Tag: marketing

Gifts
Arts Kids

Grade-One Students In Canada Getting “Gifts”

This month, every child in Grade one in Canada will receive a free book.

That will be every grade-one child, including those who are home-schooled, or in any school in the country, private or public, French-speaking or English-speaking.

The book giveaway is the product of a partnership between TD (the bank) and the Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC).

The bank pays more than $1-million to have 500,000 books printed and sent out to grade-one students across the country. This is the program’s eleventh year.

This year the books the kids will get is Gifts (Cadeaux, translated into French), by author Jo Ellen Bogart and plasticine artist Barbara Reid.

Lighter News

Give Yourself Up – And Get A Mani-Pedi?

If you turn yourself in to police and admit you were part of last year’s Stanley Cup riot, you could get a free manicure or pedicure.

Last June, there was a major riot in Vancouver after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup to Boston. Crowds swarmed the streets, smashing store windows and stealing things.

So many people were involved that the police are still trying to identify who did what.

Vancouver’s Eccotique Salons has an unusual promotion to help the police identify and arrest the rioters. They are offering a $50 “Calm Down And De-Stress Gift Certificate” to any rioter who gives himself up to police.

News

Inventor, Innovator, Genius – Steve Jobs’ Legacy

Steve Jobs changed forever the way the world views, and interacts with, technology.

Jobs passed away last week, at the age of 56, from cancer.

Jobs helped to invent many products including the Macintosh computer, the iPhone, the iPod and the iPad. Along with Steve Wozniak, he founded computer company Apple.

It may be difficult for young people, who may have never known computers and phones before Steve Jobs changed them, to understand the massive impact he made.

A 1984 video of Jobs unveiling a brand-new product called the Macintosh computer, gives some idea.

To us today, the technology seems horribly outdated, clunky and… can you believe it? the images on the tiny computer screen aren’t even in colour!

But listen to the audience in the video as Jobs walks over to a small bag and takes the computer out. It has a handle! It’s small enough to carry! It has graphics, not just text! The audience gasps, cheers and claps because no one has ever seen anything like it.

News Sports

Blue Jays New Logo “Leaked” Online

The Blue Jays baseball team is changing its logo.

Teams often change their logo when they want to portray their team in a new way.

In this case, the Jays likely want their logo to emphasize the fact that they are Canadian.

Their new logo design is a big secret. They don’t want anyone to know what it will look like until they unveil it to the media and the public at a big event.

The logo they posted on their site looks quite a bit like an old logo they used to have, with the Canadian maple leaf quite a bit bigger.

However, the website Uni Watch (Uni stands for uniform) has obtained what it says is a copy of the proposed logo.

Lighter News

The 20 Richest People In The United States

Every year, Forbes magazine publishes a list of the 20 richest people in the United States.

This year, the 20 richest people are even richer than last year’s list. Together, they own $52 billion more than the top 20 did in 2010.

At the #20 spot on the list is the Mars family, the owners of the world’s largest candy company. Mars also makes Uncle Ben’s rice and Whiskas cat food.

The three family members have more than $13 billion each.

At #15 are the co-founders of Google (the company that owns the Internet search engine), Sergey Brin and Larry Page. They have $16 billion each.

Lighter Technology

It’s DejaVu For Apple All Over Again

Last year, someone who worked at Apple, the company that makes computers and cell phones, made a big mistake.

They lost a top-secret prototype.

A prototype is a one-of-a-kind model they build of a new phone they’re thinking of manufacturing. It’s kept secret so no other company will find out what they’re doing and try to copy them.

The person who had the prototype accidentally left it in a bar. A journalist found it and put pictures of it on the Internet. It was a big scandal.

Well, it has apparently happened again.

Apple developed a prototype for the iPhone 5 they will be releasing soon. And once again, an employee has accidentally left it in a bar, according to technology website CNET.

News

Justice League To Get An Upgrade

There will soon be new costumes and facelifts for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and many other superheroes.

Collectively known as the Justice League, these comic book superheroes have been battling evil for decades.

Justice League is produced by DC Comics, and the company is facing increasing pressure from its biggest competitor, Marvel Comics.

That’s why they’re upgrading their best-loved comic heroes, starting Aug. 1.

Many of the heroes will take on a more youthful appearance, and about 50 will get new costumes.

Arts Entertainment Kids Technology

Pottermore Revealed… Sort Of

Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling has finally revealed some of what Pottermore.com will have on it.

But it will be a bit difficult to understand exactly what will be on the new website until it’s fully up and running and that won’t be until October for most people.

One million lucky Harry Potter fans will be able to test the Pottermore site in a sneak preview starting on July 31, Harry’s birthday.

In a YouTube announcement and during a media conference in London, England, Rowling revealed that Pottermore will:

•Include more information and “back story” on some of the Harry Potter characters including Professor McGonagall (her childhood, ministry career, early heartbreak and her long friendship with Dumbledore), and how Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon met (at work, apparently).

•Include more than 18,000 words about Harry Potter and the characters, written by Rowling.

•Include a Pottermore shop where you can buy Harry Potter ebooks (digital books).

Arts Kids Lighter

What Is Harry Potter Up To Now?

Or more accurately… what is author J. K. Rowling up to?

The answer is: a mysterious new website called Pottermore.

A few weeks before the launch of the final Harry Potter movie (Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2), Rowling put up an intriguing website at www.pottermore.com.

She also began a Twitter account, twitter.com/pottermore, which has more than 75,000 followers.

It offers no clues as to what the website will be about.

It merely has the words “Pottermore” and “Coming soon…” with J. K. Rowling’s signature.

Health

E. Coli Outbreak In Europe; 2,200 People Ill

There has been a serious outbreak of E. coli in Europe.

At least 2,200 people have gotten sick or shown symptoms and 22 people in Germany have died.

E. coli is short for Escherichia coli. It is a type of bacteria normally found in the body.

Most kinds (or “strains”) of E. coli are harmless and even help the body.

The strains included in the outbreak, however, are a harmful kind, causing food poisoning.

Food poisoning from E. coli usually happens when people eat unwashed vegetables or undercooked meat.