Dolce & Gabbana Celebrate Naomi’s Career

Naomi Campbell is teaming up with Dolce & Gabbanna to create a line of t-shirts that celebrate the supermodel’s 25 years in the fashion.

The t-shirts come in 14 different styles and feature signature images of Campbell shot by various renowned fashion photographers. They will sell for $200 each.

All of the proceeds will go to “Fashion for Relief”, which raises money within the fashion industry to help those in times of need and places in need.

Mango wine

Grape-based wines may soon have to compete with wine made from mangoes. Scientists at the Central Institute of Subtropical Horticultural Research in Lucknow have produced wines using three types of mango native to Uttar Pradesh - Dussehri, Langra, and
Chausa.

“We thought if France, Italy or Australia had made a mark for themselves as leaders in the wine industry, essentially because of their abundant grape produce, why don’t we try out our skills with the huge quantities of mango grown in this region?” said Neelima Garg, who led the research team. “Just as each of the mango varieties taste different, each of the wines too varies in taste as well as in flavour,” added Garg, who has been working on the project for the past two years.

The main problem researchers in Lucknow faced was treating the viscous mango pulp to make it thin enough to pass as wine. “The process of fermentation is not very tough, as mango contains huge quantities of sugar, which is the basic source of alcohol, but balancing the viscosity is what needs to be done very carefully,” she said.mangowine

The alcohol content in the slightly yellow, sweet drink is 8-9 per cent, which is lower than the alcohol content of a typical wine made from grapes, that generally ranges from 10-15 per cent. Researchers in Lucknow and elsewhere are hoping that India’s ‘wine adventure’ could include more exotic wines made from mangoes, blackberries or even apples.

Manish Kasture, for example, who is part of a team of scientists based at Dapoli University in Maharashtra, is applying for patents on wine made from cashew apples and blackberries.

More on fruit-based wines

Desi fruit wines: Himachal Pradesh has been producing fruit-based wines for several years now, with commercial success. Established wineries operating from Solan, Mandi, Palampur and Shimla have a portfolio that includes wines from from apple, plum, pear, peach, apricot, kiwi and strawberry.

Around the world: Elsewhere in the world, fruits that are commonly used to make wine include elderberries, raspberry, litchi,
cranberry, cloudberry, apricot, watermelon, pomegranate, loquat and huckleberry. Pineapple wine is popular in Hawaii and Japan, while cherry wine, called Kijafa, is popular in Finland.

Kohinoor Premium Banking Centre

After wooing the urban poor here with its 'One Rupee Bank' account, State Bank of India (SBI) is now aggressively targeting the crorepatis.

The government lender has inaugurated first-of-its-kind branch for high networth individuals (HNIs), where it takes minimum Rs. 1 crore to open an account, and that too on an invitation only.

Kohinoor Banjara Premium Banking Centre (named after the famed Kohinoor diamond that was discovered here), spread over 4,000 sq ft, offers specialised banking facilities like relationship managers, 24/7 lockers, extended banking hours, doorstep pick-up and drop facilities, in addition to pampering customers with five-star amenities at the branch.

"We have opened as many as 50 accounts so far. We are confident of opening another 150 by the end of the current fiscal," SBI Chief General Manager Shiva Kumar told PTI.

LoGO TaLe: Discovery Kids

Discovery Kids launched in September 1996, owned by Discovery Communications with programming for children education and with an emphasis on real-life adventures, nature, science and wildlife from all over the world has changed its logo.

It has transformed itself from programming service to little plastic dinosaurs to night goggles. To extend its  merchandise Discovery Communications partnered with toy maker Hasbro to roll out The Hub.

Trivia:-

• In 2002, Discovery Kids aired its first reality show called 'Endurance'.
• In between 2002 and 2006, Discovery Kids partnered with NBC which came to an end when later came out with Qubo.

AQAD 114

Original Symbols...... The first two logos of which company?

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PrePare Tata Crucible 6

􀀹 Walt Disney’s first foray into business was the founding of the ‘Laugh-O-gram’ corporation in 1921 which went bankrupt barely two years later
􀀹 Nintendo started as a playing card company in 1889 in Japan and literally means ‘Leave luck to
Heaven’
􀀹 In the mid 80s, the Beatles’ song ‘revolution’ was licensed for a TV commercial, Nike, the first time ever that a Beatles’ song had been licensed for advertising purposes
􀀹 The Singapore Girl of Singapore Airlines was the first commercial symbol to be displayed at
Madame Tussaud’s wax museum
􀀹 King Camp Gillette once said ‘I have done more than anyone else to change the face of mankind’

Mitticool - a product of Mansukhbhai

Mansukhbhai, a school drop-out, he has achieved a feat that many in the world envy today.  The simple and unassuming Mansukhbhai is not keen on money. His ambition is to make more low-cost and eco-friendly products for the masses. "I failed in the tenth standard. But I was not disappointed as I knew that I was capable of making something new," says Mansukhbhai who holds a patent for Mitticool. He has been popularising earthen products since 1988. Besides, the low-cost fridge, he has developed a water filter, non-stick tava and a pressure cooker all made of clay.

(Presenting the national award to Mansukhbhai in 2009, President Pratibha Patil)

Mitticool, a clay refrigerator that works without electricity had turned the world's attention to its creator Mansukhbhai Prajapati, a craftsman based in Gujarat. "A good majority of Indians cannot buy a fridge as it is expensive. Besides this, electricity bills and maintenance cost is also high. Mitticool is an eco-friendly product which has no maintenance costs. It also retains the original taste of vegetables, says Mansukhbhai who has sold 1500 units so far. The upper part of the refrigerator stores water, while the bottom unit has space for fruits, vegetables and milk.

The beginning

Pottery has been the Prajapati family's traditional business. Mansukhbhai’s family belonged to Morbi in Rajkot district. However, his father gave up the profession as it was not getting them any money. It was all hard work without much gain. He being the only son was sent to school on the hope that he would do well in academics and get a good life. However, he disappointed them when he failed tenth standard. To make matters worse, he refused to take up construction work which his father had started doing. He was however forced to do all sorts of odd jobs. He even injured an eye working in a brick factory. "I was fed up. I wanted to start my own factory. But there was no way I could do it without resources. I joined a tile factory. I worked there for sometime. This was a turning point for me," he says.

He found that tiles were manufactured at a fast pace with a machine which was quite expensive. He took a loan of Rs 30,000 and started a small factory. At the age of 18, he made a machine, which could make 600 tavas a day instead of 100 tavas they used to make manually. This gave him lot of confidence to explore and innovate. He got the idea to make a machine for about Rs 4,000, which could help him manufacture more tavas than was being done manually. His initiative to restart the pottery business was not taken positively. But he went ahead despite opposition.

The business

By 1995, he realised the need to build a water filter. The market had steel filters which were not very efficient. After months of research and hard work, he built a water filter. Luck favoured him too. "A person who had settled in Nairobi heard about my project and approached me for 500 units. I was excited. I sold it making Rs 100,000 on the first sale. It was a good start. The product I developed was sold in Nairobi even before it sold in India," he says. The water filters priced at Rs 350 to 400 are quite popular. Later in 2005, he started the non-stick tava (pan) business. "My wife could not buy a non-stick tava as it was costly. So I thought many people would be facing the same problem. That's when I designed the non-stick tavas, priced between Rs 50-100." It took him a year to research and experiment -- testing the material for the non stick coating etc. The food grade test for the pan was done by Tata Chemicals in Mumbai.

Mansukhbhai has sold more than 50,000 tavas. He had to make thousands of tavas before he made the perfect one.

Gujarat Grassroots Innovation Network and professors at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and the National Innovation Foundation, extended their help in the form of grant and guidance for getting the patent, making the packing box and lab testing of products.

The idea behind Mitticool

During the 2001 earthquake, all earthen pots were broken. Some people told me the poor people's refrigerators are broken. They referred to the 'matkas'(pots) as refrigerators.
It struck me then that I must try to make a fridge for those who cannot afford to buy a fridge. The patent winning Mitticool has been the most challenging product for him. It needed a lot of experimenting. He started work on it in 2001; the product was finally ready by 2004.
It took him almost four years of hard labour and an investment of about Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million). An engineer who saw the fridge asked him to make 100 units. This was a great morale booster. It takes 10 people to make a fridge in one day. Made from clay, the refrigerator can store water, fruits, and vegetables for 8 days and milk for one day.

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Heinz tomato soup: 100 years

Heinz's product first went on sale in Fortnum & Mason, London's most upmarket department store in September 1910, the summer of Dr Crippen's trial for murder and at the same time as when the first engine-powered double decker bus entered service in the capital. The cream of tomato soup was originally manufactured in Canada.

Trivia:-

The anniversary is being marked by Fortnum & Mason, which is serving the soup in its restaurant – as well as a fruit cake made from the soup. It is also selling soup in replica packaging to the original 1910 can.

AQAD 113

Good Gulp! Who is this? Creator of a brand that has become almost a generic product in India.

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Apple's social moves Ping

Ping, the social network linked to iTunes. With Ping, Apple has created a new social network that appears to serve as both a promotional platform for music artists and a music discovery vehicle. Users can elect to follow their favorite bands, and those artists can post photos, videos, album updates and tour dates via the service.

In addition, Ping allows users to follow friends and share information on their own music collections and their opinions on various artists. There is also a "Recent Activity" feed, which automatically displays the top songs and albums users' friends are listening to or have downloaded recently. However, unlike Facebook or Twitter, Ping is not advertiser supported.

 

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