Monthly Archives: July 2017

Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 will stage an online multiplayer beta for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One beginning this week and running until the end of the month, Konami has announced.

The beta will kick off at 4 a.m. ET on Thursday, July 20 and go to midnight, July 30. The beta will offer quickmatch and 3-vs.-3 online co-operative play.

Players will be offered their choice of the Brazilian or French national teams, playing at the Neu Sonne Arena. Other options include day or night play in good or rainy weather.

PlayStation 4 users will not need PlayStation Plus to participate. On Xbox One, an Xbox Live Gold subscription is required.

Adam Bhatti, the global product manager for Pro Evolution Soccer, said there will be a demo closer to PES 2018's launch. The beta is "not to sell the game," and is meant to test the online code.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 launches Sept. 12, 2017 on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

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Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 multiplayer beta begins this week ... - Polygon

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First ever Agenda Festival

Angel Grady

Last Sat. July 15, the streets of Long Beach surrounding the convention center were saturated with people and skateboards rushing to get their spot in line for the much anticipated Agenda Festival. Agenda's creator Aaron Levant got in the industry as a graphic designer at various clothing companies in the '90s, but when he started his streetwear clothing line, he and his partner decided to stop attending trade shows and create their own and now he's been hosting the Agenda Trade Show for over 14 years with the thought of turning it into a festival for what seemed like forever. We caught up with Levant at Agenda Fest to ask him about the making of this inaugural fest and plans for the next one.

OC Weekly (Angel Grady): What is Agenda? Aaron Levant: Essentially what we are is a platform to help brands grow their companies and gain more recognition and distribution. Usually done through a traditional trade show format, now instead of just doing that with the industry, were helping them do that with direct consumers as well. I think we're entering the experienced based economy and that's something I think we keep at the forefront of our thinking.

What's the purpose of the Agenda Festival? I guess I wouldn't say necessarily the purpose, but Agenda is an event I have been holding for almost 15 years now. It started out as a fashion trade show that has evolved over the years and become a platform, a conference, a series of parties, merchandise, and I think a combination of that evolution is what you saw Saturday in Long Beach. Creating unique experiences around music, culture, brand, content, and is what we're trying to do with the Agenda Festival.

What are the main differences between this year's Agenda Fest and your past events? We've done a bunch of iterations of things, but this is the first time we put together this assemblage of things and this was the first event totally open to the public. For the last 14 years it's been an invite only industry event, this is the first time we've opened the flood gates and let the consumers come in. That evolution is a direct reaction to what's been going on in the fashion industry and overall retail, where the internet and social media are disrupting the way things work, people have access to everything instantaneously. The traditional way we used to do business is changing and we want to be on the forefront of that evolution as opposed to sitting on the wrong side of it.

Did Agenda Festival meet your expectations? When I think about something, I have different expectations. I have financial, attendance and different metrics that are more numeric based, things I could chart on a graph. But the thing I really try to focus on is the energy- which the thing you cant put your finger on and I feel really happy with it, we nailed it. The kids were lined up at six in the morning, super enthusiastic and came running in, they were excited because this was such a new experience for them. For me that is the main metric I would be happy with, you could have a show and make a ton of money, but if no one had good time, it doesn't mean anything. I'm beyond happy with the turnout of the energy and the feeling more so than the financial or attendance success.

Do you plan to host more events like this? For sure we'll be doing this again at least on an annual basis in Long Beach, if not on a bi-annual basis, every January and summer.

What makes this festival different from others? We called it a festival because that's a name that people recognize, but I wouldn't compare it to any music ones out there because that'sonly one component of what we're doing. This isn't just a field with a stage, right? There's so much more going on there, music is the background and the thing I think draws people in, but when you get there, there's so many other things to do- from the skate competition, to the pop-up shops, to the panels, to the food, it's really a multi-sensory experience.

Tyler, the Creator was on fire!

Angel Grady

How did you decide on the music lineup? It was a matrix of who we wanted and it came down to budget and who was available. Tyler,the Creator was at the top of our list and initially we couldn't get him because of his European tour. But a month later I noticed a tweet saying he was canceling the tour, so we called his agent that day and it worked out perfect for us. We didn't know at the time that he was planning to come out with a new album, the deal with Converse, two new singles and the music videos- the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

What do you think stood out most to attendees? Probably the fact that it's a unique format combining the brands and the music, I don't think anyone's done it like that before.

What will you do differently next time? It's gonna be a lot bigger and we're gonna try and possibly do two days next year, so we can people more time to be all to see all of it.

Have you thought about taking Agenda to other cities? We're already looking at other cities like New York, Miami and so on, to bring this experience to. It was wildly successful, we had 15,000 people come out and so much good feedback. So yeah, we see a lot of potential for this event format to roll out.

Why change things up now, after 14 years? Now is just the first time you've seen it manifest with the Agenda brand, in November of last year I co-produced ComplexCon, so we've been doing stuff like this for a while In 2012 our company merged with ReedPOP at that point we recognized this opportunity and we wanted to join up with somebody who can help us achieve that level of consumer engagement. We've been thinking about it that far back but this is the first time we've been able to activate on it in the proper with the Agenda brand.

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Agenda Festival's Founder Explains the Evolution of Hip-Hop's ... - OC Weekly

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

One Market

One Market

Chef Mark Dommen keeps the plates moving out of the kitchen for the lunch crowd at One Market. 2016.

Chef Mark Dommen keeps the plates moving out of the kitchen for the lunch crowd at One Market. 2016.

One Markets barbecue pop-up reflects the evolution of S.F.s downtown lunch scene

Theres a midday crowd filtering in and of out of One Market restaurant these days, but unlike the Financial Districts usual power lunch crowd, these diners are largely uninterested in a multi-course lunch over the restaurants $22 flounder entrees and $23 shrimp Louis salads. Instead, theyre breezing through the dining room to reach the restaurants barbecue pop-up in the atrium and order a pulled chicken sandwich ($11) or a to-go plate of ribs (8.50).

Back Porch BBQ is a reaction to downtown San Franciscos changing demographics, says One Markets chef Mark Dommen. Younger, more affluent diners are dictating the citys food culture and in Dommens eyes, they want comfort food consumable on the go a shift seen in the continued rise of food trucks and quick-service places in the last few years.

Thats not say there is no demand for the classic One Market experience. Most of the tables were full during a recent midweek visit, yet at the same time, a steady stream of young folks made their way to the summer-only pop-up.

Its a new chapter for Dommen, who said the world of barbecue is one hes been excited about exploring. The restaurant has a brand new smoker and since it became operational a few months back, Dommen and his team have been learning its ins and outs.

Dommen also admitted that while the idea is to have the pop-up run close by the end of summer, theres a chance it could last longer. Depending on the publics reaction, he said he could see it surfacing in off summer months when the weather is colder and people might be craving something smokey.

Everything on the Back Porch BBQ menu is a la carte. Customers either eat outside at One Market or take it to-go. (The largest dish on the Back Porch menu is the dozen St. Louis-style spare ribs for $30.) Doubling down on the quick service aspect, Dommen and his team have made it to where the cue can be ordered online and picked up at the atriums back door. Walk-up orders are welcome too.

Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @JustMrPhillips

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One Market's barbecue pop-up reflects the evolution of S.F.'s ... - San Francisco Chronicle

President Donald Trump, his White House and the team of surrogates and pro-Trump media members have gone to great pains to try and keep up with the drips coming out thatare backing up the theory that the Trump campaign metwith Russian sources to, at the very least, get information about Hillary Clinton as part of a disinformation campaign.

On Monday, Trump defended son Donald Trump Jr. from reports that he met with Russian sources in order to find out what information they had on Clinton, saying that most politicians would have gone to a meeting like the one his son attended. Notably, the presidentseemed to imply that his son was a politician.

This defense of his son is a drastic shift from his previous line. As the New York Times put it just last week: The original statement, drafted aboard Air Force One by advisers and then approved by Mr. Trump, said only that the Russian lawyer had discussed adoption policy during the meeting, without mentioning that the meeting had been offered as a chance to provide information about Mrs. Clintons dealings with Russia. It was also a seismic shift from his position since at least January thatwas that there was absolutely no connection with any Russians whatsoever.

Meanwhile, former Trump campaign director Michael Caputo went from no contact to so what? in two days, which should qualify as a record somewhere.

I had no contact with Russians and I never heard of anyone in the Trump campaign talking with Russians, he said Friday after meeting with the House Intelligence Committee. On Monday, Caputo reiteratedhis points from Friday, saying that talk of collusion was a fishing expedition. But Caputoalso triedto deflect from the allegations, saying, we both get involved in foreignelections in our own way to try and tilt them in our favor.

And, when it comes to pro-Trump media, Fox News Jeanine Pirro, who praised Trump forstanding up to fake news hogwash, isalso trying to change her story. In May, she told Fox &Friends that Trump has got to understand he is in treacherous waters now. Youre talking about every step as potentially being evidence to impeach him in some way.

But this weekend, Pirro defended the president in a different way.

There is no law that says a campaign cannot accept information from a foreign government, Pirro said, ignoring that there is a law the Federal Election Campaign Act which prevents foreign nationals from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly, and barsAmericans from solicit[ing], receiv[ing] or accept[ing] contributions or donations from them.

When Trump was interviewed by Pirro in May, he told the Fox News host, There is no collusion. We had nothing to do with Russia. One would think that Pirro would have been slightly upset that something he told her to her face would later turn out to be completely false. But, two months after he told Pirro something completely untrue, the former prosecutor laid out the line of defense that Trump himself would take Monday:Any politician who cared about getting elected would do exactly what the Trump campaign did.

As someone whos run for office five times, if the devil called me and said he wanted to set up a meeting to give me opposition research on my opponent Id be on the first trolley to hell to get it. And any politician who tells you otherwise is a bald-faced liar.

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Here's the evolution of Donald Trump's Russia defense - Salon

Thailand is pressing ahead with its digital economy policy but still ranks low in terms of how successfully it has made the digital jump, a new survey shows.

The country ranked 40th out of 60 in the Digital Evolution Index 2017 (DEI) compiled by the Fletcher School at Tufts University in partnership with Mastercard.

IT industry experts said the country must focus on improving regulatory frameworks, public trust and insufficiently skilled and shrinking workforce to accelerate this digital transformation as the country moves to embrace a new economic model dubbed Thailand 4.0.

The index measures four key drivers -- internet access; consumer demand in digital technology; the institutional environment, such as government policy, laws and resources; and innovation, including investment in research, and digital start-ups -- and 170 unique indicators.

The DEI study characterised countries as belonging to one of four groups.

Stand Out: These countries demonstrate high levels of digital development while continuing to lead in innovation and new growth. Singapore, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, Estonia, Hong Kong, Japan and Israel are in this group.

Stall Out: Many developed countries such as in Western Europe, Nordic countries, Australia and South Korea have a history of strong growth, but their momentum is slowing. Without further innovation they are at risk of falling behind.

Break Out: This group shows a relatively lower level of digital advancement but demonstrates the fastest momentum, making it attractive to investors. Countries include China, Kenya, Russia, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Mexico.

Watch Out: These countries face significant challenges as they are constrained by low levels of digital advancement and slow growth. They include South Africa, Peru, Egypt, Greece and Pakistan. The study placed Thailand in the last category, reflecting its low level of digitisation, slow momentum in terms of filling infrastructural gaps, institutional constraints, and low sophistication of consumer demand.

One key concern is that the digital economy policy has only been implemented on a superficial level, said Thanachart Numnonda, an executive director at the IMC Institute.

The country is still lacking a comprehensive legal framework to increase trust in digital developments, cybersecurity and data protection, added Mr Thanachart, who formerly served as president of the Association of Thai ICT Industry.

Moreover, it still relies too much on paperwork when faster electronic alternatives could be adopted, critics say.

Even though Thailand has started adopting electronic services to make life more convenient for the public, and is adopting big data analytics in planning and decision-making, it needs a bigger digital workforce and more IT experts from abroad, experts contend.

"The adoption rate of smartphones and social media is high but we are still very low in terms of using mobile wallets and mobile payments," said Mr Thanachart.

Nonetheless, wireless penetration is relatively high and digital policy is on the right track, meaning the chief problems lie in execution and implementation, according to Jarit Sidhu, a research manager at IDC Thailand.

Regulations also need to be better managed, he said, noting that over-the-top content services should not fall under the control of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission.

Meanwhile, many large private corporations have made an early start in their digital transformation but the education sector has not kept pace by failing to provide them with a digitally skilled workforce, critics say.

Despite this, there are indications Thailand is improving. Citing another study called the Global Connectivity Index (GCI) 2017 that was commissioned by China's Huawei and conducted by IDC, Mr Jarit said Thailand ranked 33rd out of 50 countries. Two years ago it ranked 39th in an earlier version of the same study.

GCI described Thailand as an early adopter in terms of information and communication technology development. It said the country performed outstandingly in its broadband assessment, and GCI awarded it top marks for mobile broadband coverage.

These achievements have been attributed to the government's digital economy plan, which was tasked with getting nearly 40,000 villages connected using broadband, including free WiFi.

According to the study, Thailand is on the right track to becoming a digital infrastructure hub.

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Nation ranks 40th in digital evolution - Bangkok Post