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Mobile World Congress (MWC) will continue to be held in the city of Barcelona until 2024 as per the terms of a new agreement.

The Catalan capital has hosted the industry megaevent since 2006, moving to the current Fira de Barcelona Gran Via venue in 2013. The previous agreement was reached in 2011 and was set to run until 2023.

The GSMA said the one year extension had been reached after the two parties had worked through the implications of the cancellation of the 2020 event due to the coronavirus outbreak. The GSMA eventually pulled the plug after several major exhibitors withdrew, stating it was “impossible” to stage the show.

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GSMA Barcelona 2024

The organisation had initially said there would be no refunds but has since detailed a compensation package that includes provisions for partial refunds or credit that can be used against future events. For example, those who spent in excess of £5,000 will receive half of paid fees up to £150,000 or they can receive 125 per cent credit over the next three years.

However some companies will also have paid for transport and accommodation, while resources would have been spent on creating demos and prototypes. For smaller organisations, this could have been a huge portion of marketing budget. Meanwhile, Barcelona had to forfeit a significant boost to the local economy thanks to the influx of visitors.

“In these trying times, it is ever essential to look forward to the future,” said John Hoffman, GSMA CEO. “The GSMA, the Host City Parties, and the MWC Barcelona ecosystem look forward to upcoming editions of MWC, and MWC Barcelona 2021 will be part of the economic recovery process.

“By extending through 2024, we are demonstrating our commitment to our ecosystem as well as the Host City Parties and our strong and mutually beneficial working relationship. We are pleased to report that we have had tremendous support and early commitment with many exhibitors for future editions.”

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L’epidemia di Covid-19 ha avuto degli effetti sulla domanda globale di smartphone e produttori come Samsung stanno calibrando la prevedibile riduzione delle vendite con la riduzione della produzione nel trimestre in corso.

Il produttore di telefoni sudcoreano ha rilevato una riduzione della richiesta per la sua gamma di smartphone Galaxy S20, presentata a marzo, a causa della pandemia di coronavirus, che ha provocato blocchi e timori per la perdita di posti di lavoro. Un rapporto di Wave7 Research ha evidenziato un calo complessivo di circa il 13% delle vendite globali durante il 2020.

Un resoconto pubblicato dalla rivista tecnologica sudcoreana Elec afferma che Samsung avrebbe ridotto la produzione da una media di 25 milioni di unità al mese a 10 milioni di unità in aprile. La pubblicazione cita una fonte anonima secondo cui i blocchi in corso a causa del Covid-19 e la chiusura degli impianti di produzione in India e Brasile siano state le principali cause di questo taglio della produzione.

Samsung di solito produce meno della media mensile durante il mese di aprile, perché prepara l’inventario per il resto dell’anno in base alla domanda. Tuttavia, questa volta, la produzione è scesa anche al di sotto dei numeri registrati un anno fa proprio a causa della debole domanda globale.

La società ritiene che la produzione potrebbe normalizzarsi a maggio quando gli stabilimenti di India e Brasile riprenderanno la produzione. Tuttavia, dato che il blocco è stato esteso in India fino al 3 maggio e che i casi Covid-19 sono in aumento in entrambi questi paesi, il recupero potrebbe richiedere più tempo di quanto Samsung preveda.

C’è però una speranza

Tuttavia, c’è un lato positivo per il gigante della tecnologia coreana. Le proiezioni di vendita per il Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra stanno superando le stime di mercato con vendite che dovrebbero raggiungere i 6 milioni di unità nel corso dell’anno, rispetto alle 3,5 – 5,25 milioni previste.

A seguito della pandemia, il mercato ha ridotto del 40% le proiezioni di vendita per la serie S20, fissandole a 20 milioni di cellulari nel 2020. Si prevede che Galaxy S20 venderà 6 milioni di unità, ma  per S20 si prevedono 8 milioni e S20 Ultra 3,5 – 5,25 milioni di unità.

All’inizio di aprile, il colosso tecnologico sudcoreano aveva dichiarato che i suoi profitti operativi, nel trimestre chiuso a marzo, avrebbero toccato 5,23 miliardi di dollari, in crescita di circa il 2,7% rispetto allo  stesso periodo dell’anno precedente.

Tuttavia, con la diffusione di Covid-19 e il conseguente rallentamento economico, l’immediato futuro appare sconfortante per Samsung e le altre società produttrici di smartphone in tutto il mondo.

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Microsoft is offering PC users a free 4K Xbox Series X wallpaper pack ahead of the next-gen console’s release later this year.

This free wallpaper pack is a theme for your desktop that features 16 premium 4K images of the Xbox Series X. The theme cycles through each of the images, pausing on each for a select amount of time, before showing you another beautiful promo shot.

It’s worth noting that this theme is only available to those with a Windows PC – sorry, Mac users.

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How to claim your free Xbox Series X wallpaper pack

Here’s what to do to claim your free wallpaper pack:

• Go to the wallpaper pack’s listing here
• Select ‘Get’ on the right hand side of the screen
• You should get a prompt asking for your Microsoft Store app to open
• Sign into Microsoft Store if you aren’t already
• The Microsoft Store should automatically go to the listing, select ‘Get’ again
• Your wallpaper pack should download

And here’s how to apply it:

• Go to your PC ‘Settings’ and select ‘Personsalization’
• Select ‘Themes’
• Under ‘Change Theme’ your new Xbox Series X wallpaper pack should appear
• Simply click on the ‘Xbox Series X’ theme and voilà!

Once you’ve applied the theme you can customize how long each image is held for, how it fits to the screen and if the images are shuffled or not – just go to ‘Bakground’ under ‘Personalization’ setting.

• Xbox Series X games: all the games rumored and confirmed for the next Xbox

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Google Play is launching a new tab specially targeted at kids, which will host a wide selection of ‘teacher-approved’ apps and games. This launch has been advanced by Google keeping in mind the lockdown situation and to encourage children to use their time effectively even as their parents are looking for meaningful ways to keep them engaged. The best free parental control software and apps 2020

Over the last few years, Google has been working with teachers and educational experts from institutions like Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and Georgetown University to support the development of both fun and educational apps.

The present tab ‘family’ in Google Play will be converted to ‘Kids’ and can be found by opening Google Play on your mobile phone and swiping across the top list of tabs which is just under the search bar. Google will ensure that these apps and games meet its specific quality standard, and it uses a larger set of factors to judge whether the app is fit for the kids tab.

Factors such as age-appropriate, quality of the app experience, how enriching and delightful it is for the child will be taken into account. Other factors such as creativity, imagination, and the thought process behind the design will also be taken into consideration.

For instance, educational and informative apps for children include those that help kids under 5 years to identify objects, colours, shapes and teach the alphabets and numerals in a fun and interactive way. Similarly, apps for children above 6 years and 9 years will have to conform to these set parameters.

“We trust teachers to enrich our kids while they’re in school, and we’re grateful they’ve shared their expertise to rate the apps kids use when they’re not in school as well,” Google wrote in a blog post.

The ‘Kids’ tab will soon be rolled out across the US over the next few days and will be available in the international markets in the coming months.

• The best free parental control software and apps 2020

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Tide, the UK’s business banking platform, has launched a new Invoice Protection product in partnership with insurance solutions provider Hokodo, to help micro, small and medium-sized businesses protect their cash flow against the late and non-payment of invoices.

The Coronavirus crisis is having an immediate and potentially long-term impact on the UK economy, and a serious knock-on impact on SMEs. The threat of increases in late payments, non-payments and insolvencies means small businesses are being put into a precarious position, whereby an unpaid invoice or late payment could leave them facing insolvency. 

To combat this, Tide has teamed up with Hokodo to offer Invoice Protection to its members, helping to protect their businesses and deliver added income security. Invoice Protection will allow Tide members to protect their cash flow against uncertainty and guarantee the payment of invoices, even if the customer does not pay. 

Hokodo takes care of debt collection on overdue invoices, and if the debts can’t be collected or the customer is insolvent, then Hokodo protects 90% of the invoice value. Members can choose which invoices they would like to protect, up to the value of £20,000, for a small fee (typically between 0.3% and 1% of the invoice value).

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Boosting efficiency

In addition to being able to protect their invoices, Tide’s members will also benefit from additional insights into their customers’ financial health. Members will have the ability to assess risk, improve their credit decision-making, and have confidence in taking on new business in these uncertain times.

Amit Kahana, VP of Credit Services for Tide said: “We know that overdue invoices put a real strain on SMEs even at the best of times. Our research from late 2019 told us that UK SMEs are chasing a total of £50bn in late payments at any one time, and spend 1.5 hours per day chasing these invoices. 

Considering the situation we are now in, it is more important than ever that small businesses are able to protect themselves as best they can. Invoice Protection will protect Tide members against the risk of non-payment of invoices, reduce the time wasted on chasing and give much-needed peace of mind.”

Richard Thornton, co-Founder at Hokodo added: “As the impact of Coronavirus continues to intensify, many SMEs will be worried about what the next few months will bring, whether they’ll receive payment, and whether they or their clients face the risk of insolvency. It is now more vital than ever that SMEs put the right measures in place to deal with any potential risks. 

Invoice protection can help small businesses avoid financial distress and provide them with some peace of mind, particularly in times of crisis such as these, by guaranteeing payment of invoices. By partnering with Tide, we’re proud to be supporting SMEs and giving them the opportunity to protect their cash flow.”

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