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Anjali Fluker covers real estate, retail, restaurants and rail. She would like the new eateries planned for east Orlando to hurry up and open because she and her husband plan to frequent them. Contact: email@example.com; (407) 241-2910; @AnjaliFlukerOBJ
Looking for a local hot spot to locate your business? Then check out the booming east Orlando real estate submarket, which has plenty of new activity brewing.
For example, it has at least seven new eateries in the works, including 4Rivers Smokehouse, Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant and Chuy’s Tex-Mex Restaurant.
Plus, east Orlando has the best numbers in Central Florida when it comes to retail and office real estate.
In fact, “this might be one of the strongest retail markets is the country — and the reason is the rooftops and the demand,” said Sean Glickman, vice president and director of retail investment advisory for Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT. “Everybody wants to be there.”
The east Orlando retail submarket — where Waterford Lakes Town Center has a waiting list for prospective tenants — had a 7 percent vacancy rate and an average lease rate of $17.58 per square foot in last year’s fourth quarter, according to Colliers International.
In comparison, the Orlando area had a 9.6 percent vacancy rate and an average asking lease rate of $14.26 per square foot. Plus, the University Research office submarket had the area’s lowest fourth-quarter vacancy rate at 10.5 percent, compared with Orlando’s 18 percent, Morrison Commercial Real Estate said. The average asking lease rate for the office submarket was $21.30 per square foot, compared with Orlando’s $20.30.
However, there’s one dark cloud on the horizon: The office submarket may be hurt when anticipated U.S. Department of Defense cuts potentially trickle down to east Orlando’s simulation and defense cluster in Central Florida Research Park.
But until then, real estate agents said they’re enjoying the run.
On the block
Sales, marketing assignments and shop openings in the Orlando area:Realty Executives plans to open a third office. The firm’s related Central Boulevard Holdings LLC bought a 7,000-square-foot building at 19 E. Central Ave. in Orlando for $921,500 from Central Avenue Partners. After renovations, The Law Office of Jeffrey D. Ostlie PA and a branch office of Central Florida Title also will be tenants in the building.
NAI Realvest’s team of Tom Kelley II, Mary Frances West and Chris Adams will handle leasing and marketing for 10,000 square feet of Class A office space in the Gateway Plaza office building in Winter Park and 33,000 square feet of single-story office space at the Lake Underhill Business Center on Lake Underhill Road in Orlando.
Luxury jeweler and accessory retailer Tous opened a new 1,380-square-foot store at The Florida Mall on Feb. 9. The Florida Mall also plans to debut a Michael Kors store in the spring.
Top headlines from the past week:
Wawa, Bonefish in the works near UCF
If you live near the University of Central Florida and have a hankering for a hoagie or bang bang shrimp, you’re in luck.
Pennsylvania gas-and-convenience retailer Wawa is seeking Orange County approvals for a 5,537-square-foot, 16-pump store on 3.6 vacant acres at the southwest corner of University Boulevard and Alafaya Trail.
Meanwhile, Bonefish Grill reportedly is nearing a lease for a new restaurant near Lake Underhill Road and Alafaya Trail. A spokeswoman said the goal is to open in August.
Goodwill adding stores
Goodwill Industries of Central Florida is building a new 21,600-square-foot store in the Waterford Lakes area in east Orlando. C.T. Hsu & Associates PA provided planning and architectural design services for the project, and Williams Co. is the general contractor.
Goodwill also plans to open a new Made in America store and Job Connection Center in Clermont this spring that will create 50 jobs.
Tweet of the week
“The harder you work, the more problems you run into, but I think we all enjoy solving the problems.”


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The Chromebook Pixel will also move data faster between the laptop and peripherals. The USB 3.1 port can shuffle data at up to 10Gbps (bits per second), which is two times faster than the current USB 3.0. The USB 3.1 technology has also received publicity for the USB Type-C cable, which is the same on both ends so users can flip cables and not worry about plug orientation.
Google has also launched a new Google Store from where the Pixel made by Google and others can be purchased.
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The Problem of Histamine
Debunking myths and offering cures for the season
Pollen, dust mites, pet dander and other allergens can cause allergic rhinitis, commonly known as hay fever, which doesn’t require exposure to hay.
In some people, the body’s immune system identifies a harmless substance such as tree pollen as a threat and produces antibodies to combat the allergen.
The body also releases histamine into the bloodstream, causing swelling of the sinuses and eyelids as the body works to block additional allergens, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Part of the body’s defense system, histamine also can trigger sneezing and cause itching, stuffiness and a runny nose, and it can produce symptoms of asthma, experts say.
That’s why doctors recommend second-generation anti-histamines such as Allegra, Claritin and Zyrtec for such symptoms.
They’re also available in less-expensive generic forms: fexofenadine, loratadine and cetirizine.
Some Tallahassee residents say they take one of those daily year-round in an effort to hold off allergies.
Other popular treatments include nasal steroid sprays such as Flonase (fluticasone) and Nasacort (triamcinolone) — which some tout as the most effective treatments of all — and an easy do-it-yourself procedure called nasal saline rinse, which involves flushing the nasal passages with warm water and a salt-based mixture.
You can get saline-rinse kits at drug stores such as Walgreens or CVS.
“That has been more like a home remedy that has truly helped,” said Dr. Joseph Soto, an ear, nose and throat physician in Tallahassee.
Some people, often via YouTube videos, claim relief and results from natural remedies such as humidifiers, essential oil diffusers, apple cider vinegar, quercetin, magnesium, probiotics, acupuncture, flaxseed oil, certain herbal teas, Vitamin C in high amounts, and lots of water.
Many also point to the importance of a healthy diet that emphasizes certain foods while avoiding others. Your doctor probably will be unlikely to recommend some of those ideas.
“As a physician, I’m always looking for studies that control for different factors so that you’re not going by just anecdotes,” Soto said.
Honey of a Question
Can local honey really help fight allergies?
We figured you’d ask. Beekeepers, including some in the Big Bend area, not surprisingly seem to keep an open mind about honey as a remedy for pollen allergies. But citing a lack of scientific evidence, even they tend to stop short of declaring it a miracle cure.
“I’m a data scientist. Without the data, I can’t go there,” said Kimberly Jackson, a Tallahassee beekeeper and a Geographic Information Systems manager at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
“But everybody has a story. I certainly subscribe to putting it into tea when you have a sore throat.” Said Tony Hogg, owner of Full Moon Honey in Monticello: “I will say that my wife has allergies, and she strongly believes that local honey helps with allergies.”
On its website, the Mayo Clinic answers “probably not” to the question of whether local honey can lessen seasonal allergy symptoms.
It adds that “the idea isn’t so far-fetched, though,” pointing out that “one treatment for allergies is repeated exposure to small amounts of allergens” such as pollen that can be found in honey.


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Another week, a new wave of bitcoin surprises. Keep in mind that the price of the digital currency has skyrocketed dramatically; or that Elon Musk, the flamboyant founder of Tesla, is reported to have reaped more profits for the company from bitcoin investment compared with the production of electric vehicles last year. This week, it was equally striking that Citibank told its customers that the digital currency has reached a “the breaking point“And could one day ‘become the choice for international trade’.
Cue predictable levels of celebration from bitcoin enthusiasts and of confusion from 20s financiers. Still, opponents and fans of the cryptocurrency seem to agree on one thing: bitcoin is taking financing to the realms of bold technological experiments from the 21st century.
Is it though? During such weeks, it is worth considering other evidence, such as the research conducted in Micronesia in recent years by Scott Fitzpatrick, an archaeologist at the University of Oregon, and Oregon School of Business Professor Stephen McKeon. The couple has studied an old stone money system that once existed on the micronesian island of Yap, where local communities would treat large limestone slabs as a means of exchange.
Such stone slabs, called rai, “were considered extremely valuable”, the couple noted in a 2019 magazine in the Journal of Economic Anthropology. But the stones were so huge that “given their size, weight, and relative fragility, they were not usually moved after being placed in a specific place. [and] if a rai was gifted or exchanged, the new owner of a record may not have lived near it. ”
It can make them sound pretty useless as a form of money. But the local community maintained an oral ledger that was as effective at keeping track of who owned which solid limestone baskets as Fitzpatrick and McKeon concluded that rai, as a register of value, was “an exemplary old analogue of blockchain” (bitcoin technology powered past).
The parallels between the two are limited. Limestone baskets cannot be broken down as easily as bitcoin. And because blockchain ledgers are based on (seemingly) immutable computer code, they seem more durable than shared memory. The circle of participants in bitcoin and blockchain offers is obviously exponentially larger than it was with rai – and anonymous to start.
But there are other thought-provoking similarities between the two. First, rai – like bitcoin – ordered value due to lack; just as it now requires enormous efforts to “break” bitcoin (to use the term to write the code for coins), so obtaining rai was difficult. The limestone slabs were mined from Palau, 400 km from Yap, and then carried across the seas.
This was the most impressive piece of maritime transport logistics seen in the region until the European explorers arrived in the 18th century and incredibly difficult for the time (although it was significantly smaller environmentally harmful than the dirty process of bitcoin mining, which requires huge amounts of electricity).
The other similarity is that rai only functioned as money because there was a common trust. Unlike conventional modern monetary system, the “trust” that founded the rai did not work in a vertical, hierarchical way – that is, because of belief in a leader or an institution; instead, it was “distributed” horizontally. Everyone in the audience needed to trust that everyone else would respect the oral ledger.
Bitcoin also rests on the distributed trust of an audience. Because while computer code may seem impersonal, free from capricious human intervention, the system only works if people trust the holiness of the computer code. If it ever breaks – say because of one cyberhack or a change in norms – bitcoin would provide even less value than rai does today.
There is no sign that confidence in the blockchain is being broken. In fact, the latest note from Citi suggests that standards of respect for blockchain ownership are being strengthened. The key point is this: anyone who invests in the currency expresses not only belief in algorithms, but also in a specific pattern of trust (ie that the computer code means something).
It does not invalidate bitcoin or blockchain useless; after all, the ordinary currencies that our lives depend on sometimes tough social norms also rely on. A way of shaping the competition between bitcoin and other currencies is thus like a struggle for norms – and of hierarchical versus distributed trust.
As the history of rai shows, when it comes to human economies, nothing is entirely new. In fact, a rumor periodically buzzing around the crypto world is that this is where the mysterious ancestors of bitcoin first got their inspiration (this is why some bitcoin blogs have titles that contain the word “Yap”). Perhaps Musk’s next drive would be to Micronesia, where the now useless stone circles still haunt the landscape as a sign of what happens when norms and patterns of trust change.
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HOUSTON — Touting its diversified assets amid fuel volatility, and pleased with the completed acquisition of what is now the largest convenience-store brand in its portfolio, Sunoco LP’s CEO and president Bob Owens announced this week “a very solid performance” for its second quarter.
During the company’s earnings call, Owens and CFO Clare McGrory outlined the results for the period, highlighting the strong sales performances of its c-store assets, organic growth across some of the country’s fastest-growing markets and expectations for more acquisitions in the new year.
The call came on the heels of the July 31 acquisition of Susser Holdings Corp. from affiliates of Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) for $1.934 billion. With the acquisition came Susser’s 679 convenience stores in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, primarily under the Stripes brand, as well as Susser’s retail fuel volumes.
Owens said he expects Sunoco will enjoy the increased scale and exposure to the segment thanks to Susser’s “strong operational and strategic execution.”
The chain has seen 26 consecutive years of positive same-store sales growth, and ended last quarter with 3.1% same-store merchandise sales growth and 2.4% same-store fuel volume growth—“impressive considering that we did continue to see declines in certain regions that are most impacted by falloff in oil production,” said McGrory.
The two further pointed to the strength of the markets in which Susser operates, its successful Laredo Taco Co. restaurant brand and its robust new-build program, which is a “significant and reliable source for organic growth,” said Owens.
More than 40 new Stripes stores will go up this year, all with Laredo Taco locations, and current plans for 2016 include at least 40 more sites.
Sunoco LP also expects to close next week on a “small tuck-in acquisition” of 28 Quick Stop convenience stores in southern Texas. The $41.6 million purchase—with a 7x multiple—takes Sunoco further into a “very desirable growth market that will geographically and operationally compliment the Stripes locations in that region.”
Most of the stores will be rebranded as Stripes.
Referencing the strong markets and assets of the Sunoco, MACS, Tigermarket, Aloha and Stripes brands, Owens told listeners “We believe up to $300 million annually can be expected in organic growth capital for the next several years.”
On MLPs & Future Acquisitions
Owens took time to point out the differences between Sunoco LP and other master limited partnerships (MLPs) in light of oil-price volatility.
“Our diverse geographic reach and channels of business provide built-in stability [with] stable, long-term contracts that support the wholesale business, and our retail-store operations that are spread across some of the fastest growing markets in the United States—all of which helps mitigates the impact of commodity price volatility and growth differentials in particular regions or states.”
McGrory further pointed out that the “third-quarter mix will shift more toward retail sales due to the Stripes acquisition, adding to the strength of retail sales in the face of fuel volatility.”
Sunoco LP is expected to return to the M&A hunt in 2016, and Owens again stressed the importance of diversification in terms of geography and operational types.
“While we’re completing the dropdowns, we’ve not stopped our look for good value creation in the form of M&A, and one of the real benefits of being a member of the Energy Transfer family is the help and flexibility that can come should we find a deal that is extremely attractive for our unitholders.”


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ZS Fund has acquired Amerijet Holdings, an operator of cargo aircraft under the name Amerijet International, along with logistics services subsidiary ITN Worldwide for an undisclosed sum.
Until now, Freightos has focused on helping forwarders quote faster, but since January, the logistics technology provider has been beta testing its China-to-United States marketplace.
Total cargo throughput at the largest French port fell 3 percent to 39.13 million metric tons in the first six months of 2016 as general cargo volumes remained relatively flat and bulk volumes fell compared with the same 2015 period.
Registration takes less than 1 minute.
The struggling South Korean ocean carrier recently removed vessels from two services between Asia and North Europe, according to data from ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting.
Chainalytics Vice President of Transportation Kevin Zweier explained that collaborative transportation is a useful strategy, provided shippers put in the homework before and after bid events.
The accumulation of high value cargo will increase as bigger ships gather for passage through the newly expanded Central American waterway, increasing insurance risk, according to a new report from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty.


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The Players Alliance, a group of more than 100 current and former MLB players, distributes essential goods and other items to families in need on Dec. 12, 2020, in Chicago. (Abel Uribe)
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CANONSBURG, Pa. — While Sarris Candies has a boundless number of Easter candies and chocolates for the season, customers won’t be able to purchase their jelly beans this year.
The unique recipe contains both pectin and starch, which come from Ukraine, according to President/CEO Bill Sarris.
The Canonsburg-based company makes all of its chocolates in-house, but the jelly beans are produced by an outside supplier. With pectin and starch in short supply, the supplier has been using its machinery for different purposes.
For customers, the news is disappointing. Shoppers on Wednesday told us that other jelly beans just can’t compete.
“They’re tender and they have a soft shell and our customers really go crazy if we don’t have them,” Sarris said.
Sarris said the issue has been ongoing for quite some time. Last year, they tried to sell a different type.
“The repercussions were so bad!” he said.
They didn’t want to let people down with an alternative this year, so they decided not to sell jelly beans at all.
Sarris said that they sampled other jelly beans, even some imported from Europe, but they just didn’t have the special taste that longtime Sarris customers have come to expect.
“We’re fighting the same issues everybody else is fighting,” he said. “Please be patient, we’re doing all we can to make sure we can get the Easter basket filled with some jelly beans for next year. That’s our goal!”
Prior to the issues, Sarris sold hundreds of thousands of jelly beans each year. Not being able to sell them has impacted their bottom line, he said.
Other than the beans, they aren’t currently facing any shortages with other candies and treats.
They have, however, faced additional supply chain issues surrounding the construction of a new production facility.
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We took a look at Slack’s progress over the last 2 years through an alternative data lens as the firm prepares its IPO – from online ad spend, to app downloads, employee reviews, search trends and more.
Slack announced its plans to IPO late last year, expecting a valuation to the tune of more than $10 billion, previously valued at $7.1 billion in its last funding round of $427M. This puts the workplace communication app well in unicorn territory.
In 2018, the firm revealed its daily active users surpassed 8 million, 3 million of which were paying. In early 2019, the app surpassed 10 million DAU, following acquisition of HipChat and Stride from competitor Atlassian.
The Wall Street Journal reported the brand intends to pursue a slightly more unconventional IPO route, following in the footsteps of Spotify with a direct listing, rather than engaging in the traditional underwriting process.
2019 has been the year many were waiting for when it comes to tech IPOs. As we await public listings from Uber, Lyft, Pinterest and more, we took a look at Slack’s performance over the last few years from an alternative data lens to see how it stacks up as it prepares to enter the public market.
Online advertising spend
Slack began investing heavily in online advertising (via Google AdWords) in Q2 2018, up from a previously steady rate of around $300k/month. As of February 2019, the firm was spending upwards of $8 million per month on SEM.
Search trends + website traffic
Slack has seen a steady rise in appearance in search trends, seeing a spike in early 2019 as talks of its pending IPO picked up, with a similar trend noted in website traffic.
App reviews and downloads
As Slack’s user base has grown and downloads have picked up, its average app rating on iOS took a bit of a hit, from 3.6 in 2017 to around 3.0 early this year.
Slack employee reviews have remained relatively consistent, with a slight decline which may indicate a potential shift in culture as the company has expanded beyond 1,000 employees.
Alternative data provides a more holistic, 360 degree view of a company’s performance in the market across multiple touchpoints. This can supplement traditional financial and sales data to offer investors a more detailed indication of how the brand might perform when it reaches public markets, aiding in context-driven decision-making.


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As a company that works with Textiles every day, this news is music to our ears and with the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, declaring a “code red for humanity” it really is time for real change.
The Fashion Climate Action plan alines a call for brands to set science-based targets or halve their emissions by 2030 and encourages them to have a pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The main mission is to drive the fashion industry to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050 and keep the goal of temperates below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Speaking at COP26 Stefan Seidel of PUMA said: This is an important milestone for the Fashion Charter, as it increases the ambition level in an effort to align the industry with 1.5 degrees.
As it currently stands over 130 companies have signed the fashion charter. Some examples are: Burberry, H&M Group, Adidas, Chanel, Nike, and PUMA.
Overall, despite many saying COP26 has been a place of words and not action, this news is a positive step and as a part of the Textile Industry, we are thrilled to see the brands that have a huge responsibility in this industry step up and make a change. Our motto has always been to cut down greenhouse gases by diverting clothing from landfill and so long may we continue our work.


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Updated: 07/23/2014 11:18 PM
Created: 07/23/2014 11:17 PM KAALtv.com
By: John Doetkott
(ABC 6 News) -- A new market in Austin is giving local people a chance to showcase some of their talent.
Local vendors offer up everything from cookies to clothes, from soaps to baby items, many of them handmade.
Now in just its fourth week, vendors say it's all about keeping things local.
"You need to bring the community back together, there's too much of everyone going out of town to buy stuff or whatever, and if we could just focus more on bringing the community back together," Nellie Riles said.
The market runs every Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lansing Corners.
Organizers say there's still room for more vendors.


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Two U.S. installations will boost science and surpass Japan
An electronic device implanted in the eye could restore the sight of millions.
Consumers hate spyware programs that slow their PCs and endanger personal data. So why are Congressional efforts to block the malicious software so unpopular?
The cable TV industry is overstating the cost of offering consumers individual channel selection. Still, dont expect a la carte in 2004.
"Hash" functions identify digital content with mathematical certaintybut is that enough to foil the hackers?
With the presidential election less than 100 days away, conflicts over high-tech voting machines remain unsettlingly unresolved.
Marketing hype aside, the best new inkjets still fall short of laser quality and speed.


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To bring 4G-supported smartphones in India for low-income consumers, Reliance Jio partnered with Google to develop the JioPhone. The company announced to launch a smartphone in the country in September this year. However, due to a shortage of components, the JioPhone Next will launch after Diwali 2021. Some of the key specs and features of this smartphone have been leaked.
Leaked Key Specs and Features of JioPhone Next
The JioPhone Next was recently spotted in a Google Play Console listing with the model number LS1542QWN. Other than telling the model number, the listing revealed the key specs of the device just before a month of its official launch.
As per the listing, the JioPhone Next will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 215 chipset. It will have up to 3GB of RAM and up to 32GB of storage. This budget-focused chipset comes with four Cortex-A53 cores and an integrated Adreno 306 GPU.
The company will launch its 2 varients – a 2GB + 16GB variant and a 3GB + 32GB variant. The device will have a 2,500mAh battery inside. However, there is no information regarding the support of fast charging or not.
Coming to the display, the JioPhone Next is attached with a 5.5-inch screen with a maximum resolution of 720 x 1440p. It will come with a screen density of 320ppi. As for the cameras, the device will have an 8MP front camera and a 13MP single rear camera with support for AR filters.
During the JioPhone Next launch Jio stated that The reason behind partnering with google is to develop a custom version of Android Go based on Android 11. To add features like Google Assistant, automatic read-aloud of screen text, and language translation. It will also come with pre-installed Jio apps like JioSaavn, JioTV, and MyJio app.
Now, A big question in everyone’s mind, What will be the price of the smartphone? Although Jio has not confirmed anything about the price, Previous rumors suggest that the JioPhone Next will cost Rs. 3,499 in India. According to the reports, Jio will be offering easy EMI options. So that customers can get the smartphone for as low as Rs. 500 after its official launch in India.


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By: Annie Scaramuzzino
Just over a week after Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in her Paris hotel, one company has decided to capitalize on the incident in time for Halloween.
Photos of the “Parisian Heist Robbery Victim Costume Kit” surfaced online today after the costume was unveiled on Costumeish.com.
Retailing for $69.99, the kit comes with a black wig, white robe, rope and gag, black sunglasses and an oversized ‘diamond’ ring.
Many have deemed the costume offensive, and TMZ reports that the website has already received a slew of negative customer reviews.
Still, it’s unlikely that the controversial costume will be removed from the website, as Costumeish has also been responsible for Cecil the Lion and Caitlyn Jenner costumes in recent years, which received similar backlash.


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Merry Christmas, one and all.
Doing their part.
ELeague Season 2 had a $1.1 million prize pool.
This week's list includes an app that pools together cool, original news and an app that can tell you what music you listened to exactly one year ago.
Some new 'Destiny' to keep you busy.
There is now nowhere you can hide from the Atlas humanoid robot.
YouTubers are saying that subscribers are suddenly disappearing.
This isn't your average #MannequinChallenge.
But when is the Lego/Barbie crossover?
You'll never guess who they got to play Steve Bannon.
The chippiness. The flop. The reaction!
Here are the biggest tech stories of 2016.
A bittersweet coda.
It's time to start taking those Apple Car rumors seriously. Again.
A very good and patient boy.
These two mean business.
"People exercising their human rights to assemble, pray and speak out have been brutally arrested."
What's in a name?
Gone too soon.
Apple's product design bible just got the perfect video commercial -- if you're looking to save money.
New games and free games and fresh looks at old games. It's all here.
The photo looks pretty standard at first glance, but ...
The "Atomic Sunrise" festival had Bowie, Genesis and a troupe of experimental theatre actors prowling the crowd.
Well, uh, say hi to your new hero.
The Larsen C Ice Shelf is not going to remain intact for much longer.


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First Tech Federal Credit Union’s Partnership with Portland Trail Blazers Drives Member Engagement
December 3, 2018
In celebration of their ongoing partnership with the Portland Trail Blazers, First Tech Federal Credit Union launched its first co-branded credit card to capture the spirit and passion of members who are also Portland Trail Blazer fans throughout the Pacific Northwest.
The credit union has worked in partnership with the basketball team since November of 2017, when the credit union collaborated on the release of its Trail Blazers-branded debit card.
“With nearly half of First Tech’s member based in the Pacific Northwest, our partnership with the Portland Trail Blazers allows First Tech to engage where members and Trail Blazer fans come together,” said First Tech Federal Credit Union Chief Retail and Marketing Officer, Brad Calhoun.
The new credit card offers high value at a low cost for members and features discounts and rewards. So far, the response from members has been favorable.
“Existing fans at First Tech were excited to see us make this partnership; they’re excited to see the Trail Blazers at their credit union,” said Calhoun.
Many of the companies that First Tech serves are also partners with the Portland Trail Blazers, allowing for the credit union to increase its visibility and align with some top companies throughout the region.
“This partnership has given us the incredible opportunity to strengthen relationships with existing members, grow new ones, and raise awareness of the credit union movement ,” said Calhoun. “We hope to continue that momentum with the launch of this card.”
First Tech has plans to introduce a youth-savings product tied to the Trail Blazers in early 2019.
Posted in Around the NW.


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Canada has fallen nine spots in one year on a global ranking of Internet speeds, as the country fell behind European and Asian countries in expanding its broadband infrastructure.
The latest report from the Akamai data network shows Canada tied with Hungary for 14th place among the world’s major Internet-using countries.
A year ago at this time, Canada was in a three-way tie with Sweden, Taiwan and the U.S. for fifth place in the survey. It is now in a two-way tie with Hungary for 14th place.
The average broadband download speed in Canada went from 5.0 Mbps in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 5.9 Mbps in the fourth quarter of 2011, but because other countries saw considerably larger increases in download speeds, the Canada's jump was not enough to maintain Canada’s position on the rankings.
Many observers have pointed to a relative lack of competition among Canadian Internet service providers for Canada’s lacklustre performance on the Internet in recent years. (The country once led the world in broadband penetration.)
However, recent growth among independent ISPs does not appear to have changed the downward trend in Canada’s rankings. Canada’s major ISPs, which own the physical Internet infrastructure, have put in place wholesale pricing structures that make it difficult if not impossible for resellers to offer faster speeds.
A recent CRTC ruling replaced the controversial usage-based billing model for ISPs with a capacity-based model, meaning small ISPs won't be forced to implement usage caps, but may result in higher retail prices for broadband.
The use of traffic throttling among some large ISPs also affects Canada’s rankings, as Akamai’s data is based on real-time monitoring of Internet traffic. After years of consumer anger, Bell Canada recently announced it is moving away from the use of traffic throttling.
That put pressure on Rogers, another major ISP, to stop using the practice as well. The CRTC, Canada’s telecom regulator, found last month that the company had violated regulations surrounding the use of traffic throttling.
As consumers have grown more aware of problems with Internet competition and download speeds, complaints about ISPs to the CRTC have soared.
Here are the 16 countries with the world’s fastest Internet speeds.
Also on HuffPost


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One of the biggest surprises coming out of Google I/O this year was the absence of a new version of Android and a new Nexus 7. Well we’ve heard rumors, that Android 4.3 and the new Nexus 7 would be launched at an event on June 10th. We’ve just seen a new ASUS device get Bluetooth certification. It’s model number ME370T and is running on software version JWR11. Which means it’s still running Jelly Bean and not Key Lime Pie.
So it looks like Android 4.3 and the Nexus 7 are getting even closer to an official announcement. We’re still expecting Android 4.3 to be available on the current Nexus 7, Nexus 10 and Nexus 4. But we have not seen a Nexus 10 running Android 4.3, I wouldn’t be so fast to rule it out already though. It’ll more than likely get the update to Android 4.3.
We still have no official word about Android 4.3 or a new Nexus 7. But things are starting to look good for an upcoming announcement. As much as we wanted to see Key Lime Pie or Android 5.0, we still may see it later this year. But at this point we’ll take any new version of Android to play around with. Hopefully we see some major fixes to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as in Android 4.2.2 many people are still having problems.
You can check out the source link down below for more information regarding the Bluetooth certification on this device. How many of you are patiently or not so patiently, awaiting the next iteration of the Nexus 7 from Google and ASUS? Let us know in the comments down below.
Source: Bluetooth certification


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Zuckerberg does a 180-degree reversal; says Apple’s ATT feature could actually benefit Facebook
Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature will launch with the release of iOS 14.5
When Apple announced its plans last year, Facebook launched Facebook Shops and Instagram Shops. This allows companies to list products for sale on Facebook’s two most popular apps and help them sell directly via Facebook and Instagram. Today, Zuckerberg said that Facebook has 1 million active shops on its services with 250 million people using the Shops actively. The executive added, “Compared to the early conversations we had about how people would use this across Facebook and Instagram and our product, I think this is something that’s well on track to be something that’s going to be increasingly important to people.” He also said that Facebook “will be able to manage through” Apple’s planned privacy update.
Zuckerberg’s reversal was certainly a surprise considering how hard Facebook blasted Apple last year. In December, Dan Levy, Facebook Vice President for Ads and Business Products, told reporters that”Apple is behaving anti-competitively by using their control of the App Store to benefit their bottom line at the expense of creators and small businesses. Full stop.”


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I will admit it—I fangirled over Oprah. Not to her face. She was some 9.14m from me, on stage in a long flowing Colonel Sanders getup that very few people could pull off (Oprah did). I fangirled over Alfre Woodard and Jason Momoa, too.
I thought about how short Steve Spielberg looked on stage, and about how thick and luxurious Ewan McGregor’s hair is. The celebrities were in full attendance at Monday’s Apple event, and it was very clear, hours later, that they’d been there to distract from the fact that Apple had nothing to say.
Sure, the company announced a new credit card of questionable merit, a news curation service that’s another nail in the coffin of independent journalism, and it’s own attempt at a unified play anywhere gaming platform, but the bulk of the hour-and-a-half event was centred on Apple TV (no, not the media players you plug into your TV—the app you use on the media players you plug into your TV and, soon, some smart TVs as well) and Apple TV+, a new service from Apple that will include a lot of original content featuring the many, many celebrities in attendance.
The app version of Apple TV, besides having a deeply confusing name, is being positioned as a competitor and maybe even a replacement for major streaming services from Netflix, Amazon, and even Hulu. First, there’s Apple Channels, which, I think, is a rebranding of something Apple already allows you to do — namely, subscribe to premium channels directly via Apple.
Currently, you have to open the iTunes store to do it. Maybe Channels means it will all happen through the app? It’s still unclear. When asked for clarification, Apple told me that it will also allow for offline viewing—something HBO doesn’t currently do but other channels supported by Channels, like Starz, already does.
With, as Oprah noted, over a billion devices in the wild, Apple could theoretically have a billion eyeballs on these channels and all its new TV+ content. Given that the most watched shows currently struggle to crack 20 million live views, that’s an impressive possible feat!
But the problem is, we don’t know much about the service. Price? No idea. Subscription or pay as you go? Who can say! Heck, we don’t even know how the shows that will be part of the new Apple TV+ service will present in the Apple TV app. Apple, when I asked for clarification, declined to comment.
We can, of course, assume. Immediately after the event, my coworkers complained about how little we learned and I, being the person on staff who regularly uses the Apple TV app now, simply rolled my eyes. I assumed shows would be presented in the app as they currently are. Right now, it suggests a show I might like, and when I click on the show, it offers to let me buy it through the iTunes store or watch it in a supported app. Game of Thrones in HBO Go, and Killing Eve via BBC America or my PS Vue DVR.
It seems only natural that new shows will be treated similarly, only when I click to watch a show, it will suggest I subscribe to TV+ if I want to actually watch it—much like it insisted I had to subscribe to DC Universe last week if I wanted to see Brendan Fraser’s butt in Doom Patrol.
But this is just me guessing based on the operations of the current app. This wasn’t from Apple actually outlining how things could work — they might not even work that way! The app is getting a big refresh ahead of the launch of TV+ later this year. So it could be entirely different. It could have its own tab, or TV+ could even be a new app. After all that fanfare on Monday, we still have no idea.
Will it stream or operate as movies and TV shows purchased via iTunes do, downloading the media onto your device at the highest fidelity your device will support? Will it display in 4K with DolbyVision HDR? Or will it be shot in something lower fidelity like regular 4K (probably not) or higher like 8K (also probably not)?
See, I can assume here, from previous products Apple has released, but that’s a surefire way to make an arse out of myself. As with nearly everything else in this story, Apple declined to comment when I asked for clarification.
As frustrating as the lack of details about TV+ itself is, the lack of details about the damn shows is even worse.
BBC or HBO can afford to do a 2-minute supercut trailer of all their shows because those networks have a lot of big and well-established programming. Apple — which has released scant details about its forthcoming lineup, apart from some tepid plot summaries provided by the stars on stage — apparently cannot.
Jason Momoa hugging an unidentified woman in a trailer after he gave us a 3-minute acting exercise on stage is not going to get me excited for his show — I can’t even remember the name of it.
Everything about TV+ felt… unfinished. Like Apple was trying to distract from a clunker car it was trying to sell with some new paint and upholstery. Only it was Oprah and Jason Momoa (and at least two people told me Chris Evans was there too).
Apple is going to have to do a lot of work between now and the launch of Apple TV+ to get me even remotely excited. Because right now, the only takeaway I have from that event is that being in the same room as Oprah was pretty neat.
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OMG! The price Kylie Jenner had to pay to for looking so glam at the 2016 Met Gala looks super painful. The reality star is showing off the cuts and bruises that her outfit caused and boy does it look like it hurts.
OUCH! Kylie Jenner, 18, may have looked like a million bucks on her very first Met Ball red carpet, but all that glam came with a whole lot of pain. She’s showing off how her crystal beaded dress has totally scratched up her legs and the shoes she was wearing to pose for the paparazzi caused her feet to bleed and turn blue!
Ky showed off a Snapchat from inside the Met Gala’s dinner, where it was pretty clear she was thrilled to be sitting down and out of her high heels. She wrote “When your dress made you bleed and your feet are purple,” and showed that the skin on her shins had been ripped to shreds from the dripping crystal beads that cascaded down from the knees of her custom-made Balmain gown. It looked like she’s been attacked by a pack of angry cats she’s so scratched up!
Her strappy silver heels weren’t doing her any favors either, as the video showed that they turned her feet purple! The stars have to do plenty of posing for the cameras on the long steps up to the gala and all that time on her tootsies definitely took a toll. But hey, she looked absolutely amazing so all that suffering for the sake of fashion was definitely worth it!
“Olivier [Rousteing] was really the mastermind behind the dress,” the social media queen told Vogue of her stylish family friend and the Creative Director at Balmain. “He sent me sketches,” she added, noting that, “I really trust him when it comes to making a statement on the carpet.” Next time she might want to wear rash guards on her legs underneath the gown!
HollywoodLifers, what did you think o f Kylie’s amazing dress at the Met Ball? Was that gorgeous look worth the pain?


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A.G. Schneiderman Announces $8 Million Agreement With Direct Marketer For Deceptive Practices That Resulted In Hidden Charges To Consumers Ordering Products Marketed On TV
Allstar Marketing Group, LLC, Lured Consumers With Infomercials And Used Deceptive Web And Phone Ordering Processes To Hit Consumers With Excessive Fees And Charges; Allstar Must Make Major Reforms To Its Advertising And Marketing Practices
A.G. Schneiderman: It’s Illegal For Businesses In New York To Dupe Consumers
NEW YORK— As part of a wider investigation into deceptive practices allegedly used by the direct marketing industry, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced an $8 million settlement with Allstar Marketing Group, LLC, (“Allstar”), a firm headquartered in Hawthorne, N.Y. The agreement, reached along with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, requires the direct marketing firm to stop using allegedly deceptive and misleading advertising and ordering processes when selling a variety of products, such as the Snuggie, the Perfect Brownie Pan and the Magic Mesh screen.
“This agreement returns money to thousands of consumers in New York and across the nation who believed they were buying items at the price advertised on television, but ended up with extra merchandise and hidden fees they didn’t bargain for,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “The settlement also brings much needed reforms to a major firm in the direct marketing industry. Those who use small print and hidden fees to inflate charges to unwitting consumers must be held accountable.”
“Marketers must clearly disclose all costs. That includes processing fees, handling fees, and any other fees they think up,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Working with the New York Attorney General, we’ll return millions of dollars to consumers that Allstar collected in undisclosed fees.”
The Attorney General’s Consumer Frauds Bureau launched a probe into the industry after receiving complaints from consumers, including hundreds forwarded to the Attorney General’s Consumer Frauds bureau by the Better Business Bureau.
According to the Attorney General’s investigation, Allstar ran misleading infomercials on television that featured attractively priced offers for products to lure consumers to place orders either online or over the phone. The company then allegedly used deceptive and confusing ordering processes, which resulted in consumers being charged excessive and unauthorized fees and charges.
For example, the investigation found that Allstar lured consumers into buying goods often by using a “Buy One, Get One” offer, in which consumers must receive two of the advertised product, but did not adequately disclose that consumers would be charged two separate processing and handling fees, which in some cases, nearly doubled the cost of the offer. According to the findings, when consumers attempted to place orders, Allstar subjected them to a confusing ordering process that typically included numerous up-sell offers. Many consumers inadvertently ordered the upsells by clicking links that appeared to simply move the consumer through the ordering process, but that also added products to their order. Allstar also did not provide consumers with an opportunity to amend or review their order before it was processed. As a result, in many cases, consumers who responded to Allstar’s advertisements were charged significantly more than they expected and received products that they did not intend to order or received excessive quantities of a product.
One consumer who responded to Allstar’s “Buy One, Get One” offer for the Perfect Brownie Pan, advertised at $19.95, was charged a total of $105 and received six of the pans. The consumer, who expected two pans, unwittingly tripled his order. That person complained that he was subjected to an intentionally misleading automated telephone script and said he was unable to get a full refund. Allstar also typically offered consumers “priority processing” for a fee of approximately $6.00 or $7.00, but, according to the Attorney General's findings, used the same shipping methods for consumers who paid no extra fee.
The settlement requires Allstar to:
- Clearly and conspicuously disclose all material terms of an advertised offer.
- Clearly and conspicuously disclose the amount of any processing and handling fee for the second item in a Buy One, Get One offer.
- Provide consumers with an opportunity to confirm the details and the total price of any order before it is processed.
- Disclose the amount of any processing and handling fees during the ordering process before the consumer is asked to confirm the order details.
- Label all hyperlinks to clearly convey the consequence of clicking the link.
The agreement requires Allstar to pay $7.5 million for restitution to consumers who were harmed by Allstar’s practices. The Federal Trade Commission, which has entered into a separate consent order with Allstar, will distribute the $7.5 million to consumers in consultation with the Attorney General’s office. Allstar must also pay $500,000 to the New York Attorney General’s Office for penalties, costs and fees.
Consumers who believe they may be entitled to a refund should notify the Attorney General’s office. Consumers can file a complaint online or obtain a complaint form at www.ag.ny.gov. Consumers can also call the Attorney General’s consumer helpline at 1-800-771-7755.
The Attorney General thanks the Federal Trade Commission for its cooperation in achieving this settlement.
This investigation is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Amy Schallop, Deputy Bureau Chief Laura J. Levine and Bureau Chief Jane M. Azia, all of the Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau, and Executive Deputy Attorney General Karla G. Sanchez.


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"What we recognise is that consumer attention is one of the world's scarcest resources," said McCann. "We cannot operate in the media environment that we're in with the old methods. Part of the drive behind the new thinking is to force us and inspire us to really get to those new metrics."
She added: "As we think about how to deliver consumers to clients, we have to think about how we are going to capture attentions. Our job is to be very focused on finding any and all connections that captivate consumers."
McCann was guarded about how 'Connections' would manifest itself in Starcom's work, but pointed to the success of its projects for Hummer, which won several awards at Campaign's inaugural media planning awards.
"A Hummer at the bottom of a pool or going up the side of a building, obviously that kind of work has a stopping power, an attraction power and a sales power," she said. "That's a perfect example of building a variety of connections designed to make sure that consumers in the market place really understood the brand."
McCann said a decision had yet to be taken on whether the platform would be visible in Starcom's corporate branding, which currently runs under the 'Fueling Brand Power' tagline.
"While we could publicise it and we could put it on the website, that's not our focus.
"It's about what we do, it's a crisp way to talk about what we do and the proof of it will be in our work."


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As a brand, we understand the inherent strength of Bharat better
The first edition of Pride of India Brands: The Best of Bharat Conference & Awards witnessed a panel of successful entrepreneurs who shared their valuable insights on ‘Secrets of Building Successful Brands for Bharat’.
The panelists comprised Kailash Katkar, MD, QuickHeal Technologies; Namrata Chotrani, CEO, Khadim; Dr Sriram Iyer, CRO, Metropolis Healthcare; Dheeraj Gupta, Founder & MD, Jumboking; and Rahul Tewari, CFO, Games24x7. The session was moderated by Jai Lala, CEO, Zenith Media.
The entrepreneurs kicked off the session with a discussion on how they look at Bharat as a market. Chotrani said, “When we look at Bharat, I think we take a step back and divide India into two segments, the first segment being those who stay in urban markets, have a higher disposable income, and shop from high streets and malls. The second segment is the people who stay in tier 2 and tier 3 markets, in the rural markets. They shop from small exclusive brand outlets, small retail counters, and multi-brand retailers. They have exposure to television and they are also demanding fashion today. We call this market Bharat, which is the future of India. That’s how we have categorised Bharat and India and that’s how we have positioned our business catering to both these markets.”
Sharing his views on the same, Gupta shared, “The Indian business environment especially the Bharat environment, requires a business model where the returns commensurate with the potential of the market. As a brand, we understand the inherent strength of Bharat better.”
Talking about how digital impacts a business and comparing offline media with digital media Gupta further said, “Digital is a reality which we have embraced openly. It opens up a whole new world where business can grow. For us in the food industry, we are very fortunate that we have Swiggy and Zomato who have come up and spent crores of money in creating this entire ecosystem around home delivery and it was an entire segment of business that we used to miss out on and now it is possible because these players are there.”
Katkar explained how tech brands tackle Bharat digitally, compared to other industries. “When it comes to tech brand, digital is the most important aspect of it and with QuickHeal, we actually started our e-commerce as well as communication through digital in year 1998. So at that time, in India, there was not a single payment getaway from any bank. So I had a tie-up with an American company and they were able to give services to Indian customers as well. Gradually ICICI Bank and others came into existence. So when it comes to e-commerce as well as the communication part, the time has started changing. Both digital and offline medium are equally important to us. I believe that at the shop level, digital has gone quite upwards,” he said.
Sharing his thoughts on the importance of e-commerce for Bharat, Tewari said, “Today, the Indian consumer is bombarded with all kinds of global games, making the country one of the hottest gaming markets. So Indians downloaded more games last year than the US and Chinese markets. To be able to penetrate that market, we had to come up with the sachet strategy. You have limited time, limited money to entertain yourself.” He further stated that what Bharat is doing today, the world will do tomorrow as the mass market in Bharat is huge. “It is young and culturally the deepest that one can see in the whole world. So their power to change the narrative for entertainment is very formidable,” he added.
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Romeo Power has agreed to be bought by Nikola in a transaction valued at $144 nikola expects this move to increase its vertical integration and result in significant savings over the next few years.
Electric truck maker Nikola announced that it had purchased battery pack supplier Romeo Power for $144 million on Monday, solidifying the company’s supply chain.
In a stock-only transaction, Romeo’s share value is 74 cents per share, or a 34% premium to Friday’s closing price. Romeo’s shares then went up 27% in value on Monday. Nikola’s shares fell nearly 8%.
As part of the agreement, Nikola will provide Romeo with $35 million in interim funding to continue operations until the transaction closes, while Nikola’s executives estimate that they could save up to $350 million over the next four years.
California-based Romeo manufactures lithium-ion battery modules and packs for electric vehicles using cells manufactured by other companies. Nikola, which began shipping its electric semi-trucks earlier this year and plans to ship between 300 and 500 trucks by 2022, is Romeo’s largest customer.
Nikola CEO Mark Russell said the deal will let the company develop its electrification platform more quickly.
our successful relationship with Romeo and ongoing collaboration give us confidence in our ability to integrate and deliver the many expected strategic and financial benefits of this acquisition,” he said.
It is a lifeline for Romeo, which like Nikola is one of many electric vehicle companies that went public via mergers with special purpose acquisition companies. Late in 2020, Romeo went public via a SPAC merger, valuing the combined company at $900 million.
But Romeo Inc. had $66.8 million left in cash and equivalents as of the end of the first quarter, after more than $250 million in losses. Romeo may have run out of options to stay afloat with its shares trading below $1 in recent weeks and interest rates rising.
Nikola has been attempting to win approval from shareholders to issue more shares of stock. But former CEO Trevor Milton (ousted following accusations that he lied to investors about Nikola’s technology and order book) has blocked that measure. Nikola plans to convene its shareholders’ meeting on Tuesday afternoon to announce the current vote totals.
Nikola said it has enough unissued stock to complete the acquisition of Romeo even if the proposal to increase its shares outstanding fails.


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In the October-December period, McDonald's earned $1.33 per share, up 15% from a year ago and ahead of the consensus call for $1.30, on $6.8 billion in revenue. The latter figure was driven by strong growth in each of the company’s regions, with U.S. sales up 7.1% in the quarter, Europe up 7.3% and Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa up 6.9%. Overall, comparable sales grew 7.5% from the fourth quarter of 2010.
For the 2011 fiscal year, McDonald's earned $5.27 per share, up 15%, on a record $27 billion in sales.
Chief Executive Jim Skinner said sales are “expected to remain strong” in January, growing 5.5% to 6.5%, and touted the company’s commitment to investing in its business. McDonald's plans to pump $2.9 billion into its restaurants in 2012, roughly half of which will go toward opening more than 1,300 new Mickey D's restaurants and the remainder earmarked for improvements to current locations.
McDonald's shares, which are near all-time highs, fell 0.6% to $100.38 Tuesday morning.


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Coincheck, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange has announced that it will be delisting all pairs of privacy coins being traded on the exchange. This includes Monero, Zcash and Dash. Coincheck was bought by Monex, a brokerage firm that got infamous for the NEM hack where more than 530 million dollars worth of NEM were stolen. Coincheck has announced that it will no longer be supporting the aforementioned privacy cryptocurrencies.
Reason? They are less traceable than bitcoin and other blockchain based coins. It is doing so after internal review of their control system and part of their new management strategy that protects its customers. Their new strategy is to protect their customers and is not appropriate for them to deal with these privacy coins.
Japan’s FSA is a regulatory agency that licenses various trading platforms to operate in their country and is pressing exchanges to delist all privacy coins. Their move to delist privacy coins could be an attempt by their new management to bring back platform into FSA’s good graces.
The market has been stopped but users are free to withdraw their Monero, Zcash and Dash. In other news, Augur (REP) will be removed as well as it is associated with unlicensed gambling.
He is the Associate Editor and lives in New York. He eats charts for breakfast.


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|Bid||0.0000 x 0|
|Ask||0.0000 x 0|
|Day's Range||3.1300 - 3.2800|
|52 Week Range||0.6200 - 4.1500|
|Beta (5Y Monthly)||N/A|
|PE Ratio (TTM)||24.65|
|Forward Dividend & Yield||0.08 (2.43%)|
|Ex-Dividend Date||Mar 01, 2021|
|1y Target Est||N/A|
China's Great Wall Motor aims to sell around 270,000 pickup trucks this year, up from 225,000 units last year, Cui Xiaohui, general manager of Great Wall's pickup truck unit said on Tuesday. Baoding-based Great Wall, the top pickup truck maker in China, also aims to sell over 500,000 of the vehicles a year in 2025, Cui said, adding that half of the sales in 2025 will be overseas.
On April 19, the 19th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition (Auto Shanghai 2021) was formally unveiled. On this occasion, GWM officially released a new brand - TANK, namely the fifth brand in addition to HAVAL, WEY, ORA and GWM PICKUP. Next, GWM will deepen its global strategy and steadily advance the global expansion of its five major brands.
In 2020, the 3rd Gen HAVAL H6 and JOLION in China received very high market attention, not only helping HAVAL H6 to maintain one of the best-selling SUV models, but also promoting HAVAL to become one of the best-selling SUV brands in China. A few days ago, Sam Liu, Vice President of GWM said: "GWM has launched three future-oriented global technology brands, and has the confidence in dealing with the transformation of the automobile industry. The launch of L.E.M.O.N., COFIS and TANK technology brands has officially announced that GWM will transform to a global mobility technology company, and its more intelligent, safe and trend-leading products will meet the needs of contemporary users for travel. Based on the overall technological upgrade brought by the technical brand, GWM has launched several new products on pickup and SUV models, represented by the 3rd Gen HAVAL H6 and JOLION. The brand-new models will consolidate the market position of HAVAL and refresh the brand image."


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Lenovo Group has just released fiscal third quarter results, saying there were big challenges in its three main lines of business, namely data center, mobile devices, PCs and smart devices.
All three industries, according to analyst reports, continued to experience either slow growth or no growth during the quarter ended December 31, 2016.
For Lenovo's Data Center Group (DCG), which includes servers, storage, software and services, sales in the third fiscal quarter were US$1.1 billion, down 20%, and 3% quarter-to-quarter.
However, Lenovo is still continuing its focus on transformative actions that will help drive long-term DCG competitiveness.
The company says it is doing so by strengthening its sales teams, investing in the channel, revamping their product lines, building a brand strategy, and adding new partnerships.
Lenovo also saw strong growth in tablets, up 10% year-over-year, outperforming the market by 29 points, as well as significant year-over-year increases in high-growth product lines.
“Despite ongoing macro-economic uncertainties and the two new businesses still in transition, Lenovo delivered a solid performance last quarter,” says Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
“Our PC business remains strong, our Mobile business has made steady progress, and our Data Center business now has a clear improvement plan in place,” he explains.
“Although it takes time to build the core competence in these two new growth engines, we are confident to achieve break even and profitable growth in them.


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Confer With has disrupted and transformed the way online brands can connect to their customers via live video shopping. Here we talk about our demonstration feature which empowers retail teams to display imagery, video and product specifications from their entire product inventory. Since the birth of the pandemic, the announcement of store closures and social […]
22 Jul, 2021
Zoom and traditional video calling software offered a quick to market solution. Now there are new opportunities to explore immersive video commerce. Here’s 5 reasons why you should change.
9 Jul, 2021
Confer With has revolutionised the way in which brands interact with their customers through live video shopping. By allowing customers to book appointments, the expert is able to personalise the experience, based on the information they already have. This leads to several vital outcomes, such as higher conversion rates, and a higher rate of satisfaction. With our appointments booking feature, […]
1 Jul, 2021
How can the virtual shared basket power 10x conversions Online Cart abandonment is a growing worry among the retail industry. Confer With aims to power conversions through its core feature – the virtual shared basket. It now offers them an opportunity to collectively tailor the basket and products to their needs and wants, together, with […]


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Intel, a bellwether for the bleak first quarter earnings season and the whole tech industry, may have just thrown a life jacket to sinking tech stocks.
The world’s biggest chip maker reported that its first-quarter net income fell 55 percent from the first quarter a year ago. But the net income of $647 million, or 11 cents a share, wasn’t nearly as bad as analysts had feared.
Paul Otellini, chief executive of the company, said in a statement that the PC industry found its bottom in the first quarter and that the industry is “returning to normal seasonal industry patterns.”
For its own internal planning, Intel is counting on revenues being flat in the second quarter that ends June 30. Intel had few other changes to its plans and financial outlook.
That should be a relief to those who feared more economic catastrophe. Revenue for the quarter was $7.1 billion, better than the $6.97 billion analysts expected but down 26 percent from $9.6 billion a year ago when Intel posted net income of $1.6 billion, or 25 cents a share.
This quarter, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company is the first to report earnings for the first quarter, which was likely one of the worst in history. Everyone is looking for signs of whether there’s more misery in store or some light at the end of the tunnel.
Analysts expected Intel to post earnings of $157 million, or 2 cents a share, on revenue of $6.97 billion. In the fourth quarter of 2008, Intel reported a net income of $234 million, or 4 cents a share, on revenue of $8.2 billion.
At the tail end of the first quarter, Intel fired off a major volley with the launch of its Xeon Series 5500 microprocessors for servers in corporate data centers. (pictured right)
Intel has taken a pounding in the stock market. Its 52-week peak was $25.29 a share. But its market capitalization of about $89 billion still dwarfs the $2.3 billion for rival Advanced Micro Devices. Intel plans to spend about $5.4 billion on research and development in 2009.
One measure of health is the average selling price (ASP) for microprocessors, or the price that Intel gets on average for its mainstay chips that are the brains of PCs. The ASP for the first quarter was flat compared to the fourth quarter. Revenue was lower because Intel sold fewer chips in the first quarter versus the fourth quarter.
Intel’s gross profit margin was 45 percent, down from 53 percent in the fourth quarter because its factories were under-used. Inventories fell by $700 million in the quarter. That’s a good sign, since it means product is actually moving through the supply chain. Intel had a rare net loss of $18 million for its equity investments. But that was lower than the $130 million loss it expected, due to a better debt market picture at the end of the quarter.
Head count was 82,500, down from 83,900 in the fourth quarter. The company closed the quarter with $10.3 billion in cash and cash investments. An interesting tidbit is that sales of Intel’s Atom processor, which is used for the hot category of low-cost and low-power netbooks, were down 26 percent to $217 million sequentially.
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Arts & Life
Canstar Community News
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 7/7/2011 (3323 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Winnipeg Jets home games are an incredibly tough ticket -- maybe you should get on a plane and watch the new Jets play the old Jets.
CAA Manitoba is selling packages to the Jets' game in Phoenix Oct. 15, and looking at other possible all-inclusive trips later in the season to New York, St. Paul and Florida.
"Old Jets/new Jets is a good gimmick," said Liz Peters, CAA Manitoba's public and government affairs manager.
The package would include Friday departure and Sunday return evening flights, two nights' accommodation, the hockey game against the Phoenix Coyotes, ground transportation and a golf option.
"We're looking at about $1,000 for the weekend," Peters said.
The Jets play the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul on Feb. 16, Peters said. So far, CAA Manitoba has only committed to one trip, though public demand could lead to additional trips.
"They play New York (Islanders), New Jersey, New York (Rangers) Nov. 3, 5, and 6. We're just talking about it at this point," said Peters, who said the motor league already runs lots of tours to see Broadway shows, shop and visit New York.
"Phoenix and Orlando are two of the top destinations we sell trips to," Peters pointed out. It's possible packages could be arranged to see the Jets play games in Tampa Bay and Miami during road swings south.
It's unlikely CAA Manitoba can book trips anywhere tickets are tough to get, she said, such as Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver.
Garry Shymko, of Shymer Tours in Garden City, is already lining up tickets for the Jets and Wild in February. His company runs bus tours to Minnesota for Vikings, Twins, Wild and Timberwolves games, usually packaging two games with a Mall of America visit.
"We do a lot of stuff with the Wild -- they already called me," said Shymko. "We will be doing something, no question."
It would cost a minimum of $299 for the Jets and Wild, including a lower-level ticket, two nights in a Hilton, the bus and transportation to the Mall of America, he said. It's possible the game could be packaged with a second NHL game between the Anaheim Ducks and Wild, which would be a higher cost, said Shymko.
Don Finkbeiner, owner of Heartland International Travel and Tours in Winnipeg, doubted many companies would offer packages to a lot of Jets' road games.
"I tried it years ago and it didn't really work. Too many people can get tickets on-line and get themselves there," he said.
Both Peters and Finkbeiner received calls two weeks ago from the Coyotes' marketing department urging them to book tours to the Oct. 15 game.
On the other hand, a Coyotes media spokesman said Thursday there wasn't much point to the team trying to organize anything out of Winnipeg for just one game.
Elsewhere online, Elite Sports Tours in southern Ontario organizes trips to all cities in the National Hockey League. The company didn't return a call Thursday, but, oddly -- perhaps suggesting the website has not been fully updated -- Elite's website promises it can get you tickets to see the Winnipeg Jets play in Atlanta.
The Winnipeg Free Press invites you to share your opinion on this story in a letter to the editor. A selection of letters to the editor are published daily.
Letters must include the writer’s full name, address, and a daytime phone number. Letters are edited for length and clarity.


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“The European Cocoa Association Board members and all our Membership participants were delighted to have welcomed over 410 guests who made the journey to engage in a full and dynamic event where all contributions were, not only fruitful, but also engaged, and very encouraging,” Davis said.
This conference highlighted the following key areas of a changing cocoa industry:
• There is a collective agreement that now, more than ever, a crucial balance must be found in food safety, sustainability, and socio-economic challenges throughout the value chain. The European cocoa industry recognizes the challenges of recent pesticide use rules, especially noting the short timeline allocated for their implementation, and is committed to having all players in the value chain successfully achieve lasting compliance.
• To attain price stability, the cocoa market can only function effectively, over the long term, with satisfactory supply and demand strategies that work for both sides of the sector.
• Our session on Innovation made clear to us that the European cocoa sector will have to pursue every effort, at every link inside the chain, to respond actively to the urgent needs essential to address climate change and meet the totally justified expectations of consumers and their representatives.
• Corporate Due Diligence and the obligations likely to arise from the upcoming EU Regulation on Deforestation are increasingly clear to our members. The ECA membership is willing and actively planning to deliver on these expectations and we sincerely thank the European Commission and the many national initiators for their continued commitment, outreach, and attention to the cocoa sector.
• Fair provenance and traceability of cocoa is crucial and to be successfully implemented we need, above all, to create fair value for the millions of compliant farmers in the supply chain”.
As always, the ECA Forum also provided unique opportunities to interact and exchange views within the full spectrum of cocoa participants, including high-level officials from many cocoa-producing countries, European and International institutions, senior business leaders from the cocoa, chocolate and confectionery industry, academia, and broader civil society.
This year’s Forum brought together large delegations from Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, as well as representatives from Cameroon, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Indonesia, Singapore, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam and the United States of America.
The Forum also hosted CHOCOVISION 2022, previously a stand-alone biannual event, but merged into a roundtable discussion on traceability in Rome.
"The ECA Board and members would like to express their most sincere thanks to all our guests and the extraordinary and distinguished speakers who contributed to the great success of the 2022 Cocoa Forum. We look forward to meeting them again in 2025 for the 9th Edition of the European Cocoa Forum,” it said in a statement.


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Remember Google Glass? If you don’t, we don’t blame you. The highly touted product made waves about privacy concerns given that they were basically face mounted computers with cameras on them. Believe it or not, Google Glass still exists as the pioneer of sorts for the smart glasses industry. Apparently there’s still enough of a market there for a competitor to jump in, which is where Facebook and Ray-Ban are coming together to enter the fray.
Last year, The Verge reported that the two companies were planning on releasing a product, one that would not have an integrated display like Google Glass. Speculation would be that it would have to cooperate with a smartphone app or something to achieve all of the intended functionality. Some things may be available through voice commands, similar to Amazon’s Echo Frames, but details were scarce at the time.
Due to Coronavirus, the intended release window of 2021 was missed, but further reports from the end of July indicate that Facebook is gearing up for their glasses to be their next hardware launch. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has not been clear on the release date, but has been clear that this is supposed to be just one step towards a full augmented reality “metaverse.” What does he mean by “metaverse?” Who knows.
It will be interesting to see however if this eventually draws the same kind of backlash that Google Glass did. Facebook has long had its own tumultuous history with privacy concerns; combine that with some of the same criticism that Google received and it seems like a recipe for disaster. It doesn’t help matters that a lot of Facebook users just kind of begrudgingly use the platform because its there, not because they actively love it. It’s hard to imagine Facebook having the kind of brand loyalty that makes you want to go out and have their new smart glasses!
Either way, Facebook seems dedicated to the idea as part of their Project ARIA plans, which again goes into that whole metaverse thing. If we figure out what the hell Zuckerberg is talking about, we’ll let you know.
But…what are the chances that maybe Zuckerberg is gonna hack us all with this special Ray-Bans offer?


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The latest Drewry East-West Airfreight Price Index hinted that a spring rebound may be in store for air cargo , with their index rising 0.9 points in April to a reading of 80.4, following a 0.3 point gain in March. However, optimism that airfreight would rebound in April after a lackluster first quarter may be unfounded, according to another report released by research firm World ACD.
The World ACD report cautioned that April’s 2.5 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) growth occurred thanks to an additional Friday and Saturday, which are generally busier days for air cargo business. April 2015 also avoided the “Easter-effect,” which depressed air cargo figures from last year. The report concluded that, “April showed remarkable similarities to trends noted in the first quarter,” suggesting that extant market conditions are holding for the time being.
Meanwhile, the maritime research firm Drewry noted that the nearly 1-point rise of its index came in the wake of “four consecutive months during which the index declined over 20 points after peaking in October.” Their outlook anticipated, “airfreight pricing to remain under pressure, with further deterioration anticipated into the Northern Hemisphere’s summer months as more passenger aircraft are brought into service to support the peak tourist season.”
Worldwide dollar yields for air cargo fell, month-over-month, by 0.5 percent, with the Americas continuing their drop in volume, according to World ACD. Volume increases in China outpaced other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, however y-o-y Chinese yields were down again. Hong Kong and Shenzhen posted negative y-o-y volume growth in April. The report noted the significance of “strong yield deterioration from Hong Kong, to Europe and North America in particular.”
Perishables and pharmaceuticals underpinned growth in air cargo performance, posting 2.52 percent, y-o-y, in April. Last month also saw 1.4 percent, y-o-y, growth in general cargo and 6 percent in non-general cargo. Data cited by the report saw perishables up by 4.8 percent, y-o-y, and pharmaceuticals by 12.3 percent. For perishables, North America became the top grower (+14 percent), while South America, a traditional leader in this category, continued to lose market share over the last months. Meanwhile, the Middle East and South Asia (MESA) region continued to erode Europe’s position as the leader in pharmaceuticals, registering 16.6 percent growth to the latter’s 7.3 percent, y-o-y.Like This Post


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Jul 02, 2021 (IAM Newswire via COMTEX) -- Bumble Inc /zigman2/quotes/224422770/composite BMBL +1.37% continues to deliver as pandemic continues fading away. The very first women-making-the-first-move dating app will open its first cafe and wine bar on July 24 [th] . Bumble Brew will be located in NYC and will welcome daters, networkers, and friends.
Welcome to Bumble Brew
Its brick-and-mortar debut was first announced two years ago as slated to open in fall 2019 in Manhattan's SoHo but permit issues and then the pandemic delayed its launch. Bumble Brew is a partnership between the tech platform, which went public in February following a $2.15 billion IPO, and Pasquale Jones, the Italian power-dining room from Delicious Hospitality Group. The space will be outfitted in Bumble's signature yellow. It will contain an 80-seat dining room, plus a cocktail bar, patio seats, and private dining room. Eventually, there will be events like the ones that have taken place at Bumble Hive, the pop-up precursor to Bumble Brew that offers seminars, along with food and drinks.
A tweaked concept
Originally, Bumble Brew was focused on "date-friendly" food meant for sharing, meaning no sauce-laden burgers, spaghetti or any dish that had the potential for embarrassment that could make the first date even more stressful. But the cafe has been reconceived as a "safe space for healthy and equitable relationships and connections." This equates to a more robust dining experience for people who have been stuck at home too long. Interestingly, despite the popularity of online interaction during the pandemic, the company perceives an uptick in real-life interaction.
Lunch menu will be predominantly Mediterranean and vegetable-focused menu with dishes like morel mushroom omelets and grilled baby romaine with green goddess. There will be a dry-aged cheeseburger at the bar--and yes, even such potentially messy pastas as spaghetti with summer zucchini and squid ink. Breakfast will include ricotta with bee pollen and plums, and wild greens with a runny egg. There will also be an ambitious coffee program. To sum up, the choice of the menu ended being based on letting conversation flow.
The first quarter of 2021- the positives
For its first quarterly report since going public, Bumble exceeded Wall Street estimates by generating $165.6 million in revenue with 2.7 million paying users for the fourth quarter, up 32.5% from the fourth quarter of 2019.
The first quarter of 2021- the negatives
Despite extremely strong YoY comparisons, recent quarterly results have shown stagnant sequential growth. Paid user growth, a precursor to increasing revenue, has also slowed considerably. Despite having exploded by over 20% in 2020, growth slowed to less than 4% in the first quarter on a sequential basis. The current slowdown aside, Bumble failed to convert strong pandemic-related growth into positive earnings, generating net losses throughout 2020. The massive positive earnings result in the first quarter was attributable to a tax benefit rather than to improved operating performance. Taking that part out of the equation, it generated a net loss of $113 million.
The all-day dining spot will initially open for breakfast, then for lunch on July 31 [st] with dinner beginning on August 7 [th] . The original expansion plan of opening includes a second location in Austin, Texas, where its headquarters are located.
The beauty of dating is that it is often a multidimensional process. Although it is increasingly originating online, that is only one part of the equation as people eventually need to meet up in person, despite the pandemic creating unique circumstances. But what we all saw is that it can never be the whole thing, let alone replace physical contact so the latest move of the dating powerhouse seems like a step in the good direction. During the latest earnings call, Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd stated that friendship seems to be the next area of growth. Bumble BFF and Bumble Bizz for platonic and professional connections are already integrated within the company's offerings as adjacent services but it will be interesting to see they develop and hopefully, contribute to the company’s figures.
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Chicken Farmers of Ontario’s artisanal chicken program continues to grow, with 2018 participants close to double the first year of the program, launched in 2016.
The program was created after calls for the CFO to be more responsive to demands for chicken produced locally, using methods alternative to conventional broiler barns.
Why it matters: The program allows farmers to fill local markets, but they also have to maintain biosecurity and food safety protocols, helping protect the rest of the provincial flock.
“The communication we’re getting from CFO is that they’re really happy with the program and they want it to grow,” said first-year Artisanal Chicken Program participant Brittney Livingston, who, along with her husband Andrew Mazurka, raised 780 meat birds on their farm near Hillsburgh in three separate batches between spring and fall of 2018.
CFO committed to eventually set aside five per cent of Ontario’s annual market growth for artisanal chicken.
The application Livingston and Mazurka submitted for 2019 requested doubling that production, and given the success of their first-year artisanal chicken endeavor, Livingston can foresee doubling that again in the future.
Producers who comply with CFO’s biosecurity and food safety protocols and have their production and marketing plans accepted, can raise between 600 and 3,000 birds over one year. Marketing options, according to CFO policy, include “farm gate, farmers’ markets, specialty butcher/grocer, specialty restaurants and online/home delivery.”
The initial 2016 application process saw 80 non-quota-holding producers approved. Last year, the total number had almost doubled to 149. The numbers are spread evenly throughout the province, a fact that was particularly heartening to local food advocates in much of northern Ontario, where quota-holding broiler production is non-existent.
“Across Ontario, artisanal chicken farmers are successfully satisfying consumer needs for variety and small batch-inspired options,” CFO communications and marketing manager Kathryn Goodish told Farmtario.
Livingston and Mazurka didn’t step far outside conventional practices they knew from past experiences growing up on and working on dairy, beef and egg farms. When planning the construction of a barn on their property to house five horses in 2016, they factored in chicken-raising potential by including additional space at the rear of the building.
“We don’t have any specific label that we apply, like ‘organic’ or ‘GMO-free’,” Livingston said. She stressed, though, that their production methods do differ from conventional broiler barns in terms of natural lighting and natural ventilation.
“What we do like to say is that we raise our chickens in the way that we believe they’ll be the most healthy. We like to say they’re happy chickens.”
The program, though, did open the door for the production and marketing of chickens with non-conventional labels.
Katrina McQuail fits into that category. The Lucknow-area certified organic farmer was one of the original program applicants approved back in fall 2015.
McQuail was initially wary that requirements brought by CFO to the program might reflect a bias toward large-scale production. The smallest of Ontario’s quota-holding broiler producers, she notes, might raise 20,000 or more birds per flock.
But having now experienced three years of CFO-mandated paperwork and two on-farm visits by CFO auditors to assess compliance with biosecurity measures, she outlines a willingness of the supply management organization to join with the farmers in growing into the program.
“They have been making some modifications to the requirements,” McQuail said of the CFO rules, to reflect the realities of small-scale production. Plus the paperwork, she discovered, isn’t much more than what she’s accustomed to in maintaining certified organic status.
Information sharing a priority
Regardless of the specialized label (or lack of a label) attached to the packaged chicken, said Livingston, there has developed a sense of unity among artisanal chicken program participants. This was evident, she said, during a day of workshops hosted by the CFO in Alliston at the beginning of November.
Although invited guest speakers included Aviagen’s Dr. Scott Gillingham addressing “Early Chick Performance” and poultry celebrity “Mike the Chicken Vet” (McKinley Hatchery’s Dr. Mike Petrik) talking about humane euthanasia, the most lively discussion ensued during panel discussions featuring artisanal producers themselves.
“People just love to talk about their chickens,” Livingston said. “Sure, everybody’s farm might be different, but we all have the same sort of goal in mind. We all want to have healthy animals and produce food that’s good for you.”
Artisanal is often seen as an evolution of the CFO’s Small Flock Growers Program. Many current artisanal producers, including both McQuail and the Livingston/Mazurka team, had previous experience raising a maximum of 300 meat birds for family, friends and neighbours through this farmgate-only, no-advertising-allowed approach.
The small flock program, though, remains essentially unchanged under the rebranded title the “Family Food” program.
According to Goodish, “the Family Food program is not intended to be used by commercial farmers and is designed for personal consumption.”
The CFO communications manager added there are more than 15,000 registered small flock growers in Ontario with an average annual production capacity of 60 birds.
The biggest factor in the transition from the Small Flock program to Artisanal Chicken production is the ability to interact with potential consumers. For Livingston, it took only a printed flyer placed at a nearby on-farm market, along with some creative social media posts, for a flood of interested consumers to speak for virtually all of the family’s original placement of chicks.
McQuail was able to begin to satisfy a huge demand for chicken among the on-farm and Goderich Farmers’ Market customers for beef and lamb from her family’s Meeting Place Organic Farm. In the past, they could offer only a limited number of birds and only if the customers asked for it.
Some program participants wonder about the ability of small-scale poultry processors in Ontario to keep up with what seem to be growing demands.
Meeting the specific requests of those consumers, though, dictated that both families must move beyond the “Small Flock” approach of processing. Reaching out through a CFO-managed closed Facebook group of artisanal chicken producers, Livingston was told repeatedly their best option if they want to provide more than whole, frozen birds would be a midwestern Ontario processor located more than a 90-minute drive away.
“The processing part is a bit tricky,” she said of artisanal chicken participation, a sentiment shared by McQuail. Indeed, both identified processing limitations as the biggest challenge of their enterprise.
Livingston now drives past three other small-scale processors when travelling to and from that often-recommended option, and the waiting list is so long they’ve already booked their 2019 and 2020 processing dates even though they don’t have confirmation about how many chickens they’ll be approved for through the CFO application process. McQuail, too, has booked her farm’s 2020 dates, at a different processor than Livingston’s because their requirements for further processing have also increased since joining the artisanal chicken program.
“This isn’t to diminish those other (processing) plants. They do a great job,” Livingston said. “But they don’t do further processing…. (And) if you want (your chicken) to look good whether it’s fresh or frozen, as whole birds or cut into pieces, there really isn’t any other option.”
McQuail believes local chicken processors, too, could benefit from modifications to food safety and biosecurity requirements so they’re more suited to small-scale businesses. She identifies that as a possible next step in allowing the artisanal chicken program to continue to grow.
For now though, despite her initial misgivings about joining a program governed by a large-scale supply management organization, she’s satisfied.
“It really feels like (CFO) wants it to be successful.”
For information on the program, visit the Chicken Farmers of Ontario website.


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How bad is sugar? Try really, really bad
Tasty, unhealthy substance "has caused greater loss of biodiversity on the planet than any other single crop"
The World Health Organization recommends keeping sugar consumption to below five per cent of daily caloric intake, yet the fact that most North Americans consume far more than this on a daily basis continues to make headlines and is even the subject of a viral video lecture.
Writer Sarah MacDonald spoke with Elizabeth Abbott, senior research associate at Trinity College and author of Sugar: A Bittersweet History, about the history and the far-reaching impact of the Western world’s sugar consumption.
There has been a lot of news coverage in recent years about the negative impact of sugar consumption on North Americans’ health. How bad is sugar for us really?
It is very bad if too much is consumed, and too much isn’t very much. Sugar is still targeted as the main cause of dental decay, although flossing and brushing might counter its effects. Sugar stands accused as well of complicity in contributing to obesity and hence the terrible duo of type 2 diabetes and heart disease that obesity triggers. It does this in delicious but dangerous combination with fats such as butter or carbohydrates like flour and cereal, creating chocolate bars, breakfast cereals and other instruments of obesity.
It also does this through soft drinks. The soft drink is the world’s primary source of sugary calories, and Coca-Cola alone accounts for one billion of a calculated 47 billion beverage servings human beings consume daily.
As obesity rates soar, so does the type 2 diabetes it so often sets off. Medical experts identify sugar as an accessory. It contributes to obesity although sugar itself causes neither diabetes nor heart disease.
Sugar remains cheap in the United States. Its accessibility coupled with its deliciousness – not to mention its ubiquity – make trying to persuade over-indulgers to cut back their consumption very difficult. Sugar-laden junk food is particularly seductive to children, the newest victims of type 2 diabetes.
Worldwide, an estimated 30 million people had diabetes in 1985. By 2000 this number had risen to 171 million, and the WHO expects this to double to at least 366 million by 2030. Raging diabetes will burden health care systems, erode the labor force, hobble military enlistment and transform the families of unwell diabetics.
Are all types of sugar created equal, or are some kinds more detrimental to human health than others?
In any but modest quantity, no type of sugar is healthy. However, the producers of the various varieties resort to “spin” and imply that their type – sugar beet or sugar cane or high fructose corn syrup or whatever – are healthier than the others. For example, the cane and beet people argue that a teaspoon of their sugar contains only about 15 calories, is all natural, is fat free and satiates hunger while high fructose corn syrup may “go straight to fat,” though this is not scientifically the case. Biochemically, they are pretty much the same and that’s how the body responds to them.
How did we become so hooked on sugar? When was it popularized?
Sugar was once the luxury of nobles and the very wealthy – they did fantastic things with it, including making sugar sculptures unparalleled today. The price of sugar plunged lower and lower and soon sugar was deemed a necessity rather than a luxury or discretionary item. As sugar trickled down to the lower classes, it was served in new forms: confectionary, candy, ice cream, cake, cookies, puddings. English cooks sweetened wine and added sugar to meat and other main course dishes.
Sugar became the opiate of the people.
The invention of the Mason Jar contributed to the need for cheap refined white sugar, used to can fruits and vegetables instead of brown sugar or molasses. It also introduced much more sugar into people’s diets.
The invention of freezers helped popularize ice cream and made it part of even modest homes.
The 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri facilitated the fast-food revolution, with sugar a chief component – root beer, Dr. Pepper, ice cream served in cones (making it portable) – a revolutionary change in eating culture. Before, eating-on-the-go was considered vulgar. After the Fair, it was embraced as convenient and efficient.
Candy was a huge commodity because it targeted children as consumers. Penny candy was a venue of capitalism, with penny candies meant to attract children who could afford them – a vast range of choice was available and children were encouraged to consider, choose and spend on candy.
The candy and chocolate industry fuelled cultural changes and put sugar at the heart of all celebrations – Christmas, Easter, birthdays, weddings, Halloween. In wartime, soldiers got gifts of candy to remind them of home.
What are some of the effects the Western World’s demand for sugar has on the wider world?
Sugarcane (but not sugar beet) has caused greater loss of biodiversity on the planet than any other single crop because planters have destroyed so much habitat to plant it. It is also the "thirsty crop" – it requires vast amounts of water and, because cane culture uses so many agricultural chemicals in the form of fertilizer, disgorged wastewater pollutes adjacent fields and water sources.
Cane culture has killed off millions of animals and plants, including monkeys and birds – at least 16 kinds of parrots.
In Florida, Big Sugar, the term for most of the sugar industry's major companies, has devastated the Everglades – and politics have trumped environmentalists so that huge sugar companies – (notably the Fanjul Brothers who also own La Romana sugar plantations in the Dominican Republic) – can continue to plant and ruin the Everglades.
Coral reefs exposed to the detritus of cane field runoffs are now bleached to the point of no return.
Do you think we do enough to regulate sugar intake and nutritional labelling in Canada?
First, let’s remember that after huge amounts of effort, Canada mandated that warnings about tobacco’s lethal effects had to be printed on cigarette packages. How effective are they? Do young people resist the “coolness” of cigarettes because of those scary labels? Does warning people really have much of an effect?
If people know about the dangers of sugar, some may be guided by their knowledge to cease and desist eating the product, or to eat much less but I’m not optimistic that it is a great help. Not eating prepared foods is absolutely the best way to go, but I can’t fool myself. That’s a long shot.
Canada is beginning to take labeling seriously. But you can’t equate “sugar intake and nutritional labeling.” The government can regulate the latter but not the former, alas.
Infographic above created by Mel Racho using Lollipop designed by Paulo Sá Ferreira from the Noun Project; Birthday Cake designed by Marcela Abbade from the Noun Project; Mason Jar designed by Brandosaur.us from the Noun Project; Sundae Float designed by Olive Q Wong from the Noun Project; Gumball Machine designed by Straw Dog Design from the Noun Project; Calavera designed by Simon Child from the Noun Project; Soda designed by Blaise Sewell from the Noun Project; Parrot designed by nikki rodriguez from the Noun Project; Bar Graph designed by Scott Lewis from the Noun Project; Heartbeat designed by hunotika from the Noun Project