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Americans plan to tip service providers well this holiday season, Survey
Please note that we are not authorised to provide any investment advice. The content on this page is for information purposes only.
- Americans are planning to tip service providers more during this holiday season, new survey finds.
- Americans plan to tip housekeepers and childcare provider the most at an average of $50.
- 87% of U.S. adults said they believe it’s important to shop locally as a way of supporting small businesses
Tipping workers and service providers is a great way to appreciate the hardworking people. This article details how much U.S. adults are planning to tip service providers this holiday season.
COVID restrictions have been relaxed over the last one year, as Americans expect return to normalcy. American consumers are going out and use different service providers which they were no able to use during the 2020 holiday season such as childcare services, hair salon, bars and restaurants. At the same time, service providers expect to be tipped more even as they attend to more clients this holiday season.
However, tipping service providers can sometime seem burdensome particularly in a time when consumer prices high making this year’s holiday spending the most expensive in the recent years. But the latest survey by creditcards.com reveals that just who and how much American are giving.
Tip Service Provider: Who and How Much?
The survey found that Americans are planning to tip service providers between $20 and $50 on average. Many said they would give more than they usually do because it is a holiday season – time to give and share. 47% of U.S. adults plan to tip their housekeepers and 41% plan to tip their childcare providers.
The survey which involved 2,372 Americans aged 18 years was carried out between November 3 and 5, 2021. The results of the survey also revealed that Gen Z is more likely to tip more (51 while baby boomers are expected to give less at 42%. Millennials meet in the middle at 48% and Gen X at 43%.
Of all the service provides, housekeepers and childcare are likely to be tipped more with 47% and 41% of Americans respectively, planning to tip them $50 or more respectively. 36% plan to tip landscapers at least $30, 41% plan to tip teachers at least $25 and 19% indicated they plan to tip trash collectors $20 or more.
45% U.S. adults said that they would tip more than usual this holiday season and that they would tip at least one type of service providers. As such, 27% said they would tip waitstaff more and only 9% said they would tip their coffee shop baristas more.
Almost nine out of 10 Americans surveyed (87%) said they believe it’s important to shop locally as a way of supporting small businesses. This includes 93% of baby boomers, 88% of Gen X, 82% of millennials and 80% of Gen Z. In addition, women (90%) were more likely to say shopping locally is important than men (84%).
According to Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst for CreditCards.com, service providers have dealt with unprecedented challenges throughout the pandemic with a lot of them losing income. This has made them to opt for personal loans such as short-term installment loans and instant online payday loans to help them to meet their financial needs. He said:
“Holiday tipping is a really nice way to reward the hardworking people who make our lives easier throughout the year.”
Therefore, if you are in a position to afford it, tipping service providers this holiday season could make a huge difference.


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Jaffa will now act as chief operating officer.
December 5, 2020
Genius Brands has promoted Michael Jaffa to chief operating officer from his previous role as general counsel and senior vice president, business affairs.
Jaffa will now be responsible for overseeing the business operations of production, consumer products, global distribution, as well as legal, human resources and the diversity divisions. Additionally, he will continue to oversee the business and legal operations of the Company’s digital channels, Kartoon Channel! and Kartoon Classroom!, while retaining his responsibilities as General Counsel.
The announcement was made by Genius Brands’ chairman and chief executive officer Andy Heyward, to whom Jaffa continues to report.
“Since joining Genius Brands in 2018, Mike has been a tireless leader in driving the business forward as we lay the foundations for the next great kids company,” says Heyward. “Heading into 2021, we are poised to take a giant leap forward with the execution of business strategies for our new brands, ‘Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten,’ ‘Shaq’s Garage’ and ‘Stan Lee Universe,’ joining tentpoles ‘Rainbow Rangers’ and ‘Llama Llama,’ and the continued rapid expansion of our digital platform, Kartoon Channel! now in over 100 million U.S. TV households, and available in virtually the entire country. He will additionally oversee the integration of the recent acquisition of Chizcom Media, the largest buyer of children’s advertising in North America. Mike’s pedigree coming from Hasbro Productions and DreamWorks TV Animation is another example of building Genius Brands into a powerhouse entertainment company with proven leadership from the world’s most successful companies in the entertainment and broadcast industries.”
Jaffa has previously served as head, business affairs at DreamWorks Animation Television and was responsible for all studio business and legal affairs matters, including the negotiation and drafting of hundreds of development, production, acquisition, talent, digital and music agreements.
He was also previously the vice president, legal and business affairs for Hasbro Studios. Jaffa has also represented various clients, including Sony Pictures Animation and MGM Studios.
“There are tremendous opportunities for growth in the years to come for Genius Brands,” says Jaffa. “I am honored to take on this expanded role and look forward to working together with Andy, my management colleagues, our dedicated employees and all of the departments across our business to continue our transformation to one of the foremost producers and distributor of enduring first-class content for kids and their families.”
Read more about:Genius Brands International
License Global is the leading news source for the brand licensing industry, delivering award-winning editorial content including news, trends, analysis, and special reports about the global consumer product and retail marketplace.
Through its print edition, website, daily e-newsletter and event publications, License Global reaches more than 150,000 executives and professionals in all major markets. The magazine also serves as the official publication for the sector’s trade events, which include Licensing Expo, Brand Licensing Europe, Licensing Expo Japan, Licensing Expo Shanghai and the Licensing Leadership Summit.
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domain: news


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Home Tags Fitness
The furore over six-pack abs on Instagram is more than just a trend. It's undermining the essence of fitness and replacing it with an illusion.
Burke's 'Mindful Muscle' is focussed not just on physical fitness but a full transformation of the self. The focus is on developing positive thinking & creating an integrated platform for members to become their best versions.
SubscriberWrites: Gym in office, regular sports — pandemic has shown India needs to get fit, and fast
Twenty years ago, during a visit to the US, a co-worker asked me what sports I played. Like most Indians, I had no answer, says Amit Arora.
Navy has set new guidelines with revised fitness parameters for its personnel. It will be applicable to both male and female personnel from this month.
Estimates indicate that over a quarter of adults and around 81 per cent of adolescents don’t meet the 2010 WHO recommendations.
Fitness tech firm GOQii plans to move manufacturing of its wearables out of China, at a time when Apple & other brands are seeking to make more in India.
Community fitness groups, Instagram challenges & live exercise sessions – how Indians are staying fit under lockdown
With gyms, yoga studios and health clubs across India shut due to the coronavirus pandemic, many Indians are devising creative ways to stay fit and keep others fit as well.
PM Modi said fitness has always been an integral part of India's culture, but the advent of technology has led to an indifference towards it.
WhatsApp, an app primarily used for chatting, is helping a growing number of people hone their entrepreneurial skills.
Researchers have in recent years noted a downward trend in the number of people participating in events like marathons and community 5 km races.
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For the last three years, we’ve walked the aisles of toy fairs and reached out to trend experts for their opinions on what toys would top the charts each holiday season, driving parents crazy and forcing them to hunt for sparkly eggs, tiny collectible pets, and rainbow unicorn poop made of slime.
Not to stress you out or anything, but with the release of Frozen 2 and the continued popularity of toys like Hatchimals, Ryan’s World Giant Mystery Egg, and L.O.L. Surprise!, things are selling out fast. So you’re going to need a little luck as you shop this year. Note: We’ve also got gift guides for kids of all ages, including 1-year-olds, 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4-year-olds, 5-year-olds, 6-year-olds, 7-year-olds, 8-year-olds, and 9-year-olds. Below, we talked to toy experts to find all the toys you should know about this year — and what to stock up on before they’re all gone.
Note: Since we are now in the final surge of holiday shopping, we’ve checked this post to make sure everything is in stock and should arrive before December 25. But prices and stock are subject to change, so check to make sure your gifts will ship in time.
This year’s hottest overall toy
Unboxing and collectible toys were the biggest trends last year, and they have only gotten more popular. They include anything with some element of surprise, where you don’t know what you’re going to get until you open it. Adrienne Appell, senior director of communications at the Toy Association, told us these toys (sometimes referred to as blind-box toys) have “gotten a little bit more sophisticated,” mixing interactive elements into the reveal. Appell and three other toy experts called these Blume dolls from Skyrocket Toys some of the most anticipated of the season. Blume dolls start out looking like a potted plant, and come with a little watering can you use to make the doll spring up out of the dirt. Appell explains “the hair of the doll is made of slow-rise foam, and when you water the “plant,” it looks as if your doll is blooming from the pot.”
Chris Byrne, also known as the Toy Guy, says, “It’s like magic for kids.” Marissa DiBartolo, editor-in-chief of the Toy Insider, says, “The dolls have a unique design, and the flowerpot doubles as a customizable play set,” adding that each doll provides “so much play for less than $10.” And Sara Skirboll, shopping and trends expert at RetailMeNot, likes this toy because it’s such a fun example of the unboxing collectible trend. Skirboll tells us there are 22 different Blume dolls, so once you collect one or two or three, “you can take the foam hair off and change it out with your other Blume dolls.” After the toy blooms, you can open up the pot and find a little mini-friend and some stickers to decorate with.
This year’s hottest toy pet
Last year, we watched — a little perplexed — as Poopsie Slime Surprise Unicorns flew off toy shelves and reappeared on eBay at wildly inflated prices. This year, however, instead of a unicorn that poops rainbow slime, we have a booty-shakin’ llama named Boppi. Appell, Byrne, and Skirboll told us that this dancing llama is going to be incredibly popular. “You have to Google it,” says Skirboll. “It is so cute, and as I said, I bought most of these toys, so they’re all sitting on my desk. It’s even pretty funny to watch it just in the packaging.”
The year’s hottest ride-on toy pet
This year’s hottest toy rescue pet
Scruff-a-Luvs, the plush rescue pets whose fur you have to wash and comb to find out if you’ve got a puppy, kitten, or bunny, were a huge hit last year. According to Byrne, they’re part of the “nurturing toy” trend that includes any toy that requires being fed, nurtured, and trained by kids. Byrne predicts that the new line of Scruff-a-Luvs will sell just as well, if not better, than the originals.
This year’s hottest kid-created toys
In 2018, Ryan’s World Giant Mystery Egg sold out, was restocked, then sold out again at Target, Amazon, and Walmart. Ryan, a real kid with over 4 million YouTube subscribers and a new show on Nickelodeon, has played a huge role in the unboxing trend through his videos. For 2019, he (and his parents) came up with a different surprise-filled toy, this time in the shape of a safe with a lock. Appell told us the Ryan’s World Super Surprise Safes and Treasure Chests are some of the toys she and the Toy Association “think is going to move really quickly.”
If you missed out on the Ryan’s World Giant Mystery Egg last year, this Target exclusive is still in stock — for now.
This year’s hottest toy inspired by a song
If you have a child, you have probably heard the song “Baby Shark” an obscene amount of times. You can now buy this shark puppet from the makers of Fingerlings — yes, it comes in a Fingerlings version too. Three of our experts (Byrne, Appell, and Skirboll) are betting this plush family of singing sharks will sell like hotcakes. Byrne likes that it “takes a concept that kids love and interprets it into a dimensional way of playing.” He explains that when you do the Baby Shark hand movements “like the jaws of a shark,” it triggers the puppet to play the song. Move the puppet faster, and it plays the song faster; move more slowly, and it slows the tempo down.
This year’s hottest fashion doll
Both Byrne and Appell think that Mattel’s newest dolls will be something of a runaway hit with parents and kids. “They’re not Barbie,” says Appell. “They’re customizable dolls, so you can create your own characters.” Each of the six dolls comes with different clothing and hairstyles, so you can give them short hair or long hair, and style them however you want. “I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Appell says.
This year’s hottest collectible surprise dolls
While L.O.L. Surprise! isn’t new to the scene, all four of the experts we talked to recommend stocking up on them early before they inevitably sell out. And as predicted, there’s not a lot from L.O.L. Surprise! left that will get to you by Christmas at this point. Out of everything made by L.O.L. Surprise!, Skirboll, Byrne, Appell, and DiBartolo recommend the winter disco-themed L.O.L. Surprise! dolls and accompanying chalet-style dollhouse (which has unfortunately sold out everywhere). “That winter theme is going to do really well,” says Byrne, who tells us that, though it’s not a licensed Frozen 2 toy, it takes its wintry inspiration from the film. Byrne explains, “You take the doll kids already love, add a wintry fantasy inspired by Frozen (which is going to be a juggernaut), and you get a really engaging toy.”
This year’s hottest slime toy
All of our experts agree that slime is a big trend that’s still growing. “Slime is really huge!” says Byrne, who told us that people are finding different ways to play with it, and even hide little toys inside of it. Byrne likes this hysterical slime-collecting hammer because it “combines the fun of popping bubble wrap, unboxing toys, and smashing stuff with slime.”
This year’s hottest STEM toy
Byrne says that STEM-style toys are a big trend he’s been seeing, and though he likes anything from Playmobil, he specifically mentioned this Mars Mission Playmobil toy as one to look out for because it does a good job of “building narrative and fantasy, while including some science in there as well.”
This year’s hottest toy from a movie
All four experts we spoke to mentioned some sort of Frozen 2 merch, collectibles, dolls, and dress-up costumes. DiBartolo says, “You’ll be seeing Elsa and Anna in every toy aisle.” But according to Byrne, Appell, and Skirboll, the Elsa doll that sings “Into the Unknown” is the one to watch. While the singing Elsa doll is sold out, this one is still available and will ship in time for Christmas.
And for under $15 bucks, you can get a pair of life-size boots from the movie to match the doll.
This year’s hottest preschool toy
Both Byrne and DiBartolo mentioned this collection of big-eyed bobblehead dolls as a way for children 3 and under to get in on the collectibles trend. Byrne says, “They are like Shopkins but for preschoolers,” because they “have a ton of accessories just like Shopkins, but theirs are bigger, so small children won’t swallow the pieces.”
This year’s hottest video-game system for kids
Three out of our four toy experts (Skirboll, Byrne, and Appell) say they expect the Nintendo Switch Lite to sell out quickly. “It’s smaller, it’s cheaper, and it comes in a few different colors,” says Skirboll, explaining that parents of tweens and teens might like this lighter version of the megapopular gaming system. It should be said, though, that this version of Nintendo Switch does not connect to your TV.


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HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong people hoping to cure their asthma through the age-old remedy of a dish of crocodile meat could instead come down with sore throats, constipation, nosebleeds and insomnia, a newspaper said Thursday.
This is because about two-thirds of the supposed crocodile meat on the market probably comes from other reptiles, the Standard said.
Hong Kong’s Consumer Council tested 24 samples of crocodile meat from dried seafood shops across the territory and found that 16 were fake, constituted instead from dried lizard or snake.
“It is difficult for ordinary people to differentiate between the meats of various reptiles. Consumers are advised to buy ... at reliable shops and get receipts that state clearly what they are buying,” Council chief executive Connie Lau was quoted by the Standard as saying.
Three people were arrested for selling fake products, the paper added.
While there have been no reports of people falling ill from eating the fake meat, the paper quoted Chinese medicine practitioner Julianna Chau as saying the consumption of snake meat could cause excessive “heaty” effects in certain people.
“Sore throats, constipation, nosebleeds and insomnia will result if those who eat snake meat are themselves heaty by nature,” the paper said.
Reporting by James Pomfret, editing by Nick Macfie
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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After a year in which site selection was a remarkably hot topic for Specialty Coffee Association-led world coffee competitions, the group has announced that 2019 world competitions will fall squarely in line with the SCA’s two major events, the United States-based SCA Expo, and Europe-based World of Coffee.
In an announcement released yesterday, organizer World Coffee Events said the 2019 World Barista Championship and World Brewers Cup will take place during the SCA Expo in Boston, April 11-14. The World Latte Art Championship, World Coffee In Good Spirits Championship, World Cup Tasters Championship and the Cezve/Ibrik Championship will all take place during the 2019 World of Coffee event in Berlin, Germany, June 8-10.
Dates have still not been announced for the 2018 or 2019 World Coffee Roasting Championship, which is one of numerous 2018 world championships that has been relocated from Dubai.
The 2018 World Barista Championship is taking place this June 20-23 in Amsterdam in conjunction with World of Coffee. Check out our interview with current US Barista Champion Cole McBride here.


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Wherein I scan the Monday morning headlines so you don't have to (though I'll be a little late with most of them on Monday):
From Advertising Age:
—A Q&A with Barry Diller, owner of the most boringly-named Internet company ever.
—What talents do organizations crave in terms of digital? Read this or be made redundant.
—Doritos? A force for good? Well, maybe.
—Do consumers save $2,500 a year by shopping at Wal-Mart? Not necessarily.
—Ford and New Orleans equals zero stars, according to Bob Garfield.
—Not getting enough viewers from reality, TV networks create virtual worlds.
—Hill, Holliday gets bigger presence with Bank of America.
—A Q&A with Richard Kirshenbaum, in which he reveals the importance of a good haircut.
—A close-up on Wendy's online marketing programs.
—Barbara Lippert likes everything about Target's fashion show featuring holograms, instead of models. Except for the fashion. I've embedded video of it below.
What we hear from The Delaney Report:
—Despite evidence to the contrary, Wendy's execs aren't all necessarily happy with the red wig.
—The relationship between Revlon and Endeavor might not be so strong.
—Some advertisers are skeptical about Facebook.
—Mountain Dew launches a dewmocracy, wherein consumers get to create their own new version of the super healthy, non-teeth-decaying soda.
—Publicis' Maurice Levy calls Microsoft's Facebook investment "insane," and states the obvious: that there's not enough online ad dollars to support all of the sites that expect ad revenue to be their road to riches.
—Laurie Petersen bolts Mediapost for Minyanville.com.
—Two groups plan to complain to the FTC about the new ad programs just launched by Facebook and MySpace.
From The New York Times:
—Google's masseuse retires because she's so damn rich.
—Now video game magazines are feeling pressure from the Internet.
—Circulation at Philadelphia's two newspapers holds steady, and some say—amazingly enough— it's because of an ad campaign to gain new subscribers.
—Will consumers care about Finra? A new campaign aimed at them hopes that they do. (Naw, I'm not really sure what Finra is either.)
—New Arbitron ratings system shows radio use dropping among blacks and Hispanics.
—New Web site lets people create their own cookbook.
From The Wall Street Journal:
—More on Minyanville.


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Premiere Santa Barbara Restaurant Week Begins Friday
The Lark Pre-Fix Dinner Sample Plate
By Bonnie Carroll
The 1st Restaurant Week is coming to Santa Barbara! This two-week long event is being organized by Santa Barbara Uncorked and sponsored by Jordano’s and the Pacific Beverage. Santa Barbara Restaurant Week will take place February 23rd through March 4th, 2018 and will include $25, $35 and $45 prix fixe menus at featured restaurants.
Peter Jordano, CEO Jordano's Food Service and Pacific Beverages are Grand Cru sponsors for SB Restaurant Week, and during a kick-off luncheon at El Encanto Hotel Jordano and Shaun O'Bryan El Encanto Resort Manager shared their enthusiasm for this long overdue opportunity to shine a light on local food and wine business owners and they congratulated the team of local residents and restaurateurs participating in the upcoming event.
This premier event was the idea of a group of locals who have worked in the restaurant industry, and wine world of Santa Barbara and it is supported by major food and beverage people, as well as media professionals who felt this Restaurant Week in their hometown was long overdue. Over 28 local restaurants are participating, including El Encanto Hotel, The Lark, Los Arroyos and others who can be found on the event website. It was announced a portion of the proceeds from the SB Restaurant Week will be donated to help restaurant owners who were seriously affected by the recent Thomas Fire and Floods.
How does it work? Guests are invited to make a reservation at participating restaurants during Restaurant Week, and in turn, will pay a discounted rate for a 3-course menu. All participating restaurants together with their menus are featured on www.sbrestaurantweeks.com. With an abundant amount of restaurants to choose from in Santa Barbara, the possibilities are endless for exceptional dining experiences from prime steak to fresh local seafood or classic American fare to international favorites.
In addition to restaurants featuring their signature dishes and local chef talent, wineries will provide special pricing and a unique food pairing experience. Hotels are also offering special values for accommodations during the week. Santa Barbara Restaurant Week menus exclude tax, tip, or beverages, reservations are highly recommended. For up to date information on Santa Barbara Restaurant Week, including a complete list of menus and hours of operation visit SBrestaurantweeks.com or them on Facebook and Instagram @sbrestaurantweek. Cheers to the first Santa Barbara Restaurant Week!
About Bonnie Carroll
Bonnie Carroll has been a food/travel/lifestyle writer since 1983. She is the founder & publisher of Bonnie Carroll’s Life Bites News, and does travel and food reporting on local radio/TV, she also contributes to a variety of national and international travel/lifestyle publications, and is a member of IFWTWA and NATJA. Contact her at [email protected].


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Coke Tries to Can Indian Billboard
Delhi: Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola has threatened an Indian photographer
with legal action for using its logo in a poster depicting water shortages.
The poster, in Madras, shows a line of water containers and a hand
pump with a Coca-Cola logo in the background.
A spokesman for Coca-Cola India said a copyright infringement notice
had been sent to photographer Sharad Haksar.
Activists have accused Coca-Cola and Pepsi of depleting ground water
- claims the firms both strenuously deny.
Coca-Cola India spokesman Vikas Kotchhar confirmed to the BBC that
a legal notice had been sent to Mr Haksar for infringement of trademark.
He said they were in talks with Mr Haksar to resolve the issue amicably.
The legal notice states Mr Haksar should remove the billboard immediately
and issue an apology to the company or face further legal action and
a possible fine of two million rupees ($46,000).
Mr Haksar - who runs his own advertising agency, 1pointsize - told
the BBC he had no intention of hurting the company's sentiments or
infringing its trademark.
"They are my client, I've done work for them. I would be stupid to
fight with my clients," he said, describing the poster as "quite harmless".
Mr Haksar added: "The hoardings are a personal issue I have maintained
in Madras for the past three years wherein I take a social issue each
month and highlight it through pictures.
"As a photographer, it is my take on the severe water shortage in
the state and across India. It is a fact and an irony that there is
a shortage of drinking water while Coca-Cola is available everywhere."
Mr Haksar said he should be allowed freedom of expression.
This is not the first time his pictures have got him into trouble.
The billboard prior to the Coca-Cola one depicted a small boy urinating
on a wall sporting the logo of US giant Nike with its brand line,
"Just Do It".
Nike also sent a letter through its lawyers to Mr Haksar.
He said the issue was resolved peacefully though he had kept the hoarding
on for an additional month as he wanted to show that he would not
bow to pressure.
Mr Haksar said he would not take down the Coca-Cola poster till the
matter was resolved.
FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. India Resource Center is making this article available in our efforts to advance the understanding of corporate accountability, human rights, labor rights, social and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.


text:
Microsoft gave an update on Windows 7 this week, outlining a timeline for the release of the upcoming operating system to manufacturers. The company noted that you shouldn't "believe everything you read on the Internet" and proceeded to set the recor...
Business customers can start ordering Windows 7 beginning Sept. 1, slightly ahead of the general release of the OS the next month, Microsoft unveiled on Monday.
Nearly six in 10 companies have no current plans to deploy Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7, due for release in October, according to a new survey.
Microsoft will include a feature that lets people run applications in a Windows XP mode on Windows 7 to ensure that applications not designed for the forthcoming OS can run on it, a company executive said Monday.
Six in 10 companies plan to skip Microsoft's Windows 7, many of them because they've cut budgets and others because of compatibility worries, a survey released today said.
Intel appears ready to deliver, starting next month, new server, laptop and desktop processors based on its new microarchitecture, which offers improved performance.
Dell on Friday said it would consider testing Google's upcoming Chrome operating system, but didn't commit to offering the Linux-based OS in future products.
Microsoft's timing of Windows 7's launch is "fortuitous" because U.S. corporate PC buying plans are on the upswing for the first time in 18 months, a market research company said this week.
File this under: Don't believe everything you see.
Whether you prefer Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X, you can probably get almost everything you need done with your chosen OS. However, sometimes a task demands an OS that you are not currently using. That's where virtualization programs like Sun Microsys...
Google Inc. says its coming Linux-based Chrome operating system will "start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds."
With the Internet abuzz this week about Google's newly announced plan for its upcoming Chrome OS operating system, some analysts are wondering what exactly will set it apart from its popular -- and established -- rivals.
As soon as Google Inc. announced it was working on the new Chrome operating system, questions arose over how the new OS will differ from the Android mobile OS, and whether it might spell the end of Android.
Google is already working with several companies to develop devices around the new Chrome OS, including Hewlett-Packard and Acer, the company said in a blog post late Wednesday.
Google's Chrome OS won't be an immediate threat to Windows, but it may force Microsoft to reinvent its operating system more quickly into a product that takes full advantage of the Web and can move more nimbly across devices and form factors, analyst...
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“When mom is the source, milk —the universal first meal — requires no further processing.
With cow’s milk, it’s a different story. Before Louis Pasteur concluded that heat kills disease-related bacteria, everyone drank raw milk. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns that drinking raw milk is very dangerous, and federal law forbids interstate distribution of unpasteurized milk for human consumption.
Still, some proclaim it their right to drink raw, unpasteurized milk.
Max Kane, director of a Chicago food-buying club, protests that raw milk eases the excruciating gastrointestinal distress he’s suffered all his life. Last winter, Kane rallied a disgruntled coterie of raw milk revolutionaries in Chicago’s Independence Park. Continue reading


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After much speculation about "customizable" hardware, earth-shattering specifications, and groundbreaking construction materials, everything we've learned about the Moto X to date has been pretty... mundane.
No one seems to have nailed down a concrete list of specifications for the device, with rumors varying anywhere from Snapdragon S4 Pro - the chip powering the Nexus 4 - to NVIDIA's Tegra 4i. I'd like to point out that the latter basically isn't possible if the phone is being released this year, as when I spoke to NVIDIA 6 weeks ago, they said the first Tegra 4i devices will be coming in "early 2014." (That revising an earlier estimate of "Q4 2013 / Q1 2014.") However, there is some possibility, of course, that a Tegra 4i version will come at a later date.


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Others believe it is because 20–30 somethings nowadays lack ‘traditional’ skills with only 5% of 18-24’s attempting to unblock a sink and only 8% understanding how to re-wire a plug.
That said, the DIY sector is still worth a healthy £7.3 billion per year. So with ‘DIY Dads’ dwindling, why is the builders merchants industry still booming?
Since the DIY programmes drifted away from our television screens it seems consumer’s habits have shifted from do-it-yourself to do-it-for-me. Which in tu [...]


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Toyota is Forming a New Software Company to Develop Autonomous Driving Technology
【Summary】Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. announced on Tuesday that its Toyota Research Institute Advanced Development, Inc (TRI-AD) will expand its operations into a new holding company with two subsidiaries. The holding company will implement and scale autonomous driving technologies and advanced mobility initiatives for Toyota.
In March 2018, Japan's Toyota Motor Corporation established its Toyota Research Institute Advanced Development, Inc. (TRI-AD) as a research and development portal to accelerate development and deployment of automated vehicle technology for the automaker.
A big part of TRI-AD's mission was to help establish Toyota as a world-class software & technology company and build the safest car in the world. The automaker said That TRI-AD has made great progress so far, so Toyota is expanding its scope as a new entity.
TRI-AD announced on Tuesday that effective January 2021, it will expand its operations into a new holding company with two subsidiaries. Toyota said that TRI-AD has made great progress in its mission so far, but its ready for the next phase of its evolution.
The holding company will be called Woven Planet Holdings, Inc. The Woven Planet Holdings group will focus on a more agile "software-first" development process and Software Defined Architecture for future Toyota vehicles.
One subsidiary will be called "Woven CORE", which will develop, implement and scale autonomous driving technologies for Toyota.
The second company "Woven Alpha" will explore new business opportunities and incubate innovative projects that go beyond today's core automotive business, including Toyota's futuristic city of the future Woven City and Toyota's open Automated Mapping Platform (AMP), which is available as an API for developers building HD maps for autonomous vehicles.
Toyota's AMP allows companies to create and share high-precision maps and share data on automated-driving vehicles.
New initiatives will include the development of Toyota's latest advanced driving assist system (ADAS) called Teammate, which acts as an ever-present co-pilot for the driver for added safety. Teammate supports automated driving functions, such as keeping the vehicle in its lane, maintaining a safe distance around other vehicles, and automatic lane changing on highways.
"We will work hard with all of our stakeholders and partners to create tremendous new value, new technologies, and new products at a speed and scale that Toyota is famous for, and we will do it with software and services that will power future mobility," said James Kuffner, CEO of Toyota TRI-AD.
Kuffner was Engineering Director at Google from 2009 to 2016. He was part of the initial engineering team that built Google's first self-driving car before joining Toyota.
Woven CORE will be responsible for the development of the Toyota Group's advanced autonomous driving technologies, including developing, implementing, and scaling its automated driving technologies in the market.
Woven Alpha will explore new areas for business expansion and incubate new innovative projects such as Toyota's vision of the city of the future "Woven City" project unveiled at CES in January. Toyota's Woven City being built near Mt Fuji in Japan will serve as a living laboratory to help create an ever-better way of life centered on people and mobility for all. Woven Alpha will also support the expansion of "Arene", the automaker's open vehicle software development platform.
The Woven Planet Holdings group will be tasked with the strategic decision-making for the entire group, Toyota said. This includes expanding Toyota's collaboration with industry partners, creating new business opportunities in mobility services, as well as providing corporate shared services to the new companies.
The formation of the new companies is part of the vision of Toyota's President Akio Toyoda that the automaker would eventually become a mobility company. Toyota believes that to achieve this goal, it needs strong software and strong hardware working together teams working together, which is the ultimate goal of Woven Planet Holdings.
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The inevitable pandemic has just materialised. On climate, the Inevitable Policy Response is next, warn PRI CEO Fiona Reynolds and Climate Works Foundation program director Ilmi Granoff
We all knew it was coming. We knew that while a pandemic was unlikely to materialise at any specific point in time, it was highly likely - in fact certain - to emerge at some point. According to...
Global Briefing: Coronavirus crisis will have 'negligible' impact on emissions without green recovery, study warns
All the green business news from around the world this week
Deal to enable rollout of 100 EV charging hubs hailed as an example of 'private sector green recovery at its most promising'
The tech giant is looking to turn the Just Transition concept into a clean energy investment reality
Some of America's largest retailers have teamed up to help accelerate efforts to curb plastic bag waste


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SALT LAKE CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)– USANA Health Sciences (NASDAQ: USNA) today launched Probiotic Plus, a new probiotic food supplement. Probiotics help replenish beneficial bacteria in the intestinal tract, which can aid good digestion and enhance immune function. This new product will be available in the United States, Canada, Australia/New Zealand and six other USANA markets.
"We are thrilled to be able to introduce Probiotic Plus, as digestive health and immune function lie at the core of overall health and well being," said Dr. Tim Wood, USANA’s Executive Vice President of Research and Development. "Probiotics have been one of our key research goals for years. Probiotic Plus sets the standard for shelf life and convenience and it contains a combination of the two most researched probiotic strains known. This product will bring probiotics to a new level."


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Gap brightens sales outlook
Gap Inc. is starting 2013 on a bright note.
For several consecutive months and quarters, the San Francisco-based retailer (NYSE: GPS) has reported revenue gains and growth within most of its brands and markets, signaling a turnaround from the years when it was struggling through the recession.
Gap reported Thursday that net sales for January reached $1.13 billion, up from $833 million during the same period last year.
But the retailer’s annual revenue — which jumped from $14.55 billion in 2011 to $15.65 billion last year — is even more telling.
The recession initially took a big hit on the Gap and its many brands, which were plagued by rising cotton costs, an unstable European economy and a lot of internal reorganizing.
But as of late, Gap has reported positive earnings, slowly climbing out of negative sales figures from the year before.
Comparable store sales for the fourth quarter ended Feb. 2, for example, rose 8 percent for both Gap and Banana Republic in North America — up from negative 3 percent for Gap — while sales for Old Navy soared by 12 percent from negative 6 percent last year.
While Gap’s collection of brands is still struggling in the international market, those figures have also improved, from negative 8 percent last year to negative 2 percent in the fourth quarter of this year.
Total sales for the fourth quarter rose slightly to $4.73 billion from $4.28 billion last year.
Now it seems that the retailer is continuing to focus on slimming down operations by shutting down underperforming stores, and strengthening is luxury line through the recent $130 million acquisition of Intermix.
It has also announced plans to beef up its presence in China and Brazil to grow its international business.
Renée Frojo covers hospitality, restaurants, retail and nonprofits for the San Francisco Business Times.
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Pro-GMO activist makes an about-face
For years, Kavin Senapathy was a pro-GMO crusader. The self-styled “millennial, progressive, science-minded mom of two” made a name for herself arguing—first in blogs and on social media, and then in national outlets—that any resistance to genetically modified foods amounts to harmful, uninformed fearmongering. Then she became disenchanted. In Slate, Senapathy describes her evolution, a growing recognition that the GMO debate goes beyond the realm of personal health. As she started to think more systemically—not just about consumer safety but the destructive legacy of Western colonialism—she began to feel the “pro-science” framing espoused by her former allies in agribusiness disguised a troubling ideology. It’s a story that’s all too rare: the kind where a person admits that their most deeply held convictions were wrong (or at least not entirely right).


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Virgin Media builds an 'advertising arm with firepower' with in-house sales team launch
Virgin Media has rolled out a new advertising sales house for the UK and Irish markets, dubbed Virgin Media Solutions that will act as the exclusive sales agency for Virgin Media's VoD and public Wi-Fi inventory in the UK, as well as Irish media house TV3 Group.
Virgin Media launches Virgin Media Solutions
Virgin Media's Ireland group will be headed up by Paula McCarthy – previously brand solutions director of TV3 group – while the UK will be lead by Gareth Vaughan Jones, who was formerly head of advertising at Virgin Media UK. They will both report to TV3 group commercial director Gavan Byrne.
David Bouchier, chief digital entertainment officer at Virgin Media, said: “By bringing together the incredibly talented TV3 advertising team with Virgin Media we’re building an advertising arm with firepower across TV, on-demand and WiFi. This means agencies now have a single destination to place adverts across Virgin Media’s footprint. We’re looking forward to developing our advertising capabilities even further in the near future.”
Pat Kiely, managing director of TV3 Group, said: “Working with Virgin Media and [company owner] Liberty Global means we can now offer a unique and sophisticated service to future proof our advertising proposition.”


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The start-up boom has elevated entrepreneurship to cult-like status, but starting your own business is actually far from glamorous, according to a panel at a major entrepreneurship conference on Wednesday.
Three business owners on a panel at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit reminded the audience that being an entrepreneur requires a great deal of resilience and can take a significant toll on one's personal life. The three-day summit, held at the Stanford University campus in California, ends today.
More than 700 entrepreneurs and 300 investors from around the world are taking part, including at least seven representatives from Singapore.
"I don't think you can have it all at the same time," said Ms Leila Janah, founder and chief executive of San Francisco-based social enterprise Sama, who was part of a panel during the opening plenary session.
Her company helps move people out of poverty by providing training and Internet-based work that pays a sustainable living wage.
Women, in particular, face significant obstacles in balancing their personal and professional goals, she noted.
PERSONAL, PROFESSIONAL ISSUES
Their prime reproductive years tend to coincide with their prime professional productivity years… It's a challenging thing to face and I don't think we talk about that enough.
MS LEILA JANAH, the founder and chief executive of Sama, on women facing obstacles in balancing their personal and professional goals.
"(For women), their prime reproductive years tend to coincide with their prime professional productivity years… It's a challenging thing to face and I don't think we talk about that enough. This is a hard road that requires more resilience than anything I could imagine, physically or emotionally."
Ms Janah is also the founder of Laxmi, a fair-trade luxury beauty brand.
Fellow panellists Oren Yakobovich, founder of human rights organisation Videre, and Ooshma Garg, founder of gourmet food delivery service Gobble, agreed with Ms Janah.
Said Ms Garg: "Any overnight success you hear about… all these companies started two to three years before they say they started, whether it was under a different name or different company."
Panellists also spoke on a wide range of topics about their start-up experiences, such as raising money to finance non-traditional businesses, and the role of the Silicon Valley eco-system in their success.


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Although the concept of major industry overhauls would, at first glance, seem to be a source of trepidation and anxiety, the recent development occurring within the US food labeling sector have been greeted with a surprising amount of warmth and agreeability. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has largely been responsible for setting labeling standards for the past two decades since such notification began a legal requirement of sales. The changes that the FDA recently mandated are the first since the arrival of the label itself, a fact which many believe fully justifies the “facelift” that these products have experienced.
Some of the larger changes that consumers should expect to find on their new products are centered on nutritional information such as calorie counts, serving sizes and “percent-daily-values.” These items will be more prominently featured, allowing customers to quickly asses the products they are purchasing based upon these relevant data markers. Although it could be argued that this type of “highlight” approach places an overwhelming amount of importance on a handful of markers which may or not may not prove to be an effect summarisation of a particular product, it is believed that informing customers of these elements of nutrition will help them make “wise” dietary choices over time.
According to Jessica Leighton, Ph.D, a senior nutrition and policy adviser for the Food and Drug Administration, “The goal is to make people aware of what they are eating and give them the tools to make healthy dietary choices throughout the day.”
That being said, some groups are stressing the importance of educating consumer on how to properly read labels in tandem with introducing the aforementioned adjustments to the labels themselves. Dr. Glenna McCollum, president of the Academy Of Nutrition and Diatetics, was quoted as saying, “To make these changes fully meaningful for consumers, the Academy recommends implementing a sustained, adequately funded nutrition education initiative empowering consumers to use the new label to make informed decisions to eat healthfully.” It seem plausible that the effectiveness of a labeling system is largely reliant on the ability of individuals to read and comprehend the label itself.


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If there one thing more pronounced in Africa than in any other parts of the world, it is that most parts of the continent get strong sunshine all year round. Uganda, one of the African countries lying directly on the Equator has produced a prototype solar-powered bus; the first of its kind to be made in Africa.
Dubbed the Kayoola bus, this solar-powered bus is a creation of the Kiira Motors Corporation. A state-owned company funded by Uganda’s Presidential Initiative on Science and Technology scheme.
It is a 35-seater bus powered by two batteries that can take the bus up to 50 miles on a single full charge. One of the batteries is connected to solar panels mounted on the roof of the bus while the other battery is charged using electricity; an option that comes in handy during night journeys or longer distances travel.
Kiira Motors says the Kayoola bus’s batteries take just one hour to recharge fully and can be used commercially for all kind of duties within cities. The bus can be used as a school bus or for long-distance passenger travel services.
Paul Isaac Musasizi, the CEO of Kiira Motors and one of the brains behind the Kayoola solar-powered bus, said, “In Uganda, we have non-stop Sun. No other countries manufacturing vehicles are on the equator like Uganda. We should celebrate that, and make a business out of it.
I’m really humbled by the response to the bus so far, not only in Uganda but internationally. By launching the bus, we are saying Uganda now has the potential to add value in the world, especially within electric technology.”


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Record company BMG said Friday it planned to release its first copy-protected compact disc in the United States later this month in an attempt to deter music pirates from churning out multiple copies of CDs.
The move by BMG marks the start of what is expected to be a wave of copy-protected CDs from the labels, which blame unauthorized copying for the sharp drop-off in CD sales in the weeks after a record is released.
But the technology being used by BMG makes it cumbersome to make digital copies of a disc's contents.
BMG isn't trying out the technology on any of its biggest moneymakers. The first release, due Sept. 23, is "Comin' From Where I'm From" by Anthony Hamilton, an obscure R&B singer-songwriter with one previous album to his credit.
Critics of protected CDs say pirates invariably find ways to defeat the restrictions. The only real impact of the discs, they say, is to make it more difficult for shoppers to enjoy the music they buy. On the other hand, some analysts say limits can bolster the labels' anti-piracy efforts, which so far have focused on unauthorized downloading and sharing of songs.
The labels have released more than 150 million protected CDs overseas, using technologies designed to stop a disc's songs from being "ripped" onto a computer and then copied. But label executives didn't think that could succeed in the U.S., where so many music fans use computers to manage their collections and make customized CDs.
Using software developed by SunnComm Technologies Inc. of Phoenix, the Hamilton CD will contain two copies of each song. One can be played but not duplicated, and the other can be stored on a PC, moved to selected portable players and burned to three new discs.
One loophole is that those three discs can themselves be ripped and copied without limit. SunnComm has demonstrated a new version of its software designed to close that loophole.


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Omar Khaled joins MultiBank Group
Khaled, who worked at multi-asset broker Amana for 10 years, joins MultiBank as Marketing Director at their new Dubai HQ.
January 17, 2023 - Omar Khaled announced via LinkedIn that “Today, my journey ends at Amana. It’s been a golden ride, and I was blessed to be part of it.”
Khaled will join MultiBank Group at their new Dubai headquarters following their move from Hong Kong in November 2022.
He joined Amana in 2012 as Marketing Manager, rising to Marketing Director in 2021 whilst working with other businesses through a marketing specialist business according to his LinkedIn.
Omar went on to thank the founders and the team at Amana before he takes up his role at MultiBank.
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Brian and Wendy Froud sign at AFA on Saturday October 6th from 6:00-8:00PM.
A collection of original paintings and sculpture, featured in the new book, Trolls, published by Abrams Books and written and illustrated by internationally-acclaimed film & faerie artists Brian and Wendy Froud, will be unveiled at a reception at AFA on October 6th from 6-8PM. The exhibition will be on display through December 2012. The book was released internationally this month in English and French.
The gallery will also host a book signing for Trolls with Brian & Wendy Froud on October 11th. A collection of three books published by Imaginosis, and available exclusively at AFA together with Trolls will be available for purchase at the gallery. Fans can meet and greet the artists and books purchased at the gallery will be autographed.
AFA is located at 54 Greene Street (at Broome) in SoHo. The exhibition is free and open to the public Monday through Saturday 10AM-7PM and Sunday from 11AM-6PM.


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It’s almost that time of year. Yes, Activision is gearing up for the release of another installment in its lucrative, long-running Call of Duty juggernaut, and with Treyarch at the helm for 2015’s entry, we’re now only a couple of weeks out from Call of Duty: Black Ops III making its debut.
To commemorate the occasion, the studio has lifted back the curtain on the appropriately explosive launch trailer for the shooter, drawing attention to its three nominal game modes: single-player, multiplayer and Zombies. As the studio that introduced the latter feature as a humble end-game bonus within World at War all those years ago, Treyarch is whisking the undead action back to the past for Black Ops III, as players control of characters voiced by the likes of Jeff Goldblum, Heather Graham, Neal McDonough and Ron Perlman.
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Then again, arguably the marquee feature of any Call of Duty release is the seemingly evergreen multiplayer segment, and considering that the creative team is dragging warfare into the year 2065, we can expect plenty of gameplay tweaks and changes as Treyarch moulds an experience that is a white-knuckle ride in every sense.
The technology seen here will also filter into the game’s core campaign. Designed from the ground up with 4-player co-op in mind, Treyarch has also announced plans to open up all chapters of the story from the get-go, adopting an approach to content that bears semblance to Netflix’s template.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III will launch across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on November 6, when it will also debut on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 – though it won’t feature a single-player component on the latter two platforms.


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Its been a tough few years for retailers, especially for the iconic Canadian giant Hudson’s Bay Co. (TSX:HBC), whose stock consolidated in 2017 after plunging ~70% from peak to trough in the years prior. At this point, it looks like Hudson’s Bay is on track to be the next victim of the retail fallout triggered by the rise of e-commerce giants. Mall traffic is falling off a cliff, and it looks like another Sears Canada story could be in the making, so with all hope lost, does it still make sense to bottom-fish for this struggling retailer?
Sure, there’s a great deal of value that can be unlocked from the real estate assets, but I’m going to look into the retail business to give you a better sense of whether or not it can recover and how it’ll be able to do so.
There’s no question that Hudson’s Bay isn’t a stock for the faint of heart. While it may seem like the stock has formed a bottom, I think more pain could be on the horizon if management can’t drive store traffic, which I believe will continue to decline, unless management invests a significant amount in innovation. I’m not just talking about the e-commerce platform, Hudson’s Bay needs to get traffic to its brick-and-mortar stores up, and in order to do this, management might want to channel Canadian Tire Corporation Limited (TSX:CTC.A), a retailer that has done an impeccable job of driving traffic into its physical stores.
Unfortunately, Canadian Tire was better equipped to adapt to the changing retail landscape because of the nature of its business. Canadian Tire and its subsidiaries specialize in a very specific category of consumer merchandise, whereas Hudson’s Bay is a generic retailer with a very wide range of merchandise.
In addition, Canadian Tire owns various exclusive brands, like MotoMaster and MasterCraft, which the company has been promoting through marketing campaigns, including “Tested for life in Canada.” In many previous pieces, I’ve highlighted the importance of exclusive brands for retailers that are going to survive the onslaught of digital competitors in the new age of retail.
Sure, Hudson’s Bay owns some exclusive brands, like Cherokee, Bundle of Joy, and Hudson North, but you probably haven’t heard of such brands, because the power of these brands is quite lacklustre versus Canadian Tire’s brands. Sadly, the only way to increase the power of exclusive brands is to invest a great deal into them, but at this point, it’s likely too late in the game.
An opportunity to turn the retail business around is present
Due to the sheer size of Hudson’s Bay stores, many mall goers go through them just as a means to enter the mall. Having wanderers strolling through the stores isn’t a bad thing at all — it’s actually an opportunity — but management really needs to keep the attention of these wanderers (perhaps cool tech like at Canadian Tire’s SportChek locations); otherwise Hudson’s Bay will continue to be a walk-through for many mall goers, and that’s not good news for the stock.
Approximately $350 million worth of annual savings is slated to be enjoyed this year thanks to management’s restructuring efforts, but the shopper losses will likely continue, thus steepening net losses until management can really take a page out of Canadian Tire’s successful adaptation story.
With no real catalysts on the horizon, I’d stay away from Hudson’s Bay, at least until the company can shed more light on a promising turnaround plan. Many investors have lost hope for the retail business and are focusing on the real estate assets, but I don’t think the retailer is a lost cause just yet.
There’s still an opportunity to get back on track, even with industry-wide headwinds, but bold moves will need to be made. If the retail business can stop the bleeding, contrarians stand to reap major rewards, as shares are ridiculously undervalued considering the underlying value of the red-hot real estate assets.
Stay hungry. Stay Foolish.
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Fool contributor Joey Frenette owns shares of CANADIAN TIRE CORP LTD CL A NV.


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U.S. business coalition seeking minimum wage increase
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Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a national network of owners and executives, is calling on federal officials to raise the nation’s minimum wage to help strengthen the economy.
Backers of that plan say the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is lower than it was in 1956 at $8.58, when adjusted for inflation. As a result, current minimum-wage workers have less buying power than their counterparts did decades ago.
“We cannot build a strong economy with wages worth less than they were half a century ago,” says Business for a Fair Minimum Wage Director Holly Sklar.
Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a Washington, D.C.-based organization, says its supporters backed the last increase in the minimum wage and believe it’s time for another bump up in pay.
The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, introduced in March by U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., would gradually raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 over a three-year span.
“The minimum wage would be over $10 already if it had kept up with the rising cost of living since the 1960s instead of falling way behind,” Sklar contends.
Among the backers of a minimum-wage adjustment is Jeff Furman, chairman of Ben & Jerry’s board of directors, who says, “I support a living wage economically, morally and with deep conviction. I support raising the federal minimum wage as an important step in that direction.”
W. Scott Bailey covers health care, tourism, sports business, economic development; he also plans and edits some special reports.
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What is the state of naturals in 2016? It’s cultured ingredients offering novel ways to transition endangered botanicals back into its plentiful state, it’s innovative research in re-creating aromatic components for mass production, it’s rebuilding ecosystems so that nature can do what it’s supposed to do: flourish, and it’s giving communities a chance to strengthen their lives and their land.
All of these ideas embody sustainability, but how can we improve the meaning of it? At this year’s World Perfumery Congress, Martina Recchiuti, incoming president of the International Fragrance Association (IFRA) Italia responded to a panel discussion on the topic: “Sustainability is here to stay, but there are more than 100 definitions of it out there, and only one definition for ‘sustainable development.’ [I think we] need to stand up as an industry sector and define it. We need to communicate from the inside out.”
Filling in the Gaps
A circular economy recognizes that nothing exits the system; and everything, including waste, has its place in nature.
It’s time to help nature reorganize and replenish its bounty. This means working with nature, like building an ecosystem in the Amazon to breathe life back into its indigenous flora and fauna or implementing wind turbines instead of burning fossil fuels as a renewable energy source.
Within the past several years, companies have established 2020 strategies, implementing serious sustainability initiatives that reduce carbon footprint, CO2 emissions and register fragrances and ingredients under a sustainable certification program. An interesting statistic measuring consumer concern on sustainability in food production had me wondering: Are companies and consumers on the same page? Between 2012 and 2015, 30% of respondents believed that sustainability was not a concern in food choice. Conversely, in 2015, 52% of 18-29 year olds, 49% of 30-49 year olds and 38% of 50+ year olds felt that climate change is a serious problem.
One of the most amazing qualities of the F&F industry is its humble presence in our everyday lives. It’s about transforming the essence of nature into alchemical
states: from the field to the senses, these products are designed to create a message, to transform us into feeling better. Shouldn’t we be transforming our environment to feeling better as well?
I hope you enjoy this month’s issue. Happy learning to you.
With warmth from New York City,


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A model displays an accessory during the Chanel 2015 Cruise runway collection at The Island in Dubai, a man made island in the shape of a palm tree, on May 13, 2014. AFP PHOTO /MARWAN NAAMANIMARWAN NAAMANI/AFP/Getty Images
Her media blitz continues.
And he only watched the original trilogy “very recently.”
Hide-and-seek will be really fun in Gaga’s new Malibu digs.
She’s refuting a report from the ‘Daily Mail’
File this one under “you just now noticed?”
“She’s so tiny and pretty and blonde!”
Did she just step out of the tub?


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The upcoming Mercedes-AMG hypercar has been teased once again in an image shown at the German carmaker's event at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
The teaser image was accompanied by the tagline 'Creating benchmark driving pleasure', suggesting that the car will focus more on driving pleasure than on lap times.
However, with a 1,000bhp Formula One powertrain (1.6-litre turbo V6, electric motors and energy recovery systems) sitting in the middle and an expected 1,000-kilo kerb weight, don't expect this car to be a slouch in the speed department.
The new Mercedes-AMG hypercar is expected to debut at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show in September as AMG celebrates its 50th anniversary. The hypercar is expected to be priced at around €2 million (Rs 14.34 crore) and only 200-300 units are expected to hit the streets.
Most Viewed Car Photo Gallery
AMG's 50th birthday present to itself looks to be something of a monster, but let's hope it lives up to previous birthday cars from other supercar makers.
Case in point, the mental Lamborghini Centenario, the most powerful Lamborghini to ever hit the streets. Click on the image gallery of the insane Centenario below to see how Lamborghini celebrates birthdays.


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Genetic data platform WuXi NextCODE just announced a massive $240m series B financing round. The company extended and completed the Series B round with investment from a consortium led by Sequoia China and including Temasek, Yunfeng Capital and 3W Partners. Temasek, Yunfeng and 3W also participated in the initial Series B round in May alongside Amgen Ventures and other existing long-term investors and partners.
Category: News (Page 1 of 12)
Influencer marketing platform Ghostlamp announced they had closed a $1m seed round. The investor is Brunnur Vaxtarsjóður, which makes this the second investment announced by Brunnur this week. The investment comes with a commitment of $1m following the growth of the company. Previous investors include advertising agency Pipar / TBWA and Vetrargil. Both invested undisclosed amounts in the company.
“We’ve been following Ghostlamp for a couple of years and believe it will be able to grow fast and be successful internationally,” Árni Blöndal, GP at Brunnur, said in a statement.
Ghostlamp is a influencer marketing platform, where brands and advertising agencies can connect with local influencers and pay them to advertise their products. According to the statement, the company has over 6 million influencers listed, and categorises them based on age, gender, location and more.
“Ghostlamp ensures that influencers get paid for sharing their creativity, in partnership with brands, with their followers. By partnering with Brunnur, we not only get funding to help support further growth, but also access to valuable experience through people that have been in similar situations as we have,” Jón Bragi Gíslason, Founder & CEO said in a statement.
Employee training app Viska just announced a $1.2m seed round led by Brunnur with participation from Investa. Sigurður Arnljótsson, GP at Brunnur, will take a seat in the companies board.
“The investment allows us to speed up product development, onboard more customers, and focus our sales efforts abroad” said Vala Halldorsdóttir, CEO and co-founder of Viska in a statement.
The company was founded by Árni Hermann Reynisson, Stefanía Bjarney Ólafsdóttir and Vala Halldórsdóttir, all early employees of QuizUp. Viska is clearly inspired by QuizUp at Work, a product aimed at the corporate education market that was later shelved when QuizUp decided to focus its effort on the production of the QuizUp America TV show.
“We are very excited with our collaboration with Viska. There’s a great opportunity right now to revolutionise employee training with the advent of new technologies and artificial intelligence. Viska Learning combines this in a new way,” said Sigurður Arnljótsson of Brunnur.
Viska, which was founded in January, has previously received a $450K grant from the Technology Development Fund, totalling funds raised to just shy of $1.7m.
You can read more in a detailed interview with the founding team in Viðskiptablaðið.
“At the start of Q2, we acquired Greenqloud, a private start-up company that created a cloud services orchestration and management platform for hybrid-cloud and multi-cloud environments,” said George Kurian, CEO of NetApp in prepared . “Greenqloud augments our team and accelerates our leadership in hybrid cloud data services by providing NetApp with a scalable architecture, unique technology, and expertise that enhances our ability to integrate and deliver cloud data services.”
Investors in Greenqloud include NSA Ventures, Keel Investments, founders and employees, and Kelly Ireland, who invested $4m in the company last August.
This acquisition marks the first Fortune 500 acquisition of any Icelandic startup company, the second Silicon Valley acquisition of an Icelandic company (last one was Clara in 2013), and the first exit for an Icelandic in some time – which is all great news for the ecosystem.
Crowberry Capital – the new early stage VC fund founded by former NSA Ventures veterans Helga Valfells, Hekla Arnardóttir and Jenný Ruth Hrafnsdóttir – just announced they had raised $38m (4bn ISK) for the funds first close. Final close is at $48m (5bn ISK).
“We’ve been working on preparing and raising the fund since December 2016, and are grateful for the trust our investors have shown us,” says Crowberry Capital cofounder and GP Helga Valfells, former CEO of NSA Ventures. “Our investors are both individuals and pension funds, with individuals contributing around 20% of the fund, and pension funds 80%.”
The fund has a lifetime of 7-10 years and will invest in up to 15 startup companies during its investment period. According to the press release, the founders see much potential in investing in startup companies in Iceland and will focus on tech companies – foodtech, fintech, B2B enterprise solutions, videogames, and more. According to Helga, they foresee their first investment to take place this fall. “We’ve already started getting pitches,” she added.
Jenný Ruth Hrafnsdóttir, previously an investment manager at NSA Ventures and cofounder of Crowberry said: “We look forward to creating value and participating in the growth and development of the companies of the future, by investing in Icelandic innovators. Our hope is that Icelanders will not only use technology, but participate in creating the technologies of the future.”
The fund will become part of a growing ecosystem of private investors in the Icelandic startup scene. It will most likely be a welcome addition to the four funds that have been active in the past years, as three of them are mostly unable to participate in new investment opportunities.
“The cooperation between entrepreneurs and investors is important to success, and the benefit can be great for all participants, not least the society as a whole,” said Hekla Arnardóttir, cofunder of Crowberry and former investment manager at NSA Ventures.
Sign up for the Memo – commentary and important news about the Icelandic startup scene.
Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir has appointed a four person working group about NSA Venture’s future. She announced her intention to do so at NSA Venture’s annual meeting this May.
In a press announcement, the ministry discusses the move:
NSA Ventures, which started in 1998, was created because a lack of availability of startup funding which the government needed to address that market failure. The fund has played an important role as an early stage investor, and been a part in bridging the gap between grant-giving governmental funds and later stage investors.
The startup funding environment has changed drastically since the fund’s inception, most notably by the emergence of new investment companies and venture capital funds. The fund has also been in a tight position, partially because the sale of assets has been slow, and fresh investments therefore few and far between.
The future framework and allocation of the fund’s assets have been under review for several years, and the purpose of the working group is to review underlying data and make suggestions.
The working group consists of:
- Guðrún Gísladóttir, chairman, Director General in the Ministry of Industries and Innovation.
- Almar Guðmundsson, chairman of the board at NSA Ventures.
- Guðrún Ögmundsdóttir specialest at the Ministry of Finance
- Tryggvi Hjaltason, Producer at CCP.
The working group is asked to deliver their suggestions before September 30th of this year.
A mostly straight-forward announcement, and right in line with what the minister discussed at the annual meeting.
The composition of the group is also mostly straight forward. Two representatives of the government and the two ministries that are directly involved with the fund. Almar Guðmundsson most likely sits there as a representative of NSA Ventures, knowing its workings and assets, while not directly employed by the fund. Tryggvi Hjaltason comes in as an independent advisor. Researched the operational environment of tech and startup companies in Iceland in his Master’s thesis.
NSA Ventures will be the topic of the next Memo – you can sign up here.
Lawrence Lessig, law professor at Harvard and founder of Creative Commons, will assist indy game studio Klang with designing the politics of their upcoming massively multiplayer online game Seed. This is reported in Venture Beat.
Lessig happened to meet Mundi Vondi, CEO of Klang, and start talking about games.
“After talking for a while, we moved on to how they were going to govern these places, the structure for governing,” Lessig said in an interview with GamesBeat. “It was clear that no one had really thought through that much. That’s what began our conversation about whether there was something fun to experiment with here.”
Seed is a continuous, persistent simulation where players are tasked with colonizing an exoplanet through collaboration, conflict, and other player-to-player interaction. Using unique gameplay based on managing multiple characters in real-time, communities are built even when players are logged off, allowing the world of Seed to be a living, breathing entity.
“We’re building a virtual world filled with vast, player-created communities where every player-action has a repercussion in the game world,” Vondi said in a statement. “For example, a player might chop down a tree, which affects the planet’s ecosystem. This wood can then be sold on, which has an impact on the economy, and if the player chooses to, use the money to bribe another player, which affects the balance of power. We create and provide the tools and incentives to build these communities…the rest is up to the players.”
Klang Games, which is based in Berlin, was founded by a group of Icelanders. They previously released ReRunners, a multiplayer endless runner. The company has raised an undisclosed amount from Greylock Partners, MIT Media Lab founder Joi Ito, and Unity’s Davíð Helgason.
CrankWheel, the Icelandic SaaS company working on instant visualisation tools for inside sales teams, just released version 2.0 of its solution. The most notable addition is the new Instant Demos feature, which allows sales teams to go from smart lead capture, to phone call and screen share within seconds.
“When preparing for a conference, we saw that many of the companies we wanted to approach had call-to-actions like Request a Demo on their websites. We’d been telling our clients that they could use CrankWheel for those meetings, but realised we hadn’t been delivering a complete solution,” says Jói Sigurðsson, founder and CEO of CrankWheel. “With Instant Demos the idea is that you can go from request for demo, to phone call, to screenshare in a matter of seconds.”
Instant Demos provides a conversational lead capture and has automatic lead enrichment based on data found in online sources about the lead. When a potential customer makes a request for demo, all available sales agents are pinged, and the first to respond gets to make the call.
“We created a prototype to bring to a trade show last February to show the concept. Seven companies signed up at our booth to be first adopters, and they’ve been working with us on developing the feature since then,” Jói says.
Mink Campers have just announced a $450,000 seed round from undisclosed investors.
The company specializes in providing quality travel experiences in nature through the use of their signature Mink Camper and the Mink Travel Guide App. Their aim is to connect adventurous travelers with interesting Icelandic locals, such as artisanal farmers and avid hiking experts. The Mink Camper boasts unlimited 4G wifi, a Bose sound system and a queen bed, among other things.
“We at Mink Campers are excited to be joined by this group of investors, who are not only interested in the growth opportunities, but also in creating a strong Icelandic brand in the camping and outdoor activities space,” says Kolbeinn Björnsson, CEO and co-founder of Mink Campers.
“The investment will be used to manufacture and market the campers that will be rented out this summer in participation with Avis car rental.” The investors will take board seats and be active participants in the development of the company. Helga Viðarsdóttir of Spakur and Finnbogi Jónsson facilitated the funding round.
This is the first round of funding the company receives. The plan is to produce 50 campers for the summer, both as rentals and for sale. Production will be ramped up by the end of summer to prepare for 2018.
Mink Campers want to take the hassle out of camping, increase the comfort, and make tenable new kinds of travel for people interested in close connection with nature.
“We recently signed a contract with Avis rental cars, and they will help us with customer service and renting cars to accompany the campers,” Kolbeinn says. “Avis has service centers all over Iceland, which will help us provide first class service to our customers.”
Today, we’re excited to announce the formation of Community Fund, a 2 million ISK ($18.5k) fund that will support events and projects in the Icelandic tech community that foster knowledge sharing, networking and discussion about technology and product development.
The aim of the fund is to empower the grassroots of the tech community in Iceland by easing the access to funds and support. It’s created for smaller projects like meetups, workshops, knowledge sharing and conference preparation, that are likely to enrich the tech community.
The fund is backed by stakeholders in the tech community: SUT (Federation of Icelandic IT companies), Investa, Tempo, Frumtak Ventures, Kaptio, Northstack and Lagahvoll (who helped with all the legal stuff).
The hypothesis is simple:
We have a lot of driven individuals that are interested in preparing meetups, speaking at meetups, and contributing to the tech community. One of the biggest hurdles to executing those ideas is money – people are already giving their time and don’t want to give their money, too. So by making money easily accessible, we can increase the amount of tech focused events.
Our founding partners – SUT, Investa, Tempo, Frumtak, and Kaptio – loved the idea, and we’re structuring the fund as a one year experiment.
In one year’s time we’ll evaluate whether the experiment went in the direction we thought. Did we see more events? Did Community Fund help? Should the initiative continue?
We hope it will, but that’ll be up to the community.


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The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), Washington, D.C., awarded a matching grant to the Ohio State University, Mansfield, Ohio, to launch a $2 million urban sustainable food system project that will increase access to fruits, vegetables and other specialty crops while supporting the local economy.
The microfarm network will progress over three years, allowing researchers and growers to calibrate the growing, harvesting and marketing processes for the local setting. In the meantime, a parallel interdisciplinary research team will measure the ways in which this embedded local production system impacts a range of local issues from food insecurity to urban beautification to food literacy and educational achievement.
The Mansfield Microfarm Project will provide both training and microfarm kits to approximately a dozen initial producers, and help them farm cooperatively and aggregate their produce for marketability. The microfarms will create a food production system that, when fully operating, will produce and sell enough fresh produce to become fully-sustainable economic drivers in the Mansfield-area economy.
“This pilot effort of microfarms will establish a food system in the city of Mansfield that can collectively generate the volume and quality of specialty crops to compete for commercial markets,” says Kip Curtis, associate professor of environmental history at Ohio State University. “It will keep local dollars circulating within the community, rather than exporting them out, while promoting healthier lifestyles by providing residents with access to fresh, local produce right there in the neighborhood.”
When fully implemented, the local production pilot system will represent a scalable fresh produce marketing core for local vegetable producers.
“Inconsistent access to affordable nutritious food is a problem that plagues communities nationwide,” says Sally Rockey, FFAR’s executive director. “This project has the potential to transform agriculture production while simultaneously fostering local economic development. We are excited to pilot the microfarm model and explore the impact for the Mansfield community.”
“This project is fundamentally focused on developing and fine-tuning an urban microfarm aggregation system designed to create genuine opportunity for participant producers in Mansfield, Ohio,” says Curtis. “The potential impact, however, extends well beyond the original microfarmers and one small urban aggregation system. If successful, such models present opportunities for urban growers in other redeveloping cities across Ohio and beyond.”


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AT&T has announced that it’s increasing data allotments on its two most popular GoPhone plans. The $45/month plan is being increased from 1GB of high-speed data to 1.5GB of high-speed data. The $60/month plan is being boosted from 2.5GB of high-speed data to 4GB of high-speed data. Both plans still include ... Read More »
AT&T today tweaked its two most expensive GoPhone prepaid smartphone plans, and the good news is that the changes are mostly good.
Over the past year, tablets have gained a stronger footing on carriers, so much so that AT&T is doing something that’s previously unheard of. AT&T is now allowing select tablets to access its prepaid GoPhone service. Rather than signing a contract or having to pay for a traditional off-contract plan, AT&T is letting customers purchase data on a ... Read More »
Most Tweeted This Week
Today AT&T announced they were lowering the price of their GoPhone pre-paid smartphone plan to $65. This new rate plan includes unlimited minutes, unlimited text, and 1 GB of data. AT&T claims this new rate plan is affordable, but that’s only when you compare it to Verizon.
“As more of our prepaid customers choose smartphones, ... Read More »


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New Angry Birds game to make you forget Flappy Bird
Friday, 14 February 2014
Rovio has reportedly come up with a new Angry Birds version that would ease some pain of distressed Flappy Bird lovers.
The new Angry Birds game, called Angry Birds: Stella, includes a new lady bird and is due to be released this fall.
According to Cnet, the developers said that Angry Birds Stella is all about inspiration,...
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For Immediate Release
Anna Ghosh, email@example.com, 415-293-9905
Despite Food Safety Problems, Australia’s Privatized Meat Inspection Deemed “Equivalent” to U.S. by USDA
WASHINGTON - Today the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to review its decision to allow the newly privatized meat inspection system of Australia to be considered equivalent to U.S. inspection. In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the group pointed to repeated discoveries of meat imported from Australia that was contaminated with fecal material and digestive tract contents.
“Documents from USDA and Australian officials reveal that this is not an isolated problem,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “The repeated problems with products coming from Australia in 2012 show that this is a systemic problem and that privatized meat inspection in Australia is not working.”
One letter from a USDA official to Australian food safety officials, summed up the problems in imported products from Australia: “Within the last month, there have been five additional zero tolerance (fecal material/ingesta) POE (point-of-entry) violations in four separate establishments, including one establishment that had repetitive violations during this month (December, 2012), as well as earlier this calendar year.”
Australia is not the only country exporting meat to the United States that is operating a privatized inspection system, and is not the only exporting country with food safety problems. In 2012, there was a recall in the United States for 2.5 million pounds of Canadian beef products that were potentially contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7 produced using a privatized inspection system that the USDA had secretly recognized in 2006.
“U.S. consumers should not be endangered by unsafe imports from Australia or from any other country exporting to the United States,” said Hauter. “It is time for USDA to revoke the equivalency determinations of privatized meat inspection schemes, and to abandon its attempts to privatize inspection here in the United States.”
Food & Water Watch's letter can be found at: http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/AU_meat_equivalent_USDA_lette...
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Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer organization that works to ensure clean water and safe food. We challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and by transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.


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New orders surge during November
The Commerce Department reported a 2.5% rise in new orders for manufactured goods between October and November, after a negligible 0.1% increase the month before. Orders have now risen for six consecutive months.
The Commerce Department reported a 2.5% rise in new orders for manufactured goods between October and November, after a negligible 0.1% increase the month before. Orders have now risen for six consecutive months. Although most economy-watchers expected some continued orders growth during the latest month, the magnitude of the increase caught just about everyone by surprise.
Trends in the NAPM orders index in particular have suggested that we would see some slowdown in this measure's growth rate. Below the surface, the number fell more in line with expectations. Excluding the transportation industry sector, new orders for manufactured goods actually decreased 0.3% during November. Transportation equipment orders shot up 21%, with most of the gain coming in the aircraft group.
Shipments of manufactured goods didn't perform as well as orders in November. Total shipments fell 0.3% to $333.1 billion. However, shipments for aircraft sparked up by 13.6%, a major factor in November's 1.2% gain in overall transportation shipments. Excluding aircraft, transportation shipments fell by 2.5%. With inventories running lean, the modest 2.3% increase in unfilled orders should keep manufacturers busy in upcoming months.
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Annual Salary Survey
Before the calendar turned, 2016 already had the makings of a pivotal year for manufacturing, and for the world.
There were the big events for the year, including the United States as Partner Country at Hannover Messe in April and the 2016 International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago in September. There's also the matter of the U.S. presidential elections in November, which promise to shape policy in manufacturing for years to come.
But the year started with global economic turmoil, as a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing triggered a worldwide stock hiccup that sent values plummeting. The continued plunge in world oil prices has resulted in a slowdown in exploration and, by extension, the manufacture of exploration equipment.
Read more: 2015 Salary Survey


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Stock Picks: Apple, Intel, Aetna, H&R Block
Apple Inc.: Broadpoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall reiterated his buy rating on shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) on Mar. 9.
In a note, Marshall said the next major catalyst for Apple shares will be the launch of the iPad on Apr. 3. "We believe the general consensus (i.e. select media outlets) view of this device and its potential is overly pessimistic," Marshall wrote. "We note the vast majority of the naysayers have not yet had the opportunity to use the iPad on a firsthand basis."
Marshall said the "true genius" of the device is its media and content -- such as eBooks, newspapers, magazines, applications, games, movies and TV episodes -- which he believe will be help provide recurring revenues for Apple.
The analyst raised his estimate for calendar 2010 iPad shipments to 4.0 million units from 2.2 million units. He also hiked his calendar 2010 revenue estimate to $57.913 billion from $55.738 billion, and his earnings per share (EPS) estimate to $12.75 from $12.00.
"In our view, Apple remains the best technology company on the planet," Marshall wrote. He raised his price target on Apple shares to $280 from $264.
Intel Corp.: Robert W. Baird analyst Tristan Gerra upgraded a rating on shares of Intel Corp. (INTC) to outperform from neutral on Mar. 9.
In a note, Gerra said that checks with industry sources point to large PC manufacturers recently raising their procurement forecasts for the first half of 2010, in part due to a rebound in corporate PC spending for 2010. "Intel could outperform semiconductor peers this year, notably those with stretched lead times," Gerra wrote. "Should a gradual recovery in true end-demand prolong the current upcycle, INTC shares should benefit as well."
Gerra expects Intel's revenues to rise 15% in 2010, following two consecutive years of revenue declines.
"Intel's valuation is compelling, in our view," Gerra wrote. The analyst raised a price target on the shares to $26 from $24.
Aetna Inc.: Collins Stewart analyst Brian Wright lowered his rating on shares of Aetna Inc. (AET) to sell from hold on Mar. 9.
Wright said in a note that he believes near-term pressure on the shares is likely as he see the consensus estimate of Wall Street analysts of $3.12 EPS for 2010 as "too high". The analyst has a $2.60 EPS estimate for Aetna in 2010.
"We believe consensus estimates assume a greater degree of gross margin improvement in the commercial business than our modest 30 basis points improvement outlook," Wright wrote. His outlook is for "modest" improvement, based on continued pricing pressures and a cost trend that has accelerated in 2009.
The analyst established a near-term target price target of $24 on the shares.
H&R Block Inc.: Oppenheimer analyst Scott Schneeberger reiterated a perform rating on shares of H&R Block Inc. (INTC) on Mar. 9.
On Mar. 8, H&R Block, the biggest U.S. tax preparer, posted a fiscal third-quarter profit that exceeded most Wall Street estimates that were pared after the company said it would miss its 2010 earnings forecast.
Net income rose to $50.6 million, or 15 cents a share, for the period ended Jan. 31, from $47.4 million, or 14 cents, in the same period a year earlier. Profit from continuing operations was 16 cents a share, a penny more than the average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
In a Mar. 9 note, Schneeberger said that H&R Block's third quarter EPS from continuing operations of 16 cents exceeded his estimate of 10 cents. "However, the good news ended there," Schneeberger wrote, as "year-to-date tax metrics through Feb. 28 deteriorated from already disappointing YTD performance through Feb. 15". Schneeberger said H&R Block appears on track to lose over a million storefront customers in fiscal 2010 after losing more than 914,000 in fiscal 2009.
Schneeberger also noted that H&R Block management "did not reinstate guidance after pulling it 12 days ago on poor ... YTD results [through Feb. 14]".
The analyst maintains a fiscal 2010 EPS estimate of $1.38 and a fiscal 2011 forecast of $1.52.