While emphasis is often placed on employees’ relationships with others, and certainly this has an influence on satisfaction, not as much attention is drawn to the physical work environment of an office. A new trend in how offices function, known as “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) has the potential to change that. This new system could potentially alter the role of physical space in the workplace. Environment matters The American Society of Interior Design conducted a study in which they found that physical workplace design is one of the top three factors that determines satisfaction and performance in an employee....

BucketFeet was founded by Aaron Firestein and Raaja Namani while they were both volunteering in Buenos Aires. Firestein was wearing sneakers he had drawn on, and Nemani asked him to create a pair of his own. The two combined their talents and formed a company that would celebrate artistic expression while helping to support MAGIC, Love.Futbol, and Children Mending Hearts. BucketFeet features original, screen-printed shoes sold in limited-edition runs. Many of their emerging artists come from backgrounds where they have worked without pay to get started in the industry....

BumpOut is that alternative. This truly portable bluetooth speaker brings style and quality to your pocket. It’s slim body and deafen sound will put any speaker to shame, be it a smartphone speaker or a home theater system. And if you want to make an impact on the millennial market, these characteristics are not just important, they’re a necessity. In addition to the slim body and quality sound, BumpOut offers something that not all speaker do: a simple attachment to your smartphone....

For individual consumers, it can be a little frustrating. No one likes to spend a lot of money on something only to have it become worthless in a short time. Then again, it’s fun seeing what’s new, and being able to have the latest and greatest the moment it becomes available. Businesses, on the other hand, are in a tougher spot. While individuals can quickly adopt new technology, businesses don’t have the same freedom and flexibility....

The ideas these startups presented ranged from improving inpatient care through better communication, to fertility resources, to portable head trauma screening. At the end of the presentations, the judges deliberated for almost a half-hour, but eventually chose two winners to move on to the final round. Domestic Finalist: CancerIQ CancerIQ helps health providers manage patient care and personal treatment plans using advanced data analytics and cancer genomics. The platform provides a suite of applications to help accelerate and streamline the increasingly complex decisions in oncology to help provide the best results for cancer patients....

However, the problems with this game started soon: there are many examples of accidents and traffic-related problems all over the world – from Japan to Massachusetts – and doctors are issuing warnings. Just like it happens with anything else, some Pokémon Go players are oblivious to the most basic safety rules, both for themselves and for other people, leading to this kind of problems. But what if there was a way to “catch ’em all” safely, knowing you are protected in case things like this happen to you?...

Leap will leverage Facebook relationships to post and share challenges. Users can create their own challenges or choose from popular ones such as Hipster Hunt (users snap picture of interesting people in their city) or Breakfast Champion (users eat a healthy breakfast each day of the week). “This gives the users freedom to create their own competitions and gives us an opportunity to observe what communities these challenges are most powerful in,” said co-founder Dickerson....

According the release, 1871 expects between 10 to 15 female-led tech startups to take part in the program, and will be selected not solely from Chicago, but from around the world. Compared to the typical incubator experience, 1871 FEMtech will offer mentorship and programming aimed specifically for female entrepreneurs. For instance, a flexible yet rigorous schedule structured around work-life balance, as well as access to and mentorship from top female business leaders....

I hung up my coding shoes in 2006, but that hasn’t stopped me from hacking on a project here and there over the last few years. But over time, my skills for specific programming languages have become outdated with the slew of new technologies available. With that said, I know many startup founders over the last year have taken to coding to launch their startup. New York-based entrepreneur Nate Westheimer helped develop oHours, and San Francisco-based entrepreneur Nick O’Neill learned how to build iPhone apps to develop the latest Holler application....

That’s right, the City University of New York and Revature have joined forces to create Revature at CUNY, a strategic partnership to provide free industry-aligned coding bootcamps for CUNY graduates. The 12-week program will allow graduates of the university to learn the latest enterprise-level, next-generation and niche technology skills at no cost to them beyond their regular tuition. If you don’t already know, diversity in tech has been a huge fault with the industry....

But there’s something critical missing from each of them – something missing from the vast majority of other startup-related books and blog posts that I’ve seen. The critical topic I’m referring to is The Team. You know, the people like you and your cofounders that actually have to carry out the strategies in this wonderfully laid out literature. Everyone seems so concerned with the business idea that the people aspect is often overlooked....

It’s worth noting that these are wireless speakers, not Bluetooth speakers. Bluetooth speakers connect directly to mobile devices and you can take them anywhere you want. Wireless speakers tend to be a bit larger and must be connected to a wireless network (and usually an outlet as well), which means they are usually used in indoors. Sonos Play:5 – $500 The Sonos Play:5 is the speaker for you if you need a top-of-the-line speaker and don’t care how much you have to spend....

Mobile Payment Apps & Mass Popularity Mobile payment apps such as Square, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Wallet, and Android Pay have been on the market for quite some time, yet they haven’t been making as many waves with consumers as creators initially hoped. These apps utilize technology to allow users to purchase just about anything by simply touching their smartphones to a credit-card reader, allowing their wallets to stay in a pocket or purse....

While drones are being used for a myriad of practical reasons, there’s no reason why you can’t have a little fun with them. You can fly them, you can crash them, and, as one organization has found, you can race them. The Drone Racing League was recently established to bring a little organization to the popular drone racing fad. In its purest form, the DRL a professional league for drone racing....

Starting on April 11th, fees will rise from 5% to 6.5% for each sale. The decision comes after a record fourth quarter in which Etsy gained $717.1 million in revenue and added 10 million active buyers for a total of 90 million. But small businesses may need to find a way to raise their conversion rates in order to make up for the new fee they’ll be paying. What to Know Etsy revealed the change in emails to sellers as well as a report to investors yesterday....

Available for both Android and iOS, shoppers can utilize Etsy Local to find Etsy items and sellers nearby. Simply by opening the “Local” tab within the Etsy app, users can find local boutiques and events that either offer products from their favorite Etsy merchants, but also products that reflect their tastes based on their past Etsy purchasing, favoriting, and browsing behavior. The app essentially gives users an additional way to support their local merchants....

Excelerate Labs startup accelerator took only three years to become one of the top accelerators in the country by producing thirty portfolio companies that have raised $30 million in funding. Led by entrepreneurs Troy Henikoff (Surepayroll), Sam Yagan (OKCupid, SparkNotes & Match.com), Nick Rosa (Sandbox Industries), and Adam Koopersmith (New World Ventures), the program was modeled and inspired after the TechStars Boulder program. Troy Henikoff had this to say of partnership: David Cohen of TechStars shared his take on the partnership: It seems like a win-win for both organizations as Excelerate Labs, turned TechStars Chicago, will gain access to the TechStars global network of mentors and the broader TechStars network (including the StarPower fund) to make it even stronger than it was before....

For more than a decade, social media platforms have been offered to the masses free of charge. Yes, many have argued that “when a platform is free, you are the product,” and the questionable data harvesting practices that have evolved over the last few years have made this truth abundantly clear. Still, we’ve gotten used to free social media platforms, so the news that Meta could be putting a pay wall up to use certain features is likely quite shocking to the majority of users....

This is not a novel concept overall as there are products like Microsoft’s Yammer, Slack, and SocialCast which are competing for the biggest chunk of “enterprise social networking”, and now we have the big daddy of social networking coming up with its own version to heat up the competition. Google already made its efforts in this direction with Google Wave, although the project met little success. The project was headed by Lars Rasmussen, the engineering director at Facebook who is heading Facebook at Work: sweet irony....

You’ve likely used or at least seen these third-party login options in the past. They allow users to log into a new website without creating an account from scratch. And while we’re all still ordering online and logging into just as many websites, the amount of third-party social logins through platforms like Facebook and Twitter are on the decline. Why? Mostly security concerns. Here’s what any business or website needs to know....