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A <keyword id="43945" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="chhattisgarh" source="Orion">Chhattisgarh</keyword> government official has been suspended for draining a reservoir in Kanker district after he accidentally dropped his smartphone in the water.<br /><br />Rajesh Vishwas, a food inspector in Kanker district, was enjoying a trip with his friends when he accidentally dropped his Apple iPhone, valued at Rs 1.5 lakh, into the reservoir.<br /><br />The incident took place in Paralkot reservoir at Pakhanjur in Kanker district on Monday. According to sources, Vishwas and his friends first searched for the phone, but they could not retrieve it.<br /><br />Later, Vishwas installed pumps to drain water from the reservoir. After four days, he finally found the phone.<br /><br />The pumping operation commenced on Monday and continued until Thursday evening. <br /><br />Janmejay Nayak, a senior official in the district administration, told IANS: "Rajesh Vishwas has been suspended."<br /><br /><b>SEE ALSO:</b><br /><br /> <b><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/india-dominates-smartwatch-market-accounts-for-over-a-quarter-of-global-sales-in-q1-2023/articleshow/100522354.cms">India dominates smartwatch market, accounts for over a quarter of global sales in Q1 2023</a></b><br /><br /> <b><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/simple-one-electric-scooter-launched-with-212-km-range-check-out-price-specifications-and-other-details/articleshow/100449367.cms">Simple One electric scooter launched with 212 km range: Check out price, specifications and other details</a></b><br /><br /> <b><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/battlegrounds-mobile-india-to-return-soon-company-receives-permission-from-government/articleshow/100346259.cms">Battlegrounds Mobile India is relaunching soon, but government says final call only after a 3-month trial</a></b><br />

Chhattisgarh official suspended for draining reservoir in search of lost iPhone

<p>In our increasingly mobile-based world, it can be tricky to keep your device charged up during the day. Thankfully there are <keyword id="6358455" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Gadgets">gadgets</keyword> for charging your gadgets, and we've spent some time with two of the more notable ones.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><p class="source">Zagg</p><p class="caption">The Zagg Sparq</p></div><p></p></div><a href="http://www.zagg.com/accessories/zaggsparq/6837">First up is the Zagg Sparq 3100</a>. It plugs into a standard outlet to charge up (the prongs are built right into the back and flip down when not in use), then you throw it in your bag and forget about until you need it. It has a single USB port for charging on the bottom. Blue LEDs across the top give you an indication of how much juice is left. Zagg says that you can fully charge the Sparq once and it will give your iPhone a full charge twice, and my testing confirms this.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source">Dark Energy</p><p class="caption">The Dark Energy Reservoir</p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p><a href="http://mydarkenergy.com/">On to the Dark Energy Reservoir</a>. It's a sleek black design that's about the same thickness and width as an iPhone, but a bit taller. The Reservoir charges via USB - if you want to use a wall outlet, you use the included adapter. As for your devices needing a charge, there are two USB ports along the bottom for juicing up two things at once. It had no problem charging my iPhone twice, and the marketing material says it can do so <a href="http://mydarkenergy.com/product/dark-energy-reservoir/">up to 4.9 times</a>.</p>
<p>There are plenty of portable batteries like these to choose from, but between these two, I found myself preferring the Sparq over the Reservoir. It was a function of price, really - <a href="http://www.zagg.com/accessories/zaggsparq/6837">Zagg's product is $69.99</a> and the <a href="http://mydarkenergy.com/product/dark-energy-reservoir/">Reservoir is currently $129</a>, down from $179. While the Reservoir can certainly keep you on the go for longer, I don't consider the added cost to be worth it.</p>
<p>The Sparq's self-containedness is awesome. There are no cords or adapters required to charge it, just the cable from the Sparq to your dead-but-not-for-long phone.</p>

Portable Battery Shootout: The Zagg Sparq Versus The Dark Energy Reservoir

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Justin Sullivan, Getty Images" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53baf1436bb3f71605ef3441-960/screen shot 2014-07-07 at 8.12.19 pm.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Justin Sullivan, Getty Images</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>There is a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/iPhone.page">Facebook page for iPhone</a>, and it has nearly 3.5 million fans. But it's not run by Apple.</p>
<p><span>It's a fan page. <span>Apple doesn't actually have a Facebook page for iPhone. </span></span></p>
<p>In fact, Apple's presence on Facebook is inconsistent. There is a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AppStore" target="_blank">page for the App Store</a>. And a (barely updated) <a href="https://www.facebook.com/authorized.apple" target="_blank">page for Apple Inc</a>. There is also <a href="https://www.facebook.com/iTunesUS?brand_redir=1" target="_blank">a page for iTunes</a>. The iTunes page has 32 million likes. But iPhone, the biggest consumer electronics brand in the world, has no official presence in the largest social media venue on the planet.</p>
<p>I was talking with a social media marketing executive recently, and he regarded this as madness. Facebook fanbases can become a huge asset to a company. They can be used for customer relations, or to show users how to do new things with existing products.</p>
<p>A Facebook page would be perfect for the iPhone - there are a gazillion functions on iPhone that most consumers don't even know exist. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">And yet, Apple lets this vast reservoir go to waste.</span></p>
<p>There are two theories about this.</p>
<p>The first is that Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller doesn't "get" social media. When <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/phil-schiller-on-social-media-marketing-2014-4">Apple's marketing division went through a crisis in 2013</a> - and the company began the process of looking beyond its longtime ad agency, TBWA Media Arts Lab - TBWA suggested that maybe Apple should at least begin monitoring social media, to see how its brand stacked up against rivals like Samsung over time.</p>
<p>Schiller saw no need for it. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/phil-schiller-on-social-media-marketing-2014-4">He told TBWA in an email</a>:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">I think paying money for social media tracking tools is nuts. It is easy to track social media, I do it every day, there are lots of summary feeds, groups, and notification tools built right in to the social networking sites, all free.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">(i think the guys at samsung sat around a coffee table watching Twitter and Facebook feeds and didn't need to pay for anything in the example below)</p>
<p>One might also say the idea of Schiller personally tracking Apple's social media mentions himself is also kinda nuts. That would be a huge undertaking.</p>
<p>Social media is the most powerful new marketing tool of the current century. It can make or break companies and brands. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-reveals-how-samsung-turned-a-10-million-ad-buy-to-129-in-sales-2012-11">Samsung launched the Galaxy SIII on Facebook</a>, for instance. Most large companies have social media teams consisting of dozens of people, even when they're only tracking consumer feedback.</p>
<p>From this perspective, Apple appears to be ignoring one of the best assets it has - its loyal army of fans. (And it's not clear that Apple's advertising has emerged from its own crisis, either.)</p>
<p>The second explanation is best summarized in this <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/101433491#.">CNBC story about why Apple doesn't have a Twitter account</a> either. "Apple has nothing to gain by creating an account," Belus Capital analyst Brian Sozzi told CNBC. "Apple isn't going to be like Starbucks and run promoted tweets offering dollars off a product for a limited time. Apple is a premium experience all around, you go to Apple, they do not go to you."</p>
<p>CNBC pointed out how disinterested Apple is in social media feedback by pointing to this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiyIcz7wUH0&amp;feature=youtu.be">YouTube video for one of its recent ads for iPad</a>, which asks, "We're humbled and inspired by what people do with iPad. So we set out to capture some of their stories. What will your verse be?"</p>
<p>Comments are disabled, and the link points to an Apple corporate page - that also does not allow comments.</p>

Here's The Really Weird Thing About The Facebook Page For Apple's iPhone

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>When necessary, the US military employs devices containing ultra-sensitive sensors that can detect if a bomb will explode nearby.</p><p>Now, oddly enough, that same technology is being used to monitor and grow food.</p><p>Ag-tech startup <a href="http://fluxiot.com/">FluxIoT</a> has built a robot named Eddy with the same kind of military-grade sensors - except that they can analyze plant health. Eddy, which measures a few inches tall, is for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/see-inside-a-local-roots-lettuce-vertical-farm-2016-8">hydroponic farming</a>, a method of growing indoors without natural sunlight, pesticides, or soil.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Here's how it works: Eddy sits in the growing reservoir, which contains transplanted crops after the seedlings have sprouted. The device monitors the entire process, making sure crops have the right amount of oxygen, nutrients, and light from LEDs. The system analyzes these data points in real-time, and sends reports to a mobile app. </p><p>Farmers can check out their crops with the app, which pings them if the plants are in danger (e.g. if they need more water, or if the pH level are off). The system also gives farmers advice every step of the way.</p><p>Small vegetable farms only need one Eddy, while larger ones might need multiple. The more Eddys that sit in growing reservoirs, the more accurate the readings are, <span>Flux cofounder </span><span>Karin Kloosterman tells Business Insider.</span></p><p><span>Eddy can monitor most crops, including tomatoes, flowers, strawberries, spices, greens, and cannabis. The latter could present a lucrative opportunity for FluxIot in coming years, as marijuana becomes legal in more states. The <span>North American marijuana market <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/arcview-north-america-marijuana-industry-revenue-2016-2017-1">garnered</a> $6.7 billion in revenue in 2016, and is expected to reach <span>$20.2 billion by 2021, </span>according to a recent report from </span><a href="http://www.arcviewmarketresearch.com/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://www.arcviewmarketresearch.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1483546166022000&amp;usg=AFQjCNETp_E27oQ8p4FnsGr0X_z3fnB-Vg">Arcview Market Research</a>.</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>FluxIoT, which launched in 2014, works out of a greenhouse in Tel Aviv (though it's also growing its US team in Colorado). The startup is <span>led by cofounder and CTO Amichai Yifrach, who previously made special </span>nano sniffers - computer sensors that detect explosives<span> - and image processing tools to protect US troops at checkpoints in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's now using that same know-how to develop Eddy's proprietary system.</span></p><p><span>Yifrach "<span>built solutions for the toughest conditions and scenarios <span>- </span>to catch terrorists mainly. He had to build low-cost devices using available tech, like cell phones to see bombs and explosives or infiltrators. This is the approach we use in </span><span>Eddy</span><span>, but to understand plants," <span>Kloosterman says.</span></span></span></p><p><span>In early March, Flux raised $2 million in seed funding to start producing Eddys, and is planning another funding round up to $8 million in late 2017, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-09/military-grade-tech-to-monitor-eggplants-rather-than-explosives?mc_cid=a65abe685d&amp;mc_eid=aafe86284f">according to</a> Bloomberg. It expects to sell <span>between 10,000 to 25,000 </span>Eddys, priced at $179 each, this year.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-s8-vs-apple-iphone-7-2017-3">6 things the Samsung Galaxy S8 can do that the iPhone can't</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="UweXhqYTE6iUhX0GwPIH1ftHlSnfP4sj" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

A guy who made tools to catch terrorists is now using bomb-sensing technology to grow food

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Pokemon/BI Screenshot</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>If you've joined the gaming phenomenon <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/category/pokemon-go">that is Pokemon Go</a>, you've probably already discovered that the game is brutal on your smartphone battery.</p><p>This weekend, I played for three hours and it completely drained my iPhone. </p><p>Turns out, searching for Pokemon in the tall grass of the real world takes a lot of power. The app is constantly pinging GPS, rendering cute Pokemon and urban environments, and the game requires the screen to be on for a lot of time.</p><p>The solution for any intrepid Pokemon hunter vying to catch them all is to buy a battery pack, which can double or triple the amount of time you can spend away from a plug. </p><p>Buying a battery pack can be confusing. Here's what you need to know along with some suggestions: </p><h2>The most important stat is 'ampere count'</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Monoprice</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>You'll want a battery pack with an amp count over 2 - typically, it will say "2.1A" or "2.2A" under the USB port. Although a port with an amp count of 1 will still charge your phone, anything with an amp count over 2 can "fast-charge" your phone, which means that you have to spend less time with a cord stuck into your phone and more time catching Pokemon.</p><p>Frequently, battery packs with two USB plugs will have one that supports "fast-charging," and one that only outputs 1A, <a href="http://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=10392&amp;gclid=Cj0KEQjwh428BRCnvcyI-5nqjY4BEiQAijebwk4r1gBoVjKJeRpen-XpqzZSoOmZ0ddgPa9yWonxPZQaApRS8P8HAQ">like this $18 battery pack from Monoprice</a>. </p><h2>Bigger batteries hold more charge </h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Amazon</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The second most important stat on a battery pack is its capacity, which is measured in mAh. The number of mAh your battery pack supports is directly related to how much power it can hold.</p><p>Battery packs range from 1,000 mAh to some packs with 16,000 mAh or more. The iPhone 6 has a 1810 mAh battery, so a big battery can charge your phone several times over.</p><p>For example, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Portable-Power-Bank-100/dp/B00ZQ4JQAA?ie=UTF8&amp;ascsubtag=WC67037&amp;linkCode=xm2">this $30 AmazonBasics battery pack</a> advertises that it can charge an iPhone 6s 9.3 times with its 16,100 mAh reservoir - and both ports are rated for 2.4A. </p><h2>Consider a battery case</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Apple</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>If you don't want to carry a heavy brick around while you hunt for Pokemon, your best bet might be a battery case, which snaps onto your phone.</p><p>If you use an iPhone, Apple makes a <a href="http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MGQL2LL/A/iphone-6s-smart-battery-case-charcoal-gray?afid=p238%7CsJNbyEoP7-dc_mtid_1870765e38482_pcrid_73329386050_&amp;cid=aos-us-kwgo-pla-btb-slid--product-MGQL2LL/A">"smart battery" case</a> for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus that's pretty nice. It's smaller in terms of capacity than an external battery pack, but Apple says it can increase the battery life of an iPhone 6 up to "18 hours" on a cellular connection.</p><p>It's a bit pricey at $99, but it has the benefit of using Apple's own Lightning charging connector, and it also integrates with Apple's iPhone software to show you how much battery you still have left.</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;field-keywords=mophie+samsung&amp;rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Amophie+samsung">If you've got an Android phone</a>, Mophie is a well-known and trusted brand, and it makes cases for most common Android devices, including the Galaxy S7. </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/inmates-word-phone-call-tech-prison-2016-6">Cutting-edge tech discovered a popular word inmates say during phone calls - and prison officials were surprised</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="NqYWU1NDE6yFKjm-eit4LT2hwERUaNjV" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Here's what you need to buy if Pokemon Go is killing your battery

<p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Tesla CEO Elon Musk.</p></div><p></p></div></div>• Tesla has turned to debt rather than equity to raise $1.5 billion.</strong></p><p><strong>• The company's story has been driven by its stock price.</strong></p><p><strong>• Bond investors aren't necessarily buying into that story.</strong></p><p>As expected, <a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/TSLA-Quote">Tesla</a> is raising more money.</p><p>As not expected, that money will be in the form of debt: $1.5 billion in unsecured bonds, with an eight-year maturity and an anticipated interest rate of  5.5%.</p><p>The bonds will be junk, rated B- and B3 by S&amp;P and Moody's respectively, and investors can't get enough, even though that yield could be higher. </p><p>Tesla's previous two capital raises were all-equity and a blend of equity and convertible debt (debt that becomes equity down the road). CEO Elon Musk hinted that any new raises might be debt-based on Tesla's second-quarter earnings call, but ever since the Tesla bond issue was announced this week, analysts have been chewing over why the company, with its stock price at near all-time highs, wouldn't simply tap that the seemingly bottom reservoir of bullish Wall Street optimism.</p><p>Explanations abound. Musk doesn't want to further dilute the shares of existing shareholders, including himself, risking a loss of control. Tesla is reluctant to do an equity capital raise this year and them possibly <em>another </em>one next year, even if the markets seem infinitely patient at being treated like an ATM. Better to borrow at relatively low rates now before junk yields increase. </p><p>Tesla is in charge of its balance sheet and can do as it likes. But selling this type of bond represents a dangerous new plot twist. </p><h2>A "story" stock</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Andy Kiersz/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>For several years now, Tesla has been the biggest "story" stock in the world.</p><p>Tesla is known as a powerful Silicon Valley disrupter of the automotive (and energy) status quo. The company's charismatic celebrity CEO and sexy new all-electric cars have propelled Tesla's market capitalization past Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, and GM, even as Tesla losing money quarter after quarter and prepares to burn another $2 billion in cash before the end of 2017.</p><p>The company's debt has been a distantly secondary consideration. As Tesla adds more debt, however, it invites a different type of analysis. Stock investors are either very bullish or very bearish on Tesla, as evidenced by the clobbering that short sellers have taken since the beginning of 2017 - and the ongoing willingness of short-sellers to continuing shorting the stock. </p><p>There are some middle-of-the-roaders who think Tesla is now wildly overvalued, but don't think it is going to collapse - I consider myself one of these folks. But most of the chatter around Tesla either involves the company taking more than 50% of the new-vehicle market share in the US (Gene Munster's preposterous thesis) or predicts bankruptcy before Musk's dreams can be realized.</p><p>Stocks can go through crazy fluctuations in value, and Tesla's shares are typically quite volatile, with surges and swoons common. The short-term action is exciting. </p><h2>A longer story</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni</span></p><p class="caption">Have we seen this movie?</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Bonds are a longer-term play, and for that reason, bond buyers usually take a more macro view of the companies whose debt they own. The overall risk is succinctly expressed in terms of ratings - investment-grade versus high-yield "junk" versus wackadoodle deep subprime stuff - and the interest rate. The assessment is more emotionless. The story has to be pretty good, and it doesn't always keep getting better.</p><p>Bond investors will not be looking at whether Tesla's stock is way up or way down, but rather at whether Tesla is likely to be able to service its debt through the maturity of its bonds. What Tesla is actually doing with its cash flow will come under greater scrutiny. And the source of that cash flow will also be under the microscope. </p><p>This means that Tesla's ability to execute with its core business will be critical. Build cars, sell cars, and do it at a profit. In this context, veering off into semi-trucks and the freight business might look foolish - even self-driving, given the mountain of manufacturing that Tesla has to climb over the next year or two (500,000 deliveries by the end of 2018, a million by 2020), could be interpreted as a story-changer, rather than a move that would reverse Tesla losses and take the company out of recurrent capital-starvation mode.</p><h2>Watching TV vs. watching a movie</h2><p>If the stock market is like watching TV, then the bond market is like watching a movie. Or reading a novel. And while stocks invite shallow criticism, debt invites deeper dives. And as far as overall debt goes, Tesla has been packing it on of late, adding $4.5 billion in various forms since the SolarCity merger last year, and now bringing another $1.5 billion onto the balance sheet.</p><p>We'll have to see if Tesla's two financial arcs - equity to one side, debt to the other - can co-exist. Excessive debt tends to be a problem in the car business, as General Motors and Chrysler discovered during the financial crisis. It's a movie we've seen before. A bigger question for Tesla is whether it can write a different ending.</p><p> </p><p class="tagline">Get the latest Tesla stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/TSLA-Quote"> <strong>here.</strong></a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fidelity-portfolio-manager-tesla-auto-market-growth-2017-8">Fidelity portfolio manager: Test driving a Tesla was an 'iPhone moment'</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

There's a potentially devastating new twist in the Tesla story

<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>In a fast-changing region, one thing has long been a constant: the utter disregard that the mafia dynasty ruling North Korea evinces for the welfare of ordinary people. So growing evidence of liberalising reforms in North Korea is tantalising.</span></p><p>"Reform" remains a taboo word in the North. But new measures in the countryside appear to sanction people farming for the market rather than for the state. It represents a tacit abandonment of state collectives in favour of family farming, and seems already to have had an effect.</p><p>For the first time in decades, North Korea grew nearly enough to feed itself last year. Thanks to better harvests, the North Korean economy could grow by 7.5% this year, compared with annual growth of little more than 1% for a decade, reckons the Hyundai Research Institute, a think-tank in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Asia's basket case could prove to be its fastest-growing economy.</p><p>Caveats abound. North Korea divulges little useful data, and last year the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was not allowed in to conduct field checks. Many homes still have too little to eat--North Koreans on average consume a little over half the number of calories of their rich brethren in South Korea (for other comparisons, see chart on next page). Still, anecdotal evidence suggests that change in this benighted country is under way.</p><p>The agricultural experiment seems to have been devised in secret after Kim Jong Un came to power just over three years ago following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il. It was set in motion from 2013. Initially, it allowed groups of about a dozen labourers to register as agricultural work teams, effectively reorganising the big socialist collectives that have been a feature of North Korean agriculture since the 1950s. Farmers were also allowed to retain 30% of a new quota on production--a much bigger share than before. In addition, they could keep (ie, sell on the market) any excess harvest above the quota. Previously any surplus would have gone to the state.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Under a plan referred to as the May 30th measures, those teams were shrunk again last year, to the size of a typical family, while their share of the quota was enlarged to 60%. Even the permitted size of families' kitchen gardens, which are far more productive patches than land tilled for the state, have been expanded dramatically, from 100 square metres to 3,300 square metres. For Andrei Lankov, a longtime watcher of North Korea at Kookmin University in Seoul, the new measures, a quasi-privatisation of state land, are nothing short of revolutionary.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">A second area of experimentation, in state industry, is equally striking. Under the May measures, state factory managers may appoint their own employees, set workers' salaries, buy raw materials on the market and sell part of their production there too. Like farmers, managers will need to pay their dues to the state. Yet, says Mr Lankov, that is not so different from paying corporate taxes in a capitalist economy.</span></p><p>The regime is also promoting special economic zones (SEZs) with gusto, thanks to a new law on them. Andray Abrahamian of Choson Exchange, a non-profit group that organises business workshops in North Korea, describes a "palpable energy and excitement" among officials in charge of SEZs.</p><p>The oldest zone is the export-processing hub of Rason, in the north-east of the country near the borders with Russia and China. It was set up in 1991 and languished for years. But recent development has been swift. Chinese firms have paved roads linking its port to the Chinese border. Last July a new port terminal, linked to a freight railway to Russia, was launched. At a recent forum in Seoul on doing business in North Korea, Mark Kim, a Korean-American who operates a shoe factory in Rason, said his football boots were "selling like hot cakes" in the North (though he has yet to make a profit). Rason has also become the first place in North Korea where you are allowed to own your home.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The government has announced a further 19 SEZs since 2013, small hubs of between two and four square kilometres for everything from tourism (Chinese occasionally holiday in the North) and software development, to fertiliser- and rice-production. Nearly every North Korean city now has one or two zones (though, Mr Abrahamian says, they remain "underfunded and underconnected").</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Reforms have been announced before, in 2002. Aiming to motivate labourers by aligning state and market prices, Kim Jong Il declared that subsidies to state-owned firms would be withdrawn, while farmers could sell any extra produce in small-scale markets. Yet by 2005 these measures had been rolled back. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">This time round, comparisons to China's economic lift-off from the late 1970s are being made more readily.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Though his father died peacefully in his bed, Kim Jong Un may think his only chance of survival is change. Some analysts argue that he shows far more desire to improve livelihoods than his father ever did. Pak Pong Ju, the architect of the 2002 experiments (who has seen the fruits of Chinese reforms for himself), has re-emerged from the political wilderness and is now Mr Kim's prime minister. Mr Kim visits orphanages and amusement parks, and regularly speaks of improving people's quality of life. He has positioned himself as the champion of a growing urban consumer class in the capital, Pyongyang.</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Yet there are grounds for scepticism. Perhaps the best that can be said of the new measures is that they try to narrow the gulf between the regime's upbeat propaganda ("Make fruits cascade down and their sweet aroma fill the air on the sea of apple trees at the foot of Chol Pass!") and the sordid reality of the lives that many North Koreans lead.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">A new generation of North Koreans has little recollection of families depending on the state for all their needs, says Sokeel Park of Liberty in North Korea, a group that works with defectors. A disastrous currency confiscation in 2009 hit small traders hardest, cementing distrust of the state. It even instilled a degree of defiance in those who had to work against the state system to survive.</span></p><p>Young urban North Koreans recently defecting to the South claim not to have been afraid to criticise the Kims among close friends and family. This group, hooked on foreign media being smuggled into the North, now refers to itself as "awoken", says Mr Park.</p><p>As ever more information from outside is ferreted into the country on DVDs and USB drives, state rhetoric and reality grow further apart. Parts of the regime understand this. Some of the impetus for the market-oriented measures, says Christopher Green of Daily NK, a news source with informants in the North, is to bring rhetoric and reality closer into line.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>In other words, the regime may not be leading change so much as responding to it. The collapse of the public distribution system, through which the command economy used to apportion goods, including food, was both a cause and consequence of the famine. Informal trading and smuggling networks, and black markets for food, sprang up as a result of it. The state has on occasion tried to suppress these markets, but has no more succeeded than with its attempts to reinstate the distribution system.</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Today, three-quarters of what most people earn probably comes from an unregulated private economy. A forthcoming book, "North Korea Confidential", by James Pearson and Daniel Tudor (a former correspondent for The Economist), says that nearly all North Koreans lead a "double economic life", supplementing measly rations and puny state wages of as little as $1 a month with extra work in their spare time.</span></p><p>To an extent, the recent top-down measures may be an acknowledgment that the bottom-up change of the past 15 or so years is irreversible. In fact, the regime has a growing interest in the non-state economy. Officials tolerate private trade partly because they get a cut--in effect running a protection racket. Many have become entrepreneurs themselves, managing state firms for private profit. The Kim family itself gets money from such firms. To the extent that the state has recently cracked down on smuggling from China, it is in order for Mr Kim and the elites around him to get a bigger share of the pie, according to Kim Kwang Jin, an analyst and North Korean defector who once worked in the regime's "royal-court" economy.</p><p>Yet official corruption and protection rackets point to the limits of reform. There are rumours of local officials taking a cut of farmers' crops. Concerned about losing influence and privileged access to food, some officials are also trying to revive the state plan, says Randall Ireson, an expert on North Korean agriculture. Meanwhile, farmers will continue to depend on ropy government agencies for essential materials such as fertiliser and oil. As for last year's higher yields, they come at a price: emptying water reservoirs during a dry spell has left the country facing even more severe shortages of electricity than usual.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">There is a deeper lesson from the Chinese reform path. It is that real, sustained improvements to a decrepit economy are possible only with outside expertise and capital. Yet, fearful of political meddling, the North remains deeply suspicious of foreign investment. Commercial relations with China, supposedly an ally, are abysmal, with Chinese mining and trading companies complaining of broken contracts and outright theft by their North Korean state partners.</span></p><p>Even Rason, at the forefront of North Korea's economic experiments, has yet to receive promised Chinese electricity from neighbouring Jilin province. A third bridge being constructed over the Yalu river, which separates the southern end of the two countries' border, was set to open in October; yet roads linking it to transport networks on either side are unfinished, and work on it has stalled.</p><p>But it is North Korea's nuclear-weapons programmes that do most to darken its relations with the outside world, above all South Korea, America and Japan. (Only with Russia is North Korea on good terms, and since that amity is based on hopes of aid, it is not likely to last, given Russia's straitened finances.) The programmes have brought <keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> sanctions down on North Korea, but the North gives no impression of abandoning them.</p><p>Indeed, according to a report by the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC, North Korea's stockpile is poised for rapid expansion. From about a dozen weapons today, North Korea could build 100 within five years, even without a fourth nuclear test. Its plutonium-based weapons, the report claims, have already been miniaturised to carry on medium-range ballistic missiles.</p><p>It may be that the regime wants to develop the economy. But it is certainly not going to do so at the expense of developing nuclear weapons--or of lessening the repression and state violence by which it stays in power. It underscores the dead end into which its leaders have driven North Korea. Even if the current reforms are maintained, the improvement to the livelihoods of North Koreans is bound to be limited, no matter which Kim is in power.</p><p>Click <a href="https://subscriptions.economist.com/nwcd">here</a> to subscribe to The Economist</p><p> </p><p>This article was from The Economist and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-headphones-tricks-2015-2">14 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="o2OGM3czpWcydnvhjbkDBd6feXPuExiD" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

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