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The Traveller's picture
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Added 18 July, 2023

IKEA is training call centre workers to become interior design advisers as the Swedish furniture giant aims to offer more home improvement services and hand run-of-the-mill customer queries to an artificial intelligence bot called Billie. In April, IKEA expanded its interior design services to the UK and United States, after previous launches...

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Added 22 February, 2023

Books created using AI text generators are starting to flood Amazon, Reuters reports. According to the report, there were over 200 e-books in the e-retailer's Kindle store as of this month that listed "ChatGPT" as an author — some of which are being sold for as little as $1 — but the real number is likely much higher, since people can use AI...

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Added 21 February, 2022

Maersk Supply Service is launching an offshore vessel-charging venture, Stillstrom. The new venture will demonstrate the world’s first full-scale offshore charging station for vessels at an offshore wind farm, working together with Ørsted, both Denmark’s largest energy company and the world’s largest offshore wind developer. “Stillstrom,” which...

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Added 11 January, 2022

In 1908, a New England cotton mill instituted a 5-day workweek. The move inspired others to follow suit over the next 30 years until the Fair Labor Standards Act made 2-day weekends official in 1938. Now, over a century later, some tech companies are shaving another day off the workweek. Iceland’s national government trialed a 4-day workweek...

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Added 8 July, 2021

The hospitality industry is warming up to cryptocurrencies with its first luxury franchise offering crypto transactions to make bookings. The Pavilions Hotels & Resorts has adopted crypto, elevating the experience of modern luxury. The franchise has partnered with UK-based CoinDirect to provide a hassle-free, convenient, and secure portal...

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Added 20 May, 2020

Whether it’s accessing your money online or using mobile banking tools, finance experts saw a trend for online banking even before the COVID-19 outbreak. That trend is gaining steam. With some bank branches closed or operating hours reduced, more people are checking their accounts electronically. That won't go away when coronavirus subsides....

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Added 20 May, 2020

With more people taking advantage of the trails in cities cross the USA, bike sales are spiking dramatically. Damon Hershey, the General Manager at Cycle Works says the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on their business. “We’re getting a lot of bikes in service, a lot of bikes in sales, and it makes sense, it’s one of the few activities that...

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Added 5 May, 2020

Ghost kitchens became the hot new restaurant industry trend in 2019. Even big-name tech talent got in on the action, with former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick backing start-up CloudKitchens. In essence, ghost kitchens provide the “kitchen” piece of a restaurant operation without the on-premises dining or direct customer interaction—no host or wait...

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Added 3 May, 2020

Several months ago, at least 4 startups created software platforms for restaurants to purchase food from their suppliers. Then COVID-19 forced the closure of restaurants and these startups -- Choco, Cheetah, Pepper and DineMarket -- all pivoted to allow consumers to buy directly from the companies that used to supply restaurants. The questions...

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Added 25 April, 2020

Central banks have had a busy pandemic. Along with injecting vast amounts of money into the financial system, they have cleaned vast amounts of it—literally. From America to South Korea, central banks have quarantined and disinfected potentially contaminated banknotes. This hassle should make them all the more interested in a digital-currency...