Apple plans Fifth Avenue-like stores in India

 KOLKATA: The Apple-Samsung war in India is set to intensify and spill over to the streets and malls. The maker of the iPhone plans to set up a flagship Apple Store in the country — on the lines of the famous one on Fifth Avenue in New York — and a string of smaller outlets.

Leading real estate brokerage companies are already scouting for 15,000-20,000 square feet on high streets and in malls, prompting rival Samsung Electronics to look for space to set up a similar flagship outlet and revamp its existing 1,100 smartphone brand stores.
Three senior industry executives said brokerage firms are looking for prime retail locations in Mumbai, the National Capital Region, Bengaluru and Pune for Apple's first phase of company-owned stores. The company wants to set up most of the Apple Stores of over 2,000-3,000 sqft in India, including space for technical support and holding small workshops.
The flagship store will have the same design and architectural grandeur for which Apple is famous and even holds several patents. Samsung, too, has started negotiating with malls where it has stores, for prime locations and has indicated that it wants to set up a few smartphone stores of over 2,000-2,500 sqft, compared with the existing 1,000 sqft.

Nike Is Making Real Self-Lacing Shoes You Can Buy.

Yes, we've gotten there. Nike is finally making mass-market self-lacing shoes, just like in Back to the Future. Announced Wednesday afternoon by way of its website, the shoes are called the "Nike HyperAdapt 1.0" and will be available by the end of the year. 

As Nike's website breathlessly explains: 

Welcome the Nike HyperAdapt 1.0, the first performance vehicle for Nike's latest platform breakthrough, adaptive lacing. The shoe translates deep research in digital, electrical and mechanical engineering into a product designed for movement. It challenges traditional understanding of fit, proposing an ultimate solution to individual idiosyncrasies in lacing and tension preference.Functional simplicity reduces a typical athlete concern, distraction. "When you step in, your heel will hit a sensor and the system will automatically tighten," explains Tiffany Beers, Senior Innovator, NIKE, Inc., and the project's technical lead. "Then there are two buttons on the side to tighten and loosen. You can adjust it until it's perfect."

It is as-yet unclear if the shoes can also solve world hunger and global warming, but frankly it seems promising.