Music Captures The December 2015 Holiday Season: Fill & Download for Free

What does Brian Roemmele mean when he says Siri should be its own operating system?I assert that the Voice First platform is the next logical computer platform much like the mobile device and the personal computer itself. Each platform had revolutionaries that saw this aspect and built a platform specific OS (PC-Apple II, Machintosh, Dos, Windows, Unix. Smartphone-iOS, Android). I will present the underpinnings of why Siri should be an OS and not an OS appendage.Steve Jobs’ First public standing ovation was when the Macintosh talked in 1984.Why A Siri OS?The fundamental premise for SiriOS is built around the natural transition of operating systems over the last 60 years. I posit we change user interfaces about every 10 years [1]. We have been moving away from the mechanical interfaces of punch cards, keyboards, mice and gestures to the software era based interface using AI .This shift has a number of parallel themes. We can see that hardware via Moore’s Law has become far more powerful and far more commoditized. The hardware era began to draw down just about the time the microprocessor began to become popularized. The rise of the software era began to take off just about the time the Graphical User Interface became popularized. The rise of the AI era may seem like just an extension to the software era, yet it is something else entirely. The AI era is about the tapestry built between the hardware, software and the human.Natural evolution has favored the user interface of the AI era, it has about 1 million years of optimization, it is our voice. Thus the tapestry built with hardware, software and humans is held by the threads of our most developed communication channel, our Voice. I call this the Voice First user interface.An important aspect that should be made clear is that the visuality of a user interface will always be present. This is also true of Voice First, it is not Voice only. With Voice First, the AI will just make it far less important.None of the prior user interfaces disappear in each 10 year shift, they realign with what supplants them. We also at some point use them less. For example we don’t really use punch cards much, but they have morphed into parking tickets, airline tickets and to some extent credit cards.The AI era will be an era of getting things done on behalf of humans more than ever. The prior eras required active human involvement and supervision. The true personal assistants that are the the abstraction layer above the AI will serve this function with high user context. We will not be the sifter and sorter of a 9 million Google search, our true personal assistants will “know” us via deep context and arrive at the right answer.Apple Had A 40 Year Head Start Voice In The First MarketApple introduced Siri in 2011 [2]. It was a massive and transformative moment for Apple. The acquisition of Siri, Inc from the founders was, in fact, Steve Jobs last major contribution to Apple before he became too ill for daily activity. With Siri, Apple was using the results of over 40 years of research funded by DARPA (Contract numbers FA8750-07-D-0185/0004) via SRI International’s Artificial Intelligence Center [3]. Siri Inc. was a spin off of SRI Intentional) through the Personalized Assistant That Learns Program (PAL) and Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes Program (CALO) [4].Apple had about a 40 year head start with how well Siri uses the DARPA research in 2011. Google of course was in the position to compete but they had a wonderful voice recognition system and really great example results for typical “Voice” searches at the time. When Apple acquired Siri, Inc. they had a functioning work product of 40 years of multi-billion dollar government research. Yet, they took major features that Siri had as a free standing app and removed them. Siri on iOS took till 2017 to regain some of the early Siri, Inc. features. But this time the entire Siri, Inc. team had left Apple.Siri Blindsided By AlexaAmazon surprised just about everyone in the technology world when the secret 'Project Doppler' or 'Project D' from Lab126 offices in Silicon Valley and Cambridge, Mass. was announced on November 6, 2014 [5]. This was an outgrowth of a Kindle e-book reader project that began in 2010 and the acquisition of voice platforms it acquired from Yap, Evi, and IVONA. Most folks were occupied with the announcement of the Amazon Fire Phone during the Echo announcement and most ignored the device until it became a clear run-away hit in the homes of what are typically not the usually first adopters. By 2016 the tech press caught up and began to notice that Echo devices became the largest selling item at Amazon during holiday season, 2016, 2017 and 2018. There are now estimated to be over 300,000,000 #VoiceFirst devices in use today with Amazon controlling a majority.The Rise Of The 11,000 Person Alexa ArmyAmazon also has what I called the 1,000 person Alexa Army in 2016 [6]. Today January 3rd, 2019 it is an 11,000+ Alexa Army [7] working on ONLY ALEXA. To give a perspective, just the job openings currently for the Alexa division is larger than the entire staff working on Siri, Google Assistant, Cortana and Bixby combined.To grant an even larger perspective. At a fully loaded cost of $300K per employee at Amazon working only on Alexa, that’s $3B per year in just payroll. This is more than Sequoia, a16z and Greylock will deploy in their current funds over 5+ years.To put in perspective, at a fully loaded cost of $300K per employee, that’s $3B per year...in payroll. More than Sequoia, a16z and Greylock will deploy in their current funds over 5+ years!— Steve Cheney (@stevecheney) December 28, 2018Voice First Devices Are The Fastest Technology Adoption In HistoryVoice First devices like Alexa and Google assistant are the fastest technology adoption in history. They have reached the magic 50% of US households in about 36 months. The next fastest adoption was the Smartphone, that took over 6 years to get to 50% of US households.Voice First Is In The “Command Line” Stage, Not Yet Close To What It Will BecomeThe current Voice First devices are extremely crude when compared to where they are heading in my estimation. Yet they have reached a level of adoption that is not debatable. Alexa and Google Voice are built on a proto-Voice First OS. They are not what I would call a full implementation of an OS for a number of reasons. The fundamental reason is they have a very constrained developer environment in the guise of control of the user experience. This constraint has limited developer ingenuity and ultimately interest. There is also very crude monetization systems for developers to be compensated for their contributions. Finally the tools available, although they are getting better are built around the concept of a Voice App or Skill that need to be invoked to access. This paradigm is extremely limited for a number of reasons especially in a user interface that has nothing to download.The original developers of Siri Dag Kittlaus and co-founder Adam Cheyer created Viv that was later acquired by Samsung and is now partly integrated into Bixby 2. The Bixby Developer Center will allow developers to create Bixby voice apps using a new AI-powered software system to understand when to apply machine learning to automate tasks and invoke developer apps. This is on the path to a much more logical and useful approach. The Bixby Developer Center also has developer monetization built-in on a use by use level. This has the possibilities of a much more organic and potentially higher income for the developer thereby creating more developer interest and support.Yet even with the above mentioned limitations, all of these Voice First platforms are flourishing, except Apple. On June 5th, 2017 Apple announced the $349 HomePod [8] and was supposed to be on sale that December. It never happened. Apple completely missed the crucial holiday season 2017 window for HomePod and shipped the first devices in the second quarter of 2018. I was highly encouraged by the announcement of HomePod because it offered Apple a “last chance” opportunity to catch up to Alexa and Google Home. This “last chance” is not a true last chance but just by being late to the market they owned since 2011 with a Voice First device and then hitting a very high price point and missing the shipping date, it conspired to create a bad situation for Apple.HomePodWhen HomePod finally arrived, I was deeply disappointed by the complete disregard of the product’s natural market position against Amazon’s Echo. It showed as customer arrogance in the face of millions of Echo sales. The version of Siri on HomePod was extremely limited. It took months to get some features and abilities upgraded. Apple produced a “dumb” “smart speaker” but not a true Voice First device. Finally, Apple made a vague and limited OS attempt with AudioOS for HomePod, clearly telegraphing they do not take Voice First seriously by relegating it to an “audio” function only with a Siri as a hacked on feature.Apple Playing Checkers, Amazon Playing 3D ChessBy late 2018 Apple had done something it had never done before in its history, it began to promote another technology platform they did not own:History will record that Apple moving Apple Music on to Echo devices started a shifted inside of Amazon and Apple.VCs who work with me knew this day would take place years ago, some could not accept it.The interesting part is what happens next.You are not gonna believe it. pic.twitter.com/B8vKUAB6gR— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) November 30, 2018I equated this partnership to Apple playing checkers while Amazon is playing 3D chess:Folks, fully agree. I would go on to say that Apple was playing checkers with “service” while Amazon is playing 3D chess with a new #VoiceFirst platform that has 11,000 folks working on it exclusively.I spoke to this with @reneritchie here: https://t.co/woZbwUWjOD— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) December 20, 2018Why is Apple playing checkers? It is natural to conjure up comparisons between the 2003 release of iTunes 4.1 on Windows XP as an example of how Apple will extend to another platforms as an analogy to why they have extended Apple Music to the Alexa platform. Yet I assert this is persuasive argument when we examine history with 20/20 hindsight.The fundamental premise of iTunes on Windows was not so much to sell Apple computers (perhaps indirectly it would as a sort of foot hold to an ecosystem) but to sell the iPod. In the process of course, Apple hoped to extend rapid adoption to it’s very tentative hold against illegal MP3s and Window’s Zune encryption (I know funny now, serious back than) and other competing rights management systems for selling music. This was the fundamental endgame for Apple and some people at the time thought it was a “Hail Mary” type of last ditch effort to gain a stronger foothold in the sales of rights protected music.We can see how the flaw in logic of “Apple Music services income reason” begins to break down right here. Apple is not trying to do this with Apple Music on Alexa. This is a very regrettable assumption without the analysis of the underpinnings of history.So what is Apple doing? They are extending utility of Apple music to a new platform they do not own. They are doing this with no logical feedback path to extend Apple products and even Apple services. I see it as very one dimensional thinking that I have equated to one company playing checkers and there other knowingly or unknowingly playing 3 dimensional chess.Apple Music on Alexa actually adds more value to the Alexa platform, without a reciprocal equivalent to Apple products or services. How so? Apple Music on Alexa products will likely increase the sales of Alexa products thereby increasing the market share of Alexa. Yet there is little compelling evidence in the history of business where one can argue a compelling reciprocal fortification to Apple’s ecosystems. For example, Apple will not likely materially sell more Apple Music subscriptions to Alexa owners because Apple Music is on Alexa platforms. Clearly, long term it primarily adds value to Alexa’s ecosystem—not Apple’s.In fact in many ways history may well see this event as Apple raising the white flag of surrender on the fundamental premise of the HomePod. Clearly there is prodigious evidence that Apple misread the underpinnings of the Voice First revolution all the way back to the second year of Siri on through to today. They have and continue to read the Alexa phenomena as a “smart speaker” and not the platform that over 11,000 ALEXA ONLY workers are creating at Amazon.So I assert that these type of checkers type moves by Apple may appear to be a “win” for Apple services, although it will not really sell or materially extend value to Apple Music. Where as Amazon may be playing 3D chess, unknown to Apple, to extend this new Voice First modality, and thereby extend market share even more than the ~ 75% they already have.If my assertions are correct, this means this is a bone-headed, and very short term thinking by Apple. And I am sorry to say, it may go down in history as a key concession by Apple to let Alexa and not Siri become the dominate Voice First platform.Notable columnist, Kara Swisher wrote today [9]:”We need the next wave of innovation, and we need it now.Indeed. The last big innovation explosion — the proliferation of the smartphone — is clearly ending. There is no question that Apple was the center of that, with its app-centric, photo-forward and feature-laden phone that gave everyone the first platform for what was to create so many products and so much wealth. It was the debut of the iPhone in 2007 that spurred what some in tech call a “Cambrian explosion,” a reference to the era when the first complex animals appeared. There would be no Uber and Lyft without the iPhone (and later the Android version), no Tinder, no Spotify”This is a crucial moment in time for Apple and even the company’s closest supporters know it.Apple Has The Basis Of SiriOS AlreadyThe acquisition of Workflow [10] was a critically important aspect for Siri expansion with a consumer accessible quasi-programing environment of Siri Shortcuts. This is an important and encouraging step, but without the ability to have environmental variables the use is limited for professional developers. Additionally, the tools are a few levels to complex for a vast majority of Apple users to take advantage of Siri Shortcuts. There is also little to no evangelism by Apple for developers to add iOS apps that have Siri Shortcut abilities. Finally there is no proper “app store” and no clear monetization path for professional developers and thus there will not be serious support for Siri Shortcuts by these developers.It may seem that I am being a bit harsh on Apple, indeed as a lifelong Apple fan since 1984, I feel rather strongly that Apple made a massive series of mistakes with Siri. By creating a rich developer ecosystem and the work of VocalIQ, a company Apple acquired in late 2015 [11] Apple has a great foundation and they are resting on it and not building on it. VocalIQ explained their technology this way:“Vocal IQ introduced the world’s first self-learning dialogue API — putting real, natural conversation between people and their devices. Every time your application is used it gets a little bit smarter. Previous conversations are central to it’s learning process — allowing the system to better understand future requests and in turn, react more intelligently.”It is evident that Apple had acquired a working product that could raise Siri far past what was in the market in 2015, even in 2019. If VocalIQ technology were to be combined with Siri there would be a firm ground for Siri OS. Combined with A VocalIQ enabled Siri that programs its own Siri Shortcuts in real-time for users, Apple has the clear opportunity to pull Siri a few generations forward.For Apple to be successful with any Voice First move, it is incumbent they build the best experience for the user and for the developer. This means a game changing way to monetize developers with a marketing system, like the App Store, but not an “app store” and a value proposition to the user.None of these options will take place if Siri is just an app or an appendage to iOS. It needs to have a clear path as a stand-alone OS that can be ambient. The first candidate device to have Siri OS would be a $99 Voice First device designed by Apple. SiriOS would become a co-OS on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch (limited) and Mac platform. It would run independently of the host OS yet interact with it on a global level. This sounds more complex then it is, SiriOS would coexist on top of Darwin. Apple Watch has an OS, Siri currently does not.It is foolish to try to retrofit this modern AI based SiriOS on top of an existing iOS or MacOS system. Clearly just like iOS is based on MacOS, SiriOS would also share this heritage with notable user guidelines, function and abilities that a Voice First OS requires. There is much more to this, but the rest would be best delivered to Apple directly and not in a public environment.BOOOM!DELOITTE Global predicts that #VoiceFirst device market will be worth US$7 billion in 2019, selling 164 million units.This 63% growth rate would make #VoiceFirst the fastest-growing connected device category worldwide in 2019.A revolution!https://t.co/spNsUURlRv— Brian Roemmele (@BrianRoemmele) December 29, 2018Apple is missing an estimated 7 Billion Dollar market in 2019 with no SiriOS.Apple still has a window to make this vision of a SiriOS viable. I assert the window is about 24 months from the time of this writing. Apple can accept the market demand of millions of Voice First devices and shift their thinking, or they can continue to lose ground. The first step is to find a true http://VoiceFirst.expert that has identified the future with a track record or they can try to find folks that are guessing about it. Either way Apple will need to find all the talent possible both technical and visionary to surpass the 11,000 person Alexa Army that is just about hiring everyone possible.We hire people to tell us what to do, Steve Jobs 1983I still have great hope for Apple and SiriOS.The Future Is Voice FirstThus the user interface journey that started in 1957 and transformed every 10 years since is ready for a shift. It will be Voice First as the next user interface and perhaps just about all the user interfaces moving forward. Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area have been with us since the dawn of humanity they form the communications centers in our brain, everything your write or read is actually a silent voice you “hear” in your brain. It is our communication channel our Phonological Loop. Without them, we would be locked in a body that can not effectually communicate.Everything you type and read is the work product of a “silent-voice” in your brain.We humans started with a voice (vocalizations) and it took nearly 50 years to have the technology catch up with us. The AI era is the next era and the primary interface is our voice. And to capture the essence of this shift, Siri must become SiriOS. And with true Apple DNA, it can become the next path for Apple to expand around the world.Steve Jobs in 1985 on the downfall of dominate companies.____[1] Brian Roemmele's answer to Is it true that user interfaces change every 10 years?[2] Brian Roemmele's answer to Why is Siri important?[3] http://www.ai.sri.com/[4] https://pal.sri.com[5] Brian Roemmele's answer to Is Amazon Echo (and/or Siri and other voice assistants) actually useful, or is it just a novelty? Are usage and retention of these products growing?[6] Jeff Bezos and his 1,000-person Alexa army are building the future[7] Amazon Says It Has Over 10,000 Employees Working on Alexa, Echo[8] Brian Roemmele's answer to What is Apple HomePod and why is it important?[9] Opinion | Is This the End of the Age of Apple?[10] Brian Roemmele's answer to Why did Apple acquire Workflow and what’s the importance?[11] Apple’s Secret AI Technology: Meet Vocal IQ the self learning technology that is a part of Siri2.

Thank you for asking this question ☺️Merry Christmas to you all.Cities11 weird and wonderful Christmas traditions from around the worldOur favorite Christmas traditions around the world are wonderful – sometimes wonderfully weird – and are guaranteed to put you in the festive spiritImage:Celebrating Christmas in Toronto! © Ben Roffelsen PhotographyMomondo team25. October 2017 7 mins readIt’s the most wonderful time of the year. For a couple of weeks every year the world takes on a magic glow, people seem merrier and even winter somehow feels cosy.Whether you’re celebrating a religious festival, like Hanukkah or Christmas, or a more secular occasion, you’re sure to have your own selection of rituals or customs that make the holiday season so special. Our favorite Christmas traditions around the world are loud, proud, and guarantee oodles of festive fun.Giant Lantern Festival, PhilippinesLooking for some festive sparkle? Spend Christmas in the PhilippinesThe Giant Lantern Festival (Ligligan Parul Sampernandu) is held each year on the Saturday before Christmas Eve in the city of San Fernando – the “Christmas Capital of the Philippines.” The festival attracts spectators from all over the country and across the globe. Eleven barangays (villages) take part in the festival and competition is fierce as everyone pitches in trying to build the most elaborate lantern. Originally, the lanterns were simple creations around half a metre in diameter, made from ‘papel de hapon’ (Japanese origami paper) and lit by candle. Today, the lanterns are made from a variety of materials and have grown to around six metres in size. They are illuminated by electric bulbs that sparkle in a kaleidoscope of patterns.Find a flight to ManilaGävle Goat, SwedenPeople overlooking the Gävle Goat in Sweden, just moments before it’s set ablazeSince 1966, a 13-metre-tall Yule Goat has been built in the center of Gävle’s Castle Square for the Advent, but this Swedish Christmas tradition has unwittingly led to another “tradition” of sorts – people trying to burn it down. Since 1966 the Goat has been successfully burned down 29 times – the most recent destruction was in 2016.If you want to see how the Goat fares this year when it goes up on December 1st, you can follow its progress on the Visit Gävle website through a live video stream.Find a flight to GävleKrampus, AustriaScaring kids into the festive spirit, Krampus is the most chilling of Christmas traditions © Stefan KlaukeA beast-like demon creature that roams city streets frightening kids and punishing the bad ones – nope, this isn’t Halloween, but St. Nicholas’ evil accomplice, Krampus. In Austrian tradition, St. Nicholas rewards nice little boys and girls, while Krampus is said to capture the naughtiest children and whisk them away in his sack. In the first week of December, young men dress up as the Krampus (especially on the eve of St. Nicholas Day) frightening children with clattering chains and bells.Find a flight to KlagenfurtKentucky Fried Christmas Dinner, JapanA family get ready to tuck into a KFC share bucket, a pretty bizarre Japanese Christmas tradition © ajbrusteinthreesixfiveChristmas has never been a big deal in Japan. Aside from a few small, secular traditions such as gift-giving and light displays, Christmas remains largely a novelty in the country. However, a new, quirky “tradition” has emerged in recent years – a Christmas Day feast of the Colonel’s very own Kentucky Fried Chicken.The festive menu will soon be advertized on the KFC Japan website and, even if you don’t understand Japanese, the pictures sure will look delicious with everything from a Christmas-themed standard bucket to a premium roast-bird feast.Find a flight to TokyoThe Yule Lads, IcelandIcelandic Yule Lads run amok this time of year in one of the more fun and mischievous Christmas traditionsIn the 13 days leading up to Christmas, 13 tricksy troll-like characters come out to play in Iceland. The Yule Lads (jólasveinarnir or jólasveinar in Icelandic) visit the children across the country over the 13 nights leading up to Christmas. For each night of Yuletide, children place their best shoes by the window and a different Yule Lad visits leaving gifts for nice girls and boys and rotting potatoes for the naughty ones. Clad in traditional Icelandic costume, these fellas are pretty mischievous, and their names hint at the type of trouble they like to cause: Stekkjastaur (Sheep-Cote Clod), Giljagaur (Gully Gawk), Stúfur (Stubby), Þvörusleikir (Spoon-Licker), Pottaskefill (Pot-Scraper), Askasleikir (Bowl-Licker), Hurðaskellir (Door-Slammer), Skyrgámur (Skyr-Gobbler), Bjúgnakrækir (Sausage-Swiper), Gluggagægir (Window-Peeper), Gáttaþefur (Doorway-Sniffer), Ketkrókur (Meat-Hook) and Kertasníkir (Candle-Stealer). Visit Iceland this Christmas and catch them all!Find a flight to ReykjavikSaint Nicholas’ Day, GermanySaint Nicholas with his three amigos: Santa Claus, Knecht Ruprecht and … a donkeyNot to be confused with Weihnachtsmann (Father Christmas), Nikolaus travels by donkey in the middle of the night on December 6 (Nikolaus Tag) and leaves little treats like coins, chocolate, oranges and toys in the shoes of good children all over Germany, and particularly in the Bavarian region. St. Nicholas also visits children in schools or at home and in exchange for sweets or a small present each child must recite a poem, sing a song or draw a picture. In short, he’s a great guy. But it isn’t always fun and games. St. Nick often brings along Knecht Ruprecht (Farmhand Rupert). A devil-like character dressed in dark clothes covered with bells and a dirty beard, Knecht Ruprecht carries a stick or a small whip in hand to punish any children who misbehave.Find a flight to NurembergNorwayNever leave a good broom behind in Norway over Christmas: it might get stolenPerhaps one of the most unorthodox Christmas Eve traditions can be found in Norway, where people hide their brooms. It’s a tradition that dates back centuries to when people believed that witches and evil spirits came out on Christmas Eve looking for brooms to ride on. To this day, many people still hide their brooms in the safest place in the house to stop them from being stolen.Find a flight to OsloLighting of National Hanukkah Menorah, Washington, D.C. – USThe lighting of the Menorah in Washington, D.C.The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah is celebrated with much fanfare across the United States with one of the most elaborate events taking place on a national stage. Since 1979, a giant nine-metre Menorah has been raised on the White House grounds for the eight days and nights of Hanukkah. The ceremony in Washington, D.C. is marked with speeches, music, activities for kids, and, of course, the lighting of the Menorah.The lighting of the first candle at the White House takes place at 4pm, rain or shine, and an additional candle is lit each successive night. The event is free to attend, but tickets must be booked in advance.Find a flight to Washington, D.C.VenezuelaEnjoy a Christmas dinner consisting of ‘tamales’ in VenezuelaLove Christmas, but think it could be improved by a spot of roller-blading? If the answer is yes, visit Caracas, Venezuela this year. Every Christmas Eve, the city’s residents head to church in the early morning – so far, so normal – but, for reasons known only to them, they do so on roller skates. This unique tradition is so popular that roads across the city are closed to cars so that people can skate to church in safety, before heading home for the less-than-traditional Christmas dinner of ‘tamales’ (a wrap made out of cornmeal dough and stuffed with meat, then steamed).Find a flight to CaracasDay of the Little Candles, ColombiaLight-up your festive season with this sweet Colombian Christmas tradition © Mafe Aristizabal MLittle Candles’ Day (Día de las Velitas) marks the start of the Christmas season across Colombia. In honour of the Virgin Mary and the Immaculate Conception, people place candles and paper lanterns in their windows, balconies and front yards. The tradition of candles has grown, and now entire towns and cities across the country are lit up with elaborate displays. Some of the best are found in Quimbaya, where neighbourhoods compete to see who can create the most impressive arrangement.Find a flight to Armenia, ColombiaCavalcade of Lights, TorontoThe sky lights up during the Cavalcade of Lights in Toronto © Ben Roffelsen PhotographyIn wintry, wonderful Toronto the annual Cavalcade of Lights marks the official start to the holiday season. The first Cavalcade took place in 1967 to show off Toronto’s newly constructed City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square. The Square and Christmas tree are illuminated by more than 300,000 energy-efficient LED lights that shine from dusk until 11 pm until the New Year. On top of that, you’ll get to witness spectacular fireworks shows and engage in some outdoor ice skating.Find a flight to TorontoLooking for more festive inspiration?discover the best European Christmas marketsexplore some alternative Christmas destinations this yearcheck out where to spend New Year’s EveRelated10. October 2018 — 12 mins read17 of the best Christmas markets in the world13. October 2016 — 10 mins readChristmas with a twist: 12 alternative festive destinations3. November 2015The cheapest time to visit OsloTips TricksSee all12. November 2020 — 3 mins readHow the Least CO₂ sorter works7. February 2020 — 7 mins read10 eco travel trends to look out for in 2020Trending10 eco travel trends to look out for in 20207. February 2020 – Momondo teamThe most underrated destinations across the USA12. June 2020 – Fanny OlhatsAn epic Florida road trip: not your usual suspects16. May 2020 – Lara MuladyDiscoverCities11 weird and wonderful Christmas traditions from around the worldDiscoverPrivacyTerms & ConditionsAd Choices©2020 momondomomondo is part of Booking Holdings Inc., the world leader in online travel & related services.Hope my answer helped you in some way 🙏Best wishes 🙏

When Amazon challenges Victoria's Secret you know it's seriousAmazon is going to kill more American jobs than China didMillions of retail jobs are threatened as Amazon’s share of online purchases keeps climbingAmazon's revenue has been growing at more than 20% a year.Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more has been crowing about its plans to create 100,000 American jobs in the next year, but as with other recent job-creation announcements, that figure is meaningless without context.What Amazon AMZN, +0.05% won’t tell us is that every job created at Amazon destroys one or two or three others. What Jeff Bezos doesn’t want you to know is that Amazon is going to destroy more American jobs than China ever did.Amazon has revolutionized the way Americans consume. Those who want to shop for everything from books to diapers increasingly go online instead of to the malls. And for about half of those online purchases, the transaction goes through Amazon.For the consumer, Amazon has brought lower prices and unimaginable convenience. I can buy almost any consumer product I want just by clicking on my phone or computer — or even easier, by just saying: “Alexa: buy me one” — and it will be shipped to my door within days or even hours for free. I can buy books for my Kindle, or music for my phone instantly. I can watch movies or TV shows on demand.But for retail workers, Amazon is a grave threat. Just ask the 10,100 workers who are losing their jobs at Macy’s. M, -2.04% Or the 4,000 at The Limited. Or the thousands of workers at Sears SHLD, -0.45% and Kmart, which just announced 150 stores will be closing. Or the 125,000 retail workers who’ve been laid off over the past two years.Online sales are growing much faster than sales at stores found in malls and shopping centers.Amazon and other online sellers have decimated some sectors of the retail industry in the past few years. For instance, employment at department stores has plunged by 250,000 (or 14%) since 2012. Employment at clothing and electronics stores is down sharply from the earlier peaks as more sales move online.“Consumers’ affinity for digital shopping felt like it hit a tipping point in Holiday 2014 and has rapidly accelerated this year,” Ken Perkins, the president of Retail Metrics, wrote in a research note in December. And when he says “digital shopping,” he really means Amazon, which has increased its share of online purchases from about 10% five years ago to nearly 40% in the 2016 holiday season.It’s only going to go higher, as Amazon aggressively targets other sectors such as groceries and even restaurants with delivery services for restaurant-prepared meals.(For more background, read “Amazon’s Stranglehold: How the Company’s Tightening Grip Is Stifling Competition, Eroding Jobs, and Threatening Communities”)At the end of 2016, the retail sector employed 16.5 million workers, and the restaurant industry employed another 11.4 million. Together, that’s nearly one out of every five workers in America, the same share of employment accounted for by the manufacturing sector in 1982.Many of those jobs are threatened by Amazon’s incredible growth. But some are relatively safe: Most of the 11.4 million restaurant jobs are safe from online competition, for instance, because people still love going out to eat, and someone has to cook and wash the dishes. The 1.3 million working at car dealerships probably won’t be affected anytime soon, and neither will the 925,000 at gas stations, or the 1.1 million working at building materials stores. You won’t buy a new car, or a gallon of gas, or 50 sheets of drywall online.However, about 12 million jobs in retail are facing increasing competition from Amazon, particularly the 6.2 million people who work in the kind of stores that are typically found at malls or shopping centers — furniture, appliance and electronics, clothing, sporting goods, bookstores, and general merchandise stores — what the statisticians call GAFO (General Merchandise, Apparel and Accessories, Furniture and Other Sales).GAFO is the heart of what we think of as retail, and that’s where Amazon has revolutionized the market. After years of barely holding their own, sales at GAFO stores have stalled, falling $1.8 billion (or 0.6%) in the past year while the rest of retail was growing 4%.Meanwhile, online sales jumped by $13.7 billion through the third quarter of 2016, with Amazon accounting for most of that. It is expected to overtake Macy’s as the country’s top retailer of apparel this year.At current growth rates, Amazon would have annual revenue of $500 billion in five years. As traditional retailers close stores and dismiss workers, shopping at the mall will make less and less sense.There’s not much retailers like Macy’s, The Gap GPS, +0.72% , Best Buy BBY, +0.09% and Barnes & Noble BKS, -0.58% can do about it. Their business will be much, much smaller. And now that Amazon is getting serious about groceries, even Wal-Mart WMT, -0.20% is threatened.Although retailers have been laying off workers, they probably aren’t laying off enough, considering how quickly their sales are eroding. While sales fell 0.6% in 2016, employment at the GAFO stores increased by 1.6%, or about 95,000. You don’t make money by hiring more people to sell less.So what’s the big deal? Won’t the people who once worked at Macy’s just work at Amazon instead? Well, no. Amazon needs about half as many workers to sell $100 worth of merchandise as Macy’s does. Macy’s has floor walkers, and saleswomen at the makeup counter to give personal attention, and cashiers, if you can find one.By contrast, Amazon has “pickers” in warehouses who grab hundreds of items off the shelves every hour. Amazon just announced it would hire a lot more pickers this year as it opens more distribution centers. But even those jobs are threatened by Amazon.That’s because Amazon is at the forefront of automating retail. More and more of the work in the warehouses will be done by robots, and Amazon contemplates deploying flying drones (robots) to deliver the packages to your door. Amazon’s concept for selling groceries includes almost no workers, because customers will check themselves out and robots will restock the shelves.What’s most troubling to brick-and-mortar retailers and their workers is that Amazon’s sales growth is accelerating (19% in 2014, 20% in 2015 and 28% in 2016), and shows no sign of plateauing. Amazon isn’t just taking sales from brick-and-mortar stores; it’s also taking market share from traditional retailers’ online stores.Amazon is also moving aggressively into warehousing and package delivery services, which combined employ 2 million workers, including 600,000 at the post office. How many of those jobswill Amazon’s drones take?Could Amazon actually kill more American jobs than China did? It’s quite likely. Economists David Autor, David Dorn and Gordon Hanson have estimated China’s manufacturing exports to the U.S. may have cost as many as 2 million jobs.If Amazon can capture 40% of the GAFO market within five years (as seems likely), about 1.5 million jobs at brick-and-mortar stores could be lost. Add in the jobs Amazon will kill at grocery stores, drugstores, warehouses and delivery services, and the total would be well over 2 million.And unlike the manufacturing jobs lost to China, which were clustered in a comparatively few counties, those retail jobs are located in every city, town and hamlet in America.Don’t worry, though. Economic theory says the displaced workers will find other jobs as the economy grows more productive. And Amazon will pay you a couple of bucks if you’ll use your own car to deliver packages to your neighbors.Amazon is going to kill more American jobs than China didTwo videos at link