Making Sense of Traffic Data
San Francisco — On the Internet, traffic is easily tracked. Google and Facebook have algorithms that know what users are searching for. Online retailers can monitor what shoppers are buying. Newspapers can see in real-time how many readers are viewing an article. The same hasn’t been true for traffic in the physical world, where data-gathering has been decidedly more low-tech. Want to know how many people are getting on at a certain...
Food Delivery Startups a Crowded Field
Los Angeles — For generations, delivery meant pizza or Chinese takeout. Now the on-demand economy, having already upended the way people hail a ride or book a place to stay, is increasingly taking aim at what we put on our dining tables and expanding the menu in the process. You can have spicy clam and chorizo pasta delivered by Munchery one day, a gourmet sandwich dropped off curbside by UberEats on another, or come home to a box of...
A New Twist on Doctor House Calls
San Diego — The doctor will see you now. But not where you think. Thanks to on-demand health care app Heal, your next doctor’s visit could take place on your turf — home, office, hotel, even coffee shop — and on your terms. The web and mobile app offers the equivalent of the modern-day house call. Push a button and a licensed physician will show up to provide you or your child care on par with what you’d receive at a typical doctor’s...
Virtual Reality, Driverless Cars To Grow in 2016
Virtual reality, connected cars, e-sports, the on-demand economy — all are becoming important elements in the economy, and all are poised for rapid growth in 2016 — along with some challenges. And then there’s Snapchat Inc., based in Venice, Calif., and one of the most highly valued companies currently competing in the latest venture-capital-juiced start-up cycle, which many believe is way overheated. Snapchat The popular disappearing...
Sugar Prices Projected to Rise Because of El Nino
New York — After four bitter years, sugar mills can look forward to sweeter prospects in 2016. Prices have rebounded 52 percent since reaching a seven-year low in August. Raw-sugar futures traded in New York are heading for a 6 percent gain for the year, their first annual advance since 2010. The market has finally swung to a supply deficit after years of surpluses. And the commodity will keep rising through the first quarter of next...
