First Apple-designed packaging for third-party peripherals shows up at stores

There's a huge ecosystem of Apple and Mac peripherals ranging from MacBook cases to external hard drives and docking solutions to an endless assortment of iPhone and iPad cases, battery solutions and add-ons. Few of these products are lucky to be selected by Apple to be featured in the Apple Retail Store displays. 

Apple has apparently redesigned the packaging for many of these products so that they look more pleasing and also represent the products more accurately. There's a certain familiar Apple-ness to the way the above products are represented. 

Source: 9to5Mac

MasterCard offers a glimpse of the future in wearable tech

By Sonya Davidson

At Dx3 this week in Toronto, MasterCard Canada had invited us to step into their 'Retail Collective' and visit the changeroom of the future. It's a mind-boggling look at ways that could change the way consumers approach retailers and the way we shop. 

We're now in the phase of no-card-present payment technology with the use of our mobile devices and Apple Pay, but at Dx3, MasterCard took it several steps further pointing us to the future working with wearable technology like the Nymi Band - that uses biometrics to authenticate in-store purchases. Could this be the ideal solution for a better security system?

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Amazon Prime and Free Shipping saved customers over $2 billion in shipping fees this holiday

Amazon has changed the way many Americans and Canadians procure products and their features such as Amazon Prime and free shipping have been nothing short of game changing.

Amazon’s 20th holiday brought more than just record growth for Prime. Amazon customers also saved billions thanks to free shipping. On all items purchased this holiday season, customers saved over $2 billion on free two-day shipping through Amazon Prime and other free shipping offers. Additionally, 100 million more items shipped for free this holiday compared to last.

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FlipGive combines shopping and giving for the holidays

 

By Sonya Davidson (photo courtesy of FlipGram)

If part of your holiday plans includes doing something charitable you may be interested in this. Toronto-based FlipGive is a company that is changing the face of community-based fundraising by providing a playform that combines the convenience of online shopping with the best of online fundraising. 

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