News : Co-op to make juice from apples that inspired Newton

The Co-op has bought 1,000 varieties of rare and endangered British apples for use in a new “heritage drink”

By Chris Farnell


The rare apples were purchased from the Brogdale Horticultural Trust. The Trust is in the process of moving its National Fruit Collection to Reading University, and decided to sell three identical collections of its rarer apples in a bid to ensure their survival.

The Co-operative bought one of the three collections 18 months ago, and went to grow and harvest the apples on its own fruit farm in Tillington, Herefordshire.

The collection includes one variety of apple which is identical to, and originated from, the same tree that legendarily dropped its fruit on Isaac Newton’s head, inspiring the theory of gravity.

Juice from these apples, and other rare and endangered species, will be used in The Co-operative Farms Truly Irresistable Tillington 1,000 pressed apple juice, 10,000 bottles of which will be available in selected stores.

Christine Tacon, Managing Director of The Co-operative Farms, said: "These apples offer a real taste of British history, and many of them, like ‘Isaac Newton's Tree', have stories behind them.

"The apples were in danger of disappearing forever, so to be able to turn them into a delicious and unique drink is very exciting. It is a great example of what The Co-operative can achieve, as both the UK's largest farming business and as a major food retailer."

Truly Irresistible Tillington 1,000 apple juice will be sold as part of The Co-operative's "Grown by Us" range, which sells food and drink grown by The Co-operative Farms, or made using ingredients grown by the business.

Today marks the 366th birthday of Isaac Newton.

Edited by Ellie Duncan

News : Freescale takes aim at tablet computer market

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Chipmaker Freescale Semiconductor Inc is staking its claim on the tablet computer market, an emerging product category that will generate plenty of interest in 2010.

Although next-generation tablet PCs are scarcely evident on the market, the technology world is abuzz about their potential, as Apple Inc is expected to unveil its offering in 2010.

Freescale's announcement comes ahead of this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where rival chipmakers are expected to show off new so-called smartbooks, which aim to bridge the gap between laptops and smartphones.

Privately held Freescale unveiled its reference design for a 7-inch, touchscreen tablet running on the company's low-power ARM-based processor and priced at less than $200.

The company said such a device will be able to run either Google Inc's Android mobile software or Linux, with Wi-Fi and 3G capability.

Although Freescale declined to name any potential vendors for its tablet design, it said devices could hit retail shelves as soon as this summer. The company expects to show prototypes at CES.

Freescale makes chips for a variety of products, including the automotive market. Its application processor is used in Amazon.com Inc's Kindle.

Henri Richard, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Freescale, called a smartbook tablet the "missing link" between PCs and smartphones.

"The PC has been stale in terms of its ability to innovate. Smartphones have been making progress ... but they have limitations," he said.

Qualcomm Inc and Nvidia Corp are also expected to unveil smartbooks based on their chips at CES.

The devices will seek to break Intel Corp's stranglehold on stripped-down, low-cost PCs. Intel's Atom processor dominates the fast-growing netbook market.

Austin, Texas-based Freescale was spun off from Motorola Inc in 2004. The company was taken private in a $17.6 billion leveraged buyout in 2006. Sales in 2008 totaled $5.2 billion.

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; Editing by Andre Grenon and Jan Paschal)