Commentary: The Trend That’s Killing Startup Innovation

tech Mergers and acquisitions in the high-tech sector have reached historic levels. Deloitte projects “M&A activity to continue accelerating” in 2018, driven mostly by technology acquisition as the big players gobble up the smaller innovators. Big tech is flush and ready to buy out any upstarts with technology that represents a threat. In this competitive landscape, tech startups face a dilemma: take the deal or go it alone?   There is no easy answer...

Read More...

Walmart vs Amazon vs Delivery Apps, Who Wins the Grocery Wars?

mobile ecommerce staffing Bay Area

The Automated Grocery War Between Walmart, Amazon and Delivery Apps

Amazon is making big strides to compete with Walmart for the grocery market, having purchased Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. This acquisition puts the company in direct competition with Walmart's established online business, currently offering online grocery shopping, delivery (for most), and pickup.  Read More...

What to Eat Before You Exercise, According to Science

eating before exercise When it comes to exercise, what you eat and drink beforehand matters. After all, no one wants to cut a workout short because of a food-induced cramp, or call it quits because they haven’t eaten in hours and have no energy. Torey Jones Armul, RD, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, notes that “the benefit to eating before a workout is that research has shown that...

Read More...

Silicon Valley is Trying to Stop the U.S. Senate From Taxing Employees’ Stocks While Their Companies are Private

hub consulting   Top Silicon Valley investors and leading companies like Airbnb and Uber are beginning to mobilize against the U.S. Senate’s tax reform bill, fearing a provision that would change how employees get taxed on any shares they receive as part of their compensation.   The Senate measure, introduced last week, specifically would tax shareholders of private companies at the time that their shares are vested — so, when an employee formally acquires the...

Read More...

The Economics of the Office: Why Do We Still Commute?

commute economics

Over the last year, many companies have ended their liberal work-from-home policies. Firms like IBM, Honeywell, and Aetna joined a long list of others that have deemed it more profitable to force employees to commute to the city and work in a central office than give them the flexibility to work where they want. It wasn't supposed to be this way—at least according to Norman Macrae.   In 1975, when...

Read More...

The Tech That Powers Bitcoin Could Tackle Corruption

bitcoin The price of bitcoin, the original and most valuable digital currency, rose to a record high of nearly $8,000 on Wednesday — close to a 900% jump in 2017 alone.   Bitcoin started as an experiment eight years ago in an attempt to create a global, decentralized store of value. These days it behaves less like a currency and more like a stock, operating in an extremely volatile, multi-billion dollar market that...

Read More...

The Amazon-Whole Foods Deal Could Have Killed Instacart. Instead, The Startup Is Stronger Than Ever

  As the obits piled up, Apoorva Mehta couldn't help but shake his head. It wasn't his death that the press was heralding, but that of his startup, Instacart, a five-year-old grocery and retail delivery service valued at $3.4 billion. That morning in mid-June, Amazon stunned the world by announcing its purchase of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. As shares of grocery chains plunged, many in the tech press noted that few...

Read More...

China Internet Trends 2017

Internet Trends China UX design IOT

Selected by Inc's Magazine as one of the Silicon Valley’s investors you must know, Edith Yeung is the head of 500 Startups Greater China and partner of 500 Mobile Collective Fund. Edith invested in over 40 mobile, VR, AR, AI and machine learning startups, including Hooked - #1 reading app for millennium, DayDayCook - #1 Asian Cooking media and platform, Fleksy (acquired by Pinterest), Human...

Read More...

A counterintelligence expert says there are 4 types of people — and you can’t earn someone’s trust without knowing theirs

communication tips hub consutling IOT UX At some point during his career with the FBI, Robin Dreeke abandoned the "golden rule" — the old adage that you should treat others as you would like to be treated.   He replaced it with another guideline, this one from author and speaker Tony Alessandra, called the "platinum rule": Treat others as they want to be treated. Talk in terms of what's important to them, in a...

Read More...