The New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square is one of the holiday's most cherished traditions, and this year might be its best one yet. Fiskars Living's Tom Brennan joins Cheddar to reveal what makes this year's Waterford New Year's Eve Ball so special. The master artisan explains the painstaking process of creating the iconic scene as the clock strikes midnight.
Brennan reveals why Waterford chose "Gift of Serenity" as this year's theme. He says it represents the spirit of balance and composure heading into the new year. The ball features 288 new crystals that make up the pattern representing the theme.
Finally, Brennan shows off some of the other ways that Waterford is celebrating the holidays. The crystal company is using the New Year's ball as inspiration for some new products including champagne flutes. He says it's a creative way to bring the spirit of the Times Square celebration into your own home.
Devon Still, a former defensive end for the Cincinnati Bengals, is sharing his personal playbook ー "Still in the Game," a self help-style manual for success. Still, who retired from the NFL in 2017, told Cheddar the new book revisits his most dramatic challenges ー most notably, his daughter's cancer diagnosis.
Procter & Gamble is the world's biggest advertiser and the company is looking to the future to upgrade common products people use everyday. Cheddar's Hope King talked to Marc Pritchard, the Chief Brand Officer of Procter & Gamble, about how the company is integrating tech into everything from razors to toothbrushes.
Your debt doesn't need to follow you around forever ー especially not credit card debt, that insidious baggage that so many of us carry with us daily. According to Jennifer Streaks, nationally recognized personal finance expert and author of Thrive! ... Affordably, the first step is to avoid getting overwhelmed. "Understand that there are steps you can take," she told Cheddar Wednesday.
After earning a Bachelor of Science in engineering, interning at Goldman Sachs, and working at Morgan Stanley, Judy Joo left Wall Street to follow her passion for cooking. "I really just got sick of the grind. Fixed income derivatives wasn't really my passion," Judy Joo told Cheddar.
Computing behemoth IBM is using blockchain technology to ensure the food we eat is safe and properly sourced. "We're basically leveraging the blockchain technology to track each item of food as it travels through its trajectory and its transportation from the field all the way to the retailer," Bridget Karlin, chief technology officer for IBM Global Technology Services, told Cheddar's Hope King at CES.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019.
One packaging company is helping cannabis-lovers go doubly green with sustainable, multi-use containers. The mission of STO Responsible is to combat the cannabis industry's single-use plastic problem ー and boost its sales in the process. "Packaging drives sales. That's just something we know in all business," Sandra Elkind, co-founder and chief creative officer, told Cheddar Tuesday.
Nothing says CES like a robot dog powered by powerful sensors ー and that's exactly what Sony brought this year. Sony's robot dog Aibo came back from the dead last year, and now, the robo-pup is getting some cool new upgrades, Sony Electronics President Mike Fasulo told Cheddar's Hope King on Tuesday.
Kelleth Cuthbert was working the Golden Globes as a promotional model for Fiji, the bougie bottled water brand, when she just happened to position herself in the background of many high-profile photos. Her photobombs were enough to get herself trending on Twitter as the first viral meme of 2019. In an interview on Cheddar Big News, Cuthbert relished her newfound fame ー but said it was all just part of the gig.
What do Alinea, Eleven Madison Park, and The French Laundry have in common? Aside from their Michelin stars, the restaurants all offer reservations through the booking platform Tock. Acclaimed restaurateur and [Tock](http://exploretock.com} founder and CEO Nick Kokonas hopes his software platform can wrestle the reservations monopoly from the almost 20-year grip of OpenTable and launch bookings into the 21st century.
