April, 2016

• 30 April

  Toronto property developer in trouble

  

    Bloomberg In a parking lot in midtown Toronto, a portable office advertising homes for Urbancorp sits empty, a stark symbol of what can go wrong for even one of Canada’s largest property developers in the city’s feverish real estate market. The sales center, fronted by weed-covered planters and dotted with litter, was where Urbancorp marketed 41 townhouses. The project, ...

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• 30 April

  Norway’s wealth fund doubles money on central London properties

  

    Bloomberg Norway’s $870 billion sovereign-wealth fund said the value of its first real estate investments, stakes in London’s Regent Street and a cluster of offices, shops and apartments nearby, more than doubled in value since they were purchased in 2011 and 2013. The fund’s 25 percent holding in the Crown Estate partnership, which owns parts of the luxury shopping ...

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• 30 April

  Riyadh’s causeway to connect Africa

    Bloomberg The Kingdom od Saudi Arabia seeks to establish itself as a trade hub connecting Europe, Africa and Asia. The causeway that is planned to link Saudi Arabia with Egypt will be a key component of future trade exchanges between the kingdom and Africa. In the Vision 2030 document that was released on April 25, Riyadh said it plans ...

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• 30 April

  UK home loans surge most since 2007 in tax deadline rush

  

    Bloomberg U.K. mortgage lending surged by the most since October 2007 last month, a further sign of the stampede for investment properties before a tax rise took effect in April. Net advances rose to 7.4 billion pounds ($10.8 billion) in March, from 3.6 billion pounds a month earlier, the Bank of England said in London. That’s far above the ...

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• 30 April

  People still seeing red over housing collapse in USA

  

    Bloomberg The nation’s housing markets may be finally getting over the foreclosure crisis, but for many Americans the anger hasn’t subsided. Take a look at this recent home sale in Florida. It may be the perfect encapsulation of the fury felt by some of the more than 5 million Americans served with a foreclosure notice after the housing bubble ...

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• 30 April

  Don’t pay more, go for bargain-priced computers

  

    Tobias Hanraths/ DPA Here’s the good news: prices have plunged for decent computers that provide all you need for internet search, occasional email and letter writing and storage of music and photos. “Even the low-end computers are not underpowered when you compare them to the level of a decade ago,” says Hans Stahl, professor of computer science at the ...

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• 30 April

  Wearable tech gears up in 2016

  

    Relaxnews Just as for virtual reality, 2016 is expected to be a pivotal year for wearable technology, particularly smartwatches and fitness trackers. Statistical data puts global sales of fitness trackers and smartwatches at 51 million units for 2015 and forecasts that this figure will jump to 84 million —38 million fitness trackers and 46 million smartwatches — by the ...

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• 30 April

  Samsung holds lead in flat global market

  

    Washington/ AFP Samsung kept the top spot in a global smartphone market which showed signs of flattening in the first quarter of 2016, a survey showed. The recent report by research firm IDC said the worldwide smartphone market saw its slowest growth on record of 0.2 percent, with shipments totalling 334.9 million. South Korean giant Samsung maintained its lead ...

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• 30 April

  Smartphone health: Apple releases software for medical apps

  

    AP Apple is edging its way a little further into health care with the release of new iPhone apps that patients can use to manage their own medical conditions — from diabetes to pregnancy and even depression. While there are hundreds of health-related apps on the market, Apple wants to put its stamp on a new ecosystem of treatment ...

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• 30 April

  Buddhist temple unveils robot monk to engage the new generation

  

    Relaxnews A Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Beijing has embraced technology and debuted a robot monk in a bid to attract new followers to the faith. The cartoon-like creation, dubbed Xian’er, wears a yellow robe and has a shaved head, and can recite mantras and answer 20 simple questions about Buddhism and the daily lifestyle at the Lonquan ...

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