack is that it also includes a security threat against the plane in which Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley was traveling today.

The plane was diverted to Phoenix and is currently having its cargo inspected, following claims on Twitter posted by the Lizard Squad group that claimed the same flight had explosives on board.

Of course, it’s still possible the plane was diverted for another reason and the claim by Lizard Squad is just a coincidence, but it would be a very convenient one given the timing on all the parts involved in this convoluted story. Suffice it to say, this isn’t your typical DDOS attack. We’ll provide more information if any becomes available.

E-Businesses In Africa Have A Responsibility To Help Alleviate Internet Poverty

#GNN Tech- Editor’s note: Johan Nel is the country manager of Gumtree South Africa.

In Soshanguve, a township just north of Pretoria in South Africa, there was a small kiosk that sold fruit, cigarettes and snacks to passersby.

The owner of the kiosk had recently installed Wi-Fi and, soon after, placed tables and chairs out front.

And then her customers soon began to linger. They bought more items; they socialized. Her business became a hub, transforming from a corrugated tin to a kiosk and then to a cafe, growing 800 percent. The Internet anchored passersby to her business and made her and the community — see things differently. Operate differently. Shop differently.

Access to the Internet should be a basic human right. In today’s world, you are at a considerable disadvantage without it. Considering that most companies — even in the developing world — only accept scholarship and job applications via email, not having access to the Internet is tantamount to not having the means to dig oneself out of poverty.

Elon University asked 1,500 experts to compile their predictions about what the Internet will look like in 2025. What emerged — judging not just by their predictions, but also by past behavior — is that access to the Internet is essential today.

If we can’t get people connected, we are leaving them behind. Everything will be affected: our economy, our social environs, our education system. Better schools, more government assistance and reforms are mere stop-gaps compared to the online world that has endless, up-to-date information, tips and self-instruction. The Internet doesn’t discriminate; it doesn’t have borders; it doesn’t antiquate.

That doesn’t mean we tackle connectivity as a charitable initiative. In fact, we shouldn’t. Any business with an e-commerce or web-based community can draw a direct benefit when the unconnected are connected – if of course, you are willing and able to provide them with the tools they need. Connecting an unconnected operating environment should be part of your long-term business strategy.

In developing nations, we can only go as far as our (relevantly) small, connected market can take us. When you find yourself ranking at the top of your game, it’s time to change the game. The Internet is boundary-less, unlimited and full of potential — if your business  plays in the online space, it should be too. When you are expanding a network of Internet users, you are directly or indirectly expanding your own market.

For sites such as our own, that already own the bulk of the Internet population, we cannot grow if the Internet population doesn’t grow. That has to factor into our long-term business decisions. Ultimately, providing another business with Internet access benefits everyone, placing a stamp of goodwill and knowledge on a community that is priceless.

Perhaps being a market leader in 2014 and the coming years is also being a connectivity leader. Maybe it’s not the responsibility of governments and nonprofits to provide that connectivity. Perhaps, waiting for someone else to provide your customers with the connectivity they need to transact with you is the worst business decision companies are making.

E-businesses in Africa have a responsibility to alleviate Internet poverty, and the responsibility is to themselves.

IMAGE BY SHUTTERSTOCK USER EHRMAN PHOTOGRAPHIC (IMAGE HAS BEEN MODIFIED)