November 30, 2016 by: FT Confidential Research The FTCR China Business Activity Index, a composite reading of the month-on-month change in activity in the real estate, export and freight sectors, fell to a 10-month low in November. The index dropped to 47.8 from 50 in October, below last November’s 48.6. Our BAI readings have always fallen sequentially in November but this is the weakest reading for the […]
Beijing is launching an investigation into alleged corrupt dealings by the spouses and children of officials in the city’s municipal government, in a pointed reminder to more powerful residents of the city to rein in their relatives’ behaviour. An audit of their assets would take place next year and on a rotating basis in subsequent years, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday night. Like London […]
This Christmas, tuck into the turkey but go easy on the pudding. Britons are facing a jump in prices for traditional pudding ingredients as the Brexit vote has sharply weakened the pound. However, the cost of Christmas dinners is almost unchanged from a year ago despite a rise in pork and vegetables. The slumping pound has helped push up the cost of key ingredients for Christmas pudding […]
Tullett Prebon will formally separate the 1,500 voice brokers it is buying from ICAP on January 1, setting what were once two long-time rivals in the over-the-counter markets on radically different paths. Last Thursday Tullett received approval for the deal from German regulators, the final significant hurdle of more than 30 regulatory permissions it needed, according to three people familiar with the process. The sign-off was important as […]
In the wake of Donald Trump’s surreal ascension to POTUS, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg publicly defended his company’s culpability in Trump’s win. Critics have pointed to Facebook’s propagation of fake news via the site’s algorithmically curated “Trending Topics” module and—perhaps even most dastardly—within users’ News Feed as directly responsible for the rise of America’s first potentially authoritarian-ish leader. Zuck’s public refutation exists within a larger […]
With the dollar’s rally easing up, China’s central bank has set the trading band for its currency stronger for a second straight day. The People’s Bank of China set the midpoint of the renminbi’s 4 per cent trading band against the dollar at Rmb6.88890 on Tuesday, stronger by 0.22 per cent from Monday. That brings the fix 0.4 per cent firmer from the last time it weakened […]
In The Edge of Seventeen, Hailee Steinfeld plays Nadine, an awkward high-school pupil who carries the woes of the world on her young shoulders. Her main childhood memory is the death of her beloved father, her mother is overprotective, her brother is a goody two-shoes and her best friend, her only friend in fact, turns out to be a disappointing traitor. This is the world according to […]
The smart home is gaining ground, but it’s still a muddle of confusing standards, competing platforms, and gadgets that don’t do what you might expect. But the promise of products that can make your life a little easier is hard to resist, so I’m here to answer the inevitable questions that arise. Whether it’s figuring out the best connected door lock to assembling the right […]
Malwarebytes Ransomware continues to evolve and it is becoming more and more of a challenge for the general public to stay shielded from such threats and security experts to stay on top of the evolving strains of ransomware being found in the wild. It is not just the malicious code itself, however, which is a problem. Now, support scammers are taking tips from ransomware developers to make […]
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has demonstrated its memory-driven computing architecture The Machine, bringing its vision for the future of computing closer to fruition. The idea behind the project, which has been running for five years, is to combine memory-driven computing, photonics, and a new fabric that can together deal with vast amounts of data. The working components that HPE showcased included compute nodes that share a pool […]
Every tech magazine comes out with a “best products of the year” list at around this time. Readers love lists—and it is shopping season, after all. Plus, it’s an easy story to do: Just open up a Web browser and start searching for the best of everything, then rewrite what you read online. Maybe throw in a few outliers, so the list is less generic than the […]
Small to midsize businesses (SMBs) looking for a soup-to-nuts Voice over IP (VoIP) telephony system will do very well with 8×8 Virtual Office Pro. The service offers both basic and a good selection of advanced features as part of its base pricing bundle, which starts at $24.99 per user per month. There’s a good selection of calling plans and, perhaps most important, a good number of integrations […]
Okta Identity Management, an excellent identity management service that begins at $2 per user per month, is one of the big names in the Identity-Management-as-a-Service (IDaaS) space, even earning top marks in a 2016 Gartner Magic Quadrant report. While kudos from an industry analyst firm can be an indicator of a strong product, most potential users are more concerned with features and pricing, areas in which Okta […]
Astro Gaming’s new A50 wireless gaming headset follows its predecessors as one of the most impressive, and pricey, headsets on the market. It rings in at a hefty $300, but justifies its price tag with excellent audio quality and a full feature set, including an attractive charging cradle. It’s light, comfortable, sounds fantastic for both games and music, and it can work with your Sony PlayStation 4 […]
A weather service might not seem like the most important iPhone app, but consider how big an impact the state of the sky has on your daily life. The Weather Underground app does an excellent job of giving you the most important information about the weather right now and in the immediate future, and lets you drill down for more information, too. It remains my Editors’ Choice […]
Eventually, you’re going to need extra storage—especially as modern technology enables higher-quality videos, photos, and other media. The SanDisk Extreme 900 Portable SSD ($499.99 for 960GB) is a versatile, higher-capacity solid-state drive (SSD) that can take its fair share of knocks. It’s not going to turn heads in terms of style, but if you’re looking for speedy transfers, the Extreme 900 should definitely be on your short […]
While some users are looking for advanced security features or ruggedized drives to take into the field, many are simply looking for a reliable and fast place to store their data for travel. The Oyen Digital MiniPro 3.1 USB-C Portable Solid-State Drive ($299 for 1TB) does exactly that with its sleek design and fast data transfer speeds. On top of that, it’s one of the most affordable […]
Customer relationship management (CRM) software helps you gather current and historical information about all your customer interactions, including not just past purchases, but also interests, a roadmap of the customer’s eventual product needs, negotiation details from previous deals, and even customer service or helpdesk issues. All that combines to build what amounts to customer dossiers full of up-to-the-minute interaction records and demographic data that you can leverage […]
The Canon Maxify iB4120 Wireless Small Office Inkjet Printer ($149.99) is one of a relatively small number of small office/home office (SOHO) inkjet printers on the market, and it is a very good one. It has terrific paper capacity, competitive running costs, and above-par output across the board. The iB4120 is an easy pick as an Editors’ Choice budget SOHO color inkjet printer. Design and […]
Opec’s most powerful members were rushing on Tuesday to rescue a supply deal designed to end the longest oil price crash in a generation. Saudi Arabia, Opec’s largest producer, and its arch rival Iran have both set out their positions ahead of Wednesday’s ministerial meeting in Vienna, with the kingdom hinting it could walk away from a deal if its conditions are not met and Tehran publicly […]
By J.R. Wu | ITU ABA, South China Sea ITU ABA, South China Sea Taiwan held rescue drills on Tuesday off the coast of its sole outpost in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, but the biggest claimant in the disputed area kept uncharacteristically quiet. China and self-governed Taiwan seldom see eye to eye, but in responding to Taipei’s latest assertion of sovereignty over Itu […]
Higher than normal water temperatures have caused the largest die-off of corals ever recorded on the Great Barrier Reef, scientists said on Tuesday. Two-thirds of the corals living in shallow waters in a 700km swath of reef in the northern region have been killed by a massive coral bleaching event over the past eight to nine months, according to the Australian Research Council of Excellence for Coral […]
Tuesday 06:00 GMT Overview Markets across Asia were trading cautiously as Wall Street and the US dollar weakened overnight and the price of oil has pulled back. European bourses are expected to open a touch weaker, with spreadbetters predicting the UK’s FTSE 100 will slip about 10 points to 6,790 and Germany’s Dax to drop 20 points to 10,562. US index futures suggest the S&P 500 will […]
While there is no sign of our collective obsession with social media fading any time soon, there is also a growing determination by some to cut all ties and go on a technology detox. It sometimes feels as if new platforms for posting, sharing and pontificating are appearing by the day. With so many outlets for people to share their opinions and views of the world, and […]
