E Concepts Blog

The Super Bowl is just days away and we’re taking a look back at all of the halftime shows performed in the past 20 years! Some of the best artists ever have taken the stage during the halftime show to entertain over 100 million people watching at home. Among the memorable shows were 2004′s infamous show with Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake (which actually had four other major performers!), Beyonce ‘s reunion with Destiny’s Child in 2013, and Lady Gaga flying from the ceiling to the ground for her 2017 spectacle. We’ve gathered all the info from the past 20 years of halftime shows, including every performer and guest performer, as well as every song that was performed. Click through the slideshow to see every Halftime Show performer for the past 20 years…

Zooey Deschanel is teaming up with the Purpose Project for a good cause! The 39-year-old actress and sustainable food activist recently joined the organization and Capital One on a trip to Napa, Calif. PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Zooey Deschanel During the stay, Zooey got a first-hand look at at Long Meadow Ranch’s sustainable garden, which supports the restaurants in their community. “It’s great that you have your restaurant and your garden right next to each other because when you are able to eat right next to where you grow, you understand food so much better,” Zooey explained. The Purpose Project aims to engage people in conversation about their purposeful travel experiences and encourages others to travel with a purpose. Check out the entire Purpose Project: The Series episode below…

Jon Russell / TechCrunch : Grab raises $200M from Thai retail conglomerate Central Group, says the deal is not part of ongoing Series H but an investment into its Thailand-based business   —  Grab's fundraising push continues unabated after the Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm announced that it has raised $200 million …

Christine Kim / CoinDesk : “Wrapped Bitcoin” (WBTC), a joint initiative between BitGo and other partners, has launched its ERC-20 token that is backed one-to-one by a regular bitcoin   —  A new token backed one-to-one with bitcoin is now live on the ethereum blockchain.  —  “Wrapped BTC” (WBTC) officially launched its ERC-20 token Wednesday evening.

South Korean gaming firm Netmarble said it will form a consortium to bid for a controlling stake in Nexon's holding company, the latest to show interest in a deal that could be worth about $9 billion after Kakao.

The smartphone is an essential part of our everyday lives. But as with all technology, things change. So the question becomes: What will be the next smartphone? Will it be the connected car? Or the smart speaker? What about the smartwatch? Find out which device, if any, will take over the smartphone's role with this brand new slide deck from  Business Insider Intelligence  called  The Next Smartphone . Here are some of the key takeaways: Smartphones are the fastest adopted tech in the U.S. Whichever device becomes the next smartphone needs to go everywhere Consumer expectations around the smartphone are changing And much more To get your copy of this FREE slide deck, simply click here . Join the conversation about this story »

Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing is looking at cutting headcount in some departments by up to 20 percent, technology news website The Information reported, citing a source.

Grab’s fundraising push continues unabated after the Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm announced that it has raised $200 million from Central Group, a retail conglomerate based in Thailand. Central’s business covers restaurants, hotels and more than 30 malls in Thailand, while it has operations in markets that include Vietnam and Indonesia. Its public-listed holding companies alone are worth more than $15 billion. Singapore-based Grab confirmed that this deal is not part of its ongoing Series H fundraising, but is instead an investment into its Thailand-based business. Rumors of the deal were first reported by Reuters last year. Following this investment, Central said it will work with Grab in a number of areas in Thailand, including bringing its restaurants into the Grab Food service, adding Grab transportation to its physical outlets and bringing Grab’s logistics service into its businesses. The investment represents the first time an investor has bought into...

Jordan Novet / CNBC : Ironclad, a startup focused on automating the creation and management of legal contracts and other paperwork, announces $23M funding round led by Sequoia   —  When Jason Boehmig was in law school at Notre Dame in 2012, he decided he really wanted to be in technology.

Amazon's Prime service may be a good deal for customers, but it's becoming a worse one for the company. The key component of the subscription offering is its free-shipping deals. But the cost of those deals also now eats up half of the $119 annual subscription price the company charges customers, estimates Dan Morgan, a portfolio manager who closely follows the company and whose fund owns Amazon shares. Amazon's fulfilment costs are slated to keep rising, thanks to price hikes by the major shippers. Amazon's Prime service may be starting to become too much of a good thing for the tech giant. The offering has attracted some 100 million subscribers. That sizable customer base has in turn encouraged a growing number of third-party merchants to sign up as customers of Amazon's fulfilment services. That's because products offered by vendors who are part of that program are eligible for Prime's free shipping offers. So far, so good right? Prime brings mo...

On Wednesday New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that her office had reached a settlement with Devumi, a company that made millions selling fake followers to unsuspecting customers. The state of New York found that Devumi had engaged in illegal deception and illegal impersonation in the course of fluffing up social media profiles with its automated accounts. First reported by CNN , the settlement follows a New York state probe into the company after reports of suspicious activity and potentially deceptive business practices first surfaced. Almost exactly a year ago, The New York Times reported a big feature on the company that prompted the state’s probe. In that piece , the Times describes Devumi as “an obscure American company… that has collected millions of dollars in a shadowy global marketplace for social media fraud.” The reported detailed how the company used a stable of 3.5 million bots to fuel a business that boiled down to making people look important on ...