Self-order kiosks don’t just help big chains, Long Island fast casual learns | Fast Casual

August 9, 2017August 9, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Self-order kiosks are one of the fastest growing technologies in the restaurant industry today, with several of the nation’s leading chains deploying these customer conveniences. While the big chains move forward on this front, will independents and chains that are not as well capitalized as their larger competitors be left behind?

LI Pour House Bar and Grill, a fast casual independent in Port Jefferson Station, New York, recently deployed self-order tabletop kiosks on all of its tables and has found the convenience very popular with customers. Customers can order and pay when they want. Owner Anthony Pallino found what he considers an affordable kiosk that has proved reliable and has improved sales and made his operation more efficient.

Cities Are Becoming Sanctuaries For Climate Policy, Too | Fast Company

August 9, 2017August 9, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday, The New York Times published a complete draft of a climate change report by scientists from 13 federal agencies. According to the Times, its authors feared the Trump administration would suppress its conclusions–including its statement, made with “very high confidence,” that human activities are the primary cause of global climate change.

The 600-plus page report is an expansive look at the state of existing climate science, detailing rising temperatures, increased precipitation, extreme weather like tornadoes and cyclones, and much more. But since it “directly contradicts” the president’s stance on climate change, it’s also kindling for the ongoing debate over the climate on the federal level–one that’s unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.

Is it Possible to start a Profitable Business in UK despite inflation and Economic stress? | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

August 7, 2017August 7, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

No matter the economic situation of a country, be it the UK or otherwise, there are always businesses within that environment that are delivering services or goods and making huge profits. Even war torn countries, have those within them that are legally profiting and prospering. So while the current state of a country’s economy might be a factor that’s capable of determining the success or failure of a business operating within that economy, a much bigger determining factor is the competence of a business person as well as his/her capability to use any economic situation to their advantage.

To be able to take advantage of what might seem like a bad situation to the average person, an entrepreneur simply needs to ask his/herself some of the following questions;

The Star Wars Video That Baffled YouTube’s Copyright Cops | WIRED

August 7, 2017August 7, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Every director knows that the score can make the scene. Anyone who’s ever watched a rough cut without soundtrack music can confirm this. Case in point: Something weird happens to the beloved throne room scene that ends the original 1977 Star Wars if you’re crazy enough to delete John Williams’ brassy music from it: Instead of a triumphal award ceremony, it becomes an awkward mime interrupted by sporadic coughing, an occasional strangled yell from the hairy humanoid alien Chewbacca, and tepid applause from a crowd of Rebel troopers.

Fans of the YouTube channel Auralnauts, which posted the doctored Star Wars scene in 2014 as a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the emotional power of Williams’ score, loved it for that weirdness. But another set of viewers—those with the rights to the movie’s soundtrack—tuned in to these sounds of silence and heard something else: the ka-ching of a cash register.

Eight Lessons Entrepreneurs Don’t Want To Learn The Hard Way | Forbes

August 7, 2017August 7, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When you first start out running your own business, there are a ton of things to keep track of. Not only do you need to make sure there’s demand for what you’re offering, you need to worry about hiring the best staff and communicating what you’re doing to your customer base. You also need to make sure that you know when to follow your intuition and when you need to listen to sage advice —which isn’t always an easy task.

Members from Young Entrepreneur Council below share a few places where they misstepped and what they learned from it.

U.S. Employers Add 209,000 Jobs in July, Unemployment Drops to 4.3 Percent | Inc.com

August 4, 2017August 4, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

U.S. employers added 209,000 jobs in July, a second straight month of robust gains that underscore the economy’s vitality as it enters a ninth year of expansion.

The unemployment rate slipped to 4.3 percent from 4.4 percent, matching a 16-year low first reached in May, the Labor Department said Friday.

But growth in Americans’ paychecks — a persistent weak spot since the recovery began in June 2009 — remains stubbornly slow. Average hourly pay rose by 2.5 percent from a year earlier, the same tepid annual pace as in June. That’s below the 3.5 percent to 4 percent that is typical when the unemployment rate is this low.

Stepping Up: How This Mother-Daughter Business Duo is Caring for their Future | Business News Daily

August 4, 2017August 4, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When my husband Jeff and I first came across Caring Transitions, we knew it was the perfect opportunity for us to leave the corporate world and start our own business. We were drawn to the company’s focus on helping the senior community, and saw the need for its services in the Dallas area.

We worked feverishly on building an amazing team to support the growing demand for senior services and our dreams of owning and operating our own company were coming to fruition. In the midst of our dreams, Jeff was diagnosed with cancer and lost his brave battle last year. It was almost serendipitous that my daughter Nicole stepped up to join me as co-owner of Caring Transitions of North Dallas Suburbs.

Credit Card Rewards Are Playing Harder to Get | Bloomberg

August 4, 2017August 4, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Citigroup Inc. just unveiled an updated version of its premium credit card, the Citi Prestige. The new card is made of metal—like its direct competitors, Chase Sapphire Reserve and American Express Platinum—and comes with attractive perks including free nights at hotels, an annual $250 air travel credit, and a sign-up bonus of 75,000 points, which, according to Citi, are worth $935 in air travel.

There’s a catch, though: To get those 75,000 points, cardholders must spend $7,500 on the card in the first three months.

Bitcoin split in two, here’s what that means | CNN Money

August 2, 2017August 2, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

All eyes were on bitcoin on Tuesday as the digital currency split in two.

After ongoing debates over how to scale the digital currency called bitcoin, some people have decided to make an entirely new currency called Bitcoin Cash.

It’s a bit complicated for those who aren’t in the bitcoin weeds. Essentially, political, technological, and ideological debates about growing bitcoin have come to a head. And some say that an entirely new currency called Bitcoin Cash could help scale bitcoin and bring it to the masses.

Reasons your pay isn’t going up | Business Insider

August 2, 2017August 2, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and other top economists say productivity is the key to long-run wage growth for American workers. That would be true — if only the fruits of economic expansion were actually trickling to average incomes. International Monetary Fund

“If the labor market continues to improve, we will see some pickup in wage growth, but we have at the moment low productivity growth,” Yellen told Congress in her last official testimony of her term as Fed chair, which ends early next year. “That wage growth would be greater over time if productivity growth picks up.”