Is Kroger going to buy Whole Foods? | Money CNN

October 10, 2016October 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Will $6 bottles of asparagus water soon be coming to a Kroger, Ralphs or Harris Teeter near you? Whole Foods stock shot up 5% Thursday and briefly rose again Friday on chatter that supermarket king Kroger may want to buy the troubled organic grocer.

But is Whole Foods (WFM) really for sale? Investors may need to take these rumors with several grains of Himalayan pink sea salt.

For one, Whole Foods is still facing many challenges, mostly stemming from bad press about its high prices. The company settled charges of price gouging with regulators in New York City last year, but the company’s Whole Paycheck image persists.

More Entrepreneurs Needed: Women Hold the Key to Economic Expansion | Getentrepreneurial.com

October 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

According to a report conducted by the Kauffman Foundation, supporting women-led businesses could have a huge positive impact on the economic growth of the U.S. Over the last few decades, more women have started to enter the workforce, and they began to outshine males in degrees. This led to women helping the U.S. economy by creating huge economic gains.

However, many have said that the annual economic growth of 3 percent has slowed down with the Kaufmann report suggesting that this could hit a low of 2 percent in the next few years. What’s the answer to boosting this growth again? Women.

47 Premium Invoicing Solutions With and Without Free Trials | Small Biz Trends

October 7, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Invoicing software is hugely important to small businesses. It’s the way to get paid and the more effortless the better so that as a small business owner you can focus on other things.

You’ve already seen 48 completely free invoicing software solutions. Now it’s time to examine 47 Premium Invoicing Solutions With and Without Free Trials below:

Select an Online Bill Generator from these Premium Invoicing Solutions

17 Hats is an all-in-one business system for entrepreneurs. It includes multiple tools including invoice templates, bookkeeping, contacts, contracts, project management, a calendar, time tracking, to-do lists, and more. Initially, it costs $299 for the two-year plan; however, existing users receive a $50 discount when they add another two years to their plan ($249 for two years) or choose to add five years to their existing plan for $499. All plans are identical. There is a 30-day money back guarantee on the initial plan. There is a 15-day free trial available as well.

An unpleasant online ad for a house is a surprise hit | Mashable

October 7, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When trying to sell something, you’d put your best foot forward to seal yourself a deal.

Not for home owner Kobie Hughes, who struggled to get interest for her home in the Australian city of Perth with a straight-laced ad. So she decided to do the opposite and make the place sound abhorrent.

While it might appear to be a typical suburban two bedroom home, Hughes has pitched it as a “Financial Black Hole for Rent” on classifieds website Gumtree.

Sign up and you won’t be dealing with landlords, she like prefers the term “Earth Guardians.” It’s an effort to “try and remarket Medina to hippies.”

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: Movie theaters hurting the industry | Business Insider

October 7, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings thinks the state of film is a “real tragedy” and that movie theaters are “strangling the movie business,” he said at The New Yorker’s Tech Fest on Friday.

Netflix has long faced off against the giants of the movie theater business, who have largely refused to show Netflix’s original films in theaters because of Netflix’s commitment to making them available to stream on the same day they appear on the big screen.

That could be changing — but only a little bit.

Can We Design An On-Demand Economy That Will Work For Everyone? | Co.Exist

October 6, 2016October 5, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

On weekends, LaNeisha, a 33-year-old in San Francisco, borrows a friend’s car to drive for Uber. When she discovered that she could rent out her closet for $290 through a startup called Roost, she turned it into a storage unit. She finds other gigs on Craiglist. For LaNeisha, who struggled to find work otherwise, it’s a way to survive. But it’s not easy.

A new report looks at the workers of the on-demand economy—from Lyft drivers and EatWith chefs to former McKinsey consultants who now use Catalant to find clients—and argues that we need to redesign platforms and policies so all of those workers can have sustainable livelihoods.

Facebook Finishes Its “Secret Conversations” Encryption Rollout to Messenger Users | WIRED

October 6, 2016October 5, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

LAST SPRING WHATSAPP pushed out code adding a new layer of security to a billion users’ apps, creating the largest end-to-end encrypted messaging network in history. Now WhatsApp’s parent company Facebook has finally given people who use its other massively popular chat app the chance to catch up.

A Facebook spokesperson tells WIRED the company just finished rolling out “Secret Conversations” to all 900 million Facebook Messenger users in the past few weeks. The opt-in feature allows users to encrypt their messages so that no one can read them except the two people on either end of a conversation—not even Facebook or law enforcement or intelligence agencies. “Your messages are already secure, but Secret Conversations are encrypted from one device to another,” states a description in the app when users initiate their first encrypted conversation.

Jack Dorsey Is Losing Control of Twitter | Bloomberg

October 6, 2016October 5, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A few days before Twitter’s Sept. 8 board meeting, as the company’s finance team readied a presentation, it received conflicting directions on a crucial question. Should their slides reflect Twitter’s prospects as an independent company or delve into the benefits of getting acquired?

Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s chief executive officer, argued that the 10-year-old company should remain on its current course and work to capitalize on recent product improvements and success in streaming live video, people familiar with the discussions said. Ev Williams, a former CEO who has a history of clashing with Dorsey, was in favor of exploring a sale. Other directors agreed they had a fiduciary duty to consider that option. The board ultimately decided to consider takeover prospects after getting an expression of interest from a potential acquirer, which led it to hire Goldman Sachs and Allen & Co. to evaluate possible bids.

7 Tasks You Do Every Day That Waste Time and Cost Your Business Money | Entrepreneur

October 5, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

No business is 100 percent productive all day, every day. On-site employees will stand by the coffeepot in the morning, discussing last night’s game at length. Remote workers will take a few minutes to let the dog out or have a conversation with a neighbor, who stopped by. Both types of employees will occasionally take long lunch breaks, and check their personal social media accounts throughout the day.

While these small interruptions cut into a business’ bottom line, they aren’t the only productivity thieves companies have. In fact, some of the biggest time-wasters are things leaders themselves ask employees to do. Here are seven tasks employees engage in every day that hurt a business’ bottom line.

Ex-Tesla rival Fisker rejoins electric car race | BBC News

October 5, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Tesla’s former rival in pioneering electric cars, Henrik Fisker, has re-entered the electric car market announcing two new models.

Mr Fisker’s previous company, Fisker Automotive, founded in 2007, built luxury cars popular with celebrities until its high profile 2013 bankruptcy.

For his new venture, Mr Fisker has announced both a high-end car as well as an affordable mass-market model.

Carmakers worldwide are increasingly focusing on the electric market.

Reviving his rivalry with Tesla, Mr Fisker promised “a significantly longer battery life and range than any battery currently on the market”.