Videos

Online Payments: What Is The Chinese App “Alipay” From “Ant”? (WSJ Video)

The Chinese fintech titan Ant Group—co-founded by Alibaba billionaire Jack Ma—is set to go public in what could be one of the largest listings ever. WSJ explains how Ant’s backbone service, Alipay, has revolutionized payments and investing in the world’s most populous country.

Photo Composite: Crystal Tai

English Country Houses: “Another Country” CEO Paul de Zwart’s ‘Hideaway’ Home In Dorset (Video)

See how since buying the house with his wife, managing director of creative agency Winkreative, Ariel Childs, 20 years ago, Paul de Zwart has transformed a 17th-century cottage into a refined take on the English country house idiom, with interiors that bear the mark of the couple’s desire for contemporary country living, where wellies are as at home as a cocktail shaker.

 London-based entrepreneur Paul de Zwart crystallized the concept for his fledgling furniture company, Another Country, while searching for some simple bedside tables and stools for his country house. “I realized there was a dearth of well-made, well-priced design with a modern craft heritage,” he says. His solution? An affordable line of pared-down pieces that are handmade in England from sustainable woods. “We’re going for timeless over trendy.”

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Videos: “Watermelons – History & Cultivation” Of Summer’s Favorite Fruit

There’s nothing that counteracts the heat of summer quite like a big, sweet, juicy slice of watermelon. Luke Burbank offers up the history and lore behind that thirst-quenching favorite.

Watermelon is a plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, a vine-like flowering plant originally domesticated in West Africa. It is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, having more than 1000 varieties. Watermelon is a scrambling and trailing vine in the flowering plant family Cucurbitaceae.

Ancient Egypt: The “Mystery Of Queen Nefertiti” (NatGeo Video)

Queen Nefertiti is one of the most famous queens of ancient Egypt, but the location of her tomb is still a mystery.

About Lost Treasures of Egypt: An immersive, action-packed and discovery-led series following International teams of Egyptologists as they unearth the world’s richest seam of ancient archaeology – Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. For a full season of excavations and with unprecedented access to the teams on the front line of archaeology, we follow these modern-day explorers as they battle searing heat and inhospitable terrain to make the discoveries of a lifetime. Using innovative technology and age-old intuition in their quest to uncover the secrets of these ancient sites, can the team’s discoveries re-write ancient history?

Neferneferuaten Nefertiti was an Egyptian queen and the Great Royal Wife of Akhenaten, an Egyptian Pharaoh. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they worshipped one god only, Aten, or the sun disc.

Italian Home Tours: Villa On Cliff In Sardinia (Video)

Lying on a cliff that descends towards the crystalline sea of Sardinia, in the town of Maracalagonis in the Province of Cagliari, The property is divided into six apartments on four terraced levels, each with a private panoramic terrace, and has a total internal surface area of 680 sqm.

Two splendid panoramic swimming pools dominate over the sea. The prestigious complex is currently divided into five suites that share some spaces and services including swimming pools and magnificent terraces, a heated whirlpool tub, three barbecues and three access doors from which you reach a staircase leading to the cliff below and to the sea. . Fascinating and suggestive, this extraordinary property on the coast of Sardinia offers all the desirable comforts, in a landscape of rare beauty that is an integral part of the villa itself.

POLITICAL NEWS: “SHIELDS & BROOKS” ON JOE BIDEN’S DNC SPEECH (VIDEO)

Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week in politics, including reaction to the Democratic National Convention and Joe Biden’s acceptance speech, what to expect from President Trump at the Republican National Convention next week and concerns about delays in U.S. mail service ahead of the election.

INNOVATIVE HOMES: “OFF-THE-GRID CONTAINER HOME” IN NEW ZEALAND (VIDEO)

One of the major advantages of shipping container homes is that they can be constructed off site and transported to remote locations. That’s exactly what has happened with this spectacular home which has been built using a 40ft shipping container. Situated in the hills overlooking the ocean and with mountain views of the South Island in New Zealand, this home is simply breathtaking. It’s remote location has meant that off-the-grid living is essential and the home is powered by an impressive solar system.

COCKTAILS WITH A CURATOR: “TITIAN’S ARETINO” (VIDEO)

In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” celebrate the 444th anniversary of Titian’s death by delving into the tumultuous life of Pietro Aretino, one of the most celebrated—and reviled—literary figures of the Italian Renaissance. Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon examines Titian’s portrait of Aretino at the Frick and the friendship between the Venetian painter and the acid-tongued writer, known to his contemporaries as the “scourge of princes.” This week’s complementary cocktail is the Bellini, a mixture of Prosecco and white-peach puree created by the Cipriani family in Venice and named for Titian’s teacher, Giovanni Bellini.

Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio, known in English as Titian, was an Italian painter during the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. During his lifetime he was often called da Cadore, ‘from Cadore’, taken from his native region.