| Japanese cafe chain sues over low guide rating: firm
A Japanese cafe operator has sued a publisher after it got the lowest mark in a critic's ranking of popular chains, officials said Friday. Chat Noir, which operates 175 Caffe Veloce outlets in Japan, sued major publisher Kodansha, demanding 11 million yen (100,000 dollars) in damages and public advertising of an apology, a Kodansha official said. The October 2007 issue of "The Weekend for Adults" monthly magazine by Kodansha ranked 11 popular cafe chains in an undercover survey, checking them on drinks, food, atmosphere and convenience. Caffe Veloce -- known for signboards with wine-red frames or with the catchphrase, "Good coffee brewed here" -- came last, with the accompanying article saying it was sheer luck whether the coffee was any good. The chain argued that the ranking was based on the subjective judgement of one writer and hurt its brand image, according to media reports.
Samsung 500GB laptop notebook drive set for March debut
Samsung Electronics Sunday revealed that it is building a 500GB notebook hard drive that will ship in March. The new 2.5-inch Spinpoint M6 hard disk drive will feature three 166GB platters and measure 9.5 millimeters in height, said Samsung. By installing two Spinpoint M6 drives onto a notebook PC, up to 1TB of available storage capacity will be available to users, noted Samsung officials. The Spinpoint M6 drive was unveiled late Sunday at the International Consumer Electronics Show show in Las Vegas. Pricing details were not disclosed. News of the new 500GB notebook hard drive arrives just days after rival Hitachi disclosed that it will begin shipping its new Travelstar 5K500 2.5-inch 500GB spinning disk drive in February. The new Samsung drive features Perpendicular Magnetic Recording technology and spins at up to 5400 rpm spindle speeds and has 8MB buffer cache.
Phone Industry Plays Catch-Up With Touchscreens, Software
Touchscreens, specialized applications and unusual form factors will dominate the mobile phone landscape in the coming year. That's the picture revealed by the thousands of new phones on display at the 2008 GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, a major international cellphone tradeshow. "Today, it is less about the physical product and more about what it can do," said Keith Nowak, Nokia media relations manager. Now that every phone contains a camera, music player and web connectivity, the implementation of these features is much more important than their mere existence. As a result, manufacturers are increasingly relying on software and user experience to differentiate their products -- an imperative that has gained greater urgency given the success of Apple's touchscreen-based, user-friendly iPhone.
Land to Reliance okayed
The Punjab Government will take a decision on three main demands of employees at a meeting of the Council of Ministers scheduled for August 10 . On that day, the council will also approve the setting up of the pay commission for the staff. Sources said yesterday that the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, had made up his mind to give the promotional scale to employees on the completion of four, nine and 14 years of service. However, the Finance Department and certain sections of the bureaucracy are not supporting this move. As the Chief Minister has given his word to the employees in this connection, he will not go back on it, said a senior officer. The annual liability of giving the promotional scale from April this year will between Rs 180 crore and Rs 200 crore, it is learnt.
Obama is worth big spending
He's going all the way to the White House, unless they gun him down,'' said Uncle Chet. ``And I do lose sleep over that. It seems too much like '68, with the war and the crowds and Bobby Kennedy. Actually, Bobby was the first candidate I ever sent money to.'' ``Have you sent Obama any?'' asked Hon. ``I did. Fifty smackers.'' ``Is a smacker a dollar?'' asked Buddy. ``Yes,'' I said as Hon served chicken, potatoes, salad and bread. ``This looks wonderful,'' said Alice, who took a drumstick. ``First, I bought the hat,'' said Uncle Chet. ``But later I was thinking, I don't care if I get a good deal on a hat; I want to help this guy get elected. So I hit the credit card again.'' ``Last of the big spenders,'' I said.
|
