Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/30/technology/apples-stock-races-ahead-as-investors-bet-on-new-iphones.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
April 30, 2017 at 11:30PM
Apple’s shares are up nearly 60 percent since last summer. Investors hope new iPhones due in September will prompt many Apple users to upgrade.
Sunday, April 30, 2017
A radical finance firm has an app that'll show you the impact of all of your purchases
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/zGZktawJ70o/aspiration-new-aim-service-2017-4
April 30, 2017 at 11:32PM
April 30, 2017 at 11:32PM
Aspiration, a financial services firm founded on the radical idea that clients should pay what they think is fair, wants to help its customer keep track of the impact of their purchases.
The firm announced April 26 it is equipping its checking-account users with a new tool, Aspiration Impact Measurement, that shows them how sustainable their purchases are. The firm has about 100,000 checking-account customers.
Let's say, for instance, an Aspiration checking-account user buys a coffee from Starbucks. When that person checks their account balance they'll see that they spent $X for their grande frappe whatever. But they will also see a score that gauges Starbuck's sustainability on a scale of 1 to 100.
In this case, Starbucks has an AIM score of 78, which is the highest of any eatery. The point of the tool is to inform users about a firm's sustainability so that they can make informed choices about spending. Users can also view their personal AIM score, which essentially aggregates all of the purchases a person makes into one score. It is updated on a daily basis.
"Today, more than ever before, Americans are looking to put their values into action and their AIM score empowers them to demand that corporations act responsibly toward the environment and their employees,” said Aspiration cofounder and CEO Andrei Cherny. “Americans spend $36 billion a day as consumers, making decisions based on cost, convenience and quality. Now, for the first time, they’ll have an easy way to make spending decisions based on conscience, as well.”
AIM scores are calculated using Aspiration's proprietary algorithm that examines more than 75,000 data points.
According to Cherny, the numbers behind the AIM scores are typically used by money mangers to inform their investment decisions.
"These are the kind of data providers that are working for investment firms, and hedge funds," Cherny told Business Insider."We repurpose this investor data for consumer purposes. It goes into an algorithm which then figures out those scores."
The service is only available for Aspiration customers, who can access their AIM scores for free within their Aspiration mobile app.
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The founder of LinkedIn says too many of us are using the site all wrong
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/CYN2k-NQAPk/reid-hoffman-how-to-use-linkedin-2017-4
April 30, 2017 at 09:33PM
April 30, 2017 at 09:33PM
If you use LinkedIn, you've undoubtedly received invitations to connect to people that you've never met or may never meet in your entire life.
The more you stay on the site and the more you gain prominence in your field, the more requests from strangers you'll get.
And while it could seem natural to decline a Facebook friend request from a stranger because you don't want to give them access to your personal information and photos, the dynamic on LinkedIn is much different.
You may think that because it's a social network for professionals, you should simply accept all invitations and see which of them stick.
It's the approach that "Never Eat Alone" author and management consultant to Fortune 100 companies Keith Ferrazzi took for years. Not long ago, Ferrazzi wrote in the 2014 updated edition of his bestselling career guide, he had the privilege of meeting LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and discussing the site with him.
"'You're doing it all wrong, Keith!' That is, in essence, what Reid Hoffman told me when I told him how I was using LinkedIn," Ferrazzi writes.
Here's the gist of what Hoffman told him, as written in "Never Eat Alone," bolding our own:
"LinkedIn is a closed network, and for a very simple reason: For the network to have value as an introduction tool, the connections need to have meaning. It's up to you to vet each and every request so that if someone comes to you and says, 'Would you introduce me?,' you're in a position to evaluate whether the connection would be of mutual benefit."
You don't need to do a deep analysis of every person who asks to connect with you. But if you'd feel awkward chatting with them or introducing them to someone in your network, then decline, without a guilty conscience.
And if you really want to use LinkedIn as it was intended, make "at least one quality introduction a month," per Hoffman's suggestion in his 2012 book "The Start-up of You.
SEE ALSO: How to write a cold email that gets a response from even the busiest people
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NOW WATCH: 'Shark Tank' star Barbara Corcoran shares her keys to making a good first impression
It's the GMC Canyon Denali and the Honda Ridgeline in a battle of the small pickups (GM)
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~3/e3XNW6sRTEU/its-the-gmc-canyon-denali-and-the-honda-ridgeline-in-a-pickup-truck-throwdown-2017-4
April 30, 2017 at 09:27PM
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
April 30, 2017 at 09:27PM
Small pickups were once an essential part of the truck mix. A lot of young folks enjoyed them as an inexpensive starter vehicle.
But gradually, automakers phased them out in favor of crossover SUVs while concentrating on the full-size pickups that are their most profitable products.
In the past few years, however, smaller pickups — bigger than the modest Ford Rangers and Chevy S-10s of the past — have staged a comeback.
For US carmakers, Chevy's Colorado almost single-handedly revived the segment, which had been filled by trucks like the Toyota Tacoma and the Nissan Frontier. Soon, Ford will bring back the Ranger.
Of course, Honda has long had a small pickup in its lineup: the oddball Ridgeline. This wasn't a truck for truck people. It was more of an SUV with a pickup truck bed.
The styling was offbeat. But for the latest generation, perhaps sensing that small pickups are the comeback trail, Honda made the Ridgeline into more of a proper truck. We checked it out last year and were impressed.
So we thought it would be good to compare the new Ridgeline to more of a true pickup.
And then the GMC Canyon Denali landed in our driveway.
The Canyon Denali is the GMC version of the Chevy Colorado, given some further snazziness with the upscale Denali treatment.
On paper, it stacks up well against the Ridgeline, costing about the same and running a similar V6 engine. But there are some crucial differences:
SEE ALSO: It's the BMW X1 against the Buick Encore in a battle of the small SUVs
The 2017 Canyon Denali arrived early in the year, during a respite from snow and ice, but before the weather warmed. Truck conditions! Price? $44,255, as tested. The base GMC Canyon, without the upmarket Denali trim features, is about $22,000.
The Canyon Denali is outfitted with a 3.6-liter V6 that makes just north of 300 horsepower and pipes the power to, in the case of our tester, an all-wheel-drive system through an eight speed automatic transmission.
The motor feels robust and quite trucky, which is to say a tad crude (the same engine is found in the Cadillac XT5 and comes off as much more refined). This is powerplant that can roar. The Canyon Denali also has a towing mode that can handle 7,000 pounds, about 2,000 more than what the Ridgeline is rated for.
Our 2017 Ridgeline tester tipped the cost scales at $41,370, and it landed at BI's suburban New Jersey test center after a light winter snowstorm in late 2016. The base pickup is about $30,000.
Read the review here.
The Ridgeline delivers a peppier, smoother ride than the Canyon Denali — much more car-like, which makes sense give its fully independent suspension. You just don't feel like you're in a truck, which for a lot of buyers will be a good thing. A problem with pickups in daily use is that they can beat you up a bit.
The Rideline's powerplant is a 3.5-liter, 280-horsepower V6. This is one of the world's great motors, perhaps the best V6 anywhere. Mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, this engine is more or less perfect and provides 21 mpg in combined city/highway driving. That's slightly better than the GMC's 21 mpg combined.
Our Canyon Denali was a crew-cab version with a "short box" — the bed is about five feet long, protected by a bedliner. If you're shopping for a Chevy truck, this vehicle can be had as the Colorado.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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