Everyone knows that the internet has changed the way in which consumers buy their products ? and this trend is set to continue. We started Value Coffee because we recognised a tremendous demand for our products to be available, not just to the wholesale trade, but also to retail customers throughout the UK.
Alice Rendle, director of Sussex based speciality coffee distributor Edgcumbe Tea and Coffee company, was approached by two young internet entrepreneurs, Rob Lowe and Richard Goss, to assist them in the development of an online coffee business offering a wide variety of high quality ingredients that professional baristas use every day to craft the drinks we all enjoy at our local coffee houses.
She joined forces with them to launch an entirely separate business that allows customers to buy quality products and tableware for use at home to replicate their favourite drinks. Coupled with their experience of selling online, and her knowledge of the speciality coffee industry, Value Coffee was launched to supply homes, businesses, offices and caterers ? in fact, anyone who wants it!
The Speciality Coffee industry has enjoyed amazing growth over the last decade and as we all know, words like ?latte? and ?espresso? are now household terms ? from offices to cafes, everyone is seeking to reduce their costs, without compromising on quality or having to purchase large quantities. All the well known brands, from Nescafe to Clipper, are available to purchase along with some more specialist, unusual ones such as Darvilles , who have the Royal Warrant and a quintessentially British feel.
? We recognised that many businesses and homes want to be able to buy these products without having to pay high delivery charges, from a reliable, experienced supplier, and at wholesale prices.? says Alice ? Using my contacts built up over the past 30 years, and the internet know-how that Rob and Richard have learned through their existing online business, we have had a fantastic response to our website! As we suspected, it is clear that our customers are looking for the opportunity to buy small quantities ? sometimes as little as 20 speciality tea bags- at fantastic prices which are the lowest in the business. We will even send out a teaspoon if required!
Rob continues ? our experience of selling products on Amazon has taught us that our customers demand a top quality service, at low prices ,with no hidden extras. They appreciate the fact that while we are an internet business our phone line is manned by friendly, knowledgeable staff eager to assist. Our delivery charge is ?3.99 for anything up to ?40, and free thereafter for the UK.?
We launched the site in early August and new products are being added every day in response to customer demand. Gift ideas, starter packs, a range of contemporary crockery, tea-making product espresso machines and many more interesting and innovative products.
For more information please contact Alice Rendle on alice@edgcumbes.co.uk or 01243 555775
Eric Lieberman Photo: Bill O'Leary / The Washington Post
COMPANY PROFILE
The Washington Post is the leading daily newspaper in the nation's capital and a wholly owned subsidiary of The Washington Post Co. The company posted revenues of $648 million from its newspaper publishing division in 2011; the Post employs approximately 2,200 people.
LEGAL TEAM AND OUTSIDE COUNSEL
General counsel Eric Lieberman heads a team of three lawyers; the subsidiary that ran the Post's website employed two lawyers, but when site management was merged with the print division in January 2010 the overall attorney headcount was cut by one position. In a new hire, Lieberman looks for candidates who can excel at identifying the legal and reputational risks to the company. "In addition to spotting issues, a Post lawyer has to be able to provide clear, sensible and practical advice to commercial departments and to the newsroom, frequently on deadline," he said.
Lieberman counts on outside counsel for most litigation. He listed Kevin Baine at Williams & Connolly as the paper's main outside media lawyer. In addition, Willis Goldsmith, Trish Dunn and Jackie Holmes at Jones Day help vice president for labor Jay Kennedy with union negotiations and employment litigation.
Lieberman has used alternative billing, but stressed the importance of a fair exchange of value. The Post has a "longstanding commitment" to diversity through its hiring practices, human resource policies and selection of outside contractors, he said. The paper has not signed the Pro Bono Institute's Pro Bono Challenge or the Diversity Call to Action.
In addition to the Post, Lieberman's group provides legal services for The Slate Group LLC (which publishes Slate, Foreign Policy and The Root), WaPo Labs (a unit of The Washington Post Co. that is developing digital products) and Social Code LLC (an advertising agency that helps companies design and execute social media advertising campaigns).
DAILY DUTIES
Asked about his daily routine, Lieberman replied: "My grandmother used to say that man plans and God laughs. That's a pretty good description of a typical day for me and our legal team."
With the Post website a 24-hour-per-day operation, the legal department may need to review copy at any time. Additionally, a reporter might call from a courthouse to complain that he or she has been kicked out of a hearing or denied access to a court record. Lieberman might face an urgent retraction demand, or a contract or controversial advertisement that needs to be reviewed right away.
He described his team as close-knit. "We bounce things off each other all the time, which is critical to giving sound legal advice." He described himself as a "generalist with a specialty in media law." But, occasionally, Lieberman needs to become expert at short notice. One such matter involved the U.S. Postal Service.
"The postal service is trying to get approval to enter into contracts with a large direct-mail advertiser that gives deep discounts to offer reduced rates for retailers to deliver ads through the mail ? and it is a direct attack on our Sunday package of printed ads and a vital source of revenue," Lieberman said. "We, along with the Newspaper Association of America, are trying to get the Postal Regulatory Commission to reject this deal." Reforms passed by Congress in 2006 give the Postal Service the flexibility to enter into deals with customers, but only if they can show that it would not cause unreasonable harm in the marketplace. The matter is pending before the commission and, if it goes through, the newspapers may challenge it in court, he said.
Lieberman is the paper's representative on a number of boards; he is secretary of the Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Press Association and chairman of its government affairs committee, and secretary of the Virginia Press Association. He served on the executive committee of D.C.'s Council for Court Excellence and is co-chairman of its bench-bar-media dialogue project. He represents the Post on the board of the Media Law Resource Center and is chairman of its membership and development committee.
He counts as a career highlight the newsroom announcement that the Post's Katherine Boo had won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2000 for her series about the mistreatment and deaths of mentally retarded citizens living in group homes run by the District of Columbia. "I was standing in the newsroom listening to her remarks, and she unexpectedly thanked me for helping get records from the district government that she needed to substantiate her reporting," he said. "That moment stands out for me, because I was really proud to have made a small contribution to the kind of journalism that distinguishes the Post and that makes a difference in people's lives."
During the Valerie Plame leak investigation, special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald demanded that three Post reporters identify sources to whom they had guaranteed anonymity. Lieberman helped to decide how to respond. "Ultimately, our reporters were able to provide limited deposition testimony after being released by their sources to do so," Lieberman said. "We stayed true to our core principles ? we kept our word to our sources and we avoided a legal battle where the outcome was uncertain." He reports to publisher Katharine Weymouth.
ROUTE TO THE TOP
Lieberman graduated from Harvard University in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in social studies and earned his J.D. at Duke Law School in 1991. His Washington career began in 1986, as a legislative aide to Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) on the Committee on Labor and Human Resources. After law school, he clerked for Chief Judge James Oakes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In 1992, Lieberman joined Williams & Connolly as an associate. He became associate counsel at the Post in 1998 and deputy counsel and director of government affairs in 2006. He's been in his current job since 2007.
His advice for someone about to take the general counsel's reins? "Know your business. Trust your judgment. Speak up. Value and support the members of your team. Work with your clients to get to smart solutions that help them do what they want to do in a way that mitigates legal and reputational risk." And one piece of advice about communications: "Make sure that your clients get in a room together before making important decisions, rather than relying on email. There's no substitute for face-to-face conversations about important subjects."
Classes begin in just 15 days at Oakland University and professors say they still don't have a contract.
A state mediator rescheduled Monday's session for Thursday, August 23, and the parties have agreed to a contract extension through that date.
Karen Miller, president of the Professors Union at Oakland University, said their current contract is set to expire at midnight Monday.
"I still want to believe that the administration, in fact, does value us and, in fact, does want us to stay and wants us to be productive," said Miller.
Miller said money remains the biggest sticking point. The union said both sides are "far apart" financially and many professors are insulted by the university's money offer.
"Many use the term 'slap in the face', they were hurt, they felt that they were unvalued. I would like to think that was not the intent of the university," Miller said.
University officials said they do not comment when there are ongoing negotiations.
Copyright 2012 by ClickOnDetroit.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Television productions that explored the children orphaned by Haiti's devastating earthquake and took viewers aboard a boat smuggling refugees from North Africa to the Italian island of Lampedusa are among the nominees for International Emmy awards in the current affairs and news categories.
The eight nominees from seven countries announced Tuesday include "Haiti's Orphans: One Year After the Earthquake" on Canada's CBC Television and "Extra: The RTL Magazine ? The Merciless Traffic in the Flight From Africa" from Germany's infoNetwork GmbH in the current affairs category.
Brazil's TV Globo had two nominations for "Profession: Reporter ? Children and Drugs: A Childhood Overtaken by Addiction" in current affairs and "Jornal Nacional ? Rains in the Mountain Region of Rio" in news on the heavy rains and landslides in January 2011 that caused the worst natural disaster in Brazil's history.
The other nominees in the news category were Japan's NHK for its coverage of the March 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami; Qatar's Al Jazeera for its reporting on the Libyan uprising and fall of Tripoli and Russia's RT Channel for its reports on the global Occupy Movement that began in New York's financial district.
The other current affairs nominee was "China Dolls - Fragile Bodies, Strong Minds" from Hong Kong's Phoenix Satellite Television Co. Ltd. about the struggles of two Chinese families afflicted by the rare brittle bone disease.
"The 2012 nominees present a powerful showcase of the human, political and socio-economic drama unfolding daily around the world," said Bruce L. Paisner, president and CEO of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, in a news release.
The winners will be announced at an Oct. 1 ceremony in New York.
Essentially a stripped-down version of the HP LaserJet Pro 400 M401dn that I recently reviewed, the HP LaserJet Pro 400 M401n leaves out the dn model's duplexer (for two-sided printing) as well as its touch screen controls, support for Web apps, and ability to print files from a USB memory key. However it offers the same high-quality output, as well as support for HP ePrint (for printing through the cloud) and Apple AirPrint (for printing from iThings by Wi-Fi). It also costs 25 percent less, making it a potentially good choice for offices that can do without duplexing.
As with the M401dn, the M401n is aimed primarily at micro and small offices and workgroups, but is also suitable for a home office with unusually heavy-duty print needs. Essentially the same size as its near twin, at 10.5 by 14.4 by 14.5 inches, its only real shortcoming for a home office is that it takes up a little too much room to comfortably share a desk with.
The similar size for the two printers comes largely from offering similar paper handling, with a 250-sheet paper drawer and a 50-sheet multipurpose tray. This should be enough in most cases, but you can also add a 500-sheet second tray ($125 direct) if you need it.
Setup and Speed For my tests, I connected the M401n to a wired network and installed the driver on a Windows Vista system. Setup was standard fare.
Not too surprisingly, the M401n was virtually identical to the M401dn for speed. HP rates both printers at 35 pages per minute (ppm), which is the speed you should see when printing text files without much formatting. On our business applications suite, however, both printers were slow for the rating, at an effective 5.9 ppm (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing). In comparison, the Editors' Choice OKI B431dn came in at 11.1 ppm, and the Canon imageClass LBP6300dn , which is rated at only 30 ppm, managed 14.5 ppm.
One complication for interpreting these results is that the M401n and M401dn were both slower in my tests than the HP LaserJet Pro 400 MFP M425dn , but shouldn't have been. HP says that all three printers are built around the identical engine and should have identical speed. On my tests, however, the M425dn was more than twice as fast, at 12.9 ppm.
As I pointed out in the M425dn review, most of the difference in speed between it on the one hand and the two M401 models on the other is for the first page out time for each print job, with the difference magnified by the fact that most of our test files are only one or two pages.
The most likely reason for the difference is that the M401n (and M401dn) slipped into energy-saving sleep mode between print jobs on our tests and took additional time to warm up before printing the first page of each document. However, HP says all three printers should behave identically on this score, and that the difference may be due to different firmware versions. At this writing, HP is still looking into the issue.
Output Quality and Other Issues As with the M401dn, output quality counts as one of the M401n's strongest points. Text quality is just a half step below the best-looking mono laser output, making it easily good enough for printing small fonts readably. Depending on how much of a perfectionist you are, you may consider the quality good enough for desktop publishing applications.
Graphics output in my tests was easily good enough for any internal business need, including PowerPoint handouts. Most people would also consider it suitable for graphics in a report going to an important client. Photo quality is better than most mono lasers can manage, making it good enough for photos in a client newsletter or the like.
One potential issue is running cost. HP claims a 2.4 cent per page cost for the M401n. That's lower than for some other printers in its price range, including the LBP6300dn, for example. However, it's higher than for the B431dn at 1.8 cents per page. That works out to a $60 difference per 10,000 pages, and, depending on how much you print, can add up to hundreds of dollars more in total cost of ownership for the M401n over the life of the printer.
Also, and not surprisingly, I ran into the same issue with the M401n as with the M401dn refusing to print from Photoshop 7 using the printer's higher-quality modes. As I said in the M401dn review, however, I don't consider this a major issue, both because the problem doesn't show up at all resolution settings, and because HP has already come up with a fix. A quick test with the current beta version of the upgraded driver showed that it has no trouble printing with the same files and settings that the current driver fails with.
If the HP LaserJet M400 M401n included a duplexer, offered a lower running cost, or both, it would be a compelling choice at the price. As it is, if you need duplexing, you should obviously be looking at the M401dn, the Oki B431dn, or the Canon LBP6300dn instead. And if you care more about running cost than output quality, the B431dn is the obvious pick. But if you don't need to duplex and need high-quality output, the HP LaserJet M400 M401n is a highly attractive choice.
More Laser Printer Reviews: ??? Brother HL-5450DN ??? HP LaserJet Pro 400 M401n ??? Brother HL-5470DW ??? Dell B1160w Wireless Mono Laser Printer ??? HP LaserJet Pro 400 MFP M425dn ?? more
Green tea compound shows promise for tackling cancer
(Nanowerk News) A compound found in green tea could be a weapon in treatments for tackling cancer, according to newly-published research at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.
The extract, known as epigallocatechin gallate, has been known to have preventative anti-cancer properties but fails to reach tumours when delivered by conventional intravenous administration.
However, in initial laboratory tests at the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow, researchers used an approach which allowed the treatment to be delivered specifically to the tumours after intravenous administration. Nearly two-thirds of the tumours it was delivered to either shrank or disappeared within one month and the treatment displayed no side effects to normal tissues.
This is the green tea cancer treatment research team (l-r): Dr Laurence Tetley; Professor Gail McConnell; Rumelo Amor; David Blatchford; Greg Norris; Dr Christine Duf?s, and Fanny Lemari?.
The tests are thought to be the first time that this type of treatment has made cancerous tumours shrink or vanish.
In the tests, on two different types of skin cancer, 40% of both types of tumour vanished, while 30% of one and 20% of another shrank. A further 10% of one of the types were stabilised.
The researchers encapsulated the green tea extract in vesicles that also carried transferrin, a plasma protein which transports iron through the blood. Receptors for transferrin are found in large amounts in many cancers.
Dr Christine Duf?s, a senior lecturer at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, led the research. She said: "These are very encouraging results which we hope could pave the way for new and effective cancer treatments.
"When we used our method, the green tea extract reduced the size of many of the tumours every day, in some cases removing them altogether. By contrast, the extract had no effect at all when it was delivered by other means, as every one of these tumours continued to grow.
"This research could open doors to new treatments for what is still one of the biggest killer diseases in many countries."
The research paper has been published in the journal Nanomedicine ("Antitumor activity of the tea polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate encapsulated in targeted vesicles after intravenous administration"). Imaging equipment used in the research was funded by a grant from the Wellcome Trust.
COLLECTIBLES: Stuart Schwartz at home, with just a few items of his kiwiana collection.
American-born collector Stuart Schwartz blames his obsession with all things Aotearoa on his ?deprived Kiwi childhood".
In short - he didn't have one.
But the New Jersey native has filled that void in his own history and his Palmerston North home - much to wife Phyllis' affectionate chagrin - with relics of New Zealand from days gone by.
?He tidied up for you,? says Phyllis, carving a path through lounge furniture piled high with wooden Kiwis, Weet-Bix tins and miniature glass bottles. Barely a surface is free of some curiosity that marks a point in history. But she's not joking.
?I have always teased Phyllis that someday I will be a minimalist,? Schwartz says, as he ponders whether a blank home represents a similarly hollow state of mind.
For the present, the Schwartzes are champions of another form of Kiwi culture, as the owner-operators of Taylor-Jensen fine arts gallery in The Square.
Mr Schwartz is vice-president of the Collectors Club run by the Wanganui-Rangitikei Antique Bottles & Collectibles Club Inc, which meets monthly, giving collectors a chance to show their specialty memorabilia, or their latest find - the only prerequisite, as a throwback to the club's beginnings, is that every member must bring some type of bottle.
In the Schwartz home, the kitsch takes pride of place next to the antique, and strewn among the family photos, stuffed toys are arranged with no less reverence than considerably grander collectors' crockery. Kiwiana is like glitter to a magpie for Schwartz. His pieces are an eclectic mix of antiques, vintage and retro items, American art, and, as he explains, contemporary pieces of New Zealand, because it is important for a collector to be able to put his or her finger on what of today's junk might be tomorrow's treasure.
In his collection, everything, from Maori flax skirts to chrome-plated miniature model cars, are considered treasures.
?They certainly are sentimental. Things that my mother had, that sort of thing, we have a lot of truly historic items and just the everyday collectibles that say they are a part of an existence.?
When asked what items from his considerable hoard Stuart might save from a house fire, he is momentarily lost for words.
?My will and testament,? the collector quips. The scale of his collection is so great - as the Schwartz garage piled high with boxes where a car should be testifies - asking him to locate the pieces most dear to him is futile.
There is no method to the madness, he says, but the theme is ultimately clear.
Few New Zealanders would fail to associate the distinctive Edmonds baking packaging, a wooden ?buzzy-bee? toy, or paua jewellery with the term ?Kiwiana.?
Perhaps it takes an ?outsider? looking in to make sense of what makes us Kiwi, and visually speaking, Stuart has captured exactly that. He and his wife are in no doubt that New Zealand is their home, and Stuart dreams of The Schwartzonian Museum of Kiwiana ?safeguarding our everyday heritage? in Palmerston North.
Currently there are about 20 members in the Collectors Club, which meets on the fourth Thursday of every month to compare finds over tea and nibbles. Their next meeting is tomorrow and calls for collectors to show off their Royal Memorabilia finds, and bottles with royal words or crests.
* People interested in joining can contact the club president, Janet, on 06 326 8681, or Stuart, on 06 355 4278.
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