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The next level for Corbion
Corbion, a food ingredients and biobased chemicals company, has officially unveiled its newly advanced R&D and applications laboratory in Gorinchem, the Netherlands.
It is here, in the purpose-built 3,500 square metre facility, that confectionery ingredient development takes centre stage. The company can now offer customers more collaborative new product development (NPD) services, faster development times and exhaustive testing and trialling under conditions that mimic its specific manufacturing environments.
Anieke Wierenga, senior innovation director, told Confectionery Production: “The lab offers a complete package where we can combine product development with instant application and sensory testing capabilities. This allows us to develop and evaluate buffered acid blends and acid powder products that meet the needs of our customers on taste impact and stability.
“Our in-house sensory capability allows for a good evaluation of sweet and sour taste profiles. Meanwhile, our food lab allows us to carry out all basic measurements and stability tests on our solutions themselves and in application.”
The globally increasing demand for powder coatings seemed to be the words on everybody’s lips during the laboratory tour. “We are seeing increased demand for new and extreme flavour profiles, including sourness. This is particularly prominent in Europe. On top of that, we are also seeing a lot more demand for powder,” explains Wierenga.
Powder development uses three main core technologies: spray drying, ingredient blending and coating technology. It is the new spray drying technique that allows developers to evaporate liquids resulting in a free flowing powder and a decrease in particles, enabling reduced transportation costs. This, alongside customers being able to handle powders more easily, are good reasons for its preference.
Despite its recent inauguration, the new laboratory had already originated the Purac Powder MA, a malic acid powder for acid-sanded confectionery. This ensures improved stability in terms of acid migration and moisture uptake from the environment, allowing the candy to remain dry throughout its shelf life and dissolve much faster on consumption, giving consumers an instantaneous burst of acidity.
Climate control rooms, located in the food laboratory enable Corbion to mimic environments in Europe as well as Asia, to measure its impact on candy, and in particular powders.
“We continuously improve our existing offering and develop new products on the basis on proven technologies. One example of such a technology is our ability to develop stable and instantly sour tasting acid powders, in various confectionery applications including jellies, marshmallows and chewing gum,” says Wierenga.
Unique to the company is its predictive modelling tool that enables technologists to test sourness and stability in hard boiled candy. “We use our Corbion Sourness & Stability calculator to assist candy producers in reformulating their products. This tool calculates the impact of ingredients on important candy parameters such as sugar inversion and sour taste,” she explains.
There is no doubt that the new facilities being used by Corbion enable them to move in a strategy sharing direction, allowing for more interaction between themselves and customers.
The team have expressed excitement for their future at the new R&D centre with continuing confectionery ingredient trends giving them plenty to work towards. “We’re seeing a move away from gelatine toward vegetable stabilisers such as pectin. As vegetarianism reaches new heights, confectioners are increasingly reformulating their recipes to appeal to consumers who have a general interest in a healthy and sustainable lifestyle,” says Wierenga.
“In addition, we’re noticing confectioners are developing natural and palm oil-free versions of their existing products. A category typically associated with artificial colours and flavours, confectionery producers are looking to create greater appeal for consumers wanting to avoid artificial ingredients. Replacing these ingredients with naturally-driven alternatives is one way confectioners are reformulating their recipes to facilitate this,” she explains.
“At the same time, despite the fact that food manufacturers are increasingly incorporating sustainably sourced palm oil (RSPO) into their recipes, many consumers have a negative perception of palm oil. As a result, confectioners are creating palm oil-free versions of their current product portfolio. Reformulating without palm oil brings additional benefits too, as its inclusion can often create off taste and a fatty mouthfeel, particularly in sugar confectionery,” she concludes.


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North America isn’t getting the top most variant of the Galaxy S22 Ultra model
Samsung is all set to formally unveil the Galaxy S22 series this Wednesday, which includes three models: Galaxy S22, S22 Plus, and S22 Ultra. The Galaxy S22 Ultra will come in both 8GB and 16GB of RAM options. There were many rumours saying that it will have a 1TB storage variant aside from 128GB, 256GB and 512GB storage variants.
Now a document sourced from a South Korean telecommunication company by leaker lanzuk (via @sondesix) is showing that a 1TB variant of the Galaxy S22 Ultra is going to be made available but for few selected regions only.
At least in Korea, this option will only be available for unlocked models. According to tipster Ice Universe the 1TB model will also be available in China.
Previously leaker Roland Quandt had said that it would only be sold in a few regions. That’s more or less indicating that the 1TB Galaxy S22 Ultra model will not be available in the US.
Also Read: Galaxy S22 series base price in South Korea and new press images leaked
Aside from having a Galaxy Note design and S Pen slot the productivity centric Galaxy S22 Ultra will also feature 8K video recording which is definitely very demanding in terms of storage space. If that’s not enough, this device will also miss out on microSD slot for storage expansion. All of these further increases the need for a 1TB model. But it will still be interesting to see whether or not Samsung will offer this 1TB storage variant in more markets.

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Calling all craft beer lovers!
There’s only one place to be in Central Florida on January 22. Wekiva Island’s Otter Fest is back! The event will take place from 2 to 5 p.m. January 22 at Wekiva Island, with VIP entry an hour early at 1 p.m. This is the fourth year for the event, which took a year off for COVID in 2021.
Attendees 21 and older will be able to enjoy a selection of tastings from 16 different breweries. There will also be prizes and freebies, live music from junoSmile and an unbeatable outdoor location along the beautiful Wekiva River.
“This is such a fun event, and people look forward to it every year,” said Carrie Vanderhoef, manager. “We’re so excited we have it back this year, and we know it’s going to be a great day celebrating craft beer and all the breweries participating.”
In addition to the fun, Wekiva Island’s amazing food truck, Without a Paddle Café, will be cooking up specials for purchase that complement the beer offerings. The menu includes locally made Polish Kielbasa with Grilled Onions and Kraut and BBQ Pork Belly Tacos. Of course, there will also be pretzel necklaces for easy bites between sips.
The first pour for all attendees will be the all-new Bud Light Next.
Participating breweries include:
- Ancient City
- Bold Rock
- Blue Springs Brewing
- Canteen Ready To Drink Cocktails
- Central 28
- Goose Island
- Ivanhoe Park
- Ormond Brewing
- Sanford Brewing
- Southern Tier Brewing
- Tampa Bay Brewing
- Three Daughters
- Victory Brewing
- Wicked Weed
Tickets are $30 for general admission and $40 for VIP admission. They are available here.
For more information about Wekiva Island, visit wekivaisland.com.


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Zurich Chocolate Show treats nation of chocoholics
Exhibitors at Zurich's Salon du Chocolat are celebrating "Swissness" with chocolate watches and Easter egg clocks as the travelling confectionary fair opens its doors for the first time in a country renowned for its love of chocolate.
Founded in Paris in 1994, the 'Salon du Chocolat' gala has toured the world to destinations such as Tokyo, New York and Cairo, and offers smaller, independent artisans the chance to exhibit their latest wares.
One such company is Swiss-based "Chocowatch", which launched its novelty chocolate timepieces sculpted into a rock from the Swiss Alps in February this year.
Designed by Francis Gerber, who has worked as a graphic designer for Richemont's (CFR.VX) watch brand Jaeger lecoultre, the 70 percent cocoa watches come in two styles: milk chocolate and dark chocolate and retail at 14.50 Swiss francs.
His Renault car laden with the edible watches, distributor Bernard Matthey toured Swiss tourist hotspots, such as Verbier, Zermatt and Interlaken - popular with Asian visitors who are snapping up the real Swiss watches.
"We're not in Lucerne yet, because we didn't have time to stop," said Matthey's wife Mary Josee. "But we hope to get there soon."
Home to chocolate companies like Nestle (NESN.VX) and Lindt & Spruengli (LISP.S), famed for its gold foil-wrapped bunnies, the Swiss invented milk chocolate in 1875 and have been a nation of chocoholics ever since.
The Swiss consumed 94,008 tonnes of chocolate products in 2011, according to statistics from the Association of Swiss Chocolate Manufacturers.
After two years in development, Confectioner Voland, has succeeded in building a working clock mechanism into its 128 Swiss franc Easter egg. Only 18 exclusive pieces have been made for sale at the Salon du Chocolat Zurich, which runs from March. 30 until April 1.
Also playing on the Swiss theme is Geneva-based Du Rhone Chocolatier, which has produced Easter eggs embossed with chocolate Swiss franc coins for a price of 40 Swiss francs.
For more expensive tastes, Lindt & Spruengli artisans are hand-decorating three giant Easter eggs during the fair, each weighing some seven kg and costing 2,000 Swiss francs


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Classic Sport Driving, the highly anticipated arcade racing game, is finally nearing the final stages of development. The full release on Steam is scheduled for June 12th.
When we first tried the Classic Sport Driving (CSD) demo in October 2021, the game was scheduled to be released a few months later. But after a long delay, the game is finally nearing completion and promises silky smooth retro graphics, intuitive handling and seasonal challenges.
CSD will have two game modes; Arcade and Pro. Arcade is your classic ode to yesteryear’s slot games; It’s an action-packed, full-ground contact race where the emphasis is on maintaining momentum through corners while dodging opponents.
Pro mode is a bit more cerebral, requiring players to pinpoint their braking points and master the layout of each racetrack to reach the next checkpoint.
This brings us to CSD’s most unique feature; a track generator. By entering your track name, a customized stage will be created with random environment values and length. Players can share this with their friends and compete for the top spot on the leaderboard (each vanilla and generated track will have its own leaderboard).
Sylvain Debaudringhien, studio head of Pixel Wrappers, is a former amateur motorcycle racer and his love for 90’s racing games like Jaguar XJ220 was the catalyst for his CSD development journey.
“Classic Sport Driving began as a love letter to the Amiga. I loved a lot of racing games on this machine (Lotus Turbo Challenge in particular) and wanted to try my hand at game development, so the choice was obvious,” said Debaudringhien.
Footage courtesy of Pixel Wrappers
“There’s something beautiful about this retro, hand-drawn aesthetic, and I wanted to see how it could translate to modern hardware with huge character spacing and a lot more pixels. I feel lucky that I was able to build a team around the idea and we were able to make it happen,” he continued.
From now through Sunday, May 21st, Classic Sport Driving players will have a try-out demo available, allowing players to try out the inaugural races of the game’s campaign mode.
Are you looking forward to Classic Sport Driving? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: Pixel Wrappers


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Get ready for an exciting and interesting journey into Brazil’s online casino industry. We’ll take a look at the latest gaming data released by KTO, one of the country’s leading online casinos. We’ll also broaden our perspective to understand the country’s gambling predilections, and see how online slots stand against other casino games in terms of popularity.
Also, we will analyse crucial changes in the regulation of online gambling in Brazil – from the introduction of a new tax policy on sports betting to its potential effects on major betting firms. As we explore the changing online gambling environment in Brazil, we will create a detailed description of a market that is both exciting and diverse.
Brazil’s Online Casinos Most Popular Slot Games Revealed
Our investigation provides a captivating look into the preferences of Brazilian online casino players. KTO, a Brazilian casino online, has decided to share their internal data points. Their latest research report reveals the popularity of their slot games.
Here are the top-ranking slot games at KTO:
- Fortune Tiger with 41% popularity and 10.6% of game rounds share
- Sweet Bonanza with 16% popularity and 3.9% game rounds share
- Sevens Fire with 14% popularity and 4.9% game rounds share
- Big Bass Splash with 10% popularity and 5.6% game rounds share
- Jewel Rush with 9% popularity and 0.5% game rounds share
- Floating Dragon with 9% popularity and 0.8% game rounds share
- Gates of Olympus with 9% popularity and 3.6% game rounds share
From the data, it’s clear that Fortune Tiger is the winner, commanding the highest popularity rate of 41% and 10.6% of total game rounds. It outshines all other games significantly. The popularity of these games signifies the escalating demand for online slots in Brazil.
How Popular are slots in Brazilian Casinos Online?
Looking at the larger context, slot games aren’t the top choice among Brazilian online casino games. Despite their dominant popularity at KTO, slots only occupy the fourth position overall, falling behind roulette, blackjack, and table games with a popularity rate of 63%.
Even though live dealer games are considered a favourite among Brazilian real money players when asked in a survey KTOs data shows that there is a difference in actual preference based on play time.
Executive Order – Taxation on Sports Betting
In a move to increase its income, the Brazilian government has taken a crucial step by introducing a taxation policy on sports betting. This executive order, pending Congressional approval to remain valid, levies an 18% tax on Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR).
Both domestic and international companies can apply for permission to operate fixed-odds betting lotteries, provided they meet the Finance Ministry’s conditions. This strategic decision echoes the government’s aim to regulate online gambling activities and benefit from the growing sector.
Regulations – A Necessary Measure
In 2018, Brazil had passed a law permitting online fixed-odds betting for the first time. However, due to the lack of particular sector regulations, online gambling firms relished tax-free advantages while making profits.
Acknowledging this, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad affirmed that regulations were crucial and could enable the government to collect roughly 2 billion reais ($423 million) by 2024. This move could stimulate fair competition, regulate the industry, and increase revenue.
Navigating the Future – Regulations and Growth in Brazil’s Online Casino Scene
As the Brazilian online casino industry continues to transform, it exhibits an exciting mix of varied gambling tastes and a growing appetite for online slots. The data from KTO reveals the most popular slot games in the country, highlighting the growing interest in this particular form of entertainment. However, when viewing the larger picture, slots currently sit in the fourth position in popularity, behind roulette, blackjack, and table games, demonstrating an interesting variation in preferences among Brazilian online gamblers.
In response to the swiftly expanding online gambling sector, the Brazilian government has taken major steps to regulate the industry and increase its income. The recently issued executive order that imposes an 18% tax on Gross Gaming Revenue from sports betting illustrates the government’s dedication to tapping into the market’s potential while promoting fair competition and financial profits. Before this, the lack of specific sector regulations let online gambling companies reap significant, tax-free profits. Now, with regulations in place, the government seeks to generate substantial income while fostering a regulated and monitored environment for the gambling community.


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GALAXY Note 10.1 for media creation arrives at New York
At a star-studded event, GALAXY Note 10.1 launched at Lincoln Center in New York City on Aug. 15th to cheers and applause. The tablet is being hailed as incredibly conducive to the creative process, and so Hollywood directors are taking note. Samsung executives and film director Baz Luhrmann stepped onto the stage to introduce the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, which became available in the U.S. on Aug. 16th. After a brief introduction from Luhrmann, discussion naturally turned to the tablet’s innovative media creation tools.
First, enjoy the video of this event.
What makes the Galaxy Note 10.1 so special? Well, pretty much everything. The Galaxy Note 10.1 offers a digital pen, a speedy 1.4GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. The Android tablet supports an intelligent multi-app display, allowing users to work on two tasks at once. Luhrmann noted that this is ideal for video editing, of course. But, additionally it means that the creative process is not hindered by technology. Galaxy Note 10.1 allows you to take notes next to an article, sketch something you’re seeing in a movie, and so on. Samsung’s team emphasizes that the multi-screen feature offers true multi-tasking, since you are not forced to toggle between apps and can actually use both simultaneously.
One of the key features emphasized during Samsung’s presentation, was that the digital pen (called the S-Pen) included with the Galaxy Note 10.1 is not just a simple stylus. It is a pressure-sensitive input device, which is actually powered by technology created by Wacom, the company behind professional-grade digital drawing tablets. The Galaxy Note 10.1 comes pre-loaded with a custom-made version of Photoshop Touch, allowing users to take advantage of everything the S-Pen has to offer, making digital editing a breeze.
“The benchmarks are just off the charts,” reporters were told, after hearing about some of the apps specifically designed for the Galaxy Note 10.1. The tablet runs Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS right now, but will be upgraded to Jelly Bean by the end of the year. You might have heard of Google’s “Project Butter” which is making everything on Jelly Bean even smoother. Well, this will no doubt help Galaxy Note 10.1 just get better with age.
Competition in the tablet field is tough as can be, with the iPad leagues ahead. Tracking firm iSuppli released a report that Apple’s 9.7-inch tablet controls about 70 percent of the media tablet market, and that’s up from its low of 58 percent back in January. Other challengers in the 10-inch space will come from Microsoft’s Surface tablet — available in a mobile RT form and a more power-intensive Pro model — and in the long-awaited (but as yet unconfirmed) 10-inch Kindle tablet from Amazon. Still, Samsung has high hopes for Galaxy Note 10.1 as it aims to differentiate it from its competitors.
Ok, so you know Baz Luhrmann, director of hits like Moulin Rouge and Romeo & Juliet, was there. But the rest of the guest list was seriously a who’s who of Hollywood celebrities. The red carpet was host to big names in fashion, entertainment, movies, TV, and music. Check out the famous faces below!
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Carl’s Jr. celebrates a major milestone with the opening of its 500th international restaurant in Queensland this Saturday, which will also mark the fourth drive-thru Carl’s location for the Sunshine State.
With hugely successful launches in Redbank Plains, Pimpama and West Ipswich already under their belt this year, the Bansal Group is thrilled to celebrate the burger giant’s 500th location milestone in Eagleby this weekend.
The Bansals have been strategic with their Queensland locations and expect the new restaurant in Eagleby to rival, if not surpass, record-breaking opening results in Redbank and Pimpama., the latter of which achieved a position in the top 3 global openings for the burger giant, and sits at number 1 in Australia to date.
West Ipswich opened just two weeks ago and is also on track to be one of the most successful international franchises for the global burger giant.
Bansal Group has earmarked at least another 15 restaurants for Queensland with Rothwell and Hope Island expected to open before Christmas this year and Slacks Creek, Berrinba, Townsville and Rockhampton slated for 2019.
Bansal Group General Manager, Shawn Kerr, said Eagleby locals will embrace the iconic Californian-inspired burgers which are high in both taste and value
The menu includes handmade classics such as 100% Angus Beef Thickburgers, Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders, Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shakes as well as high-quality breakfast sandwiches, premium coffee and desserts. There are low carb alternatives for the health-conscious with all Carl’s Jr. sandwiches or burgers available in a lettuce wrap.
Situated off the M1 at Exit 34, locals, commuters and travellers will be able to easily access Carl’s Jr for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
The Eagleby Grand Opening is THIS Saturday, September 15 from 8.30am, and the Bansal Group is sweetening the deal for the first 50 people through the door who will win vouchers to eat free for a whole year.
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Caloocan sari-sari store owner busted for sale of fake vaccination cards
MANILA, Philippines — This sari-sari store owner in North Caloocan was arrested by police for selling, not his regular store items, but fake vaccination cards.
The suspect was identified as Benjamin Marilao, 52, who owns a sari-sari store located at Phase 7, Barangay Bagong Silang, North Caloocan. He was arrested during an entrapment operation over the weekend, the Caloocan city government reported on Friday.
Caloocan Police chief Col. Samuel Mina said Marilao was selling a vaccination card for P500 to an undercover policeman.
Seized from Marilao was the computer that he used to make the fake vaccination cards, as well as several fake copies of vaccination cards. The suspect is facing charges for falsification of public documents.
In a statement, Caloocan City Mayor Oscar “Oca” Malapitan encouraged the public to avail of the free vaccination instead of resorting to buying fake vaccine cards.
“We have a database where we could check the records of vaccinated individuals in Caloocan. Our vaccination sites are open every day, so let’s get vaccinated instead to protect ourselves and our community,” he said.
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This month we have an appointment with OnePlus, which will present its new cheap phone called Nord. It is a phone with which the brand will return to the cheapest models, something that many see with good eyes, after the rise in prices of its recent high-end. A phone about which we know everything, and that will not arrive only at its launch in Spain. The brand will also present its OnePlus Buds headphones.
The OnePlus Buds also promise to be an important launch for the brand, since will be your first wireless headphones. A few days ago it was commented that they would be presented this July 21 with the OnePlus Nord. Now the brand itself confirms this news and announces its first wireless headphones.
All the features of the OnePlus Nord have been leaked
A few days before its official presentation we know all the characteristics of the expected new OnePlus mobile, the OnePlus Nord.
OnePlus Buds arrive this month
The OnePlus Buds will be True Wireless (TWS) headphonesAs the first brand headphones to be completely wireless, there is no cable. The headphones are independent of each other, without cables, in addition to having a charging case to store them and where they can be charged at all times to expand the use of your battery.
The brand says that users are looking for headphones that give good sound and good user experience. This is exactly what we can expect from these new headphones from the brand. Although the brand has not yet given clues about what functions we can expect in them, such as noise cancellation, for example. Headphones that promise to be an ideal accessory for the brand’s phones.
July 21 will be when these OnePlus Buds appear officially, together with the OnePlus Nord. The event can be followed live at 4:00 p.m. Spanish time. We will be able to follow it in a live streaming, in addition, the brand gives the possibility of following this presentation event in Augmented Reality, through the AR OnePlus Nord application, available on Google Play.


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Lou Basenese and the team at Trend Trader Daily have launched a new marketing campaign for Digital Fortunes featuring an investment opportunity called “Area 52.”
By subscribing to Digital Fortunes today, you can discover how to potentially earn “quantum profits” by investing in a unique opportunity involving quadrillion-dollar government technology.
What is Lou Basenese talking about with Area 52 technology? Can you really get rich quick by investing in this technology today? Keep reading to discover everything you need to know about Digital Fortunes and their Area 52 investment opportunity today in our review.
What is Digital Fortunes?
Led by Lou Basenese, Digital Fortunes aims to share the most exciting and profitable trends with investors before they’re known to the general public.
Recent investment trends covered by Digital Fortunes have included 5G, cannabis, space-based internet, autonomous cars, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, biometric authentication, and mobile payments.
Simply knowing these trends exist isn’t enough: Lou Basenese aims to go beyond each trend to identify the best investment opportunities within the trend. Then, he shares those opportunities with investors.
Here’s how Lou explains the benefits of Digital Fortunes:
“…with Digital Fortunes, you’ll receive a new investment prospectus every month. Each prospectus is simple and easy-to-understand. It will be about a groundbreaking investment trend, and about a specific trade to profit from it.”
Each report features all of the information you need to make an informed investment decision. Lou recommends a specific stock to buy, and you can do your own research to determine if it’s the right fit.
The goal of Digital Fortunes is to help traders get rich quick with minimal risk. Here’s how Lou explains the moneymaking potential of his recommendations:
“…these are the types of trades that can potentially deliver real-world returns of 50% to 100%+ in short order — without taking unnecessary risk.”
By subscribing to Digital Fortunes today, you can get monthly investment recommendations with similar money making potential. These recommendations have no minimum required amounts, and you can easily invest in the deals through your existing brokerage account.
An annual subscription to Digital Fortunes is priced at $299. However, the price drops as low as $99 through the new promotion.
What is Area 52 and the Quadrillion-Dollar Technology?
As part of a 2022 promotion, the Digital Fortunes team has released a presentation featuring “Area 52” and “quadrillion-dollar” government technology.
Lou claims to have spotted an investment opportunity related to this technology. Investors who take advantage of this opportunity can potentially earn “quantum profits,” according to Lou.
Here are the fast facts about Area 52 and the quadrillion-dollar technology:
“Area 52” is a 52-mile stretch of the Chicago suburbs where the government is currently conducting tests on a major technology
That technology involves quantum computing; if the tests are successful, it will lead to an upcoming breakthrough that will transform our way of life
On August 3, a quantum microchip company could announce a partnership with a major semiconductor supplier, which would mark the beginning of a “quantum gold rush”
If Lou’s prediction is correct, the biggest gains will be gone by August 4, which is why he recommends buying specific stocks today
You can discover complete information about the quadrillion-dollar quantum technology in Lou’s new report, The Quantum Profits Report, which comes bundled with all new subscriptions to Digital Fortunes
Lou believes the quantum technology in development will be worth “10x the existing internet” and will be “critical to America’s national security over the next 100 years.” Investing in this technology today is like investing in Apple, Microsoft, and Google 20 years ago.
It’s the first technology Lou has ever valued above a quadrillion dollars, which is why Lou believes it’s the best investment you’ll ever make. In fact, he describes the opportunity as “the single greatest investment you’ll ever make in your life.”
Earn 1,000% Returns by Investing in Quantum Technology Today
Lou believes we’ve never seen an investment opportunity like the Area 52 technology before. He has valued the technology at over a quadrillion dollars, and he believes investors who buy the right stocks today could earn 1,000% returns on investment.
Here are some of the reasons Lou believes you could earn 1,000% returns on investment:
Area 52’s technology is “the next evolution of humankind” and will lead to some of the most important discoveries in human history. If quantum computing takes off, it could lead to “immortality, teleportation, brain-computer interface[s], holograms, and interstellar travel,” according to Lou.
Some of today’s biggest speculative investment firms have already invested in quantum computing technology with the hopes of making 1,000% to 10,000% returns.
Amazon recently opened an entire campus dedicated to Area 52’s technology, and it could lead to 1,000% gains because of the “Amazon effect.”
Facebook changed its name to Meta to better position itself for the upcoming quantum computing and metaverse revolution, and Lou believes Facebook’s push could lead to 1,000% gains.
Google built a computer using Area 52’s technology. That computer processes complex data more quickly than any previous computer in human history.
Goldman Sachs is rewriting its investment algorithms to accommodate the new technology, and Lou believes the “Goldman effect” could lead to 1,000% gains.
Big pharma, electric vehicles, telecommunications, and other industries could also be transformed by this technology, leading to 1,000% potential gains in each sector, according to Lou.
Because of all of these reasons, Lou claims Area 52 is the best investment opportunity he has ever seen:
“…as a technology analyst of nearly 20 years…I don’t say this lightly, but…Area 52 has the best investment setup I’ve ever seen in my career…”
In fact, Lou claims you could earn “89x your investment” by buying one specific company in the space today. To learn the name and ticker symbol of that company, you need to subscribe to Digital Fortunes.
The 3 Superpowers of Quantum Technology
Why does Lou believe quantum technology will change the world? Lou has identified three “superpowers” linked to quantum technology, including:
Superpower #1: Quantum Technology Can’t Be Hacked: Today’s chip technology has a fatal flaw: it can be hacked. Quantum technology, however, is “impervious to hacking,” according to Lou. Instead of transmitting data in strings of 0s and 1s, quantum computers exist at the subatomic level. And, the data knows when it’s being watched. If a hacker were to observe quantum data in transit, it would collapse. It’s easy to destroy and impossible to copy. With hacks increasingly costing the world’s biggest corporations a fortune, quantum technology could solve that problem.
Superpower #2: Quantum Technology Travels at Light Speed: Quantum data transmits at light speed, and it processes data many times faster than today’s computing technology. Although most computer data technically travels at the speed of light, quantum data remains in an undecided state until the moment it’s called upon to perform a task, which is known as “superposition,” giving devices the ability to perform vast calculations at once.
Superpower #3: Quantum Technology Has Godlike Intelligence: Quantum technology has “godlike intelligence,” according to Lou, and it can solve problems that are infinitely complex. People believe quantum technology can dive into problems that no previous computer has been able to solve. Google’s “Sycamore,” for example, is a quantum microchip that recently did something impossible: it predicted the output of a random number generator.
How to Invest in Quantum Technology Today
It’s no secret that quantum technology could change the world. But what is Lou’s investment opportunity? How does Lou recommend getting a stake in quantum computing?
You could invest in the best-known players in the space. Only five companies have developed fully operational quantum microchips, including:
However, none of these companies are licensing their chips for wide-scale consumer applications.
Lou has identified a small, Silicon Valley-based company that is licensing chips for consumer applications.
Lou describes the company as a “rising superstar” that is helping chip manufacturers produce quantum microchips for broad-based usage.
The company spent 20 years developing its quantum computing technology, and it has protected that technology with 298 patents.
The company is just 0.03% the size of Amazon, making it an attractive and affordable buy for investors today. Lou believes the company has enormous upside – and the company’s potential will skyrocket further thanks to an August 3 licensing deal.
The Small Quantum Computer Could Sign a Major Deal on August 3
According to Lou’s research, his small quantum computing company is preparing to sign a major licensing deal with a tech giant on or around August 3, 2022.
Because of that licensing deal, Lou believes the company’s sales could rise from $400,000 to 2021 to $58 million in the coming years, or an increase of 14,400%.
The company is preparing to announce its earnings on August 3, and Lou believes the company will also announce its partnership with a major company.
Lou believes his small quantum computing technology company will partner with one of the world’s biggest tech giants, including Samsung, Micron, Intel, Broadcom, Qualcomm, Toshiba, Texas Instruments, or Skyworks.
By buying shares in this company today, Lou believes you could earn returns similar to buying Amazon when it launched its Prime membership in 2005 or Apple when it launched the iPhone in 2007.
To learn more about the quantum computing investment opportunity, you need to subscribe to Digital Fortunes today. All subscriptions come with The Quantum Profits Report, a guide featuring “potentially life-changing information” on page three. Lou lists the name, ticker symbol, entry prices, and exit prices for the company.
How Much Money Can You Make with Digital Fortunes?
Lou Basenese and the Digital Fortunes team are confident their predictions can help investors make a lot of money in a short period of time with minimal risk.
Lou claims his readers have earned triple-digit and quadruple-digit returns on his recommended stocks. The promotional page for Digital Fortunes is also filled with stories of investors making huge returns on investment by following the investment guidance in Digital Fortunes.
Here are some of the moneymaking claims featured on the Digital Fortunes website and promotional page:
- Lou claims his readers have earned returns of 1,223% in OptionXpress, 358% in Apple, 972% in Tesla, and 749% in Energous Corp by buying his recommended stocks
- Lou claims his Area 52 investment opportunity could deliver ever greater returns; he claims investors have the chance “to pocket up to 89x your investment”
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June 2, 2022 -- By 2050, we will need to produce as much as 56% more food than we did in 2010 to feed the world’s growing population. While experts agree we can do it using current farming and production practices, it could be catastrophic for the planet. So how will we meet the demand?
Picture this: Instead of a farm taking up thousands of acres of land, crops grow upward, inside climate-controlled warehouses. New technologies help farmers know precisely when to fertilize and harvest crops, producing higher yields with less loss. On store shelves and in your home, packaging innovations keep food fresher, longer, reducing waste. In the next few decades, each of these could help feed the world sustainably.
In the past, big players in the agriculture industry had one main goal: to grow as much food as possible. And they got very, very good at it. Here in the U.S., agriculture claims about one-fifth of the land. But farmers are so prolific, the whole country could live on the output of an area roughly the size of Indiana, Illinois, and half of Iowa combined.
But these mega-yields come at a price. Globally, food production accounts for 70% of all freshwater usage and 26% of greenhouse gas emissions – and it takes up half of all the habitable land on the planet. If we’re going to be able to feed billions more people decades from now, the solution can’t be to just keep farming the same way.
“These practices are not sustainable,” says Raj Khosla, PhD, a professor of precision agriculture at Colorado State University.
Precision agriculture is a relatively new practice, using technology, artificial intelligence, and automation to manage small parts of a field differently, right down to individual rows. Adding precise amounts of water, pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers (including nitrogen, an essential nutrient for plants that has dramatic negative effects on the environment) produces higher yields using less of each, which means smaller amounts of runoff polluting waterways and lower greenhouse gas emissions from farm equipment.
“At the research level and among early adopters of new practices and technologies, we’re seeing significant improvement in water use efficiency, in nitrogen use efficiency. But there are millions of farmers in the world, and not all have the resources to reinvest in new production practices,” Khosla says.
Precision agriculture isn’t the only way scientists and food producers are trying to grow more while using less. Among other efforts, they’re improving irrigation systems to use less water, reintroducing cover crops to help improve the soil, and using innovative methods to get seeds into the ground.
In many cases, the seeds themselves are changing. All over the world, farmers are planting genetically engineered crops that reduce agriculture’s environmental footprint.
“For many plant biologists, that’s what got us interested long ago – seeing if we could use less land for agriculture, to have more for native ecosystems,” says Pamela Ronald, PhD, who runs the Ronald Laboratory for Crop Genetics Innovation and Scientific Literacy at the University of California, Davis. “At the start of my career, we had no genetic sequences; and now for rice alone, we have sequences for three thousand varieties.”
There is now a huge database of genetic diversity being used to create more resilient crops.
Farms Have to Change, Too
What farms look like is changing, too. Some of the leading innovations don’t need vast amounts of land. They don’t need any land at all, since they grow crops indoors, often in urban areas. Not only do these practices save water, soil, and other natural resources, because food is grown close to where it’s sold, they also reduce the greenhouse gas emissions related to transportation.
Take vertical farming, which grows crops upward, inside climate-controlled, warehouse-type buildings. It’s projected to become a nearly-$10 billion industry by 2026. Vertical farming combines technology and systems that preserve resources, like hydroponics (in which plants grow in water plus liquid nutrients), aeroponics (in which plants grow with roots suspended, with nutrients applied via fine mist), and aquaponics (in which hydroponic plants grow in naturally nutrient-heavy wastewater from farmed fish).
For some crops, vertical farms can yield 10 to 20 times as much per acre as a traditional field. And growing indoors eliminates climate-related restrictions. For instance, Driscoll’s, a major berry grower, recently announced plans to build a vertical farm for the Northeast region. Residents may soon have local strawberries, even in the depths of winter.
The Future of Meat
Crops aren’t the only agricultural threat to the environment. Livestock are also a major contributor to climate change. A whopping 80% of the world’s agricultural land is used for growing animals, but the creatures only contribute 18% of the world’s calories. All those animals need a lot of water, too – it takes nearly 450 gallons to produce a single quarter-pound burger. Remember how food production accounts for 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions? Of that 26%, more than half comes from raising animals. Among all animals raised for food, cattle do the most damage.
If all that isn’t bad enough, cattle ranching drives most of the deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, the largest rainforest on Earth. The tree canopy absorbs carbon emissions and helps hold down global warming. If current trends continue and more of the trees are replaced with cattle grazing lands, within a decade, the Amazon’s ecosystem may collapse.
One obvious solution is to reduce our consumption of animal products. A new study in Nature Food found that simply eating less meat could reduce the environmental impacts by as much as 60% – and replacing 80% of animal products with plant-based substitutes could take that up to 75%. But projections from the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization says global consumption is expected to keep growing over the coming decades.
“The first part is demand from more people as the population grows. The second is we expect that people’s incomes will continue to rise and people will be lifted out of poverty,” says Jack Bobo, JD, director of global food and water policy at the Nature Conservancy. “The first thing people choose to do when their incomes increase is to buy more protein.”
In order to meet the demand sustainably, farmers will have to find ways to produce more meat and dairy products without needing more land and using less harmful methods.
To a certain extent, that’s already happening.
“How we feed animals has changed dramatically,” Bobo says. “We've had precision nutrition for animals for decades. A cow today produces a lot more meat than a cow would have in 1980.”
“So herds of cattle have declined while production of beef has been relatively steady. That's been good for the environment.”
Perhaps as a result, the amount of land dedicated to raising animals globally is on the decline.
New Ways to Raise Animals
Scientists and farmers are working on new ways to reduce the environmental impact of raising animals for food. Those include adjusting cattle feed so cows burp and fart less methane, a harmful greenhouse gas; using integrated systems that include crops, aquaculture, and animal agriculture to reduce waste and use fewer resources – for instance, turning livestock droppings into compost to fertilize crops; silvopastoral systems that put trees and grazing livestock on the same land, where the trees neutralize a good portion of the greenhouse gases; using genomic tools to screen livestock for preferable traits and grow more resilient animals; and using technology to make all parts of the growing system more efficient, like monitoring pastures to know when they’re ready for grazing.
And then there are the agricultural-adjacent solutions – new ways to create protein that either mimics meat or is meat. Many of those are plant-based, like the burgers at some fast-food chains and in grocery stores that could pass for the real thing, while others are cultivated in a lab – that’s right, scientists are figuring out how to grow animal protein without animals. (Read more on these alternative proteins.)
Here’s a startling fact: If food loss and waste were a country, it would be the world’s third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Globally, almost one-third of all food produced doesn’t get eaten. More than half of that waste happens at the individual level, inside our homes. Meanwhile, in 2020, as many as 811 million people didn’t have enough to eat.
In the U.S., researchers estimate that cutting our food waste in half could reduce food production’s environmental impact in substantial ways: We’d save 3.2 trillion gallons of water – as much as 28 million American homes use annually. We’d reduce energy consumption enough to power 21.4 million U.S. homes for a year. And we’d slash greenhouse gas emissions in an amount equal to the emissions from 23 coal-fired power plants.
One approach that seems to be working on the government level is called “Target-Measure-Act.” It calls for setting a reduction target, measuring food loss and waste to identify hot spots, and acting to address those hot spots. The U.K. pioneered the practice and has seen a 27% reduction in waste from 2007 to 2018.
Technology plays a role here, too, from the farm to your home. Here are just a handful of recent innovations:
- A moisture meter called the GrainMate helps farmers in Africa make sure their grain is thoroughly dry before storage, reducing spoilage.
- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations introduced sustainable bulk packaging crates to transport fresh produce. In Southern and Southeast Asian countries, it has reduced losses by up to 87%.
- Apeel has created a coating for fruits and vegetables that helps them stay fresh twice as long.
- Wasteless uses artificial intelligence to help retailers sell perishables before they can spoil.
- Coexshield packaging uses food-safe antimicrobial and antiviral substances to keep things like ground beef fresh 7 to 12 days longer.
- Bluapple sits in your crisper, absorbing the ethylene gas given off by fruits and vegetables – the gas that makes produce go bad faster. It buys you time to eat everything.
Of course, each new innovation has the potential to introduce a different sustainability challenge – think about how until recently, anything that helped farmers grow more was considered beneficial. It took decades for the world to wake up to the damage some of those practices were causing.
“How do we make sure we’re systematically thinking through the unintended consequences of our actions? It’s such a complicated, interconnected system. Small changes have ripple effects,” says Sarah Sha, a researcher and strategist with KitchenTown, a Silicon Valley food industry incubator. “Everyone who’s working in food has to get more comfortable understanding their connection to the bigger picture, and then taking action with that longer-term vision in mind.”


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Oops..I did it again! Bargain hunter Britney Spears can't resist shopping in Poundland during whistlestop London visit
She is a multi-millionaire music artist who can afford to shop in the world’s most luxurious stores.
But Britney Spears chose to hunt for a bargain in Poundland on a recent visit to London to promote her new single Work B*tch.
The 31-year-old star made just one modest shopping trip during her five-day visit and revealed that she picked up some novelty matches.
Bargain hunter: On Alan Carr's Chatty Man Britney Spears revealed that she shopped in Poundland during her visit to London
Appearing on Friday’s Alan Carr’s Chatty Man show, she said: ‘I actually went and got these matches that are this little [pinching her thumb and forefinger together].
They’re like the tiniest matches you’ve ever seen. And when you use them you burn your finger
She added: ’They’re so cute because they’re so tiny. They’re really cool.’
Off-the-wall: The star told Alan Carr that she had bought some tiny novelty matches in the discount store
The Toxic singer also revealed that she is a regular bargain shopper and loves discount stores.
She said: ’Usually I have glasses on and no one recognises me. I just go in and I’m really into what I’m doing and it’s really fun.’
It was reported earlier this year that Britney regularly shops at a US chain of discount shops called 99 Cents Only Stores.
Glowing: Britney looked stunning in a low-cut black dress while her hair was styled into waves for the show
In 2008, Britney’s father Jamie was granted conservatorship order, putting her finances under his control.
It was reported that Britney spent $64.74 of her $14 million allowance for 2012 at a 99 Cents Plus store while she also spent $11.92 at a Pay 99 Cents Or Less shop.
Britney said she was sad to be going home, writing on Twitter: ‘Headed back to the states… sad my visit was so short London! Hoping I'll be able to visit again soon XO’
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A study from the University of Exeter has found that mycoprotein, the protein-rich food source that is unique to Quorn products, stimulates post-exercise muscle building to a greater extent than milk protein.
The study evaluated the digestion of protein, which allows amino acids (the building blocks of protein) to increase in the bloodstream and then become available for muscle protein building in 20 healthy, trained young men at rest and following a bout of strenuous resistance exercise.
The young men performed the exercise and were then given either milk protein or mycoprotein.
Their muscle building rates were then measured using stable isotope labelled "tracers" in the hours following protein consumption.
Animal proteins like milk are an excellent source for muscle growth, so they provide a useful comparison for testing other protein sources.
The results showed that while those who ingested milk6 protein increased their muscle building rates by up to 60%, those who had mycoprotein increased their muscle growth rates (MGRs) by more than double this - showing that mycoprotein, the main ingredient in all Quorn products, is a more effective source of protein to promote muscle growth.
"These results are very encouraging when we consider the desire of some individuals to choose non-animal derived sources of protein to support muscle mass maintenance or adaptations with training," said Dr Benjamin Wall, Associate Professor of Nutritional Physiology, University of Exeter.
"Our data show that mycoprotein can stimulate muscles to grow faster in the hours following exercise compared with a typical animal comparator protein (milk protein) - we look forward to seeing whether these mechanistic findings translate to longer term training studies in various populations."
Tim Finnigan, Chief Scientific Adviser for Quorn Foods, said "We're excited to see this data being presented by the University of Exeter at ECSS. In a world where many people are trying to cut back on their meat consumption, either for environmental or health reasons, we're happy to be able to offer an alternative protein that can provide exceptional nutrition and muscle growth, all while being meat-free."
Recent research has suggested that current recommendations for protein intake are too low - some scientists have calculated that minimum protein requirements could have been underestimated by as much as 30-50% in some populations.1
The British Nutrition Foundation already recommends mycoprotein as a good source of dietary protein, both for everyday life and for sport and exercise.
However, in the UK roughly a third of total protein consumption comes from meat products - and increasing meat intake may have serious consequences for public health and for the environment.
A pivot to "alternative" sources of protein therefore may be advisable - and mycoprotein is well placed to fill the gap.


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Cryptocurrencies have had a glitzy run in recent months. But is all that glitters really gold?
Since the spread of Covid-19 in India, bitcoin has outperformed every other asset class, including gold, giving a return of nearly 160% since April. This is not unusual since cryptocurrencies are widely believed to be delinked to the macro-economy, which has been facing its worst nightmare.
But the returns have enthused some Indians so much that they are replacing the traditional shopping and gifting items such as gold with cryptocurrencies during this festive season. Hindus consider the festivals of Dhanteras (which falls on Nov. 13 this year) and Diwali (Nov. 14) auspicious for buying gold.
“We are seeing that a lot of people are coming to our exchange to gift cryptocurrencies to their relatives or friends. Youngsters are looking to substitute gold with virtual currencies,” said Nischal Shetty, the founder of WazirX, India’s most popular cryptocurrency exchange.
Another exchange, CoinDCX, is offering its customers a free-trading option (without any fees) during a few hours on Diwali day. This is similar to “Mahurat trading” on Indian stock exchanges when the bourses open for trade during an auspicious hour on Diwali each year, which is otherwise a holiday for the markets.
But all this glamour aside, can cryptocurrencies really be a substitute for the store-value and safety that gold offers?
When bitcoin was founded in 2009, it was touted as a currency delinked from the economy, which makes its use-case very similar to gold. People prefer to buy gold during economic downturns as it isn’t related to earnings or any other macro activity.
But this is where the similarity ends.
Cryptocurrencies including bitcoin (the most popular virtual currency) are far too volatile and have massively swung over the years, while gold prices typically stay steady.
Cryptocurrency players do acknowledge this volatility but claim that it has substantially ebbed over time. They believe it will only become better as the market capitalisation of these currencies grows.
“As bitcoin and other crypto-assets like ether get more investors, they’ll become almost boring,” said Vikram Rangala, chief marketing officer of crypto exchange, ZebPay. “2020 has seen the story go from bitcoin as a speculative asset to long term, inflation-proof investment, and store of value. It’s also moving more like gold, as investors start treating it as a safe haven.”
Shetty of WazirX also pointed out that big global institutional investors are now buying bitcoin instead of gold. “These institutional investors are always looking for a long-term bet. This means that cryptocurrencies are now gradually attaining the status of being a stable asset with a long-term horizon,” said Shetty.
In fact, Sumit Gupta, CEO and co-founder of CoinDCX, believes cryptocurrencies are much safer and can be more stable compared to gold.
“It’s a myth that there is a fixed amount of gold in the world. It’s unknown when all gold in the world will be mined and there isn’t a truly verifiable way to calculate the existing supply either. Whereas the supply of Bitcoin is fixed at 21 million. You can’t mine more than 21 million Bitcoin and its mining supply is fixed in the Bitcoin code” said Gupta explaining that the limited supply act as an advantage when it comes to store-value.
He also adds that there is the possibility of gold having impurities, which is difficult for customers to spot. “In comparison, Bitcoin is easily verifiable as it is on the public ledger by anyone with an Internet connection,” said Gupta.
While industry players are optimistic about cryptocurrencies replacing gold, there are still concerns that challenge virtual currencies’ status as an asset with store-value.
Exchanges have a reason to position cryptocurrencies like an established asset class such as gold. After all, besides investors, exchanges have been the biggest beneficiaries of the gains in cryptocurrencies. In India, exchanges witnessed a massive surge in volumes as the stellar returns delivered by virtual currencies coincided with the apex court’s decision to lift the ban on them.
The truth, however, is that virtual currencies, despite their growing popularity, don’t hold any fundamental value.
Cryptocurrency investors are hoping that this will change as people find use-cases or utility for them. But, right now, the adoption isn’t picking up at a fast pace as the governments around the world are still skeptical.
Another major concern is market manipulation. According to the University of Texas professor John Griffin and Ohio State University’s Amin Shams, a single entity moved bitcoin prices in 2017 when it was scaling new heights.
So even as cryptocurrencies are giving strong returns and have certain traits of gold, they still need to address these concerns to compete with yellow metal.


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On this morning’s Business Beat, Jeff welcomes Dr. Craig Everett, finance professor at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School, who shares details of the Pepperdine Most Fundable Companies competition. Built to help great companies succeed, the contest provides the opportunity for companies seeking funding outside of major investment areas like Silicon Valley to find investors.
Tune in to the Business Beat to learn more about Pepperdine Most Fundable Companies, and how you can enter:
“What makes a company fundable is their attractiveness to investors. We’re going after the characteristics that the VCs are looking for essentially and building our competition around that.”
– Dr. Craig Everett
To apply for Pepperdine’s Most Fundable Companies competition, visit pepperdine.edu/mfc.
Tune in to News/Talk 760 AM WJR weekday mornings at 7:11 a.m. for the WJR Business Beat. Listeners outside of the Detroit area can listen live HERE.
Are you an entrepreneur with a great story to share? If so, contact us at [email protected] and we’ll feature you on an upcoming segment of the WJR Business Beat!
Good morning, Paul.
We’ve got a really interesting competition that companies seeking funding in our area can enter. If they want to see if they’re a good venture capital investment candidate. The competition is known as the Most Fundable Companies competition, and we’ve got Dr. Craig Everett, executive director, to tell us all about it.
The idea is that we wanted to democratize the startup process. A lot of the money is in Silicon Valley and Austin, New York, and such. Sometimes it’s hard for businesses that are not in those areas to get attention. And so, we wanted to do a nationwide competition that levels the playing field and allows a lot more companies and a lot more areas to participate. Last year, we had 4,500 companies participate.
And so, what is the criteria by which you measure whether or not a company is fundable?
What makes a company fundable is their attractiveness to investors. We’re going after the characteristics that the VCs are looking for essentially and building our competition around that. Investors look for founders that are looking to have a liquidity event, they’re looking to sell or be acquired or go public, they’re looking for founders that have experience. They have experience building companies and selling them.
And why should companies think about entering, and if they want to, how do they do it?
Well, obviously every company wants to be on the winners list because that is very good publicity for the company. Historically, all of our winners have been funded. It’s a very good conduit into a funding situation and companies through going through our process, they get feedback at each stage along the way.
So if you’re looking to better understand what venture investors are looking for and to see if your company matches up, check out the most fundable companies competition by going to pepperdine.edu forward slash M F C, as in most fundable companies.
I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of StartupNation.com, and that’s today’s Business Beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.


text: NORTHFIELD, ILL. — John Cahill, executive chairman of Kraft Foods Group Inc., will transition to the position of non-executive chairman, effective March 8. The shift, approved by the Kraft board, was announced Feb. 14. “Today’s announcement reflects the board’s confidence in the progress of our business,” said Mackey J. McDonald, who is lead director on Kraft’s board. “John has been instrumental in establishing Kraft as a formidable independent company. We are pleased that he will continue to lead the board and work with management to sustain our momentum.” Mr. Cahill joined Kraft Foods Inc. in January 2012 as the executive chairman designate and became executive chairman of Kraft Foods Group in October 2012 when it was spun off from Mondel?z International. Noting the company’s “solid (financial) results” issued recently, Kraft said the change was consistent with succession plans.


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EA Coin (EAG) News
EA Coin (EAG) is currently the #2133 cryptocurrency by market cap at $0 USD. Trading volume for EA Coin over the last 24 hours is $0 USD. There have been no news stories on EA Coin over the last 7 days. The most common news source covering EA Coin is AMLT Twitter and the most common news category is Project Announcements.


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LONDON — Relative newcomer OVO Energy is set to become one of Britain’s Big Six energy suppliers after striking a 500 million pound ($622.65 million) deal to buy SSE’s retail arm, announced on Friday.
The 10-year old independent company has flourished in a market which has seen more than ten small energy suppliers collapse over the past year, hurt by fierce competition and a regulator-imposed cap on prices.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
“Our focus was always to deliver cheaper, greener, simpler energy and provide good service for customers,” OVO Chief Executive and founder Stephen Fitzpatrick said in an interview.
SSE had been looking for a buyer for its retail arm following a failed merger with Innogy, which collapsed after the companies failed to agree on new commercial terms in light of a government cap on energy bills.
Amid fierce competition from smaller, nimbler rivals who were often able to offer cheaper prices, SSE’s retail arm struggled to retain customers. Operating profit at the division fell 68% in the year to March 2019.
SSE’s retail energy business is one of the “Big Six” in the British market, supplying energy and related services to around 3.5 million household customers.
With its existing customers OVO will be supplying 5 million homes once the deal concludes. Britain’s largest energy supplier is Centrica’s British Gas with around with around 7.2 million UK energy supply customers.
Fitzpatrick set up OVO in 2009 after a successful five years on the trading floor. His aim was to make enough money to set up a new business, he said, and focused on energy because he saw the sector was ripe for a shake-up.
He said the firm had been the first in Britain to supply its customers with coal-free electricity, adding that its focus on new technology, such as smart chargers for electric vehicles, has set it apart from rivals.
OVO grew steadily at first, but found a catalyst for rapid expansion earlier this year when Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation took a 20% stake in a transaction valuing OVO at around 1 billion pounds.
“We picked up the phone to SSE within a week of that deal,” Fitzpatrick said.
SSE’S NEW FOCUS
SSE shares were buoyed by the deal, and hit their highest in over four months after the announcement. The stock was 1.2% higher at 1,180 pence by 1104 GMT.
“We see this deal as positive for SSE as it gets rid of a business unit which has been a drag on the overall group and helps to refocus attention on the core business of Networks and Renewables,” Bernstein analysts said.
Proceeds from the sale, which involves 400 million pounds in cash and 100 million pounds in loan notes, will be used to reduce SSE’s net debt, the company said on Friday.
The deal is expected to be completed in late 2019 or early 2020, subject to regulatory approvals. All of SSE Energy’s near 8,000 employees will transfer to OVO, SSE said.
Jefferies analysts said the disposal represents an important step forward in SSE’s strategy to re-orientate the business towards networks and renewables.
The deal also comes after the company kicked off the process to sell its 140 million cubic feet per day portfolio of North Sea gas fields in a single package, a sale document seen by Reuters showed last month.
Britain’s other four Big Six suppliers are Iberdrola’s Scottish Power, Innogy’s npower, E.ON and EDF’s EDF Energy.
($1 = 0.8096 pounds)
(Reporting by Susanna Twidale in London, Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Keith Weir and Jan Harvey)


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Fast food firm McDonald’s has rolled out a digital voucher scheme to speed up the firm’s complaints resolution process in order to improve the customer experience.
Talking at this week’s European Contact Centre and Customer Service Awards event, Ian Partridge, Vendor and Service Innovation Manager, McDonald’s, recalled that when he joined the firm five years ago, one of the things he noticed was that when it came to customer service, the brand wasn’t as quick as it needed to be:
Customers had an expectation of, 'I've been in, I've had my food, it's been a couple of minutes' and stuff like that. But if there was something wrong, or they had an issue with that order, then that customer service could take a significant amount of time to get resolved.
This wasn’t just an issue related to volume, he added:
It was down to how we gave our gestures of goodwill to those customers. This was a paper voucher solution, which literally required somebody to sit at a desk and stuff paper into envelopes...not hugely efficient. Customers would constantly call us back chasing vouchers, or the vouchers had gone missing in the post etc. So we really wanted to look and say, 'How do we improve that customer journey? How do we bring our customer service in line with the experience that customers have in restaurants?' That was quite clearly in my mind gonna be a digital solution.
Now, with a large estate like McDonald's has, that is never a quick process to deliver. There was a lot of things around technology within the restaurants, and our scanners that we needed to bring in line before we could start to deliver this. But when we looked at digital, it was going to be quicker. It was going to be better for customers. Customers could literally have that resolution in a very short period of time. It was a nicer journey for customers. They felt more listened to, because they had a response in a reasonable time, and it allowed us to develop vouchers outside of a single five pound monetary value, into something that felt much more aligned with what customers required.
With that in mind, working with outsourced customer experience agency Ventrica, the customer journey was mapped out and KPIs identified. McDonald’s franchisee business model meant that there were internal stakeholders to be contacted and brought on board. Ventrica worked with Zendesk as the technology partner to provide the digitized voucher solution on behalf of McDonald’s.
There were clear customer-facing objectives identified for the new system, including cutting down response times. With the paper-based approach, it could take 10 days to get a handle on an issue and provide a resolution…and that was before the physical voucher was put in an envelope and sent off in the mail!
That was taken down from 10 days to 10 seconds, said Patridge, although that in itself isnt the whole story:
It wasn’t actually 10, it was less than 10. It was less than five. In fact, it’s about a tenth of a second. If you look at the end of that customer journey, there’s your voucher eligibility. By the time you’ve finished the conversation with our virtual assistant, then that voucher is in your hands, literally less than a second later.
That was a big result that actually made customers feel like they were being listened to. When dealing with a resolution takes hours and days, sometimes that frustrates customers. Sometimes customers feel that their their issue isn't being taken seriously or isn't being listened to. But if you get that resolution, with a response and apology, in that customers hands within seconds, then that makes them feel like you're really engaging with them on a very personal level. So for us, putting that customer first and foremost that was a massive win for us.
There have tangible benefits for McDonald’s itself, including a 50% reduction in voucher-related AHT (Average Handle Time), a 35% improvement in FCR (First Call Resolution) rates, and a 30% increase in customer satisfaction levels. And with sustainability at the top of today’s corporate agenda, the shift from paper to digital means that annual carbon emissions have been reduced by 2.64 tonnes.
And there’s more to come now that the digital vouchers initiative has provided a solid foundation, explained Partridge:
For us, it's like the sky's the limit. It's, 'Where do you take that?'. Once you've got a springboard like that, and you look at a lot of the technologies that are coming along now, you look more and more about how do we understand exactly what that customer's issue is? How do we resolve that quickly? How do we, effectively, take the human out of the loop on those, while still showing the customer that they're valued, still showing the customer that we care and we're listening to them.
We're using that automation, we're leveraging digital enhancements to ensure that they get that resolution quickly. And then the agents that we have - because let's face it, we're always going to have humans here and we're always going to have agents involved - they can then focus on issues that are more important to customers, issues where that human touch is needed to ensure that they get that right resolution. So it's very much a balance between between the human element and the digital element. I think we will do a lot of good stuff. Things are only evolving. I think that the landscape is developing so quickly now, that we will look at technologies and where they add value, where they give us something that we believe enables our customers, enables our franchisees, enables our agents.
Meanwhile, customers are noticing the difference, he concluded:
There are a number of comments that come back now. It’s, ‘Thanks for your speedy response’. Again, alluding to [the idea] that, with a lot of people, if you take too long, they feel like you don’t care. That was never the case. It was the fact that perhaps our processes weren’t as good as they should have been at that point. But now we’ve moved on and we’ve got to this point, it truly does mean that people feel like we are listening, because we are!.


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Whether we’re exploring deep space or the deepest depths of our own circulatory system, we’re engaging with a future that seeks to transform our very way of living. It doesn’t matter whether our species lives on Earth, or on Mars, or elsewhere. We are, first and foremost, transforming our own biological substrate through science and technology. In doing so, we are preparing ourselves for a journey beyond anything we currently can fathom. Welcome to the future!
Acting on a promise made last year, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has recently revealed that the company is preparing to add self-driving vehicles to its fleet in Pittsburgh, of which will begin this month. SOURCE
What will only increase both the hope and fear for technological unemployment, the shoes and clothing company Adidas has announced that will be opening a new factory next year that will be entirely ran by robots. SOURCE
Robots on Mars
The U.S. space agency NASA has recently launched a $1 million competition that will challenge engineers to develop humanoid robots that will specifically help astronauts during their journey to Mars. SOURCE


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Healthcare services company MedAssets will be sold to Pamplona Capital Management in a $2.7 billion deal that will boost its revenue cycle business and result in its group purchasing organization being sold off, the companies announced Monday.
According to Pamplona, the company would combine the revenue cycle business for MedAssets with Precyse, a health information management company that Pamplona bought in July. The two companies already have run under a partnership agreement.
MedAssets has 2,700 hospital clients for its revenue cycle products, managing more than $450 billion in patient revenue annually.
The deal also ends MedAssets' interests in group purchasing and consulting. Pamplona said the company's Spend and Clinical Resource Management, which runs the group purchasing organization, would be sold to the VHA-UHC Alliance once the deal closes.
Pamplona said the deal would create a single, end-to-end system for managing health information and revenue cycle through the MedAssets-Precyse merger.
"Pamplona's acquisition of MedAssets will create a national leader in the fully outsourced end-to-end revenue cycle services, technology and education market," said Jeremy Gelber a Partner at Pamplona, in the announcement.
"With the added transactional steps planned by Pamplona, we expect our customers, suppliers and employees will have an extraordinary opportunity to benefit from a significant market combination that will create the leading supply chain procurement and cost management partner as well as a prominent, end-to-end revenue cycle technology and services business in the healthcare industry," said MedAssets CEO R. Halsey Wise.
Georgia-based MedAssets pulled in more than $720 million in revenue in 2014 and posted a 20 million loss for the year.
Shares of the company jumped more than 30 percent Monday after the deal was announced.


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With the next COVID-19 spending bill, total federal farm bailouts for the year could surpass $50 million.
This would set a new record. More importantly, it will once more violate U.S. commitments to international trade partners.
These bailout payments were designed with the intent to help farmers hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic and President Donald Trump’s trade war. The farm subsidies likely pushed federal farm spending in 2019 beyond the subsidy caps. The 1994 World Trade Association (WTO) agreement set the caps.
In 2019, farm spending exceeded the spending limit set by a 1994 trade agreement for the first time. Federal farm spending will also likely surpass the $19.1 billion cap on “trade distorting” subsidies in 2020.
This year, farm spending rose by more than $7 billion in…


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Weaker economic data from China were a mirror image to strong numbers from the United States, and as investors on Friday reflected on the two sets of figures it seems they focused more on the negative than the positive.
The losses on all three major U.S. indices were around 2% after retail sales data from China showed slower-than-expected growth and the weakest reading in five years. Numbers also showed industrial output there grew the slowest in three years, a potential sign of the effects of the ongoing trade war with the United States. Meanwhile, private sector business activity in Europe also fell, news that came just one day after the European Central Bank sliced its growth and inflation forecasts. European and Asian shares fell across the board.
The data from China contrasted with retail sales and industrial figures from the United States, where November U.S. retail sales growth of 0.2% that matched Wall Street analysts’ expectations and U.S. industrial production in November increased by 0.6%, ahead of the 0.3% forecast in a Briefing.com consensus.
That wasn’t enough to outweigh the concerns about economic growth abroad. Perhaps that’s because the overseas data come amid a backdrop of continued worry about global economic growth prospects as the trade war between the United States and China drags on.
Corporate news also weighed on the market, with Dow Jones Industrial Average component Johnson & Johnson dropping more than 10% after a Reuters report said the company’s Baby Powder product was sometimes tainted with carcinogenic asbestos and the company kept the information from regulators and the public. Johnson & Johnson issued a statement saying the Reuters article is “one-sided, false and inflammatory.”
Johnson & Johnson helped weigh on the S&P 500 healthcare sector, which was the worst performer of the day, but other healthcare names were also markedly lower. Some of the other selling could be coming as traders look toward “quadruple witching hour” next Friday, which refers to the last hour of the trading day when market index futures and options expire along with stock options and stock futures. This can result in volatility as traders unwind positions.
The energy sector was also a loser as oil prices plummeted as market participants eschewed riskier assets and seemed to worry about demand for black gold amid concerns about global economic strength. A stronger dollar also seemed to help pressure dollar-denominated oil, making it more expensive for buyers using foreign currencies.
The strength in the dollar might have been one sign that investors were flocking to perceived “safe-haven” assets, though no investment is truly safe. Market participants were also buying up U.S. government debt, pushing yields lower. Wall Street’s main fear gauge, the Cboe Volatility Index jumped after days of being on the decline.
Friday’s ugly trading appeared to be data driven, and investors can expect the closely watched economic numbers to keep coming in the next few days. As the numbers come in, it could be interesting to see if investors continue to buy more bonds next week and continue exiting riskier positions.
Arguably the biggest bit of economic news would be the Fed’s interest rate decision, expected Wednesday. Based on the futures market, most investors seem to be expecting the central bank to raise its key rate by another 25 basis points, but the odds have dropped, and it appears that there is a not-insubstantial segment of the market thinking that monetary policy makers may stand pat on rates next week.
That could be because commentary from Fed officials in recent days has become seemingly more dovish. And the picture for rate moves into next year becomes more murky. Still, the futures market projects around a 75% chance of a hike next week, which would be the fourth this year.
Even with a Fed rate hike perhaps already baked into the proverbial cake, investors are still likely to comb through Fed comments accompanying the announcement to try to glean any fresh tidbits about where policymakers think the economy and inflation could be headed.
They’ll get another clue about inflation later in the week when the government reports November personal consumption expenditure (PCE) data. According to the Fed, core PCE numbers are the central bank’s preferred inflation gauge. A similar number, the core consumer price index, showed prices rose an as-expected 0.2% in November even while headline consumer prices were flat month-over-month.
One economic uncertainty that’s been percolating, perhaps a bit under the radar, is the state of the U.S. housing market and its effect on the broader economy. Recent numbers have been mixed, but overall it seems that higher mortgage rates have been eating into home affordability even as input prices for steel and lumber also rise.
So investors may want to pay attention to reports on November building permits and housing starts on Tuesday and existing home sales for last month on Thursday.
Investors are also scheduled to see the government’s third estimate for Q3 gross domestic product, arguably the mother of all economic reports because it includes the total value of the goods and services produced in the country.
Meanwhile, a fresh reading Friday from the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model estimated that Q4 GDP would come in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3%. The estimate rose from 2.4% on Dec. 7 after the U.S. retail sales report helped boost Q4 PCE growth expectations along with a stronger-than-expected showing for U.S. industrial production in November.
Other notable economic reports in coming days include November data on leading indicators, durable goods orders, and personal income and spending. As with the other report, a stronger-than-expected data point, while good for the economy, can spark worries on Wall Street that the Fed might tighten rates too quickly and put an artificial damper on economic and corporate growth. Weaker-than-forecast readings can boost the market, while as-expected figures can be non-events.
Not an Immaterial Selloff in 2018: When looking at the various stock sectors, a few of them tend to grab a lot of the headlines, especially in 2018. Info tech, for example, has been the belle of the ball over the last few years, but lately has been dancing to a dismal tune. Crude oil's massive downturn has dragged energy shares down over 12% on the year. Financials, also down over 12% have been worth watching as a bellwether to not only the overall business climate, but also as sort of a proxy for the future of interest rates. But when you look at 2018 sector performance, it's Materials that has led the charge lower—down about 15% on the year.
It seems the sector has been dragged down by some of the same fundamentals pressuring energy and financials, namely concerns of a global economic slowdown. But pressure at a few individual names have certainly added fuel to the flame. DowDuPont, which at 19% has the highest weighting in the S&P 500 materials sector index, has been the target of a number of analyst downgrades as it continues its plan to split into 3 companies (and likely loses its standing as a Dow component), according to media reports. Shares are down over 20% on the year. Other big names down over 20% include International Paper, Vulcan Materials and, the biggest laggard of all, mining giant Freeport-McMoran, down over 40% since the start of the year.
Cheap for A Reason: There’s a quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson that says: “Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.” He could have been talking about European equities. According to research firm CFRA, European stocks are cheaper when compared to historical averages. But just because something is cheap doesn’t mean it’s a good deal. In this column, we’ve often touched on problems facing Europe and weighing on investor’s minds. But with much of the geopolitical headlines these days dominated by news of the progress, or lack thereof, on the China-U.S. trade front, we thought it would be a good time to dig deeper into some of the headwinds that investors in Europe could face.
Various economic indicators have shown signs of slowing growth in Europe, according to the research firm. Even so, the European Central Bank announced recently that it will end its bond-buying program. And, although it may be easy to forget with all the tariff issues surrounding the U.S. and China, the United States still has tariffs on steel and aluminum from the European Union. Meanwhile, France is facing violent protests, and Italy’s budget remains an overhang. Even as Britain is enmeshed in trying to work out a negotiated exit from the European Union, Spain continues to face separatist pressure from people who want Catalonia to secede. While it may be tempting to chase what seems like a bargain, caution is always in order. “All told, a significant amount of uncertainty remains in Europe,” CFRA said. “Even though valuation is attractive with the S&P Euro 350 trading at 6% discount to its long-term average price-to- earnings ratio, CFRA remains on the sideline.”
TD Ameritrade® commentary for educational purposes only. Member SIPC.


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Here are ten of the pictures from the march today:
Protesters from across the country stopped in front of Asda House, the company's national headquarters, to shout 'shame on you' and 'no ifs, not buts, no Asda cuts'.
The GMB union, who organised the march, say staff have been told they will be sacked if they do not sign up to the new terms.
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Asda is offering staff a higher wage in exchange for a new deal - called contract 6 - which will introduce unpaid breaks and a requirement to work over bank holidays.
The GMB are particularly concerned about the impact on single mums, workers who have multiple jobs and people with caring responsibilities, as they will have to be more flexible with their hours at shorter notice.
Ben Kirkham , a GMB organiser for stores in Killingbeck, Pudsey and Morley, told the Yorkshire Evening Post: "People are angry and upset at the way they are being treated by Asda.
The protesters shouted outside Asda House.
The march started at noon in City Square, where marchers were addressed by Leeds East MP Richard Burgon and GMB General Secretary Tim Roache.
An Asda spokesman said: "The retail sector is undergoing significant change and it is important that we are able to keep pace with these changes."
The protesters marched through the car park.
The protesters carried placards through the centre.


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How much office space does Amazon require for its second U.S. headquarters?
Late last week, Kansas City Mayor Sly James tweeted that the city will compete for the mega-deal of landing Amazon’s second headquarters and its accompanying $5 billion investment and 50,000 jobs created over the next two decades.
Much speculation has resulted since James’ tweet. Some have written that Kansas City can put together a legitimate bid to entreat Amazon to the City of Fountains. But others have already written KC off.
Still more have written that pursuing Amazon, if not done prudently, could actually have adverse effects on the city.
Overland Park Mayor Carl Gerlach jumped into the Amazon sweepstakes, saying in a statement that the metro area “easily exceeds the demands of what Amazon is looking for.”
“I truly believe that working through the Kansas City Area Development Council, and our two-state and multiple local government representatives, this area provides an exceptional opportunities that makes us a viable, competitive and attractive prospect for Amazon,” Gerlach said.
PC Magazine, which writes about computer and internet-related products, named KC as its favorite candidate to land the tech giant. The outlet called KC “possibly the nation’s most underrated tech hub.”
KC City Manager Troy Schulte said in a news release that the city’s workforce and relatively low cost of living make it “attractive to any national company.”
The news release also stated KC has multiple sites large enough to accommodate Amazon, which as part of its requirements lists urban or suburban locations with potential to retain “strong technical talent.”
The city did not list where exactly the potential sites are located.
All the effort may be fruitless, though, if a New York Times analysis holds true. The Times analyzed the eight-page guidebook issued by Amazon and compared it with data from 50 metro areas in the U.S.
In a series of eliminations, more and more cities were deemed unqualified by The Times until only Denver remained. Kansas City did not even survive the first cut, which eliminated about half of the cities based on past job growth. The 25 metro areas that survived this first cut had the best growth in the past decade, The Times wrote, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But it might not be such a terrible thing if KC doesn’t land Amazon, according to some. Nick Bowden, a Kansas Citian who writes about city planning, recently argued that pursuing Amazon is akin to hunting for a winning Powerball ticket.
“Powerball jackpots are certainly one way to build wealth, however, I don’t know of many people whose primary strategy for obtaining wealth is buying Powerball tickets,” he wrote.
He added that any winning bid from a city will require a multibillion-dollar incentive package that could hamper the city. And if KC isn’t selected, hundreds of hours of work will be wasted in the pursuit.
Axios expanded on the downside to landing Amazon as it relates to tax breaks.
“A high price tag could hurt Amazon itself if it undercuts a locality’s ability to fund good public schools, hospitals and infrastructure, the building blocks of both a successful business environment and the high quality of life that attracts and keeps solid employees,” the outlet wrote.
A May report from the Pew Charitable Trusts found that while Missouri has “provided valuable analysis of program design and administration, they do not rigorously measure the economic impact of incentives.”
However, the report commended Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway for excelling at evaluating and improving incentive programs.