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  • Laphroaig® Capsule Sells for a Record-Breaking £125,000 at Distillers One of One Auction

    Laphroaig® Capsule Sells for a Record-Breaking £125,000 at Distillers One of One Auction

    Laphroaig ® Capsule 40-Year-Old Tasting Notes
    Bottled at 46.5% ABV

     

    Nose: Soft peach, baked apple, rich and viscous manuka honey, charred citrus fruit notes of orange rind intertwined with charred tropical fruit notes of pineapple. Underneath this there are notes of soft fig, milk chocolate orange, sweet star anise spice along with hints of demerara cane sugar, crisp pastry and creamy vanilla ice cream.

     

    Taste: Sweet and voluptuous on the mouthfeel, with floral spice initially, this dissipates to characters of aniseed, liquorice root, blackcurrant, stewed cranberries, honeycomb biscuits and homemade orange marmalade.

     

    Finish: Sweet, slight peppery yet soft leading to a long, signature smoke with a nod to Lapsang Souchong tea leaves.

     

     

    About Laphroaig® Whisky 
    Laphroaig is the number one selling Islay single malt globally* and is synonymous with this famous whisky island. Established in 1815 by the Johnston brothers, Laphroaig has stayed true to its bold and unforgettable character for over 200 years.

     

    Today, Laphroaig is one of only a handful of distilleries that continues to make whisky using traditional techniques like floor malting barley. From hand turning the barley and burning the peat at low temperatures to flavour the malt with cool smoke to slow distillation to maintain quality, this is what truly makes Laphroaig.  Our single malt whisky embodies the character of Islay in every drop of Laphroaig. From the distinctive peat which gives us our unique smoky character to the steadfast confidence and passion of our people, making Laphroaig unmistakable. The gives us our distinctive taste of Islay, salt and smoke with a surprising sweetness.  

     

    Laphroaig’s commitment to bold character has earned us a dedicated following of brand fans, the Friends of Laphroaig.

     

    Launched in 1994, the same year HM King Charles granted the brand a Royal Warrant, this global community has since grown to over 700,000 whisky lovers representing over 170 countries.

     

    *By volume and value in 2024. Source: IWSR Global Database 2025.

     

    For more information visit www.laphroaig.com

     

     

    About Suntory Global Spirits
    As a world leader in premium spirits, Suntory Global Spirits inspires the brilliance of life, by creating rich experiences for people, in harmony with nature. Known for its craftsmanship of premium whiskies, including Jim Beam® and Maker’s Mark®; Japanese whiskies, including Yamazaki®, Hakushu®, Hibiki® and Toki™; and leading Scotch brands including Laphroaig® and Bowmore®, Suntory Global Spirits also produces leading brands such as Tres Generaciones® and El Tesoro® tequila, Roku™ and Sipsmith® gin, and is a world leader in Ready-To-Drink cocktails, with brands like -196™ (minus one-nine-six) and On The Rocks™ Premium Cocktails.

     

    A global company with approximately 6,000 employees in nearly 30 countries, Suntory Global Spirits is driven by its core values of Growing for Good, Yatte Minahare and Giving Back to Society. The company’s Proof Positive sustainability strategy includes ambitious goals and investments to drive sustainable change and have a positive impact on the planet, consumers and communities. Headquartered in New York City, Suntory Global Spirits is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings Limited of Japan.

     

    For more information, visit www.suntoryglobalspirits.com and www.drinksmart.com

     

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  • Plume Joins prpl Foundation to Drive Ecosystem Collaboration and Openness

    Plume Joins prpl Foundation to Drive Ecosystem Collaboration and Openness

    Committed to providing solutions based on open standards that create business value through consumer experience innovation

    PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Plume today announced its membership in the prpl…

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  • Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles Review: A Wonderful Blend of the Old and New – PCMag

    1. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles Review: A Wonderful Blend of the Old and New  PCMag
    2. Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles – The Best Support Abilities for Max Physical Damage  Wccftech
    3. You Need These Early-Game Abilities…

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  • Targeted Combos and ADCs Show Benefit After CDK4/6 in HR+/HER2− mBC

    Targeted Combos and ADCs Show Benefit After CDK4/6 in HR+/HER2− mBC

    The meta-analysis included 28 randomized trials (n=6544). The strongest PFS benefit was observed with sapanisertib plus fulvestrant (HR, 0.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.14–0.82), though this regimen was associated with a discontinuation…

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  • Genkit Extension for Gemini CLI Brings Framework-Aware AI Assistance to the Terminal

    Genkit Extension for Gemini CLI Brings Framework-Aware AI Assistance to the Terminal

    Google has released the Genkit Extension for Gemini CLI, a specialized plugin that brings deep, framework-aware AI assistance directly to the terminal, aiming to streamline the development and debugging of Genkit-based applications. The…

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  • Just a moment…

    Just a moment…

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  • ‘Complicated’ EPR packaging tax criticised by South West firms

    ‘Complicated’ EPR packaging tax criticised by South West firms

    George ThorpeSouth West and

    Seb NobleCornwall political reporter

    BBC A person places a bottle of win in a cardboard box in a warehouse. A grey machine with "siat" written on it in blue letters is next to the box. A grey Stanley knife is on top of the machine.BBC

    Business owners think Extended Producer Responsibility would force prices raises for customers

    Businesses in the South West have raised concerns a new tax on packaging could force them to raise prices.

    The government introduced Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) this month which required firms to cover the cost for collecting, recycling and disposing of packaging it produces, with the money going to councils which collected the waste.

    Owners of businesses have criticised the tax which some described as “complicated” and could lead to customers having to pay more.

    The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said EPR would move the cost of dealing with the waste away from taxpayers and generate more then £1bn for councils to improve recycling collections.

    Sam Lindo from Camel Valley Vineyard, based near Bodmin, said the winemaker could process up to 4,000 bottles a day.

    He said his main issue with EPR was the additional “bureaucracy” it brought.

    “It’s incredibly complicated because it’s not just the different types of packaging, it’s whether it goes to household, non-household, branded, unbranded,” Mr Lindo said.

    “My spreadsheet matrix is enormous.”

    Sam Lindo from Camel Valley Vineyard stands inside a warehouse where boxes of wine made at the vineyard are stored. He is stood next to two metal poles. His is gesturing with his hands out stretched. He is wearing a grey jumper with the company's logo on it.

    Sam Lindo from Camel Valley Vineyard said the tax would create more bureaucracy

    Joe Healey, managing director for trading at Healey’s Cyder near Truro, said he was concerned about the impact EPR could have on prices for customers.

    “It is a new tax on manufacturing which is directly linked, in my view, to the currently high inflation on food and drink at supermarkets,” he said.

    Caroline Voaden, Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon, said a businesses in her constituency were also worried about EPR.

    “The New Inn, a historic pub in my constituency, has been informed by the brewery that supplies it that prices will increase by 7p per bottle of beer and cider and by 21p per bottle of wine,” she said.

    “But the brewery won’t deal with the bottles afterwards, so they also have to pay for the disposal of the glassware.”

    Defra said EPR underpinned “major investment” in the UK economy and would help create 25,000 jobs.

    It said it had worked with businesses to ensure they were prepared for EPR’s introduction and would continue to listen to trade and industry bodies.

    “Extended Producer Responsibility moves the cost of dealing with waste away from taxpayers and generate over a £1bn annually that must be spent by councils to improve recycling collections and thereby benefit every household across England,” a spokesperson said.

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  • Social media use linked to lower reading, memory scores in preteens : Shots

    Social media use linked to lower reading, memory scores in preteens : Shots

    Juliana Belo Gutierrez/iStockphoto/Getty Images

    Preteens using increasing amounts of social media perform poorer in…

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  • ‘F1’ Sets Apple Streaming Release Date: How to Watch Online

    ‘F1’ Sets Apple Streaming Release Date: How to Watch Online

    “F1: The Movie” will zoom to the small screen around the holiday season. The sports drama, starring Brad Pitt as a has-been Formula One driver, is making its global streaming debut on Apple TV on Dec. 12.

    “F1” was…

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  • NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet Switches Speed Up Networks for Meta and Oracle

    NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet Switches Speed Up Networks for Meta and Oracle

    Hyperscalers Broaden Adoption of NVIDIA Networking Solutions to Drive Giga-Scale AI Data Center Performance

    News Summary:

    • Meta to introduce switches built on NVIDIA Spectrum Ethernet for its Facebook Open Switching System platform.     
    • Oracle to build giga-scale AI supercomputers with Spectrum-X Ethernet switches.

    OCP—NVIDIA today announced that Meta and Oracle will boost their AI data center networks with NVIDIA Spectrum-X™ Ethernet networking switches.

    Meta and Oracle are standardizing on Spectrum-X Ethernet switches as an open, accelerated networking architecture that speeds deployment at scale, unlocks exponential gains in AI training efficiency and shortens time to insights.

    “Trillion-parameter models are transforming data centers into giga-scale AI factories, and industry leaders like Meta and Oracle are standardizing on Spectrum-X Ethernet to drive this industrial revolution,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Spectrum-X is not just faster Ethernet — it’s the nervous system of the AI factory, enabling hyperscalers to connect millions of GPUs into a single giant computer to train the largest models ever built.”     

    Oracle will build giga-scale AI factories accelerated by the NVIDIA Vera Rubin architecture and interconnected by Spectrum-X Ethernet.

    “Oracle Cloud Infrastructure is designed from the ground up for AI workloads, and our partnership with NVIDIA extends that AI leadership,” said Mahesh Thiagarajan, executive vice president of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. “By adopting Spectrum-X Ethernet, we can interconnect millions of GPUs with breakthrough efficiency so our customers can more quickly train, deploy and benefit from the next wave of generative and reasoning AI.”

    Meta will integrate Spectrum Ethernet switches into its networking infrastructure for the Facebook Open Switching System (“FBOSS”), a software platform developed to manage and control network switches at massive scale. This integration will speed deployment at scale to unlock gains in AI training efficiency and shorten time to insights.

    “Meta’s next-generation AI infrastructure requires open and efficient networking at a scale the industry has never seen before,” said Gaya Nagarajan, vice president of networking engineering at Meta. “By integrating NVIDIA Spectrum Ethernet into the Minipack3N switch and FBOSS, we can extend our open networking approach while unlocking the efficiency and predictability needed to train ever-larger models and bring generative AI applications to billions of people.”

    NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet Platform

    Designed for the trillion-parameter model era, the NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet platform, consisting of Spectrum-X Ethernet switches and Spectrum-X Ethernet SuperNICs, is the first Ethernet platform purpose-built for AI, enabling hyperscalers to interconnect millions of GPUs with unprecedented efficiency and scale.

    Trillion-parameter models and generative AI are redefining the scale of data centers. Spectrum-X Ethernet enables AI at scale, delivering the performance and scalability needed to build the world’s most advanced AI infrastructure.

    Spectrum-X Ethernet has already demonstrated record-setting efficiency, enabling the world’s largest AI supercomputer to achieve 95% data throughput with its congestion-control technology. By contrast, off-the-shelf Ethernet at scale suffers from thousands of flow collisions, limiting throughput to roughly 60%.

    This leap in efficiency marks a breakthrough in the economics and performance of AI-scale networking. NVIDIA Spectrum-XGS Ethernet technology, part of the Spectrum-X Ethernet networking platform, enables scale-across capabilities to link data centers across cities, nations and continents into vast, giga-scale AI super-factories.

    Spectrum-X builds on NVIDIA’s full-stack platform — including GPUs, CPUs, NVIDIA NVLink™ and software — to deliver seamless performance from compute to network. Its advanced congestion control, adaptive routing and AI-driven telemetry capabilities ensure efficiency and predictability for massive AI training and inference clusters.

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