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iQIYI, Inc., an innovative market-leading online entertainment service in China, recently received ISO/IEC and ISO/IEC certifications by the international certification authority DNV GL. This represents an important milestone for the Company in its information security management and user privacy protection capabilities, and also as the first company in China’s online video industry to obtain dual certifications simultaneously.“It is our responsibility, obligation and commitment to guard data security and privacy for our users”, said Liu Wenfeng, Chief Technology Officer and President of Infrastructure and Intelligent Content Distribution Business Group (IIG) of iQIYI. “We will make further efforts to follow instructions by ISO 27001 and ISO 29151, and keep improving our security management and technical capabilities, to enhance our core competitiveness and receive more and better results”. iQIYI Receives Dual Certifications of ISO 27001 and ISO 29151 to Guard Global Users’ Information Security and PrivacyISO 27001 is the most authoritative, widely recognized and applied certification in the information security sector. ISO 29151, as the universal standard on individual identification information protection, covers 26 control domains and 181 control measures. Based on the security guidance of personal privacy in ISO 29151 and the information security system in ISO 27001, iQIYI has established a brand-new global information security system across various key functions including system audit, data security, asset management, personnel training, as well as its working process. The product management, research and development, testing, as well as operation of iQIYI’s video streaming services, membership and account application systems have all passed the DNV GL verification.“Information security and privacy protection are at the core of internet businesses”, said Chenli, Vice President and Director of Business Development in DNV GL Business Assurance Greater China. “We will work together with iQIYI to push forward the implementation of relevant standards and further improve the information management capabilities of the industry.”Information security and privacy protection have become widely discussed topics amongst the internet industry and public. An information security system that meets international standards has become an important way for companies to protect its users’ privacy and information security. iQIYI has been implementing the best practice and optimizing its security frameworks to guard the company’s business operations.“iQIYI has understood the importance of information security and privacy protection of users since the beginning of its business. The certification of ISO 27001 and ISO 29151 proves that the company has reached higher standards on information security and privacy protection, allowing it to gain the trust from oversea users as well,” said Ye Tao, Vice President of iQIYI. “Meanwhile, iQIYI also integrated the SaaS platform into its security system, which brings the company’s security system to the next level.”In June 2019, iQIYI officially launched its global iQIYI App, providing high-quality localized services for its global audiences. The iQIYI App provides subtitles and intelligent search features that run in multiple languages including Chinese, English, Malay, Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese among others. iQIYI’s comprehensive security system would provide solid support to its increasingly diversified and internationalized business, protecting the privacy of global users and strengthening its information security on top of offering premium entertainment services and localized operations. iQIYI will continue its collaborations with DNV GL to upgrade its standards of information security and user privacy management in order to lead the internet industry development and guard the company’s diversified global business operations.iQIYI

As the world is seeing more and more electrical vehicles on the road, the future of Audi is on the brink. On Thursday, Audi CEO Markus Duesmann told a German business daily that Tesla's the leader in electrification, according to Automotive news. "Currently, Tesla has larger batteries because their cars are built around the batteries. Tesla is two years ahead in terms of computing and software architecture, and in autonomous driving as well," he said.  The news came with no surprise given that Audi has only been pushing forward in electrification for the past five years, comparing to Tesla which has been working on battery-electric cars since 2003. Range is the biggest problem that Audi is facing. So far, Tesla's Model S luxury sedan ups the EPA-rated range to as much as 402 miles, nearly double the range of Audi's best offering, E-Tron Sportback. CGTN 

Toyota has confirmed it will present free access to its hybrid-vehicle patents until 2030 as it seeks to boost its use of lower-emission technology, according to Reuters.It is believed Toyota's core aim consists of looking at driving industry uptake of hybrids and handling the challenge of all-battery electric vehicles (EVs).The automaker verified it would award licences on almost 24,000 patents on technologies used in its Prius, the first mass-produced green car worldwide, as well as providing its supply competitors with components such as motors, power converters and batteries in its lower-emissions vehicles.Speaking to reporters, Toyota’s Executive Vice President, Shigeki Terashi, said: “We want to look beyond producing finished vehicles. We want to contribute to an increase in take up (of electric cars) by offering not just our technology but our existing parts and systems to other vehicle makers.” It is anticipated that Toyota’s vehicles makes up roughly 80% of the hybrid vehicle market worldwide. Janet Lewis, head of Asia transportation research at Macquarie Securities, commented: “Toyota has knew that they made a mistake by protecting their hybrid technology for years. This stopped diffusion. Toyota on its own can’t get key technology popular, but if other companies use it, that offers the best chance of expansion.”This article is originally posted on Manufacturingglobal.com

The term “circular economy” is gaining traction as of late, as people around the world realize the linear economy of take, make, dispose—which for decades has been a mainstream mindset for many people—has created a massive amount of waste that is destroying the environment. The circular economy is a closed-loop system that regenerates resources through reuse, refurbishing, and recycling.Of course, recycling is a popular approach, but, unfortunately, is not making much of a difference. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), of the  267.8 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) that was generated in the U.S. in 2017, about 94 million tons of that was recycled and composted, equivalent to a 35.2% recycling and composting rate.That doesn’t make a dent at the dump.“In the 1970s we recognized the problem of pollution…but we haven’t been successful in decades,” said Tim Debus, president and CEO of the Reusable Packaging Association (RPA), who was presenting on the Innovation Stage at PACK EXPO East in Philadelphia. “It’s been a 50 year effort of recycling and we are not at the point where it is an effective way to manage waste.”Debus points out, too, that packaging makes up 30% of the total solid waste—and only 3% of that packaging is reusable. As a result, there needs to be a drastic shift in the way we package and reuse products in the circular economy. For that, he points to a need for the durability of materials to ultimately drive efficiency in a zero-waste system.Durability vs. DisposabilityThe “throwaway lifestyle,” in which consumers buy single-use products that they ultimately dispose of, means that manufacturers are making products with low cost goods. While it may seem like a good economic model for manufacturers, in reality, a circular system that uses durable materials will provide a more positive long term payback.“The circular economy is not [only] a sustainability model, it is an economic model and a way of doing business and managing resources,” Debus said.The three components of the new circular economy include:Designing waste out of the system by creating continuous use of materials. Maintaining the value of products at the highest level possible. Restoring the natural ecosystem thereby allowing  biological  systems to flourish and provide more raw/natural materials.“Durability should be one of the leading design components of products, and the system in which products are used, as well as collaborating with supply chain partners, needs to be a part of the design as well,” Debus said. An example of this is the TerraCycle Loop model. Loop provides beautiful, counter-worthy containers that can be refilled over and over and conveniently delivered to the consumer’s door. The company has partnered with some of the biggest consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, and developed a subscription-based home delivery service where the packaging from food and household goods don’t get thrown out or recycled, but reused. Clorox wipes, for example, are delivered in a stainless steel container vs. a plastic container. Not only does it look nice—and can be displayed on the countertop—but it is designed for reuse.  When empty, the durable canister is placed in a Loop tote to be picked up and sent back to a cleaning facility and then refilled.  So, it is functional, a little fancy, and actually financially effective for manufacturers.According to Debus, reuse pays back repeatedly over time.  For example, if a company with one million shipments per year designs a durable container for reuse, they can get perhaps six uses out of that container per year. The idea being that every other month it is returned back to be refilled and shipped forward. So they don’t need a million containers. In this scenario they need about 166,000 containers that can provide one million uses—which results in a significant amount of cost savings—especially if the container is designed to last 10-to-20 years.There are other factors in play here, as well, such as new government regulations like the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy. EPR shifts responsibility back to manufacturers to clean up the wastes produced from their products and packaging after the consumer is through with them. “What we’ve been doing as an industry is packaging boxes and away it goes—the cost is off of my books. But someone else is picking up the cost, like municipalities. There is no market for that anymore,” Debus explained. As a result, the U.S. is picking up on the same EPR rules that are popular in Europe, and which we are seeing a little bit already in the U.S. for carpet, chemicals, and car batteries. But these takeback programs will soon focus on packaging.Manufacturers are no longer absent from responsibility, Debus said, which makes the circular economy based on durable containers even that much more appealing. AUTOMATIONWORLD

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple on Wednesday invited security researchers to apply to receive modified iPhones designed to help them hunt for flaws in the company’s mobile operating system. The phones will let the researchers run any programs on them and give those programs any access to the data on the device, making it easier for outside security experts to probe iOS software. Apple had promised the initiative a year ago, and the long lead time frustrated some security experts as serious flaws have continued to be discovered.  Specialists have long argued that the opacity of Apple’s devices has not made them more secure than phones running Android and other software - it just made analysis harder.  Those concerns ramped up after Apple sued a company that offered an emulation of iOS on copyright infringement grounds. That case against Corellium is still pending.  Apple has some of the top security talent in the private sector, but its devices have been targeted effectively by national intelligence agencies and some arms contractors.  Smaller companies sell police departments gear that can unlock many devices and download their contents, though those tools are not foolproof.  Apple executives speaking to Reuters before the announcement said they would pick an unannounced number of established researchers to get the first batch of modified phones. In return, the researchers must pledge to notify Apple of any security holes they find and negotiate time for the company to confirm the issue and release a patch for users to install. The company said it would also make senior engineers available to discuss issues that arise with the researchers, another step toward increased openness and away from its past secretive policies. REUTERS

The UK Government has performed a massive U-turn by forcing mobile network operators to strip out any 5G equipment supplied by Huawei that they had already installed. The operators’ deadline to conform is 2027.  The announcement today also mandates that no new Huawei kit for 5G deployment can be purchased by the end of this year, and confirmed that the existing ban on Huawei gear in the sensitive core part of network remains in place. In February, the Government said it would allow a 35% limit on infrastructure from ‘high risk vendors’, of which Huawei is a significant one, notably for radio access networks (RAN), and a complete ban in operators’’ core networks. This, it suggested, would be sufficient to ensure security and resilience, whilst preserving competitiveness. That move was immediately denounced by the Trump Administration in the US, which wanted a complete ban, as it has imposed there.  And it was strict rules imposed in the US that forced a rethink in the UK. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) was tasked with assessing the consequences of the edict, announced in May, which meant the Chinese behemoth could no longer use semiconductors and other devices made with American equipment or design expertise.  It was this ‘game changer’ that led the NCSC to alter its advice. According to the Centre’s technical director, Ian Levy, the subtle and detailed export rule changes meant “no-one, anywhere in the world, can send Huawei-designed chips to Huawei if US technology was used in the design tools or manufacturing process. A significant shift in the supply chain Huawei claims to have stockpiles of parts that it can use for 5G gear. “But we think that Huawei products that are adapted to cope with the FDPR (Foreign Produced Direct Product Rule) change are likely to suffer more security and reliability problems because of the massive engineering challenge ahead of them, and it will be harder for us to be confident in their use within our mitigation strategy,” said Levy. He added it would be much more difficult to get the same level of information and confidence for new Huawei products in the future. Also, it will take more work to understand new toolchains that will be replacing the well-understood, global one in used today. He also maintains the FDPR amendment “will cause a significant shift in the global telecoms supply chain” that will be felt for years. He also believes the long-term health and diversity of supply in the telecoms sector is a critical issue for the whole sector, and that it will take concerted, sustained and international effort to fix it. “The decision today is necessary for the long-term security and resilience of the UK networks, but comes with significant risks and costs,” said Levy. The US action also impacts Huawei products used in the UK’s broadband networks, both existing ones and the full fibre broadband being rolled out now, notably by BT. Of course, as the Government recognizes, broadband operators, have ‘managed’ Huawei’s equipment in the UK’s fixed-access networks for some 15 years now. But new restrictions will be applied for the full broadband roll-out, and this transition away from using Huawei gear will take at least 2 years. The extension is clearly being provided to avoid operators being dependent on Nokia as the sole supplier of some key parts of the network. The ‘costs’ noted above by Levy were already starkly laid out by both BT and Vodafone, and analysts, ahead of today’s pronouncements.  The cost to UK operators will be steep BT had already stressed complying with the 35% cap on Huawei RAN and fibre broadband gear would cost it about £500 million ($630 million), booked over a two-year span. It, and Vodafone, warned a total ban would all “tens to hundreds of millions” more in incremental costs. Both operators last week were calling for a reasonable time-scale to remove any necessary equipment, and warned that too short a period for transition — which was being demanded by many parliamentarians, notably from the ruling Boris Johnson government — would inevitably lead to service outages and potentially serious disruptions to mobile phone users. Andrea Dona, head of networks at Vodafone, suggested a minimum transition period of 5 years would be needed to avoid sporadic blackouts. Meanwhile Howard Watson, CTO at BT, indicated a seven-year time-frame was the most realistic option. “At least the government seems to have taken such arguments and concerns on board, and the time-scales envisaged seem less draconian than I feared might be proposed”, James Barford, senior telecoms analyst at London-based Enders Analysis told EE Times. “Under this proposed timetable, operators have sufficient time to take out 5G gear without the prospect of any serious disruption.” Barford suggests the direct ‘tear-out’ and replacement costs for mobile operators could turn out to be very high, perhaps £2 billion ($2.5 billion). This would include stripping out Huawei 4G equipment so that any new equipment supplier’s equipment could be overlaid so as to avoid compatibility issues. However Barford warns of potentially serious delays to 5G roll-outs as operators focus on replacing what they have already installed as opposed to pushing into new coverage areas.  “I would say it will add 2-3 years for the full roll-out of 5G in the UK. This is unfortunate but not disastrous as the UK seems to be ahead of many European countries.”  The effects on competition He also raised concerns that side-lining a supplier of the size and technological capability of Huawei would inevitably stifle competition. Telling operators they can’t buy from the biggest infrastructure supplier in the world, and one that seems to be ahead of the competition from a technical viewpoint, will clearly impact the prices they will have to pay and the quality of the equipment, he suggest. Both the other suppliers, Nokia and Ericsson, which are already present in UK operators’ 5G network to some and in in cases significant extent, have indicated they would be able to meet demand from the operators involved over the next two to three years.  Ironically, parts of the gear from the Scandinavian suppliers would be manufactured in China , where both have large plants making a variety of infrastructure gear.  In a statement commenting on the announcement, Ed Brewster, a spokesman at Huawei UK, noted: “This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide. Instead of ‘leveling up’ the government is leveling down and we urge them to reconsider. We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK. “Regrettably, our future in the UK has become politicised; this is about US trade policy and not security. We will conduct a detailed review of what today’s announcement means for our business here and will work with the UK government to explain how we can continue to contribute to a better connected Britain,” Brewster said.  Such a ‘review’ would likely impact the numerous R&D activities Huawei operates in the country, as well as the many University projects it supports.  As to the bigger picture regarding UK-Sino relations, late last week, the country’s Ambassador in London, Liu Xiaoming, said the UK “will have to bear the consequences of making an enemy of China” if it does ban the company from the UK’s networks.  “When you get rid of Huawei, it sends a very wrong message. You punish your image as a country that can conduct an independent policy.”  The upside, of course, is that taking such a tough line might just persuade President Trump to offer the UK a reasonable trade deal following the country’s self-exile from Europe. EETIMES

Covid-19 has, regrettably, amplified the general public’s reluctance to travel by bus, train or tram and reinforced their desire to travel by car. This is a great shame because since 2016, more than 52 countries globally have been striving to reduce their carbon footprint to meet the Paris Agreement targets of 2030 by encouraging people take advantage of public transport systems. However, since the outbreak of the pandemic, public transport initiatives the world over have ground to a halt, along with any effort to reduce CO2 emissions and plastic waste. While people were willing to cycle during lockdown, their confidence has waned now that the roads are busy once again for fear of not being visible to drivers, particularly in poor or low-light situations. Another repercussion is the loss in public confidence to visit our city centres to spend their hard-earnt cash on “non-essential” items. Such is this loss that according to the Office for National Statistics, only 36% of the English population feels happy about visiting our high street stores and one in five claimed they would never enter clothes shop again. As a result, there has been a surge in online retail and this is putting increased pressure on associated supply chain and last mile delivery logistics, which are not only labour-intensive, people have no choice but to work in close proximity. The pandemic has highlighted just how dependent we still are on manual processes for many of our key services to keep operating. Autonomation and IoT are the single two most disruptive technologies in our digital world so, with this in mind, private couriers, bus, train, lorry, and van drivers should not be obliged to put themselves at risk when providing a service such as hand-delivering parcels or groceries to our doorsteps. Although we may be through the worst, safety measures such as social distancing and limited in-person contact will need to be maintained for the foreseeable future to reduce the risk of a second wave. For this to be both practically possible and economically viable there is a need for breakthrough innovations to expedite and accelerate the deployment of autonomous applications and processes. Last mile delivery, supply chain logistics and freight are all great contenders for this. However, significant safety concerns remain for systems reliant on camera or LIDAR technology, particularly in poor/low light or adverse weather conditions. Until this is resolved the widespread adoption of smart logistics, smart transport or smart delivery systems is just not feasible. For the safe and effective operation of driverless vehicles and automated parcel delivery methods, these systems must be able to reliably and repeatably: detect, locate, identify, and classify all subjects, objects and obstacles they encounter. Not only that, they must be able to respond with minimal delay and utmost accuracy through capturing high-fidelity data in any environment, in any location, even when GNSS (GPS) or mobile coverage is unavailable.  What if there was a cost-effective way to improve the fidelity of the data captured by existing technologies so autonomous vehicles and services could be rolled out en masse? Health risks associated with in-person contact would be curbed because there would be no need for a human operator in many instawww.roboticstomorrow.com/ The possibility of such a solution is set to become a reality thanks to a pioneering project being fronted by R4DAR along with a consortium of disruptive tech start-ups, entrepreneurs, and ML practitioners. Intended to work alongside existing cameras, Lidars, motion sensors and other embedded tech, the consortium is developing a low-cost, low maintenance identification technology that augments the reliability of all data collected by autonomous vehicles or other smart solutions. Using beacons and radars, the breakthrough system is able to identify key subjects/objects of interest, through a simple data exchange to determine: What/who’s out there Where it is What it is doing This unambiguous data captured as a result, provides the unequivocal information needed for accurate and informed decision-making, mitigating many of the risks associated with autonomous applications. Delivery drones, for example would be able to navigate their way through busy urban environments, dropping off parcels at different addresses without any need for human contact. The same technology could be mounted on road signs, or seamlessly integrated into smart motorway systems or used as a wearable by cyclists to improve the visibility of vulnerable road users. As everyday life slowly returns to the new normal, the crisis has not only heightened our dependency on legacy systems that are labour-intensive, it has provided the springboard needed to accelerate the development of autonomous systems and applications. This will remove the need for unnecessary in-person contact in the short to medium term and will go a long way towards preventing a global shutdown in the event of future pandemics. The only blocker is the accuracy of the data collected because decisions taken as a result will only be as informed as the fidelity as the data captured in the first place. roboticstomorrow.com

Celera Motion, a business unit of Novanta Corporation, announces the acquisition of Ingenia, which develops and manufactures servo drives and control software. This acquisition greatly boosts Celera Motion's accuracy motion capabilities.  Celera Motion, A Novanta Company, announces the acquisition of Ingenia, developer of high performance servo drives and control software.  Tweet this Dependent in Barcelona, Spain, Ingenia offers original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with customized motion control solutions based on high performance and high power servo drive technology. Celera Motion provides medical and sophisticated industrial OEM customers with accuracy optical and inductive encoders, motors and actuators, and mechatronics solutions.   "Ingenia's products complement the Celera Motion products, and we're thrilled to bring these talented and innovative teams together," said Leane Sinicki, Precision Motion Group President, Novanta. "This acquisition expands and enhances our offering as we help our customers solve their most difficult motion challenges."This article is originally posted on manufacturingtomorrow.com

London--JACK Convery pops into a London branch of Italian eatery Coco di Mama to grab a cut-price lunch ordered on his smartphone's food-sharing app Karma.The 27-year-old Amazon employee - with an eye for a bargain and for helping the environment - uses a mobile phone app that sells surplus food from hundreds of UK restaurants at discounted prices. "Anything I can do to help the environment and look after the budget as well is beneficial, so yeah, it's a win-win," Mr Convery tells AFP after collecting his bag from the counter near Old Street Tube station."It ends up working out much cheaper than to go to (British supermarket) Tesco and buy a meal for one," he adds, noting that he can usually source his daily dinner for about £3.50 (S$6.30) via the app.Decomposing food waste is a key source of greenhouse gases - and a staggering one-third of all food is thrown away, according to industry estimates.Amid growing public outcry over the climate emergency, consumers are switching to the environmental danger of carbon dioxide and methane emissions.Britain's cafes and restaurants are also embracing apps that generate some revenue from rescued food that would otherwise be destined for landfill. However, some restaurants happily give unsold food to homeless charities on a daily basis.Swedish start-up Karma was founded in Stockholm in 2016 and its app now helps serve 1.0 million users in Britain, France and home market Sweden. In the UK alone, it offers 2,000 outlets.Rival app Too Good To Go also offers cut-price meals with a similar approach.Britain-based Olio, meanwhile, enables its 1.7 million customers worldwide to give their own unused food items free to other users, via collection from their homes."We do not plan for the day to end with zero waste, because at the end of every day we want to have some stock on our shelves" for customers not using the apps, says Sara McCraight, head of branding at Coco di Mama."When we give to charity partners, that's great. But with Karma we get some money recovered; (it) doesn't cover costs but it helps."Joao Campari, food expert at environmental campaigners WWF International, argues that apps are an "important" way to cut waste. "With food loss and waste creating at least eight per cent of all emissions, it's vital that as many people as possible reduce their personal food waste," Mr Campari tells AFP."To do this, we need tools that are easy to use, and also help raise awareness of the scale of the problem."Most people have a mobile device, so apps are an obvious and important way of educating and enabling action." Wastage occurs throughout the food supply chain: on farms, during transport, in retail stores like supermarkets."In truth, the best way to cut emissions from food loss and waste is to prevent food being lost on the farm and in the supply chain before it reaches end-consumers," adds Mr Campari.Yet in developed nations, most food waste occurs in restaurants and private homes - at a time when an estimated 820 million people in the world do not have enough to eat, according to the World Health Organization."We throw away one-third of food we produce each year," says Tessa Clarke, co-founder of Olio."What that means is that roughly 10 per cent of annual greenhouse gas emissions come from food waste alone, which I like to point out to people is four to five times greater than the carbon emissions that come from the global aviation industry." She adds: "I like to say that our main competitor is the rubbish bin." While these apps are clearly benefitting consumers and food retailers, experts say they do not address the core problem."These are good for raising awareness but they're not in themselves solutions, because there's still food surplus or food waste being produced," says professor Martin Caraher at City University London's Centre for Food Policy."With 10 billion meals a year still ending up in the bin, the UK has not closed the door on the food waste problem." AFPFOOD-SHARE APPS

The Automation Networks ANC-100e is a pocket-sized, high performance, Industrial Rated Ethernet DH+ Converter. Features include Ease of Configuration via Web Interface and DH+ Auto Polarity Detection and DH+ Auto Baud Rate Detection for RSLINX/LOGIX PLC Programming.The ANC-100e communicates with all SCADA, HMI, PLC programming packages with direct Ethernet/IP access to the DH+ network and stations. This includes RSLINX/LOGIX Classic & Enterprise Controllogix Driver, Wonderware DAServer, Citect Ethernet/IP, and Kepware Controllogix Ethernet/IP Drivers.The advanced ANC-100e gateway converter is useful for 1784-U2DHP PLC programming, accessing and monitoring DH+ network from a PC computer.Highlights of ANC-100e: *Compatible with all PLC Programming/HMI/SCADA 1784-U2DHP packages including all older versions of RSLINX Classic and latest RSLINX Enterprise. *Easy setup: Driver selection is ControlLogix Ethernet driver. *Economical: Full function Ethernet-to-DH+ converter listed at $1,195 USD List. *Fast Ethernet/IP Connection: Using the RSLINX Controllogix Ethernet Driver. *DH+ Speeds: Reliably supports all DH+ data rates - 57.6, 115.2 and 230.4 Baud on communication length exceeding standard requirements. *Auto Detect: Default Auto Baud Rate and Auto Polarity detection. *Size: "Pocket-sized" convenience with Desktop and Din Rail options. *Easy DH+ connection: 3-pin Phoenix Blue Hose connector option or direct 8-pin mini din cable connection to PLC port. (8 pin mini din cable included).This article is originally posted on AUTOMATION-NETWORKS.COM