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SPORTS MEMORABILIA AUCTION TO BE HELD AT THIS WEEKEND'S FSU HOCKEY GAMES
Proceeds After Initial Bid To Benefit The FSU Hockey Program
Ferris State University Athletics will be holding a sports memorabilia auction this weekend (Dec. 5-6) during the Bulldog Hockey team's two-game Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) series against nationally top-ranked Notre Dame.
The auction will serve as a fundraiser for the Bulldog men's ice hockey program with all of proceeds after the initial bid going directly to the FSU hockey program.
The silent auction, which will begin at 6 p.m. (EST) both nights, will be held in the lobby area of FSU's Ewigleben Ice Arena in Big Rapids, Mich. Fans and collectors will be afforded the opportunity to acquire not only Ferris State merchandise, but also items from three professional sports teams in Detroit (Red Wings, Tigers, and Pistons).
Some of the 50-plus merchandise pieces will be signed and unsigned from jerseys to photographs. The price range will be from $90 all the way to $600. The silent auction bidding will close at the beginning of the third period for each contest.
"We're excited to be a venue for this auction," said Ferris State Associate Athletics Director Jon Coles. "This is a tremendous opportunity for sports fans to acquire some unique memorabilia while benefitting our men's hockey program. With the Christmas Holidays just around the corner, this is an ideal time to purchase a special gift for the true sports fan."
The memorabilia is being provided by Twice Framing of Troy, Mich., which also conducts auctions in conjunction with Detroit Pistons' games. This weekend marks the company's initial attempt at conducting an auction at a college venue.


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With CES Debut, L’Oréal seeks to reinvent hair-dye application with the Colorsonic at-home device
This article was first reported — and published by Digiday sibling Glossy
L’Oréal is out to revolutionize a category of beauty it first invented: at-home hair dye.
On Wednesday at CES, L’Oréal is debuting a new at-home device called Colorsonic, which can be used to mix and apply L’Oréal Paris hair dye more easily and reliably than the DIY version of the last 115 years. L’Oréal first invented synthetic hair dye, with a product called “Aureole,” in 1907. As noted by Guive Balooch, global head of research and innovation at L’Oréal’s tech incubator, hair color formulation has since gone through significant innovation, but hair color application has not.
Balooch pointed to two big tensions in the current hair dye application process, across both home and salon usage. The first is the elaborate process of using an at-home dye, which involves donning latex gloves and mixing formulas to create a dye and dealing with the mess of application itself. The second is getting the right color in a salon, especially for those who have moved or are traveling.
“Colorsonic is a way to use technology to break some of the boundaries that people have when it comes to their fear of coloring their hair. That’s especially today, when we’re at home and want to do more things at home. We need to make people’s lives easier [when they] do it,” said Balooch.
For at-home hair dye, users can purchase a special cartridge by L’Oréal Paris (the first L’Oréal portfolio brand to offer Colorsonic dye) and place it into the body of the device, which then automatically mixes the color. The device then dispenses the color evenly across the hair via a comb-like feature at the other end.
Meanwhile, for salon usage, L’Oréal introduced a new AI machine called Coloright, which is about the size of a soda machine and functions as a measurement tool and color dispenser. First, colorists use a handheld measurement tool to scan clients’ hair to assess its history and health. They then use the Modiface AR app connected to the Coloright system to help clients choose a color out of 1,500 possible shades. Subsequently, Coloright personalizes and dispenses a dye formula. Color clients can access their formulas in any global salon with the device.
“We knew we could digitalize the [hair-dye] experience and make it possible. We hope to disrupt both home and salon hair color with tech,” said Balooch.
Though L’Oréal has worked on the device for the past seven years, its arrival comes after significant growth in the at-home hair dye market since 2020. According to data from The NPD Group, the at-home hair-dye category experienced a 17% lift in year-over-year sales between Jan. 2021 and Nov. 2021, and a 77% increase compared to the same time in 2019.
L’Oréal has attended CES as an exhibitor since 2012 when it launched its tech incubator. The incubator’s previous CES unveiling in Jan. 2021 was a water-saving sink specially designed for salons. That product is currently in 300 salons in France, and the company plans to launch it in a minimum of 10,000 salons globally by the second quarter of 2022. L’Oréal expects this sink to collectively save up to 1 billion gallons of water annually.
Balooch also noted that the Colorsonic cartridge uses 54% less plastic, compared to the usual at-home dye kits. Plus, the device comes with reusable gloves, thereby preventing up to 23 tons of plastic from being thrown away each year, if used by all L’Oréal Paris hair-dye users. Over the course of five years, L’Oréal tested the device on 400 people in multiple countries, and with different hair types and lengths, focusing on the ergonomic design and device performance.
“Our century-long, deep experience and leadership in hair coloration has allowed our researchers, data scientists and tech engineers to completely revisit and reinvent the hair coloring experience,” said Barbara Lavernos, Deputy CEO in charge of research, innovation and technology. “L’Oréal’s [tech incubator] leadership allows us to push the boundaries of tech multiplied by science for breakthroughs in more personalized, inclusive and sustainable beauty experiences.”
Colorsonic’s use will be contained to L’Oréal Paris products, at first, with distribution planned for the end of 2022 or the beginning of 2023. The retail price has yet to be determined.
Digiday+ Research: Instagram wins over Facebook for role in brands’ holiday marketing
Brands differ on how they use each marketing channel during the holidays -- even when it comes to sibling social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, Digiday+ Research found.
How — and why — Candy Crush is in the midst of a 10th anniversary brand refresh
In the years since Activision Blizzard acquired the Swedish game studio King in 2016, employees at the gaming giant have started to internally refer to their company as “ABK” — that is, Activision Blizzard King. But the corporation’s recent financial reports indicate that “KAB” might be a more accurate abbreviation.
Marketers bring Web3 to the FIFA World Cup with augmented reality, NFTs and virtual worlds
The month-long tournament, which begins this weekend, will be the first World Cup since it took place in Russia in 2018 long before “Web3” entered the global lexicon. Now, official and non-official sponsors are hoping to harness the hype with a range of NFTs, virtual worlds, augmented reality tools and other trendy tech.
SponsoredHow brands are measuring incremental performance on CTV
Connected TV is unique among other advertising channels because it combines linear television’s storytelling capabilities with digital marketing’s targeting and measurement. As more marketers leverage CTV advertisements to reach relevant and engaged audiences, they also want to understand the real value they are generating with their investment. Incrementality reporting and measurement allow advertisers to measure […]
U-Haul diversifies its social strategy to tell people it’s more than moving trucks
In recent years, U-Haul's in-house agency has been working to "better leverage social media for brand loyalty."
Google’s Privacy Sandbox is coming to Android
Google's MAID will be phased out, here's what you need to know.

domain: news


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You might prefer to focus on ways social media can add something positive to your life, but YouTube users will nevertheless upload peeks at humanity's darker side. The clips collected here all belong to one genre of viral video: holiday shopping gone wrong. Below you'll see Black Friday shoppers stretching (or outright breaking) the limits of socially acceptable behavior in search of outstanding retail deals.
Archives for December 2009
The convergence of social media and gaming is becoming harder to deny. The domination of the FarmVille Facebook game, the blockbuster acquisition of Playfish by EA and the rise of the iPhone as a gaming platform immediately come to mind as examples of social media's impact on the game industry. The latter especially interests us. In September, Apple SVP Phil Schiller shared some interesting stats on the iPhone and iPod touch as gaming platforms.
Today, AOL comes back on the NYSE following its spinoff from Time Warner (TMX) -- and the one-time Web titan is marking the transition with a rebrand. Gone is the blue AOL of old, replaced with goldfish, monsters, butterflies and the partially lower case "Aol" branding we previewed previously. These symbols represent themes on the site; pick one to change the color scheme and background. At the core of this new independent strategy: content, content, content.
Following Apple's acquisition of Web-based music service Lala, it didn't take much to connect the dots: Apple wants to take iTunes to the Web. Today the WSJ confirms as much, citing "people familiar with the matter." The Journal adds that the Web-based service would negate the need to download the iTunes software. You wouldn't need to download your music either; it could live on the cloud, accessible anywhere with a Web connection.
This makes perfect sense: Amazon is launching Disc+ On Demand, allowing customers who purchase selected DVD or Blu-ray movies to immediately stream their purchases through Amazon Video on Demand. Such movies can be streamed from the Web or downloaded to your TiVo, PC or Mac. The site reads: "When you purchase select DVD and Blu-ray titles from Amazon.com you will also receive an Amazon Video On Demand standard definition version as a gift with purchase.
With nearly 1.5 million followers on Twitter, JetBlue [@JetBlue] has mastered the formula for success on the micro-medium. With barely 60,000 fans on Facebook, however, the brand's social media savvy doesn't appear to translate on the world's largest social network. Rather than wait for their Facebook fan count to climb organically, JetBlue [Facebook Page] has just launched a carefully crafted campaign to engineer Facebook fan inflation.
Posterous has long supported group blogging functionality, which is 100 percent manageable via a clever and simple method: e-mail. Perhaps the one downside to Posterous group blogs has been that the original group creator's bio and information appears front and center on the group page. Today the super-simple blogging platform is remedying that and introducing the Group Profile.
The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is a great resource for any movie fan. Not only can you view showtimes and trailers, you can find out all those nagging details like: "Was it Gary Busey in that movie, or am I confusing him with Nick Nolte?" Or: "What Baldwin brother was in that awful movie with Cindy Crawford?" (The answer is Billy, the movie is Fair Game. We don't recommend anyone watch it.
On Monday, Google announced real-time search, integrating content from Twitter, Facebook and other news sources into search results. We've been waiting to see how Google's competitors would respond to the announcement and today Yahoo has given us an answer. In the next few hours, Yahoo will start integrating recent tweets directly into Web search results for hot topics.
Google's freshly launched real-time search is the big news of the week. And as it turns out, real-time search is not just limited to public searches on Google.com, but is also available to Google Search Appliance users. Now, if your intranet or Web site search is powered by Google's enterprise universal search appliance, you too can take in real-time tweets related to search queries. There are two key differences to point out between Google.com and Google Search Appliance.
While we understand that conflicts of interest are a serious matter in the judicial realm, a recent ban on friending between judges and lawyers on social networking sites does seem a bit extreme. The ruling, from the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee arm of the Florida Supreme Court, would prevent judges from adding lawyers who may appear before the judge as "friends" and vice versa on social networks like Facebook, MySpace, et al.
Incensed at Facebook's recent privacy changes? Had it up to here with your social networking virtual life? Kill it off with honor using the "anti-social network" Seppukoo. The site is a rather brilliant subversion of Facebook, offering users the ritual destruction of their virtual identities complete with a customizable memorial page. There's even a leaderboard showing off the top users, whose scores are determined by how many others in their network decide to Seppukoo.
The 2010 web will be real-time, it seems, but what's driving this trend, and how will it shape up? Which companies are showing the most innovation in the real-time space? How might real-time interactions reshape online auctions, blog comments, news creation and search? That's the subject of my CNN column this week. Check out the column at CNN.com >>.
Media giant Nielsen Co. is selling eight of its Business Media properties to e5 Global Media Holdings, a new joint venture between Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners. The deal should close by year's end. Adweek, one of the brands being sold off, reports that Nielsen has reached an agreement with the new media company to sell off the Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Backstage, Mediaweek, Brandweek, The Clio Awards and Film Journal International.
Business social networking giant LinkedIn has been keeping busy in recent months. After surpassing 50 million users, the company hooked up with Twitter, announced integration with Outlook and launched its developer platform. But while those changes and partnerships have been big news, the one change it announced that would clearly affect every one of its users was a redesign of LinkedIn. Revealed in early November, the redesign offered a revamped and cleaned-up interface.
Update: Twitter now says that part of the problem is due to issues with the Facebook API. Tweets from the Facebook app may not reach Twitter for now. - Is your Twitter timeline messed up? Are tweets delayed and being lost in the void of electronic space? It's not just you, Cadet - the entire Twitter timeline is delayed, messed up, and people are noticing.
Sometimes the smallest things make the biggest difference. Case in point, the undo/redo functionality that you find in most text editors and word processing applications. Accidentally delete an important section? Just hit CTRL+Z or CMD+Z to nimbly avoid document disaster. Alas, such has not been the case with Google Wave, which means one accidental maneuver could be quite detrimental.
A few years ago, who would have thought that 3D viewing and those dorky glasses that come with it would become a hot commodity once again? Not only are more and more movies using 3D technology, but even YouTube is testing 3D video. If you think it's going to be just be another fad, though, you may want to think again. According to a new report from Insight Media, there will likely be 40 million 3D-capable displays by the year 2014.
Much like the eReader space has been heating up (with a host of new entrants like the Nook and Que taking on Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Reader), the tablet device form factor race has seriously begun. Rumors have been flying about both an Apple Tablet and the Microsoft Courier, and now two new companies may have plans to bust out a tablet device: Dell and Asus. Dell's forthcoming tablet is still officially in the rumor stages, according to Pocket Lint.
Clearly the Twitter translation project is moving along quite rapidly. In October, they asked users to help them translate the site in 70+ languages, something Facebook has been doing as well. Since then they've launched in Spanish and French, along with the Japanese and English versions. Today, Twitter announced support for yet another language: Italian. The Romance language spoken by around 70 million people now officially enters the Twitterverse's dictionary.
Shane Snow is a technology journalist in New York City. Follow him on Twitter at @shanesnow. The Interwebs are buzzing, and by now you've probably heard about a social network called Foursquare that's apparently a big deal. So you cracked open your smartphone (or at least, gingerly removed it from its dock) and downloaded the Foursquare app. After signing up, you scrolled through the tabs and figured out how to “check in” at whatever restaurant, bar, store, or train station you happened to be at.
Update: Facebook looks to be operational again. We'll continue to monitor the status of the platform for any further issues. - First it was Twitter problems, then Facebook API problems, and now the entire Facebook network has crashed. Neither we nor the rest of you can find a way to bring anything but the Facebook home page up. We think that this could be related to issues with the Facebook API that have been occurring all day.
When it come to hawking junk food -- from soft drinks to breakfast sandwiches -- ad companies often see fit to target men. Back in October, folks were buzzing about AMP energy drink's iPhone application, "Before You Score," a social media tool that let dudes share their sexual exploits on Twitter and Facebook (you know, like a modern-day "Dear Penthouse"). Now, it's all about Burger King's Shower Babe.
It’s that time of year: predictions for the fresh 365 days that we get when the calendar flips over. In our world, that means opining about the future of the Web, technology, and social media. Mashable’s Pete Cashmore recently made a slew of predictions in his column at CNN. Earlier this week, he discussed them on camera with one of the networks anchors, Campbell Brown.
Alas, it's only in the patent stage according to Engadget, but, nevertheless, the glorious future may hold a universal docking option for users of various flavors of iPod and iPhone. There's no guarantee Apple will actually turn it into a real product, but we hope they do -- mostly for the sheer entertainment value of poking whatever spongy substance looks to be forming the base of the dock.
We've known for a while that Facebook users are getting a lot older, but now new data released by Nielsen reveals that the number of seniors (65 and older) using the Web has increased by 6 million in the last five years. Not only that, but nearly half of online seniors visited Facebook or YouTube last month, making them their third and fourth most visited online destinations. The research confirmed a trend that we've seen in recent years: That more seniors are becoming active on the Web.
The Droid is coming to Europe with a much less appealing name: the Milestone. The ads are equally boring, we think. This one, posted to Motorola's YouTube channel, promotes an "immersive Web experience," "cinematic quality" and other yawners. What you won't get: explosions, alien invasions or even the Droid's demonic eye of doom. Sorry, fellow Europeans, looks like we missed out this time. [via Pocketlint].
You can start a company with the best intentions, but when that company grows into an enormous entity like Google, it starts being so important to itself that those intentions often take a back seat to company's ambitions. After Google's CEO Eric Schmidt's little talk about privacy, in which he basically said that only those who have something to fear (i.e. who have done something wrong) care about privacy, the reactions are coming in.
With Google Chrome now available on the Mac, there's more buzz than ever around Google's speedy, lightweight browser. Now Google in the UK has created a 4-minute introductory video for would-be Chrome users, featuring pin-boards, graffiti and even some knitting. We think it's fantastic; clearly huge amounts of effort went into what could have been another boring introductory video. What do you think: Is this better than a screencast? Let us know in the comments.


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The Louisiana Small Business Development Center at Southeastern Louisiana University and the Livingston Economic Development Council will sponsor a work session designed to help local businesses prepare for disasters that may interrupt business.
The free seminar is set for 8:30 a.m.-noon on July 11 at the Livingston Literacy and Technology Center in Walker.
Sandy Summers, assistant director of the Southeastern SBDC, says presentations will include local response updates, gauging business readiness, creating a business continuity plan, selecting the right insurance, data security and crisis communications.
Pre-registration is preferred and online registration is available at www.lsbdc.org.
More information is available by calling 225-664-6638 or by emailing lsbdc.slu(at)lsbdc.org.
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Derby dentist and family now in 30th year of helping others enjoy Thanksgiving
Effort to help other in its 30th year
DERBY >> For three decades, a local dentist and his family have donned traditional Pilgrim costumes, encouraging Valley residents to open their hearts and wallets to ensure families in need can enjoy a hearty Thanksgiving feast.
Dr. Bruce Sofferman of Smile Dental Center, his wife Deborah and daughter Sophia will be out in force this week for their 30th annual Turkey Drive. The Soffermans, in their Pilgrim and Native American finery, will be joined by a turkey mascot, and from 7 to 11 a.m. Thursday will be waving to passing motorists along Route 34, in front of On-Time Screen Printing and Embroidery, located at 155 New Haven Ave.
The Soffermans encourage people to donate frozen turkeys and all the fixings as they make their annual pilgrimage to the food drive.
Both of Sofferman’s Smile Dental Centers at 318 Oxford Rd. (Route 67), Oxford and 61 Elizabeth St., Derby, also will accept frozen turkeys and canned goods during regular businesses hours this week, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sofferman said the idea to sport traditional Pilgrim costumes was a catchy way to grab people’s attention for a worthwhile cause.
“The concept to don the clothing of our American forefathers was not only to bring attention to the present day cause but also to serve as a reminder of the charitable spirit that this holiday was founded upon,” Sofferman said. “It’s a way to give back to a lovely community. I just hope we’ll receive a lot of turkeys to feed this year’s enormous need.”
Deborah Sofferman, a local interfaith minister, wholeheartedly agreed, saying “My family and I are actually very grateful for the opportunity to assist other families and extend our helping hands, in a small measure, to enjoy a more plentiful Thanksgiving in their own home together or at a local shelter. Thanksgiving is a special time when our whole country is particularly grateful for the sacrifices that were made for us generations ago and for the gift of food as well as many other gifts we live with every day, including the gift of life.”
Sophia Sofferman added that helping out each year “has been our family tradition for my entire life.”
A list of specific food items needed for the frozen turkey drive can be found at www.actspooner.org. Money donations may be made securely using PayPal by clicking on the ‘donate’ button at www.actspooner.org. For more information, contact email@example.com or 203-225-0453 ext. 102.
Other food drives happening this week around the Valley include:
Donations of frozen turkeys and non-perishable food items also are being accepted at Stop & Shop, 100 Division St. in Ansonia and Starbucks, 504 Bridgeport Ave., Shelton.
ACT, a non-profit formed in 1979, operates the Spooner House, which provides food, shelter and support services to about 200 men, women and children each year. More than 6,000 individuals have been served by the Food Bank this past year, comprising more than 135,000 meals.


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Nearly nine out of every 10 prescriptions filled is for a generic medication. And while there’s plenty to admire about our generic system, cracks are beginning to show. There’s growing evidence these affordable drugs may become more expensive and harder to get.
Guy VanderLek has taken one 100 milligram dose a day of atenolol, a generic beta blocker for high blood pressure, for 10 years. This June, he went to his usual pharmacy and it had run out. He tried another one; it had also run out.
“I can’t get the medication I’ve been on for years from two of the largest pharmacy providers in the country,” VanderLek said. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Drug shortages have been creeping up, with as many as 200 shortages on any given day last year, most of them generic, according to University of Utah Drug Information Service statistics. The shortages can be traced back to the success of the generics program.
|Drug prices: how generics changed the game|
|Here is where the U.S. Congress buys its health insurance|
Since the 1980s, after a branded drug’s patent expires, manufacturers dive into the market, pushing prices down 80 percent to 90 percent. While that’s great news for consumers, it means pencil-thin margins for drugmakers.
University of Chicago economist Rena Conti said over time, those tiny profits push some manufacturers to bow out, leaving just a few players.
“In the long term, only two to four manufacturers are actually making these drugs,” she said.
This is an old problem. But new research from Conti shows it’s now on steroids. Narrow profits, pressure from Obamacare and recent federal regulations have driven some manufacturers to consolidate. So today, Conti finds 40 percent of generics are made by just one drugmaker.
University of Utah pharmacist Erin Fox, who monitors drug shortages, said the more generic monopolies, the more common it’ll be for people like VanderLek to struggle filling his prescription.
“That means when there is any type of supply glitch, a manufacturing problem, a quality problem, it almost always ends up in a shortage,” she said.
And of course, the more consolidation in the market, the more manufacturers can charge. A Government Accountability Office study from last year found more than 20 percent of generic drugs had more than doubled in price in the last few years.
Conti said our system continues doing a great job creating competition; now we’ve got to figure out how to preserve it.
“Right now, we have a regulatory infrastructure that is very focused on pulling competition into the market,” she said. “But we have very little assurance that the market will stay competitive over time.”
It’s beginning to dawn on federal health officials that something must be done. One idea is to import generics from overseas when a drugmaker jacks up the price.
Conti said the challenge for Congress and the FDA is to devise a way to encourage companies to jump into the market when monopolies crop up. A tall task, she admits, considering generic drug company profit margins.
Marketplace is on a mission.
We believe Main Street matters as much as Wall Street, economic news is made relevant and real through human stories, and a touch of humor helps enliven topics you might typically find…well, dull.
Through the signature style that only Marketplace can deliver, we’re on a mission to raise the economic intelligence of the country—but we don’t do it alone. We count on listeners and readers like you to keep this public service free and accessible to all. Will you become a partner in our mission today?


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The hardest part of attending any motorcycle rally is taking in all the events and entertainment. The famed Sturgis Buffalo Chip is making this even more difficult with the additions of stunt and bike shows to the Sturgis Rally calendar.
Whether purposeful publicity or just cursed for being a popular face, Norman Reedus and his motorcycle adventures are being told long before his mini-series airs its first episode on AMC.
Vintage motorcycles are usually watched in awe and leave riders dreaming of their own perfect classic ride.
Riding into its third year, the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show has partnered with BMW Motorrad to present 150 custom motorcycles in the first week of April.
For some, it may have been a long wait, but Custom bike building kings have been crowned for the J&P Cycles Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Competition taking place in conjunction with The Progressive International Motorcycle Shows
DEC 30, 2015 - Fans of the motorcycle-riding martial arts expert, Sunny, seen in the AMC series ‘Into the Badlands’ are riding into the New Year with great news at their backs.
NOV 20, 2015 - The spotlight is bright at EICMA 2015 and Triumph Motorcycles have stopped for a moment to not only catch their breath, but look back at what they’ve brought to the show.
NOV 11, 2015 - Some motorcycle segments are going from strength to strength with Ducati being no exception. The smiles beaming from executives at the Italian motorcycle manufacturer could be seen through the shaded visor as they reported the latest broken record.


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ShopRite donates to food banks when you thank essential workers
There's now a way to thank essential workers at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus and raise money for regional food banks too.
ShopRite has started a campaign called Essential Thanks to thank all essential workers, including health care workers, first responders, warehouse workers, truck drivers and supermarket associates who are serving communities through the COVID-19 pandemic.
People can post messages through ShopRite's new website, www.EssentialThanks.com. For each message, ShopRite will donate $1 to regional food banks for COVID-19 relief efforts. The messages can be uploaded directly to the website or people can use the tag #EssentialThanks on Instagram or Twitter.
Other ways to help:Gannett launches website to help local small businesses hit hard by coronavirus crisis
The campaign runs to June 30. Wakefern Food Corp., which includes ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer and Dearborn Market, will donate $1 for each message up to a maximum donation of $500,000.
Supermarket strategies:Why ShopRite is spending a 'billion' to get you to buy its new brands
Recently, Wakerfern, through its ShopRite Partners In Caring Fund, has donated $1 million to regional food banks to help meet the increase in demand for food and other essentials during the coronavirus pandemic.
Coronavirus in NJ:Fulfill food bank reports 40% increase in demand for food
Letter: Those in good financial shape should help those who aren't
"The COVID-19 pandemic has put the spotlight on what it takes to keep our communities safe and healthy every day and in times of crisis,” said Joe Colalillo, chairman and chief executive officer of Wakefern Food Corp., said in a statement.
“We ask you to join us in thanking our store teams, warehouse workers, truck drivers, healthcare and all frontline workers for the incredible job they are doing each day by going to work to support and serve their communities.”
David P. Willis: firstname.lastname@example.org


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At a School Nutrition Association conference in Denver this summer, food workers heard tips about how to get children to make healthy food choices in the cafeteria.
The problem is a serious one for the nation’s lunch-line managers, who are implementing the biggest update to federal school-food guidelines in 15 years.
New Department of Agriculture guidelines set calorie and sodium limits for school meals. Schools must offer dark green vegetables, orange or red vegetables and legumes at least once a week. Flavored milk must be nonfat, and there’s a ban on artificial, artery-clogging trans fats.
More breaking news
- Q&A with Emerald Brand
- Brookhaven approves $7.5M IDA package for Bristal facility
- State greenlights med marijuana sites
- Invenergy files documents for solar project
- Wayback Burgers to open in West Hempstead
- Wage hike for fast-food workers may face legal challenge
- Tesla opening pop-up store in Southampton
- New media market emerges with business opportunities
- New York-area construction sizzling this summer
- To B or not to B


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By- Staff Reporter | Date- March 19, 2011
After the RBI vs PayPal row that evoked nationwide dissatisfaction amongst freelancers and small scale IT service providers, there seems to be an interesting development in online money transfer world with Visa, PayPal’s own partner, announcing of a new person-to-person payment service. This new service from Visa would allow anyone who has an account in a participating bank to send payments directly to any Visa account, whether it be a credit or debit account. To send a payment, all that the payer needs to know are the payee’s 16-digit Visa account number, e-mail address or phone number. Once the payment is sent, it would show up in the users account and the payee can withdraw the amount. For this, Visa has partnered with CashEdge and Fiserv to handle the person-to-person transactions and make technical changes to its network back end.
Visa has stated that this payment service should be available from participating financial institutions from later part of the current year, however it has not disclosed anything regarding transaction fees, currency conversion rates or if there are any limits to funds to be transferred. This new announcement has already been considered throughout the globe as a rival to PayPal’s service, which had been long been considered as one of the favorites especially in India. But for Visa to compete against the current providers of such service in India such as PayPal, it would have to take into consideration various issues such as currency conversion rates (for Cross border transfers), percentage of amounts which their partner Banks would charge, transaction charges, etc. Another very important factor would be to what scale the Indian partner Banks would allow small scale service providers, freelancers and merchants to open merchant accounts in their banks for using the Visa service. In current days at least, it is nearly impossible for Indian merchants to open merchant accounts in banks which usually tie up with Visa.
The market which Visa would be targeting in India would obviously be of the IT world,- freelancers, small scale IT developers, etc. These are the primary potential customers to use the services, as a huge majority of Indian foreign earnings comes from these IT and IT- enabled enterprises. This entire market has been dominated by PayPal primarily because of its credibility with foreign customers who uses services of Indian merchants and customer service which is better than most other players in this sector. In spite of many foul plays by PayPal with its Indian customers (as reported in Times of Assam on several previous occasions), it still enjoys a huge public support and sympathy post its issues with new RBI guidelines which are a definite blow on Indian freelancers. For Visa to succeed with its proposed services in India, the most important factor would be what guidelines and rules are set by the Reserve Bank of India, who of late has acting only as a dictator with setting policies set to kill freelancers.


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Updated from 5:03 p.m. EDT
, the largest direct vendor of computers in the world, reported a 21% increase in its first-quarter earnings Thursday that beat Wall Street's expectations.
The company also overcame its previous warnings of flat sales for the quarter.
For the quarter ended April 28, net income rose to $525 million, or 19 cents a diluted share, from $434 million, or 16 cents a share a year earlier, beating by 3 cents the consensus estimate of analysts polled by
First Call/Thomson Financial
Revenue for the Round Rock, Texas-based company rose 31%, to $7.3 billion, from $5.5 billion in the 1999 first quarter.
Dell, the second-largest maker of personal computers, had warned back in February that sales in the first quarter would not be significantly higher than fourth-quarter sales because many businesses decided to refrain from buying computers for fear of problems related to the Year 2000 transition. In addition, there were worries about component shortages. But in fact, Dell posted sales in the first quarter that were 7% higher than sales in the fourth quarter.
The company did not disclose any clues regarding two issues which have been of great concern to investors: the outlook for component shortages and component demand.
But overall sales of enterprise-class computer systems increased 52% and comprised 18% of system net revenues, up from 16% a year ago. "They did very well in their enterprise segment, so it appears that corporate demand is picking up," said Art Russell, senior technology analyst at
. "We knew March would be strong, but would it continue into April? From looking at these numbers, I would say yes, they did continue." He rates Dell a strong buy and his firm has done no underwriting for the company.
Dell also said that an improved product mix together with lower-than-expected costs for key components helped the company make investments in its Internet strategy and lift net margins from fourth-quarter levels. "That tells me that the component cost environment moderated," Russell added.
Shares of Dell closed Thursday regular trading down 3/16, or 0.42%, at 44 11/16. In post-market activity, the shares were up 3 1/16, or 7%, to 47 3/4, according to


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The Port of New Orleans announced a new opportunity for shippers looking to transport perishable cargo from South America. Port NOLA received approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for inclusion in the Southeast U.S. In-Transit Cold Treatment Pilot Program.
American Duchess, American Queen Steamboat Company’s Latest Riverboat to Launch Aug. 14 from New Orleans
May 12, 2017
The American Queen Steamboat Company, owner and operator of the American Queen and American Empress, will launch service on its new American Duchess when it sets sail from New Orleans on Aug. 14, 2017, following its christening here a day earlier.
Cruise guests, locals and tourists enjoying New Orleans riverfront now have an added layer of security. Today, the Port’s Harbor Police Department initiated bicycle patrols aimed at increasing security from Mardi Gras World to the French Market.


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ZALORA to Make Shopping More Seamless via AI-Powered Tech TITAN
by: The Beat Asia
August 17, 2023
Online fashion destination ZALORA has boarded the AI train, as it announced the launch of its new artificial intelligence-powered e-commerce platform, TITAN.
According to ZALORA, the new platform will integrate OpenAI to improve its customers’ shopping experience and represent the brand’s commitment to becoming a leader in fashion e-commerce. TITAN is also a part of the brand’s roster of new technologies to be rolled out this year.
One of the first few functions that TITAN will highlight is "smart search discovery," which promises to help customers find the items they want to purchase faster and easily. There will also be a conversational shopping assistant, which will enable shoppers to browse items with smart prompts.
Of course, there will be Internal Chatbots, which will allow users to access TITAN’s conversational UI. Lastly, a production automation feature will be released to enable automation across all of the brand’s functions and increase their employees’ productivity.
“With a history of innovations under our belt, we are excited to embrace the future with Generative AI and leverage it to deliver the best ‘tailored for fashion’ e-commerce experience for our customers both during and post-purchase,” said Gunjan Soni, chief executive officer of ZALORA.
The initiative marks ZALORA’s parent company, Global Fashion Group’s, further expansion in Southeast Asia. The company also plans to bring the technology to other regions, including Latin America and Australia.
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This post is also available in / Esta entrada está disponible también en: Spanish (Español) .
Today, Slightly Mad Studios announced Project CARS 2, the sequel of racing video game released two months ago on PC and various consoles.
Known for working on racing titles such as GTR, Test Drive and Need for Speed, the developer wants to raise more money than it did the first time around.
The upcoming title, crowdfunded on the company’s World of Mass Development portal, is trying to raise almost $11 million.
Slightly Mad still has some challenges to take care of. After the recent release of the first game this past May, some fans are complaining about the company’s announcement when it should be fixing some bugs still present in Project CARS. SMS is working on updates to repair various issues, add functionality, improve frame rate (on Xbox One), among other things on Update 1.4.
[Sources]: Project Cars Game: Announcing Project CARS 2!; On-Demand, World of Mass Development. Polygon: Project CARS developer announces sequel, aiming to raise nearly $10.7M.


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Germany-based retailer Neckermann is applying for insolvency, after failing to satisfy its owner that cost-cutting plans would produce a viable business.
The latest move by Neckermann follows that of drugstore chain Schlecker, and comes as retailers from Metro to Praktiker and Puma grapple with lower consumer spending in Europe, reported Reuters.
The struggling mail-order firm planned to cut 1,380 of its roughly 2,400 jobs in Germany to secure financing for the future.
In April, Neckermann had announced plans to shut down its catalog business and sell only through the internet, a move which is likely to result in almost 1,400 job losses.
Since then the retailer had been in talks with staff representatives and said last week that it did not have the funds to pay staff the compensation they were seeking for the redundancies.
Neckermann, owned by private investment firm Sun Capital Partners, sells products from clothes to technology, furniture and homewares.
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Verdi trade union representative Wolfgang Thurner said that Verdi and Neckermann had been able to reach a compromise but that private equity owner Sun Capital had not approved the plan.
Sun Capital spokeswoman told the news agency that it had been willing to provide €25m in financing, but the plan presented by the management required €60m and therefore it has decided to quit on its investment.


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Audemars Piguet QEII Cup Ambassador Michele Reis
Renowned celebrity owner Michele Reis will attend the big day as the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup Ambassador for the fifth time and she will join the trophy presentation ceremony. The brand has sponsored the QEII Cup since 1999. To celebrate the 20th running of this prestigious international horse race under its sponsorship, Audemars Piguet has presented the Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph QEII Cup 2018 in a worldwide limited edition of 200 pieces.
Themed merchandise for sale
A brand new series of themed merchandise for the Champions Day will be available at the designated Sales Counters and Gift at Races souvenir shops at Sha Tin Racecourse on 29 April, while stocks last.


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Capcom's MT Framework Ready for 3D -- Enterbrain CEO
Development versions of Resident Evil 5 and Lost Planet 2 already working in 3D.
Mainichi's report from Enterbrain CEO Hirokazu Hamamura's recent game industry lecture covered the basics, from sales predictions to a surprising perspective on the 3DS.
But Mainichi missed one key part of Hamamura's speech. For that, we turn to Famitsu.com, which has posted a more complete summary of the speech.
Towards the end of the speech, Hamamura spoke a bit about 3D technology. Sony is, of course, already working on 3D-ready PlayStation 3 games, he said. But 3rd parties aren't being left behind.
Capcom appears to be ahead of the game here. The company's MT Framework game engine, which powers games like Resident Evil 5 and Lost Planet, is 3D compatible, said Hamamura. Resident Evil 5 was already 3D-ready back when it was in development. Lost Planet 2's development version is also 3D-ready.
Hamamura's comments probably shouldn't be taken to mean that RE5 and LP2 will be upgraded to official 3D compatibility at some point. But the technology does seem to be in place. In fact, the point of Hamamura's comments on 3D tech was that it's not too difficult for developers to make their games 3D compatible. "It's possible that the game you were playing will one day suddenly become 3D just because you changed your TV," he said.
As reported earlier, Hamamura also spoke a bit about the 3DS. He downplayed the importance of the system's 3D capabilities and suggested that Nintendo may be keeping an even more surprising feature a secret for now.


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Choice of hybrid powertrains for new Toyota Auris
07 March 2018
Author: Sean Keywood
Toyota has announced that its new Auris hatchback range will include a choice of hybrid powertrain options.
The car, which has made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show, will be available with either a 1.8-litre, 120hp or 2.0-litre, 177hp hybrid engine, or a conventional 1.2-litre turbo petrol engine.
No diesel engine will be available.
Toyota says the 1.8-litre hybrid will offer up to 50% all-electric driving during everyday commuting, while the 2.0-litre hybrid will feature steering wheel-mounted shift paddles.
The new Auris is based on the Toyota New Global Architecture platform, and features a low centre of gravity, multi-link rear suspension, and a more rigid body shell through the use of high-strength steel reinforcement in key areas.
Compared with the previous Auris, the new model is 40mm longer, with the extension entirely contained within the wheelbase, and 30mm wider, while the car's height has been reduced by 25mm.
Toyota has confirmed that the new Auris will be built in the UK at its plant in Burnaston, Derbyshire, with the majority of engines also made in the UK at Deeside in North Wales.
UK specifications and prices, and an on-sale date are yet to be confirmed.


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- Daily Zen
There is no arguing that the Big Tech companies have grown into behemoths with few challengers to their might. But on Friday, executives from four small tech companies were bold enough to urge the government at a Congressional hearing in Boulder, Colorado, to step in to save startups from disappearing totally under the weight of the competition.
Top executives of Sonos, PopSockets, Basecamp, and Tile testified at a hearing by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law that big companies like Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook were using their powerful presence in the market to squeeze out any competition in not only their space but related accessory and downstream products and services.
There is no shortage of people worried that America’s large technology companies are using their muscle power to kill competition in the emerging new products that they are venturing into.
Executives of Tiles, Sonos, Basecamp, and PopSockets related their experiences of how the big companies were using their monopolistic status to push them out of business. “There’s such a dominant power that exists with these companies that when Google or Apple asks for something … you have no choice but to provide them with that,” said CEO of wireless speaker company Sonos, Patrick Spence. Spence said that Sonos was forced to sync its speakers with Google Assistant and could not offer its speakers to Alexa of Amazon. Spence wanted the big tech companies to think through how they were leveraging their market dominance to hinder the whole business process.
Tiles, which is into Bluetooth tracking of wallets, phones, and keys, claimed that they were in competition with Apple’s Find my phone feature, and they had to pass some stringent tests and regulations to appear on the Apple Store. Apple has already stopped selling Tile products in Apple Stores from July 2019. PopSockets, a seller of collapsible phone grips, testified against Amazon. PopSockets started off as s third-party seller on Amazon and then became a direct vendor, but decided to end their relationship after two years because of 100s of counterfeit sellers on the site and Amazon taking no cognizance of it. PopSocket’s CEO David Barnett said that Amazon asked them for $2 million to market their products as originals on the site.
“It frequently lowered their selling price of our product and then expected and needed us to help pay for the lost margin,” he said. “On multiple occasions, we found that Amazon Retail was itself sourcing counterfeit PopGrips and selling them alongside our authentic products.”
Basecamp’s grievance against Google was that it allowed competitors to buy ads on its trademarked name and that they blocked users from finding their website on the search engine. “Google’s monopoly on internet search must be broken up for the sake of a fair marketplace,” Basecamp’s CTO, David Heinemeier Hansson said. Basecamp is now forced to run a more than $70,000 annual advertising campaign to counteract the effect, he added.
The complainants felt that Facebook’s grip on data collection was harmful. There were privacy issues that needed to be addressed by the lawmakers
“But when you think about why everyone is unable to compete, t’s because it’s all based on a fundamental violation of privacy,” said Hansson.
Google, Apple, and Amazon have all denied any wrongdoings. Facebook has been under Congressional investigation for fake news and its refusal to take down political exaggerations and lies shared by different political parties on its site. An Apple spokesman said the company has not built a similar business model around a customer’s location or the location of their device. It is also updating the App Store to allow the full functionality of the Tiles app.
Google denied Sonos’ claims. Sonos has sued Google for patent infringement, which the tech giant says it will contest. Amazon said that PopSockets was free to discontinue products from its e-commerce site. They also proclaimed that competitive pricing, brand choice, and wider availability was all for the consumers’ benefit.


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2019 Nissan Kicks vs Hyundai Creta vs Renault Captur: Price Comparison
By Carandbike Team
1 mins read
Published on January 23, 2019
- The Nissan Kicks 2019 has been launched at Rs. 9.55 Lakh.
- The Nissan Kicks 2019 has got several upmarket features.
- The India-spec Nissan Kicks is bigger in dimensions than the global model
Nissan India has just added an all-new offering to its line-up with the Kicks in the compact SUV segment. The 2019 Nissan Kicks takes on the likes of the Renault Captur and the Hyundai Creta in the segment, which is dominated by the latter. The segment promises volumes and the Nissan Kicks has turned out to be an interesting offering with good looks and a premium cabin. The model also gets several upmarket features. With the prices now announced, it's now time to see how does the newly launched Nissan Kicks compare against the Hyundai Creta and the Renault Captur. Let's take a look.
The 2019 Nissan Kicks is offered with the 1.5-litre petrol engine tuned for 104 bhp and 142 Nm of peak torque. The petrol variants are available in two variants - XL and XV. The Kicks XL is the most affordable variant in the line-up and is priced at Rs. 9.55 lakh, while the XV is priced at Rs. 10.95 lakh. In comparison, the Renault Captur RXE petrol is priced at Rs. 9.99 lakh Dual-Tone version. The Hyundai Creta petrol starts from Rs. 9.50 lakh for the base E trim, going up to Rs. 13.66 lakh (all prices, ex-showroom Delhi) for the range-topping SX (O) petrol. The Creta certainly has the advantage as the most affordable petrol SUV here, even though the top-end Kicks petrol is more aggressively priced by a good margin.
That being said, the bulk of sales in the compact SUV segment are commanded by diesel engine options. Prices for the 2019 Nissan Kicks start at Rs. 10.85 lakh for the XL trim, going up to Rs. 14.65 lakh for the top-of-the-line XV Premium+ version. The Kicks diesel is offered in four trims, which will give customers enough options to choose from. The Kicks diesel is powered by the 1.5-litre K9K engine shared with the Terrano but is offered in the 108 bhp guise with 240 Nm of peak torque. Both the petrol and diesel engines are paired with the 6-speed manual transmission, while there's no automatic on offer for now.
The Creta diesel continues to be more affordable here with prices starting at Rs. 9.99 lakh for the entry-level E+ variant, but the top-spec SX (O) is substantially more expensive at Rs. 15.10 lakh, over the Creta. The Kicks' French cousin Renault Captur diesel is priced in the middle over the two models. The SUV starts at Rs. 10.99 lakh for the RXE trim, going up to Rs. 13.24 lakh (all prices, ex-showroom Delhi) for the top-end Platine version.
Last Updated on January 23, 2019
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Canton Woods Senior Center recently had the honor of hosting Eleanor Schurman’s 105th birthday celebration.
On Thursday, June 4, hundreds of market-goers came out to Fayetteville Town Center to see what is in store from their favorite local farms and businesses at the weekly Fayetteville Farmers’ Market.
The Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse’s Monday evening senior kosher dinners will kick off for the summer started on June 1. The weekly dinners are held on Mondays at 5 p.m. and feature a hot, nutritious and well-balanced kosher meal.
The Hamilton Inn, located on Lake Moraine in Hamilton, is scheduled to close as of June 6, The Hospitality Concepts Group of Central New York announced today.
On Sunday, May 17 Owera Vineyards in Cazenovia and the Fayetteville Carrabba’s Italian Grill sponsored the David’s Refuge Volunteer Celebration Party.
Canton Woods is very busy with summer fun and festivities!
Canton Woods looks forward to a summer season filled with summer foods and fun!
Oenophiles in Cazenovia now have a second option in the village on where they can purchase their wine, as well as liquor, with last week’s official opening of J.S. Hight and Sons wine store at 58 Albany St.
Renovations begin at Baldwinsville inn
The old Fireside Inn is getting a facelift, but it will be nearly a year before it’s open for business once again.
Why are there so many pizzerias in B'ville?
With roughly 10 pizzerias in delivery distance of the village, it’s a wonder how all of B’ville’s slice slingers can thrive. The Messenger set out to find out why the village is home to so many examples of one type of cuisine.
Madison County Tourism, the county’s official tourism promotion agency, recently named Foothill Hops as the recipient of the 2015 Emily Marshall Champion of Tourism Award. The award was presented to Kate and Larry Fisher, owners and operators of Foothill Hops, during Madison County Tourism’s annual dinner on April 2 at the Colgate Inn in Hamilton.
Impact on New York economy is $3.5 billion
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo last week announced the craft beer industry in New York State grew 59 percent from 2013 to 2014, with a total economic impact estimated at $3.5 billion. These results, according to a research report prepared for the New York State Brewers Association and the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, are another example of the incredible growth the industry has been seeing.
Tickets for the third annual “Wine in the Woods” fundraising event for Camp Good Days and Special Times are now on sale to the public.
Liverpool has long been known for its hot dogs and hamburgers. Heid’s has ruled the frankfurter field, and ground beef patties made the scene at the fondly remembered Tarbe’s Grill and now at Village Burger (which coincidentally does business at a former McDonald’s location). Anyhow, on March 29 we were all reminded that Liverpool’s also a meatball mecca.
Two years ago, a mysterious chocolate shop opened for one night at a small, non-descript location at 72 Albany St. during the annual Cazenovia Christmas Walk. Many people in the community wondered what it was, where it came from and where it went to when it disappeared the next day. Four months ago, in mid-December 2014, Gabrielle Chocolates opened again at 72 Albany St. — but this time, the chocolate shop stayed open as a permanent addition to the downtown business district. And with the chocolate-heavy Easter holiday right around the corner, owner Gabrielle Regan hopes her handmade “chocolate creations for any occasion,” as her motto goes, will entice people to stop in.


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Former action sports executive Laurent Vrignaud was a rookie in the restaurant industry when he opened a French cafe in 2014.
But he was an expert in what mattered the most: Parisian cafe culture.
“Nobody will out-Paris us,” Vrignaud said of his two-year-old Moulin bistro in Newport Beach.
Local Francophiles agree, telling Vrignaud the bistro’s croque monsieur sandwiches and espresso drinks transport them to Paris. Sometimes, they say, it’s even better.
“People are blown away,” he said.
With the success of Moulin, Vrignaud is expanding the European-influenced cafe to his former hometown of Laguna Beach. The bistro, which will offer a truncated version of the Newport Beach menu, is expected to open in mid-September.
The 30-seat cafe is taking over the former Scandia Bakery location downtown. When it opens, it will be exactly two years since Vrignaud made the jump into the risky hospitality industry.
Raised in Paris, he moved to the U.S. in 1984 to compete in wind surfing. He was 18.
“I never left,” he said.
He turned his love for surfing into a career in the action-sports industry where he started his own business representing surf and snow brands. Through his Irvine-based company Big Dreams, he sold everything from snowboards to board shorts to retailers such as PacSun, Surf Side Sports and REI.
He prospered during the rapid growth of the industry.
But when the recession hit, he walked away. He spent a few years traveling the world with his wife, Sophie, and then 8-year-old daughter, Kaya.
When he returned to his home in Newport Beach, he knew his next venture would be tied to his Parisian roots.
Having lived in the U.S. for 30 years, Vrignaud said he wanted to open a cafe that replicated the food, service and atmosphere of his childhood home – the Parisian hilltop district of Montmartre.
“I grew up in the cafe culture,” he said.
Everything in his cafe would be authentic – from the wicker bistro chairs to the cheese assortment. “I’ve got to do this French cafe and do it correctly,” he told his family.
Not a chef, Vrignaud returned to Paris to research and recruit. “From day one” anyone in charge of baking, pastries, or cuisine have come from France, he said.
Today, 25 of Moulin’s 45 employees are French born, including executive chef Jeoffrey Offer, who is from the south of France.
From the house-made baguettes to the duck confit, every dish is a recreation of dishes found in a typical Parisian cafe. Dishes are made with scratch sauces, house-cured ham, fresh baked bread and imported French ingredients.
“The product is the hero. The first thing I sell here is France,” Vrignaud, 50, said.
The cafe concept took off immediately.
After less than a year in business, Vrignaud took over the adjacent space left vacant by a jewelry shop. His initial intention was to sell French antiques and artwork he’d collected over the years.
But Moulin’s long lines changed his mind. Crowds flocked to the counter-service bistro, which filled a void after a French epicerie run by well-regarded French chef Pascal Olhats closed in early 2014.
On busy days, Moulin serves 500 to 1,000 customers.
“The place is a zoo during the week and the weekend,” Vrignaud said.
In the early days, he said they’d run out of food. Expanding into the jewelry shop space allowed him to grow the bakery and pastry operations, as well as add more seating.
In another few weeks, he’ll be taking the French fervor south to Laguna.
“It’s going to be the exact same thing we’re doing in the Newport, but smaller,” he said.
He purposely waited until summer was over before launching the second location because he wants to serve locals who want to relax over a cup of espresso and a flaky croissant – just like in Paris.
“I know people in Laguna will fall in love,” he said.
But being authentic French can be challenging. Some diners are constantly trying to Americanize his menu, he said.
“People want avocado in the omelet,” Vrignaud said. “Avocado is expensive, and it’s not found everywhere in France, so it’s not here.”
He also refuses to sell Coca-Cola products because American sodas are not found on Parisian cafe menus. The restaurant’s beverage coolers instead are filled with Evian, Perrier and Orangina.
“We make it or import it from France,” said Vrignaud, who grew up working in his grandparents’ food market.
But the toughest challenge is persuading workaholic Americans to relax. When rushed customers order takeout, he playfully tells them: “You have to stay and eat it.”
After all, in Paris that’s whole purpose of a cafe – to be a gathering spot for locals to unwind. In Laguna Beach, he said he plans to add a dessert called “coupe glacée,” an ice cream-sundae style treat meant for “daydreamers” sitting at a table, he said.
“Don’t ask for them to-go, please.”
Moulin in Laguna Beach is scheduled to open the week of Sept. 19 at 248 Forest Ave. Moulin in Newport Beach is at 1000 N. Bristol St.
Contact the writer: email@example.com


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Ontario women charged in debit, credit card fraud stole victim’s wallet in Walmart: police
Posted November 8, 2023 3:20 pm.
Two women from Ontario are facing fraud charges after a victim had her wallet stolen as she shopped at a Walmart in Ajax.
Durham Regional Police officers responded to a theft at the Walmart located at 270 Kingston Road East on September 26, 2023.
Police said a woman had her wallet stolen as she shopped, and her debit and credit cards were later used at various locations in Ajax and Toronto for fraudulent purchases.
Investigators tracked the purchases and identified two female suspects and a suspect vehicle. Both women were arrested at the scene.
They were identified as 22-year-old Shayla Rogers and 47-year-old Samantha Stevens, both of Ajax.
The women face combined charges including theft under $5,000, fraud under $5,000, and possessing property obtained by crime under $5,000. They were released on an undertaking.


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After 10 years of negotiations between India and Japan, the first consignment of Japanese apples from Aomori arrived in India. Officials of Ministry of Agriculture said that India and Japan has agreed on Aomori apples export to India in December last year. "The people were made to taste apples at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi when it hosted a Japanese Food promotion event, "An Evening with Japanese Food 2020" at the ambassador's residence," said officials.
Aomori apples are not only eaten but also put in hot spring waters. The malic acid in the apples is said to have a moisturizing effect, while linoleic acid promotes blood circulation and oleic acid softens the skin, serving to replace skin oils.
According to the first advance estimate of horticulture, the Fruits production is expected to be lower at 95.74 million tonnes in 2019-20 crop year as against 97.9 million tonnes in the previous year. It is mainly due to loss in production of Grapes, Banana, Mango, Citrus, Papaya and Pomegranate.
India is the world's fifth biggest producer of apples, with almost all of its apples produced in just the three hilly states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. What's interesting though is productivity. While the area under apple cultivation in both J&K and Himachal Pradesh is roughly the same, the former produces more than five times that of the latter. In fact, J&K accounts for almost 80% of India's apple production. Despite that, India imports $200 million worth of the fruit every year


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- DISTRICT PROFILE
- NEWS & EVENTS
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National food price inflation remains of significant concern. Nepal Rastra Bank’s latest data indicates yearon-year food price inflation is over 15 percent.
During the past two months many major supply roads and trails leading into hill and mountain areas have been obstructed by landslides caused by monsoon rain.


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Metso Outotec will deliver a second iron ore pellet plant to Bejing Shougang’s greenfield project in Qingdao, China. Just two weeks ago, the latter had ordered a similar plant for its facility in Yunan.
Like the first order, this pellet plant will produce 4mn mt in iron pellets per year. It will be operated by Qingdao Bangtuo New Materials Technology on behalf of Shougang, set to be commissioned around Q4 2022.
The order will be booked in Metso’s Q2 2021 orders. The company noted that it was its fourth such order in the past 10 months, scaling its Chinese production capacity to around 15mn mt per year, all of which will be set up in the next two years.


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Players on PlayStation 4 and PC have been enjoying the new obstacle course battle royale game Fall Guys since early August 2020. Because the game is only on two platforms, many are wondering when or even if the game is coming to other systems. Here’s what we know.
Fall Guys started out as just another indie game. The game got some notable praise at E3 2019, but it didn’t really hit star levels until it’s beta in 2020 and, of course, its subsequent release. Since then, it’s consistently been the talk of the town, with everyone pretty much praising the game for its originality.
That being said, the battle royale is currently locked on two platforms, PS4 and PC, with little to no talk about the game coming to other consoles. Though, there is some information we know, so we’ve compiled everything you need to know about Fall Guys hitting Xbox One, mobile, and beyond.
Has the game been confirmed for other platforms?
As of August 17, developer Mediatonic has not officially confirmed whether or not the game will be coming to any other platforms. Previously, the developer revealed that they were only focusing on PS4 and PC at launch. That being said, not all hope is lost.
The devs recently posted on their support page that it is open to suggestions about what platforms it should bring the game to next. While it wasn’t outright said, it seems like if there’s a demand for the game to be on a certain platform, they’ll more than likely bring it.
Fall Guys are planning to add it to IOS & Android, based on some placeholders they have.
— HYPEX – Fall Guys Leaks & News (@HypexFG) August 11, 2020
How far into development is Fall Guys for Xbox One, mobile, Switch, etc.?
Recently, code was found in the game referencing the Xbox One, meaning a port of the game for the console could be further along into development than initially expected.
In addition, there was also references to a possible mobile release, so it’s possible that work on a mobile version has started already in some way, shape, or form.
That being said, the both references are apparently very minor, so the above should only be taken as speculation right now.


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THE MP for Gosport is calling on the government to bring in tougher measures for large companies that fail to pay their bills on time.
Caroline Dinenage’s bid comes after research showed that 125,000 businesses were almost put out of business by late payment in 2011.
Speaking in the chamber at the House of Commons, Ms Dinenage, who is small business ambassador for the south, said, ‘Businesses in my region really welcome proposals in the Small Business Bill on prompt payment but with £46bn currently owed to businesses in the UK, up £10bn on last year, as the bill goes forward will the Minister consider making the code even tougher, and broadening it to more companies?’
Vince Cable, business, innovations and skills secretary, replied: ‘We will in the course of this bill be making it much more transparent; how larger companies in particular make their payments, helping small companies in that way.’
Ms Dinenage later said: ‘As a small business owner I know first-hand the problems a late payment can cause for small and medium-sized firms.’