Ardagh Metal Packaging and Crown Holdings finance AI and robotic technology for a California recycling facility with a 50% revenue share.

For brands looking to craft memorable experiences for their customers, interactive packaging is a key strategy that businesses of all sizes can employ to drive deeper connections. Here are some formats that might make sense to apply to your own packaging design in 2024.

When we hear "cans" and "aluminum," we usually think of beverage packaging. But cans and aluminum have various packaging roles. Here are three cases for their use.

Alison Keane, President and CEO of the Flexible Packaging Association for eight years, is leaving her position on August 1. We want to express our appreciation for her work at FPA and her willingness to offer guidance on industry matters.

The ten year roadmap aims for beverage cartons made from renewable and/or recycled material. 

The case packer, known as Pakman, will be integrated with Yaskawa Motomon HC10 and HC20 collaborative robots.

The goal of secondary packaging is to ensure the integrity of a product during storage and transportation, making sure it reaches the hands of the user in the same state as it was made.

The bottles have an on-pack call to action "Recycle Me Again" message and will also drive consumer awareness with "100% recycled PET bottle" displayed on the pack.

All beverage bottles and cans collected will be recycled and remade into new food-grade packaging.

Packaging and consumer goods companies are accelerating their efforts to adopt new innovative materials and processes to replace plastic in product packaging to help meet their plastic reduction goals

As we see consumer preference grow for high-protein products, Direct UHT (ultra-high temperature) becomes the stand-out processing method for its gentler treatment of protein-rich formulations, alongside other benefits.

Company will have a team of experts on-site to showcase innovative equipment additions such as the Tetra Pak A1 1100 Filling Machine and the new Tetra Pak Direct UHT (Ultra-High Temperature) unit.

With over 15 years of experience in the manufacturing and operations sector, Ben brings a wealth of expertise to the new role.

Bringing sweet tea and juice to the market requires palletizing the cases filled with respective bottles to be palletized for transportation to retail outlets. Due to their perishable nature, they are stored in cold rooms.

As suppliers are looking to be more efficient in their end-to-end solutions, a key area of focus has been finding innovative ways to improve the palletizing process.

SYMACH 3500S merges the original Thiele Master 3500 palletizer experience with the SYMACH palletizing platform.

A variety of conveyor technologies were implemented to smoothly transport beverage cans between different processing machines in the line. 

Ammeraal Beltech is designing belts to meet the demands of smarter, faster, and highly precise operations.

The VELTEKO WASHDOWN-360 vertical packaging machine can be used in operations with more stringent hygiene requirements as well as anywhere that liquids need to be packaged.

Company’s PCS700-IOT performs high-speed pressure and gas measurement for carbonated, nitrogen-dosed and hot-filled beverages to detect leaks and optimize the process.

In this insightful article, Beth Zipko of Source Wurx makes the case that no element of private label products has improved more rapidly and dramatically than packaging, which has evolved from eyeroll-inducing to eye-catching. 

Registration Now Open for Destinations International Fall 2024 Conferences: Advocacy Summit, Social Inclusion Summit and Business Operations Summit dbreisch@desti… Wed, 07/10/2024 - 18:22

• Euro area growth is projected to be sluggish
• Sees downside risks to growth
• Waiting on December projections for a better picture of where we stand

So far, he's not saying anything to jolt market pricing. And that's the other main consideration for any of their communications before making policy decisions. As such, a 25 bps rate cut in December remains the likeliest option at this stage. EUR/USD remains down 0.2% on the day at 1.0626 currently.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

Hello, this is Itai Levitan at ForexLive.com. Today, I’m diving into Natural Gas Futures (NG), which are trading around 2.92 as of yesterday's close. This analysis will be relevant to those of you looking at CFDs, futures themselves, or stocks related to natural gas. Here’s a detailed view of my approach:

Natural Gas Futures Overview

Currently, we’re seeing Natural Gas Futures in a significant channel on the weekly time frame. There’s potential for a bullish breakout from a large bull flag formation, highlighted by the recent piercing through the upper edge of this channel. However, we’re still in uncertain territory—it’s possible the price may reverse back down, retesting the flag before making any decisive move.

Dip Buying Extreme Targeting

I’m looking closely at the potential for an extreme dip buying opportunity in natural gas. When I say “extreme dip buying,” I’m talking about setting up a longer-term, strategic plan that goes beyond typical levels. Instead of just waiting for an undefined "deep drop," I'm identifying specific price levels that could offer remarkable buying opportunities if the market hits them.

Long-Term Support Levels to Watch

Here’s what I'm focusing on for a deeper dip buy:

1. 1.612 (Low of 2016) – This level may present an attractive medium-term long position, suitable for swing trades.
2. 1.44 (Low of 2020) – Similar to 1.612, this level could offer a profitable swing opportunity, though not necessarily for a prolonged hold.

While these are appealing points for shorter-term trades, I recommend partial profit-taking here to mitigate risk if the price reverses sharply.

Generational Low Opportunity at 1.25

For the patient, long-term investors, my primary area of interest lies around 1.25—the historic low from 1995, nearly 30 years ago. This level represents a “generational low,” providing a triple layer of support:

• The lower bound of the channel.
• The major, longer-term channel trendline.
• The historic 1.25 support level from 1995.

If natural gas reaches this area, it could be a highly attractive long-term buy. I suggest setting several buy orders around 1.25 to capture a position here and holding for substantial potential upside. Patience will be key—having some trading capital reserved for this area could be a game-changing strategy.

The Ultimate Extreme at 1.04

If something drastic occurs and the price reaches 1.04, the all-time low from the 1990s, it would represent a multi-generational low. This level would likely attract significant buying interest from funds, institutions, and individual investors. Similar to the parity level we saw with EUR/USD, this psychological round number could spur major accumulation and serve as an unparalleled buying opportunity.

Summary and Final Thoughts on Natural Gas and Exteme Dip Buying

In summary:

• Stay Patient: This strategy involves waiting for rare, extreme dip-buying levels.
• Allocate Capital Strategically: Save some ammunition for these lower levels, where the upside potential is considerable.
• Monitor Support Levels Closely: Levels like 1.25 and 1.04 represent deeply discounted entry points that could yield long-term gains.

Follow ForexLive.com for additional insights for investors and traders, and let’s keep an eye on these setups. Extreme opportunities don’t come often, so be prepared and thank me later!

This article was written by Itai Levitan at www.forexlive.com.

Legend of Arcadia (LoA), a new card-based RPG set in an expansive universe inspired by Kingdom Hearts, is bringing a community-driven operational model to Web3 gaming. With a focus on sustainable growth, LoA aims to establish itself as a leading platform by integrating blockchain technology, unique NFT mechanics, and community-centric features that foster long-term player engagement.

As the Web3 gaming industry is forecasted to grow to $305 billion by 2030, LoA stands out by addressing key sustainability issues that have previously limited the success of Web3 gaming ventures. Many blockchain-based games have struggled with player retention and engagement, often due to unsustainable reward systems. LoA’s approach, built on years of gaming experience from its team’s work with industry leaders like Tencent, Hero Entertainment, and Seasun Studios, centers on creating an inclusive, feedback-driven community.

Community-driven growth and operations

Legend of Arcadia (LoA), a card-based RPG game built on a vast story universe inspired by Kingdom Hearts, has a strong vision for reimagining live operations in Web3, called community-driven operations. The formula combines building a sticky and vocal community driven by a strong feedback loop and nimble implementation of the ideas. This has helped LoA stand out from others.

The team has spent the past two years perfecting the formula based on their decade-long experience in driving high DAU and retention at leading game companies such as Tencent, Hero Entertainment, and Seasun Studios. At the same time, building a 60k+ strong community with users that actively interact with the team and provide them with feedback.

The right feedback loop between the community and the developer has led to innovative tactics for driving community engagement.

For example, rather than hosting traditional alpha tests, the team mixed the idea of esports and competition and invited people to form their own teams to compete during the test. This led to a brand-new Guild called Alter Ego Guild being formed in the community, and they remain some of the game’s biggest supporters, helping new players onboard and get deep into LoA.

During its three-month campaign, LoA had 100,000+ registered users with minimal marketing spend. It also has very high next-day and 7-day retention of 75% and 56%, respectively, higher than many traditional games' 50% and 20%. As it moves towards its TGE and official game launch, the community continues to provide feedback and support the team.

With backing from 10+ investors, including Animoca Brands and OKX Ventures, LoA can further develop the game's vastness, ensuring the community is constantly engaged with new content and utilities of its native token, $ARCA. This ranges from the endless possibilities of different NFT heroes to the countless actions and ways to earn $ARCA tokens.

Innovative NFT Mechanics and Extensive Gameplay

In LoA, each NFT hero is unique, with randomized genetic traits such as appearance and abilities drawn from a large gene pool of over five trillion combinations, including over 48 types of basic attributes, 40,000+ skill combinations, and more than 28 million gene combinations. This ensures that no two NFT heroes are the same.

The game team, supported by AI, has also created countless words and storylines, shaping different toy characters and enriching the stories of LoA. It also enhances player retention by implementing seasonal demands created by the in-game mechanics, which will eventually boost the trading volume.

$ARCA Token Distribution and Roadmap

In LoA, players can earn tokens through a variety of activities and strategies involving their NFT heroes. Inspired by a system commonly used in web2 games, by combining White Ores from mining with Black Ores earned in battles, they can produce $ARCA tokens. Heroes can also be customized through special events and features, which not only alter their appearance but can also provide gameplay advantages, such as enhanced mining power when using event-specific skins.

Players can also participate in PvE content by clearing dungeons and defeating bosses for valuable loot or diving into PvP battles to compete against others for rewards and climb seasonal leaderboards for even greater gains. To further boost their earnings, players can stake $ARCA tokens, unlocking additional rewards like free NFTs or a share of profits from NFT sales, adding another layer of value to their in-game investments.

In addition to earning tokens through in-game monetization, LoA further enhances sustainability by distinguishing between in-game and external economic factors. This structure allows players to monetize external elements, such as staking $ARCA tokens for special privileges and rewards or sharing in proceeds from NFT assets. This approach aims to foster long-term value creation over short-term speculative gains.

LoA will have a total supply of 40,000,000 $ARCA tokens that are distributed among seven pools where each pool will be further subdivided into different rank tiers based on the amount of Gacha Points earned.

With countless opportunities and activities in the world of LoA, the game constantly rejuvenates the excitement of its community and players, which will ensure its sustainability in the long run. The game also has plans for extensive single-player content (PVE mode) and multiplayer modes where players can form teams and challenge others in real-time battles. Legend of Arcadia is currently set to launch in November 2024.

About Legend of Arcadia

Legend of Arcadia (LOA) (https://legendofarcadia.io/) is a card-based RPG game built on a vast story universe inspired by Kingdom Hearts. LOA is built with the latest technology for the modern gamer, powered by blockchain. Players can enjoy the game for free, on the go, on a mobile device, and socialize in real-time with gamers from across the globe through immersive PvP game modes and by trading highly composable NFTs.

This article was written by FL Contributors at www.forexlive.com.

In brief from WPAC's note:

• September quarter Wage Price Index below the RBA’s expectation which pointed to a 0.9%qtr rise in both the September and December quarters of 2024
• Wage inflation peaked at 4.3%yr in December 2023 and has been drifting lower through 2024
• Wage Price Index (WPI) rose 0.8% (3.5%yr) ... The RBA is currently forecasting annual wages growth to print 3.4%yr for end 2024 and hold at that rate through to June 2025.

***

The WPI should easily come in under that RBA forecast by end 2024. While some will point to slowing wages as a reason to cut rates the RBA is in no hurry, still war of elevated demand and inflation likely to pop back above the top of the 2 - 3% target band once government cost of living subsidies roll off.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.

Washington, D.C. -- PILOT, the innovation arm of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), today announced it is conducting a program with support of the Google News Initiative to improve direct-to-consumer audience engagement to better serve local audiences. The six-month program is designed to support broadcaster education as well as the implementation of first-party data and direct-to-consumer business models.

Washington, D.C. -- The NAB Show Broadcast Engineering and IT (BEIT) Conference will offer forward-focused insights into the technical issues, challenges and opportunities affecting the future of content delivery ecosystems. Produced in partnership with the Society of Broadcast Engineers, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers and the North American Broadcasters Association, the conference will run April 15–18, 2023 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Washington, D.C. -- NAB Show will partner with Broadcast Beat Studios to run a live remote-production broadcast from the Show Floor that will air internationally over the internet. NAB Show LIVE will run each day of the 2023 NAB Show, April 15-19, from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. PDT (9 a.m.-2 p.m. PDT Wednesday) in Las Vegas, Nev., creating an immersive experience for viewers who want to see exhibitor interviews, demos, new product spotlights, Experiential Zone experiences, and other on-floor events.

Washington, D.C. -- NAB Show today announced that two-time Emmy-award winning writer, actress and comedian Ashley Nicole Black will moderate a fireside chat with actor, writer, producer and all-around multihyphenate Brett Goldstein. In "A Conversation with Brett Goldstein," on the NAB Show Main Stage Monday, April 17, at 4 p.m., Goldstein will discuss his multifaceted creative career, how he balances his various roles, and his process for creating compelling content.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) filed a petition for mandamus in federal court today seeking to require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to expeditiously complete its long-pending 2018 quadrennial review of broadcast ownership rules.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – NAB Show New York and the prestigious HBO Camera Assessment Series (CAS) are thrilled to unveil a dynamic new collaboration at this year’s NAB Show New York, which takes place October 24-26 at the Javits Center. On October 25, attendees will gain access to screen The CAS, which is a meticulous exploration of the cinematic storytelling potential of today's leading cameras. The follow-up session, The Making of The HBO Camera Assessment Test (CAS) Seminar, takes place October 26 at the Cine+Live Lab on the NAB Show New York show floor. For the first time, in celebration of the series' 10th anniversary, the creators will publicly share their insights and the journey behind making the assessment series.

Washington, D.C. -- PILOT, the innovation arm of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), kicked off the third annual PILOT Next Gen TV Fellowship program on November 3 at NAB headquarters in Washington, D.C. This year’s program has expanded and includes students from Howard University and the University of Missouri.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt participated today in a Senate AI Insight Forum titled "Transparency, Explainability, Intellectual Property and Copyright." 

Washington, D.C.— Captivating narratives, stunning visuals and life-like character interaction – artificial intelligence (AI) is disrupting traditional content creation and delivery. Leading AI and computer-vision researcher Dr. Hao Li will dive into the cutting-edge world of generative AI during his keynote presentation at the opening session of the 2024 NAB Broadcast Engineering and IT (BEIT) Conference, April 13 – 16 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Washington, D.C. – The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) announced today that Nandu Machiraju has joined NAB’s legal team as senior vice president and deputy general counsel. Machiraju will report to Rick Kaplan, chief legal officer and executive vice president, Legal and Regulatory Affairs.

Today, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) announced the appointment of Nexstar Media Group, Inc., President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Biard to its Television Board of Directors, effective immediately. Television Board Chair Pat LaPlatney made the appointment in accordance with NAB by-laws.

English: Les Miserables at Queen's Theatre, as seen in the day. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There have not been many movies I have looked forward to watching more than Les Miserables. So I understand this is always hard to satisfy.

When I was 21 years old I saw the musical live on stage in London from the 5th row and ever since then it has been my favorite musical. One of the things that I love most about the musical is that the sets are more of a secondary aspect and the music is the star.

This is the big mistake of the movie. It had great cinematography and looked amazing but the star power and picture seemed to take precedence over the singing. I just don't think the stars that they cast were capable of singing at the level you get on Broadway.

English: Eddie Redmayne, British actor. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

They are both live or in the moment which I know is what the director was going for but with the right actor you can still have the best of both worlds. I believe that if the directors would have not sold out for star power and focused on the singing more this movie could have been phenomenal.

Even within the movie itself I much preferred the voices of the actors I didn't know before hand like Eponine (Samantha Barks) and Marius (Eddie Redmayne). The movie was much more enjoyable in the sections of the movie that focused on them. But as soon as Russell Crowe came back in I think I actually cringed in the theater.

So all in all as far as movies go it was probably pretty good but for someone who truly loves Broadway Musicals this movie left me wanting.

Room 21, Parliament Buildings

Room 29, Parliament Buildings

Room 29, Parliament Buildings

Room 29, Parliament Buildings

Room 29, Parliament Buildings

Room 29, Parliament Buildings

Custom designing proteins — a breakthrough recognized by the latest Nobel Prize in chemistry — could yield treatments that stop the worst of COVID-19 before it begins.

The post Stanford Medicine experts help Nobel winner custom design proteins for COVID-19 therapy appeared first on Scope.

From the Archives | February 2020, Honolulu Hawaii

Jim Grisanzio talks with Gerald Venzl from Oracle and Chris Thalinger from Twitter at UnVoxxed Hawaii 2020 about the un-conference format, the technical sessions, the mix of conference attendees, and some of the activities people took in during the three day event. 

• Jim Grisanzio https://twitter.com/jimgris
• Chris Thalinger https://twitter.com/christhalinger
• Gerald Venzl https://twitter.com/GeraldVenzl
• Sanbox Conference Center https://sandboxhawaii.org/
• YouTube Video https://youtu.be/nEIngyumfz8

This is part of the "From the Archives" series I'm posting occasionally to revisit some of the interesting personalities I've spoken to and the places where we've been building community here at Oracle. It's nice to look back every now and then. What you'll notice right away is a totally different energy when we're at an event working closely face-to-face. We all miss it. Hopefully we'll return to the road some day. For now, though, let's always remember and never forget. Cheers. ♥︎

Podcast Host: Jim Grisanzio, Oracle Developer Relations
https://twitter.com/jimgris
https://developer.oracle.com/team/ 

Jim Grisanzio from Oracle Developer Relations talks with Oracle ACE Director Rita Nunez from Argentina to preview the upcoming 2021 LAOUC Evento de Primavera November 9-10. The event will be held online in Spanish, Portuguese, and English, and it's free and open to developers globally. Technologies discussed will be Oracle Database, security, APEX, Java, development tools, cloud, and more. Get involved here.

Rita Nunez, Oracle ACE Director

• https://twitter.com/ritan2000 

Jim Grisanzio, Oracle Developer Relations

• https://twitter.com/jimgris 
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimgris/ 
• https://developer.oracle.com/team/ 
• https://oraclegroundbreakers.libsyn.com/