LinkedIn Tries to Do Trending News in a Non-Disastrous Way | WIRED

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YOU’D THINK INTERNET companies would want to stay far, far away from “trending” news, given one Menlo Park–based social giant’s unfortunate history. But LinkedIn has decided to try. The Microsoft-owned company doesn’t criticize Facebook directly. But its pitch for its new feature clearly telegraphs that it intends to avoid the pitfalls into which Facebook stumbled.

LinkedIn’s Trending Storylines will start appearing in the US today and to international users soon after. A new Trending tab will appear on mobile homescreens and on the top right of the LinkedIn homepage. As befits a social network that specializes in professional connections, the links will focus on business news—technology, health care, and finance—to start.

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Why Virgin America Will Soon Cease To Exist | Forbes

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The Virgin America name is being permanently grounded.

Alaska Airlines, which bought the airline for $2.6 billion last year, said on Wednesday it has decided to ditch Virgin America’s brand name and logo sometime in 2019.

However, it will hang on to certain signature features, like mood lighting, music and enhanced in-flight entertainment.

“While the Virgin America name is beloved to many, we concluded that to be successful on the West Coast we had to do so under one name – for consistency and efficiency, and to allow us to continue to deliver low fares,” said Sangita Woerner, Alaska Airlines’ vice president of marketing.

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This Brooklyn Company Just Introduced a Way Cool Folding Chair (Yes, That’s Possible) | Inc.com

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Jessica Banks designs magic tricks. The thing is, Banks’s magic tricks are disguised as furniture.

She’s the founder of RockPaperRobot, a robotics furniture maker in Brooklyn. Her newest offering, the Ollie chair, is her company’s first attempt to appeal to a mass-market audience and to make her sleight of hand more accessible to the not-ultra-rich — without breaking the bank herself. To fund, manufacture, and sell the chairs, RockPaperRobot turned to Kickstarter. The campaign has raised $220,000 so far, well beyond its initial goal of $80,000, and will end on March 29 at 9 a.m. ET.

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How To Prioritize Your Ecommerce Startup | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

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Electronic commerce, or ecommerce, can do almost everything that a brick-and-mortar store can do. Moreover, it’s cheaper to set up, easier to attract buyer traffic, easier to process orders, and easier to distribute electronic or physical goods. And your store is open 24/7 and can reach customers all over the world.

Since ecommerce is so flexible, many entrepreneurs launch their startups as ecommerce ventures. Instead of spending 6 figures to build a full scale business that may or may not work, it’s possible to build one with 5 figures to see how things work out. If the business happens to be as successful as envisioned, it can then be scaled up.

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Reality Television isn’t Reality: My Journey to Startup Success | The Startup Magazine

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While popular TV shows like ‘Shark Tank’ may make it look like it’s easy for startups to secure funding, the reality isn’t always so kind. The harsh truth is that ‘Shark Tank’ scenarios do not exist in the real world: as an entrepreneur, it is highly unlikely that you are going to find yourself in a situation where four millionaires are sitting in front of you, attentive, and ready to enter into a bidding war over investment in your company. Reality is much more complicated and, unfortunately, an entrepreneur’s road to success isn’t as cut and dry as TV might make it seem.

Luckily, there are strategies that help increase your odds of success. I’m here to share those strategies and let you in on how my team and I earned the holy grail of the startup world: a funding win from an angel investment competition.

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Airline electronics ban: What you need to know | Money CNN

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Flying to the U.S. and Britain from airports in the Middle East and North Africa just got a lot more complicated.

The Trump administration has ordered nine airlines to stop passengers from bringing most types of electronic devices — not including smartphones — into the cabin for U.S.-bound flights. Instead, those devices must be checked in.

The U.K. government has announced similar restrictions.

The sudden moves, attributed to concerns about potential terrorist attacks, create a new headache for airline staff and passengers.

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How Small Businesses Are Using AI Chatbots in 2017 | Business News Daily

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Artificially intelligent chatbots aren’t just for Fortune 500 companies anymore. Thanks to a slew of innovative bot ventures that focus on the user experience, small business owners are now using AI technology to improve daily operations, connect with clients and increase sales. Heavy hitters like Mark Zuckerberg and Satya Nadella have publicly touted the value of AI chatbot technology, and with Google investing in Allo, Facebook’s launch of Messenger, Windows’ rollout of Cortana, and the early success of Operator and Telegram, it’s reasonable to assume that AI chatbots are going to be ubiquitous.

Here’s how early adopters in the small business category are currently engaging with AI chatbot technology through subscription services, custom builds, free services and beta testing.

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5 Effective Signage Tips To Promote Your Business | Getentrepreneurial.com

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In this fast-paced tech-oriented world, more and more people are focusing their advertising efforts towards online and mobile marketing practices. This is perfectly understandable; as more than half of all internet traffic is now coming from a mobile device. However, when it comes to grabbing the people attention, it may be sometimes better to use an old-fashioned, well-thought-out graphic sign. And the design that goes into making a sign can have a substantial influence on the number of new customers your company could potentially acquire. That said, here are 5 signage tips you can use to help better promote your business.

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Apple finally kills off 16GB iPhone SE, now you get 32GB for $399 | TechCrunch

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Rejoice lovers of petite-sized iPhones, for Apple is granting additional storage bounty — announcing today it’s doubling the current storage capacity of the iPhone SE.

The new four-inch display iPhone comes with either 32GB or 128GB on board storage, replacing the prior 16GB and 64GB models — but with only a small price-tag bump for the more capacious model (+ $50, to $499), and no price change for the $399 starter model.

As with all iOS devices there’s no ability for users to expand storage capacity themselves via a removable memory card. You get what you’re given on the storage front — so being given more is very welcome.

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