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ActivityHero: Yelp for kids activities founded by Chandini Ammineni, Shilpa Dalmia, and Peggy Chang who are based out of Hacker Dojo in the Valley. Bluefields: London-based startup that intelligently organizes recreational sports. Founded by Andrew Crump and Piers Rollinson. Bombfell: A monthly subscription for men’s clothing built to enable guys who lack time or don’t know what to buy to dress well. Founded by Jason Kim and Bernie Yoo in the Bay Area....

The all-too-pervasive idioms I am speaking of are being constantly abused by interviewers, CEOs and managers across industries as far as the eye can see. Some of these lines are nauseatingly cliche, some hurt like a bad bruise, and others are just generally baffling. If you or someone you know is a repeat offender of any or all of the following remarks, never fear. I’ve devised fool-proof solutions for re-working these antiquated everyday-ism into clear, constructive, and not-so-obnoxious statements....

With gadgets and devices available across the pricing spectrum, it’s now easier than ever to dip your toes into the cord cutting waters before making a full commitment. After asking our community, we identified six specific gadgets to make this easier; however, there are plenty of others on the market. Though we did not list it, having a digital antenna is also a necessity as many local channels will require it for over the air access....

Here are six key facts that make the legal industry ripe for disruption and innovation. The US legal industry is roughly a $300 billion market. This includes the traditional lawyer-to-client transactions, the expert tools that lawyers rely on, and the technology lawyers use to provide their services. What this amount does not include is the under-reported and untapped demand by middle-income individuals and families for more accessible legal help. It also does not include the billion-dollar legal education market....

Apps are convenient because they’re portable. You can bring them with you wherever you go since you typically bring your smartphone with you wherever you go. As a result, if you have a question about your financial situation or are concerned if buying a particular item will put you over budget, you can always whip out your mobile device and check things in an instant. Here are 7 personal finance apps – now get organized: Mint, from Intuit, is one of the most well-known online personal finance tools....

Music Drives Culture For many people, musical taste defines style and is the bedrock of personal identity. Boomers, Gen X, Millennials all have wildly different tastes but the importance of music to youth culture, creativity, and consumer behavior has been as consistent as a John Bonham beat, or a Grandmaster Flash beat. Music is Massive What would Apple be without music? What would YouTube be without music? The size of the recorded music industry has changed over the years and consumption formats have evolved considerably, but the overall value that music as a category drives — including the indirect impact to businesses of all kinds — is massive....

We asked a handful of entrepreneurs to share their favorite stories from the past 365 days. Their responses are below. Adobe invests in the power of the design community, acquiring New York City’s Behance Adobe recently acquired Behance, the top network for creative professionals to showcase and discover work. Behance’s unique approach to creating community between designers globally, as well as creating thought leadership through it’s 99% think tank has generated serious value for the New York City startup community....

The Internet – and all the technologies that piggyback on it – is responsible for a transformation in hiring practices in the last decade. With email, Skype, Basecamp, Google Docs, and the like, working across continents is not any different than working across cubicles. However, distance does bring certain challenges that businesses have never had to deal with before. Let’s take a look at what these are and how successful businesses are overcoming them....

Thus it’s clear that sales metrics and their tracking holds a very high place when it comes to increasing the performance of your team. Here are ten metrics you need to be tracking to stay competitive. Sales Cycle Length This metric will help to identify any loophole or any time wasted on a particular deal. And on the other hand, if a particular deal is closed within a short period the sales representatives can take tips from the same....

But they weren’t the only proud ones. The components for the car-sized rover were supplied by a handful of different companies, coming together to form one $2.5 billion, super-cool gadget. Aeroshell by Lockheed Martin: The aeroshell encased the rover and its parachute during the journey to Mars. During entry, it reacted chemically with Mars’s atmosphere and, rather than absorb heat, released it as gas and kept the rover safe....

We’ve covered other companies related to daily deals, such as City Pockets, Lifsta and Qdealz, which was featured at Tech Cocktail Boise, but CouponTrade is different. “We’re not just trying to sell stuff,” says Wasz. “We’re providing a service, trying to help our users save money.” Through a number of current features on the site, as well as many planned down the road, CouponTrade’s consumer to consumer marketplace – which requires the user to have a PayPal account – has been lucrative for the enterprising users out there....

Technological Discrepancy There is an enormous discrepancy between the digital technologies within the ‘first world’, compared to developing countries. Developing countries face numerous difficulties in building out datacenter infrastructure such as lack of funding, instability in the regional government, or even being able to generate enough power. While many countries have resolved, or have never faced, many of these problems, many African datacenters struggle to overcome these barriers. Much like the renowned chicken and egg dilemma, it oftentimes takes existing technologies to create and employ new technologies....

The app exploded in November of 2014 with over 100k downloads in the first two weeks of its launch. However, it was banned from the App Store in December 2014 after concerns about cyber bullying and misuse of the app. The creators wanted to make the app as safe to use as possible, so they formed a “Safety Board” made up of psychologists, teachers, and child safety non-profit leaders. They redesigned the app and came up with several safety changes, including:...

One way to combat these allergens is through purifying the air such as the Airmega 400s. Like most things we review, your standard air purifier simply just won’t cut it. The Airmega 400s has dual filters on each size, a smart sensor, and is of course Wi-Fi connected. Over the past month we set the air purifier in a bedroom and let it do its thing. Across this review we’ll show what the Airmega analyzed in the air we breathed, and how its dual filters and automatic sensors may have mitigated issues....

The AlphaLabs program runs for 20 weeks and offers a $25,000 investment, mentoring and hands-on assistance, weekly educational sessions and access to advisors, investors and alumni along with office space and legal support. The five startups that launched in Pittsburgh were as follows: RhoMania has developed Grail, an innovative dynamic platform that helps demystify the process of choosing, buying, and experiencing wine in a restaurant. It offers an iPad wine menu that helps consumers feel better about wine purchase decisions, thus restaurants will be able to increase wine drinking revenues....

Dubbed the Amazfit Pace, this rather affordable GPS tracker uses a customized version of Android Wear, features an always-on transflective touch screen, prompts you with notifications from your phone, and allows you to store music directly on it. Unlike most other GPS or fitness trackers, Huami’s goal with the Pace is an untethered experience. To get a firm grasp on its offerings, over a period of a month and a half, we took the Amazfit Pace on sweaty runs, an insane half-marathon trail run, and casual everyday use....

Drones Echo

The new tech also raises concerns over how much personal privacy we’re willing to give up for a slightly better voice-activated smart speaker. How Could Alexa Work in the Future? Currently, the Echo or other Alexa devices will only begin recording when they detect a wake word — sometimes the device will inaccurately detect a wake word and record a personal conversation by accident, but it at least needs to think it heard a wake word prior to recording anything....

Apple’s Subscription Success Apple doesn’t make its subscriber numbers public, so this news comes from Reuters, which cites “a person familiar with the matter” and includes a few caveats and clarifications that are definitely worth noting here. First, this refers to paid subscribers only – Apple Music doesn’t have a free tier, but Spotify includes an ad-supported subscription level. If you were to include Spotify’s free users, it would beat Apple Music handily....

In an interview with Reuters, Lisa Jackson, Apple’s VP of environment, policy and social initiatives, said that the suppliers “took a while (to) come on board, and so we believe that now they have, they’re fully committed.” However, while Apple may toot its own horn for forcing its suppliers to adopt ‘clean’ energy, the phone giant’s commitment to social responsibility is piecemeal at best. Right to Repair While it may manufacture its new products cleanly, Apple clearly isn’t concerned about the impact of its existing products....