Happy 4th of July!

Hey you guys! Sorry I haven't been around to update you lately, work has been crazy. More updates to come next week on the latest diet soda news.

Another Energy Drink

These things are filling up the shelves everywhere, energy drinks that is. At the convenience store I have to wade past a few racks to get to my diet soda. Not that I'm complaining, as my readers know, I am all for choice in the marketplace, and for catering to what the public wants. Right now, energy drinks it is. (I'll stick with a cold diet soda for the most part).

Saw a somewhat interesting one in the C-store the other day. Mainly interesting to me for the song it reminded me of. Atomic Dogg Energy Drink boasts a lot of the ingredients you see in these drinks and the coolest dog this side of Rude Dog on the label. It also has something called horny goat weed, I guess epimedium doesn't appeal to the kids like horny goat weed.

Of course this reminded of the great George Clinton song, video below:

Aloe In Your Drink?

Sure, aloe is great in lotions and creams, but what about in your beverage? The new drink Alo aims to find out if there is a market for it.

From a recent press release:

"ALO is a refreshing line of unique drink alternatives made with real aloe vera pulp. Our drinks are all natural, with no preservatives, no artificial colorings, and no artificial flavors. Two flavors are currently available, with more in the works: ALO Exposed—our original blend infused with real aloe vera pulp, and ALO Awaken—our unique blend of aloe vera and real wheat grass extract for that extra zing in your step!"

I'm not sure where to buy this yet, but, you know me, I'll definitely give it a shot.

Let me know if you see it in the wild!

BevNet: New beverage features aloe as core ingredient

Google Health Debuts

The big news on the Internet today is the launch of Google Health, Google's foray into online medical and health record storage.

According to PC World:

"The public can go today to www.google.com/health and create profiles that include basic medical information such as existing medical conditions, allergies and any medicines being taken..."

Google lists of online partners includes pharmacies like Walgreens and Longs Drug Stores.

Ideas like Google Health have started to gain a lot of currency recently with Microsoft and WebMD joining the fray.

Privacy, as always on the Internet, is a key issue; Google says it may publish "anonymous, aggregated data."

Reminder that it is just in beta stage right now, so some glitches are expected.

So, are you going to trust Google with this information?

Mars and Wrigley

No idea how this totally slipped by me, but a friend in Chicago alerted me to the really big news in the candy industry concerning the merger of Mars, Inc. and The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. Not much for me to say on the matter, except that I love Juicy Fruit and M&M's (yum! almond!).

Here's a cool little picture slide show from the Chicago Tribune: Mars/Wrigley Merger

Some videos for you:

I love the song in this M&M's ad (it's This is the Day by The The, if you're interested)



and thinking of Juicy Fruit reminds me of this awesomely funky song by Mtume!