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Oklahoma’s medical cannabis industry continues to experience growing pains. This time, some processors say they’re frustrated with the state’s new seed-to-sale system. “I can tell you that we have a quarter million worth of inventory that should be out in the market right now,” said Joe Hager, the co-founder of Nature’s Key cannabis company.
About a month ago, an inventory tracking system called seed-to-sale went into effect. The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) and a Florida-based company called Metrc teamed up to implement the tracking and compliance system. “We’ve been eager to see some regulation put in place to allow legitimate businesses like us to function at a high level,” said Hager.
However, he says his company’s products seem to be stuck in the weeds. “It hasn’t been processed through their system, so our business has been held up for the past 26 days. Our patients are starting to call concerned,” said Hager.
Hager told KFOR that nearly a dozen OKC businesses claim to be experiencing similar issues. “We’ve been calling every single day, reaching out to anyone and everyone that can listen to us,” said Hager.
To read the complete article, go to www.kfor.com


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According to the tech giant, these apps have proved to be essential for making life easier. Machash is the app to follow news and rumors about apple, macs and iphones. On november 8, parler took the number one spot on the top free iphone apps on the us app store — its highest rank ever — rising 1,022 places since november 2, sensor tower data shows.
Get instant news on tech that matters the most & exclusive portrait videos to enrich your experience with technology. The latest tech news about hardware, apps, electronics, and more. And this also includes android apps.
Featuring a full screen web browser with an optional automatic reader mode and a dark mode visual theme. Top 10 best music streaming android apps 2020. The app could already show information like daily weather forecast, top news, live sport scores, video, image and more.
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New features will be added, it will change the way of playing Windows, macos, ubuntu, linux, android, apple iphone, ipad and our new shadow tv app. The report adds that the petal search app now allows users to download apps that are blocked due to the us ban.
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“Brazil has a large and diverse population, with increasing disposable income, seeking health supplements for wellness and preventive health care,” Dr. Anurag Pande, vice president of scientific affairs at Sabinsa, told NutraIngredients-USA. “In short, the Brazilian market’s regulatory framework, growing health consciousness and demographics present a promising landscape for Sabinsa’s unique, clinically studied ingredients.”
C3 Reduct is the first and only tetrahydrocurcuminoids authorized in the Brazilian market, where it is approved at a 120 mg dose.
Next generation of curcuminoids
The authorization “marks a significant milestone in the supplement market in Brazil, ushering in the era of next generation of curcuminoids,” Dr. Pande said.
C3 Reduct is the first product to deliver curcumin as metabolite tetrahydrocurcuminoid instead of the more conventional turmeric extracts available on the market. Backed by four clinical trials substantiating efficacy and safety, Sabinsa says this metabolite ingredient is pharmacologically superior to curcuminoids and is responsible for curcumin’s biological function in the body.
“As a cascading antioxidant, in comparison to a standalone antioxidant, Curcumin C3 Reduct will act as an antioxidant for a longer time and show cumulatively stronger activity,” the company shared in a statement. “With higher bioavailability in the gut compared to parent curcuminoids, Curcumin C3 Reduct can be delivered in a smaller tablet or capsule.”
White or clear in color, it is marketed across products as a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent in areas such as immune function, energy balance, detoxification, metabolism, stress response, neuroplasticity, joint health and digestion, among others—but without the bright yellow staining associated with curcumin.
Opportunity in the Brazilian market
For Sabinsa, the Brazilian supplement market and its rigorous submission process provide “an opportunity to distinguish high-quality, scientifically backed ingredients like C3 Reduct”.
Dr. Pande explained that in a pre-registration market, regulatory approvals play a critical role in ensuring consumer trust and market stability for branded ingredients and products, which he says favors companies like Sabinsa that prioritize scientific research and regulatory compliance.
"Approval of C3 Reduct by ANVISA on the IN28 list is a testament to the science that Sabinsa has created on curcumin metabolites. This is our first approval in the Brazilian market, with more to follow," said Dr. Muhammed Majeed, founder at Sabinsa and author of the book "Reductive Metabolites of Curcuminoids".
C3 Reduct launched into the U.S. market in 2014 and is approved as natural health product in Canada. It is also the first curcuminoid metabolite ingredient to have been granted Novel Foods approval by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).


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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Darden Restaurants Inc. DRI, +0.94% after Thursday's closing bell said that U.S. same-restaurant sales at Olive Garden rose 8% to 9% in April, compared with a 5% to 6% rise in the same month a year earlier. Same-restaurant sales at Red Lobster were up 1% to 2% for the fiscal month, vs. an 8% to 9% drop last year. Darden said it still expects to report a 31% to 33% rise in 2005 net income. On a pro forma basis, this works out to a 19% to 21% rise, to between $1.75 and $1.78 a share, the restaurant operator said in a company statement.
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“To-Jo will be displaying a new chopped mushroom product that is both convenient and versatile; perfect for blending with a variety of menu applications including burgers and tacos,” said Pete Wilder, marketing director for To-Jo Mushrooms in Avondale, PA. “And we will be highlighting our full line of Baby Bella, Portabella and specialty mushrooms, such as our three-pound exotic blend that is perfect for foodservice operators.”
To-Jo is engaging strongly in the Mushroom Councils’ Blendability platform, commonly referred to as the “Trend to Blend.”
“This trend has really taken hold in the foodservice sector, and To-Jo is working with some of its chain customers on blended menu applications that go beyond the basic burger,” explained Wilder. “One national chain is now considering a stuffed sausage and blended meatloaf applications. Finding partners that can help in product development and cross promotion of the products will go a long way to educating consumers on the overall benefits of the concept, and will help take it to the next level.”
To-Jo’s chopped mushrooms, he pointed out, are the perfect ingredient to help back of the house chefs and commercial manufacturers have consistent fresh product to mix into their menu builds.
To-Jo Mushrooms will be exhibiting at the 2014 PMA Foodservice Conference & Expo in Monterey, CA, on July 25-27 at Booth No. 49. The company will be represented at the event by Tony D’Amico, company president, Joe D’Amico, vice president, Kevin Delaney, vice president of sales and marketing, Todd Kostka, sales and marketing representative, and Paul Frederic, senior vice president of sales and marketing.
To-Jo currently sells to a variety of chain operators and foodservice distributors that make up between 30 and 35 percent of its business. It ships to foodservice customers across the United States and Canada as well as into Western Europe, all on a regular basis.
“We try to balance our business out as much as possible, serving everyone from regional produce distributors to national broadliners or chain accounts in the casual, fast casual and quick serve restaurant categories,” said Wilder. “The segment seems to be very stable currently, but we have seen some incremental gains in total volumes in 2012 and 2013, which could be attributed to the improved economy.”
Wilder announced a new staff addition to the To-Jo Mushroom team.
“We are proud to announce the addition of Kevin Delany to our staff as vice president of sales and marketing,” said Wilder. “Kevin has brought great perspective on the fresh market to the team, and he will help support To-Jo’s steady growth in the marketplace.”
To-Jo Mushrooms is continually making improvements to its facilities, and it is currently in the process of renovating its fresh mushroom receiving area to increase its overall efficiency.
“This will also expand our cold storage capacity to better serve our customers,” Wilder added.


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Lately it's seemed that The Last of Us franchise can do no wrong: the Last of Us TV show has been a commercial and critical success, generating the kind of audience love that had me watching the 30-minute Making The Last of Us last night and wishing it was about three hours longer. So it's surprising to see developers Naughty Dog making what appears to be a pretty major mistake: putting its name to a PC version of the first game containing some show-stopping bugs.
I saw one of them for myself last night: in the most harrowing and talked-about bit of the introductory stage, a section that's absolutely devastating on PS4 or PS5, a bug turned it into complete slapstick. And reports say there are many more.
This isn't Naughty Dog's doing; the port was handled by a different company. But it's their game, and the PC problems are a rare PR disaster for one of gaming's highest-profile franchises.
What's wrong with The Last of Us on PC?
If you head along to the Steam store you'll see that right now the PC port is sitting with a truly dreadful 5/10 rating and over 9,000 negative reviews. And the reviews are all saying much the same thing: it's slow, it's buggy, it's crashy, and it's really not in a state that is in any way acceptable for a game costing nearly £50. The problems don't appear to be affecting everybody, but they do appear to be affecting quite a few gamers.
You know things are bad when the developers have to issue a formal statement. "The Last of Us Part I PC players: we’ve heard your concerns, and our team is actively investigating multiple issues you’ve reported," Naughty Dog posted on Twitter. "We will continue to update you, but our team is prioritizing updates and will address issues in upcoming patches." One such patch has already been released but there will be more in the near future.
If you're a PC player and you've also got a console, the PS5 remaster is a glorious thing and I haven't encountered any problems playing it; if you have PlayStation Plus the PS4 version is included in your subscription. If you don't, it's currently £5.99 on Amazon. It might not be as pretty as the PC version, but it's almost 90% cheaper and sounds like it's also 90% more playable too.


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ShareChat in talks with Tencent to raise $200 million via OCD: Report
If the deal fructifies, the funding will be routed via a Europe-based entity due to the stiff foreign direct investment rules pertaining to investments from China
Bengaluru-based social network company ShareChat is in talks with Chinese tech giant Tencent to raise $200 million through optionally convertible debentures, according to a report in The Economic Times.
If the deal fructifies, the funding will be routed via a Europe-based entity due to the stiff foreign direct investment rules pertaining to investments from China.
The report further stated that the significant financial investment could at a later stage entail a change in management control of ShareChat. According to sources quoted in the report, this may pose a risk related to local data storage and processing.
The company was also in talks to raise over $200 million from American tech giants Google and Snap at a valuation of more than $1 billion. According to the TechCrunch report, the Series E financing round is slated to be larger than $200 million with Google alone financing more than $100 million of that amount.
ShareChat has raised about $264 million and was valued at nearly $700 million last year. In September 2020, ShareChat had raised $40 million in a pre-Series E round led by existing investors —Lightspeed Ventures, Twitter, and SAIF Partners — along with new entities. The other investors in this round include Pawan Munjal of the Hero Group in his personal capacity, DCM Shriram Promoters Family Office, and India Quotient.
In 2020, Google was reportedly in talks to acquire ShareChat for $1.03 billion. Both ShareChat and Google had signed a non-binding proposal and appointed investment bankers to take the talks forward.
In FY20, ShareChat's parent company Mohalla Tech had generated maiden revenues of Rs 9.38 crore. The company earned Rs 8.92 crore from advertisement while e-commerce contributed Rs 45.41 lakh to the total revenue.
The company's other income stood at Rs 28.74 crore compared to Rs 25.63 crore. The company's net loss had widened to Rs 676.85 crore from Rs 555.81 crore. The company's total expenses for the fiscal year was Rs 714.97 crore as against Rs 581.45 crore.
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CORPORATE REPORT: Walt Disney Co. income falls but results beat Wall Street expectations
The Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS) net income fell sharply in its most recent quarter as the coronavirus pandemic still weighs heavily on many of its businesses, from theme parks to movies. But the results on Thursday surpassed Wall Street's expectations thanks to subscribers flocking to Disney+ and other of the entertainment giant's streaming services. Disney's parks and resorts have been closed or operating at significantly reduced capacity since shortly after the pandemic forced lockdowns across the U.S. in March of last year. Its cruise ships have also been suspended during that time, live sporting events have been canceled, and film and TV projects have been disrupted.
Disney said it expects coronavirus disruption to cost about $1 billion in its current fiscal year. The biggest hit to the company in the quarter that ended Jan. 2 was the closure and limited reopening of its theme parks, which cost the company about $2.6 billion.
The company based in Burbank, California, has been focusing on its steaming services — Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu — to drive growth. Disney+ subscribers totaled 94.9 million at the end of the quarter, more than double the subscriber base a year ago, when the service had been operating for only about two months. ESPN+ subscribers jumped 83% to 12.1 million and Hulu subscribers rose 30% to 39.4 million. For Disney's fiscal first quarter, net income totaled $17 million, or 1 cent per share, compared with $2.1 billion or $1.16 cents per share a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, net income totaled 32 cents per share, compared with $1.53 per share in the prior-year quarter. Revenue fell 22% to $16.25 billion from $ 20.88 billion. The results beat Wall Street expectations.
• Czech firearms company Ceska Zbrojovka has signed a deal to acquire Colt, the American gunmaker that helped develop revolvers in the 19th century and has since supplied the armed forces in the U.S. and other countries. Ceska Zbrojovka Group SE said on Friday that it has purchased all the shares in Colt Holding Company LLC, the parent company of Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC and its Canadian subsidiary, Colt Canada Corp. The deal is worth $220 million and 1,098,620 newly issued shares in Ceska Zbrojovk and is subject to approval by regulators. The Czech company said it expected the transaction to be completed in the second quarter of 2021.
The Associated Press


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Under this partnership, JAKKS will produce action figures, playsets, vehicles, plush and other collectibles associated with the new show. Additionally, JAKKS also named Disguise as its official costume and costume accessory partner with distribution rights around the globe. JAKKS and Disguise will design, manufacture, market and sell "Sonic Prime"-branded product lines commencing in 2023. The new "Sonic Prime" series, produced in partnership with WildBrain, will launch worldwide on Netflix in 2022, drawing upon the brand's keystones and featuring the "Blue Blur" of video game fame in a new adventure.
"SEGA has done a tremendous job telling the story of Sonic through a multitude of medium forums," says Craig Drobis, senior vice president, marketing, JAKKS Pacific. "In addition to the high-octane video games they continue to release and the 'Sonic Movie 2' coming
"JAKKS has consistently captured Sonic's signature persona, and we're thrilled to have them on board for another partnership," says Michael Cisneros, senior manager, licensing, Sega of America. "'Sonic Prime' will feature everyone's favorite hedgehog setting out on a new adventure, so we're looking forward to providing innovative products to audiences everywhere that will bring the iconic character to life."
Sonic the Hedgehog costumes and accessories will be available globally in 2023.
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South Korea-based Hyundai Motor said it and sister company Kia Motors aim to grasp a 20% share of the mainland car market by 2010 – up from 4.5% now, according to an International Herald Tribune report. Hyundai Motor's China operations reportedly posted an operating profit of US$250 million on US$1 billion of sales last year. The IHT quoted one analyst wondering if the Koreans could maintain current profit levels as competition intensifies. A glut has already forced prices to drop 5% on some foreign manufacturers' models, including Hyundai's Elantra sedan.
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LONDON — Oil prices slipped on Wednesday on concerns that the Phase 1 trade deal between the United States and China, the world’s biggest oil users, may not boost demand as the United States intends to keep tariffs on Chinese goods until a second phase.
Also putting pressure on prices was a report from OPEC saying it saw lower demand for its oil in 2020 even as global demand rises, as rival producers grab market share and the United States looks set for another output record.
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Brent crude was down 8 cents at $64.41 per barrel by 1257 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 3 cents at $58.21 a barrel.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said late on Tuesday that tariffs on Chinese goods will remain in place until the completion of a second phase of a U.S.-China trade agreement, even as both sides are expected to sign an interim deal later on Wednesday.
“A pickup with global demand for crude may struggle as U.S.-Chinese tensions linger after some hard line stances from the Trump administration,” said Edward Moya, analyst at brokerage OANDA.


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Restaurants and cafes are alive with the sound of office workers, with transaction volumes up by nearly 10% following removal of the Government’s recommendation to work from home. Retail spending is also up, albeit a more modest 5%, as Melbournians returned to the office last week (from 28 February to 4 March).
Friday proved to be the biggest day for businesses cashing in on office workers returning to the CBD followed by Thursday. Monday experienced the lowest increase in sales for businesses as the city starts to emerge from the ‘work from home’ order.
NAB Group Executive Business & Private Bank, Andrew Irvine, said the Melbourne CBD was waking up again since the pandemic first hit.
“Not only are we seeing the excitement of people connecting after such a long time, but businesses are coming back to life,” Mr Irvine said.
“With more people expected to return to the office in the coming weeks, we think the best is yet to come. I’m expecting to see these numbers increase as people get into a new routine and make a trip to the office part of their work week again.”
“This is brilliant news for small and medium businesses who have really done it tough over the last two years.”
Miznon owner Ron Lazarovits said they’ve already noticed a boost in bookings from office teams and lunchtime walk-in orders over the last week.
“It’s been the best week we’ve had in quite a long time, and to be honest, we weren’t convinced it would finally happen – it’s such a relief,” Mr Lazarovits said.
“We noticed so much more foot traffic on Hardware Lane which has brought a real buzz to the place.
“In addition to the restaurant bookings, we’ve also seen our in-house catering orders increase for office meetings which we’re keen to do a lot more of.”
“We couldn’t be happier to welcome Melbournians back into the CBD. The last couple of years have been tough so we’re excited about getting back to doing what we love – bringing brilliant food to Melbourne.”
Notes to Editors:
- Data sourced from NAB merchant terminal transactions.


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Every three months in a conference call with stock analysts, Nike executives deliver a recap of the company's performance in the previous quarter -- but not completely. If it was 100 percent complete, then analysts wouldn't be lined up like cattle seeking elaboration.
They were at it again 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, recapping the first quarter of fiscal year 2014, which began June 1 and concluded Aug. 31. Nike posted better-than-expected results for the quarter.
And those of us on the sidelines of life -- journalists, mainly -- had the opportunity to listen to illuminating exchanges such as this:
Robert Drbul, analyst, Barclays Capital: Good evening.
Kelley K. Hall, vice president, treasurer and investor relations, Nike, Inc.: Hey, Bob.
Trevor Edwards, president, Nike Brand: Hi, Bob.
Drbul: Trevor, welcome.
Edwards: Thank you very much.
Drbul: Good luck.
And so Drbul, who uncannily seems to often deliver the first question in the conference calls in a pattern befitting the role once exercised in the White House briefing room by Helen Thomas of United Press International, unofficially offered the analyst community's greeting to the new Nike Brand president. The greeting was short, simple, unadorned. No kissing of the ring here.
This was Edwards' first conference call in his new role, having been promoted this summer.
Edwards, along with chief executive Mark Park and chief financial officer Don Blair, spent about 30 minutes fielding questions about the company's performance in the previous quarter.
Analyst Omar Saad of ISI Group, noting the numbers in the quarterly report as well as the executives' prepared remarks, wondered about Nike's strategy in selling its products through its own stores.
It's a practice called "direct to consumer" and it also includes selling products through the company website, nike.com. Blair, in answering another questioner, Lindsay Drucker Mann of Goldman Sachs, said e-commerce sales were up 12 percent overall "and we're extremely enthusiastic about the potential for that piece of our business."
But in his answer to Saad, Edwards focused on the in-store strategy.
"Great question there. I think part of it is our strategy around our DTC, we clearly use DTC as an opportunity for us to really improve our assortments to make sure that we have the best lines. And so what we’re able to do is really use it as a spearhead and so what you’re seeing in our DTC doors is really great performance, because we have the right assortments coming through those doors. The more we learn, the more we then take those to our retail partners. And so what we’ve been seeing is our ability to drive a really integrated marketplace is really helping to drive these kinds of results. But obviously, we use our DTC as a lab, as it were and also is a way to ensure that we can get our premium products to the marketplace."
Then Saad, like some of the other seven analysts who were able to squeeze in a question during the last half of the one-hour call, wanted to know more about Nike's strategy in regaining momentum in greater China. For a combination of reasons, sales for Nike and other consumer brands have slowed in recent quarters in this important region.
"Our true intent in China is to make sure that we drive a more productive and profitable retail. And we believe that you do that by segmenting the market and creating greater differentiation, I mean in the marketplace. That gives the consumer more targeted experiences.
"At the same time, we’re working really on driving our merchandising strategies, working at the door level. So that we can ensure that the consumers are getting exactly what they need. And then at the same point, we’re also looking at driving a better operating platform that allows us to get the right product to that consumer at the right time. And so that obviously doing that will create more shifts, so that we have the opportunity to go for the next wave of growth that we see in China, because we truly see tremendous potential."
Analysts and others will have an opportunity to take a deeper dive into Nike's numbers and executive's outlooks in two weeks, on Wednesday, Oct. 9, when the company holds a "2013 Investor Day" at the World Headquarters campus near Beaverton.
-- Allan Brettman


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Last week, the long-awaited Pagani Huayra R was revealed, although there was a bit of a caveat to its launch.
You see, rather than presenting the car through photos and videos, the Italian car manufacturer only showed a series of official renderings. Now, Pagani has released the first video of the Huayra R but once again, it doesn’t actually show the track-focused hypercar in the flesh and is instead an animation.
The clip shows the Huayra speeding around the famed Imola circuit in Italy and while it has been quite well done, we’re still waiting to see what the actual car will look like. Pagani has also tried to preview the sound of the car’s naturally aspirated 6.0-liter V12 in this video but we suspect it will sound much better in the flesh.
Pagani has confirmed that the aforementioned V12 of the Huayra R has been co-developed with HWA AG and pumps out a remarkable 838 hp and 553 lb-ft (750 Nm) of torque. Coupled to this engine is a six-speed sequential transmission that was also developed with HWA AG and transmits power to the rear wheels.
Underpinning the hypercar is a new monocoque that uses the latest composite technologies and is said to provide 16 per cent greater torsional rigidity as well as a 51 per cent increase in flexural rigidity compared to the road-going Huayra. Moreover, weight has been kept to a minimum as the Huayra R tips the scales at just 2,315 lbs (1,050 kg).


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LOS ANGELES, May 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Vertical Wellness™, an industry leader in the Hemp cannabinoid health and wellness space, has partnered with kathy ireland® Worldwide (kiWW®) for CBD products. The announcement was made by Smoke Wallin, Chairman and CEO of the California-based company. The new strategic relationship encompasses all CBD product categories, including beauty, health and wellness, pets, edibles and more. The products will be marketed under the kiWW® brands — kathy ireland® Health and Wellness, kathy ireland® Better Living, kathy ireland® Loved Ones, kathy ireland® Gracie & Delilah, Kathleen Marie New York, MIVI Co-Founded by Tommy Meharey, Friday Nights, and Sunday Dinner. As part of the strategic collaboration, Ms. Ireland will be joining Vertical Wellness’ Advisory Board.
“We are ecstatic to work with Kathy Ireland and her incredibly creative executive team, to bring the benefits of Hemp CBD to a diverse customer base from all walks of life,” says Smoke Wallin, Chairman and CEO of Vertical Wellness, Inc™. “kathy ireland® Worldwide is one of the most powerful brands in the world, and adding Kathy to our advisory board and leadership brings Vertical Wellness™ a leader recognized as one of the most influential women in business globally. I look forward to learning from Kathy as she brings us her unique perspective and insights.”
Wallin adds, “Building innovative brands to help consumers improve their access to natural health and wellness solutions is our mission. Kathy and the organization she built, kiWW®, epitomizes the values-based leadership I believe in and have aspired to my entire business career. It is ingrained in our company’s culture. Aligning both of our organizations enables Vertical Wellness™ to achieve this mission on an even greater level. I can’t think of a better time to invest in the future and look forward to working with Kathy and the whole team at kiWW® on this incredibly great endeavor.”
Chef Andre Carthen, Brand Ambassador and Co-Founder for kiWW’s Friday Nights and Sunday Dinner, also known as ‘The Fit Chef,’ Ms. Ireland and Jon Carrasco, EVP and Global Creative Director for kathy ireland® Worldwide will work with Mr. Wallin and his team on developing the products. Stephen Roseberry, President and CMO for kathy ireland® Worldwide, who leads and guides the company’s marketing initiatives, will address the same responsibilities.
“We are honored and delighted for this astounding new partnership with Vertical Wellness™,” says Ms. Ireland, Chair, CEO and Chief Designer of kiWW®, who is named among the top ten women’s health advocates in America, according to UCLA. “We have long been invested in the CBD space, and we are so passionate about all the cutting-edge research and developments demonstrating the countless benefits on the health and wellness of people, as well as pets. Our new products are derived from the highest-quality Hemp plants, and are THC-free, providing the countless beneficial elements of the Hemp plant, without any psychotropic side-effects. Everything we have done at kathy ireland® Worldwide has led to this extraordinary moment.”
Ms. Ireland adds, “Smoke’s knowledge and expertise in the Hemp industry is at the forefront of the industry – from cultivation and sourcing of Hemp seeds to product development and more, Smoke and his team’s brilliant background is second to none. Just as importantly, Smoke and his team represent the core values and ethics that our company strives for in our partnerships. Both of our companies share the same passion in bringing our customers the most state-of-the-art, innovative CBD products to improve quality of life, as well as a shared dedication of improving the human condition around the world through philanthropic initiatives.” kathy ireland® Worldwide is committed to social responsibility with every partner, client and licensee supporting its Millennium Development Goals. As part of the partnership, Vertical Wellness will be supporting two of these goals – Bringing opportunities of financial stability and healthcare to American veterans and their families; and ensuring environmental sustainability.
The new kathy ireland® CBD products will be available for purchase in late 2020 through various online stores and local and national retail locations.
About Vertical Wellness™
Vertical Wellness is a leading multi-national vertically integrated health and wellness company with a focus on natural Hemp cannabinoid solutions. Vertical Wellness (VWEL) has operations in California and Kentucky and cultivated over 1,800 acres of hemp on partner farms in 2019. VWEL is led by an executive team of entrepreneurs and business leaders from the alcohol beverage, agriculture, CPG, distribution, entertainment, food, fashion, healthcare, and medical industries. Our mission is help people by bringing the most innovative and effective portfolio of CBD and healthy brands to the market. VWEL Services™ leverages our extensive investment and team knowledge by helping the entire industry with strategic, financial, brand, sales and processing solutions. Initial VWEL brands launching include Taos™, Lap Dog™, Par5™, Halogenix™, Wingra Farms™, Neutrate™, USMCC™, and Hemp-Moji™ with others to follow.
About kathy ireland® Worldwide (kiWW®)
kiWW® is listed as one of the most powerful brands in the world by License Global Magazine. Kathy Ireland is named one of the 19 most influential women in licensing by License Global magazine and according to Fairchild Publications, Kathy Ireland is one of the 50 most influential people in fashion. Furniture Today names Kathy one of the most influential leaders in the furniture industry. Kathy graces the cover of Forbes Magazine twice (2012, 2016). kiWW® is responsible for billions of dollars in retail sales. kiWW® is the recipient of multiple awards including several Good Housekeeping Seals. Kathy and kiWW® support many non-profits including: women and children’s health, HIV/AIDS, Education, human freedom, life, wars against religious persecution and violence. Kathy is a Board Member of the NFLPA, WNBPA Board of Advocates, an Ambassador and donor for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and International Youth Chair for the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
SOURCE Vertical Wellness
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The revolutionary mifold car seat — 10 times smaller than a regular booster and just as safe – has secured a Series AA funding round of $1.5 million led by Sweet Capital, the new investment fund created by the founders of King Digital Entertainment. Altogether, child car safety company, Carfoldio, the maker of mifold, has raised over $3 million in funding from institutional and private investors.
Mifold hit the headlines around the world when its crowdfunding campaign topped $1 million in mid-2015. The company ended up pre-selling the grab-and-go booster seats to nearly 13,000 customers in more than 100 countries worldwide.
“We loved mifold when we saw the crowdfunding* video and reached out to [founder Jon Sumroy]. mifold is reinventing the child car safety category and disrupting the market. mifold is a genuinely innovative solution to a real problem that traditional players have ignored. Their worldwide sales are a strong proof of concept,” said Christian Dorffer, CEO of Sweet Capital.
Sumroy, originally developed the idea for mifold many years ago, when his children were younger and they were living in the US. He officially founded the company in 2013.
“I recognized the hassle that comes along with a regular booster seat when my children were in a carpool, getting picked up by their grandparents, on vacations or in taxis,” said Sumroy. “So I realized that, if I could design a booster that was mighty small and mighty strong, one that kids could take with them everywhere, then they could always travel safely, no matter whose car they were in.
“mifold achieves its small size while retaining the highest safety standards through real innovation. The patented design of mifold is engineered to protect children from the age of 4 all the way up to 12; guiding the seat belt off the stomach and the neck, making it comfortable, safe and easy to use. Carloads of kids and parents already tried mifold and they love it.”
mifold has secured three rounds of funding. A seed round in August 2013, raising $600,000 and a second round of $1.2m in January 2015, and this third round of $1.5 million led by Sweet Capital. Investors in the latest round included Joe Stelzer, Founder of Silver Cloud Ventures Ltd; Riccardo Zacconi, CEO of King Digital Entertainment and Howard Socol, former CEO of Barneys, New York and JCREW, along with many of the original seed investors from around the world.
mifold’s full launch is scheduled for the second quarter of this year.
*crowdfunding= is a way new ventures can involve many people in contributing small sums toward bringing their product ideas to reality.


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The Hunters for the Hungry food drive will be held at five locations across Acadiana soon. The drive is held every year for Acadiana residents to clean out their freezers and donate frozen food to those in need. The food drive will be Sunday, October 8, 2017, from 10 am to 3 pm. Organizers are asking for almost any kind of meat --- beef, pork, shrimp or game.
The food drive is being organized by The Refinery Mission
For more information visit www.cleanoutyourfreezer.com or call 337-692-7988
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A CORDILLERA COMMUNICATIONS Station


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WALKER, Minn.— An appliance, hardware and electronics store in Northern Minnesota grilled up a good time for a good cause last week. Walker Home Center hosted its second-annual Burger Battle to raise funds for the Boys and Girls Club of of the Leech Lake Area.
Eleven area restaurants participated in the event that raised $5,000 for the youth club, the Pilot-Independent reports.
Staff at the Walker store chronicled the event on the store’s Facebook page.
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Social messaging app WhatsApp has breezed past Facebook to emerge as the top mobile social messaging service. Latest survey results revealed that 44 percent of smartphone owners use WhatsApp at least once a week compared to just 35 percent using Facebook messenger.
Research firm On Device Research asked 3,759 smartphone owners to gauge the popularity of different social messaging apps and see how much they are using such tools compared to emailing, texting, or calling. Aside from Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, other popular messaging platforms such as BBM, Skype, WeChat, and Twitter were included in the survey. The company asked users in the United States, China, Brazil, South Africa, and Indonesia.
The respondents of the survey were asked to complete a questionnaire between October 25 and November 10 through mobile Internet. The proponents of the study collaborated with major mobile publishers in the covered markets to get samples big enough to represent a particular country.
"This trend will have interesting implications on mobile operators. More and more people are upgrading from feature phones to smartphones accelerating the move from traditional calling and SMS to social messaging. This trend will have interesting implications on mobile operators. More and more people are upgrading from feature phones to smartphones accelerating the move from traditional calling and SMS to social messaging," stated On Device Research on its official blog.
Facebook Messenger reigns supreme in the United States with a 46 percent market share compared to WhatsApp's 35 percent but struggled in other major markets. WhatsApp is gaining popularity in the younger age group 16 to 24 with 40 percent using Facebook Messenger and 37 percent finding WhatsApp more useful.
The results of the study also indicated geographical preferences. In China, for example, 93 percent of users turn to WeChat for social messaging. WeChat, however, is still trying to find its footing in markets like Indonesia where only 20 percent use it at least once a week; South Africa (20 percent); and U.S. (six percent).
In Brazil, WhatsApp has 72 percent share while Facebook Messenger has a smaller chunk at 49 percent. Skype has a 30 percent slice of social messaging apps.
With the release of the standalone BBM app for iOS and Android, the pioneer in mobile messaging have regained grounds in South Africa and Indonesia where 34 percent and 37 percent, respectively, of smartphone users utilize it on a regular basis
Overall, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger were trailed by WeChat (28 percent), Twitter (19 percent), BBM (17 percent), and Skype (16 percent).
The study also clearly showed how social messaging apps are challenging texting, calling, and emailing through smartphones.
"Chat apps are now the dominant way of staying in touch on the phone. Daily usage of social messaging across the 5 countries stands at a massive 86% that compares to 73% using their phones for voice calls, 75% using SMS and 60% using email," revealed On Device Research.
The firm also noted that 58 percent of respondents are using multiple messaging platforms because their friends are spread over different social networks. It also found out that around 1.2 billion photos are shared by users in just four services.
On Device Research also put spotlight on how stickers generate money for creators of the social messaging apps. Line, another popular mobile app, earned $27.4 million during the second quarter of 2013 from users willing to pay for stickers.


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Avon recently released some new eyeshadow compacts that are designed by a famous textile company. Do you recognize this famous company's floral motif here? (Hint: It's based out of Finland and often featured on CasaSugar.)
POPSUGAR, the #1
independent media and technology company for women. Where more than 75 million women go for
original, inspirational content that feeds their passions and interests.


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Japan's economy expanded more than initially expected in January-March as companies ramped up capital investment, underscoring the central bank's view that recovery from last year's recession is gaining momentum.
The economy grew an annualised 3.9 percent in the first three months of this year, Cabinet Office data showed on Monday, handily beating a preliminary estimate of a 2.4 percent gain, and topping a median market estimate for 2.7 percent growth.
"This is a pretty positive figure and shows the recovery is picking up pace," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.
"Non-manufacturers are boosting spending on expectations that private consumption will recover, so this should serve as a key driver of growth," he said.
Capital spending rose 2.7 percent from the previous quarter, much more than a preliminary estimate of 0.4 percent growth and bigger than a 2.3 percent expansion projected in a Reuters poll.
The data is welcome news for the government and the Bank of Japan, which are hoping that expectations of a steady economic recovery will spur companies and households to boost spending.
A pick-up in capital expenditure is key for the success of premier Shinzo Abe's stimulus policies, which aim to reflate the economy out of stagnation by changing companies' perception that deflation will persist.
"The Japanese economy is returning to growth orbit," Abe's spokesman Yasuhisa Kawamura told reporters on the sidelines of a summit of Group of Seven leaders on Sunday.
The upgrade reflected a Ministry of Finance survey issued last week, which showed corporate capital spending grew in January-March at the fastest pace in a year.
The MOF survey, which is used to calculate revised GDP data, showed a notable increase in non-manufacturers' spending. Retailers and wholesalers are building new distribution centres, while hotels and theme parks are investing in renovation to draw back customers, analysts say.
"Non-manufacturers may also be investing more on automation to meet a shortage of labour," noted Norinchukin's Minami. (Editing by Eric Meijer)


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NEWS of a planning application by Tesco Ireland to develop a retail unit in Fermoy has been welcomed by politicians and business owners in the town, with some sounding a note of caution about traffic congestion.
The retail giant has lodged a planning application with Cork County Council to develop a 3,739 square metre retail unit on a site on the east of Mill Road and north of Courthouse Road.
The site covers the old Barry’s Timber Yard and a field which was previously used as an overflow parking area for the old mart, and, apart from occasional use as a temporary market-place, has been disused for several years.
Tesco Ireland’s planning application also includes a proposed 323 square metre café/restaurant and a 259 square foot retail unit.
The development would include a proposed 150 car parking spaces and 72 cycle parking spaces, as well as “a public plaza linking Courthouse Road and Mill Road”.
The application also includes a proposed “set-down/loading bay” on Courthouse Road, something which may prove controversial locally, given what one local business owner, who declined to be named, described as Fermoy’s “perpetual traffic jam from the courthouse up to Pearse Square”.
Fianna Fáil County Councillor Deirdre O’Brien said that while she would welcome the new development, she hoped that it would not exacerbate traffic congestion in the town.
“It’s great that the site will, hopefully, be developed, but I would be concerned about traffic, and I would hope that my concerns will be addressed,” Councillor O’Brien said.
Michael Lyons of Lyons’ Pharmacy, who is chairman of the Fermoy Forum, a voluntary collaborative group of businesses and organisations, said the development of a site long derelict was very welcome but voiced his concerns about traffic.
“It’s fantastic for the town, but we do need to look at traffic infrastructure.
“Between the development of the primary care centre and this proposed development, it will be a great boost for the town, so long as we get the traffic situation right,” he said.
Noel Barnes, of Barnes Jewellers on Patrick Street, welcomed the news too, saying it could only be a positive development for Fermoy, but echoed concerns about traffic.
“I’m all for it, I think it’s great, but my only concern is that traffic on Patrick Street is already crazy as it is, and I do think that something will have to be done to alleviate that,” Mr Barnes said.
David Ryan, owner of the Amber Service Station on the north of the town, and Hannah’s Restaurant on Patrick’s Street, said he welcomed the development, but with some caution.
“Any new development is always welcome, but I do think that, in terms of retail food, we are already well serviced in the town.
“I would also have serious concerns about traffic, as the situation is already chaotic as it is,” Mr Ryan said.
Fine Gael County Councillor Noel McCarthy said he would welcome anything that would help to revive the town.
“I think it’s great to see development of a site that’s been idle for a long time, and anything that brings more jobs and footfall into Fermoy I would welcome with open arms,” he said.
Fianna Fáil County Councillor Frank O’Flynn said he would like to see the plans, but he was happy to see something positive happening with the old Barry’s Timber Yard.
“I’m delighted at the prospect of jobs coming to the town, first in construction, and later in retail, and the prospect of increased parking spaces in the heart of the town is great.”


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This isn't to surprising, because every year T-Mobile does a Valentine's Day sale. Currently the Valentine's Day Sale is still unknown, we have no idea what they might offer, but I'd suspect sales on just about every Samsung device in their portfolio. T-Mobile will probably be pushing everyone to their Value plans as well during this sale, since they are looking to get rid of their classic plans in the coming months. We'll be sure to keep you up-to-date on this sale.
Now that T-Mobile blackout period in April and May. According to TmoNews, it looks like T-Mobile is having a blackout for a four-week period where employees won't get vacations. Typically this hints at the release of a hugely popular device. We've seen AT&T and Verizon do this for every iPhone release on their particular networks. The blackout is from the last two weeks of April and the first two weeks of May. So what could T-Mobile be launching during that time?
Well there are rumors of it being the Galaxy S4, or the iPhone and iPad that is coming to T-Mobile this year. Well so far we have no details on announcements of the Galaxy S4, so it could be it, but it would have to be announced in February or March. Typically the Galaxy S line has been announced in Q2 which begins in April. As for us, we hope its the Galaxy S4, or dare I say, the HTC M7? Of course these are all rumors and should be taken with a grain of salt, but rest assured that T-Mobile is having something big going on during that time. They wouldn't schedule a blackout if there wasn't.
It looks like T-Mobile has quite a bit of tricks up their sleeve in 2013. Bringing LTE to 100 million POPs in the first half of 2013, and 200 million by the end of the year. They are also going to be selling Apple products beginning this year (not a big deal for us). So it'll be interesting to see what device or devices they have coming in late April, and early May. Who's excited to see what T-Mobile has coming? Let us know in the comments below.


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Solar eclipse of April 30, 2022, Lunar eclipse: Several parts of the world will witness the year’s first partial solar eclipse on April 30. The phenomenon is also colliding with another celestial activity called Black Moon and according to NASA, the Black Moon will block the sunlight for some time during the day.
Partial solar eclipse: Where it will be visible
The solar eclipse will be visible in some parts of the Southern Hemisphere and people living in South America, Chile, Uruguay, southwestern Bolivia, Peru, some regions of southwestern Brazil and Argentina will be able to witness this celestial phenomenon.
NASA has also specified that the eclipse will also be visible from the South Pacific Ocean and the Southern Ocean regions. Unfortunately, people in India won’t be able to see this phenomenon.
Partial solar eclipse: Time and date
The partial solar eclipse will be visible starting at 12:15 pm IST and it will last till 2:11 pm IST on April 30.
How to watch the partial solar eclipse online on April 30
In the regions where the celestial phenomenon will not be visible, people can watch it online live. Several YouTube channels live stream it on their respective channels.


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As demand grows for today’s high quality images among fans and collectors, a new website is centered around sports pictures and posters.
super bowl xlvi
February 16, 2012 ByFebruary 15, 2012 By
The Tom Coughlin auction of game-used Super Bowl items benefits the foundation of the Giants’ head coach.February 9, 2012 By
Players from New England Patriots and New York Giants are giving away game used items from Super Bowl XLVI through a promotion with Swagbucks.com and Authentic Athletix.February 5, 2012 By
Winning a second Super Bowl MVP can do wonders for your rookie cards–and deliver a nice price for eBay sellers.February 4, 2012 By
Someone really wanted a game-worn Tom Brady jersey. The annual Super Bowl auction saw a record-shattering price paid for a Brady gamer–and a five-figure drop on a jersey worn and autographed by Tim Tebow.January 26, 2012 By
Panini sponsors the card show and autograph session at the NFL Experience and they’re ready to hand out some newly minted football cards to those who attend.August 31, 2011 By
The season hasn’t even kicked off yet, but the NFL is already planning the pre-Super Bowl festivities including the annual autograph session and memorabilia show.


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C+R Research recently surveyed 2,040 consumers and asked them how COVID-19 has affected their budget, shopping habits, and diets.
If you’ve noticed higher prices at the checkout aisle since COVID-19, you’re not alone. Americans across the country have been paying more for staples such as meat, eggs, and poultry as well as everyday household goods. Grocery prices skyrocketed beginning in March and still haven’t fallen to pre-pandemic levels.
In order to find out how Americans have been adjusting to higher prices, we surveyed 2,040 consumers and asked them how COVID-19 has affected their budget, shopping habits, and diets.
Shoppers See Higher Prices During The Pandemic
Since the pandemic, the majority (85%) of American consumers say they’ve been paying more for groceries. Among grocery items shopped for, meat, eggs, and milk were among the top three items that Americans say they’ve been paying more for since COVID-19.
Beef and eggs are also among the top food items that have seen the greatest price increases since the pandemic. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), beef prices are 10.3% higher than they were in February of this year, while poultry is 6.3% higher and eggs are 5.9% higher.
Food isn’t the only thing that’s been hitting the pocketbooks of Americans; three quarters (75%) of Americans say they have been paying more for household goods. This sentiment aligns with household items such as paper supplies, appliances, and cleaning products, which are all priced higher since the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
Along with higher prices, consumers say they’re still experiencing shortages for certain items. For products they normally purchase, most (83%) say they are still having difficulty finding groceries and over three-quarters (78%) are still having trouble finding household goods.


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Much has been said about ad blocking in the last few months. The good, the bad, and the ugly. To the average person, ad blocking seems like a non-issue. Just another mechanism to reduce unwanted friction in their everyday lives -- the digital equivalent of a 'no junk mail' sign on their mailbox. But not unlike Uber, or Napster, ad blocking has brought with it a major challenge to the way people do business. And there's no putting the genie back in the bottle.
To quickly summarize for the non-industry crowd, the reason ad blocking has been met with so much fervor, is that it challenges the very basis upon which much of the Internet is run and financed. The public accesses content for free, in exchange for seeing ads that produce income for the creators of such content. The ethical dilemma has been framed as the following: does the public have a right to both consume the content, and block ads?
One Ad Age contributor has even gone as far as to call ad blocking "an extortionist scheme that exploits consumer disaffection and risks distorting the economics of democratic capitalism." Notably, this fellow was the President and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). IAB has since issued an apology for lacking all sense in the matter.
Well, regardless of whether it's right or wrong, it's happening. And it's happening because the public is tired of ugly, poorly targeted, malicious, and bandwidth heavy ads for products they'll never buy, from companies they don't care about.
Consider the following comments on an article about Ad Blocking via The Atlantic:
We are inundated with information on a daily basis. It's estimated that a person is exposed to about 5000 ads daily. Five thousand. How many of those do you think people remember? Not too many. Which brings me to a point made by Seth Godin, which is that 'people have been blocking ads forever. By ignoring them.'
Now we have a tool to aid our brains in blocking the material. Marketers have responded in several ways, the most common: blocking content when an ad blocker is detected. Now that's a lazy solution to a complex problem. The fact is that banner ads are about as reviled now, as paying $20 for a CD was in the early 2000s. It's just not going to happen now that content is freely available, without ads, all over social media.
In a way, this is just another symptom of a publishing industry that's struggling to redefine its self in the digital era. What is the role of a publisher, in a world where information is instant and accessible by anyone, anywhere, with a Twitter account? While we need people to report the news, the publishers have become a luxury item. One can exist without the other.
It also reflects the challenges of a seismic shift in public expectations of brands. Tolerance for brands behaving badly has been in decline as awareness of their behaviour has increased. It would follow that this tolerance will naturally evolve from intolerance of human rights abuses, to intolerance of unethical and intrusive advertising.
The questions we should be trying to answer are: What is unethical? What do people not want to see? Why don't they want to see it?
Here are a few examples. Intrusive and unethical are the semi-pornographic ads that awkwardly pop up when you're showing your spouse showtimes for Kinky Boots. It's the malware that's downloaded when you accidentally click on an ad strategically placed next to a link you need to access.
It's time we came up with more creative solutions, and the sooner we let go of the old model, the sooner we can regain the public's trust. With every challenge comes opportunities. If Germany is any indication, the war on Ad Blocking may already be lost. If that's to be believed, perhaps we should consider the following basic principles of good work:
Less is More / Quality over Quantity
Yes, there are a lot of ads out there. The solution, however, is not more ads! By that logic, the banner ad industry will just collapse under the weight of its self. Fewer, more aesthetically pleasing, and better targeted ads (to a point) will yield better results.
Programmatic might not be the answer
Which leads me to my next point -- programmatic, which is a process by which media is bought via algorithms, may not be the answer, especially for some industries like health and wellness, or credit and banking. These require careful scrutiny of who is being targeted and how, which algorithms we simply not designed to handle.
Establish no-go zones
As stated above, there are some topics for which banner ads simply aren't appropriate. My Kinky Boots example is a good illustration of this problem. Research needs be conducted to determine these no-go zones, and a pact will need to be formed to keep players accountable. Establishing an ethics body and fining for infractions would send a clear message to the public that you hear them loud and clear.
Loose the sketchy tactics
Stop with the moving buttons, and any other tactics that are meant to drive revenue by misleading people. Just stop.
Communicate these changes
Just doing these things wont' reverse the damage caused. A strong PR campaign backing up some real changes will be required to slow the tide of ad blocking. And undoing ad blocking will need to be heavily incentivized, since now you're competing with inaction. It's a lot easier to keep an ad blocker on, than to disable one.
Many of these points are related to claims I've made about the need for a big data code of ethics. And for good reason. As advertising increasingly become a data-driven business, so too will its responsibilities need to be increasingly scrutinized.
Joseph Donia is a digital marketing consultant with a passion for social technology and a knack for finding meaning in numbers. He creates digital experiences for brands that produce serious results. Follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, or email him at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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Despite “crypto winter,” global adoption of cryptocurrency has slowed less than expected, Chainalysis revealed today as part of its annual index. Even with the bear market and the precipitous decline of major cryptocurrencies, as well as the recent collapse of several high-profile projects such as the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD and the lender Celsius, adoption still exceeds pre-bull market 2019 levels.
The blockchain intelligence firm’s report ranks 154 countries according to key trading metrics measured through centralized exchanges, DeFi protocols, and peer-to-peer trading volume, analyzing what Chainalysis calls grassroots adoption—where people are putting the biggest share of their money into crypto.
The results show distributed global adoption, from Southeast Asia to Eastern Europe to Latin America, with the U.S. also moving up from last year.
According to Kim Grauer, the director of research at Chainalysis, while this year’s index doesn’t demonstrate substantial changes from 2021, it conveys the different ways people are using cryptocurrency.
“When we talk about adoption around the world, we should be thinking about use cases in different regions with different socioeconomic factors at play,” she told Fortune.
For the second consecutive year, Vietnam ranked at the top of the list, with the Philippines moving up to second, from 15th. Grauer said the popularity in Southeast Asia largely can be attributed to play-to-earn, blockchain-based games. The most prominent example was Vietnam’s own Axie Infinity, a title that attracted gamers with rewards of lucrative NFTs and led to the creation of “guilds,” or organizations that would pay for the startup costs of playing in exchange for a cut of players’ winnings.
Axie Infinity had a spectacular collapse this year after cybercriminals hacked it for over $600 million, but players—especially in developing markets—have been turning to play-to-earn games as a source of income. Even with users fleeing Axie, more play-to-earn titles are on the way, with many developers based in Southeast Asia.
India, which ranked fourth, had a different story. According to Grauer, much of the adoption was spurred by NFT marketplaces, such as the Tiger Global- and Sequoia-backed company FanCraze, which launched in early 2022 to sell cricket-based NFTs.
Grauer said that while many investors may have shied away from more traditional crypto assets like Bitcoin given the bear market, they turned to an asset built around their favorite pastime, which made it more accessible.
“India was a good example of a new population of people coming into the fold because of use cases afforded by DeFi,” Grauer said.
China also ranked among the top 10—a surprise given the country’s 2021 cryptocurrency ban, indicating that the prohibition has been ineffective.
Argentina, which ranked 13th, suffers from severe inflation, as well as restrictive banking regulations. For many, crypto offers access to the global financial system, with inherent risks often outweighed by their nations’ weak currencies.
Brazil, Latin America’s largest country and which ranked seventh globally, is home to some of the region’s most innovative fintech offerings, including the e-commerce giant Mercado Livre, which launched both a crypto exchange and its own token through its popular payment tool Mercado Pago. Another example is Nubank, Brazil’s largest digital bank, which reached 1 million users on its crypto trading platform just a month after launching it this summer.
U.S. and high-income countries
Even though the U.S. moved up in the rankings this year, Gauer cautioned that gain was relative—in fact, there’s evidence adoption has plateaued, with 16% of Americans saying they have invested, traded, or used cryptocurrency from two consecutive Pew Research polls, in November 2021 and August 2022.
While there’s a high degree of institutional investing in the U.S., adoption has not yet gained a foothold among the general public, which is true in other high-income countries. From the top 20 countries in the global index, 10 are lower-middle income and eight are upper-middle income, with just two high-income entrants: the United States and the United Kingdom. With financial systems in high-income countries more stable, fewer people consider riskier assets.
“[These countries] are waiting for that killer app to arise that will bring more people into the fold,” Gauer added.
Ukraine ranked third, although not necessarily because of the large volume of cryptocurrency donations moving into the country following Russia’s invasion. Grauer said Ukraine has always been a tech-savvy country with a high density of startups.
Nigeria and Kenya also ranked in the top 20, which likely can be attributed to the high degree of online payment innovation in both countries, including the M-Pesa mobile banking service in Kenya. Like other countries on the list, Nigeria also deals with a great deal of regulatory uncertainty and economic instability, which can push people toward cryptocurrency.
Overall, the story is the same as last year—global crypto adoption is being propelled by emerging markets.
“We found that a lot of people simply don’t have the same level of access to investments,” said Grauer, explaining that they turn instead to crypto offerings. “We see that a lot in places like India and Vietnam, where there’s a young, tech-savvy population who are starting to have a disposable income.”
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Lee Henderson and three of his friends started Hifi Farms in 2013 as a “mom and pop coffee shop idea” to serve the newly legalized status of medical marijuana. Lee had been working in the music recording and producing industry, and most of the partners were musicians, so the more-than-one-meaning of Hifi Farms struck the right chord with the group. “Rock and roll informs my world view, so why fight it?” Henderson says.
But then came the vote in 2014 that made all cannabis legal. “We caught the wave,” Henderson says, and they were on their way to creating a solid Portland brand and setting the bar for excellence in cannabis production; the challenge, being able to meet the demands of a suddenly growing industry with little or no template.
“It’s a lot of work,” says Henderson, “and an intense learning curve, creating an industry on the fly. No one has ever done this before.”
“The market has helped tell us what to do,” Henderson explains. They started out with some signature plants, all of which produced only “one type of effect.” But that quickly showed itself to be too limiting: The demand for CBD-prominent strains – those used primarily for medicinal and lifestyle (stress, insomnia, etc.) use – was where the unexpected heaviest demand was coming from. “We deepened our genetic inventory pretty quickly,” Henderson said.
Henderson thinks Hifi Farms is perfectly situated. “Cannabis requires a lot of resources, power and water. Oregon has the natural resources, unlike other states like California and Nevada.” He sees Oregon as being the ‘Napa Valley’ of cannabis,” in the coming years, as more states likely approve legalization. Even so, Henderson and his partners are working to keep the farm’s energy footprint as small as possible, partly with the help of LED technology. It is a particular agricultural challenge, being able to meet market demand year ‘round through the changing seasons and taking the natural life cycle of the plant in consideration.
So far it’s going well. They are weathering the quagmire of bureaucracy that inevitably accompanies such a change in public policy. But Henderson is optimistic. He sees the cannabis industry as quasi-counter-cultural, able to give back a healthy amount of tax revenue to state and local communities. And he believes it is important to be part of the larger community. Politically passionate, the Farm has already done its share of hosting fundraisers for various candidates and causes.
Henderson wants Hifi Farms to become an iconic Portland company, like Powell’s Books, Stumptown Coffee, or Wieden + Kennedy.
“I think it can be something special, really part of the community.”
For more information: www.hififarms.com


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The third round of the Campeonato Italiano Gran Turismo Endurance (CIGTE) took place at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza just outside Milan, Italy. Thai racing driver Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik once again teamed up with Audi Sport Italia in their Audi R8 GT3 Evo2 for the penultimate round of the championship.
Round 2 of the Italian GT Endurance Championship took place at Mugello Circuit, just outside Florence, in Italy.
napatsawanJuly 11, 2023
Thai racing driver and 3-time Thailand Super Series GT3 Champion Sandy Kraokaew has confirmed his intentions with an agreement that will see the reigning Thai GT3 Champion compete for the rest of the Campeonato Italiano Gran Turismo – Endurance (CIGT) championship with Audi Sport Italia in their Audi R8 GT3 Evo II.
napatsawanJuly 4, 2023
Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik competed in the first round of the Campeonato Italiano Gran Turismo – Endurance (CIGT), this past weekend at the Autodromo di Pergusa, in Sicily, Italy.


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The Swiss subsidiary of the major Russian bank has also joined OpenVASP.
Gazprombank Switzerland is a subsidiary of the major Russian bank of the same name and is now offering Bitcoin (BTC) transactions as part of a pilot project after receiving approval from the Swiss regulatory authorities.
According to an announcement on 19 November, Gazprombank will offer its new crypto-currency solution in cooperation with Bitcoin Rush its long-standing partners. These include the Fintech company Avaloq and the crypto-custodian Metaco.
Roman Abdulin, the CEO of Gazprombank Switzerland, said that the new offering is designed to make crypto transactions „as easy as transactions with traditional assets“:
„Digital assets will become increasingly important for our customers and the global economy. We look forward to working with leading Swiss companies to further develop the Swiss and global crypto and blockchain ecosystem“.
In addition to the first BTC transactions, Gazprombank Switzerland also announced that the bank had joined the OpenVASP association. This is a major industry association focused on compliance for virtual asset management companies (VASPs).
Gazprombank Switzerland is the first banking institution
OpenVASP was founded at the end of 2019 and is designed to help VASPs comply with the recommended rules of the Financial Action Task Force. These rules are known as the „Travel Rule“ and are designed to combat money laundering. According to the announcement, Gazprombank Switzerland is the first banking institution in this association. Large industry companies such as the Swiss crypto-broker Bitcoin Suisse and the local crypto-bank Sygnum are also members of OpenVASP.
At the end of October 2020, Gazprombank Switzerland received a licence from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority and can now offer crypto-custody and trading services to its institutional and corporate clients. Gazprombank Switzerland, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Gazprombank, has been working towards crypto services in Switzerland since at least 2018.
Other Russian banks also intend to offer crypto and block chain services abroad. In September 2020, Sberbank, Russia’s largest state-owned bank, joined a block chain platform for commodity trade financing through its Swiss subsidiary.
Crypto services abroad are currently very attractive for Russian banks. The Russian legislator in the country itself is increasingly restricting the crypto industry. In addition to an official crypto payment ban in 2021, the Russian authorities also want to introduce prison sentences if annual crypto transactions amounting to about 600,000 US dollars are not declared.


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NEW DELHI: The proposed Drug Pricing Policy will widen the extent of price control to about 30% of the local pharma market and also hit the revenues of the industry which is bearing the burnt of risen input costs, inflation and regulatory challenges, according to industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
Recently, the Group of Ministers gave nod to a recommendation to get 348 essential drugs (presently 74 drugs) under the price control at the weighted average price of drugs with minimum of 1% market share. It is scheduled to go to Union cabinet for the final view.
Arun Sawhney, chairman, National Committee on Pharmaceuticals, CII, said, “CII welcomes the move by the Government to make essential drugs more affordable and accessible to the society. The new policy recommends a shift from cost based to market based pricing which is a fair approach and it will help improve the availability of essential medicines. While the industry welcomes this move, it would also be pertinent to note that the proposed policy will expand the span of price control to around 30% of the domestic pharmaceutical market and impact revenues of the industry which is already facing increased input costs, inflation and a variety of regulatory challenges. CII is hopeful that the Government would extend some exemptions proposed in the draft National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy 2011 by the Department of Pharmaceuticals.”
Reports suggest that the proposed draft pharma policy may hit those multinational companies (MNCs) the most, which are present in the premium pricing band.


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June 30, 2018
For Picture Show theaters, left, in the Frontier Village, and Harkins Theatres, in Prescott Valley, one does use MoviePass, and one does not. (Les Stukenberg/Courier)
Stories this photo appears in:
MoviePass gets competition for discount movie tickets, but mixed in Quad Cities
MoviePass, the subscription service that allows you to pay $10 a month to see a movie a day faces serious competition from a similar service announced by AMC Theaters this past week.


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The developers of a 260-unit apartment building within a brand-new Vernon Hills mixed-use project are ready to exit their investment less than a month after leasing it up.
Focus and Atlantic Realty Partners have hired Chicago brokerage Moran to sell the Atworth at Mellody Farm, a building near the corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Townline Road that opened last July. The Atworth is part of Mellody Farm, a new 270,00-square-foot shopping center that includes a Whole Foods Market, REI store and 11 restaurants.
Chicago-based Focus and Atlantic, which is based in Atlanta, aim to capitalize on the strong suburban apartment market, which has allowed developers to cash out of new projects for hefty gains. The two developers have already scored big in the suburbs, selling a new 239-unit complex in Glenview for $81 million in 2017.
Focus CEO Tim Anderson and Pete Evans, managing partner of Moran’s Chicago office, declined to say what they expect the Atworth to fetch. Over the past two years, new north suburban apartment developments have sold for $330,000 to nearly $350,000 per unit. In September, a New York investor paid $118 million, or about $340,000 per unit, for a 347-unit project in Northbrook.
The Atworth has filled up quickly, reaching 93 percent occupancy within 10 months, according to a Moran brochure.
Many suburban apartment investors these days favor transit-oriented developments, properties near a train station, because they attract tenants who commute downtown for work. The Atworth doesn’t check that box—the nearest Metra stations are 3.4 miles away—but the shopping center, especially the Whole Foods and restaurants, is a big draw for many tenants, Anderson said.
“Whole Foods trumps TOD,” he said.
Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers developed and owns the shopping center, which is not part of the sale.
Rents at the Atworth range from $1,659 per month for a studio apartment to $3,063 for a three-bedroom unit, according to real estate information provider CoStar Group. The average apartment rents for $2.06 per square foot.
Offers for the Atworth are due July 18, Evans said. The building at 1111 N. Milwaukee Ave. is just east of the Hawthorne Mall.
The number of units at the Atworth at Mellody Farm has been corrected in this updated story.


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November 4, 2016
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) issued a report this week that indicates growth for the U.S. manufacturing sector. With a reading of 51.9 percent last month, it is considered to be under expansion (as defined by any reading over 50). The manufacturing sector accounts for 12% of the overall economy in the country.
After the dollar surged in June 2015, manufacturing faced a slump because of constrained exports. However, this new data suggests that the tides are turning favorably, compounded by a 3.2 percentage point jump in factory employment.
Although the sector is growing, many experts are less than optimistic on the size of growth, warning that construction spending is slipping.
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Daniella Soloway


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Microsoft is planning to kill off one of the more unique features of its Xbox One dashboard: snap mode. The software giant originally introduced snap mode as a method to watch TV or run an app side-by-side with a game. Microsoft is now on a mission to improve dashboard speed and multitasking, and snap mode is being removed to help improve the overall dashboard lag.
Xbox Platform head Mike Ybarra revealed the change on Twitter yesterday, noting that “we replaced Snap to improve multitasking, reduce memory use, improve overall speed, and free up resources going forward for bigger things.” It’s not clear what those “bigger things” are just yet, but rumors have suggested Microsoft might opt for some type of picture-in-picture mode to let universal apps run alongside games.
Microsoft has just started testing a new dashboard for the Xbox One, with an improved guide that no longer requires console owners to navigate back to the home interface to quickly access games, apps, and features. Currently, the Xbox One dashboard suffers from a number of performance issues when navigating to the home screen, and Microsoft is attempting to resolve some of these by rebuilding a number of features and the dashboard.
Xbox One preview participants have started testing the new features, and Microsoft is planning to roll updates out to more preview members in sets of waves. If you’re an active preview participant you’re more likely to be asked to test a number of updates each week, whereas less active members will see more stable updates once a week. Microsoft is expected to deliver its new Xbox One dashboard to existing consoles around the time that the Windows 10 Creators Update ships in April.


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B&B Franchise Group, parent company of Burger & Beer Joint, announced a joint venture partnership with Jupiter, Florida-based Frank Entertainment. The collaboration will feature the popular restaurant concept in some of the entertainment company’s Frank Theatres, Cinebowl, and Revolutions brands.
The first joint project is scheduled to open in Penn Treaty, Pennsylvania, in September at Revolutions (an edgy, high-end bowling entertainment center with restaurants and bars for adults and families), with subsequent openings scheduled for Delray Beach, Florida (Cinebowl) and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (Cinebowl), and an additional 13 locations in the pipeline throughout the U.S.
“When exceptional proven concepts align, success is destined to happen,” says Bruce Frank, CEO of Frank Theatres. “We are confident this new partnership will deliver an unprecedented entertainment experience for our guests.”
The expansion of both brands jointly offers shopping center developers a solid, multi-faceted anchor designed to attract a highly desirable tenant mix.
Burger & Beer Joint will maintain its current branding, but will expand its menu offerings based on market demands. “We are thrilled to partner with Frank Entertainment on venues that offer so much to the consumer,” says Bill Herman, president of B&B Franchise Group. “In essence, it’s a unique and exciting one-stop shop for restaurants, bars, movie theatres and bowling under one roof; a complete entertainment complex.”


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Mapletree Logistics Trust has booked a distributable income of S$21 million for the first quarter, up 37 percent compared to a year ago.
Mapletree Logistics will distribute 1.90 Singapore cents per unit for the first quarter, up from 1.48 Singapore cents a year earlier.
Net property income rose 45 percent on-year to S$37.4 million, while gross revenue shot up by 48 percent on-year to S$42.6 million.
Mapletree Logistics is continuing to see strong demand for its logistics space. It renewed 50,000 square metres of space in the first quarter, with 94 percent coming from existing tenants. Rentals in the first quarter jumped by almost 29% over the same period last year.
“Going forward, we have about another 124,000 square metres of space that are coming up for renewals in two major countries – Hong Kong and Singapore. And with that, we are looking at something like about a 12 percent increase in terms of rental reversion,” said Chua Tiow Chye, CEO of Mapletree Logistics Trust.
But given the overall market conditions, the REIT is delaying plans for a rights issue.
“We will continue to monitor the situation, and at a right time, we will re-enter the market to raise fresh equity from new investors or existing investors. But for the time being, we have a strong, robust portfolio of existing assets, and from this we should be able to give our investors a good yield of DPU growth for the current year,” said Chua.
The REIT manager also dismissed market speculation that it may merge its logistics and industrial trusts.
Mapletree Logistics said it will continue to stay focused on the logistics real estate market in Asia. – CNA /ls
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 24 Apr 2008


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The Netflix price increase will take effect for all U.S. users by the end of the May billing cycle.
Netflix announced in January that it would be raising the price of their monthly membership subscription, and now it's time to pay the piper.
Netflix has slowly been moving grandfathered customers over to the new price hike based on their billing cycle, but new users saw the increase immediately. The increase will take effect for all customers by May.
The new subscription prices will be as follows:
- Basic, with one HD stream, will go from $7.99 to $8.99 per month
- Standard, with two HD streams, will go from $10.99 to $12.99
- Premium will go from $13.99 to $15.99 per month
Courtesy of Giphy
When the first price increase took effect in 2017, many subscribers canceled their subscription, but there was no noticeable slow-down in Netflix's growth. By the end of 2018, the streaming service had 58.5 million U.S. subscribers and 129 million worldwide.
Netflix expressed the reason for the increase was a way to “continue investing in great entertainment and improving the overall Netflix experience.” In order to add new content, Netflix would need to increase the price of the monthly subscription, but is it worth it?
Most of us are like this ...
Courtesy of Giphy
Can we just say that this is bad timing considering the announcement of the new Disney+ streaming service for only $6.99 per month, HBO for $15, and Hulu sitting at just $11.99 per month (ad-free) with a recent decrease?
Netflix would also be competing with other services including AT&T's WarnerMedia and Comcast's NBCUniversal.
Despite the increase, Netflix is in a solid place to continue hiking the prices considering 71 percent of its customers are satisfied with the subscription as the content is showing improvement. They were named the fastest growing brand in 2018 behind Amazon and Google and remain as the most powerful brand in the media. At the growing rate, the company is expected to rake in $1 billion with the price hike.
Courtesy of GIPHY
Do you think this will hurt Netflix? Will you be canceling your monthly subscription? What is your favorite streaming service? Tell us in the comments!


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The queen of country music, Dolly Parton, is arriving at Funko with two Pop! vinyl figurines now available for pre-order.
funko pop rocks Archives
Funko dropped a bombshell this morning, as they announced BTS Pops during their New York Toy Fair reveals! These are going to be huge.
In this edition of the Funko Round-Up: Spider-Man, Fortnite, Rick James, The Jeffersons, Attack on Titan, ACDC, and even more!


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San Francisco, known for its vibrant shopping culture, recently saw one of its most prominent shopping malls go bust. The Westfield San Francisco Centre, located in the heart of the city, had been struggling for some time, and the COVID-19 pandemic only added to its woes.
The mall, which spans over 1.5 million square feet, was once home to some of the biggest retail brands, including Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, and Abercrombie & Fitch. It was a popular destination for tourists and locals alike, with its high-end boutiques, fine dining options, and movie theaters. However, over time, the mall started losing foot traffic and stores started to shut down.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the decline as the mall remained closed for several months during the lockdown. Even after it reopened, foot traffic remained low as people still preferred online shopping due to safety concerns. The closure of major department stores like Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom dealt a significant blow to the mall’s revenue.
Eventually, the mall’s owners, the Australian firm Westfield Corporation, had to file for bankruptcy. The company had been struggling financially due to the pandemic’s impact on its global portfolio of malls.
The closure of Westfield San Francisco Centre has dealt a significant blow to the city’s retail industry, which was already struggling before the pandemic. Small and local businesses have been hit the hardest with the decline of foot traffic. The closure of a mall like Westfield further exacerbates the problem.
Despite the challenges the city is facing, some experts believe that this could be an opportunity for the local retail industry to reinvent itself. Many retailers have already shifted their focus towards e-commerce and online sales. The pandemic has also highlighted the importance of smaller, local businesses, and many consumers are now more inclined to shop locally and support small businesses.
In conclusion, the closure of Westfield San Francisco Centre is a stark reminder of the challenges faced by the retail industry during these unprecedented times. However, it could also be an opportunity for the industry to evolve and adapt to changing consumer habits. As the city slowly starts to recover from the pandemic, it would be interesting to see how the retail landscape changes and what new opportunities emerge for businesses.


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FARM AND FOOD FILE
Truth, civility, and honesty took a hard beating in the brutal 2016 election season, but global trade, the campaign’s daily whipping boy, actually grew in the July-September quarter.
Moreover, reports the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, an international group that tracks trade, the late summer surge means global trade “may rise over the year as a whole.”
That rise, of course, could end during a Trump Administration if the president-elect honors any of the anti-China, anti-NAFTA, anti-TPP, and anti-T-TIP promises that became the bedrock of his “Make America Great Again” stump speech. Since his win, Trump’s anti-trade tone has moderated, but no one believes it has completely faded.
Farmers and ranchers, who pollsters say voted overwhelmingly for Trump, remain wary because 20 percent of all U.S. farm production is sold overseas.
In 2015, U.S. agriculture exported $133 billion of bulk commodities and food to over 100 countries around the world. (American ag exports topped $150 billion in 2014, a record.)
Even more worrisome is that Trump’s toughest trade talk is aimed at deals that involve our very best food buyers-Canada and Mexico (the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA), China (that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, isolates), and the European Union, or EU, (through the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or T-TIP).
These four customers – Canada, China, Mexico, and the EU – bought, respectively, $21 billion, $20 billion, $18 billion, and $12 billion of U.S. ag exports in 2015. That’s a staggering 53 percent of all American farm and ranch goods sold abroad.
That fact bears repeating: 53 percent of all 2015 U.S. ag exports went to just four buyers now in the crosshairs of the incoming Trump White House because of what he calls “the worst trade deal ever,” NAFTA, and two other, all-but-dead regional deals, T-TIP and TPP, he says are “terrible.”
Trump isn’t alone in condemning current or pending trade deals. Not long ago, one presidential candidate openly complained that “NAFTA’s shortcomings were evident when signed and we must now amend the agreement to fix them.”
That candidate was Barack Obama in 2008, recalls Timothy Wise of the Small Planet Institute, in a Nov. 22 blog post on BillMoyers.com. Obama’s failure to “amend” or fix NAFTA, Wise adds, helped Trump’s anti-trade message gain traction on his opponent, Hillary Clinton, an Obama acolyte.
NAFTA does have shortcomings, says Wise: weak environmental and labor standards, outdated regulations for immigration, and rules that empower corporations to sue nations over actions that “impede profits” to name but a few. Will a President Trump fix those problems?
No, believes Wise, because Trump’s trade view, as he often said throughout the campaign, is “America first.” In NAFTA that means a “nationalist version of anti-worker, pro-corporation trade deal” which “will be a disaster for the working class Americans who gave him their votes.”
If that NAFTA stance becomes the Trump’s template for other trade negotiations, disaster awaits American farmers and ranchers who export 75 percent of all the cotton they grow, 50 percent of all their rice and wheat, over 40 percent of all soybeans, and nearly 25 percent of all pork.
In short, we have an ag policy-for better or worse-built on trade. As such, trade isn’t just a big deal to most farmers and ranchers; it’s the whole deal.
Anti-trade rhetoric might be red meat to blue-collar voters but it won’t go down well with cash-paying foreign food buyers that the U.S. ag sector has grown absolutely dependent on.
Still, it would be a serious mistake to sell this president-elect short. Sixteen Republican challengers and one can’t-lose Democratic opponent made that mistake in just the last year. All were vanquished; most easily.
So, when Donald Trump says he’s going to renegotiate America’s “rotten” trade deals, expect him to try. Then pray he quickly learns that American ag exports aren’t rotten and they’re not broken.
Not yet, anyway.
The Farm and Food File is published weekly through the U.S. and Canada. Past columns, events and contact information are posted at www.farmandfoodfile.com.
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August 23, 2001
Netherlands -- Vekoma, the world's largest manufacturer of roller coasters announced that they will file for bankruptcy and lay off the companies 240 employees. Under Dutch law the company must close and a team of 15 will be appointed to guide the company through the reorganization.
Roger Houben, director of Vekoma stated that the companies problems began when it received fewer orders during 2000. He attributes the decline in orders to the decrease in attendance at amusement parks.
Houben hopes to begin the process of restructuring shortly.
The amusement industry in general has seen a decline in attendance this year that is being blamed on higher gas prices and a slower economy. Past trends indicate that parks operators are less likely to build new attractions during down times. When attendance decreases everyone in the industry feels the pinch.
Earlier this year Kansas based ride manufacturer Chance Rides also filed for bankruptcy protection. Chance recently merged with Morgan Manufacturing of La Selva Beach, California to become Chance Morgan.
Vekoma has been a major supplier of roller coasters for amusement parks around the world. The company is best known for its Boomerang roller coaster that sends riders upside down six times in just over a minute. This popular looping shuttle coaster has been installed in more than three dozen parks worldwide.
This past year Six Flags placed six orders with Vekoma which included two Flying Dutchman models and three of the new "Super Boomerang" coasters.
Unfortunately, mechanical problems on five of the new installations have delayed the opening or required the parks to operate at below normal capacity. It is reported that Six Flags has held off payment to Vekoma until the coasters are installed and operating properly.
In addition, Vekoma also has built a popular suspended looping coaster, a suspended looping shuttle coaster called Invertigo and a family roller coaster called a Roller Skater.


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Guy Aroch for Santo MezquilaIt's mas tequila time for Sammy Hagar! The Red Rocker, who already had huge success with his Cabo Wabo brand of the liquor, has teamed up with his buddy Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and The Voice fame to launch a new kind of premium booze called mezquila that's a mix of blue agave tequila and the tequila variety known as mezcal.
The new spirit, billed as "the world's first mezquila," is being sold under the brand name Santo Mezquila.
According to Advertising Age, the idea apparently struck while Hagar and Levine were dining at a restaurant in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, back in 2015. The two music stars weren't fans of the restaurant's mezcal, so they began pouring it into their tequila glasses, and realized that the new concoction was actually pretty good. To help produce the mezquila, Sammy re-assembled the team behind his Cabo Wabo tequila.
"When Adam and I started tasting the different blends, I knew we had something special that people would love," says Hagar in a statement about Santo Mezquila's creation. "It was only right to get the team back together and share Santo with the world."
Santo Mezquila will retail for $55 a bottle and will be rolling out to cities across the country over the next month or so.
Hagar previously joined Levine as a guest coach on season 11 of The Voice.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.


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What you need to know
- Apple is celebrating its 40 years of life in Singapore.
- The company first opened Singaporean offices in 1981 and now employees more than 3,500 people.
Apple has celebrated its first 40 years of life in Singapore, sharing details about its presence in a country that was just 16 years old when Apple made it home.
In a new Newsroom post, Apple outlines some of the changes it has undergone over the last 40 years. For example, it now directly employs more than 3,500 people in Singapore while it also supports more than 55,000 people via the App Store.
Apple goes on to profile developer Mighty Bear Games, a team of four that has grown to 53 in just five years. That's just one example of how the App Store has had an impact on developers in Singapore. But it isn't just developers that have benefited from Apple's presence — Singapore has one of the world's most stunning retail outlets in the form of its Marina Bay Sands Apple Store. The world's first floating Apple Store undoubtedly offers one of the best iPhone buying experiences ever.
Apple's Newsroom post also mentions the 2018 opening of a Swift Accelerator program in Singapore as well as a 2015 partnership with local government and energy company Susneap.
Check out all that Apple has to say about its presence in Singapore in its Newsroom post.
Master your iPhone in minutes
iMore offers spot-on advice and guidance from our team of experts, with decades of Apple device experience to lean on. Learn more with iMore!
Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.
Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.


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Glenmark gets USFDA nod for generic blood pressure medicine
Shares of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals were trading 2.17 percent up at Rs 625.20 on BSE
New Delhi, May 26 (PTI) Glenmark Pharmaceuticals today said it has received final approval from the US health regulator for its generic version Olmesartan Medoxomil Tablets, used in treatment of high blood pressure.
The approval granted by the US Food and Drug Administration to Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc is for multiple strengths of 5 mg, 20 mg and 40 mg, the company said in a statement.
These are generic equivalent of Benicar Tablets of Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. Glenmark's Olmesartan Medoxomil tablets will be manufactured by the company's manufacturing facility located in Goa, India, it added.
Citing IMS Health sales data for the 12-month period ended March 2017, the company said Benicar achieved annual sales of about USD 950 million.
Glenmark's current portfolio consists of 115 products authorised for distribution in the US market and approximately 69 ANDA's (Abbreviated New Drug Application) pending approval with the USFDA.
Shares of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals were trading 2.17 percent up at Rs 625.20 on BSE.
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