Today Hot News

The Louvre is just a trial balloon. Haier, the giant Chinese electronics and appliances, a partner in the last Asian Film Festival in Deauville, is found now official sponsor of the exhibition "The Forbidden City in the Louvre," while the group Fosun, active in the steel industry, mining, property development, distribution and services, financed the catalog.

"This is the first time that we sponsor an event abroad. Traditionally Chinese companies involved in the financing of aid to natural disasters, earthquakes or floods. They argue that very few art events. But we made several acquisitions in Europe and you want to get closer, "says Jane Zhang, director of brand and strategy Fosun.

This, indeed, holds 9.5% of Club Mediterranean.It has also invested in a chain of jewelry and fashion accessories in Greece. Haier, meanwhile, set up last year, the seat of his European office in Paris. For one as for the other, cultural patronage that they are discovering can be a powerful tool to better integrate. But the payments remain a state secret.

Open the Forbidden City

As many as 350,000 Chinese visited the Louvre last year. The country is now the fifth largest foreign tourists to the museum, behind the United States, Brazil, Italy and Russia. So Wan Jie, head of Artron, specializing in printing, which was not 50 years, is very interested in the Young Patrons Circle of the Louvre.All they need to pay 2,000 euros per year if they are under 40 years beyond 5000 to be included, says Christophe Monin, head of development and sponsorship of the museum.

"The demand from wealthy individual to the corporate philanthropy is very strong in Asia, but their goal is to first do something for their country," says Nathalie Sauvanet, BNP Paribas. In its own way, Chen Dongsheng, president of Taikang Life Insurance, is a pioneer in China. He is a founding member of the China Social Entrepreneur Foundation and one of the best friends of the owner of Fosun, Guo Guangchang. He believes that "companies need to focus on modern culture."

It is also believed that Wang Yamin, deputy director of the Museum of the Forbidden City in Beijing. It does not hide it, the Louvre gives him ideas. The palace is full of treasures that can not hardly watch the public.They are crammed into the reserves of the City. If he succeeded in attracting Chinese businesses, it could more easily escape by appealing to the state. The tourists would stay longer when on the site. "The Forbidden City needs to develop cooperation with private companies," he pleads.

Christophe Monin, for whom "patronage is essential today," just waiting to help. But in the meantime, the Louvre would like to create a Chinese version of its multimedia guide … he hopes to be financed by entrepreneurs from the Middle Kingdom.

A new session promises to be eventful Thursday on Wall Street. In early trade, the Dow posted a loss of 2.70% at 10,869 points, the Nasdaq lost 2.72% to 2468 points and the S & P drops 2.71% to 1135 points.

Like European and Asian stock markets, Wall Street is not immune to the anxiety surrounding the health of the global economy. This pessimism has been going on yesterday and pessimistic of the U.S. central bank. The Fed has held that the U.S. economic recovery was "slow" and threatened by "high risk". The central bank, in this context, announced an operation to extend the maturity of the assets it holds up to 400 billion dollars by June 2012."You can interpret this decision as the Fed's will not to launch three quantitative easing (monetary easing to boost the U.S. economy, ed) immediately, says Arnaud Poutiers, executive vice president of IG Markets.

The general concern about global growth has been reinforced by concerns about the economic situation in China. Manufacturing activity in the country has deteriorated in September, reaching its lowest level in two months, according to preliminary PMI bank HSBC said on Thursday. PMI Purchasing Managers calculated by HSBC in September reached 49.4 against 49.9 in August, knowing that a figure below 50 means contraction.

In France, the growth of private sector activity in September fell to its lowest level since the beginning of the recovery in 2009, while in Germany, the composite PMI, which includes industry and services, has emerged to 50.8, its lowest level since July 2009 against 51.3 in August.

The U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner also said Thursday in Washington that the slow economic growth was a challenge "greater" than the debt and that the governments around the world should give priority to support growth .

On the issue of European debt disturbing fact, little progress.Greece has just announced yesterday it will launch new austerity measures to get the funding it needs Troika in October to avoid bankruptcy.

Bad news on employment front

The announcement of a rise in weekly jobless across the Atlantic is not reassuring. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 423,000 people registered as unemployed during the week of September 10 to 17. The consensus of analysts expected 420,000 new applications for unemployment benefits.

Other important indicators, such as managers' index index advanced sprix estate, are in the program.

In this context, oil prices plunged more than 5% Thursday to open in New York, returning to their lowest levels in a month.On the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), a barrel of "light sweet crude" for November delivery traded at 81.28 dollars, down 4.64 dollars (5.4%) compared to the previous day. On the currency markets, the euro continued to sink against the dollar: the euro back below the $ 1.35 dollar to 1.3462 (-0.82%).

Values ​​to follow

On the corporate side, Bank of America (-5.02% to 6.06 dollars), Wells Fargo (-2.02% to 23.23 dollars) and Citigroup (-4.47% to 24.38 dollars) should still suffer from the deterioration of their rating by Moody's. The agency that the state may fly to their rescue.

Fedex (-10.15% to 65.14 dollars) has reported an EPS according to the consensus of $ 1.46 in the first quarter, a turnover of 10.52 billion dollars.

United Technologies (-7.16% to 69.51 dollars) will buy the equipment manufacturer Goodrich Aviation (10.06% to 120.50 dollars) to $ 16.5 billion (12.2 billion euros) cash, a transaction that would be the largest acquisition of U.S. industrial giant in 10 years.

After a slight improvement in June, the French trade deficit is growing again. In July, he approached his record in May, to 6.46 billion euros related Customs. The cumulative deficit of the past 12 months amounted to 67.2 billion euros, against 51.66 billion in 2010. Imports rebounded after declining in June, while exports, they, are progressing very slowly.

The foreign sales amounted to 34.76 billion euros, up from just 100 million euros a month. "The strong sales of intermediate goods and automotive (…) is in fact largely offset by significant declines in aeronautics (sales and production programs for Airbus)," note Customs. The Airbus sales were $ 1.18 billion in July, after 2 billion in June. These figures are very volatile and depend on the delivery of the industry.In terms of client countries, exports to the EU declined, but remain dynamic to America no teletrek payday advance. They pack down to Asia and the Middle East.

Imports have increased their share of over one billion euros in July, reaching 41.22 billion euros. Much of this figure is driven by purchases of oil and gas products, that is to say the energy bill. But "a return to the trend of supply aircraft (Airbus program)" boosted purchases of transportation equipment, within Customs. A trend that explains the same time heavy imports from Germany, rebound largely due to imports of parts for Airbus. This is accompanied, however, "an increase in purchasing automobiles, chemicals and industrial machinery, 'the Customs.

ALSO READ:

"Job creation slows employees

"The Bank of France reduced its growth forecast

Safran, currently listed on the SBF 120, will make its debut on the CAC 40 on 19 September. The industrial and technology group, owned 30% by the state and 16% by its employees, replaces the bank Natixis in the most important indicator of the Paris Bourse. The announcement of the decision of the scientific evidence that fell Friday night to enter into force on September 16 at closing. The CAC 40 has not seen changes since September 2010, when Dexia (bank) and Lagardère (media) had been replaced by Natixis and Publicis (advertising).

The case for an entry Safran are numerous. The group was first sold 6.5 million treasury shares on the market late in July to increase its free float to more than 50%. Or the size of free float is one of the most important criteria observed by the Board for an introduction to the Cac 40.Capitalization criteria equally crucial $ 11.6 billion. Finally, the performance of the title are not negligible. The stock has gained more than 14% since August 26, while the SBF 120 index has returned just 5.6%. Since the beginning of the year, it grew by 5.4% when the SBF 120 index lost more than 12%. "There is a large consensus on this value. Safran is a great candidate, "pointed out shortly before the decision Emmanuel Besson, manager at Equity Management Ofi AM.

Suez Environnement does not leave the Cac 40

Suez Environnement was on the spot. The company, owned 35.8% by GDF-Suez and 7.2% by Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, certainly has a free float above 50% but its market capitalization of 5.88 billion, is among the lowest in the four Cac 40, with STMicroelectronics, Accor and Peugeot.In addition, the title was severely punished by investors: it shows a loss of 17.6% since the beginning of July, in line with the losses of the CAC (18% over the period).

But it Natixis, which has been designated to leave the Cac 40. It must be said that banking stocks have suffered heavily in recent weeks. The title is back in the index only a year ago and this decision "could create additional pressure on the banking at a time when we seek to appease," said Emmanuel Besson.

Before the verdict, Safran fell by 2.77% to 27.05 euros at the close, in a market down 3.59%. In turn, Natixis lost 4.57% to 2.71 euros.

ALSO READ:

"Advantages and disadvantages of entering the CAC 40

"The profits of the CAC 40 companies up sharply

MEDEF regrets "the unbalanced distribution of efforts between state, local and Social Security on the one hand, and households and businesses on the other." Moreover, "a number of steps leading to increases in production costs adverse to competitiveness," the main concern French employers' organization. Medef cites the increasing social package, a levy paid by the employer under the employee savings plan (participation, sharing …), which will "penalize the share of added value in the company and lead gradually to confuse the profit-sharing with the wages. "

The union claims toufefois "welcome the clear commitment to compliance with the fiscal path."

The National Association of Food Industries for its part believes that the creation of a tax on soft drinks is "unacceptable.""It is a policy identical to that which was conducted for alcohol and tobacco, and we do not want food to undergo this type of approach," said Jean-René Buisson, president of the Association National Food Industries (ANIA). "We are aware of the need to participate in collective efforts but we do not want this action is taken based on the nutritional aspects of the product."

Manufacturers of cigarettes and tobacco shops demanded government action against smuggling to protect their industry, they are threatened after the announcement Wednesday by the government of a new tax increase. "Before 2003, the parallel market was estimated at 2-3%. Today we talk about 20% in 2012, the term 25%? "Pascal Montredon concerned, the President of the Confederation of tobacconists.Several studies have smoked a cigarette in five in France comes from the parallel market, purchased abroad, online or imported through criminal networks

In the construction sector, Ridoret Didier, president of the French Building Federation denounced "a heavy blow to SMEs in the building" with "The change in the calculation of the relief on low salaries and reintegration, in this calculation, the overtime. " "The SME sector will be particularly affected as they are mostly remained at 39 hours," says he told AFP.

Liébus Patrick, president of the Confederation of Crafts and Small construction companies, is pleased to share the "message about the importance of maintaining the 5.5% VAT for maintenance and restoration [ d] been understood as the government realized that we were a growth industry. "It regrets, however, the additional movement of the plane on the "scellier" and equipment for sustainable development: "This will impact on activity and employment," he added.

ALSO READ:

"Tobacco tax: EUR 1 billion savings by 2011

"Rigor: the right plan welcomes the left denounced the cynicism

The plight of employees Sodimedical continues. For three months, the German group Lohmann & Rauscher, who owns the manufacturing company of medical equipment, refuses to pay the salaries of its fifty employees, says the "Parisien in France Today" on Friday.

A retaliatory measure following the invalidation by the court in February of the social plan concocted by management, who wanted to relocate its production to China. Considering the economic reasons cited by Sodimedical as unjustified (because the company depends on its parent, very profitable), the high court of Troyes was the beginning of the year pushed the rules of redundancy.

Director sequestered

But since then, the situation of employees of Plancy-l'Abbaye, in the Aube near Troyes, stronghold Baroin, has not arranged.As of May, Sodimedical no longer paid the salaries of its employees guaranteed payday loans. "The employees are without work and without income illegally," said Mr. Brown, their lawyer.

Despite several convictions by the courts, forcing the company to pay wages on pain of penalty, financial difficulties accumulate. "The state is unable to enforce court decisions. We met with the Minister of Economy Baroin, who returned the ball to the prefect, "said an employee on a daily basis. Without success.

Twice in June, employees have unsuccessfully tried to succeed by sequestering their manager, later released by police.The Commercial Court of Troyes should again today to decide the fate of employees Sodimedical.

ALSO READ:

"The impact of relocation on employment remains marginal

"SPECIAL – Social conflicts, companies in crisis

All weekend, they multiplied the meetings and news: the political leaders of industrialized countries have mobilized to show that they had taken stock of efforts to engage to address concerns about the state of their finances. What to try to reassure markets, worried after the announcement Friday after the close of a deterioration in the rating of sovereign debt of the United States by Standard & Poor's, but also disturbed by the difficulties faced by countries the euro area to implement the solutions to the crisis in Greece. With always in sight the risk of contagion of debt to other countries.

In the wake of the Asian stock markets, down sharply this morning, the benchmark index in Paris has started his week on a further decline (-0.74%), but avoid the dreaded crash in the markets.After a brief stint in the green, he never stopped to dig its losses since mid-day. Around 16:30, while Wall Street sinks into the red, the Cac 40 falling 4.14% to 3142.99 points, its lowest level since July 2009. The nervousness and volatility are the watchwords of the meeting. It has traded more than 4.2 billion euros on the CAC to 16.30.

Even renewed concern elsewhere in Europe. In Frankfurt, the Dax and retreated more than 4%. Less for London where the FTSE 100 lost more than 3%. The Swiss stock exchange plunges 3.19% to 5007.18 points. The Milan Stock Exchange falling more than 2.5% in the wake of Wall Street

Relaxation rates in Spain and Italy

Yesterday, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy reiterated their determination to ensure that the bailout of Greece on 21 July be adopted before the end of September.They also praised the efforts of Spain and especially those of Italy, two weak links in the euro area at present. Indeed, Rome has advanced by one year (from 2014 to 2013) the goal of return to balance its accounts. In addition, the European Central Bank (ECB) said it would implement "active" its buyback program obligations. This measure, taken and announced last week by Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the institution, had absolutely convinced investors. On the contrary … But this morning, the Italian and Spanish bond yields relaxed, investors are more confident in an intervention by the ECB on the secondary bond market in both countries. Rates in ten years Spanish and Italian are ironed on Monday under 6%.Relaxation is expected to continue, while the French Minister of Economy and Finance Baroin confirmed on Europe 1 that the ECB was ready to buy the Spanish and European debt, if investors withdrew.

American borrowing rates have, in turn, not move, indicating that the debt of the world's largest economy remains an attractive investment, against the loss of the triple A of the United States.

Next on the list?

However, uncertainty should remain in force on the European markets at the beginning of the week. The decision of Standard & Poor's in the United States continues to claim haunt the minds of the markets, despite a weekend to "digest" the news.Now that the world's largest economy, long considered one of the most reliable borrowers, is not as well marked, which could consider itself safe from degradation? In France, this concern should be limited, however, the chief economist for Europe, Standard & Poor's Jean-Michel Six, who said Saturday that the agency maintained the "AAA" of France, in a stable outlook.

The announcement of the ECB on repurchase of bonds was initially supported the euro against the dollar. At 7 o'clock this morning, the euro was worth 1.4321 dollars, against 1.4281 dollars on Friday night, after the dollar rose to 1.4370 on Sunday night.The European currency is, however, decreasing again around noon to 1.4268 dollar.

But above all concerns macroeconomic benefit to gold, which recorded a new record Monday on the market in Hong Kong, dying for the first time the maximum 1700 dollars an ounce, and benefiting fully from his safe haven status.

The sharp drop in oil

Instead, the side of the oil, oil prices continued to tumble on Monday. Result of numerous concerns about a possible global recession, prices show a sharp decline. To 13 hours, a barrel of "light sweet crude 'lost 3.64% to 83.67 dollars.

Finally, the political mobilization should remain in force throughout the day, and guide the trend in European markets as U.S.. For the side of the macroeconomic data, the news will remain low in the first day of the week.Unlike last week, no statistics across the Atlantic will not give further details Monday about the health of the U.S. economy or the risk of a possible recession in the country. In France alone were expected business surveys of the Banque de France, unveiled on Monday its growth forecast for the third quarter. For the period, the institution expects an increase of 0.2% of French GDP, the same pace as in the previous quarter.

As for values ​​to follow, business publications are scarce this week.

Battered last week after interim results affected by exposure in Greece, banking stocks were offered a nice rally this morning before falling unevenly mid-term.BNP Paribas wins again in mid-session, 1.01%, to 41.025 euros, but Credit Agricole (- 0.27% to 7.14 euros) and Societe Generale (-2.95% to 26.625 euros ) drop out. For its part, Axa sells 1.13% to 11.425 euros. The insurer CNP Assurances is however still 3.02%, to 12.265 euros, the head of the SBF 120 index increases by mid-day.

Peugeot (-7.45% to 20.745 euros) and Renault (-6.95% to 29.125 euros) recorded both the largest declines the CAC 40. The two automakers are penalized by the broker Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on the two values. Alcatel-Lucent also drop 6.66% to 2.298 euros. Technip meanwhile lost 5.97% to 58.71 euros.

The manufacturer Archos tablet that will detail its annual accounts after market, accounts 4.77% to 8.35 euros this morning before falling heavily to 6.78% to 7.43 euros.

Carmat (5.56% to 98.70 euros).The total artificial heart specialist said on Sunday evening the success of its capital increase launched from July 13 to 29. The former subsidiary of EADS has raised 29.3 million euros, which will fund the first clinical trials on humans.

GDF Suez (0.73% to 20.56 euros). The group of energy and services has sealed, according to Les Echos, a strategic Partenaris with the Chinese sovereign wealth fund CIC, which would lead to an acquisition of a 30% interest in the exploration and production arm of French.

Specialist catering Sodexo (-1.84% to 49.075 euros) announced that it has won a contract worth 766 million dollars (535 million) to provide the basics of feeding twenty Marines, the United States.

ALSO READ:

"The Asian market plunges after degradation of the United States

"Paris and Berlin are mobilizing to fight crisis

As the successor to Dominique Strauss-Kahn to head the International Monetary Fund could be announced this Tuesday – Christine Lagarde is the favorite – Greece has decided to strike until the vote of the austerity plan by the Greek Parliament should occur by Thursday. However, it seems, according to analysts that the markets are betting on good news. The euro area would have a backup in case of a negative vote.

So, in the wake of Wall Street Monday closed sharply higher, Bourse de Paris amplifies gains the previous day. The Cac 40prend 0.37% to 3810.51 points.

On the currency markets, the euro is stable against the dollar at 1.4274 dollar.For their part, oil prices rebounded in electronic trading in Asia Tuesday and remained under pressure, before the 48-hour strike in Greece to the appeal of unions to protest against austerity measures, analysts said . In morning trading, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for delivery in August gained 36 cents to 90.97 dollars.That of Brent North Sea crude for August delivery was taking 25 cents 106.24 dollars.

Housing: housing starts and building permits up

On the macroeconomic front, the number of starts of new homes increased by 11.4,% year on year in France for the period from March to May, while the number of building permits for these homes has increased 4.3%, according to figures from the Ministry of Housing.

At 18 hours, will be published the figures for registered job seekers and offers collected by the job center in May.

In the U.S., the S & P / Case-Shiller of home prices in April (15 hours) and consumer confidence in June (16 hours) are also expected.

Carrefour jumps, Casino unscrews

Against a background of optimism about the outcome of the parliamentary debate on the budget austerity in Greece, the banking sector performs well: Crédit Agricole climbed 2.50% to 9.87 euros, Societe Generale is 1.54% to 38.25 euros, BNP Paribas rose 1.10% to 50.71 euros and Natixis gained 1.04% to 3.29 euros.

EADS: 0.09% to 22.07 euros

China could control dozens of Airbus during a visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Tuesday in Berlin, said on Monday sources familiar with the matter.

Carrefour: 1.55% to 26.86 euros; Casino: -2.88% to 64 euros

The distribution group received Monday a "proposal" to create Gama Brazilian joint venture equally owned by both groups in Brazil, the latter to eventually become a shareholder of Carrefour.

Thales: 0.46% to 28.52 euros

According to an internal study cited by the Tribune, the electronics group shows a drastic decrease of 13% of customer satisfaction since the arrival of the new direction. Some regret the centralization of applications and other lack of attention to their concerns.

Lagardère: 2.95% to 28.57 euros

Analysts at the Swiss bank UBS raised their recommendation on the title to "buy" against "neutral" before.

Trigano: -3.36% to 22.27 euros

The specialist for caravans and motorhomes has said it expects a sales growth and results in 2011, following growth of 8.2% of its business in the third quarter, which covers the period from March to May

Teleperformance: -4.49% to 19.90 euros

The global call center cut its operating margin target in 2011 because of the recent slowdown in its business in the United States.

BioAlliance Pharma: 2.33% to 6.15 euros

The biotechnology company said it had filed with the French Drug Agency an application for leave to Phase III clinical trial for Livatag, treatment of primary liver cancer.

CGG Veritas: 1.14% to 23.45 euros

The group signed with the oil services group Bourbon marine services to offshore oil and gas a charter contract for five years to six new vessels support and assistance to its seismic surveys.

Alstom takes 14 hours to its General Assembly on Tuesday.

In the video game world, the news is a bombshell. May 25, shortly before the show at E3, which opens Tuesday in Los Angeles, the Guardian revealed that in addition to forced labor, Chinese prisoners were forced to play World of Warcraft, the famous game of massively multiplayer online role. Dali Liu, a former prisoner, told the British daily's website how his jailers forced him to reap gold, swords and other virtual goods for their own account. These unscrupulous guards then sold the artifacts to other players via the Internet. But against the euro or dollars, them real.

Better known as the "gold farming", the process-illegal because contrary to the licensing of Editors, is not new. It developed in the course of the 2000s with the rise of video games massively multiplayer online.Among the best known: the game is medieval style Everquest, Eve Online Space Simulator … And of course the blockbuster of the moment, World of Warcraft. Published by Blizzard Entertainment in 2004, he assembled to date no less than 11.4 million players worldwide. And as many avatars, virtual alter ego, who jacked, cast spells and traded in a fantasy world of dungeons and dragons. All seek to ramp up. To skip steps, or simply lack of time, some are willing to change. There involved the "gold farmers", organized into groups of players 'professional'. According to a World Bank report published in April, there are about 100,000 to live in this activity, whose main body (80%) is based in China. Despite their efforts, videogame publishers are struggling to fight against this practice.

Because the Web is full of more of these "gold hunters, who conduct their business with impunity. Gamesinfun.com the site, a player can buy World of Warcraft 2000 gold virtual for the modest sum of 2.85 euros. To reassure its customers, the site (which did not respond to initial figaro.fr) ensures having "a great professional team of full-time employees. All are 'the' players 'veterans', with an "experience of at least three years in this position." Leben for Henri, a lawyer specializing in video game and intellectual property, "put an end to the activities of the 'gold farmers' is very complicated.""Most of them are based in China, they are small and have no legal existence." It is almost impossible and too costly to attack them legally, especially in the absence of a real international legislation on the Web.

Hackers looking for easy money

Besides these gold hunters, the rarity of these virtual objects also attracts hackers looking for easy money. Hacking into the accounts of certain players, they can then offload the avatar attacked its artifacts to sell on the Web. If Blizzard did not respond to our questions, the hotline operator of World of Warcraft French confirmed that "more and more players are seeing their accounts hacked." Similarly, Henry Leben, confirms that "the counting of avatars is becoming more common."Recently he has also held the record of a "wise guy" who took advantage of a vulnerability to supply his account rare objects, and reach a high level. Result, "he was stronger than everyone, and many players have complained," he says.

Director General of the French Agency for the video game (AFJV), Emmanuel Forsans is hardly surprised by these developments. "While this may seem a bit absurd to spend sometimes hundreds of dollars for a virtual object, which is nothing but a line of code … But we must understand that players purchase and time Thurs And that, to remain competitive compared with the community.

He added that many fans braved the ban by marketing them directly to their avatars or rare objects, without the publishers on the frontline.In 2007, a player has spent no less than 9500 dollars (7300 euros) to afford the "Double Blade Azzimoth", a unique weapon for World of Warcraft. To justify the tolerance of editors in such cases, Emmanuel Forsans evokes a desire to preserve the "playability" of the title. "In this type of game, players are organized into guilds. So, if one of its most powerful members has to leave, he puts the whole group at risk, "he argues.

An economic model changing

Publishers were they caught in their own trap? This would explain why their policy is based more on educating players to take repressive measures too, which might displease the subscribers. On its website, Blizzard, just to alert the community about the negative consequences of "gold farming" on "performance and stability" of the gameNot really enough to discourage "gold hunters" and their customers …

However, some massively multiplayer games beyond successfully "gold farmers" and their negative impact in terms of image. This is the case of Dofus, the title most in France played in its category (three million fans logged per month), which claims 40 million accounts created in the world. And for good reason: it has still not been translated into Chinese. If Florence C Ruocco, the communications manager of the game developed by Ankama denies any deliberate strategy to avoid the "gold farmers", she concedes that "this is probably why the title suffers less from these problems" .

Still, the economic model of these games tends to evolve, especially because publishers see a dim view this parallel market their escape.Clearly, according to Henry Leben, they want their share, which amounts to $ 3 billion, according to the World Bank. Thus, the game Castle of Heroes, developed by the Chinese Suzhou Snail Electronic offers its players to gain levels or various objects through the purchase of gPotato, the currency of the game at this rate, betting that the price of 'virtual gold could one day face the same bouts of fever that the real yellow metal.

"The leaders of the prison were earning up to 570 pounds per day"

After five years in the camp Jixi in Heilongjiang province in China, Liu Dali, recounted her ordeal at Guardian Digital. "We worked for twelve hours straight. [The guards] Never turn off the computers. If I could not reach my quota, they punished me physically.They forced me to stand with their hands in the air, then hit me when I came back in the dorms. We continued to play until you can barely see the screen. "According to him," the leaders of the jail earned more money by forcing prisoners to play online by requiring them to do manual labor. " In this way, these unscrupulous jailers could pocket "up to 570 pounds per day," said the former prisoner.

A TV for unlimited calling. Sony chose an original niche to highlight its TV connected: video conferencing over Skype, a service that allows free calls, provided you have an Internet connection.

If Japanese is not the only one to offer this service – Samsung, LG and Panasonic offer it as well – it is the first to make it as widely promoted. This choice is indicative of the state of the market for connected TV, which is considered a powerful source of growth for manufacturers, but that is slow to take off. For now, in fact, consumers are not rushing to acquire these new displays, including the additional cost can reach 20%. Now, Sony has chosen to generalize the TV connected to nearly all its range: 90% is provided.The ability to enjoy a free video conferencing service, regardless of the destination of the call could be a vehicle purchase.

Microsoft, another winner

But this initiative also risks alienating the telecom operators, who see emerge a new type of competition. However, competition is already fierce between service providers that continue to add "free" to their offering. Not to mention the risk of flooding posed to Internet networks likely this additional data traffic.

The highlighting of Skype, which is a service offered by Sony on its TV connected, enter the group's strategy to "bring consumers to their television, they gradually abandoned in favor of their PC, smartphone or tablet.The President of the Japanese giant, Howard Stringer, has willingly TV connected as an element "family structure" which may again find themselves in a room.

Although, paradoxically, the fact chat on his television to watch television prevents! Indeed, if technically nothing prevents the embedding of a "picture in picture, television channels are radically opposed to the idea of ​​content that eludes them inserted in" their "emissions. And even if the content is generated by the viewer himself.

For TV makers, adding new services, including Skype is the illustration, also aims to maintain the value of their products in a market where prices are falling fast.

Finally, the main beneficiaries of development of the offer should be Skype and its new owner Microsoft.The software company was criticized for having paid dearly (8.5 billion dollars) the service provider, has everything to gain. Since March, banner ads can be inserted into the video chat. On the big screen, they will be better highlighted! The benefits of Skype may finally take off.

ALSO READ:

"TV connected: the tone rises between manufacturers and ISPs

"The face on TV channels connected