Things To Do In SW Florida

For tourists and gift givers, now may be the time to buy those pink flamingos.

If they haven’t already, President Donald Trump’s tariff wars are seeping into the psyches of retailers in South Florida’s tourism industry. Raise prices or not? Order more stuff in advance in the hopes of averting higher tariffs later?

At Bob Roth’s New River Groves on Griffin Road in Davie, a 61-year-old purveyor of citrus, key lime pies and Florida-centric souvenirs, key pricing decisions already have been made, said Lisa Roth, vice president and the founder’s daughter.

“The price of fresh produce is going up,” she said. “For mangos we have to go overseas because our own backyard mangos aren’t ready yet.”

A glance around the business’s expansive layout shows a variety of imported products that are rising in price: from key chains and shot glasses to plastic cups and shopping bags. Even the ingredients for key lime pies — condensed milk, toppings and lime juice — are more expensive, Roth said. read more

Disney Cruise Line has shared the progress on visual elements of its Disney Destiny ship, particularly the Marvel characters that will be found on – and just outside – the vessel.

“We are actively in construction right now. All the blocks of the ship have been assembled, so we’re now moving to the interior of the ship, starting to install finishes,” Beth Burkhardt, principal interior designer with Walt Disney Imagineering, said during a showcase about Destiny while aboard the docked Disney Wish ship at Port Canaveral.

“Each day these spaces are starting to come to life, which is very exciting,” she said.

The new ship, set to sail in November, is currently still at the manufacturer in Germany. Disney is overlaying a “heroes and villains” theme throughout the Destiny.

That starts/ends out the back with Spider-Man clinging to Destiny, much like Goofy bringing up the rear for Disney Magic, Dumbo with Disney Fantasy and Rapunzel on Disney Wish.

“It’s our first-ever Marvel stern character,” Burkhardt said. “And, as always, we love to have a fun, whimsical twist to all of them.” read more

Architecture

Stephen Szutenbach was appointed principal and Florida practice lead at FCA, Orlando.

Boards of directors

Kris Hanigosky, vice president of operations at Nautique Boat Co., was appointed to the board of directors of FloridaMakes, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership for the state of Florida.

Health care

Robert Jepson was appointed chief operating officer at AdventHealth Daytona Beach.

Cameron Howard was appointed chief executive officer at Oviedo Medical Center.

Hospitality

Dan Sullivan was appointed senior sales manager at Hotel Landy Orlando.

Other

Diane LaVigna was appointed managing director at Blessings in a Backpack Orlando.

Submit professional appointments, management-level promotions and significant awards for individuals, along with photos as .jpg attachments, to peopleonmove@orlandosentinel.com.

Online-first shopping strategies, many of them popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic, continue to gain traction among shoppers. One such notable practice is “buy online, pick up in store” (BOPIS). This shopping method — also sometimes referred to in the retail industry as “click and collect” — is exactly what it sounds like: Consumers make purchases online and then pick up their items later at a physical brick-and-mortar store.

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The practical advantages are clear: You can do your research in peace, avoid crowds and pushy sales pitches, and of course save on shipping costs, assuming there’s a store near you.

But if you’re a credit card rewards optimizer, there’s another major advantage: more bonus rewards, whether through your credit card’s online “shopping mall” or any number of third-party cash-back portals — not to mention more time to sift through all those offers in advance of your transaction. read more

By Paige Gross, Stateline.org

The next time you’re on a Zoom meeting or asking ChatGPT a question, picture this: The information zips instantaneously through a room of hot, humming servers, traveling hundreds, possibly thousands of miles, before it makes its way back to you in just a second or two.

It can be hard to wrap your mind around, said Vijay Gadepally, a senior scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory, but large data centers are where nearly all artificial intelligence systems and computing happens today.

“Each one of these AI models has to sit on a server somewhere, and they tend to be very, very big,” he said. “So if your millions or billions of users are talking to the system simultaneously, the computing systems have to really grow and grow and grow.”

As the United States works to be a global AI superpower, it’s become a home to hundreds of data centers — buildings that store and maintain the physical equipment needed to compute information. read more