Jabra has released a new software update to Elite 85t, available in the Jabra Sound+ app, to enable Alexa as a Voice Assistant at the tap of a button. This means now you have an extra voice assistant which is excellent news for users of this great set of earbuds.
Alexa Built-in
With this update, users will now be able to choose Alexa as their preferred Voice Assistant on both Android and iOS by following these steps in the Sound+
If the Alexa app is not yet downloaded, users will be directed to download it from their app store. Once the app is available, users will be directed through the needed steps to set-up Alexa on their phone. Once Alexa has been chosen as preferred Voice Assistant, users will be able to enjoy more Voice Assistant experiences just by double tapping on their right earbud. This means users have access to Alexa features such as:
Setting up routines (e.g. Alexa, good morning – plays music, turns on the lights)
Anker has just dropped its latest accessory on Amazon UK which is another alternative to charge your device and MagSafe compatible, this comes packed with features and of course is affordable. Features include..
Magnetically attach the PowerCore to the back of your phone
Made for the iPhone 12 series
Charges through compatible magnetic cases
MultiProtect safety system includes temperature control and foreign object detection
Following its official launch event last week, realme 8 Pro will officially go on sale in the UK on Wednesday March 31st, along with realme Watch S Pro and realme Buds Air 2.
The realme 8 Pro 8GB + 128GB, which features a 108MP sensor camera, worry-free battery life, and trendsetting design – weighing just 176g at a super slim 8.1mm – will be available to purchase on Amazon UK and realme.com/uk, priced at £279.
realme Watch S Pro, priced at £199, along with realme Buds Air 2, priced at £46.99, will also be available.
realme 8 Pro – The most affordable 108MP smartphone
realme 8 Pro features the brand’s first ever 108MP sensor camera, offering a maximum resolution of 12000×9000 for ultra-sharp photo quality. With In-Sensor Zoom, a 3X zoomed photo captured with realme 8 Pro delivers better quality than some optical telephoto lenses in terms of sharpness. Trendsetting photography features like Starry Time-Lapse set realme 8 Pro apart from the competition, with Tilt-Shift Time-Lapse Video being a world-first for a smartphone.
50W SuperDart Charge means the realme 8 Pro’s 4500mAh battery can be charged from 0 to 100% in just 47 minutes. Super Power Saving Mode allows 5% of battery to last for 32 hours on standby, providing worry-free battery life. realme 8 Pro’s back features the texture of natural mineral crystal which provides a unique matte finish. The smartphone weighs only 176g and is a super slim 8.1mm, making it comfortable to hold in hand.
realme Watch S Pro and realme Buds Air 2
realme Watch S Pro is the brand’s first stainless steel watch, featuring a large 1.39 inch AMOLED touchscreen with advanced Always-On Display, 15 sports modes, 5 ATM water resistance, and GPS sensor.
realme Buds Air 2 support Active Noise Cancellation, noise reduction depth of 25dB, and can effectively reduce most low-frequency noise. They are ideal for all-day use, with up to 25-hour battery life, 10 mm Large Drive and only 88ms low latency mode.
The realme 8 Pro 8GB + 128GB is priced at £279, available on 31st March at realme.com/uk and Amazon UK, along with realme Watch S Pro and realme Buds Air 2.
Amazon, Enterprise Ireland and Enterprise Nation announce the first ever Amazon Bootcamp Ireland, an online event on Tuesday 13 – Wednesday 14 April providing free training and guidance to help businesses increase their online sales and reach new customers, as part of the Amazon Small Business Accelerator, a programme to support more than 200,000 entrepreneurs across the UK and Ireland.
The event will include practical sessions on how to sell products on the Amazon stores, scale operations, master social media, secure funding and more. Tickets are free but attendees must register in advance via this link.
Amazon Bootcamp Ireland has been created in partnership with Enterprise Ireland, Enterprise Nation, and the Local Enterprise Office. The virtual event will feature interviews, panel discussions and interactive presentation sessions with Amazon experts who will provide hands-on, practical advice of how to sell on Amazon, together with Irish industry leaders such as Pamela Laird, former contestant on The Apprentice, who is now a successful Amazon entrepreneur with her brand Moxi Loves.
The two-day event follows the successful Amazon Academy Ireland, which took place in November 2020, where hundreds of attendees learned how to grow revenues, enhance productivity and develop digital skills. More than 4,500 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have now joined Amazon Academy events across the UK and Ireland to scale their businesses.
Amazon Bootcamp Ireland comes as recent research from Enterprise Ireland revealed that 9 in 10 Irish exporters to the UK see future opportunities in the UK market, with 4 in 5 businesses (83%) saying their strategy is to grow exports to the UK, topics which the bootcamp will cover. The event is part of the Amazon Small Business Accelerator, a major support package for 200,000 small businesses and start-ups which provides free online training and access to business advice, developed in partnership with Enterprise Nation, a leading small business support network.
“Amazon is proud to work with Enterprise Ireland to offer free training and advice to small and medium-sized businesses across Ireland which we hope will help them grow and prosper in 2021,” said Simon Donegan, Head of Seller Services, Amazon.“More than half of all products sold on Amazon stores come from independent selling partners, most of which are SMEs. We also have a long track record of supporting Irish entrepreneurs and small businesses, most recently with the Amazon Academy Ireland event. Many businesses have found their way through the crisis by providing goods and services online. Through this bootcamp we will be providing hundreds of offline and online businesses with the skills, tools and support they need to succeed in the digital world, to reach customers through Amazon or any other service.”
“I believe Amazon offers a huge opportunity for small and medium sized businesses in Ireland to grow and I’m looking forward to taking part in the Bootcamp to help get more businesses online,”said Pamela Laird, founder of Moxi Loves.“By listing products on Amazon, SMEs have access and reach to an entirely new customer base. It can be costly to acquire a new customer online, especially if you are new to e-commerce, but Amazon provides a simple and cost-effective opportunity for your products to go global!”
Julie Sinnamon, CEO of Enterprise Ireland: “It’s great to partner with Amazon following our successful event for small businesses last year. Amazon Bootcamp Ireland will build on the strong foundations laid at the Amazon Academy, helping hundreds more companies to take their businesses online. I’m excited to welcome lots of new faces to our virtual event in April.”
Padraic McElwee, Chair of the network of Local Enterprise Offices: “Selling online has become a key component for Irish small businesses and we saw the difference that made in 2020 when we approved over 13,000 Trading Online Vouchers as traditional businesses pivoted to online. As the Local Enterprise Offices are the first stop shop for start-ups and small businesses in Ireland, it is great to partner with Amazon on this event that will give small companies even greater resources and knowledge on how to build their online skills.”
Emma Jones CBE, Head of Enterprise Nation: “We’re looking forward to returning to Ireland with another fantastic Amazon event, with the aim of helping more small businesses to prepare for growth by embracing e-commerce. Attendees will get an understanding of how to get their businesses online from industry leading experts over the two-day event and we can’t wait to be a part of it.”
Amazon’s fulfilment network supports millions of businesses of all sizes worldwide through its Fulfilment by Amazon offering, and many of those businesses are based in Ireland. There are hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), authors and developers in Ireland growing their companies and reaching new customers with Amazon products and services. Amazon offers a suite of services to help businesses export their products and services, including providing global delivery and distribution, managing customer services in the local language and translating hundreds of millions of product listings each year on behalf of smaller businesses.
In 2020, Amazon announced it was creating another 1,000 permanent jobs in Ireland over the next two years. The new, highly skilled roles will be based in locations across the company’s Cork and Dublin sites in Blanchardstown, Tallaght, the city centre, and north County Dublin, and will bring Amazon’s total permanent workforce in the country to 5,000 people over the next two years. This will help to support Ireland’s economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
For over 16 years, Amazon has been investing and growing in Ireland. The company launched its first cloud infrastructure region outside of the US in Ireland in 2007, and since this time, has grown the number of staff, expanded its collaboration with colleges and universities, invested in skills programmes, and strengthened its relationships with local communities across the country. Amazon, through Amazon Web Services (AWS), maintains the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. Millions of customers – including the fastest-growing start-ups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies – are using AWS to lower costs, become more agile, and innovate faster.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is helping NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) reach an inaugural and innovative milestone in deep space exploration. On Thursday, February 18, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover landed on Mars, after its 7-month, 300-million-mile journey from Earth. This is the first planetary NASA mission, with mission-critical communication and transfer of telemetry data in the cloud. During Perseverance’s mission on Mars, the science and engineering data will be processed and hosted in AWS, enabling the Mars 2020 mission to benefit from the scalability, agility, and reliability of the cloud.
Now on the surface and after completing initial checkouts, the Mars Rover team is receiving hundreds of images from Mars each day from a record number of cameras, resulting in thousands of images over Perseverance’s time on the planet. The cloud helps NASA JPL efficiently store, process, and distribute this high volume of data.
By using AWS, NASA JPL is able to process data from Mars, on Earth, faster than ever before. The increased processing speed will help NASA JPL make faster decisions on the health and safety of the rover. This information is critical for scientists and engineers to plan the rover’s next day activities. The rover requires visibility to drive, so it is important for the team to be able to send the next batch of instructions back to the rover within a specific timeframe. The increased efficiency will allow Mars 2020 to accomplish its ambitious goal of collecting more samples and driving longer distances during the prime mission, compared to previous rovers.
AWS also powers the Mars mission website. The website will be able to scale up to meet demand at any given time, with millions of visitors anticipated at peak times.
“AWS is proud to support NASA JPL’s Perseverance mission,” said Teresa Carlson, vice president, worldwide public sector and industries at AWS. “From the outset, AWS cloud services have enabled NASA JPL in its mission to capture and share mission-critical images, and help to answer key questions about the potential for life on Mars.”
Exploring with NASA JPL
To help send data back to Earth, the Mars Rover is equipped with sensors, cameras, and microphones. The sensors will gather scientific data like atmospheric information, wind speeds, and weather. The microphones will collect the sounds of the planet. This data will be processed by JPL and made publicly available so viewers can explore Mars alongside NASA JPL.
The public will also be able to track the Mars Rover location on a map and in a 3D experience that puts them in the middle of Mars and seeing the planet from the view of Perseverance. Viewers will also be able to see the raw images from the planet through several cameras whose images will be made available to the public.
AWS first started working with the NASA JPL Mars 2020 Rover team more than five years ago in preparation for this mission. Before Perseverance left Earth, the public also participated in the “Name the Rover” essay contest and signed up to send their own names to Mars in the “Send Your Name to Mars” campaign. Both the contest and the campaign websites were powered by AWS. A middle school student from Virginia won the competition to name the Mars Rover, and almost 11 million names are stenciled on a chip that is flying onboard Perseverance. Already more than four million people have signed up to send their names aboard the next mission, taking off in 2026.
Participate and learn more
Explore as Perseverance begins sending back data. Vote for your favorite image of the week, receive daily weather reports, and more. Check out more about AWS’s work with NASA JPL, and the Mars Rover. Read more about how the AWS Aerospace and Satellites team is enabling successful space missions.
The Virtual shipping address scene has changed rather quickly over the last month or so but no not all is lost just yet as discussed here before. With Brexit done there is plenty of things to consider when shopping from the UK where things will be now more expensive for consumers which is not good for the consumer or indeed Amazon. There is an extensive guide you can find HERE which explains what the new costs are when purchasing items from the UK but having said that we are not limited to shopping from the UK either. However shopping on other Amazon sites like FR and DE has seemed to gone up plus more delivery charges and with electrical goods a different plug so you need to be aware of what you are buying and if electrical goods have the option to use both two pin/ three pin plugs I am sure you have plenty at home.
With Parcel motel what I can see happening is setting up a base in other EU countries and this will work for the likes of Amazon DE/FR going forward and it is said UPS hope to get this sorted as soon as possible and it will be better for business for both Amazon and the consumer going forward and you can also think about the infrastructure of lockers here in Ireland which perhaps are all paid for now they where not cheap and I am sure they will not want them sitting there doing nothing as do the buildings they are attached to so lets think about the other possibility of Amazon lockers which again is up in the air…It is also said that AMAZON are seeking more premises here in Ireland to hold inventory but I am sure we will hear about this soon..
Address pal have just announced they are introducing new fees which are on the hefty side. You can see their terms and conditions here and shipping arrangements here
You will now be hit with the €3.50 admin fee plus €6.50 on top to be delivered to your home which will not bode well for customers and An Post see this as a filler due to other Virtual address companies get their house in order as reported in the Indo today, Note that some services are suspended which means as mentioned above they are working on resolving this by most likely using an EU option instead. Still a tough pill to swallow for the new charges and ones An Post might regret.
Another thing to watch out for is how you shop online,just because the website may have an Irish store does not mean the product is here in Ireland,You may have noticed time to time shopping online you land on a web page and your given the option to change to ie. Dig deeper here and see where they are actually based..
Check out if you have a package or not with An Post with all the scams now here is how to check..
Sky and Amazon announced a new long-term partnership that will see Prime Video launch on Sky and NOW TV devices across Europe from today, while the NOW TV and Sky Ticket apps will also come to Fire TV devices. The partnership means customers in the UK, Ireland, Austria, Germany and Italy will be able to watch all the most talked-about and award-winning TV series, films and sport from Sky and Prime Video in one place in time for Christmas.
For the first time UK customers will be able to watch every live Premier League fixture on Sky Sports, Prime Video and BT Sport without switching devices. Plus, with new Amazon Original series like survival drama series The Wilds and The Grand Tour: A Massive Hunt launching in December, this deal opens up new depths of entertainment for Sky and NOW TV customers, all in one place. And in time for Christmas, movie fans will have access to a wide range of new releases and family favourites across Prime Video including Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Uncle Frank and I’m Your Woman for the ultimate movie marathon.
“We’re pleased to be bringing our Prime Video app to Sky Q and NOW TV devices in time for the holidays,” said Jay Marine, Vice President, Prime Video Worldwide. “With winter settling in, and our new binge-watch obsession The Wilds about to launch, it’s a perfect time for Sky customers to catch up on our award-winning Prime Video TV shows, movies, and live sport, including Prime Video’s exclusive live broadcasts of over 20 English Premier League games this December. Plus, with NOW TV launching on Fire TV – customers in the UK have never had it better when it comes to choosing what to watch however they are watching.”
Stephen van Rooyen, EVP & CEO UK & Europe, Sky said: “Sky Q customers are receiving an early Christmas present on their boxes this year in the form of Amazon Prime Video. Anyone who needs to get stuck into something new after The Undoing on Sky Atlantic will now be able to flip right over to The Boys on Prime Video, without ever leaving Sky Q. Amazon Prime Video TV shows, movies and more will sit alongside Sky Originals and Netflix, as well as apps like Disney+, BBC iPlayer, Fiit and much more. This will make it even easier for you to access everything you love, in one place. I’m delighted that this deal will give even more people access to our brilliant NOW TV and Sky Ticket apps through Amazon Fire TV devices and Fire Edition TVs.”
In the UK, Italy and Ireland the Prime Video app will launch on NOW TV devices, as well as Sky Ticket devices in Germany, on 14th December. The NOW TV app will be rolling out to select Fire TV devices and Fire TV Edition smart TVs to customers in the UK also on 14th December and in, Italy, Ireland, Austria and Switzerland through early 2021 with Sky Ticket also rolling out on Fire TV devices and Fire TV Edition smart TVs in Germany through the first part of 2021.
It’s easy to watch Prime Video on Sky Q
Sky Q customers will be able to find Prime Video in the Apps section or by saying “Launch Prime Video” into their voice remote to pair their Sky Q box with their existing Prime membership. Must-watch Amazon Originals will be featured on the Q Home page alongside the best from Sky, Netflix and Disney+, making it easier than ever to choose what to watch. And customers can expect even more Prime Video integration, such as voice search for TV series, movies and more, in 2021. Sky customers who are not yet Prime Video customers can sign up via the Amazon Prime Video app, to enjoy a 30-day free trial.
NOW TV on Amazon Fire TV Devices in the UK
The NOW TV app will be available on Fire TV devices from December- with roll-out beginning on Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick Lite and Fire TV Stick 4K from 14th December. On Fire TV devices, finding the NOW TV app is easy, NOW TV customers will be able to download the app and log in to access Original shows on Sky Atlantic, the biggest fixtures on Sky Sports and family favourites on Sky Cinema. Fire TV customers who are not yet NOW TV customers can sign up to NOW TV passes, including Sky Cinema, Entertainment and Sky Sports by visiting nowtv.com/amazon.
Over the years many of us has adopted the route of using virtual shipping addresses for online shopping which is a great ecommerce solution to get products cheaper and get products that normally would not ship direct to Ireland and with big players like parcel motel and parcel wizard this made life easier most of the time but come this time of year it does turn out to be a bit of a disaster, but time may be running out for other players going forward with Brexit.
DPD are the first to step up and tell us they will cease the option for its customers to use a UK virtual address to get their packages delivered and recently Parcel Motel decided to up their prices which is shooting themselves in the foot, however it may mean a good percentage of parcel wizard customers might migrate to the service just to tide them over the xmas period which could be a risky move..
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up this is typically a very busy period for the companies and to add to it Christmas does not help either and also recently DPD and UPS formerly Nightline have advertisements screaming for extra delivery drivers to cope with the demand over the next few weeks and this often runs into late Jan and sometimes later, Having worked in the industry some years ago it is a stressful time for drivers and become such a cut throat business with not so great pay and change is needed, staff turnover is huge and this is seen by the constant advertising looking for drivers throughout the year and in short needs to be addressed, I had a delivery last Saturday night in fact at 7pm which was a first and this shows the strain these companies are under.
From January 1st 2021 deliveries from the UK are changing due to customs.
When shopping online use your Home Delivery AddressPal virtual address (see below for address examples).
From this date, your Post Office/Collection Point AddressPal virtual address can no longer be used when importing items.
However, once the parcel has been processed we will let you know by email or text and you will then have the option to redirect your parcel to any of the following:
A Post Office/Collection Point
A Parcel Locker
A neighbour
A safe place
Or select an alternative date for delivery
This will apply for UK and USA AddressPal items. Payment details:
From January 1st 2021 payment for all AddressPal items must be taken from a Credit/Debit card that is saved on your AddressPal account. Without a valid card your parcel cannot be delivered. You will only be charged once we process your AddressPal deliveries.
Note: All UK items will be subject to Revenue customs rules from January 1st 2021. If there are customs fees related to your item, you will be contacted with more information.
For now however you can use the alternatives such as An Post( Address Pal/ Delivery box at your house) , Parcel Motel, and there is some drop off point/collect points, there is some other smaller operators around but this is not a service for ecommerce etc but more so intra company services and special sectors in some areas of business. There is also word of alternatives that might be arriving soon but more on that as it becomes more transparent and solid. But I would be looking at Amazon going forward. With Amazon being a key player and recently opened a warehouse here in Ireland it makes sense going forward and they are also seeking new premises from what I have heard and this is most likely to hold stock which would be a real win and the right route for Amazon to take with its customer base.
Looking ahead there will be another issue for consumers with Brexit and that is returns, With the option to return packages it was a great business move over the years giving people a quick option to return packages via virtual addresses easily and the main problems here was wrong size, wrong item and wrong colour, when it comes to colour everyone’s screen is different and the brightness settings differ and was one of the most problems for consumers buying online. This may all be about to change in the coming weeks but stay tuned for more..
Parcel Motel has been the most prominent player in the locker business and have also issued notices to its customers however things could be weighing up different here as they claim their service is suspended with a new Virtual Dublin address just a stones throw away from their main office, UPS bought the business if you remember and have now in the EU more channels to work with there has been talk of amazon lockers due to the infrastructure already here but also setting up new bases in the EU which makes sense, Whilst many people shop on Amazon UK they have other stores like de and fr you can shop from and is often cheaper and this again makes sense for setup in such countries particularly for the likes of Amazon and also Amazon now have a base here in Ireland but this is not a fulfilment centre but does now open the doors for them to set up such warehouses and there is rumour they have been. Many in the logistics industry do know more and did know they where looking for units here in Ireland and that today still is the case. Amazon is here for the long haul..
Amazon has announced that its first ever Amazon Academy event for small businesses in Ireland will take place on Friday 6th November 2020, providing free training and guidance to help businesses increase their online sales and reach new customers.
The virtual event aims to help entrepreneurs and SMEs grow their business online, boost their export sales, and improve the experience and services they provide customers. Businesses are invited to register for the free tickets here. More than 4,000 SMEs have attended previous Amazon Academy events to learn how to scale their business.
Amazon Academy Ireland has been created in partnership with Enterprise Ireland, Enterprise Nation, Design & Crafts Council Ireland and the Local Enterprise Office. The event will feature interviews, panel discussions and interactive Q&A sessions with Irish industry leaders, including RTE Dragon’s Den investor Alison Cowzer, successful Amazon entrepreneurs, as well as marketing, HR, accounting, IP and legal experts. They will provide a wide range of practical advice on how to grow sales and guidance on the issues facing businesses in Ireland today.
“Irish small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of the economy and we’re excited to bring the Amazon Academy to Ireland for the first time to support, engage and inspire the next generation of world-class Irish entrepreneurs,”said Simon Donegan, Head of Seller Services, Amazon. “We’re looking forward to welcoming hundreds of people to our virtual event in November where they’ll meet and learn from some of Ireland’s leading business minds.”
Julie Sinnamon, CEO of Enterprise Ireland:“We are delighted to collaborate with Amazon on their first ever Amazon Academy Ireland, designed to help Irish SMEs and entrepreneurs realise their ambitions and embrace e-commerce for growth. More than ever, consumers around the world are shopping online and there is a significant appetite from Enterprise Ireland client companies to trade online and to partner with marketplaces such as Amazon to access new customers and markets. Virtual selling is one of the key areas of focus for Enterprise Ireland client companies and we are committed to helping Irish SMEs access the range of digital marketing supports available to help grow their businesses online”.
Emma Jones MBE, Head of Enterprise Nation:“We are looking forward to bringing the Amazon Academy to Ireland for the first time to support the growing number of small businesses across the country, helping them build a stronger online presence and expand their digital might. It’s an exciting development in Amazon’s approach to supporting smaller companies and we are looking forward to a strong, informative and inspirational event.”
Amazon Academy Ireland takes place following a recent report from Enterprise Ireland, published during International Markets Week 2020, which showed that one in three SMEs have seen their export sales decline in 2020 due to COVID-19. But despite the challenges faced by small businesses this year, many remain optimistic, with more than half (57%) of Irish SMEs expecting a brighter outlook in 2021 alongside an ambition to create new jobs, and 83% intend to hire new staff next year.
Amazon offers a suite of services to help businesses export their products and services, including providing global delivery and distribution, managing customer services in the local language and translating hundreds of millions of product listings each year on behalf of smaller businesses.
Earlier this year, Amazon announced it was creating another 1,000 permanent jobs in Ireland over the next two years. The new, highly skilled roles will be based in locations across the company’s Cork and Dublin sites in Blanchardstown, Tallaght, the city centre, and north County Dublin, and will bring Amazon’s total permanent workforce in the country to 5,000 people over the next two years. This will help to support Ireland’s economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic
