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Comcast (CMCSA) may not have spilled a bunch of oil into the Gulf of Mexico or required a massive taxpayer bailout to survive, but it nonetheless finds itself listed along with BP and AIG as one of the 10 least reputable companies in the United States. Harris Interactive’s annual “Reputation Quotient” survey released last week showed that Comcast ranked as the 10th least reputable company in the U.S. with an overall reputation score of 61 out of 100, which Harris says qualifies as a “poor” reputation. Comcast’s reputation this year has actually improved from the previous year, when Harris ranked it as eighth least reputable company with a reputation score of just 59.
The Harris survey is just one of many showing low customer satisfaction with Comcast. The American Consumer Satisfaction Index earlier this year showed that Comcast had the fourth-worst customer satisfaction in the U.S. while the most recent MSN annual customer satisfaction survey showed that Comcast had the second-highest percentage of people rating their service as “poor” among all major American companies.


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As robots move into food preparation, Creator is focusing on quality rather than mass production, explains Martin Buehler.
As robots move from farms and food processing facilities to restaurants, they will need to provide diners with a compelling dining experience, not just a novel one, according to Creator, a food robotics startup in San Francisco.
The San Francisco-based company last year hired Martin Buehler to be its vice president of engineering. He is an experienced roboticist and was a keynote speaker at RoboBusiness 2017. Robotics Business Review recently chatted with Buehler about his work at Creator.
“We actually have two robots here at our restaurant currently serving burgers,” he said. “We get to bring robots to an entirely new market segment. It’s extremely exciting.”
Robots provide novel dining experience
Rather than building robots for existing fast-food or fast-casual chains, Creator’s restaurant “democratizes” access to fresher, better-sourced cuisine, said the company.
“Creator uses robotics and technology to bring a new dining experience to our guests,” Buehler explained.
“That involves the whole package deal of the restaurant, the ambiance, the décor, and the design, including the robots themselves,” he said. “They’re not just cold, hard pieces of technology, but they’re beautifully crafted and aesthetically appealing.”
“When you order your burger, you actually get to see it made completely from scratch,” added Buehler. “Then you get to bite into this culinary masterpiece that you were able to customize to your desires. So it’s really an end-to-end experience.”
“We’re not just making robot that’s fast and cheap and cranks out food that we would sell to other companies; we want to own this whole experience and grow it and deliver it,” he said.
Ingredients for innovation
Buehler noted that his diverse experience in robotics has helped him at Creator.
“If you look at my trajectory — I’m fortunate to have worked at some really amazing places, from Boston Dynamics and iRobot to Medtronic and Disney,” he said. “From Boston Dynamics, I was very focused on rapid iterative design, break and learn, break and fix.”
“On the Medtronic side, [I learned] the whole aspect of developing and delivering a robot that’s safe and respects all of the regulatory requirements, particularly for the food safety,” Buehler recalled. “From Disney Imagineering, the key insight or paradigm is that technology is really subservient to the ultimate experience that we’re delivering.”
“The robot is the enabler, and we as engineers are working with the business owners and culinary experts,” he said. “It’s not about the technology; it’s about providing value, having the right product-market fit, and customers coming again.”
Creator preps for big appetites
Creator’s team has been working for eight years on the burger-preparing robots, which are getting good reviews on Yelp.
“A lot of techies around here enjoy watching the robot make the burger, but our prime selling point is really the quality of the burger,” said Buehler. “The key is delivering a better product at a better price.”
“I see it as a bit of an analogue with Disney. When you visit a theme park, and you interact with a character, you suspend disbelief and are excited to meet the character, not a robot,” he noted. “Come and have the best burger you’ve ever had, and by the way, this was possible because of a robot.”
“It has been a process for us, opening up a ginormous new market segment, which we’re only scratching the surface of,” he said. “We want to open more restaurants, so we’re designing robots for manufacturing and assembly. Scaling the business is a big but doable engineering challenge.”
“While hamburgers are the biggest segment — in the billions — that’s only a small part of the entire fresh-food market,” Buehler said. “We’re quite familiar with other companies in our market, and it’s great to see other companies getting into this space. It’s a validation that there’s a lot of opportunity.”
Anatomy of a robot-built gourmet burger
Why did Creator choose hamburgers to assemble with robots?
“It’s a natural choice. Our founder, Alex Vardakostas, grew up in Orange County, where from a young age, he was flipping burgers,” said Buehler. “He was quite motivated to automate his job, and he knows the business really well.”
“From a market pick, burgers are a great place to be,” he said. “We’ve already proven with our restaurant that we have an amazing product-market fit. Our guests love our food, and we are using robotics not just to provide the same thing that everybody else has but cheaper and faster.”
“Based on automation, we can put a higher percentage of product costs into the quality of the ingredients,” said Buehler. “There’s nobody else who grinds the meat to order; cuts the tomatoes to order; and cuts, butters, and toasts buns to order.”
Ordering up better jobs
When asked about plans for Creator’s robots to prepare side orders, Buehler said, “That makes sense, but right now, even though we use robotics to save some labor, we still have eight to 11 people in the restaurant. In fact, by scaling the restaurant, we’ll create lots of better jobs.”
Just as work on self-driving cars has helped with autonomous mobile robots for warehousing, so too has the confluence of cheaper computing and the streamlined integration of actuators helped service robots develop, he observed.
“I’ve been in this business for a few decades, and it was always such a struggle to build robots,” recalled Buehler. “They always ended up being so expensive, so it was hard to get this value proposition.”
“It’s great to build a robot that can do amazing things, but can we deliver it at a cost that people can actually afford it?” he said. “Finally, it’s getting to a point where you can do that, and as result, you see a lot of new markets for robots popping up, such as logistics, self-driving cars, and food.”
Dining with data
“One of the benefits that’s not often talked about is the way we’re doing things with robotics and big data,” said Buehler. “We have all this data about who buys what, when — the distribution of orders during the lunch period.”
“We’re always working to increase throughput and offer more choices,” Buehler said. “We already have several featured burgers that were made by famous chefs on our menu.”

domain: news


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Investors who are contemplating the iPhone sales surge that will kick off this month as the new model goes on sale might feel compelled to buy Apple stock.
They could do worse; it sells for 16 times projected earnings for Apple’s AAPL, -0.35% fiscal year ending this month, versus 14 times for the broad market. But with some slight math contortions—using next year’s higher, projected earnings and subtracting the company’s cash and investments from its stock price — the valuation drops to 11 times earnings.
Then again, Apple is already the largest company in America by stock market value, so don’t expect its shares to double soon.
As an alternative, there’s always a one-off iPhone stock, like Qualcomm, maker of the chips that power the high-speed data connections smartphones rely upon. But it sells for 18 times earnings.
Here’s a two-off idea: Seagate Technology STX, +0.87% . It makes hard drives that store data in personal computers and data centers.
Smartphones and tablet computers dented sales of personal computers, and investors view that as a troubling sign for hard-drive companies like Seagate. Tablet devices use speedy “flash” memory, and they don’t need much of it, because users increasingly store their videos, photos and other large files online using “cloud” services.
But those files must be stored somewhere, and that somewhere is the vast data centers like the kind being built by Apple, Amazon AMZN, -0.67% and Hewlett-Packard HPQ, +0.13% . Data centers have endless demand for hard drives, which hold a sizable lead over flash drives (which Seagate also sells) when it comes to storage capacity and reliability.
In 2010, 62% of data storage was shipped for individual use, but by 2020, Seagate reckons 61% will be used for cloud computing.
Seagate shares sell for just 4.5 times trailing earnings, and its earnings per share are expected by Wall Street to increase 10% over the next four quarters. The ultralow valuation reflects a belief among investors that Seagate is a PC-era stock in a post-PC world. But management last quarter pointed to “exceptional growth” from cloud-computing customers.
The stock gained 90% this year, topping Apple’s 69% rise. Part of that climb is owed to an industry recovery from flooding in Thailand last year that closed hard-drive factories and left supplies short. Part may also be owed to Seagate gradually proving that it can profit from the rise of iPhones and similar devices rather than fall victim.
At its current stock price, Seagate doesn’t need to provide world-beating growth to offer handsome returns for investors. Last quarter, the company spent a whopping $1.2 billion to repurchase its shares — that’s 10% of its current stock market value. And Seagate exited the quarter with $2.2 billion in cash and equivalents, up from $2 billion the prior quarter.
Share repurchases reduce a company’s share count and can increase the value of its remaining shares, but they work best in cases where shares are cheap. Seagate looks to be getting an excellent deal on its repurchases, and the pace of its program is as aggressive as they come.
The stock also carries a dividend yield of 4.3%, more than double the S&P 500 index’s yield.


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Let the holiday shopping frenzy begin! But it looks like traditional and online retailers are ignoring Black Friday and moving in ahead of time.
It might be a little shocking – but a lot of big box stores and department stores are opening their doors tonight. Justin Bieber will be there.
Justin Bieber: "Yo! I’m going to Macy’s Black Friday sale. SCREAM. Yeah, I know it’s pretty cool, it starts at midnight."
Scot Wingo is the C-E-O of Morrisville-based Channel Advisor. The company helps retailers sell more of their goods online.


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The program office for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has made little progress in fixing hundreds of design flaws in the fighter jet, according to a report obtained by the non-partisan independent watchdog Project On Government Oversight.
A number of companies which have been advertising fake reviews on Google have had their ads removed after they were brought to the notice of the search engine company.
Google plans to build three new undersea cables to speed up its connections with new regions as it looks to better its cloud computing business and compete with rivals Amazon and Microsoft.
New customers are being added to the satellite service because NBN Co hasn't rolled out fibre to the area because[…]
Might I respectively suggest that this is probably another survey designed for feel good results and as such was a[…]
Hi Peter, I have a response to this article that I'd love to share – what's the best way to[…]
Ive got Amayasim 100gb + UNL calls+text for $30/28days so its not so bad and they have been giving me[…]


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Snapchat is slowly but surely getting more money from a new revenue stream with its Snapchat+ subscription service. This week, the social network's parent company Snap revealed in its latest financial results (via TechCrunch) that the service now has over 2 million paid subscribers.
That's actually not too bad for a service that is mainly used to test new features that might be introduced to all Snapchat users at a later date. Snapchat+ costs $3.99 a month and currently includes 12 features unavailable to the rest of its audience. Some of those extra features include pinning your best friend to your account, viewing how many friends rewatched your story, and more. You also get some custom badges as a member.
Snapchat+ launched in June 2022 and quickly gained over one million users six weeks afterward. It obviously took a bit longer to reach the 2 million milestone, but it does show growth, and that's likely what counts in Snap's eyes. The service is available in 18 countries and territories.
Overall, Snapchat ended the fourth quarter of 2022 with 375 million daily active users. That's 57 million users higher compared to the same time in 2021. Revenues came in at $4.6 billion for the past year, up 12 percent compared to 2021. However, the company did suffer losses of $1.430 billion for 2022, compared to losses of $488 million. Snap admitted it faces "significant headwinds" to improve revenues.
Source: Snap via TechCrunch
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It’s been discovered that popular RPG Genshin Impact is soon to become the most expensive game to develop of all time.
Long-awaited Marvel’s Midnight Suns has been delayed indefinitely. 2K’s Marvel Midnight Suns is one of their long-awaited titles. Following Take Two
MediaMarkt launches a new mega-pack that includes the Horizon games: Forbidden West, Elden Ring and Gran Turismo 7 (Sold out).Update:
The CEO of Bandai Namco stated that Blue Protocol should be anticipated soon after this year. Now that Hiroshi Yoshida is the company’s…
Monolith Soft’s open world action RPG has debuted on top of the weekly Japanese physical charts, outpacing any previous Xenoblade title’s launch sales.
Higround is releasing a “Sonic the Hedgehog” keyboard that reportedly prioritizes aesthetics over functionality.
Since nobody has really shook up the console platform trifecta in a long. The market has been dominated for years by Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo, with


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Amazon Prime: Amazon Prime is more dear.. Since when are the new prices?
Publication date: 12/14/2021 02:00 AM
Internet Desk: Amazon Prime membership is growing in popularity. From now on, new members will have to pay a lump sum of 50 percent. It was learned that the company announced earlier that the current annual membership for Amazon Prime will be Rs 999 while it will be Rs 1,499. However, it was not immediately clear when the new rates would take effect. Amazon Prime announced on its Deals page that the latest inflation will take effect from midnight today (Tuesday, December 14th). To become a member of Amazon Prime from December 14, one has to pay 1,499 rupees. There are currently three types available for Amazon membership. Offering monthly, quarterly and yearly memberships. Prices for the rest will also rise in line with the recent rally.
Currently, the monthly membership fee is 129 rupees, with an increase to 179 rupees (adding 38 per cent), 329 rupees per month for three months, and 459 rupees (adding 39 per cent). Annual membership ranges from 999 rupees to 1,499 rupees (add 50%). Those who take an Amazon Prime subscription will get Prime Videos and Prime Music benefits as well as free home delivery in one or two days. Plus, you can get the best deals up to 30 minutes in advance. In 2016, Amazon launched its prime membership in India. Then the annual membership was 499 rupees and then in 2019 this amount was increased to 999 rupees. Amazon also made monthly memberships available in 2018.
► Read the latest Business News And telugu news
Lifelong foodaholic. Professional twitter expert. Organizer. Award-winning internet geek. Coffee advocate.


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“These Italian kids are already learning Korean!” exclaimed Perfect magazine editor-in-chief Brian Yambaw as he climbed into the car after the show.
A few years ago, such a scene would have been rare: most shows attracted only small groups of fans watching the arrival of the celebrities. But at a time when South Korean pop music has become an increasingly global obsession, and with major luxury brands signing more and more deals with their superstars, the die-hard followers of young K-pop groups have become a staple.
Jisoo wears Dior during Paris Fashion Week on September 27, 2022 in Paris, France. credit: Jeremy Mueller/Getty Images
The rise of K-Pop mega-groups—whose influence swept across Asia in the 2010s before catching on in Europe and the Americas—coincided with Korean cultural breakthroughs in other media, such as Squid Game broadcasts and blockbusters like “Parasite” and “Minari.” The audience for Korean talents, which brands have long had a level of their near-fanatical following to share on social media, has only grown in recent years, both domestically and abroad.
“We’re at this tipping point where Korean influence is at the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist,” said Alison Bringye, chief marketing officer of fashion consulting firm Launchmetrics. “Brands are looking for ways to activate on a global level, and Korean talent is delivering on that.”
The influence of Korean online stars can transcend even the most digitally savvy and popular Western talent: for example, a partnership between Kim Kardashian and Dolce & Gabbana, in which the reality TV star and mega-influencer helped “orchestrate” and style the brand’s September 2022 show, winning Online news and visibility headlines worth $4.6 million, according to Launchmetrics. Blackpink star Jisoo created $7 million in buzz for Dior’s show in Paris that same season, but mostly just by showing up.
From South Korea to the world
Last year, South Korea was a bright spot for luxury brands among Asian markets as sales jumped to a record high. A recent Morgan Stanley report found that the market has grown by about 40 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels for 2019. South Koreans are now the world’s largest spenders on luxury goods per capita, and “relative to a number of leading brands, such as Prada, Moncler or Bottega Veneta Or Burberry, we think Korean nationals now account for 10 percent or more of all retail sales, analyst Edward Obin wrote.
But the increasing pace of luxury partnerships with Korean talents hasn’t been driven by their growing importance to the star’s home market alone.
In China, K-pop giants are so famous that the Chinese government has sought to crack down on what it deems to be “irrational” behavior from members of K-pop fan clubs, such as buying many album copies to sell juice for one of their favorite songs. an act. K-pop acts are also very popular in the small, but fast growing Southeast Asian market. Overall, Asian consumers — and the stars they are likely to reach — will likely remain in focus this year as growth is expected to slow sharply in the United States and Europe, which have boosted the luxury industry since the end of the pandemic.
The appeal of working K-pop stars extends beyond their reach: the artists are rigorously trained and closely monitored by a strict system of studios, which craft, control, and fiercely protect their images. This means that they take minimal reputational risk for the brands they work with.
According to fashion directors involved in the recent wave of K-Pop partnerships, deals with these stars are also seen as good investments due to the “guiding” influence they have among their audience. Many of them are less shy than Western performers about explicitly recommending brands or products to audiences. In turn, purchasing products endorsed by stars is often seen by their fans as a way to show their love for their favorite acts.
Kay and François-Henri Pinault at the Gucci show during Milan Men’s Fashion Week on January 13, 2023 in Milan, Italy. credit: Danielle Venturelli / Getty Images
However, industry sources say the deals aren’t just about boosting sales. K-Pop stars are often fashion expressives, willing to experiment with fashion as a way to differentiate themselves within their supergroups. This makes them exciting partners for brands and designers who want to create unforgettable and exciting fashion moments.
A Valentino spokesperson said Suga “understands fashion deeply,” and has become a “major inspiration and stepping stone” for designer Pierpaolo Piccioli this year.
At Fashion Week, brands seem happy to fan the flames of the local K-pop fanatics who attend their events. Dior even sent out a statement last Thursday confirming that Jimin will be attending the upcoming menswear show. The brand said the show was “an opportunity to celebrate Dior’s relationship with the member of pop group BTS in the 21st century.”
Top Photo Caption: ENHYPEN attends the Prada menswear show on January 15, 2023 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Jacopo M. Rauli/Getty Images for Prada)


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A lack of innovation and long-term underperformance within asset management has left the industry open to new entrants — technology-enabled firms, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service.
The report released Tuesday, said the money management industry is particularly vulnerable to competition from new tech-enabled entrants with regard to distribution. For example, some market share has already been ceded to robo-advisers, including Wealthfront, Acorns and Betterment.
Technological disruption in asset management is most likely to stem from innovations in distribution through better client contact, relevance, identification, customization and retention.
"We think technology firms have the advantage here," said Stephen Tu, vice president and senior analyst at Moody's, in a phone interview.
Mr. Tu noted that the asset management industry has already seen digital disruption in China. In 2013, an affiliate of Alibaba launched Yu'e Bao, a money market fund for its digital payment system, Alipay. With $211 billion in assets, the fund has grown to become the world's largest money market fund in just four years.
Digital payment firms like PayPal, which have large user bases and are seeking new revenue streams, could benefit from offering investment funds. Meanwhile, U.S. technology giants such as Amazon, Apple and Google, could enter the asset management industry not just for investment management fees but also to enable data collection and keep their clients within their companies' business ecosystems.
Robert M. "Rory" Callagy, senior vice president and manager at Moody's, added in the same phone interview that these technology firms "with strong distribution channels" can enter the asset management business to make "their ecosystems that much more attractive" and give their users fewer reasons to leave that business platform.
Some money managers are better prepared to accommodate the need for digital upgrades. Although most managers have recognized the threat of competition from technology companies with more advanced distribution channels, few have substantially invested in addressing the problem.
Fidelity, for example, has invested heavily in improving its digital interaction and customization of services to clients through its web interface and apps. Blackrock, meanwhile, in addition to developing its Aladdin risk management platform and making its fundamental investing more quantitative, has made several recent acquisitions and investments in financial technology.
"Traditional asset managers must adapt their businesses to reflect the technology-oriented preferences of their client base," the report said. "Otherwise, technology firms will more easily be able to capitalize on their own strong distribution channels and begin expanding their existing ecosystems by cross-selling financial products to their clients."


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Two jewelry store clerks claim they were duped out of 1 million rubles ($37,000) in merchandise by a mysterious woman who hypnotized them into believing that worthless scraps of paper were actually 5,000 ruble notes, Life News reported Tuesday.
The incident occurred at the Golden Style jewelry store in a north Moscow shopping mall, where surveillance cameras showed the unidentified woman go into the store for about 90 minutes.
"She liked 14 items," one clerk told the news site. "She handed over the money, two envelopes with about 1 million 80 thousand rubles inside. We counted it."
The cashier put the envelopes into a safe, but discovered several hours later that they contained just scraps of paper. The clerks claim they were hypnotized into believing that the bits of paper were actually money, although police were skeptical.
"Whether she was using a hypnosis technique is currently difficult to determine," a police source told Life News. "It's possible that she just skillfully duped the sales clerks when she was handing over the money then taking it back."
Surveillance video showed the woman walking around the mall for some time before going into the jewelry store, which does not have a camera.
"What she was searching for is unclear," a police source


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Next week, the US retail industry’s high selling season kicks off in earnest. The infamous Black Friday is on the 23rd, immediately followed by Small Business Saturday, a day dedicated to supporting small businesses all across the country by encouraging people to shop at small businesses in their communities.
Small businesses in the economy
Amidst the chaos of shopping that won’t let up until Christmas Day, it’s worth thinking about the critical role small businesses play in the US economy.
As you can see in this infographic, small businesses:
- Pay 44% of total U.S. private payroll
- Created 65% of the net new jobs created in the 17 year period ending in 2009
Retailers are a huge part of the small business economy, and they’ve been flourishing — particularly boutique and artisan retailers. They’re flourishing because of their passion and hard work, the support of patrons who shop local and shop small, and their ability to run their businesses anytime, from anywhere on cloud software. What’s more, they can also cut the costs of having custom retail software created for them by combining integrated cloud apps.
In the days before integrated cloud apps, artisan retailers couldn’t afford the expensive hardware and software required to graduate from pop-up stores and farmer’s markets to larger-scale businesses. Now, however, they can use apps like Xero to get retail operations up and running with a much smaller investment.
Chocolate and fruit
Two examples are The Sixth Course and Blue Chair Fruit. Both use Xero, and both were able to spontaneously get their retail operations going. They didn’t have to install anything, and they didn’t have to pay for any software that they didn’t need. They can just login and access all their data from any device – their computers, tablets and even their phones are always wired in to the pulse of their business.
Create your own retail solution
At Xero, we celebrate and support small businesses, so we’re offering a great deal on a retail solution – get Xero, Vend point of sale software and Shopify ecommerce software all free through the end of 2012. Go to xero.com/small-business-saturday for more details. And no matter who you are, do the industry and the economy a favor by going out on Saturday, November 24th and shopping small!


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BAY OF PIGS INVASION: After 40 years, U.S.-Cuban shipping resumes
Sun | Nation & World
WASHINGTON - Regularly scheduled cargo shipping between the United States and Cuba resumed for the first time in 40 years as a ship carrying donated goods left Jacksonville, Fla., for Havana on Thursday.
The vessel, owned by Crowley Liner Services of Jacksonville, is to unload in Cuba on Saturday.
"It's clearly precedent-setting," said John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Economic Council, an organi-zation representing U.S. businesses.
The Havana stop was added to a weekly route between Florida and Mexico. Whether the Cuba service will continue depends on demand, said Mark Miller, a spokesman for Crowley.
Congress last year authorized the sale of food and agricultural products to Cuba but put tight restrictions on such transactions. They cannot be subsidized by the federal government or financed by U.S. banks.
Cuba is urging Congress to ease those terms. Fernando Remirez, Cuba's top diplomat in Washington, said earlier this week that the restrictions "make it almost impossible to have any" sales.
Crowley has had discussions with more than 100 companies interested in shipping products to Cuba, Miller said. He declined to say whether Crowley had made any bookings for commercial sales or to disclose what was on the ship that left Thursday.
"There will be some sales, the question is when, not if," Kavulich said. "Likely they will be small, more symbolic sales in the beginning, especially intended to reward the companies and organizations and members of Congress who have worked to develop expansion of the commercial relationship."


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Warner Bros. and 5th Cell facing Keyboard Cat, Nyan Cat lawsuit
Publisher and developer targeted in Scribblenauts trademark infringement lawsuit from creators of memes.
Next Scribblenauts to feature Batman, Joker - Report
Sources say next entry in 5th Cell's series a DC superheroes game that may be announced at E3 in June.
Scribblenauts franchise draws $100 million
5th Cell CEO Jeremiah Slaczka says indie studios have shot at posting "big numbers"; reveals a new iOS game is coming soon.
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Dr. Ron Smith, a well known dentist in the Cowichan Valley, is the recipient of the prestigious Medal Of Honour from the Canadian Dental Association.
The Medal of Honour is considered the pinnacle award of the CDA.
“Its purpose is to recognize an individual who has given extraordinary service to the profession and to the CDA, resulting in significant change,” the CDA said.
“This award is intended to recognize outstanding service, leadership and humanitarianism at the local, provincial, national, and international level. Recipients must be dentists and must be members of the CDA.”
Smith is a past president of the BC Dental Association and the CDA, and has been active in multiple facets of the CDA’s work over a period of many years.
“Contributing to the betterment of my profession has been a rewarding experience in itself,” Smith said.
“I am honoured to have been selected by my peers for this prestigious award.”
Due to the distinctive and special nature of this award, there is no requirement for the award to be given in any one year.
According to the rules of the CDA, only one award will be given at any one time, and only two awards will be given within any five-year period.
There will only be 10 living recipients holding this award at any one time.
The award will only be given to living recipients and not posthumously.
The timing of the presentation of the award to Smith has yet to be confirmed, but may be held in April at the CDA’s AGM in Ottawa.
A new vintage store, called Turn Back Time, has opened on Vimy Road in Duncan.
Owner Julie Stevens said her store does consignment work for local artists who work with furniture, home decor, garden wares and other artistic creations.
She said there are currently eight artist consigning their work from the store, located at 5220 Vimy Rd., but she can handle as many artists as come forward.
“We’ve just had our third weekend in business, and we’ve been busy since we began,” Stevens said.
“There is a demand for work from local artists and stores like this have become popular destinations in the region. But there’s only one other like us in Duncan, so we thought that we had something to offer here. It’s been a lot of fun so far.”
Turn Back Time is open Fridays through Sundays. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., or by appointment.
Stevens can be contacted at turn email@example.com, or by calling 250-710-8991.
Martin’s Clothing Store, located at 33 Station St. in Duncan, is planning to close for good on Aug. 28.
Owner Susan Martin said the COVID-19 pandemic was the “last straw” for the store, which, like many businesses, had to close for a period of time in the early stages of the pandemic.
She said business has been improving at the store in recent months, but she has decided to close it and return to bookkeeping.
Martin said anyone interested in taking over the business, and/or buying her remaining inventory, should contact the store.
In the meantime, she encouraged anyone who has outstanding gift certificates or credit at Martin’s Clothing Store to use them before Aug. 28.
“We are so thankful to everyone who has supported us over the years,” Martin said.
White Spot and Triple O’s locations across B.C., including the Cowichan Valley, raised $212,574 for the Canadian Red Cross B.C. wildfire relief fund through the donation of $2 from every burger sold at their locations on July 29.
The money raised, which includes matched donations from the province and Ottawa, is intended to help those impacted by the hundreds of wildfires currently burning in B.C.
“White Spot and Triple O’s guests, franchisees and employees have a long-standing generous tradition of giving,” says Warren Erhart, president of White Spot Restaurants.
“When there’s a need, our teams and partners are always ready to help at a moment’s notice and our guests will always support in any way they can. Our thoughts and hearts go out to those who have been affected by the recent fires, and we are grateful to be able to contribute to the relief efforts.”
Now through Aug. 31, Unsworth Vineyards will be donating, to the B.C. Hospitality Foundation, $1 per bottle of Charme de l’île Rosé, 2020 Rosé, and 2019 Pinot Noir sold.
The Mill Bay-based vineyard has $5,000 as its goal for the fundraiser for the BCHF, a charity that raises funds to support those in the hospitality industry facing financial crisis due to a health condition.
Unsworth plans to have $4,000 of the funds raised go to beneficiaries who apply for relief funding from the BCHF, and $1,000 will go to a scholarship for an up-and-coming B.C. wine-making or viticulture student.
“Enjoy the summer sipping Unsworth Pinot Noir wine, rosé, and sparkling while helping us support the BCHF, our charity of choice,” Unsworth said on its website.
Canadian-based restaurant franchise Mr. Mike’s SteakhouseCasual, which has a location in Duncan, has developed a progressive advantage program to increase hiring and provide incentives for team members to stay and grow within the company.
The program includes three components consisting of MIKES Self Betterment Bucks, team-member health benefits matching and an extensive staff discount program.
All team members at Mr. Mike’s get a 40 per cent discount on their food bill when they dine at any Mr. Mike’s location, including up to three accompanying guests; Mr. Mike’s restaurants will match funds to all qualifying team members for its health benefits package; and every four months, all qualifying employees can submit for up to $250 to use towards their personal growth and goals.
A press release from Mr. Mike’s said the restaurant franchise recognizes that the Canadian hospitality industry has changed drastically over the last year and a half due to the pandemic.
The release said the MIKES Advantage program has been created to enhance the company’s hiring and retention strategy and will provide team members with much more than the regular hourly wage.
“We are excited to get this program off the ground and implemented in all Mr. Mike’s locations Canada-wide,” said Tony Zidar, SVP Operations for Mr. Mike’s.
“Currently, employees are seeking more than just an hourly wage, and by offering the MIKES Advantage program, we are hoping to help Mr. Mike’s stand out from its competitors by providing enhanced personal fulfillment opportunities while working at any of our locations.”
Additionally, Mr. Mike’s is now offering a referral program which allows employees to earn $200 if they refer someone who gets hired at any location.
For more information on Mr. Mike’s, go to www.mrmikes.ca/mikes-life/.


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We’re pleased to report that our new mobile markets have been well received during weekend visits to Buena Vista and Ellaville, and now a new stop has been added in Montezuma. The primary merchandise offered at these weekend events is fresh blooming and green plants.
The true mission of the roving market has been to share information about mental illness and substance abuse recovery and create greater awareness of Perry Wellness Center throughout the surrounding counties it serves. The nearby communities’ response to the weekend markets has been positive.
“I am happy that the message about Perry Wellness Center is reaching more individuals,” says Perry Wellness Center founder and CEO Stuart Perry. “This was a good idea – to provide seasonal plants in addition to our message of helping others.”
At each stop, staff representatives not only sell plants, but chat with customers, listen, and respond to questions. The goal is to have visitors leave with not only a plant or two in hand, but with greater knowledge about behavioral health problems, treatment, and recovery.
Staff member Kelly Jansen notes another important purpose of the mobile markets: “Many of our customers already know about Perry Wellness Center, and many have been to Rudy’s Happy Patch Market. It is good to bring a personal greeting and thank you to people in these three rural towns.”
In the photo above, Kelly Jansen, left, and market staffer Cindy Corbin, position plants on the town square in Buena Vista and prepare to greet weekend customers.


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Idaho onion market high due to shorter supplies
The Idaho onion market is on the high side because supplies are more limited this year. Local growers were affected by a wet spring which caused some flooding in the region earlier this year. As a result, some crops struggled to get going for the summer growing season and stocks are somewhat down on normal.
"80% of what is grown in the Idaho/eastern Oregon region are the Spanish Sweet Yellow onions," said Ken Stewart, of Four Rivers Onion Packing in Idaho. "The growing season was not kind. There was a wet spring followed by a summer with early extreme heat, so volume and sizes were reduced. Some flooding occurred in the lower valleys and the plants in those areas were not able to reach maturity in time for summer. With all the wet soil, growers got behind in production and supplies have been shortened."
Market high on back of short supply
With the shortage of supplies, the market in Idaho has been high for several months and it's expected to rise as demand increases ahead of the Holiday season. For growers, it has enabled some of them to recoup a portion of the losses stemming from the dip in production.
"The market has been strong all Fall due to the shortage of supplies," continued Stewart. "The 50lb sacks have been in the $10 range and is expected to creep up in the next few months. This is a good market for our area. Growers are happy as they needed those prices to make up for the loss of some of their crops. Some have managed to harvest close to their average, mainly those that were not affected by the Spring flooding."
Sweet onions for Idaho?
While the majority of the regions' crop consists of the Spanish Yellow onions, Red onions have been increasing in demand and Stewart noted that there are efforts to develop a Sweet onion program to expand growers' portfolios.
"The Spanish Sweet onions grown in the Idaho/eastern Oregon region are a great cooking onion," he said. "They hold texture well, are perfect for dishes such as the 'Bloomin' Onion', as well as exhibiting a sweeter flavor profile once cooked. Red onions, which make up close to 15% of the entire crop, are seeing an increase in demand and are ideal in salads and sandwiches."
"Seed companies are always coming up with new varieties to test, including ones more resistant to disease as well as a Sweet onion varietal that will be compatible with the region's soils," Stewart continued. "The soil is a factor as to why it is difficult to grow varieties like the Vidalia sweet onion. Acids present in the soil here transmit to the onion plant, making them more pungent. Some trial plots of sweet onion have been in production for a few years and it is one avenue we see potential for growth into the future."
For more information:
Four Rivers Onion Packing
Tel: +1 208-549-8300
Publication date: 11/15/2017
Author: Dennis M. Rettke
© 2018 FreshPlaza. All rights reserved.


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Understanding how procurement delivers value beyond financial cost savings
Nick Pike, chief revenue officer at Vizibl discusses why pharmaceutical companies aren’t only interested in the financial benefits when it comes to collaboration.
In just a few months, Covid-19 has triggered sweeping changes in how the world does business. This massive scale disruption has created a succession of different supply chain issues that many organisations now face. From supplier shortages to logistics and shipment issues, to considering sourcing from alternate suppliers, organisations are having to rethink their approach.
Managing these supply chain issues can be especially challenging for those industries who are not responsible for everything they do, such as FMCG, telcos and pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceutical organisations, for example, often only control 30% to 40% of their destiny, the rest of their business sits in their extended ecosystems of various partners, academics, research laboratories and suppliers. And right now, this sector is in the media spotlight as the importance of and search for a Covid-19 vaccine continues. This has seen many pharmaceutical companies seeking partners and looking to collaborate to find a solution.
Working with an extended ecosystem
Bringing new drugs to market quickly has always been a key business driver for the pharmaceutical industry, but now collaborating and innovating with their supply chain has become even more important. Previously, most pharmaceutical companies did all their research in-house, but now we are seeing them turn much more to external parties to help them both undertake critical research and productise findings.
But, to achieve this level of collaboration pharmaceuticals are heavily dependent on technology. Here at Vizibl we have been working with several pharmaceutical companies helping them to work more effectively with their key suppliers and vendors. Our supplier collaboration and innovation platform provides much-needed visibility for pharmaceutical companies to understand their current relationships; what they are spending with particular suppliers; and what they are delivering in both directions; and getting the prerequisites in place to enable a relationship whereby they can collaborate and innovate.
What we often find is that the first thing pharmaceutical companies need to do to achieve this, is to provide transparency of data. With transparency of data comes trust. Once you have trust, then you can focus on solving the problems which are important to all parties involved. This is more relevant in current times because the way we used to build trust was to put executives on planes to fly around the world, meeting people to build relationships – now this needs to be done digitally. It is therefore important to have the right solutions and systems in place, where trust is built by showing what you are doing through communication and collaboration to bring new products to market.
Aligning procurement with key business goals
One example of a pharmaceutical company that we have worked closely with is Astellas, a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company. The firm’s procurement function and culture are largely unrecognisable from four years ago and as a result, has received great recognition across the business and externally from its partners.
In particular, the Astellas procurement team had two key goals: it wanted procurement to be better aligned with the rest of the business, to improve speed, costs and agility. It also wanted to better collaborate with its partner ecosystem in order for procurement to deliver value beyond just cost savings.
Astellas’ procurement team undertook a detailed voice of the customer survey internally to get them aligned with global business stakeholders on what the business was looking to achieve and how procurement fitted into that. Astellas had a strong source-to-contract technology stack, but most of what it was doing was around contract risk management and its procurement tools were focused around procurement processes rather than creating value or innovation.
The procurement team made good progress in terms of business alignment, achieving some significant financial savings, but it still needed to improve collaboration with its huge army of suppliers and the team was keen to figure out how to bring the talent and expertise within its supply chain into the organisation.
Managing strategic vendors
Astellas started its Supplier Collaboration journey by focussing on their strategic vendors. For example, Astellas was working very closely with Genpact, a professional services and outsourcing vendor, with whom it was keen to have a more consistent and transparent relationship. Having put in place Vizibl to enable peer to peer collaboration between the Astellas and Genpact teams Astellas was also able to define its standard strategic operating procedures consistently and apply consistent procedures to other strategic vendors.
Astellas also wanted to ensure that it was correctly investing resources and working with suppliers that had differentiating capabilities, engaging in programmes of work that were defined and measurable. This would enable procurement to bring that innovation and insight into the organisation and drive the business forward. As mentioned, key for the procurement team was how they would create value and differentiate not just Astellas, but also its extended enterprise ecosystem. A future-proofed organisation is one that is making the best use of its capabilities, and for companies like Astellas, a lot of its best capabilities were sitting in its supply base. Astellas was also keen to engage with smaller start-ups in a more agile and smarter way as it recognised that these entrepreneurial organisations deliver a lot of innovative ideas and concepts.
Driving business value
Astellas found the decision to utilise Vizibl to underpin all these goals relatively simple. Having carefully researched the market, the procurement team found that there were a number of tools that could utilise operational performance and spend data, but none of these tools closed the loop and had the ingrained deep collaboration functionality and transparency modules on suppliers that Vizibl has. These were critical drivers for Astellas in the selection of the technology and today Vizibl is helping Astellas with real business problems, creating an ecosystem for collaboration with its suppliers and subsequently driving business value for the business that goes way beyond cost savings.
That is particularly relevant and important right now given that pharmaceutical organisations need to bring new drugs on stream for both Covid-19 and other viruses, in addition to future vaccines that will prepare the population for the next pandemic.


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MANCHESTER -based Tangerine PR has triumphed at the national Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ Excellence Awards, taking home the ‘Automotive Campaign of the Year’ accolade.
Beating off brands including Citroen UK, Alfa Romeo and Nissan - the agency’s dazzling work for Peugeot UK was chosen to receive the prestigious national award.
Tangerine’s team covered a Peugeot RCZ in 81,000 ‘Essex diamonds’ before hosting a high profile launch with lovers of all things bling, Cara Kilbey and Billie Mucklow from hit TV show, TOWIE, in celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee last summer.
ABSOLUTE Media has competed a new website for have been working with exclusive lingerie store,, to create a new and improved ecommerce website for the luxury lingerie brand Dolci Follie.
Dolci Follie approached the Bolton design agency having seen their recent award winning ecommerce project for boxer Amir Khan.
HALE-based digital and search marketing agency First Internet has launched a new website for London barrister's chamber 1kbw.
First Internet designed the site to be fully responsive, allowing visitors to access the site via all platforms. Other new features introduced by the digital agency include data capture enquiry forms.
As well as handling the website and brand development, First Internet has also secured the brief to manage the chambers’ search engine optimisation requirements.
CREATIVE , advertising and communications agency BJL will be giving three teams from north west universities and colleges the chance to get their first taste of industry life by interning at their offices in Manchester.
Over the past month participating students from Central Lancashire and Salford Universities, as well as Stockport College, have been mentored by a different BJL creative team, as they address a series of challenges.
The winning team from each university will receive a two-week placement at BJL over June and July. The team then deemed most successful will earn themselves a further two-month placement to kick-start their career, with the possibility of a more long term role at BJL.
COMMUNICATIONS agency Rule 5 has moved to new premises as the MediaCityUK agency continues to expand the business with the appointment of Lucy Murgatroyd to the team.
The agency has relocated from The Greenhouse to The Landing; the latest state-of-the-art development in MediaCityUK which spans over 53,500 sq ft and seven floors of the Blue Tower.
The move coincides with the appointment of Lucy Murgatroyd, who joins the team from MC2 as account executive later this month.
MACCLESFIELD agency Vibe has completed a rebrand for Mark 1 Business Systems, a quality, environmental and health and safety management specialist.Vibe was tasked with the creation of a responsive website, compatible with tablet and mobile devices, to communicate the new brand.


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The Bank of Montreal has launched a new service called BMO Global Money Transfer to allow customers to send money abroad.
The feature is available on the bank’s mobile app and each international transaction is priced with a $5 service fee. This fee is waived for customers until January 31, 2022. Bank accounts catering to Canadian newcomers, BMO Premium and Private Banking customers, will continue the service for free past the deadline.
Numerous functions, such as a currency watchlist and the ability to set up recurring transactions, are available.
“With most of our customers being digitally active, we’re excited to offer a convenient new feature to send money internationally through the BMO mobile banking app,” Gayle Ramsay, head of everyday banking at BMO, said in a press release.
“Being able to easily reach loved ones overseas is important to helping our customers make real financial progress, especially during the holiday season. BMO is committed to meeting customers where they are and providing convenient digital solutions to meet their everyday banking needs.”
The new service is building on the financial organization’s promise to digitalize the customer experience. It has partaken in several past initiatives, including letting customers take selfies to verify new bank accounts, as part of the promise.
Image source: ShutterStock


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The Lego Marvel Avengers: Code Purple Disney+ launch date has been revealed for the forthcoming Lego particular.
What’s the Lego Marvel Avengers: Code Purple Disney+ launch date?
Marvel has revealed that Lego Marvel Avengers: Code Purple will premiere on Disney+ on Friday, October 27. A poster for the particular was additionally revealed, which reveals an Avengers emblem made out of crimson bricks that’s falling aside from the left facet. No synopsis or plot abstract for the particular has been launched at the moment.
Try the Lego Marvel Avengers: Code Purple poster under:
That is removed from the primary time that Lego has crossed over with Marvel, with a number of Lego units, video video games, and animated collection and specials being launched over time. Earlier Lego Marvel specials included 2015’s Avengers Reassembled, 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and 2018’s Black Panther — Hassle in Wakanda.


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It's that familiar topic that always feels so inconsequential during fashion week. We're supposed to be looking at couture, accessories, creations, art — and yet all we can do is talk about and look at the bodies underneath them. Talk about an overshadowing. Though we've made it safely through two cities so far, unfortunately, ladies and gents, the topic has inevitably surfaced, with Kendall Jenner being called too fat for the runway on the cover of Famous magazine. And insults from other models aren't the only thing being brought to light. The magazine has so kindly photoshopped cellulite onto her normally slender frame to make their point loud and clear.
The cellulite is clearly fallacious, as just last week Kendall walked the Tommy Hilfiger show, and there are plenty of high-res photos to prove her behind is dimple-free. Unfortunately for Kendall, bullying the model has trumped celebrating her fashion week successes, certainly by the tabloids, if not actually by fellow models.
Refreshingly, Kendall hasn't seemed to take the fat shaming to heart, as she was seen indulging in gelato in Milan after the article came out. The model, though only 18-years-old, has handled tabloid criticism like a pro. A week ago, she tactfully shamed a photographer who took a photograph up her skirt, and now she's subtly handing it to the press again — this time, with a plastic spoonful of gelato.
And Kendall isn't the only model strutting right past weight criticism. Gemma Ward opened the Prada show this week, making the ultimate comeback after disappearing from modeling six years ago. The Australian model retired from the catwalk when she was called too fat after modeling a tiny swimsuit on Chanel's runway. Though she appeared in several movies over the years, fans hoped she would return to modeling, as her unique features made her so one-of-a-kind. Prayers were answered when she not only walked for Prada, but scored the coveted position of opening the show.
It doesn't appear that these models are paying any mind to the weight criticism, so let's get back to the purpose of fashion — the clothes — now shall we?


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Codemasters Campzone event details
The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ & ArchLord™ to be shown for the first time to the general public at Codemasters Campzone!
Following the announcement of Codemasters Online Gaming’s involvement in the forthcoming Campzone 2006 event, Codemasters Online Gaming has announced yet more detailed information on what you can expect to see at the worlds largest outdoor LAN gaming event that is Codemasters Campzone.
Codemasters Online Gaming, will be attending the first weekend of this awesome event from Friday 21st July until Sunday 23rd July with a host of exciting events planned for the 5000+ avid gamers who will in attendance.
First up will see introductory gameplay sessions of both recently launched titles RF Online and DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE™: Stormreach™, in which guests will be given free trial keys for each game and then embark on an epic series of quests and events to win an exclusive series of prizes! Both games will be supported by a number of exciting interactive events across the huge LAN network allowing all visitors at Codemasters Campzone the opportunity to compete against one another at the show.
Lucky attendees can also look forward to a full ArchLord™ introduction with full gameplay presentations where guests will stand a chance to win exclusive early BETA keys for this eagerly anticipated game.
In yet another Codemasters Campzone exclusive, for the first time Codemasters Online Gaming will be recording live the first ever episode of the COGCast, Codemasters Online Gaming’s very own Podcast, which is due to air in the coming months.
Comments Ed Relf, Director of Marketing for Codemasters Online Gaming
“We are extremely excited to release yet further details of our involvement with the fantastic Campzone event. The event will be an outstanding showcase for our forthcoming MMO games and we look forward to meeting our community at this very special event!”
Further details will also be announced shortly on the forthcoming plans to demonstrate The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ at Codemasters Campzone however Codemasters Online Gaming have promised something extra special for the event!
To keep up to date with everything related to Campzone, visit the official Codemasters Campzone website at www.codemasterscampzone.nl and www.codemasterscampzone.com.
BETA sign-up is now live for ArchLord and The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. For your chance to enter early BETA testing, sign-up now at www.lotro-europe.com or www.archlordgame.com


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In December, when some have visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads, 64-year-old Bakersfield native Roger Upton has dreams of designing the Santa float in the Bakersfield Christmas Parade.
Next week, his lifelong wish will finally come true with the plumb assignment of reimagining the float that will carry Mr. and Mrs. Claus through the streets of downtown.
“I have wanted to design that float since high school. I had begged Brock’s for years to do it back then,” Upton said, referring to his work on the beloved department store’s holiday window displays. “This is a bucket (list) dream of mine.”
And for the first time in the parade’s history, the most important entry will receive a makeover from an acclaimed designer and prominent fixture on the local theater and interiors scene.
Upton, who has been creating costumes since he was a teenager working with the North Bakersfield Junior Theatre, designs garments for Ovation Theatre, The Empty Space, Bakersfield Community Theatre and CSU Bakersfield. Always in high demand, last year alone he was involved in a record 15 productions locally.
“I’ve probably done some 800 productions over my career, nearly all of them in Bakersfield,” he said. “I was always inspired by the gowns designed by Bob Mackie worn by Carol Burnett and Cher on television.”
He honed his eye for elegance and detail in the mid-1970s while an assistant in the Brock’s display department. By 1981, he was in charge and transformed the store’s sidewalk cases into elaborate animated scenes from the Christmas classic “The Nutcracker Suite.”
Back then the budget for just four windows was $26,000 and the arrangements were an annual holiday attraction. Similar to higher-end stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, the window drapes were a rich velvet and the gowns for the 15 animated figurines were ornate. When Gottschalks purchased the store in 1987, nearly all of the display’s contents were sold off.
“I never quit loving it. That’s why I kept some,” he said, adding that others are now out at CALM.
Meticulous then and in everything he has done since, Upton operated stores downtown until 2013. The following year, he began preparing the windows for Timeless Furnishings, which occupies the space of his former employer. This season he plans to recreate some of the Brock’s Victorian-themed arrangements.
When the Christmas parade committee considered doing something new, Upton offered his talents.
“When we met with Roger a few months ago and learned this has been a dream of his to create the Santa float, we were so happy to help his dream come true,” said committee member Cathy Butler.
Upton had done floats for the North Bakersfield Junior Theatre, but never something this grand or sentimental.
“I first fell in love with floats watching the Rose Parade. The more old-fashioned, the better,” he said. “It made sense. I’m picky, I don’t give up and upping the game is what I do. I’m a theater guy so I knew how to create something that could be stored whole. We have extended the trailer, which gives us more room.”
Careful not to spoil the surprise, he did say that the entry will be all white.
“I’m a color guy,” Upton said. “In-home design and theaters I’m not afraid of it, but this called for something different.”
He has been working closely with Jaguar Wrought Iron to create the Clauses’ giant sleigh caught in a snowdrift with 8-foot snowflakes and trees.
“It is half the scale I dreamed of, but it is the pinnacle for me,” he said.
Whether you watch in person, on television or stream online, make sure to stick around until the very end so as not to miss the highly anticipated Upton-designed spectacle. ￼
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lisa Kimble.


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Alternative meat producer Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND) announced a new partnership with Alibaba (NYSE: BABA)(SEHK:9988) to expand its reach in mainland China, according to CNBC. The company’s Beyond Burgers will initially be sold in 50 of Alibaba’s Freshippo grocery stores in Shanghai beginning Saturday. The product will be added to another 48 locations in Beijing and Hangzhou by September, the report says.
Beyond Meat already has a presence in mainland China through partnerships with Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and Yum China (NYSE: YUMC). Beyond Meat first entered China in April 2020, as Starbucks included its plant-based meat on the menu as part of a sustainability initiative. Yum China also sells Beyond Meat products in several cities in its KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut restaurants. The partnership with Alibaba marks its first entry into supermarkets there.
Freshippo supermarkets are Alibaba’s mix of an online and offline shopping experience. Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang explains, “Freshippo leverages data and smart logistics technology to seamlessly integrate online-offline systems, built to provide the unparalleled service of fresh food deliveries in 30 minutes.”
Beyond Meat has moved quickly to grow its presence in mainland China. In its release announcing the latest move, CEO Ethan Brown said that its presence in retail stores there are the “natural next step.” “We know that retail will be a critical part of our success in China, and we’re pleased to mark this early milestone within a few months of our market entry,” he said.


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Most top VC sources are smart, know just about everyone and are loose with good scoops—qualities any reporter appreciates. As so many venture capitalists worked their way up through top investment banks—no places for the petunia-hearted—I thought they were hardened, ready for bad times as well as good. They’d been schooled under the best financiers, so I thought they had the foresight to make good b-to-b start-up picks and the courage to stick with them.
I was wrong.
The last few months have seen a retreat among VCs that would make Napoleon blush. American VC firms invested $19.6 billion in last year’s fourth quarter, down 31% from the previous quarter’s $28.3 billion, according to the National Venture Capital Association. Investments were down in companies across all sectors, from start-ups to those in the buyout stage.
Although the $103 billion invested in 2000 is a good deal higher than the $59.4 billion invested in 1999, the new downward trend is alarming. It also reveals the weak underbellies of VCs and their reluctance to finish what they started.
Indeed, many b-to-b start-ups have perished recently, some before they had a real chance to make a go of it. Their VC bankrollers, who only months before plied them with seed millions and "atta boys," were suddenly AWOL. Often, this was because the VCs were acting more on their newfound fears than with the convictions that had led them to invest in the companies in the first place. It’s a sorry way to do business.
In the meantime, some VCs are saying they are going to spend more time advising their current portfolio companies on marketing and "realigning" (read: layoffs), instead of plowing more money into them. It’s more a threat than a promise.
VCs’ advice, especially with regard to marketing, has often been amateurish. Mainly, they’ve underestimated the time and money it takes to build a brand on the Internet. They should stick to what they do best: investing and working their Rolodexes on behalf of their portfolio companies.
Meanwhile, b-to-b entrepreneurs who should be figuring out how to become the U.S. Steel of, say, e-mail marketing, are instead spending all their time scrambling for change. Not that hunting for money is necessarily a bad thing. Andrew Carnegie spent his early years doing just that. But the VCs who are wringing their hands on the sidelines aren’t making entrepreneurs’ jobs any easier.
Philip B. Clark is a New York-based senior reporter for BtoB. You can reach him at [email protected]


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YouTube restores 1080p streaming on smartphones in India, but only over Wi-Fi
At the time of writing, we did not get the option to set the resolution to 4K.
July 16, 2020 / 07:31 PM IST
As the coronavirus pandemic hit India, the country saw a surge in internet traffic. In order to ensure that the surge didn’t cause a strain on India’s internet infrastructure, YouTube restricted video streaming quality on its mobile app to 480p in March.
Now, videos on the streaming platform are back to the 1080p default option on both iOS and Android. Though videos still automatically start in 480p for the time being, you can increase the resolution to 1080p by default. At the time of writing, we did not get the option to set the resolution to 4K.
It is worth noting that you cannot watch 1080p videos on mobile data; the Full HD resolution was only available over Wi-Fi. If you have a stable Wi-Fi connection, you can watch videos on YouTube in 1080p at 60fps in India on your mobile device. You will not be able to watch content in 1080p using mobile hotspot as well.
You can still watch videos in 1080p and 4K resolution using web browsers on a desktop, although videos were limited to 480p resolution on Chrome for mobile. The development comes as offices in cities across the country are gearing up to reopen.
While this is a welcome move, India’s coronavirus nightmare is far from over. Today, the country is in day 114 of the nationwide lockdown, that was implemented to curb the novel coronavirus pandemic. The country has so far recorded 9,68,876 cases, with 24,915 deaths.


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The shoe that Michael Korgers mother had bought for him when he was young has now been replaced with another shoe.
The company said in a statement that the new model is “the perfect fit” for the toddler’s new look.
“Michael and his siblings are all very protective of their footwear and we have a very loyal and supportive customer base that has kept us going for more than 25 years,” Kors said in the statement.
“We are grateful to be able to bring the new version of the original Michael Kor shoe to life in a more practical form that is more stylish, durable and practical.”
A spokeswoman for Kors told CNNMoney that the company would be selling the shoes for $250,000, but declined to give a price.
Kors’ company had said the shoes were being discontinued.
CNNMoney contacted the company but did not hear back.
The shoes were manufactured in India and the company had told CNN that the shoes could be sold on Amazon.com and other online retailers.
Korg’s mother, who had bought the shoes in 2008, told CNN the company told her the shoes “did not fit.”
She said the company made an “incredibly difficult decision” to discontinue the shoes.
CNN reached out to the company for comment and did not receive a response.


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TransferWise Vice President of Growth Nilan Peiris had one major not-so-secret to the $3.5 billion company’s growth to reveal at the recent launch of Intersekt in Melbourne. Customer evangelism drives growth. In real terms: over 80% of their customers use TransferWise’s service after hearing about it from a friend. TransferWise now has over 5 million… Read more »
TransferWise for Business allows businesses to create a centralised account from which they can send and receive funds in 45 currencies.
Fintech startup Transferwise has launched the Aussies without Borders initiative to highlight the importance of migration to the Australian economy.
NSW Government agencies are now able to engage suppliers through direct negotiation on short term contracts valued up to $1 million, including GST, for proof of concept or outcomes-based trials.


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Below is a daily summary of links to the latest SPAC news and rumors gathered across the web.
Latest SPAC News: Trump’s Truth Social cuts staff, Redbox expects boost in business, and Arrival raises $300M
Donald Trump’s Truth Social Cuts Staff as SPAC Languishes
The company behind former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social has trimmed staff while awaiting regulatory approval for a merger that offers a financial lifeline, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
Trump Media & Technology Group, Truth Social’s parent company, laid off about half a dozen people, including senior members of its ranks, such as Chief Technology Officer William “BJ” Lawson, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Lawson was the third person to hold the role at the company. Some close to Trump Media estimate it can fund operations through September at present spending levels, according to the people.READ
Redbox Expects Boost in Business Thanks to Robust Theatrical Slate
Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment Inc. is hoping a revitalized slate of strong theatrical features will boost business at its Redbox (NASDAQ:RDBX)subsidiary.
The company says more than 40 major titles are expected to be available this year and early next year, both on DVD/Blu-ray Disc at the approximately 34,000 Redbox kiosks and digitally through Redbox On Demand for digital rental (TVOD) and purchase (electronic sellthrough, or EST).
In May 2022, Redbox agreed to be acquired by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (NASDAQ:CSSE) in an all-stock deal just over six months after Redbox closed a SPAC deal with Seaport Global.READ
Cash-guzzling Arrival raises £250m
Embattled EV startup Arrival (NASDAQ: ARVL) has raised $300m (£246.5m) from Westwood Capital but is seeking even more funding as it looks to slow the rate it burns through cash and start production.
Arrival said the new cash influx extends its runway to “late 2023”. The company is aiming to start production of its Class 4 XL van in its Charlotte, US, factory in late 2024.
Arrival, which was founded in Britain but listed on the US Nadaq exchange in 2021 through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, is yet to report any revenue. It anticipates losses for 2022 to be as high as £840m.READ
Trailblazer Merger Corporation I priced its $60 million IPO and its units are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol “TBMCU” Wednesday, March 29, 2023. The SPAC intends to focus its search on companies operating in the technology industry in the following segments: cloud as a service, supply chain technologies, servicing the hybrid workforce...
Alpine (NYSE:REVE) announced this afternoon that it has again adjourned its special meeting to complete its transaction with experiential entertainment company Two Bit Circus. The SPAC originally intended to hold its special meeting on February 24, but has adjourned it four times since then. Alpine now expects to reconvene the meeting on March 30 at 12:00 p.m....
Home Plate Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ:HPLT) announced that it adjourned its extension vote today and will reconvene the special meeting at 10:30 am ET on March 30. At the upcoming meeting, the SPAC hopes to gain shareholder approval to extend its completion deadline from April 4, 2023, to October 4, 2023. Home Plate announced a $214 million business combination with...
Below is a daily summary of links to the latest SPAC news and rumors gathered across the web. Latest SPAC News: Ares considers raising $400M for new SPAC and electric air mobility division of AIRO and Kernel Group sign MOU with Blade India Ares Considers New $400 Million SPAC Despite Market Lull Ares Management Corp....
DiamondHead Holding Corps. (NASDAQ:DHHC) announced in an 8-K this morning that it has entered into subscription agreements with lock-up investors and PIPE investors in connection to its business combination with Great Southern Homes. Although the deal was approved by shareholders during a meeting last Thursday, the parties are still working to raise funds to meet...


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Now that AT&T's bid to acquire DirecTV is official, and the FCC's rules for the spectrum screen and the 600 MHz auction are finalized, the merger-and-acquisition landscape in the wireless industry is now much, much clearer. Specifically, the proposed merger between Sprint and T-Mobile US appears significantly more daunting, and a Verizon purchase of Dish Network's spectrum appears somewhat more likely.
AT&T's announcement that it will buy DirecTV in a $49 billion deal leaves Dish Network once again without a potential partner or suitor. However, analysts say the deal could be what pushes Dish and its Chairman Charlie Ergen to find a long-term wireless partner.
AT&T Mobility said it plans to purchase between 20 MHz and 40 MHz of spectrum in the FCC's 600 MHz incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, set for next year, if the auction entices enough broadcasters to participate. However, Verizon Wireless said only that the FCC has made "progress" on the rules for the auction, comments likely reflecting the carrier's displeasure with auction rules designed to limit the amount of 600 MHz spectrum AT&T and Verizon can acquire during the auction.
Dish Network and Sprint wholesale partner nTelos Wireless are close to launching a trial network for fixed wireless TD-LTE service. The companies hope to add commercial users to the network in July, later than they initially expected when the plans for the trials were first unveiled last fall.
Bankrupt wireless firm LightSquared and Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen face court-ordered mediation if they can't figure out their differences over LightSquared's restructuring, a federal bankruptcy court judge ruled.
Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen reiterated his decision not to get into a bidding war with Sprint over T-Mobile US, but indicated that he would be ready to move if Sprint tried to make a bid for T-Mobile and failed.
Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry said he is confident that next year's incentive auction of 600 MHz broadcast spectrum will draw wide participation from smaller carriers and that the auction will be successful.
SoftBank CEO Masayashi Son, in a Washington tour in March, implied that one of his key goals for Sprint is to become a competitive alternative in broadband, not just wireless. DISH's efforts to enter the mobile space are also predicated on using wireless as a way of offering some form of home broadband service--a key missing link in its residential offerings.
Spectrum controlled by Sprint represents the bulk of the airwaves the FCC is expected to add to its so-called spectrum screen, potentially inhibiting any deal between Sprint and T-Mobile US.
In a blow to Sprint and Dish Network, the FCC plans to add much of their respective spectrum portfolios to its so-called spectrum screen, which will bring more scrutiny to any future spectrum transaction they engage in.


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Fishermen have resorted in using toxic products in order to fish more than usual while smoking units and individuals in the smoking sector also use materials like worn-out tyres and plastic containers to smoke fish which puts consumers at risk. The practice that is gaining grounds in some areas of Douala II is not without health hazards. Following the gravity of the situation, the Sub Divisional Delegate for Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industry, Alain Ghomsi, led a delegation of sanitary inspectors on the field and began seizing fish so caught or treated and sensitising stakeholders on the effects. To him, consumption of such fish leads to tuberculoses and terminal diseases like cancer. Since the practice is mostly carried out by infiltrators without medical and veterinary certificates, Alain Ghomsi advised consumers to insist that vendors should present their certificates before purchasing both fresh and dry fish. In addition to the certificates, vendors must put on aprons or jackets not just to look good but also to prevent diseases from them to the product.
To ensure quality control, the Divisional Delegate of MINEPIA for Wouri, Dr Mimbang Goy Iréne said additional staff were recruited to reinforce daily inspection on the field. They inspect smoking units to make sure that only wood from consumable fruit trees are used and not bad quality wood and materials like plastic, tyres and old dresses as it is the case with some vendors. The Divisional Delegate intimated that repressive measures will be meted on defaulters following the 2000 law regulating sanitary inspection. Implementing the law to the letter will entail slamming a two to six year jail term with hard labour and a fine between FCFA 50,000 and FCFA five million on perpetuators. Bad quality fish are recognised from the softness, smell, presence of maggots and when they attract flies. In three days, the operation that will run till the end of January, will led to the seizing and destroying of some 35 kg of bad quality fish.


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DETROIT -- General Motors has told dealers to stop delivery of about 6,300 2015 Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave crossovers because of a pending recall to replace tires that are prone to cracking.
The tire maker, Goodyear, confirmed to Automotive News that it will recall about 48,500 of its 18-inch Fortera HL tires because it found "very small" cracks in the tread during routine testing. About 32,100 were made for the GM crossovers and another 16,400 were for the aftermarket, the company said.
A Goodyear spokesman said the company notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Friday of the recall. The agency has not yet posted the information on its website.
The Goodyear spokesman said the cracks in the tread do "not indicate a safety issue."
A GM spokesman said Goodyear's recall triggered GM's stop-delivery notice, which was sent to dealers on Jan. 16. He said the problem "will eventually lead to a non-compliance recall by GM."
The GM spokesman said 6,281 crossovers, accounting for 25,124 of the tires, are subject to the stop-delivery notice. The rest are aftermarket tires, he said.
Following a year in which GM recalled a record 30.4 million vehicles across 84 safety campaigns, GM has not issued any recalls so far in 2015 that it has publicly disclosed.


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Governments must prepare for tsunami of electric car batteries, warns Royal Society of Chemistry president
Sweden Northvolt said Dec. 29 that its so-called gigafactory assembled its first lithium-ion battery cell, a European first. The electric vehicle battery startup was founded in 2015 by Peter Carlsson, a former Tesla executive. The company will ramp up production next year, but already has $ 30 billion in orders on its books from auto customers such as BMW, Volkswagen, Volvo and Polestar.
Gigafactories can produce enough batteries each year to provide around 15 gigawatt hours of storage, with most cells intended for use in electric cars. The Northvolt plant in northern Sweden is the third largest full-scale electric vehicle (EV) plant in Europe. Battery Data Company Benchmark mineral intelligence (BMI) says the other two Korean-owned companies are in Poland and Hungary. BMI predicts that there will be 25 European giga-factories by 2030.
The UK has only planned two gigafactories. One, owned by Chinese company Envision, is coming out of the ground in Sunderland, while the startup Britishvolt is currently fundraising for a plant grown in the nearby town of Blyth.
While there is considerable investment in battery production, there is relatively little money for what to do with depleted cells.
âWe need electric vehicles to replace [vehicles powered by] internal combustion engines, “argues Tom Welton, president of the London-based Royal Society of Chemistry, and he welcomes the surge in production of electric car batteries but, he adds,” at the same time time, we have to work on the reuse or recycling of these batteries.
And not enough is being done to increase recycling and reuse rates.
“[Electric car batteries] have relatively fixed lifespans, âsaid Welton, professor of sustainable chemistry at Imperial College London. He said there would soon be a “tsunami of batteries ready to be replaced”.
âWe need to be more than ready when this happens,â he warned.
And that requires investment.
âIt needs investments from governments as well as the private sector,â he said.
Earlier this year, the UK government delayed its infrastructure strategy for electric vehicles, which is expected to include policies on recycling. In response, the UK Local Government Association said there was a “lack of coherent strategic direction at the national level, including no articulation of the vision for the future”. Furthermore, said the body, there was a “lack of clarity on the role [local] The authorities were to play a role in providing charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
Typically, an electric car battery should be replaced after 100,000 kilometers of driving, which is five years for the average motorist. The Faraday Institution, a British research organization specializing in battery technology, estimates that some 250,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery packs will reach the end of their life within 15 years.
Electric vehicle sales rose 89% in 2021, with almost 11% of all new cars in the UK being either electric or hybrid models. Volkswagen revealed earlier this month that it will spend $ 102 billion on the development of electric vehicles over the next five years. The German automaker has pledged to recycle 97% of all raw materials used on its cars (today it’s 55%). Still, its battery recycling plant remains experimental, with a company statement saying it cannot be expanded because “disposal and sourcing of valuable raw materials is still very expensive.”
by Nissan Blue switch The project plans to recycle batteries from electric cars for mobile emergency power supplies following natural disasters, and in Japan, batteries from electric cars have been reused as storage cells in solar farms. The Enel Group uses batteries recovered from Nissan LEAF cars at an energy storage facility in Melilla, Spain. And, in the UK, Renault has partnered with Powervault to use spent electric car batteries in home energy storage systems.
But these are small-scale projects, often just trials, and, at the moment, there isn’t enough money in recycling or reuse to build large-scale recycling facilities in Europe.
âBattery technology offers us a path to decarbonization,â Welton said, âbut we cannot treat it trivially; we need to take it seriously, and a big part of it is recycling those items ensuring that these rare items are reused again rather than just disposed of and end up in a landfill.
Cycle of life
Tesla announced in August that it had started building recycling capacity at its Gigafactory in Nevada, and earlier, Redwood Materials in nearby Carson City had raised $ 700 million to expand its business. The startup, founded by a former Tesla executive, plans to extract parts from used electric car batteries. (An electric vehicle battery can have up to 70% capacity remaining at end of life.)
VW, Nissan, Tesla and other automakers might brag about their cell recycling policies, but it’s nonetheless clear that investments in production eclipse those in salvage.
“There are going to be problems in the future if we don’t think about how we are going to recycle, recover and reuse the items [used in electric car batteries]âWelton said.
âWe have to do it now,â he suggested.
Automakers, he added, should make it “easier to recycle than not to recycle”.
Cars, like many other electronic products that use rare elements such as lithium, nickel and cobalt, whose mining has impacts on the climate, the environment and human rights, must be designed from the outset to be reused or recycled.
the “design for recycling” production method should be part of the initial design process for everything from cars to smartphones.
âCars are very complex devices and the separation [them to retrieve] the materials can be extremely tough, âWelton said.
Instead, manufacturers should design their new vehicles to be easily removable.
âHas it been designed so that it is easy to take apart and recycle? We know we’re going to be using a lot more of these electric vehicles. [so] we will have to recycle them to recover [rare] elements. [Manufacturers] must now think about how [cars can be designed] so that all the useful materials they contain can be easily recovered.
Automakers, Welton urges, shouldn’t think “how bad [a car] look on the forecourt, but how to dismantle this car to recover all the materials that it is made of, so that they can be recycled and reused.
âWe don’t have to wait to be seated in a mess,â Welton said.
âWe see the problem coming. Let’s do what’s necessary now to make sure we don’t go into a crisis in the future. ”
The EU has proposed changes to battery regulations, with the aim of enforcing better recycling of lithium-ion batteries and protecting potential recycling companies from volatile raw material prices.
The Royal Society of Chemistry was one of the organizations invited to testify before the UK government’s Environmental Audit Committee, which last year examined electronic waste such as the estimated 40 million unused gadgets stored in people’s homes. because they don’t know how to get rid of it. of them.
In a report, the committee recommended the importance of a âreduce, reuse, recycleâ economy, called for incentives to design technologies for sustainability, and stressed the need for improved labeling. The recommendations have now been submitted to the government for possible inclusion in a new environmental bill.
There is a lot of hype around personal electric vehicles, but much less about existing sustainable modes of transportation, Welton said.
âI don’t own a car; I travel by public transport, which is a very easy way to make smart carbon choices. ”
He added: âWe must work to make the availability of public transport much more widespread, much more accessible and cheaper so that our climate goals are met. ”
He suggested that governments who believe electric vehicles are the main answer to reducing transport emissions should also invest heavily in public transport.
“The means by which people get around must be more energy efficient, and good, reliable and cheap public transport means people [will] choose not to drive.


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Aldi UK commits to fridge doors4th January 2023
UK: Aldi has become the latest UK supermarket to announce that it will be installing fridge doors as standard in its new and newly refurbished stores.
Aldi UK says that the change will reduce each store’s energy consumption by approximately 20%, equivalent to a carbon emissions saving of up to 20 tonnes per store each year.
The announcement follows a successful trial and forms part of Aldi’s ongoing efforts to minimise its carbon emissions and climate impact.
The supermarket, which has been carbon neutral since January 2019, says it as already reduced its carbon footprint by more than 55% since 2012 through a number of sustainability initiatives. These include the use of solar panels, switching to 100% green electricity and investing in a greener fleet.
Mary Dunn, Aldi UK’s MD of corporate responsibility, said: “We are always looking for new ways to minimise our carbon footprint, which is why all our stores already use 100% renewable electricity, and our new stores also utilise natural refrigerants and feature efficient LED lighting.
“Introducing fridge doors is another step on that journey to reduce our energy consumption and we hope that customers enjoy the new, more sustainable shopping experience.”


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PUBG Mobile could come back to India on November 20, says Kronten
PUBG Mobile fans in India have become really hyped after PUBG Mobile India has released a teaser advertisement on all their social media handles featuring popular Indian PUBG Mobile players like Dynamo, Kronten, Jonathan, and Ghatak.
The teaser packs scenes of PUBG Mobile India celebrities in a house with the phrases “missing the excitement?”, “missing the pan?”, “missing the thrill?” and “missing the chicken dinner?” appearing on screen. This is followed by a ‘Coming Soon’ message giving fans a ray of hope.
It looks like PUBG Mobile India may launch latest by November 20 according to Kronten.
Kronten, the owner of Team Godlike who was also featured in the teaser advertisement yesterday on his stream said, “The teaser was released today, the trailer will come out by tomorrow. In that trailer, PUBG Mobile India’s release date will be clearly mentioned. The game is likely to appear on the Play Store and App Store by November 20. If the trailer releases tomorrow, it would be up for three or four days to create hype. So, the game will likely release on 18th, 19th, or 20th November.”
This is just speculation, so take it with some amount of scepticism, as nothing has been confirmed yet.
PUBG Mobile fans in India have been really excited since PUBG Corp announced that the game would be coming back to India in a new form that caters to maintaining privacy by conducting regular audits and verifications on the storage systems and offering a healthy gaming environment by customizing various aspects of the game for Indian Gamers.
PUBG Corp had also announced that it will be investing $100 million in India to cultivate the local video game, esports, entertainment, and IT industries.
A report from Times of India suggested that the launch of PUBG Mobile India may face hurdles from the government as sources from the government told Times of India that the government of India is considering relaxation only if PUBG Corporation addresses all the concerns raised irrespective of what PUBG Corporation has proposed earlier.