Bidness ETC - Facebook Plans To Shift 'Instant Articles' Option On The Website

The social media company has decided to bring the Instant Article feature to the website now to make it more popular and known

The new feature that Facebook has reportedly been carrying out on its app known as the ‘Instant Article’ is now being updated by the social media company, as per the reports by Wall Street Journal. Previously, this feature was only made available on the FB app for smartphones carrying the iOS. However, the media firm has now decided to bring this feature to the website too now, in order to increase the number of articles that are being published on it every day. In the start, there were only a few publishing houses which helped the firm activate this feature in the first place. But after a little time only, the content to be published decreased and publishing eventually stopped.

Facebook, on the other hand, is in no plan to stop or discontinue the newly established feature and for that purpose, it has reportedly been looking for content that it can start releasing through the Instant Article feature, news confirmed by the WSJ. On the other hand, there are some names in the industry that have agreed to publish their content directly on the networking giant’s site through the article feature. One of them is none other than New York Times which, according to reports, is planning to shift the same feature now on the desktop website which will not only make this more active but it will also help the users on the desktops to view the daily articles being released on the web.

Along with the New York Times, The Atlantic has also shown interest in taking part in Facebook’s new venture and has decided to submit some of its content on the instant articles for an indefinite period of time. As per news released by the Wall Street journalists, it has also been informed that NBC has also agreed to work with the social media platform to speed up the new feature on the website. However, this collaboration has not yet been confirmed by the networking giant and according to the report, NBC is still waiting to receive an approval for around 30 articles that it plans to publish daily through Instant Articles.

Currently, there are other publishing houses as well who wish to release their content directly on the media company’s site but Facebook has emerged to show some restrictions on signing up with a lot of houses at the moment and plans to restrict itself to see whether the new feature is showing any success by the current number of articles being published on it. If things turn out the way the media firm has planned them out, then it is expected to appoint more published to release content through the new feature.

Bidness ETC - ITC Clears Samsung and Qualcomm In Nvidia Case As IT Giant Donates A Million Dollar for New UT Engineering Centre

Case involves graphics processors used in Samsung’s Galaxy line of mobile devices.

Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) is likely to face a reprieve from the ongoing Nvidia Corp. case as a result of patent infringement accusations, which also involves Samsung as the party accused, though Qualcomm also had a bit of a part to play in it too.

The case involves the use of graphics processor by Samsung’s Galaxy line of mobile devices, and a victory in the case will result in the potential ban of mobile phones and other infringement stained processors.

Staff members of ITC announced their stance on Monday as the commission began their public hearing for the case. Due to confidential information, the recommendation was put in pretrial brief under a seal.

The recommendations give a significant advantage for Samsung and Qualcomm that gives them some moral boost in their quest to have the ruling overturned in their favor; though the final ruling will not be made till October.

If the ruling is in favor of Nvidia, which is the largest chip makers for the computer graphics cards, then it would hold out a potential of around $2 billion of royalty payments for its technology usage.

For Qualcomm, a win in this case will help it to ensure that it does not get itself entangled into another controversy. It would want to focus on its priorities on engaging itself in the Internet of Things (IoT) technology that it will venture on its own and not get involved into a partnership with the other firms who are also pursing the same, but face the risk of copyright infringement case, similar to this one.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm Inc has donated almost a million dollars to the University of Texas’ Cockrell School of Engineering for the development of its new Engineering Education and Research Centre. It will provide a new home for the UT Austin’s Wireless Networking and Communications Group, which opens by 2017.

The new place will be named the Qualcomm Wireless Networking and Communications Research Neighborhood, which will house 20 faculty associates and between 130-150 undergraduates and graduates, along with a number of researchers and partners.

Qualcomm’s stock price ended the day at $67.36, a gain of 0.75% from the previous day, probably as investors sound relatively bullish about the prospect of Qualcomm being ‘let off the hook’, whether the IT giant, intentionally or unintentionally, dragged itself into the case, and hoped that it served a lesson for the company to tread a careful path when it comes to partnerships.

National Bank of Greece Cautiously Bullish Over New Reforms Likely To Be Accepted By The EU

Greece’s banking stock surged after new economic reforms close to being accepted by EU creditors.

National Bank Of Greece’s (NYSE:NBG) stock price may have suffered from a massive decline, going down by as much as 5.75% since the previous day, but overall stock surged for the second day after Greece reportedly handed over new economic reform package that the European creditors deem to be close to being acceptable.

Before that, the Greek financial holding company’s stock price had a choppy trading, settling upon at $1.40m, which was up 0.10 points at an increase of 7.70% from the previous trading day.

Prime Minster, Alexis Tsipras, felt gutted when his own list of proposals fell way short of what the Greek creditors’ revised in terms of the agreement. The new set of measures was handed over the Greek government on Wednesday. Reuters reported that he had attacked the “stance” of certain creditors claiming them as strange who had rejected the budget proposals of Greece to help bridge the budget deficit gap.

The clock is starting to tick for the Greek government here, as it prepares for the upcoming meeting in Brussels with the heads of three creditor institutions, namely European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi; International Monetary Fund Managing Director, Christine Lagarde; and European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker.

However, Finance Ministers from the whole EU will gather later on to try and thrash out a deal before the expiration of Greece’s bailout package and the upcoming payment to the IMF on a lump sum basis by the end of this month, while hoping that the current meeting between Greece and the EU trio make a last ditch attempt to make their job convenient. Greece was supposed to pay them in installments before it convinced the IMF to go for a onetime payment to buy time to reach to an agreement.

Greek banks are feeling the heat from being tethered into bankruptcy, as they are concerned about the prospect of a deadlock just as much as they are slightly bullish about the two sides reaching a last minute deal at the 11th hour. It is something at which the EU seems to have developed mastery, as the stakes are so high here that no one can rule out of the particular consequences of a total meltdown in the Greek financial system. This can poison the EU as a whole, if not the whole world. The trend of depositors withdrawing cash from the banks, particularly National Bank of Greece cannot be ruled out.