DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ The Maya Train Will Get You to All of Yucatán’s Best Spots. But Not Yet.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Elisabeth Malkin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

I stepped off the platform at the gleaming new Maxcanú train station, eager to see the magnificent Maya archaeological site of Uxmal. All I needed was a taxi to take me there, a trip of about 30 miles away. And I was the third person in two weeks to get off at Maxcanú expecting to reach Uxmal, he said. I was midway through a five-day trip to explore the brand-new Maya Train and several of its destinations in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. Designed to run 965 miles (1,554 kilometers) around a loop of 34 stations when completed, the train will whisk passengers in cool comfort through colonial cities, archaeological sites, splashy resorts and tropical forests.

Persons: Maxcanú, van Locations: Yucatán, Mexico

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the 10-slide pitch deck a startup that offers mental health coaching for kids used to raise its seed round
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The children's mental health market is booming as part of a larger cultural shift toward transparency around mental health and well-being. The startup uses a gamified curriculum that helps kids build relationships, manage their emotions, and develop academic skills. Indeed, the demand for youth mental health services has grown substantially in the past few years, according to data compiled by mental health investor Telosity. Parallel Learning, Daybreak Health, and Hopscotch all provide various mental health services for children and their families. At tapouts, children and teens ages 4 to 16 participate in weekly, 30-minute group coaching sessions centered on themes including expressing emotions, resiliency, and identifying unhelpful thoughts.

Persons: tapouts, George Mornger, Mornger, Morgner Organizations: Business, Venture Partners, Sidespin, Tatler Asia Group, Capital, Telosity, Centers for Disease Control, Health Locations: Los Angeles, tapouts

☆ Our crisis of loneliness, the new bet investors are going after
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Not long after founding the startup, Gaon shared his vision with famed venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. It was notable to Gaon at the time that Andreessen — "one of those investors who's known for seeing where the market is going" — appeared to have pinpointed loneliness as its own market. That moved her parents, Cindy and Anne Jordan, who had sold their first healthtech company years before, to found the Arizona company Pyx Health. "The loneliness crisis is bigger, and more urgent, than anything I've worked on before," Nyborg wrote in a blog post. Inspired debuted a thesis in 2020 that identified loneliness as a key focus for the firm to invest in.

Persons: Benjamin Gaon, Boaz Gaon, Benny, Gaon, Marc Andreessen, Andreessen, Wisdo, —, Anne Wojcicki, Marius Nacht, Andreessen Horowitz, Vivek Murthy, Betsy Hoover, Bumble, Rylie Sarabia, Cindy, Anne Jordan, policyholders, Dawn Owens, it's, Owens, Julie Rice, Elizabeth Cutler, Rice, Peoplehood, Phil Levin, Levin, Culdesac, Renate Nyborg, I've, Nyborg, Hugo Amsellem, He's, Ava, Catalyst, Nate Tepper, Tepper, Adam Besvinick, Frances Haugen, Hoover, Alexa von Tobel, von Tobel, David Spinks Organizations: Pyx, Labs, verve, Investors, Pyx Health, TT Capital Partners, New, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capita, AI Fund, NEA, AIs, Looking Glass, Anonymous, Glass, Facebook, Bloomberg Locations: Arizona, Minneapolis, New York, Ava, France, Peoplehood, Hopscotch

☆ Shrek’s ‘swamp’ now available to rent on Airbnb
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( Francesca Street | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

But this new Airbnb listing in the Scottish Highlands is an exception to the rule. Shrek’s “swamp” is located on the grounds of Ardverikie Estate, a 19th-century Scottish mansion in the Scottish Highlands, some 60 miles south of the city of Inverness. One-off experienceShrek's home is located in the Scottish Highlands. While vacationers will need to organize their own travel to and from the Highlands location, their sojourn at Shrek’s house will be free. Alix McIntosh/AirbnbIf images provided by Airbnb are anything to go by, vacationers can expect a faithful recreation of Shrek’s humble, swampy abode.

Persons: it’s, Alix McIntosh, Airbnb, HopScotch, Baz Luhrmann, Barbie, ”, “ Outlander Organizations: CNN, Scottish Highlands, DreamWorks Locations: Scottish, Ardverikie, Inverness, Scotland, Moulin Rouge, Malibu , California, Balmoral, London, Bank

☆ Fascia training: What is it and do you need it?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Faye Chiu | Melanie Radzicki Mcmanus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —If you’ve dealt with stiffness and pain in the recent past, you may have come across fascia training — an approach that many in the fitness realm are encouraging people to do. Foam rolling is a common technique in fascia training and can help improve range of motion, according to research. Some skepticism remainsDespite the popularity of fascia training today, and many promising study results, some experts say it’s not a real thing. “But people are saying ‘fascia training’ now because the term is hot.”“Fascia training is a bit of a buzz word,” Barnet Simmons agreed. While plenty of studies have been done on fascia training, many experts claim there is a lack of robust studies.

Persons: proprioception, Robert Schleip, Schleip, ” Schleip, Liz Barnet Simmons, Boris Jovanovic, “, hopscotch, Nick Voci, ” Voci, Barnet Simmons, ” Barnet Simmons, “ I’ve, Voci, ”, it’s, ” Melanie Radzicki McManus Organizations: CNN, Harvard Medical School, Manchester Center, CNN’s, “ Locations: Boston, Glen Rock , New Jersey, Manchester, Manchester Center , Vermont

☆ Newly Published, from Children’s Books to 1970s Counterculture
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

(Minerva, $18.99, ages 4 to 8.) THE WALKING SCHOOL BUS, by Aaron Friedland and Ndileka Mandela. Interviews Friedland conducted with children in rural Africa and India inspired this moving tale of two enterprising siblings determined to find a safe way to get to school. A beguiling, anxious ragamuffin whose parents’ nomadic lifestyle lands her at a school where everyone else speaks French learns that imagination can heal. At recess she draws a “giant magic hopscotch,” and the hopscotch draws new friends.

Persons: Bruce Handy, Julie Benbassat, Aaron Friedland, Ndileka Mandela, Andrew Jackson Obol, Friedland, Marie, Louise Gay, ragamuffin, FLORA, Veronica Chambers Organizations: FLORA LA, Sujean Locations: Africa, India, Panamanian

☆ She Played Hopscotch With Anne Frank. Her Story Will Live On Too.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Elisabeth Egan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Not long after Hannah Pick-Goslar’s family relocated from Berlin to Amsterdam in 1933, her mother made a friend at the grocery store — a fellow Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany who was accompanied by a dark-eyed girl around Pick-Goslar’s age. “Anne had trouble whistling, so sometimes she’d just hum the tune,” according to Pick-Goslar’s best-selling memoir, “My Friend Anne Frank,” written with Dina Kraft and published on June 6, six days before what would have been the diarist’s 94th birthday. The teenagers last saw each other from opposite sides of a barbed-wire fence at Bergen-Belsen in 1945. “As she began to fade, I wrote of her life,” Kraft explains in an afterword to their book, which is based on hundreds of hours of interviews conducted in person and via Zoom. Hannah being Hannah — the nurse and caregiver and concerned person that she was for her whole life — kept checking up on me, texting, ‘Are you OK?’”

Persons: Hannah Pick, confidantes, “ Anne, “, Anne Frank, ”, Dina Kraft, Frank, she’d, Anne ”, ” Kraft, Kraft, Hannah, Hannah —, — Locations: Berlin, Amsterdam, Nazi Germany, Bergen, Belsen, Pick, Goslar, Switzerland, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem

☆ Hannah Jadagu Turns Small Moments Into Big Pop Songs
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Jon Pareles | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Those melodies turn out to be equally effective whether they’re leaping across distorted guitar chords, suave keyboards or abstract soundscapes. “She’s got an encyclopedic knowledge of all the different ways that music can go,” Kline said in an interview. Jadagu turned away from the church when she was in high school. “Everyone is looking for an explanation/Put your faith and hope in something,” Jadagu sings as the album begins. Then she starts to wonder: “How do you know?”In high school, Jadagu studied classical percussion and joined the school’s drum line.

Our experts answer readers' credit card questions and write unbiased product reviews (here's how we assess credit cards). You can save hundreds of dollars by booking round-trip or multi-city itineraries instead of one-way flights. Even if you only need a one-way flight, you can save money by booking a round trip and forfeiting the return flight. Google FlightsMulti-city flights get similarly discounted resultsThose looking for one-way flights often plan to visit more than one destination. If you're traveling with a group, you could easily save thousands of dollars by booking round-trip flights instead of one-ways.

☆ PwC isn't panicked about this 'economic pessimism' — in fact, one exec thinks it's an opportunity
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Tim Paradis | Josée Rose | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

"No management team gets paid to languish," Bricker told Insider. For some top execs, the need to look further ahead is an existential one: Nearly 40% of surveyed CEOs told PwC that they didn't think their organization would be economically viable in a decade without transforming. That's because efforts around diversity could help a company's workforce perform better, and sustainability investments can help companies boost revenue and shave costs. "The strategies that I see business leaders really starting to focus on is not viewing sustainability as a luxury good, but as an essential element of business," Bricker said. The idea of sparing workers where possible aligns with what CEOs told PwC in the survey, which gathered responses from some 4,440 business heads in October and November.

☆ Southwest Meltdown Shows Airlines Need Tighter Software Integration
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Southwest’s software wasn’t designed to solve problems of that scale, Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson said Thursday, forcing the airline to revert to manual scheduling. Unlike some large rivals with hub-and-spoke networks, Southwest planes hopscotch from city to city, which may have been another complicating factor. Mr. Alamzad said the most serious IT challenge airlines face stems from the applications developed in silos by vendors or the airlines themselves. Southwest recently completed an upgrade of its new reservation system and had been working through multiyear upgrades to systems used in its operations. Other carriers have given priority to upgrading customer-facing reservations platforms and flier loyalty programs over operations systems, Mr. Alamzad said.

[1/2] Caucus goers wait in the corner for Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at their caucus site in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., February 3, 2020. After Iowa, both Democrats and Republicans hold state primaries that narrow down presidential candidates even further. Their push to change the primary calendar picked up momentum after 2020 when the Democrats' Iowa caucuses were plagued by technical and communication issues that delayed the announcement of a winner. The state has traditionally held the first primary, right after Iowa's caucuses, but some Democrats would like more-diverse Nevada to get that spot. But New Hampshire state law requires its secretary of state to set the primary date seven days before any other, providing state officials a firewall against any efforts to boot them as the first primary state.

Show more Regular Annual Percentage Rate (APR) 19.99% - 26.99% Variable Editor's Rating 4.65 /5 A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star 4.65 out of 5 Stars Our editor's ratings analyze fees, bonuses, rewards, and benefits to highlight the simplest and most valuable credit cards available. Each calendar year after spending $60,000 on eligible purchases, Card Members are eligible to select an Earned Choice Award benefit. Read more: United Explorer card reviewCredit cards with airport lounge access frequently asked questions (FAQ)What are the Centurion Lounge locations? The Platinum Card® from American Express is the all-around best credit card for airport lounge access. Joseph Hostetler, CEPF Credit cards reporter Joseph Hostetler is a credit cards reporter for Insider who also covers helpful miles and points tricks.

☆ The Hunters, the Landowner and the Ladder That Triggered a Wyoming Showdown
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Michael Allen | Photographs Benjamin Rasmussen For The Wall Street Journal | Benjamin Rasmussen For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

ELK MOUNTAIN, Wyo.—As the name suggests, there are hundreds of elk on Elk Mountain, an 11,000-foot peak in southern Wyoming. The problem for hunters: You can’t get there from here. The sprawling mountain is surrounded by private ranchland. While the prime hunting ground is checkerboarded with federal and state property, access is limited by an age-old Western doctrine. Ranchers consider it unneighborly for outsiders to hopscotch through their land by crossing over public sections that meet only at a corner.

☆ Wesley Chan's FPV Ventures coleads $10 million round in Astra, a fintech startup that makes it easier for companies to embed payments technology into their businesses
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The startup raised $10 million in Series A funding led by FPV and Slow Ventures. Astra, a fintech startup that's developed technology to allow developers to embed financial automation into existing products, raised a $10 million Series A along with a $30 million line of credit. "Everything was going really, really fast and really big, so we said, why not ride this growth." For example, B2B payments company Hopscotch recently raised $6.1 million in additional funding in March. Akos said one of Astra's goals is to move upmarket and begin providing payments services to startups in the later stages.

☆ B2B payments startup Hopscotch aims to be a supercharged 'Venmo for businesses' with a new tool helping SMBs manage invoices
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Ann Gehan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Hopscotch, a B2B payments fintech, aims to be a Venmo-like payment tool for businesses. The result is Hopscotch, a B2B payments platform that adopts the look and feel of a consumer app and offers instant, free payment services. Hopscotch Flow is a way to monetize the startupAccording to Switzer, Hopscotch is built on the belief that businesses shouldn't have to wait to access money they've already earned. "The whole point is to give our users really more control over their cash flow, because for most of them, their cash flow is fairly unpredictable," he said. A rendering of a business user's Hopscotch dashboard.

Show more Regular APR 19.99% - 26.99% Variable Editor's Rating 4.65 /5 A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star 4.65 out of 5 Stars Our editor's ratings analyze fees, bonuses, rewards, and benefits to highlight the simplest and most valuable credit cards available. With an annual fee of $650, you'll get benefits such as:To boot, you'll receive Priority Pass Select airport lounge access. It balances excellent benefits, including Gold elite status and 10 airport lounge visits per year, with a modest annual fee. $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95 annual fee. Its annual fee is $0 intro for the first year, then $95, so you can experience a lounge or two without committing to a big annual fee.

☆ Here's an exclusive look the pitch deck youth mental-health startup Hopscotch used to raise $8 million from investors like Greycroft and Inspired Capital
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-13 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Youth health-tech startup Hopscotch raised a seed round led by Greycroft and Inspired Capital. Hopscotch just raised an $8 million seed round led by Greycroft and Inspired Captial. Hopscotch is a full-service telehealth platform that provides in-network mental health care for children and teenagers. Youth mental health startups are booming and could become a $26 billion industry by 2027, as estimated recently by Telocity, the arm of Vinaj Ventures that invests exclusively in the space. Check out the 12-slide pitch deck that Hopscotch used to secure $8 million in seed funding.

Search resuls for: "HopScotch"

18 mentions found