Connected Economy

Connected Economy
Women’s Silent Spending Power Reaches Farther Than Barbie and Taylor Swift
August 14, 2023

Women’s spend share, when combined, can catapult products, people and projects.  It’s unfortunately no myth that women earn an average 82 cents of on the same dollar a man makes in the U.S., with an even starker wealth gap found across the country when it...

Connected Economy
Ford’s Software and Services Push Helps Pave Road to Connected Car Economy
August 14, 2023

The rubber meets the road, meets the operating system, meets the online subscription. Ford announced Monday (Aug. 14) that it has hired Peter Stern — formerly of Apple’s services operations spanning everything from TV to fitness — to lead the auto giant’s customer experience efforts....

Connected Economy
CE100 Index Dips 2.6%, Led by Vroom’s Post-Earnings Skid
August 14, 2023

Vroom and Roblox were notable double-digit decliners, more than offsetting the positive impact of stock surges seen from the likes of Cogent.  The CE 100 Index lost 2.1% this past week, and in what seems to feel like it might be a bit of a...

Connected Economy
Wynn Resorts to Shut Down Gambling Platform in 8 States
August 11, 2023

Wynn Resorts is reducing the jurisdictions in which its online sports betting and iGaming platform is available. The platform, WynnBET, will be shut down “as soon as possible” in eight states — Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, New Jersey, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia — Wynn Resorts said...

Connected Economy
Microsoft Continues Shutting Down Cortana
August 11, 2023

Microsoft is shutting down its digital assistant app, Cortana, for Windows 11 with an update that disables it. This move comes three years after the tech giant ended Cortana for iOS and Android devices, The Verge reported Friday (Aug. 11). Microsoft also plans to end support for the digital...

Connected Economy
Target’s Starbucks Deal Brews Up Grande Connected Economy Ambitions
August 09, 2023

The Connected Economy is one where, in an unbroken string of activities, consumers wield their devices  to browse, order, pay and pick up what they want and need across physical and digital channels. To that end, Target has announced the availability of the morning brew...

Connected Economy
How the Fortunes of the Fortune 500 Have Changed Since 1996
August 07, 2023

The 69th annual Fortune 500 list was published earlier this summer, and most people paid it little mind. What was once considered a coveted benchmark for “making it” is now just another list of companies ranked by reported annual revenues. Access to real-time information related...

Connected Economy
Jerry CEO: $110M Funding Forges Road Ahead for Automotive Super App
August 07, 2023

The pain points and frustrations of vehicle ownership are many. Beyond the high price to get the wheels themselves — new or used — there’s the time and money spent keeping the cars on the road.   That means paying for insurance — a legal requirement...

Connected Economy
CE 100 Index Slips 2.6% as Block and PayPal Drop Double Digits 
August 07, 2023

Earnings were everywhere this past week. And for the CE 100 Index, earnings-related headlines were the sole drivers of stocks to the upside — and overwhelmingly, to the downside. To that end, the CE 100 Index lost 2.6% through the week, as all pillars lost...