Sitting still flies in the face of everything Kathleen Hale's company stands for. Started less than two years ago in Washington, Rebel Desk sells treadmills and desks for professionals who prefer to stand and move while they work. It's ironic, then, that Hale’s company feels a bit stuck.
The online grocery delivery business seems to get more crowded - and more competitive - by the minute. Tech giants Google and Amazon.com are offering it in some major cities, and so are upstarts such as Instacart, Postmates and FreshDirect. These newcomers are battling with more established businesses such as Peapod, which has been delivering groceries for more than 20 years, and services from companies such as Wal-Mart that allow customers to place orders online and pick them up at a nearby store.
Amazon reportedly will open a brick-and-mortar shop in Midtown Manhattan in time for the holiday shopping season and that it will be a place for customers to return products, make exchanges or pick up their online orders.
As Home Depot scrambles to determine the scope and scale of a potentially massive breach of its customers' data, the retailer's troubles underscore the challenges facing retailers and card issuers attempting to gird themselves against cybercriminals.
President Obama announced an initiative to improve the fuel efficiency of trucks. That's a lofty goal, but here's an even better idea: Let's make an effort to move more freight by rail and less by road. Trains are far more energy-efficient than trucks "” and they always will be.
