The ‘budding’ rise of ear-infections from earbuds

The audio category in India has witnessed some drastic changes in the gadgets and technology. From earphones to headphones to now wireless earbuds, the transformation has been quite huge. You will hardly find someone who does not own a pair of earbuds or who has not wish listed it in their Amazon account. Earbuds are becoming quite multi-functional these days when people are sitting at home while working or taking call or listening to music.

Despite though a convenience, earbuds possess risks to our health. Everyone at some point or the other has split headphones with their friends, family, borrowed a pair from a colleague and even left them at some place in the open only to find and use the next day. Sharing earphones is quite normal these days, when you really want to zone out, focus on a task or even just make others listen to your favourite song but not many realise that this can lead to significant ear-health issues and ear infection after prolonged use of earbuds.

Experts suggest sharing earbuds is not only unhygienic but risky too; when one shares or uses another person’s earbuds, they let that person’s bacteria into their ears, which can lead to ear infection and other ailments. According to health experts, earbuds do the wearer more harm than good, our ears our naturally built to protect themselves but when this natural process is obstructed it can lead to significant health issues. No earbuds today are designed mindful of the health risks they bring nor do they try to reduce it.

Owing to the compact size, it’s easy to leave them lying around, risking the development of bacteria. Unless you sanitize them, your earbuds have probably accumulated a great deal of dirt and bacteria. The major cause of this is the presence of the bacteria in the ear gel, and inadequate cleanliness of the same. To ensure that people can enjoy using their earbuds without worrying about the hygiene of their ears, LGs launched TONEFREE Wireless earbuds, with innovative UV Nano Technology are capable of sanitizing and eliminating bacteria. India’s 1st 99.9% Bacteria-Free Earbuds, an industry first innovation, the LG TONEFREE come with an UV Nano charging cradle to keep the earbuds bacteria free, giving the wearer enhanced hygiene and protection after every charge. The earbuds also have medical-grade ear gels that conform to the ear shape.

It is important to use the earbuds mindfully to reduce the risk of infections. Taking breaks and ensuring proper sanitisation is important while using them on a day-to-day basis.

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Park+ to offer next-gen parking solutions for Smartworks

 Park+, India's leading provider of automated Smart Parking solutions, announced that it has been selected by India's largest managed office space provider to Enterprises- Smartworks, to provide a next-gen parking experience in its office campuses.

As a part of this engagement, Park+ will enable campus administration for the flex space provider by automating parking allocation and managing seamless entry and exit of vehicles in and out of the premises. The unique RFID tag affixed on every car will ensure the movement of authorised vehicles only. The solution will help save time where real-time parking slots availability will be visible to members through Smartworks mobile app. 

Speaking on the solution, Amit Lakhotia, Founder of Park+, said, "Both Smartworks and Park+ are working towards elevating the experience of corporates and office-goers across metro cities. The users will now be able to check the real-time availability of parking lots on a mobile app, which will help them save time, reduce stress and save on fuel. Also, as more and more people are looking at personal vehicles for a daily commute, corporates are partnering with Park+ to enable their employees to access our 70,000+ parking slots network and ensuring that they are no more constrained by the number of parking available in a specific building. By getting nearby parking on our platform, we have more than doubled the parking spaces available to users at various Smartworks campuses."

Neetish Sarda, Founder of Smartworks, said, "We are building offices of the future, and technology will be the key driver.  Our digitally-enabled office campuses are in line with our vision of offering contactless and efficient workspaces to clients. Our association with Park+ will help automate the first touch-point of our member's daily office schedule – "parking". In addition, it will remove the need for manual authentication of vehicles, improve access controls and further elevate the security profile of the campuses."

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LG offers Health and Wellness benefits with announcement of its latest "Live a New Life" Campaign

LG Electronics, India’s leading consumer durable brand for 25 years cares for its consumers with its Health and Hygiene Products. The tech giant has announced its latest “Live a New Life” consumer benefit for its home appliances category. Under this initiative, consumers can avail health and wellness gift vouchers of up to INR 20,000. LG has always inspired its consumers towards a healthier lifestyle.

 

Keeping in line with its beliefs, LG recently introduced various innovative technologies which enhance health & hygiene for its consumers such as Steam technology in Washing machines that provide a 99.99% Germ free & allergen free environment, a first of its kind water purifier with Digital Sterilizing Care™ feature that sterilizes the entire water path, faucet, and tank, air conditioners with a built-in air purifier and double filtration technology and refrigerators with Hygiene Fresh+ feature that involves a 5 step air-purifying system which removes upto 99.999% bacteria and minimizes bad odour. LG Styler is a perfect clothing care solution in today’s scenario with unique True steam ^TM technology that eliminates over 99.9% of viruses, bacteria & allergens as certified by renowned external agencies. 

 

The unique consumer offers have been launched considering the recent consumer demands and the recently growing preference towards personal health & wellness. Due to the current scenario, most consumers are apprehensive to step outside and prefer resorting to Online Doctor Consultations from the safety and comfort of their homes. Also, with multiple outlets to get free home delivery options, consumers prefer buying medicines online based on their prescriptions and doctor’s advice. Based on these consumer insights, the Health & Wellness Gift vouchers announced will thereby help consumers to get up to 1 year complimentary online doctor consultation, early health checks and access to the adoption of yoga & meditation through various health and wellness apps. All details pertaining to offer are available at https://www.lg.com/in/live-new-life.

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Eccentric Engine Collaborates With Citroën India To Offer Captivating Realtime 3D Product Visualization

 Eccentric Engine, the renowned Technology Incubator and Product Visualization company has joined hands with leading French automobile company, Citroën to provide next-level immersive and interactive experience for its newly launched Citroën C5 Aircross SUV in India.

The proprietary, algorithm based, One 3D Visualization Platform by Eccentric Engine is seamlessly integrated at both online and in-dealerships touchpoints to provide a superior product experience by means of real-time 3D visualization. The latest technology upgrades of the One 3D leverages ‘Photorealism’ to render vehicle visuals in a realistic and captivating way, making the experience a first-of-its-kind in the Indian and global automotive industry.

The 3D Configurator, which is engaging customers right from the start, resides on the company’s’ website and offers a cinematic experience of the Citroën Advanced Comfort Program, class-leading product features and exciting accessories options to bring alive a true ATAWADAC experience for its customers.     

Saurabh Vatsa, Brand Head, Citroën India said, “We are excited with the customer response to the High Definition 3D Configurator developed by Eccentric Engine. This extremely realistic visualisation experience ties up very well with our brand ethos of Citroën 360-degree Comfort to enhance the overall customer journey through our AnyTime AnyWhere AnyDevice AnyContent [ATAWADAC] strategy. While the new C5 Aircross SUV is our first vehicle to adapt this technology, our continuous endeavour will be to provide Indian customers unique and ingenious experiences across our brands, reiterating our commitment to be the digital reference in the Indian automotive industry.”

Excited about the new collaboration, Varun Shah, co-founder & CEO, Eccentric Engine, said, “We are excited to partner with Citroën and contribute to their digital journey as they mark their debut in India. While developing Photorealistic CGI Images has been a common practice in the automotive Industry, with the new Citroën C5 Aircross SUV, we have democratized Photorealistic 3D Visualization for the Internet. This is first in the Industry not only in India, but across the world. The latest update takes vehicle exploration to a whole new level.”

In current circumstances, where showroom visits are limited, the new virtual 3D                   e-commerce trends are encouraging and testify the significance of this cutting-edge digital interface. 

Within a 3-month launch of the 3D Configurator on the company website, the web engagement grew manifold, setting new benchmarks: 

• More than 250,000 people from multiple Indian cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai were hooked online to explore the 

C5 Aircross SUV in 3D from the comfort of their own homes.      

• Explorers nearly spent 5.9 Lakh minutes evaluating and considering the product

• Recorded over 38 Lakh interactions.

Besides online, showrooms are being prepped with personalized 1:1 Experience Zones that has been set up at all La Maison Citroën dealerships across India to ensure a seamless 3D experience with specially trained staff to exhibit the 3D Configurator to accentuate the user experience with the power of One 3D Visualization. 

Citroën customers will be ‘Phygitally’ up-and-close and immersed as:

• The materials, textures and elements used in the vehicle are authentic and give an account of the real car

• The lighting, shadows and reflections give an added sense of realism

• Citroën Advanced Comfort Program is explained immersive with interactive demonstration of differentiated features

• Multiple product variants and trims can be seen back-to-back in 3-Dimensional

• Accessories can be easily overlaid, previewed in real time to aid decision making to book their preferred choice, removing ambiguity and ensuring customers get what they see and desire. 

Customers can explore the power of One 3D Visualization by clicking on the link below

https://www.citroen.in/car-configurator-online

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Flipkart introduces ‘Back to College’ program to offer an enhanced learning experience to students

 Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace, has introduced a Back to College program to facilitate the educational needs of millions of students as they begin their classes virtually this year. Under the program construct, Flipkart is making available a wide selection of computing devices and bundled education content through tie-ups with leading edtech players including Edukemy and Simplilearn. As part of the initiative, over 400 courses across coding, AI and competitive entrance examinations will be available to students among a plethora of learning choices. This initiative aims at enhancing the learning potential of students as digital learning takes precedence.

As students prepare to move into a new academic year, the “online learning” scenario, triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, continues to lead them to upgrade their education essentials with the best computing devices to make their learning process more intuitive and impactful. As part of the nearly 3-month initiative which started in June, Flipkart has curated a special page on the platform to help students select the right computing and electronic items such as laptops, tablets, printers, audio devices and IT peripherals along with online learning materials depending on one’s primary use case. As part of the campaign, students looking for laptops and tablets will receive options post purchase to pick relevant courses from the edtech partners in an affordable manner.

Students can now get learning modules from leading edtech companies along with their purchase of laptops and tablets during the 3-month long campaign

Rakesh Krishnan, Senior Director, Electronics at Flipkart, said, “As students get ready for the new academic year and are now better acquainted with virtual learning, we are closely working with our brand partners to bring the best-in-class computing products, combined with courses and content to enhance their learning experience. With nearly 40-45% of the demand for electronics coming from the student community and the significant rise in the adoption of online learning since last year, the industry is now shaping its offerings to cater to this fast-growing customer segment and bring various interventions. Through our “Back to College” program, students will benefit from the wide variety of courses offered by partners along with a large selection of computing devices available on Flipkart that will cater to their diverse needs and support them in choosing the best learning materials available.”

In the past year, the demand for computing devices including laptops and tablets has grown multifold, as students switched to learning from home on the back of the pandemic. Interestingly, while school students prefer to purchase budget laptops, college students are looking for premium options to undertake complex tasks which require high processing power.

At the same time, online education offerings for classes 1 to 12 are projected to increase 6.3X by 2022 from the base of 2019," according to an industry report*. It added that the post K-12 market is expected to grow 3.7X to touch $1.8 billion.

Flipkart’s customer insights also corroborated a growing demand for online learning materials among the customers of computing devices. Earlier in April, Flipkart partnered with Codingal, Avishkaar, Prograd and Vendantu to offer online courses for school students and witnessed good traction among customers. 

To better cater to the students’ needs, Flipkart also introduced its Student Loyalty Program with wide-ranging benefits. Students will have to sign up on the electronics page on the Flipkart app using their student identification card and after verification, they will be eligible for 3 months of Flipkart Plus membership along with a host of other benefits on the purchase of electronics, gadgets and backpacks.

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