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March 31, 2017 at 02:21AM

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The Co-Founder of Foursquare Shares His Best Business Advice

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March 31, 2017 at 02:21AM

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22 beautiful bird's eye photos show the scale of the world's most populous country

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China Daily / via REUTERS

Have you heard of Quanzhou? 

The odds are, probably not. And yet, Quanzhou, China is home to 800,000 more people than Madrid, which you probably have heard of.

The Guardian recently reported that China has over 100 cities with populations of over one million. 119 of these cities are bigger than Liverpool.

The size and population of China can be mind-bendingly confusing, and it can be hard to put things into perspective.

The sheer scale of the country's enormity is best illustrated by pictures, which is where Reuters news agency comes in.

Reuters has collected its best images of China, captured from above. If anything can help you get your head around the size of the world's most populous country, it's the photos below.

Here's China in rice, cultivated on the outskirts of Shanghai.

REUTERS / Stringer

Red chilli is dried in the sun in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

China Daily / via REUTERS

Students from a martial arts school practice Shaolin Kung Fu in Dengfeng, Henan Province.

REUTERS / Stringer

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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March 31, 2017 at 02:21AM

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This mop has one of the smartest designs we’ve ever seen

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The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

In most cases, washing a load of laundry or a sink full of dishes, and vacuuming your entire apartment might qualify as a good day of cleaning.

But spring is the time to take cleanliness a little more seriously. It will always be important to keep your sheets and dishes clean, but now is the time to break out your mop, broom, duster, and donation bins for a true, thorough cleaning.

If you’re looking for a better and more efficient way to clean your floors, consider picking up a Mopnado. Unlike a traditional mop, Mopnado's washer and dryer are built into the mop itself. This lets you to avoid what is easily the grossest and most inefficient part of mopping — putting a dirty mop back onto the floor you’re trying to clean.

You can see the Mopnado in action in the video above to get a better idea of how it works. It’s another invention that makes total sense once you see it, but that you wouldn't necessarily search for or even know about otherwise.

Mopnado YT

It seems customers are pleased with the product as well; the Mopnado has more than 2,800 five-star reviews on Amazon, and at $60, it’s not a major investment.

If you hate the idea of mopping, or are simply ready to take your spring-cleaning game to the next level, the Mopnado would be a great addition to your arsenal of cleaning supplies.

Mopnado Stainless Steel Deluxe Rolling Spin Mop, $59.99

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SEE ALSO: This simple kitchen hack saves me a lot of time when I’m cooking

DON'T MISS: The 5 best smartwatches you can buy

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March 31, 2017 at 02:21AM

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Elon Musk is putting himself in an awkward position with Tesla's new vehicles (TSLA)

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Maurizio Pesce / Wikimedia Commons

Tesla plans to launch its $35,000 Model 3 later this year. The vehicle is a big deal for the company — its first real foray into the mass-market, after selling luxury vehicles for several years.

This hasn't created much dissonance in the auto industry.

General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Honda, and Volkswagen all sell expensive cars and cheap ones. They also sell lots of different types of vehicles, from compact hatchbacks to hulking pickups.

Tesla, in the other hand, currently sells just two vehicles, the Model S sedan and the Model X SUV. The Model 3 will change that, but as the launch grows nearer, a fair amount of media attention has shifted to Tesla's future vehicle plans.

The first post-Model 3 vehicle will likely be a compact SUV, dubbed the Model Y. With Tesla due to announce its first-quarter delivery numbers in the next week, there's some buzz around whether the company might divulge some details about the Model Y.

It would makes sense, as with not much happening that really new with Tesla until the Model 3 arrives, CEO Elon Musk will want to sustain media interest. Outside the tech industry, the Model Y looks obvious and logical — but it also looks like a classic example of what in the car business in knows as "platform engineering." Big carmakers use common undergirdings to built a variety of different cars. 

This has been the Model Y story since Tesla started talking about it, and anyone familiar with carmaking gets it. Musk now needs to guard against the impression that Model Y will somehow be dramatically different product, especially if Tesla wants to capitalize on surging consumer demand to crossover SUVs. 

Tricky business

This is going to be tricky because Tesla is followed more like a tech company than a carmaker. With the Model Y, given its likely price point of around $40-50,000, we're talking about an electric BMW SUV. Cheaper trim levels will be akin to a nicely optioned Honda CR-V. These are popular, ho-hum vehicles.

The big carmakers know that it's almost impossible to get people excited about these type of car, so they concentrate on creating sexier machines to grab attention: sports cars, concepts cars, and out-there concept cars.

Tesla has never done this, taking instead a page from the consumer electronics world, where for example Apple and Samsung can generate excitement by rolling out yet another glass rectangle. That approach seems to work for them, but it's unclear whether Tesla will be able to head toward the unemotional mass-market car business and sustain the thrills it's grown accustomed to. 

So Musk finds himself in a tough position — a showman who, increasingly, is betting on vehicles that aren't that exciting to show.

NOW WATCH: Tesla will begin selling its Solar Roof this year — here's everything you need to know

See Also:

• People are expecting too much from the Tesla Model 3
• Tesla is about to confront dueling best- and worst-case scenarios, and anything could happen
• Tesla has a dangerously valuable asset that no one is talking about

SEE ALSO: People are expecting too much from the Tesla Model 3

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March 31, 2017 at 02:21AM

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Top Putin spokesman: US-Russia relations 'maybe even worse' than height of Cold war

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ABC via Twitter

Russian President Vladimir Putin's top spokesman Dimitry Peskov told George Stephanopoulos Friday that US-Russian relations today were "maybe even worse" than they had been at the height of the Cold War on ABC's "Good Morning America."

When asked by Stephanopoulos if the US and Russia had entered a new Cold war, Peskov replied: "New Cold War? Well, maybe even worse. Maybe even worse taking into account actions of the present presidential administration in Washington."

Peskov then said "of course" relations had hit a low point, but he cited the US expelling 35 diplomats in December after the revelation that Russia had meaningfully meddled in the US's 2016 election — a decision that happened under Obama.

Peskov later described the move as "occupation of Russian diplomatic property" that was "not friendly."

While US-Russian relations may not have reached Cuban missile crisis-levels, they have deteriorated in several meaningful ways.

Importantly, Russia broke the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty, a hallmark agreement between the nuclear superpowers which headed off the outright nuclearization of Europe during the height of the Cold war.

Screengrab

On Thursday Putin denied any involvement in the US election, which Peskov echoed, blaming "fake news" and "slander" for implicating Russia. Peskov said Putin preferred Trump in the 2016 election simply because he seemed "empathetic" towards Russia, and that he expressed interest in getting along with the Kremlin.

Peskov also categorically denied that former US Army general and Trump's first National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, who was caught and subsequently fired for having "unambiguous and highly inappropriate" about possibly easing sanctions on Russia, could have any impact on sanctions.

"Neither ambassador Kislyak nor Gen. Flynn could have been involved in decision making," said Peskov. 

Currently, both the House and Senate have open investigations into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian influencers. 

Watch the full interview below:

 

NOW WATCH: A Navy SEAL explains what to do if someone tries to mug you

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• The F-35 program has a new, unexpected enemy — the strong dollar

SEE ALSO: The US Senate just dealt Russia a big blow in the Balkans

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March 31, 2017 at 02:21AM

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27-year-old career minor leaguer became choked up after learning he'd made the Phillies' Opening Day roster

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MLB

Brock Stassi was drafted in the 33rd round and has spent the past six years in the Philadelphia Phillies' minor-league system. 

But after a solid spring training performance, Stassi on Thursday was named to the Phillies' Opening Day roster. Addressing reporters from his locker after he got word of the news, Stassi couldn't hold back his emotions. 

"It's a dream come true," he said, before apologizing to wipe tears from his eyes.

"I always believed in myself. I always had confidence that I would work hard," he added. "When I was in high school, I wasn’t recruited to go to college, and then late pick, so a lot of confidence. It was always my end goal. I never doubted myself ever."

 

Stassi's younger brother, Max, is currently a catcher in the Astros' system. He shared his congratulations on Twitter. In the note, Stassi gave a short summary of Brock's incredible journey to the big leagues. 

Those sacrifices paid off for Brock, who is now on the Phillies 25-man roster.

NOW WATCH: TERRY CREWS: Here's how my NFL career helped and hurt me

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• 43-year-old Ichiro Suzuki on what he will do when he finally retires years from now: 'I think I'll just die'
• Mets closer Jeurys Familia suspended 15 games for violating MLB's domestic violence policy

SEE ALSO: Cristiano Ronaldo's bust sculptor defended his statue by comparing himself to Jesus

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March 31, 2017 at 02:21AM

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BlackBerry beats expectations with Q4 earnings as revenue jumps 12%

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---

(Reuters) — Canada’s BlackBerry Ltd, reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Friday, as operating costs nearly halved, and said it expects to be profitable on an adjusted basis in 2018.

The company’s U.S.-listed shares were up nearly 5 percent at $7.29 before the bell.

BlackBerry has shifted away from making its once-iconic smartphones to building a software business, which includes mobile device management products and the QNX industrial operating system.

The company’s adjusted revenue from software and services rose 12.2 percent to $193 million in the fourth quarter ended Feb. 28, from the preceding quarter.

BlackBerry said it received more than 3,500 enterprise customer orders in the quarter.

“Looking ahead to fiscal 2018, we expect to grow at or above the overall market in our software business,” Blackberry Chief Executive John Chen said in a statement.

Chen said BlackBerry expected to be profitable on an adjusted basis and generate positive free cash flow for the year ending February 2018.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company’s net loss narrowed to $47 million or 10 cents per share in the fourth quarter, from $238 million or 45 cents per share, a year earlier.

The prior-year quarter included a loss of $127 million related to the sale of certain assets.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned 4 cents per share. Analysts on average had expected the company to break even, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Operating expenses fell about 49 percent to $229 million.

Revenue fell about 38 percent to $286 million. On an adjusted basis, revenue was $297 million, beating analysts’ average expectation of $289.3 million.

(Reporting by Vishaka George and Narottam Medhora in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar)

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March 31, 2017 at 02:12AM

Chicago PMI increases in March

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Chicago PMI: March Chicago Business Barometer at 57.7 vs 57.4 in February

The MNI Chicago Business Barometer was broadly stable at 57.7 in March, following a hefty rise of 7.1 points in February to 57.4.

Following a strong February, firms remained upbeat this month, with the increase led by four of the five components of the Barometer, as only Employment receded. March’s positive outturn left the Q1 calendar quarter average at 55.1, the highest level since Q4 2014.

Demand continued to grow, rising for the second month in a row. New orders rose by 1.2 points, to touch a fourmonth high. To keep pace with rising demand, Production also increased, up 1.4 points to a 14-month high of 61.7 in March. Order Backlogs rose for the third consecutive month, but remained just below the breakeven level, where it has sat for the previous three months. Suppliers took longer to deliver key inputs, with the respective indicator 1.6 points higher at 54.4 in March. Employment slipped back into contraction after rising above 50 briefly last month.
...
“The March Chicago report echoed last month’s upbeat tone of general business conditions. Though the Barometer was little changed, the underlying trend for many key indicators shows improvement, with a shift away from firms reporting worsening to that of remaining at the same level as last month,” said Shaily Mittal, senior economist at MNI Indicators.
emphasis added

This was above the consensus forecast of 57.1.



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March 31, 2017 at 02:00AM

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Here comes consumer confidence...

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Thomson Reuters

The latest read on consumer confidence from the University of Michigan will be out at 10 a.m. ET.

Economists forecast that the UMich consumer sentiment index will clock in at 97.6 for the final March survey.

Earlier this month, the preliminary report showed that the index rose to 97.6 from February's final reading of 96.3.

Various measures of consumer confidence have jumped since the US presidential election in November.

However, details beneath the headline indices show that Americans are deeply divided about the new administration and the country's economic future.

"Importantly, there was no moderation in these extreme views from last month, with the maintenance of the partisan divide fueled by selective attention to economic news, with Democrats more frequently reporting unfavorable developments and Republicans more frequently hearing of favorable changes," said Richard Curtin, the survey's chief economist, after the preliminary reading crossed in March.

"Optimism promotes discretionary spending, and uncertainty makes consumers more cautious spenders," he added. "This combination will result in uneven spending gains over time and across products."

Refresh this page for updates at 10 a.m. ET.

NOW WATCH: 7 mega-billionaires who made a fortune last year

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• US consumer confidence explodes to the highest level since 2000
• Older and more affluent Americans are loving life after Trump's win
• The percentage of Americans who think government will make business great explodes to a record high under Trump

SEE ALSO: What 25 major world leaders and dictators looked like when they were young

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March 31, 2017 at 01:51AM