Saturday, 11 January 2014
Neptune Pine Is an Android Phone in Watch Form
Lego albums, portadas de discos reproducidas con piezas de Lego
Harry Heaton, con un poco de paciencia y echando mano de Lego Digital Designer, va creando portadas de discos con piezas de 1×1 y luego las publica en Lego albums .
Si no encuentras el que buscas, Harry acepta pedidos.
(Vía Playlist).
via Microsiervos http://www.microsiervos.com/archivo/arte-y-diseno/lego-albums-portadas-discos-reproducidas-piezas-lego.html
CES 2014 Breaks Record as Largest Show to Date
CES 2014: the Engadget interviews
The Onewheel self-balancing, single-wheeled skateboard comes to CES, we take it for a spin (video)
Phil Defranco: Why YouTubers Are Scared of 4K
SmartThings shows off the ridiculous possibilities of its connected home system
Neiman Marcus Suffers Major Credit Card Security Breach
CES 2014: Auto roundup
Beats Music is launching January 21st -- here's a sneak peek
Caption contest: Mr. Marinator fuses meat, marinade, motion... and madness
14 Hot Fitness Gadgets to Make You Sweat
Feedback Loop: Ducking autocorrect, Steam Machines, 12-inch tablets and more
Fast-Growing Zenefits Adds Commuter Benefits, Flexible Spending And 401(k) Support As It Moves To Take Over Startup HR
Managing human resources is one of the more frustrating and time-consuming aspects of running a startup or small business. Because most can’t afford to hire an HR person, all that paperwork usually falls into the lap of founders and management. Knowing that entrepreneurs would rather spend their time growing their business rather than wading through administrative tasks and insurance forms, Zenefits launched in early 2013 to help small businesses remove some of the pain inherent to managing HR.
Initially, the company set out to create a platform that would automate the process of setting up and managing group health coverage and payroll, enabling resource-strapped businesses to move administration online (for free) without having to dip into their hiring budget. But Zenefits Co-founder Parker Conrad says that the team quickly found that startups were using the system not just for managing health coverage and payroll, but as an alternative to traditional HRIS or Human Resources Information Systems. In other words, to manage all HR-affiliated tasks.
Since then, Zenefits has focused on building out more of those core HRIS features in an effort to allow companies to manage benefits, payroll, HR and everything in between in one place. Soon, the company added the ability for startups to automate hiring and firing of employees, auto-generating the necessary documentation (letters, employee handbooks, agreements and so on).
It allows those in charge to add and remove staff from the payroll, for example, while sending automatic alerts to employees and admins via email. In turn, customers can also use Zenefits to track paid time off (or PTO) so that employees can apply for time off, while allowing managers to view balances, liabilities and a calendar of their team’s schedule.
This winter, Zenefits is moving even deeper into the territory of enterprise HR services, like that of Workday, HP and many more by continuing to expand its coverage. Today, Zenefits has begun to offer commuter benefits, flexible spending accounts and HRA that can be integrated directly into a business’ HRIS and payroll.
These types of plans, which are all pre-tax, allowing employees to save 40 percent on commuting costs, medical costs, childcare costs and, in the case of the HRA, let employers pay deductibles with those pre-tax dollars. This, like all admin and HR work, is a headache to set up and administer, requiring individual applications for each employee and forcing management to manually set up employee deductions in payroll themselves.
Zenefits, as you might have guessed, automates that process, enabling customers to enroll in less than a minute and sweeten the deal for employees by offering a single debit card, which they can use for purchases across their plans. While there is a laundry list of companies competing across HR, health coverage, payroll and benefits categories, Zenefits claims that its the “first of its” (HR automation) kind to “provide all-in-one debit cards that integrate with HR systems and payroll right out of the box.”
With these new commuter, FSA and HRA benefits, Zenefits wants to fully-integrate everything HR-related and put it in one place, offer one card, allow employees to make contributions to reduce their taxable income and have Zenefits set up and run discrimination and compliance tests for your business.
Lastly, the startup is also launching its own affordable 401(k) service, in which companies pay a $495 one-time setup fee and $105/month in account fees, while employees pay $4/month + 7bps annually. In turn, Conrad says, the fees that it does charge to use these services are charged by the 401(k) provider and Zenefits doesn’t “tack on a penny.”
The startup’s new 401(k) also allows founders to skip the process of transferring payroll data to the 401(k) provider each quarter, automatically doing this for them in a few clicks. Zenefits also automates the employee on-boarding process and bringing new hires online, paperlessly.
If the employee chooses to enroll, the system automatically adds the deduction into the TC payroll system. Employees can then choose from over 40 Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs and customize by selecting different funds. According to Parker, businesses can enroll in 3 minutes online just by creating an account or logging in and clicking the “Setup” header under 401(k).
By expanding its HR and benefits coverage to include commuter, FSA, HRA benefits and a fully-baked 401(k) — and by continuing to round-out its platform — Zenefits is well-positioned to take advantage of the growing demand for better, more flexible HR services. Especially for those that cater to medium-sized and small businesses alike — part of why Zenefits’ core focus has traditionally been on companies that are between 50 and 300 employees.
Going forward, however, Conrad says that he expects Zenefits to continue to broaden its scope and to begin going after bigger and bigger companies. So far, the company’s efforts to expand into a full-service platform and serve the whole pipeline have been paying off.
The Zenefits CEO tells us that the company’s overall growth rate has been doubling every six weeks — and 4x quarter-over-quarter growth — which is quickly making Zenefits a force to be reckoned with in this space. In less than a year, Zenefits’ payroll, benefits and HR management tools have attracted over 500 companies and is now helping them managing more than 5,000 employees.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/fAxFVR4UakM/
Researchers develop tiny windmills that can power your gadgets (video)
Native Union's Jump charging cable can juice up your devices on the go
CES 2014, Day 5: Five things 50 Cent missed while he was busy hawking headphones
Tesla will give Model S owners safer wall charging adapters to prevent fires
Why IBM's Watson Doesn't Matter Outside of Jeopardy
Path Finally Closes That Elusive Series C
It’s been a bumpy road for Dave Morin’s Path, as manic rumors over the last year have pegged the “private” social network at once as the subject of lagging growth, shrinking staff and potential acquisitions, while at the same time raising a mega $50 million round at a $500 million valuation.
Today, the long path to closing its Series C appears to finally have to an end. Having recently revealed an additional revenue stream with the launch of premium subscription plans and product additions like private sharing, over the last quarter, Path has been making moves that appear to have reassured investors of its long-term prospects.
Tonight, Kara Swisher reports that Path has raised $25 million and added at least one new investor in Indonesia’s Bakrie Global Group, bringing its total funding to $65 million.
Morin, who is also an ex-Facebooker, also told Swisher that, while the company closed a smaller round than its $30 million Series B, it was in fact an “up round.” As Path was reportedly valued at $250 million for its Series B, if it’s an up round, the company’s value has increased since April 2012 in the eyes of investors and could be as high as $300 to $400 million.
What’s more, in November, TechCrunch Co-editor Alexia Tsotsis heard from sources that Path was closing a round of over $7 million that also included Morin’s friend and former Facebooker, Dustin Moskovitz. TechCrunch has again heard from sources that this is true — that Moskovitz is an investor in Path’s Series C — as we reported at the time.
Swisher also reports that Path’s existing investors, which include Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Index Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, Redpoint Venture Partners and First Round Capital, also participated in the round.
As to why Path opted for an Indonesian lead investor for its Series C? Morin explained in an interview with Re-code that he “was always looking” for a strategic investor in Asia, particularly in Southeast Asia. Morin said that Southeast Asia is one of the regions where Path’s traction is strongest, saying that it was even stronger “than people understand.” Bringing on Bakrie as its lead investor gives Path a partner that understands the market and can help it strategically expand and increase its footprint in Southeast Asia.
While it’s difficult not to see the raise (and improved valuation) as a positive sign, saying that it’s a sign where Path wants to be, particularly in the U.S. would be unfair. In conversation with Swisher, Morin admitted that Path still had a number of “challenges in the U.S. market” that it needs “to focus on.”
With Morin confirming that Path is now at 23 million customers, the challenge may not be a lack of traction, but stemming a leaky user base in the face of the changing social market and the explosion of young mobile social networks like SnapChat.
We have reached out to confirm all of the above with both Morin and Path and will update as soon as we learn more.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/techcrunch/startups/~3/xd4yYaKFItM/
Dropbox goes down following problem with 'routine maintenance'
CES 2014 in pictures
Spree's head-worn fitness tracker doubles as a... sweatband
Exclusive: PMD's CamBoard Pico XS is the tiniest gesture camera we've ever seen (video)
Hands-on with the consumer-ready Muse headband and software
The MetaPro glasses do some pretty amazing things with augmented reality
15 Nerd-tastic Robots From CES 2014
PowerUp's smartphone-controlled paper plane makes us jealous of modern kids
Meet Urb-E, The World’s Most Compact Electric Scooter
One of the more interesting discoveries at this year’s CES was the Urb-E e-vehicle, a super compact electric scooter that folds right up in a jiffy.
We interviewed co-founder Grant Delgatti and learned that the little guy is meant for commuters who need a little extra push for the last leg of their journey, whether it be the mile from the train station to the house or from the cheap parking lot down the street to the office.
The Urb-E can go twenty miles on a single charge, and has a max speed of 15 mph. I rode one around for a bit after the interview and while it takes some getting used to, it’s a whole lot of fun once you get the hang of it.
Even better, the Urb-E folds up to be about the size of a small suitcase, and can be rolled around like one, too.
In the final version, Urb-E will have a dock for you to charge your smartphone, as well as an app that can plug into the scooter and give back information on how much battery is left.
Delgatti hasn’t made final decisions on price point, but that will be announced soon when the company launches its Kickstarter campaign. He estimates it will go for about $1,500.
via TechCrunch » Startups http://ift.tt/1cM9sNx
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: KnCMiner
When Parrot AR.Drone meets MYO armband, magic ensues (video)
Intel's Mike Bell on what's wrong with wearables, and how he plans to fix it
