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“Context is everything,” Siegel says. “Even those good technologies don’t magically work out of the box. They have to be done well.” Even if your air purifier earns the highest marks, as long as there’s a pandemic, there’s always going to be a risk of infection. On the first day of CES, the Korean consumer tech giant LG touted a slew of air purifiers, including a face mask with an electronic filter. Some health experts derided the mask back when it was announced last August, saying that such high tech could instill wearers with a false sense of security and lead them to engage in riskier behavior. It’s a criticism that has been levied at a lot of this newfangled cleaning tech. Check out the latest from CES and kick off the new year in tech with WIRED HQ. “There’s that balance between behavior and the effectiveness of the solution itself,” Milanesi says. “I just hope that we’re not going to have a whitewash of this, where everything is going to be labeled, but the range of solutions is going to be very different and therefore it’s going to be harder for consumers to see what they can trust and what they can not trust.” Still, pandemic-inspired tech has the potential to be more than a panic-induced fad. Even if the technology itself drifts out of the limelight, the habits and awareness this terrible period has necessitated can be applied to make the world healthier in the long term. “At my most optimistic, I think we have an amazing opportunity here,” Siegel says. “We all know that there are really serious health disparities in almost every society on earth. Good indoor air could really be an equalizer of some of those health disparities.” The benefits could extend outside the home as well. Better air filtration and surfaces that are more conducive to cleaning could keep viruses from spreading in schools and offices. More investment in no-touch tech could be hugely beneficial for people who are immunocompromised, or even just otherwise unable to interact with traditional tech in public places. “There’s definitely value in keeping some of these technologies and deploying them long term,” Milanesi says. “Even if you’re just preventing the flu at school, any parent will be grateful.”

« Pour les vaccins, le principal frein est la chaîne du froid » S’il est possible d’acheter un test PCR sur Amazon alors pourquoi pas prochainement un vaccin ? « Le principal frein est la chaîne du froid », selon le Responsable Technologie et Partenariats chez L’Echangeur. Difficile de conserver les -70 degrés pour le vaccin Pfizer tout au long de la livraison. « Autre frein, le fait qu’Amazon ne possède pas de lieux physiques dédiés à la santé. Cela pourrait être possible si la société crée un espace pharmacie dans ses magasins Whole Foods rachetés en 2017 », continue-t-il. Avec Amazon, rien ne semble impossible. Après tout, la société vient tout juste de racheter onze Boeing à plusieurs compagnies aériennes afin de renforcer son offre Prime. En réduisant le temps de livraison, la société se donne-t-elle la capacité de pouvoir délivrer des vaccins chez la population ? La reprise du Tourisme pourrait-elle dépendre d’Amazon ?

En décembre dernier, Amazon a commercialisé temporairement une nouvelle version de ses lunettes dotées de fonctions audio connectées à Alexa, son interface vocale. Les avis des utilisateurs sont contrastés pour ces lunettes vendues 250 dollars, hors verres correcteurs. Dialogue discret avec Alexa Les fans saluent le côté pratique des lunettes pour dialoguer de manière discrète vocalement avec Alexa et le fait que l’autonomie ait été rallongée. Les critiques considèrent pour leur part que la durée de vie des batteries est toujours insuffisante, n’atteignant pas la journée, et que la qualité sonore ne permet pas d’écouter de la musique avec une qualité satisfaisante, en particulier pour les basses. Amazon annonce plus de 2 heures de temps de conversation, d’interactions avec Alexa et de lecture multimédia sur une journée de 14 heures, ou, jusqu’à 4 heures d’écoute sans interruption sur une charge complète. Ces lunettes permettent notamment d’établir sa liste de courses, de prendre des notes vocales et de passer des appels téléphoniques. Elles permettent contrairement à l’usage d’écouteurs de demeurer réceptif aux bruits autour de soi. Connexion via le smartphone Les lunettes se connectent à Alexa via le smartphone de l’utilisateur. L’accès à l’assistant vocal Siri d’Apple et Google Assistant est également possible.

L’enseigne de bricolage Leroy Merlin s’attaque au pilotage de ses émissions de gaz à effet de serre dus au transport de marchandises sur ses flux « B to B ». « La réduction de notre empreinte carbone est une priorité absolue » affirme Nicolas Davril, Directeur Transport chez Leroy Merlin. Simuler l’impact des décisions Leroy Merlin souhaitait simuler l’impact de ses prises de décision dans ce domaine. « Il nous fallait plus de visibilité sur notre activité et nos facteurs d’émissions, mais surtout les moyens d’anticiper l’effet de nos décisions » ajoute le responsable. L’enseigne s’est dotée d’une plateforme Saas, conçue par le cabinet conseil en transport BP2R. La plateforme – baptisée Sightness (« la vue » en français) – permet de calculer les émissions de gaz à effet de serre et de simuler l’impact des leviers de réduction d’émission de carbone dans le transport. L’outil permet de normaliser la masse de données hétérogènes qui circulent dans la chaîne de transport. Cela améliore la visibilité sur les enjeux et sert à détecter les anomalies de coûts, de qualité de service et d’empreinte carbone.

Orange Bank fait l’acquisition d’Anytime, une néo-banque créée en 2014 et dédiée aux besoins des professionnels, des PME et des associations. « C’est un segment de marché à forte valeur » se félicite Paul de Leusse, Directeur Général d’Orange Bank. Une offre centrée sur la délivrance d’outils pour simplifier la vie des professionnels Orange Bank veut ainsi se développer auprès de la clientèle des professionnels déjà servie par l’opérateur télécoms Orange. Anytime devient filiale à 100% d’Orange Bank et s’appuiera sur l’image de marque d’Orange auprès des clients TPE et PME pour accélérer son développement commercial. L’offre d’Anytime vise à simplifier la gestion financière des TPE et des PME. Une plateforme d’outils pour simplifier la vie des professionnels dans leur gestion La néo-banque propose des comptes professionnels, des solutions de paiement et de gestion des notes de frais pour faire gagner du temps. Sur sa plateforme, on trouve des solutions pour éditer des devis et des factures, mettre à jour automatiquement sa comptabilité, encaisser ses clients depuis un mobile ou par carte bancaire, gérer ses factures impayées ou optimiser sa trésorerie. Orange annonce que ces services seront enrichis pour créer une plateforme complète d’accompagnement des clients professionnels dans leurs démarches.

Adopting a two-speed strategy It is key to take a two-speed approach to business strategy. Businesses still need to take a long-term view, to have a goal to aim for or a purpose to strive for. But within that long-term plan there must be room to allow for short-term disruptions and to adapt on the fly… READ MORE Selective innovation Rather that throwing every possible idea at the wall and seeing what sticks, innovation had already begun shifting towards a more thoughtful mode when the pandemic hit… READ MORE The value of value In a recessionary environment, brands and marketers need to show their worth. It will be all too easy to pull the price and promotion levers, paving the way for a sea of red as discounts pervade the high streets and the ecommerce world. That might work for some, but the best marketers will be thinking about what more their brands, products and services can offer consumers… READ MORE Refining agile frameworks Brands that have started to work with a more agile mindset during 2020 will need to think about how to bring that approach to life in the hybrid office environment, especially if they want to deal with the complexity of the new working world… READ MORE Embracing failure For too long failure has been considered the worst thing that can happen in business. This mentality is symptomatic of a working culture where new innovations, campaigns and services are the product of months, if not years, of planning. The stakes are so high that anything less than perfection is considered a serious problem… READ MORE Be personal, not personalised Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. It’s often said, but marketers should take particular note when it comes personalisation… READ MORE Bursting the bubble Concern there is a disconnect between some marketers and their customers has been growing for several years. The last twelve months has only exacerbated the sense there is a gap between how marketers believe customers behave and how they do… READ MORE And finally, a call to action – make apprenticeships a trend One of the great tragedies of 2020 is the number of people made redundant. Young people aged 16-24 are among the biggest group impacted, either losing their job or seeing opportunities dry up… READ MORE

Thieves pelt French police with Burgundy wine in motorway chase Burglars made off with €350,000 of prestigious bottles from luxury hotel The thieves smashed open the door of the wine cellar before making off with hundreds of bottles of Burgundy wine. Photograph: Régis Duvignau/Reuters Kim Willsher in Paris Wed 6 Jan 2021 14.14 GMT 558 A gang of wine thieves turned to the closest thing at hand when they discovered French gendarmes in hot pursuit of their van. The burglars, who were making off with an estimated €350,000 (£317,000) worth of grands crus Burgundy wines, began hurling their loot at officers as they sped down the motorway at high speed. They finally abandoned their vehicle after smashing into a road toll barrier 22 miles (35km) north of the city of Lyon. The thieves had targeted the luxury Relais Château hotel, the Domaine de Rymska Saint-Jean-de-Trézy, 30km from Beaune, in Burgundy, and two hours drive from Paris, at 5.15am on Tuesday. They smashed open the door of the wine cellar before making off with hundreds of bottles of Burgundy wine. Advertisement The owner of the hotel, which is set in nearly 200 acres of rolling countryside surrounded by woods and fields, was reportedly woken by the fire alarm going off. He jumped in his car and succeeded in keeping up with the gang’s van as it sped through country lanes before joining the A6 Autoroute du Soleil motorway south towards Lyon, while calling for reinforcements. A patrol of gendarmes then joined the chase, but as they approached the van, the thieves began throwing bottles of wine at the pursuing vehicle. Investigators say nobody was hurt and the bottles, aimed at the windscreen of the gendarmes’ car, missed their target. An inquiry has now been opened and police say they are searching for at least three men. It was the second time the five-star hotel had been broken into in two days. Just 24 hours previously, thieves broke into the property and stole €200,000 worth of fine wines from the same cellar. That time, the alarm did not go off. Detectives are trying to establish if the two burglaries were organised by the same gang.

The price of bitcoin smashed through the last all-time high again jumping above the $37k zone to $37,400 per coin. The crypto asset’s market valuation is around $689 billion at the time of publication, as it has seen $26 billion in trade volume worldwide. Moreover, the entire crypto-economy surpassed the $1 trillion mark on Wednesday evening (EST) as well. Bitcoin (BTC) has jumped over the $37k handle on Wednesday surpassing the cryptocurrency’s previous all-time high (ATH). At approximately 7:04 p.m. (EST), BTC touched an ATH of around $37,400 per unit. Bitcoin is up 8.5% during the last 24 hours, 27% during the last seven days, 91% for the month, and 235% for the 90-day span. BTC is also up more than 350% against the U.S. dollar for the last 12 months. At approximately 7:04 p.m. (EST), BTC touched an ATH of around $37,400 per unit. Currently, BTC is still riding above the $37k handle. Despite BTC’s price being so high, the Bitcoin dominance index is a tad lower. The metric shows bitcoin’s market dominance compared to all the other crypto assets in existence is around 68.5%, after riding high above 70% for a while. The Bitcoin network hashrate has also skyrocketed during the last 24 hours as miners are dedicating 162 exahash per second (EH/s) to the BTC network. There’s approximately 19 mining pools with hashrate pointed at the blockchain and F2pool leads the pack. The pools that follow F2pool include operations such as Huobi Pro, Binance Pool, Antpool, and Btc.com. The executive at the Bitcoin Depot, Brandon Mintz, told news.Bitcoin.com that BTC’s scarcity is driving demand. “The scarcity of BTC compared to the printability of dollars is likely to attract savvy individuals looking to diversify their assets in the event of a lapse in the traditional financial system,” Mintz said. “As the adoption rate of BTC increases and the supply remains constant, the value of BTC will only continue to rise.” Meanwhile, as BTC crossed a new ATH, digital assets like ETH, ADA, BCH, LINK, and XLM have all seen percentage gains between 8% to 70%. Ethereum’s market cap, which is hovering around $138 billion, is partly the reason BTC’s dominance has dropped a few percentages. Currently, the entire market cap of all 7,500+ crypto assets is approximately $1,000,395,709,742 according to exchange data.

Selon Le Parisien, l’achat et l’utilisation de titres de transport sur les smartphones Apple vont être enfin possibles en février. Les utilisateurs pourront embarquer leur Pass Navigo mais aussi acheter des tickets à l’unité, un forfait antipollution 1 jour et des billets OrlyBus et RoissyBus. Comment pourra-t-on acheter et valider un ticket de métro ? Comment sur Android, il suffira de télécharger l’application Vianavigo et de se laisser guider pour acheter son titre de transport ou son abonnement. Pour ce qui est de la validation sur les bornes, si vous possédez un iPhone récent (iPhone XR, XS, et XS Max, iPhone 11, 11 Pro et 11 Pro Max), vous n’aurez rien à faire. Pour ceux qui détiennent un iPhone plus ancien (iPhone X, 7 et 8) en iOS 14, il suffira de lancer le lecteur NFC Apple depuis le centre de contrôle. Une fonctionnalité proposée plus d’un an après Android L’achat et la validation de titres de transports sont proposées aux détenteurs de smartphones Android équipés NFC depuis septembre 2019. Lors d’un évènement presse, Valérie Pécresse, Présidente d’Ile-de-France Mobilités et de la Région Île-de-France, avait d’ailleurs fait une démo dans le métro. Elle déclarait à l’époque : « J’en appelle pour la énième fois à Apple de faire le nécessaire pour rendre le service disponible aux détenteurs d’iPhone en 2020, au risque que les franciliens se tournent vers les téléphones sous Android ».

The data suggests that a lot more people are removing funds off of centralized exchanges in order to hold bitcoin in a noncustodial fashion. From this perspective, more people holding coins noncustodially is beneficial for the entire community by leaving fewer funds on exchanges that are susceptible to large bitcoin thefts. Another theory is that bitcoin whales have adopted a new strategy rather than dumping coins on the market and purchasing bitcoin off weak hands that panic sell. Bitcoin whales may be removing liquidity from exchanges and decimating any type of upper barrier.