MAM
IAA India collaborates with AFAA for IAA Olive Crown Awards
MUMBAI: The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) has announced the organisation of IAA Olive Crown Awards in collaboration with the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA).
The event will be held on 1 April at the Shangri-la Hotel, Parel, Mumbai.
IAA president Srinivasan K Swamy said, “These are India’s first and only awards that salute excellence in communicating sustainability. They are now acquiring the stature of a cause and I am very happy with the great acceptance they have received from all sections of the industry specially advertisers.”
Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Government of India Praful Patel will be the chief guest of the event.
IAA Olive Crown Awards Committee chairman M.G. Parameswaran said, “The number of entries have registered a very satisfying increase, and the eminent jury were more than happy with their quality. We have received entries from across the Asian region and in fact some senior professionals based abroad will be flying into Mumbai to attend this prestigious awards function.”
IAA (Asia-Pacific region) vice chairman Pradeep Guha said he was very happy that for the first time the IAA had collaborated with the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA) in an event like this. “Such regional cooperation is the shape of things to come in the future and it is admirable that the Olive Crowns have gone pan- Asian in their third year itself,” he added.
It is expected that the who’s who of the advertising, marketing and media industries would be present at this function.
The event is presented by 9X Media and the Green partners for the awards are Hungama.com, Rajasthan Patrika and Panasonic India.
Brands
Apple bites back: the $599 MacBook Neo is the cheapest Mac ever made
The tech giant unveils a budget laptop that packs a punch — and a lot of cheek
CALIFORNIA: Apple has never been shy about charging a premium. So when Cupertino rolls out a MacBook at $599 (approx. Rs 55,000) , it’s worth sitting up straight.
The MacBook Neo, unveiled Tuesday, is Apple’s most affordable laptop to date — undercutting its own MacBook Air and taking a sharp swipe at the budget PC market in one fell swoop. It starts at $499 for students, which, for a machine with Apple silicon inside, is frankly a steal.
At the heart of the Neo is the A18 Pro chip — the same muscle that powers the latest iPhones. Apple claims it is up to 50 per cent faster for everyday tasks than a rival PC running Intel’s Core Ultra 5, and three times quicker on on-device AI workloads. Fanless and featherweight at 2.7 pounds, it runs silently and promises up to 16 hours of battery life. Try doing that on a Chromebook.
The 13-inch liquid retina display clocks in at 2408-by-1506 resolution with 500 nits of brightness and support for billion colours — sharper and brighter, Apple says, than most rivals in this price band. It comes dressed in four colours: blush, indigo, silver, and a zesty new citrus, with matching keyboard shades to boot.
Connectivity is modest — two USB-C ports, a headphone jack, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 6 — but this is a budget machine, not a pro workstation. The 1080p FaceTime camera, dual mics with directional beamforming, and Spatial Audio speakers round out a package that punches well above its weight class.
Apple senior vice-president of hardware engineering John Ternus alled it “a laptop only Apple could create.” That’s the kind of line that makes rivals wince — because, annoyingly, he might be right.
The Neo runs macOS Tahoe, with Apple Intelligence baked in for AI writing tools, live translation, and the sort of on-device smarts that keep user data away from the cloud. It also boasts 60 per cent recycled content — the highest of any Apple product — for those who like their bargains with a side of conscience.
For $599, Apple isn’t just selling a laptop. It’s selling an argument — that good design and real performance needn’t cost the earth. The PC industry had better have a decent comeback ready.
