Category: Laptops

• A polar bear killed a mother and baby in Wales, Alaska, earlier this week.
• The remote community is raising money for the memorial of the deceased. 
• The attack was Alaska’s first fatal polar-bear mauling in more than 30 years. 

A remote village in Alaska is banding together to process their grief after a mother and baby died in a polar bear attack.  

The bear killed 24-year-old Summer Myomick and her 1-year-old son Clyde Ongtowasruk on January 17 after it chased multiple residents of Wales, Alaska.  

According to reports from Sky News, the pair were walking from a school to a health clinic when the bear, which a snowstorm had camouflaged, mauled them to death. 

At one point, the bear chased local residents — who had been trying to scare it away — into the school before the school’s principal, Dawn Hendrickson, slammed the door in the charging bear’s face, Sky News reported. 

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“The polar bear was chasing them and tried to get in as well. Just horrific. Something you never think you would ever experience,” Susan Nedza, the chief administrator of the Bering Strait School District, told Sky News. 

Only 160 people live in Wales, Alaska, and a GoFundMe has been set up for the family of the deceased.  

The GoFundMe notes that Wales is only accessible via a small passenger plane, and a portion of the funds raised will go toward assisting family members in getting to the small, remote village on the western coast of Alaska, close to Russia on the Bering Strait. 

The fundraiser describes the fatal mauling as an “unfathomable tragedy and heartbreak.”  

This fatal bear attack is the first of its kind in over 30 years. In 1993, a polar bear killed a man farther north of Wales in Point Lay. Biologists later said the animal showed signs of starvation, the Anchorage Daily News reported. 

According to the Associated Press, Alaskan scientists have found that changing sea-ice habitats have increased polar bears’ land occupation, raising the likelihood of encounters with humans. 

Polar bears in the US are only found in Alaska, which is home to an estimated 4,000 and 7,000 of them, according to the US National Park Service. 

• Today’s electric car buyers have a lot of questions.
• They want to know about charging, batteries, and how an EV fits their lifestyle.
• Dealers should be able to answer these questions about EVs.

The next wave of electric car buyers have a lot of questions about these vehicles that they should be able to ask their dealer.

EVs made up about 6% of auto sales in the US in 2022, indicating there’s still a long way to go to educating and convincing prospective car-buyers to go electric. That means that the automakers pouring billions of dollars into developing and launching these cars are banking on the fact that their customers will get their questions answered and concerns assuaged enough to pay a pretty penny for one. 

Potential EV drivers have plenty of questions, and there’s plenty you need to know before buying an electric car. GM VP of EV Ecosystems Hoss Hassani told Insider in November that consumers ask its “EV Live” call center representatives about home and public charging, battery longevity, serviceability, and warranty — and even whether they can run an EV through a car wash.

Of course, not every EV is sold by an automaker that relies on dealers. Tesla and the EV startups hoping to emulate its success operate direct-to-consumer models instead. Regardless, here are some tips on what to ask your dealer or sales advisor if you’re considering buying an EV.

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Will the range an EV gets me fit into my lifestyle?

There’s something to be said about not conflating an EV itself with the experience of driving one or plugging it in, but one negative experience or misunderstanding could be a turn-off and a lost sale.

It’s why, while most consumers seem to be getting past their range anxiety (after all, the average driver doesn’t need more than 300 miles of range), it’s important to ask about how an EV fits into an average driver’s lifestyle.

“The biggest thing for people is understanding range and understanding how much they actually drive,” said EV educator and sales specialist Nigel Zeid. “Explaining about not draining your battery down to nothing — those are still, I think, the key things.”

How do I charge this thing if I don’t have a garage?

One of the most notable shifts from a gas-powered car to an EV is how it’s powered. Navigating charging infrastructure can be challenging and intimidating for first-time EV buyers; they’ve indicated that it’s a barrier to their adoption.

“We’ve consistently talked about the time burden and the cost burden for installation and other requirements for electric vehicle owners as a significant impediment to driving an electric vehicle,” said Patrick Anderson, CEO of consultancy Anderson Economic Group. “This is a significant barrier to mass adoption of EVs.” 

From where to plug in, to how to plug in, to what levels of charging there are, to the types of charging, and what to do if a charger is broken, dealers need to address concerns about how charging might be inconvenient, costly, or inaccessible. 

A majority of EV-charging can be done at home, especially overnight.

“They should be able to tell you right off the top of the head how long it’s going to take you to charge at home,” said Buzz Smith, an EV educator and retired auto salesperson who goes by “The EVangelist.” “It’s important that they describe why it’s okay to take 10 hours to fill a car.”

But not all EV-buyers have access to a garage. Those in multifamily living arrangements should ask about reliable public options.

Tim Levin/Insider

What kind of warranty does an EV come with?

Car-buyers don’t need to know the ins-and-outs of their EV batteries’ chemistry. But given how much this market depends on improvements in battery tech, dealers should still be ready to talk about what separates their EV’s battery from competitors. 

Warranties are also crucial.

“They do need to at least understand what that drivetrain warranty is. Unlike the gas-engine, three years, 36,000 miles, there is no standard right now,” Smith said. “You need to make sure you’re not getting a battery that has a really short warranty period.” 

Plug-in hybrid EVs bring some nuance with two drivetrains, so it’s important to ask what is covered on the electric side versus what’s covered on the gas-powered side.

What kind of service does an EV need? 

Many consumers want to know the difference between servicing an internal-combustion engine vehicle and an electric one. Gas-powered vehicles require some maintenance that EVs simply don’t, like oil changes. EVs also don’t have components like transmissions or spark plugs.  

Prospective EV-buyers should ask their dealers about an annual battery inspection, and tire rotation every six months, Zeid said — the nuances of EVs.

Tim Levin/Insider

How can I qualify for EV tax credits?

Addressing the total cost of EV ownership, and ways to tap into crucial tax credits, is key to EV market penetration. The average new EV cost $61,448 in December, per Kelley Blue Book (compared with the $49,507 paid, on average, for a new internal-combustion engine vehicle). 

Used EVs are coming down in price, but sat at about $32,750 in December, while the average listing price for a used gas-powered car was $27,143 that month, per Cox Automotive.

The Inflation Reduction Act’s new and used EV tax credits can be confusing, and some aspects of the new credits will change come March. The used credit (launched for the first time this year) will remain the same, but the Internal Revenue Service and US Department of Treasury are expected to release more guidance about whether new EVs qualify for the credit based on critical minerals and battery components criteria.

That’s where things can get tricky. 

“Auto salespeople are not tax advisors or financial advisors,” Smith said. “Now, we should be able to point the consumer to the government websites, as difficult to understand as they are, and say here’s the information. 

“They also need to know: are there any incentives in your state, in your county? If you can choose your electric utility, even the electric utilities may have EV incentives for purchase of the vehicle or leasing a vehicle or even putting in a charge station,” Smith added. “It’s like handing the consumer a discount. It’s another motivation to buy right now, if you can help them through that step.”

• A lot of car-buyers can’t afford a new electric vehicle, but are curious about used ones.
• Today’s pricey electric vehicles will one day enter the used vehicle market.
• That could play a role in the used EV market — and tax credits might not help yet.

The average cost of a new EV hit $61,448 in December, according to Kelley Blue Book — well over the $49,507 paid, on average, for a new internal-combustion engine vehicle. That’s a problem for the automakers in the ever-urgent race for greater EV adoption.

Prices are coming down, but it will take time and isn’t a guarantee. Much of that depends on forces outside of automakers’ control, like dynamics within the battery supply chain. 

A lot of would-be EV buyers are becoming more interested in the used market as a way to drive a cleaner car without such a hefty price tag.

Surveys from firm Recurrent found that just over 50% of EV shoppers in 2021 were instead interested in purchasing a used EV; a year later, that number was closer to 80%.

At first glance, today’s product pipeline might not paint a good picture for the future of the used EV market. About 77% of all EV sales in the fourth-quarter commanded luxury prices, according to consultancy Anderson Economic Group. The F-150 Lightning, for instance, starts at almost $56,000. The GMC Hummer pickup will cost you about $100,000. The Cadillac Lyriq starts at nearly $63,000. Rivian’s R1T has a starting cost of $73,000. 

Lessons learned from the used gas-car market

If you look at the internal-combustion engine world, luxury vehicles account for about 17% of the market share, Kristin Dziczek, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago policy advisor, said at the firm’s recent auto insights symposium in Detroit. 

Prioritizing these and more profitable vehicles over market share has consequences for the future used market.

“If what we’ve produced in the last couple of years has been a rich mix, when that goes into the used market, that keeps used prices elevated as well,” Dziczek said.

The question is how the EV market will react to similar dynamics.

Electric car prices creeping downward

Consumers are seeing new EV prices start to creep down; December’s number was down from the month before, in part driven by anticipation of stipulations in the Inflation Reduction Act making GM and Tesla eligible for crucial federal EV tax credits again. 

Overall declines for used vehicle prices also generally apply to used EVs. The average price of a used EV, about $32,750 in December, is down about 14.4% since a peak of $38,500 last July, according to Recurrent’s index of popular used EV models.

As new EV prices drop, so might their used counterparts. 

“Effectively, when you bring down the new alternative, what you would imagine is that used prices for Model 3s and Bolts would come down quickly as well,” said Recurrent’s CEO Scott Case. “The huge Tesla price drops in new Tesla pricing that just happened last week out of the blue pretty much have a direct dollar-for-dollar impact on used Tesla prices.”

What’s more, “Any impact on automakers deciding to prioritize high-end EVs would not be felt for a while in the used market,” Case said.

Mark Matousek / Business Insider

Don’t count on the used EV tax credit, yet

Still, used EVs remain more expensive than used gas-cars (the average listing price for the latter was $27,143 in December, per Cox Automotive). The used EV tax credit introduced in last summer’s Inflation Reduction Act could be an answer in the near-term. 

Taxpayers are eligible for an up to $4,000 credit or 30% of the vehicle price, so long as the vehicle is at least two years old, under $25,000, and sold by a licensed dealership, according to the Zero Emission Transportation Association. (The taxpayer also has to meet income caps).

But a majority of used EVs don’t yet comply with those criteria.

“It’s looking like less than a million of these vehicles will be eligible for this tax credit this year on account of being over $25,000 when you buy them,” David Gohlke, energy and environmental analyst at Argonne National Laboratory, said at the Fed symposium. 

Dealers are starting to feel incentivized to drop used EVs priced close to the cap to just below it. 

• A military veteran has accused George Santos of taking money from his sick dog’s GoFundMe.
• Rich Osthoff says he spoke to one Anthony Devolder — a known alias of Santos’ — about fundraising.
• Santos has denied knowing Osthoff.

A military veteran is accusing the scandal-ridden Rep. George Santos of taking $3,000 worth of GoFundMe funds meant for his dying dog.

Rich Osthoff, who lives in New Jersey, spoke to the media outlet Patch about a conversation he had with a man named Anthony Devolder in 2016. Devolder is one of Santos’ known aliases.

Osthoff told the media outlet his dog Sapphire was dying from a stomach tumor and that Devolder offered to help, starting a GoFundMe page for Sapphire in May 2016. But after the GoFundMe raised $3,000, Osthoff says Devolder closed the fundraising page and started ghosting him.

Osthoff said that during one phone conversation, Devolder told him the money raised from Sapphire’s GoFundMe would be going to “other dogs,” per Patch. Devolder eventually stopped answering Osthoff’s texts and calls, Osthoff said.

The New York Times reported on December 19 that Santos claimed to have founded a charity called Friends of Pets United from 2013 to 2018. But the Times found no record of Friends of Pets United ever having been registered as a charity.

Insider saw multiple posts on Osthoff’s Facebook page from May to July 2016 that linked out to a GoFundMe page titled, “Click here to support sapphire The Veteran rescue! by Anthony Devolder.” The page has been deleted, and the Internet archive Wayback Machine does not have a record of the fundraiser.

Osthoff said Sapphire died in January 2017 and that he could not afford to cremate her. “I had to panhandle. It was one of the most degrading things I ever had to do,” Osthoff told Patch.

Santos has denied knowing Osthoff.

“Fake,” Santos told Semafor via text message. “No clue who this is.”

Santos has admitted to lying about various elements of his past, including going to university, being Jewish, and working at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. However, the congressman has refused to resign, saying he will only do so if as many people demand his resignation as voted for him.

Osthoff and representatives for GoFundMe and Santos did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.

• Qatar Investment Authority’s CEO told Bloomberg TV it hasn’t asked Elon Musk to tweet less.
• QIA’s CEO said the fund trusts Musk’s leadership to turn the company around.
• The sovereign wealth fund pumped $375 million into Musk’s $44 billion Twitter acquisition.

The head of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund — which pumped $375 million into Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter — said it hasn’t asked the social media company’s new CEO to tweet less.

“Have you asked him to tweet less in the last eight months? There was so much volatility. Do you get involved in those calls?” Bloomberg TV’s Francine Lacqua asked Mansoor Al Mahmoud, the CEO of Qatar Investment Authority, or QIA, in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“Not really, I mean we do not really involved to that extent in term of, again, he has our trust and we are sure that he would manage it very professionally,” Al Mahmoud responded. 

“We engage with the management, with Elon in terms of the plan that he has for the company, and we believe in this, and we trust his leadership in terms of turning around the company,” he further said. 

Since acquiring Twitter for $44 billion in late October, Musk has instituted sweeping changes at the company, including mass layoffs —  which he said was necessary as the company was losing $4 million a day — and reinstating the account of former President Donald Trump after taking a poll.

Musk has also been commenting more about political issues since acquiring the platform, adding to controversies surrounding the company which have spilled over to Tesla, where Musk is also the CEO. 

The Qatar Investment Fund is one of a group of high-profile investors who have provided funding for Musk’s Twitter deal. The list also including Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Binance, according to a regulatory filing. 

In December, Musk was seen at the Football World Cup final in Qatar with Al-Mahmoud, just hours before the Twitter CEO tweeted a poll asking if he should step down as head of the social media platform. This fueled speculation over whether Musk had met and discussed his leadership of Twitter with investors from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Musk’s business deals with foreign countries have raised questions over national security risks. In November, President Joe Biden said at a White House press conference that Musk’s business ties with foreign nations were “worthy of being looked at.” White House officials had earlier denied reports that it was planning a security review of Musk’s deals, including the purchase of Twitter.

The Qatar Investment Fund and Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment sent outside regular business hours. 

• On an average, at least 1,600 tech sector workers have been laid off every day of 2023 so far, per Layoffs.fyi.
• That’s as 91 tech companies globally have axed 24,151 jobs, just 15 days into 2023.
• 1,023 tech companies laid off 154,256 workers in 2022, per data aggregated by Layoffs.fyi.

Layoffs in the tech sector show no signs of abating — on an average, about 1,600 workers have gotten the pink slip every day in 2023 so far, according to tracking site Layoffs.fyi.

That’s as 91 tech companies globally have already laid off 24,151 workers just 15 days into 2023, according to data aggregated by Layoffs.ai. This is already about 15% of the 154,256 workers who were laid off by over a thousand tech companies in 2022.

Amazon, Meta, and Salesforce top Layoffs.fyi’s list with about 18,000, 11,000, and 8,000 staffers laid-off, respectively, between November 2022 and January 2023.

The layoffs at Amazon primarily affected those in corporate roles, including those in the company’s Devices and Books businesses and human resource department, Insider’s Samantha Delouya reported on January 5. Meta cut positions across the company, including its Reality Labs division overseeing metaverse initiatives, while Salesforce’s headcount reduction hit the Slack and MuleSoft business units.

The rash of layoffs — which started last year — came after tech companies hired and expanded aggressively during the pandemic. But they started conducting widespread layoffs in late 2022, as earnings weakened across the board amid fears of an impending recession. This also spilled over into 2023. 

Amazon and Salesforce announced in the first week of the year they were collectively cutting over 25,000 jobs. Other tech companies that have slashed headcount include media company Vimeo and supply chain software firm Flexport.

And it’s not just the tech sector that’s laying off staff either.

Last week, banking giant Goldman Sachs started laying off 3,000 employees globally as dealmaking slows. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management firm, is also slashing up to 500 roles for the first time in four years.

Marc Benioff, Salesforce’s CEO, attempted to explain his company’s rationale for the downsizing in his memo to staff, saying: “as our revenue accelerated through the pandemic, we hired too many people leading into this economic downturn we’re now facing, and I take responsibility for that.”

• At least 44 people have died after a plane crashed near an airport in central Nepal. 
• 72 people were on board the Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu. 
• The plane is between two hills near the Pokhara airport, making it difficult for rescue workers to work. 

At least 44 people have died after a plane crashed near an airport in central Nepal, according to reports. 

The Yeti Airlines flight from the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu crashed on landing, with videos on social media showing the aircraft spinning sharply just before it hit the ground. A loud explosion can be heard, as it goes out of view.

Seventy-two people were on board the flight, including 68 passengers. 40 bodies have been recovered so far. 

—Aerowanderer (@aerowanderer) January 15, 2023

“Thirty bodies have been recovered and sent to hospital,” Jagannath Niroula, spokesman for Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority told Reuters, adding, “another 14 bodies are still lying at the crash site and authorities are bringing in a crane to move them.”

The plane’s wreckage is sited between two hills near the Pokhara airport, making it difficult for rescue workers to reach, Reuters reports. 

Local resident Arun Tamu told the news site that half of the aircraft was on a hillside, whilst the other had fallen into the gorge of a river. 

At least 309 people have died since 2000 in plane or helicopter crashes in the mountainous nation of the Himalayas, Reuters report. The European Union banned Nepali airlines from its airspace in 2013 over concerns regarding safety. 

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

• Six journalists were arrested after a video of South Sudan’s president peeing himself went viral. 
• President Salva Kiir, 71, was filmed in public urinating on himself and appearing to not notice. 
• The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for the “unconditional” release of the journalists.

South Sudanese authorities have arrested six journalists on suspicion of their involvement in the circulation of footage of the country’s president urinating on himself. 

Journalists filmed the 71-year-old President Salva Kiir in public, where he was standing for the national anthem at a ceremony for a road opening in December, urinating on himself and appearing to not realize it. 

When President Kiir looked down and saw what was happening, cameras turned away. 

Authorities arrested six journalists from the state broadcaster, The South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation, last week after the footage went viral on social media, thought the corporation never broadcast it on television. 

The journalists are Joseph Oliver and Mustafa Osmal, camera operators; Victor Lado, a video editor; Jacob Benjamin, a contributor; and Cherbek Ruben and Joval Toombe, control-room employees; Patrick Oyet, the president of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan, told Reuters.

Oyet added that the journalists “are suspected of having knowledge on how the video of the president urinating himself came out,” and added that “we are concerned because those who are detained now have stayed longer than what the law says.” 

Oyet did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for an update. 

Muthoki Mumo, the sub-Saharan Africa representative of the international organization the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the arrests “matches a pattern of security personnel resorting to arbitrary detention whenever officials deem coverage unfavorable.” She added that, “South Sudanese authorities should immediately and unconditionally release all journalists detained this week and ensure the press can work freely.”

The video of the incident has sparked debates online surrounding the journalists, their arrest, and President Kiir’s health. 

Tweeting in support of the South Sudanese president, the Nigerian senator Shehu Sani said: “This may be a urinary sickness or an extreme act of patriotism; refusal to excuse himself while the national anthem was being played.”

Others called for the 71-year-old president to retire. For example, Esther Ang’awa, a Kenyan lawyer, said, “I expected President Kiir to have honorably retired on health grounds by now.”

Kiir has been the president of South Sudan since its independence in 2011.

• Tesla has slashed the prices of its Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV between 6% and 20% in the US.
• The EV maker also slashed prices in Europe — including Germany and France.
• The price cuts are a reversal from 2022, when Tesla hiked prices several times amid supply chain disruptions.

Tesla buyers in the US and part of Europe can now rejoice — the electric vehicle, or EV, is now cheaper by up to one-fifth of its cost. 

The price cut mirrors those in other markets, after the EV maker missed market expectations for deliveries in the fourth quarter.

Prices of the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV were slashed on Thursday. The discounts range from 6% to 20%, per Reuters’ calculations.

The price of a dual motor all-wheel drive Model 3 is now $53,990 in the US — 14% cheaper than the previous price tag of $62,990. Meanwhile, the long range Model Y now costs $52,990 — a 20% price cut from its sticker price of $65,990 previously.

The prices are before a $7,500 tax credit on new EVs that is part of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, passed in August last year.

Tesla also slashed EV prices in the European markets like Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France, per Reuters. The price cuts for the the Model 3 and Model Y in Germany range between 1% to 17%, the news agency reported.

The carmaker’s latest price cuts came after similar moves in China, Japan, South Korea, and Australia, in a bid to boost demand for cars made in Tesla’s Shanghai factory, Reuters reported last week, citing a person with direct knowledge of the plan.

The discounts are a reversal from Tesla’s earlier strategy in 2022, when the EV maker hiked prices several times amid supply chain disruptions, even though there were concerns about a broader economic slowdown.

While Tesla delivered a record 1.3 million EVs in 2022, its deliveries fell short of market estimates in the fourth quarter of the year, disappointing investors who were already concerned that CEO Elon Musk was spreading himself too thin after his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. Musk is also the new CEO of Twitter.

At the end of 2022, Tesla was offering a rare $7,500 discount on its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. The discount expired in December.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note last Wednesday that Tesla faces “a fork in the road” in 2023 as it faces increasing competition and lower demand.

Tesla’s share price is down 64% from a year ago. They were 4.8% lower at $117.75 apiece in after hours trade on Friday.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment sent outside regular business hours. 

• Jon Llewellyn works at Snow Business International, a company that produces fake snow.
• Much of the work is helping create winter landscapes for film and TV shows that shoot in summer.
• “I don’t work for a living — I have fun for a living,” he said.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Jon Llewellyn, a 51-year-old snow project manager who makes fake snow for TV and films. It’s been edited for length and clarity.

I work at Snow Business International, where we make fake snow for all kinds of movie sets and more.

I’ve been here the longest apart from the boss. People contact us, we go and look at the location, and then I tell them what’s possible and what’s not.

Before I started working here I had all sorts of jobs. I tried engineering. I worked in security. I applied for a vacancy on a whim and found myself on one of my early jobs helping to cover the whole of Bond Street in London in fake snow, an accomplishment recognized by Guinness World Records.

As soon as I joined the company, I knew I wanted to stay — I saw everyone walking around with huge grins on their faces. After all these years on the job, I haven’t lost that grin. I don’t work for a living — I have fun for a living.

People call us when they want to turn a film shoot into a winter wonderland, and we have over 200 types of snow for any possible effect the client wants

Usually, we put a snow membrane on the ground underneath any fake snow. That helps protect the ground, and if the snow moves, there’s still white underneath.

As for the core products, the most popular is called SnowBase. It’s roughly 80% cellulose and 20% uncompacted paper — this type takes on water, so it’s perfect for that kind of discolored “dirty snow” on streets outside.

Then there are other types that are cleaner and smoother. We also work with waxy materials, sprayed on as hot wax and used to mimic the appearance of ice. That’s often how films shoot icy lakes. We used that technique for “Fantastic Beasts,” “Maleficent,” and “Murder on the Orient Express.”

For snowballs we use paper snow. During snowball fights, we can make it break or stick to a wall, just like the real thing.

There’s so much variety in this job. I’ve worked for Hollywood movies, Bond films, Netflix TV shows, luxury-fashion brands, and supermarket Christmas ads. I’ve also dressed big, stately homes for things like “Downton Abbey.”

There’s a lot of secrecy around Christmas TV ads in the UK

People talk, so we use code names to muddy the water. It’s kept very quiet ahead of release.

I remember one August doing the 2014 Christmas ad for the retailer John Lewis — which is practically an annual tradition in the UK — and covering a hillside in fake snow. I got to go sledding in summer in England. In what other jobs can you do that?

I’m a big sports fan. In 2021, I worked on the Sports Direct holiday ad. Being on set with footballers like Jack Grealish, Jordan Pickford, and Mason Mount was great, and they were all so lovely. People are always fascinated by what the “snow” is made of.

One year, I worked on a Robbie Williams’ Christmas music video, so there I was, in his garden, making it snowy.

The cleanup can be hard work. We have to make sure we don’t leave a trace behind. It’s painstaking, but with the right products and the right prep, you can do it easily.

Jon Llewellyn

Recently, we cleaned up this entire area of fake snow on a shoot in Ireland. The very next week, it snowed for real. It looked exactly the same.

It’s quite comical because the Christmas ads need to be shot ahead of time. The earliest one I did was in January, and they had the idea of feeding the crew Christmas dinners, barely a month after the real thing.

But most of the holiday ads are filmed in the summer months. We try to hide the fresh flowers. And you get actors wearing these huge duffle coats or tweed outfits getting very hot and disrobing as soon as the director says cut.

I was involved in the film “Mr. Holmes” a few years ago for an ash shoot, and I remember Ian McKellen boiling. They had fans on set, but you could see he was sweating.

As for us snow technicians, we turn up in shorts, T-shirts, and sunglasses — you need them to avoid headaches, as the snow can be so bright as it reflects the summer sun.

When you watch your handiwork afterward, it’s hard not to watch it with a very critical eye

I’m a bit of a snow geek. I’m always looking for my mistakes, for how it could be done better next time, but I’m usually happy with it.

After 15 years, it also affects how I watch other snowy films. I’ve watched some old films, great films, but I’m thinking, “Hang on. That ice is wonky.” The telltale sign is snow going vertical — snow doesn’t go up walls or up trees — or foam on the floor that wobbles like jelly. I try to keep it to myself, but sometimes, my family can tell it’s bugging me.

As for my twins, they loved growing up with me doing this job. On their birth certificates, my occupation is listed as “snowman.” But now that they’re 13, I think they get a bit embarrassed by it when they see me on TV talking about it.

When it snows here for real, like recently where I live in Stroud, England, I’m always comparing that with our work and making sure we’re being as accurate as possible.

I went around taking snow pictures. But it’s funny because I thought it looked a bit unrealistic on the cars, even though it was real snow.