drag2share: LEGO: We Will Continue To Dominate The Global Toy Market

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/lego-we-will-continue-to-dominate-the-global-toy-market-2014-2

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark's Lego increased sales and operating profit by 10 percent in a sluggish global toy market in 2013 and said it expected to continue to outperform the market by launching new products and expand in emerging markets aided by a successful movie.

Strong performance by its Chima, Friends and City brands helped Lego, mostly known for its colorful bricks, to increase sales to 25.38 billion Danish crowns ($4.65 billion) in 2013.

This puts the unlisted Danish toymaker ahead of United States' Hasbro <HAS.O> which sold for $4.08 billion in 2013, but still far behind the $7.1 billion revenue of Mattel <MAT.O>, the U.S. maker of Barbie dolls and Fisher-Price.

Lego said that in the coming years it expected to grow "moderately ahead" of the global toy market, which is expected to grow by a low single-digit percentage annually.

"We are getting very strong feedback from the market and from our customers and from the children," chief executive Jorgen Vig Knudstorp said at a presentation.

He said that in order to fulfill the ambition "to take the bricks all over the world", Lego has established major sites in Singapore, Shanghai and London, besides its existing hubs in Connecticut, U.S. and in Billund in western Denmark.

Knudstorp said Lego aims to increase its sales outside the developed countries, and that the global success of its "The Lego Movie" could help to strengthen its brand there.

"We are, of course, noticing a very considerable amount of excitement surrounding 'The Lego Movie', even in places where Lego is not so well known," Knudstorp said.

The animated film that depicts a world based on the colorful toy blocks has led the United States box office charts for three consecutive weekends. ($1 = 5.4600 Danish crowns)

(Reporting by Teis Jensen; Editing by Stephen Powell)

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drag2share: Google wants its Project Ara modular smartphone to cost $50

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/26/project-ara-price/

How much will a modular smartphone set you back? If Google gets its way, about $50 -- assuming you forgo all of the bells and whistles. The team behind Project Ara wants to launch what it calls a "grayphone," a barebones customizable exoskeleton that comes with little more than a screen, a frame and a WiFi radio. That wouldn't be much of a phone, of course, but its only the bait. Google's Paul Eremenko told Time Techland that users would customize their underpowered husks at special kiosks outfitted with tools to help customers build the device that's right for them.

Sounds bold? It is, a little; the team admitted to Time that it hasn't actually reached its price target just yet, and between the FCC and public opinion, it still has more than a few hurdles to leap before its modular cellphone is ready for market. That said, Eremenko says the focus is to make Ara great, not profitable -- a statement that adds to the nebulous handset's allure. Skip down to the attached source for Time's full rundown of Project ARA, Google's ATAP group and Eremnko's thoughts on redesigning the smartphone.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Time Techland

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drag2share: Honeywell's evohome puts a smart heating system in every room, is now available in the UK

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/26/honeywell-evohome-uk-launch/

You don't need Google to tell you that fancy, net-connected and smartphone-controllable heating setups have caught on, blazing a trail for other home automation tech and the mysterious internet of things to follow. UK energy merchant British Gas launched its own wireless thermostat not too long ago, and now Honeywell's upping the stakes with its evohome multi-room system (a bigger, badder version of an old evohome product sold for "specialist installations."). In addition to the main controller that pairs with your boiler, you can also pimp your radiator valves with wireless nodes to create up to 12 different "smart zones" that can be managed independently.

As you'd imagine, this means you can concoct some pretty elaborate schedules using the tablet-like touchscreen remote or via the Android and iOS apps. The system will also learn things about your crib, like how it long it takes to heat up and cool down, so you're only using energy when you need to. And, if you've left a window open, any nearby radiator module will know as much and shut itself off in protest of your wastefulness. Available in the UK from today, the basic Connected Pack (sans valve nodes) will set you back £249 without installation, which can't be any more complicated than rigging up a Sonos, can it?

Filed under: Household

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Source: Honeywell

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drag2share: Boeing Is Working On a Self-Destructing Phone For Spies

Source: http://gizmodo.com/boeing-is-working-on-a-self-destructing-phone-for-spies-1531827562

Government employees who rely on Blackberry's famously secure encryption might have another phone to choose from some day soon: Myce reports that Boeing has quietly filed papers with the FCC for a phone that self-destructs if you tamper with it. It's called the Boeing Black, of course.

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drag2share: It&#39;s Ridiculously Easy to Troll Google Maps With Fake Listings

Source: http://gizmodo.com/its-ridiculously-easy-to-troll-google-maps-with-fake-l-1531646581

Trust the listings you find on Google Maps? You shouldn't, because it's dumb easy to fake them. That's what Google Maps exploiter Bryan Seely demonstrated for me this morning. And while trolling politicians with dick jokes is never not funny, there's also a whole sub-community of scammers turning Google Map's little bugs into cold, hard cash.

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