Johann Ramirez

Mastercard built a mobile marketplace for farmers in East Africa

The digital platform brings financial services to small-scale farmers in Kenya.<p>More than two billion people across the world continue to stay unbanked. One of the biggest reasons for that exclusion is accessibility. In developing countries in particular, low-income groups tend to get left out of …

Gigster’s crafty plan to give freelance developers equity

“401k? Stock options? Freelancers get none of this. We want to make it more like working for a startup to freelance for Gigster,” says founder and CEO Roger Dickey. His startup Gigster turns clients’ ideas into full-fledged apps by coordinating freelance product managers, engineers and designers. …

4 Ways Every Business Needs To Use Artificial Intelligence

The field of artificial intelligence got its start at a conference at Dartmouth in 1956. Optimism ran high and it was believed that machines would be able to do the work of humans within 20 years. Alas, it was not to be. By the 1970’s, funding dried up and the technology entered the period known as …

Salve Duplito

Uber For Frat Boys: How Bellhops Is Capturing Untapped Collegiate Labor

"Your succulent game is on fleek," Sean Christian, a rising senior at UC Davis and proud Theta Xi, told me in my living room on Sunday. Christian, along with Stephen Goode Jr., a 19-year-old rising sophomore at UC Berkeley, was there to help move me and all my belongings 10 blocks north to a new …

5 Biggest Mistakes You Make When You Dust

It may feel like a losing battle, but there are a few tricks to keep that dust from coming back so quickly.<p>Dusting is one of my least favorite chores. It's such a thankless, neverending task. Whisk it away one weekend and, before the next weekend rolls around, your furniture is dust-covered once …

7 Super Smart Homemade DIY Cleaning Recipes Using Vinegar That You Have to Try

You all probably know already that there are tons of <b>DIY Cleaning recipes</b> that are performing extraordinary from all points of view. Let us take a …

11 Surprising Uses for Kitchen Sponges

These sink-side staples are helpful all over the house. This article originally appeared on goodhousekeeping.com<p>Sponges might be the best at cleaning spills and soaping up dishes, but if you confine them to your kitchen, you're missing out on their other hidden skills. These clever uses will have …

How to Clean the Grossest, Most Difficult Stains with Household Items

Your home is gross. Don't worry, everyone's is. Between cooked food, moldy wood, rusty metal, and our own bodies that make all manner of nasty …

Deodorize and Clean a Microwave with Baking Soda and Water

If you have a microwave that's covered with spattered sauce and popcorn butter, you can kill the odor and loosen up the gunk with a bowl filled with …

Quick Tip: Frugal Stainless Steel Cleaner

We love our stainless steel appliances, but with four little ones, even our “smudge resistant” brushed stainless steel ends up with streaks and …

How to Clean the Oven Without Harsh Chemicals

<i>This is Day 30 of the 31 Days to Green Clean series.</i><p>One of the tasks that I put off doing more than others in my home is cleaning the oven. It’s a …

How To Clean Grout With A Homemade Grout Cleaner

Shares 421.9K<p><i>Want a simple trick for cleaning grout in your shower, bath, or kitchen? This is the absolute BEST homemade grout cleaner; just baking</i> …

9 Cleaners You Can Make Yourself

The key ingredients you need just might be hiding in your pantry.<p>These mix-it-yourself cleaners use environmentally friendly ingredients — like baking soda and vinegar — and are quite inexpensive. If you've run out of your favorite cleaning solution, don't run to the store; try one of these …

15 Reasons Why Vinegar is the Ultimate Cleaning Solution

The secret fix to most household messes was already in your kitchen cupboard.<p><b>1. Kitchen Surfaces and Utensils</b><br>Vinegar has antimicrobial and antibacterial properties that make it a good choice for cleaning in the kitchen. Mix equal parts white vinegar and water, then pour it into a spray bottle. Use …

Ditch the Paper and Increase Productivity With These Six Apps!

<i>This is part of the "Increased Productivity" series where experts in productivity, brain training, and business success share the techniques and tools they couldn't live without.</i><p>Going paperless has probably been an agenda item in most offices for several years now, but somehow it never quite seems …

A New Source of Energy In Maryland: Chicken Manure

Turning waste into power<p>Maryland has a big, stinking problem. Every year, the poultry industry produces about 650 million pounds of manure within that state alone. Chicken manure is a great fertilizer, but in Maryland, there is so much of it that what once was seen as a resource has become the …

Your Fitness App Is Making You Fat

<b>Editor’s Note:</b> <i>Nir Eyal is the author of</i> <i>Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products</i> <i>and blogs about the psychology of products at</i> <i>NirAndFar.com</i><i>.</i><p>Fitness apps are all the rage. A raft of new companies and products want to track your steps and count your calories with the aim of melting that excess …

Helpling expands to the Middle East and Asia Pacific

Helpling, the Germany-based on-demand household cleaning service, is now launching its service in Singapore, Australia and the UAE. The company opened shop in Berlin only a year ago and has since arrived in 11 more countries.<p>Helpling’s expansion is aided by its acquisition of Singapore-based rival …

This Serial Entrepreneur Keeps On Innovating

He has eliminated nearly every obstacle between dreaming up his ideas and making them happen. But how long can his magic last?<p>The United Nations delegation filed into Edo Segal's office, took their seats on the black leather couches, and got down to the business of the day: They needed …

Storygami's Building a Tool to Add Context to Web Video

<i>Each week we’re profiling one company that has been selected for Boost – our early-stage startup growth program. Catch up with these companies in person</i> at <i>The Next Web Conference Europe on April 23 & 24.</i><p>Video is great for telling stories, but it can’t always tell the <i>whole</i> story. Storygami is on a …

Rise Of The Micro-Tinders

Different strokes for different folks. But what about different apps? Tinder brought ruthless efficiency to online dating. Yet the same way people gravitate to distinct nightlife spots depending on their style, we’re seeing an explosion of niche dating apps all based on Tinder’s familiar swipes. No …

The inspirational tech guru who's owning cerebral palsy like a boss

<b>(CNN) —</b> Disability doesn't mean disadvantage. And Farida Bedwei, a celebrated software engineer from Ghana, is proof of that.<p>Born in 1979, Bedwei was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of one -- cerebral palsy is an incurable neurological disorder that affects body movement and muscle …

How to fix your cracked iPhone or Samsung phone without leaving the house

You can always take it into the store, but if you don't have a warranty or you're feeling lazy, a nifty startup called iCracked will come to you and repair your broken phone on the spot.<p>You can use iCracked if you have an iPhone, iPad, or Samsung smartphone. You can also choose to sell your phone …

How Can Tiny Norway Afford to Buy So Many Teslas? A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast - Freakonomics

(Photo: Tesla Motors)<p>Until recently, tiny Norway (population 5 million) has been the second largest market for Teslas (after the U.S.). Earlier this …

Research shows that if you remove anonymity, you won’t hear from most of your readers

Many online publishers and journalists believe that there’s a simple solution to the problem of internet comments — the trolls, the flame-wars, and …

'Social discovery' is not about making friends. It's about sex, narcissism, & gossip

“Social networking is what your social life looks like today, and social discovery is what your social life might look like tomorrow,” said ReadWrite editor-in-chief Owen Thomas during his opening remarks at Wednesday’s Glimpse Social Discovery conference.<p>In simpler terms: Social discovery is an …