Thursday, 30 January 2014

OMG!!! This bra only unhooks only when the wearer is in true love





In a long-awaited fusion between hot-blooded hormones and cold-headed engineering, a Japanese lingerie company has produced a bra they claim will only unlock when the wearer is really in love.

The "True Love Tester" uses sensors and a special gadget linked to a mobile device to analyse the pattern and speed of the user's heart beat in the heat of the moment.

If the app determines the woman's feelings are for real, the clasp at the front pops open to allow matters between lovers to take their course.

The bra is a gimmick by lingerie brand Ravijour, which says it is not for sale, but forms part of a publicity campaign for the marque's 10th anniversary.

"We wanted to do something that wouldn't just appeal to people who wear our products, but also to lift the romantic mood between men and women," spokeswoman Yuka Tamura said.

In a promotional video, viewers are shown how the glittering gold lame bra conceals sensors placed inside the cup, which send wireless signals to a smartphone.

The app studies the heart's changing pattern and the duration of the change, which the makers say will allow it to distinguish between activities as diverse as jogging and flirting, where a woman's requirements of her bra are quite distinct.

In a promotional video clip, a toned model stands in a dimly lit studio wearing only her underwear, which keeps the insistent alpha male at bay because he cannot unhook the clasp.

It is "a revolutionary bra that knows truly how women feel," the video says.

The video can be seen at: https://www.ravijour.com/anniversary/moods

Courtesy of AFP

Friday, 24 January 2014

Samsung posts 18 percent drop in Q4 operating profit

Samsung posts 18 percent drop in Q4 operating profit

24 JAN 2014

Seoul (AFP)

South Korea's Samsung posted Friday an 18 percent drop in operating profit in the fourth quarter, due to a one-off bonus and slowing sales of the electronic giant's high-end smartphones.

Operating profit stood at 8.3 trillion won ($7.8 billion), down 18 percent from the July-September period, marking the company's first quarterly profit decline in two years.

The fourth quarter figure was also down 6.0 percent from a year ago.

The world's top maker of mobile phones and TVs said earnings were hit by a "negative currency impact" of 700 billion won and a one-off 800 billion won employee bonus to mark the 20th anniversary of a marketing strategy by Chairman Lee Kun-Hee that laid the groundwork for the company's recent success.

"For the first quarter it will be challenging for Samsung to improve its earnings as the weak seasonality of the IT industry will put pressure on demand for components and TV products," the company said.
The latest earnings result ended the company's long run of record quarterly profits on the back of surging sales of its flagship Galaxy series smartphones.

The mobile division posted a quarterly operating profit of 5.47 trillion won, down 2.8 percent from the third quarter.

The company statement said the division's earnings were down due to seasonally increased marketing costs, as well as the one-off bonus.

The strength of the Korean won against other currencies also weighed on performance, inflicting foreign-exchange losses and making Samsung less price-competitive in the global market.

Operating profit for the whole of 2013 was 36.8 trillion won, up 27 percent from the previous year.

Samsung had a leading share of 38.8 percent in the global smartphone market as of the third quarter of last year, followed by arch-rival Apple's 13.1 percent, according to the industry research firm IDC survey.

But its bottom line has been hit by competition from budget handset makers, especially from China, and the company faces a fresh challenge this year after Apple struck a distribution deal with China Mobile Ltd., the world’s biggest carrier by users.

Samsung commanded more than an 18 percent share of China's smartphone market as of the third quarter last year, according to Chinese consultancy Analysys International, while Apple sat in eighth place with just 3.5 percent.

Samsung’s display division, which dominates the global market for LED panels, posted an operating profit of 110 billion won in the fourth quarter, down 90 percent from the previous year.
Slowing Galaxy S4 smartphone sales increased the inventory of unsold displays, while weaker TV sales also impacted the division.