According to Cisco, creating SELECT was a way to provide top-tier brands and businesses with a sustainable and profitable method for attracting and retaining their target clientele, while offering SELECT members with premium benefits and high-quality, VIP experiences. In order to receive SELECT benefits, prospective members must apply through a fairly competitive process (Cisco notes somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of all applicants are offered membership). Once accepted to the SELECT community, members receive a black, metal card that is linked to one of their current credit or debit cards and must pay an annual fee of $150 to keep benefits active....

Termed a “social impact investing platform,” the company is one of the first VC-backed Public Benefit Corporations and operates by allowing its users to select issues they care about (climate change, LGBTQ rights, you name it) and then builds a custom portfolio to yield returns in alignment with the customers’ personal values. OpenInvest is grown 85 percent since its soft launch last September, so Tech.Co used their seed round announcement as an opportunity to have a chat with OpenInvest CEO and cofounder Conor Murray about just how OpenInvest’s unique approach to socially responsible investing works....

Since launching its first angel investing bootcamp in April 2011, the Pipeline Fellowship has trained over seventy women, who have committed more than $350,000 in investment, and has expanded from New York City to Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. What the Pipeline Fellowship plans to achieve in Miami Grooming investors to support entrepreneurs. Initiatives like Pipeline Fellowship are vital in the continuous growth of South Florida’s budding entrepreneurial community because it focuses on grooming angel investors to support the growth of current entrepreneurs....

Mandell, in an effort to give back to the startup community that has given him so much, has crafted an intensely innovative solution to said problem. PivotDesk, his newest startup, removes the pain of finding available office space. You only need to go to the main site, type in how many people work with you, and what you are looking for. PivotDesk then enables a conversation between two parties that might be a good fit together in the same space....

Pollfish can reach over 170 million users at any time. This number of potential participants provides a diverse set of demographics and quick turnaround time for results. I provided sample questions for a product demo, for which founder John Papadkis created a survey and published while we spoke. Within 20 minutes, I had 200 relevant responses to the four questions – responses I could use as market research for my product....

Now that more people are realizing that a remote job is well within their reach, they want to put themselves in the best position to try and snag one. This is where Remote.co can help. Remote.co was traditionally (and by “traditionally” I mean since they launched in July 2015) a resource for companies who want to have the best remote teams, but they recently added a bunch of new features that job seekers will find invaluable....

The study was conducted by Stanford economics professor Nicholas A. Bloom and Stanford graduate student James Liang. For nine months, the pair observed the staff at the Chinese travel website Ctrip (founded by Liang) – with half the group given the option to work remotely, while the other half remained confined to work in the office. What they discovered at the end of that period was that overall those who were provided the opportunity to work from home were not only happier (and therefore quit at half the rate than those in the office) but also more productive, going through 13....

A natural and good tendency for entrepreneurs is to “do what you know.” It helps if you actually have the problem you are solving because it brings you deep insight into the pain of the problem. Many founding stories begin with the a-ha moment when the founder kept bumping into the problem she would ultimately build a company to solve. But I would argue that solving your own problems creates limits on what you can build....

Despite the glaring errors in Pelosi’s statement, like the misuse of the term “LCD” and saying that Steve Jobs “did a good idea,” her point sets a valid yet dangerous precedent. Yes, the government did fund almost all the pertinent technology within the iPhone. It’s hard to argue that Apple wouldn’t have had a terribly difficult time putting together the very first smartphone without software, screens and metal. However, the value of any piece of technology is not the sum of the parts....

Through the new StockUpSales website, people can now access more than 100 million unadvertised sales prices at major retailers across the country. By simply entering your zip code, the new site will give you a listing of all products at nearby retailers that are currently selling at lower prices than normally. The sales prices are collected and updated daily, giving consumers a reliable resource for their everyday goods. The new website currently does not include StockUp’s various mobile features, such as list creation and price comparison, but the company states that those will be implemented in the nearby future....

The study from security consultant NTT Com Security took stock of the levels of security and insurance coverage of 1,000 global, non-IT companies. It turns out that 49 percent of these companies have no specific insurance plan for hackers and cyber attackers. To make matters worse, the survey showed that 12 percent of these companies had no coverage at all, leaving them open to data loss and individual attack. And don’t let them off the hook with a “well, cyber attacks aren’t that bad, right?...

StyleMusee has identified and classified nearly one thousand style related Facebook pages, allowing users to discover pages by style type. Users subscribe to image and video feeds by style categories to easily find what they’re looking for. Fashion has an element of timeliness, which many bookmarklet sites just don’t capture. StyleMusee brings users the latest fashions in real-time using chronology in image and video feeds to keep content fresh. I caught up with co-founder and CEO Karen Moon and asked her to share her startup story with our readers....

Need more funding news? You can get the Tech.Co deals roundup send directly to your inbox by subscribing here. Funding Virtual-Reality Headset Glyph Brings in $24M Avegant, the maker of media headset Glyph which supports 3D and virtual reality content, has brought in $24 million to increase the manufacturing and begin shipping of the headsets by the end of this year. Similar to the Oculus Rift, Glyph’s headphones include an immersive video screen that functions as a portable movie theater....

One of the common issues with technology is that organizations go out of their way to add unnecessary features to established products. From screens in your fridge to WiFi-connected tea kettles, sometimes technology doesn’t add value, but rather a distraction. For Char-Broil, their approach is entirely different when it came time to implement their new SmartChef line of smokers. After over a year in development and after working with both new and experienced smokers, the team released their first wave of SmartChef connected smokers....

According to data cultivated by Millward Brown in their annual BrandZ rankings, there has been a bit of a shakeup in the top few global brands. That’s right, Google has finally overtaken Apple as the most valuable brand in the world. While the difference in value is a mere billion dollars (I can’t believe I just wrote that), Google has been able to set itself apart from the pack by continuing to innovate in a way consistent with their mission....

While DNS issues continue to blight even the biggest multinational corporations and organizations, it is not just speed and internet performance that threaten user experience. So many websites continue to have faith in the power of the English language to reach out to all countries and populations. Their belief is mistaken. Even in countries where proficiency in English is widespread, there is a marked preference for content in the mother tongue....

Internet surfing now requires less data as well. However, the average home in the United States now has seven internet-connected devices. From tablets and laptops to smartphones and IoT devices, everyone is trying to listen to music, stream videos, and view websites all day long. All of this usage results in about 100 megabits being consumed per second. Many systems cannot support this level of consumption. Currently 25 million people stream videos through Netflix and hundreds of millions watch videos on YouTube....

There are four main features of the system: Mavia is in the late stages of development, and is accepting beta testers. According to the company’s website, Mavia will be in local electronics retailers in 2011 with a price tag of less than $300. There is no monthly fee if you agree to the terms of service (i.e. advertisements.) Mapping, Monitoring, Directions & Connections: Get walking directions to your lost car, alerts when you teen’s car leaves a preset boundary, or a map view of friends’ locations based on their Mavia location or social media check-ins....

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is still developing rules to legalize equity crowdfunding, which would allow regular people (non-accredited investors) to fund companies in exchange for equity. It’s still unclear what shareholder voting rights these rules will give to equity crowdfunding investors. But crowdfunding might be more trouble than it’s worth for tech startups who want to build a large business rather than a consumer product. For starters, venture capital firms and angel investors will be less interested in a company if it comes attached with hundreds of crowdfunding investors, according to John Taylor, head of research for the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA)....

Here are some of the major pros and cons of starting a family business. Pro: Employee Loyalty Perhaps one of the most valuable aspects of starting a family business is the built-in brand loyalty from your employees. Most family employees are inherently invested in your brand and the success of the business, which makes them the best employees around. They’re more willing to make sacrifices for the business, put their best foot forward in sticky situations, create long-term stability, emulate shared values, and delineate a certain element of trust....