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At its Alfafar store in Valencia, Spain, IKEA has launched a community-focused initiative providing free retail space to nine local businesses devastated by last October's catastrophic floods. The program, called "La meua llar és la teua" (My home is your home), enables entrepreneurs to reconnect with customers while their original premises are under reconstruction and repairs.Among the businesses finding temporary shelter at IKEA are a bookstore, a fashion boutique, a plant shop and a beauty salon. Participants were selected by Nittúa, a Valencia-based platform for socioeconomic innovation. As reported by Europa Press, the initiative represents a lifeline for struggling entrepreneurs like Cristian, CEO of workwear retailer Worket: "The flood took away our store and left us in uncertainty. Today, we have the opportunity to resume our activity in IKEA's space. This isn't just a place to sell it's the hope of starting over." For IKEA store director Diana Carrero, the program embodies solidarity in challenging times: "We're convinced that unity creates strength, which has become even more irrefutable after the past months." The collaborative approach not only helps flood-affected businesses survive but demonstrates how large retailers can leverage their resources to support local economic recovery following a crisis.
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Apples Find My feature has finally been enabled in South Korea, according to a company announcement translated by Apple Insider. This comes after years of public demand in which the finding network tool was absent from the country. The omission was especially odd when you consider that Apple sold AirTags throughout the region. Without Find My, they are basically just puck-shaped paperweights. The company never explicitly stated why it limited access to Find My in South Korea, but it appeared to be related to local laws that could have allowed the government access to the location data. The service first appeared during a beta test of iOS 18.4, but the official software update makes it available to everyone in the country. Find My has long been functional in South Koreas outlying territories like Baengnyeongdo and Ulleungdo. "Find My is an important tool that allows users to grasp the location of the most precious things to them, such as friends, family and personal items, and I am very happy to be able to introduce this function to Korea," said David Dorn, senior director of Apple's service products, in a statement on the company's local website. The modern iteration of Find My launched in the US in 2019 as part of iOS 13. However, the tool actually dates back to a service called Find My iPhone that started in 2010. Apple recently expanded functionality to let users share the location of a lost item with other people on the network. This is helpful when negotiating the return of a lost item with a stranger.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/apples-find-my-has-finally-launched-in-south-korea-151437244.html?src=rss
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If you ever needed a definitive example of how money doesnt necessarily buy you success or taste, take a look at Amazons studio arm. The mega-retailers production division, now known as Amazon-MGM, has been making movies for more than a decade. Very few of the entries in its lineup have been world-beaters, but that hasnt deterred the outfit from persisting. The New York Times is today reporting that under its new head, Courtney Valenti, Amazons movie division has plans to own the in-person cinema experience. Amazon is apparently gearing up to release up to 14 big, broad commercial films a year to theaters nationwide and around the world. Each film would spend 45 days in the theaters before heading to pay-per-view and then to Prime Video at some point after. The move comes in the face of shrinking box office receipts and fewer people heading to the cinema in general. Not to mention its also planning to produce an equal number of films thatll go direct to Prime, which seems counter-intuitive given the desire to push people toward theaters. That doesnt recognize the shift in viewing habits, especially among younger people, whod much rather sit and watch YouTube for hours at a time. Or that the box office took a hit because of COVID-19 that it never really bounced back from. Or that a lot of people would rather wait for a film to become available for free on a service they already pay for. It also doesnt take into account the fact cinemas are becoming increasingly unaffordable, and not that nice a place to sit for multiple hours. Last year, the cinema industry said it would spend $2.2 billion renovating their facilities to lure wary customers back. The planned additions included renovations for chairs and carpets, as well as the construction of ziplines and pickleball courts. Nowhere on the list was mentioned make cinema tickets cheaper or dont make viewers sit through half an hour of TV adverts before the trailers. At the risk of sounding obvious, thats one hell of a lot of material for one company to put out in a year. Especially when so many competitors with better track records are putting out far fewer films and seeing success. On paper, 14 movies a year feels like the sort of strategy you could last get away with in the 1980s. After all, people had fewer options, cinemas were busier and studios could rely on the triple-whammy of the box office, rental and VHS markets. It doesnt help Amazon isnt pledging to make quality movies, just lots of them, which suggests a mindset that doesnt value scarcity. After all, there are many instances of things made and sold in small, limited quantities that garner far more attention than something mass-produced. Think about how hard it is for one of those latter-day Marvel movies to stick in the consciousness when you know therell be another one along in a month or two. It calls to mind Amazons battles with the Broccolis, until recently the custodians of the James Bond franchise. Lets not overthink this, they are just silly spy movies but ones made with a level of craft and attention rarely seen in the modern era. The fact there can be a multi year gap between entries in the series means each film gets far more attention. That was in conflict with Amazons apparent desire to use the Bond name to push out a thousand different streaming series, game shows and movies on a regular basis. And, at the risk of sounding uncharitable, its not as if Amazons movie slate has been a hit parade thus far. Many of the studios buzzier hits were picked up at film festivals rather than coming from inside, while its homegrown fare has floundered. Thats not to say its rivals are doing any better on this front just read the reviews of The Electric State to show you how badly Netflix is throwing mad money at C+-tier projects. I often wonder if people look at the success of Disneys big Marvel tentpoles and assume that its easy to replicate. A film like Avengers: Endgame was the payoff to a decade-long plan built from the ground-up on the backs of less successful films. Across 2024, Disney put 15 films into cinemas, but even a mega-behemoth like Disney does it across its seven or eight different divisions. In terms of attractive pitches, 14 films a year from the people who spent more than $200 million on Red One isnt particularly compelling. Amazons going to have to give people a reason to get out to the theaters, but thats going to be a challenge if the emphasis is on putting more raw material into the pipeline rather than making anything halfway considered or compelling.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/amazons-new-cinema-plan-is-perfect-for-the-80s-150653674.html?src=rss
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