Hong Kong, China | AFP | Apple profits soared by a fifth as its flagship iPhone X hit stores in Asia Friday, with the company predicting bumper sales despite its eye-watering price tag. Net profit rose 19 percent from a year ago to $10.7 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter to …
Read More »Apple aims to work its magic with iPhone X
San Francisco, United States | AFP | With its new iPhone X, Apple is setting the ambitious goal for itself of reinventing the smartphone, again. The flagship handset marking the 10th anniversary of the first iPhone release, is set to hit stores Friday, and with it the California tech giant is …
Read More »Amsterdam bans controversial ‘beer-bikes’
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | Amsterdam will enforce a new ban on ‘beer-bikes’ this week after years of complaints by locals about rowdy tourists getting drunk and disorderly while pedalling along its famous canals. As from Wednesday “the beer bicycle may be banned from the city centre to stop it …
Read More »Bikini power: Japan’s lady bodybuilders smashing stereotypes
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Glistening with sweat, Satoko Yamanouchi’s biceps ripple and the veins in her neck throb as if about to pop as she strikes a fearsome pose at the Japan bodybuilding championships. An hour later, the pint-sized Nagoya housewife is close to tears after narrowly failing to retain …
Read More »Oculus unveils standalone virtual reality headset
San José, United States | AFP | Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday unveiled a new Oculus virtual reality headset untethered from computers as part of a vision to bring the new technology to the masses. Oculus Go headsets will be priced at $199 when they begin shipping early next year, …
Read More »Future of news: bracing for next wave of technology
Washington, United States | AFP | If you think technology has shaken up the news media — just wait, you haven’t seen anything yet. The next wave of disruption is likely to be even more profound, according to a study presented Saturday to the Online News Association annual meeting in Washington. …
Read More »Orthorexia: When ‘healthy eating’ ends up making you sick
Paris, France | AFP | People, it seems, have never been so afraid of their food -– and, say some experts, an obsession with healthy eating may paradoxically be endangering lives. Twenty-nine-year-old Frenchwoman Sabrina Debusquat recounts how, over 18 months, she became a vegetarian, then a vegan — eschewing eggs, dairy …
Read More »Facebook beefing up team to thwart election manipulation
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook on Monday said it will hire more than 1,000 people to thwart deceptive ads crafted to knock elections off course. The announcement came as the leading social network turned over to Congress some 3,000 Russia-linked ads that appeared to use hot-button issues to …
Read More »Don’t bathe more than once a week says designer Westwood
Paris, France | AFP | Flamboyant fashion designer Vivienne Westwood revealed the secret of her eternal youth Saturday — only taking a bath once a week. The 76-year-old queen of punk fashion let it slip after watching her husband Andreas Kronthaler’s spectacularly idiosyncratic show at Paris Fashion Week. Asked by reporters …
Read More »Fashion world shaken by #NoFreePhotos row
Paris, France | AFP | Photographers have risen up in revolt at the way fashion labels and influencers are using their street style images without crediting them, highlighting discontent about the “work for free” culture in the multi-billion dollar industry. More than 40 photographers who follow the fashion circuit and …
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