Stranger Things – Why Gen Z is obsessed with 80s Aesthetics?

The 80s were days when “hanging out” meant riding bikes with friends until the streetlights came on. Remember those? No? Well, that’s okay because neither do I, as we weren’t born back then. Yet, somehow, the Gen Z crew find themselves in the throes of an obsession with the ’80s – an era they never truly experienced but can’t help but adore. So, it’s time to uncover why Gen Z is falling head over Reebok heels for the 80s like we just found an old mixtape in the attic and can’t stop grooving to it.

The Rebellion Against the Digital Age

Alright, let’s get one thing straight: Gen Z might be the generation that practically invented the term “digital native,” but they’re also a bit rebellious. They’ve grown up with the internet at their fingertips, but as they navigate the complex labyrinth of social media, algorithms, and memes, they can’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed. The ’80s represent an era that predates the digital age. It’s a simpler time when people weren’t glued to screens, and a “like” was something you did in person. The allure of the ’80s lies in this escapism – it’s Gen Z’s way of rebelling against the omnipresent digital embrace, even if it means wearing oversized clothes.

Iconic Pop Culture

“Stranger Things,” anyone? Gen Z might not have been around for the original release of “Back to the Future” or “The Goonies,” but they binge-watched these ’80s classics in record time and fell in love with the charm, the adventure, and the irresistible nostalgia they bring. They can’t help but root for Marty McFly as he tries to get back to the future, and they’ve all dreamed of embarking on a treasure hunt like the kids from “The Goonies.” The ’80s represented a golden era of blockbuster movies, and they’ve continued to shape the way we consume entertainment today.

Fashion Resurrection

When you raid your parents’ closets and discover that box of ’80s fashion treasures, you’ve just hit the motherlode. Oversized blazers and acid-washed denim from the ’80s brought Gen Z some of the most audacious and flamboyant fashion trends in history. And what do they do with this treasure trove? They wear it like a badge of honour, mixing and matching those vintage pieces with modern style. Who needs fast fashion when you can score authentic retro finds from thrift shops? The ’80s have taught Gen Z that being bold and expressing ourselves through fashion is as timeless as Levi’s pants.

Rock Music

Gen Z’s all about that ’80s sound. No, I’m not talking about cassette tapes and Walkman rewind buttons, but the electrifying, nostalgia-inducing sounds of rock music. Artists like The Smiths and Guns N’ Roses have taken the essence of ’80s synth music and given it a fresh, modern spin. It’s like the ’80s sound has been remixed for the future, creating a musical fusion that resonates with Gen Z on a deep level. The pulsating rhythms and ethereal rock transport the new generation to a neon-lit dreamscape, a place where their playlist is filled with nostalgia for an era they never truly knew.

The Rise of Social Media

Gen Z’s love for ’80s aesthetics doesn’t stay offline. It’s all over social media platforms, where they’re grooving to ’80s hits and showing off their rad retro outfits. Instagram is a hotspot for nostalgia as it allows Gen Z to play with filters that give photos a vintage, grainy, and slightly overexposed look. The internet has become their time machine, allowing them to curate their online personas with a heavy dose of ’80s flair. So, while Gen Z might not have lived through the ’80s, they’re using social media to bring the era back to life, one post at a time.

A Dash of Irony

Now, here’s the thing: Gen Z is totally aware that they didn’t experience the ’80s firsthand. They know that some aspects of the ’80s were, well, let’s say, “unique.” The hairstyles, the fashion, and the lingo could be, to put it politely, a bit over the top. But that’s precisely what makes it so appealing to them. Gen Z embraces the ’80s with a dash of irony and humour. They’re not pretending to live through it; they’re simply having a blast celebrating the quirks and charms of an era that’s both fascinating and slightly eccentric.

Gen Z is finding solace in the past. The ’80s provide a perfect blend of nostalgia, authenticity, and a break from the digital frenzy of the present. The new generation is dancing to the rhythm of a neon-lit, rock-driven era they never truly knew, proving that even in a rapidly changing world, some things never go out of style. So, grab your leg warmers and crank up the Duran Duran – the ’80s are back, and they’re here to stay, even if we never left the ’90s behind.

OnePlus Pad Go: GO and GET it!

I’ve been observing OnePlus’s moves since they first surfaced in 2013. They have a proven track record of releasing great products at a great price right from the start. 10 years later and things haven’t changed much, except for a few competitors sprouting up. The OnePlus Pad Go is a new budget tablet which is very reminiscent of its elder sibling, The OnePlus Pad. With differences in aspects like the processor, camera, battery and charging, let’s find out if it’s worth the 19,999 price tag that’s almost half when compared to its predecessor. 

Display: 

The first display aspect that caught my eye was the crisp 2.4K resolution IPS screen which combined with the sharp and vibrant calibration provides a very immersive content viewing and gaming experience. I highly trust that this helps the OnePlus Pad Go shine in its segment. The only minor inconvenience that came to my geeky attention was the refresh rate being at 90Hz instead of 120Hz but to people who don’t bother much for refresh rates, this shouldn’t be of much concern.

Design:

Whether it’s the metallic finish, the tactile buttons or even the overall sturdiness of this device, I like it. The glossy strip of plastic near the camera module adds a level of freshness to the age-old tablet design i.e the industry standard. Audio enthusiasts will also appreciate its quad speakers that provide ample bass, well balanced mids and clear treble. Movies, music and frequent video calls are handled really well by the OnePlus Pad Go.

However, nothing comes perfect in our imperfect world and what that means here is no 3.5mm headphone jack. For a device that positions itself as a media machine, this is a small disappointment. The seamless bluetooth 5.2 connectivity does try to make up for it but wired users will have to resort to a dongle. 

While we are on the topic of missing basic features, there’s no fingerprint scanner which means you’ll have to rely on the face unlock. Come on OnePlus, it’s 2023, everybody prefers biometric authentication over gimmicky facial recognition. 

Camera:

The camera performs decently in fair to good lighting conditions. The 8MP resolution both in the front and back is sufficient. You won’t find yourself complaining during zoom calls or the occasional tablet photography session. I was a little surprised to see the omission of a flash in the rear camera module, but I guess they have to cut costs somewhere. 

Performance:

It performs best when presented with everyday tasks but falls short when pushed to its limit in heavy games and other processor intensive tasks. The Helio G99 is definitely capable of handling all games but not so much if you like playing them on the highest settings for long periods of time. That said, navigating through multiple apps or browsing the web is as seemless as it gets. 

Battery and Charging:

With a 33W adaptor and an 8,000 mAh Li-Poly battery, the Pad Go shines in this department. A solid 2+ day life is easily expected and a respectable 1.5 day life if you decide to really push it. 

Software:

What I really enjoyed in the software department is the ease with which I was able to navigate, multitask and get things done in general. OnePlus seems to have customized Oxygen OS and made it more user friendly on a larger screen. I hope they add the option for using a split keyboard soon though, this addition will make it a complete experience. 

Verdict: 

The OnePlus Pad Go excels in several key areas, including its high-resolution display, versatile audio capabilities, tactile buttons, multitasking optimization, and premium build quality, making it a compelling choice in the slow Android tablet market. It’s a great choice for a younger family member or an avid OTT enthusiast all while proving worthy for individuals who love multitasking. 

Rating: ★★★★

In Conversation with Mr Roopak Krishnan – Head of Marketing and Category, Logitech India

Roopak leads the Marketing and Category for Logitech in India. He has been associated with the organisation for the past 17 years and worked across functions, including building, and strengthening Logitech’s leadership position in the gaming, personal workspace and streamers & creators categories in India. He has done a Master’s in business from Madras University.

Ex. What does sustainability mean to you and your brand?

As far as sustainability is concerned, it’s not a new topic for us because we have been part of a community from way back in 2007 onwards. Along the journey, like-minded companies have joined together to source more responsibly sourced material. However, in the last few years, Logitech has set some goals like by 2030, we want to reach a renewable energy milestone or remove as much plastic as possible by a certain percentage. We also publish a report every year called a sustainable report, which we usually share with our consumers or customers, where we inform on how much plastic we have reused. We use PCR plastic, which is post-consumer recycled plastic, and certain companies convert this into small pallets, and we use these pellets to make our products. 

Similarly, there are products in gaming in which we use almost 40% of PCR plastic. That’s a significant initiative we have taken that gives a second life to the product plastic, which otherwise goes into earth fills or oceans. We are not only looking at the product alone, even the packaging. The packaging used to be plastic, but today, when you look at the packaging, we are moving from plastic to paper which can be recycled and will not add to the pollution. But the important thing is that paper must be sourced sustainably. So we source packaging paper from a set of organizations which gives you paper from a sustainable forest. So that is called FSE-certified (Forestry Workerships Council) forest. So we pick our packaging from there, which assures us that we are not cutting down trees in unblind ways.

Ex. Every brand has a specific marketing strategy that works best for them. Does Logitech move with a given set of principles or ideas?

We are known for our design and innovation, two big things consumers love Logitech for. Like there was a time when gaming products used to be wire products, today it’s wireless, and gamers love wireless products. We have been in this fear for so long that we understand that as the trend changes, design and innovation will be part of the principal core strategy of Logitech.

Ex. What’s the most powerful tool you use to gain your customers’ loyalty?

Be truthful because you cannot run any specific strategy to gain loyalty, but if you are truthful and consumers believe that what you’re doing is good, we feel that they will support that brand. I’ve been with Logitech for over 17 years, and I have seen that we are truthful in what we do. So we feel that be truthful to what you’re doing and consumers will follow.

Ex. Who are your biggest competitors?

I often get asked this question, but what happens is that we operate in a field where many brands are there and Logitech being an umbrella brand, I cannot pinpoint that he’s my biggest competitor. Under the Logitech brand, you have another sub-brand called Logi; we have Blue, a microphone, and Logitech G, our biggest gaming brand within the streamers ecosystem. We have Streamlabs, which is software, and then we have Nevo, which is a streamer’s camera. So, being such a big umbrella brand, when you ask about competition, I better go through a list of brands in each category. However, none of our strategies are competition centric. So that’s why we understand they exist. They bring in certain things, but what I bring is my value to the consumers. That’s what we look forward to. That’s the way Logitech has been successful for so many years.

Ex. With your new launch, how has the response been?

MX Mechanical came from a family of MX series, which we have been selling in India for quite a long time. For example, when I joined in 2000, we had a product called Amit’s Revolution. From there, it is a 6th-generation region of this mouse. And this is loved by the creators, community and coders. And we bring in more innovation based on the feedback and what they look for. It’s been just three weeks now, and till now, the response has been tremendous.

Ex. What are your personal and professional growth goals over the next two to three years?

Professionally, I have no idea, but as far as the company’s goals are concerned, we are looking forward. We are bringing the best products to India because we have been committed to India for a long time, and the last two years have been quite successful for Logitech within India. We have launched products almost every three months or four months. Whereas in the gaming, productivity, or personal collaboration space, we will keep introducing more exciting products in the next couple of years.

Ex. Suggest any good books for budding marketing minds?

I don’t read marketing books, but what I do read is more about some achievements done by everybody, entrepreneurs or successful people. Mostly, I read about what has worked and has not worked. I won’t recommend reading any book if it’s the experience that makes it work, and even if it’s a bad experience, it’s a good lesson for life.

July 2022 – Top 10 releases of the month

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect

Madhavan has risen from being a cute romantic hero of the early 2000s to being the first A-list actor to make an OTT debut, and now he has added one more star on his shoulder by writing and directing the upcoming film Rocketry: The Nambi Effect. The biographical film is based on the life of Nambi Narayanan, a former scientist and aerospace engineer of the ISRO, who was falsely charged with espionage and arrested.

Release: 1st July (in theatres)

Genre: Biography

Directed by: R. Madhavan

Stranger Things S4 Volume 2

 

Stranger Things S4V1 revealed a few new characters, two of whom are quite brutal, the villains of the story – Vecna in the upside-down and number ONE in the laboratory. At the end of the S4V1, we saw Nancy fall into a new dimension while trying to climb the rope of the new world. Volume 2 of the Season 4 consists of two episodes of about 2 hours each called ‘Chapter 8 – Papa’ and ‘Chapter 9 – The Piggyback’, respectively.

Release: 1st July (Netflix)

Genre: Science Fiction Horror

Created by: The Duffer Brothers

Thor: Love and Thunder

 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe fans are going crazy over the release of Thor: Love and Thunder. The 29th superhero film in the MCU is based on the Marvel Comics character Thor and is the direct sequel to Thor: Ragnarok (2017). The film shows the story of Thor returning to action after spending a brief time looking for inner peace. In the process, he recruits Valkyrie, Korg, and Jane Foster to stop Gorr the God Butcher from eliminating all gods.

Release: 8th July (in theatres)

Genre: Superhero

Directed by: Taika Waititi

Boo, Bitch

We have seen Lana Condor as Lara Jean Covey in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy, and now she’s returning with yet another mind-boggling character. Her upcoming mini-series – Boo, Bitch is a supernatural comedy which depicts the story of a high school student who lives a life of a wallflower and wakes up one morning only to find out she’s a ghost. The series is labelled as a mini-series, and it will have eight episodes.

Release: 8th July (Netflix)

Genre: Comedy

Created by: Tim Schauer, Kuba Soltysiak, Erin Ehrlich and Lauren Iungerich

Jaadugar

 

Jeetu Bhaiyya is back again with another movie, and this time he plays the magician’s character. His recent release, Panchayat 2, is already breaking the records and the audience across genres appreciates his performance. With Jaadugar, the actor is looking forward to expanding his movie resume. In the film, Jitendra Kumar plays a role of a Jaadugar with no athletic skill and must win a football trophy to marry his love interest.

Release: 15th July (Netflix)

Genre: Sports Comedy

Directed by: Sameer Saxena

Shabaash Mithu

We have seen films/documentaries based on many cricketers, be it an MS Dhoni or Sachin Tendulkar or the most recent one, Kabir Khan’s 83, but what about the female cricketers? Yes, we have two films in the pipeline based on the female cricketer’s life journey, and one of them is Shabaash Mithu, based on the life of former Test and ODI captain of the India women’s national cricket team, Mithali Raj, and it stars Taapsee Pannu in the titular role.

Release: 15th July (in theatres)

Genre: Biographical Sports Drama

Directed by: Srijit Mukherji

Hit: The First Case

The remake of 2020 released Telugu-language action-thriller film with the same name, which starred Vishwak Sen and Ruhani Sharma in the lead role. The Bollywood remake of the movie stars Rajkummar Rao and Sanya Malhotra in the lead role and follows the same plot where the lead character Vikram Rudraraju (Rao), a police officer of the Homicide Intervention Team (HIT) who is tasked to investigate the missing case of a young girl.

Release: 15th July (in theatres)

Genre: Action Thriller

Directed by: Dr Sailesh Kolanu

Indian Predator: The Butcher of Delhi

Recently, Netflix India declared they are on the other side of the success and trying to rise from their current situation in India. However, the company has done great homework over the course and observed what the Indian audience wants to watch! After “House of Secrets – The Burari Deaths”, now they’re all set to release their next true-crime documentary “Indian Predator: The Butcher of Delhi.” In the end, Netflix realised good documentaries could prevent them from drowning.

Release: 20th July (Netflix)

Genre: True Crime Documentary

Directed by: Ayesha Sood

Shamshera

 

June was all about Ranbir Kapoor. We witnessed the actor being the part of the two trailer launches (Brahmastra and Shamshera) and, of course, the pregnancy announcement with his wife, Alia Bhatt. When people experienced the trailer for Brahmastra, they were in awe, but when they saw the trailer for Shamshera, they hailed him like a king. The period drama film is set in the 1800s and tells the story of a dacoit tribe and their fight for independence against British rule.

Release: 22nd July (in theatres)

Genre: Period Drama

Directed by: Karan Malhotra

Vikrant Rona

Since the theatres opened after the pandemic South Indian movies are going on another level. With every new release, they’re coming up with a masterpiece, be it a Pushpa, KGF, Vikram or 777 Charlie. Vikrant Rona is a fantasy action-adventure film which stars Sudeep in the title role alongside Nirup Bhandari and Neetha Ashok. The movie is based on incidents in which people from a remote village start witnessing a series of unexplainable supernatural events.

Release: 28th July (in theatres)

Genre: Fantasy Action

Directed by: Anup Bhandari

Best of CES 2022

CES is the most influential tech event globally, and just like ordinary people await a new year, tech enthusiasts wait for the CES event, which offers them a head start to begin the new year on a good note. The 2022 edition unveiled numerous out of the box products for which it has been known since its inception. Due to the ongoing Covid situation and fear of new variants like Omicron, many publications (including us) were unable to attend the CES 2022 physically.

However, the technology came in as a rescuer, as most of the publications preferred to participate in the world’s largest electronics expo remotely, making the show kind of Hybrid. The event was vast like always, but we’ve mustered up the things in categories and top picks to make things easier for you. The 52nd edition of the event spotlighted the latest innovations from leading companies such as Google, Qualcomm, Sony, Samsung, LG, BMW, and many more.

Top TVs at CES 2022

CES is known as a battleground for TV makers, and every year the show floor looks packed with several top-notch TVs, and this year was no different. Amongst the top TVs revealed at CES, the one that grabbed our attention was the Sony A95K QD-OLED, world’s first consumer QD-OLED TV which can display the full spectrum of colours even in the brightest settings.

Though, the display panel of A95K is made by none other than Samsung. We expected Samsung might come up with QD-OLED 4K TV, but the South Korean tech giant had other plans. Samsung launched its 65″ QD-Display TV with quantum dots that combines a groundbreaking new QD-OLED display. The decision went well as the TV won the Best of Innovation award at CES 2022.

Besides Sony and Samsung, LG TVs were the ones that held our attention. The company presented a number of 8K and 4K OLEDs, several new QNED mini-LED TVs, and even a MicroLED TV at CES 2022 to compete with its rivals. Along with these companies, Panasonic announces a sound-focused OLED TV to attract all the audiophiles out there.

Top Laptops at CES 2022

CES 2022 introduced several new top-notch laptops, which means the year is going to be a busy one in terms of laptop launches. The 2022 event of CES witnessed a vast number of laptops with full-HD (1080p) webcams, thanks to the work-from-home culture. The event also became a launching platform for new components like Intel (12th Gen CPUs) and Nvidia (GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti laptop GPUs).

Design is the first thing we notice when looking at the techie things, and Dell XPS 13 Plus is something else in terms of design. The futuristic laptop has a remarkable design, decent specs, and it directly competes with the MacBook Air lineup. The minimalist laptop comes with the OLED touchscreen option and offers snappy performance, making it more premium than ever.

The next one on the list is Acer Predator Triton 500 SE, which has a roomy 16-inch high-refresh display, and it comes with 12th Generation Intel Core i9 processors and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU. The top tier gaming laptop offers a 2,560 by 1,600 pixel resolution, a 240Hz refresh rate and a wide-colour-gamut panel with 550 nits of brightness.

TCL, a company known for its TV’s launched itself in the laptop industry with its first laptop called the TCL Book 14 Go. The Windows 11 laptop is packed with 12-hour battery life, 4G LTE connectivity, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c platform. The entry-level laptop offers a 720p video camera, 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of built-in storage and stereo speakers, along with a built-in microphone.

Top Audio Gears at CES 2022

CES is not all about big players; sometimes, a few underdogs create hype and amaze everyone. One such company is Noveto, which launched the N1 3D Audio Smart Speaker, a device with built-in Alexa intelligence and Noveto’s proprietary innovative audio beaming technology. The speciality of N1 soundbar is that it offers spatial 3D audio, and only the listener can hear the music.

HyperX Cloud Alpha is one of the most favourite headphones of gamers, and CES 2022 unveiled the wireless version of it with a massive battery said to last for a whopping 300 hours of use, which means you don’t have to worry about charging anymore. We’re not sure whether 300-hours is a marketing strategy or not, but even if it works 50% of what is promised, it would be a great move.

If you’re one of such people who own an iPhone and an Android phone but find it challenging to carry different earbuds for each of them, Belkin has something for you in-store to make your life easier. Belkin launched Belkin SOUNDFORM Immerse Noise-Cancelling Earbuds at CES 2022, which has three mics to shush the world and 8 hours of playtime for the earbuds plus 28 hours in the charging case.

Top Car-tech at CES 2022

BMW knows how to cure boredom, and that’s why they created a colour-changing car, to keep us sane from the boredom of having one coloured vehicle. The BMX iX fully electric car debuted at CES 2022, and it has body panels made from E Ink displays. The vehicle comes with luxurious features, an elegant design, and an impressive estimated 450-480 km range.

Following the footsteps of EV culture, Sony introduced their all-electric vehicle, Sony Vision-S-02. The company stated in a blog post that they will establish an operating company, ‘Sony Mobility Inc.’ in the spring of 2022, which means Sony could take on Tesla with its EV’s. The car allows you to play PlayStation games through a remote connection to a console at home; what more could you ask for in a car?

Top Wearable at CES 2022

 

CES 2022 was marked as a launching platform for many wearables, but only a few exciting launches stayed with us even after the event. The subtle looking Garmin Venu 2 Plus was launched at the event, an updated version of the Venu 2. The watch is compatible with Siri, Google Assistant, Bixby, and it is the first Garmin watch with a microphone, allowing you to make and take calls from the wrist.

Along with the Venu 2 Plus, Garmin launched a minimalist looking Garmin Vivomove Sport, which comes in various colours, has a five-day battery life, and offers plenty of fitness and health tracking features. Besides Garmin, Skagen launched a special limited edition version of Fossil gen 6 X Razer with three unique watch faces. It has a 1.28-inch AMOLED display, Snapdragon Wear 4100+ and 8GB of storage.

Top Companies That Have Gone Bankrupt During The COVID-19 Phase

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed society by disrupting our day-to-day life and triggered a massive economic slowdown throughout the world. The forced lockdown leads to the inability for companies to run normally, which eventually results in the highest percentage of unemployment and dramatic shutdowns of some of the well-known companies.

Some of the companies survived the situation by filing for bankruptcy, but going down the route doesn’t help them bounce back fully as the financial fallout from Covod-19 continues with the second wave. While the term bankruptcy doesn’t remarkably suggest that these companies are shut permanently, they only shrink some of their wings, which causes them a massive amount of loss. Here’s the list of companies that have gone bankrupt during the COVID-19 phase.

Hertz

The Estero, Florida-based Hertz Corporation is a popular American car rental company that operates about 12,000 franchises worldwide and has served people for more than 100 years in the car rental business. The novel coronavirus pandemic that has crippled the global travel scenario made Hertz sink drastically in the business and forced them to ask for support from its lenders.

Unfortunately, it failed to convince the lenders and did not reach an agreement with top lenders, which resulted in filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Along with zero business, Hertz has also been plagued by management outbursts and changed its CEO, its fourth in six years.

Hertz financed itself mostly by taking out loans secured by its fleet of cars, but it decreased the value and sales of used cars along with most of its customers. After a year full of struggle, on 1st July 2021, Hertz emerged from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy with backing by new investors to eliminate the debt.

Aldo

Aldo Bensadoun founded the Canadian shoe retailer Aldo in Montreal, Quebec, in 1972, which operates nearly 3,000 stores and employs 8000 people across 100 countries. The company was already struggling with the business for the last few years, and then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, forcing them to shut down the stores and make the situation worse than ever.

The Canadian company has asked for protection using the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and is looking forward to stabilising business that has suffered due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has moved its base to a nearby location in Saint-Laurent, Montreal, and more than half of the employees at its headquarters have been furloughed.

Gold’s Gym

If you’ve ever considered joining a gym to get back in shape, you must have penned down a list of nearby gyms and being one of the oldest ones in the gym business, Gold’s Gym would’ve topped the list. Former American bodybuilder Joe Gold founded Gold’s Gym at Venice Beach, California, in 1965, with weight-lifting equipment he built himself. 

The American chain of international co-ed fitness centres has various franchise based gyms across the six continents. The company has been in the business for the last 50 years, and during all of these years, the founder would have never imagined in his wildest dreams that something like the COVID-19 pandemic will destroy his business, but unfortunately, it happened. 

The fitness centre saw its business drop during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in April 2020, the company said that it would permanently close 30 of its locations. On 4th May 2020, Gold’s Gym and its 14 affiliated debtors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Later on, in August 2020, Gold’s Gym was bought out of bankruptcy by European fitness giant RSG Group GmbH, which also owns the McFit fitness brand. Luckily, the bankruptcy doesn’t impact its centres in most countries, including India.

Avianca

Humans have been flying since the Wright Brothers invented the world’s first successful motor-operated aeroplane, but the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic locked us inside our beloved homes, which harshly impacted the airline business. Avianca, the oldest airline in the Western Hemisphere and the second-oldest extant airline in the world after KLM grounded their aeroplanes and filed for Chapter 11 protection bankruptcy for the second time in its history as the aviation industry suffered a heavy blow due to COVID-19.

The Columbian airline company was founded in 1919 and certified as a 3-Star Airline for the quality of its airport, onboard product and staff service. The 101 years old airline company was already in massive debt when COVID-19 struck the world, forcing the airline to stop scheduled flights for 2 months. The situation made 20,000 employees suffer without pay scale throughout the crisis. The company was expected to emerge from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process during 2021, but wistfully it starts 2021 with a $311 million net loss.

Digicel

The Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment providing company were founded in 2001 by Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien. Digicel is a sponsor of Caribbean, Central American and Asia-Pacific sports teams, including The West Indies cricket team, which collaborated with Digicel for 13 long years from 2005-2018. The Caribbean region’s top network providing company suffered severely during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and filed for bankruptcy with $7.4 Billion in unsustainable debts.

Later on, in May 2020, the company announced plans to restructure its debt. The restructuring plan was approved by Digicel’s bondholders and concluded in June 2020. As part of the exchange, the founder of the company contributed $50 million in assets to Digicel, consisting of the company’s Jamaican headquarters and $25 million in cash, but all of these attempts couldn’t help the company to get back in the business as its earnings proceeded to drop deep in the black hole.

Intelsat

Intelsat Corporation is the world’s largest satellite service provider, which was founded in 1964. The Virginia headquartered company provides services to the BBC, 21st Century Fox, Warner Media, and the Walt Disney Company. On the verge of the new 5G spectrum auctions, the company filed for a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in US courts during the mid of May 2020, with over US$15 billion in total debt.

The company has been delisted from the New York stock exchange after filing for bankruptcy. According to a few reports, the company is anticipating restructuring to raise requisite capital to launch new satellite technology in 2022/2023, at the cost of some US$1.6 billion. Now, it’s been a year since the company is in bankruptcy, struggling to gain the support of a group of creditors to seize control of restructuring.

Brooks Brothers

Brooks Brothers have defined the American way of dressing for success since its foundation in 1818. It is the oldest clothing retailer in the United States, producing clothing for men, women and children, and home furnishings. The company faced a dramatic low in the business during the COVID-19 pandemic as people dressed down executive/formal wear and preferred athleisure clothes with the rising of work from home culture.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a disturbing economic impact on the oldest ready-to-wear clothing retailer of the United States, and due to declining sales, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2020 and planned to close 51 of its 250 locations in North America. A brand development firm Authentic Brands Group and SPARC Group LLC won court approval to acquire Brooks Brothers for $325 million and agreed to continue operating at least 125 Brooks Brothers retail locations in the US and worldwide.

Ultra Petroleum

Ultra Petroleum Corporation is an independent oil and gas company founded in 1979. The Centennial-based natural gas producer focuses on developing its natural gas reserves in the Green River Basin of southwestern Wyoming, Utah, Pennsylvania and Bohai Bay, China. 

Ultra reached an influential turning point in 1996 when it bought 130,000 acres in the Rocky Mountains, and the company never looked back until 2016. Ultra Petroleum became a major victim of depressed oil and gas prices, which forced the company to file petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court. 

The Oil and natural gas drilling corporation emerged from chapter 11 in 2017 but shifted its headquarters from Houston in 2018. The company moved on from the bankruptcy chapter and generated $742 million in revenue from its natural gas operations in 2019, and soon it faced business disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The oil and gas company filed for bankruptcy for the second time in 4 years on 14th May 2020, when the Natural gas prices had been at historic lows. Though the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t stop the company from bouncing back, Ultra Petroleum completed its financial restructuring by eliminating approximately $2.0 billion of indebtedness from its balance sheet, which helped the company emerge from bankruptcy.

LG

The last company that knocked our list of bankrupt companies is LG. However, LG didn’t file for any bankruptcy; it still created big news when the South Korean electronics giant withdrew itself from the market of smartphone makers. The company has been producing mobile devices since the 90s, rolled out the first capacitive touch screen phone in the market and introduced us to slow-motion video recording, failed to impress the fast-fashioned millenials and couldn’t keep up with the current pace of the technology revolution.

LG phones faced stiff competition from rival Samsung and Chinese budget brands such as Oppo and Xiaomi, resulting in occupying only 2% of sales share over the past year. The company has been figuring losses over the sale of smartphones since 2015, and in 2020, it recorded almost 4.5 billion losses, forcing them to shut down the mobile manufacturing division. The company will release its last smartphone on 31st July 2021 and continue to provide service support for already sold devices and regular software updates.

The list of bankrupt companies doesn’t end here as many other well-known companies filed for bankruptcy during the Covid-19 pandemic creating stress for their owners and leaving behind their workers jobless.

Spotify’s Integration With Windows 11 – A Cool Combination

Sometimes I feel like getting fed up with offensive ads provided by Spotify. As if they let you like you are somewhere deprived of so many cool things that Spotify has kept as a treasure. In the end, I felt like paying INR 1348/- for the whole year as a premium subscription. But with this announcement that Microsoft is integrating your Spotify account into it, it is like reaching the zenith of peace. Considering the workload that one faces every day, music is the only option that doesn’t allow me to get into the lethargic mode. But people like me and you will surely welcome this step by Microsoft. Let’s get more ideas related to Spotify’s integration with Windows 11 through this Exhibit blog. 

How did this news come out?

Microsoft has added a feature. You can call it a Focus Session. In this Focus Session, you can find a Pomodoro-style timer. The news related to this came out through a tweet by a Microsoft hype man Panos Panay. Panos laid out some of Microsoft’s interesting features to its new flagship product – Windows 11. Some of you may feel like you have not a single clue about this Pomodoro-style timer. But you don’t need to worry as you are on a platform that tries to make the perfect blend of lifestyle and technology. Let’s understand it with some examples later in this article. 

About Pomodoro Timer

A Pomodoro timer can help you in making yourself more productive. How? Consider that you can concentrate on your laptop for 1 hour and then you need to stretch your legs and relax your eyes. So what? Well, you will take a short break in relaxing, say about 10 minutes. But what in these 10 minutes? Well, here’s the catch. If you add a keyword like a paradise with this timer and application, it may open Spotify and let you listen to Mylo Xyloto’s album’s Paradise song. Now, that should get a big Wow! isn’t it? Well, I leave such expressions to your wisdom. But it is cool that once you take a break, Windows 11 can directly open this song for you without taking any action, not even with your voice. Well, Windows 11 has also eased the work of Cortana.

How does this Spotify’s integration work with Windows 11? 

Well, I guess the Microsoft development team has requested an API from Spotify to get access to the user’s account. Now, if you start working, a program will run in the background that will measure your work in real-time, along with the current time. Now, before running this program, Windows 11 has stored some essential keywords and activities that it has to perform in case the user, like you, takes a break or needs a distraction (if the keyword is Spotify, music, or any relevant word, it will open Spotify). 

Final Word

Microsoft! You are simply amazing. But I will like what more applications Windows 11 will integrate into it. However, as of now, there’s a thumbs up from my side for Spotify’s integration with Windows 11.

Is zero-carbon token future of tomorrow?

Fortunately, late developments and advances, for example, the blockchain have prompted a few answers for address these issues, and quite possibly the most encouraging arrangements come from Zero Carbon, a blockchain-based task that is ready to shake the business with its exceptional way to deal with how energy is burned-through today. 

A Zero Carbon token utilizes blockchain to battle environmental change. Customers can save money on energy and earn Zero Carbon token coins by switching to zero-carbon energy in the crypto market. Introducers might gain from spreading the word as well. By undercutting both renewable energy and fossil fuels on price, the Zero Carbon

The market can produce a faster reduction in carbon emissions. An established blockchain-driven economy with Energy tokens as significant reward-based incentives for customer activity can also act as the catalyst for change. A project in the area that aims to use blockchain technology to reshape the online travel sector has a very high incentive in the future.

This idea is a blockchain revolution uniquely, combining logistics with zero-carbon options. In this awful era of global warming and pandemics, the world must become carbon-free. Zero carbon tokens will be used to communicate important aspects of the digital ecosystem. It will provide token utility as well as a more advanced blockchain platform. These tokens have utility worth since energy providers need to source them to pay the exchange charges needed to take part in the Zero Carbon Market.

 How does it work?.

 The Zero Carbon token tackles climate change by lowering carbon emissions directly around the world. They do it by utilizing a mechanism that utilizes international carbon credits to balance the carbon emissions of energy contracts in a considerably more cost-effective manner than relying just on renewable energy.

Not only is this technology substantially less expensive than renewable energy, but it also cuts total carbon emissions by the same amount at a fraction of the cost! One unique feature of Zero Carbon is that energy suppliers pay the platform’s transaction fees rather than end-users, though consumers can decide to pay the transaction fees in exchange for lower energy rates.

Consumers can purchase electricity packages from suppliers through Zero Carbon’s market, which allows energy suppliers to list and sell their contracts to consumers. Consumers can choose from a list of suppliers, much as in a traditional marketplace, and Zero Carbon will display important information such as the cost of power or the advantages offered by each source to help them make smarter decisions.

Also read: What is Lightning Network in the world of crypto?

 

 

 

 

What is Lightning Network in the world of crypto?

At one point in history, sending a telegram was the quickest and most effective method of long-distance communication. To do so, you had to travel to your local post office, fill out a form, and pay based on the number of letters in your message. The message would then be telegraphed to the nearest telegraph office, where it would be sent to the far end. The telegraph would subsequently be delivered to its intended recipient by a postman.

 Basically, sending a simple brief message involved a large number of individuals, and you had to pay a significant sum of money to do so. That’s very much where the Bitcoin network is right now. In this analogy, the Lightning Network is similar to having contact on speed dial: all you have to do is press “1,” and your friend’s phone will begin to ring.

When Satoshi Nakamoto first proposed Bitcoin in 2008, James A. Donald offered the first public remark on the system, saying, “the way I interpret your concept, it does not seem to scale to the requisite size.” Scalability is still the largest issue for Bitcoin and other seasoned cryptocurrency systems ten years later.

 What does it mean to be scalable? On the other hand, Bitcoin has only been able to execute about 7 transactions per second throughout its history. While this was sufficient at first, the system has been clogged for several years. As a result, transactions take a long time to complete, and transaction fees are astronomically high.

  Bitcoin will need to be able to compete with existing payment methods if it is ever to become a full-fledged alternative to them. It’s not even close right now. Simply compare Bitcoin’s minuscule 7 transactions per second to Visa’s average of 24,000 and peak capacity of nearly 50,000 transactions per second to see the gravity of the matter. The Bitcoin community has come up with several proposals to increase Bitcoin’s scalability throughout the years, but no overall consensus has been established. As a result, multiple Bitcoin-like networks have splintered off from the original. However, there is one proposed method that is now being evaluated and may just work. The Lightning Network is what it’s called.

 Simply expressed, the Bitcoin Lightning Network’s concept would have sounded like this: we don’t need to preserve a record of every single transaction on the blockchain. On the other hand, the Lightning Network adds another layer to Bitcoin’s blockchain, allowing users to construct payment channels between any two parties on that extra layer. These channels can last as long as they’re needed, and because they’re set up between two people, transactions will be nearly instantaneous, and costs will be minimal, if not non-existent.

Also read: Which Cryptocurrency Has The Best Future?

 

 

Is the battle between Tesla and bitcoin at an end?

The Bitcoin plunged 8% as Musk’s statements fueled reports of a total sell-off.

 

Following the tweet, bitcoin prices fell to $44,000, their lowest level since February 2021.
Bitcoin plummeted to a three-month low as investors liquidated cryptocurrencies in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s remark that he is considering selling some of his bitcoin holdings or may have already done so.
Musk’s enthusiasm for bitcoin increased stock prices, so he has been stirring up the market since abandoning bitcoin in favor of Dogecoin, a one-time imitation. The price swings have surprised even the most seasoned traders. Recently, bitcoin sank more than 9% to $42185, its lowest level since February 8, while ether, a cryptocurrency linked to the Ethereum network, fell even farther to $3123.

 

Tesla consumers would be able to purchase the company’s electric automobiles using bitcoin, Musk stated in March. To demonstrate the cryptocurrency’s liquidity as a cash substitute, the firm purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoins and only liquidated 10% of its holdings a month later. Musk declared that Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin as a form of payment due to the transaction’s high energy consumption. He defended his actions too, claiming that Tesla had sold its own stock. It’s unclear whether he’s still checking purchases or simply reporting that he’s been criticized.
Tesla is planning to enter a multibillion-dollar sustainable credit market, according to sources, to capitalize on the Biden administration’s quest for new zero-emission objectives. Musk’s description of Dogecoin as a “hustle” has yet to fully recover, but he did raise the price last week by stating that he wanted to improve the currency’s performance.
Some are now giving up on an asset that has soared this year, with dogecoin increasing by only a small amount, ether expanding by more than fourfold, and bitcoin increasing by 45 percent.

 

I believe this is the case; I believe Tesla has kept the majority of its Bitcoin holdings and is not gaining from Musk’s statements. As far as I can see, he’s just interested in profiting from manipulating the price of Bitcoin — or Dogecoin, or Tesla shares, or any of the other assets whose prices he can influence with his tweets. Sure, he’ll do it for fun now and then, but not in a way that benefits his rational self-interest. I’m guessing what happened was pretty much what Musk said: He went into cryptocurrencies on the spur of the moment because it fit with his image of being fun, futuristic, and obnoxious, but then someone pointed out that it didn’t match with his image of being environmentally friendly and on a whim, he decided to take a break from Bitcoin for a while. And when Elon Musk decides on Twitter, he often sticks to it for hours, if not days. By next week, he’ll be tweeting things like, “We are building a gigantic battery in the desert to mine Bitcoin, Bitcoin is good again, you can use it to pay for Teslas,” and the price will skyrocket, and I’ll push the button that automatically generates this column once more.

 

Musk’s action may also signal that Teslas weren’t flying off the shelves as a result of taking Bitcoin payment and it’s unclear whether Tesla has sold any cars for Bitcoins. 2 I sincerely hope not.

 

I’m hoping Musk can influence the price of Bitcoin by saying that Tesla will or will not take Bitcoins for vehicles, without ever really accepting any Bitcoins for any cars. That has a certain purity to it: Bitcoin’s value is determined by Elon Musk’s attitude toward it, not by the reality of any shady commercial transactions in which Bitcoins are traded for automobiles. The source of value for Bitcoin — for everything — is mere closeness to Elon Musk, not its utility as a currency or economic significance.
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