PayPal Australia has made a number of changes to its financial services guide, including adding a new $5.99 fee for overseas personal money transfers to a “friend and family member”.
If all or part of that transfer is covered by a credit or debit card, Aussies will also cop a 2.6% fee, plus a currency conversion fee. Before the updated terms, this fee was 2.4%.
It’s important to note that the new fees are incurred by Australian account holders sending money out of the country that doesn’t involve international commercial transactions.
And while it might be meant for sending your family some dosh when needed, it should be noted that some sellers request a “personal transaction” as opposed to a “goods and services” settlement when making a purchase.
Commercial transactions, however, will not incur any fees if there is no currency conversion required. So as long as you pay in Aussie dollary-doos, you won’t be paying extra fees for buying something.
You know the drill – you go through a ridiculously long and tiring day, just counting down the hours until you can head home and curl back into your bed. You finally turn in for the night and wait for the peaceful lull of a glorious night’s rest – but it never comes. In fact, when you wake up in the morning you feel even more tired than when you went to bed, and the vicious cycle repeats itself.
According to Philips, this is how most adults sleep. Around 40% of adults aged 25-54 get less than 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. In the US, around 30% of adults suffer from insomnia, while in Europe the figure ranges between 15-27%.
It’s often not easy to get a good night’s rest for several reasons, which is why Philips wants to focus on people getting better quality sleep rather than sleeping in for longer periods. While you may think that getting in more hours of sleep will lead to you feeling more refreshed, that’s not always the case.
Which is what makes Philips’ SmartSleep headband so special – rather than trying to get you to sleep for longer periods, the headband works with your existing sleep patterns to improve the quality of your rest periods.
It sounds rather simple at first – sensors in the headband detect when you’ve entered a deep sleep, or ‘slow wave sleep’. Once in this mode, the headband triggers quiet audio tones through in-built speakers to boost these slow waves and improve the quality of your sleep. The headband monitors how you’ve been sleeping and adjusts its routine accordingly, and the soft foam material ensures that it doesn’t feel uncomfortable to wear while sleeping. A companion app then syncs up with the headband once you wake up to show you the quality of your sleep.
The system is designed for adults who typically get less than 7 hours of sleep per night, but won’t help you actually fall asleep or help with existing sleep conditions. It’s currently in a selective testing phase in US and Germany, with a selective launch happening on September 1st, followed by a larger global rollout. Interested users can answer a brief questionnaire on the Philips website to check if they’re eligible, and if selected can purchase the SmartSleep for $399 to participate in the feedback program.
Your own personal sunrise
Philips also realizes that loud alarms in the morning might not be the nicest way to wake up, and has come up with the Somneo. We’ve seen devices like these before, which aim to simulate the sun rising so that you wake up much more gently in the morning.
The Philips Somneo offers a number of features to aid in relaxation and a better night’s sleep. The light-guided breathing techniques help you to relax through breathing exercises before you fall asleep, while a sunset mode also helps your body to relax before tuning out.
You can easily customize the brightness levels, what sort of music or sound you want to wake up to such as nature, ambient music, or your favorite radio station. The Somneo also acts as a perfect nightlight if you need to get up in the middle of the night, illuminating just bright enough for you to see where you’re going rather than blinding you.
The Philips Somneo is available now from Philips for $199.99
If your 13-inch, non-Touch Bar MacBook Pro has been hit by a nasty issue of an expanding battery, Apple has got your back – the company has launched a battery replacement program for affected laptops, which apparently are only a few in number and were manufactured between October 2016 and October 2017.
“Apple has determined that, in a limited number of 13-inch MacBook Pro (non Touch Bar) units, a component may fail causing the built-in battery to expand,” says Apple. “This is not a safety issue and Apple will replace eligible batteries, free of charge.”
Just type in your computer’s serial number to see if your MacBook Pro is eligible for a battery replacement. If it is, you can send it off to Apple or take it into an Apple Store to get the battery swapped for free. You can even get a refund if you’ve already had the battery replaced. The offer was first spotted by 9to5Google.
Five-year scheme
This doesn’t affect the standard warranty of the laptop, Apple notes in its documentation, and if your computer has been damaged in some way that prevents the battery being replaced, that will have to be fixed first – and that repair may incur a cost, before you get your free battery swap.
You don’t necessarily have to rush to take advantage of the deal, though acting sooner rather than later is probably a good idea: Apple says the scheme is going to cover affected MacBook Pros for up to five years after they were originally bought.
The launch of the program comes just a few days after Apple initiated a similar replacement offer for the Apple Watch Series 2. Again, swelling batteries are the problem, but even if it’s disappointing to see some devices slip past Apple’s quality control procedures, at least it’s helping customers get a fixed sorted out quickly.
