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- Chick-fil-A is planning a new delivery restaurant concept for Nashville and Atlanta.
- Little Blue Menu will serve normal Chick-fil-A fare plus wings and other chicken dishes.
- Delivery concepts have become key as restaurants close dining rooms.
Chick-fil-A's new delivery-only restaurant concept will launch this fall in Nashville, the chain announced.
The concept, Little Blue Menu, will operate as a ghost kitchen with three new virtual restaurants: Flock and Farm, Garden Day, and Outfox Wings. They will all operate alongside a delivery-only Chick-fil-A in Nashville, so food from all four restaurants could be ordered together and delivered in hybrid electric vehicles, Chick-fil-A says.
The chain says the name is a reference to Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy's original blue menus.
Chick-fil-A first filed a trademark application for Outfox Wings in May, Insider reported. The chain didn't offer up any menu specifics but said "Whether it's with homemade marinades or a delectable, oven-roasted chicken with unbelievable taste, flavor is the central theme across the virtual restaurants," in a statement. It also references "thick-cut pork belly BLT, garden-fresh salad, crispy Chick-fil-A Waffle Potato Fries, and bone-in wings," as menu items in the upcoming concept.
This first Little Blue Menu location is designed to work as a prototype and work out the kinks for future locations.
"After the Nashville pilot opens and customers share their honest opinions about the virtual restaurants, we will have the opportunity to tweak or add new menu items," marketing lead Kanika Patrick said in a statement. A second location is planned for Atlanta in 2022.
Other restaurant chains have also experimented with delivery concepts over the last year as they've proven profitable while customers are reluctant to eat-in dining rooms. Applebees launched Cosmic Wings, a delivery-only virtual brand with Cheetos-flavored wings. Outback Steakhouse parent company Bloomin' Brands launched Tender Shack, a virtual chicken tender restaurant, and Cracker Barrel debuted a delivery chicken and biscuits concept in Indianapolis.
"Delivery is here to stay. Now more than ever, customers want a variety of options delivered quickly, right to their doorstep," John Moore, one of the franchisees overseeing the new delivery kitchen, said in a statement.
Do you have a story to share about a retail or restaurant chain? Email this reporter at email@example.com.


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Stroh's Brewery in Detroit has embarked on a crusade. It wants, an executive said, “to bring young people back to beer.”
In Florida, a University of Miami graduate student said the other day, “I don't even know what a conventional bar looks like inside.”
And in Colorado, beer consumption in taverns near the University of Colorado in Boulder has dropped sharply.
Temperance? No, pot.
In some parts of the coun try, marijuana appears to be making inroads on the sale of liquor. While most tavern owners and liquor salesmen deny that the joint has re placed the jigger, or ever will, there are signs of at least a partial trend around the country toward drugs at the expense of drinks.
A beer distributor in Den ver said that 1969 sales at one college tavern were down 27 per cent from a 1967 base. They were ‘also down 53 per cent at a second place near a campus and 71 per cent at a third.Continue reading the main story
“Our retailers say they can tell when a big shipment of marijuana hits town,” the distributor said. “The sales go down. But what do you do? Tell them to go drink beer?”
Fears Further Losses
Evidently you do if you sell beer in Detroit, where Stroh “has mounted a special campaign” to recapture the youth market.
“It's distressing,” the Stroh man said. “Will the pot busi ness get bigger and bigger. Will we lose more of the beer market as the size of the youth market increases.”
One recent Colorado Uni versity graduate, an admitted marijuana fan, confirmed the beer man's fears. “You can get your kicks from beer or booze,” he said, “but pot is more of a calming, euphoric thing.”
Evil People, a Miami dis cotheque, is doing well but the assistant manager, Rob ert Salter, sees evil portents in the sweet smoke that gathers over his drinkers’ heads. “Marijuana spells dis aster to the liquor trade,” he said. “If they ever legalize it, the liquor business is dead.”
If they could buy mari juana openly, his young patrons “wouldn't touch liquor,” he contended.
Wine Sales Rise
Some bartenders and liquor dealers who serve young people agree that sales of wine, which is considered an effective medium for pro longing a marijuana high, are on the increase. “There seems to be a preference among pot smokers for weaker drinks over hard stuff,” said a pa tron at Reily's, a Milwaukee hangout for young radicals.
The manager of Tom's Party Store, across the street from the Michigan State cam pus in Lansing, observed that sales of cheap, flavored wine were up, but he wouldn't pre dict the trend on drugs. “The most I can say,” he remarked, “is that we're probably losing some hard liquor sales be cause of marijuana.”
The Michigan state liquor control chairman, Stanley Thayer, confirmed that such wines were “hot items” and that they were brought out partly to appeal to the youth market. A young Lansing resident added, “Beer drink ing is very bourgeois, but wine is ideal for sipping while you smoke pot.”
Bitter Taste Is Cut
A Boston liquor store owner said, “We've been sell ing a lot more wine since the drug thing started. It used to always he beer that the kids wanted.”
The sweet wines are said to cut the bitter taste of drugs.
A 32‐year‐old Pittsburgh nrofessional man said that he and his friends combined wine with marijuana smoking because hard liciuor “symbo lizes much that is wrong with the straight world.”
In San Francisco, a young bachelor observed, “I see a lot of soft drinks in the bars now. People go to bars for socializing: to get dates. They've already indulged in pot and they got their glows that way.”
The owner of several tav erns in Sacramento said his waitresses suspected that some younger customers left the bars temporarily to smoke marijuana. Nursing drinks for a long time is the tipoff, he said.
Elders Buymg More
But if young people are substituting drugs for drinks. their elders are apparently trying to take un the slack. Michigan's Mr. Thayer said that case sales were running 5 per cent ahead of last year in state stores, in line with a nationwide trend, and even the Denver beer distributor conceded that his sales away from college areas were up over the year before.
A former waiter at Doctor Generosity, a New York bar for single people, conceded that marijuana was being smoked in the boy‐meets stewardess places. “But,” he added, “you don't see any waiters or bartenders quit ting. I guarantee you that if grass smoking was hurting liquor sales, they'd be the first to feel the pinch.”
One Boston bar owner ex pressed what might be a more realistic threat to his busi ness that is posed by drugs.
“I don't really think it's hurting business,” he said. “All that I'm concerned about is that some night the liquor officials will walk in and find someone smoking pot, and I'll lose my license.”Continue reading the main story

domain: news


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Articles about IKEA
19 Jan 2021Business
India is reportedly considering a hike in import duties by 5-10% on smartphones, electronic components, and appliances among more than 50 items in the upcoming Union Budget.
31 Jan 2020World
The World Health Organization on Thursday declared the ongoing coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency.
09 Dec 2019Inspirational
People with learning disabilities face numerous challenges in their day-to-day lives and often struggle to do things most of us take for granted.
10 Jun 2019Business
In a desperate cost-cutting measure, renowned furniture and home decor retailer Urban Ladder has sacked dozens of employees from its workforce.
20 Dec 2018Business
A few months after opening its first Indian store in Hyderabad, Swedish furniture giant IKEA has now set its sight on Noida.
03 Sep 2018India
Almost a month after serpentine queues dotted its Hyderabad store, IKEA has been slammed after a customer found a worm in the vegetable biryani served to him.
10 Aug 2018India
India got its first IKEA store in Hyderabad yesterday. It was a hit: thousands lined up to check out the world-famous chain on Day-1 itself, creating a stampede-like situation.
09 Aug 2018Business
IKEA, the world's biggest furniture retailer, is all set to launch its first India venture today, as it inaugurates its massive store in Hyderabad's Hitec City.
08 Jul 2018World
An IKEA store in Stratford, London, faced the brunt of jubilant English fans on Saturday after England defeated Sweden in the FIFA World Cup to advance towards semifinals for the first time in nearly three decades.
14 Jun 2018Business
Missed today's business headlines? No worries, here's your daily business dose.
12 Jun 2018Business
Hola! Missed the business headlines of the day? No worries, here's your daily wrap of business news.
02 Jun 2018Business
Here comes your daily business news wrap, have a 'byte'.
21 Apr 2018Technology
The Control Robotics Intelligence Group (CRI) at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, has developed a fully-automated, two-armed robot that can assemble an IKEA chair kit without human help.
10 Jan 2018Business
The government has approved 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in single-brand retail and construction development without government approval and relaxed norms for other sectors, including aviation.
02 Nov 2017Business
IKEA has purchased a 10-acre plot in Gurugram Sector 47 at Rs. 842cr from the Haryana government. This is the biggest ever deal by HUDA (Haryana Urban Development Authority).
31 Aug 2017Technology
Augmented Reality is the next big thing in technology and the two biggest mobile operating systems, i.e. Android and iOS both have invested in it.
08 Sep 2016Business
Lauding the Centre for its reforms in the ease of doing business in India, IKEA India Chief Juvencio Maeztu said Indian states should follow and implement the Centre's reforms.


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It's no secret Target Canada employees will soon be out of a job. And while they may have several reasons to be distraught, employees at this St. John's, N.L. store aren't letting the bad news get them down.
Instead, they decided to team up and raise money for a fellow colleague who needs a new wheelchair.
Bradley Goodyear's cerebral palsy requires him to use a motorized wheelchair to get around. For the past 19 months, he's been using an old wheelchair to help him stock shelves at Target, reports The Telegraph. But the wheelchair seems to be at the end of its lifespan.
John Pritchett, the store's team leader, says he's taken note of the wheelchair's several breakdowns.
"One time he had a fire that started in the back of his chair, the motor gave out and it was very dangerous," Pritchett told CBC News.
Pritchett says the idea to fundraise came after news of the layoffs spread.
“We were thinking about what we could do to celebrate our time together, what we could do with the amount of time we have left,” he said.
Goodyear's situation immediately came to mind.
The Target employees decided to start a fundraiser, selling coffee in front of the store and asking for donations online. In less than a month, they raised over $12,000, more than enough for a new wheelchair.
“I was speechless and there were tears on my face for the whole day," Goodyear told The Telegraph, describing how he felt when he realized he could afford a new chair. "They really touched my heart.”
Also on HuffPost


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Pininfarina H2 Speed
Italian design house Pininfarina unveiled the spectacular H2 Speed supercar concept at March´s 2016 Geneva auto show, and have now announced it will go into production! The car is the world´s first high-performance, hydrogen car, a power source described as a look into the future of motorsport. The fuel cell in the H2 Speed powers a pair of electric motors delivering a combined 503 horsepower, allowing it to blast from 0 to 62 miles per hour in just 3.4 seconds, with a top speed of 186 mph! Pininfarina plans to build a small run of its eco-conscious supercar and already has buyers lined up. The price tag? Around $2.5 million each.


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Pritzker Private Capital (PPC), a leader in family direct investing, has signed definitive agreements to acquire Highline Aftermarket Holdings LLC, a national distributor of automotive aftermarket products that is majority owned by The Sterling Group, and Warren Distribution Inc., a manufacturer of private label lubricants and automotive chemicals that is majority owned by Chairman and CEO Bob Schlott. PPC and co-investors are investing alongside members of the Highline and Warren management teams. The companies will be combined upon closing of the transaction, which is expected by December 2020.
The combined company will be a leader in the manufacture and distribution of automotive aftermarket consumable products. The company will have 27 facilities across North America and more than 22,000 SKUs, including windshield washer fluid, engine lubricants and a wide variety of consumable automotive aftermarket products. Darcy Curran, Highline’s current CEO, will lead the combined business and Bob Schlott, Warren’s chairman and CEO, whose family founded Warren in 1922, will remain as a board adviser.
“We are excited to partner with Bob Schlott and the team at Warren Distribution as we continue to grow our great businesses,” said Darcy Curran, Highline CEO. “Highline and Warren have a shared passion for delivering world-class customer service, and together we’ll strive to be the best company to work for, buy from and sell to in the automotive aftermarket.”
“For nearly 100 years, Warren has been a leader in private label lubricants, and I believe the combination with Highline represents an exciting new chapter in Warren’s long history,” said Schlott. “Highline, Warren and PPC all share a philosophy of building great companies for the long-term with a strong commitment to customers, employees and our communities.”
Michael Nelson, head of Investing at PPC, added, “We are thrilled to partner with Darcy, Bob and the Highline and Warren teams in building this exciting combination for long-term success. As a leading supplier for the automotive aftermarket, the combined company will have tremendous opportunities for growth, both through organic initiatives and accretive acquisitions.”


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Cyberpunk 2077's upcoming patch is a game-changer when it comes to bug fixes and stability improvements, according to one of the developers that works on the game.
Critics seem overall pleased with Cyberpunk 2077, but one common theme across reviews is that it's fairly buggy. GamesRadar's review mentions things like "missing vehicles, floating weapons, or random stuck menu bars," but notes that that CDPR has promised to patch out that sort of stuff with the Day One patch.
In a Twitter exchange, CD Projekt Red's Fabian Mario Döhla says that "a bunch of issues reviewers encountered (and reported) have been fixed already, [and] some more are part of the update." Döhla also says Cyberpunk 2077 is "a different game with the console update," seemingly referring to the Day One update.
It is a different game with console update, yes.December 7, 2020
For a game release riding on so many years of hype and following several delays, it's understandable that some players are worried about bugs and performance issues. For that reason, it's reassuring to hear someone from CDPR put some of those concerns to rest. That said, Döhla says that some of the issues PC players are experiencing could be resolved by lowering their graphics settings.
"When the settings are too high for your setup the game is unable to stream the content and stuff starts to go missing (animations, audio, lipsync, objects). Adjust settings and it works waaaay smoother," Döhla says in a separate tweet.
Cyberpunk 2077 releases on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 10, with a PS5/Xbox Series X ugprade coming at an unspecified later date.
Heads up, PlayStationers: Cyberpunk 2077 download size is over 100GB on PS4 and PS5.


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G-III’s quarterly earnings come in over estimates
G-III Apparel Group, Ltd., the owner of DKNY, Donna Karan and Vilebrequin, among other brands, announced on Thursday that it achieved net income of $25.3 million or $0.52 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter ended January 31, 2020, beating Wall Street’s expectations.
The company’s latest quarterly earnings represented a 5.0% increase compared to the $24.1 million, or $0.48 per diluted share, reported by the group in the prior-year period. Adjusted earnings per share were $0.75, above the $0.67 predicted by FactSet analysts and cited by MarketWatch.
Quarterly net sales totaled $754.6 million, down 1.6% from $766.8 million in the previous year, with growth being driven principally by the company’s wholesale segment.
For the full fiscal year 2020, G-III’s net sales rose 2.7% to $3.16 billion, up from $3.08 billion in the prior-year period, while net income was $143.8 million, or $2.94 per diluted share, up from $138.1 million, or $2.75 per diluted share, in Q4 2019.
“We continue towards the restructuring of our retail operations,” explained G-III chairman and CEO Morris Goldfarb in a release. “We are focused on significantly reducing the number of stores we operate and remain committed to substantially reducing the losses from our retail operations as swiftly and efficiently as possible.”
Like many U.S.-based companies, G-III has temporarily closed its retail stores in response to the health threat posed by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The company has also shut its offices, with corporate employees continuing to work remotely.
As a result of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the aforementioned health crisis, G-III, which aside from its portfolio of owned brands, also holds licenses for the Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Karl Lagerfeld brands, has not provided any financial guidance for the fiscal year currently in progress.
The company plans to provide further information about its outlook when it reports its first-quarter results.
Copyright © 2023 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.


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American Green Inc (OTCMKTS:ERBB) seems to have started the month of December on a rather dull pace after closing the last week of November on a bearish trend. The company’s shares dropped by -20.00%, reflecting the prevailing bullish performance that has prevailed for the past three months.
American Green’s performance is currently disappointing especially to investors who may have categorized it as a winning stock in their watch list. This is because the stock has been performing poorly not only recently but also on a long-term perspective spanning a few months. For example, the firm reported a -33.33% performance in the past month and it has also tanked by -60.00% over the past since months.
The reasons behind the poor performance
So far American Green shares have tanked by -66.67% over the past 12 months. This overall bearish trend seems to be prevailing over the long-term which means that there are factors that are behind it. The most common factor is the fact that the stock has been extremely overbought. It could also be due to the fact that the company is facing heavy competition which affects sales. It could also be due to unfavorable market conditions that have also been affecting other companies.
The next big cannabis story to hit North America is Phoenix Life Science International (PLSI), traded in the US, but with the largest global production based in the tropics and a license to distribute worldwide. Take a look at Phoenix Life Science International PLSI), Its currently trading under $18 dollars per share on the OTC markets. Learn More Now!
Is American Green a good buy anymore?
This is probably a question that many investors who have American Green on their watch list are asking themselves. The reason being, the company’s stock price has been tanking. The old principle of “buy low and sell high” therefore comes in. Well, determining whether a stock is a good “buy” requires more than just a low entry point.
One must consider various factors such as the market outlook. In American Green’s case, it has its roots deep in the hemp and medical cannabis industry. This is an industry that is rapidly growing especially as marijuana gains legal acceptance for medical use in many regions. Scientists have also discovered many medical advantages of cannabis extracts and this means that there is a lot of profit to be made especially in the medical sector.
There is a large and growing market for such products and American Green is one of the players in the cannabis-based products market. The good thing is that there is room for growth and numerous companies in the same space have already gained massive ground over the past few years. If managed the right way, American Green is still worth buying into especially considering the Cannabis market’s current direction.
American Green’s future
The future of the company looks like it will not be in the cannabis market alone. American Green announced a few months ago that it planned to launch a new subsidiary called American Green Films, LLC. The latter will be based in Nipton, California where it will make commercial motion pictures.
American Green’s CEO David Gwyther pointed out that the move is aimed at boosting shareholder value. He also pointed out that the motion pictures pursuit will also be advantageous to Nipton. He stated that American Green Films, LLC will promote Nipton as well as its neighboring Mojave National Preserve, Ivanpah Valley and the New York Mountains.
The company’s diversification plans as well as its commitment to generating more value for shareholder highlight American Green’s efforts to improve performance in the future. The firm has also been hard at work trying to grow its cannabis business. American Green is determined to be the leading seed-to sale innovator, a mission that has attracted more than 50,000 shareholders. It has also been working on raising awareness especially beyond its industries so that it can widen its scope and attract more sales.
Pushing the barriers for global distribution, Phoenix Life Science International (PLSI) is the next cannabis play. Just think Canopy x 100, that is how big their plantation in the tropics will be. No lights, no green houses, just maximum growth + minimal cost = home run. Learn More Now!
Phoenix Life Sciences International (OTC: PLSI)
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Phoenix Life Signs Exclusive Agreement with Vanuatu Government for 25-Year Diabetes Management Program and Global Medical Cannabis Export License
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Canntrust Holdings Inc. (OTCMKTS:CNTTF) Receive Permission From The Town Of Pelham For Their Third Phase Construction
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Indiva Ltd (OTCMKTS:NDVAF) Announces 9.9% Equity Investment In Retailgo Inc.
Indiva Ltd (OTCMKTS:NDVAF) has announced that they are delighted to have finalized an Equity investment of 9.9% in RetailGo Inc....
Future Farm Technologies Inc (OTCMKTS:FFRMF) Plans To Begin Selling Of Cheery Wine Strain Hemp Seeds And Test Operation Of The Oil Extraction Equipment
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OrganiGram Holdings Inc (OTCMKTS:OGRMF) Sources Hemp With High Levels of CBD From 1812 Hemp
OrganiGram Holdings Inc (OTCMKTS:OGRMF) has entered into a supply pact with 1812 Hemp, an industrial hemp research company based in...
Kona Gold Solutions Inc (OTCMKTS:KGKG) Declares That They Have Acquired Gold Leaf Distribution
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CFN Media Group features Supreme Cannabis Company (OTCMKTS:SPRWF) as consideration for investors as their 2019 stock scales up
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Village Farms International Inc (OTCMKTS:VFFIF) has announced that they have facilitated Health Canada Pest Management Agency to get approval for...


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Bedbank said it wants to focus on issues which are 'becoming increasingly important to the travellers of today'
Hotelbeds pushes sustainable travel agenda in updated ESG strategy
Hotelbeds has updated its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy with an aim of “galvanising” the bedbank’s commitment to make travel a force for good.
In the coming year, Hotelbeds plans to focus on promoting sustainable travel by partnering with NGOs on a global reforestation project, as well as launching a mentoring scheme for small-scale or start-up businesses working in the field.
The bedbank said it wants to focus on issues which are “becoming increasingly important to the travellers of today”, and to highlight those of its partners who are doing the same, by updating its booking filters so customers can identify hotels that avoid single-use plastic or who offer electric vehicle charging points.
It will also increase the number of volunteer hours it will match for its employees.
Chief executive Nicolas Huss said: “As one of the world’s leading travel technology companies, we have the opportunity to make tourism a force for good and contribute to creating a sustainable future.
“We are committed to supporting and developing green tourism and to continue to reduce the environmental impact of our daily operations and offices, while also supporting our partners to achieve their own ESG goals.
“Another important part of our strategy is to make sure we lead our ESG agenda from the front, ensuring our employees can contribute themselves to creating a stronger and healthier society as well as supporting local communities to thrive and progress.
“From a governance perspective, although we know we have more work to do, we have achieved 50% of our executive team being women, reflecting our determination to have an inclusive and diverse workplace.”


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Today morning, Biogen Idec (BIIB) reported third quarter earnings per share of $1.12, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.02. The company reported earnings of 98 cents in the year-ago period. Revenues increased 3% to $1.12 billion, with Tysabri being the primary growth driver.
Tysabri sales came in at $207 million, up 21% from the prior period. The company estimates that as of the end of September 2009, about 46,200 patients were on commercial and clinical Tysabri therapy worldwide. This represents an increase from the 43,300 patients reported by the company in the second quarter of 2009.
Tysabri is an important growth driver and we expect the product, which is partnered with Elan (ELN), to cross $1 billion in worldwide sales in 2009.
Meanwhile, Biogen’s lead multiple sclerosis (MS) product Avonex posted sales of $580 million (up 1%) with U.S. sales growing 8% to $348 million. However, we were disappointed to see Avonex rest of world sales decline 8% to $232 million.
Biogen recognized $284 million in Rituxan revenues, which is co-promoted with Roche in the U.S. U.S. net sales of Rituxan increased 2% to $670 million. Revenues from other products came in at $15 million, as compared to $14 million in the year-ago period. Royalty revenues remained unchanged at $35 million.
In order to return cash to shareholders, Biogen’s Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program worth $1 billion. This is in addition to the company’s previous share repurchase program under which 6 million shares remain outstanding. The repurchase of shares should help boost the bottom-line.
Biogen provided an updated outlook for 2009. The company now expects revenues to grow in the mid-to-high single-digit range as compared to its earlier expectation of high-single-digit growth.
The company maintained its guidance for operating expenses which are expected in the range of $2.1 to $2.2 billion. Both SG&A and R&D guidance remained unchanged at 19-20% of revenues and 28-30% of revenues, respectively. The company expects to deliver earnings in excess of $3.85 in 2009.
Biogen is the market leader in therapies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. We believe the company will continue to retain a leading position in the MS market. We are encouraged to see that the company is working on expanding its MS and oncology pipeline.
The company recently launched a hostile bid to acquire Facet Biotech Corporation (FACT). The proposed acquisition of Facet, which should help strengthen Biogen’s pipeline, is the second major deal announced by the company in 2009. Earlier this year, Biogen signed a licensing deal with Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) for a multiple sclerosis candidate. We currently have a Neutral rating on Biogen.
Read the full analyst report on “BIIB”
Read the full analyst report on “ELN”
Read the full analyst report on “ACOR”
Read the full analyst report on “FACT”
Zacks Investment Research


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We humans have to live with many unfortunate realities, including the fact that many of the things we love are bad for us. We all know by now that if we douse ourselves too much on delicious treats, we end up eating an early grave, but in recent years it has become increasingly clear that coffee is a known vice of millions and millions of people is actually quite good for you.
Recent studies have shown that a regular coffee drinker can reduce the risk of all kinds of ailments, including heart attacks and strokes. Now, a recent research shows that dark roasted coffee is particularly well-suited to fend off some of the ugly brain diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The results were published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.
The study, which focused on a particular group of compounds called phenylindans, emphasizes the benefits of specifying the type of roast you use for your dawn. The dark roast, even in its decaffeinated form, is full of the compounds that are thought to inhibit the production of a protein linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
"The caffeinated and the decaffeinated dark roast both had identical potencies in our first experimental tests," Dr. Ross Mancini, the lead author of the study, in a statement. "So we saw early that its protective effect was not due to caffeine."
This is great news for aspiring coffee drinkers, who would like to take advantage of the drink, but do not like the nervous feeling they get from enjoyment. However, if you love your high caffeinated dawn as it is, you will still have many benefits, even if you do not specify a dark roast. The idea is that the compounds are created during the coffee roasting process. That is, the longer the beans are cooked, the more useful compounds find their way into the resulting beverage.
So if you are a coffee lover, you can feel even better with your habit. If you are not, maybe it is time to try again.


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Cash-strapped Clearwire, which also counts Sprint as its biggest customer, has long been seen by analysts as an acquisition target for Sprint.
The company, which has been looking to raise more financing to upgrade its network and to keep the business afloat, has said that it could run out of money in the third quarter of 2013.
A planned purchase of 70 percent of Sprint by Japanese mobile firm Softbank (9984.T), with an associated capital infusion, would help Sprint finance a Clearwire buyout.
But some minority Clearwire shareholders -- including No. 2 shareholder Mount Kellet Capital Management LP and No. 4 Crest Financial Limited -- have expressed concerns over a deal with Sprint, suggesting that Clearwire should look at other options.
Between them, the two investment firms own nearly 15 percent of Clearwire's publicly traded shares and Sprint needs the approval of minority shareholders to proceed.
Crest and Mount Kellet did not immediately comment after the announcement.
On Tuesday, Crest Financial filed a lawsuit against the company and Sprint to try to thwart a deal.
Clearwire's other minority shareholders include Intel Corp (INTC.O) and Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) who own around 12.4 percent between them. Sprint has been in discussions with those companies about purchasing their shares, according to people familiar with the matter.
Sprint, which is also Clearwire's biggest wholesale customer, had a 51.7 percent stake in Clearwire as of December 11.
The offer also needs the approval of Japanese mobile company Softbank Corp (9984.T) and is contingent on the planned sale of 70 percent of Sprint to Softbank, Sprint said in the regulatory filing.


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Philips Norelco Stubble Trimmer promises to make a difference in the ongoing fight against facial hair, and if this little hygienic nugget does all that it says it can do, it’s a welcome addition to the facial care market for those of us who’ve never had the privilege of using an electric trimmer that could cut stubble worth a damn. This device is supposed to be a giant leap forward in that regard. According to the company, you don’t ever have to oil or replace the blades either, which means with an electric razor and the Stubble Trimmer batting cleanup, you never again have to drop money on those overpriced disposable razor cartridge replacements.
In addition to the easy care blades, the Stubble Trimmer from Philips Norelco also comes with nine different length setting, so you can get an even shave all over your face. That means less looking like an unkempt hobo and more Dr. Suave Cassanova. Technology is already making us smarter. Now it’s time to make us prettier. Of course, that’s for some of us more than others.


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Legislative leader says small businesses need to work together through their organizations
September 19, 2022
On today’s SBAM Weekly Podcast, Michael Rogers talks with State Representative Mark Tisdel of Rochester Hills, recently recognized by the Small Business Association of Michigan as a 2022 Legislator of the Year. “It’s very important that small business owners participate and ensure that places like the Small Business Association of Michigan are active and directly representing their interests and their concerns,” he says.
The Small Business Association of Michigan’s weekly podcast presents a dynamic audio interview from a top-notch expert on entrepreneurial success. Hear great tips and advice on how to be a more effective small business owner. Get a new episode every week by subscribing via iTunes.


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October 8, 2009 1 Comment
A recently published blog post by David Roodman titled “Kiva is not quite what it seems” has been causing quite a stir in cyber space. Not so much because of the provocative title mentioning Kiva – a pioneer and probably the best known Person to Person (P2P) micro-credit organisation; Roodman’s post also questions the real intentions why people choose to fund a micro entrepreneur from Cambodia, Kenya or Guatemala for that matter.
Roodman posits that a reason for the success of Kiva and similar internet based lending portals is because for as little as US$ 25, more people can become benefactors. Helping others has become a cheap commodity and not only the super-rich Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s can now claim the title “philanthropist”.
Similar to the P2P lending model, goods from developing countries that sell on western supermarket shelves bear stories – some of them wild. This has been largely propagated by fair trade products. However, nowadays even a pesticide sprayed beetroot from Bulawayo must carry a story. A honey product from Kenya cannot just simply be labelled “Kenyan honey”. What’s required is a long tale weaving in a tapestry of sensory words probably going along the lines of “…this honey comes from the honey bee whose hives are in Africa’s savannah plains … The scents from the eucalyptus ensure a wild …”.
Indeed, the more evocative the story about the terrain or about how poor the farmers who produced it are, the better.
This is what consumers want – a feeling that when they put a spoon of honey in their morning tea, they feel part of that savannah so alluringly described on the product label. And it is these stories that add a couple of dollars or Euro’s onto the unit retail price. On some e-commerce websites selling African “ethnic” products, 2 kgs of maize flour which is the staple food for most East and Central African countries goes for US$ 10. The same product in an upmarket supermarket in Nairobi costs less than a quarter of that price. The point is that with good marketing, consumers pay more for the “story” than the product itself.
With rampant corruption constantly being reported in Africa, an ennui among citizens of western nations has emerged. Commonly people question why donor aid is poured into large infrastructure projects such as roads and geothermal plants yet there are numerous instances of money being siphoned off by corrupt public officials in Africa. Just last week it emerged that World Bank money earmarked for free primary education in Kenya had been stolen; thus begging the question why fund such a project when if you gave an entrepreneur a bit of money they could then be empowered enough to send their children to a fee paying school?
Media stories on Africa which in most instances focus on crises’ or the potential for crisis have made people who would otherwise dip into their pockets to alleviate hunger on the Continent averse. Thus when one sees a picture of Mary from a village just outside Kampala who has a banana kiosk, the need to assist Mary overrides the need to assist Fatma in a refugee camp in Eastern Congo.
In an age where people are sponsoring small businesses’, children and even guerrillas in Rwanda, what does this all mean for entrepreneurs either seeking funding or wanting to sell their products on the export market?
In a nutshell there is a palpable and growing demand for “virtual tourism” – a state where one can experience a lifestyle from the comfort of their seat in front of a computer monitor, or perhaps when they hold the honey jar from somewhere in Africa, gently open the lid, and smell the scent of the wild.
Read “Kiva is not quite what it seems” here


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Feedback about MPV 2012
Last week, Amoobi participated for the first time in Paris at the Marketing at retail show (Marketing Point de vente). This event gathers every 2 years around 11.000 visitors also attracted by the POPAI Awards.
For Amoobi, it was a first opportunity to present our technology to an international audience. Also, we were invited to present our solutions during a conference at the AGORA.
As an emerging technology, we were able to attract easily a lot of interest from visitors. It was indeed an international crowd. Even thought most of the visitors were french, we also saw a lot of people from abroad : Spain, Poland, Romania, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Netherlands and of course Belgium, just to name the one who came to our boot.
We saw a lot of interest as our technology is the only one able to understand the complete path of the visitors inside the store and that’s our big differentiator as well as the easiness of installation. To prove it, we installed one of our demo on the booth to collect data about the visitors of the trade show. Visitors were impressed by the amount of data collected and by the fact that our demo was live and working very well.
The conference was also very interesting as we got a lot of positive feedback. We presented a few cases from our short history to show the power of our analysis and the ROI for retailers and brands.
We now have a lot on our plate to follow up with all the good contacts who requested additional informations. We definitely see a future for Amoobi in France in 2012!


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53pc of affluent consumers own two or more mobile devices: study
Eighty percent of affluent consumers own at least one type of mobile device and more than 53 percent own two or more, according to a new study by the American Affluence Research Center.
The “Spring 2013 Affluent Market Tracking Study” found that affluent consumers enjoy being connected online and the consumers who research products online are more likely to purchase them. This means that luxury marketers should increase their online and mobile presence to keep up with their connected target consumers.
“Mobile devices – both smartphones and tablets – play many roles for affluent consumers,” said Ron Kurtz, president of the American Affluence Research Center, Atlanta.
“Mobile devices are a means of communication in various forms, a source of entertainment, a source of knowledge, a convenience for research and purchases of products, and a place to store data, photos and videos,” he said.


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As investors get a better understanding of the implications of COVID-19, Plaza Retail REIT (Friday’s close $3.39) is showing some signs of outperforming its peers. Over the past three months, Plaza was up about 20 per cent as of midweek versus a 3-per-cent drop for the iShares S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index ETF. During the period, three Plaza Retail REIT insiders bought a total of 175,500 units at an average price of $3.04. The bulk of the buying was from chief executive Michael Zakuta, who bought a total of 150,000 Plaza Retail REIT units.
Ted Dixon is CEO of INK Research which provides insider news and knowledge to investors. For more background on insider reporting in Canada, visit the FAQ section at www.inkresearch.com. Securities referenced in this profile may have already appeared in recent reports distributed to INK subscribers. INK staff may also hold a position in profiled securities.
Chart reflects public-market transactions of common shares or unit trusts by company officers and directors.
Be smart with your money. Get the latest investing insights delivered right to your inbox three times a week, with the Globe Investor newsletter. Sign up today.


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Bratislava, January 10 (TASR) – Honey consumption in Slovakia has increased to such an extent that Slovak bee-keepers aren’t able to cover the demand for it, and Slovakia has to import honey from abroad, stated Slovak Bee-keeper Association chairman Ludovit Gal.
Some 3,500-4,000 tonnes of honey is being imported to Slovakia from China, Argentina and Mexico per year, said Gal. While in 2004 the honey consumption was a quarter of a kilogram per capita, the figure increased to 1.2 kilograms in 2015, he added.
“In 2004 we had a surplus of honey that lasted until 2010. We sought out possibilities to export honey so that bee-keepers could make money from it,” he explained, adding that since 2010 honey in Slovakia has declined.
There is currently around 17,000 bee-keepers and 270,000 bee-hives, whereas there used to be some 400,000 bee-hives in the past. According to Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Gabriela Matecna (a Slovak National Party/SNS nominee), the decrease in bee-keepers is partly caused by the arduous nature of this craft.
“We used to have more varied fields; nowadays we mainly have monoculture fields that don’t offer bees suitable forage,” said Matecna, adding that bee-keeping used to be at a high level in Slovakia.
Earlier in the day the agriculture minister came to promote Slovak honey to the pupils of Tbiliska Primary School in Bratislava as part of the ‘Honey Breakfast’ event, organised by the Slovak Bee Association and the Slovak Bee-keeper Association.
According to Matecna, Slovak honey is some of the best in the world, and this fact has been confirmed by many international awards. “I recommend that all consumers in Slovakia buy honey from local and well-known bee-keepers,” she added.
The Honey Breakfast event is aimed at offering children healthy domestic food as well as highlighting the importance of breakfast and healthy eating habits.


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July 18--More than 60 percent of business leaders plan to hire full-time workers in the next six to 12 months, according to a report this week by the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce's Council of Economic Advisors.
"The optimism is still very high," said Richard Clark, chairman of the council.
Of the members, 63 percent said in a survey that they would hire 16 to 50 full-time workers over the next six to 12 months.
The council is a group of 29 leaders from varied industry sectors that gives regular feedback to the Federal Reserve. It said businesses are reinvesting in their real estate, particularly on Las Olas Boulevard.
Home remodeling retail operations are expanding, and hotels including the 261-room Courtyard by Marriott on Fort Lauderdale Beach are being renovated.
"You're seeing this continuing Renaissance in Fort Lauderdale," Clark said. "Broward is doing better than any of the counties around it."
Business leaders also said they expect to make additional investments in information technology, software and professional services.
But there were concerns that could stunt growth as well.
Ronald Finkelstein, principal in charge at Morrison, Brown, Argiz and Farra, a public accounting firm in Fort Lauderdale, said some county employment could be lost if corporate tax rates are not lowered to be more competitive with other countries.
He said Ireland and other low-tax countries or jurisdictions are appealing to local companies that now pay the highest U.S. corporate tax rate of 30 percent on worldwide profits.
"There's a whole host of businesses that have the ability to establish a workforce overseas," he said.
email@example.com or 561-243-6650


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Cross-border payment with digital RMB tested in Luohu
Test work for Hong Kong residents using digital renminbi on the Chinese mainland has been concluded in Luohu district under the guidance of the Shenzhen municipal government and the People's Bank of China's Shenzhen central branch.
This is part of national efforts to steadily promote research and development of digital currencies.
Hong Kong residents who frequently or occasionally travel between Hong Kong and Shenzhen have been involved in the trial.
Ms. Liang, a Hong Kong permanent resident, has been working in Shenzhen for a long time. She purchased a necklace worth 2,000 yuan with digital currency. "It is my first time to use digital renminbi, it's very convenient to exchange and pay," she said.
The test showed that Hong Kong residents can anonymously register for five types of digital purses and conduct petty consumption activities.
It has successfully created a scenario featuring cross-border payment with digital renminbi, further expanded the application range and proved that the digital renminbi purse could be convenient, safe and anonymous. It will facilitate cross-border consumption for Hong Kong residents and lay a solid foundation for digital renminbi's cross-border circulation in future.
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No Oculus Rift for Mac until Apple “makes a good computer”
Oculus Rift founder Palmer Luckey has come out swinging against Apple – and landed a punch below the belt – explaining the reason Oculus Rift doesn’t support Apple Mac computers yet is because Apple doesn’t make good enough computers.
As it stands, Oculus Rift only works on PCs but not any Apple products. When questioned about Mac support by ShackNews, Luckey said “that is up to Apple… if they ever release a good computer we will do it.” Luckey has a point, even if you fork over $6,000 for a Mac Pro, it still won’t have a graphics card good enough to satisfy Rift’s recommended spec. Skip to 4:04 for the sick burn.
“If they prioritize higher-end GPUs like they used to for a while back in the day, we’d love to support Mac, but right now, there’s just not a single machine out there that supports it.” While Apple boss man Tim Cook has expressed more than a passing interest in VR, it seems unlikely that a VR-ready Mac will be appearing anytime soon.
However, with multiple consumer edition VR kits coming out this year and both Facebook and Google backing the technology, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a high-end GPU option for a VR-ready Mac to appear in the not-too-distant future. So, my friends, enjoy these sweet few months we have left before all your favorite cafes get clogged up with hipster Macbook Pro owners wearing VR headsets.
When do you plan on buying into VR?


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New Tiger Woods Logo Design Revealed
Tiger Woods has officially revealed a new series of branding called TGR, Tiger Woods Ventures.
The TGR brand has been created to replace Woods’ “TW” branding, with the “W” in Woods now reimagined as a tiger paw.
“What you see here is more than just a logo; it’s the symbol of our future, a mark that proudly shows our mission and beautifully tells our story to the world,” says Woods
The new company will aim to unify a number of different Woods-related businesses, including TGR Live, an events company that organises PGA TOUR tournaments; TGR Design, a golf-course-design enterprise launched some ten years ago; The Woods restaurant that opened last year in Florida; and also the Tiger Woods Foundation, a charity that marked its 20th anniversary this October.
14-time Major winner Woods has long been associated with Nike, and that relationship is expected to continue. However, back in August, Nike revealed it would no longer be making golf gear, including the clubs that Woods himself uses. The suggestion is that TGR could perhaps launch its own range of golf equipment.
“There is so much excitement about the potential of TGR,” explains Woods. “I’m excited to explore the possibilities in design, product development, hospitality, and possibly entertainment.”


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Truro pizza chef Ali Naser is all set to reopen his restaurant as soon as the paperwork is finalized.
“My life’s back. I want to see my customers back,” said Naser. “Thank you everyone for supporting me, I appreciate that a lot.”
Naser said he is waiting on the province to check his equipment, including his fridge and ovens, before clearing him to reopen the restaurant at 1 Commercial St. He expects to be up and running in the next two or so weeks.
His freshly-redone restaurant will include an air exchange unit to keep his kitchen cool, as well as new walls and floors.
Naser closed his restaurant in January 2019 ahead of the renovation work carried out by building owners Queen’s Realty. In the meantime, he ran a small pizza shop inside Truro’s Cougar Dome and spent time with his family and partner Nadia Jardine, even going fishing last summer.
“He’s excited,” said Jardine. “It was a little stressful, but we got through it.”
The building housing Naser’s pizza parlour received a new foundation and its upstairs floors were converted to offices. The renovations were part of a larger plan called The Common Works to spruce up the structure at 1-5 Commercial St. It houses several businesses, including Naser’s restaurant.
The Common Works’ goal was restoring the heritage building to how it first looked, as well as adding 10,000 square ft. of retail space and another 20,000 sq. ft. of office space.
Naser himself was pleased with his renovated restaurant, saying Queen’s Realty did a “very good job.”
Also pleased is Scott Hartlen, who owns the Supplement King store. With the building renovations completed, Hartlen’s store moved two doors down and is now next door to Ali Naser’s Pizza.
“The upgrades that have been done to the building are amazing for downtown,” said Hartlen. “I think it’s really going to brighten up the downtown core on the west end.”
Hartlen has already relocated his inventory to the new store and is waiting for the new sign, which will be in keeping with the building’s heritage status.
Naser said he liked the new building “100 per cent.”


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Professor Er Meng Joo 55-years-old from Nanyang Technological University(NTU) pleaded guilty today for 2 counts of shoplifting.
The professor has stolen a number of items such air fresheners and toiletries. The items amount to $225.15. The crime was committed at a Dunearn Road Esso service(NTUC Fairprice outlet).
He was caught in the act by one of the employees at the store. The manager of the store watch the CCTV as Er left the store without paying on 24 Jan 2016 and another occasion on the 29 Jan 2016 at around 9.40am.
For each count of shoplifting he can easily received sentence of up to 3 years.


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Lay's to roll out chocolate-covered potato chipSubmitted by DeMolay on Thu, 10/31/2013 - 23:18
The world's largest snack maker is widening its own market by mixing sweet with salty in its snacks -- and is rolling out chocolate-covered Lay's Wavy chips for the holidays.
The chocolate-covered potato chip is going mainstream.
Lay's, the nation's largest salty snack maker, on Friday will announce plans to roll out next week Lay's Wavy Potato Chips Dipped in Milk Chocolate.
For Lay's, it's all about growing beyond the constraints of the salty snack. There are, after all, growing consumer demands for flavor mash-ups. And others want to snack healthier. Even then, snack foods are a $31 billion market — and growing, reports IBISWorld, the market research specialist.


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With package delivery a growing part of the business, it’s no surprise the U.S. Postal Service has focused efforts on improving tracking and visibility for parcel services. PASS – the Passive Adaptive Scanning System used to scan packages and identify delivery routes – represents both the promise and pitfalls of major investments in this area.
When it comes to postal products that don’t cover their costs, the U.S. Postal Service finds itself in a no-win situation. The law that governs the U.S. Postal Service, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), requires the Postal Service to make sure all products cover their direct...Read More


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Social commerce has long been hailed as the next big thing but it has yet to really take off for consumers. Drapers discovers what Asos, Skyscanner and Domino’s Pizza are focusing on for the next stage in the social landscape.
Viber instant shopping
“Social commerce has made lots of promises but not quite delivered yet,” said Caroline Lucas-Garner, strategy director at creative agency We Are Social at an event in London on 26 April, which debated various strategies for bots, buy buttons and instant messenger commerce.
“There are some big numbers being bandied about on what it is going to deliver, various trials and case studies, but not much evidence of success. The reality is that people mainly purchase on a normal website.”
Asos started a trial on WhatsApp around a year ago because its twentysomething target market is more active on mobile than any other channel, revealed the etailer’s acting global head of content, social media and broadcast, Morgan Fitzsimons.
Social networks are becoming new online marketplaces
Morgan Fitzsimons, acting global head of content, social media and broadcast, Asos
The use of search is declining generally across the industry and for Asos, it is declining even faster, which makes the product-discovery journey more fragmented.
“Social networks are becoming new online marketplaces,” she said. “We’ve been talking about it for a long time, but now we have a wealth of data to back it up.”
She said social commerce makes shopping friction free but that a “buy” button “just doesn’t cut it”.
“As we’ve been experimenting, we’ve found that a focus on brand messaging can actually increase conversion,” she explained. “The executive team want to see sales but we’ve proved that increasing the top funnel can improve metrics.”
Asos previously had a three-tiered approach to social media, covering organic, paid and dynamic product ads (DPA), but it has now introduced a more blended strategy to focus on brand awareness through to consideration and conversion.
She gave an example of a recent denim campaign: the first stage was a video showing what Asos is as a brand; the second phase retargeting anyone who has interacted with the video to show more of a shopping experience; and the third was a DPA to say: “Remember that video? Want to buy any of these jeans?”
“Our DPA didn’t previously have the same creative filter, as it wasn’t in the same team. But now we’ve merged that whole journey together, we’ve seen some great results.”
Trial and error
Fitzsimons admitted that, while Asos had had a lot of successes, it has not always got everything right. Its Black Friday campaign on Snapchat, for example, ran for 24 hours with various filters and had “huge reach and engagement”, but Asos failed to follow up with any targeted sales messages.
“Snapchat advertising is very expensive and to not follow up was clearly a mistake,” she said.
She encouraged retailers to keep testing and learning. “You have to be comfortable adapting and iterating.”
Sam Poullain, senior growth marketing manager at Skyscanner, explained that the travel firm is focused on the potential for chatbots and is keen to stay ahead of the curve.
Skyscanner was the first travel company to sign up to Facebook’s new Discover tab on Messenger and said it is seeing good take-up, although it is early days. However, Poullain advised that it was important to strike the right balance between human interactions and bots.
“Bots can bring huge efficiencies in customer service but we soon realised that a lot of people using it just wanted to speak to a human, so we introduced a ‘talk to a human’ button for more complex questions,” he said.
He suggested brands and retailers should first identify the customers’ biggest problems and work on one or two things before scaling up from there.
“Treat users as if they have downloaded an app for the first time,” he suggested. “Onboarding and understanding are critical because one swipe and they’re gone.”
Domino’s, meanwhile, introduced an early Facebook Messenger chatbot last summer, which allowed users to order a pizza by just typing the word or using the emoji. In February this year, it updated the bot to allow customers to place a whole order.
The Domino’s bot is called Dom and has been designed to be playful and chatty, yet honest and reliable. When you place an order, for example, he would reply with: “Great call on making an order.”
“He doesn’t sound like a normal chatbot,” explained Hayley Tillson, senior digital marketing manager at Domino’s, who described how Domino’s and We Are Social focused on ensuring the bot could respond appropriately to any awkward requests or inappropriate language.
At the end of last year US TV channel Comedy Central asked Dom a series of silly questions about topics ranging from Pokémon Go to Brexit and existential philosophy, and concluded it was “very funny and all in all 10/10, would chat again”.
Tillson advised brands and retailers looking to invest in bots to develop a character first, find the right balance between conversation and commerce, and be prepared for the internet to put any efforts to the test.
As almost 2.8 billion people around the world now use social media at least once a month – more than 91% of them via mobile devices – it is clear social commerce has lots of potential. But “one size” strategy does not fit all, so brands and retailers need to think carefully about what they are trying to achieve. Tech for tech’s sake just won’t work.
Social developments to watch
We Are Social’s Caroline Lucas-Garner pointed to three interesting new initiatives from Instagram, Viber and Facebook, which she said could provide new opportunities in the customer journey from consideration to conversion.
- Instagram’s Tap to View
Instagram tap to view
Instagram began trialling “Tap to View” in the US last year with brands such as Kate Spade and JackThreads, where you can tag up to five products in a post and list their prices. Once a tag is selected a new detailed view of the product will open. The functionality aims to bring important product information to the consumer earlier in the journey, without having to leave the Instagram app to search. Then, if the consumer taps the “Shop Now” link from the product details view, they will go directly to that product on the brand’s website, making it easier for them to buy the product they want.
- Viber’s Instant Shopping
Messaging app Viber introduced “Instant Shopping” in beta in the US in March, and plans to gradually roll it out worldwide. It works by bringing a variety of brands and products to shopper’s chats, allowing them to access products to buy while discussing with friends. With the tap of a button, users can open a menu of options, browse and share products directly into their chats. When they want to buy, another tap will take them to the brand’s website so they can complete an order or speak to a company customer care representative.
- Facebook’s Discover tab in Messenger
Facebook launched a new Discover section in Messenger earlier this month, where users can browse and find bots, nearby places and businesses to message. Facebook wants the bots to sit in the background of the conversations people are having on Messenger, piping up when the bot can be of assistance. The Discover tab helps users find businesses that can be directly contacted on Messenger.


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The shocking revelation that longtime Bungie composer Martin O’Donnell had been unceremoniously fired from the Halo and Destiny brought with it a lot of questions. What were the circumstances under which O’Donnell needed to be ousted, as he puts it, “without cause?” Moreover, was his termination a sign that all was not well at Bungie?
While we may never get the full story on O’Donnell’s termination, Bungie has come forward to set the record straight on their state of affairs. Most importantly, they have assured gamers that their highly anticipated release, Destiny, is “close to shipping” and should make its September release date.
Although O’Donnell was actually let go on April 11th, the news of his departure was not revealed until late Tuesday night. With a Destiny media event scheduled for this week, it appears Bungie wanted to get the news out now, even if it might have been shocking to fans, before too many speculative questions arose.
The timing also allowed Bungie to clear up any confusion as to how O’Donnell’s departure might impact Destiny‘s development. As we now know, that answer is apparently not at all.
Alongside the reassurances, Bungie’s Pete Parsons also confirmed that O’Donnell’s work will remain in the game. He, along with Michael Salvatori, C. Paul Johnson, and even Paul McCartney have apparently put together quite the aural experience for Destiny players, and O’Donnell’s firing should not impact that in any way.
Switching gears to some lighter, Destiny-related topics, we have a few screenshots from the title that prove that, yes, this will be a very pretty game. How pretty you ask? Well see for yourself.
With several months still left before Destiny hits store shelves, Bungie likely has plenty more to show fans. To be fair, they’ve already detailed quite a bit about Destiny, including how the multiplayer works, the back-story to the universe, and even how the game sets itself apart from Halo, but we suspect there’s even more to learn about this game. In other words, stick tuned to Game Rant for all of the Destiny content you need to know about.
Are you relieved to learn that Destiny is close to shipping and that O’Donnell’s work will remain in the game? What has you the most excited about Destiny?


text: The way that the editorial team keep shaking it up, you'd think the DC Universe was a snow globe or something. Not four years after they totally rebooted their entire line of books and characters with the New 52 initiative, the publisher has returned to many of its classic stories and status quos with the current Convergence summer crossover. And there's big changes coming after. Okay, so technically Convergence is a band aid to cover the DC office's move from East to West Coast, but it's also to buy them some time before they reveal a bunch more big changes to many of their main characters. Those changes have been slowly teased out with the Divergence Free Comic Book Day issue, and a recent series of Sneek Peak comics released online. All of those books have given readers a pretty good idea of what the state of the DCU is post-Convergence, with many of the main titles wrapping up major storylines before that event started and so above to move onto bigger and brighter things. Such as a certain Caped Crusader being a robot now. Also: more dead Green Lanterns. There's still a few weeks left of Convergence, meaning there's still time to get caught up with what awaits the likes of Superman, Green Arrow and, erm, Prez, Doomsday and Section 8 very, very soon. Here are ten things you need to know about the future of DC.


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Slashfood has a new home! Huffpost Food.
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The Jupiter Drawing Room (Utopia)
has ensured South Africa a spot in the 2012 NYF International Advertising Awards
shortlist for its BirdLife SOS Festival
poster campaign (Save Our Seabirds) in the environmental issues category. Apart from being awarded In-Book
status last week at the 50th D&AD Awards, which refers to work that will be included in the 50th D&AD Annual
, the poster has also been selected as a One Show Design Pencil & Merit finalist
. NYF International Advertising Awards winners will be announced on Thursday evening, 3 May 2012 in New York City; One Show Design winners will be announced on Monday evening 7 May, also in New York City.


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“Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.”
You’ve probably seen or heard that quote a dozen times at various conferences, in articles and referenced on LinkedIn. But for the man who penned that viral paragraph, not enough people have taken the time to understand the thinking behind them.
Tom Goodwin is typically upfront when asked what business transformation looks like for most companies: “I think for me we’re always looking to the next big thing and we’re always doing so on the basis that it’s going to be 3D printing or augmented reality or virtual reality.
“We’re so excited about the stuff that’s not quite here yet and we’re so keen to kind of signal to the rest of the world that we’re looking ahead and that we get it. I think we haven’t really got the basics right yet.”
Goodwin pithily describes this race to adopt new technologies and gadgets in lieu of real strategy as a “Pimp My Ride approach to business transformation”, referencing the US TV show which saw members of the public get their rust bucket cars transformed by a team of mechanics, who fitted the crumbling wrecks with the latest gadgets and accessories.
Expanding on the metaphor he explains: “We feel like we need to do these spinning rims, massive exhaust pipes and great Hi Fis, and actually companies probably need to think about it the other way around.
“The people on the show should probably buy a high end SUV or some very boring sort of family car for the same money instead. But we want to do these kind of garnishes and the visual language of transformation, which is very apparent and very obvious and it’s very fast and it’s very quick to measure.”
These are unexpected words coming from Goodwin, whose day job is head of innovation for media agency Zenith. The running joke in the advertising industry is that usually it is agencies like Goodwin’s which are pushing clients to adopt the latest shiny new toy, often in the hunt for industry awards.
But Goodwin is proud to take a contrarian approach to things most of his competitors are running towards. He says his job is to challenge clients about the real issues in their business.
“I think we create almost an echo chamber, where I feel like we’re all in the business of doing lots of stuff which is inherently nonsense but keeps us all busy,” he admits.
“I’m kind of bold in how I do my role and actually feel like it’s my place to say no to things. I don’t think that I want to have a chatbot experience with shampoo, I don’t think there’s that much to say. But you feel quite audacious when you do that.”
For Goodwin, who has worked with some of the world’s biggest brands, it is the boring and slow approaches and systems that businesses are too scared to tackle in search of meaningful change.
He uses the example of airlines (although he also admits that he hates picking on them because they are such an increasingly easy target).
“It’s kind of remarkable to me that an airline might celebrate training staff with augmented reality headsets and at the same time if you try to email your airline they’re not able to take email because it doesn’t suit them,” he says.
“So you tend to have this thing where companies are based around gimmicks, based around what’s shiny and based around structures and processes which are rooted in the past and how they want to do things, rather than being much more customer centric.”
In his role the 39-year-old Brit is regularly seconded to consult with clients on their fundamental businesses, and help them understand what it is, if anything, they need to change.
He explains there are a couple of stages he gets these businesses to go through to help them start to understand what needs to change.
The first is getting them to understand if transformation is something they definitely need to go through.
“Again, this is quite a contrarian viewpoint,” he explains. “But the world is full of people going around on stages saying everything is faster than before, everything is different, you’re either a start-up or a leave-behind, the sky is falling.
“There actually are quite a lot of companies that are fine, if you’re a family brewer making beer, Airbnb has not changed your business, QR Codes don’t mean that much. If you’re a family funeral director, there’s no Uber for coffins that’s going to come along.
“So one is you need to really get to grips with the degree to which change is happening, because it may actually be that you don’t have to change everything.”
But Goodwin says nothing is not something most companies in most sectors have the luxury of doing. For these, the second question is quite simple: “Are you really prepared to do what you need to do?”
He explains most “do the minimum amount they need to” as a short-term fix and a story to tell financial markets and investors.
“So I think the second question people really need to ask is, am I being true to myself? Do I want to undertake a six year multi-million dollar program that won’t actually have any return on investment for four years?
“Or actually am I just happy to sort of retire in three years’ time and to know that I wasn’t the person that really messed it up?
“Because I think at the moment most companies are still led by 55 to 65 year olds and they’re kind of hoping to hang on.”
If the answer is the latter, says Goodwin, then that company needs to be prepared for a tough future in the long-term, as newer more customer-focussed competitors emerge.
Tom Goodwin is a keynote speaker at the NextGen in Business conference series taking place in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne in May, to help businesses prepare for the multigenerational future. To see the line up and save $150 per ticket click here.
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The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Australia’s employer representative to the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation (ILO), says union opposition to proposed legislation...
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The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Australia’s largest and most representative business network, warmly welcomes the passage of the personal income tax package through the Senate. “The...
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HP has posted its sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth in its Q2, with revenues up 13 per cent year on year to $14bn (€12.3bn).
During the three months to 30 April, operating profits were also up to $964m, an increase of 15 per cent.
We take a look at some of the key takeaways from the vendor's Q2 numbers.
HP exceeded Wall Street expectations
HP's Q2 results saw net earnings per share soar by 49.2 per cent to 65 cents a share. Adjusted for special items, net earnings grew about 16 per cent to $800m, or 48 cents a share.
Wall Street previously forecast revenues of $13.57bn and earnings of $753.5m, or 45 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.
Commenting on his company beating the market's expectations, HP CEO Dion Weisler (pictured) said in an earnings call transcribed by Seeking Alpha: "We delivered another quarter of double-digit year-over-year revenue and profit growth, strong EPS and impressive free cashflow and performed well across segments and regions. Our sharp focus on innovation, combined with operational excellence and driving profitable growth, is paying off."
Breaking down performance regionally, EMEA posted the highest growth at 21 per cent, in comparison with 13 per cent growth in APAC and Japan, and seven per cent in the Americas.
Strong PC sales despite component price rise
IDC named HP as the top PC maker last month, with 22.7 per cent of the market, ahead of Lenovo and Dell.
HP's Q2 results confirm that personal computing systems remain the California-based vendor's top segment, accounting for 37 per cent of net revenues.
By unit, personal systems revenue grew by 14 per cent in the second quarter year on year.
"In the first calendar quarter, we outgrew the PC market by 4.6 points," Weisler said.
"While we are proud of these results, share gain continues to be an outcome, not an objective. Profitable growth continues to be our focus.
"In Personal Systems this quarter, we made progress in areas such as retail point-of-sale and device-as-a-service, where we saw strong double-digit growth."
The firm's success comes despite the concerns over rising component prices flagged in its first quarter.
At the time, CFO Catherine Lesjak acknowledged that the trend had pushed HP to "mitigate via pricing" in order to adapt.
Continues on next page
Joe Macri says the vendor saw 20 per cent of its UK growth come from its Cloud Solution Provider programme last year
Pure set for further acquisitions, with a focus on the south-east
Reports claim BlackBerry is in talks over a $1.5bn deal


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One of the most popular ways of telling if you're a healthy weight is bogus — here's what you should do instead
The Body Mass Index, or BMI chart, was invented in the 1800s, and it's a pretty imperfect scale. A leading obesity researcher explains why.
After supermodel Linda Evangelista filed a lawsuit saying CoolSculpting had left her disfigured, others say the thing thing happened to them.
A camel hump contains fat to use as food storage during long desert treks. But that hump didn't originate in the desert, but rather in the arctic.
Sumo wrestlers can weigh 400 pounds, yet they don't suffer from heart attacks, strokes, or other symptoms of obesity. Here's how they stay healthy.
Here are 14 foods with the healthiest fats we know of, and the science behind why they're good for you.
The US government is testing the keto diet to treat veterans' diabetes. Critics say it could have long-term health risks.
Virta Health is partnering with the VA to offer a low-carb keto diabetes treatment for veterans but critics argue the high-fat diet has health risks.
Eating lots of trans fats like packaged donuts and margarine could make you 75% more likely to get Alzheimer's
The 10-year study of elderly Japanese adults confirmed that trans fats, which are banned in the US, aren't only bad for the heart.
Brown fat produces heat by burning sugar and fat when it's cold, so increasing its activity could help with weight loss.
From brown bears and African elephants to blue whales and camels, here are photos of some of the biggest, fattest animals out there.
Emerging science suggests that when eaten on its own, fat doesn't contribute to weight gain, while sugar does. Scientists recommend cutting back on sugar and instead bringing back foods like avocados and salmon.
Not all foods that are high in fat are bad for you. Here are high-fat foods that can actually be beneficial to your health
I tried a science-backed eating plan tied to a better mood and longer life — and never felt like I was dieting
I tried the Mediterranean diet, a whole-foods meal plan based on vegetables, fish, and healthy fats like those from olive oil and avocados. Here's how to try it and what to know if you're a beginner.
Many argue that BMI is inadequate as it ignores important factors such as family history, genetics, lifestyle, age, gender, and muscle mass.
It's safe to say that bacon and sausage are the go-to when it comes to breakfast meats. But which of the two is healthier? Here's what to know before you decide between bacon or sausage.
Tech elites are paying $7,000 to freeze stem cells from liposuctioned fat as a 'back up' for a longer life
A startup called Forever Labs offers tech elites a chance to save their young stem cells in the hopes that they can use them to help fight disease and live longer. The cells are mostly siphoned from bone marrow, but now they can come from fat that's removed via liposuction, too.
Nutrition researchers say eating full-fat cheese may not be as bad for your cholesterol as once thought, and that unlike butter, eating cheese could even help protect your heart, because of the special cheese matrix: the distinct way that protein and calcium are arranged in cheese.
11 foods with a bad reputation that you can feel good about eating — including coffee, butter, and cheese
As a general rule, food — real food, with as little processing or packaging as possible — is not bad for you. You can eat too much of many foods, especially foods that aren't vegetables. But that doesn't mean that eating carbs or fatty foods are bad for you in the first place.
Fats from sources like nuts, olive oil, and fish are best for your body.
There's one type of body fat that's hard to detect and dangerous for your health — here's how to get rid of it
Visceral fat is fat found inside the abdomen — in and around organs like the liver and kidneys — and unlike subcutaneous fat, it cannot be identified by simply looking at a person's body. While hard to locate, it can be controlled through long-term diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes.
There's even more evidence that your waistline is one of the best ways to tell if you're healthy — especially as you age
Researchers are learning that the amount of fat we hold around our waistlines is a good indicator of our overall health. A new study found that waist-to-hip ratio is linked to cognitive performance.


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93-year-old Earl Fultz, founder of cHarissa spice. (Credit: Katelyn Knapp)
At 93 years old, Greenport resident Earl Fultz is still finding the spice of life.
His company, cHarissa, which he manages with business partner Jeri Woodhouse, has become a foodie phenomenon. The Moroccan-inspired seasoning, which initially gained popularity with chefs at local restaurants, has gone on to receive national acclaim, winning the SOFI Award at New York City’s Fancy Food Show and finding its way into dishes at Canadian eateries. (more…)
Earl Fultz and his late wife, Gloria, who created the Moroccan-influenced food seasoning cHarissa. (Credit: Carrie Miller)
Earl Fultz, the 92-year-old entrepreneur behind the Moroccan-inspired spice cHarissa, makes an appearance in the February issue of Glamour magazine. So does his late wife, Gloria, via a photo courtesy of The Suffolk Times.
Glamour’s editor-in-chief, Cindi Leive, whose mother is cousins with Gloria, contacted the Greenport resident to get his take on love and Valentine’s Day. (more…)
Earl Fultz and his late wife, Gloria, who created the Moroccan-influenced food seasoning cHarissa more than 25 years go. Mr. Fultz hopes Wells Fargo prize winnings will help him sell her creation in stores nationwide. (Credit: Carrie Miller)
For the past three years, 91-year-old Earl Fultz of Greenport has worked to make a name for his wife, Gloria’s, cooking secret — cHarissa, a Moroccan-influenced seasoning made with cumin and other spices. (more…)


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vid köp över 2500 kr
Vid köp över 2500 kr
Go in and read Mnytt's new article about us!
"Barely a year after stepping in as owner of Ovolin Färgfabrik & Byggnadsvård, Maths Anhammer is looking forward to the upcoming high season for the company that specializes in manufacturing and selling environmentally friendly paint according to traditional methods." Text by Nicklas Remmegård


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Portland, Ore. — One Portland area mother was taken aback at a Fred Meyer last week when she saw gender specific signs above new holiday toy displays.
Brie Stoianoff complained to store employees, corporate officials, and posted the pictures on Facebook.
Within hours, the signs were gone.
“I was just sort of thrilled and I told my friends, hey guys, we made a difference, we can do this!”
Fred Meyer says the signs were never even supposed to be there.
Spokesperson Melinda Merrill said they were not printed this year and must have gone up by mistake.
In an effort to avoid the same mistake, the chain sent a memo to all 132 of its stores saying no “boys toys” or “girls toys” signage is to be put up.
© 2023 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.


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Tesla has stopped Megapack production at Giga Nevada, but this is just the beginning for Tesla’s most underrated facility.
Tesla Giga Nevada has never been the most well-known or talked about gigafactory in the Tesla fleet, despite its incredible contributions to Tesla’s Energy division and, more recently, to the production of the Tesla Semi. Now, the Nevada plant is being dramatically shaken up, potentially for the better, as it will no longer be producing the Megapack.
The announcement of the final Megapack leaving Giga Nevada was posted to Linkedin by a Tesla production technician and was subsequently published on Twitter by Sawyer Merrit. The post is far from lengthy and only shows a single picture of the final Megapack leaving the facility.
NEWS: @Tesla has built its last Megapack at Giga Nevada. Production has now fully moved to their Lathrop, California Megafactory where they make the next-gen Megapack XL, which are much more profitable.
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 2, 2023
In terms of Megapack production, at least for now, this halt at Giga Nevada will shift all focus to Tesla’s new facility in Lathrop, California, which is quickly becoming one of Tesla’s fastest-growing production locations in the United States. Meanwhile, Tesla is already working to establish its second Megapack production facility based in Shanghai, China.
While the end of production is typically not something to celebrate, this could be the start of something fantastic for Giga Nevada. By freeing up staff and production space, the Nevada-based facility can focus on its two primary goals listed on the Tesla website, achieving 100GWh of 4680 battery cell production and kicking Semi production into high gear.
Tesla has not updated its website to reflect the change in Megapack production, but it does highlight a few other key areas where the facility could now focus its freed-up energy. “Located less than an hour from Lake Tahoe, Gigafactory Nevada is one of the world’s highest volume plants for electric motors, energy storage products, vehicle powertrains, and batteries—producing billions of cells per year. Now, we’re continuing to grow Gigafactory Nevada with two new facilities: a 100 GWh 4680 cell factory and our first high-volume Semi factory.”
Tesla’s need for battery cells, notably those from Giga Nevada, cannot be understated. Top-selling products, including the Model 3 and Model Y, are still growing in popularity quarter over quarter, and battery cell production is the primary limit on how many vehicles the automaker can produce. Moreover, the Tesla Semi is poised to enter mass production in the near future alongside the highly anticipated Cybertruck, both of which will be incredible battery-cell-hungry vehicles.
As for Tesla’s Energy division more broadly, CEO Elon Musk has maintained his belief that the segment will eventually outpace its vehicle offerings in terms of revenue, and by moving to more dedicated production locations – Shanghai and Lathrop – the business unit is well on its way towards achieving that goal.
What do you think of the article? Do you have any comments, questions, or concerns? Shoot me an email at email@example.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @WilliamWritin. If you have news tips, email us at firstname.lastname@example.org!


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Ticketmaster is facing increased scrutiny from politicians after its chaotic Taylor Swift tour ticket pre-sales. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said he is investigating whether Ticketmaster violated consumer rights and antitrust rules. Skrmetti is the latest politician to call attention to Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s control of the ticketing market.
This occurs when Ticketmaster canceled their public sales for Swift’s tour, called Eras. in a cheepTicketmaster said the cancellation was due to “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand.”
The public sale would have been for tickets left over from the site’s troubled advance sales, which began Tuesday for members of its Verified Fan program. Many fans experienced technical glitches and hour-long wait times, with many ultimately unable to purchase a ticket.
According to the New York Times, Ticketmaster said in a now-deleted post that 3.5 million people signed up for the Verified Fan program. About 1.5 million received a special access code and the rest were placed on the waiting list. “Never before has a verified Fan for sale generated such attention or uninvited volume,” Ticketmaster said.
Skrmetti said he had received complaints from fans who tried to buy tickets for Eras. in a cheep On Thursday, the attorney general said other state attorneys general are also looking into the matter: “Ticketmaster’s decision to cancel sales underscores the important need for accountability. The fans deserve a fair chance to buy a ticket. I am encouraged by other state AGs who are also taking this issue seriously.”
The Washington Post reports that Skrmetti said Ticketmaster should have been better prepared for the high demand, questioning whether “because they have such a dominant position in the market, they felt they didn’t have to worry about it.”
In another tweet Before the sale was called off, the attorney general’s office said Skrmetti “is concerned about consumer complaints related to @Ticketmaster’s pre-sale of @taylorswift13 concert tickets. He and his Consumer Protection team will use all available tools to ensure that consumer protection laws are not violated.”
TechCrunch has contacted Ticketmaster and Skrmetti’s office for comment.
Eras is Swift’s first tour in four years and follows the release of her new album “Midnights.”
Other politicians who have raised concerns about the combined company of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which merged in 2010, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. David N. Cicilline and Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr.
On Tuesday, Representative Ocasio-Cortez he said in a tweet on Tuesday that “Ticketmaster is a monopoly, its merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and it was necessary to control them. Divide them”.
cicilline representative tweeted on Wednesday that Ticketmaster’s “excessive wait times and fees are completely unacceptable, as seen with today’s @taylorswift13 tickets, and are a symptom of a larger problem. It’s no secret that Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an unchecked monopoly.”
and Representative Pascrell, Jr., who was among the millions of fans placed on the waiting list for Swift tickets, tweeted that Ticketmaster “The Ticketmaster-Live Nation monopoly should never have been merged and must be dissolved.”
Consumers are also pushing for the breakup of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. An alliance of consumer rights groups, including the antitrust nonprofit American Economic Freedoms Project, launched a campaign last month called Break Up Ticketmaster, saying that Ticketmaster’s “market power over live events is ripping off sports and music fans and undermining the vitality and independence of music. industry.”


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Summary: Microsoft spreads its FOSS suppressors with SXSW promotion, Barnardos ‘donation’, and more
EVERY NOW and then we see Microsoft dumping software in order to block its competition. Microsoft always passes it by the press as “charity” or “donation”, which essentially recasts anti-competitive behaviour as goodwill (for the gullible). We gave an example from the UK one week ago.
It is unfortunate to see SXSW selling out to Microsoft for promotion, according to this press release.
South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive is now accepting entries for the Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SXSW competition. Debuting last year, the first edition of Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SXSW generated entries from more than 200 innovative companies from around the United States and across the world.
Microsoft is still dumping software using the *Spark programmes, which we wrote about to explain in:
- Poor Microsoft Gives Poor Software to Youngsters, Hoping to Remain Relevant
- Microsoft’s Anti-Linux Dumping Crusade: Chapter 11.1
- Microsoft Tries to Fight Libre with Gratis
- An Open, Gentler Microsoft: The Best Illusion Only Novell Can Buy
- Microsoft’s Last Breath: BAD (Bribing, Addicting, Dumping)
- Microsoft’s B.A.D. (Bribing, Addicting, Dumping) Comes to the Philippines
- Down with Microsoft… in India (Updated)
- Microsoft Takes Dumping Tactics up a Notch
- The EDGIfication of the Philippines
There is also some new dumping in Barnardos, which the New Zealand press covered as though it was “donation of software to childcare charity.” Well, “open source” is mentioned there among the comments, so people are not foolish enough to fall for PR (“donation”, “children”, and “charity” all in the same sentence).
Microsoft chief financial officer Chris Liddell, a New Zealander, on Monday announced a $1.4 million donation of software to childcare charity Barnardos New Zealand.
The philanthropic initiative will reward winning writers with a Samsung Go Netbook and their local schools with cutting-edge Samsung products, Microsoft software, DIRECTV educational television programming and cash grants as well as special @15 gift cards supplied by Best Buy.


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DETROIT, MI – A 35,000-square-foot aquarium appears to be in store for the Great Lakes Crossing Outlets shopping mall in Auburn Hills, following an agreement between Merlin Entertainment, Taubman, Oakland County and the city of Auburn Hills.
Construction of the Sea Life-branded aquarium will begin in June, and the aquarium is scheduled to open in spring 2015, according to a release Monday.
Initial plans call for more than 30 displays featuring a wide variety of sea life, such as sharks, rays, seahorses, starfish and shrimp. A centerpiece will be an underwater tunnel that passes beneath a tropical ocean tank. The aquarium will host educational talks and feeding demonstrations.
There will be an element of the Great Lakes to the aquarium too, Merlin said in the release, and called it the British entertainment firm’s official aquarium of the Great Lakes region.
Merlin is a publicly traded, billion-dollar company based in the southern United Kingdom. It has dozens of tourist attractions around the world, including the Legoland theme parks and resorts.
The Sea Life aquarium in Auburn Hills will be the company’s seventh in the United States. The company calls North America a growth market.
“The Sea Life aquarium will be the perfect complement to all of the existing family oriented attractions both at Great Lakes Crossing Outlets and in the area, greatly enhancing the existing shopping and entertainment experience,” Taubman chief operating officer William Taubman said in a statement. “We also look forward to bringing such a high quality attraction to the greater Michigan markets; and to extending our partnership with Merlin Entertainments plc in the future."
Peter Auger, Auburn Hills City Manager, added, “We are delighted that a global leisure company as dynamic and successful as Merlin is coming to our city, and bringing such a great attraction. It will not only bring jobs to Auburn Hills but also be a showpiece for the entire region.”


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Outdoor retailer REI is providing its freshly completed — and presently unused — 8-acre company campus in Bellevue, Washington, as a substitute shifting to a “fewer centralized tactic to its headquarters existence in the Seattle place.”
The foreseeable future “headquarters” will as an alternative consist of numerous satellite campuses in the Seattle spot, the retailer explained, relatively than a person central place. Distant working will be the “normalized model” for headquarters personnel.
The new tactic, Artz argued, has gains. Distant operating provides larger flexibility for staff members to stay outside of the Puget Seem area, he stated, which would shrink the retailer’s carbon footprint.
“This will have instant, beneficial impacts on our potential to appeal to and retain a various and really expert workforce, as we continue to navigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and further than,” Artz said.
REI’s headquarters staff have all been operating remotely given that early March, the statement mentioned. Right before the coronavirus pandemic, the enterprise had intended to shift into the new campus this summertime.
Meanwhile, Google, Amazon corporate, Warner Audio Group, and a lot more have stated they is not going to return to the business office right up until 2021 — at the earliest.
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