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Its competitors may be riding the craft cocktail wave, but Three Olives vodka is sticking to its flavored vodka roots.
“Craft is not our approach, it’s not who we are,” said Erin Chin, group brand director at Proximo Spirits, Three Olives’ parent company. “We’re about flavor, fun and good-quality vodka that brings people together.”
The brand may be sticking to flavor, but it has revamped its advertising efforts. The spirit brand has a newfound focus on digital advertising — a marked departure from its previous approach since its launch in 1998. Until recently, the brand focused heavily on traditional TV and print advertising, whereas the focus now is on a digital strategy based on platforms like Facebook and Instagram as well as influencers. According to Chin, two-thirds of the brand’s total advertising budget is now devoted to digital. (Chin declined to give specifics, but the brand has been known to spend as much as $20 million toward campaigns at one point.)
“It’s a total relaunch of the brand in terms of where we’re choosing to show up,” said Ken Matsubara, creative director at The Via Agency, the brand’s creative agency. “We realize that it’s a cluttered category and where we interact with our consumers really matters.”
Three Olives has also been facing increasing problems with competition. Between 2005 and 2010, it was one of the best-performing brands in the U.S. spirits market, winning six consecutive Impact Databank “Hot Brand” awards between 2005 and 2010 as well as witnessing years of double-digit growth. Today, it has been displaced by the likes of Tito’s and Svedka, with the former winning the Impact “Hot Brand” honors for the past eight years and the latter now the top imported vodka in the U.S. in 2016.
However, the brand’s growth has slowed considerably, with many rival brands gaining steam and imitating the exotic flavor range that set it apart from its competition. Growth has been flat since 2014, according to Shankan News Daily.
Its in-house marketing team of three is now doubling down on social content. Facebook remains its most important platform with over 455,000 fans. In contrast, Tito’s has 70,000 followers and Svedka has over 2 million.
New content is a mix of useful recipes that highlight its 20-plus flavors. This GIF on the brand’s Instagram page, for example, shows its cherry-flavored bottle making a Red Carpet appearance, and coincided with the Golden Globe Awards this year.
The brand also relies heavily on influencer partnerships. But instead of licensing deals with big names like Lil’ Kim and the estate of Marilyn Monroe, with which it partnered with in 2013 to create a Marilyn Monroe Strawberry Vodka, the focus is now on social influencers. Its recent “Find Otherness” campaign, for example, features people like like body painter Johannes Stötter and fashion designer Ron Bass, each of whom have a unique point of view on fashion and art among other fields.
Chin added that the brand would also double down on paid media on Instagram, Facebook and even Snapchat going forward, which also had not been a priority so far. At the Coachella festival later this month, for example, Three Olives will sponsor its very first Snapchat filter.
“We’re acutely aware of what’s happening in the category, but we think vodka is still alive and kicking,” said Chin.
How NFTs could evolve for brands — now that marketers know what they actually are
NFTs are finally growing out of crypto novelty into next-gen loyalty tools. Tyler Moebius, founder and CEO of SmartMedia Technologies, explains where else they can go.
Why digital clutter is driving brands to rethink the value of newspapers advertising
GE, Equinox, Take 5 Oil and agency TBWA New York are among those investing in newspaper ads to generate social media buzz in an ever-more cluttered digital environment.
The ‘retirement’ of M&M spokescandies raises questions about viral marketing, edgy content
Marketers have mixed feelings and questions about the value of viral, stunt marketing after M&M's "retirement" of its spokescandies.
SponsoredHow ad tech is tackling waste by optimizing supply chains
Sponsored by Bidtellect The programmatic and digital advertising industry is well aware of the inefficiencies in buying and selling — from auction duplication and volume bias to multi-integrations and reselling — but how did it get this out of control? How can we fix it? A redundant, multiple-step process to ad delivery has become the norm, […]
With TikTok’s growing list of issues, should marketers think twice about the platform?
There is a growing list of issues that TikTok needs to resolve, but marketers seem unfazed and continue to be enthralled by the platform.
Digiday+ Research: Agencies expect far less ad spend this year, despite increasing services
A survey of agency professionals found that agencies actually don't anticipate significant growth in ad spend this year, even after most agencies increased services in 2022.


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The Wi-Fi Alliance is adopting a new technology that should boost data speeds of over 10 times at short distances, which could replace video cables in the home entertainment center.
The industry group that supports Wi-Fi said it is joining with Wireless Gigabit Alliance, or WiGig, which has been developing ways to exploit the 60-gigahertz frequency band for extremely high data speeds between devices in the same room.
Wi-Fi Alliance marketing director Kelley Davis-Felner told the Associated Press (AP) the technology would probably take two years in order to show up in products. The first ones might be Blu-Ray players that send their high-definition video signal wirelessly to compatible TV sets. Portable devices like video cameras could later have the ability to send video wirelessly.
WirelessHD Consortium, a separate group, has developed technology to exploit the same frequency band with the same goals. Wireless HD is further along in the development. It uses paired transmitters and receivers for HD video that came out last year. The focus of the group was originally more narrow-minded, just looking at video and audio, but it has recently expanded to include data networking.
John Marshall, chairman of the WirelessHD Consortium, told AP that its technology is more suitable for high-quality video streaming, and less suitable for use in portable devices.
It is possible the technologies will coexist. Several electronic industry leaders are members of both groups, including Intel Corp., Samsung Electronics Co, Panasonic Corp. and Toshiba Corp.
It is possible to carry video on today’s Wi-Fi bands, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. That is a cheaper option with longer range, but the video quality is slightly degraded and there is a slight transmission delay.
On the Net:

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Although snow is still a distant thought at this time of the year, Christmas spirit is in the air as the 2022 Christmas Fantasy House, a 29-year holiday tradition in the Greater Milwaukee area, prepares to open Saturday, October 29.
The Cedarburg Artists Guild is excited to celebrate the 40th year of our fall event, the Covered Bridge Art Studio Tour. Always on the second full weekend of October, this year that is October 7-9.
Regal castles, proud bagpipers in kilts, premium whisky and hearty haggis are some of the iconic sights of Scottish culture that you can see and experience while on tour in Edinburgh.
The Sell It Now Store and Gerlach Auctions are two companies you probably have heard of. What you may not know is that both companies have partnered on a number of auctions recently.
The outstanding home at S4W28701 Norms Road in Delafield, Wisconsin, boasts an impeccable combination of luxury and elegance. Set on 5.6 partially wooded acres, this lovely four bedroom, five full and one half bath home offers a rare combination of 5,655-square-feet of superbly crafted living space, as well as the perfect outdoor amenities for recreation and entertaining.
If we look at what heroic statesmen can teach us, the sartorial dimension—what they wear—is indicative.
Ripon’s Back Porch Gatherings owner, Tammy Gutierrez talks about her business.
A Unique Blend of Comfort & Elegance at Golf Hills Drive in Delafield, Wisconsin, offers homeowners a spacious, lovely place in which to relax, work, entertain, and spend time with family and friends.


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Clothing for the children in Bali!
Author: Sam Van Praet
Tuesday 28th of February 2012 12:07:16 PM
Some members of the DAA team are visiting Indonesia in a few weeks' time to scout for new students for the IHAEC and to do charity work -they’re going to help the Bali Kids organization (www.balikids.org). Yesterday we filled a huge Eastpak bag with clothes donated by clothing store Pardaf in Gemeentestraat 8 in Antwerp for the children in Bali. After an hour of searching -and thanks to Ninette’s styling advice- I think we succeeded in gathering some really nice clothes for them. Thanks to Pardaf and Eastpak (who donated the blue suitcase) for the support!


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The three-dimensional (3D) printing industry is taking steps toward implementing standards that will “bring coherence and interoperability to 3D printing products and processes,” according to a report inDesign News.
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has partnered with the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute to create a standards initiative. The two groups launched the Additive Manufacturing Standardization Collective (AMSC) to “facilitate the development of industry-wide additive manufacturing standards and specifications to promote the growth of the additive manufacturing industry.”
AMSC published a standardization roadmap for additive manufacturing, identifying existing standards and specifications and those under development, earlier this year. Industry standards can help users verify that the products will perform as they claim they will, an ANSI official said.
AMSC will coordinate and accelerate the development of standards, and make them consistent with the needs of both manufacturers and users. It will not actually develop the standards, though.


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Evolution Games to Extend UK, Romance language, and Italian language Presence with Greentube Work
Evolution Gaming has guaranteed another high-profile client with opted for a Live Casino assortment to rotate it out throughout multiple makes and markets, the Swedish Live Casino giver said in a press release from earlier nowadays.
Under a new recently inked deal between https://gamblingrosecasino.co.uk/how-to-enjoy-starspins-casino-bonuses/ Evolution and Greentube Alderney Limited, the very latter would gain access to the actual supplier’s full range of Play live casino online products. Greentube Alderney Reasonably limited is a brand under Novomatic Digital, which is a part of Austrian gambling massive Novomatic.
The actual agreement involving the two organisations will see Greentube roll outside Evolution’s products and solutions across several of its B2C brands including a number of licensed markets , including Greentube’s Admiral Casino brand in the united kingdom and its Movie star Vegas model in Spain as well as Italy.
The offer with Greentube follows some other recent binding agreement signed just by Evolution that would help the card issuer further widen and concrete itself within the Italian bingo market . Last month, typically the supplier associated with Live Casino goods revealed that it offers teamed up utilizing Italian owner SKS365 Crew to sprain its vary with the Planetwin365 brand.
On their deal with the Swedish Casino provider, Richard Poole, UNITED KINGDOM B2C Makes at Greentube UK, said that they are pleased to hint with Background and that having last year’s launch within their Admiral Betting house in the UK, ‚launching a Live casino at redbet is an important next thing for the company and each of our growth projects. ‚
Mr. Poole added in which ‚Live Internet casino is now a prerequisite for a digital modern casino and Progress Gaming feature a fantastic pedigree and a market-leading product. ‚
Expansion Among Workers Unrest
Of their most current content deliver deal, Evolution’s Chief Commercially aware Officer, Sebastian Johannisson, stated that they are thrilled to publicize their most recent agreement and that they are self-assured their range of Live Casino games and dwell game programs would be ‚the best addition to be able to Greentube’s information portfolio. ‚
While Background has been busy to develop its people network, the corporation has also acquired some rough time in one of a live studios. It come about over the quick that laborers at Evolution’s Tbilisi Casino studio have hot on achieve , requiring better give and improved working conditions.
Evolution opened its studio room in the capital of Ga last year. The business currently employs around 2, 500 persons there, and more than 500 of them are supposedly involved in protests that first of all started whole July and are generally expected to application later this month.
Most of the protesters are employed seeing that shufflers for the studio, however their attempt is also maintained a number of vendors. Their primary demands are higher project management salary and significantly better working factors. According to community media, shufflers earn typical monthly salary of approximately $140 . The actual protesting workers are asking for some 50% raise.
Workers for the studio furthermore told community media that will their working conditions are far away from excellent, together with reports this insects are actually biting persons at the studio room and deterioration air conditioning boating media modes.
Commenting to the ongoing affect, Evolution said it it considérations its workers‘ ‚freedom of expression‘ , but any sort of protests has to be conducted according to Georgian legal requirements, suggesting it considered the existing action regarding its people unconstitutional.


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Snapchat Inc. is raising money that could value the company at as much as US$19 billion. If completed, the deal would make Snapchat the third-most valuable venture-backed company in the world.
At this time last year, the startup was cooking up a financing round at a US$10 billion valuation, after turning down Facebook Inc.’s acquisition offer at more than US$3 billion. So how did Snapchat get from US$3 billion to US$19 billion? It’s all about growth.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Here’s a chart that shows how quickly the company is growing versus its competitors.
Snapchat was used by 29.4% of Apple Inc.’s iPhone users in the U.S. as of Jan. 24, according to 7Park Data Inc., a New York-based company that tracks and analyzes application activity on phones. The company’s popularity trumps that of many other buzzy messaging and photo applications in its category, including Kik, Twitter Inc.’s Vine and Yik Yak. It’s also inching closer to Facebook’s photo-sharing application, Instagram. Instagram has 300 million monthly active users, which is more than Twitter.
Here’s a closer look at Snapchat’s growth, on both Apple’s iOS and Google Inc.’s Android:
Snapchat was launched out of a fraternity in 2011 as an application for friends to send annotated photos — mostly selfies — to each other. The photos or videos disappear a few seconds after the recipient views them. Since then, the company has added a slew of new features to entice users, letting them make their own “story” posts for all of their friends to see.
Now, the Los Angeles-based company is getting more serious about its business side, introducing channels for news and entertainment from media companies including Vice and National Geographic. They’ve also started advertising, with optional-to-view posts that disappear, just like everything else.
A Snapchat representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Investors are always on the lookout for the next Facebook or Twitter. Snapchat is social media, but its business model doesn’t make it the next anything. It’s not banking on using demographic data from its users to target ads. Content isn’t going viral — it’s being curated into various channels by editors. That makes it harder to value the company. But if you’re an investor, you get plenty of numbers — more detailed than what we’re seeing here. And they might add up to US$19 billion.
Snapchat adds video calls, instant messaging as it seeks ways to monetize
New Snapchat Discover feature delivers news, entertainment content with ‘gorgeous advertising’


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Amazon is set to enter the world of NFT assets with an enterprise initiative, according to Blockwork’s sources with direct knowledge of the situation. The company’s NFT marketplace is expected to launch in the spring of 2023.
According to a number of sources, Amazon has been shopping its digital collectibles initiative to numerous industry heavyweights. Cryptocurrency exchanges, blockchain-based gaming companies, developers, and layer-1 blockchains are cited as potential partners. Gaming and NFT-related applications are among the priorities, sources indicated.
According to one insider, a potential project is enabling Amazon clients to participate in cryptocurrency games and earn free NFTs along the way.
According to unconfirmed rumors, the endeavor is still in its early stages. The e-commerce corporation appears to have set April as the month for announcing its ambitious crypto plans.
The entry of Amazon into crypto could be a game changer for a variety of reasons, says one source.
“We knew it was possible,” explained the insider. “But now it seems like it’s really happening. That’s going to affect the existing players in the space — if they execute and do this right and are smart about it.”
Executives leading Amazon’s push contacted at least one family office in recent months, according to one source. It was initially planned to do at least one NFT drop in collaboration with an artist. As of now, Amazon’s Web3 program looks to have expanded significantly since that time.
It was not immediately obvious who will be in charge of Amazon’s NFT program. Details regarding the platform, which would incorporate specific NFT gaming efforts, are still being developed, but according to multiple sources, the platform will be administered by Amazon itself rather than the company’s well-known cloud platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS).
According to a fifth insider, Amazon has recently examined a variety of different Web3 projects. Several sources indicate that hiring a number of internal employees would be necessary for both Amazon’s platform and its other crypto initiatives.
While AWS has occasionally offered jobs for Web3 developers and engineers, the company is less well-known for researching the blockchain or crypto industries. Since its creation in 2013, the Amazon Coins initiative is still in operation, but it is more similar to a plain loyalty program than a cryptocurrency project.
Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy stated in the past that he supports selling NFTs – and that Amazon is open to crypto initiatives in general.
The exact scope of Amazon’s Web3 aims and ultimate goals is still unknown. There is no indication whether the tech giant plans to compete with OpenSea and Rarible, but two insiders believe such a launch would pose a serious challenge to both platforms.
“With the number of customers Amazon has, they could make a huge splash in the NFT marketplace,” said an industry insider.
OpenSea has so far attracted over 2.5 million users, ranking it as the top NFT marketplace based on volume, Dune Analytics data indicates. Today, several well-established marketplaces exist for buying and selling NFTs.
Recently, Amazon Web Services partnered with Ava Labs, which developed the Avalanche blockchain. Emin Gün Sirer of Ava said the partnership is “a huge boon for both individual and enterprise developers.”


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Retail Drinks Australia has described as “farcical” the decision by the Northern Territory’s liquor regulator to crackdown on everyday household cooking and beauty items which contain small amounts of alcohol.
The regulator has said that items which contain more than 1.15 per cent ethyl alcohol ABV and come in containers exceeding 50ml are now classed as “liquor” and can only be bought from licensed premises, and are subject to the Territory’s minimum unit pricing laws.
These include everyday items such as soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and marinades, cough syrup, mouthwash, nail polish remover and vanilla essence.
Affected retailers, including grocery stores, petrol stations and pharmacy’s, all of which have sold these products for more than 40 years, have been thrown into chaos with licensing inspectors insisting products be pulled from shelves.
Julie Ryan, the CEO of Retail Drinks, says that the chaos could have been avoided.
“This issue first came to light when the Acting Director-General sent correspondence to all licensees on 5 July asserting this new interpretation of the Liquor Act 1978.
“The same correspondence suggested that in 2011 the then Northern Territory Commission determined that these products could only be sold with a liquor licence, but the reality is that neither then, nor since the start of the Act over 40 years ago, has this ever been enforced.
“We contacted Ms [Sally] Ozolins’ office and sought an urgent meeting to discuss this issue, and this interpretation which is seemingly at odds with the Chief Minister and Attorney General’s own interpretation as set out in the draft new Liquor Act currently before parliament.”
Under the Liquor Act 1978, Liquor is defined as “a beverage that contains more than 1.15 per cent by volume of ethyl alcohol”. This means that the Acting Director-General considers these products “beverages”. This is in stark contrast to the draft exposure bill for the new Liquor Act, in which these products are defined as “inedible alcohol”.
Ryan says this is the regulator going too far and without considering any of the unintended consequences.
“The correspondence from the NT Licensing alleges that a liquor licence is required to sell everyday items like cough syrup, mouthwash, soy sauce and vanilla essence, just to name a few.
“Taking this logically, she is essentially asserting that every pharmacy, petrol station and supermarket in NT is in breach of the Liquor Act.
“It also means that no one may buy these products, or be supplied them, unless they are over 18 and scanned into the Banned Drinkers Register.
“We call on the regulator to furnish the legal advice that supports this interpretation, otherwise this is a very misleading communication to have been distributed.”
Retail Drinks had been working with the Alcohol Review Implementation Team of the Chief Minister’s office to inform the development of the regulations on inedible alcohol, when the new Liquor Act came into effect in a few months’ time.
Their hope is that NT Licensing will cease their activities and alleged new interpretation, in favour of working collaboratively towards the new regulations to govern these substances.
Retail Drinks confirms will meet with the Acting Director-General of Licensing on Thursday, and that Retail Drinks’ request that all compliance activities be ceased in the interim has been granted by Licensing NT today.


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Social Media Spotlight: Fiat 500 say ‘ciao’ to daily deals
Here’s one for climate skeptics: iconic Italian car maker Fiat has teamed up with travel e-tailer LastMinute.com to bring deals to Londoners to mark the Fiat 500 TwinAir’s break with London’s notoriously pricey congestion charge. When it comes to building a long-term community around a brand, perhaps nothing works better than giving people something for nothing and the chance to show it off to their friends. Here’s the strategy.
The Social Strategy: Anyone with a car in London knows the deal. Vehicles bigger than a Mini, it seems, will cost the driver £10 a day for driving within London’s CO2 Congestion Charge Zone that covers much of the city. But one of the models that weighs in below the CC charge level is the new Fiat 500 with a TwinAir engine. Upon landing such a stealthy honor, Fiat is offering Londoners a variety of city deals that cost no more than a tenner. They include spa treatments, dining out at area restaurant meals, and a chance to win weekend prizes.
The campaign works like this. Users go to the Fiat 500 Loves Facebook page to gain access to the campaign deals, hosted by LastMinute.com. From there, users are encouraged to download the competition app and share the deals with friends for a chance to win a sweet weekend “getaway” for two. The app comes specially adapted to Facebook Places so participants can check-in at the deal hot-spots to show off on the fly to friends. Moreover, the campaign will offer more deals as more people Like the page and share their favorite things to do in London, giving the effort a bit more legs than just a Groupon knock-off.
The task, of course, involves building some initial drive to the Fiat 500 Loves page. After all, a deals site is only as good the number of participants. And, after three weeks, the Facebook page has steadily, steadily climbed to 1,060 fans, the fruit of two London-based digital media agencies, Maxus and Grape Digital, at the helm.
Firstly, they’ve employed a cross-media strategy including newspaper ads in order to get Londoners talking. After that, building a ground-up community from nothing involves sustained social participation, so the page’s wall is full of posts broadcasting potential deals and encouraging fans to share favorite things (or observations) about London. It’s not Sun material, but it’s getting people talking.
Another important factor is that Fiat UK already has a Facebook page and a Twitter account with a combined following of about 5,300, so the interaction between the pages are an integral part of the campaign’s community building potential. You can see the bigger properties are already helping to spread the word.
Iain Fuller, Digital Strategist at Grape Digital, shared how the agency is balancing the new campaign page with the older, more established brand pages:
We thought it prevalent not to alienate any die hard car fans on the original pages. We are driving people from the Fiat UK Facebook and Twitter pages to this page, but toward the end of the campaign we will driving them back the other way. The campaign Facebook page will continue promotions of this type and will use this page as the catalyst to do so.
The Result: It may be too early to tell, but there are some promising signals here of a social media initiative with real legs wheels. Last year, the British Tourist Authority (VisitBritian.com) launched a similar sounding campaign called Love UK that offered special deals and contests powered by applications like Facebook Places. The campaign attracted 112,000 participating fans to the Facebook page. If we consider that success, plus the fact that this new Fiat campaign is riding on a popular environmental friendly ballot (and equally unpopular congestion charge), Fiat’s timely deals could start catching on like that of Groupon’s.
Looking more long-term, this Facebook effort could, in theory, be expanded to other cities, so building a more international community around the Fiat brand – or Fiat Loves sub-brand, we’re guessing – could mean literally picking up where London leaves off in another town.
Final Word: Despite the well-themed nature of the campaign and its capacity for “getting the locals talking,” the Fiat 500 Loves effort does give Fiat UK community something new to talk about.


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Entries in 'psn' (140)
Contrary to previous predictions, PS4 DID outsell Xbox One in the US in September.
A trailer for Sony’s live-action TV series Powers has been released following its debut at the New York Comic Con.
There may be some sort of optional motion control element in the PS4 version of Grand Theft Auto V.
Evolution has said that it is delaying the release of the free PS Plus edition of Driveclub as it struggles to get the servers for the paid game working correctly.
PS4 owners in the UK will be able to begin pre-loading DriveClub onto their consoles this Wednesday.
Sony has launched a special promotion for PlayStation Store customers in North America, crediting $15 to individuals who spend $100 or more during the month of October.
PlayStation Home is set to close in both Europe and North America, Sony has announced.
PS4 owners who don’t subscribe to PlayStation Plus will be able to play online multiplayer games this weekend.
Capcom's fighting game Jojo's Bizarre Adventure HD has vanished from both PSN's Europe storefront and the Xbox Live Marketplace entirely.
Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation Store will become inaccessible for some PSP users from September 15th.
A bomb threat sent from a Twitter account linked to a DDoS attack on PSN forced a diversion to a flight carrying Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley.
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president and CEO Jim Ryan has said that the platform holder doesn’t have anything against EA Access.
Sony has agreed to a preliminary settlement of $15m in a class action lawsuit regarding its 2011 security breach.
Sony has added some prices to its ongoing PlayStation Now streaming beta in North America.
Sony has listed the first games that will be available to pre-load for those who pre-order them digitally on PSN.
Men who play aggressively online are more likely to have their friend requests accepted than those who are polite and passive, a new report has found.
An equivalent of Steam's Early Access initiative could be on its way to PS4, PS3 and Vita via the PlayStation Network.
Sony’s successful Instant Game Collection is being stepped up from June.
Ubisoft's turn-based RPG Child of Light is to land on Vita in July.
Sony has recruited ad agency Work Club help push PlayStation Plus across Europe.
Bandai Namco’s free-to-play Soulcalibur game has endured a disastrous start to life.
Sony has revealed more details of its next firmware update for PS4.
Mojang has confirmed retail release plans for Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition in both North America and PAL regions.
Sony has announced that India will be among 12 countries to be included in the PlayStation Mobile Developer Program starting May.
PlayStation dominated the MCV Awards 2014, collecting eight prizes including the prestigious Grand Prix.


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Los Angeles 2028 has appointed Katy Chambers Mollica as its new head of partnership sales for U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Properties (USOPP), they have announced.
USOPP is the commercial joint venture between the LA 2028 Organising Committee and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC).
It will be responsible for developing the marketing, sponsorship and licensed merchandise programmes for Los Angeles 2028 and Team USA from 2021 through 2028.
Mollica, who officially began her new role today, will lead sales efforts for the Los Angeles 2028 and Team USA properties as part of Legends' LA28 sponsorship representation.
Legends were announced by Los Angeles 2028 as the sponsorship sales agency in October 2018.
They have been appointed to help develop, identify and secure sponsorship opportunities, as well as work with Los Angeles 2028 and USOPC to sell their collective story.
Mollica joins LA28 and Legends Global Partnerships following a long tenure at Turner Broadcasting where she held various marketing and sales leadership roles, most recently as Turner Sports vice-president of NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Partnerships.
Her experience spans revenue generation, client services, property management and strategic marketing solutions.
"Katy is a seasoned sales and partnership executive, with a proven ability to connect with partners, innovate and drive results," USOPP chief commercial officer Chris Pepe said.
"Her depth of experience is invaluable as we broaden our commercial programme."
Companies wanting to become "golden" partners of Los Angeles 2028 will reportedly have to pay at least $100 million (£78 million/€87 million) to join the programme.
Los Angeles 2028 are hoping to raise $2.5 billion (£2 billion/€2.2 billion) in sponsorship.
To help reach their target, NBCUniversal (NBCU) and Los Angeles 2028 announced a partnership last April designed to see the broadcaster collaborate on media and sponsorship opportunities.
Companies will have opportunities to associate their brand with the US Olympic team and their participation in four Olympic and Paralympic Games.
This would include Beijing 2022, Paris 2024 and the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.
The deal will conclude at Los Angeles 2028.
NBCU chairperson of advertising and partnerships, Linda Yaccarino, will lead the effort alongside Los Angeles 2028 chair Casey Wasserman.
NBCU is the broadcasting rights holder for the Olympics in the US between 2021 and 2032.
It followed an agreement struck between the broadcaster and the International Olympic Committee in 2014, with the rights being sold for $7.65 billion (£5.8 billion/€6.7 billion).
The agreement included broadcast rights across all media platforms, including free-to-air television, subscription television, internet and mobile.


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Our mission is to Develop, Enhance and Maintain Profitability and Equity for every Pepperidge Farm Owner
POAA Gives Meaning to the Motto: "In Business For Yourself, Not By Yourself."
The financial markets typically seesaw up and down during times of uncertainty because investors lack the information and knowledge necessary to predict outcomes when they are confronted with truly novel events, like a razor close presidential election that will not be finalized for days or weeks due to new voting practices necessitated by an ongoing global pandemic. Unfortunately, every POAA member must also grapple with additional uncertainty about the future of their equity because of the mysterious Campbell Snacks Mobile Transformation Initiative (MTI) launched last month, less than a fiscal quarter after it was first announced. PF expects owners to wait for detailed information about the initiative, which raises red flags for TeamPOAA because it unnecessarily raises the level of uncertainty about such an important aspect of our small businesses.
TeamPOAA received reports that despite the fact that many owners already have iPads and Samsung tablets, as well as other IOS and Android based Phablets and portable devices, PF nonetheless plans to mandate that they procure the readily-available consumer grade equipment from the sole-source designated by PF. PF also plans to force every owner to subscribe to its corporate cellular data plan without any explanation about why our existing cellular data plans are not good enough for our businesses. Even worse, PF plans to deduct more money automatically from our weekly sales commissions to cover its costs associated with its new technology initiative, according to PF’s Director of DSD Strategy and Distributor Engagement, Pat Coppola, and he documented that those charges will be mandatory.
What do you know about the benefits and costs of PF's Mobile Transformation Initiative (MTI)?
Will the mandates for new technology equipment and services provide you with better insights into your business? Will it help you work faster? Will it save you money? Are you certain that the new technology initiative offers a fair Return On Investment that ultimately increases the value of your business?
Many owners rely on the low cost and high quality technical support services offered POAA’s strategic partner, Data Capture Solutions, rather than pay PF for its high cost and low quality technical support.
The opinions and beliefs expressed in this newsletter are intended only to spark discussions about serious and ongoing business issues that impact every owner in PF’s distribution network. If you need or want legal advice, you must consult with your attorney.
Why it is important to become an enhanced member of POAA
Follow us or participate in the discussion on your own terms
You are receiving this email because you own an Exclusive Pepperidge Farm Franchise and/or an Exclusive Pepperidge Farm Distributorship, and you should know that the Pepperidge Farm Owners Association of America is proactively protecting your rights.


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Maruti hits fresh record high after November sales data; CLSA hikes target to Rs 10,000
Maruti Suzuki share price on Friday gained 1 percent intraday to hit a fresh all-time high of Rs 8,695 on the BSE after November sales data and global brokerage house CLSA hiked its target price to five digits.
CLSA has maintained its buy call on Maruti Suzuki while increasing target price to Rs 10,000 per share, implying a potential 16.2 percent upside over Thursday’s closing price.
“Valuations seem rich, but justified given high earnings visibility and improving outlook,” the research house reasoned.
India passenger vehicle industry is showing signs of easing competitive intensity.
Easing competitive intensity, in small cars and entry sedans, is positive for Maruti, CLSA said, adding more original equipment manufacturers could potentially enter India but are unlikely to make a dent.
The research house feels Maruti is likely to broaden its sports utility vehicle portfolio in coming years, though competition is high.
The India’s largest car maker’s November sales matched analyst expectations as it sold 1.54 lakh units during the month, higher by 14.1 percent YoY.
The company sold 1.35 lakh units in November 2016 and a CNBC-TV18 poll estimated sales at 1.52 lakh units for November 2017.
The growth was largely driven by domestic sales that grew by 15 percent year-on-year to 1.45 lakh units in month gone by.
At 12:29 hours IST, the stock price was quoting at Rs 8,671.20, up Rs 68.90, or 0.80 percent on the BSE.


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It is that time of year again besides fashion week and it is the Met Gala! The Met Gala is the Oscars of the fashion industry and the latest exhibition in the Met Museum will be “China: Through the Looking Glass.” Today, April 23, Vogue magazine released an article and new photos of the dresses that will be on display. This is the link to read more about the gowns from the exhibition from Vogue.com: http://www.vogue.com/13253748/china-through-the-looking-glass-met-gala-2015.
It will be exciting what designers custom designed for some of the celebrities attending the Gala on Monday, May 4. Be sure to mark your calendars and be on high alert of the latest fashions!
The exhibition to come out Thursday, May 7 to Sunday, August 16 for the public to see. The Met Museum’s website has more information of the exhibition and this is the link: http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2015/china-through-the-looking-glass. On the exhibition’s page there are more sneak peeks of the displays of the gowns and other designs.
– km xoxo


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An incredible Car Crash
We are talking about a really expensive car accident that occurred in China, a Lamborghini has crashed into a Mercedes SUV. According to the local news report, the driver of the Lamborghini was going too fast and could not stop in time when he found a line of cars stopped at the lights of an intersection. The Lamborghini ended up litterally into the SUV.
Given the difference in height between the two cars, the Lamborghini has slipped under the SUV, damaging the front of the car and especially the pride of the owner ...
Are you looking for a new car?
Check our offers here!


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The technology needed for driverless cars is here and could be ready for the market in less than a decade. Automation holds the promise of revolutionizing the automobile industry and making our streets safer, but will it spell the end of Fahrvergnügen?
A Lexus drives down the eight-lane highway outside Palo Alto, California, in heavy rush-hour traffic. Except for the rotating cylinder perched on its roof like an oversized tin can and the word "Google" on its doors, it looks like any other car. In reality, though, it's a search engine on wheels.
The Lexus steers itself down the highway all by itself. The man in the driver's seat -- Dmitri Dolgov, a software engineer for Google -- never actually touches the wheel.
Dolgov explains what the car can do, which turns out to be quite a lot. It can steer, accelerate and brake automatically; it surveys its surroundings with cameras and uses radar to measure the distance to the car in front of it; and its laser scanner -- the cylinder affixed to the roof -- monitors objects in all directions.
"See?" Dolgov asks, pointing as a car swerves in front of the Google vehicle from the right. There's no need for Dolgov to intervene. The robotic car has identified what is happening and gently brakes until there is once again a proper distance between the cars.
With its 12 vehicles, Google has the largest known test fleet of self-driving cars. All together, the Internet giant has covered over half a million kilometers (300,000 miles) in these robotic vehicles, most of it on California's public roads and highways. The cars have driven through Los Angeles, around Lake Tahoe and down the famous hairpin turns of San Francisco's Lombard Street. They have become so reliable, in fact, that Google is now taking SPIEGEL out for a demonstration.
Self-driving cars, long dismissed as a utopian pipe dream, are rapidly reaching the stage where they will be ready for the market. "We're not talking about 20 years here, but more like five," says Sebastian Thrun, initiator and director of Google's project.
Five years until the first driverless cars hit the streets? It sounds like just any of the other science-fiction ideas that seem to percolate out of the manically creative world that is Google headquarters. But could it be that the company is about to show the automobile industry what the future of mobility looks like?
In truth, however, the real surprise here is something else entirely: Everything Google can do, carmakers already do as well -- they just don't talk about it as openly. In one European Union-funded research project, Volvo successfully drove a convoy of five vehicles that only had a human driver in the lead car. BMW recently sent a robotic car on a two-hour drive from Munich to Nuremberg. And Volkswagen and a research team from Stanford University have caused a stir with their driverless Audi sports car, which that has been zipping around US racetracks. Gradually Automating Cars
Although Google doesn't enjoy a monopoly on the field, its prominent position allows it to exert pressure on others and demonstrate the feasibility of the idea. The auto industry isn't missing the technology needed for the next revolution in mobility. It lacks the guts to put that technology on the market.


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Global payment services firm Western Union is teaming with Canadian financial institution TD to offer a fast, convenient way for TD account-holders to send money around the world.
Western Union said in a press release on Thursday (Aug. 1) that customers of one of Canada's largest financial institutions can now send money cross-border from their personal TD Canada Trust accounts.
TD’s Canadian customers can use their checking, savings or line-of-credit accounts for cash pickup at any Western Union location in 200 countries and territories around the world. The newly-launched money transfer service is available online with EasyWeb.
“Western Union offers a convenient and reliable way to meet increased consumer demand for international financial connectivity, allowing money transfers between individuals to take place quickly and with flexibility,” said Western Union Global Head of Consumer Money Transfer Khalid Fellahi. “In collaboration with TD, we are unlocking opportunity for consumers and building a bridge that connects the online and offline — or digital and retail — worlds. The ability to support digital-to-cash money transfers helps us deliver on the choice and convenience customers want.”
TD Senior Vice President of Every Day Banking Frank Psoras said there will be additional service enhancements to the service that “exemplify TD's commitment to customer-centric innovation, and is part of how we're making it fast and easy for customers with friends and family in other parts of the world to send money.”
Western Union is in the midst of working with other companies to build omnichannel and global P2P offerings that combine cash and digital processes. The goal is to enable more payment options for consumers around the world. One example is its exclusive partnership in June with discount retail chain Dollar General. Consumers can initiate international and domestic money transfers digitally through the Western Union mobile app or website, then pay in person at Dollar General stores. They can also receive money transfers in Dollar General stores, where senders have 12 hours to settle their accounts.
In June, Western Union and Visa entered into a new strategic partnership to expedite the digital movement of money globally. Under the terms of the agreement, Western Union will leverage Visa Direct, the card giant’s real-time push payments platform, to offer global expedited push-to-card transfers. The goal is to scale real-time, cross-border payments across more than 200 countries and territories, and 130 currencies.


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Bengals partner with startup to keep phones charged
Bengals fans who have been keeping one eye on the game and the other on their phone's battery life will get some relief this season, thank to an agreement the team announced on Friday with PlusBlue Solutions.
PlusBlue is the Cincinnati-based startup that rents out portable batteries for mobile devices at sports and entertainment events. It announced a partnership with the Cincinnati Reds earlier this year, and has been available at the Western & Southern Open in Mason the last two years.
Its service is also available at national venues including Ohio Stadium; The BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif., and Milwaukee's Summerfest Music Festival.
PlusBlus will be in four locations at Paul Brown Stadium this year, starting with Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons. The company rents its small, portable batteries by the day to customers for a set price via credit cards. If a customer decides to keep the battery, the credit card is charged again for the price of the battery. The battery, which is rechargeable, gives phones three full charges.
Fans can also leave phones at charging stations safeguarded by PlusBlue employees. Charging stations will be located on Sideline West, Sideline East, Canopy West section 313, and Canopy East section 343. Rentals are $9 a game, and the valet service is $5. The portable chargers can be purchased for $70.
Queen City Angels announced a $325,000 investment in PlusBlue earlier this year.


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Plastic made from the perfume of apples
A waste-free method of obtaining organic monomers is coming into being and it does not require high temperatures or expensive catalysts. It is the idea that a team of scientists from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS), led by Professor Juan Colmenares, is working on.
The scientists have taken a common product — hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) — which on an industrial scale is obtained by the acid hydrolysis of sugars obtained, among others, from cellulose, lignin or inulin. They have turned it into aldehyde, 2,5-diformylfurfural (DFF), a compound that finds an application in many fields of industry, but, above all, it can be used to produce environmentally friendly plastic.
“We want it to be possible to replace PETs with something that decomposes in a few months or at most a few years,” explained Professor Colmenares. “Today’s plastics, made from petroleum, contain phthalates and other plasticisers — a sort of ‘soup’ of organic and even inorganic compounds — and no bacteria or fungus on their own can break them down.
“Materials produced based on DFF contain furans — sugars, and what comes from nature is better received by nature,” the professor explained.
It is not the product itself (DFF) which is new here, but the method of obtaining it, described in a paper published in Applied Cat. B. Until now, high temperatures (100–150°C) and complicated technology have been required. However, Professor Colmenares’ team only need a box they themselves produce — a photoreactor, a light (at present this is an LED lamp emitting near UV - 375 nm, but ultimately the energy is to be provided simply by the sun) and a catalyst — manganese dioxide nanowires.
“These are long and very, very thin, and their structure increases the absorption of light. Due to the unique thermo-photo-catalytic properties of manganese dioxide, the nanorods have a much larger contact surface with the particles of the starting material and are better at activating it. So, virtually all the HMF changes into DFF. 100%!” the professor enthused.
He explained that it’s a waste-free method and the oxygen in the air is sufficient to obtain the pure monomer needed for the production of linear polymers and, for example, apple juice bottles.
But won’t such rapidly decomposing plastic break down too quickly? Before, for example, we manage to drink the apple juice? “No,” laughed the professor. “In practice it takes a few years to decompose, but even if the reaction occurred faster, the user would at most drink a little ‘good’ plastic. One that is harmless to the body.”
Poland is, for example, a large producer of apples and juice, but what happens to all the tonnes of apple peel and all the waste products? “It’s poured into the waste disposal, it pollutes the water, takes up oxygen and then it’s the end of all water life,” the professor said. Meanwhile, it contains all the sugar, pectin and levulinic compounds that his team’s method requires — basically it uses rubbish to make something desirable out of nothing.
Zip-Pak has been offering reclosure/reseal solutions for flexible packaging for many years and it...
Packaging and labelling errors on food products are causing too many allergic reactions and rules...
Researchers have developed DNA-barcoded microbial spores that can be used for tagging and...


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NEW YORK (
) -- While
still expects September same-store sales to be in negative territory, those results will significantly improve from last year.
The department store announced on Monday that same-store sales for the month will be in the range of down 3% to 6%. That compares with a 12.4% decline in September 2008.
But while things appear to be getting better, are they really? Up against significantly easier comparisons, the bar has become much easier for retailers to pass. However, according to analyst Dana Telsey, of the firm bearing her name, demand is still weak.
were off 7.9%, worse than the 6.7% decline analysts expected.
Shares of J.C. Penney were up 1% to $32.63 in afternoon trading, as were other department store rivals.
jumped 1% to $17.95,
soared 5% to $7.04,
grew 1% to $55,
inclined 2% to $66.26, and
shot up 3.5% to $14.65.
-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York
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CenterPoint Selling its Retail Gas Business
The company that owns Vectren is selling its natural gas retail business.
CenterPoint Energy announced Monday that it has entered into an agreement to sell CenterPoint Energy Services to Energy Capital Partners, LLC for about $400 million.
In a release, CenterPoint described Energy Capital as a private equity firm and credit investor specializing in energy infrastructure projects.
CenterPoint said the sale is subject to the satisfaction of customary terms and conditions.
The move came just days after after CenterPoint President and CEO Scott Prochazka (pro-CHAHZ-kuh) resigned.
CenterPoint named John Somerhalder II interim President and CEO.


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Originally published on CleanTechies.
One of the largest solar panel manufacturers in India has doubled its production capacity to 400 megawatts.
Tata Power Solar issued a press release stating that it has increased its solar panel production capacity from 200 megawatts to 400 megawatts. The company has also increased its solar cell production capacity from 180 megawatts to 300 megawatts.
The company is perhaps looking to expand its operations and capacity with an eye on the rapidly expanding Indian solar power market. The Indian government has set aside a substantial amount of capacity to be implemented using Indian solar panels.
The company will also look to export solar panels to other countries. Tata Power Solar recently became the first Indian manufacturer to ship 1 gigawatts of panels worldwide.
Tata Power Solar is rated a tier-1 module manufacturer by BNEF. It has shipped 1 GW of modules to more than 30 countries, of which more than 60% was shipped in the last five years.
Tata Power Solar operates the largest solar power project in India that uses domestically manufactured solar panels. The 100 megawatt project is part of the Anantapur ultra mega solar power project. The project now has an installed capacity of 250 megawatts.
Tata Power Solar also holds the record of commissioning the world’s largest rooftop solar power project of 12 megawatts capacity.
Reprinted with permission.
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In a historic night for cannabis, all five states with cannabis measures on the ballot in the November 2020 election have voted for either medical or adult-use legalization.
New Jersey, Arizona and Montana have passed adult-use cannabis legalization, Mississippi has passed medicinal cannabis legalization; and for the first time, one state—South Dakota—passed both medical and adult-use cannabis legalization at the same time.
As it stands today, 35 states have legalized medicinal cannabis, and 15 states have legalized cannabis for adult-use. That means 1 in 3 Americans have access to legal cannabis, according to POLITICO.
“If there was any remaining stigma around cannabis as a form of medicine, it is gone forever,” said Greg Kaufman, partner and co-leader of Eversheds Sutherland’s Cannabis Industry Team, in an emailed statement. “With more states approving adult-use and medical cannabis programs in this election and the expectation that more states will do so through legislation (e.g., New York), the pressure will continue to build on Congress to take some action on one or more of the cannabis-related bills currently pending.”
Here is a breakdown of Tuesday’s election results, state by state.
New Jerseyans have voted to approve Public Question No. 1, which amends the state constitution to legalize cannabis for adults aged 21 and over, as well as the cultivation, processing and sale of recreational cannabis products, by a 67-33 margin, according to reporting from the New York Times at 9:10 a.m. ET on Nov. 4.
The amendment to legalize adult-use cannabis will take place on Jan. 1, 2021. Lawmakers are now tasked with determining how the program is run, including restrictions and regulations, and a licensing process. Officials must also establish and appoint members to the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission, according to NJ.com.
Experts anticipate it will be at least a year before adult-use cannabis will be ready for sale, according to Patch.com.
Cannabis industry research firm Brightfield Group projects that an adult-use cannabis market in New Jersey could see more than $352.6 million in sales in 2021, and nearly $649 million in sales the following year.
Industry members anticipate that New Jersey’s legalization may also influence legalization in neighboring states, such as Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut, and throughout the country. – Cassie Neiden, editor
Despite legal battles and opposition from the state’s governor, Arizona voters approved adult-use cannabis legalization on Election Day by a 60-40 margin, according to unofficial election results reported by the New York Times at 11:19 p.m. ET on Nov. 3.
The statutory measure, Prop. 207, allows adults 21 and older to purchase and possess up to one ounce of cannabis, as well as grow up to six plants at home for personal use.
The Arizona Department of Health, which already regulates the state’s medical cannabis program, is now responsible for overseeing the adult-use industry, which must launch by June 1, 2021, under the initiative.
Cannabis industry research firm Brightfield Group projects that an adult-use cannabis market in Arizona could see more than $288.6 million in sales in 2021, and nearly $857 million in sales the following year, not including medical sales projections. – Melissa Schiller, senior digital editor
Preliminary results from Mississippi show that medical cannabis legalization passed with approximately 67% of the vote, according to the New York Times. Initiative 65, the measure from Mississippians for Compassionate Care’s Medical Marijuana 2020 campaign, received about 48% more votes than a competing measure put on the ballot by the state legislature, Alternative 65A. Roughly 33% of voters were against both measures.
Residents must have one of 22 serious qualifying conditions, such as cancer, chronic pain, or epilepsy, to qualify as a medical cannabis patient—which will be regulated “strictly” by the Mississippi Department of Health, according to Jamie Gratham, Medical Marijuana 2020’s campaign coordinator.
A fiscal analysis by Mississippi’s Legislative Budget Office estimates the first year of the medical program will cost the state roughly $11.1 million, according to the Medical Marijuana 2020 site. In the following years, the program will bring in around $10.7 million in overall annual revenue, which will need to go back into the program. – Patrick Williams, senior editor
According to unofficial election results, 59% of Montana voters approved of I-190, the adult-use legalization initiative. Separately, 61% of the Montana electorate voted in favor of the legislature establishing the legal age of adult-use cannabis consumption, a formality. The two ballot initiatives are commonly treated as a package deal.
“This has been a close race in a difficult year, but ultimately good sense prevailed, and Montana will reap the social and economic benefits of legal cannabis while hopefully adding its federal lawmakers to the chorus in Congress calling for an end to federal prohibition,” Morgan Fox, NCIA Media Relations Director, said. – Eric Sandy, digital editor
Voters in South Dakota made history on Nov. 3, helping the state become the first in the union to pass a constitutional amendment legalizing adult-use cannabis sales without first having an established medical program.
Amendment A, the constitutional amendment that voters passed on election night with 53.4% of the vote with 95% of precincts reporting, per the Associated Press, legalizes the recreational use of cannabis for adults aged 21 and over and allows the possession of up to one ounce of cannabis per adult. Additionally, the law requires that the state legislature pass laws for a medical cannabis program and for hemp sales no later than April 1, 2022.
Under the constitutional amendment, municipalities can ban cultivation businesses from operating on its territory, as well as testing facilities, wholesalers, and retail operations. However, if an individual lives in a jurisdiction with no licensed retailers, that person can cultivate up to three plants in a locked space in a private residence. – Brian MacIver, senior editor


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AdBlock Plus sheds (some) light on monetisation model
AdBlock Plus has shed some light on the “murky” world of how it makes money from its so-called ‘acceptable ads’ programme, revealing in a blog post that the bulk of its revenue comes from a minority of publishers.
The ad blocker claimed it is the “middle way” of not blocking every ad but instead allowing some through (a model which has drawn criticism both from users and publishers.)
But, to decide which publishers will have to pay to let adverts bypass AdBlock’s tech, the company goes by the general rule that “[...] only advertisers that stand to gain more than 10 million incremental ad impressions per month because of whitelisting are asked to sponsor".
“If five per cent of a site's users block ads then that site needs to have 200 million ad impressions to begin with in order to break the 10 million threshold.
“A site's non-ad block traffic is not included in the calculation. Using this definition, most publishers don’t pay anything at all.”
According to its latest figures, some 90 per cent of publishers didn’t pay at all.
To calculate the fee publishers pay, Adblock Plus said it “calculates the licensing fee as a percentage of the extra revenue the advertiser earns after whitelisting. It is not based on total ad revenue, but rather the value our service creates.”
However, AdBlock Plus’ hesitation to provide any more in-depth details about specific contracts or partners – although it invites users to link through to a clunky 13-page forum to view its whitelist partners – will unlikely help ease concerns.
Right now, it’s laying the foundation for an independent committee to take over the Acceptable Ads monetisation model.
The glimpse into its operating model capped a week where the issue of ad blocking and ongoing question marks over how transparent such firms actually are reached fever pitch.
Last week, mobile operator Three revealed it had struck a deal with Shine Technologies to prevent ads from being served to its mobile users across Europe. Amid criticism from the industry, Shine chief marketer Roi McCarthy took to the stage at Mobile World Congress to defend what it believes protects consumers from the “military grade tracking” of advertisers.


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- On Monday, Apple announced that it is attempting to resolve a “bug”.
- An iOS 17 bug that’s causing the problem will be fixed in a future software release.
- The Lightning charging connectors of the Apple iPhone 15 models were changed by a universal charger.
On Monday, Apple announced that it is attempting to resolve a “bug” that it claimed is one of the causes of some recently issued iPhone 15 cellphones overheating.
According to the Silicon Valley tech giant, the iPhone manufacturer is working with creators of some apps contributing to the issue and will fix the issue in an update to its iOS 17 mobile operating system. In answer to an AFP query, Apple said that certain circumstances can make iPhones operate warmer than expected.
According to Apple, following initial setup, certain iPhone users may notice increased background activity that causes a few days of warmer weather. An iOS 17 bug that’s causing the problem will be fixed in a future software release.
Furthermore, it has been discovered that third-party programs overtax the system, heating the CPUs inside iPhones. This problem has been connected to apps including Instagram, Uber, and Asphalt 9.
According to Apple’s support page, these circumstances are typical and the device will return to normal temperature once the operation is finished or after the activity is over.
The Lightning charging connectors of the Apple iPhone 15 models were changed by a universal charger before they went on sale on September 22 due to a dispute with the European Union.
With increasing pricing causing customers to put off moving to newer models, Apple is experiencing a decline in iPhone sales at the time of the release.
Along with rolling out enhancements to the cameras and chips in iPhones, Apple also announced that the iPhone 15, which comes in four different variations, has internal components that make repair easier and a new frame that makes it simple to replace the rear glass.


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Absolut Vodka is promoting its new bottle designs using NFC posters located in 20 venues in Dublin. Tapping the smart posters takes the user to the Absolut Originality Ireland website where they can connect through Facebook and enter a prize draw. “There is also a gallery showing a selection of the new designs,” Aisling O’Connor from marketing agency The Picture Works told NFC World.
- Contactless payments are now used for half of all public transport journeys in London
- Samsung Pay to go live in South Africa in June
- Walmart files blockchain payments data storage patents
- Card networks to co-develop single buy button for online transactions
- PayPal can now be used to make Samsung Pay mobile payments in US stores


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Chennai: Despite containing saturated fat, milk products have a protective effect against cardiovascular diseases and stroke, reveals the prospective urban rural epidemiological study, published in the Lancet medical journal recently.
The study states that people who consumed three servings of milk, cheese or yoghurt a day had lower rates of cardiovascular disease and lower mortality than those who ate less. Being a source of saturated fats and presumed to adversely affect blood lipids and increase cardiovascular disease and mortality, dietitians recommend less consumption of whole fat dairy products.
However, the new study aimed at assessing the associations between total dairy and specific types of dairy products with mortality and major cardiovascular disease. The study recorded the dietary intake of dairy products including milk, yoghurt and cheese for more than 1.3 lakh individuals aged between 35-70 years from more than 21 countries.
The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study grouped these foods into whole-fat and low-fat dairy products and primary outcomes such as death from cardiovascular causes, non-fatal myocardial infarction, stroke or heart failure.
Higher intake of total dairy, which was more than two servings per day compared with no intake was associated with a lower risk of the cardiovascular problems, stroke and heart failure after a follow up for more than nine years. Higher intake of more than one serving of milk compared to no intake of milk was associated with lower risk of the cardiovascular problems, whereas cheese intake was not significantly associated with the outcomes of health problems of heart and stroke. Butter intake was low and was not significantly associated with clinical outcomes.
The study concluded that dairy consumption was associated with lower risk of mortality and major cardiovascular disease events in a diverse multinational cohort. However, dietitians recommend daily consumption of dairy products should be in moderation as excess intake can be harmful for a few people....


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“The Best of Both Worlds” is the way a recently arrived executive described Wood County, Ohio. “A Virtual Metropolitan Area” is how it as labeled by a logistics professional.
The rural, friendly, and safe community has all the benefits normally associated with those traits—low cost of living, excellent schools, productive workforce, and low crime rate. But Wood County’s locational and transportation advantages offer entrée into the global marketplace at a magnitude one would only expect to find in metro areas devoid of these benefits.
Served by America’s longest east-west Interstate highways (80/90), and her longest north-south Interstate (75), Wood County’s virtual metropolitan area contains a population of 18 million within a 2 hour drive radius, with two-thirds of the North American consuming market within a one day truck drive.
Add an international airport (DTW) within an hour’s drive featuring daily non-stops to Tokyo, London, Shanghai, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt plus a state-of-the art intermodal freight facility in Wood County taking double-stacked container freight to world markets via east and west coast ports and it becomes clear how this county with a real population of 127,000 has attracted $2.5 billion of private sector investment in recent years.
What happens when 2,000 jobs are filled in Wood County?
Wood County SMALL BUSINESS RELIEF PROGRAM
Wood County SMALL BUSINESS RELIEF PROGRAM GRANT APPLICATION Applications will be accepted from 8:30 a.m. Monday, November 9, through 4:30 p.m. Friday, November 20, 2020. Please email completed applications to firstname.lastname@example.org. Wood County Small Business Relief Program – Grant Application (Round 2) Wood County Small Business Relief Program Guidelines and Requirements (Round 2)


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Written by Fergal Barry-Murphy. January 30, 2008
Brits are leaving it too late too late to book their holiday insurance with many missing out on pay outs for cancelled flights and other travel-related mishaps. In this article we help you get the most from your travel insurance.
Written by MoneyhighStreet Staff. January 29, 2008
It's not just our expanding Christmas waistlines that need a workout. Our finances too need to be brought back into shape. Our webchat today with financial fitness guru Nici Audhlam-Gardiner can help!
Written by Fergal Barry-Murphy. January 28, 2008
The sub-prime crisis that has been hanging ominously over the world economy for a number of months now is showing no signs of abating. We all know it is bad, but what is it really? What has caused it? And what does it mean for you? Read on to find out more.
Written by Fergal Barry-Murphy. January 25, 2008
This week we review Quicken money management software. One of the rivals of Microsoft Money, the latest version of Quicken UK dates back to 2002. However, it remains an impressive piece of software. So let's have a closer look at what it has to offer.
Written by MoneyhighStreet Staff. January 21, 2008
If you are not feeling in the best of moods today, don't worry it's not just you. Today is officially the most depressing day of the year. Here are a few tips to help you beat those January blues.
Written by MoneyhighStreet Staff. January 19, 2008
Over the next few weeks we will review some of the most popular personal finance applications starting, this week, with Microsoft Money.
Written by MoneyhighStreet Staff. January 16, 2008
In this difficult economic climate 2008 should be a year for caution and saving rather than spending. So, in this article we look at some of the attractive ISA products that are already coming on stream this year.
Written by MoneyhighStreet Staff. January 14, 2008
The future costs of banking for British consumers could be decided this week as the Office of Fair Trading and some of Britain's biggest banks lock horns in the High Court over overdraft fees. The outcome could have a significant effect on how much we all pay for our banking.
Written by MoneyhighStreet Staff. January 11, 2008
While it is difficult to accurately predict where the British economy will go in the coming year, the early indications aren't encouraging. In this article we take a look at the financial outlook for 2008.
Written by MoneyhighStreet Staff. January 9, 2008
The outlook for British home owners in 2008 is not good. A recent survey found that prices will fall this year, but how by how much? We look at the prospects for the property market in the coming year.


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One of his central concerns is how he will be able to overcome the drop in merchant income and cover employee wages.
Pablo Chacón, the general secretary of the Trade Union Association of Commerce Employees (AGEC) of Córdoba, and wholesale businessmen met through a videoconference where they analyzed the proposals that the National Government made to cover April wages due to commercial inactivity by quarantine.
One of the central concerns is how the fall in merchant incomes can be overcome and employee salaries covered.
“We are very concerned and meeting permanently,” said the head of AGEC.
This arises from one of the latest government measures through which 50% of April wages will be paid with a cap of 33,750 pesos per worker.
Although the proposals of the Nation have not yet been disclosed in detail, the unionist pointed out that “we have to see how it is implemented.” And he added: “Today we do not know much because I do not know the mechanisms between ANSES and AFIP and how the money will reach the workers’ accounts, therefore there is no need to rush.”
Surely “there will be a crossing with Anses, the companies will sign up and put the list of personnel and surely the Anses will deposit each of the workers,” he said.
Chacón said that “he is in dialogue with all sectors”, both official and private, to try to expedite a response as quickly as possible.
Find out the latest on digital economy, startups, fintech, corporate innovation and blockchain. CLICK HERE


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A new study from Think with Google looked at display advertising platforms, including Google and DoubleClick, to determine what affects an ad’s viewability and found five factors that impact the extent to which ads are seen. Specifically, the study found:
- A small number of publishers are serving most of the non-viewable impressions. In fact, Google says, 56.1 percent of all impressions it measured are not seen, but the average publisher viewability is 50.2 percent.
- In addition, Google says, page position matters. In other words, the most viewable position is right above the fold, not at the top of the page.
- Ad size matters, too. Google says the most viewable ad sizes are vertical units and that means publishers should consider which ad sizes are most effective at different page positions when making ad placement and layout decisions.
- Further, page position isn’t always the best indicator of viewability. Not all above-the-fold impressions are viewable, while many below-the-fold impressions are, Google says. In fact, Google found median viewability for above-the-fold ad units is 68 percent while median viewability for below-the-fold ad units is 40 percent.
Because viewability varies significantly by page position and ad size, Google says advertisers should consider the relationship between the two while planning creative and targeting. And because page position “doesn’t tell the whole story,” Google says advertisers should ultimately target based on viewability measurements to achieve the best results. Viewability can also help publishers better identify and monetize valuable below-the-fold inventory, Google adds.
- In addition, Google says viewability varies significantly across content verticals, with the highest viewability belonging to sites associated with “more captive engagement,” like reference, online communities, and games.
Advertisers seeking viewable impressions should therefore steer towards high viewability sites and consider targeting sites with more engaging content to achieve higher viewability rates, Google recommends. Viewability data can also help publishers increase the long-term value of their display inventory, Google adds.
Google says it conducted research using its Active View technology because there is increased interest in viewability among advertisers and publishers after the Media Rating Council lifted the viewable transaction advisory earlier this year, which recommended the marketplace refrain from transacting on viewable impressions as a digital advertising currency metric until issues related to the measurement of viewable impressions could be resolved.
Since its implementation in 2012, the MRC says measurement techniques have evolved and “innovative ways have emerged that have enhanced the ability of measurers to determine an ad’s viewability in numerous challenging environments” and the limitations on viewability measurement had largely improved.
According to the MRC, a viewable impression occurs when 50 percent of an ad’s pixels are on screen for one second.
The data used in Google’s study was based on display ads in browsers and didn’t include mobile in-app and video ads, Google adds.
The IAB, which is part of Making Measurement Make Sense, or 3MS, a cross-industry initiative that says it seeks to revolutionize the way digital media is measured, planned and transacted across the advertising industry in order to make it a more valuable medium for everyone involved in brand advertising, says it is important for publishers to transition to viewable impressions because viewable impressions mean marketers will have more assurance that their ads have had the opportunity to be seen and they will be encouraged to purchase digital media because of its comparability to legacy media.
Not only will this allow marketers to invest more confidently in digital media and more intelligently allocate their budgets between digital and other media.
“It will likely drive a stronger and more prosperous digital advertising industry overall,” according to the IAB. “Transitioning from a served impression standard to a viewable impression standard is the number one guiding principle in the Five Guiding Principles of Digital Measurement as defined by the 3MS initiative. It will allow for, among other advances, the formation of a digital gross rating point that provides reach and frequency reporting of viewable impressions and cross-platform comparisons.”
And, per comScore, both media buyers and sellers can benefit from leveraging measurement to improve campaign and inventory performance.
That’s because optimizing for viewability improves branding impact for advertisers, comScore says. With its partner ConAgra Foods, for example, using viewability and audience guarantees achieved increases in attribute awareness lift of up to 70 percent and increases in purchase intent lift of up to 30 percent.
Per comScore, advertisers and agencies must also communicate their audience and viewability goals and establish a process for evaluating performance.
What’s more, integrated viewability and in-target reporting improves the accuracy of performance data. ComScore says analysis of campaign data showed that viewability and validation rates varied across demographic breaks, meaning that the common practice of applying a flat viewability rate from one measurement vendor across the audience data from another measurement vendor will often lead to under- or over-valuing ad delivery across audience segments. To understand the true performance of the ad campaign, advertisers and agencies should use an unduplicated validated in-target metric, comScore says.
Publishers should use tools to enhance their viewability and audience delivery. Another comScore partner, CafeMom, used comScore’s vME measurement platform to identify key advertising inventory on its sites that had room for improvement and then tested new design strategies to bring up their viewability rates. Ultimately, CafeMom more than doubled the viewability of this inventory, greatly improving the value of one of its most common ad slots, comScore says.
Publishers should also set expectations for campaign delivery. That means knowing the quality of their inventory and, once goals are set, they should make sure they have access to the same campaign data the advertiser is using to track delivery, comScore says. This empowers publishers to make changes to ensure the quality of their delivery and to meet the audience and viewability guarantees throughout the campaign.
Publishers should also continuously monitor and optimize their inventory, comScore says, to ensure advertisers are satisfied that their ads are running on high-quality inventory that will give their campaigns the opportunity to make an impact on their audience.


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Friday March 10, 2017
ROOM BOOM British Tourists Paying 26% More For Hotel Rooms
British tourists are paying 26% more for their hotel rooms here on Lanzarote than in previous years, according to the booking portal Hotels.com. Who have just released the results of their annual European Hotel Price Index poll.
The results reveal that hotel price hikes here were the third highest in Europe during 2016, after Reykyavik and Gran Canaria. With the average cost of a hotel room on Lanzarote rising from £78 pounds in 2015 to £97 pounds per night last year, an increase of 26%.
The price rises in part reflect the impact that Brexit has had on the euro-sterling exchange rate, which has sunk by around 9% since late June. However the hikes are also attributable to the island's growing popularity - as Lanzarote welcomed 2.9 million visitors plus last year, 1.34 million of whom flew in from UK airports. With hoteliers adjusting their prices upward in order to take full advantage of this rise in demand.


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Old Pal Brings Cannabis Products To Oklahoma Via Globus Distribution
Cannabis brand Old Pal decided to reach Oklahoma consumers.
The company announced Tuesday plans to expand to the Sooner State through collaboration with Globus Distribution.
Old Pal has accounted for 16% of the total cannabis market sales in Nevada, while in California it takes the second place in flower sales by unit volume, according to BDS Analytics data from September.
Oklahoma license holder, Globus Distribution, will offer Old Pal a plethora of its services, including logistics, distribution, and marketing proficiency to help it establish its presence in the new state.
The two companies partnered through the help of Andrew Berman, the former CEO of Harborside Inc. (CSE:HBOR), who is a strategic advisor to both parties.
"Old Pal is one of the great brands to emerge from California since adult use began in 2018 – it's a brand I got to know quite well while running Harborside," Berman said in a statement. "Its focus on delivering quality cannabis at a fair price always creates a positive experience for its customers. This value proposition, combined with Globus' deep understanding of the Oklahoma market, will be a powerful combination serving Oklahoma's cannabis community and patients."
Heather Fry, Oklahoma spokesperson for Globus Distribution, praised the collaboration and explained how the company carefully chooses with whom to work.
"We are excited to bring quality Old Pal products to the Oklahoma's medical marijuana patients," stated Fry. "Globus is building our distribution footprint in Oklahoma and we look forward to getting Old Pal products on the shelves of the leading stores among more than 1,500 dispensaries across our great state."
Old Pal expects to see its affordable products reach Oklahoma consumers this December, as Globus’ sales team is already taking pre-orders.
“It's been exciting to watch the Oklahoma cannabis market take off," Old Pal CEO and co-founder Rusty Wilenkin says. With its thriving retail landscape and growing consumer base, we're confident Old Pal will be well positioned to support patients needs and our partners."
© 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.


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TechForce Foundation® announced the category winners in the 2023 Techs Rock Awards and opened the grand prize public vote. TechForce created these prestigious awards to honor professional technicians who are full of passion and grit, exhibit true excellence in their work and inspire the next generation of techs. Meet the category winners and vote for the grand prize winner at TechForce.org/Vote. Voting is open through 11:59 p.m. PT June 16.
The five category winners were selected from hundreds of nominated technicians by expert celebrity judges including Bogi Lateiner, Bogi’s Garage; Harrison Burton, Wood Brothers Racing; Emily Reeves, Flying Sparks Garage; Pete Meier, Dorman Products; and Camrie Caruso, Camrie Caruso Motorsports.
More than $18,500 in prizes will be awarded to this year’s honorees. Each of the five category winners received prizes valued at more than $1,900 from TechForce partners Advance Auto Parts, AutoZone, Cengage Learning, CRC Industries, Ford Motor Company, Nissan, Snap-on Industrial and WD-40 Company.
In addition to their category winner prizes, the grand prize winner, chosen by popular vote, will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to STX 2024 in Nashville, TN, valued at $3,000, courtesy of Advance Auto Parts; and additional prizes valued at $6,000 from AutoZone, CRC Industries, Ford Motor Company, Nissan, Snap-on Industrial and WD-40 Company.
Each category winner represents a distinct category. These winners are:
- Barrier Buster: Riley Schlick-Trask, Riley's Rebuilds. The Barrier Buster category recognizes technicians for showing heart and passion in overcoming obstacles to succeed.
- Die Hard: Bryan Kuehni, Advantage Chevrolet Bolingbrook. The Die Hard category recognizes industry superfans who live, breathe, sleep and thrive in their career.
- Outstanding Mentor: James Jacobsen, Lake Motor Company. The Outstanding Mentor category recognizes technicians for providing support and guidance to the industry's future techs.
- Pay it Forward: Bradley Hindman, Mission Auto Repair. The Pay it Forward category recognizes technicians for being a community advocate and inspiring the next generation of techs.
- Rookie of the Year: Jinelee Galindez, Mercedes Benz of South Orlando. The Rookie of the Year category recognizes up-and-coming tech professionals with under two years’ professional experience.
2022 grand prize winner and CarMax technician Daniel McCrum was ecstatic about the recognition he received from winning. “I kinda thought I had a pretty fair chance to win something...but I didn't think I could win the whole thing,” he said. “This is a national contest…it's nationwide and I won!” McCrum will join this year’s grand prize winner at STX 2024 in Nashville.
Since 2018, the Techs Rock Awards have awarded more than $46,000 in prizes to 20 professional technicians in recognition of their excellence, passion and commitment to driving the future of the mobility industry. Technicians will shape our future, and the Techs Rock Awards are made possible by TechForce donors who help shape theirs. In addition to providing prizes, Nissan is co-sponsoring the 2023 Techs Rock Awards to help TechForce celebrate all technicians’ contributions throughout the country and the industry.
The Techs Rock Awards are part of TechForce’s workforce development campaign to inspire and support tomorrow’s workforce of technicians. TechForce also created the first and only social network designed and gamified for professional technicians and tech students to connect with each other, employers and schools. The transportation community is supporting it with content and using it to learn, connect, find events and explore job opportunities while competing for prizes and leaderboard status.
Source: TechForce Foundation


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San Diego, Calif. – March 3, 2014 – Tealium®, the No. 1 provider of enterprise tag management and innovator of solutions to help marketers unify the customer journey and drive more profitable digital interactions, today announced that Jason Burby, Chief Performance Marketing Officer at POSSIBLE, and Tracy Hansen, Chief Marketing Officer at Tealium, will host a live webcast this week moderated by the American Marketing Association (AMA). The webinar, scheduled for March 6 at 10 a.m. PT, will focus on solutions and techniques for overcoming common obstacles in connecting with audiences and developing more relevant and profitable customer interactions through unified marketing.
Burby has more than 20 years of experience in digital strategy and has focused much of his career on helping marketers take advantage of data to make smarter business decisions and improve the success of their organizations. He is known for his prolific writing and presentations about digital analytics, optimization and strategy, and is the co-author of “Actionable Web Analytics: Using Data to Make Smart Business Decisions,” one of the leading books in the field of digital analytics.
“Today’s consumers expect a whole new level of personalization – they expect brands to know and understand them across multiple digital touch points. This is putting marketers under tremendous pressure to deliver these highly valued, one-on-one experiences, yet there are a number of factors holding marketers back,” Burby said. “Our webinar will explore best practices and different solutions for creating that optimal experience.”
Hansen, with more than 15 years of executive marketing expertise, has helped accelerate the growth of technology giants such as NetApp and CA Technologies. She is a brand expert and long-time digital marketer, giving her in-depth knowledge of the data unification issues that many marketers face today — and are now solving through Tealium’s market-leading solutions.


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Facebook Analytics will no longer be available after June 30, 2021, leaving marketers less than three months to export their data and find other solutions.
Given how marketers rely on Facebook Analytics to measure conversion data, this announcement is decidedly short-term.
The announcement that Facebook Analytics will be discontinued at the end of June was tacitly published in the Facebook for Business Help Center. When they navigate to analyze.facebook.com, users are now directed to the announcement that reads:
“Facebook Analytics will no longer be available after June 30, 2021. Until then, you can still access reports, export charts and tables, and get insights. Click the arrow in the top right corner of any chart or table to export data from Facebook Analytics on your desktop to a CSV file. "
Read on below
The company offers no reason for its decision to close Facebook Analytics. Instead, users are directed to other business tools that are not exact 1: 1 alternatives.
Facebook directs users to the following business tools to use after removing Analytics:
- Facebook Business Suite: Allows users to manage their Facebook and Instagram business accounts. Provides in-depth insight into a company's target audience, content, and trends (but not available to everyone).
- Ad manager: Allows businesses to view, make changes, and see results for Facebook campaigns and ads.
- Event manager: Can help users set up and manage Facebook business tools like Facebook Pixel and Conversions API. Also reports reports of actions taken on a company's website, app, and physical store.
If marketers can adapt to using a combination of the above tools, they may be able to perform the same tasks they are used to in Facebook Analytics.
Facebook Analytics is used to combine data from a Facebook page with data from the Facebook pixel. When the data is connected, Analytics can show a conversion path between a customer studying a company's content and ultimately making a purchase on Facebook.
Read on below
Lately, it has become more difficult to keep track of this data with one tool – with or without Facebook Analytics. This is due to an update in iOS 14 that asks users whether or not they want to be tracked by apps on their phone.
If a user states that they don't want the Facebook app to track them, marketers won't be able to get the same conversion data from the user as they did before.
Again, Facebook has not given a reason to shut down Analytics. Therefore, it is not known whether the decision has anything to do with the iOS update.
Facebook has set itself the goal of making Business Suite the only interface that companies need to manage their activities on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.
But there is one problem: The Facebook Business Suite is only available to small businesses at the moment.
When the Facebook Business Suite was announced last year, the company announced that the tool would be available to businesses of all sizes in 2021.
Facebook has not yet kept that promise or is not offering any update to its plans to roll out the tool more widely. An update for the Facebook Business Suite may be available before June 30th.
Source: Facebook Business Help Center


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Canadians lined-up at cannabis shops on Wednesday after the legalisation of recreational use and cultivation of dagga.
Canada is the first industrialised country to legalise the recreational use of dagga and the decision resulted in parties, park hangouts and long lines as people lined-up to buy their preferred product.
Medical marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001.
The hashtag #CanadaCannabis trended worldwide after the decision was made, with images of the long lines being posted on social media.
Many stores selling the product have already reported that they’re sold-out because of the high-demand and have promised consumers that they’ll stock up soon.


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Mercedes-Benz has partnered Engie and EVBox to provide EV charging for customers in Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg (BeNeLux).
French utility Engie acquired EV charging manufacturer EVBox in 2017 and will now supply electricity to chargers installed under the new partnership.
Home-charging solutions with a capacity of 22kW will be on offer, featuring WiFi and 3G connectivity for billing and invoicing functionalities.
EVBox is also claiming its network of public chargers will provide coverage of up to 98% in the BeNeLux region. A ‘Hey EVBox’ app will show locations of charging stations and information about tariffs and availability.
Fleets of Mercedes-Benz EVs will have access to commercial charging stations and fast chargers up to 350kW, with fleet managers able to access a dashboard with charging parameters and analytics.
Stefan Meers, managing director at EVBox BeLux, said there is an increasing demand in the BeNeLux region for EVs.
“It’s clear that electric driving is growing fast in the BeNeLux, and with it comes the demand for reliable charging infrastructure grows. With our expertise and many years of experience, we believe that we are exceptionally well suited to guide and advise Mercedes-Benz in this transition.”