Whole Foods gets warning letter from FDA | Money CNN

June 15, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When it rains, it pours for Whole Foods. Literally, it seems.

The Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to Whole Foods co-CEOs John Mackey and Walter Robb about what the FDA called “serious violations” it found after inspecting a Whole Foods food preparation facility in Everett, MA, in February.

The FDA said in the letter — dated June 8 — that it found various items, including pesto pasta, mushroom quesadillas, egg salad and couscous, were in areas where “condensate” was leaking from ceiling joints, a doorway and condenser fan.

How Can Big Data Help You In Your Business | Getentrepreneurial.com

June 15, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Data is one of the most important things that your business can possess. It will tell you if your are making the most profitable choice for your company or whether you may want to think about adjusting how you complete a job for a client. What kind of data can be useful when creating and growing a profitable enterprise?

Know Where Your Customers Are

Let’s say that you want to start a grout cleaning business in your neighborhood. While there very well be a market for that, you don’t know unless you have the information that supports your hypothesis. For instance, you will want to know how many homes or housing developments are located in your area.

Better late than never? Microsoft missed a chance to buy LinkedIn for $1.5 billion | Mashable

June 14, 2016June 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Microsoft’s blockbuster $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn on Monday may have come out of left field, but it was a courtship many years in the making.

From LinkedIn’s earliest days after launching 14 years ago, Microsoft was considered the only possible “logical buyer,” according to one LinkedIn insider.

The problem was Microsoft — like most of its peers — didn’t see the logic in buying LinkedIn.

“People never fully understood the value LinkedIn was creating until after they went public,” says Mark Kvamme, an early LinkedIn investor and former member of its board of directors. “No one ever truly understood the value of what Reid [Hoffman, founder] and Jeff [Weiner, CEO] were building.”

Startups Are Giving Unwanted Foods New Life | Co.Exist

June 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Food waste isn’t a new problem. People have been grumbling about squandered produce for years. Now entrepreneurs are starting to do something about it: Recently we’ve come across several initiatives that attack the issue in new ways.

One of those is Cerplus, a marketplace for wasted food in the Bay Area. Set up by Zoe Wong in November 2015, it matches food that farmers and wholesalers can’t sell through conventional channels with buyers like restaurants and smoothie-makers. So far, about 16,000 pounds of zucchini, broccoli, strawberries, and the like, have been transacted through the system, she says.

Brexit Europe risk | Business Insider

June 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Everyone is suddenly talking about the coming Brexit vote.

With Britain preparing to vote in a June 23 referendum on whether to leave the European Union, the latest polls seem to suggest that Brits are leaning toward Leave:

The ICM phone and online poll: Remain 47% / Leave 53%

ORB phone poll: Remain 48% / Leave 49%

YouGov online poll: Remain 39% / Leave 46%

Why You Can’t (and Shouldn’t) Avoid Mobile Optimization Anymore | HigherVisibility

June 13, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

For quite some time now, we’ve looked at the optimization and experience of mobile as an option rather than a necessity-the added boost to really keep your site and campaign efforts kicking and competitive. But less than being an added boost has mobile optimization become an absolute must, as user and device research indicates an irrefutable shift away from the traditional desktop and towards smart phones.

As you may or may not have already heard, recent reports show that more Google searches were completed on mobile devices than desktops. Even more interestingly, data revealed that mobile searches result in a considerably high number of purchases and foot traffic into local businesses-much more so than desktop searches. If these observations represent the latest of search habits, then mobile optimization is unavoidable on a monetary basis alone. But money isn’t the only reason it’s time to invest in mobile optimization.

UpLamp Turns Your Smartphone Into a Smart Gesture-Controlled Bedside Lamp | Cool Business Ideas

June 13, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

We use our smartphones for everything. From talking to texting to general surfing, our phones transform our lives into a connected universe of bliss. However, what if our smartphones could transform something as simple as a plastic shell, into a lamp? With UpLamp, the newest design from Product.

UpLamp uses your smartphone’s LED light to light up a plastic shell made of glowing resin, effectively turning your smartphone into a smart lamp. UpLamp comes with a companion app, enabling smart features such as:

Etsy Brings Together Small Designers, Big Retailers With “Open Call” | Small Biz Trends

June 13, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ 1 Comment

What if you could pitch your products to a dream retailer like Nordstrom?

Etsy, known for being an innovative online marketplace for consumers to source handmade and other items from independent designers for their homes, wardrobes and more, is set to help members of its Etsy Wholesale community do just that. The company is bringing together small designers and heavy-hitting retailers from across the country via its Open Call program.

Now in its second year running, the Etsy Open Call program brings together buyers from top retail stores in the country and fresh talent from the Etsy Wholesale community through a series of live and online events to create pathways for valuable business partnerships.

Why Bumble’s Anti-Bullying Open Letter to a Male User Is Totally on Brand | Entrepreneur

June 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

On Bumble, women seeking men have to initiate the conversation. The app, which aims to prevent sexual harassment, does not enable men to make the first move. But that’s not where Bumble’s advocacy for women ends.

The dating app’s women-first approach prompted Ashley Helmbreck to message one of her matches, Connor, with a benign question, “How’s it going?” Connor responded, “Great, thanks and yourself?” Ashley followed up with, “Pretty slow at work” and “What do you do?”

Instead of providing a straight answer, Connor immediately took offense. That’s when the conversation took the turn that prompted Bumble to defend Ashley with an open letter shaming him for his behavior.

Airbnb Is None Too Pleased About San Francisco’s New Crackdown | WIRED

June 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

AIRBNB IS SPEAKING out against tough new legislation in San Francisco that would require short-term rental sites to police their own listings for properties that violate city regulations.

This week, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted 10-0 to toughen short-term rental laws already on the books. The city already requires hosts renting out their places on Airbnb to register with the city, though that’s proven difficult to enforce. But with a bulked-up progressive majority following the election of Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who campaigned on housing affordability, the board decided it needed to crack down harder. The new rules demand that Airbnb and sites like it only publish listings that include an official registration number that shows the property is officially approved by the city as a short-term rental. Sites that don’t comply could face fines of up to $1,000 daily for each listing in violation.