Hasta La Gadget!

Curved displays are gradually making their way into the living room and onto the desktop, but so far laptops have been relatively immune to the charms of a flexed panel. That’s something overdue, Acer believes, and so gamers have the promise of the Predator 21 X on the horizon, a vast, 21-inch portable with the world’s first curved notebook display. … Continue reading

Laptops come in a variety of shapes and sizes and cater to various users. For example those who are in the field a lot might appreciate a laptop that while might be heavier and bulkier, can take a beating. This is versus someone like a student who wants a laptop slim and light enough to slip into their bag to bring to class.

Now if you are after such a laptop, you’re in luck as Acer has recently announced the Swift 7 laptop, a laptop which they are calling “extremely thin” due to the fact that it measures a mere 9.98mm in height and weighs 1.1 kg, meaning that tucking it under your arm or dropping it into your bag to go to work or school should not be an issue.

The Swift 7 will sport an all-aluminum uni-body design with a black and gold finish which is admittedly rather stylish. It will also sport Corning’s Gorilla Glass display technology for its 13.3-inch Full HD IPS display. It will be powered by Intel’s 7th gen Core i5 processor and will sport a 256GB SSD, up to 8GB of RAM, USB 3.1 Type-C ports, a HD webcam, and a battery life of up to 9 hours (although this will depend on how you use it).

In terms of price, the Acer Swift 7 will be priced starting at $999 and will be available in North America come October.

Acer Swift 7 Ultrathin Laptop Launched , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

When it comes to the Android scene, Acer isn’t necessarily a name that comes to mind, although admittedly Acer has still kept at it despite not necessarily owning a huge slice of the pie. That being said, the company is back at it again and this time they have announced two new smartphones, the Acer Liquid Z6 and the Z6 Plus.

Just as their names have suggested, one model will sport a larger display than the other. Starting with the Liquid Z6, the handset will come with a 5-inch 2.5D Full HD display. Under the hood, we are looking at a quad-core processor and will come with an 8MP rear-facing camera and will run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

As for the Liquid Z6 Plus, this will be the more premium version with a 5.5-inch 2.5D Full HD display, the Z6 Plus will have an octa-core processor under the hood and will also sport a metal back casing. There is also a 13MP rear-facing camera, a 5MP front-facing camera, and there will also be a fingerprint sensor for that added layer of security.

It too will run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. In terms of pricing and availability, there is no mention of a North American release, at least not yet, but the Liquid Z6 will be available in EMEA in November starting at €119, while the Liquid Z6 Plus will be available in EMEA in December with prices starting at €249.

Acer Liquid Z6, Z6 Plus Smartphones Announced , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Nicole Vanderbilt/Etsy

Nicole Vanderbilt joined Etsy in August 2012. Previously she held a variety of leadership roles in the consumer internet industry, including CEO of mydeco.com, VP of International for Bebo, Head of Industry Marketing at Google, and Director of Premium Communications at American Express. Nicole holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BSE from Princeton in Architecture and Engineering. Nicole’s role is VP of International at Etsy, based in the London office.

How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
One of the defining characteristics of my career (and life) has been working with a wide range of people from different countries and backgrounds. I have lived in France, the UK, Japan and India, in addition to my home country of the US. I have particularly loved my time in London which has afforded me the opportunity to work with people from all over the world. There is so much to learn from diverse points of view and I hope it has helped me develop a level of curiosity and empathy that continues to make me a better leader.

How has your previous employment experience aided your tenure at Etsy?
Throughout my career, I’ve worked in consumer-facing technology businesses and often those that are trying to help the little guy. Understanding the wider landscape of consumer behaviour – from payments at American Express to search at Google through to social at Bebo – has been a huge value to me. In particular, the time I spent at Google India left me with a desire to use technology to help people.

What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Etsy?
One of the biggest challenges for us at Etsy is prioritisation, simply because we have such an immense opportunity and so many things we could be doing to further our mission of reimagining commerce to build a more fulfilling and lasting world. One of the ways this plays out in my role is trying to figure out which markets to invest more in. It’s a big world out there and focus is so important but also really hard. The highlight for me is always about meeting our sellers. There’s nothing better. They are such inspiring people who have been brave enough to put their work out in the world and define success on their own terms.

What advice can you offer to women who want a career in your industry?
Your career is a long game. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Make sure you are always doing something that you care about. And have fun.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your career to date?
It’s far more important to ask good questions and surround yourself with good people than to have all the answers.

How do you maintain a work/life balance?
Becoming a mother 2 years ago was the greatest gift to me in this regard. It’s made me much more focused on making the most of my time working and to establish a clear boundary between that and my time away from work. I’ve found that lots of those extra hours weren’t that productive and constantly thinking about work wasn’t making me any better at it.

What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
I think one of the saddest statistics I hear thrown around when discussing differences in gender in the workplace is that men will apply for a job when they have much much less of the skill and experience required than a woman would. I sometimes see women shake their head at mention of this stat, as if women are right to be more sensible. I’d say take risks. If an opportunity presents itself that you are excited about and it scares you, that’s a great sign. Go for it. And, you’d be surprised at what others will see in you and what opportunities they will give you.

How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
I have rarely had formal mentors in my career, but I have gotten immense value from being able to ask questions and advice of people I admire. I wish I had been more comfortable in doing this and asking for help earlier on.

Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
I am incredibly lucky to have been surrounded by such impressive female leaders throughout my career and particularly at Etsy. I learn something daily from our new COO, Linda Kozlowski, and I am very fortunate to count Kruti Patel Goyal (VP of Business Development at Etsy), Heather Jassy (SVP of Values-Aligned Business at Etsy) and Kristina Salen (CFO at Etsy) as colleagues, informal mentors and friends.

What do you want Etsy to accomplish in the next year?
Every day I want to see Etsy help more creative entrepreneurs start, manage and grow their businesses. We are working hard to make that an easier and more rewarding path.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

This article has been submitted as part of the Natural Capital Coalition‘s series of blogs on natural capital by Joss Tantram, Partner, Corporate Sustainability at Terrafiniti LLP

Moving beyond one-dimensional capitalism

“All capitals are unequal, but some are more unequal than others”. This paraphrase of George Orwell’s famous line sums up one of the challenges related to the concept of multiple capitals – the notion that there are actually range of sources of value (capitals) that give rise to economic and social benefits. However, current accounting and economic approaches, for the most part, recognise only one – financial capital.

The number of ‘additional’ capitals vary according to which model you look at. For instance Professor Paul Ekins (et al) suggested Four Capitals, Forum for the Future focuses upon 5, Jane Gleeson White suggests 6, though others consider there might be more – up to 8!

Given such diversity, the exact name and nature of the capitals proposed also vary, though most approaches feature the following capitals: natural, social, manufactured, human and financial.

However, all such approaches seek to achieve the same thing – to broaden our conception and consideration of what is valuable for delivering economic, social and ecological utility. In addition they call for these wider aspects to be placed at the heart of economics, accounting, corporate planning and decision making.

The multi capitals concept, and especially approaches to understanding, measuring and valuing natural capital, has been gaining ground in recent years. It has been particularly strongly grasped by the accountancy profession, to an extent by policy makers (building upon the idea of “Natural Capital Accounting“) and by initiatives seeking to relate such wider concepts of value to the activities of business, notably the Natural Capital Coalition (formerly known as the TEEB for Business Coalition) with its recently released Natural Capital Protocol.

A metaphor or a financial procedure?

Perhaps the most critical aspect of the concept is whether it is best understood as a metaphor, rather than as a concrete approach to accounting, useful to reinforce the fact that a sustainable world requires us to recognise a number of categories of value rather than a reductionist focus upon one – financial capital.

The danger of metaphors is that they don’t always travel well; they run the risk of not roaming very far before they are interpreted as a fact, not the reference to a fact.

The trouble with this understanding is that, firstly it ignores the fact that natural capital is a metaphor for understanding value, not a mechanism for determining price and secondly (and more importantly), price cannot be used to assess trade-offs when the trade-offs are between aspects of value with fundamental dependency relationships at their heart.

Fundamental dependencies – ceteris non paribus

When one capital depends upon another – such as in the case of financial capital (and all others) deriving from natural capital – then reducing each to a number for the purposes of assessing trade-offs runs the risk of forgetting that they are not equal – that one can only exist with the continued presence and health of the other.

Fundamental dependencies indicate a value hierarchy. Using a comparable metric like money as a way to put things on a level playing field makes sense, but only up to a point. Such an approach would be fine if the things we were comparing were truly comparable. However, the environment is something we can’t do without. There is a dependency relationship. There is no money without human beings capable of inventing and using it. There are no human beings without food, air and water.

This diagram illustrates (in simple terms) the dependent relationships that capitals have upon each other. It also notes a series of “thresholds” for ecological, social and economic capitals.

However the extent to which such additional concepts of value should be interpreted as literal price signals or more generally as telling us something which should be the subject of policy making (which may in turn give rise to price signals or changed market or investment rules which can be translated into price) is the subject of discussion and exploration at present within the worlds of accountancy, integrated reporting, business and policy making.

Can the capitals thrive without other, more fundamental, change?

Overshadowing all of the issues noted above is a much bigger question, can the capitals concept really be useful without wider change and reform of economics and capitalism?

This is a question which is increasingly being asked and increasingly not just by anti-capitalists and revolutionary thinkers, but by also economists and financial professionals. A notable example is John Fullerton of the Capital Institute, whose Regenerative Economy is a suggested model for a different operating system for our economic activity.

Surely if we are to truly use the mechanisms of capital markets and international trading to deliver environmental and social good, then those markets need to be fundamentally reformed, such that they are capable of truly valuing a common future as more valuable than a private present.

Economics and markets must have both the incentive and capability to deliver the required strategic outcomes. They must rise to the challenge of valuing activities and behaviour which pay off over the long term, to compound rather than discount the value of a more sustainable future and to start valuing decisions that allow the growth and stability of ecosystems and societies as an outcome of advantage to the market as a whole.

The multiple capitals approach – as yet a journey not a destination

We are perhaps at the start of our journey to reform concepts of value. The capitals approach presents a vital topographical guide to the territory we must traverse. However, the route we will take remains uncertain and our ability to successfully reach a sustainable destination, in the time we might have available, also remains in question.

Resolving the tension between the way we do business and the way our planet works, so that growth in economic activity does not undermine the potential for future growth is a significant challenge. Approaches to conceptualising additional sources of value in terms of multiple capitals, and specifically tools which to help companies understand their dependencies upon the most fundamental source of all value, natural capital are vital. The Natural Capital Protocol is an essential tool at a vital time.

Disclaimer: Articles in this series are submitted by people who work in organizations who are part of the Natural Capital Coalition, or people who are involved in the natural capital space more generally, the views expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of The Natural Capital Coalition, other Coalition organizations, or the organization that employs the author.

Joss Tantram is Partner – Corporate Sustainability at Terrafiniti LLP.

Follow Terrafiniti on Twitter: @terrafiniti

On 13th July 2016, The Natural Capital Coalition launched a standardized framework for business to identify, measure and value their impacts and dependencies on natural capital. This ‘ Natural Capital Protocol‘ has been developed through a unique collaborative process; a World Business Council for Sustainable Development consortium led on the technical development and an IUCN consortium led on business engagement and piloting. The Protocol is supported by practically focused ‘Sector Guides’ on Apparel and Food & Beverage produced by Trucost on behalf of Coalition.

Keep up to date with the Natural Capital Coalition on Twitter: @NatCapCoalition

Keep up to date with our series on natural capital here.

www.naturalcapitalcoalition.org

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.