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There's a new Teengage Mutant Ninja Turtles game... oh wait we already knew that.
TNMT: Mutants in Manhattan has been the worst kept secret in videogames for months now, with numerous leaks based on the title being rated and even artwork hitting the web. Developer Platinum Games teased the 'official leak' yesterday and they've made good with the annoucement trailer for the game.
It looks like so.
In a word - awesome.
Activision has teamed up with Platinum again to bring some extra spice to one of their properties, as they did with Transformers Devastation last year. The gameplay looks tubular (sorry) and the graphics are engaging, especially for a world we mostly associate with the cartoons, despite the recent big screen outing.
TNMT Mutants in Manhattan is set for a summer 2016 release.


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PayPoint’s CEO Dominic Taylor to step down
Dominic Taylor will step down from his role as Chief Executive and director of the Board with effect from April 1, 2019.
Paypoint plc (LON:PAY) has just announced some major changes at the top, as Dominic Taylor will step down from his role as Chief Executive and director of the Board with effect from April 1, 2019.
Mr Taylor joined PayPoint in 1997 as Retail Director and was appointed to his current role in August 1998. He was a Royal Naval officer for 12 years, following which he completed an MBA at the Cranfield School of Management. In 1991, he joined the Vodafone Group where he led a number of initiatives including the development of its SMS service and a bid for the National Lottery, before becoming Sales and Marketing Director for the indirect sales of mobile phones to retailers. In 1996, Mr Taylor joined Granada plc as a director of Granada Technology Group and Managing Director of Granada Business Technology, supplying film and telecommunications products into the hotel and leisure sectors.
PayPoint also announces that Patrick Headon will join the Board as the Company’s new Chief Executive on the same date. Patrick Headon is a highly experienced senior executive, with extensive relevant experience in FMCG, digital and B2B services, having previously been Managing Director of Wolseley UK, Business Development Director, Europe at eBay and Managing Director, Central & Eastern Europe at Diageo.
Patrick Headon will join the business on March 1, 2019, allowing some time to familiarise himself with the business, before taking on the role of Chief Executive on April 1, 2019. In order to ensure a thorough transition, Mr Taylor will continue as an employee until December 31, 2019.
Lewis Alcraft, a member of the Executive Board, will be appointed as Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for PayPoint’s commercial strategy development and execution with effect from 1 April 2019.
Dominic Taylor, Chief Executive, said:
“It has been an honour to lead PayPoint for some 21 years, from a small start up to the scale and capability of the public company it is today. It has been an enormous privilege to work with the many talented and committed people in the PayPoint team and I am very grateful to have enjoyed their support, alongside that of our retailers and clients, in building a unique and successful business providing important services to consumers. I look forward to working closely with Patrick Headon to ensure a smooth handover and I am confident that he will lead PayPoint to even greater success in the future.”

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A special celebration took place attended by over 500 invited guests, media, bloggers, fashion models and local celebrities.
The new store adds to the existing Giordano store in Dolmen Hyderi and on track to open three more stores in Karachi and Pakistan this year.
“Today we celebrate a significant milestone for Giordano here in Pakistan with the opening of our new flagship store which signals the new design direction for Giordano stores in Pakistan and nearby region in the Middle East, Central Asia and even Africa,” said Ishwar Chugani, Managing Director of Giordano Middle East FZE and Executive Director of Giordano International.
The store, located in the Dolmen Mall, Clifton, one of Karachi’s favourite shopping and entertainment destination, redefines simplicity and embraces classic, polished and refined design.
Space is maximised for product displays and customer interaction; including wider entrances and larger, more comfortable fitting rooms. Wood accents have been added to increase the feeling of warmth and natural space. Energy-efficient lights enhance the customer experience while minimising the store’s carbon footprint.
Following two decades of consistent brand growth in the Middle East and with 260 stores operating including in Central Asia, India, Pakistan and Africa, Giordano has planned an aggressive expansion and will roll out the new design concept shop across all Giordano stores in the region.
Founded in Hong Kong in 1981, Giordano International Limited, together with its group companies (the “Giordano Group”) is now one of the world’s leading international retailers of apparel and accessories for men, women and children.
Our office in Dubai, U.A.E., Giordano Middle East FZE (Free Zone Establishment), is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Giordano International Limited and provides strategic support, logistics and management assistance to Giordano’s franchise partners across the Middle East, Africa, Central Africa and Europe.
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March 4, 2022
British Columbians will soon be able to enjoy more locally produced food, while farmers will have new opportunities to grow, thanks to regulatory supports from the B.C. government.
An improvement to the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) Use Regulation is part of the StrongerBC Economic Plan that sets out to make British Columbia a global player in the agritech marketplace.
“Making B.C.’s food system more sustainable and resilient helps build a stronger economy and prosperous farming communities,” said Lana Popham, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. “When the pandemic and recent climate change-related floods disrupted supply chains, British Columbians were reminded of the incredible bounty in our own back yard. Opening opportunities for more vertical farms and innovative agritech practices in partnership with existing traditional farms helps solve our overall food security and food economy puzzle.”
The regulation allows for more intensive farming, known as vertical farming, where crops are grown in vertically stacked layers, maximizing space and reducing energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. While vertical farming can be placed anywhere, this opens the door to additional opportunities on ALR land for farmers and farm businesses to produce more food for British Columbians.
The ALR is designed to ensure food security and these changes allow it to be used in a practical way to increase local food supply. For example, vertical farming and other controlled environment structures can also make smaller pieces of land that are currently fallow more viable to grow on.
“A key pillar of our StrongerBC Economic Plan is centred around fostering innovation to grow the economy, while tackling climate change,” said Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation. “By opening up new opportunities for agritech companies to operate in B.C., we are positioning our province to be a world leader in finding innovative solutions to food security problems.”
The regulation is an important step toward making B.C. a leader in using technology and innovation in agriculture to reduce emissions, create new opportunities and ensure a secure and sustainable food supply for British Columbians. In the coming months, the Province will also launch a new agritech centre of excellence to help companies grow and scale up, providing more high-quality, high-tech jobs for British Columbians.
“As the agriculture capital of B.C., we know in the City of Abbotsford just how important this industry and agritech is to our economy, community and food security in the province,” said Henry Braun, mayor of Abbotsford. “Changes to the ALR regulation brings much-needed certainty and predictability for organizations to invest in and grow agritech in our community.”
Agritech operations use technology and innovation, such as robotics for harvesting or controlled indoor growing systems, to produce more sustainable food, while using fewer resources. Agritech farming contributes to a more resilient food system with increased product density and shorter growing times with the potential to increase crop yields, product quality and food security.
The StrongerBC Economic Plan moves British Columbia forward by tackling the challenges of today, while growing an economy that works for everyone. The long-term plan builds off B.C.’s strong economy recovery and works to address two long-standing challenges – inequality and climate change – by closing the skills gap, building resilient communities, and helping businesses and people transition to clean energy solutions. The plan sets two main goals for the province – inclusive growth and clean growth – and puts forward six missions to keep B.C. on track.
- B.C. has more than 150 agritech companies, including in areas of food processing, precision agriculture, bioproducts, food safety/traceability and soil/crop technology.
- B.C. has an agritech land strategy that builds on recommendations made in 2019 by the Food Security Task Force to review land-use planning policies and regulations to ensure B.C.’s agritech sector has a place to grow.
- The Government of B.C. is launching a Regenerative Agriculture and Agritech Network that will help farmers adopt the latest technology to increase profitability and environmental sustainability, while strengthening the provincial food system.
- Positioning B.C. as an agritech leader while ensuring provincial food security and protecting farmland is a priority in both Popham and Kahlon’s minister mandate letters.


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Leading Taiwan optical disc makers actively venturing into other businesses
Jimmy Hsu, Taipei; Adam Hwang, DIGITIMES
Prodisc Technology's recent announcement that it is venturing into other businesses is part of a trend in the optical disc industry which has seen CMC Magnetics and Ritek, the top-two Taiwan-based...
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For years, outdoor spaces took a backseat to the indoors in the realm of home design and decor. But recently, homeowners have shifted their focus.
"Outdoor space was an afterthought," says Michael Ryan Wright, owner of MiY Home in Fells Point. "But because we're having longer, warmer seasons, it is now being given a lot of thought."
Wright and other outdoor design professionals dished on this season's big trends, from fire-centric spaces to coastal color palettes.
1. Bigger projects, bigger budgets
"People are starting to invest more" in outdoor spaces, says Ted Carter, owner of Glen Arm-based Pinehurst Landscape.
Pricey projects like outdoor kitchens have drawn increasing interest over the past decade, he says, with homeowners turning an eye toward al fresco entertaining.
"Big, bold design has been in," Carter says. "People are starting to say, I don't want the $100,000 kitchen. I want the $100,000 backyard because that's where I spend my time."
2. Hot fire features
From simple copper bowls surrounded by a few seats to elaborate fireplaces, fire features are so popular that homeowners are designing whole backyard projects with a fire source as the central feature.
"Sometimes it's under cover, with a pergola overhead, or it could just be the fireplace with a patio around it," says Shari Depasquale, principal of Stone Hill Design Associates, a Falls Road landscape architecture firm.
Fire pits are no longer restricted to the countryside, either. Technology like including new bioethanol-fueled products is making rooftop fire pits easier and safer for urban dwellers.
3. Form and multifunction
When it comes to outdoor decor, convenience is key.
"The last thing you want to do when you're relaxing is lug your kitchen up three flights of stairs to your deck," says Wright.
MiY Home is among the retailers selling multifunctional pieces, like tables with tops that double as trays, making it easy for homeowners to carry food and drinks outside. The shop also carries an end table that doubles as a cooler.
"It's gorgeous," he says. "An hourglass shape with a top with a hole so you can pull it up and plop in a bottle of champagne."
4. Weather-resistant gadgets
As outdoor rooms gain popularity, more and better weather-resistant technology is hitting the market.
"All the high-tech wingdings that used to be exclusive to interior work — like controlling sound with your smartphone — are now things you can do outside," says Carter. "There are weather-resistant TVs as well, so you can have the full living room experience. You don't need to have a full enclosed cabana or pool house to enjoy luxuries."
5. Colors from the sea
Outdoor design often takes inspiration from nature; this year is no different. "The big colors this year are in a seaside palette," says Wright.
It includes many different shades of blue, like denim, plus shades of green (such as "greenery," the vibrant green that is the 2017 Pantone color of the year). Textures and patterns add a vibrant element to the mix, as does the occasional pop of a warm color, such as bright orange.


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The U.S. Congress is moving forward quickly with legislation that would encourage private companies to share cyberthreat information with government agencies, despite concerns that two leading bills weaken consumer privacy protections.
Mobile malware is a growing problem, but researchers from University of Alabama at Birmingham have figured out a new way of detecting when shady mobile apps get up to no good, such as trying to call premium-rate numbers unbeknowst to a phone's owner.
The Apple Watch will have its own sales space inside three major department stores in Europe and Asia, a move to get the product in front of potential buyers who may not be frequent visitors to the company's physical and online stores.
The U.K. Court of Appeal won't block a privacy lawsuit that alleges Google tracked Safari users without authorization, so the three plaintiffs can continue their legal fight against the search company.
BlackBerry surprised Wall Street by getting its bottom line back into the black in the fourth quarter, but sales shrunk significantly again, putting in question CEO John Chen's assertion that the company's turnaround is on track.
Some Internet gateway devices commonly used by hotels and conference centers can easily be compromised by hackers, allowing them to launch a variety of attacks against guests accessing the Wi-Fi networks.
Up Periscope: Twitter answers Meerkat... UN appoints privacy watchdog... Microsoft buys LiveLoop... and more tech news.
Microsoft has acquired LiveLoop and its technology for sharing PowerPoint presentations online more easily.
Beats has released a wireless version of its popular Solo2 headphones. The headphones have gone on sale online from Apple.
The Human Rights Council of the United Nations has voted in favor of a resolution backed by Germany and Brazil to appoint an independent watchdog or 'special rapporteur' to monitor privacy rights in the digital age.
In 10 years, there may be no need to check Facebook's site to see what that friend overseas is up to. You might just pick up a pair of goggles, reach out and hold her hand at her birthday party.
For centuries in Japan, poets have both lamented and extolled the fleeting beauty of cherry tree blossoms, the quintessential symbol of spring.
Open-source software projects are often well intended, but security can take a back seat to making the code work.
A federal court has dismissed a lawsuit against Apple over the amount of storage available in mobile devices that come with iOS 8.
For Web developers, making the jump to building full-fledged smartphone apps can be daunting. Facebook could ease the transition with a newly open-sourced framework its engineers developed to build apps for Apple devices.
There's never been a better time for a business to refresh its devices. Intel offers a range of business solutions, from Servers to SSD, but also 2 in 1 products and also the NUC unit which is set to revolutionise your desktop. Click here to read more information on these products.
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Theories are making adjusts that Google has revealed a ‘Ghost update’ to focus on the distributers of ‘How-to’ style content. News telecaster News broke the story, however, Google hasn’t affirmed it yet.
Digital Marketing Companies in Birmingham effect of the update is obvious at this point. HubPages, the biggest store of minilblogs has seen significant drop in its pursuit rankings after update went live. HubPages that contains instructive substance on wide assortment of subjects, experienced up to 22% traffic drop after the update inside seven days began May 3. Different sites, for example, eHow, WikiHow, and Answers.com have likewise observed noteworthy drops in rush hour gridlock over the recent weeks.
Read Also: Google Meet’s free features will expire today
Glenn Gabe, a New Jersey-based advanced advertiser has broke down load of information to affirm the update. He said that this update isn’t identified with Panda or Penguin however like Panda it targets sites with slender substance. Reports said that the update influenced the sites with misleading content articles, destinations with a wealth advantageous data, pages of stacked recordings, and pages hard to explore. They all lost perceivability as of late.
The report says that the update is severe in nature and takes no time rebuffing whole areas for a couple of occasions of flimsy substance. Obviously, Google hasn’t remarked or affirmed the turn out, in any case, at Digital Marketing Agencies in Oxford this week Gary Illyes, from Google’s Webmaster Trends group showed a center calculation update.
In this way, on the off chance that you run a site containing How-to type content, be prepared to see positioning hiccups. Google is on work. Furthermore, remember to let us know through your remarks.


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The Sony corporation’s ongoing restructuring process will see it focusing more on PlayStation while potentially abandoning the TV and smartphone market.
Sony is trimming the fat, selling or spinning off unprofitable divisions and investing instead in profitable ones. The compnay has already sold off its Vaio PC line, and according to Reuters, TV and smartphone business may soon follow.
Having recently sold off Sony Online Entertainment – one of its oldest development studios – to an investment firm, Sony has reiterated its commitment to the PlayStation brand along with the camera sensor division to help boost profit 25-fold in the next three years.
CEO Kaz Hirai said that the firm would no longer pursue growth in areas such as its smartphone business. The TV business could also be on the way out, based on Hirai’s comments.
PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation brand in general are among the top earners for Sony. The most recent earnings report indicated that it was mainly due to the increased install base of the PS4 and PS Plus subscribers.


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- 7 years ago
- Wedding: May 2010
Just a friendly reminder to all those using postcards for RSVPs or STDS:
As of yesterday, it now costs 29 cents, rather than 28 cents, to mail a postcard.
I just heard this on the news for the first time yesterday because it seems that they weren’t advertising this increase as well as other rate increases.
Both by sister and my co-worker, who just finished mailing their invites and used 28 cents on their cards, were not aware of the increase. Hope this notice helps someone avoid extra stress!


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Idaho Hotels Almost Booked Up For Biggest Solar Eclipse In 100 Years
We're just a couple months away from the first Total Solar Eclipse crossing over the U.S. in 100 years and Idaho is THE hot spot for viewers.
The Idaho Department of Commerce says we can expect anywhere from 10,000 to 300,000 people from around the world coming to watch this spectacular event. Hotels started booking up two years ago and now they're almost all out of rooms. Some of them are.
Some parties attempted to book entire hotels. Yeah, they crazay!
Some hotels and resorts are offering "Eclipse Viewing Parties" and other cities and towns are holding parades and festivals. Weiser is having a 5-day long festival. The actual eclipse goes down on August 21, 2017.


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Wow Air is giving people an incentive to actually make a creative Snapchat story.
The Icelandic budget carrier is looking for four people with half-decent Snapchat skills for its new contest, called “SnapTraveler.” Lucky winners will first head to Iceland to meet with the airline’s marketing team and then be whisked off on an all-expense paid trip to one of its 28 destinations for up to a week.
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Only catch is that winners have to promote their experience on Wow Air’s social media accounts, including Snapchat.
To enter, the airline is asking people to submit a Snapchat story (in English) on its website. Wow Air says it’s looking for “someone creative, ambitious and fun with a passion for travel, good Snapchat storytelling abilities and of course, the Wow factor.”
Wow Air was established in 2013 to take on the Nordic island’s legacy carrier Icelandair. Its motto is “the airline with the biggest smile and lowest prices,” marketing itself toward younger travelers that are helping Iceland experience record-breaking tourism numbers.
Between its $99 one-way fares, brightly colored — and creatively named — jets and heavy social media presence, the airline has garnered an online following. Rather than promoting itself with expensive ad campaigns, Wow Air has focused on Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook and even Tinder.
When it opened for business in San Francisco and Los Angeles in January, Wow Air gave free tickets to travelers who followed clues to find their reps in the city. The airline has also run promotions on Tinder, where it gave away free tickets to a few lucky swipers.
“Of course this caught the attention of the media and Wow Air [has] gained brand awareness,” Erla Björgheim Pálsdóttir, the airline’s head of online marketing, told Digiday. “Snapchat is one of Wow Air’s way to interact with millennial travelers and others that appreciate personal approach and spontaneity.”
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(CN) - The Augusta National Golf Club wants to shut down the website of a Florida-based auction house in an ongoing fight over the club’s iconic green jackets.
According to a federal lawsuit filed in Tampa on Tuesday by Green Jacket Auctions, an online seller of golf memorabilia, Augusta National is trying to “hijack” the auction house’s domain name – greenjacketauctions.com -- by asserting a trademark claim.
Augusta National’s iconic green sport jacket, emblazoned with its logo, are given to members of the club and winners of the annual Masters tournament.
Tuesday's lawsuit is the latest row between the host of the Masters Tournament and the online auction house based in Tampa. Last summer, Augusta National Inc., the company that owns the club and tournament, sued Green Jacket Auctions to prevent the sale of three jackets and other items with the club’s logo. Augusta National won a temporary injunction on the sale.
The golf club then went after the auction house’s domain name through a dispute process governed by the nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Green Jacket Auctions registered the domain after forming in 2006. At the time, Augusta National did not have a trademark on “green jacket.” (It registered the mark in 2012.)
Last month, an administrative panel ordered the transfer of the domain name from Green Jacket Auctions to Augusta National. The auction house’s current lawsuit seeks to stop that transfer and prove their “generic” trademark does not create confusion or lead people away from the world-famous golf club.
“Augusta National is going to great lengths to shut down our successful business,” said Green Jacket Auctions president Ryan Carey said via e-mail. “There are over 100 domains that incorporate the phrase ‘green jacket,’ yet Augusta National singled out our domain.”
“This is yet another example of a powerful organization attempting to bully a smaller business and legitimate registrant into giving up a domain name that was legally acquired in good faith,” he continued, adding the club’s claim on green jackets is equivalent to the New York Yankees trying to lay claim to pinstripe jerseys.
Augusta National’s director of communications did not respond to a phone call and email seeking comment.
Green Jacket Auctions has sold millions of dollars worth of golf memorabilia over the last 12 years, including 13 green jackets, according to its website. One of those green jackets belonged to the first Masters champion, Horton Smith, and fetched $682,000.
Augusta National Golf Club, on the other hand, is no fan of such auctions. Augusta National asserts the jackets are property of the club and should never leave the grounds except during a Masters tournament winner’s first year.
In 2013, the club sued a Texas-based auction house for selling a jacket won by Art Wall in the 1959 Masters tournament, claiming the memorabilia was stolen. The auction house, Heritage Auctions, later agreed to return the jacket.Follow @https://twitter.com/alexbpickett
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Mark Zuckerberg Loses $7 Billion From Facebook Advertiser Boycott
The tech company's stock fell over advertiser concerns
The rise and fall of the wealth of some of the world’s wealthiest individuals can sometimes be interwoven with the rise and fall of the stock market. Specifically, for a business leader whose wealth exists as shares of a particular company, a hit to the stock price can have larger consequences. Consider Facebook, which is currently in the midst of an advertiser boycott over the company’s policies on hate speech.
According to a new article by Siraj Datoo at Bloomberg, the backlash to Facebook’s policies has had a significant impact on CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth. On Friday, Facebook’s stock price dropped by 8.3% — which also influenced Zuckerberg’s own wealth. To wit:
The share-price drop eliminated $56 billion from Facebook’s market value and pushed Zuckerberg’s net worth down to $82.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That also moved the Facebook chief executive officer down one notch to fourth place, overtaken by Louis Vuitton boss Bernard Arnault, who was elevated to one of the world’s three richest people along with Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.
That said, Zuckerberg’s wealth had previously increased by $30 billion during the pandemic, according to this report by Markets Insider. (If the scale of Zuckerberg’s wealth is difficult to fathom, this video may be helpful.) With Facebook’s policies still prompting controversy, this particular downtick in its stock is unlikely to be the last time that it fluctuates this year.
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New iPhone features will impact your business beyond Facebook
International travelers, who can post messages on Facebook pages to communicate long-distance for free – with no roaming or text-message costs – are dicovering another business use for Facebook. This begins to define another niche market for many travel-related products.
So Facebook users and applications continue to grow with iPhone features and easy access support – and so will opportunities for marketers.
On the other hand, the new iPhone features will have a negative impact on Google.
Not only will Apple’s new mapping system out-cool the Google maps program, it will rip millions of user impressions from Google maps for ads and traffic data.
There will also be an immediate, direct affect on Google revenue this fall, since Apple currently pays Google significantly to load their maps on iPhones, which they will, of course, no longer do.
Facebook users may currently be growing faster than advertising revenue, but the future looks bright for the company to grow and benefit advertisers even more significantly for years to come.


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It has long been a frustration of iPhone owners, especially those of 8GB and 16GB models, to see a sizable chunk of their device's storage devoted to the operating system. Thanks to a new technology known as "App Thinning" that will be introduced with iOS 9, this will no longer be the case. As noted in this week's WWDC Keynote, the technology was used to pare down the iOS 9 OTA update from 4.6GB to 1.3GB, a 71% size reduction.
iOS 9 is less about new features and more about "enhancements" that will make using your iPhone and iPad even easier and better. Siri will be one of the beneficiaries of iOS 9 when the new OS is released this fall. Apple promises that the personal assistant will not only be faster and smarter, but more proactive. Users will be able to ask Siri to remind them to stop at a location they marked in Apple Maps when they get in their car, or to play a specific playlist when then they plug in their headphones.
Apple has released a checklist highlighting all the perks of an Apple Music membership. The music streaming service will be available starting on June 30th. A single member plan is $9.99/month and a family plan is $14.99/month for up to 6 people. The first three months of Apple Music are free when you sign up.
After soft launching the game way back in 2014, Square Enix has finally released the long awaited Hitman: Sniper. Square Enix says that Sniper took "a little more time than expected," but the wait was well worth it, as they used the long launch to collect lots of feedback and iron out all the wrinkles.
Google on Tuesday announced that its Maps app for iOS was updated with more accurate transit data for several cities in the United States (Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle), the United Kingdom, Hungary and the Netherlands. The app now delivers live arrival information for buses, metros and subway systems in these new cities, and it also notifies users about canceled routes and helps them select other options. The update will happen automatically for those who already have Google Maps installed on their device. New users can download the app for free on the App Store.


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Australian-themed coffee chain Bluestone Lane revealed plans in early May to move into the retail space at the old train depot at 288 First St. in Los Altos. Last week, Bluestone and city of Los Altos officials confirmed construction will wrap up the last week of July and a ribbon cutting is scheduled soon afterward.
Voyageur du Temps, which previously occupied the repurposed station built in 1913, closed in 2018, paving the way for Bluestone Lane to expand into Los Altos. Bluestone Lane will provide a full-service, sit-down style space with “abundant seating and an extensive menu,” according to an email from marketing team member Ellee Pitman. No other locations in Los Altos were considered for the cafe, as the station is “such a beautiful landmark, rich in history, and (Bluestone Lane staff) fell in love with it right away,” Pitman said.
Bluestone Lane officials signed a lease last October and started construction in May. As of the Town Crier’s Monday press deadline, representatives estimated the process would be complete July 26.
As for the aesthetic, Pitman said customers can expect a coastal-inspired shop “blended with the historical features of the building.” The food will follow suit, according to a sample menu; California favorites like breakfast burritos are available alongside Australian mainstays like smashed avocado toast.
Beyond the food is one of the chain’s most popular items, transcending cultures: award-winning coffee.
While Bluestone Lane pulls heavily from Australian coffee-shop culture, there are actually no locations in Australia. Nick Stone, the cafe’s CEO, debut his first location in a basement in midtown Manhattan. Stone wanted to create the feel a “Cheers”-like establishment that inspires loyalty, a place where everybody knows your name and your order. Much to Stone’s dismay, the time he spent in New York prior to opening his business was marked by Starbucks-like transactions, all based on a need for caffeine, not a desire for communal interaction.
Since launching his first location, which gained in popularity via word of mouth, Stone has built a brand that extends from coast to coast – the U.S. coasts, that is. Most recently, Pitman confirmed, Bluestone Lane opened another shop at 55 Second St. in San Francisco. That location, and all others in the city (including on Bush Street and at Union Square), boasts Bluestone Lane’s other model: a grab-and-go style coffeehouse.
Bluestone Lane will aim not only to serve customers, but also the community, through donations and fundraisers for schools and local businesses, Pitman said. Dog-friendly events, specials for “moms & bubs,” live music and more are also in the works.
“We're thrilled to bring a touch of Australian cafe culture to the Los Altos community,” Stone said in a statement.
For more information on Bluestone Lane, visit bluestonelane.com. Stay tuned for a full spread on the location in the Town Crier once doors open.


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Cooks Venture, a US-based agri-tech firm focused on regenerative agriculture, has received US$4m in funding from food manufacturer Golden West Food Group.
The investment builds on the $12m recently raised from “secured financing,” according to a statement, which said the new funding will be used to expand distribution to retailers and wholesalers. At the same time, Cooks Venture has announced the appointment of Ankur Agrawal as finance chief.
San Francisco-based Cooks Venture was founded by Matthew Wadiak, the former chief operating officer of US-based meal-kit firm Blue Apron. The business “is establishing regenerative agriculture systems through a combination of crop science, animal breeding and husbandry, and long-term data monitoring”, the statement explained.
Regenerative agriculture is described as an alternative method of farming and animal raising using photosynthesis and soil microbiology to draw down greenhouse gases into the soil, and is hence regarded as being environmentally-friendly.
Cooks Venture breeds slow-growth chickens called heirloom or heritage chickens, which are claimed to be more healthy and have better livelihoods than conventional birds. They are bred on an 800-acre farm, hatchery and breeding facility in Northwest Arkansas.
The company said it has a “long-term strategic partnership” with Golden West Food, which supplies retail, foodservice and private label across a portfolio that features meat, sausages, burgers, pizza, sauces and dips.
Josh Solovy, the president of Golden West Food, said: “Consumers are always looking for a wider variety of ethically-sourced meats, and we like to be at the forefront of what’s new and innovative in the market. We align with Cooks Venture’s philosophy that better animal husbandry yields higher quality, great tasting and better-for-you foods. That’s why we invested in Cooks Venture and believe they, in short time, will be a market leader for pasture-raised, heirloom and heritage bred, regenerative poultry in the US.”
Meanwhile, new CFO Agrawal has a career in finance and corporate development and has previously worked at beverages giant PepsiCo. He met Wadiak when both were employed at Blue Apron. Agrawal will “lead the company’s sustainable growth, building new investor partnerships and establishing core processes”.


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Do food labels matter? Do consumers actually read them? How useful they are for making healthier choices? A new study suggests food labels do matter, and that consumers who read them weigh less than those who don’t bother.
Food labels, fat, calories and consumers
The Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, will require all chain restaurants to post calorie counts on it’s menu boards. McDonald’s, the world’s largest purveyor of fat and calories, is leading the way by announcing that calories will start to accompany its selections this month.
The restaurant industry has questioned whether knowing how calorie counts for hamburgers will make a difference for consumers. But when it comes to shopping in supermarkets, a new study has shown that reading food labels can help consumers maintain a healthy weight.
Maintaining a healthier weight
In a study on the relationship between reading food labels and obesity published in the journal Agricultural Economics, an international team of researchers analyzed data from the National Health Interview Survey, an annual poll conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They worked with 25,640 observations that were collected on health status, eating habits and shopping tendencies.
The researchers determined the percentage of respondents who said they read the nutrition facts on food labels when they shop and those who don’t. Then they established a relationship between label reading and body mass index (BMI).
Based on the representative population sample, overall 74 percent of women in the U.S. and 58 percent of men say they read food labels. The greatest difference in weight was found in women. Those who read food labels had a BMI 1.76 points lower on average than those women who didn’t. That’s an average of nine pounds lighter. The difference in BMI associated with label reading for American men was much less—just 0.12 points.
Socioeconomic, lifestyle factors
Socioeconomic differences also emerged between consumers who read labels and those who don’t. City dwellers (49 percent) read food labels the most. People with a high school (40 percent) or university education (17 percent) were also more likely to be concerned about nutrition facts. Smokers also reported less concern about reading labels. Researchers suggested this could reflective of a smoker’s unhealthy lifestyle overall.
Trusting the food supply
The research suggests food labels are a good thing and reading them is a good idea. But once upon a time, not too long ago, nutrition facts on food labels were rare, along with obesity, diabetes and heart disease. But as the American food supply became increasingly processed with unhealthy ingredients, consumer activists demanded more transparency.
Today, the most nutritious foods in the store, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, don’t have nutrition labels. If food companies weighed the nutrition of their products as importantly as making them cheaply as possible for maximum profits, perhaps we could trust the food supply more and food labels would be a non-issue.


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People claiming Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or other mean-tested benefits from DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) are set to receive a huge financial boost from April next year. It comes after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt made the announcement during his autumn statement.
The Government confirmed all benefits including pensions, will rise 10.1% in line with inflation. Concerns had previously been in motion that benefits such as Universal Credit and state pensions could be slashed in real terms after Tory flip flops on Boris Johnson's vow to hike them in line with inflation in April 2023 reports Liverpool Echo.
It is understood the Treasury sent initial plans for major measures to the Office for Budget Responsibility last weekend, so the experts could start drawing up forecasts. Now it has been confirmed state pension and benefits will go up 10.1%.
For people on Universal Credit, this means estimated rises of £631 per year for joint claimants, where one or both are aged 25 or over, with the amount rising from £525.72 to around £578.29 a month. Joint claimants who are both under 25 could expect their payments to jump from £416.45 to £480.09 per month, while people on a standard allowance aged 25 or over can expect a rise from £334.91 to £368.40.
Those who are aged under 25 and on a standard allowance could see their payments jump from £265.31 to £291.84 - an increase of £318 a year.
People on PIP, who are in receipt of the enhanced rate for both daily living and mobility, will get an extra £824 a year. Here is a full breakdown of how much each PIP component will rise by:
- Daily living - standard rate: £68.09 (up from £61.85 now)
- Daily living - enhanced rate: £101.73 (up from £92.40 now)
- Mobility - standard rate: £26.92 (up from £24.45 now)
- Mobility - enhanced rate: £71.01 (up from £64.50 now)
- DWP: Certain benefits to rise in line with inflation from April of next year
- DWP: Pensioners could receive around £182 extra per week by applying for Pension Credit
- DWP: Six benefits that will be replaced with Universal Credit by the end of 2024
- DWP PIP payments of £150 a week available if you have specific skin or eye problems
- Universal Credit claimants set to miss out on DWP Christmas bonus


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Oct 9, 2013 Without a local partner, Walmart will be unable to open more stores in India.
Sep 27, 2013 Coke's spread has been far and wide. But some countries have been tougher endeavors for the soda giant.
Sep 27, 2013 As Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits the White House to talk about trade between India and the U.S., some American businesses are protesting what they see as India shutting out foreign firms.
Sep 9, 2013 NASA wants to capture an asteroid and send astronauts to train on it for Mars. Congress is skeptical.
Sep 4, 2013 Some low-tech innovations are making a big difference.
Sep 2, 2013 Leveraging massive amounts of computing power to predict weather and explore the galaxy.
Aug 30, 2013 Emerging markets that thrived during the recession are seeing the flow of capital dry up.
Aug 29, 2013 A poor onion crop in India has sent onion prices skyrocketing.
Aug 28, 2013 With the Syria headlines, the price of oil could become a drag for the U.S. economy and beyond.


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Craft Brew Alliance Inc.
News about Craft Brew Alliance Inc., including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.
ARTICLES ABOUT CRAFT BREW ALLIANCE INC.
The auditor for Redhook Ale Brewery Inc. has found that the company's survival is in question, Redhook said yesterday. The company, which is based in Woodinville, Wash., said it might default under a bank credit agreement if a distribution agreement...
March 30, 2004, Tuesday
The Starbucks Corporation and Redhook Ale Brewery Inc. have joined forces to brew Double Black Stout, a dark roasted malt beer brewed by Redhook with the added flavor of Starbucks coffee. The brew will have 30 milligrams of caffeine per 22-ounce...
September 14, 1995, Thursday
Copyright © 2008. Quotes and other information supplied by independent providers identified on the vendor disclosures page.


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PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - Oct 3, 2012) - VC Taskforce™, today announced that SVB Financial Group, the parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, and long term partner to the most innovative companies in the world as well as the premium wine industry, will be the Hospitality Sponsor for the 4th Annual Innovation Catalyst Awards Event to be held Oct. 30, 2012, at the Palo Alto Hills Golf and Country Club in Palo Alto, CA. This year's awards gala will honor three generations of the Draper family.
"For over a quarter of a century, Silicon Valley Bank's mission has been to help entrepreneurs succeed and our involvement with VC Taskforce's ICA Award Gala furthers this cause," said Harry Kellogg, Vice Chairman and head of strategic relationships, Silicon Valley Bank. "We are also pleased to be part of an evening honoring the Draper family, truly three generations of inspirational and visionary investors who have backed many world-class companies."
As part of its sponsorship, SVB Financial Group will be offering wines from Twomey Cellars, established in 1999 to pursue the discovery of varietals in California beyond cabernet. Twomey Cellars, which is run by managing partners and brothers David and Tim Duncan, grew out of generations of Duncan family entrepreneurship -- owners of Silver Oak Cellars. The family operates four wineries, Silver Oak in Napa Valley and Alexander Valley, and Twomey Cellars in Calistoga and Healdsburg, and own and manage vineyards throughout these regions.
During the evening, Twomey will be showcasing the following wines: the 2008 Twomey Merlot,
the 2010 Twomey Anderson Valley Pinot Noir and the 2011 Twomey Sauvignon Blanc. And, SVB will host a special drawing for a magnum of the Bordeaux-style wine. In addition, Sommelier Raymond Nasr, who is SVB director of wine programs, will be on hand during the evening to give attendees insights into the various wines.
The SVB Wine Division was formed in 1994 to serve premium wineries and vineyards. The company's first wine industry office stood as the only banking office in the United States dedicated exclusively to the premium wine industry. SVB has the largest team of commercial bankers dedicated to the wine industry of any bank nationwide. The Division has offices in Napa and Sonoma counties and serves clients in Napa, Sonoma, the Central Coast of California, Oregon and Washington.
Keynote speakers for this year's Innovation Catalyst Awards event include Kiva CEO Matt Flannery, Asset Management Founder "Pitch" Johnson and Draper Fisher Jurvetson MD Steve Jurvetson. In addition to the keynote presentations, Emcee Ellice Papp, senior vice president for investments at UBS Financial Services, Inc., will host honorees Bill and Timothy Draper in a fireside chat at the VC Taskforce awards dinner.
Over three generations, the Draper family has invested in hundreds of start-up companies, many of which have become household names, such as Activision, Hotmail and Skype. General William Draper Jr.'s son, Bill, left his father's firm to co-found Draper and Johnson Investment Company and later to found Sutter Hill Ventures. He has also founded several companies over the years. Bill's son, Timothy, founded Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
Rick Brounstein, Managing Director of the Emmes Group and this year's Chairman of the 2012 ICA Award Gala commented, "It has been exciting to see this Gala, now in its 4th year, mature into one of the premier events in Silicon Valley. This is due in large part to three strong traditions of the event which are reflected in this year's Gala -- from the recognition of highly deserving honorees to the involvement of outstanding speakers and to the support of key influencers in the Valley, such as SVB Financial Group and the entrepreneurial wine sector represented by Twomey Cellars, a prestigious winery with traditions originating with Silver Oak Cellars."
About SVB Financial Group
For nearly three decades, SVB Financial Group has been dedicated to helping entrepreneurs succeed. A financial holding company serving companies in the technology, life science, cleantech, venture capital, private equity and premium wine industries, SVB Financial Group (
About the Innovation Catalyst Award
VC Taskforce established the Innovation Catalyst Award in 2009 to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions made by visionary leaders in the investment community. The 2011 honoree was Reid Hoffman, partner at Greylock Partners and co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn. In 2010, Richard Kramlich, chairman and co-founder of New Enterprise Associates and one of the venture community's financial architects, was honored. The 2009 honoree was Franklin "Pitch" Johnson.
About VC Taskforce
VC Taskforce provides forums for real-time information exchange and dialogue through a series of networking events, panels, workshops and roundtable meetings conducted by business and industry experts that assist venture capitalists, institutional investors and venture-backed company executives in managing their businesses for maximum success. Visionary thinking, uncensored questions and opinionated discussions around pressing issues that face members are the hallmark of events. Today, more than 14,000 members and participants have been actively involved in VC Taskforce. www.vctaskforce.com.


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Steve Jobs has personally stepped in to revert the rejection of an application - Knocking Live Video - in the App Store, after the developer sent him a pleading email.
The app was rejected for using a private API - a feature that hasn't been approved for use by developers. The feature uses a form of screen capture to send video from one iPhone to another over both 3G and Wi-Fi connections. Unlike other video apps, it doesn't allow uploading to the web.
But the developer, Brian Meehan, didn't take his rejection seriously - "When it was rejected, I decided not to give up and reach out directly to Steve Jobs via e-mail. I reached out to Apple to reconsider our application due to its potential to culturally change how people share live moments phone-to-phone", he said.
Meehan expressed frustration with the app approval process and "humbly" asked Jobs to take a look at a demo of the app himself, given that other apps that used the same private API had been approved in the past. The following morning, an Apple exec contacted Meehan with orders "directly from the top" to revert the rejection.
Within 3 hours, the app was approved and is now available for free in the App Store. "Apple told me they are listening, and truly care about their developers and getting it right", said Meehan. The approval makes the app the only one approved that permits live video streaming.
However, we'd advise caution for any developer now penning an email to Steve Jobs - this is unlikely to become an official policy. Just a sign that Apple is looking to change its App Store approval process.


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Square Enix MANGA UP! Global App Removes Black Bars From All Content
Square Enix has shared a message to fans using the global version of their MANGA UP! app. For those unaware, this app has been quite contentious since its launch due to its needless and overt censorship. Countless black bars covered various images, ultimately ruining the reading experience.
However, the company has announced that all black bars across its catalog have been removed and that all suggestive content has been restored to its original iteration. Modification as a whole has not been entirely ruled out for the future, though.
The full message is quoted below:
“Hello MANGA UP! Fans: Thank you for sharing your feedback on MANGA UP!. We heard your comments and have issued an update to the app that removes the use of black bars from all content.
Starting today, suggestive content has been restored to its original artwork and explicit content has been addressed using blurring or shading techniques that are less intrusive to the reading experience.
In the future, we will do our best to only modify artwork when absolutely necessary and to do so in a manner that is as seamless as possible to the storytelling.”
This global app was initially launched in July 2022, with it boasting to be the quickest source for select English manga, thanks to simultaneous translations with Japanese releases.
This post may contain Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate Noisy Pixel earns from qualifying purchases.


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Sofimac Partners has held a first close for its Opportunités Régions 2 fund on €23.4m, with plans to raise €40-50m in total.
Raidlight and Vertical were since 2016 owned by Rossignol Group, a French winter sports group, which is owned by PE firm Altor
Company's founders Rodolphe and Edouard Carle will retain a minority stake in the business
Microwave components producer was acquired from its parent company Meyer Burger Technology
GP reportedly pays €1bn for the two stakes in the parcel delivery firm


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Zimbabwe’s manufacturing sector is presently, gravely constrained to take full advantage of the opportunities to be created by Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) trading block.
The industry representative body the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) can review in its latest Quarterly Business and Economic Intelligence Report.
The business membership organizations said the local industry has gone through deindustrialization, for the past two decades leading to the decline in local value chains and limited retooling and this puts it on the Blackfoot when it comes to its readiness to participate fully under AfCFTA.
CZI in a recent review reports said as things stand now, Zimbabwe, and the industry, in particular, are not ready to take advantage of the AfCFTA.
“Given years of deindustrialization, decline in local value chains and limited retooling, the local industry is constrained to take full advantage of the AfCFTA,” reads part of CZI’s 2021 first-quarter business survey”. CZI review
CZI reviewed that considering current capacity utilization, which was recorded at 47 percent in 2020 is significantly low hence firms would not be able to enjoy economies of scale that reduce per unit cost of production to render exports price competitive.
Further, CZI sight the high cost of doing business environment emanating from over regulation, heavy taxation, complex import and export procedures, utility and infrastructure deficiencies further constrain AfCFTA readiness for business.
“Industry needs to come up with long term export strategies that take the AfCFTA into consideration such as growing export markets and retooling /upgrading production processes to become efficient and be able to competitively compete with the rest of the continent”. The industry representative body said.
CZI said steps will have to be taken at national level to develop local value chains if local industry is to be competitive under AfCFTA.
“The country also needs to develop its local value chains to ensure that most of the raw materials needed for industry are sourced locally and not rely on importation from countries that would also be competitors.”CZI added
CZI said the Government must negotiate for more time in AfCFTA for liberalization to allow for domestic industry to retool and upgrade production processes.
On its part, industry must leverage on the NDS1, which priorities soyabean, fertilizers, cotton, sugar cane, dairy sector and leather, under the agro-value chains.
The private sector is expected to pursue initiatives to develop local value chains and integrate them into existing regional value chains in SADC.
CZI suggested that Zimbabwe Industries must invest in export market research and development outside the SADC region.


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Drawn from interviews during a two month, western states, editorial tour, this story originally appeared in the Huffington Post series Farm to Fork Across America, as well as on Farm Fork Life. It & more are dedicated to progressive innovations in the food chain to promote a healthier you, community & planet.
Added by Julie Brothers on December 20, 2012 at 1:53pm — No Comments
Added by Michael Carroll Green on December 13, 2012 at 9:14am — No Comments
Fresh-baked Breads are this week’s Fresh Pick of the Week from the Certified Farmers’ Market. L’Artisan Valley Baking Company, located in Thousand Palms, brings a variety of fresh hand-made artisan breads to the Certified Farmers’ Markets each and every week, much to the delight of their many satisfied…Continue
Added by Michael Carroll Green on December 2, 2012 at 12:16pm — No Comments


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Legend Capital, the corporate venture capital investment arm of Chinese tech firm Legend Holdings Ltd., has led a series A round worth over RMB100 million (US$14 million) in Bespin Global, a South Korean start-up providing managed cloud services to medium and large enterprises globally.
U.S. and South Korea-based Altos Ventures and two unnamed investors also participated in the round, according to a company announcement.
"We are glad to invest in Bespin Global, whose team has solid experience and knowledge in enterprise services, cloud information technology services and software," said Joon Sung Park, executive director of Legend Capital. "Cloud computing is gradually replacing the traditional information technology infrastructure at enterprises, creating enormous opportunities for start-ups like Bespin Global."
Enterprises have been adopting cloud computing platforms at a rapid rate. In 2015, 77% of enterprises used traditional IT infrastructure. That number is expected to drop to 43% by 2018, according to a survey conducted by McKinsey & Company.
Founded in 2015, Bespin Global’s core business is to help medium and large enterprises transform their IT operations from traditional infrastructure to ones based on cloud computing. It currently provides managed cloud services to over 150 medium and large enterprises globally, including Samsung Group and AmorePacific Corp.
Bespin Global expanded into the Chinese market in 2016, opening offices in Shanghai and Beijing. With the latest proceeds, it plans to accelerate its products upgrade, support localization strategy, and generally expand its businesses.
Legend Capital has invested in a number of cloud computing enterprise service firms, including Ucloud and Bangsun Technology.


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It goes without saying that zombies are in at the moment. Between the success of AMC’s The Walking Dead TV series and a slew of zombie infested movies and games, the flesh-eating undead are perhaps one of the most lucrative concepts for developers and publishers. What’s surprising is how diverse they’ve managed to stay; Dead Island, DayZ, Left 4 Dead and Telltale’s The Walking Dead game have all taken the same monster and come up with something different from a gameplay perspective. Mechanically, State of Decay is perhaps most comparable to DayZ, albeit in third-person; after the opening you’re given free rein on where to go. Sure, the game is happy to nudge you along for the first couple of hours if you like, but after a quick tutorial, you’re essentially on your own. This highlights one of the great things about the game, as well as one of its flaws. On the one hand, it captures the sense of a zombie apocalypse perfectly; you’re left to work things
Microsoft Studios and Iron Galaxy have revealed a new character trailer for Killer Instinct Season 2, showcasing the new character named Omen. The new Omen trailer is available below. Omen is the Herald of Gargos. He is a bonus character for season two of the fighting game. In the trailer, Omen appears to be a demonic being made out of crackling, electric energy. He looks to be an anthropomorphic cloud of energy. He can also sprout bat-like wings and shoot spheres of crackling energy at his opponents, or rapidly kick them. Omen was not the only new character showcased in the trailer. At the end, the video teases yet another new character for the roster, a hulking mammoth of a parts who is simply called Golem. Release details for Golem have not yet been announced, but he looks to be strong and formidable force of nature. He looks to be comprised of stone and metal parts, with carved metal faces making up his body. Killer Instinct is currently available for
Xbox One console exclusive Ori and the Blind Forest has been delayed to 2015, Moon Studios announced today. At Tokyo Game Show this year, Microsoft announced that the platformer would be released by the end of 2014. Unfortunately, that’s not the case anymore. In a post on the game’s website, Moon Studios announced that the game would now be released in early 2015. “While we’re extremely excited for all of you to get your hands on Ori and the Blind Forest as soon as possible, we made the decision together with our partners at Microsoft Studios that we’ll need just a little more time in order to add a final layer of polish to – what we hope – will be an unforgettable gaming experience,” the developer writes. In addition to Xbox One, Ori and the Blind Forest will also be coming to PC. It may also launch on the Xbox 360, but the developer made no mention of the last-gen version. We’ll update you when we hear more.
Undead Labs has announced that State of Decay has sold over 2 million copies on the Xbox 360 and PC. The 2 million copies refers to the original State of Decay on Steam and Xbox Live Arcade, and doesn’t include DLC. “Two million copies of the original State of Decay have been sold, between Steam and XBLA. We’re not even talking about DLC, here,” said community manager Sanya Weathers. The game hit the 550,000 sales mark in June 2013 and by October that year had sold over a million copies. “There just aren’t the right words to tell you how much this means to us. No marketing, no advertising, just you playing and streaming and spreading the word. You made this happen, and if we could individually thank each person who hit that download button, we would. Your enthusiasm and support have been everything.” State of Decay will also be coming to the Xbox One. In late August, Undead Labs announced State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition. The port will include the full State of
According to voice actor Lester Speight, Augustus “Cole Train” Cole will be in the next Gears of War game. Lester Speight, who voices Cole Train, replied to a fan question on Twitter which asked him if he would reprise his role for the next Gears of War. His response was “Yup!” “@MistaPeerez: @lesterspeight have you gotten a call about a new gears? You have to reprise your role! #whoobaby” “Yup!” — Lester Speight (@lesterspeight) July 4, 2014 The next Gears of War will be developed by Black Tusk Studios instead of Epic Games. Back in late January, Microsoft had announced that they acquired the rights to the Gears of War IP. Microsoft Studios General Manager, Hanno Lemke and Studio Manager, Rod Fergusson also joined Black Tusk to lead the studio. Microsoft has yet to confirm if the news is true, but we’re hoping to hear an update soon.
Microsoft Studios has acquired rights to the Gears of War IP, including rights to all future and existing games, merchandise and entertainment experiences from Epic Games.
At gamescom today, Microsoft Studios together with Crytek, debuted Gladiator Mode, the cooperative multiplayer experience of Ryse: Son of Rome and an in-depth look at never-before-seen features and refinement to the game’s combat.


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Brand Packaging offers insight on how to successfully create strategic branding through package design. When design and packaging work together brands are elevated from a commodity to an expression of a consumers lifestyle. Brand Packaging gives brand owners, designers, suppliers and marketers information on innovation and design by covering topics, trends, news pertaining to consumer packaged goods.
Consumers are now more interested in clean label ingredients instead of product descriptions or the brand name itself, when shopping for new foods and drinks, according to a new global survey – highlighting the ongoing importance of clean label products.
BRANDPackaging announced the winners of its 2018 Design Gallery People's Choice awards at the annual Packaging That Sells Conference held in Chicago on October 8-10. The awards recognize the industry's best packaging designs based on how effectively the packaging uses graphics and structure to tell a brand's story.
Right now, there are countless meetings, conference calls and video chats happening about new product launches, brand refreshes and line extensions that will rely heavily on packaging design to tell a story. The consideration of sustainable packaging continues to move up the list of importance in these strategy meetings as consumer awareness grows and global news highlights the environmental impacts packaging can cause.
In January of 2017, MULTIVAC announced the acquisition of TVI, the market leader in protein portioning equipment, with strategic plans to enter the realm of protein portioning and slicing. Anuga FoodTec 2018 was the official launch of the processing division for MULTIVAC Germany. In preparation for full scale launch of TVI for the United States in early 2019, MULTIVAC US has hired Chris Mason as Sales Director for the newly formed Processing Division.
Branding agency Straight Forward Design has created eye-catching packaging, brand guidelines and immersive educational materials for betty, a new UK-based lifestyle and femcare company that seeks to break down barriers and help girls navigate the growing-up years in a fun and fuss-free way.
EasyDose transforms the industry-standard 100 oz laundry jug, condensing it to a 23 oz bottle that uses 50% less water, 60% less plastic and is 75% lighter, saving time and space. The product features a new automatic dosing mechanism built right into the flip cap, which means no more drippy, messy pouring of detergent into the cap or guessing how much to use. It automatically doses the right amount with one squeeze, reducing waste and unnecessary spilling.
In this issue of Packaging Strategies, we cover the Top 100 food & beverage packaging companies, 3D technology for experience and brand packaging, linear transport systems, case and tray sealing, frozen food trends and more!


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Red Bull's "Stratos" mission has made the latest stride in its effort to break the world record for the highest freefall ever. There's now a prototype spacesuit for what will be used in the jump that'll take place from more than 3 miles in the sky.
Several people, including the world's most renowned female skydiver Cheryl Stearns, have said that they want to break the current record of 102,600 feet, but no one has taken the plunge yet, so to speak. Incidentally, that record has stood for 50 years.
But with the help of Red Bull's intense marketing and funding efforts, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner is getting close to setting a new milestone. Last week, test began on a brand new spacesuit that can withstand the extreme amount of pressure from that high up in the sky.
In fact, it's so robust that Baumgartner thinks it may be useful for future NASA missions. He plans on jumping from an astounding 120,000 feet in the air.
That's nearly 100 Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other, or the height of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Everest combined, times 4.
With its unending campaign to convince consumers that its energy drink can keep your adrenaline pumping, Red Bull's marketing has focused significantly on stunts like this, like wind surfing in Tahiti. If anyone can pull something like this off, it's Red Bull.
Don't Miss: Win a Free Nintendo NES Classic in our Giveaway


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Total 5 Posts
Farmcrowdy, a Nigerian AgriTech startup, has been named as the "Digital Business of the Year (2018)" award in Afrika. This was announced and awarded at the annual Global African Business Awards (GABA) ceremony in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Other nominees of the Digital Business of the Year award include
I don’t want to live in a world where there’s no organic food, do you? We will need to produce 70% more food than we do today to feed 2,3 billion people that will be added to the world’s population by 2050. And we will have
Farmcrowdy, an AgriTech startup from Nigeria, has secured a $325,000 grant from GSMA. This was announced at the Mobile World Congress 2018 held in Barcelona, Spain. Previously, towards the end of 2017, Farmcrowdy closed a $1 million seed funding round with participation from Cox Enterprises, Techstars Ventures, Social Capital,
Nigeria's AgriTech startup, Farmcrowdy, has closed a $1 million seed funding round. Farmcrowdy's seed funding round saw participation from investors such as Cox Enterprises, Techstars Ventures, Social Capital, Hallett Capital and Right-Side Capital; as well as angel investors Tyler Scriven, Michael Cohn,Josephine Group, FC Agro Allied SPV and Dr.
Farmcrowdy, a Nigerian startup behind the West Afrikan country's digital agriculture platform, has announced the launch of their new mobile app for funding small-scale farmers. The AgriTech startup has also introduced a new category of funding for small-scale farming in Afrika by allowing Nigerians to venture and sponsor agriculture. Farmcrowdy's


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Giving health consumers more skin in the game doesn’t always lead to them making sound health decisions.
Over four years in consumer-directed health plans, enrollees used one-quarter fewer visits to doctors every year and filled one fewer prescription drugs. CDHP members also received fewer recommended cancer screenings, and visited the emergency room more often.
These rational health consumer theory-busting findings were published in the June 2013 issue of the Health Affairs article, Consumer-Directed Health Plans Reduce The Long-Term Use of Outpatient Physician Visits And Prescription Drugs by Paul Fronstin of the Employee Benefit Research Institute and colleagues from IBM and RxEconomics, a health policy consulting firm.
These results were derived from a study of medical claims from employees working in two manufacturing companies who were continuously insured between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2010.
Health Populi’s Hot Points: Designing health plans that are both truly consumer-directed and nudge people to make good health care utilization decisions requires a better understanding of what motivates people to seek care beyond the immediate and short-term cost dimension. While health care appears to be morphing into a consumer product based on the growing out-of-pocket costs, the product and its end-use implications are more complex than buying a razor or washing machine.
“The plan’s incentives should support health improvement and the use of high-value care that could reduce future care needs,” the authors say, quoting Regina Herzlinger, a godmother of consumer-directed health.
The two main barriers to optimal results in CDH are that:
2. High deductibles can motivate people to avoid necessarily health care services and products to save money.
More employers, large and small, are offering CDHPs in and beyond 2013. CDHPs will also be prevalent plans on health insurance marketplaces in 2014, selling especially to newly-insured people who aren’t as health plan literate as their peers who have been selecting health plans from employers in the past couple of years.
CDHP members need to better understand the tradeoff between using the deductible and health savings account for buying current health services to save money on future (presumably more expensive) health services. Furthermore, CDHP providers should artfully design front-end prevention into the plans by heavily subsidizing (or discounting to zero dollars, making free) targeted prevention and wellness services that channel people into self-care and early diagnosis early and sooner.


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Hardly a week goes by in Uganda in which there is no public controversy and outcry over the misuse of public funds or the questionable awarding of a government contract or job.
The latest involves the announcement that an Italian-led company, Uganda Vinci Coffee Company Limited, had been awarded a contract in February to establish a coffee-processing plant at the Kampala Industrial and Business Park in Namanve on the Kampala-Jinja highway.
The new plant is intended to install a roaster for Ugandan coffee beans and is expected to start with 27,000 tonnes a year and later reach a maximum capacity of 60,000 tonnes.
This, it is hoped, will deliver the long hoped-for value-addition to Uganda’s coffee; rather than export raw coffee beans to the global market as has been the case for decades, roasted beans fetch a higher price and so Uganda will step up the value chain and earn much more export revenue.
This seems like a reasonable deal, except that few things over the last 30 years involving government have never gone according to plan or been above suspicion.
The proprietor behind the Uganda Vinci Coffee Company, Enrica Pinetti, happens to be the same woman who three years ago was awarded a multi-billion dollar contract to build a high-end hospital, the International Specialised Hospital at Lubowa on the Kampala-Entebbe highway.
Ever since she got that Lubowa contract, little has been seen of construction work at the site and so, from Members of Parliament to members of civil society, the media and the general public, to award this coffee contract to an entrepreneur who had not shown any results at Lubowa was another sign of what is wrong with the Museveni government — a government that seems determined to auction Uganda’s national assets to foreigners.
This new contract for the Uganda Vinci Coffee Company brought back memories in older minds of a time that Uganda had its own government-owned coffee processing corporation but collapsed in the mid-1990s under the oversight of the NRM government.
The Coffee Marketing Board (CMB) was a parastatal agency created by the Uganda government in 1963 to oversee Uganda’s coffee marketing and export.
Coffee would be bought from the smallholder farmers, stored in bulk at the processing plant in Bugolobi, Kampala, packed and then exported to the international market.
CMB soon became a vital national body because coffee since the 1950s had overtaken cotton to become Uganda’s leading foreign exchange earner.
In the 1970s with Uganda under an international economic boycott by the West because of President Idi Amin’s controversial policies and stunts, the Uganda Air Cargo C-130 transport planes were used to fly Uganda’s coffee to Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, to be shipped on to Europe and other markets.
There was a lot of murmuring and resentment when in 1981, President Milton Obote appointed the army chief of staff, Brig David Oyite-Ojok, as the chairman of the Coffee Marketing Board.
One explanation was that because Uganda had only recently emerged from the 1979 war with Tanzania and the eight years of economic decline under Amin, Obote needed to have CMB under the leadership of somebody he could trust to be honest and loyal, as Uganda needed export revenue now more desperately than ever before.
A second explanation was that Oyite-Ojok was an exceptionally powerful figure in the post-Amin era and was regarded as more or less the force behind the UPC government; he had demanded this position as the head of CMB as a personal reward for his role in the ouster of Amin in 1979 and if he did not get it, he was the type of man to overthrow Obote for a second time.
Whichever the correct rumour, it indicated just how important the Coffee Marketing Board was in the Ugandan economy, at par one could say with what NSSF or Uganda Revenue Authority are in Uganda today.
President Obote himself, who was keen on Uganda’s economic recovery, had taken on the portfolio in 1981 of minister of Finance and it was he who used to personally present the annual budget estimates in that capacity as Finance minister.
In theory, it should not matter to the tens of thousands of Ugandan coffee farmers whether the country has a government-owned coffee marketing agency, an Italian-owned company, or as is the case with the Bugisu Cooperative Union in Mbale, a cooperative society to buy their coffee in bulk and process, then export it.
Provided they get paid in full and at a fair price for their harvest, this should not be a problem.
A private company such as Uganda Vinci has every incentive, in search of profit, to handle Ugandan coffee efficiently and export it profitably to company and country.
Politically, however, the new coffee deal had brought back all the bitter memories of the privatisation process in the early 1990s that went badly, parastatals were sold at a loss or under questionable circumstances or to shady owners.
Daily Monitorgot itself into trouble with government in 2005 when it published a lead story that Uganda Dairy Corporation, the State-owned dairy company located in Bugolobi, had been sold to a Kenyan dairy company for just $1.
The Coffee Marketing Board was replaced with the Uganda Coffee Development Authority, but to most Ugandans the only name worth remembering in the coffee industry is the Coffee Marketing Board.
Politically, the Uganda Vinci coffee deal is already feeding into the long-standing narrative and conspiracy theories that the NRM government has a plan to impoverish Opposition strongholds like Buganda and Bugisu which also happen to be the main coffee-growing parts of Uganda.
Coffee is not just another cash crop, just another export earner.
It is an emotive subject and sensitive political matter. It makes for a good political rallying cry.
The Katikkiro (prime minister) of Buganda, Charles Peter Mayiga, on April 17, criticised the central government’s handling of the Vinci coffee deal, wondering why the Mengo government had not been consulted.
Mayiga for the last four years has engaged in an aggressive drive to encourage farmers in Buganda to grow more coffee, viewing this as their best way out of rural poverty and, also, as a direct way in which Buganda can revive her economic circumstances.
It does not help the NRM government’s case and reputation that the new coffee-processing deal happens to be awarded to a company that has nothing to show for it at Lubowa.
The new Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, on Wednesday, April 20, indignantly told Parliament that she would adopt a tough stance on this Lubowa hospital matter, taking to social media platform Twitter that night with a post stating:
“We expect a report from the chairperson of the Finance Committee on Lubowa hospital tomorrow, we need to save this country. How can a hospital take three years without even a foundation in sight?”
In that indignant tweet, Speaker Among revealed traces of the questioning spirit that had originally led her to join Opposition party FDC.
Among might as well have asked what happened to the luxury apartment and business complex that was supposed to have been constructed at Naguru to replace the old low-income housing estate there.
It won’t be long before the Speaker discovers for herself why a hospital construction project can take three years without even a foundation stone being laid.
This is the Uganda of the NRM government, where nothing is ever what it appears on paper.


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July 25, 2001 |
Diageo's Burger King Corp. unit named Bennett Nussbaum chief financial officer to replace Colin Heggie, who left last year. Nussbaum, 55, was finance chief at Kinko's Inc., the closely held operator of more than 1,000 photocopying and printing stores. Miami-based Burger King is the No. 2 U.S. hamburger chain behind McDonald's Corp. Nussbaum will report to Burger King Chief Executive John Dasburg and will assist the company in plans to separate from parent Diageo, the company said.
March 14, 1990 |
Burger King Corp. has announced that C. Ronald Petty, president and chief operating officer of Burger King U.S.A., is leaving the worldwide fast-food chain after 12 years. Petty, who returned from Burger King's international division to run the domestic side of the corporation just before Burger King was taken over by Grand Metropolitan in January, 1989, decided only recently to leave the firm, said Barry J. Gibbons, chief executive of Burger King Corp.
July 22, 1988 |
Burger King Corp. has continued to shuffle its top management in an effort to boost the performance of the ailing fast-food chain. The Miami-based firm, a subsidiary of food giant Pillsbury Co., said C. Ronald Petty, 44, formerly president of the chain's international operations, has been promoted to president of Burger King U.S.A. Petty replaced Charles S. Olcott, who two weeks ago was promoted to a new position as president and chief operating officer of Burger King.
October 11, 1990 |
Burger King Corp., America's No. 2 hamburger chain, is poised to trim up to 400 people from its staff nationwide, including regional vice presidents and franchise operations managers, it was reported today. The Miami Herald said 300 to 400 workers could be affected by the cuts, which would represent the second such round of layoffs since the fast-food giant was acquired by Grand Metropolitan PLC in January, 1989.
October 21, 2005 |
Burger King Corp. has severed relations with the leadership of its U.S. franchisee organization, accusing it of disrupting the company's brand-building initiatives. In breaking off all but minimal contact with those running the National Franchisee Assn., the fast-food chain's management said it would divert a $1-million subsidy from the group to the brand's advertising fund. The association is believed to represent about 90% of Burger King's domestic franchisees.
August 13, 2003 |
Coca-Cola Co. has agreed to pay hamburger chain Burger King Corp. and its operators more than $20 million to settle a dispute over a rigged marketing test for Frozen Coke, according to a Burger King document. Atlanta-based Coke, the world's largest soft drink maker, admitted in June that some of its employees manipulated the results of a test of the frozen soft drink in 2000 to win Burger King's business.
June 19, 2003 |
Coca-Cola Co. is working to mend relations with one of its biggest customers, Burger King Corp., after conceding that employees undermined a marketing test of Frozen Coke three years ago at one of the fast-food chain's outlets. Steven Heyer, Coke's president and chief operating officer, apologized for the rigging episode in a letter late Tuesday to Brad Blum, Burger King's chief executive.


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Google is telling publishers they can get all the benefits of the mobile web with all the functionality of mobile apps with a product called Progressive Web Apps. This relatively new standard for building mobile websites was highlighted at the Google I/O developer conference this week, where The Washington Post showed off a new mobile web-app hybrid site.
Many brands and publishers are wondering what a PWA is and why they should care about them. Here’s a primer:
What is a PWA?
It stands for Progressive Web App, and it lets developers build a mobile website that can perform super-fast and behave just like an app. “They are a better way to enable a website to work more like a native installed app,” said Aaron Gustafson, who works on web standards at Microsoft. For instance, The Washington Post’s PWA has swipe-right technology built into it. Users can also copy the site’s homepage to their homescreen and open it like an app. So, it lets people interact with it like an app without the hassle of downloading it.
Why is it called a Progressive Web App?
This type of site can load on a number of browsers and devices, regardless of screen size and other specs. “The reason it’s called ‘progressive’ is because the experience gets progressively better depending on what technology is available in the device,” said David Merrell, senior mobile product manager at The Washington Post.
On less sophisticated devices, even old Blackberries, a PWA could serve a stripped-down web product and the functionality can become progressively more sophisticated as the devices allow. It’s universally recognized. Gustafson compared it to a curb cut that is built for wheelchair access but accommodates bikes, skates, skateboards and shopping carts. This means that developers, publishers and brands can build these experiences and have them work across the board without as big an investment as native apps designed for every particular platform.
What other benefits are there?
The web apps are progressive in other ways. They learn more about the user, the more visits someone makes, even if they’re not logged in. So, if someone visits the same site a few times, it could prompt them to download the link for access from their homescreens. The PWA also could invite a reader to get notifications just like an app. It’s also dynamic and can update with new content on its own, and be accessed while offline.
In the future, PWAs will only become more sophisticated with more integration into the devices. For instance, they could tap into location setting to communicate over Bluetooth with beacons in the real world. A PWA could also work with a phone’s personal assistant like Siri, making it easier to control the content with voice commands.
Doesn’t Google already have Accelerated Mobile Pages?
Yes, and PWAs are an outgrowth of that project. Accelerated Mobile Pages are designed to load fast on mobile devices, and PWAs are just as fast but with more functionality. However, AMPs are actually indexed in Google search results, driving traffic to them, unlike PWAs, which right now require a direct URL or link. The Washington Post will test links to its PWA from AMPs, Merrell said. There are other downsides to PWAs, as well, including the fact there are no ads being served, but they are coming for publishers.
Why hasn’t this been more widely adopted?
Well, it’s still new, and publishers like The Post are just experimenting with it. Also, not all the technology has been fully adopted. For instance, software known as Service Worker, which helps with some of the more advanced features, like offline functionality, isn’t supported by Apple’s Safari browser.
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RetailMeNot.ca survey reveals 68 per cent of respondents will be staying home on February 14
TORONTO, Feb. 10, 2015 /CNW/ -- Cupid's arrow seems to have missed Canadians this year, as an overwhelming majority of the country (78 per cent) sees Valentine's Day as overrated. According to the latest consumer trends survey from digital coupons website RetailMeNot.ca, this attitude is consistent regardless of relationship status, with single Canadians and those in a relationship both agreeing that Valentine's Day is overhyped (74 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively). Additionally, 80 per cent of Canadians surveyed agree that men have more pressure on Valentine's Day than women, despite the fact that many partners are not expecting a grand gesture.
Although Valentine's Day seems to have lost a little of its allure, 21 per cent of people surveyed celebrate the holiday whether they are seeing someone or not! And lovers take note: 1 in 4 respondents expect to receive gifts from their significant other to mark the occasion. However, spending time with their significant other is what Canadians really want, with 68 per cent planning to celebrate at home with their Valentine this year despite "the day of love" falling on a Saturday.
Top ways Canucks are celebrating this year according to the survey:
- Quickest way to a man's heart: A home-cooked meal is most popular way Canadians will celebrate V-Day, with nearly one-third (30 per cent) staying home;
- Red, red wine: Sharing a bottle of wine with their Valentine is the second most popular way Canadian's will spend Valentine's Day (17 per cent);
- No muss, no fuss: Another 17 per cent of Canadians will enjoy their Valentine's Day meal from takeout containers while staying in.
Savvy Canadians should remember that even a romantic meal at home takes planning. While they may intend to stay home, Canadians surveyed will still spend an average of $42 this Valentine's Day, with men expecting to spend an average of $54 and women only expecting to outlay $31. However, spending doesn't have to mean splurging: 61 per cent of Canadians believe it's acceptable to use a coupon on a date, and 70 per cent agree it's acceptable to use a coupon on a gift. Females are the biggest savings advocates, with 76 per cent agreeing that it's acceptable to use a coupon on a gift, and 69 per cent agreeing that coupons are fine to use on a date.
"While 68 per cent of women and 78 per cent of men surveyed report that they don't care about receiving material gifts on Valentine's Day, it's always better to be safe than sorry!" says Kristen Nelson, spokesperson for RetailMeNot, Inc. "Many Canadians wait until the last minute to purchase a gift and end up paying full price. Canadians choosing to keep their Valentine's Day celebrations low-key this year can save some extra cash on everything from flowers and chocolate to dinner by using digital coupons."
Other survey findings include:
- Dinner and a movie is dead: Only 13 per cent of Canadians plan to celebrate Valentine's Day with dinner and a movie;
- Ah, young love: Two-thirds (66 per cent) of the country agrees the first Valentine's Day in a relationship receives the biggest celebration;
- Sweeties for my sweetheart: Chocolate or candy is the number one Valentine's Day gift this year, with 28 per cent of the country planning to purchase one or the other;
- Repeat offenders: More than one-third of Canadians (36 per cent) wait to purchase their Valentine's gifts a week or two before the occasion, similar to 2014 (35 per cent).
RetailMeNot.ca regularly conducts consumer behaviour surveys to examine the spending habits of Canadians.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistical references are taken from the Canadian survey described below.
About the Canadian survey:
From January 30 to January 31, 2015, an online survey was conducted among 1,517 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to education, age, gender and region (and in Quebec, language) Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
About RetailMeNot, Inc.
RetailMeNot, Inc. (http://www.retailmenot.com/corp/) operates the world's largest marketplace for digital offers. The company enables consumers across the globe to find hundreds of thousands of digital offers from their favorite retailers and brands. During the 12 months ended December 31, 2014, RetailMeNot, Inc. experienced nearly 700 million visits to its websites, and during the three months ended December 31, 2014, monthly mobile unique visitors totaled 21.2 million. In 2014, RetailMeNot, Inc. estimates $4.4 billion in paid retailer sales were attributable to consumer traffic from digital offers in its marketplace. The RetailMeNot, Inc. portfolio includes RetailMeNot.com, the largest digital offer marketplace in the United States; RetailMeNot.ca in Canada; VoucherCodes.co.uk, the largest digital offers marketplace in the United Kingdom; Deals.com in Germany; Actiepagina.nl, a leading digital offers site in the Netherlands; Bons-de-Reduction.com and Ma-Reduc.com, leading digital offers sites in France; Poulpeo.com, a leading digital offers site with cash back in France; and Deals2Buy.com, a leading digital offers site in North America. RetailMeNot, Inc. is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol "SALE." Investors interested in learning more about the company can visit http://investor.retailmenot.com.
For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact:
416 934 8422 office
416 414 8637 mobile
+1 832 398 5792 mobile
SOURCE RetailMeNot, Inc.


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Say "so long" to the beloved line drawn illustration featuring the chicken and the stump that have graced the Hen of the Woods packaging since 2018.
“After four years, we wanted to refresh the personality of our brand in the eyes of consumers that mirrors who we are today,” says chief operating officer Brady DeLong. “As a small, family-owned and operated independent snack company, the fresh and refined work that Holotype produced puts us in a different league brand-wise, punching above our weight. There is nothing else like it out there in the salty snacks vernacular.”
Holotype creative director, Dale Doyle, and Hen of the Woods chief operating officer Brady DeLong, walk through the strategy and design considerations in their collaboration for the new look.
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Gray Powell, 27, forgot the phone, disguised as the previous iPhone model, after a night sampling German beers at Gourmet Haus Stadt, a bar in Redwood City, California.
In an unfortunate final posting to his Facebook site, which he typed on the phone before losing it, Mr Powell wrote: "I underestimated how good German beer is."
His possibly ale-fuddled organisational skills were rewarded when Gizmodo, a New York-based gadget internet site, published pictures of the phone, hailing it as nothing less than a test model 4G iPhone.
The website claims it bought the phone from a man Gizmodo reportedly paid $5,000 (£3,254) for access to the device. who discovered it on March 19 "lost in a bar in Redwood City" near Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California.
"We get false tips all the time. But after playing with it for about a week ... there is so much evidence stacked in its favour that there's very little possibility that it's a fake," said Jason Chen of Gizmodo.
"In fact, the possibility is almost none. We got it. We disassembled it. It's the real thing."
Apple is intensely secretive about its prototype products and is likely to have been mortified by Gizmodo's decision to detail new features of the phone along with pictures of the sleek tablet-shaped object from every angle.
The iPhone, which is to be launched as early as June, is said to feature a front-facing camera to allow video chat and a better screen.
Technology experts expressed surprise that a new iPhone was so easily mislaid. Apple is said to keep its test products locked behind reinforced doors, protected by security locks for which the code changed every few minutes.
Following rumours that Apple was indeed searching for a missing prototype, which it considered stolen rather than lost, Gizmodo has published an official letter it had received from the company's legal department demanding its immediate return.
The phone's provenance might become a legal issue. Gizmodo, which is understood to have paid $5,000 (£3,200) to get its hands on the iPhone, claimed the finder had asked around the bar if anyone had lost it.
He discovered that its screen was displaying Mr Gray's Facebook page and resolved to return it in the morning.
However, the following day he saw that the phone had gone dead – reportedly switched off by Mr Gray via a remote security feature – and, after making several fruitless attempts to reach him through the Apple switchboard, he said he gave up on the idea.