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CES 2015Tobii and SteelSeries will show off their eye-tracking peripheral at CES 2015 with help from some Twitch streamers.
Microsoft has issued an update to Twitch on Xbox One that it says make it easier to find the videos - or the audience - that you want.
In depthHere's the eSports scene at a glance from New York's first competitive Dota 2 gaming event at Madison Square Garden.
Google's Chromecast dongle just received several new apps from the likes of Disney, Twitch, iHeartRadio, and DramaFever.
InterviewAmazon isn't the big bad wolf come to blow the Twitch house down. It's here with more bricks and mortar.
TechRadar ShowWe tackle the biggest topics of the week, and discuss what we hope to see at the big Berlin tech show.
OpinionAmazon and Twitch? Hold off on your hate and see what happens - this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.


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"If consumers even know there's a DRM, what it is, and how it works, we've already failed" - Disney Executive.
Defeating DRM is all about awareness. The direct actions that we have taken are all about this. Whether it means protesting outside Apple Stores in Hazmat suits or getting HUGE press coverage for announcing the Bono petition (sign it now). Action gets attention, and creates space for debate. And as our friends at Disney recognize, if there is a debate, we will have won.

domain: news


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J. M. Smucker Co. (SJM) Thursday reported a 25 percent increase in profit for the fourth quarter, helped by lower costs, even as sales slid from last year. Adjusted earnings topped Wall Street estimates. The company sees fiscal 2014 earnings in line with Street view.
Vince Byrd, COO, said, "Our fourth quarter results reflect the sustained momentum realized across our business, particularly in key categories such as coffee, peanut butter, and fruit spreads. Combining strong brand building, innovation, and productivity initiatives with an ability to quickly adapt to market conditions has created a platform for growth."
Net income climbed 25 percent to $130.34 million from $104.13 million in the previous year. Earnings per share rose to $1.22 from $0.93.
Excluding special projects costs, net income was $1.29 per share, while it totaled $1.10 per share last year. On average, 14 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $1.15 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Net sales slid 1 percent to $1.34 billion from $1.36 billion in the previous year, primarily due to a 5 percent decrease in net price realization reflecting price declines taken earlier in the year, notably on coffee and peanut butter. Analysts expected revenues of $1.34 billion for the quarter.
Overall, volume grew 2 percent, driven by a 6 percent increase in U.S. Retail Coffee and a 4 percent growth in U.S. Retail Consumer Foods segment. Volume gains in Jif peanut butter, Folgers coffee and Pillsburyfrostings more than offset decreases in the flour brands, the Sara Lee foodservice business, and Crisco shortening.
U.S. Retail Coffee sales slid 1 percent to $535.5 million, while volume increased 6 percent. Since the fourth quarter of 2012, the company took two price declines of 6 percent each, effective May 2012 and February 2013.
U.S. Retail Consumer Foods sales were 5 percent higher at $485.7 million. According to the company, a 4 percent increase in segment volume and favorable sales mix offset overall lower net price realization.
Sales in International, Foodservice, and Natural Foods dropped 9 percent to $318.4 million, driven by volume and lower net price realization. Segment volume decreased 4 percent primarily due to declines in the Sara Lee foodservice business.
Cost of products sold fell 5 percent to $856.05 million while Cost of products sold - restructuring and merger and integration declined 43 percent to $3.96 million.
Effective tax rate fell to 32.1 percent from 36.5 percent in 2013 due to lower state income taxes.
For fiscal 2014, the company expects non-GAAP net income per share in the range of $5.65 to $5.75, excluding special project costs of around $0.20 per share.
Net sales are estimated to be comparable to $5.9 billion generated in 2013. The outlook reflects the full-year impact of price declines taken in 2013 and rationalization of previously discussed products, offset by net sales of Cumberland products and expected volume growth in key categories.
Wall Street looks for annual earnings of $5.73 per share on revenues of $6.00 billion.
SJM closed at $102.37 on Wednesday. The stock is up 0.1 percent in pre-market activity.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: email@example.com


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Australian magazine giant Bauer Media has been revealed as the first customer of Amazon Web Services’ physical data migration device, Snowball.
The 80TB device can be rented or bought outright that physically migrates data from on-premises hardware to AWS’s public cloud.
The migration is being undertaken by Sydney-based Strut Digital, which already had a services deal to manage Bauer’s AWS environment. Speaking to CRN at the AWS Summit in Sydney, Strut chief executive Zack Levy said that Bauer typically generates 1-3 terabytes of data a day, and the migration into AWS S3 storage is ongoing.
Levy said he ordered a Snowball as soon as it was available locally.
“Snowball is a very straight copy-paste-type service; it’s exciting how simple that is. This is just a case of lifting 50TB and it is in S3 the next day,” said Levy.
He added that that while Snowball is very new to Australia, the product has already started inspiring new services for providers.
“We’re starting to think about how we can integrate that into our offering. It’s a very simple solution but it solves a resource-intensive problem. The concept that appeals to our customers is that it takes the distraction away so they can add value to their customers.
“Once you know you’ve got that tool at your disposal, it changes the way you think about long-term archiving storage," said Levy.
Yesterday at the AWS Summit in Sydney, the cloud giant announced local availability for the 80TB model of Snowball. AWS chief security information officer Stephen Schmidt also revealed Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration, a service that attempts to speed up data uploads using a 50-location network that was previously reserved for the Amazon CloudFront content delivery service.
Bauer Media has undergone a number of IT transformative efforts in recent years as its business shifts towards a digital model. The company’s titles include Australian Women’s Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Australian House and Garden and Wheels.
In December, Bauer extended its managed services deal with Sydney provider Enablis to include upkeep of its data network, security, telephony, LAN and wi-fi.
Based in St Leonards in Sydney, Strut provides cloud migration, managed services, cloud strategy, application development and DevOps services. Its customers include Westpac, Qantas, St George Bank and Domain.


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|By Roger Strukhoff||
|September 4, 2014 07:00 PM EDT||
Cisco entered the blade server market in a big way five years ago with its Unified Computing System (UCS) environment, taking on IBM, HP, and Oracle in the heart of the cloud computing hardware business.
Now it is extending UCS "introducing significant innovations," in the company's words, by expanding its offering and addressing Big Data and the IoT. Mobility, video, and a continued focus on cloud are all part of the strategy, according to Paul Perez, VP & General Manager of Cisco UCS.
The new offering encompasses Cisco UCS M-Series Modular Servers for "cloud-scale applications," according to Perez, and the Cisco UCS Mini "for small-scale and enterprise-edge environments.".
"Additionally, an expansion of the current UCS portfolio brings new levels of power and scalability for a wide range of data center workloads by unveiling new fourth-generation UCS Rack and Blade Servers for application performance," according to a company statement, "and new UCS Director solutions to manage Big Data infrastructure workloads."
The M-Series systems can eliminate up to 95% of the system components duplicated in a traditional server design, according to Cisco, delivering as much as 36% combined TCO savings, the company reports.
On the edge, the UCS Mini is delivered as an "all-in-one solution" to deliver servers, storage, and networking in a compact form factor. The system is also said to bring a savings of as much as 36% in TCO.
A recent IDC report says Cisco is now leads the X86 blade server market in the Americas market, and has seen revenue growth of 39% worldwide on a cumulative four-quarter basis ending Q1 2014.
2nd International Internet of @ThingsExpo will take place November 4-6, 2014 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, California with over 100 major sponsors and exhibitors in 2014 and more than 6,000 delegates from 17 countries.
Internet of @ThingsExpo this week launched the premiere issue of its monthly newsletter which contains highlights of the hottest sessions and speakers from Internet of @ThingsExpo, speaking information as well as sponsorship opportunities.
Download @ThingsExpo Newsletter ▸ Here
Chris Matthieu Named Internet of @ThingsExpo Tech Chair
Internet of @ThingsExpo has announced today that Chris Matthieu has been named tech chair of Internet of @ThingsExpo 2014 Silicon Valley.
Chris Matthieu has two decades of telecom and web experience. He launched his Teleku cloud communications-as-a-service platform at eComm in 2010, which was acquired by Voxeo. Next he built an open source Node.JS PaaS called Nodester, which was acquired by AppFog. His new startup is Twelephone (http://twelephone.com). Leveraging HTML5 and WebRTC, Twelephone's BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is to become the next generation telecom company running in the Web browser.
Tracks and topics for Internet of Internet of @ThingsExpo Silicon Valley will include:
Consumer IoT and Wearables Track
- Smart Appliances
- Smart Cars
- Smartphones 2.0
- Smart Travel
- Personal Fitness
- Health Care
- Personalized Marketing
- Customized Shopping
- Personal Finance
- The Digital Divide
- Mobile Cash & Markets
- Games & the IoT
- The Future of Education
- Virtual Reality
Video: @ThingsExpo power panel discussion at Internet of @ThingsExpo New York
Enterprise IoT Track
- The Business Case for IoT
- Smart Grids
- Smart Cities
- Smart Transportation
- The Smart Home
- Wiring the IoT
- The Internet of Everything
- Digital Transformation of Enterprise IT
- Local & State Government
- Federal Government
IoT Developer and WebRTC Track
- Eclipse Foundation
- Cloud Foundry
- Linux Containers
- Open Source Hardware
- AJAX and the IoT
- Leveraging SOA
- Multi-Cloud IoT
- Evolving Standards
- Security & Privacy Protocols
- GPS & Proximity Services
- Nest Labs
@ThingsExpo billboard is viewed by more than 1.3 million motorists per week on Highway 101, in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Sponsorship Opportunities or Internet of @ThingsExpo 2014 Silicon Valley
Internet of @ThingsExpo 2014 Silicon Valley "show prospectus" has shipped. Sponsorship, exhibit, and keynote opportunities can be obtained from Carmen Gonzalez by email at events (at) sys-con.com, or by phone 201 802-3021.
About SYS-CON Media & Events
SYS-CON Media (www.sys-con.com) has since 1994 been connecting technology companies and customers through a comprehensive content stream at www.sys-con.com - featuring over forty focused subject areas, from Cloud Computing to Web Security - interwoven with market-leading full-scale conferences produced by SYS-CON Events. The company's internationally recognized brands include among others Cloud Expo® (www.CloudComputingExpo.com), Big Data Expo (http://BigDataExpo.net), Virtualization Conference & Expo (www.VirtualizationConference.com), DevOps Summit (http://DevOpsSummit.sys-con.com), Internet of @ThingsExpo (http://www.ThingsExpo.com), SDDC Expo (http://SDDCExpo.sys-con.com), WebRTC Summit (http://WebRTCSummit.net), Government IT Conference & Expo (www.GovITExpo.com), Cloud Computing Bootcamp (www.CloudComputingBootcamp.com), and UlitzerLive! New Media Conference & Expo (http://events.sys-con.com).
Cloud Expo® is a registered trademark of Cloud Expo, Inc.
A critical component of any IoT project is what to do with all the data being generated. This data needs to be captured, processed, structured, and stored in a way to facilitate different kinds of queries. Traditional data warehouse and analytical systems are mature technologies that can be used to handle certain kinds of queries, but they are not always well suited to many problems, particularly when there is a need for real-time insights.
Oct. 23, 2016 05:30 AM EDT Reads: 3,916
DevOps is being widely accepted (if not fully adopted) as essential in enterprise IT. But as Enterprise DevOps gains maturity, expands scope, and increases velocity, the need for data-driven decisions across teams becomes more acute. DevOps teams in any modern business must wrangle the ‘digital exhaust’ from the delivery toolchain, "pervasive" and "cognitive" computing, APIs and services, mobile devices and applications, the Internet of Things, and now even blockchain. In this power panel at @...
Oct. 23, 2016 05:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,830
The best way to leverage your Cloud Expo presence as a sponsor and exhibitor is to plan your news announcements around our events. The press covering Cloud Expo and @ThingsExpo will have access to these releases and will amplify your news announcements. More than two dozen Cloud companies either set deals at our shows or have announced their mergers and acquisitions at Cloud Expo. Product announcements during our show provide your company with the most reach through our targeted audiences.
Oct. 23, 2016 04:45 AM EDT Reads: 4,281
One of biggest questions about Big Data is “How do we harness all that information for business use quickly and effectively?” Geographic Information Systems (GIS) or spatial technology is about more than making maps, but adding critical context and meaning to data of all types, coming from all different channels – even sensors. In his session at @ThingsExpo, William (Bill) Meehan, director of utility solutions for Esri, will take a closer look at the current state of spatial technology and ar...
Oct. 23, 2016 03:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,687
SYS-CON Events announced today that Streamlyzer will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Streamlyzer is a powerful analytics for video streaming service that enables video streaming providers to monitor and analyze QoE (Quality-of-Experience) from end-user devices in real time.
Oct. 23, 2016 02:30 AM EDT Reads: 941
You have great SaaS business app ideas. You want to turn your idea quickly into a functional and engaging proof of concept. You need to be able to modify it to meet customers' needs, and you need to deliver a complete and secure SaaS application. How could you achieve all the above and yet avoid unforeseen IT requirements that add unnecessary cost and complexity? You also want your app to be responsive in any device at any time. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Mark Allen, General Manager of...
Oct. 23, 2016 02:30 AM EDT Reads: 846
In past @ThingsExpo presentations, Joseph di Paolantonio has explored how various Internet of Things (IoT) and data management and analytics (DMA) solution spaces will come together as sensor analytics ecosystems. This year, in his session at @ThingsExpo, Joseph di Paolantonio from DataArchon, will be adding the numerous Transportation areas, from autonomous vehicles to “Uber for containers.” While IoT data in any one area of Transportation will have a huge impact in that area, combining sensor...
Oct. 23, 2016 02:15 AM EDT Reads: 640
Cloud based infrastructure deployment is becoming more and more appealing to customers, from Fortune 500 companies to SMEs due to its pay-as-you-go model. Enterprise storage vendors are able to reach out to these customers by integrating in cloud based deployments; this needs adaptability and interoperability of the products confirming to cloud standards such as OpenStack, CloudStack, or Azure. As compared to off the shelf commodity storage, enterprise storages by its reliability, high-availabil...
Oct. 23, 2016 01:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,043
The security needs of IoT environments require a strong, proven approach to maintain security, trust and privacy in their ecosystem. Assurance and protection of device identity, secure data encryption and authentication are the key security challenges organizations are trying to address when integrating IoT devices. This holds true for IoT applications in a wide range of industries, for example, healthcare, consumer devices, and manufacturing. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Lancen LaChance, vic...
Oct. 23, 2016 01:30 AM EDT Reads: 3,658
In the next forty months – just over three years – businesses will undergo extraordinary changes. The exponential growth of digitization and machine learning will see a step function change in how businesses create value, satisfy customers, and outperform their competition. In the next forty months companies will take the actions that will see them get to the next level of the game called Capitalism. Or they won’t – game over. The winners of today and tomorrow think differently, follow different...
Oct. 23, 2016 01:15 AM EDT Reads: 886
The IoT industry is now at a crossroads, between the fast-paced innovation of technologies and the pending mass adoption by global enterprises. The complexity of combining rapidly evolving technologies and the need to establish practices for market acceleration pose a strong challenge to global enterprises as well as IoT vendors. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Clark Smith, senior product manager for Numerex, will discuss how Numerex, as an experienced, established IoT provider, has embraced a ...
Oct. 23, 2016 01:15 AM EDT Reads: 999
SYS-CON Events announced today that Super Micro Computer, Inc., a global leader in Embedded and IoT solutions, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Supermicro (NASDAQ: SMCI), the leading innovator in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology, is a premier provider of advanced server Building Block Solutions® for Data Center, Cloud Computing, Enterprise IT, Hadoop/Big Data, HPC and ...
Oct. 23, 2016 12:45 AM EDT Reads: 3,545
The Internet of Things (IoT), in all its myriad manifestations, has great potential. Much of that potential comes from the evolving data management and analytic (DMA) technologies and processes that allow us to gain insight from all of the IoT data that can be generated and gathered. This potential may never be met as those data sets are tied to specific industry verticals and single markets, with no clear way to use IoT data and sensor analytics to fulfill the hype being given the IoT today.
Oct. 23, 2016 12:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,451
Donna Yasay, President of HomeGrid Forum, today discussed with a panel of technology peers how certification programs are at the forefront of interoperability, and the answer for vendors looking to keep up with today's growing industry for smart home innovation. "To ensure multi-vendor interoperability, accredited industry certification programs should be used for every product to provide credibility and quality assurance for retail and carrier based customers looking to add ever increasing num...
Oct. 23, 2016 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 453
Manufacturers are embracing the Industrial Internet the same way consumers are leveraging Fitbits – to improve overall health and wellness. Both can provide consistent measurement, visibility, and suggest performance improvements customized to help reach goals. Fitbit users can view real-time data and make adjustments to increase their activity. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Mark Bernardo Professional Services Leader, Americas, at GE Digital, discussed how leveraging the Industrial Internet a...
Oct. 22, 2016 11:45 PM EDT Reads: 4,466
More and more brands have jumped on the IoT bandwagon. We have an excess of wearables – activity trackers, smartwatches, smart glasses and sneakers, and more that track seemingly endless datapoints. However, most consumers have no idea what “IoT” means. Creating more wearables that track data shouldn't be the aim of brands; delivering meaningful, tangible relevance to their users should be. We're in a period in which the IoT pendulum is still swinging. Initially, it swung toward "smart for smar...
Oct. 22, 2016 11:45 PM EDT Reads: 724
SYS-CON Events announced today that LeaseWeb USA, a cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider, will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. LeaseWeb is one of the world's largest hosting brands. The company helps customers define, develop and deploy IT infrastructure tailored to their exact business needs, by combining various kinds cloud solutions.
Oct. 22, 2016 11:30 PM EDT Reads: 3,804
A completely new computing platform is on the horizon. They’re called Microservers by some, ARM Servers by others, and sometimes even ARM-based Servers. No matter what you call them, Microservers will have a huge impact on the data center and on server computing in general. Although few people are familiar with Microservers today, their impact will be felt very soon. This is a new category of computing platform that is available today and is predicted to have triple-digit growth rates for some ...
Oct. 22, 2016 11:00 PM EDT Reads: 33,951
November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Penta Security is a leading vendor for data security solutions, including its encryption solution, D’Amo. By using FPE technology, D’Amo allows for the implementation of encryption technology to sensitive data fields without modification to schema in the database environment. With businesses having their data become increasingly more complicated in their mission-critical applications (such as ERP, CRM, HRM), continued ...
Oct. 22, 2016 10:30 PM EDT Reads: 926
SYS-CON Events announced today that Cloudbric, a leading website security provider, will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Cloudbric is an elite full service website protection solution specifically designed for IT novices, entrepreneurs, and small and medium businesses. First launched in 2015, Cloudbric is based on the enterprise level Web Application Firewall by Penta Security Sys...
Oct. 22, 2016 10:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,062


text: Ascena Retail Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASNA) today announced that Dirk Montgomery has accepted the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective January 16, 2013. Montgomery succeeds Armand Correia, who will be retiring after 21 years with the organization. David Jaffe, President and CEO of the Ascena Retail Group, commented, “On behalf of our entire organization, I’d like to personally thank Armand for his 21 years of service to Ascena. His stewardship was instrumental in delivering market-leading rates of growth and return for our shareholders, particularly over the last decade. We are excited to welcome Dirk to our team, and are confident that his leadership, expertise and experience will enable us to continue building upon this record of achievement.” Dirk Montgomery was most recently Executive Vice President and Chief Value Chain Officer of Bloomin’ Brands, Inc., a publicly-traded operator of leading global restaurant brands including Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, and Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse, generating approximately $4 billion in annual revenues. Prior to that position, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Bloomin’ Brands for six years. Prior to joining Bloomin’ Brands in 2005, Mr. Montgomery served in a variety of domestic and international leadership roles in the areas of finance, procurement, strategic planning and operations in the retail and consumer products segments. This included significant experience in financial leadership roles such as Chief Financial Officer of the $9 billion Con Agra Foods Retail Group, as Chief Financial Officer of Express (previously a division of Limited Brands) and in several senior management positions with the Sara Lee Corporation. Mr. Montgomery began his career at Ernst & Young as an auditor and corporate finance consultant. He has an undergraduate degree in Accountancy from Miami University of Ohio, a CPA from the State of Ohio, and an MBA from the University of Chicago with a concentration in Finance and a specialization in Policy.


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The COVID-19 crisis in Malaysia, the largest market for Aussie goats, is impacting the sector.
Once again, Australia and New Zealand are the main suppliers of animals.
"The virus has decimated our industry", cries National Pork Producers Council President Howard Roth.
Under the BEAM scheme livestock sector must reduce the production on the holding of bovine livest...
Analysts from Rural Bank are forecasting a 45% drop in slaughter for the next 3 to 4 months.
The free trade agreement has been ratified by Indonesia and will show its effects starting July 5.
Indonesia, the largest market for Aussie livestock, has reduced the imports by 41% year-on-year.
The demand for calves from each of the key markets has dropped sharply in the last few weeks.
The specter of market-ready hogs with nowhere to go is a nightmare for every pork producer, said ...


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From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
An Information Technology (IT) Company powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) called ONPASSIVE is set to introduce Smart Business Solutions (SBS) into the Nigerian technological market before this year runs out.
With head office located in Florida, USA, tech. hub in Hyderabad, India with global offices in Singapore and Dubai, ONPASSIVE has for the past four years, been creating a new generation of digital software applications that will soon be unveiled to the world, Coordinator, Northwest and Northeast, Meet and Greet, Abraham Joseph Amandi said in Kaduna at the weekend.
According to Amandi, the product was coming to serve online and offline challenges in Nigeria’s business environment.
“We are here today in Kaduna to enable us know one another as ‘Ofounders’ of ONPASSIVE which is an Artificial Intelligent (AI) and Information Technology (IT) coming with a preparatory product which we call Smart Business Solution (SBS).
“This product is coming to serve online and offline challenges. We are also using this opportunity to celebrate Nigeria at 62 and as well to tell Nigerians, especially those that are in the Northwest and Northeast that this is an opportunity for us to key into AI/IT revolution that will help us solve our challenges to earn a good living. This is a great opportunity made available to us.
“The package comes with internet tools which cut across social media to solve everyday human resource challenges and security challenges. It will also help in solving academic problems via online studies called o-academy and online connect called o-conferencing, different from others around because it has AI embedded in it.
“As ‘Ofounder’ of a company, we don’t need to tell you the opportunity that abounds around you as an ‘Ofounder’ because you already helping yourself to create wealth around you.
“The good thing about it is that it is very easy to use, very user friendly just by simply following the demo, you will master it once and you will be good to go.
“This company has been building this tool right from 2018 and it is now on the verge of making these products available in the market between now and December for those who want to be the retailer and those that just want to use the product.
“Nigerian ‘Ofounders’ are very excited and grateful to the visionary CEO, Mr Ash Mufareh who has magnanimously developed a unique business model to accommodate all classes of people in his dream to make the world a better place”, he added.


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The CEO of the Asian luxury distributor shares his vision of the region with FashionNetwork.com in a two-part interview. In part one, he talks about the role of distributors and China's influence over the rest of Asia.
Kering is partnering Michelle Obama when the former First Lady comes to Paris for the presentation of the French edition of her autobiography, Becoming. She will be in Paris on December 5 at the Scene Musicale.
New York Fashion Week boasts the lengthiest official calendar of any major season anywhere, yet when editors and buyers take their seats on Monday morning the overall feeling will be of attending a season in retreat.
Narciso Rodriguez is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his label with a 9-piece capsule collection pulling from the designer's archives from 2003 through 2013. The collection launches exclusively at Barneys New York.


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Chinese e-commerce site Biyao vows to make luxury cheaper with new manufacturing model
A Chinese entrepreneur who courted controversy four years ago by calling e-commerce operations “a scam” is bidding to revolutionise the industry by trimming the fat from the supply chain so that shoppers can buy products from suppliers of luxury brands like Prada at cheaper prices.
“This is going to shake up many industries around the world, especially as most of the products [we sell] are made in China,” said Bi Sheng, who launched online shopping website Biyao.com two months ago.
“If China’s best manufacturers start to make things differently, the effect will have a global impact,” he added.
The site cuts out intermediaries so that customers can buy customised products directly from top manufacturers at a significantly reduced cost. However, they will lack the logos that are still prized as trophies and status symbols in much of mainland China. The site currently sells glasses, sports shoes, high heels, and jewellery, and has been growing quickly.
“By the time you buy a Prada handbag in China, it has already been marked up 100 times from the cost of production,” Bi, a former chief marketing officer and assistant to the president of Baidu, China’s top online search engine, told the South China Morning Post earlier this month from his office in Beijing.
“A pair of glasses is marked up about 150 times,” he added, before pointing to a white Uniqlo T-shirt.
“That garment costs about 10 yuan to make,” he said.
In China’s rapidly changing commercial environment, Bi thinks the days where middlemen carve out huge margins are drawing to a close.
His solution is to turn the traditional mode of manufacturing - where unsold goods are kept in storage, thus increasing inventory and other costs -on its head.
“Biyao adopts what I call a customer-to-manufacturer [C2M] business model,” he said.
“The products are made only when there is demand for them. This means there are no inventory costs. It also cuts out many tiers of intermediaries, so people can buy luxury products at much lower prices,” he said.
The 40-year-old learned from his experience of running Letao.com, China’s most popular shoe retailing website, which once generated annual sales of 1 billion yuan (US$161.2 million). But despite its huge revenues, it failed to turn a profit.
He founded the site in 2008 and sold it at a huge discount last year. Later, he said he had felt as though he was cheating his investors by not giving them any real value.
While still in charge of Letao, he also called out e-commerce players for collaborating on what he described as sham businesses because of the way in which the intermediaries bred huge mark-ups, especially in the clothing industry.
But when he decided to push for change, he met resistance and ended up spending US$10 million of his own money on his latest website.
“At first, it was difficult to find investors who were willing to support me, because no one was prepared to wait two years while the manufacturers changed their supply chains,” he said.
“But now that we’ve been up and running for about two months, we’re starting to get some attention, and investors are knocking on my door every day. I’ve had to refuse dozens of them recently,” he said.
It also took a long time to get Chinese manufacturers on board, especially those that supply top luxury brands.
“I suppose I'm quite well-known in some internet circles, thanks to my background at Baidu and Letao, but in the manufacturing industry, I'm an unknown, so I got kicked out of a lot of factories [in Guangdong province],” he said.
“But once the bosses listened to my idea, they knew it was something they had to do, or someone else would do it and leave them behind,” he said, adding that altering their supply chain cost each manufacturer 30 million to 50 million yuan.
He now counts suppliers for brands like Burberry, Prada, Cartier, Under Armour and Nike among his partners. The site expects to add men’s shoes, furniture and other product categories in a few months, quickly taking the total past 10.
Customers can play with software-based configurations to customise their purchases using 3-D models, a niche that has yet to take off in China, where the public is still not used to designing its own products like in the United States.
Shoppers on Bi’s site can, for example, play with the colour, material, size and height of the heels on a pair of stilettos. Women’s shoes cost upwards of 299 yuan on Biyao, but entail a three-week wait.
The site got a soft launch in April and is already attracting 300,000 monthly unique visitors, Bi said, adding that revenue in May reached millions of yuan.
The company turns a profit by charging commission fees of about 5 per cent. Nearly 50 of its 60 employees are programmers.
Bi said he plans to expand overseas within a year and is initially targeting Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United States.
Yet questions remain as to how consumers will respond to having a pair of shoes made by the same factory that churns out Prada footwear, but without the coveted logo.
Analysts have also expressed concern that the business model, particularly at this stage, could see operating costs rise for manufacturers.
“There has been much talk about how Chinese factories must move up the value chain, but before that can happen, our manufacturers must upgrade, too,” said Bi.
“I think having a very flexible supply chain is one of the answers to satisfying consumers in the present internet age.”


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Brew Bus, a Tampa-based brewery tour operator, today announced its purchase of Florida Avenue Brewing for an undisclosed sum.
First revealed last December, the deal includes the Florida Avenue brewery and tasting room in Seminole Heights, a space Brew Bus is spending about $250,000 to renovate. Upon completion, the location will also serve as a base camp for Brew Bus brewery tours in Tampa.
Brew Bus — which also makes its own line of beers under contact with Lakeland, Fla.-based Brew Hub — plans to expand availability of the Florida Avenue brands, including Florida Avenue Ale and Florida Avenue IPA, with the help of Brew Hub until the Seminole Heights facility opens in March.
Once open, Brew Bus will also begin producing a variety of its own labels, as well as those from Florida Avenue, at the renovated facility.
“The renovated brewery will allow Brew Bus to brew both the Brew Bus and Florida Avenue brands under one roof,” a statement read. “A rebrand including new logos, can designs and recipes for Florida Avenue is planned for the third quarter of 2016.”
In an interview with Brewbound, Anthony Derby, owner and co-founder of Brew Bus, said he also plans to continue his brewing arrangement with Brew Hub after the Seminole Heights facility opens.
“We love the relationship – the attention, the quality, the infrastructure they provide,” Derby said. “We want to only grow that going forward.”
Derby also plans to refocus Florida Avenue’s sales strategy — he recently cut ties with more than two-thirds of the company’s wholesalers.
Florida Avenue is now exclusively represented by five distributors covering Gulf-coast markets from Tampa to Naples, with plans to re-enter Miami and the Keys at a later date.
“That’s where we’ve seen about 80 percent of the sales for all of Florida Avenue,” he said.
Derby anticipates the addition of Florida Avenue’s brand will more than triple the amount of beer Brew Bus produced in 2015. Last year Brew Hub churned out nearly 2,000 barrels of Brew Bus-branded beers, while Florida Avenue brewed roughly 3,500 barrels. Pairing the 5,000 barrels of annual capacity at Florida Avenue’s facility with capacity available through Brew Hub, Derby projects both brands will make a combined 7,000 barrels in 2016.
“[For the] Florida Ave brand there’s probably a little more growth to be had,” Derby said. “I want to get [sales] back on the incline.


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With vast amounts of bucks in monthly origination and detailed players like Lending Club, alternate financing has become main-stream in america. Experian’s Clarity Services, a professional in alternate monetary services information and solutions, has released a written report en titled Alternative Financial Services Lending Trends. It offers deep insights to the online customer financing industry and leverages information points of over 350 million customer loan requests and 25 million loans.
The report tossed lots of anticipated data and some shocks that will help online lenders pivot to more fertile territory.
Knowing the stations
Alternative services that are financial be acquired from both on the internet and offline platforms. Though online platforms are mushrooming, brick and mortar nevertheless continues to be principal within the customer financing industry.
Kinds of loans
- Installment loans – Loans paid back in a number of regular re re payments (months or years) are referred to as installment loans.


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Get your copy of the 7th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing and hear from 300+ manufacturers in this new survey report!
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Aug. 2, 2012 – Plex Systems Inc., provider of Plex Online, Cloud ERP for manufacturers, today announced its sponsorship at the 2012 Woodward Dream Cruise event on Saturday, Aug. 18, from 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
The Woodward Dream Cruise is the world’s largest one-day celebration of classic car culture that attracts more than one million visitors, and 40,000 muscle cars, street rods, custom, collector and special interest vehicles. A gold-level sponsor of the event, Plex Systems is sponsoring the road signs that will guide cruisers down the 16-mile stretch of legendary Woodward Avenue, America’s first highway.
“We’re proud to support the Woodward Dream Cruise, a true hallmark of summertime in Metro Detroit,” said Plex Systems Vice President of Products and Marketing Patrick Fetterman. “You can feel the excitement of our neighbors and pride of the cruisers at this spectacular community experience, and we can’t wait to cheer for our favorite Motor City vehicles alongside them.”
“We pride ourselves on providing a safe, family-friendly Dream Cruise, and road signs help keep the more than 40,000 vintage vehicles and non-cruisers all traveling carefully along the Cruise route,” said Woodward Dream Cruise Executive Director Tony Michaels. “We’re grateful for Plex Systems’ support of this can’t-miss summer tradition.”
About Plex Systems Inc.


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Ed Sheeran’s latest tour, which will be in Perth on March 3rd next year, is already making headlines!
Pre-sale tickets sold out instantaneously after being released last night. Fans were outraged as scalpers bought up many tickets and took to other platforms to resell them at inflated prices.
Sheeran’s agency, Frontier Touring released a statement warning fans to not go to other sites to purchase tickets at inflated prices, as regular tickets will go on sale soon.
Not only are tickets across the country selling out in record time, the Thinking Out Loud singer is also in line to break several other records. Including the number of Australian and NZ stadium performances and the number of fans performed to during one tour.
The Shape of You Singer said this was overwhelming.
“I’m overwhelmed with the response, to match that [AC/DC] record is very humbling.”
Sheeran’s promoter has not ruled out the possibility of adding extra shows into the March 2018 tour, with speculation this may happen as there is room in the tour schedule.
The current record for the number of Australian and NZ stadium shows is 14 and is held by Australian rock legends, AC/DC. Sheeran’s currently matching this number.
600,000 is the current record for the biggest number of fans performed to in one show, and is held by singer Adele.
Due to the high demand placed on ticket-sellers during yesterday’s pre-sale drama, general release ticket times will be staggered across the country to cope with demand.
Tickets for Perth will go on sale at 3PM on Tuesday the 23rd of May, 2017 through Ticketmaster Australia and Ticketek Australia.
Photo Courtesy: Ed Sheeran’s Facebook Page


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Smith’s a branded content outfit this week launched the biggest brand funded TV show yet in the UK – a $2 million, seven-part cooking series on Channel 5 called Family Cook Off- bankrolled by British supermarket giant Tesco.
The Australian format was launched on the Nine Network last year with Coles and is now being rapidly employed around the world by some of the largest names in grocery retailing. Tesco has rights to the show in the UK and other markets it operates in places such as Malaysia.
French grocery giant, Carrefour, is bankrolling the show across multiple markets in Europe; a Canadian broadcaster is about to launch the format and Singapore’s biggest retailer, Fair price, is doing so as well. “Although we’ve been caught up in a branded content craze several times in the past ten years” Smith agrees marketers are in the midst of another flurry of activity exploring content ventures outside previous advertising methods and this time it will probably attach.
Indeed the much-touted branded content trend has run hot and cold several times as big brands, communications agencies of all types including media, digital and creative and production companies got ahead of themselves by anticipating a new dawn and potential pot of gold. Some have worked, while others haven’t.
However, as pressure keeps building on traditional advertising formats and digital media offspring demand for more content across new channels, the race is back on for brands to support themselves with stories, ideas and entertainment. Qantas, Westfield, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Audi, Dell and Volkswagen are just a smattering of the big names investing heavily in their own content in Australia at this present state of time.
“We are going to see brands getting much more in bed with directors and producers and less with their traditional agencies” – Perry Smith, Chief Executive, Brand New Media


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Automation benefits workers in many ways. Jobs are safer because of automation, the environment we live in benefits from automation, and consumer goods are more affordable, too.
But automation also benefits management, and there are those who worry that workers aren’t getting the goodies company leaders are getting. In this scenario, the owners of the robots get the benefits of increasing productivity and lower labor costs, concentrating wealth in fewer people. Workers may lose jobs, get pushed into the less-lucrative service economy, or just stay where they are while their bosses gain.
One solution to this could be taxing robots.
One reason suggested for taxing robots in factories is to disincentivize automation. Factory owners who want to replace human workers with machinery do so to cut costs. If taxes make it just as expensive to hire robots as to hire humans, the thinking goes, bosses will have less reason to invest in automation.
Right now, there are tax advantages for automating and tax disadvantages for hiring people.
If taxes can make robots less financially appealing, they could slow down innovation in US manufacturing. The US could find it even harder to compete with European and Asian manufacturers. Prices of consumer goods could rise and wages could stagnate. The overall results might not be great for American workers.
A factory that used to employ 250 low-skilled workers might now have robots and eight high-skilled human workers. The government in this case loses a lot of payroll taxes and income taxes. Where can it make up the shortfall? Perhaps those robots — or rather, the owners of those robots — should be picking up the slack.
Under this theory, robots have to be taxed to make sure they bring in the same amount of tax revenue as the human workers they replace. This new funding source could be directed toward a stronger safety net for people losing jobs to automation, retraining programs, or other benefits for displaced workers.
New York Mayor and presidential candidate Bill de Blasio outlined a plan like this for Wired Magazine. His plan would require employers who let a worker got because of automation to stump up five years’ worth of payroll taxes. An upfront expense like that would almost certainly discourage automation. But the funds collected under this proposal would go directly to create labor-intensive jobs in construction, healthcare, and other industries facing shortages of human workers.
Who will benefit?
Those who argue against taxing robots question whether either of these pro-tax advantages would really benefit workers. Robots can now shovel snow. Would any human worker really prefer to shovel snow — against the wishes of his or her employer — rather than letting a robot do it? Are we ready to give up automatic dishwashers, sewing machines, ploughs, or power tools, let alone industrial automation?
Another presidential candidate, Andrew Yang, wants to create a Value Added Tax for companies benefiting from automation. This is a tax that applies not to income or sales but to changes in products. When wool is made into yarn, the millers are taxed on the value they’ve added to the raw materials. VAT systems are widely used in Europe, but rare in the U.S. Yang would use the extra revenue to fund a universal basic income program which he claims would bring money into local economies.
The idea of taxing robots is being hotly debated. Who knows how it will turn out? We don’t. We do know all about Rexroth electric industrial automation. Call us when you need support or service for your drive and control systems.


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Google has been busy coming up with new products to make our lives easier, and now you can get them at Best Buy.
Just announced today, these new gadgets span from voice assistants to smartphones to virtual reality headsets.
Let’s start with the Google Home Mini. It’s little, yes, but it can do big things. Powered by Google Assistant, it’s designed to fit in anywhere, so you can scatter Minis throughout multiple rooms in your house. It has far-field microphones that can hear you even if there’s music playing or loud background noise.


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After IBM And Microsoft, Amazon To Build India Datacenter
As the cloud war started picking up in India, the cloud vendors have started putting investment to have better services to its customers and partners and build their confidence. Cloud Computing giant Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, said that it will open an AWS infrastructure region in India for its cloud computing platform in 2016.
AWS has already made significant investments in building resources and local billing. AWS established two edge locations in Mumbai and Chennai for Amazon CloudFront in July 2013, as the company said its geographical expansion is a key priority.
Globally, AWS competes with Microsoft Azure, Google Compute Engine, and IBM Softlayer. Microsoft announced earlier this year that it will be setting up three data centers in the country by the end of this year and a private preview of cloud services from India data centers is scheduled for next month. The software major has been aggressively expanding over the past few months, including the announcement to support Linux. IBM established its first data center in Mumbai last year, and is expected to setup its next one later this year.
Experts believe that apart from improved latency speed, having data centers in a local region also ensures that the data from the clients aren’t crossing the geographical boundaries, especially in the wake of Snowden revelations. It is also a big push to the government’s Digital India initiative.
“Tens of thousands of customers in India are using AWS from one of AWS’ 11 global infrastructure regions outside of India. Several of these customers, along with many prospective new customers, have asked us to locate infrastructure in India so they can enjoy even lower latency to their end users in India and satisfy any data sovereignty requirements they may have,” said Andy Jassy, Senior Vice President, AWS. “We’re excited to share that Indian customers will be able to use the world’s leading cloud computing platform (AWS) in India in 2016 – and we believe India will be one of AWS’s largest regions over the long term.”
Customers in India such as Hike, PayTM, ZEDO, Freshdesk, Inmobi, Capillary Technologies, HackerEarth, Getit, Ferns N Petals, redBus, Druva, Vserv, Hungama, Tata Motors, Jubilant Food Works, STAR India, Future Group, Manipal Global Education, Classle, NDTV, Dalmia Bharat Sugar, Usha International, Macmillan India, Apeejay Stya and Svran Group are already using AWS to drive cost savings, accelerate innovation, speed time-to-market, and expand geographic reach in minutes.
AWS also has a vibrant ecosystem in India, including partners that have built cloud practices and innovative technology solutions on the platform. The AWS Consulting Partners in India include Accenture, Blazeclan, Frontier, Intelligrape, Minjar, Progressive, PWC, SaaSforce, SD2labs, Team Computers, Wipro, and many others. Among the AWS Technology Partners in India are Adobe, Druva, Freshdesk, Indusface, Microsoft, Newgen, RAMCO, SAP, Seclore and many others.
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Ram announces the arrival of 1500 Laramie G/T and Rebel G/T models
Ram announced the expansion of the light-duty lineup with the additions of the new 2022 Ram 1500 Laramie G/T and Ram 1500 Rebel G/T models. Both vehicles further solidify the lineup and showcase tons of neat features and technologies.
Ram 1500 G/T models come with sporty hood and dedicated decals that distinguish them from the rest of the Rebel and Laramie models. Also, there's a factory-installed cold-end exhaust and cold-air intake, available via Mopar, and are part of the standard equipment.
The vehicles also come with tons of goodies that are first seen on a non-TRX model. Such include paddle shifters, a console-mounted performance shifter and a metal pedal kit.
The 2022 1500 Laramie G/T and Rebel G/T are available in a Crew Cab configuration with a 5.7-liter V8 with eTorque mild-hybrid assist.
The 2022 Ram 1500 Laramie G/T and Rebel G/T go on sale in the third quarter of 2021.


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White iPhone 4 TodayIn Devices
Nearly a year after the iPhone 4 was initially released, Apple has finally confirmed that the white edition of the iOS smartphone will debut on Thursday, April 28th. Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Philip Schiller, said in a statement: The white iPhone 4 has finally arrived and it’s beautiful…We appreciate everyone who has waited patiently while we’ve worked to get every detail right.
“Waited patiently” is an understatement. It’s been a long road of delays and rumors surrounding this lighter-hued device. When the black iPhone 4 debuted in June, Apple said the white model would follow in July. Then it became late 2010. When that deadline passed, rumored sightings of store signage became all that the white-iPhone-4-hopeful had left to hold onto.
And just when this model was all but forgotten, Bloomberg reported in early April that Apple was finally ready to start shipping the white iPhone 4 “within a few weeks.” After the (legit) white model popped up with carriers in Europe, it became clear that this was finally the real deal – even though some sellers started a bit too early.
So as of April 28th, the white iPhone 4 will be available in over a dozen countries, including the United States, where it will be available at Apple Stores, AT&T and Verizon Wireless retail locations and select Apple Authorized Resellers (i.e. Best Buy).


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DCC Group acquires Grafica
DCC Group, Asia’s largest textile printing solution provider, has announced the acquisition of Grafica though 3Q Printing Technologies Pvt. Ltd. where the Dadia family is a majority shareholder. Bhargav Mistry will lead the team at 3Q as Managing Director.
According to DCC, the brand purchase is in line with its aim to make India a global manufacturing hub for printing machines and related products. The company is set to expand its existing facility and launch a new product line of printing equipment manufactured by 3Q.
Narendra Dadia, group chairman of DCC companies said, “We are working towards establishing a strategic alliance based on DCC and 3Q’s combined strength. It is a historic moment for us and we’re committed to delivering unique value through our solutions.”
As part of the agreement, Grafica’s Bhargav Mistry will lead the team at 3Q as managing director. The acquisition will also see the merger of the Kaizen Institute of DCC and the Dhirubhai Mistry Institute of Grafica to be known as 3Q's Kaizen Institute for Print Education, Research and Training. With these combined resources and infrastructure, Kaizen aims to boost its services such as consulting, auditing and training.
Bhargav Mistry, managing director at 3Q said, "With an intent to make India self-reliant, the company will live by the highest global quality standards. Our mission is to achieve a powerful manufacturing space in printing equipment for the textile, commercial, graphic and industrial printing. We also aim to live up to the phrase "Be Vocal about Local" and ensure the strengthening of Indian resources while eyeing the global export market."
Dhaval Dadia, managing director at DCC Group said, “Our eco-system will be greatly enhanced with the expansion of business activities in 3Q. This will allow us to enrich the customer experience by providing greater services and a new generation of value-based products.” The company's ecosystem comprises five companies with a total infrastructure spread over 240,000 Sq/ft backed by a team of 540 members.
Established in 1989, [before the creation of 3Q Printing Technologies Pvt. Ltd] Grafica Flextronica was the largest Indian and globally reputed screen printing equipment manufacturer of screen printing devices, screen-making equipment and various forms of industrial dryers for textile, automotive, commercial and graphics applications, rolled out at 100,000 sq. ft. Vasai manufacturing plant, at the outskirts of Mumbai. DMI (Dhirubhai Mistry Institute for Print Education, Research & Training) was also an industry-benevolent initiative under the leadership of Bhargav Mistry.
Established in 1978, DCC Group is Asia’s largest provider of printing technologies for
Fashion and Sports Apparels, Home Textile and Signage applications. DCC’s first of its kind, ‘Xperience Zone’ facility is dedicated to the research, development, training and promotion of Screen, Sublimation and Digital Printing


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Google and Apple at war over mobile advertising
A bitter battle has broken out between Google and Apple over the burgeoning mobile advertising market that both are seeking to dominate.
Google accused its rival of trying to muscle it out of the potentially lucrative platform of the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
The rivals, once close Silicon Valley friends, have fallen out over a proposed change that could hobble Google’s ability to sell and place adverts on devices running on Apple’s latest mobile operating system, which comes out this month.
Apple and Google are competing head-on in the important smartphone sector, with handsets running Google’s Android software gaining market share rapidly.
Under the terms of Apple’s latest operating system, clarified by the company on Monday, critical information for distributing and analysing adverts cannot


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Two of dubstep’s great lost dubs, Loefah‘s ‘Midnight’ and ‘Woman’ are finally coming out.
They’ll be released on a 180g 12″ single through the Berceuse Heroique label next week, limited to 300 copies with artwork and an poster by Trilogy Tapes label-head / designer Will Bankhead. It will only be available via UK stores Honest Jon’s and Idle Hands (though it will be available online, not just in-store).
For many dubstep fans, ‘Midnight’ is the lost dub (i.e. a track that was an anthem in club and radio sets, but never received release). It was speculated for some time that the tune might end up lost full stop – Loefah claimed that he’d lost the WAV file of the track, and word was that only two acetate versions existed – but now, over half a decade on from its first play, here we are: 300 happy people, and an entire forum’s worth of rage.
Thanks to JunoPlus for the tip. Last year, we ran down 15 of our favourite lost dubs from grime and dubstep.


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Ag retailers and their farmer customers will directly benefit from the expanded market access.
The agreement will boost U.S. goods and services exports to China by a reported $200 billion over the next two years.
Despite his optimism about the long-term future of American agriculture, the glass has been “half empty” lately for market expert Dr. Jim Budzynski.
New product generates personalized marketing recommendations using data-science; shows how trades will impact expected profitability and risk of loss.
Much-anticipated progress in hemp regulation, sustainability, technology and a presidential election will be key items to watch for this year.
Editors Paul Schrimpf and Eric Sfiligoj discuss the recent Consumer Electronics Show, Brazil’s expected soybean production this year, […]
Editors Paul Schrimpf and Eric Sfiligoj discuss the upcoming CES Show in Las Vegas, the U.S. government stepping […]
Editors Paul Schrimpf and Eric Sfiligoj discuss U.S-China Trade Deal news, farm income, the 2019 CropLife IRON Product […]
Employing a stringent agronomy and quality control regimen, North Carolina-based Pyxus successfully contracted with mostly traditional tobacco farmers to produce hemp in 2019.
Passage of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will advance two of the most important markets for American farmers and agribusinesses.
The organization will provide world-class educational and market development resources, research, and networking opportunities.
Both actions provide regulatory certainty and clarity on how these tools can be used safely while also helping to ensure a strong and vibrant agricultural market.
In a special holiday episode, Editors Eric Sfiligoj and Paul Schrimpf discuss their oddest Christmas gifts and foods. […]
Corey Rosenbusch will start at TFI in February, succeeding Chris Jahn.
More than 100,000 registered top growers and hundreds of blue-chip sellers buy and sell more than $1 billion worth of product on the FarmTrade.com online trading platform.
Editors Paul Schrimpf and Eric Sfiligoj look back on five years of CropLife Retail Week videos, featuring highlights, […]
Editors Paul Schrimpf and Eric Sfiligoj talk about the recent Agricultural Retailers Association meeting and another ag retail […]
The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) has named Premier Ag its 2019 Retailer of the Year. The Retailer of […]
The formation of new agribusiness entity AgLink International was announced at the 2019 Agricultural Retailers Association Conference in […]


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The Finnish mobile maker in order to retain back a better place in the market will come up with feature phone this year and will add more and cheaper Windows smartphones to its portfolio so as in an urge to fight in better ways with fast rising Google’s Android phones in the market.
Nokia while filling out its annual SEC document revealed that smartphone shipments reached 77.3 million units, which are down by 25% as compared to 2010, whilst feature-phone shipments totalled 339.8 million units, a decline of 3% year-over-year. As a result of its falling mobile sales, the average selling price (ASP) of Nokia’s mobile devices fell to $75, down 11% from $85 in 2010.
The company said in its annual report, “We are addressing this with our planned introductions in 2012 of smarter, competitively priced feature phones with more modern user experiences.” Smartphones make up less than a third of industry volume. Nokia last year even ditched its own smartphone software platform and join hands with Microsoft to adopt Windows Phone for over $250 million deal.


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DStv knows that the festive season is just around the corner and that a lot of us will be away from home and in other locations which, perhaps, aren’t as connected as we’re accustomed to. But they still want us to watch their satellite television offering so the company’s DStv Mobile arm has announced a new, limited edition, Walka 4.3 for the holidays.
The new Walka features a 4.3-inch display and a battery life of 3.5 hours, according to DStv, and it is now available from a collection of South African retails. The recommended retail price for the mobile television set is R700.
DStv Digital Media CEO John Kotsaftis said in a statement “With the festive season just around the corner, we wanted to come up with a product that is fun and easy to use so that our subscribers don’t have to miss a moment of their favourite DStv shows as they go about their holiday activities.”
Just make sure that your holiday activities don’t take you too far afield. DStv’s mobile coverage is confined to ten cities in South Africa for the moment: Pretoria, Johannesburg, Polokwane, Bloemfontein, Durban, Rustenburg, Port Elizabeth, East London, Cape Town and Mbombela, according to DStv.


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Accenture opens Perth innovation hub
Global professional services and consulting company Accenture just opened a brand new innovation hub in Perth, Australia.
There are more than 100 Accenture innovation hubs around the world, all geared towards helping local companies get more from their investments in digital technology, be that sustainability returns, greater efficiency, or new capabilities.
The Perth location is the latest in Australia, alongside ones in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, and will primarily focus on serving the interests of Accenture's local clients in the mining and energy industries. The hub is, according to Accenture, designed to help these companies address the challenges and opportunities of digitalization. These include improving sustainability, cybersecurity, health, safety and productivity of workers, and the performance of machines.
“The new hub delivers innovation to our clients’ doorsteps here in Australia,” said Bob Easton, chairman of Accenture in Australia and New Zealand. “We invest locally and leverage Accenture’s global capabilities to develop innovation that puts Australia on a world stage.”
“With this new innovation hub, we are helping raise the innovation profile of Western Australia and Australia overall,” said Ann Burns, who leads Accenture’s Resources sector in Australia and New Zealand. “We believe that the Western Australian energy and mining sectors can become world leaders in digitalization. Crucial to this is a focus on what we refer to as ‘triple zero’: ideas, design and technologies that help achieve zero harm to workers and machines, zero loss across the value chain, and zero waste for sustainability.”
Jean-Marc Ollagnier, group chief executive of Accenture Resources, said, “The energy transition, circular economy, and sustainability provide opportunities to change business models, improve operations, and attract and retain talent. At the innovation hub, we will help clients apply digital technologies to create value across their enterprises.”
Located at the Exchange Tower, 2 The Esplanade, the innovation hub has been designed to host sessions that go from developing an idea to building a prototype and planning how to deploy the full solution. It includes a Liquid Studio, where clients can rapidly develop prototypes; a new design studio from Fjord, Accenture Interactive’s design and innovation consultancy; and a MakerLab space for 3D printing.


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Lexmark International, Inc.
Partner of the Year - Product Brand Owner
Lexmark International, Inc., is a global technology company. Lexmark highlighted ENERGY STAR® as part of its Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) initiatives at the University of Kentucky showcasing energy efficiency. Key 2022 accomplishments include:
- Certifying 100% of new products introduced in 2022 to ENERGY STAR, with over 85% of products earning the ENERGY STAR label, overall.
- Sharing ENERGY STAR messaging with over 9 million people as part of its ENERGY STAR Day activities.
- Incorporating ENERGY STAR as part of its CarbonNeutral claims for multiple products.


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Food, beverage and consumer product packaging will soon get a whole lot greener. And much of the credit goes to Wal-Mart.
The retailing giant, last November, announced it would implement a new Sustainable Packing Scorecard as part of a goal to reduce its packaging consumption 5 percent by 2013. Starting in February, the company will look to the scorecard's sustainability metrics as a way to evaluate the packaging used by its 60,000-plus suppliers.
Wal-Mart based the scorecard on what are called the "Seven R's of Packaging" — remove, reduce, reuse, recycle, renew, revenue and read. From a technology standpoint, the scorecard favors packaging methods that reduce greenhouse gas production, result in more efficient package designs, cost less to transport and offer end-of-life options other than the landfill (see sidebar for the full list).
Given Wal-Mart's clout, the scorecard has already started to sharpen the packaging in-dustry's focus on sustainability. "The scorecard hasn't even gone into effect yet, but it's become a powerful catalyst in sustainability efforts," says Anne Johnson, director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. Some companies have already started to introduce new packages designed to earn a good score. J&J Packaging, to take one example, in May, filed for a patent on a new kind of scorecard-friendly standup blister pack.
It may be tempting to dismiss the scorecard as a corporate green-washing attempt or to ask whether a 5 percent reduction in packaging goes far enough. But Wal-Mart has come up with a sustainability initiative that does look at the environmental footprint of packaging through its full life cycle.
And Wal-Mart isn't alone in taking this life cycle approach. The Sustainable Packaging Coalition likewise has a broad view of sustainability, which isn't surprising given the organization is part of GreenBlue, a non-profit institute founded to promote the adoption of cradle-to-cradle design principles. Developed by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, these principles look at the full environmental impact of products — their raw materials, their end of life "and everything in between," says Johnson. As applied to packaging, the cradle-to-cradle approach also takes performance, economic and social goals into account. "Sustainable technologies won't do much good without the acceptance of consumers and the packaging industry," she says.
The packaging industry hasn't always looked at sustainability through such a broad lens. "Even a few years ago there was a tendency to look at sustainability in the context of just the package itself rather than its cradle-to-cradle impact," says Johnson.
This life cycle approach to sustainability promises to bring about sweeping changes in packaging design and materials. And those changes will create new challenges for the engineers who design packaging machines. "Packaging materials, package design and machinery have to be compatible. So, there's a lot that machine builders can do to help with sustainability," says Jeff Wooster, who is responsible for food and specialty packaging technology at the Dow Plastics.
Machine builders, for example, will need to adapt equipment to run the new biodegradable materials. They'll also have to support efforts to make better use of existing materials. And because packaging's life cycle includes all the production steps, machine builders will be called upon for innovations that can improve the efficiency of manufacturing lines, reducing the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with production.
Here Come the Bioplastics
One the biggest changes associated with sustainability involves the addition of biopolymers to the portfolio of packaging plastics. Though very different in their chemistry, these biopolymers tend to have a few things in common. Most come entirely from sustainable feedstocks such as corn or sugar cane. Most are biodegradable in the right composting environments.
The biopolymer that has made the most commercial progress in North America so far is polylactic acid (PLA) supplied by Cargill's NatureWorks LLC. The company has commercial applications in flexible packaging for relatively short-lived products like fresh-cut produce and baked goods. "The perimeter of the supermarket has been our sweet spot," says David Stanton, NatureWork's brand manager. NatureWorks PLA, which is derived from fermented corn starch, has also seen use in thermoformed trays and blow-molded bottles. Stanton says "millions of pounds per year" of the NatureWorks PLA already go into packaging applications and he adds the company is currently expanding its production facility to its nameplate capacity of 300 million lb/year.
Another up-and-coming biopolymer comes from Telles, a joint venture of Metabolix and Archer Daniels Midland. The venture plans, next year, to open a commercial biorefinery capable of polyhydroxyalkanoates. These Mirel PHAs are already available in smaller quantities from an ADM facility. The first Mirel grade has been for injection molding and it has been molded into caps and closures on a developmental basis, according to Dan Gilliland, business development director for Metabolix. In the coming months, new grades suitable for film, sheet and thermoforming will be rolled out. Gilliland says he expects a blow molding grade, for bottles, to be available sometime next year.
A very different family of compostable packaging materials has been introduced by Innovia Films, the big producer of cellophane and other speciality films. Called Nature-Flex, these films are based on wood pulp. "They're a derivative of cellophane, the original packaging film," says Malcolm Cohn, the company's North American marketing director. Some NatureFlex materials also have a coating to allow heat sealing. Cohn says the most promising applications in North America include overwrap for fresh produce packaged on biodegradable trays — an increasingly popular alternative to traditional "pick-and-pay" packaging. The NatureFlex films can be heat sealed on form-fill and seal lines. "It gives quite a strong seal on its own, about 400 grams per inch" says Cohn. The coated version says the weld strengths make the bags suitable for packages with contents up to 1 lb.
A different twist on sustainable polymers comes from Dow. The company, last month, announced it would partner with Brazilian ethanol producer Crystalsev to produce polyethylene using sugar cane rather than petroleum feedstocks. According to Tony Kingsbury, Dow's sustainability leader, the new cane-based plastics will act just like their fossil-fuel-based cousins. "They're molecularly identical," he says. In fact, when asked how users would be able to tell the two versions apart, Kingsbury quips, "I think you'd have to do some carbon dating."
Other biopolymers — some compostable, some not — are available from new and established plastic suppliers with the latter list including BASF, DuPont and Novamont.
At first glance, biopolymers do seem to have an inherent sustainability advantage. Since packaging biopolymers rely on agricultural feedstocks, they do offer a big reduction in fossil fuel use. A life cycle analyst would remind us that growing, harvesting and transporting the feedstocks still requires fossil fuels. But not nearly as much as a plastic based on fossil fuel. Metabolix's Gilliland claims just 80 to 90 percent of the fossil fuel usage of a traditional polymer comes from the feedstocks. "So our fossil fuel usage is that much less," he says.
With those kind of advantages, a lot of environmental hype surrounds biopolymers right now. Yet, these advantages also make it easy to overlook the fact these bio-based materials have a long way to go before they can truly compete with traditional plastics.
Part of their problem comes down to capacity. "There's not enough infrastructure in the world to replace polyethylene alone. One big biopolymer application from a company like McDonald's and there wouldn't be enough resin for anything else," says Mark Kitzis, vice president of R&D for Alcan Packaging.
Then there's the price of these emerging materials. Conservative estimates have biopolymers costing at least two to three times more than petroleum-based plastics, though the magnitude of the difference varies depending on which plastic you use as a point of comparison. Cohn, for example, acknowledges NatureFlex costs about two times as much as commodity polypropylene. Gilliland says Mirel will cost about three times as much as polyethylene.
Price isn't everything, however. Suppliers of bioplastics believe consumers and brand owners will eventually exert enough pressure on brand owners to increase the value of biopolymer packaging. As Cohn points out, the incremental cost of using a NatureFlex biopolymer might add up to just a half-cent per package. "For a product that costs three or four dollars, a half a cent won't seem like much to the consumer," he says.
Packaging suppliers, though, tend to have a different take on price. "For a package that costs two cents, which is pretty typical, a half cent is a lot," says Jeff Schuetz, staff vice president for global technology Sonoco Products Co. He adds that Sonoco has identified some niche applications where biopolymers make sense, but the company's customers have so far taken a pass, citing the price premium.
The end-of-life options for bioplastics may not be all they're cracked up to be, either. Each biopolymer composts at different rates under different conditions, but the real issue is whether they'll get to a compost heap at all. "When's the last time you ran across an industrial-sized composting facility with the ability to collect used packaging?" Kitzis asks. And in a country where we don't even have an adequate recycling infrastructure, he has a good point.
Without a composting infrastructure, biopolymer packages — rigid or flexible — stand a good chance of ending up as solid waste. "The materials need specific environmental conditions to break down. If you put them in a landfill, they're not going anywhere," Kitzis says.
And while it's true biopolymers can be recycled rather than composted, they can pose problems in a recycling stream, too. PLA bottles, for example, can be tough to distinguish from PET bottles. And if more than a few percent of PLA gets in the PET recycling stream, the quality of the PET recyclate degrades. NatureWorks' Stanton says his company recognizes this problem and is already at work on better sortation technology and other ways to create a separate PLA recycling stream.
Bioplastics present technical difficulties, too. Kitzis can rattle off a long list of ways in which these new materials don't measure up to petroleum-based materials in use now. His list of deficiencies includes barrier properties, coefficient of friction (COF), tensile properties, stiffness and sealability. For packages requiring a long shelf life, "barrier properties are one of the biggest hurdles," Kitzis says.
And for the sake of "machinability" on existing packaging machines, COF and stiffness differences can be a deal breaker. "Biopolymers tend to be stiffer and have higher coefficients of friction," says Kitzis. "They tend not to machine as fast."
Sonoco's Schuetz agrees. "Coefficient of friction is a big deal through the entire supply chain. It matters to the guy stacking the shelves even if he doesn't know what it is," he says. And it matters a whole lot more to a packaging house that has to slow down its form-fill and seal lines to accommodate a biopolymer.
Neither Kitzis and Schuetz have written off biopolymers. In fact, they both oversee R&D labs that evaluate and develop these materials every day. Both of these engineers simply argue it will take work before biopolymers can offer the performance and productivity offered by incumbent packaging materials.
Engineering to the Rescue
And that's where design engineers come in. With the possible exception of the barrier properties, the deficiencies associated with biopolymers can be lessened by tweaking plastics processing and packaging machines. In fact, some of the changes are analogous to the changes that would have to be made to switch purpose-built packaging lines between different fossil-fuel based polymers. "Our materials are not drop-in replacements for anything, just as polystyrene is not a drop-in for polypropylene," says Metabolix's Gilliland.
Some machine builders have already started this process. Norland International supplies turnkey bottle-making and packaging systems, mostly to the bottled water industry. Earlier this year, the company rolled out a blow-molding machine specifically designed to make PLA bottles. Bruce Kucera, Norland's vice president, says his engineers had to put "a lot of time and effort" into understanding how PLA processes before they could build this new Freedom Series PLA machine. "The most important thing was getting a handle on temperature," he says, explaining PLA processes at lower temperatures than PET and has a narrower processing window. "The processing window in our experience is about 25 percent smaller than PET," Kucera says. Accommodating that smaller window required the company to upgrade its temperature controls for the machine and mold cooling system.
ULMA Packaging is another machine builder that has had to tweak form-fill and seal equipment to work with biopolymers. "We're beginning to get requests for machines that handle biopolymers," says Bill Chastain, the company's North American vice president and managing director.
"Biopolymers basically run on the standard types of machines, but they do require modifications to the sealing systems. The materials have a sealing range that's not quite as wide as the polymers we normally run," Chastain says. Among the modifications are constant-temperature sealing bars coated with Teflon, additional temperate sensors on the sealing system and tighter temperature controls. While not difficult from a technical standpoint, the changes do constitute what Chastain describes as a "major retrofit" to an existing machine.
Chastain believes biopolymers will usher in another type of machinery change, at least for new equipment orders. "I think you'll see more machines that can switch between biopolymers and standard polymers," he says. The reason is that volumes for biopolymer packaging are still small enough that utilization would suffer if the machine made only biopolymer runs.
ULMA has, for years, been making packaging machines that can run more than one type of material. For instance, it has machines with two seal rollers — each optimized for a different type of plastic. Chastain sees a similar arrangement emerging to accommodate biopolymers.
More machine builders will likely follow Norland and ULMA's example as biopolymers become more common. And there's little doubt they will become more common over the coming years, especially in light of Wal-Mart's influence.
Even though the scorecard doesn't specifically favor biopolymers, Wal-Mart seems to be going down a path that will help its adoption. The company declined to be interviewed about biopolymers, but it did e-mail a statement that encourages their use and calls them "more sustainable than other synthetic materials used in packaging."
Use Less, Waste Less
Even without biopolymers, there's another route to sustainability, one that involves making more efficient use of fossil-fuel-based materials. While it doesn't get the attention that biopolymers do, this route to sustainability arguably has a much greater and more immediate impact. "There's a lot of hype around biopolymers and I'm concerned that hype can overshadow the sustainability improvements we can make now," says Schuetz.
Some of those improvements involve package design. Maximizing the contents-to-package ratio to reduce the amount of packaging, improving cube utilization to minimize the environmental costs of transporting goods and eliminating unnecessary layers of packaging are three strategies Kitzis cites. They're also strategies that figure into Wal-Mart's scorecard.
Another important strategy involves the downgauging of packages — essentially making them thinner and lighter. "This is something we can do right now," says Kitzis. "Go from 1.5 mils down to 1 mil and right off the bat you've reduced materials usage by 33 percent," he says, adding the fossil fuels and greenhouse gases associated with the manufacturing and transportation of the raw material and the package itself likewise drop.
Schuetz, too, likes downgauging as a sustainability strategy and he points out that upgrading to materials with better mechanical and physical properties can make it possible. Dow, for one, has been supporting this approach with a variety of premium packaging materials for blow molding, thermoforming and film.
In flexible packaging, Wooster says the key properties to maintain in downgauged structure are often COF and barrier properties, both of which can be preserved with resin additives.
Rigid packages can benefit from better tensile and impact properties, allowing them to deal with higher forces from top loads or screw-on closures. As a rule-of-thumb, Wooster says, the replacement resin should offer enough of a property bump to offer a 10 percent reduction in package gauge or weight. For less of a reduction, it might not make sense to re-qualify a new material. "Ten percent seems to be the magic number," he says. The corresponding property changes would typically have to be higher. For example, making a rigid package with a wall that's 10 percent thinner might require a stiffness improvement of 20 to 25 percent — because load properties equal modulus times the thickness cubed.
While some of the downgauging opportunities rest on resin development, machine builders can play a role here, too. Wooster gives one example from film packaging. "Winder speed is often the limiting factor in these lines," he says. So, let's say Dow designs a resin that lets a film producer reduce thickness from 2 mils to 1 mil while maintaining the same barrier performance. Packaging film is usually sold by surface area, so this kind of downgauging is an attractive proposition for a film producers. "That's half the resin for the same amount of film," Wooster says. But winder technology would need to improve to produce quality rolls of the thinner film.
Kitzis also touches on sustainability through design engineering. For example, he imagines new systems that help the contents of bags settle more quickly, a development that could make it possible to eliminate more head space from some dry goods packages. Citing the need to look at packaging from a life cycle perspective, he says machines that reduce waste and improve energy utilization in packaging plants will also help boost sustainability. "The machinery guys will be a big part of the sustainability solution," he says.
Find a supplier on oemsuppliersearch.com


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Celebrity chef Todd English has gotten on board with cooking with cannabis, introducing his new packaged food brand, LastLeaf, with a delicious gourmet mac and cheese infused with cannabis. As a James Beard award-winning chef and accomplished restaurateur, this is the first of what promises to be many exciting new products from Todd English's cannabis-inspired line.
You can choose between two mouth-watering flavors: white cheddar with shells and classic cheddar with elbow macaroni.
English told ABC News Live, "We're getting a great response."
As marijuana becomes legal in more states, the food and beverage industry is taking notice. With 18 states and D.C. now allowing recreational marijuana sales to adults over 21, cannabis-infused foods and drinks are quickly gaining popularity.
California residents can now indulge in a unique twist on the classic mac and cheese, thanks to English. However, the rest of the country need not despair, as plans to expand to other cities with legalized recreational marijuana are in the works.
English has been cooking with cannabis for over a decade. Inspired by his sister Wendy's battle with breast cancer, he began incorporating cannabis in his dishes for her.
"My sister passed away, unfortunately, but during the time she was in remission, I would prepare things with cannabis and it seemed to really help her get through the struggles of how she felt after chemo." said English.
English, along with his business partner Keith Burkard, is on a mission to create nutritious foods infused with both THC and CBD. Their goal is to promote wellness through the benefits of cannabis in a delicious and convenient way.
According to Burkard, "Consumers are ready for it, but it's going to take a little bit of time to get embedded into the marketplace."
LastLeaf isn't stopping at cheesy packaged pasta - they're planning to take things up a notch with cannabis-infused pasta sauces, rubs, and olive oil. Stay tuned for these exciting new products in the coming months!


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The PlayStation VR2 will be easier for developers to port the games onto, Sony has said.
The comments were made by Yasuo Takahashi and Kenjo Akiyama, two senior directors at Sony Interative Entertainment, at an event during Computer Entertainment Developers Conference (CEDEC) 2022.
The talk revealed new details about the software that will help developers in creating for or porting onto PSVR2 (reported by IGN).
Game development for PSVR2 will use the same software development kit (SDK) as the PS5, making it easier for developers to create VR versions of existing PS5 games. It can also support games created in Unity or Unreal Engine to help developers when porting to or from other VR platforms.
The SDK environment also includes a number of programs to help developers when testing games. The report mentions a program that can be used to test out headset vibration for things like footsteps and gunshots. There's apparently even quizzes included in a tool called Comfort Sample so developers can test their knowledge on what's causing particular bugs.
A release date for PSVR2 hasn't been announced yet, but we know it will arrive sometime in early 2023. Despite this, the headset will be making an appearance at Tokyo Game Show 2022 in a couple of weeks' time, where it'll be playable for the first time ever with a demo of Resident Evil Village.


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Virgin Group, founded by UK billionaire Richard Branson, formed a partnership to spend as much as US$500 million ($678 million) on high-end hotels over the next three years, banking on brand recognition to lure affluent clients.
Virgin Hotels, intended as a four-star chain, will cater to "high income, well-educated, metropolitan 'creative class"' customers, according to a brochure on its website.
The company said it's seeking hotel sites in such North American cities as New York, San Francisco, Miami and Los Angeles, and plans to expand globally later.
The plans come as business and leisure travel rebound, helping the US lodging industry recover after the recession sent occupancies to a 30-year low in 2009.
Revenue per available room, or revpar, in the top 25 US markets rose to US$73.87 during the first half from US$71.08 a year earlier, according to Smith Travel Research of Hendersonville, Tennessee.
"We're very encouraged by the number of hotel transactions we've seen this year," Anthony Marino, an executive director of the new venture, said.
"Compared to last year, it's like night and day. There are a lot of properties out there that were developed in 2007 that are now opportunities for us."
Virgin, which plans to have as many as 25 hotels within a decade, will have to compete with such established hotel chains as Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, owner of the high-end W and St Regis names, and Marriott International, which has the JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Renaissance brands.
"There are a lot of brands out there," said David Loeb, an analyst at Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird. "It's tough to get a share in this market. It helps to have a globally recognised name like Virgin does, but it's not a cakewalk and not an obvious transition."
Virgin Hotels will be overseen by Marino, with Virgin Group since 2006; president and chief operating officer Raul Leal, previously president of Desires Hotels; and Paul Whetsell, an executive director who founded CapStar Hotel.
Virgin Group, based in London, said it formed a partnership for the acquisitions with Alberto Beeck, a Florida-based entrepreneur and silver-mine investor, and Diego Lowenstein, chief executive officer of Florida-based Lionstone Development.
Virgin Hotels, whose properties will range from 150 to 400 rooms, will operate as a third-party manager, team with owners or acquire the properties directly.
"It is a competitive market with very savvy competitors," said Marino.
"But if you look at Virgin's history, we have come into markets with big powerful players, where customers are generally satisfied but not in love, and we have been able to cut through that."


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Kez’s Kitchen launches new bar and cookie options
Victorian business Kez’s Kitchen is now selling new health-focused bars and cookies through Woolworths supermarkets.
The new ‘Free & Naked’ bars include popcorn, choc crunch protein and lamington varieties. They are made from “all natural ingredients” including dates, nuts and seeds.
The new Free and Naked Cookies include raw peanut cookie and raw choc nut cookie varieties.
Chief Executive Officer and Owner of Kez’s Kitchen, Michael Carp, said he was inspired to create the new snacks because of his own personal food intolerances.
“I am both dairy and gluten intolerant and was struck by the fact I couldn’t enjoy any of the snacks we were making. I knew I wasn’t alone,” Carp said.
Both the bar and cookie product ranges are available now at Woolworths supermarkets across Australia. The recommended retail price is AUD $5.99 for a five pack. Single serve packs are also available.
About Kez’s Kitchen
Kez’s Kitchen was first founded in Melbourne in 1991 by Keren Carp, whose nickname is Kez. Keren began the business in her home kitchen and it took off as her chocolate chip cookies became popular. Kez’s mother soon joined the business before Keren’s brother, Michael Carp, joined in 1994.
Michael acquired the business in 2011 and is now its owner and Chief Executive Officer.
Today Kez’s Kitchen produces a number of food products for Australian supermarkets, including biscuits, bars and cereal.
- Kez’s Kitchen launches gluten-free cereal bites and snacks
- Kez’s Kitchen launches new cookie varieties
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Established supermarkets around the world work from a pretty similar, well-honed playbook.


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Kuala Lumpur, April 7: Sophos latest survey report – The Future of Cybersecurity in Asia Pacific and Japan, in collaboration with Tech Research Asia (TRA) reveals that a lack of boardroom awareness of cybersecurity, and a broad assumption from executives that their company will never get attacked, despite rising ransomware incidences, impact and cost.
Despite cybersecurity expenditure and self-assessed maturity increasing in Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) organisations over the past 12 months, the report found that in Malaysia only 29 percent of companies surveyed believe their board truly understands cybersecurity.
In addition, the top frustration expressed by cybersecurity professionals in Malaysia is that they can’t keep up with the pace of security threats.
Eighty-five per cent of Malaysian respondents also believe cybersecurity vendors do not provide them with the information they need to help educate executives, and 93 percent of companies agree their biggest security challenge in the next 24 months will be the awareness and education of employees and leadership.
The top two attack vectors of concern for local organisations are directly addressable by ongoing education and awareness campaigns such as phishing or whaling attacks, and weak or malicious employees.
“With ransomware attacks continuing to become more complex, organisations need a genuine, actionable cybersecurity education program. The current reactionary tendencies we’re seeing have created an ‘attack, change, attack, change …’ cycle regarding cybersecurity strategies, which is putting cybersecurity teams constantly on the backfoot,” Sophos, APJ, global solutions engineer Aaron Bugal said.
“Shifting priorities to become more proactive must start at the top and requires direction from executives, including investments in awareness and education across entire organisations.”
The skills shortage continues to wreak havoc
The skills shortage continues to be a key focus area for Malaysian organisations.
Seventy per cent of firms surveyed expect to have some problems with recruiting cybersecurity employees over the coming 24 months, 26 per cent expect to face a major challenge.
“Cybersecurity professionals continue to face many frustrations in their roles this year, with many feeling their warnings and messages fall on deaf ears.
“Apart from lacking skilled security specialists, many of the other frustrations are directly addressable through education and awareness programs, starting at the executive and board level.
“The challenge for cybersecurity professionals faced with low levels of security understanding among company boards is that many are unlikely to invest in the necessary programs to alleviate these frustrations.
“The issue isn’t technology, it’s education. Increasing spend on cybersecurity won’t help unless organisations understand from the top down the true nature and critical threat that cyberattacks constitute to their organisational capabilities, their customers and their own existence.”
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