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The decision to offer a café at the Fayetteville Athletic Club was one that was practically made for Bob Shoulders, owner of the Fayetteville, AR, club. Four years ago, he added a children's center and a tennis center in a $3 million expansion. His research into the tennis market led him to add the restaurant to the tennis center.
“Tennis people like to stick around and watch other people play when they get finished,” Shoulders says, referring to his research. His café serves wraps, sandwiches, smoothies and soups.
Offering a juice bar or café in a club is not just for the tennis crowd, and it is certainly not new to the industry. In 2001, 44 percent of International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) member clubs had a snack/juice bar facility, according to a survey by the organization. That number has remained fairly constant through 2007, when the latest survey showed that 43 percent of member clubs offered snack/juice bar facilities, according to Rosemary Lavery, public relations coordinator for IHRSA.
Debbie Lee, marketing director at Gainesville Health and Fitness Center in Gainesville, FL, says that almost all the clubs that she is familiar with offer some kind of juice or smoothie bar, if not a café.
“Twenty years ago, you would find that few clubs had juice or smoothie bars, but today, when you build a health club — unless there's some really good reason not to — you've got a smoothie bar,” Lee says. Gainesville Health has had a smoothie bar since the late 1980s.
Two years ago, Equinox Fitness Clubs, New York, partnered with a New York chef to open an upscale sandwich eatery in its facilities. Life Time Fitness, Chanhassen, MN, also partnered with a chef to open upscale restaurants in some of its clubs. LA Fitness, Irvine, CA, offers food and beverages to members at its 50 clubs through an agreement with a café company. Recently, the Downtown YMCA in Nashville, TN, announced a massive expansion that will include a café.
Designed as a convenience for club members, juice/smoothie bars can give members healthy food options, create a social environment and help retain club members. However, making them profitable isn't always easy, which is why some club owners and executives have decided to stay away from the idea.
“We are not real believers in them, and we look at it like this: We are in the health club business, not food service. We keep that for the professionals,” says Chris Rondeau, CEO of World Gym Franchising.
Other club owners, however, are eager to offer these services to their members, but they often know that to make them work, they must either offer them as an amenity and accept minimal revenue or profits, or they must outsource their operation.
One club that is taking on the operation of a café on its own is Telos Fitness Center, an upscale, one-club operation in Dallas. When Brent Darden, co-owner of Telos, purchased the club several years ago, it already had a large restaurant, kitchen and eating area. Darden decided to maintain the café as an amenity for members. The café offers 30 smoothies, five gourmet salads, tacos, baked chicken and fish.
“We are a luxury-level club, and it helps separate us from our competition with something not everyone has, which is a full-service restaurant,” Darden says. “We have a chef in our club, Jack Jabara, who's been with us since we took over and is responsible for creating the menu.”
Darden acknowledges that with a full-service restaurant run by the club's employees and a chef, his club is an anomaly in the industry.
“Over time and almost without exception, clubs with [club-run cafés] didn't fare very well,” he says. “There have been several clubs around Dallas that have closed, and with virtually all of those clubs, before they actually closed the doors on the entire club, the restaurants had at some point closed first or at least were reduced dramatically in hours. It's all about members' foot traffic, and unfortunately, sometimes there's just not enough to sustain a restaurant.”
Outsourcing and Franchising
Despite Darden's confidence in running his club's café, many more club owners choose to outsource the operation of their juice/smoothie bars and cafés.
“Several years ago, we tried to run our own smoothie bars with our own recipes, and we weren't very good at it,” Shoulders says. “Our failed attempts were based around not marketing well, bad recipes and poor size control, all of the things food service operators would know how to do.”
In the late 1980s to the early 1990s, Gainesville Health and Fitness Center also attempted to run its smoothie bar, but because it wasn't its core business or area of expertise, management eventually outsourced the operations, Lee says.
“We believed that if we didn't have the staff power or expertise to accomplish it, then we are going to hire someone who loves what they do for a living — eats, breathes and sleeps this particular product — [and would help us retain our members] better than we could,” Lee says.
Some club operators are going beyond the normal outsourcing companies to offer some well-known and not-so-well-known franchised food options to members. The Maryland Farms YMCA in Brentwood, TN, is home to a full-service Subway restaurant. The business is completely separate from the Y and is not advertised outside the club, says Phil Newman, director of communications for YMCA of Middle Tennessee.
Shoulders turned to a lesser-known franchise for his café operations, actually purchasing the franchise himself and opening it in his club.
“Everything was pre-packaged when we bought the franchise arrangement,” says Shoulders. “We didn't try to reinvent the wheel. It's a franchise concept that you see in other places, but we let them do all the leg work in creating the concept and the recipes.”
Whether or not club owners run their own food operations or outsource them to a franchise or an operating company, the wave of the future in this area is fusing menu offerings with juice/smoothie bar core products, according to Juice & Smoothie Bar Consulting. The idea is to create a menu with quick-serve products, such as soups, wraps and salads, which can be made in front of the customer.
“QSRs (quick-service restaurants) have the concept of restaurant-quality food at fast-food speed,” says Lee. “Nothing is pre-made at our café. They get their ingredients from local produce centers and use them in their sandwiches and smoothies.”
QSRs fit well within health clubs' missions because they have all of their own marketing materials, provide all of the menus and recipes, and have already been established elsewhere, Lee says.
Are They Worth It?
The typical club surveyed by IHRSA regarding non-dues revenue reported generating 32.1 percent of total revenues from internal profit centers, but the report did not break out how much of that was from juice/smoothie bars and cafés.
The cost of running a juice/smoothie bar varies. Darden spends $20,000 a month (including payroll and cost of goods) to run his café at Telos. The café operates profitably on a minimal level, but it is not a big profit contributor, he says.
“We have considered cutting back, but if we were to get rid of it, we would disappoint a lot of our existing customers,” Darden says. “We do make a profit, but it's a marginal profit. We picture it as more of an amenity than anything else.”
The food service business is hard, and it's difficult to make a profit, Shoulders says, adding that if club owners can break even on their food service operations, then they are doing well. At the Fayetteville Athletic Club, Shoulders reports sales of $30,000 a month, with a small profit.
Lee would not say how much revenue Gainesville's juice bar generated, but she says it's insignificant. Despite that, she says, making money isn't the primary reason for the juice bar.
“We wanted to create a social atmosphere for our members, which we believe to be increasingly important in the health club area to make people come back because they have friends here,” she says. “Of course, having another revenue-producing area is important, but the purpose of our café is not to make a bunch of money. For the time being, we are OK with that — as long as we are not losing money.”
Newman says that juice/smoothie bars and cafés are right in line with the heart of the Y's mission and vision.
“We have found that people crave places to connect, make friends, relax and talk,” he says, “especially in the case of ‘health seekers’ who might be intimidated just walking into a room filled with cardio and strength equipment.”
Shoulders says the café at the Fayeteville Athletic Club is there to stay.
“Our members enjoy it,” he says. “Our staff enjoys having a place on-site where they can buy food at a discount. It's a nice staff retention tool. It's not making tons of money, and it's not a huge income item, but it serves its purpose.”
One of the ways we fulfill our mission of helping people to grow in spirit, mind and body is by providing places where they can connect with others, build friendships, and find encouragement and support. Café areas help us to achieve that goal.”


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Way back in January OnePlus announced their 2022 flagship, the OnePlus 10 Pro, but unfortunately it was only available in China at that time. Now they have announced that folks around the world will be able to purchase it from mid-April but once again Australia has missed out on an official launch and we will have to purchase it through an importer such as Kogan.
The OnePlus 10 Pro will be officially available in the US, Canada, Europe and India from April 14 with pre-orders starting today for US$899 which is just approximately AU$1150 – cheap for an ultra-premium flagship but unfortunately for Aussies you’ll have to pay a premium import price/tax on that to get it here.
When you purchase a flagship OnePlus smartphone you expect the best of the best when it comes to hardware and the OnePlus 10 Pro is no different. The OnePlus 10 Pro is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform chipset (same as the OPPO Find X5 Pro), paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage (also the same as the OPPO Find X5 Pro). Note that OnePlus is now a subsidiary of OPPO so the similarity in hardware should not come as a surprise.
The display was one of the best features of last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro and this year OnePlus has included an even better display. The display is a 6.7-inch QHD+ panel with a refresh rate of 120Hz with LTPO technology that allows for the refresh rate to be adjusted based on the requirement at the time (ie. what is on the display). The display is calibrated to deliver accurate, natural colours on a consistent basis.
The battery is a massive 5,000mAh but the best part about the battery is its ability to charge at 80W thanks to OPPO’s SuperVOOC Flash charging – Of particular note is that if you purchase a US product it will only arrive with a 65W charger. Indian and European versions will offer the full 80W charging but the OnePlus and OPPO chargers have always been interchangeable so expect an 80W OPPO Find X5 Pro charger to work at 80W on the OnePlus 10 Pro. The battery will also support 50W AirVOOC wireless charging.
The camera is where OnePlus has often let down their customers over the years and this year they are looking to overcome these issues with not just the help of Hasselblad in the second year of their partnership but also with the help of OPPO – OPPO has had great smartphone cameras in their flagships for a while now. Image capture by the rear camera setup is performed by a 48MP main camera, a 50MP 150-degree ultrawide camera and an 8MP telephoto camera. Expect great things from OnePlus with this camera – stay tuned for our upcoming review.
The software experience on a OnePlus phone has always been second only to the Pixel experience – with many placing it above the smartphones from the maker of Android. The software this year will once again be OxygenOS 12.1 from OnePlus based on Android 12 but it will be interesting to see how much influence OPPO and ColorOS has on OxygenOS.
OnePlus has publicly stated that the final version of their software will remain separate and distinguishable from ColorOS. Not only that but they have also promised to deliver 3 major Android updates and 4 years of security updates to their new flagship.
The OnePlus 10 Pro 5G (8+128 GB) in Volcanic Black and Emerald Forest goes on sale for $899US at OnePlus.com beginning April 14th. Pre-orders commence on March 31st and include a free pair of OnePlus Buds Z2. It will be available from OnePlus.com, Amazon and Best Buy in the US. Check out their Indian and European websites if you can use a third-party shipper.
Australians who are interested, and there always seems to be more than you’d expect, can purchase from any grey market importer – Kogan has long had OnePlus smartphones available for purchase (and already do this time too).
Keep an eye out for our review of the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G coming in the next few weeks.

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Google TV has hundreds of built-in live TV channels, but you’ll be getting even more if you’re using a TCL TV, as the company has just launched “TCLtv+,” a streaming service with hundreds more channels.
Launching this week for TCL’s Google TV sets exclusively – Roku and Fire TV models are coming at some point in the future – “TCLtv+” is a new free app that provides access to over 200 live TV channels and over 1,500 on-demand movies and TV episodes at no cost.
TCL explains in a press release:
Dedicated to providing viewers with a free and evolving collection of premium content, the initial launch of TCLtv+ includes more than 200 FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television) channels and 1500+ on-demand movies and TV series from major and independent studios such as Scripps Media, Fremantle, NBC Universal, FilmRise, Banijay, and more.
TCLtv+ will replace the existing “TCL Channel” on the company’s televisions, and it had already offered quite a lot of free streaming channels. TCL also says that it is working with “more big players” to add more content over time.
More on Google TV:
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.


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Introducing Web3 Compliance: NexeraID pioneering a new era of privacy-preserving compliance in collaboration with PolygonID
Today marks a significant milestone in the digital landscape as NexeraID in collaboration with PolygonID proudly unveil their groundbreaking Web3 Compliance initiative. This cutting-edge project sets a new standard for privacy protection while ensuring strict adherence to regulatory requirements in the ever-evolving realm of Web3 compliance.
On a mission to simplify Web3 compliance
With the explosive growth of Web3 technologies and the rapid adoption of blockchain applications, concerns surrounding data privacy and regulatory compliance have become paramount. Recent developments, such as the MiCA regulations in Europe and discussions in the US Senate, have led to uncertainty and confusion among Web3 companies.
To address these concerns and facilitate regulatory requirements, NexeraID and PolygonID have joined forces on a mission to simplify compliance for the Web3 space.
Unlocking the power of privacy-preserving ZKPs
PolygonID provides a privacy-first identity framework based on the Zero-knowledge proofs technology. This initiative empowers users with control over their sensitive information while fostering a secure and compliant environment for businesses to thrive.
“The Polygon ID team is explicitly working towards allowing Web3 users to have a self-sovereign governance of their identity without having to share any personal sensitive information to prove authenticity of users,” said Silvia Aran, Director of Technical Sales at PolygonID. “Our collaboration with NexeraID will definitely help Web3 companies easily kick-start their compliance journey while safeguarding their user privacy”
“We fully comprehend the unique compliance obstacles that Web3 organizations face in today’s digital landscape. At NexeraID, our mission is to define the standards of secure and accountable digital identity, consistently maintaining a balance between regulatory compliance and data privacy,” said Rachid Ajaja, Founder & CEO of AllianceBlock / NexeraID. “Our strategic collaboration with Polygon ID is positioned to become a pivotal factor in the evolution of Web3. As the emphasis on compliance and regulation grows stronger, our joint initiative stands as an ideal strategy, expected to engage regulatory attention. The journey ahead is exciting, with the potential to profoundly influence the Web3 ecosystem”
Simplifying Compliance with Composable Workflows
NexeraID’s suite of services includes KYC, AML, KYT, ongoing monitoring, and risk assessment, empowering Web3 companies with seamless regulatory adherence. Leveraging PolygonID’s cutting-edge identity infrastructure, NexeraID issues tamper-proof verifiable credentials, enabling secure interactions and user data control.
Central to this collaboration is NexeraID’s powerful rules engine that acts as a no-code customizable set of internal controls, evaluating specific user criteria to ensure compliance with regulatory standards. By utilizing the users’ verifiable credentials, Web3 companies can enforce precise compliance rules and streamline their processes, enhancing security and trust for all stakeholders involved.
Two Components for Seamless Integration
NexeraID and PolygonID’s collaborative solution consists of two primary components:
The NexeraID Widget: This widget seamlessly integrates into Web3 applications, enabling users to obtain an SSID based on their real-world identity and share it with the application. Under the hood, the widget deploys an Identity wallet compatible with the PolygonID protocol, allowing users to hold and share verifiable credentials (VCs). By interacting with the PolygonID Issuer, VCs are issued to users based on their real-world identity, simplifying the verification process.
The Rules Engine: This component empowers Web3 companies to define their unique compliance scenarios. Leveraging PolygonID’s ZK (Zero-Knowledge) Query language, the Rules Engine enables anonymous verifications and allows businesses to determine whether users should be approved or banned from interacting with their applications.
This solution addresses a broad spectrum of applications within the Web3 space:
Privacy-Preserving Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Onboarding: Users can obtain a self-sovereign identity through PolygonID’s Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) technology, proving authenticity without revealing personal data. NexeraID’s suite of services, including KYC, AML, and risk assessment, leverages the Polygon ID verifiable credentials. DeFi platforms can now comply with regulatory requirements while ensuring user privacy.
Interoperable Cross-Border Tokenization and Identity Verification: Users can seamlessly participate in cross-border tokenized asset transactions. PolygonID’s privacy-first identity framework allows users to interact with various Web3 applications without sharing sensitive information. NexeraID’s tamper-proof verifiable credentials ensure compliant identity verification across borders, enabling global tokenization with regulatory adherence.
Regulated Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) Marketplace: NFT marketplaces integrated with NexeraID and PolygonID can offer a verified user profile system without compromising user privacy. PolygonID’s Identity wallet allows users to own and trade NFTs with privacy-preserving identity verification. The marketplace can perform AML and KYC checks using the tamper-proof verifiable credentials issued by NexeraID.
Decentralized Identity Verification for Supply Chain Management: NexeraID and PolygonID enable supply chain businesses to perform identity verification and compliance checks in a privacy-centric manner. Verifiable credentials issued through Polygon ID toolsetensure the authenticity of suppliers without exposing proprietary supply chain data. Anonymous verification with ZK Query language enables businesses to validate compliance without sharing sensitive information.
Decentralized Gaming Passport: Gamers can now control their identities securely, without revealing sensitive data, thanks to PolygonID’s privacy-first identity framework. NexeraID issues tamper-proof verifiable credentials and gives the users the possibility to generate ZKP proofs from the VCs, ensuring seamless compliance with age verification and gaming regulations. This passport facilitates secure onboarding to diverse Web3 gaming platforms, promoting a safer gaming environment. Moreover, its interoperability across platforms guarantees users a seamless, privacy-enhanced gaming experience like never before.
The collaboration between NexeraID and PolygonID represents a pivotal step forward in the Web3 space. By simplifying compliance through composable control workflows and leveraging the power of PolygonID’s Identity Infrastructure, the two entities have paved the way for Web3 companies to confidently navigate the complexities of regulatory requirements. This strategic collaboration not only ensures user privacy and data protection but also promotes the responsible and sustainable growth of the Web3 ecosystem. Together, NexeraID and PolygonID are driving the industry forward, leading by example, and setting new standards for compliance in the Web3 era.
NexeraID provides easy-to-use identity verification and risk management solutions for Web3 companies. NexeraID turns consumer data into reliable insights and helps Web3 companies grow compliantly.
You’re a Web3 company and you‘re interested in privacy-preserving compliance in the Web3 world’? We’d love to hear your insights!
Book a call with us on our website: https://nexera.id/


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Lego’s deal with Warner Bros. expired in autumn 2019, leaving the toy company free to explore other options.
Lego and Universal have agreed a five-year deal that gives the latter the exclusive rights to develop, produce and distribute theatrical releases based on Lego’s intellectual property and original ideas.
The animated Lego feature films — The Lego Movie and its sequel, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, as well as spinoffs The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie — have grossed more than $1b at the worldwide box office.
All of the Lego movies have been released by Warner Bros. Universal’s interest was first reported in December, with Lego exploring its options since the early autumn, when the pact with Warners expired.
“The Lego System in Play gives people the ability to build worlds and create stories that they carry throughout every phase of their lives,” said Universal chairman Donna Langley, who made the announcement on Thursday along with Jill Wilfert, head of entertainment at Lego. “To partner with such an iconic brand that remains relevant and is constantly evolving allows for creativity in storytelling. We’re thrilled to start building out the next chapter of Lego movies together with Jill and the Lego team as they continue to inspire curiosity and innovation.”
Jill added: “Universal’s commitment to unique storytelling from diverse voices makes the studio the perfect partner as the Lego Group enters this new phase of filmmaking. Donna and the entire Universal team bring a sense of wonder and imagination we share, and we can’t wait to execute on our shared vision.”
Jill will serve as producer on all Lego projects developed and released by Universal, while Rideback’s Dan Lin (who produced all of the previous Lego features) and Jonathan Eirich will produce alongside Jill on the next Lego-inspired feature.


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Instagram *finally* opens up its API and everyone’s happy again
Brands have long had access to Instagram insights and metrics. But now, in a long-awaited move, Instagram has announced in a blog post that the platform will be opening up its API to third parties, essentially widening access.
Instagram marketing platforms (such as Iconosquare) and their customers are the winners here. On the most basic level, the changes mean that it’s become that much easier to control your Insta remotely.
Here’s what’s being added:
- Brands can turn comments off and on via third party platforms
- Brands will be able to access more detailed content analytics via third party platforms
Access to these upgrades will be via Instagram’s Business Partners. Oh, you also need to have a business account yourself — but that’s easy enough to set up!
Thanks, Instagram! 😘


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The plant built at cost of US$6 million has been equipped with advanced machinery imported from Japan and run following strict hygiene and food safety standards.
Chickens for production are sourced from a farm run by Nguyen Minh Kha in Nam Cat Tien commune, Tan Phu district.
Kha said he has taken part in the supply chain for poultry export to Japan for two years. He made sure his poultry is free from diseases and Japan-banned antibiotics.
The farm is expected to be scaled up to 720,000 chickens in next June or July from the current figure of 560,000. Most of its breeds have been imported from France, while feed has been provided by De Heus Vietnam.
The last barrier for Koyu & Unitek chicken meat products is animal quarantine from both countries.
Nguyen Van Quyen, head of the company’s export project board, said Koyu & Unitek is confident to pass the examination as its production chain is strictly in line with standards set by Japan.
The company expected to sell chicken products in the home market from April and ship its first chicken container to Japan in June or July.


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Ever since Amazon branched out beyond its original bookstore concept, e-commerce has become an integral part of the online shopping experience. Brick and mortar stores are especially feeling the pain from e-commerce’s relentless march, either closing outright or significantly pulling back, and those that remain often become ‘touch and feel’ showrooms for consumers who then purchase online.
Although it seems that e-commerce isn’t the store-killer the news would have us believe, there’s no denying there are more e-commerce websites vying for finite consumer cash than ever before. With the electronic arms race to beat the competition becoming even more fierce, artificial intelligence (AI) is going to up the game significantly.
When e-commerce first started, it was all about price. As online prices stabilize, internet companies become more savvy about their pricing strategies, and websites begin to blur one into another, internet retailers (including brick-and-mortar companies who implement an online e-commerce presence) need some way to capture shoppers and create return customers.
AI, especially in the form of machine learning, is being used to recreate the one thing consumers miss about the in-person shopping experience: personalization. When combined with retailers who implement a strong customer service mentality, a personalized online shopping experience creates more brand loyalty and increased sales. Case in point, outdoor apparel company North Face teamed up with IBM and Fluid to create an AI-powered online shopping assistant that’s working wonders with consumers.
Predictive algorithms can offer recommendations, something Amazon has been doing for some time. What is new is that in addition to making recommendations based on past purchases, newer algorithms will notice out-of-pattern purchases and incorporate that to try to predict the next time it might happen.
While most consumers think of e-commerce from the buyer’s perspective, it’s much more than that. AI in e-commerce goes beyond recommendation engines, chatbots and AI assistants. It’s also being used to help make warehouse logistics and automation more efficient, including evaluating more efficient routes for package delivery, saving time and money on the back-end.
With e-commerce accounting for 8.3% of total U.S. retail sales in 2016, AI will continue to work its way deeper into the online and in-person shopping experience. And if you can find what you’re looking for and get it cheaper and faster, isn’t that a good thing?


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The takeover of Allied Domecq will see a number of the most historic scotch whiskies coming under French ownership.
Ballantine’s, Teacher’s and Laphroaig have been stalwarts of the distilling industry in Scotland for more than 100 years and fans include Prince Charles and war correspondent John Simpson.
Bosses of French group Pernod Ricard have moved to calm fears that its £7.4bn (€10.8bn) deal for Allied will spark upheaval in an industry that prides itself on continuity and tradition.
Whisky drinkers are still coming to terms with the takeover of another famous brand – Glenmorangie – for £300m (€437.9m) by French group Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) last year.
Heavy job losses are not expected to take place at distilleries operated by Allied north of the border and industry leaders have welcomed the prospect of scotch whisky reaching new drinkers and consolidating its position in overseas markets.
A spokesman for the Scotch Whisky Association said: “What is encouraging for scotch whisky is that companies both at home and abroad are continuing to invest in the industry.”
Ballantine’s, which traces its history back to 1865 in Glasgow and was patronised by Queen Victoria and King Edward VII, is seen by analysts as the jewel of the Allied portfolio because it generates more profits than any of its other brands.
Investment bank Merrill Lynch had expected it to be sold by Pernod to takeover partner Fortune Brands to help pay for the deal, but details today showed that it will be retained by the French firm.
The label on a bottle of Ballantine’s displays its history through the heraldic arms which recognises it as an “Incorporation Noble in the Noblesse of Scotland” and acknowledges its royal appointments.
It is not the first time that Ballantine’s has come under foreign ownership as the whisky was bought by Canadian distillers Hiram Walker Gooderham & Worts in 1937. Allied acquired the brand in 1988.
Net sales of Teacher’s whisky are only a quarter of the £300 million generated by Ballantine’s, while Laphroaig is a relative minnow despite its position as the fastest growing single-malt Scotch on the market.
Teacher’s – which is being acquired by Fortune – was registered in 1884 by William Teacher who had opened a string of “dram shops” selling wines and spirits in his native Glasgow.
Within 20 years, the brand was being exported to America and Teacher’s voluntarily joined the rationing movement in the First World War by giving customers a card which entitled them to only five glasses a week. It was acquired by Allied in 1976.
Of all the whisky brands in the Allied portfolio, Laphroaig is the oldest and dates back as far as 1815 when it was first distilled on the island of Islay in Argyll and Bute.
The distillery was acquired by Allied in 1990 and celebrated drinkers include John Simpson, who took a flask of the malt with him when reporting the Gulf War, and BBC chairman Michael Grade who named his yacht Laphroaig.
In 1994, the Prince of Wales personally went to Islay to award the company a royal warrant and bottles of Laphroaig have carried the royal coat of arms ever since.
The brand will now have US owners as it is being sold by Pernod to Fortune.


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Farmers for Free Trade Executive Director Brian Kuehl says he’s unhappy the White House is ratcheting up the trade war.
While more tariffs on Chinese goods are set to go into effect in two weeks, he says the President is telling farmers to be patient as prices plummet and their markets are overtaken by foreign competitors. “That’s why with each new tariff announcement, polls show the patience of American farmers wearing thin,” Kuehl says. “Tariffs are causing long-term damage, not just to farming either, but also to American manufacturers and consumers.”
He adds that members of Congress from both parties are hearing from Americans that are angry about tariffs while they’re back in their states and districts. “It’s time to end the trade war before tariffs cause any more economic pain for America’s heartland,” he adds. The group is launching an $800,000 ad campaign called “Tariffs Hurt the Heartland,” spread across radio, TV, print, and online ads on farm programming across the heartland.
The ad buy is part of a larger $2.5 million national anti-tariff campaign the group launched in July.
Source: National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.


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Ericsson is launching its new extended suite of m-commerce solutions and services, designed to accelerate access and interconnection between the emerging m-commerce eco-system and the financial world to fast track the next generation of mobile financial services. The two solutions are Ericsson Converged Wallet and Ericsson Merchant Wallet.
The launch of these solutions has come ahead of Mobile World Congress 2012.Ericsson M-commerce services portfolio is designed to provide the world’s leading consumers brands with the infrastructure and solutions needed to create and connect m-wallets across a global m-commerce eco-system. The portfolio of services will speed time to revenue, increase adoption and stickiness, cost efficiency and performance for mobile network operators, financial institutions, internet gaming companies and retailers.
“Right now we are very focused on providing services that give our partners across the eco-system a fast route to provide their consumers with more m-wallet and platform independent services and greater payments choice. Through our enhanced suit of services we will enable partners to get closer to their customers through differentiated wallet services that connect and add value to their consumers”, said Adam Kerr, Head of M-commerce, Ericsson.
The new services within Ericsson’s m-commerce portfolio follow on from the launch of Ericsson M-commerce Interconnect showcased at MWC 2011. Following last year’s event the Interconnect service went live in the Philippines connecting through partnerships with operators Globe Telecom (GCash) and Smart Communications (Smart Money) m-wallet schemes.


text: National Japanese cuisine brand Benihana will soon have a home in Midland. The restaurant will move into the Genji Midland location at 2929 S. Saginaw Road, according to a press release. It is expected for this location to open in the fall of 2022. The new Midland location will be over 6,800 square feet, with 12 Teppanyaki tables, according to the press release. Restauranteur Henry Pi and his brother-in-law, Lom Poungthana, opened Genji Japanese Steak House in 2002. It's unclear when the restaurant will close to allow the transition to Benihana. Pi's restaurant chain owns Genji Midland, Pi's Chinese Restaurant and Pi's Asian Express. Before Genji the building housed Levi's Saloon. Another Benihana\u00a0location will also replace a Genji location in Saginaw at 3870 Bay Road. This location will be 9,100 square feet with 16 Teppanyaki tables. Benihana is national brand that provides, \u201cHigh-quality Japanese cuisine served up in a fun-filled, engaging teppanyaki experience,\u201d according to a press release. The brand has 103 locations nationwide.


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This is one holiday fight you can cross off your list.
The eternally stressful game of Monopoly just got a whole lot less stressful. Makers of the game are opening a holiday hotline to help settle disputes over the rules of the complicated board game.
Which is great because how many fights have we gotten into over Boardwalk? Too many to count.
According to Scary Mommy, a survey of 2,000 adults found that 51 percent of Monopoly matches end in a fight — so now it's Hasbro to the rescue. The company will have the hotline open starting Christmas Eve, wrapping up on the 26th.
Hasbro said they expect to receive a "flood" of calls around 6 p.m. on Christmas Day, which is apparently high Monopoly-playing time for families. Those who call in will receive an "unbiased, trained expert" who will be able to settle any dispute about the rules of the game.
"Monopoly is one of the best-loved board games of all time, because it's a way for families to spend some quality time together. However, our research found that Monopoly games can regularly end in chaos, with some friends and family members stopping at nothing to win," said Craig Wilkins, marketing director of Hasbro UK and Ireland.
"We'll have experts on hand with the official rulebooks to instantly settle any disputes, and advise on how to resolve common complaints, with each person also having the opportunity to make a donation to Childline when they call," Wilkins added.0comments
Originally posted on Womanista.com.


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Coffee Traders Forum
[ Post a Response | Coffee Traders Forum ]
Excerpt From WSJ Report on Peetís/Panara Merger
Posted by Tango
on May 19, 2020, 9:32 am
The investment firm behind Peet's Coffee, Pret A Manger and Panera Bread is pushing ahead with an initial public offering of its coffee business, aiming to raise up to EUR2 billion ($2.2 billion), according to a person familiar with the matter -- a bet coffee's resilience will appeal to investors amid uncertainty over the coronavirus pandemic.


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Aquaponics farming in Circular Economy
ICARE Foundation was among the change makers of the first ever circular economy business event in Armenia “Circle Up Yerevan”, which was organised by Revolve Consulting, the Impact Hub Yerevan and the UNDP Armenia on the 31st of October at Kultura.
This great event was aimed to raise the awareness and push people to take an action in Circular Economy, which is getting more and more widespread concept in the production process.
Going towards a more circular economy could benefit the firm, global economy and environment from different perspectives such as improving the security of the supply of raw materials or food security in general, increasing competitiveness and sales volume, stimulating innovation, increasing economic growth, providing higher rate of employment, etc.
The event consisted of three parts:
• Introduction to the concept of Circular Economy
• Case studies with two international speakers (Webinar)
During the workshop ICARE team represented the topic of Aquapoincs as a present and future technique of Sustainable Fish Farming.
ICARE Research Director Lusine Tadevosyan, who was also the project manager of Sustainable Fisheries for Enhanced Water Resources in Armenia (SFEWRA) funded by USAID and David Markosyan represented a real case study of aquaponics in Ararat valley. They discussed the main products and outputs that could come out of the production waste, the main challenges and beneficiaries of the project in Armenia.
ICARE is proud to be a part of this great initiative by going “green” and having its contribution in transition from conventional economic models to innovative and sustainable ones.


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Carrefour’s hypermarket format Carrefour Planet is performing “much better” than expected, given the economic turmoil in Europe, according to a senior executive at the French retail giant.
The company launched its Carrefour Planet concept last year in a bid to revitalise its hypermarket business. At the time, the retailer said it planned to convert 500 stores to the Planet banner by 2013 and claimed that the format would add 18% to its sales by 2015.
The pace of the roll out has slowed but analysts have expressed satisfaction with the performance of the Carrefour Planet stores in operation.
Speaking at the World Retail Congress in Berlin today (28 September), Carrefour chief commercial officer Jose Carlos Gonzalez-Hurtado said the original four Carrefour Planet pilot stores had seen customer numbers grow 13% and turnover climb over 14% in the first six months of the year.
It emerged, however, that growth from the pilot stores is higher than that seen in Carrefour’s newer Planet stores. Gonzalez-Hurtado pointed out, however, that the newest outlets are performing better than stores coverted to the format.
He described the Carrefour Planet concept as the retailer’s “best innovation in the last 30 years”, telling the audience: “Everybody was saying the hypermarket is dead. We had to have courage.”
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However, Gonzalez-Hurtado admitted Carrefour had “made mistakes”. He said the retailer’s initial optimism about its new store format in Europe was “bullish” but insisted Carrefour Planet remained key to its success, adding that the company would have 50 of the stores by the end of this month.
“If I knew then what I know now in September 2010, would I have been so bullish? The answer is no,” he said. “The market and the world economy have changed but it’s going much much better than I expected, despite all this.”
Carrefour has Carrefour Planet stores in France, Belgium, Spain, Italy and now Greece, where the first outlet opened earlier this month. Gonzalez-Hurtado said Carrefour is adopting a “wait and see” attitude about the format in crisis-hit Greece.
He said: “Obviously we’re going to be fine-tuning the roll-out plan, but all the hypermarkets will get ‘Planet thinking’. Whether they will have the Planet name or not is based on a strict criteria. Some stores we were looking at a year ago, we are now saying ‘whoa, wait a minute, let’s re-think that’. The responsible thing to do is wait and see.”
When asked if Brazil could be a ripe market for the Carrefour Planet format, Gonzalez-Hurtado remained coy. “We’re doing very well in Brazil, we’re the number one retailer but it’s always in our radar screen. We’re doing a roll-out in Europe first, for the time being.”
The future of Carrefour’s business in Brazil has been the subject of speculation. Earlier this year, a plan to merge its local operations with the country’s largest retailer, CBD, fell through. There have been rumours that other retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores, have been interested in buying Carrefour’s Brazilian business.


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Pumping co2 into tanks of beer ready for packaging—a process called force carbonation—is how most commercial beer gets its bubbles. But some craft brewers are doing it the centuries-old way, by “conditioning” it in the individual bottles, cans or kegs in which it will be sold. A dose of sugar and, sometimes, new yeast is added, triggering a second fermentation that, over the course of weeks, creates gentle bubbles.
That’s not all it does, according to Chuck Aaron, co-owner of Jersey Girl Brewing in Hackettstown, which conditions all its beers this way. “We achieve improved foam retention, flavors become more complex and mouth-feel is improved,” he says.
The world’s most famous bottle-conditioned beverage is Champagne, and the method used with beer is similar. It extends shelf life and, in fact, allows for long aging in bottle, can or keg.
“Though we won’t have the data for decades,” says James Priest, founder and head of the Referend Blendery in Hopewell, “we expect our beers to mature in the bottle for anywhere from three to 30 years, possibly longer.”
I recently tasted a Unibroue 17, a bottle-conditioned dark ale from the Canadian brewery Unibroue. Bottled in 2010, it was rich in caramel and dark chocolate flavors, yet had a delicate mouthfeel, despite a strong 10 percent ABV.
The danger of bottle- and can-conditioning is of excess pressure building up and cans or bottles bursting. Some Jersey brewers have had to retrieve burst bottles and cans from around the state this year. The remedy involves, among other things, limiting the amount of sugar put into the bottle or can. Priest says he monitors bottles up to a year before releasing.
“In the end,” says Aaron, “it is really worth the time and effort.”Click here to leave a comment


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The October 11 Google and Samsung joint event dubbed as Samsung Unpacked: Google Edition, has been postponed. Android Ice Cream Sandwich and Samsung’s next flagship phone Nexus Prime were expected to be unveiled at the event.
Statement by Google and Samsung regarding the cancellation of the event says:
“Samsung and Google decide to postpone the new product announcement at CTIA Fall. We agree that it is just not the right time to announce a new product. New date and venue will be shortly announced.”
No exact reason has been given for this postponement. May be Steve Jobs’ death prompted them to take the decision.
Full specs of Nexus Prime were only revealed yesterday and another video of Nexus Prime running Ice Cream Sandwich was also leaked earlier today. Considering the fact that Eric Schmidt had earlier said that Ice Cream Sandwich would be released by October/November. So we hope that the next date for the event would not be too far in future.
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The first container of Avocados destined for Europe was moved by rail to the port of Djibouti. Ethiopia is known for offering ideal climate conditions for the year around cultivation of vegetables and fruit like Mango’s, Grapes and Oranges. For a long time, the development of local horticulture was impeded by the vast distances that needed to be covered and unreliable transport.
Last Saturday in Ethiopia saw a true watershed moment in the large scale development of the country’s agricultural and logistics sectors: the very first reefer container with 24 tonnes of Avocados was loaded onto a train in Ethiopia, from where it will be forwarded to Europe via the Port of Djibouti.
The first step is the result of a partnership between the governments of Ethiopia, Djibouti and the Netherlands that was launched several years ago. The Dutch contribution mainly concerns logistics expertise; how to effectively capitalize on the fast growing, modern rail network that is taking shape Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Thanks to targeted investments in reefer terminal facilities at strategic locations along the route, Ethiopia’s horticultural sector can now access Ethiopian consumers in the major cities as well as the global market. A number of previous obstacles -n along transit times, high dues and spoilage- have been effectively cleared.


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Rihanna covers Vogue for the second time as she poses in her pixie cut and a red strapless dress for the November 2012 issue of the fashion bible.
The 24-year-old pop superstar tweeted the above photo along with “Mama I made it! Here’s #2″!
RiRi is currently getting ready to release her new album Unapologetic which will be available everywhere on November 19th!
RiRi previously covered the April 2011 issue of Vogue.
What do you all think of RiRi’s Vogue cover? Sound off in comments below!


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Editor’s note: This story first appeared in the “Best of Bainbridge” special section. The Readers Choice Awards publication was included in the Aug. 26 edition of the Bainbridge Review.
Known for its twice a year Blow Out sales, Sole Mates, Bainbridge Island’s most popular shoe store, has been named the “best” for the third year in a row.
“I don’t know why we’re the best,” said owner Dorothy Scott. “It’s probably because we have a classy section, a broad selection and good customer service.”
Sole Mates opened in December of 2003, and was located on the corner at Bainbridge Village, near Safeway. About four years ago, the store needed more space and moved down the block to Suite C5, 275 High School Road NE, still in the Bainbridge Village.
The business was opened by a husband and wife team, Dorothy and her husband, Jack, who has since passed away. Dorothy has an extensive background in retail management and worked in the shoe business in San Francisco for 15 years, before relocating to Bainbridge Island.
At the time she was selling inventory management systems for retailers and the Pacific Northwest was her territory.
“We moved to Bainbridge because it has the best schools and we had three school-aged children,” she said.
Not too long after that, she realized she missed retail and decided to open Sole Mates. She and her husband came up with the name.
“The goal has always been to provide the local community with comfortable, good quality shoes,” she said. “We have all the usual suspects.”
Those brands include Birkenstocks, Sorel, Clarks, Sperry, Born, dankso, Keen, Merrel, and tamaris. The store has children’s, women’s and men’s shoes in sizes newborn to men’s 14 and 15. And they can special order sizes that aren’t in the store.
Scott does all the buying herself. Company representatives visit her at the store and she attends three shows every year, in LasVegas, Salt Lake City and Portland.
“That shows me what’s going on in the world of shoes,” she said of the trade shows.
Currently the store has seven employees and manager Nancy Rockett-Ward. Every employee is educated on every shoe brand that Sole Mates offers.
“It’s a requirement for them to go through rigorous course,” Scott said. “They are trained because people have different kinds of feet.”
Athletic shoes and a separate department for runner’s shoes, apparel and accessories is part of what they do. And they custom make insoles on location.
They carry North Face jackets and outerwear, backpacks, purses and socks — lots of socks.
And if you join the Loyal Local Club, you get a free pair of socks on your birthday.
“Our Loyal Local Club also offers a Internet price match, a 365 day return policy, and five percent back in rewards that never expire,” she added.
Anyone who’s been on Bainbridge Island knows about the Blow Out sales that happen in mid August and mid January.
“We sell all the inventory and bring in all new for the next season,” she said. “Shoes are aggressively marked down and we sell a lot of shoes.”
Scott wants customers to know that her normal prices aren’t “up priced.”
“People sometimes think that, because this is Bainbridge Island,” she said. “But we are priced competitively and there’s no surcharge.”
About being voted the Best of Bainbridge Island in the shoe category, Scott thinks it’s because “we have a good selection of products, and people feel good about what they purchase. They know if they have a problem, they can come back and we’ll help them.”


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Last week’s shock ban on India’s two biggest banknotes came at a particularly bad time for anyone getting married.
The country’s wedding season reaches its peak this month and next, and most are paid for in cash. Tough limits on withdrawals of new 500 and 2,000 rupee notes were causing havoc.
Now there’s relief for millions of happy couples: The government....More>>>
In an agewhen vending machines can dispense anything from lipstick to headphones, perhaps it was only a matter of time before the industry would dream up a new, automated way to help people stock up on marijuana.
American Green, a Phoenix-based medical-cannabis technology company, has unveiled a prototype for a vending machine that uses biometric verification technology to sell controlled....More>>>
Shares of Facebook Inc. have gained nearly 20% in 2017. Given the recent management commentary, is FB stock still a good buy?
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has quickly gone on to become one of the biggest technology companies of our time. Shares of the Menlo Park, California-based social media giant have tucked on gains of nearly 20% in the year-to-date. The strong rally in FB stock,....More>>>


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Bigger cars leave drivers with just 21cm to squeeze out of a space
Motorists are being left with as little as 21cm to wriggle out of their vehicle in car parks following a sharp increase in the size of cars over the past 50 years, according to research.
A study published yesterday found that popular cars had grown by as much as 55 per cent since the 1970s as they offer greater comfort and more equipment and meet new safety standards.
But parking spaces have failed to keep pace. Some owners were having to perform Houdini-style escape acts in tight spots with 21cm on either side of a typical parking bay.
Bigger vehicles are thought to have contributed to a surge in dents and scratches. One estimate this year suggested that the annual bill for car park prangs


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With the launch of Windows 10, anyone who walks into your house and gets your Wi-Fi password for their PC could potentially let all their friends onto your network, thanks to a new feature that has ignited controversy online.
Microsoft has added a handful of image- and photography-related features in a new version of the Windows 10 SDK. It, along with the OS itself, will become generally available at the end of the month.
Microsoft surprised testers of Windows 10 on Tuesday by launching another build of its forthcoming operating system just a day after the last update.
Microsoft is hurtling towards the release of Windows 10, delivering a new build to early testers that provides more clues what the OS will look like when it ships at the end of next month.
Owners of Samsung PCs will begin receiving automatic software updates from Microsoft again soon, after Samsung said it will end its practice of blocking automatic Windows Updates on its computers.
Lenovo's design chief has come up with a wacky idea for the ThinkPad--so wacky, it just might work.
If you're looking for an exhaustive hands on of Windows 10 Mobile build 10149, this isn't it. I spent most of Thursday afternoon trying to install it on two phones--managing to put one into an unresponsive state, and breaking Wi-Fi on the other. Inst...
The U.S. Navy is paying Microsoft millions of dollars to keep up to 100,000 computers afloat because it has yet to transition away from Windows XP.
Microsoft gave users a new glimpse at how their feedback is being used to shape Windows 10 as the company closes in on its first consumer release of the new operating system.
Members of the Windows Insider Program's Slow ring got access to the most recent publicly-available build of Microsoft's upcoming operating system Friday morning.
A critical vulnerability affecting most Apple Mac models has been discovered that could enable attackers to overwrite firmware and gain persistent root access to computers.
Microsoft has given visitors to Computex 2015 a sneak peek at several new devices that will launch with Windows 10, highlighting the capabilities of the new OS.
Computers up to six years old will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free when Microsoft releases it globally on 29 July.
Users of the upcoming version of Windows will be able to call on its Cortana voice-driven virtual personal assistant to help them parse their organization's business intelligence data.
Microsoft is supporting cross-platform development like never before, introducing tools to port iOS and Android apps to Windows and allow software to run across multiple form factors, from smart phones to virtual reality headsets.
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Bangalore - Geneva: Over half of respondents in all 25 economies in a latest poll said they are more concerned about their privacy online than they were a year ago.
The Centre for International Governance Innovation
) and Ipsos
, in collaboration with UNCTAD
and the Internet Society
conducted this poll and the data was released during the first day of E-Commerce Week
hosted in Geneva, Switzerland.
The jump, recorded in a poll released today during the first day of E-Commerce
Week, reflects growing concerns about data privacy
and online security
Nearly four fifths of internet users
in North America are concerned about privacy online, saying that internet
companies are a primary source of their anxiety. This was 5% more than the year before, the latest poll data shows.
In the Middle East and Africa, the share of those feeling “more concerned” surged from 55% to 61%.
The findings of the survey, which has been conducted four times since 2014, come at a time of intense debate related to the handling of data by digital platform owners.
“The survey underlines the importance of adopting and adapting policies to cope with the evolving digital economy,” said Shamika Sirimanne, Director - UNCTAD's Technology and Logistics Division.
“Part of the challenge for policymakers is to deal holistically with a number of areas – from connectivity and payment solutions to skills and regulations,” she said.A matter of trust
Trust in the internet varies greatly between countries. In many large emerging economies, such as China
(90%), Indonesia (88%), Pakistan (87%) and Mexico (84%), the largest proportion of internet users state that they have trust in the internet. By comparison, the corresponding shares in Japan and Tunisia are below 60%.
“Newcomers to the internet might be unaware of potential abuses and risks. Yet, this trust is essential for the successful expansion and use of e-commerce platforms and mobile payment systems in developing nations,” said Fen Osler Hampson, CIGI’s Director - Global Security and Politics.
Among the 25 economies covered by the survey, the general trend is that more internet users are starting to shop online.
The share of respondents stating that they never buy things online dropped overall from 22% in 2017 to 17% in 2018. However, in Nigeria, Pakistan, Tunisia and Kenya, a majority of respondents still say they never shop on the web.
The main reasons internet users gave for not shopping online is that they have no trust in it (49%) or that they have heard bad things about it (25%).
Lack of trust is keeping people off e-commerce platforms mostly in the Middle East and Africa, and in Latin America, suggesting that the potential gains from e-commerce are not spread evenly around the globe.Mobile payments
The survey also showed great differences in e-commerce behaviour. For example, using smartphones
to make payments is common in many developing countries.
Of the 25 economies surveyed, individuals are particularly likely to use mobile payments in China (94%), Indonesia (93%), India (83%) and Kenya (79%).
Among developed economies, the highest use is in Sweden (64%) while the lowest is in France (31%) and Japan (29%).Is it worth it?
While the rapid pace of technological change creates both opportunities and challenges, most internet users in the survey (72%) feel that the benefits of new technology outweigh the costs.
The level of agreement that new technology is “worth what it costs” is highest in Egypt (92%), China (90%), Indonesia (90%), India (88%), Kenya and Brazil (both 87%).
Conversely, in France, only 47% of the internet users agreed with the statement that the benefits of new technology outweigh the costs.
The main reason that people feel that costs outweigh the benefits of new technology is that technology can result in the loss of employment.
In the survey, the most cited initiatives to manage technological disruption were government-provided training programmes and skills development (42%), followed by greater efforts by companies to factor in social and economic consequences when designing new technologies (39%). A smaller share (17%) felt that governments should tax robots.
In total 25,262 internet users were polled between 29 December 2017 and 5 March 2018. The survey was conducted in 25 economies – Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, South Africa, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.


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On Wednesday, Carlsberg will report its results for the first three months of 2016. Here, just-drinks takes a closer look at the brewer’s performance in the period:
- Carlsberg started the quarter by offloading a plot of land in Copenhagen for around US$90m. The sale, to Danish pension fund Danica, formed part of Carlsberg’s plan to dispose of its non-core assets.
- Despite claims by analysts that it might be interested in buying SABMiller’s Grolsch and Peroni Nastro Azzuro brands, Carlsberg’s chairman calmed the speculation in January. Flemming Besenbacher was cited by Danish newspaper Berlingske saying that Carlsberg is no longer trying to grow through M&A, and preferred to be strong rather than big. Within a month, Asahi Group lined up its purchase of the brands, along with Meantime.
- Also in January, analysts at Nomura met with Carlsberg management and came away fearing that the company’s recent troubles may not be fully behind it just yet.
- Nordic, Carlsberg’s non-alcohol brand, posted healthy sales in the brewer’s domestic market, with the company looking to add a wheat variant in the coming months. Could we see a broader roll-out of the brand, as Carlsberg chases growth?
- The company lined up the construction of an eighth brewery in India in February, with Tuborg rising to second place in the list of the country’s top-selling beer brands.
- In Western Europe, Michiel Herkemij was confirmed as the brewer’s SVP for the region, with Julian Momen set to replace him as CEO of Carlsberg’s UK division.
- Finally, in March, the group launched its ‘SAIL2022’ strategy review, with the company identifying four global trends that “will shape the future beer category”.
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Recognizing that its target client base is rapidly adopting the use of tablet devices, brokerage firm Charles Schwab announced a new mobile marketing campaign designed to heavily invest in tablet advertising. The tablet ad campaign is already running on a number of apps popular among its clientele, including Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and Yahoo! Finance.
This focus on tablet advertising is part of a larger effort to implement a multi-channel campaign that caters to the varied electronic habits of consumers while updating the company’s brand and reputation with a new logo and other rebranding measures.
A spokeswoman for Charles Schwab noted that the company is seeking a more visible presence in several highly trafficked channels, including traditional media such as television and print. And, it now considers tablet devices a primary advertising channel.
Schwab’s new approach is more about mindset than functionality. Ultimately, the company is targeting increased engagement from consumers — particularly those reticent to put their faith in large financial institutions. In effect, the campaign invites consumers to take a more active role in their investment strategies and use all lines of communication in pursuit of this larger role. Tablet devices have the potential to become a significant part of that communication. Schwab’s advertisements are intended to convince consumers that they will reap better results by being more involved.
A Campaign for Greater Engagement
Schwab says its new campaign, titled “Own Your Tomorrow,” is an effort to foster greater engagement between investors and clients. In the end, the company wants its clients to be more involved in the management of their assets.
In recent years, investing consumers have become increasingly involved with their investments and money management, but many have struggled to find a financial professional who offers the level of attention and engagement they prefer. With the new campaign, Schwab is challenging investors to educate themselves by reading the latest investment news and learning basic investment strategy. The end goal, according to the ads, is that investors have greater confidence in their investment strategies because they are more involved in the process.
Schwab’s tablet ad strategy includes a mix of homepage takeovers, pre-roll ads and rich media tablet advertising.
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Looking for a technology partner who can deliver amazing mobile solutions across multiple mobile interfaces?


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A months-long investigation into PG&E’s controversial smart meter program found nothing wrong with the meters but concluded that the utility turned the roll out into a consumer relations disaster.
The 400-page report, released Thursday, blasted PG&E’s customer service culture, finding that customers were “consistently treated by PG&E as wrong, until the customer proved to PG&E that they were right.”
While the report did not mollify all critics of the program, PG&E said it would improve customer service and planned to continue the rapid rollout of the program to install 10 million of the smart meters by 2012.
State regulators with the California Public Utilities Commission ordered the probe into smart meter accuracy after widespread complaints from consumers that the meters were causing unusually high bills. The consumer revolt began in Bakersfield and quickly spread throughout northern California.
The investigation found that the high bills could be traced to other causes, such as increased energy use during last summer’s heat wave or “load changes” like adding a pool or additional room to a house. While finding no accuracy problems with the smart meters, it discovered that a small percentage of the older electromechanical meters ran slowly, which would result in higher recorded energy use once the newer smart meters were installed.
At a press conference, PG&E executives said they were pleased the smart meters had been shown to be accurate but acknowledged that much work remains to regain public trust.
“We heard loud and clear that what was lacking was customer communication and customer service,” said PG&E senior vice president Helen Burt.
Scores of consumers and utility industry executives packed the auditorium of the CPUC in San Francisco for the unveiling of the report. Some consumer advocates complained that the report left many consumer concerns unresolved.
State Senator Dean Florez, D-Shafter, criticized the sample size used in the investigation as being too small. “I was especially surprised at the limited number of customer complaints that were reviewed,” he said.
Smart meters are being installed by utility companies across the United States and around the world, and PG&E’s rocky experience has been the talk of the growing smart grid industry.
As of Aug. 15, the CPUC had received 4,471 complaints about the PG&E smart meters, compared to just 169 from Southern California Edison customers and 88 from San Diego Gas & Electric customers.
While concerns about high bills may be mollified by the report, PG&E and the CPUC are now being deluged with a new wave of consumer complaints related to fears of electromagnetic radiation from the smart meters.
Indeed, the vast majority of consumers who spoke Thursday said the smart meters are making them sick or expressed fear that smart meters will increase their risk of brain cancer. Health issues were not within the scope of the investigation.
Several California cities, including Santa Cruz, Sebastopol, Scotts Valley, Capitola, Watsonville and several in Marin County have sought bans on smart meter installations because of health concerns.
Michael Peevey, president of the CPUC, stressed Thursday that the Federal Communications Commission has certified smart meters as meeting government standards, and urged people to take their concerns to the FCC.
Under it’s $1.4 million contract with the CPUC, the Structure Group of Houston was charged only with determining if PG&E’s smart meters are measuring, collecting and billing electric use accurately.
Structure performed accuracy tests on a random selection of already installed smart meters and conducted “side-by-side” meter tests in which a second smart meter was installed at the homes of some customers.
The company also analyzed complaints from 1,378 customers who reported skyrocketing bills and conducted in-depth interviews with 20 people. It also tested some of the old, electromechanical meters that are being replaced. The older meters use gears and dials, much like the mileage odometer on a car, and if worn down can under-report electric use.
Consumer advocacy groups like TURN, the Utility Reform Network, had called for a moratorium on any new smart meter installations while the investigation was underway. But PG&E continued to install smart meters at a rate of about 10,000 per day, and said Thursday it has installed 6.6 million to date and remains on track to have 10 million in place by 2012.
The smart meters are made by General Electric and the Swiss company Landis+Gyr. Redwood City-based Silver Spring Networks, a venture-backed company that counts several of the nation’s leading utility companies as its clients, provides the communications software.
Contact Dana Hull at 408-920-2706. Follow her on Twitter at Twitter.com/danahull.


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Sales at full throttle as dividends return for Motorcycle Holdings
Motorcycle Holdings has forecast underlying earnings of up to $45 million for the June 30 year as the COVID-19 related boom in sales continued to benefit the company.
Motorcycle Holdings said there was no signs of sales slowing down
The company said there were no signs of demand slowing down.
Shareholders will be the big beneficiaries with a return to a dividend payout of between 50 and 70 per cent of net profits and a notable winner is chief executive David Ahmet who has about 18 per cent of the company.
The company has maintained its policy of keeping the $5.8 million it received in JobKeeper payments and has said those funds had been excluded from the pool used for dividends.
The company said the funds also mitigated the losses incurred by the closure of its stores during the lockdowns.
The company benefitted last year when the lockdowns and travel restrictions forced people into new hobbies and modes of transport.
The forecast result compares with the underlying earnings before interest, tax and depreciation last year of $27.6 million.
“The industry’s new motorcycle unit sales were up 51 per cent for the first three months of calendar 2021, compared to the comparative period last year,” the company said.
“Demand for new and used motorcycles remains consistent and strong and is showing no signs of slowing down.”


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Security concerns keep consumers away from mobile payments
Data whiz and visual storyteller
Despite the rapid rise of mobile payments, 1 in 4 Americans are resisting the practice, with hesitations centered on security and privacy concerns, as well as simply feeling they don’t need the technology.
In the third wave of a study by First Annapolis Consulting, the share of Americans who have made at least one mobile payment in the past 12 months is now 74 percent, up from 58 percent just six months ago and 40 percent in May 2015.
But that leaves 26 percent of respondents who have yet to try mobile payments, whether it’s using their phone to make an in-app purchase, pay a bill, receive loyalty points on an in-store purchase, or make any number of other mobile money transfer transactions.
When asked what’s holding them back from mobile payments, the most-common response was concern about security, from almost two-thirds of the nonusers (64 percent). That response was fairly similar across all age groups.
A feeling that they simply don’t need mobile payments was second at 42 percent, followed by privacy concerns at 41 percent. In both cases, respondents ages 45-54 (the oldest age group delineated in the findings) were more likely than younger respondents to cite the concern.
The feeling that mobile payments are less convenient than traditional methods was reported by only 18 percent of the non-users. However, the survey’s youngest respondents – those under 35 – were surprisingly more than twice as likely to cite the perceived inconvenience as all the survey respondents age 35 or older.
First Annapolis’ third flight of its study was conducted in June among 1,528 U.S. consumers age 18-54 who both own a smartphone and have a checking account or debit card. Like its previous editions conducted in December 2015 and May 2015, the sample demographics were generally aligned with U.S. Census distributions. The latest findings were released Aug. 18.
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By Priscilla Wiredu
Posted on November 5, 2021
The Black Entrepreneurship Program (BEP) is a funded partnership with the Government of Canada, Black business organizations, and financial institutions. Culminating an investment of up to $350.8 billion in just over four years, it aims to help Black Canadian businesses and Black entrepreneurs progress their businesses and have ongoing future success.
Why it was created
Despite making pivotal contributions to the Canadian economy, Black Canadian entrepreneurs continue to face systemic barriers when it comes to starting a business and business growth. This has been made even more difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Black Entrepreneurship Program is the first of its kind at tackling these long-standing systemic barriers.
How it works
The Business Development Bank of Canada works with and supports the Federation of African Canadian Economics (FACE) in ensuring the initial set of loan products is delivered in a timely manner to Black business owners and entrepreneurs across Canada. They provide advice and resources, as well as collaborating with FACE on loan approval models that serve the Black Canadian business world.
The Business Development Bank of Canada committed $130 million in capital and acts as a fulfillment agent for the loan fund.
Alterna Savings and Vancity, two banking companies, participate in a microloan pilot program under the load fund, allowing loans ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 to Black entrepreneurs.
How the loans can be used
- Capital investments such as equipment, leasehold improvements, property, and office equipment
- Working capital: Inventory, payroll, lease payments, accounts management, rent
- Short-term receivable financing (e.g. financing to service contacts)
Loans may not be used to finance items like goodwill, restructuring certain business-related debts, dividend payout, shareholder loan repayment or issuance, bonuses, stock buybacks, option issuance, or shareholder or management committee compensation wage increase.
Components of the program are outlined below.
Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund (BELF)
The BELF is an important step in helping Black business owners and entrepreneurs receive financial support for startups, scale-ups, and growth not just in Canada, but across the globe. It provides up to $250,000 in loans to both Black business owners and entrepreneurs across Canada. The Government of Canada announced the Loan Fund is accepting loan applications from applicants through the Federation of African Canadian Economics (FACE). FACE consists of five prominent Black Business Support Organizations (BBSOs) that have joined forces to create The Black Entrepreneurship Program. The group has a collective of over 35 years’ experience in serving Black Canadian business communities.
Here are the founding members:
- Côte des Neiges Black Community Association
- Groupe 3737
- Black Business Initiative
- Black Business and Professional Association
- Africa Centre
National Ecosystem Fund
The National Ecosystem Fund (NEF) supports not-for-profit Black-owned and Black-led businesses and organizations across Canada, seeking to provide support, mentorship, financial planning and business training for aspiring Black business people.
The NEF is currently closed, with over 200 applications submitted. Continued reviewing of projects is currently being orchestrated by regional development agencies and those accepted will be contacted by fall.
Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub
The Black Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (BEKH) conducts research on Black entrepreneurship in Canada. It helps identify barriers to success and growth opportunities. The Hub is led by not-for-profit Black community and business organizations partnered with educational institutions.
Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada is currently in the reviewing process and will communicate with successful applicants in the weeks to come.
Having different application processes, the general eligibility for those interested are as follows:
- Self-identify as Black or Black-led (majority ownership of greater than 51 per cent by Black Canadians).
- Be a legal resident of Canada: e.g. Canadian citizen or permanent resident, or conventional refugee (for microloans only), or a legal entity owned and controlled.
- Be a Canadian citizen or citizens.
- Be a minimum of 18 years old.
Eligibility for businesses are:
- Start up and existing for-profit small businesses in Canada.
- Can be corporations or sole proprietors and for-profit social enterprises.
- Must have a business plan.
- Must have a business registration.
Recent financial statements OR Financial projections for start-ups
Not-for-profit organizations are NOT eligible for loans.
For more information
Priscilla Wiredu is a writer for this year’s Black Voice project. An alumni of York University, she graduated with Honors where she studied Social Sciences. She then went on to get an Ontario Graduate certificate in Creative Writing from the Humber School for Writers, and a college certificate in Legal Office Administration at Seneca College. She is currently studying for the LSAT in hopes of going to law school. Her main goal as a Black Voices writer is to ensure Black issues and Black Pride are enunciated through her works.


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The Institute of Textiles and Clothing (ITC) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is organising the first-of-its-kind academic conference entitled “Artificial Intelligence on Fashion and Textile Conference 2018” in partnership with the Vision and Beauty Team at Alibaba and The Textile Institute, UK. Targeted at exploring the integration of fashion and textile supply chain and artificial intelligence (AI), the four-day conference attracted over 250 researchers, engineers, practitioners and IT professionals from the AI and fashion fields. The Conference was inaugurated today (4 July 2018) by Dr Bernard Chan, Under Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, HKSAR Government; Dr Lam Tai-fai, Deputy Chairman of PolyU Council; Professor Timothy W. Tong, President of PolyU; and Mr Zhuang Zhuo-ran, Vice President of Alibaba Group. The PolyU President, Professor Timothy W. Tong, said at his welcoming address, universities in Hong Kong have been performing well in AI technology and related fields with world-leading research and development capabilities. “The proliferation of AI in recent years is having a profound impact on society. By combining with other new technologies, AI is transforming many industries, including Fashion, with optimized production lines, improved operational efficiency as well as enhanced business processes, which will undoubtedly lead to a higher profitability. With collaborations with industry leaders like Alibaba, PolyU will be able to make even more significant contribution in the global development of AI in the years ahead.” Plenary speakers of the Conference are: Professor Zowie Broach, Head of Fashion of Royal College of Art; Mr Menglei Jia, Senior Technical Expert, Taobao Technology Business Unit of Alibaba Group; Ms Kim Wong, Professor of Practice, ITC, PolyU; and Professor Dacheng Tao, Professor of Computer Science, School of Information Technologies, The University of Sydney. They would share their insight and research findings on the application of AI in fashion business. To solve the imminent issues on the application of AI in the fashion ad textile supply chain, ITC and Alibaba are also organising a global competition called “FashionAI Global Challenge 2018”. More than 6,000 researchers and engineers forming over 5000 teams from 42 countries participated to compete for a prize pool of RMB1.34 million. The selected 10 best teams are now present in Hong Kong and will present their solutions at PolyU tomorrow (5 July). Concurrently, a FashionAI Concept Store opens at PolyU campus from 4 July to 7 July to demonstrate the integration of AI and fashion retail. The Store integrates novel and intelligent technology to provide the ultimate shopping experience to customers and to improve sales and customers services at the same time. The Conference and the Challenge are planned to be annual activities for academic exchange and networking with like-minded individuals who are redefining the world of AI and fashion, and advancing AI research in fashion and textile. -End- For media enquiries, please contact: Ms Anne Hon, Marketing Manager, Institute of Textiles and Clothing, PolyU Tel.: (852) 2766 6463 Email: [email protected]
Asia Research News proudly partners with this event. If you attend, keep an eye out for print copies of the Asia Research News magazine!
Asia Research News partners with more than 80 R&D conferences and events all over the world, helping raise awareness about the events and providing complimentary copies of Asia Research News magazine to delegates. Learn more about media partnerships or participating in the magazine.


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6 min read 9 Apr 20
Summary: In the last week there has been a reasonable bounce in equities from their March lows and some moderation in market volatility.
Although it is not much to write home about, with this relative calm there has been some shift in market commentary. Price moves themselves are no longer the main story; instead some are now looking beyond the immediate future to the more enduring economic impacts of the virus.
Of note has been a renewed focus on inflation:
As Steven Andrew wrote earlier this week, as investors we should be wary of falling into the trap of forecasting such variables; events this year have shown that only too well. However when considering whether assets are attractive it can be useful to understand what expectations are embedded in pricing and how vulnerable they might be to any surprise.
When we look at asset prices today, it would seem that few are envisaging inflation threats.
On the surface, the easiest way to judge what’s being priced in for inflation is to look at market implied measures of inflation expectations, and these have declined sharply as market turmoil intensified.
Although there has been a modest rebound from the lows, most market measures of inflation expectations sit meaningfully lower than they had in a phase which has already been characterised as ‘secularly stagnant.’
While these moves have been cited as evidence that no-one believes that sizeable stimulus measures will rekindle inflation.
However, even if implied ‘expectations’ aren’t a pure measure of what people actually believe, at current levels, there is little buffer in place against the risk that inflation does emerge.
Those who have expected the high levels of policy stimulus since the financial crisis to create inflation in the real economy have been disappointed, as have those who have periodically looked for more lasting impacts of oil price increases.
The reasons for this are now becoming more accepted by the mainstream. As Randeep Somel highlights, developed markets have seen low and anchored inflation for a prolonged period of time due to powerful structural forces impacting the supply side. These include globalisation, technological progress and deregulation, and the promotion of competition.
We have seen some challenge to these forces through various political movements and the recent US-China trade wars, but for more pronounced and sustained shifts in the inflation dynamic the pandemic will need to have even more dramatic impacts.
As frequently highlighted by economist Woody Brock, a useful framework for thinking about the likely consequences of any shift in the economy is to remind ourselves of demand and supply dynamics. As Brock has outlined elsewhere, the long term impacts of the pandemic and the responses of policy makers are no different.
Both GDP growth and inflation are driven by shifts in the aggregate demand for and supply of goods and services. Inflation emerges when demand increases or supply falls.
At the moment, and it has been the case in most periods of stress in recent memory, markets interpret periods of stress as meaning the opposite. The fear is that as companies go out of business, unemployment rises sharply and stays high, and consumers have less to spend and save more of what they do have, the fall in demand creates disinflationary pressure. This leads to lower ‘post pandemic prices’:
This would explain the recent collapse in market implied inflation rates, though we would argue that many investors thinking about this at all and are just looking for any asset perceived as safe in the short term.
The intention behind the global fiscal and monetary response is to prevent these long term falls in aggregate demand by enabling individuals and companies to get through the temporary shutdown in activity.
The fear of many is that the size of this stimulus does more than this. The quantitative easing of the last ten years has not been sufficient to boost aggregate demand in the real economy but we are now seeing a drastic increase in the extent of this stimulus, with much of it focused on direct transfers to individuals and business rather than bank balance sheets. Some have argued that this could result in a more lasting and inflationary increase aggregate demand in a way that stimulus has not in recent history.
One of the reasons that any boost in aggregate demand over the last ten years hasn’t been able to create inflation is that we have also seen a big increase in effective supply. Technological advance means many things that used to be more costly to produce are effectively free (consider e-mails versus sending letters, streaming versus cinemas, facetiming versus travelling to a meeting), while globalisation has meant price competition on the manufacturing side.
A threat to global supply chains and repatriation of production (including the use of tariffs to encourage domestic production in ‘strategic’ industries) would likely constrain supply and could push prices higher.
Equally the supply-side could be constrained by businesses going bankrupt, with productive assets lost (before higher prices incentivise production later on). Some have even suggested that increased government involvement in the economy (which typically don’t unwind as easily as they happen) could also hinder these incentive effects, and diminish the efficiency of the supply more broadly.
Other supply arguments focus on the role of wage pressures. Goodhart and Pradhan suggest that after their initial predicted inflation spike a longer term inflationary dynamic will materialise as labour bargaining power improves due (among other factors) to a de-globalisation impact along the above lines reducing competition from overseas labour.
Others have cited the link between past pandemics and increased inflation. This, however, is likely the result of significant population falls in highly agricultural or manufacturing-led economies. It is not clear that past pandemics are much comparable with the present given the very different structure of the global economy today and the different mortality profile of the virus at present. Neither is this wage-led argument consistent with the scenario where the pandemic prompts significant levels of persistent unemployment, which is normally associated with lower bargaining power and less wage pressure.
The reality is that all these influences on demand and supply will be happening concurrently (as will a whole host of other, non-virus related forces), it is also the case that even if we knew which of the forces are dominant over the others, forecasting the extent of price shifts involves understanding the slope of the various curves involved.
Nobody can know how the recovery from this shock will play out or what its longer term consequences will turn out to be: the global economy is a highly complex and dynamic system, the above are just possibilities, and it’s unlikely that the powerful structural forces that have delivered the current inflation regime will be undermined easily. What we should put a high probability on is that things will, as ever, continue to be hugely surprising.
The best approach we can follow is to examine the facts as they stand and how confident the market appears to be in its own beliefs. For now, Western bonds continue to be priced on the basis of an ongoing stable inflation environment and for the diversification properties that they’ve generally exhibited in that regime. We should be wary of picking a fight with that view of the world, but we should always take note when asset valuations are offering less protection should we be surprised again.
The value of investments will fluctuate, which will cause prices to fall as well as rise and you may not get back the original amount you invested. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.


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Oh, this is going to be good.
The injunction against publicly releasing the list of names in the "DC Madam" prostitution sting has been lifted by Federal Judge Gladys Kessler. A copy of the list is on its way to Citizens for Legitimate Government. I wonder if there are many nervous people in Washington this morning?
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Instagram has launched a trade mark dispute against Microsoft over the use of the suffix ‘gram’ in the trade mark ‘Actiongram’ which Microsoft had registered.
In the dispute Instagram opposes ‘Actiongram’ on two counts:
1) The goods and services related to the ‘Actiongram’ trade mark are too closely associated with those of Instragram.
2) It could cause the public to believe incorrectly that the particular line of products belonging to Microsoft are affiliated with Instagram.
Although Instagram has lodged many trade mark related disputes against the use of ‘gram’ this is the first one against such a global company.


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The U.S. economy grew more than previously estimated in the first quarter as Americans shunned imports and exports climbed to a record...
The U.S. economy grew more than previously estimated in the first quarter as Americans shunned imports and exports climbed to a record.
The 0.9 percent gain at an annual pace in gross domestic product compares with an advance estimate of 0.6 percent, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Fourth-quarter growth was 0.6 percent.
“It’s basically like an airplane at stall speed, just skimming above the water,” said Jeffrey Frankel, an economist at Harvard University who is a member of the panel that dates U.S. economic cycles. “I wouldn’t rule out going into a recession” later in the year.
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Trade remains the bright spot for an economy that is likely to slow this quarter as surging fuel and food bills and falling home values force consumers to cut back. The economy will expand just 0.1 percent this quarter as spending slows further, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
“We are somewhere in the twilight zone between an expansion and a recession,” said Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan Chase. “We will have a poor pace of growth through the year.”
Harvard University economist Martin Feldstein, president of the National Bureau of Economic Research — the group that eventually decides when a recession has started — Thursday said the economy probably shrank last quarter.
“Virtually every indicator is heading down,” Feldstein said. Still, there’s “a chance” the U.S. won’t go into a recession.
Second of three estimates
Thursday’s GDP report is the second of three estimates. The median forecast of 74 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 0.9 percent pace. Projections ranged from gains of 0.6 percent to 1.3 percent.
After a 0.6 percent growth rate in the fourth quarter, the reading was the smallest six-month expansion rate in five years.
The trade deficit shrank to an annual pace of $480.2 billion, the smallest since the third quarter of 2002. Trade’s contribution to growth jumped to 0.8 percentage point, four times more than previously estimated.
Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, rose at a 1 percent annual rate in the first quarter, the same as estimated last month. The gain was the smallest since the 2001 recession.
The revisions also showed bigger gains in incomes than previously estimated, easing concern that spending will collapse.
Personal income increased at a 5.1 percent annual pace from October through December, compared with an initial projection of 4.2 percent. For the first quarter, income growth was revised up to 4.7 percent from 4.4 percent.
Labor market softens
Income growth may slow in coming months as the labor market softens. The U.S. has lost jobs for four consecutive months this year, and payrolls may post another decline for May, according to the Bloomberg survey.
The gain in growth last quarter would have been even larger if not for a reduction in estimates for inventories.
Companies cut stockpiles at a $14.4 billion annual rate, compared with an initial estimate of a $1.8 billion gain. The figures added 0.2 percentage point to growth, less than the previously estimated contribution of 0.8 percentage point.
A measure of total sales, which strips out stockpiles, was revised to a gain of 0.7 percent at an annual rate rather than a 0.2 percent drop. Sales rose at a 2.4 percent pace in the fourth quarter.
There are signs that demand is slowing even more. Auto sales in April slid to a 14.4 million annual rate, the lowest level since 1998, figures show. Spending this quarter will grow at a 0.5 percent pace, the smallest gain since 1991, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.