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The Ministry of Communications has declared its resolve to deal ruthlessly with cyber crime to ensure a safe digital space for national development.
In line with that, it is pursuing measures, such as leveraging international cooperation, to enhance and accelerate the fight against cyber crime with urgency.
The Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, said this in Accra yesterday when she opened a national conference and workshop on the technical implementation of the Budapest Convention, the only international treaty on cyber crime.
The two-day workshop, jointly organised by the National Cyber Security Centre of Ghana, under the Ministry of Communications, and the Council of Europe, has brought together more than 100 participants drawn from the Judiciary and the private sector.
Others are policy makers and legislators.
The participants are to be educated on the Budapest Convention and its implementation gaps, benefits and opportunities.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the growth in the use of digital services and products had made the cyber ecosystem an irresistible target for cyber criminals.
She pointed out that knowingly or unknowingly, people were exposed to
cyber threats, as they affected every facet of the increasingly
digitised lives of today.
She, therefore, stressed the need for cyber security to be strengthened as a matter of urgency “to ensure that we derive the full benefit of our emerging digital economy, while minimising the risks.”
On Ghana, she said while statistics on the quantum of cyber crimes were difficult to come by, information available at the Ministry of Communications showed that about 400,000 scam messages were blocked from reaching their recipients on a daily basis, while half of mobile money subscribers had either experienced some form of fraud or been targets for mobile money fraudsters.
“The identities of some Members of Parliament and ministers of state have been cloned on Facebook and other social media platforms.
As quickly as these fake accounts are pulled down, others spring up,” she added.
She said the increased volumes of online transactions came with inevitable increased risks for users of the various online platforms, with telecommunication service providers reporting year-on-year increases in mobile money fraud cases.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said Ghana, as a demonstration of its commitment to fight cyber crime and the recognition that the fight would only be successful with international cooperation, acceded to the Budapest Convention in December 2018.
She said that made Ghana the 62nd state to have signed the treaty and the fifth country in Africa to have acceded to the convention, after Mauritius, Senegal, Cape Verde and Morocco.
Additionally, she said, Ghana had ratified the African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection, also known as the Malabo Convention.
On local cooperation, the minister pointed out that the lack of effective cooperation at the domestic level had impacted on efforts to fight cyber crime.
She said to enhance the fight, her ministry was currently working on draft cyber security legislation which would help further address some identified weaknesses in the country’s cyber crime laws and make provisions for appropriate sanctions for non-compliance with the cyber security provisions.
“In addition, the Council of Europe has assessed our current cyber crime legislation and identified some gaps which we need to fill in order to achieve compliance with the convention.
We will close all legal and regulatory gaps in our domestic
legislation which will impede the full and effective implementation of
the Malabo and the Budapest conventions and provide protection for our
digital economy,” she said.
Council of Europe
On the global Internet space, the Programme Manager of Cybercrime at the Council of Europe, Mr Matteo Lucchetti, said 4.4 billion people, out of the 7.5 billion global population, were connected to the Internet.
Mr Lucchetti said the Internet permeated society in every single aspect of life and the number of users would continue to increase.
With respect to Ghana, he said the country was in the top 10 countries (ninth) in the world for the number of hours spent per day on social media.
“But while digitisation offers many development opportunities to achieve a better future, an equivalent rise must be registered of crimes committed against or through the use of computer systems; in brief, of cyber crimes,” he said.
The Director-General of the National Communications Authority, Mr Joe Anokye, proposed that one of the most important things the world needed now was a framework which would guide states on how to ensure the safety of citizens and increase their participation in the global economy without fear.
He said that was in view of increased globalisation, trade, connectivity and digital financial inclusion which gave citizens the ability to play across borders.
“It is in this interest that the NCA has, over the years, enthusiastically supported, in every way possible, Ghana’s accession to the Budapest Convention and its subsequent implementation,” he said.


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Nokia on Monday introduced the Lumia 900, its first LTE Windows Phone and a device the company said it designed specifically for the North American market.
“It’s the first one built for and designed for the North American market,” said Stephen Elop, Nokia’s CEO. He unveiled the new phone at CES in Las Vegas.
The phone has a 4.3-inch Amoled screen and Carl Zeiss optics on the camera. The body of the phone is made of polycarbonate, a substance Nokia says it has been using for 20 years and thus has special skills using. The phone will be available in blue and black models.
Executives on stage at CES to launch the phone stressed camera quality. The back camera has a 28-millimeter focal length, meaning users can squeeze more into photos than with most camera phones. The Lumia 900 also has a front-facing camera for video conferencing.
The companies did not disclose details about when the phone would become available or how much it would cost. “We look forward to launching the Lumia 900 in the coming months,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, who appeared briefly at the event.
“As relates to pricing, our intention is to enter the U.S. market with the Lumia 900 aggressively,” Elop said when asked about pricing.
Nokia worked closely with app developers to create apps that really take advantage of the Windows Phone “Metro” user interface, said Kevin Shields, a senior vice president at Nokia. He showed off ESPN and CNN apps that Nokia helped develop. “We’re going to make the sports nuts who are Lumia customers delighted,” Shields said.
At an event earlier in the day, Nokia positioned this launch as its effort to reenter the U.S. market. AT&T appears to have high hopes for the launch. “Nokia is going to be back in the U.S. in a very big way,” de la Vega said. AT&T has sold the most Windows Phones of any operator in the U.S.
But according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who also appeared at that event, that doesn’t mean sales have been great. “AT&T has sold more Windows Phones than anybody, but we have a lot of room to go in terms of selling Windows Phones,” he said.
Both Microsoft and Nokia are hoping to boost lagging performance in mobile phones. Microsoft had just 1.5 percent share of the worldwide smartphone market in the third quarter of 2011, down from 2.7 percent in the previous year, according to research from Gartner. Nokia was still the top phone maker, with 23.9 percent share of the mobile device market in the third quarter. But its share has been steadily declining over the years; it dropped from 28.2 percent in the third quarter of 2010, Gartner found.
Nokia declined to say more about additional operators that might get the Lumia 900 in the future. “Clearly our aspiration is to reach out to as many consumers as we can in the American market,” Elop said.
T-Mobile will be the first operator in the U.S. to sell a Nokia Windows Phone model, when the Lumia 710 goes on sale on Wednesday. The phone is geared to first-time smartphone buyers and will cost just $50 after rebates. U.S. phone fans have been waiting for the Lumia 800, a higher-end Nokia Windows Phone that’s been available in other parts of the world for a few months. So far, no U.S. operator has announced plans to sell that model.
Earlier on Monday, Ballmer made a surprise appearance at the AT&T Developer Summit and announced that HTC and Nokia would make the first LTE Windows Phones.
Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy’s e-mail address is email@example.com

domain: news


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First came Amazon shop-in-shops. Now frozen foods?
Kohl’s may have found a single solution to its dual mission of driving foot traffic, while also improving productivity in its stores, and it is leading the department store into Target and Walmart territory.
CEO Kevin Mansell told CNBC Kohl’s is looking to lease some of the unused space created by the retailer’s right sizing efforts to grocers and convenience stores.
Though the company doesn’t plan to divulge details until its next earnings call on March 1, Mansell did provide clues as to the ideal type of partner.
“If we had our preference, we are going first after well-capitalized companies, and preferably ones that have high traffic in grocery and convenience,” Mansell told the news source.
Mansell said Kohl’s won’t necessarily pursue an exclusive partnership, rather some deals could be one-offs as the retailer pilots the concept. He also declined to comment on whether Amazon-owned Whole Foods is a possible option.
Over the last year, Kohl’s has been re-evaluating store productivity, which has lead the chain to shrink some by as much as 10 percent—without impacting sales results. In other cases, the retailer has transitioned stores from the typical 87,000 square foot size down to 35,000 square feet, allowing Kohl’s to sell or lease the remaining space.
While the pivot to grocery and convenience stores is unconventional, to Mansell’s thinking, that’s exactly the point. Speaking at the ICR Conference this week, he made it clear the rule book as it’s been written has been tossed out.
Mansell, who is set to retire in May, explained that the company’s decision to pilot Amazon shops in 10 locations and to accept returns for Amazon purchases in more than 80 others was as much about sales as it was about sending a message.
“The point I’m trying to make with the pilot is we’re going to continue to innovate and think out of the box and do things that might be out of the ordinary for Kohl’s,” he said.
While he said the Amazon collaboration has been well received by customers, ultimately it will be judged on whether it’s driven additional traffic and incremental sales—a yardstick that will likely be used to assess the upcoming grocery and convenience store pilots as well.
[Read about Kohl’s holiday performance: Holiday Performance Pushes Outlooks up For Some, Fails to Move the Needle for Others]
Given the nature of grocery store shopping patterns in particular, traffic shouldn’t be an issue.
Grocery anchors have been championed as the chief reason strip malls and lifestyle centers haven’t suffered as much as malls over the last year. With shoppers in and out of their favorite food stores multiple times a week, these properties enjoy heavy foot traffic.
Kohl’s locations also lend themselves to this type of customer since most are standalone or in strip centers.
“Being off mall with a simpler layout and easier design has been a big positive—a big competitive advantage,” Mansell said during his presentation. One, it seems, the retailer is ready to leverage in new ways.
Kohl’s announcement kicks of what analysts anticipate will be a year in which there will be a slew of collaborations that in any other time would be viewed as odd. Cushman & Wakefield’s vice president of retail research for the Americas Garrick Brown said in 2018 “You’ll see some very strange bedfellows.”


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Google revealed plans at CES 2022 to make device communication easier and more seamless for Android phones, Chromebooks, Android TVs, and Wear OS wearables.
Google will begin with Fast Couple for Bluetooth headphones, which will couple with your Chromebook immediately or even allow you to set up a new Chromebook using your Android phone, providing it with all of the information it requires about linked devices and Wi-Fi credentials. This should be accessible in the next weeks.
In the future months, matter-enabled smart devices will be able to pair with your Google TV or Android TV OS devices.
Unlocking your Chromebook using your Android phone has long been a feature, but Google now wants to extend it to your Wear OS smartwatch. The watch will not only be able to unlock your Chromebook, but it will also be able to unlock your Android phone without you needing to be near it.
Samsung and Pixel phones, on the other hand, will have stronger support for digital vehicle key capabilities. UWB-enabled phones will even be able to unlock your BMW car just by approaching it (as long as it supports the technology). You can share your virtual car key with friends and family members who need to borrow your vehicle. Volvo cars will also be among the first to offer remote control via an Android tablet. Just as with your home automation, you can pre-heat or turn on the air conditioning before stepping in.
The search engine behemoth aims to make content streaming across platforms a little smarter and more smooth. When your phone rings while you’re viewing a movie on your tablet with Bluetooth headphones, the system will pause the movie, take the call, and then restart the movie without you having to do anything. In the following months, those with compatible headphones will be able to use it.
Chromecasts will also be integrated into more devices, including as TVs and smart speakers, according to Google. One of the first firms to sell Chromecast speakers and soundbars will be Bose.
Finally, Google has made it possible to interact with your Android phone without having it on your person. You won’t need to install the Phone Hub app on your Chromebook to respond to SMS, for example. Google also indicated that improved connectivity options for Windows PCs will be available later this year, without going into detail.
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Pikmin 4 retail listing gives a May 23 release date
by Danny Craig ·
Nintendo’s Pikmin 4 has been spotted on the site of Greek retailer Game Explorers, with a release date being given.
- A listing for Pikmin 4 has appeared on the Game Explorers site, which was first spotted by My Nintendo News, with the game now available for pre-order. The listing includes an apparent release date of May 23, 2023, which has yet to be confirmed or denied by Nintendo.
- In a September 2022 Nintendo Direct, Nintendo gave the game nothing more than a 2023 release window. However, rumors of a Nintendo Direct in the coming weeks suggest that the release date may have been provided to retailers ahead of a public announcement. Another likely possibility is that the date was incorrectly added, as has happened on numerous occasions in the past with other upcoming games.
- Pikmin 4 has been in development for about eight years, with its predecessor releasing on the Wii U in 2013. Outside of the game's announcement, Nintendo has been relatively quiet in terms of information, with no gameplay or story revealed as of yet. If the rumors of a Direct are true, we'll almost certainly see something from Pikmin 4 in the show.
What else is going on at Nintendo?
- The gaming giant will not be present at this year’s E3, with sources claiming that it "feels it doesn't have enough major releases ready to show that would justify significant event space." Many are surprised by this, as Nintendo has previously attended the majority of E3 events, even in its worst years, but the absence could be an indication that the company will shift all focus to their online Direct events.
- Nintendo Switch production will increase during the next fiscal year to prepare for possible sales spikes from the May release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Despite global parts shortages, the Switch led the industry in total console unit sales in the United States in 2022, thanks to new mainline Pokemon and Splatoon entries.
- According to the Japanese publication Nikkei, Nintendo is in talks with manufacturers about a successor to the Switch. There isn't much information available about the talks or the console itself, but we could see it as early as mid-2024.


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A Growing Industry of Growing Cannabis
It seems that nobody is more excited for the legalization of marijuana than those in the venture capital and investment industry.
But cannabis startups face a major challenge of rebranding in a criminalized industry marketed with hippie tie dye, trippy pot leaves, and ridiculous bongs. Marley Natural believes that the marijuana industry needs trustworthy brands to help end the prohibition and achieve nationwide legalization. They are hoping to make cannabis less intimidating and more relatable through a 30-year branding deal using famous pot smoking musician Bob Marley’s name, and hope that it will move the industry closer to legal status.
AUTHENTIC PRODUCT LINE
@MarleyNatural is a premium product line crafted with social awareness, authenticity, and a focus on nature’s nourishing benefits. Founded in 2014, the brand uses minimalist packaging designs to target mainstream customers and get away from the stoner counterculture image. The marijuana products include four strains of cannabis flower and oil (Marley Green, Red, Gold, and Black) each grown to elicit different effects when smoked. All strains are sun grown with no chemicals, including the herbs used in the Marley Natural hemp seed-based body lotions and sustainable smoking accessories made out of black walnut and glass.
Marley Natural's Growth
Despite their company headquarters being based in New York, Marley Natural products are primarily sold in California and are expanding to other legalized states with plans of selling globally in Canada and Jamaica. Marley natural is owned by Privateer holdings, an investment and incubation firm that specializes in growing cannabis based startups. They closed a $75 million funding round in 2015 and have only continued to grow.
According to ArcView Market Research, the legal cannabis industry generated $5.4 billion in sales in 2015 in the US, and that figure is projected to reach $21.8 billion by 2020. Additionally, Forbes ranked Bob Marley fourth on its list of highest-earning dead celebrities in 2015, setting the Marley Naturals line up for great success in the upcoming years.
As the first global cannabis company, Marley Natural ironically uses the antithesis of Bob Marley – capitalism and big business – to legalize weed. Their goal is not just profit, though. The company has a philanthropy program called Rise Up that fosters social activism and improvement projects in both Jamaica and the US. Marley Natural hopes that despite their capitalist involvement, they can reflect Bob Marley’s vision of positive social change, environmental sustainability and social justice.
Category: Business Spotlight


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Auto Plus and Pep Boys Purchase Indianapolis Wholesaler
Circle City Auto Parts in Indianapolis, Ind., has been purchased by IEH Auto Parts LLC's Auto Plus and Pep Boys.
The business, with two wholesale locations, began in 1999, and its owners, Kevin Perry and Mike Dininger, and their 20 employees, will remain part of the team as their locations transition to corporate-owned Auto Plus stores.
"The leadership team at Circle City Auto Parts is very excited about this opportunity to join forces with Auto Plus," says Perry.
Dininger adds, "We started our business 17 years ago with the support of Auto Plus, and we are delighted to continue to grow our footprint in Indianapolis together."
"The acquisition of Circle City Auto Parts marks an expansion in one of Auto Plus and Pep Boys' top 50 target markets for growth," says Brent Windowm, CEO and president of Auto Plus and Pep Boys. "Adding their locations to our existing network in Indianapolis means we will continue to strengthen our presence in this market. And with Kevin and Mike staying on board, we have market expertise to leverage as we consider future opportunities to grow in the greater Indianapolis area.
"Circle City Auto Parts has been a long-term independent customer of Auto Plus, operating and serving their customers under the Auto Plus banner since their business opened in 1999. This, along with their knowledgeable parts professionals, makes them a natural fit as we continue to execute our strategy to not only expand our store count, but to add to our existing team of automotive experts who are dedicated to taking care of customers' needs."


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Instacart Health involves a series of new products, partnerships, and policy commitmentsRead more...
Investors don't see it as a long-term investment; Facebook stock already being called overvalued
Updated to reflect new survey from WhisperNumber
Facebook seems very confident in the final days before its goes public on Friday, and for very good reason.
Just Wednesday, it updated its S-1 yet again, this time raising its share price to $34-$38. It also added over 50 million shares for purchase, bringing the total to 388 million. It will raise at $13.1 billion, placing the company valuation between $92 billion and $103 billion.
On top of that, Mark Zuckerberg is set to become the 36th richest man in the world.
So Facebook has nothing to worry about, right? Right?
A survey came out today that might spell trouble for Facebook in the long run, so maybe it should be just a little worried. A survey done by WhisperNumber.com last week found that a vast majority of investors are not buying into the Facebook hype.
The survey, which polled 1,100 registered traders and investors, found that 71% do not consider Facebook a long-term investment and will not be buying share after Facebook’s initial public offering.
“I think traders think there’s more hype than actual business,” said John Scherr, founder and president of WhisperNumber.com told Bloomberg.
“While Facebook has done a great job in gaining users and ad revenue, we’re hearing traders use the word ‘fad’ and phrases like ‘remember MySpace.’"
Not surprisingly, some investors in the poll call Facebook’s stock overvalued.
Interestingly enough, typically when there is more negativity around a stock, the exact opposite happens, the stock goes up.
Other concerns over Facebook
Still, there are legitimate concerns, such as the company is not making any money from its mobile division.
Last week Facebook updated it S-1 filing to say that it does "not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven,” despite recently hitting 300 million mobile users.
On top of that, Facebook’s revenue was $1.058 billion in Q1 2012, a number that would be staggering for any other company, but which represented a 6% decline for Facebook.
The decline could partially be caused by a lower role played by game developer Zynga, who accounted for 15% of Facebook’s revenue last quarter: 11% came from the 30% in transaction revenue Facebook takes from Zynga for virtual goods, while the other 4% came from advertising from Zynga games.
In 2011, Zynga brought in 19% of Facebook’s total revenue, with 12% of coming directly from Zynga and the other 7% from ad revenue.
With its largest source of revenue beginning to deplete, Facebook has been forced to come up with new ways to make money, recently announcing that it is opening its own App Center, where developers can charge flat fees to users.
WhisperNumber conducted a new survey on Wednesday to see if there was any change in these numbers after Facebook updated its IPO on Tuesday.
The updated results reveal that 65% of the 1,500 investors surveyed do not think that Facebook is a good long term investment, an 6% swing in Facebook's favor. 68% still say they will not be buying Facebook stock, though, only 3% less than the numbers that came out yesterday.
The surveyed also asked investors if they thought Facebook was a fad,and the results were fairly close, with 48.6% saying yes and 51.4% saying no.
(Image source: digitaltrends.com)
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The company also announced it joined General Catalyst’s Health Assurance networkRead more...
The study showed clinicians and academics giving 11 apps higher star ratings than their consumersRead more...


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Thursday, September 29, 2011
Consumer Reports give Chrysler 300C thumbs up
Consumer Reports has guve te 2011 version of Chrysler 300C an "Excellent" overall road test score of 80 in in a new test tests of four upscale sedans, including three from Japan and South Korea. The 2011Chryser 300C scored 64 points better than a for the previous model tested by CR "The 300C now ranks midpack among the 10 upscale sedans that have been tested by CR. Previously, it had been near the bottom of the pack," the magazine said. It's unusual to see a redesigned model rise so far in Consumer Reports' ratings. CR's engineers and editors called the new 300 "the best Chrysler sedan we've seen in decades."
"The 300C's quick, muscular 5.7-liter V8 engine is now complemented by responsive handling and a more comfortable ride," said David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports' Auto Test Center in East Haddam, CT. "And, thanks to a major upgrade, its roomy interior is now quieter, more luxurious, and has improved visibility."
Consumer Reports said latest test group included the Hyundai Genesis, Toyota Avalon, and Acura TL. The Hyundai Genesis has topped CR's ratings of upscale sedans since 2009 and received an Excellent road test score of 92. The Genesis received a mild freshening for 2012, giving it a softer, more comfortable ride; a stronger direct injected V6; and a more fuel-efficient eight-speed automatic transmission, which helped to improve overall gas mileage by 1 mpg. Also receiving Excellent overall scores were the freshened Toyota Avalon and Acura TL, CR reported. By Joseph Szczesny
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
BorgWarner provides compnents for Hyundai-Kia 8-speed
Hyundai-Kia have turned to Auburn Hills-based BorgWarner to supply transmission components, including friction plates and roller one-way clutches, a new 8-speed automatic rear-wheel drive transmission. Designed and assembled by Hyundai Powertech, the company’s performance and R&D group, the new high-performance transmission features a multi-step design with a wide gear span. The transmission will drive the recently launched 4.6-liter Hyundai Equus, Hyundai Genesis and Kia Mohave as well as the 3.8-liter Hyundai Genesis for the domestic Korean market.
“BorgWarner is pleased to produce components locally for this new transmission,” said Robin Kendrick, President and General Manager, BorgWarner Transmission Systems. “We look forward to continuing our 20-year relationship with Hyundai and Kia and supporting their success as major global automotive manufacturers." Kendrick said the BorgWarner friction systems are designed to provide industry-leading friction and efficiency characteristics for a wide range of clutch applications, including the most demanding, high-energy applications. BorgWarner one-way clutch systems provide superior engagement performance and very high efficiency. By Joseph Szczesny
Monday, September 26, 2011
Frankfurt auto show ends on a high note
The global economy may be in turmoil but the global auto industry continues to show signs of life. Attendance at the huge Frankfurt Auto Show, which is held every other year, climbed 10 percent, acccording to the shows organizers, indicating the enthusiasm for new vehicles is still very much alive in Germany, the largest market for new vehicles in Europe. Strong attendance at auto shows is considered a good indicator of future sales and the attendance in Frankfurt suggested sales of new vehicles will remain stable despite the continuing controversy over Europe's banks, soverign debt and the Euro. The Frankfurt show not only attracts visitors from Germany but also Western and Central Europe. Organizers said the 64th IAA Cars gathered speed once again on the home straight as visitor interest climbed over the last weekend. The show, which describes its self as the world's "most important mobility trade fair" opened on 15 September and closes its gates at 7.00 pm on 25 September counted 928,000 visitors, organizers reported. "This stream of visitors demonstrates that for many people the fascination exerted by cars continues unabated" noted Matthias Wissmann, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry in a statement, summing up the show. The Frankfurt show was highlighted by the unveiling of a series of new concept vehicles not only by German and European carmakers but also by General Motors and its Opel subsidiary and by Ford Motor Co., which used the show to unveil an important design study. By Joseph Szczesny
Friday, September 23, 2011
S&P re-affirms positive out look on new GM shares
Investors shouldn't avoid General Motors Stock because of the weak economy, according to Standard & Poors. "With increases in U.S. and global economic concerns and pressures, we cut our (earnings per share) forecast and target price. While we still see higher sales and profits, we see risk to volume growth rates and margins in various key markets. We lower our '11 EPS estimate 23 cent to $4.43 and '12's by 56 cents to $4.58. Based on peer and historical P/E analysis, we reduce our target price by $6 to $34. Still, we see GM poised to take advantage of rising global vehicle demand. We project free cash flow in excess of $15B for '11 and '12 combined, and view GM's stock valuation as compelling," Efraim Levy, the Auto manufacturers & Parts Analyst for Standard & Poor's Equity Research said in a new note to investors. By Joseph Szczesny
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
GM inks pact to develop EVs in China
General Motors and its Chinese partner, SAIC Motor Corp,Ltd. have signed an agreement for the co-development of a new electric vehicle architecture in China.
The Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center – SAIC and GM’s engineering and design joint venture in Shanghai – will serve as the development center for the architecture. Joint teams from the parent companies will also cooperate on the development of key components and vehicle structures.
The agreement will utilize SAIC’s market knowledge and local expertise along with the expertise in electric vehicle GM has developed over the past two decades. It ensures local input in the development of electric vehicle technology and the delivery of products developed in China, GM and its Chinese partner said in a joint statement that followed a meeting of GM's board of directors in Shanghai. It was the first time ever GM's board had met outside the United States.
Chen Hong, SAIC president, said, “Our agreement will enable SAIC and GM to take advantage of economies of scale and get new technology to the market faster than by going it alone. It will help bring about our goal of leading the automotive industry in new energy vehicles and our vision of sustainable transportation, which we introduced at World Expo 2010 Shanghai,” he said.
The Chinese government has backed up from some of its earlier promises to develop a broad electric vehicle industry but the municipal government, SAIC's principal owner, remains one of the leading advocates of EVs in China because of the pollution in the heavily congested Shanghai area where traffic jams are now common.
SAIC also has been pushing GM to turn over more of the intellectual property involved in the development not only of the Chevrolet Volt, which goes on sales in China this fall, but other EV developments. The electric vehicle architecture will be the first to be co-developed by the two companies. Under the agreement, teams of SAIC, GM and PATAC engineers will work together to develop key components, as well as vehicle structures and architectures. Vehicles resulting from the partnership will be sold in China under Shanghai GM and SAIC brands. SAIC and GM will also use the architecture to build electric vehicles around the globe for their own purposes. Product details and timing will be announced at a later date.
SAIC and GM are partners in a total of 10 joint ventures in China, which are engaged in vehicle and powertrain manufacturing, sales and aftersales, automotive engineering and design, automotive finance and telematics, and the sale of used vehicles. The companies’ manufacturing joint ventures, Shanghai GM and SAIC-GM-Wuling, are market leaders in China. In addition, SAIC and GM operate a joint venture in India and SAIC is an investor in GM Korea Co. GM's directors were also given an overview of GMIO and GM China as well as an introduction to SAIC-GM-Wuling’s lineup of models, including the new Baojun 630, which recently went on sale in China and is targeted at customers outside of coastal China The board also visited Shanghai GM, where members participated in the celebration of the production of the joint venture’s 5-millionth vehicle. Shanghai GM, which produced its first vehicle on Dec. 17, 1998, reached the milestone earlier than any other automaker in China.
Another joint venture, Shanghai OnStar Telematics Co., Ltd., has opened its second call center in the city of Xiamen last week underscoring that China is among the fastest-growing telematics markets in the world. The OnStar Xiamen Call Center currently has 200 advisors but capacity for an additional 750 more as customer demand increases. Shanghai OnStar, officially established only two years ago already has nearly 370,000 active customers in China. It achieved a milestone in May when it answered 1 million calls in a single month for the first time.. By Joseph Szczesny
Monday, September 19, 2011
'69 Camaro crowned favorite Chevy
The 1969 Camaro was selected as the favorite Chevrolet of all time in voting arranged as part of Chevrolet Centennial celebration. The 1969 Camaro garnered 25,058 of the 124,368 votes cast, edging out the 1970 Chevelle SS in the fourth and final round of voting for the contes.
Tom Peters, Chevrolet Design director, said he believes the ’69 Camaro is not only one of the best vehicles in Chevrolet’s history but one of the best vehicles ever.
“I can vividly remember seeing one for the first time as a kid,” Peters said. “The intent of the Camaro was instantly understood, even to a 14-year old like me, because it possessed a very powerful personality and an elegant, simple design. The Camaro was so cool because it offered this great style, high performance, and yet was attainable for someone just getting out of school.
“Today, the ’69 Camaro has become one of the best examples of timeless design in the industry,” Peters said. “Like the very best designs, the Camaro is much more than just a machine because it evokes powerful emotions in people of all ages. That’s why we looked to the ’69 for inspiration when designing the fifth-generation Camaro, and why the ’69 Camaro is an example of the timeless vehicles Chevrolet will strive to deliver for the next 100 years,” Peters said. By Joseph Szczesny
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Orion-built Chevy Sonic to get 40 mpg on highway
General Motors is sayng the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic with the Ecotec 1.4L turbo, which is being built at the company's assembly plant in Orion Township, delivers an EPA-estimated 40 mpg on the highway with a six-speed manual transmission. The Sonic's city fuel economy is 29 miles per gallon. The Sonic's highway fuel economy makes it one of the most fuel-efficient small cars in the market, on par with the 2012 Ford Fiesta SFE and the 2012 Hyundai Accent. Along with getting 40 mpg, the 1.4L turbo Sonic can reach 60 mph in 8.2 seconds, according to Joaquin Nuno-Whelan, Sonic vehicle line director and vehicle chief engineer.
"Sonic changes the sub-compact stereotype and puts an end to the term 'econobox,'" said Nuno-Whelan, "The 1.4L turbo saves money at the gas pump and is a ridiculously fun car to drive. So, our buyers are getting a safe, exciting and fuel efficient car at a great price with the 1.4L turbo." The Sonic is the only sub-compact car currently built in America.
The 2012 Sonic
, which has two more air bags than its subcompact competitors, also was named a "Top Safety Pick" by the influential Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Sonic achieved “good” scores in all four types of tests performed, including frontal offset and side impact. It also has standard StabiliTrak electronic stability control, which the institute requires of all vehicles receiving a Top Safety Pick designation.The IIHS tests vehicles to determine how well they protect occupants in front and side crash tests, in rollovers via a roof strength test, and in simulated rear impacts to evaluate seat and head restraints for protection against neck injuries.
"Only vehicles that perform with the highest level of safety in their class earn the Institute's top accolade," said IIHS President Adrian Lund. In addition, the Orion Plant also was recently featured on the CBS News as a place where jobs were being created in the United States. UAW/GM ORION ASSEMBLY
By Joseph Szczesny
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Toyota taps Wayne State for research project
Two Wayne State University research groups have been tapped by Toyota to work on projects aimed at improving automotive safety. WSU is one of six universities selected by Toyota Technical Center, a division of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc.to work on projects for TEMA's safety research center -- the Collaborative Safety Research Center.
The CSRC was established in 2010 to support research focused on increasing the safety of vehicles, drivers, passengers and pedestrians. Over the next five years, the CSRC expects to invest $50 million to improve vehicle safety. A significant focus will be on reducing the risk of driver distraction and better protecting the most vulnerable traffic populations, including children, teens, seniors and pedestrians.
Of the 10 projects announced by Toyota, WSU will take the lead on two projects. The first, led by Richard Young, Ph.D., research professor of psychiatry in WSU's School of Medicine, and Li Hsieh, Ph.D., associate professor of communication sciences and disorders in WSU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will focus on in-depth research and analysis of a driver's cognitive interaction with in-vehicle technologies. The second, led by King-Hay Yang, Ph.D., director of the Bioengineering Center and professor of biomedical and mechanical engineering in WSU's College of Engineering along with Haojie Mao, Ph.D and Xin Jin Ph.D., post-doc fellows in WSU's Department of Biomedical Engineering, will develop software models of a 10-year-old child and an elderly female human body for crash simulation purposes.
Young and Hsieh will be applying cognition models to traffic safety and driving issues -- a process often used in psychology and cognitive neuroscience areas, but infrequently used in traffic safety and driving issues such as distracted driving. This project will create a cognitive attention model of driver performance to improve the understanding of driver inattentiveness and distraction. The study will advance the auto industry's understanding of a phenomenon that has been widely blamed for many accidents and injuries on U.S. roads and highways.
Yang and his team of researchers have been developing computerized models of the effects of car crashes on the bodies of young chldren. By Joseph Szczesny
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Chrysler Super Bowl ad gets another award
Chrysler television spot for the 2011 Super Bowl has earned another major award.
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarded an Emmy to the Chrysler brand’s "Born of Fire" commercial featuring Detroit recording star Eminem and his song "Lose Yourself." The 2010-2011 Creative Arts Primetime Emmy Awards awards program took place on Sept 10 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. “The Chrysler Brand is thrilled to win a Creative Arts Emmy Award for our Super Bowl commercial, ‘Born of Fire,’” said Olivier Francois, Chief Marketing Officer, Chrysler Group LLC. “Born of Fire was more than a commercial about the Chrysler 200, it was our anthem and signified the return of the Chrysler Brand and our Company. We are honored to be given this award and would like to share it with the wonderful people of Detroit who served as our inspiration and, of course, the hard-working employees of Chrysler Group LLC.”
After its debut at the Super Bow. Born of Fire wasa cut into two-minute commercial, reflects where the brand is headed and pays tribute to its industrial roots. While the commercial focused on Detroit, in many ways, it encapsulated the spirit of the country and the comeback of the Chrysler brand and Chrysler Group, he said.
The Chrysler brand chose internationally known Detroiter, Eminem and his song “Lose Yourself” because the lyrics speak to the ability to do anything we set our mind to and that failure is not an option. The Chrysler brand, the company and its employees have adopted the principle that failure is not an option. The Born of Fire also revealed the tagline for the brand, “Imported from Detroit,” By Joseph Szczesny
Friday, September 9, 2011
BMW signs sponsorship deal with Big Ten conference
The Big Ten Conference is the pride of the Midwest. But money is money, especially in college football these days and the Big Ten has bypassed the Midwest's domestic auto industry, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, to sign a sponsorship deal with BMW of North America. The German-made BMW's have been designated the “official luxury automobile” of the oldest Division I college conference in the United States. The agreement will run for the duration of the 2011-2012 sports seasons covering football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and Olympic sports programs, according to the BMW, which also happens to be the official sponsor of next year’s Olympic Games In London.
As part of the program, BMW will create vehicle displays at select events and establish a “Preferred Parking Promotion” for BMW owners, providing reserved parking access for several Big Ten events including the football championship game and men’s basketball tournament.
“The Big Ten is a great conference and home to some of the country’s top universities,” said David Lee, Sales and Marketing Manager, Central Region, BMW of North America. “Big Ten schools pride themselves on academic excellence and we look forward to working together to make this partnership a success.”
BMW signage and messaging will also be featured at Big Ten arenas, in scoreboard promotions during live events including the football championship game, both men’s and women’s basketball tournaments and the baseball tournament and in commercial spots during televised events throughout the 2011-2012 college season.
“Much like the student-athletes of the Big Ten Conference, BMW is a brand dedicated to the highest levels of performance,” said Scott Bailey, General Manager, Big Ten Sports Properties, a property of Learfield Sports. “We couldn’t think of a better group to work with and are looking forward to building a great relationship together.”
The Big Ten sponsors 25 official conference sports, 12 for men and 13 for women and 298 teams with more than 9,500 student-athletes competing for Big Ten Championships. During the 2010-11 season, Big Ten schools claimed six team national championships with titles for Northwestern women’s lacrosse, Ohio State synchronized swimming and men’s volleyball, Penn State women’s volleyball and wrestling and Wisconsin women’s ice hockey. From an academic standpoint, the Big Ten leads all conferences with the highest number of ranked graduate school programs among the top 25, according to the U.S. News and World Report in 2011, BMW officials noted. By Joseph Szczesny
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Ford Transit Connect taxis growing more popular
The Ford Transit Connect vans are making inroads in taxi fleets around the U.S The first Ford Transit Connect Taxis have already gone into service in New York City and Transit Connect taxis running on compressed natural gas are entering service in Southern California.
Order and interest for the versatile vehicle are soaring, Ford official said.
More than 400 Transit Connect Taxis are destined for New York City. Total orders for Transit Connect Taxis across the United States are fast approaching 1,000 in its first year on the market. The new taxi market in the U.S. averages about 6,000 units annually.
“Taxi operators are realizing the Transit Connect Taxi is a great vehicle and there’s a good reason – they helped us develop it,” said Len Deluca, director, Ford Commercial Trucks. “During product development, we visited cities across the U.S. speaking with taxi owners, operators, drivers and city officials on the key product attributes they wanted in a taxi,” he said.
California’s first compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered Ford Transit Connect Taxis hit the greater Los Angeles area this week, giving taxi owners, drivers and passengers a chance to help the environment one small trip at a time.
California Yellow Cab of Orange County put its first 10 Transit Connect Taxis into service – marked by an event celebrating the increased presence of CNG use in California. Clean Energy, which owns and operates CNG filling stations, also participated in the event.
The first 10 Transit Connect Taxis are part of an order for 50 units that California Yellow Cab plans to put into service by 2012. In addition, Yellow Cab of Anaheim also ordered 69 units, bringing the total number of CNG Transit Connect Taxis that will soon be servicing Southern California to more than 100.
“Our goal is to convert our entire fleet to alternative fuels, so bringing the CNG Transit Connect Taxis into service is an exciting step in that direction,” said Tim Conlon, president and general manager of California Yellow Cab. “The drivers are excited too. They have been lining up to be among the first to get behind the wheel of a CNG-powered taxi,” Conlon said.
CNG-powered Transit Connect Taxis are becoming more popular in other parts of the country as well, servicing places such as Las Vegas and St. Louis. Chicago is another city where CNG-powered Transit Connect Taxis are in service already. By Joseph Szczesny
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
New study sees rapid growth for advanced batteries
A new study from Roland Berger, a consulting group with offices in Troy and Munich, estimates the worldwide market for advanced lithium-ion batteries forl electric and hybrd vehicles is poised for rapid growth.
"We expect the global market for Li-ion batteries to leap from the current volume of $1.5 billion to almost $9 billion in 2015," says Wolfgang Bernhart, Partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. "In our best-case scenario, worldwide market volume may even grow to over $50 billion by 2020. As sales surge, Japanese and Korean carmakers will be doing everything they can to establish themselves as the leading global providers of alternative drive technologies. Their share of worldwide production will reach about 40% in 2015. But auto production in the Asian factories will be dominated by hybrid vehicles by using, for the most part, nickel-metal-hybrid batteries.
The downside of the rapid growth is that it likely to be accompanied by substantial overcapacity, meaning there could be twice as many batteries as buyers require, which should set the stage for consolidation. The five front-runners in lithium-ion batteries – AESC, LG Chem, Panasonic/Sanyo, A123 and SB LiMotive – can, between them, be expected to control almost 80 percent of the market by 2015. Both A123 and LG Chem have made substantial investments in Michigan. Overall, Roland Berger's experts expect the light vehicle, such as passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, to account for more than 80 percent of total market value for Li-ion battery systems by the middle of the decade. By then, 2.5 million hybrids, 300,000 plug-in hybrids and 500,000 electric vehicles will be coming off production lines each year. As sales surge, Japanese and Korean carmakers will be doing everything they can to establish themselves as the leading global providers of alternative drive technologies.
In the case of electric-drive buses, China will certainly be a front-runner in coming years. The Roland Berger experts estimate that around 80 percent of Li-ion batteries for buses will be sold in China by 2015. "This is due to the highly ambitious plans of the Chinese government. It is targeting investment at growth industries and is also keen to improve air quality in the cities," explains Thomas Wendt, co-author of the study. "By contrast, the Chinese electric car market will initially see slower growth than Western markets," adds Bernhart. "Above all, that's due to the changed priorities of the Chinese government. As a first step, it's focusing on hybrid vehicles, with pure electric drives or plug-ins taking second place for a while," Bernhart said. By Joseph Szczesny
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Marchionne shakes up Chrysler board
Chrysler Group LLC has re-arranged its board of directors with the appointment of a Canadian executive and an ad executive to replace three executives that have decided to resign. The board shake-up follows Fiat’s acquisition during the summer of a 52 percent stake in Chrysler as well as control of the Chrysler’s board and the right to appoint directors of its choosing.
Leo W. Houle, the former chief talent officer at Bell Canada, Canada's largest communications company, from June 2001 until his retirement in July 2008. and John B. Lanaway, former Executive vice president and chief financial officer for North America at McCann Erickson were appointed to its Chrysler board as independent directors, effective immediately. Houle and Lanaway replace C. Robert Kidder, George F.J. Gosbee and Scott M. Stuart, who have elected to resign, the Chrysler Group said in a statement.
"It is with great pleasure that I welcome these respected and knowledgeable professionals to join our Board of Directors. Their leadership, insights and counsel will be invaluable in reinforcing our determination to achieve the financial targets outlined in our 2010-2014 Business Plan announced in November 2009," said Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Chrysler Group LLC, who was elected Chairman of the Board.
"I also want to extend my gratitude to George and Scott for their support in putting the Company on a solid path, and in particular to Bob Kidder, who provided a solid point of reference in the last two years as Chairman of our Company. I thank them for their efforts and I wish them well," Marchionne added.
"Repaying our governments' loans six years early and refinancing our debt reinforces our conviction that we are on the right path to rebuilding this Company and restoring it to its rightful place on the global automotive landscape within the framework of Chrysler's global alliance with Fiat," Marchionne said in a statement. By Joseph Szczesny
Friday, September 2, 2011
Lutz makes another comeback with GM
General Motors is bringing back former vice chairman
Robert Lutz to serve as an adviser to the company’s senior management team, GM
said Friday. The agreement will formalize Lutz’s role at GM. Lutz had been
acting as an informal adviser ever since his official retirement in 2010. “Lutz
will be available to executives on a part-time consultancy basis effective immediately.
He brings a wealth of experience built over the course of more than 40 years in
the industry, including two stints at GM. He has also been a senior executive
at Ford, Chrysler, BMW and was CEO of Exide Batteries,” GM said in a statement,
Lutz is expected to provide advice both on strategic and prduct-related issues,
including design. By Joseph Szczesny


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NEOM is a city that will be built near the Red Sea. It is a new city that will be redefine what a ‘city’ looks like. With its futuristic design to the revolutionary ideas behind every aspect of the city it will truly be one of a kind.
NEOM is being shaped in the metaverse. [T]he vast, $500 billion “country within a country” currently under development in Saudi Arabia.
The zone’s Tech & Digital offshoot today announced XVRS, a “cognitive digital twin metaverse” that will enable visitors to have a simultaneous presence at NEOM both physically and virtually, as an avatar or hologram. The platform, announced at the LEAP technology event in Riyadh, will also have a marketplace for crypto and NFTs.
So far, so metaverse. But one unique feature of XVRS is that it will offer a virtual representation of NEOM—and help inform its construction with real bricks and mortar.
Think of it as like crowd-sourcing the design of an entire city: virtual visitors could, for example, customize the color schemes of apartments, which could then be replicated as the interiors of the finished buildings. Or if enough people buy apartments in a virtual building, the decision could be made to build it for real.
“One experience model that we talked about is actually informing the construction of NEOM before an asset is built,” says Joseph Bradley, chief executive of the NEOM Tech & Digital Company. “[This could] allow folks to interact with designs that are not yet completed.”
Tech companies are racing to launch virtual worlds, with digital land development firm Republic Realm having tracked more than 180 metaverse projects already under development. Facebook, notably, last year rebranded as Meta and launched its Horizon Worlds game; plots of virtual land have sold for millions of dollars in Decentraland and The Sandbox.
But NEOM is building “the first metaverse that actually is a metaverse,” in that it will truly bring together the physical and digital worlds, says Bradley. XVRS could, for example, allow a virtual visitor from the US to experience a hike through the mountainous areas of NEOM—all without leaving their armchair. Or an artist could post an NFT in a virtual space—which would then also appear on the wall of a real physical apartment.
“The whole purpose of NEOM is to be this collaborative, inclusive, human-centric place for people to interact,” says Bradley. “It’s not really [about] megacities anymore—it’s meta cities.”


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They're ugly. They're mean. But up until today, they've always been loyal. So when one of their own betrays them, COPRA has no choice but to turn their nightmarish skills back on everyone who ever even looked at them funny. Here it is: the first six issues of MICHEL FIFFE's critically acclaimed superhero revenge machine. Collects COPRA #1-6.
While Dead Eyes #1 and Dead Eyes #2 both featured previously published material, the forthcoming Dead Eyes #3 will showcase all new, never-before-published story content and will hit shelves on Wednesday, December 4.


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Black Friday â€“ the craziest shopping day in the American calendar â€“ has hit South African shores. What is it all about? AAISHA DADI PATEL explains.
Traditionally observed in the USA, after theÂ Thanksgiving holiday, Black Friday salesÂ are billed as one of the world’s biggest sales promotions.Â News of the crazy sales and crazy Â behaviour associated with Black Friday have been trickling across the pond for years now. But Â 2015 appears to be the year South African retailers to embraceÂ Black FridayÂ specials, and shoppers haveÂ flocked to shops in droves to take advantage of cut-rate prices.
And it isnâ€™t only being limited to physical stores; online store Superbalist rolled out 25% off of all products â€“ including sale products â€“ on their website.
? Take 25% OFF SITEWIDE ? That’s up to 70% off SALE! Let’s break the internet pic.twitter.com/XLiHin4LZx
â€” Superbalist.com (@superbalist) November 27, 2015
Checkers South Africa went all out with the campaign, marketing specials from days beforehand which had eager shoppers queueing up from 7:30am.
â€” Tuff Man (@Tuff_mann) November 27, 2015
Checkers even partnered with transportation service Uber, offering free return trips for new users using the promotional code #CHECKERSBLACKFRIDAY and R100 vouchers to be spent at Checkers stores.
Fatima, a shopper at the Emmarentia Checkers, told The Daily Vox, â€œI had to take a detour through the aisles to get into the checkout queue, and it took me close to an hour to get out. There were ridiculous specials, like Lux soap for R5 and packets of Tennis biscuits for R6, so I understand why it would be so busy.â€
Pick n Pay was on it too, advertising â€œ58% savingâ€ for shoppers.
â€” Pick n Pay (@PicknPay) November 27, 2015
But not everyone embracedÂ the trend. Woolworths confirmed via Twitter that although they had a special on, it wasnâ€™t anything like the blackout specials other retailers were promising.
The premise of Black Friday is not only to drive profits for retailers (black is used by accountants to signify profits, hence the name) but also to market brands and retailers as exciting spaces, to build loyalty and trust with them, and make them places customers will want to keep visiting all year round. But it isn’t without its criticisms. Over the years, several people have died and scores more have been injured during stampedes at stores holding Black Friday sales, leading many to question the rampant consumerism.
Is having Black Friday events in South Africa clever brand strategising or is it simply symptomatic of selling out to consumerist ideals? Tweet us or let us know your thoughts below!


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Hyfé Foods Scoops $2 Million For Sustainble Mycelium Flour
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Chicago’s Hyfé Foods, a developer of mycelium flour, has closed an oversubscribed pre-seed raise, netting $2 million. The round was led by The Engine, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-offshoot venture firm. Blue Horizon, Caffeinated Capital, Supply Change Capital, and Hack Ventures all participated, alongside others. A Department of Energy grant was awarded by the Chain Reaction Innovations Accelerator.
Female-founded Hyfé is engaged in the development of mycelium flour, using waste sugar water from the food and beverage sector as a feedstock. The end product is cited as being high in protein, low in carbohydrates and effective in preserving water during its production. The new funding will be used to accelerate Hyfé’s endeavours to reach commercialisation stage.
Creating access to nutritious food
According to Michelle Ruiz, co-founder and CEO of Hyfé, using mycelium flour as a base ingredient can transform everyday foods. A bowl of pasta could contain as much protein as a chicken breast and be higher in fibre than its conventional wheat-based counterpart, according to the company. It has implications for allergen sufferers as well.
“Hyfé’s mycelium flour tastes and acts just like wheat flour, enabling people to eat the foods they love without negative health impacts,” Ruiz told Food Business News. “We are leveraging biotechnology to produce this ingredient that is carbon neutral, at scale, and at a very low cost.”
Using traditionally discarded sugar water, a byproduct from the food and beverage manufacturing industry, Hyfé has created a low-cost feedstock for mycelium fermentation. Sugar wastewater is produced wherever food is manufactured and Hyfé’s technology is slated as being versatile enough to be used anywhere in the world.
“In the face of supply chain and climate uncertainty, regionalized production of healthy food is vital to a circular economy and more importantly, ensuring global food security,” said Katie Rae, CEO and managing partner at The Engine. “Hyfé stands out because it operates at the intersection of climate and health and uniquely delivers a cost-effective solution.”
Mycelium flour is a climate-conscious answer to food security, according to the company, with the product being easy to manufacture anywhere, using its technology. The implication for global regions with less-than-ideal agricultural conditions is positive, though does hold potential conflicts for farmers of indigenous grains. African farmers, for example, nurturing crops such as fonio and teff, would be unlikely to have the revenue to invest in mycelium flour fermentation technology, but could see their livelihoods affected by those that do.
Eco credentials of using food waste as a feedstock
Repurposing food waste is a cost-effective and environmentally attractive methodology. Hyfé claims that its proprietary manufacturing technique prevents gluts of wastewater from entering treatment cycles, which generate vast amounts of methane and contribute to the climate crisis. It is not alone in seeking to upcycle seemingly useless byproducts into stable food sources.
Earlier in May Change Foods revealed it has bagged a $1 million grant from the Australian Commonwealth Government to manage the upcycling of sugarcane waste. The US-Australian food tech is engaged in developing a platform that will allow the byproduct to be used as a low-cost feedstock for animal-free dairy fermentation. It comes as the company seeks to double down on its commitment to developing sustainable food solutions, not dependent on animal agriculture. Change Foods cites this new development as a way to promote the circular economy.
In December, it was announced that Anheuser-Busch InBev is looking to develop alternative protein using spent brewing grains, the largest constituent of beer waste. It had previously partnered with EverGrain and following fresh investment into the sustainable ingredients company, the Belgian brewing giant hopes to accelerate a move into protein production.
Lead image of Hyfé Foods founders Michell Ruiz and Andrea Schoen. Photo by Hyfé Foods.


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Aviva will invest £10 million in start-ups through a partnership with a business set up with Brent Hoberman, the co-founder of Lastminute.com.
The British insurer has been working with Hoberman’s business, Founders Factory, since 2016 and will extend its partnership for five years. Aviva’s investment will fund the growth of seven start-ups a year, it said.
Hoberman set up the business, which helps new businesses establish themselves and grow with Henry Lane Fox, the brother of Martha Lane Fox, who had set up the internet holidays pioneer business Lastminute.com with Hoberman in 1998.
Aviva’s partnership with Founders Factory will focus on fintech. Ben Luckett, Aviva’s chief innovation officer, said the arrangement would allow the insurer to be “at the forefront of the new ideas and technology which will make customers’ lives simpler”.
Hoberman said: “The UK’s fintech ecosystem continues to dominate in Europe and the £18 billion investment into the sector is second only the US. It is the gold standard market that is the envy of others.”
About 200 businesses have been created in connection with Founders Factory and have raised £400 million of funding. Among the businesses created through its partnership with Aviva so far are fintechs — Acre, a recruitment specialist, Shepper, which carries out inspection and information capture on properties and assets, and Tembo, which helps first-time buyers.
Founders Factory combines access to capital and specialist help for start-ups. Of its portfolio of 200 firms, 45 have been built from scratch inside its Venture Studio and have gone on to raise more than £400 million in funding.
Aviva invests £10m as it backs Brent Hoberman’s Founders Factory


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It looks like Amazon might have some competition when it comes to same-day delivery services. Target has just announced its decision to acquire popular same-day delivery service Shipt for a whopping $550 million in cash.
This deal is expected to close "prior to the end of calendar year 2017" and will reportedly help to bring same-day delivery to roughly half of Target's locations throughout the US by early 2018. Despite being wholly owned by Target, Shipt will continue to "run its business independently" and will not share any information regarding its other business partners -- such as H.E.B., Costco and Whole Foods -- with the retail giant.
Though this news may come as a surprise to some, Target had already laid out plans to improve their customers' shopping experience earlier this year. "We laid out an ambitious strategic agenda in early 2017, which included a focus on giving our guests a number of convenient ways to shop with Target," said COO and Vice President John Mulligan. "By the 2018 Holiday season, we will be servicing every major market across the country with same-day delivery."
The company has already partially delivered on their commitment to making shopping more convenient for customers with the launch of the Restock program earlier this year. Restock is a service that offers customers in certain regions next-day shipping on select products for only $4.99 per box - a price comparable to Amazon's own Prime One-Day shipping.
Although Target's purchase of Shipt will undoubtedly be good news for both companies, it does raise questions regarding potential conflicts between Shipt and Target's other major grocery delivery partner, Instacart.


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If you’ve ever seen a picture of a carpet chameleons or a carpet that appears to be made from Lego bricks, you know that these carpets are incredibly expensive.
And it turns out that there’s a lot of good reason for that: carpets aren’t just decorative pieces of furniture; they’re actually very important parts of our everyday lives.
They can be used as a base for making furniture, as a finishing touch for your home, and for any number of other things.
And they can be incredibly expensive, especially when you factor in the cost of the carpets themselves.
So how can we get more of them?
One of the big trends in carpets has been to make them in a “plastic” process, which means that the material is made from polystyrene.
But a lot has changed since the original plastic process was invented in the 1960s.
Plastic is a durable, flexible material, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find alternatives.
Instead, researchers have been trying to find ways to make materials that are more flexible.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have been working to make polymers that are much more flexible and durable than traditional plastics.
They’ve developed a method called polymer-based plastic that they hope will revolutionize the manufacturing of carpets and other materials that need to be recycled.
In a new paper published in Nature Communications, the researchers describe a technique they’ve developed to make a polymer that is more flexible, durable, and recyclable than previous polymers.
Polymers, by their very nature, can be “bent,” or molded, to fit specific shapes.
This allows them to be shaped and reshaped for different uses.
The polymer that they’ve created can be bent to fit for use in a variety of different ways.
For example, the polymer could be shaped to be able to be used in a kitchen sink, and used to create a beautiful stain or sealant on carpets.
Another use for the polymer is in making a mold for use as a sealant or a surface for painting.
The researchers have also developed a way to make the polymer flexible, meaning that it can be stretched to fit different materials.
“For many of the same reasons that polymers are extremely flexible, they’re also extremely durable,” says Mark Sussman, a materials science and engineering professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
“They can withstand extreme temperatures, harsh environmental conditions, and even extreme stresses without tearing, cracking, or breaking.”
In other words, they can withstand a lot.
They’re also incredibly biocompatible, meaning they can stick to almost any material.
The scientists’ next step is to develop a way of creating a polymer compound that will hold the properties of polymers, and then make the material that is most likely to last for many, many years.
They envision the polymer compound being used to make flexible, highly durable polymers for medical implants, to make plastic parts for car seats, to produce flexible, biodegradable polymers used to coat electrical cables, and so on.
But that will be a huge challenge.
Polymer composites are difficult to make and they are incredibly difficult to produce.
So the researchers have started by making a polymer based on a natural, naturally occurring polymer.
“We were able to find the polymer that was most biocollagen-responsive and was a high-quality, biocommensurable polymer,” Sussmen says.
“And so we’re really excited to be working on building a new polymer based off of that.”
“Our new polymer is based on biopolymers, which are proteins that have a different shape, but are made from the same structure,” Sessman adds.
“It’s a little bit like building a bridge with a couple of pieces, rather than building a whole bridge.”
The polymer used in the new polymer isn’t an artificial polymer.
It’s made from a different molecule, which the researchers call the polymer poly(lactic acid) dioxygenate.
The poly(p-isocyanurate) dioxane in the poly(L-lacticacid) diol is an artificial organic compound.
“If you want to be a little more precise, we’re actually calling this the polymer, but it’s made out of the lactic acid and the dioxanes,” Sossman says.
The process of creating this polymer compound is known as “biocomposite synthesis,” and the team hopes that the polymer will help to improve the life expectancy of carpents and other non-renewable materials by up to 30 percent.
“These polymers could be used to replace the traditional polymer composites in our future carpets that are very brittle and prone to breaking,” Suckersman says, adding that they could also be used for industrial products, such as plastics and ceramics.
The materials used in these polymers also have potential applications in other areas of


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The new expanded taxes on cigarettes taking the tax to $2.60 per pack in the state combined with the expansion to vaping is expected to generate $431.1 million in revenue and is being lauded as a way to fill a void in the spending addicted legislator’s budget. Having raised their spending they had to find ways to pay for it.
The 40% tax on licensed retailers in the e-vape industry is too much to bear for many small family owned business in the state. Many of them are scrambling to shut their doors before the October 1, deadline. That translates into a loss of licensing fees, PIT and EIT taxes across the Commonwealth. For those who can’t do that they will be hit with a 40% tax on all remaining inventory. A store with $50,000 in inventory would see a tax hit of $20,000.
An April survey of 200 tobacco retailers for the (Pennsylvania Food Merchants) association found that 83 percent believe the new tobacco taxes would hurt their business. More than half said that tobacco sales are very important to their bottom line and that higher tobacco taxes would require them to slash payroll.
Slashing the payroll means less jobs and again, that is a loss to PIT and EIT taxes while expanding unemployment costs.
Then there is another cost driver. The bill defines consumers as “unclassified importers’. That means that individuals who purchase any vapor product, including e-liquid, from a vendor that hasn’t already paid the tax would be responsible to pay the state, based on retail price.
That could turn some vape users into criminals. The law also carries a $5,000 fine or up to five years in prison. Section 1207-A(a) of the law criminalizes the ownership of any vape device or e-liquid that wasn’t bought from a licensed Pennsylvania seller. So if you buy a mod on a trip to New Jersey or Ohio, merely having it in your possession will make you a criminal after October 1. Vape users who wanted to ween themselves off cigarettes in order to quit entirely would now become a criminal if they sold their vape device at a flea market. So would the buyer.
The cost per year for an inmate in prison is about $35,000.
Shops are closing, PIT and EIT revenue will be lost, Property Taxes from store fronts (owned and rented) will be gone, and jobs will be lost. That is how our Pennsylvania General Assembly thinks you balance a budget. It’s no wonder why the state is in the economic mess its in.
In 2002 the total tax collected on smoking was $317,442,000. In 2013 that had risen to over 1 billion dollars ($1,074,820,000) (Source: Tax Policy Center). This tax increase, if it reaches its expected revenue would amount to $1.5 billion dollars or almost 5 times the tax in 2002.
Most analysts are doubtful that Pennsylvania will meet it’s expectation of $431 million leaving revenue that will have to be made up through higher taxes in other areas but that’s not the only problem for us. This tax is going to negatively impact other areas of revenue funding as well creating an even larger void to fill.
The loss of the EIT and property tax revenues at the local level is just going to result in higher property taxes for everyone else. In Lebanon County several store owners are scrambling to shut their doors to beat the October 1 deadline.
It’s very easy to not look at the big picture right now and make the claim that smokers and those who use vaping are being taxed so that tax doesn’t impact those who don’t. Legislators depend on that type of thinking when they hit one sector of the population with a tax that seemingly doesn’t impact the majority. That’s rarely the case. Eventually a bad tax policy creeps like a disease that will soon impact others and by then it will be too late to complain because, as with the pension, there is a debt and that debt has to be paid.
Right now it’s hard to say how much it will cost us all in the end but if you think this is only going to impact cigarette and e-vape users you are missing the big picture.


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Ireland-based Boann Distillery has unveiled its inaugural single pot still bottling, the first time whiskey has been distilled in Drogheda in 160 years.
The whiskey was released in time to mark the winter solstice (21 December).
Three years ago, on 21 December 2019, the distillery filled nine, specially hand-selected casks with whiskey spirit from its inaugural distillation.
The single pot still distillate was filled into different wine and spirit casks, including a ‘new era of oak cask’, Pedro Ximénez (PX), Armagnac, Sauternes, Moscatel, Chardonnay, Bordeaux, rum and Marsala.
The first bottles of the whisky were matured on-site and came from a PX hogshead 250-litre cask.
“It has always been our family dream to lead a renaissance of Irish whiskey and to craft and distil our own,” said Pat Cooney, Boann founder and entrepreneur.
There were once 18 distilleries in Drogheda, with the last silencing its stills in the late 1850s.
“That revival has begun and Irish whiskey is now quickly becoming the fastest-growing spirit in the world,” continued Cooney.
“In late 2019, the first spirit flowed from the Boann Distillery copper pot stills, the first to flow in Drogheda in over 160 years.
“Our state-of-the-art distillery, with its three custom handmade copper pot stills and our access to the best casks to mature our spirit, ensures that we produce unique whiskeys of great character and provenance with a real sense of place.”
The whiskey delivers flavours of sultanas, banana bread and barmbrack on the palate, with a long finish featuring traces of candied bark, oeach fuzz and cinnamon buns.
“Every bottle will tell a story – the story of our land, our people and our family. This celebratory bottling is a tribute to the people who made the creation possible,” said Cooney.
The bottle design is a celebration of darkness into light, inspired by the Winter Solstice and the passing of time.
It features a three staves design, and wax sealed to the wooden cork of the bottle.
The distillery secured a Gold medal for its Whistler Irish Cream Liqueur in SB‘s Liqueur Masters 2022 results.


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Preco's new AcuBreathe Nano technology was featured in Plastics Today as one of Three Clever Plastic Packaging Innovations found at this year's Pack Expo.
Preco's new technology can add perforations to flexible MAP between 25 to 65 microns.
Hybrid Microfluidic Circuitry–HMFC–are cross-platform devices that can utilize various layer materials in the microfluidics build process. These materials may include a variety of the typical polymer adhesives and films or foils used today, as well as glass, polymer injection molded (PIM) materials, and possibly other substrates.
Market demand for instant-result and low-cost in-vitro medical, disposable diagnostic devices continues to grow rapidly – and for good reason.
Flexible-packaging technology plays a key role in optimizing produce shelf life and in the overall quality of the food product while reducing spoilage in the supply chain.
Like the majority of manufacturing technology companies in the current economic downturn, Preco, LLC, has had its share of difficulties.
Historically lasers have not been the "go to" device in the gasket industry because of speed, cost, and technology limitations.


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The island, of course, is home to the modern descendants of the infamous 1789 "mutiny on the Bounty" story, which involved the British ship the HMS Bounty. Many books and films have been created to capture the story of a band of mutineers as they eluded the British Navy and set up shop on this remote island in the south Pacific.
According to a report last month from Radio New Zealand International, the United States Geological Survey has a seismic station on the island, and pays for a satellite Internet connection for the station. Locals pay NZ$100 ($81) per month for up to 2GB of data. A team from the United States is set to travel to Pitcairn in June to upgrade the satellite link.
Many Pitcairn Islanders are direct descendants of Fletcher Christian, the leader of the the 18th-century group of mutineers. Despite their historic ties and home in one of the most remote corners of the globe, these islanders are no luddites. In October 2010, the first iPad arrived on the island. It went to Andrew Christian—naturally, a seventh-generation descendant of Christian.
"They’re able to sell their products online such as honey, carvings, collectible items that people around the world are interested in buying," said Bill Haigh, manager of the .pn domain name, in an interview with Radio NZ. "Just the ability to reach out and find new markets has been an enormous boost to them."
Update: Herb Ford, the head of the Pitcairn Islands Study Center, located at Pacific Union College in Angwin, California, e-mailed Ars to say: "It’s past time that the Pitcairn islanders have good, fast access. It will certainly help them economically (through the online sale of crafts, honey, etc.) Heretofore things have been far too slow, with all-to-frequent breakdowns of the system. For some time many on the Island have found that for some reason they can communicate faster through Facebook than with e-mail."
Ford also added that these types of infrastructure upgrades have historically been slow to arrive on Pitcairn. "I'll believe it when I see it," he wrote.


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This is the second of up to 40 licensed product categories put out to tender by Expo following last month’s campaign in search of souvenir manufacturers.
Bulgaria Air starts operating 10 new regular passenger flights to some of the most attractive cities in Europe and…24 Views | the publication reaches you by | Bulgarian Business Club
Najeeb Al-Ali, executive director of Bureau Expo 2020 Dubai, said: “We want to work with producers to create a range of products that authentically reflect our heritage and the multinational diversity of the modern UAE.
“We have an incredible, vibrant food scene that combines traditional Arabian products like qahwa, dates and spices, with international influences, and we want to share that with Expo 2020 Dubai visitors.
“Our ambition is for the Expo opportunity to support the development of home-grown food brands. I hope that UAE-based SMEs and food-producers will harness their creativity and innovation to serve up high quality traditional and home-made treats that will appeal to the millions who visit both before and during the World Expo,” he added.
The tendering process to become a licensed-food producer at Expo 2020 is fully online and open to businesses of any size from anywhere in the world.
The initial stage for companies to register their interest closes on March 9.
The Bulgarian economy shrunk by 4.6 percent last year, and in 2021 the country expects a recovery and…29 Views | the publication reaches you by | Bulgarian Business Club
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Recycling Rates Improve When People Know What Items Will Become
Several consumer psychologists designed a study around these questions, in an effort to determine whether or not explaining to people what their recyclables are transformed into would help boost recycling rates.
Recycling rates are abysmal in the United States. An estimated 75% of U.S. packaging is recyclable, but only 30% actually gets put in the right place. (Of that, even less gets recycled, due to contamination, incorrect placement, low resale value, and, of course, limited facilities.)
Researchers from Pennsylvania State University, Boston College, and State University of New York got together to conduct some interesting experiments. They wanted to see “if getting people to think about the products made out of recycled material could motivate them to actually recycle more and waste less.”
Tehy recruited 111 Boston College students to participate in an “advertising study” and asked participants to doodle on a piece of scratch paper to clear their minds for the survey. Then randomly showed them one of three ads. One was a generic public service message that showed paper going into recycling bins. The other two also depicted the paper either being transformed into new paper or a guitar.
After completing a survey, the students were asked to dispose of the scrap paper when they left. Half of those who watched the general PSA recycled their papers, while the recycling rate jumped to 80% for those who’d seen the transformational ads. After doing a few more lab experiments, the researchers headed into the real world.
They created an ad campaign to see how consumers responded to the different types of messages, and published paid Google search ads to appear whenever users typed prespecified keywords, such as “womens blue jeans” and “blue denim.”
The ads either urged people to recycle their old jeans in order to transform them into housing insulation or simply encouraged people to recycle them. We found that people were significantly more likely to click on the ad when the transformed product was mentioned.
Research shows it can make a big difference. We can conclude from all this that people want to know what treasures their trash can become, and when that’s laid out clearly, they’re more inclined to do it. Perhaps municipalities and recycling companies should redesign signs to depict the items being created.
The more material available to retailers and the greater the demand for recycled goods, the more innovation there is likely to be.
Cover image from: itpulse.com.ng


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The cameras on our smartphones have come a lonnnnnng way. In fact, many people rely on their iPhones as the primary device for non-professional photography. But are these cameras yet good enough, clear and color-accurate enough, to trust when the results could literally be a matter of life or death?
The University of Michigan has released a free iPhone app, UMSkinCheck, “intended for skin cancer self exam and surveillance.” 23 different, strategic self-shots—in the nude!—comprise the full-body photographic library that is stored in the app. It also allows you to “track detected moles/lesions, access informational videos and literature, and fill out a melanoma risk calculator.”
Obviously, this app does intend to replace the need for a professional medical exam. And it’s certainly a great concept. But is smartphone technology—cameras, to be precise—there yet? [The Atlantic]


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When the ad opens, “Sarah,” a tired, disheveled housewife, wearily faces the prospect of wiping up a messy stove, when boom, a sexy, buff version of Mr. Clean appears. Mop in hand, the Procter & Gamble brand’s mascot seductively washes the kitchen floor, then the shower, steaming up the housework before morphing into Sarah’s “real-life” husband. Overcome, Sarah jumps into his arms, as the “You gotta love a man who cleans” tagline shows up on screen.
Although steeped in a decidedly 1950s sensibility, Leo Burnett Toronto’s “Cleaner of Your Dreams” commercial ran just last year—during the 2017 Super Bowl. One of the most talked about ads of the game, it earned wide praise for its humorous take on gendered roles, even as it reinforced outmoded depictions of women.
And that’s the problem, a big one. According to a joint study by JWT and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, released last year, not only do men appear twice as often as women in ads, but 25 percent of all commercials solely feature men compared to women, who carry an ad a mere 5 percent of the time. What’s more, the same study found that 85 percent of women become offended when seeing their gender negatively portrayed; 66 percent of them will switch off the TV altogether when confronted with such stereotyped depictions.
At a time when women are making strides across various sectors—last year’s Fortune 500 list included 32 female CEOs, the highest number since the magazine established the list in 1955, and in 2016 women continued to outpace men earning doctoral degrees for the eighth straight year—the ad industry has stubbornly clung to a narrow view of how to portray women. “It’s a powerful thing when a little girl has a badass female figure on TV to look up to, the same way boys do,” says Jen Wang, Publicis New York art director. “The lack of representation as a whole leaves a subconscious imprint. It manifests itself as that tiny voice in the back of girls’ minds whispering ‘you can’t.’”
But now, it appears the ad industry has reached something of an inflection point. White-hot movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp have become catalysts, forcing agencies to take a hard look at business as usual and make some significant changes. One of them has been to install more women in high-powered creative roles. According to a 2017 LinkedIn study, 33 percent of all chief creative officers were women. While still underrepresented as a whole, it was a marked improvement from just two years ago, when, according to the 3% Conference, only 11 percent of all CCO titles were held by women.
While the needle has moved slightly, the impact of that surge has been substantial, as women creatives bring fresh ideas and new perspectives—and that usually means more progressive and inclusive representations of women as well as other segments of society.
“Women filmmakers are the biggest untapped pool of creativity,” as Alma Har’el, founder of Free The Bid, a nonprofit aimed at increasing female directors in advertising, previously told Adweek. “We have a skewed view of everything around us because we are exposed to more than 3,000 advertising messages every day and 95 percent of them are done by men.”
For women, thinking about image and perspective is a feature, not a bug. “During the conceptual process, it’s so easy to fall back on gender stereotypes—they’re the low-hanging fruit of character development,” explains Jamie Silverman, associate creative director at Publicis Groupe/New York, who has worked on a number of campaigns, including work for Walmart. “So, when I’m working with a group to come up with ideas, I try to remind everyone when they fall into those traps. Most of the time it’s unintentional.”
Nathalia Resende, creative director at 22squared Atlanta, who spearheaded an International Women’s Day campaign that reimagined posters comprised of negative connotations of women (e.g., replacing the word “crazy” with “driven”), echoes that view. “Being a woman in creative I find it very natural to always double check for stereotypes and misinterpretations of women roles,” she says. “But that’s because the first filter I apply to every project is my personal one. So naturally every time I get a brief or review work I make sure to question both the portrayal of female and male roles to ensure we’re not reinforcing stereotypes.”
In 2015, BBDO Atlanta appointed Robin Fitzgerald its first female CCO. She shepherded “KellyBaked,” HoneyBaked Ham’s first TV commercial in 10 years. The spot depicted a successful female in her early 30s struggling to prepare a ham for a party before HoneyBaked’s pre-glazed, ready-to-serve ham swoops in to save the day. “You wouldn’t believe how long we discussed the casting for that spot,” admits Fitzgerald.
While Fitzgerald was dead set on using a female lead, her team wrestled over the idea of portraying a cooking-challenged woman, afraid it might offend certain audiences. “A lot of women can’t cook and that’s OK,” she says. “In my house, my husband cooks all the meals. I can cook two things. When my kids see me cooking, they’re like, ‘Oh no.’”
Fitzgerald’s instincts were on point, and this realistic portrayal of a woman clicked. The client was thrilled. “We wanted something fresh, disruptive, funny,” says HoneyBaked CMO Jo Ann Herold, “something that could appeal to a modern audience.”
The next step: getting more clients on board.
Rebecca Ortiz, assistant professor of advertising at Syracuse University, points out that a lot of storied brands continue to play it safe, hesitant to overhaul their creative strategies after having done them “the same way” for so long. That’s how many age-old stereotypes make it into marketing today. “It really tends to be the household products where we still see the women in the housewife-type scenario,” says Ortiz. “A lot of times it’s the CPG companies trying to stay consistent on some level. If they step outside the status quo, they fear having a worse response to the brand image. Is [that] working? Arguably not.”
Katie Keating, co-founder and creative director of Fancy, suggests these brands are only doing a disservice to themselves by not driving change. “Advertisers often say they are ‘mirroring’ the current dynamics in society and that change comes to advertising when societal norms change,” she says. “With the amount of money spent and the amount of messaging that streams into households, who are we kidding? We can either reinforce stereotypes or break them down.”
Putting the CCO title next to more women is important, but just one step in a broader process. The Martin Agency’s Karen Costello says all marketers, on the brand and agency side alike, need to embrace change and break stereotypes, and not just those related to gender. In January, Costello was promoted to chief creative officer at The Martin Agency after the ouster of former CCO Joe Alexander following sexual harassment allegations made against him.
“It’s about showing what America really looks like,” Costello says. “Show people of color, people with disabilities, etcetera. Sometimes change feels too slow, but I feel that [the industry is] going there. It’s exciting.”
For more, be sure to check out: 10 Examples of Women’s Portrayal in Ads, From the Good to the Bad to the Completely Sexist


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News tagged ‘Operating system’
As you know, Apple is expected to announce iOS 8 at WWDC. One of the most interesting things about the next-gen operating system is the widely-rumored Healthbook app.
If you’re interested in how this app works and if you can’t wait, you may take a look at the demo created by a designer named Jayaprasad Mohanan. This demo is compatible with iOS 7, so you can even run it on your iPhone.
Apple's iPhone is a very popular smartphone. In fact, it is so much popular that nearly half of the smartphone users own one.
According to the latest report from research firm Chitika Insights, iOS users generate 53.1% of North American web traffic. Android users come in the second place with 44.5%.
According to the latest rumors from various sources, Apple is planning to improve the quality of music playback in iOS 8. Apart from that, the guys from Cupertino may release new versions of both In-Ear Headphones and Lightning connector.
According to what Morgan Stanley’s analyst Katy Huberty says, Apple's iPad sales won't grow this quarter. The reasons for such poor results are the absence of new products and the price, which is, compared to Android tablets, pretty high.
Apple has released the ninth OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 beta to developers for testing. As usual, the new version has been seeded just one week after the eighth beta (build number build 13D55). Apart from the operating system itself, Apple has released Safari 7.0.4.
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will take place in June. Apple yesterday confirmed that the big event will kick off on Monday, June 2nd. The official confirmation was found by journalists in Apple’s latest press release.
The Fortune published a list of World's 50 Greatest Leaders. Apple CEO Tim Cook occupies the 33rd place.
Following Steve Jobs has arguably been the toughest corporate leadership assignment in decades, yet Cook has carried it off with mostly quiet aplomb. In 2½ years he has kept the parade of winning new products marching (the Retina display, new operating systems, the iPhone 5), and he is bringing in Burberry's savior, Angela Ahrendts, to run Apple's retail stores. That's thinking different.
As you probably remember, I once wrote that Microsoft will release its Office for iOS in the first half of 2014. According to some trusted sources, the new Office for both iPhone and iPad is now ready and fully functional. Now it’s up to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to decide whether to release the new product or not.
A Nielsen survey reveal the most appreciated features of mobile phones for both men and women. The results show that they do not always coincide.
Globally, while more men gravitate toward tech-savvy mobile phone attributes like operating system (48% men vs. 41% women), battery life (48% vs. 44%), screen size (38% vs. 34%) and processor speed (41% vs. 31%) when shopping for a new device, more women are influenced by price (72% women vs. 67% men), service contract terms (27% vs. 25%) and camera capability (32% vs. 30%).
The iTunes Festival app won’t require iOS 7.1 as was reported earlier. This means that the official release of Apple’s new mobile operating system may take place later than this week.
Looks like not only Apple and Samsung are currently working on their smartwatches. Another tech giant - Google - is expected to release its own wearable gadget as soon as this year.
The evad3rs have released new Evasi0n7 1.0.6. The updated jailbreak tool version allows to hack the devices running latest iOS 7.0.6. Looks like you don’t have to wait or search for alternative patches as I recommended yesterday. All you need to do is to upgrade to iOS 7.0.6 and then run the Evasi0n7 tool.
According to the latest estimates, Mac users are four times more likely to upgrade to the latest OS X version than PC users to the latest Windows version. To be honest, I’m not surprised.
A well-known member of the jailbreak community nicknamed Winocm will soon start working at Apple. As he tweeted a couple of hours ago, he’ll take up his new duties “later this year”. As to his position at the company, it remains unknown.
Apple has recently released iOS 7.0.6 to public. At the same time, the company from Cupertino seeded iOS 6.1.6 to users. Both updates contain a fix for SSL connection verification, so you should update your device. Be sure.


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Recycled products lead green packaging boom
from Waste Management World
The global green packaging market was worth almost $109 billion in 2011 and is expected to reach nearly $178 billion by 2018, according to a new report by market analysts, Transparency Market Research. The report — Green Packaging Market (Recycled, Reusable & Degradable) - Global Scenario, Trends, Industry Analysis, Size, Share and Forecast, 2011-2018 — also said that the growth amounts to a 7.6 percent compound annual growth rate.
7701 Las Colinas Blvd., Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063


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Naza and Peugeot are all set to support our sports contingent for the 29th SEA Games.
Naza Corporation Holdings and Peugeot Malaysia will drive Malaysian fans to the various stadiums to be used for the games.
The newly launched Peugeot Pledge Car is calling Malaysians to pledge their support with inspirational messages for local athletes competing at KL 2017.
The Peugeot 208 is the “pledge car” that will tour the country to draw the public’s support.
The public will also get a chance to win 100 complimentary tickets to witness the opening ceremony of the 29th SEA Games on Aug 19 at Bukit Jalil.
Among those who signed messages of support on the car were Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Naza Corporation Holdings Sdn Bhd group executive chairman and chief executive officer SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin, and national athletes Farah Ann Abdul Hadi, Joel van Huizen, Ziyad Zolkefli and Nauraj Singh.
Fans who want to win the Peugeot Malaysia opening ceremony tickets can locate the pledge car at any of the 12 locations nationwide, sign their name with an inspirational message for our athletes, take a selfie of that message with the pledge car and post it online with the hashtags #PeugeotMalaysia #DrivingChampions and #NazaCorp.
The Peugeot 208 pledge car was warmly received at the first two locations – the Peugeot Showroom in Shah Alam and the Shah Alam Ramadan bazaar.
Naza Corporation Holdings, via its #ChampionSpirit contest, will also give 80 lucky winners a chance to win a pair of tickets to the SEA Games opening ceremony by posting the most creative memes.
Interested contestants should use the photos provided by Naza Corporation Holdings, add their own creative memes to invite Malaysians to watch and support the SEA Games, and post their memes in the contest’s comment section of the Naza Corporation Holdings Facebook page or Instagram page with the hashtags #ChampionSpirit and #Naza.
The upcoming pledge car locations are: Fit Malaysia Perak, Bangunan Umno, Bagan Datuk, Perak (July 9); Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur (July 12); Naza Aidilfitri Open House, Malaysia International Trade & Exhibition Centre (July 15); Subang Parade shopping centre, Subang Jaya (July 17 and 18); Pavilion Kuala Lumpur (July 19); The Curve, Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya (July 21 to 23); Sunway Pyramid, Petaling Jaya (July 27 to 30); KL Bird Park (July 31); Naza Tower Torch Run (Aug 6); Fit Malaysia Bukit Jalil (Aug 12); Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus, Subang Jaya (Aug 13 to 16); and KL 2017 Sponsors Festival Area (Aug 19 to 30).