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Every year in December, Google announces the most popular searches over the past 365 days as a way for us to look back and see what major things and events had the biggest impact on our world. For 2017, Google says it saw a huge increase in searches that began with "how."
These searches include the likes of "how do wildfires start", "how far can north korean missiles go", "how to help flood victims", and much more. Searches like these are said to have seen an increase of ten times compared to any other year prior, and while many of them are a result of natural disasters, tensions between nations, and controversial world leaders, Google reminds us to look at these searches as a way of people wanting to better understand the world and help push things forward.
With that said, the top 10 global searches for 2017 are as follows:
- Hurricane Irma
- iPhone 8
- iPhone X
- Matt Lauer
- Meghan Markle
- 13 Reasons Why
- Tom Petty
- Fidget Spinners
- Chester Bennington
- India National Cricket Team
On the consumer technology side of things, the top 10 global searches include:
- iPhone 8
- iPhone X
- Nintendo Switch
- Samsung Galaxy S8
- Xbox One X
- Nokia 3310
- Razer Phone
- Oppo F5
- OnePlus 5
- Nokia 6
When looking at the top 10 searches for consumer technology in the United States, there are two other Android phones that make an appearance with the Pixel 2 coming in at eighth place and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 at tenth.
It's pretty impressive to see the OnePlus 5 making such a big dent in the consumer tech market on a global scale this year, but what's even more shocking is the strong presence of the Razer Phone being the seventh most popular consumer tech item for all of 2017. The Razer Phone was fairly late to market with a release just this past November, and along with this, our own Alex Dobie found a couple game-breaking issues that prevented him from recommending the device in its current state. However, even with all of this being the case, it's clear that there is in fact a market for an Android phone made by Razer.
We aren't at all surprised that the iPhone 8 and X were to two most popular phones of the year, but the Galaxy S8 and it's ultra-futuristic design doesn't fall far behind them. Also, while Google still has quite a bit of work to do for expanding its hardware on a global scale, seeing the Pixel 2 come in at eighth place for the United States should still be considered a win for the company.
What are your thoughts on these top 10 searches? Do any of them surprise you? Let us know in the comments below, and check out all of the other categories on Google Trends here.
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The Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) has ordered 11 firms to pay fines and refunds totalling K11.8 million for committing various offences under the Competition and Fair Trading Act.
Some of the firms found guilty and fined for unfair conduct are Old Mutual Pension Services, Chipiku Plus and People’s Trading Centre.
The commission has also fined Central Poultry Limited, Suncrest Creameries Limited, Vanguard Life Assurance Company and Platinum Finance Limited for misleading and unconscionable conduct.
In an interview after a media briefing in Blantyre on Wednesday, CFTC acting executive director Apoche Itimu said the decisions were made in the best interest of consumers.
She said: “These decisions are very critical because consumers are always in the most vulnerable position on the market as compared to the suppliers and traders.
“We issue the orders and determinations, they are supposed to act as a deterrent to those who violate such rights as provided for in the Competition and Fair Trading Act.”
The commission has since ordered Old Mutual Pension Services to pay a K500 000 fine for engaging in unconscionable conduct.
The commission further ordered People’s Trading Centre to pay a fine of K500 000 for supply of products likely to cause injury to health or physical harm to consumers and another fine of K500 000 for failure to comply with a directive or order lawfully given, or any requirement lawfully imposed under the Competition and Fair Trading Act.
Chipiku Plus was also ordered to pay a fine of K500 000 for engaging in misleading conduct and another fine of K500 000 for supplying products likely to cause injury or physical harm to consumers.
Commenting on the decisions, consumer rights activist John Kapito said consumers suffer at the hands of the industry and traders.
He said putting proper monitoring and inspection systems is key to ensuring that everyone is accountable for their actions on the market.
Kapito, who is Consumers Association of Malawi executive director, said: “The behaviour of industries and traders leaves a lot to be desired. They engage in cheating and other anti-competitive tendencies to defraud consumers forgetting that buyers are drivers of their growth.”

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Think what one may about former President George W. Bush, there is no denying that his niece – designer and model Lauren Bush – has had a remarkable effect in the charitable arena via her omnipresent FEED bag. Launched on behalf of the UN World Food Program to fight world hunger, the FEED Projects will now be adding backpacks to their arsenal of products.
The new bag design is the result of a collaborative effort between Bush’s Feed Projects, designer Kenneth Cole’s Awareness initiative, and Dr.
In the same vein as Toms Shoes – where for every pair of shoes sold, one pair is donated to a child in need – FEED will be donating one bag to a traveling health care worker in sub-Saharan Africa filled with medical supplies (bandages, syringes, condoms, a scale to weigh newborns, training manuals and a cell phone), for every backpack they sell.
If September is the start of the year when it comes to fashion (as is memorably remarked in “The September Issue”), why not start the year off right?


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Erin Robertson arrived at her “Project Runway” audition wearing a glittery top, glittery pants, and towering cat-printed Miu Miu pumps, because why not?
The recent MassArt grad, 29, is slated to appear on the show’s 15th season, which kicks off Sept. 15 on Lifetime.
Behind the glitter and valley-girl drawl, artistically-minded Robertson is as intelligent as she is dazzling.
The bespectacled, ice-blonde fashion maven is something of a rarity in Boston, a city that isn’t known for breaking boundaries artistically or in fashion. But she likes it that way.
“I don’t think Boston is fashionable by any means—Boston’s never tried to be fashionable and I don’t think it ever will be, to be honest. But I think that Boston has something else that’s cooler,” she says. For Roberston, that “coolness” is the constant innovation going on around the Hub; whether the cutting-edge ideas are coming from artists or engineers, she explains that it’s all relevant.
As a fashion design and fibers double major, Robertson is fascinated by the structure of garments and creates her own textiles. After sheepishly admitting that I didn’t know what “fibers” was, Robertson says with a laugh, “it’s the coolest.”


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- The U.S. imports extra coffee than some other single nation, about 3.6 billion kilos.
- But coffee drinkers in a number of nations together with Lebanon and Sweden drink extra per capita.
- In California, Frinj Coffee has greater than 70 farms now rising coffee.
The U.S. consumes and imports extra coffee than some other nation in the world. But might a nation filled with coffee drinkers ever grow a good portion of its personal right here? Maybe.
In California, there is a home coffee farming initiative brewing. More than 70 coffee farms led by Frinj Coffee founder Jay Ruskey are in varied states of manufacturing. Combined, the farms have surpassed 100,000 coffee timber planted in central and southern California.
“We are using the same resources that we would to grow avocados, but now the farmers gain more, you gain a better cup of coffee and now it doesn’t have to travel thousands of miles to get to you,” Ruskey informed USA TODAY. “So there are quite a few elements coming together here.”
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On the opposite facet of the nation, scientists on the University of Florida have been exploring how to grow coffee, too. This fall, researchers have moved some plants outdoors to see how they deal with the primary frosts of fall and ensuing seasons.
If the crops can flourish, there is a potential for Florida to be part of the coffee-growing neighborhood, too. “We are just at the beginning of this research program,” mentioned Chris Wilson, assistant professor of agroecology in the University of Florida agronomy division. “How our results will translate into coffee production in the field … will be a future bridge to cross.”
Coffee breakdown: Top producers, shoppers
The United States is the world’s main coffee importer, shopping for the equal of 27.7 million baggage weighing 60-kilograms (about 132 kilos) between October 2020 and September 2021, in accordance to the International Coffee Organization. (If you add up the nations in the European Union, technically it imports 40.2 million baggage.)
Despite the U.S. being the biggest buyer of coffee, Americans are not the biggest coffee drinkers in the world. Americans drank 327.4 cups of coffee, per capita, in 2020, according to research firm Euromonitor. Several countries drank more including Lebanon (1,294.1 cups per capita in 2020), Sweden (1,170.6), Finland (1,065.1), the United Arab Emirates (994.6), and Slovenia (928.7).
Most of the world’s coffee is grown in tropical climates, with Brazil producing about 40% of total coffee supplies – the equivalent of 63.4 million bags in the latest season (October 2020-September 2021), according to the International Coffee Organization.
Other leading producers: Vietnam (29 million), Colombia (14.5 million), Indonesia (12 million), Ethiopia (7.4 million), Honduras (6 million), Uganda and India (5.7 million each), and Mexico (4 million).
The U.S. does have a history of coffee production, primarily in Hawaii, where coffee was first introduced about 200 years ago. In 2020, Hawaii produced 5.12 million pounds of coffee (about 38,000 bags), according to World Coffee Research.
Coffee used from the state’s 2020 harvest was valued at about $54.3 million, 8.25% higher than the previous season, according to Hawaii’s state agriculture department.
Hawaii was until recently the only state to grow coffee, but the crop has been a part of the history of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, for nearly 300 years. However, coffee production in Puerto Rico has declined from $29.3 million in 2012 to $4.8 million in 2018, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.
Hurricanes including Maria in 2017 ravaged coffee farms in Puerto Rico, wiping out 80% of the timber, in accordance to World Coffee Research. The group, together with the Hispanic Federation, Nespresso, Starbucks and different teams together with the household of “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, created a five-year initiative to revitalize the island’s coffee trade.
Coffee: California dreamin’
Jay Ruskey did not set out to domesticate a California coffee trade. At Good Land Organics, the farm he started working in 1992 in Goleta, California close to Santa Barbara, he grew avocados and uncommon fruits.
But in 2000, coffee percolated onto his radar. A good friend, Mark Gaskell, an adviser with the University of California Cooperative Extension, was getting back from a visit seeing coffee growers in the Kona area of Hawaii. Flying into Santa Barbara, Gaskell informed Ruskey that he “looked around the foot hills and said, ‘This looked exactly like (the) Kona (region in Hawaii). Maybe we should try coffee.'”
So, Gaskell obtained some seeds from Panama and Costa Rica and gave them to Ruskey, who planted them in 2002. “I grew them just for fun because there was really no market support” for pricey coffee manufacturing in California, Ruskey mentioned.
Ruskey grew coffee timber alongside avocado timber, that are taller and might defend the smaller crop. About the time his timber started bearing fruit the demand for advantageous, excessive grade specialty coffee started fetching more than $100 a pound at auctions around 2008 and 2009.
Coffee as a crop grew to become a extra critical consideration, however Ruskey did not have all of the tools wanted for the labor-intensive strategy of processing coffee cherries. Coffee is a fruit, which has two beans inside. The beans are fermented, slow-dried and cured, then shucked to take away the inexperienced beans, that are lastly roasted. “Like brewing beer or making wine, there’s this whole art form that I didn’t know,” Ruskey mentioned.
He acquired the tools to course of coffee and in 2014 his Good Land Organics Caturra obtained a 91 score from Coffee Review and was ranked twenty seventh finest coffee in the world. Three years later, Ruskey based Frinj Coffee and now additionally sells coffee crops to farmers and helps the 70-plus farms at present working to develop and course of their crops.
So far, there are seven farms harvesting coffee, with the variety of coffee-producing farms to double subsequent yr, Ruskey mentioned. One of the farms, Mraz Family Farms in Oceanside California, was based six years in the past by musician Jason Mraz, who started rising coffee together with avocados and fervour fruit.
Mraz has bought all of the coffee he has introduced to market since 2019. The newest Geisha Coffee, named after a bean often grown in Panama, Ethiopia or Colombia, has bought out, priced at $80 per 5-ounce bag. The Frinj Coffee system “is unique for the global coffee industry,” Mraz mentioned in a press launch. “By considering this extremely rare pour, the coffee connoisseur enjoys an unparalleled complex cup of coffee and does their part to promote local, regenerative agriculture and a fair trade.”
The coffees obtainable on FrinjCoffee.com price $50 or $80 for a 5-ounce bag, which can make about 10 to 12 cups of coffee, relying on the energy (that is about $4-$8 per cup). The Good Land Organics Canturra ($50), which earned Ruskey these preliminary accolades, is described as having notes of “candied lemon, bright grapefruit acidity, and a sweet touch of pomegranate.”
The worth is true, Ruskey mentioned, as a result of the one means California coffee can compete is on high quality, delivering distinctive specialty coffees.
“We’re trying to make it so our producers make some of the finest tasting coffees in the world, like the wine industry,” he mentioned. “We can’t play in the commodity market, we have to be the best in the world.”
Even as manufacturing will increase, “we are still just a drop in the bucket of the total coffee production in the world,” Ruskey mentioned. But the extra crop helps native farmers, particularly if shoppers achieve a higher appreciation for coffee’s a part of their day and “how hard it is for the farmer to produce this crop,” he mentioned.
The sunshine state of coffee
In Florida, the coffee experiment is simply underway. The University of Florida researchers have been experimenting with arabica coffee timber, grown interspersed with citrus timber, which may shade and defend the smaller coffee timber. Most of the experiments have been achieved inside greenhouses.
Miniature cameras in plastic tubes planted together with among the –coffee crops may also watch and file the roots’ growth. The college’s College of Engineering will use synthetic intelligence and machine studying to monitor that information and higher perceive the crops’ growth.
Coffee may be grown in Florida, however what wants to be studied is whether or not the local weather will permit it to grow in a way to obtain a tasty end result. “It’s can you grow any you would ever want to drink?” mentioned Luke Flory, a University of Florida professor in the agronomy division. “That is really the question right now.”
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.


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Pictures that could be next iPhone, iPad leaked
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- Lisa Ward
- Web contributor- Silicon Valley Business Journal
Several news sources are showing leaked pictures of possible prototypes of Apple Inc.'s new iPad, iPad Mini and the "budget" iPhone 5.
Forbes has pictures of the "budget" iPhone 5, that it says is made of a lot of plastic. The phone "will have a 4-inch screen, like the iPhone 5, a bottom like the latest iPod touch, and a shape that’s most similar to the iPod classic," reported Jeremy Horwitz, Editor-in-Chief of iLounge, according to Forbes.
Apple blog 9to5mac has an "unverified image from a purported China-based iPad accessories maker" of a back plate from an iPad that's "casing is almost as thin as the iPad mini's back." The report says that rumors say the new iPad has been delayed from a March release to October.
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Founded back in 1923, the Osaka-based company provides quality products and end-to-end manufacturing capabilities that make it a go-to supplier of electric wires and cables.
A Japanese manufacturer of top-quality electric wires and cables, Yukita is celebrating a big birthday in 2023. “We’re now 100 years old,” says President Shiro Yukita. “The reason we’ve enjoyed such a long history is that we’ve had a habit of making the right decision in every difficult moment.”
Yukita, which chiefly supplies electronics and water-heater manufacturers, boasts comprehensive production capabilities. “Competitors are either specialized in making electric wires or processing harnesses after procuring electric wires,” Mr. Yukita says. “We can do both: we offer end-to-end manufacturing processes.”
Yukita also stands out from the crowd thanks to its pursuit of innovation. For example, it has developed a leading-edge stretchable cable called NOVEEL. “The product can be applied to wearable devices,” Mr. Yukita explains. “We can incorporate it into a T-shirt for instance, allowing us to connect with heart monitors.”
Yukita’s R&D processes are also focused on its commitment to a greener future. “A material called PVC is commonly used for coating electric wires, but depending on the method of disposal, there’s a risk of generating hazardous substances,” Mr. Yukita notes. “We’re working to develop more environmentally-friendly materials.”
As the company seeks to grow, it is out to broaden its products’ scope of application. “Automotive and factory automation comes to mind as potential future targets,” Mr. Yukita says. An increased international presence is also an aim: “We have a solid foothold in Asia, but we’d like to expand into the European and U.S. markets.”


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Starbucks says customers will pay from 5 to 20 cents more on many drinks starting Tuesday. The company did not specify exactly which drinks will be impacted because it charges different prices in different regions of the country.
Starbucks has increased prices on different products for at least the past three years, but Starbucks spokesperson Lisa Passe said this is the first increase in two years “for the majority of impacted beverages, such as Tall brewed coffee and Grande Latte.”
On average a Starbucks receipt will be about 1% more expensive, she added. Food, packaged coffee, or and some drinks such as a Frappuccinos and Grande-sized brewed coffees will not be affected. But Tall and Venti brewed coffee will go up by 10 cents in most markets. The higher prices come despite an 18% boost in company profits last quarter.


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Meeting New York’s super somms
Commanding the status of celebrity chefs and acting as subjects for popular cinema, sommeliers have shaken off their dour image and are instead being viewed as increasingly influential figures in the industry, writes Elin McCoy.
WHEN WINEMAKER Ted Lemon of Sonoma’s Littorai winery hosted a retrospective tasting of his brilliant Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays at Per Se restaurant last June, most of the guests were sommeliers. They’re the people, Lemon says, who really helped make his winery a success.
How so? In the late 1990s, when Lemon launched his wonderfully elegant wines, the country’s most powerful critics were heaping praise on super-ripe, oaky, alcoholic ones. So he turned to sommeliers seeking wines with the balance and freshness to show off their restaurants’ food. They bought, poured, and the rest is history.
Lemon’s wine-attention-getting strategy was a harbinger of how important sommeliers would be in the 21st century.
About a decade ago, ‘somms’ (as they’re popularly referred to in the US) started morphing into major wine world influencers with the kind of rock star status once reserved for celebrity chefs. They not only wield the power of the purse, but they’re also key arbiters of what’s good and what’s trendy. Would Sherry, the wines of the Jura, or grower Champagne have become so hot in New York without them? I doubt it.
“An important restaurant’s list is a showcase,” says Donna White of Gregory White PR firm. “Somms are often the first to introduce people to a new name or region, and because of social media, their reach is now huge.” Most are active on Twitter and Instagram; customers happy with what they’ve recommended save photos of favourites on their smartphone to refer to later in a retail shop.
Which is why so many producers, importers, and regional wine organisations are wooing sommeliers. Take the Bordelais. “They’re all seeking the next new thing, and in the past five years the younger ones have disdained Bordeaux,’’ says Philippe Newlin, director of the New York office of negociant Duclot/La Vinicole, which opened last year. “We’re trying to show them how great Bordeaux can be and make it cool for their generation.” He invites them to regular tastings of top bottles in Duclot’s light-filled downtown loft and even took a small group to Bordeaux.
Planet Bordeaux, a trade association of Bordeaux and Bordeaux-Supérieur winemakers, just named Michael Madrigale, the high-profile head sommelier at Boulud Sud, Bar Boulud, and Epicerie Boulud, as its US Brand Ambassador (he has more than 10,000 followers on Twitter). Ironically, like many young somms, his personal tastes run more to Burgundy.
When sales of Australian wine dropped some 26% in the US as drinkers soured on the country’s power-packed, alcoholic reds, the North American office of Wine Australia started a program to convince sommeliers that big-bruiser Shiraz wasn’t the only style of wine Australia produced, showing off top boutique bottles from cool climate regions to 600 somms in 10 major US cities. The payoff, says Angela Slade, the organization’s head, has been slow but reasonable growth, with wines at higher price points landing on wine lists. Every night, she adds, they’re educating drinkers in small five-minute sound bites.
In fact, producers are leaping to link their brands to sommeliers in surprising ways. Penfolds has collaborated with GQ magazine to sponsor a #bestdressedsomm contest, with the winner, AJ Ojeda-Pons, wine director at The Lambs Club in New York, revealed at a glitzy ceremony at Penfolds House in the city last month – evidence that this is a glam profession.
The rise of the sommelier began with the explosion of interest in food culture and vino-centric restaurants as the economy boomed in the 21st century. “There’s oceans of wine out there now, so restaurants have to have someone with basic knowledge and expertise,’’ explains Daniel Johnnes, the wine director for the Dinex Group of Daniel Boulud’s restaurants. “Wine is the second most powerful source of a restaurant’s revenue, usually 30 to 40 percent of the total.’’
Not so long ago only a handful of fancy restaurants employed a sommelier, usually a haughty older man in a sober black tuxedo with a silver tastevin hanging from a chain around his neck. In cartoons, he was the ultimate wine snob, looking down his long nose to humiliate some poor wine-challenged customer.
Today’s somms have a different image; at high-end spots they wear suits and ties, at casual ones, jeans, tattoos, biker boots and long hair. They smile, wax enthusiastic about their latest wine discoveries, and there are plenty of women among their ranks, whether in San Francisco, Boston, Austin, or Miami.
The role has changed, too. Johnnes is one of the key figures that helped redefine it. The current US obsession with Burgundy owes much to Johnnes. During his first stint as a sommelier, in 1985, at Montrachet in New York’s Tribeca district, his Burgundy focus on the wine list and lavish wine dinners turned the restaurant into a thriving destination.
He magnified his influence by importing wines, and gained an international reputation with his annual extravaganza La Paulée, which he modelled on Burgundy’s La Paulée de Meursault. He held the first “mini-Paulée’’ in 1992 and the event, which alternates between New York and San Francisco, has become a wine highlight of the year, attended by several dozen producers and the country’s top collectors. As one told me, Johnnes himself is now a brand.
Sommelier competitions put an early spotlight on the job as a profession. San Francisco star Larry Stone gained notoriety when he beat out the French to become the first American to win Best International Sommelier in French wines in Paris, a competition trumpeted in the media. His influence spread as he mentored a new somm generation at restaurants like Charlie Trotter’s and Rubicon, then moved on to create his own wine label, manage Francis Ford Coppola’s winery, and help start Evening Land Vineyards.
Paul Grieco, the goateed Riesling evangelist who revived American interest in the grape, shaped the sommelier-as- hipster image. After working at several New York restaurants in the 1990s, he co- founded Hearth restaurant in 2003 and later the Terroir Wine Bars. His quirky wine lists, part rant, part manifesto, and part erudite educational essays, feature off-the-beaten-path wines that reflect his personal philosophy. A self-described “acid freak,” Grieco inspires the tastes and attitudes of many young somms.
When he announced in 2008 that the only whites he’d pour by the glass during that summer would be Rieslings, he essentially ignited a movement. By 2014, his Summer of Riesling concept had gone nationwide, with several hundred restaurants participating.
As people have become less reliant on critics like Robert Parker, says sommelier Patrick Capiello, co-founder of New York’s Pearl & Ash restaurant, “they transferred some of their trust to sommeliers. That gave us power.’’ French- born Pascaline Lepeltier, the beverage director of New York’s Rouge Tomate, is an influential champion of natural,biodynamic, and organic wines, particularly those from the Loire Valley. Rajat Parr, wine director for Michael Mina Group and one of the founders of In Pursuit of Balance, a group of wineries aiming for lower alcohol and more elegance, ignited a debate when he revealed his policy of not listing wines containing more than 14 percent alcohol in one restaurant.
But trading classic reference point wines like Bordeaux for the obscure and the trendy has provoked a backlash. In the Aussie press recently, wine critic Huon Hooke charged that too many lists of little-known wines put diners “at the mercy of the sommelier.” Lepeltier sees it differently. “What’s happening now is that regular customers are more curious,” she says. “So they push us to find what’s new and interesting. It’s a soft revolution for the taste and palate.”
Their choices also reflect their restless curiosity. Most U.S. sommeliers tend to be well-educated university grads with an appetite for mastering a subject. That’s prompted many, like Lepeltier, who once planned to be a philosophy professor, to study for a Master Sommelier degree through the Court of Master Sommeliers. The documentary, called SOMM, which follows four candidates struggling to pass the prestigious Master Sommelier exam, was a surprising commercial success last year. The organisation, established in England to improve the standards of drinks knowledge and service, has gone international and helped professionalize the job. Others aren’t so sure. A fascinating article early this year by former sommelier Carson Demmond in the magazine Punch claimed formal academic training will promote the opposite of the relaxed, freestyle wine atmosphere revolutionizing restaurants.
And most eagerly seek out networking opportunities, which encourages the spread of ideas about what wines are trendy and which are not. The danger, of course, is a kind of wine groupthink, overly precious wine lists, and a new kind of snobbery.
One place to network is TexSom, a sommelier conference in Dallas, now in its 10th year that draws hundreds of attendees to two days of seminars and tastings. Another is The Guild of Sommeliers, which launched its website in 2009 and has created a cohesive community of 9,000 members. Both give regions and producers a way to reach somms as a group, says Geoff Kruth, the Guild’s COO.
Today’s sommeliers may start by working the restaurant floor, but many are ambitious with a serious entrepreneurial streak, and use their initial job to leverage a bigger career, extending their influence on how people think about wine and what they drink.
Jean Luc Le Du left Restaurant Daniel to open a downtown wine shop; Veritas’s Tim Kopec advises collectors; Paul Roberts, once at The French Laundry, runs cult winery Colgin Cellars; while Aldo Sohm at Le Bernardin, has just opened a no-reservations wine bar, Aldo Sohm Wine Bar, on West 51st Street in New York. He also sells his own glassware line and signature Laguiole corkscrew.
So what’s the future? I predict somms, especially in other countries, will become even more influential and entrepreneurial. The models are out there. Andres Rosberg, president of the sommelier association of Argentina and one of the country’s first professional somms, for example, writes, organizes wine fairs, founded Argentina’s first wine auction house, has won awards for his restaurant lists, and is managing director of a vineyard. There is also huge scope for Chinese somms to influence what people drink, with Beijing-based sommelier Weiley Lu predicting that Sherry will be the next big thing in the People’s Republic.


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Aston Martin has confirmed pricing for its London initial public offer that would give the luxury carmaker a valuation of up to £5. 07bn and propel it into the upper echelons of the FTSE 250.
Peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle said it hoped to raise around £300m when it floats in London in an offer open to institutional and private investors.
Aston Martin Lagonda has hired former RBS and Coca-Cola director Penny Hughes as chairman ahead of the sports car maker's planned flotation on the London Stock Market early next month.
Aston Martin may soon float on the London Stock Exchange with an expected value that could put the British automotive legend at the top end of the FTSE 250.
Saudi Arabia has pulled plans for a domestic and international listing of state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco, Reuters reported, citing four industry sources.
British web hosting provider UKFast is said to be eyeing up a £350m pay-day from a proposed flotation on the London Stock Exchange.
Value retailer The Works hopes to raise £62. 2m, split between the business and selling shareholders, in an initial public offer on the London Stock Exchange's main market.
Shares in Cake Box, the retailer with a growing franchise store base across the UK, shares began trading on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
London-based law firm Knights Group is set to place 20. 68m new ordinary shares t 145p when it floats on AIM later in June.
Luxury car-maker Aston Martin intends to hand millions of pounds to wealthy customers through a London listing expected to value the company at up to £5bn, according to reports on Friday.
British credit hire and legal services provider Anexo saw the admission of its ordinary shares to the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market take place on Wednesday.
Up-start equities exchange operator Aquis plans to float on London's Alternative Investment Market to strengthen its war chest, better enabling it to go head-to-head with its larger rivals, such as the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse.
Argo, a UK-Canadian venture, has its sights set on transforming crypto-mining with the launch of a new service aimed at addressing demand from users looking to cash in on the mining of digital currencies but have been put-off by the associated complexities and up-front costs.
Old Mutual revealed that the spin-off and initial public offer of its Quilter arm would be priced at 125p to 155p per share.
Spain-focused Berkeley Energia graduated to the London Stock Exchange's Main Board and updated investors on its plans to list on Spain's four major bourses on Wednesday.
Autolus Therapeutics has confirmed the pricing for its initial public offer on the Nasdaq index of the New York Stock Exchange, providing a monetary boost for shareholders including Syncona, the Woodford Patient Capital fund and Arix Bioscience.
The proposed listing of Dutch firm Adyen, whose services are used by the likes of Facebook and Netflix to process payments, on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange got off to a strong on Tuesday, with investor demand eclipsing the number of shares offered by the firm within an hour.
Property development finance firm Urban Exposure successfully raised £150m on Wednesday, its maiden day of trading on AIM, giving the company an initial market capitalisation of £165m.
Global games label Team17 is seeking admission of its ordinary shares on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange to capitalise on growing market opportunities with what it described as its award-winning in-house team and "outstanding" financial profile.
Autolus Therapeutics has registered to float its shares in the US to raise up to $100m (£74m) in a fillip for struggling star investor Neil Woodford.


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It has been reported that Mahindra & Mahindra will be investing in building long-range electric vehicles, high-power battery packs and power trains in an effort to boost Electric Vehicles.
The company has decided to increase the production of its electric vehicles to 5,000 units a month by mid-2019 which is 400 units at present. The automaker will also be investing in making batteries that enable cars to run for 400 kilometres on a single charge. However, the investment amount has not been disclosed by the company.
The government of India has been making attempts to boost the sales and adoption of Electric Vehicles. Recently, a government think-tank had also released a policy blueprint favouring electric vehicles, which could influence a new green car policy.
Mahindra is the only automaker in India which has been focusing on Electric vehicles yet it has struggled to boost sales till now. Since acquiring Bengaluru-based Reva Electric Car Co in 2010, Mahindra has sold only 2,700 vehicles, which includes the e2o small car and eVerito sedan. The primary reason being high battery costs of around as high as $270 per kilowatt hour, a paucity of charging stations. Lack of awareness and interest among people is also one of the reasons why the sales of EVs has not picked up in India.
The batteries that company makes now can run cars between 100 and 140 kilometres on a single charge, Mahindra is working to increase the range to 200 kilometres first and then to 400 kilometres. The government of India which looks serious towards the adoption of Electric Vehicles and is dedicated towards India is looking at having an all-electric car fleet by 2030 with an express objective of lowering the fuel import bill and running cost of vehicles.


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An Post seeking retail partners to run post offices nationwide
An Post has announced a nationwide search for retail partners. With 1.7 million visits to post offices in Ireland each week, running a post office is a unique commercial opportunity for the right candidate.
26 October 2018 | 0
As one of Ireland’s most well-known and trusted brands, An Post has just announced that it is searching for a number of new retail partners to run post offices around Ireland.
Becoming a post office retail parter comes with a number of key benefits:
- 1.7m post office visits weekly
- 120m electronic transactions every month
- 2,850,000 Irish consumers use the post office
- Increase in store sales
- Commission on every transaction
- Customers from day one
- Competitive setup costs
With 960 post offices nationwide, the post office brings a diverse range of products and services to their customers. These services include post, mails, government services, and financial services like banking, insurance and bills. These offerings are constantly being enhanced to meet the needs and expectations of today’s customer.
This is unique commercial opportunity whether you have an established retail business or you’re someone with commercial and retail experience.
For more information and to see all current vacancies, click here.


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Nvidia and Intel have teamed up to provide processors and graphics chips for a new generation of creator workstations. You might think of them as metaverse workstations.
Those workstations will be launching with anywhere from one Nvidia graphics processing unit (GPU) to four in a system powered by Intel’s latest Xeon W and Intel Xeon Scalable processors, said Bob Pette, vice president of Nvidia’s professional visualization business in an interview with GamesBeat.
“I think this will really unlock the number of GPUs that are in a workstation because now we can fully drive multiple GPUs,” Pette said.
At a time when Nvidia is pitching Omniverse as a tool for building virtual worlds, enterprise digital twins, and eventually the metaverse, these workstations are likely to be in high demand. Intel said there are more than 50 designs using the Xeon processors coming to the market.
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AI-augmented applications, photorealistic rendering, simulation and other technologies are helping professionals achieve business-critical results from multi-app workflows faster than ever, the companies said.
Running these data-intensive, complex workflows, as well as sharing data and collaborating across geographically dispersed teams, requires workstations with high-end CPUs, GPUs and advanced networking.
The Intel Xeon processors will be paired with Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada generation GPUs, as well as Nvidia
ConnectX-6 SmartNICs. The latter networking card will have a cooling system — a sign of the times of where the heat in a system can be, Pette said.
“We’ve got some customers that are testing it out. And anywhere, anytime you’re moving gigabytes or terabytes of data, it’s going to have a huge impact. So we spent the money because we believe there is a large opportunity to refit this with an actively cooled card,” Pette said.
These new workstations bring together the highest levels of AI computing, rendering and simulation
horsepower to tackle demanding workloads across data science, manufacturing, broadcast, media and
entertainment, healthcare and more, Nvidia said.
“Professionals require advanced power and performance to run the most intensive workflows, like using
AI, rendering in real time or running multiple applications simultaneously,” said Pette. “The new Intel- and Nvidia-Ada powered workstations deliver unprecedented speed, power and efficiency, enabling professionals everywhere to take on the most complex workflows across all industries.”
“The latest Intel Xeon W processors — featuring a breakthrough new compute architecture — are
uniquely designed to help professional users tackle the most challenging current and future workloads,”
said Roger Chandler, vice president and general manager of creator and workstation solutions in the
client computing group at Intel, in a statement. “Combining our new Intel Xeon workstation processors with the latest Nvidia GPUs will unleash the innovation and creativity of professional creators, artists, engineers, designers, data scientists and power users across the world.”
Serving new workloads
Metaverse applications and the rise of generative AI require a new level of computing power from the
“These are purpose-built for things like Nvidia Omniverse and Nvidia AI,” Pette said.
Creating digital twins in a simulated photorealistic environment that obeys the laws of physics and planning factories are just two examples of workflows made possible by Nvidia Omniverse Enterprise, a platform for creating and operating metaverse applications.
BMW Group, for example, is using Nvidia Omniverse Enterprise to design an end-to-end digital twin of an entire factory. This involves collaboration with thousands of planners, product engineers and facility managers in a single virtual environment to design, plan, simulate and optimize highly complex manufacturing systems before a factory is actually built or a new product is integrated into the real world.
(I’m going to moderate a session on the enterprise metaverse at Nvidia’s GTC event coming on March 22).
The need for accelerated computing power is growing exponentially due to the explosion of AI-augmented workflows, from traditional R&D and data science workloads to edge devices on factory floors or in security offices, to generative AI solutions for text conversations and text-to-image applications, the companies said.
Extended reality (XR) solutions for collaborative work also require significant computing resources. Examples of XR applications include design reviews, product design validation, maintenance and support training, rehearsals, interactive digital twins and location-based entertainment. All of these demand high-resolution, photoreal images to create the most intuitive and compelling immersive experiences, whether available locally or streamed to wireless devices.
Next-generation platform features
With a breakthrough new compute architecture for faster individual CPU cores and new embedded multi-die interconnect bridge packaging, the Xeon W-3400 and Xeon W-2400 series of processors enable scalability for increased workload performance. Available with up to 56 cores in a single socket, the top-end Intel Xeon w9-3495X processor features a redesigned memory controller and larger L3 cache, delivering up to 28% more single-threaded and 120% more multi-threaded performance over the previous-generation Xeon W processors.
Based on the Nvidia Ada Lovelace GPU architecture, the latest Nvidia RTX 6000 brings power efficiency and performance to the new workstations. It features 142 third-generation RT Cores, 568 fourth-generation Tensor Cores and 18,176 latest-generation CUDA cores combined with 48GB of high-performance graphics memory to provide up to 2x ray-tracing, AI, graphics and compute performance over the previous generation.
And Nvidia’s ConnectX-6 Dx SmartNICs enable professionals to handle demanding, high-bandwidth 3D
rendering and computer-aided design tasks, as well as traditional office work with line-speed network
connectivity support based on two 25Gbps ports and GPUDirect technology for increasing GPU bandwidth by 10x over standard NICs. The high-speed, low-latency networking and streaming capabilities enable teams to move and ingest large datasets or to allow remote individuals to collaborate across applications for design and visualization.
The new workstations will be available in the coming months, and you can preorder from Boxx and HP starting today.
While it’s unusual to see competitors like Intel and Nvidia teaming up, Nvidia also partners with AMD around its CPU families as well, Pette said.
“We just tend to try to focus on what the customer experience is going to be,” Pette said. “Even though we may be competing with somebody on the GPU side, the best experience is putting in a Sapphire Rapids (Intel) or Threadripper (AMD), then we want to make sure those workloads are tuned.”
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The content is accurate at the time of publication and is subject to change.
The new S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices is out finding that the overall default rate decreased three points last month. With credit card default rates falling 13 basis points, going down to 3.71%. Yet the auto loan default rate remained stable at 0.93%, and the first mortgage default rate dropped by three basis points, holding right now at 0.63%.
The S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices provide a picture of consumer credit defaults. "The favorable economic conditions consumers enjoyed in the last few years are confirmed by more than the current low levels of consumer credit default rates," says David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
"Unemployment was falling to 4% or lower, inflation barely crept up after touching zero in 2015, and real (inflation-adjusted) earnings rose as wages outpaced inflation. The ratio of household debt service to disposable income stayed close to the lowest levels in three decades,” he added.
That said, the study also found that even with the numbers either heading downward or holding steady, they were still at a higher level than they were at the same time a year ago.
Miami, NYC, and Chicago shed defaults
When they looked at five major cities, they found that three out of five experienced downturns in their composite default rates last month. With Miami experiencing the biggest decrease, dipping 47 basis points, which represented the biggest, single downturn for an metropolitan statistical area (MSA) since June of 2013.
On the other hand, the rate of default for New York City went down 4 points, and Chicago's default rate is down two points.
But while these three saw downturns, Dallas and Los Angeles had upturns in default rates, with LA experiencing a 3-point upswing, and Dallas showing a 4-point increase.
Second month for lower default rates
The indices showed the start of a trend - since May default rates for all loans, including credit, auto, and first mortgages, also dropped or stayed the same.
That said S&P Dow Jones Indices suggests that both inflation and interest rates may rise in the future. "The Federal Reserve's reaction to the low unemployment rate was to raise interest rates to deter any increase in inflation. In the last month, the year-over-year rise in the consumer price index moved clearly above 2% and the Fed again raised its benchmark rate, the Fed funds rate, by a quarter percentage point," said Blitzer.
"Oil prices are rising and may push inflation higher. Weekly unemployment claims continue to drop, pointing to a further decline in the unemployment rate. These trends explain why the markets are expecting further rate increases from the Fed. Today's favorable consumer economy may be slowly shifting towards higher interest and inflation rates."


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Last night (August 22) during Gamescom’s Opening Night Live 2023, a brand new trailer for Cyberpunk 2077’s one and only DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty, was revealed. Excitingly, it was also confirmed that many of the features showcased in it are also going to be added to the base game for free in its upcoming 2.0 update - but only for those playing on Xbox Series X|S, PC, or PS5.
The explosive new trailer had plenty to show off - so much, in fact, that it literally had to round everything up in a handy list at the end. If you don’t want to watch it again, I’ll save you the time - fans can look forward to: “A dangerous new district, dozens of new story quests and gigs, vehicle combat and mounted weaponry, revamped police system, combat AI overhaul, endless dynamic events, and missions, redesigned cyberware and perks, all-new Relic skill tree and abilities, increased level cap, 100+ new items - weapons, cyberware, and fashion.”
Speaking on stage with host Geoff Keighley after the trailer was shown, CD Projekt RED gameplay designer Yulia Pryimak said: "I'm really happy to announce that a lot of what we've just seen in the trailer will also be coming to Cyberpunk base game for free for current-gen consoles and PC.”
A news post published on the CD Projekt RED Press Center site has since confirmed that vehicle combat, redesigned skill trees, and the overhauled police system are all coming for free as part of the 2.0 update. However, the Relic skill tree will be exclusive to Phantom Liberty.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is set to release on September 26, so there’s now only just over a month to wait for it.
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Catherine is a News Writer for TechRadar Gaming. Armed with a journalism degree from The University of Sheffield, she was sucked into the games media industry after spending far too much time on her university newspaper writing about Pokémon and cool indie games, and realising that was a very cool job, actually. She previously spent 19 months working at GAMINGbible as a full-time journalist. She loves all things Nintendo, and will never stop talking about Xenoblade Chronicles.


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While many of the 2011 Super Bowl advertisers will return to this year’s game to air ads, HomeAway is sitting out entirely; instead, the vacation home rental company will buy time on the Oscars, the Grammys and the 2012 Survivor finale.
This isn’t a surprise.
HomeAway had a rough experience in 2011. The company ran a piece of advertising that the Kellogg Super Bowl Advertising Review panel and others found rather confusing and very disconcerting. The ad featured a baby being thrown into a plate glass window. This resulted in a major backlash from customers, with the company eventually pulling the entire campaign and issuing an apology.
After that experience, it isn’t surprising to see the company focus on other, less scrutinized advertising venues. HomeAway CEO Brian Sharples explained that the Super Bowl garnered the company a lot of exposure, but proved to be very burdensome. Speaking at an event at the University of Texas, Sharples said, “It worked out great…but after the experience last year I don’t have the stomach for it.”
The Super Bowl is a high-stakes event for companies and executives. The issue isn’t just the expensive media time, which can be hard to justify. The issue is that a weak Super Bowl spot can damage a brand and even one’s career.
HomeAway discovered just how risky it can be. I understand why they wouldn’t return for another try this year.


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Dallas, TX -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/17/2014 -- The increasing importance of Islamic banking brings opportunities for takaful insurers. Geographically, there are not many large takaful operators operating internationally. In fact, there is a growing opportunity for takaful operators to start operations in full swing in geographies such as Europe, the Americas, and Russia. Governments in these geographies are highly recommending the uptake of takaful. Partnerships with banks will present a new and readily available distribution channel, which could open up a gamut of new opportunities for takaful operators to develop Sharia-compliant bancassurance products.
Analysts forecast the Global Takaful market will grow at a CAGR of 16.39 percent over the period 2013-2018. According to the report, the rapid economic growth in emerging countries is one of the major drivers. This rapid economic growth in emerging countries has contributed to an increase in the per capita disposable income, resulting in the purchase of takaful products. Countries such as Indonesia, Turkey, and Malaysia have a large Muslim population who are inclined to purchase products that comply with Sharia principles. In fact, the non-Muslims are also showing an inclination toward buying such products.
The Global Takaful Market 2014-2018, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the GCC, the APAC region, and the ROW; it also covers the Global Takaful market landscape and its growth prospects in the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.
Further, the report states that the lack of awareness of Islamic banking and its principles is one of the major challenges for the vendors in the market. Takaful is a relatively new concept; therefore, many Islamic and non-Islamic population across the globe are not aware of these products and their benefits.
Buy a copy of report @ http://www.reportsnreports.com/purchase.aspx?name=276794.
The report recognizes the following companies as the key players in Global Takaful Market: Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC, Kuwait Finance House KSC, Malayan Banking Berhad, Bank Mandiri, HSBC Amanah Takaful (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., and PT. Asuransi Jiwa Bringin Jiwa Sejahtera.
The other vendors mentioned in the report are Bank Mandiri, HSBC Amanah Takaful (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., and PT. Asuransi Jiwa Bringin Jiwa Sejahtera.
Key questions answered in this report:
What will the market size be in 2018 and what will be the growth rate?
What are the key market trends?
What is driving this market?
What are the challenges to market growth?
Who are the key vendors in this market space?
What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of each of these key vendors?


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As any screenwriter or stand-up will tell you, being funny is hard. Yet many of the best Super Bowl ads this year were in a comic vein. While the event has always been a showcase for the chirpier side of advertising (as opposed to somber purpose-driven campaigns), it seemed there was a determination to shrug off the dark clouds that swirl around the rest of the media.
The Las Vegas location, as well, cried out for glitz and fame. The New York Times recalled that the late “gonzo” journalist Hunter S. Thompson had written two articles headlined “Fear and Loathing”: one about Vegas, and another about the Super Bowl. Here was a perfect fusion of the two. Historian Douglas Brinkley commented: “The Super Bowl is a TV commercial extravaganza, a retail mall set up in the parking lots where the game is just one component.”
For advertising professionals, it’s perhaps heartening to note that – amid the innovative AI projects and activations that win awards these days – agencies are still more than capable of making decent TV commercials.
Those films remain important to viewers: according to WARC’s pre-game research, a whopping 73% of them intended to watch the commercials.
There were other reasons for tuning in too: Usher’s half-time show was put into the shade by Chiefs star Travis Kelce’s mega-coupledom with Taylor Swift, which had generated millions of dollars’ worth of media exposure for the NFL well before the game. With the event set to be the most watched in Super Bowl history, it probably justified the $7 million CBS was charging for a 30 second spot, according to Reuters and other sources.
Picking the best is a somewhat subjective task. There’s a Humor category for the first time at Cannes this year, so maybe some of these will be contenders.
There was a faint note of absurdity about many of the ads. Here’s a typical example, which is both a dig at the French and perhaps an insight into how Americans see Europe.
Kawasaki evokes the (terrifying?) return of an iconic haircut in one of the Big Game’s most entertaining spots, which actually makes you want to try out the vehicle.
The Super Bowl has always loved celebrities, and here they were omnipresent. You may have thought you’d escaped any more references to AI in this round-up, but no! Beyoncé mentions the tech in her blockbuster ad for Verizon.
Skincare brand CeraVe’s collaboration with Michael Cera (via Ogilvy) was no doubt the smartest use of a celebrity, teasing in advance the suggestion that he’d actually created the brand, then debunking the idea on the day. Ad critics agree that CeraVe basically won this year’s Bowl.
Some of the teaser ads were almost as good as the final cuts. This one for Uber Eats, featuring the Beckhams, replays a scene from the recent documentary about the star couple.
Here’s the full celebrity-packed ad, which, as you surely know by now, reunites Ross and Rachel from Friends.
A typical Super Bowl ad features an actor satirising themselves, and one fellow always seems willing to oblige, this time for State Farm. What was it he said again?
There weren’t just actors and sports stars – there was also a celebrity director, in the form of Martin Scorsese. It’s his first Super Bowl spot and, unsurprisingly, a visual treat.
When brands weren’t trying to hit the funny bone, they went for emotional punch. This is one of the more heartwarming spots of the Big Game. And in its own way, a classic of Super Bowl advertising.
Can’t get enough Super Bowl ads? Check out our line-up here.


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PDR relaunches El Trovador with new packaging and new rings for the international markets. The cigar was originally released in 2016, but at the Intertabac Trade Show, the brand was relaunched. With new packaging, new rings yet with the same blend. The wrapper is Ecuadorian Rosado. The cigar has a double binder, both Nicaraguan. And the filler consists of Nicaraguan Viso and Ligero.
PDR owner Abe Flores also mentioned that PDR Cigars will expand distribution to three more countries in the months to come. Those countries are the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Mozambique. What lines and sizes will be exported to the new markets has yet to be decided with the new distributors.
Revamped Half Corona Tins
But that’s not all. PDR also redesigned their tin for their popular A. Flores 1975 Half Corona cigars. The vitola is now available in all of the four A. Flores 1975 lines. Those are the Desflorado, Sungrown, Maduro, and Corojo 2006.
When Habanos released the H. Upmann Half Corona tins, Abe Flores loved the idea. But looking at the design of the tin, he realized there was a problem. If one cigar was taken out, the others would be able to roll in the tin. So he came up with a curved bottom, preventing the cigars to roll. Habanos then saw the A. Flores 1972 Gran Reserva Half Corona tins, and redesigned their tins as well according to a story Abe Flores told Ministry of Cigars years ago.
The Jose Rey line is changing from bundles to boxes. Jose Rey is a line of sweet-tipped cigars in three different blends. The cigars are a nod to the early days of PDR when they made those cigars for a retailer in New Orleans. The cigars come in a Connecticut, Sumatra, and Maduro blend. Each blend is available in three sizes. Those are a 6×44 Corona, a 5×50 Robusto, and a 7×50 Churchill


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Schimpff’s Confectionery and Candy Museum will celebrate its 125th anniversary in April 2016. Current owner and candy maker, Warren Schimpff (pictured above), is the third great grandson of Gustav Schimpff, Sr. who began the business in 1891.
Sweet facts about Schimpff's candy canes:
1. Schimpff's will make about 2,000 candy canes, or 400 pounds, during the holiday season.
2. Warren and Jill Schimpff have been making candy canes for almost 35 years.
3. To make the candy canes, the Schimpff's use about 300 pounds of sugar, 100 pounds of corn syrup, and one cup of pure peppermint oil.
4. Schimpff's has made a 35 pound barber pole candy cane for the Galt House Hotel in Louisville.
5. Locals like to purchase a 3-foot, 4-pound candy cane to ship to friends and family.
Red hot facts about cinnamon red hots:
According to Warren, last year Schimpff's made over 17,000 pounds of red hots, and 4,000-5,000 pounds were sold during the holidays. If sales projections are correct, Warren and Jill Schimpff are on track to make 20,000 pounds of red hots in 2015.
View Warren and Jill make candy canes on Sat., Nov. 28. at 347 Spring Street, downtown Jeffersonville.
Want to know more about Schimpff's? Visit: www.schimpffs.com
Click here to find more sweets and treats in Southern Indiana!


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Tunisia and Jordan receive WTTC Safe Travels stamp
More and more countries across MENA are being recognised for their hygiene
Tunisia and Jordan have become the latest countries to receive the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) Safe Travels stamp.
WTTC, which represents the global travel & tourism sector, designed the stamp to help travellers identify holiday spots and businesses around the world that have adopted its health and hygiene protocols.
WTTC president & CEO Gloria Guevara explained: “Our Safe Travels stamp is proving a great success and we are delighted to see many more major countries and destinations receive the stamp.”
“The early success of the WTTC Safe Travel stamp demonstrates its importance not only to countries, destinations and businesses, but also to travellers and the 330 million people around the world who work in and depend on, the travel and tourism sector,” she added.
Tunisia and Jordan join the likes of Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah, Egypt and Turkey which have all been given the stamp to help spur tourism.
Dr. Emad Hijazeen, Jordanian Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities Secretary-General, said: “We appreciate and support the WTTC initiative of making travel and tourism a safe activity. Protecting the health of Jordanians and our visitors is a top priority for the Government of Jordan.”
The protocols were drafted following the experience of WTTC members dealing with COVID-19 and based on guidelines from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).


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Thailand: Food Processing Ingredients
Link to report:
Thailand’s food and beverage industry contributes significantly to the country’s economy, accounting for one-fourth of the country’s gross domestic product. Major food exports include rice, canned tuna, sugar, meat, cassava products, and canned pineapple. The National Food Institute reported that the value of Thai food exports was $34.6 billion in 2021, an increase of 11.8 percent from 2020.


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Monthly Archive: December 2013
leaked roadmaps showing the SGSII coming to U.S. markets soon and even Samsung's own Facebook page showing a AT&T Galaxy S II. So what is this that is passing bluetooth certification?
General Dynamics Itronix has agreed a patent licensing deal with Microsoft, the latest company to cough up cash despite many assuming that Android, being open-source, liberates them from patent concerns. According to the rather smug Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing at Microsoft, the deal "is an example of how industry leaders address intellectual property." That certainly seems a snub to other Android OEMs yet to ink patent contracts with Microsoft. It's unclear what exact patents the agreement covers, at this stage, though Microsoft has been vocal in the past about the misconception that Android is a "free" OS because Google made it open-source. "Android has a patent fee" CEO Steve Ballmer said back in 2010, "it's not like Android’s free. You do have to license patents. HTC’s signed a license with us and you’re going to see license fees clearly for Android as well as for Windows." Earlier this year it was suggested that HTC pays Microsoft $5 for every Android device the company sells. In fact, Citi analyst Walter Pritchard suggested, Microsoft made more from indirect Android handset sales that it did from licensing Windows Phone to its own OEMs.
AndyPad budget Android tablet has announced that there will be a second version of the low-cost slate, targeted at enthusiasts and early-adopters. The AndyPad Pro will have a capacitive touchscreen - rather than the £129 AndyPad's resistive panel - as well as both front and rear cameras. The original AndyPad will have 512MB of RAM, it's been concerned, after negative feedback over the original plans to use just 256MB. Worldwide availability - alongside the UK launch - is also intended. The company is still yet to confirm screen details, nor to show a full image of the device. That, they tell Android Community, is to give them some redesign wiggle-room between now and launch. Pricing for the AndyPad Pro will be similar to the £129 AndyPad, though obviously carry a premium. [gallery id="38473"]
confirmed that two new tablets were coming this summer and one of them is the IdeaPad K1 Android tablet.
Android 3.1 officially in Germany and a few other places on July 5. The launch date for the US and many other places has yet to be offered. If you want Android 3.1 on your A500 and you don't want to wait, you can get it right now via two new ROMS. A leaked official Android 3.1 build landed in China last week and has since been put up on XDA Forums.
HTC EVO 3D has been officially launched in Europe, with the glasses-free 3D smartphone set to go on sale from July 2011. Offering a 4.3-inch qHD resolution screen like the HTC Sensation, only supporting 3D graphics without the silly specs, the EVO 3D has HSPA+, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and a dual 5-megapixel cameras that support 2D and 3D stills and video at up to 720p HD resolution. OS is Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense 3.0, and there have been a few tweaks made to suit the 3D capabilities. We met up with HTC last week to discuss the EVO 3D, and the company told us that, while it could have made the whole UI 3D, after tests it decided to keep things predominantly 2D as the third dimension was unnecessarily distracting. HTC Watch will offer 3D video content to buy (some territories will get a preloaded copy of The Green Lantern in 3D), though there won't be any 3D games at launch; HTC tells us that they're in the pipeline. 3D photos can be easily sent to users with non-3D devices as 2D versions, meaning backward compatibility. Otherwise, the HTC EVO 3D has dualband HSPA/WCDMA supporting up to 14.4Mbps downloads and up to 5.7Mbps uploads (network depending), a microUSB port that supports MHL HDMI (with 3D output if your screen can handle it) and both WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0. There's 1GB of user-accessible ROM and 1GB of RAM, along with a microSD card slot, and the whole thing weighs in at 170g and measures 126 x 65 x 12.05 mm, though the blunt edges make it feel a significantly bigger, heavier device than the curved Sensation. We do like the dedicated camera button and physical switch for toggling between 2D and 3D modes. As for the bootloader, since the EVO 3D was in development while the decision to open up future HTC devices to third-party ROMs was made, it's not clear what will happen. HTC told us that's still being discussed internally, and that it's "not as simple" as throwing a switch on production units. Pricing is also to be decided, though it'll likely come in alongside the Sensation. For more on the HTC EVO 3D, check out our full review of the US version, which - radios aside - is functionally identical. [gallery]
CyanogenMod has now released their latest and greatest and that is CyanogenMod 7.1 RC1. This is the first official release for the new CM 7.1 that brings Android up to 2.3.4 and to over 40 devices (44 to be specific). This latest update brings many changes and the changelog sure does have some great additions as well as showing CM7.1 bringing support to many new devices like the Galaxy S, Cliq, LG Optimus x2/T-Mobile G2x and more.


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Remember when China’s Xinhua News Agency debuted its first AI news presenter modeled after real Xinhua anchor Zhang Zhao (taking “fake news” to a whole new level)?
Not to be outdone, Amazon has taken fake presenters to a whole new level–fake endorsers! No more celebrity endorsers with their inflated fees for endorsing products they may or may not care about. Oh, no. Amazon goes all the way to fake on a one way trip to Minority Report-land. According to Venture Beat:
If Amazon has its way, companies will soon tap Amazon Web Services (AWS) en masse to create voices tailored to their brands. The Seattle tech giant today launched Brand Voice, a fully managed service within Amazon Polly, Amazon’s cloud service that converts text into lifelike speech, that pairs customers with Amazon engineers to build AI-generated voices representing certain personas….
But this is the most ridiculous part of the story:
Such technology has obvious commercial implications. Brand voices — such as Progressive’s Flo, who is played by actress and comedian Stephanie Courtney — are often tasked with recording phone trees for interactive voice response (IVR) systems or e-learning scripts for corporate training videos. Synthesization could boost actors’ productivity by cutting down on ancillary recordings and pick-ups (recording sessions to address mistakes, changes, or additions in voiceover scripts) while freeing them up to pursue creative work — and enabling them to collect residuals.
Right. See, Amazon’s just trying to be helpful. Because the actors will still “collect residuals”. Really? And if that’s even true, how long to you think that’s going to last? It’s a rather selective fact choice anyway because the real question is how much longer until the actor is replaced altogether and how close can the fake AI actor get to the original before its a right of publicity case?
Even that issue will probably not be around for very long–the direction is to replace the actor altogether like Max Headroom.
Emmanuel Legrand reports in his excellent newsletter that:
Music industry trade group the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has asked the US government for tougher measures against infringers, in particular in the online marketplace. The proposal was part of a submission to the US Department of Commerce, as part of its request for comments on the state of the state of counterfeit and pirated goods.
Counterfeiting and pirating of physical music products facilitated by online platforms continues to cause harm to our members. In 2019, we conducted two studies to identify the amount of counterfeit offerings of music CDs on popular online platforms, including a study on the prevalence of high quality counterfeit box sets on certain platforms and a study on the prevalence of high quality counterfeits for a broad sample of current and evergreen album titles released by the major U.S. record labels. As further discussed below, each of these studies showed significant counterfeit activity on the noted online platforms, including findings that:
A recent sample purchase program found 100% of new high quality box sets offered for sale through eBay or AliExpress in the U.S. were counterfeit; and
A recent sample purchase program found 11% of new CDs offered for sale on Amazon were counterfeit, and 16% of new CDs sold on eBay were counterfeit.
For the study on box sets of music, we identified and made test buys on eBay and AliExpress’s U.S. platforms of 10 well known artist box set titles released by major U.S record labels. Each purchase was made after a search for “brand new” box sets of the titles selected, and a purchase of the 4 lowest priced box sets on each platform, without regard to seller location. We then examined the products that were shipped to us. On both eBay and AliExpress, 100% of the test buys of the box sets were counterfeit. This is of particular concern as box sets are premium physical music products designed for the superfan that often contain the most significant sound recordings in an artist’s repertoire.
The conclusion is:
Trafficking of counterfeit and pirated goods, whether in the form of physical CDs, box sets or artist merchandise, as well as online infringement of music and music videos in digital form, continues to significantly impact the music industry. We believe more can be done, including implementation of voluntary measures as well as governmental action, to deter and reduce such activity, and create a healthier online ecosystem where all can thrive.
Amazon apparently was the only one of the bootleggers who responded, and did so with the usual non answer and deflection:
Our customers expect that when they make a purchase through Amazon’s store—either directly from Amazon or from one of its millions of third-party sellers—they will receive authentic products. Amazon strictly prohibits the sale of counterfeit products and we invest heavily in both funds and company energy to ensure our policy is followed. We work with and empower brands through programs like Brand Registry, Transparency, and Project Zero to ensure only authentic products are sold in our stores. We investigate any claim of counterfeit thoroughly, including removing the item, permanently removing the bad actor, pursuing legal action or working with law enforcement as appropriate.
Sound familiar? Kind of like how YouTube responds to the community flagging? Investigating after the illegal goods are being sold is not the point. Getting caught is not the point. The point is stopping the illegal goods from getting onto the platform in the first place.
The reason this drivel from Amazon sounds like tired crap is because it is tired crap. And crystalizes that they think the problem is getting caught and that what they really want is to keep getting away with it.
And this is where I disagree a bit with RIAA–the time for voluntary measures has passed. Someone needs to go to jail–someone high up who almost invariably knew what was going on (for example, grand jury documents told the U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island “Larry Page knew what was going on“).
Then we can talk again about voluntary measures to keep their butts out of the slammer–not their pathetic little “Project Zero.” I got your project zero right here.
Remember the great continuum that has driven homo sapiens for millennia:
FEAR <———> GREED
We need Jeff Bezos closer to the FEAR end than the GREED end.
Remember that data is the new exposure, streaming is the new physical and that both these tropes have something in common–artists are being driven to substitute away from low to no margin streaming and away from sustainable margins on physical like CDs with no revenue replacement. (Unless you’re in the 5% of tracks that account for 90% of streaming revenue in the hyper efficient market share distribution of streaming revenue.)
Against that background, we find that the online platforms like eBay, Alibaba and Amazon are going even further toward evil and doing little or nothing in their rush to drive physical retail out of business to stop the sale of counterfeit CDs delivered to your door by Amazon Prime or Ali-express. And most honest business folk would probably think they are pretty shameless about it and ask how could they get away with sucking up the revenue from counterfeits into their maelstrom of cash?
But before you go down that rabbit hole, you need to understand an important fact about the mind set of Silicon Valley–and it’s the same mindset that gave us both Google and Theranos. It’s not that they made a choice to do evil. It’s that they don’t understand there is a choice about doing evil. It’s how these little soulless people sit in front of Congress and lie and feel good about themselves. The Internet is their Ring of Gyges and they are unconcerned about justice because their thing is getting away with it, not getting caught and getting richer than Croesus.
Somewhere in their development they lacked the normative guide–or “sherpa” in their case–that should have developed a self-governing code to map their behavior. Parents, pastors, priests, rabbis, teachers, all failed to make a dent. These are the kind of people who don’t stop when the European Commission fines them billions. They don’t care how they treat their employees as long as they’re the richest man in the world. They don’t care about ripping off artists. Their reaction to getting caught is not fixing the problem, their reaction is to buy the shillery and try to make us look greedy for expecting them to behave.
If a $5 billion fine didn’t work, how about $50 billion? Let’s try that. But even in the Silicon Valley dual class system, the corporate royalty might start thinking about offering up an executive to save the company.
This is why the solution probably isn’t voluntary. It probably has a lot more zeros on it than any normal person would think reasonable, or is a court order for very specific behavior, or simply prison.
When you ask Amazon’s Alexa, “What is Wikipedia?” it’ll tell you this: “Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, free encyclopedia based on a model of openly editable content.” Alexa took this line directly from Wikipedia’s entry on Wikipedia, as it does with many of its answers. Perhaps what it should have said was this: “Wikipedia is the source from which I take much of my information, without credit, contribution, or compensation.”
That’s about to change. Or is it? Amazon recently donated $1 million to the Wikimedia Endowment, a fund that keeps Wikipedia running, as “part of Amazon’s and CEO Jeff Bezos’ growing work in philanthropy,” according to CNET. It’s being framed as a “gift,” one that—as Amazonputs it—recognizes their shared vision to “make it easier to share knowledge globally.” Amazon also noted the ability for users to easily donate to Wikimedia through the Alexa Donations feature, with the voice command “Alexa, donate to Wikipedia.”…
But it’s not just the fact that this donation is, in the scheme of things, paltry. It’s that this “endowment” is dwarfed by what Amazon and its ilk get out of Wikipedia—figuratively and literally.
If a record company pulled your music from a retailer because of a commercial dispute that had nothing to do with you or the label itself, how would that make you feel? If you ran to your contract to see if you could stop them, do you think anyone would have ever thought to negotiate protection against anything so philistine? This little life parable shows you why you should never underestimate the highly innovative monopolists forcing their way into our lives.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google pulled support for its YouTube video service from Amazon.com Inc.’s streaming-media devices, citing the internet retailer’s failure to make Amazon Prime Video available through Google’s gadgets and the recent halt of the sale of some Nest products on its website.
What’s interesting about YouTube’s behavior is that you would think that YouTube actually owned the videos on YouTube. Which in probably 99% of the cases, they do not. (It’s unclear if the Amazon boycott includes Vevo, the premium content provider co-owned by Google, but I would assume it does.) I’m no fan of Amazon, God knows, so I’m not suggesting that YouTube’s move here is hard on Little Jeffie, the destroyer of worlds.
I’m suggesting that it is hard on artists and is not something that any other distributor would think they could get away with. And the fact that YouTube exists to screw artists and songwriters doesn’t excuse YouTube’s tone deaf wielding of other people’s property to gain a commercial advantage against Amazon accruing almost entirely to Google. So what did Google do, exactly? Bloomberg tells us:
Google blocked YouTube access via the Echo Show, Amazon’s smart speaker with a touchscreen, on Tuesday and will stop supporting YouTube on Amazon’s Fire TV set-top box on Jan. 1. In a statement, a Google representative said it’s taking the action because the YouTube apps on Amazon products aren’t made by Google, like the YouTube app on the iPhone is, and the retail giant doesn’t sell some Google products, such as Chromecast and Google Home.
“We’ve been trying to reach agreement with Amazon to give consumers access to each other’s products and services,” Google said in a statement. In its own statement, Seattle-based Amazon said its gadgets now send users to the YouTube website, and the company hopes to resolve the dispute as soon as possible.
In other words, Amazon stopped carrying totally unrelated Google products and Google responded by blocking your videos from Amazon devices. Did anyone ask you if that was OK? According to the Verge:
Three months ago, YouTube pulled its programming from Amazon’s Echo Show device — the first skirmish in what is apparently an ongoing war. Shortly after, Amazon stopped selling the Nest E Thermostat, Nest’s Camera IQ, and the Nest Secure alarm system. Two weeks ago, Amazon got YouTube back on the Echo Show by simply directing users to the web version, a workaround that left a lot to be desired. But even that version won’t be available after today.
In other words, this boycott of the billionaires has nothing to do with any YouTube artist or Vevo artist, but all are being harmed by it for reasons they have no control over. You might, however, be able to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Google and possibly both Google and Amazon by clicking here.
Now, in an ironic twist, the very forces of digital commerce that were supposed to do in brick-and-mortar have become hot for commercial real estate.
Two of the biggest proponents are smart-home contenders Amazon and Google. The e-tailer has opened bookstores, pop-up shops and in-store Kohl’s sections across the country, while the search engine giant is plying its proprietary Home products via temporary holiday stores in New York and Los Angeles.
TWICE visited two of these physical manifestations, which provide further proof that the corner store is here to stay.


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The new Windows 10 ISOs have been posted on VLSC
Microsoft says that Windows 10 is finally ready for the enterprise market with the release of Threshold 2, and as part of the effort to make the OS available for this particular customer category, the company has just posted the dedicated ISOs on VLSC.
As WindowsITPro writes, enterprises that get Windows 10 Threshold 2 from the Volume Licensing Center will be allowed to clean install the operating system and experience the new features that are specifically part of this update.
In a post published last week, Terry Myerson, head of the operating system group at Microsoft, explained that Windows 10 Threshold 2 also marks “the renaissance of the enterprise PC” because it not only supports older technology but also adds new ones.
“Our IT Pros know they can offer more. With this first major update to Windows 10, we’re empowering them to do so—with the first platform which spans all device types, enables management of both corporate owned and BYOD, and upgrades existing devices. Windows 10 is already actively running on more than 110 million devices including 12 million business PCs, and is compatible with the past while embracing our new way of working,” Myerson wrote.


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The Lenovo ThinkBook 15 Gen 2 family will be available with up to 11th generation Intel processors up to Core i7 and with up to 40GB of 3200MHz DDR4 memory.
Surface Laptop Go would be the name of the new laptop that Microsoft would incorporate into its own line of hardware destined for the mid-range in price and performance.
This year OnePlus has changed its strategy, no longer launching "flagship killers," but real flagships with OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro, and expanding its catalog with OnePlus Nord.
Instead of streaming from the cloud with Microsoft's adapted machines and access to the extensive Xbox Game Pass catalog, we will be exclusively streaming the games we already own from our console.
That said, if at the time you did not make it to the first batch of reservations and you are still interested in getting one of the new Xbox Series X
A new leak has left us several press renders of the Huawei P40 and P40 Pro, two top-of-the-range terminals with which the Chinese company will renew its catalog
One of the most important news of the new generation consoles, PS5 and Xbox X Series, is the inclusion of a high-performance SSD that will significantly reduce loading times, but to what extent?
GizmoChina has announced its latest rugged smartwatch Amazfit T-Rex. Its appearance resembles the well-known Japanese watch Casio G-shock.
Rockstar has confirmed that we can make the reservation of Red Dead Redemption 2 for PC from October 9
With more than seven years behind him, Diablo III remains one of the key games for Blizzard and every few months he demonstrates adding new features.
The registration of the Huawei AR Glass and Huawei VR Glass trademarks at the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) and the IPO (Intellectual Property Office) of the United Kingdom
The Japanese company already warned us a few months ago that we should not wait for the arrival of the PS5 before April 2020
The latest update is slowly getting on the first Galaxy S10 smartphones. Available for S10e, S10, and S10 plus.
Older versions may end up having vulnerabilities that, as in the case of NVIDIA and its graphic drivers, can completely compromise the security of our PC.
ASUS will market two other Radeon RX 5700 / XT models customized under the TUF Gaming X3 series, also with a three-fan cooling system
This weekend Gigabyte announced the arrival of its new Aorus CV27F, a 27-inch high-end gaming monitor with a 1500R curvature, Full HD resolution
Huawei P300, P400 and P500: these could be the names of future smartphones made by the Chinese company
WRC 8 FIA World Rally Championship will arrive on September 5 to PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch
Xiaomi Mi Gaming Laptop 2019 will be presented this Sunday, August 4th: the news is official, even if the name is provisional
Hello Games has just announced that the new update of No Man's Sky arrives in two weeks, and if you have a virtual reality helmet, it's time to use it.
Well, we have said that the Galaxy Note 10 will be priced at 949 euros in Europe, but how much will the Galaxy Note 10+ cost?
System Requirements Lab have published an estimate of the minimum and recommended requirements of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019
The new Fitbit Versa will bet on OLED and Alexa and will be the closest in design to the Apple Watch we have seen so far
Before I talk about the new details of the multiplayer mode of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, I want to remind you of two important keys on a technical level.
Alphabet has become the world's most liquid company, surpassing the historic Apple record holder, according to the Financial Times analysis


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COLUMBIA, SC – October 12, 2007 – Divas on a Dime will host a date with the divas, a one-day consignment event targeting women on October 20th at Hush Lounge in Columbia, SC from 3pm-6pm.
This particular event will celebrate the courage of breast cancer survivors and soon-to-be-survivors. Activities include allowing women to resell their clothing for a profit or promote their own business while enjoying drinks, music and special pampering surprises. All items not sold will then be donated to the Crisis Assistance Ministry.
All interested sellers must contact Summer Lee at 803.319.0687 to reserve their tags and instructions prior to the event. This event is open to the public and is open for women that would like to shop for discounted clothing with most items going for less than $25. Local vendors will also be available to showcase their products and services.
Hush Lounge is located in the vista at 1004 Gervais St and will be open for the event and later that evening for their regular business hours.
For more information on upcoming events by Divas on a Dime such as their monthly Call of the Divas go to www.datewiththedivas.com.


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The latest edition of Tiger Beer’s Street Football campaign saw the tournament kick off in Vietnam yesterday, this time with the backing of former England and Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand.
The campaign film launching the tournament, whose final will be play on a specially made pitch in Ho Chi Minh City against Ferdinand’s team of legends, evokes the classic theme of football as epic’. Arcade Singapore puts together a well stylised, rapid clip-show of...
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