Ice cream cones surrounded by cotton candy are the dessert du jour.There’s no shortage of over-the-top desserts these days, with a new “it” treat popping up on what feels like a weekly basis. Young consumers are eager to try the latest creative concoctions, as sharing such has become a coveted form of social currency. Now, the latest contender is ice cream wrapped in a cotton candy cloud.AQU...

Too Many Promotional Brand Posts Drive Users Away.Without an audience, a business’ social media presence is nothing but a waste of time. We spend a lot of time focusing on retention and engagement but rarely think about the behaviors that drive users away. A survey from Sprout Social explores how social media users feel about brand posting habits, and ultimately why they unfollow.Sprout Social...

These startups have raised $1.6B in aggregate to integrate digital features into nearly every aspect of restaurant operations.[click to enlarge]Americans spent more at restaurants than at grocery stores last year for the first time, according to the US Census Bureau, due to a mixture of falling grocery prices and more restaurant visits. But restaurant sales dropped in the second quarter of the...

Startups wielding sensors and algorithms promise a new era of surveillance.[“Imagine if all your traders were required to wear wristwatches that monitor their physiology, and you had a dashboard that tells you in real time who is freaking out.” —Andrew Lo, MIT professor of finance]The trader was in deep trouble. A millennial who had only recently been allowed to set foot on a Wall Street flo...

Everyone says mobile is the future of digital. But when they talk about mobile, lots of people still talk about it as something you take with you, on the go.And that’s true! But mobile is also something you turn to when you’re at home and have plenty of other screens to turn to.We’ve been tracking this for years. Way back in 2011, for instance, Vevo said that most of the mobile views for its...

Customizable LED push notifications use location to make smartphones smarter.This is part of a series of articles that looks at entrepreneurs hoping to get their ideas off the ground through crowdfunding. At the time of writing, each of these innovations is currently seeking funding.We rely on our smartphones to alert us to information day and night. Unfiltered notifications generate a level of...

A European scientific collaboration headed by scientists at ICFO-The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, Spain, has produced a small microscope that can help to quickly identify bacterial pathogens and presence of certain biomarker proteins. While the potential of this technology spans across a whole section of medicine, the initial clinical application may be for early diagnosis of se...

I loved the movie "Her." It does a great job imagining what the future might be like.One of my favorite aspects of "Her" is how everyone communicates with their computers using tiny, wireless earbuds. They're used for alarms, listening to music, calling people, or just talking to your own personal digital assistant.That future isn't too far off, it seems.Jabra, which makes headphones and headse...

Ever since the line between celebrity and social media celebrity was erased, bloggers have become legitimate influencers across almost all industries, affecting consumer decisions beyond purchasing by acting as both tastemaker and trusted friend. And a large fan base is no longer a requirement for influencers. More recently, brands have been turning to micro-influencers, bloggers with less than...