Latest news with #Cantillon
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘It's rough out there.' Local brewery closes downtown Bellingham taproom and lounge
Downtown Bellingham has lost a popular bottle shop, taproom and lounge connected to a local brewery. Garden Path Fermentation, a beer, wine, cider, and mead brewery in Skagit County, has permanently closed The Great Northern Bottle Shop & Lounge in Bellingham, its only Whatcom County location. The closure was announced April 3 in a social media post. 'We opened The Great Northern almost two years ago with the goal of bringing Bellingham a unique curated selection of beer, natural wine, and cider from small independent producers around the world, most of which you wouldn't be able to find anywhere else. We're proud of what we've accomplished, including hosting Cantillon's Zwanze Day last year, but, y'all, it's rough out there right now,' the post states. The Great Northern Bottle Shop closed Saturday, May 3. It was located at 1319 Commercial St., next door to Brandywine Kitchen. 'Last year was the first in decades that saw more brewery closures than openings, and with constant market changes, including new uncertainties with beer and wine imports and exports, we've decided we need to focus all our attention on Garden Path to make sure we can ride out whatever waves are coming,' the post states. Although Garden Path Fermentation closed its Bellingham location, its Burlington tasting room has extended hours and is expected to remain open. The brewery's products are also available for purchase online. The brewery's website also teased possible pop-up events in Bellingham and other cities: 'May 3, 2025 was, sadly, our last day of regular operation at The Great Northern. Please come see us at at our Skagit Valley Tasting Room & Bottle Shop and keep an eye out for future pop-up events in Bellingham, Seattle, and beyond!' Garden Path Fermentation's tasting room and bottle shop is open from 2 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, 2 to 9 p.m. Thursday, 1 to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday at 11653 Higgins Airport Way in Burlington, about a 30-minute drive from downtown Bellingham. The Bellingham Herald reached out to Garden Path Fermentation but did not receive a response as of May 9.
Irish Times
24-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Intel staff face more uncertainty
Intel workers face yet more uncertainty, amid reports the hobbled chip maker plans to axe as much as a fifth of its global workforce. It's the latest trouble to hit the firm's staff after what is now a years long crisis at the company. Jack Horgan-Jones has the story with the Government in the dark on the scale of any cuts here, while Stephen Farrell is on the ground in Leixlip. Mark Hilliard meanwhile looks at a timeline of the company's recent woes while Cantillon assesses how bad the hit may be for Ireland. Staying with the tech world, the EU has fined Apple and Meta a combined €700 million, stirring the ire of the two tech giants. Jack Power has the details. Away from tech, Cantillon isn't happy with pharma chiefs' suggestion the EU should allow drug prices to match US levels, while also highlighting the significance of insurers here using in house reinsurance and its impact on their Irish profits. In Inside Business, Ciaran Hancock sits down with Patrick Guilbaud, the French chef who brought fine dining to Ireland 44 years ago. READ MORE A German activist investor in Glanbia has written to the board of Tirlán Co-operative Society, the nutrition group's largest shareholder, in a bid to enlist support for a campaign for the business to carry out a strategic review after a share price slump. Joe Brennan has the story. US president Donald Trump has said he doesn't intend to fire Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, but he has repeatedly criticised him for not cutting interest rates to his liking. What is Trump's beef with the Fed chief? Eoin Burke-Kennedy unpacks what is going on. Eoin also reports that the main Irish arm of computer giant Oracle has paid €730 million in cumulative dividends to its US parent over the past 18 months. In his column, Emmet Ryan looks at how companies can satisfy their demand for graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM). In Innovation, Neil Briscoe looks at a little noticed change in EU rules for carbon fibre usage in cars, and what it means for future designs, while Olive Keogh meets the man behind a Cork online grinds platform aiming to help students get top marks in maths exams. What is at stake in Meta's antitrust trial in the US? Quite a lot as it turns out. Finally, Ciara O'Brien reviews what is not your average dashcam. Stay up to date with all our business news: sign up to our Business Today daily email news digest. If you'd like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to On the Money , the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Yahoo
RPLY is a new AI assistant that responds to missed texts
A new Mac app called RPLY launches today, designed to help texters achieve 'inbox zero' on iMessage. Targeting those who often forget to reply and leave their friends on delivered for days, RPLY utilizes AI to identify missed texts and suggests responses to prevent users from unintentionally ghosting. The AI assistant can automatically respond to messages in a user's inbox that have not received a reply for over 24 hours. RPLY is the brainchild of Molly Cantillon, a 21-year-old Stanford dropout who created NOX, a personalized AI assistant for iOS backed by OpenAI's startup fund. 'RPLY was built to handle 'text debt,' mentally replying but never hitting send, getting distracted, or just forgetting. The core idea is making texting feel less like a burden while still maintaining authentic connections,' Cantillon told TechCrunch. Although AI-powered smart reply technology has been around for nearly a decade and is used by major tech companies like Google, Cantillon noted that she has yet to see a solution like RPLY for iMessage. RPLY's iMessage assistant goes a step further by analyzing a user's entire text history to craft replies that align with their writing style and personality, resulting in natural-sounding responses. Taking inspiration from Inbox Zero, a popular virtual assistant for email, RPLY also filters out unanswered messages. It even provides users with a clear overview of unread texts, allowing them to see how many of their messages need responses. This feature offers a quick summary, making it easier than scrolling through iMessage. Cantillon believes that the unanswered message filter is 'a simple but vital feature that Apple surprisingly overlooks.' The app also includes a statistics page that displays the average weekly response time and tracks an 'inbox zero streak,' which tells users the last time they had zero unread messages. To make users more aware of their texting habits, it displays stats like 'Those You Answer Quickest' and 'Those You Like to Ghost.' During our testing of the app, TechCrunch found that the AI replies sounded natural and demonstrated an understanding of context. Most of the people we messaged didn't realize the responses were AI-generated. However, some users noticed something was off when the AI placed a comma after "haha." It also didn't use any emojis, and we wish it had. RPLY has already attracted a decent amount of interest, having signed up 1,000 paid users so far. Cantillon said that many people drawn to the app are in tech, creative, and business fields. The app is also targeted to founders, recruiters, retail agents, and other professionals who are overwhelmed with crowded inboxes. College students might find the app convenient as well. While many people are drawn to RPLY for its helpful features, it also raises the question: Can relying on AI lessen the emotional connection we get from texting? This is a topic that's come up before with the rise of generative AI tools, but it's worth thinking about whether the ease of using AI is really worth giving up those heartfelt exchanges. Additionally, to use the app, users must grant permission for it to access all their text messages and contacts. This requirement may raise concerns for some people, as it means that an AI would examine personal conversations with friends and family. According to RPLY's privacy page, the app doesn't use text content to train generalized AI models, and the company follows a 'strict zero data retention policy,' meaning data isn't stored and gets immediately deleted after processing. Also, RPLY says it doesn't sell user data to third parties. Cantillon added that RPLY offers a local Llama-based option (Meta's AI model) for users who want to keep all text data processing entirely on-device, ensuring no text data is ever uploaded. It's normal for AI systems to require user data to function properly, but it's important to note that even if companies claim strong security practices, breaches still happen. Chinese AI company DeepSeek recently dealt with an exposed internal database that contained sensitive information, including chat histories. Always be aware of the privacy risks involved. RPLY is currently only available on macOS devices. Apple is known for its strict App Store guidelines, which suggests that RPLY may have developed a Mac app as a strategic workaround. In the future, Cantillon envisions expanding RPLY's availability to platforms such as WhatsApp and Slack. However, it remains uncertain whether this will happen, and there may be concerns among users on Slack, an app used by employees, regarding the willingness to share extensive information with an AI company. It's also on the pricier side: The base subscription costs $30 per month after a 14-day free trial. TechCrunch has an AI-focused newsletter! Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday. Sign in to access your portfolio
