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Three pillars of the retail petroleum industry came together on stage at last month’s international IDAC conference in London’s Tower Hotel a scenic position alongside Tower Bridge and the River Thames, at which to welcome 250-plus fuel-retailing industry delegates from around the globe. Organised by McClean Communications Ltd, the event dovetailed with ERPEC, the bi-annual gathering of business leaders from Europe’s retail petroleum and fuel marketing industries.
IDAC was billed as an international conference on fuel station design, build and new technology, promising to provide a bigger picture on issues that drive the way petrol stations operate, and it didn’t disappoint.
A day-and-a-half of insightful presentations included a morning session about harnessing IT and new technology for a better customer experience. Martin Gafinowitz, president of Gilbarco Veeder Root; Badouin de la Tour, CEO at Tokheim, and Neil Thomas, CEO at Wayne Fueling Systems each presented their view of the future before coming together on stage for a lengthy Q&A session.
Gafinowitz said fuel retailers were increasingly facing challenges and opportunities that required more sophisticated technologies and business models. "Macro trends in computing as well as the ubiquity and maturation of the cloud are changing how value is created and delivered, disrupting traditional means of doing business.
"Disruptive computing means to reconstruct and improve solutions using cloud-based computing and other enabling technology."
He explained that we are already using cloud computing in limited ways, such as card authorisation, lottery tickets, price changes based upon real-time data, remote wet-stock management and so on.
"But despite these successes, we are held back by a site-level approach to technology integration, which limits our ability to innovate."
He said it was important to communicate with customers in new ways, with a mobile-centric sharing of information. He said retailers should be free to innovate and not bound by legacy assets, processes and connections.
"How would we run our stores differently if we knew the identity, circumstances and mood of every customer arriving on our forecourts?" he said. "We could make their visit more efficient by up-selling, based on current promotions; the number of kids in a car; and target fuel-only customers with third party media.
"Your mobile device has more than enough power to simultaneously run every application at a typical petrol site. What if we could move it all to the cloud? That would result in a lower acquisition cost; while cloud-connected devices report status, problems, and are remotely upgradeable."
De la Tour spoke of the need for optimising retail assets, adding value at every opportunity and enhancing the end- user experience to protect the long-term success of any fuel retail business.
"Innovation is integral to delivering smart solutions and retailers want to see real added value returns for their investment in an increasingly competitive market. So how can control and management of the network be undertaken more efficiently and effectively and which tools and solutions are available today and in the future to provide them with the relevant quality data to make this real?"
He said managing data on a forecourt was not easy. Legacy protocol meant data remained in silos and so it was hard to do anything with it. However, he said wireless technology would change the way we build and manage service stations.
Software in the cloud, kept remotely, would enable complete flexibility, with access anywhere, any time. The growth of mobile payment technology was also a key development.
"New technologies are helping us every day to enhance not just payment transactions but the whole customer journey."
Thomas talked about retailers future-proofing their investments. He said the global retail fuelling equipment industry was massive $2.4bn in spend per year servicing a market of more than 1.2bn vehicles that is growing at the rate of around 3% each year.
He said it was important for retailers to keep pace with rapidly expanding motorist expectations, increased regulation and diverging new technologies, which were all impacting on the way fuel equipment suppliers were bringing new solutions to the market.
He said there were many challenges, particularly in terms of regulation "and the industry is not likely to be less regulated in the future".
Thomas said payment technology was a top priority. "I don’t think it’s the case of ’should’ people put payment terminals on a petrol pump island it’s becoming a must-do. I’ve lived in the US for 15 years where it’s the norm. Practically every gas station has payment terminals at the pump. When I come to Europe and hire a car, there’s nothing that frustrates me more than not being able to pay at the pump and having to go in-store and queue because there’s only one cashier.
"Then there’s the world of mobile payment those of you who use Apple Pay know how easy it is. Mobile payment will speed up the transaction process and enable us to reward our loyal customers.
"Global smartphone users will reach two billion this year, while mobile commerce is booming."
The conference was chaired by Barry Wyeth, director of Wyeth Projects Services, and included sessions on effective strategy, design and branding to deliver retail fuel sector success, led by David Davis, head of Minale Tattersfield’s energy sector.


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THERE IS something obscene about the thought of John Hinckley Jr. making a profit from his effort to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. Not only did Hinckley nearly succeed in killing the chief executive, his shooting spree also injured two lawmen and caused brain damage to Reagan press chief James Brady.
Incredibly, it now appears that Hinckley will receive 25 percent of the royalties of a book on his life story proposed by a New York author.
Federal law properly prevents criminals from making a profit by selling their sordid stories. Hinckley, however, apparently falls through the cracks of the law, even though there is no doubt that he shot the president and the others and is now institutionalized because of his actions.
The reason Hinckley can turn a buck: He was judged innocent by reason of insanity, and therefore is not considered a criminal.
The law may be impotent in this case, but the people are not. Hinckley can sell his story, but there is no reason people have to buy a book about it. If a book ever is published from which Hinckley might profit, people should do some real soul searching, and perhaps recall the image of James Brady in a wheelchair, before handing out their hard-earned cash.

domain: news


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Lockdown is Destroying Food Supply Chain
Lockdown is Destroying Food Supply Chain
That foam tray of plastic wrapped chicken wings you plop into your grocery shopping basket — how did it get there? What will you do when it goes missing next winter?
Back in the 1980s I hosted over the course of several summers, Japanese high school students. They traveled to the US to stay with American families for about six weeks and hone their conversational English skills. And have some fun toodling around Southern California. I remember one student from Tokyo who was actually a little freaked out when I prepared a whole chicken for roasting. This was just the usual roaster chicken from the supermarket but she was only used to seeing chicken parts, individually wrapped, in Tokyo markets. Intellectually she understood where those parts came from, but still …
I can’t help thinking about this kind of urban-induced blind spot on where our food comes from when I hear of politicians downplaying the threat of food shortages as little more than “anxiety”
Now, in the second month of the COVID-19 shutdown in Connecticut, the disconnect between what officials say about the food supply and what the economically challenged are experiencing is obvious: hundreds of people in cars lined up for bags of free groceries, half empty grocery store shelves, and food banks and pantries just flat out of food.
Officials up and down government insist the U.S. has plenty of food, including Gov. Ned Lamont, who last week called it “anxiety” about a shortage rather than an actual shortage.
The officials are busily reassuring people there’s plenty of food but the producers – farmers, ranchers and dairy producers – are sounding a warning about this lockdown we need to heed right now.
Tyson Foods suspended operations at its pork processing plant in Iowa on Wednesday April 22nd. That plant alone accounts for 3.9% of the nation’s pork supply. While the closure was done in order to test the employees for coronavirus, hundreds of the employees had been staying home out of fear, impacting processing. Tyson also is closing a plant in Logansport, Indiana, that processes hogs from nine states. One economist estimates that about 25% of pork processing has been closed or suspended.
In the meantime, where are those farmers to take their hogs for processing? Not just hog farmers, but chicken? The reality on the ground is pretty stark accord to this poultry grower:
I am a poultry grower in Sussex County. My integrator (the company I contract to grow chickens with) is depopulating 3.2 million market- age chickens right now. The reason we are doing this is because we are running at about 1/3 of our production capacity due to employee absences at the processing plants. The vast majority of these absences are not due to sickness but to fear and childcare issues.
The farmer does not own the birds. We grow them on contract. They are not ours to give away. The company and farmers have liability concerns about people coming on farms to remove the birds before they are depopulated. […]
The pork industry is facing the same issues. Market age hogs are being euthanized also.
This quarentine (sic) is causing extensive disruptions in our food supply chains. When I hear people dismiss the consequences of this quarantine as nothing more than me wanting to “go to bars and restaurants” they have no idea that we farmers of America are concerned with putting food on your table, not wining and dining ourselves.
This unreasoning fear, the irrational rules imposed, have given rise to segments of the population actually calling people raising legitimate questions “terrorists” and “killers”. That somehow this house-arrest is little more than mere inconvenience.
for best viewing, switch to full screen
We already have a problem with the lockdown and irrational fear keeping people from emergency rooms. Is that fear, coupled with unhinged political hatred, motivating some politicians to artificially extending the lockdown? Inquiring minds.
And all the more to the detriment of people ruled by those who don’t understand it takes a dairy farmer in business before the $12 a pint ice cream can be hoarded in the freezer.
UPDATE: Welcome Instapundit readers!


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Expect up to 75% off her blogger-faved carryalls.
The latest shopping and retail news in Downtown Los Angeles.
The five-day blowout kicks off in Beverly Hills today.
Beyoncé, Olivia Palermo, and Heidi Klum are all fans of Marie France Van Damme.
The cult-fave French label’s blowout kicks off October 25.
It’s happening in Beverly Hills.
Mark your cal for October 11 to 15.
Discounts start at 80% off (yep).
Cold brew floats and breakfast burritos, what else do you need?
It’s got mystical crystals hidden in the walls.
Find out when and where, right this way.


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After what seemed like an endless stream of delays, HP has finally decided the fate of the webOS platform.
While we had many promised decision dates on the Palm-developed operating system, newly installed HP CEO Meg Whitman announced today via press release that the company was going to contribute the operating system to the open source community. “webOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected and scalable,” said Whitman. “By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices.”
HP has plans to continue supporting development of the platform, and they will be maintaining a blog at http://developer..com/blog/ where developers and users can provide input and suggestions to the future of the platform.
Along with this announcement, HP also laid out four goals they hope to achieve with this plan:
- The goal of the project is to accelerate the open development of the webOS platform
- HP will be an active participant and investor in the project
- Good, transparent and inclusive governance to avoid fragmentation
- Software will be provided as a pure open source project
Along with webOS itself, HP also plans to release the application framework ENYO in the near future and any of the other remaining components.
With webOS now going open source, this means we could see it end up on a slew of devices just like Android has. From tablets to phones, after a little bit of development there is no reason we can’t imagine a Samsung or HTC phone hitting the market with webOS to take a spot in your carrier store right next to an Android handset. Tablets? Also a definite potential as we’ve already seen the OS running on the TouchPad.
There was a lot of speculation out there that HP would sell off webOS to another company, and next to no thoughts that it would go open source. To call this move surprising would be an understatement.
What do you think about the future of the webOS platform under the open source banner?


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If I had a nickel for every article that talked about the Uberization of banking, financial services, or money, I’d be able to retire and wouldn’t be writing these silly blog posts that try to educate the world on what’s really happening in banking.
One of the more recent uberfication-obfuscation articles came in the esteemed Wall Street Journal with an article titled The Uberization of Money. According to the article:
“Uber is a high-tech middleman that is making the intermediaries of the past obsolete. The financial world is one of the most mediated industries on the planet, and that is precisely what is about to change. Uberization also means using vast amounts of data to make those connections feasible. Whatever the risks, the Uberization of finance is no fad or stunt.”
As much as it pains me to point it out, uberization-sensationalism has been found right here on the pages of The Financial Brand in an article titled The Uberization of Banking. The author of that article claims:
“Uber and Airbnb simplify an existing process and provide an easy customer interface. Before Uber, you could get a taxi or car service and before Airbnb you could rent a property. It was just much more complicated for both the property owner and the renter, especially if the property was in a more obscure location. Again, they have taken the friction out, and created true marketplaces.”
My take: These comments — and many others in the Uberization/Uberfication vein: 1) Misinterpret what Uber really did in its industry, and 2) Run counter to another popular and emerging meme in the banking thought leadershipsphere regarding the rebundling of banking, or banks becoming a financial hub.
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What Uber Really Did
Before Uber, the taxi industry in the US was characterized by a very large number of relatively small companies. About the only thing consistent about the taxi experience across major cities in the US were the phone numbers of cab companies (ever notice how XXX-777-7777 connects you to a cab company in practically every area code?).
First and foremost, what Uber did was pursue a consolidation strategy in a highly fragmented industry. But Uber was hardly the first company to do that. Thirty-odd years ago, SuperCuts did the same thing in the haircut industry (I can’t bring myself to call it the hair styling business). To do it, however, it had to create physical locations, own the physical assets, and employ a lot of people.
A little closer to home, an example of pursuing a consolidation in a fragmented industry without having to invest in physical assets is ING Direct. By providing high(er) yield savings accounts without the burden of bank branches and tellers, ING Direct amassed more than $80 billion in deposits by the time it was acquired by Capital One in 2011. (Funny how no one talks about being INGDirectified).
Second–and less important to the banking industry, but not the rest of the world–Uber changed the nature of the employer/employee relationship and concept of employment.
As the author of the Financial Brand article pointed out, Uber changed the interface by which a passenger requested (and paid for) a ride. But without the consolidation and contractor strategies, we wouldn’t be talking about Uber.
The author of the Wall Street Journal article uses examples of P2P lending and crowdfunding as proof of Uberization. But as you can now see, those are examples of the exact opposite of what Uber did, as P2P and crowdfunding approaches create more fragmentation, not less.
Unbundling or Rebundling?
If Uber is fundamentally about industry defragmentation, then the folks (like Marc Andreesesen and the author of this TechCrunch article) arguing that banking is becoming unbundled (i.e., more fragmented) are fundamentally wrong. The author of the TC article claims:
“People, particularly millennials, are moving away from single monolithic banking institutions serving the majority of their financial needs to hand picking the specialized services that work for them.”
Unfortunately (for that guy), there’s no data to prove that. In fact, a survey conducted by the Center for Financial Services Innovation found that two-thirds of US consumers prefer to limit the number of FIs that they deal with. Among Gen Yers in particular, that percentage exceeds 60%. The CFSI data does show that a smaller percentage of Gen Yers do business with the Top 20 banks than older generations do, but we’re talking about a difference between 6 in 10 Gen Xers, Boomers, and Seniors and 5 in 10 Millennials.
Which is why I argued in an April 2015 post that the future of banking is about the rebundling of an emerging set of banking services, where consolidators will provide both the front-end interface and back-end integration to coordinate and simplify the set of banking services a consumer needs (an argument now being adopted by others like @Leimer and IBM).
As Brad Leimer, head of innovation at Santander put it:
“What would a rebundled bank look like from a consumer’s viewpoint? Such a bank would give a dashboard view of all of their services that are financial or tangentially financial. I should be able to choose–through my bank’s use of flexible middleware like Germany’s Fidor Bank already offers—to bundle any service that I want to, that I deem crucial to understanding my financial picture. That, in turn, if the consumer or business chooses to share the data, can help the bank make better product and service offerings, based on my preferences and other companies that I do business with.”
And as reported here on The Financial Brand in an article titled Securing Banking’s Role as Relationship Gatekeeper:
“IBM believes that banks have an opportunity to position themselves at the epicenter of evolving ecosystems, offering a broad range of best-in-class services for the benefit of their customers.”
Uberization or Not?
If you’re an astute reader (who am I kidding, the only people who read Snarketing posts are from the Astutearati), then you’ve realized that I just argued myself into a corner and contradicted myself.
I started off by saying that there is no Uberization of banking because Uber was about consolidating a fragmented industry. But then I basically argued that, thanks to the slew of fintech upstarts emerging, the role of existing banks would be to consolidate, integrate, and, in effect, defragmentize the industry.
The problem here is that misconceptions about what Uber has really done has led to the misuse of the term Uberization. A term we’d all be better off never using again.


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Apple and Broadcom have jointly filed counterclaims against the California Institute of Technology in an ongoing Wi-Fi-related lawsuit, denying any alleged infringement of the technologies and urging the court to invalidate the asserted patents, according to court documents filed electronically this week.
Apple argued that Caltech did not file the lawsuit until May 26, 2016, more than six years after the publication of the 802.11n wireless standard, and thereby the time limit to collect damages has passed under U.S. law. It also argued that Caltech does not make, use, or sell any product that practices any claim of the asserted patents.
Caltech's patents, granted between 2006 and 2012, are highly technical and relate to IRA codes that utilize simpler encoding and decoding circuitry for improved data transmission rates and performance. The technologies are implemented in both the 802.11n and 802.11ac Wi-Fi standards used by many Apple products.
In a May 2016 court filing with the U.S. District Court for Central California, Caltech accused Apple of selling various Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch models, along with other Wi-Fi products, that incorporate those IRA/LDPC encoders and/or decoders and thereby infringe upon the four asserted patents in question.
Apple provided a series of other defenses, including Caltech's failure to disclose prior art, which is any information or evidence that might be relevant to a patent's claims of originality, with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In this case, Apple said Repeat-Accumulate codes ("RA codes") were well known prior to IRA codes.
Apple and Broadcom, one of the company's main suppliers of Wi-Fi chips for select MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch models, have demanded a jury trial in the lawsuit. The case is officially titled "California Institute of Technology v. Broadcom Limited et al" on the docket.
Apple Settles With Dot 23 Technologies
Dot 23 Technologies, LLC has filed a motion to dismiss a patent lawsuit against Apple with the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas. The two companies have agreed to settle out of court, but the specific terms of their agreement have not been publicized.
Dot 23, a Texas-based entity that generally fits the description of a "patent troll," filed suit against Apple in January, claiming that Siri on iPhone and iPad violated a trio of its patents related to voice dialing and recognition. The firm was seeking damages of an unspecified amount plus interest and fees in the case.


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With the right strategy, creative thinking, and knowledge of your options, you’ll get by.
COVID-19 has fundamentally transformed daily life in ways that might stick with us long after the crisis is over. Offices are closed, upwards of 10 million people have lost their jobs, and hospitals are overwhelmed. Restaurants are closed, and even high-end dining establishments have been forced to introduce takeout, and even that might not be enough to help them weather the storm. Grocery stores and markets have remained open (eating is, after all pretty essential), but not without their own precautions.
But with the COVID-19 crisis poised to enter its most dangerous and deadly stretch to date, the Trump administration is advising against making any trips to even the most essential places for the time being. Specifically, Deborah Birx, the White House’s Coronavirus response coordinator, warned Americans to do everything they can to stay put and stay inside (well, short of issuing an actual nationwide shelter in place order).
“The next two weeks are extraordinarily important,” Birx said in an April 4 press conference. “This is the moment to not be going to the grocery store, not going to the pharmacy, but doing everything you can to keep your family and your friends safe.” Read more >>


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Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev today said that people should not oppose the meat ban imposed by government in view of Paryushan, a Jain festival of forgiveness.
“ Mahatma Gandhi had said that Hindus must not consume Pork, and similarly Muslims should give up on beef in order to respect each other’s religious values,” he said.
“ If government has imposed ban on meat for few days considering sentiments of a certain community. Then it should not be opposed,” he added.
The fever of banning meat and beef spread has with such directives being issued in Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Ahmedabad even as controversy continued to rage in Mumbai where the High Court ruled that a prohibition on sale of meat is not feasible.


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Sept. 30, 2010
A recent study by American Express has discovered that wealthy American consumers spent 24 percent more on fast food in the second quarter, compared with the same quarter last year.
American Express defines those ultra-affluent consumers as those who charge $7,000 or more a month on their credit cards, and meet certain income criteria.
As discussed in the Wall Street Journal, wealthy consumers also ordered more from Domino's Pizza, a trend the credit card company claims is from the development of new pizza recipes.
From the Wall Street Journal:
"We're seeing a bifurcated behavior pattern, with a lot of affluent consumers still trying to be frugal where they can by spending at quick-service restaurants and discount retailers, but we're also seeing a return to higher-end spending on air travel and luxury items," said Ed Jay, senior vice president of American Express Business Insights, which studied spending patterns among its cardholders....
Fast-food restaurants have fared better than mid-price and fine-dining establishments during the recession, but times are still tough for most chains. Visits to fast-food chains fell 2% during the year ended July 31, according to market-research firm NPD Group Inc., compared with drops of 3% for mid-price restaurants and 8% for fine restaurants.


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- This event has passed.
YQ Biz Expo
05/04/2019 @ 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
For the second year in a row, YouthQuest is hosting the YQ Biz Expo at the Flint Farmers’ Market. YouthQuest students will sell their own products which they have been planning and developing for the past several months.
Roughly 40 student-run businesses will sell their goods on Saturday, May 4 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2Uz25U0


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10 key trends in sustainable food
Ensuring that the food system becomes truly sustainable is no longer an option. In the midst of a climate crisis and with the global population predicted to increase by two billion in the next 30 years, feeding the world, achieving food security and reversing the damage done to the environment is now paramount if we want to avert an irreparable crisis. The F&B industry gathered at Food Matters Live’s Sustainable Food Forum on 19-20 September to discuss the challenges faced by the sector, and highlighted 10 key trends in sustainable food that must be adopted swiftly to protect the health of people and the planet.
Collaboration between companies, in particular nascent, disrupting sectors such as plant-based, precision fermentation and new ingredient production, was key for many speakers at Food Matters Live’s Sustainable Food Forum.
Speaking on the We become what we eat, and so does the planet: changing global diets panel at the Forum, Edwin Bark, Senior Vice President of plant-based meat company Redefine Meat, emphasised the urgency and importance of collaboration in order to scale up alternative protein start-ups and compete with meat and dairy companies.
Soil health and the role of farmers in sustainable agriculture
The need to restore soil health and work directly with farmers was echoed by several speakers at the Sustainable Food Forum. Kayhan Atalay, Head of Marketing at multinational mining and fertiliser company Anglo American spoke about soil degradation and how the land we grow food on today is not the same as it was 1000 years ago.
Intensive farming and chemical fertilisers have had an extremely negative impact on soil, decreasing its health and production. Atalay stressed that we must find a solution to produce food whilst protecting soil, and added that farmers must be helped and supported if we wnat to improve food production whilst protecting the ecosystem. For the Anglo American Head of Marketing, it’s not possible to meet sustainability goals within the current fossil fuel system and we must do more to promote regenerative agriculture and traceability.
Angela Francis, Chief Advisor Economics and Economic Development at WWF, who spoke on the The future of food: how to transform the global food production system, also highlighted the importance of making sure that farmers are part of the conversation and are giving the support they need, in particular in developing countries.
The Sustainable Food Trust’s Fabia Bromovsky highlighted the need for a holistic approach in farming, the importance of restoring the health of the soil’s microbiome and educating consumers about where food comes from. Whilst Bromovsky believes that livestock helps nature’s ecosystem, she added that animal agriculture needs rebalancing and levels of meat consumption must decrease.
Nature-based solution and consumer demand in sustainable packaging
Speaking on the Innovation in sustainable packaging panel at Food Matters Live’s Sustainable Food Forum, Hoa Doan, Head of Impact and Sustainability at natural packaging solution start-up NotPla, highlighted two key trends in the sector.
Nature-based solution alternatives are key to reduce the use of plastic. With legislation in the EU and UK implemented to ban single use plastic and the UN Global Treaty, which states the need to phase out plastic packaging, alternative materials such seaweed and plants used in NotPla’s products are now more important than ever. Consumers are educating themselves about plastic pollution, care about food packaging and are demanding environmentally-friendly solutions.
Food brands are showing an interest in the start-up’s eco and compostable solutions and are approaching NotPla in order to work collaboratively and find alternatives to plastic for their packaging solutions. Just as many other companies, NotPla believe that collaboration with food producers is key to reduce plastic pollution.
This sector is however not without its challenges. Whilst NotPla has a wide range of solutions to replace plastic in packaging, costs are still a barrier. Doan highlighted the need of scaling to drive down prices. Collaborating with food brands and raising awareness of problems but also solutions, having a seat at the table and myth busting, are all key to promote and adopt alternatives to plastic in food packaging, she said.
Price parity between plant-based and animal products
Many speakers at the Sustainable Food Forum were vocal about the discrepancies between meat and dairy subsidies and plant-based ones.
Activist and environmentalist Jonathon Porritt, who also took part in the The future of food: how to transform the global food production system panel, pointed out that the UK and US spend 1200 times more to promote meat and dairy than plant-based alternatives, and that stakeholders in the animal agriculture sector have no intention of giving up the huge governmental financing they receives.
Edwin Bark and Alberto Musacchio, CEO of meat analogue company Food Evolution, also pointed out the need for the plant-based industry to receive more substantial financial help from governments in order to better compete with meat and dairy companies, scale their businesses and invest in R&D.
Ultimately, financing one of the largest producers of GHG emissions will not only mean that countries will not meet the sustainability targets set out by the Paris Agreement, it will also be an environmental and human disaster.
Investment in local food ecosystem and crops
Developing countries must start to grow their indigenous crops – rather than those dictated by western countries – to ensure food security. Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, LEAP Africa board member, co-founder and Executive Chair of Sahel Consulting Agriculture and Nutrition, and AACE Foods Processing & Distribution Ltd, was clear in her message at the Forum: we need to change the face of Africa by working with local SMEs to transform the continent’s food ecosystem and by providing nutritious and sustainable food that’s affordable, acceptable, convenient and available to all.
Okonkwo Nwuneli advocates for planting and harvesting indigenous crops that are almost forgotten, such as teff, investing in local food ecosystems and empowering the players in the field.
Dr Fabrice DeClerk, Science Director at NGO EAT also stressed the importance of promoting agricultural diversity and harvesting indigenous crops, as well as ditching the typical western diet, which is high in sugar, salt, fat and red meat, and embracing healthier cuisines, as well as consuming more vegetables, fruit and nuts.
Data and information sharing
The use of quality data sets to map the food system has been talked about for some time, yet reporting on sustainability at this stage is very much voluntary. Clear, standardised KPIs and data sets should be defined, transparent and shared across the board in the food industry, rather than individual companies being left to decide how they measure their sustainability goals. This concept was highlighted by Zbigniew Lewicki, Chief R&D, Sustainability & Operations Officer, Beverages Division at Unilever, and echoed by many at the Forum.
Utilising food waste to create new ingredients
Cutting down food waste by using all parts of certain types of produce, for instance the cocoa bean, is an efficient way to minimise waste, as highlighted by IFF’s Global Innovation Programme Director Eve Martinet-Bareau. This of course presents some challenges, which could be tackled with the right technology.
Scaling down animal agriculture
Whilst for some animal agriculture should be eradicated altogether, for many the starting point is to scale it down. Currently humans are eating vast amounts of meat, which not only takes a huge toll on the environment, but also on human health.
Plant-based meat that tastes like animal meat
Making plant-based meat appealing to omnivores and flexitarians was a key trend at Food Matters Live’s Sustainable Food Forum. In the words of Redefine Meat’s Senior Vice President Edwin Bark, “We love meat, we just don’t think it should come from animals.“ The challenge for plant-based companies is to get the flavour, mouthfeel, texture, and of course, price point, right, so that meat eaters don’t feel like they are missing out when they eat an alternative protein product.
Shift in food production and consumption
We not only need to make a shift in food production to ensure sustainability, but consumers must use their spending power to make mindful and conscious choices that have minimal impact on the environment. Supply and demand must become eco-responsible, a concept expressed by Food Valley’s CEO Marjolein A.J. Brasz at the Forum, and echoed by many other speakers and attendees.


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Since Samsung released its S21 Ultra, there has been a discussion about whether the moon images that the camera can deliver are really genuine. Many have tried to prove that it is fake and that it is fake that it is fake. MBHD made a video about this phone and actually took a picture of the moon.
A a user on Reddit has managed to trick the phone. Samsung themselves say that they take a lot of pictures of the moon and combine them with AI to produce a sharp image of the moon. However, the Reddit user took a picture of the moon, scaled it down, added a lot of blur, and then printed the image. There were no details to be found in the image, yet the Samsung phone still delivered an image with moon details.
All pictures taken with a mobile today are to some extent fake, so it can be discussed whether it matters so much if Samsung adds some extra details or not to the moon images. If they do it.
What do you think, are Samsung’s moon images too good to be true?


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Starting today, target.com will carry Sense, with Best Buy’s online portal getting it “soon.” The system is expected to hit store shelves later this year.
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James Proud, CEO of the company behind Sense, Hello, says “working with Best Buy and Target, we have the opportunity for Sense to reach tens of millions of customers throughout the country – people can use Sense to take control of the most important preventative health factor we have available to us, sleep.”


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Cannabis shops are taking over Toronto.
Nearly three years since Canada legalized recreational cannabis, retail pot shops are everywhere. There are officially 161 in the city, often in clusters of half a dozen or more within blocks of each other. Pot shops have snatched up empty storefronts at such a quick clip that it’s become a running joke: anytime a store, a bar or a coffee shop closes in a trendy or up-and-coming neighbourhood, the countdown starts to when it will become a weed store.
Neighbourhood groups, politicians and concerned citizens have been raising alarms on social media that the explosion of pot shops is homogenizing the streets, driving up commercial rents and killing the character of neighbourhoods.
With the city re-emerging from lockdown, there are suddenly dozens of cannabis dispensaries opening their doors for the first time, and Toronto looks like a whole new city – a city of cannabis.
But how concerned should people really be?
Can this cannabis retail boom last, or is this a fleeting trend? Should this be an actual urban concern, or is it just another moral panic? And how long before the bubble bursts?
Boom or bust?
If it seems like hundreds of cannabis shops suddenly sprouted up while we were all locked down at home, that’s because they have.
According to a year-in-review report by the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), the number of stores in Toronto has more than quadrupled from 35 in March 2020. That number will continue to rise with many more approved by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to open soon. It won’t be long before there are more than 200 stores open and operating in the city.
That’s by design.
There are currently more than 800 authorized retail stores in Ontario, which has surpassed Alberta for most in the country. The OCS is the province’s exclusive wholesaler and online retailer of legal cannabis, and its main mandate is to control the illicit cannabis market – and the best way to do that is to open up the legal market as much as possible.
“In order to ensure we are doing everything we can to reduce the viability of illegal and unregulated cannabis sellers, our government adopted a retail authorization system based on market demand,” Brian Gray, spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General, told NOW earlier this year. “This is a key part of our battle against the illegal cannabis market.”
The OCS touts the cannabis retail boom as a sign their strategy is working.
In the last year (April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021), the legal market sold approximately $840,100,000 in legal cannabis, capturing 44 per cent of the total market (which includes sales in the illegal market). Lower prices for legal weed have a lot to do with that – $6.17 per gram vs. $9.59 per gram on “illegal websites,” according to OCS. Cannabis is a boost to local economies,” the OCS writes in its Toronto fact sheet, “with local cannabis stores capturing 84 per cent of all legal sales.”
For many neighbourhoods, cannabis shops occupy storefronts that would otherwise be sitting empty. The pandemic has been hard on local businesses, and many have closed their doors. Cannabis is one of the few brick-and-mortar retail industries that is growing rather than shrinking.
The clusters of pot shops, however, have raised worries that one industry flush with cash could set the precedent for commercial rents in neighbourhoods – meaning other retailers could get priced out.
Business Improvement Area groups like Kensington Market’s and city councillors like Paula Fletcher argue that neighbourhood groups and politicians should have more say in how many cannabis shops are allowed in their areas. They say the city should be zoning for increased distance between stores as is the case in municipalities like Calgary and Edmonton.
That was never on the table here.
There is a public consultation process during the AGCO’s licensing process, but clustering is not one of the criteria for objecting. Last month, citing issues around zoning and examples from Toronto, the city of Mississauga voted to opt out of legal cannabis for the second time.
Kate Robertson, a longtime cannabis columnist and trade reporter on the business of weed (and a former NOW editor), sees the backlash over cannabis clusters as a new form of reefer madness, a “prohibition-era attitude” of the stigma around marijuana.
She points to objectors like Scarborough PC MPP Aris Babikian, who cited the safety of children as his main concern for his opposition to weed shops and got support from Mayor John Tory.
She understands where the pushback is coming from but says there’s a public misconception that there’s a coordinated effort among retailers to take over the city.
“It’s not like Starbucks, which is one big company with very sophisticated market research. This is all sorts of businesses – some are huge and corporate, others are independently owned mom-and-pop shops.”
Jana Macalik is an associate professor of environmental design at OCAD, a field that focuses on how public spaces fit within their existing environments and contexts. She says the retail market for legal cannabis is still so young that “many are still figuring out what the standards are.”
“There are a lot of start-ups run by people who might know the product or the industry very well, but aren’t as experienced when it comes to retail,” she says.
Macalick theorizes that some likely opened in areas where shops existed because there was already a market there. But with so many licences approved at the same time, many retailers didn’t know they’d be in close proximity with competition until they were already leasing their stores.
“None of us knew we were opening so close to each other until the signs were up,” GreenPort owner Vivianne Wilson told NOW this past March. “That is not great for the industry at all.”
Better by design
Whether consciously or not, part of the pushback is aesthetic.
Cannabis retail bylaws prohibit consumers from being able to look directly inside a store and see what’s on display, which means the shops aren’t particularly inviting or conducive to window shopping. They have to have someone at the front of the store checking IDs before you can enter. For people who might be hostile to cannabis, the required security – and the lineups that sometimes come with it – can make the stores intimidating. Retailers have to get creative in how they meet the street.
Premier Doug Ford abandoned the initial Liberal government plan to sell cannabis exclusively out of public OCS stores with identical branding, like the LCBO. But there’s still a dominant aesthetic that identifies many of the city’s dispensaries: open spaces, clean lines, wooden floors, glass cases, wall menus and “budtenders” who take your order on an iPad.
It’s a bright and sleek, minimalist look that many have compared to the Apple Store. That’s a far cry from the pre-legalization head-shop look of hemp bracelets, Sublime soundtracks, “take me to your dealer” t-shirts and pot leaves everywhere. But it’s the sameness of the designs that critics say creates a cookie-cutter look in neighbourhoods.
Randy Simmen and Desmond Chan are designers at the Toronto-based agency SevenPoint Interiors. Since helping to open the Hunny Pot at Queen and McCaul – the very first legal dispensary in the city – they’ve designed more than 20 different cannabis shops across the province.
Some, like Scarlet Fire Cannabis in the north end, are brand new designs. Named after two songs by the Grateful Dead, owner David Ellison’s favourite band, the goal is to “transport you to an alternate plane of consciousness.” Other stores are designed using a customizable template of colours, finishes, lighting, shelving and display.
“It’s a way to create a unique space for smaller retailers on a budget that doesn’t look overly cheap or samey,” says Simmen.
Design and branding is something that some retailers overlook when rushing into the market.
“Oftentimes people will be super-excited because they’re jumping into a brand new industry and their first question is ‘Okay, what’s the quickest I can open?’” Chan says. “We’ll say, let’s take a step back here. What’s the meaning behind your brand? Who’s your target market? What sets you apart from your competitors? What’s your identity?”
Branding is a major aspect of the current legal cannabis culture because of the restrictions on advertising and packaging. The OCS also controls the price and supply of products on offer. That catalogue is growing. There will soon be a “flow-through process” to allow licensed producers to sell directly to retail stores so they can get products that aren’t stored in the OCS warehouse. But it is still limited and tightly controlled.
That leaves little room for businesses to differentiate themselves from each other. If the three stores on your block are all selling the same or similar products, there’s not much reason for you to stop into more than one of them.
Which is why some shops are positioning themselves as “lifestyle” brands with a focus on accessories. That’s the case for Edition, a “high-design” cannabis brand with shops on Dupont and St. Clair West. Designed by StudioAC, it was made to “stand next to Gucci stores in any city,” says owner Ryan Roebuck.
The store is arranged almost like a gallery or boutique, with many accessories on display like art objects. Those accessories are something Edition can offer that other stores can’t because they aren’t regulated like cannabis products.
“Our focus is on lifestyle accessories that are a little bit elevated,” Roebuck says. “It’s not your traditional rolling tray, for example, but something that can sit proudly on your coffee table instead of something that you have to hide in the closet.”
Big players ready to burst the pot shop bubble
It’s a weird time for weed in the city.
As tempting as it is to compare it to the post-prohibition bar scene or second-wave coffee, this is a totally unique set of circumstances: an illegal product suddenly becoming legal and lucrative, an “open for business” conservative provincial government allergic to regulation and – oh, yeah – a global pandemic that has killed so much local retail across the city.
Nearly everyone I spoke to for this story admits the growth is unsustainable. Retail cannabis will last, but it’s unlikely so many shops can survive in such close proximity. Toronto is number one in Ontario in total retail sales, says the OCS, but only number 18 in per capita sales (number one is North Bay).
And even they admit the bubble will eventually burst.
“Unfortunately, this rapid growth will likely result in some retailers being faced with increased competition and a crowded marketplace, which could result in some closures and market right-sizing,” writes OCS interim president and CEO David Lobo in an opening letter in the year-in-review report. “Other retail stores may choose to participate in mergers and acquisitions to increase their size and scale, and presumably drive down their operating costs,” he adds.
It’s already starting to happen.
Long-standing pre-legalization cannabis culture shops like the Friendly Stranger and Hotbox Cafe have been acquired by major brand Fire & Flower, while other corporate giants like Tokyo Smoke and Spiritleaf are expanding across the city and country. In an open and unregulated market, the big multi-store players will always be at an advantage over the independents and mom-and-pops. They have more buying power, lobbying influence and better margins.
If the market will correct itself, as so many in the industry are predicting, then many independents will likely have to close or sell to their bigger competitors. It might not be fair to treat cannabis shops as a monolith or compare them to Starbucks, but a Starbucks of cannabis may still emerge.
With the OCS catalogue expanding, there may be even more specialization – not just shops selling lifestyle brands, but the CBD store, the wellness outlet, the indica shop, the sativa shop, the premium flower store. The key for retailers will be to know your demographic.
You have to fit into your surroundings, says Macalik. You can’t just pave over what’s already there.
“I think of the Vegandale debacle,” she says. “One restaurant brand [the 5700 Inc.] came into Parkdale and tried to rebrand the whole neighbourhood. They rebelled. The [residents] said ‘What in the hell are you talking about? You can’t just ignore what’s already here.’ And then, of course, half the restaurants ended up closing.”
Incentivizing retail for marginalized communities
Legal recreational cannabis might be a new industry, but the city has a long history of sustaining a legacy market in both back-channels and on city streets with compassion lounges and head shops.
Tyler James is a community outreach coordinator for Cannabis Amnesty, a campaign to pardon individuals who have been convicted for possession of cannabis prior to legalization.
As Ontario was passing the bill to establish the retail cannabis licensing scheme scheme, James made a deputation proposing a“merit-based” system that would take neighbourhood demographics into account and give people from marginalized communities a chance to be entrepreneurs.
According to a Toronto Star investigation in 2017, Black people with no history of criminal convictions were three times as likely to be arrested by Toronto police than their white counterparts. A Vice investigation also found that Black and Indigenous people were overrepresented in cannabis possession arrests across Canada during Justin Trudeau’s reign as Prime Minister.
There are programs in states like California, Colorado and Massachusetts that build equity into their legal cannabis framework. Evanston, Illinois, for example, is using its weed tax to fund the United States’ first government reparations program. So this can be done.
Right now, James argues, the government isn’t doing enough to engage with the legacy market. Instead, they’re just trying to compete.
He suspects the OCS is overstating its share of the legal vs. the illegal market because he sees many in the legacy business still thriving. He argues that if they gave those people a way to transition into the legal market, including their long-standing skillsets of growing and selling diverse products, the whole industry would thrive.
“The government is counting on a market correction, but what that really means is people will be losing jobs and money. They might be looking at the number of stores and saying that’s a success, but how I look at it is: Ontario is not a place to grow if you’re working in cannabis right now.”
No matter how the industry evolves from here, there’s one thing for certain: it won’t look the same as it does right now.


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Image Credit: Yahaha Studio
Join gaming leaders, alongside GamesBeat and Facebook Gaming, for their 2nd Annual GamesBeat & Facebook Gaming Summit | GamesBeat: Into the Metaverse 2 this upcoming January 25-27, 2022. Learn more about the event.
Yahaha Studios today announced it has raised $50 million in investments. It’ll put this money towards building its metaverse game creation platform of the same name, which it plans to launch in early 2022.
Yahaha is a metaverse platform dedicated to user-generated content. Originally created by a team of Unity veterans, it offers a modular set of services for game development, including art assets. Developers of varying experience levels can create or monetize games within Yahaha Studio’s editing tool.
It also has a social component that allows users to share their games on multiple platforms. The company raised the amount across three rounds of funding in the last six months.
Chris Zhu, Yahaha CEO, said in a statement, “Connecting users around the world through virtual entertainment, Yahaha offers a unique creative and social experience to game developers and gamers alike. Through Yahaha we are empowering creators at all levels, from established developers to those making their first game – everyone can be a creator in our virtual world. We’re really looking forward to fully launching this year, growing our team and bringing the first stage of our vision for the future of content creation to life.”
GamesBeat’s creed when covering the game industry is “where passion meets business.” What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you — not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. How will you do that? Membership includes access to:
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How China’s Baidu works with Snap, Pinterest and Reddit on ad sales
Chinese tech company Baidu has become Silicon Valley’s advertising ally in Asia.
Earlier this month, Snap renewed their two-year-old sales partnership with Baidu, enlisting it to sell ads on Snapchat in Greater China, Japan and South Korea. Earlier this year, Baidu also secured similar partnerships with Pinterest and Reddit. The effort is part of Baidu’s global business unit, which makes revenue from subscription-based apps, a native advertising platform and conventional ad sales with partners like Snap.
Baidu’s main revenue source is advertising, which accounted for 76% of its total revenues in 2018, $15 billion. The remaining revenue comes from subscription sales for iQiyi, its online video platform. In its latest earnings report, Baidu posted its first loss since going public in 2005, citing China’s overall economic slowdown and increased government scrutiny of online content. Working with more platforms on their ad sales is one way Baidu can bolster its overall ad revenue.
Sheng Hu is one of the leaders of the U.S. division of Baidu as head of U.S. strategy and partnership. After working in strategic partnerships for Baidu in China since 2012, she moved to Baidu’s office in Sunnyvale, California in mid-2016. While Baidu’s Sunnyvale office opened in 2014 as a research and development facility, focused on artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles, Hu and a team of about five Baidu employees are dedicated to ad sales there as well.
Hu’s team at Baidu offers U.S.-based tech companies a way to sell their ads in China and across Asia without needing to invest much of their own resources. For these platforms, Chinese companies provide tremendous growth opportunities even when their platforms aren’t available there. As TechCrunch reported, Facebook works with Cheetah Mobile, Papaya Mobile and other ad reps in China. Meanwhile, Snap, Reddit and Pinterest each chose to work with Baidu after the company approached them. Hu said she had connected with Snap in 2017 while her talks with Pinterest began in late 2018 and then Reddit.
Shelleen Shum, forecasting director at eMarketer, said the U.S. platforms benefit from having Baidu advocating on their behalf to advertisers in China and other APAC regions.
“Since many of the U.S. social platforms are restricted from operating in China, partnering with a local player like Baidu allows them quick access to an existing pool of advertisers without the need to build up a substantial sales force. As many Chinese companies set their sights on expanding their brands globally, the ability to market to overseas customers is growing in demand. Baidu, despite having the majority of its traffic within China, benefits by capturing a piece of that revenue that is moving overseas,” Shum said.
Baidu helps not only onboard more advertisers but work closely with them to make sure ad campaigns are successful, Hu said. The companies declined to reveal how revenues are split. Baidu doesn’t charge advertisers to open an account but instead takes commissions based on media spend. Hu declined to elaborate on the percentage.
“We are providing support to these media partners so they can gain success and exposure in these regions like China. For advertisers, we help show there are platform options other than Facebook, Twitter and Google. By working with us we can get them a weekly webinar training of new ad features and give them creative suggestions,” Hu said.
Across platforms, Hu’s team provides local language support for ad creative. That’s especially important for Reddit, Hu said, where ads are primarily text-based and the platform’s userbase is known to use ad blockers and be critical of advertising.
“We are excited to work with Baidu as they offer a scaled way to reach many international advertisers at once and also provide new avenues of expanding businesses through Reddit advertising. We look forward to continuing our relationship with them to broaden our advertising reach in key markets,” Emily Huo, director of online sales at Reddit, said in an emailed statement.
Typically these advertisers have previously worked with Baidu on its other apps and services, Hu said. Though, any advertiser can approach Baidu. Snap’s sales team, for example, will forward requests from APAC advertisers to Baidu’s team, Hu said.
“We’ll ask where are you based. What kind of products do you need to promote? We’re seeing a lot of success from individual websites promoting in the Middle East. Women apparel is a particular category we see potential,” Hu said.
Going forward, Baidu is continuing to grow not only sales revenue on its partnered platforms but also within its own consumer apps. Hu pointed to a campaign Paramount Pictures for the movie “Bumblebee” as work they would like to do more of. Last December, Baidu worked with Paramount to create AR filters for Baidu’s Facemoji keyboard in the US, Simeji keyboard in Japan and Baidu keyboard in China.
“By working with partners like Snap we’ve improved our own capabilities of making AR ads, allowing advertisers to create compelling assets. Other ads could be for our own keyboards like we did with Paramount,” Hu said.
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As Facebook boycott continues, here’s a look at what major marketers were spending on Facebook and Instagram
To get a sense of how much advertisers are pulling back from Facebook, Digiday reached out to ad-tracking firm Pathmatics. The company provided estimates for how much advertisers spent on the platform during July 2019 as well as from July 2019 to 2020.
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text: China’s announcement that it will cut credit to force change in inefficient industries with overcapacity is going to spill over into the aussie. The statement came Friday from the State Council and laid out how the government will ensure banks support leadership plans to shift the economy to high-end manufacturing. The move will slow growth a tad even as it stabilizes the economy from the previous years of rapid fire growth in factory activity. That is not a bad thing long term and part of the natural economic cycle from a low-end manufacturer to one utilizing higher skills and creating greater end product value with a corresponding increase in the standard of living for the labor force. In the nearer term, the move will impact currencies of countries that have greatly benefited from the explosion in Chinese growth such as Australia. Something the Australians are already very aware of. But the Chinese government will also be careful not to cut off the easy money too soon. They have enough problems with clean water and air quality that they will not want a large section of the population to be unemployed and a potential destabilizing impact on the nation. Though the Chinese brand of capitalism is interesting, the country is still run on communist principles and everyone should have a job rather than maximizing profits. At the very least, that will keep the government hand outs in some key industries forthcoming. Which in turn will put a floor under the aussie selloff at least as much as it relates to China though expect any benefit to be minimal and short term. Overall, the shift in China is just one more weight on the aussie.


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Up to 1.8 million* UK families with school age children have or are considering taking them out of school for some or all of their holiday leading to millions of missed school days for British youngsters. The new research, commissioned by Gocompare.com, also found that on average, parents willing to take their children on holiday in term time were happy for them to miss up to 6.3 days of teaching.
The research also found that 93% of parents willing to take their children out of school feel that travel companies and airlines unfairly push up prices during the school holiday periods and 65% say they simply can't afford to take a holiday when schools are closed.
Brit families will spend an average of £1982.00 on their annual holiday but those families taking some or all of it during term time estimate that it knocks an average of £664.00 off of the cost of their holiday.
- British families spend an average of £1982.00 on their annual holiday
- Families taking some or all of their holiday during school term time estimate they save an average of £664.00
- 75% of families taking their children out of school would take the whole holiday in term time to get a better deal
Of the British families which have already booked or are considering taking some or all of their holiday during school term time:
- 65% say they can't afford to have a holiday during the school holiday periods
- 73% would be happy for their children to miss 5 or more school days
- 23% would be happy for their children to miss 10 or more school days
- 74% ask the school's permission to take their children out of school
- 70% take their children out of school anyway even if the school refuses permission
- 39% have lied to the school about their children's absence in order to have a holiday during term time
Just 14% of parents said they only have holidays with their children during school holiday periods. In the survey, 60% of parents who would take their children on holiday in term time said that their children's school was sympathetic to requests for term time holidays. However, 70% said that they take their children out of school regardless of the school's decision. More than a third (39%) have lied to the school about their child or children's absence in order to have a holiday during term time.
Plans to ban term time holidays and impose automatic fines on parents who take their children on holiday during school time were floated by the Government in February 2012 but later dropped for fear of a backlash from cost conscious parents.
Jeremy Cryer, head of travel at Gocompare.com, commented: "It's an unfortunate fact that the cost of holidays, hotels and flights increase substantially during school holiday periods. This leaves many parents with the difficult decision of whether to take their children out of school to take advantage of lower prices or to bite the bullet and pay the school holiday rates. With an average cost saving of over £600 it's clear to see why many parents choose to take the saving over the schooling.
"Many parents would also argue that a child's education should be more than just time spent in the classroom and that travel broadens a child's horizons, gives them valuable family time and adds to their life experience. If it comes down to a choice between their children missing a few days of school or the family missing out on a holiday altogether, our research shows that millions of parents would choose to take the holiday."
Notes to editors:
Gocompare.com commissioned an online survey which ran between 19th-23rd April 2013. The survey was conducted among 436 randomly selected British adults. The adults were all parents with school age children who had been on holiday in the last five years. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
* - There are 7.739m families in UK with dependent children (source ONS Families and Households 2012). 24% (105 of the 436) of survey respondents with school age children have booked or are considering booking a holiday with some or all of it taking place during the school term. 7.739m x 24% = 1.857m


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Australia has long been a rich source of ideas, but a barren land for those seeking venture capital to help develop them. Just to give an example, some $9 billion is funneled into research every year, but only around $100 million is available for commercialisation, creating what Graydon Smith, the manager of venture capital funds at AusIndustry, describes as a “massive hour glass effect.” Little wonder, then, that so many Australian technology developers and IT and cleantech entrepreneurs beat a path to the US, and Silicon Valley in particular.
That bottleneck is about to be eased following a major of injection of new funds into the VC market, specifically for renewable energy and cleantech developments. Southern Cross Venture Partners, the US-Australian VC fund manager which won the government’s Renewable Energy VC mandate with the help of $100 million from China’s Softbank, is expected to announce its first investments in the coming weeks.
Just to confirm the hour-glass analogy, Southern Cross managing director Gareth Dando says the company has been flooded with “hundreds” of applications, proposals and inquiries since the mandate was first announced last December. “There has been an avalanche of interest. People have been waiting on this for a while,” Dando told RenewEconomy in a rare interview. Interestingly, a lot had come from biofuels and waste-to-energy technologies, with a range of others relating to wind, solar, and enabling technologies. “We are seeing a lot of genuine innovation,” he said, before adding: “We have no particular view on which technologies (it would favour).”
The Renewable Energy VC fund will focus on generation, along with hybrid solutions and enabling technologies (such as batteries and grids). But Dando said the size of the fund – $200 million – is significantly bigger than any that have preceded it. “The other funds have not had the capacity to make the investment that we can… so it will change the game in that respect, and give them more certainty about the availability of funding.”
Essentially, it means more capital over a longer time frame. Dando told the Eco Innovation Forum in Sydney on Wednesday that the fund envisages making 10 to 15 different investments, and could invest up to $10-$20 million in each of them, over several rounds, targeting companies with revenues of up to $20 million. It will also consider smaller investments. It has a longer time frame than most VC funds, with an investment term of up to 13 years. “We are investing in stuff that can take a long time to come to fruition,” he said.
Dando says the role of Softbank was important. While Silicon Valley was the centre of the universe for IT and social media, the energy industry was more focused towards China, which offered more opportunities to sell technologies and develop business. “We see this as more of a Pan-Pacific opportunity,” he said. He added that likely strategic partners included a range of large energy companies, equipment manufacturers and industrial groups.
Interestingly, another VC fund involved in the renewable energy space, CVC Ltd, said it was particularly attracted to technologies that could reduce the cost for consumers – such as solar PV, energy efficiency technologies, and distributed generation, including gas.
CVC Investment Manager Philip Galloway told the Eco Innovation Forum the company was sitting on “a lot of cash” following recent exits, including from the ASX-listed Environment Group just last week. It already has investments in Wind Corporation, wave and tidal energy developer BioPower Systems, and a battery technology company.
CVC, which invested in geothermal aspirant Geodynamics before its listing, as well as bio-plastics group Plantic, said the sharp falls in the cost of solar PV in recent years had been bad for R&D and manufacturers, but presented excellent opportunities for those technologies or business models that could deliver energy to the customers cheaper than the grid.
He said it was clear that cost reductions and innovations in financing, along with the rising price of “black power,” meant that consumers – both retail and commercial – were looking for alternatives. Shopping centres and industrial parks were looking at long-term power purchase agreements that locked in the “green line” (his reference to the lower cost of green energy) and sharing the cost and benefits among all leaseholders.
“We like everything consumer-facing,” he told the forum. “Consumer demand is out there for ideas and ways of living greener – it is clear that that has survived all the brouhaha over carbon taxes and politics in Canberra. People want to live cleaner and simpler lives. In LA airport, where I was yesterday, they are advertising Nissan Leaf (electric vehicles), GE is advertising wind turbines. We don’t see so much of that being tapped into yet in Australia.”
He also noted that the industrial response to energy efficiency solutions was “incredibly slow”, particularly compared to Europe and the US. But any pitch to those large energy users had to be about saving money. “If you pitch to them on being green, nothing much will happen.”


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October 4, 2012
KARLSRUHE, GermanyDrinking a glass of polyphenol-rich apple juice daily for four weeks may decrease body fat in obese individuals by 1% to 2%, according to a new study published in the European Journal of Nutrition.
Researchers at the Max Rubner-Institut in Karlsruhe, and the Research Institute of Geisenheim examined the effect of polyphenol-rich cloudy apple juice (CloA) consumption on plasma parameters related to the obesity phenotype and potential effects of interactions between CloA and allelic variants in obesity candidate genes were assessed in obese men.
For the study, researchers recruited 68 obese non-diabetic men to participate in a controlled, randomized, parallel study. Participants were randomly assigned to received 750 mL per day of cloudy apple juice providing 802.5 mg polyphenols or a control beverage for four weeks. Participants were genotyped for single-nucleotide polymorphisms in PPAR (rs1801282), UCP3 (rs1800849), IL-6 (rs1800795), FABP2 (rs1799883), INSIG2 (rs7566605), and PGC1 (rs8192678) genes.
After four weeks, results showed the men in the cloudy apple juice group displayed significant reductions in total body fat of 1%, compared with 0.2% in the control group. In individuals with a certain genetic profile, the reductions in total body fat were as high as 2%.
The researchers found the IL-6-174 G/C polymorphism showed a relationship with body fat reduction. Specifically, the C/C form was associated with a 2% reduction in total body fat after four weeks of cloudy apple juice intervention; no effects were observed for the G/C or G/G variants.
A 2009 study conducted by researchers at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell found consumption of two, 4-ounce glasses of apple juice daily for one month reduced behavioral and psychotic symptoms associated with dementia by 27%. The largest changes were seen in reducing anxiety levels, agitation and delusion. The findings suggest that apple juice may be a useful adjunct therapy for reducing the decline in mood that typically accompanies the progression of Alzheimers disease and dementia.
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The new nutrition program will combat malnutrition through its work with food producers
New York, NY—The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) has announced a program with the Government of Rwanda to work with food producers to combat malnutrition.
Through the program, CHAI aims to assist governments in Africa and Asia to reduce chronic malnutrition among infants and pregnant and lactating women and thereby to reduce infant mortality and stunting.
The program will help create local companies that will produce nutritious, high quality foods based on locally produced agricultural goods that will be distributed throughout the country. The program will also promote exclusive breast feeding for babies during the first six months of life, and continued breast feeding thereafter, to be complemented by these nutritious foods.
The program will also promote economic development by increasing incomes of small holder farmers and creating world class food processing industries in Africa, both to serve local populations and for export.
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BUFFALO, N.Y. — We've heard a lot over the last year about how hard the COVID pandemic has been for restaurants.
So that's why we had some raised eyebrows when we saw a survey on Tuesday claiming 85 percent of restaurants say they're better off now than before it started.
The survey was conducted by D.C. consulting firm Quadrant Strategies, which surveyed 300 restaurants nationwide.
However, the results don't align with what restaurant owners are seeing in New York State.
"Perhaps restaurants in other states are doing better," said Melissa Fleischut, CEO and president of the NYS Restaurant Association. "I think their restrictions in other states might have been easier. I don't think they saw the shutdowns we saw here in New York State."
Fleischut doesn't expect restaurant owners to be in a better place anytime soon. Even though she says demand is up thanks to the nice weather and outdoor dining, they've been hurt by the end of alcohol-to-go in New York State.
She's hoping a special session of the state legislature could bring that back.
On top of that, COVID caused a labor shortage, slowed down the supply chain, put many restaurants in debt and they can't get help from the federal Restaurant Revitalization Fund, because it's out of money.
"I've said it's going to take months and I've had members of our board of directors correct me and say they think it's going to take years so it's definitely going to be multiple months for us here in New York. Whether it takes years, that'll have to play out," Fleischut said.


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Style began to shut the e book on the newest quarter, with updates final week from Ralph Lauren Corp., Capri Holdings Inc., Kontoor Brands Inc. and Canada Goose Holdings Inc. and Simon Property Group.
And with every report, there gave the impression to be one thing of an exhalation — the world continues to be a tricky, difficult place, however there’s a method ahead for the trade. For many, delivery containers are nonetheless on the mistaken aspect of the world, however the shopper is spending, pushing cautious annual outlooks greater. And simply perhaps, some higher practices are taking maintain as attire manufacturers ease off of worth promotions.
John Idol, CEO of Capri, was crowing over the success of the entire firm’s manufacturers — Versace, Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo. However he was additionally clear-eyed on the provision chain challenges which have grown out of the pandemic.
“The most important stock concern is Michael Kors, and it’s world as a result of the provision chain concern is one which’s fairly difficult, predominantly with delivery product across the globe,” Idol mentioned. “So it’s not only a North America concern. It’s impacting us in all areas of the world. And let’s simply first begin with the timing piece of that.
“That has clearly added someplace between 45 and 60 days on to our deliveries on a worldwide foundation,” he mentioned. “Typically, a bit of bit greater than that. After which, after all, we’ve got the problem with Vietnam shutting down, which we didn’t anticipate in our planning.”
However, apparently, the provision chain disruption can each taketh and giveth.
Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss makes his extremely heat parkas at house in Canada — with an enormous stockpile of worldwide sourced uncooked supplies — and sees alternative within the chaos.
“We don’t count on to have any materials headwinds in provide or delivery,” Reiss mentioned. “We’re not anticipating any kind of delays.”
The Vacation Rush
The delivery jam-up has been exasperated by finish demand — shoppers have cash and are eager to spend, prompting manufacturers to hurry items to shops and web sites in time for the vacations.
“I think it’s going to be a great season,” Canada Goose’s Reiss mentioned. “Persons are able to have a special form of vacation season this yr and I believe it’s going to gas financial development for us and anybody else who has stock.”
Some are simply going to must pay extra to carry that stock to buyers.
Manufacturers sought to maneuver items earlier this yr and, the place needed and doable, are paying for air freight.
The great-spending cheer isn’t simply pushed by authorities stimulus — the job market can be enhancing. Unemployment fell 0.2 share factors to 4.6 p.c final month because the payrolls expanded by 531,000.
Final month, the Nationwide Retail Federation predicted vacation gross sales would grow by as much as 10.5 percent — blowing away the five-year common development price of 4.4 p.c.
The Yin and Yang of Pricing
Value promotions are the drug that, sure, introduced buyers in and constructed market share in vogue, however flash-sale indicators additionally quantity to an dependancy that lowers revenue margins.
It’s been a perennial drawback that many manufacturers throughout the spectrum have been engaged on for a while.
Ralph Lauren, for example, has ratcheted up costs for 18 straight quarters, because it sought to raise its model. Common unit retail costs rose 14 p.c within the fiscal second quarter.
Whereas that transfer greater is a long-standing strategic choice at Ralph Lauren, the model can be working in an inflationary world, with all the things from cotton to delivery turning into costlier.
“We now have confidence in our means to proceed to leverage our pricing power on this contest,” Louvet mentioned. “We all know our model continues to be greater than our enterprise, so a number of runway shifting ahead. Our mindset proper now’s actually about fueling our momentum, investing in development.”
Clearly, Louvet and Ralph Lauren are devoted to an elevated positioning. However costs are up all over the place now as a result of prices are up and since shoppers have the cash to spend.
The query for vogue on the whole is whether or not manufacturers will fall off the wagon and settle for decrease revenue margins to drive gross sales as soon as the patron world normalizes — no matter regular is.
Altering Amid a Sea of Change
The usual pandemic playbook had firms downsizing, resetting and getting ready to come back again stronger. Those who might have gone that route and are actually seeking to push development to seize as a lot of the vacation rush as doable.
However there are additionally firms that had been and nonetheless are within the midst of adjustments that grew even greater in the course of the pandemic.
Lee and Wrangler are stretching out in new methods beneath Kontoor Brands Inc., which VF Corp. spun off in 2019 — taking an enormous step out proper earlier than the world turned the wrong way up.
Scott Baxter, Kontoor’s president and CEO, mentioned regardless of the pandemic, the manufacturers are finally getting the investment they want and discovering their voices, by means of collaborations and new advertising efforts.
“We do have a bit of broader of an viewers we discovered once we spun off,” Baxter mentioned. “We do have this tradition of oldsters which can be very tied to what’s taking place within the avant garde. We’re discovering these individuals once more.”
David Simon, head of Simon Property, out of the blue has far more at stake within the retail sport himself with investments in licensing powerhouse Genuine Manufacturers Group, retailers akin to J.C. Penney Co. Inc., and the SPARC three way partnership, which owns Eternally 21, Fortunate Model and Brooks Brothers.
“We have growth levers beyond our real estate belongings which can be distinctive attributes of our firm,” Simon mentioned. “We now have confirmed to be astute traders. We now have distinctive enterprise fashions and variety of revenue streams.”
However, to not oversell the purpose, he famous the corporate nonetheless will get 80 p.c of its money move from its home property enterprise.
“I’m enthusiastic about what we’re doing,” the CEO mentioned. “I do suppose it’s nonetheless — it’s extra it’s a tail wagging the canine, however you recognize, it’s an vital tail and it’s a fantastic tail and it wags good and could be very pleasant.”
Extra from In Style:
https://wwd.com/business-news/monetary/retail-fashion-ralph-lauren-capri-canada-goose-versace-lee-1234991637/ | State of Retail, From Ralph Lauren to Lee Denims – WWD


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When we talk about international ice-cream brands, we cannot skip Swensens, the most famous and known brand from San Francisco. In Pakistan, we have very few international ice-cream chains. The market has the potential without doubt and very few are focusing on this side. Thankfully, a new international chain of ice-cream parlors has launched its very first outlet in Pakistan. Swensen’s Pakistan is now operating in Karachi at Badar Commercial Phase 5. Swensen’s Pakistan is offering some amazing flavors along with yummy sundaes.
At the launch event on 16t March 2018, there were many guests who came forward to support Swensen’s Pakistan. Apart from people from blogging and media side there were celebrities as well who wished the entire team best of luck. Faysal Qureshi attended the launching ceremony of Swensen’s Pakistan and enjoyed ultimate sundae experience. He assured that he will be a regular customer of Swensen’s Pakistan because he loved the ice-cream. Ali Safina, the host of the evening, had an interesting chat with Zoe Viccaji and people enjoyed their interaction at the event.
The event was crowded and everyone wanted to experience lip-smacking sundaes from Swensen’s Pakistan. Swensen’s is brought by Mr. Muhammad Imran Sheikh who has a vision of bringing and giving its loyal customers an unforgettable experience in food and entertainment industry in Karachi. His company International Trading Company is operating in Pakistan and is successfully functioning a list of successful businesses. International Trading Company currently operates Kababjees Restaurant, Aerosoft, Layla cosmetics, Lolane cosmetics.
The launch night of Swensen’s Pakistan was full of celebs including Nadia Hussain, Mathira, Dino and a few others. Everyone who was present at the launch thoroughly enjoyed their time and had ultimate sundae experience. If you want to enjoy good ice-creams and sundaes then Swensen’s Pakistan is your go-to place.


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The African Position in The Global Coffee Market
Often those who work in the world of coffee forget the most important thing ever: coffee is a plant and, as such, is affected by climate change
This aspect is well clarified by gro-intelligence.com, which in the analysis of the global coffee market identifies how a global increase in income is accompanied by a global increase in world coffee consumption.
In order to cope with this great demand, we must take care of the coffee plant.
If the coffee plant dies, the crop becomes scarce and the price increasesThis leads to a fluctuation in the price of coffee and related financial securities.
We compare the South American market with the African one.
Take for example the leading coffee producing country in South America, Brazil.It alone produced 3.36 million tons last year followed by the second largest producer in the world, Vietnam, with 1.6 million tons followed by third place, Colombia, with 876,000 tons in 2017.
The position of the African market compared to the position of the South American market in the panorama of the world coffee market has changed a lot from the ’70s to today, as reported by comunicaffe.com.
Brazil produces 5 times more coffee than in the 1970sTogether, with Vietnam, they supplied 82.8 million bags of 160.5 million bags between 2016 and 2017, or more than half of global production .
The global market has also changed a lot because it is subject to speculation that causes strong price fluctuations.
The International Coffee Organization estimates that global coffee demand will increase by 10.5 million tons of coffee by 2020, as reported by iol.co.za.
In the scenario where the global market demand increases, the South American and African markets are differently affected by climate change.
Brazil is undergoing the weather patterns of El Niño, with climate changes that generate problems of various kinds:
1- The drought that increases the fires and reduces the commercial waterways
2- The frosts that can destroy the crop in a single day. Brazil produces over a quarter of all coffee in the world and this supply can be devastated by frost in just one day.
Since frosts tend to occur in the southern part of the country, crops have been transferred to the north of the country where the climate is warmer. This prevented droughts and frosts from reducing the harvest and increasing the price level, as reported by gro-intelligence.com.
This global situation is benefiting the African market where Ethiopia and Uganda stand out.
In this global scenario, the African market has a very important development opportunity, says Edward George, Ecobank’s research manager: to enter the coffee specialty market, as reported by communicaffe.com.
This segment represents 10% of global production and is characterized by a demand that appreciates high quality coffee even at higher prices.
If the African market manages to develop this market segment, then it will become more competitive globally.
In Africa too, climate change is occurring in the form of drought. In tackling agricultural problems, the main problem is the lack of capital and culturalpreparation , as reported by gro-intelligence.com.
For this aim, programs such as the Jimma Agricultural Research Center (JARC) in Ethiopia and the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) in Uganda have helped to conduct vital research and provide relevant information to farmers.
In addition, we try to activate programs to search for new varieties of coffee that are more resistant to pests, diseases and the changing climate.
By creating labels with FairTrade and RainforestAlliance, we try to sell coffee from small African producers to the US and EU markets, which have more resources available to buy high quality specialty coffees at a higher price.
Ethiopia is currently the sixth coffee producer in the world with its quality of Arabica coffee. Its production in 2017/18 reached 416.580 tons, with a steady growth that occurred almost every year since 2002.
The USDA anticipates that Ethiopia will produce 426,000 tons of coffee in 2018/19 and will export 239,000 tons of coffee.
Uganda is the eighth place on the world coffee production list.
The country cultivates very little Arabica coffee compared to Ethiopia, with the Robusta which includes 82% of the total production.
The USDA predicts that Uganda’s 2018/19 coffee production will reach just 287,000 tons, a 10% increase over last year. Exports are expected to return to the 2016/17 record volume of around 276,000 tonnes this year.
South Africa is an example of global changes in both African and global coffee markets, as reported by iol.co.za.
Gilberto Biacuana, economist and research analyst at Commodities at the Land and Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa (“Land Bank”), analyzes the country’s implementation.
South Africa sees an increase in the middle class that increases the domestic demand for special coffee, while more and more multinationals are interested in importing high quality coffee: between 2001 and 2016, imports of coffee beans have increased by a rate annual compound growth rate (CAGR) of 4.1%, from 20.2 million tonnes in 2001 to 38.6 million tonnes in 2016 , as reported by iol.co.za.
There is also potential for coffee exports from South Africa, which could benefit industry.
The growth in coffee consumption is not exclusive to South Africa. Consumption has increased in developing countries such as India, China, Latin America and other African countries due to the rapid growth of the middle class and the high rate of urbanization.
While South American coffee is subjected to climate change, African coffee could take advantage of the decreased productivity of the competition to gain a market share in rich countries, in particular the US and the EU. This would allow them to conquer a niche market, that of specialty coffee, made of high quality and high price coffee.


text: To promote cooperation and further ease trade transactions, the Cashew nut Association of Cambodia (CAC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas). The MoU was signed by Uon Siloth, President of the CAC, and Pham Van Cong, President of Vinacas, at Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam on February 27, 2003, during the 12th Vietnam International Cashew Conference, a prominent event for the cashew sector. The MoU, which will remain effective for the next three years, will help improve trade and business coordination with the neighbouring country, said Siloth. Vietnam, the largest buyer of Cambodian cashew nuts, imported around 660,000 tons, worth more than $1 billion from the Kingdom last year. The shipment accounted for around 98.5 percent of the total cashew production in Cambodia. For the cashew processing industry of Vietnam, Cambodia is an important source of the commodity in raw form. According to Vinacas, Vietnam was expected to import about 1.9 million tons of raw cashew nuts worth $2.66 billion with an average price of $1,400 per ton from all over the world in 2022. As per the MoU, the two organisations will work towards developing short- and long-term collaborations to further the business development in the two countries. It will form the basis for developing a specific framework for cooperation. As part of the collaboration, the CAC and Vinacas will exchange information on various aspects of the cashew sector in the two countries, including cashew-related regulations, cultivation, post-harvest technology, processing, import and export, quality standardisation and reliable cashew exporters and importers. To strengthen relations through effective business relationship exchanges, both associations will organize regular visits and business-to-business meetings between their members in Cambodia and Vietnam, the MoU stated. Vinacas and the CAC will coordinate and help their members in buying and selling raw cashew nuts, and settling and minimising business-related issues, which could arise during the business transactions. The 12th Vietnam International Cashew Conference, which took place last month, was attended by more than 350 delegates from over 40 countries. The conference, a significant event in the cashew industry calendar, attracted businesses, organisations and individuals in the global cashew value chain, such as raw cashew producers and traders, importers and exporters of raw and kernel cashews, processors, roasters, supermarkets, machinery and equipment manufacturers, consulting organisations, brokers, banks among others. Prominent players in the sector like the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council (INC), the African Cashew Association, the Ivory Coast Cotton and Cashew Council, and the Nigeria Cashew Association were among those who attended the event. The CAC has more than 30,000 cashew farmer members, 36 agricultural cooperatives representing 400,000 hectares of cashew farms, traders and 22 small cashew processing setups as members.


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It looks as though Hewlett Packard is quite serious about using WebOS in their PC’s. The company has long been rumored to be condiering adding that functionality to their PC’s, but the announcement was made by the CEO, Leo Apotheker that all HP personal computers will start working with both Web OS as well as Microsoft Windows starting next year. The company said that they were trying to find a reason for developers to have incentive to developer new apps for the platform, which is used on many HP unlocked cell phones and printers.
Right now, the software sector is digging a 2 percent hole in their finances, which is slowing the company down in their investments. It will be interesting to see if this move convinces more people to create software for webOS now that it will be included on personal computers.
This does not mean that HP personal computers will not have the ability to use Windows 7. In fact, the software will still come loaded on the machine, but will not be the only option available. Apparently, the company is looking to make their WebOs just as available as the windows installation and allow users to switch from one to the other. It certainly is a bit of an interesting strategy and is not one that we have seen employed by really any companies that are taking part in the Mobile revolution. Look for WebOs to gain some popularity from this move, but who knows if it is really enough to help the company deal with not having any development companies that are interested in developing software for their platform.
PureMobile carries wide range of cell phone accessories and unlocked cell phone such as unlocked Acer Liquid Metal, Dell Venue Pro, etc..


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The LA Galaxy is excited to team up with Fiji Airways during the month of October to offer fans the chance to win round trip flights from Los Angeles to Fiji! Fans can enter the #TravelTheGalaxywithFijiAirways Sweepstakes by posting a photo or video on social media doing their most creative airplane wings goal celebration. Fans can post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or TikTok to enter. Don’t forget to tag Fiji Airways and LA Galaxy in your posts and use the hashtag #TravelTheGalaxywithFijiAirways.
The Galaxy will select one random winner every week in October. For more information, please see the official sweepstakes rules below.
Be sure to check out @LAGalaxy on social media for all sweepstakes updates!