Technology

A few months ago, Amazon.com surprised the tech and retail worlds by announcing plans to acquire Whole Foods. For those of us who have been watching Amazon’s increasing dominance, this development is nothing new. In fact, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. Traditional brick-and-mortar retail outlets have long been struggling to figure out how to…

Wal-Mart has opened a new front in its battle with Amazon.com. The world’s largest retailer has applied for a U.S. patent for a floating warehouse that could make deliveries via drones, which would bring products from the aircraft down to customers’ homes. The blimp-style machine would fly at heights between 500 feet and 1,000 feet (as much…

Wal-Mart has opened a new front in its battle with Amazon.com. The world’s largest retailer has applied for a U.S. patent for a floating warehouse that could make deliveries via drones, which would bring products from the aircraft down to customers’ homes. The blimp-style machine would fly at heights between 500 feet and 1,000 feet (as much […]

When I see people hunched over their phones, eyes fixed on screens, I think of the evolutionary chart that hung in biology class. The chart depicted a chronology of human ancestors, each one slightly more upright than their predecessor, until finally, we arrived at modern human, standing tall, except for when he or she is…

We’re at the point where the majority of consumers have a smartphone with them at all times, meaning they also carry a camera wherever they go. Whenever something noteworthy happens in the world, there's almost always a picture or video available immediately. And with each year that passes, camera technology continues to improve while the…

Imagine you’re watching a music video and the artist is wearing a top or pair of shoes that you really like. You could get inspired and search for “black-and-white striped blazer” or “leather jacket with cloth hood.” However, those searches can yield thousands of results without giving you the exact item you saw in the…

Three years ago, the next disruptive medium of the future was mobile. Today, that future is voice. Voice technology already has tremendous traction: Apple’s Siri handles over 2 billion commands a week, Alexa is in over 4 percent of U.S. households, and 20 percent of Google searches on Android handsets are done by voice, according…

So far, 2017 is setting records for retail bankruptcies. J.C. Penney, Kmart, Sears and Macy's all announced that they're closing stores this year. Based on these dire trends, it might seem like the brick-and-mortar store is an endangered species. However, that’s not actually the case. Brick-and-mortar retail still accounts for more than 90 percent of…

So far, 2017 is setting records for retail bankruptcies. J.C. Penney, Kmart, Sears and Macy’s all announced that they’re closing stores this year. Based on these dire trends, it might seem like the brick-and-mortar store is an endangered species. However, that’s not actually the case. Brick-and-mortar retail still accounts for more than 90 percent of […]

Much has been made of the increasingly prominent role of e-commerce within retail — and rightfully so. A number of big-name retailers have dedicated both time and money attempting to challenge Amazon.com's market dominance. When it comes to keeping their brick-and-mortar locations around despite a flurry of e-commerce growth, retailers need to get creative. Virtual…