Rob Binns

In 2023, the climate crisis isn’t just rolling on – it’s picking up speed. Sea levels are rising, the planet’s land and oceans are heating up and tropical cyclones, wildfires, flooding and earthquakes are destroying lives and livelihoods.

It begs the question – is there anywhere you can go to weather the (both literal and metaphorical) storm?

For Refresh Marketing:

Phillip Kingston and Gary Peer. Best mates since 1975. Business partners since 1986.

We sat down with Caulfield’s original dynamic duo to get their own unique takes on… each other! To explore how 50 years of friendship have shaped their lives. And understand how, through it all, they’ve juggled close to four decades in business together.

It’s been a rollercoaster couple of years for Netflix.

After revealing it had lost 200,000 subscribers in Q1 2022 alone – a report that led to the biggest single drop in the company’s stock, ever – Netflix lost another million subscribers in Q2.

Compared to the previous year, the streaming giant’s revenue was also down, for the first time in a decade. Inflation, piracy, and account-sharing were rife – and Netflix was footing the bill.

Then, things changed.

In some countries, VPNs aren’t a matter of enjoyment or entertainment: they’re a matter of life and death. In these jurisdictions, the internet freedoms the Western world takes for granted are curtailed or non-existent. In these places, the internet has been manipulated and weaponized by authoritarian, totalitarian governments; where instead of enabling access to information, rulers seek only its control.

It’s these countries, we hypothesized, where online searches for VPNs will be highest – but we had to be sure.

Ah, the sun; it gives us warmth, light, and social-media-friendly sunsets. Our world, quite literally, revolves around it.

Yet, as the climate crisis rages on and we aim to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions – fuelled by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas for energy – pumped into our atmosphere, the sun’s role will take on an increasingly important dimension.

We’re talking about solar power – the renewable, and essentially limitless, supply of clean, affordable energy the suns rays provide.

Wix is one of the best-known website builders out there, but it also has a ferocious reputation as an ecommerce platform, too. It comes with a variety of features that are designed to make building and maintaining an online store simple.

China’s Great Wall is one of its best-known features, designed to safeguard China’s people and national identity – and keep the prying eyes out. But the country now has a more modern twist and, though it’s built far differently than its historical counterpart, it’s underpinned by many of the same reasons.

We’re talking about the Great Firewall of China – the colloquial term for the country’s extensive and globally unparalleled regime of internet censorship and control.

For Refresh Marketing:

‘Flat white, please.’

After placing his order – and shooting the server he knows by name a quick, warm smile – Harry Lustig turns to face the window. Gazing out through the glass towards Inkerman Street’s lazy Monday afternoon lull, he gathers his thoughts.

Now, turning to face me across the table at Harper’s Kitchen – the coffee shop across the road from his office – Harry takes a deep breath. His eyes, alive and interested, dance. He chuckles. Exhales. Pauses. And tells me his story.

It’s fair to say that, when you’re out and about in the city, there might be a few things on your mind. Most likely, the quality of the air you’re breathing isn’t one of them, yet the data suggests that, perhaps, it should be.

Research by IQAir has shown that 90 per cent of the air the world inhales exceeds that of the maximum limit set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for pollution. This includes the UK – whose atmosphere is 1.8 times higher than the WHO’s recommended threshold.

For Refresh Marketing:

I wrote all the updates: Market, New Projects, Asian, and Property Management. I also wrote two of the feature stories – Anthony Lee on Murrumbeena and 'The Softer Side of Darren Krongold' – as well as the Editor's Letter from Phillip Kingston and the "What's Been Happening at Gary Peer" section.

I edited the other articles within, proofread the final document, and project managed the whole publication: from concept to execution.

74 years ago, in his book 1984, George Orwell wrote of a society characterised by mass, near-constant surveillance: where “eyes follow you about as you move”.

Yet, while neither 1984 or 2023 have quite lived up to that dystopian vision’s darkest predictions, surveillance is a prominent aspect of modern life. And we’re not just referring to the fact that, in the UK, 7.5 CCTV cameras exist per 10 people, or that, via the snoopers’ charter, the government has legal licence to hack, en masse, into its citizens’ devices.

We’re talking about the internet.

For Refresh Marketing:

Rafi Joffe – Senior Sales Consultant & Residential Development Specialist – is a man of many talents.

He’s built lives on three different continents. Spent three years in the army. And, from a young age, sold anything and everything – from stamps and second-hand goods to photos and funeral flowers.

His real passion, though? Blending an understanding of the property, the plan, and the person to match brand-new homes with the right buyers.

Picture this – an email pops into your inbox, and it’s from Apple.

“Your iCloud storage has expired,” it warns. “Upgrade before Sunday to claim a discount on your subscription, and avoid losing access to your saved photos.” Panicked, you click the link in the email, enter your card details and renew your subscription – or so you think.

It’s not until a week later, when you start to notice several strange transactions on your bank statement, that you start to suspect wrongdoing...

For Refresh Marketing:

I look up from my latté as Darren Krongold walks in. Stepping out of Alma Road’s bustle and into the organised chaos of Caulfield’s Common Room Co café, the Director arrives with a firm handshake – and a pleasantly piercing gaze.

Settling down across the table with his own latté, Darren smiles. With a shaved head and a fine film of stubble covering his face, it’s easy to see why Darren, at first glance, could be considered ‘hard’.

But as our conversation unfolds, the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

In 2024, cybercrime is expected to cost the world’s internet users a total of $9.22 trillion dollars. By 2028, that figure will be almost $14 trillion.
Armed with Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled arsenals of cyber weapons, bad actors – fraudsters, hackers, state-sponsored cyberterrorists – are carrying out attacks with greater venom and verve; at ever-growing rates of speed and success. Meaning that, seemingly every day, cybersecurity becomes that bit more important – but it too needs AI ...