Category Archives: Evolution

San Rafael, CA | March 8, 2024 Equator Coffees is proud to announce the launch of its new packaging design, marking a significant step in the brands evolution as it approaches its 30th year milestone in 2025. The redesigned packaging not only pays homage to Equators rich legacy but also sets the stage for a future filled with optimism, action, and a renewed commitment to excellence.

The core packaging design embodies Equators key elements, featuring the iconic bold red, stark black, and sharp lines that have become synonymous with the brand. Central to the new design is the addition of sun rays emanating from the center, symbolizing Equators sense of optimism and forward momentum. Just like the tiger marching left, Equator Coffees is forging ahead, open to new possibilities and inviting customers to join the journey.

We wanted our new packaging to not only reflect our brands heritage but also convey our vision for the future, said Shelby Colley, Head of Marketing at Equator Coffees. The introduction of sun rays signifies our commitment to growth, innovation, and embracing what lies ahead as we enter our third decade and beyond.

In addition to the visual updates, Equator Coffees has introduced a new color system and label structure to provide customers with more information about each coffee variety. Inspired by the structure of a ledger, the redesigned labels utilize color to differentiate between blends, single origins, espressos, decafs, and selections from the Chefs Collection. Roast profiles and detailed variety and processing method information have also been added, catering to both seasoned coffee enthusiasts and newcomers alike.

The redesign was done in partnership with designer Swasti Mittal, whose respect for Equator Coffees legacy and keen eye for detail helped shape the new packaging to align with the brands future direction.

We are thrilled to have partnered with Swasti on this journey, added Colley. Her creativity and attention to detail were instrumental in bringing our vision to life, and we couldnt be happier with the result.

Equator Coffees new packaging design is now available across its product range, inviting customers to explore the world of exceptional coffees while embracing the brands legacy of quality and innovation.

For more information about Equator Coffees and its new packaging design, please visit equatorcoffees.com or follow us on @equatorcoffees.

About Equator Coffees In 1995, Equator Founders Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell began their values-driven path, roasting coffee in a Marin County, CA garage. Possessing an obsessive commitment to green coffee sourcing and unparalleled roasting expertise, Helen and Brooke have committed 29 years to sustainable and fair trade coffee practices all in the name of creating a remarkable coffee experience for consumers. Today, Equator Coffees is a retail and wholesale coffee roaster and coffee farm owner with eleven retail cafes throughout Californiafrom Marin County to San Francisco to Oakland and beyond. Throughout the years, Equator Coffees has spearheaded industry-leading sourcing and roasting practices, and has forged progressive partnerships with Michelin-starred chefs, specialty grocers, tech campuses, and more. Women-owned, LGBTQ-founded and an early adopter of Fair Trade certification, Equator Coffees is the first California coffee roaster to achieve B Corp Certification.

This press release was provided to Sprudge for Sprudge Press Releases. Interested in submitting a press release? Get in touch!

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Equator Coffees Unveils New Packaging Design, Reflecting Brand Evolution & Vision For The Future - Sprudge

Thomson Reuters, a global information and technology company, has updated its brand to address the needs of professionals operating within an evolving media landscape.

The first brand refresh in 16 years is being led by Code and Theory.

The new Thomson Reuters brand signifies its commitment to investing in market-leading product and technology that leverage generative AI. For decades, Thomson Reuters has been applying AI to help professionals perform more mundane tasks so they can focus on higher value, complex work and ultimately tackle human capital issues such as job satisfaction, well-being and work-life balance.

Over the past few years, the professional landscape has undergone major shifts as we have all navigated significant changes in how we work, said David Carrel, chief marketing officer, Thomson Reuters in a statement. Our refreshed brand represents the Thomson Reuters purpose to inform the way forwardand this starts with our customers.

Thomson Reuters, through customer conversations and extensive research, saw recurring themes, including the demand for clarity and guidance in navigating complex situations, particularly through generative AI. This led to the inception of a new brand promise: To Clarify the Complex.

Code and Theory was brought on to help the team execute on refreshing the brand identity.

Thomson Reuters brand refresh from Code and Theory.

Its not every day that you get to relaunch an iconic brand of Thomson Reuters stature. This is a company that believes brand transformation is business transformation, said Stef Hoffman, group brand strategy director, Code and Theory, in a statement. Together with Thomson Reuters, we boldly reimagined their brand strategy and identity to celebrate their heritage and innovation story. With a new promise and messaging, evolved tone of voice, dynamic and new color palette, simplified logo and modernized fonts, this is now the brand of a technology company.

The changes to the Thomson Reuters brand will take place over the next 12 months, with a new logo and updated visuals across key websites and social media channels beginning today.

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Thomson Reuters Unveils New Brand Evolution - Adweek

Photo credit: Yum9me, via Flickr (cropped).

To the question posed in the headline, the answer is: It seems that way sometimes. And can speaking about design in such a context be done without getting hammered by the press, censored, or ridiculed?Perhaps. Well see. In the following example, think of the Darwinese as packing peanuts that can be removed to get to the important items inside.

A remarkable paper was published inBioEssaysin January, with three authors from the University of Washington, Steven S. Andrews, H. Steven Wiley, and Herbert M. Sauro. None has any known sympathies for intelligent design. And yet much of their paper, Design patterns of biological cells, could have been written by any one of the PhDs presenting ideas at the Conference on Engineering in Living Systems (CELS).

Design patterns are generalized solutions to frequently recurring problems.They were initially developed byarchitects and computer scientiststo create a higher level of abstraction for their designs.Here, we extend these concepts to cell biologyto lend anew perspective on the evolved designsof cells underlying reaction networks. We presenta catalog of 21 design patternsdivided into three categories: creational patterns describe processes thatbuild the cell, structural patterns describe thelayouts of reaction networks, and behavioral patterns describereaction network function. Applying this pattern language to theE. colicentral metabolic reaction network, the yeast pheromone response signaling network, and other examples lendsnew insights into these systems.[Emphasis added.]

The authors do not question Darwinian evolution, taking it for granted some 14 times in the paper. They speak of the evolution of complex life and convergent evolution, even speculating on whether life on other planets would evolve the same way as it has on Earth. Such talk is common in biomimetics literature as well: e.g., one writer spoke of an ingenious solution that was refined over more than 420 million years of evolution, as if natural selection gave an organism a head start. We can safely dismiss such statements as either poetic license or a misunderstanding of evolution in its usual unguided sense.

The important items are these: a catalog of 21 design patterns presented as solutions to engineering problems that cells have solved. Heres one example:

Pores and pumps

Problem Cellular components, from ions to proteins, typically need to be localized to the correct sides of membranes, including the plasma membrane, nuclear membrane, and other organelle membranes.

Solution. Trans-membrane pores and pumps that use either active or passive transport. These pores and pumps are typically quite selective about what molecules they transmit and are often gated by external signals.

Cell membranes are quite permeable to oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other small nonpolar molecules but are effectively impermeable to larger and more charged species, a property that is essential to establishing and maintaining cell organization. Transport of these latter species occurs via transporters and channels, including ion channels, passive and active transporters for ions or other small molecules, proton pumps, ABC transporters, photosynthetic reaction centers for electron transport, and ATP synthase proteins for mitochondrial proton transport. The nuclear pore complex is a particularly large pore, which enables passive transport of small molecules and performs active transport on proteins that carry nuclear localization or nuclear export signals.

Readers can enjoy all 21 of these design patterns at their leisure in the open-access paper. The key takeaway is that the authors are looking at cells not as poorly designed conglomerations of haphazard parts that some blind tinkerer cobbled together from whatever pieces of stuff were available, but as collections of elegant solutions to real problems familiar to engineers. It represents a noteworthy step toward design thinking in biology from an unexpected source.

In a video within the paper, Dr. Sauro from the Bioengineering Department explains what motivated the paper. He begins his answer by holding up a copy of Bruce Albertss textbookMolecular Biology of the Cell, a thick tome with 1,500 pages.

We started thinking: Is there any way we could abstract this information at a higher level, to help us comprehend whats going on in a cell? And we were struck by this other book, which is totally different,Design Patterns. Its a famous book in computer science by a so-called Gang of Four. Its an interesting book because it describes how to solve complex problems in a sort of simplified way. And we thought: Is there was any way to marry this book with the Alberts book? Thats basically what motivated us to write this paper.

Following the order of theDesign Patternsbook, the authors divided systems in molecular biology into the same three basic categories: creational (such as the synthesis of a protein), structural (such as a phosphorylation cascade with inputs and outputs), and behavioral (such as a relaxation oscillator).

From this outline, the authors correlated the computer scientists design patterns with their actual implementations in cells. The implementations look like logic diagrams in circuit design. Mechanisms can be quite different, Sauro explains, and yet the underlying design pattern can be the same when examined at a higher level.

Dr. Sauro feels the paper is important for a number of reasons. It provides a new way of communicating ideas in molecular biology, so that computational theorists and experimentalists can understand each other. Another benefit of the approach is to motivate other biochemists to build on their scaffolding of design patterns. This assumes many more engineering solutions can be identified; indeed, Sauro hopes others will help construct a searchable database of design patterns. Machine learning, then, could recognize patterns in newly identified networks in living organisms, expanding our understanding cellular networks. This would be very helpful for complex signaling networks, for instance, when it is hard to determine what is going on. Machine learning could compare known design patterns with the input/output behavior of the components, leading to an Aha! moment that untangles the complexity into a recognizable logic diagram.

Sauro credits primary author Steven Andrews for the clear and readable form in which the paper was presented. He hopes many scientists will read it, because it covers a wide range of biology and should interest all biologists and, we would add, engineers. It is a springboard for ideas that also might interest those preparing for the next CELS conference.

Design patterns arerecurrent solutions to commonly encountered problems.All biological cells encounter the same problems ofhow to constructthe biochemical components that they are built from,how to connectthose components together into useful reaction networks, andhow to usethose reaction networks to animate life.

The authors are quick to acknowledge certain predecessors in biological design thinking.

The idea of understanding cellular systems in terms of functional parts is of course not new. For example, Hartwell et al. argued for amodular view of cell biology, Del Vecchio et al. emphasized the central roles ofcontrol mechanisms, and Khammashs group has focused on mechanisms that provide integralfeedback control. In contrast to these and other works,our focus is larger, covering a wider swath of cell biology mechanisms. Also, ourperspectiveissubtly different. Rather than focusing on a particular biological topic, our emphasis is on the development ofa catalog of the solutions that cells have evolved to solve specific problems. Thisdesign pattern concept is usefulforabstractinga broad range of cell functions into amanageable set of distinct patterns, enabling one to bettersee parallels and differencesbetween different cell systems. It alsohelps build an understandingof what tools cells have to work with, and why different cellular mechanisms operate as they do.

Clearly, design thinking is a fruitful heuristic for discovery. But what about the interlinked and hierarchical design patterns mentioned next? Could those evolve? In the Illustra filmDarwins Dilemma, such hierarchical patterns (exemplified in the body plans of the Cambrian fauna), are shown toresist Darwinian approachesbecause they require top-down design, as with a blueprint or logic diagram before assembly begins. Is this not the case with all design patterns?

The authors grant too much creativity to the neo-Darwinian mechanism. They assume that problems motivate their own solutions in biology:

Going even farther afield,one can speculateabout life on other planets, where again thesame problems would likely arise, andagain would necessarily be addressed with many of the same solutions. This suggests that the design patterns listed here, along with others not addressed, could be reasonably considereduniversal principles of life.

Most likely this kind of speculation will wither on its own as the successors of Bruce Alberts add more pages to molecular biology textbooks. If, as the authors conclude, those involved in simulating cells will refer to a database of design patterns in their multiscale modeling, it should become increasingly clear that cells resemble engineered masterpieces. Darwinese would then decline as superfluous words in future research projects focused on design patterns.

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Is It Becoming Acceptable to Speak of Design? - Discovery Institute

Claim:

Charles Darwin professed a belief in God and recanted the theory of evolution on his deathbed.

It wasn't long after the famed scientist Charles Darwin died that the rumors started. Within a week of his death on April 19, 1882, a preacher in Wales "confirmed" for his parishioners that the father of evolution, a devoted man of science, had converted to Christianity on his deathbed.

Similar stories have been shared ever since.

More than 30 years later, in 1915, across the Atlantic in Northfield, Massachusetts, a woman named Lady Elizabeth Hope told a story during a devotional service about meeting Darwin in late 1881. During their talk, Darwin reportedly expressed his belief in God and renounced the theory of natural selection that made him a household name.

The story is sometimes used as an argument against evolution, the very theory that Darwin made famous. If you believe Lady Hope's story, even Darwin didn't believe his own theory so why should we?

That argument, however, cannot stand on stable ground. There is no evidence Darwin professed his belief in God in this conversation, nor is there evidence that he recanted the theory of evolution. In order to best understand the claim, let's start with a brief explanation of Darwin himself.

Darwin was born in 1809, when the fields of biology and geology were new and mysterious. Over the course of his life, Darwin's theory of natural selection completely redefined the scientific landscape. But it took him a very long time to publish the work that made him famous.

Between 1831 and 1836, Darwin traveled the world on the HMS Beagle, where he visited the Galpagos Islands and first began thinking about the ideas his name would become synonymous with. Although he privately proposed his theories of natural selection soon after returning to England, he waited more than 20 years to publish them. "On the Origin of Species," now one of the most famous scientific works ever, was published in 1859.

It was not initially popular, especially among conservative and religious circles. Early reviewers quickly latched onto the implied idea that humans had evolved from apes, despite the fact that Darwin chose to never explicitly state that. One reviewer wrote:

Lady Constance Rawleigh, in Disraeli's brilliant tale, inclines to a belief that man descends from the monkeys. This pleasant idea, hinted in the "Vestiges," is wrought into something like a creed by Mr. Darwin. Man, in his view, was born yesterday he will perish to-morrow. In place of being immortal, we are only temporary, and, as it were, incidental.

The work deserves attention, and will, we have no doubt, meet with it. Scientific naturalists will take up the author upon his own peculiar ground; and there will we imagine be a severe struggle for at least theoretical existence. Theologians will say and they have a right to be heard Why construct another elaborate theory to exclude Deity from renewed acts of creation? Why not at once admit that new species were introduced by the Creative energy of the Omnipotent? Why not accept direct interference, rather than evolutions of law, and needlessly indirect or remote action? Having introduced the author and his work, we must leave them to the mercies of the Divinity Hall, the College, the Lecture Room, and the Museum.

Health problems around the time of the publication of "On the Origin of Species" prevented Darwin fromactively participating in the debates over the validity of his work. As a result of his health issues, Darwin's later years were largely spent doing research and with his family: his wife, Emma, and their seven children.

In the years before he died, Darwin wrote an autobiography. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the work completed between 1876 and 1881 was not intended for wider publication, but for his grandchildren. The scientist died less than a year after it was finished.

"I cannot pretend to throw the least light on such abstruse problems. The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us; and I for one must be content to remain an Agnostic," Darwin wrote. It is this claim that supporters of Darwin's supposed deathbed conversion must effectively prove wrong.

The preacher in Wales was the first to attempt the feat, but others followed. In "Darwinian Myths: The Legends and Misuses of a Theory," author Edward Caudill shares a correspondence from one of Darwin's most ardent supporters, Thomas Huxley, and his son Francis Darwin, confirming for a Canadian newspaper that Darwin had not converted to Christianity.

Overall, the historians agree: Such claims were few and far in between until Lady Hope's story in 1915.

Born Elizabeth Reid Cotton in 1842 as the daughter of an evangelist, Lady Hope continued her father's work throughout her life. She gained her title after marrying Adm. Sir James Hope and continued to use it after his death. Around the time of Darwin's death, Hope was living relatively close to him, and according to "The Darwin Legend," a book exploring the origins of Darwin's supposed conversion written by prominent Darwin scholar James Moore, the two probably did meet about six months before Darwin died.

(Snopes was unable to access a full copy of "The Darwin Legend." Our sources for this claim come from "Darwinian Myths" and reviews of "The Darwin Legend" available online.)

Perhaps these claims would hold more weight if Lady Hope had mentioned Darwin's sudden turn to religion not long after their meeting. However, she first recounted the supposed events in 1915 during a devotional service. It was quickly reprintedin the Watchman-Examiner, a Baptist newspaper. The following quote, which sheattributed to Darwin, supposedly contains his renouncement:

I was a young man with uninformed ideas. I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time over everything; and to my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion of them.

It's a bit much to call that a renouncement. The story quickly spread, and multiple members of Darwin's familywrote to various people advocating the theory to deny the claim.But, true or not, it has been republished multiple times since then.

Lady Hope's story was long used by creationists arguing against Darwin's theories as evidence that they were wrong. But over time, even creationist websites have come to acknowledge the inherent weakness of the argument. In fact, several of the sources we used in researching this article were from creationist websites sharing the story but cautioning readers against employing it in an argument.

We cannot sum up the arguments against this story any better than the creationist website AnswersInGenesis.org did:

Given the weight of evidence, it must be concluded that Lady Hope's story is unsupportable, even if she did actually visit Darwin. He never became a Christian, and he never renounced evolution. As much as we would like to believe that he died with a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, it is much more likely that he didn't. It is unfortunate that the story continues to be promoted by many sincere people who use this in an effort to discredit evolution when many other great arguments exist, including the greatest: the Bible.

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Did Charles Darwin Convert to Christianity and Discredit Evolution on His Deathbed? - Snopes.com

Milk, it's not just for mammals: An amphibian makes it too The snake-like amphibian is native to Brazil. Researchers say the milk in many ways resembles that produced by mammals.

Caecilians are amphibians that look superficially like very large earthworms. New research suggests that at least one species of caecilian also produces "milk" for its hatchlings. Photo by Carlos Jared hide caption

Caecilians are amphibians that look superficially like very large earthworms. New research suggests that at least one species of caecilian also produces "milk" for its hatchlings.

A species of worm-like amphibian has been caught on camera feeding milk to its young.

The creature, known as a caecilian, lives underground. Researchers believe that the animal developed the ability to produce a milk-like substance independently of mammals, who are universally known for feeding milk to their young.

Caecilians are descended from the same lineage as frogs and salamanders. Hundreds of millions of years ago, their ancestors burrowed deep into the ground. They lost their legs, their eyes mostly stopped working, and their bodies became long and segmented. A modern caecilian looks a little like a long shimmering earthworm with a head, which has led some to call them icky.

That's a characterization Marta Antoniazzi totally rejects.

"I really don't agree that they are disgusting," says Marta Antoniazzi, a biologist at the Instituto Butantan, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Brazil is home to lots of caecilians and Antoniazzi is a fan.

"They are kind of elegant, and they have a shiny body and a very nice face," she says.

But wait, there's more.

The particular caecilian species that Antoniazzi and her colleagues study is called Siphonops annulatus. Mothers of this species give birth to broods of wriggly babies who then proceed to eat their own mother's skin off.

"Once a week, they can eat her skin," says Pedro Luiz Mailho-Fontana, a researcher at the Insituto Butantan who was involved in the study.

This doesn't seem to bother mama, and the babies get lots of nutrition from the skin.

Carlos Jared directs the institute's department of structural biology and leads the team that was studying the caecilians. As he was watching this fascinating process, he couldn't help but notice the wriggly little babies had a ton of energy.

"They are so, so active, it's impossible to eat only once or twice per week," he says.

So the team stuck a camera in the nest and started watching. And pretty soon, they noticed the babies were gathering around one particular spot.

"The babies prefer to go to the tail of the mother," he says.

And that's when they saw it. A secretion coming from the tail: "A kind of substance, like milk."

Upon further study, the team found that the milk contained lipids and sugars similar to mammalian milk. It was essentially providing the same function.

"It's a very unusual form of nutrition" for an egg-laying animal, says Mailho-Fontana.

The team published their results in this week's issue of the Journal Science.

Marvalee Wake, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California at Berkeley, who was not involved with the study, says that this species of caecilian has evolved to deal with a similar problem faced by human babies. Just like humans, the little ones are born long before they can fend for themselves. They're vulnerable. And in order to help them grow, while keeping them close, their mother has developed a milk-ish fluid.

"This is convergent evolution," she says.

Convergent evolution is the process by which very different species can evolve similar traits.

But is it really milk?

The Brazilian team doesn't say whether the milk meets FDA standards, but it does contain lipids and sugars. Wake says she thinks it counts.

"If it has all these basic subunits, it's convergent evolution on a nutritive material, and that's what it's all about," she says.

For Antoniazzi, caecilians are a wonderful reminder that very different animals, like puppies and underground worm-amphibians, can share a lot in common.

"Nature is very creative," she says. "Sometimes it gives the same solution to different groups of animals."

The rest is here:

Milk, it's not just for mammals: An amphibian makes it too - NPR

CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Mr. Tarun Katial, Founder & CEO, coto.

What began as a simple tool to communicate and interact with friends, share pixelated images, or even exchange likes and shares, social media has come far from its roots today. It is not just a buzzword anymore, as it is constantly evolving and helping individuals and brands find a voice. However, what also cannot be ignored is the attention span of users on social media is fleeting and competition for engagement is on the edge. As creators often find themselves caught in the whirlwind of algorithm changes staying relevant and trendy feels like a tipping point. These constant shifts can make it feel like a guessing game, leaving creators wondering whether their content will ever truly reach their intended audience.

coto, is a social community platform for women, actively working towards this and understanding that every user is unique. Unlike other platforms that may offer a one-size-fits-all approach, coto lets users take the reins. Users select their interests and communities, and the algorithm does the rest. By understanding users preferences, interests, and engagement history, coto presents them with content that truly resonates. Hence users spend less time scrolling through irrelevant content and more time engaging with what matters most to them. Their journey through coto is as individual as they are, giving them the discoverability and authority they desire and deserve respectively. Soon there will be live commerce integration into the platform facilitating a unique monetisation ecosystem. The traditional social media do not give creators an opportunity to monetise and the amount of effort they put into creating content is a need left unmet. Whereas women creators on coto can monetize their expertise, fostering economic independence and creating a supportive community for women entrepreneurs. It will be a single marketplace to avail of paid consultations on topics like mental health, menstrual health, sexual health, astrology, food and nutrition including the users pregnancy journey, astro-science, coaching, and relationships through live streaming.

During the development of coto, we identified a unique opportunity to promote participative ownership, in line with the decentralised principles of Web3. Our key focus was ensuring that all communities on the platform were collectively owned by women. By integrating Blockchain technology, we established a secure and trustless environment where smart contracts guarantee that women collaborating to build these communities are governed by a sustainable framework for the long term. Alongside our goal of establishing a secure environment for women, our mission extended to providing them with an equitable monetisation opportunity to derive value from their efforts and expertise.

The platforms unique blend of community engagement and live commerce has positioned it as a leader in digital entrepreneurship for women, demonstrating the power of a community-driven, secure online space. Currently, social media platforms lack robust loyalty or referral programs. coto, however, incentivizes community creators with referral points and bonuses for every new member they bring to the platform. Any action you take to contribute to the platforms growth is duly recognized and rewarded.

Let us have a look at some of the remarkable features of the platform are as follows:

At coto, our goal is to actively empower women and with this thought, we have built features that enhance user experience and community engagement through innovative technologies. One of the most remarkable features is the introduction of an AI-powered Q&A feature, a groundbreaking initiative in the digital space for women. By harnessing Open AI technology, coto has unlocked new avenues in content creation, engagement, and learning for women creators.

The AI-powered Q&A feature seamlessly blends sophisticated technology with user-centric design. It introduces innovative tools like anonymous posting and responding, enabling users to engage freely without the constraints of identity, and a unique text edit mode that boosts creativity and personalization. The tagging experts functionality adds a new dimension to community interaction, facilitating easier access to topic-based experts.

More than just facilitating interaction, this feature cultivates a culture of curiosity and continuous learning. It encourages exploration, questioning, and growth through various mediums, including text, images, videos, and anime.

Since its launch, the AI-powered Q&A feature has shown significant success as user engagement on the platform has dramatically increased, bolstered by the integration of personalization, recommendation, and intuitive tools. The features availability on both Android and iOS has expanded platform use, boosting visibility and engagement.

The new and upcoming live commerce feature will cater to a diverse group of women across the world. Women from all levels of society can access the platform and avail of professional consultancy services from subject matter experts across vital women-centric topics. They will get a single marketplace to avail of paid consultations on topics like mental health, menstrual health, sexual health, astrology, food, and nutrition including the users pregnancy journey, astro-science, coaching, and relationships. Customers will find their relevant consultants/ experts directly through recommendations based on their availability, experience, and ratings by searching on the platform directly. They can also have a best-in-class live streaming experience coupled with ease of navigating through the app with AI-based tools, recommendations, and discovery.

We are counting on the invaluable support of our global womens community members and experts to ensure the success of integrating live commerce into our app. Building on the positive response we received from our communities regarding the recent Q&A feature, were optimistic that this addition will drive even greater engagement. By incorporating live commerce into our platform, we anticipate a significant increase in user interaction, strengthened community bonds, enhanced monetization opportunities, personalised experiences, economic empowerment, and financial inclusion of women across the globe. It will surely provide a new dimension to womens digital entrepreneurship at a larger scale which will also narrow the gender gap in the technology world for women.

At coto, user feedback plays a crucial role in shaping the platforms features and ensuring they cater to the needs of its community. coto maintains an ongoing research program to collect feedback from community members and community administrators. Armed with user feedback and data insights, coto embraces an iterative design and development process.

With technology being an integral part of our daily lives, cotos mission transcends mere resonance with womenit seeks to empower them actively. This commitment is evident in our pioneering efforts to enhance user experience and community engagement through innovative technology like the newly launched AI-powered Q&A and the upcoming live commerce. cotos facial recognition technology ensures the safety and security of its members, which is crucial for a community platform designed exclusively for women. The app will soon include more features within the digital services space to help experts grow. The platform is going to launch professional live consultation services around mental health, menstrual health, relationships/sexual health, and astrology, and these categories will only grow over the period. Through the initiative of live monetisation services, coto is revolutionizing the professional journey of aspiring as well as seasoned women entrepreneurs through a tech-enabled inclusive approach backed by the support of influential leaders and subject matter experts on the platform.

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Empowering Women: The Evolution and Innovation of coto Social Platform - CXOToday.com

Justin Chatwin, the actor who played Goku in the 2009 live-action movie adaptation, Dragonball Evolution, has shared his regret on social networks after the sad news of the passing of Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball and many more famous and influential anime and manga. The interpreter took advantage of the occasion to apologize (once again) for his performance as Goku in said film, highly criticized by critics and fans for its poor quality.

Despite the overwhelming success of the famous manga and anime franchise around the world, the brand created by Toriyama also has one of the worst live action adaptations in history; the film has 14% on Rotten Tomatoes. And for its leading actor, it is still a cross that he must deal with, despite having asked for forgiveness on numerous occasions. And he did it again while saying goodbye to Akira Toriyama:

Full screen

Rest in peace brother. And sorry we messed up that adaptation so badly, wrote Justin Chatwin on his Instagram account along with an image of Goku and another with the news of the mangakas death. Dragonball Evolution was harshly criticized, with a story that barely rescued anything from the original work, a high school student Goku, a ridiculous Mutenroshi and a Piccolo who looked like a bad cosplay, in addition to having more than questionable visual effects.

Justin Chatwin himself has always been a declared fan of Goku and his adventures, although his performance as Goku was ultimately forgettable. Even Akira Toriyama at the time stated that said film Didnt even deserve to be called Dragon Ball, with producers who refused to listen to the mangakas advice to make a film more faithful to the original manga.

Read more from the original source:

Dragonball Evolutions live-action Goku says goodbye to Toriyama: Sorry we messed up - AS USA

The past decade has been marked by many challenges and uncertainties for SMEs from interest rate fluctuations and supply chain disruption to a global pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, and extreme weather. And lets not forget the game-changing rise of artificial intelligence, reshaping business right before our eyes.

The unexpected has become expected a given, almost. What is surprising, though, is the resilience the materials handling sector has demonstrated despite all this. This industry has become a reliable cornerstone for businesses needing warehousing and distribution.

As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of Investecs presence in the UK materials handling market, we reflect on five megatrends that have shaped the recent past and consider the challenges and opportunities they are likely to present for businesses needing asset financing in future.

The surge in e-commerce has been a transformative force for materials handling and asset finance more generally. The shift in consumer spending towards online shopping has propelled internet sales[1]from 11.3% in 2014 to a staggering 26.6% in 2024, with the UK e-commerce market expected to reach $750.80 billion by 2029[2]. The demand for efficient warehousing and distribution solutions has skyrocketed as a result, leading to a substantial increase in forklift sales globally.

Financing has been and will continue to be key in empowering businesses to adapt to this changing retail landscape and capitalise on opportunities.

In the current challenging economic environment, we expect tailored financing solutions, including stage payments, to prove instrumental in addressing cashflow challenges and play a crucial role in securing good deals, particularly when purchasing overseas assets.

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Against the backdrop of a global shortage of skilled labour, the materials handling industry embraced automation to streamline processes and reduce operational costs. Conveyor systems and automated robots have become the norm and projections paint a promising picture for the UKs robotics market, estimating a revenue of US$1.48bn by 2024[3]. The use of automated robots in warehouses to enable just-in-time production is set to rise, promising increased productivity, accuracy, and safety.

End consumers now expect everything to be frictionless and speedy as standard. SMEs therefore need the same from their lending partner to be able to deliver. Recognising this, Investec has invested significantly to ensure our teams can turn around deals as quickly as possible in days or sometimes hours.

When it comes to financing investment in automation, bespoke debt structures, including asset-based lending and cashflow strategies, or a combination of both, should be considered. A strategic financial partner can assist in effectively navigating through these challenges.

The integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) and data analytics has revolutionised how materials handling operations are managed. Real-time tracking, predictive maintenance, and data-driven decision-making have become integral components of the industry.

For example, Investec gathers data on behalf of its clients that helps to protect and promote their business. We can show them every deal theyve done with us, who the customer was, whether any are in arrears and how their portfolio has performed over time.

SMEs who fail to make the most of the information available to them will struggle to remain competitive in this data-centric era.

At the same time, environmental concerns have risen towards the top of the business agenda. With warehouses among the biggest emitters of fossil fuels, companies in materials handling are stepping up replacing equipment and shifting to sustainable practices.

We hear from our clients that this move is not just about meeting regulatory standards but also about responding to consumer demands and internal expectations.

As a result, Investec Asset Finance is seeing increasing demand from clients for financing initiatives that improve green credentials, diversify their business, and save on energy costs. This includes investments in solar panels, biomass energy, onshore wind, and heat pumps, and more.

The materials handling industry has grappled with supply chain disruptions in recent years. In such a dynamic environment, financial partners need to be nimble in swiftly adapting to changing circumstances for their clients.

For example, when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, Investec promptly offered a six-month forbearance to clients to help mitigate the impact of supply chain challenges. This kind of responsiveness is especially crucial during a period marked by economic instability and global unrest, where rising prices and trading obstacles are increasingly prevalent.

While these five trends will continue to be key in driving change within materials handling businesses must be prepared for others to join that list. Trying to predict which new technologies or black swan events will shape the industry in future is a fools game. Instead, both SMEs and their lending partners should focus on ensuring they are nimble enough and resilient enough to meet any challenge and finding within that the opportunities.

Notes:

[1]UK State of Commerce ecommerce trends report 2023 | Signifyd

[2]Internet sales as a percentage of total retail sales (ratio) (%) Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

[3]https://www.statista.com/outlook/tmo/robotics/united-kingdom#revenue

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Investec, evolution of SMEs in the materials handling sector - Leasing Life

Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen as Mr Darcy in the 1995 TV series and 2005 film adaptations of Pride & Prejudice. (BBC/United International Pictures)

Pride and Prejudice, for many, is the pinnacle of romantic literature, but Jane Austen's creation has also served as a key turning point on screen too: the evolution of the female gaze.

The 'female gaze' refers to a number of things in theory, for one it's the representation of the viewpoint of women both on and off screen ie female directors, writers, and viewers. It can also represent the connection that an audience has with the story, especially if it emphasises the idea of a woman being desired and the idea of a man being the object of desire.

The tale of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy's romance is ripe ground for the depiction of the female gaze on the silver screen, something that is well represented by the 1995 TV show when Colin Firth's Mr Darcy walked around in a wet shirt after a swim in a lake (which has now been sold at auction for 20,000).

Joe Wright's 2005 film also provided plenty of scenarios that made viewers swoon, and have since become significant cultural moments in their own right. Matthew Macfadyen might be best known for his award-winning role in Succession for some, but for many women it is his depiction of Mr Darcy that stands out thanks to his line delivery, his longing gazes at Keira Knightley's Elizabeth, and of course his infamous hand flex.

These moments all represent the female gaze in some way, the 1995 TV series shows Firth in a desirable fashion, while Macfadyen's depiction of Mr Darcy oozes with attraction the moment he crosses paths with Knightley's strong-willed Elizabeth. In both scenarios female viewers can imagine themselves in Elizabeth's shoes, as the desirer and the desired.

Since then this notion of the female gaze has only grown stronger as time has gone on. Just look at the success of Netflix's Bridgerton to see how successful romance can be on the silver screen the show, like Austen's work and its depictions, focuses on love stories that highlight the woman being courted more so than the men they're involved with.

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Bridgerton even pays homage to Pride & Prejudice in its second season, when Jonathan Bailey's Anthony falls into a lake and is left completely soaked, allowing his romantic interest Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) to pine for him because of his state of undress.

Romance novels and period dramas have also given way to Byronic heroes, men who have gloomy personalities but are capable of strong passion towards their romantic interest. Characters like Heathcliff in Emily Bront's Wuthering Heights serve as an apt example of this, and these kinds of characters are also ones that serve the female gaze well in cinema.

Shows like Poldark and Outlander have made actors Aidan Turner and Sam Heughan stars overnight because of their depictions of romantic heroes. While chick flicks have also long been used as a way to represent the female gaze over the years.

It's not just films and dramas aimed at women that have highlighted the female gaze, it can also happen in those predominantly aimed at men the James Bond franchise for one. 2006's Casino Royale famously features a scene in which Daniel Craig's 007 emerges from the ocean in slow-motion. It's a scene that feels tailor-made to entice female viewers. For a movie franchise with a long history of objectifying women, it was a refreshing change of pace.

Desire and desirability aside, films focused on women also represent the female gaze onscreen. Greta Gerwig's hugely successful blockbuster Barbie shared the plight that all women face in a patriarchal society with wit and wisdom unexpected for a film about a doll.

It quickly became a cultural phenomenon and earned more than 1bn at the box office, while for some this might make it seem like films about toys are the future the real takeaway should be this movies about women and for women are worth telling.

1995's Pride & Prejudice is streaming on BBC iPlayer.

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Pride & Prejudice and the evolution of the female gaze on screen - Yahoo News UK

Joe Wongs musical evolution has taken him from the streets of Milwaukee to composing the music for the Netflix series The Russian Doll to having legendary drummer Jim Keltner play on his album,Mere Survival, which was released in February.

Wongs podcast The Trap Set began with a focus on drummers but has expanded to include singers, guitarists, bassists, keyboardists and harpists. The series has aired over 300 episodesconversations reallywith Wong using music as a springboard to detour into the backroads that make creative people tick.

The blurb on Wongs new album reads, Wong finds wonder in the muck, spinning rare beauty into outsized songs of redemption and reconciliation.Chock full of tasteful Zombies-inspired orchestrated pop, standout track Ordinary Light suggests a collaboration of Harry Nilsson and Beach Boys. He cites Love and The Walker Brothers as favorites as well.

Wong took time recently to chat. He broached the task of taking his band on the road. The challenge with me is that I have 20 people in my band (laughs), the drummer is also in Pearl Jam, the guitar player Mary Timony has a busy career, the harpist Mary Lattimore has a busy career. So, we have to plan stuff pretty far out. But Ive tried to figure out how to put together different bands for different types of shows, so I dont need to play with the same folks or as many folks.

The first time he sang was at the end of 2019; Wong had finished his first album, but it hadnt been released. I wanted to play a show to see how the songs translated live. After soundcheck I was sitting behind the drums, which belonged to Matt Cameron, I was feeling comfortable and then remembered I wasnt going to be playing drums and that I had to go out and sing.

Wong says he got so nervous he blacked out and doesnt recall much of the show other than it felt really good. I think my conscious mind had to just shut down and let my subconscious drive the bus.

In the time since, Wong has gotten more comfortable as a singer, some of it from rehearsing for tours that kept getting cancelled during Covid; not to mention the thousands of shows he has played as a drummer. He says the nervousness before each show is a healthy sign that he is pushing himself into a period of growth.

With over 300 episodes and counting, it is safe to say Wong has engaged some legendary musicians. He relates to them on a personal level as well as a musical one.

He began the podcast about a decade ago because he was touring and not feeling the visceral joy he associated with playing music. I was trying to figure out what was going on and thought maybe I was stuck in a loveless marriage with music.

Listening to podcasts instead of music, he was drawn to the longform detailed conversations. He used Marc Marons podcast as a template. The feeling Wong had lost re-emerged and importantly, he figured out a lot of people go through similar periods of ennui.

He has spoken to genre-defining geniuses, but Wongs own brilliance was the initial focus on drummers. Drummers are often the least interviewed members of any band. Even if they are great. There is a lot of untapped gold there.

He said the Keltner recording session came about when the legendary drummer, who had been a podcast guest, offered his services. Wong didnt have anything written but he thought it would be stupidnotto write songs for him to play on. So, I wrote a couple songs with him in mind.

The session was booked at the studio owned by Foo Fighters. It was easy get other musicians to play on that session because everyone wants to play with Jim. That session was recorded live to tape to capture Keltners innate groove.

Back to his idea for the podcast, Wong says he wanted to strike a balance between Marons freewheeling non-agenda and the preparedness of Terry Gross, host of NPRs Fresh Air. I was desperate to know the information I was asking people anyway. As a fan and music geek he gets to ask questions many of us have itched to delve into.

Wongs day job is writing music for film and television. Over the 20 years he has gotten comfortable staring at a blank screen knowing something will come by the time it is due.

When he began working on material for his first album, 2021sNite Creatures, he struggled with drowning in his own neuroses and couldnt finish anything.

Before the era of smart phones, he would call his own answering machine to leave ideas. Writing both albums was a blend of spontaneous ideas but also setting aside time every day to sit and let something happen.

He began using the tools he learned as a composer and applied them to his songwriting. Even if that was just five or 10 minutes in the morning. You can write a song in five minutesor at least the basic idea of the song. The person who writes the song and the person who decides to develop, and record it are two different versions of yourself. The editor is one aspect, and the creator is another aspect of yourself.

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Joe Wong's Musical Evolution - Shepherd Express