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American craft beer is responsible for 456,000 full-time jobs, but it recently expanded to a new industry: bioprospecting. It’s just like gold prospecting, but on a much smaller level. And with more beer.
According to NPR, sour beer producers are joining forces with microbiologists to bio-prospect new yeasts and bacteria from random locations. Microbiologists collect samples from locations like old rooms, nature, and people’s beards. Then brewers experiment with them to see what creates a good sour taste and what creates a bad sour taste. And, just like gold prospecting, the success rate is extremely low.
“We’ve worked with 54 different species from 24 genera,” Matthew Bochman, a microbiologist at Indiana University, told NPR. Of those 54, five can be used to make sour beer.
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Sours can be broken down into two types: sour flavor created by yeast, and sour flavor created by bacteria. Many bacteria, with the exception of Lactobacillus, have a hard time surviving in an alcoholic liquid. Enter wild yeasts. Yeast floating around the air around us can be captured and used to ferment beer. That yeast results in a beer representative of a locations yeast terroir, if you will, something that Urban Artifact in Cincinnati, Ohio, has been experimenting with for years.
“People are really excited about understanding what hops their beer was made from,” Anne Madden, a bioprospecting microbiologist at North Carolina State University, told NPR. “In the very near future, you’re going to see consumers asking what yeast their beer was made with.”
That’s a truly wild idea.
I’m a firm believer in the idea that craft beer can change lives. I’ve patiently told people who don’t think that beer is important to tell that to the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people who depend on beer for a living. But microbiologists? That’s one field I didn’t expect to get a beer bump. Let’s never stop being amazed at beer, please.
Data reveals the best baseball stadiums for craft beer
What a time to be alive. There’s a lot of negativity that comes from big data (read: Equifax, and the possibility that all of our facial data could be sold via iPhone), but there’s some good, too. Like how data can tell us where to find the best craft beer.
A website called Review Tracker analyzed 130,000 reviews of baseball stadiums and found the best ones for craft beer: the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Petco Park in San Diego, Progressive Field in Cleveland, and Miller Park in Milwaukee. These stadiums have bars with 60 taps and more than 30 different local breweries.
Time to make a trip out before the season ends.
The Great American Beer Festival is upon us
From Thursday, October 5, to Saturday, October 7, the GABF will dominate the minds of beer writers — including over here at VinePair. We’ll be flying in with Samuel Adams on an inflight tasting on Thursday, a barrel-aged beer tasting with Avery Brewing early on Friday, then trying as many beers and talking to as many brewers as we can on Friday and Saturday during the festival.


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Nothing, a London-based smartphone startup founded by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, has raised $96 million in funding led by European venture capital firm Highland Europe, with participation from existing investors including GV, EQT Ventures, and C Capital also investing, along with house music supergroup Swedish House Mafia.
In conjunction with the funding, Nothing also announced that Tony Zappala, a partner at Highland Europe will be joining its Board of Directors. Nothing will use the fresh cash infusion to fuel its expansion into the U.S. and support the upcoming launch of its new smartphone, slated for later this year.
According to the announcement, Nothing revealed that its highly anticipated Phone 2 is scheduled to be unveiled on July 11. The new device will feature a chipset provided by Qualcomm, a renowned semiconductor giant based in the United States. Pei is betting that his innovative software design and striking hardware aesthetics will result in users relying less on their phones.
Nothing was founded in 2020 by Carl Pei, who was 33 years old at the time, along with Paul Yu and Jesper Kouthoofd. Their shared vision for Nothing was to introduce distinctive designs and user experiences in the realm of earphones and smartphones, aiming to differentiate themselves from what they perceived as a monotonous market filled with uninspiring products. They sought to break away from the “boring sea of sameness” in the gadget industry.
Their first phone, which runs on the Android OS, had a transparent casing to highlight its technological components, utilized environmentally friendly materials, and included LED lights on the back that illuminated when receiving calls or playing music. Priced below $400, it garnered accolades for its design and garnered a devoted following of enthusiasts. As for their second phone, aptly named Phone (2), Pei has engineered a device designed to assist users in maintaining focus and exercising self-control by mitigating the addictive aspects of their preferred applications.
Back in March, Pei told CNBC in an interview that the company’s expansion into the US market is already getting off to a good start. He said the company has a team up and running, and feels “confident” it will make headway in launching its first phone in the U.S. market this year.
“The product is progressing very well,” Pei said at the time, on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. “In year one, we barely had any engineers. We had like three engineers. And the factory did all the work. So there were a lot of things that we couldn’t realize.”
While major hardware players like Apple, Alphabet, Samsung, and other industry giants are focusing on developing smartphones to support and capitalize on the lucrative $208 billion mobile app industry, Carl Pei, the founder of Nothing, is taking a different approach. On July 11, Nothing, headquartered in London with manufacturing facilities in India and China, will unveil its Phone (2).
The primary aim is to simplify the digital lives of users. “As a tech company, you have to help the consumer become faster at what they’re trying to accomplish or solve a problem for them,” says Pei, who earned a spot on Forbes’ Under 30 list and made the Asia list in 2016 as a co-founder of phone manufacturer OnePlus.
According to Pei, the focus is on intentional smartphone usage, taking a step back, and reevaluating the role of technology. The goal is to bring tech back to its original purpose and enable users to regain control of their digital experiences.
“It’s all about intentional smartphone usage, rewinding the clock a little bit, and getting tech back where it should be,” Pei said.

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GE And Quirky Team Up To Develop The Milk Jug Of The Future
For just about a week now, GE and product development network Quirky have been running an interesting contest -- they've challenged people to come up with ways to improve everyday objects by making them "smarter with software". Unlike the traditional Quirky production and development process though, the winning concept will be fashioned into an actual working device by the end of the month.The problem with so many thoughtful, potentially useful entries is that only one of them will actually make the transition from pitch to product. Now with the selection process closed, TechCrunch has learned that Quirky's design and engineering team will be developing a smarter... milk jug? read more..
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Tesco opens new Stroud store
Tesco opens new Stroud store
26 February 2024
Tesco has welcomed customers to the opening of a new store based at Five Valleys shopping centre in Stroud.
As well as providing a wide range of affordable, healthy and sustainable food the Merrywalks Express, which opened its doors on Saturday 24th February, will also have a positive impact in the local community through its community programmes including the newly launched Stronger Start grant scheme which funds schools and children’s groups providing grants for food and activities to boost health and wellbeing.
Supporting the local community is hugely important to Tesco and its colleagues, and over the last five years, the supermarket’s customers have helped to donate over £100 million to more than 50,000 good causes through its Stronger Starts blue token voting scheme.
Tesco Stroud Merrywalks has committed to supporting Rosary Catholic Primary School with their breakfast club programme, a free service run by volunteers to support families in need that offers additional support for those children with English as a second language.
Given the pressures on household budgets, Tesco remains committed to providing value now more than ever. We know our customers are looking to save money on their food shop and this store will have a combination of Aldi Price Match, Low Everyday Prices and Clubcard Prices ensuring they are getting the best deals every time they shop with us.
Tesco Stroud Merrywalks Store Manager, Zoe Arkwell said: “We are extremely excited to be opening our new store and helping to serve the local community. We want to continue to offer great value to our customers with a wide product range and the benefits of Tesco Clubcard and Clubcard pricing to our customers.
“We have 19 new colleagues joining the team from the local area and we know that local knowledge and experience will be so important as we look to build connections and play our part in the community.”
[See more in our video here 202402260830 (1) (vimeo.com)]
James Shepherd, Managing Director of Dransfield Properties who own and manage the shopping centre, said: “We are delighted to be working with Tesco and welcoming them to our scheme in Stroud providing a new convenience offer and several local employment opportunities for the area.”
Picture caption:- (L-R) Katie Attwater (Tesco), Demi Thompson-Duggan (Age 8, Rosary Catholic Primary School), Zoe Arkwell (Tesco store manager), Louis Thompson-Duggan (Age 6, Rosary Catholic Primary School) Mel Aylmer (Tesco), Paul Batchelor (Rosary Catholic Primary School Head teacher), Tony Davey (Acting Deputy Mayor for Stroud Town Council).
Notes to Editors:
· The new store is located at Unit 63, Five Valleys Shopping Centre, Stroud, GL5 1RR
· The new store opened to the public on 24th February at 10am.
· Its regular opening hours are 6am -10pm Monday to Sunday
For more information about Five Valleys shopping centre and to see what else is on offer visit www.fivevalleysstroud.co.uk
* Tesco launched its food donations programme in 2012 and has since donated over 100 million meals from its stores and distribution centres
Any schools that would benefit from Stronger Start grant funding are encouraged to apply here: www.tescostrongerstarts.org.uk/
For further information, contact:
Public Relations Department, Dransfield Properties Ltd
Tel: 01226 360644


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Is Google really messing up on its naming convention? With Android 2.3 dubbed Gingerbread, and 3.0 headed towards the next alphabetical letter, H, with Honeycomb, I with Ice Cream may be jumping back to the 2.x numerical convention rather than flowing with 3.x convention according to Pocket-lint.
The site had reported that Android 2.4 Ice Cream was found on a test model of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA Arc on the show floor of CES. Sony Ericsson reps were tactful in telling Pocket-lint that the number and version was due to some sort of Android corruption issue.
Pocket-lint was also told by other sources that Ice Cream may see a debut at the Google I/O conference in May 2011.
What’s odd, if the numbering scheme stays the same, is that Google is jumping between 2.x and 3.x for what may be a sequential release based on the sequential alphabetical naming (I comes after H in Honeycomb). One possibility is that Google may be heading two Android revisions, one for tablet and one for smartphone, though that may be unlikely as it would cause more confusion and would further fragment the Android ecosystem.
When we had spoken with Sony Ericsson representatives at CES, we were told that the XPERIA Arc would be running on the latest Google Android Gingerbread operating system, which was recently announced as an Android 2.3 release.
Another explanation is that Ice Cream’s final numerical version designation could change upon release. That theory may hold more credence as 2.4 was long rumored to be Honeycomb, but at CES when several tablet-makers had debuted Honeycomb tablets as Android 3.0.
Honeycomb, otherwise formally known as Android 3.0, is the first version of Android that has been designed with a tablet UI in mind. Though Motorola didn’t show off Android 3.0 on the company’s Xoom tablet, they did demo some videos on the Xoom tablet that walked us through Honeycomb’s user interface with its multi-panel view, multi-tabbed browsing, and re-designed apps to take advantage of the tablet’s larger screen.


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The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Darnitsa, Dmytro Shymkiv, has repeatedly said that the COVID-19 pandemic has provided Ukrainian pharmacists with new opportunities. In this situation, there is a chance to simplify access for medicines to the European market and the government in its turn shall take the necessary steps to turn it into reality.
Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies managed not only to resist the crisis trends caused by the pandemic, but also to ensure a positive dynamics of business development.
The products of such leaders of the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market as Darnitsa, Farmak and Arterium were exported to 50 countries in 2020. According to the “Pharmaceuticals of Ukraine” reference book, the amount of products exported last year just to Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, taken together, worth $110 million.
As you know, the European Union needs medical supplies from abroad. However, the problem is that Ukrainian products cannot get there, since the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) certificates issued here are not recognized.
Shymkiv notes that both the medicines produced in Ukraine and the production facilities meet the requirements stipulated in relation to them in the European Union. Hence, they can meet the needs of European customers in full. However, in order to sell products in Europe, companies are forced to undergo GMP certification within the framework of European procedures.
The question is to what extent Ukrainian pharmacological enterprises are ready to fulfill the requirements stipulated by the EU legislation in relation to GMP standards. European legislation is characterized by a very scrupulous interpretation of international GMP standards. Such a strict approach to manufacturers is due to the fact that top priority is given to high safety standards for consumers, including patients.
There is a way out of the legal conflict described above: Ukraine should simply sign an ACAA agreement (Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products) with the EU. This legal document has received the colloquial name “industrial visa-free access”. As noted by Dmytro Shymkiv, the subject of the said agreement can only be the goods mentioned in Appendix III of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU. The problem is that medications are not currently on this list.
Consequently, the entry of Ukrainian medicines to the European market directly depends on the operational actions of the state authorities of Ukraine, which are entrusted with a task of revising the terms of the Association Agreement.
As Serhii Bobylev, Director for regulatory and legal relations of Darnitsa, noted, international law provides for an algorithm of actions in such situations, when it becomes necessary to expand the scope of agreements, including annexes to them. This mechanism is quite applicable to Annex III, i.e. future ACAA agreement. The key to solving the problem lays in Brussels, and the outcome of the case depends on whether the EU is ready to help Ukraine in this matter.
In turn, Ukraine must make every effort and find such arguments so that Brussels sees its interest in expanding “industrial visa-free access”, since it will benefit patients from EU countries. This goal can be achieved thanks to the coordinated actions of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Health, aimed at lobbying this issue in the EU institutions.
Considering this issue, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Darnitsa Group Dmytro Shymkiv also noted that Ukraine is able to sell more goods with high added value abroad, thus expanding its presence in the EU, because Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies have both the necessary capacities and products of proper quality.
Now the state should come into play, which is faced with the task of preparing and signing agreements with the European Union, according to which Ukrainian-made medicines can gain access to the European market, which is of key importance for Ukraine.
The situation in Ukraine is far from unique, because in the past, similar approaches have already been used to solve this problem by signing bilateral agreements on mutual recognition (Mutual Recognition Agreements, MRA). For example, the European Union has entered into such agreements with a number of countries that have implemented a strict system of supervision over the circulation of medicines, which indicates a high level of trust in these countries.
In particular, we are talking about agreements with such countries as Australia (1999), Canada (2003), Israel (2013), Japan (2004), New Zealand (1999), Switzerland (2002) and the USA (2017/2019). The presence of such agreements greatly facilitates the process of products importing, since the parties trust each other’s GMP inspection systems. To carry out operations, it is enough to provide information on quality checks and deficiencies, and after doing it, there is no need to test each batch of imported products.


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The American taxpayer bailed out Wall Street and U.S. automakers. Now the Administration has an opportunity to see some return on our investment.
Strengthening fuel economy and pollution standards to the equivalent of 60-mpg standard by 2025 for new vehicles will be good for consumers, good for jobs, and, of course, good for the environment. Stronger standards will cut our oil consumption by 44 billion gallons by 2030, put $100 billion back into the pockets of drivers, and stem the flow of cash being sent overseas to import oil from the Middle East.
One of the best things about stronger standards is that it would not cost taxpayers one red cent. In fact, it would help stimulate the economy by making U.S. automakers more competitive and help retain and grow high quality manufacturing jobs in this country.
The potential for households to cut their fuel bills is enormous. According to a new 50-state consumer savings analysis by the NRDC and the Union of Concerned Scientists, with strong standards the U.S. would save over a $100 billion in 2030, even after considering the extra costs of the fuel-efficient technologies. Extra money in the hands of consumers means Americans will have more money to spend on goods and services delivered by American companies, creating more American jobs. Strong standards mean more money will be invested in the auto industry to manufacture hybrids and electric vehicles and less money will be spent to import oil from overseas.
Consumer spending is the largest economic driver there is. In 2010, the U.S. will spend an estimated $180 billon on importing oil, increasingly from dangerous and hostile areas of the world. Our analysis also shows the average American family would save $748 annually at the pump in 2030 even after considering the extra cost of the fuel-efficiency technologies. In particular, California families would save $848 a year, Michigan families – $644, and Arkansas families – $778. Savings for each state can be found in our fact sheet.
And by becoming less dependent on oil, Americans will be more protected from the wrenching effects of volatile fuel prices. Oil price spikes, like the one in 2008, have preceded ten of the last eleven recessions. As oil grows more scarce and global demand increases, this price volatility is only going to get worse.
Beyond the economic impacts, high-ranking military leaders are calling our oil habit a serious national security threat, in part because some of our petro dollars go to nations that don’t like us, and inevitably end up in the hands of terrorists. We are effectively funding both sides of the war on terror.
Vets coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan get it. They have put their lives on the line so we can fill up our tanks. Surely we can do better by them.
Last week, I blogged about a national survey that showed a majority – 74% – of Americans want 60 mpg cars. The only thing standing between American consumers and the fleet of their dreams is the auto industry. 60 mpg standard by 2025 is clearly technologically feasible – foreign automakers are already well on their way to producing these vehicles.
In 2005, I gave a speech in Detroit to auto executives which can be paraphrased as “fuel economy matters”. I argued that without embracing fuel economy, U.S. automakers were just one oil spike away from bankruptcy. Less than four short years later, my prediction proved to be right.
For the sake of our economy, security and environment, we should all hope that the U.S. auto industry embrace 60 mpg by 2025 and accelerate the production of cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles now. If the industry does not, the American taxpayer could very well be faced with funding another and bigger bailout in the future.


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Positive economic indicators in addition to the increasing availability of debt is attracting an increasingly diverse number of international investors to CEE. Encouragingly, notable recoveries in investment volume have been recorded in Hungary and Romania. However, European institutional investment funds are still focusing on Poland and the Czech Republic.
“In 2013 75 percent of the ten biggest deals consisted of money from Europe. However, in 2014 a lower percentage is from Europe and more is from US capital. In Poland 50 percent of total volume has been in ten deals involving Deutsche Asset Wealth Management, Starwood Capital, Segro, Blackstone, WP Carey, Resolution/ECE, Deka and CBRE GI,” commented Mike Atwell, Head of CEE Capital Markets at CBRE on investors currently active in CEE.
According to CBRE, Poland is the fourth most attractive country in Europe for investment after the UK, Germany and Spain. The thriving Polish investment market is leading in terms of volume as it attracts investors to Warsaw and regional cities not only for retail and industrial but also for office.
As investment volumes for CEE are rising, investment into Russia is falling significantly. Strong growth is causing investors to consider non-core assets and markets. CBRE put CEE invest volume (excluding Russia) for the first half year at €2.6 billion compared to €4 billion for the whole of 2013.
So far this year office has remained the preferred asset type followed by retail. However, investment into retail fell in the period to November 2014 as the limited supply of product has forced investors to purchase industrial product, with a corresponding rise in this asset class.
“Investors are increasingly interested in regional commercial real estate markets, both large and smaller, recognizing their growing potential. In the coming years, these cities will witness a gradual increase in the number of transactions across all segments of the commercial real estate market as well as the implementation of new projects. There is an interesting trend that is rapidly gaining in popularity to expand and revitalize older buildings. This trend is now reaching smaller cities,” said Mike Atwell.
In one of the largest European retail deals of the year, TriGranit, Europa Capital and PKP sold the Poznan City Center retail complex to a consortium of Resolution and ECE for €230 million. And more recently Atrium European Real Estate purchased Focus Mall in Bydgoszcz, Poland for €122 million. The Focus Mall Shopping Centre in Bydgoszcz was developed by Parkridge Retail Development and commissioned in 2008. This 2-storey building offers 41,000 sqm of retail GLA.
“Core investors are looking at Poland and Czech for prime, landmark shopping centres, viewed to offer better value against other core European countries. Whilst the regional cities across both countries have opened up with a significant shift of core and value-add capital towards this sector. Prime shopping centres in Hungary and Slovakia are also back on the radar for investors searching for stock,” said James Chapman, Head of CEE Capital Markets at C&W.
The biggest investment deal for Central Europe in the third quarter was arguably the acquisition of the Eurovea shopping and office centre in Bratislava by the Slovak developer and investor J&T Real Estate from Ballymore Properties.
The Prague office market is also active after a two year downturn. One of the largest transactions in the first half year was the purchase of City Tower office centre by PPF Real Estate for €130 million. The Budapest office investment market is continuing to pick up as Erste Open-end Real Estate Investment Fund acquired the 11,000 sqm north wing of Futureal’s recently completed Vision Towers office centre.
“Movement and action can be felt on the Hungarian investment market, so we are looking forward to opportunities in the near future and we are continuously searching for new properties. The purpose of this Fund is to focus on stable and long term investments,” said Eszter Korpás, Real Estate Fund Manager at Erste Asset Management on the deal.
What is noticeable for Hungary is the increasing role of local investment funds as the major institutional funds have still not re-entered the country following the 2008 economic downturn. In a landmark deal, Skanska Property Hungary sold the 17,800 sqm Green House office centre to the Hungarian open-ended property fund, Torony Real Estate Investment Fund managed by Diófa Fund Management. The deal is generally regarded as a significant step in the recovery of the Hungarian investment market in that an income-producing Class A office centre by a major international developer is the subject of an arm’s length investment transaction.
Along with Hungary Romania is again attracting the attention of international investors. In a landmark Bucharest office deal Globalworth Real Estate has purchased the first 19,500 sqm phase of the Green Court office complex from Skanska for €44 million. Globalworth and NEPI have been prolific in Romania with regard to both acquisitions and development in recent years.
“Romania is a very promising market for investors looking for prime office buildings which offer the best quality and yields that are 150-200 basis points higher than in either Poland or the Czech Republic,” said Adrian Karczewicz, Transaction Director at Skanska Commercial Development Europe.
In addition to office the logistics sector is attracting investors with yields of 7.00 percent for Poland. In one of the biggest transactions of the year, the US-based Blackstone acquired the 200,000 sqm Standard Life Poland logistics portfolio for €118 million. Blackstone made the purchase through its European logistics platform, Logicor. In Hungary the Tulipan logistics park has been acquired by Blackstone as part of a portfolio deal across eight countries. This seen as a significant development in that Hungary is now included in regional logistics portfolio acquisitions.
In general, a continued development and growth of CEE investment relies on favourable occupancy trends across the different sectors in all countries.


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Bilibili is not expected to post a profit in 2022, 2023, or 2024. The enterprise value to sales multiple for 2022 is 1.4. For 2023 and 2024, the multiple is 1.1 and 0.9, respectively. The stock’s 52-week range is $8.23 to $69.88. Bilibili does not pay a dividend. Total shareholder return for the past year is negative 81.7%.
Pinduoduo Inc. (NASDAQ: PDD) focuses on an e-commerce marketplace that matches China’s farmers and agricultural product wholesalers directly with the country’s consumers. Like other tech companies, Pinduoduo has taken a beating over the past 12 months, but since late August, the stock has cut its loss from 40% to about 16%. In mid-March, the stock was down nearly 98% from its 52-week high. Shortly after reporting earnings in August, the company launched a U.S. e-commerce site called Temu. The site quickly became the top shopping app in Apple’s U.S. App Store, and earlier this month, the app was the top free app overall. Temu’s free shopping app is also the top Android app. Pinduoduo is scheduled to report results before U.S. markets open Monday morning.
There are 38 analysts covering the stock, and 34 of those have given the shares a Buy or Strong Buy rating. The other 4 rate the stock a Hold. At a current price of around $66.70, the upside potential based on a median price target of $84.11 is about 26.1%. At the high price target of $112.52, the upside potential is 68.7%.
Analysts are expecting fiscal 2022 second-quarter revenue of $4.3 billion, down 8.3% sequentially and up 29.1% year over year. Adjusted EPS is forecast at $0.74, down 34.6% sequentially and up almost 118% year over year. For the full 2022 fiscal year, Pinduoduo is forecast to post EPS of $3.13, up 108%, on sales of $17.27 billion, up 16.8%.
Pinduoduo shares trade at a multiple of 21.3 times expected 2022 EPS, 18.8 times estimated 2023 earnings of $3.55, and 14.7 times estimated 2024 earnings of $4.55 per share. The stock’s 52-week range is $23.21 to $74.84. The company does not pay a dividend, and the total shareholder return for the past year was negative 18%.
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Ibsium is made using a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is a species of yeast and has been approved to make the claim: ‘helps to reduce abdominal pain and discomfort associated with IBS’ in Canada by the CHA.
The health claims approval followed the recent publication of a study in the journal Digestive and Liver Disease.
Ibsium is also known as Lynside Pro in other countries and is claimed to reduce abdominal pain and discomfort in individuals with IBS.
Two clinical studies on 600 volunteers with IBS were carried out by independent gastroenterologists and the firm. Another consumer study, in collaboration with doctors and 1,160 IBS sufferers, was also carried out by Lesaffre.
Positive impact on sales
Lesaffre global marketing director Sandrine Cuisenier says: “With millions of people worldwide affected by IBS, many of them unsatisfied with their current treatment, this claim approval will definitely have a positive impact on sales.
“It strengthens the position of our customers on the market by allowing end-users to better grasp the real benefits that Ibsium could have on their quality of life.”


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Now do you understand Facebook's privacy settings?
In the same week that a Florida teen was arrested based on a Facebook comment boasting about her role in a schoolmate's suicide, Facebook has unveiled some big changes in its teen privacy settings.
(Read more: Facebook pushes both ways on privacy)
Teenagers can now post status updates, videos and images that can be seen by the whole world. The changes also allow teens to limit the number of people who can see their posts, in a typical counterintuitive, head-scratching privacy duo from Facebook when it comes to its mind-boggling terms of service.
The New York Times didn't mince words in getting to the bottom line of the teen privacy changes, and wouldn't you know it, Facebook isn't just thinking about protecting teens: "While Facebook described the change as giving teenagers, ages 13 to 17, more choice, big money is at stake for the company and its advertisers. Marketers are keen to reach impressionable young consumers, and the more public information they have about those users, the better they are able to target their pitches."
The big "teen-friendly" change is that posts are friend-only by default.
(Read more: Pop heroes: Lady Gaga and big data)
Tweet away; it'll make somebody else money
One of the reasons for the Facebook privacy changes is that competitors like Twitter are eating into its share of teenager attention. Privacy watchdogs worry about what Facebook does with all of that teen data, and they should worry about the fact that every single tweet sent by a teen is public and permanent. And Twitter does intend to monetize that data; it's a linchpin of its IPO road show. The Financial Times reported this past week that Twitter plans to use data about who its users follow and what they tweet about to target ads beyond its own promoted tweets. Twitter is still not profitable, though its revenue has grown to $270 million since it unveiled the promoted tweets feature.
And Twitter has some big salaries to pay if it wants to win the battle for Silicon Valley. Among Twitter's highest-paid executives is Christopher Fry, senior vice president of engineering, who raked in $10.3 million last year, second only to CEO Dick Costelo among Twitter compensation packages. It's the leverage of what's known as the 10x engineer in Silicon Valley: "Having 10x engineers at the top is the only way to recruit other 10x engineers," Aileen Lee, founder of Cowboy Ventures, an early-stage venture fund, told Reuters.
(Read more: 10 oddest data findings about you)
A new bag of Silicon Valley money for your big data idea
Corporate spending on big data will eclipse corporate spending on IT by ... tomorrow, or something like that, according to the best and the brightest young minds at McKinsey & Co. And that prediction is one of the reasons some of Silicon Valley's best-known venture capitalists just committed more than $10 million to a new early stage fund for big data start-ups.
is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, among other big names. It was founded by Tasso Argyros, founder of Aster Data, which was sold to Teradata for $300 million in 2011. Data Elite will offer a three-month program beginning in January. The fund will choose up to 10 start-ups and give each $150,000 in investment. Those chosen will have access to advisers who work at Facebook, Zynga, Netflix and LinkedIn, among other data analysis-oriented companies.
(Read more: Who is viewing your Instagram and profiting from it?)
Filling big data's shoes, with small steps
How can one simple pair of black, size 10.5 Nike shoes represent the truth behind Big Data? Let the CTO of big data company Tibco, Matt Quinn, explain. In a post for AllThingsD, he does it in a way that's become a popular rebuttal to the overuse of big data as a term. The big data story is really about the little data story, "data is what happens every moment of every day. The humble pair of shoes represents small data. It's a pair of shoes. It doesn't pretend to be a space shuttle. But that pair of shoes has generated a massive quantity of data in its journey to you."
Didn't you know the future was "small data," no matter what McKinsey and Data Elite say? Facebook knew—they just acquired the small data future, according to Quartz. Specifically, it's the story behind Facebook's acquisition of Onavo, an Israeli start-up.
Edward Snowden's back! And in more ways than one
It's been a busy week for Edward Snowden & Co. A new trove of Snowden's NSA secret files were given to the media from Snowden's "Moscow bureau" showing that the National Security Agency is harvesting hundreds of millions of contact lists from personal e-mail and instant messaging accounts around the world, many of them belonging to Americans, The Washington Post reported.
Meanwhile, Snowden said in an interview published in The New York Times (and conducted via encrypted email over a longer period) that he gave nothing to China, because he was able to outsmart its state security apparatus, and took nothing to Russia, so don't go calling him a double agent. In fact, he said again, he would just like Americans to have a debate about what kind of privacy invasions they will accept. Snowden also told the Times that its report about him previously attempting to steal information when he worked at the CIA was wrong (something the CIA has also come out to say), though the Times hasn't retracted the story.
The Edward Snowden economy was in high gear this past week, too: The first big Hollywood movie of the Leaker Society opened in the U.S., "The Fifth Estate", a take on the life of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange. And one of Snowden's primary press gatekeeper, former lawyer turned journalist Glenn Greenwald, leftThe Guardian to run a new journalistic enterprise funded with $250 million by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. Here is Omidyar's explanation for his foray into journalism with an "enemy of the state."
(Read more: 10 surprising ways companies are using your data)
Silicon Valley's next big market: Zimbabwe
Quick quiz: Which of these countries is not among the global leaders in terms of population of digital natives—individuals age 15-24 with five years' online experience—New Zealand, South Korea, Iceland, Malaysia or Zimbabwe? If you answered Zimbabwe, you're ... wrong! Zimbabwe may not be quite as high on the list as the others—the top four of the globe when it comes to network-enabled youth—but Zimbabwe's digital native population is arguably more interesting, coming within an authoritarian regime where economic growth is no given. Michael Best, Georgia Tech professor, who just completed a study for the U.N.'s ITU about the number of digital natives around the globe—363 million—explains why the "youth bulge" and Zimbabwe's youth in particular are important narratives for the 21st century.
Retailers: The future of big data is in ... a Turkish bazaar
Writing on Forbes sponsored content section, Reza Soudagar, senior director of database and technology marketing at SAP, says the first massive big data success in the retail industry has been around for a long, long time, and didn't originate in Silicon Valley, but in ... in the grand bazaar of Istanbul. "When I ventured into the shops where the famed Turkish rugs were sold, a startlingly different thought came to me: The Grand Bazaar, which was built shortly after the arrival of the Ottoman Empire, has been putting Big Data to work for decades!"
The SAP executive argues that the bazaar gathers insight about customers in order to sell their goods in a way that is a microcosm of how retailers are applying big data for the same purpose. If you've felt fleeced by some of the recent nebulous explanations for how to apply big data to generating business profits, look to the past, and the east.
—By Eric Rosenbaum, CNBC.com


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Both Microsoft and Sony have revealed that development on their next home consoles is well underway, but neither has made an actual announcement confirming the name, price, or release date of their console yet. That may change early next year, as an extensive leak from 4chan (via NeoGAF) may have spoiled Sony’s plans for its next big events, one of which will feature the official reveal of the PlayStation 5 (or whatever it’s called).
According to the anonymous source, Sony will host an event dubbed PlayStation Meeting 2020 on February 12th next year, where the PlayStation 5 will make its debut. This information apparently comes from an email sent by the senior marketing manager at PlayStation. The email also reportedly says third-party publishers like Activision, Square Enix, Ubisoft, and EA will be invited as well to show off their next-gen titles for the unreleased PS5.
In addition to the new console and the third-party publishers, the event is also said to focus on upcoming first-party games The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima, both of which are currently slated to launch on PS4. The source also claims that “numerous tests” have been carried out on the PlayStation VR 2 prototype, and that we can expect to see the upgraded virtual reality hardware before fiscal year 2021.
It’s worth noting that the PlayStation 4 was initially unveiled at a similar live event on February 20th, 2013, and hit the market that fall. Whether or not this rumor turns out to be legit, it is certainly within the realm of possibility for Sony to follow a similar script in 2020, as Microsoft has already confirmed its next Xbox (which carries the codename Project Scarlett) will be available for purchase before the end of next year.
We’re going to take everything this anonymous 4chan source says with a grain of salt, but as leaky as virtually every major tech company under the sun has been in recent years, there’s always a chance that the PS5 reveal event has in fact been spoiled. After all, having skipped E3 2019, the PlayStation brand hasn’t exactly been in the headlines as often as it has for most of this generation. But a flashy console reveal event would change that.


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Tesla has shared a video documenting some Cybertruck testing performed in Baja California, Mexico, prior to the electric pickup’s release last year.
In October, ahead of Tesla’s November 30 delivery event, the automaker shared photos, videos and a short livestream of the Cybertruck team testing the vehicle in Baja California. On Friday, Tesla shared a 15-minute video on YouTube about the experience, showing interviews with some of the engineering team while there, and on-the-ground coverage of the testing process.
The video chronicles the two Cybertrucks and their trip through the Baja 1,000, also alluding to their use of Starlink “mini” dishes for staying connected and sharing data as it comes in. The roads are fairly unpredictable, going from super rocky and bumpy to smooth, washed-out areas, and later to sandy surfaces, at times even forcing the Cybertrucks to cross shallow waterways.
The trip consists of the following five stages:
- Stage One: Ensenada to San Quintín (133 miles)
- Stage Two: San Quintín to Bahía de los Ángeles (224 miles)
- Stage Three: Bahía de los Ángeles to San Ignacio (189 miles)
- Stage Four: San Ignacio to Loreto (209 miles)
- Stage Five: Loreto to La Pas (232 miles)
The team features several engineers who talk about the trip as they make their way south, including Lead Cybertruck Engineer Wes Morrill. While the team notes at a couple of different points that they’re impressed with the Cybertruck’s efficiency, some of the harsher driving roads do take a toll on the electric vehicle (EV).
As one example, one of the Cybertruck’s hits a deep berm during stage three of the trip, causing the windshield glass to break. This portion of the drive is full of extra-deep washouts due to a recent hurricane that damaged much of the road, according to the team. The trip also let employees test features such as traction control, extract clearance and off-road mode, and more at various points in the team’s travels.
You can watch the full 15-minute video from Tesla below.
The Baja 1,000 is not the only off-road testing Tesla has performed on the truck, though it may be the longest single trip taken on one of these tests. The Cybertruck recently was featured in an off-road demo at Hell’s Revenge, after having been tested at Hollister Hills and in the Tahoe National Forest over the past few months.
Tesla is currently ramping up production of the Cybertruck at its Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, with a recent drone flyover showing more than 300 units outside the plant. The U.S. automaker has also been showing the Cybertruck off at multiple automotive expos, and it has been touring through China and Japan.


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Two businesses have signed retail leases at a Nutley property, according to real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.
Good Vibes, a hot vinyasa yoga studio and Kombucha bar, and Mathnasium, a math learning center, signed at the 231-237 Franklin Ave. property, C&W’s David Townes said.
Townes, an East Rutherford-based retail broker, represented the landlord, a private owner, in both leases.
“Boutique fitness — including yoga — is thriving,” he said in a prepared statement. “Health-conscious Americans are looking for local, highly focused concepts that cater to their specific activity interests. This tenant will surely be a welcome addition for area residents.”
Good Vibes signed for 2,200 square feet, while Mathnasium signed for 1,200 square feet. Both businesses are expected to open this summer.
“Downtown retail remains in high demand in our region,” Townes said. “Nutley, in particular, offers strong demographics — the kind that draw national franchises like Mathnasium.”


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Not quite a decade ago, the potential for defective Takata air bags to explode in a crash erupted into the global auto industry’s most complex and far-reaching safety crisis in history. Roughly 100 million of them were recalled worldwide. But Ruy Drisaldi, a 42-year-old originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, never learned of the risks until last December, when the air bag in his wife’s used Honda CR-V exploded after another car backed into hers near their home in the southeastern Mexican city of Merida, killing her.
Neither Drisaldi nor his wife, Janett Perez, an American citizen, had received a single warning about the recall, he says. “Someone needs to be held responsible,” he says. “You buy a car with air bags and assume you’re protected. I now realize all the years we had that car, we were driving with a gun pointed to our heads.”
Although the Takata callbacks have largely faded from the public eye in much of the world, Drisaldi’s story is a reminder that the defective parts continue to put drivers at risk. As of early July, more than 14 million still hadn’t been fixed in the U.S. alone, in addition to an unknown but likely substantial number in the rest of the world. That means that millions of car owners like Drisaldi—especially in countries with weak consumer protections—may remain unaware that the propellant used in their cars’ air bags could be degrading as a result of heat and humidity, turning their vehicles into potential explosion hazards.
At least 37 fatalities and 450 injuries allegedly linked to the defective parts worldwide have been reported to U.S. auto safety regulators. Of the deaths, 19 were in the U.S., while others have been reported from all corners of the globe, including in French Guiana, Nigeria, Brazil, Australia, and China.
Perez’s death, caused by a piece of metal that ruptured the bag and struck her neck, added Mexico to the fatalities list. The next day, a friend from Argentina sent Drisaldi a news clip about the exploding Takata air bag inflators and the worldwide recall that ultimately sent the company into bankruptcy. Honda later confirmed that the driver side air bag in Perez’s SUV exploded.
The incident in Mexico illustrates how auto safety recalls, even for deadly defects, can fly under the radar in parts of the world with weak regulatory regimes. In the U.S., the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has taken unprecedented steps to not only oversee but also coordinate the industry’s campaign to replace the tens of millions of inflators. An independent monitor also prodded companies into adopting more effective outreach techniques beyond what’s required by law. Nothing similar is going on in Mexico, where companies say there’s not even an effective registration system through which they can locate owners of used cars.
“While the U.S. recall system is flawed, in other countries we see systems that are virtually nonexistent,” says Sean Kane, president of Safety Research and Strategies Inc., a consultant and advocacy organization in Rehoboth, Mass.
The death of a driver of a Honda Accord in April is the latest Takata-linked fatality in the U.S. Since then, Honda said it had made more than 100 attempts to reach owners of that particular vehicle through calls, emails, mailed letters and even in-person visits. But in Mexico, companies have mainly used broad outreach campaigns through ads placed in newspapers and notices on websites.
Merida, where Perez was killed, is well-known for heat and humidity. Those are factors investigators have said cause the air bags’ ammonium nitrate propellant to become unstable and prone to ignite with too much force in an accident, shattering the metal inflator canister. Many of the potentially deadly inflators were manufactured at Takata’s plant in Monclova, Mexico, and were exposed to uncontrolled moisture conditions, according to a NHTSA report.
Frank Melton, a lawyer for Perez’s family, says her death “could have been prevented had the same recall efforts used in the U.S. been implemented in Mexico.” Perez was born in Los Angeles, and because of her U.S. citizenship, her family was able to file a claim with the Takata victims’ fund in the U.S. But Mexican citizens who’ve been injured by Takata bags there have no such recourse.
Honda has repaired about 72% of its affected cars in Mexico, compared with 89% in the U.S. That means it has yet to fix almost 114,000 vehicles in Mexico. Toyota’s 41% rate there means almost 144,000 owners may be driving unaware of the potentially deadly air bags. General Motors says it’s repaired just 36% of its vehicles with recalled Takata bags in Mexico, leaving 213,000 such vehicles with potential problems.
Honda defended its outreach efforts in Mexico, saying it’s tried to increase awareness and track down owners of recalled vehicles. “We proactively do everything within our reach to find the owners of vehicles that have been recalled,” says spokesman Fernando Maqueo.
As cars change hands to second, third and even fourth owners, it gets harder for carmakers to locate them, says Chris Martin, regulatory and legal communications manager at Honda in the U.S.
Automakers in the U.S. are required to alert drivers about recalls using mailed notices and rely on state vehicle-registration systems for addresses. For the Takata recalls, most automakers have used multiple sources of driver information that are updated more frequently than state systems, such as insurers and repair-shop data. They’ve also used e-mail, postcards, certified mail, and targeted social media ads, according to a January report by the NHTSA-appointed monitor overseeing the campaign.
“We’ve gone to really unprecedented extents in the U.S. to repair these, using lots of different outreach mechanisms including even knocking on doors,” Martin says. In Mexico, there is no equivalent vehicle registry, Maqueo says.
Mexico’s consumer protection agency, Profeco, pointed Bloomberg News to a recall alert on its website and didn’t respond to additional questions on the disparity between efforts to reach car owners there and in the U.S.
Perez’s death is the only one tied to a faulty Takata air bag in Mexico, Honda says. Experts say there’s no global database or investigative process used by authorities to know whether that’s true.
“Cases are tied to these failures only when companies acknowledge the problem,” says Alejandro Furas, head of the New Car Assessment Program for Latin America and the Caribbean. The nonprofit has been lobbying governments in the region to upgrade safety rules. “We’re regrettably in the hands of the industry. The companies know this and take advantage of it.” (Among the program’s donors is Bloomberg Philanthropies, a nonprofit headed by Michael Bloomberg, owner of Bloomberg Businessweek parent Bloomberg LP.)
Honda’s Martin acknowledges that other Takata-related deaths could have gone unreported in parts of the world where the problem isn’t well-known or that lack the same regulatory and safety infrastructure that exists in the U.S. “If somebody doesn’t tell us or a government official about it, there’s no way to be sure,” he says. “People picking up the pieces after a crash may not know what they’re looking at.
Indeed, Kevin Fitzgerald, a former Takata propellant engineer who resigned in 2014 and cooperated with the U.S. government’s investigation of the supplier, says he’s skeptical that only one injury and one fatality have occurred in Mexico. “That’s awful hard to believe,” he says. “I just cannot wrap my head around that.”
Furas says Mexico—and Latin America as a whole—needs governments to get ahead of these problems by setting up vehicle certification systems. But that’s no easy task. “The truth is Latin American governments don’t like these kinds of regulations,” he says. “They require investments.”


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Modernizing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
In 1991 Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The TCPA sought to protect consumers from unwanted robocalls and faxes. However, the law does not stop unwanted robocalls and faxes. Instead, it harms consumers and hinders U.S. companies from providing important information their customers need and want via calls and texts.
When the TCPA was passed in the early 90s, only 7.5 million people in the U.S. had a wireless telephone. Compare that to 2015 when 377 million people in the U.S. had wireless telephones. As technology continues to change, so does the way people communicate. That’s why modernizing the TCPA is critical.
Congress included three ways this law can be enforced to protect individuals against robocalls and unwanted faxes. First, a state attorney general can bring a civil lawsuit for damages. Second, the Federal Communications Commission, the agency in charge of interpreting and enforcing the law, can fine individuals and companies with monetary penalties. Finally, individuals have the right to bring a lawsuit. Under the TCPA Individuals can either seek $500 per violation or actual financial loss, depending on which is greater.
Each year 37 million telephone numbers are recycled. The Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform released a report saying that cell phone numbers can be reassigned without notifying anyone, including the companies that were at one point given consent to contact that number. This means that a U.S. company that continues to call a reassigned number without knowing can be sued.
Last September the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing on the importance of modernizing the TCPA. I heard from one witness that she no longer sends out health-related reminder calls to her patients regarding vital information because of the risk of litigation due to telephone numbers being reassigned.
The Energy and Commerce Committee is not the only committee working towards modernizing the TCPA, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice recently held a hearing on lawsuit abuse of the TCPA. Litigation of the TCPA has significantly increased over the years. Between 2010 and 2016 there was a 1,372 percent increase in case filings, which highlights the importance of reexamining the intentions of the law.
Consumers and U.S. companies have taken the hit for far too long and it’s my job as Congressman to ensure that consumers and businesses are treated fairly. As a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, I will continue working with my colleagues to make this a reality.


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The Madison Card Show has announced confirmed dates for the rest of its 2021 schedule. After a successful inaugural show in April with 23 vendor tables and more than 200 attendees, confirmed dates were set in place for the rest of the year.
Saturday May 22 will be the follow up to the first show at the Madison Sheraton’s Capitol Square Ballroom on John Nolen Drive. Show hours are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The next show will be held on Saturday June 26. The July show will be held prior to the National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago (Rosemont’s Stephens Center). Madison’s card show in July will be held on the 24th.
Then the Madison Card Show will be held on the following dates: August 28, September 25, and October 23. Attempting to capture that holiday spirit and one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year, you can peruse the Madison Card Show on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, November 27. There will not be a show scheduled in December.
Vendor tables can be secured for any upcoming show by contacting Beau Thompson (309) 945-8986 or Johnny Lee (608) 571-9994. Tables are $50 each and admission to the show is just $1.


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Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. released its second quarter 2021 financial results, revealing a 15% increase in revenue over the same quarter last year. Total revenue for the quarter was $704.1 million, with a 42% growth in earnings per share (EPS), which now stands at $1.15.
Under the agreement, ten indoor Olympus Tower Farms will produce 60,000 pounds of Grōv's High-Density Nutrient Super feed wheatgrass a day using less than 5% of the water, without pesticides or herbicides. Superior Farms expects that this feed will optimize nutrition and environmental conditions during the lambing cycle.
Each year, Nu Skin hosts a Force for Good Day as part of the company’s commitment to humanitarian efforts both around the world and at home.
From the June 2021 issue of Direct Selling News magazine. Each year, the Direct Selling News team works with companies around the world on the Global 100 Celebration, and it has become our signature research endeavor. The goal from the outset of the project 12 years ago was to foster a greater level of transparency within the direct selling community, in […]
Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. has added Emma Battle and President and CEO-elect Ryan Napierski to its Board of Directors.
Nu Skin: A Force for Good A quick glance at the numbers paints an impressive picture of Nu Skin and their dedication to being a force for good for children and the world in which they live. But it’s in the work and, at times, the herculean effort behind each of those statistics where Nu […]
Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. announced record-breaking revenue amounts for the first quarter of 2021 reaching $677 million, with earnings per share in the quarter increasing 153%, to $0.91. Recruiting held strong for the company, with a 22% increase in distributors, totaling more than 60,000 in number. Customers increased 34%, to more than 1.5 million people.
13 finalists made the cut this year. Congratulations to all of our 2021 Best Places To Work in Direct Selling Honorees!
Nu Skin’s beauty device system was ranked #1 for the fourth consecutive year by Euromonitor International, Ltd., a global research firm that publishes comprehensive market research on the skin care industry. “We have taken an innovative approach in the rapidly growing at-home beauty device market by offering device systems that combine scientifically formulated serums and […]
DSN in partnership with Transformation Capital released the February Digital Momentum Index. Exiting the holidays, the full 100-company list saw increases in average monthly fan/follow growth and engagement across both platforms (Facebook and Instagram). Additionally, February saw an average increase in web traffic. January’s publication received significant international attention, and we are very excited to […]
Nu Skin Enterprises announced Ryan Napierski has been selected by the Nu Skin Board of Directors to become the company’s next president and chief executive officer. Napierski, who currently serves as the company’s president, will succeed Ritch Wood upon his retirement effective September 1, 2021. Wood will continue as an executive advisor through the beginning […]


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Motocross fans rejoice as Milestone has released MXGP 2020 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
The game features 68 riders from both MXGP and MX2 rosters along with 19 circuits featured during the 2020 season. On top of that, MXGP 2020 includes the returning Plaground free-roam area, dedicated multiplayer servers, and a Race Director Mode to host online tournaments and events.
MXGP 2020 will also see the returning Track Builder that’s coming via a post-launch update in the near future. The track builder will include a new heightmaps feature that will allow you to build courses with hills and mountains. Players will also have four different types of terrain to choose from when building the track of their dreams.
The PlayStation 5 version of MXGP 2020 will be released on January 14, 2021.
Want more sports gaming content daily? Subscribe to the SGO Network on YouTube, where we publish daily videos ranging from news to tips on how to improve your skill on the sticks.


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Retail and consumer data, marketing to younger generations, and preseason planning for buyers are just a few of the topics that will be discussed at the upcoming Outdoor Retailer Winter trade show.
Outdoor Retailer has released the schedule for its education sessions at the event, which is being held Nov. 14-16 at the Salt Palace Convention Center, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The November date is part of OR’s efforts to put on shows that better align with seasonal buying schedules for retailers.
All education will be on the show floor in both The Camp and Overland Experience show areas, making it easier to access between appointments, according to OR.
A few of the key sessions the organizers are highlighting are:
- Retail and consumer trends with consumer behavior research firm Circana (formerly NPD) (Day 1).
- Gen Z marketing with market research firm YPulse (Day 1).
- Preseason buying and retail planning with retail consultancy Outside Looks (Day 2).
The Outdoor Industry Association is hosting its education sessions in The Camp. OIA sessions will cover:
- PFAS phase-out, led by James Pollack with the Clean Chemistry and Materials Coalition and OIA.
- Lobbying and industry challenges with Rich Harper, director of government affairs for OIA.
- How to adapt to the evolving outdoor consumer, led by Kelly Davis, director of research for OIA.
Other sessions will tackle sustainability, emerging technologies, and marketing strategies. More sessions will continue to be added to the schedule over the coming weeks, including overlanding-focused content.
The most up-to-date schedule will always be available here and in the Outdoor Retailer mobile app.
With the schedule changes, this November’s show will share the Salt Palace with another event. The main entrance for Outdoor Retailer Winter 2023 will be from the West side, across from the Delta Center. A diagram of the location for this show is available on outdoorretailer.com.


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Help stuff a cruiser with non-perishable food to help students
Warren Police and Saint Paul's Youth group need your help in stuffing a cruiser Saturday May 22nd from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
The drive through contactless event will be held outside the Warren Police Department.
People are being asked to place items in thier trunk which will be removed by a volunteer.
The food collected will be for the Warren G. Harding Food Pantry.
During the week students from kindergarten to 12th grade are able to go to the pantry where items are discretely placed in backpacks.
Without the help many students would go hungry and do without toiletries and items offered for free at the pantry.
Suggested foods, and items needed include;
The following items are suggested by the pantry: pasta noodles, pasta sauce, rice, Ramen noodles, cereal, cereal bars, Pop-Tarts, syrup, soups, crackers, snack crackers, fruit cups, pudding, juice boxes, bottled water, canned vegetables, and Spaghetti-O's/Beef Ravioli type canned pastas.
Bar soap, body wash, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant (men's and women's), lotion, mouthwash, body spray, Chapstick, socks, hairbrush, comb, laundry soap and dish soap are also needed.


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Discussions about U.S. retail sales often overlook one major buyer of apparel, the military. Under the radar of most news outlets, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law, but omitted a codicil that would have required military clothing to be purchased only from retail stores that have signed the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh.
A small group of congressional Democrats had been pushing for the inclusion of the amendment. There are two competing consortia of retailers who outsource apparel production to factories in Bangladesh that have been created to supervise desperately needed reforms and finance expensive factory improvements. The E.U. led Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (AFBSB) plans to inspect the approximately 1,000 factories that directly supply them with garments. There is also a U.S.-brokered Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety that covers another 500. The troop of Democrats have been specifically advocating for the agreement assembled by the E.U.
There is a long history of legislative limits on the military’s purchasing of apparel for its personnel. The Pentagon is legally bound to buy food, clothing and a host of other items from U.S. producers, an interdiction detailed in the 1941 statute called the Berry Amendment.
Sometimes, the Pentagon uses its buying leverage to register political statements or as an instrument of diplomacy. Last July, a ban on the purchase of garments made in Vietnam was imposed by the U.S. government on all federal agencies as a result of disclosures that the apparel may be made by forced or indentured child labor.
There is currently no univocal policy regarding the purchase of non-uniform apparel. In order to avoid stockpiling huge inventories, each of the armed services provides a stipend to soldiers to purchase their own. For example, the Army gives male soldiers $75 per year to spend on shoes, and permits them to spend that on whatever brand they please. The Air Force dispenses about $2.3 million a year on shoe allowances.


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We advance human rights in business.
We track over 10,000 companies, and help the vulnerable eradicate abuse.
Eight years after Rana Plaza, garment workers continue to lose their lives in dangerous factories, highlighting need for a binding global safety agreement
The 2013 Accord on Fire and Building Safety – a legally binding contract to ensure garment workers in Bangladesh have a safe working environment – was signed by more than 200 brands globally after the Rana Plaza disaster. Campaigners are calling for brands to sign up to a new international contract to advance workers' safety worldwide


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Verizon may not be pursuing a massive expansion of its fiber footprint like some competitors, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t see value in the smaller scale work it’s doing with Fios.
During an investor conference, Verizon CFO Matt Ellis reiterated the company is working to add around 400,000 open-for-sale locations within its ILEC footprint in 2021 and for “at least the next two to three years.”
Some of these additions are related to new build activity, with Verizon swooping in to “wire Fios in upfront” in houses and apartment buildings as they’re constructed by developers. But Ellis noted Verizon is also continuing efforts to replace copper with fiber, giving it the opportunity to pull out copper assets that are expensive to operate and have higher emissions than newer equipment.
There “continues to be an opportunity to expand the Fios footprint within our existing ILEC space and not just get the revenue opportunities from expanding the size of the Fios customer base, but also some cost benefits and green benefits from removing some of the copper network at the same time,” he explained.
Ellis said its Fios service has performed consistently well over the past year in terms of net additions, attributing this in part to consumers seeking out better broadband service as a result of the pandemic.
“It's just shown the value of a very high-quality product,” he said. “We're seeing that both in the gross add side of bringing new customers in, but also the churn side as well.”
Verizon added 129,000 wireline subscribers in Q3 2021, with Fios contributing 104,000 net additions. It ended the quarter with 6.49 million Fios internet connections, with this figure up 6.2% year on year from 6.11 million.
On the operator's earnings call, executives said its broadband segment achieved "historically low churn rates" but did not provide breakout or year-over-year comparison figures for this metric.


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Plastics, detergents, paints, medicines, cosmetics and thousands of other useful products today are made from chemical compounds derived from petroleum. But those compounds could, at reasonable cost, be made from wood instead, say researchers at the University of Leuven. This switch would bring down carbon dioxide emissions, according to their results published in Science.
Wood has three main components: the carbohydrates cellulose and hemicellulose, and lignin, a polymer that holds the fibers in wood together. “In the paper industry, lignin is seen as a residual product and usually burned,” said Bert Sels, director of the center for surface chemistry and catalysis at KU Leuven “That’s a pity, since just like petroleum, it can have many high quality uses if it can be properly separated from wood and the right chemical building blocks are extracted.”
In 2015, the researchers reported a novel chemical process to convert the lignin and cellulose in sawdust into the valuable chemicals and hydrocarbon chains that are used as building blocks for chemical products. That work was done in the laboratory, and it wasn’t clear whether translating it to an industrial scale can be costlier than using petroleum.
Now the team has detailed the design of an integrated biorefinery that converts 78 percent of the weight of birch into useful chemicals. The process involves separating wood into a solid cellulose paper pulp and a liquid lignin oil. The pulp can be used to make biofuels or natural insulation, while the lignin oil can be processed into chemical building blocks.
To calculate the economic viability of the process, the Belgian researchers worked together with a Belgian-Japanese ink company, since some compounds derived from lignin can be used to make ink. The team assessed whether they could use lignin-based compounds to make chemicals currently made with petroleum.
Their calculations show that it can be financially feasible to build and run a biorefinery that converts wood into chemical building blocks. Wood as a raw material could be profitable after a few years, they found.
The team is now in talks with various private industry partners to find more companies to process cellulose pulp and lignin oil. They plan to scale up the production process with the ultimate goal of launching a wood biorefinery in Belgium.
Source: Yuhe Liao et al. A sustainable wood biorefinery for low-carbon footprint chemicals production. Science, 2020.


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iPhone based DJI pilots have been waiting for this! The Litchi company says itshappy to announce that the Mini 2 and Mini SE are now fully supported in Litchi for iOS 2.12.
And if you fly an Air2S be sure to update to the recently released Air 2S firmware v02.04.21.50 in which DJI fixed the issue where the gimbal’s position is not reported in Litchi. This update means the Air 2S is now fully supported in Litchi for Android 4.21.3.
It has also added support for the Air 2S in Litchi for iOS 2.12, however be aware that currently you can only do one autonomous or semi-autonomous flight per launch of Litchi on iOS. After that flight, a restart of Litchi is required in order to start a new one. This is caused by a bug in the DJI iOS SDK which we have reported to DJI and hope they will fix soon.
See the full changelog of the latest updates at https://flylitchi.com/new


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One of the biggest questions in front of the human civilization today is – whether physical money will disappear? In many countries, banknotes have already become relics. The irony is that We Chat and Alipay have completely taken over the markets of China, which is the birthplace of Paper Money. The reality is that, with digital payment transaction applications, paying and receiving money have become not only swift but also hassle-free. By scanning a QR code, you will now be able to send money to your beloved, to your grocery shops, and even your kid’s school fees. That is completely phenomenal and amazing.
The future of cash is indeed an ongoing debate, and the coalition will continue. While there are debates on the motion of the topic. Such digital payments make transactions safer and hassle-free. Cashless payments can also mitigate the dishonesty and laundering associated with cash. There are certainly strong points against the motion as well. These include- the disadvantaged and the poor people who are away from the reach of digital currency and can’t avail of such facilities of cashless payments. Also, in developing nations such as India, where a large section of people cannot afford a square meal every day, it is meaningless to expect digital payment mode in every sphere.
No argument can stand without any validated real-time proof. Here are certain pieces of evidence that give to the debate of whether cash – the historic barter commodity that once upon a time shaped the global economy is on the verge of extinction:
Debit cards and credit cards have long been the game chargers of the economy. The increasing use of other cashless online payment modes, such as Google Pay, PhonePe, or Paytm clearly points out that already a huge number of people have adapted themselves to the cashless mode. Credit cards and debit cards are a bit more complex, and not everyone can avail of them. However, these digital wallets and unified payment gateways are available to anyone who holds a bank account and can link these to the same. The amplification in digitization and the number of internet users have facilitated online transactions more than ever.
The use of cash is associated with crimes and corruption. Anything illegal, right from the crimes related to drugs to paying people under the table is all associated with cash. Bank notes were gradually becoming one of the potential corridors of the rising incidences of crime. The partial or differential elimination of cash from the economic network can help to mitigate or at least reduce the instances of such crimes. Also, it is easy to replace debit cards and credit cards if they are stolen. Even if your mobile phone gets stolen, you can prevent any financial loss by simply blocking the accounts. On the other hand, if only one banknote from your pocket gets stolen, it is not possible to replace the same.
With the lesser involvement of cash in transaction processes, companies can now think of reducing the staff in the bursar department. Lesser number of people are needed to control, monitor, and keep a record of the transactions than it was needed when all the transactions were cash oriented. Thus, electric payment mode is leading to the automation and digitization of the payment modalities involving lesser human intervention. This reduces the number of people needed to sit in the office physically to check out the accounts. Also, the incidences of mistakes in accounting bookkeeping drastically reduce with the payment modalities becoming digital.
There are two sides to every argument. The same is in this case. Even if there are plenty of arguments that support a cashless future, there are quite a few arguments that establish the need for an economy that involves transactions like cash. Let us have a look at some of them:
It cannot be denied that cashless payments are becoming increasingly popular. But that cannot shift focus from the use of cash. Various surveys reflect that even though there is rising use of electronic and cashless payments in the middle and high-income groups, the poor households (that constitutes the largest and major section of any economy) still rely on the banknotes and physical cash as their primary modality.
One of the major problems that most poor households face is that – they are not digitally literate. Also, they do not have access to high-end devices like smartphones or a stable internet connection that are the prerequisites for conducting a cashless payment. The next big reason for their abstinence is that poor people cannot afford the bank fees or the convenience fees associated with such cashless transfers ad transactions. Many people even get their bank accounts closed due to nonsufficient basal bank balance.
Not only the poor but the old people and the differently abled population are also unable to cope with the digital transaction method. People who are part of the rural population and do not have access to the internet are often deprived of the various facilities that would have made cashless transactions easier for them.
The elderly generation is not used to using the internet more often. Also, they distrust the digital transaction modes, apprehension that their money could get lost. All these reasons cumulatively form a barrier to the economy becoming completely cashless.
It is one of the crimes that is increasing at an alarming rate is that identity theft. In simple words, pretending to be someone that you are not or stealing someone else’s identity details to conduct any crime. This is easier and smoother in the case of online payment transactions. In real-time cash exchange, you cannot portray yourself as someone else, but when paying online or committing any crime online, it is easy to steal someone else’s details and pretends to be that person. In the next phase, if the crime gets caught, it will be the innocent person whose identity has been stolen who shall get caught and not the real criminal. This is one of the major drawbacks of online payment transactions or the crucial setback of a cashless economy.
The concept of a cashless economy may sound to be really fascinating, and it indeed offers a plethora of benefits in some cases, but there are certain prominent drawbacks of the same as well.
With the high rise in the number of digital transactions, there are certain clear indications that cash may turn out to be obsolete. But the change will take plenty of time to come about. There is a steady decline in the number of cash transactions, but in developing countries, the complete shift to a cashless economy is not going to happen soon.
Since barter has been the oldest form of exchange in the human economy and one of the main pillars over which the society grew, it won’t be that easy to eradicate the complete use of cash overnight. Cash is the centralized medium of economic transactions across the globe. It is accepted widely and is still the most common and most convenient way to buy and sell products and services.
Cash may disappear, and the globe may become unified digital with transactions happening over the smartphones and the complete evaporation of the physical bank note questions. But the primary fact that stands in front of us is when and where this change will happen. According to some financial experts, this change may take another 100 years to happen. Meanwhile, this hybrid model of online and offline ways of transactions is the best. It is the best way to get along with the economy right now.
For developed countries and the upper socioeconomic strata, the digital mode of payments may seem to be the perfect one and the convenient one, but in third world countries and for the lower economic groups, smartphones, a legit bank account, and the internet connection to operate the payments digitally – all of them are luxury. Thus it won’t be a feasible option to switch over to the completely cashless mode right at this moment.
There is another possible apprehension that is looming around in the finance world is – a cashless economy might take us back to the barter system of exchange. Extinction of banknotes is not a suitable decision completely. In this age, the commodity of barter will be the invisible cryptocurrency. But still, then, not 100 percent of the population is acquainted with crypto and its working. It took quite a few centuries for the world to get accustomed to money and currency and for the existing system to consolidate. It can be well expected that it will take a few more centuries for money to go completely extinct. Meanwhile, the cashless transaction with online wallets can keep on rising successfully.


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Caterpillar, Navistar joint venture hopes to build trucks in China
NC2 Global LLC, the truck-building joint venture between Caterpillar Inc. and Navistar International Corp., may establish a venture in China to develop, build and sell trucks and parts in that and other Asian countries, NC2 said in a news release.
NC2 and Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co. Ltd. of China have signed what they called a framework agreement to establish their own joint venture. Anhui Jianghuai Automobile makes cars and trucks in Anhui Province of the People's Republic of China.
The proposed 50/50 joint venture would take advantage of the financial strength, technology know-how and global distribution network provided by NC2 and the existing medium-duty and heavy-duty truck business of JAC, including its existing manufacturing facilities in China, the release said.
"If we are able to reach a definitive agreement, this proposed joint venture would directly support NC2's strategy to produce and market a full line of commercial on-highway trucks for markets outside of North America," said Al Saltiel, president of NC2. "The opportunity to leverage existing JAC manufacturing facilities and business relationships has the potential to accelerate NC2's global business plans. We look forward to working with JAC to quickly bring exciting new products to market."
There is also consideration that the joint venture would establish its own research and development center in China, using a portion of JAC's existing facilities.
NC2 and JAC will work to finalize the joint venture by mid-2010, with the exact date depending on the progress of negotiations, due diligence, as well as corporate and regulatory approvals, the release said.


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Nvidia’s new computer model is designed to pave the way for AI-powered humanoid robots. At the company’s GTC event in San Jose, Nvidia announced “Project GR00T,” a software platform that can enable a robot to understand human language and replicate human actions. The computer model promises to help today’s robot makers build machines capable of interacting with humans and navigating real-world environments. “The ChatGPT moment for robots might be around the corner,” says Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. PC Mag
A convicted paedophile who sent a picture of his erect penis to a 15-year-old girl has become the first person to be jailed for cyber-flashing in England and Wales. Registered sex offender Nicholas Hawkes, 39, of Basildon, Essex, also sent unsolicited photos to a woman. The woman took screenshots of the WhatsApp image sent on 9 February and reported it to police the same day. Hawkes, who admitted two charges, has been jailed for just over 15 months. BBC
Social media giant TikTok is seeing stalled growth in the US for the first time as it faces a wave of challenges including a licensing dispute with potential forced sale of its US operations, and a lukewarm foray into e-commerce. That’s according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter as saying that TikTok’s US user growth has stagnated for the first time since its launch, despite reaching 170 million users in the US. Music Business Worldwide
The next-generation iPad Air is now reportedly shipping to the United States and other countries in preparation for launch. The rumor comes from the leaker known as “Instant Digital,” who claims that manufacturers in China are now shipping the 2024 iPad Air in two sizes to overseas locations.
“Everything is ready” for launch, the Weibo user says. The sixth-generation iPad Air is rumored to feature the M2 chip, a redesigned rear camera, and specification upgrades including Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E. Mac Rumors
A far-right Austrian who received donations from and communicated with the Christchurch terrorist before the 2019 attack has had his X account restored, with X owner Elon Musk replying to one of his tweets. The founder of the so-called Identitarian Movement, Martin Sellner, who preaches the superiority of European ethnic groups, was banned from Twitter in 2020 under the former management along with dozens of other accounts linked to the movement amid criticism over the platform’s handling of extremist content. The Guardian
Scientists have figured out a way to mass-produce solar panels made out of a so-called miracle material that can massively boost their efficiency. Perovskite has been hailed for its potential to revolutionise renewable energy, however converting its record-breaking success in the lab into commercial solar panels has proved difficult due to durability and reliability issues. A major study into possible production methods for the technology has now concluded that a vacuum-based approach could allow the next-generation solar panels to be manufactured on a commercial scale. Independent


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Ever felt “Bloopy,” Confoolish,” or Dimpatient?” Hunger keeps creating new problems – often combining multiple symptoms – so SNICKERS Brand created a new snacking solution to satisfy hunger: SNICKERS Crisper. Boasting multiple textures, new SNICKERS Crisper delivers “crispy satisfaction” in the form of crisped rice and peanuts, topped with a layer of caramel and coated in creamy SNICKERS Brand milk chocolate. SNICKERS Crisper is the first SNICKER bar with less than 200 calories per serving – a singles pack includes two squares at less than 100 calories each.
“SNICKERS is all about satisfying hunger and we’re excited to do that in a new and delicious way with SNICKERS Crisper,” said Allison Miazga-Bedrick, Director, SNICKERS Brand.
“Crisper delivers a new snacking option with a combination of textures, so it only made sense to highlight combinations of hilarious hunger symptoms in our supporting campaign as well.”
To help introduce SNICKERS Crisper, the brand will roll out a fully integrated marketing campaign, including advertising, in-store displays and promotions. New 30 second spots, created by BBDO New York, spotlight how hunger can throw people off their game when multiple symptoms conspire against them. Two ads debuted during the 2016 Golden Globes telecast on NBC Sunday, January 10, 2016, with social GIFS and live tweeting.


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Procter & Gamble’s Win is Rare in a Year of Activist Gains
P&G says Trian co-founder Nelson Peltz lost his bid for a board seat; the activist is saying the vote was too close to call. But the initial result is an outlier in a year of activist victories.
Taking on Procter & Gamble, the largest company to face an activist investor in a proxy battle, may have been a step too far for Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management, the $14 billion hedge fund firm with a $3.5 billion stake in the consumer products giant. After a close shareholder vote Tuesday morning, P&G said initial results indicated that Peltz had lost his bid to join the company’s board.
While the final tally isn’t in — and Peltz is not conceding — an activist loss would be the first big one in a year of solid wins. Indeed, the day before the P&G vote, Trian partner Ed Garden wrangled a board seat at General Electric, where Trian has a $2.5 billion stake.
Earlier this year, Paul Hilal’s Mantle Ridge convinced CSX Corp., the U.S. railroad, to give it five board seats and install a new chairman. Paul Singer’s Elliott Management ended an ugly battle by nabbing three board seats with metals manufacturer Arconic, the company created when aluminum giant Alcoa split into two separate businesses, just days ahead of a shareholder vote. And Mick McGuire’s Marcato Capital went all the way to a vote in its proxy contest to get three seats at casual dining chain Buffalo Wild Wings. (McGuire is now targeting Deckers Outdoor Corp.) On a smaller scale, Engaged Capital recently engineered a board shakeup at Hain Celestial Group, with six new directors, including Engaged founder Glenn Welling.
[II Deep Dive: Most Investors Say They Will Back Activist Peers]
A recent J.P. Morgan report found that in the year ending June 30, activists won at least one board seat 46 percent of the time, up from 41 percent the year before. Only 19 out of 54 contests — many of them small — went all the way to a vote.
To be sure, a bigger test of activists’ appeal comes with companies whose huge market capitalizations and widespread shareholder bases make them tougher targets. Procter & Gamble, for example, has a market cap of $233.6 billion. Following P&G, the next biggest ongoing battle is Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital effort to gain three board seats at ADP, the payroll processor with a market cap of $50.7 billion. Shareholders will vote on competing director slates on November 7.
Trian’s battle with P&G has been the most costly and hard fought this year. Both sides spent tens of millions of dollars in advertising and presentations around the country to woo investors. Trian’s campaign was directed to retail investors as well as institutional ones — a tactic that worked for Singer with Arconic and is also being tried by Ackman. Ackman’s appeal to retail investors even includes a webcast where he is answering their questions directly. The webcast is slated for 7 p.m. Tuesday night on his www.ADPascending.com website.
Trian Partners is waiting for the final vote tally before throwing in the towel. “We await the certified election results by the independent inspector of election,” Trian said in a statement following the vote Tuesday. “Regardless of the final voting results, Trian believes management and the Board have been put on notice by shareholders — a continuation of the past decade’s underperformance is simply unacceptable.”
A loss would sting because Trian also won the support of proxy solicitors Institutional Shareholders Service and Glass-Lewis. Such endorsements are considered critical, but their support in Trian’s proxy battle with DuPont did not lead to a win either. Months after Peltz lost the proxy battle with DuPont in 2015, CEO Ellen Kullman left the company, which then agreed to merge with Dow Chemical — a company that was facing its own activist pressure from Dan Loeb’s Third Point.
Tuesday’s proxy vote is not the end of P&G’s tangles with Peltz, either.
“He’s not going anywhere,” says Kenneth Squire, founder and principal of 13D Monitor, which tracks activist stock holdings. “It’s a great time to be a P&G stockholder. Over the next year the company is going to create value for shareholders or he’ll be back again,” he said. “I said that about DuPont, and it did not even take them a year.”
Procter & Gamble shares fell 0.54 percent after the vote Tuesday and are up 8.97 percent this year.
Ackman also says he won’t go away if he loses his proxy battle, which also will only increase pressure on ADP to perform. Shares of ADP are up about 16 percent since Pershing Square started accumulating its stake in May.
Having an activist in the board room is no guarantee for shareholders either. In the case of both CSX and Arconic, the big gains were made after the activist stakes were announced, with less change after the actual win. In other cases, the stock has tumbled. Some two-thirds of shareholders voted for Mick McGuire’s board slate at Buffalo Wild Wings, and the CEO quickly announced her retirement. Yet the stock is now down about 33 percent since Marcato’s win was announced in early June.


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We are incredibly humbled and excited that two of our beers were selected for medal at the 2015 Great America Beer Festival. We want to thank and congratulate all of our fellow Washington state breweries who received medals and who have helped us in indescribable ways. This industry is truly a family and we are excited to share this award with our brewery family! We will be announcing a party at the brewery to celebrate on October 9 – more details come soon! To purchase either of these beers, please visit our “retailers” section. Below are some official details of the festival and our brews that received an award.
Presented by the Brewers Association, GABF is the largest national beer competition that recognizes the most outstanding beers produced in the United States. The top three winners in the competition’s 92 beer categories were announced September 26 at the Great American Beer Festival awards ceremony held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado.
Ghostfish Brewing Company received a gold medal in the Gluten Free beer-style category for its Watchstander Stout, a rich and roasty ale is made from 5 different roasts of artisan gluten-free millet malt, for a complex and satisfying true stout flavor. They also received a bronze medal for its Grapefruit IPA, a lively and bright, bracingly bitter, and eminently refreshing IPA brewed with grapefruit peel. Ghostfish Brewing Company is the only dedicated gluten-free craft brewery located in Washington state, with a taproom in Seattle’s Sodo neighborhood.
The 2015 GABF competition winners were selected by an international panel of 242 expert judges from the record number of 6,647 entries, plus 91 Pro-Am entries, received from 1,552 U.S. breweries.
“American brewers continue to create innovative, flavorful high quality beers. That was on full display at this year’s Great American Beer Festival,” said Chris Swersey, competition manager, Great American Beer Festival. “The Great American Beer Festival continues to showcase the best this country’s brewers have to offer, with the competition growing and becoming ever more competitive. Congratulations to all participants and especially this year’s winners.”