Author: knjohn

Can Kellogg Save Cereal by Selling It as a Snack Food? | Bloomberg

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Millennials are GRRREAT!

That, anyway, is what Kellogg Co. is banking on to help revive soggy cereal demand. Tony the Tiger and its other ageless characters have been losing the breakfast battle for years, so Kellogg is repositioning some of its brands as a snack for the nation’s largest demographic: people born from the early 1980s to about 2000.

While total U.S. cereal sales have fallen 8.8 percent since 2012, the share eaten in the afternoon and evening has risen steadily in recent years, hitting about 35 percent in 2015, according to the Battle Creek, Michigan-based company. That’s partly because millennials have embraced Froot Loops and Smorz as indulgent snacks, says Craig Bahner, president of Kellogg’s U.S. Morning Foods division. To ride the trend, Kellogg is repackaging products including Frosted Flakes and Special K in grab-and-go containers and emphasizing the nostalgic pull of cereal as a late-night treat.

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Why I moved my startup from San Francisco to San Diego | TechCrunch

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San Francisco has long been hailed the home of the tech startup — the place to be for entrepreneurs looking to lay the foundation for the next big thing. As a mobile app platform with high aspirations, we joined the mix, sharing an area code for four years with the lauded engineers of Silicon Valley and inserting ourselves into the supposed center of the tech world. It seemed like the best possible move.

And for a while, it was.

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Can You Require a Switch to Direct Deposit? | Payroll Link

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083115_Thinkstock_125938356_lores_KKIt may not be long before paper paychecks go the way of the five-and-dime store and the VCR. They may soon become obsolete as “direct deposit” into bank accounts is the predominant method of paying employees. And why not? All of the banking — including depositing the amounts into the employee’s account and acceptance of the funds — can be completed with just a few clicks of a mouse. Employees don’t have to worry about losing their checks and it reduces payroll hassles for employers.

The move to the direct deposit method won’t be a change for the vast majority of U.S. employees. According to one survey by the American Payroll Association, 96% of employees are already using direct deposit. Chances are it’s even more common for workers located in remote sites. No more waiting for checks to arrive by snail mail and no trips to the bank to deposit the checks.

While we remain in the final transition period from paper to electronic payment, several questions may be raised about this technology.

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Why Cash Is Worth Fighting For | Co.Exist

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Financial writer Dominic Frisby is worried about the War on Cash. In the Guardian, he argues that the end of cash would be disastrous for all of us, from the poorest unbanked citizens to the regular Joe who just wants to own his own money, and to spend it—or save it—however he likes.

What concerns me is the unofficial war on cash that is going on, from the suspicion with which you are treated if you ever use large sums of cash to the campaign in Europe to decommission the €500 note. I’m not sure the consequences have been properly considered.

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California’s $15 Minimum Wage Deal Will Cause Unemployment–And We Have Proof Of This | Forbes

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California has reached a deal which will raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next few years. It’s likely to be formally announced by Jerry Brown later today. Such a deal raises such hopes, doesn’t it? All those poorly paid workers in Los Angeles and San Francisco will be able to pay their way in life. And yet there’s always that nagging doubt that such price fixing might turn around and bite us. And we actually do have proof of this: a report about what a $15 minimum wage will do to employment in Los Angeles City. This is not, by the way, a report by some from market fundamentalist like myself. This is from Michael Reich et al at Berkeley, stout supporters of a rise to $15. And yet even their report states that the net effect will be fewer jobs. And that’s after they play rather fast and loose with one of the major effects they are thinking of.

There’s also the problem that not all of California is all that rich so the towns of the Central Valley are going to have a much harder time. This simply isn’t going to work out well.

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Complaining Is Terrible for You, According to Science | Inc.com

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Why do people complain? Not to torture others with their negativity, surely. When most of us indulge in a bit of a moan, the idea is to “vent.” By getting our emotions out, we reason, we’ll feel better.

But science suggests there are a few serious flaws in that reasoning. One, not only does expressing negativity tend not to make us feel better, it’s also catching, making listeners feel worse. “People don’t break wind in elevators more than they have to. Venting anger is…similar to emotional farting in a closed area. It sounds like a good idea, but it’s dead wrong,” psychologist Jeffrey Lohr, who has studied venting, memorably explained.

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YouTube Is the Unsung Juggernaut of This Election Season | WIRED

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THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION season—okay circus—has been a ratings boon for network and cable news. Recently, CBS CEO Les Moonves even praised Donald Trump’s candidacy, saying, “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.”

But television networks aren’t the only ones benefiting from all this eye guzzling of political news. According to a new YouTube report released today, since April 2015, when most candidates began announcing their campaigns, a whopping 110 million hours of candidate- and issue-related content has been watched on YouTube.

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