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[Misc] (HL-20190707~20190713) Weekly Headlines
최고관리자  |  19-07-05 10:27


(Mon) EU hits Broadcom with antitrust probe
유럽연합, 브로드컴 독점금지법 위반 조사

Broadcom is the latest U.S. tech firm to face a European antitrust probe. Regulators on Wednesday hit the chipmaker with a so-called interim order. It requires Broadcom to scrap exclusive deals with TV and modem-makers. Brussels wants to investigate whether the firm's dominance of that market is hurting consumers. Broadcom has two weeks to make a formal response. It says the EU's concerns are 'without merit' . But the threat has teeth. Google and chipmaker Qualcomm among U.S. tech firms hit with big European fines in recent years. Now the case is likely to attract attention in the White House. On Wednesday Donald Trump told Fox the EU should stop fining U.S. firms. He said European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager hated America worse than anyone he'd met. Scant consolation in that for Google though. Trump went on to suggest the U.S. might just fine them instead. 

(Tue) The AR tech aiding midwives with dangerous births
조산사의 교육을 돕는 증강현실 기술

These students are learning how to become midwives, bringing a new life into the world, but in a potentially revolutionary way. Thanks to augmented reality headsets. This tech - alongside life-like models of full-term mothers - allows trainee midwifes to practice simulated births. Leaving them better prepared to face tougher maternity scenarios and conditions rarely seen in their day-to-day work. The aim is essentially to lower mortality rates, which are disproportionately high in minority ethnic group pregnancies in the UK. London's Middlesex University hopes the AR simulation will hone student's clinical skills. "It allows you to see a visual picture of the actual anatomy itself, which is raised out of the normal body, and you can step in, walk around and have an internal view. (...) As a midwife, I worked for 10 years before I managed to see a shoulder dystocia, and nine years before I saw a breach delivery. But it's the ability to manage that situation when it occurs, effectively, and obviously save a life. And that's the major thing here." Chitongo says that Asian women are twice as likely and black women five times as likely, compared to white women, to face fatal complications during childbirth, and hopes this will help. She adds the issue has not yet been fully addressed, despite the trend increasing since 2011. 

(Wed) 'Take it!': How a Thai fishmonger made a fortune off social media
‘가져가세요!’: 태국의 생선장수가 소셜 미디어로 돈 버는 방법

A perhaps more aggressive , but more millennial way to sell seafood. "Take it! Take it! The food is delicious." Anurak Saruethai proclaims to his customers in Thailand who are watching his live stream on Facebook. "I'm selling dried seafood from Satun province via Facebook live. I make around $32,000 for three hours of live every day." Along with his team, the sea food seller has captivated hundreds of thousands of viewers and sold millions of Thai baht worth of dried shrimp, squid, and fish. Nearly 600,000 unique views have been recorded - and in March, sales exceeded $800,000. It wasn't always like that. Anurak is the son of a fisherman but says he wasn't very gifted in the trade himself. But he's found his calling in telling stories behind his seafood goods, and the fishermen who caught them. "For my second 'live' sale, I explained who I am, where I am from, how to fish and many more details with cheerful expressions." Anurak's social media success story isn't the first in Thailand. Its Electronic Transaction Development Agency said in 2018-sales via social media came in at $10.7 billion, mostly from small businesses like Anurak's seafood live-stream. 

(Thu) When the winemaker wore a wet suit: Spain's $100 subsea tipple
스페인 해저에서 숙성된 100 달러 와인

It's not just any old bottle that's washing up on the shore. One wine producer is stocking an entire cellar under the sea off Spain's northern coast. The company, aptly named Crusoe Treasure, stores bottles of reds and white on Cantabria's seabed for up to 18 months, giving it a distinct flavor. "The lack of gravity, the constant temperature and constant movement triggered by the tides influence the evolution of the wine. The wines are softer and silkier. The tannins are much more integrated, and aromatically they are much more powerful." The method is inspired by tales of champagne rescued from shipwrecks after hundreds of years underwater and praised for its unique characteristics by those who have drunk it. But it's not just the wines people can say cheers to. The Spanish government granted the firm 500 square meters of sea bed and the bottles are kept in cages in concrete structures, which act as an artificial reef to help sustain marine wildlife. "The sea bed where we are located, has a sandy seabed with pieces of stone and many currents. By placing the winery there what we create is a protected space where many species can hide and build their new home." The bottles are priced between $60 and $100 each. With that, you'll also get the ocean debris attached to the bottle.

(Fri) Adidas three-stripe trademark ruled invalid by EU court
아디다스, EU 법원에서 삼선 트레이드마크 소송 패소

It's associated with its world-famous three stripes branding but after a court ruling it seems anyone can have the same marks as Adidas. The German sports wear company had tried to register the stripes as a trademark. But the General Court of the European Union ruled on Wednesday that the branding was not distinctive enough, describing the stripes as an 'ordinary figurative mark' and not a pattern. The sports giant registered the trademark in 2014 for clothing, footwear and headgear. But the trademark was annulled two years later by the European Intellectual Property Office after it was challenged by Belgian company Shoe Branding Europe, with which Adidas has been in a decade-long dispute. An EU court ruled Shoe Branding Europe's two stripe trademark as invalid last year as it was too similar to Adidas. Adidas can still appeal this latest decision.

** Other Latest Headlines **

* Irregular workers’ strike disrupts school operations

Irregular workers at schools went on strike Wednesday, calling for an end to discrimination in wages and welfare benefits vis-a-vis regular workers and disrupting meal services at thousands of schools nationwide. The irregular workers, who are permanent employees but are paid less than regular workers, are demanding equal pay, welfare benefits and job security. They have demanded a 6.24 percent increase in their basic pay and the elimination of discrimination in allowances, as part of their campaign to achieve 80 percent of the salary level of the lowest-grade civil service employees during the Moon Jae-in presidency. Education authorities are believed to have offered a 1.8 percent pay raise. 

* Tree planting 'has mind-blowing potential' to tackle climate crisis

Planting billions of trees across the world is by far the biggest and cheapest way to tackle the climate crisis, according to scientists, who have made the first calculation of how many more trees could be planted without encroaching on crop land or urban areas. As trees grow, they absorb and store the carbon dioxide emissions that are driving global heating. New research estimates that a worldwide planting programme could remove two-thirds of all the emissions that have been pumped into the atmosphere by human activities, a figure the scientists describe as “mind-blowing”. The analysis found there are 1.7bn hectares of treeless land on which 1.2tn native tree saplings would naturally grow. That area is about 11% of all land and equivalent to the size of the US and China combined. Tropical areas could have 100% tree cover, while others would be more sparsely covered, meaning that on average about half the area would be under tree canopy.

* Everyone’s going back to the moon. But why?

As the 50th anniversary of the first Apollo landing approaches, a host of countries are undertaking lunar missions. What’s behind the new space race? One reason for this shift is that the moon’s exploitation has simply reached a stage that mirrors past explorations on Earth, says David Parker, director of human and robotic exploration for the European Space Agency. He sees particular parallels with our conquest of the south pole. “The timetable of the exploration of Antarctica mirrors that of the moon in an uncannily close manner,” Parker says. “At the beginning of the century, there was a race to reach the south pole and then no one went back for 50 years – just like the moon in the 60s. Then we started building bases in Antarctica. We are now approaching that stage with our exploitation of the moon.”

* Glacial melting in Antarctica may become irreversible

Antarctica faces a tipping point where glacial melting will accelerate and become irreversible even if global heating eases, research suggests. A Nasa-funded study found instability in the Thwaites glacier meant there would probably come a point when it was impossible to stop it flowing into the sea and triggering a 50cm sea level rise. Other Antarctic glaciers were likely to be similarly unstable. Recent research found the rate of ice loss from five Antarctic glaciers had doubled in six years and was five times faster than in the 1990s. Ice loss is spreading from the coast into the continent’s interior, with a reduction of more than 100 metres in thickness at some sites.