The Unique Airbnb Fund is the company’s first-ever $1 million programme designed to find and help finance the most unconventional and unusual liveable spaces on the planet.

Ten recipients of the Unique Airbnb Fund will be selected by an expert panel of design and style innovators, including Emmy, Tony and GrammyAward-winning actor Billy Porter, Airbnb superhost Kristie Wolfe, of the famed Big Idaho Potato Hotel, and global and cutting-edge architecture firm MVRDV.

Starting today (March 11), design enthusiasts can submit their proposals at www.airbnb.com/uniquefund. All submissions will be scored against criteria based on creativity, feasibility, sustainability and social good.

Inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit of the company’s three co-founders, the Unique Airbnb Fund is meant to enable anyone with an extraordinary house idea to design and build it into a reality, and share it with travelers all over the world.

“The only thing better than pushing the boundaries of style, is empowering others to do the same,” says style icon Billy Porter. “I’m thrilled to join Airbnb in this global search for the most outrageous, spectacular home ideas ever. I can’t wait to see these concepts developed by design lovers from around the world firsthand.”

“The Unique Airbnb Fund is a great initiative that makes hospitality exciting. It will empower people to create new spaces with daring, imaginative and fantastic architecture,” said MVRDV partner Fokke Moerel. “Personal wunderkammers will be created for guests to appreciate and be inspired by.”

Searches for unexpected and unique spaces – such as shepherds huts, windmills and tiny houses – have increased by nearly 70 per cent over last year on Airbnb, based on internal Airbnb data measuring year-over-year growth of searches for unique listings as of February 2020 vs 2019.

Some of the most booked listings of all time include domes, RVs, treehouses, and yurts across the world, based on internal Airbnb data measuring the most booked unique listings as of February 2020.

Applicants can draw inspiration from a plethora of unconventional Airbnb stays, including:

An Elephant-Sized Stay on the Jersey Shore (Margate City, New Jersey, USA)

The Boot – Fairytale Accommodation (Nelson, New Zealand)

Big Idaho Potato Hotel (Boise, Idaho, USA)

Camaya Bali Suboya – Magical Bamboo House (Bali, Indonesia),

Sheep Wagon at Shash Dine (Page, Arizona, USA)

Beautiful Dome with Mountain Views (Rio Negro, Argentina)

UFO Futuro styled Flying Saucer (Redberth, UK)

Cabane Spa Zen (Raray, France)

Cabana Floripa (Santa Catarina, Brazil).

A chance to enter the Unique Airbnb Fund is now open until 10:59am (Thai Time) on April 16, 2020. The ten winners will be selected by the panel of judges mentioned above by May 15, 2020.

For more information, see the Official Rules at www.airbnb.com/d/unique_rules.

Apollo

Potato

Altar

Bamboo

Spaceship

Wagon

This makes Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to successfully provide 5G service on mobile phones, he said.

AIS paid for the first installment of 2600 MHz spectrum licences on February 21 and received a licence to use the 2600 MHz frequency to provide 5G services officially as the first and only operator in the industry, Pratthana said.

According to him, on the same day and only half an hour after receiving the licence, AIS switched on its 5G network in all regions across the country.

Pratthana said AIS is joining forces with the government and industry to use 5G to support various work including robots that can help the public sector deal with Covid-19, testing the use of 5G in cargo transportation and controlling cranes to lift containers remotely at Laem Chabang’s Hutchison Ports in Sriracha district, Chon Buri.

AIS is also the first to roll out a 5G International Roaming service, beginning with Swisscom in Switzerland, Etisalat in the United Arab Emirates, and soon with China Unicom in China and SK Telecom in South Korea, he added.

Now in its fifth year, the UOB Please Touch programme embraces a multi-sensory approach to help people with visual impairments that are aged between10 and 70 appreciate and create art. During the last workshop which focused on sculpting techniques, art professors and UOB (Thai) volunteers helped participants to apply modelling and carving techniques to make pottery and soap sculptures out of natural ingredients such as coffee powder, charcoal, turmeric, black sesame seeds, safflower and aroma oil.

Sanchai Apisaksirikul, Managing Director and Country Head of Finance and Corporate Services at UOB (Thai), said, “The UOB Please Touch programme enables people with visual impairments to tear down a wall of darkness and to overcome the boundaries set by their physical challenges. During the workshops, we saw the happiness they experienced from their cheerful expressions and creative energy. Not only does the art of sculpture bring joy but also helps build a positive attitude towards living life.”

“UOB (Thai) believes that art plays a vital role in society and should be accessible to all. The UOB Please Touch programme is one of the ways in which we demonstrate our support for the community, helping to open minds and hearts through art, children and education.”

Phasuk Sampunnachote, director of organisation relations, said that the MEA is concerned about the safety of its staff and customers who come to its facilities to register for services or pay for electricity bills. “We have installed thermoscanners at all entrances to check if anyone has a fever,” she said. “Furthermore, we have hired professional cleaning staff to scrub down our buildings with disinfectants both at customer service areas and offices to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and other germs.”

Phasuk further added that the MEA has ordered all staff to strictly follow the announcements and advices from Ministry of Public Health, as well as publicised general knowledge on Covid-19 and how to prevent oneself from infection via the MEA’s public relation channels both traditional and online.

“The three key steps to prevent Covid-19 spreading are: Avoid staying in crowded areas; avoid making contact with those displaying respiratory symptoms; and take care of hygiene by regularly washing your hands and wear fabric face mask,” she added.

“As for those who have just come back from countries with high risk of infection, please follow the regulations set by the Ministry of Public Health, which include self-quarantine in your residence for at least 14 days,” added Phasuk.

Oishi Group executive vice president Paisarn Aowsathaporn said food delivery is a trending business that’s open to further expansion.

So, in addition to its Oishi Delivery 1773 and online delivery platform www.oishidelivery.com, the group is partnering with leading providers of on-demand food via apps.

“Shabushi by Oishi is also focusing on a winning marketing campaign and the continuous expansion of restaurants,” Paisarn said. “We’re initially partnering with Foodpanda before expanding to other leading food-delivery apps.”

Shabushi Delivery can bring you a Bt169 Value Set for one, a Bt329 Buddy Set for two and a Bt499 Party Set for three or four. Choose pork, beef and pork combinations or seafood and order through www.foodpanda.co.th or the Foodpanda mobile app.

It expressed confidence that Phase 1 will go into commercial operation by the end of the year.

Banpu is a power generator and distributor in Thailand, Laos, China, Japan and Vietnam

The new features enable users to optimise their Web pages more efficiently to position themselves on the first page of search engines.

Previous search engine optimisation (SEO) processes involved website revision, content updating, and adding quality links, relying mainly on high search volume keywords. However, these methods alone are not enough in today’s artificial intelligence-driven landscape because search engines such as Google incorporate AI into its algorithms to learn about individual behaviour and understand people’s intent, resulting in big SERP changes.

In this new AI-driven landscape, various features affect SERPs provided by Google to not only address keywords but also user’s intent, including questions, images, videos, voice search, and even Google Ads and social media links. Consequently, positioning Web pages on the first page of Google becomes increasingly difficult if the same method of SEO which relied only on keywords is used.

The new SERP features a suite of tools with intelligent technology developed by Pi Datametrics, which helps analyse the results page ecosystem, revealing what combination of features Google prefers a Web page to display when ranked on the results page. This is done to understand the user’s intent of what they would like to see.

“Geekcon Valley has been operating a search engine business for more than three years, while Pi Datametrics has been in the business in England for more than 13 years,” Geekcon chairwoman Titima Udom said. “Both companies entered into a joint venture to conduct business for just two years. In the past year, Geekcon Valley achieved revenue of Bt40 million. This year, I expect it to generate revenue of up to Bt80 million. This is considered good amid the Covid-19 situation that is currently spreading in many countries around the world, leading more consumers to choose or buy products from various websites.”

Geekcon CEO Wilert Orawanwong expects the company to have more than 30 supervised customers this year from the existing 20.

“We have supervised small and medium companies such as Unilever, Nivea, Index, Big C, Land and Houses, Eucerin and Jaspal, and generate sales for customers in the real estate business. After promoting a page to do with condominium sales, it shows up on page 1 in Google within two months. Skincare firm Eucerin has successfully created a product page that appears on the first page in Google search and has received quite a good response from customers, leading to a 50 per cent increase in sales,” Wilert said.

“Search engines have rapidly evolved,” said Pi Datametrics CPE Jonathan Earnshaw, an expert in search engines. “For instance, Google’s algorithms change almost every week, not including the 4-5 annual core updates. Google’s search engine results page has disruptively changed. It is therefore important to have equally advanced technology to analyse three factors – understanding customers’ intent, analysing Google and the combination of features its algorithms choose to display and rank results on the first page based on AI learning from past searches, and understanding the digital landscape and connectivity in both search engines and social media.”

The programme offers professional air-conditioner cleaning service at only Bt300 per unit for users of the MEA Smart Life application.

Phasuk Sampunnachote, director of organisation relations, said that the MEA, as a state enterprise, is responsible for providing electricity-related services with focus on promoting electricity users’ safety and reducing the impact on the environment. It will launch the “AC cleaning against global warming 2020” programme next month to prepare for the upcoming summer. “During summer more people will use air-conditioners for longer hours, which could lead to accumulation of dust and germs in the filters of AC units,” she said. “Air-conditioners need to be cleaned regularly for sanitary reasons and prevention of respiratory diseases, not to mention that a properly maintained AC will consume less electricity and produce less heat compared to ones in poor condition.”

The MEA has suggested that people clean their AC at least twice a year and adjust the temperature to 26 degrees Celsius to save electricity.

“The campaign will start from March 3. Interested persons can register via MEA Smart Life Application, which is available for both iOS and Android devices at http://onelink.to/measmartlife,” she added. “To be eligible, you must have used e-payment service via the application at least once from October 31, 2019 to March 3, 2020. The programme is offering limited cleaning services — a total of 25,000 units — with a maximum of four units per household.”

Phasuk has also urged people to beware of individuals who claim to be MEA representatives and offer to provide cleaning service for air-conditioners which might cause damage due to their inexperience. “Registration for the MEA programme is via MEA Smart Life application only and not available elsewhere. If you find someone pretending to be an MEA representative, please contact MEA Call Centre on 1130, which is available 24/7,” she added.

The construction of the new plant represents Spiber’s first expansion overseas. This new plant is expected to be the world’s largest structural protein fermentation facility (as of January 27, 2020; independent research), with a planned production capacity of several hundred tons per year, and will serve as a base of operations for research and development into fermentation and purification technologies for structural proteins. Commercial production is expected to begin in 2021, and the BOI is granting tax exemption status for 10 years.

The primary factor that led to Spiber’s investment in Thailand is the country’s ideal location, plentiful in biomass resources needed in the company’s fermentation production process. Additionally, Thailand boasts strong supply chains in several industries of interest to Spiber, such as clothes and automotives, which may be useful for potential future operations.

In line with this expansion, Spiber is looking to recruit employees for roles in fields such as production engineering, plant engineering, human resources, administration, accounting, and finance, as well as drivers.

Spiber will be holding recruitment sessions in Bangkok on March 7, 2020, and in Rayong on March 8, 2020. For more details, please refer to: https://www.spiber.jp/en/archives/2337

It will give MG owners and prospective buyers a network of 150 authorised distributors and service centres across the country.

“MG has been active in Thailand for six years,” noted MG Sales (Thailand) vice president Pongsak Lertruedeewattanavong. “Beyond the products, after-sales is of equal importance to us.

“MG has 125 distributors and service centres nationwide and we are determined to expand the network. MG is certain that at least 25 new dealers and service centres will be in operation by the end of 2020, and this should increase the number across the nation to 150, ensuring our capabilities to serve current MG owners and potential customers.”