Apple had waited many years to send its very first tweet. It finally happened on Wednesday, with a release of a sponsored tweet, promoting the new iPhone 7: New cameras. Water-resistant. Stereo speakers. Longer battery life.”

Except — oops! — CEO Tim Cook had yet to announce the new version of the smartphone. When he finally did, he said, as always: “It’s the best iPhone that we have ever created.”

The long-running speculation about the new features on the phone proved largely true. The 7 and 7 Plus, for sale later this month, look very much like the 6 and 6 Plus, though ever-so-slightly lighter — and, yes, without a headphone jack.

“The reason to move on [is] courage,” said Apple’s Phil Schiller in revealing the change. “The courage to move on, do something new that betters all of us.”

Instead, new phones will come with special adapters that plug into the same port as a charging/data cord. But what Apple really wants you to do is buy its new $159 product: AirPods — wireless headphones that look like the buds of the regular Apple headphones but cordless — for an “effortless and magical listening experience,” as Cook put it.

The new iPhone is also water- and dust-resistant, has a new home button that doesn’t physically click, stereo speakers, a bit longer-lasting battery, a really fancy camera setup (with low-light capacity and color recognition, and better zoom on the two-camera 7 Plus) and new body options in matte black and “jet black.”

These changes may seem like a far cry from significant iPhone overhauls Apple had done in the past to encourage users to buy a new device every two years. Some observers had argued this is a sign of iPhone’s maturing as it approaches its 10th birthday.

But Forrester analyst Julie Ask argues the iPhone 7 will pick up momentum after a possibly lukewarm response. “Consumers underestimate the engineering feats that the iPhone 7 brings, like the audio, camera, processing power, etc. in such a small package,” she said in a statement.

Shipping in mid-September, the new phones are priced starting at $649 for the iPhone 7 and $769 for the iPhone 7 Plus, which has a bigger screen. They will also start with a higher memory capacity of 32 gigabytes, as Apple gets rid of the 16GB option.

In other releases, the company unveiled a “Series 2” of the Apple Watch that is waterproof and includes a GPS — an appeal to the workout market of runners/hikers/bikers/swimmers/surfers, where the watch has faced persistent competition from other wearables.

The watch also gets in on the Pokemon Go craze of the summer with a game adaptation specifically for the device.

But perhaps a bigger gaming piece of news came from Nintendo, which announced that Super Mario is finally coming to the app store.

Shigeru Miyamoto, known as the father of Mario, took the stage to announce a new game called “Super Mario Run,” which you can play on the phone with one hand — “while eating a hamburger or eating an apple,” as Miyamoto said.

Shares of Nintendo, which as The Verge points out “has been slow to bring its iconic characters and games to smartphones,” jumped on the news. Apple’s shares didn’t see major gains.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Top brass at PepsiCo has talked for months about the introduction of an organic line. And now, according to Bloomberg, the company is rolling out G Organic — yep, an organic version of the famously technicolored sports drink Gatorade. (Think crimson red, electric blue and neon green shades.)

“Gatorade really dominates the [sports drink] market right now,” says Beth Bloom, senior food and drink analyst at the market research firm Mintel. Gatorade commands 77 percent of sports drink sales in the U.S.

“I think the [organic line] will broaden the appeal,” says Bloom. G Organic will be “one additional offering in their line that may [offer] a little bit of a better health profile.”

Bloom says health is definitely a driver in the purchase of organic products: “We’re seeing that about half of consumers who purchase organic products do so because they think they’re healthier than non-organic products.”

But is this new line of organic Gatorade really any better for you?

I put the question to Haemi Choi, a sports medicine doctor at Loyola University Medical Center.

She says some consumers like to see artificial colors and flavors removed from products. “It’s more natural,” Choi says. “But I don’t think it’s healthier per se. It’s pretty similar,” she says.

Take, for instance, the sugar content. Even though Gatorade seems to have switched to an organic cane sugar for its new organic line, Choi says that, nutritionally, this makes little difference. (We asked Gatorade to confirm the ingredient list of the new organic line, but did not hear back in time for press.)

Overall, Choi says the new organic line seems to contain about the same amount of sugar — about 20 grams per 12-ounce bottle.

At a time we’re told to cut back on sugar, she notes that many of us are already getting too much in our diet. “The average American consumes about 350 added calories from sugar [each day].”

For instance, women are told to limit consumption to somewhere between 25 and 37 grams of sugar per day, total. “So, drinking a bottle of [sports drink] is already getting you close to what you should get in one day,” Choi says.

Choi says unless you’re exercising vigorously for an hour or longer and sweating a lot, you don’t need to drink any kind of sports drinks — organic or not. If you’re out for a casual jog or bike ride, you don’t need electrolyte replacement, either.

So, what does Choi recommend for quenching thirst? “I say, drink water,” she says.

Lots of dieticians agree. “Sugar is sugar, so no matter if it’s organic or not, it’s still going to have the same effect on your body,” says Lisa Cimperman, a clinical dietician and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

If you consume too much, it may have negative effects on your waistline and can increase blood-sugar levels. And as we’ve reported, excess sugar is also linked to a higher risk of heart disease.

Cimperman says the new organic label may lead consumers to think organic Gatorade is healthier for them. “I think it’s a marketing ploy to apply this organic health halo to this product,” Cimperman says.

And that halo will likely cost you more. Bloomberg reports that G Organic will cost about an extra 50 cents per 16.9 ounce bottle, compared to the non-organic options of the same size, such as Gatorade Thirst Quencher.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Proposed trade deals with Asia and Europe have suffered setbacks recently. But Treasury Secretary Jack Lew says he isn’t ready to write off the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

In an interview with NPR’s Robert Siegel before Lew departs for a Group of 20 meeting in China, Lew acknowledged the anxiety among workers who have felt the impacts of the globalized economy but said the benefits of the trade deals need to be made “more clear.”

Lew also spoke about the U.S. budget deficit and the European Commission’s finding that Apple owes $14.5 billion in taxes to Ireland.

Robert Siegel: At this point, are the TPP and a proposed deal with Europe, the TTIP, dead?

Jack Lew: No, there’s a strong case for a good trade agreement, which TPP is, and we’re going to continue to press forward as the president has indicated. We’re going to continue to work with the Europeans. Whether we can finish it or not I can’t guarantee, but we’re gonna still try to get that done.

But on TPP, where you’ve lost Secretary Clinton as a supporter it seems, do you read the opposition to that as just an election-year kerfuffle, or is there something changing in the way Americans see trade agreements, and in the way Washington had better negotiate trade agreements?

I think that the benefits of market access for American workers are clear. I think what we need to be more clear at is how the benefits of trade agreements get to workers, how workers are equipped with the training they need to have the jobs in the new economy, how companies share the benefits of growth with workers. We have to make a stronger case, a better case, but the substance, the facts are clear.

I’m not hearing you feeling the tectonic plates about trade policy shifting in the United States. I hear you feeling things haven’t been presented exactly right, they could be sold better. I’m not hearing you detect some fundamental change on this issue.

Look, what I believe is that there’s a lot of anxiety and anger amongst working people around the world. It’s not just in the U.S. We’re seeing it in many, many parts of the world. I think that is a message to global financial policymakers that what we’ve been saying for a long time has to become central: That is how do we make sure that the benefits of a growing economy reach working people. It will not help working people to have a shrinking economy. Right now the United States economy would be doing better if global growth was stronger. That would mean more demand for U.S. goods and services. So we need a stronger global economy, but we also need to make sure the benefits are broadly shared.

What would you tell an American who’s anxious about the budget deficit and the debt and who sees the economy not strong enough for us to undertake either the spending cuts or the tax increases that might reduce the deficit and not strong enough to grow in a way that there’d be more revenues, and just watching the deficit grow?

People have to focus on not just the nominal number of what the size of the deficit is, but the deficit as a share of the economy. When we came into office, it was roughly 10 percent of GDP. It’s now under 3 percent of GDP. That is the most dramatic reduction in deficit in history. It’s comparable with the post-World War II reduction.

Isn’t that share moving up a little bit right now?

It has ticked up a little bit, but it’s in the zone of a sustainable level and when, if you asked me today what is the most pressing need, it is more important to invest more in infrastructure and training today to build the economic foundation for growth that will throw off more income and more revenue in the future, then to get an incremental amount of deficit and debt reduction over the next few years.

I want to ask you about Ireland, Apple and taxes. Why is the U.S. critical of the European Commission billing Apple for billions in taxes to pay Ireland? Aren’t they trying to cope with global tax evasion, something which we think is a problem that should be handled?

We have a shared view that companies should not be able to avoid taxation by shifting profits and by using loopholes in international tax laws. What’s not appropriate is for, in the name of state aid, Europe to be rewriting tax law retroactively, reaching into a tax base that properly should be a U.S. tax base, because it’s U.S. income, and doing it in a way that I think ultimately will hurt the business environment because it’s going to create uncertainty in Europe.

But in the case of Apple, it sounds odd. It sounds as if the U.S. is saying to Europe, how dare you do something about this, we’re busy not doing something about this. It’s our job not to do.

I think that the process of working tax reform through Congress typically takes many years. It’s not unusual for it to start in one administration and end in another. What’s not appropriate is for Europe to preempt the ability for the U.S. to address that, which is what I’ve said is a potential outcome of the European action.

…

Lew insists he’s optimistic about the economy, although he says policymakers should pay attention to the global economic debates that have been so heated this year. He says more attention should be paid to spreading the benefits of trade, not reducing it. And he paints a glowing picture of an economic future that he says is possible.

Lew: It will be a 21st century economy. It will have technology that’s is different. It will have trade practices that are different. But we can have high standards that protect workers’ rights, the environmental standards, good business practices and global markets that give U.S. workers and businesses the ability to get a fair share of the global markets. That’s what we’re fighting for.

That sounds like a beautiful world. That sounds a far cry from the anxiety you’ve described of working people from all around the world.

I don’t disagree that the anxiety is there, but I also take optimism from the fact that there are policies to address that and if you look for example at the TPP, there are labor provisions in the TPP that are already driving an improvement in labor standards in countries like Vietnam and Mexico, and it is already having an impact to level the playing field and improve the ability for U.S. competition. What we can’t do is pull away from the world.

But what are the chances of the TPP being approved in the lame duck session of Congress?

We are going to continue to press for it. We think the case is strong and the opportunity is there and we’re determined to get it done.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Talks aimed at setting up a U.S.-European free trade zone have run aground because of intransigence on Washington’s part, a top German politician said Sunday.

“In my opinion the negotiations with the United States have de facto failed even though nobody is really admitting it,” said Sigmar Gabriel, German vice chancellor and economy minister, in an interview with the broadcaster ZDF on Sunday.

The Obama administration and the 28-member European Union have been in talks to set up the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, which would be the world’s largest free trade zone.

But negotiations have reportedly stalled because of the unexpected decision by Britain to leave the EU and because of growing public opposition to trade agreements on both sides of the Atlantic.

Gabriel said the U.S. and the EU haven’t agreed on a single item out of 27 chapters being discussed, despite 14 rounds of talks, and he said Washington was “angry” about a similar trade agreement struck between Canada and the EU. He said Europe “must not succumb to American demands.”

Neither the European Commission nor the U.S. Trade Representative’s office had any immediate response to the comments.

On the record, U.S. and European officials say they are continuing to move forward with talks and stress the importance of the TTIP to their economies.

“It’s our job to make sure that we adequately inform people about the facts of how TTIP will actually work for the people of Europe,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said at a press conference in Brussels last month.

“It will protect jobs, it will protect their regulatory rights, protect their abilities with respect to labour and the environment,” he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said last month that the TTIP is “absolutely in Europe’s interest.”

“We are determined to continue these negotiations,” added EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström. “They are important for Europe, for our economy, for our jobs, for our business people, for our consumers, and it makes a lot of sense to do it even (without Britain).”

But behind the scenes, there have been signs of trouble in the talks.

Last month, Agence France-Presse quoted diplomats as saying that talks may be suspended until after the U.S. elections in November, as well as elections in France and Germany next year.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said TTIP would be “a breeding ground for populism.” And in the U.S., Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said, “By any objective analysis this is, shall I say, a down period for trade agreements around the world.”

Britain’s decision to leave the EU had only made the negotiations tougher, as The Economist recently reported:

“Though the Brexit vote was shaped by concerns about the free movement of labour, rather than of goods and services, the appetite for new trade deals was already weak.”

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Striking miners in Bolivia kidnapped and beat to death the country’s deputy government minister after he traveled to the area to mediate in the bitter conflict over mining laws, officials said late Thursday.

Government Minister Carlos Romero called it a “cowardly and brutal killing” and asked that the miners turn over the body of deputy minister Rodolfo Illanes.

Earlier, Romero said that Illanes had been kidnapped and possibly tortured, but local media reports that he had been killed by the miners had not been confirmed.

But late Thursday Romero and Defense Minister Reymi said that the vice minister of government had been beaten to death by the miners, who are demanding more rights, including the right to associate with private companies.

Illanes had gone to Panduro — a town 80 miles south of the La Paz, where the strikers have blockaded a highway since Monday — to open a dialogue. Thousands of passengers and vehicles are stranded on roads blocked by the strikers.

The strike had turned violent recently, with two protesters being killed and riot police failing to clear a highway in a western part of the mining-dependent Andean nation.

Bolivia’s informal or artisan miners number about 100,000 and work in self-managed cooperatives. They want to be able to associate with private companies, which is currently prohibited. The government argues that if they associate with multinational companies they will cease to be cooperatives.

The National Federation of Mining Cooperatives of Bolivia, once strong allies of President Evo Morales, went on an indefinite protest after negotiations over the mining legislation failed.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

EpiPens are in your friend’s purse and your kid’s backpack. The school nurse has a few, as does Grandma.

The medicine inside — epinephrine — has been around forever, and the handy gadget that injects it into your leg is not particularly new either.

So members of Congress, responding to their angry constituents, want to know why the price of the EpiPen, which can reverse a life-threatening allergic reaction, has risen about fivefold in the past decade.

The wholesale price of a single pen was about $47 in 2007, and it rose to $284 this summer, according to Richard Evans, a health care analyst at SSR. But consumers can no longer buy a single pen, so the retail price to fill a prescription today at Walgreens is about $633, according to GoodRX.

It’s the latest in a string of controversies over rising drug prices that have caught the attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. At least three senators have called for investigations into the price of the EpiPen, and Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have sent letters to Mylan, the drug’s manufacturer, demanding an explanation for the increase.

Blumenthal went a step further. “I demand that Mylan take immediate action to lower the price of EpiPens for all Americans that rely on this product for their health and safety,” he wrote in a letter to the company.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Mylan has violated antitrust laws in its marketing of the EpiPen.

And Hillary Clinton weighed in, calling the price increases “outrageous.”

“It’s wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them,” the Democratic presidential nominee said in a statement on her Facebook page.

Mylan spokeswoman Nina Devlin said in an email, “We have reached out to every member of Congress who has sent us a letter, and we look forward to meeting with them and responding to their questions as soon as possible.”

She did not immediately comment on Clinton’s statement.

The EpiPen is a long, plastic tube that automatically injects a dose of epinephrine — or adrenaline — into a person’s thigh to stop an allergic reaction. It’s easy to use and portable.

Mylan bought rights to the EpiPen in 2008 and launched an aggressive marketing and awareness campaign. That effort has made the so-called auto-injector a must-have for anyone with an allergy — perhaps to bee stings or tree nuts — that may trigger anaphylaxis, a life-threatening reaction in which the airwaves swell and close.

According to an account by Bloomberg Businessweek, the company considered selling off rights to the drug, which is an old product, but instead launched a campaign to boost sales. Revenue rose from $200 million to more than $1 billion a year.

The company itself touts its campaign “for increased anaphylaxis awareness” as what has helped drive prescriptions and sales of the device.

“Ensuring access to epinephrine — the only first-line treatment for anaphylaxis — is a core part of our mission,” Mylan said in a press release this week.

And certainly people with life-threatening allergies are better off with easy access to the drug.

But Mylan is better off too.

That’s because each EpiPen prescription creates a win-win sales cycle for Mylan.

An EpiPen prescription actually includes two injectors. The FDA in 2010 recommended that patients have access to two, in case the first doesn’t work, and Mylan complied by taking its single EpiPens off the market and offering them in two-packs.

But often one prescription is not enough. People want the pens at home, in their offices or schools, perhaps in the car. So they might buy three or more two-pen packs. Schools and businesses also often keep them on hand in case a student or customer has an unexpected reaction.

That’s a lot of EpiPens.

Plus, epinephrine has a short shelf life, so people have to replace their EpiPens each year, even if they’ve never used them.

That’s how the drug has become a cash cow for Mylan, which last year moved its headquarters from the U.S. to the Netherlands.

But consumers are fed up. Almost 90,000 people signed a petition to Congress asking for an investigation. About 40,000 of those signatures came in on Wednesday.

Mylan says it is working to keep the medication cheap for consumers, by offering $100 coupons to offset high insurance copayments. In a statement released Monday, the company said about 80 percent of patients with insurance get the EpiPen free.

The statement didn’t mention the retail price or the price increases at all. Instead, the company focused on insurance policies with high deductibles that shift costs to patients.

“We encourage all patients and families to thoroughly review and understand their healthcare insurance coverage,” the statement said.

EpiPen’s name recognition means doctors who want to prescribe adrenaline to an allergy-prone patient usually just turn to it. There is no specific EpiPen generic, so pharmacists can’t substitute a cheaper alternative.

But that alternative does exist. Another auto-injector known as Adrenaclick is available in generic form at Wal-Mart for $141, according to GoodRX.

It’s unclear how far the threats of a congressional investigation into the EpiPen will go.

But the prospect does present one awkward situation. The CEO of Mylan, Heather Bresch, is the daughter of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. In the time that the price of the EpiPen has been skyrocketing, so has Bresch’s compensation. Last year, she earned about $18.2 million, according to the New York Times. That’s up from about $2.5 million in 2007.

In earlier investigations into drug prices, the chiefs of many companies have been grilled and lectured harshly by lawmakers. It’s unclear whether the angry senators will be as inclined to be as aggressive with the daughter of one of their colleagues.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)