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Jim Kokas, owner of the Opus One restaurant in downtown Detroit, is in the restaurant's kitchen. The 25-year-old fine-dining Opus One is closing on Saturday night and will reopen in November as Opus (Next), a more casual eatery, Kokas announced Monday. / 2007 photo by ROMAIN BLANQUART/Detroit Free Press
Opus to Go and Opus One Catering, at 565 Larned, will remain in place during the restaurant remodeling, Kokas said. / 2006 photo by HEATHER ROUSSEAU/Special to the Free
Opus One is closing on Saturday night and will reopen in November as Opus (Next), a more casual eatery, the owner of the Detroit restaurant announced Monday.
"When we chose to open, we felt the market was right for fine dining," owner Jim Kokas said. "Twenty-five years later I would say we made the right decision for that time. Today, the landscape has changed. We dine differently. Corporate spending on entertainment is nearly gone."
Opus to Go and Opus One Catering will remain in place during the restaurant remodeling, he added.
This is not the only fine-dining establishment to close in recent years. Wolfgang Puck Grille at the MGM Grand Detroit, for example, closed last month and nationally renowned Tribute in Farmington Hills, in late 2009.
"When the economy is bad, as it's been for a while, the consumer drops down a tier or two," said Howard Cannon, CEO of Birmingham, Ala.-based Restaurant Consultants of America. "The person who used to eat at a fine-dining establishment goes down a tier or two. A person who used to eat at casual dining, now goes to quick casual, because it's a little cheaper ... Top-tier restaurants take a beating."
Other eateries took the same approach as Opus One, reinventing themselves slightly down-market, like Milford's Five Lakes Grill, which closed in July 2009, and was resurrected as Cinco Lagos, and the revamped SaltWater, also at the MGM Grand Detroit.
And Kokas thinks the new Opus will flourish, too.
"Thank you for supporting us for the last 25 years. We look forward to our next 25 years with you," he said in an e-mail.
But not everyone is saying farewell to fine dining. Two classic Detroit eateries have reopened recently. The London Chop House, which closed in 1991, and Joe Muer Seafood, bringing back the name of the restaurant that closed in 1998, are catering to the upscale crowd.
Cannon said the industry will turn around -- even fine dining.
"If you look over (the) history of the restaurant industry, it always bounces back. It moves down the tiers and then back up," he said. "Detroit is a bit of an abnormality, because of how it took a hit, because of the auto industry. People still have to eat. ... In Detroit, where there's serious, serious economic decline, (it) will take longer than the rest of the country to bounce back, but they will bounce back. They always do."
Opus One will be shuttered at 11 p.m. Saturday.


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(Yicai Global) April 18 -- Tencent Holdings Ltd. [HKG:0700] has agreed to invest USD200 million in Zhuanzhuan, 58.Com Inc.'s [NYSE:WUBA] second-hand trading platform, 58.Com said today.
The Shenzhen- and Chaoyang-based companies will gradually open up their resources to each other to promote Zhuanzhuan's development. 58.Com will continue to hold a majority stake of Zhuanzhuan.
The second-hand market in China, where smartphones are popular, is in its early stages and has potential to grow as public acceptance improves, said Yao Jinbo, 58.Com's chief executive. "We also hope that with the support of Tencent, Zhuanzhuan can more quickly and effectively seize the opportunity to develop the market."
China's second-hand market development has just started, said Zhuanzhuan CEO Huang Wei. After Tencent's injection, Zhuanzhuan will continue to promote second-hand goods and energy flow to provide new value for users and the market, Huang said.
Zhuanzhuan was established in November 2015.

domain: news


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The Hospitality Association is criticising the Christchurch City Council over its mishandling of registrations for food outlets.
City by-laws stipulate that any businesses selling food must be registered, with the license expiring at the end of each financial year on 30 June.
On Monday, the council confirmed there have been delays in sending out invoices for registrations and some businesses are yet to receive them, meaning they are not licensed for preparing and selling food.
The Canterbury president of the New Zealand Hospitality Association, Peter Morrison, says this hasn't happened in his 30 years in the businesses and the council didn't even notify him of the issue.
Mr Morrison said it should have issued a press statement or put adverts in the local newspaper and on the radio.
Willows Cafe owner Grant Miller said he was inspected in March, so he can't understand why he couldn't have been registered months ago.
The owner of the Honeypot Cafe, Brendan Alcock, said it isn't a good look when customers come into his shop.
The council's inspections and enforcement manager says invoices for registrations were sent out on Sunday and once payment is received, food businesses will be re-registered.
Anne Columbus said the council would not follow up expired certificates until operators have had a fair opportunity to receive their invoice and pay the fee.


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A consumer has reported an allergic reaction to “apple” cookies sold in certain Southern Pacific Whole Foods Market stores. The chain has recalled the product in four states.
Whole Foods is recalling the frosted “Decorated
VICS Acquisition LLC of Harlingen, TX, Sunday recalled 100,000 pounds of frozen chicken products because of undeclared egg, a known allergen that must be declared on food labels, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
Linden, NJ-based Saker ShopRites Inc. is recalling 19,757 pounds of pork and chicken empanadas because of misbranding and an undeclared allergen, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).


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Coffee professionals who have spent time in the cupping room will know that this process is very much a communal experience. Cuppers would traditionally take turns using spoons to dip into shared cups of coffee, sipping the coffee off the spoon to taste and evaluate the beverage. Although it’s normal to rinse the spoons in water in between tasting, there is definitely quite a lot of room for improvement in the traditional coffee cupping practice when it comes to a sanitary perspective.
From 2020, we’ve started to view more and more things through the lens of the COVID19 pandemic, and people are taking more time than ever before to think about sanitary practices and where improvements can be made. So, it might not be surprising that more and more coffee professionals are making the necessary changes to their cupping protocols. The need for coffee businesses to respond to COVID19 by changing the way that they taste and evaluate coffee is just one way of many that our lives have been altered by the crisis in a very short space of time, with continuous updates to these changes as we get more information.
The Modified SCA Cupping Protocol
Throughout the COVID19 pandemic, there was still a huge demand for coffee, so it wasn’t possible to quit cupping altogether. As a result of the need to change things to be more sanitary, the Specialty Coffee Association released the Modified SCA Cupping Protocol, which involved providing cuppers with individual shot glasses to taste their samples from rather than dipping their used SCA cupping spoon back into the same cup. Along with this, professionals say that batch brewing has also risen in popularity as a coffee evaluation tool as a result of the pandemic since it is a viable substitute to cupping in a group setting. Along with this, coffee evaluators realized that batch brewing actually has some advantages, including providing an experience that more closely resembles that of the consumer when drinking the coffee.
Fewer Group Settings
Other coffee professionals say that as a result of the COVID19 pandemic, fewer people are cupping in groups and others are cupping alone, using the modified protocol in order to get used to it since they expect cupping to remain different over time as coffee professionals begin to adjust to the new practices in place as they return from the pandemic. Throughout the industry, more people are now aware of the risk of disease transmission and because of this, most are beginning to embrace the new protocol for cupping as a best practice.
Different coffee evaluators have begun to use a range of different approaches in response to the COVID19 pandemic, many of which are still evolving. Some coffee businesses, such as Noble Coyote Coffee Roasters in Dallas, have found that the easiest and safest method for cupping is to have team members cup individually using their own set of spoons and bowls, rather than sharing. Many coffee businesses, including Stumptown Coffee Roasters in Portland, say that the unusual situation due to COVID19 has helped their team get a better sense of how calibrated they are, and that close communication about the coffee has been absolutely necessary to being successful throughout the process of cupping separately.
Taking New Methods Further
On the importing side of things, many businesses found that adapting to cupping remotely was not as difficult as you may first expect, with companies like Sustainable Harvest in Portland cupping remotely since March 2020. They work with coffee evaluators around the world who are able to stay connected to one another using digital tools and an in-house app. This company is one that had been building digital tools to make it easier for cuppers to connect and communicate since before the pandemic, so found the transition easier than others, and were able to quickly pivot to protect their employees through 100% remote working.
In Minneapolis, another importing company, Café Imports, was already considering a more isolated approach to the cupping process before the pandemic hit, in order to maintain more consistency in the evaluation of coffee. Since COVID19, they have furthered this approach and added more to it such as social distancing, mask wearing, and more disinfecting. While their scoring standards, evaluation form, and other presentation protocols have not been changed as a result of the pandemic, they have had to adapt to new evaluation standards such as providing each coffee cupper with their own individual table and presenting each sample with one cup rather than sharing. While making it safer for the individuals, this has also allowed professionals to work independently with as little distraction as possible, leading to better results.
How the Coffee Industry Survived the Pandemic
Along with changes to the cupping process, various other aspects of the coffee industry as a whole have had to make some serious changes to how they do things in order to ensure that they can remain in business throughout the COVID19 pandemic. The past almost two years have been strange for many people with lots of individuals thrust into working from home, where small daily habits such as drinking a cup of coffee in the morning have helped to keep people feeling a sense of normalcy. Along with this, the COVID19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns left many people in a position where they wanted to get more serious about making their own coffee shop-quality coffees at home, which increased demand on the coffee industry.
The pandemic has not been an easy road for lots of people working within the coffee farming industry, including the twenty-five million smallholder farmers who are responsible for growing a massive eighty percent of coffee around the world. Across the globe, 125 million people get their livelihood from coffee, including people who work in picking and processing the beans, transportation, roasting, cupping, and selling the final product. When lockdowns began in response to the pandemic, coffee shop owners were some of the first to close, and some have never been able to reopen.
However, despite the seriously challenging work environments that have been caused by the pandemic, consumers around the world have still been able to get coffee throughout, which is mostly down to just how resilient and adaptable coffee producers and coffee businesses have had to be.
Selling Coffee Online
Coffee was already the number one e-commerce grocery product before the COVID19 pandemic, and by the time the COVID19 pandemic hit, there were strong partnerships already in place with high street chains, delivery services, and subscription services, which allowed businesses to ensure that customers were not going without their coffee throughout the crisis. During lockdowns, with people continuing to work from home and having limited options for leaving the home, making and enjoying a cup of coffee quickly became one of the top ways to take a break from work, as was apparent during the time in Italy, where coffee grocery sales increased by more than 20% during the first week of lockdown compared to equivalent sales in 2019.
How Coffee Shops and Chains Have Adapted
Coffee shops and coffee chains were some of the first to be hit by the COVID19 pandemic, with many forced to close their doors to business very early on in the crisis. Starbucks, for example, which is one of the most well-known coffee chain brands around the world, had to close many of its stores in China, then the US, and then in other countries and markets as the virus began to spread around the world. Starbucks is also a company that has been directly threatened by the new trend of working from home that has been brought about by the pandemic, as a company that mainly markets to office workers and other employees who go there for a cup of coffee on their way to work or during a break.
One of the main ways that Starbucks has adapted to the pandemic, with many other coffee shops and chains following suit, was to roll out more options for delivery and pickup. The first Pickup store from Starbucks was actually a concept that was conceived over two years ago, but before the pandemic, the plan was to gradually roll these new stores out. However, COVID19 changed all that, with Starbucks forced to repurpose current stores as Pickup locations that are intended to be used in urban, dense locations where it would not be feasible to use a drive-thru model. These stores use Starbucks’ Mobile Order and Pay programs to ensure that customers are able to pick up their coffee in a fast, convenient, and safe way through a walk-up window or curbside pickup, limiting contact with others.
Around the world, professionals in a wide range of industries have been forced to adapt and change their practices to make safety a top priority, and the coffee industry is no different. While it still remains to be seen how coffee cupping and other coffee industry processes are going to look after the pandemic is over, the changes have already brought about some positives for the industry as a whole.


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Last Thursday Google TV was announced. I’d hoped for something good. The intersection of TV and the internet could create a fantastic viewer experience.
Sadly, the combined power of Google, Sony, and Intel (with bit parts for Logitech and Dish Network) will apparently deliver not much more than a better program guide.
That’s right. Google’s release material put quite an emphasis behind the idea that today’s TV program listings are too complicated. Then they promise Google TV will fix this tiny problem by creating a much bigger one: finding programs by searching the internet.
(I’m a better than average Internet searcher. But online search usually means wading through meaningless interfering hoo-hah to find what I really want. It’s hard to be excited about finding TV programs this way.)
YOUTUBE ON YOUR TV
Google does suggest some decent value in big screen access to YouTube, Hulu and other online video sources. This is an area of good interest. At the same time, my instincts are uneasy. Will consumers find it worth dropping $1000+ in equipment just for this? I just don’t know.
Apple might know this from their TV efforts. It is possible that real life usage of online video on a TV is insignificant. After all, the best programming is still on traditional TV where it is likely to remain for a very long time.
And that makes it concerning that there weren’t any network execs present – not even the barest rumor of network involvement. Traditional television is still the best, and perhaps the only, way to move the masses.
A DESPERATE SEARCH FOR AD REVENUE
The way I make sense of this announcement is to remember that Google desperately needs ad revenue growth. They own YouTube which is still searching for economic viability so perhaps they hope to take that from existing TV spending. And, they’ve been trying for several years to tap TVs dollars with an AdWords like scheme to sell TV. (It hasn’t worked.)
In truth, there’s a tremendous pitch to advertisers about the opportunity to deliver targeted TV ads on Google TV. But Google didn’t make that pitch last week. Probably because it will only become meaningful if consumers buy these TV’s.
For now, I see an attempt to use square technology to tap into a round ad revenue opportunity. But that’s just this announcement. Maybe Google has a deeper vision we don’t yet understand. Maybe the underlying Android system will let others do what Google didn’t. For Googles sake let’s hope so. Stay tuned…
Copyright 2010 – Doug Garnett


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Beijing, China, 9 Jan – Trade between China and African countries will increase in value to US$ 37 billion in 2005, an annual increase of some 40 percent, the Xinhua news agency has reported.
Two-way exchanges in the first 10 months of last year between Africa and China year were worth US$ 32 billion, a year-on-year increase of 39 percent.
China’s sales to Africa were valued at US$ 15 billion during the period in question, while African exports to China were worth US$ 17 billion.
China’s trade minister said last week that Beijing aims to boost its commerce with Africa and maintain its policy of customs tariff exemption for imports from less developed states in the continent.
The Beijing minister added that China will fulfill its pledge to give professional training to about 100,000 Africans from 2004 to 2006.
Official figures show that Chinese companies invested some US$ 175 million in various African countries during the first 10 months of 2005. (macauhub)


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just the Round-Up - The week in drinks
The week in drinks
The top ten stories published on just-drinks last week:
Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) has said it will not to exercise its right to buy any of Foster's Group's Australian spirits operations.
Carlsberg has moved to correct claims that it has classified brewing as an “essential service” in Lithuania, to avoid industrial action at its facilities in the country.
Diageo's Bushmills Irish Honey
Consumers in the UK are ditching Champagne for lower-priced sparkling wine amid tough economic times, new figures suggest.
Sanford Bernstein analysts see the newly-launched Bud Light Platinum helping Anheuser-Busch InBev to stem a fall in beer sales in its key US market.
Brown-Forman has seen the "expected downward rebalancing of distributor inventories" in the US slow its fiscal-year performance in the third quarter.
Molson Coors is launching Coors Light with iced tea as part of its plan to broaden beer's appeal in mature markets.
Stifel Nicolaus analysts expect Coca-Cola Enterprises to leave it late before deciding whether to exercise its right to acquire The Coca-Cola Co's bottling operations in Germany.
Anheuser-Busch InBev has reported a solid rise in sales and a jump in net profits for its fiscal year, despite selling the same amount of beer as the year before.
A former executive at Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) has been charged with insider trading in the US.
- just The Preview - Diageo's FY preliminaries
- Analysis - SABMiller's Australian issues continue
- Comment - Beer - What’s in a (Brand) Name?
- Molson Coors CEO exit - Mega-Merger on hold?
- just The Preview - Anheuser-Busch InBev's H1 & Q2
- ASA bans Jägermeister TV ad
- Diageo silent over Shuijingfang writedown report
- Diageo boosts exec committee
- Belvédère chairman to step down
- Diageo bags Facebook unit boss as director


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Disney’s California Adventure is bringing back a very popular event after a six year absence, The Food and Wine Festival! The festival will return for a limited run in April, and will bring several new tastes to the park. Details are scarce, but the festival is bringing back new experiences and new tastes.
Every weekend in April, Disney’s California Adventure is playing host to the Food & Wine Festival. The festival will bring in delicious flavors from throughout the state of California, culinary demonstrations, informative seminars and celebrity chefs. There will also be some huge new ways to get the most flavor from the event, with premium packages.
The event had it’s last run in 2010, and was ended due to the billion dollar refurbishment of California Adventure. After that, it seemingly had no interest in bringing back the event, until now. The park is facing stiff competition from the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood, and a huge refurbishment at Knott’s Berry Farm. Universal will have their grand opening of Harry Potter in the first week of April, which could be the reason that Disney is suddenly bringing back the Food & Wine Festival. It’s unlikely that it will be enough to keep fans away from the Boy Wizard, so we expect to see more come from this event as it gets closer.
Disney will continue the 60th Anniversary Celebration, as well as the Star Wars based Season of the Force, and is also rumored to bring back Frozen for the Summer.


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AUGUSTA, MO (KTVI)– In parts of the county, the extreme winter weather is already wiping out this spring’s wine grape crop.
In Missouri wine country, they are praying a little harder because if the polar vortex becomes a little more polar or keeps coming back a little longer, some grape vines could be lost forever.
It hasn’t happened yet, but in places like northern Ohio, subzero temperatures are destroying grape vines past the point of no return.
So far, grape growers in Augusta have seendamage only to the tips of their vines, ruling out a bumper crop, but not doing any permanent damage.
For Missouri wineries, the biggest effect of the cold is not in the vineyard, it’s in the courtyard.
Winter tourism at Mt. Pleasant is down by more than half.
And as it turns out, Missouri wineries could actually benefit from the cold.
The smaller the supply, the higher the profit. So they’ll drink to that.


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Flipkart Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Binny Bansal resigned on Tuesday over an alleged ‘serious personal misconduct’, the company said.
“Bansal’s decision to quit came after an independent investigation done on behalf of Flipkart and Walmart into an allegation of serious personal misconduct,” the city-based e-commerce and its parent American retail giant Walmart said in a joint statement here.
Bansal, however, denied the allegation, the statement said.
“He (Bansal) denies the allegation. Nevertheless, we (Flipkart and Walmart) had a responsibility to ensure the investigation was deliberate and thorough,” the companies said.
The investigation also revealed lapses in Bansal’s judgement, the statement added.
“While the investigation did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant’s assertions against Binny, it did reveal other lapses in the judgement, particularly lack of transparency related to how Binny responded to the situation. Because of this, we have accepted his decision to resign,” the statement said.
“Binny has been an important part of Flipkart since co-founding the company, but recent events risked becoming a distraction and Binny has made a decision to step down,” said the statement.
With Bansal quitting, the group said it had accelerated the succession plan.
Going forward, Kalyan Krishnamurthy will continue to be the CEO of e-tailer Flipkart, which will include online fashion portals Myntra and Jabong, though they would operate separately.
As the country’s largest e-commerce player, the 11-year-old Flipkart Group includes e-tail sites Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong and digital payment platform PhonePe.
Though Binny and Sachin Bansal co-founded Flipkart in 2007, the latter left the company in May when Walmart bought a 77 percent equity stake in the company for a whopping US$ 16 billion (Rs 1,16,256 crore).


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LinkedIn has joined the likes of Facebook and Instagram in the live streaming trend, launching its own platform, “LinkedIn Live”.
The new live video tool was created with the aim of having more video content on the site. As users will now have the opportunity to directly converse with those individuals that they follow on the platform. Businesses will now be able to share live content from events and panels. The platform could also be used to introduce followers to new products. As well as allowing companies to interact with followers’ comments live on the stream.
This updated live streaming platform doesn’t come as a surprise. A recent study found that users are x20 more likely to share video on LinkedIn than any other type of post.
LinkedIn Live Engagement
The addition of LinkedIn Live will allow the company to build on its new record levels of engagement. Thus, propelling the company into the future of video. The new platform will be similar to video streaming features such as Facebook live streaming, Instagram stories and IGTV.
The update is currently only available in the US to invite-only business pages. However, if this works well we soon could be seeing more types of live content from businesses in the UK. LinkedIn is also working with providers such as Wirecast, Switcher Studios and Socialive, in order to help users create more polished videos on the site.
LinkedIn may be one of the last sites to join the live streaming trend. However, the update is still an important step forward for the site. The opportunity for businesses to talk directly to their audience, interacting with them in a real-time scenario, will see more and more users joining the site.


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Audi announced it plans to become the no.
1 luxury vehicle automaker in the US, even if this means doubling its sales and surpassing BMW and Mercedes.
Audi made this announcement on Monday, January 14th, at the North American International Auto Show, where it unveiled the RS7 Sportback and the SQ5 convertible. In 2012 Audi’s sales increased 18.5% to 139,310 vehicles, an all-time record, compared with Mercedes which sold 295,013 vehicles, up 12.7% and BMW which sold 281,460 vehicles, up 13.5%.
AutoSpies.com is the number one site in the world for Auto Show photos.
With other sites you're a spectator but with Auto Spies is like you're THERE!
Official Detroit Auto Show photo gallery
**The 2013 Detroit Auto Show Gallery and coverage is sponsored by Lexus


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Detectives with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office released surveillance video images today of a suspect possibly involved in a series of larcenies targeting cell phone stores in the Northern Virginia region.
Two recent cases in Loudoun County saw a suspect enter a Verizon store in Ashburn and a second store in Sterling and steal iPhones and smart watches. The latest incident was reported on Jan. 19, when the suspect entered the store in the Ashburn Shopping Plaza around 7:30 p.m. and fled the store with several items. The previous day, a suspect with a similar description entered the Verizon store in Town Center Plaza in Sterling around 7:15 p.m. and stole two iPhones from the display case.
The suspect is possibly connected to similar cases in Fairfax County and a theft at a Verizon store in the Town of Leesburg on January 19.
The suspect, who can be seen in video surveillance at http://sheriff.loudoun.gov/GL1192 is described as a black male in his late teens to early twenties, 5’7” tall and wearing a baseball hat, a red/orange hooded winter coat and jeans.
Anyone with any information regarding this case is asked to contact Detective N. Campbell of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office at 703-737-8707 or Detective K. Mitchell 571-258-3138. You may also submit a tip through the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office app. The Loudoun Sheriff app is available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play.


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New Delhi: Delhi HC stays request limiting Future Retail, The Delhi High Court on Monday remained a solitary appointed authority’s structure limiting Future Retail Ltd from proceeding with its Rs 24,713 crore manage Reliance Retail to sell its business, which was protested by US-based online business goliath Amazon. A division seat of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh additionally gave notice to Amazon on Future Group’s allure testing the single adjudicator’s March 18 judgment on the arrangement.
The seat recorded the matter for additional consultation on April 30.
It additionally remained the single appointed authority request requesting connection of resources of Future Group’s Kishore Biyani and others and guiding them to show up in the court on April 28.
The single adjudicator’s structure had gone ahead with Amazon’s request looking forbearing to arrange authorization of the honour by Singapore’s Emergency Arbitrator’s on October 25, 2020, controlling Future Retail from proceeding with its Rs 24,713 crore manage Reliance Retail.


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CHESHIRE — After losing her job in the medical field last year, Carol DiCarlo found herself reinventing her life and falling into a passion she’s had since her 20s.
DiCarlo’s new store, the Cheshire Equestrian Center, at 116 S. Main St., will offer clothing and riding equipment tailored largely to dressage riders.
“Clothing, equipment, (and) I’m also going to carry consignment saddles and other riding apparel for children and adults,” DiCarlo said.
DiCarlo, 59, will open the store’s doors Sept. 20 at 10 a.m. with a ribbon cutting and grand opening.
As a more than 30-year dressage rider herself, DiCarlo says there’s a lack of resources in the central Connecticut area.
“I have to drive like 45 minutes if I wanted to get any supplies or equipment,” she said. DiCarlo keeps horses in Middletown and Southbury.
DiCarlo plans to use her knowledge of horse riding to help stock the store and assist riders in getting the quality equipment they need.
“I understand what they’re doing and what they need,” DiCarlo said. She said the store will be focused on more English than Western riding.
DiCarlo said she was motivated to open the store because she understands there’s a need in light of so many barns and stables in the area.
“There isn’t anyone that does that close to this area,” Chamber of Commerce President Yetta Augur said, referring to the store’s services. “So we’re very happy to have her here.”
Augur said the chamber is “very excited” to have Cheshire Equestrian Center as a member and plans to help DiCarlo succeed.


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Two Long Beach men plead guilty in federal court to altering odometers at a Gulfport-based car dealership. Oscar Baine and Jeffrey Savarese came forward after pleading on these crimes.
Baine owned Oscar’s Used Cars on East Pass Road in Gulfport while confessing that he bought automobiles with a lot of mileage but had these odometers changed for lower readings. The car lot owner admitted to providing Savarese and other workers money in his business to change these odometers and selling these rolled back vehicles for higher prices.
Savarese expressed that he altered up to 200 vehicles at Baine’s car lot.
Baine pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to change odometers and one count of odometer tampering. Savarese pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to alter odometers. Both will be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. on Oct. 17, 2019.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation, assisted by the State of Mississippi Office of the Attorney General, investigated the case. The NHTSA estimates that odometer fraud in the U.S. results in consumer losses of more than $1 billion annually.
Individuals with information relating to odometer tampering should call NHTSA’s odometer fraud hotline at (800) 424-9393 or (202) 366-4761.


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Rochester Hills-based Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (Nasdaq: ENER) has reported a slump in revenue and net income for the third quarter of its fiscal year that ended March 31, as the economic recession has resulted in a decrease in orders for its roofing materials that convert sunlight to electricity. The company reported net income of $1.3 million or 3 cents a share on revenue of $66 million, compared to income of $7 million or 17 cents on revenue of $70 million for the same quarter last year. For the first nine months, the company reported net income of $28.2 million or 67 cents on revenue of $264.9 million, compared to a net loss of $6 million or 15 cents on revenue of $173.5 million for the same period last year. Quarter over quarter, interest expense climbed from $66,000 to $2.3 million and product development and research went from $1.9 million to $2.5 million. The global market continues to be difficult, with the biggest challenge being the sufficiency of project financing and our customers continued access to capital, said President and CEO Mark Morelli in a press release, referring to the large construction projects his company typically supplies. We are actively managing our business through this uncertain period by focusing on demand creation, preservation of capital and reduction of costs, he said.
Energy Conversion Devices reports 3Q revenue decline


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Sahara Computers and Electronics Limited unveils investment plans
Sahara Computers and Electronics Limited have revealed its investment and growth plans for the near future. The tech company plans to invest around Rs 400 crores over the next two years to extend its reach in the Indian market. India is a growing IT market and the demand for computing and electronics products is increasing at an impressive rates.
With this massive investment Sahara Computers and Electronics Limited is eyeing a top position among the computer vendors in India by 2007. The company is a joint collaboration between the South African IT major, Sahara Computers (Pty) Ltd, and Sahara India Pariwar. SCEL chief operating officer George Van Der Merwe said in a statement about their plans: “The challenge that we take on is not only to compete within the existing space but to bring innovative products at aggressive pricing and combine this with unique marketing initiatives that will in totality lead to greater penetration of the product in yet untapped markets.â€
he added: “Given the advantage of local manufacturing coupled with the strength of our expertise in research and development function, we are aiming for market leadership in the PC segment by the year 2007 and expect to grow the PC market in India.â€ the company is taking an unconventional route for extending their network in the Indian market. This includes creation of various retail experience zone stores for which the company will be investing over Rs 100 crores.


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Located just an hour west of Huntsville Alabama and two hours from both Birmingham and Nashville, TN., this year in Rogersville com enjoy -
Christmas will be a festive season that will begin during the last part of November and run thru most of December with: a Christmas Parade, the Lighting of the Town, a Christmas Open House, the Parade of Lights, a unique Yule Log Ceremony, a Historic Candlelight Tour of our Downtown.
With "Twelve Days of Christmas" a the theme,
First is our yearly Christmas Open House that will be the town’s 1st Saturday event on November 3. Christmas Open House offers shoppers an opportunity to find beautiful new Christmas decorations and items for display. Shoppers will also find new merchandise in stores for the winter and Christmas season. Although the town loves to celebrate and decorate for Autumn and Thanksgiving, participating merchants will have their Christmas lights in their shops and will turn them on outside for this year's Christmas open House.
Second, the Town will officially light up the town's streets, parks and Christmas trees on the yearly Lighting of the Town event, the day following Thanksgiving. This year it falls on November 23.
Third, on November 10 we are launching a toy drive thru Toys for Tots, which is a program sponsored by the US Marines. We will be placing boxes around town for any donation of packaged, un-used toys. All the donations that are made here in Lauderdale County will be used for families in North Alabama, especially our area. So your contribution will help neighbors have a better Christmas. Drop-off locations will be posted at a later date.
Fourth, on December 1, there will be special festive events taking place in town. There will be a Historic Candlelight Walking Tour of downtown Rogersville led by Dr. Bill Maloney. There will also be hot cider & s’mores provided that evening. The Toys for Tots toy drive will conclude and the toys will be picked up by two uniformed marines that will visit the shops and be on hand for several hours thru out the day. Their schedule will be added later.
Fifth, on December 7, the Chamber Christmas Breakfast meeting will be held at 7:30 am at Joe Wheeler Lodge. This is our annual meeting with new officers and board being instated, awards given and general merrymaking.
Sixth, on December 8, Joe Wheeler holds their annual Parade of Lights on Lake Wheeler. To enter your boat or get additional details, contact Joe Wheeler @ 256-247-5461.
Seventh, on December 15 at 5 pm the Rogersville Christmas Parade will take place thru downtown. It will be followed by the Yule Log Ceremony at the Historic Presbyterian Church.
To participate in the parade or for questions on any of the planned events, please call the chamber office at 256-247-9449.
Have a blessed Day. Betty Maloney
Longing For Home Bed and Breakfast
"A State of Mind, A Place of Grace, A Way of Life*"
* Taken from the book, How to be a Better Southerner by Carolyn Kent.


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Ahead of release on September 20 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Destiny: Rise of Iron received its launch trailer today, giving you a look at some of the content in the expansion: a new cinematic story campaign, a new location called The Plaguelands, the new Felwinter Peak social space, a new six-player Raid, remastered three-player co-op Strikes, and new weapons and gear.
The trailer also mentions Private Matches, which are now live in Destiny on PS4 and Xbox One and don’t require Rise of Iron.
Recently, IGN sat down with Game Director Christopher Barrett, who revealed that Bungie never wants Destiny to become pay to win:
We certainly have a goal of never being pay to win. That’s part of the goal of Destiny. We’ve set that bar for ourselves. It’s really just a lot of feedback from internally at Bungie, and we’re always thinking, ‘Hey, is that going too far into that territory?’ Generally, we all go back to not even getting close.
To see more Rise of Iron gameplay, head over to our hub.


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Fuel consumers will from Friday December 1, 2017 be insulated from paying high cost of the commodity at the pump.
This is because government has decided to stabilize prices of petroleum products under its price stabilization mechanism captured in the Energy Sector Levies Act 2015.
As a result, all OMCs and LPGMCs have been notified by the Petroleum Regulators, NPA, to review the prices of the products in line with the revised Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy (PSRL).
A November 30 letter written by the NPA to all OMCs, a copy of which has been intercepted by Myjoyonline.com said: “All OMCs/LPGMCs are to note the above review of the PSRL and apply it in their price build up effective 1st December 2017.”
Per that revision, diesel with a PSRL of 10 GHp/Lt will now be selling at 3 GHp/lt. The price of LPG will also be revised by that same margin. Petrol which is selling at a PSRL of 12 GHp/Lt will remain unchanged.
One of the main determinants of fuel prices on the international market is the crude oil price on the international market.
Due to the fluctuation in prices of the commodity on the international market, consumers in Ghana suffer many price hikes even when the local currency is relatively stable.
Consumers in Ghana have recently been enduring price hikes in petroleum products on account of increases in crude oil prices on the international market.
In an attempt to stabilize the prices, the Energy Ministry directed the NPA to activate the Price Stability and Recovery Levy (PSRL) under the Energy Sector Levies Act 899 which is to provide stability for consumers at the pump in times of rising prices of petroleum products on the international market.
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Apple on Thursday announced their new Research App is now avaliable for download. The Apple Research App offers three different studies users can sign up for: Hearing, Heart Health, and Women’s Health studies. Here’s everything you need to know.
During Apple’s September iPhone event, the company previewed a brand-new Health Study app called “Apple Research App” that’ll allow users to contribute to groundbreaking research studies by simply using their iPhone and Apple Watch.
After the preview concluded, Apple said the app would be available “later this fall.” On Thursday, Apple announced that customers residing in the United States will be able to download the app to their devices starting today.
Users can enroll themselves in any of the three multi-year studies currently available: Apple Heart and Movement Study, Apple Hearing Study, and Apple Women’s Health Study. Apple makes it clear that users can decide what is shared with Apple and research partners, and you can opt-out at any time.
“Nothing is more personal than your health information. Helping you keep it confidential and secure is as important to us as it is to you. What you choose to share for research, and with which study, is controlled entirely by you. Any data collected through the Research app will be encrypted if you have a passcode set on your device. Once shared, it is stored securely in a system within Apple that is designed to meet the technical safeguard requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Apple will not have access to any contact information or other identifying data that you provide through the Research app. And you can withdraw from any study at any time, ending any future data collection,” says Apple.
“Today marks an important moment as we embark on research initiatives that may offer incredible learnings in areas long sought after by the medical community. Participants on the Research app have the opportunity to make a tremendous impact that could lead to new discoveries and help millions lead healthier lives,” said Apple COO Jeff Williams.
Apple makes it clear that your data will never be sold to third-party companies. Only you decide what is shared with study partners like Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the University of Michigan.


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(Updated with additional company information, beginning in the 11th paragraph.)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks rebounded Wednesday as Congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sent financial stocks soaring, including Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase, while Toyota rose after its head faced his own Washington grilling.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 91.75, or 0.89%, to 10374.16.
The Standard & Poor's 500-share index climbed 10.64, or 0.97%, to 1105.24. The Nasdaq Composite gained 22.46, or 1.01%, to 2235.90.
Financial stocks began to climb shortly after Bernanke wrapped up his opening remarks, in which he said the central bank intended to leave interest rates near zero for several months at least. Answering questions, Bernanke also cautioned that any bank tax should be carefully designed with the markets in mind.
Topping the Dow for the remainder of the session, Bank of America climbed 39 cents, or 2.5%, to 16.33. J.P. Morgan Chase gained 97 cents, or 2.4%, to 40.85. The banking giants also benefited from reports that key senators plan to oppose the "Volcker rule," which would prohibit commercial banks from making certain risky trades with their own capital.
Investors said Bernanke's acknowledgement of hurdles to economic growth, including high unemployment, assuaged concerns that a rate increase could be imminent.
"They need to see some of the slack in the economy being absorbed and we're far from it," said Channing Smith, co-portfolio manager of Capital Advisors in Tulsa, Okla. "Bernanke's message today was to convey to the financial markets that the Federal Reserve has a very well-planned exit strategy that will be orderly."
American depository shares of Toyota Motor closed up 2.78, or 3.9%, at 74.33, as its head Akio Toyoda apologized in front of a Congressional panel for the Japanese auto maker's recent recalls and said he was confident there were no problems with the design of the company's electronic throttle systems.
Walt Disney also gained, rising 47 cents, or 1.5%, to 31.39, after announcing a deep restructuring at Disney unit ABC News, including plans to reduce its work force by 300 to 400 positions by the end of the year.
Home builder companies were left out of Wednesday's rally, after January U.S. new-home sales unexpectedly skidded 11.2% from the previous month, erasing all gains made in the housing market during the past year. Luxury home builder Toll Brothers fell 12 cents, or 0.6%, at 18.78, while D.R. Horton slid 23 cents, or 1.8% at 12.34.
Among stocks in focus, Carnival's namesake brand said it will hike summer-cruise prices by as much as 5% next month after seeing bookings "at unprecedented levels" so far this year. The cruise-ship operator said the booking levels have been helped by strong travel-agent support, marketing initiatives and itinerary enhancements. Carnival rose 2.13, or 6.3%, to 35.80, while rival Royal Caribbean Cruises gained 1.93, or 7.5%, to 27.71.
Tax preparation company H&R Block slid 2.41, or 12%, to 17.32, after predicting it won't meet its fiscal-year guidance because tax-return preparation so far this season is short of where it was a year ago.
Printing services company R.R. Donnelley & Sons gained 27 cents, or 1.3%, to 20.78, on the Nasdaq, after announcing a deal to buy small-cap New York printer Bowne for $481 million, or $11.50 a share, a 65% premium to Bowne's Tuesday closing price. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2010. Donnelley also said its fourth-quarter loss narrowed on much smaller write-downs from a year earlier, while core earnings declined, though by less than analysts anticipated. Shares of Bowne soared 4.18, or 60%, to 11.15.
Laboratory supply maker Millipore rose 4.97, or 5.6%, to 93.84, after the company said late Tuesday night it is evaluating strategic options that include a bidding process for a potential merger or sale.
Packaging company Pactiv added 10 million shares to its share-buyback effort and announced the planned $200 million purchase of PWP Industries, whose products include containers, trays and bottles. The purchase, set to close this quarter, is expected to "modestly" add to Pactiv's 2010 earnings. Shares of Pactiv climbed 1.25, or 5.5%, to 23.99.
Ocean-drilling services company Transocean fell 4.66, or 5.5%, to 79.85, after its fourth-quarter earnings declined 4%, falling short of analysts' estimates, amid more than $300 million in year-earlier write-downs. Revenue fell as rig-utilization rates slumped.
Discount retailer Dollar Tree jumped 6.09, or 12%, to 55.78, after its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose 28% on better gross margins. Continuing to fare well during the downturn, the retailer forecast first-quarter earnings above expectations and revenue in line.
Car-rental company Hertz Global Holdings dropped 83 cents, or 7.9%, to 9.69, after the company projected weak full-year adjusted earnings.


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Nowadays the call to be more environment-friendly is at a high. Consumers are calling for products and services that are less harmful and damaging to the environment and, thankfully, many manufacturers are answering. This has given rise to a number of devices going electric and, in turn, more battery dependent. A clear example of this is the current rise of electric vehicles, such as cars and trucks, to replace the non-eco friendly, fuel-guzzling vehicles currently available today. And while this does help tackle the problem of fuel consumption, it creates another with the use if the not-so-eco-friendly lithium-ion batteries.
Recently, IBM Research scientists have been studying how to create a new battery that will not require the heavy metals present in producing lithium-ion batteries and will instead use materials that can be extracted from seawater.
Traditional lithium-ion batteries need heavy metals such as cobalt, manganese, and nickel to be produced. These materials pose a sizeable risk to the environment as they need to be mined. Not only is the sourcing of these materials a danger to the environment, but they also pose risk to the workers mining them. Heavy metals such as these are also limited and with the rise of battery-powered devices, it may be soon that these materials eventually run out.
It was due to all of these circumstances that IBM Research scientists looked for other alternatives to Lithium-ion batteries. They were soon able to create a battery that runs on three new completely different materials that can be extracted from seawater. As such, sourcing of these materials are less invasive and pose a much smaller risk to the destruction of the environment.
This new battery uses a “cobalt and nickel-free cathode material, as well as a safe liquid electrolyte with a high flash point”. The combination of these two materials was found to reduce the battery’s flammability which is a present issue for lithium-ion batteries. It was also found to charge much faster than regular lithium-ion batteries with the ability to charge up to 80% in a mere 5 minutes. These two new benefits from IBM’s batteries could prove to be very significant in the creation of low cost, fast-charging, less flammable batteries for electric vehicles.
Adding to the list of benefits from these new batteries is their high power density, high energy density, and their excellent energy efficiency. Their power density exceeds 10,000 W/L and their energy density at 800Wh/L, significantly outperforming lithium-ion batteries. Additionally, the new batteries also have the capability to be designed for a longer life cycle which could vastly benefit devices and infrastructures in need of a longer life cycle.
While not yet publicly available, IBM Research, Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America, top electrolyte supplier, Central Glass, and battery manufacturer, Sidus have teamed up to further the development of these new batteries.


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Banks, Fintechs and businesses everywhere can make bigger, better, bolder leaps with Currencycloud, a Visa solution.
Currencycloud gives businesses the capability to move money across borders, and transact globally in multiple currencies, fast. Experts at what they do, their technology makes it easy for clients to embrace digital wallets, and to embed finance into the core of their business - no matter what industry they're in.
Since 2012, Currencycloud has processed more than $200bn to over 180 countries, working with banks, financial institutions and Fintechs around the world, including Starling Bank, Revolut and Lunar. Based in London with offices in New York, Amsterdam, Cardiff, and Singapore, Currencycloud works with partners including Integrated Finance, GPS and Mambu to deliver simple, clear cross-border infrastructure solutions for clients. They are regulated in the UK, Canada, US, the EU and Australia, and were acquired by Visa in December 2021.
SINGAPORE - Media OutReach Newswire - 6 March 2024 - Currencycloud, a Visa solution and the experts in simplifying business in a multi-currency world, has obtained an In-Principle Approval (IPA) for a Major Payment Institution (MPI) licence holder from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The licence will allow Currencycloud to provide a full suite of intra-regional and international services to Singapore businesses.
Currencycloud now offers customers based in Asia Pacific the ability to collect, convert, hold, send, and spend multiple currencies simultaneously across 180 countries and territories. With the Singapore MPI licence, if granted, Currencycloud will gain additional capabilities for a broader suite of services to process intra-Asia and east to west payments more quickly, efficiently, and seamlessly.
For businesses in Singapore, customers can make conversions and payouts in their respective time zones and local currencies. By tapping into its global and local networks and multi-currency account infrastructure, Currencycloud can help enterprises launch new financial services quickly, while supporting banks with speedier go-to-market service innovations.
The granting of the IPA of the Singapore MPI licence comes after Currencycloud was awarded an Australia Financial Services Licence that allows the provision of services for the Australian market.
Rohit Narang, Managing Director of APAC, Currencycloud said, "The IPA for a Major Payment Institution Licence is testament to the strength of the Currencycloud brand. Having the licence would allow us to integrate with the robust financial network in Singapore and collaborate with valuable industry players. The payments opportunity in Asia-Pacific is significant, and Singapore's excellent infrastructure, world-class regulatory system, and strategic geographical location serve as an ideal base for accelerating future payments innovation across the region."
Zvi Appel, Co-founder of OPAL, a Currencycloud client in Singapore, explained that Currencycloud is a valuable partner for its business: "They provided us with the ease of use, speed and transparency demanded by our customers today. With new services to be offered, Currencycloud can help us stay competitive while we grow our lines of business within the region and beyond."
Currencycloud expects to successively roll out its new services in the coming months, to complement its suite of offerings aimed at cutting friction in traditional cross-border money movement.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.


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Volkswagen has partially revealed the all-new 7th-generation Polo GTI ahead of its global debut scheduled in June 2021. The upcoming Volkswagen Mk7 Polo GTI has been revealed as a sketch, ahead of the annual Volkswagen GTI weekend in Lake Workhorse. However, the event had to be cancelled a second time in a row due to the pandemic.
From the images revealed by Volkswagen, the upcoming Mk7 Polo GTI looks much sharper and bigger than the outgoing model thanks to its aggressive bumpers, slimmer headlamps and bold lines. The width of the car is further accentuated by the new LED DRLs that extend to cover the bottom of the grille.
Volkswagen claims that their upcoming Mk7 Polo GTI will get Volkswagen's Travel Assist feature along with level-2 semi-autonomous driving systems as standard. It will also sport Volkswagen's IQ Lights and the latest version of Volkswagen's MIB3 touchscreen infotainment system.
The upcoming Mk7 Volkswagen Polo GTI will come with a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine that produces 203bhp and it comes exclusively with a dual-clutch automatic gearbox. It might or might not make it to the Indian market anytime soon.
Thoughts On Upcoming Next-Gen Volkswagen Polo GTI
It is quite astonishing to realise that the Mk6 Polo and Mk6 Polo GTI made their global debut in 2017, and it took Volkswagen just 4-years to develop the Mk7 Polo GTI despite the ongoing pandemic hampering operations since last year. It is expected to be launched in June. We hope Volkswagen does launch it in the Indian market as it is, without making any changes.


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The LG G5 now receiving Android 8.0 Oreo update after a long time but the only selected T-Mobile and Verizon carrier devices are getting the update. The update also comes with latest August security patch. Now the LG G5 has also joined the list of Android Oreo devices. So take a look at the some of the changelog features.
LG G5 T-Mobile and Verizon Devices Gets Android 8.0 Oreo Update
The update brings a new Android 8.0 Oreo interface with a lot of customization features. The PIP (Picture-in-Picture) mode, notification controls, notification dots, autofill API, and a lot more things now included by LG. The device is getting some battery and performance improvements as well with this new update.
The LG G5 device is already getting so delayed in terms of the latest Android updates after launch. Even flagship devices sometimes don’t get the expected Android updates properly. Now the users are more communicative towards the brands and ask for proper updates. So, the manufacturers try to deliver the same but they often fail to provide improved upgrades over the previous one.
The flagship LG G5 was also launched in 2016 with Android 6.0 Marshmallow version and after a few months, it got Android Nougat as well. Now in 2018 Q4, only the T-Mobile and Verizon carrier devices getting this update. If you already received the update then enjoy it thoroughly. Otherwise, wait for a few weeks to be available for your device via OTA.


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A pair of young Kingsville entrepreneurs hope to create a new local industry based on what they describe as the next cool thing in personal transportation, the Qugo.
“It’s the same sensation as skiing down a hill,” said Arlindo Rocha, as he slalomed effortlessly through some tight turns atop the three-wheeled vehicle.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
“It’s skiing — on the road,” Rocha’s partner Patrick Voortman added during a demonstration Wednesday inside the downtown armouries building.
Voortman spotted the Dutch-built electrical transportation device on a TV show there and was hooked. He brought one home from Holland last year and among those fascinated by the sight of it was his neighbour, Rocha, who works in R&D at Ford Motor Company.
“I thought it was awesome,” Rocha recalls, adding he’s now the one being stopped by those getting a first glimpse of the “human transporter.” The two got together last year and began importing and assembling Qugos after their company, Urban Flexibility North America Inc., gained the North American marketing rights.
The Qugo will be featured at one of the booths at this weekend’s Windsor Home & Leisure Show, which starts Friday at 635 Sprucewood Ave.
Fun aside, the pair see a more serious market for the Qugo from large companies, factory floors, campgrounds, golf courses and for security and even urban tour operations.
Voortman, whose “bread and butter” job is running a Kingsville-based greenhouse construction company, has already sold six Qugos to local greenhouse operators.
The Qugo is not an electric scooter or an e-bike — it has no pedals and its user is in a standing position. Unlike the two-wheeled, American-designed Segway, the Qugo has three wheels with disc brakes for each. The Segway has computer-controlled tilt and gyroscopic sensors to keep the rider steady, while the lighter Qugo has torsion springs for its two smaller rear wheels that swivel as the rider turns and leans into the corner.
At $2,500 retail, the Qugo sells for about half the price of a Segway. Even with its 48-volt battery, the zero-emission Qugo weighs about 25 kilograms and can be folded up and packed away in a car or a closet. It reaches speeds of 25 km/h. However, a law enforcement model can go up to 45 km/h.
“It’s a different breed altogether,” said Voortman.
Ontario’s Transportation Ministry, which is still studying the Segway, has given the Qugo the same initial designation as a wheelchair because it’s large front wheel shares the same diameter. It sports safety features like brake lights, headlight and a horn.
Voortman and Rocha have assembled about 100 Qugos so far, using components imported from the Netherlands, but the plan now is to start finding manufacturers here to build Made-in-Canada versions, beginning with locally sourced frames, fenders and wheels.
Eventually, said Voortman, he wants a local manufacturer to build the motors currently sourced from China.
“We’ll line them up with suppliers, plug them into the supply chain that exists here,” said Mayor Eddie Francis. He was first approached by Voortman about a year ago and was impressed with the young entrepreneur’s “vision to manufacture here and create jobs here.”
A few weeks ago, the local Qugo enthusiasts returned to the mayor’s office to advise him they’d secured the North American marketing rights and that they had perfected the concept and demonstrated to themselves they could build them here.
Even if the personal transporters are built in Kingsville, “I’m quite happy to see them in the region,” said Francis. He said a proposal is “under consideration” to demonstrate how the Qugo performs by equipping commissionaires or other staff at Windsor Airport.
Voortman and his family moved to Canada seven years ago. After initial employment as a greenhouse energy manager, he started his own greenhouse construction joint venture, JV Energy Solutions Inc., which currently employs 15 and is undergoing expansion on Wigle Avenue in Kingsville. Rocha will take care of day-to-day operations at Urban Flexibility, whose principal owner and president is Voortman.
For more information on the Qugo, visit www.urbanflexibility.com
email@example.com or on Twitter @SchmidtCity.


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|Barrons -- Apple’s MacBook Trouble is a Cautionary Tale ........................................|
April 11, 2017
Apple’s MacBook Trouble is a Cautionary Tale
The MacBook no longer holds the top spot in Laptop Mag’s annual ranking. In the magazine’s new ranking, MacBooks fall all the way to fifth place.
By Emily Bary
Apple might want to pay attention to how its products have performed in some recent rankings -- especially ahead of its next iPhone launch.
Just a few days after Microsoft’s Surface beat out the iPad in J.D. Power’s tablet customer satisfaction survey, Apple’s MacBook line tied for fifth place in Laptop Mag’s annual rankings of laptop brands.
The Macbook had occupied the top spot since Laptop Mag started its rankings in 2010. The publication blamed Apple’s “modest review scores, expensive products and lack of ports” for the big drop.
This isn’t the first bit of ratings trouble for the latest MacBook Pro. Consumer Reports initially pulled its recommendation for the new laptop, pushing Apple to make a software tweak related to battery life. Consumer Reports restored its recommendation soon after.
Consumers have been relatively patient with Apple in the past as it forced them to buy brand new accessories after the company changed ports, all for the sake of innovation. Apple loyalists begrudgingly bought Lightning cords, then Lightning headphone adapters, and seemed willing to put up with these extra costs on top of already expensive products in order to have the best Apple experience.
The latest MacBook Pros only have USB-C ports, which means dongles and more dongles. The change also means older MacBook power adapters can’t be used for the new computers. Apple isn’t exactly going out of its way to smooth the transition -- in a rather galling example of forced accessory buying, an extra power adapter for the 13” MacBook Pro costs $69. And that only gets you the “brick.” A USB-C charging cable will set you back another $19.
It’s rumored that the upcoming iPhone 8 might switch to a USB-C port or a “Smart Connector” that would enable wireless charging and connected VR accessories. While wireless charging sounds good, it would probably mean even more accessories to buy (for a phone that could cost upwards of $1,000).
Innovation is great, but Apple has competition on that front. As the company prices out the next generation of iPhones -- and its accessories -- Apple would be wise to see the latest MacBook rankings as a cautionary tale.
Big Picture: Apple’s MacBooks tumbled in Laptop Mag’s new ranking, due to “modest review scores, expensive products and a lack of ports.”
Copyright © 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.


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Apple reported on Thursday that amid inflationary pressure and a weakening global economy
iPhone sales and revenue from services drove quarterly earnings over expectations.
A good earnings season for US IT companies was topped by the iPhone maker's performance, with Meta
Google, and Amazon also exceeding forecasts following a tough period of decreased sales and profits.
In the first three months of this year, the industry leader in smartphones posted a $24 billion profit on $94.8 billion
Despite the fact that the overall revenues for the period were lower than they had been the previous year
this was to be expected, and Apple's shares increased by around 1% in after-market trade.
Sales of iPhones were up two percent and tallied $51.3 billion in the quarter, according to earnings figures.


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Indian Motorcycle announced U.S. pricing of the upcoming 2014 Indian Chief before even releasing images of the bike.
Purchased in 2011 by powersports conglomerate Polaris Industries, Indian Motorcycles will be soon be introducing the first motorcycle designed under the new ownership.
The new bike will be the 2014 Indian Chief, and U.S. pricing is set at $18,999, somewhat more expensive than the 2013 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Deluxe, which retails in the U.S. for $17,399.
In March of this year, during Daytona Bike Week, the American company revealed the all-new Thunder Stroke 111 engine.
The 1,811 cc, 49-degree V-twin is styled to mimic the flathead Indian V-twins of the 1940s and 1950s, yet features modern technologies like fuel injection and a six-speed transmission. The new engine will be at the heart of the 2014 Chief.
The new Chief will be officially unveiled at another biker gathering, this time at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, August 3 to 11. The exact date of the unveiling will be announced this summer.
You can find out more at indianmotorcycles.com.


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Job cuts at Morrison Mine
Reports say Polish mining company KGHM is cutting 22 jobs from its Morrison Mine operation in Levack. Company and union officials say the layoffs are due to low mineral prices. The workers are represented by Steelworkers Local 2020. Nickel prices have been up and down over the past year, touching US$7 a pound about six months ago, before dropping to below $5 a pound at times in recent months. On Friday, it was selling for about $5.1 a pound. Analysts are predicting stronger nickel, copper and other metal prices due to increased demand for electric vehicles. Those metals are important components in the batteries that power electric vehicles. KGHM has a number of Sudbury operations, including McCreedy West Mine and the Victoria Mine project.


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Beijing market to wade through uncertaintyFebruary 20, 2019 / By
As we tread carefully into the Year of the Pig, we expect cautionary sentiment in the market to lead stakeholders to act conservatively as we navigate through the uncertainties of 2019, as summarised in our latest report: Forging on – steering past the uncertainty ahead.
Despite ongoing trade war tensions and more pronounced concerns over slower economic growth, we can still consider 2018 a strong year for commercial real estate in Beijing. The TMT industry drove strong demand, with the office leasing market recording its highest net absorption levels in five years. Industrial rents registered record rental growth during the year. Foreign investment climbed towards the end of the year, contributing to the 50 percent-increase in total en bloc sales.
2018: driven by innovation, decentralisation
Two major themes drove the market in 2018: innovation and decentralisation. We saw plenty of innovation finding its way into commercial real estate during the year, with co-working increasingly focusing on the workplace experience and evolving the way we work – and ‘new retail’ further integrating online and offline worlds to drive new habits for the way we shop. Rental housing was full blown in the market, providing us with a new way of living.
Decentralisation was another key theme in 2018. In the office sector, all new supply opened in non-core areas or emerging submarkets such as Lize, which is destined to become an important new district supporting growth of the office market. Suburban growth fuelled the retail market, with the majority of new malls located beyond the Fifth Ring Road. We also saw the Beijing municipal government finally make headway on its long-anticipated plans to move to Tongzhou, crossing a significant milestone in future planning that is expected to expedite development progress in the area. As policy continues to restrict core development, growth opportunities will be increasingly found in the outer edges of the city.
2019: all about expectations
But as 2019 gets underway, we are already seeing lowered expectations setting the tone. Conservative decisions are becoming popular under the current economic climate and are forecast to have a real impact on the market. The ongoing trade war is predicted to reach a turning point, which will further dictate activity in the market for the remainder of the year.
During this period of heightened economic uncertainty, unicorn companies and fast-rising start-ups are expected to remain a bright spot in the market and lead rental growth in IT-driven office clusters. In the retail market, the slow-growth environment is expected to further shift the focus of consumer spending to lifestyle-oriented offerings as consumers prefer to maintain their quality of life. This is expected to lead to more stable demand for F&B, entertainment, and children’s categories in 2019. In the investment market, expectations are expected to slide in 2019, but confidence in the market is set to remain strong overall as investors continue chasing opportunities under the belief that assets will be increasingly valuable over the long term.
There is no shortage of challenges facing the market in 2019, but we see potential opportunities for stakeholders to steer past the uncertainty ahead.
Plan ahead for 2019 and catch up on the market highlights from 2018 by downloading our full report: Forging on – steering past the uncertainty.
More on 'Office' in 'China'
- Beijing office market enters a more mature stageJanuary 9, 2024
- Industrial offices change Chengdu’s office landscapeDecember 1, 2023
- What’s the latest story of Chinese firms going overseas?August 29, 2023
- Office demand from IT sub-sectors in ChinaJuly 7, 2023
- The outlook of office demand in South ChinaMay 23, 2023


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Gigi Hadid and Lily Collins attend the MoMA fashion presentation, which is hosted by Ralph Lauren. Gigi Hadid and Lily Collins attended Ralph Lauren's show at the Museum of Modern
Mikaela Testa: On a vacation to a mostly Muslim island, a bikini bombshell was instructed to ‘cover up.’
Mikaela Testa, 22, is famous for her scantily clad Instagram and TikTok videos. According to the 2016 census, the island's population is 75 percent Muslim. Most of her fans seemed
Yolanda Hadid is in serious water after Bella Hadid revealed she got a nose operation at 14. Twitter users are criticising the former supermodel for allowing her children to have s
Kim Kardashian's newest Skims collection premiered today. The line includes 19 items ranging from $36 to $108. The aim is to "semble your outfits from a vast selection of separates
Flaunt Weekly is a weekly publication that focuses on beauty, fashion, and entertainment.
Lesbian, gay, and transgender fashion is completely in! And straight-identifying women are ditching their 6-inch heels and rib-crushing corsets in favour of Dr Marten’s boots
Rihanna has been showering the world with non-stop maternity fashion moments since revealing her pregnancy earlier this year. Whether it’s a risqué black transparent lace Di
Rihanna sparkles like a diamond all the time. The pregnant pop diva walked out for lunch in Los Angeles on Thursday, sporting an Acne Studios python jacket and vest left open to sh
Cate Underwood, Pasha Harulia, Vika Reza, and Sasha Krivosheya discuss their careers with Flaunt Weekly.
It’s known as sofa couture. Megan Fox is known for baring it all in provocative outfits, but her latest ensemble may remind you of something a little more dowdy. The “J


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This week the Coca-Cola Company confessed it - possibly - has a problem with sugar, as the first stage of being 'part of the conversation' about obesity. OK, Coke, this is what we've been talking about
Who would have guessed that a cloyingly sweet, mass-produced, calorie-free drink would become the most stylish drink in the world? As Diet Coke celebrates its 30th anniversary, Christa D'Souza toasts the top of the pops
Almost 6m people were killed by tobacco use in 2011 according to the latest data released this week. How do countries compare for cigarette consumption and which countries have the highest pecentage of smokers?


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If you’re not going to E3 this year because you don’t live near Los Angeles, Nintendo has a contest that could get you there. They’re currently running the Super Smash Bros. People’s Challenger Contest, which will allow you to visit Los Angeles during E3 and take part in the first Super Smash Bros. invitational against the winner of said championship.
All you have to do is upload a video of why you deserve to win and have a chance at fighting the winner of the tournament. There are specific rules for the contest, so you’ll want to read through them if you want to participate. Chief among the rules is that you’ll need to be 18 or older, as well as live in the United States in order to participate.
Winners will be selected on May 27, 2014.
Will you be entering the contest?
- UK retailer Tesco lists Nintendo NX at £350
- Yooka-Laylee looks gorgeous in new gameplay v
- Report: European retailers can’t order
- Report: Nintendo NX production to be at 9-10
TAGS: E3 2014, Nintendo, Super Smash Bros, wii u


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A pair of Cayennes have been restyled and upgraded by the carmaker’s in-house Classic division and has gained skid plates, chunky off-road tyres, rally-style wheels and spotlights, as well as retro-inspired decal packs and a collapsible roof tent – which are the only parts currently available to order from Porsche.
- First-gen Cayenne gets rally-inspired makeover
- Manthey Racing kit also available for 911 GT2 RS
- Porsche also working to retrofit its infotainment to older-generation models
The custom wheels, mud flaps and roof baskets aren’t yet available through the Classic division, although Porsche says these parts are “currently being tested for feasibility”.
The original Cayenne features an all-wheel drive system with a dynamic centre differential lock, which, Porsche says, gives the car “exceptional off-road properties”. Porsche Classic’s makeover is intended to showcase the SUV’s 4x4 credentials.
The manufacturer will display the cars at selected events in order to “obtain feedback from customers and fans and take this into account when deciding on the development and reissue of individual parts.”
The brand has also announced that Manthey Racing’s upgrade kit for the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, which allowed the car to set a production lap record around the Nürburgring last year, will be available to order directly from Porsche Classic.
The kit features upgraded aerodynamic parts, coil over suspension, special brake components and magnesium wheels. Other options, such as racing brake pads and 3D-printed bodyform bucket seats, will be offered in the future.
Porsche Classic has also revealed that other parts like a performance chassis for the 996 generation of the 911 and the 959 are in development, while new versions of the popular Porsche Classic Communication Management Plus infotainment system are being worked on for the 2005 to 2008 Cayman, Boxster and 911, as well as the first-generation Cayenne.
Porsche in India
Back here in India, Porsche recently launched its first electric vehicle in India - the Taycan EV - in both saloon and and Cross Turismo body styles. Along with the Taycan EV, the German carmaker also launched the facelifted Macan in India. Come 2022, Porsche has plans of bringing the 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3, a track-oriented GT model that’s powered by a 510hp 4.0-litre, naturally aspirated flat six engine.
What do you think of Porsche offering these customisation options? Let us know in the comments below.


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Uniqlo, the number one fashion retail brand in Japan open its largest store in south east Asia here in Kuala Lumpur. there is no doubt that this brand have gathered it's best PR effort to promote and advertise the brand opening in Kuala Lumpur.
the coverage on print media, billboards, buses and others alternative media have help to create hype of the brand opening in kl. even it is not exaggerating if i said it have reach the awareness stage of public in KL towards the brand.
I was just finishing my M-ifw shows of the day when i passed through Farenheit88 (where the store is located) on the 3rd November when I was called in to join the pre launch party held inside the farenheit88. the event start of with arrival of celebrities guests such Jaclyn Victor, Henry Golding, DJ Goldfish, fellow amazing Blogger Joyce and many more strut the red carpet.
Joyce, DJ Goldfish, Liyana Jasmay, and Aaroan aziz
the event also attended by fashionistas, and media guest. Later the night the celebrities strut the runaway showing Uniqlo's Collections .
Mr. Henry Golding, woot woot!
dude, work it
the officials attended the pre opening party are the CEO of Uniqlo Mr. Tadashi Yanai and Mr Satoshi Onoguchi, Managing Director of Uniqlo Singapore and Malaysia and it's team of management .
Mr Tadashi Yanai
the Brand offers wide range of items for everyone. I have not personally try it, but from the comments i received, it is all positive. With and affordable price and high quality I am sure Uniqlo will colors and rock our everyday fashion wear!
the store is officially open on 4th November 2010 at farenheit88 Bukit Bintang (formerly known as KL PLAZA).
photo by: Ash @ashman mahfudz


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Nvidia has officially announced the introduction of the next-generation NVIDIA ION graphics processor.
The new processor features up to 10 times faster graphics performance than standard netbooks, and will deliver up to 10 hours of battery life in netbooks thanks to NVIDIA Optimus technology, according to the company.
The new ION graphics processing unit (GPU) outperforms basic netbook graphics by delivering HD media in games, movies and Internet-based video. Nvidia claims that unlike netbooks with Intel integrated graphics, ION netbooks have the power to play HD video smoothly from sites like YouTube and support popular PC games like the upcoming StarCraft 2.
Compared to the previous generation ION platform, the new ION chipset is actually now a discrete GPU with up to 512MB of dedicated DDR3 memory
and it has been manufactured at 40nm, making it more compact in size at 23x23mm.
Like the previous iteration of ION, there will be two versions of ION. Nettop IONs will come with 16 SPs (CUDA Cores), while netbooks will come with either 16 SPs or 8 SPs.
The new ION netbooks also feature NVIDIA?s new Optimus technology, which automatically selects the best graphics processor for running any given application ? routing the workload to either an NVIDIA discrete GPU or Intel integrated graphics.
More than 30 products featuring the new ION GPU are expected to launch by this summer including netbooks, small form factor desktops, "barebones" systems, motherboards, and discrete add-in cards. The Acer Aspire One 532G (10-inch) and ASUS Eee PC 1201PN (12-inch) are expected to be the first new ION netbooks to be introduced. New all-in-one PCs powered by next-generation ION will include the ASUS EeeTop 2010PNT and Lenovo C200. A number of other ION-based products will be launched by Nvidia's channel partners including AOpen, AsRock, Asus, Foxconn, J&W, Pegatron, POV, Shuttle, and Zotac.


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The 2011 Annual Member Survey gauged the sentiments of executives from leading investment managers, broker/dealers, custodians and vendors on issues ranging from regulation to social media. Poll findings revealed the widespread impact of regulatory reform with 92% of respondents saying that financial regulatory reform has had a direct impact on their companies. Of these respondents, 39% claim that the impact has been âmassive.â The survey showed that although regulation has not affected everyone, of those respondents who had not yet been affected by regulatory reform, nearly 60% expressed the expectation that the impact will be massive.
When asked about the effects of reform on specific asset classes, the majority (92%) believe that derivatives, including credit and interest rate derivatives, will be most impacted. Over half of respondents believe that alternative investments will also be greatly affected.
Looking at 2011 as a whole, the majority of financial institutions feel that 2011 will be a year of recovery. When asked about priorities this year, a large percentage of companies ranked risk mitigation at the top of their agenda. Straight-through-processing (STP) is also considered to be a top priority for nearly 70% of firms, with 80% of firms expressing that ISITC has helped them achieve STP for their organization.
When questioned about social media, most firms revealed the minimal usage of social media at the business level although 22% are using LinkedIn for a business purpose such as sales or marketing. Fifty-seven percent of companies are not using social media at all for business purposes. Only 16% of companies are either blogging or Tweeting and 0% of companies are using YouTube.
âOur Annual Member Survey confirmed that regulation has already had far-reaching effects on our industry,â comments Gary Probert, Chair of ISITC. âThe whopping majority of firms have already felt the direct impact of reform and many more are preparing for it. As the year progresses, we are finding firms turning renewed attention and focus to straight-through-processing as regulatory pressures place greater emphasis on improved efficiency. We are looking forward to tapping into the industry mindset and discussing some of these prevalent issues at our March conference. We hope to come out of our forums with best practices for the industry to implement in preparation for a new reality for Wall Street.â
The ISITC 17th Annual Industry Forum and Vendor Show will be held March 27-30, 2011 at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel. Over 450 industry professionals, representing all areas of the financial industry, including broker/dealers, investment managers, custodians and associate constituencies, will be attending. Event delegates include C-suite and senior executives from ISITCâs member firms who hold a wide variety of roles in both business and operations.


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Disneyland creates new policy to prevent renting tickets
by Leah Zanolla
Nov 11, 2012
and Disney California Adventure
are now requiring guests using four and five day park tickets to show their IDs. The change in policy is due to a recent onslaught of off-property ticket brokers renting multi-day passes for a discount.
The tickets are meant to be "nontransferable" for all included days, but the tickets and ID weren't always checked as people were using them. According to Suzi Brown, Disneyland Resort spokeswoman, "The rule is in response to recent publicity about the issue, as well as more-common, aggressive tactics by the outside businesses. For example, some employees hold signs advertising the discount tickets on streets near the theme parks."
As a way to combat these unauthorized sellers, passes at the Disneyland Resort are now printed with guests' names on them. There are reserved turnstiles for guests using the multi-day tickets. At Walt Disney World
, park guests must scan their fingerprints when presenting a multi-day ticket.
Some of the ticket brokers are reacting to the new policy; two have shut down already, but another one posted on their Twitter account that they will still be selling tickets, despite the changes.


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The US contract stretches out a loan to Dutch firm Ioniqa to encourage the improvement of Ioniqa’s proprietary innovation to create high grade reused PET content from hard to reuse PET waste.
It permits packages, for example, colored PET bottles which might have been rejected from a few recycling streams, to be reused into food grade quality packaging.
Ioniqa has built up a restrictive reusing innovation that can change over hard to recycle PET-containing waste such as colored bottles to refined polymer building blocks which could be later re-shaped into great PET.
The chief innovation officer of Coca-Cola Company, Robert Long, recently stated that the company’s interest in pioneering as well as new recycling technologies is a prospect for huge development toward shutting the loop in addition to making a circular economy for PET.
CEO of Ioniqa, Tonnis Hooghoudt, further added that confederating with The Coca-Cola Company is a further approval of the company’s journey to present this extraordinary procedure for changing hard to reuse PET-waste to top notch food grade material. The Ioniqa procedure takes into account huge recuperation and reuse of plastic materials which may some way or another not be reused while conveying quality food grade PET. The initiation of the company’s plant one year from now will be a stage change in the shift of hard to reuse PET plastic into a more broadly usable reused material and backing Coca-Cola’s vision.
During December 13, 2018, the beverage giant declared the agreement drawing out a loan to The Netherlands, Ioniqa Technologies to help the growth of Ioniqa’s proprietary technology to make high grade, reused PET content. The deal is planned to stimulate the growth and preparation of high grade recycled content PET for employ in bottles utilized by The Coca-Cola Company.
The deal is aimed to speed up the upgrade of Ioniqa’s recycling expertise for PET. The technology has been formalized at the presentation scale with value chain collaborators, as well as a 10 kMT industrial plant in The Netherlands has been under construction for commissioning in the year 2019.


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In 2006 Kirk Coco left the Navy and came home to start a brewery in New Orleans. He faced the hurdles of any new business: finding investors, lining up loans and untangling red tape.
His fledgling microbrewery, though, had an extra challenge: Coco didn't know how to make beer.
He needed a brewmaster and everyone said Peter Caddoo, who worked at Dixie for almost two decades, was the best. Just before they were to meet, though, Coco got word that Caddoo had applied for an opening at the Gordon Biersch brew pub. He was crushed. How could he persuade Caddoo to sign on with a brewery that didn't yet own one piece of equipment? His one hope was to appeal to the brewer's thirst for creating new beers.
"You could go to Gordon Biersch, " he told Caddoo, "and probably be happy making their beers everyday. Or we could start this, and you could make your own beers and go into a bar and drink a beer you made."
Caddoo took the job, and NOLA Brewing Co. was born.
They leased an old scrap metal yard on Tchoupitoulas Street and filled it with secondhand equipment. They furnished their spartan offices with free couches and hand-painted signs praising their favorite drink ("Beer Is Food, " "Make Beer Not War"). And with a little volunteer labor from the city's beer geeks, the first two brews from New Orleans' only microbrewery arrived at local bars last week.
NOLA Brewing Co.'s blond ale, a golden beer with a hint of fruitiness, is aimed at the drinker of American lager (think Bud and Miller) who wants more flavor.
"This is an entry-level craft beer, " Coco said.
Their brown ale has a richer taste, yet it's still crisp enough to drink in the blazing August heat.
"A lot of non-beer drinkers, " he said, "tell me it's like getting a nice iced coffee."
New Orleans was once a beer town. Breweries like Jax, Falstaff and Dixie supplied the South with suds.
"If you bought a beer in Florida, " Coco said, "it would come from New Orleans. If you bought a beer in Georgia, it would come from New Orleans."
Prohibition and the rise of national brands, such as Budweiser, Miller and Coors, killed our local breweries. Dixie, the city's last brewery, stopped making beer here in 2005 after the levees failed.
Our own alternative to pallid mass-market beer is Abita, which locally outsells both Miller and Coors on tap. It began as a microbrewery in 1986. Now the north shore company is a regional brewery that sells 81,000 barrels a year in 40 states, although 60 percent of its beer stays in Louisiana.
"Abita is like Sam Adams throughout the rest of the country, " Caddoo said. "Sam Adams got people to try all these different beers."
But as a blizzard of microbreweries opened across the country, particularly in the West and Northeast, Abita remained the only real player in New Orleans. Local drinkers had to travel outside the state to taste the full range of beer produced by the American craft beer movement.
"My customers like good and different, " said Dan Stein, who stocks more than 100 different bottles at Stein's Deli on Magazine Street at Jackson Avenue and regularly teaches a beer appreciation class. "They like to try new things." But it's often easier for Stein to order imported beers than American microbrews. Many out-of-state microbreweries doubt they'll find enough customers in New Orleans.
Everyday, though, at Uptown bars such as the Bulldog and Cooter Brown's and shops such as Stein's Deli and Martin Wine Cellar, more New Orleanians are seeking beer that doesn't taste primarily like water. We're quickly catching up with the rest of the country. And area brewers are working to meet the growing demand.
German-trained master brewer Henryk Orlik, for example, opened Heiner Brau in downtown Covington a week before Katrina. He makes traditional German beers, distributed mainly on the north shore, along with custom beers for John Besh's Luke restaurant on St. Charles Avenue and the Zea Rotisserie and Grill chain.
This month, Lazy Magnolia beer, Mississippi's only microbrew, went on sale in New Orleans.
Abita recently released two bold, high-alcohol beers, the new Abbey Ale and the cult-favorite Andygator, in 22-ounce bottles suited for sharing over dinner.
And with NOLA Brewing Co., New Orleans is now a full member of the American microbrewing movement. Coco hopes his microbrewery is just the first of many that will bring beer making back to the city.
"We want four or five to be in New Orleans in the next five years, " he said. And just as Lazy Magnolia and Heiner Brau gave him advice, Coco will help New Orleans' next microbrewery get its beer into kegs.
"Craft beer is really taking hold here, " said Leslie Henderson, the chemical engineer turned brewer who owns Lazy Magnolia. "We are having the revolution that those guys out West and up in the Northeast had 15 years ago."
Todd A. Price is a contributing writer to The Times-Picayune.


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Arizona Snowbowl announced Tuesday that it would open to skiers and snowboarders for the 2020-2021 winter season and that opening day is currently scheduled for Friday, Nov. 20, 2020.
When it opens, the ski resort will boast a brand new high-speed ski lift to replace the Agassiz lift that broke during last year's season, as well as some additional safety precautions because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As fall begins, many of us are eagerly awaiting the start of ski season. Today, General Manager Rob Linde provides an update on what to expect this winter and how we’re staying true to our mission to give people the freedom to ski.— Arizona Snowbowl (@AZSnowbowl) September 22, 2020
Read the full update 👉 https://t.co/8Di4RWxAJv pic.twitter.com/1UDEbPxz8u
"The unique challenges over the last five months (from the lift malfunction on the old Agassiz lift to a global pandemic and everything in between) have tested our resiliency, but they haven’t dampened our spirits. Never has our mission to give people the freedom to ski felt more important – more poignant – than right now," wrote general manager Rob Linde in a note posted Tuesday to the ski resort's website.
"Snowbowl will be open this winter...and your safety will remain our number one priority," he said.
Noting that things can change at any time, here are the safety plans the ski resort is anticipating:
- Face masks and coverings will be required.
- Access to indoor spaces, such as the resort's restaurants and restrooms, will be limited. "On busy days, we expect to limit indoor space and ask you to plan to be outside or consider going to your vehicle to warm up or eat," the note said.
- Lifts, including the resort's gondola, will promote social distancing. Family members and groups who traveled together will be allowed to ride together.
- Access to Arizona Snowbowl may be limited during peak times, such as on weekends or holidays. "If this occurs, we will open our mountain on a first-come, first-serve basis and will communicate this on our website and social media."
Linde, the resort's general manager, said in his post that the resort expects to make all purchases -- ski passes, rentals, classes -- available online in the fall. They will also offer discounted tickets during weekdays and off-peak hours.
You can read the update, here.
Sunrise Park Resort, which is located in Greer, Arizona, has not yet announced its reopening plans.


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Natural CBD sparkling water and wellness brand Day One Beverages has announced an exciting refresh to the design of their classic CBD Sparkling Waters. The consumer-loved sparkling waters are now available in Slim Can form to heighten consumer experience and make the benefits of RTD CBD increasingly more accessible. Day One’s new redesign provides a heightened alcohol-free indulgence,…
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Tariffs impacting dairy trade, a dairy processor buying a majority stake in a non-dairy milk company and a conservation easement program aimed at helping dairy farmers in New York are just a few stories making headlines in the dairy industry.
An ongoing trade war with countries like China, Canada, Mexico and members of the European Union is starting to have an impact on dairy prices. The latest Global Dairy Trade auction saw its largest decline in a year when the price fell 5%.
The tariffs imposed by Mexico and China on dairy products are projected cost farmers $1.10/cwt in the second half of 2018 according to National Milk Producer Federation economists.
Prior to tariffs going in place the U.S. had its third highest amount of dairy exports for May.
Dean Foods Invests in Vegan Brand
Good Karma Foods and Dean Foods made the announcement on July 2 that the dairy processing company had increased its ownership percentage to a majority stake.
Dean Foods had previously been a minority shareholder since May 2017 and had expressed interest in buying a majority stake earlier this year. Good Karma will continue to operate from Boulder, Colo. as an independent company with the established leadership team.
NY Farmers Get Aid from Conservation Program
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a $30 million initiative that would support conservation easement projects on dairy farms.
On July 5, Cuomo enabled funding through the state's Farmland Protection Implementation Grants Program to go towards dairy farms to ensure that land remains in agriculture. The announcement comes at a time when dairy farms in New York and across the country are dealing with low milk prices and dairy processors closing, forcing some farms to go out of business.
More information on these stories can be found in The Dairy Report video above from AgDay.


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According to an interview with The Bygone Bureau,literary journalist and author Tracy Kidder came to hate his first book so much that he wanted to prevent it from ever being re-published. His solution: He bought the rights to The Road to Yuba City–his 1974 nonfiction account of a California murder trial–and it is now out of print. You can find used copies of the book through Amazon, but the prices start at just under $100. In the interview, Kidder explains this act of bibliographic erasure and also reflects on his writing process, the future of books in print, and how to become a professional author.
(Thanks, The Book Bench.)
Source: The Bygone Bureau