It's an internet fight and only the funniest meme will emerge victorious. This week's challengers? Teriyaki Boyz memes, Oscar nomination memes and kebab shop fight memes.
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Veggies Straws? Terra Chips? Green Pea Snack Crisps? Which can I eat like a whole bag of Doritos without the unpleasant aftermath of eating a whole bag of Doritos?
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Amanda Disley and her husband noticed something was iffy about a blue Honda Civic and thanks to their instincts, Charlotte Moccia, the kidnapped 11-year-old girl, was saved.
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We're sure there's a complicated physics explanation for why this happens, but as far as we're concerned, the water made the ball go far and we want to try this.
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Love games? Love your phone? Protect your phone and give it a charge while playing more than 400 of your favorite classic games with this clever case. Get it for 89 percent off $299 at just $29.99 today.
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In remarks not reported until now, Trump raged during a 2017 meeting at the Pentagon. Trump stunned nearly everyone; some vowed to never repeat his words. "I wouldn't go to war with you people," Trump barked. "You're a bunch of dopes and babies."
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Thanks to the smartphone, nowhere feels especially remarkable, and every place adopts the pleasures and burdens of every other. It's possible to do so much from home, so why leave at all? Now the home is a prison of convenience that we need special help to escape.
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"For me, their serendipitous structural exquisiteness and their subtle and passionate arrays of colors have inspired new exploration in my photography."
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According to a study released today, even with that policy repealed, the efficiency of DoorDash's race-to-the-bottom pay structure nets workers an estimated $1.45 per hour.
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"The blob," a mass of warm, nutrient-poor water that emerged off the US coast in 2013, was responsible for the biggest seabird die off in recorded history, according to new research.
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The short "The Trophy Hunter," released in 2013, was meant to shed light on the role illegal wildlife trade has played in the global extinction crisis.
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For better or worse, it is not unfair to describe either of Star Wars' most recent major projects as stories that deeply engage in fan service. But what differentiates their use of it makes for some fascinating parallels and contrasts.
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This morning, the Wall Street Journal released its annual ranking of major U.S. airlines, basing its decision on factors like the number of on-time arrivals, canceled flights, and delays (and using 2019 flight data, available from the Department of Transportation).
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Companies used to make fun of Apple for removing their headphone jack. Now it's estimated that Apple has made $8 billion from AIrPods alone and their competitors are scrambling to catch up.
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Instagram influencer and YouTube personality Vitaly Zdorovetskiy claims that he spent 5 days in an Egyptian jail and "saw horrible things" after he was caught climbing the Great Pyramid of Giza, a stunt that could have landed him in jail for a lot longer.
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U.S. soldiers are seen at the site where an Iranian missile hit at Ain al-Asad air base in Anbar province, Iraq January 13, 2020. At the sprawling base in Iraq's western Anbar desert, U.S. Air Force and Army teams cleared piles of metal and concrete debris from the airfield and around bunkers using bulldozers and pickup trucks after Iran's first direct missile attack against U.S. forces on January 8. REUTERS/John Davison
The images paint a picture of precision: The first satellite imagery of the aftermath of the Iranian strike on Ayn al-Asad Air Base in Iraq highlights Iran's improved ability to accurately strike distant targets with its extensive missile arsenal. The pictures, released by imaging company Planet Labs on Jan. 8, show that Iran can chalk up its strike as a success even without inflicting U.S. casualties. What's more, they also show how Iran sought to skirt a delicate line in exacting public retribution while also avoiding an escalation that would lead to outright war.
American troops in Iraq had focused on force protection rather than offensive operations after the senior Iranian general was killed in a drone strike.
The United States has restarted joint counter-ISIS operations with Iraq that were suspended after a drone strike killed a senior Iranian commander in Baghdad, two American military officials told NBC News late Wednesday.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media on the subject, said Iraq was now also interested in the resumption of the operations that have been in place since 2015 as the Islamic State militant group took control of swaths of Iraq and Syria.
However, Gen. Abdulkarim Khalaf, a spokesman for Iraq's armed forces, told the state run Iraq News agency that, his country, did not give permission to "the US-Led coalition to be active again."
Iran's supreme leader will lead Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time since 2012, as the Islamic Republic deals with fallout from the killing of its top general in a US airstrike and anger at its accidental shootdown of a passenger plane. https://t.co/xoS62LVQEG
Taliban open to a 10-day ceasefire with U.S. troops, a reduction in violence with Afghan forces and discussions with Afghan government officials if it reaches an agreement with U.S. negotiators in talks in Doha: sources https://t.co/BKbOsJLi6G by @qadir_sediqi Jibran Ahmed pic.twitter.com/SFurZfKD0m
U.S. training for more than 800 Saudi Arabian military students could be restarted "in the coming days," the Pentagon said, nearly six weeks after a shooting by one Saudi trainee killed three sailors at a Florida base. https://t.co/LUpzbxpy33
* Eleven U.S. troops were treated for concussion symptoms after the attack * Eight were transported to hospitals in Germany, and three to Kuwait * Officials say they initially displayed no symptoms but are being evaluated * Military initially said that there were no deaths or injuries in the attack
Eleven U.S. troops were treated for concussion symptoms as a result of the January 8 Iranian missile attack on an Iraqi base where U.S. forces were stationed, the U.S. military said on Thursday - after initially saying no service members had been hurt.
'While no U.S. service members were killed in the Jan. 8 Iranian attack on Al Asad Air base, several were treated for concussion symptoms from the blast and are still being assessed,' Captain Bill Urban, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said in a statement.
An electronic screen, installed on the facade of a business center, shows an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a quote from his annual address to the Federal Assembly, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov
WNU Editor: The above picture is from this photo-gallery .... Editor's Choice Pictures (Reuters).
* Nearly 40% of the world's 195 countries will see civil unrest during 2020, according to Verisk Maplecroft. * Risk of backlash by security forces is deemed high in countries such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and China. * Corporations will be under increased pressure to avoid getting tangled up in this "new normal."
Almost a quarter of the world's countries witnessed a surge in protest and unrest last year and that figure is set to rise further in 2020, according to a new study.
There are 195 countries in the world, if the Vatican and Palestine are included, and a newly released index of civil unrest has claimed that 47 of those states witnessed a rise in civil unrest in 2019.
The data model, published Thursday by socio-economic and political analysis firm Verisk Maplecroft, has also predicted that in 2020, the number will balloon to 75 countries.
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey is beginning to send troops into Libya in support of the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, days before a summit in Berlin which will address the Libyan conflict.
Last week, Turkey and Russia urged Libya's warring parties to declare a ceasefire. However, despite talks in Moscow aimed at halting Khalifa Haftar's months-long campaign to seize the Libyan capital, the two sides were unable to reach an agreement when Haftar failed to sign a binding truce on Monday.
Turkey, which backs Fayez al-Serraj's Government of National Accord (GNA), has previously said that it sent a training and cooperation team which is now active in Libya.
Police work on the site where an explosion damaged a residential building in central Stockholm, Sweden January 13, 2020. Janerik Henriksson/TT News Agency/via REUTERS
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A surge in drug-linked gang-violence in Sweden led to a 60% increase in bomb blasts in 2019, government statistics showed on Thursday, as police work to rid the streets of explosives and guns with more officers on patrol.
Sweden has been hit by a wave of shootings and bombings over the past couple of years which police have linked to gang conflicts in major cities, shocking Swedes, who have long considered their country one of the safest in the world.
Some 257 bomb attacks were reported to police last year, up from 162 the previous year, the statistics from the National Council for Crime Prevention showed.
The agency did not give any information about the types of explosives used most frequently or any other details, but Swedish media have reported some attacks using make-shift bombs made from vacuum flasks packed with explosive material.
The figures were part of a report on crime rates which showed that overall, the number of crimes reported to the police was slightly down last year.
WNU Editor: The above Reuters post does not say and/or describe the composition of these gangs, but the BBC is not hesitant to say who they are .... Sweden's 100 explosions this year: What's going on? (Maddy Savage, BBC).
Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on "Russian Federation Efforts to Interfere in the 2016 U.S. Elections" on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on June 8, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
The Justice Department is investigating whether then-FBI Director James Comey illegally leaked secret information concerning a Russian document to The New York Times and The Washington Post, the Times reported late Thursday.
The new review, which the Times downplayed as a possibly politically motivated probe, reportedly concerned a Russian intelligence document "claiming a tacit understanding between the Clinton campaign and the [Obama] Justice Department over the inquiry into whether she intentionally revealed classified information through her use of a private email server," as the Post described it in May 2017.
The interior ministry has called on the FBI to help shed light on 'possible criminal offense.'
Police in Ukraine are investigating the possibility that the country's former U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was under illegal surveillance before she was recalled from her post, the Associated Press reported Thursday.
The announcement came two days after Democratic lawmakers released documents showing that Lev Parnas, an associate of President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, communicating about the removal of Yovanovitch as the ambassador to Ukraine.
In a statement Thursday, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said "the published messages contain facts of possible violations of Ukrainian law and of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, which protect the rights of diplomats on the territory of another state."
WNU Editor: The person who sent these texts implying that former U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was under surveillance is Robert Hyde. To say that Robert Hyde is an oddball is an understatement. To begin. He is saying that he was drunk when he sent these texts, which makes sense because when you read his texts you cannot help but wonder if he is stupid. Even the person who received these texts, Lev Parnas, is saying that he did not take Hyde seriously, accusing him of excessive drinking (see video here). But politics and the media being what it is in Washington, this story is being covered extensively. On a side note, and this one made me laugh, Robert Hyde is running for Congress in Connecticut. As for Lev Parnas, he is getting his 15 minutes of fame right now .... 'I don't even know who that man is. I don't know him. I know nothing about him.' Furious Donald Trump DENIES knowing Lev Parnas 14 times - but Rudy Giuliani's indicted sidekick reveals MORE photos of them together (Daily Mail).
More News On Ukraine Investigating Reports That A Former US Ambassador In Ukraine Was Under Surveillance
* The nonpartisan General Accountability Office announced its findings in a report * It was revealed shortly before Senators are to be sworn in for President Trump's impeachment * White House Office of Management and Budget 'violated the' Impoundment Control Act * It held back millions Congress earmarked for security aid * Giuliani associate Lev Parnas says the funds were held back as pressure to get Ukraine to investigate the Bidens * 'Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law'
The non-partisan Government Accountability Office has concluded that the White House Office of Management and Budget violated a budgeting law by withholding millions of aid the Congress had directed to Ukraine.
The government watchdog released its scathing conclusions Thursday morning, just minutes before 100 U.S. senators were to be sworn in for the commencement of an impeachment trial of president Trump that hinges on his and his associates conduct toward Ukraine.
The administration held back, but ultimately released, $391 million in aid that had been designated for Ukraine, which is countering Russia after its neighbor seized Crimea. The funds were enacted in appropriations legislation. Read more ....
* Donald Trump's trial began at 12.05 pm on Thursday January 16; he is accused of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress * The House Democratic impeachment managers arrived in the Senate chamber Thursday to formally read the articles of impeachment against President Trump * The Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger proclaimed: 'Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye, all persons are commanded to keep silent, on pain of imprisonment' * Then Adam Schiff, the lead Democratic impeachment manager began to read the resolution from Congress which impeaches 'Donald John Trump.' The Senate was silent as Schiff stood in the well of the chamber * Just after 2pm, John Roberts, the Chief Justice, entered the chamber, and was sworn in by Chuck Grassley, the president pro-tempore * Roberts then invited senators to stand and take the oath themselves; after that each signed the Book of Oaths, recording their commitment to 'impartial justice' * The hearing adjourned until Tuesday at 2p.m.; in the meantime the Democratic prosecution and Donald Trump's defense will deliver documents to the Senate making their case * The Senate trial will begin in earnest on Tuesday when senators debate the rules of the trial. That is the same day the president is due to deliver a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland * The earliest possible conclusion to it would be on Saturday January 25
Donald Trump's impeachment trial began Thursday in high ceremony and amid vicious political division - as outside the Senate a series of new bombshells exploded in the Ukraine scandal.
At 2.10pm, John Roberts, the Chief Justice of the United States, was sworn in.
Chuck Grassley, the president pro-tempore administered the oath, saying: 'Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, President of the United States, now pending, you will do impartial justice, according to the Constitution and laws, so help you God?'
WNU Editor: The Democrats are hoping to duplicate what they did in the House in the Senate. The problem is that even though they controlled what witnesses could show up and the testimony that was provided in the House, it still bombed with President Trump's approval rating going up. Can they change this outcome in the Senate even though they do not control it? I doubt it. The only thing that is going to come out of this Senate trial is President Trump being acquitted with all Republicans backing the President, and the Democrats crying the process was unfair and the outcome was partisan. Memo to the Democrats. The process was already partisan, and no one likes a crybaby. But as an outside looking in I will admit this .... this impeachment is going to be great theatre, and we are going to see many American politicians and media pundits going nuts.
The Impeachment Of President Trump -- News Updates January 16, 2020
The appointment highlights the Putin system's fundamental paradox: It is an antiquated, Byzantine, nepotistic, deeply corrupt governance model that nevertheless values and rewards technocratic brilliance.
After a blitz of constitutional reform proposals aimed at keeping him in power after his presidential term ends in 2024, Russia's President Vladimir Putin named his new prime minister — a tech-obsessed tax administrator with no interest in politics. The appointment highlights the Putin system's fundamental paradox: It is an antiquated, Byzantine, nepotistic, deeply corrupt governance model that nevertheless values and rewards technocratic brilliance.
In the Russian power succession scheme, the prime minister takes over when the president is for some reason unable to govern; Prime Minister Putin became acting president when Boris Yeltsin resigned in the final minutes of 1999. Putin waited out Dmitry Medvedev's presidential term between 2008 and 2012 as prime minister, and Medvedev assumed the post afterwards. But there have been periods under both Yeltsin and Putin when the prime minister post wasn't occupied by politically ambitious or important individuals; those were times when the president claimed full responsibility for Russia's course.
Mikhail Mishustin, the newly confirmed prime minister, fits neither precedent.
WNU Editor: I know that Mikhail Mishustin's push (and success) to reform and modernize Russia's tax system, especially when it comes to business taxes, has made him a hero in Russia's business community. In fact, I find my Canadian business and personal tax returns far more complicated and confusing to do when compared to Russia's, and I am talking from personal experience. As for Mikhail Mishustin appointment and confirmation as Prime Minister, and President Putin's declaration to change the constitution, I am still digesting this news. For now, I am recommending the above post by Leonid Bershidsky. It is one of the best analysis that I have read so far.
Sorry for the light blogging. Events in Russia for the past two days has taken me away from what I usually do. Been on the phone with family and friends that I know in Russia. Been on two Moscow radio shows since yesterday who want to know what is my opinion on President Putin's decision to fire PM Medvedev and to change the constitution. Assessing what are the business risks for some people that I know who have large investments in Russia. Etc., etc. etc.. Blogging should be back to normal tomorrow. And as to what is happening in Russia. To say that President Putin surprised everyone is understatement. Case in point. Even Mikhail Mishustin was shocked when he learned that he was going to be Putin's Prime Minister.
Defence minister says Trump threatened to impose 25% tariff on European cars.
The United States threatened to impose 25% tariffs on cars to push Europeans to initiate proceedings against Iran for violating the nuclear deal, the German defence minister has confirmed.
"This threat exists," said the German defence minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, at a press conference in London.
She was asked about an article in the Washington Post that claimed Trump had secretly warned France, Germany and the UK that the US would impose a "25% tariffs on European cars" if they did not activate the mechanism for the settlement of disputes (MRD) of the Iranian international nuclear agreement reached in Vienna in 2015.
* Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lashed out at the U.S. and Europe in a televised speech on state TV on Wednesday. * Rouhani slammed the EU's "failure to keep it promises" under the 2015 nuclear deal and blamed the U.S. for making the Middle East insecure.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — In an angry speech on state television, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lashed out at the U.S. and Europe for its presence in the Middle East and for what he described as the latter's failures in upholding the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.
U.S. troops are "insecure" in the region today, and EU troops "might be in danger tomorrow," Rouhani declared, according to a Reuters translation, marking the first time the leader has directed a threat toward European forces in the region. He demanded the U.S. leave and accused it of making the region insecure, saying it should "apologize to Tehran" for its "previous crimes."
* President Hassan Rouhani said there was 'no limit' on Iran's nuclear programme * He spoke as EU's top diplomat met Iran's foreign minister to try and save deal * Rising tensions raise fears Iran could be close to becoming a nuclear power
Iran's president warned today there is 'no limit' on the country's uranium enrichment programme since it abandoned the global nuclear deal in response to the killing of its top general in a US airstrike.
President Hassan Rouhani said in a televised speech: 'We are enriching more uranium than before the deal was reached ... Pressure has increased on Iran but we continue to progress.'
The speech increased fears Iran could be close to building its own nuclear weapons as European diplomats try desperately to salvage the 2015 deal which President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018.
WNU Editor: I take this as an official declaration that Iran's agreement to limit its nuclear program is now dead. So where are the international sanctions?
More News On President Hassan Rouhani Saying That Iran Is Now Enriching More Uranium Than It Did Before 2015 Deal
I was happy to accompany the Egyptian President during the opening of the Berenice military base and civilian airport. Such achievements reflect Egypt's vision of all-round development and enhance its role in regional stability. We wish it more progress and prosperity. pic.twitter.com/nvbWqMA01j
Egyptian facility, inaugurated with much fanfare and presence of Abu Dhabi crown prince, set to be used as an anti-Iran bulwark.
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi inaugurated on Wednesday a massive air and naval base on the Red Sea, which analysts say is an attempt to counter Iranian influence in the region and could host US troops.
Sisi opened the southern Berenice military base at a ceremony held days after the Egyptian military conducted one of its largest drills since the general-turned-president came to power in 2013.
Abu Dhabi's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, among other heads of Arab states and foreign ministers, attended.
* Putin says he believes Russians will support sweeping changes to constitution * Planned changes could pave the way for him to extend leadership beyond 2024 * Putin is supposed to step down as president by 2024 under the current rules
Vladimir Putin believes the Russian people will support his sweeping changes to the country's constitution that could keep him in power long after his presidential term ends.
The Russian President announced, as part of his annual state address on Wednesday, changes that could pave the way for him to extend his leadership beyond 2024.
A day after the shock announcement, that saw his entire government - including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev - resign, Putin said he believed the people supported these changes.
The Taliban say they have offered a temporary cease-fire to the United States in Afghanistan that would last between seven and 10 days, according to The Associated Press.
The offer given to U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad would give U.S. troops the opportunity to pull out of the country. Khalilzad reportedly received the offer late Wednesday in Qatar where the Taliban run a political office.
WNU Editor: This ceasefire is to last 7 to 10 days, and the Taliban are saying that it will be during this period of time that they U.S. can then leave Afghanistan. If these reports are true, it is not even remotely a realistic proposal.
More News On The Taliban Offering The U.S. A Ceasefire To Last Seven And Ten Days
ARLINGTON, Va. - The Navy's newest destroyer may fire a not-yet-to-be fielded Conventional Prompt Strike conventionally-armed missile engineered to hit anywhere on earth within an hour, service program managers said. The weapon, now being considered by Navy weapons developers for the emerging USS Zumwalt, will bring new attack options to the stealthy destroyer being prepared for combat as soon as 2021, Capt. Kevin Smith, Zumwalt-class destroyer Program Manager said Jan. 15 at the Surface Naval Association Annual Symposium.
"This would be the perfect platform for Conventional Prompt Strike," Smith said.
The Conventional Prompt Strike weapons program, which emerged [in] the era of former President George W. Bush, is designed to arm a ballistic missile with a conventional warhead, bringing the range and speed similar to a nuclear weapon to conventional strike.
The weapon has virtually unprecedented range for a conventional weapon and has the ability to hit anywhere in the world in a matter of minutes in some instances.
WNU Editor: The problem with firing such a missile is that countries like Russia and China will not know if this "ballistic missile" is carrying a conventional warhead or a nuclear one.
@USNavy No disrespect intended people but how do you expect people to believe you represent the most powerful navy in the world when almost every U.S. ship has exposed rust and faded paint markings. Like a professional soldier the ships need to look sharp. USS McCampbell pic.twitter.com/6Q4ZeYvolM
Where there's a lot of metal, there's a lot of rust.
* The U.S. Navy spends $3 billion a year fighting rust, according to Military.com. * Corrosion takes place both on ships and shore, affecting cruisers, helicopters, and fighter jets. * A deep fix of corrosion issues on just two ships cost the service $170 million alone.
The U.S. Navy was founded in 1775, and every day since has faced the same implacable enemy: iron oxide, or rust. For more than 200 years, this quiet war has caused untold billions—and there's no end in sight.
According to the Los Angeles Times, rust costs the U.S. Navy $3 billion billion a year, or at least it did in 2014. Spread over 293 ships that's the equivalent of $10.2 million per ship. But some of the Navy's ships are huge, with aircraft carriers displacing 100,000 tons while littoral combat ships (LCS) displace 3,900 tons. The tiny, aluminum-hulled LCS suffers from fewer corrosion issues.
WNU Editor: One thing that I have noticed about the Chinese Navy is how clean and rust-free their ships look. It is almost as if there is a permanent crew on board whose sole job is to paint the ship.
The Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) found by China are generally small, but they can gather important intelligence. This example was discovered in 2012. Few are reported in the media. H I Sutton (Author)
The secretive world of naval underwater surveys rarely breaks the surface. Now recent events are briefly shining a light into the darkness. In the Adriatic a Croatian fishing vessel caught one of the U.S. Navy's undersea sensor systems last week. That mysterious object has largely been explained. Meanwhile, China has held an award ceremony for fishermen who alerted authorities after discovering similar devices in their nets. The devices may have been operating in international waters, but still in China's back yard as they see it. We can infer that some of these devices may also belong to the U.S. Navy.
WNU Editor: Someone or someones have been active near Chinese waters ....
.... This year 11 fishermen were rewarded for handing over unidentified underwater vehicles which they had found. The number of devices was not reported, but in 2018 nine were handed over.
Chief Justice John Roberts will take his oath as the impeachment trial's presiding officer as part of the striking ceremonial matters taking place Thursday to set up the Senate as a court of impeachment. https://t.co/heByzgfb07
Russia's ruling party approved President Putin's surprise pick for new PM, Mikhail Mishustin, a man with almost no political profile. But why was he chosen? Here is more https://t.co/P6MMac6q5Apic.twitter.com/AJGPtQmomQ
Assad and Putin drop a barrel bomb, a notorious weapon used solely to kill and terrorize civilians. This clip offers a spectacularly clear picture of its use on the city of Idlib, which in recent days has experienced the tender mercies of Russian/Assad/Iranian "counterterrorism." pic.twitter.com/u1OytCU8zu
Banks in Beirut, Lebanon's capital, were targeted by demonstrators during what they have called a 'week of wrath', in protest against the country's banking crisishttps://t.co/JSCsFii7WXpic.twitter.com/bVGj2dIW53
IRAN'S Supreme leader Ali Khamenei has vowed to negotiate with anyone except the "enemy" US after hailing the missile strikes against America a "slap in the face" in his first sermon in Tehran since 2012.
WORLD WAR 3 fears begun when the US ordered a deadly drone strike upon the top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani a few weeks ago, a move since backed primarily by Israel – but Israel was actually on the cusp of officially declaring war against the Iran itself back in 2010, according to unearthed reports.
FAR north beyond the Arctic Circle, within a 100 miles of Norway's territory and the Nato defence line, is the city of Murmansk, home of Russia's Northern Fleet. The naval complex is the jewel in the crown of Vladimir Putin's military power. And as the President made very clear this week, he intends to be wearing that crown for many years to come, secure in an unassailable position, bolstered by his cult of personality and the ruthless suppression of opposition.
MELANIA TRUMP insisted on having the White House solarium redecorated, before moving in to join her husband, because she could not bear the colour schemes chosen by the Obamas.
WORLD WAR 3 fears have been triggered once again in 2020 after European nations triggered a formal dispute process over Iran's breaches of the 2015 nuclear deal. But where would WW3 be fought?
Mortgage-backed securities can offer monthly income, a fixed interest rate and even government backing. But just how can you make a profit on these assets?
A brokerage general agent is an independent firm or contractor working for an insurance company that sells insurance products to select insurance brokers.
The American Institute of Banking was founded by the American Bankers Association to provide specialized education and training for the banking industry.
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Learn about 10 famous leveraged buyouts that were the boldest and riskiest in history and how they either become famous for failing miserably or making billions.
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The 1040-SR is a new simple tax form for seniors, similar to the the now defunct 1040-EZ. You'll need to be 65 and older to use it, among other requirements.
There are a few different ways to go about investing in real estate, the two biggest are through REITs and a newcomer to the game: real estate crowdfunding.
When you are indecisive about an investment, the best way to proceed may be to test various hypotheses using the most relevant statistics.Hypothesis testing comes to the aid for such decision-making. (Note: This article assumes readers' familiarity with concepts of a normal distribution table, formula, p-value and related basics of statistics.)
Income tax is paid on income earned from wages, interest, dividends, and royalties, while capital gains tax is paid on profits from the sale or exchange of an asset.
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Put options are a classic hedging instrument that investors use to reduce their exposure to risk in the event that an asset in their portfolio loses value.
The Questrom School of Business is the business school located at Boston University. It was previously known as the Boston University School of Management.
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The Big Five Banks is a term to describe the five largest banks in Canada: Royal Bank, The Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, The Bank of Nova Scotia and TD Canada Trust.
An implied contract is a legally-binding agreement created by the actions, behavior, or circumstances of the parties involved. Written proof is not needed.
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Find out which risks are most important to Amazon's shareholders. Learn which operational risks impact share prices and which financial risks affect investors.
Facebook, which rakes in billions of dollars in profit selling ad space, is facing rising scrutiny over privacy issues, antitrust violations, and its cryptocurrency named Libra.
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A contract for differences (CFD) is a marginable financial derivative that can be used to speculate on very short-term price movements for a variety of underlying instruments.
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Learn about the different types of loans available and find the one that will best suit your needs. Find out what options are available when it comes to borrowing money.
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Are you using insider trading as a signal for your own buying or selling strategy? You may need to reconsider the approach since rule 10b5-1 prohibit trading based on inside information.
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As bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies zoomed into mainstream popularity in 2017, investors and traders rushed to buy and sell them. But how much does it really cost to buy and sell cryptocurrencies?
SEC Form S-4 is a regulatory form titled the "Registration Statement Under the Securities Act of 1933" and is required by any company seeking to merge.
A pitchbook is a field guide produced by a company for the benefit of its sales force, which lists the main attributes and key sales points for a firm or specific product.
Operating leverage shows how a company's costs and profit relate to each other and changes can affect profits without impacting sales, contribution margin or selling price.
A gray market refers to a place where goods or securities can be bought or sold in a quasi-legal way, but which is not quite wholly above board through normal retail channels.
Microfinance is an individual-focused way to provide money to those who lack access to mainstream resources. Macrofinance is for economic development at the regional or national level.
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An economic indicator refers to data, usually at the macroeconomic scale, that is used to gauge the health or growth trends of a nation's economy, or of a specific industry sector.
Money orders work well when cash, checks, and payment apps don't. Here's how to buy or cash them at 200,000 U.S. post offices, banks, and retail locations.
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UP BTC Primary Teacher Syllabus & Exam Pattern 2020
The Uttar Pradesh BTC Assistant Primary Teacher Syllabus is available for download in our website. Candidates who have applied for this exam can check the UP BTC Primary Teacher Syllabus & UP BTC Primary Teacher Exam Pattern to start their preparation. The Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Council has recently released a notification for the recruitment of efficient candidates into Assistant Teacher Posts. There are about 15000 vacancies according to the advertisement. Candidates who are preparing for this exam will be searching for the Syllabus & UP BTC Exam Pattern. We are providing the BTC UP Syllabus & BTC UP Exam Pattern for the guidance of candidates. Syllabus pdf is also available for download from the link given below. The UP BTC Assistant Primary Teacher Syllabus is also available on the official website for download.
Aspirants can visit our website for more updates regarding the UP BTC Recruitment 2020, UPBTC Primary Teacher Exam Important Dates, Uttar Pradesh Assistant Primary Teacher Syllabus & Exam Pattern, UP BTC Previous Papers, etc.
Download UP BTC Primary Assistant Teacher Exam Syllabus
Name of the Organization: Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Council.
Exam Name: Uttar Pradesh Basic Training Certificate.
The UPBTC is known as Uttar Pradesh Basic Training Certificates. Candidates who get qualified in the UP BTC exam will be selected as Assistant Teachers at Primary Level. The UP BTC is a two-year course that will be done by the candidates who wish to work in the teaching field. The UP Basic Training Certificate Syllabus pdf is available from the link given below. Candidates can check the Important Topics for each year. The UP BTC Exam Pattern will be updated soon on our website after the official release. The exam is conducted semester wise and consists of both Descriptive & Objective type of questions.
UP BTC Assistant Teacher Syllabus for all Semesters 2020
UP BTC Syllabus Topic for First Year
Education and Principles of Teaching.
Psychological basis of child Development.
Psycho-Motor Aspect.
Class Teaching.
Curriculum Analysis.
Cognitive Aspects.
Moral Education.
Physical Education.
Music etc.
Teaching subject.
Hindi.
Environmental studies.
Social Studies.
Mathematics.
Sanskrit/Urdu.
English.
UP BTC Syllabus Topics for Second Year
Emerging Trends of Elementary.
Education and Education Evaluation.
School Management.
Community Education.
Health Education.
Teaching Methods.
Work Experience.
Relevant Practical work.
Hindi.
Environmental Education.
Science.
Social Studies.
Mathematics.
SUPW.
Sanskrit/Urdu.
English etc.
Cognitive Aspects.
Physical Education.
Psycho-Motor Aspect.
Class Room Teaching.
School Experience.
Internship.
Community Work.
Action Research.
Analysis of Curriculum.
Text Book Analysis etc.
Direct Link to Download BTC UP Syllabus for Assistant Teacher
The Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Council is an authorized organization working under the Government of Uttar Pradesh. The UP Education Board also releases notifications for UP TET Examination & UP DSC, UP-SET, etc. The UP BTC also conducts board examinations for students of Uttar Pradesh. The Basic Education Board UP releases notifications every year for the recruitment of efficient candidates into various posts. Eligible candidates who are interested in Teaching Jobs or Government Jobs in Uttar Pradesh can apply to these posts through online mode after the release of notification. Candidates can refer to the official website for further details. The official website of Uttar Pradesh Education Board is www.upbasiceduparishad.gov.in.
UPRVUNL Office Assistant III DV Admit Card 2020 Issued – The board has decided to conduct the document verification on 25th January 2020. Thus, aspirants can now download the admit card from now onwards. Therefore, the direct link is now available at the end of the section. Examiners must download the UPRVUNL Hall Ticket before the last date ends.
(UPRVUNL Office Assistant III DV Admit Card 2020 – Download Here)
UPRVUNL DV Admit Card 2019 Released – Candidates who have cleared the examination with eligible scoring must go for the document verification. To take part in the verification process participants must download the UPRVUNL DV Admit Card. Get the direct link from the below table and download the hall ticket. The admit card has been issued on 06th December 2019.
UPRVUNL Admit Card 2019 (Junior Engineer, Chemist Grade-II, Assistant Writer, Office Assistant-III Accounting) – Available Now. Candidates those who are seeking for the UPRVUNL JE Admit Card 2019 and for other posts, can get the complete information with the help of this page. Moreover, UPRVUNL Admit Card 2019 has been released on 31st May 2019. Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (UPRVUNL) officials are going to conduct the Junior Engineer, Chemist Grade-II, Assistant Writer, Office Assistant-III Accounting test which will be printed on Admit card.
UPRVUNL Admit Card 2019
Applicants can download the UPRVUNL Admit Card 2019 from the direct link which is attached at the end of the post or from the official site @ uprvunl.org. Besides, in the below sections we have given the complete information about the Selection Procedure, the stepwise procedure to download the UPRVUNL Admit Card 2019. Also, Applicants can get the UPRVUNL Junior Engineer, Chemist Grade-II, Assistant Writer, Office Assistant-III Accounting Exam Date 2019 from this article.
31st May 2019 (Direct Link is available at the end section of this page)
Official website
uprvunl.org
Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (UPRVUNL), Uttar Pradesh Board has issued the UPRVUNL JE Admit Card 2019 for the applied Candidates for this UPRVUNL JE Recruitment 2019. To grab the Job Opportunities like the Junior Engineer (Trainee), Chemist Grade II, Assistant Accountant, Office Assistant-III (Accounts) Posts, Candidates need to give their best in the Exam on the recommended UPRVUNL Exam Date. To attend the CBT Examination www.uprvunl.org Admit Card is necessary.
UPRVUNL Admit Card 2019 – JE & Other Posts
Candidates who want to get hired for the Junior Engineer, Chemist Grade-II, Assistant Writer, Office Assistant-III Accounting posts must participate in the following rounds for the Selection Process. The candidate who applied must first participate in the Computer Based Test which is going to be held on the scheduled date. Check the Exam Date which will be printed on Admit Card. And they can download the UPRVUNL JE Hall Ticket 2019 for the CBT from the official site. If the candidate qualified in the CBT then the candidate had to attend the further rounds like Document Verification.
UPRVUNL Junior Engineer Trainee 2019 Test Pattern
S.No
Type of Test
Name of the Subject
No of Questions
No of Marks
1.
Computer Based Test [CBT]
Technical Related Topics.
150
150
2.
General Knowledge/ Awareness.
50
50
3.
Reasoning.
4.
Hindi.
Total
200
200
In order to start the preparation candidates should be aware of the UPRVUNL Junior Engineer (JE) Syllabus as well as Exam Pattern. For the candidate's reference purpose, we have tabulated the Uttar Pradesh RVUNL Exam Pattern.
Applicants can also refer the UPRVUNL Previous Papers with their solutions to easily crack the written exam with a good score
How to download UPRVUNL Admit Card 2020
Visit the official site of the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (UPRVUNL),i.e, uprvunl.org
On the Home page, you will find the CARRER @ UPRVUNL
Click on it and a new page with Recruitment Notices and Results will get on the screen
In Recruitment Notices Search for the link that refers to Regarding admit card for the JE & Other Posts
Click on the link and fill the columns such as Hall Ticket/ Admit Card Number, Date Of Birth details.
Then, check the details and hit on submit.
UPRVUNL Admit Card 2020 will appear on the screen
Download and take a print out of the Admit card for further reference.
BEL Recruitment 2020 | All Engineering Graduates can apply for the 30 Project Engineer Vacancies: BEL Recruitment Board has announced a Job Notification to hire 30 eligible candidates for the Project Engineer – I Vacancies. Aspirants who have completed their BE/B. Tech and searching for the Central Government Jobs can apply for these BEL Engineer Jobs 2020 through Offline Mode. Applicants should send the duly filled application to the prescribed address on or before the last date 31st January 2020.
BEL Recruitment 2020
The positions are for various locations in Bangalore, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Leh and J&K. Selected candidates should be willing to travel extensively and re-locate to the above-mentioned places. 3% of the posts will be reserved for Persons with Disability. Interested aspirants should submit the application on or before the last date for the BEL Job Openings 2020. Candidates should have a minimum of 2 years of relevant post qualification industry experience in the areas mentioned below.
Bangalore, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Leh and J&K
BEL Vacancy 2020 Details
Name of the Post
Number of Vacancies
Project Engineer – I (Civil)
14
Project Engineer – I (Electrical)
06
Project Engineer – I (Mechanical)
10
Total
30
Eligibility Criteria for BEL Notification 2020
Applicants who are interested in the BEL India Recruitment 2020 for Engineers can get the complete details from the below sections.
Educational Qualification:
Full time (4 years) BE/B.Tech course from reputed Institute/University in the following Engineering disciplines – Civil, Electrical /Electrical & Electronics, Mechanical.
First Class in the indicated qualification for General, OBC and EWS candidates and Pass Class for SC, ST and PWD candidates.
The method of conversion of CGPA to percentage has to be attached.
Post qualification Experience:
Candidates should have a minimum of 2 years of relevant post qualification industry experience in the areas
Age Limit:
Maximum Age Limit – 28 Years
Age Relaxation:
SC, ST candidates – 05 Years
OBC candidates – 03 Years
PWD – 10 Years
Application Fee:
General, EWS and OBC candidates – Rs.500/-
SC/ST/PWD candidates – No Fee
BEL Project Engineer Posts – Salary Details:
Trainee Engineer – Rs. 10,000 /- PM
Selection Process:
Written Examination
Interview.
How to Apply for Bharat Electronics Limited Recruitment 2020?
Click on the BEL Recruitment 2020 Notification pdf link given below.
Go through the details and check your eligibility
Download the Application form provided below
Fill the application form with the necessary details.
Recheck the details on the application form.
After that, send the duly filled application form along with all the enclosures to the following postal address on or before 31st January 2020.
The job code should be clearly indicated by the candidates in the space provided in the application.
BEL Jobs 2020 | All Engineering Graduates can apply for the 21 Trainee Engineer Vacancies: Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), is India's premier Professional Electronics Company. BEL Recruitment Notification has announced to hire 21 eligible candidates for the Electronics, Mechanical, Computer Science and Civil Engineers. Aspirants who have completed their BE/B. Tech and searching for the Central Government Jobs can apply for these BEL Engineer Jobs 2020 through Offline Mode. Applicants should send the duly filled application to the prescribed address on or before the last date 27th January 2020.
BEL Recruitment 2020
Selected candidates will be placed at the Machilipatnam unit. The contract period will be for one year and it may be extended for 3 years depending on the progress of the project and performance of the candidate. Candidates should have one-year post qualification experience in the field of Construction works and carried out various activities like overall project execution, quality control, safety, planning, and billing. Interested aspirants should submit the application on or before the last date for the BEL Job Openings 2020.
Eligibility Criteria for BEL Trainee Engineer Recruitment 2020
Applicants who are interested in the BEL Job Openings for Engineers can get the complete details from the below sections.
Educational Qualification:
Name of the Post
Academic Qualification
Trainee Engineer – Electronics
Candidates should have completed fulltime c (4 year course) in Electronics / Electronics & Communications / Electronics & Telecommunications / Communication from a recognized institute/university
Trainee Engineer – Mechanical
Candidates should have completed fulltime B.E / B. Tech / B.Sc Engineering (4-year course) in Mechanical from a recognized institute/university
Trainee Engineer – Computer Science
Candidates should have completed fulltime B.E / B.Tech / B.Sc Engineering (4-year course) in Computer Science from a recognized institute/university
Trainee Engineer – Civil
Candidates should have completed fulltime B.E / B.Tech / B.Sc Engineering (4-year course) in Civil from a recognized institute/university
NOTE: For all the posts General/EWS/OBC candidates should have secured first class and SC/ST/PWD candidates should have secured pass class in essential educational qualification.
Experience:
One year post qualification experience is compulsory for Trainee Engineer Civil post.
Age Limit:
Maximum Age Limit – 25 Years as on 01st January 2020.
Age Relaxation:
OBC – 03 Years
SC/ ST – 05 Years
PWD – 10 Years
Application Fee:
GEN/OBC/EWS category – Rs.200/-
SC/ST/PWD candidates – No Fee
BEL Engineer – Salary:
Trainee Engineer – Rs. 25,000 /- PM
Selection Process:
Written Examination
Interview.
General Instructions
Interested candidates may send the prescribed application through ordinary post/speed post, superscribing on the envelope the name of the post applied for, Post Code and Discipline along with the following self-attested documents:
Certificate / Marks Sheet issued by the Board for Matriculation / Higher Secondary in support of proof of age
All certificates in support of educational qualifications.
Conversion formula for conversion of CGPA / DGPA / OGPA or letter grade to a percentage, duly certified by the University / Institution, wherever applicable.
Caste certificate if the candidate belongs to SC / ST / OBC/ EWS
Disability certificate if the candidate belongs to PWD category
No objection certificate if employed in Government / Quasi-Government and Public Sector undertakings
Experience certificate for Trainee Engineer Civil.
One passport size photo
How to Apply for Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) Recruitment 2020?
Click on the BEL Recruitment 2020 Notification pdf link given below.
Go through the details and check your eligibility
Download the Application form provided below
Fill the application form with the necessary details.
Recheck the details on the application form.
After that, send the duly filled application form along with the required documents to the following postal address
BEL Recruitment 2019 – All Engineers can now apply for 19 Vacancies. Bharat Electronics Limited, India's premier professional electronics company has decided to recruit 19 eligibles for the Engineer Posts on a Contractual basis. Aspirants who have completed their BE/B. Tech in Electronics & Telecommunication or Mechanical and seeking for the Central Government Jobs can apply for these BEL Engineer Jobs 2019. BEL India Recruitment Online registration process will start from 22nd October 2019 and end on 02nd November 2019.
Selected candidates will be placed at Electronics Warfare and Avionics SBU of Bangalore unit. The contract period will be for one year and it may be extended for 3 years depending on the progress of the project and performance of the candidate. The Job requirements are in the areas of D&E/ Testing/ Production/ Purchase/ Marketing/ Quality Management. Interested aspirants apply on or before the last date for the BEL Job Openings 2019.
Bharat Electronics Limited Recruitment 2019 for Engineers
NOTE: The Vacancy Count may vary depending on the requirement.
Eligibility Criteria for BEL Recruitment for Engineers 2019
Educational Qualification:
First-class in B.E./ B. Tech in Electronics/ Electronics & Communication/ Electronics & Telecommunication/ Mechanical for General & OBC candidates (Pass class for SC/ST/PWD candidates) from a recognized university or institution.
Experience – 6 Months in Industrial field
Age Limit:
Maximum Age Limit – 25 Years
Age Relaxation:
OBC – 03 Years
SC/ ST – 05 Years
PWD – 10 Years
Application Fee:
Refer to the BEL Careers Official Notification for the Application fee details.
BEL Engineer – Salary:
Rs. 23,000 /- PM
Selection Process:
Written Examination.
Interview.
How to Apply Online for Bharat Electronics Recruitment 2019?
Click on the Apply Online link given below.
New users initially register for BEL Careers.
Fill the preliminary application duly and submit it.
After successful submission, you will get your user id and a link, to login
Log in to the application page and start filling it.
Fill the application form with the necessary details.
Upload scanned copies of necessary documents.
Recheck the details and submit the application form.
BEL was set up to meet the particular electronic hardware necessities of the Indian Defense Services. While this keeps on being its prime center, the Company has a critical nearness in the regular citizen showcase, as well. BEL trades a portion of its items and administrations to various nations also. BEL has been laying incredible accentuation on Research and Development directly from the early years. It has additionally had the option to effectively accomplice as generation organization with numerous DRDO labs. From a small turnover of Rs.2 lakhs in 1956-57, BEL has developed complex to record a turnover of Rs.7,510 crores (temporary) in 2015-16.
Beginning from a solitary Unit in Jalahalli, Bangalore, BEL has built up its quality the nation over by setting up eight different Units – in Ghaziabad, Pune, Machilipatnam, Panchkula, Kotdwara, Navi Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad. Every Unit has a particular item blend and client center. BEL has likewise set up a wide system of workplaces and administration focuses countrywide just as two abroad workplaces – at New York and Singapore.
NABARD Assistant Manager Jobs 2020 Notification released @ www.nabard.org || 154 Assistant Manager Grade ‘A’ Vacancies in NABARD Careers: National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) being one of the premier Banking Institutes of India. Applications are invited from Indian citizens for the post of Assistant Manager in Grade ‘A’ in the Subordinate Service in National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Applicants who are waiting for the Central Govt Jobs in Across India can apply for this post through Online. The link will be LIVEfrom 15th January 2020 to 03rd February 2020.
Note:The detailed advertisement for the recruitment of Asst. Manager (RDBS/ Rajbhasha/ Law/ P & SS) in Grade ‘A’ -2020 and link for online application registration will be available on the NABARD website from 15th January 2020 onwards.
NABARD Recruitment 2020
Candidates can apply only ON-LINE on the NABARD website www.nabard.org between 15th January 2020 and 03rd February 2020 NABARD is an all India Apex Organization, wholly owned by the Government of India and is equal opportunity employer. Before applying, candidates should read all the instructions carefully and ensure that they fulfil all the eligibility criteria for the post. Here we have provided the complete details of NABARD Bank Assistant Manager Vacancies.
Assistant Manager in Grade A (Rural Development Banking Service)
139
Assistant Manager in Grade A (Rajbhasha Service)
08
Assistant Manager in Grade A (Legal Service)
03
Assistant Manager in Grade A (Protocol & Security Service)
04
Total
154
Eligibility Criteria for NABARD Assistant Manager Recruitment 2020
Candidates who are interested in applying for NABARD Bank Assistant Manager Jobs must fulfil all the below-listed eligibility conditions without fail. Check Educational Qualification, age limit, selection process, examination pattern, Salary for NABARD Jobs for Graduates 2020.
Educational Qualification:
Assistant Manager Grade ‘A’ – A candidate should check the NABARD Assistant Manager Jobs 2020 Notification for more information.
Age Limit – NABARD Bank Vacancy 2020:
According to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Norms.
NABARD Recruitment 2020 Notification @ www.nabard.org || 73 Office Attendant Group ‘C’ Vacancies in NABARD Careers: National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) being one of the premier Banking Institutes of India. Applications are invited from Indian citizens for the post of Office Attendant in Group ‘C’ in the Subordinate Service in National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Applicants who are waiting for the Central Govt Jobs in Across India can apply for this post through Online. The link will be LIVE from 25th December 2019 to 12th January 2020.
NABARD Recruitment 2020
Candidates can apply only ON-LINE on the NABARD website www.nabard.org between 25th December 2019 and 12th January 2020 NABARD is an all India Apex Organization, wholly owned by the Government of India and is equal opportunity employer. Before applying, candidates should read all the instructions carefully and ensure that they fulfil all the eligibility criteria for the post. Here we have provided the complete details of NABARD Bank Office Attendant Vacancies.
Vacancies & Reservation for the post of Office Attendant (OA)
State/Office
UR
SC
ST
OBC
EWS
PWBD
EXS
EXS
DISEXS
Andhra Pradesh
01
06
14
03
Arunachal Pradesh
01
Chhattisgarh
03
Goa
01
Gujarat
03
Haryana
04
01
Himachal Pradesh
01
Jammu & Kashmir
01
Karnataka
03
Karnataka (BIRD Mangaluru)
02
Kerala
02
01
Maharashtra (HO-Mumbai)
07
08
06
02
Meghalaya
01
Mizoram
01
Nagaland
02
New Delhi
03
Odisha
01
01
Rajasthan
02
01
01
Telangana
01
01
Uttar Pradesh
06
02
Uttrakhand
02
Tripura
01
Total
48
01
09
13
02
73
Eligibility Criteria for NABARD Office Attendant Recruitment 2020
Candidates who are interested in applying for NABARD Bank Office Attendant Vacancies must fulfill all the below-listed eligibility conditions without fail. Check Educational Qualification, age limit, selection process, examination pattern, Salary for NABARD Jobs for Graduates 2020.
Educational Qualification:
Office Attendant Group ‘C ‘– A candidate should have passed 10th Standard (S.S.C./Matriculation) from the concerned State/UT coming under the State/Regional Office to which he/she is applying.
Age Limit – NABARD Bank Vacancy 2020:
As on 1st December 2019, Age Limit for NABARD Recruitment 2019 for Office Attendant is as follows,
Minimum Age – 18 Years
Maximum Age – 30 Years
Age Relaxation
SC/ ST – 5 Years
OBC – 3 Years
PWBD – 10 Years
Ex‐Servicemen – 3 Years
Widows/divorced women/ women judicially separated who are not re‐married – 10 Years
Candidates who had ordinarily been domiciled in the State of Jammu and Kashmir between 1st January 1980 and 31st December 1989 – 5 Years
Selection Process for NABARD Bank Recruitment 2020:
Online Tests
Language Proficiency Test (LPT)
NABARD Office Attendant Salary:
Basic pay of Rs.10940/- p.m. in the scale of Rs.10940-380(4)-12460-440(3)-13780-520(3)-15340- 690(2)-16720-860(4)-20160-1180(3)-23700 applicable to Office Attendants in Group ‘C’ and they will be eligible for Dearness Allowance, Local Compensatory Allowance, House Rent Allowance, and Grade Allowance as per rules in force from time to time. At present, initial monthly gross emoluments are approximately Rs. 24000/-
Application Fee for NABARD Jobs 2020
SC/ST/PWBD/EXS – Rs.50/-
Others – Rs. 450/-
How to apply for NABARD Recruitment Notification 2020?
Firstly, visit NABARD Official website i.e. www.nabard.org
Check for the NABARD Recruitment Notification pdf below.
Ensure that you meet all the above-listed eligibility points.
Click on Apply Online Link provided below.
Candidates should register themself on the application
Fill in an application form with all necessary details
Attach scanned copies of necessary documents
Pay prescribed application fee
Finally, hit on the submit button to complete your application process.
Frequently Asked Questions About NABARD Recruitment 2020:
1. What is the mode of application form NABARD Recruitment 2019-20? A. Applications for NABARD Recruitment will be accepted only in the Online mode. Candidates can apply for Office Attendant, Assistant Manager posts by following the steps given above
2. Where will the candidates be placed after selection? A. The selected candidates can be placed anywhere in any state of India which has an office of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.
3. What are the important dates I must know for NABARD Jobs 2020? A. Candidates must make note of the following date
Starting Date of Application – 25th December 2019
Last Date To Apply Online – 3rd February 2020
4. What are the eligibility criteria for NABARD Bank Office Attendant Jobs? A. Candidate should have passed 10th Standard (S.S.C./Matriculation) from the concerned State/UT coming under the State/Regional Office to which he/she is applying to be eligible for NABARD Jobs. The candidate must be below 30 years of age.
5. What is the selection process for NABARD Bank Careers? A. Candidates will be selected based on Online Tests and Language Proficiency Test (LPT).
6. How much will I be paid for NABARD Jobs 2020? A. Candidates will be paid Basic pay of Rs.24000/- p.m.
7. What is the application fee that I will have to pay for NABARD Office Attendant Recruitment? A. SC/ST/PWBD/EXS candidates will have to pay – Rs. 50/- as application fee and other candidates have to pay Rs. 450/-.
History of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD):
NABARD was created following the recommendations of the B.Sivaraman Committee (by Law 61 of the Parliament of 1981) of 12 July 1982 to implement the law of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of 1981. NABARD Bank replaces the Rural Planning and Agricultural Credit Department (ACD). and the Credit Cell of the Reserve Bank of India and the Agricultural Refinancing and Development Corporation (ARDC). It is one of the major agencies that provide credit for the development of rural areas. NABARD is the specialized bank for agriculture and rural development in India.
The initial NABARD corpus was 100 crore. Following the review of the composition of the capital stock between the Indian Government and the RBI, the capital disbursed as of 31st May 2017, amounted to Rs. 6,700 crore, while the Indian government had 6,700 crores (100%). participation). The authorized share capital is 30,000 crore. NABARD's international partners include organizations affiliated with the World Bank and global development agencies active in agriculture and rural development. These organizations help NABARD by advising and providing monetary support for the improvement of the population in rural areas and by optimizing the agricultural process.
DHS Assam Syllabus 2020 is present here for Grade III (Jr. Assistant) & IV (Sweeper, Peon & Others) Posts on this page. Get the Latest Syllabus of DHS Assam and all the Director of Health Services, Assam Exam Dates. Candidates can download the Detailed Syllabus 2020 pdf from here. If you need help for preparing for the exam go through the Directorate of Health Services Syllabus that is mentioned below.
DHS Assam Syllabus 2020
Candidates can find the DHS Assam Grade III & IV Exam Pattern 2020 on this page so that they have an idea of the exam they are sitting for. We have mentioned a link for candidates to download the Syllabus Pdf file. We advise the candidates to go through the new Health and Family Welfare Assam Syllabus 2020 and also the DHS Assam Exam Pattern 2020. Therefore, prepare according to the Syllabus format that is mentioned below to score well in the exam.
dhs.assam.gov.in Grade IV Recruitment Selection Procedure
Candidates applying for the posts of Grade IV (Sweeper, Peon & Others) need to undergo the following selection criteria:
Have a look at the DHS Assam Grade IV Exam Pattern 2020 introduced in the table configuration. However, We have attempted our level best to give the subject insightful www.dhsfw.assam.gov.in Grade IV Syllabus 2020 here on this page. Hence, Get DHSFW Official Notification, Study Material, Admit Card, Results, CutOff Marks from our blog.
Searching for the DHS Syllabus? Then you are in the correct stage to get any data with respect to the Grade IV Syllabus 2020. As of late, the DHS Assam have released the vacancies for 600 posts. Presently likewise, the application procedure is dynamic. Candidates who have not enrolled for the given posts can go through the official website @ dhs.assam.gov.in.
www.dhsfw.assam.gov.in Grade III & IV Syllabus 2020 – English
Subject-Verb Agreement.
Idioms & Phrases.
Sentence Rearrangement.
Sentence Corrections.
Cloze Test.
Fill in the Blanks.
Para Jumbles.
Word Formations.
Reading Comprehension.
Missing Verbs.
Error Spotting/Phrase Replacement.
Phrase Replacement.
Unseen Passages.
Directorate of Health Services Grade III & IV Syllabus 2020 – Quantitative Aptitude
Time and Distance.
Volume and Surface Area
Problems on Train.
HCF and LCM.
Boats and streams.
Ratios and Proportions.
Square Root and Cube Root.
Profit and Loss.
Compound Interest.
Problems on Ages.
Time and Work.
Allegation and Mixture.
Pipes and Cisterns.
Surds and Indices.
DHS Assam Syllabus for Grade IV 2020 – Reasoning
Coding-Decoding.
Blood Relations.
Mirror Images
Number Ranking.
Clocks & Calendars.
Non-Verbal Series.
Number Series.
Statement Conclusion.
Alphabet Series.
Decision Making.
Arithmetical Reasoning.
Cubes and Dice.
Embedded Figures.
DHS Assam Grade IV Syllabus 2020 – General Knowledge
BELTRON DEO Syllabus 2020: Dear Candidates !! The Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation Officials are going to conducting the Written Examination for recruiting DEO, Project Assistant, Office Assistant, and other posts. BELTRON Employment News is a golden opportunity for the job seekers who live in Bihar. Before starting your preparation for Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation DEO and Other Examination, it is always a better idea to check the complete BELTRON DEO Syllabus 2020 and also the Exam Pattern provided on this web page.
BELTRON DEO Syllabus and Exam Pattern will help you in estimating the important subject and topics. This also helps you in calculating the subject wise weightage of marks. With the given BELTRON DEO Syllabus, you can prepare well and can get good marks through which you can achieve your dream for Government jobs. Therefore, The Aspirants who applied for the BELTRON Date Entry Operator & Programmer jobs can download the Syllabus and Exam Pattern in PDF through the direct link provided below. For perfect preparation, candidates can also download BELTRON DEO Previous Papers.
Aspirants who applied for BELTRON Jobs have to attend a written test. Based on the performance in the written test, the company will shortlist the candidates and promote them to the Personal Interview. Aspirants who attended the interview will be shortlisted finally based on their performance. The BELTRON Data Entry Operator Selection Process is categorized as follows
Written Examination
Personal Interview
Download BELTRON DEO Syllabus 2020 PDF
The Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation DEO Syllabus is given here. Candidates who have applied for BELTRON DEO Jobs are advised to check the syllabus clearly given below.
BELTRON Syllabus – General English
Grammar
Vocabulary
Verb
Subject-Verb Agreement
Adverb
Idioms & Phrases
Sentence Rearrangement
Comprehension
Tenses
Error Correction
Synonyms
Fill in the Blanks
Articles
Unseen Passages
Antonyms etc
BELTRON DEO General Knowledge Syllabus
Indian National Movement
History of India
Science & Technology
Indian Economy
Environment issues
Current Events: Regional, National & International
Indian Polity
Geography of India
Indian Constitution
BELTON Exam Syllabus – Numerical Ability
Time and Work.
Relationship Concepts
Number Systems
Averages
Analogies
Mensuration
Discount
Fundamental arithmetical operations
Decimals and Fractions
Time and Distance
Profit and Loss
Verbal and Figure Classification
Percentages
A relationship between Numbers
Interest
Verbal Series
Non-Verbal Series
Ratio and Proportion
Ratio and Time
Coding-Decoding
Mental Ability
Use of Tables and Graphs
Computation of Whole Numbers
Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation DEO Computer Syllabus
Vizag Steel Plant Previous Question Papers for Management Trainee, Operator cum Trainee (OCM) is available here. Applicants of Vizag Steel Plant recruitment 2019 for mechanical, electrical, engineering & diploma streams can find papers pdf here. Go through the article and get free material and check the exam dates for RINL Vizag Steel Recruitment MT exam 2020.
Vizag Steel Plant Previous Question Papers Pdf
Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) Vizag Steel Plant (VSP) given the recruitment notification for188 Mgt Trainee Vacancies. VSP RINL Recruitment board is going to conduct the written exam in the upcoming months. Hence, if you are one going to appear for the written test? Then here is Vizag Steel Plant MT Model Question Paper Pdf.
Vizag Steel Plant Management Trainee Previous Question Paper for Mechanical, Electrical Pdf download links are given below. Candidates can make use of these materials in your preparation. The model paper given on our page is free to download. Here is the overview of VSP RINL MT written exam 2020.
The Selection of the candidate for Mgt Trainee or OCM is based on Online CBT Test followed by Certificate Verification and Medical Exam.
Check the exam pattern details for the written test below. Knowing the exam pattern helps while referring to the model papers. Also, helps in understanding how the Vizag Steel Management Trainee Question Paper is going to be.
VSP Mgt Trainee, OCM Written Test Exam Pattern Details
Applicants of MT, OCM recruitment will be having questions related to general aptitude, general awareness, English and concern subject related. Where the question paper will be having objective type multiple-choice questions. Check the complete details in the tabular section below.
The exam will be having 2 segments and each segment details are given in the below table.
Vizag Steel Plant Mgt Trainee, Operator Cum Mechanic (OCM) Written Exam Pattern 2020
Subjects
Questions
Time
General Awareness
100
2 Hrs
Numerical Ability/Aptitude
General English
Data-Interpretation
Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning
The paper will be having Objective Type MCQ’s.
The question paper will be in bilingual (Hindi/English) languages.
Get complete syllabus from the link at end of the article.
Vizag Steel Plant MT Previous Question Paper Pdf
In this section, we have given the direct download links for Vizag Steel Plant Management Trainee, Operator Cum Trainee (OCM) Previous Question Paper Pdf. Visitors just need to click on the link to download the pdf. The Vizag Steel Mgt Trainee Paper given below is free of cost.
We advise referring all the material given below before going to the examination. Hope our material will help you in your preparation. Share the details with your friends who are looking for Vizag Steel Plant OCM Previous Question Paper pdf.
Vizag Steel Plant Management Trainee Previous Papers Pdf
BELTRON DEO Question Paper Pdf is available here. Candidates who applied for the BELTRON DEO, Project Assistant and other jobs can get the previous year question papers with answers here. The model paper given on our page is free to download. Also, find the latest BELTRON exam pattern details and written exam date details in the sections below. Interested can also visit the official website for more details.
BELTRON DEO Exam Question Paper
Looking for Beltron exam question papers for DEO and other posts. Then you are in the right place. As Beltron Recruitment has given the notification for various project executives and data entry operator vacancies recently. A huge number of job seekers who are looking for government jobs might have applied. Hence, all those contenders might be looking for the Beltron previous year question paper to start their preparation. To help those we have given the material for DEO and PE written exam on our page.
As the Beltron DEO previous year question paper pdf helps the applicants in preparation. We have given the free download link in the section below. Candidates can download the pdf just by clicking on the link. Also, check the exam pattern for the written test in the section following the exam question papers. However, here are the details regarding the Beltron DEO & PE recruitment notification.
The Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation is yet to announce the exam date for the written test. Hence, keep checking our page for more regular updates. Download the Beltron material for written test in the section below. Also, check the exam pattern details before starting your preparation.
BELTRON Previous Question Papers Pdf
Candidates can download the BELTRON DEO Old Question Papers for better preparation. Practicing the test papers will give help you in achieving a good score. Therefore, we have provided sample model papers here. These papers will be very useful during the preparation time. Hence, download the BELTRON Data Entry Operator previous year question papers in the Pdf format.
Refer all the papers given for better preparation. The papers given are only for reference purpose and the same question may not come in the main examination. Hence, practice more model papers to score good marks in the written test. Interested can check the official website @ www.bsedc.bihar.gov.in for more details
Download BELTRON Data Entry Operator Model Question Paper Pdf
As known Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation is going to conduct the written test for the applicants. The officials shortlist the candidates based on their performance in the written examination. Hence, check the complete syllabus and exam pattern details before starting your preparation.
The knowledge of BELTRON exam pattern helps in understanding the subjects. Also, helps in analyzing the level of question and answers given in the examination. However, here is the complete details regarding the BELTRON DEO Exam Pattern 2019.
Aspirants searching for the BELTRON DEO Admit Card 2019. can get here. Bihar State Electronics Limited Authority conducts the written examinations, so the officials are releasing the admit card soon. Stay tuned to our website recruitment.guru and check the BELTRON DEO Hall Ticket 2019. Furthermore, the candidates need to download your BELTRON DEO Admit Card 2019 through online mode.
Latest UPPSC Syllabus & Exam Pattern 2020 for Degree College Lecturer, Computer Operator, Programmer, Programmer Grade 1, Medical Officer, PCS, Asst Teacher & other posts are present here. Therefore, applicants looking for UP PSC Jobs can refer to this article for study materials. The aspirants can download the Uttar Pradesh PSC Syllabus along with the Exam Pattern from the links provided. Go through the following sections for the detailed UPPSC Exam Syllabus 2020 and exam pattern. Moreover, interested applicants can also visit the UPPSC Official Website @ uppsc.up.nic.in for Latest and Updated UPPSC Syllabus 2020.
Looking for Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) Degree College Lecturer Syllabus 2020? Then, this is the right place for you. Here you can find Uttar Pradesh PSC syllabus & exam pattern details along with exam date, previous papers, etc. However, go through the further sections to get complete details of the UP Public Service Commission exam pattern & other details.
UPPSC Lecturer Exam Pattern is given in detail under this section. knowing the exam pattern helps in understanding the structure of the exam along with the type of questions asked in the exam. However, check the below table to get a rough idea about the exam.
Uttar Pradesh Degree College Lecturer Exam Pattern 2020
Sl. No
Exam Type
Subjects
1
Objective Type
General Knowledge
2
Reasoning
3
General Aptitude
4
English
5
Subject Related Questions
Download Syllabus of Uttar Pradesh PSC Lecturer 2020 Pdf
Here we have given brief details of the topics involved in the exam and also the link that gives detailed syllabus information along with exam pattern.
Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) released notification to fill up 16 Computer Operator (Grade B) vacancies. If you are interested in this UPPSC Recruitment 2020? Then, apply for the UPPSC exam 2020 before the last date is over. All the candidates who have already applied for the posts must start preparing for the exams. To help those aspirants in their exam preparation we are providing UPPSC Computer Operator Syllabus & exam pattern 2020 pdf details subject wise. However, aspirants can also download syllabus pdf by clicking on the link given in the below section of the article.
Here we have given the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission exam pattern that depicts the structure of the exam. Check the details like the number of marks, number of questions, subjects involved in the exam. Furthermore, follow the Programmer Grade – 1 & 2, Computer Operator B Exam Patterns given in the following tables.
UP Public Service Commission Computer Operator Grade B Exam Pattern 2020
Subjects
Questions
Marks
Logical Ability
10
20
English Comprehension
10
20
Exposure to Computer System and Application
50
100
General Awareness
15
30
English and Hindi Typing (Each of 27.5 Marks)
55
Total
85
225
The question will be objective type questions.
Each question carries 2 marks.
Duration of the exam is 2 hours.
Download Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) Syllabus Pdf
Candidates can find subject wise syllabus & exam pattern under this section along with official syllabus pdf link. For all those details read further.
UPPSC Programmer, Programmer Grade -1 Syllabus
• Computer-based statistical & Numerical methods, Discrete Structures • Programming and Problem Solving through C and C++ • Data Structures through C and C++ • Object-Oriented Programming through Java • Computer System Architecture • Database Management System with working knowledge on FoxPro/ Oracle/Ingress/Sybase/DB/JET etc. • Structured System Analysis and Design • Operating Systems, UNIX and Shell Programming • Automata Theory and Compiler Design • Data Communication and Network Technologies with case studies on NOVELL/Windows NT • Wireless and Mobile Communication, Network Management, Cryptography and Information Security. • Computer Graphics and Multimedia, Digital Image Processing, Visual Programming • Software Engineering & CASE Tools, Software Testing & Quality Management, Software Project Management • Artificial Intelligence, Neural Networks, Data Warehouse & Data Mining • INTERNET Technology, Web Design, and Web Services • Parallel Computing • Machine Learning and Python • E-Commerce
Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC ) Programmer Grade – 2 Syllabus
OS: Windows/Unix Commands & Tools
Programming Language: C, C++, JAVA
Scripting Languages: JavaScript, Perl
DATABASE: Basic Concepts, Queries, Transact
DBMS Packages: MS Access, Oracle, MYSQL, SQL Server
WEB SERVER: Deployment and knowledge of PHP, (APACHE IIS) ASP, NET
NETWORK: Internetworking, Internet Socket programming skills
Web Content: HTML/XML exposure Development
Document preparation: Working knowledge of Office Suite
Uttar Pradesh PSC Computer Operator Syllabus
OS: Working knowledge with essential commands of Windows/Unix.
Programming Languages: Programming skills in C and C++ or JAVA
Document Preparation: Deep exposure in Office Suites
DBMS Packages: Data Entry skills in different DBMS packages like MS Access, Oracle, MYSQL, etc.
Internet: Exposure on Web Server and Web Page management.
UPPSC Syllabus for Allopathic Medical Officer, Medical Officer & Other Posts is updated here. The UPPSC Recruitment 2020 has given official notification for Various Posts. However, the aspirants who applied for the UPPSC Careers can check the details below. Here we updated the latest UPPSC Syllabus and Exam pattern for Allopathic Medical Officer and Other Vacancies. Also, refer the UPPSC Previous Year Question Papers for free from the link given in at the end of the article.
PSC Uttar Pradesh Allopathic Medical Officer Syllabus 2020
Description
Details
Post Names
Allopathic Medical Officer, Medical Officer, Hydrologist & Others
No. of Vacancies
Various
Category Name
Syllabus
Exam Date
Update Soon
UPPSC Exam Pattern 2020
The UPPSC Syllabus and Exam Pattern are updated here. The Aspirants who are looking for latest UPPSC Recruitment Syllabus 2020 can check here. The UPPSC is going to conduct the Screening Test Followed by Interview for the applicants. Hence, let’s check the detailed UPPSC Syllabus and Exam Pattern and start your preparation for Allopathic Medical Officer, Medical Officer & Other. Also, download the UPPSC Syllabus in English Pdf from the link given below. Moreover, interested candidates can check the Official UPPSC Syllabus page for more details.
Uttar Pradesh PSC Allopathic Medical Officer Test pattern 2020
Subject Name
No of Questions
Time Duration
Technical Subjects
120
2 Hrs
General Studies
30
Total
150
Question Papers will be Objective Type MCQ’s.
Total Number of Questions 150.
Negative marking will be as per the UPPSC Rules.
New Syllabus of UPPSC 2020
The Official UPPSC Allopathic Medical Officer, Medical Officer, Hydrologist & Others Posts Exam Syllabus is yet announced. The Below listed topics are only for reference purpose. Hence, Click on the UPPSC Syllabus in English Pdf and check the topic wise UPPSC Syllabus 2020. Later download the UPPSC Syllabus in Hindi pdf from the link given. All the best and start your preparation for the UPPSC Screening Test 2020.
The Candidates those who check the UPPSC Syllabus for Allopathic Mecial Officer & Other Posts can refer to the Previous Papers. However, we uploaded the all UPPSC Previous Question Papers, Study Material, Model Question Papers pdf. So, Click on the link given below and download free Pdf.
Applied for the UPPSC (P.C.S), Assistant Conservator of Forest (A.C.F)/ Range Forest Officer (R.F.O) Service Examination 2020. Then have a look at the UPPSC PCS Exam Syllabus details below. However, we have given clear details of UPPSC PCS Exam Pattern and Syllabus details. Also, download the UPPSC PCS Syllabus pdf below. Furthermore, have a look at the Official UPPSC Recruitment Notification given below. Also, visit the Official website uppsc.up.nic.in for more details.
Have a look at both Prelims and Mains UPPSC Exam Pattern for PCS, ACF and RFO vacancies 2020. The UPPSC PCS Pre Exam pattern and the Mains Exam patter are as follows. Also, download the Complete UPPSC PCS Exam pattern, Syllabus 2020 below.
Pre-Exam Pattern – UPPSC Exam 2020
Paper
Subject Name
Marks
Time Duration
Paper-I
General Studies-I
200
2 Hrs
Paper-II
General Studies-II
200
2 Hrs
Exam is of Objective type questions.
Mains Exam pattern – www.upsc.gov.in
Paper
Subject Name
Marks
Time Duration
Paper-I
General Studies-I
200
2 Hrs
Paper-II
General Studies-II
200
2 Hrs
Essay
150
3 Hrs
Hindi Essay
150
3 Hrs
The exam is of Objective type questions.
UPPSC Pre Exam PAPER-I Syllabus
Current events of National and International Importance
History of India and Indian National Movement
Indian Governance & Politics – The Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights issues, etc.
Economics & Social Development – The Sustainable Development Poverty Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives and etc.
World & India Geography – The Physical, Economical, and Social Geography of World and India.
General Issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity & Climate Changes.
General Science.
Prelims Exam Paper-II Syllabus
Comprehension
Interpersonal Skills Including Communication Skills
General Mental Ability
Logical & Analytical Ability
Decision Making
Problem Solving
Mathematics (Class-X)
General Hindi up to Class 10th.
General English up to Class 10th.
Main Exam PAPER-I Syllabus
History of India
Population, Environment & Urbanization in Indian Context.
Indian national Movement & Indian Culture.
World Geography.
Indian Geography and Natural Resources.
National & International current Evernts.
Indian Agriculture, Trade & Commerce.
Special Knowledge on UP State.
UPPSC Mains PAPER-II Syllabus
Politics
Economics
General Science
General Mental Ability.
Statistical Analysis, Graphs, Diagrams.
The Politics and Economics Questions will be on Indian Politics and Economics.
Essay Syllabus
Section-A
Literature & Culture
Social Sphere.
Political Sphere.
Section-B
Science, Environment & Technology.
Economic Sphere.
Agriculture, Industry & Trade.
Section-C
National & International Events.
Natural calamities, land Slide, Earthquakes, Deluge Etc.
National Development Programmes & Projects.
Hindi Syllabus
Q & A from unseen Passages
Abstraction
Government & Semi-Govt Letter, telegram, Official Orders, Notification, Circular Writing.
Knowledge of Words & Uses.
Previous Papers Download
Download the UPPSC Pre and Mains Exam Previous Papers 2020 from the following link. The Aspirant can download the UPPSC Previous Papers Pdf. Also, go through the complete material. Hope our material will help you in your Preparation for UPPSC Exam 2020 for PCS, ACF, and RFO.
Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission Syllabus for Ayurvedic Medical Officer, Medical Officer, Assistant Radio & Other posts is given here. Moreover, in this article, you can also check the UPPSC Medical Officer Syllabus for various topics.
Download UPPSC Syllabus 2020 Pdf
Description
Details
Board Name
Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission
Post Name
Ayurvedic Medical Officer, Medical Officer, Assistant radio and other posts
Uttar Pradesh UPPSC Medical Officer Exam Pattern is given here. You can also get the detailed Syllabus for UPPSC Ayurvedic Medical Officer and other posts.
Exam Type
Subjects
Objective
General Knowledge
General English
Logical Reasoning
Medical Subjects
It is an objective type exam
There will be questions from various subjects like General Knowledge, General English, Logical Reasoning, and Medical Subjects.
Download UPPSC Medical Officer Syllabus 2020 Pdf
Are you looking for the UPPSC Syllabus 2020 Pdf? In the below section, you can check the topics comes under the various subjects include General Knowledge, Logical Reasoning, General English, General Hindi, Computer Knowledge, and Medical Concepts.
UPPSC Syllabus 2020 for General Knowledge
Geography.
Environmental Issues.
Inventions and Discoveries.
Famous Days & Dates
Sports.
Heritage.
Famous Days & Dates.
Indian Parliament.
Artists.
Tourism.
Indian Politics.
Sports
Geography
Current Affairs.
Indian Economy.
Current Affairs
Literature.
Rivers, Lakes and, Seas.
Famous Places in India.
Civics.
Science & Technology
General Science.
Countries and Capitals.
Indian History.
Inventions in the World
Famous Books & Authors
Culture & heritage of India
Environment
Indian Culture
Basic Computer
UP PSC Medical Officer Syllabus 2020 for Logical Reasoning
Analogies
Number Series.
Syllogism.
Blood Relations.
Coding-Decoding.
Number Ranking.
Statements & Conclusions.
Data Interpretation.
Mirror Images.
Alphabet Series.
Statements & Arguments.
Decision Making.
Cubes and Dice.
Arithmetical Reasoning.
Clocks & Calendars.
Embedded Figures.
Non-Verbal Series.
Directions.
Uttar Pradesh UPPSC Medical Officer Syllabus 2020 for General English
Comprehension passages.
Sentence Arrangement.
Active Voice and Passive Voice.
Synonyms.
Antonyms.
Joining Sentences.
Error Correction (Phrase in Bold).
Fill in the blanks.
One Word Substitutions.
Sentence Completion.
Prepositions.
Error Correction (Underlined Part).
Spotting Errors.
Idioms and Phrases.
Passage Completion.
Sentence Improvement.
UPPSC MO Drug Inspector Syllabus 2020 for General Hindi
Vocabulary
Grammer
Fill in the Blanks
Antonyms
Comprehension
Error detection
Synonyms
Phrases
UPPSC Syllabus 2020 Pdf for Computer Knowledge
History of Computers
Computer Fundamentals
Input-Output devices
Memory
CPU
UPS
Hard Disk
Computer Hardware & Software
Networking Concepts
MODEM
LAN
WAN
Communication Technology
Operating Systems-Windows
Microsoft Office
Word Processing (MS Word)
Presentation Knowledge (MS Powerpoint)
Microsoft Access (MS Access)
Spread Sheet (MS Excel)
Basic knowledge of Cybersecurity
Malware & Virus
Warm
Internet Security
Network Security
Internet Usage
UPPSC MO Syllabus for Medical Concepts
Anatomy
Ophthalmology
Biochemistry
Microbiology
Pharmacology
FMT
Skin & VD
Radio Diagnosis
Dental
ENT
Pathology
O & G
Medicine
Physiology
Pediatrics
Orthopedics
Community Medicine
Surgery
Psychiatry
Anesthesiology etc.
Uttar Pradesh PSC Medical Officer Syllabus 2020 Pdf – Download Here
The UPPSC LT Grade Assistant Teacher Syllabus Pdf is attached below. Candidates who have applied for the latest UPPSC Recruitment 2020 for LT Grade Assistant Teacher Jobs can now get Syllabus and Examination Pattern here. UPPSC Examination Date is not yet finalized and the will soon be updated on this page, once it is officially released. As of now, all applicants can download UPPSC Syllabus 2020 and check out Examination Pattern here.
The Uttar Pradesh PSC Syllabus Pdf for various posts is enclosed here. Therefore, applicants who have applied for the UPPSC recruitment can check here for the syllabus. The Uttar Pradesh PSC Exam Date is not yet finalized but it may be held in the coming months. Hence, candidates are requested to follow the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission SSA Syllabus 2020 from this page. The syllabus is essential to begin your exam preparation. So, click on the downloading links and download the UPPSC Sahayak Samiksha Adhikari Syllabus 2020 from this page. Also, check the Uttar Pradesh PSC Exam Pattern here. Interested aspirants can also visit the official website of Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission for UPPSC Exam Syllabus along with the Test Pattern.
UP PSC SSA Syllabus 2020 Details
Name of the Commission
Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission
Name of the Posts
Sahayak Samiksha Adhikari
No. of Vacancies
Various
Apply Mode
Online
Category
Syllabus
Job Location
Uttar Pradesh
Official Website
www.uppsc.up.nic.in
Uttar Pradesh PSC SSA Exam Pattern 2020 for Prelims
Paper
Name of the Subject
Marks
I
General Studies
140
II
General Hindi
60
Total
200
UPPSC Sahayak Samiksha Adhikari Exam Pattern 2020 for Mains
Paper
Name of the Subject
Marks
I
General Studies
120
II
General Hindi and Drafting
100+60
III
Hindi Essay
120
Total
400
Syllabus for UPPSC Prelims Exam 2020
General Studies:
General Science.
History of India.
Indian National Movement.
Indian Polity, Economy & Culture.
Population, Ecology and Urbanisation (in India Context).
Indian Agriculture, Commerce and Trade.
World Geography and Geography and Natural Resources of India.
Current National and International Important Events.
General Intelligentsia.
Special Knowledge regarding Education, Culture, Agriculture, Industry Trade, Living & Social Traditions of Uttar Pradesh.
General Hindi:
Opposites.
Sentence and Correction in framing.
One word for several words.
Same usage and same nature words.
A Noun as Defined by an adjective & adjectives.
Synonymous words.
Syllabus for UP PSC Mains Exam 2020
Hindi and Drafting (Part 1 – Conventional):
Heading of Given Passage, Precis and explanation of the underlined parts.
Precis in Tabular Form of any given Govt. Letter.
Correspondence.
(i) Official / Demi official letter.
(ii) Office Memo/Memo/Circular.
(iii) Communique/Annotation & Reports/Reminder.
Definition Vocabulary (Administrative and Commercial).
(i) English to Hindi.
(ii) Hindi to English.
(iii) Idioms and Phrases.
Computer Knowledge.
General Hindi and Drafting (Part 2 – Objective Type – General Vocabulary)
BRLPS Manager Call Letter 2020 Released – Get your BRLPS Admit Card for the Manager Interview. Hence, the authorities of BRLPS has issued the admit card on 16th January 2020. Therefore, Candidates can get the Interview Date after downloading the BRLPS Manager Hall Ticket 2020. We have provided a direct link to download the call letter at the bottom of the table.
>>> BRLPS Manager Interview Letter 2020 – Download Here <<<
BRLPS Community Coordinator Admit Card 2019 – Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society has issued the admit card for the post of Office Assistant. The examination has been scheduled for 22nd August to 25th August 2019. Hence, download the admit card for various posts from the direct link provided below. Moreover, Aspirants can check out the application status from the upcoming page. Therefore, download the hall ticket before the exam date.
BRLPS Admit Card 2019 – Applicants who have applied for 3409 State Project Management Unit Positions, District Project Coordination Unit Positions, Block Project Implementation Unit Positions, State Consultant-MLE & MIS, Accountant, Project Manager (ODF-S Cell), Consultant-SLWM (ODF-S Cell), Consultant-IEC/ CB (ODF-S Cell), Consultant-Technical Sanitation (ODF-S Cell), District Coordinator, District Consultant-CB & IEC, District Consultant-MLE & MIS, District Consultant-SLWM can now download the admit card from the below section. Moreover, the admit card has been released on 02nd July 2019.
BRLPS Area Coordinator Admit Card 2019
Those Candidates who submitted their application should download the admit card through the direct link. Moreover, the admit card has been released on the official website only. Aspirants can download the admit card by entering the registration details generated at the time of Application Registration. A lot of candidates have registered their application at the time of registration. Only the eligible candidates will be allowed to participate in the examination.
Provisional Shortlisted candidates list has been revealed by the board. From that, Aspirants can check their eligibility. Later they can download the BRLPSS Call Letter 2020. Candidates can get the details about the venue of the exam, Exam Date and other details from the BRLPS Admit Card for Community Coordinator.
Name of the Applicant.
Exam Date, Time & Centre.
Post Applied for.
Application or Registration Number
Date of Birth
Important Instructions.
BRLPS Community Coordinator Exam 2019
Candidates can view the exam date in the admit card itself. Moreover, Participants have to download the hall ticket to know the exam date. Thus, the examination will be held at the scheduled place. Hence, all the aspirants should download the BRLPS admit card priorly to know the exam date. Therefore, the written examination will be held in the allotted time. Candidates who are entering the hall after the declared time will not be permitted to write the exam. So, make sure of your availability within the stated time. Moreover, must follow the important and general instructions given in the BRLPS CC Admit Card 2019.
Required things to Download BRLPS Hall Ticket 2020-21
Applicants can get the BRLPS Call Letter from the below section. Many of them had applied for various posts. Those who got the notification of shortlisted candidates can now get the Call Letter. However, Candidates downloaded the BRLPS Call Letter they should carry any one of the original document along with it. Read the below-given document list and carry the valid document.
Aadhar Card
College ID
Ration Card
Driving License
PAN Card
Voter ID
Any Valid ID Proof Issued By Gazetted Officer
Bank Passbook
Passport
How to Download BRLPS Admit Card for Community Coordinator?
Click on “BRLPS Admit Card ” Link.
Select the desired position you applied.
Enter the Application Number and Date of Birth.
Enter the Registered Mobile Number.
Click on to the Admit Card Download Option.
An Admit Card page will be available on the screen.
Enter all the necessary information.
Click on to the download option and download the admit card.
Take a print out and carry for the exam.
Direct Links to Download BRLPS Exam Admit Card 2019
NEW DELHI | MUMBAI: Vodafone Idea is likely to approach the Supreme Court for extension of deadline to meet its obligations on adjusted gross revenue (AGR), and may also file a curative plea after its review petition on the court's October 24 ruling was dismissed on Thursday.The government has estimated Vodafone Idea's dues in the AGR matter to be more than Rs 53,000 crore, including over Rs 28,000 crore in licence fee, interest and penalties and the rest on spectrum usage charges (SUC). However, the company's internal calculation pegs it at Rs 44,000 crore. This, after the top court's judgment widened the definition of the revenue on which telecom companies need to pay their licence fee and spectrum usage charge to include non-core items."The immediate course of action for the company is to file for an extension of timeline, which is currently a week away, so that the company may find routes to raise the money and have some time to think the future course of action," a person familiar with the company's plan told ET. 73316189 Later in the day, Vodafone Idea said in a statement to the stock exchanges that it "is exploring further options, including filing of a curative petition".An email query sent to Vodafone Idea remained unanswered till press time.The person cited earlier said that in case the top court rejects the company's plea seeking an extension of deadline, Vodafone Idea might be forced into insolvency, as has been stated by the company's chairman, Kumar Mangalam Birla, earlier.Last month Birla had said, "If we are not getting anything, then I think it is end of story for Vodafone Idea. It does not make sense to put good money after bad… We will shut shop".Birla's remark had come close on the heels of Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read's statement in November last year that the joint venture between the Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Plc may head for liquidation of India business if the government does not ease spectrum fees. Read had called the situation "critical, if you don't get the remedies being suggested".Nitin Soni, director (corporates) at Fitch, said that if Vodafone Idea's promoters don't inject fresh equity, the company's exit from the telecom space would be "imminent".Along with loss of jobs of about 10,000 employees, it could also be worrying for Indian banks to which the company has an exposure of close to Rs 30,000 crore out of the Rs 1,17,300 crore of gross debt sitting in its books.Vodafone Idea is also in the process of selling its data centres and optic-fibre assets, besides its 11% stake in Indus Towers, to help pare the debt. It had also raised Rs 25,000 crore in March, 2019, via a rights issue, a part of which it can use to pay the AGR dues, as per the modified objectives of the issue.The company which along with Bharti Airtel has been knocking at the government's door for a relief package for the telecom sector, which has seen a degrowth in its revenue owing to the intense price war unleashed after the entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm.Vodafone Idea last year posted India's worst ever corporate loss of over Rs 50,000 crore in the September quarter as it set aside nearly Rs 26,000 crore toward AGR dues. It had expressed doubts about continuing as a going concern if made to pay the entire AGR due amount."Vodafone Idea in all meetings with us has made it very clear that it has no money to pay," a senior telecom department official told ET.If Vodafone Idea does not meet the January 23 payment deadline, DoT will have to send demand notices. It then has the option of invoking bank guarantees and revoking its permits as a last resort, the official said.The final amount the company needs to pay will be calculated by the telecom department once concerned companies pay up dues after their internal assessments.The telco had filed a review petition in the Supreme Court, hoping for a reduction in penalties and interest, which account for 75% of the dues.
NEW DELHI: Top executives at several multinational and Indian companies on Thursday took umbrage at commerce minister Piyush Goyal's comment that Amazon was not doing any favour to India by announcing a fresh $1 billion investment in the country."Until now it used to be a matter of pride to announce such big investments into India," said the chief executive of an MNC. "But if this is the response companies are going to get from the current dispensation, they will think twice before making or announcing investments here."The top executive of another company said this did not "reflect well" on India. "It will only drive foreign investments away," he said.On Thursday, while speaking at a security conference in New Delhi, Goyal sounded unimpressed by Amazon's pledge. "They may have put in a billion dollars but then if they make a loss of a billion dollars every year, then they jolly well have to finance that billion dollars," Goyal said. "So, it;s not as if they are doing a great favour to India when they invest a billion dollars." 73315924 Several of the business leaders ET talked to said they were offended by the minister's statement. They spoke on the condition of anonymity."This is not Indian culture. Mr Goyal's choice of words could have been better," said the chief executive of an Indian company.Over the months, the government has been taking a tough stand on alleged circumventing of Indian ecommerce rules by Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart. The chorus against Amazon and Flipkart is also getting louder every day from small traders to politicians.Earlier on Thursday, Vijay Chauthaiwale, the in charge of BJP's foreign affairs department, responded to a tweet by Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos that many believed was suggesting the world's richest businessman to rein in the Washington Post – also owned by Bezos – from making critical coverage on India. "Mr @JeffBezos, please tell this to your employees in Washington DC. Otherwise your charm offensive is likely to be waste of time and money," Chauthaiwale wrote, while reacting to tweet of a video by Bezos announcing the $1 billion investment in India. The American businessman has also made a comment that the 21st century belonged to India.A CEO of a large consumer-facing company said Goyal was making those comments out of compulsions to please small retailers and traders, who form the backbone of BJP's vote-bank, as the segment is perceived to be hurt by deep discounting and alleged predatory pricing by Amazon and Flipkart. "The government doesn't want to antagonise the trading community," he said. "But such statements would send a wrong signal to investors."The chief executive of a frontline consumer electronics maker lauded Amazon's investment plans and said any such capital infusion, especially at a time when the country was battling one of its worst slowdowns in years, should be welcomed. "Statements like these may impact MNC investor sentiments, especially at a time when the government is trying to promote Make in India 2.0," he said.
NEW DELHI: Kishore Biyani, chief executive of the Future Group, Thursday said that traditional offline retailing and web commerce are not as distinct as they once were, with the odds shortening that the two channels to reach end consumers would head toward total convergence in the near future."Physical stores have their own advantages and nuances and digital has its own advantages," Biyani said in New Delhi at a conference organized by Amazon. "Both have come in different eras and in another 3-4 years, it will become phygital," referring to a retailing term visualises merger the two formats. "It has happened in the (other parts of the) world and it will happen faster in India."Biyani is one of India's most successful retailing pioneers, and is often credited with bringing organized retailing to a country serviced by millions of mom-and-pop kirana, or neighbourhood, stores. His web commerce ventures have been more circumspect, however.Now, Biyani is partnering with Amazon to expand his omnichannel business. Last year, Amazon invested around Rs 1,500 crore to buy a 49% stake in promoter company Future Coupons, a purchase that indirectly gave Amazon about 3.6% in Biyani's flagship entity Future Retail.As part of the agreement between the two companies, Amazon will be an authorised online sales channel for Future Retail, while its stores and warehouses will be used as distribution centres by Amazon for quicker delivery. Both retailers are already testing this service across 22 stores and have said that they will roll out the initiative across Future Retail's store network on agreed timelines.Biyani said that it was tough to build any brand in the initial days and labels struggled to find takers."Today, the customer is searching for brands," Biyani said. He added that the emergence of ecommerce in India has "changed the rules of the game" in terms of brand building. "Today, you search for a product (online) and discover a brand and start using it," he said. "So, the rules of engagement have changed."
By Andy MukherjeeJeff Bezos is in India at an awkward moment. Just before his visit, the country's antitrust authority ordered a probe into the business practices of its two main American-owned shopping websites. One of them is his.How worried should the Amazon.com Inc. boss be?If the Competition Commission's recently released study on e-commerce is any guide, Bezos shouldn't lose any sleep over the $6.5 billion he has committed so far — including $1 billion just this week — to win the only billion-person market that's open to Western tech firms. The document, which forms the basis for the antitrust investigation, has much fodder for action, but nothing that hasn't already been chewed over.Amazon India and Walmart Inc.-owned Flipkart Online Services Pvt. are required to be neutral online marketplaces. Sellers they own can't offer goods on their websites. That's the law, and sure enough, last year Bezos hastily sold a big chunk of Amazon's stake in Cloudtail, its top Indian partner, to stay on the right side of it. Flipkart, too, found a way to tiptoe around the requirement that foreign-owned platforms only facilitate e-commerce; they aren't allowed to control inventory or influence prices. 73315777 Yet many small retailers, who compete online, believe their products are outgunned in customer searches by preferred sellers — such as Cloudtail and Appario Retail Pvt for Amazon and OmniTech Retail India Ltd. for Flipkart — and their heavily discounted offerings. Here's how the Competition Commission's study frames the problem: "The price points at which these sellers sell the products on the marketplace platforms are in many instances lower than the cost price for the brick-and-mortar retailers. These retailers maintain that, therefore, they either have to match the online discounts at a significant loss or the online market would be foreclosed for them. This was pointed out to be a particularly pressing concern in the case of mobile phones, where online markets constitute around 40% of the total sales in the country."With a traders' association announcing sit-ins and protest rallies in 300 cities, Bezos understands the need to manage the anger of stakeholders in an important market. At a summit of sellers in New Delhi on Wednesday, he announced a fresh $1 billion investment to help bring small businesses online. To political authorities, Amazon wants to demonstrate the social usefulness of e-commerce by committing to export $10 billion of made-in-India goods by 2025. Can the competition investigation upend existing business models? There's a hint of a stick in the watchdog's study, which notes that, "Any potentially anti-competitive unilateral conduct of platforms or platforms' vertical arrangements with sellers/service providers will receive enforcement attention." Yet, in closing, the commission just asks the industry to police itself by working on things like describing search-ranking parameters "in plain and intelligible language."It'll be unrealistic to expect anything more dramatic from the formal inquiry. After all, the final customer isn't complaining. She would rather receive a bigger discount on a new mobile phone than ask why it's being exclusively sold online. More than any antitrust order, the real challenge for Bezos will come from "phygital" retail, a combination of physical and digital commerce that Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man, is currently piloting. Ambani's ambition is to link up 30 million neighborhood stores to the 360 million-plus customers of his 4G telecom network, Jio. If he can dominate grocery and fast-moving consumer goods by offering discounts, cashless payment, in-store credit and the convenience of home delivery, small shops around the country could become one gigantic storefront for his JioMart. If they share their purchase, sales and inventory data with Ambani, they may even get to enjoy lower borrowing costs from banks and nonbank financiers. They won't be as independent as they now are, but they will be bigger and more profitable, and more competitive against pure e-commerce. This future isn't too far away. The takeaway for the antitrust authority is that they can't put up new restrictions on Amazon and Flipkart based on the 7% of a $1.2 trillion retail market that's gone online. Major changes are afoot in the remaining 93% of the industry that's currently offline. Wait for the churn that comes after JioMart goes live. Bezos, too, will be waiting.
Bankrupt Indian airline Jet Airways Ltd said it had agreed to sell its assets in Netherlands to Dutch airline KLM. If the deal is finalised, it will only involve a sale of part of the company's business and not impact the shareholding pattern, Jet said in a statement dated Jan. 16. It did not detail the assets held in Netherlands. Once India's biggest private carrier, Jet stopped flying in April after running out of cash, leaving thousands without jobs and pushing up air fares across the country. It was admitted to bankruptcy court in June after its lenders, led by State Bank of India SBI.NS, failed to agree on a revival plan. KLM, a part of Air France KLM, was once codeshare partners with the defunct airline and in the wake of Jet's collapse had added flights to India.
NEW DELHI: Kishore Biyani, chief executive of the Future Group, Thursday said that traditional offline retailing and web commerce are not as distinct as they once were, with the odds shortening that the two channels to reach end consumers would head toward total convergence in the near future."Physical stores have their own advantages and nuances and digital has its own advantages," Biyani said in New Delhi at a conference organized by Amazon. "Both have come in different eras and in another 3-4 years, it will become phygital," referring to a retailing term visualises merger the two formats. "It has happened in the (other parts of the) world and it will happen faster in India."Biyani is one of India's most successful retailing pioneers, and is often credited with bringing organized retailing to a country serviced by millions of mom-and-pop kirana, or neighbourhood, stores. His web commerce ventures have been more circumspect, however.Now, Biyani is partnering with Amazon to expand his omnichannel business. Last year, Amazon invested around Rs 1,500 crore to buy a 49% stake in promoter company Future Coupons, a purchase that indirectly gave Amazon about 3.6% in Biyani's flagship entity Future Retail.As part of the agreement between the two companies, Amazon will be an authorised online sales channel for Future Retail, while its stores and warehouses will be used as distribution centres by Amazon for quicker delivery. Both retailers are already testing this service across 22 stores and have said that they will roll out the initiative across Future Retail's store network on agreed timelines.Biyani said that it was tough to build any brand in the initial days and labels struggled to find takers."Today, the customer is searching for brands," Biyani said. He added that the emergence of ecommerce in India has "changed the rules of the game" in terms of brand building. "Today, you search for a product (online) and discover a brand and start using it," he said. "So, the rules of engagement have changed."
Mumbai: Global distressed asset buyers are picking up Reliance Capital's junk-rated debt securities following an assurance by its home finance unit that 98% of retail debenture holders will get their money back, dealers said. Reliance Capital bonds worth Rs 565 crore changed hands in the secondary market in seven transactions at 70% discount this week.They said Deutsche Bank made the purchases from local investors on behalf of overseas investors on the hunt for distressed assets. Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the matter."With the chances of the company's revival having brightened to an extent, the level of discount is coming down," said the head of debt capital market at a local financial services company.Reliance Home Finance CEO Ravindra Sudhalkar said at a presentation two days ago that "98% of debenture holders would get their full payment," an investor who was present cited him as saying. "The company CEO addressed investors and made a PowerPoint presentation, which in turn gave investors a bit of comfort," the person said.The discount narrowed to 70% in the latest transactions from 80% in trades that took place in November last year, dealers said.Three deals took place on Monday and another three on Wednesday, each worth about Rs 90 crore. One deal of Rs 25 crore was sealed Thursday in unlisted bonds, dealers said. Reliance Capital was downgraded to 'D' or default on September 20 last year amid a liquidity crunch that has gripped nonbanking finance companies (NBFCs) for more than a year."The European bank has bought those papers because it will mostly sell those to its overseas clients, which are distressed asset buyers," said an executive with the direct knowledge of the matter.The weighted average price in the six deals on Monday and Wednesday was Rs 29.90 per Rs 100 face value. The latest deal on Thursday was at Rs 29.10."If you include the accrued interest into it, the deep discount will be marginally over 70%," said a debt market dealer.IDBI Trusteeship took Reliance Home Finance to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), seeking to recover investments of Rs 3,500 crore after the Reliance Capital unit missed repayments, ET reported on January 10. It's acting on behalf of about 20,000 bondholders.The bankruptcy court, which heard the matter on Thursday, has given the company 10 days to respond.Reliance Home Finance is said to be receiving cash flows of about Rs 150 crore every month. The company has informed investors of its latest financial status."The monthly inflows should benefit the efforts to revive the company," said an investor who has about Rs 1 crore at stake.The company is working on reaching an inter-creditor agreement with banks and is believed to have made a settlement offer to the consortium of lenders lead by Bank of Baroda that involves converting loans to equity.eom
The domestic stock market on Thursday consolidated on expected lines, as NSE Nifty opened on a positive note, but pared gains as the day progressed. After spending the entire session in a capped range, the headline index finally ended with a marginal gain of 12.20 points or 0.10 per cent at 12,355.50.The 50-stock pack has remained in a broadening formation, and is currently below the upper trend line of this formation. The rising nature of this trend line is preventing a clean breakout.It is also important to note that Nifty has formed this candle for the second day in a row, which suggests a loss in momentum at current levels. The present technical structure signals towards some consolidation.Friday's session is again likely to see a quiet start, with 12,390 and 12,410 levels acting as resistance. Support may come in much lower at 12,310 and 12,235. Any corrective move is likely to make the trading range wider than usual.73306695 The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the daily chart was at 61.03 and stayed neutral, showing no divergence against the price. The daily MACD was bullish and traded above its signal line.A Spinning Top pattern was formed on the charts. The formation of this candle after a 'Hanging Man' in the previous trading session, suggests loss of momentum. Even though this would require confirmation on the next trading day, these candles have the potential to stall the rally.As per pattern analysis, Nifty has continued to resist the upper trend line of the current broadening formation over the past couple of weeks. The rising nature of the upper trend line is preventing a clean breakout in the index.Nifty has risen over 225 points over the past couple of sessions with a very little or no corrective moves at all. With the current loss of momentum, the consolidation looks imminent.Traders can expect some minor corrective moves in the front line index or some consolidate in a broad range. We would recommend traders to avoid aggressive builtup of positions and adopt a cautious view.(Milan Vaishnav, CMT, MSTA, is a Consulting Technical Analyst and founder of Gemstone Equity Research & Advisory Services, Vadodara. He can be reached at milan.vaishnav@equityresearch.asia)
Infosys is seeing strong demand from clients since it started investing in digital technologies, helping offset a contraction in its core business, CEO Salil Parekh told. Parekh said that the digital business would cross more than 50% of its revenue as the IT services provider wins large deals from clients investing in technology to differentiate. Excerpts:It's looking up for the technology sector, isn't it?Demand is good, clients are buying (technology services). Most companies seem to be in a good place right now. We can certainly see from a client perspective that there is lot of interest (for our services). The pace of new investments is faster. People are ready to put money into making the change (towards digital).You had charted out a three-year journey. How is that progressing?We had laid out three or four elements on the journey and on each of those we seem to be progressing quite well. The one that is the most successful from a client perspective is the digital one, where we see a lot of traction. If you see, just over 40% of our company now is doing projects in digital, which is a big change. We will see more than half our company doing digital projects. The second one, which has also gone quite well, is the focus on large deals. In the first nine months, we have 56% more in large deals than the previous nine months, so the parameters there are in good shape. You have to keep executing. There is no change in the strategic direction, this is just execution.What are the other factors that helped?The good news was that there was a good macro-environment. If you have a negative macro-environment, then it is more difficult or takes longer. The thing that really helped was the inherent strength of Infosys because, as you know, we have inherently the same team that is driving it.Will you be able to maintain double-digit growth, and as digital grows, will you see margins expand?My focus is on this fiscal year. We are not saying anything on growth beyond. What I am very clear on is, where we have made the investments and created the differentiation, we see good traction. Three areas are giving us a lot of momentum — cloud, it is even faster than the area of digital; data, there is not one client that is not talking about transforming their data; and the third is (user) experience and how they look at technology.Digital is growing, even though your core is shrinking. How do you manage this transition?The main driver for this is clients changing their spend and that is more in the new areas. From our perspective, our core is still extremely strong and competitive, especially building on automation and artificial intelligence.Reskilling (of employees) is going at an extraordinary pace. Over 200,000 of our employees have downloaded and are using the online Lex (Infosys' learning platform) tool regularly. In the last quarter, we had about130,000 employees take some course-work from that. During weekdays, people do almost 35 minutes of training, on weekends almost 60 minutes. Because people are getting reskilled, there is demand for them to get on projects.Both have to happen in parallel. Clients changing their perspective and us being ready with our investments, so we can go after this work and then having this talent pool who can do this work for clients.Does this help stem attrition?We have already seen huge progress. In the last quarter, we were at 15% in the voluntary attrition level. It is down quite dramatically from a few quarters ago. One of the things is the reskilling and new work. To ensure that the journey of employees is very straightforward and smooth and the journey is well understood and clear, we are looking at building more and more teams from inside. All of those things have come into play.Are the restrictions on visas a concern for employees?We have added 12,000 new recruits in India. We also have a large number of applications (for US visas) still going on. There are a lot of opportunities in markets such as Europe, Canada and Australia, and we have a lot of those available for employees.With the elections in the US, do you think there will be rhetoric about immigration starting up again?I don't think we have seen anything different. Of course, it is the election year, so we will have to see what comes about it. But we have seen some of the (immigration) processes become more refined. The regulations are the same, but the processes are more refined. My guess is that this will continue. We have been quite focused and we have applied, as you know, for a large number of visas.Analysts say clients may hold off spending...Right now, our main focus is to close out the fiscal year. For this year, we have increased our guidance and we see good traction in many of our segments. Between now and the end of March, we look at how the next fiscal year is going to look, obviously the election falls right in the middle of that.Our process is also a combination of bottom-up — working with each of our segments and service offerings — and also a little bit outside in working with clients and seeing what the patterns are.
When Intuit acquired Mint more than a decade ago, mobile was in a different place — as were tech-enabled financial services. There hasn’t been much progress for the personal finance tracker app category in the meantime. Mint has stumbled along with integration issues and tiresome data misclassifications. For many, the best alternative has been firing up a spreadsheet.
Copilot is a new personal finance-tracking app from a former Googler that seems like it could garner a following based on its slick design and ease of use. The subscription iOS app lets you load your financial data, create custom categories for transactions and set budgets. It has been invitation-only for the past several months, but is launching publicly today.
Founder Andrés Ugarte told TechCrunch that he started the effort after eight years at Google — most recently inside its Area 120 experimental products division — because of slow progress in the personal finance space since Mint’s acquisition.
“I’ve been trying to use personal finance apps for the last eight years, and I eventually ended up giving up on them,” Ugarte says. “I was willing to make them work, and create my own categories and fix the data so that stuff was all categorized correctly. But I was always disappointed because the apps never felt smart because they would make the same mistakes again.”
I spent a few hours poking around Copilot over the past couple of days and I like what I’ve seen. The design is friendlier than other options, but its major strengths are that you can easily re-categorize a transaction that didn’t automatically fall in the bucket that you wanted it to, mark internal transfers between accounts and exclude one-off purchases from your tracked budget. Other apps have also allowed these functionalities, but Copilot lets you denote whether you want every transaction with a particular vendor to route to a certain category or bypass your budget entirely, so it actually learns from your activity.
In some ways, the killer feature of Copilot is just how great Plaid is. The app relies heavily on the Visa-acquired financial services API startup, and I can see why the startup was so successful. The integration’s intuitiveness alongside Copilot’s already smooth on-boarding process gives users early indication for the app’s thoughtful design.
Copilot has its limitations, mainly in that the team is just two people right now, so those holding out for desktop or Android support might have to wait a bit. Some may be turned off by the app’s $2.99 monthly subscription price, though there are more than a few reasons to avoid free apps that have access to all of your financial info. Copilot maintains that users’ financial info will never be sold to or shared with third parties.
Ugarte has largely been self-funding the effort by selling off his Google shares, but the team just locked down a $250,000 angel round and is searching for more funding.
Foxconn Technology Group, the Taiwanese electronics giant best known for its iPhone manufacturing contract, is forming a joint venture with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to build electric vehicles in China.
According to the filing, each party will own 50% of the venture to develop and manufacture electric vehicles and engage in an IOV, what Foxconn parent company Hon Hai calls the “internet of vehicles” business. Hon Hai’s direct shareholding in the subsidiary will not exceed 40%, the filing says.
The venture will initially focus on making electric vehicles for China. But these vehicles could be exported at a later date, according to Foxconn.
The wording in the regulatory filing suggests these will be new vehicles that are designed and built from the ground up and not a project to electrify any of the vehicles in FCA’s current portfolio.
The venture could give FCA a better path to capturing more business in China, the world’s largest market for electric vehicles.
Foxconn has invested in other electric vehicle ventures before, although this appears to be the first tie-up in which the company will develop and build the product. EV startup Byton was originally started as Future Mobility Corporation as a joint venture between Harmony Auto, Tencent and Foxconn. And Foxconn is also an investor in XPeng Motors, the Chinese electric vehicle startup that recently raised a fresh injection of $400 million in capital and has taken on Xiaomi as a strategic investor.
When Visa bought Plaid this week for $5.3 billion, a figure that was twice its private valuation, it was a clear signal that traditional financial services companies are looking for ways to modernize their approach to business.
With Plaid, Visa picks up a modern set of developer APIs that work behind the scenes to facilitate the movement of money. Those APIs should help Visa create more streamlined experiences (both at home and inside other companies' offerings), build on its existing strengths and allow it to do more than it could have before, alone.
But don't take our word for it. To get under the hood of the Visa-Plaid deal and understand it from a number of perspectives, TechCrunch got in touch with analysts focused on the space and investors who had put money into the erstwhile startup.
Alphabet this afternoon became the fourth tech giant to join the highly exclusive trillion-dollar club, one whose original member, Apple, saw its market cap soar past $1 trillion for the first time in August 2018 and which has since welcomed — and pushed back out — Amazon, which passed the $1 trillion mark in September 2018 but is now valued at $931 billion; and Microsoft, a charter member since August 2019 and now worth $1.27 trillion.
Saudi Aramco, the petroleum and natural gas company that went public last month, also now has a market value of $1.19 trillion.
That Alphabet would be the next tech giant to crack into the ranks is hardly surprising. The now 22-year-old company has grown like gangbusters since its second year in business and has exploded in value since going public in 2004. Still, it’s impossible not to draw a line between today’s development and the news in early December that the company’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, were handing over day-to-day control to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet’s Google since 2015. (That’s when Alphabet itself was incorporated as a holding company.)
For one thing, investors seem to like that much of Pichai’s compensation is tied to the company’s performance. According to an SEC filing from last month, Pichai — now the CEO of both Google and Alphabet — will receive $2 million in salary per year, but he’s poised to earn much more — at least $150 million — if the company hits certain performance targets this year, next year and in 2022.
Analysts have also said they’re hopeful the leadership transition will see Alphabet become more transparent when it comes to reporting its financials to investors. Indeed, despite the company’s many holdings — from YouTube to Waymo, its self-driving car business — Alphabet has been famously vague when it comes to explaining how its various bets are panning out.
Not last, there’s a widespread expectation that Alphabet will become more amenable to larger share buybacks, or that it might institute a dividend payment for the first time because so much of Pichai’s bonus is tied to share performance.
Naturally there are broader trends that have led to this moment.
Alphabet has long been the biggest beneficiary of the ongoing shift online of global advertising and marketing spending, and it has only tightened its grip on the market over time. Just Tuesday, its Google unit announced plans to phase out support for third-party cookies in Chrome within the next two years, which could be the death knell for the rest of the long-suffering online ad industry.
Meanwhile, despite questions about some of its subsidiaries, including Waymo, whose progress has been slower than expected, its 2006 acquisition of YouTube has proven one of the smartest and most lucrative deals in internet history.
Either way, as the WSJ notes, citing Dow Jones Market Data, it took Alphabet nearly two years to rise from a company with an $800 billion market cap to one that enjoyed a $900 billion market cap. In contrast, it has jumped from $900 billion to $1 trillion in just the last several months.
Try as they might, even the most advanced roboticists on Earth struggle to recreate the effortless elegance and efficiency with which birds fly through the air. The “PigeonBot” from Stanford researchers takes a step toward changing that by investigating and demonstrating the unique qualities of feathered flight.
On a superficial level, PigeonBot looks a bit, shall we say, like a school project. But a lot of thought went into this rather haphazard-looking contraption. Turns out the way birds fly is really not very well understood, as the relationship between the dynamic wing shape and positions of individual feathers are super complex.
Mechanical engineering professor David Lentink challenged some of his graduate students to “dissect the biomechanics of the avian wing morphing mechanism and embody these insights in a morphing biohybrid robot that features real flight feathers,” taking as their model the common pigeon — the resilience of which Lentink admires.
As he explains in an interview with the journal Science:
The first Ph.D.student, Amanda Stowers, analyzed the skeletal motion and determined we only needed to emulate the wrist and finger motion in our robot to actuate all 20 primary and 20 secondary flight feathers. The second student, Laura Matloff,uncovered how the feathers moved via a simple linear response to skeletal movement. The robotic insight here is that a bird wing is a gigantic underactuated system in which a bird doesn't have to constantly actuate each feather individually. Instead, all the feathers follow wrist and finger motion automatically via the elastic ligament that connects the feathers to the skeleton. It’s an ingenious system that greatly simplifies feather position control.
In addition to finding that the individual control of feathers is more automatic than manual, the team found that tiny microstructures on the feathers form a sort of one-way Velcro-type material that keeps them forming a continuous surface rather than a bunch of disconnected ones. These and other findings were published in Science, while the robot itself, devised by “the third student,” Eric Chang, is described in Science Robotics.
Using 40 actual pigeon feathers and a super-light frame, Chang and the team made a simple flying machine that doesn’t derive lift from its feathers — it has a propeller on the front — but uses them to steer and maneuver using the same type of flexion and morphing as the birds themselves do when gliding.
Studying the biology of the wing itself, then observing and adjusting the PigeonBot systems, the team found that the bird (and bot) used its “wrist” when the wing was partly retracted, and “fingers” when extended, to control flight. But it’s done in a highly elegant fashion that minimizes the thought and the mechanisms required.
PigeonBot’s wing. You can see that the feathers are joined by elastic connections so moving one moves others.
It’s the kind of thing that could inform improved wing design for aircraft, which currently rely in many ways on principles established more than a century ago. Passenger jets, of course, don’t need to dive or roll on short notice, but drones and other small craft might find the ability extremely useful.
“The underactuated morphing wing principles presented here may inspire more economical and simpler morphing wing designs for aircraft and robots with more degrees of freedom than previously considered,” write the researchers in the Science Robotics paper.
Up next for the team is observation of more bird species to see if these techniques are shared with others. Lentink is working on a tail to match the wings, and separately on a new bio-inspired robot inspired by falcons, which could potentially have legs and claws as well. “I have many ideas,” he admitted.
NBCUniversal officially unveiled its new streaming service, Peacock, today, announcing that the service will be available at no additional cost for Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Flex customers on April 15, before launching nationally on July 15.
The company had announced its plans to enter the streaming market a year ago, describing it as an ad-supported, subscription service that would also be available to pay-TV subscribers at no additional cost.
That’s more-or-less what the company detailed at an investor presentation today, where it said there will be a free tier of Peacock that includes more than 7,500 hours of programming, including classic shows and the current seasons of freshman broadcast series.
But if you want to see the original programming that NBCUniversal is creating for Peacock — as well as get early access to “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and twice as many hours of content overall — you’ll need Peacock Premium, which will be bundled for Comcast and Cox subscribers, and will cost $4.99 per month otherwise.
Both of those versions will include ads, though you can also pay $9.99 per month for an ad-free experience.
NBCUniversal said it will be spending aggressively over the next two years, with an investment of $2 billion over 2020 and 2021. The plan is to reach between 30 to 35 million active users in the United States by 2024, and to break even at that time
The new service is one of several big streaming launches expected this year, with WarnerMedia’s HBO Max and Jeffrey Katzenberg’s mobile service Quibi also preparing to make their debuts. Those join other recent entries from Disney and Apple in an increasingly crowded streaming landscape still led by the big three — Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu. (The latter is now majority owned by Disney, but NBCU parent Comcast will hold onto its Hulu stake until 2024.)
Many of the newer streamers — including the just-launched Disney+ and Apple TV+, as well as the upcoming HBO Max — are opting for an ad-free experience. But NBCU’s Peacock will instead follow the business models adopted by Hulu and ViacomCBS Inc.s’ CBS All Access, where advertising helps to bring down the cost of the subscription.
NBCUniversal Chairman Steve Burke and other executives addressed the question of “subscription fatigue” during their presentation, with Burke arguing that this fatigue is exactly why Peacock is going with a (sort of) free approach: “We found it interesting that no one's focused on primarily ad-supported, premium content. We believe that affordability will be critical as more subscriptions are launched.”
Why launch a service at all, if not to bring in subscription revenue? Burke argued that with DVR and on-demand viewing, NBCUniversal content is reaching a broader audience than ever — but on services like Hulu, Netflix and YouTube, “We don't control the consumer experience … we don't control how shows are sold to advertisers and in many cases, we don't sell to advertisers ourselves.”
Despite its terrible name (they couldn’t even avoid Peacock jokes during the presentation itself, with Fallon asking, “What names did you turn down before settling on Peacock?”), the service has a chance to grab a slice of the streaming market thanks to its decent back catalog and NBCU’s plans to promote the service heavily during the Summer Olympics on NBC.
The presentation emphasized some of the star power and intellectual property that Peacock is drawing on, with appearances by Fallon, Tina Fey and Seth Meyers, as well as NBC News and Sports presenters.
NBCU announced much of Peacock’s original programming lineup last fall, including reboots of “Battlestar Galactica,” “Punky Brewster” and “Saved by the Bell,” plus new series like “Dr. Death,” based on the true-crime podcast; “Brave New World,” based on the dystopian Aldous Huxley novel; an SNL docu-series “Who Wrote That”; “One of Us Is Lying,” based on the NYT best-seller; and many more.
More recent additions to the originals lineup include the Fey-produced comedy “Girls5Eva,” as well as in-development shows like "Expecting" from Mindy Kaling, "Division One" from Amy Poehler, "Clean Slate" from Norman Lear and "MacGruber," from Will Forte.
Peacock will also be the new home for Netflix's most-watched series, “The Office,” in a deal valued at $500 million for the comedy classic.
Other NBC shows will be available on Peacock, too, including "30 Rock," "Bates Motel," "Battlestar Galactica," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Cheers," "Chrisley Knows Best," "Covert Affairs," "Downton Abbey," "Everyone Loves Raymond," "Frasier," "Friday Night Lights," "House," "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," "King of Queens," "Married…With Children," "Monk," "Parenthood," "Psych," "Royal Pains," "Saturday Night Live," "Superstore," "The Real Housewives," "Top Chef" and "Will & Grace."
Popular films to stream on Peacock include "American Pie," "Bridesmaids," "Knocked Up," "Meet the Parents," "Meet the Fockers," "A Beautiful Mind," "Back to the Future," "Brokeback Mountain," "Casino," "Dallas Buyers Club," "Do the Right Thing," "Erin Brockovich," "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial," "Field of Dreams," "Jaws," "Mamma Mia!," "Shrek" and "The Breakfast Club." Peacock will also feature films from these franchises: "Bourne," "Despicable Me" and "Fast & Furious."
And while you might think that every streaming service works the same, Peacock Chairman Matt Strauss said the company is trying to find approaches that don’t rely on the “endless scroll.” You’ll be able to look up a specific show or movie, but there also will be “channels” like "SNL Vault," "Family Movie Night" and "Olympic Profiles." And the service is supposed to get more personalized as you watch.
The ad-supported version of the service will include a variety of ad products, including an e-commerce experience called “shoppable TV,” plus 60-second “prime pods,” interactive engagement ads, sponsorships called solo ads, editorially selector curator ads, contextually relevant explore ads, topical trending ads, voice-based on-command ads and two others inspired by Hulu: pause ads and binge ads. Peacock is also promising a light ad load with only five minutes of ads per hour or less.
Strauss added that NBCUniversal plans to eventually launch internationally, but the company is currently focused on the United States.
Space as an investment target is trending upwards in the VC community, but specialist firm Space Angels has been focused on the sector longer than most. The network of angel investors just published its most recent quarterly overview of activity in the space startup industry, revealing that investors put nearly $6 billion in capital into space companies across 2019.
I spoke to Space Angels CEO Chad Anderson about what he’s seen in terms of changes in the industry since Space Angels began publishing this quarterly update in 2017, and about what’s in store for 2020 and beyond as commercial space matures and comes into its own. Informed by data released publicly, SEC filings and investor databases — as well as anonymized and aggregated info from Space Angels’ own due diligence process and portfolio company management — Anderson is among the best-positioned people on either the investment or the operator side to weigh in on the current and future state of the space startup industry.
“2019 was a record year — record number of investments, record number of companies, a record on all these fronts,” Anderson said. “2019 in its own right was a huge year, but then you look at everything that happened over the last decade. We always refer to this last decade as ‘the entrepreneurial space age’ […] and you see everything that’s happened over the last 10 years, you see it all culminating in a record year like this one.”
The first cannabis startup to raise big money in Silicon Valley is in danger of burning out. TechCrunch has learned that pot delivery middleman Eaze has seen unannounced layoffs, and its depleted cash reserves threaten its ability to make payroll or settle its AWS bill. Eaze was forced to raise a bridge round to keep the lights on as it prepares to attempt major pivot to ‘touching the plant’ by selling its own marijuana brands through its own depots.
TechCrunch spoke with nine sources with knowledge of Eaze’s struggles to piece together this report. If Eaze fails, it could highlight serious growing pains amid the ‘green rush’ of startups into the marijuana business.
Eaze, the startup backed by some $166 million in funding that once positioned itself as the "Uber of pot" — a marketplace selling pot and other cannabis products from dispensaries and delivering it to customers — has recently closed a $15 million bridge round, according to multiple source. The funding was meant to keep the lights on as Eaze struggles to raise its next round of funding amid problems with making decent margins on its current business model, lawsuits, payment processing issues, and internal disorganization.
An Eaze spokesperson confirmed that the company is low on cash. Sources tell us that the company, which laid off some 30 people last summer, is preparing another round of cuts in the meantime. The spokesperson refused to discuss personnel issues but noted that there have been layoffs at many late stage startups as investors want to see companies cut costs and become more efficient.
From what we understand, Eaze is currently trying to raise a $35 million Series D round according to its pitch deck. The $15 million bridge round came from unnamed current investors. (Previous backers of the company include 500 Startups, DCM Ventures, Slow Ventures, Great Oaks, FJ Labs, the Winklevoss brothers, and a number of others.) Originally, Eaze had tried to raise a $50 million Series D, but the investor that was looking at the deal, Athos Capital, is said to have walked away at the eleventh hour.
Eaze is going into the fundraising with an enterprise value of $388 million, according to company documents reviewed by TechCrunch. It's not clear what valuation it's aiming for in the next round.
An Eaze spokesperson declined to discuss fundraising efforts but told TechCrunch, “The company is going through a very important transition right now, moving to becoming a plant-touching company through acquisitions of former retail partners that will hopefully allow us to more efficiently run the business and continue to provide good service to customers.
Desperate to grow margins
The news comes as Eaze is hoping to pull off a "verticalization" pivot, moving beyond online storefront and delivery of third-party products (rolled joints, flower, vaping products and edibles) and into sourcing, branding and dispensing the product directly. Instead of just moving other company’s marijuana brands between third-party dispensaries and customers, it wants to sell its own in-house brands through its own delivery depots to earn a higher margin. With a number of other cannabis companies struggling, the hope is that it will be able to acquire brands in areas like marijuana flower, pre-rolled joints, vaporizer cartridges, or edibles at low prices.
An Eaze spokesperson confirmed that the company plans to announce the pivot in the coming days, telling TechCrunch that it’s “a pretty significant change from provider of services to operating in that fashion but also operating a depot directly ourselves.”
The startup is already making moves in this direction, and is in the process of acquiring some of the assets of a bankrupt cannabis business out of Canada called Dionymed — which had initially been a partner of Eaze's, then became a competitor, and then sued it over payment disputes, before finally selling part of its business. These assets are said to include Oakland dispensary Hometown Heart, which it acquired in an all-share transaction ("Eaze effectively bought the lawsuit," is how one source described the sale). This will become Eaze’s first owned delivery depot.
In a recent presentation deck that Eaze has been using when pitching to investors — which has been obtained by TechCrunch — the company describes itself as the largest direct-to-consumer cannabis retailer in California. It has completed more than 5 million deliveries, served 600,000 customers and tallied up an average transaction value of $85.
To date, Eaze has only expanded to one other state beyond California, Oregon. Its aim is to add five more states this year, and another three in 2021. But the company appears to have expected more states to legalize recreational marijuana sooner, which would have provided geographic expansion. Eaze seems to have overextended itself too early in hopes of capturing market share as soon as it became available.
An employee at the company tells us that on a good day Eaze can bring in between $800,000 and $1 million in net revenue, which sounds great, except that this is total merchandise value, before any cuts to suppliers and others are made. Eaze makes only a fraction of that amount, one reason why it's now looking to verticatlize into more of a primary role in the ecosystem. And that's before considering all of the costs associated with running the business.
Eaze is suffering from a problem rampant in the marijuana industry: a lack of working capital. Since banks often won’t issue working capital loans to weed-related business, deliverers like Eaze can experience delays in paying back vendors. Another source says late payments have pushed some brands to stop selling through Eaze.
Another drain on its finances have been its marketing efforts. A source said out-of-home ads (billboards and the like) allegedly were a significant expense at one point. It has to compete with other pot purchasing options like visiting retail stores in person, using dispensaries’ in-house delivery services, or buying via startups like Meadow that act as aggregated online points of sale for multiple dispensaries.
Indeed, Eaze claims that its pivot into verticalization will bring it $204 million in revenues on gross transactions of $300 million. It notes in the presentation that it makes $9.04 on an average sale of $85, which will go up to $18.31 if it successfully brings in 'private label' products and has more depot control.
Selling weed isn’t eazy
The poor margins are only one of the problems with Eaze's current business model, which the company admits in its presentation have led to an inconsistent customer experience and poor customer affinity with its brand — especially in the face of competition from a number of other delivery businesses.
Playing on the on-demand, delivery-of-everything theme, it connected with two customer bases. First, existingcannabis consumers already using some form of delivery service for their supply; and a newer, more mainstream audience with disposable income that had become more interested in cannabis-related products but might feel less comfortable walking into a dispensary, or buying from a black market dealer.
It is not the only startup that has been chasing that audience. Other competitors in the wider market for cannabis discovery, distribution and sales include Weedmaps, Puffy, Blackbird, Chill (a brand from Dionymed that it founded after ending its earlier relationship with Eaze), and Meadow, with the wider industry estimated to be worth some $11.9 billion in 2018 and projected to grow to $63 billion by 2025.
Eaze was founded on the premise that the gradual decriminalisation of pot — first making it legal to buy for medicinal use, and gradually for recreational use — would spread across the US and make the consumption of cannabis-related products much more ubiquitous, presenting a big opportunity for Eaze and other startups like it.
It found a willing audience among consumers, but also tech workers in the Bay Area, a tight market for recruitment.
"I was excited for the opportunity to join the cannabis industry," one source said. "It has for the most part has gotten a bad rap, and I saw Eaze's mission as a noble thing, and the team seemed like good people."
Eaze CEO Ro Choy
That impression was not to last. The company, this employee was told when joining, had plenty of funding with more on the way. The newer funding never materialised, and as Eaze sought to figure out the best way forward, the company cycled through different ideas and leadership: former Yammer executive Keith McCarty, who cofounded the company with Roie Edery (both are now founders at another Cannabis startup, Wayv), left, and the CEO role was given to another ex-Yammer executive, Jim Patterson, who was then replaced by Ro Choy, who is the current CEO.
"I personally lost trust in the ability to execute on some of the vision once I got there," the ex-employee said. "I thought that on one hand a picture was painted that wasn't the truth. As we got closer and as I'd been there longer and we had issues with funding, the story around why we were having issues kept changing." Several sources familiar with its business performance and culture referred to Eaze as a “shitshow”.
No ‘Push For Kush’
The quick shifts in strategy were a recurring pattern that started well before the company got tight financial straits.
One employee recalled an acquisition Eaze made several years ago of a startup called Push for Pizza. Founded by five young friends in Brooklyn, Push for Pizza had gone viral over a simple concept: you set up your favourite pizza order in the app, and when you want it, you pushed a single button to order it. (Does that sound silly? Don't forget, this was also the era of Yo, which was either a low point for innovation, or a high point for cynicism when it came to average consumer intelligence… maybe both.)
Eaze's idea, the employee said, was to take the basics of Push for Pizza and turn it into a weed app, Push for Kush. In it, customers could craft their favourite mix and, at the touch of a button, order it, lowering the procurement barrier even more.
The company was very excited about the deal and the prospect of the new app. They planned a big campaign to spread the word, and held an internal event to excite staff about the new app and business line.
"They had even made a movie of some kind that they showed us, featuring a caricature of Jim" — the CEO at a the time — "hanging out of the sunroof of a limo." (I've been able to find the opening segment of this video online, and the Twitter and Instagram accounts that had been created for Push for Kush, but no more than that.)
Then just one week later, the whole plan was scrapped, and the founders of Push for Pizza fired. "It was just brushed under the carpet," the former employee said. "No one could get anything out of management about what had happened."
Something had happened, though: the company had been taking payments by card when it made the acquisition, but the process was never stable and by then it had recently gone back to the cash-only model. Push for Kush by cash was less appealing. "They didn't think it would work," the person said, adding that this was the normal course of business at the startup. "Big initiatives would just die in favor of pushing out whatever new thing was on the product team's radar."
Eaze’s spokesperson confirmed that “we did acquire Push For Pizza . . but ultimately didn’t choose to pursue [launching Push For Kush].”
Payments were a recurring issue for the startup. Eaze started out taking payments only in cash — but as the business grew, that became increasingly problematic. The company found itself kicked off the credit card networks and was stuck with a less traceable, more open to error (and theft) cash-only model at a time when one employee estimated it was bringing in between $800,000 and $1 million per day in sales.
Eventually, it moved to cards, but not smoothly: Visa specifically did not want Eaze on its platform. Eaze found a workaround, employees say, but it was never above board, which became the subject of the lawsuit between Eaze and Dionymed. Currently the company appear to only take payments via debit cards, ACH transfer, and cash, not credit card.
Another incident sheds light on how the company viewed and handled security issues.
Can Eaze rise from the ashes?
At one point, employees allegedly discovered that Eaze was essentially storing all of its customer data — including users' signatures and other personal information — in an Azure bucket that was not secured, meaning that if anyone was nosing around, it could be easily discovered and exploited.
The vulnerability was brought to the company's attention. It was something that was up to product to fix, but the job was pushed down the list. It ultimately took seven months to patch this up. "I just kept seeing things with all these huge holes in them, just not ready for prime time," one ex-employee said of the state of products. "No one was listening to engineers, and no one seemed to be looking for viable products." Eaze’s spokesperson confirms a vulnerability was discovered but claims it was promptly resolved.
Today, the issue is a more pressing financial one: the company is running out of money. Employees have been told the company may not make its next payroll, and AWS will shut down its servers in two days if it doesn't pay up.
Eaze’s spokesperson tried to remain optimistic while admitting the dire situation the company faces. “Eaze is going to continue doing everything we can to support customers and the overall legal cannabis industry. We’re excited about the future and acknowledge the challenges that the entire community is facing.”
As medicinal and recreational marijuana access became legal in some states in the latter 2010s, entrepreneurs and investors flocked to the market. They saw an opportunity to capitalize on the end of a major prohibition — a once in a lifetime event. But high government taxes, enduring black markets, intense competition, and a lack of financial infrastructure willing to deal with any legal haziness have caused major setbacks.
While the pot business might sound chill, operations like Eaze depend on coordinating high-stress logistics with thin margins and little room for error. Plenty of food delivery startups from Sprig to Munchery went under after running into similar struggles, and at least banks and payment processors would work with them. With the odds stacked against it, Eaze has a tough road ahead.
I was in SF last week and met with more than a dozen VCs over the course of two days. This was post the holidays, post their visits to the ski chalets in Tahoe and the island beaches, and in the smack dab of one of the most important fundraise periods of the year — the mid-to-late January to April stretch when all the backlog of startups from Q4 initiate their fundraises for the new year.
And the one constant refrain I heard over and over again across these conversations was just this: VCs are tired.
The reasons were similar if not perfectly overlapping. The biggest driver was the sheer flood of venture dollars targeting too few deals in the Valley these days. Consumer investing has become passé as exits disappear and the mobile wave crests (last year was the first year B2B investing overtook consumer investing in modern memory), forcing everyone to chase the same set of SaaS companies.
VCs described to me how the top deals start and close their fundraises in 48-72 hours. Several VCs groused that dozens of firms now descend like hawks on the unwitting but fortunate target startup, angling for a term sheet and willing to give up valuation and preferences left and right for any chance at the cap table. Earlier investors are just as desperate to own that equity, and no longer play any sort of honest broker role that they might have in the past.
Plus, the FOMO of the moment is more acute than ever — a VC at the end of the day might have already seen a dozen companies, but gets a late night intro to one last company — perhaps the company that could make or break their career. And so they will take that one last meeting, and then one more last meeting, hoping to find some meaningful edge against the competition.
And so VCs are running ragged around South Park, and increasingly, flying around the world scouring for any alpha wherever they can find it. Increasingly, it feels, they aren't finding it though.
Firms are doing what they can. They are staffing up, trying to hire more raw talent in the hopes of finding that last undiscovered company. They scour their own portfolios and probe their founders, trying to find a tip to a deal that their competitor may have missed. They host dinner after dinner (sometimes multiple in one night — as I sometimes witness when I get an invitation to all of them, as if I can be in more than one place at the same time), again, hoping to find some bit of magic.
Ironically, the "tired" line was something I used to hear from seed investors, who constantly had to churn through dozens of under-hearted startups to find the gold. Now, I've heard this language more and more from later-stage VCs, where the Excel spreadsheet drives the valuation more than a relationship with a founder — and everyone can read the gridiron of SaaS metrics.
All of this in some ways is good for startup founders (and their earliest investors) — higher markups are going to result in more resources with less dilution, and that's always nice. The challenge is that relationships are being forged in the most intense of sale processes, and that means that founders may only have a short period of time to work with a partner before committing a board seat to that individual. Personalities are hard to judge in such a crucible.
As are the numbers. We've chatted on Equity a bit about reneged term sheets, but it's a pattern that I hear whispered about more and more. Less due diligence is happening before the term sheet is signed (again, to beat out the rabid competition), and there is now more buyer's remorse from VCs (and very occasionally founders) that can lead to a botched round along the way.
Lack of bandwidth, hyper-velocity, a pittance of sleep — all of these are intensifying the sensitivity of VC returns. Email a VC an hour before or after and it may well change the result of a fundraise. VCs once had a reputation for plodding and slow deliberation. That old normal is definitely dead right now, and in its place is a new, modern VC who is going to determine millions of dollars in a few minutes on a jet fuel of caffeine and ambition.
It's the best and worst of times, and I can't help but wonder what the results of the 2019 and 2020 vintage years are going to look like eight-10 years from now.
Today SiteMinder, an Australian software company focused on the hotel industry, announced a $70 million (USD) round that values the company at $750 million. That’s about $1.08 billion in Australian dollars, making the firm a Down Under Unicorn, even if it’s a bit shy here in America.
According to SiteMinder, the round was “led by equity funds managed by BlackRock.” The company has previously raised capital from TCV and Bailador.
TechCrunch discussed SiteMinder earlier this year as part of our running examination of companies that have reached certain annual recurring revenue (ARR) thresholds. At that time, we noted that the firm’s revenue was at AU$100 million ARR, while it was a bit light of the level in American dollars.
As we understand the company’s new valuation in both countries’ currencies, it is possible to calculate the company’s current ARR multiple. It’s about 11x. That price is similar to what public SaaS companies command in today’s market, according to Bessemer’s cloud index.
Growth
SiteMinder announced some time ago that it had surpassed the AU$100 million ARR mark in 2019. Software companies — SiteMinder appears to also generate service-oriented revenues from activities like website design — that reach similar scale tend to slow down in percentage growth terms.
To understand the company’s approach to growth, TechCrunch asked SiteMinder if its new capital would allow it to maintain its current pace of ARR growth. The firm had cited “accelerated go-to-market strategies” as a possible use for its new funds, helping frame the question.
According to SiteMinder CEO Sankar Narayan, the answer is “Yes, absolutely.” Narayan went on to say that the company has “the widest global footprint and the largest multilingual capability in our category, giving us pole position as technology adoption accelerates across the hotel industry.” Narayan also cited planned hiring and expanded distribution work in Europe and Asia as giving his company “even greater opportunities for growth.”
SiteMinder operates globally, providing it with a closer presence to some customers (80% of the firm’s revenue is international, it says). That distribution, however, raises a question. Quickly growing companies often struggled to hold their culture together when they are in a single office. SiteMinder operates in over a dozen countries, likely compounding the issue.
Narayan told TechCrunch that SiteMinder is “no stranger to the challenges that come with being a global business.” To combat cultural drift, the CEO says that he visits an overseas office every month, and that his company recently introduced “an all-staff shadow equity plan” to let everyone profit from the company’s progress.
With new capital, and presumably more staff and offices to come, it will be interesting to see what new things the company’s cultural integrity requires.
Regardless, SiteMinder is now the inaugural member of the AU$100 million ARR club, and is a local-currency unicorn to boot. And as it’s harder to reach that valuation outside of Silicon Valley than inside of it, neither of those honorifics should be viewed as dismissive; they’re compliments.
Sleep is the next battleground on which the war for wearable health will be waged. Smartwatch and fitness band makers have been dipping their collective toes in the water for a few years now, but there's only so much that can be done from the wrist.
I wrote a CES trend piece earlier this week that examined what the category is going to look like in the upcoming years. It's understandably pretty scattershot at the moment, with everything from smart beds to alarm clocks to gel cooling headbands. It's a lot of different companies with different form factors presenting different solutions to the same simple problem: help your tech-addicted, stress-plagued brain get a decent night’s sleep for once in your life.
The Muse S was — and continues to be — the one I'm most excited about. That's due in part to the fact that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the company's first-generation project. As a self-diagnosed Dude Who Is Bad at Meditation, I found the brain-scanning tech legitimately helpful. If meditation is akin to flexing a muscle, the Muse headband is quite good at helping you determine which muscle to flex.
The S promises to extend that technology up to and beyond bedtime. Makes sense. Sleep is certainly a logical jump from mindfulness practice — and certainly the two things feed into each other nicely. Better meditation generally leads to better sleep, and vice versa.
I was able to pick up the new headset for CES and began using it at the show — talk about a trial by fire. Because I was using it on the road, certain aspects have really leapt out at me. The move from a rigid plastic material to fabric with a modular sensor unit is big beyond the obvious ability to wear the headset to bed (sleeping with it is another story, depending on your own habits).
The win for me here is portability. A device I can take apart and safely stick in my bag is a big deal for me. I'm on the road a lot these days, and between the plane and the hotel rooms, it can be tough to set aside time to meditate. The constant pinball machine of time zones has also severely mucked up my already iffy sleep habits. Putting on the headband, sticking in my AirPods and just being still for a while is a good ritual to cultivate.
The Muse app features a number of guided meditation and sleep sessions available via subscription (think Calm/Headspace). Seems like it would be a win-win to partner with one of the existing services, but these days every hardware startup needs a content play. The offerings are generally pretty solid, if a bit limited, though I found myself more drawn to ambient soundscapes rather than spoken guides.
One annoyance that carries over from earlier versions is the required calibration before meditation. It's not the worst thing, but it does add an extra minute or so to your morning routine.
The original meditation is still my favorite bit here. The more the Muse senses your mind wandering, the more the sound of rain increases. Once you regain focus, the rain dies down and birds start to sing. There's a gamified (an annoying word that is even more annoying in the context of meditation) aspect where you're given a tally of birds at the end. It's a silly little Portlandian aspect, but it's useful in an era when Fitbit and the like have trained us to quantify our own health and habits.
The jury is still out on the sleep aspect for me. I'd love to revisit the topic in a few weeks and let you know if things have improved. I'm still fairly restless, and using a headband takes getting used to. There also are some practical things to deal with. For one thing, the band appears to work best when the sensor is positioned with the power light facing down, but then the light is shining in your eyes. I've taken to putting on a sleep mask. I'm slowly turning myself into Darth Vader each night before bed. It's fine; I'm sure he slept like a baby.
The Muse S is available for a not insignificant $350. A year of the guided meditation service will run you close to $100 (though that's discounted to $55 right now). The pricing is still prohibitively expensive for most users. I will, however, be continuing my time with the device. If it helps me sleep well without self-medication, it's a small price to pay.
Goldman Sachs is investing in African tech companies. The venerable American investment bank and financial services firm has backed startups from Kenya to Nigeria and taken a significant stake in e-commerce venture Jumia, which listed on the NYSE in 2019.
Though Goldman declined to comment on its Africa VC activities for this article, the company has spoken to TechCrunch in the past about specific investments.
Goldman Sachs is one of the most enviable investment banking shops on Wall Street, generating $36 billion in net revenues in 2019, or roughly $1 million per employee. It’s the firm that always seems to come out on top, making money during the financial crisis while its competitors were hemorrhaging. For generations, MBAs from the world’s top business schools have clamored to work there, helping make it a professional incubator of sorts that has spun off alums into leadership positions in politics, VC and industry.
All that cache is why Goldman’s name popping up related to African tech got people’s attention, including mine, several years ago.
Forget the consumer market for electric vehicles. It turns out delivery vehicles could be the “Trojan horse” for electric to really take off.
Korean auto giants Hyundai and Kia put more than $110 million in U.K. startup Arrival, which emerged from relative stealth today. The investment immediately makes Arrival one of Britain’s most valuable startups, valuing it at €3 billion ($3.4 billion), a company spokesperson said. According to the latest research from CB insights, only five other U.K. startups are worth more than this.
Although a five-year-old London-based company that has about 800 employees across five countries, including Germany, the United States and Russia, Arrival has been cagey about its activity until now.
Their idea is to make electric vehicles at similar costs to traditional fossil fuel vehicles but by drastically cutting costs by using “microfactories” close to major cities for manufacturing.
Its modular “skateboard” platform will allow a range of models to be built on one system and its prototypes are already participating in trials by global delivery companies such as DHL, UPS and Royal Mail.
In a statement, Youngcho Chi, Hyundai’s president and chief innovation officer said: “This investment is part of an open innovation strategy pursued by Hyundai and Kia”
Hyundai is understood to be investing $35 billion in autonomous driving and electric cars.
Last year Hyundai announced a $35 billion commitment to develop self-driving technology and electric vehicles. As part of that, it wants to release 23 types of electric vehicles by 2025. Last week, it unveiled a flying taxi concept with Uber at the CES tech conference in Las Vegas.
Matera, the French startup formerly known as illiCopro, is raising an $11.2 million funding round (€10 million). The company has been building a SaaS platform to give you all the tools you need to handle property management for your residential building.
Index Ventures is leading the round, with existing investor Samaipata also participating. Business angels, such as Bertrand Jelensperger, Paulin Dementhon and Marc-David Choukroun are also participating.
In France, there are two ways to handle property management of residential buildings. Co-owners of the hallways, elevator and common space of the building can either hire a company to do it and handle all the pesky tasks, or you can do it yourself.
Matera wants to target the second category — co-owners who want to manage their building themselves. Other startups, such as Bellman, have chosen a different approach. Matera has built a web-based platform to view information, communicate with other co-owners and make sure everything is up-to-date.
Everybody has their own account and can access the platform. Co-owners meet regularly to handle outstanding issues. Matera centralizes all topics, helps you write a report and checks that it complies with legal requirements.
Matera then handles everything that involves money. You can collect money from co-owners every month and check how your money is spent. The platform tries to do the heavy lifting when it comes to accounting.
Finally, Matera helps you manage contracts with partners — elevator maintenance, heating maintenance, cleaning company, water, electricity, insurance, taking care of the garden, etc. You get an address book for your partners, and the company is working on a way to help you switch to another partner from the platform.
If there's something you don't feel comfortable doing yourself, Matera can help you work with legal, accounting, insurance and construction experts.
So far, Matera has managed to attract 1,000 residential buildings representing 25,000 users. The company plans to expand to other European countries in the future, starting with Belgium, Spain, Italy and Germany. With today's funding round, the company plans to hire 100 persons.
With the Tokyo Summer Olympics rapidly approaching, 2020 is shaping up to be a big year for TRI-AD (Toyota Research Institute – Advanced Development). Opened in 2018, the research wing is devoted to bringing some of TRI's work into practice. The organization is heavily invested in both autonomous driving and other key robotics projects.
TRI-AD's CEO James Kuffner and VP of Robotics Max Bajracharya will be joining us onstage at TC Sessions Robotics+AI on March 3 at UC Berkeley to discuss their work in the field. The company has been working to promote accessibility, both in terms of its work in automotive and smart cities, as well as robotics aimed to help assist Japan's aging population.
The Summer Olympics will serve as an opportunity for TRI-AD to showcase those technologies in practice. Kuffner and Bajracharya will discuss why companies like Toyota are investing in robotics and working to make every day robotics a reality.
Early-Bird tickets are now on sale for $275. Book your tickets now and save $150 before prices go up!
The last few years have seen many cities ban plastic bags, plastic straws and other common forms of waste, giving environmentally conscious alternatives a huge boost — among them Loliware, purveyor of fine disposable goods created from kelp. Huge demand and smart sourcing has attracted a big first funding round.
I covered Loliware early on when it was one of the first companies to be invested in by the Ocean Solutions Accelerator, a program started in 2017 by the nonprofit Sustainable Ocean Alliance. Founder Chelsea “Sea” Briganti told me about the new funding on the SOA’s strange yet quite successful “Accelerator at Sea” program late last year.
The company makes straws primarily, with other products planned, out of kelp matter. Kelp, if you’re not familiar, is a common type of aquatic algae (also called seaweed) that can grow quite large and is known for its robustness. It also grows in vast, vast quantities in many coastal locations, creating “kelp forests” that sustain entire ecosystems. Intelligent stewardship of these fast-growing kelp stocks could make them a significantly better source than corn or paper, which are currently used to create most biodegradable straws.
A proprietary process turns the kelp into straws that feel plastic-like but degrade simply (and not in your hot drink — it can stand considerably more exposure than corn and paper-based straws). Naturally the taste, desirable in some circumstances but not when drinking a seltzer, is also removed.
It took a lot of R&D and fine-tuning, Briganti told me:
“None of this has ever been done before. We led all development from material technology to new-to-world engineering of machinery and manufacturing practices. This way we ensure all aspects of the product’s development are truly scalable.”
They’ve gone through more than a thousand prototypes and are continuing to iterate as advances make possible things like higher flexibility or different shapes.
“Ultimately our material is a massive departure from the paradigms with which other companies are approaching the development of biodegradable materials,” she said. “They start with a problematic, last-forever, fossil fuel-derived paradigm and try to make it not so bad — this is step-change development and too slow and frumpy to truly make an impact.”
Of course it doesn’t matter how good your process is if no one is buying it, a fact that plagues many ethics-first operations, but in fact demand has grown so fast that Loliware’s biggest challenge has been scaling to meet it. The company has gone from a few million to a hundred million in recent years to a projected billion straws shipping in 2020.
“It takes us about 12 months to get to full automation [from the lab],” she said. “Once we get to full automation, we license the tech to a strategic plastic or paper manufacturer. Meaning, we do not manufacture billions of straws, or anything, in-house.”
It makes sense, of course, just as contracting out your PCB or plastic mold or what have you. Briganti wanted to have global impact, and that requires taking advantage of global infrastructure that’s already there.
Lastly, the consideration of a sustainable ecosystem was always important to Briganti, as the whole company is founded on the idea of reducing waste and using fundamentally ethical processes.
“Our products utilize a super-sustainable supply of seaweed, a supply that is overseen and regulated by local governments,” Briganti said. “In 2020, Loliware will launch the first-ever Algae Sustainability Council (ASC), which allows us to be at the helm of the design of these new global seaweed supply chain systems as well as establishing the oversight, ensuring sustainable practices and equitability. We are also pioneering what we have coined the ‘Zero Waste Circular Extraction Methodology,’ which will be a new paradigm in seaweed processing, utilizing every component of the biomass as it suggests.”
The $5.9 million “super seed” round has many investors, including several who were on board the ship in Alaska for the Accelerator at Sea this past October (as SOA Seabird Ventures). The CEO of Blue Bottle Coffee has invested, as have New York Ventures, Magic Hour, For Good VC, Hatzimemos/Libby, Geekdom Fund, HUmanCo VC, CityRock and Closed Loop Partners.
The money will be used for scaling and further R&D; Loliware plans to launch several new straw types (like a bent straw for juice boxes), a cup and a new utensil. 2020 may be the year you start seeing the company’s straws in your favorite coffee shop rather than a few early adopters here and there. You can keep track of where they can be found here at the company’s website.
Despite the U.S. government’s concerns over TikTok, which most recently led to the U.S. Navy banning service members’ use of the app, TikTok had a stellar 2019 in terms of both downloads and revenue. According to new data from Sensor Tower, 44% of TikTok’s total 1.65 billion downloads to date, or 738+ million installs, took place in 2019 alone. And though TikTok is still just experimenting with different means of monetization, the app had its best year in terms of revenue, grossing $176.9 million in 2019 — or 71% of its all-time revenue of $247.6 million.
Apptopia had previously reported TikTok was generating $50 million per quarter.
The number of TikTok downloads in 2019 is up 13% from the 655 million installs the app saw in 2018, with the holiday quarter (Q4 2019) being TikTok’s best ever, with 219 million downloads, up 6% from TikTok’s previous best quarter, Q4 2018. TikTok was also the second-most downloaded (non-game) app worldwide across the Apple App Store and Google Play in 2019, according to Sensor Tower data.
Regardless, the increase in TikTok downloads in 2019 is largely tied to the app’s traction in India. Though the app was briefly banned in the country earlier in the year, that market still accounted for 44% (or 323 million) of 2019’s total downloads. That’s a 27% increase from 2018.
TikTok’s home country, China, is TikTok’s biggest revenue driver, with iOS consumer spend of $122.9 million, or 69% of the total and more than triple what U.S. users spent in the app ($36 million). The U.K. was the third-largest contributor in terms of revenue, with users spending $4.2 million in 2019.
Meanwhile, only a handful of creators have been able to earn money in live streams through tipping — another area that deserves to see expansion in the months ahead if TikTok aims to take on YouTube as a home for creator talent.
When it comes to monetization, TikTok is challenged because it doesn’t have as much personal information about its users, compared with a network like Facebook and its rich user profile data. That means advertisers can’t target ads based on user interests and demographics in the same way. Because of this, brands will sometimes forgo working with TikTok itself to deal directly with its influencer stars, instead.
What TikTok lacks in revenue, it makes up for in user engagement. According to App Annie, time spent in the app was up 210% year-over-year in 2019, to reach a total 68 billion hours. TikTok clearly has users’ attention, but now it will need to figure out how to capitalize on those eyeballs and actually make money.
Reached for comment, TikTok confirmed it doesn’t share its own stats on installs or revenue, so third-party estimates are the only way to track the app’s growth for now.
Here is a small but useful new feature in Google Chrome: global media controls that allow you to control from a single widget all of the audio and video sources in your current tabs. With this, you can switch to the next song from your favorite web-based music streaming service, start and stop a YouTube video that’s playing in the background or switch back and forth between what’s playing in multiple tabs without having to hunt around your browser for the right tab. It’s not going to rock your world, but it’s a useful new feature.
Google started these media controls last year when it enabled it for Chromebook users, but it’s now live in the stable channel for all Chrome users across desktop platforms.
This seems to work with as many media tabs as you can handle, though from what I have seen, Google’s own services like YouTube and YouTube Music tend to get more extensive control options with thumbnails while Spotify only showed three controls to go back, skip to the next song and pause.
To give it a try, simply play media in any of your tabs and look for the new media control icon to pop up to the right of the URL field.
It’s worth noting that the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge, which came out of preview yesterday, features the exact same media controls (down to the icon) in its pre-release channels, though they haven’t made it into the stable release yet. Firefox does not currently have a similar built-in feature.
Venture Highway, a VC firm in India founded by former Google executive Samir Sood, said on Thursday it has raised $78.6 million for its second fund as it looks to double down on investing in early-stage startups.
Moving forward, Venture Highway aims to lead pre-seed and seed financing rounds and cut checks between $1 million to $1.5 million on each investment (up from its earlier investment range of $100,000 to $1 million), said Sood in an interview with TechCrunch.
Venture Highway counts Neeraj Arora, former business head of WhatsApp who played an instrumental role in selling the messaging app to Facebook, as a founding “anchor of LPs” and advisor. Arora and Sood worked together at Google more than a decade ago and helped the Silicon Valley giant explore merger and acquisition deals in Asia and other regions.
Samir Sood, the founder of Venture Highway
The VC firm said it has already made a number of investments through its second fund. Some of those deals include investments in OkCredit, mobile esports platform MPL, Gurgaon-based supply chain SaaS platform O4S, social commerce startup WMall, online rental platform CityFurnish, community platform MyScoot and online gasoline delivery platform MyPetrolPump.
As apparent from the aforementioned names, Venture Highway focuses on investing in startups that are using technology to address problems that have not been previously tackled.
Last year Venture Highway also participated in a funding round of Marsplay, a New Delhi-based startup that operates a social app where influencers showcase beauty and apparel content to sell to consumers.
"It’s very rare to have investors who keep their calm, get into an entrepreneurial mindset and help founders achieve their dreams. Throughout the journey, Venture Highway has been extremely helpful, emotionally available (super important to founders) and very resourceful," said Misbah Ashraf, 26-year-old co-founder and chief executive of Marsplay, in an interview with TechCrunch.
There is no "theme" or category that Venture Highway is particularly interested in, said Sood. "As long as there is a tech layer; and the startup is doing something where we or our network of LPs, advisors and investors can add value, we are open to discussions," he said.
This is the first time Venture Highway has raised money from LPs. The firm’s first fund was bankrolled by Sood and Arora.
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In an internal memo, Mozilla chairwoman and interim CEO Mitchell Baker specifically mentions the slow rollout of the organization's new revenue-generating products as the reason for the cuts. The overall number may end up being higher than 70, as Mozilla is still looking into how this decision will affect workers in the U.K. and France.
“Mozilla has a strong line of sight to future revenue generation, but we are taking a more conservative approach to our finances,” Baker wrote. “This will enable us to pivot as needed to respond to market threats to internet health, and champion user privacy and agency."
Xnor.ai began as a process for making machine learning algorithms highly efficient — so efficient that they could run on even the lowest tier of hardware out there, things like embedded electronics in security cameras. This acquisition makes sense, as Apple clearly intends for its devices to operate independent of the cloud when it comes to tasks like facial recognition, natural language processing and augmented reality.
In a tweet late Tuesday, President Trump criticized Apple for refusing "to unlock phones used by killers, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements” — referring to a locked iPhone that belonged to a Saudi airman who killed three U.S sailors in December. Zack Whittaker explains why the government’s argument is a red herring. (Extra Crunch membership required.)
The company’s latest demos involve holding a lens or device close to the eye in order to get a feel for what an eventual AR contact lens would look like.
The premium plan, which Google will charge for based on your monthly Google Cloud Platform spend (with a minimum cost of around $12,500 per month), promises a 15-minute response time in situations when an application or infrastructure is unusable in production.
A day after Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos announced that his company is pumping in an additional $1 billion into its India operations, the nation's trade minister Piyush Goyal said he wasn’t impressed.
Tejas Express Ahmedabad to Mumbai LIVE updates: Rail Minister Piyush Goyal to flag off India's second private train Tejas Express Ahmedabad to Mumbai LIVE updates: The ticket booking for IRCTC Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Ahmedabad Tejas Express can be done on the IRCTC website, irctc.co.in and the Rail Connect app.
Budget session from Jan. 31 President Ram Nath Kovind will be addressing a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on January 31 to get the Budget session under way.The Lok Sa
Despite its terrible name (they couldn’t even avoid Peacock jokes during the presentation itself, with Fallon asking, “What names did you turn down before settling on Peacock?”), the service has a chance to grab a slice of the streaming market thanks to its decent back catalog and NBCU’s plans to promote the service heavily during the Summer Olympics on NBC.
