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DJJ Technologies' Dolan said his company used to rely more heavily on Avaya competitors like Juniper Networks and Extreme Networks to fill out its data networking portfolio, but after Avaya's acquisition of Nortel, he looked more to Avaya to play that part.
"I didn't [sell Avaya networking] right away because I wasn't real comfortable with how it was going to work out, but ... it's been a couple of years, and Avaya seems to be putting a lot of resources behind the networking products, so we jumped on board," Dolan said. "We are reaping the benefits now of that acquisition."
Ian Pugh, vice president of sales at GSolutionz, a Ventura, Calif.-based solution provider, said his company has benefited more from Avaya's June 2012 acquisition of video conferencing specialist Radvision.
"Having an Avaya [video] product that rounds out the full UC stack is phenomenal," said Pugh, who attended the Avaya Partner Connection Day in Los Angeles. "It allows us to compete with Microsoft now, where before it was more [like] 'cross your fingers and hope that you win.'"
In addition to data and video, Avaya's Soderlund said the midmarket was another theme running throughout the company's four-city road show. Specifically, Soderlund said Avaya emphasized the traction its IP Office UC solution is seeing within small and midsized companies. Avaya's latest version of IP Office, Soderlund said, touts new features that were specifically requested by partners, including the ability to scale to up 1,000 users.
"We basically rebuilt the technology from the ground-up, with the feedback from our partner and customer community as to what they were looking for," Soderlund said.
Soderlund said the reception to IP Office to-date has been "phenomenal," with more than 500 partners selling it and more than 10 million end users leveraging it.
Jeff Gardner, CEO of Carousel Industries, an Exeter, R.I.-based solution provider, said IP Office and the midmarket, in general, has become a sweet spot within his Avaya business.
"Midmarket is a huge focus for us," Gardner told CRN at the Avaya partner event in Boston. "We were a large enterprise partner for [Avaya], but last year we experimented and created a dedicated midmarket team and that has had tremendous success with 100 percent growth year-over-year."
Looking ahead, Soderlund said Avaya hopes to extend the Avaya partner road show to eight cities or more, calling the first round of shows a "wild success." Most partners, it seems, would agree.
"I would just say that there has never been a time when I felt like Avaya has been more aligned with the partner community and has helped us push ourselves forward," said GSolutionz's Pugh.
PUBLISHED 26, 2013


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- Though charcuterie first rose to prominence in 15th century France, meat-and-cheese boards have spiraled into a massive trend on social media, propelling some enthusiasts to the status of "charcuterie influencer."
- A search for "charcuterie" on Instagram yields nearly one million results, and on Facebook there are hundreds of public and private groups dedicated to the art form.
- "It blows my mind every time I open the app and have a hundred notifications or 2,000 new followers," Maggie Johnson, known as @magsmeals on TikTok, told Business Insider of her newfound social media stardom.
- Sign up for Business Insider's retail newsletter, The Drive-Thru, to get more stories like this in your inbox.
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On a whim, Maggie Johnson filmed herself in October washing cartons of blackberries and grapes over a marble-lined sink, carefully slicing wedges of cheese and opening packages of cured meats before arranging them ornamentally around a circular wooden board.
Though she had been privately watching videos on TikTok for months, she decided to share her own video for the very first time, posting it to her page before heading into an early shift at the bakery where she works in Nashville, Tennessee. When she opened the app during her break, she was astounded to find that her post had thousands upon thousands of likes and comments.
Three months later, she's amassed more than 175,000 followers to her TikTok page @magsmeals, where she regularly shares charcuterie-related videos.
"It blows my mind every time I open the app and have a hundred notifications or 2,000 new followers," she said.
Johnson — an epicurean at heart, who first started making charcuterie boards for her sorority sisters in college — discovered that she had unwittingly tapped into an obsession among young Americans suddenly seeking out charcuterie content unlike ever before.
Though charcuterie itself has existed as a culinary delicacy for centuries, it only really flourished into a bona fide social media phenomenon in the past year, marking those like Johnson as "charcuterie influencers" along the way.
Aspirational meat and cheese
The word charcuterie is derived from the French words "chair" and "cuit," which translate to "flesh" and "cooked," respectively. According to the food blog Serious Eats, charcuterie first rose to prominence in the 1400s in France "to represent storefronts specializing in the preparation of pig and offal at a time when shop owners weren't allowed to sell uncooked pork."
The owners of these shops, known as charcutiers, grew popular for their thoughtful meat preparation that helped establish stylized plates of "cooked flesh" as a part of French gastronomic culture. Over time, breads, cheeses, fruits, and vegetables joined the boards as accoutrements to the succulent meats, forming the charcuterie board as we know it today.
While the word "charcuterie" gives off an air of European luxury and sophistication, plates of meat and cheese have also long been a mainstay of American social life, fueling partygoers and vanquishing hunger as restaurant appetizers. Today they've become a fixation on social media platforms. A search for "charcuterie" on Instagram yields nearly one million results, while on Facebook there are hundreds of public and private groups dedicated to the art form.
According to Ken Albala, a history professor with a focus on food at the University of the Pacific, the mass appeal of charcuterie on social media coincides with the rise of crafting and foodie cultures, paired with an inherently aesthetically pleasing nature.
"For hundreds of years people have been doing cheese boards and charcuterie, but I think it has been part of the rise of the interest in do-it-yourself artisanal craft food," he said. "It's also very photographical, and a lot of food that is great is not. A plate of stew is just disgusting-looking on camera, but if you can arrange things in fun patterns it looks nice and that's why it's very Instagrammable."
Marissa Mullen, founder of the food-styling blog That Cheese Plate and widely known as the first "charcuterie influencer," understands just how Instagrammable — and, thus, profitable — meat-and-cheese boards can be.
Mullen, who has a background in photography and visual arts, first started posting photos of stylized charcuterie on Instagram back in 2013. Her hobby helped her cultivate a small but devoted following over the years, prompting the occasional gig from brands like Whole Foods, which once gave her a $100 gift card to create a board and share it on Instagram.
"I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I made it,'" she said, recalling the experience to Business Insider.
While her social media star grew, she was cutting her teeth in the music industry, working as the house band coordinator for "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." Despite the flashy job, she still spent most of her spare time styling meat-and-cheese boards, coining a method she called "Cheese By Numbers" for arranging charcuterie boards.
SWIPE TO BUILD ➡ That “Evergreen” Plate 🌲 Each plate in my new cookbook comes with a handy illustrated Cheese By Numbers map by @saragilanchi. I met Sara while working at @colbertlateshow before going full-time cheese. She was a PA at the time and landed a gig illustrating the upcoming guests on the show. I’ve always loved her drawings, and one day asked if she could illustrate a tote bag for me. This turned into a numbered map for my book proposal, which turned into the core of Cheese By Numbers. Love that we both took our side hustles to make something bigger. Excited to have her illustrations featured! Submit your pre-order receipt on our website to unlock the shopping list, as well as a blank coloring book page for this plate! Tag your drawings with #ThatCheeseBook. Link in bio.
Encouraged by support from her social media fans, she pitched the concept as a book, a venture that proved unsuccessful. She shelved the idea until November 2018, when a producer on "The Rachael Ray Show" found her Instagram and brought her on to talk about her love of charcuterie and cheese by numbers. It didn't take long for Random House to come running back to Mullen. Her book, "That Cheese Plate Will Change Your Life," will be published in May.
She has since dedicated herself full-time to That Cheese Plate, which she monetizes by hosting cheese plate classes, tutorials, and special events. Today she has more than 300,000 Instagram followers, including notables like Gigi Hadid, across her @thatcheeseplate and @cheesebynumbers accounts.
"I can't take credit for, like, being the person to make cheese plates popular because that's a very big statement to say, but I do think I made it accessible for people to put their own spin on their own plates and get creative with them," she said.
The rise of the 'Adult Lunchable'
A few days into the start of the new year, the private Facebook group Bon Appétit Test Kitchen — a fan page for devout followers of the popular food publication and its chefs — was awash with photos of elaborate charcuterie boards, including one so large it spanned an entire room with mounds of fanciful meats and cheeses.
The posts had become so ubiquitous that Amanda Hasaka, one of the group's administrators, stepped in to ask the group's more than 16,000 members to refrain from posting charcuterie imagery.
"I'm sure we all enjoyed the meat & cheese boards (because who doesn't) while they lasted, and now that the holiday season is behind us, let's try and limit the posting of them for now," she wrote. "In fact, we can start a charcuterie main thread, and everyone can post in there, so it's limited to once [sic] place!"
Hasaka told Business Insider she became administrator of the group on request from her friend Megan McGowan, who created the page in 2018 for fellow Bon Appétit fans to talk about their favorite chefs and swap recipes. Neither of them expected it to become as popular as it is today, but Hasaka said it's helped democratize several food trends, including charcuterie.
"Personally, I am kind of intimidated by cooking and preparing a full-on meal, but there's something that's kind of low stakes about a charcuterie board," she said. "Anyone truly could do it very easily."
Samantha Birkholtz is a fellow member of the Bon Appetit group, as well as several other Facebook pages including "Show Me Your Charcuterie" and "Is This Charcuterie?" which each hosts thousands of meat-and-cheese enthusiasts. Some of these groups have strict barriers to entry, while others list group rules including "no charcuterie shaming" and a request to avoid the use of "explicit" terms like "charcooterie," a play on words that has previously made some group members uncomfortable.
Birkholtz said she primarily uses the groups as inspiration for meal preparation for both herself and her 12-year-old son, whom she is currently homeschooling. Like several others on social media, she likened the boards to an upgraded version of the Lunchable, the popular childhood packaged meals made by Oscar Meyer.
"When my son was a bit younger, he wanted those Lunchables but I find those things repulsive," she said. "When I started introducing the boards to him, I called them Adult Lunchables. I was like, 'Let's have an Adult Lunchable' and all of a sudden it became highfalutin."
—tyler oakley (@tyleroakley) November 22, 2017
Spotting an opening to capitilize on the trend among young Americans, Fisher-Price went so far as to roll out a "Snacks For Two" charcuterie playset in December, which quickly drew ire on social media as some called it "bougie" and "snooty."
"This is the most bougie toy I've ever seen. A f****** toddler rocking a Fedora and serving salami to nother one in a beret?" one Twitter user wrote. "The persnickety rep at @FisherPrice who thought this was a great idea should be demoted."
Charcuterie as art form
For Birkholtz, charcuterie influencers and certain members of the Facebook groups have become "artists" to their followers. She added that the craze around stylized food in many ways mirrors the aspirational nature of fashion and lifestyle influencers on Instagram.
"We've gone from showing off our designer handbags and expensive makeup to now we're showing off [charcuterie]," she said. "I keep looking at these boards and they're so beautiful and I'm thinking, 'My goodness, that person's an artist.'"
Beyond its ability to cultivate influencers, Hasaka of the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen group said that part of what social media has done for charcuterie is help demonstrate its relative ease and cost-effective nature. Ultimately, you don't have to be wealthy or particularly adept in the kitchen to make a stunning board, she said, which is what makes charcuterie particularly attractive to millennials.
"I live in LA and I don't have a beautiful, sprawling kitchen with all this space where I can cook some intricate meal," Hasaka said. "But I have enough room to make a little board with meat and cheese. You don't need a gourmet kitchen to put something like that together."
Looking toward the future, Albala, the history professor, said he anticipates the passion for charcuterie will start to die out on social media, as the obsession over artisanal goods starts to wane.
"The whole idea of handmade artisanal stuff is just not going to be that interesting to people anymore because everyone's doing it now. It's not a market distinction of coolness," he said.
However, influencers like Instagram fan favorite Mullen and TikTok star Johnson are banking that the boards will remain beloved on social media, both for their fans and their bank accounts. Mullen said she anticipates that the next wave of charcuterie will be focused on plant-based "meats" and cheeses, as well as new takes on deconstructed meals displayed on boards.
"I feel like it's released my inner child again," Mullen said of the obsession with charcuterie.

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At the April meeting of the Coca-Cola Company’s (CCC) shareholders, the National Center for Public Policy Research urged the soft drink manufacturer’s CEO, Muhtar Kent, to do more to promote the safety and benefits of genetically modified organisms (GMO).
The food industry has come under constant assault from anti-science activists demonizing these GMOs in recent years.
Kent was asked to make himself and CCC’s health scientists and nutrition specialists available to the media to combat unscientific activists and stand up for the promise of GMOs.
Kent replied, “Many of our regulatory affairs executives and scientific executives are involved in those discussions, and I’m very happy to even recommit them to a very productive dialogue with organizations like yours. And I’m very happy to be also a part of those where it can serve a purpose.”
Debunking Unscientific Theories
Greg Conko, executive director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, says CCC’s strategy is the right approach to combating anti-GMO scaremongers, but U.S. companies have a long way to go.
“People love Coca Cola and other major brands like Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, and Kraft Foods,” Conko said. “These are brands people trust, so if consumers start hearing more from these people, and particularly from scientists within those sectors, then they are going to be exposed to more rational explanations, and maybe they are going to start asking questions.”
Conko says radical green groups such as Greenpeace and the Center for Food Safety have been unchallenged when putting out misleading information stating people should avoid Coca Cola because it contains high-fructose corn syrup, has genetically engineered ingredients, has too much sugar, too much caffeine, or other characteristics activists cast as worrisome.
If CCC isn’t saying, “No, no, no, wait a minute, here’s what we know about the ingredients we use,” people are absolutely only going to hear one side of the argument, Conko says.
“But if Coca Cola or some of those other companies start meeting these crazy theories with scientific evidence, then it will get consumers to start asking questions and it will get easier for them to get information from other trusted avenues like their family doctor, the health section of their newspapers, consumer reporters on television, etc.,” Conko said.
“We need to start getting into those places where people are getting their news,” Conko said. “That, along with the food companies standing up and defending themselves and their products, is what we really need to do to reach consumers.”
Some Bend, Some Don’t
CEOs who support sound science and refuse to bend to activist campaigns should be applauded, says Dr. Gilbert Ross, executive director of the American Council on Science and Health.
“It might be more productive to go to a company whose leadership is wavering on the subject and explain to them scientifically why it’s repugnant to have companies flee from the science in order to please what they consider to be consumer concerns, which are exaggerated tremendously anyway,” Ross said.
Need to Practice Self-Defense
Companies should refute the activists and stand up for their products if they are not doing anything wrong, says H. Sterling Burnett, a research fellow of The Heartland Institute, which publishes Health Care News.
“Coke, just like all soft drinks, has been using corn syrup for its sweetener for a long time,” Burnett said. “If soft-drink companies like Coke are not using cane sugar, they’re probably using corn syrup, which means they’re using GMO corn. As long as there’s been corn syrup in soft drinks, there’s been GMO corn in soft drinks. Not a single person has been shown to be harmed by this.”
Burnett says these products are safe, and the people who are arguing against GMO ingredients, products, and medicines are fringe characters.
“They’re just missing the boat,” Burnett said. “These products are no less safe than anything else, regardless of the way they are created. In fact, they are better. You’re not modifying perfect foods, because perfect foods don’t need modification. They’re making these foodstuffs better.”
Matthew Glans ([email protected]) is a senior policy analyst at The Heartland Institute.


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KOREAN Air is taking duty free shopping to new heights by selling super-luxe items on-board their A380 airplanes.
A mock-up of the stores, which Korean Air are calling "the World's first flying Duty Free Shop", went on display at the European Interiors Show in Hamburg last week.
See video footage of the store below
In collaboration with luxury French brand Lancome and British designers AIM Aviation, the store will feature fragrances, make-up, expensive jewellery and watches, travel products and alcohol, AIM Aviation Project Director Chris Whetter said.
First-class passengers will be allowed to peruse the stores first, followed by business-class passengers and then economy passengers.
Orders will be placed with the crew member on duty, who will later deliver nicely wrapped purchases to them at their seats.
No tobacco products will be sold on-board.
The on-board duty free shop will be located on the main deck at the back of the aircraft and will take up the space of 13 economy class seats.
But Whetter doesn't think the airline will lose out financially by reducing seat space, stating that it will actually "create more revenue than if they filled 13 seats" because of the high-end brands that will be sold.
The first A380 duty free shop is set to be rolled out on June 10.
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Originally published as World's first flying duty free shop


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Google Android P will going to be the part of the upcoming Google I/O event.
The Next Generation Android Program will play a major role as by the time 5G technology is rumored to get ready and next Android P will adopt major changes. Every year Google releases the early developer previews for Android during March and so at this time also.
It was first reported by PhoneArena, on the dedicated Android Open Source Project repository, which makes it rather obvious with the message that reads “The future is now (2018 edition)”.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently confirmed that the I/O 2018 will take place from May 8 to May 10 this year, and quite naturally, Android 9 will be among the chief topics detailed on stage.
In Google Android 9.0 developer preview, not all new features will be introduced or made available in these developer-centric early alpha versions, but the majority of changes made by Google will be there. As soon as the Google rolls out the preview we would see & hear a lot about the new version of the operating system.
Just like every year the mysterious still continue about the name of next generation of Android Program. Google hints at the name of Android 9.0 being Pineapple Pie, but don’t fall for it as that how Google like to troll.
Don’t forget to Download our Newest Android App – ‘Gadget Lite from Playstore’ for more Tech related News and Reviews and more


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Research and Markets announced the addition of the "Home Systems: Home Security - Analysis and Forecasts" report to their offering.
This report provides an overview of the residential security market. It includes an assessment of the recent, current, and mid-term future market, consumer data on monitored security households, a review of dealer activities and challenges, briefs on selected industry players for equipment and monitoring, market forecasts for US residential security, and scenarios for the future, including potential catalysts and inhibitors to market health.
"Some industry leaders declare the security market to be recession-proof, but it is not in terms of acquiring new customers and avoiding higher-than-typical loss of existing monitoring subscribers,” said Tricia Parks, CEO of Research and Markets. “It may be recession-resistant. Its core customers are not leaving, and the industry has been able to raise its monthly fees by more than 10 percent since late 2007."


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News by Topic
- Search Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Loyalty Marketing
- Mobile Marketing
- Social Marketing
- Viral Marketing
- Trends & Ideas
- Internet Marketing 101
Platform to ID phony traffic
There is a new player in the online security space. Mdotlabs released as a spin-off from the Broadcast Interactive Media platform; Mdotlabs is set up to help online businesses and ad agencies identify fraudulent online traffic and better protect their online campaigns from fraudsters.
"Similar to the emergence of spam that made email almost an unusable tool in the late '90s, advertising fraud online is a massive issue," said Timur Yarnall, CEO and co-founder, Mdotlabs. "ComScore recently estimated that "50% of web traffic is non-human and mostly malicious", meaning that over $25 billion in digital ad spend was wasted globally in 2012. As users and advertising migrate rapidly to mobile platforms, the problem only gets more severe -- mobile is a very complex environment with far less standardization than desktop web and more vulnerable than ever to ad fraud."
The Mdotlabs AdSecure Platform is set up to help advertisers, demand-sides and publishers identify fraudulent traffic and then avoid those troublesome clicks.
"Traffic which is not the result of genuine interest from a desired human user, including malware generated traffic, non-human (bot) traffic and fraudulent traffic generation techniques - especially from traffic exchanges - is costing online advertisers and their partners, tens of billions of dollars in wasted impressions," says MdotLabs Chief Scientist and co-founder Paul Barford, also a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin. "MdotLabs has developed campaign security analytics that provide highly accurate and timely detection of invalid impression and click activity for both online and mobile traffic. Our AdSecure Platform will assure campaign protection for brands and agencies."
- Big spending forecast for UK Black Friday
- Top 3 tips for effective native ad campaigns
- Top 3 email tips for the 2014 holidays
- Study: 3/4 will use phones for holiday shopping
- Studies: Shoppers want connection
- Brands: What to prep now for Thanksgiving Weekend
- Would your website earn Google's mobile-friendly label?
- Third of UK online retailers are not ready for the Christmas rush
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- Marketing Attribution in the New World
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The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has published new guidance regarding GST on Imports of Low-Value Goods and GST on Imported Low-Value Goods. The guidance concerns GST changes recently announced as part of Budget 2021, including that with effect from 1 January 2023, GST will be extended to:
Guidance on Purchasing Remote Services from Overseas Service Providers has also been updated in relation to the changes from 1 January 2023.
In relation to the changes, the IRAS is conducting a public consultation from 26 Feb to 19 Mar 2021 before finalizing the implementation details. Businesses are invited to give their feedback.
IRAS: Public Consultation on Draft GST Guide on Taxing imported low-value goods by way of the overseas vendor registration regime
IRAS: Public Consultation on Draft GST Guide on Taxing imported remote services by way of the overseas vendor registration regime


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Twice-weekly service will fly from Nairobi to London carrying essential perishable cargos
We’re thrilled to announce the news that we are now chartering our own airfreight flights. The investment comes as we seek to expand the commercial offering of PML as a leading global perishable cargo specialist. Our new airfreight flights will compliment our pivotal role in maintaining the supply of fresh produce during the pandemic, post Brexit and in support of new UK trade deals.
We’re working in partnership with Kenya Airways and have chartered a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft that will fly from Nairobi to Heathrow twice a week, carrying essential perishable goods on behalf of PML’s clients looking to export out of Kenya.
The two weekly flights began on 18 November and will be able to carry 36 tonnes of cargo per flight. From January, post planned modifications to the aircraft, the capacity will increase to 42 tonnes.
With the flights departing at 04.00 GMT on Wednesdays and Sundays, PML are now able to successfully deliver fresh produce into the UK on the same day as it left Nairobi, representing the speedy transfer that is key to maintaining the quality and shelf life of any fresh produce consignment.
The move to charter a bespoke PML air freight flight comes hot on the heels of the company setting up a dedicated in-house charter air freight service to cater for the increasing demand for the transfer of perishable goods by air.
“We remain committed to providing a seamless service to our clients. With competition to secure availability on chartered air freight services becoming increasingly intense, we were keen to identify a solution that would ensure our ability to guarantee the fastest transfer of perishable goods. The response to this service has been very positive. We anticipate that flights will be operating at full capacity, both up to Christmas and beyond. We are driving forward towards Brexit and are well prepared to navigate restrictions that are likely to severely impact on the supply chain business.”PML sales director Nick Finbow.
Take a look at the press coverage so far:


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PROVO, Utah, Oct. 1, 2019 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Yoodlize, a Provo-based startup, has launched a rental platform that allows people to easily find and rent all types of items from other users of the app. The Yoodlize app also provides a safe and convenient peer-to-peer rental transaction system for individuals who want to earn money renting out their things to people in their local communities.
“We’ve had a very positive reception of our app since our soft launch this summer,” said Jason Fairourne, founder and CEO of Yoodlize. “People are downloading the app and loving it – and it will only get better as we get more users.”
Several companies like Airbnb, Neighbor, Uber, and Turo have emerged over the past few years and established a strong market for collaborative consumption businesses. Yoodlize expands the peer-to-peer rental model from houses and cars to all the rest of the things we own.
Since its launch in June, Yoodlize has already seen a flurry of user activity. Some of the most popular items currently being rented on the platform are sporting goods like camping gear, canoes, bikes, and paddleboards. Other popular items include bounce houses, motorcycles, electronics, and tools.
“People have added hundreds of items for rent, and the number of listings is growing every day,” said Fairbourne. “It’s an open marketplace, so the only limit on what you can find is people’s creativity.”
Part of Fairbourne’s inspiration for Yoodlize was the sheer volume of things that go unused. Homes, garages, and storage units are full of people’s unused items collecting dust. For many Yoodlize users, being able to make better use of items that would otherwise sit idle is a major selling point.
Yoodlize was designed to make the peer-to-peer rental process as seamless and secure as possible. For example, all items on Yoodlize are automatically insured up to $2000, so users can earn cash renting out high-value items worry-free.
Riding a wave of powerful trends like minimalism and society’s growing preference for experiences over things, the Yoodlize platform is primed to grow exponentially and revolutionize the way people “Yoodlize” their stuff.
Yoodlize is a peer-to-peer rental platform for just about anything. Yoodlize makes it easy for individuals to list and rent out their things to people in their local area. Owners earn extra cash putting their otherwise unused things to work, and renters get affordable access to an almost limitless catalog of items and experiences.
The Yoodlize app is available for free download on iOS, Android, and at the Yoodlize website, https://www.yoodlize.com
News Source: Yoodlize


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The phasing out Google Play Music and Google sliding in YouTube Music app is happening swiftly. There is already an option in the YouTube Music app to import your library from Google Play Music. The music app was widely available for Android devices, be it phones, tablets or smartwatches. With the recent phasing out of Google Play Music, Google has also decided to shut down the app for Wear OS devices.
What's interesting is that Google hasn't even released an alternative app to it, which ideally should be the YouTube Music app.
But there are no reports for the development of YouTube Music app anytime soon. Wear OS already has the Spotify app as an alternative. While users may not gravitate towards it based on the Wear OS availability, Google should provide an alternative.
This could drastically affect users having Wear OS devices with LTE support, as many of them can simply listen to music through their watch. But now without the existence of Google Play Music they won't be able to play directly through their watch using LTE, they need to have a phone in order to listen to music.
Wear OS is already facing a lot of criticizm due to its performance. Wear OS devices should be way smoother, and that's an ongoing struggle for Google.
As per the source, a new Wear OS help page tells users that they won't be able to download or even use Google Play Music "in the next couple of weeks".
With no YouTube Music app and Google Play Music is being shut down, it's like Google is leaving users in the middle of a road. People are already struggling to switch between the music apps on their phone and now with a lack of music app support, it's even a bigger mess on the Wear OS platform.
Google should have first released a proper YouTube Music app for Wear OS-powered smartwatches, and then start phasing out Google Play Music.
Upcoming changes to your music on Wear OS
In the next couple of weeks, users will no longer be able to use or download Google Play Music on their Wear OS smartwatches. Google is investing heavily in improving integrated music services through all of your connected devices with YouTube Music.
"We are working on bringing our users a better music experience in the coming months with planned improvements to YouTube Music."
In the meantime, you can use your Wear OS smartwatch to remotely control the YouTube Music app on your Android or iOS phone. When you play music from YouTube Music on your phone, controls will automatically appear on your watch.


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Microsoft Aims To Bolster Power BI with Datazen Acquisition
- By Gladys Rama
- April 14, 2015
Microsoft on Tuesday announced that it has acquired Datazen Software, a Toronto-based startup that provides mobile business intelligence (BI) solutions.
Datazen's products are aimed at organizations that require on-premises BI solutions. Its lineup includes an app for Windows 8 that lets users create visualizations of data stored in Excel, the cloud or other sources; the Datazen Server, which is optimized for use with SQL Server and enables users to publish their data to devices; and mobile apps for Android, Windows and iOS.
In a blog post Tuesday, Kamal Hathi, partner director for cloud and enterprise at Microsoft, touted the acquisition as a boon for Microsoft's BI plans, specifically for the cloud-based Power BI. Microsoft intends to eventually fold Datazen's technology into Power BI, Hathi said.
"Datazen technology and solutions will complement Power BI, our cloud-based business analytics service, rounding out our mobile capabilities for customers who need a mobile BI solution implemented on-premises and optimized for SQL Server. Over time, we plan to integrate Datazen technology with Power BI to give our customers another hybrid bridge for their on-premises investment to the cloud," Hathi said in the post.
Microsoft first released Power BI in early 2014, but is currently testing an updated version that is expected for release later this year. The company has also said that it plans to release mobile Power BI apps for Android, iPhone and Windows devices. Possibly, Datazen's capabilities could materialize later this year in those Power BI mobile apps.
According to Boris Evelson,
a vice president and principal analyst at research firm Forrester, Datazen's offerings fulfill several functions that are currently not available or as well-realized in Power BI. For starters, Power BI does not currently allow users to access data offline, whereas "Datazen caches data and metrics on mobile devices and allows for offline/disconnected mode analysis," Evelson said in an e-mail.
Second, he said that Datazen would give Microsoft's BI lineup a way to organize metrics on mobile devices. "SQL Server database is great for organizing data, but there has to be a layer on top of it to organize metrics, like customer profitability, for example. Then one needs an easy way to visualize metrics on a dashboard and provide various analysis paths (sorting, filtering, ranking, drilling, etc.). Performance Point functionality from SharePoint provides for desktop devices, but Datazen improves the platform to organize and analyze metrics on mobile devices," Evelson said.
The Datazen buy benefits Microsoft from a competitive standpoint, according to Martha Bennett, principal analyst at Forrester. "Datazen was the most advanced mobile BI specialist with a Windows-first strategy," she said in an e-mail. "It makes sense for Microsoft to acquire Datazen -- their own mobile capabilities weren't even close."
According to Bennett, competing BI companies like Qlik and Tableau fall short of Datazen's native Windows support and offline capabilities, while others like Tibco and Cafe Moba have Windows support but are overall "less function-rich."
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. As part of the deal, Hathi said users of the Enterprise edition of SQL Server 2008 or later versions can download the Datazen Server product at no cost, provided they have Software Assurance.
In his own blog post about the acquisition, Datazen CEO Miljan Braticevic said that all of Datazen's products "will continue to be available in their current form."
Gladys Rama (@GladysRama3) is the editor of Redmondmag.com, RCPmag.com and AWSInsider.net, and the editorial director of Converge360.


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Safran says constraints in the supply chain are already hampering the engine-maker’s delivery targets and are a key factor when it comes to determining further growth in 2024 and beyond. The company’s CEO Olivier Andries pointed to “planned” versus “actual” deliveries for the fourth quarter of 2021...
Safran Warns Of Severe Supply Chain Constraints is published in Aviation Daily, an Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) Market Briefing and is included with your AWIN membership.
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Zero and low emission cars registered between 1st March 2001 and 30th March 2017 will no longer be exempt from road tax after Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, announced changes in his budget last week.
These cars that were previously in Band A will be moved into Band B, which is currently charged at £20 per year.
Popular models such as the Ford Fiesta, Audi A3, Dacia Sandero, Citroen C4, Volkswagen Golf and Nissan Qashqai will be affected.
As we reported last week, electric vehicles will also be charged for the first time under Mr Hunt’s plans. The change, which will take effect from April 2025, applies to electric cars, vans and motorcycles.
Electric cars and vans are currently exempt from both the annual £165 standard rate and the £335 premium rate which is reserved for new cars that are sold for £40,000 or more.
Under the new rules new zero emission cars registered after 1st April 2025 will pay the lowest first year rate of tax, which is currently £10 a year.
Don't miss your tax renewal, update your garage here!


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Valent Promotes Three to Account, Sales Leadership Positions
Company continues ‘customer-focused’ charge through strategic customer support roles
February 9, 2011
WALNUT CREEK, Calif.—In an effort to deepen relationships with key customers, officials at Valent U.S.A. Corporation announced today several new leadership positions within the company’s agricultural sales organization.
Tom Caruso and Alison Williams have been named as national accounts managers, and Steve Anderson has been promoted to regional account manager for the West.
Matt Plitt, senior director of national crop sales, said, “customer focus is a key priority throughout the Valent organization. These new roles and the high-caliber people filling them will help us provide even stronger service to our customers in 2011 and beyond.”
“Among the three new managers, there are more than 50 years of industry experience. Each has spent years learning and understanding our customers’ businesses at the most fundamental level,” Plitt said. “In their new roles, Tom, Alison and Steve will be able to provide greater one-on-one service to our distribution customers—helping meet current needs and identifying new opportunities for our organizations to work together serving growers across the U.S.”
Plitt said the promotions are part of the company’s customer focus initiative. To complement local sales efforts and support the growing Valent product portfolio, company leaders are taking strategic steps to expand customer relationships and provide dedicated tools and resources for their customers’ business needs.
A respected Valent sales representative in the Midsouth region for a number of years, Williams most recently managed a combination of regional and national accounts for Valent. She will continue to be based in Memphis, Tenn.
Caruso also has been named a national accounts manager for Valent. He joined Valent as a sales representative in the Fresno, Calif., area in 2005 and most recently worked in account management with customers in California and the Pacific Northwest. He will continue to be based in Fresno.
Anderson has been promoted to regional account manager for the West. Anderson will manage the business relationships with Western distributors and help support new Valent products and initiatives—including new biorational and specialty solutions—that are especially important in protecting and improving many Western crops. Anderson joined Valent as a sales representative in the California coastal region in 2010 with more than 20 years of industry experience.
About Valent U.S.A. Corporation
Valent U.S.A. Corporation, headquartered in Walnut Creek, Calif., develops and markets products in the United States and Canada that protect agricultural crops, enhance crop yields, improve food quality, beautify the environment and safeguard public health. Valent products include a well-known line of quality herbicide, insecticide, fungicide and plant growth regulator products for agricultural and professional use. It differentiates itself from its competitors as a leader in marketing and sales of both biorational and traditional chemical products.
For more information about Valent or our full product line, please call 800-6-VALENT (682-5368).
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For downloadable photos of each manager, please visit:


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September 11, 2009
The ban on ordinary light bulbs is an extraordinary consumer ban on a product that is safe to use.
We are not talking about banning lead paint here – and light bulbs don’t give out any CO2 gas. Power stations do.
Note therefore the consumer legislation irony,forcibly replacing a cheap, simple, safe, popular product with an expensive, complex, mercury-releasing, unpopular product as the main proposed alternative.
Europeans (like Americans) choose to buy ordinary light bulbs around 9 times out of 10 (European Commission and light industry data 2007-8).
Banning what people want gives the supposed “great savings for them” – no point in banning an unpopular product!
If new LED lights – or improved CFLs etc – are good, people will buy them – no need to ban ordinary light bulbs (little point).
If they are not good, people will not buy them – no need to ban ordinary light bulbs (no point).
The arrival of the transistor didn’t mean that more energy-using radio valves/tubes were banned…they were bought less anyway.
The need to save energy? Advice is good and welcome, but bans are another matter. People -not politicians – pay for energy and how they wish to use it.
There is no energy shortage – on the contrary, more and more renewable sources are being developed –
and if there was an energy shortage, the price rise would lead to more demand for efficient products – no need to legislate for it.
Supposed savings don’t hold up anyway, for many reasons to do with CFL brightness, lifespan, the power factor, lifecycle, the heat effect of ordinary bulbs, and other referenced research.
If energy use does indeed fall with light bulb and other proposed efficiency bans, electricity companies make less money, and they’ll simply push up the electricity bills to compensate (especially since power companies often have their own grids with little supply competition).
Energy regulators can hardly deny any such cost-covering exercise, in which case less money savings.
Conversely, since energy efficiency in effect means cheaper energy, people simply leave appliances on more than before, as shown by Scottish research previously reported on EurActiv (and in the case of “energy saving” lights, CFLs, they’re supposed to be left on more anyway, to avoid cutting down on their lifespan) – in which case less energy savings, adding to all the other reasons against supposed savings, as linked above.
That is not to deny that savings can be there – but not to the extent supposed, and insignificant in an overall view, compared with proper politics dealing directly with any energy or emission problems: a positive worldview believing in the ability to supply and deliver, not a negative world view of let’s-all-cry-into-our-beer-and-cut-down-and-save.
This type of petty interventionist banning politics, that Brussels is so good at, only serves to alienate people from cooperating in future more significant lifestyle changes in the pro-ban climate change agenda:
The only real “energy saving” going on here is in the mental activity of politicians in Brussels, London and Dublin.
Emissions? Does a light bulb give out any gases? Why should emission-free households be denied the use of lighting they obviously want to use?
Low-emission households already dominate some regions, and will increase everywhere, since emissions will be reduced anyway through the planned use of coal/gas processing technology and/or energy substitution.
The taxation alternative
As previously said, a ban on light bulbs is an extraordinary consumer ban, it’s not about banning a product that’s not safe to use. This is simply a ban to reduce electricity consumption.
Even for those who remain pro-ban, taxation to reduce consumption would be fairer and make more sense, also since governments can use the income to reduce emissions (home insulation schemes, renewable projects, etc.) more than any remaining product use causes such problems.
A tax of a few dollars that reduces current sales (the EU, like the USA, records 2 billion sales per annum, the UK 250-300 million pa) and raises future billions would retain consumer choice. It could also be revenue-neutral, lowering any sales tax on efficient products.
When sufficent low-emission electricity delivery is in place, the tax would be lifted.
Taxation is itself unjustified: it is simply a better alternative, for pro-ban politicians as well as for everyone else.
Of course an EU ban is underway, but in phases, supposedly with reviews in a couple of years time…maybe the debate in the USA and Canada will be affected by the issues being raised over here?
Anyone interested in the strange background EU and industrial politics that led up to this ban can read
Peter Thornes, ceolas.netAuthor : Letters to the EurActiv editor


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Binghamton, NY (WBNG Binghamton) It's been a Binghamton landmark for almost 100 years, but within 6 months, the Crowley plant on the city's south side will stop producing milk.
HP Hood says it will close the plant and warehouse by April.
More than 50 employees will be out of work.
Broome County got the phone call Tuesday morning.
The company says other Hood facilities in the northeast -- such as locations in New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts -- are better equipped to supply the volume of what's currently being produced in Binghamton.
However, the Conklin Avenue site will still remain a distribution center.
Hood will also keep the office on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The closing affects 54 employees, who were notified Tuesday.
Hood will offer severance packages to those employees, and will offer outplacement through an external provider.
HP Hood will keep 80 jobs in Broome County.
They'll work in distribution, transportation, sales and in administration.
HP Hood operates Crowley Foods, in business in Binghamton since 1915.
Products with a Crowley, Hood, or private label are produced there - including milk, cream, and orange juice products.


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Several reports suggest that smugglers and insurgents are using local people to transport smuggled goods by taking advantage of their financial vulnerability
In 710 operations since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the northeast, various goods worth Rs 110 crore have been seized in the region.
The seizures have been done by the customs in association with other central paramilitary forces and agencies.
This was informed by Commissioner of Customs (North-East Region) GM Kamei on Wednesday.
He was addressing a discussion on a virtual platform called Combating counterfeiting and smuggling during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
The discussion was organised by the industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).
He further added that the customs officials have been conducting raids in coordination with other agencies and paramilitary forces.
Kamei said that the customs officers are working in close coordination with Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Assam Rifles, Border Security Force and various state police forces to curb the illegal trade in the northeast.
"During the COVID-induced situation, we have effectively conducted 710 operations across the region and seized various goods worth Rs 110 crore," said the Customs' northeast chief.
"Contraband over Rs 110 crore has been seized in the northeast from April to August," Kamei said.
The northeast shares its international borders with China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.
Smuggling of drugs, arms and other goods have been taking place infrequently across the borders especially from Myanmar, Kamei further informed.
It may be mentioned here that the Assam Rifles recently intercepted, seized illicit cigarettes, smuggled from Myanmar.
The seized item is worth Rs 14 crore.
Experts speaking at the discussion said that the recent rise in smuggling in the northeast can be attributed to COVID-19 infused economic distress.
Several reports suggest that smugglers and insurgents are using local people to transport smuggled goods by taking advantage of their financial vulnerability.
A lot of people have been left jobless due to COVID-19 and they take up such peddling and transportation works.
The Story Mug, a Guwahati-based blogzine, believes in telling stories that matter.


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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that growers in the storage states held 121.1 million cwt of potatoes on April 1. That is 6.2 million cwt less than those same states had in storage a year ago, a 4.9% reduction.
The USDA also reduced its overall February 1 stocks estimate by 2.6 million cwt. Seven of the reporting states had the same or fewer potatoes in storage on April 1 than they held a year ago. At 68.7 million cwt, U.S. February-March potato disappearance fell 2.6 million cwt short of the 2022 pace, a 3.6% decline.
USDA puts Michigan’s April 1 potato stocks at 3.7 million cwt. That is 300,000 cwt less than the state held a year earlier, a 7.5% reduction. At 3.5 million cwt, February-March disappearance fell 400,000 cwt, or 10.3%, short of 2022 movement. Michigan’s chip potato usage dropped by 520,000 cwt, or 23.9%, relative to last year. Fresh potato movement exceeded year-earlier shipments by 35,000 cwt, a 7.1% increase.
Canada held 45.43 million cwt of potatoes in storage on April 1. That is 1.38 million cwt more than the April 1, 2022 inventory, a 3.1% increase. Alberta held 82.2% of the extra potatoes. The largest percentage gain was in seed potatoes, up 14.3% from last year. Processing potato inventories rose by 3.4%, while stocks intended for table potato sales dropped 7.2%. Canada’s March potato disappearance totaled 11.62 million cwt. Though March disappearance fell 3.3% short of the 2022 pace, it is the second-strongest movement on record.
Quebec Potato Producers reported that the province held 681,000 cwt of chip potatoes on April 1. Unfortunately, we do not have April 1, 2022 data to compare that to. We do know that Quebec’s April 1 processing stocks (chip and fry quality potatoes) totaled 2.275 million cwt. That is 268,000 cwt less than the year-earlier inventory, but it is Quebec’s second-largest April 1 processing inventory on record. Ontario held 1.800 million cwt of chip potatoes on April 1. That is 599,000 cwt less than the province held a year earlier. However, it is Ontario’s third-largest April 1 inventory on record. Ontario’s raw-product usage picked up during March, while usage was flat in Quebec. Ontario’s March processing use exceeded the 2022 pace by 40.7%. At the March usage rate, Ontario’s storage chip potato supplies would last until mid-June.
U.S. packers shipped 1.588 million cwt of fresh potatoes during the week ending April 15. That matched the year-earlier shipments. Michigan’s reported shipments totaled 75,400 cwt of potatoes during the week ending April 15. That is down from 54,500 cwt during the same week in 2022. Last week’s Michigan shipments were 79.1% russets, 16.4% yellow potatoes, and 4.5% round white potatoes.
USDA reports that Michigan packers are selling size A russets in 10-pound bags for mostly $16-$17 per 50-pound bale, unchanged from a week ago. They are selling size A russets in 5-pound bags for mostly $17-$18 per 50-pound bale, also unchanged. Wisconsin packers are selling size A russet potatoes in 10-pound bags for mostly $15-$16 per 50-pound bale, up from $14.50-$16.00 per 50-pound bale last week. They are selling russet 40-70 count cartons for mostly $29-$32 per 50-pound box, unchanged from a week ago. The weighted average shipping point price for Idaho Russet Norkotahs is $39.02 per cwt. That is up from $38.29 per cwt a week ago.
Red River Valley packers are selling size A yellow potatoes in 2,000-pound tote bags for mostly $28 per cwt, unchanged from a week ago. They are selling yellow creamers in 50-pound sacks for mostly $30, also unchanged. Florida packers are selling 50-pound cartons of size A yellow new-crop potatoes for $25.95-$30.25 per box, unchanged from last week. They are selling yellow creamers in 50-pound cartons for $45.25-$50.95 per box, also unchanged.
Florida packers are selling 50-pound cartons of size A round white potatoes for mostly $29.95 per box, unchanged from last week. They are selling round white creamers in 50-pound cartons for $45.95-$50.95 per box, also unchanged.
– Report by North American Potato Market News


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At the Gartner Symposium IT Expo 2015 in Orlando, Florida, the Device Mesh tops the list as the Top 10 Strategic Technological Trends of 2016. The advancement of the Internet of Things (IoT) impacts nearly every aspect of business and commerce, and the healthcare industry is no exception.
Sometimes referred to as Medical Mesh, its applications can be beneficial in both implementing preventative care protocols and monitoring managed care services across the broad spectrum of healthcare specialties.
With nearly unlimited possibilities, the Device Mesh is allowing the healthcare industry to explore a new medical frontier where physicians and nursing staff can track patient progress and disease progression in real-time through instantaneous access to digital records.
Device Mesh Defined
Today’s average consumers are growing increasingly dependent on smart phones, tablets, in-vehicle navigational systems, smart home technology, and even wearables like smart watches and Google Glasses. Meanwhile, local governments and businesses are utilizing IoT to improve the quality of life for its citizens. Digital tolling through vehicle-attached transponders are replacing physical toll booths to expedite traffic flow, and traffic cams appear on new street corners every day to monitor and track congestion patterns.
As these numbers of connection points from the consumer to the Internet continue to increase, the result is a mesh-like web of connectivity that is always present and consistent. Now, devices can connect not only to the Internet but to one another, as well. Users can connect household appliances to smart phones, smart phones to laptops, and navigational systems to company databases. But, with the surge in popularity of wearable devices and virtual reality, the healthcare industry stands on the threshold of a new age in quality medical care and prevention.
Benefits of Device Mesh for the Healthcare Industry
The wearables devices industry first began with the smart watch and wristbands, quickly expanding into new markets involving smart glasses, shoes, belts, and even jewelry. Thanks to the Device Mesh, healthcare providers can now utilize wearable, ingestible, or surgically implanted technology to gain significant advantages and benefits in patient care, such as:
Collect data regarding blood pressure, glucose levels, heart rate variability, respiratory rates, and even body temperature.
Detect falls or injuries.
Monitor insulin levels of Diabetes patients.
Monitor T-cell counts and viral loads of HIV patients.
Track dietary and body weight fluctuations.
Monitor the effects of new medications.
Warn patients when in the early stages of a stroke or heart attack.
Track sleep patterns, and so much more.
Nearly 25% of U.S. consumers currently own some sort of wearable device, but not everyone is fully embracing the new technology. While privacy issues regarding the security of sensitive personal information are among the primary concerns, most consumers do not have this same level of fear regarding the healthcare industry.
Users tend to worry about what the government might do with their personal information, but they already trust the medical profession to ensure complete privacy.
As a result, the healthcare industry has a significant advantage over other areas of business and commerce when it comes to wearable technology and the Device Mesh. Consumer trust is already built-in. The healthcare industry simply needs to make the next move.


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Ministers foresee trade, investment contractions in Southeast Asia
ASEAN economic ministers, meeting online in late August under Vietnam’s chair, have acknowledged that the Covid-19 pandemic will likely result in deep trade and investment contractions and a drop in productive economic activities within the region this year. The ministers discussed a series of issues related to promoting intra- and extra-regional cooperation, upholding the central role of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and adapting to new challenges.
In terms of intra-regional cooperation, the ministers welcomed the steady progress made in customs integration for the seamless flow of goods and agreed to approve import tariffs in implementing the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) converted from the list of the ASEAN Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature (AHTN) 2012 to AHTN 2017. They also agreed to complete procedures for the signing of the ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Type Approval for Automotive Products (AP MRA) and conduct the ASEAN-Wide Self Certification (AWSC) Scheme from September 20, 2020.
Regarding extra-regional cooperation, ASEAN member countries agreed to prioritize the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) by the end of this year as a basis for strengthening the business community’s confidence and the sustainable structure of the regional economy. They also reaffirmed the opening of negotiations with India.
ASEAN economic ministers and those of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea (ASEAN+3) adopted an action plan on easing the Covid-19 economic impact and a joint initiative on economic connection to fight the pandemic. In particular, they agreed to maintain market opening to trade and investment, limit the application of unnecessary trade barriers, increase measures to facilitate trade in order to stabilize production, sustain supply chain linkages, and promote post-pandemic recovery.
The ministers also noted the continuing efforts toward the twin goals of reducing trade transaction costs by 10 percent and doubling intra-ASEAN trade between 2017 and 2025.
Declarations, initiatives and action plans are an important basis for ASEAN nations and partners to implement necessary solutions in order to fight the Covid-19 pandemic in the short term and promote sustainable growth in the long term, Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said.
Promoting Vietnam’s role as ASEAN Chair
The theme chosen by Vietnam for ASEAN Year 2020, “Cohesive and Responsive”, was prophetic. Given that ASEAN member countries all have to apply travel restrictions and social distancing, in its role as ASEAN Chair in 2020, Vietnam quickly changed the format of ASEAN events from traditional to online meetings, contributing to their success.
Among the 13 initiatives proposed by Vietnam, two have been completed – the building of an ASEAN digital integration index and connectivity of ASEAN innovation centers. Other initiatives and priorities are being discussed and implemented in line with goals set for 2020.
The completion of economic initiatives and priorities will contribute to promoting ASEAN’s internal strength and enhancing the role of the ASEAN Economic Community, while helping the organization respond to non-traditional challenges in the future, Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said.
The successful organization of the 52nd ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting and related meetings contributed to helping ASEAN become a larger economic space. In addition, issues agreed by ASEAN economic ministers also aimed to promote the regional economy more strongly to be the fulcrum for ASEAN member countries to possess a favorable competitive position compared to other economies.


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Dallas — Global sports and entertainment leader Topgolf Entertainment Group has named Genifer (Gen) Gray as the chief operating officer of U.S. venues; Geoff Cottrill will join the company as chief marketing officer; and Kristi Maynor will join as chief people officer. The three leaders bring a wealth of experience in building consumer-facing brands and will report to Artie Starrs, who came to Topgolf as chief executive officer earlier this year and continues to scale the company’s leadership team to match its rapid expansion.
“The addition of Gen, Geoff and Kristi to our leadership team will help fuel our growth and continue driving innovation across our Topgolf venue, Toptracer and Topgolf Media experiences,” says Starrs. “These talented individuals not only have deep expertise in leading and growing consumer-facing businesses, but also stand out as inspiring leaders.”
Gray’s appointment to COO of U.S. venues comes after over 3 years serving as the vice president of operations, leading Topgolf’s day-to-day experience, venue operations leaders, food and beverage program, training and leadership development, and golf services for its 65 U.S. venues. She joined Topgolf from Maggiano’s Little Italy, where she served as COO. Gray succeeds Craig Kessler as COO, who recently announced his plans for a new leadership opportunity outside of Topgolf.
Cottrill joins Topgolf’s leadership team as CMO from Coca-Cola, where he served as head of marketing in North America; before that, he held marketing leadership positions at Converse, Starbucks, Procter & Gamble and MullenLowe.
Maynor comes to Topgolf from the global leadership advisory firm, Egon Zehnder, where she was a partner and global head of its consumer practice.
SOURCE: Topgolf Entertainment Group


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Mothercare aims to woo shoppers with more exclusive products and finance director Matt Smith has ruled himself out from the race to become chief executive.
Smith said that Mothercare is working with suppliers to secure more exclusive ranges to combat a “highly promotional and competitive” market place, which he expects to continue in the year ahead. Mothercare is also adding more own-brand to help it navigate a price war in the maternity goods sector.
Smith said: “We’re not chasing loss-making sales.”
Mothercare, which parted company with chief executive Simon Calver in February, is searching for a replacement. However Smith said he had not thrown his hat into the ring. “I’m too attached to my calculator,” he said.
Mothercare appointed former Shop Direct boss Mark Newton-Jones as interim chief executive. Smith said that Newton-Jones had focused on business operations in his first few weeks at the helm.
Mothercare’s UK like-for-likes were flat in the fourth quarter, an improvement on its third. Smith said it had a good mid-season Sale but he was still cautious about the UK business. “We’re in a turnaround. There will be ups and downs,” he said.
Although Mothercare’s international sales rose 9.8% at constant currencies, it dipped 1.8% at moving currencies.
Smith said that devaluation of currencies in some of its largest markets including Russia, Indonesia and Turkey were behind the drop and he expected that to continue into the new financial year.
Smith said the “fundamental health” of Mothercare’s international business was fine and he was heartened by its franchise partners’ commitment to double-digit space growth.
Mothercare’s online sales were up 1.8%. Smith said the rise was small because of increased Sale activity online during the same period last year. He pointed out that ecommerce now accounts for 29% of Mothercare’s sales and a third of online sales now comes through the click-and-collect service that it rolled out last year.
He said mobile was the star performer and is an important sales tool for mothers. He pointed out that 42% of Mothercare’s traffic now comes from mobile devices.
Despite Calver’s departure, Smith said the turnaround plan continued tp prgress. “Driving down cost, closing stores and growing overseas are the right thing to do,” he maintained.


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– Britain’s largest online electricals retailer AO World warned on Tuesday that supply chain issues, product shortages and rising costs were hammering its all-important peak trading period, prompting it to slash its profit outlook.
The company’s shares, which have lost nearly 70% of their value since the start of the 2021, fell 27% on Tuesday after its second profit warning in two months.
Trading during the holiday season was significantly weaker than anticipated only eight weeks ago, the company said, with poor availability in certain categories, particularly new products.
Retailers globally have been struggling with shortages and delays as economies opened up to stagnant supply chains and tightening labour markets. Britain is also adjusting to having fewer workers from the European Union.
“Our results over this period have inevitably been affected by the constraints and uncertainty seen across our industry,” AO World founder and Chief Executive John Roberts said, while adding the company has cemented the progress of last year when profits tripled.
AO World, which sells laptops, washing machines, mobile phones and printers, saw profits soar during the pandemic as most people worked from home, but in October warned that profit would fall as a lorry driver shortage disrupted supply chains.
The company, which has recruited about 500 new drivers, said full-year sales are now expected to be flat to 5% lower.
It cut its annual adjusted core profit outlook to a 10 million-20 million pound ($13.4 million-$26.8 million) range for the 12 months ending March 31 next year, from 35 million-50 million pounds earlier.
It had reported profit of 64 million pounds for fiscal 2021, and an operating loss of 11 million pounds for the six months ending Sept. 30, compared with a profit of 16 million pounds a year before.
Earlier this month larger rival Currys said it was well stocked for Black Friday and Christmas period despite supply chain disruption.
($1 = 0.7472 pounds)
(This story has been refiled to amend day of the week in paragraph 1)


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actyv.ai onboards Sourav Ganguly as brand ambassador
actyv.ai, a category creator in the enterprise SaaS with embedded B2B BNPL and insurance space, has signed up former Indian cricket captain and administrator, Sourav Ganguly as their brand ambassador. With this, actyv.ai has two legendary cricketers endorsing the brand – Sunil Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly.
Commenting on this, Founder and Global CEO of actyv.ai, Raghu Subramanian, said, “Sourav Ganguly is one of the most successful and greatest cricket captains that India has seen. He is known for nurturing talent and being fearless in decision-making. Dada personifies inspirational leadership and an unflinching commitment to win. We are inspired to imbibe these attributes as we grow actyv.ai to be a built-to-last company, recognized for its leadership, commitment and dependability. He further added, “In the last few months, we have seen huge traction for actyv.ai with Sunil Gavaskar as our brand ambassador and we intend to strengthen the advantage with another brand ambassador, Sourav Ganguly. We are excited to have him as part of the actyv.ai family”.
Talking about this association, Sourav Ganguly said, “I am extremely happy to be part of actyv.ai. For me, every partnership means a way forward and I hope my association will take the brand a long way ahead and for years to come. I’ll try my best to contribute to the growth of actyv.ai in every way possible.”
Yash Daga, Director of KPRD Fiberboard Advertising said, “Sourav Ganguly’s values, both as a cricketer and a leader, are recognized and appreciated by people across the world. actyv.ai is a category creator, transforming the B2B supply chain ecosystem with their embedded offerings. We take pride in bringing together actyv.ai and Dada.”
The company has been running a global campaign with Sunil Gavaskar on OTT platforms streaming the ongoing T20 cricket world cup. The next series of advertisements featuring Ganguly are expected by the next T20 season in March 2023.


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Kanye West doesn’t just want to make music and clothes, he’s also empowering others to forge their own path in this world we call fashion. In fact, the words from his most recent rant on Sway in The Morning have birthed a new brand. (Sway himself has even been inspired by the interview to make a little guap with his “I Go The Answers” tee).
It Ain’t Ralph Tho takes its name from the same interview where Yeezy quips at Sway’s small-level clothing operation. For now, the line just has two T-shirts with Kanye’s saying in oozing print, priced at $30 each. But sweatshirts, snapbacks, and beanies are on the way.
Visit the It Ain’t Ralph Tho web-store to purchase.


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WATCH: Cars 4 Trump Car Show Takes Place at Trump Merritt Island Victory HQ Under the Big Flag
By Space Coast Daily // August 8, 2020
at the Trump Merritt Island Victory HQ, located at 1545 East Merritt Island Causeway
ABOVE VIDEO: Cars4Trump Car Show now taking place at Brevard county Trump Headquarters. 11 am – 2:30 pm.
BREVARD COUNTY • MERRITT ISLAND, FLORIDA – A Cars 4 Trump Car Show Rally for President Donald Trump will be held today at the Trump Merritt Island Victory HQ, located at 1545 East Merritt Island Causeway, across from Walmart and under the big flag.
Trophies will be awarded in 12 classes and Best in Show and free dash plaques will go to the first 100 cars registered.
The event features free admission and free parking.
Car registration is from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and is limited to 150 cars. For more information, call 321-877-0282.


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WESTCHESTER, IL, Jun 21, 2017 – Follett Corporation today provided the following statement in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of publishers comprised of Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill and Pearson Education:
"As the largest textbook customer of these publishers, Follett has been actively working for decades to identify and remove counterfeit books from inventory," said Ray Griffith, Follett Corporation's President and CEO. "Counterfeits hurt everyone in the industry, and the solution requires a collaborative industry response. It's unfortunate these publishers don't agree with that approach."
Follett believes the intent of the lawsuit is to cripple the campus store's ability to provide lower-cost course material options, leaving students little choice but to buy higher priced texts from the publishers. Prior to this lawsuit, the publisher group had been pressuring Follett and other campus retailers and text distributors to adopt certain "best practices" created by the publishers that Follett believes would effectively restrict access to low-cost used and rental course materials on campus.
Follett's mission is to serve the physical and digital course material needs of its higher education institutional partners and their students through cost-saving options that include used textbooks and Follett's text rentals that offer an average savings of nearly half the cost of new texts from publishers. Follett also offers a number of digital academic tools and content solutions that save students money, including digital course materials, open educational resources (OER) content and courseware priced far below the cost of similar offerings from publishers.
For more information about Follett, visit www.follett.com.
About Follett Corporation
For more than 140 years, Follett has been a trusted partner to preK-12 schools, colleges and campus stores, taking care of the critical details that make it easier for schools to run, teachers to teach, students to learn and fans to celebrate. A leading provider of education technology, services and physical and digital content, Follett currently works with 70,000 schools and operates more than 1,250 local campus stores and 1,600 virtual stores. With the 2016 acquisition of Baker & Taylor, LLC, Follett's reach also extends into the public library and global retail markets. Today Follett Corporation is the world's largest single source of books, entertainment products, digital content and multi-media for libraries, schools and retailers. Follett is a $3.6 billion privately held company headquartered in Westchester, Illinois.


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Stocks rose Monday, but the Internet’s biggest names were left behind.
both finished lower on fears that competition between the two may heat up after Yahoo launched a small business search advertising program, a market dominated by Google.
slipped ahead of an investor presentation on Wednesday.
slumped 4.6% on reports that CEO Meg Whitman was in the running for the top spot at Disney
but withdrew from consideration.
“Although we do not believe Whitman is actively pursuing departure from eBay at this point, we think new questions and uncertainty about her long-term future with the company will add to the negative sentiment we see swirling around the auction firm,” Standard & Poors said.
The broader market finished higher after spending much of the day restrained by rising oil prices.
The Nasdaq rose 9 to 2051, the S&P 500 climbed 6 to 1206, and the Dow gained 30 to 10,804. Volume declined to 1.44 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.73 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 17-15 on the NYSE, and 16-14 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 69% on the NYSE, and 62% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 82-32 on the NYSE, and 54-83 on the Nasdaq.
soared on news that the company will be acquired by IBM
Research in Motion
surged on reports that the company could settle a patent dispute with NTP. RIMM also benefited from a partnership with Yahoo.
jumped on an upgrade.
plunged on a warning.


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Mexico City, Mexico - The Sherwin-Williams Company, global leader in coatings and related products, has agreed to acquire Mexican paint firm Consorcio Comex SA de C.V. for about $2.34 billion, to gain Mexico’s largest paint maker as housing demand improves.
Sherwin-Williams will fund the all-cash deal by selling $2 billion in 5, 10, and 30-year bonds, the Cleveland-based company said on its website.
While the transaction is still subject to US, Mexican, and Canadian regulatory approval, Sherwin-Williams Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Christopher M. Connor is anticipating adding to the company’s 3,500 North American stores after an improving North American housing market led to record earnings in the third quarter.
Comex, which was founded in 1952 and had total sales last year of $1.4 billion, has exclusive sales to 3,300 paint stores in Mexico and has more than 7,200 employees. It sells to almost 1,600 stores in Canada and operates 240 stores in the US, producing paint for construction and industrial uses at 16 plants, including five in the US and three in Canada.
"I am confident that joining the Sherwin-Williams family will provide an outstanding future for our employees and customers," stated Comex Group CEO Marcos Achar. "The collaboration strengthens Comex for its future growth.
"Sherwin-Williams and Comex Group are an ideal fit in every respect – geographically, strategically, and culturally, the head of the Ohio-based giant said. "This transaction will significantly increase our presence in markets where our store count is low, it builds upon our strategy to grow our architectural paint business in the Americas, and it brings a high-quality, dedicated team of employees to Sherwin-Williams."
Sales of existing homes in Mexico are improving faster than new homes, Carlos Hermosillo, an analyst covering builders for Grupo Financiero Banorte SAB, said in a telephone interview from Mexico City. "That makes an investment in this sector very interesting, as the outlook for paint sales is very positive due to increased remodeling of existing homes.Source: Washington Post


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Recipe box company Gousto has unveiled a new brand identity and will launch a new TV advert as part of its next phase of growth.
Built around offering good food to busy families, the revamped brand features a new logo, design and photography with the TV ad set to air on 16 September.
It is the next phase of a major growth strategy for Gousto, which has secured over £28 million of funding since launching and added 22 new recipes earlier this year.
Gousto CEO Timo Boldt said: “Customers have always been at the heart of our business and the new brand and TVC allows us to tell our story, showing customers that we share the same values for putting good food on the table.”
The TV ad was made in collaboration with The Sharp Agency, production company The Gate and director Cosmo Wallace. Media agency The Specialist Works has been hired to run Gousto’s upcoming marketing programme.
“We’re delighted to use our rebrand to reinforce what Gousto stands for and how we can help bring families together over good food,” said Gousto VP of brand and proposition.


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CBS GETTING LESS BIG BANG FOR ITS AD BUCKS: A string of TV executives in recent weeks has complained about a soft ad market. But the depth of the issue was underlined on Thursday when CBS Corp, often viewed as the most stable of broadcasters and whose network is home to some of the biggest hits on TV (like “The Big Bang Theory”), says that advertising revenue is down. And in fact lower ad revenue combined with licensing revenue caused CBS’s second-quarter earnings to take a hit, reports WSJ. When CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves, often Mr. Bullish when it comes to the TV upfront business, mentions “challenges” in ad sales, you know something’s up. And in the recently concluded upfront, Mr. Moonves conceded that volume was down a tad. The question will be whether this all is a short-term softness – which a strong scatter market could easily erase – or the early signs of a sea change in the way advertisers view TV.
STALLED HONDA: Who needs media companies these days, when every brand is a publisher? Well, for every Red Bull and Go Pro out there, there a slew of advertisers who have found it’s not so easy to crank out content on a regular basis. It’s way too early to call Honda Stage a bust, but the car brand’s bold attempt to launch a multi channel, music-centric entertainment franchise is off to a rough start, reports WSJ’s CMO Today. The core Honda Stage YouTube channel has few signs of life – barely any videos and hardly any viewership or user interaction. The brand says it’s just getting started, and a string of upcoming sponsored concerts should provide loads of clips for the program, along with multiple marketing opportunities. But short of a rebound in coming months, Honda’s talk of millions of YouTube views as a replacement for cable TV advertising is looking shaky. Perhaps there’s just a big learning curve for this sort of thing. Or perhaps brands like Honda are better off launching such efforts quietly and then talking them up – rather than talking big before the first video has been uploaded. Read more in full post.


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Met Gala 2022: Everything You Need To Know
Following two years, the largest night in fashion will revert to its ordinary timing: early May. Here's how to see all the red carpet looks. The Met Gala is part of the largest nights in fashion. For vast majority of us, the evening unfolds in photos of luxurious outfits from the event.
“The stories really reflect the evolution of American style, but they also explore the work of individual tailors, dressmakers, and designers,” said Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu curator in charge of the Costume Institute. “What’s exciting for me is that some of the names will be very familiar to students of fashion, like Charles James, Halston, and Oscar de la Renta, but a lot of the other names really have been forgotten, overlooked, or relegated into the footnotes of fashion history.”
Officially known as the Costume Institute Benefit, the Met gala has been a yearly fashion exhibition since 1973. The gala's theme is typically tied to an exhibition at Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
What exactly is the 2022 Met Gala?
The event is typically held on the first Monday in May. This year, the Met Gala is returning to its usual date, and will take place on Monday, May 2, 2022.
What is the 2022 Met Gala theme This Year?
The theme: "Gilded Glamour. The costumes from this year's Met Gala draw inspiration from the Gilded Age in American history.
Part two of the exhibition — In America: An Anthology of Fashion — which will be accessible to the public on May 7, shortly after the gala. The work of eight film directors will be showcased including — Janicza Bravo, Sofia Coppola, Julie Dash, Tom Ford, Regina King, Martin Scorsese, Autumn de Wilde and Chloé Zhao.
When is the official telecast time for Met Gala?
The official live telecast of the Met Gala will be hosted by Vogue, Hulu, NBC and will begin at 6 p.m. E.T.
About The Met Gala
The Met Gala, or Met Ball, formally called the Costume Institute Gala or the Costume Institute Benefit, is an annual fundraising gala held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City. It is popularly regarded as the world's most prestigious fashion event, and an invitation is highly sought-after. Celebrities from various fields such as fashion, film, television, music, sports, and social media, are generally invited to the gala, organized by American fashion magazine Vogue.
For more information, visit https://www.metmuseum.org/press/exhibitions


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Acoustic released exclusive findings of its report to help marketers understand shifting consumer preferences as we approach the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic’s holiday season
The net? Email marketing is still a critical tool today, especially when timely, personalized messages are shared
However, industries like Insurance saw some of the highest open rates in 2021
Acoustic’s Senior Director of Product Management shares key trends around how and why consumers engage with content
2021 has been as challenging as 2020 for many brands, given the enduring nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and continued uncertainty influencing consumer behavior. Email marketing has remained a consistent communications vehicle for reaching key audiences. Email marketing performance continues to directly correlate with email’s ability to provide relevant content to recipients.
In Acoustic’s newly released email and mobile marketing benchmark report, we eval… Read More


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Mobile- first China tackles cryptocurrencies
The Chinese government’s plans to launch its own digital currency, while clamping down on existing providers, could influence how travel is transacted in the future, according to the Top 100 City Destination Ranking WTM London 2017 Edition.
CHINA’S INFLUENCE ON TRAVEL GOES BEYOND THE 100 MILLION PLUS OUTBOUND TRAVELLERS IT CONTRIBUTES TO THE GLOBAL TRAVEL INDUSTRY
This September, the People’s Bank of China introduced measured effectively declaring initial coin offerings (ICOs) illegal. ICOs are a way for start- ups to raise capital by selling digital tokens, similar to shares, to investors. The tokens can be bought using currency or other virtual currencies such as Bitcoin.
The ICO market – described by Bloomberg as a cross between crowdfunding and an initial public offering – is unregulated. Earlier in 2017, the PBOC said it was planning to launch its own digital currency as part of the of cial money supply. The idea is that consumers will use the currency to buy goods and service via a digital wallet. This allows the Chinese economy to continue its digital revolution, while the PBOC keeps control over the financial market,” Euromonitor International, the report’s author, says.
For travel, the implications are potentially far-reaching. “The impact on the travel industry could be immense, not only in the way people pay for travel, but also by simplifying loyalty schemes and through smart contracts,” the report suggests. While cryptocurrencies are part of the future, the present is about mobile-first. China continues to innovate from a position of strength, particularly when it comes to the all-in-one app. The report highlights the breadth of options available to the 750 million users of WeChat as an example of how far mobile- first has developed. “WeChat allows its users to find and book trips, check in for flights and hotels, contact customer services, book activities or restaurant tables, and scan QR codes to buy products or turn on the lights or TV in their smart hotel room,” the report explains.
Multi-functionality within apps increasingly important, it continues, as “80% of our time is spent on just three apps.”
The “mobile first mind-set” is spreading, the report adds,to China’s Asian neighbours, including Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand. “Governments and consumers in developing economies are turning to the mobile device to establish digital connectivity because of the cheaper network investment and falling mobile device prices,” it said.
WTM London, Senior Director, Simon Press, said: “China’s influence on travel goes beyond the 100 million plus outbound travellers it contributes to the global travel industry. It has led the way with mobile development and is now at the forefront of bringing digital currencies into the financial mainstream, and many aspects of travel as we know it might change as a result”.


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DETROIT (WWJ) – State House Democrats have rolled out a new proposal creating tax incentives for small businesses owners to hire Michigan’s unemployed while expanding their operations.
Speaking in southwest Detroit on Monday, House Representative Phil Cavanaugh of Redford said the bill would also increase access to capital and provide the know-how for business owners to be successful.
“I believe the governor and the new tax plan that was rolled out earlier this year by the Republicans concentrates on major corporations and bit busniess,” said Cavanaugh. “This is actually to give small business a break.”
Along with tax credits for hiring the unemployed, House representative Rashida Tlaib said the program would provide more access and educational support for small business owners who have an idea but don’t know how to take the next step.
“I had a woman who just didn’t understand the zoning or a woman who gets a little bit of help in putting a business plan together. Those are the kinds of things that we need to be doing to support our smal businesses,” Tlaib said.
Tlaib said thousand of Michigan families would benefit from small business given the incentive to hire and expand.
Tammmi Alfaro-Koehler, co-owner of the Honey Bee Market in Mexicantown, a neighborhood grocery store, said the plan would help fledgling businesses move forward.
“If they’re undecided, it would push them to hire someone that’s unemployed so that we can get this economy going. That’s our desire … try to help other businesses grow,” she said.
Michigan has over 180,000 small business, most of which employ fewer than 20 people.


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It seems as though it’s not going well for BlackBerry and its manufacturer RIM. Reports from two separate US-based industry analysts have posted damning sales reports, both suggesting a sluggish start to the holiday season after briefly successful launches, caused by a multitude of factors.
RBC Capital Market suggests that the new handsets, sporting BlackBerry OS 7 received, a fairly decent peak in sales but has quickly tumbled down the market leader board. The company says: “Despite on-time BlackBerry 7 launches, checks are showing slowing domestic sell-through, plus impacts from recent service outages and PlayBook challenges (delayed software, sluggish sell-through).”
The PlayBook has been in and out of trouble since its launch, launching with imperative apps such as email missing. The widely publicized BBM outage from October this year also hasn’t helped.
Fellow analysts Canaccord posted similar findings. “…Our recent checks indicate slowing sales trends post the launch of the iPhone 4S and price reductions of the iPhone 4 and 3GS.”
The caveat to this is that the sales figures in question are taken solely from the US. Official stats still see RIM riding high in markets such as Indonesia. The rest of us wait with baited breath for the first of the BBX devices; the next BlackBerry OS looks to be the platform to take RIM out of its slump. Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.


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Stand Out from the PACK: Early Bird Pricing Coming to a Close for 2020 Packaging Design Awards Entries
May 27, 2020
Sonoma, Calif. -- Two weeks remain for wine producers across North America to submit their entries for Wine Business Monthly’s 2020 Packaging Design Awards with the discounted Early Bird registration–entry fees rise on June 9, 2020.
Wine Business Monthly, a champion of innovation in the drinks business, hosts the annual wine industry competition to cultivate fresh ideas and perspective about new packaging designs. Year after year, the Packaging Design Awards have helped build a sense of community around packaging design advocates, and recognize those companies that are pushing the envelope when it comes to new takes on the classics and alternative formats.
The introduction of two new categories this year—Best Can Design and Best Assorted Set Design—reflect current trends among consumer purchasing habits, which continue to morph due to the global health crisis. Now more than ever, wineries and brands need to rethink the way they reach their customers, with packaging at the forefront. The Packaging Design Awards aim to serve as a platform to celebrate those who are already thinking outside the bottle, and to create an environment of shared creativity among industry peers that will stimulate continued success in sales and market strategies.
The competition invites packaging entries for wine made with grapes from all North American appellations. With seven professionally judged categories to enter, a wide range of packaging achievements will be recognized.
Winners will be announced in August 2020, with top entries in each category appearing in the September 2020 issue of Wine Business Monthly, featured on wbmpack.com and promoted across all Wine Business Monthly social media outlets. A bonus People’s Choice award offers even more industry recognition, as all participants will have a chance to vote for the most outstanding package.
About Packaging Design Awards
As part of the seventh annual Packaging Design Awards, Wine Business Monthly is sponsoring a competition to choose the most outstanding wine packages on the market. A jury of wine industry professionals will determine the winners in seven categories, including Best Alternative Format Package Design, Best Luxury Package Design, and Best Package Series. All wines made with grapes from North American appellations have the opportunity to be recognized. The winning entries will be featured in the September 2020 issue of Wine Business Monthly and featured at wbmpack.com.


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Vantage Deluxe World Travel may be in trouble. In the past month the company has canceled at least four cruises within days of departure. Reports of a possible ransomware attack have hit the headlines and the company's main website is down.
"Vantage Travel wishes to inform its valued customers the company has experienced a data security incident," the company writes on a temporary bare-bones website it has set up. "We have hired a leading national forensic firm to investigate the incident. Be assured that Vantage Travel is committed to solving this problem quickly and effectively to ensure the protection and privacy of our valued customers and staff. We understand customers may have questions regarding this incident. We will provide more information as soon as it becomes available."
The temporary website also lists three upcoming cruises as "expected to embark as scheduled."
According to a Boston Globe article, the company has a history of run-ins with the law and leaving customers hanging. As cited by the Boston Globe, the Massachusetts' Attorney General's office reports more than 700 complaints from Massachusetts residents, mostly for their inability to get refunds for trips canceled during the pandemic.
Vantage is not a member of the USTOA, so customers are not protected by the Association's $1 Million Travelers Assistance Program. Additionally, Vantage Deluxe World Travel encourages customers to bypass travel advisors and book direct, giving them no one to advocate on their behalf.