The handelot times issue 15 01. Front 02. Intro THE HANDELOT TIMES- The Online B2B Magazine for Electronics Wholesalers The tech industry is changing quickly and we want to keep you up to date with the latest news. We are developing ourselves by opening up to new innovations in IT. We are growing and keeping a reliable source of B2B information from all over the world. With The Handelot Times, we will bring you more information about market trends, share cutting-edge ideas, and bring our world together with yours. Handelot.com- 10 years on the market The Handelot Times: Design: Adam Mieloszynski Copywriter: Melania Romanelli Copywriter: Brendan James Copywriter: Kazi Najib Ashraf Copywriter: The Old Hand Associates of the organisation: Taha Tuzuner – Business Consultant Team Leader Dima Malovanyi – Business Consultant Team Leader Alicja Gogola – Business Consultant Omar Benabdellah – Business Consultant Koushik Deka – Business Consultant Jon Rodriguez – Business Consultant Venktesh Prasad – Business Developer Jack Serdak – Business Consultant Victoria Chen – Business Development Iryna Mats – Administrative Manager Basak Senturk – Partner Coordinator Team Lead Jane Nguyen – Partner Coordinator Katarzyna Mroczkowska – Partner Coordinator Paulina Franikowska – Partner Coordinator Elzbieta Kajdzik – Partner Coordinator Svitlana Shaposhnikova – Graphic designer Khrystyna Terletska – Administration Tetiana Handziuk – Administration Agnieszka Pulawska – CFO Valentyn Petruchek – Head of Development Alexander Golovnya – Development Cesar Gonzalez Patryk Skowron Advertising: For quotes please email times@handelot.com or call us at +48717152600. 03. Index 04-05. Quick Hits 2 QUICK HITS A selection of news from around the tech industry. Telegeography reports that the US Federal Communications Commission will hold its auction on Priority Access Licences (PAL) for the 5G spectrum in the 3550MHz-3700MHz (3.5GHz) band on 25 June 2020. Each PAL will be a ten-year renewable licence, consisting of an unpaired 10MHz channel. Samsung is now teaming up with South Korea’s Klaytn blockchain platform to introduce new KlaytnPhone exclusive versions of the Note10 5G and Note10+ 5G for South Korea, according to GSMArena. Both versions are already available for sale, though only in South Korea. Russian mobile operator MegaFon has awarded Ericsson a three-year contract to develop a new nationwide transport network, involving the supply of 5G-ready, multiple gigabit mobile transport solutions based on the MINI-LINK microwave platform, per Telegeography. You can find more about Russia’s forays into 5G in this edition’s Takeaways From The East. Perhaps another victim of the US-China trade war, Bitcoin reached a record inverse relationship with the Chinese yuan in the past week, according to a Bloomberg analysis of their 30-day correlation. It appears that the world’s foremost cryptocurrency is appreciating where the yuan is weakening. Apple has been working on in-screen fingerprint readers, says TechCrunch. The new feature won’t be ready for the new iPhone to be announced next week, but rather is preparing for release in 2020 (or 2021 if Apple’s suppliers can’t meet deadlines, suggesting hangups on the part of the ongoing US-China trade war). In the United States, Bloomberg reports that Facebook and Google are facing intensifying scrutiny by state law enforcement officers with authority to impose vast fines and even break up companies that are found to have violated antitrust and privacy rules. At this year's IFA, Honor announced a new smart app called PocketVision, and powered by Honor's AI and Honor 20-series high-resolution cameras, that helps visually impaired users to read text. 06-07. PPA Interview 2 1. Gorop, we've known each other for a couple of good years. You have improved a lot. Tell me, what is your story? How did you end up in our industry? Everything started around 2004 at the company prepaidmarkt.de, which traded calling cards and recharging cards. I did an internship there and I liked the job so much that I decided to start my career as a wholesale and foreign trade merchant. After graduation, I immediately worked with my old employer in his new company, PPA GmbH. We now focused on B2B mobile phone trading. I enjoy doing new things every day, the thrill and, above all, the joy of having a well-done business. 2. How do you see PPA? As far as I know, you got listed on the stock market. Do you think it has a bright future? Yes, we went public with Unidevice AG. PPA AG is a wholly owned subsidiary of UniDevice AG. The goal is to set up a group that receives a very good rating. Therefore, business activity was extended to other areas: a medical supply house for rehabilitation technology with a special focus on severely affected patients, a company that tested hyaluronic acid (which keeps skin moisturized), and most recently as a real estate project developer, Eigenheim Union 1898 AG. Due to employee participation, I am involved in the company and, of course, have my own interest in raising the share price. After all, it's a good thing to earn money. 3. PPA now makes all Apple products. Are you also fixated on small customers or only B2B? We only do B2B. This is much easier because market participants know exactly what you are doing. There are no complaints. With 1000 traded devices in B2B, you have less stress than with a B2C customer. 4. Tell a bit about the owners, Peter and Hamed. In the beginning, Peter Marggraff gave me the opportunity to do an internship in his company. I liked it so much that I decided to combine my future with the company. Over the years, my passion developed to the point that today I am the sales manager, but I also do a little bit of purchasing. Peter always encouraged and challenged that in me. He has since withdrawn from day-to-day business and takes care of the development and all other administrative matters in the company. Hamed founded the joint company PPA in 2009. He is a brilliant, quick thinker and a gifted buyer and seller, and has done a great job managing business operations. Both are still passionate about the company 24/7. 5. What is the vision for PPA for the coming years? Anyone who has visions should see a doctor. Never change a running system. We will continue to sell mobile phones in the future, regardless of its technological development. Since we are manufacturer independent, we can trade any brand. In 2019, we will trade 0.4% of Apple's merchandise. There is still a lot of room for improvement. 6. Many are difficult to be successful these days. What is your secret? You have to be ready to deliver above-average performance, 24/7. The money earned must be reinvested in the company. However, the most important currency in our industry is trust. Do exactly what you agreed, pay on time, and do right by your business partners. And then it starts to bubble eventually. If you think you can become a millionaire in a few months, go play the lottery. 7. What tips would you give our Kolegen who are just starting in the industry? Be sure to keep your word, and pay on time. 08-09 3% tax on E-Commerce in France 2 France just put a 3% tax on Ecommerce France has recently approved the tax against the web giants: Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon. The French “Gafa tax” is largely inspired by the European project that failed to pass due to the reluctance of Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The American authorities have started an investigation to see if the size of the new taxes represents an unfair commercial practice under the Us Trade Act of 1974. The French Parliament is the one responsible for having approved the tax on web giants. The proposal provides for a 3% tax on the turnover of technology companies with revenues of more than 750 million euros globally and 25 million in the country. The tax is nicknamed Gafa: an acronym for Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon. The tax does not only affect US giants, but about thirty companies in all, including Chinese, German, British and Spanish companies. The reactions The American threat has raised a heated reaction from the Economy Minister, Bruno Le Maire, before the senators: “Among the allies, we can and must resolve the differences differently than with the threat,” he said, claiming that it is the first time in the history of relations between the United States and France that the American administration decides to open an inquiry into the article of the trade law called 'Section 301'. And he urged to find an international solution for digital taxation. This absolutely unilateral solution, however, is destined to be temporary, pending the outcome of international negotiations. The G20 of finance ministers, which met in early June in Japan, has made progress on the issue: the world's major economies have pledged to redouble their efforts to re-establish fiscal justice on the international scene. The goal is to reach a final agreement by 2020, a turning point made possible by the change in attitude of the United States, which had blocked negotiations for years. But important differences remain on how to implement it, also because Washington would like an approach not limited to the digital sector. For the left, the tax goes in the right direction. Announced by president Emmanuel Macron at the end of 2018, in the midst of the 'yellow vest' crisis, revenues will be used to finance the 10 billion euros of urgent measures, in the economic and social sector, which have been put on the table to appease the anger of the protesters. What will change? The new tariff is available on the information page for French retailers and in detail provides for an increase in commission ranging from a few tenths of a percentage point to almost 1.5 points, depending on the products offered. The Bezos group's announcement comes a few days after the retaliatory threats of US President Donald Trump, who said he was ready to tax French wines in response to the “Gafa tax”. 'France has just imposed a digital tax on our wonderful American technology companies. If someone has to tax, that someone should be their nation, the US. We will soon announce a substantial action in response to Macron's madness. I have always said that American wine is better than French wine. In Paris, many are raging against the executive, saying that the remedy has been worse than the evil, that Amazon's reaction was absolutely predictable, and that in the end the small consumers will pay. Others, however, highlight the paradox of a measure that certainly was not far-sighted, but which nevertheless showed the semi-monopolistic role of the technological giants: Amazon's domination of the French market is such that penalized entrepreneurs that will be forced to accept them despite the increase in orders, and this shows the absence of real alternatives. Certainly, the solo action of France, and the consequent reaction of Amazon, confirms once again that the solution to stem the problems, which in this case concern the excessive power of the Gafa, must be taken at least at European level, or Even at the OECD level. 10-12. Apple Credit Card 3 Apple Credit Card Apple announced in April 2019 its Apple Card, an innovative credit card designed to help customers lead a more orderly financial life. Four months later, specifically on August 20, the Company has officially launched it in the United States. Apple Card is integrated into the Apple Wallet iPhone application, offering its customers a familiar experience with Apple Pay and also giving them the ability to manage their card directly from their iPhone. That means that you can now request the Apple Card, through the Wallet application on your phone, and start using it immediately with Apple Pay in stores, applications and websites. This card promises to be based on “simplicity, transparency and privacy”, so it has no fees, encourages customers to pay less interest, offers a vision of expenses that is easy to understand and offers a new level of privacy and security. It also offers a clearer and more attractive rewards program than other credit cards with its Daily Cash feature, which returns a percentage of each purchase every day. Apple Card is based on the success of Apple Pay and offers new experiences only possible thanks to the power of the iPhone. The idea behind it is to help customers lead a healthier financial life, starting with a better understanding of their expenses so they can make smarter decisions with their money. A credit card designed for iPhone Customers can subscribe to the Apple Card in the Wallet app of their iPhone in minutes, and start using their Apple Pay card immediately in stores, applications or online stores around the world. The Apple Card offers its customers account statements of their latest transactions and balance in Wallet, all in real time and very easy to understand, also adding support (customer service) available 24/7 simply by sending a text message from Messages. Daily cash? Yes: customers will receive a percentage of each purchase amount they make with their Apple Card as daily cash (Cash back). Unlike other cash back rewards, the Daily Cash adds cash every day, money that can be used immediately to make more purchases with Apple Pay, and deposit it in the balance of your Apple Card or send it to friends and family through Messages. Each time customers use the Apple Card with Apple Pay, they will receive back 2 percent of the purchase in cash. Customers will also get 3 percent of Daily Cash on all purchases made directly at Apple stores, the App Store and other Apple services. No commissions and less interest There will be no charges associated with the Apple Card: there are no annual fees, fines for arrears, international limits or for expenses over your balance. The objective of Apple Card is to provide interest rates that are among the lowest in the market and, if a customer does not make a payment, a penalty fee will not be charged. To help customers make informed decisions, Apple Card will display a variety of payment options, calculating the cost of interest in different payment amounts, all in real time. A new level of privacy and security When you get your Apple Card, a unique card number will be created on the iPhone, which will be stored securely on the device. Each purchase will be secure because it will be authorized with Face ID or Touch ID and a unique dynamic and unique security code. To develop this credit card, Apple has partnered with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard, all to provide the support of an issuing bank and a global payment network. Goldman Sachs is creating a different and customer-centric credit card experience, and will never share or sell the data to third parties for marketing or advertising. For its part, the partnership with MasterCard will provide cardholders with the possibility to buy from stores around the world. A beautiful titanium card, just in case The company has also designed an Apple titanium card to buy in places where Apple Pay is not yet accepted. Without a number, CVV security code, expiration date or signature, this Apple Card will be more secure than any other physical credit card. All this information will be available in Wallet, in case you want to use it in applications and websites. For purchases made with Apple's titanium card, customers will get 1 percent of Daily Cash. Secured cards? For those with bad credit or no credit history, the insured cards allow to increase the credit score. When opening this type of cards a deposit is made in the bank, so that the issuer of the card does not assume the risk that they cannot pay what they buy. It is not exclusive to Amazon, but it is unusual. Amazon Card vs. Apple Card Amazon Card. After paying the card reliably for seven months, Amazon will allow eligible users to upgrade to the Amazon.com store card. It is not a secured card, so the deposit is returned. The Credit Builder card does not offer interest if it is paid in full for six, 12 or 24 months, depending on the amount. That said, the interest rate on the Amazon insured card is 28.24 percent. That is quite high, even for a secured card. An 18-year-old who has never had a credit card may not be familiar with the operation of minimum payments, which makes a high interest rate risky. The idea of ​​a credit card with the company's brand is not new. Some of the original credit cards were for sale to the public. You see tons of cards with the airline and hotel brand for people who like to travel. With companies like Amazon and Apple partnering with banks (Synchrony in the case of Amazon, Goldman Sachs and Mastercard for Apple), it's a way for banks to attract a different type of audience that they normally wouldn't have. Apple Card. While college students, young parents and other beginners on credit cards are users of the new Amazon card, the Apple Card has another customer in mind. The Apple card is aimed at a very different audience than the Amazon secure card. The Apple Card is titanium and comes with your name laser engraved on it. When you pay with the Apple card using your iPhone or Apple Watch, you get a 2 percent cash refund, while Apple purchases give you 3 percent. The use of the physical card returns 1 percent. It seems they are really trying to attract consumers to use Apple Wallet. Because the Apple Card is aimed at those with a longer credit history, your interest rate will depend on credit scores and varies between 13.24 and 24.24 percent. Are they worth it? If your finance application tells you that you are spending a good portion of your income using your Prime membership - for example, having all your groceries delivered to you - the Amazon card might make sense. If you're loyal to a specific brand, like a technology company or a retailer, that's when the card potentially becomes a better option for you because that's where you spend more money. But if you're not loyal to a particular brand, there are many rewards cards available that are more general. So if you're looking for travel vouchers or purchases with the same frequency on Target as on Amazon, these cards may not give you the same benefit for your money as other credit cards with rewards. 13. Novaphone - Mobile Phones 1 14-15. Yukatel - Mobile Phones2 16-19. Digital Transformation_ 10 trends for the 2020 4 Digital Transformation: 10 trends for the 2020 In which direction is the Digital Transformation going? Here are the top 10 digital transformation trends for 2020, with some surprises. The Digital Transformation is a global phenomenon that puts companies in the face of different challenges, first of all to understand what are the current trends. Lately, discussions on Digital Transformation trends over the next few years have been a bit repetitive: Cloud, Edge Computing, IoT, AR, etc. 2020, on the other hand, could make the difference, even starting from the same themes. If it is true that the basic technologies that have dominated in recent years will continue to be fundamental for the journey of collective digital transformation, 2020 will be defined by a new class of technologies ready to take center stage, at the center of the scene. Among these: 5G, AI, advanced data analysis, but also some aspects that might surprise. Here are the trends for Digital Transformation that can be considered the most significant in 2020. Digital Transformation: what it is Before seeing the trends, perhaps it is better to dwell on the meaning of Digital Transformation. Digital Transformation is the integration of digital technology in all areas of a company, which leads to a radical change in the way the company operates and brings new value to customers. It is also a cultural change that requires organizations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment with accepting failure, or the possibility that a new project will not bear fruit. Digital Transformation trend While older and more mature core technologies will continue to be at the center of most digital transformation initiatives, particularly for companies, it is plausible that the following trends will dominate discussions on digital transformation and indicate the trajectory of successful programs for 2020 5G will accelerate the process 2020 will be the year of 5G. With some of the biggest names in the telecommunications industry, such as Qualcomm, AT&T, Verizon, Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei are working to make sure 5G global distributions keep pace with the world's best Android phone manufacturers who release 5G phones. In addition to bringing all the fastest broadband speeds and most reliable mobile networks, 5G proliferation will also accelerate progress in smart cities, smart vehicles, intelligent manufacturing and dozens of 5G hungry IoT technologies. In other words, the true value of 5G will not be limited to phones: almost every sector that touches our daily lives will be transformed for the better. The wifI 6 Although WiFi 6 and 5G are completely different technologies, both will lead us to a much faster processing and wireless connection speed during 2020. The 5G and WiFi 6, working in concert, will create the perfect end-combination. To-end ultra-fast connectivity for home and office. Expect download speeds up to 3 times faster than those obtainable with WiFi 5, but this is not the best measure of the value of the new standard. The true value of WiFi 6 will be its ability to extend the data rate to many more devices than Wi-Fi 5. This aspect is important for two main reasons: the first is that the number of devices connected on the WiFi network should increase from around 10 to 50 in the coming years and this increase will require faster, more efficient service and smarter WiFi capabilities. The second reason is that the quality and volume of data consumed through WiFi networks is also increasing and WiFi 5 is no longer able to handle the load. WiFi 6 will gradually eliminate these weaknesses starting in 2020. Analytics We cannot talk about digital transformation trends without talking about data. Companies that do not yet invest much in advanced data analysis by 2020 will probably no longer be in operation in 2021. Customer data is simply too precious not to be collected, processed and transformed into analysis and safely for any company that intends to remain competitive. Flying blindly and following instinct are no longer viable options when all other activities exploit sophisticated analytical tools to identify problems, opportunities and solutions. That's why we are witnessing a consolidation of analytical capabilities throughout the technological world, from Salesforce to the acquisition of Tableau, to Microsoft creating its own Power Platform. All the major technological companies have already understood that the future is in the data, in particular in the real-time processing of them and, therefore, regardless of the sector in which we find ourselves, the analysis will again be one of the dominant focal points of the Digital transformation in 2020. Moreover, we continuously see acquisitions, investments and growth for companies like Alteryx, Splunk, SAS, Qlik and Tibco, since the major platform operators, just like Salesforce did with Tableau, are going to look for acquisitions, joint Venture and / or strategic partnerships to prevail on the market. AI and Machine Learning If you intend to invest in data analysis, you must also invest in AI and machine learning to be able to navigate the vast and agitated seas of information you intend to use. The value of artificial intelligence and machine learning compared to data analysis can be divided into three separate value propositions: speed, scalability and convenience. Speed ​​and scalability speak for the benefit of the automation of the analysis of huge data sets rather than the assignment of human data analysts to limited activities. Thanks to AI and machine learning, complex data sets can now be analyzed in a fraction of the time that was used only two years ago. This is not due to the fact that computers have become faster or better, but due to the fact that machine learning algorithms have become extremely good at analyzing data and that the analysis can be easily adapted to the Cloud. On the practical side, unlike the data analysis tools of the past, the addition of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to analysis tools made them intuitive, easy to use and much more reliable. Although they are already arriving in 2019, their full speed and accuracy should improve considerably in 2020. Blockchain: not only for cryptocurrencies The Blockchain has been overestimated and therefore will most likely always appear as a failure during 2019. But, with the arrival of 2020, we will probably start to see some significant use cases for the blockchain, in addition to cryptocurrencies. We know that Amazon Web Services is 'democratizing' blockchain technology with their subscription blockchain-as-a-service. Many other global leaders are also operating in this area, including Samsung, Microsoft, IBM and the Chinese Alibaba. Furthermore, the blockchain will be used for food security, intellectual property and royalties and also for other innovative uses, such as, for example, for property / asset management. 2020 could be the beginning of the real rise of the Blockchain. Robotics: one of the most significant trends Robotic Process Automation is not new and is widely considered the simplest 'fruit' of the AI, but it is still a very hot topic at every technical conference and concerning production. 2020 could be a really profitable year for advanced RPA investments, just as 2019 was a year full of investments in companies like Automation Anywhere, UiPath and Blue Prism. Furthermore, companies like Cisco are already using RPA to help create room for maneuver to improve and increase the value of the existing workforce, and this model will soon become a winning formula. AI conversational Siri still lives although it is still almost impossible to use voice-to-text to create a decent chat message without errors. However, it is possible to assume that we will see at least some form of conversational AI becoming really useful in 2020. From the software point of view, projects such as Microsoft Conversational AI are subject to intense work to be able to build platforms that cannot only listen properly, but follow complex conversations and understand the nuances of emotions, continuing to improve over time. On the silicon side, chipsets and SOCs developed specifically for smart devices are becoming exceptionally effective in isolating human voices from background noise and in the accurate processing of natural language in real time. Will we see radical improvements in consumer technology in use every day in 2020? Probably not yet, but the foundations for the next generation of reliable conversational artificial intelligence will be consolidated next year. ACPC, Always Connected PC We are always connected, so we need PCs that are always connected. In 2020 we will see an expansion of ACPCs with built-in 5G and LTE connectivity. Moreover, ACPCs tend to enjoy a full-day battery and could also bring battery life to last more days in laptops next year, finally making computers truly portable. Connected vehicles, autonomous drones and Smart City I know we've listened to that for years and we still haven't gotten to it yet, but it's possible that the combination of edge computing and 5G will bring us much closer to truly autonomous machines, autonomous drones and smart cities in 2020. Tesla, of course, is the First name that comes to mind in terms of who could help bring this reality to the market, but it is not a short-term future that only Elon Musk is trying to address. We are living in a moment of strategic alignment between automotive manufacturers and technology producers. Companies like Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm and BMW, Volvo and Ford are collaborating, while Uber is building its fleet of autonomous vehicles and Amazon is trying to start sending the answer to your every need on your front door via autonomous drones. Trends in Digital Transofrmation: XaaS, UX / CX and privacy The Digital Transformation is something more than the sum of its technological parts: change itself is a fundamental driver of digital transformation and change almost always transcends the tools that enable it. For this reason, it is necessary to highlight the trends connected to the technological sector that will plausibly dominate the conversations about Digital Transformation in 2020. At the top of the list there are: the area generically definable as XaaS (all as a service), the UX / CX (User / Customer Experience) and digital privacy. XaaS Everything-as-a-Service will gain even more momentum in 2020 compared to 2019, even in the most hardware-oriented industries / technology sectors. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has announced that it will offer everything in its portfolio as a service by 2022 and this is only a relevant example, but all on-prem suppliers are moving in this direction. Continuing to see the evolution of on-site, Cloud, hybrid, etc ..., the “big IT” will move on-prem as-a-Service, alongside big data, analytics, blockchains and more. The phenomenon of XaaS has grown in recent years, but 2020 will be the year in which it will become completely mainstream. User and Customer Experience As the success of digital transformation is intimately linked to the user experience and the customer (UX / CX), this attention will continue to drive corporate investments in digital transformation. Digital privacy Due, in part, to the numerous failures regarding the privacy of technology companies in recent years, the establishment of the general EU data protection regulation, GDPR, and the growing requests in the United States to impose controls on technological companies, We will see more companies finally taking privacy and data security in 2020 seriously. Many will adopt privacy and transparency as the brand's differentiator, allowing users to activate or deactivate data collection schemes with greater ease and awareness than in the past. The real question will be whether companies like Amazon (via Alexa) and Facebook will join in this path or will continue to silently collect all the data they can from users. In addition, the opportunity for “traditional” derivative high-tech companies, such as, by way of example, Dell, Cisco, IBM and HPE, to create a real and meaningful structure around data security and privacy could open The road to a renaissance of digital privacy from 2020. It will be interesting to see how companies will behave in this regard and how they could benefit from it, or the opposite. 20-21. XTG- New Phones and Consumer electronics 22-25. VIP Gold 4 26-27. Facebook Café- what you need to know 2 Facebook Café: where they will raise and how they works Zuckerberg is ready to offer you coffee (in London) to talk a little about your privacy. The news couldn’t be more yummy. There is nothing better, once you have run into some quarrel or misunderstanding, than to temper your soul and bury the hatchet in front of a steaming coffee. It happens to couples in crisis, it happens to broken friendships, it will also happen between Facebook and its audience. It is not a hoax: between the 28th of August and the 5th of September, in the United Kingdom, you can be invited by his majesty Mark Zuckerberg to drink coffee while the online privacy system employed by the colossal social network will be carefully explained. The relaxing idea is to make users participate in what happens with their personal data, the way they are used and the preferences that can be adopted to personalize the collection, storage and processing of the same. For this reason - following suspicions of behaviors that are not exactly transparent - Facebook has created meetings with users. It will start in London, August 28th and 29th, at The Attendand bar (located on Great Eastern Street) and Takk (Tariff Street). The cafe will offer free drinks to anyone who takes part in a privacy checkup. Reportedly, Facebook has said that the café is a result of a recent poll that stated 27 percent of Londoners don’t know how to customize their social media privacy settings. Why Facebook Café? Facebook has been embroiled in a privacy debate after the Cambridge Analytica scandal that compromised data of millions of its users. Just last month, the US Federal Trade Commission announced that it could have condemned Facebook to $5 billion for its privacy practices. The idea of ​​coffee is born on two different thrusts: the first sees the need to make Facebook users more aware of safeguarding or at least being aware of their privacy, the second requires a rinsing from the Cambridge Analytica issue, which has a lot of staining the untouched image of the Californian giant. To convince therefore of the goodness of Facebook, which failed in March 2018 due to the synergy between The Guardian and The New York Times and the disconcerting discovery of an illegal use of the data of over 50 million American users, in order to profile psychology and behavior for electoral purposes, coffee cups will be used. The wave that swept Zuckerberg as well as the Republican Party is still strong, so much so that for now the idea of ​​these explanations about privacy in front of a coffee has not yet been tested at home. At the moment it will take place in the United Kingdom, then maybe it will be exported elsewhere, also because in the Albion land 27% of the people registered on the social network claimed to not even know how to set privacy preferences. The vice president of the Facebook section of Northern Europe, Steve Hatch, said that it would be normal to worry about who can see what you share on social media, but that not everyone knows what to do about it. The idea of ​​explaining the privacy on Facebook in a stark way would have been perhaps not very welcome, so it was accompanied by coffee (or is it coffee that was accompanied by privacy?). Awareness raising, therefore. After all, Cambridge Analytica caused a chasm in the stock market (-6.8% on the official value of Facebook) and the headache of investors. The same headache that could also be linked to the lack of coffee. 28-30. Brendan's Takeaways 3 TAKEAWAYS FROM THE EAST: EASTERN EUROPE When, in the course of certain technological events, the market takes a downturn, and when hopes of a quick rebound dissolve only for the malaise to become the status quo, the need to find a silver lining takes center stage. In discussing mobile phone shipments outright, there’s nothing more that can be said about the sad state of affairs that is plaguing our industry. Takeaways From The East is not one to tell you traders what you already know and feel, nor to beat the drums of gloom and doom! It’s time to look at interesting choices for opportunity that could point to new places to rake in serious revenue in the short term while we wait for the clouds to lift. Our favorite manufacturers luckily have their hands in many pots, and those pots are scattered throughout the world. The former Soviet bloc is one such place. On one hand, the sun is shining one the wild and wonderful world of 5G, which we here at The Handelot Times have expanded upon in recent issues. On the other hand, the non-Russian lands of Central and Eastern Europe have become a battleground in mobile device sales as all the major players jockey for position. We’ll take a look at both sides of this very interesting coin in this edition of Takeaways From The East. 5G IN RUSSIA Whether concerning wireless devices or wireless services, Huawei is certainly making their hay in this part of the world; the Chinese giant has long ago telegraphed their involvement in the development and perpetuation of the new wireless standard. It’s paying dividends now: Chinese president Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin recently signed an agreement to establish the largest and most ambitious 5G pilot program in the city of Moscow using Huawei’s technology and the network of Russian provider MTS. This is exciting news. But the future of Russian 5G is not exclusive to Huawei. "The Moscow Government has not signed any agreements with Huawei,” says Eduard Lysenko, minister of the government of Moscow speaking to Forbes Magazine. He adds that his cabinet has “signed agreements with telecom operators and poses no restrictions on these operators and allows them to enter into agreements with different equipment suppliers." All of which means that there’s room for all manner of telecom companies to develop devices and hardware to bring a new technology to a vast company. It’s easy to think that, in Russia, the state would want to keep tabs on emerging technologies, partnering with a major provider as the main one. Russian government-sponsored programs always carry the implication that there’s a deeper level of collaboration behind the scenes. However, that could not be farther from the truth. It’s clear that in Russia, 5G is being looked at as a science all its own. St. Petersburg University recently announced their collaboration with Russian cellular services provider MegaFon and their joint intent to launch their very own 5G digital laboratory which “will be used for the training of students, and likewise for the testing and development of digital products powered by 5G technology, including research into the radio-frequency spectrum, 5G radio network interfaces, information transmission rates, signal propagation delays, resource management, network computing, etc.” The development of 5G, both in infrastructure and education is happening at multiple levels across the country, and traders stand to benefit if they play their cards right. JOCKEYING FOR POSITION IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE If we pull back the focus to smartphones, there is still at least one area of interest to look at. 5G might carry untold opportunity for development, but something’s gotta be done with all those phones! Counterpoint Research reports that Central and Eastern Europe is the place for market movement. Although the overall market has remained flat from Q1 to Q2, brands like Samsung are benefitting from the suffering of Huawei in the device game, padding its market share numbers with their year-on-year losses. Xiaomi has also gained, consistent with their constant expansion of their retail presence in the region. And it will continue to be - Xiaomi plan to open 100 new retail outlets by this year’s end. Central and Eastern Europe accounts for 5% of the global smartphone market, and as Chinese brands like Oppo, Vivo, and the upstart Realme find themselves unable to move product in their home markets, they see this region as a place to make a mark. Of note is the kinds of phones that are in demand - not so much that the most popular price point is in the $100-250 range, but the fact that, while 80% of smartphone shipments to this region are “phablets”, every sixth phone is a feature phone (like the relaunched Nokia 3310 from earlier this year). What’s more, feature phones have grown 11% year on year here. They’re beginning to be almost a big a deal in this region as they are in places like India. The major thread weaving these two developments together is the lingering effects of the ongoing US-China trade war, which has indirectly and unexpectedly made this region a land of opportunity. As the US ratchets up the sanctions and gets more global support for them, Huawei is shoring up their solvency by making major deals with long-time American foes, most likely more out of necessity than spite. With all the development of 5G in earnest, equipment will be needed and deals will be struck. Huawei is also missing the mark with its Central and Eastern European customer base. Top-of the line doesn’t matter nearly as much here as it does in the West, especially as the launch of every new flagship phone from the big players brings diminishing returns. If you create devices that will give consumers basic functionality and top value, however many cameras you decide to pack into the back of your flagships won’t matter. Save a little space in your stockroom for feature phones. Two-fold • Lots of research and experiments being done with 5G • Russian Aurora OS “a Russian government program is consistent with the implication that there's a deeper level of collaboration behind the scenes.” 31. IFA 2019 Highlights Pictures 1 32- 34. STAY SAFE OUT THERE WHATSAPP WATCHOUT 3 STAY SAFE OUT THERE: WHATSAPP WATCHOUT The popular communication tool makes business easier, but risks are there for those caught unaware. For all the fanfare that has followed the rise of Skype and social media platforms to fixtures in our everyday lives, we kind of take WhatsApp for granted. The VoIP communications platform, started by a couple of former Yahoo! Employees a little over a decade ago, has low-key revolutionized messaging and telephony between people by not requiring a telephone network to make calls or texts. All it requires is your telephone number and a stable internet connection, making it especially useful for tablet users, which are assigned phone numbers required for mobile network access but cannot be used to make calls in and of themselves. Thanks to WhatsApp (and the later release of WhatsApp web for use of the app in web browsers), pretty much every device is a telephone. Keeping people more closely connected is far from the only use for WhatsApp. Indeed, it has proven to be a valuable business tool as well. In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app targeted at small business owners, called WhatsApp Business, to allow companies to communicate with customers who use the standard WhatsApp client. WhatsApp allows entrepreneurs to create business profiles, track messaging statistics, set automated answers to frequently asked questions, and find new customers. WhatApp has changed our communicative behavior in myriad ways. Internet-based communication means a free alternative to SMS charges, so we fire off messages at will with birthday wishes and planning get-togethers. Their own brand of emojis has further perpetuated the use of image-based communication. Conversely, with its ability to organize contacts and send group messages, WhatsApp has made it easy to ignore from those in our social circles who we don’t want to hear from but are obliged to keep in contact with nonetheless. It also has its drawbacks. As global developments in the past few years have given rise to the term “fake news”, WhatsApp has become a popular platform to spread misinformation about current events. In July 2018, lynch mobs in India murdered innocent people after malicious WhatsApp messages falsely accused the victims of intending to abduct children. Similarly, elections around the world have also been potentially swung by the spread of false information. Ahead of presidential elections in Brazil last year, supporters of presidential candidate Jair Bolonsaro made use of a WhatsApp-based pyramid and network strategy in which producers created malicious content against Bolonsaro’s opponents and broadcast it to regional and local activists. The messages then spread to public and private groups, being forwarded on by believing individuals to their own contacts. Such news might bring to mind memories of the recent news of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal that surrounded the spread of fake news in the wake of the 2016 American presidential elections. Rather than being content to be the arena of information as Facebook was, WhatsApp took it upon themselves to be the referee: the company took measures to limit the amount of forwards that can happen at once and released a series of public service announcements to educate people on the spread of disinformation. It came too late for the Brazilian elections, but it’s a start. Why has WhatsApp become a target for the dissemination of fake news? Perhaps it’s because its users take too much solace in the supposed security of the platform. WhatsApp is unique because messages are encrypted, so it has restricted visibility into the content being shared on its network. In a way this encryption also reinforces users’ belief in what they see on the app: there are no ads, no sponsored posts, no overt institutional messages. Everything is received from individuals, in personal messages or in group chats that users willingly participate in. It is human nature to extend credibility online to those we trust offline, but this trust is precisely what those acting in bad faith seek to take advantage of: WhatsApp also enables those who originate such messages to hide behind layers of anonymity. Recipients of forwarded messages have no idea where they came from, and message originators are essentially anonymous after the first round of forwards, if not earlier. It is very hard for messages to get traced back to them. In the world of parallel trading, we make our mark on informal connections. The personal touch is the cornerstone of our industry, so we traders are especially vulnerable to the spread of bad information that, if acted upon, could detrimentally affect our connections and our bottom line. It used to be that WhtsApp groups maxed out at 100 members. As of 2016, however, that limit skyrocketed to 256 members! That makes it all the easier for an untrustworthy person to access a group and spread deceitful information before blending back into the background. The key thing about Whatsapp’s functionality it its speed, not its accuracy. Information travels fast, and people take it as gospel. A constant downside to the ease of using WhatsApp groups is that there is no moderator. For all the security measures that the company is attempting to put in place, there is no independent arbiter of information. Business always flourishes when there is a sense of security in the playing field, and WhatsApp just can’t provide that. Group size, as mentioned above, is a huge contributor to this issue. As shown by the cases of India and Brazil, people act on false information there’s even a shred of credibility to the people or the platform. It all comes down to the size. Messages are received and replies are sent in a flurry of high emotion that rational thought gets drowned out. It’s easier and quicker to react than it is to think. Numbers and negotiations are discussed between traders on WhatsApp regularly, so it’s important to take precautions. Discuss deals only with your most trusted business partners. If you use group messaging at all, keep the groups as small as possible and know your counterparts. Instant messaging can be a convenient but dangerous tool. It’s important to stay safe out there! 35. Viber- Consumer electronics 36- 37. PPA - Mobile Phones 2 38-39. Najibs corner THE ELEPHANT LEARNS TO DANCE 2 THE ELEPHANT LEARNS TO DANCE: WHAT’S NEXT FOR MIDDLE EAST TRADERS I don’t really know what is happening with mobile traders in other parts of the world, but the shakers and movers here in the Middle East have mixed emotions. The number of traders has shrunk, so there are less sharks, but the seas have also receded quite a bit and the wild ones tend to bite off each others tails at times. What this means in concrete terms is that mobile traders have started to run in the same territories. What is left as a playing field for trade is mainly selling to one another: Iraq, Qatar, South America and the war zones. Oh yes, the war zones in the Middle East such as Libya and Syria have garnered a lot of interest recently, but one must be bold to go forth and extend credit in these markets. There are, however, the warriors of mobile trade who are moving forth keeping in mind the similar scenarios that had emerged in Iraq, and the early movers are the ones reaping all the benefits of this risk. Anyhow, Saudi Arabia is now totally closed to the grey market, and Iran is facing the music of sanctions but at times does get to import product from the Middle East depending on the availability of foreign currency. Another interesting aspect of these two markets is that Apple now reigns supreme in Saudi Arabia, a country with a habit of being a single brand ambassador. Remember, it was the only country in the world in the heyday of Nokia with a 90% market share. Apple is moving in the same direction with local distributors and dealers enjoying the windfall of tighter border restrictions. On the other hand, Apple in Iran has basically stopped - I mean totally zilch because of the depreciating currency. With twice the population of Saudi Arabia and at one time the same ASP, the country now yearns for as many Samsungs as it can get its hands on. Huawei and Honor have also lost their shine in one of their key markets as well. This leaves us to Iraq, which had always been a conduit to Iran from Kurdistan and brands have been able to bust sanctions using this corridor. Now with multiple distributors for Samsung, a brand that controls almost 70% of the Android market, there is almost no room to play for the gray players. Additionally, Samsung recently got the main traders in Iraq to meet in their regional office and offered them an incentive (up to 2%!) if they only buy from authorized players. This has basically slammed the door shut on the face of UAE based traders for Iraq. Apple also has the same partners in the country, but heck, who makes money with them? So, there are games and strategic happenings in the market leading traders to think of their next moves. Well, we must ramble a bit about the poor guys at Huawei as the shenanigans of global power play have been testing their tusks on each other, and Huawei, together with its baby Honor, has been a terrible victim of the game. First, Huawei was ravished by Samsung’s A series where they rushed to match prices by dipping down and fracturing its own Honor brand. Poor Honor does not know where it stands now, and is running from pillar to post to find a place for itself. Then came the announcement about sanctions taking down the brand altogether. The funny part is that rather than flooding the market with devices, Samsung is now playing it like an emperor dictating terms regarding grey markets and activations to its partners. Intimidating and threatening its partners with contract terminations, Samsung is now the current don of the mobile gang, not really foreseeing the coming future where things could change. So how about the title of this article, about elephants learning to dance? Basically, there is an urgent realization within the trader community that they should get official distribution for established brands in any available territories. This is for two main reasons: first to align themselves with the changing market dynamics, and second to lure in the likes of Samsung and Huawei in the future. So, take on distribution for a minion brand like Alcatel, Nokia or even Lenovo. Do a bit of groundwork to go the big guys with the achievements and voila the game is done. How easy it would be and whether it would work in the long run is anybody’s guess, but is this now the game and the diversion that the traders think is in their best interest? For me the biggest news has been the introduction of Google Stadia and Apple Arcade. This again is a classic example of disrupting an existing industry. What would happen to the consoles is anyone’s guess, but the industry is poised to change with the introduction of these services. Playing online or offline depending on which platform you use is a major advantage, and with the existing list of partners available and the ecosystem in place, indie game developers have the chance of a lifetime to make money here. Is hardware becoming irrelevant by the day? I think so but let’s see how long it lasts. There will always be hardware, but the money has made its shift. 40-42. Gaming trends 2020 17. Gaming trends 2020 What will video games be like in 2020? How will technologies evolve? What changes will there be in the way of playing? We have tried to identify the the most important trends that will change video games over the next years. To ask oneself which sagas are going to be the most popular in 2020, to ask oneself if Virtual Reality will be a flop or not, if you will still buy games from Gamestop or only through online stores, these are questions that impact on the life projects of those who develop and take care of marketing around video games. Taking inspiration from what’s going on in the market today, we try to focus on the most significant trends in video games in the next years. Let’s socialize We started to have virtual friends with Phantasy Star Online, World of Warcraft and Guild Wars. Then came Halo and Counterstrike, while more recently we were invaded by Farmville and Minecraft. What will we play online in 2020? Will the cooperative or competitive fights prevail? Will we find ourselves again doing the 2 on the Destiny servers or will we increasingly tag our friends' smartphones begging for lives at Candy Crush? Will there still be the distinction between offline and online, or will we find ourselves increasingly immersed in hybrid video games like The Crew where multiplayer servers can be opened and closed? Finally, let's think about Minecraft: the survival game enlightened us with faithful reconstructions of fantasy worlds and Asian metropolises, but on Youtube there are many videos in which two friends dig giant penises on virtual Rushmore mountains. Will we ever fail to look like idiots worldwide? Parents players Alison York is the market research director for the broadcaster Nickelodeon, a notorious producer of children's cartoons. Contrarily to the common place according to which parents treat television and video games as a cheap baby sitter, 75% of English parents admit to playing video games together with their children, with Lego titles and with Wii U ( Where the sofa co-op dominates). The involvement is reciprocal: just like we who as children climbed mum's bookstores or looked at dad's discography, today children under the age of 10 know video games through paternal DVDs. And they seem to trust the advice of adults when they quibble for a new video game. Some call it “Pixar Effect”. The age of tiny TVs in children's rooms has now faded and with them perhaps even their isolationism: families return to gather in the living room in front of ever larger LCDs and images better defined. But it is not all that glitters is golden: the family pretends to watch TV all together, but in the meantime it sets its own screen, a smartphone, a tablet, a portable console or one of the 8.4 screens it owns in average family. The game is more and more transversal, the parents bring with them the adolescent wonder for video games, while the little ones of today roam with ease between the toys in the fist of their hand and the animated ones on the screen. Activision, Disney and Nintendo have already understood it (with the extra drive of nostalgia), Warner Bros and Lego are understanding it... All players are important ... even the trolls The customer at the center, the customer as an indissoluble value, the customer to satisfy and recognize in their uniqueness. Even video game developers have noticed that the customer is always right and sometimes does not want to be amazed or surprised, but wants to play exactly the same things he played twenty years ago, and maybe think that performing repetitive actions is not necessarily bad. The criticisms hurt: a particularly angry and unjustified email according to some must be thrown away and the one who wrote it must not necessarily be treated with gloves because they pay. It is a debate that does not only concern video games, but all markets that have found themselves in close contact with end users thanks to the Internet. When the player participates in the development process with his own ideas or money, they claims to have a say in design decisions, on target platforms, on the business model. To what extent will software houses have to listen to every hand that is raised by their audience? We believe we will continue to ask the same question in 2020… Do-it-yourself video games… full size Nowadays a 3D printer costs about 3000 euros and to use it properly you need a good familiarity with AutoCAD, but in 5 years 3D printing will probably be as cheap, simple and fast as spraying some ink on a white sheet. Amazon has some ideas in the drawer, but perhaps you should keep an eye on the Sandboxr startup, which already today allows video game developers to create three-dimensional figures starting from the polygonal models loaded on their site. For now it is only merchandise, but with the falling price of NFC chips and the runaway rush of the Internet of Things, it seems easy to hypothesize from now on video games that integrate 3D printed objects / characters with what happens on the screen. Is Sphero's BB-8 not already a video game that has decided to move through the corridors of the house from the phone screen? The good news is that now that the tools to create and connect objects are within everyone's reach (or almost), the ideas confined to the cerebellum until a few years ago come to life, when they were feasible only with an industrial scale production. Indies grow up The era in which indie developers chose pixel art or highly scalable graphics engines is over, because otherwise costs would not be covered. Today the Unreal Engine 4, the Cry Engine 3 and Unity are available to everyone, so that already students can develop their own Gears of War without waiting to be hired in some great software company. A few people are enough to give shape to a courageous idea and a few steps to knock on the door of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, which compete even on exclusive indies: a small investment is enough to have an extra video game on your side, courageous in design and able to tickle some refined palates. Look, I’m live! Twitch is the new MTV. Just as the broadcasts of the former colossal music television are zeroing, the video-streming only-videogame service records 120 million viewers every month. It is still a tiring phenomenon to understand: we have always contrasted video games and their interactivity with passive mediums like cinema, music, television, and instead we find ourselves in these times spending more hours watching others play rather than holding ourselves the gamepad. For today's teenagers, Twitch really replaces the gap left by MTV: after seeing yet another impossible stunt in GTA Online, it runs with friends after school to emulate it on their PC. If on Twitch and on Youtube no gameplay of Goat Simulator, Gang Beast and Speed ​​Runner fell, the sales of these games would be much thinner. 5 years ago would you ever spend money to see a goat throwing suicide bombers at a gas station? Perhaps even today it appears to us nonsense, but if our neighbor of the bench does it or Favij, who has more or less the same authority, who are we to escape? Transparent development In a world where downgrades are the order of the day and publishers all devise them to hide bugs and development flaws due to the frenzy of the work, an ethical approach to the game developing and absolute transparency towards the end user are necessary. Here with Kickstarter and Early Access you are not only facing a participated development, where users can give advice and evaluations to developers right from the pre-production phases. In the case of crowdfunding it is an absolutely necessary tool, if only to have a constant account of what is done with the donated money, but also to allow users to offer their own vision of players and make constructive criticisms from the Alpha phase. Joys and sorrows for the players, but also for the developers themselves this opening is the source of countless headaches: a virtuous example is the Vlambeer software company, where the entire development is streamed online and there are about 12 thousand people who pay per month for taking a look in the room of the buttons, asking also and above all to be listened to and taken into consideration. Responding to their e-mails requires a considerable amount of time, but once the title is released, the subscribers will not be the best testimonials of the video game, won't they feel it a bit like it's also their creation? 43. Top 10 trades and Statistics 1 44-45. HarmonyOS, the Huawei operating system 2 HarmonyOS, the Huawei operating system The rumors turned out to be true: Huawei has finally introduced its own operating system, and comes under the name of HarmonyOS. The software platform stole the attention of the Huawei Developer Conference in China, where it was explained that it is designed to offer a “unified and consistent” experience in a variety of devices, including tablets, portable devices, computers, cars, screens , and other smart devices. However, in what seems like an epic omission, it won't reach your smartphones, at least for now. Here’s what you should know about HarmonyOS, Huawei's operating system. Expected Release Formerly known as Hongmeng (which is the name that the software will have in China and means “Genesis”), rumors of an operating system built by Huawei have been circulating for quite some time, and some of them date back more than a year. But the work on the operating system dates back even more than that, since development began two years ago, according to the company. “We are entering a time when people expect a comprehensive intelligent experience across all devices and scenarios,' said Richard Yu, CEO of the Huawei Consumer Business Group. “To support this, we consider it important to have an operating system with improved cross-platform capabilities. We needed an operating system that supports all scenarios, that can be used on a wide range of devices and platforms, and that can meet the demand for low latency and strong consumer safety”. It is different from Android or iOS. But will it be better? Yu says that HarmonyOS is technically different from Android and iOS, since it is based on micro-kernel, just like Google's Fuchsia software. Huawei wants developers to create applications only once, and that the operating system provides the flexibility to distribute them across multiple ranges of products and devices. This flexible distribution is one of the four important aspects of HarmonyOS, along with an emphasis on resource management, low latency, and high performance, as well as improved security and ease of application development for different devices and hardware configurations. What devices will have Harmony OS? An operating system is nothing without developers. Huawei knows, and that's why it has made the sensible decision to make HarmonyOS open source worldwide, and has a three-year plan to optimize the platform for new devices. The first product to be launched with HarmonyOS will be the Honor Vision smart display, followed by other devices that are also focused on smart displays, portable devices and car entertainment systems. Interestingly, a Huawei Vision is mentioned in the press release, suggesting that Huawei is also planning its own smart screen. Why didn't you get it on the phones? Huawei is committed to Android, something it has repeated many times, and clearly has no desire to separate itself from the Google ecosystem in the short term, unless it is absolutely obliged to do so. While Huawei's high-profile situation with the US government continues, the possibility of Android staying on their phones is greater than before, although there have not yet been announcements on the subject of any of the parties involved. Where will the Huawei operating system be deployed? If you wanted to try the new Huawei operating system, we have bad news, unless you are in China. In addition to keeping HarmonyOS away from smartphones, the company said that, at least for now, it will remain only within the Asian country. Huawei says this will help to create a foundation for the software and commit to its millions of users who already use connected devices, before expanding to the global market. But do not think that this means that Huawei has no serious aspirations for HarmonyOS. Over the next few years, it will share the connectivity, camera and artificial intelligence capabilities of the software with global partners, and those features are the most important selling points for Huawei phones. Why was Harmony called? Although in Chica it is known as Hongmeng, which means Genesis, the international name for the operating system, Harmony, has been chosen for one reason: Richard Yu said he hopes the software will bring more peace and convenience to the World. But there is another meaning, because it also represents the harmony that they want to exist within Huawei and its growing range of connected devices, at a time when complex international business relationships make it difficult to achieve. Only time will tell if Huawei's new operating system achieves its objectives, honoring its name. 46-47. 5 Billion USD penalty for facebook 2 The Federal Trade Commission has negotiated a $ 5 billion fine with Facebook: the Giant has to pay 5 billion seem so many, but they serve to close Cambridge Analytica, that is the scandal of the century, and are a figure that Mark Zuckerberg can afford. It's official: the Federal Trade Commission (the government agency that protects consumer interests) has negotiated a $ 5 billion payment with Facebook. The most interesting aspect, however, is another: since this news began circulating (July 12th) to the confirmation of July 25th, the value of the shares of the social network has grown. To be precise, we have gone from 201 dollars on 11 July to 206 reported by the Nasdaq at the time of writing, to then settle at 200 today, substantially without losses. If there is one thing that can give an idea of ​​how little harm can this agreement cause to Mark Zuckerberg, we can only say that he became richer after learning that he would have to pay 5 billion dollars for failing to protect the privacy of its users. It is as if investors had thought: if this is the maximum that Facebook can meet, we are in a barrel of iron. There was no Facebook or if it was pretending nothing Indeed, the fine of the FTC does not concern any minor scandal. It mainly concerns the mother of all the scandals involving social networks: Cambridge Analytica. Quick summary: around 2015, thanks to a quiz on the personality implemented on Facebook, a researcher had direct access to the data of hundreds of thousands of users. But since access to user data also allowed them to get those related to their friends, the total number of people who delivered their data rose to 87 million. If that wasn't enough, the researcher - Aleksandr Kogan - then decided to sell all these data to Cambridge Analytica, a political marketing company that used them in the election campaign in favor of Donald Trump. In all this, Facebook was not there or if it was pretending nothing. But it is not only the Cambridge Analytica scandal that caused the fine of the FTC: the company of Mark Zuckerberg is also responsible for having used the telephone numbers obtained for reasons of safety by users to send personalized announcements and to have lied to US users on the no longer using facial recognition except with explicit consent. And one would think that a fine of 5 billion dollars is enough (for questions of the kind, the maximum had been the 22 million hitherto imposed on Google). But it is enough to provide a bit of context to understand how this figure represents the financial equivalent of a slap: Facebook has a turnover of 15 billion dollars in the last quarter and has put together 22 billion of profits in 2018 alone. Are up: in front of the biggest scandal that a social network can face, and after showing a very serious lack of responsibility, Facebook finds itself paying the equivalent of one month of its turnover (according to the New York Times, for example, another zero should have been added to the fine to make it significant). Facebook will still have the last word in terms of privacy In addition to paying these 5 billion, Facebook will have to conduct, as stated in The Verge, a review of every new product or service developed and subject these revisions to the CEO and an independent committee within the board of directors. Furthermore, Facebook will now always have to know the purpose of the apps and get certifications from third-party developers who want to use Facebook user data. According to the FTC, this approach dramatically increases the likelihood that Facebook will act in compliance with the order. If there should be any deviation, it will probably be detected quickly and remedied. In a nutshell, in addition to paying the bill, Facebook will still hold the last word in terms of privacy and all the responsibility to act correctly and responsibly. You may continue to collect and share user data for your business and your top executives (starting with Zuckerberg) have been exempted from any direct responsibility. What will happen if Facebook fails again and proves unable to protect the privacy of its users? Will it have to pay a new fine that can only increase the value of his shares? Economic sanctions are useful if they punish those who have behaved badly. This fine (even if at first sight colossal) only serves to explain how Zuckerberg can continue to work as one of the biggest monopoly ever. What do you think? Has Facebook learned the lesson? 48-49. handelot TEN 2 HANDELOT TEN: THE FUTURE OF B2B NETWORKING! In November 2018, it was announced that the long-standing CeBIT convention was shutting down shop for good. The longstanding stalwart originally began a part of the original Hannover Trade Fair, but due to the increasing demand for home computers and personal electronic devices, the tech sector was spun off into its own event in 1986. Could its demise have been prevented? Perhaps the trade fair could have had more funding and resources poured into it, being kept alive like a zombie for the sake of pride. But maybe that the spin-off process that birthed it is the very same process that killed it, with apparent plans for fairs dedicated to niche areas like artificial intelligence forthcoming. One way or another, the show simply wasn’t built to withstand the evolving nature of the tech business. In 2019, there was an attempt to adapt to this new business environment by creating META Hannover, designed to create a favorable atmosphere for networking. Their heads were in the right place, but the event was not huge and perhaps started off on the wrong foot. Others have been more successful in organizing gatherings this year - ITC put on the eighth edition of its networking event in Malta, which had a great atmosphere and is showing considerable growth. And then some organizers weren’t so successful, as the big meetup in Athens was rather small in size and featured many of the same people you’d see at any other networking event. The lack of organization all participants could feel it on their own skin. Based on the plethora of networking events that have taken place this year alone, the industry is coming around to where Handelot has been. We’ve always known that the future of parallel trading remains at its roots: the personal touch. For years, Handelot has created events with the right conditions to enable the formation of personal connections that are the foundation of long-lasting, durable business relationships. The industry has come to trust us as people who can make those connections happen! That is why this year, in our ongoing celebration of Handelot’s tenth anniversary, we are bringing you the Handelot TEN networking event at the Hotel Warszawianka, located just outside the Polish capital of Warsaw. Our choice of venue will enable us to innovate in our quest to help traders make the most of business opportunities. We strive to increase private networking, which is why, in addition to gatherings in larger conference rooms, we are booking twenty additional conference rooms, smaller in size, that will allow for more private conversations between potential business partners. Smaller spaces mean more quiet and fewer distractions, which means more focus on talking business and putting traders in the best position to win. Last but not least, the Warszawianka’s location just outside Warsaw is peaceful and quiet enough to help traders focus on the issues at hand, but just close enough to the big city to put you in reach of any need that might arise. It’s also a stone’s throw from Modlin Airport, one of Warsaw’s most important transportation hubs. Why do we put so much emphasis on networking? The most successful meets are those in which the movers and shakers of the parallel trading world can meet first and figure out the logistics later. Personal relationships can be built, and time and money can potentially be saved if partnerships don’t work out. In short, there’s less to risk and more to gain. It is up to you to make the greatest gains! Handelot has built itself on these very ideas, and we’re doubling down by creating new ways to help facilitate those business relationships while still giving everyone great value for their money. Don’t delay any further - reserve your spot at Handelot TEN by getting in touch! 50. The Old Hand Your turn 1 Your Turn Since the beginning of the Handelot Times, I have been writing articles relating to the technology corner of the parallel market to which many of us belong. I am sure will all have many stories, funny and not so funny, related to this fascinating and dynamic business. I have voiced my opinion, told a few stories, and probably outraged a few companies or even individuals along the way, although I hope not. I am an old hand and have been in the business since it began, and I feel that I have earned that right to tell some stories and give my opinions on the dynamic that we all live and work in, but you guys have never had the opportunity to respond or comment about my ranting, articles, and opinions. Neither have you had the opportunity to voice your opinion, tell some stories or comment on anything, so now The Handelot Times is giving you that opportunity. Now is your chance! Yes, we at Handelot believe that you have that right. If you want to have a voice in or relating to the industry, it can be funny, serious, political, or just current. Now we have a space for you. It’s time for you to tell us what your experiences are or have been, your opinions about the business you’re doing or where you believe it is going. You can also tell us about your life in the business. Good or bad, we want to hear it. In fact you can put pen to paper (or finger to button) and tell us anything that’s on your mind relating to the dynamic of this business, past, present or future. Send me an email on oldhand@handelot.com, and if it looks good we will publish it and comment on it and we will even get other people to comment on it. I know that traders always like to voice their opinion or tell a story or two, so now it’s time for you to do it. If you prefer we will keep you anonymous, but don’t forget to say so when you write to me. This is the new Old Hand, so get cracking and we will get printing! oldhand@handelot.com Keep The Faith The Old Hand 51. Teksmart Used Phones Specialist1 52. Iphone 11 -1 CAN THE IPHONE 11 STOP APPLE’S SLIDE? Out of all the major vendors caught up in the Great Global Smartphone Stagnation, Apple seems to be suffering the most. Counterpoint Research reports that, over a one-year period ending with the conclusion of Q2 2019, the firm saw their shipments decline 11% and their revenues fall 12%, a mammoth decline for a tech brand so used to being on top. It’s bad enough they’ve been forced to play second fiddle to Samsung, and now their losses are hitting double-digit percentages. Luckily it’s iPhone season, and Apple badly needs a win. A reason regularly given for the shipment malaise is that phones made in the last few years contain fewer and fewer essential upgrades. So what does the iPhone hold in store? For one, the camera. Competitor Huawei has prided its smartphone division on being innovative with its photo-taking capabilities. Apple is positioning itself to go after their turf, packing a 12MP ultrawide lens into the iPhone 11’s camera setup. At 13mm, it comes close to Samsung’s 12mm lens (but is ultimately second-best). The firm is also promising better battery life than on the previous release, the iPhone XR, for which it was already a standout feature. Aside from that, the iPhone 11 features all the usual suspects: an AMOLED screen, a 5W charger, that blasted notch. Once again, a seemingly underwhelming phone. How does Apple expect this device to be its life raft on the choppy waters of the market? The answer seems to lie in its pricepoint. Apple is selling the iPhone 11 for US $699, which is $50 less than the shelf price of the iPhone XR. It’s a tacit admission that Apple knows they don’t have the product to justify a high cost of entry. Faced with continuous loss, they are attempting to meet the consumer halfway. Will the iPhone 11 reverse the company’s fortunes? Probably not. Five years ago, there was no question that Apple was the innovator in the smartphone world. Now everyone asks themselves whether every subsequent device is enough. 53. Logistics and Services 1 54-57. RPA – ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION 4 RPA – ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION RELEASE PEOPLE FROM REPETITIVE TASKS According to the latest Gartner study, the software sector of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the segment with the fastest growth in the global enterprise software market, with a rate of 63% in 2018 and with a value forecast for the 2019 amounting to 1.3 billion dollars. RPA is therefore an emerging technology, made possible by artificial intelligence (AI) that allows repetitive tasks to be performed automatically, imitating human behavior and interacting with other software applications, exactly as operators do. Although it is possible to find RPA applications in all sectors, the major users are banks, insurance companies, telecommunications companies and utilities that use them to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives. These organizations, instead of relying on human operators to make their systems work, implement solutions based on RPA software that allow you to automate mechanical processes and reduce the burden of manual labor. In doing so they replace the man in the tasks related to repetitive activities with no added value. “Freeing” the valuable human resources of a company from repetitive manual tasks is one of the main objectives of an RPA. There are two types of RPA • RPA manned also called “attended”: the software learns from user actions to suggest subsequent steps based on such actions. • RPA unattended also called “unattended”: the robot software works independently without any input from the operator.   In practical terms, this means that the RPA can have a significant impact on the level of digital adoption, as it reduces the operator's responsibility to complete the processes. Whether it is RPA manned or unmanned, the activity manager no longer needs to supervise the entire procedure manually, with great benefits also in terms of reducing frustration, errors and system usability. This type of intelligent automation is changing the way organizations operate because it facilitates process optimization, allowing for customization of the customer experience and improving decision-making processes. The enormous potential for companies that have the opportunity for greater efficiency, high productivity and guaranteed performance 24 hours a day, for 7 days a week, is therefore evident. Robotics: history and sectors It all began in 1961, when General Motors introduced the first industrial robot in history to its automobile factory in New Jersey: a mechanical arm designed in the mid-1950s by Joseph Engelberger and George Devol. In 1970, humanoid robotics made its debut in Japan with Wabot-1, an anthropomorphic robot designed by Waseda University in Tokyo. Meanwhile, in the United States, the first military drone is born, capable of taking off on its own. Industrial robotics Industrial robotics aims to dispense man from strenuous and repetitive jobs. When we talk about industrial robots we refer above all to software-controlled robotic arms. Equipped with joints, actuators and sensors, they can be used for transport, sorting and packaging of goods or for the assembly and welding of materials. Widespread in the automotive and manufacturing sectors, according to the International Robotics Federation (IFR), there are 1.3 million industrial robots in the world. Cobots are instead collaborative robots, industrial robots designed to work together with humans, sharing the same spaces. Even in this sector, industrial robotics is making great strides. Cobots can work side by side with human colleagues because they are equipped with safety devices that do not put workers' lives at risk. Indeed, they perform repetitive, risky and tiring jobs for them. Humanoid robotics Humanoid robotics is absolutely one of the most fascinating fields of research. Their goal is to create robots with human features, equipped with artificial intelligence and capable of acting independently. The leading nation in this sector is Japan, where the most advanced humanoid robot in the world has been working for some fifteen years. It's called Asimo and was made by Honda: sensors, servomotors and video cameras allow it to replicate our movements and respond to voice commands. Humanoid robots such as Asimo or Pepper robots have been designed to be used mainly in the home, but there are also others for educational purposes such as Nao or search and rescue tasks such as Atlas robot and Walk-man. R1 is instead an Italian robot, designed and built by the Italian Institute of Technology that for years has been perfecting iCub, the child robot, a very sophisticated humanoid. Service robotics According to the IFR, a service robot is “a robot that operates autonomously or semi-autonomously to perform useful services for the well-being of human beings, excluding the manufacturing sector”. Service robotics encompasses many areas: from robotic caregivers for the elderly to rescue robots such as robotic firemen, from domestic robots that clean and cook telepresence robots for us. The butler robot is also a service robot. And so are the exoskeletons and robotic prostheses, designed for post-disease or accident robotic rehabilitation. Robotics and medicine: robotic surgery and telepresence robots Two types of robots are revolutionizing the surgeon's work. We are talking about intelligent machines like the Da Vinci robot - the new frontier of robotic surgery - that with its thin remote-controlled arms allows performing minimally invasive operations on the heart, prostate (in this case we talk about robotic prostatectomy), uterus and lungs. Just drill a few centimeters hole and the surgical robot starts to work with millimeter precision. Then there are the medical telepresence robots that allow the specialist to visit a patient, even several kilometers away, with the same effectiveness as a “live" check. Rp Vita, for example, developed by iRobot in collaboration with Intouch Health, transmits to the doctor the data in video streaming and intervenes autonomously in case of patient request thanks to a hospital mapping and anti-obstacle sensors. Educational robotics Educational robotics, sometimes called microrobotics, is a method that allows children to learn thanks to robots. It teaches children and young people to build a robot from scratch and program it. Educational robotics is also a method by which you can study STEM subjects, science subjects, learn the basics of programming, learn to use logic and solve problems of increasing difficulty (thus forming what is called thought) in a practical and enjoyable way. Computational, which is also one of the goals of coding). In many schools around the world, educational robotics mainly uses robot kits to build or humanoid robots like Nao robots, which students can program using intuitive software like Choregraphe. We are talking about simple programming environments, those that allow block programming, without knowing a single line of code. Robotics for children Robotics for children can have a purely playful purpose - as in the case of toy robots (we talked about them in the article Robot for children, which ones to buy and where to find them) - or a therapeutic address. Just think of the use of humanoid robots like Buddy, Milo and Nao robots in therapies for the treatment of autism and learning disorders. As recent studies show, interacting with robots, children are more reactive and inclined to listening, their interpersonal skills improve and with them also performance at school. Entertainment robotics The animatronics are mechanical puppets inspired by the world of cartoons and are among the most successful products of the so-called entertainment robotics. They are used in large amusement parks or in films on robots as special effects. Among the entertainment robots we also remember the humanoid Robothespian, The concept of entertainment robotics could also be extended to robot animals, which can be cuddled and trained almost like the real ones. Home automation, when robotics makes the smart home Home automation is a discipline that offers sophisticated technological solutions to improve the quality of our lives within the home. By connecting several electronic devices to a single central server, our homes will be more comfortable and sustainable. In a word: smart. From the thermostat that regulates the temperature of the home directly from the smartphone to the remote control of lights, shutters and gates, passing through security systems against possible gas leaks, thefts and fires. All managed remotely by the user through a remote control, a touchscreen or a voice interface. We are talking about the home of the future, an always interconnected home where old appliances are giving way to augmented reality. Military robotics The use of robots is proving an irresistible temptation for many countries used to investing and experimenting in the field of the war industry. Beginning with the United States, where the DARPA - government agency of the Department of Defense - financed the construction of military exoskeletons and robot animals to support the marines on the battlefield. A military exoskeleton is able to multiply the strength and resistance of the soldiers, allows to lift loads of 100 kg and in the future it will also be impervious to bullets. Space robotics Robotics knows no boundaries and aims to conquer space. The objective - partly already achieved - is to explore new satellites and planets with robotic probes capable of operating in the absence of gravity. Meanwhile, there are even those who threaten to steal the work of the astronauts: it is Robonaut, a humanoid robot designed by NASA, equipped with 350 sensors, with very sensitive hands and arms. In 2011 it arrived at the International Space Station and in the future it could be used for exploratory tasks. Marine robotics Oil extraction, seabed monitoring, mine clearance, military espionage. These are the main fields of application of marine robotics, which offers man the possibility of “governing" a vast environment, often as hostile and inaccessible as the sea. Equipped with cameras, sonar and in some cases mechanical arms, the underwater robot can be autonomous or remotely controlled. It transmits data and images in real time and is able to reach great depths in just a few minutes. Biorobotics learn from nature Biorobotics is bio-inspired robotics, robotics inspired by nature. It is thanks to this branch of robotics that devices are created that replicate the biological mechanism of some living beings, including humans. The fields of application can be various. 58-59. Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL 2 Everything we already know about Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL phones Some time ago, Google surprised again with its successful Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. And the truth is that when it is called “successful” it is not lightly, since by many experts the Pixel 3 was considered the best phone of 2018. But Google does not stop there. The technological giant has its successors up its sleeve, and as we approach the launch date, which is expected to be in October, information abounds. Therefore, we collected everything related to this new smartphone. These are the news, rumors, information, and everything you should know about Google's Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. Screens with advanced technology We hope to see the Pixel 4 and the Pixel 4 XL again this year, which means we will have two different phone sizes. While the underlying technology has remained the same, the two Pixel phones have often seen slightly different screen designs. For example, the Pixel 3 XL has a notch and the Pixel 3 comes without it. Now, recent rumors suggest that Google will anticipate trends and include a 90Hz screen in Google Pixel 4. The information comes from 9to5Google, and suggests that Pixel 4 will offer a screen that runs at 90 frames per second instead of 60, which should make the experience much more fluid and responsive. So far, 90Hz screens have only been included in gaming phones, such as the OnePlus 7 Pro. The report also notes that the Pixel 4 will offer a 5.7-inch screen, while the Pixel 4 XL will include a 6.3-inch screen. According to rumors, the smallest phone screen will be a Full HD + screen, while the Pixel 4 XL screen will be Quad HD +. Gesture control technology When Apple introduced Face ID on the iPhone X in 2017, other companies began to develop facial recognition technology. And now it seems that Google will not only follow the same steps, but will go a bit further, including gesture-based controls, which essentially means that the phone can be used without even touching it. Cool, right? Google showed the technology in a new video posted on Twitter, in which you can see a user unlock the phone and then shake your hand to skip songs in a playlist. This type of technology can be useful, for example, when your hands are dirty and you don't want to touch your phone. The technology seems to be based on the Soli Project, where radar-based gesture controls are investigated. This technology has not yet been included in any smart phone or device, so the Pixel 4 could turn out to be the first. The LG G8 ThinQ has hand movement gestures, but many argued that they rarely worked and didn't really add to the user experience. Advanced biometric technology As new information and filtered images suggest, the Pixel 4 will incorporate powerful depth detection technology into its upper bezel, and it is speculated that it could have more advanced biometric technology than Apple's Face ID. Although we already have an official aspect about how the Pixel 4 will be, Google only showed the back of its next phone, so we were left without certainty about what to expect from the front. However, images of the Pixel 4's screen protectors have emerged, which appear to show an additional oval cut, which faces the front camera lens spaces. This cut could contain depth technology for facial detection, powered by Google's Project Soli chip, which could also mean that we will see a motion detection similar to Air Gesture in Pixel 4. Images reveal Google's next Pixel 4 XL The Google Pixel 4 will arrive this year, and we already have a good idea if you are wondering what the Pixel 4 XL will look like. The good news from the design point of view is that the gigantic notch of the 3 XL seems likely to disappear for the Pixel 4 XL. Instead, it will potentially adopt a thick bezel around the top of the phone, just like the Pixel 3 and the Pixel 3a that contains a pair of camera lenses and a horn, according to the rendered images, which were created by @OnLeaks for PriceBaba. On the bottom of the screen, moreover, there is a much smaller edge, while on the back is the controversial new camera lens array. The leaked images do not show a fingerprint sensor, indicating that Google will fit a sensor on the screen or adopt facial recognition using multiple camera sensors. These two features have already been rumored, and it is not the first time we hear that the Pixel 4XL will lose the notch. Other changes? The small lower bezel does not contain a speaker, suggesting that the Pixel 4 XL will not have front stereo speakers. The speakers can be seen on the bottom of the phone, in a more traditional place next to a USB Type-C connection. Neither side of the phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack. Other rumors suggest that the Pixel 4 XL has a special sensor for a gesture control system such as the LG G8. Google Pixel 4 and 4XL are expected to launch around October. 60-61. Huawei P30 2 HUAWEI MATE 30 SERIES TO LAUNCH WITHOUT GOOGLE’S HELP It’s been a bumpy year for Huawei. On one hand, the Chinese smartphone giant is surfing the choppy waves of the global smartphone shipment decline just fine, having grown 4.6% year-on-year from Q2 2018-2019 according to CounterPoint Research. This growth is no doubt bolstered by the runaway success of its P20 Series of phones from earlier this year, which the company called its most popular ever after shipping 16 million units in its first six months on the market. Huawei’s Mate series has also proved wildly popular, with its Mate 20 series of fall 2018 having shipped 10 million units in its first five months of release. Expectations are high for the newest iteration, the P30, to surpass those numbers upon its unveiling in September 2019. This brings us to the other hand - its struggles with sanctions imposed by the United States government, which has gone through imposition, then partial repeal, and then strict enforcement of what has remained. The effects of these sanctions are finally being felt, as the new P30 line will be shipping without pre-installed Google apps, a Google spokesperson confirmed through news portal AsiaOne in late August. The effects of the sanctions, combined with the previously erected tariff barriers on Chinese firms from the Trump administration, have mostly affected the behind-the-scenes of phone manufacturing. Huawei has historically bought a lot of its technology from U.S. companies, especially from makers of microprocessors and chipsets that go into smartphones. Micron Technologies, Qualcomm, Qorvo and Skyworks Solutions all have listed Huawei as a major customer in their annual reports. As such, a lot of channels previously open are now closed. Now, the effects of the United States-China trade war will now be visible to consumers. Does it matter that die-hard Huawei fans who flock to scoop up their newest creation won’t be able to immediately use apps like Gmail or Google Maps? It seems most people regard the pre-installation of the Google family of apps, which are numerous, as a nuisance rather than a benefit. Your average consumer may not be so sad to see them go. There may even be potential upside to these sanction side-effects. In 2012, Apple removed Google Maps from its suite of pre-installed apps in favor of its own in-house maps app. This could be an opportunity for Huawei to begin diversifying its own software. It already makes EMUI, its own Android-based operating system variant. Why couldn’t Huawei engineer its own navigation system, its own email client, its own streaming video service, and be completely successful in doing so? Limitations have been known to paradoxically provide freedom. The difference between the P-series and the Mates has been described by Huawei as such: Ps are all about the design, form factor, and cameras, while the Mates are all about the hardware and in-phone features. As such, this upcoming release will bear the first scars of the siege Huawei find themselves under. It’s unclear how the war will end, but it is an opportunity for them to adapt and overcome. 62-63. Samsung Galaxy Note 10 – 2 Samsung Galaxy Note 10 The nib smartphone comes in two versions, Galaxy Note 10 and 10+ for the first time in the history of the range we find the Plus variant, both more powerful and efficient, but more expensive. The South Korean company presented the latest model of its mobile phone with a nib: the Note 10+ will have the largest screen ever of Samsung smartphones. Featuring a glass rear body and high-quality aluminum frames, the Note 10 is smaller, lighter and thinner than the Note 9. Just to keep it slim, the 3.5mm headphone jack was sacrificed, replaced by the USB port -C. It has bigger screen but smaller than its predecessor, Note 9. How is it possible? Simple, eliminating the frames and the notch, that is the area with the cameras. The 6.4-inch Note 10 is 151 millimeters long and 71.8 wide. The 6.8-inch Plus version is 162.3 millimeters by 77.2. The thickness (7.9 mm) and the weight also decrease (168 grams for the standard version and 196 for the large one). The processor is the Exynos 9825 for both, but there are many other technical differences besides of size. The rear cameras are 3 in the basic version, one more for the Note 10+. The Note 10 is only available in the 8GB version of RAM, with non-expandable 256 GB internal storage space. The Plus instead has a 12GB version of RAM and 256GB of memory, expandable up to 1 Tera. One with 512 GB of storage, and a third version 5G, 12 GB of RAM but with a memory of 256 GB. The colors range from Aura Glow to Aura Black through the Aura White, but not all available for all versions. The prices are high-end but quite different: the base model is under one thousand euros (979, 50), and up to 1229 euros. New features, the ultra-fast charging, and the active charge function, ie the mobile phone becomes a wireless charger for other devices, Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Buds (Samsung earphones). The Note 10 camera uses an ultra-wide 16 MP lens, a normal 12 MP lens and a 12 MP telephoto lens, and offers a high-level photographic experience similar to that of the Galaxy S10. The front camera, a hole cut into the display, has a 10 MP sensor. The phone has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage space, there is no microSD support. We find a 3,500 mAH battery and support for the Wireless PowerShare function to charge other compatible devices (headphones, smartwatch or other smartphones) resting them on the Note 10. The main improvement in the photographic sector concerns video recording. Thanks to the new Live Focus Video function it is possible to record video in portrait mode, blurring the background and focusing on the subject. Another novelty is AR Doodle, which allows you to write moving images above. It works similar to the filters on Instagram or Snapchat with augmented reality, but there you can edit images using the S-Pen. The new S Pen The most interesting news concern the updated S Pen. Thanks to “Air Gestures” the stylus can be used as a Bluetooth wand to use the phone and navigate without directly touching the display. The new S Pen is also able to identify 4,096 pressure levels and is supplied with IP68 certification for protection against dust and water. The stylus now has a six-axis motion sensor, including an accelerometer and a gyroscope, which allows it to determine the handle and direction. This allows Samsung to create some interesting features, such as switching from one camera mode to another. You can also check in-app features for Spotify, YouTube and other multimedia apps. But above all, the nib becomes magical. On the one hand the notes pinned by hand can be immediately transformed into text, even Word format. On the other hand the “Air Actions” arrive, through which the smartphone is controlled with gestures, without touching the screen. Other features specifically designed for those who shoot videos even at the pro level: Video Fuoco Live and a Super Stabilizer. The release date. The official release date is August 23, and the prices start from 979 euros. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and 10+ are already available for preorder. Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ The Galaxy Note 10+ was the star of the Unpacked event with its gigantic 3.08x1040 6.8-inch OLED screen, four-camera configuration, 4500 mAh battery and support for 5G networks. The two variants are very similar, but the Note 10+ has some advantages over functionality. The main differences between Note 10 and Note 10 Plus concern the screen size (6.3 inches versus 6.8 inches), the weight and size of the device (Note 10 is considerably larger and heavier), the photographic sector ( The Note 10 adds a fourth camera), the battery capacity, the memory (the Note 10 Plus has 512 GB), the RAM (8 GB versus 12 GB) and the slot for the microSD card, predating the 10 Plus. Both models boast a series of new features, with the newly released SoC Exynos 9825 7 nm, an all-new S Pen, 4 cameras and, in the case of the Note +, there is support for 5G. 64-65. Sony and Microsoft team up for cloud gaming 2 Sony and Microsoft team up for cloud gaming   The producers of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One team up to develop new solutions in the cloud. Are the two competitors preparing the move to be launched against Google Stadia? If you can't defeat your enemy, join him. They must have thought that Microsoft and Sony, who have announced that they have established a partnership that could have obvious repercussions on the future of gaming. As explained in the official press release published on the Microsoft website, the agreement between the parties provides for the development of cloud solutions related to gaming and content streaming. Everything will happen on Microsoft Azure, the cloud computing platform of the Redmond company. It seems too simple to suppose that the move of the two giants of videogame entertainment has a main objective: to create a credible competitor for Stadia, the Google solution entirely focused on streaming gaming. What does Sony gain? It is interesting to break down all the various components of the agreement between Sony and Microsoft to try to fully understand the consequences, and what prompted those who are normally competitors to ally. For the PlayStation manufacturer, for example, this agreement could fill some historical gaps in its offer to the public. In fact, the use of Microsoft Azure data centers could allow Sony to increase the speed of downloading content from PlayStation Store. The use of Microsoft's cloud solutions, therefore, would allow Sony to focus on the quality of the content offered by its platform, rather than on solving technical problems. At the same time, the Tokyo Company could get their hands on Microsoft's artificial intelligence services, with possible positive effects on the interface of its services. What does Microsoft earn? Microsoft is not new to alliances with what appear to be its sworn enemies. In 2014, for example, the arrival of the Office suite caused nothing less than on iOS, the operating system of the much hated Apple. The agreement with Sony follows, in some way, the initiative carried out with the company led by Tim Cook. The new partnership gives Microsoft a new, prestigious client of its cloud services, which, as pointed out by many critics, have for some time been performing positively on the markets. At the same time, the Redmond company gains access to Sony's technologies related to the use of image sensors. This detail is underlined by the same official press release released by Microsoft, in the passage where it is explained that these technologies will be used to create new intelligent solutions with image sensors. In concrete terms, this could indicate that Microsoft intends to offer devices designed for professional customers, but also for the consumer market. The arrival of a new sort of Kinect, therefore, would not be excluded. Thus CEO Satya Nadella commented on the agreement between the two parties: “Sony has always been a leader in both technology and entertainment, and the collaboration we announced today is based on this tradition of innovation. Our partnership puts at the disposal of Sony the power and artificial intelligence of Azure, in order to develop new gaming and entertainment experiences for our customers”. What does the agreement mean for Google? Evidently it is early to establish whether the agreement between Microsoft and Sony will lead to the announcement of a new Stadia-style gaming platform. It is true that the new initiative by Google, which promises exclusive titles, has certainly moved the gaming landscape. The power of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett, expected in 2020, will be higher than that of Stadia, at least according to the first rumors, but this does not exclude the development of complementary solutions. The future of gaming, in other words, could move in parallel directions, with traditional consoles on the one hand, and the proposition of cloud services increasingly powerful on the other. 66. Apple TV 1 Apple TV + arrives in the US in November (and will cost $ 10 a month) Bloomberg reveals new details about Apple's streaming service. In the USA it starts already in November 2019 with the first original TV series. The plans are not yet public - no specific announcement was made after the grand presentation in March - but a Bloomberg’s report already reveals some details about the service with which Apple plans to invade the world of streaming TV. Apple TV + will be active in the United States from November 2019, with a monthly subscription of $ 9.99 and the chance to take a month's trial. The platform will be integrated into the Apple TV app and can be accessed from Apple devices, but also from compatible smart TVs. How many and which TV series The forecasts in this sector are rosy for Apple. There is talk of a potential that can reach up to 50 billion dollars in revenues from the services division by 2020. And one of the cards on which the company aims with conviction is precisely Apple TV +, a streaming service that will also propose the original contents of Apple. According to the Financial Times, about 6 billion dollars have already been put on the plate to produce them, with a budget of one billion dollars already for the first year. At the debut, only a small selection of a much larger catalog will be available. There will be the titles already announced: 'The Morning Show' with Jennifer Aniston, 'Amazing Stories' by Steven Spielberg, 'See' with Jason Mamoa, 'Truth to Be Told' with Octavia Spencer and a documentary called 'Home'. New TV series will be added later, in the following months, according to Bloomberg sources. You will probably not adopt the technique born with Netflix to load the entire season at once to then leave the user the choice of when (and how) to look at it. It seems that in Cupertino it was decided to offer the first three episodes of a content initially, to then release an episode every week. Focus on streaming Apple TV + will therefore be one of the most important streaming services that the company is offering to its users. Together with the already active iCloud and Apple Music, as well as the upcoming Apple Arcade and Apple News +. But in the case of television, the scenario is already very crowded. Not only the already established industry giants, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. But also new rivals who are planning to take to the field at the same time as Apple. First of all the dreaded Disney. The launch month is the same: November. The subscription to Disney’s platform, tough, should cost a little less than that of Cupertino: $ 6.99. The potential of the Services The bet on services is fundamental for the future of Apple, which can no longer rely only on revenues from the sale of its flagship product - the iPhone - and that has already adopted a strategy for diversifying revenue. The analysts are optimistic: Apple TV + could already win 100 million subscribers in its first five years of life. A comparison can help estimate the revenues: Netflix has reached just under 154 million so far. 67. Samsung Galaxy M20 1 Rumors, news and more about the next Samsung Galaxy M20s phone As soon as Samsung concluded its Galaxy Unpacked 2019 event, where it presented a series of new devices and revealed the expected Galaxy Note 10, speculation about its upcoming devices intensify. Among them, more and more rumors arise around the successor of Galaxy M20, a new Samsung phone known for now as Galaxy M20s, which would come with great improvements and power. These are the news, rumors, leaks, and everything you should know about the Galaxy M20s. Massive battery An image of a South Korean test laboratory seems to confirm the rumors surrounding a Samsung device with a 6000 mAh battery. According to the images, the alleged Galaxy M20s will apparently exceed the battery of its predecessor, the original Galaxy M20, by a considerable margin. Some time ago, in fact, the first rumors emerged about a new Galaxy M20 with a battery that exceeds even the great power of 5,000 mAh of the current M20. Now, a GalaxyClub post revealed a photo that supposedly came from a South Korean test lab, confirming the aforementioned information. Although the picture is of poor quality, the image shows a Samsung battery with the product code EB-BM207ABY, so it can logically be assumed that it belongs to a device with model number SM-M207F. In addition, you can see a number that shows the capacity of 22.45 Wh, so, since the phones work at 3.85 volts, a quick calculation gives us the capacity in mAh: 5.831, as SamMobile sammobile.com points out. Keep in mind that this is the nominal capacity of the battery. The typical capacity is not very readable, but it seems to be a round number, so the 6,000 mAh figure fits both the image and the confirmed nominal capacity. Either way, just the existence of a 6,000 mAh battery is enough to get excited. What else is known about the Galaxy M20s? As for the size, it does not seem to be much larger than the average battery of a smartphone, but it can be noticed that it is quite thick, so it would not be surprising that the phone to which power will not be very thin, but for many surely this is an inconvenience that will be worth it, and a good price to pay for the power and durability of a massive battery like this. At the moment not much is known about the Galaxy M20s phone. It is only known that it will be part of Samsung's “M” series, which probably means that this new device will be mid-range, with good but not excellent specifications, and that, like the other Galaxy M Series smartphones, it will sell exclusively online. We will keep you informed with more news and rumors when they reach our hands, in the next issues of The Handelot Times Magazine. 68-70. Retro gaming console 3 Retro gaming console The choice of a retro gaming console is as simple as it is insidious because it is based on a simple assumption: nostalgia. There is no technical detail or build quality that holds: for single-system consoles like Nintendo, Super Nintendo and PlayStation the choice will fall on what we loved most. But among these there are also omnivorous consoles like the RetroN 5 that reads the cartridges of the old glories of Sega and Nintendo or the portable Gpd Xd Plus on which you can load everything. Here is a guide to the best retro gaming consoles on the market, especially focusing on: - The best video games of the moment - The best portable consoles for playing away from home Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo was the first noble house to revive its old consoles in a modernized version. The Company started right from the first Nintendo Classic Mini and then, with sold out shots, conquered the market and repeated the success with this revised and corrected Super Nintendo, which is connected to today's TV with HDMI and has the games already loaded into memory. Our choice falls on this console for several reasons. First because everyone knows the games and its protagonists. Second, it's tiny and doesn't take up space on the TV. There are two controllers that take those of the past and then 16-bit games, even if old, are more pleasing than 8-bit ones. If we want we can also choose whether to emulate the old TVs of the past or slightly improve the graphics. Excellent titles, as many as 21 including F-Zero, Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart and Street Fighter 2 Turbo. The only notes that clash are the absence of the wall socket to power it (but we can connect it to the TV or use the charger of an old smartphone), we cannot add games to it (there are those preloaded and that's it) and then the very short controller cable. You need to buy an extension to play well. Price: € 66.98 - € 299.99. Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System For those wishing to go back in time, there is the Nintendo Classic Mini: Nintendo Entertainment System. It shares the same qualities and defects as its Super Nintendo brother (again, no wall charger, no possibility to add very short games and controllers). On board it offers 30 titles, all very famous, from the various Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. passing through Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and the first three Super Mario Bros. Price: € 50.00. Sony PlayStation Classic Even Sony has tried the way of retro gaming but with less success. Its PlayStation Classic is aesthetically identical to the first Japanese console but in a miniaturized version. Unlike the Nintendo operation, it did not have the same success due to the very high price. Now that it's noticeably reduced, the Sony PlayStation Classic has become a console to have with 20 great titles on board that satisfy every palate. There are Final Fantasy VII and Resident Evil, Rayman and Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, Cool Borders 2 and Grand Theft Auto, plus other classics that have defined gaming in later years. Price:  € 39.00 - € 45.52 - € 59.99 Atari Flashback 8 Gold Deluxe For those who want to jump to the promos of retro gaming, this Atari Flashback 8 Gold Deluxe offers as many as 120 Atari 2006 titles, the console born in 1977. Among tutelary deities such as Adventure, Yar's Revenge and Swordquest, the body recalls the shape of its distant Predecessor with lots of black joysticks with the big red button. The difference, however, is that they have now Bluetooth and there is no need to be glued to the TV to play. Of course, it is a choice of the field: playing games 40 years ago can tire easily so we recommend it to real nostalgics. Price: € 89.99 - € 98.94 The C64 Mini For those who couldn’t get enough of digging in the past, The Mini C64 brings them back the 1982 Commodore. The body remembers the computer but the keyboard is fake and on board there are 64 titles (non random number) like Impossible Mission 1 and 2, Paradroid, Pitstop II, Speedball. The most curious part of the operation is the possibility of accessing Basic, the old programming code. To use it we should connect a keyboard via USB: the program will immediately recall dead memories and then be abandoned even faster. Unlike many competitors, The C64 Mini is constantly updated both in the operating system and in games. Just download the files from the official site, upload them to a USB and you're done. In the package we can find a single joystick that incorporates the one of the past but adding some keys to it. It's pretty hard and the cable is short. Here too, the power supply is assigned to a micro-USB cable but the power supply is not included. Price: € 58.96 Hyperkin RetroN 5 Hyperkin RetroN 5 is designed for those who still have old console cartridges and no longer know how to play with them. This console connects to the TV in HDMI and allows you to read almost everything. We can feed Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Mega Drive cartridges but also Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance cartridges. The output signal is converted into Full HD with some consistent graphical improvement and the possibility to save even the games that did not foresee it. In the package we find only one controller but it is better not to rely on it too much: it is Bluetooth, therefore no problem of cables, but rather hard and sloppy. A little of the whole console shows little care on the outside but then here it is the internal system that interests us and that works really well. Price:  € 159.57 -  € 236.23 Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Portable Game Player A curious product with a very long name, the Ultimate Portable Game Player Sega Mega Drive is a portable console that brings back the old glories of the Sega house like Mortal Kombat, Sonic the Hedgehog, Golden Ax, all with the graphics of the past. The console itself is quite large for only 3.2 inches offered by its LCD display but even in this it is a reminder of the past. On board we find over 80 titles, most of which are rather ugly, but online there are services that convert the original cartridges of the Mega Drive into files to be loaded then onto the SD to be inserted in the console (but watch out for piracy). Of course, it doesn't cost much and above all we must pay attention: in circulation there is a version with a 2.8 inch display that we cannot recommend. Price: € 69.90 - € 113.89 Gpd Xd Plus Unconventional choice, this Gpd Xd Plus is a portable Android console designed only for retro gaming. On board it has a 5 inch display with perfect HD resolution for past titles, 2 GB of RAM that allow you to run titles smoothly and 32 GB of internal memory to save game files. In addition, this can be extended via a microSD card. On board we find preloaded several emulators that allow you to play titles for Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo, MegaDrive, Dreamcast, Playstation 1, Psp, Game Boy. If desired it can be connected to the TV via HDMI and on board it has a battery that guarantees up to 9 hours of play. Besides the price, the problem is the games: finding the files online, the so-called Roms, is illegal so we can only upload the files extracted from ourselves from the disks and cartridges in our possession. Price: € 197.89 -  € 241.77 71-72. AI in Universities 2 Soon we will see more Starship delivery robots in universities and offices Whether they are delivery drones or autonomous vehicles, there are many companies and investors who have a genuine interest in the future of transportation infrastructure and product delivery. A clear example of this is the latest announcement by the delivery robot company Starship Technologies, which announced that it will expand its services to a hundred more universities in the next 24 months, after the success obtained in some initial educational centers. The robots, in fact, have already started deliveries at the University of Pittsburgh and will expand to Purdue University on September 9, before reaching dozens of other institutions in the coming months. The San Francisco-based startup said on Tuesday August 20 that it will expand this service to 100 universities over the next two years, thanks to an infusion of US $ 40 million in new funds. The expansion, which will focus primarily on the United States, will arrive at Purdue University in early September. George Mason University and Northern Arizona University adopted them in January and March, respectively. How does it work? “The university demography is excellent”, Starship Technologies CEO Lex Bayer told Digital Trends, noting that most universities currently do not have good delivery options available. This, according to him, is because the campuses are set up in a way that makes it difficult for traffic to move through them. “The food sales areas are sometimes far from the central roads, and the bedrooms can be difficult to access. That makes it difficult for traditional delivery companies to service this market. Young people tend to use technology a lot, and they are also used to ordering and receiving things quickly. They are digital natives predisposed to technology that works this way”. With the Starship delivery model, anyway, students can place a wide variety of food orders through the application and point out exactly where they want to receive it. Orders will arrive within a delivery robot, which can be unlocked using the mobile application. Delivery rates vary by location, but are usually $ 2. The investment funds The expansion of the service comes as a result of an additional round of financing by investors in the amount of an additional $ 25 million, announced earlier, to expand its growing fleet of robots and take its service to more markets. The news was released shortly after the worldwide presentation of the company's autonomous delivery bots, which are now implemented on university campuses and neighborhoods around the world. The money went to the great expansion of the fleet, which is expected to exceed one thousand robots in labor and academic fields, as well as in various urban and suburban areas. The generous cash injection came from existing investors Matrix Partners and Morpheus Ventures, along with additional funds from Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk, and Skype's founding engineer, Jaan Tallinn. Given that Starship Technologies only started in 2014, it is surprising to see how far it has come in a few years, as it continues to work to fulfill its initial promise to deliver more from its autonomous six-wheel robots, that have already been browsing using a lot of smart sensors, cameras and GPS technology. The role of the Company Starship is part of the burgeoning delivery robot industry, which has already attracted corporate giants such as Amazon, Google and UPS, as well as a constellation of smaller companies, such as Postmates and Workhorse. These companies see the opportunity to bring their customers things they need much faster, in a more economical way or with much more comfort than the delivery options that currently exist. And in some cases they could extend delivery times to almost every hour of the day. However, these companies will need to develop their services amid growing concerns about how robots and automation are taking jobs that were previously made by humans. As we have already mentioned, Starship is not the only company to test drones for food deliveries. Amazon Scout robots are also being tested in the state of Washington Amazon is busy working on drones and robots to deliver consumer goods to its customers in just 15 minutes through its Prime Air program and a pilot program has already begun in Britain. He also launched the autonomous Scout robots, which work similarly to the Starship bots. Amazon is already testing these deliveries in the state of Washington. Meanwhile, UPS is focusing on helping commercial customers take drones to hospitals to speed up laboratory testing. Starship has also found a niche in this new market, and says it sees a great demand from the university campuses of its six-wheeled and battery-powered robot campuses. Bayer says that typical food delivery applications like Uber Eats or DoorDash don't provide universities with such ease, since there is generally little parking available and campuses often feel like mazes for strangers. While these features make it difficult for meat and bone delivery workers, Starship robots are not worried, which are preloaded with detailed 3D maps of the campuses before they begin to roam. Also, they don't need to park anywhere. 73-74. Security Cameras - Protect yourself 2 How to protect your security cameras from hackers New reports claim that home surveillance cameras could pose a security risk to their owners. The truth is that, these days, you can buy a home security camera for less than $ 100 dollars. These devices are becoming increasingly common as a way to ward off packet thieves or “porch pirates” and, in general, protect personal property. But how to protect yourself from hackers at home? A recent report from a Canadian security and customer protection group based in the city of Calgary, Alberta, said it is possible to hack up to ten security cameras and communicate with people at the other ends of the devices. And while it is reported that the most recent incidents specifically involved Nest cameras, any device connected to the Internet of Things (IoT) could be used by hackers. There are several ways in which someone can take control of your home security camera. For example, most cameras use online applications or sites where the customer can watch a live video stream of their home, or communicate with the camera if the device has two-way audio. If someone gets your account password, they will also have access to your camera images, audio features and more. Other ways you can be hacked are through your Wi-Fi network, through malware attacks, or if your security camera company experiences a violation in your systems. WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PROTECT YOURSELF Undoubtedly, the idea that someone might be watching you through your security camera without your knowledge is more than disturbing. Fortunately, there are some things you can do to greatly reduce the risk of your cameras being pirated. Here are some tips. 1. CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD! Attacks on domestic security cameras are generally the result of poor administration by the user. One of the most important things you can do to prevent attacks from cameras in your home is to inform yourself about malware, password security, and the security of your Wi-Fi network. And please change your password, and do it frequently. Here are some tips: • Have you ever given your Wi-Fi password to friends, neighbors or guests who visited you? Instead, you should create a “Guest Network,” or a Wi-Fi access network for guests. Most routers give you that option. • Change your Wi-Fi password every few months, and use random and unique passwords that would be difficult to crack through attacks. • Avoid using the same password in different accounts. Is the password of your security camera the same as that of your email, Facebook or your online banking service? If so, you are greatly increasing your security risk. For your connected camera (and all your accounts, actually), use a different password than the one you use for any other account. • Avoid any personal information in your password, such as birth dates, names of children, anniversaries, etc. Your password must be completely random and difficult to decipher. And write it down in the old fashion way and keep it in a safe place, like a notebook in a drawer. • Use two-factor authentication to further secure your account, if available. • Consider using a reliable and secure password manager. These programs provide unique and secure individual passwords for each of your accounts, while also storing them with a high security protocol to protect them. 2. PURCHASE ONLY IN PLACES OF TRUST It may be tempting to buy a $ 10 security camera at an offer site, or buy a cheap used security camera, but this is not necessarily the best idea. You should buy a new camera from a known store. Even then, make sure you are familiar with the company that will manage the corresponding application for your camera. Read reviews of application users, verify if the company has had a serious problem with security breaches in the past and, if so, what they have done to correct that problem. Don't think of a security camera as a one-time transaction where you buy the camera and nothing else. Think of it as a cell phone, where the service provider is as important as the device. 3. UPDATE YOUR FIRMWARE PERIODICALLY Do not ignore these firmware updates, as they are designed to solve problems, and many of them could be related to security. Don't you know if there is an update available for your devices? Check the application you use to manage your account and your cameras, and look in sections such as “device”, “configuration” or “about”. Most camera manufacturers also post information about the latest firmware update on their website, as well as how to install it. 75. Gamescom special 76. handelot TEN!!!