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Baby boomer health concerns are just the beginning of what drives vitamin sales.
Which vitamin will give me energy?" "I don't eat right, and I'm tired all the time." These are just a few of the comments that pharmacist Ann Greene routinely hears from patients when they ask her advice on which vitamins to take.
The comments are consistent with results of an exclusive Drug Topics survey, "Over-the-Counter (OTC) Vitamin Recommendations for Patients," conducted online during the first two weeks of August. The survey asked pharmacists a series of questions about OTC vitamins, including how they counsel patients on OTC vitamin choices, the specific products they recommend and how vitamin sales contribute to the bottom line at their stores.
Survey results from the 323 respondents indicate an increase of vitamin sales. In fact, 73 percent of respondents reported that their pharmacies are selling more vitamins today than they were a year ago.
Stacey Swartz, PharmD, Senior Director of Pharmacy Affairs for the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) said in the association's annual survey of nutraceutical products sold by its members that during the past five years vitamins ranked very high – around 89 percent in member responses – as niche products.
Respondents' answers indicate OTC sales for the average retail pharmacy account for 18 percent of their stores' gross revenues. According to respondents, if pharmacies had the resources to counsel patients, sales could be much higher than that. Limitations on time and resources restrict what pharmacists can do. Respondents reported that on average, pharmacists counsel only 22 patients weekly on OTC vitamin selections, spending an average of less than four minutes with each patient.
Cindy Mende, RPH, explained, "I would definitely think that if a store had a pharmacist that had the time to consult with patients on the OTCs, they would sell more. In this day and age, most companies expect the pharmacists to churn out more prescriptions with less help."
Mende said that when she managed a pharmacy that was adequately staffed, she was able to be out on the floor and spending time in consultation with patients interested in OTC products. "I probably consulted 25-plus people a day, and I am sure the vitamin and OTC section was a much larger percentage of sales," Mende said.
Swartz said that this tends to be more of an issue in a chain store. "Pharmacists generally don't have the time to counsel on anything," she said. "The independents I know have real active niches in this [vitamin sales]. They have dedicated staff who can talk about all the medications, their interactions, and what they are used to treat for, and provide the science behind it."
Pharmacists are more educated about the role that vitamins play in patients' health and wellness. Part of their licensing board exam now requires pharmacists to be tested on nutraceutical products. "I had to know what a drug-to-drug interaction was between conventional pharmaceuticals and say St. John's wart. So with your newer graduates, they have had more of the learning experience, because you had to study it for your boards," Swartz said.
Baby Boomers: Health Concerns Drive Growth
The growth of vitamin sales is really a combination of factors. An aging population, a more health-conscious society, and a movement toward a "greener" way of life are just some of the reasons respondents think vitamin use is on the upswing. "Advertising" and "consumer awareness of the benefits of vitamins" were two of the most common responses to the question of what is driving the growth of vitamin sales. "Patients' increased awareness of health issues, the perceived need for vitamin supplementation, and advertising," one respondent said.
Another respondent answered, "Doctors' and pharmacists' recommendations to patients to improve overall health, plus the aging baby-boomer patient population, which is much more aware and proactive about their health today."
Many respondents reported that patients believe that they can correct their health problems by taking just the right pill. "Patients believe that there is a one-pill cure for not sleeping and eating right," pharmacist Ann Greene said.
Mende echoed this sentiment. "As the population ages, you have a bunch of baby boomers who are trying to hold back aging, so I think we are selling more vitamins than we were a year ago."


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Amazon eventually takes down fake books claiming to be written by Jane Friedman. Prosecraft removed after AI and copyright allegations.
Amazon to close Book Depository. IPA welcomes Internet Archive ruling. Twitter takes on Substack, and can AI commit libel?
In this week's Self-Publishing News Special, ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway takes a look at the shortlists for this year's Selfies Awards.
International Publishers Association publishes InSPIRe initiative; Ingram to entre the UK wholesale market.
Internet Archive and its National Emergency Library sparks piracy claims, print sales in crisis while Storytel capitalises on digital boom
ALLi members Clare Flynn and Jemma Hatt win the 2020 Selfies Awards, and the Internet Archive gets into trouble over accusations of piracy
Several ALLi authors are among those on the shortlist for the first selfie Awards, and threats of digital sales tax in the US.
Poetry is taking the publishing world by storm, and new players enter the blockchain sphere while Kindle page read payments dwindle.
A date has been set for an end to net neutrality rules, Open Library launches an embed feature for bloggers, and Amazon considers expansion into the Arab world.
Nook and iBooks get a makeover, Rakuten Kobo partners Walmart, and a new prize for thrillers opens its doors to indies
ALLi's Self-publishing news looks at what the vote on net neutrality means for you, the reversal of Patreon's plans to charge fees on funding, and the Society of Authors' complaint against Open Library.

domain: news


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Sneaker and streetwear resale platform StockX revealed the opening of new authentication centers in Hong Kong and Toronto.
Along with the debut of its Portland, Ore., Authentication Center, the company has opened three locations this quarter, growing its global network by 50 percent.
The resale platform, which surpassed $2.5 billion in lifetime gross merchandise value this June, described its authentication centers as “critical nodes within the StockX supply chain network.” Along with advancements such as its proprietary All-In Pricing feature, it said, the additional locations enable lower fees, reduced shipping costs and faster delivery and payout options for local buyers and sellers.
Though Stock X customers in Canada and the Asia-Pacific region have had access to the StockX catalogue since 2016, the company said the new centers provide Toronto and Hong Kong customers access to an enhanced end-to-end customer experience.
“Planting a stake in the ground in these two fast-growing markets—each with a rich history and longstanding ties to sneaker and streetwear culture—represents a pivotal step in cementing our position as the world’s leading resale platform for current culture products,” StockX CEO Scott Cutler said in a statement. “This move enables us not only to meet the high demand we’re seeing in these markets, but to provide our global customer community with the highest level of service.”
The Hong Kong facility further expands the brand’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region, one of the company’s fastest-growing markets. According to StockX, sell-side transactions across the region increased 500 percent year over year in the third quarter. In Hong Kong, they jumped 1000 percent, it said.
Sales from Canadian sellers grew by more than 150 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period last year. The Toronto location marks the company’s first non-U.S. authentication center in North America.
Worldwide, the platform said it saw a record 25 million monthly visitors in the third quarter.
With the addition of the Hong Kong, Toronto and Portland locations, StockX’s global network now includes nine authentication centers. The diversity and liquidity of its global marketplace, the company said, allowed it to remain open throughout 2020 and achieve record-breaking sales.
In addition to global expansion, the resale platform said it remains focused on category diversification. Since launching with sneakers, apparel and luxury accessories, StockX has added collectibles, quickly expanding category that includes high-growth items like trading cards and electronics.
“Whether expanding our presence globally, exploring category diversification or rolling out innovative partnerships and product features, we remain committed to scaling in a way that authentically connects with customers in every part of the world,” Cutler continued.
In its second-ever snapshot report, released this July, StockX said May and June were its biggest buyer months ever, with the average resale price for its top 500 sneakers increasing 6 percent between February and June. At the time, StockX said it had 18 of its top 20 sales days of all time (excluding promos and holidays) in the second quarter.


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Saif Ali Khan Has Become A Joru ka Gulam
Uploaded by: MoviezAddA
on Sat, 22 Mar 2014 15:07:20 IST
After having settled with Kareena Kapoor's strict prohibition over on-screen kissing, dear hubby Saif Ali Khan now considers Kareena's mantra over also charging his fees on any of his projects! Wondering what makes us say that? Well, according to the recent buzz, Saif was recently been roped in for endorsing a deodorant brand that was new to the Indian market and well, to much of surprise he not only agreed to promote the brand, but further also slashed his fees from whopping 4.5crores to as low as 1.5crores! Whoa...that's a lot of difference na? Now though reports suggest that Saif's pricey demand had lost out on several ad deals and hence this decision, but you never know...maybe our Bebo is swirling her mantra! Remember, she too had recently lowered down her fees for Green Tea? Well on this note, do tell us what do you think of this story in the comments section below and for more updates, don't forget to subscribe to Bollywooduncut!
After having settled with Kareena Kapoor's strict prohibition over on-screen kissing, dear hubby ... Show more


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Battlefield 2042, the latest installment of the shooter by DICE and Electronic Arts, is getting closer and closer to entering the beta phase so that the most curious and interested can get their hands on this title with a view to a launch in october this year. Although it is a game highly anticipated by the community of gamers in the world, it is also for those users who do not play fair and resort to “hacks”.
Lately the problem of cheats has become more important, so much so that Call of Duty: Warzone It has become a far cry from the fun you used to have. Standing players and even streamers have been scared away before the scourge of hackers, to the point of migrating to other similar games como Apex Legends.
More from Battlefield
Battlefield 2042 in the crosshairs of hack providers
It is known of the existence of certain websites where applications to execute hacks or cheats within very popular games are marketed. Recently it became known that one of the largest providers of this type of software has seen an increase in traffic in its Battlefield section, this information came through Tom Henderson, a well-known content creator, who shared the following comment with his followers of Twitter:
“I spoke to a hack vendor recently regarding the Battlefield 2042 cheats already being hyped and more.
He replied, ‘Yes, that game is screwed up. We’ve seen a 400% increase in web traffic and registrations between August and July, a lot of that coming from searches for BF 2042 ‘. “
Everything would indicate that hackers would already be anticipating the release of the game and probably use the beta tests that EA has announced as a testing ground to see if their applications are well calibrated.
Both the developers at DICE and the company in charge of publishing the game, Electronic Arts, must take action to assure players that they will enjoy a fair gaming experience. If you do nothing, it is likely that many will end up being chased away and the launch of Battlefield 2042 will be marred by users who do not know how to play fair.


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Magazine lists 55 billionaires in Africa
Majority of super rich come from Nigeria and South Africa, reports financial magazine Ventures Africa
Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote is named by Ventures Africa as the richest man in Africa
The number of African billionaires is far greater than previously estimated, with leading financial magazine Ventures Africa revealing there are at least 55 people in this category in its latest super-rich list for the continent.
Of the billionaires named, the majority are from Nigeria and South Africa, the continent’s economic powerhouses.
“Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt lead the pack with the highest number of billionaires at 20, nine and eight respectively. Algeria, Angola, Zimbabwe and Swaziland only have one billionaire each. In all, there are 10 African countries represented on the list,” the bi-monthly magazine states.
In addition, the “Richest People in Africa 2013” list includes three women – Mama Ngina Kenyatta, the mother of Kenya’s president; Isabel Dos Santos, the Angolan president’s daughter; and Folorunsho Alakija, a Nigerian oil tycoon and fashion designer.
The continent’s richest man is Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote, a manufacturing tycoon who has amassed a fortune of $20.2 billion (€14.85 billion) over the past three decades.
Harvard-trained businessman Allan Gray was listed as South Africa’s richest man, with a fortune of $8.5 billion.
“This media-shy South African moneyman controls two investment companies that collectively manage over $50 billion in assets,” Ventures said.
The oldest billionaires are Kenyan industrialist Manu Chandaria and Egyptian property tycoon Mohammed Al-Fayed, both aged 84. The youngest billionaires are Mohammed Dewji of Tanzania and Igho Sanomi, a Nigerian oil trader. They are both 38 years old.
The groups’ average age is 65 and its combined fortune is estimated at $143.88 billion, giving each member an average net worth of $2.6 billion.
“Africa’s richest people derived their fortunes pursuing a variety of business endeavours, including financial services, mining, construction, energy and retail,” the magazine says.
Previously it was thought that Africa had far less super-rich individuals, with US financial magazine Forbes estimating last year that there were only 16 billionaires on the continent.
Ventures founder Chi-Chi Okonjo told the Financial Times he believed there were twice as many billionaires in Africa than his magazine had managed to unearth.
“I am sure that there are more billionaires than those 55, but discussing wealth is still taboo in Africa,” he said.
These latest revelations could spark a surge in debate about inequality in Africa, which appears to be growing despite the improved economic performance achieved by countries across the continent over the past 10 years.


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WELSH food hero Conrad Davies will give local producers a taste of what it takes to succeed in the marketplace at a conference this month.
He will serve up his own recipe for success to food producers from across North East Wales at the Northop Hall Country House Hotel on Tuesday, January 31.
And Wales the True Taste Champion 2011-12 Conrad, the managing director of two Eurospar stores in Blaenau Ffestiniog and Dolgellau with a Spar store also in Pwllheli, will also be on the lookout for new suppliers for his successful chain.
The North East Wales Food Conference, organised by rural regeneration agencies Cadwyn Clwyd and Northern Marches Cymru,starts at 5.30pm and as well as Conrad Davies other key speakers will include Lawrence Washington of Porthmadog’s Purple Moose Brewery and marketing experts Amanda Daniels of Koogar Digital Marketing and Russell Ferguson from the Wales the True Taste Mentoring Programme.
Cadwyn Clwyd agri-food officer Robert Price said: “North East Wales has some of the richest and most diverse food and it really is the garden of Wales so it has everything going for it and this conference aims to help our producers find new customers.”
Anyone interested in attending the conference, which includes a free buffet, should contact Caroline Dawson by calling 01978 298384 or e-mailing firstname.lastname@example.org by Wednesday.
There will be two follow-up Wales the True Taste marketing workshops at Northop Hall Country House Hotel on Thursday, February 2, on effective telemarketing for food and drink producers from 9.15am to 4pm, and on Thursday, February 23, on effective selling.
To register contact Bethan Sian Jones on 01691 830189 or email email@example.com.


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Alibaba’s logistics unit Cainiao is speeding up the development of driverless delivery vehicles. On April 19, the company released photos from the road test of its self-developed driverless van. According to local media reports (in Chinese), the company said autonomous driving in logistics has matured, and they plan to start putting their commercial mass-produce driverless delivery vans on the road by this year, “Tech node” announce.
On the same day, Cainiao’s president, Wan Lin, said on his Weibo account that Cainiao is optimistic about implementing driverless vehicles in logistics. Lin touted, “Cainiao ET lab is not setting a limit on the number of new recruits, we want all the big shots!” Established in 2015, Cainiao ET lab is the company’s R&D unit that focuses on the development of emerging technology and applications in logistics.


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For those in the U.S. still waiting for contactless to arrive in a big way, an article in Banking Exchange suggests the waiting will continue. There’s not real indication yet that contactless is being embraced, despite its adoption overseas:
Part of its slow adoption can be seen in the incredibly dynamic payments arena, fraught with competing technologies such as EMV, proprietary digital wallets, mobile advances, and wearables. Contactless simply has been swamped by competing technologies striving for dominance.
Another part of this technology’s slow adoption arises from consumers already perceiving their current means of payment—cash, checks, credit cards, and debit cards—as being familiar, ubiquitous, and, frankly, good enough.
(Periodically, the payments industry must remember that consumers’ world doesn’t revolve around how they pay for things.)
The article suggest that the issues with EMV may eventually create a reason to adopt contactless:
Again, ironically, the (Smart Card) Alliance argues that contactless payments could in turn ease the pain that comes with EMV transactions, namely the perceived increased time needed.
The perception of both cardholders and merchants is that inserting a card, optionally entering a PIN or signing for the transaction, and waiting for authorization seem to take a lot longer than just swiping a card. Contactless EMV transactions, however, are perceived to be much faster than contact transactions, while still maintaining the high EMV security standard.
It appears however, that the industry is choosing to fix the contact chip through initiatives such as MasterCard’s M/Chip Fast or Visa’s Quick Chip rather than taking the route of enabling contactless which, among other tasks, would require card re-issuance (again) with a more expensive chip.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
Read the full story here


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CHICAGO — A recall has been issued for a popular set of children’s pajamas sold at Target.
About 120,000 of “unicorn cozy” pattern Cat & Jack pajamas that were sold between October of last year and March of this year have been recalled.
There are no reports of any injuries, but the set does not meet the government’s flammability standard and pose a risk of burn injuries to children. The pajama bottoms are ivory with black unicorns and black stars. The pajama set is 100% polyester and was sold in children’s sizes XS, S, M, L and XL.
If you purchased these, you can return them to Target for a full refund.
For more information visit the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission website.


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You might, occasionally, look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Do these pants go with this shirt?” but you probably don’t give the same kind of attention to the way your outfit coordinates with your smartphone. Thanks to a collaboration between LG Electronics and some Canadian fashion designers, that could soon change.
Earlier this month, the maker of the LG Velvet 5G launched its Time Capsule Collection, which includes everything from bucket hats and T-shirts to a tie-dye tracksuit and a battery-powered backpack. The result could begin to shift thinking in the way we accessorize an ensemble to include the digital devices that are now with us for the majority of the day.
While individual pieces of the Time Capsule Collection will be available through the respective designers’ web sites, LG will showcase it in a virtual event to be hosted on its Instagram channel next week, on Sept. 23. Participating won’t simply offer a chance to browse merch, however: LG will one dollar up to $5,000 for every like or comment a designer receives that will go to a charity of their choice.
For Hayley Elsaesser, a designer whose contributions to the Time Capsule Collection include a bomber jacket and pants in bright colours and vivid prints, collaborating with LG was an opportunity to stretch a different kind of creative muscle. It also didn’t hurt that the LV Velvet has shades of pink, her favourite colour.
“I was inspired by the illusion sunset at the back fo the phone, which from different angles looks like a lot of different colours,” she told Swagger. “In high school, I also used to doodle in notebooks and stuff, and I wanted to mimic that concept with the print — that sense of personalization that resonates or a lot of creators.”
Elsaesser’s work is in stark contrast with the Sully & Son Co. x LG VELVET 5G TECHPAC. The bag includes an external charge port so smartphone owners can enhance its all-day battery life, but is rendered entirely in black.
“It’s kind of like (Haley) is the sunshine, I’m the darkness. I wear black a lot,” explained George Sully, who noted that there are grey cues on the LG Velvet as well and suggested that the TECHPAC harkens back to a time when almost every phone was of a similar shade. “I wanted to make something I knew that I could identify with, not just stick a logo onto a bag.”
The designers didn’t think purely in terms of aesthetics, but took time to get to know the LG Velvet in more detail. Elsaesser, for example, praised its stabilization features for video, which she has already used to shoot her own content. Sully, meanwhile, was impressed with the device’s ultra-high resolution camera, which includes a 48MP sensor to reduce “noise” and capture more details in a photograph.
“It’s just a game-changer. I’m not a super-phone techy guy, so for me, when I buy a phone, I go straight to the camera. If the camera’s good, then I’m all in.”
Though LG provided the designers with some high-level details about the Velvet and what it is trying to accomplish, Sully emphasized that there was never any explicit direction in what they were supposed to produce.
“They were more like, ‘Give your own perspective,’ and we did,” he said. “It’s us. It’s our vibe.”
That kind of creative trust was appreciated — and not always the norm, Elsaesser added.
“Sometimes in a brand collaboration there will be this strict criteria, and it can be a bit harder to work with that. It begins to feel like you’re just doing a graphic design job,” she said.
As for their charities of choice, both have opted for causes that support the Black community. Show your appreciation for Elsaesser’s work, for instance, and money will flow to the Black Legal Action Centre. In Sully’s case, it made sense to try and support an initiative he’d helped launch himself: Black Designers of Canada, an index of local fashion talent that has already grown to more than 160 listings.
LG’s virtual event, which will include a performance by Sean Leon, will also feature a tie-dyed track suit created for the Time Capsule Collection by Beurd Clothing.


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Ohio officials said they would allow early voting in the final three days before the Nov. 6 election, reversing their original plan after losing a fight at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The high court, in a win for President Barack Obama, declined Tuesday to intervene in the case.
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60% off running shoes and apparel at Nike


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WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cyabra, a data visualization software company that uncovers disinformation and empowers brands, today unveiled its latest innovation in fighting the spread of disinformation. Protecting global brands, international media outlets and the public sector, Cyabra’s solution uses advanced technology to identify fake profiles, manipulated images and deepfakes transmitted across the digital realm to root out bad actors.
Using machine learning infused with NLP, Cyabra identifies behavioral patterns typical of fake profiles such as bots, trolls and sockpuppets. This powerful lens provides brands and media with the resources to understand narratives, discover trends and uncover more-in-depth insight into what drives consumers, helping companies make smarter decisions. The solution also uncovers bad actors bent on influencing public opinion and election campaigns.
“We believe that words, when misplaced, can be as powerful as guns or nefarious drones. In the digital world, all it takes is one rumor and 200 fake online identities to cause a Fortune 500’s stock price to plummet,” said Dan Brahmy, Cyabra CEO and Co-Founder. “As the tech community works to curb the negative effects of disinformation, we are pleased to offer our solution to aid in the fight.”
In addition to providing social media impact and authenticity analysis, Cyabra is the pioneering leader of deepfake detection technology. The solution focuses on detecting generative adversarial networks (GAN)—a class of machine learning that bad actors use to create realistic images and videos. Cyabra’s never-before-seen type of brand protection offers reputation management and ensures customers’ trust in the face of bad and fake actors seeking to negatively influence the public or manipulate videos and images. Cyabra’s SaaS platform is already in use at global brands, multinational mass media companies and the public sector.
Founded in 2018, Cyabra has raised nearly $4M from Tier 1 venture capital firms and is currently wrapping up its latest funding round. The company is led by a team of world-renowned information warfare and offensive cybersecurity experts.
“In the age of social media and fake news, there are billions of raw conversations taking place around the globe that, with the right tools, enable invaluable discoveries,” said Brahmy. “Cyabra unravels these hives of activity, offering brands a solution to understand consumers and reach their true audiences.”
Cyabra’s advanced disinformation detection platform protects global brands, media outlets and the public sector from fake content and accounts in today’s evolving digital world. Cyabra breaks through the layers of social media within minutes to connect dots and measure impact. The platform’s powerful lens offers global brands and media the ability to understand narratives, discover trends and reach audiences. Founded by a team of leading information warfare experts, Cyabra’s executives use their experience to reverse engineer the technology of bad actors and study online media trends, helping global brands and large news outlets understand their audiences and counter disinformation. For more information, visit cyabra.com.


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Stephen Mileham, the former general manager of Donnington Valley Hotel & Spa, has joined glh Hotels to take over the running of two of the Thistle Hotels properties.
Stephen, who took up the post in April 2018, will manage the group's west London Thistle properties, Thistle Kensington Gardens with its 175 bedrooms, as well as the historic Thistle Hyde Park which has 54 bedrooms.
Tasked with growing the revenue of the two properties, both of which have recently had their food and beverage offering updated with a new, fresh menu and in-room service, Stephen will focus on building the hotels' room, F&B and M&E sales.
Recent Appointments at GLH Hotels Management (UK) Ltd
30 August 2018 — With eight years' experience at glh Hotels Steve Cane, the former general manager at Amba Hotel Charing Cross, has been promoted to General Manager of sister hotel Amba Hotel Marble Arch. Equipped with over 30 years' experience in the hospitality sector, he knows what is needed to run a great hotel and is looking forward to celebrating the individuality of the property.
21 August 2018 — Pedro Da Silva, the former General Manager of Holiday Inn London - Brentford Lock, has joined glh Hotels to take over the running of Amba Hotel Charing Cross. Attracted by the brand's brilliant reputation and the inspiring central London location, Pedro has joined glh Hotels with a variety of hospitality experience across three continents ranging from Rooms Division, F&B and Revenue Management - and was also awarded General Manager of the year in 2016 by former employer, RBH Hospitality Management.
2 March 2018 — Former General Manager of Thistle City Barbican, Paul Knightley, has been promoted to Group Operations Manager for the Thistle, Thistle Express and every hotels brands, reporting directly into glh Hotels Operations Director, Mike Magrane.


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ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) - It looks like The Original Deep Fried Cheese Curd stand at the Minnesota State Fair is not going down without a fight.
Co-owners Dick and Donna Mueller introduced deep fried cheese curds to fairgoers in 1975 when they opened their stand on Dan Patch Avenue. Earlier this month, the Muellers announced they were retiring after 42 years in business and that the stand would be closing.
But, there may be more to the story.
Dick and Donna’s son, Tom Mueller, says he has been trying to work with the Minnesota State Fair to keep the stand open and in the family.
Mueller published an open letter to the Minnesota State Fair on Tuesday. In it, he says he submitted an application to the State Fair to continue running the family’s stand, but was told they had decided to “go in a direction other than continued sale of the cheese curds” at the site.
Now, he’s asking them to work with him to find a way to stay.
“Can you imagine a Minnesota State Fair without cheese curds?
Neither can I, but that’s how it was before my family fried up the very first batch there in 1975.
Now fairgoers eat more than 2.6 million cheese curds every year!
It’s a tradition we and our employees are proud of starting and one we’d love to keep up from our booth on Dan Patch.
Unfortunately, you’ve decided we can’t do that.
You wrote to me April 5 — more than a year after I submitted my application to continue running our family’s stand— and said that closing our business and forcing us off the fairgrounds “is in the best interest of the State Fair and fair guests.”
Our sales represent roughly 20 percent of all cheese curds sold at the fair and our employees and customers alike return year after year, so I don’t know whose best interest you have in mind.
I don’t think this is right and I want you to reconsider.”
Mueller is not alone in wanting The Original Deep Fried Cheese Curds stand to stay open on Dan Patch.
After hearing that the stand would be closing, cheese curd fans started a change.org petition to #SaveTheCurds. The petition currently has more than 1,000 signatures.
At the end of the letter, Mueller makes an appeal to “all the lovers of cheese curds, state fair traditions and doing the right thing.” He asks supporters to write to the Minnesota State Fair on social media and tell officials to #SaveTheCurds.
You can read Mueller’s full letter here.


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The 18-24 demographic may be one of the most powerful demographics out there, but marketers struggle to effectively reach this demographic. It’s one that is always talked about in numbers, but what it really should be called is the ‘college demographic’. Not everyone in this demographic is necessarily in college, but regardless of that this time is a pivotal one because a new independence is born. During this time, children split from parents and become their own consumer. Sure they may have a few brands they cling to out of nostalgia, but the most exciting thing for them and marketers is that their parents aren’t doing the choosing for them anymore. They are on their own. It’s what makes this the best time to reach out to them, because they are establishing their own identity apart from the family dynamic. More and more students are spending time online, whether through PC, mobile or tablet, as an eMarketer survey finds that 28.4 million Internet users in this age bracket access the Internet in some way at least one time a month http://bit.ly/iBZvyd. This makes it the best place to get their attention, but not enough people are taking advantage of that. Namely, colleges. Mashable’s Dan Klamm points out Four Ways Colleges Can Take Their Social Media Presence to the Next Level. His first point is coordinating strategy across campus. Personal acknowledgement across social media channels and referral back to university departments, in response to what’s happening with students and alumni, puts a positive and inviting spin on them while driving more resources back to their bottom line (student recruitment, student retention and financial resources). His second point, investing more time in education and training, refers to offering classes or webinars about services such as LinkedIn, having recruiters connect alumni as well as connecting alumni with students, etc. Lastly, his final two points offer up other ways for giving the university more of an appealing voice: using students and the university president as social media ambassadors.
Not enough companies reach out to students either, and that is where the brand partnership program of textbook rental company Chegg comes in to the picture. Chegg’s brand partnership program is really a daily deals program http://bit.ly/j553Wj. Think about it, college students, most in a new town or city with little knowledge of their surroundings. Daily deals programs are a great way to let them know about your business and turn them into customers. Plus it’s an underserved piece of the daily deals market. College students are important to brands, because that is where their relationship with brands tends to start. On the flip side of those that are struggling are those who have been successful. Notably, Facebook, Victoria’s Secret, Apple, American Eagle, Red Bull, Zipcar and Hewlett-Packard according to Angela Bright http://bit.ly/oilUL6. Facebook started out as a student directory to connect fellow students, now it’s a social media backbone and connects people of all ages as well as connecting businesses to customers. Victoria’s Secret is another example, parlaying it’s success with women’s clothing into a line of loungewear for female students tied to their universities. Apple, in changing the way we consume and share music, has changed the college experience. Music is important to college students, and Apple has come up with a variety of ways for them to customize, arrange, share, and play their music. American Eagle has combined on-campus ambassadors with coupons and free flip-flops on move-in days as a way to target students from day one on campus. Red Bull, Zipcar and Hewlett-Packard use a combination of social media, mobile marketing, student representatives and samples to entice students. All of these companies have found a way to reach the college demographic. The college demographic is not to be overlooked when developing your target audience, as it is one of the most crucial to your brand’s success. How will you target the college demographic? That is up to you.


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Activision Blizzard is facing still more legal action over its labor practices
. As Game Developerreports
, Activision Blizzard workers and the Communication Workers of America have filed a complaint
with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the game developer of using coercion (such as threats) and interrogation. While the filing doesn’t detail the behavior, the employee group ABetterABK claimed
Activision Blizzard tried to intimidate staff talking about forced arbitration for disputes.
Companies sometimes include employment clauses requiring arbitration in place of lawsuits. The approach typically favors businesses as arbitrations are often quicker than lawsuits, deny access to class actions and, most importantly, keep matters private. Work disputes are less likely to reach the public eye and prompt systemic change. Tech firms like Microsoft have ended arbitration
for sexual harassment claims precisely to make sure those disputes are transparent and prevent harassers from going unchecked.
© Allen J. Schaben via Getty Images
Irvine, CA – July 28: Several hundred Activision Blizzard employees stage a walkout which they say is in a response from company leadership to a lawsuit highlighting alleged harassment, inequality, and more within the company outside the gate at Activision Blizzard headquarters on Wednesday, July 28, 2021 in Irvine, CA. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
It’s not clear how Activision Blizzard intends to respond. We’ve asked the company about the complaint. The NLRB has yet to say if it will take up the case.
The gaming giant has taken some action in response to California’s sexual harassment lawsuit, dismissing three senior designers and a Blizzard president after they were referenced in the case. It has so far been reluctant to discuss structural changes, though. The NLRB complaint might intensify the pressure for reform, and certainly won’t help Activision Blizzard’s image.
If the NLRB rules in our favor, the ruling will be retroactive and we will set a precedent that no worker in the US can be intimidated out of talking about forced arbitration.
— ABetterABK (@ABetterABK) September 14, 2021


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Fire authorities are warning people to check their heaters and appliances, with the start of winter. They say Queenslanders need to be more vigilant in the cooler season.
Samantha Cheney reports.
Queensland Fire and Emergency Services are urging people to check their appliances including all heating devices.
Insp Kevin Reading, Hendra Fire Station: “In Queensland last year, 541 fires started in the winter months. 171 of them were in Brisbane.”
And he says it’s not just about having a fire alarm but also having a fifteen second evacuation plan.
Although winter officially begins today, there’s been little sign of it so far but experts say that’s about to change.
Tony Auden, 7 News Meteorologist: “Overall, apart from the rain, we’re looking at conditions getting a little bit cooler and closer to average, probably just above average right on the coast, and close to average inland, as a result of that extra cloud from the rainfall. So it’s definitely going to feel cooler, we’ve had a very very warm autumn.”
Today also marks the first day of winter mid-season sales.
It’s been a mild lead up to winter, but retailers are confident the cooler conditions will boost sales.
Dominique Lamb, National Retail Association: “Retailers are effectively planning about 12-18 months out for seasons. Most of the time they’re very aware of seasonally warm winter periods, and they will only stock a certain amount of winter clothes.”
So get ready to grab a bargain and snap up your winter warmers now.
Samantha Cheney, QUT News.


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Africa Rising Narrative.pdf
Africa is home to six of the world's fastest growing economies, the fastest growing, working-age urban populations, and increasingly powerful consumer classes. Africa's economic development is also driving investments in infrastructure. The United States' President's Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa estimates that African states will spend between US$50 billion to US$90 billion yearly on infrastructure projects that offer an average rate of return of 29 percent.
Do you strive to solve Africa's biggest challenges when it comes to agriculture, and to transform as a leader? @africaleadftf, in partnership with @africamanager, is offering the Executive Leadership Course for Africa's Food Security. To apply click here.


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Microsoft Surface Laptop and Surface Pro Deemed As A 'Glue-filled Monstrosity', Proves They're Nearly Impossible To Repair
Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro at separate events last May this year. Both laptops are powerful devices as they are made using many custom parts, which could make them difficult to repair. According to reports, iFixit has taken its ability in a teardown to discover and dismantle just how hard it is to fix both devices and has also documented the process.
When the Surface Laptop was launched, Microsoft put emphasis on the details of the design and how the use of metal, cloth, and glass all worked well together to try and deliver a one of a kind experience. However, with this experience, there is the disadvantage of having a laptop that is nearly impossible to fix or repair. iFixit said, "The Surface Laptop is not a laptop. It's a glue-filled monstrosity. There is nothing about it that is upgradable or long-lasting, and it literally can't be opened without destroying it."
As for the Surface Laptop, which seems to be the same case, earning a repairability score of zero. Since the laptop is not meant to be opened or fixed, it required from iFixit people to cut the Signature Alcantara material-covered keyboard to access the internals of the laptop. Once in, the major components such as the CPU and RAM are soldered to the motherboard, that makes replacing the parts impossible. iFixit explained that it is extremely difficult to poke around the insides.
iFixit also took the opportunity to pull apart Microsoft's new Surface Pro and does earn a repairability score of one of out 10, trumping the Surface Laptop's zero. "display removal procedure is simplified by the use of thin foam adhesive and a fused display", iFixit noted. So, if there's something needs to be fixed, the display assembly first needs to be detached or removed, however, that can cause damage to the product.
Mac Computers Aren’t Secure As We Thought, Ransomware Has Been A Creeping Problem
Mac users are being warned about new variants of malware that have been created specifically to target Apple computers.
Galaxy Note 8 vs iPhone 8: Specs Comparison
Two of the most highly anticipated smartphones are set to dominate the mobile market this year.
The Long Wait Is Over, 2017 Honda Civic Type R Is On Sale
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Yahoo-Verizon $4.5B Deal: CEO Marissa Mayer Resigns; Is It The End Of Yahoo?
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Hold Better Meetings: Microsoft Team's 'Together Mode' Lets You Be In The Room Where It Happens
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Elon Musk’s Brain Microchip Neuralink Will Allegedly Cure Depression and Addiction
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A Leaker May Have Confirmed The Release Date Of 'Resident Evil Village'
A leaker who has been reliable in the past regarding Resident Evil may have revealed the release date of Resident Evil Village.


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Saif Ali Khan will now not only endorse Oxemberg but also the parent brand Siyaram suitings and shirtings along with the ace cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Rahul Akkara, President – Siyaram Silk Mills, content with the association between the brand and the film star commented “We are delighted to have Saif Ali Khan as the brand ambassador of Siyarams Suiting s and shirtings. We have released this commercial for the forthcoming season. It will be played on local and national channels across India.”
Saif Ali Khan expressed his enthusiasm by stating, “It is really an ecstatic feeling to be associated with an Indian brand that has been in the industry for years together and has a very ethnic appeal to it. I look forward to capture the fabric space post being the face of their readymade apparel Oxemberg. Moreover, sharing the Siyarams parents brand’s endorsement space with Mahendra Singh Dhoni is itself a privilege.”
Siyarams has signed Saif Ali khan for the next 2-3 years. The brand has gone ahead and shot an exclusive TVC with him in Jaipur. Continuing the legacy of Siyarams, Saif Ali Khan has increased the class and niche to manifolds.
The latest TVC conceptualized and created by Makani Creative Pvt Ltd. India which once again captures the Indian sentiments of our progeny Coming Back Home and accepting the roots from where they started. In the TVC, Saif Ali Khan comes back to his house to surprise his mother for her birthday. The TVC highlights the bond between mother and son while showcasing the colours and the beauty of Rajasthan in the background.


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The date is set for the most anticipated event of the year. Hopefully this time, we won't be disappointed. The whole world has been waiting for the iPhone 5 ever since the release of the iPhone 4. We're crossing our fingers that on September 12th in San Francisco, the spotlight will be shed on the release of the world's most loved smartphone.
Apple have also confirmed the unveiling of new products so we're expecting a new iPod, and maybe a mini iPad? We already know that all the new products will be working under iOS 6, the newest most advanced software Apple has designed yet.
We can't wait! Save up what you have so you don't end up selling your kidney.


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Kate Middleton and Prince William‘s son is quite the trendsetter!
Prince George, 2, was photographed meeting Barack Obama and Michelle Obama while wearing an adorable white robe on Friday, April 22 — and his bedtime attire has already sold out!
The white and blue-trimmed bathrobe was originally sold for around $39 through the online British retailer My 1st Years. No need to fret quite yet, royal fans. The stylish piece can now be pre-ordered on the site!
Click through the gallery to see more cute photos of George and his parents meeting the Obamas!


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CHICAGO The American Medical Association stated on Monday it is going to ask state and federal well being authorities to analyze retail well being clinics akin to those supplied in CVS/Caremark shops, Wal-Mart Stores and Walgreen Co. for attainable conflicts of curiosity.
Listening to residents of low-income communities proved very important for selling them on the benefits of taxing sugary beverages, Grumbach stated. He skilled an aha” second when a member of a group group recommended that free water-filling stations she’d seen near yoga studios should be brought into her neighborhood, the place lower-revenue residents tended to quench their thirst with soda.
Some choices for providing fresh food in such food deserts” have been implemented on a small scale, like cellular city produce vendors that drive through metropolis streets providing apples, lettuce and carrots, August informed Reuters Health by e mail. BkCreative, thanks for you comments. When my friend advised me by sending me a hyperlink, I knew that I had to tell all people, including my mother-in-legislation whose mother (my kids’ nice grandmother) is affected by dementia. I hope that people tell all of their friends and family members. Such good information shouldn’t be stored a secret.
The study has already made news in Virginia, the place the governor is selling a plan to privatize the state’s government-owned liquor shops. Opponents have pointed to the results of Stockwell’s research, arguing that privatization could possibly be a hazard to public well being. The researchers had someone name 164 stores throughout the U.S. posing as a 15-year-previous girl desirous to shed extra pounds. Another individual called 244 U.S. stores posing as a 15-yr-previous male athlete concerned about energy training.
New York Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy informed Reuters that the newspaper has asked Apple to reconsider. Researchers analyzed information collected within the National Electronic Surveillance System from 2012 to 2014 on 26,062 non-pod related laundry detergent exposures and 9,814 pod-associated exposures in kids under age 18. So far, about 7 p.c of Americans have visited one of many estimated 500 retail clinics, in line with the Convenient Care Association, a group representing the clinics. I am attempting this myself with my relative. Hope you’ve got a chance to observe me, too. I write about this matter myself. good article.


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With three Federal Reserve vacancies, senators on Friday urged President Obama to name individuals "who will fight to protect the interests of the American middle class and small businesses." Instead of the Fed doing the big banks' bidding, the letter Senator Sanders drafted called for a cap on credit card interest rates, increased lending to small businesses that create jobs, curbs on outrageous executive pay, and the breakup of banks deemed "too big to fail." Sanders has introduced legislation to put a 15 percent cap on credit card interest rates. "Right now, the Federal Reserve has the authority to ban unfair and deceptive financial products. This can and should include a prohibition on usurious credit card interest rates and fees. Millions of American consumers and small businesses are paying interest rates as high as 35 percent on their credit cards. At the same time, financial institutions are able to borrow money from the Federal Reserve with virtually no interest at all. This is extremely unfair. We hope that you will pick nominees for these positions who will do everything within their authority to end the outrageously high interest rates that Americans are currently forced to pay."
To read the senator's letter to the president, click here.
To watch the senator read letters on this subject on the Senate floor, click here.


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[Aug. 25, 2020] - The following letter was submitted by ORLA to Metro Council in response to the delayed implementation of the Business Food Waste Requirement
Metro Council -
As you are well aware, the foodservice industry has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This virus scares many of our customers and workers from coming back until it’s safe. Employers are scrambling to try to pivot their business models and maintain enough cashflow to keep their employees’ jobs intact. People have poured their lives into their small business, only to see it jeopardized by something completely out of their control. It’s no surprise we’re seeing closure after closure.
The Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association commends Metro for taking action in response to these uncertain times. While the business food waste requirement has worthy goals, this pandemic calls for foodservice operators to dedicate all attention and resources available to protecting their workers and their jobs. By delaying the implementation of these rules, you are recognizing this challenge, and for that, we say thank you.
Our recommendation to Metro is to consider delaying implementation until all jurisdictions under Metro’s purview have entered Phase 3. The foodservice industry is built on hospitality and face to face interaction. We will not enter any sort of normalcy until our customers and workers feel safe enough to venture outside their homes and see friends and family. Until then, many operators will simply not have the resources in personnel, time, or financial capital to dedicate to this important business change. In the interim, we are more than happy to continue as your partner in providing educational opportunities to foodservice operators to help eliminate waste and reduce costs.
Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association
[Metro] Comment on implementation delay
On March 20, 2020 Metro temporarily delayed implementation of the Business Food Waste Requirement for 6 months in order to assess the effects of COVID-19 and to allow time make a permanent decision about the program. Given the breadth of impacts of the pandemic Metro has chosen to further delay implementation and is in the process of amending Administrative Rules to reflect this change.
Metro is seeking comments and feedback in relation to the implementation date change and resulting proposed changes to the Administrative Rules.
ORLA sent a letter this morning to Representative Nancy Nathanson, Chair, Members of the House Interim Committee on Revenue, and the Senate Finance Committee urging them to oppose Legislative Concept 2. Please see the following call to action and take action today, WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Stop the Tax Sneak Attack!
Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse, the Oregon Legislature is now set to pass an ill-conceived proposal that would effectively impose $225 million in taxes on Oregon businesses, including restaurants and lodging, struggling to recover from the staggering impacts of the COVID shut downs.
But instead of admitting this is a new tax burden on struggling businesses, they will say this is simply a technical change, impacting only a few wealthy Oregonians. That’s simply not true. Many Oregon businesses will lose much-needed cash if this tax increase moves forward.
Please contact the governor, your legislators, and the House Revenue Committee immediately and tell them THIS PROPOSAL ISN’T FAIR to thousands of Oregon employers struggling to survive – and hundreds of thousands of unemployed Oregonians that want to go back to work.
Email your legislators today and tell them this sneak attack isn’t fair. Tell them to oppose this backdoor tax increase. ACT NOW. The Legislature is set to meet in special session on Monday, and all signs are that this bad idea is set to be fast-tracked through the process.
OREGON HOSPITALITY FOUNDATION AWARDS FUNDS TO FOURTEEN RESTAURANTS FEEDING FRONTLINE WORKERS AND VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES DURING PANDEMIC
PORTLAND, Oregon– Updated August 3, 2020 – While the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting everyone, the hospitality industry was the first hit by closures and one that has been especially devastated by its impact. The Oregon Hospitality Foundation(OHF) is proud to announce awards to fourteen restaurants throughout Oregon that responded to the incredible need for food by creating innovative programs to help feed their communities – from essential workers to unemployed restaurant staff and food-insecure neighbors. In addition to the generous support from the Grubhub Community Relief Fund, OHF will donate a percentage of proceeds from its virtual event series, Takeout & A Movie, to support restaurants and tourism partners across the state that are making a difference in our communities.
According to the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association, as of April 2020 81% of restaurant employees (approximately 127,000 people in Oregon) had been laid off or furloughed. “Being of service is at the heart of the hospitality industry,” said OHF Executive Director Wendy Popkin. “The Oregon Hospitality Foundation is proud to help raise funds and contribute to family-owned restaurants across the state who are stepping up to feed people in their communities.”
OHF Hospitality Help Fund Restaurant Awards
The following Oregon restaurants received funds for their ongoing work to feed frontline workers, food-insecure citizens, and unemployed service industry professionals:
About Oregon Hospitality Foundation
The Oregon Hospitality Foundation (OHF) was established in 1992 and is a nonprofit 501c3 that supports the charitable relief needs and ongoing educational and training requirements of Oregon’s Hospitality industry. OHF’s partners include restaurants, lodging, attractions and other tourism businesses and organizations throughout Oregon. Recently, OHF created the Oregon Hospitality Help Fund as an emergency relief fund to raise money for its hospitality partners whose businesses and employees are struggling during the pandemic. To date more than ten restaurants have received funding to donate an estimated 11,500 meals. Oregon restaurants interested in applying for these funds can complete an online application here. For more information about supporting our work with a donation or sponsorship, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Lisa Hill, email@example.com, 503.730.8055


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Led by a strong year in the Canadian petroleum and coal product industry, Alberta’s annual manufacturing sales rose 13.6 per cent to $71.3 billion in 2017, according to a report released on Monday by Statistics Canada.
“The machinery industry, which supplies products to the oil and gas extraction sector, also posted strong growth in 2017,” said the federal agency.
In dollar value, sales jumped $8.5 billion in the province.
StatsCan said Canadian manufacturing sales increased by $36.4 billion or 5.9 per cent from 2016 to $648.9 billion in 2017.
“This was the largest increase since 2011, and it follows a 1.2 per cent rise in sales in 2016. The growth was led by the non-durable goods industries, particularly in the petroleum and coal products and the food manufacturing industries,” it said.
“Sales rose in every province and in 17 of 21 industries. The growth was partially offset by declines in sales from the transportation equipment manufacturing industry, especially motor vehicle manufacturing.”
Respected business writer Mario Toneguzzi is a veteran Calgary-based journalist who worked for 35 years for the Calgary Herald in various capacities, including 12 years as a senior business writer.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.


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Front-wheel-drive versions of the 2019 VW Golf should be more fuel-efficient than they were last year, but they won't be any quicker.
Even though they are divisions of the same company, the divide between Kia and Hyundai has never been wider than with the 2019 Kia Forte.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday vetoed a bill that would have made peer-to-peer car-sharing all-but impossible in the Midwestern state.
Bugatti Chiron Lego Technic life-size model
From Motor Authority:
Legos have remained the go-to building blocks for decades to exercise the freedom of creativity, and today, they're capable of producing some wild creations. Now, we can add a life-size drivable Bugatti Chiron to the list of insane builds.
The 2018 Formula 1 World Championship continues this weekend with the Italian Grand Prix at the legendary Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
It seems like most Lamborghini model names are associated with bullfighting. That's not true with all of Lamborghinis though, as the most famous example of moniker derivation lies with the Countach.
Overloaded Subaru Legacy with stuff on roof
From Green Car Reports:
Labor Day is one of the biggest travel weekends for all year, as Americans close out the summer and enjoy a last excursion before heading back to school.
In another step to show it's serious about building an electric car, Dyson, the British vacuum-cleaner maker, has laid out plans to build a test track in Britain.
Conventional cars manage better fuel economy every year.


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When it comes to its relaunch, Helmut Lang is going all out and taking on multiple sides of the arts and culture spectrum. With the forward-thinking Shayne Oliver onboard, the legendary label has linked up with Ethan James Green to shoot its 2017 fall/winter campaign and announced the “Re-Edition” initiative to re-release coveted archival pieces. Now, after previously revealing plans for the endeavor last month, Helmet Lung has formally announced a multi-discipline venture known as ”HELMUT LANG SEEN BY: THE ARTIST SERIES.” As revealed earlier today, ”HELMUT LANG SEEN BY: THE ARTIST SERIES” is billed as a ”year-long program featuring 12 visual artists.” Curated by Editor-in-Residence Isabella Burley, this latest effort from Helmut Lang is motivated by the brand’s legacy of collaborations and “re-contextualizes cult artworks as limited-edition posters, T-shirts and special products.” Every month will yield three works from each of the artists involved with the effort; at present time, the series’ first collaboration is set to arrive in Octobero of this year. The roster of artists chosen for “SEEN BY: THE ARTIST SERIES” consists of individuals such as Leigh Ledare, Boris Mikhailov, Peter Hujar, Keizo Kitajima and others.
You can check out Helmut Lang’s official Instagram trailer and post regarding the aforementioned series below.


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As soon as one orders a dish by scanning the QR code, robots start operating immediately by adding oil, fetching ingredients, and cooking at Dengel, a chef-free restaurant in…
Growth of the e-commerce market is expected to reach a value of $1.12 billion this year and $1.78 billion in 2025.
The value-added output of electronic information manufacturers with annual operating revenue of at least 20 million yuan expanded 9.9 percent year-on-year during the period.
For Nansha district in Guangzhou, a center for high-end manufacturing, the metaverse represents not just a fascinating concept but a whole new lucrative realm of business.
A slew of companies is already proclaiming Metaverse as the next big thing in innovation and looking to invest in the virtual world.
Mukesh Ambani will continue to be the Chairman of Jio Platforms Ltd, the flagship company that owns all Jio digital services brands.
The skin can be regenerated if damaged. It is likely to lead to the development of robots whose skin has a similar texture to that of humans.
The use of AI and big data is spreading rapidly, creating more situations, in fields such as image processing, cryptography and finance, in which mathematical knowledge is…
The white paper on China Mobile 6G network architecture is the first systematic architecture design in the telecom industry, China Mobile said.
The vast majority of operators, brokers, lenders and investors in cryptocurrencies are unregulated, with no key prudential tools against uncontrolled capital flights from crypto…


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Salesforce.com added to Top Picks List at FBR Capital After conducting checks, FBR Capital believes that Salesforce.com's deal momentum has been solid. The firm expects the company to grow high-20% or better in FY 15, and predicts that its margins will expand in FY15. The firm raised its price target on the shares to $75 from $66 and reiterates an Outperform rating.
News For CRM From The Last 14 Days
Check below for free stories on CRM the last two weeks.
Coca-Cola Enterprises may diversify into IT applications, WSJ says Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) is planning on selling information products that it has developed for its internal use, says the Wall Street Journal. Coca-Cola Enterprises is developing an application on a Salesforce.com (CRM) platform that it may begin selling this year or next, added the Wall Street Journal. Reference Link


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Texas businessman settles military food mislabeling case for $15 million
A Texas businessman has agreed to pay $15 million to settle federal allegations that he and his company cheated the government by selling old and potentially dangerous food to the U.S. military to supply combat troops serving in Iraq and elsewhere.
Prosecutors had alleged that Samir Mahmoud Itani and his company American Grocers Ltd. profited from the Middle East conflict by ripping off taxpayers and shortchanging U.S. soldiers in the mess hall. According to the government, Itani’s firm bought deeply discounted products whose freshness dates had expired or were nearing expiration. His workers then altered those dates and resold those supplies to the government for hefty markups, prosecutors alleged.
On Friday, Department of Justice officials announced that Itani, his wife, Suzanne, his brother Ziad and the company agreed to pay the penalty to settle the false-claim charges in this federal whistle-blower case.
Suzanne Itani, chief executive of American Grocers, said in a statement that the company denied any wrongdoing and that the settlement was a way to avoid lengthy litigation. She said that the company was “proud of the service and products it delivers to its customers” and that company officials “look forward to returning our full attention to serving our many loyal customers throughout the world.”
Samir Itani could not be reached for comment. According to property records, he owns a $2.2-million, 9,931-square-foot mansion with two elevators in an upscale Houston neighborhood.
Prosecutors said that Samir Itani, 51, and a tightknit group of family and business acquaintances sold at least $36 million worth of mislabeled food products to the government.
The shopping list was long and included potato flakes, salad dressing, produce, peanut butter, lobster and hamburger patties, according to the federal complaint. The supplies flowed out of Texas and to bases across the Middle East from about 2003 to 2006 during the Iraq war.
As the U.S. military presence grew in the Middle East, Itani’s business boomed. American Grocers shipped so much stale merchandise that the company bought paint solvent by the barrel and set up assembly lines to wipe out the old labels to make room for the phony dates, according to the complaint.
The Justice Department did not say whether any troops were sickened by the food supplied by American Grocers, or whether any of the food companies that sold items to Itani knew of any wrongdoing.
The civil settlement offers a window into the complex logistics used to get supplies to combat troops, and shows, according to investigators, how easy it is to exploit that system. The case is connected to a broader, ongoing inquiry by the Justice Department into the nation’s network of military food suppliers.
Last year, Itani pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy to defraud the government by overcharging for bogus transportation fees to ship the food. He is scheduled to be sentence in that case in U.S. District Court in Houston next month.
Prosecutors may have opted to pursue civil charges in the labeling case because the burden of proof is lower than in a criminal proceeding, legal experts said. The government has barred Itani, his wife and American Grocers from receiving any future federal contracts.
According to the civil complaint, Itani’s privately held American Grocers purchased staples nearing or past their “use by” dates from some of the country’s leading food manufacturers, including Kraft Foods International Inc. and ConAgra Foodservice.
After trucks unloaded the goods at the company’s warehouse, an assembly line of as many as 30 employees used buckets of acetone — a key ingredient in paint thinner and nail polish remover — black spray paint or a small tool to erase the expiration dates, according to court documents and the whistle-blower.
New dates were then printed out or stamped onto new stickers showing that the food had an additional nine to 18 months of shelf life, prosecutors alleged. The food was then packed into air freight or sea containers and sent overseas.
So much acetone was used inside the firm’s Houston warehouse that it “smelled strong” like being inside a nail salon, recalled Delma Pallares, a former sales manager and the whistle-blower in the civil case.
One invoice, filed as an exhibit in the case, appeared to show instructions to employees to alter the labels on 750 pounds of frozen trout, giving the fish another nine months of shelf life. As much as 2,500 pounds of frozen Jennie-O brand boneless turkey breasts appeared to have been given another year.
One order of Kraft cheese arrived already months past its use-by date, according to Pallares. New labels were put on the boxes, she said, before the cheese was shipped out.
“We are feeling very satisfied … that the filing has been unsealed and the public can view what we’ve been investigating for the past five years,” said Joel Androphy, Pallares’ attorney.
The complaint accused Itani, his wife and his brother of making false claims and using falsified documents to make those claims. The three and the company were also accused of violating the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and causing their customers to violate the act.
“Companies that provide supplies to our men and women in uniform must be held to a high standard,” Tony West, assistant attorney general for the civil division of the Justice Department, said in a statement. “We will be vigilant in protecting taxpayer funds from fraud, especially where the fraud relates to contracts meant to support our troops.”
According to court documents, American Grocers got its start at least 15 years ago by working with large grocery retailers and other firms that catered to American expatriates working in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East. In 2003, it began supplying food products to government contractors including Public Warehousing Co., the largest supplier of food for U.S. troops in Iraq and Kuwait.
A federal grand jury in Atlanta last year indicted Public Warehousing for what prosecutors allege was a “massive overcharging” of the U.S. government that may have cost taxpayers more than $1 billion. The company, which changed its name to Agility, has denied the charges.
Food safety experts say the civil case raises concern over quality control procedures for what is being served to military personnel, particularly those under the stress of combat.
“At best, you can say they were given spoiled food if it was not handled properly,” said Robert Brackett, former director of the federal Food and Drug Administration’s food safety center. Brackett added, “The military is a sensitive population. They have a limited source of foods they can trust, and this is one of them.”
Manufacturers put “sell by” or “use by” dates on their products to tell consumers how long they have until the food loses its best flavor. The dates usually refer to quality, not safety.
However, food safety ultimately comes down to an equation of time and temperature, said David Acheson, former assistant commissioner for food protection at the FDA under President George W. Bush. When exposed to extreme temperatures or other hazards over time, he said, contamination can occur or be exacerbated.
If food has spent several days at higher temperatures and the “use by” dates have been altered, “then you’re under the misperception that you have more lead time with it,” Acheson said. “But you don’t. You don’t know when your true starting point is.”


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HIROSHIMA, Japan, Feb 1, 2024 - (JCN Newswire) - Mazda Motor Corporation (Mazda) will accelerate its research and development of rotary engines (RE) that are adapted to the new era in its efforts to continue to deliver the joy of cars through solutions that are appropriate for the times toward the realization of carbon-neutral society.
The 'RE Development Group' has been reinstated in Powertrain Technology Development Department of Powertrain Development Division on February 1, 2024, preluding a sequel of the RE story. The new RE Development Group will continue to evolve RE used as generators, and will conduct research and development in areas such as regulatory compliance in major markets as well as the application of carbon-neutral fuels.
Commenting on the move, Director, Senior Managing Executive Officer, and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Ichiro Hirose said, "In Mazda's history, the rotary engine is a special symbol of our 'challenger spirit.' We are deeply grateful to all those who have supported RE to date, and are pleased to announce the rebirth of the organization that develops RE, the engine that has been loved by customers around the world. For the last six years, RE engineers have been part of the engine development organization where they engaged in the development of state-of-the-art internal combustion engine functions as well as the ultimate improvement in efficiency. Those engineers have broadened their perspective beyond the boundaries of engine systems, and have trained themselves to master the 'Model-Based Development,' which is one of Mazda's engineering strengths. This time, 36 engineers will gather in one group to make a breakthrough in the research and development of RE. In the age of electrification and in a carbon-neutral society, we promise to keep delivering attractive cars that excite customers with our 'challenger spirit.'"
The rotary engine is an engine with a unique structure that generates power by rotating a triangular rotor. Mazda was the first to install RE in the Cosmo Sport introduced in 1967, and for many years since then, Mazda has been working to improve performance in terms of output, exhaust-gas purification, fuel economy, and durability as the only automobile manufacturer to mass-produce rotary engines. In June 2023, the company resumed mass production of vehicles with rotary engines for the first time in approximately 11 years since the end of production of the Mazda RX-8 in 2012. Currently, the Mazda MX-30 e-SKYACTIV R-EV, the 12th model that mounts a rotary engine, has been introduced in Japan and Europe.
Mazda will continue to pursue the 'Joy of Driving' under its core value, “Human Centric”, and aim to deliver 'Joy of Living' by creating moving experiences in customers' daily lives.


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We’ve already read the tea leaves, and we can tell you CES 2016 will be more about evolution than revolution. To illustrate what we mean, here are the six big trends we’ll be seeing at the show this year.
Number one: VR! Virtual reality has been a CES staple for a few years, but 2016 will be a watershed year for the tech with the expected release of the Oculus Rift and further development by competing companies. Expect a lot of images of people with huge goggles strapped to their heads, possibly running into things. But also expect to hear details about how VR will be going mainsteam in 2016.
Next? Drones! CES served as the birthing nest for drones, and now that the tech is grown up, it’s really going to take off (bah-dum-dum). Expect some cool new features that make drones easier to fly, and controversial new features, like facial recognition. Also, we expect a pretty big announcement from GoPro you won’t want to miss.
Think smart home devices are impressive now? You ain’t seen nothing’ yet. The smartest home devices and appliances are going to get even smarter, and everything is going to be more interconnected. Your washing machine is going to order its own soap, your fridge is going to order your groceries, and your robot vacuum cleaner is going to be both security guard and butler. It’s not the Internet of things any more. It’s the Internet of everything.
Car tech will be bigger than ever this year, and it’s going to go places you never imagined, including inside your home. Expect to see home automation systems tied into your car’s infotainment system. Imagine using the controls on your dash to turn on lights, light up your smart grill … maybe even start you a warm bath. It should all be super easy, because the car will be driving itself! There’s going to be a lot more happening with cars, too, including new digital audio systems, heads up display technology, and more.
3D printers? Yup, they’re still a thing. But now that the kinks are getting worked out, hopefully we’ll see some more reliable, stable products hitting the market. Also, someone is going to try 3D printing some food, and you can bet we’ll be there to taste it, for better or worse.
Finally, it wouldn’t be CES without tons and tons of TVs — really big TVs, really thin TVs, and lots of 4K this and that. If that sounds a lot like what you saw last year, that’s because it is exactly what you saw last year. Only this time, there are standards that didn’t exist before, and manufacturers have had a chance to get some top-tier technology to trickle down to less expensive products. In fact, 4K Ultra HD TVs, in general, will be less expensive in 2016.
Aside from the TV’s themselves, though, we expect hear about all the new, speedier ways we can enjoy 4K content on the TVs. So perhaps the big news on TVs won’t be the TVs themselves, but how we feed them.
The show doesn’t officially kick off until tomorrow, but we’ve already got some sneek peek treats for you to enjoy. In fact we’ve got a huge crew on the ground getting you up close and personal with the hottest tech on the floor, right along with the announcement of our Top Tech of CES award winners. Prepare yourself for non-stop DT news coming from CES 2016.
- Where are they now? A look back at last year’s Top Tech of CES winners
- The best TVs of CES 2019, from 8K to 219-inch Micro LEDs to roll-up OLEDs
- Five smart home trends we expect to see at CES this year
- Apple TV 2019: Here’s everything we want from Apple’s next streamer
- QLED vs. OLED TV: What’s the difference, and why does it matter?


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Lexington, KY – Sept. 22, 2011 –Lexington Cancer Foundation, Inc., will present the first annual Wine, Women & Shoes event next month, offering Kentucky fashionistas the opportunity to sip and swirl select wines from the west coast, shop a marketplace dedicated to the fall’s best designs in shoes and accessories, and be dazzled by the 2012 spring designs of Badgley Mishchka in a fashion show.
The Wine, Women & Shoes fundraiser will take place Thursday, Oct. 6, 2011 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Keene Barn located at Keeneland. The event will benefit The Lexington Cancer Foundation, an organization dedicated to raising awareness and funds for cancer research. Annually, the organization makes significant grants available to worthy nonprofits and medical centers throughout the state. In addition, the event is the kick-off for Keeneland’s 75th anniversary and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Horses and Hope, First Lady of Kentucky’s Foundation which funds cancer screenings for uninsured equine industry workers.
The highlight of the Wine, Women & Shoes evening will be a fashion show presented by New York designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka. The designer duo are the creative geniuses behind the stylish evening wear and accessories of Badgley Mischka, named one of Vogue’s “Top 10 American Designers.” Guest will be wowed by the spring 2012 Badgley Mischka line, most recently viewed during New York Fashion Week. Following the fashion show, the designers will be on hand to meet fans and patrons.
Approximately 350 wine-savvy, fashion-loving women and men will gather to sip varietals from some of the country’s top winemakers and distributors, including Blackbird Vineyards, Jan Farris Winery, Wine Sisterhood, Onehope Wine, Valley of the Moon and many more.
Guest can also bid on silent and live auction items, including a Badgley Mischka costumed designed Derby outfit including accessories, and shop the latest trends in the multi-designer Marketplace and Men’s Paddock Lounge. Marketplace merchandise includes vendors from Lexington, Louisville and across the nation, including AJ’s Clothing, Artemis Boots, Badgley Mischka, Glasscock of Louisville, Keeneland Shop, Monkees’ of Lexington, Mod Boutique, Trillium, among others. Vendors are contributing top notch accessories and fashion pieces for the Key to the Closet raffle. One winner will take home all the contents of the closet.
Tickets are $100 per person and $150 per couple. VIP seating at the fashion show is $150 per person or $200 per couple.
The Lexington Cancer Foundation is a non-profit organization committed to raising funds for the care of cancer patients. The philanthropic mission of the organization is to create awareness and raise funds in the fight for the eradication of cancer. The Lexington Cancer Foundation is also dedicated to improving the quality of healthcare for cancer patients.
Wine, Women & Shoes is a national charity event that raises money for organizations across the U.S. To date over 70 events have been held to help net $7 million for Wine, Women & Shoes charity partners. In 2011, Wine, Woman & Shoes events are to be held in Tulsa, Okla., Seattle, San Diego, Naples, Fl., San Francisco, Portland, Buffalo, N.Y., Greensboro, N.C., Maui, Hawaii, and Orange County, Calif.
For more information on Wine, Women & Shoes contact the Lexington Cancer Foundation office at 888-388-2620 or log onto www.lexingtonfoundation.org.
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- Fanjoy is an e-commerce company that handles merchandise sales for top digital creators like Jake Paul, David Dobrik, and Tana Mongeau.
- Chris Vaccarino, the founder and CEO of Fanjoy, started the company by selling T-shirts for his brother's band in 2014, he told Business Insider.
- Around 2017, Fanjoy pivoted its business model to selling T-shirts and sweatshirts for YouTube creators and other internet stars, and the company began to build its presence in the influencer space.
- For some YouTube creators, especially those who are not advertiser friendly, merch has become a main source of income.
- Click here for more BI Prime stories.
In just two days last year, more than 6,000 people came to YouTube star David Dobrik's New York City pop-up event.
He ended up selling nearly 4,000 items of branded merchandise.
Dobrik's products were made through Fanjoy, an e-commerce company led by Chris Vaccarino, which has become the top name in influencer merch. Fanjoy has helped top creators like Dobrik (who has 16.7 million YouTube subscribers), Jake Paul (19.9 million subscribers), and Tana Mongeau (5.3 million subscribers) develop and distribute merch to fans. The company's website, Fanjoy.co, gets around two million unique visitors each month, Vaccarino told Business Insider.
Collaborations between top apparel brands like Nike or H&M and celebrities have long been a staple in the entertainment industry. But what Fanjoy does is a bit different. Its influencer partners have full creative control over their merch, which can cut across categories from T-shirts and scrunchies, to calendars and phone cases.
Fanjoy bills itself as a one-stop shop for these creators.
"It's a big draw, even for talent who hasn't sold anything before," Vaccarino said. "If we can get them plugged into our ecosystem and database it'll help sell more product for them and help them get up and running a lot faster."
Fanjoy is one of a few companies that work directly with internet stars in the merch space. Others include Killer Merch, known for working closely with Jeffree Star, and Mad Merch, which once worked with a variety of YouTube talent but has since scaled back in a strategy shift.
For some top creators, especially those whose content is not particularly friendly to advertisers, merch has become a main source of revenue. Logan Paul's merch line was estimated to earn about $10 million in annual revenue in 2018, according to Forbes (though the line was not with Fanjoy).
Dobrik's custom merchandise from Fanjoy makes up the majority of his income, he told The Wall Street Journal. The company helps him design, develop, and distribute a new collection of sweatshirts, T-shirts, and other branded items about once a month.
The current coronavirus pandemic has also shown how direct sales can stabilize an influencer's income in a time when advertising revenue decreases, and brands cancel influencer-marketing campaigns or put projects on hold.
Merch sales have actually increased over the last few weeks, Vaccarino said.
—christina perri (@christinaperri) September 7, 2015
How Fanjoy got its start
The company originally started when Vaccarino was on the road with his brother's band, "A Great Big World," selling T-shirts in 2014.
"They had a hit song called 'Say Something' and my brother asked me if I wanted to go on tour with them," Vaccarino said. "I said yes, and for about six months I was on the road with them selling merchandise and really saw the connection that my brother's band was having with the fans at each location."
From there, Vaccarino created a subscription box company for musicians and bands, and named the service Fanjoy.
He worked with artists like Hilary Duff, Pentatonix, and Christina Perri in developing album box sets for fans, or what Vaccarino calls "care packages from your favorite celebrity."
In 2016, Fanjoy worked with the "Dance Moms" stars Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler on a holiday-themed fan box, and the sisters' massive popularity across social media helped the product take off, Vaccarino said.
"I thought, maybe there's a bigger market that I'm just not seeing?" he said.
Shortly after, while scrolling through Instagram, Vaccarino discovered the world of influencer personalities, and he began reaching out to YouTube stars like Lucas and Marcus Dobre, known as The Dobre Twins online.
"I noticed they were getting so many likes and their engagement was really high," Vaccarino said, and that's when he connected with YouTube creator Jack Paul, who responded to his requests since many of the popular creators Vaccarino reached out to were (at the time) a part of Paul's YouTube collab group, Team 10.
From that moment on, Fanjoy pivoted its business model to selling T-shirts and sweatshirts for digital creators, and the company began to build its presence in the influencer space.
By the end of 2017, the company made the switch to selling just apparel and merchandise, and Vaccarino said Fanjoy made over $30 million in sales that year, up from $1.2 million in 2016. He declined to share more recent sales figures.
"It did really, really well," Vaccarino said. "The ease of creating a design and shipping was a lot easier than the care package business, so from there we started working closely with Jake and all of Team 10. It was a wild time [around 2017] to kind of launch a brand and see what we could build. Month over month the sales kept climbing."
Today, Jake Paul is a partner at Fanjoy, Paul told Business Insider.
Paul has sold merchandise around almost every event in his life, from relationships to buying a new car, and he even has a parody song targeting his audience to buy his merch.
Paul said selling merchandise was a "necessity" for digital creators who often have several streams of income, like YouTube ad revenue and brand sponsorships.
"It seems like an easy thing to sell merchandise, but it's actually an intricate business," Paul said. "It's all about the story that is being told around a product so the fans can feel like they are a part of something bigger."
Fanjoy developed major connections in the industry through word of mouth, and client introductions
One of the things that's made Fanjoy successful has been the relationships Vaccarino has built with digital managers, agents, and the talent themselves.
Some of Hollywood's talent agencies, like WME, UTA, and CAA, represent the top digital creators across YouTube, Instagram, and now TikTok. Along with their managers, who cover the day-to-day responsibilities, agents often help talent grow a larger business off social media.
"As I've been in the world for a little while, I've realized that everybody knows everybody," Vaccarino said. "I think word of mouth has been number one, and developing the brand over the last five years has helped as well."
Dobrik is managed by Jack Reed, the CEO and cofounder of Millennial Entertainment, and he is signed with the talent agency WME, working closely with agents like Alexandra Devlin in securing major brand partnerships.
In the beginning of Fanjoy's entry into the influencer world, creators would reach out to the company directly, or clients would be brought in with the help of Jake Paul, Vaccarino said. Fanjoy started working with Dobrik and his creator collab group, the Vlog Squad, around 2017.
"Having one of our talent intro us to another talent has always been the most beneficial," he said.
The process behind creating an influencer product
Fanjoy does the backend business, shipping, and fulfillment for the merch, and also sometimes creates promotional materials, like a promotional video for Sam Golbach, Colby Brock, Kian Lawley, and JC Caylen's "Merch Wars," or a custom shopping app for Dobrik's apparel collection.
"We take on all of that responsibility and leave them to kind of give design direction and aesthetic and really just help with the promo because they know their audience better than we do," Vaccarino said.
Fanjoy has an in-house design team that will sit with clients to brainstorm collection ideas, Vaccarino said. They plan collections around six months in advance, and with Dobrik they've released other products like a necklace for Valentine's Day and a disposable camera in a limited stock as a way to test out what the fans will buy.
Dobrik's assistant and childhood best friend, Natalie Mariduena, is in communication with Fanjoy on an almost daily basis helping with design concepts for future collections, Vaccarino said.
"Anything that relates back to the content, or David himself, will sell really well," Vaccarino added. "I don't think we are in the T-shirt or hoodie business, I think we are just in the people and community business and our job is to continue to innovate and put out products that might be out of the box, because that's what the fans want."
For more on the business of influencers, according to creators, agents, and managers, check out these Business Insider Prime posts:
2 of MrBeast's childhood friends explain what it's like to work on the YouTube star's team, from dropping $60,000 on a video to going on 'travel sprees': Two of MrBeast's best friends shared what it has been like to work for one of YouTube's most popular creators.
- Inside UTA's deal with TikTok star Charli D'Amelio and how the talent agency plans to expand her influencer business: We spoke to two execs at UTA, Kendall Ostrow and Greg Goodfried, about signing D'Amelio (along with her family), and what the agency looks for in a TikTok creator.
- YouTube stars Ethan and Grayson Dolan took us inside their fragrance company Wakeheart, which is launching a new line after selling more than 20,000 units in its first drop: The Dolans shared inside the process of creating an influencer-led product, and their ambitions for Wakeheart.
YouTube star Tana Mongeau's manager explains how they've built a money-making business despite controversy, including $40,000 from T-shirts of her mug shot: Mongeau's talent manager Jordan Worona spoke with Business Insider about the business behind controversial content on YouTube.


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This is the first time that Amazon is promoting external advertisers to place ads on its platform in India. It previously promoted only sellers and brands that sell products on its platform to advertise their listings.
Amazon has run campaigns with brands such as Citibank and Maruti Suzuki and is looking to acquire more large clients in the run up to the festive season. The ecommerce giant is pitching its large web and app traffic, and understanding of customer intent to drive high-quality leads for brands.
“It (click-out campaign) allows advertisers to use traditional targeting parameters such as demographic, customer purchase value and so on,” said Nihal Nambiar, the associate vice president, strategic solutions, at digital marketing firm iProspect. “These promotions will show up as regular display ads and when clicked, they go out to an external landing page.”
In terms of cost-per-click benchmarks, Amazon’s click-out campaign is a little more expensive than Google and Facebook’s digital ad products, but is cheaper than LinkedIn, analysts said. While Amazon’s web ads product has been available for years now, it hasn’t promoted it until now in India, while the option to show ads on its mobile app was introduced about 6 months ago.
Ecommerce platforms are being drawn to digital advertising largely because of “their scale, as well as their understanding of the commercial intent of a person, which Google and Facebook might not always have,” said Nambiar.
Amazon India isn’t the only Indian ecommerce player looking to make inroads into the large digital advertising market. Walmart-owned Flipkart has entered into a partnership with video-streaming platform Hotstar to help target consumers with more relevant ads on the latter’s platform.
Web analytics platform Similar Web ranks Amazon.in as the fifth most visited website in the country, after Google, Facebook, Youtube and porn website Xvideos. Flipkart takes the ninth spot on the list.


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NEW YORK, United States — Kate Spade Chief Executive Officer Anna Bakst will leave at the end of the year, parent Tapestry Inc said on Thursday, less than two years after being hired to turn around sales at the handbag maker.
Since acquiring Kate Spade in 2017, the fashion house has struggled with the brand's out-of-fashion designs that have weighed on efforts to sell its handbags at full-price to Millennial shoppers.
Same-store sales at the brand have dropped since the acquisition and plunged 16 percent in the latest reported quarter.
Tapestry, which also owns Coach and Stuart Weitzman, hired Bakst and Creative Director Nicola Glass from luxury handbag maker Michael Kors hoping the two could help revamp the brand's designs to pull shoppers back into stores.
In September, Tapestry replaced its Chief Executive Officer Victor Luis, who orchestrated the acquisitions of Stuart Weitzman and Kate Spade, with long-time Chairman Jide Zeitlin.
Chief Financial Officer Joanne Crevoiserat will take over on an interim basis at Kate Spade, Tapestry said.
By Uday Sampath; Editor: Sriraj Kalluvila


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Just two weeks ago, Citrix released the first version of its client hypervisor: XenClient. While promising, the product still presents raw edges and limitations, as Brian Madden detailed in an early, uncensored report.
While Intel vPro technology is not mandatory, contrary to what Madden initially reported (virtualization.info correctly reported that vPro is just highly recommended), it’s still true that XenClient Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) is significantly small. The biggest limitation is the complete lack of support for notebooks powered by the NVIDIA GPUs.
Citrix already stated its commitment to extend the HCL on the stage of the Synergy conference just ten days ago.
The company expects to introduce NVIDIA display cards support within the first half of 2011, according to an official reply published on the XenClient support forum.
In a follow-up article, Madden unveils additional details about Citrix plans to support multiple GPUs:
Xen’s Paravirtualization architecture abstracts the model for the devices. Citrix’s plan is to come up with abstract models for different GPUs. So today they can do that with Intel, so a single set of paravirtualization GPU drivers could work for many different Intel GPUs, but they can’t use that to make an Intel GPU look like an ATI or Nvidia GPU. But because these GPUs aren’t boot devices, you can always fall back to a generic graphics driver.
On top of that, Citrix is already working with Lenovo to support their laptops and desktops in future builds of the client hypervisor. Specifically, the two companies are developing support for ThinkCentre M Series desktops and ThinkPad X and T Series laptops.


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SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- MoSys Inc. today announced it has extended its collaboration with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. to include the company's one-transistor SRAM cell technology in TSMC's 90-nm (0.09-micron) foundry processes.
MoSys said it has already taped-out both its 1T-SRAM cell and new 1T-SRAM-R memory macro cell with error checking and correction (ECC), optimized for TSMC's 90-nm process technology. The basic 1T-SRAM measures 0.61 micron2 and the recently introduced 1T-SRAM-R cell is 0.52 micron2, which MoSys said is about half the size of the smallest announced 90-nm SRAM announced by Intel Corp. earlier this month (see March 12 story).
The 1T-SRAM-R macro is an enhanced single-transistor SRAM cell introduced early this year by MoSys, which shrunk the size of the memory circuit while adding ECC to the design for increased manufacturing yields, chip reliability and protection against "soft errors" as feature sizes shrink (see Jan. 28 story).
Sunnyvale-based MoSys said the collaboration with TSMC will enable early availability of 1T-SRAM memory designs with densities of 1.1 mm2 per megabit.
"We have already proven our 90-nm 1T-SRAM bit cell concept at TSMC," said Mark-Eric Jones, vice president of marketing and intellectual property (IP) at MoSys. "With embedded memory representing the majority of die area on today's SoC system-on-chip designs and increasing every year, designers require the earliest availability of the best high-density embedded memory technology on advanced processes. It is the single most important enabler for their next generation SOC designs."
MoSys and Hsinchu-based TSMC have been working together to offer memory cell technology for several process generations, starting at the 0.25-micron node.
"Highly integrated designs require more embedded memory, so we are motivated to bring the smallest available CMOS memory cell into production quickly," said Genda Hu, vice president of marketing at TSMC.
TSMC--the world's largest silicon foundry--has produced SRAM-based test chips using standard six-transistor SRAM technology as part of a new process technology R&D partnership with Europe's Royal Philips Electronics N.V. and STMicroelectronics. TSMC expects to move its new 90-nm process into pilot production by the fourth quarter of 2002 (see March 5 story).