Category Archives: Evolution

For nearly 15 years, Australian-born Cameron Mitchell has been in the thick of one of the most dynamic markets in the global cinema industry: the Middle East. As CEO of Majid Al Futtaims Vox Cinemas, Mitchell had a front-row seat to witnessnot to mention a hands-on role in shapinga market that in the last decade has seen explosive growth and the creation of some of the most luxurious cinemas in the world.

This year, Mitchell returned to Australiaa country with a deep love of cinema and a long, masterpiece-filled history of local filmsto serve as the executive director of the National Association of Cinema Operators (NACO), the trade body representing cinema owners in Australasia. Speaking to Mitchell from the other side of the world, Boxoffice Pro got his insights into these two geographically disparate markets.

In the early days of the pandemic, it seemed like Australia and New Zealand were doing pretty well in keeping things contained, compared to the rest of the world. But, of course, people cant go see movies if theres nothing to see. How have the last few years been for the cinema industry there?

Everyone, globally, really struggled during Covid. The Australian box office normally annualizes at around that AU$1.2 billion mark (AU$1 = US$0.6677). And New Zealand is about NZ$200 million. Thats 3.4, 3.5, 3.6 admits per capita. The market has always been incredibly strong. Cinema, in Australia, is an important part of our culture. Village Roadshow and Event Cinemas[known as] Greater Union back theninvented [the VIP concept] Gold Class. We had this massive boom of cinemas in the 80s and 90s. Weve always grown up with cinema.

Like all countries, we were decimated by Covid. [There were] a myriad of different factors: closures, capacity restrictions. On top of that, we had no content. There was some Australian content that was released, but everyone was so nervous about coming out [to the cinema]. The direction from the government was, Dont go out. Dont go to common spaces. What weve now seen globally is that cinema, because of the spacing and the air-conditioning and the investments that weve made, is one of the safer environments.

[In] 2021, we did basically half the numbers of 2019. Australia was about AU$600 million and New Zealand was about NZ$100 million. Fortunately, this year, as with many countries, weve seen this massive spike in return to cinemas. If you look at the comparative period in 2021, in Australia were roughly 80 percent ahead of 2021, as of the end of July. In New Zealand, about 50 percent up. Both countries, as of the end of July, are ahead of the full-year 2021 numbers, which is obviously really encouraging. Top Gun: Maverick, in Australia, has done almost AU$90 million. Youve got Minions, Thor, Batman, Doctor Strangeall these films that are now in the top 50 films of all time. Elviss gross in local currency is AU$32 million, which makes it the fourth highest-grossing Australian film of all time. Elvis was made partially in Australia and funded by many Australian government organizations, as well. Were really happy that cinemas are back. Were showing that, with the right content, people are racing back to the cinemas. So its a really positive time.

One of the common threads weve seen during the pandemic is local films helping to keep cinema markets afloat. You said people were worried to go out to anythingdid box office for local films pick up?

If you go back to 2015, we had a great year for [the local] Australian box office, which was about AU$80 million. 2021 was AU$71 million, so it was almost at that peak level. As a comparison, in 2019, the Australian box office was just under AU$23 million. In 2021, we were $71 and a half; three and a half times the 2020 results, and more than one and a half times the 2019 results. There was definitely a spike, and were so happy to see that Australian content on-screen.

Ive been based in the Middle East for the last 16 years, working in exhibition and distribution. Ive come back and joined NACO as executive director, and one of my early focuses is to work with all the different creatives in Australia. Weve got an amazing organization, Screen Australia, which is funded by the federal government. Screen Queensland, Screen Producers Australia. There are all these different organizations that are full of amazing Australian talent that are really focused on local production. Box office [for Australian films] in 2019 was about AU$20 million, from about AU$80 million in 2015, and AU$72 million last year. Theres a massive opportunity, I feel, for Australian productions. There are huge incentives for creatives to film content in Australia. The tax rebates are amazing. If you look at the talent thats come out of Australiaactors and actressesweve got amazing talent. I think weve got all the right ingredients for Australian box office to continue to boom, and I see it hitting that AU$100 million mark quickly. Everyones really focused on that healthy local Australian market. Not because of Covid. Just because we have a lot of talent and people love local stories.

On the exhibition side of the industry, whats the balance between independent/art house cinemas and larger chains in Australia and New Zealand? Were they affected differently during Covid?

The market here is very collaborative. In Australia and New Zealand, there are roughly 2,800 screens between the two countries: 2,300 in Australia and about 500 in New Zealand. Yes, there are major chains: Event [Cinemas], Hoyts [Cinemas], Village [Cinemas], Reading [Cinemas]. But theres a really strong independent market as well. From a box office perspective, it does vary in regard to market share, depending on the film. We have a lot of regional cities in Australia. And there are a lot of local [cinemas]. We always joke that the cinema manager is more popular than the mayor in each town, because he or she brings happiness to the town.

During Covid, the government was supportive in a few different ways. There was a job-keeper program where they gave, basically, subsidies based on wages paid by each company. The government went further than that and gave a contribution to independent cinemas only, to support them during those challenging times. The contributions didnt extend to the major chains, unfortunately. But the government was supportive. And we now have a new arts minister, who seems to be very focused on the arts scene and how we can support local content and the arts industry. From that perspective, I think the ecosystem is very healthy.

Whats the conversation around premiumization in Australia and New Zealand? Is there that same rush to invest in newer, bigger concepts like were seeing in the United States?

Gold Class, the premium VIP experience that now exists globally, was invented by an Australian cinema chain back in the late 80s, early 90s. Weve always been very focused on the experience of going to cinemas, and the standard of cinemas in Australia is exceptional. Theres always been a focus on premium large-format screens, on the VIP experience. Or, recently, on kids experiences and [immersive cinema] concepts.

Technology, from an ecommerce perspective, is now seamless. You easily book your ticket online. You can order food online. You get a follow-up email before you attend [and another] afterward to see how the experience was. There are massive loyalty programs embedded throughout most of the Australian chains. If theres an issue, you get the chance to give feedback, and they can fix it really quickly.

The Australian exhibitors have always been very innovative. I think, moving forward, that trend is going to continue. Dont get me wrong. The Australian industry, like all industries, has its challenges. Weve just had recent wage increases. High inflation. I think we have the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. So theres a desperate need for more people in Australia, because we dont have as many international students and whatever else coming into the country anymore. We absolutely do have our challenges. But, again, we are focused on the experience of cinemagoing, and I think the numbers this yeartake your pick! Minions, Elvis, MaverickI think Mavericks now the number three or four film of all time in Australia. When we do have the right content, people are racing back. We have an Imax cinema in Melbourne, which is doing demonstrably better than the rest of the circuit. Its doing incredibly well.

Moving forward, you wont be able to do average. Youll need an exceptional experience. Otherwise, people will visit another venue. Perhaps some countries have been slow to adopt. Theyve had that old-style massive box with seats, a generic experience, no service and no food. We all now have really high expectations in regard to anything that we do. I used to joke about coffee; people used to put Nescaf in cinemas, and [theyd] say, Oh, people dont want coffee in cinemas. No, they dont want a Nescaf coffee. They want a barista-quality coffee.

As long as the experience matches or exceeds expectations, and as long as its as good as the best in class, [were doing well]. When were developing ecommerce platforms, we compare them to the best ecommerce platforms in the world, not to the best competitors ecommerce platform. I think thats really critical. Same with F&B. When our industry first [started to] focus on F&B, it would be a microwave pizza and maybe some french fries, if youre lucky, and a hot dog. Now the caliber of F&B in many of our VIP cinemas is as good as what you can get in restaurants. Thats what people expect. Charge me what you need to charge me to make that happen, but I want an exceptional experience. Thats the focus moving forward. Those that dont adopt and evolve and are happy with average, they wont be moving forward. I think market share will drive towards the better experience, the better premium large format, the better service, the better F&B.

Australia and New Zealand are both highly multicultural countries. How does that affect the programming ecosystem? What does the market look like in terms of non-Hollywood international imports?

Australia is less than 250 years old, as a country. If you go into any citydepending on which citythere is a massive mix of different nationalities, which is why our countrys so amazing.

The international content is important, but you see it in clusters. You might see, in parts of Sydney, more of a focus on Chinese content. Other parts might be focused more on Indian content. One thing that Australian chains do incredibly well is that theyve really committed to exceptional talent within the content and film-programming teams. The programming is not generic. Its intimate. Its down to a per-screen, per-location sort of focus. You look at two cinemas that might be five kilometers apart with similar screen counts, and the schedule is totally different based on what [the programming team] knows [about audience demand]. That reflects on the data that theyre gathering from loyalty programs to see whats popular and whats not. Theres no generic Well just play [a basic program], and hopefully people come along. Its really focused on whats going to be most successful. It does vary, and we are very focused on ensuring that you see great content in our cinemas. Weve done sports, weve done concerts, weve done opera, weve done all those different things. Its depending on the location as to how much of that comes back again.

Given your experience in the Middle East, Id be remiss not to ask you about your thoughts on that market. Its been growing so rapidlywhere do you think it will be in five years?

The Middle East is incredibly different from most international markets, in that you have a lot of natural advantages that suit cinema. First of all, for several months of the year, its really hot and you want to be indoors. You cant be outside playing sports. Theres a high disposable income in most of the Middle Eastern countries. [Theyre] very family-focused. Theres less focus on alcohol. From a cost-based perspective, labor costs are significantly lower.

And the experience is amazing. The look factor! Cinema in the Middle East is [about going to] the cinema more than the movie. In the U.S., you might go to watch Maverick. In the Middle East, people go to the cinema and look to see whats on. Theyll find the best available, and thats what theyll go and see. Many of those factors are never going to change. Its always going to be hot. And theres always going to be a huge focus on family. Because of heat and family, theres always this massive focus on shopping malls, and entertainment and food are really strong anchors for malls.

[There have been] massive investments in the experience within cinema. All of the different premium large formats. At Vox [Cinemas], we have a Michelin-starred chef basically catering to our VIP cinemas. We had massive Imax screens, we had 4DX, we had [kids concepts], we had business-class concepts. Its part of the habit. People are really desperate to be entertained. I see it continuing as it has. UAE [used to be] the biggest market; Saudi Arabia opened in 2018 and in the last few years has exceeded the UAE. Its been incredibly busy, and its growing. Saudi will become a billion-dollar market. It just depends on when.

The Middle East is quickly becoming a really critical territory in the global landscape. More than ever, with pressures in other territories and countries, we really do need other territories to step up to ensure that the global box office is still growing in a healthy way.

That habitual moviegoing is so important.

Its something Ive thought about a lot. We always talk in the industry about how whatever generations are not coming. Gen Alpha, Gen Z, millennials, whatever. I love seeing the different forms of content coming to cinema. Its not only about the food, the service, the technology, the seats, the screen, and all that stuff. Today, what happens in the cinema is not negotiable. It has to be amazing. But, in addition to film, youre seeing anime. Youre seeing concerts. Youre seeing sports.

[The cinema industry is] working really collaboratively with distribution. The sector is critical to the art and the culture of the country. I think were going to see that cinema is going to rebound and continue to see great numbers, subject to exhibitors investing in experiences [as they] have done in Australia and New Zealand. Its so mission critical. People wont go to an average experience. They really want to see something special.

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A Career that Spans Continents: Cameron Mitchell on the Evolution of Cinemas in Australasia and the Middle East - Boxoffice - Boxoffice Pro

Samsungs self-secured, integrated SmartThings and Bixby platform create a safe, simple and convenient smart home experience for multi-device households

Samsung Electronics held its annual Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) today in San Francisco, bringing together developers, creators and designers to explore seamless, connected experiences powered by Samsung.

During the event, Samsung shared more about its commitment to creating simplified, game-changing customer experiences, including the companys updated vision for SmartThings as it evolves from a connectivity platform to an enabler of smarter lifestyles. From deeper integration with Bixby to seamless connectivity with Matter-compatible devices, SmartThings is creating a richer, more open world that empowers all users to streamline their connections and their daily lives.

At Samsung, we continuously innovate our devices, platforms and services to be simpler and more convenient. I am proud to share the next generation of our work, like SmartThings, to further our collaboration with partners and developers, said Jong-Hee (JH) Han, Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of Device eXperience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics. As technologies become more complex, we will always search for ways to make life easier, more connected, and more flexible, so our consumers can focus on what matters most.

Samsungs vision of seamless connectivity is inspired by the philosophy of Calm Technology where devices instantly work together, so consumers can save time on setup and get right into the experience. To realize this vision, Samsung reimagined SmartThings and its connected services and partnerships, including Samsungs Hub Everywhere, extending its capabilities to the entire smart home with audio and visual data as well as SmartThings Energy, SmartThings Pet and SmartThings Cooking. Samsung also partnered with Philips Hue to integrate Philips Hue Sync right into Galaxy devices so smart home lighting can match with music.

The seamless experience will extendbeyond SamsungsecosystemthroughSmartThings integration withMatterand Samsungs membership in theHome Connectivity Alliance. Google and Samsung have worked together to enable users to find and link their devices across platforms by building multi-admin feature on Matter devices. The collaboration will bring more devices and users into the connected home in the future.

Bixby has been integrated more deeply with SmartThings, a tool for developers to build more intelligent voice user interface experiences. As Samsungs representative voice assistant platform, Bixby has evolved to become the on-device AI solution able to control individual Galaxy devices, as well as the cross-device experience throughout the Samsung ecosystem. With the new Bixby Home Studio, developers can now build differentiated, customized experiences for the SmartThings platform. In addition, Bixby will be even more widely available to users with support for Latin American Spanish, starting in November.

As the smart home is becoming more advanced, Samsung is introducing a new security paradigm, enabling Samsung devices to protect each other. Samsung Knox Matrix1 is a private blockchain based platform that turns eligible Samsung devices into a shield to protect users entire device ecosystemfrom Galaxy devices to TVs and home appliances. Plus, users can customize personal privacy settings with the new Security and privacy dashboard, which scans for vulnerabilities, recommends security updates and gives users data management options to keep privacy and security top of mind.

In the past year, Samsung TV Plus Samsungs free, ad-supported streaming TV and video (FAST) platform available on Samsung Smart TVs2 and mobile devicesreached 100% growth in viewership,3and projects three billion hours streamed by the end of the year. To build on this momentum, Samsung TV Plus has expanded its offering by adding partnerships with Lionsgate and Vice Media, providing 8K video on demand. Samsung TV Plus has also gone through a redesign, to reflect its extraordinary variety of content with more than 1,600 channels across 24 countries. Samsung TV Plus is the premium choice for a seamless ad experience, where stream stitching makes ad playback simpler than ever.

After 10 years of service, Samsungs Tizen operating system (OS) continues to offer best-in-class user experiences. The Samsung Gaming Hub brings better, faster and more convenient access to gaming on Samsung Smart TVs, provided by industry-leading partners, such as Xbox, NVIDIA GeForce NOW, Utomik and Amazon Luna. Samsung Gaming Hub bridges expertise in hardware and software to integrate features like AI Upscaling and multitask functions to make gaming on Samsung Smart TVs an immersive, optimized experience.

Tizen OS is also expanding to offer NFTs support with partners like Art Token, laCollection and Nifty Gateway. For B2B customers and developers, Samsung is providing B2B APIs specific to industries and use cases like Syncplay, which allows content to be synchronized and played in multiple signages. Tizen is also introducing SALT, a new content conversion solution to display the highest-quality HDR10+ content on supported TVs.

By introducing the new One UI 5, Samsung has empowered users to easily customize their devices look and feel, while enhancing productivity and providing amazing experiences across devices and platforms. One UI 5 brings more personalized experiences with custom-built Modes and Routines, and a Dynamic Lock screen that displays multiple visuals on your phone, your Galaxy Watch and other One UI 5 devices. With the new Bixby Text Call feature, Bixby Voice will answer calls on your behalf and share typed messages with the caller, speaking aloud as if you had answered. One UI 5 also introduces new daily health solutions to help track health and wellness in one place. This includes the Samsung Privileged Health SDK, which enables developers to build apps that leverage the BioActive Sensor on the Galaxy Watch.4

Samsung Research is looking beyond todays horizon to innovate for a better tomorrow, full of relentless innovation and open collaboration. Samsung Research is making its robot arm manipulation code available on GitHub, enabling academics, researchers and developers to examine new ideas in robotic manipulation.

The team at Samsung Research was also inspired by the new wellness features Samsung has introduced, particularly on the Galaxy Watch5. To find new use-cases leveraging these features, Samsung Research is working with universities and healthcare institutions that will explore areas like heart health, stress, blood pressure, lung health and neuroscience. As a result, Samsung is offering a full stack SDK the Samsung Health Stack which will jumpstart research into important health fields and spark new development.

Samsung invites developers, creators, partners and more to join in on its commitment to open collaboration and seamless experiences. For more information about the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) 2022, please visit developer.samsung.com.

1 Starting as early as late 2023, Samsung Knox Matrix will be initially available on selected Samsung devices. Support for other manufacturers products will follow later.

2 Samsung TV Plus is available for selected Samsung Smart TVs only.

3 Viewership from September 2021 to August 2022 compared to viewership from September 2020 to August 2021

4 Available on Galaxy Watch4 series and Galaxy Watch5 series.

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Samsung Showcases Evolution of SmartThings and Introduces New Device Experiences at SDC22 - Samsung

If youre in cybersecurity, you likely know that SIEM stands for Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), is pronounced sim (or seem if youre in Europe) and that SIEM systems help security teams detect and respond to threats, manage incident response, and stay compliant. Over the last 20+ years, the SIEM market has had quite an evolution and growth explosion.

Today, SIEM accounts for approximately $4 billion of total cybersecurity spend and is expected to increase to $6.24 billion by 2027. This is easy to understand as SIEM has evolved into the data store for cybersecurity data which has been exploding as the volume of data and number of alerts is growing exponentially.

According to Ponemon Institute, the average number of cybersecurity products a company uses is 45. Some vendors claim Fortune 2000 companies have upwards of 130 tools. Each of these is generating both log files as well as alerts. But before we go into where the SIEM market goes from here, lets first take a look back at how SIEM has evolved.

Phase 1: The first SIEMs took in data and served up alerts

In the early part of the century, the first wave of SIEM vendors were the likes of ArcSight (now owned by Micro Focus) and QRadar (now owned by IBM). These early SIEMs married both log files (raw data) and security alerts (summarised events). Back then, it was about ingesting data and kicking off alerts from all the cybersecurity products that were being used mostly host- and network-based intrusion detection devices (ISS et al), network tools and firewalls (Check Point, Cisco et al). Endpoint and anti-virus software would come a little later.

Most of what a SIEM could really do back then was get data in, aggregate it, and send alerts to security teams. They were also used for data retention and compliance.

The most prevalent first- and second-generation SIEMs also came with very basic correlation engines, the best they knew how to do at that time. They had the ability to build correlation rules and say, If I see X, Y and Z, then open a case in our ticketing system and send an alert to the security team.

But on-premises processing power against unstructured data was still quite slow, so it could take eons to query your essentially raw data and get any semblance of an answer about the root cause of an alert, security incident or otherwise.

Then the data got big

There still wasnt nearly as much data as there is today. What was being generated back then was easily parked in a database usually Oracle or DB2 and behind the scenes. With time though, enterprises continued their digital journey, and the data began to explode in volume but all of this data was still being forced inside rigid databases.

Eventually, structured databases could not keep up with the needs of IT or security teams. They couldnt keep up with the volume, variety or velocity of the data coming at them.

Early SIEM vendors also couldnt keep up as structured databases were clearly not able to adapt and writing new parsers to ingest new log sources took weeks or months.

Phase 2: Splunk entered the market, making search and access easy

Splunk was founded in 2003 as essentially the first-ever flexible and powerful store and search engine for big data. It introduced indexing which can search any kind of raw data from structured to unstructured and quickly transformed the data into searchable events.

The companys technology was a breakthrough because it made it so much easier for organisations to ingest, search, store, visualise and get insights from all of their growing data.

When they entered the SIEM market later, it changed the game for original SIEM vendors. Its first appearance as a Leader on the Gartner MQ for SIEM was in 2012. While the companys bread and butter was mostly IT operations use cases up until that point, once they introduced a SIEM, the indexing and schema at read capabilities allowed security teams to store, search and drill down into their data far more efficiently to get much faster SOC answers too.

Splunks architecture was far more effective than legacy vendors, and the company had somewhat of a market lead for many years.

Phase 3: SIEM met UEBA, aka anomaly detection

At this point, the world was beginning to see more zero-day attacks: computer software vulnerabilities previously unknown until adversaries find and take advantage of them. The SIEM industry had to keep up by trying to make even more sense of the data that was being stored. Eventually, User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) was created to apply more cyber intelligence to this problem.

Most vendors were still trying to bolt some form of UEBA on top of their SIEM, but for UEBA to be at its best for anomaly detection, it needs to be able to pull data from all of the cyber data lakes that companies create.

Exabeam announced our UEBA product in 2014 in the partners pavilion at a Splunk .conf Users conference.

Around that time, most CISOs and security teams were drowning in a sea of data accompanied by too many security alerts, many of them not actionable. UEBA and alert triage tools have helped significantly, but this is still a problem today with legacy SIEMs.

Todays SIEMs cost too much

Fast forward to 2022, and what we have is a set of antiquated technology stacks that are either still on-premises or have moved to the cloud as lift and shifts, which are super expensive to maintain. Combined with the fact that cyber data is exploding, we end up with SIEMs that cost too much.

Its not uncommon to see large organisations spend upwards of $10m per year on legacy and next-gen log management and SIEM solutions.

Some early SIEM players still have nearly 50% of their customer install base running their SIEMs on-premises, which is far more costly than the cloud. But even as more customers move to the cloud, they have woken up to the fact that SIEM costs have gotten out of control.

So where does SIEM go from here?

Its time to bring the best of what cloud-native technology can do for SIEM. Cloud is super-fast, offers inexpensive storage, instantaneous search and can integrate a threat detection engine that can catch bad actors, including the majority who are now breaking in with valid credentials.

The SIEM industry has been ripe for forward evolution for some time, and we are committed to leading that evolution.

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Looking back at the evolution of SIEM - SecurityBrief Australia

IN A RECENT conversation about business changes over the past two decades, I was asked which I thought was the most disruptive: e-commerce, digital clienteling, social media, millennial shoppers, lab-grown diamonds, personalization, responsible business practices and supply chains or industry contraction. I tried to imagine ranking them in order of impact and realized that it wasnt possible. Or rather, that it wasnt instructive. Each of these developments has been highly transformative, but none of these elements alone is responsible for the systemic industry change we have experienced.

Rather, it is the convergence of all these developments that has wrought so much change, not only in our industry but across all industries. It would be simple to summarize all this by saying technology is the big disrupter, but its not the whole truth. The big shift is that we consumers have changed as a result of technology and in the process of our own evolution, we disrupted ourselves.

Each time a new technology was released, we learned to use it. Over time, not only did our learning curves become shorter, but our expectations of what we could, even should, be able to do as a result evolved. Each time that leading online merchants introduced new selling features and technologies, each time that Google changed its algorithm to get closer to the searcher, and with every social media channel innovation, our experience and expectations of what it means to shop expanded. Add a pandemic to supercharge learning curves, expectations and social awareness, and the recipe is complete.

In my opinion, the biggest disruption of the past 10-15 years is the transformation of the behavioral dynamics of shopping and marketing. And the risk is that we get so fixated on the specific technologies of change (you need a website, you need a social media strategy, you should have technology kiosks in your store) that we miss the retail psychology of these changes.

Retailers who take the time to focus on a clearly defined target audience and who authentically attend to the psychology of that target audience will win. There will always be a place for mass retailers who sell everything to everybody and that model is dependent on price competition. But for specialty retailers and luxury goods sellers specifically the winning strategy will be to identify closely with a definable target, then create the experience thats meaningful to that target, keeping in mind the ways that shopping and buying have changed not only our behaviors, but the desires and psychology behind those behaviors.

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How the Evolution of Shopping Has Changed the Psychology of It - INSTORE MAG

Welp, it happened. I finally dipped my toes into the Harry Potter universe. Maybe its the subtle Star Wars parallels, but Im into it and want more. What else have I been missing out on?

Its my job to get them ready to go early on, Williams said. So its completely on me. And I think the better that we play, the more confidence that theyll have. Starting off the second half, we are I like to look at the positive parts of it the second half, that were playing lights-out football. And so we just want to make sure that we can move that second half into the first half, first quarter, second drive, second quarter.

Well look and see what we did in the second half and the energy that we bring, the tackling, the turnovers, all those things, make sure that they we want those things to show up in the first half.

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Getsy's Big Play Offense, Fields and Chill, Run-Game Evolution, DC Falls on the Sword, and Other Bears Bullets - bleachernation.com

PERTH (miningweekly.com) Gold miner Evolution Minings Mt Rawdon pumped hydro (MRPH) project has been declared a Coordinated Project by the Queensland governments Coordinator-General.

The MRPH project is being jointly developed by Evolution and ICA Partners to provide up to 20 GWh of renewable energy storage at a critical location in the network. The combination of an existing deep openpit, surrounded by steep hills, with known geotechnical conditions that is only 22 km from the states major transmission lines makes for a very competitive pumped hydro project, Evolution noted.

The company told shareholders on Thursday that the award of Coordinated Project status confirmed the strategic significance of the project in the state and its potential to contribute to the objectives of the recently announced Queensland Energy and Jobs Plan.

Our plan to convert Mt Rawdon into a pumped hydro renewable energy asset has the potential to create significant value to shareholders while also being a model mine closure. It demonstrates that by thinking differently we can continue to contribute to the local and state communities after mine closure and support the renewable energy transition, said Evolution executive chairpersonJake Klein.

Coordinated status is an important milestone and we look forward to progressing the Project by working with our communities, First Nation partners and the Queensland government to ensure Mt Rawdon plays a constructive role in the future of the state.

Coordinated Project designation is intended to streamline interactions with key state government departments and agencies and the project team looks forward to commencing this process. This will include the preparation of an environmental impact statement.

At the same time the project team is continuing its engagement with key stakeholders including the local communities and First Nations partners of Mt Rawdon, the Commonwealth and state governments, the North Burnett and Bundaberg Councils, and the Burnett Mary Regional Group, along with the companys own employees and contracting partners.

The feasibility study for the project is also progressing and is on track for completion by mid-2023.

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Evolution's hydro project attracts attention - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly

Back in 2012 we sat down with Tom DeLonge when he was out on the road with Blink-182 celebrating their 20th anniversary. Here he looked back chronologically on his story up until then

Nearly three decades into a gigantically successful career with Blink-182, Box Car Racer and Angels & Airwaves, Tom DeLonge has finally found his true songwriting voice.

They say Einstein died while he was still trying to figure out gravity. I think Im going to die still trying to figure out some of the things about Blink, Tom DeLonge tells TG, deep in thought as he assesses the punk trios longevity.

While DeLonge ponders how a bunch of suburban brats went on to become million-unit shifting pop-punk kings and eventually experimental rock statesmen, he may want to deconstruct the seismic shifts his own playing has undergone in two decades.

From a punk-obsessed teen concerned only with playing faster and with more distortion than anyone else, to the effects-loving, prog-influenced song- crafter that stands before us, DeLonges journey has been as surprising as it has successful.

The third of three early Blink demos, this fast and furious beauty may have been recorded in two days, but it soon had the labels knocking at DeLonge and Cos door.

Who were your influences in the early days?

It would have been strictly the Descendants. I was trying to emulate that band. Really punchy guitars, fast, simple and formulaic nursery rhyme love songs.

How about your approach, riff-wise?

My entire thing was that there is one guitar player, so Mark [Hoppus, bass] and I both tried to play as if we were two. I would do these arpeggio things and riffs that were half riff/half chords or something just to try and fill in the space.

Carousel remains a fan favourite today...

I was thinking about it the other night. I was playing it and thought, Why am I playing this? The lyrics are so bad, but I guess its nostalgic, which is cool.

The Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier was key to your early sound, wasnt it?

I used to use Mesa/Boogies because I thought they sounded crazy and distorted. Over time [my sound] got cleaner and cleaner, so now Im on the Vox AC30 with very little distortion. In the early-90s that kind of Mesa/Boogie sound was a key element to my kind of music. I dont know why I used them... I didnt know any better.

Now signed to MCA Records, Blink swapped some of the teen reckless abandon for pop hooks on Dude Ranch and spawned a genuine modern punk classic.

Do you think youd begun to mature as a songwriter by Dude Ranch?

Absolutely. That was the first record where we were beginning to get into mainstream, formulaic arrangements. We spent five weeks on that recording. That was a huge jump for us.

Were you also finding your feet as a guitarist in terms of sound and tones?

That was when we started getting into Marshall [JCM900] amps and the tones started going a little bigger and better. The only thing that was bad about that album was the jokes we made up on the inside of the album cover.

"I remember sitting at the Sombrero taco shop going, F**k, weve got to finish off our album cover, lets just write some jokes to these cowboy pictures. Why did we do that? We should have had better jokes for those pictures.

And Dammit was a huge hit...

That is one of the best songs weve ever written. Mark wrote that one. Thats probably the best song. Its so timeless and represents our band because its about growing up, its perfect.

In 1999, Blink-182 went stratospheric. Smash singles All The Small Things and Whats My Age Again helped Enema Of The State go on to sell more than 15 million copies, making Blink one of the biggest bands on the planet as the new millennium approached.

Was Enema Of The State another big jump?

For Enema... we spent four months recording and we had [the late punk producer] Jerry Finn producing we learned everything. We learned how to record, how to play good, he didnt let anything pass.

"There still werent any computers really, so it was all to tape and you had to play it right. We really trusted him.

How did Travis Barker joining the band effect your playing?

It was like, Now anythings possible, we can play any kind of song. Mark and I instantly played better because we were keeping up with someone who played everything perfectly so we became a lot better at that time. We were nowhere near as good as Travis, but we got better.

Another risque title and packed with sugar-fuelled pop-punk hits yup, its more of the same from Blink. It worked, though, and sold 350,000 copies in its first week alone.

There must have been huge pressure to follow Enema... with a carbon copy.

We were just trying to write songs that were better than Enema... but we werent taking any leaps and bounds creatively. There was pressure, but not too much. I mean, we wrote songs about f**king pirates and dogs.

"I remember the label came down to hear the big follow-up and those were the only songs [bonus tracks F**k A Dog and When You F**ked Grandpa] we played them. Oh my God, they lost their minds. We had this song about f**king Hitler - we changed it to 'when you f**ked grandpa, but it originally was, When you f**ked Hitler did he tell you that he loved you? They lost it.

Was this when you first began experimenting with your sound?

From a guitar point of view, the biggest deals were all of the clean tones and using all of these different chorus pedals, flangers and delays just really light, tasteful touches. But I didnt really accept pedals in my heart until later.

"I was so slow. F**k! I was just into punk-rock. I thought we were cooler than every other band. I thought punk was way cooler and we knew something other people didnt know. Now I look and think, F**k, there was a lot I didnt know!

The change begins. DeLonge and Barker strike out with a new band, discovering effects pedals, heavy riffs and... red paint.

Was this a watershed album for you?

I was getting kind of bummed out in the studio [with Blink]... Its probably my fault because I never said, but I just wanted to get in there and try things out, but you feel like you cant because the band is paying for studio time.

"Its almost like you have a canvas and all of these paints but somebody says, No, dont touch those now, weve just got to get the blue on the canvas, And you say, But theres red! No, get the blue done, maybe theyll be time for red later. And with Box Car I just wanted to do that.

That mustve been a liberating experience...

I went into Box Car Racer thinking I could do whatever I wanted and I was going to do a completely different thing using delay pedals, giant heavy guitar riffs, loops. That changed me dramatically.

Do you remember the first of those heavier riffs that you came up with?

All Systems Go. It was a big heavy riff, it sounds like [influential NY melodic hardcore band] Quicksand, it has huge guitars and was the first time Id written a really heavy riff. That was so good for me.

DeLonge brings his new Box Car Racer vibes back to Blink, creating an album that they didnt seem to have in them less gags, more experimental sounds.

It was a definite step away from your mainstream pop punk guitar sound.

Thats the time we started doing lots of weird stuff: acoustics, clean, pedals, micing techniques, everything was weird. Even doing the song All Of This with Robert Smith from The Cure, that song was really hypnotic and all acoustic, and then on I Miss You theres not one electronic instrument.

Where was your head when you were putting Angels & Airwaves together?

That was more than Box Car Racer. That wasnt me testing myself, that was redefining myself. I changed everything, I changed all of my amps, learned how to produce, how to play piano, learned all about pedals, I learned everything.

Did having a second guitarist in the band change your playing?

It was good to have those options. [With Blink] I was always stuck in this framework that it had to be certain way because we could only perform it a certain way, and people would think that were cheating or something. Thats wrong. We shouldnt have ever thought that way but I did so I stuck to such a specific template. That slowly started to change.

How did your rig change?

I went to Voxes [AC30H2] and Fender 65 Twin Reverbs together. That changed everything for me. A Mesa/Boogie is like a nuke: you plug it in and it fills up every piece of the sonic spectrum. If you use a Vox and you ring out a chord it only fills that one specific spot in the spectrum and you need other things to happen.

On their first album for eight years, Blink returned with their darkest effort to date.

What was it like making a record together after so much time away from Blink?

I think we werent unified as a band. If we were to start now wed be much more unified. Mark was in his studio in LA, I was in San Diego, everyone was so busy. Out of recording for a year, we were only in the studio as all three of us together for a total of one or two weeks.

"We only wrote songs together for three days. The rest was emails. But we accomplished it and thats the big thing. The first song I sent over was Up All Night. People say that sounds like Angels on a Blink record. Well, no thats just me.

Your influences have clearly changed since Buddha. Whose playing stands out for you now in terms of guitarists?

The Edge. He plays really simple s**t for the most part and then he adds some really progressive s**t on it and it becomes its own deal. Hes interested in writing songs and having diversity in songs and that really resonates with me.

Does that highlight the changes your sound and style have undergone?

I dont listen to punk any more, unless its right before I play. Not that I dont like it, its nostalgic. But, its for kids and it should be... its not art, its expression. I feel like you need to know art, too. Ive changed as a person, Im a new dude. Im a superhero now!

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Classic Interview: Tom DeLonge talks Blink-182 evolution "We were nowhere near as good as Travis, but we got better" - MusicRadar

Introduction

Ayman Al Zawahiri is reported to have been killed in a smooth surgical missile strike by the USA, firing two Hellfire R9X missiles on the target, and apparently without any collateral damage.

This news flash brought back the memories of the 2011 Operation Neptune Spear by the US Navy Seals that killed Osama Bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaeda. Zawahiri became the chief of this terror group after Laden was killed in 2011.

President Joe Biden has even more reasons to experience a sense of achievement in the success ofthe recent operation as he was the Vice President back then in 2011, sitting in the Situation Control Room along with the then President Barack Obama and other officials, as they all watched the Laden hunt being live telecasted from Pakistan. The tweets by Biden and Obama posted after the recent operations also point towards this bonhomie. The recent operation draws on from the experiences of the CIA and the US military strikes in West Asia, global opinions, human right concerns and lessons learnt from the 2011 strike. This article analyzes the important elements of the change in Americas targeted killing strategy since 2011.

Background

Ever since the 9/11 WTC attacks carried outin New York, Bin Laden had become the face of global terror. From a mystical figure wandering across the Hindu-Kush, he now suddenly found himself to be the most sought after terrorist in the world and his name was at the top in wanted lists of many countries. The CIA and Pentagon effectively used the 9/11 incident to enhance their budgets and capabilities, the rationale behind doing so being justified by the horrendous attack that killed over 3000 people.

The CIA launched a massive intelligence gathering campaign, combining technical surveillance with extensive human intelligence gathering even resorting to inhuman methods of interrogation. The message was clear on Americas part as they declared the so called Global War on Terror with the famous axiom in this war, you are either with us or against us.

It was quite amusing to see Barack Obama saying in his recent tweet after the successful operation that killed Zawahiri: roots of terror can be destroyed, without declaring a war on terror but that was what he effectively did during his tenure at the White House, ordering almost 10 times more drone strikes than George Bush[1].

Way back in 2011, the CIA presented their assessments and plans to Barack Obama regarding the Abottabad compound that they doubted was Ladens safe house. CIA had inputs from many sources, including an ISI officer who tipped them off about the location of this compound. The CIA and other American agencies like the NSA and NGA had even bought a safe house in Abottabad to keep 24*7 surveillance on the suspected site.

The mandate from the leadership was said to be capture or kill Osama Bin Laden[2], which became controversial later with some sections saying Laden should have been captured alive while most others being in favor of shoot-at-sight:

The Strategy:

The President was presented with multiple options like a drone strike (firing targeted missiles), a commando raid, bombing the compound by B-52 stealth bombers etc. One of the options to conduct a joint operation with Pakistan to kill Laden was ruled out , due to suspicions on Pakistans reliability. Barack Obama eventually ruled out the other options and confirmed the plan for a quiet midnight commando raid by Special Forces, who used modified Black Hawk helicopters, with mission specific arms and ammunitions. Joe Biden is said to have also advised Obama about the possible ramifications for Pakistan when the knowledge of this operation became public.

Aftermath Factor:

Possibilities of collateral damage, other civilian casualties in the area etc. were also factored in. The CIA said they were unsure if aerial bombing would work, incase there is an underground bunker lying there. Also it would have been impossible to verify if Laden was dead, since till last moment the CIA had no photograph of the white clothed man wandering in this compound, to be Bin Laden or someone else. It was only after the Navy Seals saw Laden and shot him, it was confirmed that he was dead.

On-ground Strategy:

A house intervention model of attack was followed with the Forces entering from the terrace and ground floor simultaneously, clearing out each room one by one. Laden was eventually discovered on the 3rd floor and as he tried to hide, a commando took 3 successive shots and killed him straight. A huge amount of hard drives, computers and whatever else the Seals could lay their hands on was taken away as evidence for further analysis.

Operational issues:

One of the helicopters that had crashed in the compound was blown up by explosives to avoid reverse engineering attempts on the technology by Pakistan and China, and the remaining copters were used to carry Ladens body back with the hit teams and the collected evidence. Laden was quietly buried in an unknown location in the Arabian Sea within 24 hours of the strike. During the raid other occupants of the house who came in the way of the commandoes were also shot dead[3].

Kill confirmation and identification:

Facial identification confirmed that it was Osama Bin Laden. To be doubly sure, one of the Navy Seals was made to lie down next to Ladens body -and the body length also matched (6 feet). You just blew up a $65 million helicopter and you dont have enough money to buy a tape measure?, Barack Obama is said to have remarked back then![4] .

Public knowledge of the operation:

The White House issued a statement next day, saying the President will address the nation at around 10 pm local time, but some junior officer from the Navys intelligence department leaked out the news of Ladens death at around 9.45PM. The media was quick to pick this up, while the Presidential address happened around 11pm in the night.

Global responses

Pakistan was quite embarrassed, as ithad always denied knowledge of existence of Laden on its land. Media reports mentioned that Pak allowed the Chinese to have a look at the wreckage of the damaged helicopter.

USA came in under huge criticism world over as more information about its detention centers, illegal interrogations and surveillances became public. Wikileaks and Edward Snowden also helped the world know about the CIAs excesses in trying to catch Bin Laden. This became all the more important after US announced withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014, that stretched to 2020 due to various reasons. The global opinion had been rising against Americas double standards and selective actions on terrorism as also its tacit support to Pakistan while being fully aware of Paks support to terrorism. This became a learning point for all future special operations wherein America relied on no one else to carry out a similar strike.

The Hunt for Ayman-Al-Zawahiri:

Its interesting to note that both Laden and Zawahiri carried a 25 million dollar bounty on their heads , as announced by USA and both were killed in militaryoperations. Both were instrumental in planning the 9/11 attacks and that the leader of the violent jihadist group was in Afghanistan was not surprising: since the hard-line Islamist Taliban regained control in August, Al-Qaeda has felt more at home, analysts say. In the recent operations as well, this was an important consideration as the consequences of this operation on US-Taliban relationship was factored in, before giving the go ahead to kill Zawahiri no official bilateral relations exist as of now, so that was not so much a concern for USA.

The intelligence derived from the huge trove of information hard drives in 2011 was used effectively in tracking down Al-Qaeda members and other suspects, planning drone strikes killing terror sympathisers in Syria, Yemen, Somalia etc. since 2011. The USA could now map, identify, and link bits and pieces of information to make a careful selection of their targets. As Zawahiri assumed the top post in Al Qaeda after Laden was killed, he was quite obviously on the CIAs hit list.

As was the case in 2011, the whole complex, its structure, material, surrounding buildings etc. were studied and it was decided to attack only Zawahiri, ensuring no other civilian casualties and infrastructure damage. US officials presented the house model and a final attack plan to President Biden on July 1st 2022. Issues that may arise due to weather, structure of building, collateral risks etc. were discussed out.

The main points of departure from the 2011 case were:

This minimised the post operations risk for the USA as even the attacking weapon, time of assault and the transport vehicle were aptly chosen as per the mission requirements. Also, the operation was made public by the President of the USA himself, thereby giving no chance to other non state entities inside or outside USA to leak out the news.

Also, since just Zawahiri is said to have been eliminated there has been no counter response from human rights organisations and other sympathisers of the Al Qaeda.

The strike involved a US drone (most probably the Reaper), armed with two precision-guided Hellfire missiles (R9X version), which were launched at 6:18AM Kabul time on 31st July 2022[5] .Zawahiri was killed on the balcony an official told the western news agencies. But since then no pictures or other data confirming the death of Zawahiri has been made available in the public domain. The only reliable sources remain the official tweets, news reports and response by the Taliban government.

A normal version of HELLFIRE missile carries high explosives warheads that explode on impact and create area damage. But the R9X version deploys a series of six sharp knife-like blades from its fuselage and shreds its target but leaves nearby people and objects intact[6]. Some people describe it as a falling anvil from the sky.

This has earned it a deadly reputation by names of flying ginsu or flying ninja[7] as this missile has been used many times by US forces to kill other jihadist group leaders without hurting people around them.

It has now become the go-to weapon for targeted killings of high value targets by the USA and as is the ritual in the intelligence community, the CIA never acknowledges the airstrikes it conducts. On previous occasions also, officials in USA have admitted to conducting such strikes, but on the usage of Hellfire missile neither any official, military contractor or the manufacturer of the original Hellfire series have responded to the use of this missile. The US government has never accepted or rejected the possession of this missile in its arsenal.

Thus, the counter terrorism strategies would further evolve in coming years as new technology increasingly has an influence on tactics and strategy, making them an important influencer in planning offensive operations. This would also mitigate the concerns on human rights, innocent killings and infrastructural losses. If carried out in complete secrecy, such operations ensure almost zero accountability for the attacking side and thats how new era warfare would be potent , stealthy and anonymous.

More here:

From Bin Laden to Al Zawahiri: The evolution of Americas Targeted Killing Strategy - Indian Defence Review

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Summary

The Playlist is a good case study with biographical flair.

Our review of the Netflix limited series The Playlist contains no significant spoilers or plot points.

Limewire. Pirate Bay. If you are a 30-something individual, you may fondly remember the days of using torrents to download your favorite and upcoming music. You were unwillingly and unknowingly part of a revolution, secretly knowing that the chances of facing any judicial charges were low. Why? Because the whole world was doing it. It was a natural resistance to paying for overpriced CDs.

Theres no denying that Spotify was one of the early players that started a legal evolutionary change. By changing our perceptions of streaming, the music industry boomed differently. Business models slowly changed, and the rise to the top of the music charts provided a different route. While we can signal the cultural shift of entertainment via the likes of Netflix, Spotify was a critical activist in music.

The Netflix limited series The Playlist gives a true story account of how Spotify came to be, case studying different players in the market that helped contribute to its rise. Each episode is as compelling as the others. Still, praise must be nodded towards the premiere chapter, following coder (and now billionaire) Daniel Ek. This seemingly ordinary man is not deterred by making millions but is painfully bored with no purpose. The opening chapter shows Daniel realizing that money is not the intended outcome, but creating something meaningful is the cornerstone of true power. Watching a man who scratches his arse and munches on snacks while casually coding in his mothers house late into the night is an eye-opener. Anyone can attain significant wealth.

The Playlist combines other high-profile figures that changed historyzoning in on the desperate but solution-craving musical label mogul Per Sundin. The series enjoys eccentric and bottomless cash entrepreneur and co-found of Spotify, Martin Lorentzon.

But The Playlist also reveals the legal and technical complexities Daniel Ek and his Spotify team found themselves enduring. With ambition came tight regulations and an abundance of red tape that felt like an impossible hill. The Netflix series truly encapsulates how legally privileged the music industry is and the trappings that came from daring to be innovative.

But its not a slap on the wrist for the music industry. If anything, the series is balanced. It makes the entrepreneurs feel as exploitative as the music executives and as aggressive as the internets dark underbelly. Bringing a balanced view in the story means the audience can stake their opinions on how the music industry evolved.

And thats it in a nutshell The Playlist is a good case study with biographical flair. It truly understands how the problem with illegal music torrents transversed into a worldwide solution. Theres always a gap in the market, and this Netflix series recognizes how it takes one average individual with a brain to conjure an idea that changes lives for better or worse.

What did you think of the Netflix limited series The Playlist? Comment below.

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Continued here:

The Playlist review - a fitting case study to the evolution of the music industry - Ready Steady Cut

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Founded by experts in global sourcing and supplier management, Supply Wisdom understands how the dynamic risk environment puts inordinate pressure on teams to both identify the endless unknowns and proactively mitigate risks. Exuma is built on Supply Wisdoms award-winning continuous monitoring and real-time risk intelligence solution, which covers more risk domains than any other solution. The latest update includes customizable workflows configured to clients risk thresholds to trigger automated actions.

This advancement in risk management automation is a game changer for procurement and risk teams. Using data science applied to continuous risk management through automation frees up administrators to apply more resources to active risk management and less to administration, said Jim Routh, former chief security officer of Aetna CVS and MassMutual and Supply Wisdom board member.

With the release of Exuma, Supply Wisdom has added exciting new features that enable significant improvements in risk management process efficiency, supply chain resiliency, and disruption prevention efforts, including:

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About Supply Wisdom

Supply Wisdom is how companies can finally stay ahead of supply chain disruptions. With todays dynamic risk landscape, companies face endless unknowns in their supply chains and limited resources to act on them. From natural disasters and compliance issues to bankruptcies and cyber vulnerabilities, companies lacked a clear picture of all risks and the resources necessary for effective action.

Now Supply Wisdoms always-on monitoring solution provides the most comprehensive real-time risk intelligence and triggers automated risk actions, so companies always have a clear picture of all risks and an efficient solution for swift mitigation.

Thats why industry leaders from Financial Services, Healthcare, Pharma, Hi-Tech, Insurance, and more rely on Supply Wisdom. And its how our clients are seeing so many great results - such as 3X greater process efficiency with a 10X ROI - while experiencing fewer disruptions, resilient supply chains, and enhanced business continuity. Now its all clear

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For more information, visit http://www.supplywisdom.com and follow us at https://www.linkedin.com/company/supplywisdom

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Supply Wisdom Announces the Next Evolution in Automated Risk Management - Business Wire