Reportedly part of an upcoming Catwoman documentary, the footage also features Zoe Kravitz describing her iteration of the anti-hero in the Matt Reeves-directed movie.

Welcome to a special episode of AppleVis Extra, where host Dave Nason is joined by Hans Wiberg, founder of Be My Eyes, and the new CEO of Be My Eyes, Mike Buckley, to discuss the recent announcement of Be My Eyes' new Virtual Volunteer feature powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 model.

Be My Eyes, a revolutionary app for the blind and low-vision community, has been connecting users with volunteers for assistance with everyday tasks since 2012. With the introduction of the Virtual Volunteer, powered by the advanced visual recognition capabilities of GPT-4, the app is set to take its power and value to new heights.

Hans and Mike share their excitement about the performance of GPT-4, stating that in the short time they've had access, it has shown unparalleled capabilities in image-to-text object recognition. The implications for global accessibility are profound, as this new feature has the potential to offer a greater degree of independence in the lives of blind and low-vision individuals.

The Virtual Volunteer stands out from other image recognition tools due to its ability to have conversations and offer comprehensive assistance with context and analysis. Users can send images of various tasks, such as identifying the contents of their fridge or reading a map, and the Virtual Volunteer not only identifies the objects but also provides additional information and suggestions, such as recipes that can be prepared with the ingredients.

The Virtual Volunteer tool is currently in beta and is anticipated to be available to users in Q3 2023 and will be free for all blind and low-vision community members using the Be My Eyes app. Don't forget to register in the Be My Eyes app to be placed on the waiting list for access to the Virtual Volunteer.

In this episode of our podcast, Thomas Domville demonstrates the power of the Virtual Volunteer feature, set to come to the Be My Eyes app in late Q3 2023. Currently in beta testing, this feature, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 model, has the potential to be a game changer for people with visual impairments. It offers a virtual sighted assistant that can generate context and understanding for images, allowing for a greater degree of independence in everyday tasks.

During the episode, Thomas showcases a variety of real-world use cases for the Virtual Volunteer, including identifying clothing; getting information from food packaging; describing greeting cards, photos from your photo library or places such as Facebook, and weather maps; reading restaurant menus, and more.

We thank the Be My Eyes team for allowing us to record and share this demonstration of the Virtual Volunteer.

In this edition of the AppleVis Extra, Thomas Domville, Dave Nason, and Tyler Stephen get together to discuss Apple's WWDC 2023 Keynote.

Resources:

Apple Press Releases

• Introducing Apple Vision Pro: Apple’s first spatial computer
• iOS 17 makes iPhone more personal and intuitive
• iPadOS 17 brings new levels of personalization and versatility to iPad
• macOS Sonoma brings all‑new capabilities for elevating productivity and creativity
• Introducing watchOS 10, a milestone update for Apple Watch
• tvOS 17 brings FaceTime and video conferencing to the biggest screen in the home
• Apple introduces the 15‑inch MacBook Air
• Apple unveils new Mac Studio and brings Apple silicon to Mac Pro
• Apple introduces M2 Ultra
• AirPods redefine the personal audio experience
• Apple announces powerful new privacy and security features
• Apple provides powerful insights into new areas of health

Apple Operating System Previews

• iOS 17 Preview
• iPadOS 17 Preview
• macOS Sonoma Preview
• watchOS 10 Preview

Media

• Watch WWDC23 keynote replay on Apple website
• Watch WWDC23 keynote replay on Youtube
• You can also watch the WWDC23 keynote in the Apple TV app on any supported device.

WWDC Sessions

• Create accessible spatial experiences: Learn how you can make spatial computing apps that work well for everyone. Like all Apple platforms, visionOS is designed for accessibility: We'll share how we've…

In this episode, Thomas Domville introduces and demonstrates Microsoft's Bing: Chat with AI & GPT-4 iOS app. Thomas walks through the app's interface, demonstrates some examples of how Bing can be utilized, and shares tips to get the best results.

In this month's edition of AppleVis Unleashed, Thomas Domville and Mike Malarsie are joined by Kevin Jones to discuss recent Apple news and other topics of interest. Topics featured in this episode include:

• Introduction (00:00:00)
• Vision Pro launch at retail stores is Apple’s most complex rollout ever, will require appointment to buy (00:02:11)
• Apple GPT is the company's answer to ChatGPT and it could arrive next year (00:09:49)
• Beats Studio Pro arrives with Spatial Audio, massive battery life (00:18:50)
• New EU regulations mandate user-replaceable batteries in Apple products (00:31:49)
• iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro rumored to feature big boost in battery sizes (00:39:05)
• Apple Watch could detect Parkinson's disease up to 7 years earlier (00:52:06)
• What's in this month AppleVis News (00:59:44)
• Closing (01:12:08)

Links:

• Vision Pro launch at retail stores is Apple’s most complex rollout ever, will require appointment to buy
• Apple GPT is the company's answer to ChatGPT and it could arrive next year
• Beats Studio Pro arrives with Spatial Audio, massive battery life
• New EU regulations mandate user-replaceable batteries in Apple products
• iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro rumored to feature big boost in battery sizes
• iPhone 15 battery upgrade could unlock 40W charging speeds and a big MagSafe boost
• The iPhone 15 might not arrive until October
• Apple Watch could detect Parkinson's disease up to 7 years earlier
• Perplexity - Ask Anything
• VoiceVista

If you have feedback or questions for the Unleashed team, you can reach them by email at unleashed@applevis.com or by leaving a voice message at 1-816-287-1482 (US number, call charges may apply).

In this edition of the AppleVis Podcast, Dave Nason, Thomas Domville, and Tyler Stephen get together to discuss Apple's September 12 "Wonderlust" Event.

In this episode, Thomas Domville shows us how to change the speaking rate for Siri on iOS and iPadOS. This feature allows you to adjust the speed at which Siri speaks, which can be helpful if you find Siri's default speaking rate too fast or too slow.

To change the speaking rate for Siri, Go to Settings > Accessibility > Siri, and adjust the slider under the "Speaking rate" heading to your desired speed.

Once you have changed the speaking rate for Siri, you can test it out by asking a question or giving it a command. Siri will now speak at the speed that you have set.

In this month's edition of AppleVis Unleashed, Thomas Domville, Mike Malarsie, and John Gassman discuss recent Apple news and other topics of interest. Topics featured in this episode include:

• Introduction )00:00:00)
• Let's Talk about the new iPhone 15 (00:03:07)
• The Good, Bad, and Ugly of iOS 17 (00:16:16)
• Double Tap Fizzle for the Apple Watch Series 9 (00:27:11)
• Time Moves Fast. Scary Fast, you could Say (00:38:04)
• Farewell iTunes! Well, Sort Of... (00:49:19)
• Get Out of Here, How Much is Google Paying Apple? (00:50:26)
• Apple is Stomping Down on the Gas Pedal for GPT (00:56;46)
• Be My AI goes Public (01:01:17)
• Closing (01:07:00)

Links:

• Is the iPhone 15 Pro Worth the Upgrade? How It Compares to Older iPhones
• This iPhone 15 Pro Action Button Shortcut will change your life
• iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 Accessibility Report: VoiceOver, Braille, and Low Vision Issues and Improvements
• Apple Releases iOS 17.1 and iPadOS 17.1 With Many Fixes for VoiceOver Users
• Apple Watch Series 9 Review: New Tricks Make for a Minor Upgrade
• 2024 Apple Watch ‘Unlikely’ to Have ‘Significant Innovative Experiences’
• What to expect from Apple’s unexpected ‘Scary Fast’ evening Mac event
• M3 Series MacBook Pro' to Be Focus of Apple's October 30 Event
• Apple raises prices for Arcade gaming subscription service, AppleTV+ streaming
• Report: Apple planning revamped TV app, will discontinue dedicated iTunes movie and TV show apps
• Google pays Apple US$18-$20 billion a year to keep its search engine on the company’s devices
• Apple's answer to ChatGPT could be ready in time for iPhone 16
• Apple could spend $5B on servers to catch up in AI race
• Announcing ‘Be My AI,’ Soon Available for Hundreds of…

In this episode, Tyler demonstrates how to change Safari's default search engine on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

To do this on iOS and iPadOS, go to Settings > Safari and double-tap "Search engine" to specify the search engine for standard browsing windows, or "private search engine" if you want to specify a different search engine to be used in private browsing windows. On macOS, in Safari, choose Safari > Settings (or press Command-Comma) click the Search button in the toolbar, and choose from the "Search engine" or "private browsing search engine" popup menus.

Join Thomas Domville in learning how to use Carrot Weather for iOS with VoiceOver.

Carrot Weather for iOS is a feature-rich weather application that offers a unique blend of humor and functionality. It provides accurate and detailed forecasts, including current, hourly, and daily predictions. The app is known for its distinctive personality, featuring hilarious dialogue and delightful animations.

Key features include:

Apple Watch App: An award-winning app that allows you to check the weather from your wrist.
Widgets: Offers a variety of customizable widgets for your Home and Lock Screen.
Customization: Allows you to build the weather app of your dreams by changing layouts, adding data points, and more.
Notifications: Provides rain, lightning strike, severe weather alert, and daily summary notifications.
Data Sources: Allows you to switch between sources like AccuWeather, Apple Weather, and Foreca for better forecast accuracy.
Weather Maps: Features super-advanced radar to track incoming storms.
Fun Stuff: Offers secret locations, achievements, augmented reality, and bonding with the Carrot AI.

The app is available for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. It is a paid download with in-app purchases to unlock premium features. The app was created by Brian Mueller, who codes, designs, illustrates, and writes the real-time gags himself. The app’s unique blend of humor and functionality has made it a popular choice among users.

CARROT Weather: Alerts and Radar on the app store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/carrot-weather-alerts-radar/id961390574

In this episode, Thomas Domville delves into the seamless sharing of content from your iPhone screen via iMessage, thanks to Siri’s enhanced capabilities. Apple has equipped Siri with on-device processing, offline support, and advanced contextual awareness, which facilitates a smooth “Share This” feature.

Here’s the process:

When you’re in any supported application, such as Safari, Apple Music, or Photos, you can initiate sharing by saying, “Hey Siri, share this with [contact name].” Siri will grasp the context and ask for confirmation to share the particular content. Afterward, you have the option to append a personalized message before sending it off.

Should the content be unsharable directly, like a weather forecast, Siri cleverly captures a screenshot to share instead.

transcription:
Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello and welcome.

My name is Thomas Domville also known as AnonyMouseSo I am in a situation where I do a lot of messaging throughout the day So you probably are in a similar boat So you probably have text message to your friends or family and co-workers and whatnot And if you are like myself, I send a lot of links to various things that could be photos web Weather things like that, right and but the problem I have with that is that it's pretty tedious And I'll show you what I mean in a moment But the point is I have a feature or a advice for those that do this often Something that might streamline your texting with a link more efficiently and faster So let me show you what I'm talking about.

So let's just say I let's go to my Safari app here, for example Safari double tap to open.

So I'm gonna do that.

So let's just say I have something in Safari that I want to share with someone Safari we'll go to the top here so I can show you what I'm sharing here Skip to content in page link critically endangered attacks born at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge So this is a great article.

I wanted to send it to a friend of mine And there's a Disney News, of course, and this talks about a new baby that was born at the Animal Kingdom Lodge Anyway, the point is say I want to share this article with my friends So typically what I have to do is I have to go to the bottom right to find my tabs first toolbar tabs button double tap and hold for more tab options Now I have to swipe to the left until I find the share button show bookmarks button share button Now I have to double tap on that critically endangered attacks critically endangered attacks born at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge WDW news today.

Now I have to swipe to the right until I get some messages WDWNT.com options button close button airdrop button messages button double tap that New message and now I'm gonna swipe to right until I find the to edit box cancel button to text field is editing word mode insertion point at start double tap that Insertion point at end and now I've got to put in the first couple initials that the person I want to send it to So I created this just for this podcast.

I'm going to send it to Mickey Mouse I'm gonna find the letter M and no M M now gonna go back to the top here new message And now can I swipe to the right until I…

In the latest AppleVis Extra, hosts Dave Nason and Thomas Domville convene to share their insights on the highlights from Apple’s WWDC 2024 Keynote.

transcription:
Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello there and welcome to AppleVis Extra number 98.

My name is Dave Nason.

Because it is June we are talking, of course, about WWDC and because it is AppleViz I am talking, of course, to Thomas Domville.

How are you today, Tom?

Hey, I'm pretty good.

Boy, was that a show or what?

It was.

Nearly two hours that went on and, yeah, it was probably the most anticipated WWDC I can remember in a long time.

Like everybody was waiting for this one, waiting for the announcement.

So before we get into the nitty-gritty, did it meet those expectations for you?

Definitely.

I had a check box of all the things I wanted to hear and it definitely checked all the tick box that I wanted to see and hear.

So I was very happy with the results.

And I know there were some disappointments out there as well, but that's what we'll be talking about.

Yeah, for sure.

And it's funny, we've had a few of these announcements in recent months from all the companies, you know, Google had IO, Microsoft had events, OpenAI had an event, and they've all, you know, Google especially and so on.

They've shorn the words AI or the letters AI into every sentence of the entire thing it seemed, whereas Apple, it was kind of, it must have been nearly an hour before they set the term, though I thought that was interesting.

So we might take the same approach to them and we will kick off with the regular updates, you might call them, to iOS and Vision OS and Mac OS and so on.

And then we can have a chat through the so-called AI.

That sounds great.

I think that'd be perfect.

So they did kick off with Vision OS and I don't think we need to.

Why not, man?

You know, it is kind of odd that, you know, it's only been four months since they released it and they actually have a Vision OS 2 that comes out.

I'm thinking, wow, this is kind of, not only that, but it really didn't feel like it was a 2.

I mean, it was like one big thing and that was it.

I was kind of really disappointed.

I mean, yeah, granted that 3D photos sounds cool now, but definitely not for anything for us.

No, no.

And laserhertz, you know, Marcus Brownlee, you know, he said, it's more, felt like more of a 1.2 than a 2.

Exactly.

It was like a 1.2.

It was like a 1.5 update.

That was it.

But I guess what they're doing there is they're getting it onto their summer cycle.

That's all that really is.

So next year, it'll be 3 and, you know, go from there, I guess.

So it makes sense.

But what it included was, yeah, you can turn any photo into a 3D experience or whatever the correct terminology is and some new gestures.

But from an accessibility point of view, we're not aware of anything really.

You know, it's still a product that is very limited in terms of availability and, you know, what it can…

Join David Nason, Thomas Domville, Michael Hansen, and Tyler Stephen in this AppleVis Extra as they dive into the highlights of Apple’s ‘Glowtime’ Event.

transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello there and welcome to AppleViz Extra.

This is episode number 100.

My name is Dave Nason and this is a very exciting day guys.

We're back.

I'm joined by Thomas Domville, Tyler Stephen and Michael Hansen from the AppleViz team.

How are you guys?

I'm good.

I'm doing wonderful.

How are you Mr. Dave?

I am great.

It's an exciting day.

It's our first day back online.

Oh yeah, it's been a really, really exciting day and a big day for us and a big day for the community and love to share in just the outpour of support that we've seen on the website and people are back and it's a great day and it's also an Apple keynote day.

Yes, what timing we have, eh?

Well, it's ironic.

It's like we planned it on purpose.

Yes, so where again?

Every time what happens, I say I can't believe another year has gone by, but here we go. iPhone event again and some other stuff too.

It was an interesting event.

It opened actually with a video which had quite a lot of accessibility slash disability references in it.

I don't know if you guys noticed that, if you had the audio description on.

I did and that was very nice that they incorporate that, isn't it?

I mean, they always do like a million gazillion videos, but it just always seemed to be that first one.

That's always the most important one.

So putting accessibility in there was a nice touch.

Yeah, that was cool.

And then Tim came on stage or wherever he was outside somewhere.

He seemed to be shouting a lot at the start.

I don't know if anyone else noticed that, but yeah, he set the scene.

He mentioned Apple intelligence in pretty much his first sentence, I think.

So I think that kind of set the scene for the afternoon or for the morning.

Right.

It was almost like, you know how WWDC, we had this Christmas gift and we opened it.

It's like, oh, Apple intelligence.

We were so excited.

They just went ba ba ba ba ba ba ba all the way down.

I feel like today they just rewrapped the gift and we just reopened it because they just went through the whole same thing over again.

And you know, Google were accused of exactly the same thing at their Pixel event that they just re-advanced.

I thought I was hearing some familiar things.

They were talking about iOS 18 and all of a sudden I was like, wait a minute, this is not anything new.

I mean, okay, you want to re-advance.

Okay, that's kind of how you know you're getting to the end of the announcement of whatever the product is.

They start talking about the software.

They're refreshing you on what to expect.

Yeah, I think that's the thing about AI marketing is that when you're marketing that and it's so much of that is software based, you got to kind of beat the drums, the AI drums as much as you can.

Apple doesn't use the term, specific term…

In this episode, Thomas Domville gives us an overview of new accessibility features for blind, DeafBlind, and visually impaired users in iOS 18. Topics covered include:

• Live Recognition Comes to the Rotor
• Voices Rotor
• Improvements to Audio Ducking
• VoiceOver Tutorial
• VoiceOver Startup Haptic Feedback
• Delay Before Selection
• New languages for Lithuanian and Kazak
• Using Personal Voice with VoiceOver
• Equalizer and Other New Customization Options for VoiceOver Voices
• Voice Presets for Siri Voices
• A New VoiceOver Gesture for Accessing Siri Text Input
• Braille Screen Input Improvements
• Motion Queues
• New Sound Actions
• Assistive Touch Improvements
• Eye Tracking
• New Background Sounds and Controls
• Music Haptics
• Live Speech Improvements
• Voice Control Improvements
• Vocal Shortcuts
• Hover Typing
• Car Play Improvements: Voice Control, Color Filters, and Sound Recognition
• Magnifier Improvements: Assign Action Button to Magnifier Mode and New Reader Mode
• Improvements to Accessing Reader Mode in Safari

Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

An Apple Vis Original What's new in iOS 18 for accessibility?

Hello and welcome.

My name is Thomas Donville, also known as Anonymous, as like every year, a new iOS comes in play and Apple brings out new features for us to enjoy.

So with no exception, this year we got a slew of new features for voiceover users, braille users, and other accessibility features that you might find of interest.

There's a lot in here to pack, so let's go ahead and jump right into it and you can hear for yourself what is new in iOS 18 for accessibility.

Live recognition is now an option within your rotor if you include it.

To include it, you just go to your accessibility and head over to rotors and include the live recognition.

This allows you to access live recognition quickly and easily by simply going to your rotor.

Once enabled, we'll just head over to live recognition within our rotor, where you are able to select one or more of the various detections you would like to be enabled.

As you swipe down or up within the rotor, you get the various detection.

To enable a particular detection, just simply do one finger double tap, double tap again and that'll disable it.

If you dismiss the rotor and keep the detection on, it will now live in with your dynamic island towards the top of your device or you can dismiss it from there as well.

Apple has now enhanced the voice over voice option within rotors, which used to be called language.

This rotor allows you to access the various voices that you have defined within speech under accessibility, but that itself has completely been revamped, which you can find within the voice over in the accessibility.

Double tap on this now.

You now have two section in here, first is your primary voice, which can be in any language, doesn't have to be necessarily English and they can…

In this month's edition of Apple Crunch, Thomas Domville, John Gassman, and Marty Sobo discuss recent Apple news and other topics of interest.

Topics featured in this episode include:

• AppleVis Returns and AppleVis Unleashed Gets a new Name
• Thoughts on the Apple's "It's Glowtime" Product Line
• At Last the iOS 18 is Out
• Where's the Apple Intelligence?
• Apple working on a cheaper Apple Vision headset, a second gen Apple Vision Pro, and smart glasses

Links:

• AppleVis Partners with Be My Eyes; Website to Reopen September 9, 2024
• iPhone 16, Apple Watch Series 10, and New AirPods: Recap of Apple's "It's Glowtime" September Event
• iPhone 16 Pro Demand Has Been Lower Than Expected, Analyst Says
• Bricked iPhone 16 Can Be Restored Wirelessly Using Another iPhone
• iPhone SE 4 due in early 2025 with OLED and Apple Intelligence
• iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 Accessibility: A Summary of VoiceOver and braille issues and improvements
• Apple Intelligence Features Expected to Roll Out in This Order Between iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.4New Siri with Apple Intelligence to launch in 2025, says Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman
• Some Apple Intelligence features could cost up to $20/month, claim analysts
• Paid Apple Intelligence features are likely at least 3 years away
• Apple working on a cheaper Apple Vision headset, a second gen Apple Vision Pro, and smart glasses
• Ray-Ban Smart Glasses Updated With Real-Time AI Video, Reminders, and QR Code Scanning
• Looks like Apple is developing a full-fledged advertising tier for Apple TV+

If you have feedback or questions for the Apple Crunch team, you can reach them at AppleCrunch@AppleVis.com

Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated by Aiko, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.

Hello and welcome to Apple Crunch for September 2024.…

With the age of literary correspondence dying, it seems more important than ever to provide spaces of warmth and comfort in which writers can not only retreat

Richard Lutz explains how Midland Tories received £193,000 worth of donations from a construction giant.

Former Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Sir Bernard Zissman has put his famed public speaking skills to the test during a debatathon which raised more than £16,000 for charity

A Christmas party with a difference.

A group of Birmingham residents are to take part in an extraordinary exhibition at Ikon Gallery later this month.

Rugby charity announces emergency support package to help West Midlands groups.

Birmingham charity socks appeal link-up to help St Basil's.

"Help us to help you get the treatment you need across Birmingham and Solihull."

Simon Hale watches the CBSO's long-awaited return to Symphony Hall.

A legendary actor visits Solihull School, reports Simon Hale.

Exclusive footage of brothers' only live performance to have Midlands screenings.

BGSO inviting orchestral musicians of all backgrounds from across the Midlands and beyond to come and join in for a weekend of making new friends and music in great setting of mac birmingham.

Help save lives by donating to our charity, AMMALIFE, in this summer's Big Give

Shopping ethically in the city.

Production marks Black History Month.

Chinese online retail giant, Temu, faces a European Union investigation for potential violations of the Digital Services Act, including consumer protection and data privacy concerns. The company risks significant fines if found in breach. Shein and Temu, Chinese e-commerce giants, have challenged Amazon in the US and Zara and H&M in Europe with low prices and fast turnover.

ASOS, the British online fashion retailer, is striving to regain growth by 2025 after facing challenges such as a decline in active customers and stiff competition.

E-commerce platform Flipkart's logistics arm reported a more than five times surge in its net losses to Rs 1,718.4 crore last fiscal (FY24), compared to Rs 324.6 crore in the previous fiscal (FY23).

Nazara Technologies and ONDC partnered to launch gCommerce. The platform will integrate e-commerce within games. It will provide Indian game developers with new revenue options. gCommerce will connect players to sellers on the ONDC network. Players can shop without leaving the game. The platform will roll out for developers by Q1, FY26.

Commenting on competing with quick commerce platforms, Nayar said that Nykaa’s quick delivery initiative is targeted towards fast-moving everyday SKUs. “For us to continue to dominate market share in these SKUs, it is important to be competitive in certain metros from a quick delivery assortment. This is being addressed by our quick delivery initiative Nykaa Now.”

Key sectors, including oil & gas (18 per cent), pharma/biotech (12 per cent), FMCG (8 per cent), and IT (6 per cent) emerged as primary drivers of this positive trend, with AI/ML roles showing exceptional growth at 39 per cent year-on-year, the report stated.

Returnless refunds are a tool that more retailers are using to keep online shoppers happy and to reduce shipping fees, processing time and other ballooning costs from returned products. Companies such as Amazon, Walmart and Target have decided some items are not worth the cost or hassle of getting back. Think a $20 T-shirt that might cost $30 in shipping and handling to recover.

SBI economists predict a dip in India's GDP growth to 6.5% for the September quarter, citing temporary pressures on the domestic economy. Despite this, they maintain an optimistic outlook, expecting a rebound in the following quarter fueled by rising rural demand and anticipate FY25 growth to approach 7%.

India's consumer price inflation likely surged to a 14-month high in October, driven by soaring vegetable and edible oil prices. Economists predict inflation hit 5.81%, just below the central bank's 6% tolerance limit. A weak rupee and rising global commodity prices add to inflationary pressures, potentially delaying anticipated interest rate cuts.

Akzo Nobel, Europe's leading paint manufacturer, is exploring options to either partner with a larger company or sell its Indian operations. Akzo Nobel's aim is to navigate the consolidation in the South Asian paint market. The company currently holds a 5% market share in India with its Dulux brand and seeks a collaborative approach for future growth.

Akzo Nobel India reported a 14% increase in net profit to Rs 108.7 crore in the fourth quarter, driven by higher demand from the automotive sector. Despite muted retail demand due to higher rainfall and price hikes, the company's revenue from operations rose 3% to Rs 9.82 billion.

Asian Paints faced a challenging second quarter with muted demand due to uneven rainfall and a slowdown in metro cities. Despite price hikes, competitive intensity remains high. The company is cautiously optimistic about single-digit volume growth in the coming quarter while closely observing AkzoNobel's strategic review of its India business.

Jubilant Foodworks Ltd., the operator of Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' in India, reported a lower net profit of Rs 66.53 crore in the second quarter, compared to Rs 97.2 crore in the same period last year. Despite the profit dip, revenue rose to Rs 1,954.72 crore from Rs 1,368.63 crore, fueled by expansion and growth in the Indian market.

Indian consumers are increasingly choosing healthier snack options, driving the segment's rapid growth. Emerging brands offering smaller packs and health-focused snacks are experiencing significant success, particularly in metros and lower town classes. This health-conscious trend extends to durables like air fryers and fitness wearables, reflecting a nationwide shift towards healthier lifestyles.

Environmental group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) alleges that palm oil derived from illegally cleared Indonesian wildlife reserves may have infiltrated the supply chains of major brands like Nestle and Procter & Gamble. RAN's investigation, supported by satellite imagery, points to the deforestation of Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve for palm oil plantations, potentially jeopardizing endangered species.

Godrej Industries is set to acquire the food additives and emulsifier business of Savannah Surfactants Limited for Rs 76 crore. The deal will see Godrej Industries expand its product offerings to the Food & Beverages segment. Savannah Surfactants Ltd has a manufacturing capacity of 5,200 tonnes per annum of finished products.

Britannia Industries reported a 10% drop in profit for the quarter ended September as surging housing costs and low income growth in urban areas led to a slowdown in demand for fast-moving consumer goods. While rural demand has been stable, urban demand has seen a significant downturn, mirroring global trends of consumer confidence returning but wages lagging behind inflation.

India's retail inflation rose to 6.21 percent in October. This is a significant increase from September's 5.49 percent. Food prices are the main reason for this surge. This is the first time since August that inflation has gone beyond the Reserve Bank of India's 6 percent limit. The rise in onion prices is a major concern.

Chinese appliance giant Haier Group has submitted a proposal to the Indian government to form a joint venture with India's JSW Group. The proposed venture represents a significant investment of Rs 1,000 crore and requires government approval due to Haier's Chinese origins. This move comes after JSW's recent joint venture with Chinese automaker SAIC Motor.