UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 10, 2018. Smartphone owners can now use an app that helps visually impaired users scan banknotes for nominal value; the app was designed by Sensor Tech Lab with MegaFon’s support. The product is unique in that the app reads every bill’s denomination out loud and also produces different kinds of vibration sequences for every kind of bill, which means the app will also be useful to the deaf-blind, MegaFon’s press service reports. ‘Interestingly, smartphones are exactly the kind of devices that can be crucial in the visually impaired people’s rehabilitation. For

UrBC, Magnitogorsk, December 10, 2018. Metallurg Foundation (a charity mainly supported by Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works/MMK) was among the winners of the all-Russian social innovations and service quality contest focusing on children’s projects, MMK’s Information & PR Department reports. 175 organizations from all parts of Russia took part in the competition all in all; 103 applicants got approved by a board of experts and got audited successfully within the voluntary certification system for teenagers and children’s goods, services, and infrastructure. ‘This is the fifth time the

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 10, 2018. Russian and international perfume makers asked Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev in their recent letter to take perfumes and colognes off the list of products that have to get authenticity markings, Kommersant reports. The letter was signed by heads of Association of Perfumery, Cosmetics, Household Chemicals and Hygienic Goods Manufacturers, Russian Perfumery and Cosmetics Association, and Direct Sales Association; together, the associations represent over 90% of the manufacturers and importers operating in the country, including L Oreal, Unilever,

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 10, 2018. Ural Public Prosecutor’s Office for Transportation is now investigating the delay of Royal Flight’s Yekaterinburg-Nha Trang flight on December 6, 2018. According to the office’s press service, 329 passengers who checked in for the flight (43 of whom were children) had to wait for the ready aircraft for more than twelve hours. ‘The investigation is meant to determine whether and how the air carrier complied with the federal air travel regulations relating to passengers, cargo, and luggage transportation,’ the press service says.

UrBC, Yekaterinburg, December 10, 2018. 59% of Russian companies now have rules and guidelines for their employees’ social media presence; thee years ago, the figure was 51%, SuperJob refers to its own research findings as indicating. According to SuperJob, the businesses are mostly worried about their trade secrets (37% of respondents provided this reason for controlling their workers’ online behavior). 21% of employers insist that their staff comply with the netiquette conventions. 18% forbid any negative comments relating to an employee’s workplace, management, and coworkers. Every one in