Friday Press review I June 26, 2020

Here are some of the most interesting articles of the last weeks selected by The Consultancy Group: 

13 innovative technologies and features unveiled at WWDC20

Today Apple kicked off its all-online Worldwide Developers Conference bringing together millions of developers and fans from across the globe for the Special Event Keynote and Platforms State of the Union. The day was filled with announcements and innovations that will push the experience of Apple platforms and products even further. From macOS Big Sur, featuring the biggest design upgrade since the introduction of Mac OS X, to watchOS 7, the new App Library in iOS 14, and enhanced handwriting capabilities with Apple Pencil in iPadOS 14, here are some of the most groundbreaking features and app development tools unveiled at WWDC20. Read more... 

Ruinart announces new "Second Skin" eco-packaging

In development for two years and due to be unveiled this June before being rolled out towards the end of the year, the new packaging is made from wood fibres and acts as a ‘second skin’ around the bottle – with the texture of the white paper also mimicking the house’s crayères, chalk cellars, in Reims. Ultra light and totally recyclable, Ruinart said in a statement that it would allow for a 60% reduction in the packaging’s carbon footprint and the materials were sourced entirely from sustainably managed European forests. Read more...

Spark AR launches new augmented reality features for Instagram

Spark AR continues to expand Instagram’s digital creative canvas with its new augmented reality features and capabilities. They simplify AR creation, giving brands and online users fresh creative opportunities.One of the world’s leading mobile AR platforms is expanding the creative canvas with music and effects. Moreover, it makes content creation so much easier for users with fun, quick, and easy templates. Let’s delve deeper into their latest updates for AR creation. Read more...

Snapchat boosts its AR platform with Voice Search, Local Lenses and SnapML

The company has been subtly improving its AR-powered Lenses every year, improving the technical odds-and-ends and strengthening its dev platform. The result is that today, more than 170 million people — over three-quarters of Snap’s  daily active users — access the app’s augmented reality features on a daily basis, the company says. Two years ago, Snap shared that creators had designed over 100,000 lenses on the platform; now Snap says there have been more than 1 million lenses created. Read more...

Luxury brands playing catch-up in online pitch to Chinese consumers

Luxury brands are looking to Chinese e-commerce sites to boost sales as their businesses struggle in the rest of the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But experts say Western brands aren't yet in a position to be successful in China, the world's most important luxury market, because of their reliance on brick-and-mortar stores and lack of savvy when it comes to digital retailing. Fashion house Balenciaga is among the latest brands to join Alibaba Group's e-commerce site Tmall. Balenciaga's Tmall store opened last month and is the Paris-based brand's only online official flagship store on a third-party platform. Read more...

NBA deal puts tech giant among the league’s highest-paying sponsors 

The NBA’s multi-year sponsorship deal with Microsoft, signed in April, places the technology giant among the highest-spending brands on the NBA’s roster. SportBusiness understands from industry sources the deal is worth about $25m (€22.2m) per year, starting from the 2020-21 season, and puts Microsoft in the top five NBA sponsors by pure marketing rights spend. Under the deal, Microsoft takes up a completely new category – as the official artificial intelligence partner – for the NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), NBA G League, and USA Basketball, as well as roles as official cloud and laptop partner. Read more...

What will be the future for the fashion industry?

All designers and fashion professionals are on the same page: the fashion calendar has reached its limits and the industry could not continue anymore. The coronavirus crisis has certainly accelerated what was meant to be a major turning point in the industry and certainly marks the start of a new era in the fashion world. The #rewiring fashion initiative is one of the examples to follow. Read more...

How Lexus gamifies preview of new car with AR app

Lexus released an app to give mobile consumers an immersive preview of the 2021 IS, a redesign of the luxury carmaker's sedan. Lexus AR Play uses augmented reality (AR) technology to let mobile users walk around a virtual 360-degree version of the car, open and close the doors and trunk and look inside the interior per an announcement. Read more...

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