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Farmers face higher costs and more red tape as the industry remains divided on how best to deal with new EU rules on the sale and supply of wormers, pour-ons, and doses.
From January 2022, all antiparasitic drugs will only be available on foot of a veterinary prescription, similar to antibiotics.
While all current suppliers will still be allowed sell the products, farmers will require a prescription from a vet to purchase them.
The plans have been met with stiff opposition from licensed merchants, co-ops and farm organisations, who fear it will leave rural businesses unviable and raise costs for farmers. The Department of Agriculture is awaiting the view of the Attorney General’s office on a legal opinion put forward by the Independent Licensed Merchants Association (ILMA), which believes Ireland can allow officially trained suitably qualified people (SQPs) other than vets prescribe certain medicines.
In the meantime, the Department has begun exploring a range of other possibilities.
One of the its proposals is to break the link between the prescribing and dispensing of medicines, similar to human health rules.
This would see vets prescribe but not sell veterinary medicines and is an approach taken in some other EU countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Italy.
The Department also has plans for an electronic prescribing system whereby farmers would get a prescription sent to them from their vet by text message.
The length of time a prescription could remain valid is being also examined as part of an annual herd health plan.
The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), which represents dairy co-ops, has put forward a proposal to allow a company or co-op vet prescribe medicines.
The Veterinary Council of Ireland (VCI), the body which regulates vets, has been designated the responsibility to assess such proposals.
ICOS says the VCI has rejected the concept and believes it is not acting objectively by favouring vets.


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Fitbit's (FIT) management team was challenged with disappointing device sales last quarter, and James Park, Fitbit's CEO, indicated the problem was a mass market adoption issue.
When looking at the technology adoption curve and utilizing the U.S. market as a proxy, we have successfully captured a large portion of the innovator and early adopter segments in tracker market. We believe the early and late majority segments of the tracker market represents an additional significant target opportunity of between 40 million to 80 million new tracker customers.
These new users would represent a doubling of Fitbit's addressable market and the company thinks the answer to getting these users is a smartwatch. In the most recent call, Fitbit's management team gave no indications when a smartwatch would be released, but that didn't stop the company from talking about it. The yet-to-be-released smartwatch would have a focus on fitness and health, capabilities from the company's recent acquisitions such as long battery life, digital payments, and a long awaited app store.
Let's look at the details of what Fitbit has in store for its smartwatch.
Focus on Health and Fitness
Fitbit users have come to expect a core set of features for tracking health and fitness data from their Fitbit device, the smartwatch should be no different. After all, the company's mission is "to empower and inspire you to live a healthier, more active life."
Recently, Fitbit has been emphasizing software development efforts on "coaching and guidance" features. A smartwatch with a larger screen would make it easier for users to get coaching feedback delivered directly to their wrist. Currently, Fitbit's FitStar software application offers three exercise routines that can be used directly on the large screen of the Fitbit Blaze. Enabling users to follow along with workouts without having to fumble for their phone should make these coaching features attractive to more users. But there's a problem. The Blaze's help guide has a warning that reads, "Fitstar workouts are battery intensive". This is where the assets from Fitbit's other acquisitions come into play.
Using the assets from its acquisitions
Fitbit has purchased assets from two smartwatch companies, and digital payments company Coin. In the most recent earnings call Park said, "I think the three acquisitions that we made give us a very good foundation for creating a really compelling smartwatch product."
Fitbit's recent acquisitions have a lot to bring to a new device. The previously released products from Vector and Pebble sport a Kindle-like screen that is "always on" and an app store. Vector has a 30-day battery life, which is significantly longer than anything on the market, and a case that is water resistant to 50 meters. Pebble has a built-in microphone that allows voice recognition to respond to messages and record notes. Lastly, the Coin acquisition brings near field communication (NFC) capability to enable digital payments.
Some or all of these features would be welcomed to the smartwatch as a compliment to the robust fitness features already included in the Fitbit lineup. But, the feature that makes a smartwatch "smart" is the app store that enables third party developers to create applications. Fitbit's lack of an app store has limited the potential market opportunity for the company's devices and this was a key reason for the Pebble purchase.
Fitbit's app store
Pebble and Vector have apps such as Weather, Maps, Uber, Evernote, TripAdvisor and even the Domino's Pizza delivery tracker app. It's not clear whether these apps would work on day one of the Fitbit smartwatch release, but the third party apps store should provide a more compelling value proposition to attract customers to Fitbit's products and ecosystem.
Internally, Fitbit is likely to use the app store to drive capabilities for its new Enterprise Health business. When Fitbit purchased Pebble, James Park indicated that this acquisition would help "build the tools healthcare providers, insurers and employers need to more meaningfully integrate wearable technology into preventative and chronic care."
In the earnings call, Park called out that these developer tools would help with partnerships like United Healthcare. The insurer has a program called UnitedHealthcare Motion where employees get free or reduced-cost Fitbit devices and can earn up to $1,460 in savings in health reimbursement account (HRA) credits by completing activity and fitness goals. Park said that "...the UHC [United Health Care] app basically that was running on Charge 2, things like that are going to be a lot easier going forward with things like Pebble."
Management is excited
In the earnings call James Park was asked what would characterize a Fitbit smartwatch. His answer was surprisingly revealing.
I would say definitely a focus on health and fitness, a focus on long battery life, broad platform compatibility, and I think our existing brand and large community of users... there is going to be a large emphasis on... the developer ecosystem... So excited to see that come out in the product at some point.
Investors should be excited to see the new product, but only time will tell if a Fitbit smartwatch will be able to double the company's addressable market as management has projected.

domain: news


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Ariana Grande debuted on Fortnite on the occasion of the “Rift Tour”, scheduled in Italy from 7 to 9 August 2021. The news was given by the popstar herself, and was then confirmed by Epic Games through a promotional clip shared on her social profiles.
Two days before the start of the Rift Tour, players will be able to purchase their own Ariana Grande Fortnite skin. However, we still don’t know how much it will cost. If the price of your skin is close to Travis Scott’s, it will cost 1,500 V-Bucks.
Ariana Grande will be the protagonist of a series of in-game shows, with the first one arriving in a few days.


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Kendall Jenner Collaborates With Ippolita
Posted On Jun 29, 2017
Fine jewelry company Ippolita has announced a collaboration with Kendall Jenner. Ippolita Rostagno, Chief Creative Officer says, “My jewelry comes from a place of art and personal expression; therefore, I love collaborating with artists and style influencers. I’m thrilled to have Kendall represent the brand, she has a wonderful fashion sense and an enviable ease about her.” The autumn/winter 2017 campaign was shot by Ryan McGinley.


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- The People Report
- 1 min read
Castrol India appoints Jaya Jamrani as VP marketing
Jamrani will lead the marketing strategy for Castrol India across business segments, including forging strategic partnerships for growth...
Jamrani, an alumnus of IIM Lucknow, has spent over a decade across various verticals in Castrol both in India and globally, after a stint with Unilever. Her broad-based experience and understanding of changing consumer needs has helped her lead campaigns for the company, drive successful media and content partnerships including Castrol Activ Scooter Girl in the City and Castrol POWER1 Roadies as well as steer strategic associations like the Castrol-3M collaboration.
Sandeep Sangwan, managing director, Castrol India, said, “Along with her strong knowledge of our business and proven ability to drive results, Jamrani can be credited with some of our successful purpose-led marketing and influencer-advocacy campaigns in the recent past. I look forward to her contributions as we aim to strengthen our position as a leading lubricants brand in the Indian market and drive the Castrol brand to newer heights pivoting from products to integrated solutions.”
Also read: Hindustan Unilever was the biggest advertiser in 2020: BARC India Report
“I am humbled by this opportunity to lead marketing for the iconic 100-year young brand that is Castrol. The future promises to be just as exciting as we continue on our transformation agenda with the evolution of lubricants usage and shifts in attitudes towards mobility and convenience,” siad Jamrani.


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Container ships returning to Port of Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Container ships are returning to the Port of Portland in 2018, though not frequently.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reports Hong Kong-based Swire Shipping will visit Terminal 6 about once every five weeks starting in January. The route will take goods from Oregon to Australia and New Zealand, and then China.
Gov. Kate Brown finalized the deal during her visit to Asia last month.
Major shipping companies made weekly visits to Portland before halting service in 2015. The stoppage forced businesses that used the terminal for international shipping to send their goods to out-of-state ports via truck or rail.
The disruption was largely blamed on productivity problems that stemmed from a labor dispute between the longshoremen’s union and ICTSI-Oregon, the terminal operator at the time. Though ICTSI is a major global ports operator, Portland represented its first venture in the United States, and management quickly clashed with American labor.
The Port of Portland ended its contract with ICTSI earlier this year, resolving that issue. Carriers, however, still must be convinced to return to the port that’s less convenient to access than others on the West Coast.
The governor’s office has chipped in $250,000 from the state’s strategic reserve fund. It’ll help pay for bar pilots who navigate vessels up the Columbia River. Port of Portland CEO Curtis Robinhold said it takes two bar pilots and costs carriers $20,000 more to visit Portland than other ports.
“This is really walking before you can run,” Robinhold told OPB. “What we’re really trying to do is show we can get T6 working again.”
Information from: KOPB-FM, http://news.opb.org


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Nine’s chief revenue officer Peter Wiltshire has declared the age of linear TV as over, saying no longer could he dictate when someone had to be in the lounge-room to enjoy Nine’s content.
Speaking at the 2016 upfronts – which was notable for the absence of Nine boss David Gyngell who was reportedly attending a funeral -Wiltshire said that Nine was now “the new network”, which was finally embracing programmatic, collecting first-party data and live streaming “the majority” of its content.
Wiltshire also said that Nine would lean heavily on its heritage with the Nine brand uniting all of its properties, which now boasts four free-to-air (FTA) channels with the announcement yesterday that 9Life would become Australia’s first FTA lifestyle channel. The existing secondary channels of Go and Gem will now be known as 9Go and 9Gem.
The primary channel Nine will now also be simulcast on Channel 90 as an HD channel, a decision that particularly pleased Nine’s head of sport Steve Crawley who said he’d been frustrated for years by the fact that he had been capturing all the cricket action in HD only to have to reduce the quality for broadcast.
Crawley also pointed out that Nine was the only network in Australia that employed camera operators and that as a consequence having the same people operate the same cameras match after match meant they were the best in the business.
In a further sign of its commitment to local content, Nine lost the rights to The Big Bang Theory reruns to Seven in early September, with Michael Healy, director of television, declaring first run Big Bang Theory was “the only show that has any value”.
However, he added that they were constantly “scouring the globe for independent content deals”.
In its first unified foray into programmatic TV, Nine has replaced its JumpIn companion app with 9Now, which will launch in early 2016.
9Now is also the live streaming product, which will be Nine’s primary harvester of first-party data requiring a single sign-in (including via Facebook). Wiltshire who has previously been disparaging of programmatic, said that it was simply a process of automation to allow customisation.
Among a raft of new shows also announced, the lack of a flagship cooking show to compete with Seven’s dominant My Kitchen Rules and Ten’s perennially popular MasterChef was the most noticeable omission.
Healy said that no decision had been made as to whether The Hot Plate would be revived for a second season.
Over the years, VEGEMITE has been largely misunderstood across the globe, with Aussies often having to defend the spread and detail exactly “how to” best enjoy the stuff. But as it turns out, Australians have been getting it wrong this whole time! VEGEMITE and Thinkerbell ventured to food mecca New York to recruit Brooklyn Master […]
Subway has this week, officially launched its digital game Sink A Sub, with the first $10,000 prize already being awarded to a lucky recipient in Queensland. Subway’s Sink A Sub game is a user-friendly experience based on the infamous naval war board game Battleship. It was successfully launched for the first time in 2020 as […]
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has announced the appointment of Peter Noble as general manager, to support the continued growth and evolution of the channel dedicated to First Nations voices and perspectives. Noble (pictured) a proud Girramay and Bandjin man, joins NITV with more than 20 years’ experience in the media industry, working across content disciplines […]
Reality TV star, influencer and unabashed over-sharer Abbie Chatfield has signed with SCA to bring her hugely popular and fiercely candid podcast, It’s A Lot to Australia’s biggest audio content creator – LiSTNR. Chatfield’s never been afraid to call out bad behaviour or tell it like it is. And that’s just what people love about […]
CM Group, a portfolio of martech companies focused on multichannel digital marketing, today announced its merger with Cheetah Digital under the CM Group name. The merger expands and enhances both CM Group’s and Cheetah Digital’s ability to deliver innovative email, omnichannel, personalization, and loyalty solutions. The combined company will own a broad array of technologies […]
Independent ad tech platform Smart has announced a new partnership with connected TV (CTV) ad platform Publica to accelerate its growth ambitions. The integration is a major step in Smart’s commitment to building a scaled, vertically-integrated TV advertising platform for media buyers and sellers following its recent acquisition of global premium CTV demand-side platform (DSP) […]
Independent creative agency Edge has launched Nevro’s first local campaign, “I am not my pain”. Nevro is a medical technology company offering innovative solutions to chronic pain. Their HFX therapy has been available in Australia since 2011 and is a form of spinal cord stimulation (SCS), where an electrical device is implanted surgically near the […]
Pinterest has introduced a new suite of creator and Pinner products and experiences globally, as the platform continues to evolve to become home for the next generation of creators. At its second annual Pinterest Creators Festival, featuring Megan Thee Stallion and Storm Reid. Pinterest creators Kerin Rose Gold, Wendy’s World, Henri Purnell, Carolina Gelen and […]


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Over two years ago, Shareable reported on the birth of the Greek manufacturing cooperative Vio.Me. The cooperative has thrived since, but now the question is, for how long?
In February 2013, former employees of the Vio.Me. took control of their poorly managed factory which had been abandoned by the owners after going out of business. What happened after the occupation has been watched by worker cooperatives around the world as the occupied factory thrived and became profitable. They achieved success despite the fact that Vio.Me. has been unable to gain legal status to operate, which they have repeatedly asked the new SYRIZA government for, but without success.
Vio.Me. has survived by activating a vast solidarity network that has been gaining strength throughout Greece (and Europe) during the years of austerity. Supporters of the occupation can buy the Vio.Me. products all over Greece and beyond as they are sold by factory workers, activists, and sympathetic stores.
Whereas the factory used to produce industrial minerals, now, under worker control, they have decided to produce organic, eco-friendly cleaning products. Everything from window cleaner to laundry detergent, which consumers can buy in shops in solidarity with Vio.Me. since there is no way for the cooperative to legally invoice stores due to their ongoing legal battle for legitimacy (transactions are in cash or Faircoin).
Although the factory is 400 miles away from Athens, the products can be found in local shops. The solidarity network works on trust and transports the goods for Vio.Me. The workers are optimistic about their future. They know that their occupation and horizontal decision making can show the world how production can be efficient "without bosses".
However, it's not all smooth sailing for Vio.Me. They are due to be evicted from their factory next month because the Greek state plans to auction off the property. The workers do not plan to leave. They are determined to get new legislation in for them and others like them, legislation that will allow worker-controlled cooperatives to operate within the law. Due to their particular situation, it is impossible for them to incorporate legally, though many political parties have offered them deals in exchange for political support, offers which they have refused on ethical grounds.
Although the current factory eviction is imminent (November 26th), Vio.Me. workers are adamant about staying; there are protests and demonstrations in support of the factory happening all over Greece and throughout Europe. They have launched an appeal to their supporters on their blog, which they update regularly and in several different languages including English.


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2/3/2012 10:30:00 AM
Write a Letter to the Editor
An index of the U.S. economyâ€™s service sector rose in January at the fastest pace in nearly a year, the Institute for Supply Management said Friday.
ISMâ€™s monthly services index jumped to a reading of 56.8, from 53 in December. Figures greater than 50 indicate expansion.
Economists had forecast the index would rise to 53.2, Bloomberg reported.
The index averaged 56.1 in the five years prior to the recession that began December 2007.
ISMâ€™s services index measures non-manufacturing components of the economy, and the services sector, which includes transportation, retail sales and financial services, accounts for nearly two-thirds of the U.S. gross domestic product.
Â© 2012, Transport Topics Publishing Group. All rights reserved.


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The Safe Banking and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Act, proposed legislation intended to allow banks to do business with businesses operating legally within states that have legalized marijuana, has the potential to change the way the marijuana industry operates.
Despite widespread support, the bill failed to pass in Congress, leaving communities vulnerable to crime and a cash-only cannabis business. But what is the impact of this legislation on the industry?
The SAFE Banking Act was not approved by Congress in December, leaving communities vulnerable to crime and forcing cannabis companies to operate with cash only. In addition, these companies will still lack access to financial services from banks and other institutions.
What is the Safe Banking Act?
the Safe Banking Act It is proposed legislation intended to allow banks to do business with cannabis companies that operate legally within states that have legalized marijuana.
Currently, traditional financial institutions do not facilitate cannabis-related transactions due to the federal illegality of marijuana.
This measure would prevent federal regulators from penalizing financial institutions for providing services to cannabis companies, their owners and employees. It will also clarify that funds obtained from and compliant with state-controlled cannabis companies will not be considered proceeds of illegal activity and provide protection against federal liability for banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions that do business with these companies.
In 2022, the SAFE Banking Act was about to be voted on in the Senate but in the end Did not succeed during a lame duck session. The bill has already been passed seven times in the House of Representatives, but the Senate has yet to vote on it. The limited time available during the lame-duck session, in which passage bills such as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and appropriations bills of 2023 were given priority, prevented the SAFE Act from being passed as a standalone bill or as a contestant on one of those bills . Despite the efforts of supporters, the bill never came before the Senate due to time constraints and competing priorities.
Despite this setback, some industry experts argue that the practical impact of the SAFE Banking Act would have simply been to formalize existing, albeit limited, links between financial institutions and marijuana-related businesses.
Financial institutions are indeed the commercial banks associated with marijuana
Peter So, senior vice president at Green Check Verified, one of the leading banking software and advisory services in the cannabis industry, explained that approval of the SAFE Banking Act would not significantly impact the industry.
“SAFE has the potential to be a huge boon for my business as I work with banks and credit unions that want to do business with cannabis. However, I don’t think it will have a significant impact on the cannabis industry. According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) , around 755 financial institutions currently bank cannabisBut insiders believe the number is closer to 250. But the point is, there are actually hundreds of financial institutions dispensing cannabis today.”
The fact that hundreds of financial institutions are currently involved in the cannabis business, despite the lack of specific legislation, suggests that a realistic situation similar to what the Banking SAFE Act would establish has already been created but on a smaller scale.
FinCEN is issued guidance in 2014 to clarify the expectations for financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) when providing services to marijuana-related businesses. These guidelines help financial institutions comply with their “BSA obligations and align the information provided by financial institutions in BSA reports with federal and state law enforcement priorities.” In simple terms, these guidelines help banks know how to handle transactions with marijuana-related businesses, and help the government keep track of any suspicious activities.
Su explained that the SAFE Banking Act could increase the number of financial institutions providing services to marijuana-related businesses, creating competition and giving companies more options for banking. This could lead to better rates and terms for marijuana companies and more access to banking services.
Cannabis transaction cash alternatives
like Marijuana is becoming increasingly legal across the United StatesDispensaries faced a unique challenge: access to financial services.
With marijuana still illegal at the federal level, traditional banks have been reluctant to provide services to dispensaries, leaving many to deal exclusively in cash. However, innovative solutions have emerged to address this issue. Cashless ATMs and PIN debit options are becoming increasingly popular among dispensaries, providing customers with a safe and convenient way to purchase cannabis products without the need for cash. Not only do these solutions increase revenue and simplify the payment process, but they also provide dispensaries with a way to reduce the risks associated with handling large amounts of cash.
However, Su argues that these options have not been popular with consumers because they tend to prefer the convenience of using credit cards.
“Consumers are reluctant to use cashless options because they require more work than they used to. As a result, consumers choose cash over these cashless options, even when they are available in the store,” he said.
However, handling cash can be dangerous for dispensaries as it increases the risk of violent crimes such as burglary and robbery. The SAFE Banking Act can help reduce these risks, but it is not a complete solution, even in countries where marijuana has been legalized nationwide, such as Canada, where dispensaries and marijuana-related businesses often have difficulty accessing the banking system.
Despite the legalization of marijuana in Canada, dispensaries and manufacturers continue to do so struggle to obtain bank accounts due to concerns from banks about working with marijuana-related businesses.
Su explained that this highlights the fact that although something may be legal, banks and credit unions may still be reluctant to work with these companies, and specialized software and experts are needed to help them navigate complex regulations and laws.
What’s next for the Safe Banking Act (SAFE)?
The failure of the Safe Banking Act led to Marijuana stocks drop, with many companies experiencing double-digit percentage declines. The industry is facing challenges from the current economic environment and regulatory uncertainty, which is a stark contrast to the high demand for cannabis stocks in 2018-2019.
A change in the capital markets, such as a cannabis company’s listing on a US stock exchange, will open up a whole new world of possibilities.
From a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) perspective, it’s about the same interest and concern.
Currently, listing on the Canadian Stock Exchange is the norm, resulting in a large number of SPACs, but the results have not always been favorable.
However, this is due not only to regulations but also to the decline of the cannabis industry in general. According to Su, a listing on the NASDAQ or New York Stock Exchange will have a significant impact.
The future prospects of the SAFE Banking Act, which aims to provide safe access to banks for cannabis companies, are uncertain. Despite support for the law, which has the potential to reduce crime, boost diversity and boost the economy, it failed to pass this year. However, there is a belief that it will be introduced again this year.
“I’m shocked the SAFE Banking Act didn’t pass. I thought there was a lot of positive talk about passing it. I assume it will be introduced again. I hope it passes because it would be great for the industry. Politics can be like a game of chess, where The law needs to be seized. There is a lot of support for it because it makes sense that companies that pay taxes should have the same banking rights as everyone else. I suppose it will be brought forward again this year,” Su said.


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Rotterdam’s new €175m market hall comes complete with apartments looping over it – some peeping out of giant avocado stones. It’s proudly pop, but is it just the Comic Sans of architecture?
credits: photo , website Guardian
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Posted on Wed Dec 18th, 2013 2:45pm PDT By X17 Staff
She's lucky to have them!
Khloe Kardashian and her younger sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner took care of business around L.A. today, and it seems as if the teenagers are doing everything they can to be there for Khlo and help lift her spirits as she deals with her divorce from Lamar Odom.
Kourtney and Kim have their hands-full with their kids, so it's not surprising they've been missing out on some of the sibling bonding.
All three of these ladies are being super secretive about their love lives lately!
The soon-to-be single Keeping Up with the Kardashians star is downplaying her newfound friendship with Matt Kemp and denying they are dating, while Kylie told Seventeen her rumored beau Jaden Smith is just a "friend". Then there's Kendall and her reported hot hookups with Harry Styles!
There will be no shortage of story lines for the next season of their reality show, that's for sure!
SEE THE GALLERY Khloe Kardashian Runs Errands With Kendall And Kylie Jenner
Stories from around the Web


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Sep 22, 2020
Trump to 'cut off' TikTok if deal cannot be saved
Sep 22, 2020
President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would save a deal to boost American control of Chinese-owned popular social media app TikTok if possible, but would "cut it off" if not.
Speaking to reporters before departing the White House, Trump said he had given a "preliminary ok" to a plan for U.S. companies Oracle and Walmart to take stakes in a new U.S. company to run TikTok, which is currently owned by China's Bytedance.
But the President also stressed that he could scrap the deal if it didn't satisfy his demands.
"If we can save it, we'll save it, and if we can't we'll cut it off," he said before traveling to Ohio. "We have to have total security. That's the only thing, very important, We have to have total security," he added.
Trump had previously made clear he wanted a U.S. company to buy TikTok, but questions have swirled about whether Bytedance will retain a majority stake in the new enterprise.
ByteDance said on Monday that it will own 80% of TikTok Global, a newly created U.S. company that will own most of the app's operations worldwide. ByteDance added that TikTok Global will become its subsidiary.
Oracle and Walmart Inc, which have agreed to take stakes in TikTok Global of 12.5% and 7.5% respectively, had said on Saturday that majority ownership of TikTok would be in American hands.
TikTok is currently entirely owned by ByteDance, which in turn is 40% owned by U.S. investors.
The Commerce Department postponed a ban on downloads of the TikTok app that was due to take effect on Sunday by one week, to give the companies time to finalize the deal.
Earlier on Monday, Trump told Fox News that Oracle and Walmart would have "total control" over TikTok.
"If we find that they don't have total control, then we're not going to approve the deal," Trump said.
© Thomson Reuters 2023 All rights reserved.


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Nokia won't give Apple a break.
The company filed patent-infringement claims against Apple in the U.K., Germany, and the Netherlands today. A total of 13 patents were included in the company's filings, bringing the total to 37 total claims against Apple.
In the U.K. High Court, Nokia charged that Apple violates four patents related to the use of a "touch user interface" and "on-device app stores," among others. The company filed a total of seven patent-infringement claims in two German district courts, charging that in addition to its use of the touch user interface, Apple allegedly violated patents related to messaging, caller ID services, and "display illumination." The company's Netherlands claims cover two patents "related to signal noise suppression and data card functionality," Nokia said.
"The Nokia inventions protected by these patents include several which enable compelling user experiences," Nokia vice president of intellectual property, Paul Melin, said in a statement. "For example, using a wiping gesture on a touch screen to navigate content, or enabling access to constantly changing services with an on-device app store, both filed more than ten years before the launch of the iPhone."
Apple did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Nokia's latest filings add yet another chapter in the ongoing saga between the two companies.
Nokia filed its first patent-infringement claim against Apple in 2009, alleging the company violated patents related to the use of GSM, 3G, and Wi-Fi. Apple then countersued Nokia last December, saying that the handset maker infringed 13 of its own patents, including signal processing and touch-screen display rotation.
Nokia filed a new suit earlier this year alleging patent infringements in Apple's iPad. It then followed that up with more patent-infringement claims in the U.K. in September.
Apple doesn't only find itself in legal battle with Nokia. The company fired off a slew of patent-infringement charges against HTC earlier this year, prompting that company to respond with patent-infringement claims of its own. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen also brought a patent lawsuit against Apple, Google, and other tech companies earlier this year, but that suit was thrown out earlier this week for being too vague.


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Employee ID specialist BadgePass is now making Allegion’s aptiQmobile NFC-based access control system commercially available to its clients, enabling customers to issue mobile credentials directly from BadgePass software to employees’ smartphones in the same way they issue physical cards today.
- India to rank states on digital transactions
- HSBC to launch Hong Kong P2P mobile payments app
- Indian mobile wallet adds healthcare services
- Singapore commuters to get NFC-enabled transport payment wearables
- Call to ‘digitise Indian rupee’ using blockchain


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TORONTO – Maple Leaf Foods unveiled its sustainability strategy and progress report. The company’s plan has four areas of emphasis:
• Advance Nutrition and Health: providing consumers with nutritious, sustainable and affordable food, made with simpler, natural ingredients;
• Value our People and Communities: advancing holistic approaches to food insecurity, which affects 1 in 6 Canadian children and 1 in 8 households;
• Treat Animals Well: dedicating the organizational focus and resources required to become a leader in animal care; and
• Eliminate Waste: reducing Maple Leaf’s environmental footprint by 50 percent in 10 years, focusing on emissions, water and waste reduction.
In addition to its sustainability initiatives, Maple Leaf also launched a website highlighting the company’s efforts at sodium reduction, antibiotic use and sow housing. The Feeding the Country, Responsibly website also features an interactive animation that describes the company’s supply chains.
|Michael McCain, CEO of Maple Leaf Foods Inc.
“The enormous challenge our world faces is the urgent need to sustainably feed an estimated two billion more people by 2050,” said Michael McCain, president and CEO. “We are setting high standards for ourselves in areas where Maple Leaf can have the greatest impact, including animal care, nutrition, environmental impact and food security.
“Sustainability is a profound opportunity to create shared value by addressing critical issues that also deliver commercial opportunities,” McCain added. “The issues are daunting, but as Canada's largest protein company, we want to be at the leading edge of change.”


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Stay on Top of Enterprise Technology Trends
Get updates impacting your industry from our GigaOm Research Community
Sky is disappointing one investment analyst ahead of its April 30 Q3 results. Morgan Stanley’s Patrick Wellington circulated a note, warning Sky will to spend big to keep pace with Virgin Media (NSDQ: VMED) and BT’s high-speed, next-gen broadband roll-outs: “This could mean capex of £675 million to £785 million over three to four years and meaningful initial start-up costs. Timing and scale of incremental investment is uncertain.” Via City AM.
It was only earlier this month that Moodys upgraded its Sky forecast in light of consumer growth, low debt and high per-customer revenue. But Morgan Stanley (via RapidTVNews) says the satcaster is “less financially resilient


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By Thought Pick
The debate of how twitter will be able to make green to materialize its success has been a contentious question on the minds of many in social media. There has been a lot of talk about the different models that Twitter can take up, and Twitter has just taken the first step on adopting a model.
So, Why Is It Taking This Long?
With about 51.6 million visitors (as of July – comScore), Twitter is still not able to see the dollar sign in all those eyeballs. The problem has been that the nature of Twitter creates some obstacles that require quite the creative model to overcome. Twitter’s claim to fame has been its accessibility and simplicity, whether it’s in the millions of ways that you can access the service or the openness of its API, it has been loved for those qualities. Yet those same qualities are complicating the answer to our original question. The fact of the matter is that they don’t serve ads because they fear alienating their users, especially that Twitter has a lot of users who never access the website directly and only use it through other clients and services. But things are starting to shift and it seems that Biz Stone is shuffling its feet towards settling on a business model.
Last week, every Twitter user received an email informing him/her that there have been changes made to the end user license agreement. The terms of service for the API, spam, and ownership have been tweaked, but the most important change, in my opinion, is that Twitter has opened the door for selling advertisement space via its service. While which advertising model they will adopt is a completely different discussion, their inclusion of this change in the terms of service means that they are seriously considering it.
So, How Will Twitter Make Those Greenbacks?
Advertisements are just one of the many options that Twitter might take to generate revenue. One of the promising options is for Twitter to offer corporate or pro accounts on its service that will open up the door to a whole new way of utilizing the service. Those corporate accounts will possibly come with their own set of underlying API’s that will provide them with more search and outreach capabilities and possibly open the door for businesses to get better analysis on how Twitter is impacting their business.
Speaking of brands, a lot of brands have been using Twitter for commercial services and there has been measurable data about what increase in sales was generated by the Twitter effect. Dell, Comcast, and other businesses offer discounts and services on Twitter. Therefore, Twitter might need to think about offering advanced brand monitoring services, where any conversation that will mention the brand will be tagged with information about the company and possibly their latest offers or services.
Or It Could Just Sell It While Its HOT!
Moving away from selling add-ons or specialty services, Twitter can sell the service it already provides in some unique ways, like partnering with mobile device carriers and makers to create Twitter devices or carrier services. If they enter the mobile market they might be what the mobile web needs to reach the tipping point, with social media contributing to more than half of the Internet’s traffic, carrier based Twitter service might create the incentive to use the mobile web more often.
Other than the service itself, Twitter already has a wealth of users, and its users’ demographic and statistical data is definitely the “Holy Grail” for many web marketers. While one of the changes to the terms of service is that it affirms that you own your tweets, it still gives Twitter the right to use them, and, if used anonymously, they might allow those marketers insight into what people are thinking and gravitating towards, the thought alone will make them salivate.
And Money They Shall Make!
Whichever way Twitter chooses to go, there one certain thing is that it will be able to capitalize on its popularity one way or another. So the question is not if it’s going to be able to do it but how?
So how do you see Twitter making money? Could they possibly conjure the scorn of their fans if they divorce their core qualities and maybe start charging for access through 3rd party apps or for the API? Let us hear your thoughts.


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The team at Ripple has announced a new accelerator program for commercial and enterprise companies that are joining RippleNet. Funded by $300 Million in XRP from Ripple’s holdings, the rewards will be processed via volume rebates and an adoption marketing incentive.
One of the most interesting concepts of this accelerator program is the volume rebates. The Volume Rebate provides license and integration-fee rebates to RippleNet members once they’ve reached integration and volume milestones by certain deadlines. Depending on the volume processed, these rebates can cover anywhere between 50 to 300 percent of the integration fees and first year’s license fees.
The volume rebate will be available in XRP or USD and is meant to accelerate the adoption and usage of Ripple solutions. The team at Ripple has explained that selling restrictions will apply to customers willing to receive XRP for the rebate. This restriction is actually a positive thing because it’ll prevent the market numbers from going wild.
Ripple is sort of copying PayPal (with their early days adoption and referral bonuses), implementing incentives to accelerate network effects on RippleNet. This is a referral method to attract more users onto the platform.
Since Ripple is offering the incentives in XRP, the company anticipate seeing an added benefit of building an easy on-ramp for institutions to use XRP in their payment flows to lower liquidity cost in the future.
Early reception of these XRP incentives in a test phase has been very positive according to Ripple themselves.
For the adoption marketing incentive, the program will match the marketing costs for eligible customers who promote Ripple solutions to their customers. Ripple will support the marketing efforts with tailored marketing content, messaging frameworks and tools in a bid to reduce their customer’s total costs. The incentive will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. It can be earned through XRP or USD. In the case of the former, similar selling restrictions will apply to support healthy XRP markets.
Again, this is quite similar to the referral programs that other payment solutions have offered in the past. Paypal was really well known for this in their early days and it was a big attribution to their early stage growth.
Ripple also isn’t the only one coming up with an accelerator program to boost their eco-system. There’s been many other companies in the blockchain space such as TRON and EOS stepping up their game to foster more talented companies.


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Coca-Cola, Kraft and Papa John’s bare scars in battle to make ‘mobile advertising not suck’
Mobile is heralded as the solution to effective cross-platform marketing but for Coca-Cola, Kraft and Papa John’s harnessing the unique intimacy and portability of the medium remains elusive in strategies labouring to break from the performance-obsessed models of the desktop.
“Mobile advertising sucks,” agreed all three companies at SXSW. Redundant ad formats, limited expertise and a marketer’s fear of missing out were slammed by the brands for stunting their use of mobile though they all claim to be nurturing a mobile first approach now that isn’t trying to fit a responsive ad into a mobile screen.
The efforts vary in maturity but each brand is trying to elevate their baseline level of mobile IQ, through training programmes and agencies, to ensure their marketers know they can’t get away of tackling an Instagram campaign in the same they a TV ad. It will take time for the strategies to flourish but the brands now have the battle scars and importantly more experience to finally understand what it will take to marry the content and context of their mobile efforts.
Coke strives to make mobile marketing a sixth sense
For a company as old as the 127-year Coca-Cola, the challenge is taking what it does best in telling stories and evolving that for the mobile consumer increasingly making purchases from their phones. “Mobile advertising sucks because we’re approaching it in the same way we approach traditional advertising,” admitted Zoe Levine, senior digital marketing manager at Coke.
“At Coke we wouldn’t put out an ok TV spot but we’re ok with putting out an OK banner ad, which to me is almost unacceptable. Mobile is such a personal device. Peoples lives are on that phone. You can’t throw a firehose message out that. I want personalised content.”
Coke’s mobile strategy envisions a world where people buy a drink from their mobile, resulting in them holding their device in one hand and a Coca-Cola in the other. There are lot more people holding a phone - 7 billion - than there are holding a Coke – 1.9 billion – according to the drinks business and the aim is to harness the ubiquity of the medium to win at the point of sale.
The company is sifting through the reams of data it has on customers to shape these efforts, placing some bets on proximity in the belief that understanding where a person is in context to where they can get a Coke could prove key.
While its mobile marketing view is maturing, Coke is still being led by the technology rather than the consumer in some instances. Levine used the brand’s latest beacons test to clarify the point, which sees it partner with restaurants and vendors in Atlanta through the Mid Town Red app to serve ads urging people to go into store to purchase a Coke.
This approach isn’t “sustainable”, admitted Levine. Especially if you don’t know how I’m interacting with the brand. If I’m a loyal Coca-Cola drinker then why would you spend the money on getting me to go out and buy [one] if I’m already going to do that? We’re talking about mobile so broadly but the real opportunity is to get so targeted.
The issue is compounded by the company’s 70:20:10 rule, which limits innovation spend to 10 per cent of its campaign budget as well as a dearth of best practice guidelines on how to think mobile first. “We have such a hard time at Coca-Cola finding the small data within this mass data to make informed decisions. If you think about precision marketing then that’s how we should be doing mobile advertising today,” Levine said.
“Once we get to that point or when [mobile marketing] is a practice within our organisation then we’ll be able to better inform our agency partners as well,” she continued. “[That 10 per cent for innovation] is interesting way to approach innovation because you’re almost pigeonholed into 10 per cent of your time and that’s across the board, from mobile to social, ect.”
Kraft wants brand building creativity from mobile
Kraft is facing similar issues but is already seeing its fledgling mobile approach move the dial when it comes to the way it plans its annual cycle of activity for its brands.
Marketing for brands such as Oscar Mayer has shifted to a rhythm of five activations a year now around big, creative brand building ideas. For example, Kraft’s Oscar Mayer food brand Oscar Mayer offered fans the chance to lease a “Wienermobile” (see video) in exchange for a Tweet last January before the launch of its “Wake up and smell the bacon” iPhone app. It also ran a social media push to promote turkey bacon, the "unsung hero of the bacon family" it claimed, with a social media fellow second fiddle Michael Bacon – the mostly-unknown brother of movie star Kevin.
“All of a sudden people were asking where this brand came from. This old brand that saw its best days in the 70s is all of a suddenly doing a lot of cool virals. That’s what we’re going after now,” explained Tom Bick, senior marketing director of Kraft Foods. “Our big bets aren’t on technology. It’s the ideas. We would never have done this stuff three or four years ago. For us it’s about using mobile for brand building rather than the transactions.”
Papa John’s kicks out fear of missing out attitude to mobile
Despite essentially being a commerce business, Papa John’s backed the notion of brand first rather than performance when it comes to mobile. The pizza chain, which does very little mobile advertising, said it looks at mobile not as an advertising medium so much as a way to make a lot of its customers lives easier when it comes to how and when they want a pizza.
With an attitude like this, it is unsurprising that Papa John’s is ahead of most marketers when it comes to mobile with sales from the channel pushing digital to account for half its annual sales in the US in 2014. However, the retailer refuses to rest on its laurels and said customers can expect an “exciting innovation” that will try and resolve lingering “pain points” throughout the path to purchase within the month. The business sees mobile as key to enhancing its email offering, which it deems a critical channel to the way it surfaces personalised content.
Jim Ensign, vice president of global digital marketing at Papa John’s, said: “Marketers have this fear of missing out that if they don’t do something then somebody else is going to do it. We’re throwing so much at the wall and I’m really worried that we’re going to kill the goose that’s going to lay the golden egg [in mobile] in about five years.”
When and how will mobile advertising be any good?
The figurative golden egg can only be discovered if marketers have the tools to reach consumers and at the moment those they have leave a lot to be desired. Mobile units; from static banners to expanding ones were accepted by all three companies as a necessary evil but they admittedly yearn for more expansive formats. Sharper targeting was touted as a short term solution to rising banner fatigue with the real frustration for brands and media agencies alike being that there are not enough creative formats at scale.
It is why Coke is increasingly turning toward the likes of Snapchat and WhatsApp, platforms that offer personalisation at scale. Social media could become a viable outlet to push out more online video, which Levine felt was going to be key to mobile advertising revenue spikes moving forward.
“Mobile advertising is social and social advertising is mobile – period, said Coke’s Levine. “The targeting capabilities on social are getting more robust which excites me, especially from a mobile perspective such as one-on one-communications. I get more excited about a Snapchat opportunity and WhatsApp. How brands are going to embed themselves into this very personal conversation in a natural organic way is something no one has figured out yet. We’re talking about mobile so broadly but the real opportunity is to get so targeted."
Coke and Kraft were also mindful of the role publishers play in their mobile gambits but revealed there is still disparity between what brand and media owner wanted, particularly when it came to issues such as viewability.
Additionally, both are still working out how to comprehensively measure their mobile marketing, whether they stick to traditional metrics or rely on the ever-widening pool of newer alternatives.
Kraft’s Bick said: “We’re drowning in different metrics but at the end of the deal most big clients would tend to look at one big measurement at the end of the period. For us we still use marketing mix modelling but everything has to show up in the marketing mix. The thing that’s ironic about that is they are the linear model – each event is theoretically independent. What we’re doing as brand marketers try to do multi-touch attribution and say that the sum of the [marketing] is greater than the individual parts.”
Mobile connections are forecasted to grow over seven times by 2020. All those possible connections will mean marketers will need to make mobile a sixth sense, converting the analogue world around us into digital signals distributed, interpreted and shared across mobile networks.


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eCommerce Checkout Platform Bolt Raises $68 Million in Funding
Bolt, the San Francisco-based startup that operates an eCommerce checkout platform in the cloud, raised $68 million in venture funding bringing its total capital raised to date to $90 million.
The Series B round of funding was led by Activant Capital and Tribe Capital and included personal investments from current and former retail and brand executives from REVOLVE, Crocs, Forever 21 and Jet.com among others. It’s the largest round of funding the startup has raised since launching in January of 2018.
Founder and Chief Executive Ryan Breslow credits the interest on the part of venture capitalists to Bolt’s ability to take something complex and make it easy for retailers to integrate into their back end. As it stands, many online merchants use different software to enable checkout, which adds complexity. Bolt’s cloud-based platform combines checkout, payments and fraud protection in one product to allow retailers to better compete against Amazon which has perfected the one-click shopping experience.
“We have a product that's both important and difficult to build in a very big market,” said Breslow. “Traditionally retailers had to build their own checkout and buying experience.” That has proved difficult for online merchants big and small alike which end up losing business to Amazon. “One of the biggest reasons people shop on Amazon is because it’s convenient,” he said.
Since coming out of stealth mode, Bolt has obtained annualized payment processing volume of more than $1 billion, conducted more than 1.5 million transactions through the platform, and helped customers realize more than $25 million in new sales. It’s success so far flies in the face of Google, which tried to do what Bolt is doing with Google Checkout, only to shutter the service in November of 2013.
“There are thousands of different tools eCommerce companies use,” said Breslow. “Couple that with discounts, loyalty payments, new user registration and all the things that happen at checkout and it was far more complex than Google thought.” Bolt, said the executive, is the plumbing that surrounds the checkout for e-commerce businesses allowing them to use their current system rather than a platform like Google Checkout that needed to be integrated.
Bolt’s success comes at a time when the business of selling directly to the consumers is booming. Thanks to the Internet and Amazon, scores of new brands are coming online selling everything from apparel to furniture. These brands are forgoing the middleman, selling direct to consumers online and in pop up stores around the country. One of the downsides is that these brands don’t have the buying experience that Amazon has, which hurts business. The more hoops a consumer has to go through the less likely they are to complete the sale. Called shopping cart abandonment, it's a major issue for lesser known brands online. That trend hasn’t been lost on venture capitalists and is one of the reasons Bolt was able to close its largest funding round to date, said Breslow. But Bolt isn’t the only one trying to help eCommerce companies process transactions. Square, the payment company founded by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey is a heavy hitter in the marketplace.
Proceeds from the capital raise will go to expand Bolts product offering and build out its engineering team. The company has grown from ten employees last year to more than 125 with staff coming from Google, Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, Pinterest, and Braintree. The money will also go to expand into new markets and to capture more business from enterprise companies. Bolt isn’t profitable to date, but Breslow said the company has “healthy” revenue and margins. With growth on its mind, it's reinvesting a lot of it to expand and continue to grow at a fast rate. He declined to comment on the company’s valuation.
The idea behind Bolt does appear to resonate with retailers that are looking for a way to take on Amazon. Bolt counts retailers with millions of dollars in annual sales to ones with hundreds of millions of dollars in yearly sales as customers. Of the retail executives that participated in the Series B round, Breslow said some will likely become customers while others personally invested because they get it. Bolt’s goal is to add more large retailers to its client roster as it moves forward. “We’re signing up bigger accounts with more payment volume,” said the executive. “Bolt is becoming a real enterprise platform. For bigger retailers with more resources, the problem isn’t any smaller it’s far greater. The technical complexity reaches a point where it’s almost impossible to innovate or improve.”


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Bristol-Myers Squibb's (BMY 0.23%) acquisition of the biopharmaceutical company Celgene -- one of the most expensive acquisitions in the history of the pharmaceutical industry -- didn't exactly go smoothly. First, the cash and stock transaction valued at $74 billion encountered some opposition from unhappy Bristol-Myers shareholders. In particular, the company's largest institutional shareholder -- Wellington Management -- expressed its discontent with the transaction. Wellington Management argued that although Bristol-Myers should be "active in business development," the acquisition of Celgene put added (and unnecessary) risk on Bristol-Myers' investors.
Second, to make the approval process go a bit easier with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which had reservations about the merger due to antitrust concerns, Bristol-Myers announced it would be selling Celgene's psoriasis drug Otezla. At the time, the company thought this development would push the closing of the acquisition to the first quarter of 2020, instead of it closing in the third quarter of the current fiscal year.
However, the FTC cleared the merger on Nov. 15 and Bristol-Myers officially closed the acquisition on Nov. 20. Although the closing of the deal was a bit delayed, the delay wasn't as bad as originally announced. Bristol-Myers' stock has been volatile throughout this process. The company's stock sank when the acquisition was first announced, and dropped again when Bristol-Myers announced it would be selling Celgene's Otezla. Now that the dust has settled, though, those who own shares of this newly formed entity have much to look forward to.
A strong lineup
One of Bristol-Myers' top-selling products is cancer drug Opdivo, and although the medicine still generates well over $1 billion in sales every quarter, it has been losing steam lately due to stiff competition from Merck's Keytruda. During the third quarter, sales of Opdivo were about $1.8 billion, representing a measly 1% increase compared to the year-ago period. Still, Opdivo is being evaluated for many other conditions, and the research firm EvaluatePharma projected it would be one of the five best-selling drugs in the world by 2024.
Bristol-Myers' current top-selling medicine, Eliquis, is also on track to become one of the best selling drugs in the world by 2024. During the third quarter, sales of Eliquis -- which is used to treat blood clots -- was $1.9 billion and improved by 22% year over year. However, Bristol-Myers markets Eliquis with Pfizer, so the company will have to share the spoils from this product. In addition to Eliquis and Opdivo, the pharma company has other products to rely on. For instance, Bristol-Myers markets Orencia, a drug that reduces the symptoms of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA). During the third quarter, sales of Orencia were $767 million, representing a 14% year over year increase.
Furthermore, Orencia recently received a new designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the prevention of moderate to severe acute graft-versus-host disease, a condition that sometimes arises as a result of stem cell transplants for the treatment of certain illnesses. This life-threatening condition -- which affects up to 40% of patients who receive stem cell transplants for the treatment of diseases such as leukemia -- does not have any approved therapies. In short, Orencia's market just got broader, which is good news for Bristol-Myers and its shareholders.
Lastly, through its acquisition of Celgene, Bristol-Myers will have access to Revlimid, a medicine for the treatment of multiple myeloma and also one of the world's best-selling drugs. Sales of Revlimid during the third quarter were $2.8 billion, up 13% compared to the prior-year period, but the drug will likely encounter competition starting in 2022. That being said, Bristol-Myers' lineup looks strong overall.
A promising pipeline and a solid dividend
Bristol-Myers also boasts a strong pipeline, and some of its most promising products were acquired in the Celgene takeover. These include liso-cel, a potential treatment for lymphoma that the company hopes to submit for approval by the end of 2020. There's also ozanimod, a medicine set to treat multiple sclerosis that is currently being reviewed by the FDA. According to the pharma company, its late-stage pipeline could generate more than $15 billion in revenue.
If that prediction is even remotely accurate, Bristol-Myers has a lot to look forward to, and its shareholders will reap the benefits as well. Let's not forget about Bristol-Myers' dividend. The drugmaker currently boasts a 2.6% dividend yield, and although it has raised its quarterly dividend payout by only 10% over the past five years, Bristol-Myers' payout ratio is only 47.4%, so there's likely more dividend growth where that came from. Lastly, at $63 per share, Bristol-Myers is currently near its 52-week high, but the company is trading at just 10.42 times future earnings. At this price, Bristol-Myers' shareholders would do well to purchase more shares of the company.


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Public Health England’s calorie reduction plan represents a huge challenge for suppliers and retailers. Can they convince the public they’re not being conned?
Not since the birth of the FSA’s salt reduction programme in 2004 has the UK’s food and drink industry faced such a challenge as that laid down by Public Health England this week.
PHE has urged the industry to cut calories or reduce portion sizes across a huge range of products by 20% by 2024, after new evidence many children are consuming up to 500 calories a day too much.
But will this be the industry’s finest hour in the fight against obesity, or does it leave companies exposed to the wrath of unhappy consumers as supermarkets are forced to mess with their favourite products?
The FDF says the scale of the proposals announced on Tuesday are such that, on top of last year’s targets for sugar reduction, at least 50% of all foods in the UK are now the subject of reformulation targets.
Like the sugar targets (for which the first round of reporting is due next month) the reformulation targets have been split into 13 different sectors, but the range of products included dwarfs what has gone before.
War on calories: products in the firing line
Savoury biscuits & crackers; Bread with additions (eg ciabatta with olives);
Cooking sauces, table sauces and dressings; Crisps & savoury snacks; Egg products; Potato products (eg chips, prepared mash, etc);
Meat products and processed meats, poultry, fish, meat alternatives, etc (eg pies, pastries, sausages, burgers);
Pasta, rice and noodles, including flavoured and filled varieties; Ready meals and meal centres, including takeaways; Dips & composite salads (eg houmous, coleslaw);
Pizza; Food to go (eg sandwiches, composite salads with dressings); Soups. Source: PHE
They include all prepared sandwiches, pizzas, ready meals, processed meat, cooking sauces, chips (takeaway and frozen), crisps and sausages.
“This announcement is massive for the industry and could end up being as big as the salt reduction programme,” says one source who was at the PHE stakeholders meeting this week.
Yet in some respects, developments are a victory for industry leaders who have long complained about the demonisation of just one ingredient: sugar.
It is also a breakthrough for those who say the war on obesity will be won “by stealth”.
“The idea of trying to improve the health of everyday food is absolutely the right direction to go,” says the supplier source. “These changes need to be done across the industry by removing everyday ingredients, not by marketing diet products to customers.”
PHE’s model is the world-leading UK salt reduction programme that saw the industry achieve astonishing results from 2005 to 2014. In some foods, salt was reduced by up to 50%; average intakes fell 11%.
Yet after its initial success, industry efforts on salt stalled, leaving it in the line of fire of health groups for a failure to hit post-2014 targets. Some fear the same could happen on an even grander scale.
PHE admits some companies have already said the targets could push them to the limit, with a massive impact on costs and potentially on sales if the changes fail to pass the crucial consumer taste test.
Opponents say the demands will require changes en masse to manufacturing processes that would could cost billions and take years.
Other businesses, acknowledges PHE, claim that reformulation in their sectors has “reached the boundaries of what was possible”.
PHE claims products such as ready meals and pizza should be relatively simple to reformulate but one leading supplier says the knock-on impact will be massive.
“PHE talk a lot about this being a voluntary code,” says the source. “But when you’re an own label manufacturer this isn’t a voluntary code.
“I believe the retailers will pick this up and effectively make it mandatory for their suppliers. That’s exactly what we saw in the salt discussions.”
Jenny Arthur, head of nutrition and product development at Leatherhead Food Research, believes the new targets will “spark a wave of reformulation”.
“Products like pizzas, ready meals and savoury snacks can all be high in fats,” she said. “Identifying appropriate fat replacers will be a priority for many. This has been on the health agenda of the food industry for some time. Previously there have been so-called ‘diet ranges’ with lower fat levels, However, increasingly consumers are looking for healthier everyday foods.”
Possible ingredient solutions including carbohydrate-based fat mimetics such as maltodextrins, polydextroses, microcrystalline celluloses, starches, fibres and gums, which contribute tiny amounts of calories, in the region of 0 to 4kcal/g, are being increasingly tested.
But while these can absorb water, add volume, thicken and stabilise products, as well as creating properties that mimic those of fats, they come with a health warning attached.
“They can impact products’ appearance, texture, oral breakdown and flavour delivery, as well as stability and microbiological safety,” says Arthur.
“What’s more, switching one ingredient for another is rarely straightforward.”
It seems likely many companies will seek to hit the targets by simply shrinking portions. This is being encouraged by PHE, but could be risky.
Portion size played no part in the salt reduction programme. And while a Cochrane Review estimated eliminating larger-sized portions from the diet completely could reduce energy intake by up to 16% among UK adults, even PHE admits the evidence is “limited”.
The industry’s move to cap chocolate bars to a maximum of 250 calories per bar is held up as an example, but ironically this is one of the categories expected to struggle to hit the sugar reduction targets when they come out in a few weeks.
What is not in doubt is the backlash companies can expect from consumers if they are seen to be shrinking products without also reducing prices.
Last year, the Office for National Statistics released figures showing more than 2,500 products had shrunk in size over the previous five years - not just chocolate but the likes of jam, syrups, biscuits and even bagged sugar.
Ignoring the fact that these were at the centre of the war on sugar intake, the industry was panned by the press for conning consumers.
PHE chief executive Duncan Selbie told suppliers at this week’s launch of the programme that it would not “hide behind the lamppost” once the flak starts flying over reduced portion sizes.
“That’s all very well but in reality there’s very little it can do. It’s got a limited budget and the days of the FSA’s Sid the Slug [the animated TV character used in the agency’s campaign to warn of the dangers of too much salt intake] are long gone.”
It will surely take more than Selbie, or Sid, to stop the mass media in its tracks if PHE’s landmark move towards a healthier diet leads to a move en masse towards shrinkflation.


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USA Network just announced the first-ever live shoppable competition series America’s Big Deal from entrepreneur Joy Mangano, premiering October 14th
- Joy Mangano, the inventor of the Miracle Mop and Huggable Hangers, is looking for the next big thing with the new USA Network series America’s Big Deal.
- Hosted by Scott Evans from Access Hollywood, the show features a panel of retailers who can offer deals to contestants but only based on those with the most live sales during the show.
- The goal of America’s Big Deal is to lift up America’s greatest small businesses and inventors.
- The live on-air shopping experience will be managed through One Platform Commerce @ NBCU via ShoppableTV and NBCUniversal Checkout.
- Each entrepreneur will have three minutes to pitch their products, which will be available to viewers live during the show, setting it apart from other entrepreneurial pitch shows.
- ShoppableTV QR codes will appear on the screen during the show for viewers to support the products they want to see succeed.
- America’s Big Deal premieres Thursday, October 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on USA Network
- The series’ executive producers are DIGA Studios’ Tony DiSanto, Nick Rigg, Shawn Strickland and showrunner Alison Holloway. Joy Mangano also serves as executive producer.
Alex joined the Laughing Place team in 2014 and has been a lifelong Disney fan. His main beats for LP are Disney-branded movies, TV shows, books, music and toys. He recently became a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA).


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Attorney General Ashley Moody and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles today launched the #SteerClearOfFraudOAG campaign. The weeklong consumer awareness campaign is designed to warn Florida drivers about various types of automotive fraud. To kick off the campaign, leadership from FLHSMV joined Attorney General Moody in Jacksonville to announce more than a million dollars in restitution for Florida drivers whose liens were not timely paid off on vehicles traded into the dealership.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “We are shifting into high gear to protect Florida drivers from all types of automotive fraud. Today, we announced more than a million dollars in restitution for Florida drivers who were sold cars with outstanding liens, and all week long we will be reaching out directly to drivers via social media to let them know how to avoid automotive fraud and what to do if they fall victim to deceptive practices.”
FLHSMV Executive Director Terry L. Rhodes said, “Through the licensing and regulation of dealerships in Florida, the department is committed to ensuring when a customer walks into a dealership to buy a car, they are met with a fair, transparent and honest car buying experience. I appreciate Attorney General Moody for championing the rights of consumers and holding those who engage in deceptive practices accountable.”
Attorney General Moody and FLHSMV will be reaching out directly to Florida drivers this week via social media with consumer tips and resources. The state agencies will provide information about odometer rollbacks, auto repair fraud, car contracts, tag renewals and more.
Apart from fighting fraud, the Attorney General’s Office also enforces the state’s Lemon Law. Since the program’s inception in 1989, the Attorney General’s Office has recovered more than $476 million in value for Florida drivers through Lemon Law arbitration. The #SteerClearOfFraudOAG campaign will include more information about the Lemon Law program.
Follow the campaign online at Twitter.com/AGAshleyMoody and Twitter.com/FLHSMV.
Today’s million-dollar restitution announcement followed a Consumer Protection investigation by Attorney General Moody’s Office. The investigation has led to an agreement with Riverside Chevrolet LLC of Jacksonville and its owner, Andrew Ferguson. As a result of the investigation and litigation filed by the Attorney General, Riverside Chevrolet LLC will pay more than $1 million in consumer restitution. The filed suit accused the car dealership of not paying off previous liens on cars that were traded-in, failing to pay sales taxes to the state and failing to pay employee withholding taxes.
As a result of the investigation, Riverside Chevrolet LLC has agreed to pay consumer restitution of $1,215,219 by paying off the outstanding liens on vehicles traded in to Riverside Chevrolet LLC by consumers between Aug. 2017 and Aug. 2018 that were not promptly paid off by the dealership. At least 17 of the affected consumers were seniors, with liens valued collectively at $295,000 that were satisfied. Riverside Chevrolet LLC also must pay $235,000 in civil penalties to the state, with over $58,000 of the penalties imposed for violations involving seniors, and $15,000 for the Attorney General’s attorney’s fees. The agreement also includes a permanent injunction barring Andrew Ferguson from owning, operating, or managing an automobile dealership in Florida at any time in the future.
To view the Riverside Chevrolet LLC complaint, click here.
To view the Final Judgment, click here.
Riverside Chevrolet LLC is now under new ownership. The new owners fully cooperated with the Attorney General’s investigation.


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Kenyan Government has revealed that the tourism industry, one of the East African nation’s top sources of hard currency, surged 83% in 2022 to 268 billion shillings ($2.13 billion) as COVID curbs eased.
According to reuters.com, visitors rebounded to 72% of their pre-pandemic level in 2019, Tourism Minister Peninah Malonza told reporters, outpacing the rest of the continent which stands at 65% of the pre-pandemic level.
Kenya offers beach holidays along its Indian Ocean coastline and wildlife safaris inland. The Unites States was the main source of visitors during the year, Malonza said, followed by Uganda, Britain and Tanzania.
China, which had been a growing source market before the pandemic struck, started to ease travel restrictions this year.
Kenyan authorities will focus their marketing efforts on emerging markets like Rwanda, Nigeria and Ethiopia, Malonza said.
Tourism earnings are projected to rise to 425 billion shillings ($3.37 billion) this year, said David Gitonga, chief executive of the state Tourism Research Institute, before increasing to 540 billion shillings in 2027.
But the sector is also facing serious challenges, said Kareke Mbiuki, chairman of parliament’s tourism and wildlife committee, citing cuts for infrastructure required by the sector, part of a broader austerity drive by the government.
The country is also facing a severe drought, Malonza said.
Hilton (HLT.N) closed its 50-year-old hotel in downtown Nairobi at the start of this year, in a further sign of the problems facing the sector that contributes a tenth of Kenya’s annual economic output.


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Rockwell Automation approved a $1 billion buyback and raised its quarterly dividend by 11 percent Friday.
The industrial machinery maker said Friday that the buyback is in addition to an existing $1 billion repurchase program.
The quarterly dividend of 47 cents per share will be paid on Sept. 10 to shareholders of record on Aug. 13.
In April Rockwell Automation reported that its fiscal second-quarter profit rose less than a percent, as a higher tax rate and other costs offset a sales increase.
Shares of Rockwell Automation Inc., based in Milwaukee, gained 24 cents to $69.40 in morning trading.


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We all know that China, although it has turned its back on cryptocurrencies in recent months, will not be able to continue maintaining such a policy for much longer. For that certainty is gaining strength now that China’s central bank has made its intentions to establish its own digital payment system.
Without anticipating levels of adoption of a national cryptocurrency, authorities of the Central Bank of China announced in recent days that they are working on what they call Electronic Payment in Digital Currency, whose objective would be to facilitate people to send money quickly, safely and convenient for business transactions.
About the platform itself, it has not been definitively determined if it will be developed on blockchain technology or other technologies, despite the consensus in establishing a national digital payment system is clear.
The digital electronic payment system seeks to solve certain problems of financial stability, as well as helping in the prevention of risks and consumer protection. The system is geared towards the realization of non-volatile digital money, with which they seek a stability that allows an adequate planning of economic factors.
According to sources from the Chinese Central Bank, the idea is to develop a system in which the digital currency achieves solutions in terms of convenience, speed and low cost of the retail payment system, taking into account the security and protection of privacy of the people.
In fact, the vision of the development of the digital currency can displace the use and management of fiat money as we know it today, given that it is inevitable to experience an evolution motivated by technological developments.
Although in fact it seems to be the opposite, the authorities of the Central Bank of China have made it clear that they support the blockchain technology, and that the 2017 restrictions were due to a research plan on digital currency and electronic payments, which was approved by the Council of State, in the vision of knowing more closely everything concerning the development of the phenomenon of ICOs and their impact on the economy.
As to which base platform would be the most suitable for the construction of Electronic Payment in Digital Currency, everything seems to indicate that it will be done with blockchain technology. In fact it is already known that there have been conversations by the OK Coin company with the Chinese government in the sense of willingness to collaborate with the project.
More specifically it was learned through a Wechat group chat, that the CEO of OK Coin informed his staff that he had been in conversations with Chinese officials about OKCoin’s expansion plan abroad, and the development operations, also expressing that The firm is “ready to be donated to the country at any time in the future.” This evidently has given an important material of comments that have even brought us to this note.
What is reasonable to expect, is that the digital payment solution that the Chinese government decides to adopt will obviously be very particular, sacrificing some natural characteristics of all cryptocurrencies, such as the decentralized aspect, and even anonymity, things that we have already seen in the cases of Venezuela and the Marshall Islands recently.


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About a year ago, if you posted a question, complaint or compliment on one of Olive Garden’s social pages, you’d probably be ignored. According to Justin Sikora, Darden director of public relations and social media, it’s not that they didn’t care — just that they weren’t staffed to care.
With a third-party agency creating promotions and campaigns for Olive Garden’s social presence, they were prepared to push messaging, not help customers. In his presentation at SocialMedia.org’s Member Meeting in Chicago, Justin explains how they turned it around with a six-month program and five steps.
Here are a few big ideas from his case study:
- Take ownership from marketing and give PR the reins: With the public relations team handling social media, they were able to join the tougher conversations about things like breastfeeding in their restaurants, wage discussions and food preparation — not just promotional details.
- Bring community management in-house: Justin hired two community managers to join the team. This time, instead of just getting briefs on promotions, these community managers joined brand meetings, built relationships with Olive Garden employees and went into the test kitchens to become a voice for the brand.
- Make guest relations a big deal: Justin says bringing their guest relations team in early helped the social team understand the nuances of customer service. But he didn’t just ask for their opinion — he let them know social media at Olive Garden couldn’t be successful without guest relations’ skill set.
Watch Justin’s full case study in the video below:
See more social media case studies like this from brands like Wells Fargo, Burger King, Toyota, and five more at our Member Meeting in San Francisco this Feb. 4 and 5.


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There is no doubt that the continuous rise in electricity prices is a concern for all Australian households. As mentioned by the Chairman of the Australian and Competition Consumer Commission (ACCC) Rod Sims, this is a result of a flawed set of industry rules. Suggestions were made to fix network prices appeal processes to take into account price impacts, and merit reviews.
Further to this, inflation figures shown have reflected a 1.4 per cent rise in the consumer price index (CPI) in the September quarter, with electricity contributing the highest rise of 15 per cent, partially due to the introduction of the carbon tax.
Whilst climate change minister, Greg Combet has said that the rise in figures is less than estimated, it is inevitably, extra costs that Australian households must bear. True Value Solar, Australia’s largest solar company, recommends households to fight against the rise in electricity prices and reduce dependence on the electricity grid.
A solar power system installation can allow households and businesses to generate their own electricity directly from the sun. This will reduce the need for fossil fuel generated electricity, and in turn, reduce electricity bills. Sign up with Australia’s largest solar company today.
Have a read:


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PARTNER NEWS: Saudi Arabia’s Riyad Bank is migrating its entire portfolio to digital security giant Gemalto’s Clarista Contactless EMV card — powered by the industry-standard Multos operating system — making it the country’s first contactless payment method.
“Riyad Bank achieved SAMA certification recently and Gemalto was first to offer a dual interface card that meets this requirement, a key determining factor in our decision,” says Khalid Hariry, senior vice president and head of retail products and services section at Riyad Bank.
“Based on Riyad Bank’s long-standing and successful business partnership with Gemalto and their position as world leader in contactless EMV cards, they were the natural choice for our innovative project.”
Full details can be found in the press release:
Riyad Bank launches Saudi Arabia’s first contactless EMV bank card with Gemalto
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Sept. 29, 2015 — Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, announced that Riyad Bank, one of Saudi Arabia’s foremost financial institutions, is migrating its entire portfolio to Gemalto’s Clarista Contactless EMV card, powered with the industry-standard MULTOS operating system. This is the country’s first contactless payment method, which grants Riyad Bank a clear differentiator in the local retail banking market.
Consumers love the convenience and speed of paying with a contactless card – no more fumbling for cash, counting change, or wondering about whether they have enough cash for a purchase. The introduction of contactless cards puts Riyad Bank at the forefront of one of the most powerful trends currently shaping the consumer environment in Saudi Arabia, where the contactless infrastructure is being established. The latest report from ABI Research predicts there will be 100,000 contactless payment terminals across Saudi Arabia by the end of 2015, rising to 500,000 by 2019*.
“Riyad Bank achieved SAMA** certification recently and Gemalto was first to offer a dual interface card that meets this requirement, a key determining factor in our decision,” said Khalid Hariry, senior vice president and head of retail products and services section at Riyad Bank. “Based on Riyad Bank’s long-standing and successful business partnership with Gemalto and their position as world leader in contactless EMV cards, they were the natural choice for our innovative project.”
“Riyad Bank will reap the benefits of being first to market in Saudi Arabia, with a solution that offers broad appeal, especially for young, fashion-conscious consumers,” said Eric Claudel, president of Middle East & Africa for Gemalto. “Gemalto is committed to supporting Riyad Bank in their contactless strategy, which could evolve towards mobile NFC solutions.”
* ABI Research: “Payment card and banking card contactless technology market data”; Dec. 2014
** Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA)
Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security, with 2014 annual revenues of €2.5 billion and blue-chip customers in over 180 countries.
Gemalto helps people trust one another in an increasingly connected digital world. Billions of people want better lifestyles, smarter living environments, and the freedom to communicate, shop, travel, bank, entertain and work – anytime, everywhere – in ways that are enjoyable and safe. In this fast moving mobile and digital environment, we enable companies and administrations to offer a wide range of trusted and convenient services by securing financial transactions, mobile services, public and private clouds, eHealthcare systems, access to eGovernment services, the Internet and internet-of-things and transport ticketing systems.
Gemalto’s unique technology portfolio – from advanced cryptographic software embedded in a variety of familiar objects, to highly robust and scalable back-office platforms for authentication, encryption and digital credential management – is delivered by our world-class service teams. Our 14,000 employees operate out of 99 offices, 34 personalization and data centers, and 24 research and software development centers located in 46 countries.


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Toowoomba family-owned business' incredible year
TENTWORLD has wrapped up a stellar year by finishing in the SmartCompany Smart50 list for the second time in as many years, and taking out the Top Retailer Award.
The most recent accolade, awarded last month, is the latest in a string of awards collected by the company over the past 12 months.
The business, run by father and son Alex and Jon Burrell, also placed in the AFR's Fast 100 list, was named a finalist in this year's National Retail Association's Medium Retailer of the Year category, and took out Best Regional Business at the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce Heritage Bank Business Excellence Awards.
Jon Burrell is the third generation of the family to work the business, after it was started by his grandfather Rex in Toowoomba in 1968.
From helping out in the store at a young age during school holidays, Jon started working full time for the business in 2011 after a stint with Toowoomba Holden.
The company began expanding in 2004 with its first Brisbane store. The past two years has seen a further seven stores open under the Tentworld brand.
Jon said that it was rewarding to have his family and employees' hard work recognised.
Tentworld's point of difference was trying to "tick all three boxes" of range, price and service, he said.
"We've also got an omni-channel experience as well. (Customers) can browse our range online, and come into store and get it. Or they can pay the same price online and have it delivered to them," he said.
"If they buy online and need to, they can return it to a store for whatever reason.
"That's something that's obviously difficult to achieve and over the past few years we've been able to establish a true national network. The only missing piece is Sydney."


text: Almost every person has grocery shopping as a weekly chore. With the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a shift in the way consumers shop for their groceries. Companies like Amazon and Instacart were the only options in the past, yet the competition has been changing rapidly with new opportunities entering the market. First, it is a growing industry, with total sales doubling since the start of the pandemic. Consumers in the United States spent USD 1.7 trillion online between March 2020 and February 2022, which is USD 609 billion more than they did in 2018 and 2019. In 2022, the amount of money spent online was expected to hit USD 1 trillion for the first time, according to Adobe, who anticipates that increase to continue this year.


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The World AeroPress Championship has crowned its first virtual winner while uniting the global coffee community at a time it needs it most.
What started as a playful pastime is now a worldwide phenomenon. The 2021 World AeroPress Championship (WAC) saw more than 40 national representatives vie for the title of World AeroPress Champion, held as a ‘Compete from Home’ event on 5 March.
Going virtual for the first time, the 48 competitors brewed their best recipe for the judges via surrogate baristas in Melbourne at Bureaux Coffee Roastery and Coffeebar.
The knockout tournament followed, with judges blind tasting each AeroPress coffee and picking the cup they found tastiest each round.
That honour consistently went to Finland’s Tuomas Merikanto.
“The Finnish AeroPress Championship was the first competition I’ve ever competed in,” Tuomas says.
“I haven’t been on the third wave coffee scene all that long. It wasn’t until I started working at Kahiwa Coffee Roasters a year ago that I really got into coffee. To go from having minimal knowledge on the subject to winning a world competition in such a short time is an honour.”
“All my thanks go to my gorgeous coaches [at Kahiwa Coffee Roasters]. Owners Joonas Reinikainen and Joonas Markkanen taught me everything I know and have been such an important part of my journey.”
All competitors used Third Wave Water capsules to add minerals to the distilled water. Tuomas, however, was the only competitor to use the Espresso Profile capsule, which is a 100 per cent espresso profile capsule.
“I would have liked to use the same recipe as I did in the Finnish AeroPress Championship because I liked it a lot, but it didn’t just come out right with this specific coffee, so I made adjustments to suit the brew,” he says.
Maru Mallee from the Netherlands won second place, and Brandon Smith from South Africa won third place.
Simon Gautherin, Australia’s World AeroPress competitor from Toby’s Estate, unfortunately did not make it to the quarter finals.
While the event was not open to the public, online coverage was accessible across the Bureaux Coffee and World AeroPress Championship platforms.
Event Organiser and CEO of Bureaux Coffee, Tim Williams, says at its heart, the World AeroPress Championship exists to bring coffee-loving people together in an open, inclusive, and fun environment.
“Over the last two years, that has been very difficult to do. We developed a remote competition format so that anyone around the world could still take part,” he says.
“Although it was spectator free, we shifted our focus to ensure it was broadcasted and made people feel connected to the global coffee community, while still keeping safe.”
Tim says what originally started as a joke when two coffee lovers decided who could brew the best cup of AeroPress coffee, has blossomed into a global sensation.
“The first competition took place in a small room in Oslo, with only three competitors. Like many simple ideas, the competition has since grown organically, and now spans 120 regional and national events taking place in over 60 countries,” he says.
“I think anything that starts as a joke and 14 years later has a following in 65 countries and tens of thousands of people involved has some significance of its own.”
Tim adds that while it’s nice to crown an AeroPress champion, the real value is coming to an event like the AeroPress Championship is the sense of unity between participants.
“When 60 different countries are all getting together, you’re all in the one room, spending time together, brewing coffee, learning from each other, it really fosters a huge sense of community. I think that’s why the AeroPress Championship has grown exponentially,” he says.
“And certainly, what we’re very much looking forward to is getting back to a face-to-face event for the 2022 Championship, and that chance for people to actually connect properly again.”
Each season now sees more than 3000 competitors involved, and despite its size, the competition remains a light-hearted pursuit.
Coffee Tools Distributing has been an exclusive Australia distributor of the AeroPress since 2006 and for the first time, sponsored the WAC.
“We’ve always been involved with the competition, especially at the Australian level, and have had a long working relationship with Tim. It’s important to our company to show our support for the brand and for the product, especially as they’re a local group running the competition,” says Coffee Tools Distributing Director Curtis Arnold.
“Tim does an excellent job running the event. We always try to attend the competition and participate in any way we can, while providing financial support. We appreciate its informal nature and see the value in its authenticity.”
Curtis says to have a worldwide event based around such a humble idea as making an AeroPress coffee, is a triumph.
“It’s pretty rare that you have a competition like this spring up around a product, especially a simple tool like the AeroPress. It’s really cool to be a part of this phenomenon,” he says.
“The competition is taken very seriously, but at the same time it’s a little bit tongue-in-cheek too. Nobody’s going home with a million dollars or anything like that. It’s a nice community event,” he says.
WAC Organiser Tim has worked with Curtis for many years to help create an entertaining coffee competition. Without support such as that from Coffee Tools Distributing, events such as the WAC cannot simply come to life.
“Coffee Tools Distributing have been the distributor of AeroPress in Australia for the entire time I’ve been running the championship, and they’ve been a constant source of support,” says Tim.
“Every time we come up with a different crazy idea of how we’re going to conduct the championship, and what we’re going to do and how we’re going to adapt it to keep it interesting, Curtis has always been incredibly supportive and has shown a lot of trust in our ability to put an event together that really connects with the coffee community.”
This article appears in the April 2022 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.