Kimo Sabe Mezcal

Kimo Sabe, the new face of mezcal, has signed a three-year deal to become the official and exclusive mezcal sponsor of SXSW. The deal commences with this year's South By Southwest® Conference, where Kimo Sabe will hold numerous high-profile activations, including hosting numerous happy hour parties at the Trusted Friends Lounge inside the Austin Convention Center, a sampling exhibit at the Lady Bird Lake Outdoor Stage at live music events, as well as many other surprise pop-up activations throughout the festival. With mezcal being the fastest-growing spirit category in the world — and Kimo Sabe the fastest growing mezcal in the US — planting their flag at SXSW is another major step for Kimo Sabe in creating brand distinction in the burgeoning category. The deal was announced today by Jim Walsh, CEO and co-founder of Kimo Sabe, Ashely Walsh Kvamme, COO and co-founder of Kimo Sabe and Scott McNearney, Director of Global Sponsorship at SXSW.

To meet the growing demand for the spirit, a press conference with Kimo Sabe and the governor of Zacatecas, Mexico, announced last week a ground-breaking partnership that will create sustainable, organic ecosystems for the cultivation of varietal agaves, generating up to 100 new agave farms and creating over 1000 new jobs in the state. The move is part of Kimo Sabe's plan to build bridges with Mexico when others are suggesting walls.  

Since its launch in 2015, Kimo Sabe — which translates to Trusted Friend in Sonoran Indian — has racked up a number of prestigious awards including becoming the first mezcal to win top American Distilling Institute (ADI) honor "Best In Class International Specialty Spirit" for 2016, which judged Kimo Sabe against all mezcals and tequilas.  

Not only is mezcal the fastest growing spirits category, it is also the second most trending alcohol on social media, appealing to people who love tequila but who are seeking a superior alternative to call their own. Kimo Sabe's mission is to turn traditional tequila and whiskey drinkers onto the more refined and flavorful world of mezcals. SXSW attendees will have ample opportunity to take the taste test for themselves as the agreement calls for Kimo Sabe to have a major presence at SXSW with many activations.   

The SXSW sponsorship agreement fits seamlessly into Kimo Sabe's bold and successful rollout strategy, which has set a bullseye on the top tequila markets in the US. In just a short time, Kimo Sabe has seen double-digit gains of tequila market share in California, Nevada, New Jersey and Arizona. Kimo Sabe has also recently launched in Texas, Minnesota, Colorado, and Tennessee, with plans to expand to Illinois, Florida, and New York this spring, and Wisconsin and Georgia this summer.

QUOTE FROM KIMO SABE

"SXSW celebrates the expression of passionate, creative talent, inside the biggest party of the year — a perfect place to experience Kimo Sabe Mezcal and keep the party going with Trusted Friends," said Jim Walsh and Ashley Walsh Kvamme.

Safari Loses Users

Apple's Safari browser, like rival Internet Explorer (IE), has lost a significant number of users in the last two years, data published Wednesday showed.

The most likely destination of Safari defectors: Google's Chrome.

According to California-based analytics vendor Net Applications, in March 2015, an estimated 69% of all Mac owners used Safari to go online. But by last month, that number had dropped to 56%, a drop of 13 percentage points -- representing a decline of nearly a fifth of the share of two years prior.

It was possible to peg the percentage of Mac users who ran Safari only because that browser works solely on macOS, the Apple operating system formerly labeled OS X. The same single-OS characteristic of IE and Edge has made it possible in the past to determine the percentage of Windows users who run those browsers.

New App Created to Increase Self-Esteem and Productivity for Millions of AD-HD Kids and Families

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/igotthis/igotthis-app-for-adhd-families-get-stuff-done

WHO: 4 Million of US Children Who Have ADHD

WHAT: New Task-Focused, Life-Management Solution for ADHD Families Created Called iGotThis

WHEN: March 6th to April 6th Kickstarter Campaign

WHY: It’s no wonder that kids with ADHD are more likely to have low self-esteem – sometimes pathologically low. Repeated failures wear away self-esteem, as does being told that something is “wrong” with you. The truth is that ADHD is simply a byproduct of being extraordinary, but their kids are judged by the expectations of an ordinary world.

iGotThis turns the tables on self-esteem and productivity issues with these extraordinary kids. It is a task-focused, life-management solution uniquely designed for ADHD families that builds self-esteem by ensuring repeated success. It’s loaded with features to keep kids with ADHD on track, focused, and motivated - all while providing real-time visibility and complete control for parents. It provides:

• Repeated successes with its unique failsafe reminder system
• Motivation through a customizable rewards feature
• Positive reinforcement with game dynamics
• Inspirational Messaging about ADHD
• Real-Time, remote oversight to parents

The solution also features web and mobile dashboards, location based reminders, comprehensive task customization, optional project tracking and checklists and planning wizards for parents. Easy to use walkthroughs and video tutorials help everyone get the most of the solution from the first day.

But iGotThis is more than an app- it’s also a community and a mission. iGotThis provides forums and resources that let users share, teach and learn, support and be supported. As part of its mission, iGotThis is providing public outreach to change the way the world views ADHD and those extraordinary people who have it.

It’s so important to build self-confidence and remind those children that ADHD is not a deficiency, it’s a gift. iGotThis helps them learn valuable skills and creates habits that will help them succeed, and build their self-esteem so they can one day have the confidence to enter the world as adults.

Back the project on the Kickstarter page between March 6th and April 6th to help fund finishing the app and you will become one of the “Founding Families” of iGotThis. These families will enjoy lower prices, additional rewards, privileges and recognition.

Users will sign up at the iGotThis.com web site and the app will be available to download in the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store and the Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Play store upon release.

Approximately 12 million parents are raising an extraordinary child and are looking for ways to solve the issues that come up with such a diagnosis. One of the main symptoms of ADHD is not being able to follow through on a task without being distracted. Another issue is low self-esteem, which often results from the ordinary world’s methods that sets those with ADHD up for failure.

Retro Phones

Once famous mobile phones such as Nokia's classic 3310 from the turn of the century have been given a new lease of life as Chinese manufacturers revive Western brands to get an edge in an increasingly cut-throat handset market.

Apple and Samsung lead the smartphone pack worldwide but impressive growth in the Chinese market has left room for a host of home-grown manufacturers to come to the fore, with China's Huawei now third in the world.

Within China, Oppo surged to become market leader last year and it is expanding rapidly in Asia to stand fourth in the world rankings, even if its brand is little known in developed and increasingly stagnant Western markets. A closely related Chinese brand, Vivo, has muscled its way into fifth place globally.

What this means, though, is that former Chinese market leaders, such as Lenovo and TCL Communications, are losing ground, and some are counting on retro Western brands to revive their fortunes at home and abroad.

Emerging from a sea of indistinguishable smartphones, the showstopper at this year's main European technology trade fair was a revival of the Nokia (NOKIA.HE) 3310, its brightly colored cases and month-long battery life tugging at the heartstrings of erstwhile fans in search of a digital detox.

The new phone was launched by Finnish firm HMD Global, led by former Nokia executives and backed financially by Chinese electronics giant Foxconn, which makes devices for Apple and Sony, among others.

Priced at 49 euros, the 3310 is meant to appeal to old fans in the West as well as finding a new generation of younger users in emerging markets looking for a good-looking reliable phone.

The BlackBerry made a splash at the Barcelona trade fair too thanks to China's TCL Communicatio, which unveiled a BlackBerry-licensed handset with the physical keyboard many professionals clung onto even as Apple's iPhone revolutionized the smartphone market. BlackBerry Ltd supplies the phone's security software.

TCL, which is part of a group that makes appliances ranging from TVs to washing machines, has kept France's Alcatel brand alive for a decade. TCL-Alcatel is now the world's 10th biggest smartphone maker, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

Beolit 17

B&O PLAY today unveiled Beolit 17, the latest addition to the iconic Beolit series launched in 1939, which has been redesigned to pack an even bigger musical punch and with new intelligent features via Beoplay App.

Beolit 17 is designed by award-winning Cecilie Manz and the details speak the same design language as Beolit 12 (2012) and Beolit 15 (2015) to put a distinct cool Scandinavian style into any home. The top and the bottom of Beolit 17 is made of robust polymer that can withstand the rigours of everyday life, and with up to 24-hours of portable performance, you can easily take the speaker with you anywhere. The grill wrapped around the speaker is made of anodized pearl-blasted aluminium and the handle, designed for portability, is crafted from premium grain leather. On the top of Beolit 17 is a non-slip and scratch safe tray, where you can safely place your smartphone.

Wake up to your favourite tune Beolit 17 comes with a new intelligent one-touch connect button that can be customised via Beoplay App. In Beoplay App, you can choose between four different functions that will be activated when you press the connect button on top of the speaker:  

Alarm: You can set an alarm in Beoplay App that will wake you up with one of two B&O PLAY alarm tunes or the last played song on your smartphone. Press once to snooze and twice to deactivate the alarm.  

Connect: For easy access to music, you can use the connect feature to instantly play the last played song on Spotify.  

Remote: A simple feature that will play or pause the music by pressing the connect button once. Double press will skip to the next track.  

ToneTouch: Setup Beoplay App to play your favourite ToneTouch preset.

Beolit 17 also works with Beoplay App features such as ToneTouch that gives playful, intuitive, and easy personalisation to your music experience. Simply feel your way through different tonality and staging settings to find the sound that suits you.

Redesign makes room for more power

Beolit 17 is the most powerful Beolit speaker to date due to a clever redesign of the speaker grill, which eliminates the cable compartment. This makes room for an enhanced sound performance delivering 240 watts of peak power that fills even large rooms with goosebump inducing Bang & Olufsen Signature Sound.

Pricing and availability

Beolit 17 launches in Natural and Stone Grey and is available for a suggested retail price of GBP 449 / DKK 3799 / SEK 4999 / NOK 4699 / USD 499 / EUR 499 / AUD 749. Beolit 17 will be available in Bang & Olufsen stores, on www.beoplay.com/beolit17 and in selected third party retailers from March 2 nd 2017.

New Samsung Tablets

Samsung Electronics launched two new tablets on Sunday, marking its first major announcement since being forced to withdraw the flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after some of the devices caught fire.

The Galaxy Tab S3 and the Galaxy Book were presented at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, in past years the scene of major Samsung launches. This year, Samsung has postponed the presentation of the Galaxy S8, its next key device.

Instead, it took the wraps off the Galaxy Tab S3 and the Galaxy Book, which comes in a 10.6-inch and a 12-inch version.

The Galaxy Book will run on Microsoft Windows 10. The Tab S3 will have speakers by Harman-owned AKG, Samsung's first use of the brand since agreeing to buy Harman for $8 billion last year.

Samsung withdrew the Galaxy Note 7 last October after faulty batteries led some devices to catch fire, leading to a loss of consumer trust, wiping out $5.3 billion of operating profit, and allowing Apple's iPhone to overtake it in sales.

Samsung's smartphone market share dropped to 17.7 percent in the fourth quarter, while Apple's rose to 17.8 percent, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics.

Samsung is expected to launch the S8 in April. In the meantime, dozens of device makers are launching new phones at Mobile World Congress, hoping to exploit the gap Samsung has left.

Huawei P10

Huawei has thrown every possible feature at the P10, its new flagship phone that debuted yesterday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The phone is available in eight colours and even with a ceramic white finish. In a word it's gorgeous, and while it looks slippery like the jet black iPhone, it actually has some stickiness to it, which gives it grip, but more on that later.

Like the LG G6 and the new Sony Xperia line up – also unveiled at Mobile World Congress – the Huawei P10 now includes Gorilla Glass 5, so the phone should survive most drops from up to 1.6 metres.

The device is stupidly thin – much thinner than the other flagships on display. Like those other flagships, it is also quite narrow, making it easier to grip and still hit most touch targets on the screen. Huawei was quite proud to tell us that despite its thinness, there is no camera bump on the back of the phone, in a nod to current iPhones.

The P10 continues the maker's partnership with Leica, first seen in the P9 and continued in the Mate 9. It's utilises similar dual lens technology as seen in the iPhone 7 Plus. I've written many times on the dual lenses of Huawei phones, and how I prefer it's portrait mode to the iPhone's.

It's sometimes more aggressive in applying "fauxkeh", or fake bokeh, making the images look a little odd at times, but at any time you can pull focus after you've taken the photo, to calm it down a little. The ability to pull focus in post is something I wish the iPhone 7 Plus would adopt. And at least in my testing, when shooting an 18-month-old toddler, the Huawei always grabs a useable shot whereas the iPhone needs a subject that moves a little slower.