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A smartphone for WFH futures

X 2021 by OPPO, China

China – Electronics company OPPO has unveiled its latest smartphone concept, the X 2021, featuring an expandable screen that turns the device into a tablet.

Presented at this year’s OPPO Inno Day, the X 2021’s side button automatically expands the handset from 6.7 inches to 7.4 inches, using a conveyer belt-style steel ‘warp track’ laminated onto an OLED screen. The transition from a smartphone to a tablet is achievable through a system within the phone’s internal structure that interlocks, allowing the phone to maintain its shape.

OPPO aims to provide an all-encompassing device that adjusts to the desire of its user, displaying full sized text message pop-ups that do not disrupt the entire screen. Overall it promises enhanced levels of ‘office productivity and entertainment experiences’, according to the brand.

As consumers seek a more balanced relationship with devices and technology, brands are creating streamlined and integrated concepts. Discover more in Discreet Tech.

This sexual wellness practice posits pleasure as health

Kama, US

UK – Kama is a new science-backed sexual wellness practice that focuses on the experience of pleasure and its role in holistic wellbeing.

Launching as a website and app, Kama aims to help people of all ages, genders and sexualities in making sexual satisfaction a key part of their everyday lives. The app acts as a daily guide to shift users’ feelings from stressed to sexually stimulated. Combining a selection of expert talks, informative articles and community events, the Kama method empowers users through education around the mind and body in relation to sex.

Through meditation, sound baths and practices for prolonging orgasms, the platform aims to democratise access to sexual wellness. Chloe Macintosh, founder of Kama, said: ‘The Kama Method is a unique approach that draws from neuroscience, somatic therapy, psychosexuality and ancient wisdom to offer a true avenue for transformation: physically, emotionally and spiritually.'

Consumers are beginning to shun outdated ideals around busyness, ushering in a Pleasure Revolution that positions sexual health as a key tenet of overall wellbeing.

Brands launch Podback to tackle coffee pod waste

UK – Coffee brands Nestlé and Jacobs Douwe Egberts UK (JDE Peet’s) are joining forces to launch Podback, a recycling initiative for coffee pods.

Launching in early 2021, the non-profit organisation will provide UK consumers with an avenue to recycle their used coffee pods, via delivery network Collect+ and kerbside collection. It will also offer a ‘handover at home’ option, allowing people to have their coffee pods collected when groceries are delivered.

Initially starting with Nestlé coffee, the scheme will look to include all brands that sell plastic and aluminium pods. ‘Our ambition is to create a powerful end-to-end recycling solution, available to all, and Podback demonstrates our commitment to achieving this important goal,’ says Guillaume Chesneau, managing director of Nespresso UK and Ireland and board director at Podback. He adds: ‘We are working closely with manufacturers, retailers and local authorities and calling upon them to join us and ensure the scheme has maximum impact.’

This joint venture Is a bid to deviate from the coffee sector’s notoriously wasteful practices, aiming to make coffee culture sustainable.

Podback by Nestlé and Jacobs Douwe Egberts UK

Stat: UK consumers opt for tv ads over paid services

Perfect Reality, Samsung, by Six N. Five

With UK consumption of connected tv (CTV) – streaming of tv over the internet on any device – having gone up during Covid-19, new research by Unruly shows that most UK consumers would rather watch adverts on CTV than pay for ad-free content.

Some 77% say they would prefer to watch their favourite tv programme free of charge with adverts, rather than pay to watch ad-free. Meanwhile, over half (54%) say they actively seek ways to watch tv programmes and films free of charge, abandoning linear tv as a way of saving money. The advantage of advertising via connected tv is also the advanced targeting capabilities – allowing audiences to view adverts that are more reflective of their own interests.

While we previously explored the threat of Ad-blockers to online industries, the uptake of CTV suggests that tv ad content can still be effective in reaching audiences.