Thursday, October 29, 2015

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Paddle8's Plans to Disrupt Auctions

The co-founders of the four-year-old auction house believe that it can become something of an online equivalent to centuries-old institutions like Sotheby’s and Christie’s.
By CNBC on Publish Date October 28, 2015. Photo by CNBC. Watch in Times Video »
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But a four-year-old start-up believes that it can become something of an online equivalent to those companies — and it has drawn big-name backers from the art world along the way.
The venture, Paddle8, plans to announce on Wednesday that it has raised $34 million in a new round of financing. Among those participating is the New York gallery owner David Zwirner, who is joining the company’s board.
With the new financing, Paddle8 is aiming to keep expanding worldwide, tapping into what its founders say is growing global demand for high-end collectibles.

Mr. Zwirner is joining other big names in the art world, including Damien Hirst, the artist; Jay Jopling, the London gallery owner; and Rolf Sachs, the collector, who are betting that the company can become a credible way for collectors to buy and sell valuables as varied as paintings, photographs, jewelry and rare sneakers. Edgar Berger, chairman of international business for Sony Music Entertainment, is also an investor, while the investment firm the Founder Collective and the Winklevoss twins were earlier investors.

Unlike Sotheby’s and Christie’s, Paddle8 is aiming for lower-priced auctions, with average prices ranging from $3,800 to $56,000 and seller commissions of 8 percent, often less than half what traditional institutions charge. (The start-up has also sold higher-ticket items, fetching $900,000 for a Jeff Koons egg.)
The start-up verifies the authenticity of merchandise sold on its platform. And unlike other online auction sites like Auctionata, it sources the items sold on its site and runs the auctions completely online.
The real competitive target, according to Paddle8’s founders, are local brick-and-mortar auction houses that traditionally handle sales of that size and scope but lack an online presence, and therefore often have a much smaller base of bidders.
“We have an extensive back-end system that cuts all the extraneous costs,” Aditya Julka, a co-founder, said in a telephone interview. “The customer experience is dramatically better.”
Others in the industry are not standing still. Both Christie’s and Sotheby’s have devoted considerable time and effort in recent years to building out their online auction businesses.
And other start-ups have drawn heavyweight backers of their own: Auctionata counts backers like Hearst Ventures and Groupe Arnault, the investor that controls LVMH, while 1stdibs has collected financing from the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and venture capital firms like Insight Venture Partners and Spark Capital.
Paddle8 was born of somewhat unusual circumstances. Mr. Julka, a 34-year-old former management consultant and entrepreneur, had become interested in collecting art. Through a friend, the former banker Osman Khan, he met Alexander Gilkes, who had previously worked as the chief auctioneer at Phillips. Together, the three men decided to create a marketplace that could sell collectibles for less to clients around the world.
Paddle8 has also handled a number of unusual auctions. It auctioned off the sole copy of “The Wu — Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” the lavishly produced double album by the hip-hop group Wu Tang Clan released last year. And this past summer it oversaw the sale of a selection of rare Nike and Adidas sneakers, including a 30-year-old original pair of Air Jordans.
Mr. Julka and Mr. Gilkes declined to disclose how much money the company was losing or the valuation of the latest investment round. But they said that the company had $35.8 million in sales last year, up 146 percent from 2013. Revenue for the first half of this year reached $25 million.
And the average sales price for auctions had grown about 18 percent year-over-year in 2014 to $3,669.
Mr. Zwirner said in a telephone interview that he first learned of Paddle8 through its work handling charity auctions, including one held more than a year ago for a school that one of his children attends.
The gallery owner said he was impressed with how the start-up ran the sale, with collectors brought in by Paddle8 regularly outbidding his own clients. That effectiveness, he said, made him consider how successful Paddle8 could be in shaking up the traditional world of collectible auctions.
“The art world is becoming more and more popular,” Mr. Zwirner said. “It’s hard not to pick up Vogue magazine or an interior home magazine without seeing contemporary art. And so most collecting will be in the lower-priced segment.”

... e por falar em ubiquidade:

Ciência & Saúde  ,

Teoria quântica vence (outra vez) Einstein


Arthur Sasse / PD
Albert Einstein, o génio com sentido de humor
Albert Einstein, o génio com sentido de humor
Cientistas da Universidade de Tecnologia de Delft, na Holanda, comprovaram através de uma experiência um dos princípios mais fundamentais da mecânica quântica – a de que objetos separados por uma grande distância podem afetar instantaneamente o comportamento um do outro.
A descoberta é mais um golpe para um dos princípios fundamentais da Física clássica conhecido como “localidade”, que afirma que um objeto é influenciado diretamente apenas pelo que está nas suas proximidades.
A teoria quântica sugere que uma mesma partícula pode estar em dois estados ao mesmo tempo e que um estado pode influenciar o outro instantaneamente. A hipótese é tão estranha que Einstein se recusou a aceitar que fosse possível, chamando-lhes uma “ação fantasmagórica à distância” e defendendo que devia existir uma “variável escondida”.
O estudo dos investigadores da universidade holandesa, publicado na Nature, foi liderado por Ronald Hanson, do Instituto Kavli de Nanociência de Delft, em conjunto com cientistas de Espanha e Inglaterra, e traz provas mais fortes para apoiar os princípios fundamentais da teoria da mecânica quântica sobre a existência deste mundo estranho formado por um tecido de partículas subatómicas em que a matéria só toma forma quando observada e o tempo corre para trás ou para frente.
Os cientistas descreveram a experiência como um “teste livre de falhas do teorema de Bell”, referindo-se a um teste proposto em 1964 pelo físico John Stewart Bell como forma de provar que este efeito à distância é real e que era impossível existir a tal “variável escondida”.
Os investigadores de Delft conseguiram emaranhar dois eletrões separados por uma distância de 1,3 kme partilhar informações entre eles, colocando dois diamantes em extremos opostos do campus da Universidade de Delft – suficientemente longe para descartar a possibilidade de se comunicarem pela proximidade. Os físicos usam o termo “emaranhamento” para se referir a pares de partículas que são gerados de tal maneira que não podem ser descritas separadamente.
Os cientistas afirmam que já descartaram todas as chamadas variáveis ocultas possíveis que ofereceriam explicações para esse “emaranhamento” de longa distância com base nas leis da Física clássica.
“Estes testes vêm sendo feitos desde o final dos anos 1970, mas sempre de uma forma que exige pressupostos adicionais”, descreve Hanson. “Agora confirmamos que a ação fantasmagórica à distância existe“, assegura o físico.
A experiência acaba por ser não apenas uma defesa da exótica teoria da mecânica quântica, mas também um passo em direção a uma aplicações práticas, como a “Internet quântica” – que pode aumentar a segurança da Internet e a infraestrutura do comércio eletrónico numa altura em que estão a fragilizar-se perante computadores poderosos que representam um problema para as tecnologias de criptografia baseadas na capacidade de contabilizar números grandes e outras estratégias semelhantes.
Uma possível rede de comunicação quântica formada a partir de uma cadeia de partículas emaranhadas à volta de todo o globo permitiria partilhar chaves encriptadas de forma segura – e conhecer com certeza absoluta as tentativas de espionagem.
ZAP

... inauguram ambas as 2 assim tipo ao mesmo tempo!!

Inauguraram ambas as duas juntamente em conjunto e com ubiquidade assim tipo ao mesmo tempo!!


http://www.guiadacidade.pt/pt/art/coleccao-alcino-cardoso-1a-parte-284682-13

http://www.guiadacidade.pt/pt/art/be-smart-by-art-2a-edicao-284683-13

  • Guia da Cidade /


  • Colecção Alcino Cardoso (1ª parte)

    Rua de Miguel Bombarda 578 (Porto, Vantag Galeria)


    29/10/2015 a 31/12/2015

    Porto, Vantag Galeria


    A colecção Alcino Cardoso, constituída no Porto desde a década de 80, é uma das mais interessantes em Portugal. Inclui obras dos mais importantes artistas portugueses e europeus do séc. XX e por isso algumas estão cedidas a museus no Porto (Serralves) e Lisboa, (CAM F. C. Gulbenkian, Museu da F. A. S. Vieira da Silva)  


    Be Smart By Art (2ª edição)


    Rua de Miguel Bombarda 552, 4050-379 Porto, Portugal (Vantag Galeria)
    www.vantag.com galeria@vantag.com
    &&&&&&&&&&&&






    29/10/2015 a 31/12/2015

    Vantag Galeria
    Exposição de obras a preços acessíveis, a pensar nas prendas de Natal.
    www.vantag.comVer mais

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    Artigo enviado 29/10/2015



    GPS » N 41º 8' 57.65'' ,W 8º 37' 24.41''


    Rua de Miguel Bombarda 552, 4050-379 Porto, Portugal (Vantag Galeria)
    www.vantag.com
    galeria@vantag.com

    Monday, October 26, 2015

    a Socialist?

    The Opinion Pages | Contributing Op-Ed Writer

    Guess Who Else Is a Socialist?

    Tipping

    The Opinion Pages | Op-Ed Contributor

    Why Tipping Is Wrong

    Credit Wesley Allsbrook          

    Mr. Meyer’s move to establish a transparent, fair salary for his staff is laudable, and I hope it will help set a new standard for the industry. But to achieve change across the restaurant business nationwide, we need reform to the law that has created a lower minimum wage for tipped workers.
    Last month, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo threw his support behind a statewide $15 minimum wage for all New Yorkers, but his proposal is expected to exclude the state’s 380,000 tipped workers. Despite the planned raise to $15 an hour already approved for workers in the fast-food industry, most restaurant staffers will continue to suffer under a lower minimum wage. Median pay for a tipped worker in New York, including tips, stands at just $9.43 an hour.
    The omission of these workers in New York not only perpetuates an unfair pay system — in particular, one that reinforces pay inequity for a largely female work force — but also extends an ugly, racialized history. The practice of tipping originated in the aristocratic homes of feudal Europe. Then, in the 19th century, Americans returning from travel abroad would attempt to tip workers here to show that they knew the rules of Europe.
    Toward the end of that century, a powerful anti-tipping movement arose. It called the practice undemocratic and un-American, arguing that employers, not customers, should pay their workers. In turn, American restaurant owners and railway companies fought to keep the system on the grounds that tipping was a legitimate alternative to wages — especially since many of their workers were African-American, in many cases freed slaves whom these employers resented having to pay at all. One writer of the period noted that he could never feel comfortable tipping a white person, since the practice should be reserved for “Negroes.”