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The Dales Report •

The Event That Changed Esports Globally

As a former venture capitalist, Adam Adamou likes to stay ahead of the curve, with eyes on the next big investment opportunity before it becomes an obvious one. It is not surprising then that he chose professional competitive gaming, or esports, for his next move.

Adamou, co-founder and head of strategy for esports and gaming company, OverActive Media Group Inc, says he had been tracking esports since the mid-1990s. But he did not see any substantial opportunities in the field for anyone other
Business-Standard •

Stand-up comedy: Laughers' curve

Your dad divorces your mom to marry your male caretaker. Your mum writes erotic novels and has a libidinous appetite. Girls think of you as a closet homosexual. Your only aim in life is to be the funniest guy in the room. Sarcasm is your byword, dry wit your forte. Obviously, I’m talking about Chandler from the popular sitcom FRIENDS.

Now meet Aditi Mittal, 27. Many know her as Dr (Mrs) Lutchuke, a part-Gujarati, part-Maharashtrian sexologist and “psycho-logist” (pun intended) in the stand-up s
Business-Standard •

Malala's teachable moments

MALALA
The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Changed the World
Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick

Everybody knows Malala Yousafzai and the story of the girl who stood up for the right to education, was shot by the Taliban for her pains and miraculously survived. So when I picked up the autobiography of this 16-year-old girl, I expected to find a glorified story of her trials and tribulations. That it certainly was. But, unexpectedly
Business-Standard •

Now, Google will 'find my phone' if I lose it

It’s a common habit among people to keep their phone somewhere and forget where they did; all of us do that and kick ourselves for being forgetful, till we get our phones back. And that is understandable, considering how important smartphones have become for us — think of the surge in average time we now spend glued to our handsets every day.

In what looks like a very useful tool for such ‘forgetful’ people, and another addition to its ways of making life easier for users, Google has launched a
Business-Standard •

Kejriwal gets SC stay in 2 defamation suits

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed proceedings against Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party Convenor Arvind Kejriwal, in two defamation cases filed against him — one of those filed by Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.

The court also served a notice on the Centre, on Kejriwal’s plea challenging constitutional validity of penal defamation laws, and tagged this plea with a similar pending case filed earlier by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy.

At a time when the Delhi chie
Business-Standard •

Google's doodle pays tribute to the king of musical instruments

Google again chose to enrich our knowledge on Monday with its doodle on the origin of the piano. Created by doodler Leon Hong, the doodle celebrates the 360th birthday of Bartolomeo Cristofori, credited with inventing the musical instrument. He was born on May 4, 1655 in Padua, then the Republic of Venice.

He later moved to Florence, believed to be employed by Prince Ferdinando de Medici as the keeper of instruments. He was also an inventor, having worked on two keyboard instruments before givi
Business-Standard •

Troubles galore for Housing.com

Troubles for real-estate start-up Housing.com do not seem to come to an end. Having been embroiled in controversy for the past one month, after then Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rahul Yadav’s particularly bitter and unprofessional e-mail to Sequoia Capital India Managing Director Shailendra Singh became public on question and answer website, Quora, it is in news again, this time for a much publicised resignation.

Rahul Yadav has quit the company as CEO. He questioned the intellectual capabilit
Business-Standard •

2002 hit-and-run case has seen many twists and turns

On Wednesday, more than 12 long years after it happened, a verdict -- some might even call it 'justice' - was finally delivered in the 2002 hit-and-run case involving Bollywood actor Salman Khan when Judge D W Deshpande of a Mumbai sessions court upheld all charges against the Bollywood actor, including one of culpable homicide.

Khan had been accused of ramming his car, in a state of inebriation, into a roadside bakery in suburban Bandra, in the wee hours of September 28, 2002, and in the proce
Business-Standard •

What's with Apple and China?

While Tim Cook woos Chinese users by joining Sina Weibo, we look at the interesting relationship between the tech giant and China.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is latest to feature on the list of people joining the Chinese social media network, Sina Weibo.

On a visit to the land of the red dragon for the sixth time since he took over as CEO of the luxury smartphone maker, he managed garnering 300,000 followers within 3.5 hours of joining, reported TIME.
Bloomberg.com •

Shopify Is Setting Up Fulfillment Network in U.S., Just Like Amazon

Shopify Inc. plans to spend $1 billion to set up a network of fulfillment centers in the U.S. to help merchants using its e-commerce platform deliver products more quickly and cheaply, much the way Amazon.com Inc. does.

“A large number of orders are lost in the final stages due to complex shipping costs,” Craig Miller, Shopify’s chief product officer, said at the company’s annual developer conference in Toronto. The service will use machine learning to predict demand and suggest closest fulfill
Bloomberg.com •

Shopify Is Now More Valuable Than Two of Canada’s Oldest Companies

Canada’s Shopify Inc., an e-commerce company that went public four years ago, is now more valuable than Manulife Financial Corp. and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce -- two financial institutions that have been around for more than a century.

Shopify eclipsed the financial heavyweights in market value on Wednesday after announcing plans to spend $1 billion setting up a network of fulfillment centers in the U.S. and upgrades to its tools merchants use to sell products.

Shopify traded at C$438
Bloomberg.com •

Sidewalk Labs Plans $980 Million Investment In Toronto Hub

Sidewalk Labs LLC., the urban innovation unit of Alphabet Inc., is proposing to team up with local partners to invest C$1.3 billion ($980 million) to get its vision for a high-tech city in Toronto off the ground.

Part of that would be a C$900 million equity investment to finance the C$3.9 billion development of a five-hectare neighborhood on Lake Ontario that will include tall-timber housing, adjustable curbs and heated bike lanes. It will also include the Canadian headquarters for sister compa
Bloomberg.com •

Purolator to Spend $759 Million for Faster Deliveries

Courier company Purolator Inc. will invest more than C$1 billion ($759 million) over the next five years to build a shipping hub in Toronto, upgrade its fleet and enhance its retail network in Canada to reach more customers.

“Today’s announcement is one of the most ambitious in our company’s history and will future-proof our business,” John Ferguson, Purolator’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Bloomberg.com •

Shopify Nips at Amazon With Hassle-Free Shipping for Small Firm

Same-day shipping is becoming the norm for online shoppers but for smaller merchants it can be a logistical nightmare. That’s where Shopify Inc. can step in, says Ric Kostick, chief executive officer of 100% PURE.

The natural skincare company ships up to 5,000 orders a day from its own warehouse in San Jose, California. That works fine for customers on the West Coast but it can take up to a week to get its bamboo blur powder and coconut shower gel to the rest of the U.S. The company contemplated setting up an East Coast warehouse but the prospect was technically daunting.
Bloomberg.com •

Rogers Subscriber Growth Slows as Price War Heats Up

Rogers Communications Inc. added fewer wireless subscribers in its fiscal second quarter amid a price war among Canadian telcos.

The Toronto-based company added 77,000 postpaid net subscribers, according to a statement Tuesday, short of analysts’ estimates for 99,250. Revenue was C$3.78 billion ($2.88 billion), also missing estimates of C$3.86 billion. Revenue at the wireless division, Rogers’ largest, rose 1% to C$2.24 billion.
Bloomberg.com •

Canada Has a Racial Bias Problem Too, New Surveys Suggest

Canada has long promoted itself as a haven of diversity and inclusion. A pair of recent studies report the opposite: Racial discrimination at work may be more prevalent than many think.

In a study of more than 700 people who identify as black, East Asian and South Asian, nearly half the respondents said they need to be on guard at work to “protect against bias.” The study, by Catalyst and Ascend Canada, didn’t include First Nations people.
Bloomberg.com •

Shopify Boosts Outlook on New Online Offerings

Shopify Inc. shares notched another record after the Canadian e-commerce company reported second-quarter sales that beat analysts’ average estimate and gave a more optimistic full-year outlook.

Revenue grew 48% to $362 million, according to a company statement Thursday. Analysts were projecting $350.5 million. Shopify raised its 2019 revenue guidance to a range of $1.51 billion to $1.53 billion but kept its outlook for adjusted operating income of $20 million to $30 million unchanged.
Bloomberg.com •

Canada Goose Falls on Report it Revised ‘Ethical’ Claims

Canada Goose Holdings Inc. fell 4.7% on a report that it backed off claims of ethical treatment of animals used to make winter clothing following a regulatory review of its marketing.

The New York Post earlier reported that the Toronto-based company no longer claimed on its website that it sources coyote fur from animals in overpopulated areas, and had removed a video showing where it gets the down for its parkas. Canada Goose denied it made changes to its website in response to the regulatory review.
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