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 Photo credit: Ananda in the Himalayas

Ananda in the Himalayas (India)

A higher-altitude wellness stay designed for travelers looking for a deeper reset

As travelers place greater value on trips that deliver lasting impact, Ananda in the Himalayas is focusing this summer on longer, more immersive stays, with a seasonal Summer Wellness Offer available from June 1 through July 31, 2026. The program includes savings of up to 40 percent on stays of five nights or more, with fully inclusive pricing that covers accommodation, consultations before and after arrival, personalized therapies, private yoga and meditation sessions, and tailored meals, creating a structured framework for longer, outcome-driven stays.

Set in the Himalayan foothills above Rishikesh, the location naturally lends itself to summer travel. Temperatures are cooler than in much of the region, and the setting feels removed from the intensity of peak-season destinations. Guests follow individualized programs grounded in Ayurveda, yoga, and meditation, often staying for a week or longer to work through specific health and wellbeing goals, from sleep, stress, and burnout to more chronic health conditions such as diabetes or hormonal and metabolic imbalances.

What makes the experience distinct is the sense of structure built into each day, with guided practices and treatments creating a sense of progression over time. As more travelers move away from short trips in favor of something more meaningful, Ananda offers an experience that feels both restorative and purposeful.

This reflects a broader shift toward commitment travel, where time away is designed to deliver lasting results rather than a quick escape. 

 

Photo credit: The Dylan Amsterdam

The Dylan Amsterdam (the Netherlands)

A more relaxed way to experience a European city at the height of summer

Summer in European cities can feel increasingly intense, with packed itineraries and crowded streets leaving little room to enjoy being there. The Dylan Amsterdam addresses this with its Unscripted Summer experience, available from June 21 through September 20, designed to slow the pace and create more space in the day.

Located along the Keizersgracht canal, the 41-room hotel feels notably removed from the city once inside. Guests arrive through a gated entrance into a quiet courtyard, creating an immediate sense of separation from the energy of the city outside. This balance between central location and privacy becomes especially valuable during peak season.

At the center of the experience is a private canal boat journey at golden hour, with a three-course menu served on board and curated across three of the city’s leading kitchens. This is paired with a two-night stay in one of the hotel’s luxury rooms, including daily breakfast at Bar Brasserie OCCO, alongside a more flexible framework that encourages exploration. Complimentary bicycles and personalized walking routes provide a sense of direction without overplanning, while a drink in the hotel’s secluded garden offers a quieter moment to return to at the end of the day.

Amsterdam’s mild summer climate and walkable layout support this more relaxed flow, allowing guests to explore without pressure. For travelers rethinking how they approach city travel, this offers a more flexible and manageable alternative. Increasingly, this points to slower city travel, where travelers pull back from overpacked itineraries and allow more space for spontaneity and ease. 

Photo credit: Imperial Hotel, Kamikochi

Imperial Hotel (Japan)

A more balanced way to experience Japan, pairing major cities with a seasonal alpine escape

Japan remains one of the most in-demand destinations, but the pace of travel there is beginning to shift. Instead of moving quickly between cities, travelers are building in time to slow down. The Imperial Hotel portfolio supports this by combining stays in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto with Kamikochi, a mountain resort region in the Japanese Alps that is only accessible during part of the year.

Located at around 1,500 meters, Kamikochi offers a cooler and quieter counterpart to Japan’s major cities. First brought to wider attention in the late 19th century by British missionary Walter Weston, it has since captivated travelers from around the world. At its center is the Imperial Hotel, Kamikochi, which opened in 1933 as Japan’s first mountain resort and remains one of the area’s most iconic stays, with a classic alpine lodge feel and views of the surrounding peaks and river valley. The experience is shaped by the landscape, with walking paths connecting sites such as Kappa Bridge, Taisho Pond, and Myojin Pond. The region welcomes over 1.2 million visitors annually, yet remains carefully managed, with access limited to protect its natural environment and preserve a sense of calm.

Open from mid-April through November 15 this year before closing for winter, Kamikochi brings a strong sense of seasonality to a Japan itinerary. Traveling between major cities and this alpine setting allows for a more balanced and intentional rhythm.

This approach highlights the rise of dual-speed travel, where high-energy exploration is balanced with quieter, more reflective time, allowing travelers to engage more meaningfully with both place and pace. 

 

Photo credit: Hotel Belmar

Hotel Belmar (Costa Rica)

A cooler, nature-driven alternative to traditional tropical summer travel

As summer temperatures rise in many coastal destinations, travelers are increasingly looking toward higher-elevation environments that offer a different kind of tropical experience. Hotel Belmar, set in Costa Rica’s Monteverde cloud forest, provides that shift with a naturally cooler climate and a strong connection to nature. The summer months fall within the region’s green season, bringing fewer crowds and a more vibrant landscape. Instead of peak-season congestion, the experience feels slower and more grounded, making it well suited for travelers looking to spend more time in one place.

Longer stays are encouraged through seasonal offers that weave together wellness, guided forest experiences, and the slower cadence of discovery that define Monteverde. Days unfold in close relationship with the cloud forest, from trails winding through the property and immersions at Belmar’s SAVIA reserve to farm-to-table dining supplied by Finca Madre Tierra, the hotel’s regenerative farm.

For travelers rethinking what a summer trip should feel like, Monteverde offers something distinctly different from a beach escape. The combination of cooler weather and deeper immersion creates a more restorative experience overall.

In turn, it underscores growing interest in nature-led travel, where time away is shaped by connection to the environment and a slower, more deliberate approach.

New Delhi, May 20: As homes become live‑work‑recharge hubs, indoor environments are now central to how we experience everyday life. ringing this shift into focus, Fenesta, India’s no. 1 windows & doors brand, has launched its industry‑first innovation, ‘Fenesta ProTec’, and unveiled a film that redefines modern comfort as going far beyond what is immediately visible. 

Conceptualized around a quiet but powerful insight – Till date the homeowners have always sought to keep out dust, noise, rain and heat — elements that can be seen, heard, or felt. However, modern homes carry an invisible layer that most of us rarely think about: Electrosmog, which is generated by everyday technologies (from Wi-Fi routers, mobile signals and smart devices) that are woven into our lives. Electrosmog can lead to restlessness, disrupted sleep, headaches, and fatigue. With Fenesta ProTec, the brand introduces a first-of-its-kind innovation embedded within its windows and doors — one that works passively to minimize the potential harmful effects of Electrosmog on the human body, without interfering with the connectivity within the home. In doing so, Fenesta extends its promise of quieter, cleaner, more comfortable spaces into a dimension of comfort that, until now, has largely gone unaddressed. 

Bringing this insight to life, the film captures a familiar moment inside a home, subtly highlighting how much of our surroundings often goes unnoticed, and leaving viewers with a simple thought: there is more to comfort than what meets the eye. 

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Saket Jain, Business Head, Fenesta, said, “For generations, designing a great home meant mastering what you could see and feel — light, air, temperature, sound. We believe it’s time to expand that definition. The homes being built today are the most connected in history, and with that connectivity comes an invisible dimension that has never really been part of the design conversation – the effects of Electromagnetic radiation or Electrosmog. At Fenesta, our vision is to improve the lives and homes of our customers and Fenesta ProTec is the embodiment of this vision. It works without being seen, being integrated into the windows and doors solution, asks nothing of the homeowner, and quietly ensures that the spaces people live in are genuinely supporting the lives they want to live. This is what ‘Better by Design’ truly means.” 

With this launch, the brand reinforces its commitment to shaping how homes are experienced today. Fenesta ProTec reflects the brand’s ‘Better by Design’ approach, where comfort is defined not only by what is seen but also by what lies beyond. By integrating this layer into windows and doors, Fenesta brings a more balanced approach to everyday living. 

The film is now live across Fenesta‘s digital platforms — YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. With Fenesta ProTec, Fenesta takes another step toward its vision of homes that don’t just protect from the outside world but actively support the well-being of those within.

While Financial Institutions Primarily Focus on AI Models, Mythos‑Class Attackers Target Their Databases. Research Across Hundreds of Engagements Finds Universal Problems. 

AUSTIN, Texas, May 20, 2026 – Liquibase, provider of database change governance solutions used by many of the world’s leading financial services organizations, today announced The Financial Services Playbook for Governed Database Change, a new executive guide designed to help financial institutions modernize and secure one of the last major control gaps in enterprise technology delivery: database change.

Built for CIOs, CTOs, platform engineering leaders, database architects, and compliance teams, the playbook examines how banks, insurers, payment processors, fintechs, and capital markets firms continue to face a growing governance gap between highly automated application delivery pipelines and still-manual database change processes.

“Every other layer of the software delivery pipeline has been automated, policy-driven, and made auditable,” said Ryan McCurdy, Vice President at Liquibase. “But at many financial institutions, database changes are still routed through tickets, manually reviewed, and directly executed in production. In today’s regulatory environment, that is no longer simply inefficient. It is an operational and compliance exposure.”

Field research for the Playbook was conducted across hundreds of financial services engagements spanning enterprise banks, regional institutions, credit unions, global insurers, payment processors, fintechs, and capital markets firms.

Among key findings:

• The problem is universal. Manual database change execution is the industry baseline, not a maturity problem at lagging organizations.

• Compliance is the accelerant. SOX, PCI DSS, SOC 2, and DORA are driving purchase decisions. When auditors flag deficiencies, budget materializes.

• The DBA bottleneck is structural. Executive mandates to remove DBA involvement from routine changes are appearing at the largest institutions.

• The proven path is pilot, platform, enterprise. Start with two to five applications, build the pipeline through platform engineering, then scale.

• Multi-database reality is the baseline. Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Snowflake, DynamoDB, Databricks. Partial coverage is not governance.

Organizations that close this gap deliberately will set the standard. The rest will be forced to catch up by their auditors, their regulators, or a production incident.

Drawing on field research from hundreds of financial services engagements, the playbook argues that manual database change execution remains the industry norm, even at highly mature institutions. It outlines how mounting regulatory scrutiny from frameworks including SOX, PCI DSS 4.0, SOC 2, DORA, and emerging operational resilience requirements is accelerating demand for governed database delivery pipelines.

The playbook also addresses a growing concern around AI adoption in software delivery.

“Financial institutions are entering a phase of AI adoption under a perilous assumption: that governance frameworks built for human-driven systems can simply be extended to autonomous agents,” said Chris Steffen, Research VP, Enterprise Management Associates. “That assumption is now clearly outdated. Governance that ends too early is a crucial misstep, one that leaves databases exposed to a kill chain that’s now moving with unprecedented speed and lethality.”

Liquibase recently explored that emerging threat in its analysis: Banks Focus on AI Models. Mythos Class Attackers Focus on Your Databases.

Rather than focusing narrowly on tooling, the playbook walks readers through the operational realities financial institutions face today, including DBA bottlenecks, fragmented deployment tooling, audit evidence reconstruction, schema drift, and growing separation-of-duties concerns.

The guide also details a practical maturity path for organizations seeking to modernize database governance. Chapters include:

• The governance gap: why database delivery remains structurally different from application delivery
• How governance failures create operational, audit, and regulatory exposure
• The evolving role of DBAs, platform engineering, and compliance teams
• An eight-principle target operating model for governed database change
• A phased rollout strategy covering pilot, platform, and enterprise adoption
• A framework for evaluating build-versus-buy governance approaches
• Metrics financial leaders can use to justify modernization investments
• The impact of AI-generated SQL and hybrid cloud database environments on governance strategy

TL;DR: FinServ Operational Resilience Is At Risk

Manual database change execution is throttling data security and is the FinServ industry baseline, not a maturity problem at slow-adopter organizations.

Organizations that embed governance directly into database delivery pipelines now will gain operational resilience and regulatory advantages. Institutions that delay modernization risk being forced into reactive remediation by data loss or corruption incidents, by audit pressures, and by competitive market forces.

The executive summary of The Financial Services Playbook for Governed Database Change is available now from Liquibase: https://www.liquibase.com/resources/ebooks/financial-services-playbook-for-governed-database-change

Hyderabad, May 20 :  We are pleased to welcome Rahul Pandey who joins us as Vice President  Sales & Distribution of Heritage Foods Ltd., effective 18th May 2026. He will lead the role of Vice President & Head of Sales  Fresh and Ambient Categories, would be based at our Corporate Office, and shall report directly to the COO, Mr. J. Samba Murthy.

With over 24 years of extensive experience in sales leadership across the Foods, Beverages, and Home Care sectors, Rahul brings a wealth of expertise in driving large-scale sales operations and business growth. His last role was as Head  Sales & Distribution of the Foods Division at Dabur India Ltd., where he led end-to-end sales and distribution strategy for one of India’s leading FMCG companies.

Over the course of his career, Rahul has held key leadership positions with reputed organisations including Mondelez India Foods Pvt. Ltd., Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd., and ITC Ltd., contributing significantly to sales transformation and revenue growth across diverse product categories and markets.

He brings deep expertise in sales strategy, route-to-market  transformation, distributor network expansion, category management, S&OP, customer engagement, and large-scale sales execution. He is widely recognised for his strong people leadership and his ability to drive business growth through technology-enabled sales systems and channel excellence.

In his role as Vice President – Sales & Distribution at Heritage Foods Ltd., Rahul will drive initiatives that strengthen our go-to-market capabilities and accelerate growth across our Fresh and Ambient Categories. His leadership will be a significant asset to our growth trajectory and reinforce our industry-leading position.

Rahul is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta, where he completed the Executive Management Program in Sales & Marketing. He also holds an MBA in Marketing from the Institute of Management Studies, MDS University, Ajmer.

May 20, 2026 – Kardome achieves a major consumer electronics footprint with LG TVs powered by Kardome’s Spatial Hearing AI for human-like voice localization and isolation. 

Elevating the Home Entertainment Experience

Kardome’s Spatial Hearing AI technology is now commercially deployed in LG’s flagship OLED TV series, completing its pivotal transition from development to mass-market production. This deployment represents a significant leap in voice user interface (voice UI) performance, enabling LG’s OLED TVs to locate and focus on individual speech with human-like accuracy, even in high-background noise environments typical of modern living rooms.

By utilizing Kardome’s proprietary Spatial Hearing AI technology, LG can now provide its customers with:

• Unmatched Voice Isolation: The “No-Mute” Experience: Kardome’s technology locates and isolates individual voices in real-world settings, distinguishing the user’s voice from background noise, such as a vacuum cleaner, multiple people speaking at once, or even the TV’s own playback. For the customer, this means they no longer have to reach for the remote to mute the TV or shout over other people talking just to change a setting.
• Human-Like Spatial Awareness: Unlike traditional VUI, Spatial Hearing AI enables the TV to “hear” like a human by identifying the speaker’s location and focusing on their specific voice. This allows for natural, seamless interaction regardless of the number of people in the room or the complexity of the acoustic environment.

Global Reach and Expansion

The Kardome-powered LG OLED TVs are now available globally, with a projected target of millions of units for 2026, ensuring that customers worldwide can experience the next generation of voice-enabled interaction.

While the current TV integration focuses on Spatial Hearing AI technology for TVs, both companies continue to explore further expansion into smart appliances, audio products, and the automotive sector.

Leadership Perspectives 

“Kardome’s Spatial Hearing AI has proven itself in real-world consumer environments, and we are proud to bring this capability to our OLED TV customers worldwide. The deployment reaffirms LG’s commitment to delivering intuitive, intelligent user experiences through cutting-edge technology partnerships.” — Jungho Kwak, Head of MS SW Platform Development Division, LG Electronics

“Reaching commercial deployment with LG at this scale is a defining moment for Kardome and for the voice AI category. Our Spatial Hearing AI technology is now in the hands of millions of consumers globally, and this is just the beginning. We are excited to continue expanding the scope of our collaboration with LG and to bring Spatial Hearing AI to even more product categories.” — Dani Cherkassky, CEO, Kardome

 

 

 

Amsterdam, May 20: PPDS, the exclusive global provider of Philips Professional Displays and complementary solutions, is excited to announce the latest key addition to its ever strengthening team in North America, with the appointment of Nicole Rutherford as new Event Marketing Specialist.

 An accomplished business owner, leader, and marketing professional of over 10 years, multi talented Nicole brings a tidal wave of knowledge, experience, and entrepreneurial flair to PPDS’ thriving North America team with an influential role in the company’s local and international growth ambitions.

 Based in Hudson, Florida, and reporting to Director of North America Marketing, Megan Lipinczyk, Nicole has enjoyed a broad and accomplished career. Beginning as a teacher, she transitioned into B2B marketing in 2021, specialising in project management, stakeholder communications, event execution, and more.

 With a proud track record in delivering growth to local and international organisations, Nicole is also the co owner of a successful family fishing business, utilising her professional marketing skills – through digital and physical means – to drive awareness and support the growth of a successful tackle shop and charter business.

 Buoyed by success / hooked on technology

Kicking off several key business announcements ahead of InfoComm 2026 (June 13-19), in her role as Event Marketing Specialist Nicole will support PPDS’ day to day marketing efforts with a strong focus on events, partner engagement, and sales enablement.

 These responsibilities will incorporate coordinating logistics for trade shows and regional events, managing marketing assets, supporting digital and social content, and working with both national and regional partners to help drive brand awareness and engagement.

 InfoComm 2026

Hitting the ground running, among Nicole’s first duties include supporting and planning PPDS’ exhibition activities (including stand design and logistics) at InfoComm. Nicole will be present on Philips Booth C9000 throughout the show, with her diary now open for meetings. Please drop by and say hello.

 Discussing her new role, Nicole explained it was PPDS’ history of innovation and reputation for quality that attracted her to the role, describing it as the “perfect course” for the next stage of her career.

 Nicole commented: “I am delighted to have become part of the PPDS family and to join the incredibly talented team on the next stage of the company’s growth journey.”

 “While I’m new to the AV industry in a formal sense, I bring extensive hands on experience with technology and events that translates well to professional AV marketing. Much of my career has been centred around leading initiatives, guiding teams through change, coordinating large scale educational events, developing digital and social content, and translating technical information into clear, audience focused messaging. It feels like all my experience and everything I’ve learnt to date has been leading to this point.”

 Megan Lipinczyk, Director of North America Marketing at PPDS, said: “Since walking through the door, Nicole has demonstrated a highly organized, proactive, and detail driven approach to marketing execution, with core strengths in event planning, cross functional communication, and attention to detail.

 Bruce Wyrwitzke, Senior Director North America at PPDS, added: “As we grow and evolve as a business, so do our approaches to our communications and the way we present ourselves to the market. It’s not about bringing in the person with the most experience in AV; it’s about adding the best talent for our needs. Nicole’s background and extensive interchangeable skills made her the ideal candidate for this important role and have shone through ever since. On behalf of the team, I welcome Nicole to the company and wish her every success.”