The Vintage Clothing Epidemic

Vintage clothing, by it’s very definition, is by no means new. But the concept of
vintage fashion is fast gathering momentum and settling nicely into it’s guilded
place on the high street and internet.

So what is it that we love so much about vintage clothing? What are the
reasons behind the worldwide vintage clothing epidemic?

1) Celebrity Culture

Whether we like to admit it or not, we are living in a world where celebrities
are king, with more influence and status than most royals! Be it actors,
singers, models or TV personalities, our screens and the magazines we read
are filled with our icon’s latest look. In the past few years our favourite
celebrities have been turning to vintage clothing more and more and boy oh
boy have we been following suit… Whether it’s vintage dresses, vintage
knitwear, vintage jackets, vintage shoes, vintage skirts, vintage tops or vintage
accessories, if we see it in the glossies then we will do our best to find
something similar. It’s also made vintage clothing more accessible, more
mainstream and more acceptable than it ever has been before.

2) Individuality

You know the feeling. You’ve spent weeks preparing for the party of the year.
Carefully and lovingly choosing what to wear, how to style your hair, what
make up and scent to wear… The night finally arrives and feeling a million
dollars you arrive – only to find your worst nightmare. Another girl is wearing
exactly the same dress as you! It’s a horrible feeling and one we all dread, but
a perfectly realistic side effect of ‘fast fashion’ on the high street. So how can
you assure you will be the only girl in THAT outfit – vintage clothing of course!
When you buy a piece of vintage clothing you are buying an item that has one
very important factor – individuality. Sure you can buy pieces that follow key
trends but it’s highly unlikely that any other girl will have the same vintage
clothing item as you. Your vintage clothing can come from any corner of the
globe and from any era of time so it’s bound to be super special.

3) Global Awareness

From the way we power our homes to the way in which our rubbish is
collected, we have all become much more environmentally aware in recent
years. We’ve managed to adapt to splitting our rubbish into different boxes
and invested in energy saving light bulbs. We’ve even stopped leaving our TV’s
on standby when we go to bed! But being greener doesn’t end there… vintage
clothing is a fantastic way to recycle. Image how much quality vintage clothing
is out there, thousands and thousands of pieces just waiting for new homes.
You can even sell your own collection on – whether it’s your too-short sixties
minis or your dodgy eighties batwings, vintage clothing companies love to hear
from you. We can all do our bit to help each other and the planet!

4) Money Matters

You know the old saying – look after the pennies and the pounds look after
themselves! If you’re financially savvy then you are probably buying vintage
clothing already. To buy good quality fashion on the high street can cost
enough, but designer labels can really break the bank. Buying vintage clothing
is an excellent way to get the look you want at the fraction of the normal
price. Not only that, but you actually making an investment. Like a fine wine or
piece of antique furniture, as your vintage clothing grows older it increases in
value.

 

Apple iPhone 5 launch: what to expect

The iPhone 5 is coming. This is no rumour, no guesswork, no fuzzy photo taken by someone allegedly holding an iPhone 5 prototype. Apple has set the date and the place for a real product launch.

Okay, I am getting ahead of myself a bit. The invite does not explicitly mention an iPhone 5. It just promises we’ll talk about the iPhone. Yes, a nice little chat with me, Apple CEO Tim Cook and a few hundred of our closest friends at Apple’s Cupertino campus. There’ll be coffee and Danish. It’ll be cozy.

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What else can we expect on October 4? Here’s the shortlist:

A major redesign

Shortly after Apple unveiled iOS 5, the cloud-friendly operating system that will soon reside inside current and future iPhones, there was speculation that the iPhone 5 would look almost exactly like the iPhone 4. The innards would be different, but most people could simply swath iPhone 5s in the same cases as their previously adored iPhone 4s.

But soon enough, some eagle-eyed folks spotted new iPhone cases that would in no way house current iPhones or the doppelganger iPhone 5. Answer? The iPhone 5 will be radical design departure. Some believe it will be thinner, or perhaps tapered. Others insist it will be wider.

Personally, I love the current design. I know, antenna attenuation nearly ruined the initial iPhone 4 launch, but my model moved the antenna bar breaks around and I rarely, if ever, lose signal. Plus, I don’t want a wider phone (read “bigger”) phone.

A faster phone

Duh! Even if we didn’t know about the A5 chip, Apple’s custom dual-core CPU, why would Apple do a major product launch without raising the performance bar? We rely on our smartphones to do more every day; they simply have to get more powerful — as any good computer should, under Moore’s Law. Apple will also likely increase the amount and quality of RAM—which always has a big impact on performance. These changes will be necessary if Apple does some of the other things we’ve been speculating about.

Better screen and cameras

Apple’s Android competitors outshine the iPhone in the camera resolution and screen size department. On the latter, Apple’s retina display is smaller than many slab Android phones but often approaches or beats them in resolution. If Apple goes with a larger screen, 8-megapixel camera and full 1080p video recording, it’ll need more horsepower to support all of them. The bigger screen, in particular, will also demand more battery power. Apple’s been very careful about battery life (it’s why it fought so long and hard against multi-tasking) and it may have to increase battery size and capacity to support a larger retina screen.

Voice recognition

I’ve used Google’s voice-enabled search app on the iPhone and it is quite good. Some pundits believe the iPhone 5 will come with native voice recognition, which means other iPhone apps can tap into this capability for a variety of nifty interactions. Apple did acquire voice-based personal assistant service Siri last year and hasn’t done much with it yet, at least not publicly. Talking into your phone is natural, so what’s not to like about native voice recognition?

4G or Not 4G?

I guess I’m alone in this, but I don’t give a rat’s behind about 4G on my phone. My iPhone does just fine with its 3G data connection. However, I don’t think Apple can ignore the consumer clarion call forever. These people want 4G. I can’t say their battery life is worth much, but at least they have a good time surfing YouTube videos while the charge lasts. Apple could do LTE 4G, the premier option, but only if it’s convinced there’senough quality 4G out there. I’d say there is and the phone will ably dumb down to 3G anyway.

If Apple does go 4G, however, it’s a good bet the iPhone 5 will be larger than the eminently pocketable iPhone 4. 4G needs an ample battery for a full day’s use. Big batteries make for bigger phones.

No shopping

Back when Google introduced Google Wallet, a technology for turning one NFC-enabled phone (the Nexus S 4G) into a wallet/credit card, there was a speculation that companies that weren’t included in the deal — such as Visa — might hook up with Apple. All Apple had to do was put an NFC (Near Field Communication) chip inside the iPhone 5 and the rest would be easy. Now, however, Google has managed to sign up Visa for Google Wallet as well. I’m not certain Apple will see any value in the added cost of an NFC chip when there are no clear partners, and even less certainty that consumers are ready to start paying with their phones.

These are merely my predictions. The only thing I can guarantee is that Apple will have an event next week on October 4 at 10am. There will be coffee. There will be Danish. There will be an iPhone 5.

mashable.com

 

Telstra 4G ’25x faster’, first handset early 2012

Telstra’s new mobile broadband network is now ready for use, but limited to a five kilometer radius around central business districts and airports.

Telstra this morning announced it will start selling mobile broadband modems for its new 4G network, also known as long-term evolution technology or LTE.

The modems, which are also known as dongles, will work at faster speeds inside the 4G network and revert to the 3G network in other areas.

The network has been under construction since May and is now available in the centre of capital cities, airports and some regional areas.

Australia’s three mobile network operators have announced plans to build 4G networks but Telstra’s is the first to launch commercial services. Optus and Vodafone Hutchison Australia expect to launch their networks next year.

So far Telstra has released a modem for wireless broadband and this morning announced plans to sell a HTC 4G-enabled Smartphone in the first half of 2012.

“We know there is a huge appetite for 4G-powered smart phones and tablets and Telstra is working with some of the world’s leading manufacturers to bring some of these devices to customers in the first half of 2012,” Telstra’s chief executive David Thodey said in a statement yesterday.

‘‘Telstra’s 4G network delivers mobile speeds scarcely imagined a decade ago, making it easier for people to connect with the things they need and love when on the move,’’ he said.

Download speeds on the new network range from 2 megabits per second (Mbps) up to 40 Mbps, which Telstra says is 25 times faster than the speeds available on the 3G network when it first launched. The upload speeds range from 1Mbps to 10 Mbps.

The 4G network has been rolled out in capital cities and expects up to 80 regional centers will have 4G services by Christmas. The networks are limited to a 5km radius from the general post office in cities. Modems will revert to the 3G network when users leave 4G areas.

Telstra claims the new network’s latency, the time it takes for data to travel, is half that of the 3G network.

The modems are manufactured by Sierra Wireless and are available for BigPond customers on 24-month plans for $60 plan with an 8 gigabyte monthly download allowance. The modem is available to business customers on a $40 plan with 4 gigabytes of data included every month.