The impact of Brexit on the governance ecosystem is significant. The United Kingdom (UK) is one of the most important countries in the European Union (EU) and its departure will have major implications for how the EU functions. The UK has been a key player in shaping EU policy and its leaving will create a power vacuum that other countries will be eager to fill.

There are a number of key areas where the impact of Brexit on governance will be felt. One is the impact on the Single Market. The UK is a major contributor to the EU’s budget and its departure will leave a hole in the finances of the bloc. This could lead to austerity measures being imposed on other member states or a reduction in the overall budget.

Another area where Brexit will have an impact is on security. The UK is a key member of NATO and its departure could lead to the weakening of the alliance. This could have serious implications for the security of Europe as a whole.

Finally, Brexit will also have an impact on the EU’s ability to negotiate trade deals. The UK is one of the largest economies in the EU and its departure will make it harder for the bloc to reach agreements with other countries.

How the UK Is Taking Advantage of Leaving the EU

The UK is taking advantage of leaving the EU by negotiating its own trade deals, striking new partnerships, and attracting investment from around the world.

The UK has already secured trade deals with a number of countries, including Canada, Japan, and South Korea. These deals are worth billions of pounds and will create thousands of jobs. The UK is also in the process of negotiating a trade deal with the United States, which is expected to be worth over £100 billion.

The UK has also used its newfound freedom to strike new partnerships with countries outside of the EU. For example, the UK has joined forces with Australia and New Zealand to create a new trading bloc called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

In addition to trade, the UK is also attracting investment from around the world. In 2018, the UK received a record £6.9 billion of investment from China. This is a significant increase from the £1.2 billion that was invested in 2017.

The UK is taking advantage of leaving the EU and is cementing its place as a global leader in trade and investment. With its strong economy and world-class universities, the UK is an attractive destination for businesses and investors alike.

What Is the State of the Governance Ecosystem in the UK Post Brexit?

The UK’s departure from the EU has given rise to a number of questions about the future of governance in the UK. There is no doubt that Brexit will have significant implications for the UK’s domestic and international affairs, and this will in turn impact the governance landscape.

There are a number of key issues that will need to be addressed in the coming months and years, including the UK’s relationship with the EU, the impact of Brexit on devolution, and the future of financial services regulation. In addition, there will be a need to consider how the UK’s exit from the EU will impact its role in international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.

The UK Governance Ecosystem

The UK has a highly developed system of governance, which includes a number of institutions, laws, and practices. The following overview provides a brief introduction to some of the key elements of the UK’s governance ecosystem.

The Constitution

The UK does not have a codified constitution, but rather a set of constitutional conventions and principles that have been developed over time. The key document that sets out the constitutional framework of the UK is the Act of Union 1800, which established the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The Constitution of the United Kingdom is based on the principle of parliamentary sovereignty, which means that the UK Parliament is the supreme legislative body in the country. The Parlia...

Ian Foley is an executive with over 20 years’ experience in sales and finance in Silicon Valley. He is currently the Chief Business Officer at Arweave, a Web3 company with an innovative business model for decentralized cloud storage for ever (permenanty). Ian has been the CEO/founder or head of sales for 4 startups, which resulted in 3x M&A and 1x IPO.

He has also been a venture investor in 8 companies, which resulted in 4x acquisitions and 6x return. His industry experience is in FinTech, Marketing Tech, Cyber Security and Telecoms. He started his career in investment banking, strategy consulting and journalism.

Tech trends via Cartoons – Laugh and Learn, Ian Foley

#fintech #tech #SiliconValley

Ian`s monthly cartoons in Fortune Magazine – Ian Foley Twitter – Ian Foley`s Linkedin –/ Ian`s Cartoons –/

Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica.

A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms

Listen to more podcasts here.

Guest post by Chris Collins, Country President for Ireland, Schneider Electric

In 2019, Ireland’s Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation laid out its Industry 4.0 Strategy: a vision that by 2025 Ireland will be a ‘competitive, innovation-driven manufacturing hub at the frontier of the fourth industrial revolution and the forefront of Industry 4.0 development and adoption.’

The intervening years have proven challenging for the industry worldwide, with manufacturers and life sciences suppliers struggling to augment production levels to meet a growing and shifting demand. The realisation of the strategy within such tight timelines seems daunting. Alongside macroeconomic challenges, industry is also grappling with the imperative to reduce carbon emissions and meet the government’s commitment to a 51% reduction in emissions by the end of this decade, and net zero emissions by no later than 2050.

Achieving net zero cannot be separated from the aims of Industry 4.0, which promises a digital revolution in industry, transformed through technology-enabled efficiency, automation and connectivity. To flourish, there must be a digital relationship between manufacturing businesses and their supply chain, partners, and customers, as well as site-specific innovation. All this can only be fuelled by clean, green electricity that empowers industrial innovation without compromising emissions targets.

Achieving Industry 4.0 will require a simultaneous revolution in energy. Electricity 4.0 is our vision of a new industrial era. Put together, they will ensure Ireland maintains its position as a competitive manufacturing hub while also setting the standard for green innovation through clean, digitally enabled energy efficiency.

Electricity 4.0 – the Future of a Net Zero Ireland

Across the world, smart technologies are helping manufacturers improve productivity. Internet of Things connected devices and cloud infrastructure transform inefficient production lines into next-generation smart factories. Industry 4.0 technologies now facilitate communication between devices, control systems and cloud data systems to ensure the best decisions are made at every step of production, based on rich data and powered by automation. The application of smart factory analytics helps manufacturers optimise their production processes, reduce efficiencies and promote greater productivity.

The same principles apply to Electricity 4.0. It is already accepted that electricity is the fastest route to cleaner, smarter, more efficient energy, the best vector for decarbonisation. Electricity 4.0 describes the convergence of digital and electric at scale, driving innovations and efficiency, a fundamental shift in how we use, save and distribute energy.

When electricity meets digital, it becomes controlled, visible, connected, and smarter – delivering more and wasting less. Global management consultancy McKinsey estimates we can reduce about 85% of the emissions we need to cut to reach net zero in Europe using existing technologies. In our experience, energy costs can typically be reduced by between 10% and 30% and maintenance costs between 30% and 50% across smart factories and smart distribution centres.

Despite being one of the fastest ways to reduce consumption, energy efficiency is often overlooked but is vital to improving productivity and decarbonisation. To capitalise on efficiency, manufacturers must be able to quickly and easily measure and track energy use to drive proactive reduction strategies.

However, our research suggests that just 29% of organisations have started measuring energy use and identifying energy waste. Just a third have mapped their current carbon footprint, while one in six has not started mapping carbon emissions. Reducing the amount of energy waste in production lines, buildings, and transportation through digitisation must be part of the Net Zero energy strategy. The cleanest watt is the one that never needs to be generated.

The dec...

Ian Foley is an executive with over 20 years’ experience in sales and finance in Silicon Valley.

Tech trends via Cartoons – Laugh and Learn, Ian Foley

He is currently the Chief Business Officer at Arweave, a Web3 company with an innovative business model for decentralized cloud storage for ever (permenanty). Ian has been the CEO/founder or head of sales for 4 startups, which resulted in 3x M&A and 1x IPO. He has also been a venture investor in 8 companies, which resulted in 4x acquisitions and 6x return. His industry experience is in FinTech, Marketing Tech, Cyber Security and Telecoms. He started his career in investment banking, strategy consulting and journalism.

#fintech #tech #SiliconValley

Ian`s monthly cartoons in Fortune Magazine – Ian Foley Twitter – Ian Foley`s Linkedin –/ Ian`s Cartoons –/

Dr. Efi Pylarinou is the No.1 Global Woman Influencer in Finance & the Data conversation by Refinitiv, a Top Thought Leader by Onalytica, and a Top Digital Futurist, Linkedin and Twitter Voice, by Engatica.

A seasoned Wall Street professional & a recognized technology thought leader on innovation topics. Founder of Efi Pylarinou Advisory servicing Big Tech, Financial Services and Fintech clients. She strongly believes in building bridges between the old and the new economy. She shares her passion of content creation with her 190,000+ followers on Linkedin and 18,000+ on Twitter. Join her on the social platforms

Listen to more podcasts here.

More about Irish Tech News

Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too.

You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here:

If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at [email protected] now to discuss.

Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at [email protected] now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience.

You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

By David Higgins, Senior Director, Field Technology Office at CyberArk who looks at Workstations and the best way to secure them.

Hybrid employees still 42% of “remote capable” workers

As the world of hybrid work becomes our new normal, companies globally have widely accepted that location doesn’t impact the productivity and potential of their employees. According to Gallup, 42% of ‘remote-capable’ employees continue to work in a hybrid fashion today.

Let’s unpack the term ‘remote-capable’ a bit further. To you, it may mean someone who is able to do their job anywhere. To me, it means someone who is able to do this securely. Security though, has become more difficult in the hybrid world.

6 Ways to Secure Remote Employee Workstations

Hybrid working has put employees and their workstations far beyond the ‘walls’ of traditional corporate networks. This has made workstations incredibly easy endpoint targets for attackers, and one of the simplest places for hackers to hijack identities, conduct ransomware attacks, use privileged credentials, advance toward key IT systems, and steal private information.

During an attack – usually by the time incident response specialists are called in – the environment has already become overrun by threat actors. There is, though, a way to harden endpoints in such a way that recovery efforts are accelerated. It has been discovered time and time again that organisations can speed up their recovery efforts by putting the following fundamental Identity Security rules in place at the endpoint. These safeguards include:

Creating policies for application control: The endpoint must be able to defend against ransomware and other attacks in addition to being able to allow and deny known applications. To lessen the risk of ransomware, organisations must be able to; “greylist” apps, such as sandboxing an unidentified application and allowing it to run without access to the internet; and implement advanced control policies so workers can use trusted applications safely.

Secure Local admin Accounts: Administrator accounts are used to install and update workstation software, set up system preferences, and manage user accounts. Attackers target these privileged accounts to run ransomware and other malicious software, disable antivirus software, and block disaster recovery tools. The quickest and most straightforward method for securing employee workstations is to move local admin powers away from normal users and into a secure digital vault with credential rotation. Doing sosignificantly reduces an adversary’s ability to move through a network while also lessening the effects of unintended (but unavoidable) employee mistakes, such as clicking on phishing links.

Remove Admin Rights and Enforce least privilege: Employees frequently have a valid reason to carry out an action requiring administrative privileges. Just-in-time privileged access enables employees to carry out certain tasks in accordance with policy, at the appropriate time, and for the appropriate cause, without end-user or help-desk interaction or without the user having to be given local administrative rights, that could be abused by an attacker.

Keeping cached credentials secure: The greatest risk to organisations today is credential theft. Credentials can be saved in memory by many common business apps, and many web browsers and password managers store application and website credentials locally. An essential endpoint security layer is the capability to automatically detect and deny credential harvesting attempts. This is because threat actors can frequently get cached credentials without ever requiring admin capabilities.

Setting up traps: While we’re on the subject of detection, endpoint protection technologies that supportprivilege deception functionality, such as the capability to generate phoney “honeypot” privileged accounts, can help identify potential attackers right away.

Tracking privileged activities: Attackers frequently sneak up on ta...

Have you ever driven past a wind farm on a wild day and wondered why the turbines are turned off? Well, this may be ‘dispatch downtime,’ where operators are required to stop producing renewable energy, due to curtailments or limitations with broad power systems and local networks.

In the COSTORE project, funded by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, the International Energy Research Centre (IERC) at Tyndall National Institute, based at UCC, has started innovative new research to reduce this downtime by examining the full potential of solar PV power plants and battery energy storage systems (BESS) working side by side.

Amarenco Solar Limited, one of the largest PV plant developers in Ireland, has teamed up here with IERC to develop novel solutions to increase energy storage so PV plants can reduce their dispatch downtimes to zero. The benefit is that Ireland can then produce additional renewable energy and it will also ensure PV can participate in ancillary grid (DS3) services, which are helping to deliver a secure, sustainable electricity system in Ireland.

The proposed multi-services provision (MSP) will encourage further participation of PV-ESS plant in Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS) auctions. Combining technical and economic analysis, COSTORE will draw on pilot experiments in a real-time simulation environment. COSTORE will also address business model, barriers, and recommendations for industry stakeholders, policymakers, and public bodies for further deployment of these systems.

Professor Brian Norton, the Head of Energy Research at Tyndall National Institute, noted that “the rising levels of dispatch down compromise Ireland’s power system ability to reach its renewable energy targets, increase the financial risk for renewable energy-based power plant owners. This increases the cost of renewable electricity for electricity consumers. It is, therefore, a priority to maintain dispatch downtimes at their minimum possible level. COSTORE will analyse the techno-economical challenges and develop innovative solutions to achieve the optimal contributions from solar PV power plant in Ireland with the support of energy storage and artificial intelligence.”

Dr Shafi Khadem, PI of COSTORE, and Lead, “Intelligent Grid” Research Team in IERC, explained, “We will present a bottom-up analysis of both PV plants and energy storage systems operating side-by-side starting from the selection, sizing, integration of ESS and PV plant, to the control and management for providing multiple services. We will look at the best possible combination of system structures to achieve zero dispatch downtime. We will also look at why plants have to stop producing energy at certain times, for instance because of limitations on the power system, over frequency, etc. Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques will play a vital role in delivering these innovative solutions.”

A design guideline for the different system components will be developed, aimed at minimising investment cost while maximising system flexibility and the whole system financial output supported by the business model solution. Policy and regulatory recommendations will also be made.

In supporting the project, John Mullins, CEO of Amarenco Solar Limited, expressed that, “As decarbonisation progresses and renewable penetration in Ireland and elsewhere increases, the interaction between renewables and storage is critical to get to Net Zero. In addition, the European security of supply crisis is embellishing the need for optimisation of storage on our grid as it interacts with Solar PV and other technologies. Our collaboration with the IERC on COSTORE is a research project that will assist the optimisation of energy on our grid going forward.”

The project is funded by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and is led by IERC in collaboration with Amarenco Solar Limited.

See more stories here.

Furthr VC, previously DBIC Ventures has announced its new name and that its latest fund has grown to €32M, up from €23M. The growth comes from additional funding from existing investors, as well as the addition of 20 new investors to the fund.

Furthr VC launched its latest fund in October 2019 with the aim of investing in up to 30 globally scalable software and medical device companies. Since then, it has invested in 15 companies, including IVR testing SaaS company, Klearcom; construction computer vision company, Evercam; and diabetes medical device company, Bluedrop Medical.

Initially backed by an investment from Enterprise Ireland as well as 15 technology entrepreneurs, business leaders and private investors, the fund now has 35 private backers. The additional funding will enable Furthr VC to continue to seek and close deals with Ireland’s new generation of leading early-stage Irish tech companies. It can make initial investments of up to €650K in a business and as a result of the growth, it can now invest up to a total of €3M through subsequent follow-on investment rounds.

Furthr VC changed its name in line with the rebrand of Dublin BIC to Furthr. By forming close, active partnerships with founders, Furthr VC plays a significant role in supporting the innovative entrepreneurs and businesses it backs, while also maximising returns for investors. Through its current and previous funds, Furthr VC has invested in more than 75 early-stage Irish tech companies including digital health company, SilverCloud Health; smart grid company Grid Beyond; and taxi dispatch platform, iCabbi.

Richard Watson, Managing Partner, Furthr VC, commented: “We are highly active with our current fund and have completed seven new investments to date in 2022. We are continuously on the lookout for new software and MedTech start-ups as investment opportunities for the fund.

“This is our fourth fund, having launched the first seed fund in Ireland in the 1990s. By working closely with investee companies, we help them to navigate the scaling journey and in doing so, create significant shareholder value. We are proud to have the backing of so many top Irish tech entrepreneurs and business leaders, as well as Enterprise Ireland.”

Colm O’Sullivan, Partner, Furthr VC, said: “The growth of this fund is testament to the quality of the portfolio we are building and the companies in our pipeline, as well as our strong track record and deep network that includes many of Ireland’s leading technology entrepreneurs and business leaders. At Furthr VC, we have a founder-friendly approach, enabling us to form close partnerships with start-ups and provide them with key strategic input to help drive success, which in turn ensures that we are generating strong returns for our investors.

“Our new name reflects the ambitious plans that we have for our investors and the start-ups that we are investing in. We are backing companies from seed to Series A stage, with a strong ability to follow on in subsequent rounds, ensuring that we are a vital part of businesses’ success stories and Ireland’s economic future.”

See more stories here.

As diversity has become a major part of working life, it’s great to see an increase of women in senior management positions in Ireland. Anne Keogh is the CFO of Ambisense, and the perfect role model for women in business. Ronan talks to Anne about women in c-suite management role and more.

Anne talks about her background, what Ambisense does, why choices are good, women in c-suite management roles, mentors, and quotas at work. Anne also talks about being impressive, willing to learn from mistakes, what Michael Smurfit taught her, the art of the possible, work environments and having respect and manners.

More about Anne Keogh:

Anne is the CFO of Irish start-up and environmental analytics company Ambisense, an IoT and AI analytics business focussed on monitoring environmental risks including risks from climate change and Covid 19.

Prior to this, Anne was the CFO and COO of Pharmapod, an innovative cloud-based software developed by pharmacists for pharmacists to maximise patient safety across the global healthcare system. Anne also has 7 years experience in being a woman of the c-suite.

See more podcasts here.

More about Irish Tech News

Irish Tech News are Ireland’s No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland’s No.1 Tech Podcast too.

You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here:

If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at [email protected] now to discuss.

Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at [email protected] now to find out more about how we can help you reach our audience.

You can also find and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

Hot off the press, to coincide with the launch of the Google Pixel 6a, the Google Pixel Buds Pro have been launched too, to offer you a new earphone to use with the new phone potentially. You can see more on their store here.

Google Pixel Buds Pro review

Previous iterations of the pixel buds have been popular with our testers, so there was some intense debate about who would get to trial this pair when it arrived in the office. One initial observation from one of our testers was disappointment that it no longer had the small hook that enabled it to latch onto the outside of your ear. This was a feature on previous iterations that our testers liked, and also felt that it differentiated this product from others. They felt that it helps to stop the buds from falling out of your ear as easily too.

Maybe there is a design reason for this, or maybe they just felt that it was a feature that was not valued. Perhaps it is also horses for course and some may love it too. The battery power is pretty good and hopefully this new version will do the same. Previous versions started out well in this regard, if not perhaps giving you a whole days charge, but subsequently not quite reaching those heights with repeated use. With this one, as with the Pixel 6a too, it is then an open question about, while being great from the box, how they will be performing in 12 – 18 months down the line.

Noise cancelling works well, the ability to navigate tracks and tunes also work well. Overall our testers like the gear, felt the container was compact but worked well. They were slightly on the fence about if the removal of the outer clip was a retrograde step, but overall it still remains a hot piece of gear within the office, with a three way battle between different testers in regard to who will continue to keep ‘testing’ it going forwards.

Google Pixel Buds Pro product specs

Sweat and water resistant: IPX4 Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.0 Audio: Each earbud: Custom-designed 11 mm dynamic speaker driver Active Noise Cancellation Transparency mode Volume EQ Active in-ear pressure relief

Voice: Each earbud: Three microphones Voice accelerometer Wind-blocking mesh covers

Battery: 11 hours without ANC 7 hours with ANC 31 hours with case without ANC Charging: USB-C charging port Wireless charging Sensors: Each earbud: Capacitive touch (tap and swipe) sensors for music, calls, and Assistant controls IR proximity sensor for in-ear detection to play and pause automatically Motion-detecting accelerometer and gyroscope Case: Hall Effect sensor for case open and close detection

Colors: Charcoal Fog Coral Lemongrass

Premium Active Noise Cancellation adapts to you.

Active Noise Cancellation uses Silent Seal™ to adapt to your ear and block outside sounds. It creates a quiet foundation so your music can shine.

Sounds amazing at any volume.

Volume EQ adjusts the tuning as you turn the volume up or down, so highs, mids, and lows consistently sound balanced at any level.1

Small buds. Big sound.

Custom-designed 11 mm speaker drivers make music sound powerful, yet nuanced. A full 5-band EQ lets you customise the sound to your preferences.

See more reviews here.

We look at the Google Pixel 6a, the latest release to follow the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. See more about the device on their website here also.

Google Pixel 6a, reviewed

As you may have come to notice with previous iterations of the Pixel series, not too long after the lead device comes out, a stripped down version, the a, follows. Generally this has most of the software and good stuff released in the flagship version, but at a more midrange price, often with slightly lower hardware specs, processing power, and usually not all of the bells and whistles from the single number feature. The Pixel 6a does exactly all of this and so any consideration is couched in your awareness of these trade offs.

The Pixel 6a does not support wireless charging. As previous iterations of the phone become trickier to charge with various cables. This could well become a draw back in 6 to 18 months time, when, as you still like your phone, but it gets more temperamental about being charge by x or y cable. We are walking this scenario through because, much as we have had positive experiences with the 4 and 4a, we are finding it harder to keep them charged via cables, as, yes, they seem to get more finicky in terms of which ones they will take power from.

Overall, and we accept that there are many reasons for deciding which aspects of the tech to leave in or leave out, it might be strategic to enable wireless charging to remain as a feature.

In other ways the phone performs very well, and, as it is of course born of google technology, if you like all the associated gizmos that being in the google ecosystem, then this is a good positive factor for going with this device. This section of the market is very competitive in terms of midrange priced phones that do quite a few things well. The camera is still pretty good, especially as, while not all of the tech in it is like for like with the 6 or 6 pro, it has been used in previous iterations of the Pixels. Which means it is proven technology and does the job well.

You might weigh up if this the right phone for you based on a wider range of considerations, and your own particular use cases, but if you are familiar with Pixels, then you will like it. Similarly, if you want a phone that packs a bit more power and better photography chops than you current or previous, lower price range phone, then you would be happy with this offering too. There is no headphone jack either, so that is something to keep in mind also, depending on how you plan to use your phone. In terms of the impressive voice to text option and other similar, google led options, these all perform well and are an attractive option to consider.

This is a good phone, and, if your own personal use-cases align with these factors mentioned above, then this could be a good purchase for you. Even if you have less need of those specific types of functionality, it is a good phone, and one that you won’t regret purchasing. The one caveat is how it will perform 18 months to 2 years down the line, and there you might feel that wireless charging would have been a useful element to have in the package.

More information about the phone

Pixel 6a is specifically designed for users seeking a high-quality smartphone without breaking the bank. Pixel 6a shares many core similarities with Pixel 6, including the Google Tensor chip and outstanding security with Titan M2. Pixel 6a also has all day battery life, an excellent dual rear camera system, a 60 Hz display refresh rate, and an under-display fingerprint sensor system.

Audio Stereo Speakers 2 microphones Battery & Charging Up to 72 hour battery with Extreme Battery Saver Adaptive & all day battery designed to last over 24 hours USB-C charging port Camera Dual Rear Camera Main: 12MP IMX363 DP + OIS UW: 12MP IMX386 Front Wide Angle Camera 8MP IMX355 84°FOV Fixed Focus Face Deblur Magic Eraser Real Tone Display SDC 6.1” gOLED FHD+ 20:9 Center HIAA 60 Hz Dimensions/Bezels 71.8 x 152 .16x 8.85 mm 1.08 mm camera bu...