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MONTREAL — Efforts by successive Quebec governments to find more revenue sources over the years have contributed to an unintended consequence on the store shelves of the province’s liquor monopoly: the near-extinction of cheap wine.
Quebec-based wine expert and Huffington Post blogger Yves Mailloux published a quick analysis of the affordability of wine at the Societé des Alcools du Québec this week, concluding that the state-owned corporation now sells barely 60 different wines priced at $10 or less at its 400 outlets. That represents 0.8% of the 8,000 wines consumers have to choose from, down from 2.2% three years ago.
It’s true that we have fewer wines priced under $10 than we have in the past
“It’s obvious that the products the SAQ is offering are quickly veering away from the diversity, at least in terms of price, and the accessibility that almost all other wine consumers on the planet enjoy,” Mr. Mailloux wrote in his lament for cheap but still chuggable wine. “[Quebecers] are now pretty much the only ones in the world not able to savour the windfalls of the current global wine over-production.”
Canadians as a whole are consuming more wine than ever before at the expense of beer and spirits, with annual per-person purchases of the beverage soaring 69% from 1995 to 2011, according to a Bank of Montreal report on the industry in November. And no province drinks more wine than Quebec.
But while it has a stable of thirsty buyers, Quebec’s restrictive alcohol business limits the choices those people have compared to what they would enjoy in a true free market, Mr. Mailloux argues. He says even wines priced under $15 are becoming rarer on store shelves.
Fly to Europe, however, and you’ll have no trouble finding decent wines as cheap as 2 euro ($2.60) for a 750 ml bottle, he says. We shouldn’t expect those prices here but the trend towards higher priced products in Quebec is worrying and socially unjust to lower-income earners, he says.
A glut of wine on world markets in recent years has depressed prices overall and hurt industry profitability. But according to U.S. market research firm IBISWorld, that’s about to change as supply shrinks and some wine-making see a consolidation of producers.
You can’t fault the SAQ for the decline in more affordable wine, according to Mr. Mailloux. Rather, he pins the blame on the government, whose appetite for alcohol-sales revenues has grown at a time demands on public spending have never been higher. Members of the SAQ’s board are named by the government.
The SAQ mark-up on a typical $15.95 bottle of imported wine it sells in-store is 45.8%, which covers operational costs for the Crown corporation as well as a profit for the government. The higher the price of a bottle of wine, the more profit the government makes.
In its 2011-2012 fiscal year, the monopoly generated $1.5-billion in returns for the provincial treasury as sales hit a record high. That’s about 2.3% of Quebec’s overall revenues of $65-billion.
“It’s true that we have fewer wines priced under $10 than we have in the past,” said SAQ spokesperson Renaud Dugas. “But there are several reasons to explain that.”
Mr. Dugas noted that Quebec raised taxes on alcohol consumption in its latest budget, a move that resulted in the increase of booze prices by a few cents and pushed some above $10. Quebec has hiked its provincial sales tax twice since 2011, which has also boosted prices, he said. Finally, he noted that the SAQ, one of the biggest buyers of wine in the world, can choose to delist a product if it isn’t selling, which can mean replacing it with one that’s slightly more expensive as the tastes of many SAQ customers shifts upwards.
Mr. Dugas said the SAQ nevertheless recognizes there is a continued demand for cheap wine and isn’t completely abandoning lower-end products. The company plans to introduce 10 new wines under $10.95 over the next year.
The most popular wine sold at the SAQ for the past two years has been a Californian, Ménage à Trois (Folie à deux). More than 1.2 million bottles of the fruity red, which currently retails for $19.15, were sold in the corporation’s 2011-2012 fiscal year, well ahead of a triple-distillation Smirnoff Vodka which came second.


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American Ninja Warrior just completed its entertaining 2023 season with 17-year-old Vance Law winning a million dollars by completing incredible challenges of strength and coordination faster than any of the other contestants.
All of the finalists were in their teens or 20s.
Now we get to watch the not-so-entertaining American Bungling Warriors battle it out in Detroit for a new UAW contract with the Big Three auto companies. Unfortunately, everybody on this show will be a loser. The precision machining business will be a loser too, at least in the short run.
The prominent players are all playing their roles. Shawn Fain, the new head of the Auto Workers Union, after an upset win over the old guys who represented the union bureaucracy, is delighting the Left, going to talk shows and becoming the new Progressive darling. Bernie Sanders is his guru and will be coming to Detroit to wave the Socialist flag against capitalist greed.
Meanwhile, the heads of GM and Ford, Mary Barra and James Farley, are playing their roles, offering significant pay increases while bemoaning how they are going to pay for the changeover to EV trucks that they haven’t figured out how to build so people will actually buy them. The problem is that EV pickups are lousy in cold weather and cannot haul much load. They make some sense for Southern California and Florida.
Even Tesla cannot figure out how to build its Cybertruck, despite Elon Musk’s ranting at his engineers. Lithium batteries are not the answer.
So we have the Bungling Warriors playing out their roles in Detroit. To spice up the game, Donald Trump is planning a visit to hobnob with Union strikers and show off his Populist flag.
Currently, workers seem to be happy to demonstrate because Fain has shrewdly chosen just three important assembly plants making the most profitable vehicles to have his workers picket. He threatens more shutdowns this Friday if there is no settlement.
If it was just money I think a compromise would be sight because electric vehicles, if they actually sell, will take fewer workers to build. You would think that Fain would know this and not have talked himself into a corner by asking for a 32-hour work week. I understand that this kind of talk is how you get elected as an outsider, but soon workers will begin to understand that most of the new production will be in Mexico or non-union states like Kentucky or South Carolina. They will realize Tesla will be the big winner in the strike.
As drama, the strike makes for a nice six-episode Netflix series.
Unfortunately, we are talking about a lot of people’s jobs and lives. Fain may really believe that the strike is his mission as a hardcore unionist from Kokomo. And the leaders at GM, Ford, and Stellantis are looking at their paycheck and the price of their companies’ stocks. I do not expect a September settlement. The strike has to hurt and fall out of the headlines.
Eventually, Fain will get a deal where he can proclaim victory. I think it will be a short-term win. The UAW is shrinking and it will shrink even more over the next several years. Tesla will gain, and the Big Three will build more non-union facilities.
Personally, I wouldn’t buy Ford or GM stock at the moment. Buy a pickup if you can find one and afford it.
Question: How is the strike affecting you?

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Principals has won another 6 awards in the REBRAND™ 2013 awards announced today. With entries from 33 countries across 35 industries, REBRAND™ recognises the most effective brand transformations each year. The 6 wins this year give Principals a total of 30 REBRAND™ awards (including 3“Best of Awards”) since the awards started in 2004, making it number one in the Asia-Pacific region.
The discipline of Marketing has been dramatically transformed over the last decade and there is little doubt that the process of transformation continues at a rapid pace. New channels and touch-points have created new ways of communicating and engaging customers. While these changes have created exciting new opportunities for marketers, they have also increased the complexity of planning and executing effective marketing strategies.
To celebrate the opening of our office in Auckland, we replicated our Digital Pulse study in New Zealand. We've uncovered some interesting insights, which we've kindly shared through our Digital Pulse dashboard (click on "New Zealand" above the dashboard). We discovered that although NZ follows Australia in terms of market size and sophistication - Kiwis are, infact, more sophisticated in what they do online, particularly when it comes to social application and networking.
Finding the right name for your business can be crucial, but don't take yourself too seriously in the process, writes Wayde Bull. Your business name is an opportunity to make a memorable first impression on new customers. Ninety per cent of businesses play it straight and choose a name that literally describes what they do, yet often fail to create a feeling that the business is any different to another one down the road.
Principals launches new name and brand identity for local neighbourhood group. Principals branding agency has launched a new name and brand identity for RICHSS (Redfern and Inner City Home Support Services). RICHSS is an important local neighbourhood service.
At a recent Australian Banking & Finance magazine function in Melbourne, keynote speaker Lisa Gray, head of National Australia Bank’s resurgent personal banking group, was asked what competitive challenges were keeping her awake at night. Clearly feeling on confident ground these days, in competing against her conventional banking foes, Gray answered that it was disruptive consumer technologies in the hands of non-bank players that were top of her worry list. This month’s Fast Company magazine won’t make comforting bedtime reading for bankers.
Leading brand agency Principals has unleashed a cutting-edge advertising campaign to support the launch of the leading global legal brand, Ashurst, into the Australian market. Law firms Ashurst and Blake Dawson came together on 1 March, creating a new global legal practice with operations in Australia, Europe, the US and Asia. Blake Dawson has been a client of Principals since 2007, when Principals created an award-winning new brand identity for the firm, launched that year.
Brand consultancy Principals has had a great start to the year, collecting ten awards from the 2012 ReBrand 100 Awards. With entries from 28 countries across 34 industries, ReBrand recognises the most effective brand transformations each year. And this year Principals took the most awards of any agency group and has topped the Asia-Pacific region since ReBrand started in 2004.
Sydney based brand consultancy Principals has unveiled a new brand identity for top tier Singapore law firm, WongPartnership. Principals won the project (in September 2011) in a competitive pitch and has completed the project in 4 months in time for WongPartnership's 20th anniversary, in February. The new brand identity was launched at a cocktail party for 1000 clients, alumni and friends to celebrate WongPartnership’s 20 years in business.
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos is often depicted as the demolition man, not just reshaping the economics of the book publishing sector but wrecking the livelihoods of bricks-and-mortar book retailers everywhere. So the rumour that Amazon may soon open a retail store in its home town of Seattle has been greeted with a degree of astonishment.
Brand consultancy Principals has today unveiled a new luxury residential brand “The Coolum Residences”. The Coolum Residences property development is a joint venture between Lend Lease and Sekisui House, located adjacent to the Hyatt Regency Coolum resort on the Sunshine Coast. The new brand was created after the sale of Hyatt Coolum earlier this year, with the launch timed to coincide with the 2011 Australian PGA Championship .
To say that the writing is on the wall for passive, one-way media is an understatement. Interactive content that deeply engages and addictively rewards its users is the new normal. So little wonder marketers are scrambling to find ways to connect their brands in to the internet-enabled gaming craze.
Ends. For further information contact: Tom Brigstocke Managing Director Principals T: 0418 447 094 E: firstname.lastname@example.org.
At least three times in the last few months we’ve read of major brand owners, mostly in the field of fashion and sportswear, getting uppity about who wears their brand and what it is says about them. Firstly there was Abercrombie & Fitch, apparently offering to pay Michael Sorrentino, star of the MTV show Jersey Shore, to stop wearing their branded clothing, as they feared it was damaging their brand. More recently, we had Lacoste begging that Danish mass murderer Anders Breivik ‘be banned from wearing its garments because it fears the company’s reputation is being damaged”.
(L-R): Deborah Mills, The Song Company; Jane Haley, AbaF and Sandy Belford, Principals. Each year the AbaF Awards (Australian Business Arts Foundation) honour the finest relationships between the private sector and the arts, in the areas of partnering, volunteering and giving. It’s a chance for businesses to show innovative thinking through their support for the arts – and for the arts to showcase best practice by partnering with the private sector.
While the uptake of web-connected mobile phones and tablets has been swift in Australia, the majority of their owners have yet to take the next step and embrace the use of location-sensing apps. Principals’ latest Digital Pulse study, published this week, reveals there is considerable discomfort, across the ages and genders, about these location-aware apps and the personal information they might disclose to others. It will come as no great surprise Australia’s most popular location-aware mobile app is Google Maps.
Words, they come and go. They evolve, they change and sometimes lose their original meaning altogether. It’s easy to get into a strop about it.
Mallesons Stephen Jaques, one of the leading law firms in the Asia Pacific region, has launched a Facebook page to help recruit potential summer clerks and graduates. Their social media strategy, developed by branding agency Principals, aims to help candidates to get a real sense of what the firm cares about, reveal career opportunities and display the firm's culture - all through starting conversations with law students. Sam Garner, Graduate Resourcing Manager, said: " Facebook is a natural place to engage law students: it’s where they spend a lot of time and a key source for information.
In the pre-dawn hours of Friday last week, 300 citizens pitched battle with 160 police in a street riot that raged for seven hours. The unrest, fought over burning barricades, was sparked by heavy-handed police efforts to arrest local residents believed to possess petrol bombs. Another Twitter-fuelled uprising from the streets of Libya, Syria or Bahrain? No, it's the unlikely story of a fierce community protest in the English city of Bristol against the powerful supermarket group Tesco.
The success of an idea - or, in this case, a word - often comes back to haunt it, sometimes from over exposure, sometimes from opportunism. And that currently seems to be the fate of the word "brand". The word is everywhere.
It's a lobbyist's lot to exaggerate the misfortunes of their cause. As does the Retail Coalition, the pressure group backed by retailing heavyweights Solomon Lew, Gerry Harvey and Bernie Brookes. They're pressing the government to introduce GST on products bought from online retailers overseas, in the interests of protecting local livelihoods - their own clearly included.
Brand consultancy Principals is today celebrating four wins at the prestigious REBRAND™ Awards. The agency was recognised for its rebranding of Sucrogen, Peoplecare, Subaru Australia, and The Trust Company. These four awards bring Principals’ total REBRAND Award haul to 14 – making it the most REBRAND awarded agency in Asia Pacific, and among the top 5 most awarded internationally.
One of the more interesting by-products of the Social Media revolution has been the change in the way people are now using language. In the digital space, language is fresh, funny, confronting, sometimes blindingly specific and often awe-inspiringly authentic. Whatever the subject up for debate, people are now readily conversing in ways that many companies – with their heavy grey veil of corporate language - could only dream about.
Principals publishes the second in their Digital Pulse research series. The quarterly report reviews online attitudes and behaviours, based upon a nationally representative sample of internet users. This quarter the study explores the extent to which Australians feel comfortable sharing different kinds of information over the internet.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt speaks with breathtaking candour on the topic of online privacy. He recently said, in a totally matter-of-fact way: "We know where you are. We know where you've been.
If you want a sneak preview of the way in which your marketing department might be structured in future, there's no better place to look than The Coca Cola Company in Atlanta. In their search for new ways to add value to the world's most valuable brand portfolio, they've long experimented with brave organisational structures and agency partnerships. Back in the early 1990's Coca Cola filled their advertising agencies with dread by forging a partnership with the Creative Artists Agency, to help the business tap the diverse creative talents of Hollywood and take their first tentative steps into branded content.
‘Brand Voice is the New Black’, says Principals. Principals has acquired brand language specialists XXVI (pronounced ‘twentysix’) in a bold move to consolidate their position as one of the leading brand agencies in the Asia Pacific region. The only dedicated brand language specialist in Australia, XXVI has established a formidable reputation in the area of brand voice.
It's hard not to grin at some of the job titles that corporates dream up to satisfy the egos of their up-and coming executives. But one recent new entrant to the career lexicon, the Chief Listening Officer, may actually deserve more serious consideration than first appearances suggest. For what big business, anywhere in the world, doesn't struggle to sincerely listen - and appropriately respond - to the myriad opinions of its customers? To act decisively upon their ideas - and frustrations - at an online pace? And to learn from the total spectrum of brand commentary out there, not only in the traditional feedback channels but also in the chaotic social media pool? In most classically structured management teams, there isn't a overt priority upon listening to and learning from customers.
Few business leaders today would challenge the idea that the internet is a priority communications channel for their business, yet it's surprisingly hard to build up a rich picture of Australian's online behaviours and attitudes from public domain information. Many of the facts published - and even more of what is forecast - emanate from markets far, far away. So how deeply are Australians interacting with the web? Through what devices? What tasks and applications are their favourites? And to what extent are brands permeating into their online routine? These questions are being tackled in a new quarterly study by Principals, based upon a nationally representative sample of 300 internet users per wave.
As President and Chief Operating Officer of the Four Seasons hotel group, Katie Taylor is a leader in perpetual motion. She clearly relishes the challenge of leading this high-end hospitality business within earshot of the chain's 82 check-in desks worldwide. Because, she states, matter of factly, 'there's virtually nothing I can do to drive a great guest experience from a desk in Toronto'.
Simon Crean and his crew at Austrade are clocking up even more air miles than usual, as they scramble to unveil the new Australia Unlimited nation brand at an array of international business expos and sporting events. There's really nothing new about a nation's politicians, trade commissioners and have-a-go exporters talking up their own little corner of the world, trading upon a mixture of facts, convenient cultural stereotypes and Chardonnay fumes. But, of late, the art of branding nations has taken on a much more theoretical, even scientific bent, given the rise of global studies that measure the relative reputation and image of nations on an array of societal, cultural and lifestyle factors.
Principals – the branding and design brains behind new AFL team –Greater Western Sydney Giants Australia's leading independent branding agency, Principals today revealed its intense behind-the-scenes work with Team GWS, to create a total brand strategy for the launch of the Australian Football League’s (AFL) newest club – Greater Western Sydney Giants. Greater Western Sydney Giants was announced this week, the culmination of a challenging brief handed to Principals by the club to narrow down the 20,000 name suggestions for the team, and develop a brand identity to launch the AFL’s 18th Club into an entirely new market – Greater Western Sydney – drawing on a supporter base that includes Western Sydney, ACT, South Coast and Southern NSW. Since June this year, Principals has worked with Team GWS to create the complete brand strategy – from the vision, positioning and personality, to the team name and team colours through to the design of one of the guernseys, and marketing and promotional collateral.
CSIRO recently published Our Future World, an analysis of the global trends that it believes will redefine how we will live in future, impacting the science and technology we will therefore demand. The study’s primary purpose was to inform strategic planning within its scientific community, yet it provides equally valuable guidance to marketers, given its focus upon the changing needs and behaviours of people. CSIRO staffers have distilled over 100 economic, social and environmental trends down to just five megatrends that represent the greatest opportunities and threats to society – and to business.
For business-to-business marketers, the concept of thought leadership is a very familiar one. In knowledge intensive industries like law and audit, technology and engineering, brands commonly seek to convey themselves as leaders by publishing thought-provoking papers around new management concepts and visions of the future. Thought leadership in marketing borrows heavily from the academic publishing model; it’s all about harnessing a company’s best thinking, to offer fresh insight and advice to prospective customers.
For many marketers, memories of the past decade will be dominated by the global financial meltdown that marked the end of ‘the noughties’ in a savage fashion. But the GFC clouds a more profound and lasting game-changer, in the form of mainstream digital media. To date, digital marketing has largely meant engaging customers via websites on their desktop computers, complemented by rudimentary ‘on the move’ channels like mobile text messaging.
The executive team at Westpac must be wishing for Christmas to come a little early this year, as the bank remains doggedly out of favour with its customers, politicians and the community at large, for aggressively hiking its mortgage interest rates last week. While we may become accustomed to divergent bank responses to future shifts in official rates, competitiors have clearly relished the opportunity to isolate Westpac this time around and exploit an apparent hollowness in their customer service rhetoric. Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly states that she wants customers to be delighted by the experience of dealing with Westpac.
Without doubt, the Australian marketing community have passed through an emotional crossroads and now place digital and interactive channels at the heart of their ‘message out’ brand planning. But as yet there are few examples of big brands that harness digital channels as a ‘key way in’ to their organisations, for their customers to access personal service, to share ideas and to engage openly with other brand users. Marketers are yet to realise the opportunity to reframe customer service as more of an open source concept in which their customers and service staff are part of a like-minded community that helps one another online.
Walmart, the world’s most powerful retailer, is funding the development of a new consumer-friendly sustainability index it plans to apply to every product it sells worldwide. In a wake-up call to its 100,000 global suppliers, Walmart has begun to request sustainability data from each and every one of them. 15 blunt questions are asked about greenhouse gas emissions, solid wastes, water usage, raw materials sourcing, quality processes, ethical production safeguards, community investments – and plans to improve on all of the above.
One of the funniest customer complaint letters on the web today is from a Virgin Atlantic passenger, Oliver Beale, who shares his ‘culinary journey from hell’ on a flight from Mumbai to London. His lengthy tongue-in-cheek email, addressed to Richard Branson and cc’d to the world is punctuated by close-ups of the curious meal, no doubt captured on a mobile phone. “Look at this Richard, just look at it” Beale urges, “I know it looks like a baaji but it’s in custard”.


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San Diego Sheriff‘s deputies staged two operations in Santee as the weekend began to help stop underage drinking.
The first used minor decoys Friday to test retailers at eight locations, attempting to purchase alcoholic beverages inside the businesses. None of the locations sold alcohol to a decoy, according to a sheriff’s department statement.
The second operation, also on Friday, was conducted in front of four retail liquor stores where a teenager asked adults to buy them alcohol. Nineteen adults were contacted, but only one purchased alcohol for the minor, authorities said. That person was arrested on suspicion of buying alcohol for a minor, a misdemeanor.
The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control partnered with the sheriff’s department to conduct the operations, paid for in part with a $100,000 grant from the ABC.
More such operations will continue through June 2020, officials said.
— City News Service
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Flic The Movie Tracker 1.0
Posted August 15, 2011 at 3:06pm
Flic was created to track movies in production, coming to theaters, in theaters, and new releases on DVD and other movie viewing services.
iOS 5 Personal Assistant Feature to be Based on Siri?
Posted August 15, 2011 at 2:55pm
A new personal assistant feature in iOS 5 will reportedly be based on Siri technology
Carriers Are Currently Testing a New LTE iPhone?
Posted August 15, 2011 at 2:42pm
A new report confirms that carriers are currently testing a new iPhone with LTE capabilities.
Adobe Unveils Muse to Create Websites Without Code
Posted August 15, 2011 at 2:24pm
Adobe has unveiled the public beta of Muse, software that enables graphic designers to design and publish professional, unique HTML websites without writing code
Orange France Job Listing References the iPhone 5
Posted August 15, 2011 at 2:12pm
A job listing for Orange France directly references the iPhone 5
Amazon Launches Student App for iPhone
Posted August 15, 2011 at 2:01pm
The Amazon Student App offers instant price-checks on textbooks by scanning a barcode and lets you sell back your books with ease.
Google Acquires Motorola to 'Supercharge' Android
Posted August 15, 2011 at 1:47pm
Google has announced an agreement to acquire Motorola to 'supercharge' the Android ecosystem.
Apple Increases iPhone Orders By 12-13%
Posted August 15, 2011 at 6:46am
Apple has reportedly increased its total iPhone order volume for the second half of 2011 by 12-13%.
IconCommands: Assign Actions to Springboard Icon Taps
Posted August 14, 2011 at 8:40pm
IconCommands, is a new Cydia tweak by Fr0zen Sun, that lets you assign actions to Springboard icon taps.
Unreleased MacBook Pro Prototype With Built-In 3G Modem Listed on eBay
Posted August 14, 2011 at 4:43pm
An unreleased MacBook Pro Prototype with a built-in 3G modem has been listed on eBay for sale.
Apple Opened Five New Retail Stores Today
Posted August 14, 2011 at 12:01am
Apple today opened five new Retail Stores in Canada, Italy, Australia, and the U.S.A.
Download Firefox 6 Final Before Its Official Release on August 16th
Posted August 13, 2011 at 9:05pm
Mozilla has posted Firefox 6 final letting you download the new browser ahead of its August 16th official release.
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Although the majority of Apple CEO Steve Jobsâ€™ keynote speech at Appleâ€™s World Wide Developers Conference on Monday was naturally taken up with unveiling the new iPhone 4, he took a few moments at the start of his speech to talk about the incredible success of iBooks, with users downloading over 5 million digital books in the 65 days since the launch of the iPad, giving it a market share of approximately 22 percent. Five of the six biggest publishers have digital books in the iBooks store, which now contains over 60, 000 iBooks.
At the same time as announcing these impressive sales figures, Jobs also announced that iBooks on iPad will be updated as part of iOS 4, with several new enhancements, such as the iBooks app now being able to sync your current place in a book, along with any bookmarks, highlights and notes youâ€™ve created, between copies of the same book on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. iBooks users can also now read and store PDFs right in iBooks.
Source: i4U, ZDNet, Apple


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Addressing World Hunger, Environmental Degradation, Human Health, and Animal Welfare, All at Once
The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals are both compelling and important. As someone who has been working on eliminating global poverty since high school – including six years running a homeless shelter in inner-city Washington, D.C. – the SDG2, in particular, stands out to me: ending hunger and food insecurity. Little else matters to an individual who is hungry or doesn’t know when their family’s next meal will be.
Yet we continue to do many things that make it difficult to end hunger and ensure food security for our ever-expanding global human family.
For example, in the early 2000s, according to a World Bank report, biofuel production drove global food prices up 75 percent, dwarfing the effect of weather changes, drought, and other factors. The impact was so severe that Jean Ziegler, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on food policy, called the diversion of crops to biofuels “a crime against humanity.”
This seems like a fair judgment. Given the amount of hunger and poverty in the world, using crops to make biofuel – and thus depriving people of food while driving up the price of the remaining harvest – could well be considered a crime against humanity. But the extent to which we convert crops into biofuels pales in comparison to the amount of crops we feed to chickens, pigs, turkeys, and other animals. If we are going to be concerned about wasted crops for biofuels, shouldn’t we be even more concerned with this much larger diversion of food to animals?
IN THE PHOTO: Egg-laying hens. CREDIT: Compassion over Killing
It is natural to think that feeding global crops to animals is not a problem because we then eat the animals. But the vast majority of calories and protein we feed to farmed animals doesn’t get converted into edible meat. Instead, it is used by the animal as it grows its entire body – including bones, feathers, and organs – to slaughter weight.
For example, to get one calorie of chicken meat, we have to feed the chicken nine calories of crops. That’s 800 percent food waste. It’s as if we had nine plates of food ready to serve our growing population, but instead, we just throw away eight of them.
Just as with biofuel production, feeding crops to animals is worse than just wasteful. Yes, by eating meat, we lose at least eight out of every nine calories we grow. But by not feeding these crops directly to people, we drive up the cost of the remaining crops even further, exacerbating malnutrition and starvation around the world. It was this impact on the cost of grains – and thus global malnutrition and starvation – that lead U.N. Rapporteur Ziegler to call biofuels a ‘crime against humanity’, and it’s also why we should be at least as concerned with the practice of feeding crops to animals.
IN THE PHOTO: Chicken. CREDIT: Matt Ball
This inherent inefficiency also leads us to overuse many other limited resources. If we are growing nine times more calories than we are actually consuming, we are using nine times more land, nine times more water, nine times more fertilizer, and nine times more pesticides and herbicides. We’re using nine times more fossil fuels to plant, harvest, and ship all these extra crops. And then, we’re using more fossil fuels to run the factory farms, and still more to ship the animals to energy-intensive slaughterhouses.
It may not seem like it when looking at a crispy chicken sandwich, but there is no way around it: animal agriculture is a scourge on our planet. Research by UN scientists found that raising animals for food is one of the top contributions to every single one of the most severe environmental problems plaguing us: from water pollution, desertification and deforestation to biodiversity loss and climate change.
The climate impact of our current animal agricultural system is perhaps the most surprising. When we think about global warming, the first thing that usually comes to mind is our car: so the solution from an individual vantage point is to drive less or buy a hybrid car. But animal agriculture actually causes more climate change than every plane, train, and automobile in the world combined.
IN THE PHOTO: New wave popcorn shrimp. CREDIT: Eric Day
The problems of animal agriculture are obvious and overwhelming without even considering its impacts on human health. For example, tens of millions of Americans – and many more globally – suffer food poisoning from animal products every year.
Perhaps an even greater threat than any of those already discussed is the widespread use of antibiotics on filthy factory farms, which leads to more and more antibiotic-resistant superbugs. These superbugs could cost the world $100 trillion by 2050.
A review by UK government found that the threat to the human race from deadly new drug-resistant disease strains is “more certain” than the threat from climate change.
Given that the current system of meat production is unbelievably wasteful, destructive, poisonous and deadly, why do we put up with it? Why is animal agriculture growing in almost every single country in the world?
The answer is simple: people want to eat meat.
Luckily, today we have Tofurky deli slices. And Beyond Meat chicken strips. And Field Roast Sausages. And the Impossible Burger. Now we don’t have to poison the planet and ourselves to have meat. We have companies making meat – efficiently and cleanly – from plants.
Here is the story of one of those companies.
Back in 2009, Ethan Brown was working in clean energy because of his concern about climate change. When he learned about the impact of industrial animal agriculture, he started wondering: what is meat, really? He realized that meat is simply a combination of lipids, amino acids, minerals, and water. So rather than convincing everyone that they should think more about the climate impact of meat, Ethan decided to create climate-friendly meat from plants.
IN THE PHOTO: Birds raised for meat (broilers) trying to escape from the bins they’re transported in. PHOTO CREDIT: Mercy for Animals
Ethan founded Beyond Meat to test his hypothesis. He found investors and hired food scientists, plant biologists, chefs and other culinary experts. Three years later, he and his team proved it is possible to make meat from plants.
When Bill Gates, who is now an investor in Beyond Meat, tried Ethan’s chicken strips, he said he couldn’t tell the difference. Gates declared: “What I was experiencing was more than a clever meat substitute. It was a taste of the future of food.” One of the most famous foodies in North America – New York Times columnist and cookbook author Mark Bittman – very famously agreed.
In 2016, Ethan’s team created their next masterpiece, the Beyond Burger, which is designed to cook up and taste exactly like a hamburger. The Beyond Burger is actually sold in the meat case at Kroger, Safeway, and more.
Virgin founder Richard Branson got on board as an evangelist: “I’ve had a lot of fun serving juicy hamburgers to everybody at the dinner table and watching their faces as they said: “This is the best hamburger I’ve ever eaten,’ only to be told it was all vegetarian.”
Even more telling is that Tyson Foods – by far the biggest meat producer in the US – was so excited about the Beyond Burger that they invested in Beyond Meat. Former McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson has also invested. That’s right: our country’s largest meat producer has invested in plant-based meat, as did the former CEO of McDonald’s!
Not only have the meat industry and Bill Gates seen the future, but so has the rest of Silicon Valley. Take Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google and now the Chair of the Board of Google’s parent company, Alphabet. Recently, Eric was asked to reflect on the top technological innovations he believes will improve life for humanity by an order of magnitude in the fairly near future. Given his tech background, of course, he talked about the kinds of things we would expect: 3-D printers; self-driving cars, watches that know we’re sick before we know we’re sick. But the first thing he talked about – the very first thing – was plant-based meat.
Eric focused on plant-based meat for its capacity to feed a growing global population and for doing it without having an adverse impact on our climate. He calls it “nerds over cattle.”
Still, there are some people who think plant-based meat won’t ever take over the entire market. Perhaps they had a bad encounter with a zucchini burger back in 1986; they really should try the Beyond Burger or the Impossible Burger, created by former Stanford biochemistry professor Pat Brown (no relation to Ethan). Professor Brown’s company – Impossible Foods – has netted investments from the richest person in Asia, Li Ka-shing, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Google Ventures, Bill Gates (again), and many more.
The Impossible burger is so good that it’s first public champion was David Chang, who about a decade ago removed all vegetarian entrées from the menus of all of his restaurants. If you can win over David Chang with plants, you can win over anyone.
IN THE PHOTO: The Impossible Burger. CREDIT: Eric Day
But for those holdouts who insist that their meat come from animals, other advances in food technology could save us from the myriad of harms to animal agriculture.
The most promising of these technologies – clean meat – has been a long time coming. All the way back in 1931, Winston Churchill said: “We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under a suitable medium.”
Churchill’s vision is being brought to reality by Mayo-Clinic-trained cardiologist Uma Valeti. Back in 2005, Dr. Valeti was thinking about the process of reconstructing heart tissue and wondered: “Why couldn’t we do this with animal flesh and build meat using standard tissue engineering techniques?” In 2015, he launched Memphis Meats around the concept of growing meat directly from animal cells.
This type of meat is called ‘clean meat’ as a nod to clean energy. Clean meat, like clean energy, is produced with far less harm to the environment. Clean meat is also just physically cleaner because there is no slaughterhouse, so the meat has no bacterial contamination and no antibiotic or other drug residues.
Since Memphis Meats launched, the company has been driving down the cost of producing clean meat almost every month. Bill Gates and Richard Branson are investors, backing both sides of the coming transformation of the meat industry. So is venture capital kingmaker DFJ, an early investor in a bunch of wildly successful tech companies including Skype & Twitter.
And again, the meat industry sees the future, with major meat conglomerate Cargill, the largest private company in the United States, investing in Memphis Meats.
All these individuals and companies are wise to get into the game. Not only are the plant-based and clean meat market sectors going to be incredibly lucrative, but they will also save humanity from the threats created by our current system of animal agriculture.
Given these threats, humanity shouldn’t be dependent on Silicon Valley and the private sector.
A few years back, Chatham House – the most widely cited think tank in Europe – declared that governments will be unsuccessful in holding climate change to less than 2 degrees Celsius by 2050 unless their populations consume less meat. Chatham House’s solution was that governments should educate their populations and encourage meat reduction.
The Chinese government has done just that, pledging to cut its per capita meat consumption in half by 2030, using the power of persuasion and the fact of potential climate catastrophe.
While I admire the optimism of Chatham House and the Chinese in their belief that human beings will prioritize climate when making their food choices if only they have the information, I think that our friends at Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, and Memphis Meats have a better solution – simply make products that compete with animal-based meat on the basis of the factors that dictate consumer choice: price, taste, and convenience.
IN THE PHOTO: Meatball. CREDIT: Memphis Meats
Make the products that consumers buy better for food security, the environment, human health, and so on. Reimagine meat.
Governments should back the development of plant-based and clean meat, given that these technologies are the clear solutions to huge and imperative global problems. The US government currently puts $3 billion a year into agricultural research. China puts in even more. Imagine if governments used these resources to form plant-based meat and clean meat research centres at universities like MIT, Stanford and other major universities and research centres around the world.
We face many global threats today, but one powerful and simple solution is staring us right in the face: plant-based and clean meat. It’s time for the governments of the world to get on board and help improve the future for current and future generations.
Editors note: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com
FEATURED PHOTO: Duck A l’Orange. CREDIT: Memphis Meats


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NEW YORK — Facebook has hired Time Warner advertising solutions expert Mark D’Arcy as director of global creative solutions, effective in early May.
The native of New Zealand will stay in New York and oversee the team that is developing ideas for how marketers can use the social network in their campaigns.
D’Arcy most recently served as president of Time Warner’s global media group, which partners with advertisers “to create and distribute premium content, applications and experiences that build brands and drive business growth,” TW’s Website says.
His move to Facebook was earlier on Monday reported by the Wall Street Journal.
D’Arcy’s job will be to come up with new ways for marketers to interact with Facebook and its users.
The news of his departure from TW comes just weeks after the entertainment conglomerate’s Warner Bros. unit began offering movie rentals via Facebook.
“During his seven years at Time Warner, Mark D’Arcy tirelessly shared his intense creative nature with fellow colleagues throughout the company and with clients across the industry,” Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes said. “Mark has left behind a spirit of adventurous thinking from which we will always benefit.”
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COWETA, Okla. — The owner of a Coweta convenience store is on the lookout for a cut-out of pop musician Britney Spears that was stolen.
The incident happened at Scott's Convenience Store at 12055 East Highway 51 on Wednesday.
Randy Scott, owner of the store, said he hasn't contacted police about the theft, but said he is reviewing security videos to try to catch the culprit.
Scott said there is a reward for the person who returns the cut-out of Spears.
"#BringBritneyBack," Scott wrote on social media.
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Rochdale company steps up a gear with newly-opened vehicle repair shop
Local company RKE group is celebrating after opening its sixth business in the borough close to Rochdale town centre.
The new venture, Rochdale Vehicle Repairs, has just opened its doors in School Street, under the guidance of Paul Howarth, following a £40,000 makeover of the previously unused building.
Group Operations Manager...
Posted by Aahmed on 21 Oct 2016 at 12:14
TBA PROTECTIVE TECHNOLOGIES PIONEERS FUTURE OF BRITISH MANUFACTURING
Rochdale manufacturer, TBA Protective Technologies (TBA-PT), has launched an exciting new competition for schools in the local area designed to inspire the British manufacturing stars of the future.
The ‘Manufacturing Matters’ competition, launched Monday 10 October 2016, challenges three local high schools to develop an idea for a product and create corresponding...
Posted by Aahmed on 13 Oct 2016 at 16:13
Views sought on the future of Rochdale’s most treasured building
Residents are being asked for their views on £16m plans to transform Rochdale's Grade I listed town hall, as the council prepares to submit a new bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
The 145-year-old building is widely regarded as one of the finest town halls in the country and...
Posted by Aahmed on 4 Oct 2016 at 10:09
Rochdale businesses set to show they’re cream of the crop
Companies across Rochdale are once again being given the chance to show they’re the business, with nominations now open for the Rochdale Business Awards 2016.
The annual celebration, now in its sixth year, aims to highlight the achievements of Rochdale’s vibrant business community, which includes long established multi-nationals, such...
Posted by CBuckley on 19 Sep 2016 at 08:26
Deals landing at conveying systems specialist boost revenue to £3m
A NUMBER of high-profile manufacturing deals has helped KP Industries achieve a record-breaking year.
The Rochdale-based conveying systems specialist is celebrating after posting more than £3m in deals for the past 12 months.
Contracts with Leyland Trucks, JCB, Balmoral Ltd and overseas companies saw KP Industries’ order book exceed expectations during...
Posted by Aahmed on 12 Sep 2016 at 09:29
NO FEWER THAN 14 HOLROYD MACHINES FOR NORTH AMERICAN AIR COMPRESSOR CO.
If repeat orders are a reflection of trust, Rochdale-based Holroyd Precision can have little doubt about the faith that one of North America’s leading air compressor specialists places in its rotor milling and grinding technologies.
Having already invested in 12 Holroyd machines over recent years, the business concerned has now...
Posted by Aahmed on 26 Jul 2016 at 10:00
Rochdale businesses work together to weather the storm
Local companies in Rochdale are sticking together whatever the weather by helping each other following the floods.
REM Pumping, part of REM Services Group, which provides pump engineering and electro mechanical services, has teamed up with popular Rochdale restaurant, CockaDoodleMoo to help get their Yorkshire Street site better prepared for...
Posted by Aahmed on 21 Jul 2016 at 12:51
Barnes Logistics acquires new site for growth
Barnes Logistics, one of the UK’s leading logistics companies has acquired a new four-acre site on Cowm Top Lane, Rochdale. The new site will be their national headquarters and be the principal home of the company’s growing fleet of more than 50 vehicles.
The site, which will work in...
Posted by Aahmed on 19 Jul 2016 at 10:08


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In a room full of avowed capitalists, policies that sound to some like socialism are bound not to go over well.Delivering Alpharead more
At least in terms of monetary policy, Pence says should be taking after other regions who keep their benchmark interest rates near zero.Delivering Alpharead more
AT&T isn't focused on selling or divesting DirecTV, despite pressure from stakeholder Elliott Management, sources tell CNBC.Technologyread more
The measure to keep the government running through Nov. 21 now heads to the Senate, where McConnell has signaled he will back a temporary spending plan.Politicsread more
Amazon's purchase comes as part of its plan to convert its delivery fleet to 100% renewable energy by 2030. The e-commerce retailer already runs 40% of its fleet on renewable...Autosread more
As part of the plan, Amazon has agreed to purchase 100,000 electric delivery vans from vehicle manufacturer Rivian.Technologyread more
Apple's iOS 13.1 will be released on Sept. 24, six days earlier than previously announced.Technologyread more
Hedge fund titan Leon Cooperman said he's concerned about a shift to the left in the political landscape, which could harm the economy and the stock market.Delivering Alpharead more
The plan will allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices on as many as 250 drugs and apply those discounts to private health plans.Health and Scienceread more
The move could bring a welcome salve to farmers caught in the crosshairs of the trade war if it results in a reopening of the market.Politicsread more
The pilot program will deliver food and beverage, over-the-counter medications and other items within minutes, the company said. Prescription deliveries will not be available.Health and Scienceread more
The global head of sovereign ratings at Fitch has said he is "fearful" that the trade standoff between China and the United States will not be resolved soon.
Speaking on a panel at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in Russia on Thursday, James McCormack told CNBC's Geoff Cutmore that the trade debate has morphed into a situation that may harden positions.
"I am fearful that we are in for a long standoff between China and the United States," said McCormack.
"There is a risk that we end up with the two biggest economies operating in parallel tracks in many regards and not in a cooperative way and the world economy will suffer from that."
Fitch's top analyst on country risk added that the United States had gone a long way from simple concerns about trade imbalance figures which bothered few in Congress or the business community.
McCormack said White House officials who wanted to take China on, finally felt momentum when the U.S. corporate sector started to complain about losses of intellectual property via forced tech transfers.
Forced technology transfer (FTT) means that when a foreign company wants to enter the Chinese market, it has to surrender its technology to Chinese companies through joint ventures.
Speaking on the same panel was the Vice Chairman of IHS Markit, Dan Yergin, who agreed that the increasing concern from the business community had put energy into White House efforts to widen their attack on Chinese practices.
Yergin said previously it was U.S. Democrats who were "kind of protectionist" while the Republicans were more amenable to free global trade. He said the switch by Republicans has allowed a coalescence of political support for Trump.
The economic historian said there was a risk that the trade spat could ultimately develop beyond rhetoric and tariffs to a "new clash of systems" between China and the United States.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has claimed that Trump's isolationist tactics have been successful in bringing production back onshore to the U.S.
Addressing this claim, Yergin said he was skeptical that firms would make major investment decisions "based upon a few months of political wrangling."
Also contributing to the discussion was the Deputy Minister of Economic Development for Russia, Timur Maksimov. He said the discussions between the U.S. and China were about trade "in form but were economic in substance."
Maksimov added that trade deficit was not previously an issue for the Trump administration and that Washington was not particularly upset until China started to manufacture its own product rather than just assemble western goods.


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132 CEOs out in Feb., most since Sept. 2008
- Steven E.F. Brown
More U.S. CEOs quit, retired or lost their jobs in February than in any month since September 2008, according to a report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
The Chicago firm said 132 CEOs left their posts during February, up from 89 in January and up from 82 in February 2009.
Ninety-five CEOs left at private companies in February, 37 from public ones.
Health care and health products had the most departures, 22, of any industry, followed by government and nonprofits, with 15, and energy, with 12.
The report said improving economic conditions have led to more mergers and acquisitions, which has driven CEO turnover, since usually the CEO of a company that is bought loses the top job.
Austin pawn giant EZCORP Inc.'s CEO Joe Rotunda recently announced intentions to retire along with NAI Austin President and CEO Frank Niendorff.
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The sun has risen on another day of alert level 3 in Auckland, but Wednesday comes with some key changes that will see credit cards get a work out and some picnics become outdoor parties.
At 11:50pm on Tuesday night, Auckland moved to step 2 of the alert level 3 roadmap. It follows parts of Waikato which made this transition last week and sees restrictions ease as the region moves closer towards the 90 percent double dose mark, at which time the traffic light system will come into play.
- Outdoor gatherings can more than double in size with no limit on the number of bubbles intermingling. Up to 25 people can meet together - importantly it must be outside - with physical distancing encouraged
- For those partaking in outside exercise classes, the number allowed to participate also expands to 25, including instructors. Again, physical distancing is encouraged as are face coverings when you're not exercising
- There's also more places Aucklanders can go. Public venues will reopen for the first time in months. That includes the likes of libraries, museums and zoos. Face coverings are required here and people should keep two metres apart
- If you're tired of waiting for your latest purchase to be delivered, there's good news. Retail stores can reopen their stores at the second step, meaning people can go inside to browse. Physical distancing of two metres is required and don't be surprised if stores limit how many people can be on-site at once to help with this. Face masks are also required
- The new rules for retail stores also extend to fruit and vegetable markets. Customers can't eat or drink in the market, however, as face coverings must be kept on. Food trucks or other hospitality businesses that usually operate at a market can only provide contactless pick-up/takeaway
- Funerals, tangihanga, weddings and civil unions can also expand to having 25 people attend, along with up to five staff. That means a total of 30 people can be present. Food and drink can be served, but guests must be seated
While many restrictions are easing, some are not. For example, hospitality venues must remain closed, entertainment facilities (like cinemas and casinos) can't yet operate and "close contact businesses" such as barbers or beauty salons must keep the doors closed. Movement for these businesses can be expected at the third step, though no date has been decided for that.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that Auckland was being allowed the extra freedoms due to it's high vaccination rates.
"Auckland hit 90 percent first dose and 80 percent second dose over the weekend, and is now a matter of weeks away from 90 percent double dose. And so while we're getting those rates higher still, we are easing into our reopening.
"The restrictions we've eased to date, we've done so because we know they are the safest ones. For example, evidence shows picnics outside have not led to an uptick in cases, and from barbecues, we have evidence of just one case.
"Indoor gatherings, which are not permitted now, nor when we move to step 2, continue to be a major driver of spread. So keeping it outdoors reduces the risk and helps keep cases under control."
If you want to test your knowledge of the alert level 3, step 2 rules, try out Newshub's quiz here.


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𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗡𝗙𝗧𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗞𝗼𝗻𝗴?
On 31 October 2022, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau issued a Policy Statement on Development of Virtual Assets in Hong Kong, in which the Government expressed its commitment in facilitating a sustainable and responsible development of virtual assets innovations in Hong Kong by putting in place measures that are in line with international standards to mitigate actual and potential risks on financial stability, consumer protection and money laundering and terrorists financing.
Non-fungible token (“NFT”) is one of the most widely known form of virtual assets and has gained much popularity after its breakout in 2021. The NFT market has attracted over billion dollars of investment worldwide. Nonetheless, consumers and issuers are reminded to constantly bear in mind the risks involved when investing in NFTs.
Our Manging Partner, Alan Chiu, Partner, Charles To and Trainee Solicitor Kelly Kwan wish to take this opportunity to demystify some concerns our readers may have about NFTs. Please read the full article if you wish to know more.


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Discount retailer Dollar General Corp. is looking to become a health care destination for its customers. The company has hired its first chief medical officer and is expanding its assortment of cough and cold, dental, nutritional, medical, health aids and feminine hygiene products across many of its stores. Many of the company’s 17,426 locations are in rural areas that are often underserved by other retailers as well as the existing healthcare ecosystem, according to the retailer.
Instacart has named Fidji Simo, 35, as CEO, effective Aug. 2. Simo, who joined Instacart's Board of Directors in January, is a consumer technology industry veteran, having spent more than 15 years leading the operations, strategy and product development for some of the world's leading businesses. “Simo has been the mastermind behind many of Facebook's biggest launches, including News Feed, Stories, Groups, Video, Marketplace, Gaming, News, Dating, Ads and more,” per Progressive Grocer. “Simo is also extremely active in the diversity, equity and inclusion space.”
After 16 months of allowing vulnerable seniors to shop early to limit exposure to the COVID-19 virus, Costco is eliminating its senior hours on July 26. “Walmart, Target, BJ's Wholesale Club and Aldi are among retailers still promoting special senior hours on their websites,” per USA Today. “ As more Americans are vaccinated, other stores may reduce senior hours. Trader Joe's cut senior hours at most of its stores.”
Wilson Sporting Goods is planning to set up shop on Chicago’s affluent Gold Coast with its first retail location ever, hedging its bets that “athleisure” is here to stay, even as employees start to trickle back into traditional office environments after over a year of working from home. "The store, which is expected to open July 15, will carry Wilson’s new apparel along with a selection of sporting equipment focusing on high-performance and special edition products," according to the Chicago Tribune.
Chipotle is the latest brand to offer an incentive for getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The Mexican fast-casual chain is offering buy-one-get-one free entrees July 6 from 3 p.m. to closing at participating restaurants nationwide with the purchase of an entree. The company is participating in the National Month of Action for Vaccinations. The giveaway comes as authorities are looking for ways to convince vaccination holdouts to take the plunge.
Walmart and Green Dot’s Walmart MoneyCard is now offered as a demand deposit account. Users can manage their finances digitally or at Walmart's 4,500 locations or more than 90,000 Green Dot retail distribution locations nationwide. The retailer has more than a million MoneyCard account holders across the United States and Puerto Rico. Walmart plans to add more features for demand deposit account holders in the future.
Kanye West is suing Walmart for allegedly selling a knockoff of his well-known foam shoe design. According to legal docs obtained by TMZ, West and his company, Yeezy, claim the retail giant copied his Yeezy Foam Runner and left customers confused about whether they were buying the real thing or an imitation. Walmart says the product referenced in the complaint is not directly sold by Walmart, but rather by its third party Marketplace sellers.
Bar and restaurant owners in New York are no longer allowed to serve liquor-to-go, due to the lifting of a state of emergency declaration. The change was made in part due to “vehement opposition from liquor store owners and that industry’s superior lobbying power,” per Vinepair. “With off-premise spirits sales surging to 30-year highs in 2020, and bars and restaurants enduring their most difficult period in living memory, this has surely been the hardest concession to swallow.”
Tennis star Naomi Osaka’s decision to withdraw from the French Open and take a pass on Wimbledon does not have her sponsors the least bit worried. “In decades past, this situation would be a nightmare scenario for brand sponsors,” per Fast Company. “[But] missing two Grand Slams is far from a commercial calamity for Nike, Beats by Dre, Hyperice, Sweetgreen, and Tag Heuer when sports culture is pop culture.”
Krispy Kreme priced its initial public offering at $17 a share, down from an earlier projected range of $21 to $24 a share, as it begins trading Thursday on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. It closed Thursday at $21 a share, more than 23% above its midday debut, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. The doughnut brand said Wednesday it planned to sell 29 million shares, raising about $500 million.


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Google Uses 'Silicon Valley' Easter Egg To Announce Alphabet's Launch, A Meta-Moment That Won't Be Lost On Fans
As if breaking the Internet apart wasn't enough for a Monday afternoon, Google decided to use a Silicon Valley Easter egg to announce a newly formed parent company called Alphabet, ultimately stealing the biggest punch line of the day. That's right — if you were thinking about the similarities between Google and Alphabet and the disastrous misadventures of the cast of HBO's Silicon Valley, just go home. Google already made the joke for you. Your Tweet won't be revolutionary.
When Google co-founder Larry Page announced the search engine would be housed in Alphabet's portfolio, he included a hidden Easter egg on the new website that tech fans would enjoy. No, the joke doesn't involve the alphabet blocks that appear to spell out "mad sex." Instead it's a subtle nod to HooliXYZ and Google's attempt at a self-deprecating joke.
The allusion itself came in the form of a hyperlink to the website for HooliXYZ, a fictional company in HBO's Silicon Valley. According to Alex Weprin of Politico, the link can be found in the eighth paragraph of Page's announcement, at the end of the phrase "drone delivery effort." The hyperlink is attached to the period, and immediately redirects you to the HBO HooliXYZ site, which claims "it takes a big head to dream big."
If you're not a Silicon Valley fan, Hooli is the name of a Google-like company that serves as the center of the HBO comedy. At one point in the series, HooliXYZ launches as an experimental division that calls itself, "The midwife of magic. The womb of wonders." To top it off, the division is headed by "Sole Head Dreamer Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti." XYZ ultimately is a disaster, failing to produce anything except a rogue potato canon that gets loose. Hilarity ensues.
Page and the other dreamers over at Google/Alphabet obviously caught the similarities, and wanted to cut the jokes off at the knees. Alphabet's Internet home is now located at abc.xyz, which is one of the best addresses ever (and rhymes!). But it does draw instant comparisons to Silicon Valley and possibly foreshadows disaster for the company.
The new company has already faced an onslaught of Sesame Street jokes and a chorus of confusion over the new organization. But Google's stocks have jumped since the announcement, which could lead to further transparency for Google stockholders and those wanting to invest in various aspects of Alphabet's holdings. The Easter egg joke was well played — Google poked fun at itself, then moved along. And the rest of the Internet probably will too.


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The MP3 revolutionised music distribution across the globe. The new file format allowed music to be compressed and shared like never before. In a tale of unintended consequences, the MP3 ushered in mass piracy and the emergence of peer-to-peer music file sharing companies such as Napster, as well as the huge success of MP3 players, such as the iPod.
While the format’s days may be numbered, the MP3’s legacy continues today. The emergence of streaming platforms, such as Spotify, re-monetised digital music, but the new model is far from perfect. The collapse of live music during the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed deep flaws in the music industry, notably that most music creators receive woefully insufficient royalties from streaming.
The Ivors Academy and the Musicians’ Union are campaigning to Keep Music Alive and calling for a Government review into the failures of the streaming market while thousands of artists and songwriters are calling out the #BrokenRecord industry on social media with one united voice.
Kevin Brennan MP, member of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and guitarist/songwriter for parliamentary rock band MP4 said:
“Such was the power of the humble MP3 that we named the world’s first parliamentary rock band after it!
It was a revolutionary link in a chain of disruption that transformed how we listen to, and distribute, music. Music and technology have been intertwined since Thomas Edison developed the phonograph. The music industry has a long track-record of accelerating and adapting to new technologies. From concept albums and sleeve artwork made possible by 12-inch LPs to shorter tracks and algorithm-based marketing we see through streaming – the technology through which music is distributed has always influenced its form.
The pandemic has exposed how in this digital world songwriters and musicians rely on live music, and how failings in the streaming market for recorded music and gaps in the Government’s support for freelancers and sole-traders impact the livelihoods of music creators.
Plenty of people still make money out of recorded music but we need a new deal for those who actually make that music.
This is why I’m supporting the call by The Ivors Academy and Musicians’ Union on Government to hold a review of streaming with a view to achieving a transparent and fair system.”
Crispin Hunt, Chair of The Ivors Academy said:
“Before the MP3 the music industry thought it sold music. It didn’t, it sold plastic with music in it and MP3s changed all that. The music industry has evolved, but it still needs to re-think how music rewards its creators now it’s plastic free.”
As creators we’re given crumbs from streaming revenues and face coercive business practices that buy out our rights in return for ‘exposure’. Making a career for many music creators in this environment relies on live music. With no mass gatherings for the foreseeable future and creatives falling through the gaps in Government support we’re all concerned about the immediate future.
Music will survive, the industry will adapt and we will rush to adopt new technologies. But this crisis provides a golden opportunity to re-write the rules, to challenge established business practices and thinking, and imagine a fairer and more equitable way of creating and distributing value from the music we create.”
Tom Gray, musician, campaigner and member of the band Gomez said:
“I remember in the late-nineties my A&R man, opening a box and in hushed tones telling me the tiny device he held before me could hold – wait for it – 16 songs. He felt certain it would revolutionise the industry. He was right. Thanks to the MP3 player, music is the most mature digital market and should serve as warning to all other industries, regulators and governments.
We are nearly completely captured by big tech and a few global corporations, setting tens of thousands of creators in a non-negotiable and detrimental bind. Competition law and digital strategy are not fit for purpose. The brilliantly conceived and convenient MP3 player was the alarm bell at the dawn of this cautionary tale.”
Naomi Pohl, Deputy General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union said:
“I remember an ex-colleague, who dealt with recording, saying it was his sad lot to preside over the death of the record industry. At the time, CD sales were beginning to plummet and there was a lot of doom and gloom about piracy. Thankfully, the record industry is still going strong and announcing record profits. The predicted decline has not materialised and that’s due to the success of digital. What we must ensure for the future is that artists are fairly paid and the whole music eco-system supported. Otherwise we face a decline in artistry and diversity in music, which would be a disaster for both fans and the industry.”
Support our campaign to #FixStreaming and Keep Music Alive by signing the petition for a Government review of streaming.


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BloombergBebe Plans to Shut Its Stores and Focus on Web Sales
Bebe Stores Inc., a women's apparel chain with locations across the U.S., is planning to shut its stores and seek a turnaround as an online brand, according to people familiar with the situation. The company is trying to close the locations without ...
Bebe is closing all its stores and focusing online, report says
Los Angeles Times
Retail chain Bebe hires restructuring advisers
Bebe Is the Latest Mall Store Closing Retail Locations: Here's What You Should Shop to Cure Your '00s Broken Heart
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96.3 KKLZBebe Is Shutting Down Its Brick-And-Mortar Stores
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Vanity FairCatching Up with BeBe Zahara Benet, the Very First Winner of RuPaul's Drag Race
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Lady Gaga's Big Entrance! | RuPaul's Drag Race Season 9 | #DragRaceGoesGAGA | Now on VH1!
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PapermagBebe Buell on Rocking Out, Being a Mom, and Nashville vs. New York
Bebe Buell is so much more than just a friend to everyone in the biz, an ex wife to Steven Tyler and mother to Liv. She also happens to be a rocker with a flair for full-throttle musicalizing while unselfconsciously baring her soul. Bebe moved to ...
Investor's Business DailySears: 'Substantial Doubt' Over Survival; Bebe, Payless Pushed To Edge
Investor's Business Daily
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PPG Industries, Sears, bebe News Today
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Boston.comA look at clothing companies that are closing stores
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Investopedia19 Retailers Shed Stores So Far in 2017 (BEBE, CROX)
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PEOPLE.comHow BeBe Winans Found 'Instant Family' with Whitney Houston
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Companies are increasingly tapping into the wisdom of the crowd. One example: Frito-Lay asked its fans to invent a flavor, and the result -- Cheesy Garlic Bread -- will soon be hitting the shelves. "What we got in total talk value for the brand [during the campaign] was unprecedented," says Chief Marketing Officer Ann Mukherjee.
Crowdsourcing helps brands generate big ideas
SmartBrief Job Listings for Media
|Director, Operational Enablement and Excellence||
Pandora Media, Inc.
|Sales Director - ROBLOX (New York)||
|New York, NY|
|Assistant Professor or Instructor of Advertising||
Loyola University Chicago
|National Sales Manager/Midwest||
American City Business Journals/The Business Journals


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First published 5 March, 1997
Intel is ready to hog the processor limelight next week at the CeBit '97 show in Hannover, Germany, making its first appearance with the Pentium II processor, formerly known as 'Klamath'. However, the chip giant was at pains to stress this will not be a launch.
Patrick Gelsinger, Intel's vice president and general manager for the desktops products group, will hold three press briefings comprising a processor update, an update on the 'Wired for Management' initiative, and a briefing on Microsoft and Intel's NetPC programme.
Also at CeBit, the chip king will jointly announce a multimedia and satellite initiative with European satellite authority SES (Société Européene des Satellites). At a separate Mobile Data Initiative (MDI) conference Intel will discuss the latest wireless communications and GSM developments, and MDI members will announce wireless products.
Intel's stand will feature remotely connected PCs, remote network management tools, Pentium processors running Java software and Pentium Pro chips running workstation, CAD and 3D applications.


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Women in tech and digital conference comes to Joburg
The Women in Tech and Digital Conference announces the speaker line-up for the Johannesburg leg of the event.
IoT.nxt introduces Device DNA Identity Service & SIEM Connector for IOT
IoT.nxt Device DNA Security for endpoints provides a secure mechanism for capturing connected device metrics and extracting business value.
Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation drives 4IR skills in schools
The organisation aims to integrate ICT solutions in schools, targeting over 1 million learners in SA.
Women in tech are game-changers
The inaugural Women in Tech and Digital Conference saw a range of female founders showcasing their skills and sharing their experiences.
Stablecoins can eliminate crypto-currency volatility
A rand-backed stablecoin may open an avenue of innovation in the South African payments industry, say industry players.


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Leverage PR, a well known marketing firm in the alternative finance sector, has announced a new crowdfunding consulting service said to be driven by ongoing demand from corporate customers. Leverage said this new consulting group would utilize both in-house expertise and high-profile industry partners.
“We talk to people on a nearly weekly basis within the financial services industry that are trying to figure out how online lending and crowdfunding might play into their existing business lines. From an outside perspective, the industry seems opaque and complex.”
Schoffler stated there are a growing number of banks, especially within the community banking sector, that are attempting to better understand how online lending and investment crowdfunding may play a role in the future of their business.
“From an outside perspective, the industry seems opaque and complex when in reality, there are platforms devoted strictly to the banking industry and lots of examples to point them to for help in understanding this from their viewpoint. But Banking is just one example,” shared Schoffler. “There are so many business models emerging in this space to solve complex problems. We launched this consultancy to educate people looking to explore this industry, helping them to understand the nuances of the space.”
The use of electronic platforms to make investments into private offerings is another excellent and fast emerging example. Schoffler believes this is an opportunity that should not be missed;
“People are getting more and more comfortable investing online, just look at the growth of robo-advising. To think that this trend won’t impact investing in private offerings, especially at a time when confidence in the stock market is at an all time low, is naïve.”
While much of popular media focuses on rewards-based crowdfunding or Title III retail crowdfunding, the opportunity and challenge is far larger. All forms of finance will inevitably move online. Schoffler indicates her company was already receiving outreach from both major financial institutions and smaller firms. Each is striving to better understand how to better serve the crowd online. Schoffler believes their new suite of services will allow established companies to “skip the headache and get a clear picture of the potential market opportunity from the experts that understand it the most”.
The consultancy will include various services structured similar to other consulting firms. Leverage will provide hourly consulting, go-to-market strategy consultations, assumption validations and creation of custom training and reports designed to educate companies on the diverse emerging markets. Leverage has worked within the crowdfunding sector since its inception and thus has great access to a multitude of industry participants. Externally, the Leverage stable of consultants is said to include several former executives of top crowdfunding platforms, a former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) committee member, academics, portal operators and other industry professionals that can offer unparalleled insights saving organizations looking to enter the crowdfunding space time and money.
Former SEC Small Business Advisory committee member D.J. Paul, a current consultant with Leverage and CFIRA co-chair, believes getting professional advice is crucial to success in the crowdfunding industry.
“Companies can save themselves a good deal of time and money and future frustration by setting their businesses up correctly from the start,” says Paul. “While technology is enabling these securities transactions, it is still a securities business.”
Schoffler recognizes the fact that traditional finance has several options. Basically it is buy, partner, or create. Of course, they could do nothing and sit back and watch but that is never a good strategy. Leverage seeks to become a valued counselor as part of the process of evolution for established firms.
“We have consultants that have been a part of some of the biggest platforms on the market that can save companies a great deal of time and money by avoiding common mistakes,” states Schoffler.


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Montenegro safe tourist destination
One of the most famous french daily “Le Figaro”, has published an article about Montenegro.
“The last infected European country, it is also the first to declare itself free of coronavirus states the article.
In an interview with Director of the National Tourist Organization, Mrs Željka Radak-Kukavičić, Montenegro has been presented as safe destination, where tourists can enjoy all activities, from beach vacation to cycling and enjoying wildlife.
Given the fact that safety and security are at the top, the article emphasizes that Montenegro has imposed a set of measures in hotels, restaurants and at beaches, guaranteeing safety to everyone who decides to spend their vacation in our country.
The article also states that Montenegro has incredible nature with five national parks, regions under UNESCO protection, the largest lake in the Balkans, beaches placed on Forbes list of the most beautiful beaches, Luštica peninsula, a paradise for divers…
“The Great beach of Ulcinj is renowned among kite-surfers, the Luštica peninsula is a paradise for divers while the beach of the island of Saint Nicholas has been ranked among the 10 most beautiful in Europe by the Forbes magazine. Without forgetting the very rich heritage, the emblem of which is the medieval city of Kotor, a veritable open-air museum full of palaces and small towns.”


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Scrambling to get that holiday shopping done? We have a caution before you pull out a debit card.
A caution as you rush to finish up your holiday shopping.
One woman found out why shopping online with a debit card may not be the best idea.
Patricia Babin found a great deal on Amazon, grabbing a 55-inch HDTV for just $283.
But it appeared that either Amazon or her bank grabbed her money twice!
"It looked like at first a double charge,” she said.
It turned out to be a "preauthorization hold" for the TV's cost ... which left her card down over $600.
"I expected the pre-authorization to drop off. But it did not," Babin said.
So she called, and learned authorization charges on debit cards can take several days to be returned.
"It takes three to five business days, not weekends," she said. "I think that’s wrong.”
This is a common problem for people who use debit cards ... and it's not limited to just Amazon.
It happens at other retailers, and especially at gas stations.
"It was this pump? It was this pump."
Last year Shari Renfro pumped $47 worth of gas ... but her debit card was hit with a $125 hold!
“There was no money on it, when I knew there was money on it,” Renfro said.
Business insider suggests you don't use your debit cards at:
- Gas stations. because of skimming scams, and because stations put a hold on the card.
- At hotels, because the desk may pre-authorize $400 dollars on your card.
- On a rental car, where the rental firm may hold hundreds of dollars until you return the car.
"If that had been out of your checking account, that really could have hurt? It could have messed up my house payment, it could have messed up my utility payment."
Amazon says it's actually the bank, not them, that "reserves the funds until the transaction processes."
But Babin says she's going to use a credit card for the rest of her holiday shopping.
One last reason to not use a debit card for online shopping: if there is any error you have to fight to get your money back.


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After their successful 2018 edition of HARD Summer (you can read my review HERE), HARD Events has been teasing at the return of its famed Halloween/Dia de los Muertos festival. Fans have been eagerly awaiting the “resurrection” of the L.A. event and today the ever important line up was revealed ahead of ticket sales.
The 2018 edition of HARD Day of the Dead will be headlined by Die Antwoord, Knife Party and a live performance by Justice. Other notable acts include Shiba San, Cashmere Cat, Dateless, Lee Foss, OMNOM, Rybo b2b Lukelski, and Fuego.
HARD Day of the Dead will take place Saturday, November 3rd at the recently renovated Los Angeles State Historic Park in Downtown Los Angeles. The event is strictly 21+. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, September 27th @ 12pm PST, you can get yours at dayofthedead.hardfest.com.


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Data breaches are a major cybersecurity concern facing businesses and individuals around the world. Unfortunately, the latest large-scale breach has occurred at Latitude Financial Services, an Australian-based consumer finance company. The attack, which was discovered on April 5th, is believed to have exposed nearly 14 million customer records. We’ll take a look at what happened and what you can do to protect yourself.
Latitude Financial Services provides consumer finance services like credit cards, personal loans, and other financial services to customers in Australia. The breach, which was discovered on April 5th, allegedly exposed personal customer data including names, addresses, dates of birth, email addresses, phone numbers, transaction details, and more.
The company said that the breach did not include customers’ financial details, passwords, or other sensitive information. However, the breach was still large enough to cause alarm and a federal police investigation has now been launched into the incident.
How Can You Protect Yourself?
The best way to protect yourself after a data breach is to take proactive steps to reduce the risk of identity theft or fraud. Here are a few tips:
• Monitor your accounts closely: Be sure to closely monitor your accounts for any suspicious activity. If you do notice any unusual activity, contact your financial institution immediately.
• Change your passwords: If you think that your password has been compromised, it’s a good idea to change it as soon as possible.
• Check your credit reports: Regularly check your credit reports to make sure there is no suspicious activity occurring. This is a great way to spot any identity theft early on.
• Stay informed: Keep up to date with the latest news about the breach and be aware of any new information that is released.
• Use strong passwords: It’s important to make sure that your passwords are strong and that you’re not using the same password across multiple accounts.
The data breach at Latitude Financial Services is yet another reminder of the need to stay vigilant when it comes to protecting your data. By taking proactive steps to monitor your accounts and changing passwords regularly, you can significantly reduce the risk of identity theft and fraud. Don’t forget to share this article on social media to spread the word about the importance of cybersecurity!


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Waitrose has announced plans to install 800 electric vehicle (EV) charging points at stores across the UK amid a new tie up with energy giant Shell.
The grocer will install hundreds of Shell Recharge EV charging points at up to 100 stores in the UK by 2025, with the first installation expected early next year.
Each site is expected to have six 22kW and two 50kW rapid charging points, which can give shoppers a near full charge in the time it takes to complete a weekly shop.
The partnership forms part of Shell’s larger plan to install 5000 charge points across UK forecourts by 2025, and represents a major step forward for the company which is working towards net zero carbon emissions through investment in biofuels, carbon capture and EV infrastructure.
The partnership will also see more Shell Select petrol station stores offer Waitrose food, while John Lewis’ click & collect service will also be integrated into 80 new Shell forecourts.
“This is an important partnership for Waitrose and means we can offer even greater convenience to more of our customers,” Waitrose’s executive director James Bailey said.
“We’re also delighted to bring our customers 800 new charging points for electric vehicles, including new rapid charging capabilities, as the UK moves more and more towards a sustainable transport network.”
Shell UK Retail’s general manager Bernadette Williamson added: “This is great news for EV drivers across the UK, knowing they can easily, quickly and reliably charge up at Shell charge points while shopping at Waitrose.
“We want to make EV charging as hassle-free as possible and support our customers wherever they want to charge.”


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After a major boom for business, Devonshire cycling kit manufacturer NoPinz anticipates a rough period for the trade – Alex Ballinger gets the full story behind the brand
This piece first appeared in the March edition of BikeBiz magazine – get your free subscription here In business, a simple idea is often the strongest. It was an idea in this vein that sparked Devonshire cycling kit brand Nopinz into life back in 2015.
Frustrated by damaging his expensive racing jersey when pinning on numbers, founder Blake Pond unveiled an industry first in the SpeedPocket, an integrated pocket that let racing cyclists display their number without poking holes in their lycra.
Now seven years on from its inception, Nopinz is a well-established name in the British road racing and time trial scene, has collaborated with top-level WorldTour teams, and continues to find innovations.
Nopinz sales director Gary Chambers told BikeBiz : “The company has disrupted the industry through innovation since inception, developing an accomplished range of race and training apparel from its UK manufacturing base, aimed at those looking for an edge over their competition or when pursuing PBs and Strava segments.
“The brand is also a leader in custom designs for clubs and race teams, as well as offering its personal tailoring service using electronic body-scanning to achieve the perfect fit.”
Having found its niche in the domestic performance cycling market, Nopinz has a clear idea of its appeal to riders but is also aware of the wider appeal of its kit.Chambers said: […]


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The Rise (and Fall) of Online Betting
Online betting has gained popularity all across the world, and its growth was only going to continue before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Distance restrictions and social distancing measures have taken over the world, which has led to a declining trend in industry growth. Due to the quarantine initiatives in many countries, brick and mortar gambling establishments have been shut down and are still closed, people cannot go outside to place their bets, which has created a space for online betting to take off.
The Benefits and Risks
The increase in online betting activity has been a win for the industry players and consumers. One of the biggest benefits of online betting is its convenience. Consumers can place their bets from anywhere with an internet connection; they do not need to be present at physical locations that could be far away or out of their reach. However, this form of convenience goes hand in hand with the risk of addiction, gambling addiction has become a severe problem for a lot of people. Online betting poses more risks, as people can access it at any time, anywhere, making it hard to disengage from the practice.
The Impact of the Pandemic on Betting Sites
Betting volume increased at the start of the pandemic as people got bored sitting at home watching Netflix all day. However, the growth hasn’t been sustainable, as the economic impact of the pandemic has caused a fall in economic activity across the globe. A decline in disposable income has meant that people no longer have funds to spare for this sort of activity, and the online betting industry has seen its fair share of damage. Online casinos have incorporated esports and other events to keep revenue flowing, and as this continues, the online betting industry hopes to pick up momentum once more, but for now, things seem to be at a standstill. Betting operators have set up responsible gambling initiatives to help mitigate this issue from both a consumer protection standpoint and legal standpoint. The inability to gamble in physical places has pushed a lot of people who are looking to gamble to gambling websites. One of the solutions the stakeholders have come up with is setting deposit limits, such that people do not overbet or get in trouble financially.
The Future of Online Betting
The online betting industry is not disappearing anytime soon. With the shift in focus to technology, the industry sees a significant growth potential. The question is, what will happen when things return to normal? Will people go back to traditional methods of gambling, or will this trend remain, and online betting continue to prevail? Regardless, the online betting industry has proven to be resilient throughout the pandemic, and has been able to survive despite the enormous economic downturns in many industries.
The online betting industry has undergone a lot of changes since the pandemic struck. The significant change is the rise of online gambling and the need for responsible gambling. The industry had to modify its practices to keep up with demand and ensure it is doing its part to curb addiction. The pandemic has proven to be both a challenge and an opportunity that the industry players are still trying to make the most of. Moving forward, the industry can only hope that they have learned from the experience and continue to be vigilant with their efforts. Utilize this external material to delve further into the subject. W88 Https://Onlinecasino-Krw.Com, expand your knowledge of the topic discussed.
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