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The newly released Tesla Cybertruck has swiftly entered into various showdowns, including races against several competitors. One of the notable challengers is the Ford F-150 Raptor R, renowned as one of the swiftest combustion-powered pickups in the United States today.
The sheer presence of the Ford F-150 Raptor R is jaw-dropping, defying its massive build by delivering astonishing speed. Reviewers highlight its unexpected agility, making it seem more akin to an off-road desert racer than a conventional pickup, with utility features appearing almost secondary.
On paper, the Ford F-150 Raptor R seems like an ideal rival for the Tesla Cybertruck. It boasts a 5.2-liter V8 engine generating 700 HP and 868 Nm of torque, weighing in at 6,000 pounds. Meanwhile, the Cybertruck flaunts three electric motors producing 845 HP and 930 Nm of torque, tipping the scales at an estimated 6,843 pounds.
Despite its higher price tag at $109,250, the Raptor R finds competition in the Cybertruck’s top trim, the Cyberbeast, priced at $99,990.
Tests conducted by motoring group carwow indicate that the Ford F-150 Raptor R and the Tesla Cybertruck aren't evenly matched in a standing quarter mile. Through multiple drag races, the Cybertruck consistently emerged victorious in both standing quarter miles and rolling races.
The comparison reached an intriguing point when carwow arranged a drag race with a significant disadvantage for the Cybertruck. While the Ford F-150 Raptor R ran on pavement, the Cybertruck was tasked with racing on a dirt road—a scenario that typically favors conventional vehicles. Surprisingly, the all-electric pickup still outperformed the Raptor R, defying expectations even on the uneven terrain.
Such compelling outcomes undoubtedly underscore the impressive performance of the Tesla Cybertruck.
---------This article is partly excerpted from Yahoo Autos.


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COGS OF INDUSTRY
In 2012, Premier Foods announced plans to reduce its brand portfolio to focus on eight ‘Power Brands’. And now the company has entered a deal with US private equity firm Gores Group; ceding control of Hovis, one of the eight, to Gores Group by selling a 51% share and ending 125 years of British ownership. Premier gains from the deal the support needed to invest £200 million into Hovis over the next five years.
As Scorsese’s Wolf of Wall Street showed, the age of excessive materialism belongs to a different era. And whilst we still like to buy, James Wallman believes we are experiencing the cluttered hangover of a “more is better” mentality, a problem that he calls ‘Stuffocation’. So what’s the way forward for brands? How do you sell to an audience that, really, has enough? You can read here how Wallman believes brands can work with this trend, by championing experiences over material possession.
Cola-Cola is celebrating Vietnamese New Year with limited edition cans embellished with hand-illustrated swallows and Vietnamese characters meaning ‘peace’, ‘success’ and ‘prosperity’. The designs stray far enough from the normal pack to have great initial impact, whilst being a perfect fit with the brand’s proposition of positivity. We love these little pieces of art.
The world is gearing up once again for New York Fashion week and word on the street is that Marc Jacobs is to open ‘Daisy Marc Jacobs Tweet Store’, a pop-up where products have no monetary value. Instead, goods can only be bought with ‘social currency’; by posting the hashtag #MJDaisyChain across various social media platforms. It’s not yet clear how many hashtags will be needed per item, or even if it’s that obvious an exchange. But it may well make some cash-strapped, media-savvy fashion fans very happy!
NAME THAT BRAND
And then, if you fancy the challenge, play the full game right here.

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Article content continued
A decade ago debt settlement agencies barely existed in Ontario, but in the last five years there has been an increase and there are now more than 20, she said.
“What we’ve seen is that agencies operate for a while and then they’ll close down and reopen under another name,” said Dupuis.
“You can get them online. They phone. They advertise on television…. They are from all over. They operate in every city.”
She cautions debt-burdened consumers to watch for red flags if they are considering signing up. The danger signs include difficult to read contracts, any kind of assignment of wages to the company, a large upfront fee and a promise to settle debt for 70 to 80 cents on the dollar.
“That sounds too good to be true and it probably is,” Dupuis said of the latter promise. “Typically what the practice is they’re going to charge you a fee and work with you to do a consumer proposal in conjunction with a bankruptcy trustee, which you could have done for yourself and not paid a fee.”
Under the proposed new provincial regulations debt settlement firms would be banned from charging upfront fees and limited in how much they can charge in total. Also, contracts would have to be clearly written and customers given a 10-day cooling off period. Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia already have similar regulations.
“This really stops the ‘quick fix’ misleading advertising and prevents abusive practices,” Dupuis said.
With Canadian consumers carrying an average of $1.64 in debt for every dollar they earn, it is not surprising for-profit companies are getting into the debt settlement game, she said.
In 2012, the Windsor Financial Fitness centre saw 30,000 local residents who needed credit counselling, which is down slightly from 2009-2011.
“I can’t say that’s because people are doing better,” Dupuis said. “It may just be that there are more of these operators out there.”
The Financial Fitness centre is located on Devonshire Road and can be reached at 519-258-2030.


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GOERLITZ, Germany — Standing on a ladder, workman Roland Freund dips his trowel into a bucket of mortar and carefully smoothes a wall under a molding. The work is painstaking and the air choked with dust, but he’s happy to be here.
That’s because he’s taking part in a project locals hope will herald the revival of their town in the former East Germany, which industrial decline and an exodus of people has left depopulated and depressed since German reunification in 1990.
Expectations are high because this is no ordinary construction project.
Recently made famous as the setting for Wes Anderson's film “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” the Goerlitz department store is a majestic, airy structure with a beautiful leaded glass dome over the atrium, striking brass chandeliers and a grand staircase leading to the balconied terraces of the upper floors. When it opened in 1913, the Art Nouveau establishment rivaled London's Selfridges and Berlin's Kaufhaus Des Westens (KaDeWe).
He wants to leverage Goerlitz's growing reputation as a movie-shooting location to help rejuvenate the town, which is among the poorest in Germany.
“This is crucial for the revitalization of the downtown. But it is also a beacon of hope for the entire city of Goerlitz,” says Rainer Mueller, chairman of an earlier citizens' initiative to attract a buyer for the site. “With the planned for October 2015 re-opening of the store, the dead heart of the city will begin to beat again.”
After escaping World War II unscathed, the Goerlitz department store had been closed for years when Anderson chose it for “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”
Even though Goerlitz had managed to attract a steady flow of film crews from Hollywood and Germany's Babelsberg over the years, featuring in “The Reader,” “The Book Thief,” and “Inglourious Basterds,” among other films, the town itself was slowly dying.
Like others in former East Germany, it lost many of its young people to the more vibrant West in the years following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Although Siemens and the Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier still operate facilities here, unemployment ranges around 12 percent.
The elderly outnumber the young and the town ranks dead last among German cities in purchasing power, according to a recent study by Germany's Association for Consumer Research.
Many are optimistic the renovation will change that, says Corinna Schneider, the area manager for the German Parfumerie Thiemann, the last company to operate a boutique in the department store.
“Many people came to Goerlitz especially to see the Kaufhaus,” she said, seated at a nearby cafe. “They all said they'd be back when it opens.”
Still, it's hard to make the potential foot traffic numbers add up for retailers, even though locals like Mueller say the time of outward migration is over and tourism figures are up, thanks to the so-called Goerliwood phenomenon.
On a sunny summer day at least, tables are packed at the swish outdoor restaurants near the Hotel Boerse, where Anderson and actors Jude Law and Ralph Fiennes stayed during the filming of “Grand Budapest.”
“Everyone says this is a pensioners' town, but suddenly stores and kindergartens are opening, so something is definitely happening,” says Stefanie Eggers, spokeswoman for the renovation project who notes that 4,000 people turned up for the project's recent open house.
As Stoecker's team works to attract international brands and smaller boutiques to fill the store's 70,000-square-foot space, new trends emerging at the end of the European economic crisis present some advantages, says project manager Juergen Friedel.
Across the Neisse River from Poland, Goerlitz's local boutiques are already attracting Czech and Polish shoppers, whose purchasing power and thirst for Western products is growing faster than their hometowns can satisfy. Moreover, the picturesque town lies directly on the route from Poland to the larger city of Dresden, the current shopping Mecca for wealthy Poles.
“On the motorway, the first exit across the German border from Poland is Goerlitz,” Friedel says. “We'd like to make sure the Polish people take that exit and don't go to Dresden.”
The key to success, however, will be turning the Kaufhaus into a “destination store” that customers are willing to make the centerpiece of a day trip. In the US, that has mostly worked for megamalls or specialty stores such as Cabela's outfitters, which incorporates attractions like a simulated trout stream where anglers can test-drive fly rods.
Friedel says Garhammer — a 65,000-square-foot, family-owned fashion boutique located 60 miles from Munich — proves that the right package of top products and personalized service can work in Germany, too.
Gourmet restaurants, espresso and Prosecco bars and other signature features are planned for every floor, and the team has sketched out ideas for festivals and events to recapture the sense of the department store as a center of sophistication and culture — as dramatized in the popular ITV series “Mr. Selfridge.”
Still, it’s a battle to get potential vendors to come look at the place, Friedel says. But if he can get them into town, he adds, most of them bite.
“Once they see the building and the town,” he says, “they can imagine how nice it will be.”


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THINK 18 welcomes James Wester
Faster payments have penetrated a handful of market segments, particularly peer-to-peer (P2P) payments and the gig economy, but a lot of work still needs to be done in the funds disbursements space. In our digital economy where consumers are accustomed to on-demand services and experiences, businesses providing a better and faster payment experience is no longer a “nice to have”, but has become a necessity. The rapid pace of innovation – leading to embedded and invisible payments – demands that credit unions stay ahead of the game. In order to innovate, we need to understand the state of payments in an emerging technology trend, the changing consumer behavior and where the payments space is heading. THINK 18 features one of the premier experts of the payments space: James Wester is responsible for the global payments practice of IDC Financial Insights, whose research and consulting capabilities assist financial services businesses and IT leaders in making more effective technology decisions. His core research coverage includes the evolution of payment networks and technology, developing fraud and security risks, and legal and regulatory issues. Based on his background covering the mobile payment space, Wester’s research also includes a particular emphasis on mobile and alternative payment methods and the threats and opportunities now facing the entire payment ecosystem from evolving mobile technologies. Previously, Wester was founding editor of Mobile Payments Today, the first news site dedicated to mobile payments, commerce and financial services. Wester holds a master’s degree in IT Management from the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce, and has provided analysis for media including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and CNBC. He blogs as part of the IDC Insights community. Don't miss this session and register today, as space is filling up quickly. We hope to see you in the desert!


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O2 Telefónica Says Phone Home for Less
Our phone numbers provide the carrier's customers with connections to friends and family in more countries
O2 Telefónica has a great offer for its wireless customers: “International Favorites” contacts in 60 countries. Those who choose this plan also receive a local phone number in a country of their choice to receive calls from abroad while paying domestic rates.
O2 Telefónica Challenges
When we think international calling, we think expensive, right? Those who make regular calls to friends or family abroad, the costs can add up. With International Favorites, InterO2 Telefónica is making it cheaper and easier for its callers to stay in touch. But the company needed a provider that could extend their reach while delivering savings that could be passed on to the customer. The answer was simple.
With Voxbone, setting up International Favorites with inbound numbers from 42 countries took a matter of months, not years. Number sourcing, local interconnects, carrier relations management and regulatory compliance were handled entirely by Voxbone, ensuring rapid deployment with limited costs and limited risks. Best of all, Voxbone’s flat-rate pricing model meant that O2 Telefónica would be seeing major savings as they scaled their service.
O2 Telefónica Results
The carrier’s customers now have an easy and affordable way to stay in touch with friends and family around the world. They can make calls without eyeing their watch to see how much each minute is hurting their wallet. Voxbone made it easy for the company to set up and deliver this international add-on to its users, and once set up, the high quality of calls and flat-rate pricing continue to make it a dependable and cost-effective solution.
Working with Voxbone has been a very good experience. They have proven to be a reliable partner, providing us with the flexibility and quality of service we need.
ResultsInternational access to local phone numbers
More Case Studies
Speechlogix Bundles Voxbone Into Their One-Stop-Shop For Comms
The XLogix Platform is an all-in-one UC and CCaaS solution from Speechlogix that uses Voxbone, now part of Bandwidth, to deliver seamless communications.
WhatConverts Grows Global with Voxbone's International Coverage
The Call Tracking Provider was able to scale its existing CPaaS solution internationally with the help of Voxbone’s network coverage and phone numbers.
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Mazda Motor Europe appoints President and CEO
Mazda Motor Europe (MME) announced today that effective April 1, 2019, Yasuhiro Aoyama, currently the CEO of Mazda Motor Corporation Japan, will become President and CEO of MME, with Jeff Guyton becoming President of Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) thereafter. how he will lead European operations since 2009.
As Mazda moves forward with its next-generation products, including the recent Mazda3 and Mazda CX-30, the time is right for the management change that we have been planning in North America and Europe, two regions vital to continued growth. North America is Mazda's largest market in terms of sales and profits. We are also currently building a new assembly unit in partnership with Toyota and are making significant investments with our channel partners to strengthen our brand. Jeff Guyton has built an excellent team in Europe that has delivered profitable growth, a strong brand and excellent relationships with partners in the region. We are delighted that he will take on his new role at this important time for our business. I am also very pleased that Yasuhiro Aoyama will take a new position to continue working with a strong team in Europe, ”said Akira Marumoto, Director Representative, President and CEO of Mazda.


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China's Internet retail sales increased by 48.3% year-on-year to CNY1.138 trillion in the first half of 2014.
During a press conference held by the State Council Information Office of China, Sheng Laiyun, spokesperson from the National Bureau of Statistics, revealed that during the first six months of 2014, China's total retail sales of social consumers goods reached CNY12.42 trillion, marking a year-on-year nominal increase of 12.1% and the growth rate was 10.8% after deducting price factors. The growth rate was 0.1 percentage point higher than the first quarter of 2014. Meanwhile, China's Internet retail sales reached CNY1.138 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 48.3%.
According to Sheng, based on the development situation of new industries and models, it is safe to say that technology and innovation played a positive role in promoting industrial growth. Technical progress has been making increasing contributions to economic growth, especially to structural adjustments and upgrades.
Commenting on the contribution of technology to economic growth, Sheng said it involved both methodology and basic data. The National Bureau of Statistics is currently making further measurements and calculations to enhance system reform strength and add new indices which can reflect results brought by technical innovation and advancement in China.


text: BusinessJio’s Rs 49 Per Month Plan And What It Means For Other CompaniesBy Harman Posted on January 30, 20183 min read00560Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google+Share on LinkedinReliance Jio offered a new Rs 49 per month plan for its JioPhone users and it could force the top three telecom operators in the country, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, and Idea Cellular, to switch off their 2G legacy networks and shift to more cost-efficient VoLTE-based 4G networks to protect their rapidly falling average revenue per user (ARPU). The new plan from Reliance Jio is the lowest in the sector which offers free voice for life and 1 GB of internet data at 4G speeds for a 28-day validity period. This plan is likely to attract the currently low-end 2G users, who have been hesitant to switch over to 4G because of the high prices of 4G plans.SourceBrokerage JP Morgan said the offer “would draw 2G voice subscribers” away from Airtel, Vodafone and Idea as “Jio’s feature phone pricing is as much as 30-50 per cent cheaper than incumbents’ rates”. This is expected to cause more financial pain to incumbents as it comes on the heels of Jio’s equally aggressive Rs 98 per month 4G entry-level price plan that is already estimated to shave off ARPU, a critical performance metric, of incumbent telcos by up to a third in the coming quarters. The 2G feature phone user segment, the US brokerage said, constitutes a whopping 70 per cent of India’s billion-plus mobile user base garnering as much as 50 per cent of sector revenues.SourceAccording to data collated by the telecom regulator, the ARPU of prepaid users is Rs 70, of which the voice ARPU of feature phone users is in the Rs 50-60 range. Brokerage Motilal Oswal said “the latest JioPhone price plan would be at nearly 10 per cent discount to the average feature phone subscriber ARPU”. Kotak Securities said Jio’s latest pricing moves targeting millions of 2G feature phone customers of incumbent carriers would further damage the latter’s already weak financials, forcing them to take tough calls like shutting down their 2G and 3G networks ahead of current plans and rolling out VoLTE-based 4G networks on a war footing.


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Pastry Blog & News
According to a survey by the Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute, 63% of these professionals live with job insecurity due to the health crisis.
America’s rising pastry chef teaches how to get masterpieces from the simple combination of flour, milk, butter, sugar, and eggs in this book.
The pastry chef offers chocolates, molds, preserves, and his book Prisma, and he has already announced upcoming online masterclasses.
Confinement is a good time to expand knowledge and acquire new techniques through these five books. Happy reading!
Centers around the world have not stopped proposing actions to motivate, reward, and continue teaching during these days of confinement.
Her haute couture-inspired sweets attract renowned chefs like Ferran Adrià and René Redzepi.
Jacquy Pfeiffer and Sébastien Canonne have created this new online pastry, baking, and cake decorating educational experience.
In this training modality, you can learn techniques and trends without leaving home thanks to Kirsten Tibballs, the school’s director, and many other invited pastry chefs.
Responsible pastry, ice cream trends, viennoiserie, and gelling agents are some of the topics that will be covered in this training scheduled for the month of November.


text: Is Popeyes Chicken Sandwich Coming Back!? Popeyes is gearing up for their second round of chicken sandwich sales. The chicken sandwich relaunch will come in early November with the fast-food restaurant preparing to hire 400 employees to handle the demand. Back in August Popeyes sold out of the popular menu item in just two weeks, “We, along with our suppliers, are working tirelessly to bring the new sandwich back to guests as soon as possible,” the company told Business Insider. An exact date for the Popeyes chicken sandwich hasn’t been announced yet, however in a statement Popeyes says, “As soon as we’re ready to announce a date, we will let the world know!” Are you anticipating Popeyes chicken sandwich?


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To start you off: Bungie is leaving Microsoft and developing new games on Mac, it wants to start new, unique projects instead being known as the developers of Halo whenever they're thought of.
Next, Steve Jobs said that the next Macworld is supposed to introduce some anticipated products.
Apple is planning to release a a refreshed line-up of Macs, much more suited for gaming by the end of the first quarter of 2008 (this can come as soon as later this month).
iTunes is getting more developer interest for developing games for iPods and the iPhone. Some analysts predict that's one of the reasons the Nano's been changing from a super small music player to a version that's still smal, but has a bigger screen. And finally, Apple has some plans to release a new version of Apple TV that can play games (nothing console quality, just games like you'd already find on iTunes).
By getting some more killer app releases exclusively on Mac, following the gaming upgrades to increase popularity.
Apple will release a controller for gaming on Macs.
And finally, the least expected of them all, Apple may (with a big ?) release a gaming console as soon as the end of next year. One thing to support this is Steve's bashing of the "low adoption" of game consoles due to their lacking of quality.
"Intel can really confirm the rumor... what, you thought Intel was just building graphics R&D, and buying AGEIA for nothing? Apple will likely buy a big publishing partner to close the deal."
That's a little long, but that's a little map out of why analysts are predicting Apple's plans to take over the gaming industry and finally embrace it. Remember these are just rumors, but rumors from Apple are almost always true, right? What made us think Apple would never move to the phone industry? They did and know what makes you think Apple wouldn't move to the gaming industry?
The source for most of the article was this:
Oh and my title is actually a quote from TUAW.
"Apple is poised to return to (and take over) gaming."
All the other sources are scattered throughout the second page of the thread.


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May 9, 2017
That CNP fraud is growing is doubtless. Why it’s happening is a bit less certain to identify. The transition in the U.S. to EMV-compliant systems at the physical point of sale was expected to cause an increase in card-not-present fraud, which experts presume criminals will turn to (like they did in other countries that implemented EMV) as counterfeit card fraud becomes more difficult. But, some industry experts say surging CNP fraud is simply a function of the growth in CNP transactions. Two recent announcements illustrate the divide.
Antifraud technology provider ThreatMetrix, which tracks cybercrime quarterly, said in its Q1 2017 report released Thursday that growth in card-not-present fraud attacks in the first quarter of this year was 50 percent higher than growth in e-commerce transactions. That suggests that factors in addition to more people buying things on their phones and laptops are at play. The ThreatMetrix report (download here) also noted the increasingly international nature of fraud attacks (50 percent more attacks originating from Europe than from North America), how mobility is affecting fraud and that new account origination continues to rise significantly.
The U.S. Payments Forum disagrees. The industry group focused on contactless cards and EMV points to a 2017 report from Aite Group that said growth in CNP fraud was flat compared to transaction growth.
“Some of the reports of large rises in CNP fraud seem to be conflating consumer perception of fraud with actual fraud data,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the U.S. Payments Forum. “While industry data and corresponding media reports are stating an overall rise in CNP fraud, what we are actually seeing is that the overall proportion of CNP fraud is actually staying relatively even—and perhaps even decreasing—as a percentage of online sales.”
Regardless of the cause, it is a growing problem for merchants and banks. Both points of view agree CNP fraud is rising. ThreatMetrix said the 130 million fraud attacks identified across its network in Q1 was 35 percent higher than the same period in 2016. And, one area where transaction growth could be the main issue is mobile. ThreatMetrix is seeing 500 million more mobile transactions per month, on average, in 2017 than it did in 2015—a 400 percent increase.


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Apple has stated that an event would be held on October 18 to introduce next-generation gadgets such as the MacBook Pro and AirPods 3. Soon after, South Korean electronics behemoth Samsung revealed that the second round of the Galaxy Unpacked event will take place this year. The Samsung Galaxy Unpacked Part 2 event is slated to take place on October 20.
The ceremony will be live-streamed on Samsung’s official YouTube channel. The event will begin on October 20 at 7 a.m. PT (7:30 p.m. IST). This corresponds to the Apple and Google launch events, which are scheduled for October 18 and October 19, respectively. Samsung has already begun sending out media invitations for the occasion.
Will Samsung Galaxy S21 FE launch now?
According to existing rumors, Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy S21 FE smartphone in the near future. Given that the brand is expected to introduce a new smartphone at the event next week, we can expect the Galaxy S21 FE or new mid-range smartphones that have been rumored.
According to reports, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE would be powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 888 CPU, similar to those seen in current-generation premium smartphones. The firm may not employ the in-house Exynos chipset in the next model due to a supply chain issue. Given its position as the world’s top smartphone manufacturer, Samsung was expected to unveil the Galaxy S21 FE alongside its foldable flagships in August, but this did not occur. The SE variant of its flagship S series smartphone is likely to be revealed later this month.
This forthcoming model, which is a scaled-down version of the Samsung Galaxy S21 series, is estimated to cost approximately 700,000 won (approx. Rs. 44,000).
As of yet, the business hasn’t verified anything regarding the smartphone, so we’ll have to wait for further information. However, it is said to have a 6.44-inch display with a refresh rate of 120Hz. We’ll have to wait for further information to leak online about what we may anticipate from the business during the Galaxy Unpacked Part 2 event.


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Interior of Pipedrive's Tallinn office. Source: Pipedrive
Estonian customer relationship management (CRM) software provider Pipedrive saw a 150 percent rise in revenue in 2019 to €50 million, going into the black for the first time, with a declared profit of €2.4 million, the company says in its recent annual report.
Pipedrive also saw growth in payroll of around 20 percent in 2019, and employs a little under 400 people in its offices in Tallinn and Tartu.
These were joined by new offices in Dublin, Ireland and in St. Petersburg, Florida, and a preliminary agreement for a new office in Tartu.
In the coming months, the company also plans to open an office in Germany.
Wage costs, inclusive of social taxes, totalled around €20 million for 2019, the company says. Pipedrive says it expanded its customer base in 2019, with the view to boosting averagae turnover per customer and increasing market share, particularly with larger companies. To achieve this, the company says it launched four new products, including an artificial intelligence (AI)-based sales assistant product, and new solutions for automating work processes, as well as building on integration between its products and third-party software.
Pipedrive was founded 10 years ago by Timo Rein, Urmas Purde, Ragnar Sass, Martin Henk and Martin Tajur, and is used by more than 90,000 companies in more than 150 countries, the company says.
In addition to its Estonian, Irish and Florida offices, it also has premises in London, Lisbon, Prague, Riga and New York.
The company had to make a little over a dozen lay-offs in Estonia earlier this year.
CSNK Energy uses PipeDrive as part of it's tools for managing sales and business development. It's smart, easy to setup and a must for any small to medium sized business looking for a low cost CRM Package.


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The Institute of Travel & Tourism (ITT) will announce details of the first online degree for the travel industry at its annual overseas conference in June.
The event, which will be held in Abu Dhabi, will be told the BA and MA courses will be available through an ITT-sponsored scheme affiliated to various UK universities.
The courses have been designed for anyone working in travel but specifically for employees who have some industry qualifications but who came into travel having not gone to university.
Steven Freudmann, ITT chairman and chief executive, said: “This will offer people the chance to get a degree without having to take two or three years off.”
The ITT has been forging closer relations with higher education establishments through its education committee led by board member Claire Steiner.
The ITT plans to broaden its reach to other academic areas relevant to travel like marketing, finance, and hospitality.
Freudmann said focus groups run by the ITT in conjunction with the industry and academics had highlighted graduates’ enthusiasm for
“Our industry is still seen as a desirable and sexy industry, which is something we should never lose,” Freudmann said.
John McEwan, outgoing chairman of Abta and chief executive of Advantage, told Travel Weekly that he would also like to see the industry forge a higher profile among graduates.
This is a community-moderated forum.
All post are the individual views of the respective commenter and are not the expressed views of Travel Weekly.
By posting your comments you agree to accept our Terms & Conditions.


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By Krystal Hu and Arriana McLymore
(Reuters) - Online fashion giant Shein is exploring plans to build a factory in Mexico as one of its manufacturing hubs outside China, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as the company faces increased scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and looks to expand its Latin America footprint.
The factory, which will make Shein products and is part of the retailer's push to localize production, could shorten shipping time and cut distribution costs for customers in Latin America. In April, Shein said it would build a manufacturing network in Brazil to serve as a global customer base.
Shein was founded in China and manufactures most of its products there, but is seeking to diversify. The company sells $10 dresses and $5 tops and has taken market share from other affordable fashion retailers.
Now based in Singapore, Shein competes with PDD Holdings' Temu, which sells low-priced items ranging from clothing to electronics from China in the U.S.
Shein and Temu face growing scrutiny from the U.S. Congress over what some lawmakers describe as their exploitation of U.S. trade laws. Shein also has come under fire in markets including India and Brazil for its supply-chain links to China.
A final location for the Mexico site has not been decided, said the sources, who requested anonymity as the discussions are private.
Shein will use funds from its recent capital raise of $2 billion from investors including Mubadala and Sequoia China for the expansion, as it eyes a U.S. initial public offering. Despite a valuation cut to $66 billion in its latest funding round, the retailer still posts annual revenue growth of 40%, one of the sources added.
Shein declined to comment on the expansion, but said it is committed to localization as it adds new markets.
"SHEIN's localization strategy allows us to shorten delivery times to customers while expanding product variety and supporting local economies," Marcelo Claure, chairman of SHEIN Latin America, said in an emailed statement.
Shein is "continuing to explore nearshoring options," he added, referring to manufacturing closer to the point of sale.
Shein recently offered an online marketplace platform in Brazil, allowing third-party merchants to sell their own goods on the Shein app and website. A similar marketplace would be launched next in the U.S. before rolling out globally.
The upcoming Mexico factory will not house items from third-party vendors, sources said. Claure confirmed that Shein is considering bringing its "marketplace model to other markets across Latin America."
In April, a federal commission released a report criticizing Shein and Temu for their use of de minimis, a trade exemption that allows the companies to avoid tariffs by shipping packages valued at less than $800 directly to U.S. customers. The report also criticized Shein for sourcing cotton from China's Xinjiang region, which is banned in the U.S. due to ties with Uyghur forced labor.
Shein has denied that it ships from the Xinjiang region. Temu did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
A bipartisan group of two dozen U.S. representatives in May called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to halt Shein's IPO until the company verifies it does not use forced labor, Reuters reported.
A separate bipartisan group of U.S. representatives also sent a letter to Shein citing forced labor concerns and its use of de minimis.
"We are voluntarily cooperating with the Committee and are committed to working together on this matter," a Shein spokesperson said, adding that the company is "committed to respecting human rights and adhering to local laws and regulations in each market we operate in."
Shein has previously said it has "zero tolerance" for forced labor and requires suppliers to follow the International Labour Organization's core conventions.
Rights groups and governments have accused China of forced labor and internment of the mainly Muslim ethnic minority in the Xinjiang region. Beijing denies any rights abuses.
(Reporting by Krystal Hu and Arriana McLymore in New York; Additional reporting by Kate Masters in New York City and by Daina Beth Solomon in Mexico City; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Richard Chang)


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As one of the most competitive areas of the financial industry, the lending space in America is one that’s watched carefully. In the past, few competitors have been able to rival traditional brick-and-mortar banks, but things are changing. Now, FinTech companies are challenging the traditional banking system by offering a different way to borrow.
FinTech Appeals to Underserved Consumers
The underserved population are relying on FinTech alternatives in growing numbers. These are consumers who have limited financial participation, largely because mainstream banks actively reject their applications.
Some are considered “credit thin” individuals, or those who haven’t developed a long enough credit history for banks to determine their creditworthiness. Others fail other application criteria, like deficient minimum balances or income. More still belong in a new economy at odds with the traditional banking system. These individuals don’t trust the biggest banks with their money.
While the reasons why they’re underserved may vary, they have one thing in common: they prefer the convenience of FinTech alternatives.
For many people facing a financial emergency, a mainstream bank won’t offer a practical solution. Traditional banks have an extremely low approval rating, denying roughly 76 percent of personal loan applicants.
Rejected by the big banks, the underserved are turning to online lenders for help with unexpected bills and repairs. Online payday loans and installment loans meet modern expectations of banking with quick, easy online processes. Many of these lenders cut through the red tape of borrowing by shifting the focus away from credit scores.
And with flexible repayment options that include installment loans and lines of credit, they’re offering a more practical option than standard payday loans. You can click here to learn more about the difference between payday and installment loans.
FinTech Helps Finance Small Businesses
Challenges with credit approval aren’t just faced by individuals; they’re something that small businesses struggle with, too. According to Entrepreneur, 20 percent of small business owners seeking capital had their applications rejected — 45 percent of whom said they were turned down more than once.
It could be because they’re asking for loans that are too small to attract the biggest banks. More than half of small businesses need less than $100,000. Traditional banks are reticent to loan amounts below this level because it’s not profitable. They may also be stonewalled by traditional underwriting processes that look at their personal credit scores as part of their process.
This is an opportunity for FinTech to fill this critical gap in the market. Many Fintech services offer Merchant Cash Advances or MCAs. These loan options usually involve shorter repayment terms than traditional bank loans. There are also sail loans, which allow business owners to spend capital immediately on vital business expenses, as well as build up their savings for future business needs.
Some are also supporting businesses simply by streamlining the borrowing process. According to the Federal Reserve, small business owners spend a full 24 hours researching their options. Considering their wages, this is a lot of money to spend on something that might be rejected.
Turning to FinTech, and its more convenient access to loans tailored to small business needs, means more entrepreneurs are relying on these services than ever.
It wasn’t too long ago when big banking dominated the lending space, but the traditional bank system has created gaps that FinTech companies are aiming to fill. Not only are they helping consumers find personal loans in an emergency, but they’re also connecting small businesses with capital when they need cash quickly. By focusing on these underserved consumers, FinTech has a chance at becoming a long-lasting alternative to mainstream banks.


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Impossible Foods has raised another $300 million to satisfy the demand for its plant-based alternatives to meat – and celebrities are joining in.
Jay-Z, Katy Perry, Serena Williams, Jaden Smith, Trevor Noah, and Zedd are all among the slew of investors Impossible Foods announced Monday.
Overall, Impossible Foods has raised more than $750 million.
Celebrity investment in Impossible may be another sign that realistic meat alternatives have become incredibly trendy.
Some consumers are trying to eat less meat for health reasons and to reduce their impact on the environment, so the demand for plant-based protein is on the rise.
This year, Impossible Foods has seen such a spike in demand that it has been running out of the product.
To keep up, Impossible plans to hire at least 50 new employees at its Oakland, California, factory, which currently employs about 70 full-time employees.
“There will be times when we have more supply than the demand immediately available, and soon enough we’ll outgrow that ability to supply.” Lee said that he thinks it will “Take a little bit of time” before Impossible is able to meet the level of demand it is seeing today.
As meat eaters become more open to eating plant-based proteins, demand will continue to grow, Lee said.
“The more normal the Impossible Burger becomes, the more we will see adoption,” he said.
Impossible currently only sells its plant-based protein products to restaurants but plans to launch in retail stores this year.


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Morrisons cuts fuel to under 90p-a-litre
* Petrol dips below 90p-a-litre * Unleaded 89.9p a litre, diesel 105.9p-a-litre * Crude oil price drop raises hopes of more cuts...
The supermarket fuel price war shows no signs of abating, with Morrisons cutting the price of a litre of petrol to below 90p.
As a result, it is now selling petrol for 89.9p-a-litre and diesel for 105.9p the lowest prices for 18 months.
Other supermarkets and fuel retailers have followed suit, and there is hope for further price cuts as the value of crude oil continues to fall. It now stands at $40 a barrel, under a third of its value during the summer peak.
Best sports cars 2022
If you want ultimate driving thrills, a sports car should be at the top of your shortlist, but the best can do more than simply go fast
Honda HR-V long-term test review
Our sub-editor wants a car that takes all the effort and much of the expense out of his extremely long daily commute – can the hybrid Honda HR-V SUV deliver?


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Sources: Sprint Shelves NASCAR "Experience" Carnival To Air First Super Bowl Ad MJ Leads eBay Athlete Merch Sales Chick-Fil-A Takes Wizards Promo To Next Level Marketplace Roundup Constellation, NHL Sign Groundbreaking Pact Rafael Nadal Inks Tommy Hilfiger Endorsement Hornets, Waste Management Ink Partnership Alshon Jeffery Signs With BodyArmor Marketplace Roundup
SBD/September 28, 2012/Marketing and Sponsorship
Published September 28, 2012
GREATER THAN PROFITS: CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS’ Meribah Knight notes startup sports drink Greater Than is “generating nearly $1 million in annual revenue, double from a year ago, and shipping 30,000 containers, which retail for $1.99 to $2.50 for a 20-ounce bottle, per month.” However, the drink’s creators, Mark and Jon Sider, have “yet to turn a profit.” The brothers “rely on guerrilla marketing to spread the brand name.” In October, the company “plans to launch a web ad featuring” former NBAer Brian Scalabrine (CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS, 9/22 issue).
ROUNDUP: Nike announced Bobcats Fs Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Jeff Taylor, Celtics F Jared Sullinger and Suns G Kendall Marshall have signed multiyear deals with Jordan Brand (Nike)....The Hockey East conference announced a partnership with Front Row Marketing for exclusive sales rights for its men’s and women’s hockey championships (Hockey East).


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Raoni is rallying support to protect the Amazon region
He has fought his entire life for the Amazon region and its inhabitants. Today, as the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is fuelling growing concerns, former indigenous chief Raoni is launching a new appeal for help. Here is his message.
Could "smokers" be the origin of life on Earth?
Drugs and pesticides: a pollution invisible to the naked eye
These people joined the "fertile disobedience" movement to protect nature
This is one of the most invasive aquatic plants in the world
How to make your own zero-waste lip balm
Behind the scenes: Activists crash the Louis Vuitton show


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Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Two major social and business trends are shaping the world today. The first is digital transformation, which is seeing all of us adopt an increasing number of technologies in our daily lives, both at home and at work. The culmination of this tech revolution, which has only just begun, will be the use of tools such as big data, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain.
The second trend is sustainable development. The European Green Deal leaves no room for doubt: by 2050, EU member states must be carbon neutral. This goes beyond the mere fight against climate change: we must all work together to decarbonize the economy.
Twin transitions: technology and sustainability go hand in hand
So, here is the question: is there any way for the two most important trends in our recent history to work together? Yes, there is, and it’s called the twin transitions, a model in which disruptive technology and the fight for sustainability go hand in hand to build a more efficient and sustainable world.
This concept has been explored in numerous studies. The most prominent one, entitled “Towards a green and digital future - Key requirements for successful twin transitions in the European Union,” was prepared by the Joint Research Center of the European Union. In the report, the JRC details how various technologies can be used to reduce or eliminate emissions in several areas.
Imagine waking up in the morning, glancing out the window and wanting to know what's going on out there. Augmented reality glasses can provide you with a wide range of information: what the weather is like, the chance of rain, what the air quality is like, what the pollution levels are, etc.
This scenario probably sounds quite futuristic, but there are many more down-to-earth ones. Thanks to the combination of big data and artificial intelligence, you’ll know the weather forecast for the coming days, since the devices involved will have enough data on days similar to today and what happened years ago in comparable circumstances. With this information, artificial intelligence will be able to forecast any weather event.
The Internet of Things (IoT) will also provide endless information. For example, it will be able to detect the moisture levels of your plants to identify which ones you need to water. It will also help you track your daily consumption: that way, you can determine the best time to run your washing machine to consume less water and electricity, when your home reaches an ideal temperature to turn off the heating, etc. And, as David Villaseca, Chief Digital Officer of Cepsa, says, with the IoT “customers are transformed into prosumers, that is, they are both consumers and producers of energy, so they have greater control of consumption, spending and savings, generating new demands that have to be covered with innovative services.”
Finally, even blockchain will be able to help you in your daily tasks. Imagine going to the supermarket, and out of a wide range of brands, wanting to choose the most sustainable ones. Blockchain will make it possible to establish food traceability, telling you where food was grown or manufactured, when and from where it was transported... With all this information, you will be able to choose foods with a smaller ecological footprint.
IN (AND OUT OF) THE CITY
The twin transitions will be particularly useful in urban areas, and above all, in the management of public resources. If you are familiar with the smart city concept, you are probably aware that by installing sensors, municipalities will be able to determine when to water green areas, when and where to put streetlights in neighborhoods, or when the garbage cans are full and ready for collection. This will save water, electricity, travel and personnel costs.
Sensors will also impact traffic management, whether on the streets or on the highway, especially with the help of artificial intelligence and big data. For starters, they will be able to measure the amount of traffic congestion in certain areas and even detect accidents. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence (AI) will collect information in real time, process it, and then predict (and reduce) traffic jams or even prevent accidents.
Villaseca stresses that “digitalization can help improve traffic management and route planning, which can reduce traffic jams and greenhouse gas emissions.”
There are already a few examples of medium-sized cities implementing some of these initiatives. For instance, Santander is a pioneering city when it comes to implementing IoT technology with real applications. How? By using thousands of devices distributed in the streets that provide real-time information on the status of all municipal services, such as water management, waste, mobility or lighting.
For the business world, the combination of technology and sustainable development will be fundamental for companies to become more efficient. The possibilities are endless, but here are a few: "The use of IoT in industrial centers," Villaseca explains, "allows us to capture process and sensor data in real time so that we can optimize production processes, saving energy and becoming more sustainable." This technology can measure the moisture level of crops, the operation of industrial assembly lines, the condition of products or even the integrity of the materials that make up a car, a large building or asphalt. Furthermore, AI and big data will help companies to evaluate their processes, identify ways to improve and ultimately become more efficient.
In this area, blockchain will also play an essential role, especially for its ability to ensure traceability of any product or process. Thanks to this technology, companies will be able to check the veracity of their suppliers or customer data as well as offer traceability to consumers who want to check the ecological footprint of these products.
As you can see, there are many different examples, but they all have the same objective: putting technology at the service of sustainability to make the twin transitions a reality.
¿Te ha parecido interesante?


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In the run up to the announcement by the Valuation Office of new business rates set to come into force in April, Haringey Council's Trading Standards have warned local businesses to be careful
about companies offering to help them get their rates reduced.
In the past few years, such companies have had contracts with businesses that asked for payment of a percentage of any reduction in rateable value. However, in many cases, it seems that any savings made by businesses then are swallowed up completely by the company's
Haringey Trading Standards pointed out that anyone can appeal against their business rate themselves - all you need is a form from the Valuation Office on 020 8276 2700. Businesses should also consider using an established lawyer if they can afford it but if they can't,
then they should read through the proposed contract very carefully before signing anything.
Principal Trading Standards Officer, John Scale, said, "This latest five year reassessment will undoubtedly increase the rateable value for many businesses and they will naturally look for any way of reducing this cost. Our advice to local businesses is to be
cautious about any offer by specialist companies to help reduce their business rates. Some of these are genuine but others will trick businesses over the subtleties of rateable value and transitional relief. These conmen are hiding among more legitimate companies and
are giving the industry a bad name."
A local businessman, Pete Powell of Crescent Cars refused to pay one of these companies, Herber Churchman, and was taken to the Small Claims Court. Mr Powell
successfully argued that Herbert Churchman had misrepresented the amount of savings he could make and did not have to pay the company's bill.


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Chairman of Morrisons leads key food and drink industry debatePrint news article
75 senior leaders and influencers from the food and drink industry gathered at the Grand Hotel in York to share valuable insights and opportunities at the 5th Walker Morris Food & Drink Leadership Dinner.
Andrew Higginson, Chairman of Morrisons, led a discussion over dinner on the current food retail landscape, its future and what the key attributes are of those manufacturers and retailers who come out on top.
Commenting on the dinner Andrew Higginson said:
“The Walker Morris Food & Drink Leadership Dinner brought together an impressive array of key decision makers and I was honoured to be asked to share my thoughts on what will be needed in the future for retailers and manufacturers to come out on top. The evening was very enjoyable and allowed me to meet and debate topics with influential individuals from across the food and drink sector in a relaxed setting.”
Richard Naish, Head of the Food & Drink Group at Walker Morris, said:
“We were delighted to be able to welcome Andrew to our 5th Food and Drink Leadership Dinner, an event which has become a fixture in many of our clients’ calendars and which provides a fantastic networking opportunity. The guests were unanimous in their appreciation for the importance of this type of event which allows confidential and open discussion under the Chatham House Rule. I would like to thank everyone who attended for their contribution to the evening’s discussion.
The dinner is a key part of the added value that we seek to provide clients and contacts and is something we look forward to hosting each year. The food and drink sector is important to us and our client base in it growing year on year.”
Walker Morris’ previous Food and Drink Leadership Dinners have featured Jim McCarthy (Poundland Chief Executive), Tim Smith (Tesco Group Technical Director), Mike Coupe (now Chief Executive of Sainsbury) and David Salkeld (Chief Executive of Symington’s).


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Bali remains optimistic that the rate of the inflation for the island through the end of 2012 will remain at approximately 4.32%, somewhat lower than the 4.5% projected in the official provincial budget. Economist warn, however, that the rate of inflation could suddenly soar as a results of the government's plans to reduce the use of subsidized fuel.
I Gede Suarsa, chief of the Bali Statistic Bureau, see the rate of inflation during the first half of 2012 as “moderate.” The second half of 2012 may suffer inflationary influences resulting from increases in prices for basic commodities, religious holidays and year-end holiday celebrations.
As a member of the Regional Coordination Team for the Control of Inflation (TKPID), Suarsa said the team would work to keep the cumulative rate of inflation within plus or minus 4.5%.
The head of the Bali branch of Bank Indonesia, Dwi Pranoto, warned that while inflation in Bali remains relatively low, a potential exists for spikes in prices resulting from prices administered by the government. Chief among these is the price of fuel at the pumps and government plans to ban red-plated vehicles (official vehicles) from buying subsidized fuel beginning in August.
Discovery Tours. Articles may be quoted and reproduced
if attributed to http://www.balidiscovery.com.


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Almost one month after Google began directly selling the HTC Nexus One smartphone to consumers -- and started getting heat for everything from shoddy customer service to a long list of bugs -- it has begun to make some healthy adjustments.
On Jan. 13, in the face of mounting criticism, Google told the media that the company was taking a flexible approach and was ready to "make changes to our processes and tools, as necessary, for an optimal customer support experience."
Looks like those changes are coming sooner than later. As of Feb. 8, customers who have placed an order for a Nexus One and want to check on its status can talk to an honest-to-goodness person rather than shooting an e-mail off into Google support limbo.
On Google's Nexus One help page, customers with questions about their existing orders are now prompted to "contact Nexus One support from Google at 888-48-NEXUS (63987). Open daily from 7:00 a.m. EST to 10:00 p.m. EST." Customers looking for a live person with answers to their technical questions or concerns about repairs and returns are directed to contact HTC; those with questions about their T-Mobile service (currently the only option for the Nexus One) are asked to call ... T-Mobile.
And in response to criticism -- and an inquiry from federal regulators -- for charging customers a massive $350 equipment recovery fee if they cancel their service within 120 days, Google has slashed the charge to $150.
Of course, Google also issued a less than apologetic statement: "Google's overall financial philosophy with regard to operator service plans remains unchanged: We make no profit from commissions from operators or from equipment recovery fees, and our recovery fees are based on operator charges to Google for early termination of service."
And Nexus One users are still hit with a $200 early termination fee from T-Mobile, unless they're upgrading an existing line of service from the wireless carrier, in which case the fee has been lowered to $50.
Both of these are good moves on Google's part, no matter how much they appear to be playing them down.
And Google got some other good news for its embattled Nexus One initiative on Saturday, when Linux pioneer Linus Torvalds, a name that carries a good amount of weight in the IT world, gave the phone a thumbs-up on his blog.
Torvalds, an acknowledged cellphone hater, said that he bought an Android G1 when it came out, but only used it to play Galaga and Solitaire on planes. "But I have to admit," he wrote, "the Nexus One is a winner. I wasn't enthusiastic about buying a phone on the Internet sight unseen, but the day it was reported that it finally had the pinch-to-zoom thing enabled, I decided to take the plunge. I've wanted to have a GPS unit for my car anyway, and I thought that Google navigation might finally make a phone useful."
"And it does," he continued. "What a difference! I no longer feel like I'm dragging a phone with me ‘just in case' I would need to get in touch with somebody -- now I'm having a useful (and admittedly pretty good-looking) gadget instead. The fact that you can use it as a phone too is kind of secondary."
That's a nice IT celebrity recommendation for Google. And that "pinch-to-zoom thing" hasn't hurt either. On Feb. 2, Google released a software update that included that eagerly awaited functionality, along with a fix for its much-publicized 3G connectivity problems and a new version of Google Maps.It's way too early to call the phone a hit or miss, but it has a long way to go before anyone's going to call it a success story. Google sold 80,000 phones in its first month of availability, according to research firm Flurry. By comparison, another Android phone, the Motorola Droid, sold 525,000 over the same period.


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Buy Generic Cialis Online Safely
Mail Order Pharmacy services offered by Costco are an extension of your current prescription drug benefit. I can not say enough about how a lot this app has modified my in-store and pharmacy experiences for the better. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said he's putting pharmacy chain Walgreens "on discover" for allegedly promoting tobacco products to minors. The pharmacy crew then mentioned the opioid abuse crisis, emphasizing NACDS-backed pharmacy options to the opioid abuse epidemic, including the necessity for a national buy generic cialis online safely prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP), 7-day provide limits for initial opioid prescriptions and obligatory electronic prescriptions. Students had been commended for their project work which is contributing to the event of recent pharmaceutical companies with a patient focus. CVS Caremark, the pharmacy-benefits arm of CVS Health, stated that if a break up occurs, it would not have an effect on the pharmacy networks in its Medicare plans.
Website URL: http://cialisoonline.us


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Roku Adds 4.6M Users Last Quarter to Rise to 70M; 23.9 Billion Hours Streamed in Q4 2022
On Wednesday, Roku unveiled its earnings report for the final quarter of 2022. The company reported its ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) and free ad-supported TV (FAST) service The Roku Channel had added 4.6 million monthly active users, bringing its total to 70 million. The growth represents a 16% increase over the corresponding quarter in 2021.
The service saw 23.9 billion hours streamed total in Q4, an increase of 2B over last quarter. The increase reflects a 23% year-over-year increase in streaming hours on the service.
The Roku Channel is still locked in stiff competition for users with other free streaming providers. Tubi most recently reported having 64 million active monthly users, while Paramount’s free streaming service Pluto TV will issue its quarterly report on Thursday. Amazon’s Freevee does not report subscriber numbers publicly.
The proliferation of FAST channels in the United States is due in part to Roku’s feverish additions in the past few months. Roku has added channels dedicated to music, sports and more since December, helping to raise the number of free streaming channels available in the U.S. to over 1,500.
New selections available on The Roku Channel also include free channels from Warner Bros. Discovery. In early January, WBD struck a deal that sent several channels packed with former HBO Max shows to Roku, including series such as Westworld,” “Raised by Wolves,” “Legendary,” “FBoy Island,” “The Nevers” and more.
More recently, Roku came to an agreement with pocket.watch to provide the service with original kids content. In its short lifespan, pocket.watch has become home to some of the most popular content for Generation Alpha that exists, with its show “Ryan’s World” garnering over a billion views on YouTube. Now, five of its series will air exclusively on the Roku Channel.
The future of streaming increasingly appears ad-supported, so Roku is in a good position to capture viewers in the future. The company now also manufactures its own line of smart TVs, ensuring it has multiple revenue streams to work with heading into 2023 and beyond.
The Roku Channel is a free live TV streaming service that provides 450+ live linear streaming channels and more than 80,000 free movies and TV shows. The library contains entertainment from several different decades, including some major hits.
The service also made a splash with the acquisition of the Quibi library, now presented as Roku Originals. More original content is set to follow.
Users can add premium subscriptions to services like Paramount+, Showtime, STARZ, discovery+, and AMC+ that can be accessed within the Roku Channel ecosystem.


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E-cigarettes are catching on fast, but the jury is still out on whether or not they actually help people quit smoking. Besides e-cigarettes, smokers worldwide have resorted to patches, gum, and other nicotine supplments to help cut down.
But until now, no one has really had a solid crack at another indispensable part of every smoker’s habit – lighters.
This is where US-based startup QuitBit comes in. The team recently graduated from China’s Haxlr8r program in Shenzhen, and its made out with US$175,000 in accumulated angel funding so far. Now QuitBit is nearing the end of its Kickstarter campaign to help pay for manufacturing costs.
QuitBit is a smart lighter that tracks how often you’ve been smoking with an LCD display. It measures how many cigarettes you’ve smoked, how long it’s been since you last lit up, and can even be set to limit how often you’re allowed to use it. All this information is synced with the QuitBit mobile app via Bluetooth Low Energy.
“We came up with idea for QuitBit specifically for ourselves,” says Ghofrani. “I wasn’t sure how much I was smoking a day.”
As opposed to e-cigarettes, which Ghofrani says many people use to supplement smoking rather than help quit, QuitBit quantifies the user’s habit. “It kept me aware of how much I was smoking a day and I could set targets,” says Ghofrani. “I quit six months ago and haven’t smoked another one since.”
Rather than an open flame, QuitBit uses a heating element similar to what you find in a car lighter.
If you’re using an e-cigarette on the side or you want to share your lighter with friends, all the data can be amended inside the app, or you can set it not to record when someone else is using it.
Strong sales in Singapore
Despite seeing success when raising angel funds, Ghofrani says he wants to “build a community around the product and prove out demand using Kickstarter.” The project already reached its US$50,000 goal, and a lot of that demand didn’t come from where he expected.
“A ton of presales are coming from Singapore,” Ghofrani says. “It was a complete shock to us. We thought the majority of our sales would be from America.”
He says 55 percent of pre-orders have come from international customers. Among them, Singapore leading the way with 7.1 percent followed by Japan, South Korea, and a few European countries (note these figures are from backers who self-report their countries). Ghofrani says even though smoking is prevalent in China where he spent four months in Haxlr8r, Chinese smokers don’t really want to quit.
Does it work?
Before joining Haxlr8r, Ghofrani got the help of a behavioral health center where five employees took part in a short one-month beta test with a QuitBit prototype. While Ghofrani doesn’t point to this as concrete scientific proof of QuitBit’s effectiveness, every one of the device’s users had cut down their smoking by an average of 30 percent.
This, in addition to his own experience, gives Ghofrani confidence that QuitBit will succeed. He expects QuitBit to start shipping sometime in December.


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WideOrbit, an ad tech platform that works with local stations, said it launched ZingX, a buy-side platform agencies and advertisers can use to access TV inventory.
“With over 20 years’ experience as the leader in premium broadcast technology and the largest sell-side processor of premium advertising, WideOrbit is excited to bring that expertise to the buy side with ZingX,” WideOrbit founder and CEO Eric Mathewson said. “Optimized for the buyer, ZingX leverages WO Marketplace, our sell-side platform broadcasters already use, making it easy for buyers to access the reach, effectiveness, and brand safety of premium local TV advertising.”
ZingX automates the ad-buying process, enabling users to build a campaign by defining a budget, price goals, audiences, target markets and dayparts. Users can also preview allocated impressions and budgets and adjust them if needed.
The new platform is aimed at ad agencies and demand-side platforms that specialize in digital advertising but are being asked by their clients to expand into TV, Brian Thoman, senior VP of software engineering, told Broadcasting+Cable.
“The traditional method of buying isn't going away,” Thoman said. The buying done via ZingX will be “incremental at first, at least at the start. It's the digital brands, the digital agencies, the DSPs buying TV where they haven't been buying TV. They may buy cable networks or local cable, but they haven't broken into local broadcast. Those are the targets.”
WideOrbit has had ZingX in beta before the launch.
"Our two-year partnership with WideOrbit has made broadcast TV extraordinarily simple for our clients to buy, putting large audiences and scalability at their fingertips," said Michelle Ricciuti, director, media strategy at Bliss Point Media, part of Tinuiti. "The addition of broadcast TV complements our branded performance approach with patented tech to build brand value, acquire customers, and boost digital conversions."
ZingX could only automate local broadcast buying so much because few local stations are automated end to end.
“There’s a trafficking system in the middle, so our platform presents the buy-side offers to the sell side and they can review that in our WO Marketplace SSP, review that against the business they have currently on their books and make a decision whether to accept or reject that offer,” Thoman said.
An optimizer built into ZingX is designed to predict that acceptance and what the price should be, he said.
“After that point, getting the order into the traffic system is WideOrbit’s bread and butter. We’ve had our other platforms doing that for decades,” Thoman said.
Despite the human element still being a part of the equation, media buys through ZingX can still be executed quickly, often in the same week. If an order is made on Monday, the spot could be on the air by Wednesday, Thoman said. There’s more of a crunch for an order made on Thursday because of how weekend ad logs are compiled.
Bottom line, ZingX is a step in the right direction, Thoman said. “It needs to be easier to buy TV,“ he said. “It’s cumbersome, it’s challenging and there are always going to be hand-held deals for very premium inventory. But I think the balance of the business is going to start to move to automated platforms, especially because digital is so accessible and easy to buy. The broadcast and linear channels are going to have to move in that direction.” ■
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Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.


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If a financial institution looks beyond the hype of AI and tempers its expectations, it can use AI to deliver measurable business results. That’s been the experience of Amount’s director of decision science Garrett Laird.
In this conversation, we have a really cool conversation on fintech, crypto assets, payments and all the things around it with Ivan Soto-Wright, the CEO and Co-founder of MoonPay.
More specifically, we discuss Liability-driven Investment (LDI), the proliferation of AI in personal finance to drive sound decision-making, innovation in finance is following the same trajectory that resulted in VOIP for the telecommunication industry, the geographical maze of crypto KYC, payment networks, and crypto payment processing.
In this conversation, we break down recently published annual reports from Revolut, Starling and Monzo, three of the leading European digital banks. There are some fascinating insights to be drawn from the documents, especially in the context of the broader global fintech market. This is rich subject matter, and we surely didn’t cover everything.
This week, we cover these ideas:
Klarna’s $640 million raise and its $45 billion valuation, and how its business model arbitrages the payments revenue pool to build a lending business
Pinduoduo’s growth path to a $150B marketcap, and the links between shopping, media, and financial mechanisms that help it compete with Alibaba
A comparison of approaches to growth and economics
Implications for crypto assets for capturing “the real economy”
Klarna is raising $640 million on a $45 billion private valuation, with over $1 billion in net operating income. The buy-now-pay-later company has over 90 million active customers and 250,000 merchants. It was founded in Sweden in 2005.
On the other side of the ocean, Chinese ecommerce company Pinduoduo is beating Alibaba with 820 million active buyers, generates over $3 billion in revenue per quarter, connects buyers to 12 million farmers, and has a market capitalization of $150 billion. It was founded in China in 2015.
In this conversation, we chat with Rhett Roberts, the Co-Founder and CEO of LoanPro – a new breed of software company that is API-driven, cloud-native and easily scalable. Rhett and his co-founders created the company out of necessity when they ran an auto lending business as they could not find anything flexible enough to suit their own needs.
More specifically, we touch on all things around the lending industry, the auto lending industry and how everything there works, and of course, why LoanPro is such an awesome company, and so much more!
This week, we look at:
Pipe’s $150 million raise at a $2 billion valuation to turn annualized revenue run-rate into a new peer-to-peer asset class
BitClout’s $200 million of Bitcoin contributions and its mechanisms to turn social media profiles into digital assets
How both projects trade future performance for current monetization
In this episode, we connect with serial founder Ohad Samet, CEO of TrueAccord. Ohad has been working in fintech machine learning for a decade and a half, applying multi-dimensional mathematics to consumer finance. The result? A more empathetic approach to the traditionally gnarly problem of debt collection.
In this conversation, we chat with Adam Hughes – the Chief Executive Officer at Amount, a technology company focused on accelerating the world’s transition to digital financial services via its digital retail banking platform, world-class digital authentication & fraud prevention tools, and ecommerce point-of-sale financing technology.
More specifically, we touch on digital lending industry Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), as well as the trends of working with large banks and enabling their digital transformation to access some of these themes as part of embedded finance and banking-as-a-service.


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Goodbye sweaty baggy old T-shirts, hello nice gym clothes. Top sportswear brand, Nike has some great news as it recognises that the struggle is real for some of us who can’t always find gymgear to fit.
Nike is expanding its size-range to fit us all as athletes no matter what size or shape we are and we hope this will inspire other brands follow suit.
We believe everyone has the right to workout in sportswear which makes us look and feel great and it’s fantastic that Nike now gives us all this option.
Nike’s message on Plus-Size is very clear, “The motivation in young girls today is to be strong. And while strong looks different for everybody, what’s consistent in athletes today is that fitness is very much a part of her lifestyle. As the number one sports brand for women and girls globally, our motivation is to ensure she has the solutions to achieve her full potential as an athlete. So when we design for her, whether she is elite or an everyday athelete, our goal is to ensure she is equipped for sport.
Ultimately, beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and being strong is beautiful. Strong is the keyword for use; size doesn’t matter”.
The line includes shorts, T-shirts, running tights and jackets in size 1X to 3X and bras upto a size 38E. Nike will continue to expand its range and it can now be bought both online and instore.
Nike said in a statement “The Nikewomen collection is celebrating and advocating all athletes. Nike recognizes that women are stonger, bolder, and more outspoken than ever. In today’s world, sport is no longer something that she does, it’s who she is. The days where we have to add ‘female’ before ‘athlete’ are over. She is an athlete, period. And having helped fuel this cultural shift, we celebrate these athletes’ diversity, from ethnicity to body shape”.


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This Tuesday, April 9, is an unofficial holiday for Ben & Jerry's fans. The Vermont-based ice cream maker is giving out free ice cream cones at its stores for Free Cone Day, a promotion that dates back to the company's early history.
In 1978, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened the first Ben & Jerry's store in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont. The business was a success, and on the one-year anniversary of its grand opening, Ben and Jerry held the first-ever Free Cone Day as a way to say thank you to the customers who supported them.
That local giveaway has since exploded into an international event. Ben & Jerry's in Saratoga Springs, New York joined the fun in 1984 and became the first shop outside of Vermont to participate in Free Cone Day. By 1993, every Ben & Jerry's in the U.S. was giving way free cones at the start of ice cream season, and today the holiday is marked in stores around the world.
As the Ben & Jerry's brand has grown in popularity over the decades, so has Free Cone Day: The company gave away 1 million scoops of ice cream on Free Cone Day 2015. To take advantage of this year's offer, visit your local Ben & Jerry's shop on April 9 between 12 p.m. and 8 p.m. local time. Just be prepared to wait in a long line with follow ice cream lovers. You can find a Ben & Jerry's store near you here.


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"Performance with Purpose" - -the idea is to link green efforts in all businesses to the bottom line. Consider the examples that were discussed in the April 4, 2011 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek:
In Leicester, England, employees at Walkers - - the Lay's chips of Europe -- have worked with academic and outside engineers during the past year to build a contraption that will attach to rooftop exhaust stacks. Cooling tubes being tested inside the stacks or other gear will condense the steam and return 80% or more of it as water to the plant. A second device in development would strip cooking oil, previously trapped in the steam during frying, from the condensed water for reuse or sale.
PepsiCo hopes to create technologies that can be replicated in its other facilities, multiplying the savings. The goal is to pull one U.K. chip plant off the public water grid by 2013 and four more by 2018. The environmental impact would be large: The Leicester plant alone uses 185 million gallons of water a year, enough to fill all the tanks at the London Sea Aquarium 350 times over.
The beverage giant's Frito-Lay unit, which operates the world's seventh-largest private delivery fleet, is putting 176 all-electric box trucks on the road in places such as California, Texas, and the Pacific Northwest. The tucks are expected to cut PepsiCo's diesel consumption by 500,000 gallons a year while curbing greenhouse emissions by 75% over combustion engines. At a conservative $3 a gallon, PepsiCo would save $1.5 million a year on fuel, says Mike O'Connell, the snack division's fleet director. "It's an insurance policy against volatility."
The trucks will also cut annual maintenance costs by as much as $700,000. An additional 150 trucks a year could be converted to electric as PepsiCo, which wants to cut its corporate fuel costs in half by 2020, works to replace half its 4,000 medium-duty vehicles. Thanks to government grants, the electric trucks are only slightly more expensive than their diesel counterparts. O'Connell says. Since diesel trucks are rising in price while the cost of electric technology is falling, he says electric vehicles may reach parity in a year or two, even without government subsidies.
PepsiCo's calculations also show the electric trucks will cost less to own than its diesel vehicles over the same 10-year life span. "We are able to do the right thing for the organization from a financial return and significantly reduce our greenhouse gases," he says. "We find the sweet spot in both."
PepsiCo's Chief Executive Officer, Indra K. Nooyl, discusses Performance with Purpose - -


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The tax credit, part of the US government’s Recovery Act, applies to 75 percent-efficient biomass burning stoves and can be used for the purchase and installation of the stove, venting, and hearthpads.
“This new tax credit is a great way for consumers to save up to 30 percent on a wood stove or pellet stove purchase,” says Jon Chapman, marketing manager for Rich’s for the Home.
A homeowner who spends $3,000 on a stove, for instance, can claim a 30 percent tax credit – or $900 – on his or her federal income tax return, Chapman explains. The credit either increases the tax refund or decreases the tax bill, dollar-for-dollar.
The tax credit is good on all stove and fireplace brands Rich’s for the Home carries, including Lopi, Hearthstone, Avalon, Morso, and Harman. People who purchase stoves will receive certification that the product qualifies for the tax credit.
“This tax credit is an outstanding achievement for the biomass stove industry,” says Chapman. “We’re cautiously optimistic that it will increase demand for the products.”
The benefits of heating with biomass
- Reduced heating costs – Wood and pellet prices fluctuate less than propane, oil, and natural gas.
- Green heating – Wood and pellet fuel is a carbon-neutral, renewable resource. Today’s stoves produce more heat with less wood and are clean-burning, with less ash and minimal outside air emissions. They eliminate 75 percent of the carbon emissions associated with fossil fuel burning.
For complete details about the tax credit:


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Advertising campaigns for personal care brands, especially the ones consumers use behind closed doors, often focus on helping consumers hide an issue rather than confront it. But a collection of brands this year capitalized on relatability—and an event program—to create irreverent, funny and honest campaigns that confidently told consumers in person: We get you, and others get you, too. In fact, what these next three brands demonstrate through stunts, platforms and sampling strategies, is that your brand can form a community for your users, no matter the category.
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As part of an Amazon Treasure Truck partnership, (Treasure Truck is the e-commerce giant’s daily deals program), Cottonelle on National Toilet Paper Day threw a toilet paper carnival. Held at Navy Pier in Chicago, the event played up Cottonelle’s branding icon (it’s a peach—use your imagination), and promoted its flushable wipes—all the while, celebrating the fact that it’s no secret what happens in the bathroom. Among activities for families: a slide fabricated to look like a giant roll of toilet paper for folks to ride down on; an “Over or Under” game; peach-tossing into basketball hoops fashioned from toilets, and a craft area where kids could finger paint on peach installations. Throughout the event, an emcee announced fun facts about the history of toilet paper. Anchoring the footprint was the Amazon Treasure Truck with a giant inflatable peach fashioned on top, as well as a performance area where comedian and Chicago native Rachel Dratch joined members from the comedy troupe The Second City for live improvs about toilet paper—think “dirty” jokes and “clean” sets (Allied Global Marketing handled). —R.B.
Facial hair trends are changing, and guys more and more are opting to keep their stubble or grow out their beards. So for its latest campaign, Schick Xtreme, with its blades that respond to and adapt to contours around the face and head, decided to modernize its messaging and form a community for its “superfans”—consumers with bald heads. The result: Bald Important People, a campaign launched during New York Fashion Week in September with an exclusive event for the brand’s “BIPs.”
To develop the program, Schick tapped into online communities, including a Reddit thread, where men (and a few women) who want to take the plunge and shave their heads seek advice from others with experience.
“It’s a new approach for us, and a different approach from the way razor brands have traditionally communicated with men. This is really about building a community,” says Nicole Cizynski, senior brand manager at Edgewell Personal Care. “You’ve got a lot of CPG companies out there who are pushing consumers to spark hair regrowth and urging them to try to maintain certain hair styles and we’re saying, ‘Hey, why don’t you try taking it all off?’ Bald is beautiful and bald is badass.”
For the campaign, Schick created the baldimportantpeople.com microsite, which features a gate that requires access to your device’s video monitor to have your image scanned with “Bald Recognition Technology.” If the scan detects hair, the user enters the “BIP Club.” (Everyone gets a coupon code for trying, hair or not.) The people that pass the test become part of an online community with access to products like the Xtreme3 Sensitive Disposable Razor and the Xtreme3 Pivot Ball Disposable Razor, designed for bald heads.
Select BIP members ultimately won an all-expenses-paid trip to The Baldest Party Ever during New York Fashion Week. The event (where a bald head was your ticket to get in) offered head-shaving stations for spontaneous moments, food and beverage, and bald influencer appearances by Netflix series “Styling Hollywood” stars Adair Curtis and Jason Bolden, as well as American professional mixed martial artist and professional wrestler Cain Velasquez.
“What we’re also seeing is when guys do take that plunge and go bald, it actually sparks this self-improvement journey. Through a lot of social listening and talking with these consumers and some of our influencers, we recognized that this is a pivotal point in his life when he is seeing himself for the first time without a head of hair,” Cizynski says. “He’s then more interested in exploring, whether it be new style ideas or getting into better shape or becoming more open to new experiences. And that’s all really at the core of what the Schick Xtreme brand is about, and the benefit that we want to give them” (Agency: Edelman, New York City).
Oral-care brand Hello Products debuted its on-demand mobile teeth-brushing station called Spyt, which travels on the back of a Vespa and gives anybody off the street the opportunity to brush their teeth right there on the spot. The brand launched the product based on an insight that 30 percent of millennials say they only brush their teeth once a day. (Right?!)
The program took place in New York City over the summer and featured a scooter with a fully functional, tile-lined sink—complete with a toothbrush, several flavors of toothpaste, mouthwash and floss—mounted on the back of each bike. To keep the process fresh and clean, drivers sanitize the sink after each session and serve as brand ambassadors urging consumers to give it a whirl.
“I can pass out samples of toothpaste easily, but people are going to have to take that home, and maybe throw it in their bag and it gets lost,” says Amy Calhoun Robb, vp-marketing at Hello. “But this is a way where people have the opportunity to experience the product right then and right there, with all the tools they need.”
During the program, Spyt traveled to where people might congregate in large groups, such as coffee shops, and restaurant and bars, with plans to appear in the festival space in the future. In the meantime, interested consumers can sign up on the website’s “Spyt List” to be notified when the service comes to new markets (Agencies: Humanaut, Chattanooga, TN, production; Fancy Rhino, Chattanooga, TN, post-production; Junction 37, media, New York City). —K.H.
Three More Ideas for Personal Care Marketers:
Skintimate’s Shave Bar where women could stop to get their legs shaved and enjoy a cocktail (inspired by one of the shave gel scents). The insight behind the program—that men will head to the barber shop for a fresh shave before a special event, but what’s the social equivalent for a woman? U by Kotex created a period pop-up shop that offered women a lively and hip shopping experience surrounding the typically unpleasant experience of the monthly cycle. And bidet brand Tushy created a convention for “like-behinded” folks and those in the bathroom industry.


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Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) has sent out an interesting press release, which states that the company has now taken second position for overall sales in the 2-wheeler market (Domestic and Export). This means that Honda has overtaken Bajaj Auto. The press release starts by introducing the company as the only Honda in the Indian 2-wheeler industry! The Japanese automaker has recorded its highest sales in India till date (it first started sales 13 years ago).
So where exactly does Honda stand? The company has a market share of 24% in India and sold 2,87,117 units in July 2013. Out of these 2.87 lakh units, 1,47,635 are motorcycles and 1,39,542 are scooters. This is the first time Honda has sold more motorcycles than scooters and the company believes the Dream series (Neo and Yuga) is the reason for this fantastic performance. The company has also started production at its third plant, where the Honda Activa is being made in Narsapura, Karnataka.
Meanwhile Bajaj Auto sold 2,46,828 units last month (including exports). So Honda is indeed ahead but remember, out of the 2.47 lakh units the Pulsar manufacturer sold, zero were scooters. So Bajaj Auto is still ahead of Honda in terms of motorcycle sales and the Indian automaker is ahead by a whooping 1 lakh units. It will take Honda some time to catch up and had Bajaj sales not dropped in the last month, Honda wouldn’t have overtaken them. The strike at Bajaj Auto’s Chakan plant meant hindrance in production and sales but it’s too early to comment on the actual effect. So is Honda’s second position short lived? We certainly think so!


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In an interview with PTI, the GCMMF MD (in charge) said it had clocked a strong growth in revenue last fiscal, as demand for branded dairy products rose significantly post-COVID.
"We expect the sales momentum to continue across our product portfolio. Demand is shifting from unorganised to organised players," he said.
Mehta said the federation is also focusing on growing organic food and edible oil businesses, which are currently very small.
Asked about milk prices, Mehta said, "We have no plans to increase rates as of now".
He pointed out that input cost has risen by 15 per cent in the last one year, forcing the cooperative to hike retail prices to some extent last year.
GCMMF did not hike prices in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID, he said, adding that rates were raised a few times last year.
GCMMF passes on around 80 per cent of retail prices to dairy farmers.
Mehta said the GCMMF's milk procurement increased in March and will rise this month as well.
"Farmers are getting good prices. So, milk supply is improving," he said, the flush season will also start soon in South India, which will boost supply.
Mehta noted that the demand rose sharply in 2022 post-COVID and the trend would continue, although the pace of growth should moderate this year on base effect.
He also said the demand-supply situation would remain balanced in near future.
GCMMF currently has 98 milk processing plants across the country with an installed capacity of 470 lakh litres per day. It is collecting on an average of 270 lakh litres per day.
The federation will expand capacity by 30-40 lakh litres per day in the next two years, the MD said.
In the last fiscal, GCMMF reported 21 per cent growth in fresh products, which contributes 50 per cent to its turnover.
Ice cream range grew by 41 per cent.
"We have achieved volume sales growth in all product categories. Pouch milk, which is the highest turnover product, has shown volume growth in double digits. Apart from this, our products like butter, ghee, Ice Cream, UHT milk, flavoured milk, paneer, and fresh cream have also shown double-digit growth," Mehta had said recently.
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Glanbia makes key appointments
22 May 2013
The board of Glanbia has announced that John Moloney, group managing director, is to retire at the end of this year. Siobhán Talbot, group finance director, has been appointed Moloney’s successor.
Talbot will become group managing director designate from 1 June, 2013 to ensure a smooth transition of the leadership of the company. Glanbia will announce the appointment of a new group finance director in due course. Talbot was appointed group finance director and to the board of Glanbia in 2009. She brings a wide range of operational, financial and strategy experience to her new role. She is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.
Glanbia also announced appointments and organisational changes effective from 1 June, 2013. Hugh McGuire has been appointed to the Board as an executive director with responsibility for global performance nutrition. McGuire joined Glanbia in 2003 and has been chief executive officer of performance nutrition since 2008. Brian Phelan, who was appointed to the board on 1 January, 2013 as an executive director will take up the role of chief executive officer of global ingredients, a newly formed business segment incorporating the US cheese business as well as global nutritionals’ ingredient technologies and customised premix solutions. Phelan was previously group development and global cheese director and joined Glanbia in 1993. In addition, Billy Murphy, non-executive director, will retire from the board on 1 June, 2013 having served 24 years. He joined the group in 1977 and was deputy managing director from 2001 to 2005.
Commenting on the new appointments, group chairman Liam Herlihy, said: "The board is delighted that the leadership of Glanbia is passing smoothly into strong and capable hands, with a good period of transition. It is a credit to the Group’s succession planning that we have been able to appoint three very high calibre individuals from within. The board is confident that we have the right leadership team and skills in place as we enter an exciting new chapter of global growth."


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According to a press release, Thai Union Group PCL (Thai Union) has invested in Orgafeed, one of the leading insect-based pet treat start-ups in Thailand.
Orgafeed produces sustainable pet food and pet treats based on insect protein under their brand “Laika.”
Black soldier fly larvae, which are raised on a diet from pre-consumed food waste, are used, thus supporting circular economy principles.
“At Thai Union, innovation and sustainability are two important pillars of our business,” said CEO of i-Tail, Thai Unionn, Roy Chan, in the press release. “The pet industry is experiencing strong humanization and premiumization trends, which has led to customers looking for healthier and more sustainable products, thus driving our portfolio towards sustainable pet products, such as insect protein, where the environmental impact (emissions, land and water usage) is significantly lower than other kinds of farmed protein.”
While some find the idea of insect-based pet food or treats intriguing or industrious, others may find it to be…well…somewhat icky.
However, according to PetMD, cats and dogs eat insects all the time on purpose or by accident and the manufactured product looks just like pretty much any other form of dog or cat food we’re used to seeing.
That being said, U.S. consumers will probably not be able to purchase insect-based pet food or treats directly anytime soon. According to PetMD,, “Insects are not currently a permitted ingredient in commercial pet foods in the US.”
For more about pros and cons of insect-based pet food, check out the rest of this informative article at PetMD: https://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/what-insect-based-pet-food
Featured image: Dog treats from Orgafeed, under the “Laika” brand (Credit: Orgafeed)