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INDIA: PepsiCo to ramp up potato procurement
US snacks and drinks giant PepsiCo has said it will double its potato procurement in India over the next five years.
A spokesperson for PepsiCo confirmed to just-food it is looking to double procurement from the current 2.4 lakh tonnes it achieved in its 2012 financial year. This, the spokesperson said, is more than double what it procured five years ago.
"PepsiCo India sources all its potato requirement from within the country," she added. "We are the largest procurer of potato in India. PepsiCo India has established a model of partnership with farmers and now works with over 24,000 happy farmers across nine states."
These states include West Bengal, Punjab, Gujarat, UP, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Bihar.
The spokesperson said PepsiCo has set up a "state-of-the-art" potato seed facility in Punjab and all the seed it provides to farmers across the country is grown by Punjab and Haryana farmers.
"PepsiCo has over the years, not just given more opportunity to potato farmers but also worked in close partnership with the farming community with a vision of creating a cost-effective, localised agro-base in India by leveraging its access to world class agricultural practices. PepsiCo works with farmers throughout the crop cycle – providing quality seeds, technical expertise, facilitating loans from banks, harvesting expertise etc."
General Mills, which has struggled to grow its US yoghurt brands, said yesterday (30 May) it would look to marketing and innovation to revitalise sales in the increasingly promotional category....
PepsiCo has benefited from its strong presence in sweet and savoury snacks, which continue to make up the majority of its sales in packaged food. It did however reduce its reliance on this category wi...
PepsiCo do Brasil is expected to strengthen its presence in biscuits through brand extensions of popular and traditional brands such as Toddy and Quaker, which received investment to introduce biscuit...
The report presents detailed data on consumption trends in the Ethnic/Traditional Snacks category in United States, analyzing consumption volumes and values. It also provides indispensable data on dis...
The report presents detailed data on consumption trends in the Meat Snacks category in United States, analyzing consumption volumes and values. It also provides indispensable data on distribution chan...
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Friday was the last day of testimony in the trial between Epic and Apple, and it featured the most anticipated person to take the stand — Apple CEO Tim Cook. Karissa Bell covered all the important details, including some very pointed questions from US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, focusing on the often-rocky relationship Apple has with third-party developers.
If you were hoping to find out secrets about its business, then there’s not a lot to work with, but it is worth hearing what Apple’s leader has to say under oath about free apps, China and Google. For a more surprising revelation, .
— Richard Lawler
The White House has teamed up with Tinder, OkCupid and seven other dating sites.
Well, now your weekend plans are sorted.
$100 off Apple’s Mac Mini M1 and more.
Here are all the best deals from the week that you can still snag today, and remember to follow on Twitter for more updates.
Tesla racked up 250k Cybertruck pre-orders in five days in 2019.
On Wednesday night Ford revealed its first electric truck, and CEO Jim Farley says over 45,000 people pre-ordered one within the first 48 hours of availability. The boasts up to 563 horsepower and 775 lb.-ft. of torque, as well as fast charging. is aiming for an EPA-estimated range of 230 miles as standard and 300 miles with the extended model.
All about Google I/O and Apple’s M1 iPad Pro/iMac
This week, Cherlynn and Devindra chat with Senior Mobile Editor Chris Velazco about the , including the and . Also, Chris tells us why he thinks is one of the best devices Apple has ever made (it’s just too bad the software can’t keep up). And Devindra explains why .
Listen on , , , or .
Meet the portable desktop.
Now that Apple has plugged its M1 processor into an all-in-one desktop computer, the new iMac is thinner and lighter than ever before. Devindra Hardawar found it makes for an ideal family PC, with quick switching enabled by Touch ID, fast performance, an impressive 24-inch display and a design that flashes personality.
Of course, there are some compromises, with a limited number of ports available and specs that fall short of what professionals are looking for. It also doesn’t come cheap, and bumping up the RAM or storage gets expensive quickly, but without many strong PC competitors, this iMac stands alone.
But wait, there’s more…
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

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As the world finally begins to come to terms with our addiction to plastic, ConservingNow has laid out the commonly understood view on plastic bags. Under the headline, “What We Know” the site lays out some basic facts:
The list continues on, filling the webpage with the sad, simple information of plastic bag use and disposal. The article ends with a photo of trash heaped in a pile with dirt, probably at a landfill.
It’s easy to think of disposable, one-time use plastic bags as a waste. Those cotton or nylon totes with pictures of the globe or a panda or an idealized image of fresh produce are obviously more environmentally friendly than the hundreds of plastic bags clogging the landfills and oceans. It’s good to remember that although well-meaning people and organizations promote those snappy shopping tote bags, someone’s also making a profit. When you buy a canvas bag from your local grocery store, you are buying a product that someone is selling to you. When money is involved, there’s often a bias.
A study by the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food released earlier this year counters the assumptions of many when it comes to shopping bags. The research analyzed eight different types of bags for their environmental impact, including single use plastic bags, organic and traditional cotton bags. It should be noted that one study in Denmark should not be taken as completely accurate for every country and every situation. Every study has flaws and this one is no exception. Litter wasn’t considered as part of the environmental impact, which means sea turtles eating plastic bags they mistake for jellyfish was considered a ‘negligible’ impact. The study used the Danish system in which single use bags are assumed to be either recycled or incinerated. The carbon produced in the production and shipping of the bag, as well as land and water use were considered. Also, only bags available in Danish grocery stores were considered, there was no look at people using their ordinary backpacks to carry groceries for instance. Environmental impact assessments are also complex. No bag is going to score higher than others in every impact assessed, there are complex and different impacts that every production has on the environment.
All of this said, the study in the end shows that single use, LDPE plastic bags, (that is the ones most commonly found in supermarkets) had the least environmental impact of all the bags assessed. Of course it’s more complex than a simple answer. If you’re more concerned about a turtle choking on a plastic ‘jelly fish’ than global climate change, obviously plastic bags are still worse than cotton. In the balance however, those throw away plastic bags are shown to generally have less impact than a reusable tote, if properly used.
The Danish study also has end of life (disposal) recommendations for every bag they assessed. You can minimize the environmental impact of your shopping bag by how you dispose of it. The study recommend that you do what for many is already common practice: you use that throw-away LDPE bag as a small trash bag.
The breakdown beyond those single use bags shows that next in line for lowest environmental impact is an unbleached paper bag, followed by bleached paper bags. I remember a time when getting a paper bag instead of a plastic one was considered the environmentally friendly option, even before reusable totes were popular. Next, synthetic reusable bags were assessed as having a lower environmental impact than cotton with woven Polypropylene being better than non-woven PP bags.
Although plastic one-use bags seem to be the best option initially, for climate change alone, cotton bags must be reused only 52 times to be as good as throw away plastic. For other environmental impacts however, those cotton bags must be reused 7,100 times, which seems like a tall order if not an impossible one.
Strangely, organic cotton scored even worse on how much use you need to get out of it to make it environmentally sensible. Organic cotton bags must be reused 20,000 times for shopping. I encourage anyone interested in lowering their environmental impact to look closely at those reusable bags, how much impact they have depends a lot on what they’re made of, counterintuitively cotton being the worst and synthetics being much better. If you already have a shopping bag though, throwing it away is the worst thing you can do, reusing whatever you have as much as you can is the most important way to limit your environmental impact.
It’s never a good practice to base all your decisions on one scientific study, and as I already mentioned, every study is flawed. Another study released in 2011 by the United Kingdom’s Environment Agency that assessed the environmental impact of different shopping bags. Like the Danish study, the one done in the UK is based on what is available in the UK as far as bags as well as recycling and trash disposal. If you live outside the UK, such a study should be examined closely and applied elsewhere cautiously but it’s still quite relevant.
The UK study came to largely the same conclusions as the later Danish study. The British study found that most of the environmental impact of shopping bags comes from their production and resource consumption, with transport, packaging and disposal being less important in terms of environmental impact. This goes a long way towards explaining why cotton, which uses a lot of land, water and fertilizer to produce could be more environmentally damaging than a plastic bag.
Surprisingly, the British study found that reusing throw away shopping bags has less overall environmental impact than recycling them after one use, even if they’re discarded. This isn’t as applicable in the US as in the UK though because it’s based on a British system of incinerating plastic bags as a source of electricity (replacing fossil fuels like coal) rather than tossing them into a landfill.
DW.com, a German news organization, criticized the practice of trash incineration in Britain and across northern Europe. If incineration continues to increase it means Britain will either have to import trash from other countries to keep incinerators open or else decrease recycling. Obviously importing trash is an absurd proposal but it’s important to note that recycling is often exported to faraway places to be processed as well. China processed half of the world’s exported recycled plastic, paper and metal in 2016, according to Huff Post.
The British study didn’t show quite the extreme environmental impact as the Danish study, showing that cotton bags still have the biggest environmental impact in 7 out of 9 assessed categories even if reused 173 times. It seems a bit more feasible for a person to reuse a cotton bag more than 173 times compared to the Danish study’s 7,100 to 20,000 times (depending on whether the cotton is organic or not). The British study confirmed that synthetic reusable bags have less environmental impact than cotton ones.
In both studies, paper bags were not shown to be very environmentally friendly. Paper bags need to be reused several times to lower their environmental impact to that of a single use plastic bag and unlike cotton or synthetic tote bags, paper bags don’t hold up for reuse very well. I find this interesting because paper bags have long been assumed by environmentally considerate people to be better than plastic.
The takeaway message for me is not to depend on any one product, whether it’s a reusable bag or reusable water bottle but instead, examine your own usage patterns. If you have a reusable product, continue using it until it’s completely worn out and then if possible repurpose it, compost it or if need be recycle it. I’ve seen aluminum water bottles crop up in outdoor circles, branded as being environmentally friendly. I wonder to myself how many people recycled their old plastic bottles to get new aluminum ones? Buying anything new has a negative environmental impact when compared to using something you already have.
If it makes sense in your life to have a reusable tote, buy a used one if you can, sometimes second hand stores have one, sometimes a friend has an un-used one they got as a gift for donating to NPR or an environmental charity. Maybe use a backpack or purse you already own instead of buying a new tote just for shopping. In reducing your environmental impact, it’s important to do your research and examine what you can do in your own life instead of depending on choosing between two products. Also, it’s always good to remember that reusing and reducing your trash is more important than recycling, as recycling is still your last resort.


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For years, the Ford F-Series has been one of the best-selling trucks – and vehicles – across the entire globe, but especially here in the United States, thanks to a track record of superior, best-in-class performance and superb reliability, the 2017 Ford F-Series is no different.
So of course, when a new lineup of Ford F-Series models is released, people get pretty excited. And that was certainly the case recently, when Ford announced the towing and torque figures for the 2017 Ford F-Series vehicles.
The main takeaway from the amazing stats is that the Ford F-450 will be able to tow up to 32,500 pounds, which is more than 1,300 pounds more than its predecessor. That is not only a huge improvement but also just a generally huge amount of weight.
Fifth-wheel towing for the 2017 Ford F-450 is also best-in-class, at an astonishing 27,500 pounds. Leave it to Ford to continue to raise the bar so highly! Want to learn more about the 2017 Ford F-Series or just see what Ford already has in store? Contact us or visit us anytime at Hometown Motors.


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Soft drinks group Nichols plc has reported 19.1% growth in group revenue to £80.2 million (€95.7 million) in the first half of its financial year.
The Vimto maker posted 10.6% growth EBITDA to £12.4 million (€14.8 million).
The company's adjusted operating profit, excluding exceptional items of £1.2 million (€1.4 million), increased by 24.2% to £11.2 million (€13.3 million).
'Recovery In The Second Quarter'
John Nichols, non-executive chairman, commented, "In the UK, the Vimto brand continues to outperform the broader squash market, and the group's out-of-home route to market experienced good growth as the wider leisure sector continues to recover from the impact of the pandemic.
"After some disruption to shipments affecting our international business in the first quarter, I am pleased to report a recovery in the second quarter, which has so far continued into the second half of the year."
Read More: Refresco Records Gross Profit Margin Of €538m In Q1
The company's revenue in the UK increased by 29.3% to £62.6 million (€74.7 million), driven by post-pandemic recovery in the out-of-home segment.
In the international market, Nichols witnessed a 7.2% decline in revenue to £17.6 million (€21 million).
Outlook Remains 'Unchanged'
The company added that its outlook on adjusted profit before tax remains unchanged, although it is not immune to inflationary pressures impacting consumers and the soft drinks market.
Nichols stated, "The board remains mindful of the potential earnings impact of continued inflation into FY23 and beyond. We have a long-term track record of growth, a proven, diversified strategy, and a quality range of brands. All of this is underpinned by a strong balance sheet.
"As a result, the board remains confident that the group is well positioned to deliver its long-term growth plans."
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest A-Brands news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.


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In the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic during the Q4, 2020, the Russian smartphone market faced a continuous rise reaching 35% as compared to the 34% of last year. Xiaomi became the top leading brand surpassing Samsung and Apple. While it is said that the US sanction against Huawei and COVID-19 vaccination will play a crucial role in reviving the smartphone market in Russia in 2021.
According to the Counterpoint, Samsung was the most famous brand of the quarter, although Xiaomi led the smartphone market and Apple ranked third, thanks to the good performance of the iPhone 12 series and Huawei’s supply shortage.
Realme has been benefited the most as per the Huawei sanction as the phone maker has gained around a 3.3% market share as compared to the same time last year which was 0.5%. Xiaomi received a 31% share in the Russian online smartphone market in Q4, 2020, and became the leading brand among others, while Samsung slipped to the second position with a total of 27% and the third position was equipped by Apple with a 15.5% market share.
The research firm also added that the users are now shifting towards the next generation 5G networks as the 5G smartphones have started to pick up on the online market and the shipment recorded is almost tripled in the quarter as compared to Q3, 2020.
The recently released 5G smartphones including Apple iPhone 12 series, Honor 30, 30s, and Xiaomi Mi 10T helped a lot in the growth and there are also several new 5G phones in the queue to be released. The market is expected to grow in the coming days as the new 5G devices will be launched.


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Kate and Gerry McCann say nothing is worse than night Madeleine went missing
KATE MCCANN HAS spoken out about how her and husband Gerry have felt since their daughter Madeleine disappeared.
In a frank interview Kate McCann revealed that after everything the couple have been through, nothing compares to the night Madeleine McCann went missing.
'Each day has felt like a week,' says Kate. 'I don't think there has been one particular low moment. Time has passed by so surreally. But nothing compares with the night Madeleine went missing. Nothing is worse than that.'
Husband Gerry McCann reiterated Kate's feelings saying: 'Everything that has happened to us since is put into perspective by how we felt on that first night.'
The couple have made clear how grateful they are for the public's support. Strangers have offered comforting words to the pair and their local newspaper, the Leicester Mercury, where the McCanns spoke yesterday, have raised £57,000 by selling yellow-and-green Madeleine wristbands.
As the McCanns were speaking it was revealed a second senior detective had asked to leave the investigation into Madeleine's disappearance. The detective requested an extended leave of absence, effectively taking him off the case.
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Amazon cloud gets nod to service govt customers
Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud service unit of Amazon, has received a clearance from the IT ministry that will allow it to pitch to both to state and central government organisations for hosting their applications on its platform.
AWS became the first global cloud service provider (CSP) to be compliant with specifications laid down by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) for quality, security and availability.
“We are excited to deepen our engagement with central, state, and local governments, and public sector bodies in India to offer them the broadest suite of cloud services, and a transformational approach to accelerate the deployment of digital services in the country,” said Peter Moore, regional managing director, Amazon Web Services, public sector – Asia Pacific, based in the AWS Singapore office.
Besides AWS, other empanelled CSPs include state-owned telecom player BSNL, Bengaluru-based CTRLS, Japanese NTT-owned Net Magic, Sify and Mumbai-based Web Werks.


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A big shift is happening in the luxury home buying market, and it was unexpected by a large amount of investors. Miami’s luxury homes saw a relatively large uptick in sales, while London may be slipping from their spot at the top of the luxury buying list.
Miami’s sales saw an increase of 5.3% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2015, according to the Miami Association of Realtors, and inventory for existing properties also increased.
Miami-Dade County had 258 sales totaling over $1 million per sale in quarter three, which is up from 245 from this time last year. Luxury condos also saw a huge gain in sales, going from 202 to 237 — a 14.8% increase.
“Miami luxury home buyers can purchase a larger home at a better price compared to other world-class global cities,” said Christopher Zoller, the 2015 Residential President of MIAMI. “The strength of the dollar coupled with Miami’s growth as a leading global city is leading more executives, hedge-funders and businessmen to buy luxury properties here. South Florida offers everything a luxury buyer would want: from oceanfront views to world-class art to top-tier amenities.”
Miami is ranked sixth on the list of the most important cities in the world to ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI), according to the 2015 Knight Frank Wealth Report. Luxury buyers are also generally harder to please; they spend in excess of $1 million more often than not because they have such high expectations. Those in the elite UHNWI group have a net worth of more than $30 million.
The only North American cities that made the top 10 on the Wealth Report were Miami and New York. The top five were London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Shanghai.
The “Luxury Defined” report of 2015 issued by Christie’s International looked at what $5 million would buy a wealthy person in the biggest cities around the world. In Miami, that $5 million buys a six-bedroom, 6,475-square-foot, custom-built waterfront home.
While Miami is rising on the list of top luxury markets, London may be falling from its top spot. Mayfair’s Mellier building houses the largest flat in the West End market, in the form of a 3,588-square-foot first-floor apartment.
With all of its luxuries, including fine architecture, loft ceilings, a private elevator, and a price of £15.95m, it makes for one of the best “trophy homes” in London. This type of property would have had a bidding war for it 18 months ago at the peak of a mini property boom, but with new rules in place, it will likely be a quiet sale.
The Chancellor has launched initiatives against wealthy homeowners, private investors, and those buying a second home. Because of those initiatives, deals aren’t guaranteed.
George Osborne overturned England’s stamp duty system last December, which gave breaks to those buying homes under £937,000 while raising taxes on those buying properties at over £1.5m. Since this change, luxury buyers have moved away from the London market.
John Taylor, which has been operating in the French market for 150 years, issued a statement saying, “The phones have been lighting up this year with Brits wanting to buy in the Alps and the French Riviera.”


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Apple pulls WikiLeaks app from the App Store
Apple has quickly pulled a WikiLeaks app (Google cache) it approved for sale on the App Store earlier this week. The unofficial app went live on the App Store on December 17. The WikiLeaks app gave "instant access to the world's most documented leakage of top secret memos and other confidential government documents," according to The iPhone Download Blog. The blog noted less than two days before the app was pulled that it was "actually surprising that Apple approved such an app, with all of the legal problems that Julian Assange and the WikiLeaks organization have been facing worldwide."
TechCrunch has reached out to Apple and the developer for comment, but only the developer has responded so far, saying that Apple changed the official status of his app to "Removed From Sale." It's not too much of a shock that Apple pulled the app, as being seen as associating with or even facilitating funding to WikiLeaks is as about as controversial as you can get right now. The WikiLeaks app sold for US$1.99, but the developer, Igor Barinov, was donating half of his proceeds to WikiLeaks, which could be the ultimate reason why the app was pulled.
There are sure to be many questions about why Apple approved then pulled the app in the days to come, but I would love to know what's more worrisome for Apple: the potential pressure/sanctions from various governments if they didn't pull the app, or the fact that the Cupertino company has now probably really, really irritated Anonymous.
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Ok Google, am I Optimized for Voice Search?
During the 2017 holiday shopping period, Amazon reported it sold “tens of millions” of devices powered by Alexa, and millions of Prime members searched for these items using an Alexa-powered device. As Web browsing with a keyboard is dying out, let's look at why businesses need to optimize for voice search, fast.
As far back as 2014, Google’s official blog reported that 55 percent of teens and 41 percent of adults in the U.S. were already surfing the Web with voice search. Now, Google predicts that half of all search traffic will use voice search by 2020. This is great news for the Google, Apple and Amazons of the world, as they sit pretty and enjoy the demand for devices powered by assistants like Alexa and Siri. But, what about the rest of us? Anyone that runs a business with an online presence needs to assess whether the search engine optimization (SEO) working to push their site higher on Google will help or hinder them in a world of voice search.


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Shares of El Segundo, California-based Beyond Meat were up 8% in after-hours trading, paring earlier gains of 18% as the company also reported quarterly sales that missed analyst expectations.
Beyond Meat said it plans to create products over the next several years with Yum! Brands for its KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell menus.
The maker of the Beyond Burger said its three-year global deal with McDonald's would make it the world's biggest restaurant chain's preferred supplier for the patty in its new McPlant burger. The two companies will also develop other menu items like plant-based chicken, pork and eggs.
Beyond Meat reported an increase in net sales of 3.5% to $101.9 million in the period ended Dec. 31, short of analysts' forecast of $104.8 million, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German logistics company Kion’s (KGX.DE) order intake missed analyst expectations even as the Germany-based forklift truck maker posted a rise in first-quarter operating profit and an improved margin.
Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose 4.2 percent to 157.9 million euros (137.85 million pounds). The adjusted EBIT margin improved to 8.6 percent in the first quarter from 8.4 percent in the year-earlier period, Kion said.
Kion said the market for forklift trucks and warehouse technology expanded at a slower rate than last year. The company’s order intake reached 1.89 billion euros, below the 1.98 billion expected by analysts. New truck orders rose 12 percent to around 392,600 units in the first quarter.
Kion reiterated its full-year outlook and said it expected order intake, revenues, and adjusted EBIT to increase in 2018.
Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Maria Sheahan


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A member of Eastwood and East Kilbride Canoe Club has told how a “fantastic” tour of the Small Isles was caught up in a rare crimewave.
Neil Bennett told the News how seven members of the club were among visitors to the Inner Hebridean island of Canna when two stores were raided by thieves.
The club have denied being responsible for the first crime to hit the tiny island – which has a population of just 22 – in 50 years.
The culprits made off with six woolly hats, groceries and toiletries from the community store and £120 worth of stock from another shop on the island on June 12.
Lindsayfield man Neil (65), who is the club’s equipment officer, said: “We were all very shocked to hear this.
“Its very unfortunate this had to spoil what was a fantastic trip. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
“Unfortunately we can’t offer any help as we didn’t see anything suspicious – but I know I can say for sure that it was not one of us.
“We spent quite a bit in the shop while we were there – one member bought a book and a knitted owl for his wife – and had beers and a meal in the cafe attached to the shop one night.
“There was such a good atmosphere. The locals were so kind to us and we left on good terms.”
Neil and fellow members Steve Bell, Stuart Clark, Brian Fox, Billy Buchanan, Derek Dougall and John Leinster, who are all aged between 49 and 65, camped on Canna for three days as part of a week of sea kayaking around the Small Isles.
The club and a trawler from Barra were visiting the island at the time of the robberies.
The two volunteer-run shops on the island are unmanned and unlocked 24 hours a day to allow fishermen who dock at the island’s pier to get what they need at any time.
They operate with an “honesty policy” where customers are asked to make a note of their purchases in a book and leave money in a box. Staff have now been forced to lock the doors.
A message on the island’s community Facebook page said: “With such a small community, this is the only way our shop can be viably run to provide a service to locals and visitors.
“Thefts like this put our shop in jeopardy and may mean it will have to close, which would be a real shame after all the hard work and voluntary hours that go into it.”
Neil said the club went round to have one last coffee in the shop before catching the ferry 30 miles back to Mallaig.
“We knew nothing about the thefts and the cleaner came round to ask if we’d seen a fishing boat at the pier while we were there. I had only seen a lobster boat.
“An hour after we left we saw an article saying the police wanted to talk to EK paddlers so we called them right away and gave a statement.
“We couldn’t offer anything but gave very effort to pass on any information we had.
“Between the seven of us, we had left more than £10,000 worth of paddling and camping equipment by the dockside overnight.
“I just hope they catch the culprits and the people of Canna can get their trust back.”
Mallaig police want to speak to anyone who docked on the island on June 12.


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Orange Leaf opens new location in DerryBy HUNTER McGEE
Union Leader Correspondent
July 27. 2014 7:34PM
DERRY — One of a number of frozen yogurt stores that have sprouted up in the area, an Orange Leaf yogurt shop opened recently in the Shaw’s Plaza.
The business started in May and celebrated its grand opening on July 12, said owner-manager Frank Carney. It is located in a corner of the plaza at 55 Crystal Ave., Suite 23.
Part of the Orange Leaf chain, the business is run from inside an expansive, 2,600-square-foot facility, about twice as large as the typical yogurt shop, Carney said.
He and his business partner, Kim DiPrizio, are hoping to use the extra space to attract businesses and other groups.
“We want to utilize that space for events and birthday parties,” Carney said.
Each shop offers self-serve frozen yogurt that is made fresh daily. Customers can choose their toppings and decide how much they want to indulge, Carney said.
“The thing that I like about the concept is people can set their own destiny,” Carney said. “You can have as little or as much as you want.”
Unlike some other “Fro-Yo” operations, Orange Leaf charges customers by the ounce for the yogurt they select.
“If you go to a competitor, they’ll say, ‘small, medium or large,”’ Carney said. “They set what you are going to get.”
Customers pay 55 cents per ounce for yogurt, he said.
Business has been going well and the shop seems to be a hit, especially with younger people, Carney said.
“What I find is people just come, and they’ll have yogurt, but they’ll hang out and just converse,” Carney said. “It’s a hip, cool place to just hang out.”
The shop has several TVs mounted on wall and offers free Wi-Fi; outside seating is also available.
With schools such as Pinkerton Academy and Gilbert H. Middle School nearby, the shop attracted a number of students when school was in session. But there has been somewhat of a decline since classes ended last month for the summer.
“With summer everyone is on vacation,” he said. “The business is a little more sporadic but still doing quite well.”
Carney said he is anticipating business will come back even stronger in late August and early September with the opening of school.
The shop’s recent opening caught the attention of Derry Councilor Joshua Bourdon, who visited the store.
Councilors are seeking to spark economic development and discussed ways to improve the local economy at a meeting earlier this month.
Bourdon said that he liked Orange Leaf and recommended it to his fellow councilors and the community.
“It’s really good, kid friendly,” Bourdon said.
For information, call 421-2880 or visit orangeleaf.com.


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Half of us love him and half of us hate him but President Trump signed into law the ability for us to purchase CBD legally. Greedy drug companies are now outraged that us seniors have a safe, non-prescription remedy to help treat arthritis, chronic pain, joint aches and inflammation.
(Washington, D.C.) – President Trump just made medical history on December 20 when he signed the 2018 Farm Bill into law. The Bill contains a provision lifting what many believed was a wrongful ban on what some experts consider “nature’s miracle pain remedy.” For the past 70 years, this safe and natural pain breakthrough has been outlawed. Politicians lobbied by Big Pharma supported measures to keep it out of the public’s hands. Now it is finally available to everyone for the first time without a prescription.
This proven pain relief miracle is drug-free. Scientific studies from around the world have shown it can treat arthritis, chronic pain, joint aches, inflammation, anxiety, stress, depression, PTSD, insomnia and a slew of other common ailments. The amazing thing is it does all of this naturally without the need for addictive and deadly opioids.
This miracle pain relief formula (AD) may take a big bite out of the pharmaceutical industry’s $446-billion profits, which is why Big Pharma is fighting to ban it again. However, many small natural health companies are fighting back. One such company just released a full-spectrum super-concentrated CBD formula (AD), after President Trump made CBD legal again in all 50 states.
CBD is derived from hemp containing Cannabidiol (CBD) which has no psychoactive effects whatsoever, unlike the THC found in Marijuana. In fact, Cannabidiol is a cannabis extract shown to naturally relieve pain, fight inflammation and provide many other health benefits.
Americans across the country rely on CBD dail, making this miracle relife a national sensation. Many believe it is the best natural alternative to addictive prescription painkillers like Vicodin and Oxycontin.
Not Just Another Health Fad
After looking deeper into this phenomenon we discovered some big naysayers from the public eye have made a complete turn around.
For example Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who once advocated against medical cannabis , recently, he reversed his opinion admitting, “The science is there. This isn’t anecdotal. CBD can help.”
Jeff Sessions recently wrote: “The consensus is clear: Cannabis can effectively treat pain” in an open letter to former U.S. Attorney General. In addition, this super-powerful compound relieves a number of other health issues.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine performed what it calls the “most comprehensive studies of recent research” on the health effects of cannabis. The study was comprehensive and here is a major conclusion:
“One of the therapeutic uses of cannabis and cannabinoids is to treat chronic pain in adults. The committee found evidence to support that patients who were treated with cannabis or cannabinoids were more likely to experience a significant reduction in pain symptoms. For adults with multiple sclerosis-related muscle spasms, there was substantial evidence that short-term use of certain “oral cannabinoids” – man-made, cannabinoid-based medications that are orally ingested – improved their reported symptoms. Furthermore, in adults with chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, there was conclusive evidence that certain oral cannabinoids were effective in preventing and treating those ailments.” –Health Effects of Cannabis
Dr. Mehmet Oz has also had a change of heart. He confessed on Larry King that he grew up thinking marijuana was “something Satan was throwing at Americans and a communist plot.” Today he believes medical uses of marijuana can be “hugely beneficial when used correctly.”
Dr. Travis Stork, during an episode of “The Doctors”, said CBD is a natural solution to pain management and inflammation. In addition, he confirmed that it is even more effective than prescribed painkillers.
US Government Patent
So Effective The U.S. Government Has A Patent!
Patent 6630507 only covers some non-psychoactive compounds found in the plant, rather than the whole plant, which means it has nothing to do with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Possibly the most medicinally important compound, cannabidiol (CBD), is mentioned, though, and quite often. The patent also states, “No signs of toxicity or serious side effects have been observed following chronic administration of cannabidiol to healthy volunteers, even in large acute doses….” So, basically, the government knows both that certain compounds in cannabis have medicinal properties and that they are not at all harmful for human consumption.
Former speaker of the house, John Boehner , told voters in 2011 he was “unalterably opposed” to marijuana legalization but the New York Times recently quoted Mr. Boehner as saying that cannabis “can help our veterans, and reverse the opioid epidemic ravaging our communities.”
Harvard Medical School Study
Even Harvard Medical School reports it is “an option for treating different types of chronic pain.”
Scientific Studies Show Only Positive Effects
Many studies prove the ingredients in hemp-derived CBD are a seemingly miracle remedy offersint a wide range of therapeutic benefits helping to alleviate various conditions including:
- Chronic pain
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Joint inflammation
- Memory problems
- Cardiovascular disease
Daily Health Benefits
CBD isn’t only for those with medical conditions. Healthy people can also benefit from using CBD as part of a preventative health regime. CBD promotes quality sleep, helps reduce stress and anxiety, and acts as a natural anti-inflammatory agent.
In fact, the World Health Organization reports that, “In humans, CBD exhibits no effects indicative of any abuse or dependence potential…. To date, there is no evidence of public health related problems associated with the use of pure CBD.” This is a reason why CBD is fast-becoming the “go-to” safe pain relief remedy (AD) for millions of Americans.
Our merchants often offer unadvertised specials with discount codes only available through websites like ours. Joining our mailing list will ensure your access to these exclusive discounts.
Even Hollywood celebrities and world-class athletes use CBD for what ails them. Since it works so well, word has spread to millions of fans.
Regular Folks, Hollywood Stars & Top Athletes Swear By It
Joy Smith tells her story about how hemp-derived CBD literally saved her life. After being diagnosed with stage IV cancer, Joy was given literally weeks to live. That’s when a friend told her about non-narcotic CBD.
Joy feels that CBD saved her life. She has been cancer free for nearly 2 years and in that time, has been a tireless supporter of legal CBD in all 50 States and all over the world. In fact, countless celebs admit they avoided taking harmful medication, by taking this safer, more powerful alternative.
Morgan Freeman: “The Only Thing That Offers Relief For Fibromyalgia is CBD”
Jennifer Aniston: “I Enjoy Using CBD And Wish More People Knew The Benefits”
Everyone from Michael J. Fox, to Whoopi Goldberg, to Montel Williams and pop sensation, Rhianna endorse the health power of CBD. So do professional athletes and coaches including: 5-time NBA champion, Steve Kerr; NFL linebacker, Derrick Morgan aned NFL Super Bowl champ, Cullen Jenkins among many others.
Conclusion: “Nature’s Pain Buster” Works
After reviewing the realm of scientific research, clinical studies and testimonials from regular people and celebrities alike, the truth becomes obvious. Premium CBD formulated with all-natural, water-soluble, CO2-extracted organic cannabis, triple-tested for purity is safe!
Try it now from these remarkable vendor:Shop Oliver’s Harvest CBD Samples
BioFit 360 Learning Library
A CBD BUNDLE FOR YOUR BODY & SOUL


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Sterling Investment Partners, a Westport, Conn.-based private equity firm, led an investment group in the acquisition of Washington Inventory Service (WIS) from Huffy Corp. The other players contributing equity to the deal are RFE Investment Partners, a New Canaan, Conn.-based firm, and Sterling limited partners, including Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., National City Venture Corp., GE Capital and Landmark Partners. Sterling and its co-investors will buy the company for an aggregate price of $84.75 million. The deal was financed with equity from the co-investors and WIS’s senior management. Senior debt was provided by GE Capital, CIBC and Antares, while subordinated debt was provided by Massachusetts Mutual and National City Venture.
WIS, a San Diego-based company, is one of two companies that provides information gathering principally through inventory accounts to all the leading retailers in the U.S., as well as information data gathering services to consumer branded products companies. The company also has operations in Europe, Japan and South America.
“This is a necessary service in good and bad economies and, consequently, it is a company with growing, predictable, free cash flow,” said Douglas Newhouse, managing partner at Sterling.
Sterling has plans to expand the company domestically by providing complementary services and internationally as major U.S. retailers move abroad. The firms is also looking at several acquisition opportunities and plans to support the company’s growth with additional equity, said Newhouse.
Huffy Corp. acquired WIS, which will likely see its fifth consecutive year of record sales and earnings this year, in 1988. The proceeds from the purchase will serve to retire Huffy’s senior term and subordinated debt and reduce the borrowing levels under its revolving credit facility, according to the corporation.
“We felt the company was under managed as a non-core division of Huffy,” said Newhouse. “And we feel that the company will thrive as an independent organization.”


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- Training & Events
- Buyer's Guide
From an early age, most of us learned the value of switching off the lights when leaving a room, turning off the water faucet, keeping the refrigerator door tightly closed and walking instead of driving short distances. At Kraft Foods, “greener” office buildings are reinforcing these childhood lessons, making it easier for employees to reduce their environmental impact.
“Sustainability is an important part of our business strategy, and we want our workplaces to be a constant visible reminder to our employees,” said Steve Yucknut, vice president, sustainability. “Our greener offices are inspiring employees to think and act differently at work. And together, we’re changing behavior and getting results.”
Around the world, Kraft Foods has done the basics – reducing its office buildings’ environmental impact by installing motion-activated lighting and more efficient plumbing fixtures. The company is doing even more by adapting buildings so employees can work more sustainably and be more flexible, productive and mobile. With wireless tools to work at home, on the road or with a customer without being “at the office,” people use less energy in commuting, and there’s less need for office space.
Below are several success stories from Kraft Foods’ offices around the world:
United States: Kraft Foods’ Northfield headquarters recently became ENERGY STAR qualified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is in the top 8 percent of commercial buildings in the country for energy efficiency and uses 33 percent less energy than similar commercial buildings. As a result, it’s less expensive to operate and emits fewer greenhouse gases than its peers. The campus is surrounded by green space and walking trails for employees, and three lakes on site capture rainwater for reuse to handle half of the property’s irrigation needs. The building is even cooled by ice – recycled water is frozen at night, and fans circulate the cool air the ice generates.
Australia: In Melbourne, the company’s new office is a more space- and energy-efficient location that’s strategically located to be walking distance to public transportation and hotels. The office has on-site facilities to encourage employees to bike to work – like bicycle parking, showers, changing rooms and lockers. It even has a rainwater collection system and graywater plant to recycle wastewater for on-site uses like landscape irrigation. The National Australian Built Environment Rating System gave the office 4.5 out of 5 stars by for its environmental performance.
Brazil: Kraft Foods’ Curitiba headquarters reduced its energy consumption nearly 10 percent in 2009 with creative ideas like shutting down some elevators in the evening and using “team cleaning” schedules to minimize lighting use after business hours.
Canada: Kraft Foods’ Don Mills headquarters is Level 3 certified by BOMA BESt – Canada’s national environmental certification program for commercial buildings – placing it in the top 20 percent of scores for certification. Buildings at this level of certification, such as the Don Mills headquarters, typically have been managing energy and environmental performance for several years.
Philippines: Kraft Foods Philippines’ Sucat headquarters now collects rainwater for use in local landscaping and toilet flushing, has skylights to bring natural light into the building and features a green park to encourage employees to spend time outdoors.
Switzerland: Kraft Foods’ Zurich office is called the “Lightcube” for its extensive use of glass, automated window shades and a built-in weather station that regulates heating, cooling and ventilation. The building uses 50 percent less energy for lighting and 60 percent less energy for ventilation than conventional buildings and meets strict Swiss energy standards. In addition, the Lightcube’s central location lets nearly two-thirds of employees take public transportation to work.
About Kraft Foods
The combination of Kraft Foods and Cadbury creates a global powerhouse in snacks, confectionery and quick meals. With annual revenues of approximately $50 billion, the combined company is the world’s second largest food company, making delicious products for billions of consumers in more than 160 countries. The combined company's portfolio includes 11 iconic brands with revenues exceeding $1 billion – Oreo, Nabisco and LU biscuits; Milka and Cadbury chocolates; Trident gums; Jacobs and Maxwell House coffees; Philadelphia cream cheeses; Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings; and Oscar Mayer meats. Another 70-plus brands generate annual revenues of more than $100 million.


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Even before the Internet and the Web became as commonplace as television and telephones, urban legends and silly (or scary) myths made their way across the culture, from kid to kid, parent to parent, co-worker to co-worker. What kid in the ’70s didn’t wonder if little Mikey really did die from eating Pop Rocks and soda? Word of mouth can have a powerful influence on a brand. While Mikey (aka John Gilchrist) is still alive and well, rumors of his demise caused Pop Rocks sales to suffer so greatly that General Foods took it off the market in 1983.
The preponderance of e-mail and Web sites in this new millennium have made the creation and spread of misinformation possible on a scale previously unimaginable. (Neiman Marcus cookie recipe, anyone?) For the most part, e-mails with urgent calls to action, exciting opportunities to get free trips from Bill Gates, or warnings about the potential for organ theft while on vacation are exclusively the bastion of the new and the inexperienced. But in recent years one much more subtle bit of misinformation has taken hold, not just among the gullible and the naïve, but also among some of the most tech savvy people in the world. Like a modern day game of operator being played over mobile phones with poor reception, the false notion that the brand name “Wi-Fi” is short for “wireless fidelity” has spread to such an extent that even industry leader EarthLink recently included it in a press release. And EarthLink is not alone: Wikipedia, several online dictionaries (including our own Webopedia ), About.com, and the U.S. military all got it wrong, too. [Even this site got it wrong a few times in the early days — the proof is out there! — Editor.]
The truth is, Wi-Fi isn’t short for anything—and it never was.
Here’s what happened:
In 1999, a handful of industry leaders formed a global non-profit organization with the goal of “driving the adoption of a single worldwide-accepted standard for high-speed wireless local area networking.” They called themselves the “Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA).”
Because ‘IEEE 802.11’ is a bit of a mouthful, one of WECA’s first tasks was to develop a more memorable, user-friendly name for the wireless standard. To that end, they hired powerhouse branding company Interbrand — the company responsible for naming Prozac, Celebrex, the Mitsubishi Eclipse, and the Nissan Xterra, just to name a few — to come up with a list of names that could be used in place of IEEE 802.11b.
Thirteen names were presented to WECA, including Skybridge, Torchlight, and Flyover. Despite how lame these names sound in retrospect, Interbrand is actually very good at its job. Its naming strategy for IBM, for instance, saved the company more than $4,000,000 in one year. And among forgettable names such as Transpeed and Elevate, there was, obviously, a winner: Wi-Fi.
Interestingly enough, when the WECA board got together to discuss the names, the one that received the highest score was Trapeze (now the name of a Wi-Fi infrastructure company). Close behind and tied for second were Dragonfly, Hornet and Wi-Fi. Had any of the other top contenders won out, rather than using a Wi-Fi-enabled device, today you would be using your Trapeze- or Dragonfly-enabled device to check e-mail or download a video. Trapeze, of course, would not be considered “short for wireless fidelity.” Neither would “Dragonfly.” That’s because they’re not. They would stand in for IEEE 802.11—just like Wi-Fi does.
Phil Belanger, analyst with Novarum and a co-founder of WECA (which later became the Wi-Fi Alliance), remembers those meetings well.
“Some of the names were hilarious and horrible,” recalls Belanger. “We almost said, ‘Go back to the drawing board.’ Wi-Fi won out. When we saw it with the yin-yang logo, we thought, ‘Yeah, this is good.’ One of the funny things was — this may sound silly now — but at the time, it was going from two to eleven megabits. That’s really fancy wireless stuff, woo! Maybe half of the names were trying to underscore the idea of speed. You can imagine how dated that would be now if we’d selected one of those.”
Nowhere in the notes from those meetings—or in Belanger’s recollection—was Wi-Fi intended to be short for “wireless fidelity.” Put simply, since there is no such thing as wireless fidelity, nothing could ever be short for it.
The current confusion seems to stem from a brief period early in the days of the Wi-Fi Alliance when a regrettable tag line was added that stated, “The Standard for Wireless Fidelity.” This was not part of the original name and was not created by Interbrand, but it was added as an afterthought in an attempt to help users make sense of the new and somewhat nonsensical word, “Wi-Fi.”
“The tagline is incorrect on so many levels,” says Belanger. “To say ‘the standard’ broke with the charter. We weren’t creating standards — we were promoting an existing standard. One of the motivations was that we were trying to expand the use of WLANs to the home market, so this notion of ‘wireless fidelity,’ some people felt like if they’re going to transfer audio and video around their house, then maybe that has some of the appeal. We have this name Wi-Fi. What two words have “wi” and “fi” starting them? Maybe it can help support our goal?”
By the end of 2000, the pointless tagline was dropped and the term “wireless fidelity” was supposed to disappear into the ether. But somehow, as the Wi-Fi brand gained traction, so did the mistaken notion that it was “short for wireless fidelity.” Despite the fact that Wikipedia claims the Wi-Fi Alliance still uses the term “wireless fidelity” in its white papers, there are only two documents in the Wi-Fi Alliance online knowledge base that use it. They are press releases from the spring and summer of 2000, historical documents that preserve a regrettable phase, much like the photos that preserve our most unfortunate hairstyles or wardrobe choices long after we’ve moved on.
It’s been roughly seven years since “wireless fidelity” was officially used or propagated in any way by the Wi-Fi Alliance, and yet, somehow, it has spread among the populous to the point that even industry insiders—who ought to know better—perpetrate it in press releases and on Web sites. There’s even a company that calls itself Ubiquitous Wireless Fidelity (or “uWiFi” for short).
How could this happen? How could a term that has no meaning and no definition (that, according to John Ferrari, an early member of WECA and current President and CEO of LightPort, was dreamt up over a pitcher of margaritas at a Chevy’s restaurant in Mountain View, California in 1999) be turning up seven years later as a presumably bona fide term in so many places? Is this the wireless industry’s Nieman Marcus Cookie Recipe?
Frank Hanzlik, the current managing director for the Wi-Fi Alliance, was not at the meetings where the Interbrand names were discussed, but he was a member of WECA and he is now entrusted with protecting and perpetuating the Wi-Fi brand. He confirms that “wireless fidelity” has no meaning, is not part of the trademark, and is not used or encouraged to be used by the Wi-Fi Alliance. However, he feels no need to aggressively correct those who use it, since what’s most important to his organization is simply that “Wi-Fi” continues to be a household name.
“In the very early days of building the brand, there was a linkage to the hi-fi chronology,” says Hanzlik. “It was successful in creating a positive connotation of what that could mean to a user. Over the last seven years, the term Wi-Fi has become quite ubiquitous in the developed part of the world. We just try to keep it simple and use only Wi-Fi.”
“We declared victory when we made the Merriam-Webster dictionary,” says Hanzlik. “Now we encourage everyone to use Wi-Fi versus ‘wireless LAN,’ because it resonates more with folks — but we do enforce the Wi-Fi Certified and the Wi-Fi Alliance brands and logos.”
Unlike what happened to Pop Rocks in the ’70s, misinformation has had the opposite effect on Wi-Fi. The brand continues to grow by leaps and bounds.
“It’s always great to think back to those early days,” says Hanzlik. “Seven years in some cases seems like a long, long time. But in many industries, it’s really remarkable what we’ve accomplished in that period of time. We sold 200 million units last year, and we’re on track for 500 million in a few years. It’s really remarkable growth, and exciting.”
For the record, “Wi-Fi” is always hyphenated, with a capital “w” and a capital “f.” It’s not short for anything. And Webster’s got it right.


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Global pharmaceutical company Allergan has received a ‘positive opinion’ from the Swedish Medical Products Agency (MPA) for BELKYRA.
Aesthetic device manufacturer 3D-lipo has launched its latest skin lifting and fat reduction device, the 3D-HIFU.
Aesthetic device manufacturer BTL Aesthetics has announced that Dr Selena Langdon will be a key opinion leader (KOL) for their range of energy based devices that treat skin, cellulite and gynaecological concerns.
A new medical and aesthetic device company, iMed Aesthetics, has launched in the UK.
Aesthetic device manufacturer BTL has launched a new one-day meeting to educate users of the devices.
Equipment manufacturer 3D-lipo Ltd has introduced a new non-surgical fat reduction and body contouring device.
Laser manufacturer Cynosure, a division of Hologic, has launched StimSure, a non-invasive electromagnetic technology to build and tone muscle in the abdomen, buttocks and thighs, in Europe and the Middle East.
Global medical device company Apollo Endosurgery has gained Conformité Européene (CE) Mark approval for its ORBERA365 Managed Weight Loss System.
3D-Aesthetics have launched a new duo cryolipolysis device that treats two areas in one session.
Aesthetic device manufacturer 3D-lipo has launched a new head office in Kuwait.


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It’s not exactly a surprise at this point, but Nokia has just officially revealed the long-awaited Nokia Lumia 900.
Formerly known as the Ace, the Mango-powered 900 packs pretty much everything we expected it would — a 1.4 GHz CPU, 512 MB of RAM, and the same sort of 8-megapixel sensor as seen on its little brother the Lumia 800. Despite having the same camera, the 900 definitely beats its little brother when it comes to displays as the 900’s 4.3-inch AMOLED display is a solid step above the Lumia 800’s 3.7-inch LCD.
Of course, there’s a front-facing camera too, and users can get their video chat on thanks to the inclusion of the Tango app.
All of those goodies go inside the same sort of polycarbonate shell as seen on the Lumia 800, and Windows Phones fans will be able to pick up one in either black or a fetching cyan.
As Nokia CEO Stephen Elop hinted at this morning at AT&T’s Developer Summit, the 900 is also the company’s first LTE-based Windows Phone (though not the first LTE Windows Phone we’ve heard about today).
Many people were disappointed to see that the low-end Lumia 710 would be the first Nokia Windows Phone to hit the United States, but I daresay the 900 was worth the extra time. Sadly, the wait stretches on even longer — there’s no word yet on pricing or availability.


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#4. For the brand split to be magically revived
As we all know, the brand split is essentially dead in 2019. They committed to it for less than 3 years - significantly lesser time than they put into the last brand split. It's especially frustrating because we all know for a fact that the brand split works and the brand split benefits multiple superstars.
In the latest WWE NEWS, the Wild Card rule has entirely killed that. We can't say for sure if WWE intentionally killed the brand split or whether they just went with the flow and forgot about it altogether. It's a real shame because seeing another superstar on the opposing brand would have some novelty to it when it rarely happens.Published 01 Jul 2019, 10:45 IST


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Nigeria has never hidden its resolve to leverage emerging digital technologies to transform the economy.The Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) launched in April 2017 demonstrated this resolve by recognising the need for a digital-led strategy to make the economy more competitive in the 21st century. It planned to achieve this by increasing the contribution from Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and ICT-enabled activities to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Even before the unveiling of the ERGP, which is a medium-term development initiative focused on restoring growth, investing in people and building a globally competitive economy, the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) had also proposed Nigeria’s transition to a digital economy through investments in digital infrastructure, more specifically broadband, which is a key driver of digital economy growth.
However, a fresh vista of opportunity may have opened in the new tech market for Nigeria to drive her transition to a digital economy. Known as cloud computing, the provision of reliable, efficient and robust cloud services to Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), as well as the private sector, has taken centre stage. It has become an essential part of business continuity in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is key to unlocking growth in the digital economies, Nigeria inclusive.
Indeed, across the world, including Nigeria, the impact of the pandemic and its emerging variants forced the demand for online services to skyrocket. Today, virtual engagement has become the new normal, with cloud computing playing a crucial role in migrating business processes online, quickly, easily and conveniently. People work remotely and also use technology to contain the virus, protect jobs and identify the silver lining in the crisis.
In its simplest terms, cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of a computer’s hard drive. The cloud can, therefore, be considered as a metaphor for the Internet. And cloud computing is expected to reduce the initial cost of ICT infrastructure and the cost associated with obtaining ICT infrastructure.
Cloud computing is also expected to reduce the downtime in public service delivery, enable open access to government information and data anytime and anywhere for citizens and businesses; and increase engagement and participation as well as foster trust. It allows for new features to be continuously deployed while the costs are amortised across a global service customer base.
Now, to help strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to deliver cloud services that will be beneficial to the unique needs of public and private sector organisations, as well as accelerate her transition to a digital economy and create opportunities for businesses, Galaxy Back Bone (GBB) Nigeria and Zadara, a United States-based global cloud computing infrastructure provider in any location, recently entered into a cloud services partnership.
Under the partnership, both parties will provide reliable, efficient and cost-effective cloud services to MDAs and the private sector. “We are excited that this partnership will disrupt capital flights and provide data sovereignty, as well as data domestication for our customers in a secure and efficient manner,” Head Enterprise Business Group, GBB, Baffajo Beita, said.
Beita, who spoke last week at a GBB and Zadara webinar with the theme: Cloud services and the journey towards a digital economy: opportunities for business growth, also said the Zadara cloud infrastructure is not sitting outside of the country, but in Abuja, at the GBB Data Centre. He added that the infrastructure will be replicated in Enugu and also in the data centre the company is building in Kano.
Galaxy Back Bone is an agency under the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy. It is also a limited liability company with clear objectives to deliver state-of-the art and world class digital network communication services to both public and private sector organisations efficiently and effectively. Beita said GBB was excited about its partnership with Zadara and the possibility of giving its cloud solutions that can be paid for in Naira.
He added that as a requirement for his company’s cloud platforms, it desires to provide its customers all the essential characteristics in cloud computing platforms, which are basically the broad network access, rapid elasticity, measured service, multi-tenancy- all without making significant capital expenditures.
Beita also said the Zadara cloud infrastructure is not sitting outside of the country, but in Abuja, at the GBB Data Centre. He added that the infrastructure will be replicated in Enugu and also in the data centre the company is building in Kano.
He also said GBB has created cloud service campaign ads that it will start rolling out to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and also introducing the cost. “These are all new things and we will start introducing the pricing and it is at times flexible, depending on the size of the business.
“So, generally speaking, we have solutions that should cater to any kind of business scenario whether it is SMEs, an individual, or a large enterprise. If you want to back up 500 terabyte to 100s of petabytes, GBB can do it,” Beita added.
The Regional Sales Director, Zadara, Tal Rotem, on his part, explained that the Zadara cloud computing infrastructure is to support the operations of GBB. “So, Zadara is complementing the areas that the GBB do not have the capability,” he explained, in his presentation on Zadara Enterprise Cloud-based service.
For the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), GBB Nigeria, Prof. Muhammad Bello Abubakar, the partnership was meant to strengthen the agency’s presence in delivering cloud services that will be beneficial to the unique needs of public and private sector organisations across Nigeria. He also noted that the partnership was mainly on cloud computing with infrastructure as a service and, storage as a service.
“Truly, the time has changed and a lot of us understand the value digital technologies bring to our organisations and our lives in general. We have discovered in the last couple of months that a lot of people are spending more time online today because that is where our world has shifted to. The Internet is no longer a mere gateway, but a formidable platform where billions of transactions in billions of dollars can begin and end without people having to meet physically,” he said.
The Director/CEO, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Inuwa Kashifu Abdullahi, did not mince words when he described cloud computing as the key to unlocking growth in the digital economy. He, therefore, pledged that NITDA will align the implementation of the Nigerian Cloud Computing Policy, and the Guidelines for Nigerian Content Development in ICT to support this partnership.
Recall that NITDA had in August 2019, built on the EGRP objectives by issuing the Nigeria Cloud Computing Policy (NCCP). The Policy’s goal was to ensure 30 per cent increase in adoption of cloud computing by 2024 among Federal Public Institutions (FPI) and SMEs that provide digital enabled services to the government; and 35 per cent growth in cloud computing investment.
It was, perhaps, in the light of these policy goals that Abdullahi, during the webinar, reiterated the imperativeness of understanding that enterprises and organisations should effectively use cloud technology to enhance existing businesses and also devise new business value propositions in and post-COVID eras.
“In addition, the adoption of cloud services provides numerous benefits to the growth of businesses which includes reduced Information Technology (IT) cost, scalability, flexibility, and better security, among others,” the NITDA boss stated.
According to Gartner, global public cloud spending is forecast to reach $332.3 billion in 2021, increasing by 23.1 per cent from $270 billion in 2020. The global research and advisory company attributed the growth in cloud spending to increased adoption in technologies such as virtualisation, edge computing and containerisation.
However, at present, these new tech markets are being led by the big three cloud computing giants Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft’s Azure and Google’s Cloud. But Google continues to be a distant third to Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud business, according to the Gartner report, which was seen by The Nation.


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Meridian Group Buys Office Building in Arlington, Va., for $32M
By Christina sturdivant-Sani January 2, 2019 3:00 pmreprints
Washington metro-area real estate developer Meridian Group has acquired a Class-A office building at 2500 Wilson Boulevard in Arlington, Va., according to information from the Bethesda, Md.-based developer.
A source familiar with the transaction told Commercial Observer that Meridian purchased the building for nearly $32 million from TH Real Estate. The deal closed on Dec. 24, 2018, according to a Meridian spokesman.
The five-story, 104,347-square-foot building is close to Market Common Clarendon, which features over 240,000 square feet of retail space with tenants including Apple, Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn and Barnes & Noble. It’s also in close proximity to two grocery stores—Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s.
Gary Block, the CIO at Meridian, said in a prepared statement that the purchase “aligns perfectly with our investment strategy. It’s ideally situated in a prime location near a Metro station, and it’s a building where we can add considerable value.”
While the property is currently 85 percent leased, a tenant that takes up a large footprint in the building is expected to vacate in 2019 bringing the occupancy to 39 percent, per the release, which will allow for the owner “to selectively renovate the building.”
The firm is still “evaluating the final scope of the renovation,” Kyle Maurer, a vice president at Meridian, said in prepared remarks. “We are confident that it will substantially enhance 2500 Wilson Boulevard to make it a truly premier asset.”


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Cancer Council NSW have just launched a new website healthylunchbox.com.au, which encourages families to lead healthier lifestyles – more fruit and veggies for everyone!
The website includes easy recipes, ideas and tips. Another highlight is it features an interactive lunch box builder so families can plan a healthy lunch box at home, or on the move with their smartphone or tablet.
Harris Park mother of two Esther Chaise said the website helped her prepare simple yet healthy meals for her son and daughter, who attend Rosehill Primary School.
“It’s really informative. It teaches you the importance of not making meals too complex and gives you some great and simple recipes to try,” she said.
“I really liked that the Healthy Lunch Box website encourages you to take the children and get their input when you’re shopping for meals.”
The website launch is part of Cancer Council’s Eat It To Beat It program, which runs free sessions and workshops across western Sydney for parents with children.
“I loved that it educated me on the basics,” another mother and Winmalee resident, Clare Mullins said.
“I found the website really useful. I like how they have a lunchbox set out with a meal and you can then click on a link, which takes you through to the recipe.
“They’re easy recipes with some great variety. It makes you think outside the sandwich.”
According to the Cancer Council, only seven per cent of children eat enough vegetables in New South Wales and 22 per cent of children are overweight or obese.
“Alarmingly, in South Western Sydney, 97 per cent of adults don’t eat enough vegetables, while 51 per cent don’t eat enough fruit,” Cancer Council NSW Greater Western Sydney regional nutrition project officer Kate Sewell said.
“In Western Sydney, 43 per cent of adults are eating enough fruit, while four per cent are eating enough vegetables and in the Nepean Blue Mountains, 49 per cent of adults are eating enough fruit and eight per cent are eating enough vegetables. It’s a great start and we’re here to help boost intakes even higher.”
Cancer Council NSW said one in three cancer cases can be prevented by adopting a healthy lifestyle, which includes eating well, being active and maintaining a healthy weight.
- Visit healthylunchbox.com.au for more information.


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Apple’s voice-activated assistant is now a well-known personality in his/her own right, but unless you’ve taken the time to dig into all the features that Siri offers you might not realize just now capable it is (particularly since the arrival of iOS 7). Here are seven ways to get Siri working harder for you. Siri can not only “turn off Bluetooth” but will also help you find a setting if you don’t know where it’s located. Try asking to “change the font size” or “adjust the screen brightness” or “edit Safari settings,” and Siri will direct you to the right options page, with no need for you to search through screens yourself. Call up the app if you want to reconfigure your iOS gadget but aren’t sure where the option is (or don’t want to go through multiple taps to find it).
Read the full story at Gizmodo.
MIT’s CSAIL lab has just taken its very cool but kinda creepy WiFi motion tracking to a new level: monitoring your vital signs from another room. Last we saw, the same researchers bounced low-powered WiFi signals (100x less than a home router) off of individuals to finely track their position behind a wall. The resulting 10cm (four inch) precision was nothing compared to what they can now do, however. Fancier algorithms enabled the system to approximate subjects’ volumes within millimeters, and then calculate their breathing level by amplifying and observing the subtle changes over time. From breathing levels, the researchers could extrapolate heart rate with 99 percent accuracy – something foreshadowed uncannily by earlier research. The tech may lead to non-invasive vital sign monitoring, more advanced baby monitors and other, more sinister, applications.
Read the full story at Engadget.
Japanese watchmaker Yamasa Tokei had a cool idea: a small wearable device that uses the natural motions of your body to keep track of how many steps you take. Tokei called his device the Manpo-Kei, roughly translated as “10,000-step meter.” That was almost 50 years ago. The problem is that, since then, the pitch for fitness trackers has barely changed. The curtailing of Nike’s Fuelband highlights the problem when wearable tech doesn’t offer enough that’s new to justify its existence. Keeping track of your steps in an app or getting a badge when you reach a goal might not be enough to justify the purchase of a new piece of hardware, or more importantly to really change your habits for the better. The real power of wearables is more likely to lie not in the devices themselves but in the underlying software layer that integrates your own activity with data from other, seemingly disparate sources.
Read the full story at Wired.
The numbers are now in and Apple crushed estimates, having managed a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $8.26 per share on $37.5 billion in sales. Apple’s September-quarter results certainly fall in line with the trend we’ve been seeing recently as the breakneck growth Apple has enjoyed in recent years continues to slow. In the year-ago quarter, Apple posted an $8.2 billion profit on revenue totaling $36 billion. Apple’s record profit in that quarter represented 24% year-over-year growth, and revenue was up 27% between the fiscal fourth quarters in 2012 and 2011. The star of the show is always Apple’s iPhone lineup, of course, and analysts were expecting the company to sell 31 million units in the September quarter – though some estimates reached as high as 36 million units. Apple reported on Monday that actual FQ4 2013 iPhone sales totaled 33.8 million handsets, beating estimates and growing an impressive 26% over the September quarter in 2012.
Read the full story at Boy Genius Report.
It certainly won’t be as gold as some iPhones, but a new report claims Apple’s next-generation iPhone 5S will be available in a new color for the first time since Apple moved from one color option to two on the iPhone 3G. Plugged-in KGI Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo has a solid track record when it comes to scooping unannounced Apple devices and he’s back again ahead of Apple’s upcoming September 10th iPhone event. Remember those gold-colored SIM trays pictured in an exclusive BGR report back in May? Well Kuo says Apple is indeed planning to launch the iPhone 5S with a new gold color option. It won’t be quite as flashy as BGR’s gold iPhone, pictured above, but it could be a nice way to promote upgrades among current iPhone 5 owners.
Read the full story at Boy Genius Report.
A tech-savvy hospital in Boston developed a custom information-retrieval system for Google Glass, which lets ER doctors scan a QR code on the wall of each room to call up information about patients. Dr. John Halamka, CIO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, described the system today in his blog (a cached version is here as the original link seems to be having problems): “In the Emergency Department, we’ve developed a prototype of a new information system using Google Glass, a high tech pair of glasses that includes a video camera, video screen, speaker, microphone, touch pad, and motion sensor. Here’s how it works. When a clinician walks into an emergency department room, he or she looks at [a] bar code (a QR or Quick Response code) placed on the wall. Google Glass immediately recognizes the room and then the ED Dashboard sends information about the patient in that room to the glasses, appearing in the clinician’s field of vision.”
Read the full story at Ars Technica.
The people who read our site are a pretty savvy lot. You know not to accept checks from distant princes. You can spot a phisher from a mile away. But here’s one that might be new for you: scammers are apparently trying to exploit your “missed call” screen, now. The scam, simplified: They call you, but immediately hang up. You see a missed call. You call back. They charge you for the call, and for each minute they can keep you on the line. According to the BBB, this so-called “One Ring” scam is on the rise. Like many a ruse, this one relies on hitting many, many potential targets at once. The scammer sets up a computer to call thousands of numbers per hour – because for every 99 people who follow their gut and don’t call weird numbers, there’s 1 person who will. Maybe they’re waiting for response on a job interview, and don’t know what number it’ll come from.
Read the full story at TechCrunch.
It seems like everyone is going “un-carrier” these days, slowly branching out from the standard two-year contracts that have dominated the US smartphone industry for the last few years. Today AT&T announced a new “Mobile Share Value Plan” for families and small businesses, which gives both new and existing AT&T customers the opportunity to share unlimited talk and text and a 10GB pool of data starting at $130 a month. AT&T’s pricing table indicates that you’ll be paying $100 for the 10GB of data and $15 for each phone you connect-three lines will run you $145 a month, four will cost $160, and so on up to a total of 10 lines for $250 a month. New-to-AT&T customers who want to take advantage of the new pricing will either need to sign up for AT&T’s Next program, bring their own unlocked devices, or buy phones at the standard unsubsidized price.
Read the full story at Ars Technica.
Uber, the San Francisco start-up that gained something of a cult following by helping people summon a luxury sedan with a smartphone app, is trying something new for people who ride with friends. It said on Monday that it would add the ability to split fares between multiple passengers with a few button taps. The fare-splitting feature will become available when iPhone and Android users download a software update. To split a fare, a user requests a ride and then taps an arrow next to the driver’s information. An option labeled “Split fare” will show up, and the user can select friends from his or her address book. The friends then receive a text message from Uber with a link to tap on. Those who are registered with Uber will be directed to the app, and those who are not will be asked to downloaded the app, sign up for an account and enter their credit card information. The app will take care of the payment at the end of the trip.
Read the full story at the New York Times.
Rather than “rethinking possible,” AT&T is rethinking its plans, as it becomes the latest wireless carrier to offer customers the option to upgrade their phones more frequently. Starting July 26, AT&T will offer new “Next” plans for smartphones and tablets, on a post-paid basis. The plan allows customers to trade in their devices (feature phones excluded) every 12 months, provided the customer pays a monthly installment fee based on a 20-month cycle. So, you would take the full retail price of a smartphone or tablet, divide it by 20 and add that cost to your monthly traditional or family-share AT&T plan. Twelve months later, you trade in that device for a new one, and a new cycle begins. If you decide you want a new phone before the 12 months is up, Next owners still owe the cost of the remaining months’ fees.
Read the full story at All Things D.


text: We love helping entrepreneurs transform their dreams into reality, so today is a pretty exciting day for us here at NewFoundry. We are pleased to celebrate the official product launch of Maté Bros energy brew. Student-athletes Jordan Gaarenstroom and Sam Mikulak (University of Michigan gymnasts) banded with Alex Anunciation (former gymnast and elite wrestler) with a vision to launch a company around the yerba maté drink they created that helped them get to the top of their respective sports. Jordan, Sam, and Alex partnered with NewFoundry, and together we built the company from the ground up. NewFoundry forged a brand strategy and visual identity around the idea of connectedness to embody the spirit and ideals of its founders. Our strategists and engineers helped uncover various options for production, packaging and distribution. We delivered an all-new website, matebros.com, designed as a dynamic extension of the brand with the flexibility Maté Bros needed as the company took shape and accelerated toward launch. Finally, we designed the product labeling and supported the brand with key touchpoints throughout its successful Kickstarter campaign. With today’s launch, Jordan, Sam, Alex and fourth partner and fellow University of Michigan gymnast Syque Caesar have demonstrated the unstoppable power that is Maté Bros. Congratulations, guys!


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Accounting: Sarbanes-Oxley Sparks A Software Boom
When the auditors from PricewaterhouseCoopers come to visit him in snowy Minneapolis, Kyle Didier believes he will be ready for them. Didier, vice-president for finance at hair-salon giant Regis Corp. (RGS ), is using new software that helps his company comply with the long-dreaded Sarbanes-Oxley regulations -- new reporting rules that require stringent maintenance of financial records. The rules have proved a bane for accounting departments and a boon to software companies that have tailored products to help companies deal with them.
Faced with a June deadline for compliance with the new rules, publicly traded companies such as Regis are scrambling to make sure their data-collection and reporting capabilities are up to snuff. Depending on who's counting, the market for Sarbanes-Oxley software could be worth from $1 billion to $4 billion a year within three years.
The new software packages organize corporate data in a way that's easily understood by auditors and ensures that employees are retaining all the records they need to comply. Didier says his company will end up handing over more than $100,000 to Movaris Inc. in Campbell, Calif. Its software sends out notifications to line managers to collect important data, organizes that information -- which may arrive as e-mail messages or payment receipts -- and makes it easier for outside auditors to hit all the items on their compliance checklists.
Unfortunately, at many companies money spent on the new software will probably come out of other software projects. Martin Brauns, CEO of Interwoven Inc. (IWOV ), which is selling Sarbanes-Oxley software in addition to its Web site content-management software, says most of the customers he's working with aren't increasing their technology spending to deal with the new regulations. "Instead, they're putting other projects on hold because this has become a pressing item for them," says Brauns. "They have to deal with it."
A host of startups, along with older companies such as Interwoven, PeopleSoft (PSFT ), and Oracle (ORCL ), are chasing the Sarbanes-Oxley business. "There is a huge, huge market opening here," says Michael Duffy, CEO of OpenPages Inc. in Waltham, Mass., which specializes in the software. And it won't be a one-year phenomenon. Analysts expect that less than 10% of the companies that are potential customers will buy Sarbanes-Oxley software in the coming year. What about the rest? Perhaps after a year of struggling with their old manual data-gathering methods, they'll be ready to jump on board as well.
By Jim Kerstetter in San Mateo


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Creditas, the Brazilian lending enterprise, has raised $255 million in new financing as monetary companies startups throughout Latin America proceed to draw large quantities of money.
The corporate’s credit score portfolio has crossed 1 billion reals ($196.66 million) and the brand new spherical will worth the corporate at $1.75 billion because of $570 million raised in exterior financing over 5 rounds.
Creditas is the newest firm to profit from a increase in monetary companies startup investing throughout the area. Because the 12 months dawned, enterprise investments into fintech startups in Latin America had grown from $50 million in 2014 to high $2.1 billion in 2020 throughout 139 offers, according to a report from CB Insights.
Traders within the spherical embrace new traders like LGT Lightstone, Tarsadia Capital, Welington Administration, e.ventures, and an affiliate of Advent International, Sunley Home Capital. Earlier traders together with SoftBank Imaginative and prescient Fund 1, SoftBank Latin America DFund, VEF, Kaszek, Vemtires and Amadeus Capital Companions additionally returned to place extra money into the corporate.
“Creditas remains to be within the early innings of penetrating the large untapped secured lending market in Brazil and Mexico” says Paulo Passoni, Managing Associate of Softbank Latam fund, in a press release.
The corporate’s development is a testomony each to the necessity for brand new lending merchandise throughout Latin America and the perspicacity of traders like Kaszek Ventures, whose portfolio has included a number of large wins from bets on startups tackling monetary companies in Latin America.
“The journey since our funding within the Collection A has been completely extraordinary. The workforce has executed on its imaginative and prescient, and Creditas has advanced into an asset-light ecosystem that resolves key monetary wants of its clients all through their lifetimes”, says Nicolas Szekasy, Managing Associate of Kaszek Ventures, in a press release.
One other huge winner is Redpoint’s e.ventures fund, which has centered on investments in Latin America for the final a number of years.
“By empowering Brazilians to take management of their lending wants at cheap charges, Creditas creates a beloved client product that may drive vital worth for patrons and traders. Having been concerned because the seed stage by means of Redpoint e.ventures, we’re thrilled to help the corporate with our World Development Fund as nicely, as they modify the Brazilian fintech panorama,” stated Mathias Schilling, co-founder and Managing Associate of e.ventures.
Creditas has plans to make use of the money to develop its house and auto lending in addition to a payday lending service primarily based on clients’ salaries and a retail choice to promote by means of purchase now, pay later loans primarily based on a buyer’s wage.
The corporate can also be trying to develop to different markets, with a watch towards establishing a foothold within the Mexican market as nicely.
Based in 2012, when the founders labored out of a 5 squre meter workplace on Berrini Avenue in Sao Paulo, the corporate now boasts a sturdy enterprise with lots of of staff and a enterprise resting on a secured lending market and impartial house and auto lending operations.
The corporate additionally launched quarterly outcomes for the primary time, displaying losses narrowing from 74.9 million Brazilian reals to 40.5 million reais within the 12 months in the past quarter.


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Happy New Year from all of us at Storesupport!
2020 has been a year of many firsts for manufacturers and retailers alike. From being left with multiple questions to implementing new policies and eventually embracing the new reality – every entity in the retail industry has evolved last year.
As we gear up for the new year, we are sharing three key trends that are shaping retail as we know it!
Physical and Online Retail are Crossing Paths
Previously, you were either shopping online or in-store. There really wasn’t a third option.
Though this has changed and businesses are adopting omnichannel retail in the truest sense. While there is still an option to purchase online, manufacturers and retailers are adding their physical locations to this mix.
Even when brick-and-mortar stores are closed, in certain regions, due to lockdowns, store locations are being used to provide alternative fulfilment options to the customers.
Buy Online – Pick-Up in Store (BOPIS) is a trend that is likely to stick even after the pandemic is over because it offers convenience to customers.
Shopify research shows that there was a 64% increase in BOPIS/curbside pick-ups and a 57% increase in consumers opting for a pickup point option.
So, as and when the economy reopens, a top priority for businesses, both in the essential and non-essential retail space, is to look into ways to bring online and physical retail together to offer seamless shopping experiences.
Customer Behaviour Continues to Change
Customer preferences continue to change at an unprecedented pace. Within a matter of just one year, we have seen how dramatically customer behaviours can change.
For instance, as many people spent time at home, they take more interest in cooking and baking. In April, the demand for flour rose so much that k2 Milling, an artisanal flour mill in Ontario, was producing five times more home baking flour than they would normally produce!
This is why having your finger on the pulse of customer sentiments is vital in 2021. It will enable you to tailor your offerings and services accordingly.
For instance, research shows that the pandemic has led to an increase in demand for ethical and sustainably produced products. Additionally, there has been a strong focus on buying ‘local’.
A recent BDC-Ipsos survey shows that Canadians are buying locally made products to support the local economy, local farmers, and save jobs.
So, in addition to adjusting production quantities, it is also important to gauge what your customers value the most and find ways to incorporate that into your current processes and protocols.
E-Commerce is Here to Stay
Statistics Canada shared that on a year-over-year basis, retail e-commerce increased 70.6% in June 2020. This percentage is likely to remain high throughout most of 2021.
Even when malls and stores open their doors again, e-commerce will continue to be around because it has now become a part of consumers’ buying habits.
This is why it is absolutely critical to review your current e-commerce set-up and work on it if needed.
To continue to sustain business and grow in 2021, there has to be a strong focus on the creation of a smooth shopping experience, enhanced awareness, and integration of technology.
Entities who are agile and have a customer-centred approach will be in the best position to tackle whatever 2021 has in store.
This is where we can help.
We can help you prepare for the future of retail through customized in-store and online programs as well as merchandising solutions. Contact us today to learn more. Call 1-877-421-5081 or visit www.storesuppport.ca.« Back to Blog


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Oct 25, 2016: Sundrop farms situated in the desert region of southern Australia, grows and supplies 15% of the nation’s tomatoes using solar power and seawater. In the beginning of October 2016, this desert farm marked the launch of its first commercial-scale facility of this calibre in the world, which utilizes solar power to de-salinate seawater and manoeuvre greenhouses with the aim to grow more than 15,000 tonnes of tomatoes each year.
Saving natural resources
As compared to conventional greenhouse farms, this solar-backed sustainable technology will help to save major amounts of natural resources while preventing considerable level of pollution.
The solar technology will help to reduce 26,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year would, which is equival to removing 500 cars from roads across Australia, according to a Sundrop spokesperson. Further, it will help to save fresh water, equivalent of 180 Olympic size swimming pools and, above two million litres of diesel on a yearly basis.
No need for soil
Tomatoes are grown hydroponically in coconut coir, removing the need for soil. The concentrated solar tower generates heat and electricity to maintain the ideal conditions inside the greenhouses to facilitate the plants to grow. This heat is used to de-salinate one million litres of seawater daily. The fresh water produced is used to water the plants and cool the greenhouses.
The $200m venture has been costly to build, but it has substantially fewer operating costs as compared to conventional greenhouses due toits sustainable nature, according to the company.
Potential remedy for food security
The solar venture can be seen as a potential model for countries facing shortages in fresh water and energy supplies. Food security becomes a pressing issue with growing populations, energy is usually a limiting variable. Although Sundrop’s system may work well in desert regions in the Middle East, it would not be practical economically in places with a plenty of fresh water like Canada.