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Microsoft has officially announced a follow-up to Windows 10. Imaginatively titled Windows 11, it will continue the long-running Windows operating system lineup and will serve as a contradiction to Microsoft’s previous assertion that Windows 10 would be the final iteration of Windows. Of course, the tech giant has since said that Windows 10 was never meant to be the last version, but whatever the truth might be, the fact is that there’s a new edition of Windows on the way.
What’s not clear, however, is whether or not you should be excited for Windows 11. In many ways, it’s a bold leap forward for Microsoft and Windows, with lots of new quality-of-life features and minor visual redesigns coming to make the whole experience feel that little bit more user-friendly. In others, however, it’s a safe bet, so if you’re looking for a total overhaul, you’re not likely to find it here. So, should you be excited for Windows 11? Let’s break it down a little.
Windows 11 won’t reinvent the wheel
What we know of Windows 11 so far suggests that we’re not in for a radical change. Instead, Windows 11 will build on the visual and experiential styles pioneered in Windows 10, adding to what’s already there rather than totally overhauling it. If you’re hoping for something akin to the change from Windows 98 to Windows XP, you’re not going to get something quite that drastic here. With that in mind, if the reason you’re excited for Windows 11 is because you’re going to get a totally new and totally fresh operating system, you might want to temper your expectations a little.
A brand new Start bar is coming
With that said, a lack of innovation on an overall basis absolutely doesn’t mean that nothing is changing. If you don’t like the look of the current Windows 10 start bar – and many have said that it’s somewhat lacking – then Windows 11 has you covered. All of the major tasks you can perform with the Start bar will be moving into the centre of the screen, and the tile-based approach favoured by Windows 10 is gone to a certain extent too, replaced by a news feed view that will prioritise content Windows’ algorithm thinks you’ll like.
Skype fans beware
Of course, you’ll still be able to download and use Skype if you want to when Windows 11 rolls out later this year. However, Microsoft seems to want to phase out users’ and businesses’ reliance on Skype, since it’s packaging Microsoft Teams as part of Windows 11. Meetings and chats will default to Teams rather than Skype, which probably shouldn’t come as a surprise given the massive boost in popularity for Teams during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you love Skype, Windows 11 might be cause for commiseration, not celebration.
Snap layouts are a multitasker’s dream
If you’re frequently multitasking when you’re working on Windows, then Windows 11 is definitely going to bring a lot of much-needed improvements. The new Snap Layout feature allows you to exert greater control over how you view all of your windows. You can arrange different windows in various configurations, including oblongs so you can view more content, squares so you can fit more windows together, and more. With Snap Groups, you can also tell Windows which layouts to remember, then call them up again later if you want to rearrange your content in that same way.
Windows 11 will be good for gamers
There’s no getting around it: Xbox Game Pass offers some of the best value around if you’re a gamer, especially if you’ve got a souped-up gaming PC. Even if you’re still rocking a laptop, though, Xbox Game Pass has plenty to offer in the way of smaller indie titles that don’t eat up resources. Windows 11 will come with the Xbox app pre-installed and Xbox Game Pass will be a big part of Microsoft’s strategy for the platform, so if you’re a gamer, you should be very excited about Windows 11. We certainly won’t be seeing a repeat of the Games for Windows fiasco anytime soon, that’s for sure.
If you like the square design, you might be out of luck
One thing you’ve probably realised about Windows 10, especially if you love its design, is that it’s got a very deliberately jagged aesthetic. Where other operating systems like macOS, iOS, and Android use rounded corners and smoothed edges, Windows is very “square”, with lots of sharp corners. Windows 11 will change that, bringing Windows far more in line with its competitors. We’re big fans of the new style change Microsoft has opted for here, but not everyone will be, so if you don’t like the new look, here’s hoping Microsoft will give you a chance to change it back.
You might not have a choice after 2025
After 2025, Microsoft will be phasing out support for Windows 11, meaning that if you do still like Windows 10, you’re going to be out of luck where support for programs and updates is concerned. Of course, there won’t be anything technically stopping you from running a machine with Windows 10 on it, but Microsoft won’t guarantee compatibility or security updates for the platform, meaning that if something goes wrong, you’ll be on your own. If, for whatever reason, you’re not excited for Windows 11, you’ve got a few years to get on board before Microsoft disregards its previous platform entirely.
With all of this in mind, it’s impossible to state definitively whether you should or shouldn’t be excited for Windows 11. Any of these specific items could be deal-breakers for you one way or the other, so the only thing that remains is simply to see how the operating system performs when it arrives on the market later this year!


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What you need to know
- Russia has passed a law banning the sale of devices that do not come pre-installed with Russian software.
- The new law will come into force in July 2020.
- It covers smartphones, computers, and televisions.
A report today has revealed that Russia has passed a law banning the sale of technology devices that do not come pre-installed with Russian software.
According to the BBC, the legislation will come into force in July 2020, and covers smartphones, computers and smart TVs. Backers of the legislation say it will help promote Russian technology, and make it easier for Russians to use the tech they buy.
Importantly, the law will not prohibit companies from including their own, normal software:
A co-author of the bill, Oleg Nikolayev, said:
Distributors and manufacturers in Russia have criticized the move, claiming that installing Russian-made software on some devices will be impossible and that many international companies may simply leave the market as a result. Perhaps more worryingly, concerns have also been raised that the Russian-made software may be used to spy on its users.
The report notes that the government is yet to compile a list of all devices affected. The list of software that requires pre-installation will also be determined by the government. There are no specifics yet, but as the law covers smartphones and computers, no doubt Apple, Google, Samsung, and HTC could all fall foul of the move, as well as computer manufacturers like Dell and Lenovo. Tim Cook may well have convinced President Trump to grant Apple relief from US tariffs in China, but he'll probably struggle to get out of this one...
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What is the future of cacao in Asia? That is a very difficult question to answer. On one hand, there are difficult times in Indonesia and Vietnam, while on the other hand cacao is thriving in unexpected places like Cambodia and Taiwan.
Let’s take it step-by-step, region by region, country by country. We will skip the locations in the Pacific region like Hawaii, Vanuatu, Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Samoa with the exception of Papua New-Guinea (we consider this a part of the Indonesian archipelago) . For those who want to know more details about the history of cacao in South-East Asia, you can check out this page.
According to an older article by Max Gandy – on her famous blog Damecacao – a certain Taiwanese called Chiu was the one who brought cacao to the ‘Republic of China’ in 2003. He started not only the first cacao farm in Taiwan (in Pintung County) but also the first bean-to-bar chocolate company. 16 years later there are six cacao farms in Taiwan, while Taiwanese chocolate makers are making world fame.
FuWan chocolate won dozens of gold, silver, and bronze awards at the World Finals of the International Chocolate Awards 2019. And FuWan was not the only one. Also their Taiwanese colleagues of Zeng Zhiyuan, Q Sweet, Chuang Chocolate, Cemas Kakanen, Cocoa Yummy, Cona’s, and Love Brown Cacao were honoured. The future of Taiwan chocolate looks brighter than ever. However, the future of Taiwan cacao will always be overshadowed by limited production, due to the climate. The fact that hardly any cacao beans are leaving the island underlines the continuous scarcity of Taiwan cacao.
Yes, you read it well: China. More, in particular, the southern island Hainan. The driving force behind the cacao initiative is the Hainan Wanning Xinlong cocoa company. This company started in 2012 by building a demonstration hub. According to their website, they support now a group of farmers with a total of 1,000 acres (around 400 hectares). This should translate into a minimum of 800 metric tonnes of cacao per year. If Taiwan is able to successfully grow cacao, then the more southern located Hainan island must certainly be able to kick off a healthy cacao production.
A first report has been published where researchers compare cacao beans from Hainan with Papua New-Guinea, and Indonesia. The Hainan beans are 20% smaller than the Indonesian beans and contain 25% less butter. But it is unclear if the trees, from which the researched beans originate, are of a similar age. At this moment it is still unclear if the future of cacao in Asia will get a good push in the right direction with Hainan cacao.
India is accelerating in terms of cocoa. not only in terms of production but especially also in terms of consumption. Less than 10 years ago, the average Indian ate only 25 grams of chocolate per year. Now they already put 170 grams per year in their mouths. This opens up a wealth of possibilities for local chocolate companies who now can experiment by mixing chocolate with local Indian spices. Despite the still very modest consumption of chocolate per capita, India was already one of the top 5 chocolate consuming countries in the world in terms of total consumption in 2016. This is of course also due to the enormous population of 1.3 billion people.
Why do Indians suddenly love chocolate so much? In a consumer study, Mintel found that over two in five Indian consumers believe sweet or sugary snacks like chocolates and cakes are healthy, with one in three looking to these kinds of snacks as an energy source.
Local production of cacao simply can’t keep up. It grows fast but not fast enough. According to mister Venkatesh H Hubballi, Director, Directorate of Cashewnut & Cocoa Development (DCCD), the production of cacao has risen by 46 percent to 18,920 tonnes in 2016-17 from 12,954 tonnes in 2009-10. Venkatesh also explains in his interview in the Hindu Business Line that the amount of hectares has increased to 82,940 hectares. But the yield per hectare will definitely be lower than average. Because Indian farmers intercrop cacao trees heavily with other trees like coconut, areca nut, oil palm, and rubber.
There can’t be any other conclusion that with this super fast-growing chocolate demand, Indian farmers will decide to plant more and more cacao. Especially the southern region of India (Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala) are suitable for the cacao crop. No doubt that in the next two decades, these regions will join the ranks of the largest producing areas of cacao.
Despite a long history of cacao growing, Sri Lanka still produces a modest 1,300 metric tons of dry cacao beans. For centuries, the Dutch used Sri Lanka as an important trading post in the Indian ocean. But besides some limited activities, they were never seriously interested in planting cacao in Sri Lanka, despite the favorable climate conditions. When the Dutch were occupied by the French in 1796, the British saw their opportunity and took control of the island. And it was the British who started the commercial cultivation of cacao in Sri Lanka in 1834.
Nevertheless, cacao production doesn’t seem to increase in Sr Lanka. It is difficult to find a reason why cacao is not gaining momentum. With the fast-growing chocolate consumption of India next door, it seems a golden opportunity.
The Philippines, as a colony of the Spaniards, were the first region outside the Americas where cocoa was planted.
Hernan Cortes was the first Spaniard who recognized the qualities of the cacao beans in 1519. But it took more than a century before Westerners planted cacao outside of the Mayan territories. The Dutch started cacao plantations in Curacao island in 1620. France introduced cacao to islands like Martinique, St Lucia, and the Dominican Republic, between 1660 and 1714. The British grew cacao in Jamaica in 1670. And the Portuguese brought cacao to Ghana. But this was only in 1879.
In 1660, a Spanish galleon transported one single cacao plant from Mexico to the Philippines. It was a gift for Bartolome Brabo, a priest in Camarines Norte. This plant can well be the mother of most of the cacao in Asia. Because it was from the Philippines that the cacao tree found her way into Malaysia and Indonesia.
With such a reputation as the motherland of cacao in Asia, one would expect the Philippines to be a major world producer of cacao. However, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) shows that cacao yield only reached 8,000 metric tons in 2018. The Davao region is responsible for 80% of this yield.
Indeed, the Philippines used to be a top producer of cacao, However, in the 1980s a series of diseases like the black pod rot and the pod borer brought the cacao industry almost on its knees. Mono cropping and poor pests and disease management were the cause of this drama.
What is the future of cacao in the Philippines?
But Philippino cacao is on the rise again. The quality of Pinoy cacao also keeps improving. For the very first time won a Philippino farmer the main award for the top 20 best cacao beans in the world, in August 2019. Jose Saguban, a cocoa farmer from Davao, received his award at the Salon Du CHocolate 2019 in 2019. The Cocoa of Excellence Programme organized the event.
According to this document, Malacca has the honor of growing the first cacao tree in Malaysia. In 1778 a tree was found in the garden of a Portuguese widow in Malacca. The earliest cacao commercialization started between 1853 and 1859 in Jerangua, Terengganu. But it was only after World War II that cacao became a crop of some significance. After 1960 there was no turning back to cacao fever.
In the 1980s Malaysia even became the world’s third-largest cacao producer. The cacao area had expanded across more than 400,000 hectares. But also here the story that happened in several other countries like Brazil and the Philippines repeated: bad management, mono-cropping, and diseases took their toll. I myself also suspect that farmers in general never take action when their cacao pass the age of 25 and 30. They don’t replace their aging cacao trees because they don’t want to wait for at least three years till their trees are giving yield. In the meantime, their cacao trees grow older and older, become more vulnerable to diseases, and give lower and lower yields.
According to the Malaysian Cocoa Board, the cacao growing area has shrunk to an estimated 15,000ha in 2018, producing only 8,000 tonnes of cocoa beans.
What is the future of cacao in Malaysia?
Wilfred Ng is the director of the most significant Malaysian chocolate company, Benns chocolate. He sees in the worldwide growing popularity of craft chocolate a great chance for Malaysian cacao farmers. In an interview with the Star Online he tells that especially the soil conditions of parts of Malaysia are a golden opportunity for Malaysian farmers. “One good example is the durian. While the fruit is native to South-East Asia, the best durian varieties can only be produced here. Same with cacao, we can have some of the best cacao here to produce high-quality products such as bean-to-bar chocolates”, says Ng.
There is a lot of dispute about the introduction of cacao to Indonesia. Some like G. Wood claim that cacao found its way as early as 1560, while others like Frederic Durand talk about the period of 1690-1719. The latter seems far more plausible. Spanish Jesuit priests could have been the ones to bring cacao from Manila to the Maluku islands and Sulawesi. But it is also possible that Dutch ships carried cacao plants from South America through Sri Lanka to Sulawesi.
Largest cacao producer in Asia
Despite attempts by several Indonesians and Dutch, cacao remained an insignificant crop in Indonesia until the second half of the 20th century. The great 1970’s cacao price spike created a fantastic boom in cacao production. Indonesia became a world player in the cacao market. Many small-scale farmers started planting cacao in the 1980s. And within 10-15 years Indonesia became the world’s third-largest cacao producer.
But Indonesia is on the way down. In 2014 the production was still 400,000 metric tons, in 2019 the volume declined with almost 50% to 220,000 metric tons. One could almost predict this development: small farmers have no financial resources to replace aging trees and to wait for the new yield, for three years without income. Sulhefi Sikumbang, the previous chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Association recognized the problem. According to his data nearly 70 percent of the cacao trees were ‘old’.
Is there a future for cacao in Indonesia?
Indonesia will still struggle for the upcoming decade, despite impressive moves by the government: the Indonesian government launched a USD $350 million program in 2009 to boost Indonesia’s cacao production, while it invested an additional USD $100 million in early 2015 to distribute seedlings. However, these efforts have shown limited results. Sikumbang said part of the problem is that the government has not succeeded in educating cacao farmers about better farming and fermentation techniques. The new chairman of the Indonesian Cocoa Association, Iskandar, says there is also the problem of ‘aging’ farmers.
But the government keeps trying. It started providing a special fertilizer suitable for cacao as of October 2019. And the Indonesian Cacao Association together with the government is finalizing a national program to raise output and improve the livelihood of farmers. Iskandar points out that this program aims to raise the country’s production to 600,000 tons by 2024.
The first encounter of the upper society in Thailand was with chocolate and not with cacao. 17th-century sources talk about the Portuguese picking up chocolate in Manila and taking it to the 17th-century Siam. Cacao plants only reached Thailand in the early 20th century, most probably brought in from Malaysia. According to Max Gandy, one of the world’s most renowned bloggers on chocolate and cacao, the journey of Thai cacao really took off in 1952, when the government began subsidizing cacao cultivation. Check out her blog on Thai cacao in Damecacao.
Another push in the right direction was the introduction of the Chumphon 1 variety. Dr. Pon developed this variety originally in Trinidad. But the name Chumphon 1 stuck when researchers at the Chumphon Horticultural Research Center in southern Thailand gave preference to this variety, due to its higher yield found that it gave them a higher yield. Nowadays it is mostly the yellow-colored Chumphon 1 that is growing in Thailand.
However, the total cacao yield in Thailand remains up to today, still very limited. With the exception of a small peak of almost 1,500 tons in the early 2000s (according to Factfish), production hangs around 125 tons per year. One of the causes of this lack of growth is climate change and the extended droughts connected to this change. This is one of the main reasons why the Chumphon collective is taking it literally higher. This group of independent farmers with 25,000 cacao trees (around 25 hectares) in southern Thailand are now also focusing on northern Thailand. They are developing more than 150,000 trees in Chiangrai and Nan, close to Myanmar, on altitudes between 300 and 500 meters.
Does the future of cacao in Thailand looks bright?
But something has changed in the Thai cacao scene. Damecacao’s Max Gandy, witnessed recently first hand a very rapid growing cacao and chocolate scene in Thailand. The journey of the Chumphon collective is another proof of this change.
And then there is also Dr. Sanh La-Ongsri. He is a lecturer at the Agricultural Production Faculty, Department of Horticulture at Maejo University. Dr. Sanh is already on a 30-year quest to push Thai cacao to higher levels. He created his own variety, the IM1, a hybrid of a Peru criollo with as Forastero variety from the Philippines. He and his wife are concentrating their efforts in the area around another northern province: Chiang Mai. His farmers only pay a small fee for the M1 seedlings and also receive training by his team. And most important from a farmer’s point of view: Dr. Sanh guarantees them a market for their cacao.
According to New Guinea Pidgin, German settlers brought cacao to Papua New-Guinea around 1900. The same website estimates the current yearly production of cacao on 45,000 tons. What is surprising is the number of fermenters, 5,500. These people buy wet beans from the farmers and ferment them in order to sell them to exporters. One of the main concerns for the current cacao productions is the lack of maintenance. A lack of pruning, pest control, and shade management will lead to diseases and low yields. This happened in the devastating period around 2006. The feared cocoa pod borer found its way to Papua New Guinea and ruined in some areas around 90 percent of the crop.
Another concern for buyers is the traditional way of drying cacao beans in wood-fired dryers. The developed smoke affects the taste of the beans. A few chocolatiers praise this ‘smoky’ flavor but most bean-to-bar companies try to avoid these cacaos.
Sponsors like the Global Environment Facility replace the traditional wood-fired dryers by new solar dome dryers. Initiatives like this immediately spark the interest of new buyers worldwide. UK’s chocolate Wave owner Martyn O’Dare mentions in an interview with Australia’s Phama: “It’s (cocoa) grown in paradise, has a unique taste. It has really powerful fruity notes, tobacco notes and lots of other flavors.”
Brad Kintzer of San Fransisco’s TCHO added: “If the cocoa is processed properly, it is some of the best cocoa in the world. Not all countries can say that. PNG really has a unique flavor profile that could be very much sought after in the developing specialty chocolate market. So there’s a lot of potentials for PNG to focus on quality and branding itself as one of the top flavor countries in the world.” In the future of cacao in Asia, PNG cacao will certainly fulfill an important role.
Cacao in Myanmar had a restart with one man: Jean-Yves Branchard. In 2003 he brought cacao seedlings of 15 different varieties in from a French research center in Vanuatu. In the course of the years, four of these varieties survived. Cocoa grows up to 20 degrees latitude north and south of the Equator. That makes the largest part of Myanmar above Yangon unsuitable. But the whole stretch from Yangon southwards could work well for cacao. However, according to a report of a Thai-Myanmar journal, a lot of soil in Myanmar tends to be too acidic to grow cacao trees. Nevertheless, Jean-Yves succeeded and even started a chocolate making company in the country in 2013, Ananda Cocoa & Coffee.
As of 2017, another French company started in Myanmar: Dyna Grow. Concentrating their efforts on the Tanintharyi region, in the complete south of Myanmar. They have set up a contract-farming construction and signed an agreement with 40 local farmers. What the farmers can expect? Technical support, free seedlings, and free natural fertilizers for a maximum of three years. Dyna Grow will buy back the cacao pods from the farmers but according to the same journal, they will pay quite a low price of 400 kyats for 1.6 kg, which comes to around 0.17 USD per kg. I personally think this incentive is too low to motivate new farmers.
The future for Myanmar cacao seems in better hands with Jean-Yves. And if you listen to the podcast interview on Damecacao with Jean-Yves of December 2019, you might agree.
After a two-year Sino-French war in 1885, the French obtained control over Vietnam. In 1887 they formed French Indochina with Cambodia. Laos became the last piece of the Indochine puzzle after the Franco-Siamese War in 1893. During the colonization period, Vietnam became the most lucrative area for France. This became even more clear when in the second half of the 20th century they easily gave up control over Cambodia and Laos but kept fighting against independence in Vietnam. Rubber and rice were the main agricultural sources of income for the colonizer. A catholic priest, Father Gernot, wanted to add cacao to this. He experimented in the southern Ben Tre province. The attempt however failed.
Cuba and USSR
After the American Vietnamese war in the 1980s, the Vietnamese government used coffee to grant small farmers private land ownership. This crop became an overwhelming success and even resulted in Vietnam becoming the number two coffee exporter in the world. The ruling communist party of Vietnam hoped to repeat the success with cacao. They hired experts from Cuba and the USSR. But when the plan was about to take off, the iron curtain fell and the USSR dissolved.
Finally, at the start of this new millennium and with the help of big market players like Cargill, Puratos, and Mars, cacao got the farmer’s attention, which it so desperately needed. Right now Vietnam is the proud producer of approximately 6,000 metric tons of cacao beans per year.
But the future of cacao in Vietnam is certainly not a given. There are worries, especially in the Mekong Delta. The continuous constructions of water dams by Chinese companies in the Mekong River in Laos affect the strong supply of water in the Delta. As a result, the earth becomes more and more salinized. Rice farmers can find a solution by changing to shrimp farming. But cacao farmers have to look on sadly at how the quality of their trees is declining. It also must become more and more difficult for the growing army of bean-to-bar makers in Vietnam like BelVie to source good quality Vietnamese cacao beans.
Luckily cacao is still doing very well in the Đắk Lắk Province in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam and is even expanding. Our former Vietnamese cacao consultant Lam Dinh supervises a recent development of 300 hectares in the rural Ea Súp district.
There are no written records on commercial cacao farming in Cambodia before 2014. We can fairly state that in the last few centuries Cambodia was consistently skipped as a location for growing cacao. The French had the best possibilities to introduce cacao in Cambodia but their main focus stayed on Vietnam. Cambodia (and Laos for that part) were economically far less interesting for this colonial power. Many regions in Cambodia were also or too flooded or too hot for cacao.
The best conditions for cacao farming were in the East, in the provinces Mondulkiri and Rattanakiri. The average altitude of 300 – 800 meter was perfect, the sea of tropical forests created a humid and less hot climate and the red, volcanic soil would later appear to be one of the best soils for the crop. But there was one setback: this region was almost unreachable and the forests impenetrable. Until the Chinese and the Vietnamese took interest in the availability of high-quality timber and started building the first asphalt road to the province of Mondulkiri in 2006/2007.
In 2014 the Dutchman Stefan Lambert Struik joined forces with the Cambodian Chanthol Chean. They turned to the previously mentioned Lam Dinh, the best cacao expert in South-East Asia for help. And halfway 2014 they planted the first commercial cacao in the history of Cambodia. They got ten different varieties from Vietnam; all of these on their turn originating from Malaysia (Prang Besar Cocoa varieties). A devastating drought put a temporary halt to the dream of this international duo. The drought even resulted in a complete stop of the famous 3-tier Bu Sra waterfall. Their dream of producing and exporting the first Cambodian beans in world’s history, completely burst. They had to start all over again in 2016. But in the end, it all paid off, especially thanks to the perseverance of Chanthol. His first modest yield was in 2018. And in 2019 he delivered the first 800 kg cacao beans to the brand-new chocolate makers of Wat Chocolate in Siem Reap.
What is the future of cacao in Cambodia?
2019 brought also the start of the first cacao association in Cambodia: CFARM, the Cacao Farmers Association Rattanakiri and Mondulkiri. This association now groups bigger farmers like Kamkav Farm with other new cacao farmers in these two provinces. In total, these farmers planted now around 40 hectares. CFARM director Veasna Em expects next year to welcome at least 20 more farmers. Personal export contacts in Japan, Thailand, Singapore, and the USA also help. They are music to the ears of the farmers. The future of cacao in Asia is getting a welcome push from this new Cambodian ‘cacao kid’ on the block.


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A bid to design a server made entirely from biodegradable materials was backed by social networking giant Facebook.
The social media firm wants students to help combat the mountain of discarded hardware by building a biodegradable server that can be flung on to the compost heap.
Facebook set up its Open Compute project with the aim of designing affordable, eco-friendly servers, and now has thrown down the gauntlet to students at Purdue University in the U.S., to come up with a design for a dissolvable server chassis, the Daily Mail reports.
According to the paper, the housings are typically made from steel, which can be recycled, but the project aims to move toward an even more sustainable design made from entirely biodegradable materials, according to a report on businessinsider.com.
If the project is a success it could see the creation of a computer server that will eventually break down entirely and decompose after it is discarded, the paper said.


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This is certainly exciting news. Dr Sajid Hakim, head of the cardiology department at Indus hospital has described what many are starting to call the first “paperless hospital” The Karachi-based hospital has integrated mobile right into the heart of the doctors’ daily work routines, and doctors will now be able to see important information about patients even if they’re not in the hospital at the time. It’s always nice to see technology being used to help save lives, and this hospital, that is primarily run on donations, has created a very heart warming story for itself.
The new age of cardiology: Heartbeats turn digital at country’s first paperless hospital
If you’ve ever wondered how important a role smartphones and wearable fitness gear could play in the world of health, this article certainly explains it well. A lot of patients are using gear like FitBrit or smartphone apps to keep healthy, and doctors would be smart to integrate their own advice and reach out to patients through these devices. Smartphones in particular now play a huge part in our lives, and if you are like many other smartphone owners, it’d be rare to see you without your smartphone close to you or on your person.
Smartphone apps automating customer care work with analytics, reducing workload on staff
Because of the connectedness of smartphone technology, it becomes extremely easy to send, share and view files across large groups of people when everybody has a smartphone in their hand. Enterprises in India are taking advantage of this by offering statistics and information straight to staff smartphones, allowing members of a company to quickly check information whilst doing other tasks. This is helpful for many different areas of business, but this article seems to highlight the potential benefits for jobs in customer service and support.
California goes mobile to educate farm workers on pesticide safety
A system in California has been put in place to help farmers ensure they are safely tending to their crops by providing educational videos readily available on smartphones to teach them about the dangers of mistreating pesticide and the plants they are growing. This system first started by offering farmers with text messages to help them do farming the right way, but this new video approach will help those who prefer to watch instead of read, and is also available in multiple languages to help with farmers who do not speak decent English.
So, although it’s unlikely we’ll ever see an Angry Birds White House edition, the US government have released some mobile apps, and some of them could prove very valuable to you. This article points out 5 apps that you may not know about that could be useful in your life. This includes apps for health care, food management and safety, and family care. These apps help to provide information all in one place to help you improve your day to day life as best as possible.
Using technology to maintain a personal touch with dental patients
Whilst it’s getting easier to search online and look after your own dental health, there’s nothing like a personal opinion from a professional, and by using technology, patients may be able to get the best of both worlds. By using an online system, a dental patient could search online about their dental health, but also easily book an appointment any time they may need to. Studies have shown that patients now prefer to book appointments online, but at the same time, they like to do the most they can for themselves when it comes to dental care and hygiene.
5 technologies catalyzing change in personal healthcare
In the future, technology will start to play a larger part of our personal healthcare than ever before, and we’ll see new technologies rise up, and old technologies be rewritten. These new technologies will of course be beneficial both to our own personal health and to the health of those around us, and as researchers get further into developing new technologies, the more benefits we will gain from using technology to help take care of us.
In the wake of a Boston tragedy, mHealth holds promise
This article is an interesting insight into how we’re already using our technology for mhealth without even realizing it. The Boston bombing was a terrible incident, but it showed victims use their smartphones to ensure that they are okay, and that everybody around them gets the support they need to make it home that day. Smartphones were used for calling emergency services and relatives, but it was also used for other reasons such as for check-ups on any injured people’s health conditions.
People are texting more than they are talking on their mobile phones. While many businesses are using text messaging as a great marketing or customer service tool, more companies are realizing that text messaging is a more efficient way to communicate with employees, independent contractors and franchisees as well.
Mobile messaging makes it easy to communicate with your on-the-go workforce, whether your mobile workforce is made up of sales reps, field technicians, marketing representatives, service agents, drivers or maintenance workers. We’ve listed some examples below of how text messaging can be used to improve communication efficiencies, saving companies both time and money.
5 Great Business Examples Using Text Messaging for Field Staff and Rep Communications:
Alerts and Announcements: Send real-time SMS updates and alerts to motivate and inform staff. Over 90% of text messages are read by recipients.
Efficient Support: Enable your workforce to send mobile questions and receive answers, saving time over incoming phone calls and voicemail.
Status Updates: Staff can notify the office while on-the-go of their whereabouts and activities, including posting photos with their phones.
Close Sales and Check Inventory: Quick checking of inventory numbers or to secure sales on-site at the client location.
Increase Visibility: Learn what works and what doesn’t by seeing common communication threads among your staff.
We offer free webinars that show how Mosio’s FieldForce can help you easily and efficiently use mobile messaging to maximize productivity, improve visibility and increase revenues.
Live Demo/Webinar: Text Messaging Uses for Field Staff Communications Sign Up Here
Contact Mosio for a quick quote and see how our two-way text messaging software can help.
4.1 billion+ text messages are sent daily in the U.S.
99% of mobile phones are SMS-enabled out of the box.
95% of mobile customers have text messaging plans.
While much of the mobile industry is focused on apps, location based services and more recently tablet devices, many mainstream consumers are just now catching up to text messaging in the U.S. It’s becoming as ubiquitous as a phone call with plenty of personal reasons when and why to use it instead of calling.
While consumers are obviously doing a lot more texting, more and more businesses are looking for ways to communicate with them via interactive, two-way text messaging software like Mosio. But more exciting is bigger business interest we are seeing via internal communications and FieldForce Mobile is quickly picking up steam.
Some of the uses, functions and industries where we’re seeing two-way text messaging interest or used:
Sales and Marketing Representatives
Field Rep Support
Alarm Company Technicians
Nationwide Remodelers and Repair
Field Service Agents
Couriers and Bike Messenger Companies
Our mobile messaging platform was built for any company with a nationwide, regional or city-wide mobile workforce interested in deploying mobile communications using the equipment they already have, without the need to buy new hardware (phones) or download mobile apps.


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300 million tonnes (Mt) of oil based plastics are produced per year. The development of the circular economy in this sector would help reduce consumption of natural resources and the greenhouse gas emissions inherent in plastic production. The plastic recycling targets set by the European Union are to avoid the emission of 8 Mt of CO2 by 2020 and 13 Mt by 2025.
Veolia collects and sorts 250,000 tonnes of plastic per year and recycles one billion PET bottles its plant at Rostock, in Germany, thus avoiding 100,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions (equivalent to the emissions produced by 14,000 Europeans) per year.
Since June, the Group has been a key partner in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's "The New Plastics Economy initiative” , whose mission is to develop a new approach to the plastic economy based on circular economy principles.


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By leveraging the potential of 3D printing, HP could create a long term success story that rivals other tech leaders.
Some say that audio and video production on Linux isn't feasible. This list of software proves otherwise.
Sirish Raghuram, co-founder and CEO at Platform9, discusses how his company's technology platform uses OpenStack to manage on-premises resources.
Businesses will experience an explosion of wearables at work, according to a new forecast from Research and Markets.
Hadoop in the cloud, also know as Hadoop-as-a-Service (HaaS), is a sub-category of Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS).


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San Miguel Brewery takes a shot at recovery over Pinoys’ love for beer
Beer giant San Miguel Brewery (SMB) has mapped out measures to conquer a slew of challenges arising from local lockdown protocols and liquor bans prompted by the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic alongside higher excise taxes this year.
In a report to shareholders in an annual meeting on Thursday, SMB president Roberto Huang said the company was ready to face challenges that have curbed business starting March this year.
“For us, this is a temporary setback and that this, too, shall pass. We believe that this crisis has only made us even stronger together,” Huang said.
This 2020, Huang said SMB’s thrust would be to recover from the impact of COVID-19 by adjusting operations to adopt to the new environment and shift in consumption pattern.
“We will strengthen the resilience of SMB in the alcoholic beverage market while pursuing the presence of our [nonalcoholic beverage business] in profitable areas,” Huang said.
“One way to meet this goal is to further strengthen demand for SMB beer products through product visibility and availability in the right channels and deepen brand love,” he said.
Huang said SMB would focus on sales programs that would improve trade enhancements, strengthen supply chain management and improve organizational effectiveness while implementing cost-containment measures.
For its international operations, Huang said the group would focus on volume recovery, development of modern trade channels and opening of new markets overseas.
Overall, SMB is aiming for a sustainable recovery from a slow first quarter.
“More than keeping the business in position to recoup after this pandemic, we are committed to see our great nation rise above the challenge of this episode,” Huang said.
The group has allocated massive resources to aid communities and individuals running the front lines of the war against COVID-19, particularly medical professionals, public servants and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Huang noted sharing of access through the group’s logistics network had contributed to greater efficiency in distributing goods to targeted beneficiaries.
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Get ahead of the market by subscribing to Seeking Alpha's Stocks to Watch, a preview of key events scheduled for the coming week. The newsletter keeps you informed of the biggest stories set to make headlines, including upcoming IPOs, investor days, earnings reports and conference presentations.
Economic releases dominate the calendar for the holiday-shortened week ahead. The Empire State Manufacturing Index will be released on January 18 to be followed by the produce price index report and retail sales report on January 19. The retail sales number for December is expected to be influenced by a more pronounced pull-forward of holiday sales in 2022 and weakness in categories that are associated with holiday shopping like clothing, furniture, general merchandise, and department stores. The week also includes a heavy slate of speeches from Federal Reserve members as the critical January 31-February 1 meeting of the FOMC starts to get closer. The earnings season kicks up another notch with key reports due in from Goldman Sachs (GS), Netflix (NFLX) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG). There is also a political wildcard to watch after the Treasury Department warned the U.S. will reach the debt limit on January 19 and will need extraordinary measures from Congress to avoid a default. In a technical look at the market, Fairlead Strategies warned that investors may be out in front of their skis with more than 60% of the S&P 500 stocks now affected by short-term overbought conditions. Analyst Katie Stockton said the overbought conditions suggests momentum will fade next week. "Past peaks in this breadth measure have provided early warning, preceding downdrafts in the SPX by a week or two," she noted.
Volatility watch: Options trading on highly-shorted Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBBY) is sky high, setting up the stock for more wild swings. Virgin Galactic (SPCE) could update on key ground tests as it pushes closer to commercial service. Carvana (CVNA) and Blue Apron (APRN) are also expected to see some wild swings as the battle between longs and shorts plays out.
IPO watch: Psychotropic drug developer Lucy Scientific (NASDAQ:LSDI) could price its IPO during the week. The IPO lockup periods expire for blocks of shares of WeTrade Group (NASDAQ:WETG) and Cerberus Cyber Sentinel (CISO).
Netflix earnings preview: Netflix (NFLX) will report earnings on January 19 with analyst expecting revenue of $7.84B and EPS of $0.55 to be reported. The streamer's subscriber tally will get even closer attention this quarter with the new basic tier launch a factor. While Barclays thinks NFLX will miss its guidance mark of 4.5M net subscriber additions based on third-party data on app downloads, JPMorgan has forecast a beat of 4.75M net adds. The firm thinks a strong content slate during the quarter that included Glass Onion, Troll, All Quiet on the Western Front, My Name is Vendetta, and breakout hit Wednesday will help Netflix surprise to the upside. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer thinks the biggest catalyst in play with the Netflix earnings report could be the conference call update on the progress with the ad tier and new initiatives to reduce password sharing. Shares of Netflix have rallied more than 13% so far in 2023.
Procter & Gamble earnings preview: Procter & Gamble (PG) leads off the earnings season for the household products sector on January 19. Consensus estimates for the report are for revenue of $20.7B and EPS of $1.59 to be reported. Wells Fargo tipped that there could be upside to the consensus organic sales expectations for 4.5% growth. However, the Street is wary on P&G's bottom line due to profit pressure from F/X, labor costs, and commodities inflation, and freight expenses. 15 of the last 17 earnings revisions on P&G from analysts have been to the downside and shares have drifted about 2% lower over the last week.
Sports betting to the max: The NFL playoffs will begin during the weekend with games scheduled for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The playoff season will culminate with the Super Bowl, which is anticipated to see the most legal bets placed on an event in the U.S. of all time. Crucially, sports betting momentum is peaking just ahead of the NFL playoffs with the top five states (NJ, PA, IL, MI, NY) seeing an ~8% sequential increase in volume and 107% year-over-year jump (29% ex-New York). Of note, New Jersey sports betting growth accelerated slightly to +13% year over year. Weighing in on those numbers, Morgan Stanley said it is an impressive mark for New Jersey to still see growth after five years in the OSBM market and considering the New York online sports betting launch in 2022. Sports betting in Ohio also appears to be off to a very strong start with GeoComply reporting over 11M online sportsbook transactions in the state were recorded on the first two days that sports betting was legal. The 2023 launch in Ohio means that over 44% of U.S. citizens have access to legal and regulated sports betting. While online sports betting handle is anticipated to set another record in 2023, Bank of America reminded recently that only a select few states are likely to see legislation passed during the year which could hold back betting volume growth until 2024 and beyond. A bigger story during the year may be the race to set up casinos near New York City, with Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) the latest casino operator to throw its name into the mix.
Eyes on Monster Beverage: The attention of the beverage sector will be on Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) when the company holds its annual Investor Day event on January 17. Analysts expect to hear updates on sales trends, promotional activity, and the margin outlook amid the inflationary backdrop. Also look for details on the innovation pipeline, including Beast Unleashed and Monster Zero Sugar. Monster Beverage will hold the event with competition heating up following Keurig Dr Pepper's (KDP) investment in Nutrabolt and PepsiCo's (PEP) deal with Celsius Holdings (CELH). MNST has been a relative outperformer over the last year in the sector and broad market with a 6% gain over the last 52 weeks.
Corporate events: The Washington State Supreme Court holds a hearing on January 17 to weigh in on the proposed $4B Albertsons (NYSE:ACI) dividend. F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) will hold a Solution Day event in Berlin, Germany on January 18 to show off its products. The FDA action date arrives for Seagen's (NASDAQ:SGEN) Tukysa in combination with Trastuzumab for metastatic colorectal cancer. Merck (MRK) has rights to Tukysa outside of the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The FDA is also expected to act on BeiGene's (NASDAQ:BGNE) Brukinsa (zanubrutinib) for chronic and small lymphocytic leukemia. Shares of BGNE have been active after Brukinsa developments. Zymeworks (NASDAQ:ZYME) is scheduled to present Phase 2 data at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium on January 20. Check out Seeking Alpha's Catalyst Watch for more events scheduled for next week.
Notable conferences: The conference schedule is relatively busy for the week ahead with the B. Riley Securities' 3rd Annual Oncology Conference, Sidoti Micro-Cap Virtual Conference, CIBC Western Institutional Investor Conference and Stifel’s 2023 Seniors Housing and Healthcare Real Estate Conference the main events.
Barron's mentions: Endava (DAVA) is singled out by the publication this week as an attractive stock. Despite corporate spending on software and tech decelerating due to recession concerns, Endava is said to be well positioned in 2023. The expectation for lower growth rates for Salesforce (CRM) and ServiceNow (NOW) has weighed on shares of London-based Endava (DAVA), with share down 39% over the last 52 weeks. However, Barron's pointed out that companies are always looking to get more efficient by cutting costs and replacing old software with newer tech. In addition, Endava's relatively small size is noted to allow it to work more closely with customers. Endava has seen revenue grow at a 29% annual clip over the past three years and is forecast to see sales compound annually at a 28% pace to $1.44B over the next two years. That means shares currently trade with an attractive PEG ratio of under 1X.
Sources: EDGAR, Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters
Editor's Note: This article covers one or more microcap stocks. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.
This article was written by


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Nissan Motor Co. could find itself chained to a much bigger gorilla as Renault SA and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV proceed with a plan to forge closer ties. The Japanese carmaker doesn’t like it but may not have much of a choice.
Fiat Chrysler announced a merger plan Monday with Renault, Nissan’s partner of two decades, that could create the world’s third-biggest automaker. While the pair isn’t seeking a merger with Nissan for now, they plan to eventually invite Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Renault’s existing global alliance partners, to join forces, sources said.
Nissan isn’t involved in talks between the two European car companies and doesn’t view an extensive deal between them as a positive development, people with knowledge of the matter said. Nissan isn’t interested in a scenario that pursues car sales for the sake of volume, the sources said, asking not to be identified because Nissan’s stance isn’t public.
“Given that Nissan has been so opposed to a merger, the question is whether forcing one will work at all,” said Koji Endo, an analyst at SBI Securities in Tokyo. “It won’t work if Nissan is forced into it.”
Fiat Chrysler’s dependence on the U.S. market, where its incentives are even higher than Nissan’s, isn’t attractive either, one source said. A representative for Yokohama-based Nissan declined to comment.
Nissan was left with less clout following the November arrest of Carlos Ghosn, the architect and chairman of the three-way alliance, for alleged financial crimes during his time as leader of the Japanese carmaker. The shock development, which came as a surprise to Renault, triggered a recalibration of their relationship. Coming at a time of upheaval in the global auto industry and falling profits for Nissan, the company found itself under greater pressure to merge with Renault.
Although Nissan has asserted its independence in the partnership, it is struggling to keep pace with global rivals. Hurt by slumping U.S. sales, aging vehicle models and an out-of-sync product cycle, the automaker issued an outlook for weak operating profit and cut its dividend for the first time in a decade.
Renault and Fiat Chrysler estimate cost savings of more than €5 billion (¥613 billion) as a result of their deal, and an additional €1 billion in savings for alliance partners Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors.
Renault and Fiat Chrysler made a combined 8.7 million cars last year, which would vault the pair past South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. and Detroit’s General Motors Co. The world’s two biggest automakers, Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Corp., each topped 10 million vehicles last year.
Although Renault owns a 43 percent stake in Nissan, the Japanese automaker is the bigger partner by sales and owns 15 percent of Renault, with no voting rights. Nissan sold 5.65 million cars last year, more than Renault’s 3.88 million units, but its profitability has been on the decline. Last year, Nissan’s operating profit fell below Renault’s for the first time in a decade.
All of this will make it easier for Renault to push for changes. The likeliest scenario will be a loose partnership for them to compete globally, according to Arifumi Yoshida, an analyst at Citigroup Global Markets Japan Inc.
“We see potential synergies between Chrysler’s strengths in large-framed vehicles and large SUVs, Fiat’s and Renault’s strengths in small cars, Nissan’s prowess in mid-sized monocoque (single-shell) vehicles, and Mitsubishi’s ASEAN market presence,” Yoshida wrote in a research note. “Nissan may welcome such an alliance, providing it is loose.”
Behind the talk is intense pressure on automakers to combine efforts and investments as the industry undergoes major shifts. With sales falling in the world’s biggest car markets, manufacturers are being pushed by regulators to electrify and reduce fleet emissions. They’ve also been forced to spend heavily on self-driving technology or risk getting left behind by new, deep-pocketed competitors like Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo.
“There isn’t much overlap and the key thing is finding synergies between Renault and Fiat Chrysler,” Endo said. “Even so, the merger talks will add pressure to Nissan.”
In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.


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UK businesses, reflecting the global trend, are becoming increasingly vulnerable to sophisticated cyber attacks.
This is reflected in recent research from Forescout. Half (49%) of the UK’s 5.7m businesses are leaving themselves vulnerable to cyber attacks by having unknown devices on their network. This marks a significant increase of 2%, or 110,000, of businesses since April 2018.
The survey found that 85% of CIOs and IT decision makers understand that a lack of visibility and control of the devices on their network poses a real risk to their security infrastructure. Despite this high level of awareness, 1.6% of UK businesses admit to still not using any cyber security solutions at all to protect themselves.
One particular challenge for UK businesses is the increasing number of Internet of Things (IoT) and operational technology (OT) devices connecting to networks — 69% of organisations say they now have over 1,000 such devices, with one in five (19%) organisations even stating that they have more than 10,000 connected devices on their network. These figures will only increase.
Top female CIO on IoT implementation and security
OT and IT convergence: a security challenge
The convergence of IT and OT is important for innovation, but it can also create security blind spots that leave organisations vulnerable. The majority (58%) of IT decision makers believe that having a centralised approach to IT and OT security will protect businesses against these vulnerabilities, yet only 49% have implemented such an approach within their own organisation.
“Our latest research shows that, despite various new regulatory benchmarks and many notable attacks on industry giants in the past twelve months, UK businesses are still painfully unaware of the huge threat vector that connected devices present,” commented Myles Bray, vice president of EMEA, Forescout. “To properly protect themselves, it is imperative that organisations in the UK are able to not only identify, but also fully manage and control every single third-party device that accesses their network. One way in which they can achieve more comprehensive insights is by implementing a centralised management platform that can provide real-time device visibility and control for enterprises across all industries.”


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Fund will buy offsets from projects in developing nations after first phase of Kyoto expires in 2012
The World Bank has launched a €68m (£57m) pot of funding aimed at enabling carbon-cutting projects to keep selling UN-backed offsets after the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. A statement...
Environmental groups warn draft plan approved by International Maritime Organisation (IMO) could see shipping emissions rise over next decade
Plus all the top green business news from around the world, including PGE ditching coal, Peru and Switzerland CO2 offset deal, and Australia green power project
Veggie burgers are safe, but campaigners warn debate has distracted from broader Common Agricultural Policy proposals set to be voted on this afternoon that they say will seriously hurt European small farmers and natural habitats
The US clothing firm reveals how digital technologies could finally make circular fashion a reality


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By Tamara Walid and Claire Ferris-Lay
Is the region's multi-billion dollar food industry a playground for biotech companies or is this just the future?
Everything about Genetically Modified food in the Gulf seems a blur. Nobody can tell you for sure what legislation, if any, even exits. Supermarkets would rather not talk about the issue, while Greenpeace campaigners claim the words GM spell environmental and health disaster. The only thing we know for sure is that GM food is a multi-billion dollar industry, it is here, and here to stay. As Arabian Business reveals, the Middle East is now in the grips of the GM effect, with some experts even suggesting that genetic modification of foods takes place after foods have been imported into the GCC, in order to increase profits.
"Of course there are many GM products in the UAE," says Dr Jamal Al Saeedi, consultant at the Emirates Society for Consumer Protection (ESCP). He can say that again. Over 40% of food products in the UAE have been found to be genetically modified (GM), however, the absence of proper labeling has disguised the presence of GM substances. "Throughout the past years we've received many complaints on the presence of GM in products such as dairy inside the country," says Al Saeedi.
We’ve received many complaints on the presence of GM in products such as dairy inside the country.
Only recently, the UAE has, yet again for the third consecutive year, been declared as the US' biggest trading partner in the Arab world with approximately US$14.8bn in American imports, according to a study by a US-based entity called the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy. In 2006, each resident in the UAE spent around US$2500 on US goods. The figure is expected to reach US$3000 plus this year.
This said, the fact that over 40% of UAE food is GM comes as little surprise. It is estimated that 70% of processed foods in the US include at least one genetically engineered (GE) ingredient. And while most common GE crops in the US are soybean, corn, cotton, and canola - many processed food products contain soybean or corn ingredients - experiments to produce GM animals are becoming more frequent. With projects like Enviropig and modified salmon, currently underway, entire animals that have been genetically modified could one day turn up on our supermarket shelves, especially that laws mandating labeling are absent in the US (with California being the exception - the state bans all GM products).
Recently, however, it seems that the concerned federal authorities in the US have begun to seriously consider drafting detailed laws that would determine the percentage of GM meat and dairy products that are allowed to safely enter the food market. Scientists believe that if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drafts the rules, doors will open up for big investors to pour their money into a new market, namely transgenic livestock.
Genetic modification of foods can be traced as far back at the 19th century when Austrian monk, Gregor Mendel, first experimented on peas. Mendel's work codified what farmers had practiced for generations through cross-breeding and in doing so deduced the discrete inherent factors responsible for the results.
In 1953 the idea of human engineering of genes became possible following the identification of the double helix structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick. It took two decades for the results to yield themselves in the lab, which won them the Nobel Prize in 1962. In the 1990s, biotechnology made its way from the lab to the fields and onto the supermarket shelves. From the fields to the shelves, the first certified GM product was the delayed-ripening tomato, Flavr Savr, created by Calgene in 1994.
A variety of the tomato was also used to make tomato puree which was sold all over the world before controversy erupted and the debate of over GM began to rage. Despite the continued debates, supermarket shelves have been awash with food containing GM ingredients ever since.
Between 1996 and 2005, the total surface area of land cultivated with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) increased 50 times, from 4.2 million acres to 222 million acres, 55% of which was in the US. Although most GM crops are grown in the US, in recent years there has been notable growth of the industry in developing countries such as Brazil and Argentina.
Legislation: where are we now?
Current legislation surrounding GM foods remains blurred and undefined, particularly when it comes to informing the public about what exactly they are eating.
While the development of GM foods and ingredients continues, the introduction of mandatory labeling laws, providing consumers with information in some countries and not in others, has caused confusion. The US and the EU lead the way for very different reasons. The US, which accounts for two thirds of bioengineered crops produced globally, does not require mandatory labeling of GM foods, except in limited cases. The FDA requires labeling if the food has significantly different nutritional properties, if it contains an allergen that consumers would not expect to be present (for example, a peanut protein in a soybean product), or if a food contains a toxicant beyond an acceptable limit.
In contrast the EU has, according to Greenpeace, the "toughest" labeling legislations in place which stipulates that any food product containing over 0.9% of GMO's be labeled.
The labeling legislation in the EU was quickly introduced in 1997 following the backlash of consumers and environmental groups when GM soy beans were first imported into Europe a year after the first GM product hit the shelves.
Countries across the world now find themselves caught between the US and the EU approach. Currently 40 countries have adopted labeling regulations but according to experts, the degree of implementation varies greatly. There are three groups that countries with GM food on the agenda can be divided into - those with enforced labeling policies, those with partially enforced or non-enforced policies, and countries with plans to introduce labeling.
For this region, it seems GM food remains low on the agenda. Amina Ahmad Mohammad, head of the food environment laboratory at Dubai Municipality, says: "There are no laws in the UAE and the Gulf region that prohibit or allow GM foods or have a labeling law. The only country attempting to mandate such a law in the GCC is Saudi Arabia, but that is still under discussion. When the laws are implemented internationally, they will be implemented in the UAE."
Dr Jamal Al Saeedi at ESCP does however expect the UAE's stance to become clearer in the near future: "At the end of the year something may happen due to a clear strategy, which Sheikh Mohammed is in full support of and the many legislations from the UAE cabinet."
Should mandatory labeling be introduced?
There are credible arguments on both sides concerning the introduction of mandatory labeling laws. Consumers question why some countries have introduced policies as well as arguing that they have the right to know what they are eating. Jeremy Tager, GE campaigner for Greenpeace, tells Arabian Business: "If GM foods are going to be imported then labeling is the minimum that can be done to ensure consumers have the right to make informed choices. The US consistently fights that right within its own country and overseas, but what are they so afraid of?"
There are no laws in the UAE and the Gulf region that prohibit or allow GM foods...
On the other hand, many experts believe that labeling only leads to confusion for consumers who know very little about the subject. Colin Carter, professor and chair of the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics at University of California, Davis says: "GM labeling creates confusion in the eyes of the consumer as they think the label conveys negative information. I think the US government has got it right - mandatory labeling makes no sense. If consumers really want it then voluntary labeling will fill the demand."
Experts have also pointed out that those with religious opinions, particularly Muslims, needn't worry as there aren't currently any GM products on the market or under review that contain animal genes. But that isn't to say such products won't ever be available.
Economic impact of labeling
For countries that have introduced mandatory labeling, standards remain inconsistent and authorities often find themselves without the correct infrastructure to implement regulations, a position Ukraine currently finds itself in according to a recent report from the US Department of Agriculture. It should be noted, however, that the Ukraine imported 4% of its total food produce from the US in 2005 and 5% last year - a figure, based on its history, that is set to rise. With an estimated 70% of American processed foods containing GM ingredients and the UAE's current trading position with the US, introducing a mandatory labeling system to the region would have certain economic effects. The quick decision to introduce EU legislation following the backlash led to a US-EU agricultural trade dispute. The US continues to complain that it cannot get its top five agriculture exports - beef, pork, chicken, soy and corn - into the EU due to strict regulations imposed and is also currently fighting a trade battle over contaminated food with China, a country with mandatory labeling laws. Unsurprisingly, given that many of the country's poultry manufacturers use chlorinated water to decontaminate their chicken carcasses.
Speculation of current US laws remains rife. Carter, the University of California professor, says: "I would say it is highly unlikely that the US will ever have mandatory labeling. If it was introduced in the UAE and not in the US, the UAE would have to source its products from elsewhere. It would not be worthwhile for US food companies to label food just for shipment to the UAE."
Dr Khaldon Bodoor from the department of biotechnology and genetic engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology disagrees, "I think labeling will be introduced in the US. People are heading more towards regulating and using labels to ensure that they are not tricking customers. They may be providing the consumer with GM but at least they buy the item knowing exactly what it contains."
"I think it is a personal choice, either you want to eat this or you don't. Maybe public awareness would be a good thing to start with," he says.
Introducing mandatory labeling costs far more than just paper and ink. A study by the Canadian government estimates mandatory labeling of GM foods would increase food prices by a minimum of 9-10%. Bodoor agrees: "Labeling makes the product so much more expensive as there are many procedures." Inflated food costs are not the only results of mandatory labeling; manufacturers that use GM ingredients are affected too. A number of studies conducted in countries that do insist on labeling GM yield unsurprising results. In a 2007 review of the economic effects of GM products in order to determine whether or not India should introduce new legislation, studies revealed that mandatory labeling laws on GM products in the EU and Japan has resulted in "a virtual disappearance of any labeled GM product on the food shelves - a phenomenon which has also extended to other countries." As a result, it is more profitable for manufacturers in the EU and Japan, to avoid using GM ingredients altogether. Would this be possible for imported US foods?
As GM scare stories continue to circulate, consumers are increasingly turning to organic foods. This region has been slow on the uptake of organic produce but if recent signs are anything to go by, the organic industry is set to grow. The UAE currently has two dedicated organic supermarkets with another due to open next year and Lebanon has also been keen to embrace the organic movement. Kuwait has one major supplier of organic produce, Natureland, which rather than relying on imported goods, uses locally grown fruits and vegetables, ensuring business for local farmers. In March this year Saudi Arabia announced it would be introducing organic crops, stating it was encouraged over concerns over public health and protection of the environment. The organic market looks set to continue to grow, irrespective of the introduction of labeling laws.
Protecting the consumer
In a comparison between three GCC countries including UAE, Kuwait and Qatar, the Emirates emerged with the highest occurrence of GE contaminated food products. After studying 35 items available in the three countries, international non-governmental environmental organisation Greenpeace concluded that the majority of the products contained GMOs.
The Emirates Society for Consumer Protection (ESCP), a member of the World Consumer Protection Organisation and under the umbrella of the Arab League and the Ministry of Social Affairs in the UAE, has been an active force in the country and claims to have played a role in protecting consumers.
"The role of protecting the consumer has been spread in more than one direction including raising awareness, educating society and the general public about the definition of protecting Arab and other consumers in the UAE, protecting products from traders who import them and overseeing the method of importing, and cooperating with the government entities in the UAE to achieve a balance of consumer goods in the country," says Al Saeedi.
The ESCP, which is a semi-governmental entity with offices in Sharjah, is part of a higher body recently formed by the Ministry of Economy and has certain areas of jurisdiction related to "the good of the general consumer". Most GM products imported into the country, according to Al Saeedi, are referred to the health and food sections in the municipalities across the country. This doesn't necessarily mean, however, they emerge GM-free.
"Checking for GM is not a routine check that all foods undergo. Not all foods are GM but we check for the commonly known GM foods like corn and soybean," says Amina Mohammad at Dubai Municipality. She adds: "We have a biotechnologist and the only equipped lab for such tests throughout the country. Every now and then we conduct a market scan for GM."
This also doesn't mean that GM foods are extracted from the market. According to Al Saeedi banning or prohibiting GM products is up to the municipality that checks them and ministries of health across the country. "There are many GM products that pass through checks because people have limited knowledge of investigating these products. We can't find out everything," he says.
The biggest disclosure comes next as Al Saeedi reveals: "Some of these products could come into the country as safe normal products and then get tampered with inside the country or they could be produced and genetically modified in the UAE. Then when these products are released into the market they have a different structure."
The ESCP completely supports eliminating these products from the market and Al Saeedi believes someone has to take on the responsibility of "protecting society and the consumer".
Some products come into the market as safe... and then get tampered with inside the country...
While the possibility of having genetically engineered foods that have been created in the UAE might seem far fetched, Al Saeedi confirms this notion. "The UAE, in particular, is a developed country in areas of technology and science and so it attracts a lot of scientific research and data. This starts promotion of trade in these goods and products by people who don't care about the consumer and whether they are causing harm to the young or the old. All they care about is profit. They ask: What is the margin I can achieve if I modify this product? The capacity will be higher and the target will therefore differ, the return will be higher."
Al Saeedi has observed an overarching trend in the local markets: a profound increase in the availability of GM products. He believes this is due to a number of reasons such as "the great economic openness of the UAE at the moment, the country's multiple resources and entry points as well as the systems and legislations implemented by the local governments. The products entering the country trough Sharjah differ from those entering Dubai, Abu Dhabi or RAK".
In the case of contaminated rice found in UAE supermarkets last year, Al Saeedi explains the reason this product slipped through government censorship is because "specialised bodies have no way of knowing that these products are banned". He adds that there's a lack of international information on banned produce. "It's not that they don't have resources but the individuals involved are not in a high enough level to be put in such a position. The entry points are frighteningly numerous in Dubai let alone the rest of the emirates so it is very difficult for people to check out these products," he adds.
In defense of the case Amina Mohammed from Dubai Municipality says: "We have checked the rice and we didn't find any genetic modification. After that we publicly announced the results."
Despite this claim, Dr. Bodoor at Jordan University of Science and Technology argues that the rice was not intended for human consumption in the first place and how it ended up on the shelves is beyond explanation.
It could all boil down to one person. Al Saeedi explains that the customs official, checking a product, would usually evaluate a product according to the documented standards which can sometimes be irrelevant. "He is authorised as soon as he checks it to let it through," he says.
Then onwards, it is up to specialists and educated consumers to spot GM products in the market and point them out as banned, harmful, or modified. Ideally, the following step would be to pull them out of the market and destroy them after a lengthy investigation. The ESCP, however, does not have the jurisdiction to do this at the moment but refers these cases to specialised bodies. "We have asked the ministry of interior affairs to grant us jurisdiction that would allow us to regulate the sector, but this has to be legislated by the powers that be."
Local supermarkets' response
Talking about GM food is a taboo subject, particularly when it comes to supermarkets. When Arabian Business tried to uncover what is on the region's supermarket shelves, the response was no better than that of a brick wall. A spokesperson for Spinneys, a regional supermarket chain, says, "The majority of food products in the UAE are imported as there are few manufacturing facilities available. We purchase from local suppliers who are approved by the Dubai Municipality and work very closely with the authorities to ensure that all products on our shelves adhere to health and safety regulations." Choithram and Carrefour declined to comment.
The only supermarket willing to discuss the subject was, unsurprisingly, Organic Foods and Café. Gerwin Friedrichs, commercial director, said "99% of our food is organic; the only exception is ocean fish which by definition cannot be organic. Through organic certification, we know that none of our foods contain GM ingredients whatesoever."
"We have no idea whether or not GM food will do something to us, but how can food injected with anti-freeze fish genes be natural?" he adds. Certain fish naturally produce a gene that has properties similar to that of anti-freeze. These substances are sometimes injected into GM products.
Despite the difficulty of checking for GM dairy products, Arabian Business was able to track down one local manufacturer willing to speak. Ravindra Rabam, production manager, Gulf and Safa Dairies Co LLC says: "When we get specifications for a product we ask for a sample then run it through our factory's quality control lab but we don't for GM as we don't have the means to do that and it's not such a simple procedure. The product is put through chemical and microbiological analysis and adheres to the Gulf standard regulated by the Ministry of Economy. All the dairy products used in our factories are certified as GM-free from suppliers."
Scientific point of view
Scientists and biotechnologists confirm that GM products are plenty and have invaded our daily lives. Dr Charles Benbrook, chief scientist at The Organic Centre in Oregon, USA, believes it is too late to pose the question of whether the products are there.
"In the case of corn, canola, and soybeans, all conventional products and animal products derived from them it is too late. In terms of future and new genetically engineered crop varieties, I do not know of any that have been adequately tested for stability of gene expression, unanticipated side effects, allergenicity, and impacts on human reproduction, (eg) sexual development and birth defects," he says.
Further validating the notion that most US products, widely consumed in the Arab world, are GE. Dr Benbrook says: "Most processed foods and animal products from the U.S. are grown from GE corn and soybeans, or produced with the grain harvested from fields planted to GE corn and soybeans. The only way to avoid GM food from the US is to purchase certified organic products."
Dr Bodoor at the Jordan University of Science and Technology backs up this argument saying that consumers have the right to know what they are eating, especially that these foods could affect their health and the environment. "A lot of people have specific allergies against this type of food so they have to be aware," he says.
A biotechnologist himself, Dr Bodoor holds the view that GM foods can be consumed as long as they are safe. He stresses that the main issue is that many GM foods are missing nutritional value. "If GM food is labeled, adds nutritional value to the food and properly tested I am all for it."
The only way to avoid GM food from the US is to purchase certified organic products.
According to Dr Benbrook, there are two steps to ensure safety of GM products. The first is to develop and implement advanced systems to test for allergenicity, birth defects and other reproductive impacts, and stability of gene expression. Secondly, these tests ought to be conducted by qualified and independent scientists and publicly supported research institutions after which the results and acceptability of any identified risks have to be "openly discussed and debated through a process that provides all impacted stakeholders with a fair chance to make their views known".
A lot of the marketing behind GM products comes down to politics, thinks Dr Bodoor. While the US is mostly pro GM, the Europeans oppose it. "Most of the makers of GM foods are US-based and they just want to market their products without going through safety procedures and all the aspects of testing the product whereas in Europe they are more earth-friendly and prefer food that is not GM," he says.
Dr Benbrook explains that genetic modification is a very broad area and while he strongly supports work on genomics and molecular biology that is "designed to understand the genetic basis of valuable crop traits, and crop-genetic-environment interactions" as well as "‘marker assisted' breeding to move desirable traits into agronomic crops" he equally opposes any "further applications for human food crops of invasive and unstable GE techniques that have been developed to move DNA across species barriers". When it comes to risks associated with GM foods, he believes that "sufficient risks have been demonstrated to support a ‘go slow' approach, especially for major human foods consumed in raw, or light processed forms".
Where the Enviropig experiment is concerned, Dr Bodoor says it is a mini project focused mainly on having a cleaner environment and not directly linked to human consumption, however, its indirect effects could be plenty. "You are releasing these new materials into the environment and you wouldn't know what type of new bacteria will survive when this is contaminated and where it will end up. They might be caught in specific plants that will in turn go into farming and this in turn will end up somewhere else. You have to be careful with what we call the transfer of DNA from one species into another."
The possibility of the project resulting in GM animal meat sold in supermarkets is far fetched and will not materialise for many years, according to Dr Benbrook who called Enviropig "a crazy way to go about achieving a laudable goal, protecting water quality from excessive runoff of nutrients that are applied to crop fields in the form of animal manure". He believes there are many alternative ways to achieving this target such as reducing excessive nutrient runoff from farm fields. "There are easy, direct, low-cost, and safe ways to solve the underlying problem. At some point, people will figure this out and shut down such dubious applications of genetic engineering technologies, like the project hoping to develop a GE Enviropig," he says.
Not all GM food should be labeled as bad, however. Dr Bodoor says GM could be a good alternative to expensive and non-nutritional food items as they are produced with the aim to increase nutritional value and simultaneously make them more affordable to poorer countries. "Whoever is selling people GM foods should be aware and have assessed the risks involved and would not sell something hazardous to safety," he says.
In the case of GE livestock, Dr Benbrook strongly believes that "enough people will seek out organic and non-GE products to render the technology a ‘loser' in the marketplace."
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Under brand new guidance released because of the Small Business management it appears non-profits and faith-based teams can use for the Paycheck Protection Program loans made to keep business that is small through the COVID-19 epidemic, but the majority venture-backed businesses remain perhaps not covered.
Later Friday evening, the Treasury Department updated its guidelines about the “affiliation” of personal entities to add organizations that are religious retain in destination the exact same guidelines that could reject many startups from getting loans.
(b) because the SBA just said so if you are a faith-based organization, *no affiliation rules apply to you. Away from nowhere. At like 10pm on a Friday evening.
Apparently that didn’t take place, as Mark Suster, the handling partner of Los Upfront that is angeles-based Ventures noted in a tweet.
2/ There are rumors that the PPP Loan program may nevertheless fix the Affiliate Rule a few weeks. Until fixed, it really is extremely hard for the majority of VC-backed startups to utilize given that it would need huge appropriate lift to amend every one of the charters of the businesses to alter control conditions
At its essence, the problem for startups is apparently devoted to the board liberties that endeavor investors have actually if they just take an equity stake in a business
The decision-making powers that those investors hold means the startup is affiliated with other companies that the partner’s venture firm has invested in — which could mean that they’re considered an entity with more than 500 employees for startups with investors on the board of directors.
“If there’s a startup that is going gangbusters at this time, they need ton’t submit an application for a PPP loan, ” penned Doug Rand, the co-founder of Seattle-based startup Boundless Immigration, and a previous Assistant Director for Entrepreneurship at the office of Science and Technology Policy throughout the federal government, in a direct message. “ But many startups are becoming killed because, you understand, the economy is mainly dead. ”
The $2 trillion CARES Act passed by Congress and finalized by President Trump had been made to assist businesses which are adversely afflicted with the fallout that is economic from the COVID-19 outbreak in the usa and their workers — whether those companies are straight impacted because their workers can’t set off to accomplish their jobs or indirectly, because need for products or services has flatlined.
Though some technology startups have observed interest in their products or services really rise of these quarantined days, a lot of companies have actually watched as their organizations have gone in one to zero.
The feeling frustration among investors throughout the national nation is palpable
Once the Birmingham-based investor, Matt Hottle, composed, “After 4 times of attempting to assist 7 small companies navigate the SBA PPP system, this system went along to shit on launch. I’m considering what amount of businesses that are small relying on this cash, are most likely locked down. We feel just like I/ they were failed by us. ”
The program went to shit on launch after 4 days of trying to help 7 small businesses navigate the@SBAgov PPP program. I’m contemplating exactly how many small enterprises, relying upon this cash, are most likely locked away. We feel just like I/ we failed them.
And even though the principles around whether or perhaps not numerous startups qualify stay confusing, it’s most likely smart for businesses to register a credit card applicatoin, because, whilst the system happens to be structured, the $349 billion in loans will be granted for a first-come, first-served foundation, as Suster flagged in the tweets about the subject.
General Catalyst is things that are approaching a situation by instance foundation because of its profile. Any other rules regarding affiliation, according to an interview with Holly Maloney, a managing director at the firm in some cases portfolio companies that are also backed by SBIC investors to apply for the loans, because that trumps.
And there’s already has to do with online payday MO that the funds could come to an end. In a tweet, the President announced which he would request additional money from Congress “if the allocated money runs out. ”
I shall straight away ask Congress to get more money to guide small enterprises under the #PPPloan if the allocated cash runs away. Thus far, means in front of routine. @BankofAmerica & community banking institutions are rocking! @SBAgov @USTreasury
“Congress saw fit to permit Darden to obtain a forgivable business that is small a taxpayer-funded grant—for like every Olive Garden in the us. But Congress somehow neglected to deliver comparable rescue measures for real smaller businesses which have committed the sin of convincing investors if they can only survive, ” Rand wrote in a direct message that they have the potential to employ a huge number of people. “The Trump management has authority that is full drive towards the rescue, in addition they did… but limited to big spiritual businesses. ”


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Robinhood Markets on Thursday launched a new commission-free crypto trading app for customers in the European Union as it makes a renewed push to expand its business outside the U.S.
The E.U. launch comes just a week after the California company outlined plans to launch a new, commission-free stock trading app in the U.K.
Shares in Robinhood Markets
Robinhood’s new app will let customers in the E.U. trade at least 25 different cryptocurrencies, including coins that have been delisted from Robinhood’s U.S. app.
Robinhood previously delisted Solana, Polygon, and Cardano from its platforms in June after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed lawsuits against Coinbase
The delistings mean customers in the U.S. are now able to trade just 15 different cryptocurrencies on Robinhood’s platforms, including bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum, compared to the 25+ that will be available to customers in the EU.
Robinhood’s EU crypto app launch comes amid a recent crypto market rally that has seen the price of bitcoin
In November, Robinhood reported a surge in crypto trading on its platforms that saw users buy and sell $2.3 billion worth of cryptocurrencies in October, marking a 92% increase compared to the previous month.
First launched in 2013, Robinhood became a household name at the start of the pandemic as retail investors flocked to its share trading platforms amid the 2020 stock market crash.
The commission-free trading company subsequently played a core part in the meme-stock phenomenon before it shut down trading of GameStop stock during a short-squeeze on the company in January 2021.
In its most recent third-quarter results, Robinhood posted a 29% uptick in revenues to $467 million, in an uptick that reduced its net losses by 55% to $85 million.


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Door-to-door salesmen from Elite Security came under scrutiny in Eureka recently for not having a business license, but the issue has since been resolved.
The company now operates out of Arcata and has obtained a valid business license. The problem emerged in Eureka and the company has decided to not do business there, said Lt. Murl Harpham of the Eureka Police Department.
Elite Security had originally failed to obtain a business license in Eureka despite warnings from police, Harpham said. The EPD had previously urged residents to not purchase their services with a credit card until the company was cleared, but now they have been.
”The product was real — they just didn’t go about it ethically,” he said.
Some residents believed the installed security systems would not work as the salesman told them, and were later surprised to find they did function properly.
”One person didn’t think it worked and then went to let the cat out and we responded,” Harpham said.
The company’s corporate headquarters are in Utah and the company did not respond to phone calls by deadline.
Salesmen are now working in Rio Dell neighborhoods and are following the law, said Sgt. Josh Wiener of Rio Dell Police Department.
”We’ve received a handful of calls, but I think its because people aren’t used to seeing these kind of sales tactics,” he said. “Door-to-door salesmen have gone the way of the 1950s and 1960s.”
Rio Dell officers have spoken with the salesmen, and all the proper paperwork was in order, he said.
Allison White can be reached at 441-0506 or firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Well, the fans and readers of industry site Gamasutra have voted for their game of the decade, and their choice is simultaneously surprising and yet unsurprising. In a list that's full of single player games, the MMO that redefined MMOs has hit the top of the list: World of Warcraft. Why was it ...
Posted on Dec 20th 2013 1:30PM
Posted on Dec 20th 2013 11:30AM
Posted on Dec 20th 2013 10:00AM


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Family bake sale turns into cookie shop in South JordanSep 16, 2020 02:27PM ● By Libby Allnatt
Eight different flavors are on display at Local Cookie Co. in South Jordan on Aug. 12. The shop, which opened in July, has both regular and rotating flavors. (Libby Allnatt/City Journals)
By Libby Allnatt | [email protected]
A new family-owned cookie shop in South Jordan is serving up freshly baked treats with an evolving menu and unique flavors.
Local Cookie Co. opened on River Heights Drive in July. Todd Hunt, who owns the shop with his wife, Chelsy, said that in the first few weeks of opening, they’ve been very busy and are “so grateful for everybody and their support here in South Jordan.”
The menu can satisfy any sweet tooth, with four flavors changing each week. Featured flavors have included coconut key lime, coffee cake crumble and, by popular demand, banana. The regular flavors always on the menu include chocolate chip, semi-sweet chocolate chip, sugar and a chocolate sandwich cookie.
“We wanted to make ourselves different,” Hunt said. “All of our ingredients are baked in fresh. We don’t have just a base cookie with toppings. We have all of our cookies with ingredients baked in.”
The origins of the shop demonstrate the family roots of Local Cookie Co. Hunt said their youngest daughter, Lainey, started a bake sale at about 10 years old to benefit different causes. The treats were soon in high demand.
“She picked a different charity each year she wanted to donate to,” he said. “We had tons of people come. She ended up baking more and more cookies, and she ended up selling out every year. People were making requests. We decided to take it to a bigger scale.”
Hunt said the location of Local Cookie Co., off 10400 South and right near a Walmart and a Costco, has led to many walk-in customers, and they also do catering. Social media has been helpful at getting the word out.
“We’ve got some great team members doing social media for us. We’ve been able to see a lot of success from social media with Instagram, Facebook and Twitter,” he said.
The grand opening had to be delayed a bit due to equipment shipping delays, pushing the opening date from July 1 to July 15. But Hunt said they’ve seen great support from the community of South Jordan since opening their doors.
“Our whole logo and branding is around that local feel,” Hunt said. “We’re not a big chain or franchise. We’re a local family and want to support the people around us. I love the local feel and to support other local businesses. That’s what makes South Jordan so great and makes our state great as well.”
He said they hope to expand Local Cookie Co. and are looking at other spaces.
“It’s been fun to do this as a family,” he said.
Local Cookie Co. is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Visit its website or social media pages to check out the flavors of the week.


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This is evidenced by research conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
“This 52 billion euros is equivalent to tourist spending in 2010, the first year we’ve measured this,” says chief economist Peter Heine van Mulligen of Statistics Netherlands. “We already knew the blow was tough, but this is really huge.”
The tourism sector contributes much less to the Dutch economy than before. The share of tourism in the Dutch economy has fallen to 2.4% of GDP, compared to 4.4% in 2019.
Spending by foreign tourists (-58%) and Dutch (-35%) decreased because overnight stays were less often. “The Dutch often went away for a day in their own country, but often without an overnight stay. They also spent less than foreign tourists,” says van Mulligen.
In 2020, fewer foreign tourists booked accommodation or airline tickets with Dutch companies. Some of these tourists don’t actually travel to Holland, but Dutch companies earn from these bookings.
This concerns, for example, Booking.com or specialized travel agencies, where you can book a trip abroad. They actually sounded the alarm last week. There are support measures, but not every travel agency is qualified, eg for lack of an offshore office.
applause to fly
In 2020, the added value of the tourism sector amounted to 17.0 billion euros. This represents a 47 percent decrease compared to 2019.
In relative terms, airlines, travel agencies and the brokerage industry took the biggest hit with a 68 percent drop. The share of these companies in the added value of tourism decreased from 24 percent in 2019 to 14 percent in 2020.
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Bitcoin liquidity hit rock bottom due to banking crisis
Protest against the sale of social housing in a building in Hoofdorppleinbuurt


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Denmark retail redevelopment worries locals
Not everyone in Denmark is happy about major shopping developments slated for the coastal town.
Source: 7pm TV News WA | Duration: 1min 31sec
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced.
AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)


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Another day, another round of criticism at Kim Kardashian.
This time, it's because she appeared to go skiing without a helmet.
Kim posted photos earlier this week from a recent trip to Aspen, where she could be seen without a helmet while riding a chairlift with her sister Khloé Kardashian.
"VIBES," Khloé commented under the post. The photo showed Kim wearing only a headscarf with her ski gear while Khloé wore a full-face ski helmet with hers.
"Stunning but you couldn't find a helmet that matched the fit?" one viewer wrote under the pics.
"Kimberly, you simply must wear a helmet!" another user said.
While a third urged Kim to "wear a helmet please."
While the mogul herself didn't publicly respond to the comments, a source did, telling People that she does, in fact, use a helmet when she's out skiing.
"She regularly wears a helmet," the source shared. They also speculated that Kim had probably just taken it off at that moment to take the photo.
So there you have it!