By examining consumer spending, jobs, and salaries within the SaaS industry, these companies can move towards better understanding and incorporating consumer trends to help businesses within the SaaS industry succeed. BetterBuys, in an effort to better understand how these trends work and affect businesses, have conducted and released a new survey that examines how consumer trends operate within SaaS. They open their survey with the following: Some of the key findings of the survey illuminate where the industry is headed as more companies push to incorporate SaaS technology....

Around 54 percent of retailers already use or plan to add artificial intelligence technology to their toolkit, with 20 percent planning to introduce some AI within the next 12 months, according to the latest report from SLI Systems. The increased adoption of AI in retail can be specifically attributed to advances in the deep learning. What is Deep Learning? Deep learning is a specific machine learning approach to building and training neural networks....

Link-building is the process of acquiring backlinks from other authoritative sites. Remember that a website’s backlink profile is the primary driver of crucial SEO metrics, including Domain Authority (DA) and PageRank (PR). Hence, backlinks are one of the most important factors for off page optimization in SEO. In an analysis that covered 1 million websites, a high number of quality backlinks is closely tied to higher rankings. This analysis is the reason why most SEO practitioners consider link-building as their bread and butter....

Seeing the opportunity, the reputable Muslim fashion ecommerce brand Modanisa is gearing up to increase its market share in coming years. Here is more on how Modanisa is preparing to capitalize on the enormous Muslim fashion market in a grand way. Muslim Fashion Industry Outlook Kerim Türe, cofounder of Modanisa, states that his immediate goal is to take the $200 million up to $1 billion by 2020. Naturally, Türe understands the requisites of exports and doesn’t discount the hurdles he and his company might face while achieving this target....

Last month, 72 officers in the same department were placed on administrative duty for offensive social media posts. In both cases, the impetus came from the Plain View Project, a research project that has compiled a database of prejudiced and violent public Facebook posts from more than 3500 verified Facebook police officer profiles. 13 Officers Suspended ‘With Intent to Dismiss' Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross explained why the officers were being let go in an announcement on Thursday, saying that the department would be suspending the 13 officers for 30 days with the intent to fire them....

Founded by Kate Daly and Pip Wilson in 2015, amicable.io combines an intuitive, collaborative app and divorce expertise to make the process as painless, transparent and as quick possible. Rather than negotiating back-and-forth between lawyers, divorcing couples are able to view each others’ wishes for the divorce terms, from childcare to their financial arrangements. Because sometimes, things just don’t work out. We’ve crunched the numbers to determine the countries where marriages are least likely to survive the test of time....

All of this is important, but one of the most important elements is missing. That element is content. This is where you shine. Here’s your challenge. How do you become more creative in your copywriting? Embrace Storytelling When you write copy your copy, think in terms of telling a story. Everything that you write – from tweets to white papers – reveals a bit more about your company – your values, culture, and goals....

For years, passwords were our trusted allies in the fight to protect privacy. The right password should act as a knight in shining armor, preventing hackers and snoopers alike from gaining access to your most pertinent personal information. But, with online data becoming ever more valuable, and hackers evolving by the second, that knight may have brought a sword to a gun fight. Despite nearly every account in your arsenal requiring a password for access, a recent Google study has found that they haven’t been doing a very good job of protecting you....

With chatbots, businesses have begun to leverage the massive potential of artificial intelligence. By mimicking human conversations, chatbots can be used to gather data, drive sales, build rapport with customers and ultimately, humanize brands. In 2016, 8.3 percent of all retail sales in the US were conducted online. While it’s wonderful that technology has facilitated a thriving ecommerce industry, people still want to purchase from other humans instead of faceless corporations....

As I think about the primary success factors in the first year of Contactually, and how it differs from previous ventures I’ve undertaken or observed, staying motivated is one of the most crucial factors. Given that your new venture is, by default, a failure, having the mental strength to keep the fire going in your heart – and in your team – is an incredible challenge. Statistically, you’re going to crash and burn....

Having given its parent company, ByteDance, 45 days to find a US buyer, the clock is ticking for the social media platform to continue having a presence in the US. If no agreeable deal can be found with an American company, then there’s a real chance the app could be banned. It’s not without precedent – India banned TikTok in June (along with 59 other Chinese-owned apps), for exactly the same reason the US government has given....

The theme of the event was “more”. Each of the new products is more powerful and more expensive than the older models they replace. But where do they leave the existing MacBooks and iPads still on sale? While the tech in each of the new models is impressive in isolation, it’s difficult to get a handle on who exactly the new devices are aimed at, and how the new devices — particularly the MacBook Air — fit into the existing lineup of Apple products....

After kicking off Phoenix Startup Week, JPMorgan Chase announced that they would be providing $925,000 in philanthropic grants to non-profit organizations that provide programs to assist entrepreneurs that are underrepresented in their respective fields. While providing everything from training to technical assistance, these programs are doing their part to transform the entrepreneurial vision one micro-loan at a time. Chase’s involvement in the startup world is undeniable. With dozens of Startup Weeks under their belt, Chase has contributed to the success of thousands of startups through advice, support, and investment....

JQBX (pronounced “jukebox”) is a social music app for Web, Mac, and iOS. Just like with turntable.fm, you can step up to DJ in order to share tracks with friends, join different rooms, vote on tracks, or simply listen to a dynamic stream of music all day. I talked with Zigelbaum about JQBX and how that steady feed of music can be the key to productivity for a lot of us....

The common thread that unites these dozen startups together is that they’re tackling a broad range of challenges on the K12, higher education, career readiness, and consumer and lifelong learning fronts. Last year saw 10 startups selected, and this year’s 12 were chosen from over 500 applications. The participating startups, with the exception of Grockit – they’re embedded in the program, will receive a $20,000 investment from Techstars and the option for a $150,000 convertible debt note from Kaplan....

This new campaign for the MagTarget that just launched on Indiegogo plans to keep your smart devices charged throughout the day with a simple touch of the dock. According to the founders, today’s smartphone batteries actually benefit from constant re-charging, as opposed to the batteries of the past, which encouraged complete drain before getting plugged back in. The stand operates with a magnet, but fortunately this magnet does not interfere with operation of the device....

In July 2017 Nate took his DIY project with the support of the SmartThings Community and introduced the first version of the Konnected kit available for other home automation tinkerers, and launched on Kickstarter with an expected ship date of February 2018. It’s amazing to see how far the Konnected system has come, and I’m even more excited to see how much further it will evolve in the coming future with the huge backing they have received....

The Social Responsibility of Tech Facebook is reportedly blaming a technical glitch for temporarily removing the Falcon Heights shooting video. As the site has been under fire before for accusations of censorship, the Falcon Heights incident brings up an important point: does tech have a responsibility to be socially conscious? In my opinion, tech has far more to lose with not taking social justice seriously. The Role of Social Justice in Tech Social justice plays a key role in the development and execution of trends that dominate the digital media landscape....

Parallel18, a government sponsored accelerator program, has recently announced that two of their graduating classes have generated almost $14 million in sales, of which more than half was produced in Puerto Rico. This dedication to bringing tech hub caliber innovation to Puerto Rico is not just noble, it’s also good for business. The level of innovation is quite impressive among the startups involved. With products that include a coding-free and Lego/magnetic/Velcro compatible set of electronic building blocks, a DIY insect-based robot, and maker board pre-installed with Windows 10, Parallel18 has making good on their promise to prep today’s youth for the autonomous future of work....

Fortunately, Preston James, the former chief of the Global Center for Entrepreneurs at Dell Computer, decided to do something about it by launching a diversity-focused startup accelerator in Austin, Texas. Dubbed DivInc, this accelerator is focused on giving women and minority entrepreneurs the mentors, investors and other resources they need to compete in the tech industry today. If you’re interested in checking out the companies involved in the DivInc’s diversity-focused startup accelerator, check them out below:...