Kellogg Co. is introducing new technology in the U.K. that allows it to burn its famous signature onto individual cereal flakes by using lasers.

Kellogg’s Corn Flakes with brandingEnlarge
The technology, which was developed in Britain, is being used in a trial to stamp out imitation cereals — which Kellogg calls “fake flakes” — by branding Corn Flakes with the company logo.

The news has caused quite a frenzy among U.K. outlets, with many wondering whether this was just Kellogg having some PR fun. But in a phone call the company confirmed that it possesses the technology to do the laser etching and that it’s planning a trial, though it clarified the illustration it supplied was a mock-up.

Kellogg makes 67 million boxes of Corn Flakes every year in the U.K., but the company struggles to get across the message that it doesn’t make cereals for anyone else, and it has lost ground to private-label imitations, or generics, in recent years.

Helen Lyons, lead food technologist at Kellogg, said in a statement, “There has been an increase in the number of [private labels] trying to capitalize on the popularity of Kellogg’s corn flakes. We want shoppers to be under absolutely no illusion that Kellogg’s does not make cereal for anyone else. We’re constantly looking at new ways to reaffirm this, and giving our golden flakes of corn an official stamp of approval could be the answer.”

Kellogg plans to produce a number of trial batches of the branded flakes to test the system. The company will then consider inserting a proportion of branded flakes into each box to guarantee the cereal’s origins and protect against imitation products. If the system is successful, it could be used on Kellogg’s other brands, including Frosties, Special K, Crunchy Nut and Bran Flakes.

The laser uses a concentrated beam of light that focuses the energy within the beam down to a very small spot on the corn flake. The energy density of the laser is enough to give the surface of the flake a darker, toasted appearance without changing the taste.

Ms. Lyons added, “We’ve established that it is possible to apply a logo or image onto food, now we need to see if there is a way of repeating it on large quantities of our cereal. We’re looking into it.”

The initiative comes despite Kellogg’s claim that sales of its Corn Flakes have risen this year, as shoppers with limited budgets opt for recognized, reliable brands. Its factory in Manchester, in the north of England, is the biggest Corn Flake production line in the world, churning out cereals 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Every year, 128 billion bowls of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes are eaten worldwide, in countries as far afield as Guatemala, Japan, Argentina and India.

via adage.com

For their experiment, described in full in an article in New Scientist this week, the researchers broke down Nintendo’s successful Super Mario Bros. in an
attempt to quantify what aspects made the game fun or frustrating for different
players. Some players, the researchers found, preferred fun tasks, such
as kicking turtle shells and acquiring coins, while others seemed to take more
pleasure in challenging tasks like clearing difficult jumps.

The research team has been presenting their preliminary data
at various computer intelligence conferences this fall. Their early results
suggest that controlling for certain features, such as reducing the number of
challenging jumps for fun-seeking players, improves players’ reception of the
game. But, for now, the researchers are still primarily focused on collecting and
analyzing player data. You can take theSuper Mario test yourself at this Web site (it requires a brief survey, then four rounds of a modified Super Mario level).

[Image from Pedersen, Togelius, Yannakakis 2009]

Dual-screen notebooks are out there, and while they may not look as cool as this Asus concept, they have some serious appeal to coders, designers, and other nerd-types who need pixel real-estate to go.

Want one? The company to see is Gscreen. Their Spacebook, due out very soon on Amazon.com, combines two 15.4-inch screens into one 8.7 pound notebook. The rest of the specs do the overkill justice: Core 2 Duo running at 2.8 or 2.53GHz, up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM, and a 512MB Nvidia 9800M GT graphics card to power the screens.

Lest you think this product a fluke, more dual-screen notebooks are on the way. Kohjinsha is packing two 10.1-inchers into one notebook too, as seen at CEATEC.

Lenovo also has their own version in the works.

A raft of global celebrations will mark Arthur’s Day and 250 years since the Irish brewer went into business.

Dublin’s St James’s Gate will host the hub of festivities to commemorate founder Arthur Guinness and patrons will raise their glasses at 17.59 to celebrate the historical signing of its lease in 1759.

Tom Jones, Estelle, Kasabian, Natalie Imbruglia and former Destiny’s Child band member Kelly Roland are some of the top names set to rock the Irish capital.

Model and socialite Jasmine Guinness, her father Patrick and siblings will be among the family members overseeing the celebrations at Guinness HQ.

But one of the eldest descendants of the famous brewer will be enjoying a more low key event at the site of the first brewery in Leixlip, Co Kildare. The Hon Desmond Guinness – the great, great, great, great grandson of Arthur – will be guest of honour at the town’s Courtyard Hotel.

The 78-year-old said the worldwide celebrations were emotional, and joked he and his wife Penny will stay at the Courtyard until the Guinness runs out. “It’s wonderful, it is very exciting,” said Mr Guinness.

Cat Deeley and Boyzone’s Ronan Keating will present the main concert at the Guinness Storehouse, which will be streamed live via Sky television to thousands of pubs throughout the UK on the day.

A host of artists will also perform at celebrations in 28 intimate pub venues across Dublin and in Lagos, Cameroon and Kuala Lumpur.

The Guinness brand, now owned by multinational drinks giant Diageo, is recognised around the world. The brewery was founded after Arthur Guinness secured a 9,000 year lease on the St James’s Gate site for the annual sum of £45.

Thanks to Richard Branson, one lucky fellow will tap the malty brew’s semiquincentennial with a Virgin Galactic flight and a zero-gravity pint. (We’re buying everyone a round if the winner says, “One two-step pour for man, one foamy head for mankind.”) The rest of the Diageo-organized, St. Paddy’s Day — style celebrations honoring Arthur Guinness will be earthbound, taking place everywhere from Dublin to New York to Lagos. (Nigeria is Guinness’s No. 2 market behind Ireland.) Concerts will be simulcast to pubs — the Black Eyed Peas headline in Kuala Lumpur — and at 17:59 local time, everyone will hoist one. Urrrrrrp. — DL

ARTHUR’S DAY: THE 250TH BIRTHDAY OF GUINNESS BEER

Many banks have started using social websites to help them with everything from healing the financial industry to promoting their latest credit cards. By embracing the most popular tools available, the industry has also been embracing the best of what social media culture has to offer, and smaller, community banks seem to be leading the charge when it comes to social media innovation.

This post profiles some U.S. banks that have used social media in their marketing and communications plans in some interesting and successful ways. These banks have tapped into the root of what social media means to the community, enjoying success in the way of returning real value for their institutions.

1. Community Building

Banks are not usually known for building warm and fuzzy communities around their products and services. When we think of banks, we often think of impersonal bankers in pinstriped suits denying customers their request for a car loan or a mortgage. The world is changing, though, and even banks are trying to foster community rather than appear monolithic and imposing. Focusing on customer service and adopting the personality of the people they serve, community banks and credit unions can really teach the big guys a thing or two about what it means to be close to customers. Community building is something that banks should be doing more of because many of the most important touch points in our lives from attending college, to buying our first cars and building a home, to starting a business and saving for retirement all involve a relationship with a bank.

Missouri Bank, known popularly as Mobank, is a financial institution with a cool vibe that makes them a natural fit to utilize social media. They serve an eclectic customer base of visionaries and artists — people known to take chances, and though they have only three branches, they’re located in areas where people are invested in the community. They’re not using social media to “sell” anything, but instead utilize social media as a way to build upon the community-minded philosophy that they have spent years developing. Hip, young and cool, the bank parlays that image on a Facebook Page that acts as an online neighborhood for their customers to interact with each other and the bank – much like their branches.

“Being a Mobank customer is very much like being part of the ‘in group,’” said Grant Burcham, the bank’s President and CEO. “Our customers see each other in business, civic and social settings. Those networking opportunities are a great benefit of being a Mobank customer. As they embraced social networking, they expected to see us there.”

Mobank did have to consider the reputation management implications of launching a Facebook Page where anyone can post anything about the bank in the public sphere. Ultimately, they decided that they were confident with their customer relationships and that if someone was going to talk about Mobank negatively in a public forum, they’d find a way, but if it happened on a Page that the bank managed, they could respond to any concerns on the spot.

2. Product Research

Whether you’re crowdsourcing to find out what customers think of your services or using social media as one tool in your arsenal to enlist customers to help develop new products, a social network is an undeniably powerful research and development resource.

Social media was a big part of formulating a new and popular type of checking account at 1st Mariner Bank. The company’s marketing department used social media tools to take a look at their customer’s needs and used that to build new products and services.

Steven L. Kruskamp Jr., E-Commerce Marketing Manager for the bank, said that the bank asked through social networks what was needed most in their marketplace. The bank was able to use social communications tools and online surveys to develop a financial life cycle for their customers and identify that many people today establish a long lasting relationship with a bank in their late teens. They also found that parents are a major influence in the decision of which bank people ultimately decide to use. At the time, they didn’t have an attractive account to market to both parents and 18-25 year olds. With more research using social tools, they identified which features and benefits were important and which combination would give them a competitive edge.

3. Customer Service

Social media has become a great customer service tool across many industries and banking is no exception. However, not all banks are so proactive. A study done by the American Bankers Association found that four out of ten banks polled said that they avoid discussing specific products and services in their social media efforts.

But for banks that are more active in engaging with their customers over social media channels about their products, real-time search can be helpful in addressing problems with customers. In other cases, a visible Twitter account can be a quick and easy first step in the customer service chain when people want to get specific information.

Bank of America sees many of the same questions on Twitter that they get on typical channels like via telephone or in person, according to David Knapp, who runs the bank’s Twitter account, but they are starting to see social spaces as a potential channel of choice for customers to get the information they need. However, because of the sensitive nature of banking and the openness of social media, customers need to be careful when sharing information with customer service reps on social channels. On Twitter, Knapp regularly takes conversations private using direct messages and from there to more secure communications channels to gather sensitive details.

Though Knapp and Bank of America are now seeing much positive feedback on their Twitter account, when they first opened credibility was an issue. “When we first entered the space our credibility as a representative of Bank of America was a challenge,” Knapp said. “But as we began to help customers, and social media sites picked up our work, our legitimacy grew.”

As Wachovia is absorbed into parent company Wells Fargo, the legacy division at the bank still continues. Tim Collins, the SVP of Experiential Marketing, uses social media not only to service Wachovia customers but to answer questions about the status of the merger between the two banks. The bank had been involved with listening on social media for years before they decided to open a Twitter account, which they use to help customers with questions related to checking products and online banking. Wachovia has now fully embraced social media as a way to communicate with customers, even going so far as to create a special set of hashtags for the bank on Twitter.

It took them a couple of tries to get social media right, however. Collins cited one very interesting miss in providing customer service through social media for Wells Fargo. Their first program, called “Stagecoach Island,” was piloted in Linden Lab’s Second Life platform. “We quickly realized that our customers would feel more comfortable on a more flexible platform,” said Collins.

4. Marketing & Promotion

Banks that are using social media to brand themselves or to market a specific product or service have found success by integrating social tools into their existing campaigns or creating new ones that capitalize on the spirit of the community. Whether it’s by making the bank synonymous with solid financial advice or giving people the power to do some good in the world, banks have been finding that immersive marketing techniques using social media tools have brought solid results.

Jeff J. Gahnz, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations at Nicolet National Bank realized that as a small community bank, their competition could afford to spend his entire marketing budget in one week-long campaign. But as he sat in a meeting and listened to the CEO of the bank explain something extremely complex in a matter of five minutes, he wondered how many people would want to be in that room to hear what he said. They realized that ideas they talked about in meetings could be shared with others using social media channels, and it would be a way to create value for customers that required only a small investment. The bank shares ideas and information through its blogs and audio and video podcasts on a community hub called The Vault.

Citi is one of the big banks using social media to build a community around its brand. As might be expected for such a large financial institution, different divisions have shown themselves to be more independent and innovative than the rest. Citi Credit Cards, for example, has launched a campaign that centers on the power of harnessing your Facebook network. Their Make a Difference, One Friend at a Time program combines the friends in your networks and charitable giving by promising to donate $50 to the charity of your choice for every approved credit card application your refer through your social graph.

First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO), an online-only bank, encouraged customers to utilize the ease of transferring balances online to maximize the interest they earn on the money in their bank accounts via an innovative social media marketing campaign called the Pay Yourself First Challenge. The campaign helped customers develop a personalized saving plan, and FNBO utilized a number of different social media outlets, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, iTunes and blogging to get the word out.

The challenge involved five contestants competing to reach a savings goal. The bank recruited contestants by having them submit videos via YouTube describing their saving goals, and during the competition each contestant blogged about his or her progress. FNBO chose the winner based on a combination of reaching their goal and online votes. The contest helped to create awareness for their brand and showed current and potential customers how they can use FNBO’s online banking tools to become more successful savers.

5. Transparency

The current financial crisis has led many customers to distrust banks, which is one reason why many banks are now turning to social media as a way to become more transparent to customers and build trust. David Armano, Senior Partner at Dachis Corporation, says that banks are like every other institution facing the evolution of the networks and websites providing empowerment to individuals, and that they must adapt to join the conversation. “Banks also dealing with trust issues may accelerate that change,” he said.

Nicolet National Bank has used social media in order to be more transparent, said Jeff Gahnz. The President of their bank answers questions directly on their blog, for example, and they have helped people with mortgage questions, business loan queries, and general finance questions. They have also blogged their thoughts on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), where the money has gone, and why their bank participated.

“Right now, in Washington, the phrase you hear most often with banking and finance is transparency,” Gahnz said. “We are leaders in this area because of social media.”

For FNBO, the emergence of social media has allowed for more opportunities to communicate with their consumers, which is important to them. They understand the benefit of participating in the conversations that are already happening online, rather than avoiding or attempting to control them.

“Banks could potentially miss opportunities to mitigate risk … by choosing not to participate in social media,” said a bank spokesperson. “As a result, we recognize the value of a controlled and closely managed approach to social media as one of the many ways that we can be transparent with our customers and prospects.”

More business resources from Mashable:

- 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business

- HOW TO: Use Twitter Hashtags for Business

- Tweetable Eats: What Street Vendors Can Teach Businesses About Twitter

- HOW TO: Build Your Company’s Profile on LinkedIn

- 6 Must-Follow Steps for Selling in Any Economy

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Henrik5000

Tags: banking, banks, business, List, Lists, social media, transparency

As reported by The Southland Times, a newspaper out of Queenstown, New Zealand, “Two high-profile United States snowboarders, one understood to be a Winter Olympics double medallist, will appear in court next week charged with possessing cannabis.”

The Wanaka police department, who stopped the snowboarders for a random roadside breath test, did not release the names of the snowboarders, only ages: 26 and 21. They also disclosed that the pair allegedly had in their car “not an insignificant amount” of marijuana.

The paper also states that “The 26-year-old man has been called an influential snowboarder, while the younger man, who has visited New Zealand before, is vying to represent the US at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver next year.”

Based on the information released by the authorities and what the paper has reported, here’s what we can only speculate from what we know to be true: both Grenade founder and pro snowboarder Danny Kass, age 26 and a two-time silver medalist, and Louie Vito, age 21, are presently in New Zealand and have been since July 30th.

It is also confirmed that Kass and Vito, who are close friends, are traveling together as told to ESPN by a source close to Kass, though the source (who requested anonymity) could not confirm the arrest. Vito has also made several comments about the trip on his Twitter account: “Made it to NZ. Dan picked up an ILL van, pics coming soon.” As well, Kass wrote a Twitter post about his trip to New Zealand on July 28: “Heading to New Zealand going to the South Island.” Wanaka, the town where the snowboarders were arrested, is located on the South Island.

Corrections to be made to this speculation as official news becomes available…
via: Southland Times

Quick Pitch: RentShout advertises rental listings on directories and sites around the web, delivering widespread online visibility right where renters are searching.

Genius Idea: If you need to sublet, rent, or sell a home, apartment, or office, you want to do it fast. Every day that place isn’t filled, the more potential income you lose. Just ten years ago, you’d post a listing to your newspaper classifieds. Now, there’s social media and Craigslist, but it can still take too long, especially if you are managing multiple properties.

RentShout combines social media distribution of housing and rental listings with speed, simplicity, and analytics. The core of RentShout is to get your listing onto dozens of directories and websites – including CraigsList – but it comes with features such as video syndication and Click-To-Call which make it stand out as a way to distribute your listings.

Getting listings up is simple. Add the details, add pictures, pick your template (for simple HTML listings), and then pick your package. Advertising a single listing on 60+ social media sites and directories costs $29.99, while five costs $90.00. If you consider that rent typically costs more than $29.99 per day, it can be well worth your money.

The rent listing tool also includes renter performance reports, which shows information on who is clicking and how often. You can also attack rental applications directly to your add, but we like the Click-To-Call feature the most. If a renter is interested, they can click the button to send you a text message with their phone number. It’s a lightning-fast way to connect with a potential lead and lock down a deal.

RentShout is effective because it simplifies the advertising process. You get listed in a range of housing directories that goes well beyond Craigslist. You can get a professional-looking listing up and running in minutes. Combine that with analytics and Click-To-Call, and you have a time-saver and a money-saver as well.

The action has been non-stop after draggin my ass 6 hours to socal…. worth every ounce of gas to get here though. I was able to catch much of the FMX and rally events and the semifinals for the skate sessions and big air and have been absolutely blown away.

I mean it is one thing to sit from the comfort of my leather couch with a John Daly in one hand and a bucket of KFC in the other, but seeing these athletes defy the nature of gravity in person puts a new perspective on the dimension of lunacy that these folks live in. I am no stranger to catching 50′ airs, but usually have the comfort of 4+ feet of powder to cushion my fall if something goes wrong. These folks are huckin their meat over hard ground, and “without a net”!

Sooo many new faces this year, names I had never heard of and the old standards… Lasek, Burnquist, Twitch, Pastrana, Deegan and Foust were turning it out just the same. Although there were numerous upsets this year, there were some truly amazing moments as well. Despite coming up short, Travis Pastrana made my facial expression go from a jaw drop to a major wince during his FMX run when he threw his rodeo 720… yep! Couldn’t take my eyes off him while shaking my head in disbelief. Word has it, he had never even done this trick before…

And then there was the big air contest… where veteran skater Danny Way took a win with his switch 50/50 on the massive rail which had not been there during previous years… as if the ramp wasn’t big enough Danny won on a injured knee and rolled ankle which rumor has it is broken. The ramp itself simply made your throat swell and go gulp at the site of it, the only words that came out of my mouth when I saw this thing was, “are they seriously gonna jump that thing”? Amazingly nobody was seriously hurt or impaled on the enormous rainbow rail this year despite ridiculously absurd runs from the likes of Andy Macdonald and 21 year old Rob Lorifice who pulled of a 540 Rodeo which he landed, no doubt disappointing a few spectators after the excitement of numerous near death experiences from Jake Brown and Way the past few years. Did I mention this thing is frickin massive! Several skaters who were on the roster backed out at the last minute due to the shakey shakes… lol. I can’t say that I blame them one bit!

So much good stuff I wish it could never end…

Big Air Photos: Chris Tedesco

In her much-anticipated X Games debut, motocross teen sensation Ashley Fiolek didn’t disappoint.

Fiolek, who has been deaf since birth, took first place in Women’s Moto X Super X on Saturday night. “X Games are a big deal for women and anyone in action sports,” said Fiolek through her translator and father Jim. “So to come here and do this well, I’m very excited.”

The 18-year-old Fiolek’s debut was delayed after an injury forced her to withdraw from last year’s games. She made up for it with a strong performance in what was the highest billing a women’s X Games event has received on ESPN.

“Last year I was really bummed, I wanted to come here and do good,” Fiolek said. “This year I was really motivated. I came out here and had a great race.”

After not getting out of the gate particularly well, Fiolek worked her way into second place. She spent the remainder of the race locked in a matchup with Jessica Patterson for the top spot.

On the second turn of the final lap, she made her move, overtaking her competitor and not looking back. Fiolek crossed the finish line in 372.47 with her left fist pumping through the air.

“I knew it was white flag, I knew I had to hurry,” Fiolek said. “I got out front and just wanted to stay steady.”

Patterson came across in 375.83 and Elizabeth Bash finished third at 397.32.

via Associated Press

Like many confirmation numbers we use daily, from bus tickets to software purchase codes, Social Security numbers are assigned based on a formula that uses two inputs to generate a code. The inputs for SSNs are state of birth and date of birth, two things that most people have made available on social networking sites. That alone isn’t dangerous.

The government enables the other half of the caper by making the SSNs of deceased Americans available publicly in a database called the Death Master File. This file was created to help institutions detect bogus Social Security numbers on tax and benefits forms, but it also provides a massive test dataset for someone trying to reverse engineer SSNs. Using the Death Master File, CMU engineers were able to determine which parts of the numbers correlated to which of the facts about a person’s birth. When they applied their algorithm to SSNs in the DMF that they hadn’t tested, they could accurately guess the first five numbers of a given SSN with up to 90% accuracy in smaller states, where the pool of numbers is smaller.

According to ArsTechnica, cracking the last four digits of an SSN, which are seemingly assigned at random, cuts the rate of accuracy considerably; the authors of the study were able to get a number right only after about 10 tries, more than enough failed tries to lock out an IP address on most banking sites. But they note that a botnet working in concert could attack smaller states with alarming alacrity–a virally-controlled network of 10,000 machines could crank out the identities of residents of the State of West Virginia at around 2,800 a minute, based solely on basic information from Facebook. It might be time to abandon the SSN as our primary credential in favor of something more comprehensively secure.

newsletterPromo(”Technology”,
“right”);

[Via ArsTechnica]