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When answering the phone, do you lead with a hello or [insert name] speaking? Or do you simply pick up, breathe into the receiver, and hope the other person says something? Well, the latter might be common among the workforces youngest members, as a number of recruiters have been pointing out a generational gap in phone etiquette. I just found out that Gen Z don’t answer the phone when they answer the phone, one recruiter explained in a recent TikTok post, now with more than 1 million views. I think its so weird, its so awkward. She is not the first to make this observation. Back in July, an X users post on the topic went viral. Im a recruiter, so I do a TON of phone interviews and something Ive noticed about Gen Z specifically is that a lot of them answer the phone and dont say anything, they posted. I can hear their breathing and the background noise, but they wait for you to say hello first. Of course, there are many things that Gen Zers do that older generations cant wrap their heads around: The Gen Z starethe vacant expression a Gen Zer supposedly gives in response to a questionwas one much-discussed example earlier this year. Now it seems the silent treatment extends to Gen Zs phone use. While as a generation they average more than six hours a day on their phone, Gen Zers are typically averse to actually picking it up when it rings. In fact, a 2024 study showed nearly a quarter of the generation doesnt even bother to answer. The most common reason? Scammers. As one commenter on the viral TikTok explained, they refuse to say anything right off the bat, as bots automatically hang up if they dont hear hello within the first three seconds of the call. Another added: there have been cases where just saying hello or your name can lead to AI copying your voice for hackers, its not because we are inept in how to answer a phone.” Turns out its not just a Gen Z thing; in the comments, millennials and Gen Xers also admitted to doing this. But thats not the only reason given. Others in the comments shared their belief that the responsibility to start the conversation lies with the person doing the calling. Isn’t it a universal law that the person who’s doing the calling should be the one to say hello? one person asked. Another wrote: You called me? Say what you want and Ill answer. Or, do as I do: Simply watch the phone ring before returning to whatever you were doing.
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E-Commerce
BMW just made a subtle change to the logo on its latest car. The German automaker simplified the roundel on its new, fully electric BMW iX3 by removing the inner outlines of the logo. Most people won’t even notice. So why bother? As luxury automakers adapt to an electric future, they’re updating their branding too, and different companies have taken different approaches. Jaguar went for a big change ahead of a new product launch in 2026 with a new mark that’s lighter, rounded, and lowercase as compared to its old all-caps logo mark. Ranger Rover, meanwhile, split the difference, introducing a new secondary mark that gives the brand more flexibility. Newer EV companies often use a stenciling effect to give their brand names a sci-fi look, while General Motors’ rebranded 2021 mark also went shifted to a rounded lowercase. In broad strokes, the new logo on the iX3, the first in BMW’s next generation Neue Klasse family of electric cars, isn’t all that different from BMW’s very first logo in 1917. They’re both circular and use a blue-and-white quadrant, and though the company updates it occasionally to reflect changing design trends, the basics remain the same. The Munich, Germany-based company keeps the general idea, but updates it for the times. [Photo: BMW] In 1953, BMW swapped out a gold logo outline for white. In 1963, it changed the logo’s font from serif to sans-serif. A 1997 version used shading and gradients to create a chrome, metallic effect, and in 2020, BMW added minimalist, open version for communications only. Though BMW’s logo is believed by some to be a propeller, the circular badge shape actually comes from the logo of Rapp Motorenwerke, the aircraft engine manufacturer that became BMW. The white-and-blue quadrant pattern is actually a reference to the state colors of Bavaria. [Photo: BMW] The company says the propeller myth has become self-perpetuating, but Fred Jakobs, archive director of BMW Group Classic says it also “has acquired a certain justification.” For the new version on the roundel of the iX3, Oliver Hailer the head of BMW Design, told BMWBLOG, “We wanted to keep the heritage, but bring more precision to the logo.” If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Just spruce it up. The details matter, but sometimes a rebrand doesn’t have to be dramatic.
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E-Commerce
In South Africa, a field covered in yellow wildflowers doesnt look like an industrial site. But its a pilot for a new type of nickel mine: Instead of blasting holes in the ground to extract rocks, a biotech startup called Genomines is phytomining nickel through the use of plants that absorb the metal from the soil.The plant, a type of daisy, is known as a hyperaccumulatora species that naturally pulls metal through its roots and stores it at high concentrations in its stems and leaves. Using gene editing, Genomines made the plant three times larger and able to soak up twice as much nickel. The company, which just raised $45 million in a Series A funding round, plans to use its approach to scale up a sustainable, affordable supply of the critical metal.[Photo: Courtesy of Genomines]Its important because we need a lot of metal, especially for the energy transition in batteries in electric vehicles, says Fabien Koutchekian, cofounder and CEO of Genomines. Not only in batteries, but [nickel is] widely used in stainless steel as part of infrastructure. The problem is that with current traditional mining methods, we will not be able to produce enough.Its getting harder to find nickel ore to mine. Most of it comes from Chinese-run mines in Indonesia; high-grade reserves, used to make stainless steel, could be depleted there before the end of the decade. Lower-grade ore used in batteries might run out by midcentury.Nickel also exists in soil. But until now the concentrations have been too low to make extraction viable. The plants change the economics.The plants that we are using have the ability to concentrate the metal that they find in the soilthey concentrate it in their biomass, Koutchekian says. Weve managed to reach close to 7.6% metal within the plants.[Photo: Courtesy of Genomines]The companys pilot site in South Africa sits on land thats relatively high in nickel because of the way rocks naturally weathered in the area. That means it cant be used for farming, because other plants cant grow well. But its ideally suited for a phytomine.The crop grows within four to six months, absorbing the metal. Then it can be harvested, dried, and heated to produce battery-grade nickel oxide that can be sold and refined.[Gif: Courtesy of Genomines]Its inherently far more efficient than the existing system. Building a traditional, multibillion-dollar nickel mine involves not only a decade-plus of exploration, but another decade-plus of construction. Theyre the size of small cities, Koutchekian says. Once they’re operating, traditional mines also have to move tons of rock to extract a tiny fraction of metal.Using agriculture to get the material means that minimal infrastructure is necessary, and a system can be up and running in a year or two. Unsurprisingly, operations take far less energy than traditional mining. Since the plants also help capture CO2 as they grow, the whole process is actually carbon neutral. And instead of destroying ecosystems by blowing up habitat and creating new pollution, it helps remediate soil.Sustainability isnt the main motivator for its potential customers, Koutchekian says. Instead, they’re interested in cost: The approach saves so much energy that the product could be meaningfully less expensive than the status quo. The company expects to produce nickel oxide at around $10,000 per ton, versus an industry median of around $16,000 per ton (by the end of the decade, the average cost may rise to $19,000).With the new round of funding, led by the MIT spinout Engine Ventures, Genomines plans to use pilots to prove that its process is cost competitive. Then it will keep scaling up. The potential is large: The team has estimated that around 30 million to 40 million hectares of land worldwide contain sufficient nickel for the process. In theory, if all of that land was in use, the company says it could produce 7 to 14 times as much nickel as the traditional industry does now.
Category:
E-Commerce
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