Need to Know

Lisbon – The start-up pet care company has launched Magic Box, an artificially intelligent dog-feeding station.

To date, Barkyn’s offer has centred on a £34 ($44, €40) monthly delivery service of food, toys and treats for dogs. Now, however, it wants to establish a presence in the home of pet owners with the Magic Box feeding station. Linked to an app, the feeding station uses AI to learn each dog’s feeding patterns, automatically releasing food throughout the day.

Based on how regularly the dog is eating, the Magic Box will flag any dietary concerns to owners, recommending actions, health checks or new foods for their pet to try. Due to be launched in early 2020, the Magic Box is a new product in Barkyn’s portfolio, alongside its provision of remote veterinarians as required by users.

The company is also building community through its products, with regular dog meet-ups for customers in 14 cities across Portugal, Spain and Italy, tapping into the growth of ‘pet parents’ who want to spoil their furry friends with high-end services.

Singapore – Ready to Travel taps into the rise in global group travel from Asian countries.

Aimed at Millennials from the region, the app includes a collaborative itinerary planning feature designed to alleviate the tension that comes with planning group trips. Other features include automatic travel insurance, on-the-go wifi, airport lounge access and storage for travel documents.

A series of social videos from Ready to Travel feature a group of Singaporean friends dubbed The Next Timers, with the campaign encouraging young travellers not to postpone their travel plans because of the difficulties of group travel but instead turn their inspiration into action.

‘Ready to Travel aims to be the number one digital platform to enable group travel planning… to connect Asia travellers, especially the fast-growing Millennial and free-independent travellers in the region,’ says Keith Loke, the app’s head of marketing.

The next generation of travellers from emerging nations are disrupting the travel industry, championing new attitudes that put adventurous group travel ahead of traditional family trips.

New research from Oxfam spotlights the polluting effect of the UK’s consumption of new clothes. To highlight the environmental impact of fast fashion, the charity compares the carbon emissions of clothes shopping and common modes of transport.

For example, in one month alone, the carbon footprint of new clothes bought in the UK was greater than flying a plane around the world 900 times. It is also estimated that more than two tonnes of clothing are bought each minute in the UK. Not only is this more than any other country in Europe, that amount also produces nearly 50 tonnes of carbon emissions – or the same as driving 162,000 miles in a car.

Oxfam uses the research to stress the growing importance of the resale market in reducing carbon emissions. For more, read our interview with Julie Neeve, project manager of new store formats at Oxfam.