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It's hard to get high-tech companies to open in Worcester, but just a few miles away they can be found. An example is Marlboro-based Sepaton, whose founder in 2003 thought that it would be clever to name his company No Tapes, spelled backward. Its current chief executive officer is in the middle of a turnaround, and it looks like he is making good progress.
As Mike Thompson explained in a Sept. 7 interview, Sepaton lets very large companies back up and recover their electronic data. The old approach — still in use to some extent — was to back up the data on tape. But Sepaton offered products that let companies back up their data on disk rather than tape.
When Mr. Thompson arrived as CEO in 2010 it sounds like the company had an opportunity to tighten up its operations. After all, he explained, Sepaton was burning through cash in its competition against EMC and IBM (as well as many smaller companies). The good news for Sepaton's investors and employees was that Mr. Thompson figured out a way to save the company.
One of the big problems he found was that Sepaton was selling its product to all customers — big companies, small companies and many others. But the small companies did not see Sepaton's products as particularly superior to the competitions' and were not willing to pay a very high price. By contrast, Sepaton offered the biggest companies something unique and valuable — the ability to back up and recover huge volumes of data faster than the competition — for which they were willing to pay a premium price.
So Mr. Thompson decided to focus Sepaton on selling products to the largest companies and cut the products and people who could not contribute to that new focus. This cutting took much of 2011, but by 2012 Mr. Thompson was spending Sepaton's spare cash on R&D to develop new products that would keep the company ahead of its competitors.
Sepaton's product is what Mr. Thompson called a purpose-built backup appliance, or PBBA. Instead of tape — that he described as “kludgy, manual, and error-prone” — Sepaton's disk-based PBBA provides companies with fast “backup and restoration and is easier to manage than tape.”
Until about 2005, companies used tape because it was less expensive than disk. But that was around the time that a new approach — called de-duplication — became increasingly popular. De-duplication allows companies to back up only the new electronic data that they get every day, rather than all of it. For example, if only 1 percent of a company's entire data collection changes every day, de-duplication lets companies back up just that 1 percent rather than 100 percent. By slashing the amount of data that companies need to back up, disks became more cost-competitive as a backup and recovery medium.
The PBBA market is expected to grow 20 percent a year, from around $1.6 billion in 2011 to $5 billion in 2016, according to the International Data Corp. And the reason for the rapid growth is that companies are starting to store new kinds of data — such as videos, blogs, surveillance videos and Facebook pages. While these new kinds of data are growing at 20 percent to 60 percent a year, companies are also backing up their applications that keep track of, say, their manufacturing operations and produce their financial statements.
Mr. Thompson believes that Sepaton can compete effectively on the basis of its product's speed and ease of expansion, as well as its customer service. According to Mr. Thompson, at 43.2 terabytes per hour (a terabyte is a trillion computer words), Sepaton's product is the world's fastest. Mr. Thompson also believes that companies can add new backup capacity much less expensively through “scale out,” which is like adding on a Lego block, than through products from some of his competitors. Moreover, Mr. Thompson offers customers specific guarantees on the quality of their service, through so-called service level agreements.
Mr. Thompson wants to grow Sepaton to the point where his investors — Sepaton has raised $82 million in capital since it was founded in 2003 — can earn a return. To that end, Mr. Thompson has boosted the company's headcount from 109 in 2011 to what he expects to be 133 by the end of 2012. Thirty-six percent of the new people are developers working on new products to keep Sepaton ahead of its competitors.
And with an average selling price of $500,000 to its big company customers, Sepaton's PBBAs don't sell themselves. Mr. Thompson plans to hire more sales people who are experienced in opening up big company accounts. He has also brought in new management, including a chief technology officer, senior vice president of engineering and the head of its federal business unit.
Like many CEOs I've interviewed in Westboro and Marlboro, Worcester is seen as too far away from Interstate 495 to attract the engineering and sales talent that Sepaton seeks.
So if Sepaton is going to grow to the point where it can go public or attract an acquirer, it will likely do so in Marlboro.
Peter Cohan of Marlboro heads a management consulting and venture capital firm, teaches business strategy, and is the author of 10 books. His column runs Mondays and Wednesdays on telegram.com. His email address is at email@example.com.


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May 8, 2019
Post the acquisition of Qualtrics for 8 billion dollars, the German software giant SAP is coming up with an experience management software. US company Qualtrics acquired by SAP was a XM software provider.It is three months after acquisition of Qualtrics the announcement of a new XM software has come. The announcement was made by CEO Bill McDermott at the SAP’s Saphire 2019 conference.
XM is short for Experience Management. The process involves spotting the problems real time by monitoring or analyzing the interactions stakeholders have with a firm. The introduction of new software by SAP can help the companies provide better consumer, brand, product and employee experiences.
If decisions were earlier made from Operational data, with the introduction of XM, a new factor will also be involved in decision-making, the experience factor.
XM will help the firms to make intelligent decisions weighing both the O- data and the X-data.
French Popcorn company Nataïs and Bumble Bee Foods is using the SAP’s blockchain technology to empower their customers. Nataïs is the largest popcorn producer in Europe also the third largest producer in the world. Bumblebee foods on the other hand is the largest branded shelf-stable seafood company in the north america. Blockchain is the tractability solution that helps the consumers or anyone to track the region of origin, farmer, transport and everything about each individual product with the help of a QR scanning from a smartphone.
SAP to set up a new campus in India in Bengaluru
Bernd Leukert, executive board member of SAP, announced that SAP will be introducing a new fourty acre campus in India near the Bengauru airport. Bernd Leukert made this announcement during twentieth anniversary ceremony. Of the total eleven thousand employees SAP have in India, seven thousand of them are in R&D sector. Being twenty seven thousand the total number of employees in company’s R&D sector, it can be said that one-third of SAP’s R&D employees are from India. Dilipkumar Khandelwal, MD of SAP Labs, said that the campus project will start soon once the building plans submitted are approved by the government.
German Tech giant SAP to purchase Qulatrics International for eight billion dollars
By Buying Qualtrics, SAP is planning to strengthen its customer relations management as Qulatrics is the company that does data collection and analysis to study the customer behavior towards a product. The purchase price 8 billion is worth 20 times the sales of Qualtrics this year.
Orica with the help of company Cognizant, is trying to deploy SAP S/4 on Microsoft Azure cloud. Orica is one of the commercial explosives maker based in Australia. The IT company Cognizant is helping Orica to migrate to cloud. Cognizant said that the migration is nearly at its completion.
SAP has revealed its plan to invest in RPA or Robotic Process Automation to replace many manual repetitive back office processes by automation. The company also announced they are adding more features to its Leonardo Machine Learning. With this it will be easier for firms to build chat bots and other additional AI tools above it. SAP, by investing in its machine learning services, is planning to release OCR, isolating objects in images(image segmentation), recognizing similar documents from patterns in text, cloud text-to-speech & cloud speech-to-text capabilities (both of google’s) before next year.
it was recently they announced the introduction of cloud-based analytics availability. Not only cloud based, it is also packed with their new machine learning capabilities.
SAP to join hands with Alibaba
SAP decided to partner with Alibaba in China. According to the deal, SAP will offer their S/4 HANA and Cloud platform through Alibaba cloud to Alibaba cloud customers. With the new SAP cloud platform availability for the Chinese businesses who now use Alibaba cloud, they can integrate various useful third party technologies, build some useful custom applications etc. for their firms.
Teradata, a US company who was also once the partner of SAP SE, filed case against company SAP SE, accusing it of copyright infringement, trade secret stealing and for anti trust violations.

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If new mobility mimics the experience of quality transit, can it also set the stage for a new type of transit-oriented development?
How E-commerce Affects Land Use — and How COVID-19 Affects E-Commerce
In this recent podcast from the American Planning Association, Planning magazine Editor-In-Chief, Meghan Stromberg talks with Lisa Nisenson, vice president for new mobility and connected communities at WGI, about what e-commerce trends mean for land use and contactless delivery.
They discuss delivery bots, drones, and other trends that will have a major impact on every community’s land and airspace. Meghan and Lisa also discuss the long-term e-commerce implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
You can listen to the APA podcast episode here:
Rapidly Changing Delivery Trends
“Rapidly changing e-commerce trends and technologies mean big changes for land-use and infrastructure planning”, Lisa says.
Lisa notes that “once regarded primarily as a segment of transportation, freight and deliveries are increasingly commanding attention from a wider range of planners, government officials, and policy makers. The rapid rise in e-commerce deliveries and online food and grocery orders is driving many cities to develop a range of strategies to control curbside congestion. E-commerce impacts, however, extend far beyond the curb.”
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WGI helped the project’s owner reimagine and revitalize the outdoor shopping center into a pedestrian-friendly destination for the entire community.
As a mobility company, WGI is helping clients adjust to technology trends shaping not only transportation, but urban design, parking, and broader access to destinations. Among trends, no other technology has grabbed attention quite like shared electric scooters.
Can paint and pop-up vending make Grand Rapids’ bustling Division Avenue corridor safer for pedestrians and bicyclists? A group of researchers will soon find out.
The 853,500-square-foot facility already hosts more than 500,000 patrons a year to its performances, but it wants a more modern and efficient layout.
A grand opening celebration was recently held for the much anticipated Heron Estates development. It is the first affordable housing community to be built in Rivera Beach, Florida in the past 40 years.


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Real Estate in Blaine, MN Weekly Market Report
Week Ending June 27, 2022
Here are a few key numbers from last week:
New Listings - Last week there were 45 new homes listed on the MLS, 31 are still in an active status with 8 of those have accepted offers already and 18 are previously owned single family homes. There were 49 homes listed the week prior.
Pending Sales - Last week 22 homes went into a Pending status bringing the total pending sales number to 194.
Closed Sales - There were also 22 closed sales last week in Blaine, bringing the total number of closed transactions to 508 vs. 543 this time last year.
Thinking of selling your home this year? Get a free market valuation here.
Just like that the red hot sellers market is showing real signs of slowing down. Showings are down, months supply of inventory is up to 1.4 vs. under a month and transactions are down around 9% versus last year. Part of the reason transactions are down was the lack of inventory so far this year but going forward mortgage rates and inflation are slowing the buyer's appetite to pay the increased market values that have come with such a hot seller market. (Market values increased 8% year over year) There is still plenty of buyer demand but instead of 30 offers in a multiple offer situation there may be only 3-4 now. The affordability index in the Twin Cities is now 94 which means the household with a median income can't afford the median market value of a home in the Twin Cities. (100 is the break even number for affordability)
Houses are still selling quickly for close to list price if they are priced well and in good shape. The lower price point homes (under $300,000) are still selling quicker than higher priced homes. More sellers are finally listing there homes for sale so the market is becoming much more balanced. It still remains a great time to sell you home so if you are thinking of making a move give me a call!


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Google announced this week that users in additional countries can use their Wear OS-powered smartwatch to pay for items with Google Pay. The addition of these markets brings the list of total supported countries for this method of payment to 60. That’s a solid amount.
The new countries supported are Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Kuwait. These countries are supported as of today, so if you’re located here, you can now get to paying with your wrist.
A list of all supported countries can be viewed here.


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Victoria's Secret operator L Brands Inc. said comparable sales, including online, climbed a better-than-expected 3% in September as the apparel and beauty company was again helped by its Bath & Body Works brand.
The company had expected comparable sales growth to remain flat. Excluding online, comparable sales rose 1%.
Comparable sales at Victoria's Secret were flat from a year ago, when they grew by 8%. Excluding online sales, Victoria's Secret posted a 2% decline in comparable sales.
Victoria's Secret has tried recently to connect with shifting consumer trends, as athleisure apparel has upended the bra business. Strength in its Pink brand, which sells more activewear, was offset by declines in lingerie. Victoria's Secret is hoping a focus on items such as "bralettes" -- bras without underwire and padding -- will drive growth.
At Bath & Body Works, comparable sales rose 9% from a year ago. Total sales at the company increased 6% to $971.4 million for the month.
The company expects October comparable sales to be up low-single digits.
Shares rose 3.5% to $73 in light premarket trading.
Write to Joshua Jamerson at firstname.lastname@example.org


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The other day Tinder’s parent providers privately found during the an earnings telephone call which do stop battery charging users international additional prices for how old he is.
The brand new matchmaking application is free to utilize, yet, if your greatest selfies do not get brand new matches you desire, you might purchase quick-label speeds up or constant subscriptions to face call at the swiping group.
Ages appeared to be a significant factor operating the prices you to definitely additional users spotted to possess Tinder Plus, a reduced membership tier, centered on another worldwide example put-out today. The analysis says Tinder costs also appeared to are different with other items, along with sexual positioning, gender, and you will area, nevertheless study was not statistically high.
Tinder states they eliminated ages-depending rates regarding U.S. and Australia a year ago, plus in the brand new You.K. from inside the 2022. The organization states this new habit stop worldwide by the end out of June.
The organization rejects you to intercourse, sexual direction, or other public or market analysis features ever before played an effective character from inside the prices in the Tinder.
not, you sers can get “nonetheless get a hold of particular short differences in rates” with regards to the program they’re playing with to get into Tinder, or if the company really does speed analysis, considering a spokesperson for Meets Group, and that has Tinder and several most other matchmaking software. The business didn’t promote details about as to the reasons Tinder are finish decades-centered prices.
The new study recruited 96 Tinder users per country during the Brazil, Asia, holland, and you can Brand new Zealand, in addition to the You.S., between . The study also employed 48 pages within the Southern area Korea; researchers say it recruited simply heterosexual-distinguishing users for the reason that nation to end dangers so you can participants.
Profiles up coming recorded the purchase price they were cited to own a one-times membership so you can Tinder Along with, and that unlocks a lot more swipes and you may an undo key.
Some other professionals saw commonly ranged prices, each other in this regions and around the limits. Eg cost “could be hit as a consequence of an algorithm, having fun with a mix of studies points to determine what price in order to bring to each and every personal individual,” with regards to the data, which had been used by the Users In the world (a good consortium out-of teams detailed with Consumer Account) and also the Mozilla Foundation.
7 in ten Americans contradict customized pricing, forty two % “firmly,” according to a nationwide representative questionnaire out-of 2,341 grownups of the User Reports (PDF) conducted inside .
Such as pricing appears to be widespread on the internet, however, organizations hardly revision users if they are getting charged other amounts for similar things. Professionals point out that diminished visibility deliver people a dishonest virtue.
“It is unjust once the customers do not know that it’s taking place,” says Jeffrey Moriarty, the brand new government director of your own Hoffman Cardio to have Business Stability on Bentley University inside the Waltham, Mass. “These are typically to experience the online game by the guidelines that you do not discover and have now not provided to because they are doing it rather than their studies.”
Particular variations in prices, eg scholar and you can older coupons, is actually judge, but some other forms from rates discrimination is actually unlawful. “Generally it has been discovered to be unlawful when speed discrimination was based on things such as battle, intercourse, age, faith, marital status, national source, or handicap,” claims Robert Weiss, somebody on law practice Barnes & Thornburg in the Chi town whom focuses on it laws.
“Ages Isn’t Only a variety . . . ” But for the Relationship Programs
The brand new look comes after one or two education you to located comparable price variations towards the Tinder, one to used in australia when you look at the 2020 and another from the U.K. which was put-out from the 14 days in advance of Tinder launched its costs plan change. During the a press release, Tinder claims it got considering speed savings “and make Tinder reasonable of these in school otherwise at the beginning of their work.”
In the most common nations included in People International’s studies, people in their 30s and you may 40s have been quoted large rates than just every other generation. On You.S. the average rates are 42.4 percent greater than the price to possess adults below 30.
Someone over the age of forty two spotted some down rates an average of-even more than simply 20-somethings, however, a bit less than just people in their 30s and you can forties.
This gaps was in fact even higher elsewhere. Dutch Tinder profiles age 29 so you’re able to 49 had been quoted more than double the typically because the young users about CI analysis.
Whenever Tinder In addition to released, years discrimination on membership wasn’t a secret. On the U.S., swipers more than 31 paid off $, when you’re young profiles reduced $9.99.
Adopting the rollout, an excellent Tinder associate charged the firm getting ages discrimination below Ca state laws. Tinder ultimately wanted to accept the course-action lawsuit to own $twenty-four billion; the newest regards to the new payment have been recently overturned by an appeals court. Tinder didn’t accept wrongdoing, however it guaranteed during the 2019 to quit the latest habit for users inside the California.
The fresh Consumers In the world research discovered zero mathematically extreme proof that sex or sexual taste was regarding cost. not, from the U.S., guys whom took part in the research watched an average rate 6.5 https://www.datingranking.net/tr/happn-inceleme % more than women. Us americans beyond big metropolises were quoted 11.5 per cent more people in big metropolises.
From the You.S., pricing was scarcely other whatsoever for those who have some other sexual orientations. But not, about Netherlands, Dutch pages interested in reverse-gender people have been cited pricing 10.six % greater than some one trying couples of the same intercourse.
The study along with discovered that total charges for Tinder Plus varied by country. Dutch users saw the best average price within $, when you’re Brazilian profiles spotted a decreased within $step 3.forty-two.
Computer system experts state algorithms may use an enormous assortment of previously-switching research things to place cost, and certainly will produce outcomes that people using them don’t want. According to study, “??Also of course, if sex or intimate preference commonly purposely factored into the Tinder’s pricing algorithm, there was possibility unintentional discrimination in the event the specific demographics are consistently are charged more its alternatives.”
Tinder claims one to no societal group guidance provides ever before become put setting prices towards platform. “The brand new allegations one Tinder uses intercourse identity and you can sexual positioning to put pricing is absolutely not true,” claims a complement Category spokesperson.
People commonly support the internal workings of their rates decisions wonders. Customers International recommends you to businesses and you may authorities strive to generate those decision-and then make processes societal. “Businesses need inform you so you can users whenever and how personalized pricing is getting used, if you find yourself governments and you can bodies must introduce and you can impose such visibility criteria,” the study claims.
Indication the petition so you can stick out a light towards those people businesses that make use of these biased computer formulas and work out behavior in regards to you.


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Penned by Paul McCartney in 1968 amid simmering tension with The Beatles, in the 1970-released “The Long and Winding Road,” McCartney wistfully sings about “the long and winding road, that leads to your door, will never disappear, I've seen that road before, It always leads me here, lead me to your door.” Going into its 102nd year, First District Association (FDA) is a business-to-business cheese processor with no regrets, deep, small-town roots and a steadfast commitment to quality that keeps bringing customers and employees back to its doors.
The six-block, 765,773-square-foot campus is complete with a propane tank — emblazoned with First District Association in bold red letters — which takes up an entire block on S. Swift Street (across from the main office) in Litchfield, Minn. (population 6,532). The tank helps ensures seamless operations 24/7.
Founded in 1921, FDA — then and now — started off as a dairy cooperative that was formed by 11 local creameries that banded together to make butter and milk powder, explains Bob Huffman, FDA’s president and CEO since July 1, 2019.
“Fast forward 50-plus years to 1975 when the board of directors made the big decision to retool the plants, stop producing butter and powder and begin making cheese,” he tells Dairy Foods during a recent visit and plant tour.
— Bob Huffman, FDA's president, and CEO
“At that point, we had about 2 to 2.5 million pounds of milk being processed into cheese. In 1997, we completed the first major expansion since 1975. All the cheese equipment was updated into the newer style vats, from the horizontal style open cheese tables,” Huffman continues. “The next major milestone for First District was around 2012 when the plant’s capacity increased from processing 3.5 million pounds of milk to processing 5 million pounds of milk a day.”
A $200 million capital investment
Then came FDA’s loftiest expansion in the company’s history, a $200 million capital investment to update and expand plant and product capacity so “the cooperative is set up to thrive in the next 100 years,” Huffman relays.
To continue driving innovation, in 2021 FDA unveiled three new facilities built from the ground up: a 62,862-square foot cheese plant and cooler; an 11,244-square-foot addition onto its lactose plant; and a milk receiving facility/intake plant of 15,000 square feet. Currently, FDA has five dairy processing plants, with two additional plants that can be retrofitted as the need arises.
The company orchestrated its expansion strategy with sustainability top of mind, as it focused on ordering equipment and parts from top USA-based dairy manufacturing companies within about a 60-mile radius of Litchfield. For example, Tetra Pak, out of Winsted, Minn., supplied most of the state-of-the-art cheesemaking equipment; Willmar, Minn.-based RELCO built the dryer equipment pivotal for making whey and lactose powders; and APT (Advanced Processing Technologies), Cokato, Minn., designed and built the advanced cheese packaging and bulk conveyor systems. Even the approximately 12, 700,000 gallon vertical silos on FDA’s campus used for milk storage were constructed by a local company, DCI Inc., out of St. Cloud, Minn.
“Every decision we made wasn’t spur of the moment, but was based on where we want to be 15-20 years from now,” Huffman explains. “We’re not a national co-op, we’re a regional co-op in the upper Midwest that operates primarily in the state of Minnesota and that’s who we are. We stick to grassroots when it comes to our leadership and core values in how we operate. We try to make good conscious decisions and by sourcing locally, there’s less freight, less shipping, less miles on the road and less expense.”
Another plus was the timing since much of the work and investment occurred with pre-COVID-19 inflation dollars, so “we were very fortunate on our timing. If we had delayed six to 12 months, we could have seen our costs double,” the CEO says. “We were fortunate that during the entire pandemic, we never missed a beat. We were pretty much at full staff and I’m grateful for the 215 employees working for us as well as our dairy farmers for all their hard work.
“Several members of our team grew up on a dairy farm or have family members that are dairy farmers,” he continues. “We have team members who are related to current dairy farmer owners of First District. It’s just a cool passion that you can’t fake.”
Huffman proudly points out that today FDA is a $1 billion dairy cooperative represented and owned by 650 dairy farm families with 120,000 cows — all based in the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” to intake the freshest quality milk to make the freshest quality cheese.
FDA’s portfolio includes cheddar barrels, long-held cheddar barrels, GoudaCurd, Monterey Jack barrels, uncured swiss for manufacturing, along with whey protein concentrate (WPC) and lactose, which are cheese byproducts used in, natural and processed cheese, snack food, confectionary and infant formula markets.
FDA’s goal is to market the milk and return the highest value back to its farmer-owners. “The plants we operate are indispensable to our cheesemaking operations,” Huffman states. “We make 270 to 280 million pounds of cheese a year out of the 2.6 billion pounds of milk that we use internally to make cheese and also sell 335 million pounds of milk to Class I and Class II markets. …I’m proud to say we use every single drop of milk, all the way down to the water out of the cow's milk gets reused in the processing process.”
Innovations at every turn
In addition to sustainability and the creation of a new modernized plant that melds automation with technology, (see “Inside the Plant” feature), the company has added new 40-pound blocks of cheddar cheese to its portfolio, is ramping up production of its global whey business, and in early summer will be relaunching and selling its own brand of cheese — Fieldgate Cheese — in a designated retail shop in Litchfield.
Huffman explains that FDA’s and the co-op’s own cheese brand and retail store came to life in the mid-1980s, but was shuttered a few years ago when the organization that purchased it closed the store, ceasing production.
However, membership and regional community loyalty for FDA’s American-style, flavored cheese began reverberating. Huffman notes: “We really heard loud and clear the demand for the brand of cheese we produce and sell throughout the region … primarily American-style cheese based on our core cheddar with different flavors like ranch cheddar and bacon cheddar. While the brand is owned by First District, it will have the Fieldgate logo on its packaging and be sold right down the street with other products that our co-op partners wish to sell.”
In 2023, FDA also is boosting revenue and increasing capacity by reinitializing the commercialization of 40-pound blocks of cheese. Out of 20 SKUs that FDA produces, its cheddar varieties are No. 1 in dollar and volume sales.
All of the cheese that is manufactured is sold to customers for further processing. “I'd say we're about split in the middle between foodservice, but are a little heavier on the snack food volumes of cheese we produce,” Huffman states.
— Bob Huffman, FDA's president, and CEO
The CEO emphasizes that the company’s production of 500-pound barrels of White Cheddar sets it apart from other cooperatives. “We’ve been the largest US Dairy Farmer Owned Cooperative in that market for quite some time,” he states. “At the end of the day, our reputation is a key driver for us along with our good reputation for food safety and sustainability.
“We know costs are going to change and investments need to be made,” he continues. “Our farmers put their investment back into our manufacturing facilities as their No. 1 priority and have for years.”
While First District’s cheese operations is domestically based and represents a large volume, around 55%, of the company’s bottom line, its whey and lactose powders — which represent 100% of the company’s global export business — are sold internationally to countries like China, Japan and Mexico, to name a few. In the near future, the company hopes to export some of its cheese as well.
The company invests in innovation every year and finds that the more they work to meet a customer’s specific needs, the more the innovation pays off.
A 10-year FDA employee, Zac McCann started off on the production floor before being named the company’s cheese plant manager. He oversees around 46 employees — an average of 12 employees per shift running the plant — working 24/7, 365 days a year.
McCann recalls when a customer tasked FDA with creating a Swiss cheese to replace them from having to buy Swiss trim. “What we did was put the culture into our vats, but we didn’t cure it the same way they would a regular Swiss cheese because the customer is using this cheese in their own process, McCann says. “This way they’re getting a 500-pound barrel of cheese of high quality at a better price point.”
All the way with whey
Further innovation on dairy, milk, and the usage of whey and lactose byproducts is crucial for the growth of the customer-centric company.
“We try to show our customers the value of the sustainable side of dairy,” Huffman states. “On the protein and the lactose side, that’s where we’re really matching up technology and innovation. If you look at the project we just completed, some of that technology has never been used before and we’re the first ones to install it and use it.
“So, a lot of our investments in the last 36 months alone have been on the technology side to help us innovate and grow,” he continues. “The protein we get as a byproduct from cheese really has a wide range of uses in food, infant formulas, and pharmaceutical production.
ABOUT FIRST DISTRICT ASSOCIATION
Headquarters: Litchfield, Minn.
Campus size: Six square city blocks occupying 765,773 square feet.
Co-op size: 650 dairy farm families supplying 3 billion pounds of milk annually
President & CEO: Bob Huffman
No. of employees: 215
1975: FDA discontinued manufacturing butter and converted to cheese and whey products.
1984: New evaporator installed, making FDA one of the most energy-efficient plants in the world.
2021: Co-op celebrates 100th anniversary; opens new cheese processing plants and debuts world’s longest, three-story cheese belt that can make 42,000 pounds of cheese an hour.
2023: FDA opens new retail store in downtown Litchfield, and relaunched its licensed Fieldgate Cheese brand.
Shane Dill, director of manufacturing for FDA, concurs that whey processing has dramatically increased with new resources. “First District wisely decided to really invest into the whey side of operations because we run such a clean process from the start which provides a really high quality of whey,” Dill says. “It’s used for infant formula and other products and we’re exporting a large volume of our whey products internationally.”
Geared for the future
In preparing to become First District’s ninth CEO in its 102-year-old history, Huffman says he learned the ropes during 17 years working on dairy farms, a dairy cooperative, and by managing large single-plant and multi-plant operations. He also gained deeper technical knowledge of milk intake, block and barrel cheese, and whey operations.
“First district is unique in that we talk directly to the customers that we supply,” the CEO notes. “They are long-time customers, and they’ve worked with us for more than 20 years because we produce high-quality products that meet their customized specifications. The consistency we offer and specializing in those specs sets us apart from a commodity cheese producer.”
Citing data from Chicago-based Information Resources Inc. (IRI), Huffman notes that competition is fierce in the $15.3 billion milk industry — which saw dollar sales climb 7.3% compared to a year ago. With cheese clocking it at No. 2 in overall revenue and sales, the CEO is “optimistic and excited for 2023 revenue.”
Even before the pandemic hit, First District was seeing steady revenue growth. “If you look at our revenue history in the last three years, we've pretty much doubled our revenue,” he explains. “Back in 2018, we were at a little over $500 million. Now we’ve hit the $1 billion milestone. We've been on an upward trend with the new plants and adding new products.
“It’s really exciting going through our brand-new, sparkling clean plants. The build and startup brought forth new innovation in size, scale, volume, and the ability to meet higher quality specs from new technology and to explore different types and flavors of cheese for our customers,” Huffman concludes. “The way I wake up every morning — and I’m a competitive person — is focused on the team behind me. The key ingredients to our success are our amazing employees and our dairy farmers who foster quality and consistency at every turn.”


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Vice’s Dominique Delport: The new, ‘stronger’ Vice has gone ‘beyond cultural change to fix what was wrong’
There’s a kinder, gentler face to Vice Media.
Once known for its brash ways, Vice under new CEO Nancy Dubuc is presenting a different, more streamlined appearance for the market. Part of that is presenting a simplified structure and recent moves to bring in new leadership across the company.
Vice Media global CRO and president of international Dominique Delport kicked off the week’s episodes of the Digiday Podcast by detailing how the company has gotten its house in order. A few highlights:
“You’re as strong as your weakest link,” said Delport. “It was beyond a cultural change just to fix what was wrong. It was building a stronger Vice.”
Scale isn’t enough
“I still believe that digital advertising is a great business to be in when you have trust and engagement,” said Dominique Delport, chief revenue officer at Vice, on this week’s Cannes edition of the Digiday Podcast. “Eighty-three percent of the people who watch Vice trust us and they follow us because there’s that level of loyalty. That’s something brands are looking at. We are starting to build our global engagement score, which is a metric that still needs to be refined. Reach is certainly not the game we wanted to be in. You need scale but you need engagement which comes with quality content.”
Delport discusses the Vice business model, where the growth areas lie, bringing back Vice News without the HBO partnership and more. Edited highlights below.
The brand story can evolve as audiences evolve.
“The world is young. There is a lot of discussion with [our] clients around Gen-Z and how they’re different from millennials. On Snap, 15 to 20-year-olds follow us, who probably don’t know the Vice story — that it was a magazine in Montreal 25 years ago. It’s not important. It’s important to be relevant to these young audiences. It’s important to deliver for them and empower them. There are now three generations that grew up with Vice. The ability to be relevant for each of these audiences is what we do.”
A diversified model is necessary.
“With Amazon, Facebook and Google eating the lunch of every single digital media publisher, [our] digital media business is less than 30% of our business. Then you’ve got Vice News, Vice Studio, Vice TV, Viceland and Virtue. These five business lines have been under Nancy’s [Dubuc] well-oiled and structured [leadership.] Our audiences need to feel we are at our best in storytelling around the world.”
Vice News is not going away.
“Vice News’ partnership with HBO will not be renewed but Vice News will find a new home. It’s the first newscast for young audiences in the U.S. It’s a fantastic team that produces a 30-minute segment. We need more Vice News in the world of [fake news.] You need that quality of video content to keep teaching and empowering the audiences on global issues.”
Disney adds Hulu to upfront deals to bolster streaming pitch to advertisers
Disney will bundle Hulu and its own digital video inventory in a new program and guarantee audiences and completed views.
Member ExclusiveSlowly but surely, the TV ad market is changing in profound ways
For decades, TV’s annual upfront marketplace has been organized around a bargain. In exchange for locking themselves into long-term commitments, advertisers receive lower rates than if they were to spend their money in TV’s so-called scatter market, where networks sell ad space left unsold by the upfront sales process. Now, driven by advertisers canceling portions […]
Connected TV advertisers gravitate to multi-DSP model as Amazon, Roku push their own bidders
Using a single DSP would simplify the complicated CTV ad market for advertisers, but no single DSP is sufficient, say agency executives.
SponsoredVideo: Marketers discuss the future state of less interruptive in-stream ads
In a new video, experts from GumGum, The Martin Agency and Pinterest discuss the future of video advertising — and outline their vision for how video ads can be less disruptive.
Media companies will need to wait until 2021 for IGTV ad revenue
Instagram will test IGTV ads this year with individual creators and share 55% of ad revenue.
How Roku aims to win over TV and digital advertisers in this year’s upfront
Roku will offer guarantees to ensure advertisers’ campaigns don’t overlap with linear and increase site visits and app installs.


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Wanting some variety and color in this sea of blue and white face masks? Recently, book-themed company Out of Print (OOP) and the American Booksellers Association (ABA) have teamed up to produce a new line of book-themed face masks. Each reusable mask runs for $12 and is made of cotton and polyester.
There are seven different literary-themed styles such as a design based on illustrator Mo Willems’s work, a design based on Douglas Adams’s A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and five original designs by OOP itself. These designs cater to the book-nerd in all of us by presenting an alternative to the common face mask.
A portion of the profit from each mask will be donated to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (BINC) to support small bookstores struggling during the pandemic. BINC aims to help small bookstores with “serious medical expenses, eviction prevention, funeral expenses, disaster assistance, domestic violence survival, utility shut-off prevention, unexpected loss of household income, and more.”
Given that the masks had an incredibly strong preorder demand, already selling 13,000 units, the CEO of ABA, Allison Hill is “excited about this launch” and “very grateful for Out of Print’s support of BINC.”
OOP has a history of supporting charitable and sociable causes, having donated $50,000 to the BLM movement and, on another occasion, to the World Central Kitchen.


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It will be back to school for Prince Charles on Thursday as he visits his own Food and Farming Summer School and makes a tour of Eastbrook Farm in Wiltshire.
On the visit, Charles will be meeting students and will hear from them the results of the ‘field lab’ research that has recently been undertaken by the Soil Association and the Organic Research Centre. The research was carried out as part of his Duchy Originals Future Farming Programme.
Founded back in 2007, the summer school has since inspired Prince Charles to take a keener interest in environmental sustainability. The heir to the throne also finds it vitally important to support the wider farming community and has been personally involved in the development of the programme. Interestingly a segment of the summer school is held at Prince Charles’s Gloucestershire estate, Highgrove and the Duchy Home Farm.
The aim of the summer school is to engage leading individuals in farming, food businesses and government organisations in addressing the challenges of producing sufficient food sustainability. The event is run by leading experts who present discussions but also participate in them too.
Duchy Originals Future Farming Programme is an avid supporter of innovation in sustainable agriculture and it helps British farmers identify and use practices to improve their productivity, but in a environmentally friendly way. The scheme involves farmers from across the country and will see them develop their techniques in improving yields and nutritional performance in organic and low input agriculture.
The DOFFP is funded by the Prince of Wales charitable foundation and is delivered by the Soil Association which is in partnership with Duchy Originals and Waitrose.
What makes this visit even more exciting for the Prince is the fact that it coincides with National Countryside Week, which is an annual campaign to celebrate all that is good about the British countryside. It also celebrates the people who live and work in our rural areas and is organised by The Prince’s Countryside Fund.
As previously reported by Royal Central, Prince Charles’s Duchy Originals is going from strength to strength. It was showcased at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City from the 29th June to the 1st July. One of the first organic food brands in Europe, Duchy Originals are one of the UK’s leading organic and sustainable food companies and every year, profits from the sale of their products go to many charitable causes.
photo credit: Peter Broster/Flickr (CC2.0)


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Britain should have its own "Small Business Saturday" ahead of Christmas to celebrate and support the country's independent retailers, said the shadow business secretary, an initiative that already exists in the US.
Labour's Chuka Umunna said the day, which he proposed takes place annually with the first being held on 7 December, could be promoted by local authorities and organisations, and events to showcase what small, independent retailers offer their communities should be held.
"We must do more to celebrate the contribution local, small independent businesses make to our economy and encourage people to buy from them," said Umunna.
"Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy, play a hugely important role in our communities and add to the unique character of each locality.
"Establishing a Small Business Saturday in the UK, a concept which has enjoyed considerable success in the US, would provide a small but simple and effective way to celebrate local small businesses and encourage more people to buy from them on one of the busiest shopping days of the year."
The US version of Small Business Saturday saw £3.4bn spent at independent shops when it took place on 24 November. Umunna has written to the day's US organisers, the Small Business Administration, to ask if they would extend the scheme to the UK.
The retail sector has suffered badly over the past year with global economic crisis and domestic recession weighing heavily on consumer spending.
A blowout Christmas, with around £3bn being spent on Boxing Day alone, offered some respite to retailers' pain.
Mary Portas, the retail guru, completed a for the government into the country's ailing high streets at the end of 2011 in which she made 28 recommendations for improving the future outlook for town centres.
Among her recommendations were to set up individual "Town Teams" to oversee the operational and strategic development across high streets, and removing regulations to make it easier for people to become market traders.
There are a number of "Portas Pilots" running in towns up and down the country to test drive the recommendations.
The government did not directly address Umunna's call for a Small Business Saturday.
"We're determined to offer practical support to our high streets, which is why we've doubled the amount of small business rate relief to new and smaller shops," said Local Growth Minister Mark Prisk.
"This is one part of a multi-million pound package of support to Town Teams and Portas Pilots up and down the country, including mentoring from retail experts and workshops to address the challenges they face.
"And for budding entrepreneurs, we're providing over £80m of start-up loans for young people starting their own businesses, and my Department is the first in Whitehall to open a pop-up shop in our offices, giving new retailers the opportunity to test their ideas and get their ventures off the ground."


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Source: AdobeStock / prima91Binance, the predominant cryptocurrency change, has offered the resumption of user registration and salvage entry to in Belgium. This comes after the Financial Products and companies and Markets Authority (FSMA) ordered the suspension of Binance’s companies and products in June.
The FSMA mentioned that Binance used to be offering change and custody pockets companies and products in Belgium from non-European Financial Effect worldwide locations, which violated regulatory prohibitions.
The FSMA ordered Binance to quit its crypto change and custody pockets companies and products in Belgium, citing violations of Anti-Cash Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism necessities. It beneficial that Binance could possibly doubtless well proceed operations in Belgium by a agreeable entity ruled by the law of one other EEA member explain, which incorporates Poland.
On September 25, Binance, the enviornment’s largest cryptocurrency change in the case of trading quantity, offered the reopening of unusual buyer registrations and salvage entry to to its companies and products and products in Belgium.
Binance expressed its delight in welcoming unusual registrations from Belgian residents and reinstating varied Binance choices for users who delight in approved the platform’s updated Terms of Spend.
This building follows Binance’s establishment of a Polish entity in gradual August, particularly designed to attend clients in Belgium while complying with regulatory necessities
Following the listing from the Belgian FSMA to ruin definite companies and products in Belgium, on August 28, Binance offered that its entity in Poland registered as Binance Poland sp. z o.o., will be offering companies and products to residents of Belgium.
This walk complies with “regulatory obligations.” Some users seeking companies and products on the change were required to publish documentation in step with Poland’s Know Your Customer necessities as adverse to Belgium’s.
Binance Navigates Regulatory Landscape: From Delisting Stablecoins to Adapting to MiCABinance, as a global cryptocurrency change running in varied worldwide locations, has confronted regulatory challenges since its inception.
In July, it suspended companies and products for Dutch users due to the the lack of a virtual asset carrier provider license. Moreover, Binance, Binance.US, and CEO Changpeng Zhao are for the time being facing a lawsuit filed by america Securities and Change Commission (SEC).
The Markets in Crypto-Resources (MiCA) legislation, intended to connect a consistent regulatory framework for crypto property amongst European Union member states, is scheduled to settle beget in 2024 after approval by policymakers. For the time being, the framework is in a consultative share, seeking solutions on technical requirements.
In step with these evolving regulations, Binance offered plans to delist stablecoins for the European market by June 2024 in the course of a public hearing with the European Banking Authority (EBA).
Binance’s decision to delist stablecoins is allotment of its compliance efforts, and various companies and worldwide locations delight in furthermore made adjustments to meet unusual requirements. France, as an illustration, updated its crypto licensing regulations to align with MiCA in August.
It be value noting that Binance has reversed choices associated to asset delisting in the previous, as demonstrated by its reversal of the delisting of privateness coins in Europe in June. This transformation used to be driven by adjustments in its operations to conform with European Union requirements and solutions from its neighborhood and varied projects.
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08 November 2013 10:00 [Source: ICB]
A wave of new on-purpose propylene capacity is set to start-up in 2014
The impact of new propane dehydrogenation (PDH) units in China on the Asia’s propylene market may kick in from the second half of 2014 as operations take time to stabilise and amid tight supply in northeast Asia next year, market sources said.
“Many people think the first half of next year should be okay but the second half could be volatile,” a China-based propylene end-user said at the sidelines of an olefins conference being held in Shanghai on 30-31 October.
Tianjin Bohai Chemical Industry Group started up the country’s first PDH unit in September 2013 but operations at the 600,000 tonne/year unit have yet to stabilise, market sources said.
The bulk of the propylene that Tianjin Bohai produces is expected to be allocated to its affiliate companies, with a small portion sold to the domestic market, they said.
In addition, at least 15 naphtha crackers in Asia are due for scheduled maintenance in 2014, and nearly half of the plant turnarounds are in Japan – a leading supplier of propylene to China, according to ICIS data.
This is expected to keep propylene supply snug despite the impending start-up of at least another three PDH units in China next year.
Polypropylene (PP) producer Shaoxing Sanyuan Petrochemical is expected to start up its 450,000 tonne/year PDH unit in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, at the end of 2013 or first half of 2014, market sources said.
Acrylic acid producer Zhejiang Satellite Energy plans to bring on stream its 450,000 tonne/year PDH unit in Pinghu, Zhejiang province, during the first half of 2014. Both companies will largely feed the propylene feedstock to derivative units.
Ningbo Haiyue New Materials is also expected to start up its 600,000 tonne/year PDH unit in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, in the first half of next year.
The company is likely to initially sell its propylene to domestic customers as it does not have derivative operations, market sources said.
At the end of 2014, Yantai Wanhua Group also plans to start up a 600,000 tonne/year PDH unit in Yantai, Shandong province.
If the above projects come on stream successfully, this is expected to have an impact on propylene import demand into China, Asia’s largest spot market.
China imported around 2.15m tonnes of propylene in 2012, according to market sources. The expectations are for import figures to remain close to or slightly above these levels this year but import volumes in 2014 could take a hit from the start-up of the new PDH units.
However, some producers, who have started preliminary contract negotiations for 2014, said appetite for imported propylene remains strong due to the start-up of new downstream plants in the country, namely in the acrylic and phenol-acetone sectors, next year.
“Our customers are requesting for more term volumes,” said a Japanese propylene producer at the sidelines of the conference.
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Note: The following item was provided by the Georgia Department of Economic Development for publication. – KtE
ATLANTA – August 18, 2021 –The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) is now accepting nominations for the 2021 GEAR Awards. These awards are designed to recognize forward movement in the automotive and mobility industries through innovation and emerging technologies.
Additional information and applications are available at georgia.org/GaGEAR.
“This past year has been particularly exciting as Georgia has continued to build on our existing strengths to lead the charge in developing an electric mobility ecosystem that will benefit the U.S. and beyond,” said Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson. “I’m very excited to celebrate the innovation, research and development, and overall advancements Georgia’s automotive companies have made over the last year.”
The Georgia Automotive Awards began in 2016 to showcase the collective achievements of Georgia’s robust automotive industry, which has contributed to the state’s competitive advantage in the sector.
This year, automotive and mobility companies will be recognized in the following categories: Supplier of the Year – employing 200 or more people, Supplier of the Year – employing 199 or fewer people, Transportation Equipment Manufacturer of the Year, Automotive Innovation Award, and Citizenship Award. In addition to their award and announcement, winning companies will have an opportunity to be featured through a success story on the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s website.
Anyone may nominate a company, and enterprises may also nominate themselves for an award.
Nominations will be accepted through September 17 at 5 p.m.
Nominees will be reviewed by a diverse committee of experts who retain a deep understanding of the manufacturing industry. Winners will be announced in the fall.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) is the state’s sales and marketing arm, the lead agency for attracting new business investment, encouraging the expansion of existing industry and small businesses, locating new markets for Georgia products, attracting tourists to Georgia, and promoting the state as a destination for arts and location for film, music and digital entertainment projects, as well as planning and mobilizing state resources for economic development. Visit www.georgia.org for more information.


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Face Bedazzling From Brazil
As soon as the lights went down on Istanbul fashion week, they went up on an entirely different continent as São Paulo fashion week got under way on Monday. The best part about the Brazilian fashion capital’s showcase of local design talent is that many of its homegrown catwalking heroes turn up for the festivities, too. Yesterday, Caroline Trentini walked the Animale show, while Isabeli Fontana, who returned to the runway in Paris for Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, and Anthony Vaccarello, among other shows, turned up at Tufi Duek. We are feeling those cornrows and the gold chrome nails, but it’s her face jewelry that’s really selling this look; never have we wanted a bridge piercing more. You, too?


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On today’s CBT Newscast for Friday, September 7th, 2017:
Ricky Lopez on driving more Hispanic car buyers to your website and dealership
Ricky Lopez, CEO of Hispanic Ad Agency, recently told CBT that if your dealership is looking to engage with Hispanic and Latino customers and you’re not sure where to start, the CRM would be a great place. Watch Now
Why No One Pays Attention in Sales Meetings
As all of us in the car business know, there are sales meetings and then there are “sales meetings.” When it comes to the scheduled weekly or monthly meetings, most of the time the temperature of the meeting depends on how things are going in sales that week.
Building a Great Social Media Presence – Facebook
Social media has completely changed the way businesses run. It allows companies to have a more effective channel through which they can create connections to their audience. Companies and brands can now share informative and visual content in real time.


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Intel is giving new life to its Pentium processor for servers, and has started shipping the new Pentium 350 chip for low-end servers.
Western Digital will be allowed to take over Hitachi's hard-disk drive business, but only if it sells off a 3.5-inch hard-disk drive production plant.
Dell on Tuesday said it has upgraded its PowerEdge servers with the just-released 16-core Opteron processors from Advanced Micro Devices.
Qualcomm's long-awaited Mirasol reflective color screen technology is on the market, in an e-reader that launched in South Korea on Tuesday.
Nanya said on Tuesday it has filed a patent infringement complaint in the U.S. against Japan's Elpida, further escalating the legal battle between the two DRAM makers.
The U.S. International Trade Commission has determined that Apple did not infringe technology patents owned by S3 Graphics and ended its investigation of the matter, the ITC announced Monday.
Hewlett-Packard has secretly contracted with Intel to keep making Itanium processors so that HP can maintain the appearance that "a dead microprocessor is still alive", and make money from its locked-in Itanium customer base and take business away fr...
Most tablets and e-readers today use LCD or e-ink technology, but a new challenger that promises sharp color and reduced screen power consumption could be used in devices in a matter of months.
Rambus is considering whether to appeal the Wednesday jury verdict that scuttled its antitrust suit against Hynix Semiconductor and Micron Technologies, which...
Qualcomm on Wednesday said its quad-core Snapdragon chips, designed to run Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 OS, will appear in tablets in the second half of next year.
A San Francisco jury has rejected a US$4 billion antitrust claim by Rambus against rival RAM makers Hynix Semiconductor and Micron Technology, a California court announced Wednesday.
Elipda said Wednesday it has sued Nanya in the U.S. and Taiwan for DRAM patent infringements.
Intel is drumming up support for its latest 50-core Knights Corner and Xeon E5 server chips, which are key elements in the company's plans to scale performance while reducing power consumption moving toward an exascale supercomputer by 2018.
Known for its attractive touch interface, Apple may have some competition in the next generation of user interfaces, according to an analyst.
Touchscreens could be extinct if researchers pioneering new human-computer interfaces have anything to say about it. From brain-controlled machines to gesture-driven devices, there's a range of technologies in development that may find their way into...
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GGG Evaluation Team
First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.
For work use, Microsoft Word and Excel programs pre-installed on the device are adequate for preparing short documents.
The Fujitsu LifeBook UH574 allowed for great mobility without being obnoxiously heavy or clunky. Its twelve hours of battery life did not disappoint.
The screen was particularly good. It is bright and visible from most angles, however heat is an issue, particularly around the Windows button on the front, and on the back where the battery housing is located.
My first impression after unboxing the Q702 is that it is a nice looking unit. Styling is somewhat minimalist but very effective. The tablet part, once detached, has a nice weight, and no buttons or switches are located in awkward or intrusive positions.


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Our first look at Overwatch’s next character may be here a little earlier than Blizzard planned — that is, if the supposed leak of the hacker known as Sombra isn’t part of the developer’s ongoing alternate reality game.
An image posted to Imgur, Gyazo, DeviantArt and elsewhere claims to show Sombra, "one of the world’s best and most notorious hackers," in the flesh. The image appears to have been leaked from an internal website at Blizzard and says that Sombra "will be hacking her way into the build later tonight," though it’s not clear when the photo was taken.
The image appears to come with a partial description of Sombra. According to her rumored bio, she worked with the Mexican Los Muertos gang — seen in Soldier: 76’s animated short — "until she attracted too much unwanted attention and had to go underground." She was later recruited by the Talon organization, the same group that Overwatch characters Reaper and Widowmaker work for.
She appears to be armed with a submachine gun and wearing special gloves. Here’s a clearer look:
According to a post on the Overwatch subreddit, the leak originated from a "Russian OW group."
The Sombra leak may also offer details on a new gameplay mode coming to Overwatch. That mode will supposedly see players protecting a castle from "Zomnics and Dr. Junkenstein’s evil allies" and come with three levels of difficulty.
Dr. Junkenstein likely refers to leaked images of a Dr. Frankenstein-inspired version of Junkrat, which players dug out from game data and what appears to be a leaked issue of the Overwatch comic book.
The comic appears to show Halloween costumes for a number of Overwatch characters, including Mercy as a witch, Reaper as a jack-o’-lantern-wearing wraith, Junkrat as a mad scientist and Roadhog as his Frankenstein’s monster-esque creation.
That horror-themed event may also tie into another possible leak from earlier this week. Some Xbox One owners reported seeing "Halloween loot boxes" on the Xbox Store, hinting at new skins, emotes and other cosmetics coming to Overwatch.
In a developer update video posted earlier this week, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan said his team was "actively working on more heroes" for the game. One of those heroes is "very far along" and "coming together really well," he said, and "will see the light of day sooner rather than later."


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Atlanta — July 20, 2021 — Espresso Capital and WorthPoint Corporation have announced today that Espresso has provided WorthPoint, the most comprehensive online resource for researching, valuing, buying and selling antiques, art and vintage collectibles, with a $12 million credit facility.
WorthPoint empowers the antiques and collectibles industry by providing a steady stream of new data and quality information to improve pricing transparency between buyers and sellers. The company will use the new funds to help further grow the business by investing in a number of marketing and product development initiatives.
“WorthPoint has been a bootstrapped company, and this is the first funding into the company from beyond a close circle of friends and family,” said WorthPoint Founder and CEO Will Seippel. “We were seeking a non-invasive and preferably non-dilutive funding source that understood our business and model and lent to our quickly compounding recurring cash flow. We are thrilled to partner with Espresso as we continue to scale our business. This credit facility will allow us to build on our success by making strategic investments to expand our addressable market, enhance our website to provide a better user experience and add new data partners to further expand our offerings.”
Those offerings include a price guide for researching and valuing antiques, art and collectibles, a resource gallery for identifying makers’ marks and a digital library of more than 3,400 books from leading publishers covering a wide range of collecting topics.
“WorthPoint has a seasoned team that has proven they can operate successfully in a variety of different market cycles,” said Espresso Capital Executive Director Steven Michau. “They address a market segment with considerable room for growth while having no direct competitors. We see tremendous upside for the company as it makes strategic investments in several key areas that will continue to drive growth.”
“Steve and the team at Espresso have been great to work with,” continued Seippel. “In addition to offering a favorable cost of capital that will help better position us for a potential equity round in the future, we were impressed with the care they took to get to know our business and the speed at which they were able to close the facility. The process was smooth and seamless from end to end.”
“The Espresso team understood the broad principles of our business better than anyone else we spoke with and we have already deployed and seen growth from their capital infusion,” noted Seippel.
About WorthPoint Corporation
WorthPoint manages the largest online resource for researching, valuing and preserving antiques, art and collectibles. The company’s suite of offerings on WorthPoint.com includes a Price Guide, a resource gallery for identifying maker’s marks, autographs, patterns, symbols (M.A.P.S.) and a digital Library with more than 3,400 books about collectible topics. Through data aggregated from online marketplaces, including eBay and leading auction houses, WorthPoint empowers the antiques and collectibles industry by providing a steady stream of new data each month, building on more than 567 million archived prices and nearly 1.3 billion images to improve pricing transparency for sellers and buyers. WorthPoint is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., and has subscribers on six continents.
About Espresso Capital
Espresso empowers companies with innovative venture debt solutions. Since 2009, we’ve helped more than 300 technology companies and their investors accelerate growth, extend runway, and increase strategic flexibility with non-dilutive capital. Learn more at www.espressocapital.com.


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Scale with Sergio: Opening a New Manufacturing Facility Isn’t Easy
No matter how much experience or expertise a manufacturing company has, expanding operations is never easy. Even if they’ve done it before. Javier Gallegos, General Manager for Trans-Matic Precision Metal, shared the company’s journey in opening a new facility in Monterrey, Mexico.
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Trans-Matic specialized metal stamping capabilities required additional support. They had previously opened a factory in Suzhou, China, but working in Mexico was different. Gallegos said, “I started the planning and process in 2014, and we opened two years later. Change was necessary and hard.”
Employees were initially concerned about losing their job, but Gallegos said the company approached the change with transparency. “We were open and transparent with employees. We let them know we were keeping everyone on board and presented them the new capabilities and business drivers for why we were opening a new facility,” he shared.
That facility boasts 55,000 square of space and has 23 stamping presses. From the location, employees manufacture, develop tools, prototype, and more.
In the process of launching a new location, Gallegos provided some key insights. He stated, “Be clear with intentions. Plan for what you need throughout the process.”
Since the successful opening of the factor, Gallegos has also established innovative ways to track and monitor production. He added, “We focus on several metrics. Safety and quality dashboards are included as well as metrics on production and how they connect to goals.”
For any company, taking on such a massive project can be daunting. With the right leadership, approach, and strategy, companies can find success no matter how they expand.
Make sure to subscribe to keep up to date with every episode!
Marshall Electronics Responds to Esports’ Massive Growth with Cutting-Edge POV Cameras
As we head into the middle of this decade, the eSports industry is witnessing an unprecedented boom. Valued at $1.42 billion in 2022, it’s projected to skyrocket to $4.47 billion by 2030, thanks to the rising adoption of smart devices and POV cameras, internet connectivity, and strategic partnerships like that of Microsoft and NVIDIA. […]
Legacy Payment Companies Embrace Blockchain Solutions. Their Infrastructure is Still “Fundamentally Not Aligned” with Web3 Payments.
Legacy payment companies are finally embracing blockchain solutions at scale, though still behind compared to the innovation that young fintech companies are bringing to the next generation of payment solutions. Regardless, this embrace is taking many shapes, and it’s still not a guarantee that they’re up to the task. In the last year, Visa […]
The Importance of Legal Counsel to Major League Organizations
Live sporting events continue to be at the forefront of entertainment in America year after year. Between enthused fans, good food and drinks, and anticipation for record-breaking moments, the ambiance of a stadium on a game day is unmatched. However, behind the scenes of our beloved stadiums and sports traditions lies term sheets and contracts […]


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The RBA wants to cut unemployment, and nothing — not even soaring home prices — will stand in its way
Naver, Kakao vying to acquire the web novel platform Munpia
Naver and Kakao are battling to acquire the web novel platform, Munpia. The two major South Korean tech firms are interested in gaining control of S2L Partners that manages Munpia.
The aim is to buy at least 64.42% company stake for management control, as per The Korea Times. The web-based storytelling site is said to have an estimated value of not less than KRW300 billion or around $268 million.
Kakao and Naver’s effort to buy Munpia
The outlet reported that in its effort to acquire stakes at Munpia, Naver has already formed an association with a local private equity fund. As for Kakao, it has been in discussions with an investor.
Kakao already has Kakao Page that houses popular web-based manga but it is still aiming to buy Radish, a serialized fiction app, and Tapas, a platform featuring diverse stories and storytellers. Now, it wants Munpia too even if all of these are storytelling businesses.
Naver also acquired Wattpad in January and it owns Webtoon but it is competing with Kakao to buy a stake at Munpia as well. Many would wonder why these tech giants would want to acquire the web novel platform when they already have similar sites.
Why Naver and Kakao are determined to add Munpia to their portfolio
The main driving force for Kakao and Naver’s intention to have Munpia is simply to have the intellectual property (IP) rights over the stories that were published on the platform. This is because they can use these contents for various businesses including the entertainment field, movies, games and even TV dramas.
In fact, Kakao Page’s “Solo Leveling” digital comic alone was able to give the company KRW40 billion in online sales while its “Space Sweepers” webtoon was adapted into a movie and released on Netflix. It became no. 1 in the foreign language movie category.
Apparently, the contents can be utilized for other channels and earn extra profits from them and this is exactly what Kakao and Naver are aiming for when they bid to acquire Munpia. At any rate, Korean Economic Daily mentioned that the storytelling platform is the third-best in South Korea. It was purchased by S2L in 2016 for just KRW50 billion.


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OnePlus 5 is one of the most trending upcoming devices now. We have been reading tons of leaks and rumors about the upcoming OnePlus 5. We have seen so many leaked renders and official teasers. Now, to fuel up your rumor mill, OnePlus and Qualcomm have confirmed that the device will sport the Snapdragon 835 SoC.
Qualcomm’s official Twitter page tweeted on Monday: “OnePlus 5 is coming soon and we couldn’t be more excited that it’s powered by Snapdragon 835.” So the chipset manufacturer officially confirmed that the OnePlus 5 will come with this processor. Here is the full tweet:
— Qualcomm (@Qualcomm) May 24, 2017
Later, OnePlus’s CEO Mr. Pete Lau has also confirmed the news about the chipset. Also, he stated that choosing the components is only the first step and there was another key area that the team behind smartphone wanted to work upon. Anyway, OnePlus is making the best hardware for the upcoming flagship. So it will be another hot selling flagship like the OnePlus 3 series.
“One of the main areas we wanted to improve was touch latency. Our engineers tested why scrolling occasionally differed between phones. There wasn’t a lot of precedents for them to work with – no benchmarks, no industry case studies to learn from. So we used a special high-speed camera to track screen movements and measure input speeds. As a result, apps respond quickly to your touch for a seamless user experience,” Lau said in a blog post on company’s official forum.


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Apple is reportedly investing in SoftBank’s latest venture capital fund, Vision Fund II. The Cupertino company invested in the original $100B Vision Fund, which was the largest of its kind when launched in 2017 — and the latest fund aims to be even bigger.
Apple’s investment in the first round was $1B — a huge sum of money, if somewhat modest in this context …
Bloomberg reports that SoftBank’s founder Masayoshi Son is this time targeting a total fund of $108B.
The Japanese conglomerate aims to raise a total of $108 billion for the second Vision Fund, which would make it even larger than the first, unprecedented $100 billion effort. SoftBank is also taking more control — and risk — this time around, committing $38 billion in capital itself and replacing Saudi Arabia as the largest investor. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which chipped in $45 billion for the initial effort, was not mentioned in the announcement Friday.
SoftBank said the second fund is expected to collect money from Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Foxconn Technology Group and the sovereign wealth fund of Kazakhstan. Son also won broad support from Japanese financial institutions with seven identified as signing memorandums of understanding to participate.
A Business Insider report says that the target has already been achieved.
SoftBank has closed $108 billion for its second Vision Fund — a mega-sized fund that the Japanese giant intends to invest in startups.
Confirming previous reports, the Japanese telecom giant’s Vision Fund II counts Apple, Foxconn, and Microsoft as backers from the tech industry, in addition to several international banking partners.
Apple did well out of the original fund: it has so far achieved 62% returns.
SoftBank in June disclosed the initial Vision Fund had earned 62% returns so far after investing $64.2 billion in 71 deals.
Despite this impressive track-record, questions are also being asked about the sustainability of the approach, in both the original venture capital fund and this one.
One question is whether Son will be able to keep up the pace and scale of investments. The first fund targeted stakes of over $100 million, in just two years amassing a portfolio of 82 leading technology companies, including Uber Technologies Inc. and WeWork Cos. Ride-hailing is the single biggest segment, including stakes in China’s Didi Chuxing, India’s Ola and Singapore’s Grab.
According to data from market researcher CB Insights, SoftBank Group was an investor in 24 of 377 global unicorns, startups valued over $1 billion. While several of its portfolio companies — Uber and Slack Technologies Inc. — have gone public, profitable exits for many others might still be years away.
Amir Anvarzadeh, strategist at Asymmetric Advisors, is skeptical of SoftBank’s knack for making multi-billion investments in private tech companies before they try to go public. Venture firms in Silicon Valley historically have avoided such outsized bets for fear of driving up valuations and seeing returns tumble.
“Softbank’s strategy of bulking up and using its size to muscle into buying big stakes in late stage start-ups and unicorns depends on the IPO boom in loss-making firms to continue,” he wrote. Meanwhile, “it continues to raise the value of its existing unlisted holdings by simply providing a next round of financing at higher levels.”
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Last week there seemed to be a mini-media feeding frenzy about a story of a product design student who had claimed to have designed as part of her final university project a 'greenphone' which was powered by Coca-Cola.
Daizi Zheng, a graduate of Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, claimed the prototype could run up to four times longer than a traditional lithium ion battery and had the potential to be fully biodegradable.
The greenphone's bio battery generates electricity using enzymes to catalyse sugar in the drink. As the battery dies out, only water and oxygen are left behind.
Zheng put forward the concept to Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia, who tactfully said they would not be developing the greenphone prototype further in the near future.
Zheng was reported as saying that bio batteries are being developed by large electronics companies and may be on the market in the next five years.
To be honest I am rather doubtful that we will be seeing many bio batteries in five years and if we do I doubt they will mix very well with consumers who are the move - which is pretty much the target audience for mobile phones. All that potential shaking in warm environments and who knows what will happen. It is likely to be messy but at least it should be biodegradable. In fact you only have to open a warm can of Coke after it has been shaken and hey presto.
So as a practical idea the 'greenphone' concept has a way to go to become a reality and it shows that runtime is not always the best criteria for judging a power source design.
At least Zheng knows she had dreamt up a 'media-friendly' idea which would attract marketing-focused mobile phone companies. With this in mind perhaps Nokia was not the most obvious mobile phone company to approach with a sugar powered energy source.
Perhaps the most obvious candidate would have been Orange. After all if you add copious amounts of sugar to oranges you can at least make Marmalade if not a phone call. Apple and Blackberry may have been worth a call too.


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Vowles is the latest in a series of high-profile hires for the retailer as it moves to ward off pressure from sites such as Amazon.
In July, Argos hired EMI Music executive Bertrand Bodson as its first digital director following the appointment of Joanne Savage, the former Nokia global brand director, to the newly created position of head of own brand to boost Argos’ own-brand ranges.
It follows the announcement of a "strategic vision" by the retailer in October last year, when Argos confirmed it was to close 50 stores and scale back its flagship catalogue, as well as giving its remaining near-700 stores a digital overhaul.
Vowles replaces Karen MacLachlan, who left the business on 31 May to pursue other opportunities after nine years at Argos.
Vowles will report directly to managing director John Walden and become a member of the Argos executive board. He will be responsible for Argos’ marketing and brand strategy, planning, communication, promotions, consumer insight and analytics, personalised marketing, own brand management, and customer experience management.
Vowles joins from Ladbrokes where he was customer experience director and chief marketer, prior to which he held senior marketing positions at US supermarket Stop and Shop, Sainsbury’s, Thomas Cook Retail and P&G.
John Walden, managing director, Argos, said: "Stephen is a great addition to a strong leadership team. He will play a pivotal role within the leadership team as the 'voice of the customer’ within Argos, leading the drive to become a more consumer-centric company and the repositioning of the brand and customer experience, to be a universally appealing digital retail leader."


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Van Diepen, Strong embrace niche farming with Haskap berries, black currants
Norfolk Farms Spring 2021 Edition
Patricia van Diepen and Warren Strong’s route to the country was not about to economically pass through 3,000 acres of corn, beans and wheat ground. “And the half-a-million-dollar combine,” laughed Strong. “Hence the niche crops.”
She, along with her life and business partner, spent two full years searching out Plaid Shirt Farm’s 40 acres of former tobacco ground east of Otterville. They quite literally began laying down roots in June, 2017, personally and otherwise: planting the first black currant block their first week. “We didn’t unpack our boxes, we unpacked boxes of plants,” van Diepen laughed.
For her, the venture marked a return to rural roots, a childhood enjoyably spent on a family apple orchard outside of Sarnia. “I love agriculture,” said the Canada GAP auditor and consultant. “All the seasons, when things are planted, watching the crops grow and the harvest. Knowing full well, winter is planning time for next season.”
Although the couple definitely shares vision and workload, van Diepen would be more the horticulturalist. “I’m kind of like the design, build and fix-it guy,” smiled Strong. “Which there’s lots of here.”
If you love what you do, it’s not a job.
Researching an appropriate niche crop outside of a highly-competitive marketplace was also a lengthy process. The couple considered and rejected options including tart dwarf cherry trees, blueberries, hops and also took a lengthy look at vegetables. “But it’s just the two of us, with a bit of outside labour,” van Diepen explained.
Their initial black currant planting began producing at a couple of years of age, and will be around four to five feet when fully-mature, says van Diepen.
The couple began planting Haskap bushes in the fall of 2018 and anticipate their first level of meaningful production this year. Fully mature between five and eight years, they will last 15-plus van Diepen estimates, peaking out physically around four to five feet in height, “Similar to a blueberry bush.”
The couple has planted roughly 12 acres of Haskap bushes and an additional seven of black currants supported by drip irrigation the couple installed themselves, which also supplies fertigation.
Known in the United States as honeyberries and camerise in Quebec, cold-hardy Haskaps are native to the northern boreal forests of North America, Asia and Europe and were initially introduced to Canada commercially as Blue Honeysuckle or Sweet Berry Honeysuckle. Widely used as an ornamental shrub, the berries were anything but sweet. In the late 1990’s, Dr. Maxine Thompson of Oregon State University, and Dr. Bob Bors of the University of Saskatchewan began breeding and developing Haskap cultivars with improved flavours and harvest traits that have led to the marketable fruit we have today.
They are a football-shaped fruit with a ‘sweet/tart’ taste says van Diepen, likening the flavour to a ‘raspberry/blueberry’ combination.
Haskaps love high organic-matter material due to their shallow root system, as well as fertilizer. Mulch acts as weed control and moisture retention, and also moderates root temperature to slow down Haskap’s tendency to bloom early.
Black currant bushes are pruned in March, Haskaps the previous fall in large part because of their April bloom.
Crops have been picked so far with the help of all-local labour, but as two acres grows into ten and beyond, additional mechanization in the form of a Polish-designed and built haskap/black currant harvester will be sourced.
Haskaps are harvested from mid-June to early July, in something of a competition with feathered foes. “Birds love them,” said Strong. “Love, love, love them,” he added, noting netting is the most effective counter-measure. “You can lose your crop in a matter of days.”
A historically narrow harvest window has been extended through breeding and developing alternative cultivars, however they can come on quickly, he adds. “When they are ripe, they are ripe.”
Black currants are harvested mid-July to August, spreading of seasons allowing the couple to personally cover more responsibilities.
Those two crops are Plaid Shirt Farms’ priority, however they stepped into a niche for black currant bush propagation created by retirement of Canada’s black currant breeder in British Columbia. Cuttings are taken from existing nursery plants, grown out and then sold to commercial growers across Canada. “We are the sole propagation distributor of these plants,” said van Diepen.
The couple also has smaller sidelines including a few red currant bushes, gooseberries, garlic, hydroponic lettuce and their own honey-producing beehives. They are also considering the possible addition of a ‘pick-your-own’ fall pumpkin patch to more fully utilize their acreage.
As well as selling black currants fresh and frozen, the couple processes their own small batch preserves and condiments inside a commercial kitchen. The current line features seven different black currant products including the more traditional jam, sauce, juice and tart filling, as well as flavour-enhanced options such as black currant chutney and mustard or habanero jam, the latter relatable to red pepper jelly.
A companion haskap preserves line is currently in development. “I just don’t know what that will be, yet,” van Diepen smiled.
The flavour combinations are products of her experimentation, more precisely, the successful results. “Yes, I’ve had some flops,” van Diepen laughed. “But those go into Warren’s dessert instead of a jar.”
Apart from furthering debate around appropriate butter tart ingredients, black currants are also frozen and used for juice that can be processed into bitters or black currant cassis, a liqueur prepared by Dillon’s Distillery in Beamsville.
Haskap berries are extremely high in anti-oxidants and also eaten fresh, frozen, processed into smoothies or juices for straight up drinking, wines, gin and kombucha, a fermented ‘tea.’
“That’s the new health thing,” Strong smiled. “The kids are drinking it.”
Plaid Shirt Farms products are on offer in several locations around Ontario including Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese, where black currant chutney, black currant habanero jam and mustard are seen as great companions for cheese platters.
Considerations to enter farmer’s markets or specialty craft marketplaces have been curtailed by COVID-19. Strong and van Diepen did begin opening their own onsite retail outlet Saturdays until noon, and plan to do so again in 2021. They also offer online sales including honey through their website: https://plaidshirtfarms.com.
The couple enters 2021 with ‘nervous excitement’, rising to the mixed challenge and opportunity of more product coming online and growing their opportunities, in the midst of a global pandemic. Despite the ongoing challenges of transitioning to niche farming under any circumstances, the parameters are those they both accept around a journey they continue to embrace.
“It’s a process, a labour of love, really,” Van Diepen said. “There is a lot of work, but it’s not a job,” she added. “If you love what you do, it’s not a job.”
“Jobs are those places you show up for pay, not because you want to be there,” Strong agreed in conclusion.


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A recent study of media in 51 countries shows that the internet has a big impact on the aggregate revenue of major media industries.
The study was conducted by Sung Wook Ji, an assistant professor at the Media Communication Division, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in South Korea, between 2009 and 2013.
The study focused on nine forms of traditional media: books, radio, newspapers, magazines, music, home video, theater, broadcast television, and subscription television. The study also estimated the advertising revenue as well as the direct payments from consumers by using an empirical method called the static panel data model. The model is about considering time series data and cross-sectional data simultaneously.
In the increased broadband penetration, the media industries experienced different influences. For example, theater, radio, broadcast television and subscription television revenues remained almost the same while books, newspapers, magazines, recorded music, and home video decreased, the study found.
According to the study, the average aggregate media revenue in 51 countries, including the U.S., Canada, South Korea, Italy, Kenya, India, Pakistan, and Hungary, decreased by 12.5% in comparison to the average GDP between 2009 to 2013 while internet conditions were improving.
The advertising proportion of the industries decreased with the increase in broadband internet penetration, the study found. Newspaper companies in the U.S., Canada, and the UK had already started direct payments from their single consumers. About 40% of the newspapers from the U.S. apply the strategy to increase revenue while numbers are 60% and 80% for the UK and Canada respectively.
To read more: https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699018807914
Ji, Sung Wook. “The Internet and Changes in the Media Industry: A 5-Year Cross-National Examination of Media Industries for 51 Countries.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (2018): 1077699018807914.


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Khaleej Times | 6 December 2022
UAE eyes 26 CEPAs in 7-8 years: Minister of economy
by Waheed Abbas
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements (Cepas) will play a key role in the development of UAE’s new economy and the country aims to sign 26 such deals in the next few years, said Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy.
The UAE has signed Cepa deals with India, Indonesia and Israel while negotiations are underway or in the planning phase with Pakistan, Turkiye, Georgia, and Cambodia as part of the UAE strategy to double the size of its economy from Dh1.4 trillion to Dh3 trillion by 2030.
“We plan to sign 26 Cepa in the next seven to eight years,” Bin Touq said on Tuesday at the launch of the “Future 100” initiative to support 100 startups in new sectors that will shape the future economy of the UAE.
Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi, Minister of State for Government Development and the Future; and CEOs representing local and international companies, startups, as well as entrepreneurs in the UAE, also attended the launch event on Tuesday.
On Monday, the UAE and Ukraine signed a deal to start negotiations for the Cepa to boost bilateral trade in key strategic sectors.
Al Marri added that the Cepas will help ensure enough supply of basic commodities and reduce inflation in the country. He added that inflation was around 5.5 per cent in the first nine months and it’s likely to drop next year.
“We monitor inflation on day to day basis and prices on shelves in retail outlets. We monitor prices of what go up and down every week. We speak to retailers and wholesalers, too. We recently got the support from the Cabinet to involve more in price setting to ensure prices are good for consumers,” said the minister.
The minister expects the UAE economy to grow over 6.5 per cent this year and the next, driven by the new economy sectors as well.
In November, the International Monetary Fund also hiked the UAE’s economic growth forecast to over six per cent for 2022 last month, a remarkable increase from 3.8 per cent last year. This is driven by the foreign investment inflow into the country’s different sectors in 2022 after the government successfully and effectively handled the pandemic which further boosted the trust of foreign investors in the country.
‘Future 100’ initiative for startups
The Ministry of Economy and the Government Development and the Future Office on Tuesday launched the “Future 100” initiative which will annually highlight the top 100 startups that will promote the country’s readiness for the future and the competitiveness of the future economic sector in the UAE.
Bin Touq noted that the UAE is keen to launch proactive initiatives whose impact extends over the coming five decades to support its new, futuristic economic model in line with emerging global economic trends.
"The Ministry of Economy continues to support innovative future projects that promote the UAE’s global leading position on competitiveness indicators and supports it as an attractive destination for future projects from all over the world," he said.
“It further enhances its position as a permanent hub for creativity and innovation, securing sustainable growth for the UAE’s national economy and creating new jobs, especially in sectors pertaining to the new economic fields, such as space, renewable energy, fintech, and AI,” he added.
Al Roumi said enhancing future readiness is a key pillar in the methodology of the UAE government.
The initiative aims to support new economic sectors that will shape the future economy of the UAE, especially startups that contribute to the national economy, as one of the main goals on the UAE government agenda.
What is ’Future 100’
’Future 100’ initiative will annually highlight the top 100 startups that will promote the UAE’s readiness for the future and the competitiveness of the future economic sector in the UAE. It also aims to boost the UAE’s position as a global hub for innovation, top-notch technologies and entrepreneurship.


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Now that we all have incredibly powerful video cameras in our pockets, audio recording has definitely seen improvements, but new new VideoMic Me lets your ears truly USB-C some incredible audio recording improvements.
The accessories market for flagship smartphones from the major players is huge, and while cheap and cheerful accessories are widely available, there are some quality brands always worth paying extra for to buy quality and peace of mind.
Japanese personal computer maker Dynabook has released what it claims is the world's lightest 13-inch convertible laptop, the Portégé X30W-J 2-in-1.
All mobile phone repeaters are illegal in Australia, with the exception of the celfi units, because the carriers can remotely[…]
To this day there is still some 700MHz spectrum unallocated.NO there isn't! I'm sorry but you are wrong here. The[…]
If TPG or Optus are limited in the amount of spectrum they can buy (by a cashed up telstra with[…]
All of the repeaters linked to in this article are ILLEGALThe only legal repeaters authorized for use by the ACMA[…]
Mortgage fraud where identity theft makes families homeless, is not being helped in the U.S. by private equity/lending firms, banks[…]


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Gen-X Parents Opps: John-Richard taps first CMO post-acquisition (Score 65)
Luxury furniture brand John-Richard (JR) found its first chief marketing and merchandising officer, effective April 6, in Jonathan Michael Parks. Parks joined from Ethan Allen, where he served for seven years, most recently as furniture & hard accents merchandising VP.
This hire comes not long after JR was acquired by company exec Alan Galbraith in November 2020.
The company responded to the global pandemic by launching a virtual showroom tour to show off its spring collections
JR tends to target higher household income (HHI) consumers, especially Gen-X. Neither iSpot, Adbeat nor Pathmatics yet report national spend for the brand, but I expect this to change now that JR has found its first CMO. The recent acquisition could also lead to shifts in ad spend.
Agency & martech readers - This hire could also easily lead to opportunities for you; reach out sooner rather than later to see what work is now available.


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Marcus sees higher revenue, lower earnings tied to effects of buying cinema chain, other one-time costs
Despite a revenue increase, Marcus Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings declined sharply — reflecting the effects of buying another cinema chain and other one-time costs.
The Milwaukee-based cinema and hotel operator reported net income of $8.7 million for the period ending Dec. 31, a 74.7 percent decline from $34.4 million from the year-earlier period.
That translated to 30 cents a share, compared with $1.21 a share.
Without one-time costs associated with the acquisition of the Movie Tavern chain and the conversion of downtown Milwaukee's former InterContinental Hotel into Saint Kate – The Arts Hotel, net income would have been $11.85 million, a 15.4 percent increase from $10.27 million.
Saint Kate opens this spring.
Also, the year-earlier quarter included a one-time tax benefit which boosted earnings.
Revenue was $175 million, a 5.7 percent increase from $165.6 million.
“If not for these one-time expenses, we would have achieved both record revenues and operating income for the fourth quarter and our hotel division would have reported a sizeable increase in fourth-quarter operating income,” Gregory Marcus, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.